Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Xavier brought up a map of the Saturn sector and saw the small distance between Rhea and Dione. If the Hashmedai did leave, they probably moved behind there. “Worth one last look, but if there’s nothing then we need to look into leaving the sector and escorting the evacuation transports out.”

  “Agreed,” Chevallier said. “Major, if you will.”

  “Right away, ma’am,” Montes said.

  Xavier switched the projection to what Montes’ front cameras were transmitting. He saw the squadron fly away from Rhea, making the brief semi sub light speed jump toward the moon of Dione. Once again, they braced themselves for possible enemy contact, as they took a peek behind.

  “Nothing eh?” Xavier said as the new video loaded.

  “Return to the Wilfrid Laurier,” Chevallier said to her CAG.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Montes said.

  “Those ships could be strategically moving behind each of the moons here and there’s no way to know,” Chevallier’s projection said to Xavier.

  “Aye, or on the opposite side of Saturn,” he said. “In any case they are not close by right now.”

  “Indeed, let’s return to the main fleet,” Chevallier said. “Contact Hyperion squadron to escort evacuation transports to us. We will leave the sector once they are ready and EDF has come aboard your ship Capitaine.”

  Scathing Hand, Titan orbit, Sol System

  Martop’s eyes opened as his ESP picked up something interesting to report. “Captain,” he yelled to T’esih.

  “What is it?”

  “Human ships are leaving Titan,” he said. “They are regrouping with the two battle ships now.”

  T’esih raised her eyebrows. “Show me,” she said sharply. A hologram appeared in front of her showing her a top down image of the status of ships in the sector.

  “The Shade Flare reports that these are the same ships their interceptors saw on Titan,” Martop said. “Escape transports for the human colonists.”

  Human colonists . . . Like all living creatures, humans would ensure their children are taken out of harm’s way before adults. She eyed the hologram depicting the transports and wondered how many human children would be aboard. She mused on how delighted Empress Y’lin would be when T’esih presents her with those human children to be executed publicly. Spare your enemies slay their children, it is the Hashmedai way.

  T’esih’s mouth twisted into a delightful grin. “How goes our repairs?”

  “Shields have been restored; hull is stable but not perfect.”

  “And the Hunter?”

  A young officer named Jaumli checked his computer workstation, and revealed. “Shields are at full power but the battle put a lot of strain on its reactor. Their engine team is still working on the problem.”

  “We’ll have to make do with what we have, those ships cannot leave,” T’esih said, pushing away the holographic display. “Swing us around this gas giant, arm all forward weapons.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Inform the Shade Flare and Night Hunter to follow behind. I want at least one of those transports boarded and taken back to Paryo.”

  The crew diligently carried out her orders, while she deployed her claws on her right hand, the once razor sharp retractable part of her fingers had been neglected far too long. Out from her side pocket, she took a claw shaping tool. Tiny lasers emitted from the device, restoring her claws to their former battle-ready state.

  ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  Proximity alert alarms, they only made Xavier’s head ache worse not better.

  “Incoming Hashmedai ships, two destroyers and one carrier!” Bryson said, after her terminal populated with new battle data.

  “That got their attention . . .” Xavier mumbled. “What’s the status of the evacuation transports?”

  “They’re good to go, sir,” Benson said.

  “And EDF?”

  “ . . . Still haven’t left the surface, sir.”

  “Fantastic,” Xavier said, groaning while the three red dots representing the new Hashmedai contacts zeroed in on their location. “Put me through to them, now.”

  UNE Black Site, Titan, Sol system

  Chris barged into the central command center of the Black Site, with little to no concern if he was interrupting an important talk amongst the many workers inside attending to their computers, or typing on their data pads. “Okay change of plans we gotta get moving, Hashmedai are back for more,” Chris said.

  The staff stopped momentarily as Chris spoke, they looked at him directly, then shifted their attention to Miriam König, who simply said to Chris. “We’ll be fine.”

  “That mess in the lobby says otherwise, let’s go.”

  “With what transports?” König said. “The evacuation transports have already left, and you saw what we have available in our transport bay. Besides our work here is too important to abandon, the President agrees.”

  König’s change in her stance didn’t make sense. At first, they were worried about the Hashmedai threat and happy EDF was here to assist. Now they were confident they’d be fine without them? Sure Michei was staying behind, but he’s just one man, one psionic, one that got exhausted mentally during the first encounter. “Don’t throw your life away for this place!” Can’t make discoveries if you’re dead.

  “Titan still has a military presence Sergeant. With the civilians gone this will be the only place to defend. Between Hyperion squadron and our ground forces, that should be enough.”

  “You’re assuming the Hashmedai won’t glass this moon.”

  “They won’t, the mess in the lobby is proof of that . . . they want to capture this place.” König pointed toward the psionic pods Sarah climbed into earlier. “For obvious reasons.”

  Chris crossed his arms. “You seem to know a lot.”

  König returned her hands to the glowing holo screen of her pad, after instructing everyone else to return to their duties. With her back turned to Chris she said. “You got what you came here for staff sergeant. I believe you and your party are the ones that need to go before it’s too late.”

  Bitch.

  Chris stormed out frustrated and proceeded down one floor toward the hanger bay, where the lone transport waited for him and the rest to board. Hijinks sat upfront in the cockpit, while Sarah stood at the entrance.

  “Vaughn,” Chris said to her. “Fuck this place, we’re leaving.”

  “Understood, I’ll get Ella slash Avearan now.”

  “If you see Michei before I do, tell him I said good luck,” Chris said as he quickly climbed aboard the transport. He interacted with a computer upfront which gave him updated battle data in regard to the growing conflict in orbit, a conflict he hoped stayed in space.

  Titan orbit, Sol system

  Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier came about to face the three Hashmedai capital ships, officially starting round two of their fight. The evacuation transports repositioned themselves behind the two Earth battleships as fighters from the two ships scrambled into action. Hyperion squadron was more than happy to swoop into the action as well. The Hashmedai carrier Shade Flare returned the gesture, launching its interceptors.

  T’esih placed her claw shaper away as the battle commenced, pleased that once again the humans placed themselves in a spot where atomic weapons could not be used, not as long as they protected the evacuation transport ships.

  Transport En Route to ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  Red, orange, blue, and green lights periodically flashed on and off, inside the cockpit of the transport. Chris adjusted his seat belt while gravity inside the transport ceased to exist; he hoped Hijinks was a good a transport pilot as she was with a fighter. The battle raging above them had a lot going on, friendly fire, enemy fire, two or three direct hits and it was over for them. Sarah remained in the rear cabin with Avearan in control of Ella’s body secured with her.

  “Hijinks, you get us to Winston Churchill in one piece and
I’ll buy you a beer,” Chris said to her.

  Hijinks smiled while her steady hands piloted them away from Titan and toward the Winston Churchill. “That’s enough incentive to keep us alive!”

  “We’ll be fine,” Avearan said in his Hashmedain accent. “None of them are targeting us, or making any attempts to get close.”

  Chris spun around in his chair to face her. “I’m sure you know all about that.”

  Avearan grinned and said. “You might want to tell your commanders to have your fighter’s guard the evacuation transports rather than directly engage the Hashmedai.” Chris and Sarah exchanged glances, but remained silent. Avearan was after all a Hashmedai. “Fine don’t listen to my ESP warning.”

  “You don’t have the upgrades needed to perform that,” Chris said to her.

  “My ESP in this body is limited but there.” Chris and Sarah weren’t buying it. Frustrated, Avearan spun around through the weightless cabin with her arms crossed. “One of you put fingers up and tell me how many you have up.”

  Chris raised his hand with three fingers held high.

  “Three,” Avearan said.

  Lucky guess. He raised his other hand with the same number of digits being displayed.

  “Six.”

  Sarah joined the game, sticking both of her middle fingers up toward Avearan.

  “Charming one aren’t you Sarah?”

  ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  Xavier struggled to process what he just learned from the transmission Staff Sergeant Boyd sent him in regard to Avearan and her ESP. Xavier still didn’t like the idea of Avearan being in control of Ella’s body once again coming aboard the Winston Churchill. The only reason he would okay it was because he was under the impression Ella was past this problem and developing psionic powers as per the report from the black site and had intel that would be better in their hands.

  But what if she’s right Martin.

  Xavier wasn’t one to take chances with the lives of the evacuees. If what she said was true, keeping the evacuation transports in the sector as they stood guard to defend them would put them at risk more so than letting them flee on their own without the escort of the Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier as per the original plan.

  Xavier made his choice. “Tell the evacuation transports to enter sub light now!”

  “Aye sir,” Yates said.

  “Put me through to Gladius.”

  “You’re on, sir.”

  Aura’s hologram appeared via the central hologram. Xavier could see the intensity of the battle she was in by the lights flashing in the corner. “Gladius lead, this is Winston Churchill, break off and escort the evacuation transports to safety.”

  “Sir?”

  “Do it now we don’t have enough time!” he said then ended the transmission. His face then returned to Yates. “Inform the Wilfrid Laurier and Hyperion squadron of our plan; let’s get all the fighters out there to build a defense convoy.”

  Every evacuation transport revved up their engines and entered sub light speed on a course toward the inner planets of the system. Gladius, Rapier, and Hyperion squadrons broke off their attacks versus the Hashmedai interceptors to follow behind the escaping transports. The Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier were alone to fend for themselves and felt the wrath of the three Hashmedai capital ships as their prey was allowed to slip away.

  Several interceptors banked around the two Earth ships, making a wide turn to avoid them and entered a full burn to chase the evacuation transports and Solaris fighters escorting them to safety. None of it was a concern for Xavier; Solaris fighters could travel at sub light for several hours while interceptors can last several minutes, an hour or two at best. Both the evacuation transports and fighters had a head start and more than enough power to outrun them. The only thing that could jeopardize the plan was the three Hashmedai capital ships. Should they break away and enter sub light before the Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier, they could and would chase the evacuation transports to the end of the system and back.

  “Keep us in front of those ships and fire at will,” Xavier said. “Don’t give them any chance to pressure the evacuation ships.”

  “Captain, the Wilfrid Laurier is arming nukes,” Benson said.

  With the fighters and transports away, the battlefield was clear for them to go all out with the bringers of light. Best part? Neither of the Hashmedai ships was up in their face. Yet.

  “Status of EDF?” Xavier asked.

  “Docking now.”

  Xavier glanced at a newly loaded hologram that showed a 3D projection of the estimated blast radius should both ships fire nukes. He liked what he saw. “Then let’s do the same.”

  Scathing Hand, Titan orbit, Sol System

  T’esih hissed, upon learning of the change in the battlefield. The risk versus reward factor in her plan continued to sway in the direction she’d rather not have it go in. No Earth ships destroyed, Titan still isn’t under their control. Contact was lost with most of the warriors on the surface and several interceptors were lost.

  It was frustrating. The transports were her last chance for justifying her actions, and now they are gone, she hoped the interceptors would keep up with them, for it was her only hope now. “The Shade Flare wants to break off and to regroup with the interceptors,” Delin said.

  It’s not over yet. “If they think they can do it, then yes,” T’esih said to him. “Let’s do what we can to keep the humans on us rather than them.”

  The Shade Flare, the lone Hashmedai carrier broke away from its formation with the Scathing Hand and Night Hunter. It swerved down and around the Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier, ignoring the rail gun and plasma missile fire from both ships as its shields held up for the most part. The Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier spun to keep its main forward weapons locked onto the Shade Flare, its shields continued to slowly drop.

  T’esih’s next order roared throughout the bridge, demanding its crew to do whatever it took to peel the two human ships off the Shade Flare.

  ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  The transport from the UNE black site below finally came to its final destination on the flight deck. Chris, Sarah along with Hijinks and Avearan emerged from the transport. The still opened bay doors showed the battle being fought outside. It caused Chris to stop and stare out in awe like it was a theatre screen.

  Avearan stopped as well, but for a different reason.

  “There’s a space bridge jump opening up,” she said, pointing toward the opened hanger bay doors Chris was gazing at. “And it’s big.”

  Luminous azure light flashed, as it faded an enormous Hashmedai dreadnought appeared. It’s size easily dwarfed the Winston Churchill, Wilfrid Laurier, Scathing Hand, Night Hunter, and Shade Flare.

  The Leviathan had arrived.

  Leviathan, Titan orbit, Sol system

  Battle station alarms rang as the bridge crew jumped into their assigned posts. Yominv sat in his chair reading over the reports of their jump into the system. Like with normal space bridge jumps, it took a huge toll on the psionics involved. There were two psionics strong enough to perform their duties, the rest were escorted to the infirmary to recover.

  The Leviathan was a ship that relied heavily on its psionic crew to perform. With only two psionics available, the situation placed great limits on its true power. A pity, he thought as he saw two human ships attack the Shade Flare. Nevertheless, Yominv was eager to take control of the situation.

  “Put me through to the Scathing Hand,” he said calmly.

  “Done,” Ratix said as his fingers interacted with his computer.

  “This is Admiral Yominv Crossblade, I did not give you the authority to attack. Withdraw at once back to Uranus.”

  T’esih’s projection appeared before him via a holo window, he could see the signs of battle damage done to some of the computers in the back section of the bridge. “With all due respect, Admiral,” T’esih’
s projection said. “This is not the time to be withdrawing; we have the human settlers of this moon fleeing.”

  “I am not here to debate this,” Yominv said. “Withdraw at once as requested or you and your crew will be charged with treason.”

  The hologram vanished, T’esih had cut the link. The view screen upfront showed the two Destroyers back away as requested. The Shade Flare however was still under heavy attack from the humans.

  “That carrier won’t last long,” Vonliey said.

  “No it won’t.” Yominv brought his hands together and gave the viewer a longer look. “Bring us closer to them. Let’s give the humans something else to shoot at.”

  The crew executed his command, and the Leviathan quickly moved closer to the action, placing itself between the Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier and the Shade Flare. The maneuver took seconds to perform with the MRF still active, giving it speed and maneuverability of that of a small ship. As it entered its desired position, its many plasma cannon ports opened and released its fury upon the Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier.

  ESV Winston Churchill, Titan orbit, Sol system

  The view of space, Titan, Saturn, and the Shade Flare was upstaged by the hulking presence of new challenger that appeared out of nowhere onto the battlefield. Xavier along with the rest of the bridge crew possessed similar awe like looks on their faces.

  “What the hell is that thing?” Yates said.

  “I don’t know, but it hits like a truck!” Matsushita shouted as the Winston Churchill took several direct and violent hits. “Shields are dropping fast, seventy-three percent already.”

  “Fuck the carrier,” Xavier said. “Nuke that bloody thing now!”

  The Winston Churchill and Wilfrid Laurier backed away from the Leviathan, their aft shields blazed brightly as plasma hit them in their tactical retreat. The gap between them and the Leviathan quickly grew large enough for them to face it once again, this time with a barrage of nuclear missiles.