“Chase, there’s no way of knowing if Sarah is here, but you can’t think about that for now. We need you.”
“Roger that. Plus, I know now she isn’t here.” Chase was almost delirious with relief that she was alive, although terrified at her destination.
“Huh? Mind explaining that?”
“Later—let’s finish this and fast! I know where I have to go next.”
“That’s the spirit. Watch your six! You have multiple enemy craft approaching.”
Chase looked at his HUD. Three enemy craft had taken advantage of his little reverie and were aligned perfectly on his six. They started firing the moment they were in range.
Chase took evasive action by rotating the ship on its axis, avoiding most hits but still taking some damage to his shields.
“Hang on, Chase, I’m coming.”
“No need, Dan, I’ve got this.” He couldn’t help but grin. “Computer, execute command Omega One.”
The ship’s engine’s cut off and he made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree rotation to face his foes. With the engine off, the ship carried its initial momentum and Chase lined up a shower of laser fire upon their frontal shields, diverting the engine power to his own shields and boosting the power of his lasers. He painted all three targets and fired three missiles simultaneously. Two of the missiles tore their targets apart in a fiery blaze, while the third impacted the ship but the ship didn’t explode; it lost all shields instead.
Chase rebalanced power, went full on the engines, and headed on a collision course. He waited until the last second and fired a single burst of concentrated laser fire. The enemy ship exploded like a piñata, and Chase flew through the debris.
“Are you okay, pal?” inquired Daniel.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”
“Okay partner, you seem to be flying even more recklessly than usual.”
Chase smirked. “And how does that reflect on my kill stats so far?”
After a couple of seconds Daniel answered. “As long as you’re in control of your emotions.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Why don’t I like the sound of that?”
“I’m fine, bro, don’t worry.”
“Roger. Good hunting.”
“You too.”
On the bridge of the SAD Destiny, Captain Saroudis watched the battle with great focus. Their arrival seemed to have tipped the balance in favor of the Alliance now, with multiple squadrons of fighters being eradicated by the joint forces of the Destiny battlegroup and their Droxian escorts.
Chase’s ability to engage enemies using non-conventional and ever-changing fighting techniques never ceased to amaze the captain. Of course, his recklessness was enough to give the captain a series of small heart attacks. Chase was an ace pilot and natural strategist, one they could not afford to lose. Not to mention his relations with the Olympians.
The Obsidian Empire and their Zarlack allies seemed to agree. They sent no less than two squadrons on an approaching vector towards Chase’s Beta Wing.
“Lieutenant, concentrate fire to cover Beta Wing; all batteries, fire.”
“New targets acquired. Firing now, Captain.”
The barrage of laser fire being unleashed towards the incoming wings vectoring towards Beta Wing was very effective and dealt with most of them in a matter of seconds. More than two thirds of their craft exploded before they could reach firing range.
“Thanks for the assist, Captain,” Chase called over the comm.
“Anytime, Chase. But some fighters are still entering firing range.”
“That’s alright; my wing will take care of it. What’s our status?”
“We seem to have tipped the balance of this fight. We should be able to win this, but it’s too early to tell at what cost. It’s a rather balanced fight; both sides are incurring substantial damage.”
“Roger that, Cap.”
Captain Saroudis’ chin was pressed against a clenched fist, clearly worried by this unexpected battle. Yet he knew this might actually win over the Droxians as new members of the Alliance, something that was both unexpected and a great first step towards uniting more worlds against the Obsidian Empire. He had to admit, though, that he didn’t know if that would be enough. Even if the Droxians joined them, they would most likely still be outnumbered. They simply had no way of knowing how many Zarlack ships were out there. So while every new allied world mattered, especially after the catastrophic losses the Alliance suffered from the coordinated attack, Captain Saroudis wondered how long they could resist an all-out attack if one was to come.
“Captain!” shouted one of the officers.
“What is it?”
“Multiple jump points forming.”
“Damn, just when we thought we had this battle under control.”
“Sir, the ships show a friendly signature!”
“What?”
“Seven Alliance battleships with escorts, including the SAD Cronos.”
“Thank the gods…”
Onboard the SAD Cronos’ bridge, Admiral Thassos was sitting in her chair.
“Ensign, target all enemy ships. Fire at will.”
“Yes, ma’am, firing at will.”
The admiral was a tall woman well into her eighties, though the years had been kind to her. By human standards, the admiral barely looked fifty years old. Her face bore few wrinkles and held one blue and one green eye, along with long blond hair that flowed like golden velvet down her back.
“Open a channel to the Destiny.”
“Channel opened.”
Captain Saroudis appeared on the holo-display of the Cronos battle destroyer.
“Long time no see, Adonis.”
“Indeed, Admiral.” He looked delighted. “I thought the Fifth Fleet was destroyed when the Empire attacked the home world?”
“Rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated.”
“I can see that. Your timing couldn’t be better.”
“You seemed to have things under control from what our scans told to us, but I thought you’d appreciate the help anyway.”
The captain chuckled and gestured to the battle. “We do.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing you soon, old friend. In the meantime, let’s turn these Obsidian scum and their new friends into pretty fireworks.”
He smiled. “Roger that, Admiral. Saroudis out.”
The holo-screen turned off.
Admiral Thassos then picked the biggest three battleships currently engaged against the Alliance and the Droxians, targeting them on her personal battle holo-display.
“Bring main weapons to bear.”
“Main weapons active.”
“Fire in sequence on my target list, maximum firepower.”
“Firing now, Admiral.”
Chase had just dispatched the last of the incoming enemy fighters when he was blinded by several jump points forming. Obsidian Empire reinforcements, no doubt. It took a few seconds for the white veil from the jumps to restore his vision. At first he thought he was dreaming, then quickly checked his HUD for confirmation. There was no doubt, those were Alliance battle destroyers, and quite the armada too.
“Am I seeing this right?” Daniel’s voice came over the comm system.
“Yeah, that’s the Fifth Fleet.”
“But how is that even possible?”
“Does it really matter?”
“No I guess not. I’m just stunned. For a second I thought it was more Zarlack reinforcements and more bad luck.”
“You and me both, my friend.”
Soon every ship from the newly arrived Alliance armada started spewing fighters. It looked like a swarm of bees, beautiful and extremely effective too. Both Obsidian and Zarlack starfighters started disappearing off the radar at an exponential rate.
“Wow, looks like this battle will be over sooner than we expected,” Daniel said.
“Yes, but let’s go assist anyway.” Chase grinned. “It’s not every d
ay we have the numbers on our side. Let’s savor this moment.”
“Agreed.”
“Care to make it interesting?”
Daniel chuckled. “What did you have in mind?”
“The one with the least kills is on drink duty for a week.”
“Deal!”
Both Daniel and Chase vectored towards the nearest wings of enemy ships and engaged them. Clearly surprised by getting fired on by no less than three fronts now, they were easy pickings. They exploded one after the other. Chase aligned a perfect couple of shots toward his nearest target, successfully exploding the fighter wing, which promptly started spinning and went crashing into another foe, the explosion claiming both fighters simultaneously.
“Buy one, get one free!”
“Show off,” Daniel replied.
“That’s seventeen, my friend. Now who’s showing off?”
“I’m still gonna say you.”
“Fair enough.” Chase laughed.
Then something happened. The Cronos fired an intense beam of laser fire that instantly took out the biggest Obsidian battleship still in play. Two successive shots then took down the next two biggest Zarlack battleships, the first hit splitting the ship in half and the second provoking a major explosion that disabled the targeted ship.
“I don’t know what that was, but I’ll take five, please!” exclaimed Chase.
“I had heard the Cronos was getting equipped with next generation R&D weaponry.”
“I’m also getting a newer signature on the radar but haven’t seen any of the ships on visuals.”
“Oh,” Daniel said knowingly, “that must be the Omega starfighters.”
“What are those? And why am I not flying one?”
“They’re the next generation of dogfighting war machines. I had heard about them in passing but never thought they were actually ready for combat.”
“Why don’t we see any?”
Right on cue, an impressive looking fighter with sharp lines and glistening armor de-cloaked in front of Chase’s fighter.
“Hey, rookie! How do you like my new set of wings?” called a familiar female voice over the comm.
“No way! Fillio?”
“Still as reckless as ever I see,” she replied.
“Well, you know me. That’s one sweet machine you’re flying.”
“Very, and it’s been invaluable to our survival. The cloak only works for a few minutes, but it definitely gave us the edge we needed with our enemy encounters.”
“I bet! I want one of those, yesterday!” Chase was almost giddy looking at the ship.
“You’ll have to ask Admiral Thassos for one, flyboy. We don’t exactly grow them on trees, especially nowadays. Speaking of starfighters, what the hell are you flying? I don’t recognize the design.”
“Oh, say hello to the F-140 Thunderbird, the first Earth Alliance ship. I helped design it.”
“Really? What’s Earth?”
“Long story. We’ll talk about it over drinks. And from the looks of it, Commander Tharraleos will be the one fetching them, for a whole week,” Chase taunted.
“Alright, boys, see you later then.”
“See you soon, Fillio; really glad to see you.”
“Always a pleasure, Chasy boy!”
“Chasy boy?” echoed Daniel, trying not to laugh too much over the comm.
“If you repeat that, I will kill you.”
“Whatever you say… Chasy boy.” The laughter overtook him.
“Oh gods...”
As the battle continued, the SAD Cronos fired another one of its main weapons and finished off the ship it had crippled earlier. Then, as soon as it entered battering range, it started raining an impressive amount of laser fire toward the smaller Zarlack ships around it.
It was an impressive victory, but it didn’t last long. A few seconds later, all enemy ships still capable of jumping did so. They had retreated. It only took a couple of minutes to dispatch whatever enemy starfighters had been left abandoned on the battle theater.
Soon all Alliance and Droxian fighters rejoined their respective battleships. Fragments of destroyed Zarlack and Obsidian vessels slowly orbited Droxia. Each piece looked like a tombstone, remembering the lives of soldiers lost. The allied forces watched as the floating cemetery gradually disintegrated into ash, before vanishing amongst the stars.
8
Argos and Sarah arrived at Hellstar. Somehow, he had managed to get permission to land under some pretense that he needed to come pick up a prisoner for transfer. Sarah was again awake in her own mind. She tried with all her might to take back control of her body, but nothing budged. Not a finger. It had thrown her into a panicked tailspin.
They got off the ship, the same ship that had captured her what felt like ages ago, and walked a few moments before arriving near a door that opened as they approached it. A hovering, circular sentry came to greet them and ask that they follow them to the administrative section of the prison. But as soon as the flying bot turned to show the way, Argos flicked a finger and the droid crashed against the wall, collapsing to the ground in a mess of sparks and ashes.
He and Sarah went the other way at a sprint. Every camera they encountered exploded before it could catch any images of them. She couldn’t understand how Argos was doing it, but it was clear that his powers were great. If he was Chase’s brother, Sarah wondered if maybe Chase had similar powers. But why wouldn’t he have told her about them? And why wouldn’t he have used them before when they were in trouble on that desolate planet? Sarah remembered vividly the beast that had attacked them. She could still see Ryonna slicing it in two. Surely that would have been a great time to reveal secret powers.
“Where are we going?” she asked in her mind.
“You’ll see soon enough.”
“I’d like to know now.”
“I don’t care what you’d like,” Argos replied in an almost petulant tone.
“Boy, you are nothing like Chase.”
“That’s a compliment as far as I’m concerned, so thank you.”
It was her turn to ignore him. “You aren’t even half the man he is.”
Argos didn’t answer but she could see he hadn’t liked the comparison. Perhaps there was something she could push more on the subject.
“You do realize he is going to kill you?”
“He is welcome to try. Though, I don’t think ten of him could even manage to wound me.”
“You’re very confident even though we defeated you and your armada back on Earth.”
“Don’t get too cocky,” he replied sharply. “I decided getting you was more valuable than destroying your pathetic world that day. There is a difference between defeat and patience.”
“Losers will always find excuses.”
“Would you like to sleep some more?”
“Cowards too. Sure, put me to sleep if you aren’t man enough to talk with someone who you won’t even give a chance to defend herself.”
“Humans... you are nothing more than insects.”
“Say that to the Zarlacks that died at our hands.”
“Don’t flatter yourself. Zarlacks are nothing more than insects either, but I’ll give you this, you fought well.”
“We outsmarted you, plain and simple.”
“And look where it got you. I am going to kill your friend Ryonna. And your hands will be the ones that carry it out.”
Sarah faltered but tried to sound strong. “She won’t fall for it.”
“Let’s wait and see, shall we?”
They arrived at the end of a corridor, a huge, reinforced door blocking their path. Two more sentries were waiting there and entered into combat mode the moment they saw the pair arriving. They issued a single warning.
“Surrender immediately or be killed.”
Before Sarah could even blink, they collided with one another as if by magic and exploded into a million pieces on the ground.
“Great tactic. Now who is going to open these
doors for you?” she taunted.
“I don’t recall saying I needed anyone’s help.”
Argos took a fighting stance and pushed Sarah’s body out of the way. His teeth ground together and he made a growling sound as two bright red fireballs engulfed both of his fists. He released a huge shout and thrust both his fists towards the door. The fireballs merged into one and a ray of red energy melted through the metal as if it was nothing.
“Wow,” Sarah uttered against her will.
“And you think I’m afraid of Chase?”
She had no response to that. His power was even greater than she had feared. They stepped through what was left of the doors, the melted edges still burning red as countless convicts came running towards the entrance, clearly intrigued by what had just happened.
The first ones were a few feet away when Argos raised a single finger towards them. At first, it looked like nothing was happening. Then, he shot out three thin lasers, like stings.
The first convict, a human-looking female got her heart pierced; the second one, a race Sarah didn’t recognize, with green-spotted skin, got his brain pierced; while the third went towards the neck of an insectoid-looking convict, effectively decapitating him. Every single other convict around immediately froze, while the ones farther away just turned tail and started running. Argos grabbed one with his mind and sent him flying in the air for a few seconds. Sarah knew very well what was coming next, but before she could mentally prepare herself for the spectacle, the convict’s arms, legs, and head disconnected themselves and blood spilled all around.
When Argos took a step forward, the looks of everyone present were nothing short of terrified. They didn’t know what to do, too scared to move a single muscle.
“Alright, now that I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen, I am looking for a Droxian woman by the name of Ryonna. Anybody seen her?”
A convict stepped forward and pointed towards a set of corridors nearby.
“Speak,” ordered Argos.
“They... they went that way, sir. Please don’t kill me.”
“You’re all free to get out of this place, but if any of you try to approach my ship parked in docking bay five, well, I don’t have to tell you what will happen.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 54
