Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure

by Christian Kallias

  Another few minutes or hours wouldn’t make much of a difference anyway, he thought. And somehow he was glad she wasn’t there to see the damage with her own eyes, just as he could see it right now from orbit.

  14

  Time on the planet passed quickly, and it was just a week later that Chase and Sarah entered a room in the newly constructed headquarters of the Earth Alliance. Commodore Saroudis was there waiting for them in front of a huge conference table. When the pair walked inside, Saroudis took a few steps forward and shook Chase’s hand.

  “It’s good to see you again. Sorry I missed your debrief upon your return from Hellstar. It’s been busy.”

  “Thank you, Commodore. Congratulations on the promotion. And no worries. Under the circumstances it’s just normal.”

  “Thanks, Chase,” he said warmly. “Sarah, it’s good to see you as well.”

  She flashed a smile. “Thank you, Commodore, it is good to be back.”

  “Please, sit.” He gestured to the table. “I wish we had time to chitchat but there are lots of things we must talk about.”

  Chase nodded seriously as they all pulled up a chair. “I’ve seen the damage from orbit. I’m afraid to ask the number of casualties.”

  “I don’t even have a figure myself, Chase.” Saroudis shook his head sadly. “But we estimate a few million people died during the attack on Earth.”

  Sarah’s face paled. “Dear god!”

  “Yes, I know this must be quite a shock for you,” the commodore sympathized. “I am deeply sorry we weren’t able to do more for your planet.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. The Alliance risked everything to save Earth; without your help, we simply wouldn’t be here discussing this.”

  “I am somewhat relieved you see it that way. I’m not sure all the people of Earth will.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “Which cities took the brunt of the damage?”

  “Many capital cities, in fact.” He listed them off: “Los Angeles, Boston, Vancouver, Paris, London, Rome, New York—to a lesser degree—but the list goes on. While the damage has been substantial and the loss of life unthinkable, we have dispatched all the help we could to these cities to relocate survivors and start the process of rebuilding. Some of them were quite literally leveled during the assault.”

  She stared at her hands in her lap. “I can’t imagine what people must be feeling right now.”

  “Neither can I, Commander. But unfortunately, we can’t delve into this too much right now. There is a good chance Obsidian will continue attacking in the coming weeks. With the help of the Droxians, however, we should have a more defensible position, and with the Fifth Fleet’s arrival, our numbers are strengthening.”

  “That’s a lot to take in,” Chase murmured. “When we arrived on Earth, we knew things would be bad, but I had hoped we could have repelled this assault with far fewer casualties.”

  “We all did, Chase...” said the commodore gravely.

  “Where is Daniel?” Chase looked suddenly around. “I expected him to be here for this.”

  “I wanted him to captain the Destiny while I came down to Earth. While I don’t expect an imminent attack, I’d rather the ship was in good hands.”

  “Understood. What’s next, then?”

  “Many things, actually. With quadrinium now in abundant supply, we have quadrupled the construction of bots that are working relentlessly, some in damage control and some in churning out new battleships and defenses. We should have a larger network of orbital satellites in place within two weeks, and a brand new Prometheus-class battleship in the next few days.”

  “Prometheus class?” Chase raised his eyebrows.

  “Yes. Admiral Thassos was kind enough to provide the full specs she carried with her. The Prometheus class is another top-secret battleship design that was being built for testing when Obsidian attacked. Yanis has added a few things to improve upon the specs further.”

  “Of course he did.” Chase grinned. “What’s so different about it?”

  “I think it’s best I let him explain it himself. I know he wants to. But suffice it to say, it’s a smaller battleship, about thirty percent smaller in size than the Destiny, but packs new and improved engines that are up to twenty-five percent more efficient, with double and triple redundancies on critical systems. It also comes with prototype shields and is armed to the teeth. Yanis will brief you further. It could be a very important ship for reconnaissance missions, as it can handle its own with faster, sub-light engines, more maneuverability, and stronger shields. It’s the perfect ship to start exploring what was once Alliance space to look for more survivors while we try to find new allies.”

  “That sounds good.” Chase nodded approvingly. “What about the Droxians? How serious are they about joining the Earth Alliance?”

  “Almost a done deal. There are a few details being ironed out, but for now it looks like we may have just scored the biggest ally we could hope for under the circumstances.”

  “Maybe it will push other worlds to join in as well.”

  The commodore nodded. “We can only hope so. We still have no idea of how strong the Zarlack forces are. We might just have seen the tip of the spear here.”

  Chase shuddered. “That’s a scary thought.”

  “Yes, it is. But at least now with the shipyard churning out vessels and the Droxians in the fold, we can actually start planning search and rescue missions.”

  Chase sat up quickly. “I would really like to be part of the first mission that goes to Alpha Prime.”

  “So would I,” added Sarah.

  Saroudis smiled. “I predicted that, so in a few days, when the Hope is ready, you can take her on her maiden voyage.”

  “What about you, Commodore?” Chase frowned. “Wouldn’t you want the honors?”

  “I would, Chase, but I need to keep supervising things here. You might have to get the admiral’s permission and probably take an escort as well, but I’d rather send you and Sarah on this. You two demonstrated great resilience whilst finding reinforcements and quadrinium. Maybe the gods are smiling on you two.”

  Chase almost wanted to explain that Olympians weren’t really gods, just a more advanced species, but he also knew Commodore Saroudis was a believer, so for the time being, he simply smiled and nodded in agreement. After all, who was he to belittle someone’s beliefs? If it helped Saroudis and others to think of Olympians as gods, then so be it.

  Sarah got up and went to the nearest window. They were in a tall building and the view should have been breathtaking. It still was—only in all the wrong ways. Houses were flattened, trees were scorched. It was a planet on the mend. A planet still licking its wounds.

  Sarah pondered the extent of the scars left on humanity’s psyche. Yes, the arrival of the fleet had brought about an end to global famine, disease, and war. But still, looking around now raised a hell of a lot of questions.

  Could this have been avoided had the Alliance never jumped near Earth?

  The two men watched her for a moment, until Chase made a discreet hand gesture, asking for a moment. The commodore got up graciously, announcing he’d return with coffee.

  Once the sliding doors to the conference room had closed, Chase got up and put his arms gently around Sarah’s trembling body, kissing her warmly on the cheek. She jumped a little, as if just realizing that he was there, but then leaned back into him.

  “Are you alright, sweetie?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You’re thinking about Uncle Peter?”

  Upon their arrival on Earth, Sarah had immediately gotten a message letting her know that her uncle had been killed in the attack.

  “Yeah. I still can’t believe he is gone. I can’t believe how many are gone.” She pulled herself together and straightened her shoulders. “But now is not the time.”

  Chase hung his head. “I’m really sorry. I feel… responsible for all of this, you know.”

  “Well you shoul
dn’t.” She took a deep breath. “If it wasn’t for you, there’s a good chance we would all be dead right now.”

  “Nevertheless, I can’t help it.”

  Sarah stayed silent.

  “When is your uncle’s funeral?”

  “The day after tomorrow. I’d like you to come with me...” Her voice trailed off.

  “Of course I’ll come.”

  He tightened his embrace and kissed her on the head, feeling a little frustrated that the only thing he could do to help her in this situation was provide emotional support.

  There was just too much going on these last few weeks. Hell, these last few days. He needed a moment to pause, a moment to plot out his next move without being worried that he was accidentally going to rip the fabric of the universe in two with his mind…

  Little things like that.

  Both Sarah and Chase turned when the doors slid open. Instead of the commodore, it was Yanis holding a tray with three cups on it.

  “Coffee delivery anyone?” he said cheerfully. “Looks like this is the right place… May I?”

  “Sure, come in. Where’s the commodore?” inquired Chase, clearly surprised to see Yanis come back instead of him.

  “He had an errand to run, I think. Not that anyone tells me anything, as per usual. Basically I ended up with a tray in my hands and was told to come here and debrief you on my latest genius advancements.”

  “Sounds good to me. Sit down, my friend,” said Chase, gesturing Yanis to where the commodore was sitting a few minutes ago.

  “Thanks.” He sank down and grabbed himself a cup before spotting Sarah still standing in the corner. “Oh, um… hello, Sarah,” he said tentatively, sensing she wasn’t feeling very well.

  “Hey, Yanis, it’s good to see you.” She joined them at the table.

  “It’s good to see you too! We were really worried after the battle. I’m so glad we got you back.”

  At his words, Sarah felt a sharp prickle in her heart. Good intentioned as they were, any reminder of her time spent with Argos was enough to send her into a tailspin. She tried to push these thoughts out of her mind as much as she could, but it wasn’t easy. This particular wound was still quite fresh. That being said, she was a soldier first and foremost. Time to toughen up.

  “Thank you. It’s good to be back,” she said, only a slight waver in her tone.

  Yanis remained cheerfully oblivious. “Interesting drink this coffee.” He took a sip and smiled. “I’ve never had anything like it.”

  Sarah nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know if I could live without it.”

  Chase leaned forward, steering them back on course. “So, Yanis, what do you have for us?” he said as cheerfully as he could.

  “Plenty, as a matter of fact.” The master engineer reached into his pocket and took out a small, cylindrical device that he slid to the middle of the conference table. Almost immediately, a holographic display shot out—representing the new battleship.

  “Let me guess… the Prometheus-class destroyer?” Chase asked casually.

  Yanis frowned. “No spoilers!” They both cracked a smile. “Indeed, this is a Prometheus-class ship, currently being assembled in orbit of Earth. And guys, trust me, it’s one hell of a ship. I managed to cram all the latest tech from both our inventory as well as the prototype tech the admiral had specs on.”

  The view of the new tech got Sarah’s attention, diverting away some of her grief. “Wow, that’s a nice looking ship,” she said with genuine interest.

  “Well, thank you,” Yanis replied proudly.

  “So give us the run down,” she continued. “What does it do better than your current lineup?”

  “I’ll show you.” Yanis leaned in and pointed at different parts of the display. “The main feat here is it uses a twin quadrinium core. This provides not only a redundancy, but allows this baby to pack quite a punch in terms of both defensive and offensive capabilities.”

  He went on to explain how the ship could use both core engines at once with a reserve power that was constantly replenished, similar to how the F-140s had been equipped but on a much larger scale. In fact, even when both engines were damaged, the ship could use the emergency power supply to make a medium-size jump. That alone was enough to awaken in Chase a real excitement about captaining it soon. But it turned out that was only the tip of the iceberg.

  With the combined power of the twin engines and the reserve power, the ship could, if necessary, power a brand new plasma cannon—firing a concentrated beam of plasma on which both amplitude and power could be modulated. Yanis explained that the ship could, in fact, even deliver a single pulse that would use every bit of power the ship had to fire a super powerful shot. A shot that he believed would be able to lower the shields of the behemoth Zarlack monstrosity that had attacked Earth. According to Yanis, it could even destroy a small moon.

  “That’s excellent news. We need to be able to take out more of these behemoth starships in the future… and at a much lower cost…” said Chase, with more than a little regret.

  “Yeah, that was my thought as well,” Yanis agreed. “However, there’s a catch.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “The all-power shot would temporarily disable the ship in the process.” He paused. “For shields and life support to get back up to twenty percent, the ship would require sixty seconds, another minute or so for full main power to the weapons and sub-light engines, and at least five minutes to get all systems back to full power and restore the jump engines.”

  Chase frowned. “Can’t we simply use the power of the twin engines and reserve the backup power to do all these things after the shot?”

  “You can, and that’s how it is set by default. But it will lessen your power shot by roughly twenty-five percent. Plus, you’d still need a minute or two before you could fire again while the gun’s plasma chambers recharge. But in the meantime, shields, laser turrets, and torpedoes would still be at your disposal.”

  “Then I don’t see a problem,” Chase said confidently. “I suppose two or three of these shots would still disable the Zarlack capital ship’s shield.”

  Yanis considered. “Probably. It depends how fast their shields would recharge in between hits. But the point I’m trying to make here is that the Heracles cannon also has that gamble type of firing, but that would require you to go ‘all-in,’ as the humans say. So while this is very risky, it’s still an option. I know it’s the kind of edge you might want to use in one of those over-the-top, bat-shit crazy ideas you seem to concoct under pressure. No offense.”

  Chase grinned. “None taken, and duly deserved. I’m glad that something like this can be done. It might even save our asses one day.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Yanis looked up sharply. “But don’t jinx us.”

  “What is it called?” Sarah asked.

  “EAD Hope,” Yanis replied, literally beaming with pride.

  Chase frowned in confusion. “EAD?”

  “We renamed the Alliance, if you remember.”

  Yanis went on to explain that since the ship had, for all intents and purposes, almost double the power of even bigger class destroyers in the fleet, it would make a perfect ship to churn out in large numbers fast. It was clearly a war machine first and foremost, but its added speed in hyperspace as well as superior sub-light speed made it also a great exploration ship.

  “Why would we build anything but these, then?” asked Chase.

  “Well, we still require larger ships as carriers. This can only accommodate two squadrons of fighters and lacks the tube-cannon launching system. So you can’t deploy a squadron as fast as on the Destiny, for example.”

  “Yeah, two squadrons if the ship is alone can be a little tight.”

  “That’s where the F-147 StarCrusher comes in.”

  “The what now?” Sarah asked, a twinkle in her beautiful green eyes.

  “Yeah, the what?” echoed Chase.

  “Shush, he’s talking fighters,” she said
with a smile.

  This time, the whole table cracked a laugh. Then Yanis got up and pressed something on his wrist device. The hologram immediately changed to display what looked awfully like an F-140 Thunderbolt.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, let me present you the new and improved version of my already very popular space-worthy fighter bomber.” When he received nothing but blank stares, Yanis’ face fell. “I… I expected some applause.”

  “F-147 StarCrusher?” Chase asked. “StarCrusher? Really? That’s what you’re naming it? And why F-147 and not F-141?”

  “Finally some reaction! Not the kind I expected, but, well,” said Yanis, scratching his head. “And yes, I think it’s a cool name. If you don’t like it, bite me! As for the number, I like the number seven and I added at least seven new technologies to the craft. So there, a little creative freedom if you please?”

  “Easy, tiger,” Sarah soothed, trying to diffuse the testosterone-infused hiccup. “StarCrusher isn’t that bad, and if worse comes to worse, we can rename it later. What really interests me is what it can do.”

  “Right.” Yanis pouted. “We can rename it later... or not.”

  “Yanis,” interjected Chase.

  “Okay, okay… It can do a lot, in fact. As you well know, despite its glowing reputation, the F-140 was a bit of a rush job. We were under imminent threat; we had to do the modifications fast and we really went super raw on the types of systems we were able to include.”

  “If you ask me, it’s one hell of a ship, raw or not,” Sarah offered.

  “Well, thank you.” Yanis glowed. “And I agree. Not only that, but analyzing the logs and stats from the last battle seemed to confirm that as well. The Thunderbolt outperformed and out-killed the Manticore-class fighters. Granted, both of the best pilots were using them so that could affect the overall stats, but in the end it became clear that it is a very efficient ship. So I’ve been working on this ever since the first F-140 got built. With the arrival of the Omega fighters, I was tempted to just drop it and try duplicating Admiral Thassos’ new toys, but I had invested so much in it already, it seemed a shame. So I thought the F-140 deserved a much leaner, streamlined and technology-infused upgrade. My thinking was to try and make a bridge between the F-140 and the Omegas. That way, I could bring the best of both worlds into a new ship. Hence, the F-147.”