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

by Christian Kallias

  “Well, it seems your doppelgänger has been removed from command.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. About time, too.”

  “It doesn’t matter anyway. Thanks to her we’ve managed to expand unchallenged these past few weeks. She has fulfilled her primary mission.”

  “You have no intention of ever letting me out of here alive, do you?”

  “That depends. Would you reconsider our previous talk about giving me the command codes for the planetary shield?”

  “I can’t do that. I won’t!”

  He sensed that she meant it with every fiber of her being. Argos wondered if perhaps breaking her was worth it. But since the admiral’s clone had reported that the AI now protecting Earth could retake control of the planetary shield at any time she pleased, it seemed futile to invest time and effort getting the codes anyway. He would have to find another way to work around this shield when the time came to crush Earth once and for all.

  “What about Commodore Saroudis? Any way I can exploit a weakness there? I hear the two of you are close.”

  “Go fuck yourself!”

  I guess not.

  “Well then, this is goodbye.”

  “What? Wait!”

  But Argos didn’t. He closed his fist and the admiral exploded, painting the room red.

  8

  Chase sat on the bridge of the Hope. He was a little surprised to have still been given command of the strongest battleship in the fleet. But that made sense in a strategic way. While his superior and friend Saroudis was annoyed with him, he was no fool and still recognized what Chase had to offer on the battlefield. They had made the jump toward Alpha Prime that morning. Chase’s blood was pumping. The attempt to find survivors on their home world, as well as reclaim it, was a long time coming. The Droxians had sent four battleships and the Obsidian another three. Chase was confident that twelve battleships were more than enough to accomplish their mission.

  “Yanis to the captain.”

  “Go ahead, Yanis, what can I do for you?”

  “Can you please come down to engineering. I need to show you something.”

  “On my way.”

  In engineering, Yanis had a holo-display of the StarFury specs rotating on its vertical axis.

  “What is it, my friend?”

  “To counter the Zarlack’s kamikaze tactics I’ve made modifications to the StarFuries.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I’ve found a way to flash charge the jump-engine chambers to seventy percent. And it only takes twenty seconds to do so.”

  “Are you telling me we can jump the ship every twenty seconds?”

  “Yep, and that was not easy. I almost blew myself up a few times in the process. Our current capacitors’ designs were never meant to be charged so fast. I must have destroyed at least one hundred of them until I found the right way to do this. I just didn’t have time to implement a macro that would allow the StarFury to make a much larger jump than before using this upgrade. Since it will emerge from hyperspace on a regular basis, it’s still a far cry from jumping with a destroyer or a jumpgate, and the range is still limited by the total amount of quadrinium in your chambers. I will see if there’s a way to equip the StarFury with a larger quadrinium chamber to increase its range in the future.”

  “This is great news. As always, great job, pal,” said Chase, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

  “Yes, but I must warn you that I stumbled onto an interesting side effect in the process.”

  “Oh really? And what’s that?”

  “The key to flash charging the capacitors without blowing up the ship in the process was to feed multiple smaller power streams to it, rather than a single overload pulse.”

  “And?”

  “Well, then it came to me. Since I would have to redesign a good portion of the power distribution circuits in the StarFuries anyway, what if I could channel more power to other parts of the ship.”

  “What are you telling me?”

  “I’ve placed power converters all around the ship’s external armor. When your shields are taxed, a small part of that power is syphoned back into the ship.”

  “Does that mean the more we get hit the more power we get?”

  “That’s the idea, yes. Each impact with the shield will convert a little of that spent energy to recharge the engines, the weapons and a few other systems, making the StarFury even more resilient.”

  “Are all the StarFuries already modified?”

  “No, I only managed the stable modification of the new power distribution system and overhaul of the power circuits about ten days ago. But a good third of our fighters on board have been overhauled.”

  “That’s already a lot of ships.”

  “There’s a little catch, though.”

  “Why don’t I like the sound of that?”

  “Well, you see if your shields receive a hit that drains them entirely in one shot—say, for example, from a Zarlack destroyer’s fully powered plasma shot—the ship may overload.”

  “That’s not good.”

  “I know, and I will try to find a way around it, but my analysis of battle logs shows this is a very rare scenario in large-scale battles. The destroyers usually pound other destroyers with these types of weapons. They let their smaller fighters deal with our StarFuries.”

  “Then we’d better hope they don’t change their tactics.”

  “Don’t worry, pal, I’ll have that fixed on my next iteration. I just need to work on it more and could use Spiros’ help too, but he’s been too busy working on your training facilities back on Earth lately. I think he has a thing for Gaia.”

  Chase raised an eyebrow.

  “You do realize she’s artificial, an AI? Sure, she has a personality and she is clearly a self-aware being, but . . .”

  “Yeah, well, lately he doesn’t even call to say hi anymore.”

  “Are you jealous?” said Chase with a playful smile.

  Yanis punched him on the shoulder. “Don’t be dumb. I’m just saying, we haven’t seen him here much lately.”

  Yanis grimaced and held his fist in his other hand.

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine, but what are you made of? Steel?”

  Chase chuckled. “I understand you miss having Spiros around, but I for one am very grateful for the job he did on the training facility. That place will help me unlock more of my abilities. These past few weeks I’ve felt stronger than I ever thought possible.”

  “I’m glad to hear it. We’ll sure need that.”

  “Yeah, but for once I feel ready instead of overwhelmed. But enough about me. How are you doing these days?”

  “I’m okay. I just hate being away from Earth all the time.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Finally scored a girlfriend. She’s an engineer working on the admiral’s ship. We really clicked.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, buddy. Don’t worry, we’ll be back on Earth in no time.”

  “Chase?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sorry you got demoted.”

  “Don’t worry, pal, you know I don’t really care for rank.”

  “Still, I think it was harsh, after everything you’ve done. I’d expect you’d be captain instead of back to lieutenant.”

  “Doesn’t matter, Yanis. Do we have enough StarFuries for me to remote fly a few when we arrive on Alpha Prime?”

  “There’re a few in reserve just for you, but is it wise to try and captain the Hope and fly these remotely?”

  “My brain seems to handle it fine, but don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

  “And if you could make sure my sister is safe.”

  “She’s an officer in the Earth Alliance. She doesn’t need patronizing, and she is more than equipped to take care of herself.”

  “You know what I mean, Chase.”

  “Yeah, I’ll keep her safe.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I should get back to my quart
ers. Sarah is waiting for me.”

  “How are the two of you doing? I got the feeling it was rocky between the two of you lately.”

  “Just before we left for this mission she asked that we talk and things are getting better.”

  “You must feel relieved.”

  “Indeed, with Chris only a few months from being born, the last thing I want is tension between us. But I understand why she felt the way she did.”

  “Speaking of which, how come she came on this mission? Wouldn’t it have been safer for her to stay on Earth in her condition.”

  “She’d tell you she’s pregnant, not disabled, and I wouldn’t mention it to her either if I were you. That is, if you value the use of your fingers.”

  “She wouldn’t?”

  “No, but you’d get a mouthful nonetheless. I think her mood swings with her pregnancy are stronger than the average human.”

  “No doubt because she’s carrying a Fury hybrid.”

  “Yeah, that seems to be the consensus amongst the docs as well.”

  “Say hello for me, then.”

  “Will do. Thanks, Yanis.”

  When Chase arrived before his quarters he paused for a second. His heart was beating fast. He felt a little like he did when he had first met Sarah, shy and worried about his next move. Their last kissing session removed some of the tension, but he still felt uneasy. Still, if the commodore could focus on the mission without putting his own family in the equation, perhaps there was something he could learn from it. He too should set aside his personal life struggles while on a mission. And for a brief instant he contemplated going for a run instead. But that wasn’t putting his emotions on the side; that was running away and not facing his fears. So he decided against it.

  When the door opened he saw Sarah sleeping with her back toward the bulkhead. When the door closed she opened her eyes and yawned.

  “You okay?” said Chase, still not sure what to say to her.

  She yawned again.

  “This son of yours is draining the life out of me. I have to eat three times as much as before.”

  Chase smiled. “He’s your son, too.”

  “You know what I mean. Come, sit.”

  Chase sat next to her on the bed.

  “Look, Sarah—”

  She put her finger to his mouth. “Shhhh, no talking.”

  She embraced him vigorously and they kissed.

  They made passionate love, and all of Chase’s worries and uneasiness vanished for a little while.

  An hour later they lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

  “That was pretty good, sailor.”

  He smiled.

  “I missed your smile so much,” said Sarah as she gently brushed the back of her hand against his cheek.

  “I’ve missed you too. Before I learned you were still alive I never thought I would get the chance to see you again. Experiencing this every day was the hardest part.”

  “It must have been very hard. I’m sorry for giving you so much flak about it. But you understand how I felt, right?”

  “I do. It still stung a little, but you had every right to be mad at me.”

  “You have to understand one thing, Chase. I was mad, yes; a little scared; but also overwhelmed by it all. I witnessed everything my clone did. I know you two also made love when I was being held prisoner. That was not easy to accept, even though I can’t blame you for that. She was my exact duplicate, after all. In fact, seeing it unfold felt like a good dream sometimes. But then it turned to nightmares when she got up in the middle of the night and started plotting against the Earth Alliance. She almost destroyed my planet singlehandedly.”

  “The important thing is she didn’t. I’m so sorry you had to go through all this.”

  “Not your fault. If anything you’re the reason it’s all over now. Except . . .”

  “Except I put everyone’s lives in jeopardy.”

  “You know what, it was unfair of me to go there again. I don’t want any tension between us. We’re soon to be parents. We must put this behind us. If not for ourselves, then for Chris.”

  “I agree. But the fact remains, I’ve helped Argos bring back the Furies. But we’ll defeat them. We have to.”

  “We do. But aren’t you worried you’re outnumbered now? It was already difficult fighting Argos, but now we have a planet full of them to deal with.”

  “We’ll find a way. When the current crisis is over, I’ll go speak to Zeus.”

  “I thought he wanted nothing to do with us.”

  “Ares believes that with the Furies back in the picture, we might be able to strike a deal with the Olympians.”

  “That seems like a long shot, but I guess we don’t really have any choice.”

  “We might, actually. If the Olympians refuse to help we’ll try to locate the Asgardians.”

  “As in the Norse gods of Asgard? Thor and his bunch?”

  “You’ve heard of them?”

  “Yes, the Nordic mythology is well known on Earth, almost as well as the Greek one, in fact. More in northern Europe, though.”

  “What can you tell me about it?”

  “Legend has it Thor is very attractive,” said Sarah with a playful yet lusty smile.

  “Very funny!”

  She laughed, but then proceeded to describe the myths and legends she knew about the Norse gods for a good half an hour. Her tales captivated Chase.

  “They might be as powerful as the Olympians. Ares thinks their advanced technology could be of great use to us.”

  “Would be great if we got both Olympians and the Asgard gods—what did you call them? Asgardians?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, if we can get them both on our side, perhaps we do stand a chance.”

  “Ares believes it’s unlikely. The rivalry between the two runs too deep.”

  “In the face of extinction, perhaps this will get resolved.”

  “Perhaps. In any case, we’ll need new powerful allies. But that will have to wait. Right now the target is to reclaim my home world.”

  “You must be ecstatic at the thought of seeing survivors. Who knows, perhaps even some friends.”

  “Most of my friends were in the Destiny’s battlegroup, except Fillio and a handful of other fighter pilots. It would sure be great if some of them survived, but like Saroudis said, this is not a personal mission, for either of us.”

  “I understand, and he’s right. The mission is to get your world back and rescue the survivors, whoever they turn out to be.”

  “How do you want to play this when we arrive? I’d rather you didn’t climb in a StarFury.”

  She shot him a look.

  “We’ve talked about this before. Actually, you talked with my clone about it. As confusing as it all is, I agree with the sermon she gave you. I’m not made of glass.”

  “And you know I agree.”

  “But don’t worry, thanks to your pestering Yanis about remote controlling fighters, I can simply fly one from the bridge, right?”

  “Yep. So the only thing you need to worry about is making sure the Hope doesn’t get destroyed.”

  “Yeah, should be simple enough, right?”

  They both laughed.

  “More seriously, though, perhaps you’d like to be the Hope’s wing commander. I was about to say ‘again’ but then realized . . .”

  “That the first time it was my clone. You really don’t have to tiptoe around that. It will take some time to get used to the fact that she replaced me for a while. I have accepted it. As for being wing commander, that’s sweet, Chase, but a wing commander should be in her ship when her wing-mates go into battle, so I’d rather you let Fillio assume that role.”

  “Very well, it’s settled then.”

  They resumed kissing.

  Argos entered the supreme commander’s throne room. It felt really empty without the hundreds of warriors who all witnessed him getting his punishment last time, even if they were just present holographi
cally. When he arrived at the top of the stairs, Supreme Commander Arakan gestured him to come close.

  “Supreme Commander, I’m reporting for duty as ordered,” said Argos after taking a knee.

  “Rise, Argos. I had a chat with Miseo. He told me your intel and strategy has been incredibly useful for our expansion.”

  “I’m glad to serve my people.”

  “Good. And I’m glad our initial talk cleared any misunderstandings.”

  If that’s your version of an apology, I’ll take it.

  “It did, Supreme Commander.”

  “What have you to report?”

  “The Alliance has taken the bait and are going back to their home world as we speak.”

  “I take it you’ve prepared a little surprise for them once they arrive?”

  “I did, but I’m sure my brother will manage to regain control of their sector.”

  “Then why not simply send more forces there? What are you trying to pull, Argos?”

  “Supreme Commander, if I may, this is just a diversion. While they’re fighting to regain control of Alpha Prime, we can safely attack and destroy Droxia.”

  “They have a huge contingent of ships protecting that world, and it only takes three hours for the humans to travel to their rescue with their jumpgate. Are you certain your plan is sound? We can’t risk losing too many of the Zarlack fleet until our own ships are fully operational.”

  “And we won’t. I have made sure of it, Supreme Commander. I would only require that you give me a few of your best fighters, so they can destroy Droxia from within while we divert their fleet away from orbit. I have a little surprise for them.”

  “Wouldn’t you and Miseo suffice for that task?”

  “While Droxians are no match for any of us individually, we’re still talking about destroying multiple cities and nearly five billion Droxians in just a few hours.”

  “Clearly you haven’t seen my son Miseo fight yet. But fine, I’ll send one of my strongest generals with you as well. You, however, will stay with the fleet. Your plan seems to require precise planning. It may be wise for you to be directing the ships while General Arkoolis and Miseo wipe the Droxians off the face of their world.”

  “Very well, Supreme Commander. We’ll be jumping to Droxia within the hour.”