Vyleria chuckled. “I won’t. Hey, what’s that you’re eating?”
“Don’t you remember?” said Jack. “My Mum and Dad used to make it for me all the time back home. It’s called gooseberry crumble, I used to hate it back then…”
“Then why are you eating it now?” asked Vyleria, watching Jack pour a steaming-hot jug of custard all over his dessert.
“It reminds me of them,” he said in between bites. “Reminds me of what I’ve lost, what I’ve gained.” He looked into Vyleria’s flame-red eyes. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you miss Elaria? You haven’t mentioned what happened since the rescue.”
Vyleria froze, the colour in her face draining away in an instant. “I… I can’t… It’s too…” She put her head in her hands.
“It’s okay,” said Jack, putting his arm around her. “We can talk about it if you’d like?”
“Not right now,” she said, shaking her head. “Later perhaps…”
“Okay, if you’re sure?”
She nodded. “Don’t worry about me.”
It was about an hour later when Jack finally stopped eating. Altogether he had destroyed five plates of fish and chips, three steak pies, four sausage rolls, six bacon butties, eleven chocolate eclairs, six glasses of Vimto and one bowl of gooseberry crumble. It might have only been re-constituted light, but it was the best meal he had ever had. He looked around the table at Vyleria, Grunt, Xylem, Padget and Kat. They had arrived in some cases as implacable enemies, and yet here they were now – friends, lovers, comrades. Had the Galactic Alliance always known this was going to happen? Perhaps, perhaps not; but one thing was for sure they were going to honour their memory, build on their legacy, and finish a war that the Scourge had started long ago.
“Jack,” said Vyleria, looking at her holowatch. All the colour had drained from her face. “Our scans have picked up what looks like a very large Scourge fleet massing just beyond the orbit of Pluto. What do we do?”
“The only thing we can do,” said Jack, looking everyone in the eye. “We attack.”
Chapter Thirty-Four: Initial Maneuvers
“But we don’t have enough ships or soldiers,” said Vyleria.
“Of course, we don’t,” said Jack. “We never did, but we’ve got to try, the alternative is death or slavery.”
“But…”
“I know… I know,” said Jack, voice straining. “But it’s all we have.”
“I…”
“He’sss right,” hissed Xylem. “No more sssurrender. No more ssstepsss back.”
“I agree with Xylem,” said Grunt, voice thunderous.
“Me too,” said Padget and Kat almost simultaneously.
“But you know what’s going to happen,” said Vyleria, voice breaking, “they enslaved my people – made them into dreadnuts, then killed them all anyway just to spite me.”
“We understand the risks,” said Padget. “We’ve been preparing for this battle for a long time now.”
“You’ve only just started!” shouted Vyleria. “You don’t have the experience, the knowledge – I do! They are going to KILL you! They are going to KILL you ALL!”
“That’s enough,” said Jack. “You’re scaring them.”
“That’s my point!” shouted Vyleria. “I’m trying to save their lives.”
“No, it’s alright. We understand, don’t we?” said Kat, looking around the room. Everyone nodded. “See?”
“But…”
“WE understand Vyleria, more than you think,” said Kat. “We have no plan, no back-up, scant reserves. We are facing certain death, but we are going to try anyway, because that is what we do. Retreat and surrender are not options!”
“I won’t do it without you,” said Jack, looking into Vyleria’s molten eyes. “I’ve come to far to force you to do anything; we fight as a team or not at all.”
“I’ll do it,” she said finally, wiping her eyes. “Not because I believe in what you are saying but because you are my friends and I won’t let you down; I couldn’t save my own people, maybe I can save you.”
“Good,” said Jack, holding her gaze. “If I fall, I fall by your side.”
Vyleria thrust her head in her hands. “Oh Jack,” she said, “what did I ever do to deserve you?”
“I was going to say the same about you,” he said, walking up next to her. “Besides we aren’t alone. Look!”
Vyleria opened her eyes and looked at the view screen. The black canvass of space was etched with all manner of ships and spacecraft. Earth had sent a few squadrons of TR3-b’s, the Asvari about a hundred of their flying saucers. The Paldovian ships were quite numerous too, though these were large and bulky, more like ore mining ships than military vessels. The rest of the fleet was made up of thousands of drones Jack had made specially for the battle against the Scourge. They glittered in space like a huge silver necklace. There were also three juggernauts of metal idling by one of the Moon’s craters.
“Xenti battleshipsss,” hissed Xylem. “Where did you find them? I thought they were all dessstroyed by the Ssscourge.”
“They were hiding on the far fringes of the galaxy,” said Jack. “Nothing can avoid our scanners. I expected to find them raiding, pillaging, but it was quite the reverse. They were eking out a living asteroid mining and using the proceeds to trade with a pre-light speed civilisation nearby. It just goes to show what can happen to a militaristic culture when it is allowed to break free of its bonds.”
“We shall sssee,” hissed Xylem. “Now is not the time for peaccce, it’sss a time for WAR! Sssend me over there now.”
“What? You can’t be serious?” said Jack.
“Like a rattlesssnake,” rasped Xylem. “I need to essstablish a command ssstructure, issssue ordersss, put them into fighting shape.”
“But Xylem…”
“He’s right Jack,” said Grunt.
“What? You’re agreeing with HIM?” said Jack. “When I found you both of you were fighting on opposite sides.”
“Yeah well, things have changed,” said Grunt, his huge frame a walking shadow. “We have more in common than I thought; besides, we both owe the Scourge some payback.”
“We all do,” said Padget.
“What? Not you too?” said Jack.
Padget nodded, face like a gravestone. “I want to be with my people for this,” he said, “hers too.” He nodded at Kat. “Besides you don’t need me here, not now, all you need is Vyleria. This ship only really needs one pilot and one back-up just in case.”
“So, you’re going too?” asked Jack.
“Yes,” said Kat, looking at Padget. “It’s the only way.”
“The only way for what?”
“Nothing.”
“Okay fine, have it your way,” he said, looking at all of them in turn. “But stay in touch constantly and if anything happens to your ships, I’m recalling you straight away.”
“You’re not going to stop us?” asked Padget.
“No,” said Jack, “it seems like you have minds of your own now, and who am I to say otherwise?”
“Well, you are the Captain,” said Padget. “You could just order us to stay put. Hell, you could put us all in jail cells for mutiny if you so wished.”
“Shh, don’t give him ideas,” hissed Kat.
“It’s okay,” said Jack. “I won’t force you to do anything against your own volition, BUT you will obey my orders during the battle. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes SIR!” they all shouted in agreement, even Vyleria.
“Okay good, let’s do this,” said Jack. “Go to your ships, prepare your forces. I want to hear back from you in ten minutes. We are going to war.”
They disappeared one by one, turning the spaceship into an empty tomb. He wondered if would see any of them alive again.
Pluto…
It looked like a dirty snooker ball, with a heart-shaped wedge covering most of its southern hemisphere. In the dis
tance five moons performed a dance they had been doing since the birth of the solar system.
“Where are they?” asked Vyleria. “We’ve been here for hours already; the perimeter couldn’t be any more secure.”
“I don’t know,” said Jack, peering into the pitch-black canvass. “The scans picked them up earlier, then they disappeared.”
“Do you think it’s a trick?” she asked. “Perhaps it was a ruse to lure us out of hiding, get us far away from Earth.”
Jack shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Dunno, just a feeling I guess, they are out there I’m sure of it.”
“You’re so tense,” she said, stroking his shoulders from outside the pilot’s console. “You should take a rest, let me pilot the spaceship for a while, I can keep in touch with the rest of the fleet.”
“It’s the war,” said Jack, in an emotionless tone, “the responsibility; I couldn’t sleep now even if I wanted to.”
“Can I do anything to help?”
“Keep talking,” he said, smiling briefly. “That’s enough, though you may need to pull up an extra weapons console. We could do with doubling our firepower, it’s going to get very hot shortly.”
Vyleria was about to respond when the ship’s control room crackled with life.
“We’re under attack… we need reinforcements, bring…”
There was the sound of weapons fire, followed by an explosion, then the voice went dead.
“That was Alpha squadron,” said Vyleria, “they are out just beyond Charon, Pluto’s largest moon.”
“Alpha squadron, this is Jack. What’s going on? Report.”
Nothing but ice cold static.
“Alpha squadron!”
The control room erupted with laughter. It wasn’t human. “They’re dead Jack, all of them. Swatted like flies; like the rest of you huddled around that pathetic ball of ice. We are going to annihilate you, we are going to destroy you ship by ship, planet by planet. Unless you surrender of course, right here, right now. I can be merciful to my enemies…”
“I’ve seen your mercy,” said Jack, making sure his reply was broadcast to the whole fleet, “on countless other worlds, to hundreds of civilisations. There is no salvation to be found there, only death, misery and a life of mechanical slavery. You can flog your bargains elsewhere Lava man, we’re not buying.”
“So be it,” said Lava man. “Then face your doom.”
“Everyone stay calm,” said Jack to the whole fleet, “get ready for the storm, stand your ground, don’t be…”
The pitch-black canvass of space swirled with colour, as a million pinpricks of light hurtled towards them.
It had begun.
Chapter Thirty-Five: The Battle for Pluto
The Scourge fleet was arrayed like an inverted boomerang, the outer ships looping around Jack’s armada. Each ship was shaped like a giant diamond, their hulls coated by a strange organic material. The substance oozed liquid as it belched and squirmed over their hulls.
“Is that what I think it is?” said Vyleria.
“Yes,” said Jack, trying not to look too closely and yet unable to take his eyes off the Scourge ships. “They are covered in skin, organs, bones.” Weapons of terror…
“So, the one we met at Europa after the Nevada attack wasn’t a one-off?” said Vyleria.
“Guess not,” said Jack, fighting back a wave of nausea.
“But there’s millions of them,” said Vyleria. “How many bodies does it take to…”
“Does it matter?” said Jack, more angrily than he intended. “We’ve just got to make sure that it’s not our skins covering those ships.”
“Elaria…” said Vyleria, voice cracking.
“Vyleria, are you okay?” said Jack, spinning round. “I know this is hard, but I need you to focus on the battle, we can’t afford to be weak right now, the odds…”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she said, voice shaking slightly. “I’ll pay them back; for all of us.”
“I know you will,” said Jack giving her a reassuring smile.
“I wonder why they haven’t attacked yet?” said Vyleria. “We are completely outnumbered.”
“They are waiting for us to make the first move,” said Jack, eyeing the Scourge fleet.
“But the plan? We agreed to remain in orbit around Pluto at all costs, to avoid being flanked.”
“I’m sure they know that too,” said Jack. “They’re hoping we will break position and engage them where they are at their weakest; then they’ll close in and swallow us like flies in a Venus fly trap.”
“But there’s millions of them Jack, our chances are slim at best, what could they have to fear?”
“US,” said Jack, “or more particularly this spaceship; this is why Lava man wanted it in the first place. It has the power to destroy him, I’m sure of it.”
“Then why haven’t we found out how to do it yet?”
“I don’t know,” said Jack, “maybe we aren’t looking in the right place, perhaps we haven’t found the right weapon, the right app…”
THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! POWER DOWN YOUR WEAPONS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM THE SCOURGE. THOSE WHO ACQUIESCE IN OUR DOMINION WILL BE REWARDED. THOSE WHO REBEL WILL BE ERADICATED. YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO COMPLY. RESISTANCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
“Stand your ground!” shouted Jack, addressing the fleet. “There are those among you who don’t have homes to go back to, and those who stand to lose them if they surrender to the Scourge’s tyranny. Hold the line and fight for each other. We fight now not for our own separate worlds but for all peoples across the galaxy. We…”
The space around Pluto erupted like a gazillion fireworks as the Scourge ships surged forward like a tide, closing the distance between the two fleets in seconds.
In the time it took Jack to blink thousands of lives leached into the vacuum as the whole battle line was bombarded with laser fire. Dimly, Jack took in a Xenti battleship twirling down to the planet’s surface, the front half riddled with weapons fire. As it crashed into the plains of frozen nitrogen huge gouts of steam rushed up from the surface, obliterating the ship in an explosion of compressed air. A squadron of TR3-bs were destroyed without a shot being fired, overrun by ten of the Scourge craft. One of Padget’s ships met a similar fate, snapping in two before drifting lifelessly into deep space. Thousands of drones were lost too, their metal carcasses raining down to the planet below. Many ships fired back though, cutting the Scourge to shreds in explosions of fire and metal, only to be replaced by another wave of enemy ships.
More firing. More explosions. Death. Death. Death.
The Scourge were trying to surround them like a hive of bees, cutting off their only escape route, before dashing them against the planet’s surface. Jack gulped as he took in their numbers, at the sheer size of their ships. Many dwarfed their own, some were even as big as cities. The space ahead of him glittered with menace. What was he going to do? The only thing he could.
Fight.
A million sonic cannon rounds spat out from the spaceship, ripping through the advancing Scourge horde. Hundreds dropped from the sky, ploughing down into the planet below. Vyleria opened fire too. More explosions. More death.
Jack moved further into the Scourge fleet, dealing out destruction and mayhem, the enemy ships bursting with fire. Every now and again he would catch sight of a dreadnut, their mechanical faces expressionless as they were sucked out into the vacuum, never to be seen or heard from again. It was carnage on an intergalactic scale. Space was filled with explosions, gas, fire, smoke, bodies. But still Jack fired away, destroying the Scourge ships in their hundreds, thousands.
But it wasn’t enough, it never was. The gaps in the Scourge line were filled by other ships, reinforcements appearing all the time. “Jack!” shouted Vyleria. “The Earth line is buckling and the Xenti can’t hold out much longer, half our drone fleet is gone. What should we do?”
“Time for P
adget’s little stratagem, let’s hope we can hold on until then.”
“It’s time,” said Padget, looking across at Kat. “Jack’s sent the signal. Are you ready? This could get wild.”
“I’ve been on the run since I was a little girl,” said Kat, “fending for myself in the skav lands. I was born ready; it’s time to end this.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Padget, grinning as much as he was able. “Inform the fleet; the Paldovians are coming.”
Padget guided his spaceship from the dark side of Pluto’s moon, Nix. The crater that took-up most of its southern hemisphere made it look like a misshapen fruit. In the distance flashes occupied the night sky, the planet awash with violent colour.
“All three hundred and fifty-seven ships accounted for Captain,” said Kat.
“It’s Direktor thank you very much,” said Padget.
“Only if you survive this battle,” she laughed.
“With you to save me what could go wrong?”
Padget guided the fleet forward, his ship an exact replica of the main spaceship. The Scourge fleet steadily came into view; they looked like rotten chunks of flesh. They still hadn’t noticed them yet. The plan was working…
“Get ready to transmit the codes,” said Padget.
Kat nodded, face lined with worry, sweat. They couldn’t afford to mess this up, no one could.
The rear line of the Scourge fleet came into view. They looked like stretched-out cow hearts up-close, their festering surfaces blackened from the radiation. Padget felt like throwing-up, forced back the nausea. He couldn’t let his emotions get in the way now; he had come too far, they all had.
“Now?” asked Kat, as they passed by the first Scourge ships.
“Wait,” said Padget, voice strained.
“Some of our ships have been detected,” said Kat, trying but failing to hide the anxiety in her voice. “The Scourge are opening fire. Mining cruisers one and two are down, numbers eight and ten are on fire. We can’t last…”
Jack Strong and The Last Battle Page 14
