The Blackstar Gambit

by Jan Domagala

  “Ready to rock and roll,” he said and she replied with a smile as she snapped hers on her wrist too.

  Picking up their weapons once more, they activated the SUTs and were gone in a flash of blinding light.

  38

  04.00 s.e.t.

  Kasim Visjic looked around the bridge of the starship.

  His son, Goran, had awakened what remained of the Osiris Clan and freed them. Now he had this plan to make them the most powerful Clan in the galaxy.

  He did not have any idea how his son intended on accomplishing that miraculous feat but he was interested on learning his plans.

  There were a few of his people on the bridge with him, all interested in seeing how technology had advanced in the years they had been sleeping. He was more interested in learning the whereabouts of his son though. They had a lot of catching up to do and he was eager to get started. This plan of his could wait a few hours, days longer, if need be, after all they had been asleep for decades, a few more hours couldn’t hurt.

  All the crew of this starship were Alliance personnel or at least a sub section of the same. How he understood it, his son ran a covert group deep inside the Alliance’s Intelligence network. In reality though, he had been working tirelessly for the betterment of the Osiris Clan, his family.

  He looked around the bridge; saw all the furtive, fearful glances towards him and the others of the Clan.

  “Captain, how long before the repairs to your engines are completed?”

  “Another hour or so, sir,” replied the Captain, clutching at the armrests in abject fear.

  “You have ten minutes to get partial engines back or weapons systems working. You have a hostile warship facing you and here we are lying dead in space at their mercy. We need to either fight or flee. You choose, you have ten minutes.”

  “That’s impossible!” the Captain blurted out, which made Kasim turn and stare at him ferociously.

  “Either get me what I want or I’ll find someone who can, you decide.”

  The Captain looked up at the powerfully built man with the flashing eyes and simply nodded as he looked away, unable to hold his gaze any further.

  “Now where is my son?”

  “Last reports placed him in the Med Lab, sir,” replied the Captain quickly.

  With a flurry of movement, the leader of the Osiris Clan turned and left the bridge followed by the other three.

  04.10 s.e.t.

  Kurt and Zara stepped out from the dimensional rift onto the engineering deck.

  To those present it seemed like they had appeared out of a burst of blinding brilliant light.

  Everyone in the room had turned to look when the starburst of light suddenly appeared, momentarily blinding them. This gave Kurt and Zara the chance they needed to get their bearings and bring their pulse rifles to bear.

  Kurt shot the three men on his side of the room whilst Zara took care of the others on her side.

  They both knew what they had to do so they got straight to work.

  04.15 s.e.t.

  Kasim stalked off the bridge and stormed toward the Med Lab. He was eager to see what his son had been up to.

  Suddenly the ship gave a slight lurch startling him.

  “What the...?” he muttered then realised no one was within earshot.

  The three other Clan members were close by but bringing up the rear. Med Lab was just up ahead and he saw another group approaching led by someone he recognised. “Alexa, what just happened? Is Goran in there?” he asked his wife.

  “I haven’t had chance to check yet. I was about to enter when the ship gave that strange lurch. I fear something may be wrong with the engines, something the Captain neglected to tell us,” she replied.

  The two groups combined and entered Med Lab, what they saw infuriated them.

  Alexa ran to the prone form of her son lying on the floor, his head twisted all the way around.

  A low moan built up inside her until it could be contained no more. She threw back her head and cried out in pure agony at the loss of her son, her only child.

  Kasim strode over to her and knelt beside her placing his arms around her shoulders to console the inconsolable.

  Just then, the ship lurched once more, this time more pronounced and they knew she was in her death throws.

  04.20 s.e.t.

  Kurt and Zara appeared on the bridge in a blaze of light so blinding all the crew there shielded their eyes and turned away, but to no avail.

  Kurt was the first one to take in their surroundings and he brought up his Remm M25. A short burst took out the helm and ops.

  Zara followed suit and shot the captain and the officers standing close by.

  Within thirty seconds of their arrival, they were the only two people left standing.

  The two of them turned their weapons towards the control panels and workstations at the forward area of the room and opened fire on fully automatic.

  Streams of pulsed plasma bolts struck all the instruments fragging all of them. Explosions erupted where the high-energy bolts impacted causing irreparable damage to everything.

  When they had finished they looked at each other and, without uttering a single word, they disappeared in yet another blinding flash.

  04.30 s.e.t.

  “Whatever is happening, is happening all over the ship,” Kasim told his wife.

  The other members of their group had been instructed to carry Goran’s body with them. His parents had refused to allow him to remain where he lay.

  “What can we do?” Alexa asked throwing off the effects of her grief and allowing anger to take hold of her instead.

  “We must abandon this ship, it’s doomed. Get everyone to the lower decks where the shuttles are. We’ll commandeer as many as we can and escape before this thing rips itself apart with us still inside,” Kasim commanded.

  Alexa hurried the others on then she connected to the ship’s intercom via her NI.

  “All members of the Osiris Clan make your way to the docking bays. If any member of the crew attempts to prevent you, kill them,” she said coldly. It was clear that the ruthless streak Goran displayed ran through his family.

  “I have no idea who is behind this but believe me I’ll find out,” Kasim snarled baring his teeth in his fury.

  Alexa paused as she accessed the ship’s computer logs and linked her husband to the playback. She had accessed the video feed from the Med Lab recorders. Within seconds they had the data downloaded to their brains and knew exactly what had happened to their son. It was like they had witnessed the events first hand, standing by watching as they unfolded.

  “So now we know,” Alexa said.

  “Yes we can make them pay,” Kasim agreed his eyes glistening at seeing his son’s death.

  “Yes, they will pay but first we need to get off this ship,” Alexa told him which brought him back to the here and now.

  Kasim nodded and smiled a feral grin at his wife. Now they knew; now they had a target.

  The hunt was on.

  39

  04.31 s.e.t.

  Kurt looked at Zara after they had heard the message Alexa had broadcast over the ship’s intercom.

  “That sounded like Mommy Dearest,” Zara said.

  “Yes we need to get off this thing now before they all get away,” Kurt said urgently.

  The two of them activated their SUTs and were gone in a flash.

  When they stepped out from the blinding explosion of light again they were on the bridge of the Vanguard.

  “Holy fuck, what the hell...?” Philips exclaimed when he saw the two figures standing in the centre of his bridge. The brilliant light had almost blinded him, and no doubt the rest of his bridge crew when it suddenly burst from nowhere.

  “Permission to come aboard, sir,” Kurt said with a wry smile. He liked how people reacted to the effects of the SUT being used.

  Philips’ eyes were wide and his jaw locked open as he looked at the two of them.

  “P-permission
granted,” he replied without taking his eyes off them.

  Zara stepped forward and said, “We need to target that starship with everything you have, now!”

  Phillips looked from her to Kurt then to Matt not understanding what was going on here.

  Matt stepped forward and placed a hand on Philips’ shoulder, “If she says do it, I suggest you do it,” he said softly.

  Visjic’s family, hundreds, possibly thousands of them, are heading for the shuttles as we speak. We can’t let them get away,” Kurt urged.

  Philips looked away for a second to gather his thoughts then gave the order.

  “Target that starship, load all forward missile tubes and open fire,” he said.

  “Weapons locked on, sir. Firing all forward missile tubes,” the weapons officer said.

  They all turned their attention to the forward viewscreen that showed the starship across from them and the missiles streaking towards it.

  “Brace for impact,” Philips told everyone as he saw the missiles close in on their target.

  Silently he counted down to detonation. Three seconds later the viewscreen was lit up as all the missiles struck the starship.

  04.35 s.e.t.

  Inside the docking bay Kasim and Alexa were marshalling all their Clan into the shuttles.

  These shuttles were no ordinary shuttles; they were the new class of shuttle fighters. Able to seat up to thirty passengers they had the manoeuvrability of a short-range fighter and were equipped with pulse cannons and missile pods fore and aft.

  “Are all the shuttles fully armed?” Kasim asked calmly as he boarded his shuttle. He took the pilots seat shoving whoever was there into the co-pilot’s seat.

  “According to the log, all shuttles were fully armed on departure,” the co-pilot replied as he allowed the automatic harness to strap him in.

  “Good, then let’s give this bastard a going away present,” Kasim snarled as he familiarised himself with the controls.

  He was looking around the console and the co-pilot said, “Log onto the computer with your NI and you’ll have full control, sir.”

  Just then, before Kasim could reply, the entire ship lurched as the missiles struck the forward section blowing the bridge apart.

  “The doors are still closed, the controls are up on the bridge which just got blown all to hell,” the co-pilot said a little panicky.

  “We make our own exit,” Kasim told him without taking his eyes off the blocked doors. He was struggling to get the hand of controlling the shuttle via the connection made through his NI.

  “The nearest shuttle to the doors, blow them open, now,” he ordered as he got his shuttle under control. He had the thrusters lift the craft off the deck ready to move.

  Missiles burst out from the shuttle mentioned and blew the doors open leaving a gaping hole in the side of the ship. As soon as the smoke and debris had been sucked clear by the vacuum of space the shuttles started to leave.

  They left in single file and fanned out into a cordon to protect the others leaving behind them from any incoming fire from the Vanguard.

  Kasim said, “Target that starship and open fire.”

  04.40 s.e.t.

  Kurt and Zara watched as the missiles blew apart the bridge of the transport.

  Kurt smiled and Zara did a small fist pump followed by “Yes!”

  They turned to each other and hugged. It was over. They had killed Goran Visjic and now his transport was disabled, the rest was simply a matter of clearing up the mess.

  “Wait, are those what I think?” Matt asked; he’d never taken his eyes off the viewscreen.

  They both turned to look at what he meant and their expressions of joy changed, darkening.

  “Holy crap!” Kurt said as he recognised what they were.

  “What?” asked Zara.

  “Those are the new generation shuttle fighter from MaxCorp. I’ve seen the plans, I hacked them from a mainframe during my stint in one of their buildings recently,” Matt explained.

  “Holy shit, how many are there?” Philips said as the numbers increased from the rear of the transport. It seemed like an endless stream of craft being disgorged by the wreck of the huge starship.

  “Too many for this ship to handle,” Matt replied harshly. “I suggest we leave and fast,” Matt said unable to tear his eyes away from the sight.

  “Are you shitting me?” Zara exploded throwing her arms up in frustration.

  “We have to at least try and stop them. Visjic may be dead but there are thousands more of his kind. We can’t let them get away, just think of the havoc they can cause,” Kurt argued.

  “I know there’s thousands of ’em, I can see most of ’em coming right at us now,” Matt countered.

  Before any more could be said plasma bolts struck the shields of the Vanguard rocking the ship. Philips shouted out a series of orders that galvanised his crew into action.

  “I’m not leaving without a fight,” Philips snarled through gritted teeth.

  “Sir, I’m getting a reading of radiation building up from the inside of that transport,” Ops said glancing over his shoulder.

  “Target all forward missile tubes on that transport. Load the missiles with Quantum warheads and fire,” Philips ordered. He looked at Kurt and the others who were wondering what he was doing. “Their fusion reactor is about to blow, if my timing is right the missiles will add to the detonation and we can get all those shuttles in the blast, or as many as we can,” he explained.

  “What about us? Won’t we get caught too?” Matt said turning to look at the screen.

  “Helm back us off, now,” Philips shouted.

  04.45 s.e.t.

  Kasim saw the missiles fired from the Vanguard. He was half way between it and the transport and there was nothing he could do to prevent the missiles from hitting their target.

  He watched powerless as they sped by him dodging and weaving between the shuttles as their guidance systems locked onto the designated target.

  He quickly activated a comm channel and sent out a command to all the Clan.

  “Go to FTL immediately, get away from here,” he shouted hoping that some of his friends and family could escape the inevitable blast. Then he chose a secure, one on one comm channel and uttered the words he knew there was no need for to the one person he cherished above all others. Words that held a simple meaning, words he’d uttered many times, but he said them anyway. “Alexa, I love you.”

  Without waiting for a reply he hit the control that operated the shuttle’s meagre FTL capability just as space around him was turned into a maelstrom of chaos and destruction.

  04.46 s.e.t.

  “Here we go,” Kurt said as he saw the missiles strike.

  The ensuing explosion was devastating. It was like a hole had been ripped from the very fabric of space itself and thrown in every direction at the same time.

  The transport was disintegrated, or as close to as was physically possible. The reactor blowing up inside coupled by the Quantum warheads of the Hellfire missiles multiplied the force of the blast to an unprecedented degree.

  The shockwave caught the Vanguard and sent her spinning away from Osiris. All the other craft caught in the vicinity of the blast were torn apart with no chance of survival of anyone on board.

  The officer at the helm of the Vanguard struggled bravely to get the starship back under control. Deftly using thruster control, he managed to turn her into the blast wave so they could ride it out.

  When he finally got her under control and slowed her speed down and reversing the spin, he let out a sigh that was heard by everyone.

  Kurt and the others got back to their feet after being thrown around like rag dolls in a storm.

  “Damage report,” shouted the Captain and as reports began to come in he began to relax.

  “Looks like we got away with that one, but I wouldn’t like to recommend anyone trying that gambit any time soon,” he joked.

  Kurt said, “What about the shuttles
, did any of them survive?”

  “Some managed to get to FTL but there’s no way of knowing if they made it, sir. The shockwave from the blast would’ve disrupted any hyperspace window. I doubt any of them survived,” Ops replied, obviously he had been monitoring them.

  “Scan the area. I want full sweeps by both short and long-range sensors. If there’s even a trace of them left I want to know where it is,” Philips commanded.

  After a short pause while the sensor sweeps were run the entire bridge crew seemed to hold its breath.

  “The sensors are showing only debris associated with the explosion, sir. There’s absolutely no trace of any of the shuttles showing up.”

  Kurt and Zara high five’d each other and Matt smiled with relief then they all hugged.

  “We did it,” Zara said beaming with relief. Some of that relief was felt by all. It was no little compensation for all the lives this group had caused, but their deaths went some way to soften the grief. Now they could relay the news to those who had suffered, to those who had lost someone that justice had been served.

  Kurt looked at Philips who was eyeing them all and said, “We’re ready to go home anytime you are.”

  40

  Col Sec HQ Nellis Base

  09.57 s.e.t.

  The Vanguard returned to Earth space and docked at Io where Kurt, Zara and Matt caught a shuttle back to Earth.

  Captain Philips remained with his ship and crew whilst repairs were done and new orders were issued.

  Kurt led the small group into the C and C where, as usual, they found General Sinclair standing in the centre of the room supervising proceedings.

  “Ah, you’re back,” he said as he turned to look at them.

  “Yes sir, mission accomplished,” Kurt said proudly.

  “Come into my Ready Room and you can fill me in on the details,” Sinclair said then turned and walked off.

  “Does he seem more haughty than usual to you two or is it just me?” Zara whispered as they watched the general stride off.

  “Something’s up,” Matt said, his brow creasing as he started walking towards the Ready Room.

  As soon as they entered, the door closed behind them. Sinclair was down at the far end facing away from them, his hands firmly clasped behind his ramrod stiff back.