Dammit!
His frontal shields melted like ice in the sun, and he had to think fast. He dropped all but his frontal shields in order to boost them. He would need them to hold for the bat-shit crazy maneuver he was about to attempt. He focused all laser turret fire to a single point on the incoming destroyer’s shields and boosted sub-light engines to their maximum limits, which were already past safety settings, to achieve ramming speed.
The ship trembled and shook under the incoming fire from the Kregan destroyer. Kevin recited every prayer he knew as his ship rammed the Kregan and broke it in two. Shortly after impacting with his prey, he redistributed power to the rest of the shields, so they could deflect the flames and debris from the exploding destroyer.
While time was slowly resuming to normal speed, from his perspective, Kevin was still experiencing the scene in slow-motion, the flames burning around him felt like demonic souls shouting their last scream before being extinguished into the oblivion of cold space.
Consoles near him exploded, and sparks flew from the ceiling. The ship had taken major damage as time resumed its normal pace. Alarms blared and wailed, the bridge’s light flickered, and the ship entered into a spin. He tried to get the ship to turn to face the last remaining Kregan destroyer currently vectoring toward him. The Thalamos veered with great difficulty, but he eventually managed to come face to face with the enemy.
The Kregan destroyer unleashed every weapon at its disposal upon the Thalamos. And Kevin knew that the ship wouldn’t be able to take it for much longer. He tried returning fire, but everything on his holo-HUD flashed red, and most controls refused to work.
I guess today is a good day to die.
Three more torpedoes hit the Thalamos’ shields, bringing them down. Each new plasma fire and laser hit from the Kregan ship now scored damage on Kevin’s ship, sending debris and flames dancing around him.
I failed. As always.
Kevin thought about finding the mental subspace link and disconnecting it since his ship was now nothing more than a flying brick heading toward oblivion. But, he felt compelled to see the battle through. If he were indeed the Thalamos’ captain, he would go down with his ship. Kevin redistributed all power to the sub-light engines and locked onto the Kregan ship. The Kregan ship, in turn, continued to pound the Thalamos with everything it had trying to destroy it by ripping it to shreds.
The viewport cracked when a flurry of laser fire impacted upon it. The emergency systems activated a blue force field to prevent explosive decompression. But Kevin could tell it wouldn’t last long from the way the field was flickering.
“I’m sorry, Mira, I…I failed you; I failed all of Arcadia.”
Kevin knew very well that the Thalamos would be destroyed before he could ram into the Kregan destroyer still pounding him with everything it had. For a fleeting moment, Kevin regretted not going home and doing the dishes as he had been instructed. Perhaps he would survive this, and he would wake up on Earth, but if that meant that the Arcadian people would suffer and die, he’d rather lay his life down here and now and be done with it.
From the corner of his eye, he saw another ship on the starboard side of the Kregan destroyer. It was in flames and spewing a trail of debris and smoke in its wake. The Arcadian ship opened fire with plasma cannons and torpedoes as it accelerated and rammed the enemy ship. Upon impact, the massive explosion illuminated space with a bright white flash that nearly blinded Kevin, but he felt duty-bound to keep his eyes open to see what happened next.
As the bright flash diminished, large flames filled the viewport as the Thalamos darted through the remains of both obliterated ships.
Kevin exhaled deeply.
The captain and crew of the Arcadian ship had sacrificed themselves to make sure they would take the last Kregan destroyer out. The battle had been won, at a terrible cost of life on both sides, but it was finally over. The Thalamos was now the only ship moving on the battlefield, which had turned into a space graveyard.
“Ship destruction imminent!” flashed on Kevin’s mental holo-HUD.
But Kevin didn’t care; he had managed to stop the Kregan from taking Arcadia Prime. Even if the body he inhabited would perish, that person had been dead a long time ago. Kevin looked for the subspace mental link and deactivated it.
Nothing happened.
“That’s peculiar.”
A sense of dread filled his soul. Would he survive the destruction of the Thalamos if he couldn’t sever the link?
The force field protecting the bridge malfunctioned, and cracks on the viewport intensified. The last few flickering lights on the bridge turned off and plunged Kevin into darkness. Tearing noises resonated around him and Kevin could feel the ship was going to give in any second now. A green light engulfed his body, and he felt himself leaving the ship. One second he was on the bridge, seeing the viewport explode and shards of glass being sucked into space along with the air and dead crew members, and the next second, he was in an entirely different place altogether.
He stood in a large room with hundreds of aliens of different races, shapes, and colors surrounding him. It felt even more surreal than it had when he was on board the Thalamos.
Did they just beam me out?
People around him performed a salute by punching their fists against their chests and bowing.
“Kevin, I suppose?” said a sweet female voice behind him.
He turned around and looked up. At the top of the golden stairs, sitting on a throne, was a beautiful blue-skinned female with long flowing golden hair. The moment she got up from her chair, everyone in the room bowed on one knee at the same time and looked down.
“Yes. I’m Kevin.”
The woman smiled as she gracefully descended the stairs. Soon, she was in front of Kevin, her face the most beautiful he had even seen. She was simply breathtaking.
“How can we ever repay you for your bravery? My people and I are in your debt. Name anything you’d like, and it will be made yours.”
Kevin swallowed hard. His gaze was locked on the woman’s voluptuous lips and, without even realizing it, he was uttering his wish.
“A kiss.”
A cascade of what Kevin interpreted as offended murmurs rose up, but it stopped immediately as the woman raised an open palm.
“That’s one wish I can easily and gladly grant, Kevin.”
She took his face in her hands and slowly approached her lips to his. A strong scent tickled his nostrils, and before his lips connected with hers, he grabbed her shoulders, turned his head around, and sneezed hard.
When Kevin reopened his eyes, the first thing he felt was wet and cold. He was trembling, and it took his mind a split-second to realize where he was. Back on Earth and on the crashed pod’s open door. He saw the pill that started it all fly out of his mouth. Kevin tried to grab it, but it was beyond his grasp.
As it impacted with the surface of the water, sparks erupted, and the pill disintegrated.
Kevin looked at the water with his mouth wide open.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!”
* * *
To be continued
(Far Beyond Book 1 - Releases October 2018)
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If you’ve enjoyed this short story, I encourage you to check out my Universe in Flames series and other books. Some of the concepts used in this story such as space battles and dogfights, especially remote-control ships and micro-jumps, are present in my ever-growing series (10 books + 1 novella available from Amazon). To learn more about my books, please visit my website: www.christiankallias.com. Thank you.
Afterword
Publishing books is an extraordinary but difficult challenge. If you reached this point, I guess you liked my work. Please help me support the book by leaving a review and/or a rating on Amazon. You’ll also be helping new readers find books they want to read. For further information about the Universe in Flames saga, please refer to my website, you can also follow me on my Twitter account or look me
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A Word from the Author
I hope you enjoyed this short story, and I am looking forward to writing more about Kevin and his adventures in the coming months. However, I’m already hard at work on the next books in the sequel series of my Universe in Flames series (tentatively named Universe in Flames - Dark Legacy), which picks up right after the events of To End All Wars (Book 10). Universe in Flames Dark Legacy will contain both old and new characters within the universe I started all the way back in 2003 (but only release the first book in 2015). It’s going to be a blast and I can’t wait for you to read it.
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I’d also like to take a moment to let you know that I enjoy hearing from my readers, so if you ever want to get in touch with me, don’t hesitate to email me directly at [email protected] or through my website contact page www.christiankallias.com/contact. I try to answer every email sent my way. Sometimes with my attention deficit I might miss one here and there; if that happens, don’t hesitate to send it back. If I see it, and no squirrel shoots past me in that moment, I’ll definitely answer you back.
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Make sure to let know if you’ve enjoyed Across the Galactic Pond and if you’d like to see Kevin return in a new set of adventures in the future. Your feedback might be decisive as to a follow-up (or at least how soon there will be as I’m already brainstorming the sequel on this story for a book that will be at least novella size, maybe even full novel).
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If you haven’t visited my website, I invite you to do so. At the end of 2017, I spent some time revamping it. The changes are mostly apparent on the desktop version of the site, and I really recommend you visit it if you haven’t in a while. I’ve added video backgrounds that make the site more dynamic. If you’re on a metered Internet connection, then I recommend you use your mobile to check the page (not as heavy).
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There are more projects I’ve been working on. One of them has finally launched last month. Head on to www.scifireads.com to see what I’m talking about ;), with 7 free stories to download, you won’t be disappointed.
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So, as you can see, I have many things in store for the future. The most important one, of course, is to keep writing new books. Something I couldn’t do if I didn’t have such faithful and wonderful readers. I’m humbled and grateful to have the best readership an author could wish for. I’d like to thank you for your loyalty, your amazing feedback, and your encouragement and for making my dream of being a full-time author come true. I owe you more thanks than words can convey.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed Across the Galactic Pond; don’t hesitate to shoot me an email to let me know, and please consider writing a review, as they will help other readers discover my books, and I’d be forever grateful.
* * *
“Helm, set a course for the next adventure. Engage!”
Cheers.
Your friendly neighborhood writer,
Christian Kallias
Also by Christian Kallias
—== Access All my Books Here ==—
The Universe in Flames Series
Book 1: Earth - Last Sanctuary (Definitive Edition)
Book 1.5: Ryonna's Wrath (Novella)
Book 2: Fury to the Stars
Book 3: Destination Oblivion
Book 4: The Beginning of the End
Book 5: Rise of the Ultra Fury
Book 6: Shadows of Olympus
Book 7: Armageddon Unleashed
Book 8: Twilight of the Gods
Book 9: Requiem of Souls
Book 10: To End All Wars (Final Chapter)
Entire series also available in trilogies format.
Universe In Flames - Origins
Episode 1: Course Correction
Universe In Flames - Dark Legacy Series
Book 1: late 2018 (Book completed)
Universe in Flames - Starlight Extinction (prequel: The First Fury War)
Book 1: Coming in 2019
Far Beyond Series
Book 0: Across the Galactic Pond
Book 1: Fire At Will (October 2018)
Rewind Series
Book 0: Out of Time (Collateral Damage anthology)
Book 1: Rewind 717
Anthologies
Collateral Damage
The Expanding Universe 3
Beyond the Black Volume 1
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About the Author
Christian Kallias is an Award Winning & Best Selling Science Fiction author. He writes Science Fiction Space Opera with a Mythology twist and Fantasy influences.
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