The Savior (1996)

Backstory

2012-06-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

In the second part of the trilogy our valiant humans who survived the first story do battle with the S'Parnians over Earth. The battle ends with them forming a tentative alliance to bring a human/alien hybrid with seemingly supernatural powers to the S'Parnian homeworld in order to save their people from starvation and death.

But the journey will be difficult as there are those who don't want to see the Savior return to S'Parnia. They'll stop at nothing to destroy the human-S'Parnian alliance before it can achieve its goal and bring peace.

To be honest, this is one of my favorite stories. It's an absolute epic that spans the galaxy. It also includes themes on religion (obviously from the title), politics, family, and love. There's just a lot of fun stuff in here.

Please enjoy "The Savior..."

Epilogue

2007-06-12T11:26:00.001-07:00

Epilogue

Lisa looked out at the stars in what was left of her quarters. Her leg and head were bandaged heavily so that her body could heal, but she doubted her heart ever would. After this mission, she and Nichols would have been married on Earth, would have started a life together. Now that dream was drifing in space, in the makeshift coffin that contained Nichols’s body that had been launched out of the Avenger’s hangar with the rest of the dead.

She wondered if she could ever love anyone again after all that had happened. It was beginning to seem that any time she loved someone, they died. It was as if she had been cursed to go through her life loving people and then losing them. Fate is so damned cruel, she thought and turned away from the window.

The computer terminal in the room activated, and S’Olonny’s face came onto the screen. It was garbled and covered in static, but still recognizable. “There are some things I wanted to discuss with you before you left,” S’Olonny said.

“Such as?” Lisa asked.

“I need you to communicate some things to your government for me, since we are busy trying to rebuild. Tell your leaders that the Grand Council is no more and that we are setting up a government that represents the people. We are very interested in continuing relations with your people and we will try to repay some of the damage that we did to your colonies.”

“I know there will be a lot of people still angry at your people for the deaths on Rygan, Pluto, and Mars, but I am sure that the Alliance government will want to seek friendly relations with S’Parni. I’ll try and have them send an ambassador as soon as we get back so that more open communication between our governments can begin.”

“Excellent. Thank-you for all your help, Captain. You have made me see that your people are not a race to be exterminated. Rather, you are a race to be respected as equals. You helped deliver the Savior to my people despite the odds and all the casualties you suffered. There is no way that we can ever repay you.”

“Ending the war between our races is more than enough payment. It has been an honor serving with you, Captain.” Lisa was about to break the connection, but stopped and smiled briefly. “So what do you plan to do now?”

S’Olonny looked at her strangely and answered, “I have no plans. I will serve wherever my people have need of me. And you?”

She sighed and thought of what she would have done if Nichols had lived. Now she didn’t know what she was going to do. “The same,” she replied. “I will deliver your message, and I hope that this is the beginning of a peaceful relationship between our people.”

“I hope so as well. Have a safe journey, Captain. May the spirit of the Savior protect you.” S’Olonny broke the connection and Lisa sank down to the floor and wept as she thought of all the people she had lost. Arsa, Nichols, her father, most of the crews of the Explorer and the Avenger. She knew that she should feel lucky that she was alive since there were so many who had died. Only four ExoArmors and three Eclipse fighters sat in the hangar now, and the rest of the ship had been hit just as hard. On top of everything else, Arsa was dead. When Sam had come aboard a week ago, he had told her that Arsa had dropped into the Matrix. It had been relit, but she had never reappeared. Lisa shivered as she thought that in under five minutes she had lost her fiancée and her best friend. Then again, she knew that she wasn’t the only one who felt the heart ache of a loved one dying.

The door chime sounded and she stood up to answer it. Laurants stood at the door, his face looking grim. “Come in, Commander,” Lisa offered and Laurants stepped inside. “How can I help you?”

“I wanted to talk about Nichols. There were some things that you should know,” Laurants replied. Lisa looked shocked and took a seat. Laurants shifted uneasily, not sure of exactly what to say. “When I found him on the bridge, he told me to tell you that…”

Laurants paused, wishing that he didn’t have to go through with it. It pained him to have to tell her, but he had promised Nichols that he would. “What?” Lisa asked quietly.

“He said that he was sorry that he didn’t come to you sooner. He also said that…that he loved you.” She turned away, tears stinging her eyes. He knew how hard it was for her to hear those words from him. “I’m sorry.”

He felt his heart wrench as he looked at her. There was so much more that he wanted to say. He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but seeing her so sad and broken over Nichols’s death he knew that there was no way he could tell her now. Maybe in time he would be able to, when she was over Nichols’s death. He stared at her for a few moments, wondering what he should do. She finally looked up at him, her face stained with tears. “Thank-you for telling me,” she said softly. “It…it means a lot to me.”

Laurants nodded and left slowly. He turned and could see Lisa sitting in the same chair, staring out into space. He wanted to lunge back into the room to comfort her in her time of need, but he knew that he couldn’t. He wanted to wipe away her tears and tell her that he was there for her, that he loved her, but he couldn’t. He wanted to be able to do anything to help her, but there was nothing he could do. He turned away and the door hissed shut.

***

Terraz looked at the small box that contained some of Davis’s things. There was a picture of him and his parents and it made her wonder how Jenny was doing on Earth. She didn’t know when she would see the little girl again; the ship was such a mess and repairs would take a long time. She put the picture down, not wanting to see Davis’s smiling face anymore.

The door chime rang, albeit off‑key from damage, and she was surprised to see Garren standing there. She showed him inside and wondered what he wanted. He looked around nervously and cleared his throat.

“I just came by to say how sorry I am about Sergeant Davis. He was a good man and I know how close you two were,” Garren said quietly.

Terraz felt tears come to her eyes and she hugged Garren. “Thank‑you, that means a lot.”

“I know how torn up you are, so I also wanted to say...well, you don’t have to worry about me coming onto you or anything. I would feel really guilty, so I just wanted to make it clear so that you wouldn’t get too nervous around me.”

“I understand. Thank‑you for your understanding as well. I just...it’s not that I don’t like you, but it’s...I’m not ready for anything right now. I’m glad that we can just be friends.”

“So am I,” Garren answered and left. There was a lot more he had wanted to say, but couldn’t. He wanted to go after her, but there was no way so soon after Davis’s death. He wasn’t sure if he would ever have the nerve to pursue her again, but he knew that for now he would just try and be a good friend to her. Davis deserved at least that much and a whole lot more.

***

An hour later, Laurants shoved some rubble off of his desk. He had finally been let into his quarters after a week of repairs. He could see where something had blasted part of the wall near his bed. He opened a sealed box that contained various compads that he had dictated into. The compads seemed in good shape and he closed the box again. Then, on the corner of the desk, he saw something that chilled him to the bone.

He reached over and picked up the compad containing his love letter to Lisa. He hadn’t put it in the box with the others, but miraculously it hadn’t been hit at all by the debris. He hit the play button and heard his own voice. He set it back down and tears came to his eyes as the message finished. He wanted so much to give it to her now, but there was no way.

Nichols was dead, but his spirit would live on in her heart forever. If he gave her the letter, she would hate him for coming to her so soon after Nichols’s death. He was no closer now than he had ever been. Someday, he told himself, I’ll be able to give this to her. Then he picked up the box, put the love letter into it, and left his ruined quarters.

***

The bridge crew assembled on the makeshift bridge in the engine room. They all looked over at Farley, who was covered in dirt and grime after working another long day trying to fix the ship.

“How soon until we can leave?” Lisa asked.

“Two days until we can be out of here and head for the S’Gethlaar Shipyards for further repairs. It should take a few weeks to get it ready to make the trip to Earth,” Farley answered.

“How long should that take?” Laurants wanted to know.

“A year,” the engineer replied.

“That long?” Terraz burst out.

“You have to understand that the hull is too weak to use the TDJ drive. Even after repairs at the Shipyards it won’t be possible, the sheer force of the jump requires that we have a sturdy ship, which this isn’t. As for the hyperdrive, it’s barely working, so we don’t have the speed to get home any faster. There’s nothing I can do.” Farley looked around and everyone could see his obvious pain. The engineer had done everything he could to keep the ship working so far, it wasn’t fair to ask him to work magic and whisk them home immediately.

“I understand, Lieutenant,” Lisa remarked quietly. “As soon as its possible, get us underway.” Farley nodded and stalked off, wishing that he could have done more.

Two days later, Klein, filling in for Nichols, plotted the course to the Shipyards and readied to put the ship into hyperspace. A long journey was ahead of the Avenger’s crew, but they had faced a lot worse already during this mission and succeeded nonetheless.

Lisa glanced at her crew and smiled. After all that had been lost, a lot more had been gained. Peace was at hand, and rebuilding on both sides would commence. It wouldn’t be easy, but things never were. She remembered Arsa telling her that the times ahead were going to be hard, and her friend had been right. Still, Lisa knew that she and the others would survive, so was the indomitable human spirit.

“Let’s go home,” Lisa told Klein and signaled him to activate the hyperspace drive. He nodded and then pushed a button and the battered, but not defeated, Avenger vanished from near S’Parni. As they left, Lisa took a last look towards the planet, and thought that she could see a twinkling light, saying good-bye to the Avenger on its way home.

[END]

Chapter Twenty‑Two

2007-06-12T11:25:00.001-07:00

Chapter Twenty‑Two

The hangar doors creaked open as the Avenger was hit again. Davis’s ExoArmor shook a little from the blasts and he wondered how much more the ship could take. He looked up at the shuttle pilots and could see them rushing to get it airborne. Next to the escort ship was a shuttle from the Avenger and its Eclipse escort. These too were hurrying to launch as the human vessel was under heavy attack now.

The doors were now fully opened and right away Davis could see a Wraith bearing down on the Avenger. It began firing and the ship rocked again as the blasts hit home. Then the shuttle’s engines revved up to full and it moved forward. The decoy shuttle shot past the escort ship with the two Eclipses alongside. Then the escort ship leapt out of the hangar bay and into space.

Immediately a Zombie fired at the small group. One of Eclipses veered off and hit it with its plasma cannons. The attacker was finished off when one of the Avenger’s lasers speared it. Then the small group began to form up.

“How long until we drop?” Davis asked the pilots.

“One minute. Better brace yourself,” the co‑pilot answered. Davis nodded and looked over at Sam.

“So, what are these drop‑landings like?” He asked.

Sam grimaced and answered, “It’s like being in a runaway lift. Your stomach rises to your throat and your heart threatens to jump out of your mouth. Then when the pilots level out, everything crashes back into place and your legs feel like feathers.”

“Sorry I asked,” Davis commented and double‑checked the magnets on his ExoArmor that were holding it in place. All that was left to do was wait. He looked back at the far end of the escort ship and saw Arsa sitting calmly in her seat, strapped in with her eyes closed, seeming to meditate. It was a little odd to think that all of this death and destruction was over one woman and the powers she possessed. Then again, Troy was leveled because some guy kidnapped a woman who was just good‑looking.

***

“The Darkstar has been destroyed,” a guard serving as S’Hamble’s new aide announced.

“How?” The High General demanded.

“It appears that the reactor overloaded.”

“I must credit our enemies for their excellent work.” With S’Gileeb out of the picture, we might be able to take control of the situation again he thought. “Put me through on a wide‑band signal that S’Gileeb’s fleet can decipher.”

“Wouldn’t our enemies also be able to pick it up?”

“So what if they do. Just do it!”

The aide worked hurriedly and punched the signal through. “We are ready,” he said.

“Attention all ships in the employ of Admiral S’Gileeb. By now you realize that your leader is dead, killed by those loathsome traitors. I know that he ordered you to destroy me, the Grand Council, and secure S’Parni. However, even if you kill me, no one is left to lead. What I propose is that we put an end to our in‑fighting and worry about crushing the traitors who have killed many of my men and your leader,” S’Hamble said good‑naturedly.

He waited for some kind of reply, knowing that if this didn’t work, he would be dead pretty soon when Shadow Wing swept the planet and hunted him down. Then a message came in from a Wraith captain in the fleet. “I speak for all when I say that our hatred of you still burns, but the traitors are the immediate concern. We will work with you temporarily to eliminate them.”

“Excellent. We must first destroy that meddlesome human ship in low orbit.”

“It will be done.” The captain broke the connection and S’Hamble smiled. Once this temporary alliance ended, it wouldn’t be long until both sides would be at each other’s throats. In the meantime, he would let Shadow Wing throw themselves at the humans and lose more of their number while his ships stood back and waited. That way the odds would turn ever so slightly to his favor.

***

“We’re in deep shit,” Klein said and Lisa frowned as he played back the intercepted transmission. From what they had heard, the bulk of the enemy was going to focus on eliminating them. They still had to protect Arsa’s shuttle until it broke through the atmosphere.

“Let’s make them work for it then. Start running back towards the far side to draw their fire,” Lisa ordered and silently prayed that no one would notice Arsa’s escort ship as it plunged towards the surface.

“They’re starting to move towards us. I’ve got about two hundred ships of various sizes. At least the Grand Council’s fleet isn’t moving though,” Laurants called out gloomily.

“Oh yeah, these odds are so much better,” Nichols quipped as he began moving the Avenger out of low orbit. He rocked the ship from side to side to make it less easy of a target. Two Zombies streaked towards the Avenger, weapons blazing. Nichols smiled and told everyone to hang on.

Then he banked the ship hard to the right and the shots flew by harmlessly. Terraz lined up the Zombies and blasted them. By then, however, a Wraith had caught up to the human ship and let loose a barrage that hammered the Avenger’s rear. Everyone on the bridge was jostled, but kept their seats, thanks to the straps that Farley had installed for TransDimensional jumping. Laurants saw the shields drop lower, to roughly thirty percent of their usual power. He worked to reroute some power to boost them and then diverted power from the forward shields to the rear ones while they were on the run.

“We aren’t going to be able to keep this up long,” Laurants told Lisa worriedly.

“We don’t have to, just long enough for Arsa’s shuttle to break through the atmosphere.” Then to her dismay, she saw five Wraiths coming at the Avenger at once. The cannons on the ship bucked as they threw up a wall of energy at the attackers. Still, three of the vessels made it through. They opened fire and then banked away. Most of the shots were absorbed, but several made it through and struck the silver hull, peeling off some of the tough armor. “Nate, use every evasive you know, just keep them from getting a piece of us!”

“I’m trying, but they’re almost as maneuverable and fast,” Nichols replied and then violently looped the ship up and around to face the three Wraiths. The ship’s weapons cut all three of the poor imitations down in one hail of fire, then Nichols banked right in time to sidestep a Zombie that was trying to line them up for a shot. Terraz blasted the offending ship, cutting it in half and sending debris into the atmosphere of S’Parni. The Avenger rocked when a Wraith snuck up on it and placed three shots into its side. “Damn it, there’s too many of them!”

Lisa knew that too, and that they were going to be pulverized pretty soon if they didn’t do something fast. “Laurants, divert all available power to the shields. Even drain life support a little if you have to, just keep us with partial shields,” Lisa ordered and Laurants complied, draining everything he could into the shields. That brought them up to about twenty‑five percent, with a little heavier coverage around engineering, sickbay, and the bridge. Still, he knew that it wasn’t nearly enough to withstand the kind of firepower that the enemy could unleash.

Shadow Wing seemed to be catching on and began splitting their attacks. Nichols did the best he could to avoid them, but they were being surrounded. A train of six Wraiths lined up and dove in on the Avenger, which had just dove hard left to avoid ten Zombies that had arrived. One after another the Wraiths dropped in and fired, four of which never made it out, but the damage was done. The lights all along the ship went out and the shields collapsed. Laurants tried to get at least part of the shields back, but there wasn’t any power left.

The last of the Wraiths landed a perfect shot just below the bridge. The explosion ripped Lisa’s command chair off of its mooring and threw her to the deck, the restraining straps snapping in midair. She blacked out for just a few moments, and when she opened her eyes she saw the bridge filled with smoke and dim red light from the back‑up systems. She tried to get to her feet, but her ankle was broken and bleeding badly. There was also a cut on her forehead and she wiped away the dripping blood before it got into her eyes.

Nichols whirled around, his face looking extremely worried, and asked, “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she snapped. Laurants turned and looked at her, concern on his face as well.

“Maybe we should get you to sickbay,” he said.

“I said I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” she replied. The ship was hit again and Laurants and Nichols turned back to their stations. Both were still worried about Lisa, but they knew there was nothing they could do. As long as she was able to stay conscious then she wouldn’t let them remove her from the bridge. She leaned back against what was left of her chair and hoped that Arsa hurried.

***

One of the Eclipse fighters went up in a puff of flame and smoke. Davis felt anger rise as he knew that a good person had just died, but focused on the mission instead. It was nearly time to begin the descent, the decoys moving away to draw some of the attackers away. Still, it wasn’t enough considering the horde the Grand Council fleet was sending up against the small force. It seemed no matter how many ships they destroyed, more rose up to meet them.

The pilot looked back at Davis and signaled that it was time to drop. Davis nodded and then gave the same signal to Sam and Arsa. Then the lights went out and the escort ship began to lose altitude quickly.

Davis had to admit that Sam’s description was accurate; it did feel like his stomach and heart were trying to break out of his body via his mouth. He moved with a lot of pain and saw Arsa sitting there as calmly as if it were a hovercar ride in the country. He despised her a little for that; that she could take all of this punishment without even a grunt. He almost screamed from the intense forces, twenty years in the military not preparing him for this.

The shuttle continued to plunge, heating as it hit atmosphere. Then something struck it and the escort ship spun madly. “Two...Interceptors,” the pilot grunted to Davis. Davis grit his teeth, knowing that they were between a rock and a hard place: they couldn’t stop their descent to fight, and they couldn’t just sit back and let the shuttle be destroyed. There had to be some way to shake the Interceptors that were hovering just above the atmosphere and peppering them with shots.

Then Davis slowly made his way to the hatch, fighting against the forces of gravity that were trying to pin his ExoArmor to the deck, and reached to open it. Sam moved a little to join Davis, but he motioned for the alien to hold his ground. “You’ve got to stay with Arsa,” he told the alien. “If I don’t make it, it’s been a pleasure working with you, and tell Laurie that I love her.”

Arsa looked at him sadly, as if knowing something that he didn’t. “Good luck, Sergeant,” she said simply as he opened the hatch and jumped from the escort ship. Sam was able to seal it behind him and looked on longingly as his friend activated his thrusters and headed back into space, heat washing over the Grim Reaper. Sam looked over to Arsa, her face mirroring his concern. They both knew the chance of Davis coming back was slim.

“Good‑bye,” Sam whispered to himself and turned away as the shuttle continued to fall.

Davis was sweating heavily, the heat from the atmosphere threatening to melt the Reaper before it could get into orbit. He put all of his power into his thrusters and climbed faster. He finally burst through the atmosphere and saw the two offending Interceptors. He converted the Reaper’s arms to missile launchers and opened the leg launchers. Then he dove in on the lead Interceptor and fired.

The missiles tore into the hull of the Interceptor and Davis converted his arms to laser cannons and continued firing. Under the withering assault the Interceptor began to lose altitude and limply fell into the atmosphere, burning up like a meteor. The second Interceptor saw the attack and opened fire on the Grim Reaper.

Davis screamed as a shot grazed the ExoArmor and sheared off his left arm. He managed to convert his good arm to regular mode and grabbed his rifle. He headed for the enemy ship and began pumping round after round, feeling blood ooze from the wound. Forunately, emergency systems on the ExoArmor sealed the inner suit to keep Davis from being exposed to the vaccuum of space. He continued to pour out rounds from his rifle, flaking off armor from the front of the Interceptor. The ship returned fire and Davis moved sluggishly, but fast enough to keep from being hit. He shouted a war cry and continued to fire, knowing that Arsa, Sam, and the entire human race were counting on him to protect the shuttle.

Miraculously, he reached the Interceptor’s hull and began firing directly into it. After about ten shots he had a large enough hole to squeeze through. He dropped into the ship, getting up slowly and then making his way up front, knowing he didn’t have time to make it all the way to the engine room. With a surprising amount of strength he stormed up the stairs and to the bridge. Surprised S’Parnians looked at him, seeing the burned and bloody stain where his left arm should have been. “Die you murdering bastards!” Davis yelled and methodically pumped rounds into everyone on the bridge. Then he went over to the helm and set in a course it would drop it like a rock into the atmosphere, a completely uncontrolled droplanding. He ran and broke through the front wall of the bridge, emerging in space.

Davis knew that he was dying, he could feel himself going. He was nearly ready to surrender to the blackness clouding his vision, when he saw three escort ships lining up to enter the atmosphere in pursuit of Arsa’s shuttle. “No!” He yelled and then streaked towards them. He fired at the third one, with direct hits to its engines that sent it plummeting into the atmosphere with no way to recover. The second one was turning to fight him when he dove under it and fired a pair of shots into its belly turret. The escort ship shook and a few more rounds finished it off. By then the first one had turned around to fight the wounded ExoArmor. Davis knew that he was a goner; it already had him lined up.

He cut his thruster power and hovered, knowing that he was doomed. He continued to fire at the escort ship, hoping to score a good hit. Then, as it began to fire, he screamed over his comm, “This is for S’Jenl and all of the good people you sons of bitches have killed!” He pulled the trigger one last time as a hail of lasers tore into the Grim Reaper. As he was slipping away from the world, he thought of Terraz and hoped that Garren lived to take care of her. Then the blackness that had been stayed momentarily closed in and suffocated the man who had already sacrificed so much for his planet, his platoon, and his friends. Davis’s last shot broke through the front screen of the escort ship and nailed the cockpit, killing the pilot and co‑pilot. The alien vehicle hung in the air for a few moments, then fell into the atmosphere where it melted into a flaming ball of slag that impacted somewhere in a remote desert. This crater was the last legacy of Sergeant Alex Davis.

***

Anderson watched as another patient was brought in. “Leave them out in the corridor,” he snapped. Sickbay was already filled with wounded and dying people, more than the doctor could handle. He injected his current patient with a painkiller and then cut into her.

The ship was tossed around again with another score of hits and the lights dimmed. Anderson wondered how much more the tough little ship could take before it was destroyed. He also wondered briefly how much more he could take. By his estimates, half of the ship’s crew that was still on board was either in sickbay or lying in the corridor outside. The constant motion of the Avenger as it was hit was adding to Anderson’s frustration. He worked quickly to stabilize the patient and stop her internal bleeding and repair most of the tissue damage. Then he closed the woman up and nodded to a nurse, who hauled her away.

Right now, Anderson didn’t care so much about healing people completely as to heal them enough so they didn’t die. The next patient was hefted onto the operating table and Anderson immediately went to work, hoping that no one had any contaminated blood, because there wasn’t nearly enough time to change gloves for every patient. This man had severe burns across his midsection and was bleeding badly. Anderson grabbed a tool to take care of the burns for the most part and then worked to stop the bleeding. Less than two minutes later the next patient was lying on the operating table.

The ship was hit again and Anderson grabbed onto the table to keep from falling. The lights went out and the emergency generator kicked in. Then Anderson went back to work on the next patient. It was then that he knew it was going to be a long night.

***

Farley hopped over the corpse of one of his technicians as he moved towards the computer terminal. He was doing all that he could to keep the engines, life support, shields, and weapons working. It had involved a lot of hotwiring, but things were still holding up. The latest problem was that one of the overworked generators had been hit, causing the Avenger to lose more power.

He reached the terminal and began working to reroute power for the important systems from anywhere, but there wasn’t much to give. Another problem was that with one of the generators gone, several circuits he had been using to route power from were destroyed. He was down to using circuits meant to carry only power for lights for life support.

“We’ve got to try and revive that generator!” Farley barked to one of his overtaxed work crews. The crew, the last one in engineering, left to try and fix the generator. That left Farley all alone, except for the dead crewmembers scattered about. He stopped for a moment to wipe the sweat from his brow, and to think of any other way to get power.

Seeing none, he went back to work, wishing that for a moment the fighting would stop so he could have his crews work to fix all of the damage. He knew that wasn’t possible as the ship was hit again and the chief engineer barely kept his feet. He silently cursed at the aliens for ruining his fine ship and briefly was glad he had sent a copy of blueprints to Earth. If they got back, there was going to be one hell of a repair bill.

***

S’Olonny watched the Avenger get pounded and looked helplessly at S’Tallen. They were just about done rerouting power to the weapons via just about every workable power conduit on the collection vessel. Still, the Vindicator would only have about half of its cannons operational. That might be enough to do some damage.

“Let’s get moving,” S’Olonny ordered over the intercom. On the bridge, S’Sadz input the course and moved the ship forward. The Vindicator, which to the enemy looked very dead, starting creeping to aid the Avenger. S’Olonny only hoped that he wasn’t too late.

“There, that will do it,” S’Tallen said and looked over at the captain. They were both covered in grime, dirt, and blood, but S’Tallen still could see the aura of respect that S’Olonny cast about him. Other than the Savior he had created, there was no one he would rather die with than S’Olonny.

They had had differences over the years and had seen each other as mortal enemies, but they had always respected each other somewhat. Over the past months they had stopped being enemies and instead were comrades in the war against the Grand Council, not quite friends, but very close. Now the war was nearly over and there was a good chance that they would both die before the Savior relit the Great Matrix. Somehow, though, S’Olonny still was able to seem respectable in all of the destruction. S’Tallen wished that he could do that, but the captain was a warrior, bred to be brave, while S’Tallen was a scienitst. In these last moments, though, it didn’t matter.

The Vindicator came within range of a pair of Wraiths moving in on the Avenger. “Fire!” S’Olonny shouted. On the bridge, S’Sadz pushed the button and lasers lanced through both ships, crumpling them. There was a cry of joy from the two S’Parnians and then the ship shook as three Zombies turned and fired at it. S’Sadz returned fire and vaporized the Zombies. On a monitor, S’Olonny could see that he had effectively drawn some of Shadow Wing away from the Avenger. He hoped that it would be enough.

***

Manny was starting to shiver in the light spacesuit. It wasn’t heated very well and the temperature was well past zero. Garren looked at her worriedly as they neared the Avenger. It was engaged in battle against a seemingly endless number of ships and taking a beating. The silver hull was scorched black in many places, and holes pockmarked the once‑smooth exterior.

The Eclipses were nearly out of fuel and Jordan hoped they had enough to get there. She wondered if the hangar doors would even be able to open for them to land. Hastings was flying right in front of her, doing his best to protect the ExoArmor‑laden Eclipse. Seeing the number of ships buzzing around the Avenger, she doubted that the gesture mattered much.

“Avenger, this is Angel Leader and Angel One, requesting permission to land. Are the hangar doors still functional?” Hastings inquired.

On the bridge, Klein looked at Lisa with a grin on his face. “Two fighters want to land,” he said.

“Now?” She croaked, her throat feeling very dry as her ship was ripped apart piece by piece. “Tell them that if they can, do it.” Klein nodded and relayed the message.

Hastings informed Jordan and then accelerated into the battle to check out the landing zone. The hangar doors didn’t need opened, there was a gaping hole in them that two Eclipses could fly through side‑by‑side. “We’ve got enough clearance, but I hope the emergency force fields are working when we land.”

“Let’s hope so. Shall we try?” She asked as lightly as possible and then the two fighters dove into the fighting. Shots whizzed all around, but no one seemed to notice the two Eclipses or the ExoArmor piggybacking on one. Jordan, who was far less maneuverable with Garren and Manny riding her craft, narrowly dodged a stray beam of light before lining up to land. She put her throttle at full, Hastings pulling up to let her come in first while he flew escort, and darted through the ruined hangar door. Only then did she slow down and eventually stop, mere inches from a wall. Garren climbed off of the fighter and nodded his thanks. He gently set Manny down and climbed out of the Fortune’s Fool. He could see that she hadn’t moved and was shaking violently.

“What’s wrong?” He asked her.

“Hypothermia,” she bit out. He nodded and picked her up, sprinting towards sickbay as Hastings came in for a barely controlled landing. He popped the canopy and as the ship was hit again, he wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have just stayed outside.

Garren saw the wounded lining the corridor outside sickbay and set Manny down. Then he rushed inside and saw Anderson working on another badly injured patient. He ran over and the doctor turned to look at him.

“If you aren’t hurt, then get the hell out of here,” Anderson snapped.

“It’s not me, it’s Manny. She’s sick and needs help fast,” Garren answered.

“What’s wrong with her?” Anderson inquired as he continued to work on his patient.

“Hypothermia. She was stuck out in space in a suit that didn’t have a very good heater.”

“All right, there’s not much I can do for her now...”

“What? She could die, you’ve got to do something!” Garren interrupted.

“...But find a nurse and ask them to give you ten ccs of Merlazene, that should start bringing her temperature up until I can get to her.” The doctor finished and Garren resisted the urge to hug him.

“Thanks, Doc,” he said and ran to find a nurse and get the medicine. Anderson focused on his work again, hoping that Manny made it through. He had really come to like her in the past as a friend. He especially felt connected to her after the month she had spent under his care. Garren came back out with a syringe in hand and darted out into the corridor. Anderson finished with his patient and the next one came, forcing himself to concentrate on work.

***

The Avenger’s bridge rocked as a shot impacted nearby. Lisa was lying flat on her back, looking out the cracked skylight that showed the ugly bellies of several Zombies and Wraiths. She could feel the ship starting to give way and knew that it couldn’t take much more of this beating. The shields were long gone, the weapons barely worked, and the hull was giving way in a lot of places. The only satisfaction she drew from all of this was that any other ship would have cashed in its chips a long time ago.

“Captain, the shuttle has broken through the atmosphere and is only two miles from the Great Matrix!” Terraz burst out happily.

“Great, let’s get out of here,” Lisa ordered. Nichols turned to her with a big smile. It was then that a Wraith came roaring in and placed a shot just above the bridge. Rubble came tumbling down as supports gave way. Lisa rolled and just missed having a heavy beam crash down on her. “Evacuate to engineering!” She shouted and crawled towards the door. Laurants abandoned his station and went to her side, scooping her up. There was too much dust and debris to see anyone and he rushed out with Lisa in his arms. Terraz was behind him, staying just long enough to nail the Wraith that had assaulted them. The doors parted again and Klein staggered out.

“Nichols...” He whispered and gestured to the bridge just as the Avenger began to move quickly. It spun around ninety degrees and gained speed. Then it jumped briefly into hyperspace before coming to a complete stop far away from the fighting.

After a minute of tense waiting, Lisa screamed, “Nathan!” Laurants looked at the others and Klein shook his head.

“I’ll find him,” Laurants told her, and she nodded, knowing that there was no way she could go back with a broken ankle.

Laurants dashed into the bridge, which was filling with smoke and flame as consoles shorted out. He hopped over a ruined support and shoved away some debris as he headed for the helm. He saw a human form nearby and pushed aside a collapsed piece of ceiling. Laurants was grateful at this point that the emergency force fields were working to seal the holes.

He reached the helm and saw Nichols lying near his station on his back, looking up at the stars. There was a gaping, bleeding hole in his chest from a piece of shrapnel, but the helmsman was still alive and reached out for Laurants. Laurants grabbed his hand and looked down at the man who had saved the ship by getting it out of there before another attack could have taken it out.

“Is Lisa...all right?” He asked and spit blood.

“She’ll be fine,” Laurants replied sadly.

“Too bad I won’t be. Look...you’ve got to tell her...I’m sorry about...not coming to her sooner...and that...I love her.”

“I will,” Laurants answered as the life faded from Nichols.

“That’s good. She...doesn’t deserve this. Not after...everything else,” Nichols said and his eyes closed. Laurants dropped the hand to the deck and then stood up. He made his way back outside, where the bridge crew waited anxiously.

“I’m sorry,” Laurants said simply, knowing that mere words weren’t enough in a situation like this.

“No!” Lisa shouted and broke into tears. Laurants picked her up and as the bridge crew made its way to engineering, she was left to wonder why the universe was so damned unfair.

***

The escort ship was about fifty feet off the ground and right above the Great Matrix. There were two enemy escort ships on their tail and blasting away at them. Sam jumped out of the shuttle and activated his thrusters. He picked one of the enemy vessels off right away, hitting it in the belly turret with six missiles. The other veered away, and Sam chased after it.

Arsa looked outside and could see that everything was like her vision. The sky, the Matrix, even the battle above was familiar. So too was the feeling that she would die. The shuttle was now twenty feet above the Matrix and still dropping. Arsa knew that soon she would light the Great Matrix and after months of waiting, the quest would be over. She stopped and felt something very dark. Right away she knew that Nichols was dead. She could feel Lisa’s heart breaking again at the loss of her old friend and fiancée. She had already lost Brian Laurants, her father, and her first command; losing Nichols was another blow to her already battered soul. Still, Arsa knew that Lisa would survive, as she had done before, because she was a strong person. She just hoped that Lisa would remember some of the advice she had given her.

The escort ship Sam was chasing swung around and fired at the shuttle as it continued to land. Right afterwards it exploded as Sam put several missiles into its rear, but the damage was done. The shot hit the escort ship in the cockpit. The pilot and co‑pilot were killed instantly, and the shuttle began to fall. Arsa could see the Matrix below and all of the pieces fell into place. This would be how she died. She went to the hatch and opened it, the shattered Matrix still fifty feet below her. She took a deep breath and stepped out into the open air.

Sam saw Arsa falling, but he was too far away to catch her. Her body lit up with white light as she collided with the glass sphere. For a moment there was nothing, but then the sphere began to reform one piece at a time, as if in slow motion. Sam hovered in midair and watched in awe as the Great Matrix completed itself and lit up with multi‑colored energy. He landed and climbed out of the ExoArmor, gaping at the Great Matrix.

Suddenly it began to glow brighter and brighter until a massive burst of green light shot out. This light seemed to go into infinity, and Sam wondered what was happening.

S’Olonny stood on what was left of the bridge, ready to make a last stand against Shadow Wing. S’Sadz lay dead, and S’Olonny knew that soon he would be. Then there came a green light, playing across the space around S’Parni like a spotlight, and all of the nearby enemy ships vaporized. S’Olonny stared in amazement.

“The Matrix has been relit!” He shouted. A moment later S’Tallen appeared next to him.

“The Savior has come!” S’Tallen chimed in, feeling very proud of himself. S’Olonny watched on the monitor as the green beam swept harmlessly over the allied ships and annihilated only the Grand Concil’s and Shadow Wing’s vessels.

Another minute later and it was all over. There wasn’t even any wreckage to symbolize that such a huge battle had taken place. Both S’Olonny and S’Tallen knew that only Arsa’s powers and the Great Matrix could have caused the mass destruction. They stood, frozen in place, for a few minutes as it began to sink in that they had won against the impossible odds. The green beam faded and the Great Matrix was lit only with multi‑colored light, but the body of former Commander Arsa Veranda was nowhere to be found.

***

One hour later, in the command center of the Grand Council, High General S’Hamble still stared at the monitors in shock. All of Shadow Wing and his fleet were vaporized. The only ships in orbit were the traitors. He clenched his fists and smashed a monitor. It was then that a transmission came in.

S’Hamble activated a functional monitor and saw S’Olonny’s face on the screen. “You will now accept our terms for your surrender, or you will die,” the collection vessel captain said simply.

S’Hamble laughed cruelly. “Do you really think that the people will accept your group of traitors as their leaders? You have brought their society to its knees, they will kill you the second you touch ground!”

“I think not,” S’Olonny answered and broke the connection. It was then that Sam broke down the doors to the command center with his ExoArmor. The short transmission had been just long enough to get the location of the command center and give it to the young S’Parnian.

Sam quickly shot S’Hamble’s guards and went over to the High General. S’Hamble squirmed, thinking that Sam was going to kill him. Instead, Sam merely picked him up and took off.

“What are you doing?” S’Hamble screamed. They rose above the capital city of S’Pani and the High General wondered what S’Olonny and his lackey were up to. Then they stopped and hovered over a large field just outside the city where thousands of S’Parnians were gathered.

“You will pay for your crimes now. The people have seen the coming of the Savior and the destruction of your fleet; they now know who the real enemy is,” Sam spoke quietly in S’Parnian and then released his grip on S’Hamble. The head of the Grand Council tumbled into the midst of the gathered throng and a shout went up. They began punching, kicking, and cursing S’Hamble. He was dead in seconds and his body strung up on a tree to rot. Sam flew away, knowing that Arsa and all those who had given their lives to free his people were now avenged.

Chapter Twenty-One

2007-06-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Chapter Twenty-One

S’Hamble paced nervously around the command center. The battle had progressed far slower than he had hoped. The confusion from the mass defection had caused this, and the High General vowed that the traitors would pay for their treachery. Then he looked at the Darkstar and the two collection vessels and knew that there was hope yet for the Grand Council to win. It was just a matter of time.

S’Yevman came up to the head of the Grand Council, looking nervous. “There’s a message from Admiral S’Gileeb for you,” the aide began.

“Good,” S’Hamble replied and went to a monitor. The admiral came on the screen a moment later.

“Greetings, High General. I have something you might be interested in seeing,” S’Gileeb said and motioned to someone off the screen. A moment later the monitor cut to a picture of the Darkstar. Its front was pointed towards the collection vessel that was to its right. There was a flash of red and a potent beam of kinetic energy ripped through the collection vessel. A second later there was nothing left, not even a shard of wreckage. S’Hamble clenched his fists in rage.

“Are you mad? What have you done?” S’Hamble shouted.

The monitor cut back to S’Gileeb’s face. “You’re a fool, S’Hamble. I have the most powerful weapon in the galaxy under my command, there’s no longer any use for you. After I and my armada are finished with the traitors I will dispense with your puny fleet.”

“Armada? What are you talking about?”

“You will see shortly.” S’Gileeb broke the connection and turned to an officer. “Order Shadow Wing to commence the attack.” S’Gileeb smiled to himself and knew that the traitors would be destroyed shortly.

S’Yevman looked blankly at S’Hamble and stammered, “What do we do now?”

“Order the fleet to retreat to low orbit. Also have the remaining collection vessel open fire immediately on the Darkstar. S’Gileeb’s backstabbers can deal with the traitors. After they’ve thinned their numbers a little, the odds will be a little more balanced.”

“That’s insane, we can’t fight them! They outnumber us badly and most of our ships are running out of ammunition!” S’Yevman and S’Hamble locked gazes for a few moments. “You’ve gone mad!”

The aide reached for his sidearm, but two blasts ripped into him before he could get a shot off. S’Yevman crumpled to the floor in a bloody heap. S’Hamble kicked the corpse and motioned to his guards. “Clean this up,” he commanded. Then he moved over to a monitor to order his fleet back. He would need every ship when S’Gileeb’s armada was done with the traitors.

***

“The Grand Council’s fleet is withdrawing to low orbit,” Klein said. There was a brief moment of silence as the news sunk in, the enemy was on the run!

“Captain, I’ve got multiple ships jumping in!” Laurants called. Lisa turned to look at him, dread crossing her face.

“How many and whose side are they on?” She asked, feeling a chill run up her spine.

“I’ve got over a hundred so far and more keep appearing. It looks like whoever is coming is jumping in waves. From what the sensors show of a few of the ships, they aren’t like anything in the Alliance’s inventory. Some look kind of like S’Parnian ships, but others don’t.” Laurants was getting confused looking at all of the incoming data. None of it made any sense. Readings were overlapping and he couldn’t get a positive identification on any of the newcomers. God, please don’t tell me that someone new decided to drop into this unannounced, he thought glumly. Lisa came over to his station and looked over his shoulder. Things definitely didn’t look good.

Laurants was right about the classification of the new ships. There were some that looked like S’Parnian Interceptors, but there were also many that appeared to be patterned after the Avenger itself. These were shaped much like the Rygan‑made ship, only the hull was much rougher and the weapons were fixed, not retractable like the Avenger’s. The odd thing was that all of the new vessels were painted in the same black scheme as the Darkstar. Could they be connected in some way? Lisa wondered to herself.

“Looks like they’re just about done with their jump,” Laurants said. The waves coming in were down to just a handful at a time. “That brings the total up to roughly five hundred.”

“Five hundred? That’s impossible!” Lisa blurted out and all heads turned, their faces going ashen.

“How the hell are we supposed to fight that many?” Klein shouted nervously.

“Calm down, Ensign! We only have to hold them off long enough for Arsa to get to the surface. After that we haul ass out of here and back to Earth,” Lisa snapped. Klein nodded dumbly and turned back to stare at his display.

“How are we going to do that?” Nichols asked. He was a good pilot, but there was no way he wanted to tangle with five hundred ships, even if a lot of them were just Avenger rip‑offs.

“Throw everything we’ve got at them until we drop the shuttle. Then we’ve just got to buy her enough time.”

Nichols nodded and wondered if it was possible for such a small force, already battered and battle‑weary, to hold off a huge fleet of fresh ships for that long. They were certainly going to find out.

***

Manny motioned to the three incoming ExoArmors. They were near a piece of blasted hull on the Darkstar. Manny had no idea what had happened, but a large chunk of metal that had sealed off part of the hull was gone. If they could clear a little more room, then it was their ticket inside. She pulled out her S’Zai and began slicing around the shot‑up area. The metal was still soft around the blast edge, indicating that whatever had happened hadn’t been too long ago. Garren and the others reached her just as she finished the last cut. Then she squeezed the bulky ExoArmor through the hole. Garren followed after her and Beyars brought up the rear.

They emerged in a deserted area that had been sealed off after the outer hull had ruptured. They were going to have to find some way through the thick pieces of metal that were between them and the ship’s interior. Manny turned to Garren, “Any way we can quietly get through here?”

The sergeant looked around for a moment and shrugged. “Doesn’t look like one. That metal’s got to be a few inches. Anything short of a few missiles won’t cut it.”

“Could we override the emergency systems somehow?”

“I’m not sure.”

“I think there is,” Beyars piped up and everyone turned to look at him. “I might be able to use that terminal over there.”

“Go for it, then,” Manny encouraged the young corporal and he went over to the terminal. It was still operating, but just barely. Beyars opened an access panel below the terminal and then went to work.

“I’m ready to open the doors, so watch out,” Beyars announced and Manny nodded. The other three soldiers hefted their rifles in case the enemy should be on the other side. Then Beyars entered a command and the metal walls began to lift. Fortunately there was no one on the other side of them and the ExoArmors hurried into the dark gray corridors. A few moments later, the walls moved back into place.

“What did you do?” Young asked as they jogged through the blank‑walled halls.

“I saw that the terminal was hooked into some kind of network, so I just fooled the environmental controls to make everything look normal. The system must of overrode my command,” Beyars explained.

“Sorry I asked,” Young joked grimly.

“Shut up!” Garren scolded as they reached an intersection. Manny flattened herself against the corridor wall and then jumped into one of the adjoining ones. There was no one there and she relaxed a little. Then she motioned the others forward.

Manny had no idea where they were going, but as long as they kept going towards the rear they should find the TDJ drive eventually. She checked the map of the ship’s outside that S’Tallen had sent her and figured that they had about two miles to go.

Suddenly a door opened and three soldiers burst out. They turned and reached for their weapons, but the humans were quicker. Manny caught one in the chest and it went down instantly. Garren took the head off another. The third one ducked and avoided the shots from Beyars and Young. It touched something on its belt just as Manny nailed it in the midsection. There was the sound of a distant klaxon and Manny cursed aloud.

“Let’s move it!” She commanded and activated her thrusters. The only way they were going to make it was to move quickly. The others followed just as guards came onto the scene. Harmless laser bolts flew past the ExoArmors as they fled. “The party’s over.”

***

S’Olonny saw the line of ships that had just arrived and grimaced. The humans were not within range to drop the Savior yet, which meant that the tiny allied flotilla would have to hold off the new threat for several minutes. He smiled gravely to himself and thought, we weren’t even supposed to make it this far. “Ready all forward weapons and close with the enemy,” S’Olonny commanded and S’Sadz nodded.

S’Olonny then punched the intercom button and called S’Tallen. “What is it?” The scientist demanded. He was working on keeping the ship running and directing the repair crews, making him very busy during the fighting.

“A new enemy armada has arrived. After we fire an initial burst, I want you to vent energy from the bio‑energy tanks into the weapons.”

“There’s a good chance that will overload the power grid for the weapons system. We’ll be disabled!”

“Yes, but we’ll take a good portion of them with us before they can scatter. Your place in history is sealed, S’Tallen, now we must work together to help the Savior.”

“I understand. If we do blow out the weapons grid, I’ll see what I can do about repairing it.”

“Good.” S’Olonny cut off the conversation as the collection vessel came within range of Shadow Wing. S’Olonny couldn’t remember ever feeling as alive as he did at that moment. He rose to his feet and looked over at S’Sadz. “Fire!”

An intense mass of energy was emitted from the combined might of the Vindicator’s forward weapons and headed for a large cluster of Shadow Wing ships. The ships, numbering at least twenty, were vaporized instantly. Wreckage damaged still more, and S’Olonny knew that he had done a fair amount of damage. S’Tallen began working feverishly to release energy from the bio‑energy tanks into the weapons. He took a deep breath and hit the intercom. “We’re ready,” he announced.

“Fire again!” S’Olonny commanded. There was no need for the ship to adjust its position, it just sent another blast deeper into the dense mass of Shadow Wing. More ships were destroyed, but S’Olonny felt the entire ship rock violently.

“As I feared, the weapons power grid has overloaded,” S’Tallen said. He looked at his displays and grimaced. The raw energy in the bio‑energy tanks had been too much for the power grid to handle. He looked for some way around it.

“Is there any way to restore the weapons?” S’Olonny asked doubtfully.

“There may be, but it will take time.”

“That is something that we don’t have at the moment.” S’Olonny looked at the black fleet still lurking out there and wondered if there were any way to keep the Savior alive.

***

Red Harding was in the lead of the force that was charging at Shadow Wing. He had not chosen this honor, but his Eclipse fighter had been closest to the point where the newcomers had chosen to jump in at. He looked at his targeting display, which was going crazy with the number of ships in the vicinity. He just hoped that it didn’t screw up his missiles. He was coming up fast on the enemy and readied himself for a new round of fighting. The first bout with the Grand Council’s ships had been hellish enough, but he knew that this next round would be worse. He could see that Shadow Wing was sorting out for its coordinated assault on the allies. At the head of the fleet were five of the Avenger clones which had been dubbed Wraiths by someone. There were waves of the black Interceptors, nicknamed Zombies, in trail and still more Wraiths mingling in here and there. The allies had put together a much less formidable force consisting of a gaggle of escort ships, seven Eclipses, six ExoArmors, about twenty Interceptors, and a single Destroyer. The Vindicator was looming farther away, but it appeared to be lifeless at the moment.

The two forces closed, and Harding could see a slight red glow around the enemy ships. “They’re firing!” He shouted and broke hard to his left. It seemed as if millions of laser beams flashed over his canopy towards the allies. The Destroyer was torn apart in a hail of energy, as were at least half of the Interceptors. But then it was over and the opposing sides merged.

Harding dove onto one of the Zombies, knowing there was little he could do against the larger Wraiths. He plummeted staight at it, weaving right and left to avoid fire coming from the vessel. Then when he was within scant feet of colliding with the Zombie, he fired his plasma cannons and pulled up and away. He turned back to see that the blast had put a large hole in the Zombie’s hull. Damn, he thought to himself, they aren’t that tough. He looped around and raked the Zombie with his lasers. As he pulled away again, the ship was torn apart from explosions.

“These things ain’t got any shields!” Someone called out over the comm.

“Yeah, they’d be easy to kill if there weren’t so damn many of them,” an Eclipse pilot Harding knew grunted. As he headed for another Zombie he could hear screams all over the comm from pilots that weren’t so lucky.

“We’re gonna get slaughtered!”

“Shut up! We’ve got to hold them off!”

“I’m hit!”

“I’ve lost it, I’m going in,” said one particularly cool pilot as his Eclipse cartwheeled into a Wraith. The ship, which was already damaged, exploded in a ball of flame. Harding grit his teeth and concentrated as he dove in on his third Zombie.

He armed his missiles and felt his fighter buck sharply as it was hit. He quickly checked the damage and saw that his left tailfin was gone. He continued his plunge and then fired a spread of missiles, followed by a short burst from his laser cannons. He pulled up and noticed that the Eclipse was handling a lot slower. He pressed on, knowing that he had to complete his mission.

He could see that the allies were nearly finished. Only a handful of Interceptors were left, and most of the humans were gone. Two escort ships joined him as he began his run on a Wraith. By now it seemed as if the enemy had caught on to his scheme. As he fired his plasma cannons and leveled out, a pair of shots hit his Eclipse. One of the engines sputtered out and the left wing was mangled. The two escort ships fired everything they had, but were obliterated by the Wraith’s weapons.

Harding knew that he was done for, but was able to bring the Eclipse back around. He armed everything he had as he closed. A laser grazed the right wing, but Harding used all his strength and was able to keep control of the fighter. He was flying straight and level, unable to maneuver, and knew that he was dead. He opened fire just as another shot ripped into his Eclipse. The controls went dead and Harding knew that he was done for.

“This one is for Earth, you cold‑blooded murdering bastards!” Harding shouted as his Eclipse smashed into the rear of the Wraith. There was a small explosion touched off by the fighter’s destruction, and then the Wraith was destroyed as larger explosions erupted and tore it apart.

***

“Intruder alert on Deck 43!” An officer shouted to S’Gileeb. “There are reports of four armored invaders moving aft.”

“Dispatch all available security forces to cover Decks 40 through 46 to block their passage. Be sure that they are armed with heavy weapons. How goes progress on the hull?” S’Gileeb asked. The drones were still moving about on the hull of the ship, shooting anything resembling a weapon. As yet there was no way to get rid of the things. Security forces using everything from missile launchers to heavy laser cannons had done little to get rid of the pests. Still, they were of little concern, as were these intruders. They would be swiftly eliminated, and then S’Gileeb could turn to other matters.

The ship rocked suddenly and the admiral wondered what was going on. He looked to another officer for the damage report. “Nothing major, sir. Apparently the collection vessel on our port side fired upon us. Decks 124 and 126 were breached, but emergency systems have sealed the area. Main power has been cut off from there, though.”

“Don’t worry about that, there’s nothing important on those decks. Move the ship into position to open fire on that meddlesome collection vessel.”

The officer obeyed, and S’Gileeb knew that it would take several minutes for the ship to complete the maneuver. The collection vessel would more than likely get one last shot before it met its doom, one that would probably do little damage. He would take great pleasure in destroying S’Hamble’s last powerful ship. Then it would be a simple matter for Shadow Wing to sweep through the tattered remains of the Grand Council’s pitiful armada before taking control of S’Parni. Then he would find the humans’s homeworld and obliterate it before they could even dream of striking at S’Parni ever again.

***

Manny cartwheeled in midair and landed on her feet in time to blast three of the alien soldiers rushing at her. Garren launched a missile that took out several more while Beyars and Young finished off the remaining guards that had set themselves up in the corridor. Manny nodded at the others to move again. The security forces were really slowing them down, but had done no damage to the ExoArmors as yet.

They began jetting down the corridors again, keeping their eyes peeled for any more security troops. It wasn’t long before they found more blocking an intersection, their weapons up and pointed at the oncoming ExoArmors. Manny could see immediately that these soldiers were far better prepared; they were carrying missile launchers and heavy laser cannons that could stop the ExoArmors in their tracks.

“Get back!” She shouted and flipped the Grinnin’ Ghost around and moved into a doorway for cover as a barrage of missile and laser fire flashed past her. The other platoon members flattened themselves on the deck and avoided the deadly fire before moving for cover. Manny qucickly weaved and ran her way over to them, wildly firing her rifle as she did so. She dove behind the wall the ExoArmors were using for cover. “We’re in deep shit now.”

“Definitely. So what’s the plan?” Garren asked. Young leaned out into the corridor and fired a couple of shots to try and keep the security guards’ heads down.

“The only way out is through, so we’ll have to rush them. Use your long‑range missiles first to try and wipe them out, then during the confusion, go in and mop up,” Manny replied.

“Piece of cake,” Beyars groaned uneasily.

“Let’s do it!” Young said enthusiastically. Manny readied herself for combat again and the quartet of ExoArmors converted their arms into boxy missile launchers. Manny signaled them to go and jumped out into the corridor, firing her missiles. The projectiles cut the distance between the opposing forces quickly and ripped into the soldiers. As fire bathed the enemy, Manny converted the Ghost’s right arm back to normal and the left to machine‑gun mode and then leapt into the air. She flipped three times and landed in the middle of the destruction, firing the machine‑gun and rifle simultaneously. Davis charged through the flames and opened fire while Young and Beyars hung back for cover.

Beyars thought he heard something and turned in time to see a smaller squad of soldiers moving in as reinforcements. “Look out!” He shouted to the others and began firing. There was a flash and then a missile tore into the left shoulder of Beyars’ ExoArmor. He screamed in pain and dropped to his knees, still firing his rifle with his right hand. A blast from a heavy cannon hit him square in the chest and another missile impacted squarely on his face. Beyars fell to the deck and his weapon flew from his hand. With his last ounce of effort his right hand shakily moved to retrieve it. He touched the barrel once and died.

“No!” Young screamed and poured everything he had into the S’Parnians. The soldiers scattered, but there was no escape. Young drove at them madly, using his gun and fists to finish off the guards. A missile hit him in the side, but the private didn’t even flinch. He calmly returned fire and cut down the trooper. Then he saw that the enemy was finished and lowered his rifle. Manny and Garren came over and saw Young standing in a pool of alien blood, not moving.

“Snap out of it, you’ll have time to grieve later,” Manny said sadly and put a metal hand on the private’s shoulder. He seemed to understand and turned around. He took one last look at Beyars’s ExoArmor and took off. Garren had seen death too many times before, but he could understand what the young soldier was going through.

***

“It’s about time you got here,” Hastings said as he saw Jordan’s fighter approach.

“Traffic’s a bitch out there,” she replied smartly. “So what do you want?”

“I need you to help me disable that flagship’s big gun.”

“How?”

“It’s easy. We simply fly down the barrel of the gun and hit six power junctions at the end. That should disable it at least for a while.”

“All right then, let’s go in,” Jordan replied and wheeled her fighter towards the opening. Hastings smiled to himself and followed her in. She never was one for small talk, he thought as he was immersed in the suffocating darkness of the cannon’s barrel.

“Be careful, I don’t know if there are any kind of security measures in here.”

“Great. I think next time I’ll just stay home.”

“And miss all this, you’ve got to be joking.” They continued to plunge onward in silence. Both pilots hoped that the aliens didn’t fire the gun while they were still inside, or else it would be a very short trip.

The first leg of the journey was uneventful, and the two fighters were coming up on the first junctions. The power grid was laid out so that there were two junctions on each side of the barrel and one each at the top and bottom. Hastings casually eased his Eclipse to the left side and Jordan to the right. They armed their weapons and readied themselves for the attack run.

Hastings could see a dim red glow in the first junction and felt himself go cold. The glow could only mean that the gun was charging up for a shot. They wouldn’t have much time to disable it before it fired and they were history. He concentrated on making the shot and lined the junction up in his crosshairs. He pushed the missile trigger and two of the projectiles lit out for the junction. There was a small explosion and then the junction was gone. Hastings sighed with relief before heading for the next one.

He could see that the second junction would be more difficult. Wires and conduits were running all around it, making it hazardous to fly through, especially in the dark. He took a deep breath and then inverted his fighter to avoid clipping a wire, righted himself and stood the Eclipse on its left wing, and finally climbed sharply, leveled out, and dove onto the junction. A long trail of lasers raked the power junction and it exploded. Hastings banked right in time to avoid colliding with a conduit and looked for the next one.

He saw it practically straight below him, nestled amongst several thick wires. This would be another tricky shot, but one he had to make. He dove towards it, weaving horizontally to avoid a maze of obstacles. Then he flipped his fighter around to the right and leveled out. His nose was aimed right at the junction and he fired three missiles. He quickly climbed and sped over the power junction as it blew up. Fire singed his tail and tossed the Eclipse a little, but it was otherwise fine. He turned around to exit the gun.

Jordan saw a flash and knew that Hastings had bagged the first junction. She lined hers up and fired. Two missiles stabbed it and it burst into a ball of flame. She smiled with satisfaction and looked for the next one. The red glow seemed to be getting stronger, which was bad news for her and Hastings.

She could see the second one ahead and knew that it was going to be tricky hitting it. She deftly moved her fighter left to avoid a wire and then shot upwards to hurdle a conduit. She put the Eclipse on its right wing and flew between two parallel circuits. Then she dove just under a wire and brought the nose of her fighter up and released another pair of missiles. The missiles tore into the junction and it exploded. The red glow was getting more and more intense as she looked for the last junction.

The final junction was nestled on the top of the barrel and surrounded by wires and conduits. She stood the Eclipse on its tail and clawed for altitude. Then she performed an impossible serious of rolls, climbs, and dives to get through the forest of power lines. The junction was dead ahead and she readied herself. She climbed over one last conduit and fired her lasers. The beams of light hit their mark and the junction burst into flame. The red glow disappeared and Jordan proceeded to make her way out. She joined up with Hastings somewhere in the middle of the barrel and they both sighed with relief upon confirming that they had each made it.

“Let’s get out of here,” Hastings said.

“Last one home buys a round of beers when we get to Earth,” Jordan retorted. The two Eclipse pilots chuckled as they exited the giant, albeit useless, weapon.

***

S’Gileeb grimaced as he heard the news. “The main cannon has been disabled. It appears that the primary power junctions have been destroyed,” one of the Darkstar’s officers reported grimly.

“Have repair crews work on it at once. I want it operational within the hour. In the meantime, bombard that collection vessel with all smaller weapons,” S’Gileeb commanded and steepled his fingers as he thought. These traitors are very clever. They have disabled the main cannon somehow, but they will not enjoy that victory for long. “Status on Shadow Wing?”

“Seventy percent of all ships are still operational. It looks like most of the traitors sacrificed themselves in a suicidal assault. They should be swept away easily. However, the human ship and S’Olonny’s vessel were not part of this attack, although the collection vessel did appear briefly in the fighting.”

“Very well, have Shadow Wing move in to mop up the traitors.” S’Gileeb felt troubled about something. It was unlike the traitors to sacrifice themselves so foolishly. They had to be hiding something. Once he found out what it was, he would be sure to spoil their plan.

“Sir, reports are just coming in that five of our security teams have been wiped out by the intruders.”

“Divert all possible forces to that area at once. I want those intruders eliminated soon.” S’Gileeb cursed his bad fortune. The damnable traitors seemed to be everywhere. Some were still on the hull, others were roaming the interior of the ship, and yet more had disabled the main cannon. They have been lucky so far, but their luck will change soon, S’Gileeb fumed to himself.

***

An explosion rocked the Vindicator and threw S’Tallen off of his feet. He was working furiously to get power to the weapons, but it was slow work. The problem was that the enemy seemed to sense the ship’s weakness and was driving hard at them. Wraiths and Zombies dove at them in twos and threes, firing mercilessly. S’Olonny had ordered all available personnel to don space gear and go out on the hull to try and hit the ships as they passed. It was doing little good, except to make the collection vessel appear a little less weak than it was.

S’Tallen got up and tried to work again, but another hit sent him sprawling. The lights went out and for a few moments the scientist thought for good. Then they came back on, but he heard shouts from some of the nearby technicians. He hurried over to see what was wrong.

“We’ve lost control of the drones,” one technician said.

“There’s no way we can retrieve them now,” another groaned.

“Then there is no use complaining. We’ve got a job to do, so get to work trying to repair damage to the ship and to fix the weapons,” S’Tallen snapped, but could feel something inside of him moan in pain. The drones had been one of his many pet projects and he hated to see them gone. Still, there was no way to get control of them again, and he was far too busy to worry about it now. Still, he at least had to let S’Olonny know. He punched the intercom button and said, “We’ve lost the drones.”

“Very well then. I’ll be on the hull if you need me,” the captain replied. There was a note of defeat in his voice.

“S’Olonny, we still need you. You can’t go out there and get yourself killed.”

“There’s nothing to stop that now.”

“I’m going to need you when I get the weapons fixed. Better to go down in a blaze of glory than a mere spark,” the scientist said as he continued to work.

“I understand. I’ll be down there shortly to see what I can do to assist you.”

“Thank‑you. The Savior will relight the Matrix, I promise you.”

“Yes, I know. Whether we will be around to see it is another matter.” S’Olonny ended the transmission and S’Tallen nodded as he continued to work.

***

Only one more roadblock stood between Manny and her platoon and the flagship’s TDJ drive. This roadblock, however, would be next to impossible to beat. Four missile launchers, six heavy cannons, and fifty troops blocked them. Manny gaped at the formidable force, which had yet to spot her or her troops as they were still a distance down the corridor.

“Any way around?” Garren asked.

“No,” Manny replied. “We’ve got to take them.”

“How can we do that?” Young asked.

“This time we have the element of surprise. When I give the word, fire whatever you have left. Then rush right at them in the confusion and mop up,” Manny commanded. Then the three soldiers took deep breaths and flashed towards their destiny.

About ten meters from the roadblock, Manny landed and motioned for the others to do the same. The security forces were caught by surprise and hurriedly aimed their weapons. “Now!” Manny cried out and all three ExoArmors fired their rifles, laser cannons, and missile launchers. The hellish volley landed right in the middle of the roadblock just as Manny’s Grinnin’ Ghost came charging at the remaining troops. She slashed left and right with her S’Zai, cutting down the helpless security guards. Young and Garren burst into the fray, firing their rifles and going hand‑to‑hand.

Then disaster struck. At the sound of the commotion, reinforcements from another roadblock came, armed to the teeth. Manny turned to deal with this threat when a missile slammed into her chest, sending her crashing to the deck. Three heavy cannons ripped into Young’s ExoArmor, shredding it and the man inside. Garren shouted something incoherent and pumped off round after round from his rifle into the reinforcements. Then he rushed forward and began beating them savagely with his gauntleted fists. Manny got her ExoArmor to its feet to help Garren. She stumbled towards the fight, but a soldier with a heavy laser cannon shot the Ghost squarely in the chest. It toppled again and Manny could see from her display that it was dead. When Garren saw Manny go down again, he battered the security soldier who had fired the cannon and finished off the rest of them. Then he hurried over to Manny’s side.

“Are you all right?” He asked his commander quickly.

“I am, but my ExoArmor’s a goner,” she replied and then slowly climbed out of it. She opened the side leg holster and pulled out her S’Zai, then motioned to Garren to go forward. He gently picked her up and took off.

They reached the doors to the engine room and Garren set Manny down and pried them open. He was still enraged at losing two members of his platoon, that and he knew that there was no way for Manny to escape the ship alive without her ExoArmor. Neither one said anything about that, knowing how futile it was. Once the doors were open, Garren picked Manny up and went inside. Both of their jaws immediately dropped.

The TransDimensional Jump drive chamber was ten times the size of the one in a S’Parnian Destroyer. The Biocrystallin crystal was enormous, easily the size of an Eclipse fighter. Hanging above the crystal was the cone‑shaped generator that provided the electromagnetic pulse. Garren wondered how in the world he could destroy that thing and said as much to Manny.

“Actually, I’ve already got a plan,” she said. The engineering technicians around them huddled in a corner, scared to death of Garren’s ExoArmor. He kept his rifle trained on them in any case while Manny went over to a computer console. She wished that Farley or even S’Tallen were here to help her with what she was about to do, because it was complicated for someone who wasn’t very skilled in science or engineering.

She first had Garren bring over one of the frightened engineers to help her get into the computer system, then she went to work. She quickly rerouted power from the Darkstar’s weapons systems to the TDJ drive. Garren escorted the engineer back to the corner and hoped that no more security forces decided to show up while Manny worked.

“There, I’m done,” she announced. “You’d better get out of here.”

“I’m not going to leave without you!” Garren shot back.

“That’s bullshit! I order you to leave at once.”

“I won’t do it. We live together or die together, I don’t care either way.”

“Damn it, why do you have to be so stubborn?” Manny huffed and knew that there was no way to talk Garren out of it. He looked around for some way to help Manny and spied an equipment locker. He ripped it open and smiled.

“Jackpot!” He shouted and tossed Manny a suit the S’Parnian engineers used to work outside of the ship. Manny quickly donned the suit and then pushed the button that began draining power from the weapons and rerouting it to the TDJ drive. Garren picked her up and they looked for a way out. Finally Garren used his rifle to make his own way out, which took over a minute. The cowardly engineers were sucked out into space, which Garren knew was unfortunate but necessary to make sure that no one tampered with their sabotage. Then he jumped out into space and activated his thrusters to clear the area.

S’Gileeb was waiting to hear from his security forces, when someone shouted, “The reactor’s going critical!” S’Gileeb bolted over to see what the problem was. It was apparently obvious that someone had overloaded the generator that fired the electromagnetic pulse into the Biocrysallin, causing the engine reactor to overload.

S’Gileeb sat calmly in his seat, knowing that there was nothing he could do. In seconds he would be dead, as would everyone else on the ship. The clever traitors had gotten him one last time, taking advantage of the size of his ship to infiltrate it and hit at its one vulnerable area. Just before the TransDimensional drive went critical, S’Gileeb thought that he would have liked to have met the traitors’s devious leaders.

In the engine room, the Biocrystallin crystal began to glow as bright as a thousand suns. Then one final pulse was sent into it and it shattered. There was an enormous explosion that ripped through the Darkstar. White‑tinged light bathed the ship in a strange glow. Then there was a fiery flash and the mighty flagship, and the collection vessel next to it, disappeared completely.

Garren, holding tightly onto Manny, was buffeted by the shockwave from the explosion. He used his thrusters to right himself and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, there’s one big problem out of the way,” he said simply. A moment later two Eclipse fighters slowed and came to a stop near Garren.

“I take it that’s your handiwork,” Hastings joked.

“You bet. I don’t suppose you’d mind giving us a ride back to the Avenger, would you?”

“For you heroes, we couldn’t refuse,” Jordan responded and Garren’s ExoArmor grabbed onto the left wing of her fighter and flipped himself onto the back of it. Then the four saboteurs headed for their home base, mourning the loss of their colleagues, but feeling vindicated in the knowledge that their deaths were not in vain.

Chapter Twenty

2007-06-12T11:22:00.001-07:00

Chapter Twenty

The space around S’Parni erupted in white light. Two ships appeared, the massive collection vessel renamed the Vindicator and the much smaller ship called the Avenger, and began driving towards the Grand Council’s armada like angry bees. In the hangar of the Avenger, the Eclipses were the first to launch, followed by the ExoArmors. All that remained were five dormant shuttles, a pair of Eclipses, and an escort ship carrying Arsa and two ExoArmors. Sometime during the jump to S’Parni Arsa had appeared, although Davis and Sam didn’t know how she had done it. One of the shuttles and the Eclipses would launch when they were close to the planet. Then the escort ship would be released once the Avenger made it to the far side of the planet.

A horde of escort ships were launched from the Vindicator, heading towards the enemy fleet, which as yet had not reacted to the new threat. The allied forces had not opened fire yet, hoping to get closer. S’Olonny hoped that the ships that were going to defect were ready for action. Nichols moved the Avenger farther apart from the Vincicator, not wanting to make the two ships such an inviting target. Neither side had fired yet, and Lisa wished that they wouldn’t have to.

In the lead of the ExoArmors, Manny commanded, “Arm your long‑range missiles and be ready for the worst.”

“I’ve definitely got a bad feeling about this,” Garren commented. The ExoArmors spread apart and plunged towards the enemy fleet. That none of the over three hundred ships had fired yet was amazing. No one in the allied forces knew what would happen next, or when the enemy would decide to fight. Until then, discretion was the better part of valor and the stand‑off continued.

***

“High General, S’Olonny’s ship and the other one have arrived. When should we attack?” S’Yevman was getting anxious, seeing the two vessels bearing down on the armada, along with the escort ships and other smaller enemy craft that made up the opposing force.

S’Hamble sat in the middle of the command center, his fingers steepled and an evil grin on his face. “Order the Darkstar to move in for the kill,” he ordered simply.

“Yes, sir!” S’Yevman replied happily and contacted Admiral S’Gileeb. “The High General wants you to move in and attack.”

“Excellent,” the admiral cut the transmission and smiled himself. “Order Shadow Wing to assume flanking positions and begin the first phase of the operation.” An underling nodded and rushed to send a coded transmission. S’Gileeb knew that very soon the enemy would be crushed, then the real slaughter would begin.

The Darkstar, the flagship of the Council’s armada, began to move from its position in low orbit of the planet’s far side. Next to it were the two collection vessels on either side, all moving to intercept the traitors. S’Hamble knew that it would be over very soon. With the firepower his fleet possessed, two puny ships would be no trouble. Then, when the fighting was over, the armada would retake the S’Gethlaar Shipyards and find Earth. The vast fleet would crush the humans and destroy their world so that no life remained and the troublesome beings could never again have the audacity to attack S’Parni. The three leviathans were almost clear of the far side of the planet and ready to strike. Then it would be a massacre; S’Hamble was looking forward to it.

***

Hastings was getting nervous. No one had made a move yet, which was very peculiar given that in the past, the Grand Council had attacked them on sight. “What are they waiting for?” He asked himself.

“What in the hell do they want, an invitation?” Jordan wanted to know, seeming to read Hastings’ thoughts.

“I’m not sure, but it can’t be good,” he replied, something telling him that he and his squadron were in deep trouble.

Then he saw something very strange: on the far side of the planet, ships were parting like the Red Sea. What’s that all about? Hastings wondered. A moment later he had his answer. His stomach churned and a shiver crept up his spine. He was barely able to keep control of his Eclipse as he stared at the sight.

Coming out from behind the planet streamed the biggest ship that Hastings had ever seen. The two collection vessels, one on either side, looked like toys in comparison. Hastings swallowed and knew that there was no way he and his squadron could take that thing on.

“Everyone pair off and scatter before that monster starts firing!” Hastings barked. He and Jordan each took a wingman and then went in separate directions. He saw her throw him a salute as she roared away, ready to engage the enemy. Hastings smiled and then placed a call to the Avenger. “It’s a trap!” He shouted into his comm.

“What do you mean?” Terraz asked. Lisa raised an eyebrow and then went over to see what was going on. “Something about a trap,” Terraz told her.

“Just look at your holoprojector on the far side of the planet and you’ll see what I mean,” Hastings answered.

Terraz called up an image on a monitor and both women gaped, their jaws dropping. “What the hell is that?” Terraz gasped.

Lisa made no reply; she didn’t have a clue what it was. She could see that it was a huge vessel, the computer put it at about ten miles long and four miles wide, and painted all in a shiny black that seemed to absorb the starlight around it like a black hole. It was shaped much like a collection vessel, a rounded‑off rectangle, but with one important difference: there was a triangular wedge missing, creating two enormous spikes, at the apex of which was the biggest damned gun Lisa had ever seen. The cannon was easily two miles across, and she hated to think of what would happen should it fire.

By now everyone else was looking at the ghastly thing on the holoprojector, looks of horror on their faces. “Keep us as far away from that as possible,” Lisa said to Nichols, then she turned to Terraz. “Signal all units to commence the attack.”

Terraz sent the message and the space began to light up with flashes. Lisa had briefly hoped for a non‑violent solution, but the appearance of the giant ship told her that the Grand Council had been toying with them, waiting for their flagship to show up before beginning the assault. Now the fight began in earnest, and the consequences would have to fall where they might.

“Target the closest ship and fire at will,” Lisa hissed, seething with anger at the Grand Council’s deception. Immediately the weapons on the Avenger appeared and thumped once as they fired. An Interceptor was ripped in half by the onslaught.

***

S’Hamble paced the command center of the Grand Council, S’Yevman and a handful of guards being the only ones in the room with him. He looked on a monitor and saw that the attack had just begun. The human ship was engaging several of his own vessels, blasting them easily. Next time, I’ve got to make stronger ships, S’Hamble mused to himself. Then again, if I had made tougher vessels, I would only have a handful instead of an armada.

He watched the Darkstar moving to intercept the enemy, and knew that soon it would all be over. There was no way that two ships could stand up to the firepower that the flagship could release. It wouldn’t be long until S’Olonny and his traitor friends were wiped out. Then the Grand Council would be uncontested in its power and the myth of the Savior would fade.

S’Hamble had at one time believed in the Savior, but becoming part of the Grand Council had changed all of that. Once on the Council, he realized how dangerous the coming of the Savior would be to people like him. It would destroy their balance of power once the Great Matrix was relit and a plentiful food supply was restored. The control of the food was all that kept the people from rebelling and overthrowing the Council. The discovery of Biocrystallin had secured the Council’s power a little as they were seen as the ones who had brought back S’Parnian culture. Now everything was threatened, a house of cards teetering on the edge of disaster. If S’Olonny succeeded, then the Grand Council would lose power, and S’Hamble would be out of a job. More than likely he would be killed, hunted down like a dog. The High General clenched his fists and vowed that things would not happen that way.

S’Yevman came over, looking puzzled. He handed S’Hamble a message from a ship in his fleet. It read simply: “The Savior has come, death to tyranny!” That’s odd, S’Hamble thought and wondered what it meant.

“Sir! Take a look at this,” S’Yevman pointed to a monitor and the High General gasped.

A Destroyer swooped in on two Interceptors and began firing. The unprepared Interceptors were vaporized instantly and the Destroyer went out of the camera’s range. On other monitors were similar pictures: his own ships were fighting each other. “It’s a mass defection,” S’Hamble whispered, still in disbelief. “The traitors!” The leader of the Grand Council smashed a monitor in frustration. After all this time, how could there be so many traitors in his midst?

“What do we do?” S’Yevman asked.

“There isn’t much we can do. Tell the Darkstar to commence firing as soon as possible. Have Admiral S’Gileeb fire into the main cluster of the fighting.”

“But we’ll hit loyal vessels!”

“That doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that this menace is wiped out once and for all.”

***

S’Olonny saw the fighting commence and smiled. Their hidden allies had come through. There were ships embattled all over, a large cluster between the lowest and highest layer of the Grand Council’s defenses. Still, with that flagship and two collection vessels maneuvering to get in firing range, things could turn ugly very quickly.

“Move into high orbit and fire at will,” S’Olonny commanded and the Vindicator began to move. Then he punched the intercom to S’Tallen. “Release the drones to attack that flagship.”

“Are you crazy? They’ll be vaporized!” S’Tallen replied.

“Perhaps, but if they stay close to the hull, then the enemy can’t stop them. Have them work to take out as many weapons and sensors on the hull as possible. I just want to annoy the ship’s captain a little to keep them busy.”

“I understand,” S’Tallen broke the connection and programmed the fifty drones made operational. Then he handed control of the units to a group of technicians he had trained. He knew that in the middle of a fierce battle he would have better things to than control drones.

S’Olonny sighed, wondering what the humans would say when they found out he had broken his word about using the drones with the human pilots. He hated to break a promise, but he needed the extra firepower in a battle as large as this one. He would deal with any moral concerns after this mission was complete.

The collection vessel came within range of a Destroyer that appeared to be loyal to the Grand Council. The ship’s forward weapons began pounding at the smaller vessel. Only seconds later the Destroyer was nothing more than a memory. S’Olonny allowed himself a tight smile, knowing that he probably wouldn’t get many more.

“It looks like our allies have showed up,” Laurants announced.

“Good, it’s about time,” Lisa responded as the ship rocked when an Interceptor got a little too close and a shot impacted against the shields. “About how many do we have?”

“It’s difficult to tell, but I’d say that we have at least seventy‑five of them left on our side.”

“Well, that’s seventy‑five we didn’t have before. Let our allies keep the enemy busy and push on to the drop point.” Nichols nodded and then rocked the ship hard to the left as an Interceptor tried to sneak up on it. It was cut down in a hail of fire and the helmsman wondered how many more times he would have to pull a sudden maneuver like that.

“Captain, I’m getting a message from the defectors!” Terraz blurted out. Lisa went back over to her station and saw that it was some kind of computer file.

“What is it?” Terraz shrugged and opened the file. Instantly some of the red dots on her targeting screen turned blue, marking them as friendly ships.

“It’s an IFF code,” Lisa breathed and had to applaud the forward‑thinking of the S’Parnian defectors. This file had to have been made a while ahead of time, a complicated identification system like this one couldn’t be made in minutes. “Send it to all units and the Vindicator at once.” Terraz worked quickly and sent the data to everyone concerned. Then she turned back to work and eliminated a pair of Interceptors that were driving at the Avenger.

Lisa returned to her chair, satisfied with the battle so far. Even with that beast lurking on the other side of the planet, the allies had beaten the odds thusfar. The confusion they and the defectors had wreaked upon the Grand Council’s fleet had them disoriented and unorganized. None of the enemy ships had really tried to get some kind of orderly resistance going; they were fighting merely to survive. Picking off Interceptors one or two at a time was easy for a powerful ship like the Avenger. If the Grand Council’s loyalists got smart and attacked in waves of five or ten, then there would be a problem. For that reason the allies would have to keep them destabilized and confused. If they didn’t, then things would get real ugly real fast.

***

Hastings spun the Eclipse in a tight corkscrew as he banked left. The shots from three escort ships tailing him sizzled just past him and he heaved a sigh of relief. Unforunately, his wingman wasn’t so lucky. The small fighter exploded in a fireball and Hastings cursed at the aliens. Then he whipped his fighter back up and smiled when he saw the Darkstar nearby.

Time to play, Hastings thought as the escort ships saw him and came at him again. He pulled the fighter in close to the side of the massive Darkstar, an uneven area that was like flying through a canyon. He could see a chunk of metal jutting out ahead and waited until the last second to dive under it. One of the escort ships, focusing on the Eclipse, didn’t see the piece of metal and slammed into it. The other two were able to dive under it and continue their pursuit. By then, Hastings was weaving his fighter back and forth very close to the edge of the Darkstar’s hull. One foolish pilot, trying to follow Hastings’ maneuvers, ended up rocking it too far and collided with the hull. Then there was only one left, this one opening fire on the fighter. Hastings grimaced as beams of light flew just over his canopy. Then he saw his salvation ahead.

It was, in effect, a solid wall. He didn’t really know why it was there, but he drove straight towards it nonetheless. This was going to take a lot of tricky flying if he was to get it right, but he knew that he could do it. He readied his plasma cannons as the wall came even closer. He took a deep breath, fired, and then dove hard to the right. The wall exploded and chunks of it blew outward into the oncoming escort ship. The pilot lost control in all of the confusion and the escort ship smashed into the Darkstar and exploded. Hastings easily looped his fighter around and could see the damage he had done.

Play time’s over, he thought, and was turning to head back into the fray when the huge flagship began trembling ever so slightly. A few moments later, the massive gun opened fire. A geyser of red energy tore through space and hit some of the ships in the middle of the fighting, vaporizing them. Hastings stared, wide‑eyed in awe at the spectacle that had just occured. “Holy shit!” He exclaimed slowly. If that thing isn’t taken out soon, we’re all dead. Then he headed for the big gun at full speed and disappeared down the barrel.

Four escort ships spotted him and followed him. Meanwhile, Hastings was trying to find some way to destroy or disable the weapon. The darkness in the barrel was suffocating and made it impossible to see. He flew on instruments alone, but then had the feeling that he wasn’t alone. A beam of bright light stabbed through the dark a moment later. Hastings turned and could see four spotlights coming from the escort ships.

Just what I need, he grumbled to himself and then carefully pirouetted his Eclipse around to face the enemy. He knew that they would be just as blind as he was and pulled over to the edge of the barrel, shutting down his engines. One of the escort ships went by him, sweeping the area with its powerful searchlight. There was another one right next to it, and Hastings glided towards both of them. He got within a few feet of the first escort ship and then activated his weapons and engines. He tagged the escort ship with his plasma cannons and streaked over it, then lined himself up towards the next one. To the escort ship pilot he simply vanished in the darkness. They fired in the direction that the human fighter had gone, hitting the escort ship right next to them. This vessel in turn fired back, and soon both of them were smoldering rubble. Meanwhile, Hastings turned his attention to the remaining escort ships.

He could see one of them just ahead of him, and that his plasma cannons had not recharged yet. He armed his missiles and locked onto the vulnerable turret. He let two of the missiles go and followed up with a few shots from his laser cannons. The escort ship exploded in a fireball, which showed Hastings where the last one was. He headed for it and silently snuck up on it, gliding towards it with his engines off. Then he opened fire with his plasma cannons and another set of missiles. The escort ship blew up and Hastings was alone again. He headed back down the barrel to look for a way to sabotage it.

When he was over half way down, he noticed something very wrong. The energy readings in the vacinity were going off the scale. That could only mean one thing: the gun was ready to fire again. He swung the Eclipse around and booted his afterburner. He only hoped that he could make it out in time, or he would be annihilated.

A massive tidal wave of red energy was forming just behind him and getting closer every second. He could see the opening and kept going towards it. When he was within a few feet of the end of the barrel, the red wall was starting to singe his tail. He squirted out the barrel and climbed rapidly. The enormous red beam of energy shot out of the huge gun and more of the embattled ships on both sides were no more.

Hastings leveled out in a quiet part of space just above the Darkstar. He could see a wave of red things coming towards him, and his sensors told him that these were the drones S’Tallen had made out of human corpses. He didn’t have time to worry about that now as the drones went over him and landed on the hull of the ship, destroying weapons and sensors in their wake. Meanwhile, Hastings was studying his sensor readings from the barrel. He smiled when he saw something that just might work. Of course, he would need the help of another expert pilot to do it. He had just the person in mind.

“Angel One, this is Angel Leader. I need you to meet me on top of this flagship right away.” Hastings turned and watched the drones, knowing that now all he had to do was wait.

***

Jordan nearly laughed at the pair of escort ships on her tail. One was already badly limping from when she shot its weak spot with a missile, the other appeared to be piloted by the greenest rookie she had ever seen. She easily looped around, finished off the damaged escort ship, and tore into the other with her plasma cannons. Another few shots and the rookie pilot was a goner.

Gonna have to do better than that, boys, she thought and looked for her next target. The battle was one of the most intense she had been in, but it was different than other ones. She felt more relaxed, more confident this time than in previous ones. It had something to do with knowing a lot more about the enemy, but it was more than that.

It was in large part because the suicidal tendency that usually plagued her was in check. She didn’t feel that she had to go out in some kind of blaze of glory, she could just fly and do the mission. The mental pressure she had put on herself for so many years was gone now, and she was glad that it was. It allowed her to concentrate on more important things.

She dove right and a few shots whizzed by her harmlessly. She looked around the hornet’s nest that was made up of the defector ships and the Grand Council fleet and tried to find an area where her fighter was needed. If there was one thing about this mission she loved, it was the individualism of it. Of course, she had used to have a wingman, but he had been hit by a stray shot a while ago, leaving her by herself. There were no set targets, no plans; it was just fly by the seat of her pants. She smiled and saw an allied Destroyer in trouble against five escort ships and an enemy Destroyer. She dove in on one of the trailing escort ships and began firing. The enemy vehicle began turning when the allied Destroyer nailed it with a blast, taking it out of the picture. Jordan was already on the tail of the next one, pounding it first with her plasma cannons, then with a pair of missiles. The escort ship exploded and Jordan saw that two of the remaining ones were turning to deal with her.

She could see that the allied Destroyer was in the clear for now, winning the duel with the other Destroyer. She hit her afterburners and pulled away, drawing the two escort ships away from the embattled Destroyer. She dove sharply and plunged right between a set of Interceptors that were duking it out. One of the unlucky escort ships was caught in the crossfire and was obliterated. Jordan violently threw her Eclipse in an S‑turn and shot past one of the Interceptors. The remaining escort ship, being far more ungainly and less maneuverable, lost sight of her. It was surprised a moment later when she came roaring back towards them. She let loose a few shots that hit the cockpit and swerved up before any retaliatory fire could find her. She was looking for another worthy foe when she checked her sensors and saw that she was needed elsewhere. She lit out away from the fray and towards the Avenger. She hoped that she wasn’t too late.

The Avenger rocked again as a pair of Interceptors blasted it. Terraz was able to get one of them as they got away, but three more were swooping in from another direction. This time Terraz was ready and the ship’s weapons cut all of the attackers down in seconds. Terraz smiled thinly, it always amazed her the sheer firepower the small vessel could put out. She took a second and looked over at Laurants, who was beginning to sweat.

She could see his problem: the hits were slowly weakening the shields, which meant he had to compensate by dumping energy from other systems into them. There was only so much power that could be used, and if this continued, they’d have used it all in another half hour or so. Then they’d be in big trouble.

Then she saw Lisa, who was the exact opposite of Laurants and looking as cool as if this were a daily occurance. And why not? They had already beaten the odds in lasting this long and the first drop point wasn’t that far away. A lot of things had changed since the Explorer’s ill‑fated meeting with the S’Parnians, and the captain’s apparent calm was one of them. Then again, the last battle had taken less than three minutes, this one had already raged for about fifteen.

She saw a warning light blink and turned her mind back to the battle at hand. There was a swarm of Interceptors and escort ships coming in. Someone really wants us gone, she thought glumly and opened fire from long range. At least a quarter of the approaching enemy were taken out in the first barrage, but they kept coming, playing the game of numbers that was all too common when dealing with S’Parnians. She waited as the guns took a few seconds to charge and fired again. Another quarter was gone and still they kept coming. She waited a moment and fired again, but this time the enemy swarm split up and she only hit a handful of them.

The attackers were coming in from several directions, attempting to overwhelm the might of the Avenger. Terraz quickly began firing, hitting a lot of the targets instantly. Still, there were too many to get them all at once. They were going to need some help in order to get out of this unscathed.

Suddenly, one of the escort ships exploded and a black shape passed by the Avenger, blasting another vessel and launching three missiles that struck dead on and took it out. Then it spun around on a dime and trap shot another one in the vulnerable belly turret, zooming up and finishing it off shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, Terraz was taking on several Interceptors, mowing them down with the ship’s weapons. After another few seconds, it was all over. Terraz saw the black shape of an Eclipse fighter head away from the scene.

“Thanks a lot, Major Jordan. You have to be either the craziest or luckiest pilot I have ever met,” Terraz called.

“Maybe a little of both,” Jordan replied. Then she heard Hastings’ call and bolted away to go and find him, hoping that her luck didn’t run out.

***

“There’s got to be some way to stop that flagship before it vaporizes all of us,” S’Olonny mused, staring at the mighty ship in the holoviewer. It was only a matter of time before that big gun hit something important. He called S’Tallen, who was overseeing the deployment of the drones. “S’Tallen, I need you to find a weakness in that flagship.”

“That won’t be easy,” S’Tallen replied.

“I know that, but we’ll all be killed if it isn’t stopped soon.”

“I understand.” The scientist broke the connection and went over to a terminal, bringing up the sensor readings of the flagship. The readings were confused, but adequate for studying the exterior of the Darkstar. The armor appeared to be thick, but otherwise the same as a collection vessel. He couldn’t get anything on the massive gun and wondered what kind of a weakness this thing could have.

He called up the sensor information from the drones, analyzing it for anything different. It appeared that other than the main gun, smaller weapons and sensor arrays dotted the hull. There’s really nothing different about this ship, other than that it’s bigger, S’Tallen thought glumly. The power to fire that gun must be a lot... He stopped and smiled. Of course, why hadn’t he thought of it earlier? If only he had the interior plans, it would confirm his theory. Still, there was no time to get any, he would just have to hope that he was right.

He called S’Olonny immediately. “I have a solution,” the scientist explained.

“That was quick,” S’Olonny replied.

“Yes, well, it was right in front of me the whole time. It’s the common denominator among all of the Grand Council’s warships,” S’Tallen babbled excitedly.

“What are you talking about?” S’Olonny demanded.

“The TransDimensional Jump drive! If we can sabotage it, then the whole ship will be destroyed!” On the bridge, S’Olonny smiled. The scientist was absolutely right, the engine drive was the weak spot of any of the Grand Council’s latest ships. If it was destroyed, then there was a very good chance that the flagship would be history.

“How do you propose we accomplish this?”

“We can’t, but the human ExoArmor units can if they can infiltrate the interior of the vessel and make their way back to the TDJ drive.”

“I’ll notify the humans right away.” S’Olonny turned to the officer in charge of communications. “Send a priority signal to the humans and tell them to infiltrate the flagship and hit its TransDimensional drive with their ExoArmors.”

Then S’Olonny felt a jolt as an Interceptor strafed the collection vessel. He saw S’Sadz, S’Jenl’s replacement, push a button and the Interceptor was cut down, exploding in a ball of flame. S’Olonny felt a burst of pride run through him at the officer’s efficiency. If he made it through, there was a bright future ahead of him. If any of them made it through, that was. At the moment, S’Olonny wasn’t so sure of that.

***

The gauntleted fist of the ExoArmor smashed through the cockpit of the escort ship. A quick arc of Manny’s S’Zai took care of the vessel’s crew. Manny smiled and took the controls of the craft. There was a Destroyer dead ahead and she quickly plotted a course and brought the escort ship’s engines up to full power. It darted towards the rear of the Destroyer, closing the distance quickly. Manny dove out the front of the escort ship and streaked up just as the vessel plowed into the Destroyer. There was a small explosion and a gaping, black hole was left as a reminder. A few alien bodies were sucked into space, lifelessly drifting through the battlefield to be hit by a stray blast or float into infinity. Manny didn’t have time to think of it as a priority signal came over the comm, drowning out all of the usual battle chatter.

“Lieutenant Rostger, this is Avenger Control. I’ve got a hot target for you and any other ExoArmors you can get together,” Klein, taking over the communications duty for Terraz, said.

“What kind of target do you have in mind?” She asked and pumped a few shots into the side of a passing escort ship. To give herself a little privacy she drifted over and planted herself on a wrecked escort ship.

“The TransDimensional drive of the alien flagship.”

“That’s as hot as it gets. I’ll get a couple of my men together and move out ASAP.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant. Good luck.”

Manny sighed and switched frequencies. “Garren, I need you to meet me at once for a priority target.”

“Where at?” Garren grunted as he did a flip to avoid being fried by an escort ship.

“At the alien flagship. Bring whoever’s nearby and get over there pronto. We’ve got to infiltrate it and knock out the TDJ drive.” Manny hoped briefly that the frequency was secure enough so that no one heard her. With all of the battle noise, she doubted that anyone could hear her unless they were really trying.

“That’s a tall order. Young and Beyars are nearby, I’ll bring them and head out. We’ll meet you in a couple of minutes.”

“Right, be careful.”

“You too.” They broke off and Manny looked towards the mammoth ship. Getting on board could be tricky, but they could find a way. After that, things were going to get really ugly. She launched herself from the tumbling wreck and headed for the menacing black ship. She shivered as she looked at it and knew that everyone was counting on four little ExoArmors to slay this Goliath.

Chapter Nineteen

2007-06-12T11:20:00.000-07:00

Chapter Nineteen

The room was empty, except for S'Hamble and S'Yevman. They were all that remained of the Grand Council after troops loyal to the High General had massacred the other members shortly after the combined human and Free S'Parnian strike against the Grand Council's supply lines. The executions had been swift, brutal, and completely uncontested by the people. As far as anyone knew, the other members had been killed when an enemy fighter had strafed a room they were meeting in. Now S'Hamble was running S'Parni and the massive fleet above it.

“What's the fleet's status?” S'Hamble asked wearily.

“All ships are operational and ready for any further assaults. However, most are reporting that they do not have many rations left and their ammunition is only enough for a short engagement,” S'Yevman answered.

“It will indeed be a short engagement. What's the status on the Darkstar?”

“Admiral S’Gileeb reports that the ship is nearly ready to go. Initial trials have gone well and it will be operational within the next few days.”

“Excellent, it will be needed shortly. S'Olonny and his allies have tipped their hand. That attack against us only proves how desperate they are, and that a follow‑up will come soon in order to take advantage of the situation. We must be prepared for them when they come.”

“We will be, sir. Our fleet is poised and ready should they choose to attack again.” S'Yevman looked at the High General and held back a smile. He had risen from a lowly aide to the second‑in‑command of the Grand Council in only days. It wouldn't be long until he was at the top, he would see to that. In the meantime, he had to concentrate on crushing S'Olonny and his allies.

Even with the entire fleet, the battle could still be difficult. The human ship was small and maneuverable, which made it a much harder target than S'Olonny's collection vessel. Plus the confusion when S'Olonny's units clashed with the fleet's would also make things hard. The ammunition shortage and low morale of the crews in the fleet would detract from the armada's fighting ability, but victory was still likely. It was especially likely considering the Darkstar would probably be ready for the battle. The flagship would be very useful in wiping out this menace before it spread. Yes, victory was still within range, and with it, S'Yevman's rise to ultimate power.

***

It had been two weeks since Jordan had returned from S'Parni, and now she was waiting anxiously in sickbay. The lights were dim and she, Anderson, and Manny were the only ones around. Today was the day the bandages would come off. Manny was coming to consciousness, and Anderson reassured Jordan that it wouldn't be long. She could tell that he was just as excited about revealing their friend's new body.

Once Manny's vital signs stabilized and Anderson had made sure she was conscious he began to remove the bandages. Slowly and methodically they came off, until her entire body was exposed. Jordan had looked away while the bandages had been removed, but now she gaped at her friend's naked form. Anderson helped the platoon commander off of her bed and over to a mirror to see her new self. Manny gasped and tears came to her eyes.

These were not tears of sadness, but of sheer joy. She was no longer a freak, she actually looked like a normal human. Even better than that, she was gorgeous! The pigments weren't what they were supposed to be, but they were far better than before the treatment. She smiled as she looked in the mirror and for the first time in months actually felt good looking at herself.

The changes were drastic from the ones undergone after her exposure to bio‑energy on the alien ship. The skin that had been turned nearly white was now a pale peach. The fearsome black eyes had become a much gentler hazel, although they were at the moment ringed with red from tears. Everything about her new body seemed wonderful. She knew that now she could fit in with other people, she wouldn't be scorned and shunned away.

She turned away from the mirror and hugged Anderson. “Thank‑you,” she said quietly, even her voice sounding lighter and gentler.

“You're satisfied then?” Anderson asked.

“Of course I am, you've done a remarkable job. I look like a real human again!” She kissed him on the cheek and then turned to Jordan. She went over to her best friend and embraced her. “Thank‑you for encouraging me and...for being there for me when I needed a friend.”

“I'm just glad it worked,” Jordan stammered.

“So am I,” Manny whispered. “So am I.”

“Well, now that everything's settled, I trust you would like to get back to your platoon,” Anderson said. He stepped into his office and tossed Manny her uniform. “First, you'd better get dressed, though.” The doctor smiled and Manny went into his office to change. She came back a few moments later, still looking beautiful and extremely happy.

“Let's go show the others,” Manny said and led Jordan from sickbay. Anderson watched them go and a tear came to his eye. It had all been worth it. His friend looked normal and was much happier. He turned away and went into his office and logged in the final results.

Jordan motioned for Manny to step away from the door to the hangar and then slapped the button. She stepped inside and cupped her hands to her lips. “Announcing the return of the 5th Platoon's beloved commander, Lieutenant Amanda Rosaro!” Jordan shouted and heads turned. The members of the platoon rushed towards the door, anxious to see their commander. The Guardian Angels also came over, but more out of curiosity than anything else. Then Manny stepped into the doorway and the crowd was absolutely silent.

She strutted through the door like a model and did a turn so they could all see her fully. “Hey, everyone, I'm back!” She announced and everyone cheered.

Davis was the first to come up to her. His face was pale and he looked in shock. “It's a miracle!” He whispered breathlessly, thinking to himself that his commanding officer looked marvelous. While she didn't look as she had before Rygan, she still looked much more normal. He had to admit that Anderson had done some good work. Davis knew that this would be good for the platoon's morale right before the big battle, which would boost the odds of more of them coming back.

Manny shook hands with some of the other members of the platoon, then looked over at Davis. “I hear there's been some refinement on the ExoArmor targeting system,” she said in a business‑like tone.

“Yes, S'Tallen and Sam have come up with a slightly better system. Do you want to see it?” Davis asked and led her over to her dormant ExoArmor. Manny climbed inside and activated the new targeting system.

“This is great!” She shouted. “It seems to react a lot quicker than before.” The platoon commander marched the ExoArmor around the hangar, getting used to the new feel of the unit. Then, much to the amazement of the others, she cartwheeled the ExoArmor across the hangar. When she neared where the Ghost had stood, she leapt high into the air and flipped the large machine three times before landing exactly on the spot. “Great work, Sam, this thing is amazing!”

Across the hangar, Sam smiled. He had never known Manny before the incident that had changed her, but he was glad that she was happy. He was used to sullen, mean commanders, but he was pretty sure that the humans were not. They would undoubtedly fight better now, which would help Sam and the other Free S'Parnians greatly in their battle against the Grand Council. He had intended the modification solely for his own ExoArmor, not knowing how the humans would react, but it was clear that they enjoyed the new feature. He felt someone slap him on his shell and hoped that he would not lose too many of his new friends in the upcoming battle.

***

“To put it simply, we have no real plan,” Lisa said to Laurants in the conference room. S'Olonny and S'Tallen grimaced from their chairs at that assessment.

“Why not?” Laurants asked, dumbfounded that after all this time no one had come up with anything.

“Our only goal is to create enough chaos and confusion that the Savior can safely be delivered to the Great Matrix. There are too many tactical variables to draw up a more concise plan,” S'Olonny answered.

“Exactly. The only thing we do know is that two Eclipse fighters and one shuttle will have to run like hell for the surface once they launch. Everyone else will provide cover fire,” Lisa pointed out and Laurants paled a little. He and the others were going into the biggest battle of their lives and their commanders had absolutely no plan.

“Actually, I have something to add to that,” S'Olonny announced and heads turned in his direction. “I believe that in order to better the Savior's chances, we should launch two shuttles with two escorts. The first would be the one you described, however, it would be a feint. The second one would be one of my escort ships and two of your ExoArmor units, which would perform what is called a drop‑landing. That is simply when an escort ship launches, and once it hits the planet's atmosphere, it turns off all power and simply drops close to the ground before the pilot recovers and activates the engines again. This is usually done to converse power, but it would also make the insertion quicker and less detectable. The ExoArmors could ride inside until needed, thus making them less visible,” S'Olonny explained.

“Excellent, that's just what we need,” Lisa said.

“I'll have one of my more experienced pilots bring an escort ship over before the jump.” Lisa nodded and Laurants sighed with relief. At least now Arsa had a better chance of getting to the Matrix.

“How is the Savior coming along? The last I heard of her, she was in some kind of coma,” S'Tallen asked, concern evident on his face.

“She's fine,” Lisa snapped. “She should be coming out of her hibernation state soon.” Everyone knew S'Tallen's motives for concern about Arsa's safety. His experiment had given her the special powers she possessed, and the mission was his chance to show the people of S'Parni what he had done.

“Very well,” S'Tallen seemed only slightly put out, hiding his anger.

“Now then, I guess that's just about it. Both ships will be fully operational in another two days. Hopefully Arsa comes around in that time.” The meeting broke up and the two aliens went back to their ship to supervise the final repairs and to wait for Arsa to wake up. “I'm going to check on Arsa,” Lisa said to Laurants as she left. Laurants nodded and headed up to the bridge. He was still worried about the battle, but he knew that they had a legitimate chance. Mathmatically they were already eliminated, but he knew that their cause was just and that they could prevail. He sighed and just hoped that he was right.

Lisa opened Arsa's door and went to her bedroom. She touched her friend's hand like she always did, only this time she felt it squeeze back. Startled, she looked at Arsa and saw that her friend was awake. “You're awake!” She blurted out lamely.

“Yes, I've come out of hibernation,” Arsa replied and sat up. She looked good for someone who had spent weeks in bed, not a hair was out of place. She slowly climbed out of the bed and she smiled. “You look like you've seen a ghost.”

“I just hadn't expected you to wake up yet,” Lisa stammered.

“Yes, I know, but there's something that I need to do before we leave here.”

“What's that?”

“I'll show you.” Arsa took Lisa's hand and led her out of the bedroom and over to a table. Then she motioned for Lisa to sit and they faced each other. “This won't hurt a bit.” Then Arsa reached out and put her fingers to her friend's temples. Lisa wondered what was going on when there was a bright white light and then her eyes jerked shut involuntarily.

There was an eternity of dizziness as she seemed to be falling. There was white light all around her, and for a few moments she thought that she might be dead. Then she landed on something solid, yet soft, and looked around. There was nothing around her but white light, or so it seemed. Then Arsa seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

“Where are we?” Lisa asked incredulously.

“It's hard to explain, but suffice it to say that we're not in Kansas anymore,” Arsa replied amusedly.

“Why are we here?”

Arsa's face turned deathly serious as she answered, “We're here because there's some things that I need to say before we leave.”

“Couldn't we have done this on the ship?” Arsa sighed and turned away from Lisa.

“No. I wanted to say good-bye here, away from everyone else. We’ve been friends for years, and I’m afraid that this will be the last time we have to talk to each other.”

“I’ll always have time for you Arsa, no matter what happens.”

“I mean that I’m not going to come back from this mission. I have already foreseen it, it is my destiny.”

“Then change your destiny. If you know what will happen, then stop it!”

“I can’t. What I’m going to have to do has been written out centuries ago. There is no way to escape it, it is meant to be.”

“No it isn’t. We’ll beat the Grand Council somehow and get you to the Matrix. We’ll find a way to do it.”

“That isn’t what I mean. Just in case that something does happen, it has been great to have you as a friend. You’ve done a lot for me, and I can never repay you for undertaking this mission for me, even though the chances of death are high.”

“Repay you? You’ve helped me so much over the years, it’s me who’s in debt.”

“No matter. I’ve been honored to watch you grow and mature as a leader, and I know that you will continue to do so.”

“I’m not sure I can without you.”

“You will be able to. You will not have a choice.”

“I don’t want to lose you, Arsa. I’ve lost so much already.”

“Death is a part of life, even for someone with all my powers. I only wish I would have had more time. More time to be with Ted and Kevin. I...I won’t be able to watch my own son grow up. Promise me something?”

“You name it.”

“Tell Ted to make sure Kevin doesn’t grow up without a mother. Tell him not to grieve too long for me.”

“I will.”

“Good. I know I was never much of a mother, I just hope that Ted can find someone who can be.”

“He’ll never find anyone as good as you.”

“You may be right. No matter what, though, there a lot of tough times ahead. You've got to be strong. I can't see the future exactly, but I can feel that we're all going to have to be strong in order to deal with the problems that will arise. You've got to remember to believe in yourself above all else. Just remember that in the even in the darkest hour, the light of hope will shine though. ” There was a flash of light as Arsa finished and Lisa felt herself falling again. The light slowly faded to black...

***

Lisa's eyes flashed open and she realized quickly that she wasn't in the same place anymore. A quick glance around in the dark revealed that she was lying in her own bed. How the hell did that happen? She wondered and slowly got out of the bed. Her head throbbed from a massive headache and she stumbled over to her closet to dress. As she did, she checked her clock and saw that she had been out for over a full day. “This is getting weird,” she mumbled to herself as she pulled out a fresh uniform.

She thought about what Arsa had said and wondered for a moment if it were some kind of dream or, worse yet, a hallucination. She could remember what her friend had said, but it was still hard to believe that it had actually happened. She wondered why Arsa had told her all of that; what had it meant? She sighed as she finished dressing and thought that she was going to lose her mind thinking about it. There was still a big mission ahead, and she hoped that Arsa was wrong.

She started to leave her quarters and then stopped as she passed a mirror. She faced it and gasped, knowing that something was very wrong. Her appearance looked fine, except that there were now two silver streaks of hair running from her temples and along the sides of her head. She stared in amazement for over a minute, wondering what had happened. She touched one of the streaks and it came to her: those were the same places Arsa had touched before she had blacked out. Her mind thought of what had happened to Arsa and Amanda Rosaro when exposed to the effects of bio‑energy. She touched me there, exposing me to a small amount of bio‑energy that caused this slight mutation, she deduced.

She turned away from the mirror and left her quarters. For a moment she thought of going to Arsa's quarters to demand an explanation, but then decided that to do so would be pointless and probably confusing. Besides which, she was afraid that something worse would happen to her if she did. She went the opposite way to the lift and took it to the bridge. The doors opened and heads turned towards her. Then a wave of silence fell across the room and Nichols and Laurants jumped up and headed for her at the same moment.

They pulled her aside and Nichols asked ruefully, “What the hell happened to you?”

“It's a long, weird story, but it boils down to the fact that Arsa accidently exposed me to a small amount of bio‑energy. It's not that important.”

“Are you all right then? Have you consulted Doctor Anderson on this?” Laurants asked, concern evident in his voice.

“I'm a little shaken up, but I'll be fine by the time we leave. That's what I need to find out, is everything on schedule?”

“It is. We should jump for S'Parni in approximately fifteen hours,” Laurants answered.

“Excellent. Have the escorts for the two shuttles been chosen yet?”

“Not quite. We were going to, but Colonel Hastings and Lieutenant Rosaro were waiting for your input.”

“Have Lieutenant Rosaro pick the two best of her people to escort Arsa. I'd like Hastings and Jordan to fly escort for the decoy, but they'd be better used against the main fleet. Just have Hastings pick the next best two pilots and keep me informed.” Laurants nodded and the threesome broke up. Before Lisa could head to her station, Nichols blocked her way.

“Are you sure you're all right?” He whispered concernedly.

“I'm fine,” she answered and lightly moved him aside. She took her seat and wondered if she really was fine. She still felt a little strange, and the silence that had settled over the bridge didn't help. Slowly, everyone went back to work, preparing the ship for the next battle. Lisa took a compad and checked on the ship's status. It appeared that things were all in order, but they could always fall apart quickly in the heat of battle. After reviewing the Avenger's status she reviewed a report S'Olonny had sent over. His ship had been completely repaired and was ready to go. The engines had been overhauled, the worn armor replaced, and any damaged weapons had been made operational. Both vessels were now ready to go into the final battle, the one that would determine the fate of two peoples. If the Free S'Parnians and the humans lost, then the Grand Council would continue its tyranny on S'Parni and they would hunt for Earth, destroying it once they found it. If the allies won, then the future would be a little more uncertain. No one knew how the S'Parnian people would react to the Savior's coming. It was possible that they could revolt against S'Olonny, or a bitter civil war could erupt on the surface. Both scenarios were grim, but Lisa hoped that it didn't come to that.

She just wanted some peace and quiet in the galaxy for a little while. There hadn't been much fighting for most of her career, but the Martian War, the fighting on Rygan, the Battle of Mars, the incident near the lunar colony, the battle at the Shipyards, and the strike against S'Parni illustrated just how turbulent things had been in the past couple of years. She hoped that the S'Parnians would welcome Arsa and become friends with the human race. Even if she wasn't around to see it, an era of peace and happiness was just what the universe needed after all of the bloodshed. She sighed and put the report down, a thought popping into her head. Right now, her crew needed a little peace and happiness. She went to Terraz’s station and punched up the ship‑wide intercom, much to the surprise of everyone on the bridge. “Attention everyone, this is the captain. As you probably know, there are exactly fifteen hours until the operation against the Grand Council's fleet around S'Parni. Before we leave, I'd like everyone to be able to get some rest and relaxation so that you are all fresh for the mission. So in one hour, all operations aboard this ship will cease until two hours before we are scheduled to leave. During this time you may stay on the ship or wander the Shipyards, but anyone who does not show up at the proper time will be severely punished once apprehended. That is all.” For a moment everyone on bridge was quiet, then they burst into a round of applause.

***

Terraz stood by the door expectantly, knowing that very soon Davis would show up. She, like the rest of the crew, had gone off‑duty a few minutes ago, and was looking forward to seeing Davis again before the next mission. She looked at the table across the room, where she had just finished preparing a candlelit dinner for her lover. Then the door chime sounded and a smile came to her face. She opened the door and quickly pulled Davis inside.

He saw the modest dinner she had quickly thrown together and licked his lips. “That's the best thing I've seen after eating rations from the pouch for two months,” he commented and pulled her chair out for her as she sat down. Then he took his own seat and after a moment of silence they began to eat. At first they said nothing, both unsure of what to say. Then Davis asked, “What do you think our chances are for the next mission?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Being on the bridge, I thought you might have a little more information on the plan and all that.”

“Well, I think we'll do fine as long as things work out. With all of the confusion we'll cause, I'm sure that Arsa can safely get to the Matrix.”

“I hope so...because I've been chosen to escort it. Sam and I were picked for the job.” Terraz paled, knowing the implications. Escorting Arsa's shuttle was the toughest assignment anyone could draw. If the Grand Council's fleet found the shuttle, they would pounce on it with everything they had. Two ExoArmors wouldn't do much good against that kind of firepower. Still, they would have to find the shuttle first. The mission called for creating so much confusion that one tiny shuttle could easily slip by. She just hoped that the plan worked.

They ate in silence for a few moments before either of them spoke again. “I'm glad we have this time together before the mission,” Terraz remarked.

“I know, it was really generous of the captain to allow us some time to relax before the mission. Of course, if you ask me, it was just so that she and her boyfriend could have some time before we leave.” Terraz couldn't help but wonder if there was some truth to that. She shrugged it off and decided to focus on her and Davis' time alone.

“Yes, well, I hope they're happy. As for us...” Her voice trailed off and Davis lifted an eyebrow. Then, seeming to understand, he smiled. “I know we'll be happy. I'll be right back.” Terraz left and Davis quickly got up and stripped down to his underwear. He knew that Terraz was up to something, and he wondered what she would be wearing when she came back. A moment later he saw a booted leg sticking out in the doorway and smiled. He dropped his underwear on the floor and waited. Then the rest of Terraz appeared, wearing nothing but her boots.

“You really do know how to make a man happy,” Davis said and they kissed. Then she led him to her bed.

***

Lisa kissed Nichols in the doorway of her quarters and whispered into his ear, “We're finally alone.”

“I know, it’s great,” he replied quietly and carried her over to her bed and set her down gently. “I can't wait to do that for real.”

“Neither can I. I love you,” she said as they kissed again. She noticed Nichols flinch just a little. “I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?”

“Oh no, of course not.”

“I know it's a little weird, but I can't help it.”

“I can understand that.” He kissed her again and smiled. “Actually, I think they make you look more sophisticated. Sophisticated and sexy.” They laughed quietly and kissed passionately for a few long moments. Then they began slowly pulling off each other's clothes.

“I can't wait until we get back to Earth. By the way, I told my mother what was going on when we get back. I hope you don't mind.”

“Of course not. I just wish I had someone to tell.”

“You say that now, but when you meet my mother, you'll change your mind.”

“I doubt it. She had you after all, so she can't be all that bad.” They kissed again and by this time were completely naked. Lisa hoped that Nichols and her mother got along, because she really didn't want to get in another fight. She felt sorry for Nichols, not having any family left. Then she thought of her father and knew what it must have been like for him to lose them both so close apart.

Nichols was glad that neither of them was talking about if they came back from the mission, but when. He hated to think about what could happen in the hours ahead. It was the same sickening feeling that swept over him on the Shipyards when Lisa had been only moments from death. He didn't want to lose her, not now or ever.

He wondered why he had never pursued her before this. She had been stationed at Alliance Command for a while, so it would have been easy for him to hop on a hovercar and go over to see her, yet he had stayed away. He had thought of her a lot during those years, but he had never had the courage to go and see her, to tell her what he felt. They had both done a lot of growing up during that time, but he couldn't help but feel that they could already have been together if he had just taken the initiative. Maybe they would still be on Earth with a couple of kids and a dog; the perfect couple. He nearly laughed out loud at that thought. Lisa wasn't the type to just settle down and play house, she was an explorer, an adventurer. In many ways he was too, but he had also settled down a lot after leaving the military. He liked the thrill of flying in space, but zipping around Earth and looking at the scenery wasn't bad either. He just liked to fly and didn't care where or when it was. That was why he had been able to take the job at the shipping company, because it had still allowed him to do what he loved to do most. On the same token, that was why he could never expect Lisa to settle down. She loved being out in space, amongst the stars. That made them incompatible in a way, but it also made him want to make their relationship work even more. When they got back to Earth and were married, he promised himself that he would never leave her again for very long.

***

S'Olonny sat in his quarters, thinking about the fight ahead and the consequences of it. If he and the Free S'Parnians won, then the Great Matrix would be relit and S'Parni would never have to worry about another food shortage. If not, then the Grand Council would continue its tyranny for years to come, at least until someone else rose up to stand against them. Either way, S'Olonny knew that he had already lost a great many things. His children were dead, his wife alienated, and his people saw him as a traitor. He tried to tell himself that if the Savior came, then everything else would be fine, but it wouldn't. He would be all alone and many would blame him for the deaths of their family members. Some would even say that he had ruined S'Parnian culture.

He knew that it wasn't all his fault. S'Tallen had been responsible for making the Savior. The Grand Council, probably feeling like him that the experiments were a harmless waste of time, had funded the scientist's work, but ultimately S'Olonny had the responsibility for controlling him. He had failed in that regard, not wanting to involve himself in the madness that possessed the scientist, and now he was paying for it. If he had stopped S'Tallen before things had gotten out of hand, then he could have quietly lived out his life and his family would still be alive. Or, if he had destroyed the humans, then there would have been nothing for S'Tallen to experiment upon.

He sighed and knew that he should stop moping. He was glad in a way that he had not been able to wipe out the human race, he had come to respect them a lot since the incident at Rygan. So too was he glad that S'Tallen had created the Savior, because she would allow his people to have a freedom never before imagined. Future generations would be able to grow up without knowing about food shortages and rationing. He only wished that his own children could have been part of that, but it wasn't meant to be.

He clenched his fists and smiled: in only a couple of hours he would begin to exact vengeance upon the Grand Council for taking away his family and his honor. The humans, who were also great warriors, would be with him, and would help him to glory. Then the Savior would relight the Matrix, and after that was anyone's guess. The concequences could fall where they may, he was going to do what was right for his people. He felt anger rising in him and headed for the bridge; there was still work to be done before the final fight began.

***

A few hours later, the two starships had positioned themselves to jump to S'Parni. Both crews were all present and accounted for, anxious to make the jump into history. Farley activated the TransDimensional Jump drive and the energy field began to form. There was silence on both ships as everyone waited nervously. After this jump, there would be no more time to think, only to try and survive. The key to the whole mission sat in her quarters, quietly meditating. Once she reached the Great Matrix, she would relight it, and if her dream was any indicator, she would die. She pushed the fear from her mind, knowing that she had to go through with it.

In the hangar of the Avenger, the pilots of the Guardian Angels and soldiers of the 5th Platoon waited to go. Davis and Sam were sitting inside of the escort ship S'Olonny had transported over, ready for Arsa to arrive. They both knew that she would show up when they least expected it, and that she would be there when it was time to go. The pilot and co‑pilot of the escort ship waited in silence, both extremely nervous. They were the key to getting Arsa down to the Matrix, and the veteran pilot only hoped that the droplanding wouldn't be noticed in the confusion.

On the bridge, Lisa looked at Nichols and knew how important he would be to the ship's survival. She was sure that his expert piloting skills would help the Avenger stay in the fight long enough for Arsa's shuttle to make it to the surface. Then she looked over at Terraz and Laurants, who were in charge of the ship's offensive and defensive systems. She trusted both of them implicitly, and knew that in all of her years she had never served with better officers. She hoped that both of them made it through.

The energy field kept expanding, invisibly surrounding both ships. Soon it had grown to cover the Avenger and Vindicator. Farley took a deep breath and looked longingly at his instruments. There would be no going back from here. “We're ready to jump,” he announced.

“Initiate jump,” Lisa ordered and Nichols complied. Then both vessels disappeared in a burst of white light from the S'Gethlaar Shipyards.

Chapter Eighteen

2007-06-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Chapter Eighteen

There was a flash of white light and suddenly a calm corner of space near the S'Gethlaar Shipyards became alive with activity as a blackened, battered S'Parnian Destroyer appeared. There were the dead hulks of three Interceptors around it, caught in the TransDimensional energy field as the ship jumped. The hangar opened and an Eclipse fighter blazed towards the Shipyards. Jordan was at the controls, trying to raise the Avenger since the Destroyer's communications system was destroyed. Finally she was able to get through. “Eclipse, this is the Avenger, what's going on?” Terraz asked.

“The ship's been shot up pretty bad, we need a doctor over there right away,” Jordan answered as coolly as possible.

“I'll have Doctor Anderson and a team come over,” Terraz said and wondered if Davis or Garren would need his attention. She quickly told the doctor to gather his supplies and get in a shuttle with some of his assistants. It took only two minutes for Anderson and his assistants to be ready to go. The shuttle appeared shortly after that and Jordan wheeled her fighter around to escort it. The shuttle's pilot opened the throttle up all the way in order to make it to the Destroyer in record time. The hangar door was still open and the shuttle quickly touched down. Anderson was up and running the instant the door opened, medical kit in hand. Davis met him at the foot of the ramp, to quickly brief him on the situation.

“We moved all of the injured that could be moved to the engine room, that seems to be the least damaged area. There are a few that we didn't want to move, those are centered near the bridge,” Davis said.

“All right. We'd better get those that can't be moved first. I'll have a couple nurses go to engineering to start on the others,” Anderson replied and then turned to give orders to his team. Then he was dashing towards the bridge, looking for the badly wounded. He saw one S'Parnian lying in the corridor, its greenish skin covered with burns. Anderson, who had taken a crash course on alien medicine in his spare time since boarding the Avenger, could tell that it was badly hurt. He whipped out his instruments and began treating the burns. As he was working, he noticed that a large chunk of metal had been blown into the alien's back. The hard shell of the S'Parnian's back had been cracked, but no spinal injury had occured. There were also fragments in the alien's side, none of which were fatal. The damage that kept it from being moved was that the alien soldier's right leg was broken badly, and the bone was exposed. With a great amount of effort, Anderson set the bone and repaired the damage. Then he was up and running again, looking for another injured person. He found a human pilot laying in the corridor, barely conscious. There was a trail of blood leading to the pilot, which indicated that he had been trying to crawl somewhere. Anderson knelt down next to the pilot and assessed his injuries. The damage was similar to the alien that Anderson had just taken care of. The pilot's spine was severed by a large chunk of metal, but Anderson was sure that when he got back to the Avenger he could repair the damage.

“I...can't feel my...legs,” the pilot coughed blood and Anderson wondered if he would make it.

“It's all right, I can fix the damage once we're back on the ship. In the meantime, just relax. Here's something for the pain,” Anderson injected the pilot with a painkiller and then tried to find out where his internal wound was to cause him to cough up blood. A brief scan told the doctor that several of his patient's ribs were broken and one had sliced a capillary in the lungs, which was the reason for the blood. There wasn't much Anderson could do until he could operate on the man. He sighed and then pulled a needle out from his kit. He filled it with medicine and jabbed it into the pilot's damaged lung. The medicine was something to cause the blood to clot, which would stop the pilot from bleeding for a little while. Then, knowing that he had done all he could for now, Anderson rushed off. There was another pair of aliens, but they were both dead, succombing to their injuries before Anderson could get to them. He made it to the bridge and paused. He turned and saw Davis coming up behind him.

“We haven't had contact with the bridge since just before the jump,” Davis said, the implications obvious. Anderson nodded and punched the door release. He stepped into a scene that looked like a picture of Hell.

The walls of the bridge were completely black and a layer of glass coated the floor. There were two charred bodies on the floor and a third was lying near the command chair, this one was so bloody and burnt that it was unrecognizable. Davis looked at the ruined stations and wondered where S’Jenl was. He thought he saw something near the helm, but there was a lot of collapsed wreckage near there. Davis and Anderson began clearing it, and soon they had uncovered a body. Right away Davis could tell that it was S’Jenl. The young alien was leaned up against the helm, his armor burned and filled with holes. Rigor mortis had set in, giving the alien's face a sick‑looking grin. Davis pounded his fist on what was left of the helm and tears came to his eyes.

“Why did he have to die? He saved us all, he shouldn't have died!” Davis shouted, begging the cosmos for some kind of answer as to why the acting captain, whose quick‑thinking had saved the Destroyer from the collection vessel, had to be killed. Anderson put a hand on the sergeant's shoulder.

“These things just happen. We have to remember him in our hearts and keep his spirit alive,” the doctor said quietly.

“You're damned right I'm going to remember him; I'm going to kill the alien bastards who did this to him! Those merciless, life‑sucking bastards, they killed him just so some fucking politician could live high of the hog and feed off a people's misery! He didn't deserve to die!”

“Neither did countless numbers of innocent people fed into the maw of war. Let's go, we've got work to do,” Davis nodded and followed the doctor off the decimated bridge, promising himself that the Grand Council would pay.

***

Farley, covered in grime, looked uneasily at Lisa, who had just boarded the battered Destroyer. “I'm sorry Captain, but there's nothing I can do. This ship is a complete wreck. We were lucky the TDJ drive even worked to get out of there. The outer hull is at less than forty percent strength, and the shields and weapons are completely fused. It would take a miracle to bring this ship back in a couple of weeks,” Farley explained and wiped the sweat from his brow. He had been working heavily since the Destroyer had entered the space around the Shipyards to help the wounded and keep the power systems operational. As far as he was concerned, this was the ship's first and last battle.

Lisa tapped a piece of debris with her boot and nodded. “I understand, Lieutenant. Is there anything that we could salvage from this?” She asked.

Farley shrugged. “I'm not sure what you would want from this wreck. The TDJ drive works and that's about it. The weapons are all gone, the shield generator is fried, and the armor is wrecked.”

“I see. Well, I suppose we'll just write this off. Just one last thing, could the frame of the ship still be used if the armor was stripped away?”

“It's possible, but there probably are some weak spots. Why?”

“Just curious,” Lisa commented and walked away. She had little else to do on the ship, and dodged debris on her way back to the shuttle that had taken her here. Farley was still wary of trying to pilot the wreck back to the Shipyards to dock, but Nichols had sworn that he could do it blindfolded. Lisa climbed on to the shuttle and it quickly took off. All of the ExoArmors, Eclipses, and escort ships had already left the hangar. Lisa sighed and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling tired.

From a tactical point of view the mission had been a great success. Nearly all of the targets had been hit and the humans and Free S'Parnians had proven themselves a capable foe. Still, it had been at a great cost. The Destroyer was totaled, several aliens were dead, and a few of the human pilots were injured for a while. She was grateful that none of the people under her command had been killed, but losing anyone in this combined force caused a sour feeling in her stomach.

She thought of the young captain of the Destroyer who had been killed after saving the ship from certain destruction. It evoked terrible memories of Brian Laurants’s death; he too had been young for a captain before the Martian War had taken him. She thought of those long days right after he had died, of the nights of crying for him as her heart broke. She wondered if S’Jenl had anyone on S'Parni who would mourn for him. As the shuttle landed, she barely kept herself from shedding a sympathetic tear for the S'Parnian captain.

Thinking of S’Jenl made her realize that there was a use for the ruined Destroyer after all. While the crew had said good‑bye to their friends or family on Earth before the Avenger left orbit, it would be nice to give everyone one last chance before they went off to the climactic battle. Plus, she could warn Alliance Command to prepare for the worst should the Avenger not be able to deliver Arsa to the Great Matrix. She just hoped that the Destroyer was capable of making one last jump.

***

Terraz heard the door chime sound and went to answer it. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw that it was Davis. He was dirty, bloody, and sweaty, but at that moment she didn't care. She darted into his arms and for a moment they stood in the doorway, locked in the embrace. Then they went inside and Terraz smiled. “Welcome back,” she whispered, not able to hold back a few tears.

“Thanks. Mind if I use the shower quickly?” Davis winked at her and she understood what he meant. She motioned him to the tiny bathroom. Then she went to the bed and began stripping off her clothes. Once she was done, she lay naked, waiting for Davis to return. It took him a few minutes to wash all of the filth from his body, then he came out of the bathroom. Upon seeing Terraz, he dropped his towel and a smile covered his face. Then he crawled into the bed with her.

“I'm so glad you're back,” she whispered. Davis nodded, the image of S’Jenl's corpse still fresh in his mind.

“It's good to be back,” he replied and kissed her. At that moment, as far as Davis was concerned, they were the only two people in the universe. The previous battle and the one to come were far, far away.

Terraz was overjoyed that they had finally gotten some time together before leaving the Shipyards. She thought back to the first time she and Davis had made love on the sandbar of a Rygan swamp. That had been after a major battle with the alien forces on the surface. The humans had narrowly escaped and Davis had saved her life during that firefight. A picture of Garren came to her mind, and she realized that he had no one to go to right now. She hadn't liked the thought that the two sergeants had been locked in a contest for her love, but they had been. Ultimately, Davis had won and Garren had lost. Still, right now it seemed pretty damned cruel to be making love to Davis while Garren was left all alone. She grimaced but then concentrated on the fact that she and Davis were finally together.

Davis forced all of the horrific images of the recent battle from his mind. He had been involved in a number of engagements before this one, but for some reason this one was eating at him like no other had before. It was due mostly because he hadn't known most of the young victims of war before. This time, there was a face and a voice to put with the corpse. S’Jenl had been so young, so innocent, and yet he had been killed mercilessly while trying to save the rest of the combined force. From what Farley had told Davis, the TransDimensional Jump had been triggered from the bridge, so S’Jenl had lived long enough to get his crew out of danger. Then the young S'Parnian, who had already given up so much, had died. The very thought of it made Davis' blood boil. He could see Terraz look at him worriedly and he tried to concentrate on the fact that they were together once more. Eventually they both fell into a fitful sleep in each other's arms, both being tormented by nightmares.

***

Nichols was hunched over the rudimentary helm that had been set up in the engine room of the Destroyer. Most of the sensors were gone, so piloting the ship to the dock was going to be a bitch. He smiled as he thought of the challenge that a lesser helmsman would have shrunk away from. Then, without much more ado, he activated the thrusters and slowly eased the ship towards the dock. The hardest part would be to determine when to spin the Destroyer ninety degrees in order for it to dock on one of the spokes. He would have preferred a pad like the Avenger, but getting it that close to the station would risk too many lives.

To help him navigate, a pair of Eclipses were flying in front of the ship and using their sensors to help guide it. The data was routed to the helm, but navigation was still tricky without a real visual reference. Nichols, a natural pilot by nature, hated to go in on instruments, but there was no choice this time. He checked the Eclipse's sensor data and made a minor course correction. Probably the worst part of trying to steer the Detroyer was that it was badly damaged and thus handling very sluggishly. Even a small maneuver took a long time to complete. The ship was only a half mile or so from the dock and still out of position. He fought the controls and struggled to move the ship into position. He cut the thruster power down in order to give him more time to line up the ship with the dock.

Nichols felt the ship shudder and heard a warning klaxon sound. He looked at the controls and saw that the thruster power was dropping sharply. “What's going on?” Nichols shouted to Farley.

“We're losing the maneuvering thrusters! They must have suffered microscopic stress fractures during the battle. We're going to have to shut them down before they rupture,” Farley answered.

“How are we going to get this to dock then?” Nichols asked reluctantly shut down the thrusters before they exploded.

“We'll have to patch up the thrusters, unless we can arrange for someone to tow us.”

“What about the main drive, can't we use it even for a little while?”

“It's in worse shape than these maneuvering thrusters. If we use the main drive we'll rip the ship apart. It shouldn't take long to repair at least two of the thrusters, that should be enough to power the ship enough to get it docked so we can do some more repair work on the engines.”

“Anything that I can do in the meantime?” Nichols looked around at the engine room; it was in utter chaos.

“I doubt it.” Nichols nodded and quickly left the engine room. He wished that he could get off this ship, but that was impossible while it was stranded in space. He was sick of looking at the blackened corridors strewn with rubble, it was more than depressing. He sat down in one of the empty corridors after clearing some debris and took a deep breath.

He couldn't wait to get back to Earth, where he could marry Lisa, his true love. He knew that their marriage would be tough; they would probably be apart alot, but he was determined to make it work. He wasn't sure how to do it, but he would find a way. He smiled as these happy thoughts popped into his head, ironic considering all of the blood and destruction around him.

“We're ready to go again!” Farley called out and Nichols rose. It had taken less than an hour to fix two of the thrusters enough to get the ship to its docking place. Nichols once again took the controls and slowly activated the thrusters. The process was slow and painful, but this time the ship was able to make it onto the spoke and line up its airlock. The doors hissed open and Lisa and a relief crew of engineers were waiting.

Nichols finished shutting down the helm station and half‑smiled at Lisa on his way out. Even though they were ignoring what the crew thought of their relationship, it didn't mean that they could be completely open about it.

Lisa pulled Farley aside and the engineer knew that he wasn't going to like whatever she was about to say. “How long will it take to get the TDJ drive ready for a jump?” She asked.

The harried engineer sighed and rubbed his chin as he thought about it. “Probably two days to get the actual drive ready enough, why?”

“Because this ship is about to become a courier to Earth.” Farley felt his stomach churn, he knew he wouldn't like it.

***

Two days later the Destroyer was ready to go again. Nichols had piloted it out of the dock and to a safe jumping location. Farley had programmed the jump, and everyone was off of the ship. Inside the engine room of the Destroyer were over a hundred compads, most filled with personal messages to loved ones.

Lisa had written up a message for Alliance Command telling them of the mission and possible consequences. Plus she had left them a message saying that Farley believed the Destroyer’s frame could be salvaged. She had also made a personal one to her mother, this one saying that she loved her and would try to be home soon. Laurants had finished his message to his family, telling him that he loved them and he would try to come back safely. Terraz's message had been directed to Jenny, while it didn't say anything about the possibility of her dying, it did tell the girl that she would be back as soon as she could. Nichols and Klein had decided not to send any sort of message, not having any real family or close friends to send one to. Garren's message half‑jokingly told his friend Garrett Matthews that he would be coming back soon to take over his father’s ranch. Davis told his parents that he would be home right after a big mission. About half of the Guardian Angels and 5th Platoon had messages aboard the Destroyer, the other half had no one to send one to, especially after the Battle of Mars. Hastings and Jordan fell into the latter half of the group. Anderson sent a message to his wife in London, telling her that he was doing well and would be back soon. Farley had sent the blueprints of the Avenger with the messages for Alliance Command, plus instructions on how the TDJ drive operated. The countdown for the jump wound down and soon a white light enveloped the battered vessel.

Chapter Seventeen

2007-06-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Chapter Seventeen

Lisa checked in on Arsa shortly after leaving the conference room. Once the Destroyer had left, there was really nothing that anyone at the Shipyards could do, and no way to monitor things accurately. So she and the others had all left with nothing to do but wait to hear from the ship.

Arsa was still lying in her bed, completely comatose. She looked a little better than before; her skin seemed less pale and cold. Still, Lisa wished that her friend would wake up before they were scheduled to leave the Shipyards. If she wasn't, then the mission would have to be postponed until she did wake up. Lisa sighed and then squeezed Arsa's hand twice to signal that she was there. Then she let the hand drop limply to the bed and turned to leave. As she took one last look around, she could have sworn that the hand had moved. She shook it off and left.

She went quickly to Nichols’s quarters and pressed the door chime. He answered it and ushered her inside. “What's up?” He asked good‑naturedly.

“I never did thank you...properly for rescuing me today,” Lisa said. Nichols’s jaw dropped when she began to unbutton her uniform jacket. She tossed it aside and smiled at him as she began to remove the white shirt underneath.

“I thought that this wasn't a proper thing for fellow officers to do,” Nichols joked as he stripped off his own uniform.

“I don't give a damn about protocol, not tonight.” With that, they went back to Nichols’s bed. They hadn't made love in nearly ten years, but Lisa thought that it was better than ever. Deep within her she knew that it was morally wrong to be making love to someone she served with, but she and Nichols were way beyond being fellow officers; they were friends and lovers.

Nichols hadn't expected Lisa to be this forward, it went completely against the grain. However, their relationship aboard the ship had taken a turn for the better since the infamous lift incident. He was glad to see that she was getting past the captain‑helmsman angle, because he knew that their relationship could never move forward if she thought that it was wrong for her and Nichols to have any form of sexual relations. He thought back to that first time in San Francisco when they had been on leave. They had gotten drunk and wound up in bed together the next day. He couldn't remember much about that night, except that making love to Lisa had been better than anything else he had ever done. He wasn't exactly sure why that was, maybe part of it was that in a way it was a forbidden romance, or maybe it was because she was so beautiful, strong, and smart. Nichols knew that a large part of it was because he loved her more than anyone else. She was probably the only person that he felt he knew completely, inside and out. It was more than because they had known each other for so long, it was because they were soulmates.

As they lay beside each other, Nichols looked over at her, a deadly serious look on his face. “After all of this is over and we get back to Earth...let's get married,” Nichols suggested and Lisa was flabbergasted. “Look, we've known each other for a long time, and there's no one I'd rather spend my life with than you. You don't have to give up your command or anything, but let's just make it official, so that we don't have to worry about what the crew thinks. What do you say?”

Lisa mulled it over for a few moments. In reality, it wasn't that big of a step in their relationship. She had never been as serious about anyone as Nichols. There was her brief fling with Brian Laurants, but that had never gotten to the point of her relationship with Nichols. She looked into his eyes and said the only word in her heart: “Yes.” Then they kissed passionately and held each other close as they slowly fell into sleep.

***

Laurants pressed the door chime to Terraz's quarters and she let him inside. He could tell by the look on her face that she was deeply worried. Davis and Garren were both out there, fighting the aliens around S'Parni. They sat down and she tried to force the worried look from her face. “So, what's been eating at you for the past few weeks?” She asked without prelude.

“It's kind of complicated, but in a way I think you can understand.” Laurants got to his feet and began pacing around Terraz's quarters. “The problem first started back on Rygan, shortly after you and the others left the captain and I.”

“You've been holding this back for that long?” Terraz demanded incredulously.

“Well, I didn't know how to talk to you about this. Anyway, as we were walking through the desert, I really began to...fall for her.”

“The captain, no way!”

“I think it's a lot because she was so vulnerable right then, since you guys walked out on her after she had just lost the command she had worked years to get, and I could really understand what she was going through, because of when Brian died. Anyway, once we found the underground city, she was hurt pretty bad, and that was when things started to blossom, because I was so worried for her. It wasn't too long after she woke up that I knew that...” His voice trailed off into infinity; he couldn't bring himself to say it to his best friend.

“What? You knew what?”

“I knew that...I loved her,” he admitted slowly.

“Holy shit!” Terraz blurted out. “Why haven't you said anything?”

“At first it was because on Rygan we were working so closely that I didn't want to ruin the mission. Then when we boarded the ship and headed for Earth, I didn't think it was appropriate. After we left Earth, Nichols entered the picture and telling her would just complicate things. I think you can kind of understand that.” Terraz nodded, she knew what it was like to have two men chasing after her. She was glad in a way that Laurants hadn't confessed his feelings, it wasn't a lot of fun to have two equally wonderful men in love with her.

“You're right, I can understand that. So what are you going to do?”

“What can I do? Nichols is still in the picture, and to be honest, I really don't think that she loves me. I'm just another officer to her.”

“Maybe you should say something before we leave for S'Parni...in case one of you doesn't come back.” Neither of them wanted to think about that, but it was the stark reality of the situation.

“I've already recorded a message in case I buy it, or when I'm ready to say something, whichever comes first.”

“That's good. Just whatever you do, be strong and don't let your emotions rule you. You're still the First Officer, and she's still the captain. By the way, I thought that you handled yourself pretty well back there.”

“Really, the captain said that too. All I know is that I never want to be in a situation like that again.” Terraz nodded. She could understand why Laurants had been so upset; to have the woman he loved so close to being killed and being helpless to save her, that had to be devastating.

“You've got to realize that you did what you had to.” Laurants became agitated and turned towards her, tears in his eyes.

“I know that, but it doesn't stop me from thinking about what could have happened. I can see Tiblain pulling the trigger and her being vaporized, gone forever while I stand on the bridge, unable to do a damn thing to stop it. What no one seems to notice is that I was so close to giving in! I would have given Tiblain the ship if it meant that she would live, I'd have given my own life in her place if I could have!” Laurants sat back down, spent emotionally. Terraz could see his anger, frustration, and sadness. He was a man deeply troubled and haunted. Still, she knew that he would pull through. Laurants was strong and resiliant, a survivor. He had already lost his brother, so she knew that he had learned to keep going, to live with the pain. It didn't stop her from wishing that she could just turn all of the hurt off right now. She hated to see her best friend like this, mostly because he was usually so damned stoic. It was at times like these that she could see that he was a person with a lot of emotional baggage.

She put a hand on his shoulder and said quietly, “Look, you can't let that get to you. You can't dwell on what could have happened. She's safe and Tiblain's gone, you made the right decision. In fact, if you hadn't bought the time for Nichols and the others to find her, she would have died before they got there.”

“I'm really sick of people trying to tell me that I'm some kind of hero, because I'm not.”

“No, you aren't, not for this. You're just a good person who did the right thing for his shipmates. However, like it or not, you are a hero for a lot of other things. Now, you should go and get some sleep; we both should.”

“You're right. Thanks a lot. It felt good to get this off my chest, to finally tell you what was going on. By the way, don't worry about Davis and Garren, they'll come through all right, we all will.” Laurants left Terraz's quarters slowly, like a man who was still carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She only hoped that he was right about Davis and Garren.

***

The Destroyer came out of its jump in a burst of white light. The crew came to and, gratifyingly enough, no one was floating on the ceiling. The helmsman snapped to and saw that they had jumped perfectly. He booted the thrusters and began positioning the Destroyer in low orbit, which would allow the fighters to get down to hit their targets quicker. The hangar doors opened swiftly and Hastings was blazing out into space moments later. Jordan and the rest of the Guardian Angels followed and dove wildly towards the green planet.

They were followed by the contingent of escort ships that S'Olonny had stationed aboard the Destroyer. These began heading for the orbiting supply ships, trying to mix in with the rest of the fleet as much as possible. Finally, the ExoArmors jumped out of the hangar doors like paratroopers, some activating their heat shields as they plunged towards the surface, others lighting off after the escort ships, and Davis’s and Sam’s ExoArmors stayed close to the Destroyer to protect it. As for the ship, it remained in low orbit with a host of other S'Parnian vessels, going unnoticed. S’Jenl knew that was about to change.

Hastings lit his afterburners as he dove through the atmosphere and into the olive skies of S'Parni. There was nothing but rough, brown plateaus ahead of him, which meant that he was right on target. The small, black fighter streaked over the plateaus, scant feet off the ground, and dove even lower as the plateaus became a vast desert plain. In this plain was a huge supply base and launching facility for the Grand Council's supply ships. Hastings smiled as he saw the base and then activated his lasers and armed the bombs he was carrying with him. He could see S'Parnians scurrying around now, caught completely surprised by his appearance, yet there were no indications of anti‑aircraft defenses. Hastings mentally shrugged and then began his first strafing run over the base, holding down the trigger of his laser cannons and blasting several warehouse facilities in the process. There was still no resistance, which didn't disappoint Hastings as he whipped his Eclipse around sharply and lined up the base's launch facilities for his bomb run. He let loose his bombs and then pulled up in time to see fire engulf the base. His work complete, he zoomed towards his next target.

Jordan whipped around a large tree on the ancient jungle floor and prayed that she didn't end up getting caught in some vines or brush. Common sense would have dictated to fly over the jungle area, but Jordan knew that by flying through it she could pass unseen to her target. She stood the Eclipse on its right wing to avoid two trees that were close together, and then checked her instruments and saw that she was only a hundred meters from her target. She wondered just where in the hell this port facility was when she saw a shimmering lake up ahead of her. Expertly she dodged another of the old jungle trees and leveled out as the jungle gave way to the obviously artifical lake. She slowed her fighter and looked for the port, but there was nothing on the lake. Then she realized that it must either be underwater or underground, which spelled disaster for her. That was when a huge platform began to rise from the water. On the platform was one of the alien supply ships, ready to blast off into space. She armed her plasma cannons and centered the main support for the platform before firing. The twin blasts ripped the support in two and sent the supply ship and the platform crashing back into the water. Even if the facility wasn't destroyed, it would take a while for them to fix the damage and be able to get anything back into the air again. She booted in her afterburner and streaked away from the lake.

Garren led three ExoArmors towards one of the most important targets: a supply base located only a few miles from the site of the Great Matrix. It was important to wipe this base out and limit the amount of forces the Grand Council could have in the area when it came time to deliver Arsa. Although not nearly as fast in the air as the Eclipse fighters, the ExoArmors were making excellent time to their target. Garren had to admit that so far the flight had been uneventful, and that the new targeting displays were working great. Garren's breath was taken away when he saw the immense sphere of the Great Matrix. It was resting on a carved stone platform that was layered in ancient vines. The most notable thing was that the sphere was shattered and thus incomplete. Moments later Garren was over the Matrix and could see the huge main tower of the base come into sight. He activated his long‑range missiles and the arms of the ExoArmor converted into long boxes carrying the missiles. He targeted the tower and then unleashed two of the missiles. The other ExoArmors followed suit and eight of the deadly projectiles sped towards the supply base. As the ExoArmors closed the distance, Garren saw explosions rack the tower. It fell just short of toppling, but they had scored excellent hits. Garren switched the arms of the ExoArmor so that one was normal and the other had its hand converted to a laser cannon. He lowered himself to the ground and wondered where the resistance at the base was. There was a line of supply ships on the ground and he pumped rounds from his rifle and cannon into these. Two of his comrades were circling the base, looking for any resistance to supress while the other ExoArmor joined him on the ground and began blasting warehouses. Garren marched his ExoArmor across the base, shooting any targets of opportunity. There were a few bodies of S'Parnians scattered about, but most appeared to have fled, making the base empty and dead. Garren lifted off, heading for the next target before the four ExoArmors were scheduled to get back into space.

***

S'Hamble was deathly pale as he listened to the reports. Thirteen ports and supply depots had been destroyed by the mysterious attackers in only minutes, and without any of the enemy being destroyed. There were also reports of a panic in the fleet in orbit around S'Parni as supply ships were being blown up at will by some unseen force. “Why were those supply bases so unguarded?” S'Hamble demanded.

“We were expecting the traitors to attack us from space, not from the ground. We just don't have the resources to protect everything,” S'Yevman answered.

“Now these invaders are hitting our supply lines with absolutely no resistance whatsoever. There has to be a way to stop them.”

“We don't even know who they are.”

“Of course we do: it's S'Olonny and his traitorous human allies. Somehow they have infiltrated our home planet and are attempting to surgically wipe out our supply line to the fleet. I want you to move whatever units we have to the supply bases. We can't let them destroy half of the fleet's supplies before they even get to the ships!” S'Hamble tried to remain calm, but it was frustrating to watch as the enemy cut his supply line apart bit by bit. S'Yevman hurried away to try and shuffle ground‑based defenses to the supply bases before the enemy destroyed them all.

***

S’Jenl looked at the map on the holoviewer encouragingly. His forces were being unopposed as they hit their targets, and the S'Parnian fleet had yet to figure out that his ship was a stranger. One by one the dots representing targets winked out of existence, and only about a dozen remained. We might make it out yet, he thought glumly and hoped that they could indeed get out of this alive.

Hastings rocketed over the green ocean and towards a spit of land that housed another supply depot. As he neared the island, his threat indicator began going nuts. Just then, he saw no less than fifteen escort ships heading his way. Remembering their weak spot, he armed his lasers and plasma cannons and just as he was going to get in their weapons range he put the Eclipse in a stomach‑churning dive. He was just skimming above the water and then pulled his nose up a little and shot the lead escort ship through the vulnerable belly turret. The escort ship shook but was not destroyed, still, it made a wobbly turn and headed for home. That left Hastings with fourteen angry escort ships diving in on him. Coolly, Hastings began a screeching climb that pasted him to the back of his seat and nearly caused the pilot to black out. On his way up, he was able to take out three more of the escort ships by shooting their turrets. At the low altitude, the escort ships ended up plummeting into the water. Two more of the alien craft couldn't pull out of their dives in time and crashed into the ocean. Hastings looked back and could see that while there were still nine of the escort ships left, they were far behind him and losing ground rapidly. Then he flew over the supply base, lined up his bomb run and dropped his payload. He checked his fuel gauge and saw that it was time to head for home. He pulled into a high climb and headed for space.

Jordan saw the city approaching and wondered where her target was located. Her threat indicator began flashing and a few seconds later there was weapons fire from all over the city. She deftly began a corkscrew dive towards the ground and felt only one shot hit. She was flying parallel to a road and was at the same height as many of the hovercars, far too low for the high‑altitude flak trap that had been readied in her honor. She narrowly avoided one hovercar and thought back to her recent drive in New York City. The buildings around her began to lessen in height, and soon enough the city was behind her. She could then see the sprawling military base that was also a supply staging area. She knew that she would have to be careful, and seconds later a wave of ten escort ships rose into the air to greet her. She smiled and hit her afterburner. This attack run would have to be fast and accurate. She began firing at the escort ships with her lasers and for a few seconds the S'Parnian pilots thought the strange fighter was going to try flying under them, but it broke away at the last second, leaving a sonic boom in its wake. The shockwave of the boom actually disrupted three of the escort ships and caused them to crash into the tarmac of the base. Jordan lowered her speed as she neared an ammunition dump. She pulled up and over the dump and released her bombs. There was a massive explosion when the bombs hit and lit off the ammunition, the fire from the blast scorching the tail of the Eclipse. The little fighter was sent end‑over‑end, but Jordan was able to control it and pull up before hitting the ground. She had to refuel and headed for the Destroyer.

Garren and the other ExoArmors were wading in a swamp, which reminded the soldier of the horrible fight on Rygan where the humans had been trapped by the aliens and captured. Amongst the vegetation was their last target: some kind of supply base that was in the middle of the swamp. Garren was able to see a huge facility hidden amongst the misty vegetation of the swamp. This base appeared to be busy, and Garren knew that it was a prime target. He leapt into the air to free himself from the mud and water and headed for the base at low level. He touched down on some kind of runway a few moments later and converted both arms to laser cannons and opened his leg missile launchers. He aimed at the nearest targets and began firing. There were a lot of supply ships that appeared to be trying to get into the air, but most of these were destroyed quickly by the unrelenting barrage from the ExoArmors. A handful made it into the air and were quickly picked off by one of the circling human soldiers. These flying units began strafing warehouses while Garren searched the area for any hidden caches. He found an underground bunker near the base's control tower and put a pair of missiles into it. The bunker contained ammunition and exploded in a huge torrent of cement, dirt, and fire. Garren ended up on his back, the wind knocked out of him. He got to his feet and then signalled that it was time to leave. As the ExoArmors left and headed back for space, a trio of escort ships jumped them. The humans quickly spread out and began firing viciously at the enemy, pouring shots into the cockpits and belly turrets. The three escort ships, which appeared to have been taken by surprise by the humans, were crashing into the swamp moments after stumbling upon the ExoArmors. Then the humans clawed for altitude and activated their heat shields to break through the atmosphere.

***

“This is a disgrace! These invaders have routed us and we have yet to kill any of them!” S'Hamble screamed in the control room. There was a boom and then an Eclipse fighter flashed over the government complex and began to climb rapidly. Twenty-five supply bases and ports all over the surface had been pounded by the mysterious attackers, without a single enemy casualty. Even the invaders who had been met by defenders made it through without a scratch.

In space, a similar scenario was occuring. Supply ships were disappearing in droves, without anyone being able to decipher who was attacking. Strangely enough, none of the type of craft the ground attackers flew had been spotted in space, which meant that it could be an entirely different force hitting the supply ships up there. S'Hamble looked to his aide for some kind of answer that might help to pull things out for the Grand Council.

“We still haven't been able to determine who is attacking, although the supply ships are huddling closer to our attack ships now,” S'Yevman said.

“That won't be good enough. Whoever these invaders are, they had to have some kind of ship to get in‑system. Have every ship search its sensor logs for anything anomylous, like the appearance of another vessel.” S'Yevman nodded and relayed the order. Then S'Hamble stopped and smiled. “Then I want you to order the supply ships to separate from the main groups and get into the open. Whoever these mysterious assailants are, they will have to reveal themselves shortly. Once the attackers are identified, I want all resources to eliminate them quickly.”

On the holoviewers in the room, S'Hamble could see the supply ships begin to separate from the main groups and then flock together like sheep. The hungry wolves would have to through off their cloak of secrecy if they wanted to go in for the kill.

***

“They're herding us,” S’Jenl said simply as he looked at the current layout. “They want us to show ourselves or else leave them alone. Order all units back to the ship. Once everyone is aboard, move in for the kill and eliminate all remaining targets as quickly as possible.” The three other aliens nodded and went to perform their designated assignments.

Farley had come onto the bridge, and he couldn't help but notice the obvious tension in the room. Everyone knew what it would mean once their cover was blown: the Grand Council's armada would pounce on them like a cat on a mouse. “You'd better have an escape jump ready. I'll begin preparing the TDJ drive,” Farley tossed over his shoulder to S’Jenl as he dashed back down towards the engine room. He wished right now that this ship was like the Avenger and had two drives: the regular hyperspace drive and the TransDimensional Jump drive. It would make a quick getaway a lot easier.

On the outside of the ship, hiding in the shadows of the hull, Davis watched the first Eclipse fighters jink and jerk their way towards the Destroyer. They were trying to land on the ship without it being readily noticeable to the other vessels around them. Hastings came in first at breakneck speed, only slowing down just a few feet from the hangar. He was thrown forward hard in his seat as he cut in his landing engines and set down. Jordan was next; she faked a couple of shots that went wide over the Destroyer and then disappeared into the hangar. She activated her landing engines just in time to miss hitting the wall and set her fighter down next to Hastings. The other fighters came in for a landing, followed by Garren and the rest of the ExoArmors. The escort ships came in last, traveling slowly to give the appearance they were on a routine patrol. Then Davis and Sam leapfrogged their way into the hangar. The doors ground shut and the Destroyer's thrusters activated.

The ship left the pack of Grand Council warships around it and then activated its main engines, bearing down on the last supply ships. S’Jenl nervously waited in his command chair as they closed to within firing range. Then, once they were just in range he stood up boldy, like he had seen S'Olonny do a hundred times, and steadied himself. “Fire!” He barked and instantly the ship rocked as over a dozen cannons began pounding the little pack of supply ships. Half of the vessels were ripped apart in the opening barrage, and instantly they began to scatter. As the Destroyer readied to fire again there was a massive jolt that sent S’Jenl reeling. He rolled on his back and looked at the holoviewer to see no less than fifty ships coming right at him.

***

S'Hamble laughed wickedly as the slaughter began. The hunted were now the hunters, stalking the Destroyer and blasting it one after another. “We have them now!” S'Hamble shouted victoriously and looked at S'Yevman. “The Council will be overjoyed once they hear this.” S'Yevman nodded, not so sure that the rest of the Grand Council would react well to the news. Most of the supplies, half of the ammunition and most of the food for the fleet, were obliterated. Over ninety percent of the fleet's supply ships were destroyed, most on the ground. In short, they had been routed even if the attackers were wiped out.

“Yes, sir,” S'Yevman replied and excused himself to attend to other matters. If the High General had one fault it was that he was a ground commander mostly and didn't understand space tactics. If the invaders were S'Olonny and his traitors, then they had just unleashed a devestating blow to the supplies and morale of the Council's armada. S'Yevman had served aboard the acclaimed Bio‑Energy Collection Vessel Two, which had discovered Biocrystallin only five years ago, so he understood a thing or two aboard space tactics. He knew that it wouldn't be long until S'Olonny himself would show up with that blasted human ship. Then they would try and do whatever mission they had planned, while the mighty fleet of the Grand Council was desperately low on power packs for the laser cannons and rations for the crews. That would mean that the traitors would only be at a slightly reduced disadvantage. Still, the Council's fleet would prevail in the weight of sheer numbers. There was no escaping the fact that the traitors were outgunned badly, even if the guns didn't have that much ammunition. S'Yevman couldn't help but smile as he thought of the promotion that would come when the traitors were crushed by the fleet and S'Hamble's power base was secure.

***

The Destroyer was able to blow away one of the many Interceptors that was swooping in on it and S’Jenl, who was now the only one left alive ont he bridge, maneuvered the ship to the left in time to trap shoot another bothersome Interceptor. Then he smiled grimly as he lined up one of the handful of remaining supply ships and put a few shots through its lightly‑armored hull, crumpling it like paper.

To say that things were going badly for the Destroyer was an understatement. Over half of the ship was damaged, and most systems were off‑line. It had taken a lot of quick hot‑wiring on Farley's part to even keep the weapons and shields up. There were a lot of casualties all around the ship, the three other bridge officers being most prominent. S’Jenl had already ordered all of the pilots out of their craft and to some safer area and the anti‑boarder corridors were in place should the Destroyer be disabled.

S’Jenl checked a clock that was ticking away painfully slow just to his left. This clock was indicating how long until the TDJ drive was charged and ready to go. Because of all the damage, the time needed to generate the proper energy field was much slower than usual. There was still about five minutes left until they could attempt a jump, if they were still alive. As the ship was hit again, the young captain doubted that would happen.

In the hangar, Davis was thrown to his feet again. As he got up, he muttered a few curses at the Grand Council's fleet and then decided that he wasn't going to take this anymore, he was going to fight back. He dashed towards his ExoArmor and climbed in. He began powering up and then moved towards the hangar door. The hangar crews were probably already dead, so he used the manual release to open the doors. Then he activated his thrusters and sped out into space. Instead of heading out into the firefight, he drifted back towards the Destroyer and planted himself on a narrow ledge. He activated the magnetic restraints that were used to hold the ExoArmor down while it was dormant and drew his rifle. He converted his other arm to a long‑range missile launcher and opened his leg launchers. As a pair of Interceptors passed by, he began firing with everything he had. One of the Interceptors was badly damaged and yawed out of control. The other ship was also damaged and was then destroyed by one of the Destroyer's cannons.

“Fifth Platoon, suit up and plant yourselves out here on the hull! Give them everything you've got!” Davis ordered over the comm. It was only a minute later that Sam's ExoArmor appeared. It dropped in right next to Davis, firing at a passing ship. The shots did little damage, but caused the ship to pull back temporarily. Garren's ExoArmor was next and it planted itself on the opposite side of the hangar as Davis'. Together they were able to take out another Interceptor and damage several others. There seemed to be no end to the number of enemy ships while the ExoArmors were running out of ammunition. Davis was nearly out of missiles and had converted his free arm to laser cannon mode. This was less powerful, but he had little choice. Only about two minutes were left, and some of the platoon thought that they might actually make it. That was when disaster struck.

The enemy ships around the Destroyer parted like the Red Sea as a leviathan of firepower appeared on the scene. The collection vessel headed right for the damaged Destroyer, its massive weapons charging for the kill. S’Jenl stared in awe at the monster and he knew that he and his ship were going to be destroyed before they could jump. With the firepower that a collection vessel could unleash on its first volley, the Destroyer would be vaporized in seconds. Then, thinking of a desperate plan, S’Jenl raised Davis on the comm. “Get inside and hang on!” Was all that the S'Parnian said. Davis motioned for everyone to get back to the hangar and soon the door was shut. Only about a minute remained, but the collection vessel was about to take its first shot.

As the huge guns began to fire, S’Jenl put the battered ship in a steep climb that sent everyone flying on the ship. The horrendous cascade of energy unleashed by the collection vessel just missed the Destroyer and annihilated several Grand Council ships that were behind it. S’Jenl shouted for joy and noticed that only twenty seconds remained. Then, as he leveled out of the climb in preparation of the jump, an Interceptor came screeching in at the heavily damaged Destroyer. Before S’Jenl could react, it let loose a pair of shots that tore into the bridge. It seemed that everything around the captain was lit with fire as he was thrown forward, catapaulted over his station. Bleeding heavily from a dozen wounds, S’Jenl dragged himself over to the helm. The clock hit zero and from a broken speaker came Farley's voice saying, “...ump...ow!” S’Jenl leaned up against the ravaged helm station and took his last breath. With all of his strength he reached up and tapped the button to activate the TDJ drive. Then the S'Parnian officer's head lolled to the side and his bloody arm collapsed at his side. There was a moment as all systems went off‑line and then a flash of white light. To its pursuers, it appeared that the near‑dead ship had vanished into thin air.

S'Hamble smashed a computer console as he stormed from the command center. The rest of the Grand Council was going to demand an explanation and then his resignation. He would only have a few hours to take care of them and write a speech explaining to the people that the rest of the Grand Council had been killed in the attack.

Chapter Sixteen

2007-06-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

Chapter Sixteen

Two days later, Farley stood on the bridge of the S'Parnian Destroyer and wiped the sweat from his brow. The work had been intense, but he knew that the ship was ready to jump into battle. He only hoped that it worked right.

Lisa came up behind him, seeing the changes that he had made. “So, exactly how does all of this work?” She asked.

“Well, from what I can figure out from the readings taken during our initial jump to the Shipyards, I think that the problem with losing all of our systems was that the violence of the jump interrupted the flow of power to the major systems and caused massive overloads all over when the turbulence stopped and power was restored. To prevent this, I've programmed computers on the ship to cease the flow of power to all systems just a few seconds prior to the jump. Then, after the first jump is over, the power will be restored until it's time for the second jump. A second or so before that next jump the power will again shut down and come on as we enter realspace. That way, we should be able to have complete control of the ship right after the jump and make sure that no one is hurt or killed. I've also had crews install straps and handholds on every station and along the walls so that when the power goes off, including the anti‑gravity, no one ends up floating around the ceiling,” Farley explained and Lisa nodded.

“Will we be able to get a precise enough jump?”

“I'm not sure. My crews have triple‑checked the navigation systems and sensors to make sure that they are perfectly calibrated, but there's no way that we can know if the jump will be perfect until we try. In theory, it should work, but I can't say for certain.” That wasn't the answer that Lisa wanted to hear just before a big mission, but she knew that the engineer had done all that he could.

“How soon can similar modifications be done to the Avenger?”

“By the time we leave dock, I'm positive we can have everything done. However, Captain, I would really like to give my crews a little rest before we dive right into this next project. Everyone's been pushed past the limit over these last few days, and most of my crews have been working triple shifts to make sure that everything was done on time. In short, my men are exhausted.”

“I understand your situation and I sympathize with you. As long as you have everything done before we leave the Shipyards, I'll be happy. Give your crews the rest they need, and then get them to work. Captain S'Olonny has requested a little help with repairing his ship to make sure that the repairs on it are completed on time, so if you don't mind, I'd like you to send a couple of crews over to assist him.” Farley nodded, knowing that the captain was giving him a big break. He was sure that some people would have demanded everything to be done immediately, so he wasn't going to press his luck by trying to convince her that he needed all of his crews for the modifications. He nodded to her and she smiled. “Good. I think I've seen enough, Lieutenant, excellent work.”

As Lisa walked back towards the Avenger, she had to admit that her entire crew had been performing superbly in preparation for the surgical strike against the Grand Council's supply lines. The attack would be ready to launch on time and exactly as had been planned, which gave it a better chance of working. Lisa knew that most plans fell apart quickly, but so long as the basic concept of the plan was sound, it should be able to work and bring back most of the crews.

That was something that was bothering her lately. This was the first time that she would be ordering the Avenger's crew into battle since the firefight near the lunar colony. It was the first time since the ship had received a full complement of personnel that she would be sending people to their deaths. That was something that every starship captain had to deal with, but she doubted that most captains had become as close to their crew as she had with the Avenger's. It wasn't that she was personally attached to everyone, it was that she knew most of them by name, she knew their faces, and she knew many of their personalities. They were more like a family than the Explorer's crew had ever been or than any of the ships she had served on previously. She knew that if anyone died she would feel more than guilt: she would feel like a parent who had lost a child. The letters home would seem like an insurmountable task.

She was walking through the battered, rust‑colored corridors of the Shipyards on the way to where her ship was docked when she passed an adjoining corridor and felt a claw grab her mouth and pull her into the corridor. She tried to fight or scream, but whatever had a hold of her was too strong. Then she felt something hit the back of her head and she blacked out. A large, spider‑like alien dragged the unconscious captain down the dark corridor.

Laurants cursed his luck as he looked around the bridge. Lisa was nowhere to be found on the ship, the S'Parnian Destroyer, or the Vindicator. That meant that she had to be somewhere in the Shipyards complex, but none of the humans that were shuttling back and forth between ships had seen her and the control room had also said that they had not seen her. That left only two options: she was either dead or abducted. Either way, Laurants promised himself that he would find her. However, he knew that the timing for this was very bad with the attack scheduled to launch in only twelve hours. They had to find her fast, or there was no way the attack could go off as planned.

It wasn't that Laurants didn't think that he could handle giving the orders to launch, it was that she had come up with the plan and thus was needed in the final revisions. A delay in the attack could be costly as it would give the Grand Council more time to figure out what was going on at the Shipyards and to muster more forces. They had to find her soon, or things would fall apart before they began.

S'Olonny had promised Laurants that he would provide as much help as he could in tracking Lisa down, and in that regard he had put some of his elite scouts on the case. Search parties from the Avenger were being formed, but the Guardian Angels and 5th Platoon could not aid the effort because they were preparing for the mission. Engineering crews were also busy, which left only a few humans to search for their captain. What angered Laurants the most was that as acting captain he had to stay with the ship. Thus, he had to give the hardest order he had ever given. “Commander Nichols, I want you to form up as many search parties as possible and search the Shipyards for the captain.”

“Yes sir!” Nichols bolted out of his seat and raced from the bridge. He was relieved that he could finally get up and do something about finding Lisa. He stopped in sickbay and had Anderson and his medical teams gather a few medical supplies and then follow him to the armory to get some weapons. He also grabbed a few off‑duty bridge crewers and then had small three‑person teams be formed. When they reached the armory he began handing out rifles to everyone. Then the teams headed out; Nichols being teamed with Anderson and Klein. They hurried out the Avenger's airlock and into the Shipyards.

Lisa came to and quickly realized that she couldn't move her arms or legs. She looked around as best she could and saw that she had been tied to a chair by a coarse rope. Her head was still throbbing from where she had been hit and there was a small pool of blood on the floor of the room. A bright light came on and Lisa gasped when she saw Tiblain coming towards her. “You traitor!” She shouted.

Tiblain merely laughed and then slapped her across the face. The chair nearly tipped over, but Lisa was able to shift her weight enough to keep it upright. “You fool, you don't understand anything about us, do you? You see, we don't care about your cause or the Grand Council's. They freed us to go after you, so we don't really care now who wins. However, we are interested in keeping our freedom. A ship like yours would be enough to make the Grand Council think twice before trying to retake this place. We would have enough firepower here to make our independence permanent. Being that most of us are the last survivors of our race, that is the only cause important to us.”

“I won't give you my ship,” Lisa hissed at her captor.

“I don't expect you to. But I'm sure that Commander Laurants will see things differently once he realizes that we have you.” With that, Tiblain motioned to the alien who had knocked Lisa out and he gave his leader a large laser rifle that looked like it could vaporize her at only half power. “If he doesn't, then there will not be enough left of you to fill a thimble.”

***

Time was running out. Nichols and his group were frantically searching the eastern wing of the Shipyards for their captain. There hadn't been even a trace of Lisa since the search had begun. A lot of this was attributed to the fact that the sensors were useless aboard the Shipyards because there were so many liberated slaves that the readings from the Avenger and Vindicator were confused. Thus, each search party had to rigorously sweep the area with compads. Nichols knew that if something didn't break soon, then the strike against S'Parni would have to be delayed, which could turn the mission into a disaster.

Nichols stopped his group at the intersection of two corridors and began to scan with his compad. Anderson and Klein spread out to sweep the area as well. Anderson stopped as he found something. He knelt down and touched a spot of blood. An analysis of it by his medical equipment, cross‑referenced to medical files on board the Avenger, revealed that it was Lisa's blood. “Commander!” Anderson called out and Nichols rushed over. “I've found a trace of the captain's blood.”

Nichols looked down where Anderson indicated and grimaced. “Any way that we can determine what kind of shape she's in?”

“Not from such a small amount. This will go a long way to helping us find her.”

“Right. I'll call Commander Laurants and have him vector the other search parties this way. Wherever she is, we'll find her.”

Laurants was directing all of the search parties towards where Nichols had indicated, in the hope that the extra manpower would allow Nichols to track down Lisa more quickly. Terraz, who was the only other person on the bridge, was also routing search parties and trying to fine‑tune the sensors enough so that they might help. It was about then that the holoprojector came on. Laurants turned and saw Tiblain staring at him, with Lisa tied to a chair just to his left. Laurants gaped and couldn't think of anything to say, he was too shocked.

“I see that you are surprised that I have taken your captain hostage, Commander. Now, you will surrender your ship to me or she will die,” Tiblain held the rifle to Lisa's head and Laurants could tell that Tiblain meant what he said.

“Tiblain, you traitor, let her go!” Laurants shouted.

“Not until I have possession of your starship.”

“What do you want with the Avenger?”

“I want it to preserve the freedom of everyone on this station.”

“This isn't my ship to give.”

“You are in command. Therefore it is up to you whether she lives or dies.” Laurants felt sick as he looked at Lisa and then around the empty bridge.

“I...I'll need a few minutes to inform the crew,” Laurants said defeatedly.

“Very well, you have three minutes,” Tiblain responded and broke the connection. Laurants felt his legs go weak and he collapsed into the command chair. Could he sacrifice the ship and the mission for the woman that he loved? It felt like he was being pulled apart from the inside. One part of him wanted to save Lisa by giving Tiblain the ship while another part told him that he couldn't sacrifice the mission for one woman, no matter who she was.

“Jack,” Terraz tried to rouse Laurants from his reverie, “we've got to do something.” Laurants nodded and turned towards her.

“Can you get the source of the transmission?”

“No, they must be shielding it somehow.”

“Call Nichols and tell him that he has three minutes to find the captain.”

“Or what?” Terraz asked, her stomach churning.

“Or else she’ll die,” Laurants said simply.

Nichols raced down the corridors, hoping to find some sign of where Lisa was being held. Anderson, Klein, and the rest of the searchers were lagging behind. Nichols was going on blind instincts now, knowing that he wouldn't have nearly enough time to find her by using a compad. He had put it away and had his rifle at his hip, ready to take Tiblain down as soon as he saw him.

Three minutes, Terraz's voice echoed in his head, three minutes until she dies. Nichols skidded to a halt at an intersection to decide which way to go. He knew that one way would lead him to Lisa, the other would not. The lady or the tiger, Nichols thought, and then ran down the left corridor. He hoped that he had guessed right, otherwise Lisa would be killed and it would be all his fault that the woman he loved died.

He saw that the corridor ended abruptly because of some kind of cave‑in. Something told Nichols that the debris had not been put there naturally. He could see that there was no way for him to climb over it, so he began firing his rifle to try and clear away some of the obstruction. He had to admit that if someone had staged the cave‑in, they had done a damned good job. It would take at least five minutes to clear enough of the debris. I don't have that long, Nichols reminded himself and knew that he had no choice. He set his rifle to overload and threw it into the pile. He shielded himself against the corridor wall as the weapon exploded. There was a storm of shrapnel, smoke, and dust, but when things had cleared, Nichols could see that he had a large enough hole to get through. The only problem was that Nichols didn't have a weapon. As he scrambled over the mound of wreckage, Nichols saw a sharp wedge of metal in amongst the other trash. He grabbed the make-shift knife and then finished his climb. Only two minutes remained.

Time's almost up, Lisa thought as she struggled to untie her bonds. Whoever had tied them had done a good job; it was impossible for her to move her hands enough to try and undo the knot, and there was nothing to cut the rope with. With only about a minute left, she knew that she was out of options. The question that remained was whether or not Tiblain would really kill her.

“Tiblain, you know that if you kill me, they'll find you and then you'll be dead too, without what you want. Please, stop this before it's too late to turn back,” Lisa pleaded, trying to reason with the alien.

“It's already too late,” Tiblain growled.

“Damn it, this is stupid! Even with the Avenger you can't win!”

“Silence!” Tiblain momentarily lost control and slapped Lisa across the face again. This time the chair did tip over. “Your ship will give us enough firepower to scare away the Grand Council long enough for us to gather more strength.”

Lisa could taste blood in her mouth and spit it out at Tiblain's feet. “Where are you going to get more strength from?”

“We have our ways, and our sources. That is not for you to know.” Tiblain smiled grimly and then motioned for the spider‑like alien to put Lisa's chair back on its feet. “Time's up.”

Nichols saw two guards at the end of the corridor and knew that there was no time for subtlety. There was less than a minute until his friend and lover was to be executed, so Nichols shouted a war cry and charged the guards. Both assumed defensive positions and began firing. Nichols weaved madly through the corridor and vaguely felt one shot graze the left side of his chest. He closed the gap and then drove the knife into one alien's head. The other guard fired at Nichols, but the human turned the first guard around to take the shot. Then he stripped the guard of its rifle and shot the other. He knew that time was up.

Laurants felt a sickening wave of emotions run through him as time expired. Tiblain came on the holoprojector, and Laurants saw Lisa with the gun to her head. “Well, Commander, what have you decided?” The gray, stone‑like alien's black eyes seemed to drill straight into the young commander's heart.

Laurants rose shakily to his feet, then he gathered his strength and took a deep breath. “Tiblain, what you've done is despicable. You've placed a valued member of the crew in danger, as well as the mission we are embarking upon. As much as I would like to save the captain's life by giving you the ship...I cannot. The life of one person is not enough to surrender the Avenger to you or anyone else. It would put our mission in jeopardy...and I can't do that.” Laurants shifted his gaze from Tiblain to Lisa. His eyes met hers and he could see something that he had not expected: absolute calm. There was no fear, no sadness, just understanding from one commander to another. He felt his heart rip in two as the rifle at her head began to charge. When it was done, there would be nothing left of the woman that he loved. Laurants forced himself to stay on his feet, and to keep his face a mask of calm.

“Good luck, Jack,” Lisa said and closed her eyes to wait for the end. It was then that the door blew open and Nichols stood in the doorway.

Nichols pumped off two shots that ripped into Tiblain's chest and sent him to the floor. The rifle clattered to the deck, and Lisa was able to tip the chair over just as a stray blast ripped past where she had been and hit the ceiling. The other alien roared and charged Nichols, who was unable to get a shot off. The human was thrown to the floor and pinned by the spider alien's claws. Two huge pincers came from the alien's head and closed with Nichols’s neck. Suddenly a shot ripped through the air and burst the alien's head. Its bulk collapsed onto Nichols, who wondered who his savior was. A few moments later, Doctor Anderson helped slide the helmsman out from under the spider.

“Thanks, Doc,” Nichols said.

“No problem. I'll get the others,” the doctor replied and then left the room. Nichols smiled gratefully and untied Lisa. She jumped to her feet and into Nichols’s arms.

“Thanks, Nate,” she whispered.

“It's nothing, really. I'm just glad you're safe,” he retorted and they kissed. “Come on, let's get out of here.” They left hand‑in‑hand, stepping over Tiblain's lifeless carcass.

Laurants and Terraz cheered when they saw Nichols come rushing in, and they were still celebrating when some of the search parties came back. Laurants felt a shiver run through him when he thought of how close he had come to losing Lisa forever. Terraz looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “You don't look so good, Jack,” she remarked.

“It's just that I can't believe that Tiblain turned on us so quickly,” Laurants lied.

“I don't think that's all of it. You may as well admit it, you were as scared as I was, but this hit you a little harder because it was your decision on whether the captain lived or died. If Nichols wouldn't have gotten there in time, she would have been killed and you would have felt guilty.”

“That's most of it. I...I really don't feel like talking about it right now.”

“How about we get together later and talk about it. It isn't healthy to keep things all bottled up, especially not when you're on such a small ship in the middle of nowhere.”

“All right, I'll meet with you later. Right now, there are things to do.” Laurants brushed past her and left the bridge. He slowly made his way to sickbay, where Anderson was checking Lisa over and had bandaged the wound in Nichols’s side. Anderson saw the commander come in and then excused himself to go check on Manny's mummified body, thus leaving the three officers alone.

“Is there a problem, Commander?” Lisa asked.

“No, I just wanted to see how you two were doing. That and I need to know if the surgical strike against S'Parni is going off as planned,” Laurants answered.

“I see. The mission should go on schedule. I’ll check things over shortly. What's the situation on the Shipyards?”

“There's been no further violence, and the acting commander claims to have no knowledge of Tiblain's plan. Captain S'Olonny sent a brief message saying that he'll investigate the matter at once.”

“That's good news, however, I don't think they’ll uncover anything. The entire Shipyard facility was probably in on it, and I doubt they’ll talk.”

“Yes, I suppose so. I should be going,” Laurants turned to leave.

“Just a second,” Lisa called after him and he faced her again. She, in turn, turned towards Nichols. “Could I have a moment alone with Commander Laurants?”

“Sure. I was just going to ask Doctor Anderson something,” Nichols excused himself and left the others alone.

“Is something wrong?” Laurants began.

“I can tell that there's something bothering you. Have a seat and let's talk about it.” The operating table was the only place to sit available and Laurants wondered just what it was that she thought was bothering him. “I know that you've handled a lot of crises since we boarded the Avenger, but this was really the first one where an actual life was hanging in the balance, am I right?”

“Yes, it was,” Laurants answered quietly.

“That's what I thought. What you have to deal with now is something that every captain, and most First Officers, has to learn to live with: that's to understand that sometimes you have to sacrifice a life for the rest of the crew and the mission. I know that it's not easy, but you have to try and detach yourself, remain as impartial as you can so that emotions don't cloud your judgment.”

“It's hard to do that when it's someone you...know that's about to die.” Laurants stopped himself before he said the word “love”, but just barely. If Lisa noticed, she didn't show it.

“While I'm glad that Commander Nichols found me, I was very proud of you. You held your ground and didn't risk the success of the mission.”

“But you could have been killed!”

“I know, and it's scary, but you have to be willing to sacrifice your own life for the greater good if you expect any member of your crew to do the same. Besides which, I know that if anything did happen to me, the most capable First Officer in the fleet would be there to take over,” she smiled warmly at Laurants, and he couldn't remember any time since the underground city of Rygan that they had been so close.

“Thanks, but I'll leave commanding the ship to you.” He returned her smile and was genuinely beginning to feel better.

“Right, and there's a mission to be planned. Let's go.” They left sickbay and headed for the hangar to make the final revisions to the plan.

***

Sickbay was mostly dark when Jordan slipped in. Anderson was sitting in his tiny office, logging in the latest results from Manny's health monitors. Jordan tapped on his door and he looked up, surprised. “Something I can help you with?” The doctor asked.

“I just came to check up on Amanda before I have to leave,” Jordan replied.

“I see. Well, everything's going as well as expected. Tissue regeneration is right on pace and all of her vitals are in good shape. The only thing I can't tell quite yet is exactly how her appearance has been altered so far. Calibrating the right chemicals for the exact pigment is tricky at best without a model to work from.”

“So there's no way to know what's really happening?”

“I'm afraid not. When we get back to Earth I could perfect the treatment better, but for now we'll just have to sit back and hope.”

“What if she's worse after this?”

“Let's just hope that doesn't happen.”

“Why, because your precious experiment will have failed and you won't get your name in the Alliance Medical Journal?” Jordan snapped bitterly.

Anderson bolted to his feet and glared at Jordan, only inches from her. “You should know better than to misjudge me like that. I could see that she was in pain, and as a doctor, I have sworn an oath to help people. I want her to get better just as much as you do,” Anderson hissed, seething with anger.

Jordan was surprised, but only for a second. Then she turned her gaze down to the floor. “I'm sorry, Doctor, but I'm just worried. I didn't mean to take it out on you.”

“That's all right, everyone’s a little stressed these days. Why don't you go and see her; tell her good‑bye before your mission,” Anderson suggested and Jordan nodded. She went over to where Manny's unconscious form lay, wrapped in bandages that gave her a mummy‑like quality. She couldn't touch Manny in any way, and she stared down dumbly at her, looking for appropriate words.

“I...I don't really know what to say right now, but I doubt you can hear me anyway. I just wanted to say good‑bye and good luck before I leave, in case I don't come back. You've been a really good friend to me, and you really helped me get my act together, I don't think I can thank you enough for that. I hope that your surgery goes well and that when they take off the bandages...you can finally see the real you. The one thing I will know while I’m gone is that you're in capable hands. I've got to ship out in a couple of hours, so it's time to say good‑bye, at least for the time being.” Jordan resisted the urge to try and hug her friend or squeeze her hand. She turned away and did something that she rarely did: cry. She was surprised when she felt an arm around her; she looked and saw that it was Anderson's arm.

“It's all right, you'll be able to see her when you get back. I'll take good care of her while you're gone,” Anderson said soothingly.

“I know you will,” Jordan replied and then slowly left. As she walked towards the hangar, she realized that there were a lot of sides to Doctor Henry Anderson: the snobby, professional side; the caring, sensitive side; and the poor, determined side of a man out to prove himself. She shook her head when she realized that she always seemed to be underestimating him. She just hoped that if she was wounded, Anderson worked on her.

***

There wasn't a lot to revise on the surgical strike plan. The mission was going to go off pretty much as originally planned. The only change was that a third of the ExoArmors would join the Eclipses in attacking targets on the planet's surface in order to hit them quicker, and thus end the overall mission quicker. Lisa was hunched over the conference table, studying the final plans. She didn't like peeling away part of the Destroyer's defenders, but the longer they lingered, the more the odds of being caught went up. Like almost everything else about this overall mission, it was risky at best. She checked the time and saw that there were only five minutes until the Destroyer would make its precision jump.

“Signal the Destroyer to begin the launch countdown,” she commanded Terraz over the intercom.

The moments stretched into eternity as the countdown slowly wound down. Hastings, Jordan, and the other Guardian Angels were sitting in the cockpits of their Eclipses, ready to launch the moment that the Destroyer reached S'Parni. Davis, Garren, and the members of the 5th Platoon were waiting nervously in their ExoArmors, adjusting to the new displays that S'Tallen and Sam had designed. On the bridge of the ship, S’Jenl and the other aliens waited anxiously. The final seconds ticked away, and Farley checked his monitors in the engine room before calling the bridge.

“The TDJ drive is charged and operational. We're ready to jump,” he told S’Jenl.

“Initiate jump,” S’Jenl ordered and the helmsman pushed a few buttons which activated the drive. Everyone hoped that Farley and S'Tallen had plotted everything correctly. Then the lights went off throughout the ship and there was a horrendous boom, followed by a blinding burst of white light. The entire crew of the Destroyer passed out, wondering what would await them when they awoke.

Chapter Fifteen

2007-06-12T11:16:00.001-07:00

Chapter Fifteen

Hastings was patrolling around the Shipyards with a flight of two other fighters. The patrols had been initiated in case the Grand Council decided to try a preemptive strike against the humans and rebel aliens. So far there had been nothing to indicate such a move, but it was important to remain vigilant. Hastings yawned as he began a slow turn to complete the circuit around the Shipyards. It was then that his instruments began to go crazy.

His sensors were reading a large source of energy approximately two hundred meters to his left, and yet he couldn't see anything. He turned his Eclipse towards the reading and then saw something solid begin to form, surrounded by a bright, white light. He slowed the Eclipse down and watched in awe as the mass began to get larger.

It was evident that the object was a ship of some sort. The first part of the ship was a pointed nosecone, which was followed by a tubular mass, covered with all sorts of bumps that indicated a massive number of weapons batteries. The white light flashed out and the entire ship was visible. Hastings keyed his comm to the Avenger's bridge. “I've got one ship inbound! It appears to be one of those Destroyers that Tiblain told us about,” Hastings called out.

“Has it fired upon you yet?” Terraz asked.

“Not yet. Should I investigate?”

Terraz looked over to Laurants, who was standing over her. He nodded. “That's affirmative, Angel Leader. If it starts to fire then bug out and let us handle it,” Terraz answered.

Hastings acknowledged and then turned off the comm. He booted in his afterburner and headed straight and level at the ship. He put his weapons on stand‑by and hoped that no one on board decided to start shooting. He got within just a few meters of the ship and still no shots had been fired. Hastings crossed his fingers as he passed it by. Other than a few navigational lights, there were no lights on the Destroyer, which indicated to Hastings that the ship might be abandoned. The three wide engines at the rear of the ship were cold, but there was still a residual reading that would indicate recent use. The obvious question was, who had sent it here?

“Avenger, this is Angel Leader, no one's home. Either the crew's dead or they abandoned before the jump. You want me to try and take a closer look? I could blast through the hangar doors and land.”

“That won't be necessary Angel Leader. We'll dispatch a team. You may as well loiter around and escort them. They should be en route in about five minutes,” Terraz responded. Laurants was already sending a message to Davis and a shuttle was warming up to take him and a team to the derelict ship. Hastings nodded to himself and reformed his flight, heading for the Avenger to escort the shuttle.

Davis and ten troops were strapped into the shuttle, heading for the drifting ship. He wondered what would happen when Manny woke up. He had visited her in sickbay an hour ago, but she had been comatose and wrapped in bandages, and would remain so for weeks ahead. He hated to think of his leader and friend lying there, unconscious while her tissues regenerated. Even after being scarred after her exposure to bio‑energy she had been a pillar of strength in the platoon, a symbol of how they had survived the bitter fighting on Rygan. In a way, she was their Savior; she had rescued most of them after they had been captured. Now he was leading his team on an uncertain mission without her, the first time ever that Manny had missed a mission. He hoped that he was up to the job.

What Davis really wished was that he and Terraz would have some time together before they left for S'Parni. Shore leave for the entire crew had been scheduled, but with the appearance of the alien ship, it had been postponed. He just wanted to be able to see her a little before they left, because once they got there, there wouldn't be any time for talk. There were a lot of things he wanted to say and do, and he hoped that he had time and heart to say them. The jarring of the shuttle shook Davis back to reality and he saw that they were approaching the dark gray hull of the Destroyer.

The hangar doors were solidly closed, but a blast from Hastings' plasma cannons at the center of the doors caused them to open up enough so the shuttle could barely pass through. The shuttle decelerated as it neared the doors. The pilot at the controls flipped the shuttle on its side and easily made it through the opening. Then the shuttle righted itself and gently set down. Hastings came in behind and landed his Eclipse. Whatever was going on, he wanted to be there when things were sorted out.

Davis ran down the shuttle's ramp, weapons at ready. There was nothing but silence as he looked around and he lowered his rifle. The others gathered behind him and Hastings came up to him, his small sidearm in his hand. Davis motioned for everyone to fan out and secure the area. That didn't take long, since there was nothing in there, and two soldiers were left behind to guard the shuttle. The group moved out of the hangar and into a corridor that was dimly lit with orange light. Davis stopped and activated his nightvision equipment and the corridor became brighter. The others, except for Hastings, did the same and then the troops moved on. Hastings wished he would have brought his helmet, but followed behind Davis anyway.

The Destroyer was very different from the Interceptor. The corridors were dark and twisting, oftentimes going up steeply. It seemed as though a drunken architect had designed the entire ship. There were no signs of life anywhere, and Davis was getting nervous. It didn't help that the ship seemed to be some kind of maze, there was no way of knowing what to expect around the next bend. As the group turned a sharp corner, Davis saw a set of doors ahead, the first ones that he had seen. He hurried over to the doors and looked for some way to open them. There was a keypad next to them, but Davis had no idea what key to hit. He tried one key and miraculously the door opened. There was also a cacophony of other sounds as lights came on and computers activated. It was obvious to everyone that they had found the bridge. Davis turned off his nightvision equipment and Hastings went over to a console. He sat down and tapped a few keys, but nothing happened. Then Davis touched a button on the captain's chair and the holoviewer turned on.

The image of an alien in silver and blue striped armor appeared. The alien began to speak in his language, but Davis was able to plug a special translator into the holoviewer. The message repeated, this time so everyone could understand it. “Attention Free S'Parnian Forces, this is Captain S'Gurwald of Destroyer 5723. I have sent you my ship because I know that it will be helpful in the days ahead. I would like to tell you that there are many of us who received your message and are for your cause. When the time is right, we will fight for you. In the databanks I have included all of the ships around S'Parni and their positions. I have also indicated major ports and weapons sites on the planet. I know that you will find this information invaluable.

“I would have come personally, but I and my crew had to abandon ship before it jumped to your location in order to convince the Grand Council of a mechanical failure. When you come here, many other captains and myself will fight for you, but not until then. To reveal ourselves now would be futile. Please, take care of my ship and bring us the Savior soon.” The message ended and Davis sat down heavily in the captain's chair.

“We'd better tell the Avenger what's going on,” Hastings suggested.

“Ask what they want to do with this ship.”

“Right. I'm still trying to figure out how to work this thing,” Hastings replied.

“How about we just go back to the shuttle,” Davis suggested.

“That would be easier, if you think you can find your way back,” Hastings said jokingly. They got up and left the bridge, Davis signalling the other troops to follow behind him. They made their way through the twists and turns of the corridor and back to the hangar. Davis had his troops spread out around the shuttle while he and Hastings raised the Avenger on the comm.

Laurants paced around the bridge and wished that he had some idea where Lisa was, but no one had seen her. As Laurants struggled with the decision about what to do with the ship, he was saved by a call from S'Olonny. “Commander, I have been informed that a S'Parnian ship just arrived. What has been done with it?” The alien captain asked.

“Not much has been done with it yet, Captain, but I did send a team of troops over to explore it. They tell me that it was sent here by someone who got our message and wants to help. I guess there is some information pertaining to deployments and ship strengths. As for the ship, I doubt that they could fly it here, but I don't want to just leave it out there. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Yes, I could send over some of my crew to pilot the ship and retrieve the information. It is different from my ship, but they would have an easier time of understanding it than your people.”

“I understand. You can send over a skeleton crew to fly the ship and download the data. I'll leave my people there to guard it.”

“That sounds reasonable. My crew will be over shortly.” S'Olonny terminated the communication and Laurants looked over at Terraz.

“Tell Davis that the aliens are coming over to take control,” he ordered and she nodded. Then Laurants went over to Nichols, who was sitting at his station, bored. “Commander, since you don't have anything to do, would mind seeing if you can find the captain?”

“Sure thing, it'll give me a chance to stretch my legs. Sitting in this chair all day is hell for my circulation,” Nichols said sarcastically as he set out across the bridge and to the lift.

Laurants turned back to Terraz, who was talking to Davis on the comm. “There's going to be a crew of S'Parnians coming over to fly the ship to dock. You'd better show them to the bridge and make sure that they can get the thing going. Commander Laurants wants you to hang around until you dock and once you do, leave a couple of guards to make sure that no one screws around with the ship. Be careful,” Terraz said, wishing that she could say a lot more. With Laurants looking over her shoulder that was impossible, so she hoped that her tone would be enough for Davis to understand. What they needed were a few hours, or even days, to talk among other things. The transmission ended and Terraz sighed, hoping that Davis would be all right.

Laurants went over to the command chair and sat down. There was really nothing left to do until S'Olonny's crew arrived, except to wait. There was a tension in the air, and it seemed to Laurants that everyone was a little on edge ever since the strange ship had arrived. It was mostly due to the fact that no one really knew if the S'Parnians were sincere and there was a faction waiting to rebel, or if it was just some kind of trap. Still, there was no denying that they could use an extra ship to help them when they got to S'Parni. There was no telling though whether or not the ship was boobytrapped, or some other kind of device that the Grand Council was using to track or destroy them. Laurants just hoped that whoever had sent the ship was sincere, because they could really use some help.

***

Lisa held Arsa's hand as her friend lay in bed, still unconscious. She hadn't left Arsa's quarters since she and S'Olonny had taken her there over an hour ago. There was one part of her that knew she should leave and go to the bridge, but there was a much stronger part telling her to stay with Arsa.

It was mostly because she knew that it was her fault. She had put Arsa up to making the message, which had ultimately led to her collapse. Maybe if she had just let S'Olonny or herself make it then none of this would have happened. Arsa wouldn't be lying in her bed, looking dead to the world. She would still be alive and well. Lisa unconsciously squeezed Arsa's hand as a wave of painful guilt ran through her. Then she took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. It was then that the door opened.

Lisa turned to see who it was, and was surprised when she saw Nichols. She let Arsa's hand drop as she stood up and faced him, hoping that she looked better than she felt. “It's about time I found you,” Nichols began in an easy tone of voice.

“Is something wrong?” Lisa asked, trying to keep her voice level.

“What's wrong is that we're in the middle of a potential crisis without a captain. Commander Laurants has been handling things, but he's getting pretty nervous. He told me to find you and bring you back up to the bridge.” Nichols came within just a few inches of Lisa, but he showed no sign of being angry, or wanting to drag her away from Arsa. “Of course, all that pales in comparison to our most important crewmember being on her deathbed. Have you consulted with Doctor Anderson?”

“No...I'm afraid I've been completely in shock for the last hour or so. Can you go call him and have him come down here. I doubt that there's much that he can do, but I suppose it can't hurt to have him look.”

“Sure, I'll go do that right now,” Nichols replied softly and Lisa was silently grateful. She looked down at Arsa, and wondered if there was anything that anyone could do for her. She barely stopped herself from crying and brushed a few strands of hair out of her face and smoothed her uniform with her hands. With Anderson coming, she had to try and get control of herself and act professional. It wasn't easy with her best friend lying in bed, close to death.

Nichols came back, and Lisa was surprised when he put his arms around her. “You know, it's all right to cry at times like this,” he whispered.

“I can't,” she responded hoarsely, but it was about then that she couldn't help herself and she broke down crying in Nichols’s arms. All during this time Nichols just held her, letting her release her pain. She stopped abruptly and looked up into Nichols’s eyes. “Thank‑you.” Then she kissed him, and after a moment of surprise he began to kiss her back. A few moments later they heard the door open and stopped suddenly. Lisa wiped her wet eyes and Nichols took a step away from her.

If Anderson had seen anything, he didn't show it. He moved quickly to Arsa's side and began to take her vital signs. “What happened?” He inquired.

“Right after she got done recording the message we sent to the fleet around to S'Parni, she collapsed. I think it has something to do with her using her...abilities during the message,” Lisa answered quietly.

“I see. Well, I can't see anything physically wrong with her. However, her vitals are indicative of an animal in a state of hibernation. It may be that she's just in this state to conserve her energy and kind of...recharge.”

“How long is this going to last?” Nichols asked.

“There's really no telling how long. It could be hours, days, or even months. There's nothing that any of us can do until she wakes up. So, Captain, I would suggest restricting her visitors and letting her recuperate naturally.”

“That's it?” Lisa wondered incredulously if it was really that simple.

“That's it. And I would suggest that you take it easy for a little while, relieve some stress.” Anderson subtlely winked at Lisa as he left.

“I don't think I'll have any time to rest...not for a little while. Let's go up and see what's happening,” Lisa suggested and Nichols nodded. They turned the lights off and then locked Arsa's doors behind them.

***

Hastings pulled his Eclipse alongside the alien shuttle that was carrying the S'Parnian crew, finding it odd that after blowing up escort ships only a day ago he should find himself helping one protect the shuttle as it neared the Destroyer. He was really beginning to regret that he had been on patrol when everything was had gone down and stifled a yawn as he thought about getting back to the Avenger and taking a long nap on his nice, comfortable bed. He noticed that they were closing on the alien ship, and the escort ship on the other side of the shuttle broke off.

“Angel Leader, you may as well break off too, there's nothing more for you to do here. Return to base,” Davis said and Hastings barely contained his excitement of fulfilling his fantasy of moments ago.

“Roger that. I'll see you back aboard ship,” Hastings replied tiredly and spun his Eclipse around and put the throttle at full. He made it back to the Avenger in record time and was in bed not too long after that.

Davis watched the alien shuttle come in and met its crew just after it landed. There were only four S'Parnians that would comprise the ship's makeshift crew. S’Jenl was the head of this group. “Take me to the bridge,” he said curtly and Davis nodded. He motioned to two of the other troops to follow behind the aliens, and they began to negotiate the labryinth corridor that led to the bridge.

“Why do you suppose the corridors are built like this?” Davis asked out of curiosity.

“From the information that I received about ships of this class, the primary purpose of this vessel is for battle. The corridors are designed in such a fashion that if the ship is boarded, the crew will be able to easily defend itself by setting up ambushes and traps,” S’Jenl replied easily.

“I see. Don't you think it's just a little inefficient to make the crew run through this maze every time they want to do something?”

“I suppose so,” the young officer answered and said no more. It was obvious to Davis that he had something else on his mind. They walked in silence until they reached the bridge. The doors had been blocked so that they stayed open. S’Jenl took a quick look around the bridge and then stepped over to a console. He sat down and quickly began typing in a series of instructions. Davis stood behind him and tried to understand what was going on, but it was all in S'Parnian. S’Jenl worked quickly and soon turned to Davis with a smile on his face. “I have taken command of the ship. All of the doors should work properly now. Also, I have solved the corridor problem that you mentioned earlier.”

“What do you mean?” Davis demanded, wondering just what he meant by “solving” the problem.

“I'll show you.” S’Jenl stood up and went over to the command chair. He lifted the right armrest and revealed a series of switches. S’Jenl flipped all of the switches and instantly the ship rocked and there was a grinding noise.

“Security alert cancelled,” a computerized voice announced over the ship‑wide intercom. Davis went to the doorway and saw that the maze‑like corridor was gone, replaced by more normal ones that were colored an off‑white shade.

“So that winding corridor is a security system that comes on when the ship is in trouble. When the alert is cancelled, the corridor changes back to normal and the crew can go about their business as usual,” Davis observed, congratulating the ship's designers. “Ingenious.”

“It is, isn't it? Anyway, the helm controls appear to be standard, so there will be no problem in docking. If you will have a seat, Sergeant, we will begin.” S’Jenl took the command chair and a strange look came across his face. Then one of the S'Parnians sat down at the helm and activated the ship's thrusters. Slowly the Destroyer came about until it was aligned with the Shipyards, then it accelerated towards them. The other two aliens took their stations, but Davis had no idea which ones they were.

“Captain, an initial scan of the ship's offensive and defensive systems shows that they are fully operational, however, there are no escort ships or shuttles in the hangar,” one of the aliens called out.

“Captain?” Davis wondered aloud and looked at S’Jenl.

“Yes, I am acting captain of this vessel. Captain S'Olonny has told me that it will have some role to play in events to come, although I do not know quite what he means. Until my orders are rescinded, I am in command of this ship,” S’Jenl responded coolly, almost a little too coolly for Davis' tastes.

“How long until we dock?”

“It should only be a few minutes. Do you have any ideas about how this ship will be used in the campaign ahead?” S’Jenl fidgeted nervously in the command chair, which was a little disconcerting to Davis.

“I really don't know. I expect that it'll be fixed up to help us when we get to S'Parni.”

“Yes, perhaps. I doubt that one extra ship will be of much help anyway.”

“Probably not, but you never know.” The rest of the trip lasted in silence and soon the Destroyer docked with the Shipyards. The helmsman expertly put the ship into its slip and Davis was surprised by the perfect landing, expecting something a little bumpier. He sighed with relief and then congratulated S’Jenl before he left the bridge, heading for the airlock. It would be great to get back to the Avenger, at least it didn't have convertable corridors.

***

Lisa took over for Laurants on the bridge just as the Destroyer docked. She could see a look of relief cross Laurants’s face and smiled warmly at him, silent thanks for his grace under pressure and for carrying on without her. Laurants grimaced only slightly as Nichols came up behind Lisa. “I found her, Commander,” he announced and then went to the helm, reassuming his bored pose.

“What's the latest on the situation?” Lisa asked, Nichols only giving her a few basic details on her way up. Laurants filled her in and she replied, “Good. Have everyone involved in the incident debrief the senior officers in the conference room.” Whatever plans they were going to make had to be made with all of the information available.

A half hour later, everyone was assembled in the conference room. S'Olonny sat at the foot of the table, deciding to sit in on the meeting in person. Hastings, Davis, and S’Jenl were standing off to one side to deliver their reports. Lisa, Laurants, and the other officers were also seated around the table. Hastings and Davis quickly recounted finding and exploring the S’Parnian Destroyer. Then S’Jenl took over the briefing. “From the information shown here, the Grand Council has assembled a fleet of at least three hundred starships against us. There are two collection vessels stationed in low orbit over S'Parni, supplemented by at least ten Destroyers like the one we captured. In higher orbit are about twenty more Destroyers and nearly one hundred Interceptors. Finally, on the outer perimeter is the bulk of the fleet which is comprised of Interceptors and a handful of Destroyers. There are also twenty or more supply ships in the area.”

“I suppose now we have to figure out what to do with the ship,” Laurants surmised, and there was a long moment of silence.

“Actually,” Lisa began as she stood and went over to the map, “I have something in mind.” The room was still as everyone's eyes focused on her.

“S’Jenl has said that there are about twenty supply ships providing this armada with ammunition and other supplies. What I propose is a surgical strike to take out these supply ships and to eliminate strategic facilities on the planet's surface.” There was a collective gasp in the room as everyone digested the information.

“There's no way that we could do that!” Hastings blurted out. Heads around the room nodded to add agreement.

“I assume you have a way to support this,” S'Olonny said calmly.

“Yes, I do.” Lisa put a different map on the screen, this one showing a list of targets and the position of enemy ships. “The key is the captured Destroyer. All we have to do is jump the ship right into the midst of their formation and deploy our fighters, escort ships, and ExoArmors. The appearance of the Destroyer will cause a lot of confusion, and hopefully it will take a little while for the enemy to figure out who the bad guys are. In the meantime, our units will already be pouncing onto their assigned targets. With any luck, the confusion will last long enough so that our fighters can hit their targets and pull back to the Destroyer before the Grand Council can muster enough forces to stop us.

“The key is going to be the jump in. From this map, the ideal point is somewhere just between the inner‑most line of defense and the next one. There should be enough room there for a safe jump. After the jump in, the Destroyer will have to move into one of the formations and deploy our units. The fighters would be launched first to hit ground targets, the escort ships for the supply ships, and the ExoArmors to help with the supply vessels and to provide support in defending the Destroyer once we're found out. Once they do know which ship is ours, it will be free to aid our other units in taking out the assigned targets.”

“It sounds risky, wouldn't we just be better off hitting them all at once instead of maybe losing some of our firepower before the real battle begins?” Laurants spoke up and Lisa smiled, expecting that question.

“It might be better to wait, but if we hit their supply lines now, they'll have less ammunition to throw at us later. That gives us a better chance of succeeding when we all arrive. In fact, this raid could save a lot of us later on,” Lisa responded confidently.

“I, for one, am for this plan,” S'Olonny stated boldly. “It will sting the Grand Council's ego by showing that we are a threat. It may even help convince some of their forces to join us when they see that we have a legitimate chance.” There were a few nods, but many remained unconvinced.

“This jump is going to really take some fine‑tuning, I'm not sure that it can be done,” Farley concluded gloomily.

“You have three days to make it work,” Lisa replied. “We have to start working fast and hit them before they can prepare for us any further.” Lisa could see Farley scowl, but she knew that she could count on him. Most of the people around the table were also frowning, which was expected. However, as long as she and S'Olonny agreed on the plan, no one else really mattered. It was about then that there was a buzz from the viewscreen on the back wall, and suddenly S'Tallen's face appeared.

“I'm sorry for the intrusion, but I have been monitoring your discussion and I have something to add,” the S'Parnian scientist announced and everyone looked at him.

“What is it?” S'Olonny demanded impatiently.

“I have finished working with S'Amleng's initial prototype for the new ExoArmor targeting system. I believe that I can have all twelve devices made in the alotted three days. However, I'm sure that Sergeant Davis would like to test the new system before going into combat.”

“Yes, I would. How many have you completed so far?” Davis asked.

“Just one, but the others can be assembled quickly.”

“Do the Shipyards have some kind of facility we can use for a simulator exercise?”

“There are several rooms with computer facilities that should be able to perform the task,” S'Olonny answered.

“Good. S'Tallen, I need you to meet me in one of those with that device,” Davis said and then took a copy of the data of the ships around S'Parni with him before he left.

“Well, I think that's about all there is to discuss at the moment. In three days I want the Destroyer ready for battle and a precise TransDimensional Jump. The Fifth Platoon and Guardian Angels will also have to be ready to go. Dismissed,” Lisa said and the meeting began to break up. There were a few angry mumbles, but overall everyone was taking things in stride. Lisa just hoped that three days wasn't too much time.