A New Divide (Science Fiction) (5 page)

              "Admiral, ordinary people avoid risks, and extraordinary people use them to their advantage."

Mark placed his hand on the giant spherical projection and rotated the display using his hand. He selected Minerva and zoomed in on the extraction point using his fingers. "Where is the research and development facility you were being held at?"

              Virgil stepped up and pointed towards the large octagonal building; it, along with its yard, covered more area than almost every other structure other than the planet's main star port. "Right here, sir."

              "Okay, we'll send three companies of men, two to clear the perimeter and one to breach. All while we provide sufficient cover fire from here."

              I gave my input to them as the plan was about to be set in motion.

              "We don't have time for that. Arcoh will plan his escape at any second."

              Mark's eyes opened wide and slowly turned towards Virgil, and Victoria placed her hand on my shoulder. She seemed shocked at what I had just revealed to them. Apparently they had no idea. "Arcoh is here?" I looked towards Victoria and nodded.

              "Yes, and if we don't do something he will escape."

              "Captain Virgil? Why wasn't I aware of this vital intel?"

              "My apologies, Commander. Arcoh is very hard to get close to; I was unaware until he took the bag off Collin's head."

              I referred back to the command sphere and I pointed towards the giant open bay doors in the research facility's concrete yard.

              "See those? That's where all of the remaining ships are about fifty kilometers underground. I would fire everything you have down that rabbit hole."

              Mark nodded to me and began to head back up the stairs to the command center. "All right, battle stations, everyone! We might be able to end this war today. Captain Horace, send relay coordinates of this facility to the fleet and rain down hell on it. Tell our forces on the ground to divide and conquer the remaining crusader territories and to stay far away from the research facility."

***

{>-Legate Ivan Lennin-<}

-Below Minerva's Surface-

              Arcoh had entered the bridge of the Hammer, and he was becoming anxious for a quick escape. His soldiers were standing at the helm steadily busy at their stations, abiding to his every command.

              "Your Grace! We are ready for launch." Arcoh flung his cape over his shoulder and took his seat on the throne. He tapped his left hand on the arm of the throne and stared at the giant golden grandfather clock in front of him.

              "Sir?"

              "Set the clock for 1,500 seconds for the light jump."

              The captain of the Hammer looked back at Arcoh concerned with his decision. "That puts us only three kilometers out of Minerva's exosphere. It could completely destroy the ship, sir."

              "Do not question your king, Captain. Set the clock."

              The Remoran fleet began
its barrage of the facility. Arcoh and his men felt the force of thousands of artillery shells raining down from the sky. Their immense intensity rocked the Hammer, and began to decimate the hangar as they poured in. The captain of the Hammer then shouted over the intercom.

              "Incoming! Brace for impact!"

              The artillery shells continued to collide with the Hammer's armor, bouncing off its mighty hull, onto the other crusader ships—ripping them to pieces. "Their weapons are powerful, sir! We need shields now!"

              Arcoh adjusted his seat on the throne and began giving commands with a calm and collected manner.

              "Get us out of this hangar now, Captain. Divert half of our engine power to our shields. I want them at 500 percent."

              The colossal ship began its ascent through the hangar bay. It rose through immense amounts of artillery fire and protected the remaining ships that followed behind it. "Shields are at 500 percent, Your Grace."

              "They won't last, sire! The computer says that our armor will only last twenty seconds after the light shields lose their integrity."

              "Victory favors the bold, Captain, Do it."

***

              We gazed through
the magnifying windshield of the bridge at the triumphant rise of the Hammer, pushing through the relentless barrage of three hundred Remoran starships. Victoria looked towards Mark with concern and she began to pace around the upper deck of the bridge, gazing out at the windshield below. "All right, ladies! We need to focus all of our fire on that ship! We are going to bring him down today!"

              I urged Virgil to carry me down to the lower deck of the bridge to the widespread windshield of the Remoran flagship. He willingly helped me down the stairs and past the command sphere to the windshield of the bridge overlooking the star carrier's very sleek hull and the outer atmosphere of Minerva. It was there that I, along with the entire Remoran fleet, would witness the true purpose of the Hammer, Arcoh's mobile palace. I then spoke out to Commander Wyman, who made his way down the stairs to us.

              "Commander! Do you have anything stronger than artillery?"

              "Nothing that won't put our soldiers at risk, Collin. We must wait until the ship breaks the exosphere."

***

{>-Legate Ivan Lennin-<}

-Minerva’s Stratosphere-

              The Hammer began
slowing its descent as it broke through the dark and furious storm clouds. "Your Eminence! The Hammer is slowing down! The fleets' firepower is preventing our ascent! We are not going to make the light jump!"

              Ivan watched as Arcoh tapped his hand on the throne trying to contemplate a way to make it out of the fire alive with his remaining forces.

              "Divert all power to rear thrusters. Once we breach the exosphere, redirect the power back to the shields. We are going to glide to our mark, gentlemen."

The Hammer then shot through the clouds—rocking and shaking almost uncontrollably—as the artillery collided against the ship's extremely heavy armor. Hulls began to breach, and segments of the Hammer began to fall to the earth. Metal and iron began raining down upon the surface of Minerva. The soldiers grasped onto their stations, as the Hammer made its rise past the exosphere. Arcoh shouted over the noise of constantly impacting artillery to his captain.

              "Shields now, Captain!"

              The shields came back online, and the artillery began to bounce away from the smoldering Hammer. The Remoran fleet showed no remorse as their mighty fleet began dumping entire payloads of missiles, rockets, gunfire, and artillery at the smoking bulk of the Hammer. They brought out their big guns—far too dangerous to unleash near the earth—enough to tear a planet asunder.

              The soldiers on the elegant and decorated bridge of the Hammer looked on as the swarm of firepower was nearing them.

              "Umm, sir?"

              "FIRE EVERYTHING! GO!"

              The Hammer's surface lit up in a marvelous display of light as almost every remaining orifice on the ship began releasing their salvos to combat the incoming swarm of artillery. Missiles, artillery, and gunfire collided with the tidal wave of weaponry that approached them.

              The victorious soldiers on the Rayden and Minerva gazed up at the incredible display of firepower. General Wright looked on at what he called a firestorm in the sky.

***

             
I jumped up at the glass
and it was extremely hard to tell what was happening due to the massive cloud that was created by the millions of impacting units. Explosions halted in place by the Hammer's incredible firepower. The cloud began to clear and we saw that the Hammer had disappeared in the smoke. Arcoh had made the light jump, and due to the incredible speed at which they were now traveling, there was no possible way to catch them before they entered Salaran space.

              Victoria looked on in fury and slammed her fists down on the railing above the lower deck of the bridge, where we gazed on at the incredible spectacle that had unfolded.

              "No! The coward son of a bitch!"

              I stared into the shallow depths of space. I was distraught at the fact that the monster had escaped. Virgil placed his hands on my shoulder expressing the disappointment we all had felt.

              "There are only so many more places where he can hide, kid."

              The captain of the ship ran up to Mark with a cheery disposition.

              "Sir! Our forces report a sector-wide surrender of the remaining crusader fleet scattered across the two planets."

              Mark laughed, relieved at last along with the other soldiers on the bridge. He saw how angry and consumed I was, and I suppose out of compassion he placed his hand on my shoulder. "Come, Collin. There is something I want to show you."

              "Hope you don't mind lending me a shoulder to lean on. I can't really stand right now."

              "No problem at all, my new friend. Here, let me lend you that shoulder."

              I slung my arm along Mark's broad shoulders as I had with Virgil and he began to lead me up the stairs past the crew of the bridge. They were scurrying to attend with the battle-damage assessments. We made our way through the bridge and down the white corridor. The corridor winded around in an elongated quarter circle. I looked at the many soldiers dressed in white as they scurried around the halls saluting Mark as we passed them by.

              "Why are you here? Remorans have not been seen in half a millennia. Why now?"

              He was puzzled by my question; perhaps he had expected gratitude for putting such a swift end to the crusaders' campaign. "We are to embark on a great expedition here very shortly, Collin, and we decided to make these worlds our first stop."

              "You plan on liberating Eden?"

              "Not exactly, Mr. King, we strive to change Eden, and its people."

              "A savior for all of mankind? Is that how you see yourself?"

              Mark laughed as we had reached the elevator. He pressed the button and the horizontal doors spread open. "No, not at all. We are only here to guide Eden in the right direction, for these people have become lost, Collin. As for its savior, well, that is what we had rescued you for, my friend."

              We entered the elevator and Command Wyman spoke his desired destination. He spoke to the carrier's computer ALI (Autonomic Logical Intelligence).

              "ALI, bring us to the observation deck."

              "Yes, Commander."

              The elevator began to quickly rise through the ship and shades of white and green light quickly flashed over our bodies. During our ascent through the carrier's hull I could not help but think about what Mark had said. I mean, being the savior of humanity did not exactly appeal to me. Believe me I loved praise and adoration as much as the next, but as a savior, or a leader, it seemed like too heavy of a burden to bear. Not just that though, all I truly wanted at that moment was for things to return to the way that they were before. I did not care how impossible of a request it was.

              "Commander, I am no savior. I don’t even know who I am."

              Mark looked towards me, concern filled his consciousness, and he spoke words of wisdom to me when the elevator came to a halt. "We never truly know ourselves until we are tested by fate. It's that moment we can never predict, it's the choice that's presented to us—and when you took Virgil's hand, you were eager to know more. The question you must ask yourself is, how far are you willing to go to learn where your origins lie?"

              The elevator doors opened to a square observatory room at the very peak of the ship. The walls around the room began to descend into the hull and my jaw dropped as I was overwhelmed by what lay before me. The room had been surrounded by walls of glass. I could see the GDR core worlds as well as the Outlander worlds.

              I gazed on in amazement at the great Celerian Nebula that coated the entire sky. I had always seen the great nebula from the surface of Minerva, but I was only able to see but a portion of this piece of artwork created by the magnificent wonders of the universe. I had never seen it in this clarity. It was a backdrop for all of Eden, though it was seen most clearly by the Outlander worlds, and the Kingdom of Salaras.

              Off past my smoldering home world of Minerva, a very bright and solid object illuminated the sky. It was like a shining star lying in the middle of the nebula. I jumped as Mark activated his transmitter.