Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) (62 page)

“Tactical! Fire at will!” Captain Aysi
ordered the moment half the ABF starships projected on his tactical
station shifted to red. “Super-capitals and capitals are priority!
Keep an eye out for planet killers! They're large and slow, but
have thick armor and ESSs!”

Daniel reluctantly targeted the ABF
dreadnaught that was maneuvering away from the TSB Reverie, which
they were escorting.
Why would they need to watch out for planet
killers?
The question answered itself and Daniel's mind froze,
then ticked, fully understanding what must have befallen.

Someone wanted the Earth destroyed and
somebody didn't. The thought made him cringe.
How could anyone
consider destroying a planet of 25 billion?
“Does it bother
you, Daniel?” the voice questioned, making him realize he really
didn't care. “Is it not for the best, Daniel?” it continued,
providing him knowledge that if Earth was indeed destroyed, then
there would be no more need for the TSB. He would be able to choose
his own destiny, “and most importantly,” the voice urged, take care
of Trent in the process.

“Fire plasma cannon!” Captain Anysi's shout
brought him back to the battle and he struck the plasma cannon
icon. He would have time to think on that later.

For now, he needed to survive.

Trent surveyed the chaotic scene unfolding
around him with anxious fascination.

Directly before him and Sasha rose a
life-like projection of Earth surrounded by hundreds of ABF and TSB
starships in a perfect lattice formation, highlighted red or blue,
appearing like dots when scaled against the Earth’s enormous girth.
The projection itself emanated from a 20 by 20 meter CID, with
thousands of semi-spherical PDU’s built into its surface, covering
the center of the deck. It projected Earth and the surrounding
space with such fine detail, Trent could discern tiny beams of
green passing between the dots, with much larger purple beams
occasionally mixing in, like an elaborate laser show.

Knight Admiral Bhool swooped just overhead,
hovering before a blue highlighted starship that blinked, then
vanished, succumbing to the rain of green fire that battered its
hull. A moment later, she soared around the enormous projection of
Earth at a precariously high-speed, swooping high over the bridge
in which the fleet command deck overhung. Trent could only catch
bits and pieces of the orders she shouted, being no way loud enough
for those on the fleet command deck or bridge to hear. He leaned
close to Sasha who winced, squeezing his hand painfully, every time
a starship vanished.

“What's that device on Knight Admiral Bhool's
ear, the one projecting the display before her eyes?” Sasha,
seeming reluctant to pull her gaze from the battle unfolding,
glanced to Knight Admiral Bhool the next time she soared
overhead.

“That is a combat PDU, similar to what Sir
Simwa’s guards wore when they pursued us through the containment
cavern. They are a type of portable PDU that provides all the
functionality of a standard PDU, specialized for combat
operations,” Sasha explained unemotionally.

“Is that how she is relaying her orders?” he
continued, sensing something off with Sasha’s voice.

“Yes, she is most likely switching between
the fleet command and bridge com channels to provide her orders,”
Sasha’s response, though unemotional, echoed her sadness and Trent
had a feeling it wasn't completely born of the death occurring all
around them, but of what had befallen during the earlier
meeting.

The memory of his actions, still fresh,
flashed before his eyes.

He’d planned on defending Sasha with his
life, but he didn't expect to react the way he did when Sir Baric
aimed his laser arc at her...at his love. His subconscious had
taken over, overwhelming his rational mind with the knowledge that
if he didn't act now, didn’t stop Sir Baric, Sasha would die. So he
didn't think...just acted.

His stomach soured as the hazy memory of Sir
Baric's headless body collapsing motionless to the floor, a bloody
cloud the only reminder of the man's previous existence, played out
within his mind.

I killed a man,
he suddenly realized,
and the repercussions of that fact frightened him beyond anything
he’d ever felt before. A tear crept free of his eye, a tear that
represented the part of himself that would be forever changed by
committing that gruesome deed. He hoped he might regret it; regret
killing Sir Baric. Knowing if he did, his old, innocent self may be
saved. But he didn't regret it at all, not after the man pointed
the laser arc at Sasha, threatening her life. If the same situation
occurred a hundred times over, he'd take a hundred lives without
question...and that simple fact chilled his very soul.

A trembling finger walked across his cheek,
blocking the tear’s path before it could complete its journey.
Trent turned to its owner, expecting to find her ready to reprimand
him for again dwelling on the past, even though the past was barely
10 minutes old. But the look in her eyes, the expression upon her
lovely face, was not one of consternation; but one of love and
acceptance. Another tear broke free, to renew the journey begun by
the first, allowing Trent to lock the rest away in his heart. She
would not hate him for what he had done, who he had become, which
he found he feared most.

“I don't think I will allow anyone to bring
laser arcs into Sasha’s presence anymore,” Trent whispered to
himself. Sasha leaned close, overhearing his words, a weak smile
fighting through the tension of their current plight.

“What you think is best, my duke, my
protector,” she pressed her lips to his cheek, her gentle breath
caressing his frozen skin, “I love you,” then pulled away, her gaze
drawn back to the projection. Trent found a familiar warmth flowing
through his veins, like he’d just taken a shot of aged whiskey, but
it cooled as the starship rocked violently, a purple beam appearing
from the largest red highlighted starship, a super-capital, to slam
into a similarly large blue highlighted super-capital....with the
name ABF Alutia flashing beneath.

“ESS generation to maximum,” a voice boomed
from the bridge, “I don’t care if you have to drain every last
electron from the NSD core! Just make sure it holds, Reckie!”

“Aye, aye, sir. It will hold, I bet a round a
ale on it!” a squeaky voice responded, with just as much
exuberance.

“You’re on, Reckie! But keep the shenanigans
to a minimum. I still remember last time, and I refuse to take
responsibility and explain to Bo’Luk why a vat of ale ended up
inside the NSD core!” A round of laughter rippled across the
bridge, the tension easing as the purple beam faded and they were
still, thankfully, in one piece.

“Leave it to Knight Captain Mortoc, just hope
they don’t get too comfy,” a fleet officer, seated in the closest
of the twenty PDU stations that lined each side of the CID,
muttered just loud enough for those around her to hear. But no one
responded. Each and every fleet officer locked in constant
conversation while skillfully manipulating the varying projections
hovering before them.

Trent turned his attention to Knight Captain
Quinn and Vice-Commander Daiyu, who sat adjacent three junior
officers of the TSB on the right side of the CID. Trent noticed
that Knight Captain Quinn's display, unlike the other fleet
officers displays, showed a similar projection as the CID, but of a
much smaller sector of space, zooming in on a tightly packed
formation of starships, in a phalanx formation.

“So those are starships,” he whispered, it
being the first time he’d been provided a clear view of the space
faring craft used by the NHA.

They looked nothing like the flashy starships
that science-fiction movies and games were so found of using. If
anything, they looked plain, almost utilitarian, a design for mass
production like the Ford Model T’s of old, not aesthetics. Trent
could discern three varying sizes on Quinn’s display, each sharing
the same cuboid shape, like a three-dimensional rectangle, with
what looked like varying sized rods protruding through a cloudy
haze that covered a hull painted blue and white. At the rear were
four bunches of tightly packed cylinders, or tubes, that emanated a
bluish-white glow, which Trent figured were used for propulsion.
Similar cylinders ran down all four edges, every few meters,
occasionally rotating outside the haze, a blue glow appearing
within;
a type of maneuvering thruster,
he realized. The
flat nose of each starship was tapered at the top with massive,
arrow tipped spikes, circling an upside-down cone that spun wildly
in the center.

As he watched, a brightly glowing, purplish
substance, with a consistency of lava, started flowing from the
arrow tips. It began pooling about the center cone, forming into a
swirling vortex that shined brighter and brighter, Trent thinking a
star about to be born. Then, before he could look away, the vortex
erupted forth, like a volcano exploding violently, swirling across
space at incredible speeds. It took only a moment to reach its
target, smashing into the haze that surrounded the enemy
super-capital. The haze bent in, then, as if it had a mind of its
own, began thickening around where the star had struck, appearing
to solidify, straining desperately against the swirling mass of
death that tried to burn through. The display flashed, forcing
Trent to cover his eyes, barely returning his view in time to
witness the star cut a hole clean through the very heart of the
starship before vanishing into the darkness of space beyond,
leaving only a trail of atmosphere in its wake.

Seeming to sense the wounded prey, hundreds
of green laser bolts erupted from the egg shaped tips of some of
the rods that protruded through the friendly starships haze covered
hulls. They pummeled the super-capital relentlessly, small
explosions of air and debris erupting from the now unprotected
starship. But as quickly as the holes appeared, they would close,
like the starship itself was alive, able heal its wounds at an
incredible rate. Then, Trent thought he heard a groan pass from the
enemy behemoth a moment before it split apart, massive explosions
breaking it
into
pieces. From the rear of
the starship, whose demise was certain, appeared a swirling ball of
pure white that if not for the display dimming, would have blinded
the viewer. But before he could even blink, a darkness beyond any
he’d ever beheld enveloped the ball of pure light, drawing all into
its very core, including the starship itself, that looked to
implode in an instant. Then, the darkness vanished, the only trace
of the starship’s existence an eerie ripple that seemed to flow
across space like a wave. Sasha gasped, pulling him close, wrapping
her arms tightly around his.

“That was a super-capital and...and the
neutron star drive was pierced. The safety system must have
activated... 20,000 people just lost their lives,” she told, like
this was all a dream. “It’s all my fa-,”

“What do you mean by neutron star drive and
safety system?” Trent interrupted, thinking to redirect Sasha’s
thinking before she started to weigh the deaths on herself. She
appeared momentarily dumbfounded, like she had never expected his
question in a million years.

“I,” she slapped her cheeks, the fog of
despair clearing from her eyes, “I know little of the science. But
NHA starships are powered through the use of “artificial” neutron
stars contained within a specialized core. They are nowhere near as
heavy as real neutron stars, but they still have enough mass to
create a significant gravitational field, if I recall correctly.”
Trent nodded understanding, recalling his queries from when he
first tested his BC node on Earth returning a similar
explanation.

“What of this safety system?” he pushed,
finding he had successfully diverted her attention from the death
around them; at least for a moment.

“It’s been so long since Gil’Da’s lecture on
this matter. But I believe she called the system “dual use”. Within
the core there is a containment matrix built of “artificial”
singularities and “farmed” dark matter. If the drive core becomes
unstable, the singularities will collapse around the “artificial”
neutron star, before collapsing themselves. This has the ugly side
effect of usually taking the starship, crew, and anything within
about a 10 kilometer radius along with it.” Sasha’s expression went
dark. Trent squeezed her arm as a whirling alarm sounded, like the
air raid sirens of old, and five flashing, bright red and yellow
hexagonal icons appeared from the remaining enemy capital and
super-capital class starships.

“No,” Sasha gasped, her skin draining a
deathly white as screams of disbelief started echoing across the
fleet command deck and bridge.

“All starships! Target new contacts, destroy
those Planet Killers! I repeat, all starships destroy those Planet
Killers!” Knight Admiral Bhool shouted urgently, her words piercing
his very heart.

“This can’t be real,” he breathed, staring,
dreamlike, at the five flashing icons... icons of death...that
approached the planet of his birth, Earth.

Every friendly starship began vectoring
towards the Planet Killers before Knight Admiral Bhool’s orders had
faded, green and purple beams erupting forth with desperate
urgency. One of the Planet Killers suddenly vanished, succumbing to
the defenders righteous fury, causing a small cheer to roll across
the fleet command deck and bridge.

At the same moment, the remaining four Planet
Killers started
to
undulate wildly as they
rapidly accelerated. Trent, fixated by the dream playing out before
him, watched as a TSB corvette raced directly into one the Planet
Killers, vanishing as it intersected the flashing icon...
using
their starship as a missile
. Another cheer broke the tension,
tears wetting cheeks of many of those present at the sacrifice they
just witnessed.