Resurrection (The Inherited War) (41 page)

Every time the juggernaut in their midst fired, a ship exploded.  Thalo saw the other two ships as well.  They didn’t even bother firing, Thalo doubted if they even could.  They were just ramming into ships and breaking them apart.  The Esii were so closely packed together they couldn’t get away from the two battering rams that were wreaking havoc on their ships.  The Esii were having a bad day.

Then the massed fire, directed by the hidden command ship from the defense fleet, slammed into the milling Esii.  Ships by the hundreds were being eviscerated and the Esii couldn’t effectively fall back.

“Someone target that ship.”  Thalo put a designator on the ship fleeing from the transport that held the now irrelevant treaty.  A few seconds later it was so many more atoms floating off into space.

The defense fleet continued fighting on. The Justice deployed all wings of its fighter squadrons and began rescue operations when some of the Esii ships began attacking the less defended Worlder ships.  The battle raged and swirled across the night sky.  Ships vented gas and explosions dotted the star field.  Thalo’s ship began to take hits.  A group of ten relatively unscathed Esii cruisers had grouped and were attacking his ship.  Thalo switched some of his outgoing fire to deal with the threat.

The initial surprise of the opening salvo had passed and the Esii began to coordinate again.  They still heavily outnumbered the defenders and began to push back.  A pack of twenty heavy cruisers broke free of the melee and hurtled towards The Revenge.  No one had time to react to it, they were on her in a heartbeat and pummeling her shields.  One of the cruisers took some heavy damage and listed into the side of The Revenge.  The mass of the ship brought down the shields on that section of the ship.

The Esii were quick to jump on the weakness.  They blew up their own wounded ship in an attempt to get to the undefended side of The Revenge.  They blew a gaping hole in her side and her power flickered
on and off.  Thalo heard the call from her Captain to abandon ship. They got all of a bout ten minutes before something gave in the gravity collectors and all that stored energy released at once. 

An impossibly bright light flared to brief life for a moment as she went up.  Cole’s ships were hard to kill but when they died, they did it in a spectacular fashion.  The Revenge took the pack of cruisers with her along with three Nixa frigates that had been too close.  Only about a quarter of her crew had made it to a safe distance before she blew.  Thalo turned to look at Sky.

“Get on a shuttle and get back to the Justice, they are going to need all the help they can get.”  Thalo said quietly.

“Are you sure?  Maybe I will betray you and take over the ship.”  Sky said angrily.

“Damn it Sky, I can only go off of what I was told.  And no I don’t think you would betray us.  I snapped because I was upset.  Now please, go help our wounded.”  Thalo repeated.

Sky chewed on her lower lip for a moment before nodding her head and breaking her connection to the ship.  She disappeared from the bridge and returned to her own body.  She ran to the hanger and took a small transport from The Vengeance to The Justice.  Upon her arrival she retook command of the medical bays and started to treat the incoming wounded.

The battle raged for the next few hours.  Ships were destroyed by the hundreds and thousands.  The area around the Worlder planets would be clogged with debris for years to come.  Though outnumbered substantially, the tech advantage and surprise by Cole and his three ships carried the day.  The Esii, those that could, broke and ran for the fourth planet of the system.  The defense force followed them relentlessly.  Finally at the end of the day there wasn’t a living Esii anywhere other than on the planet.  Not a single Esii ship was still space worthy in the solar system.

The toll was heavy for the defenders as well. Not only did they lose the Revenge but the Payback had been destroyed by multiple suicide runs.  The Worlder fleet had suffered catastrophic losses as well.  Nearly seventy-five percent of its ships had been destroyed or so badly damaged they were only good for scrap.  The Nixa fleet that had been ordered out by Thalo had disobeyed that order and came in on the side of the defenders and had lost half their number.  The other allies fared about the same, all coming out of the scrap at or below fifty percent.

None thought of it as a loss, all were jubilant at the notion of the Esii being forever crushed.  Now, the remaining members of the defense force orbited the planet.  They waited for orders, orders from Cole.  As of yet no one had heard a word from the new ships.  All the information had come from the now visible command ship The Resurrection.  It had de-stealthed and moved alongside the massive ship now identified as The Missouri.  The two battering rams were above and below The Missouri and Thalo chuckled at their names as they identified themselves, The Smash and Grab.  Fitting he thought, for how they battled.

The ships that could, had gathered here and were waiting for Cole.  Thalo didn’t know what was going on so he waited quietly, hoping to hear from his friend.  Finally, with the crackle of static, Cole broke his silence.

“I want to see whoever was in charge of this fleet and their ground commanders on board the resurrection ASAP.  I want ground forces ready to deploy as soon as our meeting is over.  Do not, I repeat, do not let anything off this planet while we are meeting.”  That was it.  Just orders.  Thalo hadn’t known what to expect from his long absent friend but orders weren’t it.  He was worried, he was afraid whatever Cole had found out about the Nixa betraying him had colored his judgment against all of his friends.   He hoped not.

“XO, you have the bridge.  General Thane,” Thalo sent to the Worlder ground commander, “have your men on standby and bring your staff to the Resurrection.”   Thalo disconnected from his bridge and turned to face Jeth.

“Let’s go see what Cole wants to do.” 

“Is he angry?”  Jeth asked.

“I hope so, I would rather have anger than disappointment or detachment.  Anger I can reason with, the others, not so much.”  Thalo and Jeth walked together to the hanger where they boarded a shuttle to meet with the others onboard The Resurrection.

~

Thalo, Jeth and General Thane had made it on board The Resurrection before anyone else.  Thalo was shocked, to say the least, to be greeted by another human being.

“Hi, shit more aliens, sorry my name is Eric West and I am the Captain of this boat.  Come aboard and follow me to the conference room.  Cole and the rest should be here soon.”  West said as he turned to lead them, not knowing that Thalo and Jeth knew the way already.

“What…” Thalo started to say but was interrupted by the ships human Captain.

“Sorry, Cole said no questions until he gets here.  So I am afraid you’re going to have to wait.”  They continued on in silence until they arrived at the conference room.  “Here you go gentlemen, make yourselves comfortable.  I have to go wait for Cole.”  With that he turned and left. 

Over the next thirty minutes various other generals and high ranking officers arrived in the rapidly crowding room.  Cole had invited all the heads of the allied forces to attend it seemed, minus the Nixa of course.  The last person to arrive and the only Nixa to attend was Snow.  She took a seat next to Jeth.  Thalo leaned over the table and pitched his voice so only she could hear him amongst the quiet conversations.

“I don’t know if you coming was a good idea.  We don’t know why Cole thinks the Nixa betrayed him and he doesn't know you at all.” 

“Too bad, I fought for him and I don’t even know him.  If he has a problem with me then we will deal with it here.  Besides Sky can’t get away from the med bay.  She has too much work there and asked me to come instead.”  Thalo could see a worried look flash briefly across her face.  “Besides, Jeth will protect me.”  She patted his arm.

The door opened again.  Everyone held their breaths, but it wasn’t Cole that entered, it was Gavreal and two aides.  They had doffed their luminescent clothing and now wore shining metallic armor and had strange weapons dangling from their belts.  The downy soft feathers of their wings seemed to be coated in a liquid metal of some kind that flowed and formed to the shape of each individual feather.  They appeared to be ready for battle.

Gavreal saw the look that Thalo was giving him.  He answered the unasked question. 

“He asked for the ground forces commanders, he intends to invade the planet and crush the Esii root and branch.” 

“The angel is correct.”  The voice came from the back of the room.  Cole had slipped in while everyone was focused on the Kin.  Cole walked slowly forward until he came face to chest with the Kin.

They looked at each other for a moment before the Kin slowly lowered himself into a kneeling position and bowed his head.

“You have returned.”  He said in supplication.  “We are joyous and will serve faithfully.”

“Rise noble angel, you do not serve me.  You were allies of our past and you hold your own destinies now.”

“It is because of your answer that we shall follow you.  We are not ‘Angels’ we are the Kin and we reaffirm our loyalties to the Creators.  You who created us now free us, we shall defend.”

Cole held out his hand to Gavreal and helped him rise to his feet.  “My name is Cole and I welcome you to our alliance as equals.”

“I am Gavreal and accept your inclusion.”  The two beings shook hands then turned to face the small crowd.  Cole looked for familiar faces.  He only recognized Thalo and Jeth.  There was a Nixa female seated near Jeth that sparked some form of recognition in Cole but he couldn’t place her.  Cole saw Thalo open his mouth to speak.  He waved him quiet.

“There is much to discuss and little time to do it.  The remaining Esii are down there as we speak fortifying that planet.  Our scans indicate that the planet is full of deep running caves and fissures.  We need to dig them out before they become too entrenched or hide from us within the bowels of the planet.  Prepare your ground forces for an immediate attack.  Marines will do what marines do best.  They will be the first wave and will establish beach heads for follow on attacks by the army.  I want multiple beachheads at all known landing sites.  All personnel will be in full combat suits and any heavy vehicles we can get down there we drop.  I want field hospitals set up once the army has landed and any and all medical personnel planet side.  I intend to eradicate the Esii from the face of the galaxy.  If any survive, it won’t be from lack of trying.  All the information you need is being downloaded to you as we speak.  We launch in two hours are there any questions?”  Cole crossed his arms as he finished.

A dozen pairs of eyes looked at him and all remained silent.  “Good, I will meet you on the ground.  Myself and some others will land with the group taking the primary beachhead.  I expect all commanders to be in the first wave.”  Cole looked at the beings before him.  “Dismissed.”  He pointed to Thalo and Jeth.  “Except you two.  You’re staying here with me.”

A few of the officers in the room winced at the tone Cole used with his friends but hastily beat a retreat so they wouldn’t get caught in whatever was coming.  Gavreal didn't move a muscle and Cole didn’t say a word to the Kin.  Thalo and Jeth both rose.  Snow made as if to leave but Jeth grabbed her arm and forced her to stay.

Cole walked over to the trio and stopped in front of Thalo.  Both beings looked at one another and before Thalo could react Cole made his move.  He surged forward and wrapped his arms around his friend.  He crushed him in a bear hug.  Thalo was so shocked he just stood there until he finally raised his arms and returned the embrace.

“Jesus Thalo, I missed you.”  Cole released Thalo and moved to Jeth were he gave him as big of hug as he could.  “You too big guy, I could have used the both of you a month or so ago.”   Jeth gently returned the hug and disengaged from Cole.

Cole turned to look at the Nixa female.  “There is something about you,” Cole mused aloud, “but I can’t place it.”

“Snow,” she held out her hand, “I am Sky’s sister.”  Cole forced his way past her outstretched hand and gave her a hug as big as he had given the others.

“Nice to meet you, where is your sister?” he asked.

“She couldn’t get away.  The Justice was overwhelmed with casualties.  She wanted to come but too many needed her help.”  Snow actually looked skittish as she spoke to Cole.  Thalo and Jeth had never seen her act anything but confidante before.

“I understand. I am sorry but a full reunion will have to wait until after the ground battle, there is too much to do right now.”  Cole looked at Thalo.  “Ask before you explode.”

“Cole, where did that human come from?  I thought you were all that was left.”

“Part of my story, I will tell you about it later.  Suffice to say, there are about ten thousand of us left and I will lead five hundred of us in the coming battle.  So let’s get going.”

“Cole,” Jeth interrupted, “it’s good to have you back.”

“Trust me, I am more glad to be back than you know right now.  And one other thing, no offence Snow, no Nixa go planet side that you don’t trust.”

“Why Cole, what did they do?”  Thalo asked.

A voice spoke from behind them.  “We read Suns, he was being blackmailed and was betraying your forces.”  Everyone turned to face the voice.  They saw nothing until Split revealed himself and dropped his cloaking.  He had been in the room the whole time and no one had noticed.  “We are unsure how far the betrayal has spread so must exclude all Nixa of unknown loyalty from the upcoming campaign.”  Split pointed at Snow, “She is fine, we have read her and trust that she is loyal.”