Universe in Flames 3: Destination Oblivion (13 page)

Two of the ten
satellites currently in orbit fired their ultra-powerful beams of energy
towards the target. When they were done firing, explosions occurred on some of
the decks of the ship. Its shields were down. The volley of torpedoes finished
the job and the ship disappeared in a bright, fiery explosion. An intense
shockwave impacted the nearby target that was still firing heavily at the
Destiny
.

“Bring the moon’s
defense systems online. They are to cover the satellites. They’re our only
chance to win this fight. They are to target any ships approaching any of the
satellites in their range.”

“Moon defenses
online.”

“Get me a firing
solution on that second bogie; same strategy: coordinate the main weapons to
fire with another two satellites. Fire when ready.”

“Main weapons
won’t be charged for another twenty seconds, Commodore.”

“What about the
torpedoes?”

“All tubes
reloaded.”

“Then fire the
volley first, and then the main guns.”

Another volley of
torpedoes exploded near the approaching target, its shield absorbing their
destructive power. The
Destiny
’s main weapons fired, and so did two of
the other satellites in range. The Zarlack warship’s shields went down and
flames spewed from it. It stopped firing, its weapons most likely destroyed or
damaged, but the ship kept coming at max burn towards the
Destiny
.

“They’re trying
to ram us! Hard to port, NOW!”

The
Destiny
’s
armor groaned when the ship veered to port. Saroudis looked at the holo-display
in terror. They wouldn’t have time to get out of the way. And Aphroditis was on
board. He couldn’t let her perish here; not a chance. He keyed coordinates into
his own holo-display and activated the jump engine. The
Destiny
jumped a
mere second before impact.

Saroudis was
relieved when his ship reappeared a few parsecs outside the war theater. He
turned his ship about and vectored back into the fight at maximum sub-light
speeds.

The doors of the
bridge opened and Aphroditis ran in, a grave expression on her face.

“What’s
happening?”

“We’re being
attack by a large fleet of Zarlack ships. It’s not safe for you to stay on board.
How strong are your ship’s shields?”

“They’re very
strong, but
. . .” She
looked at the main holo-screen and saw the chaos of fire being exchanged
between the two fleets. Another Droxian ship exploded in the distance. “I don’t
know if they are sufficiently strong.”

“I’ll have two
squadrons of fighters escort you to
. . .” He thought about it. If the ships started using
mass drivers to bombard Earth as they did last time they were here, she might
not be safe on Earth either. “They’ll escort you to the jumpgate. From there
you’ll reach Droxian space. Unless they’re attacked too you should be safe for
the time being.”

“I can’t go to
Droxia, Commodore. I need to stay here.”

“This is
temporary. We need to get you to safety!”

“I understand and
thank you for your help.” The ship started to shake once more upon entering
firing range. “But I won’t leave Earth space.”

Saroudis swore in
his head. “Alright, then they’ll escort you to the planet. Once you reach
there, you’ll be escorted to a bunker that should withstand an orbital attack.”

“Thank you,
Commodore. I’ll get to my ship at once.”

“Very well. Be safe.”

“You too,
Commodore. Don’t let Earth fall.”

“I won’t.”

She exited the
bridge and the commodore relayed orders to the two nearest wings to escort and
protect her ship down to Earth, at Alliance Central multiplex in DC. After the terrorist
bombing they had reconstructed and fortified the installation. It was now
shielded, and they had constructed an underground bunker deep beneath the
Earth’s crust. She should be safe there.

A few torpedoes
and some multiple plasma fire impacted the
Destiny
’s shield, making it
rock.

“This is going to
be a very long, hard day,” said Saroudis out loud.

 Fillio’s wing
had dispatched the first wave of Zarlack starfighters. They were outnumbered
five to one but the superiority of the StarFuries paid off. Especially in the hands
of skilled fighters like her. She split her wing in two to repel the next pair
of squadrons vectoring towards their position.

She painted her
next target and let her drones pummel its shield and add to her own laser
firepower. When it reached a satisfactory twenty percent, she fired a missile. Its
target exploded in a fiery display. She flew through the flames, letting out a
war cry for her own benefit as her shield lit up and deflected debris from the
destroyed ship.

She acquired her
next target and pummeled its port shields with her laser. When they became
dangerously low it rotated on its axis and went evasive. She locked the port
side with a missile and fired. She immediately veered towards her next prey,
knowing the missile would finish the job.

The moment she
engaged her next target, the previous bogie disappeared from her neuronal HUD’s
translucent radar. She couldn’t help but smile. Her drones started draining the
shields of the enemy craft quickly. It tried to go evasive but she wouldn’t let
it breathe. Soon its shields were down. She tuned her firing to super charged
and sent one volley down the craft’s engines. They exploded and the ship
started madly rolling on all axes before ripping in two. For a brief moment she
saw the reptilian Zarlack tumble through space before some of the debris cut
him in half, guts and blood barely having time to spray before being flash frozen
in place.

Now that’s a
satisfying kill
, she thought.
The more these
bastards suffer the better.
Her train of thought was interrupted when a
flurry of laser fire hit her starboard shields. She broke hard to port. Her HUD
flashed red: two missiles were on their way. She put her ship in a spin and
released countermeasures at the last moment, firing afterburners at the same
time. When both missiles detonated she was long gone. Another five craft
engaged her. Clearly her prior flying and quick kills had brought her some aggro
from the ships in the area.

“The more the
better. Bring it on!”

She went evasive
and spun around like a mad bird, dodging most of the incoming fire. When all
her pursuers were in a tight group, she spun her ship one hundred and eighty
degrees and punched her engine to face them. Her aft shields took some hits but
nothing it couldn’t handle. She programmed one of her drones to turn into a
mine. When she was almost upon the wave of ships joyfully raining hellfire on her,
she deployed the drone and punched the afterburners. She flew right through the
five-ship formation.

“So long,
suckers!”

She detonated the
mine. The brunt of the explosion took three ships on the spot, the shockwave
disabling the fourth ship, which collided with the fifth, ripping off one of
its wings. It started spinning while leaving a smoke trail. She adjusted her
vector, lined up behind it and put it out of its misery with a single, precise shot.

She ignored the
disabled ship and vectored towards the next incoming squadron. Two of her wing
mates, having just dealt with their own targets, rejoined her wing. They had
lost more than half their shields but were otherwise undamaged. So far none of
Alpha-wing’s craft had been destroyed.

Alpha two got
painted and three missiles came towards it. She put her ship right behind it
and shot one of the incoming missiles, and when she lined up to destroy a
second her neuronal HUD rapidly flashed red and the onboard AINI went vocal.

“Collision
alert!”

Before she could do
anything a Zarlack ship collided with her shields. It exploded on impact and
for a brief moment all she saw through her canopy were flames. She checked her
shields. They were down to twenty percent.

“Pheeeew, thank the
gods these are tough ships.”

When she
recovered visual contact with the ship she had been covering she saw the other
two missiles impact with it, taking its shields out. Sparks flew but the ship still
seemed operational. But then it all went wrong.

Another approaching
Zarlack fighter locked onto it with a red beam of light. A tractor beam. The
Zarlack pushed its afterburners and went kamikaze. Both ships exploded.

“What the hell?”
she shouted out loud.

That’s when three
incoming ships started raining heavy fire on her, each locking two missiles on
her. With some pretty fancy flying she managed to dodge most of the incoming
fire and dispatched four of the missiles, but two got through and struck her
aft shields, disabling them on the spot. Some sparks flew in her cockpit.

One of the
Zarlacks locked its tractor beam onto her hip and started pulling her. She put
her engines in reverse but the enemy craft pushed its afterburners, countering
her maneuver. AINI spat out another collision alert and many of her virtual instruments
went red.

“Fuck me!” was
all that came to mind.

In two seconds
the enemy craft would explode and take her out. It felt as if her heart stopped,
but her mind raced beyond light speed. She mentally triggered a micro-jump.
What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion and time slowed to a crawl.
She saw the hyperspace window open in front of her, the ship entered it and
just before she jumped she saw flames all around. The next second her craft
exited hyperspace, not too far from the moon.

“Holy crap, that
was close.”

She flew behind
one of the satellites, letting her shields recharge. But then she had a perfect
view of two members of her squadron, and in less than a minute they were
obliterated by the same tactic.

That’s new
, she thought.

That changed the
odds radically. If enemy pilots were happily sacrificing themselves to take
down StarFuries, that would complicate things. A lot.

She opened a
channel to the
Destiny
.

“Commodore, the
Zarlacks are sacrificing their starfighters to take out our StarFuries!”

“I see it. This is
bad.”

“Yeah, what do we
do?”

“Don’t let their
tractor beams lock onto your craft, that’s what you do.”

“Easier said than
done, with all due respect, Commodore.”

“Can’t really
debate this with you right now, Sledgehammer. We’ve got heavy incoming.
Saroudis out.”

So much for
the pep talk
, she thought.

Her ship’s
shields were back to a satisfactory seventy-seven percent when she decided to
re-engage; but this time she would pick her targets, making sure she didn’t get
pinned down as before and expose herself to this new batshit crazy tactic that
was currently decimating the Earth Alliance StarFuries one by one.

*  
*   *

Aphroditis’ ship was
approaching one of the defense satellites when red beams locked on to two of
her escorts, and Zarlack ships started throwing themselves at them. They
exploded upon impact. The remainder of her protection detail fought bravely,
but soon they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of ships adopting kamikaze
tactics.

She had passed
the satellite when three Zarlack ships came out of nowhere and crashed upon her
ship’s shields. The light within her cockpit started flickering and her craft
went into a wild spin. She tried in vain to get out of it but her controls
weren’t responding.

She opened a channel,

“Commodore!
Please help. I’ve lost control of my ship. I’m currently accelerating towards
Earth with no control of my engines. I don’t know what to do!”

“Hang on, Aphroditis.
I’m sending help.”

Her heart pounded
and she remembered her nightmare vision. Could that be it? Was her time up as
well? A sense of dread filled her.

She closed her
eyes and focused all her energy on Chase.

“Chase! Please
help me!”

*  
*   *

“Sledgehammer,
this is Saroudis. Aphroditis’ ship is being attacked and her ship is out of
control. Please assist her now. This is a top priority.”

“Understood,
Commodore. Sledgehammer out.”

She vectored her
ship to intercept the Olympian, but she was too far out. She needed to jump to
get there fast enough. She tried micro-jumping but her HD blinked orange.

Jump engines
inoperable.

No doubt a side
effect of her last jump so near the Zarlack ship that tried ramming her. She
cursed. She used her instruments to locate the nearest ship. There was only one
in range. She hailed it. “Epsilon Four, please respond?”

“Listening, Wing
Commander.”

“I have a mission
for you. This is top priority. There’s an Olympian ship plummeting towards the
planet. You need to tractor it and help it any way you can. We cannot lose the
person on board this ship, do you understand?”

“Copy. I’m on it.
MetalMonster out.”

*  
*   *

On board the
Valken
,
Chase was resting in one of the bunk beds in the back of the ship. He had just
finished eating a sandwich and had to admit he missed Earth’s culinary delights.
He could really go for a pizza or some Chinese deep-fried meal right now. His
hands were locked behind his head as he thought about what it would be like to
be back on the beautiful blue planet.

There was no
denying he dreaded it more than anything else. Just knowing he was travelling
towards Earth gave him a headache. But that was most likely because he felt
remorse and shame, leaving everything behind as he had. He could still remember
the heated discussion he had with his once commanding officer and friend Adonis
Saroudis.

He had tried to
convince him that time would heal his wounds and that revenge wasn’t the way to
go. But how could he know? Nobody could. All Chase knew was how much he hated
his brother, how every minute of every day he envisioned killing him with his
bare hands, as he should have done on board Damocles-3. Gods, why didn’t he do
it? Why didn’t he just end Argos then and there?

That brought
another set of shameful memories. The way he and Daniel had argued before his
departure and resignation from the Earth Alliance. He hoped Daniel would
forgive him. He didn’t intend to hurt his feelings. But he did say things he
shouldn’t have. When he blurted out that it was his fault for not letting him
execute Argos, Chase knew that these had been harsh words uttered in a moment
of anger and utter sadness. He hoped Daniel knew that as well. The last thing
he wanted was his brother-in-arms to blame himself.

Blame. There was
only one person to blame for everything that had gone wrong for as long as he
could remember now. The fall of the Alliance, the fight for Earth’s survival,
Sarah’s torture and her ultimate demise. And now Ares’ death.

Tears of hate welled
at the corners of Chase’s eyes.

Argos was the one
responsible for all that pain, chaos, misery and death. But a day would come
when Chase would at least rectify the mistake that his brother’s birth had
been. On that day he would make him wish he was never born. Killing him was
only part of it. He needed to suffer. Chase would often daydream about how much
pain he would inflict on Argos before putting him out of his misery. He felt as
if the day of reckoning was approaching.

Then he heard her
shout in his mind. Aphroditis.

“Chase, help me!”

No visions
though, just a mental call, as Argos had done so many times. That couldn’t be a
good sign. Ares had made him promise to protect her. Chase already felt
responsible for Ares’ death and great sadness for the loss of his mentor.

He closed his
eyes and tried projecting his mind towards the source of the voice. He couldn’t
even visualize it, though. He thought of Earth, but that didn’t seem to help.

Then he felt a
warm energy engulf him from head to toe. The energy was familiar somehow, but
Chase couldn’t place it. He tried again and suddenly felt his consciousness travel
at faster than hyperspace speed, and when he opened his eyes he was next to
her. He tried to put his hand on her shoulder but it passed right through it.
Right,
I’m not actually there
, thought Chase. He tried talking but she didn’t seem
to hear.

Chase watched
Aphroditis frantically trying to bring the engines of her ship back online. The
ship was spinning madly, and she was about to enter Earth’s atmosphere. He
needed to find a way to help her. He saw a StarFury during one of the rotations
of her ship. He also saw multiple capital ships engaged in combat. From what he
could make of that millisecond view, Zarlacks were attacking Earth Alliance and
the Droxian ships defending it.

At this moment,
Chase regretted leaving Earth. Argos had to be on one of those ships, so if he
had stayed put
. . .
Another cry for help from Aphroditis snapped Chase out of his current thought
pattern. He closed his eyes again and concentrated, trying to project his mind
to the nearest StarFury.