Universe in Flames 3: Destination Oblivion (14 page)

When he opened
his eyes again he was aboard a StarFury in a launching bay he knew well: one of
the satellites. He immediately fired up the craft and took off. As he flew
outside the landing bay’s force field he saw another StarFury being pounded by
a Zarlack starfighter. Its shield were down and the enemy had locked onto it
with a tractor beam. It was on an intercept course at full burn.

That’s new
, thought Chase. The StarFury pilot ejected mere seconds before
impact. That was when Chase micro-jumped and arrived in front of the Zarlack ship,
which promptly impacted with his shields, bringing them down to fifty percent
but obliterating the incoming vessel on the spot.

When the flames
settled and the blue flashing from his shields faded, Chase mentally snatched
the now pilotless craft and hit the afterburners. He could see Aphroditis’ ship
from here. It had just ignited from entering the atmosphere. He had to hurry. There
was still a Zarlack ship closing on her six and it would soon enter firing
range.

Chase vectored
his ships towards the pursuing starfighter, which also entered Earth’s
atmosphere in pursuit of Aphroditis’ ship. It started firing at Aphroditis’
ship, but Chase was still too far away. He wondered if a micro-jump would work from
his position to inside the planet’s atmosphere. That seemed a risky proposition
at best, but he wasn’t really on board the ship, after all. When debris and
smoke appeared from the back of the Olympian ship, that’s when Chase did it.

He positioned the
other StarFury mere feet from his own ship so the hyperspace window would
engulf it. He micro-jumped again, arriving right on top the Zarlack fighter. He
pummeled it with laser fire, locked four missiles and fired them all. No time
to waste here. In less than a minute Aphroditis’ craft would crash into the ground.

He started to go
after her ship, trusting his missiles would finish the job, and soon enough
they did. He heard an explosion behind and the ship disappeared from the radar.
Earth’s gravity had taken a hold on Aphroditis’ ship and it was accelerating
towards the ground.

Chase vectored
towards her ship. Time was running out. Her current spin was problematic so he
fired three, well-timed shots to try to stabilize her trajectory. It worked to
some extent. He dared not fire more salvos; already his hits, even if low
powered, had left nasty burn marks on the reflective chrome armor. He put his
ship in a similar spin and approached it. The ground was approaching fast. He
mentally maneuvered the other ship to approach Aphroditis’ craft from the
underbelly, and soon both ships where only a few feet away. Chase reversed his
ship and approached the Olympian ship’s canopy. He saw Aphroditis flailing her
hands all over her controls but nothing happened.

He waved at her. She
looked up but didn’t understand what she was seeing. Right, the cockpit was empty
from her perspective.

Chase engaged
tractor beams on both StarFuries and they locked onto Aphroditis’ ship. The
StarFuries groaned. Tractor beams were not designed to be used at these
velocities. Chase had trouble stabilizing the now-linked trio of ships. A quick
look at his instruments showed he had only a handful of seconds before impact.
He engaged both StarFuries reverse engines to the maximum. When that didn’t
work he diverted every ounce of power to them, including life support. The StarFuries
were empty anyway. That did the trick and he managed to slow down the Olympian
ship a few hundred feet from the ground. He then proceeded to help the ship gently
touchdown, in the middle of nowhere.

Once Aphroditis’
ship was safely down, he landed the StarFuries nearby and extended both their
shields so they would protect her ship from any debris or incoming fire.

Chase opened his
eyes again and he was back, looking at the ceiling of his
Valken
quarters. He heard Ares in his mind. “Thank you, Chase.”

“A promise is a
promise. I’m surprised I managed to do anything from this distance, though.”

“About that. You had
help.”

“So that was
you?”

“It’s the least I
could do.”

*  
*   *

Fillio’s StarFury
entered Earth’s atmosphere in a hurry. Her heart was beating fast. She had
tried hailing Epsilon Four and had not received any answer. If something had happened
to Aphroditis she would get her ass handed to her.

But that wasn’t
what she was worried about. Letting an Olympian die in any circumstances had to
be bad. Sure, she was amongst those who didn’t believe in them and their myths;
still, from what she had gathered from Daniel, they had played a major role
saving this world from Argos and his Zarlack army.

She scanned the
area but no ship was flying. She extended her scans and saw three signatures on
the ground, one of them faint. She hoped the ship hadn’t crashed. When she
approached she saw two StarFuries, one without a cockpit, but nonetheless parked
neatly next to Aphroditis’ ship.

What the hell?

She landed her
ship next to the trio of craft, jumped out of her cockpit and ran towards the
Olympian ship. Aphroditis was already getting out.

“Are you alright
. . . uh.” She hesitated, and
finally went with, “Ma’am?”

“I’m fine. Thanks
for the assist. I didn’t catch your name.”

“Fillio, you can
call me Fillio. What assist?”

“Well,
stabilizing my ship with tractor beams and helping me land safely.”

“I had nothing to
do with that. I just arrived myself.”

“Then who did?”

“Let’s find out.”
Fillio, walked towards the one StarFury with a cockpit. She climbed its side
but saw no one on board.

“Now that’s
really weird.”

“What is it?”
shouted Aphroditis from the ground

“It’s empty, and
that one”—she pointed at the other StarFury—“is empty as well. Heck, it’s
missing its cockpit.”

“Thank you,
Chase,” said Aphroditis.

“What did you
just say?”

“Chase helped,
then. It’s the only way.”

Fillio wore a
look that was a cross between disbelief and consternation.

“I
. . . I don’t see how. He’s not
even on this planet.”

“It doesn’t
matter, Fillio. I don’t suppose we’re anywhere near that bunker Commodore
Saroudis told me to get to?”

“No, not really,
but I’ll get you there fast. Let’s take my ship.”

Aphroditis nodded
and followed Fillio.

On board the
Destiny
things were really heating up. The ship had suffered major damage. Most of the
fleet had, in fact. Saroudis had just cut communications with Fillio, who
reported she had Aphroditis safe and sound, even though she had nothing to do with
her rescue. From what Aphroditis had told her, she thought Chase had saved her.

While Saroudis
didn’t understand how this was even possible, he took it as a good omen and
hoped he would arrive shortly. This was one of those fights where his talent as
a pilot and outside-the-box thinker could tip the balance. He brushed the
thought away. For now they needed to win this fight on their own. About a third
of the invading fleet had been destroyed, but both Earth Alliance and Droxians
had lost so many ships.

Saroudis wondered
if the admiral had received their distress call. Even using the jump gate they
wouldn’t be here for at least another three hours. Saroudis expected this fight
to be well over by then, one way or the other.

But right now the
Destiny
had retreated a little outside the center of the action. The ship
needed to recharge its shields. The loss of capital ships hadn’t been the most
worrisome thing, though. It was the speed at which the StarFuries were being
destroyed, and that new suicidal tactic of the Zarlacks.

He wondered how
Argos had managed to convince his slave race to just accept suicide as a fighting
strategy. Sure, every pilot knows the risk when they step into their craft. There’s
as much chance they won’t return as there is of getting back to base alive. That
was part of a pilot’s job. But to know they would have to crash their ship and
lose their lives so they could take the Earth Alliance’s new starfighters down
more efficiently
. . .
That baffled Saroudis.

From his chair he
looked at his personal holo-display and saw the
Hope
engaging a ship
with its main weapons. Thank the gods they had more Prometheus-class ships. The
satellites had also helped a lot in the beginning of the fight, but the Zarlacks
had decided to keep their distance and take the fight out of their firing
range.

Saroudis made a
mental note to equip them with engines so they could be repositioned in the
middle of the fight. They already had engines, of course, but not nearly
powerful enough to do anything more than basic, orbital repositioning. Perhaps
even equip them with short range jump engines, as they did the StarFuries. With
that capability they could even be used as gigantic explosive devices, since
they carried a lot of quadrinium on board, much more than fleet ships. He
definitely needed to discuss all this with his chief engineers Yanis and Spiros,
if they survived this fight.

Because now that
the Zarlacks had nullified or at least balanced some of the technological
advantage by sacrificing their own starfighters to take out StarFury wings, the
fight had become increasingly difficult.

In answer,
Saroudis had assigned three ships in his fleet to target smaller vessels,
instead of focusing their energy and weapons fighting other capital ships. The
Far
Beyond
,
Euphoreon
and the
Axxis
. Being of older design, they
were more suited to thinning the Zarlack starfighter wings, rather than
engaging far superior, behemoth-class Zarlack ships.

The
Destiny
’s
shield were now back at seventy-three percent.
Good enough to get back into
the fight
, Saroudis decided.

“Bring us about. Target
the nearest Zarlack warship; maximum sub-light engines. Fire at will as soon as
we’re back in range.”

“Understood,
Commodore,” said Lieutenant Sakis.

Before the
Destiny
could enter firing range, bright spots of light lit up all around the ship.
Hyperspace exit corridors.

“Now what?
Report!”

“Multiple jump
points forming, Commodore. About fifteen Obsidian capital ships.”

“What is the
Obsidian doing here?” said the commodore, not really expecting an answer.

Before he could
get one, an incoming transmission from the Obsidian flagship came in. It was
the emperor.

“Hello, Commodore
Saroudis, may we provide assistance?”

“You’re not part
of the Earth Alliance just yet, but I’ll gladly accept your generous offer.
Will you follow my orders?”

“That goes
without question, Commodore. We’ll engage the Zarlacks at once. See you on the
battlefield.”

“Thanks for the
assist. It won’t be forgotten. Please concentrate half your force on destroying
their smaller craft, and let your starfighter pilots know that they are
sacrificing their craft in exchange for kills.”

“Very well. As you
command.”

The communication
ended and all fifteen capital ships added their firepower to those of the current
fleet. Seven ships concentrated their effort on attacking enemy starfighter
wings.

While Saroudis
wasn’t a big fan of the Obsidian, even after their help destroying the Gatos Nebula
shipyard and protecting the Damocles-3 space station, he had to admit that
their arrival in the fold was welcome.

The
Destiny
entered firing range and started firing everything it had towards the nearest
behemoth-class warship. After five minutes of heavy fire exchange, its shields
were down to twenty percent, and it jumped just when the
Destiny
’s main
guns were about to deliver the final blow.

But it wasn’t
just the
Destiny
’s target. Every warship with low shields jumped, one
after the other.

It looked as if the
arrival of Obsidian finally made them rethink their strategy: they were
outnumbered again. After twenty minutes of fighting, two more behemoth ships were
destroyed and another seven ships jumped away.

Soon, only starfighters
remained. It was time to clear out the trash, thought Saroudis; but before he
could give his next order, ten hyperspace windows opened nearer to Earth. The
ships were at full burn and heading
. . . towards the planet!

“Every ship, maximum
speed. Destroy these ships at all cost! Earth defense systems, fire at will!”

The satellite
network started firing, but their impact on the fleet’s shields was not enough
to prevent their entering the atmosphere. Saroudis understood what the enemy
was about to do. Like their smaller fighters before, the Zarlacks were
perfectly willing to bury their behemoth warships upon Earth’s surface.

“This is a
nightmare.”

“Commodore! What
are your orders?”

But the commodore
didn’t know what to do. His mind raced and he wondered if jumping inside the
ships could help lessen the damage, but that seemed unlikely. If the quadrinium
engines exploded that close to Earth, the damage could be similar or worse. Not
to mention that anyone in the jumped ship would die in the process as well.

He brought up a
tactical holo-display and saw that seven satellites were in firing range. Instead
of firing at full power, he could overload some of them as Chase had done in
the past. There weren’t enough satellites left to destroy all targets, but at
least he could take a few of these ships out. He also saw that one satellite
was in the path of the ships.

Not having time
to relay orders by voice he took firing control from his holo-console. He organized
six satellites into pairs and painted three targets. He increased the firing
power output of those with the lower shields to three hundred percent, knowing
full well that would fry them with one shot; but it was the only way in the
time he had. He then opened a channel.

“Orbital
Satellite Six, set your quadrinium chamber to overload and evacuate now!”

“Commander Takis
here. Can you please confirm your last order, Commodore?”

“Overload the quadrinium
chambers at once and evacuate every satellite this instant!”

“Very well,
Commodore. Setting overload. Evacuation order sent.”

He hoped it would
pay off. He then fired the other satellites. All three targeted ships were obliterated
by the twin, overloaded plasma shots. Three of the satellites exploded; the
rest were disabled. It was unlikely that most of the crew in those destroyed
had enough time to escape, but he had no other choice. The remaining seven
Zarlack ships continued towards their target. Earth. Just when they were upon
the last satellite that hadn’t fired, its quadrinium chambers exploded as
planned. There was a massive explosion. Bright green and orange flames spewed
forth and engulfed most of the enemy fleet.

When the fireworks
settled, there were still three ships advancing towards the beautiful blue
marble. Most of the debris was vaporized in the massive explosion, but half a
behemoth warship was spinning uncontrollably and would enter the atmosphere as
well.

Impact with Earth
was now inevitable
. . .

*  
*   *

On Earth, Fillio
had just accompanied Aphroditis into the protected bunker a few miles
underground.

Aphroditis fell
to the ground.

“You alright, ma’am?”

“Something is
happening. I
. . . I
can feel a tremendous amount of fear on this planet. People are praying,
calling upon the Olympians for help.”

Fillio raised an
eyebrow, wondering if Aphroditis was losing it; but just in case she wasn’t she
went towards the nearest console and brought up a status on the battle in space.
There were no Zarlack ships in orbit, but then she saw it. Three strong Zarlack
signatures inside the atmosphere, on a collision course with the ground. From their
trajectory, they would hit near New York, Dallas and Toronto.

“This isn’t
happening!” said Fillio.

“What is it?”

“Three Zarlack
capital ships are about to hit three major cities. At these velocities
. . .”

“What?”

“These cities
will be leveled!”

Tears formed in
Aphroditis’ eyes.

There was a
morbid silence for the next few moments, and then it happened. The ground
started shaking.

Aphroditis put her
hands over her ears, fell to her knees and screamed

“Are you alright,
ma’am?”

No answer. She
seemed in utter pain, as though whatever loss of life occurred at this moment
was channeled into her.

Fillio crouched beside
her and took her into her arms. She was crying uncontrollably.

*  
*   *

The
Iron Fire
exited hyperspace near Earth’s orbit. Argos was in the captain’s chair and
looked satisfied with what he saw.

At that moment
the lift to the bridge opened and Daniel, Ryonna and Tar’Lock stepped in.
Daniel was the first to speak. “What is this? What did you do?”

Argos smiled but
didn’t look their way.

“I told you my
fleet was on its way. Looks like they did a pretty good job, too.”

Daniel could see
a lot of debris around the planet, though many of the Earth Alliance ships were
still there. Many were damaged; some had been destroyed. Then other ships
caught his eye. Obsidian. The fact that no Earth Alliance ship was firing on
them probably meant they had joined the fight on the side of the Alliance.

There were three
burning spots on the surface of the planet, all on the American continent. The
damage seemed as significant as the first time Argos’ fleet had attacked Earth,
when he used mass drivers to level many cities.

“You’re gonna pay
for this,” said Daniel.

“We’ll see. For the
time being, let me admire that glorious view.”

Ryonna’s look was
a mixture of hate and revenge, but Tar’Lock was holding her and gave her an
unmistakable look of warning.

Argos got up.

“What now?” asked
Daniel.

“Now we wait for
Chase.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes, just like
that.”

There was an
incoming transmission from the
Destiny
.

Argos raised a
hand and Daniel flew next to him from where he stood.

“You could have just
asked me to come over.”

Argos shot him a
look.

“What do you
want?”

“Answer the call.
If you even hint at my presence on this ship, I will kill these two. Are we
clear?”

Daniel nodded.

Part of him
wanted to tell Commodore Saroudis to shoot them down, but it seemed that Argos’
fleet had already done its damage; plus, he wasn’t ready to miss the day their
nemesis would die, and if Chase was on his way, then today was that day.

Argos moved out
of the way.

“Hello,
Commodore, what happened?”

“The Zarlacks
attacked Earth. We had everything under control, more or less, until they
sacrificed their armada and plunged their ships towards the surface. We
. . . we managed to destroy seven
of them but three got through. Other large debris fell towards the planet but
fortunately it missed heavily inhabited regions and impacted near the North
Pole.”