Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) (29 page)

He took another Zarlack destroyer out of the equation,
when an incoming transmission on all Alliance bands came in.

“This is Spiros Malayianis, onboard the Damocles-3
space station, hailing any and all Alliance forces in the sector. I have
reasons to believe you are currently engaged with the enemy. I am a scientist
working on next generation weaponry, highly classified and highly advanced
stuff. I have been tasked with improving our weapons to better fight Obsidian.
I believe my new weapons will also be highly efficient against Zarlack
technology. I am in possession of the schematics for these weapons. They could
be crucial to the Alliance. While I managed to kill every Zarlack on
Damocles-3, I need evac as soon as possible. If you receive this signal, please
respond.”

“This is Captain Chase Athanatos of the EAD
Hope
,
message received. As soon as we’re done with our current engagement, I will
come for you. Can you please tell me more about the technologies you possess?
How’d you manage to have data about Zarlack ships, if you don’t mind me
asking?”

“Captain Athana… You? No, no, no! Your name is
Argos!”

“No, wait! Argos is my twin brother.”

“Please transmit your Alliance identification codes
or I’ll terminate this communication this instant.”

“Done.”

“Confirmed. Weren’t you in one of my classes at the
academy? Always talking during my courses. So that’s why Argos’ photo was so
familiar. Captain, huh? Sometimes it’s not the ones you think that climb the
ranks.”

Chase was a little taken back by the comment, but
then he remembered his days at the academy.

“I’m actually a Lieutenant Commander. As for the
academy, you taught space applied physics, right?”

“And other science courses, yes.”

Another Zarlack volley of torpedoes bee-lined for
the aft of the
Hope
. Chase managed to boost both engines and inertial
dampeners on the fly, and the
Hope
dodged the torpedoes on their first
pass. He hastily redirected turrets to them, actually controlling each of them
precisely with his mind, to destroy the torpedoes before they could re-acquire
lock on the ship.

“I really can’t take a trip down memory lane at the
moment. We have to destroy three JIF ships, and these are quite heavily
shielded.”

“Right, let me send you an encrypted file that
should help with that. Forward to your starfighter pilots. It’ll cut through
this particular shield’s design like a hot knife on butter.”

“File received; hang on.”

Chase forwarded the file to Yanis, and tasked him to
distribute it within the wings.

“Now on to your other inventions, if you don’t
mind?”

“Right, mostly new shields, multi-phasic, highly
adaptable; they would be much harder to bring down. They’re AI controlled, so
their frequency intelligently adapts as they get taxed.”

“Like the EAD
Cronos
? And therefore my ship
as well.”

“Their shield was my alpha version, so yes, in the
same vein. But much more efficient and resilient.”

I’ll take three,
Chase thought to
himself.

“Boy, you said EAD before. You meant SAD right?”

“No, the Star Alliance fell. We’re now the Earth
Alliance.”

“What’s Earth?”

“A planet we saved, that gave us sanctuary.”

Chase absently realized that Zarlack ships had
redistributed their firing pattern to engage other ships now. So he no longer
seemed to be the focus point of interest. A voice in the back of his mind
didn’t like the timing, though.

“Son, can you come and get me?”

“As soon as we blow these JIF ships, you’ll be our
first stop.”

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

“One more thing… How do you know about Argos?”

“Damocles-3 was under Zarlack occupation. I’ve
managed to stay onboard, undetected, for ages. Unlike my fellow citizens, who
all got either imprisoned or killed,” said Spiros gravely.

“Yeah, we’ve lost more good people than I dare count
as well...”

“Onboard, I managed to study their systems from my
hiding place, long enough to even research Zarlack tech. And oh boy, they sure
are a few steps ahead of the Obsidian, technology wise!”

“We’ve noticed. It’s with their help that they
annihilated the Alliance.”

“I’ve also gathered that, from their inter-fleet
communications. Just before the fleet stationed here jumped out, I found the
Argos file, and some very interesting schematics about a shipyard they’ve got
hidden in the Gatos Nebula. If you need me to find a crack in its defenses, it
shouldn’t be much of a problem.”

“That shipyard is gone, but we sure could have used
that information an hour ago.”

“I bet! Sorry about that. I’ve been in a battle for
my own survival in the last few hours.”

“No worries. What matters now is that we—hang on!”

The ship that Chase was currently targeting and
firing upon with his main guns had just entered hyperspace. He checked his
sensors and saw that every ship but the JIFs had jumped to hyperspace as well.

“Spiros, the Zarlacks have entered hyperspace. Any
idea how they did that with the jump interdiction field active?”

“The JIF ships are Obsidian in design, but the
Zarlack’s ship engines are a totally different design than either Obsidian or
Alliance. They aren’t affected.”

“That’s handy! I gotta go. Be aware that you might
soon receive the wrong kind of visitors knocking at your doors. We have a
leak.”

“Well, that’s just great! Fortunately I’ve put
contingencies in place for that very scenario. Please just don’t be too late to
the party. I can hold them off for a while, but...”

“That’s all you’ll need. We’ll be there shortly.”

“Roger that. Malayianis out!”

Chase commed Daniel.

“Status on destroying these JIFs.”

“Beta through Gamma wings are engaged dispatching
the rest of the Zarlack fighters; Alphas are less than a minute away from
targets. We’ve received Malayianis’ modifications.”

“Good, we need to jump the second these ships are
destroyed. So once all that’s done, haul-ass and rejoin your carriers at
maximum burn.”

“Roger that.”

*   *   *

Sarah and Fillio rejoined Daniel’s wing. They were
entering firing range of the first JIF ship.

“Switch your lasers to new settings, secondary fire
options.”

“Roger,” both Fillio and Sarah chirped, almost in
perfect unison.

“Entering firing range. Fire at will!” ordered
Daniel.

All three ships and escort fired their lasers at the
first Jump Interdiction Field Class ship in unison. The result was nothing less
than spectacular. Each and every laser passed through the shields as if they
weren’t there anymore, slightly illuminating the points of entry. Pieces of
armor and debris started flying like dust amid the laser volleys. It took less
than twenty seconds to destroy the first JIF ship, even though its armor was
quite strong.

“Wow,” Sarah murmured, dazed at the sight of the
ship exploding into a million pieces.

“I second that,” Fillio added joyfully.

“Alright, girls, no time to lose. Let’s dispatch the
other two. Split forces so we can be done sooner.”

Sarah and Fillio took the first target, accompanied
by three more ships from Alpha Wing. Daniel and the rest of the wing went after
the second target. The newly loaded settings on their starfighters cut the
ships to pieces with ease.

“Great job, everyone. Now back to your ships at max
burn. We gotta jump out of here.”

“Chase, mission accomplished; returning to base.
What’s next?”

“Daniel, go secure.”

“Done. What is it?”

“We have a spy.”

“We know that.”

“Yes, but I suspect it’s within the fleet. Perhaps
even someone close to us.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, did you get the distress call from the
Damocles Station?”

“Sure. It was on an open channel, wasn’t it?”

“Encrypted for Alliance only, but yes. Right after
that, all the Zarlacks jumped.”

“I thought that was because we were finally kicking
their asses.”

“No, the timing is more than suspicious. I’m pretty
sure they jumped towards the Damocles Station so they can make sure we don’t
get whatever tech is awaiting us there.”

“New tech?”

“Yes, stuff we cannot afford to let fall into the
hands of Argos. In fact, we can’t even let it be destroyed. This could be the
key to winning this war; you saw firsthand how easily you were able to dispatch
those JIFs.”

“Yeah, that was like magic.”

“Imagine this installed on a grander scale onboard
our ships.”

“Yeah, I see your point. You’re probably right.
Damocles is Argos’ next stop, then.”

“We
cannot
let him destroy, or worse,
steal
those schematics!”

“I hear you. We’re all onboard.”

“Good, jumping the fleet now.”

Chase sent the jump slave request to every ship in
the fleet. Once he got all of them confirmed and synced to the
Hope
, he
entered the coordinates for Damocles-3 and opened the hyperspace corridor.

*   *   *

Onboard the
Kolassi
, Argos was looking at the
hyperspace stream of horizontal light comfortably from his throne. He hesitated
over having a go at his newly cloned Kyrian snake, ultimately deciding against
it. The next hour would probably determine whether or not his plan would come
to fruition.
It had to
. No matter what happened, he had to deliver that
blow to Chase’s heart that would crush him from within. The hero needed to
fall. It was becoming increasingly more difficult to deal with his brother’s
bravado.

Just like when we were kids
, Argos reflected. He
was always the bull-headed, nauseatingly optimistic Samaritan.

That memory sent a shiver down Argos’ spine. This
time was long gone.
We are sitting at opposite extremes of the spectrum now
.
Part of him longed for the time when they were playful siblings, and life
seemed bliss. That thought alone almost made Argos change his mind about the
snake. He grabbed the handle of the jar’s lid and lifted it just enough to see
a pair of glowing eyes in the dark, followed by a strong hiss. He put the lid
back down and heard a second muffled hiss.

“You’ll get some flesh time later,” he murmured out
loud.

The problem with Kyrian snakes was they were
extremely rare and highly difficult to obtain; the only reason why Argos
resorted to cloning. But the poison was an incredibly potent drug, were one to
survive the bite. The Dragonmen of the once beautiful planet Kyria, destroyed
long ago, had been very selective about to whom they gave them. Argos’ initial
request to acquire one had been turned down. He had to go to great lengths to
obtain another one from a different source.

Of course the drug had been synthesized for a long
while. Millions of junkies bought it every day, all over Obsidian territory.
But in its refined, synthesized form, the drug potency was lowered and its
addictiveness multiplied. Like every drug, it was manufactured for profits or
control. Cloned snakes weren’t cheap by any means, but cheaper and easier than
requesting a new snake. And Argos knew he was much less in control when the
poison ran through his veins… much more likely to kill the beast during bouts
of anger, just like he had a few hours before.

He then remembered how much of a beating he’d
received from their father, after he’d discovered that Argos was doing drugs.
This was long before he’d been introduced to the deliciously life-threatening
pain mixed with ecstasy that Kyrian snake’s poison brought to his life. When he
first used Raintox and got caught, the beating he received was forever marked
in his mind. He was fifteen. It wasn’t the pain that bothered him, but Argos’
instinctual aversion to obeying orders of any kind. To a certain extent, he
knew he shared that, at least partially, with his brother Laiyos.

What dumb-ass started calling him
“Chase,”
he wondered?

A passing thought interrupted his painful drive
through memory lane. He had to check something before they exited hyperspace.
He opened a channel, and one of his Zarlack officers answered.

“Have you made the necessary modification to my
ship?”

“Yes, Master. The
Dark Star
can now fully
cloak for about thirty minutes.”

“Very good. Anything I should know?”

“Just that if you stay cloaked for more than ten
minutes, you’ll have to do without shields temporarily.”