The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1) (10 page)

Kalrea connected into the Treitan computers and downloaded their contents while James listened, captivated by the conversation going on between Kalrea and them, even though he couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Kalrea’s voice had changed to Koptinop male.

I’ve just accessed their ship’s communications system…,
Kalrea’s voice said, over the top of her other conversation.
They’re very nervous. They’re trying to stall us until the main cruiser arrives.

What’s our status, Kalrea?

The
Aurora
systems reported back in his mind.

‘FRONT REACTOR ONLINE. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CAPACITY.’

‘STARBOARD REACTOR ONLINE. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CAPACITY.’

‘PORT REACTOR OFFLINE. EIGHTEEN PERCENT CAPACITY.’

‘ALL EVENT HORIZON DRIVES OFFLINE.’

They know this isn’t a Koptinop ship.
Kalrea paused for a moment.
They think we’re the Pulsora.

So much for your disguise,
James thought.

The internal emitters aren’t the problem,
Kalrea replied.
The Koptinops are extinct.

What do you mean?

The Treitans have wiped them out,
Kalrea said.
They tracked every last one of them down.

I don’t know what to say,
James thought.
What would make them do such a thing?

‘INNER EVENT HORIZON DRIVES ONLINE.’

Right,
Kalrea said confidently.
It looks like the hull is going to get an early test.

What are you going to do?

What do you think? I can’t let them escape!

The inner drives of the
Aurora
started and the ship turned towards one of the Treitan ships.

Each Treitan ship fired a small energy missile.

‘INCOMING!’

James nervously followed one of the Treitan missiles howling through space. It stuck the
Aurora’s
hull, just before another, on the far side of the ship. There were two harsh thuds. The hull flexed inwards before returning to its original shape and rings of coloured light, like petals of a flower dispersed across its surface.
That’s beautiful,
James thought.
Look at the colours.

Kalrea targeted both ships.

As the
Aurora
came to bear, the front multi-directional laser fired once. James saw a bright flash, and the scout ship was carved in two.

What… what happened?

Fragments showered the surrounding space.

It’s gone!

The other scout fired two mechanical missiles and turned away from the
Aurora
. It accelerated hard.

‘JAMMING!’

The rear multi-directional laser fired; there was another burst of white light and the second scout ship was destroyed.

That wasn’t so hard
, Kalrea said, showing no feeling for what she had just done.

It may not have been for you. I’m not sure about what you just did. Was it necessary?

We’d better not hang around. That cruiser will be here any minute,
Kalrea said.

Wait! We’re not leaving until we sort this out,
James said, a little irritated.

All right James, but they won’t think twice about destroying us. Remember what I just said. The Treitans killed every Koptinop. They are extinct,
Kalrea said.

It’s not right to kill anyone or anything!

No, it’s not,
Kalrea replied.
But with the Treitans it’s kill or be killed. There is no other option. If you run they’ll track you down, then you have no choice.

I’m not sure I can do this.
James felt trapped and pressured by Kalrea.

When you are put in a position where there is no option, then you will. We must move,
Kalrea said, with urgency in her voice.
They have to be very close now.

I know and you’re probably right—

I am right, James.
Kalrea’s voice was very assertive
. I’ve read all the data files from the scout ship, James. There’s nothing left on Qintaino.

James was stunned.
There must be!

I wish I had more information,
Kalrea said.
The data files mention that Qintaino is no longer a threat; it sustains no life. The Treitans have control of the whole region. Look, we must go. We don’t have much time! I’ll tell you more once we are out of here.

All right, Kalrea.

Instantly, the
Aurora
accelerated.

Time to light speed?
James asked.

Twelve seconds to jump,
Kalrea replied.

Suddenly, just off the port side of the ship, James glimpsed a flash of light, signalling a Treitan cruiser had dropped from light speed. It turned towards the
Aurora
and fired a spread of plasma missiles.

‘THREE INCOMING!’

We’re entering light speed.
James felt the ship shudder violently
. One of those energy missiles just hit us, Kalrea! Is there any damage?

Not a scratch,
Kalrea answered back smugly.
It’s a pity Ka Glia Plyane isn’t here to see it.

Because of the Plyane hull, the
Aurora
no longer needed to twist and turn to avoid any space debris and was now able to hurtle smoothly through space at an incredible speed. The view of passing stars blurred together, creating an almost white tunnel around the ship.

Are they following?
James asked mentally.

No, they lost us when we entered light speed.

James exited the seatra, sighed and slumped in one of the console seats.

‘I feel totally drained of energy,’ he said.

‘You did a lot of work in there,’ Kalrea said over the ship’s address system. ‘Your mind is still very young. Too young, so you’ll have to be careful for a few more years, yet.’

‘Kalrea, I want to know why we had to kill those Treitans,’ he asked. ‘What have you found out from the computers onboard those scout ships? What do you know of Qintaino?’

Kalrea replied, ‘It only took them the equivalent of six Earth days to flatten Qintaino. All the cities were destroyed. They killed everyone there.’

‘But there must have been survivors?’

‘James, they killed everyone,’ Kalrea repeated, deliberately slowly.

James was surprised.

‘They took no prisoners. Why?’

‘As I said, James, the Treitans are evil and must be stopped. They would not think twice about killing you. They just want to destroy every other form of life.’

‘What about Earth. Are they likely to head for Earth too?’

‘In time, every planet in this galaxy will be theirs. So yes, I believe they will.’

James sat in stunned silence. He felt confused and saddened.

How could I question Kalrea killing those Treitans when they had killed millions on Qintaino,
he thought.

Kalrea continued,

‘The attack on Qintaino wasn’t easy though. The Treitans committed twenty carriers and over eighty heavy cruisers to the attack. They lost seventy-three ships. I’m sorry to say, every ship defending Qintaino was destroyed.’

‘How many?’

‘Fifty-two. Those that made it away from Qintaino fled to Tetrol, but two sykals later they were attacked again and Tetrol felt in the hands of the Treitans too.’

‘I can’t believe everything’s gone.’

‘Not everything. They’re still trying to hunt down over forty of our ships and nine Telecan ships. Our people are scattered throughout this sector of the galaxy.’

‘Have we fought back?’

‘Those remaining ships are still attacking the Treitans. We have to join them.’

James was feeling completely out of his depth.

‘I know we’re at war and we have to fight them, but I’ve never had to kill before. This isn’t easy for me, Kalrea.’

‘I am here to help you, James.’

‘I know, but you just seem to kill without any feelings.’

James felt disappointed with her.

‘James, I’m sorry if it appeared that way. I can assure you I didn’t like what I had to do, but there are times when we have to make hard choices. They would have waited for that cruiser to arrive and then tried to destroy us.’

Kalrea paused for a moment.

‘I just chose to hide my feelings from you. I now know I was wrong to do that, because you are now thinking I’m very cold and callous.’

‘I’m not sure what I think.’

‘James, I feel I’ve let you down. I’m sorry.’

‘What else do we know, Kalrea? Do they mention your sister ship, the
Pulsora
?’ James asked.

‘Yes, but they have reported it missing, like the
Aurora
. It’s not part of the Qintaino fleet. There’s a reference to the
Aurora
and
Pulsora
leaving from a military base called Rinaf on Qintaino when the war began, and Treitan command ordering their perimeter cruisers to attack them.’

‘What’s a perimeter cruiser?’ James asked.

‘They’re heavy cruisers. They wait on the rim of the planetary system, while the main force is attacking. They destroy any weakened ships that survive the main assault,’ Kalrea informed. ‘I managed to avoid detection with help from the
Brenostar
, but the
Pulsora
was intercepted.’

‘But the
Pulsora
must have made it. Otherwise they wouldn’t have mistaken us for it,’ James replied, sounding confused.

‘It hasn’t been seen since it was attacked by two of the perimeter cruisers,’ Kalrea said.

‘Do you know what happened to it?’

‘They chased the
Pulsora
for five light years, but lost it in a system called Tylom. They searched the area but couldn’t find it.’

‘So it could still be safe, like the
Aurora
,’ James commented.

‘I don’t want to be negative, but I think you should first view this recording from the scout ship data logs. It was made by one of the cruisers that tried to destroy the
Pulsora
,’ Kalrea said.

The monitor brightened. There was snow for a moment, then it cleared.

The view on the monitor was from the front of the Treitan cruiser. The
Pulsora
was twisting and turning about half a kilometre ahead. In the far distance there was a very thin band of grey splitting the screen in two. Data bars at the base of the picture indicated that they were not travelling at light speed.

The camera zoomed in on the
Pulsora
for a moment. It was scarred with laser burns. Some had penetrated the hull. Suddenly, there was a flash of orange light and the camera zoomed out. Two plasma missiles had hit the
Pulsora
. There was a massive explosion from the port and rear of the ship. Fragments showered the camera.

When the picture cleared once more, a large section of the
Pulsora
was missing. The port engineering section was gone, and the contents of the cargo bay were slowly being blown out into space. Out of the corner of the picture there was a blue flash from a jettisoned reactor. The port event horizon drives gave out a plume of orange plasma just before they stopped.

The grey band now filled the whole screen, and James realized that it was an asteroid field, where the
Pulsora
was heading for cover. The cruiser was far too large to follow.

The Treitan cruiser slowed and in desperation fired a final volley of missiles at the
Pulsora,
which was now disappearing behind the wall of asteroids. Some fighters from the cruiser continued the pursuit.

The recording stopped.

‘The
Pulsora
made it through the asteroid field and evaded the fighters,’ Kalrea said. ‘They couldn’t keep up with it, but with that kind of damage it couldn’t have gone far.’

James felt saddened by the news.

‘Did the data say why they attacked Qintaino?’

‘I’m afraid it doesn’t.’

‘We’ve got to find out. We must try to find some of our ships that survived, Kalrea. Are any other planets mentioned?’

‘No, only Qintaino and Telecan.’

‘Then that’s where we’ll start. Let’s head for Qintaino first,’ James instructed Kalrea.

The
Aurora
slowed slightly, rotated and banked onto a new heading.

‘Kalrea! How long will it take before we reach Qintaino?’

‘At our current speed of Q2.5, 36 hours. This is the first time this ship has been above Q2 and I need to balance the event horizon drives. I’ve calculated our maximum speed will then be Q3.4; that’s faster than any other Qintaino ship.’