The Beginning of the End (Universe in Flames Book 4) (14 page)

“Dear gods. This is new.”

“Yes, it seems Argos has found yet another way to inflict incommensurable damage by sacrificing ships.”

“How did you know to jump out of there?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“Chris told me.”

“What?”

“He reached into my thoughts and told me to jump. Given the tone of his . . . voice, I just obeyed.”

“You’re right, I’m having serious problems believing my unborn child can already speak to you telepathically.”

“I know,” said Chase with a grave tone.

“The
Destiny
?”

“I sent them away a minute ago.”

“Thank god. What about Fillio, though?”

“Chase to Commander Steriopoulou, do you copy? Please respond?”

Chase looked at Sarah with genuine concern when he saw her expression change.

He looked forward and saw them too. The remaining three Zarlack destroyers were coming about and vectored towards the
Hope
at full burn.

*   *   *

When the Zarlack battlegroup exited hyperspace near Droxia, Miseo came to the bridge.

“Anything I can do for you, Miseo?” inquired Argos.

“No, don’t mind me. I’m just curious to witness your strategic prowess. I am curious to see how you intend to defeat a world as well guarded as Droxia.”

“It’s all in the planning, as you’ll see.”

“Like I said, don’t mind me.”

“Very well. Commander Orx’son, report.”

“As requested we’ve exited hyperspace as far as possible from orbit, but just within sensor range. We’ve been detected and the entire Droxian fleet and Earth Alliance support ships are already vectoring towards our position.”

“How many ships?”

“Thirty-five destroyers.”

“Very well. We wait until they approach firing range.”

“It will take less than three minutes for the ships to enter range.”

Miseo locked both his arms across his chest.

“Would you like me to explain the next part of my plan?” inquired Argos.

“That won’t be necessary. I’m just here to observe until it’s time for General Arkoolis and myself to go to the surface to wipe the Droxians out of existence.”

“Understood. Where’s the general?”

“In his quarters, resting for the battle to come.”

Argos hated being on the bridge. He preferred to dispatch orders from his ready room.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll go into my ready room for the next part.”

“Yes, Argos, don’t feel obliged to stay because of my presence.”

“You can come with me if you like?”

“That won’t be necessary. Go.”

Still too condescending for my taste, but I don’t have time to worry about that now.

Argos left the bridge and was soon sitting on his throne in his dark, flame-lit ready room.

He brought up his tactical holo-display, from which he would orchestrate the entire strategic deployment. The Droxian and Alliance ships approached the range of his surprise weapon. Argos sent the order to deploy the five graviton devices and activated their cloaking generators. Argos redistributed the power of every ship in the armada to boost the shielding by eighty percent, by redirecting power from weapons and life support.

The incoming destroyers entered firing range and laser fire and torpedoes were launched.

His comms activated. It was Miseo.

“You are aware of the hundreds-plus torpedoes and lasers currently on their way to impact with our ships, I presume?”

“All part of the plan.”

“Looking forward to see your next move. Miseo out.”

You won’t be disappointed, Miseo. This Droxian and Alliance fleet won’t know what hit them, that’s for sure.

The ships started getting hit by both lasers and torpedoes, but the already far superior Zarlack shield held firm, even when pounded with more than twenty torpedoes.

Argos entered the command for phase two of his plan and his fleet micro-jumped to the jumpgate at the exact same time as the graviton devices deployed their fields. The countdown to their uncloaking appeared on his holo-instrument. The devices would remain cloaked for another one hundred and twenty minutes, more than enough time to end them all.

Argos walked back to the bridge. Miseo turned his head.

“Mind explaining what just happened? How come these ships aren’t pursuing?”

“The graviton devices act as countermeasures to their engines. The more they push them, the more damage they incur. Some of the Droxian ships haven’t figured it out yet, and these will soon destroy themselves.”

“Ingenious.”

“I’m glad you agree.”

Argos turned his attention towards Commander Orx’son.

“Commander, please make this jumpgate go away.”

“Firing now, Master.”

“Master, huh?” underlined Miseo.

Got a problem with how I have my crew address me?

“They’re used to calling me that.”

“I wonder why.”

Argos decided to let it go. His actions would speak louder than words today. The Zarlack armada opened fire and it wasn’t long before the jumpgate’s shields failed. Soon parts of the gate detached, and in less than a minute it exploded. A few smaller ships came from the surface but they were no match for the firepower of Argos’ ship and were dispatched before they even entered their own firing range.

“Pretty good tactic, I must say.”

“Glad you agree, Miseo.”

“What’s next?”

“We send all destroyers back to those paralyzed ships to finish them off one by one. I’ll stay on this one, orbiting the planet and giving you support if needed.”

“We won’t need it. It’s been a long time since we’ve fought. Unless you receive my direct order, do not fire on this planet.”

“Very well. You have at least seven hours before the nearest Earth Alliance reinforcements come, now that the jumpgate has been destroyed on this side.”

“That should be plenty of time. Let the destruction begin!”

On board the Droxian destroyer
Phoenix
, Ronan was thrown off his feet when flames spewed from a nearby bulkhead and nearly incinerated him.

“What the hell is happening?” he said out loud.

The ship rocked some more, and Ronan ran towards the nearest viewport. What he saw froze his blood. The Droxian armada was being attacked by two behemoth Zarlack ships. The Droxian fleet wasn’t moving, so something must have been going terribly wrong.

“Cadet Ronan Isch’ys to the bridge, please respond?”

There was no answer. That didn’t bode well. Electricity arced between two bulkheads and just missed Ronan.

“Okay, better get out of here.”

Ronan ran to engineering. The door to the engineering room moaned but didn’t open. Electricity again arced nearby. Ronan activated the manual release. The doors opened a few inches and he used all his strength to pry them open enough so he could enter the room.

Inside he found a lot of either dead or injured bodies lying on the deck. He looked for his friend and superior Arknon. Of the first three bodies he checked, two were dead and the third one looked critical. There were small fires in the room and Ronan took care of them before they became more of a problem. Upon extinguishing the last of them he stumbled upon Commander Arknon, whose body was lying face down. Ronan dropped his extinguisher onto the deck and fell to his knees next to his friend.

“Arknon, are you hurt?” There was no response.

He dreaded turning the body of his friend and mentor. Ever since he was assigned to the
Phoenix
, he had been part colleague, part father figure. They had become best friends and, in the absence of his mother, Arknon had become the person in whom he could confide.

Ronan gently grabbed Arknon by the shoulder and turned his body onto his back. He was deeply relieved to find a pulse, albeit a faint one.

Arknon’s face was cut in multiple places and bruised all over. Ronan shook him gently.

“Wake up. Please wake up, Arknon.”

But he did not. Ronan carried his friend to the nearest med-bay and administered first aid, patching his obvious wounds as per the training he had received.

The ship rocked more and more. Ronan really needed to see what was happening, but was too consumed with trying to revive his friend.

He put him inside a regen tank and activated it. A pale, bluish-gray liquid filled the tank and control lights came to life. The tank hummed.

Another impact rocked the ship and Ronan fell on his ass.

He got back up and brought up a tactical holo-display. While he was still a cadet in the Droxian army, he had been learning everything there was to know about Droxian ships and strategies. The readouts made little sense at first. Every one of the Droxian and Earth ships were standing still, while Zarlack destroyers kept their distance just outside the fleet’s firing range, using their own weaponry, with slightly superior range, to shoot and destroy the fleet little by little. The bastards were taking their sweet time and making sure they never entered range. Those three destroyers normally wouldn’t stand a chance in hell against the bulk of the now-immobilized fleet.

Ronan punched the console.

“Cowards! This is not an honorable way to fight!”

He checked the sensor logs to try to figure out what prevented the fleet from moving. A powerful magnetic field interfered with the ship’s engines. He tried locating the source, but it seemed to come from all around them, and he had trouble pinpointing a single source. Furthermore, no physical ship or object appeared on the scopes. It was as if the devices that generated that powerful field were not there.

“They’re cloaked,” realized Ronan.

He needed to do something. While the
Phoenix
was at the center of the fleet and mostly spared from the cowardly, vulture attack pattern of the Zarlack destroyers, soon the
Phoenix
would become a target itself. When that time came, Ronan had no doubt that his life would end, with that of everyone else aboard the ship.

He brought up the communication controls and tried to send a distress call on every band, but the computer indicated that the signal was being heavily jammed. His mind raced, trying to find a way. Then he remembered the device his mother had given him. Chase once gave her this device to activate in case she was in trouble during her mission to break him out of Hellstar. Upon their return, she had given it to him and told him to use it if he ever was in trouble. Today clearly qualified.

Since it was Alliance technology it would probably be jammed like the rest of the fleet’s signals, though, unless he found a way to put distance between it and the fleet.

An escape pod!

If he could release one with the devices on board it might work. The ejection system didn’t rely on an engine and should not be affected by the field. At least, he hoped so. It wasn’t as if he had any other options at the moment, so Ronan brought up schematics of the ship, determined the safest vector away from enemy fire, and located the best deck from which to launch the escape pod.

Three minutes later, he reached the fifth deck, entered the first escape pod and activated the device. He wondered if he should go with it, but decided against it. He wouldn’t abandon Arknon. First he had to make sure he woke up, and they could escape in a pod of their own. He exited the pod and sent it on its way. The hydraulic ejection system sent the pod away from the ship slowly.

When Ronan returned to the med-bay he checked on Arknon, as the ship rocked more. The regen program was still running, but already many of his friend’s wounds had been healed. Hopefully he could revive his friend in the next few minutes. He returned to the nearest console to get a status report. The readings weren’t encouraging. Already a third of the vessels had either been fully disabled or destroyed.

He brushed his anger away for the moment. It wouldn’t help him achieve anything now. He looked at his holo-instruments and checked the status of the escape pod carrying the transmitter. It was still there, which was good, but it wasn’t advancing fast enough. It would take nearly two hours for it to exit the jamming range.

Ronan swore.

Nothing he could do about that now. Time to try and revive Arknon. He entered the command to stop the healing cycle and purge the regen liquid from the tank. A minute later he had removed his friend’s body from the regen tank and laid him on the nearest med-bed. He injected him with a stimulant and slapped his face a couple of times.

Arknon jumped and startled Ronan in the process.

“Thank god you’re okay.”

“What’s happening? Why am I in med-bay?”

“We’re being attacked by a Zarlack fleet and our ships are immobilized.”

“That would explain why the engines overloaded earlier when the captain ordered me to punch them to one hundred twenty percent. I don’t remember anything after that.”

“The fleet is being held in place by a powerful magnetic field. We need to find a way to either break the field or get the hell out of here before the
Phoenix
is destroyed.”

Arknon held his head between his hands.

“You alright?”

“I’m okay, don’t worry. I just have the mother of all headaches, that’s all.”

“Let me give you a painkiller.”

“No, it might slow me down. We need to hurry. Any idea how long we have?”

As if in answer, the ship rocked strongly and Ronan had to prevent Arknon from falling from the bed.

“Not very long if I had to take a wild guess.”

*   *   *

When Miseo and General Arkoolis exited the shuttle on the surface of Droxia, just outside one of the biggest cities on the planet, many armored vehicles came their way, both by land and air.

“Ah good,” said the general. “A welcoming party.”

He cracked both his knuckles and neck.

Miseo just passed his hand through his hair and smiled.

The airborne Droxian attack craft were the first to reach their position. They fired a flurry of missiles.

The multiple concussive explosions sent rocks and flames fly high in the air. When the smoke settled, though, neither the general nor Miseo had a moved an inch, and a circular area of a hundred yards around them seemed totally unscathed by the missile attack.

Miseo brushed some dust from his armor and took a step forward.

“My turn.”

He shot in the air so quickly that the shockwave behind him uprooted every tree in a five-mile radius around his point of departure. He passed through the first Droxian craft as if it was made of paper. It exploded and debris fell back towards the surface. The other seven craft turned about and adjusted their vector towards Miseo, who floated in the air, waiting for them.

They opened fire with lasers. Each laser ricocheted off Miseo a few inches before reaching him. He raised both his hands with open palms. He closed both fists and all seven craft exploded simultaneously, igniting like fireworks as they painted the sky orange for a brief moment.

Then black patches of smoke appeared all around Miseo’s position.
Ground artillery.
Miseo saw the far away tanks firing upon him in the sky and started laughing.

“They think they’ll kill a Fury with this primitive weaponry? I’m disappointed, given the Droxians’ warrior reputation.”

Miseo waved his right hand in the air and the area where the tanks were exploded, churning red hot pieces of metal and large rocks into the air.

Another squadron of aerial craft approached Miseo’s position.

Before they could enter firing range Miseo waved two fingers in the air in every direction, very quickly. The result was highly destructive. The approaching craft were cut to pieces and exploded in midair.

Five drop ships landed ground troops less than a mile away. 

“Finally, some fun. Let’s see how strong these Droxians really are.”

Miseo returned to the ground and walked towards the incoming ground forces. Soon laser fire rained down on him. It ricocheted away from him, inches before impact. After a while the troops stopped firing and charged towards Miseo with their bare hands.

Their speed was pathetic and Miseo had no trouble dodging every single punch and kick, even when they were all around him. After a few second he unleashed a shockwave that sent the foot soldiers flying for hundreds of yards. He smiled.

“I thought Droxians were formidable foes. I guess you guys don’t live up to your reputation.”

“How dare you?” said someone from behind him.

Miseo turned and saw a very tall and muscular Droxian, covered in scars, approaching him. The ground shook a little with every step he took. He was twice the size of Miseo and when he arrived next to him, he blocked the sunlight and plunged Miseo into the shadows.

“Let’s hope you’re stronger than your comrades.”

“You’re about to find out.”

The Droxian sent a powerful punch right into Miseo’s face. Upon impact dust and small rocks flew backwards, but Miseo didn’t budge an inch.

The Droxian took a step back.

“How can this be?”

“As expected, you’re only slightly more powerful than these fools.”

The Droxian spat on the ground and launched a combo of powerful hooks and kicks, each impacting Miseo; but again he didn’t budge. The Droxian screamed as he gave it all he had.

“This is pointless. Your race will die today. We will kill you all.”

The Droxian was panting heavily from his efforts, which had no effect whatsoever.

“My turn,” said Miseo with a smirk.

He extended two fingers upwards and the Droxian levitated off the ground, a look of utter terror on his face.

Miseo jumped towards him and slashed him in two with a single, flying kick, sending blood and guts into the air. Both parts of the already dead Droxian fell to the ground.

Miseo landed back on the ground and shook his head from side to side to express his disappointment.

The ground shook as three mechs landed near his position. They were fifty feet tall, a Droxian piloting each of them near the center of its steel torso. Each extended one arm and fired an extremely powerful plasma shot towards him.

Upon impact a large explosion engulfed Miseo. He emerged from the flames unscathed and flew at impossible speed towards the first mech, with his right arm extended, and punched though the torso of the mech warrior, exploding the pilot into pieces. The mech exploded soon after.

The other two mechs directed more plasma attacks towards Miseo’s position in the air. None of them found their targets. Miseo appeared as though he teleported in and out of thin air, dodging every shot with ease. The previously dispatched soldiers were returning, and added their blasters’ firepower to the mix, but to no avail. Not a single shot touched the Fury.

“This is getting boring,” he said before unleashing an animalistic roar that froze everyone’s blood.