Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (62 page)

“Yes, it should be able to be done Sir.”

“Good, get to it.”

“Volen Cargo Vessel.
Your actions are hostile. This is your last request
to shut down your engines and
weapon’s
systems. Do so
immediately or face retaliation!”

The Captain pulled the weapons control arm from its
position beside the seat to front of him. He energized the unit and it flashed
a targeting reticule on the main screen. Eight Starfighters appeared as small
symbols. He placed four aiming marks on the closest four Starfighters and
fired.

Four bright flashes sped towards their targets in an
instant. The energy bolts impacted harmlessly on the Starfighter’s shields.
Instantly all eight Starfighters returned fire but the Captain had released six
insulated canisters of water which exploded a short distance from his ship and
in the absolute zero of space froze instantly into sheets of ice. Five of the
energy shots from the Starfighters shattered the ice and harmlessly spun off
into space. Three shots hit the shields and their energy was absorbed at a
small cost of shield efficiency.

The Captain dived again and spiralled away from the
approaching Starfighters which easily countered his move and fired another
salvo of shots. The Captain did not have the time to deploy the water canisters
and his shields absorbed all eight shots. The space around the ship shook
violently and vibrations rattled the ship intensely. The Starfighters fired
again and again. The Captain deployed more water canisters and fired rapidly at
now moving targets. None of his shots penetrated any Starfighter’s shields but
his shields took another six direct hits.

“Shields down by forty percent!”
The Captain shouted as his body shook with the impact
of further hits on his failing shields, “how long Ensign!?”

“Just a few more moments’ Sir,” the Ensign replied but
was shaken violently and thrown out of his seat to the deck. He got to his feet
and fell again with the next impact. The Captain got out of his seat, picked
the Ensign up and shoved him back. He staggered back to his weapon’s control
arm and set the water canister deployment on auto as well as auto targeting and
firing sequencing. He knew it would momentarily steady the ship but would
exhaust his water canister supply quickly.

The Captain ran along the gangway and down the ladder
to the lower gangway and through to the cargo hold. He grabbed the Emperor’s
canister quickly and undid the holding clamps and dragged it to the back of the
cargo hold. He banged a panel on the wall and its cover flew off. A large
explosion hit close to the hull outside the ship and briefly shut off the power
systems before the automatic sensors reinstalled power. The Captain was knocked
off his feet by another explosion and went flying into the cargo hold hitting a
pallet of hard metallic boxes. He staggered to his feet bleeding profusely from
a cut above his right eye. He wiped the blood away with the back of his hand
and staggered back to the control panel. He punched in a code and the door of
the escape pod swung open. He pushed the canister inside and quickly snapped
holding grips onto it.

He rushed out of the pod back through the cargo hold
to the end of the gangway and started up the ladder but looked back and saw
Torquay’s canister. He shook his head and spat blood. “Damn it!” he shouted and
ran back, unlocked Torquay’s canister and dragged it to the escape pod, opened
its door and secured it into place. 

The ship’s shields were at twenty percent when the
Captain returned to the Bridge. The water canisters were exhausted. He wiped
blood from his eyes and looked at his screen. He saw no Starfighters were
damaged, but he already knew that. He looked at the Ensign and blinked rapidly
as blood stung his eyes.

“It’s ready Sir,” the Ensign shouted and handed the
Captain the remote. “The red button will initiate the blasters and the phasers.
They will fire a full circle of rapid, almost constant fire until the energy
supply exhausts. The blue button will fire the full bank of torpedoes in any
direction you point your remote to on the tactical screen.”

The Captain grabbed the remote; “good, come with me
Ensign,” the Captain commanded as a series of explosions got through the
weakened shields and hit the hull. Bright sparks erupted from the control panels
and instruments. Both men were blown off their feet and across the Bridge. They
landed heavily on the deck and the first to regain composure was the Captain.
He crawled over to the Ensign and dragged him to his feet. More explosions hit
the hull and the ship’s systems started to shut down, lighting faded, went out
and then flashed spasmodically; dense smoke from burning electronic boards
began filling the ship. The Captain dragged the Ensign down the gangway to the
ladder below and with a heave lifted him over the safety rail and onto the
ladder. The Ensign came to and grabbed the ladder instinctively and slid to the
deck below landing in a heap. The Captain crashed down on top of him, blown off
balance by another shattering blast on the ship’s hull.

Both men rolled away and scrambled on all fours down
the gangway to a pallet of boxes, grabbed it and pulled themselves up. Smoke
was filling the ship and sirens sounded. A red flashing light their only
illumination. The Captain hauled the Ensign down to the open escape pod and
shoved him in and started to close the door but it jammed. The Ensign was
holding it open from the other side.

“No Sir!” you go I will activate the…”

The Captain stepped around the door. He saw in the dim
light of the escape pod the Ensign was holding his hand to his side with blood
oozing through his fingers and his face was in agony. The Captain felt a wave
of sadness wash over him. “Forgive me,” he said and hit the Ensign a heavy blow
to his chin, the Ensign fell back into the escape pod unconscious. The Captain
slammed the door closed and grabbed the remote control from the wall.
Explosions impacted the hull more frequently but they had less power. They’ll
have a tractor beam on the ship soon, he thought as he made his way along the
gangway.

He made his way up the ladder and staggered to the
Bridge. He could barely make out anything with the smoke and blood in his eyes.
He sat heavily in his seat and grabbed the controls and with most systems
inoperative managed with great effort to fly the ship in a tight circle.

“Volen vessel.
Break off the engagement and shut your systems down.
Your ship is finished.”

“Finished is a term for the defeated,” the Captain
replied slowly.

“Sir, this is Commander
Ramout
of the 59
^th
Fighter Squadron. You have done what you can, please
save yourself and the Emperor. I will do all I can to ensure you are treated
with honour.”

“Thank you Commander. This mission has come to an end.
I will negotiate my surrender with the Assengi Commander only. This ship’s life
support systems are failing. I do not have long,” the Captain replied
exhausted.

“Understood Captain, please shut your engines and
weapons down.”

The Captain shut his engines down and put the weapon’s
system on standby.

“Your weapons are on standby, please shut them down.”

“I can’t,” the Captain replied. “The Console is not
responding.
Life support systems at five percent and
dropping!”

The Black Priest’s ship appeared almost immediately
and applied a tractor beam to the damaged ship.

Out of nowhere and under the specific orders from the
new Admiral of the Confederate Tactical Fleet a Squadron of Starfighters
decloaked
around the Black Priest’s ship and his escort
Squadron. “This is Imperial Starfighter Patrol on the Orders of the Empress.
You are to release that ship into my custody immediately.”

The Black Priest exploded in a rage. “Shoot them,” he
screamed at his Captain.

“My Lord, they are Imperial Starfighters.”

The Black Priest rushed forward and grabbed his
Captain by the throat, “do not ever, question my orders,” he hissed and put his
Captain under hypnotic command. “Shoot them!”

Three torpedoes immediately left the Black Priest’s
ship all aimed at the lead Starfighter. At such close range the first two
exploded on its shields but they damaged the shields sufficiently to allow the
third torpedo to penetrate and hit the hull. The Starfighter exploded in a
gigantic ball of flame. Immediately the remainder of the new squadron broke
away and circled in combat formation and returned fire.

`

“Drive them off Commander,” the Black Priest ordered
his Escort Commander, “That is an ORDER!” he screamed. Four of his squadron
broke off and flew in tactical response against the new Starfighter squadron.
The Black Priest’s ship took four direct hits on its shields and the tractor
beam was severed.

The Captain of the Palace Guard pushed the red switch
and the Volen craft spun and spun as its blasters and phasers fired nonstop.
The surprise was complete, all the Starfighters dispersed into space chasing
one another. The Volen ship then ceased to spin when the energy to the weapons
system was exhausted. The Captain was nearly unconscious and with a super
effort pointed his remote at the screen lining up with the Black Priest’s ship.
He pressed the blue button and then the release of the escape pod and slumped
back into his seat unconscious. None of the Starfighters appeared to react to
the pod leaving the stricken ship as it had rudimentary cloaking, as most Volen
smugglers escape pods are designed to do in the case when the main ship was
being attacked.

A series of seven torpedoes flew directly toward the
Black Priest’s ship. The Captain of the Black Priest’s ship was under the
effect of mental fogginess due to hypnotic influence and took no counter
measures, just staring as the torpedoes sped toward him striking the shields.
The Black Priest ran with surprising speed to the rear of the ship as the
explosions burnt their way through the shields and the last two torpedoes sped
through to the outer hull and detonated. The Bridge crew died instantly as the
upper deck was engulfed with flame. The rush of air and fire escaped into the
vacuum of space. An explosion started in the ship’s fuel core gathering
momentum quickly engulfing the whole ship.

The Black Priest’s ship ignited and detonated into a
massive fireball engulfing the Volen craft in a white hot ball of flame. The
expanding explosion peaked and a mirror like sheet of energy momentarily hung
in space then disintegrated into a billion, billon particles of shattered light
spreading in all directions.

The circling Starfighters stopped shooting at each
other and stared as the sparks returned to the blackness of space.

“All Starfighters disengage hostilities at once and
form up in your respective Squadrons. Return to base, this mission is over,”
The Squadron Commander ordered as he gathered up his Starfighters as those of
the Imperial Squadron disengaged and formed in squadron formation. They all
disappeared under full hyper drive.

Two escape pods travelling in opposite directions
along with a massive amount of debris from the remnants of the destroyed ships
was the only movement in the vast expanse of that sector.

                                                           
---------

“Can we leave now,” Cassy asked stunned as she tore
her eyes off the viewing screen to look at Toormis.

“Not yet Cassy,” Toormis answered as he checked the
ship’s status. The Traveller had most of her systems shut down as she drifted
within a large cloud of space debris Toormis had put the ship in to avoid the
Squadron of approaching Starfighters. “We must be sure the area is not being
scanned before we power up our systems.”

“That single ship must have been on a suicide
mission,” Peter commented, “couldn’t it outrun them?”

“Not likely,” the Administrator answered. “It was
cornered and was no match for one Starfighter let alone two squadrons. It was a
brave thing it did to take out the Command ship and a foolish action for that
ship to allow a doomed ship to get so close.”

“Yes,” Toormis agreed. “All they had to do was
wait
. But that Command ship took out one of the
Starfighters. There was something very dramatic about that engagement,
treachery no doubt.” He said.