Far From Home: The Complete Series (16 page)

A battle raged below his feet, and when he looked down he saw a war zone. Fire, blood, screams of agony. Explosions. Misery.

It was in this battle that he had ended. That he’d been pushed away. But war, a force of nature in itself, was not yet ready to let go. It pulled him back, breathed new life into his body. Made him return from death; reborn with hatred to fulfil the bitter and twisted torments of his masters.

And now, he felt himself come back together. The darkness fell to the side. He opened his eyes, expecting the blazes of hell that surely awaited him. But there were only stars. And a bright blue nebula.

Perhaps next time,
he thought.

* * *

His ship tumbled through space, powerless. Every circuit blown, life support failing.

That’s fine,
he thought.
I don’t need it anyway.

He reached under his seat and activated the emergency beacon that would signal his presence to any Draxx forces within twenty light years.

Carn caught movement from the side of his cockpit. He looked in time to see Hawk’s fighter zoom past. For whatever reason the human’s ship still had minimal power, at least. He tensed, wondered if Hawk would do an about face and make a visual reconnaissance of the area. With his own ship dead in the water, it wouldn’t show up on any immediate scans, but if he was
seen …

His fears were rendered moot when Hawk’s fighter limped away toward the nebula.

He doesn’t realise I’m already here,
Carn thought.

He watched Hawk go, then settled in for a long wait. The temperature in his cockpit dropped dramatically, the air grew thin, but it was of no matter. The General could stand exposure to the void itself for several days before it would have any real effect on him.

He closed his eyes and drifted away, deep in meditation.

* * *

The ship rocked from side to side. It broke his state of mental tranquillity. Carn opened his eyes to find himself staring at the back end of an enormous vessel. He could tell straight away that it was Draxx in design. His ship bucked in the eddy from the vessel’s engines.

They’re here to collect me,
he thought. And then he saw Hawk’s fighter fly underneath and away. Seconds later an enormous explosion blasted from the front of the gigantic ship, and it visibly lost power. The engines and lights died and it listed to port.

He knew straight away that the passage through the black hole had knocked out the larger ship’s power and obviously its shields. For Union weapons to render such a critical blow, with one hit, they’d picked their moment well.

Once more, he waited.

An hour later, there were signs of power again on the gigantic ship. It righted itself and seemed to have recovered from the hit that Hawk had delivered to it.

Then, when he began to wonder whether it would ever notice him, the vessel fired a grappler at his ship. He eased back in his chair as the larger ship reeled him in.

2.

BEFORE …

Sepix smiled.

The
Defiant
limped away like a wounded Grivnak. It gave Prince Sepix pleasure to see the human scum try to run for their lives. That was all they had done since their first meeting.
Run.

Now he would bring an end to the chase. His crew had no idea where the singularity had spat them out, but it was of no matter. The Draxx Dominion would do what it did best, wherever it was.

Dominate.

“Lock on weapons,” he ordered. “Maintain stealth status, and when I give the word, open fire.”

Minutes ticked by, and then “The enemy has increased speed.”

Now was the time.

Sepix slammed his fists down on the front console. “Fire!”

The helmsman let loose a burst of warheads. They flared away from the
Inflictor
on a direct collision course with the
Defiant
.

Sepix watched in anticipation of the coming explosion, salivating.

Out of nowhere a small starfighter appeared, firing streams of energy at their warheads. They erupted like fireworks. Not a single one of them hit the
Defiant
.

The fighter shot down another swarm of Draxx warheads.

“What!?” Sepix yelled.

He watched as the little ship picked off the last projectile with a swift burst of fire.

“Target that little ship! NOW!” he roared, furious. A few heartbeats later a single warhead shot toward the fighter. It was set to track and follow it until it caught up.

The small craft ducked and dove, but the Draxx weapon stayed on its tail, inching closer and closer.

At first Sepix chuckled.

His expression changed to one of confusion then surprise as the fighter headed straight for the
Inflictor
. He cocked his head to one side.

“What is he doing - ?”

The little ship waited till the last minute, then ducked sharp beneath the
Inflictor
. The warhead slammed directly into the front of her. The huge hull took the full force of the hit. Sepix was thrown backward. The bridge burst into flame. The
Inflictor
shook as if riding a tectonic plate.

Sepix had time to look up at the viewscreen and see the fighter heading away. Then the screen went blank, overloaded.

He scrambled to his feet, looked around him at the destruction the warhead had done. Now the
Inflictor
was crippled. The
Defiant
would be long gone by the time they were operational again. His rage boiled over. He lifted his arms into the air and screamed.

* * *

The
Inflictor
was in chaos, and Sepix worked hard to ensure it was a controlled bedlam. While Carn floated undetected nearby in a state of meditation, the ship’s crew scrambled to fight the multiple fires across the ship. The old Union vessel had dealt a lucky blow, and probably bought themselves some time. Sepix knew that the minute they restored full power again, he’d resume his hunt. And this time he would not let the
Defiant
slip through his fingers.

“Report!” he yelled.

His senior command crew reported the situation of the various sections of the ship to him in tandem. They were making good progress so far, but it wasn’t quick enough. It was never quick enough.

They’d suffered a temporary leak of reactor coolant following the explosion. It required someone to enter the chamber and redirect the coolant flow. But the assignment meant certain death. Sepix sent seventeen Draxx to their deaths, one by one, in order to get the job done.

He was reminded of an old Draxx proverb:
The needs of the Dominion outweigh the needs of all.

“We have main power, my lord!” the Engineer reported through the comm. system.

Sepix grinned. The
Inflictor
shuddered as power was restored to the engines. The deck levelled out as she righted herself.

“Excellent,” he said.

The weapons master spun about in his seat. “Lord, I have detected an emergency beacon directly aft.”

Sepix cocked his head to one side, surprised.

“What shall we do?” the officer asked him.

“Scan it. Make sure it isn’t a Union ploy,” Sepix said. He was well aware that it could be a warhead fitted with an emergency beacon. “Then fire the grappling hook and bring it on board.”

“Yes sir!” the officer replied.

Sepix pointed a claw at him. “And you’d better be sure it isn’t a ploy, or you will join your comrades in the coolant chamber. Your remains will liquefy just as well as theirs, I assure you.”

* * *

Sepix stood in the hangar bay with his hands behind his huge back. He watched patiently as the Draxx fighter was lifted inside. It was of an older design, and the sight of the craft struck a chord, as though he should remember it for being important somehow.

It made a loud clang as it settled heavily upon the deck. A legion of troops stood by with their weapons raised, lest the occupant prove hostile. Sepix strode forward until he stood six feet from the cockpit.

The hatch opened slowly, and as it did the air from the hangar rushed into the ship. It threw him a moment before he realised it was rushing to fill a vacuum. There had been no air inside the fighter.

But how -

The pilot stepped out, onto the deck. Sepix watched in disbelief as the pilot looked about at the hangar. He got down on one knee in front of Sepix and lowered his head.

“My lord. We are not yet met,” the pilot said. “But you are clearly of pure blood. The oath I gave your predecessors still stands now. I am your loyal servant, and at your command.”

The pilot looked up.

Sepix saw nothing through that mirrored mask but his own face staring down. “Accepted. Rise, General,” he said, the words alien on his lips.

Carn stood. Sepix turned and walked slowly across the hangar bay. Carn fell in step with him.

“You’re right, I do not know you. Only of you. You were once a great a hero to our people,” Sepix said.

After a moment, Carn said “Forgive me, I can tell that time has passed, but not how much. How long has it been?”

“Fifty years,” Sepix said.

Another long silence. “And the war to quell the Human plague?”

Sepix nodded. “Yes, the purge continues.”

“Excellent …”
Carn said, pleased to find that though time might have moved on, other things hadn’t. There was still a place for him. And a job to do.

3.

“Report!” Captain King ordered as she strode onto the bridge.

On the viewscreen the image showed the swirling maelstrom of the nebula, and coming up on their left the huge bulk of the
Inflictor.

“We are at red alert, hull plating polarised,” Change reported.

“Very good,” King said. “Boi, open a channel. Try to hail them.”

She sat down and strapped herself in. There was the sound of boots on deck plating, and she turned her head in time to see Commander Greene walk onto the bridge followed closely by Gerard Nowlan.

Before she could say anything, Boi reported that a connection had been made.

“Put it up, Ensign,” she said.

The front viewscreen changed to a familiar face. Prince Sepix.

“We meet again,” Sepix said with obvious relish. He looked dishevelled but very much alive.

“Your highness. What a pleasure. I thought you were dead,” King said.

“Reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated, to say the least,” Sepix said.

“I can see that,” King said. “Although the ship looks a little different this time around …”

Sepix made a show of looking around. “She is a little worse for wear following our previous encounter, Captain. But otherwise none the weaker. And now, allow me to introduce a long, lost hero of the Dominion. You may know him from your history books!”

He stepped to the side to allow the newcomer to the conversation. The sleek form appeared beside him, his face nothing but a curve of mirrored armour. Of course Jessica remembered who this figure was. The most famous adversary of the Union and a renowned warlord of the Draxx Dominion. No one had ever seen the face behind that mirror mask.

Jessica heard Nowlan gasp next to her at the sight of him.

“General Carn,” Sepix said with a smile.

The General nodded slowly. “Deactivate your defences. You are now the prisoners of the Draxx Dominion. Prepare to be boarded. Failure to comply would be futile.”

The line was cut. The viewscreen changed back to show the enemy vessel.

King looked from Captain Nowlan to Commander Greene.

“What do we do?” Greene asked. “We’ve only just got this tub back together.”

Jessica nodded. Her jaw tightened.

“What choice do we have?” she said. She stood up, resolute. “All hands …
battle stations!
”

4.

Hawk shook his head. “He wasn’t there. When I came through he wasn’t there.”

“That doesn’t matter now. He’s here. Let’s deal,” King said. “The
Inflictor
isn’t shooting yet, but it will be. They’re only gonna give us a small window of time before they start pushing so we’ve got to come up with something now.”

“If we head further into the nebula, I’ve detected a dense asteroid field. We could use that to our advantage to evade them,” Chang offered.

“Good,” King said. “Our smaller size could work to our advantage. Give Banks the helm, the coordinates ready to go. Commander, what do you think?”

Greene crossed his arms. “That’s a good starting point for our
de
fensive, but what about the
off
ensive? We can’t keep taking punches without landing a few ourselves …”

“He’s right. Y’all gotta have a plan of attack,” Hawk said.

“Any suggestions, Captain?” King asked him. She glanced at the viewscreen. The
Inflictor
was getting closer and closer.

Hawk bit his lip as he thought for a moment. “I don’t know what yuh got in terms of fighters, but we’d never hold our own against a ship that size. Sounds crazy but we could take the fight to them. Get on board and set some explosives. Might be tricky, but -“

“It’s all we’ve got,” Jessica said.

“Captain, they have power but their energy shields are still out,” Chang said.

Jessica nodded. “Good. It’s the bit of luck we’ve been waiting for. Captain Nowlan, will you lead a team to that thing?”

Hawk threw a lopsided grin. “‘Course.”

“Commander, I’d like you to go with him. Assemble a strike team.”

“Aye,” Greene said.

“Ensign Boi, please notify Munitions we’ll be borrowing a nuke,” King said.

There was an intake of breath from those present on the bridge.

“A
nuke?
You’re not pulling any punches are you?” Greene said.

She shook her head. “If we only get to deliver one punch, it’d better be the hardest we’ve got.”