Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) (8 page)

“So do I,” said Chase, getting back up.

One by one, he ran around and did the same thing to
each of his friends. As Sarah had received the least damage, she was his last
stop. But the second he got to her, his eyes filled with tears.

He covered her in strands of light, and watched
silently as the power took effect. When it was done, he leaned back on his
heels, exhausted and anxious, and waited for Sarah to open her eyes…

Captain Saroudis arrived on the bridge of the SAD
Cronos
and happily approached his old friend, Admiral Thassos.

“Admiral.”

“Adonis,” she corrected him, “how many times do I
have to remind you to call me by my first name?”

“Very well, how are you, Ally?” Saroudis asked with
a smile.

“I’m fine. What about you?”

“Very well, considering the last few months. You
have no idea how much of a relief it was to see your battle group arrive.”

“You had things under control. I’m sure you would
have prevailed.”

“Maybe, but that’s not what I meant.”

“I know what you meant.” The admiral nodded slowly.
“I’m very happy to see you survived as well.”

“Any news of the home world? Maybe more ships
survived?”

“The Sixth Fleet protecting the home world fought to
the death but they were overwhelmed by impossible numbers. They protected Alpha
Prime as long as they could but… it fell.”

Saroudis’ heart dropped. “Did you ever go back there
to see if there were survivors?”

“We’ve tried but Obsidian left a substantial amount
of ships in orbit. In the end, I decided it was too much of a risk. At the
time, the battle group had suffered too much damage for us to even attempt any
kind of rescue.”

“I understand. We were in bad shape ourselves.”

“I bet. So I’m being told you allied yourself with a
planet called Earth,” Ally said expectantly.

“Yes, against my better judgment. But it has proven
to be the right thing to do.”

“Why against your better judgment?”

“Technologically speaking, they really aren’t even
space-worthy.”

She nodded. “Ah, the first contact directive.”

“Yes, but one of my trusted officers made a
compelling argument at the time.”

“I guess sometimes we have no other choice but to
break the rules.”

“Exactly,” he agreed. “How did the negotiations go
with the Droxians?”

“It’s still ongoing, but I simply couldn’t take it
anymore. My second-in-command took over. Let’s just say they are in agreement
with some reservations.”

He smiled, knowing full well the drudgery of the
legalese. “Well, since you just spent so much time negotiating down there, you
must be tired of talking through it right now. Perhaps you’d like to tell me
more sometime later. Over dinner, perhaps?”

“That sounds like a good idea.” She smiled. “I just
wish we could eat something different than rations. We’re running out of
quadrinium even though the Droxians agreed to provide us with as much as we
need from now on.”

“Well, if you’d like to come onboard the
Destiny
,
I think we can arrange something better than rations, Adm—sorry—Ally.”

“That sounds like a terrific idea. But before we do,
we should probably go back to Earth. I heard it got hit badly. Any news?”

“We’ve received communications from our officers on
the planet,” began Captain Saroudis. “It’s not pretty. There were a lot of
casualties and quite a bit of civil unrest. We should indeed get back there as
soon as possible.”

“Agreed. For the time being, this is still your
show. I’m not here to take control of your new Alliance.” She raised her hands
innocently.

“I appreciate that, but you should probably take
command further down the road.”

“We’ll see. You know me, give me a battle group and
a target, and I’m happy.”

Saroudis laughed. “Well, in that case you should
feel ecstatic, because targets are not what we miss nowadays.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as happy, but we certainly
have lots to do and many battles ahead of us,” she replied.

“Is your fleet capable of jumping back to Earth with
us?”

“Absolutely. As soon as our chambers are reloaded we
can be on our way.”

“Good. I’ll return to the
Destiny
and prepare
my crew for the jump.” He suddenly hesitated. “Perhaps you’d like to come with
me for that dinner? Make the jump onboard the
Destiny
?”

“Yes, I guess there’s no reason for me to stay with
my ship during the jump,” she said gratefully. “Give me an hour or two to
finalize the preparations here regarding the quadrinium distribution and I’ll
be there.”

“I am really happy you’re alright, Ally.”

“You said that already.”

“That’s how happy I am.”

*   *   *

Back in the
Destiny’s
captain’s ready room,
Admiral Thassos sat on her chair while Captain Saroudis pushed it under her.

“Thank you, Adonis. Quite the gentleman. What smells
so good?”

“I’m told this is called Chicago-style, deep-dish,
pepperoni pizza.”

“I have no idea what that means, but I can’t wait to
have some.”

The captain walked around the table and took the
chair facing his old friend. “I did some research and it appears this is a very
ancient dish from Earth that evolved over the centuries. The original recipe
included the flesh of animals.”

“Yuck!” Ally said, unable to hide her disgust.

“I know, but our food synthesizers just replicate
the taste. I have to admit, I did try meat on Earth and it tastes delicious.
But I prefer eating the synthetized version.”

She gave him a look. “Alright, as long as no animal
was injured in the preparing of this meal, I am happy to eat it. The smell is
intoxicating.”

“The taste is even better,” Saroudis replied,
picking up his fork.

Admiral Thassos took a bite and her eyes lit up
immediately. “This is probably one of the best things I have ever tasted in my
entire life.” She placed one hand over her full mouth to avoid being rude, but
quickly cut another piece for herself.

“Earthlings are very talented when it comes to
making rich and decadent food. Their original recipes are not exactly healthy,
but thanks to our technology, we can replicate the taste almost perfectly
without the health problems of their originals.”

“To tell you the truth, even if it wasn’t healthy, I
don’t think I could force myself not to eat this right now. It’s just too
delicious.” She smiled and took another bite.

“Yes, that was part of their problem on Earth as
well. It led to obesity and cardiovascular problems, and a host of other
ailments within their population.”

“But how do they feel eating the flesh of animals?”

“They’ve been doing it for so long, centuries in
fact, that I don’t think they think about it one way or another. There are
people against it, of course, but this is a planet with many beliefs and
different cultures and ways of life. Eating one animal in one religion is
permitted, but could be construed as a crime in another.”

“And do they get along with such diversity? That
must have created conflicts,” Admiral Thassos inquired.

“Before we arrived, yes, it did. In fact, there were
small wars going on all over the planet. That being said, each country seemed
fine respecting their own cultural aspects within their own borders. Actually,
it’s more complicated than that, but I don’t want to bore you with such
details. Let’s just say, the intervention of the Olympian Aphroditis changed
all that,” Captain Saroudis added without thinking.

Admiral Thassos dropped her fork. “What?”

“Oh yes…” the captain backtracked quickly, “… that.”

“Yes,
that
! Mind explaining? The Olympians exist?”

Saroudis took a deep breath before responding. “They
do. Look, here’s what happened. When we arrived in this area of space, we
didn’t know where to go to mend our damaged ships. I wanted to go to an
abandoned world.”

“Logical choice. No surprises on an uninhabited
world.”

“Not exactly. Do you remember Chase? The one who
asked you for an Omega fighter?” Admiral Thassos nodded. “Well, he was adamant
that Earth was the key to our future. I had my doubts.”

“What changed your mind?”

“His explanation was… persuasive. It certainly
didn’t hurt that he had a gun to my head.”

Her jaw dropped open. “You’re not serious?”

“Well, he had been contacted by Aphroditis, who
pretty much ordered him to do whatever it would take to make sure we went to
save Earth.”

“Save?”

“Yes, our jump in the area attracted unwanted
attention. We believe it was the reason why Earth was about to be attacked.”

“Let me stop you right there, Adonis. You were
convinced at gun point, by a guy who told you he heard a goddess talk to him?
That sounds really ludicrous.”

“I know how it sounds,” Saroudis replied, “but I
guess you had to be there. There was something about him that was so sincere.
And I’ve always been fascinated with the tales of the Olympian divinities, even
though they lost traction with our people so long ago.”

“Legends at best.”

“Most legends are based on some sort of truth.”

“So you really believe the gods of Olympia exist?”
she asked.

“They do exist, yes. Well, at least Aphroditis does.
We haven’t had any communications with any other Olympian. They seem to be a
more advanced species. Perhaps not gods, but at this point, I don’t really
care. They came through for us, and forcing Chase’s hand to go to Earth was the
right call.”

“There goes your legend. It’s debunked itself. Why
should we trust these people? I don’t like the idea of being controlled. They
could be setting us up; have you thought of that?”

He nodded seriously. “The thought had crossed my
mind, yes, but the results speak for themselves. If it wasn’t for them, we
wouldn’t have struck an Alliance with the humans of Earth, we wouldn’t have
fended off their second attack, and we probably wouldn’t have regrouped with
you.”

“All well and good, but what if their game plan
involves sacrificing us all for their own purposes later down the road?” she
insisted.

“Like I said, you had to be there. When she
addressed the people of Earth, I felt her presence and I felt her intentions.
Those didn’t reflect the work of a mischievous being.”

“Or they did, and they use their superiority as a
race better than you think.”

“That sounds almost like paranoia.”

“We couldn’t have stayed alive this long without a
small dose of it, my friend.”

“Still, I believe they are on our side.”

“And for the sake of all of our lives, I hope you’re
right. But if you ever relinquish power to me, please know that I will approach
that particular subject with much more caution.”

Saroudis held up his hands. “You can take power; I
don’t have to relinquish it. In fact, it may be better for the troops if the
chain of command was respected. I think you should give the order now.”

She considered for a moment before agreeing. “I’ll
do it for the sole purpose of appearances, but for the time being, I will let
you decide our course of action—unless I see any reason for this to change. So
sure, just report to me, and inform me of your intentions. How does that
sound?”

“That sounds great.”

“Also, the humans are used to interacting with you,
Captain Saroudis. But I would like to change one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Nothing fancy, but I believe a rank change to
Commodore Saroudis is more than deserved in your case.”

He beamed back at her. “Are you serious?”

“You deserve it. Heck, you deserved that rank way
before all of this, if you ask me.”

“Thank you, Ally. It means a lot that you would
think so.”

She smiled at him warmly and the two continued to
eat their deep-dish pizza in a comfortable silence.

Sarah slowly opened
her eyes and focused on Chase’s face. She blinked, partially because she
couldn’t believe her eyes, partially to make sure she actually could, and felt
every sensation in her body begin to come back to her once more. It was
liberating beyond belief.

“Chase, I’m so glad—”

But then he was kissing her. She forgot herself
entirely and lost herself in his arms, closing her eyes and melting against his
body in sheer exhaustion and relief. All the tears Argos wouldn’t let her cry
before came streaming down her face, and when she finally looked up, Chase was
crying as well. They sat like that for a long time, just looking at each other,
softly stroking each other’s hair.

“I love you,” he said suddenly, causing even more
tears to fall.

The words were like a life raft, and she clung to
them with every bit of strength she had.

“I love you too.”

Despite how many times Chase had thought the words
while Sarah was away, no matter how many times she had imagined them during her
brutal interrogation, it was actually the first time either one of them had
said the words aloud.

They embraced once more and Sarah shivered at his
touch. She had pictured this moment happening so many times, now that she was
finally in Chase’s arms, half of her was worried it wasn’t real.

“I can’t… I can’t believe you’re actually here.”

“Why is that?” Chase murmured against her hair. “You
had to know I’d come for you.”

“Yes, but Argos—”

“Shh,” he soothed her, “that’s all over now. You’re
safe.”

She stifled a shudder. “Chase… is he really your
brother?”

Chase shifted uncomfortably. “I’m… not sure. We do
have a few things in common—”

“Yes, but he has incredible powers,” Sarah cut him
off in rush. “He’s absolutely ruthless and he’s gunning for you, Chase, and—”

“Actually… we fought just a few moments back and I
think I got him pretty good.” He couldn’t help but feel proud. Proud and
deeply
satisfied. “That being said, I wouldn’t want to risk our lives if I’m wrong. I
think we need to get out of here. Somehow I seriously doubt killing him would
be that easy…”

“Where is he?” Sarah looked around in fright. “Are
we still in Hellstar?”

“Yes we are,” Ryonna interjected. “I’m sorry to
interrupt this private moments of yours, but I believe if we ever want to get
away from here, now’s the time.”

“Right you are,” Chase agreed. With incredibly
gentle arms, he lifted Sarah up then delicately tilted her body so she could
stand. “Can you walk?”

She tested her weight gingerly and was surprised.
“Yes, I feel perfectly fine. Better than ever, in fact.”

“Thank the gods. Hang on a second.” Chase took a
small device from one of his pockets and pressed it. “Chase to
Iron Fire
,
we’re coming in soon, but I’m not sure if we will still be cloaked. Be ready to
lay cover fire if needed and make sure you avoid getting in too close. Those
ion turrets could rip the ship in two.”

Lieutenant Rathos onboard the
Iron Fire
answered.
“Glad to hear from you, sir; we were starting to get worried here. We’ll be
staying just out of range of the ion turrets and will provide cover fire if
needed.”

“Also, the minute we’re onboard, execute a jump to
Earth.”

“Understood. See you soon, Lieutenant Commander
Athanatos. Rathos out.”

Sarah looked at Chase with a surreal smile, still
unable to completely believe that the ordeal was over. “Chase, what cloak? What
type of vessel did you come here with?”

“I’ll have to tell you more about it, but some new
kind of Alliance starfighter.”

“Will we all fit in it?”

He hesitated. “I admit I didn’t intend on having
that many passengers.” His eyes flickered to Tar’Lock. “I hope we can fit
everyone in the cargo hold.”

Tar’Lock took a step towards Chase. “I understand if
you need to leave me behind. Maybe I can find my own way out.”

“No way.” Chase shook his head quickly, keeping a
constant hand on Sarah the whole time. “Without your help we would most likely
all be dead. I am not leaving you behind.”

“That’s very honorable of you. My physiology allows
me to bend much more than yours, so maybe with some creativity, we’ll find
something that works.”

Chase nodded and motioned to the ship. “Alright,
let’s not lose another second here. I’m sure more sentries and whatever guards
they have will come back soon.”

They went through the hole in the gate and started
their run towards the landing bays. A few meters before reaching the wide
double doors, some laser fire came from down the hall. Chase reacted
instinctively, pushing both Sarah and Ryonna out of the way at the last moment,
then started running towards the incoming fire, deflecting each new laser
streak towards the walls with his hands as he did so.

As he approached the source of the attack, he saw a
humanoid inside a huge, armored machine, two powerful rifles at the tip of its
arms. Probably a crowd-control type of defense system in case the sentries
weren’t able to regain control of the facilities, Chase thought. It was
beginning to be more and more difficult to advance, as the floor was layered
with an increasingly thick layer of dead or dying convicts who had failed to
escape. In fact, he realized as he got closer, he was soon going to lose enough
speed that it was only a matter of time before he and his companions joined
them.

There was a split second’s pause, a brief moment of
hesitation, then Chase let his instincts take over.

He leapt up—up and onto the side of the wall. But he
didn’t stop there. Without slowly his body for a second, he began sprinting
reverted across the very ceiling.

“Chase, what the—” he heard Daniel say, trailing
behind him. But there was no time to explain. And to be perfectly frank, he
didn’t understand it himself. All he knew was that time was running out and
this was what he had to do.

In no time at all, he was upon his foe. He joined
both his hands together and used them as a hammer to strike the mech right in
the face. It flew and crashed tens of meters away. Before it could get back on
its feet, he lifted his hand and sent an ice-blue fireball flying its way. A
second later, the mech had exploded. The guard crawled out from inside, still
smoldering, and Chase was by his side in an instant.

Using a bit of the same healing magic he’d conjured
for his new insect friend, he revived the man just enough to get him breathing
again.

A moment later, Tar’Lock was at his side. “Is that
wise?” he asked doubtfully.

“I don’t really care,” Chase replied. “He might just
get to live for another few minutes depending on how things go inside this hell
hole, but I didn’t want to be the one who drew his last breath. He was only
doing his job after all. We’re the intruders here.”

Tar’Lock nodded but stared at Chase speculatively.
“I must admit it was an impressive takedown.”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get used to my powers.”

The insect made an impressed clicking sound. “I’d
hate to be on the wrong side of things, whether you master them or not.”

Chase chuckled. “Well, I don’t know you very well,
but I doubt that will happen. I really appreciate your help and hope you can
stay with us when we reach Earth.”

“Is that an official invitation?”

“Did it sound like anything else?”

It was Tar’Lock’s turn to laugh. “I’m sorry. After
years in this place, I’m not used to acts of kindness, no matter the
circumstances. Thank you, Chase. I accept your invitation.”

“You’re welcome. Now with all due respect, let’s get
the hell out of here.”

They rushed back to the landing bays where the rest
of the party was waiting near the Omega fighter. The cloak was not fully
operational anymore and the silhouette of the ship blinked in and out of
existence, giving it an almost creepy vibe. Chase approached and it de-cloaked
fully, as it was programmed to do so.

“I think we can fit three people in the cockpit,
perhaps Tar’Lock as well,” he declared. “It won’t be a pleasant flight, but
hopefully it will only last a minute tops.” He touched a panel at the back of
the ship and a small ramp lowered to the ground, revealing a small cargo hold.
“I’m afraid two persons will have to crawl in there.”

Ryonna stepped forward. “My son and I should go in
there.”

“I’m not sure you’ll both fit.”

“We’ll just have to. There’s no room for us in the
cockpit. Ronan, get in.”

While Ronan was just a young Droxian, he was still
as tall as Chase, but he fit without issue in the small cargo hold. However,
there was no way Ryonna could do the same—no matter how hard she tried—without
at least one limb sticking out.

Chase glanced around nervously as the shouts of
oncoming sentries drifted their way. Ryonna followed his gaze and took a deep
breath. The next second, she snapped her leg at an absurd angle and folded it
up along beside her.

“That’s it, Chase.” Her voice was strained with
pain. “Let’s go.”

He and Daniel stared at her in shock as Sarah
covered her mouth with a gasp. “Did you just break your—”

“We’ve got to go!” she shouted. “Step on it!”

Without another word, Chase pressed the panel again
and it closed, pressing and pushing both bodies even further into the tiny
space. Then Sarah went into the cockpit followed by Daniel, squeezing together
onto one seat, while Chase took the main seat and Tar’Lock used his extreme
bending abilities to manage himself a position somehow on top of them, all
limbs extended against the canopy windows.

As Chase turned the engines on and lifted the
fighter from the landing bay, the four of them gazed down at Argos’ ship.

“Should we destroy it?” inquired Sarah.

“I was thinking about the same thing myself.”

“Take it down, Chase!” Daniel agreed.

“Alright.”

Without hesitation, he acquired a target lock on the
ship and squeezed the trigger. A volley of laser fire made direct impact, but
Argos’ shields must have been still up as they were instantly deflected in all
directions. One even hit their own fighter on the port wing. Chase immediately
stopped firing and carefully avoided another two shots, not easy to do inside a
landing bay with not much room to maneuver.

“Forget about it, Chase, we need to go,” said
Daniel.

“Agreed. Engaging cloak.”

The onboard computer spoke.

“Not enough power to engage cloak.”

“Dammit!” Chase keyed a few functions on the ship’s
touch pad, redistributing shield power to the cloak systems. The ship’s engine
made a higher frequency roar and the cloaked engaged. “We maybe have thirty
seconds of cloak… if we’re lucky.”

“Punch it then,” Daniel urged, impatient to get out
of there. He didn’t like closed spaces, and while he had gotten used to
cockpits over the years, being squeezed against both the walls and Sarah with a
smelly insectoid so near his face… It was a little too close for comfort.

Chase took the fighter out of the bay and hit the
afterburners as soon as they were out of Hellstar.

“How did you get the cloak back?” asked Sarah.

“I transferred any ounce of juice from the shields.”

“Is that wise?”

“We’re about to find out.” Chase opened a channel to
the
Iron Fire
. “We’re coming in hot. Cloak should fail any second and we
have no shields.”

“Understood, Lieutenant Commander.”

Some systems lights on the ship started to blink
orange then red. The cloak was failing.

“Will we make it?” Tar’Lock asked anxiously.

Chase frowned. “I don’t know. We need another five
seconds to get out of range of these turrets.”

Right on cue, the onboard computer sounded off.
“Target lock!”

“Oh crap. Hang on guys.”

Chase entered into a spin as some extremely powerful
green ion shot illuminated the canopy and grazed it.

“I never thought I’d say it,” Tar’Lock whimpered,
“and I’m really sorry about the timing too, but there is a slight possibility I
might soil myself here.”

Both Daniel and Sarah instinctively looked up,
Tar’Lock being only a few centimeters over their heads. He gave them a
constipated smile.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Sarah warned. She’d been
through a lot these past few days. She was in no mood to add this to her list.

“Not exactly the optimum position for me to control
every one of my bodily functions right now. I promise I will do my best to
avoid any leak.”

Daniel groaned as Sarah glared upwards. “And I
promise I will kick your ass otherwise.”

Another flash of green light illuminated the cockpit.