Shadow of the Blue Ring (42 page)

“Yeah, I know, I don’t get to go with you, do I?” Tasos said with a very disappointed tone to his voice. Since the revolution, his trip out to Alatennia with Kristea’s squad would likely have been the only excitement that he’d had and he seemed resigned to the fact that he was always going to be forced to sit out when it came to the real action.

“Sorry but captain Kristea was right, we can’t put you in harms way,” James agreed, “if we lose you, we lose the Artennes bloodline and that would be a disaster for the alliance. You need to stay somewhere safe while we do the dirty work.”

“That’s what everyone keeps telling me,” Tasos sighed, “I guess I’ll never see any action again like I did six years ago, I’ll always be the guy who they wrap up and keep safe while everyone else gets all the fun.”

“You should be honoured at this,” said Kristea, “you were born into the most important family in the alliance and you will be charged with a great position of responsibility. We protect you like this because we cannot afford to lose you.”

“I know, I get it…” Tasos huffed, “. . . I’ll show myself off the ship, its not like I’m any good to anyone here anyway.”

“Wait!” James called after him as he turned to leave, “I’ll walk you to the shuttles.”

James followed behind Tasos as he made his way off the bridge although he did not look overly happy to see James following.

“I can find my way to the shuttles on my own you know,” he said bitterly, “I don’t need someone holding my hand everywhere I go you know.”

“Look, we’re just a bit concerned about you, that’s all,” said James, “I’m just a captain who found his way in a revolution, I stumbled into this position by chance. I have no idea what its like to be born into something like this but I can understand that it must be incredibly difficult having to live with these kinds of regulations.”

“No, you didn’t stumble into it, you proved yourself in that position,” said Tasos, “you became a captain because you earned it. The only thing I have that earned me my position is my name. People follow you because they believe in what you stand for, people will be forced to follow me simply because of the family I was born into. I did not choose this, nor did I want this, I would much rather have gone to the academy and trained to one day become a captain in the Tolian fleet but instead I will be forced to sit at the head of the council and run the entire Freedom Alliance. I know that people don’t like me that much, in fact you and Amario were the only two people on the old ship that didn’t play tricks on me or spend the entire time talking me down, well apart from Kaydenne but that was different at the time.”

“Respect is a difficult thing to earn,” said James, “but if you show the people that you are prepared to do all the right things and you show them that you are capable of becoming the leader they need you to be, you will win them over. Captain Kristea knows what she is doing, listen to her advice, she will help to guide you to where you need to be.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Tasos, “when they made her my mentor, I was absolutely delighted. She doesn’t speak down to me or push me like all the other guys my father hires for me, she actually knows what it takes to be a leader and she knew how to win respect among her own people, even if her leaders did betray her. I just wish there were more people like her who were there for me to help me out. It’s one thing being lectured by a group of old politicians on how I should govern my people when it’s my time to lead and it’s entirely another to have someone there to back me up and support me every step of the way while also trying to teach me from experience.”

“You’ve lived a sheltered life, you don’t know what it’s like to live like a normal person and you haven’t been able to do all the things that you’ve wanted to do in life. Perhaps by depriving you of these things, your father is actually pushing you further away from where you need to be when what he should be doing is encouraging you.”

“Yeah, if only,” Tasos sighed, “I doubt I’ll ever get to do any of these things in life. I guess when everyone needs you to be the person who will one day lead an alliance that contains over fifty billion people, you don’t really get to choose how to live your own life.”

James could understand where Tasos was coming from. It would have been so much easier for him had he been an elected leader who had been chosen by the people in a democratic society but instead, Tolis was governed by a bloodline. While the Artennes bloodline had always existed on a moral code of responsibility, accountability and morality, it was not easy being born into a position of power such as this rather than being chosen by popular demand.

James allowed Tasos to take one of the Evening Star’s shuttles back over to the council ship where he would be reunited with his father in what was likely to be an interesting exchange of words. He himself had to wonder… would Tasos ever become the person that they needed him to be? Would he drop the attitude and become the mature and responsible leader that the alliance and the Tolian people needed or would his rule be a disaster? He was still young so there was still time to mould him into the person that they would need him to be but it would take a lot of time and effort by the right people. All James could do for now was ensure that there was still an alliance left for him to rule. With the shuttle out of the hangar and on it’s way, James opened a link to the bridge and gave the order for the fleet to move out. What was soon to come would decide the fate of the entire alliance and also of the once proud Al’cari race. Was there a chance to save the Al’cari? It seemed unlikely but he was not going to give up hope. It looked for all the world that there was only one option though and that was the detonation of the Shadow Bringer right at the heart of the Al’cari base. He would keep an open mind and if the chance to do things differently came up, he would do it. As it was though, he was ready to go ahead with the detonation. One way or another, it would all be over soon.

*     *     *     *     *

The alliance fleet dropped out of warp, arriving at the predicted co-ordinates that Kalmar had provided them with. It was a dark region of space, there were no stars of any kind for many light years around their position. They were now at the centre of the Blue Ring nebula. The interference from the nebula was causing some disruption to their long range sensors and communications but as far as they could tell, they had arrived at the site of the Al’cari base.

“Ivanov, can you get a fixed location on the Al’cari base?” James asked his tactical officer.

“I think so,” said Ivanov, “I’m detecting a small planetoid about seven million kilometres ahead with multiple signals matching those of the Al’cari ships as well as a number of Lataka frigates. I would be willing to bet anything that we are in the right place.”

“Any idea as to the numbers we might be facing?”

“At least five Al’cari ships and maybe three dozen Lataka frigates. It’s not as bad as we thought it might be but it’s still going to be difficult to get through, we’ve seen what just one of those Al’cari ships can do to us.”

They had a larger force at their side this time and they had measures in place to counter the Al’cari jamming technology but it didn’t change the fact that these very same ships had decimated alliance ships just days before. Even thought they knew their enemy, they were still in danger of suffering some serious casualties. Everyone knew what they had signed on for though, every soldier and officer in the fleet knew the risks but they were prepared to fight to protect the alliance from this enemy.

“You still thinking diplomacy is an option?” Ansare asked, “do you think the rest of the Al’cari will be as accommodating as the one on Alatennia?”

“I have no idea,” said James, “these Al’cari are fighting for a cause. If they succeed, the Shadow Bringer goes to an unknown force who could use it on any one of our worlds at any time. If we stop them, they are either wiped out or they go back to these masters as failures.”

“The only thing we can do is protect the alliance, James,” said Ansare, “if they aren’t willing to talk, we have to take that weapon and blow this place to hell. Remember, we aren’t wiping out an entire race, just a group of raiders who have been terrorising this sector for three decades.”

“Which means that the rest of their people, the women, the children, they’re all trapped under the rule of these others that they spoke of,” said James, “well, whatever, we should just get this whole thing underway. Stevens, open a channel to the alliance command ship.”

As before, Juarez, as well as admirals Raviano and Valentina were up on the screen of the Evening Star’s bridge. Having been doubted by several members of the fleet before the previous battle, no one had any doubts about James’s ability to lead them this time. It was all going to be in his hands.

“General Juarez, are you ready to end this?”

“I am, James, we’re all ready to do this,” Juarez replied, “the alliance fleet is ready and awaiting your orders. I doubt we’ll be able to use the maelstrom-helix this time though.”

“We’ll find a way to break through, don’t you worry,” said James, “as long as you can keep the Al’cari and the Lataka busy enough for us to make it to the surface and reach their base, we can end this and we can destroy the Shadow Bringer for good.”

“And not a moment too soon,” Raviano added, “captain Tavarez, are you confident that you can pull this off?”

“I am, sir,” said James, maintaining an air of confidence as he always did when speaking to those of a higher rank among the alliance, “if you can keep the Al’cari fleet out of our way and deploy your forces successfully on the surface of the base, this will be over before the day is out.”

“Then we will do everything that we can to ensure that you reach your target,” Raviano said, before turning to address the rest of the fleet over his ship’s comm system, “all ships, prepare to advance on the Al’cari base. Show no fear, no quarter and no weakness. Our enemy may be formidable but when the ten races of the Freedom Alliance come together, we are truly a force to be reckoned with. Show your enemy, their masters and whoever else might wish to challenge our alliance in the future the strength with which we can fight. Go forward and fight with honour, fight for your people, fight for your future… Raviano out.”

With those words, the entire alliance fleet, the Evening Star and the Vulian survivors from the previous battle made their advance, bearing down on the Al’cari base.

“This all hinges on you, James,” said Juarez, “get that weapon assembled and get it armed before we take too many casualties.”

“We’re ready, general Juarez,” James assured him, “we’ve made our preparations, we’ll get this done. We’ll see you all on the other side once this is over, captain Tavarez out…”

Cutting the channel, James turned to his assembled crew, ready for one final set of words before the battle begun. Once this speech was done, they were going headfirst into the heart of the Al’cari base.

“So… I guess it’s suicide mission mark two,” Saavoy broke the silence, “it’s been fun, really, it has.”

“I plan on bringing everyone out of this one alive, Kasha,” said James, “we all know what we have to do, we all have our orders, we just need to finish this and come out on the other side alive. Kaydenne, once those hangar doors open, it’s all down to you. Are you ready to show us how a gala champion can fly in the heat of battle?”

“Am I ever?” Melina said enthusiastically, more so about her latest chance to show off her skills rather than the mission itself, James assumed, “you can count on me to get us all down there alive.”

“Glad to hear it,” said James, “Jaiden, are the pieces of the Shadow Bringer ready for transport to the surface?”

“All loaded and ready to go,” said Kosare, “we’ve gone over the specs and the engineering teams know what they need to do. We can assemble this thing and we can get it working in good time.”

“Good, now, as for the rest of you…” James turned to Isha in particular, “. . . you all know what it is you have to do.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m not coming, am I?” Isha said to him with a look of longing that suggested she did not want to be left out. She seemed resigned to the fact that it was just too dangerous for her in her current predicament though and James was not prepared to risk her life again.

“I’m sorry,” James said to her, “I can’t put you in harms way like I did on Alatennia, I just can’t risk losing you. Stay here, take my seat, you’re in charge up here while I’m on the surface. You keep yourself and you keep our child out of harms way, Ok.”

“I promise,” she smiled, for the first time in what seemed like ages. Even with the whole crew assembled before them, the two of them could not resist the urge to hold each other one last time before the battle, sharing a kiss as they did so.

“This will be over before you know it,” James said as they broke apart, “we’ll be back home on Earth, picking out a new house and getting ready to settle down and start a family as soon as all of this is done.”

It was all the motivation that either one of them had needed to ensure that they both came out of this all in one piece. In just a few hours, everything would be resolved, one way or another, assuming that nothing went drastically wrong along the way. The fleet was ready, James was ready, his crew was ready.

The fleet slowly approached the Al’cari base. It was little more than a small, rocky planet, barely the size of Earth’s moon. There was noticeable construction on the surface near the equator. This was the likely location of the Shadow Bringer. Surrounding the small planet was the Al’cari fleet, not great in number, but with very considerable strength in the few ships that they did have. The alliance fleets really had their work cut out for them to get through this enemy force and strike at the heart of the enemy.

“It appears that the enemy fleet has noticed our presence here,” Iyacs warned the crew, “I detect several of their ships powering up their weapons and many more energy signatures on the planet below. I believe the Al’cari and the Lataka are making preparations to defend their their base.”

“I expected no less of them,” said James, “we’ll wait for the alliance fleet to draw the Al’cari ships out of position and then we’ll make our run towards the surface. As soon as the others begin their attack, we’ll head to the flyer and we’ll get ourselves down there.”