Shadow of the Blue Ring (46 page)

“No, murder and theft on that scale are not acceptable, not ever!” Kalmar snarled, resisting the urge to go for the weapon that lay just a meter from him.

“What about the murder on the scale that you would commit by detonating the weapon in the middle of our operations?” the Al’cari asked him, “is it not acceptable for us to kill two hundred but perfectly Ok for you to simply blow up several thousand in one press of a button?”

“Diplomacy can still work here,” said James, “call off the assault and let us take the weapon away from here. Sever your ties with your masters and be free of them. We can offer you a place in our galactic community, we can give you a home, space to build. Just let the galaxy be rid of the Shadow Bringer once and for all… please.”

“I cannot,” the Al’cari said sorrowfully, “I’m afraid this has to end now. Give me the detonator now or I will take it from you. There is no other way to end this”

Kalmar looked around, the detonator was not there. James scrambled to his feet, looking to see where it had gone but it was not by him. It had been thrown across the room towards the weapon itself, near where Morelli and Ansare where both lain back against the weapon. Morelli quickly went to grab it but the Al’cari sprang too fast, reaching for the detonator but Morelli managed to knock it just out of it’s reach. The Al’cari went for the detonator again but Ansare picked it up before it could reach it and rolled out of the way, clutching onto it.

“Hand it over, Jaiytid,” the Al’cari demanded, a small blade springing forward from a compartment on it’s wrist armour, “give me the detonator or I will have to kill you for it.”

“No! The Shadow Bringer is not yours and never will be,” Ansare snapped back at it, “it’s the end for you and your thug allies.”

“So be it.”

Ansare was quick to grab a nearby rifle, diving to pick it up as the Al’cari captain missed with a swing of it’s blade. Ansare turned to fire a shot but the Al’cari was quick and it drove it’s blade towards Ansare who only just managed to block in time, using the rifle as a shield. Deflecting the blow to the side he struck the Al’cari across the face once, twice, he went to hit it a third time but it swung it’s blade around, knocking the rifle from his hands. With it’s free hand, the Al’cari grabbed Ansare by the throat, lifting him struggling into the air. James had scrambled for his rifle and was trying to move into a position to get a shot away but he was too late. The Al’cari stabbed it’s blade into Ansare’s stomach to the cries from the watching team around him. It withdrew it’s blade and dropped him to the floor, bleeding profusely from his wound. Picking up the detonator, the Al’cari captain thrust it’s blade through the device and ripped it cleanly into two pieces, tossing them to one side. Their only way of detonating the Shadow Bringer was gone…

Chapter
Nineteen

Th
e
Supernova

The cries of anguish from James’s team pierced the air. Saavoy and Kyrakian, in a rage, drew their weapons and pounced towards the Al’cari captain in a furious attack. James quickly scrambled to his feet, hurrying over to his fallen comrade. Ansare was alive, just, but he was bleeding badly from the wound on his stomach. He and Kalmar quickly dragged him and sat him up against one side of the Shadow Bringer.

“I’m sorry, James…” Ansare croaked, his voice sounding weak, “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t apologise, we’re getting you out of here,” James said angrily, putting pressure on the wound to stop the flow of blood, “I’m not leaving you behind.”

“It’s too late…”

“No!” Morelli snapped, “no, you’re not dying, we didn’t come all this way just to lose hope like this at the end, we’re getting you out of here.” “It doesn’t matter anyway,” Kalmar said grimly, “the detonator is gone. We can’t remotely trigger the weapon anymore. It’s over.”

If there was no method of triggering the weapon’s activation sequence, there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t destroy it, not without being able to craft another detonator but that was simply not an option in their current predicament. Kalmar may have been right, it may have all come to an end.

Saavoy and Kyrakian continued to attack the Al’cari captain, enraged at the wounds it had inflicted on their comrade. Saavoy cut the blade from it’s arm with a furious swing, disabling it for Kyrakian to deliver a fatal blow, cutting it’s head from it’s body and sending it crumpling to the floor. Immediately, Saavoy rushed back to the others and to Ansare’s side.

“Damn it, Kaldun!” Saavoy exclaimed in anguish, “after all we’ve been through…”

“Just a hazard of the job I guess,” Ansare said with a touch of gallows humour, “it’s been an honour fighting alongside you guys you know. I just wish it didn’t have to go this way.”

James slammed his rifle into the ground in a rage. After everything they had been through right from when Artennes had pulled them from their week away in Lahara, this was not how it should have come to an end. There had to be a way, something they could do to finish the job, there just had to be…

“You should go,” Ansare said weakly, “call in the flyer, get everyone out of here, you’ve done all you can.”

“Not without you, not without setting this thing to blow!” James yelled at him, “we’re all getting out of this, we’re getting out alive.”

“It’s over, I’m sorry,” Ansare had a tear in his eye. As much as Lucy and Kristea were able to halt the blood loss in his current position, if they moved him he would bleed out and he would die.

“Kalmar, please, please tell me there is another way to set this thing off,” James said with his head in his hands, “please tell me this isn’t how it ends. There has to be a way…”

“Without the detonator, we can’t set it remotely,” said Kalmar, “the only way to do it would be to set the detonation sequence manually but you would never get out in time, the blast will consume the entire planet and stretch for tens of thousands of kilometres around. The only way to set it off and to get us out of here alive… is for someone to manually set the device to blow once we’ve all made it out.”

“I’m not leaving any of my crew behind to die, no captain would,” James said aggressively, “we’re all getting out of here and that’s final.”

“James, you know what you have to…”

“NO!” He cried, “no, I know what you’re going to say, Kaldun, it’s not going to happen!”

“It’s the only way, James,” Ansare said, his strength visibly starting to fade, “you have to let me do this.”

“Kaldun… are you sure about this?” Morelli was having a hard time holding back her own tears at the sight of him laying there so close to death, “you are really prepared to do this?”

“It’s the only way,” he said, despite James wanting to make a protest, “you can all get out of here now, let me set the weapon to blow, let me finish this for you.”

“Kaldun, don’t do this, there has to be another way,” James begged him, “please, don’t do this.”

“You know it’s the only way, James, you just don’t want to accept it,” Ansare said with all the strength left in him, “I’m touched that you all want to go to such lengths to save me but it’s the only way. If you move me, I’m finished.”

“He’s right, James,” said a tearful Morelli, “we have to do this, I don’t like it but it’s the only way.”

“It’s been an honour serving with you all,” Ansare said to them, “I’m going to miss our adventures, blasting through space, fighting against the unknown, saving the alliance time and time again. It’s been a good run. Oh, and when you get home, please, tell Anaya…”

“We will,” Saavoy assured him, “we’ll tell her what happened and what you chose to do for us. You’ll always be remembered for what you’re about to do here today.”

“I always did say right from the beginning that I would die to save my people,” Ansare said weakly, “I guess I shouldn’t have tempted fate so much. Now all of you go, get out of here.”

James reached for his commlink. The destruction of one side of the bunker had broken through the interference and he had a signal. He quickly contacted Melina on the flyer.

“Kaydenne, we’re ready for extraction, bring the flyer over,” James tried to disguise the anger and frustration in his voice but it was too evident for all to hear.

“I’m locking onto your signal now, I’ll be there in a minute,” Melina replied, “James, are you Ok, you don’t sound too good.”

“It’s fine, just come and get us, we’re ready to leave,” James said, not wanting to give her the news just yet, “the Shadow Bringer is set to blow, we’re ready to get going.”

“I’ll be there in a minute, get to the roof, I’ll pick you up there. I’ll warn the alliance forces to get clear and return to their ships.”

James turned back to face Ansare one more time as he lay there up against the Shadow Bringer. Kalmar had pulled the small console from the Shadow Bringer and had placed it down next to Ansare where he could set the detonation sequence when he was ready.

“Don’t look back, James,” Ansare said to him, keeping his air of calm about him despite his impending fate, “it’s over now, the battle is won.”

“We’re all going to miss you,” said James, now struggling to hold back the tears himself, “you’ve been an important part of my crew on two of the greatest adventures of my life.”

“Likewise James, they have been the greatest adventures of my life too, now go on, get out of here,” Ansare was quickly losing his strength. Even with the pressure and the wrappings now placed on the wound, he was still losing blood and he would not last much longer.

With one final look back, James turned and followed behind as his crew made their way up the flights of stairs to the roof of the bunker. His legs were heavy and he was aching all over but he forced himself through the pain barrier to reach the roof where the group was gathered, waiting for extraction.

“Come on, come on,” James found himself saying impatiently. He had expected Melina to have been there by now, she was behind schedule.

“James… are you there?” he heard Isha’s voice from the other end of his commlink, “James… what’s going on down there? The alliance forces are pulling out.”

“Isha, thank god you’re Ok,” James said as he pulled out his commlink, “is everything Ok up there?”

“We’ve taken some damage but we’re Ok,” Isha replied, “the Al’cari are giving us hell up here, the fleet has suffered losses.”

“We’re on our way back now,” James said with the hints of sadness still in his voice, “the Shadow Bringer is set to blow, we’re waiting for Kaydenne to pick us up.”

“Then you get yourselves off the surface,” said Isha, “I’ll contact Marek, let him know it’s almost time. You hurry up and get yourselves out of there, you have to get out of there before it blows, I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.”

“Isha, it’s Ok, we’ll get out of here,” James assured her, “I’ll see you soon.”

He had managed to hide his feelings that time but once they got back to the ship he would have to tell her what had happened. Ansare had played such a huge part in the Morning Star’s rescue of the Andurian survivors six years ago, she and Melina would be devastated to hear that he had gone.

A few minutes later than planned, the flyer was on it’s way towards them, dodging fire from the few remaining active anti-air guns and touching down on the roof of the bunker. She quickly opened the loading ramp for them to board, James ushering the engineering crews on first. He took one hesitant look back before finally boarding himself, urged on by Morelli who had to physically drag him aboard.

“Ok, lets get going!”

Melina hit the power, surging forwards and up into the air, heading back into orbit around the small planetoid. James took one last look behind him at the scene of the Al’cari base. The last of the alliance forces were pulling out and their ships were fleeing to safety. Only a small portion of them, maybe about a fifth, had survived the battle but at least some of them were able to leave the scene with their lives. Joining in with the convoy of escaping ships, Melina headed back towards open space.

“Uh-oh!” James heard Melina say, “guys, I’m getting a strange reading from the planetoid. It’s some kind of warning signal, I think the Shadow Bringer just started it’s countdown to detonation!”

“No, it’s too soon!” James exclaimed, “how long do we have?”

“Four minutes, forty seconds,” said Melina, “after that… BOOM!”

“Get us back there as fast as you can! Damn it Kaldun, what are you doing down there.”

James thought they might have had more time. It was barely enough time for them to get clear of the planet and the battle between the alliance fleets and the Al’cari was still going on around them. James scanned the area looking for the Evening Star but he could not see it. All he could see was a Lataka ship on an intercept course towards them.

“Come on Isha, where are you!” James was totally on edge, they needed to get back to the ship as soon as possible but there was no sign of it. What was Isha doing?

The Lataka ship opened fire, narrowly missing the flyer. Melina quickly altered course and went to maximum speed but the Lataka were in hold pursuit of them. They were closing in, ready to deliver a final blow when out of nowhere, a wave of fire struck the Lataka ship, smashing through it’s armour and sending it spinning out of control.

“Your chariot has arrived, captain Tavarez,” he heard Isha jokingly say over the comm as the Evening Star came into view through the chaos. It had suffered some surface damage from the battle and had multiple small hull breaches but it looked in good enough condition. The ship turned, opening it’s hangar bay doors to allow them on board, Melina quickly flying them in.

“Great timing Isha!” James said with a huge sigh of relief, “impeccable as always.”

“Well you can thank me later,” she retorted, “get back up here, that thing is going to blow in two minutes.”

James leaped down from the loading ramp the moment it opened up and forced his tiring legs to run him to the bridge. Every step was agonising but he managed to make it. There were hints of interior damage to the ship along the way, the Evening Star not at all looking like the brand, shining-new starship that they had take from it’s construction dock just a few weeks ago. Despite the beating, it was still in full working order.

The moment James stepped onto the bridge and his eyes met Isha’s, she ran over to him and threw her arms around him, she could not have been more relived to see him if she had tried. Breaking apart from her, James watched the screen as it showed the planetoid behind them rapidly disappearing into the distance, the many alliance and Adean ships all hurrying to escape the blast range. The countdown was at fifteen seconds… ten seconds… five seconds…

“Oh my…” James gasped as the space around them was lit up by a blinding white light, emanating from the planetoid. Seconds later, a massive blueish-white explosion burst from the centre of that light, spreading around at an incredible speed. It was like a supernova going off behind them, the explosion was simply immense. They had been right to fear the Shadow Bringer all along, it’s power was off the scale of any weapon of mass destruction ever known to man or to any alliance race.

The whole crew just watched, speechless from the bridge as the light continued to spread. The rest of the team had arrived from the shuttle bay just in time to see it in all it’s glory.

“Sir, the blast is continuing to spread,” Ivanov quickly warned them, “without knowing it’s full capabilities, I would recommend we leave the area now, just to be sure.”

“Yes, you’re right, Daniels get us out of here, maximum speed.”

With the blast quickly encroaching on them, the Evening Star, followed closely by the rest of the fleet, made the jump to warp. The Al’cari base was gone, in the distance behind them… it was over…

James collapsed into his chair, the weight of everything that was going through his mind was just too much for him to bear. Head in hands, he just sat there for a while, not knowing what to think or what to say.