The Phoenix Project (61 page)

    
“Another two minutes until we reach the
edge of the solar system,” her helmsman reported.

    
“And we have more trouble Ma’am,” Joshua
said from her left.

    
“What is it, Commodore?”

    
“A hundred Coalition ships from their new
fleet. They just launched from their yards at Jupiter. They’re on their way to
intercept us.”

    
“Can we outrun them, Helm?” Maria asked.

    
“No, Admiral. Their mass is a fraction of
ours. They can obtain a higher maximum speed then we can.”

    
“Then we’ll turn and fight.”

    
“I’m not sure that’s not a good idea,
Admiral,” Madison
said, while she examined her link. “They want to slow us down so the rest of
their fleet can catch up.”
 

    
“How many are there?”

    
“The first hundred ships are burning their
sub—light engines at one hundred and forty percent to catch up with us. The
other nine hundred ships of that fleet are behind them,” Madison replied.

    
“Our warships can stay behind and confront
them. That will allow the arks to escape to Cartise.”

    
“That will also leave Cartise undefended,
Admiral.”

    
“The arks only need a minute more to
escape. I’m sure we can do it,” Maria said.

    
“If the rest of that fleet catches up while
we’re fighting that first wave we’ll be outnumbered. We can’t survive against
those odds, Ma’am.”

    
“This is a situation that forces us to
choose, Captain. It’s us or everyone.”

    
“Maybe not,” Joshua interjected.

    
“Commodore?”

    
“An Alliance
battle group has just exited FTL,” Joshua replied.

    
“Where?”

    
Joshua ordered the screen to switch to the
aft view and pointed to a collection of dots.

    
“Which battle group is it?”

    
“The Second,” Madison replied from her right.

    
“I’ve got a signal,” the communications
officer reported.

    
“Put it through to the main monitor,” Maria
said. The screen changed to the face of the newly promoted Ben Phelps, sporting
a single gold star on each side of his collar.

    
“Ben, what are you doing here?” she
demanded. “You should be helping to defend Earth.”

    
“The safety of your fleet is of paramount
importance, Admiral. We’ll give you the time you need to get out of here,” Ben
replied.

    
“I’d court martial you if I had the time.”

    
“You don’t,” Ben said with a smile.

    
“Fine, get in there and give us the time we
need to escape, but only one minute do you understand? Leave the moment that
minute is up and then execute General Order Thirty—Eight. Relay the same orders
to the rest of the fleet: In one minute every Alliance ship is to carry out that order.”

    
“Yes, Ma’am,” Ben Phelps replied.

    
“Now put me through to the rest of the Second
Battle Group.”

    
“You’re on Admiral,” Ben said from the
screen. It switched to a view of the distant ships of the Second Battle Group
even as they broke off at high speeds and headed towards the approaching
Coalition warships. Maria swallowed back her sadness and began her speech to
the entire population of the Second Battle Group.

    
“I was in command of the Second for a short
time, but during that time I came to know you as a fine group of people to
serve with.

    
“And now I have to ask something more of
you: Something that I ask because it will save the lives of millions of
citizens and the Alliance
government itself. I am asking you to give us one minute, but that minute will
be the longest of your lives and it may even cost your lives. I wish I could
join you in this battle but my orders require me to be here.

    
“Regardless of what happens, I am proud of
all of you. Realize above everything else that what you are doing here makes a
difference,” she said and paused before adding, “my friends.”

    
Maria deactivated the communications link
and watched the Second Battle Group while it moved to head off the Coalition
ships. They decreased in size as her ships accelerated towards the edge of the
solar system.

    
“Set the
Excalibur’s
weapons to the
second setting, and have all the rest of our ships come to a full stop. The
Carrier
Achilles
is to launch all of its fighters. No Coalition ships
can be allowed to breakthrough our lines,” Ben said.

    
“Sir, if we are to follow the Admiral’s
orders, we can’t bring those fighters back aboard in time if we jump to FTL,”
his first officer, Commander Levi, reported. He chose her as his successor in
the role because she reminded him of a young Maria minus the faceplate.

    
“I know, but without them, we can’t hold
off those new warships. We’re outnumbered as it is and they know what is being
asked of them.”

    
“We’ll hold them off, Commodore. Just wait
until they get a load of this ship,” Levi said.

    
“The Coalition ships are not slowing, it
looks like they’re going to attempt to charge our lines,” his tactical officer
said.

    
“Order all ships and fighters to fire a
round of torpedoes and detonate them three hundred miles in front of their
forces.”

    
The Second Battle Group complied with his
order and a slew of torpedoes flew out into space between the two warring
parties. Once they approached the set distance, the torpedoes exploded creating
enormous clouds of fire that blinded the sensors of both sides. The Coalition
group’s headlong advance towards the escaping refugee fleet was interrupted.
They were forced to reduce speeds and confront the Second Battle Group.

    
“All ships open fire. You have permission
to ignore heat protocols and put as much additional power into your forward
shields as possible. Be aware that these new enemy vessels are equipped with
plasma cannons,” Ben said.

    
The Coalition ships finally came into view
and revealed their new configurations. The enemy vessels were incredibly wide
and beet red in color as a proclamation for bloodlust. Looking like a flying
wing, they began to expel particle bursts from across their wings. The most
anxious moment for the Alliance
soldiers came when they emitted bright yellow flame from their centers. The
plasma beams converged on the Alliance
ships and slammed into their shields. The Alliance
ship’s survived the assault and responded in kind.

    
Another round of plasma beams, this time
from the Alliance
vessels, converged on the Coalition warships and pounded the enemy shields,
finding no purchase. Beams of emerald energy and fiery stars crisscrossed the
night as the fleet grappled with each other. The Alliance
gained a temporary advantage as the enemy warships didn’t dare launch their
fighters before catching up with the escaping Alliance refugees.

    
The
Excalibur
seemed to light up
once it activated its weapons. Domes parted to reveal grey turrets sporting powerful
cannons that opened up with rapid rounds of energy. With the added firestorm
created by the
Excalibur
, the enemy force was stopped in its tracks
allowing Maria’s ships to leave the area.

    
The Second Battle Group began to take
losses as the enemy numbers made themselves evident. At first, it was the Alliance fighters that
blossomed into globes of flame before winking out. Only thirty seconds into the
battle half a dozen frigates and destroyers had dissolved under fire from the
hundred enemy ships. Alliance
ship after ship valiantly sacrificed itself for the escaping fleet until their
numbers began to dwindle.

    
The
Excalibur
flew into enemy lines
and spewed hellfire as it tore through the Coalition ranks like an avenging
angel. Once it had sped through the demoralized lines it broke hard to the
right and entered back into the fray from the enemy’s fleet’s flank.

    
“Sixty seconds! We can break off!” the
weapons officer exclaimed to Commodore Ben Phelps.

    
“Fire the main gun.”

    
The large emerald grid at the front of the
ship thundered and then emitted a massive burst of particle energy at the enemy
fleet. The beam slammed into the hull of one of the new Coalition vessels. Its
shields crumbled under the weapon and allowed its full force to tear through
the center of the hull. The Coalition ship broke in half down its short axis.
The beam was not yet spent and impacted against another Coalition ship behind
the first breaking it in half as well before having satisfied its war lust.

    
“All remaining ships break off. General
Order Thirty—Eight is now given and decrypted for all officers. You are ordered
to leave the Colonized Sphere now!”

    
Madison
approached Maria’s position ten feet from the main monitor at the front of the
three story bridge. Maria heard her footsteps and moved her head towards her
approach without taking her gaze from the screen.

    
“You trained them well,” Madison said. She handed Maria a link
detailing the recent reports from the battle between the Second Battle Group
and the recently launched Coalition fleet. “The enemy’s advance has faltered.
They can’t catch us now.”

    
“Zoom in,” Maria said. Distant green beams
and orange explosions were playing between the ships. Ben Phelps had stopped
the enemy fleet in its tracks. Maria couldn’t help but nod in agreement, and
kept her face away from the rest of the crew as a tear found its way down her
cheek.

    
Her tactical officer interrupted her somber
mood with a triumphant shout. “Twenty ships of the Second Battle Group have
escaped. The
Excalibur
has made it to FTL!”

    
A roar of applause reverberated off the
walls of the bridge. Maria watched the ships leave having bought them the time
to escape.

    
“May you win every battle,” Maria whispered
as she gazed at the monitor. She hoped that somehow Ben Phelps could hear her.

    
Elliot and Nadine caressed each other’s
faces as a bright sun cast rays of light on them from the four story screen. It
was the same as it would have been if the screen was a great window allowing in
the light of the bright star as it began its climb towards the top of the sky.

    
 
Elliot
drew Nadine into a deep embrace. Her shorter stature allowed her to rest her
head on his chest. They heard the distant chorus of thunder as the weapons fire
of the Coalition troops mixed with the base’s internal defenses. Elliot held
her head close to him. She inhaled a strong breath and then exhaled with a
shudder.

    
“Elliot?”

    
“Yes?”

    
“I’m pregnant,” she said, with a whimper
for a life that might never see the light of day.

    
“I know.”

    
Behind them the counter on a display at the
back of the command center continued its count in red letters.

    
Nine seconds.

    
Eight.

    
Seven.

    
Six.

    
Five.

    
Four.

    
Three.

    
Two.

    
One.

    
Outside the base, lines of soldiers
infiltrating the base were stunned to see one of the large domes emit plumes of
flame. The flames were interrupted when the dome was blast apart by an
explosion the color of thick ice.

    
The ceiling of the command center caved in,
allowing steel and concrete through from the levels above it. The weight of the
collapsing structure above the underground complex forced the uppermost floor
to collapse to the third level as more weight fell on it. Elliot threw himself
over Nadine as debris rained down on them.

    
The explosion from the particle warhead
became a wave of energy that blasted the Phoenix Base to ruin and continued its
devastating journey across the face of the Earth.