Slavers of Antar

By DocPaul

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Chapter Twenty: Retribution

“Captain, we’ve got a problem.”

Max rotated in his chair to face Liander. “What is it, Li?”

“Sensors are picking up heavy gravitational fields in the jump path. If we emerge too close to a cloaked planet or their sun,” Liander turned to face Max completely, “well, it wouldn’t be a very good day.”

“Noted.” Jumping into an unknown solar system that was unplotted and cloaked was tricky even on a good day. “We need to know where to emerge. Their ships emerge all the time. Have Sean re-interrogate the prisoners. We need a jump window exit, and we need it fast before it is too late to replot.”

“Aye, Cap.” Liander quickly followed orders, but he glanced at Caleb.

Caleb faced the Captain. “Sir, replotting jump coordinates in a subspace threshold window is next to impossible. I’ve only known it to be done three times successfully.”

“Who was that that, Caleb?”

“Me, the Commander, and the Imminent, Alex.” Caleb gave it some thought. “Actually, Sir, I believe it was four. Technically the Princess was harassing—I mean instructing the Commander when he successfully completed a replotted jump.”

“Well then we’re lucky to have you onboard, Caleb, because there is no way those two nut cases would be allowed to steer this ship into open space.” Caleb snickered, but his face remained solemn as he shouldered the responsibility.

Isabel entered the bridge, as Max turned to face her. “My lady?”

“There is a disturbance in the space field. I can feel it. I don’t know if we’re out of trim, but I can feel it to the starboard and port.”

“Feel it? How?” Max went to his wife. “Isabel, look at me. Can you explain what you’re feeling, what you know?”

Isabel stared out at the moving colors of the corridor as the Shiva ran through the final journey to the Antarian system. They were off course. There was a visible bend to the pattern. Without thought, Isabel went to the navigational console and entered new coordinates, altering the flight path until she could no longer feel the disturbance, and the subfield straightened.

“Cap,” Caleb read the diagnostics. “Sir, she replotted the path.”

“Iz,” said Max was a hushing voice, his face dark as the scar on his face showed in relief. “How? How can you be doing this?”

“I don’t think it’s me,” she confessed. “I think it’s the baby. She knows or has a sensitivity beyond my own. She is closer to Alex, I think, than we can understand.”

Max looked to the door where a small boy was standing. He walked over to Isabel and took her hand leading her to a chair on the bridge. His dark brown eyes met Max’s, and without a word, he was gone.

“It would seem that Eoin wants you to remain.”

Isabel rubbed a shaking hand across her mouth, but she refused to let the uncertainty of her condition remove her from her husband’s side. Somehow, she understood that it was her place to be there.

“I should send you and the others to safe distance from the fight.”

“No. We all knew that Shiva was a warship when we boarded her. Here I stay—with you.”

Max trapped his wife in her chair as his hands held the chair’s arms and he leaned in. “I am selfish to want you here, regardless of what can happen. I will hate myself for it later.”

Isabel kissed him and tried to smile. “Go back to work, Cap.”

“Aye.”

Sean entered the bridge with Jonesy. “I’ve got coordinates, but I can’t say how accurate they are.”

“Give them to Caleb, he will cross check them to the ones Isabel entered.”

Sean lifted an eyebrow at Isabel. Hell, they were all getting so freaky. He definitely needed to get laid, just so he could regain a bit of his normalcy.

Malcolm and Seth entered the bridge behind Sean, Malcolm going to the science station, and Seth taking a post helm position reading sensors, as Sol and Sam navigated, and Rafe helmed. Caleb was busy moving crew assignments to meet battle needs.

“Jonesy and I are ready to lead the team to retrieve our people. I’ve got the Trinity fully loaded to sustain long flight. She’ll head to a safe distance from the solar system until Tango hour, and if the Shiva doesn’t emerge, she’ll plot a course for Karnak .”

“No.” Max hated to do it, but there was no other way. “Sorry, Sean, but I need you here, on Shiva. Jonesy and Kyle can go to planetside with Malcolm as their pilot.”

“Kyle! Kyle and not me?!”

“The prisoners might need medical attention. I have other doctors, but I need Kyle to look after the others.” Max glanced at Jonesy and Malcolm. “Once we emerge you are to dust off immediately and we will send you the coordinates once we locate our people. No delays. Assemble your crew immediately and prepare for departure.”

“Aye, Cap.” Malcolm nodded to Jonesy and left immediately to set up what was needed to take off.

The large man hit his boss on the arm. “Sorry, Sean. I’ll find them. All of them, and I’ll bring them home.” Jonesy gave Sean another sympathetic glance before quickly leaving to follow Malcolm.

Sean’s jaw flexed, but he did not argue. Without a word, he went to return to his engines.

“He didn’t like that,” Isabel observed.

“He’s a warrior. He will do what his duty and training requires.” Max walked towards the front screen as the distance flew by. “Here the drums of war rage, on this day, the skies will reign in red. Many will die, but this will be the end of this voyage. May the shadows welcome us to our ancestors, and they find us worthy.”

***

Kyle’s steps faltered on his way to the landing bay. He placed a hand to the side of the corridor, his face paling. Liam? He could feel his son.

The rush disoriented him for a moment. He felt the woman, and then he felt Liam. The information came in a rush, almost too fast to understand. Resting against the wall for a moment, he cleared his thoughts, reached out as his one strong heart beat hard and steady, the long strong beats rushing blood through his body, blood and oxygen. He opened his eyes, and without thought, he nodded.

Yes. He could do it. He could feel his son and a woman called Ava, the sense of her now having a name. Through her, he extended his control to Liam. It was child’s play. The woman, Ava, was always in his head, beating in his new heart.

Kyle shook his head as he became aware of his position on the Shiva, and where he was going. He had been heading to the Trinity as part of the recovery team. Moving quickly, he couldn’t miss that flight. The closer he got to his son, the better able he was to lend him his strength.

***

“Cap, we’re approaching the coordinates. We’ll wash through a distortion field that is cloaking the planets, and I can’t predict the effect it will have on our shields.”

“Rafe, sound for full regiment, battle stations. All hatches fastened, and personnel braced for possible impact.”

“Aye, Cap.”

Max took his command chair, his hand moving easily over his controls as he monitored his own systems, his ship, and his crew. His eyes barely glancing down as he watched the full screen. Alex was there, but for once, Max ignored him. He was becoming accustomed to Alex’s sudden appearances.

The full power of the Shiva hit the distortion field of the Antarian system cloak like breaking the surface of water. Moving through, Isabel had been right on her estimates of coordinates as they came into a system of three suns, and five planets.

Navigating the gravitational well created by the suns, they felt a responding pull from the orbiting planets, compensating.

“Captain! There are two cloaking arrays aligned between planets two and three and four and five.” Seth said from the science station, his console monitoring external sensors.

“The planet we want is the planet at the apex of the orbital configuration.” Max swung in his seat. “Liander! Full weapons and full range scanners. Order deck commanders to dust off the Trinity!”

“Captain, Trinity reports she is ready to launch, but wants coordinates to land.” Seth reported.

Max nodded, and met Caleb’s eyes. “Caleb, you got Michael for me?”

Caleb searched his scanners. “I’ve got a strange anomaly in a desert plain isolated from the main city, a huge energy distortion has formed.” Caleb frowned at his confusing readings. “Cap, it’s the Zephyr. I’m picking up her signature in a debris field. She’s been destroyed.”

“Transmit coordinates to Trinity. That’s where she’ll find them.”

“Aye.”

Liander turned in his seat. “Captain! The arrays are powering up. There’s an increase in the power signature.”

“Evasive action. Bring us around, but avoid putting us between the two.” Max moved in his chair. “Deck commander, launch fighter teams now.”

The Shiva suddenly shook, its bulkheads rattled. Max stood. “What was that? Liander?”

Rafe answered. “Captain, the first array shot a weapons blast across our bow.”

“It has weapons,” said Max more to himself. “Dammit, scan the damn things! If they have weapons, then they have targeting modules. I need to know the precision of their targeting cannons and the magnitude.”

“Cap,” said Rafe as he turned to look to his captain. “We’re receiving a communiqué from the lead planet.”

“Antar. It must be Antar. Very well, open frequency 1-6-8 on audio and front viewer.” Max turned to the door when Sean quietly entered, both men regarded each in silence, but Sean gave a nod as Max returned to the viewer.

The bridge watched as the view screen showed a man in regal uniform. There was a hush and a few members of the bridge actually gasped, as did Isabel when Thoth, Regent of Antar appeared.

“I am Thoth of Antar. You have entered our space. Our automatic tracking system has given you a warning salvo. Leave this system.”

Max stared at the man on the screen. Sonnabitch. “Khivar! How many times must I kill you?” He stood and strode towards the screen, the anger on his face etched harshly as his scar stood out in stark relief.

“I am Thoth. Khivar was my progenitor. I am very aware of the fight between my—father and the people of the Shiva.”

“You have something of mine,” Max said as his hands clenched.

“As you say. This is my system, and unless you are prepared to do battle, I would suggest you retreat and call your ships back, otherwise I will be forced to engage your fleet.” Thoth smiled a hideous grin that lacked any warmth or amusement. “I will entertain emissaries requesting a negotiation, but only after you have retreated.”

“Negotiation?” he couldn’t believe the man. Max’s face fused with color of deepest reds, as his deep brown eyes darkened to black. “There will be no negotiation in any form! You rape and pillage worlds under the protection of the New Royal Federation.” Max moved forward in a threatening stance. “To your citadel, my Lord! You have my brother and my people, and their blood colors your worlds. I will exact revenge and justice, if justice is to be had—until I cause the very putrid seed from which you were spawned to pass beyond shadows and memories.”

Thoth’s eyes flashed in anger. “We’ll see how you feel once your great ship comes under the full power of a Granilith!”

The bridge went still, the quiet stark and horrible in the vacuous rush of breath. “What is it?” Isabel whispered to herself quietly feeling a chill as it moved through the bridge.

“It is the deep breath before might, and all that can be lost,” said Alex quietly at her side. “There is no rest until the deed is done. The gauntlet has been thrown.”

Sean who stood quietly at Michael’s normal station slapped the console. Caleb did the same, then Liander and Rafe, and all others in the room. They slapped their hands in an echoing thunder as Max stood, and so did his bridge crew their banging noise loud as drums.

“Thoth of Antar, and those who stand in your silhouette, do you hear the drums of war? We do not fear death, for it a friend we’ve walked beside all our lives. Broken from the bough of a mighty tree, the wind hushes us to the Keep. There we lay—as we lay, for no man or woman in my crew will find dishonor among their ancestors, as they stand true. Here my father’s father, and all those before, light fires of war. Red sky, no more—we fight till the dying light. On the battlefields you will find us. May your deity sanctify your bones, such as we shall leave them!”

***

Thoth stood alone as the face of the Captain of Shiva, Maxwell, son of Trainor of the House of Heron disappeared from sight as he disengaged the communication. There was a tingling in his fingers, starting slowly of his hands, and he lost all feeling to his extremities.

“We are doomed,” prophesized Helena .

“We have a Granilith,” her brother pointed out.

“No. Thoth has a Granilith, and in bargain of our very lives, he uses it to control us—to enslave us as he did those many worlds.”

“Silence!” Thoth turned and looked at his ineffectual guards. In a normal day, he would have demanded their sacrifice for their weak minds. His eyes fell upon his First, Nicolas. “This is the war, this is the place—now is the time. Shiva, her weapons and shields are those of the Ancients. She is highly powered with a crew that fought in many campaigns together, but the Granilith is still our might. Find the prisoners! Kill them! All of them, except the Commander and Princess. I will need them to build me a Granilith of full power. Spare no others. Leave their heads severed and their bodies burning for the Shiva to find.”

“My Lord!” Nicolas allowed himself a smile cruel smile before turning away.

“Arm the batteries! Turn the arrays to battle mode. Uncloak the planets, we will need to conserve our power.”

Helena grabbed Thoth’s arm. “Thoth, if you believe we can sustain a war, you are insane! This alliance is insane.”

Thoth threw her from him. Zan protested, but it was Larek that spoke for the others.

“ Helena is right. The Granilith is powerful, but it is not the real Granilith! Even the Commander and Princess knew that at glance. It takes all our reserves to power this machine, to cloak our worlds—but for war? We haven’t enough reserves to do the job—to win.”

“We can no longer fight each other, but must stand united. All our reserves pulled forward. We will scuttle the Shiva, and drain her power—and once she is gone—the guardian of the New Royal Federation, we will take all that we need.” Thoth stared at the horizon, the thread of his life was short, and he could see the ends of his days. “The spiral is closing, we are at the end—one way or another.” Thoth turned to the others. “What would you have me do? Lie down and die without a whimper?”

Thoth tossed aside his robes, the weighty cloaks of his office. “Call my warriors, bring the steeds to bear. If it is war they want—then war, they shall have. I will die on my feet, with the blood of fire of my line in my veins, then to disintegrate into a void.”

Thoth looked at his allies, and his enemies—his kinsmen from centuries of genetic drifting. “What do you say? Are we to live as we were born, or will we yield to bastard Earthling seeds?”

They looked to one another, but the die had been cast long before they were born. There was never any other possible outcome as two mighty warrior races met face to face.

***

Max turned to his bridge, nodding to Caleb. “How much of our personnel are non-combatant?”

“Approximately twenty percent are research, families, and support crew.”

“Order all non-essentials to the recovery craft. Load the newest vessels, Vishnu’s replacement, Varuna and Eurus. I can’t spare Sarasvati, Rama, Kali or Trinity. I need them.”

“We will make it possible, if we have to strip them down.”

“Make haste. Immediate evacuation, and close all non-essential decks. Inform the crew of the Varuna and Eurus to set course homeward to Karnak —not to hesitate, not to look back.”

“Aye, Cap.”

Max turned to his wife. “My lady, it is time for you to return to our sons. I’m sending you home.”

Isabel refused, shaking her head. “I am home. They have Lonnie. She will care for them. My place is here.”

Max took Isabel’s arm, and led her off the bridge. “Isabel, I would keep you near—you know that, but I can’t.” Max backed his wife against the corridor wall. “Think of our unborn daughter. She has to be your first concern, Iz. Please. I will find you once this is over.”

“You will die if I am not here.”

“I told you I would die for you, and you said I would. Leave me. This is my job, the only thing I know. Would you have me walk away?”

Isabel’s hand reached out to stroke his scarred cheek. “I would have you be the man I married—the man you are.” She kissed him, both of them holding the kiss longer than they could spare. She looked at him one last time before turning away, at first walking and then running as the evacuation alert rang through the Shiva.

Max watched her until he could no longer see her, and with a visible deep breath, his face changed, and he turned to return to his post.

Sean was at the engineering console. “Max, there’s a strange radiation from the arrays.”

“What is it?”

“Metaphasic radiation. I’m reading particle discharge. The arrays are bleeding into the surrounding space. These idiots are slowly poisoning their own system, with the very thing that shields them.”

“How volatile are these particles? Can our shielding block them?”

“Transflux shielding should hold, but the lower decks aren’t as heavily shielded. We were short of deuterium and bulk plating when we converted so the emitters are limited.”

“Caleb,” Max called to his bridge steward, “inform me when the evacuation is complete. They will be coming. Inform the deck commander to employ all fighter craft, and I want Sarasvati, Rama, and Kali outboard as full tactical support fleet. Arm them heavy.”

“Sir, modifications to Kali were never completely done. Her shielding is not able to withstand the metaphasic radiation.”

“Then employ her back as support. She can bring up behind. Shiva will run the pack, and smaller fighting units will handle any fighters sent from Antar. I want two full squadrons to the surface, to support Trinity. They are to escort the Trinity out of the combat region to the designated coordinates. If regroup does not occur at tango hour, then Trinity’s orders are to make for Karnak .”

“The Commander …”

“Will do as his Captain orders.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Max left Caleb to do his job evacuating and organizing the fleet. “Sean, I’ll need you in engineering. The power of a Granilith—this could be a bad day.”

“I’ve already picked up fluctuations in their power grid. You want my suggestion, Cap? Take out the arrays first, then the power source.”

Max smirked. “I don’t recall asking for advice, Sean, but seeing how it is my own—you may consider me taking it.”

“Sure it was.” Sean went to his post, but he stopped at the door to look at his friend. “The engines are strong, and our lady has never failed us. She’ll destroy these worlds if it is to be her last task.”

“Will you hold?”

“To the end, my Captain.”

Max watched the door close behind Sean. It felt wrong to have them all so far away. Michael, Sean, Alex, and Kyle, but in truth, he felt them very near like a drumbeat in his ear.

“I do not doubt that, my friend.”

***

“Captain, gold squadron has engaged Thoth fighter craft.”

“Then it begins.” Max stood his eyes on the prize. “Their orders are to engage the enemy.” Max smiled at Sam. “Shall we lead the pack, Sam?”

“Aye, Cap. To the rams!” Sam moved the Shiva towards the first array, as three large Thoth battle cruisers moved to intercept along with four ships with the Royals’ insignia of 4 Squares.

“Come about, Sam. Heading correction of 0-8-8 mark 1. Pull steady and hold course. Let’s draw them in, use them as shields against the targeting of the arrays.”

“Full impulse, Cap.”

“Hold steady.” The Shiva moved quickly easily out powering the other crafts whose speed was made for transwarp jumping and not battle runs. A barrage of smaller craft met them head on as their pursuing fighters were fast on the mark. Weapons fire filled the space, and large battle cruisers maneuvered around smaller fighters, and the Rama moved between the Shiva and one of Thoth’s ships taking a direct hit for the Shiva.

“Captain, Rama sustained heavy damage. Her grappling systems are fried, and her injectors frozen.”

“Order her out to clearing distance and effect repairs. Call six squadrons of fighters to concentrate on the larger craft, drawing their fighters to pursue. Their long range can not target the smaller vessels.”

“Aye.”

Shiva pulled the other fighters after her as she lined up to the first array. Targeting its power emitters, they ran fast and hard along the array, weapons full barrage, as the internal monitor of the array overloaded. The array blinked, and then came back.

“Sonnabitch! It’s in flux! Pull back!” Max ordered. The array was shifting in and out of the set space, her power modules unable to handle the power feed from the Granilith on Antar, as one moment it was stable, the next it was not.

Sam and Rafe moved in tandem as they plotted the quickest retreat from the damaged array.

“Cap! She’s still pulling power from the Granilith! Her systems are damaged, and the power is building to an unstable cascade!” Liander informed Max.

“Can you blow the bitch?”

“Aye, but the blowout from the cascade—”

“Do it! Inform all ships in the fleet to brace for the reflux wave, and instruct smaller craft to pull away.”

The array blew and the wave front hit hard, knocking ever the Shiva off her normal course. Max picked himself off the deck and back into his chair.

“Report! Our smaller ships!”

“Fighters have sustained the most damage, Cap. We lost eighteen.” Caleb turned in his seat. “The Kali is floating—dead in space. Her power systems are completely offline, but she still has internal atmosphere.”

“Thoth’s ships?”

“They lost three. One of Thoth’s, and two of the Royals who were too close to the array when she went. They lost twice as many fighters, and their other fighters are having the same problems getting their power grids back online.”

“Order all smaller craft to clear the battlefield. Their shielding will not withstand the metaphysic radiation. They are to pull back to failsafe—now!”

“Bridge!” Sean’s voice came over the COM.

“A little busy here, Sean.”

“You’re going to get busier! That array spread metaphasic particles across the system. They are coalescing with the other array. That wave front buckled our shielding in places. I’m effecting repairs, but I don’t know that we can take another blast.”

“How are the engines?”

“I’ve got three cryogenic tanks down, and the plasma filters are leaking into the forward manifold. If I can’t get the tanks back up, the reactor core is going to get a might bit testy.”

“Cool it down. We’ve got two Thoth ships, and two Royals to contend with, and another array.”

Sean swore a nice steady stream. “You blow all of them, the array, and we’ll back feed the energy towards the planet and the Granilith. I can’t tell you how bad that can be!”

“Captain, they’re coming about for another run!”

“Just cool your engines, Commander! We’re in the ruin!” Max stood. “All crew brace for another impact. Tell the Sarasvati to back away from the array.”

“Captain, the Sarasvati reports she’s going for the array. They have a clear shot to field. The second array is powering up, and they’re targeting the Shiva.”

“Belay that! She can’t take the blast! Our shields will hold!”

Shiva moved quickly lining up another Thoth ship between two Royals. Moving fast, like a hunter to prey, she swung in behind the large ship, and hit her hard to broadside, and took out the portal nacelles. The larger ship lost full rudders on portside, and was pulled sharply into a Royal ship unable to clear. Smaller fighter units of both the Shiva and the Antarians joined the fight as they littered the space, moving in and out among the larger ships.

“I ordered those ships to failsafe!” Max roared.

Caleb repeated the orders to the attacking squadrons who were still engaged.

Shiva took three shots across her forward planes, and the weaker shielded around to her aft was hit hard as the bulkhead blew with shield plating.

“Captain! Direct hit to our aft. We lost plating on the lower decks.”

“Close them down! Order maintenance crews to batten down the area, and close it out.”

“Captain!” yelled Liander as he stared at another direct blast coming from the array. Before Max could order bracing for impact, the blast from the Granilith hit the Shiva in her already weakened aft plating, and before the moment before the impact hit, Max saw the Sarasvati lining up the array.

***

The survivors of Thoth huddled on the open plains of Antar, close to the once hull of the Zephyr. The disturbance field opened as Michael walked through with Maria in his arms.

“Michael!” The group rushed to him and Maria, as he knelt and put his unconscious wife on the ground.

“Is everyone all right?” he asked the group of weary prisoners.

“The heat is already evaporating our limited water supply. There is no cover in this area, and the closest outcropping is too far for the weak to travel.” Ava reported. “Why here?”

“Sorry, I am unable to open a corridor to a place I’ve never been. I have to visualize the location, and this was the only one I knew,” Michael explained. “The Shiva will track the Zephyr’s signature, and here is where they will look first.”

“How long, Commander?” asked one of the male prisoners—David.

“Soon. Shiva has entered the system, and her first concern will be to send support to us, to retrieve, and remove us from the battle area. Patience.”

Julia was bent over Maria. “Michael, she’s too weak for this heat. I—her body is torn on the inside, the previous damage has pulled apart again.”

Michael swore. He knew the stress of shifting would pull hardest on her injuries. “Can you stabilize her?”

“I’ll try. She needs to be placed in a medical bed immediately. She has internal injuries, bleeding I can’t mend here. Best I can do is slow the blood flow, and hope.”

As Julia spoke, a series of ships moved overhead. It was fighters from the Shiva, moving fast and low, locating the survivors. They pulled off and did another past radioing the confirmed coordinates to the Trinity.

Michael stood as the fighters went overhead, and in the distance he could see their rescue approaching. “I believe our medical bed is here, and it’s about frickin’ time.”

The prisoners all stood, helping the sick and weak as Michael picked Maria up again. The Trinity landed, and Kyle was the first out of the ship. His eyes moved quickly over the group of people seeing those he knew, but his eyes found his son’s and he ran to Liam.

Michael watched as Kyle grabbed his son in a tight embrace, and the two Empaths shared a moment of silent bonding. “About damn time you got here, Kyle. Maria is hurt, and—”

Michael didn’t get a chance to finish as Kyle released his son, his head veering to a woman emerging from the crowd of prisoners. There was a sense of being stunned, as everyone watched the two as their eyes met.

Maybe they were waiting for Kyle to call her Tess, but he didn’t. He moved without uttering a word. Michael lifted a brow when the two met, and their mouths met in an intense kiss, one of lovers reuniting, not strangers meeting for the first time. It was too bad that Maria wasn’t conscious, because she would most certainly have had a comment.

Realizing what he was thinking, Michael glanced at his unconscious wife in his arms. Swearing, he pushed through the crowd as they watched Kyle and Ava. Liam watched with his mouth wide open.

“Make a hole!” Michael ordered as he made for the Trinity. “Kyle! Are you, Ava or Julia going to look after my wife?”

“What?” Kyle was dazed. His eyes still held the brilliant blue of Ava’s.

Ava cleared her throat. “The Princess has internal injuries. She shifted, opening corridors for our escape before her injuries were completely mended.”

Kyle took Ava’s hand and pulled her with him, taking his son as well. “What type of injuries?”

Julia joined them. “She was impaled by a piece of the Zephyr when they crash landed. They repaired the damage, mostly on the surface, but the internal healing was still underway when we had to leave.”

Liz let them go before her as she stopped to help a few other prisoners who were weak. It was a hand on her shoulder that made her look up.

“Jonesy!” Liz barely got his name out before his name turned to a squeak. The large man swept up her small body in a hug that pushed the breath from her lungs. Liz’s arms wrapped around his neck, holding him tight as he kissed her hard. Laughing through tears, she pulled away from him so she could look at him. “I—I was afraid you were dead. I saw you fall.” Liz hand moved over his cheek. “You’re alive.”

Jonesy cleared his throat. “We’re getting married immediately. I don’t care about the damn bride price. I’ll break Sean’s scrawny neck if he keeps haggling.”

“I have to tell you—” Liz didn’t get to finish when Michael’s head appeared out the door of the Trinity again, yelling at Jonesy.

“Jonesy! Kiss the girl later! We’ve got incoming forces. I need you now! We need to load and dust off. Gotta go! Gotta go!”

“C’mon,” said Jonesy pulling Liz with him.

She held back. “No. Help me. Help them.”

Jonesy nodded helping to pick up weak captives.

They tried to load the survivors as quickly as possible, but the movement on the horizon was fast approaching as a red dust cloud rose from the horizon obscuring the sky. Michael glanced at it. Swearing, he took a COM badge and called the fighter support. They were gone.

“Jonesy, what fighter team was assigned?”

“Kip’s green force, two squads.”

Michael made a call through to the fighters. He moved away from the people filtering slowly into the Trinity. Listening to the communication, he glanced quickly to the horizon. Jonesy came to join him, as did Kyle.

“What is it? Where are our support crafts?” Kyle asked.

“They pulled off, and joined a fight in the skies.” Michael informed. “They intercepted six squadrons, and are engaged over the main city. We’re on our own. Shiva has engaged, and has taken damage from a direct shot. Kali is down, and they lost fighters.”

Kyle glanced at the door when Ava came to stand. Next to her was Liam, and Kyle noted how the woman’s hand held Liam’s hand. “Michael, Maria is stabilized in the med bed, but we need you in your command chair. You’re the best pilot we have. Malcolm will need the help.”

“They’re coming, Kyle.”

“I can see that.” He reached for a weapon low on his leg, strapped there. Strange as it was, he carried it for years, and no longer noticed its presence. He rarely used it. Kyle holstered the weapon. He no longer needed it.  “Jonesy, how many do we have to fight?”

“A team of six men if Michael takes the controls.”

“I can fight better than most,” Michael pointed out.

“Michael,” Kyle spoke softly shaking his head. “We need out of here, and fast. You’re the best pilot we have. We need you there. We’re going to have to move through a battle zone and out of this system.”

Michael could see the Thoth warriors moving to intercept them. Swearing, he clenched his fist. He would’ve liked to kill them all, but he was needed elsewhere. “Get it done!” he ordered. Michael moved through the line of people trying to get aboard the Trinity. “Get them loaded, we’re dusting off in ten!” It would take twenty minutes to get loaded and prepared, but he would push it to ten.

Ava helped a few more people, but left them to come to stand next to Kyle and Jonesy. “It is Nicolas. I know it is. He took me prisoner, and—”

Kyle glanced at her. “He’s the one? The man—the horror in the darkness?”

“Yes.” Ava was surprised that so much bled through their link, even when they were strangers. “He is malicious and evil. Nothing but death and pain satisfies him.”

Kyle’s jaw clenched. He pushed Ava towards the Trinity. “Go, get onboard. We’ll take care of this.”

“I can fight.”

Kyle sighed, but he took the time to look at her. “Ava, I don’t want you to fight. I want to take care of this for you. I—there was someone,” he explained.

“Tess?” Well, he hadn’t expected that. “They tell me I could be her twin.”

“You could, but you aren’t her. I’m not confused. Tess had a darkness in her soul, a dark place that knew no light, only pain. I couldn’t save her. I couldn’t heal her, but she saved me. I don’t want the darkness to touch you as well. I don’t want to lose you to the same thing—not this time.”

Ava could see him. She could see Nicolas. The serpent staff raised high, his head obscured by the Thoth warrior headdress, its hawking face made her very breath catch in her throat, choking her. Fear. She relived the fear she felt when first taken. “Kill him—promise me that he will not live to hurt anyone ever again.”

“One way or another,” Kyle promised, “his life ends this day.”

Ava needed no other reassurance. It was enough. Killing Nicolas by her own hands was not something she needed in order to feel whole again. Kyle’s promise was enough. Letting it go, she returned to her work helping those next to her onto the Trinity.

Kyle, Jonesy, and six other men moved away from the Trinity, to the outer fringes of group spanning out. The Thoth warriors rose high on the plain, their ornamental dress making them taller and more imposing than normal. The people trying to get on the Trinity saw them coming, and the smell of fear moved through the survivors, their fear a tangible thing.

“Kill them?” Jonesy said, his dark eyes sparkling in intensity. Oh, he had no problem taking down a people who murdered his shipmates, who took his fiancée and struck terror in the hearts of the innocent.

“Yeah, kill them all.”

Jonesy glanced at the doctor. “Kyle, are you going to be able to handle this?”

His heart beat hard and strong, and his shields were strong. He could feel the fear of those around him, feel their hearts beating out of control. He could feel it, but the pain and feelings did not rule his body, interfere with his reason. The voices were like whispers in the dark, whispers he could consciously control, pull forward or push away at will. Slowly smiling, a grin that was feral and amused, he could do this without a thought. He was no longer a slave to his nature.

“I’m all right.” It was a new world—a new age. “I’m better than I’ve ever been.” It would be his honor to face this Nicolas—to teach him—to make him understand what real power was.

Kyle reached out a hand, and he tipped his head. His hand clenched, and the Thoth warriors suddenly stopped mere meters from the Trinity. They dismounted, their headdress tossed from their heads as their staff weapons hit the ground, and they went to their knees. Gasping for breath, Nicolas looked up, his eyes meeting Kyle’s as his face turned from red to blue from a slow suffocation.

“Goodbye,” said Kyle softly as the group of warrior collapsed where they stood.

Jonesy lowered his weapon to stare at Kyle in shock.

***

Trinity moved from the planet, moving immediately into the war zone. Michael swore as the field littered with weapon blast, and he saw Shiva. He could see the damage, and his first impulse was to rejoin his brother and ship.

“Commander, our orders are to move out of the system to the designated rendezvous point.” Jonesy entered the coordinates. Michael stopped him.

“Not yet. Order Kip and his fighters away from Antar. Tell them to break off and head to the rendezvous.”

“Michael, we can’t—our job is to get the survivors free.”

“I know.” Michael maneuvered away from the main fight, his need to stay close to his twin was strong, but his duty was to those in his protection. Michael swore as he noted the increase in radiation levels, and the power from the remaining array.

“Michael,” called Maria weakly from the door into the command module.

“Maria, you’re supposed to be in the med bed.”

Maria was pale, her eyes large in her face with dark shadows below them. She was hugging her side, and leaning heavily against the side of the door. “Michael, this system—the power is too high, too out of control.” Her eyes moved to the view screen, a gasp moving from her throat as a full blast from the array hit the crippled Shiva. Michael swore, but before he could maneuver towards the Shiva, Maria’s hand found his shoulder squeezing hard.

“Michael, the Sarasvati!”

Michael found their largest recovery ship. It was upon the array. The weapons of the Sarasvati hit the array at its targeting cannons, cutting off the attack on the Shiva. The array exploded taking the Sarasvati with it and the remaining two Royal ships, all hands lost.

The explosion blinded the field, draping the darkness of space into a lighted field like a sun. Michael yelled as his hand reached for Maria pulling her into his arms down into his chair. “Brace for impact!” The explosion impact wave hit them, dragging the metaphasic radiation in the wave front polluting the system. The impact knocked all systems offline, and they could hear people in the back holding bay helping each other. Michael checked Maria out. He had been strapped into his seat, and he held her tightly to him.

“Maria?”

“I’m fine.” She didn’t look fine. There was a translucent pallor to her skin. The green of her eyes and the red of her mouth was the only color apparent as a cold sweat moved over her skin. Her eyes filled with tears. “I could hear them die—the Sarasvati. I can hear the Shiva.”

Michael looked for the Shiva. She was adrift, hit by the array blast followed by the wave front, Shiva was burning in space, her aft decks blown away. “Jonesy!”

“I see it.” Jonesy quickly rebooted Trinity’s power systems, as the main sensors came back online. “She has life signs, but there are areas that are shutting down. The aft decks are gone. It looks like decks fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. Her stabilizers are blown, and atmosphere is leaking.”

“Can she move from the system?”

“I don’t know.”

“Try to contact her.”

Maria, still sitting on Michael’s lap, her hands moved over the controls. The remaining Thoth ship was heavily damaged, almost as badly as the Shiva, but their shielding was not as strong. “Michael, there is a build up of energy coming from Antar. The Granilith is still feeding energy to the destroyed array. It is in a feedback loop, moving back into the Granilith. The amount of energy and the metaphasic radiation are cascading to a thermolytic reaction.”

“How powerful of a reaction, Princess?”

Maria’s eyes met those of her husband’s. “Nothing will survive. This system will be obliterated.”

Maria felt sick and weak, her body was boneless. It was time. The end. The looping destiny between her people and Antar’s was finally coming to the end. When they were gone, then her own people would finally lose their last hold to this reality, the looping destiny between Antar and Earth finally finding its conclusion. Antar would move into shadow, nothing left, not even a memory—only a legacy of pain and cruelty. It was too much to bear. So many chances, so much potential lost to hate.

Michael removed his restraint and picked Maria up. He could feel her, and the place she was living was too painful to withstand. “Kyle!”

“Not now, Commander,” she said softly. “Order the fleet to retreat. All that can move must vacate this system. It is in ruin. The end of days—Antar falls to the might of fate.” Michael returned to his seat as Maria took an empty command chair.

Michael tried to raise the Shiva, to order her to move away as fast as possible. The remaining smaller ships, Kali and Rama were already moving out of the system under impulse engines, and smaller fighter units had already gone, their shielding too weak to withstand the radiation.

Michael looked at the Shiva one last time before taking Trinity to a safe distance as he placed a final call home.

***

Max moved along the deck of the Shiva dragging a useless left arm. Slowly finding a spot that wasn’t covered in debris, he stood to survey the damage. Other members of the bridge crew were slowly finding their feet. Helping others, he helped to pick up large heavy beams and move them.

“Liander! What is working?” Max glanced at Michael’s second, noting the man’s bleeding head, and the cut across his arm.

“Nothing.” Liander gave up on his security panel. It was crushed beyond use. Moving to the science center, he checked the main computer. “Computers are down. The COM is down.”

“Cap,” Rafe called to Max.

Max made his way to the front of the helm. Kneeling, he rubbed his face as he stared at Sam, dead.  Sol was also trapped beneath the fallen metal plates. “Sol?”

“He’s still alive, but I can’t get him free.” Max lent a hand, but his left arm was useless. He couldn’t even move it. Using his right hand, and Caleb coming over helped them lift the huge metal plating off the other helmsman. Seth too was wounded and unconscious.

Max called to Liander. “I need internal communications. We need medical units.” They were blind and dumb, floating in space. Without external sensors, they were helpless.

Liander swore as a panel blew. Going underneath the panel, he worked as quickly as he could to reroute power to working panels. Max went to his chair, and tried to access his own work panel. Frustrated, his chair’s panels kept shortening out.

Taking a breath, Max forced himself to work quickly as short moments in time felt like hours, as the feeling of being vulnerable—of his ship damaged beyond his knowledge weighed on him.

“Cap, communications are up. It’s Sean.”

Max hit the communication on his console, but nothing happened. Swearing, he went to stand beside Liander. “Sean, what’s our condition?”

Sean’s voice came over the COM, but the noise in the background made it hard. The remaining bridge crew listened.

“Cap, we sustained damage to our aft side. We’re missing five rear decks, and two full landing bays. There are fires raging towards the starboard side, and all interlinks between are fried. I’ve got EPS conduits down, and all secondary systems are rerouted to main system support. Environmental controls are down on lower decks, and we are venting atmosphere.”

“How big is the breach, Sean? Can you give us external sensors and impulse engines?”

“Sensors should be online now. If your consoles are down, you will have to reroute and fix their wiring. I can’t get a crew to you, but they are working their way towards the bridge. I will have all your power relays on soon.” Sean’s voice breathed in deeply as he coughed clearing his lungs. “Max, I can’t restart the engines with all the fires. The cryogenic tanks are barely holding, and I lost three. There is residue gas, and ignition will spark it.”

“Cap,” Rafe interrupted Max’s attention from Sean. “Our external sensors are online, and we have the viewer back.”

Max glanced at the screen. “The Sarasvati?”

“She’s gone, Cap. They took out the array and took two Royal ships with her. The remaining Thoth ship is crippled, and venting the metaphasic particles. The radiation is affecting all their systems, and their power is down. They are a dead stick.”

“Trajectory?”

“The planet, Cap. If they don’t get their systems online soon, they will impact Antar in less then ten minutes.”

“Cap, we got another problem.” Max turned to Caleb. What now? “There is an escalating power buildup from Antar. Their Granilith is still transmitting power to the destroyed array. The power is building in the metaphasic particles and looping back on the feed to the Granilith.”

Max swore. “Sean, did you hear that?”

“Max, if the metaphasic radiation interacts with the Granilith power feed, it could ignite the spatial field in a thermolytic reaction.” Sean paused for a moment. “Cap, if we don’t leave this system now—we never will.”

“What will it take to vent the gas and put out the fires so we can restart our engines?”

“If we pull back beyond the lower destroyed decks, close off the bulkheads and blow the starboard side it will pull a vacuum straight through the ruined decks and venting both the gas and putting out the fires.” Sean coughed. “But, I’ve got crews down there trying to rescue people trapped and working on the fire. They can’t get to the trap crewmen if we blow it—”

“Pull your people back, Sean. Blow the starboard side—now. Get my engines back!”

“Cap, there are people—”

“Sean, that’s an order.” Max’s jaw clenched. He looked up at a schematic on the Shiva, the internal sensors now online. He could see the damaged area, and the places where Sean would have to blow the hull to create the vacuum.

“Aye, Cap.”

The bridge crew went back to work on their damaged systems, none of them willing to talk as time was too short, and the sacrifice of their trapped mates was the only way to potential save the rest.

“Cap, Trinity is on the scope. She made it off the planet.”

“Do we have communications?”

“No, Sir. Only internal communications are possible. She is hailing us.” Caleb turned. “We can receive the message, but there is no way to respond.”

“Run the message.”

Michael’s voice came over the COM, and Max visibly relaxed as he heard his brother’s voice. “You have to leave the system now! Max—Shiva, the space is unstable. There is an imminent thermolytic reaction building that will tear this system to pieces. I’ve ordered Rama and Kali free of the area, and all remaining fighter units.” Michael’s voice was breaking up. “Shiva—Max …” Michael’s voice was hollow. “I’ll see you on the rendezvous, brother. Trinity, out.”

“The Trinity is moving off, Cap.”

Max nodded to Caleb, but his mind was elsewhere, thankful that for once Michael was following orders. “How long do we have?”

“It doesn’t look good, Cap. The buildup is hitting a critical mass, the loop is self feeding in energy.”

“How long?”

“Ten minutes, maybe less.”

***

Sean moved through the damaged engineering working at different stations at once. His people kept reporting to him. Wiping away the blood that was running down the side of his face, he appeared calm as he finished the last steps to rigging the explosion that would kill anyone trapped in the lower decks. When they were ready, the room became quiet, and Sean reached out a hand and blew the starboard side of the lower decks. Closing his eyes, he rested his head against the side of his arm for a moment. So many people dead—their people.

“Sean, the fires—they are extinguishing.”

“Tell the deck to use artificial breathing units, we’re doing a thirty second blow. It’s going to get cold in here.”

Sean looked at one of his workers. “Jai, tell Mick to count it down.”

“Mick is dead.” Jai wiped a bleeding hand across his forehead. “You want me to count it down?”

Sean had left blowing the starboard to his own hand. He didn’t want any of his people to have the death of their shipmates on their hands. He was so tired. “Yeah, give us a ten count.”

Sean put the breathing apparatus on as did all others in the compartment. He listened as Jai announced the emergency blow for ventilation, and those without artificial lungs had to vacate immediately. The count began.

“—in ten, nine, eight, seven,” Sean held on to the nearest console, as best as he could, his body weak from injuries as Jai continued, “six, five, four, three—two—one—blow! All vents blow!” Jai quickly put on his mask and held on as the internal environment was released, and outer hatches were opened. Engineering, and all decks from twelve port to the blow decks below fifteen were open to space as the gas vented outward.

The rushing void of space moved into the space pushing all oxygen out, as the room became deathly cold. Jai’s hand reached out after what felt like forever to reinitiate the hatches and reset the environmental controls.

Sean didn’t wait for the all clear before ripping off his mask. “Close those ports! I want all the gas leaks sealed—now! We can’t vent again, and the engines need to be restarted.”

Sean moved through the engineering as his team went to work.

“Sean, the external sensors—we don’t have much time. The metaphasic particles are building to a dangerous levels, and we brought some in when we vented.”

“Sonnabitch! I do not have time to deal with more problems! Set the scrubbers to partition them out. How long until this region goes?”

“Five minutes.”

“Then start engine start up protocol!”

“Sean, start up from cold is a fifteen minute procedure, we—”

“Then we trim it down. Everyone to your stations! Or any station. We are going to cold crank start this bitch!”

“Sean,” Sean swore as Max’s voice came over the COM.

“Not now, Cap! I’m a wee bit busy here.”

“Sean, you’ve got less than five minutes!”

“I know. No time to chat.”

Max was quiet. “Sean, you don’t get this done—consider yourself fired.”

“Aye, Cap.”

Sean breathed hard, and then suddenly smiled at his crew. “Yah hear that! The Cap has absolute fucking confidence in us! He never offers me vacation time!”

The group laughed as they went through the start up cutting out as much as they could. The engines revved, died, and then revved again. The entire engineering held their breath as the engines whined, then died, and then sparked again. Sean was talking the entire time.

“C’mon baby! You know you’re the only one I love! Those other women—engines, they mean nothing to me! Nothing.” The engine revved again. Sean smiled, but then it quickly faded as the engine died again. “Aw, c’mon! You can’t count the doctor! She—she loves you too! Liz loves you. Now be a good baby, c’mon. C’mon!” Sean hit the side of the console with his heavy tool. “C’mon!”

The engines suddenly seemed to blink, and the power drain kept going from high to low as the start up batteries charged, ignited the engine, but lost power. Sean shook his head, when he suddenly saw Alex standing there. “Alex?”

The man looked at him, and with a raised hand gesture, Alex appeared to walk through the bulkhead casing of the main engine component. There was a burst of white light, and the battery reserve went to a high setting as the engines powered up.

The entire engineering cheered as the comforting sound of their engines roared through the deck, none of them having realized how quiet it had been previously. Sean quickly hit the COM, “Cap, we’ve got power—all I can give you. I suggest you get us out of here!”

There was no response from the bridge, but seasoned engineers could feel the movement of the ship under their feet. Jai lifted up from his view screen, and his eyes met Sean’s.

Sean saw the look, and he swore, “Oh fuck! Brace yourselves!”

***

“Sir, our ships are lost. Augustus informs that she and two Royal ships are all that remain. Their fighter numbers are down to one quarter regiment. The Shiva is drifting in space, her power down, but they are still reading open batteries, her weaponry still active and trained on the remaining array.”

“Increase power to the Granilith. Increase the output by five yields. I want that ship destroyed. One more hit and she should be done.”

“Sir!” The main scientist in charge of the Granilith interrupted Thoth. “The Granilith is pushed beyond all previous power yields. We don’t know the effect of opening her fully.”

“Destroy the Shiva now!”

“Yes, Sir.” The man went back to his command post and quickly calculated additional power needed to increase the fire yield.

Zan glanced at the man, and then at Thoth. “Maybe,” he cleared his throat nervously, “maybe the technician is right. Maybe we should advance with caution. If the Shiva is floating defenseless, let Augustus, and the two remaining Royal ships, the Luxor and Giza , finish her. The Granilith has been unpredictable since it was created, and even you admitted that you were uncertain of the full extent of its power.”

Thoth turned taking a weapon from the nearest guard. Without hesitation, he shot Zan dead. Turning the weapon on the others, he yelled, “shut up! Consider our alliance at an end.”

Helena tried to rush to her brother’s side, but Larek held her back.

“Sire, the power to the array has been increased. It is targeting the Shiva for a kill, and will fire at your command.”

“Fire! Kill the bastard seeds of the humans! Let us finally close the book on this chapter!”

Helena turned her head into Larek, unable to imagine the death of a people that might at one time have been their very salvation. There were no more saviors, and nothing but death to wait for.