CHAPTER SIX
1.
“Ever get that feeling there’s a party you haven’t been invited to?” Blackley commented dryly as the two men stared out the viewport aboard the Robbie V.
Coming out of Omega-Space nearly two standard hours before, the ship went into immediate cool-down, a safety measure that appears to have worked out to their favor. The cruiser stood silently in space; the only systems running were life-support and a low band scanner. Ahead of them, still millions of kilometers away, but closer than they wanted to be, was the planet Chanzer. It was a bright orange and red ball suspended in a deep star system. Chanzer’s only sun was a distant flame, illuminating the planet and its half dozen moons. Surrounding the planet, interspersed amongst the satellites, were a half dozen Rygarian battle cruisers.
Chronos stared into the void of space, tracking each cruiser with his eyes. “In this case, I’m glad not to be on the list.”
Blackley chuckled. On the console the radar emitted a short beep. “Another cruiser just jumped. That leaves eleven.”
His partner shook his head. “What is Zayas up to? Chanzer isn’t one of his occupied planets. Hell it isn’t even a Galactic Fed planet. The system is too far out to be of any strategic value.”
Blackley gestured out the screen. “And yet he’s here. Or at least his army is.” He paused. “Look pal; let’s just say what we’re thinking. We were hired by the government, and the government has hundreds of ears, hundreds of mouths. Now here we are at the ‘back door’ and there’s a bouncer.”
Chronos turned to his friend. “You’re saying this welcoming committee is for us then?”
“I don’t see any other way of looking at it. There’s no bombardment of the planet, the cruisers are holding a defensive position, not an aggressive one. And if you can see, it’s not the planet they are protecting.”
Chronos nodded. “It’s the Omega-Space junction, the route to Zayas.”
Blackley sat back in his chair. Thoughts raced through his mind. They were in a classic no win scenario. The Cruisers may not have seen their arrival, but they would certainly see the Robbie V power up and attempt a jump. And heading in-system was just plain crazy. Their ship was fast, and had some tricks up her sleeve, but no where near enough power to tackle a half dozen or so Rygarian Cruisers. They could sit and wait it out, but even that could take days, or weeks, and sooner or later they would be spotted. There was a certain nobility in going out fighting, yet he wasn’t feeling too noble today. He sighed and shook his head.
“As much as I hate to say it,” Blackley started.
“Yeah I know,” Chronos laughed. “We have to go in. Hope Pug’s transponder forgery is good enough, and pray we can at least land, cause there’s no way those ships are gonna let us continue towards Zayas’ homeworld.”
Blackley turned to his friend. “You’re a real bastard sometimes you know that?”
“Hey! It was your idea!”
Blackley’s face balked with shock. “My? My idea?”
Chronos was already facing away from him, hitting keys on the ship’s console. Around them the Robbie V began to hum to life. With a grimace, Blackley focused his attention on his side of the cockpit, starting his half of the wake-up procedures.
“Head to the back and get those Dark Bombs online.” Chronos said. “We may need Pug’s tricks more than we anticipated.”
Blackley stood. “We knew this wasn’t going to be easy going in. But you wanted the job.”
Chronos was staring out the viewport. “Just hurry. The bouncer is coming.”
Blackley followed his partner’s eye-line and saw five Rygarian Cruisers leaving their positions, heading straight towards them.
2.
“Unidentified Cruiser, respond immediately or we will be forced to destroy your vessel.” The gruff voice spoke over the speakers, repeating the message as he had been for the last three minutes. Chronos could here the man getting angrier and angrier with each repetition. He opened up the ship-wide intercom.
“Hurry it up back there, Blackley.” Chronos shouted.
The response came back. “Another minute!”
“I really don’t think he’s going to give us another minute.” He responded.
There was a click as Blackley responded, but for a moment there was nothing as he hesitated. “Ah, stall them.”
Chronos looked at the speaker on the console, his eyes wide. “Yeah, ‘stall them’.” He said to himself as he went over yet another systems check. “You come up here and stall them, and I’ll hide by the escape pods.” His hands paused their hurried movements as an idea came to him. He tapped the intercom switch again. “Blackley, forget the bombs. We’re going to try Plan B.”
“Plan B?” His partner responded, the shock in his voice coming clear through the speakers.
“Yeah, ‘B’.” Chronos moved to the communications center of the console, hastily turning dials.
“I doubt these guys are stupid Chronos.” Blackley’s voice called.
Chronos chuckled. “They’re the bad guys pal, of course they’re stupid.”
His moment of humor was interrupted by the gruff sounding man across space. “You’ve had your warnings.”
Chronos rubbed his hands together and closed his eyes. “This had better work.”
Before he could even prepare himself, the lead Rygarian Cruiser fired. A stream of laser-fire cut into the Robbie V, tracing a line of explosions across its portside wing. Chronos was thrown in his seat, the entire ship shuddering from the attack. Steadying himself he checked the damage readouts on his screen.
Chronos smiled. Reaching forward he activated the ship-to-ship communications. He leaned forward in his chair, getting as close to the voice system as he could, and yelled, panic filling his voice. “Hold your fire! Hold your fire! Please, please hear this! Hold your fire!”
A dark red light began to blink on his navigation console as Blackley emptied the fuel into space. He watched out the viewport as the Rygarian cruisers moved out of formation in front of them, and took positions surrounding the ship.
“I see you’ve finally deemed us worthy of an answer.” The voice spoke. “But I’m afraid that it is too little too late.”
Chronos activated the coms again. “You can hear me? You’re receiving the transmission?” Chronos turned a dial a miniscule amount, sending a burst of static into the conversation. He turned towards the rear of the cabin. “No, stop! They’re receiving us now. Just leave it before it fails again!”
There was a moment of silence. Finally their attacker took the bait. “Explain yourself.”
“Uh, uh yeah. Sure.” Chronos said, trying to sound relieved, surprising himself when he found that he did feel relief. “We were making a quick run from Hewkard to Ossus, when we suffered a massive systems failure. Nearly all of our systems shut down, life support is barely working, and we found ourselves stranded in space with no idea where we were. We detected a planet on our long range scanners and have spent the last few weeks limping our way here.”
“Why did you not respond to our hails?”
Another twist of the dial, another burst of static. “Communications was one of the systems hit. We were able to receive but not send. I think that laser blast knocked something into alignment, thank the Gods you didn’t destroy us outright.”
Blackley entered the cabin, taking his seat opposite Chronos. He nodded an affirmative to Chronos’ unasked question.
“You’ll have to forgive me if I think this sounds a bit too convenient.”
Chronos smiled to his partner. “I don’t understand.” He spoke over the com.
“I am Marv, Commander of the Fifth Ruling Fleet of Warlord Zayas.” The voice spoke. “We’ve been watching this region of space for a singular vessel, a ship that bears a striking resemblance to your own. And while your codes don’t match, any good smuggler knows how to change transponders out.”
Blackley switched off their end of the conversation. “I told you they weren’t going to be stupid.”
Chronos shrugged. He re-activated the com. “I’ve been telling you the truth, our systems are down, heck we’re venting fuel, we are not a threat to you or Zayas.”
“That may be,” Marv spoke once more. “But then again, I am not paid to care. Goodbye.”
Blackley looked to his partner. “Huh. What do you know? I guess they’re just stupid enough.”
An alarm sounded from the console. Chronos hit the switch turning off the squeal. “Hold on.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when three of the five ships opened fire on the Robbie V, their deadly lasers firing from dozens of cannons. The barrage never reached the target. Without warning all three cruisers were rocked by violent explosions, massive fireballs that consumed the weapon systems of the ships, brightening space around them before going dark, suffocated in the vacuum of space. Two of the cruisers suffered a series of cascading explosions, the ships themselves destroyed before anyone was even aware of what was happening. The third ship fell silent after the initial attack, its outer lights flickering as systems failed on-board.
For moments afterwards it was still. Two ships destroyed, the third handicapped. And the intended target sitting untouched in the middle of it all. The two pilots stared out the viewport in disbelief. Plan B had never worked quite as well as this.
Suddenly the lull was over. The lead Rygarian Cruiser backed out of its orbit, flying around the Robbie V to find a new position. The fourth Cruiser made a fatal mistake and fired its weapons. It was the same thing all over again, the ships lasers somehow caused the weapons systems to explode. Like the other two ships, a cascade shook the vessel, which was finally destroyed a moment later.
Chronos looked over to his partner. “Wow. Four of them?”
Blackley buckled his harness and activated the sub-light engines. “Admire your handiwork later friend. We’ve got company coming.”
Chronos followed the other’s gaze and saw the last Cruiser leaving its orbit around Chanzer and coming to the aid of its fellow ships. Before he could even input a command the Robbie V was hit with a massive explosion. The fifth Cruiser had found a way out of the trap and had fired a missile into their stern. Chronos grabbed the yoke and sent the ship into a controlled spin. Laser fire erupted around the ship as their attacker tried to hit the moving target.
Blackley activated the rear guns, the sounds of the cannons echoing through the ship. Behind them they could hear the Crakkons barking as the commotion startled the dogs from their sleep. Blackley shouted, his voice barely audible above the din.
“I hope there’s a ‘Plan C’ buddy, cause we just dumped all our fuel and your fancy flying is taking us straight towards that other ship!”
“There is always a Plan C,” Chronos stated, turning to look at his co-pilot. “Just give me a minute to figure out what its going to be.”
Ahead of them the last Rygarian Cruiser grew larger as they approached.
3.
The Robbie V twisted in space, its engines brilliant as the ship was pushed at full speed through the quadrant. Laser fire stuttered out of the gun emplacements, sending deadly blasts towards the pursuing cruiser. The Rygarian ship zigged and zagged its way through the barrage, taking only minimal hits that its shields compensated for. Its own gunners were luckier however as each shot seemed to find its target. Another blinding blue bean erupted from the guns, taking aim just above one of the Robbie V’s engines. The smaller ship shook with the impact, its running lights flickering from the attacks.
Chronos was tossed in his chair, barely noticing as he kept his attention on the controls and the view screen ahead of him. The planet Chanzer grew larger as they approached yet they would never make it there if the situation continued. Another blast struck the ship, the lights dimmed noticeably and alarms began wailing in the cabin. Behind them Biggs and Cranius’ barking grew louder and more agitated.
Blackley smacked the control panel and the alarms were silenced. “This isn’t working, pal.”
The other took his attention off the screen for just a moment. “I was thinking the same thing. Engines are down to 15%, we’re running out of ammo, and those damn dogs are starting to scare me.”
“Any other brilliant ideas?” Blackley asked, firing another burst towards their pursuer. “I only ask because this would be a perfect time for one.”
“I guess we’re desperate enough for Pug’s Dark Bombs now.” Another explosion rippled across the ship.
Blackley looked to his partner and shrugged. He let out a long sigh. “Sure, what’s the worst that could happen?” He leaned forward and lifted a lever, behind them they could hear the sounds of grinding machinery as the Robbie V’s bay doors opened. “Bombs away.”
Below the Robbie V two barrel like devices drifted out of the opening doors, dual red lights blinking as the bombs came to life. As the ship sped away, the two devices began spinning, slowly at first, but quickly becoming a blur of motion. A second later the Rygarian cruiser flew right by them, its engines shadowing them as it passed.
Chronos looked to his friend. “Well that was anti-climatic.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth when he was thrown against the front of his harness, knocking his breath out.
As the Rygarian cruiser flew over the Dark Bombs, the spinning devices began to orbit one another, again starting slowly, but increasing in speed and velocity. The orbits started to decay as each bomb was pulled in towards the other, towards a center that had started to glow with a ghostly white light like a miniscule star. The deadly dance ended as abruptly as it began, the two bombs came closer and closer to one another, and for just a fraction of a second even seemed to bend around each other, then in a flash became one. A second later the Dark Bombs became what they were created for.
With the violence of a supernova all of space around the bombs exploded outwards, the shock wave throwing both ships out of course. And before either pilot could respond, the reverse happened, the wave was seemingly sucked back into the origin point. The Rygarian Cruiser had no chance, the wave caught it, and pulled it back. There was no explosion, no flames or escaping oxygen, the ship just seemed to fold up on itself and wink out of existence. Further out, the Robbie V escaped the violent death of its pursuer, but was still cruising backwards towards the event horizon.
“No fracking way!” Blackley shouted. “Is that what I think it is?”
Chronos only looked at his sensor boards, shocked.
Behind them their esteemed friend Pug had done the impossible and the insane. The Dark Bombs had formed a small Black Hole, and they were being pulled in.
Blackley continued to rant. “I mean I knew the guy was crazy, but not THIS crazy!”
Around them the ship started to vibrate, causing a racket of noises. Somewhere behind them a pipe burst, lending the sounds of escaping steam to their symphony of destruction. Oddly the Crakkons had decided to be quiet, probably sensing their demise as well. The vibrations penetrated deeper into the ship, into the organic passengers as well, Blackley and Chronos twisting in pain as their bones began to shake, matching the frequency of the rest of space around them.
“G-gg-gg-g-et us out-t-t-t of-ff-f-f HERE!” Blackley screamed above the cacophony.
Both men pulled themselves together as well as they could. Chronos worked the panels in obvious pain. After a second he slammed his fists against the dials. “Th-th-there’s n-n-n-n-no p-p-p-p-p-p-p-ppp-pp-power!”
“J-j-j-just f-f-ire everything!”
Chronos reached out, the flesh on his arm undulating in tune to the sounds, and smacked the keys.
With the sound of a giant bubble popping, the Black Hole behind them suddenly burst from existence, seconds later every engine on the Robbie V sprung to life, atmospheric thrusters, sub-light engines, orbital aligners, the ship jumped from a seeming standstill into a fiery speed. Within seconds the orb of Chanzer grew from a small moon to a screen filling monstrosity as the Robbie V jetted towards it.
Blackley’s eyes grew larger and larger as he watched the planet grow closer and closer. “Brakes. Brakes! BRAKES!”
Chronos took the yoke into his hands, cutting off the engines which died to with a sickeningly fatal sound. Chanzer’s rate of growth slowed, but not nearly enough, as the Robbie V blared into the planets atmosphere like a flaming asteroid.
“Good news is we’re gonna land.” Chronos stated calmly. “Bad news is we may not be able to take off again. Or walk. Or breath.”
As the Robbie V fell towards ground, the last remaining Rygarian Cruiser tracked its descent from orbit. The Commander turned towards a deck hand.
“Launch a salvage crew.” He spoke, his voice deep. “I want their bodies brought to me before I report to Lord Zayas.”
The deck hand nodded to his superior. “Yes Commander.”
As the other ran off to relay the orders, Garrath Nass turned back to watch the flaming descent of his target. A smile ran across his face.
END CHAPTER SIX