Different Paths (19 page)

Once the Dread Pirates began to swarm over the
Dragons, the Nemesis was free and clear.

However, for some reason the huge warship turned
around and headed back through the pirates blasting away with every gun at
their disposal. Tinman will never forget the moment when he had lost comms with
the rest of his flight; his starfighter was being tossed around so much due to
concussion strikes that he expected his ship to break apart any second. Looking
out his canopy, he counted seven of the pirate Sparrows circling his ship,
firing with impunity. With his reactor damaged, Tinman was down to about fifty
percent power. He couldn’t out run them and with the frequency they were
hitting his shields, he knew they were going to fail any second. It was only a
matter of time before he and his entire flight were destroyed. His radar
screamed as it tracked the launch of a missile from nearby. All seven of the
Sparrows peeled off, putting distance between the doomed ship and themselves.

That’s when he saw it. The Nemesis. The ugliest
ship ever built.

But at this one moment in history, it was the most
beautiful thing Tinman had ever seen. Without regard to its own safety, it dove
in front of the missile while still blasting away at the fleeing pirates. The
explosion on the side of the Nemesis rocked the larger ship as its guns fell
silent.

Tinman was still close enough that the concussion
shook him so hard that his teeth hurt. Glancing at his HUD, he was surprised to
see that four of his flight were still intact; all showed major damage but
still flight worthy.

Of the Dread Pirates, only twelve ships on his
radar showed any signs of life and they were fleeing this area of the belt. The
Nemesis had once again turned back to its original course. A large hole could
be seen in the starboard hull where the missile had landed. It was trailing
smoke and sparks but she was still moving away from them.

“Tinman, this is Sandman. Come in Tinman.”

“Go for Tinman.”

“Should we pursue? Truck and Hulk would have to
stay behind; both have sustained too much damage to manage anything past twenty
percent.”

Tinman keyed his mic. “Negative. The Nemesis is
free to leave.”

“But Tinman our orders were to stop her at
whatever cost.”

“Sandman, if it wasn’t for the Nemesis we wouldn’t
be having this conversation. Once we engaged those pirates, she was free and
clear but for some reason she came back to save us.”

Hulk joined the conversation. “Anyone see where
that missile came from? It was too large to be fired from those snub fighters.”

Truck answered. “My nav-computer logged it. I was
some sort of planetary concussion missile launched from asteroid 721-Delta. It
must’ve been their base. It was lucky that the Nemesis dove in front of us and
took the brunt of the blast.”

“Aye, I saw that also,” said Tinman. “I don’t know
who that pilot is or why they decided to save us but I would love to by him a
drink one day. Come on, let’s go home. All ships form up on Truck, you set the
pace.”

Chapter 16

The smell of burning flesh mixed with the acrid
smell of cordite assaulted my senses. It was a familiar smell. One that always
followed in Omega’s wake, however it rarely happened at the beginning of a
mission. My head felt foggy. Shaking my head to clear it, I noticed that the
back of the transport was filled with smoke. No wonder I couldn’t see.

Out of habit I said, “Pax vent the cargo hold.”

“Who’s Pax?” asked a familiar voice.

Looking over my right shoulder, I was surprised to
see one of my brothers sitting next to me in full ARC armor. Slightly confused,
I decided to play it off. “Never mind, I was thinking of another mission.”

“You better get your mind back on this mission.”
Aeneas pointed to the bridge of the shuttle. “Lodestone is in jeopardy;
especially if we leave the planning to the Major.”

I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I had been
through all this before. It seemed so familiar. That feeling of déjà vu nearly
stopped me in my tracks but looking around the shuttle at my brothers I knew
that Aeneas was correct; the mission was in jeopardy. Somehow the Lemurians
knew that we were inbound.

I could see the Major arguing with our regular
shuttle pilot, CWO3 Curtis McKinney and could guess his argument. The Major
wanted to abort the mission and pilot was refusing. Stepping into the cockpit,
I studied the readings on the HUDs. The two cruisers that were our escorts had
been shot down by some sort of plasma cannon from the surface. Two-hundred and
twelve brave sailors gone in the blink of an eye. Only the skills of our
shuttle pilots had kept us alive so far. One glance at the pilot’s face told me
that he knew we were doomed but Curtis was going to do his best to get us to
the drop zone.

“I understand that you are the senior rank on this
ship…sir,” said Curtis. “But let me explain it to you in simple terms. If we
turn, we are dead. Somehow the lizards can track our ships, even this ship. The
Spectres are supposed to be stealth capable and maybe they are somewhat. Maybe
that’s why we are still alive instead of space debris like those two cruisers.”
He paused for a second before adding, “Sir.”

“But the mission has been compromised,” argued the
Major. “We must abort and retreat.”

I looked back at my brothers and tapped my helmet.
With a nod, all four buttoned up their helmets and grabbed their gear.

Placing my hand on the Major’s shoulder, he turned
to face me. His dark olive skin was more pale than usual and his coal black
eyes were fully dilated, two signs of the human fear response; he was on the
edge of panic. It wouldn’t do us any good if our commanding officer freaked out
during a mission.

Keeping my voice low I said, “Sir, Omega Squadron
never retreats. We will complete our mission or die trying.”

“Achilles! Tell this pilot that we must turn
around and regroup.”

“Sir, this is a worst-case scenario.”

That phrase seemed to sober the Major somewhat as
he nodded and said, “I know. This mission has been a cluster-fuck from the
start.”

I glanced at the HUD, it showed a massive wave of
plasma rounds inbound.

“Major, you need to don your helmet. If Curtis can
get us to the drop zone, we will punch out as planned with a HILO, high
insertion – low opening. If not, as the Spectres are breaking up, those of us
still alive will deploy en mass. Either way we are going to land hard and
fast.”

Major McDowell nodded his head. “You are quite
right Achilles. I am way out of my league. I am turning command of the mission
over to you, effective immediately. I will direct my ARC suit to be on
autopilot and follow your commands.”

I pointed to the back of the transport. “Very good
sir. Now if you would take your place next to Aeneas we will prepare for
deployment.” Turning back to the cockpit I said, “Sorry about this Curtis.”

Banking the Spectre hard to port, Curtis spoke
through gritted teeth. “No worries. I knew that this was a one-way mission
before I signed on. Of course, every mission with you guys has been that way. I
guess after three years, my time is up.”

Twisting the ship again this time to starboard, he
said. “You better strap in. They obviously know we’re here, those last two
shots were way too close to be random.”

Turning back to join my brothers, I was thrown to
the roof as the Spectre took a plasma blast in the stern and with one loud
shudder, it began to break up. Bodies and debris were everywhere, followed by a
huge fireball. Trying to regain my bearing, I looked up just in time to see a
huge chunk of metal that was once a piece of the engine slam into my head and
then darkness.

*   *   *   *   *

The smell of burning plastic mixed with the acrid
smell of cordite assaulted Iaido’s senses. It was a familiar smell. Iaido felt
a bit foggy and shook his head to clear it but the gun turret was slowly
filling with smoke obscuring his vision. No wonder he couldn’t see.

Out of habit he said, “Pax vent the cargo hold.”

There was no response.

Punching a few buttons on his console, Iaido knew
the turret was dead. Smoke was rapidly filling up the small enclosure and Iaido
knew he had to get out of there soon. Even his enhanced system couldn’t survive
for long without oxygen. Unhooking his harness, he crawled over the ruined gun
controls and to the hatch that led back to the main part of the ship. He placed
the back of his hand on the metal door, feeling for heat just in case there was
a fire on the other side; but he only felt the coolness of space. Unlatching
the door, Iaido pushed the hatch open and clambered into chaos.

Anything and everything that wasn’t bolted down
had been knocked down, including his shrine and books. The whole ship listed to
starboard and the smell of smoke filled the air. It was obvious that the
Nemesis had taken heavy damage, the question was how damaged and was anyone
hurt?

Grabbing an emergency rebreather pack from a
nearby rack, Iaido took several deep breaths of pure oxygen before moving to
the starboard turret where he last saw Talia. Once again placing the back of
his hand on the hatch, it was cool. Iaido gritted his teeth and opened it.

As soon as the hatch opened, Talia leapt into his
arms and shrieked, “Iaido!”

Iaido lifted her clear of the hatch and enjoyed
the warmth of her embrace for a moment before reluctantly stepping back. He
looked her over. A dark smudge of grease marred her alabaster skin and several
strands of her silver hair had fallen out of her ponytail but there were no
obvious signs of injury.

“Are you alright?”

Visibly shaken, Talia nodded. “Yes. Just a bit
frightened.”

“Let’s get to the bridge and check on everyone
else.”

Putting action to words, Iaido moved up the short
ladder which led to the command deck. Entering the bridge, flashing red warning
lights lit up the control panels. Iaido scanned the gauges with an experienced
eye. Judging from the readings, the cargo hold and aft cabins were open to
space. Emergency bulkheads had slammed shut sealing off the affected areas.
Fire Control, Main Computer and Environmental Systems were all damaged.
However, the reactor and engines were still fully functional. It was a
testament to the toughness of the ship’s design that the Nemesis was still
underway.

Pulling his eyes away from the instrument panels,
Iaido looked around the bridge. Jay was sitting in the co-pilot’s chair,
fighting with the controls to keep the ship as steady as possible. The blood on
Jay’s forehead didn’t look serious but Iaido asked anyway, “You okay?”

Without taking his eyes off the instrument panel, Jay
answered. “Yea. It’s just a scratch. Xerxes is aft checking to see how bad the
damage really is and if it affected our structural integrity. If not and we are
jump capable and will be at a jump point in ten minutes.”

Talia pushed past Iaido and moved up to Jay. Without
asking permission, she pulled out a green silk handkerchief from her pocket and
placed it on his wound. Closing her eyes for a moment, she concentrated on the
wound and let the mystical nature of her heritage flow into her hands. In her
mind’s eye, she could see the gash; it was over an inch long but not too deep.
Forcing some of her energies into the wound, she visualized the ruptured
capillaries and vessels constricting more and more until it completely stopped
the blood loss.

Opening her eyes, she said in an effort to hide
her powers. “This gash may require several stitches.”

Jay reached up and gently pulled her hand away
from the wound. “No offense ma’am but it’s nothing more than a scratch.” He
added with a grin and a wink as he pointed to his missing legs. “I’ve had worse
injuries. I think I’ll survive.”

Talia felt herself flush with embarrassment but
both men were too much a gentleman to make a remark concerning her actions. So
she busied herself by wrapping her silk handkerchief around Jay’s head.

Iaido asked, “Can we make it to Haven?”

“We should be able to,” Jay said, “as long as the
O
₂
generators are working. Of course, without Pax we have to do all
the calculations by hand but since we will be using a jump point, the
calculations are almost a moot point. I’m sure we can manage it.”

“Good. Make the jump soon as possible. Once we are
safe in hyperspace, we need to talk.” Turning toward the exit, he added, “But
first things first, I’ll go see if Xerxes needs any help.”

“Iaido!” Talia said taking an involuntary step
towards him.

Pausing in mid-stride, Iaido looked back. “Yes?”

Talia chewed on her lip slightly before saying,
“Be careful.”

With a grin Iaido added, “Don’t worry. I’ll be
okay.”

*   *   *   *   *

Less than an hour later when they were safely in
hyperspace, the small crew gathered on the mess deck. The Nemesis was still
listing slightly to starboard but only about five degrees off center.

Talia had kept herself busy by straightening the
mess deck. She had moved several large crates to the center of the deck to act
as a table with smaller crates for chairs. It was the best they could do until
access to the upper or lower decks were restored.

Iaido was the first to arrive. Pausing at the
access panel, he studied her handiwork before entering. Shifting his gaze to
Talia as she worked at tidying up the room, he couldn’t help but notice the
gentle curves of her body. Talia had removed her black leather jacket which
revealed the green silk blouse she was wearing; it was loose fitting but still
provided an ample view.

Clearing his throat to announce his arrival, Iaido
dropped in from the access hatch above deck. Landing cat-like he said, “You
know, I should apologize for the rough accommodations. I wasn’t really
expecting company.”