SODIUM:6 Defiance (14 page)

The Ogle battleship that I had sought refuge on shuddered as it shot to light speed on a journey unknown. I was tired, tired of the endless fight, tired of the isolation and of not knowing the fate of the Earth or that of my people. I had ten days of power remaining before I would be at the full mercy of those who I battled with. My mood began to change from one of fight to one of despair. I had a new war on my hands, a war against my own mind.

For two days I sat and brooded over my predicament before setting the sleep aids on my suit to full. Twenty-four hours passed before I was again awakened by stimulants. During my time at rest I had dreamt about my early days on the farm. My cousin and I were catching crawdads in the creek and I could hear my Grandfather on his tractor in the far field. It was summertime and we were all smiles and giggles as we splashed about in the water.

I was at peace; there was no fear and no burden of life or war. As I moved a large rock a black salamander with a cat's face quickly slithered away. I looked up and the dream ended when the sky turned bright orange with flame as a CME destroyed the Earth. My cousin screamed in pain as the super-heated plasma burned everything around her. When the stimulants kicked in I was taken from a mood of despair to one of anger. The Ogle had invaded my dreams.

I stood and immediately made my way towards the bridge. Upon arrival my anger only grew as the holo-displays of the Ogle crew were filled with images of Earth. I knew in my gut that this would be the final battle... the battle for Earths survival.

My years of experience and my every instinct told my conscience that I needed to wage war. A war like the Ogle had never seen. After a day of thought I emerged with a new strategy in mind, a strategy that would be nearly impossible to carry out, a strategy that bordered on insanity.

I would attempt to take control of the Ogle ship that carried me. I would then turn its weapons against the other ships in their fleet. It was a daunting task that would take precise planning and perfect execution. There were more than 100,000 Ogle aboard that I would have to keep in check each intent on stopping me.

For the following three days I moved about the ship while dodging the fleshy creatures that had been deployed to inhibit my movements. I then began to put my plan in motion. One-hundred-twelve blaster weapons were set to overload. Sixteen others were placed in a room adjacent to the bridge.

I would have eight minutes to set and place the overloads, three minutes to get into position followed by four minutes to take control of the bridge. I had studied the Ogle Weapons Techs and their station and was comfortable with my ability to aim and fire the particle beam at any nearby ships. The overloaded weapons would give me three minutes at the weapons helm to take care of the business at hand. I would then fall back for another round of setting overloads followed by again clearing the bridge.

With luck, I would get off a second shot at a neighboring ship followed by flying the Ogle ship into the Sun. After setting a course for the ships destruction I would drift into space with the hope of getting rescued by a human ship. If no ship came I would at least die in my own space, defending my world.

A day later the Ogle ship shuddered and came to an abrupt stop. Earth was in full view on the bridge displays. Four other ships quickly joined with the one I trolled and began their assault on the Earth. The shield surrounding the planet was still under repair.

I began my eight minutes of setting the overloads followed by returning to the bridge. Three blasters were set for 20 seconds before being tossed onto the lower decks of the bridge. As planned, the startled cats were at first unsure of where the weapons had come from. The confusion provided the timing I was counting on.

The weapons on the bridge exploded in unison with 22 others that had been placed at various locations around the ship. I then began my assault of the unarmed Ogle on the bridge. I blasted cats one by one as the others fled to the arming locations. Three strategically placed overloaded blasters had sealed off the bridge arming stations from being supplied. It was a slaughter as I worked my way through the screeching and howling herd.

Four minutes later the bridge was clear. I moved quickly to the weapons station and began programming the beam to arm and then to fire at the adjoining ships. Two minutes into my attempt brought a twist I was not expecting. Four human battleships blinked in, centered perfectly between the five Ogle ships. More than a million BGS Marines drifted in for an attempted assault. I had the weapon ready to fire but held back with the advent of the Marines. I would not fire on my own.

I switched the holo-display in front of me to the bridge of an adjoining ship and was witness to a fierce fire-fight taking place. The Marines had landed in force on the Ogle ship and were pushing forward rapidly. I changed views to a second ship and again was rewarded with what appeared to be a highly successful assault being fully underway.

As I reached for a holo-key to select the next ship my hand froze. There, on the display that sat before me, was Zack and his sons. Their squad moved like a precision machine taking down every bit of resistance the Ogle placed in their way. For a moment I was lost in the battle before realizing my time was limited.

I quickly flipped my screen to a new Ogle ship that was part of another pod and selected the fire button on the holo-display. A sharp focused beam of neutrons cut a hard line through three of the Ogle ships. Secondary explosions then rocked the pod before their adjoined weapon went silent. A quick scan of the battlefield then told me that the Ogle had 32 such pods engaged in the battle.

I then turned my attention back to the Ogle ship with Zack and his sons. They had nearly cleared the bridge when an overwhelming counter-attack ensued. Ogle soldiers flooded onto the bridge and the Marines began to take heavy fire. As I watched Zack and his team were being slowly pushed back before being pinned down, but they were holding strong.

A second squad then unleashed an explosive device on a neutron tube. With the destructive power of a ground based coil gun the explosion created a small breach in the tube. A fine blue stream of neutrons poured out instantly destroying everything in its path. That beam then struck a second tube, losing a second stream of neutrons. The pattern continued as the ship began to slowly destroy itself.

My attention was then returned to my situation as the last of the initial round of overloaded blasters detonated. As I drifted off the bridge the first team of Ogle to arrive was greeted with another overload blast. I then began my second round of setting up my weapons. My timings for placement of the weapons could not have been better. Eight minutes later I returned to the bridge and again unleashed a flurry of blaster bolts into the cats that had arrived. This time however, they fired back.

I bounced from wall to wall firing from different angles to keep up a level of confusion that would allow my continued fight. Two more blasters were set for rapid overload and then tossed down from the high decks onto those occupied by the Ogle. Four minutes later the bridge was again clear as I made my way back to the weapons station.

A second beam was programmed and a third pod targeted. I then switched the holo-display back to the bridge where Zack and his sons had been. I smiled as they continued their fight. I smiled, until a thin blue stream of neutrons cut directly through their location. Zack and his squad were vaporized right before my eyes.

I sat back on the Ogle cat mat with my jaw dropped open. Zack was gone. I was witness to an event that I was not prepared for. It was an event that my many years of experience, my many years of fight, my training and my will to continue could not process. I sat motionless, stunned and unable to act, until the first of the Ogle soldiers on the bridge grabbed my attention.

I quickly commanded the Ogle ship to turn towards the Sun as I pushed its throttle full. The ship strained against the others in its pod as it slowly began to move forward. I then set two final blasters to overload on the bridge before springing into action with a well-timed leap. Eight seconds later the blasters exploded taking out an advancing Ogle squad along with the weapons and navigation stations. I drifted slowly up through the ceiling of the bridge and out into space.

The Ogle pod continued to advance towards the Sun as the million BGS Marines pushed forward with their assaults. I watched intently as a second Ogle ship burst forth with blue neutron streams followed by a third. As the pod accelerated towards the Sun the Marines began their retreat. Nine minutes later the ships turned to flame as the super-heated plasma of the Sun's corona broke through the shields. The human battleships and BGS Marines moved quickly towards a second Ogle target.

The battle surrounding Earth raged for two days. Earth's fleet fought valiantly, taking out four of the Ogle pods before their numbers were cut to only a few ships. Earth's shields held strong until the 28 remaining pods began to focus their beams on a single point. I floated helplessly in space as I watched my home fighting for its survival. The odds were now against us.

Sections of the Earth shield first began to glow yellow as the localized static field generators began to fail. The yellow glow turned to orange and the orange to an ominous red. Earth's existence was now in its final throws.

Just as the first section of shield failed a massive spinning matrix of Frekkin ships appeared near one of the pods. A black cloud of something I could not quite make out was released into the space surrounding the Ogle ships. Their particle beams were quickly diverted in an effort to clear the cloud from their surroundings.

The Frekkin matrix then plowed directly into a second Ogle pod destroying two of the five ships before bouncing back away from it. It then encountered a third pod and again released a black cloud of some unknown substance or weapon into the space surrounding the Ogle pod. Several other Ogle pods turned their beams towards the Frekkin matrix as it bandied about in Earth's space.

As I sat watching the battle unfold I could only speculate as to why the Frekkin had attacked. Perhaps they somehow needed Earth to survive. Perhaps they had waited patiently for an attack on the Ogle fleet because they had not been able to locate the Ogle home world. Perhaps they had some other unknown agenda... I began to feel a sudden fondness for the Frekkin as the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

The Ogle particle beams cut deep through the Frekkin shields and the matrix began to spew forth debris from its destroyed globe ships. But the matrix was millions of ships strong and the particle beams, while devastating in their own right, were not countering the Frekkin threat with sufficient speed. The first of the Ogle pods to fall prey to the black cloud suddenly exploded with a bright blue fury as its neutron tubes were breached all at once.

The Frekkin matrix bounced from pod to pod while releasing black clouds and ramming them. The destruction I was witness to was surreal and on a scale that was difficult to fathom. These two great empires warred with each other as a near defenseless Earth watched on. Explosions were bright and crisp and appeared to be in slow motion as the great warships battled.

As the battle continued the tide began to slowly turn to the Frekkin. Their strategy was superior and their numbers supreme, but the Ogle were not ones to give up. As a third Ogle pod disintegrated the Frekkin's nemesis revealed their next card. It was the ace they had been holding up their sleeve. Half a million Meche ships dropped from light speed into the battle.

The Meche ships fought with a ferocity that quickly told of their commitment to the Ogle. They considered the Ogle to be their gods and would fight to the death to protect them. And a fight to the death was delivered as the Frekkin shields and weapons were far superior. But the sheer numbers of Meche ships along with the powerful Ogle pods were proving an even fight for the Frekkin.

Hours passed as the slow motion battle continued to rage. A pod would explode with bright fury followed by a stream of debris from the ever shrinking Frekkin matrix. Meche ships were surrendered as cannon fodder to further the Ogle cause. I then came to the realization that I was only minutes from Earth and the radio frequency transmitter in my helmet was still intact.

I began to broadcast a mayday to my home world over a standard rescue frequency. I was taking a huge risk as the signal would easily be picked up by every ship doing battle around me. After releasing a two second burst transmission I again went silent. Ten minutes would tell if my signal had been received.

Several minutes passed before a group of Meche ships moved close in to my position. I was within a hundred kilometers but it might as well have been a million as I could do nothing on my own but flail my arms and legs. Regardless of my immobility, I had no desire to board a Meche vessel. They were easy targets for the Frekkin cube and I was not thrilled with their proximity to my location. For several minutes I waited in fear that it was my radio transmission that had brought them to my location. It was not.

The Frekkin matrix turned in my direction and I watched helplessly as it closed on my position. At the last possible moment it released the black cloud weapon towards the Meche ships. The cloud spread quickly and moved in and amongst the ships as they attempted to sweep the space around them. Thousands of tiny flashes appeared as the Meche destroyed the items that formed the black cloud.

But the items were too numerous and many arrived and then disappeared into the Meche ships they had targeted. Minutes later explosions from within penetrated the outer hulls as the Meche ships fought for their survival. My attention was soon diverted to a small black mass that was drifting my way. It was in the shape of the soldier.

I reached out and grabbed an arm as the dead soldier began to float past. The soldier was human in size and shape but had lost a leg to Meche weapons fire. Without the protection of the suit the soldier had quickly bled out into the vacuum of space. As I clung to the dead body its motion sent the two of us spinning out of control. I turned and flailed, and then turned again before the rapid spin devolved into a slow rotation.