The Epherium Chronicles: Echoes (19 page)

Sanchez shook his head and smiled. Toronaga and Priest were making a habit of showing up in the nick of time. He took a quick count of who remained. There were four more Marines than he’d expected. The Embrace units were open. Trying not to panic, he searched for McGregor and found him leaning against the central pillar in the room. To his relief, the Marines closest to him had surrounded the four other men who had emerged from the Embrace units and held them under guard.

The wounded Marine they’d left behind pointed to Andrews and Greene, two of the Marines who’d been in the cryotubes. The men seemed tired and disoriented. “Sirs, the tubes opened about a minute ago. They’re fine.”

Sanchez was about to protest when loud klaxons sounded. “That can’t be good.” He swung around one of the terminals next to the Embrace units. Symbols in a language he didn’t understand flashed on the screen like a warning then a large spiral appeared. The outer spiral faded first and continued inward. It was a countdown. “We’ve got to get out of here now!”

Maya appeared in one of the alcoves. “This way leads to the surface. Hurry!”

Sanchez gave her a welcome smile. He needed to add her to that list of saviors, as well. “Radio the others and get the APCs ready,” he told Priest.

Maya bounded up the stairs, followed by the two MACEs who carried the four rescued Marines. McGregor ran beside Sanchez and together they sprinted up the steep tunnel. There was daylight ahead. The tunnel exited into heavy underbrush in the woods above the chasm.

There was a rev of engines to their left. The APCs were close. Priest contacted the APCs, who met the group en route. Everyone loaded into the armored vehicles when the entire chasm rumbled.

The APCs sped away from the edge at full speed, weaving in between the huge trees. A column of fire rose from the base of the chasm and continued skyward. It burned the trees on the edge of the chasm to a crisp in seconds and ignited the mist along the ground. The Marines and the MACEs never slowed and outdistanced the flames. After ten minutes, McGregor ordered a halt. Sanchez filed out of the APC and looked up between gaps in the huge trees. Part of the atmosphere was on fire and a section of the cloud cover had been burned away. Dusk was approaching and in the clear portion of the sky, explosions in orbit shone like fireworks. The
Armstrong
was up there in the thick of it. Helplessness set in as Sanchez stared at the display and sighed. She was probably in trouble, but there was nothing he could do.

Chapter Nineteen

“Enemy cruisers locking on to our escorts!” Aldridge called out in alarm.

Hood’s deployment of Beckett’s cruisers was simple. He needed them to engage two of the Cilik’ti cruisers. The third cruiser and Chi’tan advanced warship belonged to the
Armstrong.
With the
Armstrong’s
fighter squadrons reduced in strength, he kept the
Jeffries
on his rear flank. Her guns were more suited to swatting fighters and the smaller assault craft than duking it out with the larger vessels. Having her on guard in case any fighters tried to make an end run around his gunship screen made gave him a sense of security.

The opening salvos of the battle began in a wave. The Cilik’ti cruiser particle cannons hammered into the sides of the
EDF
cruisers on both sides of the
Armstrong.
The cruisers returned fire with their rail guns. Both sides got bloody noses, but there wasn’t a critical blow.

Cilik’ti drones looked like countless dots on his screen. Behind a packed group of fighters waited two squadrons of bombers. The Cilik’ti bombers could inflict a tremendous amount of damage if they got close enough to launch their payloads.
So much for the capture-us-alive premise.

“Captain, sensors have picked up the Chi’tan energy beam. It’s centered right on our reactors.” Aldridge’s announcement confirmed that the energy weapon wasn’t destroyed in their previous engagement.

Hood didn’t think they’d be back without their new toy. He reopened his channel to Engineering, and Whitaker’s dirt-smeared face appeared on his terminal screen. “Mr. Whitaker, drop reactor power levels to fifty percent.”

“Sir?” Whitaker appeared overcome with shock at Hood’s request, but took a more challenging tone. “I must protest. Our defensive system is working perfectly.”

“That’s an order!” Hood yelled to grasp his attention. “They need to believe their weapon is working. If we’re going to be vulnerable, we should look the part.”

Recognition showed in Whitaker’s eyes. “Yes. Yes, of course.” He adjusted two dials on the control panel to his right. “Powers left dropping, sir.”

The lights on the Command Deck dimmed, and several members of the crew grumbled at the loss of power.

Instead, Hood smiled. “Stand by.” With no shield and low power, he’d recreated the illusion he wanted the Cilik’ti to see. He had to keep the warship focused on the
Armstrong
. If they realized what was happening, they’d target his other cruisers and pick them off one by one.

As if on cue, the third heavy cruiser accelerated toward the
Armstrong.

“Dorsal rail guns, target secondary cruiser and launch Delta squadron,” he instructed Aldridge.

Approaching from above, the cruiser pressed its advantage and moved past the screen provided by the
Armstrong’s
gunships. They were busy dusting the swarms of Cilik’ti fighters. Instead of launching more bombers, several assault craft left the cruiser’s hangars.

“Fire on secondary cruiser!”

The topside guns of the
Armstrong
unleashed a brutal salvo on the exposed underbelly of the Cilik’ti vessel. Armor-piercing rounds penetrated the cruiser’s armor and shredded internal structure. The cruiser banked away from the
Armstrong
and responded with salvos from its own cannons. The bright blue energy melted a few of the
Armstrong’s
thick armor plates, but nothing penetrated.

Point defense cannons on the cruiser came to life. The cruiser’s new course had taken it into the oncoming wave of Delta Squadron. The Raptor bombers spread out and weaved and dodged the incoming fire. The deadly bombers released their bombs and vectored away at top speed.

Using the velocity of their host craft, the bombs slammed home into the cruiser at high speed. Two of the bombs flew past the doors sealing the cruisers port-side hangar and detonated inside. Bright flashes erupted in the rear half of the cruiser as secondary explosions tore apart her interior. Seconds later, the ship split in half and exploded in a burst of blue and orange.

The assault ships stopped their approach. With no cruiser to back them up, they were vulnerable. Their indecision was costly. From behind the shadow of the
Armstrong,
the
Jeffries
opened fire on the smaller craft.
The frigate’s armaments tore through the weaker armor of the assault craft. When the
Jeffries’s
guns stopped firing, only floating wreckage and dead Cilik’ti remained.

“Aldridge, do you have a lock on the energy beam?”

“Target solution acquired. Forwarding it to all port-side rail guns.”

“Belay that, Lieutenant.” Hood stood and spun to face her station. “Change all port rail guns to flak rounds and forward the warship’s targeting solution to the particle cannon.”

A flash of recognition appeared in her eyes. There were still a lot of Cilik’ti fighters and bombers between the
Armstrong
and the warship. The flak rounds would make a clear path for the particle cannon. She smiled at him then went to work to change the load outs. “Twenty seconds to firing readiness.”

Hood checked his screen again. The fight against the other two cruisers was taking its toll on both sides. One of the
EDF
cruisers, the
Phalanx
, showed heavy damage to her engines, and plasma fires were reported belowdecks. Its partner vessel was still hammering away at the attacking Cilik’ti cruiser, but the Cilik’ti was moving in to finish off the
Phalanx.

He needed to disable the larger warship and help his ailing cruisers. The rail guns with the new load outs came online, and he ordered them to fire. The sleek metal shells accelerated toward the group of Cilik’ti drones. Moments before they reached them, the shells exploded, sending clouds of shrapnel hurtling toward the unsuspecting small craft. Hundreds of drones were decimated in an instant, including the bombers that hadn’t engaged.

Seconds later, a large ball of particle energy streaked through the breach in the Cilik’ti fighter screen. The cannon blast slammed into the Chi’tan warship. The deadly energy tore apart the hastily repaired armor from the
Armstrong’s
previous engagement with the warship and burned into the infrastructure.

“The energy beam has been destroyed.” Aldridge’s voice sounded relieved, but Hood could tell she was focused on other parts of the battle.

“Mr. Whitaker,” Hood said over the comm channel to Engineering “The ruse is over. Bring the reactors back to full power and fire up that shield of yours.”

It didn’t take long for the power levels to increase, and Hood turned his attention to the other Cilik’ti cruiser. She was crippled, and the
EDF
cruisers engaging it pressed their attack. Fires raged near the ship’s engines and space-fold drive.

The advanced warship still hadn’t made a move.
What is she waiting for?

Hood’s terminal beeped and his eyes grew wide with shock and despair. Several large explosions occurred on the planet below. The sensors registered many of them in the several-megaton range, and the envelope of destruction was ripping into the planet’s atmosphere. “Did the Cilik’ti fire on the planet?”

It took a few moments for Aldridge to respond. “Negative.” She gasped in surprise. “You’re not going to believe this, but the explosions are in the same places of high concentration of ionization in the atmosphere.”

Hood felt he’d dodged a bullet, and that was when everything on the Command Deck went dark. Emergency lights illuminated, and he tried to access his terminal. Nothing worked. “Lieutenant, what happened?

“I don’t know. I saw a brief fluctuation in the power on the
Jeffries
then we lost all power.”

Precious seconds ticked away. He turned to one his helmsman. “Ensign, get down to Engineering. We’ve got to get—” Power surged back into the Command Deck’s systems, and he spun to Aldridge. “Get me a status on that warship!”

The
Armstrong
rocked hard. The Chi’tan warship had engaged and was closing.

“Sir, the
Jeffries
is disabled. I can’t raise her,” Aldridge informed him. “The Chi’tan are firing again!”

Bright blue energy scoured the port side of the
Armstrong.
Two of the main rail guns were hit and went off-line.

A comm request chimed on Hood’s terminal. It was Whitaker. He answered it angrily. “What happened to our power?”

The man’s breathing was rapid. “The space-fold drive...went...critical.” He paused a moment to catch his breath. “The power feedback scrammed the reactors. They’re still off-line.”

Hood was confused. “If they’re off-line, how do we have power?”

“I managed to reroute power from the space-fold batteries.” He looked away from his monitor. “It won’t last long, but I’m close to getting auxiliary online.”

“Keep working it and fix the reactors. We need main power!”

“Targeting is back online,” Aldridge interjected. “but the guns need time to charge.”

More blue particle energy burned across the hull of the
Armstrong,
and damage indicators flashed on internal decks. Two hull breaches were reported, and emergency bulkheads slammed into place.

Hood pulled up the tactical view of the battle on his terminal. The other
EDF
cruisers opened fire on the Chi’tan warship. The damage was superficial, but the
Ulysses’s
signal went off-line. There were no power readings from the ship, and the
Jeffries
was still disabled.

Power returned to the rail guns, and he waited for a new targeting lock on the warship. He had to make a decisive blow now, or his fleet was finished.

“Sir, I have new contacts!”

Hood turned back to Aldridge in a panic. “Where are they?”

“They’re along the outskirts of the system. I count five and increasing. They’re Cilik’ti cruisers.”

Stunned, Hood sank into his chair. He looked at his terminal and counted over thirty cruisers now. Even if they could defeat the warship, they couldn’t run, and there was no way they could best that large of a force.

He braced for the next barrage. Nothing happened. The large warship had halted its advance, but his terminal showed two of the
EDF
cruisers were still engaged. He stood and shuffled to the Communications Station. Fear was evident on Wells’s face, and the same feeling gripped his heart. “Lieutenant, order our cruisers to stand down and get me a comm channel to that warship.”

“Sir, you can’t possibly be considering surrender,” Aldridge’s angry voice challenged him. “Kree said the Chi’tan are ruthless. They’ll just kill us anyway.”

He nodded to Wells again. “That’s an order, Lieutenant,” he said in a solemn tone. “Have a security team move Kree to the hangar deck. I’ll meet him there.”

“Sir, no—”

He didn’t let Aldridge finish. “It’s what they want. Once they have us, I can buy Whitaker time to get power back and you can get out. I’m not going to let you die when I can stop this.”

He turned toward the elevator lift but stopped in surprise. Standing in front of the doors was Kree, whose translator globe glowed a bright blue.

“There is no need for surrender, Captain Hood. This one has come to help.”

Hood was speechless. When had Kree recovered, and better yet, how could he help now?

Kree held his translator globe high and lifted his head toward the ceiling. “Teribinam to the Chi’tan. Kree O’ta N’lan and the Qu’tan call upon you to join in negotiations to end this conflict.”

The new cruisers were the Qu’tan. Once he regained consciousness, Kree must have summoned them. Hood waited for the Chi’tan’s answer via Kree’s translator. There was nothing.

“Very well. If you will not negotiate, the Qu’tan place this system under their protection.” Kree’s statement was firm and direct. “You will leave now or be destroyed.”

Cautious seconds passed.

Finally, a new alert flashed on Aldridge’s screen. “The warship and the remaining cruiser are powering up their space-fold drives. They’re leaving.”

Fear and hopelessness turned to joy throughout the Command Deck, and several crew members stood and shouted in triumph. Moments later, the two ships disappeared in flashes of blue.

Kree relaxed and tilted his head to the side. “It is good to see you well, Captain Hood.”

Hood choked out a laugh. “I’d say the same for you. The last time I saw you, you were a jabbering mess.”

Kree lowered his head. “Yes, this one is sorry. There was no other way to defend against the Nelfarren’s assault.”

“What happened?” Hood asked with a confused look.

“This planet was infested with a Nelfarren. It had manipulated those aboard the Qu’tan mother ship into destroying their vessel. When it sensed this one’s presence, it assaulted this one’s mind. The best defense was to create barrier after barrier to deter it. The effort required all of this one’s concentration. This one apologizes. There was no way to warn you without stopping the pattern to keep this one safe.”

Hood put his hands on Kree’s long neck. “There’s nothing to apologize for. You did everything you could and you saved us all.”

If a Cilik’ti could smile, Hood thought Kree’s face would be beaming.

“Captain, I have Commander Sanchez on comms,” Wells said with renewed excitement. “I’ve informed him of our status, but he says he has a whale of story to tell you.”

If Sanchez was cracking jokes, Hood was sure his people were okay. “I bet he has, Lieutenant. Tell him to give us a bit and I’d love to hear it.”