The Last Hero (25 page)

Chapter 28: Audacity

heckmate,” the grinning beast declared when Trent’s king flashed red. “That makes three for me today, and one for you. Your mind is elsewhere. It’s the only explanation for the ease of my victories. What occupies your thoughts?”

“We are almost to the gate,” he informed Hido. “In two weeks, we’ll be in my home system.”

“I see. I must say I’m confused. You don’t seem happy to be almost home.”

“I’m happy. Just conflicted.”

“Conflicted?”

“Yes.” Trent pressed a button on the wall, removing the dual chess set display. “You know, we were forced to take a detour. It has been several decades since I’ve been home. My wife is dead. And...and my daughter may also be by now, either from age or some other means. I told her that I would be home in two and half years. Now I’ve missed her entire life. I may be going home...but what am I going home to? I don’t know this world. My world died while I was stuck on this bucket.”

Hido stood and walked to the crisscrossed bars.

“I see. I too miss my family, and I doubt they’re still alive. There’s a chance I’ll never see them again. What does it matter? We are but flecks of stardust in the vastness that is the universe. What are our troubles truly worth?”

“I don’t give a shit about the universe.” Trent’s words became heated. “My troubles might be meaningless to the universe, but they sure as hell matter to me. And they mattered to my daughter.”

“You did your duty. What more can be expected of a father?”

“To be a father!” he shot at Hido, for no other reason than it felt good to yell at someone. “You don’t understand. My people expect more of a father than simply to set an example as a good warrior. We should be there for our children. Just because I have a good excuse for not being there doesn’t mean that I’m excused.”

“I understand that you blame yourself for things beyond your control. Accept your fate. Embrace the path the universe has chosen for you. You are a warrior, Colonel Maxwell. Like me, it is what you were born to be. To fight against your destiny is to invite disaster. Your daughter will understand, if not in this life then in the next.”

Hido’s words burned deep into Trent’s soul. As much as it pained him to admit it to himself, he knew some of what the alien warrior said was true. He couldn’t help but recognize that somehow this war was why he had been born.

He loved it.

Trent treasured Anna. He considered every second with her to be a precious gift from God, and he wouldn’t trade a moment of that for anything. At the same time, as he lived a peaceful civilian life, he had always felt uneasy. As if he had lived a lie.

When the trumpets of war sounded once again on Earth, part of him cried for the sacrifices to come while another part cheered the renewed march to combat, a return to his natural state.  

This love of war, the happiness he found in combat, created a profound guilt within him. Why couldn’t he be truly happy as nothing more than an insurance salesman, a husband to Madison and father to Anna?

He hated being away from Anna, but he loved where he was. This internal contradiction served as the source for the nightmares only recently chased away by Amanda’s affection.

Trent turned away from Hido, not wanting to see the man who understood him so well. Not wanting to look him in the eye as he told him the other reason for his hesitation for returning home.

Filling the silence left by Trent’s self-contemplation, Hido continued, “It’s worth noting. I would gladly trade predicaments with you.”

“I imagine you would,” Trent said. “There’s another matter concerning me.”

“I know, Colonel.”

“You do?” Trent said surprised.

“Yes. Please do not let it trouble you. It is my fate, my path.”

Turning back around, Trent opened his mouth to speak, but Hido raised a paw.

“Despite our mutual respect, I’m an enemy prisoner. I fully expect that when we reach your base, I will be taken out of your control and made to suffer several...inconveniences.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you are, but it’s out of your control. You must do your duty. If our positions were reversed, I would not hesitate to do mine.”

“You know.” Trent sat back down. “You could make everything a lot easier for all of us and just tell us what we want to know.”

Hido smiled and laughed.

“I imagine I could. We both know that will never happen.”

“It was worth a try.” Trent shared in the laugh.

***

“Uuuummmm.” The delicious moan rolled out smooth as silk as Amanda disengaged her spent naked body from Trent. “That’s exactly what I needed,” she commented.

“Happy to be of service to you.”

Rolling onto her side, she stood two fingers on his naked chest. Walking them slowly backward, Amanda asked, “What can I do for you?”

“Oh, I think I ca—”

“Captain DeWalt for Colonel Maxwell, please respond,” an ill-timed message blared.

“You are fucking kidding me. Now!”

Amanda said, “Guess I’ll have to owe you one.”

“No.” He still held out hope. “It may be nothing.”

“At this hour? I think you’re screwed...or not, depending now you look at it.”

“Captain DeWalt for Colonel Maxwell, please respond,” the message repeated.

“You gonna get that?” Amanda pointed at the ceiling with a grin.

Trent sighed. “Computer, patch the message through.”

“Colonel Maxwell here.”

Amanda quickly moved down, teasing Trent’s ready member with her mouth.

“Colonel, I called a senior personnel meeting.”

Amanda’s aggressive tongue danced around, causing a dense fog of pleasure to descend over his mind.

“Fffff.” He cleared his throat. “Now?”

“Yes now! We have an emergency situation. We meet in ten. Captain DeWalt out.”

Popping her head up, smiling ear to ear, Amanda said, “I guess you need to get going.”

“Not so fast, missy.”

***

Fumbling with the final details of his dress uniform, Trent entered the conference room. He was the last to arrive.

“Glad you could join us,” Dr. Crawford snapped. Her message, “if I could be here on time at this hour so could you” came through loud and clear.

Trent paid little attention to the old hag’s criticism. He wasn’t about to let Amanda off the hook after her cruel teasing, and he didn’t care if it made him a little late.

“We have a problem,” Captain DeWalt started while Trent took a seat next to Commander Sanchez.

“What is it now,” Crawford demanded.

DeWalt met the interruption with a cold stare. “Computer, display recon probe image.”

A holo projection appeared in the middle of the black table. The displayed space station consisted of a circular tube creating a ring around a cylinder in the center with four smaller tubes connecting the primary structures at equal intervals.

“What the hell is that?” Dr. Crawford blurted out.

Trent knew instantly what it was.

“It’s a Bearcat base...it’s waiting for us at the gate.”

The assembled officers stirred in their chairs.

“The colonel is right.” DeWalt dashed any hope to the contrary. “We now have a decision to make, attack or retreat. I have already ordered deceleration to begin.”

Crawford asked, “Retreat to where?”

“Back to Black Marble.” Sanchez’s words landed with a thud.

“You can’t be serious. That’s eight months and eighty light years away. Do we even have enough water to make it back to the other planet?” Crawford’s panicked words sent a ripple of fear through the room.

Sanchez ran a hand through his thick black hair. “I don’t think we have a choice.
Earth’s Fist
is basically a really advanced transport vessel. We don’t have the firepower without our fighters and drones to take on a base. Let alone any reinforcements they may be calling for.”

“Why are they there? What about water?” Lieutenant Sejak asked.

Sanchez said, “There is a planet a light year from the gate. This may have been built to control access to it.”

“Why isn’t important.” DeWalt took control. “It’s there. We have to deal with it one way or another. As for the water, if we conserve like mad, I mean no showers...zero. And utilize condensation from collected urine, then we can probably make it back to the lake...most likely.”

Crawford commented, “Well...that should be fun. All I have to say is that I’m not collecting the urine.”

“Can’t help it, Doctor.” Sanchez didn’t appreciate her attitude. “We don’t have an offensive capability.”

Trent leaned forward. “That isn’t entirely true.”

DeWalt asked, “What do you mean, Colonel?”

“
Earth’s Fist
has three offensive arms: the fighters, the drones, and the Legion. We have fifty shuttles sitting downstairs without a scratch on them. I say we use them and my troops.”

Sanchez said, “That’s mad. The shuttles are designed for close ground support. They don’t have the munitions to take out a space station. Particularly one constructed with tech decades ahead of our own.”

“What are you thinking?” DeWalt asked.

“The shuttles don’t need to take the base out. The Legion will do that.” Trent made eye contact with each person at the meeting. “They do have the capability to latch onto the hull of an enemy ship and cut through with lasers. We’ll board and take the station from the inside.”

Pessimism oozed from Sanchez. “Surely they have fighters. They’ll wipe you out before you get close.”

“Not if
Earth’s Fist
provides cover,” DeWalt said.

Sanchez looked surprised that the words came from the captain.

DeWalt continued, “The shuttles can stay within our anti-fighter umbrella until we get too close for our anti-missile fire to be effective. Then forty of the shuttles can serve as cover for ten loaded with boarders. They don’t have the maneuverability of a fighter, but their rockets should provide enough trouble so the colonel can get his people aboard. If a shuttle gets in too much trouble, they can just dip back under our umbrella.”

“It’s insane.”

Trent said, “It can work, Commander.”

Sanchez said, “Okay, let’s say it could, which I’m not so sure about. It could only possibly work if the station wasn’t supported by other ships. If they get reinforcements, the operation is going to quickly turn into a suicide mission for all of us.”

Putting his hands flat on the table, Trent rose. “If we go forward there are risks. If we go backward, there are risks. Right here and now, the enemy is before us. I, for one, am sick and tired of running. You’re Fleet, and I’m Legion. We were created for one thing, to
fight
the enemies of humanity. I’ll be damned if I’ll turn and run from an enemy that I know we can conquer. In the words of a wise general, “audacity, audacity, audacity.” Let us mount our steeds and charge into the valley of death!”

Slamming a fist onto the table, he added, “If we die, so be it. Better to fall in the face of the enemy with a mighty roar than with a whimper in the vacuum of space after we discover our piss water is insufficient. We are the defenders of Earth. I say we show these sons-of-bitches what that means. “

The rim of gray circling the black table stirred as the officers’ blood rose. The captain’s eyes glowed with a glint only derived from the prospect of glorious battle. Even the crotchety Dr. Crawford appeared roused by the fiery speech.   

No need for further debate remained. In two weeks, they would either be jumping home or be dead.

Chapter 29: Valley of Death

T
rent walked into the holding cells. Hido took the initiative to call up the chess boards in anticipation of another stimulating match. His back was to Trent as he studied the board.

“I think I have developed a new strategy. I’m very excited to try it out today.”

The friendly beast sported a “I have something up my sleeve” grin when he turned toward his opponent. The expression vanished upon the sight of Trent’s cool expression and battle suit.

Hido said, “I take it we won’t be playing today.”

“Sorry, not today. Something has come up.”

The distant reply sparked Hido’s curiosity. He asked, “Another riveting war game in the fighter bay?”

“No.”

The yellow eyes widened.

“I see. I would wish you luck...but I get the sense you are about to face my people in battle. The most I can say is, I pray you meet your God with an honorable soul.” He bowed his head.

Trent stood silently for a moment, with his helmet under his arm and his MRG slung over a shoulder. “I appreciate your words. I came to see you before I left because the entire ship is engaging in this battle. It’s a desperate endeavor. The odds the ship survives aren’t great.”

“I see.”

“I came to warn you that you may be meeting your own God soon, and to prepare yourself for such an appointment. I owe you that much...my friend.”

Hido moved as close to the bars as he could.

“Thank you. Rest assured that I have been ready for that appointment for some time.”

“I imaged so.” Trent stepped forward, bringing them face to face. “It has been an honor to get to know you, Hido. It’s a shame that we had to be enemies,”

“The feeling is mutual. I shudder to think what our people could have accomplished together. But I think the heavens conspired to prevent such a mighty alliance for fear of their own safety.”

Trent smiled and nodded to acknowledge the kind words.

“Maybe in another life.”

“I look forward to it.”

***

“Weapons, it’s all up to you for now,” Captain DeWalt said to weapons officer Lieutenant Pate from the holo display table where a swarm of Bearcat darts headed for them. “Just get us close enough to lunch the shuttles.”

“Nothing to it, Cap,” Pate replied.

Pate, the son of a Canadian lobsterman, knew better. While
Earth’s Fist
should have had little trouble dealing with the fighters, he could tell the darts on the display weren’t of the same design as those encountered eight months ago. The larger and faster craft moved to prevent
Earth’s Fist
from reaching the station.

Still, Pate counted them lucky that the station was unsupported by capital ships. Victory remained a possibility, or the enemy knew they didn’t need the help. Either way, he looked forward to the action after months of uselessness.

The twenty fighters unleashed a hail of missiles. DeWalt breathed a sigh of relief when Pate announced that he had obtained locks on all of them. The holo displayed pinged each one indicating as much.

No stealth tech, thank God for small favors.

The missiles did move faster and zigzagged with greater agility than before. However, the ship’s battle computer managed to track them as the anti-missile batteries burst into life. One by one, the menacing red dots vanished until the bridge crew cheered the final suicide attacker’s death.  

“Hooorrraayy!” echoed through the room accompanied by numerous fist pumps.

DeWalt smiled brightly.

It’s not going to be that easy. Com’on you bastards, bring it on!

They did.

The enemy fighters broke off into two equal formations. One arched port, the other starboard before turning to launch a coordinated two-pronged strike.

They closed.

“Lieutenant! You got them?” DeWalt demanded.

Jerking his eyes to the frantic weapons officer, he witnessed sweat roll down the face of the young man working the controls feverishly, struggling to offer counter fire against the enemy craft that had prepared to attack from a greater distance than normal.

Seeing Pate already bore all that he could handle, DeWalt didn’t repeat the question.

Earth’s Fist
claimed a kill, then another, but it couldn’t keep all the wolves at bay.

Dozens of invisible laser beams streaked across the black backdrop of space. Nothing could stop them from slamming into their target.

The carbon fiber hull melted where the strikes hit home, causing a chorus of alarms to sound on the bridge.

“
Alert! Outer hull breeched! Alert!

“Damage control, report!”

“Multiple hits on the outer shell,” Commander Sanchez barked. “Inner hull is holding...but we can’t take too many passes like that.”

“Weapons! Make’em pay.”

Most of the darts broke off their attack after firing a shot. A few, probably green pilots, caught up in the excitement, got greedy and pressed in for another volley. Of the three who advanced, two scored hits, but all fell.

No cheers rang out from the bridge crew, who frantically worked to survive the next enemy run. DeWalt focused on the display when the darts came about for the kill.

“Christ!” He hurried to weapons. “They’re planning to hit us exactly where they did before. Lieutenant, concentrate on protecting these areas.” DeWalt pointed at the ships diagram on the weapons panel. “They’re our soft points.”

Commander Sanchez announced, “All locks already secured in all areas where the hull is exposed.” The foresight earned a nod of gratitude from the captain.

Turning back to the display, DeWalt watched as the enemy craft renewed their charge.

“Helm! On my order, I want you to rotate the ship. Whatever shots they get off, they can’t hit the inner hull!”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

The converging foe moved in. DeWalt patiently watched the holos. A few seconds before they reached firing distance, he shouted out, “Now!”

The behemoth of a vessel rolled almost effortlessly just in time to force the well-aimed lasers to rake across fresh sections of outer hull. The attackers paid a price of two more dead for their trouble.

Sanchez, eyes were wide and glued to his panel. “It worked! They missed the inner hull.”

The spinning outer ring of the space station came into view on the holo table as the remaining fighters retreated toward it.

Confident in having achieved a victory of some measure, the bridge crew cheered once more.

“Get on the horn to the shuttle bay,” DeWalt said “Tell the Legion they’re up.”

***

Five-hundred suited and fully loaded legionnaires received the captain’s go order as they sat strapped into their chairs. Each seat aboard the ten shuttles proved as coveted as the most luxurious cabins aboard one of Earth’s finer pleasure ships. After months in deep space, with little to no action, everyone lobbied hard to get a piece of the fight.

Trent paid little attention to the parade of officers who spent the last two weeks arguing why their unit should be selected. He knew instantly who would occupy three-hundred and fifty-three of the spots, the exact number of battle ready members of the 1st Cohort. The remaining one-hundred forty-seven lucky winners were made up of two under strength centuries from the 5th, which showed its mettle on Black Marble. 

The forty empty shuttles assigned to cover the boarding party lowered into space from
Earth’s Fist’s
underbelly ahead of the rest. Keeping close formation with the battlecarrier, they waited as the
Earth’s Fist
closed on the enemy station.

As Trent’s shuttle slid down the launch shaft, softly shaking the passenger’s from side-to-side, he glanced at Amanda. Careful not to turn his head, he stole a look out of the corner of an eye, an invisible gaze thanks to the helmet.

Amanda opened a private com-link to him.

“You scared?” she asked.

“Honestly...no.”

“You’re either lucky or crazy. Maybe even stupid.” She giggled. The sound of her girlish laugh warmed his spirit.

“None of the above. Just happy this whole adventure ends today, one way or another.”

“I’m shaking in my boots over here. I hate being at the mercy of these fucking shuttle jockeys. These pricks only became shuttle pilots because they washed out of fighter school. I don’t mind dying, but not before I get a chance to fight.”

“Relax, babe. It’s out of our hands for a couple minutes.”

The loaded shuttles held formation at
Earth’s Fist’s
aft to await Captain DeWalt’s order.

***

The enemy space station’s defenses joined the fight by unleashing their main laser cannons atop the center vertical structure, plowing its heat into the battlecarrier’s nose cone.

“Helm, change course ten degrees to port,” DeWalt ordered. “Keep the soft points away from that damn thing.”

“Holy shit!” Pate cried. “It fired at twice the normal range.”

DeWalt calmly replied, “Welcome to the future, Lieutenant.”

Another beam burned along the starboard side cutting a long scar the end of which found inner hull. Metal alloys strong enough to withstand almost any explosion withered away in the face of such concentrated energy.

“
Alert! Inner hull breech! Alert!

Sparks flew, and the bridge shook from secondary blasts.

Commander Sanchez’s panel flickered. For a moment, he feared it would go out.

“Decks two through four, section A are breeched, Captain. We have power overloads, but nothing I can’t reroute. I have to warn you that we can’t take much more of this.”

DeWalt nodded. “Tell the shuttles they’re a go. We can cover them for only thirty seconds, so they’d better make it quick.”

The forty empty craft formed a crescent wall of protection with shuttles stacked four high and ten long. The boarding shuttles stuffed themselves tightly into the pocket. The flight to the station would be short, but deadly.

Earth’s Fist
already began a full turn when the formation zoomed across the pitted hull, allowing her anti-fighter umbrella to aid their cause.

At full throttle, it would take seconds to reach their target.

The station’s short-range defenses focused on them.

Trent rode with his eyes closed, feeling his body pulled in a variety of directions as the formation performed evasive maneuvers and launched volley after volley of rockets to clear the gun emplacements in the landing zone. Their target lay directly in between two of the tubes leading to the center structure. This location would allow them to secure these critical access points as fast as possible.

First four, then six shuttles succumbed to the well-aimed lasers. A final barrage before touchdown took out another nine, including one loaded with troops.

Trent’s craft landed with a loud clank against the hull, despite the braking thrusters firing on full.

With
Earth’s Fist’s
protection now out of range, the wolves charged once more. However, the swarming horde found not a squadron of balky craft ill equipped for the rigors of dogfighting, but thirty-one shuttles spread out across a friendly hull. Hitting the idle targets while avoiding dangerous damage to their own base would be no small challenge.

Lasers embedded in the rim of the clinging shuttle’s bottom hatch burned through the thick metal as fast as they could. Railgun turrets mounted on top offered a measure of defense that only proved successful in making the necessary surgical strikes to dislodge them more difficult.

The darts managed to pick off a shuttle here and there with careful aim, but the slow effort couldn’t prevent the inventible penetration.

“Colonel, all shuttles report they are through,” the pilot, Lieutenant Kuckuck, informed Trent, who stood over the hatch ready to invade.

“Phase two now!” he shouted.

On the order, eighteen surviving members of the covering force abruptly disengaged their locks with the enemy base. Eighteen different points along the hull experienced explosive decompression, blowing out untold numbers of waiting Bearcat defenders, who had arranged themselves to counter the boarding parties. Their flash frozen bodies shattered against hard shuttle hulls and one another.

It didn’t take long for the base’s atmosphere to vent. With the manmade storm over, hatches on the remaining eight shuttles loaded with legionnaires popped open. 

Trent jumped down into the lion’s den first.

Crouching low with his weapon raised, he swept left and right. Fellow soldiers dropped all across the cold, deserted corridor. Only a few lingering bodies confronted the incursion, their mighty claws still gripping a variety of sturdy points that succeeded in anchoring them, but couldn’t provide their lungs with air once the explosions stopped.

Trent couldn’t see the entire force dropping in because blast doors had closed in an attempt to localize the decompression. With the last of the men aboard, he looked up into the shuttle as the hatch closed, and it disengaged from the base. For a moment, he witnessed the chaos of the battle raging outside. Shuttles and dart fighters streaked past as lifeless enemy bodies floated by.