The Sunfire (31 page)

“Never!” Marcus interrupted, his voice barely concealing the
anger in it.

Sejanus however just whipped his sword around and held it
hovering just a few inches from Marcus’ throat. “Take care with your words, old
man,” he warned. “Otherwise you might not live to see your daughter much
longer.”

“I’ll do it,” Sofia said in a quiet whisper. “Anything, but
please, just don’t hurt him.”

“Observe your obedient daughter Marcus. You should take note
of what she says. Now for the next step, once married you are to make a public
announcement, endorsing our marriage and at the same time stating you will step
down due to ill health and that all your power will transfer to me.”

Marcus just sneered. “Never! You have already tortured me
before and I would not yield. Nothing you can do to me would make me submit.”

“I was hoping that you would say that,” Sejanus replied with
sheer delight. “I promise you I will enjoy this far more than you,” he said.
Turning once more to Sofia, he walked around her, running his hand through her
hair and across her cheek until he stood directly behind her. “I’ve been
dreaming about this for years, ever since Gideon interrupted our last little
session. Once I am finished and, as I said to your precious Commander, I am not
a selfish man, I’m happy to share her. In fact, I have promised your daughter
to many of my employees and I will enjoy watching each of them taking their
turn, as you watch them. I wonder how many it will take before you break, as I
am so curious to find out.”

With that he brutally pulled off the blouse Sofia wore,
leaving her naked from the waist up. Marcus shot out of his seat, as if
electrocuted, moving towards his daughter.

“Sit!” Sejanus screamed, spittle flying everywhere. “Sit or
I will slit her throat while you watch.” Marcus froze mid-stride, staring in
complete disbelief at the scene in front of him.

“I’ll do whatever you say,” Marcus confessed, lowing his
head in defeat. “Anything that you ask for I will gladly give to you, just
please don’t hurt her.”

Sejanus only leaned his head back and roared with laughter.
“Oh Marcus, how long I have yearned to hear those words. However, this is my
prize and my reward. I will take my dear wife-to-be anyway I want her and right
now I want her begging on her hands and knees before me with you watching. For
I want you to finally understand how powerless you really are and I want you to
feel it. Just how I felt when Gideon cast me out, taking everything from me
that I was promised. Everything I deserved.”

Sofia finally looked up into her father’s frightened eyes
and asked the question she needed to know, but had always been too frightened
to ask. “What is he talking about father? What prize? What reward?” The
question seemed to hang in the air, taking on a life of its own, sucking the
air from all around it, until everything seemed to be consumed in the room.

Even Sejanus froze with shock. Finally looking Marcus in the
eye in disbelief, he said, “You never told her?” He further uttered in delight,
“She doesn’t know, does she?”

Marcus just averted his eyes, unable to look his beloved
daughter in the eye, unable to let her see the truth of his deceit.

“Tell her,” Sejanus insisted. “I want her to know the truth
before I take her and I want her to realise the full extent of your deception
as it will make her pain so much sweeter. Tell her Marcus, from the lips of her
own father, how you offered her to me.
Tell her!
” He screamed.

Marcus finally turned back to his daughter, the shame and
self-loathing clearly visible in his expression. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered,
so quietly Sofia strained to hear the words. “I thought what I was doing was
the best for you and I worried about your future. I wanted somebody to look
after you and to protect you, after I was gone.”

“What did you do father?” Sofia pleaded, the fear and horror
slowly creeping into her voice, as she guessed what he was going to say, but
praying it was not so.

“I promised you to Sejanus, to become his wife, as he was to
be my chosen successor.”

Sofia just dropped her head in despair. Unable to believe
the words coming from her father, but in her heart knowing them to be true. “He
tried to rape me,” she uttered. “He would have succeeded had Gideon not saved
me and instead you offered me to him? To this monster,” Sofia screamed.

If Marcus could have been more surprised, it did not seem
possible, for he fell back as if punched, his face a deathly shade of white,
trembling. “I didn’t know,” he said, shaking. “Gideon never said anything. He
just told me Sejanus was not suitable and he would be removed from the
Praetorian Guard. I didn’t know…” he trailed off in despair.

“And what of this replacement that he,” Sofia practically
spat the word, “refers to. You mean Jon don’t you? He was meant to be the
replacement for Sejanus, for me.” Sofia’s eyes suddenly widened in
understanding. All those years thinking Jon had betrayed her when instead this
hadn’t been the case!

“Please don’t tell me that you made the same offer to him?
Please by the Maker say it’s not so.” Sofia, still on her knees, begged her
father. “That you offered me to him as some sort of consolation prize, a reward
for becoming your successor. Please father, tell me you didn’t do this?”

For Sejanus was sick and twisted, having spent the past
decade consumed by the promise of the future her father offered him, but not
Jon. Jon, he would have viewed such an offer far differently, if she was
offered to him as a reward, part of some sort of twisted prize from her father
upon agreeing to become his chosen successor. No, Jon would have been horrified
by such an offer and he would never have agreed to it
.
Never!

Suddenly Sofia’s mind flashed back to the scene in her
apartment years before when Jon asked her if her father had ever asked about
them being together. She remembered her off-the-cuff remark about her father
having loved him as a son. He had known
,
or at least
suspected. She realised she had not imagined the flash of despair in his eyes
at her response, at the time thinking it a strange reaction, but now she
finally knew. After all those years, the answer to the question of why Jon had
betrayed her was because he never really had. Instead her father had betrayed
him, betrayed them both, in the worst possible way.

Sofia just cried for the past that had been taken from her
and the future, for the family that was so cruelly denied to her. Mostly she
cried for Jon. Alone with a secret he could never share with her. For it would
destroy all she had left of her father, her memory of him.

“You are nobody’s prize Sofia,” a voice rang out clearly
across the room.

“Not a gift to be handed out. Not to him,” the owner of the
voice spoke towards Sejanus, “and most certainly not to me. You are your own
person, a beautiful, warm, loving, caring person and you deserve better than
that.”

Sofia, Marcus and Sejanus all turned to stare, open-mouthed
at the sound of the voice coming from the direction of the door to the
apartment. So involved were the three of them, that none had heard the door
quietly open moments before.

“Jon!” Sofia gasped, her heart leaping into her throat, not
able to believe what her eyes were seeing.

At the sound of her voice, Jon turned to face her, his eyes
softening. It had been so long since he had last seen her or heard her voice
that he could feel himself being physically drawn towards her. Taking a step
forward he cast his gaze carefully over her, inspecting every inch of her, as
if needing reassurance that she was safe and unharmed.

Sofia could feel his gaze roaming over her, being almost a
living thing. Stopping at each scratch, each discoloration, pausing, as if to
reassure himself she was unhurt. She knew she should have been embarrassed at
the state of her undress, but all she could feel was the heat of his gaze.
Bathing in its warmth, it felt like the first time she had been warm in many,
many years. For she knew now Jon was here everything would be fine. Sofia was
amazed at how her feelings had turned from absolute despair to complete euphoria
in such a short period of time. It had always been like that with him, as she
always felt completely safe when he was around. Secure in the knowledge there
was nothing he couldn’t handle and he would never, ever let anybody hurt her.

Once he appeared to have completed his inspection and
satisfied himself that she was unharmed, he turned his gaze back to Sejanus.
Any warmth or softness swiftly vanished from his eyes, leaving nothing but a
cold grey darkness, the same colour as a winter’s storm, unforgiving,
relentless and just as deadly.

“I warned you Sejanus,” he whispered in a quiet tone of
voice, which seemed to carry easily across the room. “I warned you of the grave
consequences of your actions. I gave you a chance and a choice, which was more
than you offered the girl whose life you so delighted in taking. I gave you the
chance to walk away, but you didn’t take it.”

From a great distance away a rumbling noise could be heard,
as if a freight train was approaching. The noise grew constantly louder and the
shaking got steadily worse.

However, Jon ignored everything else, never once taking his
gaze off Sejanus. “I told you what would happen,” he said in an increasingly
loud voice, to be heard above the deafening noise. “I told you that I would
crack open the gates of hell, and unleash their forces upon you. I would take
apart this complex and, if necessary, I would pull this planet apart,
rock-by-rock.”

By this time the roaring had reached a crescendo, the
building shaking so hard, reaching such an intensity the others were thrown to
the floor, unable to remain on their feet. As if the hand of the Maker had
reached down and picked up the building and was shaking it furiously, much like
an irate child would shake a toy.

“But most of all,” Jon continued in a deadly tone of voice
and by some miraculous ability, he was able to remain standing. “I told you
that by following through with this course of action you would forfeit your
life.” With those final words he reached for the sword at his side, releasing
it from its sheath.

As if stilled by this very action, the sound suddenly ceased
and the shaking stopped, leaving three frightened individuals on the floor
staring up at the Commander. Obviously the shaking had damaged the building’s
power supply as the main lights had long since extinguished, leaving only
minimal illumination from the emergency lights, which cast long shadows in the
gloom. With his white uniform and sword glistening with a pale blue light, Jon
looked like an avenging angel sent from the heavens to distribute divine
justice.

The sudden silence in the room was abruptly broken by a
terrified voice announcing over the building’s emergency broadcast system.
“Enemy ship detected in orbit, we’re under attack!”

The Sunfire
had arrived, right on schedule.

The Sunfire, outskirts of the Sigma Draconis System

Captain Paul Harrington slowly made his way towards the
bridge of the mighty warship, taking his time to talk to any of the crew he met
on the way, answering questions, giving reassurances as and when necessary. He
knew they had plenty of time, as they were not scheduled to depart for at least
another half-an-hour.

Good Captains lead. Great Captains inspire.

Paul wondered momentarily where he had once read those
words, dismissing the thought after a few moments as he needed to stay focused.

Upon hearing a whispered conversation down the corridor,
Paul stopped suddenly and looked in that direction, only to find another empty
corridor. It had been like that ever since he had stepped aboard this ship.
Whispered conversations that seemed to drift through the air, but with nobody
in sight. Cold breezes, blowing at random intervals, as if a chilled wind had
suddenly picked up. Paul was not a superstitious man, he had seen too much in
life. He had learned to trust what he could see and touch, but it was times
like this he cursed David and Jon for broaching the subject in the first place.
If he was completely honest, he would admit this ship frightened him a little,
as it seemed to have a life of its own. A presence. Shaking such thoughts from
his head he stepped into the lift that took him to the bridge.

Stepping out onto the bridge he acknowledged the salute of
the crew, who had quickly reverted back to formal Imperial Navy etiquette.
Every station was manned, every system checked and double-checked. The ship was
as ready as she would ever be. Taking his seat in the Captain’s chair, Paul
wondered if this was how it had been the last time the ship had gone into
combat. Remembering the terrifying outcome of that engagement Paul considered
for a moment if the ship was cursed. Yet during the short time he had been
aboard he had come to appreciate the ship. The power that seemed to surge
throughout it gave him a sense of confidence that together they would get
through this in one piece.

“Systems check, people.” He called out to the crew.
One-by-one, each of the bridge crew acknowledged all systems were green and,
for the first time in many years, the ship was at full combat readiness. “Very
well,” he acknowledged. “Start the countdown.”

Tapping the control in his armrest to activate the ship’s
internal broadcast system he announced. “This is the Captain, we have started
the count-down to jump to Tartarus. All crew should now report to assigned
stations and prepare for extreme unpleasantness,” he announced with upturned
lips. He would never admit it, but he had missed this. While overseeing
Vanguard and the day-to-day operations on-board
Terra Nova
he had missed
the rush of commanding such a ship, and a fine ship she was. Paul could not
remember in all his years of service commanding such a beautiful one. “It’s
time to go and bring them home,” Paul said, softly stroking the armrest of his
chair. “To bring everybody home,” he added remembered the purpose of the
mission. “Helm,” he called out. “Are the FTL engines powered up and ready?”

“Standing by.”

“Tactical?”

“All weapons armed and ready, Captain.”

As Paul watched the countdown reach zero he softly ordered,
“Then let’s go.” The ship’s powerful faster-than-light engines came to life
jumping the ship into the heart of the Sigma Draconis system, and to Tartarus.

*****

A few kilometres off the starboard side of the massive Titan
defence station,
Leviathan
, a wormhole appeared. Initially so
microscopic in size that it was invisible to the naked eye, but rapidly grew in
size until, from the very heart of it, the
Sunfire
appeared, travelling
at high velocity directly towards the station.

Like many systems throughout the Confederation, Sigma
Draconis had been seeded with gravimetric distortion sensors. These incredibly
sensitive satellites could detect the tiniest variation in the surrounding
gravity field, any fluctuation of which could indicate the forming of an
incoming wormhole and possibly a hostile ship. Their purpose was to give the
defenders ample warning of any approaching ships. The sensors worked perfectly
well, immediately informing the technicians monitoring them of an incoming
wormhole. However, such wormholes were meant to form far out, in deep space, a
vast distance away from Tartarus, as jumping close to the planet was inherently
dangerous. The massive gravity field of the planet was dangerous to any forming
wormholes and the ships that they transported.

Hence by the time that the sensors had detected the forming
wormhole and technicians had time to investigate, it was far too late.

The
Sunfire
was already within range of the station.

*****

“Helm, position?” Paul called out, watching his own console
as data started to flood his screen on the re-entry of the ship to normal space.

“Right on target, Captain,” came the prompt response.

“Ops?”

“All electronic warfare systems are now fully active. We are
jamming all enemy communications and targeting systems.” Which meant they would
not be able to call for reinforcements. Which was not to say that very soon
everybody would know the
Sunfire
was there, but it would help spread
confusion and panic between the three orbiting defence stations.

“Tactical?”

“Weapons are all ready, awaiting your command.”

“Very well, helm distance to the first station?”

“Five thousand meters and closing rapidly Captain.” Which in
astronomical terms put them practically in each other’s laps.

“Very well, hard to port,” Paul ordered. “Let’s show them
our starboard side.” Like most warships dating back to the first sailing
vessels, the concentration of their firepower ran along the length of the ship.
Only by turning side-on to the target could they deliver the bulk of their
firepower.

“Hard to port, aye-aye Captain.”

“Tactical?”

“Captain?”

“The order is given. Fire.”

The tactical Officer did not need to be told twice.

*****

There had been significant discussion on
Terra Nova
between the senior staff about how the
Sunfire
should engage the
stations. None of the crew felt particularly comfortable about participating in
an unannounced, surprise attack. Hence there had been considerable discussion
about offering them the opportunity to surrender or, at the very least, to
remain neutral and allow the
Sunfire
to proceed untouched. However,
after hours of fruitless discussion it was finally acknowledged those were not
viable options. The crew only had one advantage and that was surprise. In every
other category the balance of power was firmly with the defenders. Hence the
plan finally agreed upon was simplistic in its planning and overwhelmingly
destructive in its execution.

Consequently there would be no advanced warning. No
announcement. No prior contact. The plan was simply to jump into the system as
close to the first station as possible and disable it quickly, before moving
onto the next two. The plan simply relied upon the element of surprise and the
fact nobody would be crazy enough to actually attack them. It would give them
no time to prepare, no time to regroup.

Hence, at almost point-blank range to the station, with the
defenders caught completely unaware, the initial barrage was ferocious. The
entire starboard length of the
Sunfire
momentarily vanished in blinding
white light, as almost simultaneously every weapon on that side of the ship opened
fire in one almighty barrage. Particle beams, missiles, rail guns, pulse
cannons, everything was let loose within the space of a few milliseconds. The
intervening space between the
Sunfire
and the Titan defence station was
torn apart at the molecular level. It was as if the ship had physically reached
out and taken a bite out of the station.

Armour, missile batteries, guns, sensors, equipment,
bulkheads, corridors and compartments were vaporised in the ensuring storm of
weapons’ fire. The storm did not abate, but instead the fearsome maelstrom
simply grew in intensity and continued to tear apart everything in its path.

“Primary targets are all now destroyed, Captain,” the
tactical Officer called out. “Now targeting secondary gun emplacements.”

“This looks like the entrance to a flight deck,” Paul
observed, highlighting a particular section of the station that was just coming
into view. “It’s possible these stations have their own complement of fighters
and bombers. Take it out.”

A pair of heavy rail-guns on the prow of the ship orientated
to lock onto the new target and, pausing for a moment, as if to take a breath,
suddenly renewed their fire. The massive shells of super-dense alloy,
possessing no explosive charge but travelling at almost two thousand meters per
second, in a vacuum where there was no friction to slow them down, tore into
the side of the station. They shredded the entrance to the docking bay and
immediately neutralised the energy barrier maintaining the atmosphere on the
flight deck. It was a miracle none of the rounds actually landed on the deck,
as it was currently laden with volatile ships, ammunition and fuel stores.

While none of the rail-guns hit the flight deck, the same
could not be said for the barrage of missiles that were only seconds behind.
The flight deck was immediately vaporised as the missiles detonated and
exploded ships, fuel and ammunition. The explosion was so massive that it tore
a further chunk out of the station, exploding out of the docking bay like an
erupting volcano.

Meanwhile, aboard the
Sunfire
,
the ship
started to shudder as the station’s few remaining weapon systems finally
started to power up and open fire on the warship that had just practically
annihilated the massive space station.

“We are starting to take fire,” The Officer from operations
called out. “Looks like small to medium calibre rail-gun and pulse cannon fire.
Looks like we missed a couple of their gun emplacements on the first pass.”

“Find them and pass a targeting solution to tactical,” Paul
ordered briskly, before turning back to the helm Officer. “Rotate the ship
along the length of our axis,” he ordered. “Let’s make it harder for them to
target us.”

Slowly, like a corkscrew, the
Sunfire
started to
rotate along its length and one-by-one the starboard gun batteries fell silent,
their ammunition magazines mostly spent anyway. However, just as the starboard
guns stopped firing, the port weapons now orientated towards the station
resumed the hellfire all over again. This time targeting the station’s few
remaining guns that had not already been destroyed.

“All secondary targets destroyed Captain,” the weapons
Officer reported.

“Good job,” Paul replied, before turning back to the
operations Officer. “Are you detecting any further emissions?”

“No Captain, she looks dead in space. I am not detecting any
targeting scanners, or communications from the station.”

“Very well,” Paul replied. “Helm, lay in a course for the
next station, flank speed. One down, two more to go.” He called out, as the
ship’s bow swung around to face the next station that was just becoming visible
rising above the horizon.

The
Sunfire
moved to intercept, leaving nothing but a
lifeless empty shell of a station behind.

*****

“Helm,” Paul inquired. “How long until we intercept the next
station?”

“If we continue on this heading, at this velocity, a little
under twenty minutes Captain.”

“Very well then, let’s put the time to good use. Tactical,
load the orbital bombardment rounds. I think that it’s time we wake up
everybody down there.”

Part of the treasure trove of intelligence from the old
Imperial Navy scans of Tartarus identified several above ground facilities
surrounding the main corporate complex. While lacking detailed intelligence on
these structures, the navy analysts had tentatively identified several of them
as ground-based weapons emplacements. While none of them posed a direct threat
to the
Sunfire
, they would be extremely problematic when Jon and his
team had to extract themselves from the planet via shuttle. Hence it had been decided
during the planning stage that the
Sunfire
would neutralise these
structures upon arrival. As these emplacements were fixed they were ideal
targets for the highly specialised space-to-ground ammunition aboard the
Sunfire
.
Similar to the larger rail-gun rounds these were made of a dense alloy to
protect them during re-entry, but were specially shaped to allow them to
fly
better through a planet’s atmosphere. Travelling at many times the speed of
sound, by the time they reached the planet’s surface they would be lethal to
any fixed targets.

“Orbital bombardments rounds loaded and ready, Captain,” the
tactical Officer confirmed.

“Pass me the targeting data for my review.”

“Done.”

Paul brought up the targeting data on his console and
quickly reviewed it. The bombardment rounds were accurate to within a dozen
meters, highly accurate considering that the ship was currently in a high level
orbit, approximately four thousand kilometres away. Paul quickly approved the
targeting plan, ensuring there was nothing targeted within one hundred meters
of the main complex. As an added bonus he prioritised the targets furthest away
first, the barrage should result in a shockwave that would certainly shake up
everybody on the planet. Hopefully it would buy Jon and his team some
additional time, with all the residents in a state of near-panic.

“Approved. Fire at will,” Paul ordered.