“Yes, Madam President!” Private Ivan replied, then turned towards the girls.

  “How is that going to help?” I demanded. “Why the engineering core?”

  “It’s centred in the ship’s superstructure – it’s one of the ship's strongest and safest areas.”

  I glanced at Amorina, whose single nod said so much.

  That will have to do for now.

  I turned to Knox again and nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah, don’t sweat it,” Knox said as she pointed at a console. “Can I get you over here on comms please? We need to synchronize the fleet.”

  I nodded, watching as Amorina and Emma followed the private out first, then turned towards the desired console.

  “Of course,” I replied, heading over to the station.

  I sat down and quickly got acquainted with the controls, and then I glanced over my shoulder. “Who should I contact first?”

  “Why don’t you liaise with the Empire vessels? You seem to be quite good at the role of mediator.”

  Figures.

  “On it!”

  I put on the wireless headset and swiftly configured a communications channel. I began hailing the Chupacabra, and after a few moments, Tynan accepted the channel, his voice coming through the headset.

  “What?” he barked curtly.

  “This is Raith calling from the ROHS Celestial.”

  There was a pause on Tynan’s end – a hesitation, or a contemplation perhaps, on how to respond.

  “As I said … what?” came his reply, more calculated this time.

  “We’re establishing communications with all ships in the fleet so that we can synchronise against the Horror. The Republic ships do this automatically, but since your fleet is not part of the Republic, it needs to be done manually.”

  There was another pause.

  “Whatever. I make no apologies for not being fully compatible with inferior technology.”

  “If you say so. The important thing is that the Empire vessels are ready to receive orders.”

  “Yeah, got it. Give me an order when there is one, but otherwise, shut up.”

  “Gotcha,” I said, putting the call on mute.

  I turned towards Knox and gave her a thumbs up. She nodded in acknowledgement and continued with her work – what appeared to be monitoring the statuses of all the ships. The fleet was already positioned between the Horror and Gaia, so it was just a matter of powering up weapons stations, allowing the crew to ready battle stations. As the ship icons on Knox’s screen slowly turned from red to green, I assumed she would issue the first order once each ship had reported in as ready.

  I turned back to my console and unmuted the call.

  “Is the Chupacabra, the …”

  “The Chupacabra, the Piranha, and the Moray.”

  “Ah, thanks. Are they battle-ready?”

  There was a pause.

  Not a hard question, Tynan. Are they battle-ready or not?

  “Yes, yes, they are,” finally came his reply.

  “Great. Thanks.”

  I turned to face Knox again and noticed that most of the ship’s icons were now green. Knox caught my gaze and looked over at me.

  “Are the Empire ships ready?” she asked.

  “Yes, they are.”

  “Thanks.”

  I watched Knox interact with her console, and then three more ship icons turned green. As the last few icons changed over, Knox signalled her comms officer, who was sitting at the console in front of me. The officer promptly turned around to face me.

  “I’m going to open a channel to the Republic fleet and isolate Knox’s audio for the broadcast – can you copy what I do to the Empire fleet?”

  “Sure thing,”

  “Thanks!”

  The comms officer began tapping away at their console, and I tried to keep pace – as far as I could tell, I more or less replicated the process. With a quick check from the comms officer, I gave Knox a thumbs up.

  She stood, straightened her uniform, and began her speech.

  “This is Kylie Knox, President of the Republic of Humanity. The situation is clear, the enemy obvious, and the stakes have never been higher – either we end the Horror now, or there will be no humanity left to make a second attempt.”

  She paused, allowing time for her message to be transmitted and received.

  “Therefore, we must act swiftly and in unison, focusing our firepower on the same portion of the Horror’s exterior – you should receive the coordinates now.”

  A pop-up appeared on my console, displaying a set of coordinates, and I noticed the same thing had appeared on the comms officer’s screen. As he sent the coordinates to the Republic fleet, I mimicked his actions as I had before.

  “On my mark, all vessels are to move forward into a clustered attack formation, then on my second mark, commence fire. When we punch a hole in the Horror’s exterior, we’ll fire the orbital defence laser into the newly created opening. We’re assuming that the Horror will repair the exterior hole, so the fleet will rinse and repeat the manoeuvre until we have destroyed it.”

  Knox paused again, allowing her plan to be heard and understood.

  “Now, it’s important that we maintain a tight formation so that our point defence systems are most effective, as based on our understanding of –”

  “Madam President – there’s movement on the Horror’s right flank!” interrupted the first officer.

  A few people immediately moved closer to the bridge’s windows, whilst others focused on the various screens around the bridge as a video feed of the Horror was brought up. The footage showed the swarm dispersing from the right side of the Horror, surging away from it like a great tentacle, arced through space, heading towards the fleet’s left flank where the Empire’s ships were.

  “Tynan, the swarm is heading right towards you and your ships!” I yelled into the Empire communications channel.

  “Ya think?” Tynan fired back. “We’re seeing what you’re seeing!”

  I looked up at the nearest screen and watched helplessly as the swarm engulfed the Empire’s ships. Explosions and screams rang out in my headset, and the line went dead. On-screen, the swarm punched holes through the vessels, which quickly lost power and then listed, seemingly easily pushed around by the enemy cloud that enveloped them. My heart fluttered at the thought that Tynan had gone down with his ships, but then my stomach dropped as I remembered that Zavis and Ichirō were onboard those ships, too.

  “All vessels, move forward into formation now!” Knox ordered.

  The Republic fleet responded immediately, moving forward and closer together.

  “What about the crew on the Empire ships?” I shouted, standing up and facing Knox.

  “If we stop to help them now, we risk the entire fleet! Now is our chance to strike!” The president retorted.

  “Hundreds of people are on those ships, including my friend and son!”

  Knox smirked and quietly said, “Well, maybe it’s good riddance. They got what they had coming to them.”

  I clenched my fists. “You’re just as bad as the Empire! The people onboard those ships are just as deserving of your support and aid as any crew member aboard a Republic ship!”

  Knox turned towards me; her face twisted in rage. “Don’t you dare demean me on the bridge of my ship, Raith! I will not apologise for taking joy in seeing the Republic’s enemies destroyed by circumstance, nor will I apologise for giving orders that best serve the Republic and its people. And before you argue further, remember that nobody here has forgotten who you are … traitor!” Her last word was said in a low growl.

  I felt my chest tighten painfully; her comment felt like she had stabbed me with a knife. But she wasn’t done yet.

  “Even though you may technically be a different person, you will always be Tynan, your hands will always be bloody, and your past actions will always stain your soul. Now get off my fucking bridge!”

  My face felt hot and prickly, my shame burning brightly in my cheeks. Tears burned in my eyes then tears streaked down my face. Knox’s words weren’t only a low blow; they were cruel, targeted, malicious words intended to do one thing – hurt me – and it had worked. She’d awakened a bubbling anger within me – an anger quickly building up pressure, turning into a fiery rage.

  “You’re right,” I hissed. “I was Tynan. And now, I am Raith. Believe me when I say that I am painfully aware of my stained soul each and every day!” I paused, trying to steady my shaking hands as I pointed at Knox. “But at least I have a better moral standing than you! Because there was at least one thing the Empire had right: a united humanity is stronger than a divided humanity … and all you have just done is split us apart!”

  As I turned and walked out of the bridge, my departure was accompanied by a sense of loss. Zavis and Ichirō, even if they had survived the initial attack, they would be dead by now, at the mercy of the vacuum that permeated those crippled ships.

  Damn you Knox!

  [)
  A few minutes later, I was stalking through the halls, feeling the Celestial shake beneath my feet as it participated in the first volley against the Horror. I was taking deep, long breaths, slowly calming the simmering rage within, and as the anger subsided, I noticed another feeling within me: unease.

  Why was I feeling uneasy? Was it the loss of the Empire’s ships and crew? I mean, sure, that had been … unexpected. It had been shocking, but did I feel uneasy because of it? Not really. The Republic portion of the fleet was much bigger, had more firepower, and was arranged in a tighter formation that could better defend itself. Was I uneasy because of Knox’s personal attack? Again, no, not really. Sure, her words hurt, but they’d prompted a response of anger, not unease. I also noticed that the more I walked, the greater this feeling became.

  I noticed an auxiliary command room up ahead and quickly made my way over to it. As I stepped inside, I startled the crew within.

  “Governor Raith. We weren’t expecting you,” one of the crew said, quickly standing and facing me.

  I scanned the woman’s uniform, paying attention to her chest badge that indicated her rank and name. “Don’t worry, Lieutenant Nye – I wasn’t expecting me either.”

  LieutenantNye smiled briefly but quickly restored her professional neutral face. “Was there something I could help you with, sir?”

  “Just to ask for your permission to sit in here and observe?”

  “Granted, sir, absolutely.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. And please, just call me Raith.”

  “Of course, si – Raith.”

  The lieutenant returned to her seat, and I made my way over to a vacant console, sitting before it and pulling up an external view. The last traces of the first attack were fading away, revealing a deep gash in the Horror’s surface – although still not deep enough to break through to whatever was underneath, it was certainly a solid strike.

  I watched as the Horror now retaliated, several portions of its surface dissolving into swarms, and noticed that feeling of unease again.

  What am I missing?

  I leaned closer to the monitor, watching the unfolding action more closely. The metallic clouds had quickly crossed the distance between the Horror and the fleet and were now plunging into several Republic ships, easily tearing them apart and ripping them into multiple pieces.

  The sense of unease slammed into me now, and I had a feeling as to why. I stopped the live feed and pulled up the footage from the Horror’s first strike against the Empire ships. I watched the formation of the swarm, which looked exactly like what I’d just witnessed, but one key element was missing: the surface of the Horror wasn’t changing. The swarm had just materialised from nowhere.

  I fast-forwarded the footage – the swarm appeared to punch a few holes in the Empire ships, causing complete loss of power – but I had literally just seen the actual swarm attack Republic ships, shredding them from end to end.

  I switched back to a live camera feed and pointed it at the Empire ships. They were still sitting there, surrounded by the “swarm”, unpowered and floating randomly. Suddenly, I had a terrible hunch. I leapt out of my seat and ran for the exit.

  Leaving the auxiliary command room, I sprinted down the hallways, heading for the ship's rear, skimming the signage as I ran past until I found the room I was looking for – a rear-facing observation deck. I charged into the room, racing to the far end of it, and placed my hands on the windows as I started scanning the space behind the fleet.

  I could see where the Empire ships were supposed to be, their floating carcasses an eerie sight, still surrounded by a swarm. Now I searched the darkness for where the ships actually were. At first, I couldn’t see anything, and I briefly entertained the idea that I was wrong. Then I saw it – a dark outline, barely visible against the black void of space. And once I saw one, I could spot the other two: one ship to the left of the Republic fleet, one to the right, and one centred. On one hand, Zavis and Ichirō were alive, but on the other hand, so was Tynan.

  “Damn you, Tynan,” I muttered.

  The truth was slowly sinking in; a painful, embarrassing truth that we … that I had been played. I could’ve guessed what would happen next, but I didn’t need to as a light appeared beneath each of the Empire vessels. Moments later, Firecracker warheads moved away from the ships.

  I could just imagine Tynan standing opposite me on the bridge of the Chupacabra, watching the unfolding scene as I was. I could picture his face … my face, looking on coldly; his dark, unfeeling eyes watching the warheads streak towards the Republic fleet, waiting for them to detonate – for the chaos to erupt. His pursed lips would soften and twist into a smirk. He enjoyed the death and destruction he was unleashing; he liked the pain and the cessation of life he was about to create – this was a source of pleasure.

  This was humiliation and pain for me: embarrassment that I hadn’t anticipated Tynan’s plans and anguish that I couldn’t stop it. I was powerless – there was no time to warn anyone, and even if there was, even if I could run all the way back to the bridge and notify the entire fleet of the threat coming up behind them, there wouldn’t be any time to manoeuvre out of harm’s way. I knew how destructive Firecrackers could be, although the fleets rear profile was being attacked, not its side profile, and whilst I didn’t know what difference that would make, at best the fleet was still going to be crippled, and at worst destroyed. A wave of fear gripped me as I thought of Amorina and Emma huddled in the engineering core. Would they be safe there? I didn’t know, but I hoped that the ship’s superstructure was as strong and as safe as Knox had claimed it was.

  This wasn’t just an attack on the Republic fleet, though. It was a personal attack on me, on my family, and Tynan knew it. Just the thought of Tynan looking down on the chaos that was about to unfold was infuriating, and I yelled at the window as if that would help.

  “Damn you, Tynan! You goddamn son of a bitch!”

  I knew yelling like this was pointless, but it provided some comfort to think that Tynan could somehow hear my screams and know of my sheer displeasure.

  “You fucking coward! You backstabbing arsehole!”

  I felt the Celestial shake beneath me and realised that the Republic fleet had fired another volley of ammunition at the Horror, and I could see the orbital defence laser charging up in the skies above Gaia. But I knew they’d never get to see the fruit of their labours, for they’d be destroyed from behind before then. Another realisation jolted through my mind – I was standing at the back of the ship!

  Chapter 12

  The Battle for Gaia – Part 2

  2160, Common Era – Planet Gaia, Outer Rim, the Republic of Humanity

  The initial detonation of the three warheads resulted in a burst of light, spreading their payload out.

  “Motherfucker!” I screamed out a final obscenity as the intense light overwhelmed me.

  I whirled around, my heart thumping, and careened forward. My vision was still white and overexposed, leaving me to guess how much ground I’d covered as I stumbled towards the back of the observation deck. I imagined the confusion spreading across the fleet as the crews examined their sensors in bewilderment as light radiated from behind them.

  I hit the wall at the end of the observation deck and was sent tumbling to the floor. I felt a dull ache in my head, but between the rush of adrenaline and my hazy vision, I couldn’t tell what was causing my pain. I rolled over onto my knees, fighting the panic rising in me, frantically running my hands along the wall, searching for the door controls. My heart thumped faster, and my breath came in quick gasps – I knew time was running out. Every second counted if I was going to survive the coming destruction.

  I blinked hard until I could make out the blurry square panel with lights.

  That must be the door control!

  I hit what I thought was the right button, but nothing happened. I pressed another button, but again, no response.

  “Come on!” I hissed as I glanced behind me, now punching the buttons.

  I could see the cloud of projectiles tumbling towards the fleet. There was a flash above Gaia, and then a beam of blue light streaked across space, passing underneath the fleet, presumably targeting a hole successfully blown in the Horror’s exterior.

  The door hissed open, and I tumbled into the hallway. I scurried forward on my hands and knees and then pushed myself off the ground and rushed over to the nearest in-wall emergency unit. As I pulled open the hatch to the unit, there was a flash of light to my left – the Firecracker’s secondary detonations had begun. I rummaged through the emergency unit until I found what I was looking for – a Rapid Autonomously Deploying Life Support Suit, or RADLSS for short. I grabbed the RADLSS and unfolded it into two interlinked pieces: a full-face respirator and a chest unit. I placed the mask on my face and the unit on my chest, then pressed the activation button. Immediately, I felt cool fresh air inside the respirator, and a gel spread rapidly from the chest unit.