Lee gasped for breath nodding his thanks to O’Brian.
“You see the trouble we go to for you, Flaps?”
Flaps laughed. It sounded strained. He must be hurt.
“That’s what big brothers are for.”
Lee gave him a half smile. “You know, Flaps, you weigh so little, I’m sure if you jumped, you could have made it without my help.”
Flaps dropped his head on the deck. “True, but then you wouldn’t get to tell another great story at my expense.”
“There’s going to be plenty more opportunities for that in the future.”
Chapter 32 – They’re Ours Now
“They’re ours now, Commander” - Malcolm Lee
Star Runner
The dreadnought cut off their egress for Phoenix. Fine with him. There was another ship near the orbital structure.
Aaron landed Star Runner on Endeavor’s hangar deck.
“Lee?”
Lee slipped on the helmet again. “Forty heat signatures have arrived on the deck. From the positions they’ve taken up, I’m guessing military. They’re armed with pulse weapons, pulse grenades. Wearing heavy armor too. That’s it, rest of the ship is clear.”
Aaron sighed. Not the kind of choices he liked making. But he couldn’t risk a prolonged fight with the ORA defenders. It would jeopardize everything—not to mention if they somehow lost.
He took out his handheld and input some commands. He watched the result on the optic feeds.
The hangar doors opened again depressurizing the deck. The ORA troopers probably felt smug having activated their mag-lock boots. Other than discomfort from the exploding atmosphere, once it was past, they would still be there. He input some more commands and demagnetized the deck. The troopers were gone with the wind. He triggered the doors shut and re-pressurized the bay.
Lee shrugged. “That worked well.”
They disembarked Star Runner. O’Brian and Lee accompanied him to the bridge. Endeavor’s crew was spent. They remained lying on the courier’s cargo deck. Dawes and the marines were taking care of them.
On the bridge, Aaron assessed the ship’s status. The auto repair systems had sealed the hull breaches and repaired the worst of the damage Endeavor sustained in her battle with the ORA. Enough to make the ship operational. They had sixty percent of full power. It would be enough.
They were on the far side now. Away from the dreadnought’s scanners. The micro-jump drive had a full charge. And this ship had a full complement of ordnance.
Aaron slid in behind the helm. Lee took tactical. O’Brian was there in spirit but she wasn’t in much condition to help, she dropped into the command chair.
“Lee?”
“Powering weapons systems now, Commander. Sixty havoc heavy missiles. Railgun magazines full. Polarizing the armor plating.”
“I’m making the jump now,” Aaron said. “Based on the last known location, speed and vector of the dreadnought, we should be anywhere between fifty to a hundred thousand kilometers off its stern.” He looked back at the lieutenant. “Don’t wait for the order, Lee. Weapons free.”
Lee nodded.
Endeavor jumped.
Ayres had kept Phoenix away from the dreadnought—not bad, considering she only had the self-professed combat amateur Zane, to help her.
“Firing,” Lee said.
Aaron adjusted course to give Lee maximum effective firing solutions from all the railguns. Just when the ORA captain figured he’d caught a break, Aaron was there again to remind both he and the ORA they’d fu—
“Get some!”
Aaron smirked at the sudden outburst from Lee. Only becoming aware the tactical officer had fired havocs, when explosions rippled along the dreadnought. Lee spared nothing.
Aaron rolled the ship and exposed the ventral missile batteries while the others reloaded. More explosions ripped at the dreadnought’s super structure. He angled Endeavor around in a wide arc around the behemoth.
“They’re ours now, Commander.”
Aaron didn’t know what Lee meant. He focused on the helm. No time to absorb the tactical read out. He didn’t want to get cocky and get in too close. A dying beast was most dangerous when cornered.
“He’s got heavy structural damage here.” Lee swiped his readings to Aaron’s station.
Aaron glanced at them. The structure of the dreadnought was severely compromised from the beating he’d given it before, and the beating they’d just given it again. Amidships was ready to crack. It wouldn’t hold.
Everything was reloaded, Aaron continued his course. The railguns thundered, the havocs launched. All targeted amidships the dreadnought.
Explosion rippled along the dreadnought’s superstructure, tungsten rounds ripped through and through. The ship peeled apart in the center. Slowly at first, then the first half drifted away from the second half. The drive sections on the rear half propelled it into the forward half.
“I’m setting a course for the heliopause. We’re out of here.”
He signaled Ayres to follow. They would sort out who was where later. Now it was time to head for the hills.
***
Phoenix
The next three days they focused on caring for Endeavor’s crew and repairing both ships best they could. The repair drones and nanites had done an admirable job on both ships.
Endeavor was in decent shape. While the ship sat in orbit with ORA techs aboard her baffled by the system lockouts, the ship seamlessly repaired its worst damage.
It would need components and spare parts made by the fabricators to effect full repairs. But the ship wasn’t in the disabled state it had been when the antimatter mine struck.
With regard to Phoenix, there wasn’t enough time to do anything about the lack of starboard point defense. But Garrett restored the starboard power matrix and full power was available.
Only a few more hours to the wormhole. Finally, he had time. If he hadn’t wanted to finish it before, he certainly didn’t now. If it was written by anyone else, he might not have.
Aaron began where he’d left off reading the letter.
The answer to what we would do with forever was soon answered. Unable to find purpose after already lived multiple lifetimes, the Society began to militarize. Seeds of propaganda and dissent were spread. The people of the Outer Rim were indoctrinated. Current generations . . . future generations. The message? Earth was evil.
A movement within our secret Society took full control of the Outer Rim. They spun a tale of how Earth banished all of us who dwelled there. We were the losers in some great war, and we must re-take our home.
Everything was done with one purpose. Build. Equip. Revenge. The worlds of the Outer Rim evolved into three castes. The Administrative—they created the propaganda, fueled the hate. The social engineering of hate.
The Military Caste. From the age of six, all were trained in the ways of war. The Engineering and Research Caste—they built the Outer Rim’s technology and weapons of war and the Outer Rim Alliance was born. Unknown to its original inhabitants, they were led by Immortals.
Lazarus and I and many others from the Old Ones as we are called, grew disenfranchised. This new Society was about one goaclass="underline" Earth.
Even Lazarus’ influence declined. Soon he was ousted by a popular leader among us: Rylar Kane. They had the transfer tech. Lazarus was no longer needed. A private war erupted among the Immortals, those who still wished to follow Lazarus and those who wanted revenge like Kane.