The transmission cut. Why was Quintus in that structure? He shouldn’t be too harsh, Platus had no way of knowing that structure would be hit. Honor guide you, brother. His thoughts turned to the approaching fleets.
Seventy years ago, neither side had the capability to deploy large fleets at extreme interstellar ranges. Until the USSF developed advanced warp propulsion capabilities. With the near equal advancements in warp technology, now either side was poised to strike at the heart of the other. Outlying colonies might fall first, and resistance might be fiercer the closer you got to the core worlds of either of the two belligerents. However, given both would prioritize protecting their most important worlds, any world insignificant to winning an interstellar war of this scale, would be left defenseless. There was no strategic value in targeting these types of worlds but he was sure once one side crossed that line, the other would.
Billions of peaceful people who didn’t care whether their fellow man was born on Earth or Hosque would die. They would all die because of the egos of a few who controlled the fates of many. Empowered by a system which long ruled human civilization—governments and other such hierarchies.
And so the cycle of human nature continued.
Nature be damned, it hadn’t counted on meeting Quintus Scipio. He would ensure the galaxy didn’t end during his lifetime. Whatever happened after was up to future generations to decide. He returned to the command center.
“Decimus, I will be transferring my Standard to Pilum. Phalanx will remain in the nebula in the event of any engagements. Pilum will remain on station inside the nebula until our fleet arrives, at which time I will rendezvous with them.” He leaned in close. “Decimus, do not allow the Lord Praetor to endanger my ship. If the situation changes I will return to Phalanx and I need you to ensure there’s a ship for me to return to.”
“Yes, Lord Commander.”
If Platus didn’t succeed, the opposing fleets would battle it out to a bitter end. And so would begin another great interstellar war. This was what it had all come down to. Whatever happened in the next day would determine the fate of future human interstellar endeavors forever.
“Decimus, you have command.” Quintus turned and left the command center.
“I have command, Lord Commander.”
Chapter 20 – You Were Deceived
Atlas Prime
The last thing Lee saw was darkness.
Or was that the second last thing? He was having trouble remembering the exact sequence. A bright flash and then darkness—that’s it. Now he was seeing something bright again. Muffled voices surrounded him. He could hear, yet he couldn’t feel or move. Why can’t I move?
“Lee!”
Lee’s eyes shot open. It’s Miroslav, and he was shining an insanely bright light in Lee’s eyes.
“Flaps, get that thing out of my face.”
“Don’t be so mean. I just pulled you from under six feet of rubble. I sheared off two fingernails digging you out by hand. You owe me,” Flaps said.
“Two whole fingernails? Real ones? Or the kind you can buy?”
“Very funny, Mister Rigellian Comedian.”
“Don’t be idle, Flaps, tell me what happened,” Lee said. “Other than someone detonating a powerful explosive device or fifty.”
Flaps frowned. “So that’s what it was, no one knows anything. While waiting for you to come around, I spotted dozens of other plumes of smoke on the horizon, some of them from the upper city. Also, there was a brief but bright flash in orbit. I don’t know what that was. Our stuff was lost under the rubble, so you’ll need new toys. All comms are out. They’ve blanketed the area with dampeners. Personnel devices or any kind of electronics are out of commission—apart from emergency personnel, who’ll have the dampening field frequency. Yours was smashed by the way, you need a new one.”
Lee groaned and sat straight. He balled his bionic fist and smashed a nearby piece of debris. He wanted to make sure it was in good working order as he had a distinct feeling he was soon going to be smashing someone’s head.
“So someone or someones, set off multiple explosives as far as we can see, and they’ve also bombed an orbital structure. That flash you saw was an orbital detonation. We’ve got to leave this area and get an idea of the scale of this attack.”
“You think this is the work of the separatists?”
Lee stood. “I don’t know,” he said. “But it’s well coordinated, and we need a better vantage point. Let’s return to Hammerhead and attempt to contact the Commander.”
Before he could move, unknown voices shouted towards them.
“There they are! They’re the ones!”
Lee craned his neck to see a short man pointing them out to two tall security looking types in trench coats. Each armed with a pulse pistol. They must be law enforcement since only they would have the frequency to bypass the energy- dampening field rendering energy weapons useless.
“You two hold it right there!” The taller of the pair began approaching while they each drew their pulse pistols.
Flaps looked at Lee.
“Lee?”
“If they take us in kid, even if we’re alive, it’ll be too late to stop whatever forces are at work here. Get ready to run. For now, put your hands up slowly, and run on my signal.”
“What’s the signal?”
Lee looked at his shipmate from the corner of his eye. “You’ll know it when you see it.”
Lee shouted back. “We haven’t done anything. We were just—”
“Silence!” the man to the left shouted. He must be in charge of this little goon squad. “Put them in restraints and bring them.”
As the first goon stepped forward within striking distance, Lee shot his arm straight into the man’s chest and launched him into the one behind. The lungs of the first one were likely crushed. Ah well, the arm was new, it would take some practice to perfect its use—the man would survive. He spun anticlockwise with his arm out stretched and slammed the other one ten feet into the air knocking over the goon squad leader. The leader only managed to squeeze off a wayward shot. Two were down. Two to go.
The goon who’d broken the fall of his comrade was now recovering. Lee scooped him up with his arm and tossed him thirty feet away over a pile of rubble—he too would survive. But the goon wouldn’t be walking out of his landing spot without medical assistance.
The leader threw his immobilized comrade off him and stumbled to his feet raising his pulse pistol. A rock struck the leader in the chest, but it bounced harmlessly off the man’s armor. It was all Lee needed, he leapt in and grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted until the pulse pistol dropped. The howl from the goon leader meant he wouldn’t be using that wrist for a while.
“Right on, Lee!” Flaps said, dropping the other rock he was holding.
“Not bad with the rock, kid.”
“Oh a compliment! I’ll make sure the Commander notes it in his log—Lee complimented me on—”
“Get down!”
Lee shoved the runt down into the rubble and pulse blasts slammed into the debris behind them. Another squad of twenty goons approached from fifty yards. The old “shoot first, questions later” approach. Interestingly enough he could tell the blast was only powerful enough to stun them.
“Try to keep up, Flaps, I hope all that cardio on Phoenix got you in shape!”