“What about my wife, and son?”
“Where are their quarters?” Katherine asked.
“Deck 19, forward section.”
“I am so sorry,” Katherine replied solemnly.
A tense silence ensued as the news hit Michael hard, he had been expecting it when he first saw the devastation of the base itself, but it was as nothing compared to the hammer blow of actually hearing those fateful words first hand.
“That section had taken a direct torpedo hit; there were no survivors.”
Michael said nothing, just stared at Katherine blankly; a tear began to trickle down his cheek as the awful finality of the news hit him like a speeding train; his wife and son, the two most important things in his entire life, were dead. He felt at that point like his heart had just been torn out, chewed up, and spat out. Walking over to a small corner of the gloomy command centre, he leant on a wall, needing a moment to himself.
Vargev nodded knowingly.
He promised Theo that he would keep the nightmares away, and he had failed, failed in the one thing in all the universe that really mattered.
His life had just become meaningless, and he was ashamed to admit that right now he wished the Krenarans would come and kill him too; right then and there.
His wrist-com. quietly beeped breaking him out of his despair; it was the Liberty. “I believe we have detected 14 Krenaran vessels; closing rapidly,” a Solarian voice said.
“How long until they get here?”
“Five minutes.”
The transmission ended.
Michael desperately tried to recover his thoughts, this was not what Theo and Jana would have wanted, him despairing like this. Walking back over towards the group he said, “get as many people as you can together, you’ve got five minutes; move!”
“Will do,” Katherine said as she sprinted off down the corridor.
Michael turned back to Dickinson; who was laid perfectly still, no movement whatsoever. Vargev solemnly closed the officers’ eyes.
Outside the station, the black and silver shapes of the Krenaran stealth ships could be seen advancing towards the larger Solarian ones, and like a pack of rabid wolves the Krenaran vessels set upon the Solarian force.
Multiple green particle cannon shots flashed out across the blackness of space and were traded with flashes of bright blue fusion cannon beams. Gradually the Krenaran ships closed in on Delta base; ready to deliver the death knell to the already beleaguered installation.
Katherine and three other crewmen managed to race back to Michaels’ position in the command centre, they had all donned their environment suits, even Katherine and the crewmen had them on. They must have grabbed them on the way back, Michael thought managing a wan smile at their industriousness.
“We’ve got to get to the Liberty fast,” Michael said as he secured his own helmet once again.
The others nodded; and they started their sprint back through the dark, dank, ruined corridors of the massive installation.
Outside, five Solarian ships turned in perfect vee formation; their fusion cannons spraying out beams of bright blue death. Three Krenaran vessels were caught in the conflagration and torn asunder with horrifying speed and power.
Four torpedoes smashed their way into the hull of the station one after another, the impacts ripping away great chunks of fiery debris.
Michael and the rest of the survivors raced headlong for the Liberty, there was no sense of the claustrophobic tension like before; instead they just raced for the ship, for their salvation.
Sparks flashed out along the dark corridors and the explosions of battle could be heard from outside, occasionally the station would rock violently; shaking them all as it took yet another hit.
Fire spurted out from newly ruptured conduits, coating the corridor in a fiery glow as the flames licked out occasionally. They continued running further through the maze of corridors and junctions; half a dozen collapsed girders and support beams fell smashing through the deck plating a few meters ahead with a deafening clang.
“We’ll have to jump!” Michael shouted. The heat from the sparks and flaming conduits was slowly baking him inside his suit.
He was the first to jump the gap; after what seemed like an eternity. His feet landed on the deck plating with a thump; he had made it across.
With no small amount of luck all six of the others managed to make it also. Televis with his long legs almost jumped too far, and nearly went sprawling into the corridor wall.
Vargev jumped last; as he sailed over the gap he realised his mistake. He had jumped a fraction too short.
Desperation grabbed him and he reached out frantically with his hands trying to gain any type of purchase; there was none, and Vargev held his breath as he slowly, clumsily fell. The deck plating whooshed by on the other side; he just could not reach it; down he went.
With a painful yank something grabbed his arm; Vargev looked up, Michael had hold of him, stopping his fall into the black pit below. There he dangled, until Televis managed to help Michael haul the Russian back onto the deck plating of the corridor.
“That’s one you owe me this time,” Michael said into his mic.
Vargev smiled and they hurriedly resumed their race towards the Liberty.
Outside, the buckled silvery crescent shaped form of a Solarian battlecruiser listed heavily as it slewed toward the wrecked outer defence perimeter; its hull ablaze from the impacts of multiple particle cannon hits; The 410 metre long hull came tearing through a section of the already damaged perimeter like a giant battering ram.
The hull was ripped asunder as multiple explosions flashed out; metal shredded like tin foil under the colossal impact of the two hulls, flames, and twisted debris engulfed the whole area. That entire section of the perimeter was completely torn apart in the huge impact; leaving a great fiery breach, briefly it illuminated the whole station and the multitude of nearby vessels in a fiery glow.
Still inside the station, Michael, Televis, Vargev and the rest of the survivors were hurled against the wall of the dark corridor, as the entire station reeled against the colossal impact of the crash.
“Oh no!” Michael shouted panicking as he checked his suit, “I’m leaking air.”
“It’s not much further,” Vargev replied, “hurry!”
They raced even harder towards the fighter bay which housed the Liberty, Michael’s lungs burned. It began to come into view at the end of the corridor; the ship was constantly being lit up by the criss-cross of blue and green flashes and the explosions outside. It looked for all the world like a giant light show was happening in the bay, with the Liberty in the centre like a giant black shadow.
They reached the end of the corridor, “jump!” Vargev shouted.
All seven of them jumped, and gently glided across the vacuum of the fighter bay, the blue-green flashes of weapons fire lighting up the bay all around them.
Michael was struggling for breath as he touched his wrist-comm. “Liberty; ready the engines and activate all weapon systems as soon as we are aboard!”
The seven of them floated across the bay; to Michael it seemed like an eternity, he tried desperately to keep his breath shallow to conserve what little air remained in his suit. He was beginning to feel light headed as the oxygen starvation began to kick in.
They hit the smooth hull of the Liberty with a jarring ‘thunk’ as they quickly managed to gain a purchase and scrabbled their way inside the lower hatch. Vargev helped the weakened form of Michael inside as they did so.
The gravitic engines immediately powered up once they were aboard with a dull whine; and the small lower hatch closed behind them. After a few seconds the hatch re-pressurised again. With practically his last breath Michael managed to tear off his helmet; gasping frantically for air.
“Are you okay comrade?”
“I’ll be fine, just give me a second,” Michael said wheezing.