He turned to Violet who shrugged. “Nothing yet, sir.”
“Again,” Titus said into the mic, “we offer our immediate surrender. Please call off your attack.”
“Come now, Commander,” a man’s voice replied with a thick accent. Titus couldn’t place the origin. Somewhere between Scottish with a mix of Russian, maybe. “Surely you aren’t ready to give up quite yet. Perhaps if the odds were evened out, you’d feel a little more confident, hm?”
“Identify yourself,” Titus said, “who is this?”
“Commander Griel Pas Dain of the Prytin Ship Brekka. Sorry we’re a little late. Let’s see if I can’t buy you some breathing room, eh?”
“The message,” Violet said, “is coming from the new ship. Scans show they’re powering something up as they arrive. Oval… looks like there are deployable wings… I don’t know, it’s not like any ship in our fleet. Where the hell are all of these things coming from? What’s going on?”
“We’ll get into that,” Griel replied. “Just keep moving forward.”
The viewscreen continued to show their pursuers. The two ships altered course, moving toward the Brekka. The three ships exchanged an incredible array of beam fire, green from the newcomer toward the constant blasts of red. Shields reacted far more violently than they did when the Triton fired on them earlier.
“I’m… stunned,” Violet said. “Our pursuers are taking a real beating. Shields on both vessels are down to thirty percent. Twenty… they’re down!” The Brekka fired on both, diverting energy to attack each at the same time. Their beams seemed to target a specific part of their opponents, blasting at the exact same point at the top of the other vessel’s center point.
Sparks and electricity danced over the impact points. Their weapons quit firing. The Brekka moved to their sides, lighting them up as they rotated around them until the thrusters were directly in front of them. The next series of shots annihilated the first of the two vessels, turning it to slag.
The second one fired up their engines, lurching forward. The thrusters flickered out then turned back on, but power remained unsteady. The Brekka tore through them a moment later, ripping their hull to pieces from behind, thus ending the pursuit from those two vessels specifically.
Lights flickered again on the bridge. “What the hell happened?” Titus asked. He’d just taken a deep breath. “What’s going on?”
“Those two ships that pursued Andrews,” Violet said, “they’re attacking us!”
“Set the turrets on them,” Titus said. “Hit them!”
“Weapons are down,” Jane replied. “Engines are at ten percent power. Wait…” She slapped the panel. “They’re down. We’re moving on momentum now, sir.”
“Life support is still active,” Violet added. “But artificial gravity is seriously strained by our earlier rush. Shields are holding, but those two shuttles are hitting with enough power to do some serious harm if we don’t contend with them quickly.”
Titus rubbed his eyes. Even the smaller ones are hitting us with enough force to cause real damage. The thought baffled him. How can we face this enemy? How will we stand a chance against their forces? It’s… He bit back the final word. No matter how bad things were, he refused to buy into despair.
“Commander Dain,” Titus turned back to the comm, “if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I need to call upon you…”
“No problem at all. They don’t quit. Something to keep in mind for later. They never give up. Even when it’s the only logical thing to do.”
The Brekka moved up beside them. Smaller beams deployed, cutting through the smaller ships in a matter of seconds. The red explosions lasted mere seconds before the fires burned out. All enemies were down.
We survived. Titus couldn’t believe it. His heart hammered in his chest as his mind raced for what the next steps should be. Medics took Ronin away along with the body of Captain Barrington. I have to calm down. Think through what to do. He turned to Violet. “Get me… get me a damage report. And casualties.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Jane, you’re primary pilot for now. That console’s hosed so you’re on your own.” Titus contacted Dain again. “Commander… I’d like to thank you, but I’m not even sure who you are or what just happened. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or rude… I need an explanation. Where did those ships come from? Who authorized their construction? And how did they…”
“Slow down,” Dain interrupted. “We’ve got plenty of time to talk while you get through some minimal repairs. Then, we need to talk to your command structure as soon as possible. There are a couple things I’ll give you though. First, you’ve had your first encounter with an alien life form. Congratulations on surviving. That wasn’t easy.”
“An alien… what?”
“Second,” Dain continued, “we’re on your side. We’ve observed humanity for a long time without risking contact. You simply weren’t ready. Honestly, a lot of people think you still aren’t, but that doesn’t matter now. The Kahl have seen to it that you need to be brought into the fold right away.”
“The what? The Kahl? What’s that?”
“And third,” Dain continued as if he didn’t hear the questions, “welcome to the larger universe, Commander. It won’t be easy to acclimate to everything I’ve got to tell you, but provided you have an open mind, your people will benefit in ways you can’t even imagine. But first, we all have some work to do. I’ll be in touch soon. Brekka out.”
Titus sat there, staring at the comm. He struggled to keep his breathing steady and regular. His mind raced at the information he’d been given. Part of him called it rubbish. That’s not possible. There are no aliens. We would’ve found them by now. He
