one was introduced.” A small breath escaped Dickinson lips as he spoke. “With their damned stealth abilities, the fleet was doing nothing but chasing shadows.” He coughed up another small amount of blood.
“First Foxtrot base fell, knocking out the majority of our intelligence, the 19 ^ th Airborne company stationed there managed to put up some resistance, but they were heavily outgunned and soon were either destroyed or captured.” He said as he wheezed slightly, Kathryn tried to wipe up some of the blood with a dirty cloth. “With the fall of Foxtrot base; the entire Connaught sector fell, shortly after that the colony at Eidolon fell also.” He coughed again. “Then there were the attacks on the Perseus and Malthus colonies; there have been sightings of Krenaran ships around Gamma IV and Gamma Aurigulon. Hell, half of the entire E.O.C. A territory is crawling with Krenaran ships.” He sighed a hoarse sigh. “If the Molrav and Bryant sectors fall, the gate will be open to attack Earth itself,” Dickinson said coughing again.
“It won’t come to that,” Michael replied solemnly.
“What about the Commandoes?” Vargev asked.
Dickinson coughed up another mouthful of blood. “They are the only ones who seem to be holding their own in this damn war, the Krenarans always attack in greater numbers when they are around.” He gasped as a surge of pain racked his body. “The commandoes have been responsible for allowing hundreds of thousands of civilians to escape the fighting; and are currently holding some of the most important colonies. They are damned heroes, every last one of them.”
Vargev felt a surge of pride; he smiled and nodded his head approvingly. His men, his division are fighting so bravely, and so heroically. So that others may live.
Dickinson spluttered and said. “Listen, the Krenarans are still around, the last attack was only around half an hour or so ago. That’s what did this to me.” He said looking at the length of steel sticking through his blood soaked chest.
“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
