On Galaxy's Edge: Ascendance (34 page)

“Ouch,” Enos said, noticing the trail of destruction behind the ship, and the mound of mud and rocks in front of it. “That must’ve been a fun landing.”

“Fun is one word for it,” Kess replied, a wry look on her face.

Reese climbed up the ladder to the ship’s escape hatch, and slid it open. Nero watched as he balanced the couple of arrays he held, and tried to squeeze through the hatch at the same time. It was remarkably comical, but eventually Reese disappeared inside, and the others followed, though no more elegantly.

Nero was the last up, and climbed out of the emergency hatchway into the rec room, noticing a few plates and pieces of cutlery scattered on the floor. He emerged into the narrow corridor, and made his way to the cargo hold to find Reese had disappeared into the same maintenance hatch that he’d spent so much time in recently.

“Pass me the first one,” he said, and Enos, standing next to the hatch, leaned in with one of the gridded ion thruster arrays. This, Nero thought, could be a long process.

****

“Try that!”

The ragged voice came out of the maintenance hatch, and Trix, sat in the bridge, once again despondently tried to activate the ship’s engines. Nero glanced over from his seat, wondering if this might be the one, but not really expecting anything. How many arrays had they tried now? Maybe fifteen, and they were beginning to run low on options. Reese was still in the hatch, though, Enos still picking out possible arrays.

He watched as Trix slid the power dial upward, and then jumped up from his seat as all the lights came on in the cockpit. The holodisplays lit up, bathing the room in a cool blue light, and then the whole ship began to shudder slightly. Trix looked over at Kess, sat in the copilot’s seat, and increased the power of the ion engines even more.

They felt a little bit of resistance, and then the ship began to lift upwards, away from the ground. Nero looked out of the window, and saw that they were, indeed, now rising skyward.

“I don’t believe it!” Kess exclaimed.

They heard a yell of triumph come from back in the cargo hold, and then the sound of running footsteps. Reese came bursting into the room, a triumphant smile on his grubby, sweat-stained face.

“You genius,” Trix said. “I think you’ve actually managed to fix this heap of junk.” She jumped up and ran over to him and, not caring how greasy he was, pulled him into a hug.

He looked slightly perplexed at the display of emotions, but hugged her back regardless. “I think we should be good for a while now,” he reported, when Trix had let him go. “Assuming none of the other arrays go. I still say we need some better repairs, but this should do for now.”

“When we get some more money in,” Trix said, turning to bring the ship back down to land, “I’ll definitely look into that, Reese.”

“I’ve heard that before,” he said. The ship shook slightly as it settled down on the landing gear that Trix had extended. She hit the button to open the boarding ramp, and they heard the satisfying sounds from behind them as the motors whirred, extending the ramp.

Leaving the now-active bridge behind, they walked back into the cargo hold to see Enos, Raina and Adira stood by the hatch, talking with Ando. Nero saw that he’d put some healing gel on his chest, and it looked like the burn was already improving.

“I take it the ship is working again?” Ando asked, looking up at them.

“For the moment,” Kess answered.

“Until the next thing breaks, I guess?”

“Isn’t that ever the way?”

Ando nodded in agreement.

“So,” Raina asked in the pause, “does this mean you’ll be leaving?” Nero was touched by the disappointment he saw in her eyes, even if her question was rather blunt.

“Um, before I answer that, Raina, I’ve actually been meaning to have a word with these guys, if that’s okay. Maybe if we meet you back in the village?”

“Of course,” Raina replied, her gaze full of curiosity. Enos looked quizzically at Nero as well, but followed Raina down the ramp all the same.

“What sort of word, Nero?” Trix asked, as curious as Raina and Enos were. Nero stood and faced the crew of the Fafnir, each stood before him with a curious expression on their face. He turned to face Trix, who was, after all, the captain.

“I’ve been thinking about things Trix, over the last few months,” he started, composing his thoughts. “And there are some decisions I’ve come to. One of which is, I need to do something about the CSG. They’re too big, too powerful and they don’t care about anyone. Only themselves. I’ve seen too much, I know too much to allow that to continue. As much as I enjoy what we do, I don’t think that’s enough for me anymore.” He paused. “And another thing is, people like Raina, and Mikkel, they need help. The CSG taxes them, stops them from doing what they want, and they give nothing in return. It’s not right.”

“I know it’s not right, Nero,” Trix said, “as do all of us. But what can we do about it? What can any person do? You need an army to go up against the CSG, but even then...”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Trix. One person can do great things. One person can bring the whole world down. It just needs to be the right person, and they need to do the right thing. And that thing is start building a resistance. Sure, a single person, all on their own, can’t do much, but a single person that gathers a lot more people together... well, they can do a lot.”

“And that’s you?” Trix asked, genuinely, and without scepticism.

Nero considered a moment before answering. “I know I’ve never told you much about my life, before I joined you.” Trix nodded, waiting for him to continue. “The CSG, Aegis, they destroyed it. I had friends, people I cared about. But the CSG started to pay attention to me. They sent in agents, and they killed... well, they killed everyone. There was nothing I could do. I hate feeling that powerless, Trix. And I want to do something about it. There’s the same sense of powerlessness in these people, and it’s just wrong. And I will do something about it.”

Before Trix could answer, Kess spoke up. “I want to help,” she said to Nero. “I’ve seen enough of the CSG too, Trix, to know I need to do something more. Something meaningful.” Trix looked sternly at Kess, but could see the determination in her eyes.

“What do the rest of you think?” she asked, turning to the rest of the Fafnir’s crew.

They exchanged looks, and Reese answered first. “The CSG are a load of bastards. I’d be happy to help take them down a peg or two.”

“Or three,” Ando said. “I’m game.”

“As am I,” Adira added.

Nero smiled, and returned his attention to Trix. He still wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear, but he was glad of their support.

“The crew has spoken, Nero. And as stupid as this idea is, I’d be happy to stick it to the CSG as well. We’ll help you, if that’s what you want. I’m not sure how, but you’ve got yourself some supporters.”

“That’s great,” he said. “I do know one way you can help. I was talking to Raina earlier, and she mentioned a CSG base on this planet, on the far side. I say we pay them a visit.” He grinned, and looked around at the others. He could see the determination in their eyes.

It was time for their new life to start.

****

The Fafnir swooped in low, flying as close to the ground as possible. A couple of people out at this early hour of the morning looked up, and were almost knocked to the ground by the ship’s wake. Once they got back up they shouted obscenities in the direction of the quickly-receding ship, not that the occupants stood any chance of hearing them.

Shortly, the ship passed from the dry flatlands and now flew over a swampy area of the planet. There was no one around, and no living creature was visible either, but the ship didn’t slow down. If anything, it seemed to speed up, and even though it was flying a good ten metres above the ground, the water below it was pushed forward into metre-high waves by the force of the ship’s passing. Many a young plant was washed away.

After a time over the swamps, the Fafnir began to slow down. It was still going a few hundred miles an hour, but the pilot was now on the lookout for a building. It was reputed to be on the very edge of the swamp, on the northern end, and completely isolated from all other signs of civilization. The ship flew a little higher, in an effort to see a greater distance, but without being spotted itself.

Then it sharply banked to the right, and headed towards a low, grey building, sat in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by thick walls a few metres high. An alarm went off in the building as the ship closed, and large turret lasers rose up out of the building’s roof. They fired, continuous streams of blue light aiming towards the ship.

But the ship banked, and swerved, and managed to evade the laser fire. It increased its speed, shot upwards into the air, and then dived downwards in a great spiral, avoiding the fire. When it neared the building below it, and the individual guards standing outside the building were visible, it pulled up to reveal the cargo hold ramp was open.

As the ship passed over the building, a single man jumped out of the cargo hold, falling the twenty metre distance to the ground. Before he hit it, a bright blue light came from his black hands, and he slowed before he impacted upon the ground. He landed in a crouch, and slowly unfolded himself, standing up in the midst of a group of guards. He leapt upwards, and before the guards could react, he attacked, his movements blur.

When he was done, the guards lay collapsed on the ground around him, either dead or unconscious. Nero stood, smiled, and moved on to the lasers on the roof.

THE END

--NOTES--

Thus concludes this first tale in the On Galaxy’s Edge saga.

Part two is already being penned, but that is not to say that part one is perfect. You may have noticed the odd mistake, for which the author would like to apologise, or you may have spotted an area for improvement.

In either case, the author may be found on his website (
alexkolter.weebly.com
) or on Twitter (
@OnGalaxysEdge
), and would be happy to hear any thoughts you have on the book. Or on anything else, for that matter.

Finally, if you enjoyed the book, then please do leave a review. Imagine the author’s warm, grateful expression as you type it...