Relias: Uprising (56 page)

 More clicks and taps. “Two Helios flying side by side.”

 There weren’t any cities to the north of Leramato, at least city’s where the Legionnaires would station large fleets. The Sestik Mountains were too volatile, too dangerous. The Legionnaires didn’t expect them to fly in that direction; they knew as well as he did that nobody in their right mind gets within miles of that place. And even if they did expect them to escape in that direction, they hadn’t had time to adequately close that gap.

 And at that consideration Luke had a plan.

 The bridge was frozen in place as Luke considered what was quickly becoming his only option. They were in a Mysto, close to half the size of a Helio, and they were about to go head to head with two. They were undersized, outgunned, flying an outdated battlecruiser with long-obsolete technology. He’d never tried something like this before. Nobody had. And the cruiser might not even be able to handle the strain of this maneuver. But it was try or die. This was their only option.

 “Pilots change course heading true north. Reset and recalibrate the shields, angling them topside, and divert all energy away from all guns and channel it into the sweeps.”

 There was a brief halt in activity as all eyes anxiously towards Luke.

 “…But… sir… there’s no infantry.” One of the pilots remarked. “What good will the sweeps d-“

 “Just do it!” Luke commanded. “How are our boosters doing?”

 “Still at full power but they have to be charged.” 

 “Start charging them. Pilots start preparing for a ninety degree bank right.”

 Another shock. That kind of bank would cause a dangerous drop in altitude. “But sir, we-“

 “NEXT PERSON WHO QUESTIONS ME DIES!” Luke yelled. “JUST DO IT!”

 They obeyed immediately. “Now Communications, open subnet frequencies and connect me to the Legionnaire High Command and put it on screen.”

 They wanted to protest. Nonetheless they obeyed. A screen near the ceiling flickered to life and the face of a middle-aged radio operator sat in complete shock. He was at a communications relay and he was only visible from his chest up. As soon as he appeared with a confused look on his face, he was shoved harshly out of the way by a man dressed in a slick, expensive suit. He bent over the console and glared at the screen. It didn’t take long to recognize the face. It was Frenz.

 Every person in the room became uncomfortable. Some averted their eyes while others covered their ears. Luke ran his hand across the broad side of his sword and smiled, looking up at the screen with pleasant hatred.

 “Semprys…” Frenz uttered in complete shock. “What in the-“

 “Give me a few more weeks, asshole.” Luke said, his hand still petting his sword. “You asked for me. Now you’re going to get me.”

 Frenz was still speechless.

 “What… do you-“ 

 Luke cut the transmission and looked across the crew. After the recent exchange it was clear: Luke had their unquestioning obedience.

 The ship’s proximity alarm rang throughout the ship while warning tones erupted from the pilots’ control consoles.  “Helios inbound.” The commanding pilot stated. “incoming Strikers.”

 No sooner had he made the statement when explosions erupted from the ship’s starboard cannons. The Strikers fired only a few times before breaking off the attack, banking hard and shooting off into the night.

 “The Helios have us locked!” An anxious navigator said of the Helios. “Preparations being made for substantial fire.”

 “Keep the shields where they are.” Luke ordered. “All forward. We’re going right between them.”

 It was impressive that nobody protested. But Luke knew what they were thinking. Why couldn’t they go around, keep the shields up and jet past them? The Navigators knew it because they had it on the screens in front of them. If they strayed too far to either side of the Helios then they’d come within range of the other cruisers that were forming a spherical blockade around them. Same was the situation with going over the ships. Going under would put them right under their steel melting sweeps and going over would hang them nice and high for every single Striker and Blackshredder squadron that cared to glance at them. At this point, anything they tried was suicide.

 “One thousand meters and closing.” The Navigator stated.

 “Banking ninety degrees starboard.”

 Bright lights emerged from the fronts of the enemy Helios. Then, in what sounded like thousands of chained, earsplitting thunder strikes, countless missiles and six-inch cannon rounds impacted on the barrier Luke had created, filling the entire bridge with a blinding white light. The ship shook violently as it plowed closer and closer towards the Helios. People were shaken from their chairs. The communication light board on Luke’s armrest lit up. Luke connected with all frequencies.

 “Talk to me.”

 “
What the hell’s going on!”
Morlo shouted.

 “We’re escaping.” Luke said. The warmth he felt from unstabilized Furo diminished as they closed in on the Helios.

 “
You’re going between them?”
Came Pontious’s voice.

 “Only choice we got.” Luke said as he silenced several alarms on his control panel. “Strap yourselves in. The maneuver we’re about to pull’s going to be a rough one.”

 They said nothing more. Luke waited for a comment from Hendrick and was immediately reminded of the grim, tragic reality. Seeing Sable like that, seeing her dying, it did to Luke what it did to Hendrick; it tore his heart out.

 Seeing the Helios coming up on either side of them, the two massive ships that dwarfed the craft they rode on, Luke reached new determination. He thought of how long they’d fought, how far they’d come, the people who died in the Praemon invasion and in the countless other destructive Communal campaigns, the Durants who were exterminated, the families that had been ripped apart, the dreams crushed, lives ruined, and Luke grew stronger in his resolve. He couldn’t make any decisions for the Ditrinity, but Luke would make sure that he made it to Pyre.

 No, not just him. Everybody. The Ditrinity, Rush, all of them would make it. Hendrick was right. There wasn’t any more time to live for those he’d lost. It was time to fight for those who were still with him.

 
Hope you’re ready, Marcus.
Luke thought to himself as the ship entered the space between the Helios.
We’re coming for ya.

 The ship banked hard to starboard. The framework of the ship, having never been strained in the way it was, groaned under the unfamiliar distribution of weight.  Further between the two Helios they flew, the world outside rotating around them as everything was starting to be pulled to the right as right became the new ‘down’.

 “Find something good to hang on to.” Luke said as he got out of his chair and positioned his feet next to a control console where they’d soon be standing. “Pilots make sure you don’t go anywhere. I need every sweep working and accurate.” Luke hit the intercom button and waited. A long tone sounded through the speakers located all around the entire ship. “Ditrinity, Rush, and all crewmembers brace yourselves for a ninety degree starboard bank.”

 Throughout the entire ship the crew moved to the starboard walls as the ship continued to rotate.

 Soon Luke was standing on the control console as he watched them plunge further and further into what could be the biggest mistake he’s ever made. It’d either be a success or a slaughter, and if it ended up being the latter than nobody would live long enough to fully realize it. Watching the dozens of glowing blue turrets on both ships did nothing to ease his anxiety. As they charged, the glows became brighter and brighter until they appeared to be bursting with energy. They were about to fire.

 “Full power to what is now the starboard shield and divert all weapon power to the sweep lasers. Pilots glass anything that looks like it might fire back. Recalibrate the grav-plates for starboard lift.”

 They all understood the plan. And now they knew that Luke was doing something nobody had ever tried. Sweeps had been used on aircraft before but never fired sideways. Their immense energy was made possible only by the massive anti-gravity plates on the ship’s belly. These sweep lasers were limited by their versatility and could only be fired from a ship’s belly. And now Luke had thought of a way to use their incredible power in ship-to-ship combat.

 Luke’s heart pounded in his throat. Just outside the ship he could hear the electric buzz of the Helios’ turrets, merely seconds away from unleashing their full power on their obsolete Mysto.

 “Captain their cannons are at maximum charge!”

 The Furo charge from each cannon sent sharp static throughout the ship. The bridge was silent. Everybody watched the screens as they waited to die or escape. They couldn’t see the Helios anymore, only hear their weapons as they prepared to shred their tiny cruiser. Standing on rails, control panels, walls, and any flat surface, they stood stalk still, unblinking, barely breathing.

 In the starboard turrets the Ditrinity sat with their unpowered turrets angled up. They knew as well as Luke what would happen if this didn’t work. Their hands wrung the handles of the turrets as they waited for the inevitable and spectacular firefight.

 In the medical lab, Hendrick clutched the gurney on which Sable laid, holding it still. And though Sable was like she was, lying unconscious, pale, and on the brink of death, Hendrick knew what Luke was doing, and it put a smile on his face.

 
Please
, Luke prayed.
Please, God, let this work.

 
The buzzing frequency of the Legionnaire cannons reached a glass-shattering levels, sounding much like a Charger then, suddenly, they stopped.

 Here it was.

 “FIRE THE SWEEPS!” Luke shouted.

 “FIRE ALL!” The Pilots yelled as they relayed the order.

 The ensuing carnage rocked the entire ship violently. Both Helio’s fired all their cannons simultaneously, The starboard side of the ship exploded in white light as the cannons impacted on the ship’s shields. On the belly, dozens of steel-melting sweep lasers scourged the entire side of the other Helio, turning the armored steel into what looked like melted, glowing candle wax. The ship was knocked back and forth as explosions rocked both ships. Billowing columns of flame erupted from the Helio and Luke’s Mysto as missiles, particle cannons and ballistics scathed the Mysto’s underbelly while the sweeps destroyed cannons, ignited ammo caches, resulting in a brilliant and terrible display of flaming, explosive carnage.

 “REPORT!” Luke yelled above the din.

 Crewmembers fell from their perches and plummeted to the floor, screaming as they fell to their deaths. Flames had sprouted up from control panels around the room with the intense electrical surges. The bridge, once again, was engulfed in sheer chaos. The Pilots, however, kept their ground and kept fighting.

 “SHIELDS AT FIFTY PERCENT!”

 “SWEEPS OPERATING WITH SEVENTY PERCENT POWER REMAINING!”

 An explosion nearly shook Luke from his makeshift platform. Cracks shot up the walls and across the floors as the stress was becoming too much. Luke stood firm. “HOW ABOUT OUR BOOSTERS!”

 “SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT CHARGED!”

 “WE’RE LOSING POWE R FAST! WE CAN’T HOLD THIS TYPE OF POWER OUTPUT!”

 “Keep flying!” Luke took a look at the video screen at his feet. The entire frame was filled with the port side of the enemy Helio. He watched the sweeps melt away at the ship, cutting through the steel like butter and exposing the interior of the ship in some places. He gritted his teeth in a grim smile. It was working.

 “SHIELDS AT TWENTY PERCENT!”

 “SWEEPS AT THIRTY PERCENT AND FALLING FAST!”

 “NINETY FIVE PERCENT CHARGED!” 

 Luke pointed swiftly to the pilots. “Cut the power to the anti-gravity by fifty percent!”

 They immediately obeyed. Crewmembers were lifted off their feet as the Mysto fell out from under their feet, entering into a brief free-fall. Without even suspecting that they’d make such a swift maneuver, the Helios hadn’t ceased firing. Both ships fired mercilessly and unintentionally upon each other, inflicting incredible damage on the other.

 “Hit the boosters, restore full power to the anti-grav’s and get us upright!”

 Everybody was thrown back as the engines fired to near overload as the boosters ignited. Loose objects and careless crewmembers were hurled towards the rear of the ship as its speed increased by over a hundred and fifty miles per hour in less than five seconds.

 The proximity alarms, which had been blaring throughout the entire firefight, stopped. However, an entirely new set of alarms were buzzing and beeping throughout the bridge and across the entire ship. Fire alarms, power failure alarms, alarms warning of poor structural integrity, everything.  But the gunfire had stopped and they were, if only for the moment, in the clear. The ship had taken more damage than Luke would have liked. But they were still living which is what ultimately counted. Luke sat back down in his command chair and hit the comm. buttons that would connect him with the Ditrinity.

 “You all still alive back there?”

 He released the button and heard cheering. Morlo roared victoriously while Pontious and Vyvyr even expressed their excitement. Encouraged, Luke hit the button to the Med lab.

 “Nate,” He said, softer than he spoke to the others. “Everything good back there?”

 The reply wasn’t immediate, something that made Luke immediately nervous. His anxieties disappeared as Hendrick’s voice came back in reply, sullen, but more optimistic than it had been.

 “As good as we can be.” He said. He looked back down at Sable who’s condition hadn’t improved. Gently he placed his hand on her sweat dampened forehead, smiling hopefully down at her. “We’re on our way to Pyre now. Hang in there.” He checked the IV that he had placed, checked her heartbeat and repeated the process several more times. There was nothing else he could do, but he wouldn’t just sit back as she slipped away from him. During the maneuver a stray piece of medical equipment had sliced her arm. The cut was still there. Hendrick ignored it and kept his hopes up.