Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (28 page)

             
“Sir, all our fighters are either destroyed or too fully engaged to provide cover.”

             
Shizta gripped the railing in front of him, grinding his teeth at this news. How could everything have gone so wrong? Did he underestimate these humans? Looking about the bridge, he made his decision.

             
“Continue trying to bring the defenses up . . . get our energy cannons online. I need to attend to something. Vreyta, you are in command until I return.”

             
Then without another word, Shizta turned and exited the bridge. Walking quickly at first, he shoved crew out of the way; then he broke into a run. Running through the corridors, he made his way to the hangar bay. Once in the bay, he wasted no time as he jumped into the nearest shuttle. Quickly taking the controls, he cycled up the start sequence as the shuttle door closed. As his shuttle lifted off, he heard the first impacts from the approaching heavy fighter’s torpedoes. Angling the shuttle toward the rear, he set the engines to full and the shuttle blasted free of the dying ship. Unnoticed, his shuttle fled from the massive dreadnought.

             
Punching a few keys, Shizta pulled up the rear view on a nearby monitor. He watched as heavy fighters darted in and out. Explosions rocked the outer hull of the
Krazzeen
. Soon it became clear that the Shenkar fighters had all been disabled or destroyed as hundreds of additional contacts appeared on his sensors and they joined in on the destruction of the
Krazzeen
. Occasionally, he would spot a shuttle departing the
Krazzeen,
only to have at least a dozen fighters swarm and destroy it. If the high overlords ever found out the truth of Shizta’s horrible defeat, they would have him executed. He slowed the shuttle to a stop and powered down the engines. He waited and watched the destruction of the mightiest ship of the Shenkar Federation until he was sure none had escaped and could bring news of what he had done. Satisfied, he powered up the engines and headed to the coordinates where he knew the Third Fleet would be.

Necro Squ
adron

              Liam banked his fighter as he flew past the massive blackened hull that once had been the
Krazzeen
. How lucky they had been to have pulled this off. Before all of this had happened, they had been told they wouldn’t have been able to destroy a battlecruiser, and now they had destroyed the mightiest ship the Shenkar had, a dreadnought: four times the size of a battlecruiser and hopefully the only one they would ever encounter. The Meshtrell said the Shenkar only had one, but Liam was starting to think the Meshtrell were hiding a lot of things or were just plain ignorant.

             
“How come we don’t board the ship? There has to be useful information onboard we could retrieve,” asked Steve.

             
“Well, according to Jaera--that Meshtrell who acts as a leader--the Shenkar carry disease. I guess it is a disease that will kill us, so we need to destroy everything,” explained Tim.

             
“That makes no sense . . . why would they need an invasion force, then? If the Shenkar have diseases that are deadly to all, then they could just land a warrior on Earth and let nature take its course,” said Crystal.

             
“Yeah, something is definitely not right. I think the Meshtrell are hiding something that they don’t want us to find out,” agreed Darren.

             
“Ghost, have they figured out what they are going to do with this hulk? It isn’t exactly small enough to hide in the asteroid field,” asked Tim.

             
“No idea, but it looks like they have an idea. We have Omega shuttles incoming, and it looks like it’s all of them.”

             
Indeed, it was all of the Omega shuttle complement. Liam watched as the shuttles launched tow cables one after another so that they lodged into the dead ship. Once all the cables were locked in place, the shuttles angled away slowly. As the cables went taut, the shuttle’s forward movement slowed and soon stopped. Cables strained under the tension as the shuttles attempted to pull the hulk. Then slowly, meter by meter, the hulk shifted and began a slow movement.

             
As the shuttles pulled, Liam soon saw what they were attempting to do. They were not attempting to pull the dead ship into the asteroid field but instead were dragging it toward the gas giant that Liam and his squadron had previously hidden in. Twenty minutes later, the gravity of the planet took over, and the massive hulk began its path down into the dense atmosphere. Just as it began to disappear into the planet, cables released from all the shuttles. Keying his comm unit, Liam spoke to the rest of his squadron.

             
“Okay, Necro Squadron, show is over. Time to head back.”

Liam was just turning his fighter toward the asteroid field when it became clear
that one of the shuttles was in trouble.

             
“This is
Omega 14
, to any ship in the vicinity. We are in need of assistance. Unable to release tow cables. We are being pulled down into N-6’s atmosphere. I repeat, we are in need of assistance,” came the panicked voice of the shuttle pilot.

             
Pulling the flight stick over, Liam barrel-rolled his fighter over and around toward the shuttle. Afterburners engaged, his fighter rocketed toward the shuttle as it was pulled down toward the interior of the planet. Knowing he could never make it in time, he still pushed his fighter. His cannons erupted with energy as he attempted a long-range shot into the cable. Frustration started to mount as his shots missed at such an extreme distance. Just when he thought the shuttle was done for, six shots of energy blew past his fighter and slammed home into the cable, severing it clean in two. Free from the plummeting hulk, the shuttle righted itself and pulled free of the atmosphere.

             
“Thought you might want some help,” came Evan’s voice over his comm unit.

             
Sighing with relief, Liam let the tension flood free. “Excellent shot, Zombie,” he said with obvious relief in his voice.

             
The shuttle pilot spoke, “Whoever that is out there, I owe you one.” Then after a moment. “No, correct that--I owe you many.”

             
“This is Zombie of Necro Squadron, and I will settle for a nice martini,” Evan said with a laugh.

             
“Consider it done,” said the pilot, laughing.

             
Liam broke into the conversation. “Okay, Necro Squadron, let’s head back. All fighters fall in.”

             
Twenty minutes later, after the rest of his squadron had landed, Liam brought his fighter in for a landing. As his fighter came to a halt, Liam saw hundreds of men and women standing around the hangar bay, watching him. Releasing his canopy, he stood to be greeted by a thunderous cheer and applause. Admiral Kelvin strode through the crowd toward him as the rest of Necro Squadron surrounded the ladder that had just been attached to his fighter. Climbing down, Liam turned to Evan standing nearby.

             
“What is all this?” he asked.

             
“Well, it was your plan,” Evan said simply.

Admiral Kelvin stepped forward and snapped a salute. Liam, recovering quickly, returned the salute.

              “You have saved us all. For this, you have our thanks,” said the Admiral.

             
“I wasn’t alone; I had the rest of Necro Squadron to help,” Liam said humbly.

             
“Yeah, but it was you who went into the belly of the beast. You didn’t know those shields would fail . . . your fighter could have been destroyed against their shields,” said Dimitri.

             
“So what was it like in there? I take it that we were correct in the assumption that the armor on the energy shield generators was nonexistent on the interior of the shield?” asked Tim.

             
“Everyone, let him be. It has been a long day, and we have bought us some more time. Let us celebrate our victory and mourn our dead,” said Admiral Kelvin.

             
As the Admiral spoke these last words, Liam’s thoughts were spoken by Crystal. “How many did we lose today, sir?” she asked.

             
The Admiral looked first at Crystal, then turned and looking from face to face before he spoke. “We lost seven Knights today,” he said solemnly, and then in a much stronger voice continued. “But while I would not want to diminish their deaths, we need to remember that their deaths helped accomplish a grand victory and their names will go down in history.”

             
The crowd once again cheered at the Admiral’s words: cheering for the victory and cheering for the memory of those lost in battle.

The Admiral once again congratulated Liam and his squadron
, then departed to send word to Earth on their victory along with word of the fallen pilots. He had promised he would keep Earth constantly updated on anything major or whenever someone was lost--the latter so that any family they had would know as soon as possible. Liam knew the Admiral understood that many friends and families watched and waited for news of loved ones who had gone forth. Those friends and families waited for the news of their death so they could stop their worrying and properly mourn their dead.

             
Liam made his way through the crowd, stopping occasionally to shake a hand or receive a clap on the back. After what seemed like hours, he broke free of the congratulations and slowly walked to his quarters. Showering and grabbing a beer from his refrigerator, he lay back on his bed. Another day gone and another victory. Liam wondered when his luck would run out and his time would be up--when the Admiral would have to send news back that Liam had died in battle. Thinking of his death made him think of Leah again and wonder what she was doing. Would she mourn him?

Manchester, New Hampshire

             
Leah sat on her couch in a black silk dress, the television playing in the background. She had dressed to go out with friends but, in the end, couldn’t bring herself to go. It had been like that ever since Liam had left. She just couldn’t bring herself to have fun with Liam up there. Thoughts of him plagued her constantly as she wondered how he was.

             
Earlier that day, the news had reported a great victory against the Shenkar. Then they announced that seven Knights had died. Leah’s heart skipped a beat as she listened to the names of the pilots, praying Liam’s name would not be one of them. But it hadn’t been, and relief flooded through her. She had just been about to turn off the television when she heard Liam’s name. Tuning back in, she found out that he had been responsible for the destruction of the flagship of the Shenkar Federation. Smiling to herself, she watched footage of the battle that had been transmitted back.

             
However, as the day went on, her good mood once again drifted into melancholy. She just couldn’t bring herself to be out having fun when Liam was up there, risking his life for her. She knew now that it was her and his remaining family that Liam had gone forth for. While she had never been one prone to prayer, every day she now prayed for Liam to somehow come back to her so she could tell him of her love for him. Knowing it was a foolish thing to do, she still never stopped her daily ritual.

             
Sighing, she turned off her television and walked into her bedroom, pulling her dress off as she went. Another day gone and Liam was still safe. But what would tomorrow bring?

Outside System 238, Battlecruiser
Dryan
, Third Fleet

              Shizta exited the shuttle, staggering as he went, more show than injury, as he walked up to Overlord Trikreca. Coming to a halt, he saluted the Overlord.

             
“Overlord Trikreca, it is good to see you. We need to hurry before the enemy escapes.”

             
“Overlord Shizta, what enemy do you speak of? I was informed by Supreme Overlord Krailsha to rendezvous with you and the
Krazzeen
. Yet when I arrive, I find just you and your shuttle . . . why is that?”

             
Shizta had expected this--he knew he couldn’t lose the flagship of the Shenkar Federation and not be held accountable for it. He had thought long and hard on what he would say and felt he had come up with a story that would suffice.

             
“We received a distress signal on one of our coded frequencies. We felt it must have been one of our previous incursions into the system. The Shenkar haven’t suffered a defeat in over three hundred years--why should we fear anyone now? I took the
Krazzeen
into the system . . . the mighty
Krazzeen
! Upon entering the system, we were attacked by seven battlecruisers. I do not know who they are, yet they wield Meshtrell technology--at least, the battlecruisers were Meshtrell. The fighters are of an unknown origin. We managed to destroy six of the battlecruisers before the
Krazzeen
was destroyed. I managed to secure this shuttle, and we attempted to escape. When I say “we,” I am speaking of seven other shuttles and a squadron of fighters. This enemy methodically hunted everyone down and mercilessly slaughtered them. They did not even have the honor to fight us in one-on-one combat when we invoked Sheeata in hopes of buying others time to escape to report back.”