Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (34 page)

             
Liam pulled back his throttle, and his fighter exploded forward. The two French squadrons were already far ahead and closing in on the Shenkar convoy. None of the Shenkar fighters were moving to engage the two closing squadrons; none of the supply ships even moved to escape. It was as if they didn’t even see them coming. Something was definitely wrong with all of this.

             
It wasn’t until the two French squadrons were almost within striking distance did Liam notice movement within the Shenkar convoy. The sides of every supply ship exploded outward, and Shenkar fighters poured from within. Both French squadrons flew straight into a maelstrom of energy where they were outnumbered three to one. They were holding their own but were hard-pressed--plainly, these Shenkar pilots were better than average.

             
Three Shenkar fighters tailed Pierre’s fighter as he jinked and juked in a desperate effort to shake them, Pierre’s energy shields flaring under the constant rain of fire. At the current rate, his shields would fail and he would die. As if to punctuate the dire situation, Pierre’s voice broadcast over the open frequency.

             
“
Ghost, where the hell are you with the rest of Necro Squadron?”

             
“
This is Ghost. Stand by, we are almost to you,” replied Liam.

             
“
We are taking a beating here. I am going to--”

             
But whatever Pierre was going to say was lost as a Shenkar Shizrec-class cruiser folded directly into his path. Pierre’s fighter crumpled and exploded against the shields of destroyer.

             
Liam’s warning alarms sounded loud in his cockpit as proximity alerts lit his flight board. Four more Shenkar cruisers folded around the battle. Soon Shenkar fighters were pouring out of the cruisers on a path directly toward the embattled pilots. Liam had known there wasn’t something right about the convoy. This had been an ambush, and they had fallen into it.

             
Liam targeted one of two fighters on the tail of one of the French pilots and squeezed the trigger. The fighter exploded in a brilliant flash. Energy shot past Liam’s fighter to destroy the second fighter. Liam hadn’t been worried about the second fighter; he knew Tim would destroy it.

             
The symbiosis of how Necro Squadron flew had been a big mystery to the scientists on Earth. While all the pilots who had survived the enhancement process had symbiosis with their squad mates, none were as connected as Necro Squadron.

             
Soon he destroyed another fighter, then another. Every way he looked, Shenkar fighters flooded the stars. To his horror, he saw that six of the French pilots had been killed in addition to Pierre. They needed to get out of here quickly or things were going to get a lot worse. Before he could think of anything, the worse came as his comm unit blared to life.
“
Michael, look out! You have four on your tail!” screamed April.

Turning in his cockpit, he spotted Michael as he attempted to lose his four pursuers. April was desperately trying to shake her own pursuers so she could rush to his aid. Liam pulled his fighter hard around, igniting his afterburners as he set off after Michael. But even as he started out, he knew he would never make it in time. His fighter shook from shots of enemy fighters, but he ignored them. Michael’s rear shields failed, and energy tore through his engines. The rear half of Michael’s fighter exploded, engulfing Michael’s cockpit in shrapnel and fire. An emptiness filled Liam, and he heard a scream when Michael’s fighter went up, but he was unsure if it had been April’s or Michael’s. They had lost one of their number, and they were all going to die if he couldn’t think of something.

              Then it came to him. Keying an open channel, he spoke.
“
To all Shenkar warriors, this is the human you know as Ghost. I challenge every warrior within the sound of my broadcast. I invoke Sheeata. If any of you have any honor, you will come and face me!”

             
Whipping his fighter around, he ignited his afterburners and exploded forward and out of the battle. Checking his scanner, he saw that 75 percent of the Shenkar forces had broken off their pursuits to turn toward his fighter. Evan’s voice came over his comm unit, fear in his voice.
“
Liam, don’t do this! You are committing suicide, for god’s sake!”

             
“
Sorry, Evan, I have to do this. We will all die if I don’t. Get out of there now; get everyone home. You are Necro leader now,” said Liam.

             
“
Liam, I . . .” Anguish was in his friend’s voice.

             
“
Evan, you are my best friend, and it has been a pleasure knowing you. Do me a favor. If you get home, tell Leah I was thinking of her, always.”

             
Then Liam shut down the comm unit just as the first Shenkar fighters closed in. Energy poured in from all sides as he began his deadly dance of evasion. Rolling his fighter over, he narrowly avoided an oncoming Shenkar fighter. In doing so, he sprayed a nearby fighter, exploding the canopy and killing the pilot within. The pilotless Shenkar fighter careened over into two other Shenkar fighters, destroying them all in an explosion of fire.

             
Warning alarms screamed as Liam’s shields began to fail. Then, with a sudden explosion, the engines of Liam’s fighter exploded, cracking his fighter in half. Fire engulfed Liam’s cockpit and burned into him, pain searing his body. The broken remnants of his cockpit spun off as the darkness slowly began to creep up in him. His last thought before the darkness took him was of Leah and how he wished he could have seen her again. Then death embraced him, and he knew no more.

Secret Asteroid Base of the EDF

              Evan guided his battered fighter slowly in for a landing, taking his time to maneuver his fighter into place. It had taken them over ten hours to lose the Shenkar and make it back to the asteroid base. Of the two French squadrons, only six of the pilots had survived. Michael was dead, but the worst of it was that Liam was also dead. Hangar crews ran around everywhere as they moved to get ladders into place. Several emergency medical teams were present to assist pilots who had suffered any injuries. More than one pilot had suffered fires caused by overloads in their systems due to the punishment their fighters had undergone.

             
Evan slowly cycled down his fighter, then sat back in his cockpit. Weary from the day, he just sat there numbly, not wanting to believe Liam was dead. The clink of steel on steel brought Evan out of his reverie. Looking around, he saw that the noise had come from the hangar crew locking a ladder in place for Evan to exit. Watching them hurry off to other duties, Evan still didn’t move. It wasn’t until a tap against his canopy made him look up did he realize he had slipped back into his thoughts. Crystal stood on his ladder outside his fighter, looking in with concern upon her face. He reached over and depressed the canopy release button. Slowly, the canopy opened, and Crystal leaned in, placing a hand on his arm.

             
“
Evan, you need to come down. You are in command now, and we need you,” she said solemnly.

             
Gazing beyond Crystal, he saw the rest of Necro Squadron assembled. All gazed up with the same solemn looks on their faces that Crystal wore. Everyone except April: anguish was plain on her face, anguish and anger. This shook Evan to his senses. April, of any of them, had just suffered a grave loss; she and Michael had been very close. Pulling himself up, he stood and looked down again at everyone. He spoke, his voice fueled with passion and anger.

             
“
There is no running from what happened today. Today, we lost two of our friends . . . no . . . two of our family. We have trained together and bled together, knowing that this would happen eventually. Even so, this doesn’t make it any easier to accept. We need to remember what they stood for, and we need to remember them in honor. We will honor their sacrifices by killing every Shenkar we come against, or we will die trying. Liam knew this, and he sacrificed his life to give us all the chance to do our jobs. For we are Templar Knights and we need to always remember what we fight for.”

             
“
For Liam and Michael!” cried Dimitri, his fist going into the air.

             
“
For Liam and Michael!” echoed the rest of them, their fists mimicking Dimitri’s.

             
After a moment of silence, the rest of the squadron retired to their quarters. Crystal and Tim stayed behind, waiting as Evan descended his ladder.

             
“
Tim, I am going to need you to fly wing for April,” said Evan once he had descended completely.

             
“
Okay, any particular reason why? Or just because we both lost our wingmates,” asked Tim.

             
“
Well, there is that, but also, you are good at reading people. April just lost someone she cared for, and there is no telling what she might do. We can’t afford for her to do something stupid that could give away the location of this base.”

             
Tim nodded once, then turned and headed for his own quarters. Evan stared at the floor for a moment until he felt Crystal’s warm hand take his. Looking at her face, he smiled a weary smile. Together, they headed out of the hangar. Before they made it to the exit, however, Admiral Kelvin entered. Snapping to attention, Evan and Crystal saluted.

             
“
At ease. You both have had a very long and tiring day.”

             
“
Thank you, sir,” Evan said.

             
“
I know you want to get some rest, but I need to know what happened out there,” said the Admiral.

             
“
It was an ambush, sir. They set an ambush, and we fell for it . . . or more closely, that French idiot made his final mistake. A Shenkar supply convoy was headed in from the outer system. It had a pathetic excuse for an escort, which Liam found disturbing. He ordered us all to stand down and let the Shenkar convoy pass, but Petiot decided he wasn’t going to pass up the chance, so he and the other French squadron attacked. When he closed within firing range, the supply ships sprung their trap. The supply ships were in fact hollowed out to hold fighters. The sides blew out, and they attacked. Normally, the numbers present wouldn’t have been a problem, as we tend to be better fighter pilots. This time, it seemed they sent their best pilots available so the two French squadrons were hard-pressed. Liam decided we needed to go in, so we moved to attack.

             
“We were closing quickly when five Shenkar cruisers folded into the midst of the battle. Petiot’s fighter collided headlong into the side of one and blew up. Additional fighters began to enter the battle, and it became clear we needed to break free and make a run for it. Before that could happen, we lost Michael Stert. Liam decided he needed to sacrifice himself to save us, so he invoked Sheeata upon the entire Shenkar force.”

             
At this, the Admiral held up his hand to stop Evan.
“
Sheeata is that honor challenge thing where the Shenkar lose all sense of normal thought and will go after whoever challenged them?” he asked.

Evan nodded a confirmation.

              “
And Liam challenged the entire Shenkar force?”

             
Evan nodded a confirmation once again. Sighing, the Admiral pinched the bridge of his nose.
“
Was there no other way?” he asked finally.

             
“
No, Admiral, there wasn’t. Liam made a choice that saved what was left of our three squadrons. As far as I see it, there wasn’t any other way to get us out of that fiasco. But you know, something has been bothering me since we got away. When we were inbound to help the French, Petiot called for us to hurry. The cruisers didn’t fold in until Petiot sent the comm using Liam’s call sign . . . Ghost. It seemed as if they specifically were looking to kill him.”

             
“
There is a big possibility that may be true. Commander Brennan has been present for most of the major disasters of the Shenkar offensive. They may have felt that by eliminating him, they would deal a demoralizing blow--maybe cause us to hold off attacks or maybe drive us into anger so we do something stupid. Are you sure he is dead? I know you Templar Knights are pretty tough.”

             
“
No, he is dead. You know that symbiotic sense they spoke of during our training? How we sort of sense each other in combat? Well, I felt when Michael and Liam died. One minute they were there in the bond, and the next they were simply gone . . . an empty void in space.”

             
“
I was hoping there was a chance he still yet lived. I liked that boy. He would have been a great leader.”