Titan Fleet: The Invictus Part 6

Pace chuckles and leaves the room with a purpose and heads across the sc.r.a.p bay into the workshop. Now he will be able to get to work on something and get to play with the nice new tools, he was excited. He reaches for some metal alloy and other components and begins to follow the diagrams Sam had given him. A few hours tinkering and building and Pace has the first knife built ready to be tested. It is 1645 hours and so remembering the promise Tom made, Pace heads to the canteen for food. His neck is a little stiff from all the bending over the workbench. Rubbing his neck and stretching his chin to the sky, Pace enters the canteen to a pleasant smell of steak and all the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs to go with it. Pace had stopped off along the way to get a couple of bottles of wine to go as a treat with the meal.

"I know there is a rule of no alcohol on the s.h.i.+p, but today we will celebrate life and how lucky we all are to be here this day." Pace pours wine out for everyone. Even Nova is sat at the table in a robotic support chair, this evening looking a lot better.

"I know Rusty would have loved a good drink today, so I will pour him a gla.s.s as he is still in medbay and may I make a toast. To today and tomorrow and each other!" They all stand and toast, clas.h.i.+ng gla.s.ses into gla.s.ses and it is a feel good moment and they sit down to a great meal. Pace finishes his last mouthful of food and compliments the chef. It was something his mum always did after a meal. He remembers back to when he was just six years old. His parents took him to a posh restaurant for a meal. He, along with his parents, had steak in red wine sauce with potatoes and peas, washed down with some lemonade. It was his first time to say 'compliments to the chef and Pace called the chef over and said thank you to him, and the chef gave him a free dish of ice-cream with strawberries. This memory was a great time in his life.

"I would like to compliment the chef on a fantastic plate of food and I look forward to more of his fine cooking soon." Pace is happy that Tom kept his word, as a mans word is his bond.

Nova has already finished her food; she was so hungry but did not want to overfill her tummy. "Cap, seeing as I am up and about and feeling better, can I return to my post, please? I will take it easy, I promise." Nova gives Pace her sweet little sister look and he wonders how he can say no to her. She has been through so much and he thinks it would do her good to take her mind off recent events.

"Granted, but I dont want you over doing it, ok." Pace takes his plate and a few other things over to be washed up and Talia joins him.

"Let me do that, sir, its your night off, I believe."

"Creep." Briggs mutters to himself under his breath, but Shanks overhears it and turns to him and whispers in his ear.

"Yeah, those two may have compromised our mission. They seem all too comfortable with the others now." Briggs just nods and gets up to leave the table, along with Shanks.

"Security sweep, sir." The two men leave the room quickly, to talk more in private while the others laugh and joke around in the canteen.

Chapter Thirty-Five.

Briggs and Shanks make their way down to the loading bay and go to check if the missile is ok, but upon opening the container they find nothing and the missile is gone.

"What the heck is going on here? What have they done with it? I bet they are all in on it together. We need to contact Captain Miles and warn him of the situation." Briggs slams the lid in anger. "They think they can make fools of us, eh."

Shanks, who is normally a quiet man pipes up. "We need off this s.h.i.+p and let them fend for themselves. We are almost at our destination and it will be soon time to fire. Can we do the same job with just the one missile?"

Briggs smiles and nods, a crafty evil look in his eyes appears. "Without a doubt, Shanks, now lets get organised here shall we." The two men carry on looking for the missile for a while, before giving up and finding a quiet corner to open a secure comms with the Robur and patching through to its captain.

Chapter Thirty-Six.

Nova leaves eagerly for the bridge, and Talia and Megan begin the was.h.i.+ng up together, while Pace shows Sam and Tom the newly made knife.

"Here it is. This is the prototype knife that will bring the pain to the blues." They all stand around the table examining the knife and they are all in agreement, that it is a fine piece of engineering and plus its a man thing to like knives.

Megan peers over her shoulder and rolls her eyes. "Boys and their toys." Talia sn.i.g.g.e.rs and agrees with Megan. The end of her nose now has bubbles on it from her rubbing it with her back of her wrist. "So tell me, Talia, why the military, why did you join up?" Megan wanting to get to know her more, as it is always great to have female friends.

"I wanted to prove I was just as tough as my brother to my parents. He was amazing and could do no wrong, but my parents had to put up with the two of us, not just one, and never wanted a daughter only a son, we were twins. So I grew up just in the shadow of my brother, never doing anything great enough to s.h.i.+ne against him. I wanted them to love me but what I wanted did not count. Anyway, a long story short, my brother became a rich business man and now lives with my parents in a ma.s.sive mansion somewhere nice. I joined the military when I was 17 and that was seven years ago now." Talia pa.s.ses a plate to Megan to dry, only to see a sad look on her face.

"Im sorry to hear that, Talia, but how does it prove you are tougher?" questions Megan.

Talia laughs, "Because my brother wanted to join too, but was rejected at the second stage of training, whereas I pa.s.sed with distinction. He always hated that, but it kinda made up for all the bruises he gave me as a kid. He would not try it now, as I am a champion cla.s.s fighter in the ring now too." Talia pulls the plug out of the sink to let the water drain away and as it makes a sucking noise beyond imagination, she dries her hands and turns to Megan just as she finishes her plate and puts it away in the cupboard.

Megan laughs with Talia. "I bet hun, I bet and good for you I say. Men can be pigs sometimes. Its nice to finally get a chance to talk to you, Talia. Perhaps we should finish off the wine while the men dance around that knife." The two women take their leave and slip out of the room unnoticed by the men, and head for the comfy couches in the living room.

Sam picks up the knife. The blade is so sharp he imagines it could cut a blue in two, no problem. "I will take this to my lab and work my little bit of magic, but its perfect, Captain, it really is, just need more of them, sir." With a wink Sam leaves the room. Tom and Pace stand facing each other for the first time without shouting. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Tom decides to break the silence.

"Captain, we need to talk in private, it is important. Away from my men, if you dont mind." Pace agrees and they move just outside the canteen where it is quiet.

"Whats on your mind, Tom?" Tom looks worried and is still thinking things over in his head. How does he tell Pace that the prime lady wants to rid the planet of its people and take the resources left and move to this new planet to start again, and they were the ones with the missiles to do the job, and he is still wondering why he has changed his mind to stand against Eve instead of with her. Wonderings aside, he needed to speak now.

"Captain, it is like this. You could say I have had a change of heart, and what I am about to tell you may get me executed, but hay-ho, never mind." He begins to ramble a little bit before realising he needs to get back to what he needs to say. "Well, we are not out here just to get sc.r.a.p. We have been sent on a mission by the prime lady to launch missiles to destroy our home world, so she can take the remaining resources to start again on a new planet, just a few hours away from here, and sitting with you all and feeling a part of a good crew, I just had to say, I dont want to have their blood on my hands. Now, the Robur also has a missile and a captain who will use it and ..." Buzz, buzz. Paces gauntlet lights up again. It is Nova.

"Sir, you need to come, a.s.a.p." yells Nova on the bridge. Pace and Tom rush to Nova so quickly, they appear as if by magic next to her.

"One thing, Tom, before we go on, are you on board with us?" Pace is looking into Toms eyes earnestly, and he needs him to say yes.

"It will be an honour to do the right thing for a change, sir. Im with you, but not sure all my men will be." Nova interrupts quickly. The loud speaker has been switched on and voices can be made out to be Captain Miles and Briggs talking.

"Yes, Tom, we tapped into your comms, just to be safe. Sorry."

Tom pats Pace on the back. "Its what I would have done, Captain." The speaker crackles a little while the two men discuss a plan to get the security team off the Invictus and onto the Robur, and once that happened, they would destroy the Invictus and carry on the mission with just one missile.

"Yes, we hid your missile and your friend Briggs must have found out we moved it. So they plan on loading up a runner and blasting us, eh. Mmm, I have a feeling your men wont be mentioning the plan to you, Tom, but see if they do tell you about the plan and if not we will let them run, but have a plan of our own. We have to stop them launching that missile." Tom is impressed with the cunning of Pace and his crew and heads down to the loading bay to interrupt the call, leaving his comms on his gauntlet open, so Pace and Nova can hear what transpires. Tom exits the lift but is heard by Shanks, who walks quickly over to Tom buying a little bit of time for Briggs to end his call.

"Report, Shanks." Tom commands in a stern voice.

"Oh, nothing to report, sir, everything is how it should be, sir." Tom notices Shanks trying to block line of sight of Briggs.

"Briggs, what are you up to over there?" shouts Tom, throwing his voice across the room.

"Just checked the missile, sir, and all is good."

Lying toe rag, thinks Tom, as he knows Briggs knows about the missing missile.

"I see. Well, we are nearing the deadline men, the plan will go ahead as scheduled and we will be counting the money soon enough boys." Briggs sits on a crate, all c.o.c.ky and Shanks has now got behind Tom. Briggs stares Tom in the face.

"Sir, I think you know us well enough by now to know we have a plan B, and Im sick of following you around while you make mistake after mistake, time and time again. I say its time for a change around here and it starts today. I am taking command of the Robur as captain and by orders of the prime lady herself, Shanks and I will be leaving to relieve Captain Miles of his command, due to s.p.a.ce sickness. Probably why we have not heard anything in a while from them, we are just waiting to get comms up. You, sir, are to take command of this s.h.i.+p. Come on, Tom, arent you happy that I finally got a command after all these years?" Tom looks around at Shanks and back to Briggs, who has now stood back up and walked closer to Tom.

"You know what, Briggs, youre nothing but a low-life, lying, sly piece of c.r.a.p. I heard your plans with Miles and its obvious you and Shanks were not going to tell me or Talia the plans and were aiming to blast us all as soon as you could." Before Tom can say anything else, an attack is launched towards him and from behind too. Tom grabs Shanks by the arm and throws him over his shoulder, just as Briggs swings with an iron bar that he had concealed behind him. Shanks crashes into a crate and is back on his feet in seconds.

Tom parries the blow coming in from Briggs. "You will have to try harder than that, boy." Briggs does a backflip and catches Tom on the chin with his steel toe-capped boot and Tom is flung backwards, blood oozing from his split lip. Arms reach around Toms neck as Shanks is once more on the attack, while Briggs. .h.i.ts Tom in the body with the iron bar, each blow causing blood to flow. Briggs then picks up a large crate and hits home with it on top of Toms head, knocking him out.

"Finish him!" shouts Shank. "This fight is won already and soon they will all be dust. Come on; lets go before the others get here." The two blood stained men load the s.h.i.+p with a few supplies, before blasting off out into the darkness of s.p.a.ce, the glowing engines just going out of view as Pace gets out of the lift and rushes over to Tom, checking his vital signs.

"Padley, I need you here now, its Tom." Supporting his head, which is flowing with enough blood to fill a bath, Pace wishes for a speedy Padley, only to see a speeding Talia instead enter the room.

"Sir! No, no! Those sc.u.m bags, where are they?" Cries out Talia, moving in for a closer inspection of Tom and clutching on to Toms arm. Pace looks at Toms face as his eyes open, looking up, his eyes trying to focus on the fearful faces above him.

"Talia, youre the big cheese now and I expect nothing but guts and determination from you. You are my best and most trusted friend. Look after these good people and dont follow orders from the prime lady, she is corrupt and evil beyond words or thought, and do me a favour."

Talia senses Tom slipping away. "Anything, sir, just say the word." Smiling down on Tom with love in her green eyes.

Tom reaches up and pulls Talia down closer to him. He whispers to her with his final breath. "Make the best of each moment and do the right thing." The strength from his arm disappears and it flops to the floor with a thud.

"No!" shouts Talia with rage and anger, slamming her fist to the floor, splas.h.i.+ng blood with an explosion of red. She was very close to Tom, as he treated her like a sister on the quiet. Padley charges into the room, her sensors scanning the room for the injured, and she glides over to Tom. She picks up a failing pulse as she shoots two tendrils out of her chest, piercing Toms chest flesh in an instant.

"Stand clear, danger." A huge buzz of power hits Tom like lightning, lifting him off the ground only to flop back down.

"Again!" cries Talia, shuffling away from Tom on her bottom, smearing a train of blood on the floor. Pace puts his arm around Talia to comfort her, but she shrugs his arm off and stands up. She realises that Tom is gone and runs out of the room with haste in her heels. Running faster than she has ever done before, she is soon at the bridge doors. They open with a swish and she is soon sat at a console.

"Nova, patch me in to a turret gun, they killed Tom." Nova can see the hurt and pain in Talia, but still calls down to Pace to check its ok to use the big guns.

"Do it, Nova. Im tired of playing games, its time for pay back." shouts Pace, helping Padley to the medbay with Toms body.

Pah-boom, pah-boom, yell the turret guns, as Talia fires at the evading s.h.i.+p, as it skips up and down amongst the stars. At last contact, the small s.h.i.+p is. .h.i.t and as it spins like a Catherine wheel out of control towards the Robur, Talia smiles and lets out a small sigh of happiness and carries on firing, only now she has the Roburs attention. The Robur begins to turn around, but it is too late. The small s.h.i.+p containing Briggs and Shanks ploughs into one of Roburs engines. With a huge explosion, the engine on top of the s.h.i.+p is cleaved from the Robur. In an instant the small runner is vaporised and no trace is visible.

The shock wave is felt on the Invictus and everyone is sent flying to the floor. Fragments are spinning everywhere, and a flicker and so many colours in one place blinds Nova who brings the Invictus to a halt. Novas screen comes to life and a very angry Captain Miles becomes visible.

"Where is your so-called captain and what in the stars is going on. I should just blast you out of the sky. Why are you firing on me?" Just as Miles finishes his sentence, Pace enters the bridge and walks up to the screen to talk to Miles.

"I know all about your little plan, you piece of filth, and I have lost some good people over it and that ends today. I dont give a stuff who you are or what your history is, but I will warn you now, Miles, you wont hurt me or mine again and thats a promise." Interrupting Pace, Miles smiles and in a smarmy voice tries to worm his way out of the mess he is now been found guilty off.

"Im not sure I know what you mean, and you should not go around trying to throw your weight around, Captain, because there is always someone bigger and better. Now I suggest you get your a.s.ses over here and fix my s.h.i.+p, and I will not press this any further, got it!" Pace begins to walk up and down the bridge with anger, just wanting to blow the creep out of the stars, to somewhere he would rot for a billion years.

"I know about the plans to destroy our home world and to settle elsewhere, and we heard Briggs and Shanks talking with you, so spare me the c.r.a.p, eh? Now what you are going to do, is hand over your missile or we will take it from you, the choice is yours." Standing still with his arms crossed, Pace waits for Miles to make a move. The screen goes black, giving Pace time to collect his thoughts. He opens an open channel on the s.h.i.+p and warns everyone to prepare for a fight, and in the time it would take you to click your fingers the whole crew were ready and at their stations.

"Captain, the Robur is still turning slowly but they are powering their weapons and s.h.i.+elds, and also Im picking up some s.h.i.+ps heading into our sector and they are moving fast." Nova has the engines at the ready and the s.h.i.+elds are up. She is so calm in this moment, and feels one hundred percent again, her hands gripping the controls to the s.h.i.+p. "Cap, on screen now." Nova brings up the screen. They can see a small s.h.i.+p that has been damaged, followed by several other s.h.i.+ps firing upon the smaller s.h.i.+p.

"The small s.h.i.+p looks in trouble. Can you raise its captain, Nova?" Several b.u.t.tons are hit and a few minutes of waiting pa.s.s, until a blizzard of white on the screen, interrupted by some clear and chance to see the small s.h.i.+ps crew. A purple face stares back, with four burning orange eyes. Its head is thin and narrow and goes to a point on the back of his head. It has a small mouth and its body is of a slim build.

The alien begins to speak its own language, but it is not pleasant to human ears, and this is seen on the faces of the crew. The creature gestures that he will send a device over once they get close. The screen is black once more. The small s.h.i.+p fires a bolt of light at the Invictus, which goes straight through the s.h.i.+elds onto the bridge, and a blinding light flashes which hurts the eyes of everyone. When their eyes adjust, a square box is floating in the room. It is glowing orange and small beams of light dash in and out of it like fireflies, examining everything and everyone. Sam stands up and holds out a small scanner to scan it.

"It is of no compound we know of, its like pure energy but what I dont know what." Sam is so taken up by the light that he touches it, and in an instant is transported to the alien s.h.i.+p. He is surrounded by a few purple aliens who gently tough him and guide him to a seat. Sam is not scared at all, in fact he feels like he has known these aliens all his life, so he is happy to cooperate. A small beam of orange hits him in his temple and then it bounces around the room, before hitting an odd shaped screen.

"h.e.l.lo and welcome." Sam was caught off guard. How on earth could the alien learn his language so quickly? Not wanting to be rude, Sam greets the alien in their transporter room, before being led down some corridors. All the while, the s.h.i.+p was being shaken by shots from the large s.h.i.+ps behind it. Everyone seems so calm, which is really odd, but they are aliens, he thought. He was led to what he could only think was their bridge, where he could see a worried Pace shouting at the screen, obviously angered at his crew mate being abducted.

"Sir, Im fine. I think they needed to learn our language. This s.h.i.+p is amazing, sir." The purple alien sat in a large chair, that Sam a.s.sumed to be the captain, lifted his hand up and began to talk to Pace.

"h.e.l.lo and welcome. I am what you say; a leader and we seek a.s.sistance please. Our power supply is running low, we are." Boom! The comms are lost and the small s.h.i.+p has been hit with a ma.s.sive blast from afar, something just out of range of the scanners.

"Ok, target the first s.h.i.+p behind their s.h.i.+p and give it something to be worried about." Pah-boom, pah-boom! The guns roar into action, ripping small holes in the side of the first large s.h.i.+p. The small alien s.h.i.+p limps between the Robur and the Invictus, safe for now. There are two large s.h.i.+ps now firing, one at the Invictus and one at the Robur. Huge chunks of metal fly in all directions. Despite having s.h.i.+elds, pieces of s.h.i.+p are torn off the two human s.h.i.+ps.

"We need to help each other, agreed?" A face appears once more on the screen. Its Captain Miles covered in blood, his bridge is on fire and he has lost a second engine. "We are humans, aren't we?"

Pace flicks the answer switch on his console. "Some of us are, but some of us are just evil, but I agree we need to do this. Do you know what they are?" Miles bends down and lifts up a dead blue head.

No, thinks Pace, not again. This will be a hard fight. "We need to concentrate our fire on that first s.h.i.+p, Miles, and I dont think it will be going down easy. We will settle our differences after this has blown over."

Chapter Thirty-Seven.

The crews on the two human s.h.i.+ps are focused on the first large s.h.i.+p, which is currently firing on the Robur. Those who are watching on screens are amazed at the size of the s.h.i.+p and how it seems to shrug off a lot of damage, but it is large and they are small so perhaps speed will be an advantage. With hope in their hearts the crews and s.h.i.+ps work together and hit what is believed to be the engines and their efforts seem to be paying off, as the s.h.i.+p looks like it is slowing down a little. Nova is in her element and avoiding a lot of fire. When she is just one hundred feet from the enemy vessel, she notices a s.h.i.+mmer in the side of the s.h.i.+p and a large round ball is seen to pa.s.s through the hull without effort, out into the darkness of s.p.a.ce. It darts towards the Invictus and despite Novas lightning reflexes and her amazing skill, she cannot shake the ball from the rear of the s.h.i.+p and it is now joined by a second ball, following the s.h.i.+p like a kite in the sky bobbing from left to right. The s.h.i.+mmer on the alien vessel is getting larger and now a dozen more b.a.l.l.s are spinning around, heading towards the Robur and Invictus.

"This does not look good, Cap." Nova is now beginning to quietly worry. Talia blasts at one ball with the big turret gun and it explodes, emptying its occupants into the cold of s.p.a.ce. A few blue creatures bounce off the windows of the bridge, frozen now forever in time.

"Oh c.r.a.p!" yells Megan, "It was full of blues." A resounding thud is heard, followed by two more on the hull of the Invictus. The sick feeling everyone on the s.h.i.+p is now feeling is sheer and utter fear at the thought they were about to be boarded a second time. Pace disappears for a few moments and returns with the knives that he and Sam had designed.

"Well, lets hope these work. Talia, you stay on the bridge with Nova and keep flying and firing and seal the door ok. Megan and I will see what we can do about our unwelcome guests. Contact Miles and get him to use his death missile on that first s.h.i.+p. We will ready the second missile. Its our only chance; we cant fight them all like this." The bridge doors close, the concerned faces now red and scared.

Pace and Megan contact Padley and Anc to do sensor sweeps in the s.h.i.+p, and instruct Anc to go outside and get whatever has latched on to the s.h.i.+p off in a hurry.

Chapter Thirty-Eight.

Anc quickly gets to a hatch and exits the s.h.i.+p, his feet now being magnetised so he can walk freely outside the s.h.i.+p. Upon exiting the s.h.i.+p, Anc notices a large ball object stuck to the outside of the s.h.i.+p. It is attached by four legs, which have melted into the s.h.i.+p, bonding them. Anc moves closer for a better look, only to be met by a large creature, in what looks to be an armoured s.p.a.cesuit of some kind, and this thing looks like it means business. However, it is finding things hard outside and is hanging on like a barnacle.

Anc launches an attack towards the creature, which is totally taken off-guard. Ancs large metal fists find the creatures backbone, and the two grapples are fired through the creatures armour, spine and body exploding through the front of its body, pus.h.i.+ng fragments and fluid out to float in s.p.a.ce for it to see. The creature writhes in agony, but is now seeking revenge and turns to face Anc. These blues are some tough aliens, Anc thinks.

It has four arms, protrusions like horns all over its body, and has evil red burning eyes. It looks a very dark blue with lava red veins all over its face and probably its body too. It is a lot different to the blues Anc has encountered before, as they were light blue in colour. The creature has now wrapped two of its arms around Ancs body, and the other two arms begin to pound down on Ancs shoulders. A second and third blue appear and also begin moving towards Anc, jumping large distances towards him with little effort. They must be from another ball, Anc thinks.

Not bothered by the first creature, Anc is able to walk with the creature attacking him towards the ball, until he is standing next to it. He uses his burst plasma cannon on the leg of the ball and which shatters it into a thousand pieces. Anc quickly shoots off the remaining legs and punches the ball in the direction of a jumping blue creature. The ball smashes into the creature with such force the ball and creature are sent flying into s.p.a.ce, with the creature spinning past a turret gun. Talia has it in her sights and blasts it to smithereens; bits of metal and blue ooze go everywhere, to the great pleasure of the shooter.

Anc waits for the other blue to arrive nearby and uses his light s.h.i.+eld to deflect it towards a large chunk of s.h.i.+p spinning out of control. The creature is impaled by the splintered surface of the metal and bounces off the Invictus like a beach ball blown by the wind. Anc now turns his attention to the blue hanging on for dear life, and wraps his large metal arms around this creature. His grapples retract back into his arm. There is a ma.s.sive blast of heat from Ancs chest as his inferno incinerator kicks into action. The blue screams out once again and struggles to get free, but to no avail. Slowly the blue is burned alive, until it loses grip of Anc and turns into ashes, which disappear not leaving a trace of the blue apart from some skin that has stuck to Ancs chest panel.

Anc makes his way to the second ball and makes light work of the legs once again, and watches it leave the s.h.i.+p for good. The last ball seems to be empty, as Anc can see inside, so he detaches the ball and loads it in through the cargo hold for examination and study.

"Captain, some may be on board the s.h.i.+p, but the outside is now secure." Anc begins to scan once again, this time inside the s.h.i.+p, while Pace turns to Megan in the canteen.

"Lets head towards the lift and see if we can claim our s.h.i.+p back, eh?" Pace presses the b.u.t.ton for the lift and the door opens. The lift is in darkness and as the couple approach the door, a set of red eyes appear in the dark, but before anything else can happen something hits Pace on the blue flesh of his body, sending him flying backwards, and in the same instant a large set of arms grab Megan by the head and she is pulled into the dark screaming.

The doors close and Pace tries desperately to get back on his feet, but looking closely he has some sort of parasite attached to him, which seems to have embedded itself very well into his blue hide. Not wanting to think about himself any longer, Pace gets to his feet staggering a little; he is far more concerned with the safety of his new love. Thoughts rush through his mind at a million miles per hour. Is she still alive, where is she? He needs to be moving faster. What will he do when he catches up with whatever attacked them? Fearing the worst now and with an upset stomach, Pace falls into the lift. This thing attached to me is not being kind and is probably poisoning me, he thinks as he readies his knife and blaster.