Chapter 45

On the outskirts of the Confederate base, the soldiers were busy making their rounds. They followed their protocols and their training, making sure that everything was good before moving along. While the soldiers of the Confederacy were often looked on as unfeeling and savage brutes, they weren’t stupid. Their training ensured that nothing, not even the smallest detail, was overlooked when carrying out their duties.

It was because of this extensive training that the Confederacy had lasted as long as it had. If it hadn’t been for the unflinching discipline of the Confederate military, the idea of a Human Confederacy would have died long ago. The men and women who served felt that they were doing humanity a service by preserving their way of life. Sadly, it was their xenophobic attitudes and policies which had kept humankind fractured to this day.

Of course, the Confederacy didn’t think they were the ones to blame. No, they felt that the rest of humanity was to blame, as they incessantly mingled with aliens! Because of this, they produced many variants of half breeds, which to them, shouldn’t be accepted by either side. As far as they were concerned, humans should be kept as pure as possible, without any additions to the gene pool.

A platoon of soldiers, led by one Captain Dalton, were in the middle of a discussion concerning the human race. It was getting more than a little heated, as some of the soldiers were arguing about the Confederacy’s stance on the matter of interbreeding.

“I tell you, Johns, it shouldn’t be a crime to breed with certain races out there! The ones that walk and talk like us and breathe the same atmosphere as we do at any rate,” one of the soldiers argued.

“That sort of talk is heresy and I won’t hear another word of it, Tarko!” Johns threatened, leveling his weapon at the man.

“Drop the religious hypocrisy, Johns! Was only several centuries ago, people like you murdered people like me just for talking like I am to you now!” the ebon skinned man stated.

“Humanity needed to evolve beyond the bullshit of skin color, agreed. But breeding with aliens goes against everything we stand for!” the lighter skinned man rebutted.

“Will the two of you give it a rest?!?” Captain Dalton demanded, whirling to face the pair of arguing men.

While they were good men as lieutenants, the pair of them talking was like mixing fire and gasoline. You only did so in controlled situations and even then, you had to be careful! How these two wound up on patrol with him was beyond the man, but he thought the major had something to do with it. The man was known for stirring up shit between soldiers and watching the fireworks go off.

“But sir—” Johns protested, thinking that this was a matter of staying true to the Confederate ideal.

“No buts! This is hardly the time or place to having such a heated discussion! Besides, if you’d paid attention to the way the Confederacy is going Johns, you’d understand that what Tarko is saying has a good deal of pull among the public. Even though there are crackdowns on people with such ideals, it’s not stopping them. Why do you think things are such a mess back home?” the captain questioned.

“It’s only because people are being filthy devian—” the man started, when they all received an alert via their comms devices.

“All patrols, we have an alert! Sensors picked up motion in sector twenty-seven! Dozens of contacts, all closing in fast!” came the voice of the sensory tech over the line.

“This is Captain Dalton leading patrol six! We are maybe a hundred meters away! Rerouting to investigate!” the captain bellowed over the line as he marshaled his squad to get moving.

“Copy that! Stay on the line and keep us updated on your findings!” the tech replied, sighing in relief.

“Contact in sector fourteen!” another tech cried out, and another team zipped over to find out what was there.

“Comms chatter is being heard in sector nineteen! Patrol nine rerouting to intercept!” came another voice over the comms.

“Sounds like these locals don’t want us here,” Tarko stated, wondering why they were even there in the first place.

“The locals don’t know what the hell they want! That’s why we’re here, to show them!” Johns snapped, as he was a true adherent to the Confederate way of life. Tarko shook his head and shelved his thoughts and opinions, as they had a job to do. They humped it until they reached the area just before the location of the contacts.

“Hold position! Ready your weapons and then initiate a slow advance on my mark!” the captain whispered, his voice barely audible over their comms devices. The squad nodded, knowing that they needed to be quiet, if they were to catch the enemy unprepared. Once their weapons were powered up and loaded, Captain Dalton gave the signal and they all moved forward, weapons ready.

“Where in the hell are they?” Johns grumbled, eager to get himself some action and blood on his hands.

“Stay cool and keep your eyes open! They could be hiding in the rubble!” the captain said through clenched teeth, wishing the pompous idiot would just shut up. As they inched forward, they did a visual scan of the area and saw that there was nothing out there.

“Sir, I think we may have been duped!” Tarko breathed, thinking this whole thing might have been a fool’s errand.

“There! Look! All soldiers, open fire!” Johns barked, as he spotted what appeared to be dozens of combat drones flying towards them.

Seeing the drones put the squad into panic mode and, on reflex, they fired at them. None of the drones were even returning fire, which was odd! The weirdest thing about this, though, was how none of them seemed to be going down! A few moments later, one of the drones was finally hit, and it dropped to the ground. Seconds afterwards, the remaining drones vanished, as though they were never there.

“What the ... oh fuck!! This was a feint with a damned decoy!!” Captain Dalton griped as he quickly put two and two together.

“Command, come in!” Tarko called in, trying to reach the base. “I repeat, command, this is Lieutenant Tarko of patrol group six! Come in, please!”

“Jesus ... fuck ... SHIT!!” Dalton cursed as things just went from bad to worse.

“What is it, sir?” one of the grunts questioned.

“We just got played and our comms are being jammed! The base could already be under attack!” the captain guessed, figuring it was a reasonable assumption.

“What do we do?” the grunt asked.

“Hotfoot it back to the base, double time people!!” Captain Dalton ordered, hoping they would get back in time to turn the tide of whatever fight was going on.

At the base, alarm claxons wailed as both soldiers and gunners scrambled to their positions. Automated and manned turrets were powered up and set to seek out targets as everyone rushed to their stations. Major Sawyer bolted out of his quarters, just finishing with getting dressed as he reached the command station.

“What’s happened? What’s going?” the man shouted, demanding a sitrep immediately.

“We’re under attack, sir! Missiles have hit several of our key points in our defensive net! We can still defend ourselves, but our soldiers are scrambling to plug those gaps!” one of the sensor techs told him.

“Who’s attacking us? From where? And where the fuck are our goddamn patrols to fill those gaps?” Sawyer questioned, more than a little miffed at this turn of events.

“Five of our seven patrol squads were sent to intercept enemy contacts at various points outside of the base!” the man reported.

“What have they found?” Robert asked, needing to know right this second about what was going on.

“No word on that yet, sir! Lines are quiet when they should be reporting back to us!” the tech stated.

“What about fleet support?” Sawyer demanded.

“Fleet is dark, sir! We’re receiving nothing from them!” the tech responded.

“Fuck!! They’re jamming us!!” Sawyer deduced, figuring that was the only possible explanation. “Activate shields and seal all blast doors, now!”

“Yes, sir!” one of the techs replied as his hands flew across the console, carrying out his orders. Moments later. Explosions rocked the base as more detonations rippled through it, shaking the ground they stood on.

“What the hell just happened?!?” the Major demanded.

“More missiles and rocket attacks! They’ve hit our shield generator and the main doors! Our defenses are being shot up and there will be no way to defend against an air attack!” the subordinate reported.

“What about our squads out in the field? Any word on them??” Sawyer questioned, hoping they still had some sort of defense against attack.

“Still waiting!”

“Soldiers of the Confederacy, drop your weapons and put your hands above your heads! We have you surrounded! Comply with our orders and you will not be hurt!” Dagan Min told them over a megaphone.

“Why are you even giving them a chance? Just gun them down already!” said one of the townies, who was a former ganger.

“Simple. By giving them a chance to surrender, we are showing them we are being gentlemen in this conflict. That way, they cannot say that we are nothing more than bloodthirsty savages, who give them no chance. We give them the option and if they refuse, then we go in. Besides, it pays more to fuck with their heads a little. Make them think they are outmatched,” Dagan explained to the former ganger.

“Ooooohhhh! I get it!” the man grinned, seeing the benefit of psychological warfare.

“Good! Now, stand close by, but be ready in case they decide to resist like the others,” Dagan stated.

The man nodded and cocked his weapon, eager to put it to use once again. Nearby stood an odd assortment of people from all walks of life within the town. Dagan wasn’t going to complain, as nearly all of them had some experience with firearms of some sort. Some were gangers like the young man there, others were deputies, while others were just regular citizens, ready to defend their home.

The Confederate soldiers stood there, staring at the group that was maybe a hundred meters away, and hesitated. The commander of the Prodosian ground forces exposing himself like this was just too easy. It appeared as much, but Dagan’s men stood at the ready in hidden dugouts and neglected debris, ready for the kill order. They were hoping these men would be stupid and try to fight back, but they waited.

The lieutenant who led this group turned to his men and spoke with them for a few minutes before they put their weapons down. This squad was smarter than the other three, doing what they were commanded without fussing. As they put their weapons on the ground, Dagan’s men came out of their hidey holes and scooped up every weapon. The Confeds looked around, glad that they made the right call, as none of them would have survived if they decided to resist.

“Smart boys! Now, follow my men, and they will see that you are treated fairly,” Dagan told the group as he walked past them.

So far, his plan was working beautifully! Using the drones to draw the patrols into well-prepared kill zones. The use of shoulder mounted rockets and missiles had been instrumental in taking out the base’s defenses. No doubt the commanders were scrambling to try to plug the gaps in their defense, but it was a holding action at best. With the decoys drawing the attention of the sensors, it was easy to get his men into position for the rocket strikes.

“The gates?” Dagan asked as a group of his men joined him as he made his way towards the base.

“Down for the count, sir! We can walk in and have at them! Their crews and soldiers are in disarray, but that won’t last long!” one of his men told him.

“Air defenses?” Dagan questioned.

“Destroyed, malfunctioning, or nowhere near enough power to fire accurately,” another of his crew told him.

“Did you hear that, Captain Sunara?” Dagan queried into the comms line.

“Loud and clear! We are inbound now! ETA, forty seconds!” Inari replied. They heard the Darkstrider coming before they saw it, as the frigate came screaming in, its guns blazing. Dagan raised his weapons and shouted, leading the charge on the front gates of the base. The Prodosians followed along as the Darkstrider provided the air support.

They stormed the gates, pushing past the haphazardly assembled barrier the Confeds put up to try to deter an attack. Several of them fired at Dagan and the Prodosians, hitting a few and wounding one or two, dropping them to the ground. But they returned fire without hesitation, aiming for the sensitive points in the Confeds’ armor. Several detonations went off behind them, spooking the soldiers, causing them to waver.

The invading Prodosians seized this opportunity and pushed on, dropping the Confed soldiers. As the enemy fell to the ground dead, dying, or surrendering, the attacking force pushed on, pressing their advantage. With the precise missile and rocket strikes, the Darkstrider was free to wreak havoc on the base’s defenders.

“Press the assault! Give them no chance to fight back!” Dagan shouted, rallying the Prodosians. A cheer erupted from the attacking force as they continued to move into the base, the Darkstrider giving them the support they needed to take the base.

Sawyer watched in abject horror as his forces, which he’d worked so hard to bring here, were utterly annihilated. Some of them even surrendered outright, which left the man fuming! They were all supposed to fight to the death for this operation, not give up when things weren’t going their way! Seeing the base’s defenses and defenders get overwhelmed like this forced his hand.

“Everyone, initiate Omega Protocol, immediately!” Sawyer barked, catching everyone’s attention. Their eyes widened, knowing what he was telling them, and they all froze, waiting for his next words.

“You all have twelve minutes. Gather what’s most important and let’s get out of here!” he finished as he entered the Omega code into the panel in front of him.

Omega Protocol was an evacuation and purge order, which was accompanied by the base being set to self destruct. He was only giving his officers the bare minimum of time to be ready to leave. Even then, he thought that twelve minutes was too much time, but he at least needed that long to gather his most important items.

Dashing to his quarters in the base, he was a whirlwind in it, grabbing everything of value and worth, stuffing it into a massive duffle bag. He made sure to include the data drives that contained his and Sargol’s notes of everything important. Sargol notes were among the most important of things, as the man had documented everything he had seen about this, ‘Aether’.

Such power must be treated carefully, but it also needed to be studied, so it could be harnessed. Right now, Sargol’s notes held the most extensive research and observations of the Aether, so leaving them behind wasn’t an option! It took him less than three minutes to gather everything of importance and tuck it away. Once he had it all, he dashed out of his quarters, heading for the rear of the base.

It was at this place in the structure that housed a secret hangar, one that was kept secret by his orders. The hangar was a last ditch escape plan, and set for the officers’ use only. Robert had kept it secret because he knew that there were those among the grunts who thought themselves equal to the officers of the Confederacy. He scoffed at such a notion, as such egalitarian values held no place in the Confederacy.

As he moved, some of the other officers were right behind him and the man smiled. While they were all expendable in Sawyer’s eyes, he knew the value of strength in numbers and that he couldn’t do everything himself. He arrived at a seemingly innocuous wall and pressed his hand to a floating panel, which dropped back and slid down, revealing a keypad and a palm scanner.

Major Sawyer entered in the combination of numbers and pressed his hand to the scanner. With both security checks fulfilled, the panel sent its signal and opened up the hidden door. Now that Sawyer and the officers with him were granted access, they hurried through the door, knowing they had only minutes left.

Inside the hidden hangar was a Confed corvette, fully armed and armored. One of the officers, who was a pilot, rushed into the ship and started the power up sequence.

“Will there be enough time?” one of the female officers worried as they all hurried on board.

“Us, sure. Everyone else? If they’re not here in the next thirty seconds, then none of us are getting out of here alive,” Sawyer told her simply.

The woman looked back at the entrance to the hidden hangar, her eyes troubled as she waited. Not even ten seconds later, another group of officers charged through the door, making a beeline for the corvette. A smile graced her face as the group reached the hatch and hopped aboard.

“Is that everyone?” Sawyer asked, almost lazily.

“Just techs and maintenance personnel,” one of the newly boarded officers told him.

“Then we have everyone we need. Pilot, open the doors and get us out of here, now!” the Major barked. The man nodded and carried out his command, sending the signal to open the hidden gate to let them out. With the ship fully powered, all they had to do was wait for the gate to finish opening. The moment it was wide enough, the pilot gunned it, taking them out of the base with minutes to spare.

“We’re clear, sir! Heading for the fleet now and I have the IFF codes on standby!” the pilot reported.

“Excellent!” Sawyer stated with a smile as he breathed a sigh of relief. That relief was short-lived, as alarms went off in the ship.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” one of the officers panicked.

“We’ve been engaged by one of the ships attacking the base!” the pilot yelled, trying to put as much power to the engines as he could muster, pushing them as hard as he could.

“One of those Prodosian wrecks?” Sawyer questioned, figuring this was the case. The pilot’s face was ashen as he turned his gaze to the major and spoke.

“Negative, sir. It’s the Darkstrider!”

Inari was redlining it, pushing her engines as hard as she could to try to catch the escaping corvette. With the base nearly pacified, she knew she could break off and pursue these fleeing officers and everyone on the ground would be fine.

“Inari, would you like me to command the drones to assist in your chase?” Jaesa asked through the ship’s intercom.

“Negative, Jaesa! Keep the drones situated above the base to ensure the townsfolk have every advantage possible!” Inari replied as she continued to put as much power as possible to the engines.

“Very good, captain!” the AI responded.

“Time to target?” Inari asked, hoping she was close enough to start firing.

“Twenty-three seconds, Captain Sunara! I advise you to start priming your guns!” Jaesa answered with a smile, getting caught up in the thrill of the chase. They broke through the atmosphere of the planet, hot on the heels of the escaping corvette. Inari had taken Jaesa’s advice and warmed up the guns, getting them ready to do some damage.

“We are in range!” Jaesa stated seconds later, and Inari opened up on the corvette.

The pilot was no fool as he shifted and jinked from left to right. He moved up and down, spun this way and that, pulling every trick out of the book just to stay alive. Inari wasn’t going to let them go that easily and stuck with them, her weapons blazing. She fired a few torpedoes, but the corvette deployed countermeasures that negated her torpedoes.

“These guys must be really important if they’re pulling out all the stops to stay out of our sights,” Inari remarked, and she spun with them, hoping she could land a few more hits. While the flight pattern was wild and erratic, she had landed a few lucky shots, damaging the corvette’s shields and armor.

“Captain, evasive maneuvers!” Stanley warned as he joined Jaesa in the chase.

“What ... oh SHIT!!” Inari yelled as she banked hard, firing flares and a few other countermeasures.

Torpedoes screamed in on her position, as energy bolts from the fleet’s cannons sought to end the Darkstrider. The captain pulled off a few fancy moves of her own, avoiding most of the incoming fire. Several torpedoes detonated near their position, the shockwave enough to diminish their shields a little. More shots closed in on them as the fleet came to the corvette’s defense.

“Damn it! Better get back down and out of range! Fuck! Just who in the hell did we let get away?” Inari fumed.

“We might find those answers back at the base. According to transmissions, it has been taken, with the remaining forces surrendering to ours,” Jaesa told the woman happily.

“Nice!! Let’s hope that we find something of use!” Inari said as she put some distance between her and the fleet.

“Thank you for the assist, Captain Walczak!” Major Sawyer told him, breathing a heavy sigh of relief.

“No problem at all! I’m glad to see that the more important personnel of this operation got out intact!” the fleet commander told him. “So, how exactly did you lose the base?”

“That will take some time to tell, sir. If we may be permitted to dock, I can show and tell you exactly how it happened,” Robert told him.

“Permission granted. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a base to destroy,” Walczak stated as he was making ready to give the order.

“There is no need for that, captain,” Sawyer told him hurriedly.

“Oh, there is every need! We can’t let such an asset fall into enemy hands, which is why it must be destroyed!” Walczak explained.

“Well, if you give it, say, six minutes, then you will not only see the base destroyed, but it will probably take with it a good portion of the planet’s defenders with it,” Sawyer smirked.

“Ah! Set the self destruct did you?” Walczak chuckled.

“Indeed, I did! So, if you just care to sit back and relax, you will see a good firework show happen very soon!” Sawyer laughed darkly. Walczak smiled as he had the crew stand down for the next six minutes so they could all watch their enemies die.

The Prodosian attack force was enjoying their victory as they plundered the spoils of the base. Most of what they had taken were the weapons and armor from the armory, and the food from the supply stores. Dagan and Daved were directing the reappropriation of these assets, while the rest of the commanders were heading inside. Taal’ani in particular, was eager to get a crack at the terminals, hoping that they weren’t wiped yet.

“Talk to me, kids! What do we got?” Taal’ani questioned as she walked into the command center, with her portable deck strapped to her back.

“Looks like a data purge in progress. I would try to do it myself, but, knowing how purge procedures work, I might just wind up making it worse,” Zuzanna stated as she looked over the data being wiped.

“Mind giving me a hand by telling me what you know? I might be able to get a few things before they are removed,” Taal’ani asked, and Zuzanna was delighted to be of assistance.

The doctor told Taal’ani what to look for as far as traps and dead ends were concerned, helping the woman progress to the files archives. She found a lot of data that was still in the process of being erased and made all haste to copy them. She was puttering around in cyberspace for a minute when she stumbled upon a hidden code stream. Eyes widening, Taal’ani grabbed whatever else she could before jumping out of the system.

“Everyone, we have to go, now!!! This base is rigged to blow and we’re on a timer!!” she called out, catching everyone’s attention.

“What?!?” replied one of Dagan’s men, incredulous at what he was hearing.

“Are you sure??” Zuzanna asked, looking worried.

“Fucking rights I’m sure!! Found the code strand for the self destruct and we need to get out of here, now!!” she screamed as she collected her deck and bolted.

“How long do we have??” Zuzanna breathed, as she ran to try to keep up with the Fel’caan hacker.

“Maybe two minutes!” she replied, and they cleared the main structures and were in the main courtyard seconds later.

“Taal’ani? Zuzie?? What’s going on?” Daved asked worriedly.

“The base is rigged to blow! We need to get out of here, now!!” Taal’ani shouted as she kept running, headed for the main gates. Daved thought it might have been a prank, but he saw the look of utter panic in the woman’s eyes and knew this was no joke.

“EVAC!! Everyone, grab what you can and clear out, now!!” Daved bellowed.

A similar order was shouted by Dagan Min, getting his men to hustle out of there. As Daved had told them, they all grabbed something and made a beeline for the main gates. Some of the heavier things were left behind, as it would take too long to carry it out. While the items in the base were valuable, none of them wanted to lose their lives. Everyone was charging out and had put maybe a nearly a kilometer between them and the base when they heard and felt it.

Everyone kept running, as they didn’t know how powerful this blast would be and many managed the clear the initial shockwave in time. There were a few that weren’t so lucky and were knocked to the ground by the blast, some dazed from the impact. They all kept moving, not wanting to be caught in any subsequent explosions. Those who only felt a light breeze from the shockwave turned around and stared at what remained of the base.

The base itself was now a wreck, as all that was left was a massive pile of steel and concrete. With the devastation of the world as a whole, the ruined base now fit into the landscape, rather than standing out. Some of the natives smirked at this, while the prisoners stared in disbelief. Daved then started issuing orders to keep an eye on the remaining men and women who served the Confederacy.

“Holy fuck, that was close!!” Willem breathed as he stared at the wreckage.

“Damn straight! Inari, did you see that??” Daved asked, calling into his comms, hailing the Darkstrider.

“I saw it, and feared the worst! Thank God everyone is OK!” the Persian woman breathed over the line.

“Not everyone is OK. We took some additional losses with that,” Daved sighed heavily.

“How bad?”

“Still tallying numbers, but so far, it looks like most casualties came from some of the prisoners who couldn’t get clear in time. Some didn’t even bother getting clear,” Daved scoffed.

“Confed devotion to their ideals is second to none. So many believe in their brand of bullshit so blindly that they would rather sacrifice their lives as opposed to learning that everything they’ve been taught is a lie,” Inari huffed.

“I’m starting to notice that. You close?” the sheriff wondered.

“Maybe twenty seconds out. Why?” Inari queried.

“I think a pickup would be in order for us. Dagan and his lot are headed to their ships that are close by, with their prisoners in tow. We don’t have much to take us home except for the rovers. Don’t want to become a target for that fleet up there,” he stated.

“Fair point! Should be coming up just now.”

Moments later, a sonic boom could be heard on the air, announcing the arrival of the Darkstrider. The ship descended to the ground quickly, finding a small piece of flat ground to land on. Once it was on the ground, the ramp dropped to the ground and Priya came scrambling out.

“You guys might want to hurry! We’re sitting in a bit of a blind spot, but it won’t stay like that for long!! Move!” she called out, urging everyone to get aboard.

Daved nodded and gestured for the group to get moving, as he and those accompanying him mushed the prisoners onboard. Not even two minutes later, the last of their group was moving up the ramp, just as bolts of energy came raining down from the sky. This put a fire under the asses of the stragglers, as they didn’t want to wind up like their now dead friends in the smoldering ruins of the base.

“That’s the last one! Get us out of here!” Daved called out as the ramp closed behind him.

The Darkstrider was already in motion, gaining altitude as it tore out from the ruined base. The energy bolts followed them, trying to keep pace with the fleeing ship. More bolts hailed down at them, but each one had missed so far. Any that were close, Inari was able to evade as she closed in on the settlement of Tanith’s Gully.

“Nats, I’m going to need you to open up that shield!” Inari called out into the comms.

“Hold tight! I’ve been working on a little something that will make things easier and I’m almost done!” she stated.

“What are you talking about??” Inari asked as they neared the town with those energy blasts hot on their heels.

“Head to section H-seventeen!” Natalya said cryptically.

Inari breathed heavily and redlined it to the part of the town that Natalya had said and went straight for the shield. It was still in place, a giant translucent blue dome, which kept everyone inside safe. Seconds later, a bright, whitish line appeared in the sector Inari was headed to, with the shield parting much like curtains would! Inari blinked a few times, to be sure that she wasn’t dreaming and saw that what she was seeing was real!