Loyalties

Chapter 12

Present day

I stand on the walkway, looking at the blue and white stars fly past my ship as we travel at mach 30, the fastest any ship has gone before.

I walk towards Navigation, and put my hand on the shoulder on the man in the middle chair. "How much longer?" I ask, looking over his shoulder. The man turns around.

"About 4 hours, sir," Denis says, smiling.

"Nice work, Captain," I say, walking away from my old friend. Walking down the left staircase, I stand in the Engineering portion of the bridge.

"How are our shield reserves?" I ask, watching a redheaded girl stand up.

"Shields will be activated at 100%. Secondary reserves are currently at 98 and holding," Lauren says. I nod.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," I say, walking out of Engineering and into Weapons.

"Colonel Patruzi, weapons report," I say. Joseph turns around. "All cannons and turrets functional, all fighters prepped and ready to go."

"Thank you," I say, walking out. Standing at the back, close to the holoboard, a blonde haired woman stands in her navy blue uniform.

"Commander Flaconne," I say, smiling.

"Admiral Gershwarve," Cindy says back, returning my smile.

"A word," I say, my head motioning towards the door.

We walk out, and as soon as the door closes behind us, I hug her, and she hugs me back. Well, more like squeezes me.

"I missed you," I say. "When you went away, I worried about you. I was afraid I'd never see you again." I wrap my arms around her waist.

Cindy wraps her arms around my neck. "I love you," she says, a sparkle in her eye.

I can feel myself blush a little. "I love you too," I say.

***

"ETA to coordinates, two minutes," Denis yells.

"Station check," I order.

"Navigation and engines, check!" Denis says, punching in a command and nodding at his colleagues.

"Engineering, check!" Lauren says, holding a thumbs up.

"Weapons, check! Fighters, check!" Joseph says, leaning over a console.

I look at Cindy, and hold her hand. "Ready?" I ask, looking into her eyes. All I can sense from her is nervousness and fright.

"Dropping out in five, four, three, two," Denis says, his voice quavering slightly. "Drop!"

The stars stop moving, and we are greeted by a volley of laser fire. All around, friendly ships are engaged in a battle, outnumbered two to one.

"Evasive maneuvers," I order, gripping onto the railing as the ship lurches from a hit. "Fire all weapons, launch all fighters!"

"Fighters away," Joseph says. "Batteries away."

"DSTR, port side!" Cindy yells, looking over her shoulder from the holoboard. I look at the deathly black ship, and the Black Sun insignia painted white on the front.

"Open fire!" I order. "Target the bridge!"

I watch as my ship's cannons tear apart the hull of the DSTR. I'm praying that out shields can take the firepower.

Our port side turrets are pumping whatever they can at the enemy bridge.

"Admiral Gershwarve," a voice says behind me. I turn around. The hologram of Commander James Kernack, Commander of the AB-12 Fleet, stands.

"What the fuck Commander!" I yell, staggering as my ship gets hit again. "I told you to stand down your attack until we arrived!"

"I'm sorry sir," he says, biting his lip. "As soon as we entered, they opened fire. I had no choice but send my fleet into attack position."

I sigh. "What do you have left?" I ask. "Clearly your fleet is more debris than anything."

Pulling up a pad, the Commander punches in a couple commands, then gives me his list. "Fifteen RMMRs, twenty five DSTRs, seven hundred fifty one Motherships, and ten thousand fighters. The rest are gone."

I slam a fist on the console. "We are outnumbered two to one, and that isn't counting the ground," I say, frustrated. "With all the ships lost, our men will be pulverized. I hate bringing losses to the Empire." The Commander and I wait a few tense seconds, rage filling my body. The rocking ship doesn't even bother me anymore.

"Get back to the battle," I say, wishing I could spit on the Commander. "Wait for your orders," and I end the transmission.

A bright light catches my attention. The enemy DSTR explodes, large pieces of debris hitting the hill of my ship.

"Report," I say, although I know the results will be catastrophic.

"Shields are down," Lauren says, panicked. "Secondary shields at fifty percent. We do have hull damage." I grimace.

"Multiple cannons offline, majority turrets destroyed," Joseph says, a disappointed look on his face.

"Command Cruiser!" Cindy yells, fear all over her face. "Bearing down on us!"

"Colonel Patruzi," I call to my friend. "Target frontal cannons on that thing!"

"Yes sir," Joseph says, sitting back in his chair, punching in commands into a console. After a few seconds, Joseph has the cannons armed.

"They're firing!" Denis yells. A greeting of heavy laser fire comes from the Command Cruiser, lurching the ship with each round.

"The shields can't take much more, Admiral," Lauren says. She's scared. Just like the final test.

"Divert all power from the main engines to the shields," I order. "Colonel, target all turrets to return fire."

"Aye sir," Joseph says.

The sight is beautiful to my eyes. Lasers being volleyed back and forth, the thunder of the turrets giving all their firepower.

"Are the frontal cannons locked?" I ask Joseph. He nods. I look at the opposing Command Cruiser, and back at my Lead Weapons Officer. "Fire," I say.

I watch as two heavy laser beams plow into the enemy, digging deeper into the hull. I assume the lasers reach the core, since the enemy vessel's starboard side explodes, and the ship is disabled. Everyone on that ship is losing life support, and all power is cut out.

"Commander Flaconne, contact Commander Kernack. Tell him to launch all dropships. We need this planet more than ever," I tell Cindy, putting our love aside during the battle.

"Dropships launched, sir," Joseph acknowledges the order I haven't even given yet. "Fighters falling back for covering fire."

I look at the enemy blockade. This is going to be a long-ass fight, I think as my eyes drift towards a spherical ship.