Loyalties

Chapter 29

I stand there, frozen in place, my knuckles turning white from gripping the edge of the table so hard. The whole room is dead silent, our fallen comrades' souls floating between us. I can feel everyone's eyes on me, each one prying deeper and deeper into me. I look at the projector, and wonder if this is all a bad dream. Wake up, Adrian, wake up! I think to myself, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths. Except this is not a dream. The absolute worst case scenario, one where history was repeated, except this time it worked. The only scenario everyone turned a blind eye to, since we had the strongest fleet, the best men and women, and the strongest leader.

"Your ship's still standing, Admiral," someone says behind me. "Everyone else is gone." The room falls silent again. I know that the next actions fall on my shoulders. Sure, I'm used to ordering men to do difficult tasks, but only in space and when I know shit hits the fan, I can call for backup. I'm not used to taking survivors from an onslaught and telling them to fight an enemy who is now the strongest force in the galaxy. Not even hearing Cindy being alive brings much hope back inside me.

"What do we have?" I say, my eyes not leaving the projector. "Weapons, shuttles, fighters?" A murmur comes about everyone.

"Only rifles, one for each of us with an extra magazine each," the same soldier tells me. I don't turn around. "Three shuttles, though one is still M.I.A, and no fighters."

I inhale deeply. "I'm going up there, grabbing whoever I can fit on those shuttles, and getting the hell away from Earth," I say, finally turning around. "I need the best pilots in those shuttles, along with the second highest ranking officer in that second shuttle."

Everyone hesitates, then starts scrambling. Everyone's shouting at each other, getting the shuttles ready for flight again. A man in his late 80s comes up to me, his beard a dark brown and his eyes still relatively young.

"We will get everyone back, sir," he says. He extends a hand. "General Hish, at your service."

I shake his hand. "Admiral Gershwarve, at yours."

"So, how do you plan on getting to your ship?" Hish asks, looking for some inspiration. "I'm sure you know the enemy blockade as well as the other naval officers here."

I nod. "It's simple: we're small enough that the Black Sun won't care. If they open fire, dodge as much as possible." Hish nods, and takes off running towards the door.

"Cindy," I mutter, looking back down. "I'm coming for you, baby. I won't let you down again."

I walk through the crowd towards one of the shuttles. A few soldiers are finishing filling the tank up. I climb aboard and take a seat in the hold. Looking out the back, people hustle to get out of the way so the shuttles can take off.

In a few seconds, I hear the roar of the engines firing up. "Ready for takeoff, sir," the pilot says, looking back at me. I nod.

"Take us up," I say, tapping my foot against the ground. "As fast as possible."

"Copy that," he says. "Shuttle 1 to Team, taking off. Shuttle 1 to Shuttle 2, come in." The two pilots from the shuttles chatter back and forth. I feel the shuttle lurch from liftoff, climbing vertically at a very steep angle. Peeking through whatever I can see of the cockpit window, I can see some debris falling from space. Some are small parts, while others look like complete hull plates from Cruisers.

The shuttle jolts violently. "We are entering the atmosphere, sir," the pilot says. "Shuttle 2 is directly behind us, keeping pace."

Fire starts to engulf the nose of the shuttle as we break through the atmosphere. The turbulence is the worst it's ever been coming through Earth.