Escape from Irece: Void of Sorrow
31 December 3142A gentle hand on the shoulder brought Arjun back to his senses. Turning, he saw the kindly face of Scientist Bateson, who wore a sorrowful gaze.
“I am sorry for your loss, Arjun. Truly it is a loss for all of us.” Bateson paused. “Someday in the future when Clan Nova Cat rises again, your father will be honored among my people as a savior. His memory will not be forgotten.”
A spark of anger flashed through Arjun. He turned and batted Bateson’s hand off his shoulder.
“How long have you been cooking up this plot with my father?” Arjun shouted. “Did the plan always involve getting him killed?”
Bateson bowed his head and let out a deep sigh. “It is true that your father and I have been planning this for some time. We both knew there would be risks, even if we hoped we wouldn’t have to pay them.”
Before Arjun could get a word in, Bateson grabbed him by both shoulders. “But now is not the time for this conversation. There will be time for questions and grief later. Right now, we are still in danger. The Kuritans will not let us get away so easily. Tess is still out there! Come, we need to be on the bridge.”
With these final words, Bateson began scampering across the hangar deck toward the lift. Arjun was momentarily stunned. Tess? Then realization came back to him. The crushing gravity of atmospheric launch was gone, but his body still felt unusually heavy, which meant the ship was accelerating significantly faster than a single G. The Combine forces would have ships in orbit over Irece to prevent escape and the Republican dropships needed to break through to survive. He felt a pit in his stomach at the realization that his sister was still out there, protected from the void only by the thin ferro-aluminum shell of her fighter.
Arjun quickly crossed the deck to catch up with Bateson, who seemed surprisingly light on his feet given the heavy gravity. Looking around, he could see that the hangar was crowded with refugees. Many had suffered injuries during launch and most were now clutching on to whatever they could in fear of the next bout of turbulence. Some were milling about trying to help the others. Gentle moaning from the injured mixed with the sound of air recyclers to create a surreal background noise. Arjun bit his lip. He knew that if forced into evasive maneuvers, a lot of people were going to get hurt, or worse.
Gripping the metal bannister, he shouted “Things are going to get rough very soon. The service cubicles have crash couches. Secure the oldest and youngest and then find someplace you can hold on.” It wasn’t much, but it was all he could do at the moment.
As the lift door closed behind himself and Bateson, Arjun realized that his right hand was throbbing with pain. He vaguely remembered pounding it against the bulkhead. He probably should get it looked at. But, he needed answers first.
“Even if we break whatever blockade is waiting for us, how do we get out of the system? The Kuritans must have either commandeered or destroyed our jumpship fleet at the Z-point.” Arjun queried, while delicately rubbing his hand.
Bateson took Arjun’s hand into his own and gingerly began to examine it. “I have made arrangements for that. Your own Knight’s Pride as well as a Nova Cat Invader-class jumpship await us at a pre-specified location well outside of the system’s gravitational zone.” Arjun winced as Bateson found a sore spot. “Indeed, they have been waiting for us there for the better part of two weeks.”
“I believe your index finger is broken. I think the rest of the damage is superficial, although there will be swelling. Ideally, we would get it iced and your finger braced, but that will have to wait.” Bateson gently released Arjun’s hand as the lift came to a stop at the bridge level.
The bridge crew were all lying in their crash couches. If Arjun didn’t know better, the scene would seem peaceful, like the whole crew had decided to take a nap break.
Jack Nan looked up at Arjun and Bateson from his station near the lift. “You two better get strapped in. Things are about to get dicey.”
As Arjun strapped into one of the spare crash couches, Captain Zaragoza looked briefly over at he and Bateson with a cool unreadable expression. Had she been part of Bateson’s conspiracy or was she just reacting to events like Arjun? Given her professional demeanor, Captain Zaragoza was almost impossible to read.
Glancing at the holomap in the center of the bridge, Arjun could see little green dots showing their forces. The four dropships that the Republican forces had brought to Irece had been joined by two Nova Cat droppers – a Union C class and an Outpost class, if he was reading the display correctly. Running point ahead of the remaining dropships was the RSS Stone’s Courage, an Avenger-class assault dropship. It was the primary source of defense for the remaining transport dropships. Arrayed around it like angry bees, Arjun could see dots representing the various Nova Cat and Republican aerospace fighters. He squinted to try and identify Tess’s Simurgh.
“Captain, we have cleared Earendel’s shadow and should be able to open communications by tightbeam.” Jack Nan’s voice was cool and level.
“Excellent, send the message.” Captain Zaragoza nodded and looked toward Bateson. “Your ships better be there, Bateson, or this mission just got a whole lot more complicated.”
At Arjun’s puzzled expression, Bateson leaned over and winked. “I arranged an escort to help see us through. They have been running cold in the moon’s shadow waiting for our signal.” Bateson gestured toward the holomap. Turning, Arjun could now see two additional green dots slowly converging with their forces.
“Message received. Auxilliary forces moving to intercept point. Estimated time to intercept is 2 minutes and 33 seconds,” Nan’s voice intoned. A brief cheer went up from the bridge crew. Looking at the display, Arjun quickly realized why. The two ships moving to intercept were Nagasawa-class assault dropships. Each one could easily take on three Stone’s Courages. Arjun involuntary exhaled. It should be enough.
Five minutes passed in tense silence. The green dots of the Nagasawa-class ships merged with the mob of their own dots and they pressed on. Arjun found himself grinding his teeth in anticipation and frustration. He tried to avoid clenching his fists as well, because it sent a jolt of pain through his right hand every time he did it. He was trained for ground combat where you could see your enemies with your own eyes and make sense of a battlefield that was a few kilometers wide at most. He felt helpless and blind here. There were no windows on the bridge and they wouldn’t have done him any good if he could see out one anyway. The distances of space combat were measured in tens and hundreds of kilometers. Vision was ensured by sensors and holomaps. With his groundpounder sensibilities, it all seemed like make believe – that is, until the autocannon shells started ripping through your hull.
With an almost angry bleep, the holomap suddenly showed red dots converging on their forces. At the same time, Jack Nan intoned again in his flat voice “We have hostiles incoming, Captain. “I count two Taihous and two Nekos. They are releasing fighter craft.”
Arjun could see the small number of red dots multiply into a cloud as the four enemy droppers released their fighter compliments. He also could hear an audible groan from one of the crewmembers. Arjun wasn’t well versed in ship designs, but he knew that the Taihous packed a punch, and outmassed the Nagasawas by a factor of four.
“Listen up, everyone.” Captain Zaragoza was clearly speaking to the entire flotilla, not just her own bridge crew. “Remember our mission here. We do not need to go toe to toe against the opposing forces. Our goal is to survive and breakthrough, so that we can fight another day. We will accelerate through them. All transports will take evasive actions. All fighters and assault dropships will move to provide cover for the transports. You know your assignments. Good hunting, and see you on the other side.”
Arjun tuned out the bridge chatter as the two sets of dots approached one another on the holomap. Although the progress seemed slow, Arjun knew that both forces were actually moving at rapid speed across the vast void of space. Their forces would try to quickly accelerate past the oncoming Kuritan flotilla. However, they would be exposed briefly as the ships’ weapons came into range and then again, when the opposing forces would swing around on their axis to direct fire at the retreating survivors. It would be minutes of combat at most, but minutes that could dictate their final fate.
“Beginning evasive maneuvers”, Spaceman Zgersky announced. Shortly thereafter Arjun felt his body shift roughly against the straps of his crash couch, as the Fortress dropship began moving evasively. This meant they were within weapons range. He tried to find Tess’s dot again amidst the mass of dots on the holomap.
A cheer went up among the bridge staff. “Cat’s Grace reports direct hit on Taihou A’s avionics system.” That sounded promising to Arjun. Glancing again at the holomap, Arjun could see that the two swarms of fighters had advanced ahead of the dropships and were now about to crash into one another. He could only imagine the intense salvos being exchanged between enemy fighters at the moment. You have to stay alive, Tess!
Suddenly, one of the large green dots disappeared and a groan went up from the bridge crew. “Stone’s Courage has taken a direct hit to the nose and has suffered complete decompression.” Jack paused. “We are not picking up any sign of escape pods.”
Arjun didn’t know the crew of Stone’s Courage that well, but he suddenly remembered one pretty girl on their crew. She had winked at him once when he was doing a tour of the ship. What was her name? Lora? Lona? Arjun wondered if she had time to realize she was going to die before her ship was turned into atoms.
“We have an incoming emergency distress signal, Captain.” Jack Nan’s announcement broke Arjun out of his unpleasant reverie. Had someone survived after all?
“Play it,” came the Captain’s clipped response. A grainy message played over the bridge’s speakers.
“Attention, Nova Cat forces. I am Captain Suyarto. I am in command of two merchant ships full of refugees from Irece. We request your assistance in escaping the Combine blockade. We will not survive without your aid. These are your people, please help us!”
Arjun could see two new dots appear on the map in blue. The holomap identified them as Mule-class dropships. These were civilian dropships with only token armor and defense. They would be eaten alive by the Combine forces. They were also considerably behind the present combat.
“Captain, we have to help them! They are dead without us.” Arjun shouted as he struggled into a sitting position on his crash couch.
Captain Zaragoza seemed to be considering that matter for a moment. “I am sorry, but assisting them would put our forces at more risk, which I cannot accept.”
Arjun felt white hot rage seethe through him. “Unacceptable risk!? This is a genocide, Captain!”
Captain Zarogoza’s eyes narrowed dangerously, but her voice was quiet and gentle. “That is enough, Sergeant.”
Except it wasn’t enough. Given the way his entire world was melting around him, nothing could ever be enough anymore. Before he knew what he was doing, Arjun had unstrapped himself and was leaning over Jack Nan’s console. Jack, uncertain of Arjun’s intent, shifted back.
Arjun hit the button for a wide broadcast and spoke into the communicator. “To all forces. There are two Mule-class dropships carrying refugees at our rear. They are in desperate need of a an escort. Please, someone must help them. All Nova Cat forces, These are your people and they will be slaughtered! Tess, anyone, please help them.”
Arjun would have said more, but at that moment, the ship seemed to dodge underneath him and he was thrown back roughly. His head hit something hard and everything went black.
Arjun was only senseless for about a minute or so, but in the hyperspeed of space combat, that was enough time for the fighting to have come to an end. Bateson had pulled him back to his crash couch, where he explained the situation to Arjun.
Someone had responded to Arjun’s plea but it had not been Tess. Star Commander Benjamin had redirected what remained of his star to intercept the Mules in order to provide cover from adventuresome Kuritan pilots. Both dropships had made it through the blockade, as had the remaining dropships of the joint Nova Cat/Republic flotilla. After briefly going on the float to rotate on their axis and avoid fire to their rear, the ships had now collected the remaining aerospace fighters, and resumed their acceleration. While Arjun held an icepack to his head, Bateson was coordinating with the pilots to plan a route that would keep the Kuritans from guessing at their true destination.
Captain Zaragoza approached. Her face did not belie any emotion as she stopped in front of him. “That was insubordination, plain and simple.”
Arjun looked up but said nothing. He had a feeling she wasn’t done.
“I know what you have been through today, so I will let it go for now.” Zaragoza said evenly. “But if you pull a stunt like that on my bridge again, you will find yourself in the brig for a forced vacation. We don’t abandon our discipline just because things go pear-shaped.”
Arjun nodded weakly and Zaragoza turned to leave, but then turned back and leaned in again.
“You should know that the Nova Cats lost half a star of fighters protecting those Mules. Five pilots whose final graveyard will be the void. Thats the cost and if you are going to make calls like that you should know what they are and carry them with you. I suggest you look up their names.” With that, Captain Zaragoza turned heel and exited to her ready room.
Arjun knew that he would eventually feel the cold heat of Zaragoza’s words. But right now, he was numb to it all. The only guilt he felt was the minor joy that Tess had not been among those to pay the ultimate sacrifice. She had landed aboard the Knight’s Eyrie a little worse for wear, but alive and well. He wouldn’t see her in person until they docked with their jumpship flotilla, but he hoped to speak to her on the tightbeam soon.
Arjun leaned his head back against the bulkhead, not fighting to resist the heavy G of the ship’s acceleration. The weight of his body pulling him down felt like the weight of sorrow that was tugging at his soul. He didn’t even have a clear idea anymore of the source of his pain. Was it his father’s death? The genocide of an entire planet? The atomization of a pretty girl who once winked at him? Or the five deaths that were now his personal responsibility? It all seemed to merge together into a horrid kaleidoscope of tragedy as he wept himself to sleep.