Titan Fleet: The Invictus Part 9

"Oh no!" shouts Nova in despair. "The Robur, shes drifting out of control, she is gone. Life support has failed and she has no power. Megan is still alive for the moment." Nova begins to head for the rear of the t.i.tan ship, so she can punch away at the softer part of the damaged alien vessel. The idea is a sound one and as they get to where they need to be, Paces cargo ship gets to the front of the ship, only to see the Robur spinning away and no Invictus in sight. The Invictus, meanwhile, hammers at the backdoor of the t.i.tan ship and for once in the fight they are doing a lot of damage.

"Yeah, thats right, youre gonna get yours now, boys and girls. If today we have to die, then we will do it well, and you will remember, mark my words." The rest of the crew see that Nova is in a flying frenzy, and that she is mad because they have lost so much this day.

Chapter Fifty.

"Anc, try to get outside and fix the comms, will ya. We need to find them fast." yells Pace. Anc pops out of the hatch on top of the ship a few moments later, eyeing up the comms unit and begins work on it. It has been damaged in the past, but is not a problem to fix. The screen lights up and a hiss is heard, but all in all its good to go, so Pace opens a channel to the Invictus and his reception is a joyous one indeed.

"Cap? Is that you? We thought you ..." Pace smiles at Nova, who is crying.

"Nope, not yet. You know me kid. Forever fixing stuff and surviving. Everyone ok?" Nova dries her tears and then delivers a blow to Pace.

"No. Megan and Talia and the Gulmeds are on the Robur. Megan is still alive but ..." Nova begins to fill up with tears once again. "I fear the worst, Cap. Im sorry, I could not stop her." A large lump fills Paces throat and his heart pounds. The hurt will never stop, he thinks.

"Get after her. What are you waiting for?" Nova turns the ship and heads for Paces cargo ship. "No, her, not me. Turn around!" Nova continues for Pace.

"Youre closer, Cap, and Im acting captain of this ship for the now." The Invictus modifications seem to be holding out, the shields are incredible. Rusty has heard the whole conversation, as it was broadcast ship-wide and he begins to ready the loading bay for the cargo ship. He uses the lifter to move crates and fixes them to each other as fast as he can go. Moments pa.s.s and finally the Invictus swallows the small cargo ship and Pace and Anc are aboard once more. Pace races to the bridge as fast as his feet will take him, eager to get his ship moving, to get his love back. He is back in his seat, belt on and back in control, and this time he is not messing about with the alien ship for one second more than he has to.

"Nova, status." barks Pace with fear in his heart.

"Unless power is restored soon, sir, Im afraid she will be lost, but there is a robot with Megan. When we do get comms, we can only see her, she can hear us. The t.i.tan ship is the problem, Cap." Nova is still trying to catch up with the Robur, all the time being thumped by blaster fire from the alien t.i.tan.

"Keep trying with comms, Nova, we must reach her. I will not leave her." The s.p.a.ce in front of them is a minefield of debris, spinning chunks of metal just waiting to rip through a hull, a minefield that the Robur seems to be the other side of. However, the Invictus is smaller than the chunks and manoeuvres in and out, avoiding some incoming fire and they seem to be making progress towards the Robur.

"Mmm, Sir, I think we may be in trouble. The rear of the t.i.tan seems to be a ma.s.s of ball ships. Some are trying to repair the ship and some are coming this way." Sam is tense and tired. He had been fighting for a while now, something he was not accustomed to.

"What do you mean by some, Sam? How many are we talking about?" Sam shakes his head; he knows they will not survive this.

"Too many, Captain, too many." Pace looks on the console screen attached to his chair and he can see what Sam means. He opens a ship-wide comm.

"Ok, Rusty. I need you to man a turret, you too, Nova. I will pilot. Anc and Padley, you will keep the engine running and deal with any hull breaches and injuries. We need to work hard on this and stay alive. More trouble is on its way and when they picked on us, they picked on the wrong ones. Pace out." Pace gains control of the ship on his console and Nova punches in a few codes and she has access to two turrets and readies herself for action.

"Look, Cap. The Robur seems to have steadied itself and a few lights have come on." Just as Nova speaks, a face pops up on screen in front of the crew. It is Megan. She is a bit weary, but alive. Pace moves closer to his screen and is overwhelmed to see that she is alive.

"Im coming for you, sweet. You stay alive, keep fighting and dont give up. Can you get to the runner?" Megan shakes her head. The gravity had been restored and now crates and machinery block the hatch to the ladder and there is no power to the lift once again. She knows by the time Pace reaches her, the air in her tank will be depleted unless t.i.tch gets life support back on. She turns her back to the screen to reveal to Pace the oxygen level left in her tank. The glowing red numbers indicate that she has half an hour left. She points to it and then turns back around and points at Pace, and then shakes her head and then uses her hand to shoe him away.

"No! I can get there. We will make it. You can breathe shallow and Padley will save you. Please don't give up." Pace is so busy watching the screen he has forgotten to fly the ship and slams straight into a chunk of metal, which almost brings the ship to a halt. Everyone is buckled in their seats, so there are no injuries, but they were lucky.

"Cap! Concentrate. Youre going to kill us. Give me the helm and you shoot. You never were that good at flying!" Now able to concentrate on Megan, Pace stares at the screen, his mind racing, trying to solve the problem. Deep down, he knows he will be too late getting to Megan.

"Sweet, I know you can hear me. I think you are brave and I wanted to say sorry if I ever hurt you. When we met, you made my life complete. All the bad went away and you made me smile and laugh again. I want to thank you for saving my life. I love you." Megan gets a flutter in her stomach. She feels love and warmth in this cold ship. She points to her eye, then to her heart and then to Pace and smiles, and then the connection is gone. Megan and Pace both cry out at their screens, knowing this is the last time they will see each other.

"Stop the ship. Turn around. We stand our ground here." Pace has hate in his eyes and thunder running through his veins. "If we cant get to Megan, they won't. Over my dead body will they!" Pace opens fire on the nearest ball ship.

"Cap, movement is survival, we are sitting ducks. You may be ready to die, but Im not. Wake up, will you!" Nova shouts at the top of her voice, trying to break Pace out of his deathly trance. Over one hundred ball ships are heading their way. It seems there are more ships than s.p.a.ce now and a darkness looms over the ship, a creeping darkness that grips the whole crew. Looking on his console, Sam notices the t.i.tan ship changing course and the ball ships suddenly stop in a huge line between the Invictus and the t.i.tan ship.

"Sir, the t.i.tan has changed its course and looks like it is heading for Foloss, sir." No answer comes from Pace who, with tears rolling down his face, is still firing at the ball ships that are just out of range.

"Sir, sir!" Nova stands up out of her seat and walks up to Pace and slaps him across the face. "Now cut it out and think of the now and us and our planet. Come on, we need you. Oh, I give up." Sitting back down in a huff, Nova looks across to Sam and raises her eyebrows and shakes her head a little. Pace sits for a moment, his eyes glazed over, he thinks about what Nova just did and then he remembers what he said to Megan about not giving up and he gets his head back in the game once more.

"Anc, ready the cargo ship, set it on auto-pilot. Rusty, you go and rig the engine core to blow, say about when it will reach that defence wall. We will punch though those ball ships and warn the planet. Rusty jumps out of his seat and joins Anc at the cargo ship. Padley is also there.

"A life pod, when did this come aboard? Mmm, interesting. It seems someone is alive inside. Padley to Captain Pace. Sir, shall I take a look at this life pod? We could use an extra body to help." Padley is examining the pod and its life signs "Yes, but Anc, you make sure the person is guarded when he or she wakes up. The last thing we need is an enemy inside the ship." Padley and Anc take the pod up to medbay and begin to open the pod, and Rusty returns to the bridge.

"All set, sir." says Rusty sitting down once again.

"Ok. Get us closer, Nova, and be ready on the thrusters." The ship edges closer and closer, the ball ships not even firing at them when they get in range. They are a menacing sight.

"Sir, I dont know if you want to know but Megans life signs are failing fast. I am sorry." Nova holds back the tears.

Chapter Fifty-One.

Megan walks out of the bridge towards the Gulmeds and Talia. Her head is feeling light and she now only has a few minutes of air left. The ship, now stabilised, is still drifting. She checks the emergency air containers on the wall but they have been damaged. She falls to her knees.

"t.i.tch, update on the life support." Gasping for air, Megan begins to feel hot inside her suit.

"Still repairing, Captain. Just a few more minutes and it will be fixed. Approximately four minutes, Captain." Megan looks at the oxygen she has left. She has two minutes, twelve seconds. Typical, she thinks, but she could perhaps hold her last breath.

"t.i.tch, when it is restored, you need to get to me and remove my helmet, and bring me around, ok? Can you do that?" The little blue robot is welding a part on the outside of the ship. He turns his head and something catches his eye, something the naked eye cant see, but a robot eye can see easily. He zooms in on the object. It looks like a planet and they are drifting in its direction. t.i.tch accesses his database and no trace of the planet can be found on his star maps.

"Yes, Captain, I compute. We are coming up on a planet, but it is not on any star chart." t.i.tch finishes his weld and starts to wire the last cable in.

Megan cant think straight. Her head is spinning and she falls to the floor, her mouth open begging for oxygen. She begins to remember the days when she was young. She felt protected in her fathers arms and felt so loved by her family. She remembers living on her parents farm and running in the wheat fields in the summer, and playing with her dog Tinsel, and then a flash of her first kiss with a boy called Ren Jenks, and then a flash of light and a feeling of warmth on her face. A million other good times are flashing in her mind and a feeling of love feels her like nothing she has ever felt before. The little metallic blue robot reaches Megan and quickly removes her helmet. He waits for her to breathe, but there is no sign of life. Her body lay still where she fell.

Chapter Fifty-Two.

Pace had been monitoring her all the while and he feels the pain in his chest, as surely as if his own heart had stopped, as Megans life signs fail. Knowing his love is gone, Pace presses onward never forgetting the love he has in his heart.

"Launch the cargo ship and full speed at the ready." The cargo ship speeds out of the Invictus on its deadly mission, just seconds away from delivering a s.p.a.ce shuddering blow to the enemy. It finds its mark and a blast splinters out like a forked lightning hand. A large gap appears in the aliens defence line.

"Thrusters!" Blasting away at the other ball ships on their way through the gap, the Invictus is like a whirlwind of destruction, each turret and gunner destroying dozens of ships trying to pursue the Invictus, but the ball ships are no match for the angered crew.

Chapter Fifty-Three.

The Robur is out of sensor range of the Invictus and still drifting toward a planet, which is growing closer by the minute. The Gulmeds finish working on Talia, who is now in a separate stasis field and the rush over to aid Megan. Steg pours an orange liquid down her throat and runs a probe over her body, scanning the liquid as it hits the heart and when it does Megan jolts up and begins to cough and splutter back to life. Steg looks at Drax with relief. Any longer and it would have been impossible to revive her.

"Rest, Megan, rest." Megan is dazed. She was having such a beautiful dream and now she is back to the ship. Coming to her senses, Megans first thought is to contact Pace, but the comms are not working, but at least the life support is, which was a blessing.

"t.i.tch, can you work with Steg and Drax on getting power back to the ship, so we can get back in the fight." says Megan, gaining more strength now that the fresh oxygen is wafting in her lungs. t.i.tch disappears once again, and Steg and Drax check once again on Megan and Talia before splitting up, one heading to the bridge and the other to the engine room.

There is not a lot for Megan to do, she is not a fixer of machines as such, so she decides to see what food there is in the canteen. The emergency lights come on and a red glow lights the room, making it easier to find a feast. Megan opens a few packets of food and eats the contents, her stomach grateful and now full. She makes herself a cup of coffee and carries the mug onto the bridge. Some of the lights on the command seat are flickering like little fireflies in the night. She sits down and is grateful she is alive. There is a smell of burnt wires and flesh and she cannot believe how destructive the blues were, but with every sip of her coffee the smell disappears. The coffee is a smell of home and all is well when she has coffee, and now she is out of her helmet and breathing fresh air again she feels somewhat normal, she thinks with a half-smile.

Although still in her s.p.a.cesuit, she is sat comfortably in her seat and power has just been restored to her console screen. Megan scans the area and picks up nothing, apart from the planet in front of them. They are close enough to tell that it can sustain human life and there are life forms on the planet. Part of the planet is dusty and has violent storms, and part of the planet is quite calm and tropical with vegetation. There is also a mountain region. Megans sensors also pick up more s.p.a.ce debris near the planet, from what appears to be another ship. Maybe they ran into the t.i.tan ship before Invictus had encountered it.

"Captain, we have tried to bring the engines back on line, but if we do this the core will overload and explode. We need too many parts to fix it. Even with our technology, it is an impossible feat." Steg and Drax have just arrived on the bridge to deliver this news.

"Thanks for your efforts, Im out of ideas. What a day. I cant believe our luck. I wish I had stayed on the Invictus now, but what is done is done I suppose. Any thoughts on how to survive this situation?" Megans hand reaches for her forehead, rubbing it slightly side to side. Noticing the planet on screen, the Gulmeds point to it and smile.

Drax moves closer to the screen and looking closer and then looking at Megan says, "Despite our efforts, without the engines the emergency power will fail soon and then life support once again. This may take a few days to happen but this ship is just too damaged and without supplies to fix it, which would take a while, we are lost. I think our best bet is to try to land on that planet." Taping the screen with his thin purple finger, Drax waits for Megans reply.

"No possible way to save her then, and no way of sending a message to the Invictus either. So we will be marooned on this planet, not what I had planned for my life, but it is better than nothing I suppose." Smiling at the Gulmeds, she asks them to take a seat on the bridge with her and contacts t.i.tch once more.

"t.i.tch, I need you to get manoeuvring thrusters online and then make your way back up here to the bridge, ok." The planet is looking big now as they draw closer. They see large pieces of what was once a ship, litter s.p.a.ce before them. They begin to scan for life but a silent echo returns with no message of hope for the survivors. A small red light appears on Megans seat and she presses it with a grin. The little blue robot came through for her again. A joystick type controller pops up out of her chair and finding her grip, Megan takes control of her ship. She thinks that finally she has become a captain, even though it may only be for a short trip down to the surface, and providing they make it in one piece, her dream had come true at last. The small thrusters burn bright in the dark, helping the Robur avoid collisions as they go along this deadly path of destruction.

From the look of things, thought Megan, this broken ship is not a salvage ship, it is a war ship, the extra armoured hull and weapons are a dead give-away. Using their search lights, the Robur notices a chunk of ship with white lettering on, reading "The Forge". So, the Forge was a war ship, not a salvage ship, they had been lied to yet again by that evil woman, but what were her motives? In any case, we have bigger worries to think about.

The controls began to feel heavy as the Robur began to be taken by the gravitational pull of the planet. t.i.tch enters the bridge as instructed earlier and stands just to the right of Megans chair.

"The pull is too great. We need to slow down or we will be nothing but liquid when we hit rock." shouts out Megan. The ship begins to groan under pressure as they begin to speed up. With some last minute quick thinking, t.i.tch makes a suggestion that may just save the day once again.

"We could collect salvage along the way, which will slow us down in the atmosphere, but will be bad news after, when gravity takes hold."

"Target salvage and fire grapples when ready, t.i.tch." t.i.tch mans a console and plugs into it, using his power to activate the grapple guns and fires, collecting junk as they twist and turn their way downwards. The ship begins to heat up but their plan is working, the ship has slowed down quite considerably, but now tows large chunks of molten metal behind them. The noise is deafening and the crew of the Robur grip their seats with fear and hope, wondering and wishing and regretting all at the same time. Each and every one of them was now valuing every second of life before them. A large tug is felt on the rear end of the ship as they meet the planets gravity s.p.a.ce, and the molten metal parachutes now have become tons of anchoring doom pulling down at them. The pull is so great, before Megan can give the order to release the grapples on them, the rear of the ship is torn away as easily as tearing paper in two. Large metal parts rocket past the windows and the shields are gone. They are now sat in a piece of hot metal, gaining speed again like a roller-coaster ride without brakes. The crew are all being shaken around in their seats and even t.i.tches feet grapples are under stress. Pieces of metal and sparks are now flying with them, like a shower of fireworks. They can only imagine what a sight it must be from down below. Megan still has use of two nose thrusters which can keep the nose up when they find the floor. The cloud and mist outside the window clears a little and the crew see that at least they get to crash in a green land with a possibility of survival afterwards. They see large tree like shapes before them, a forest perhaps, something that was rare on Foloss dusty lands.

They are so low now and things have just become silent. Wind is whistling through the now cracked windows and everyone is so in awe of what they can see that they forget about their situation for a moment, and then they are sent back to reality with a large bang and yet more of the ship is once again torn away. This time they all think its the loading bay and their only hope to get off the planet has just fallen out of the bottom of the ship, along with food and supplies. It seems like these alien trees are tougher than they look. The front of the ship begins to smash its way through the forest, destroying as it goes on a mission to find its resting place. The crew get showered in gla.s.s and wood, and the Gulmeds put up their individual shields once more, in the hope it will increase their chances of survival. A thundering crack is heard by all and then silence.

Chapter Fifty-Four.

The Invictus is still being fired upon by what is left of the defence wall but the shields seem to be holding, so Pace turns his concern to the escaping t.i.tan ship.

"Open comms when we are in range of Foloss, Nova, and warn them. We must save the planet." Nova tries but is still just out of range.

"Ill keep trying, Cap. Why dont you get to Padley and get checked out." Nova is showing concern for Pace as more and more of his skin seems to be turning blue. Taking her advice, Pace decides to leave Nova in charge again while he goes up to Padley and the medbay. Upon reaching the medbay, he notices that the pod has been discarded into the sc.r.a.p area and looking briefly at it, he remembers that he had saved someone. He turns into the medbay to see a woman with black hair and blue eyes sat on a bed being a.s.sessed by Padley and guarded by Anc. Pace walks closer to introduce himself as the captain, only to find something in the womans eyes that he recognises as family.

"It cant be you!" He exclaims, holding out his arms for a hug. Could this really be my sister, he wonders. He had thought that she was dead and had not seen her since they were put in the life pods by their father many years ago. As Pace got closer to the woman she pushes him away.

"Who is this freak? Get away blue or Ill kill ya!" shouts the woman, clenching her fist ready for a fight. Pace stands back a little and realises she did not recognise him. He had changed a lot. He had a metal robot arm and now blue alien skin, part of his face was now covered in scales too, which he had not noticed. He was changing in to a blue and that was not good at all.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you and I know you won't recognise me, a lot has happened to me and I have changed somewhat." Pace looks down in disgust with himself.

"Joseph, is that you?" The woman stands up. She has heard the voice of her brother again, something she would never forget. "It cant be you. Is it you?" She walks over to get a closer look at Pace and lifts his head up and looks into his eyes. "It is you! Oh brother, how I missed you." Her arms fling around Pace fearing to let him go and Pace hugs her back in an embrace full of tears of joy.

"Ca.s.sy! I can't believe you are alive. You look great. Where have you been and how did you get aboard the alien t.i.tan ship?" Ca.s.sy leans back wiping her sodden cheeks.

"Its a long story, but I survived the best way I could. I was found in my pod a few years after dad saved us, and was brought up and worked for a mining crew to start with, based on a small planet not far from Foloss, to get its riches. Life was tough there but honest and safe, but I always wanted to see s.p.a.ce and explore it, so on my 18th birthday my foster parents let me serve aboard a cargo ship and travel from planet to planet delivering stuff, but the captain was a real nut job and often got involved with the wrong sort of deal. We often got into brawls with unscrupulous people. I learned to fight fast and served in the slam for a few months for my efforts. Not a thing Im proud of, but I learned from it and I grew stronger. I just loved the fact that I was up in s.p.a.ce and free to do what I wanted. I started getting into a lot of trouble and my crew loved me for it. Then a fair few years went by where we just started to well ... thats another story for another day I think. Anyway, then a large alien ship started to attack us and captured our ship. My first officer, Ken, told me to hide when they came on board, so I hid in the air duct, probably not the best place to hide and I saw my crew get tortured to death and taken away. I snuck on board the vessel and did a bit of spying around and learned a few things, whilst staying alive and hiding when I needed, but I ended up fighting one of them off and it was strong, but I caved its head in after a while fighting it, and noticed I was wounded, so I thought I would get back to the cargo ship and climb in to a life pod to get healed, only to set it to sleep and not heal, and so here I am, alive and apparently well. Never was good at that tech c.r.a.p, Joe, but alien tech, thats a different story." smiling at Pace, Ca.s.sy finally stops for a breath, and is relieved to finally be with her brother. She feels so relaxed, apart from the occasional thump sound on the ships hull.

"Whats going on? That sounds like blaster fire." Ca.s.sy asks. Pace holds on to his sisters hand, fearing to let go.

"We are in the middle of a war at the moment. We have lost a lot of good people and now that big alien ship is heading for our home planet, Foloss to feed on us and wipe us out. Dont let me scare you. I have been infected by them, but Im still in control. I am the captain of this vessel and we must stop that ship, so we need your help. What can you do?"

Ca.s.sy grins, "You will be surprised what I can do brother, but lets save the surprises for them, eh? For now what do you need? A pilot or a gunner or you need me to salvage?" Pace is amazed at how his sister has grown. The last time he had seen her was on Dalgen 9. She had ponytails and freckles on her face. He remembers her riding a Yanthar, a six legged creature resembling a large dogs build with a rhinos hide, a very strong creature which had a spiked tail with two horns on its snout and razor like teeth to eat its prey. It also had very sharp claws to hold onto its food and there Ca.s.sy was shouting, "Look at me. Look at me!" Their mum shouted out for their dad to grab his gauntlet and shoot it, but no, Ca.s.sy just simply brought the creature to a halt and stood in front of it so it could not be killed. "Can I keep him, father, please." Who could resist such a cute little face? So the Yanthar became their pet and guard. Snapping out of his daydream, Pace beckons Ca.s.sy to follow him.

"Well, you have met Padley and my body guard, Anc. Lets introduce you to the rest of the crew, shall we." The two of them take the lift down to the next floor and enter the bridge area where Pace stands proudly about to announce his excitement to the crew. When Ca.s.sy pulls her hand out of his and steps forward looking at the back of Novas head.

"Thats got to be Nova Lee, surely." Nova turns around to see a familiar face smiling back at her and stands up to greet Ca.s.sy, after putting the ship on auto-pilot. "You old dog, it is you."

Nova smiles and laughs. "Hey, Im only a year older, you know." The two friends embrace and more tears flow.

"What happened to you, Ca.s.s?" Nova checking her up and down to see what she is wearing. "Oh, and I love that top, chick." Ca.s.sy beams with happiness, not only has she found her brother but also one of her all-time best friends too.

"Never mind my top, babe, you keep your eyes off it. Its been a long time." Nova looks at Pace, the introduction was over, well almost.

"For those who dont know, this is my sister, Ca.s.siopeia. I thought she was dead but she was the person in the life pod. What are the chances of that!" Pointing over to Sam and then Rusty, and then the whole crew was on the bridge and it felt good. There was a bit of laughter once again and Pace stood back for a moment savouring the moment, because good things should be embraced in the moment, so that you can remember them when things are dark and bad.

"I did not know you knew my sister, Nova. Why didnt you tell me she was alive?" Pace frowns at Nova expecting a good answer.

"I never knew what her last name was. What is it, Ca.s.sy?" asks Nova.

"My name is Ca.s.siopeia Pace. I have my parents to blame for that one. Why, oh why, I will never know, but I go by Ca.s.sy, its the way I like it.

Nova scratches her head. "So your last name is the same as the Captains first name then, or am I missing something?" Both Ca.s.sy and Pace just burst out laughing at the same time. "Whats so funny?" Nova is feeling a bit awkward and stupid, but soon realises her mistake.

"Kid, people call me Pace because I always put my surname on forms and not my first name, and no one knows my first name or asked for it. I just went with it all these years. My real name is Joseph Pace, but its Pace to you maggots, got that." Everyone nods while laughing and their minds feel more relaxed too.

"Cap, permission to take ten to catch up." Nova is dancing on the spot with excitement at being reunited with her friend.

"Granted. You kids go and have fun and get some grub too, while youre at it." The two girls begin to walk out the room.

"Oh, I love what you have done with your hair, Cas." Nova says, fluffing the back of Ca.s.sys long black hair as they leave the bridge and enter the canteen for refreshment.