Defying The Alliance: ERUPTION (Novokin Alliance Invasion 3) (4 page)

As the latest acting Captain of the Warbird Razor in as many days, Trex should have taken his rightful place in the center of the bridge. Regardless of the extreme effort it would take to wedge himself into his beloved’s tiny chair, he simply could not bring himself to even be near it without her there. Doing so would be too much like giving up. Even just looking at the empty space gnawed at his soul.

Captain Jaxx had been taken to the Arboretum, where he would hopefully give birth to two healthy babies today. He’d asked Trex to stand in for him. At first the large golden warrior from another galaxy declined, fervently asserting that Anya would make a better choice as she was rightfully the next ranking officer and has been a citizen of the United Worlds Protectorate. True to her passion, the half Duskanite-half Terran argued her expertise would be needed to keep the ship together during the majority of the forthcoming battle. So with a heavy heart, Trex agreed to step in.

There had been no contention from Caspia's crew. They were more than pleased to follow this alien who they all knew was well-versed in the tactics, strengths and weaknesses of the dreaded Novokin Alliance. One they knew hated the Alliance as much as them.

It had been expected that he address the fleet. "While I am not Protectorate, I share your disdain for the Novokin Alliance, and your hate for their actions. I was there for the destruction of the Kalemta people in the mining colony. I understand some of you were there for the destruction of the Ansailian Moon, several days before that.” An angry squawk came from a small blue captain on one of the freighter ships. “I also witnessed the aftermath on my own world. My friends and family, my species destroyed in the same way. Today we hit back. No more cowering, no more running. Today will be the day that turns the tide. Let this day be known as the true Protectorate Independence Day."

Cheers exploded from every ship. He knew his words had resonated with their hearts.

Secretly he also believed that the words of his new friend Jaxx had softened them to a change in command once more. Of course he hoped that his significant input on military strategy regarding the Alliance’s response deployments to their impending attack and his vast experience as an Othmarvian general would have earned their respect. He hoped the information he shared regarding Novokin ship functions and tactics from the time he spent on their ships as a slave would help them survive.

Trex ordered the viewer closed, allowing each ship a moment to gather their thoughts and steel their courage before dropping out of hyperspace. In under five minutes the assault would begin.

Trex stepped away from the auxiliary console he had adopted during his time aboard the Razor, and smirked at the indentations his hands had left on the plastisteel mounting that surrounded it. He felt that familiar blood boil and the world began to hyper focus for him.

A mere month ago he would've been elated to be leading such a contingent of fine ships and crews against the Novokin Alliance. However, his mission now was more...complicated. First and foremost he had been charged with the honor of keeping her crew alive. His second objective, one that only Commander Jaxx and Chief Engineer Anya were privy to, was to get himself aboard Asmot's ship, find Caspia and if she was still alive –
No!
The plastisteel whined and cracked under his hands.
He couldn't think like that!
The last time they were together he was so near to confessing to her. To telling her the truth. His fist shook with rage. Maybe if he had just told her, she would not have left. Anyone on the ship catching a glimpse of his face would see the fierce scowl of a battle-hardened warrior. Only Trex knew the anger was aimed at himself.

He would find his little Captain, and bring her home, if it was the last thing he ever did.

"Keep firing!"

Super heated plasma beams cut through the air where I stood seconds before. Finishing my roll across the corridor I ended up behind the protruding column of a bulkhead. Taking aim at the unguarded pelvic region of the Novokin guards that were firing upon us I let a volley of plasma fly from my twin pistols. You’d think that an all male army would have at some point, taken time out of conquering the universe to add protective gear to that overly sensitive area down below. Oh well, these two wouldn't be making any little Novokins anytime soon.

I chanced a glance over at Commander Marco and Julie. The two moved in perfect synchronicity, like a veteran, seasoned team. Her spotting the targets with him laying down nonstop fire from his plasma cannon. Funny, never in a million years did I think I'd be rooting for a Novokin. To my surprise a figure emerged not ten metlars in front of me from a small side corridor. Nearly as fast he disintegrated to little more than a bad memory.

I looked over at my partners in crime. Marco was grinning from ear to ear and Julie thrust both of her thumbs into the air.
What a funny girl
. She might have deluded herself into believing she was from another galaxy, and with that wild red hair I couldn't fault her for believing in her own fantasy, but she had more than proven her worth.

While moving down the corridor, she used those big knives of hers to destroy every door panel we came across depriving the Alliance of the chance to outflank us.
Smart girl. Crazy, but smart.
The two darted over to my position and we all ducked into a small corridor.

"How far?" I addressed Commander Marco.

"There are only three more cross ways before we reach cargo bay two." He pointed down the main hallway.

I gripped his arm before he took off. "How far to the bridge?"

"Captain that would be suicide," he admonished.

I saw the concern in his eyes and I shook my head. There was no point in discussing the matter. My mind was made up. "How far to the bridge Commander?"

"Captain," Julie pleaded, "you have to come with us. We can escape. What you’re attempting is suicide."

I leveled my gaze at Commander Marco. His mouth tightened. I held my gaze until he nodded ever so slightly. He raised an arm, pointing over to the far left. "That's the stairways there. Two levels up. But Captain, there are no doors on the bridge. It's an open plan. The entire upper floor is the bridge and three pairs of patrols guard every level," the commander warned in earnest.

That's no good, I needed a distraction.
Come on Caspia, think!
A small itch in my arm made me smile. "Marco, how long will it take for you guys to power up your ship and get to a safe distance?"

"Ten minutes if the way’s clear, more if there is resistance," he frowned.

That would be perfect. I addressed them both, "Well then, maybe you should –. Where the prak is Julie?"

Marco's eyes went wide as two full moons. He frantically whipped his head around. I peered past the corner of the corridor just in time to watch Julie kick one of the writhing guards in his head. She spied us and waved.

"Oh hey guys. Just help me get off his uniform." Right then I would've sworn some unforeseen sun gleamed off her smile.

Clever girl.
Now they wouldn't even have to fight. They could walk in the docking bay like they owned the place. We helped her strip the now unconscious guard and she donned the over sized uniform.

Marco pointed to another one of the fallen Alliance soldiers that littered the floor. "Your turn Captain," he offered.

I shook my head, attempting to flatten the folds of my stained and wrinkled captain’s jacket. "No, I've given up too much to wear this uniform, I'm not gonna hide now."

Julie lunged at me, encircling my neck like a Haklierian yeti. Her tears were hot on my neck as she managed to squeak out, "Thank you Captain, for saving me – and making me part of your crew."

I hugged her back and tussled her hair like I did my sister's when she was young and used to wake from a night-terror. "It's Caspia," I whispered softly into her ear, "and you're not just crew, you're family."

This set her off even more, and I waved to Marco for help because at this point she was choking the life out of me.

An explosion of green plasma lit up the corridor. Can these sheeteks not give a girl a minute? Julie's head slammed into my shoulder and Marco's howl chilled the blood in my veins. She went slack in my arms and I fell to the ground with her, the weight of the Novokin armor she borrowed had added a good fifty kilomounds to her lightly muscled frame.

"Julie!" I shook her until she winced. I pried the smoking helmet off of her head as fast as I could, praying to the Goddess not to take her from me.

"Ouch, did anyone get the license plate of that car?," she slurred.

What the prak is a car?
She's melk shy of a Voxin
. My own hot tears streamed down my cheeks. Holding her, I realized nothing could make me happier at the moment than knowing she was alive. Apparently the armor she stole took the brunt of the blast, dissipating the energy of the plasma but not the force of the impact.

"Good thing it hit me in the head," she giggled through a weak smile.

"Good for all of us," I replied, gesturing over to Marco. "It may have knocked some sense into your girl."

My highly humorous quip received no response. It gave me reason for concern. Glancing past the rubble our confrontation had created, I spotted Marco wielding the plasma cannon with one arm. He fired down the left corridor leading to the bridge’s stairway. Deep violet stained the torn uniform sleeve of his other arm. It hung dead at his side. The ceiling above me exploded with green fire.
Prak, more company.

Hidden by the dust, a shrill voice cackled from deep in the corridor, "What's wrong Caspia? If you're feeling lonely you can always come down here and have some quality time with your real family." That last bit was punctuated by several streams of plasma staining the wall beside us black.

I grabbed both sides of Julie's face to focus her attention on me. "Take Marco and get the prak out of here." That was as subtle a command as I could make. She nodded but I held her face steady. "And for prak’s sake girl, put the helmet on."

I laid down covering fire as she and Marco scrambled past the opening and made a beeline for the docking bay, pretending to be retreating Novokin soldiers. Satisfied they were finally out of sight and danger, I stopped firing to let my pistols cool down.

Anyway, it looked like I had a family reunion to attend.

"What's wrong sis? Why don't you come down here and we can hug it out." Maarie's eerie laughter echoed down the corridor.

The impact from multiple plasma beams stained the piece of wall I was trapped behind. My not so dead sister and the Novokin Alliance guards she aligned herself with had me pinned down. They were alternating a suppressive fire pattern and closing in on my position.

"What's wrong Cass," her high pitched voice carried over the plasma burst, "don't have daddy around to tell you how good you're doing? How fantastic you are at playing rebel?" The angle of the last shot told me they were getting closer.
Skeck, I had to stall
.

"What the prak you talking about Maarie? I came here to help you. To trade my life for yours when I thought the Alliance had captured and tortured you. Why are you doing this?" I covered my head as more debris rained down from the ceiling.

"Oh poor little Caspia, always having to bail out her little sister. Well who the prak asked you to?" She howled, a bitter, guttural lilt staining her voice.

“You didn’t have to. You’re my sister. I’ll always be there for you Maarie. You know that. And father always praised and encouraged you as much as he did me.”

“But you were his favorite.”

“Not true. He worried about you Maarie all the time, always blaming himself for anything that happened to you. He loved you so much and he wanted you to be safe, and to succeed. We both did.”

“Lies! It’s all lies. You monopolized his love and attention. It’s what you do. Thinking you’re better than me."

“That’s not true and you know it! You always blamed him for not loving you more, for not being a good father to you. Yet, he was always there for both of us – supporting us, loving us and caring for us more than any other father or mother I ever saw!
What the prak is wrong with you Maarie?”

What the prak? What are we five years old again? Playing who daddy loves the most? The world was falling apart, people were dying around us and all she wanted was to throw tantrums for skeck that it wasn’t even real. I thought that was a praking phase she would've grown out of by now. All the lies she told while we were children rushed back to me at once. Lies to the teachers, to our father, to me. Oh Goddess! How could I have fallen for one of her stupid lies again? How could I have forgotten?

I fiddled with the borrowed pistol in my hand, cracking open the cheap casing. These Novokin weapons were ridiculously simple. Charging cell, firing matrix – and just what I was looking for – the discharge polarity regulator. I bit down my near automatic reply to the burst of green fire flying over my head, determined to stay on task. Their guns relied on the same principles as Protectorate weaponry, albeit without the safeguards. All I needed was another second or two to stay on task. The chill from an eerie quiet crept up my neck.
Why weren't they firing?

"Sister my sister, I've got a secret to tell you.” A twisted call from my past reached out to me through my sister’s voice. Much closer than before. As if there was anything she could say at this moment I wanted to hear. Sticking my head up now was a great way to have it separated from my body. Scraping my fingers I pulled and twisted...
There – got it!

Unfazed by my lack of response Maarie continued, "I wasn't on the home world on Independence Day, you know."

My hackles shot up to the sky. Instinct curled my lip into a sneer at the term Independence Day, a term the Novokins used to belittle Protectorate efforts and subjugate the planets of my galaxy for the last three years. Annihilation day, or sneak attack day or prak you all up your rear waste chute day, those I'd be good with.

She continued to prattle on about something, but I tuned her out for the most part, the way only a sister could. Checking my other pistol, I was satisfied I had burned out the firing mechanism. Patting myself down, I took inventory of my weapons’ situation. One grenade left and one Karouk; a forearm long curved blade. I prayed to the Goddess, it didn't come down to me using that. My sister’s annoying voice grated over my nerves. Her bragging was incessant and childish. I caught the last part of her soliloquy.

"I was on the Supreme Commander's ship," she wasn’t yelling anymore. From the sound of her voice she was only about twenty metlars from my position. "Along with the recently deceased Prime Minister
Ruten Flores,
and several other representatives of the Protectorate Senate. I watched the Novokin attack safely from space." The rubble around me exploded, and the heat of the rapid fire attack told me they were practically right on top of my position. Venom dripped through her voice as she raved, "Not only did I avoid the attack, but I helped coordinate it."

I threw my last concussive grenade up and over the smoking debris I was hiding behind. It bounced off the ceiling and it landed about ten metlars from my tail. My only regret when I ducked was that it wasn't the regular boom boom kind.

Even with my eyes closed and my hands over my face, the corridor behind me flashed with a brilliant blinding light. However what followed, was blessed silence. I re-holstered the pistol I had been working on and keeping the other in my hand I slowly crept out to survey the scene. A dozen or so Novokin guards were sprawled out on the corridor’s floor. Some unconscious, others had their arms raised to their heads trying to stave off the debilitating and excruciating headache ensued from the concussion grenade. This gave me five purple heads to kick. It seemed that Marie must've ducked behind one of the Novokin guards before it exploded, because she was awake and writhing like a partially stepped on Helnagian glirth beetle underneath the weight of the now unconscious guard.

I crept forward to stand over both of them. I recalled her confession. My own voice sounded distant, matter of fact when I spoke. Like someone else was talking in my stead. "You murdered our father."

Maarie went ballistic like a Tuvian meerkat trapped in a canvas bag. She punched and scratched wildly at the Novokin on top of her. "No! His antiquated ideals killed him! And you killed him, by always having to be better! The better student! The better cadet! The better daughter! Always having to be better than me, and making him hate me!"

I kicked at the heavy Novokin to roll him off. "You stupid girl," I admonished, all the while keeping the pistol in my hand trained on her. "Why in the eight infernos do you think he worked all those extra hours? Who the prak do you think supported you every time you started some crazy new scheme then quit a few weeks later when something bigger and shinier caught your eye? He was there with you every step of the way. You think it was easy for him when mom died? You think he didn't want to move on, have someone in his life to love him back the way only a mate could? But he didn't, did he? Did you ever stop to ask why? Because he was always bailing you out of trouble. He had to take on extra work because you weren't satisfied with what you had. You always wanted more, but never wanted to work for it. We weren't rich, far from it but you never wanted for anything. Did you?"

"That's not true," she sobbed.

My brain instantly recognized those tears. The same tears from the times I had come home and caught her rummaging around my room destroying my things. I kicked her hard, but not hard enough to do any real damage. Some antiquated tie to family apparently dispelling my anger and keeping me from giving her the wallop she deserved.

"That wonderful man who gave everything to you, gave up everything for you – you killed him," I spat, blood boiling like acid in my veins ready to explode.

She was crying for real now, shaking her head back and forth viciously. "I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to! I never wanted him to die."

She worked herself up into a huge sob.
Prak.
Exactly what I didn't need right now. I pulled out a timepiece Marco had given me. It had been twenty minutes since he and Julie retreated to the docking bay where he had an escape ship waiting for them. They should be well clear by now. My fingers explored the soft muscle on the inside of my arm over my uniform, looking for the hard bump. With a deep breath and a quick prayer to the Goddess, I depressed the subcutaneous detonator on my arm. The hallway I was standing in shook like a fall leaf in a swirl storm.

My face met the ceiling, then just as quickly made friends with the floor. I'm glad Julie had taken some of the
Ratrium
out, otherwise there might not have been enough ship left for me to be standing in. I managed to prop myself up on my hands and knees, when a pair of Novokin boots stepped in front of me.

Glancing up, I wasn't surprised to find my sister hovering above me. I was slightly intrigued by the fact she was doing it with one arm stretched out to me.

"I'm sorry Caspia." Her eyes soft and her tone gentle.

I took the pro-offered hand and she hoisted me up to her. We slid into a familiar embrace that if I was really honest with myself was as cold and calculating as I remembered, but had always refused to admit. But unlike the mandatory four second embrace she usually employed, today she held on.

"You’ve always been such pathetic sister," she snarled in my ear. The arms that a second ago were embracing me now shoved me away, hard. I felt the tug of my belt as she liberated the laser pistol from my side. Her unwavering stance had me staring down the barrel of my own gun. She motioned for me to drop the other pistol still in my hand, unfortunately aimed away from her. I tossed it behind me. Far behind me.

"You were always so gullible," she snorted, spitting a wad of blood and what might have been a tooth.

"Yes," I remarked.

"You are always so trusting," she scoffed.

"Yes," I nodded in agreement.

"You are always so stupid," she spat with venom befitting of a Texotian shaker snake.

"No Maarie," I corrected, "you were stupid. Hold that, let me clarify my statement, not merely were. You ARE stupid if you think you can go anywhere with the Novokin Alliance. You’re stupid if you think they'll protect you. You're very stupid if you think you can get everything you want by treachery and callous disregard for the lives of those around you." I paused for a moment to let that sink in, but was again disappointed to see her eyes boiling over with rage.

That last seed of hope in me, that last little thread I clung to so dearly for my father’s sake, my sister’s sake, for myself... Died. Oh well, in for a bitlyn in for a credit. I decided to slap her with the cold hard truth. "Maarie, you were stupid for thinking that father never loved you. Lastly, you are stupid for thinking I don't love you either."

She scoffed and raised the pistol she let slip a few inches to once again center it on my head. I gave her the trademark Jones eyebrow quirk so she could witness the full contempt I had for her choices. The disdain I held for her actions, the ugliness I now saw in her soul. As if physically assaulted she took a step back.

“Maarie please, don’t do it. Regardless of everything, you’re my sister. I love you. We can work this out –.”

Before I had the chance to finish my sentence she pressed the trigger.

I ducked and covered my head as green energy tendrils spread out from the gun and then exploded, taking with it both the hand and arm that held it. She let loose a feral scream that agitated gooseflesh from my arms down my spine. The feral scream quickly devolved into a sickening gurgle. The scent of burned flesh assailed my nostrils and a black, putrid smoke stung my eyes.

Coughing through the smoke I found her. I gasped at the sight of her. Her right arm was gone, nearly to the shoulder. The right side of her face had all but melted. White glistening bone shone through where my sister's pretty face had once been.

"– Cass, Cass," she rasped.

I stared into her one remaining eye, which rolled around for a moment before focusing on me. Without malice or pity I spoke softly to my soon to be dead sister, "Most of all Maarie you were stupid for thinking I believed all of your lies. Rest in the eight infernos."

Tears clouding my vision, I was forced to paw around on the floor for my laser pistol from the floor where I had tossed it. Through the haze of pain, guilt, tears, smoke and dust I made my way to the stairs. He was going to pay. The monster responsible for all my pain, for Trex’s pain, for the pain inflicted on millions over millions of innocent souls.
It was Asmot's turn.