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– Chapter 6 –
A Fond Farewell
‘Aurora? Tarun? What’s happening over there?’ Mervyn shouted into his biolink.
Silence.
The fighters closed fast -- they could smell blood.
‘Tarun, are you there? Aurora, answer me!’
‘Someone’s bumping around inside,’ Loren said. ‘Listen -- they’re in trouble, but they’re still alive.’ The sound of hissing air grew louder.
‘I wish I could see what’s going on,’ said Mervyn. ‘Any way we can get over there?’ Loren shook her head, ‘No.’
‘Mervyn?....Loren?.... You there?’ Tarun’s breathing sounded laboured.
‘We’re here Tarun. What’s going on? You don’t sound too good,’ Mervyn said, then kicked himself for not being more tactful.
‘We’ve got a hull breach. We took a glancing blow from one of those photon blasts. We’ve suited up.’
‘What about Aurora?’ Mervyn asked.
‘Part of panelling caved in on her and cut through her suit.’
Ice trickled into Mervyn’s heart -- if they lost air pressure now she was as good as dead. He had to ask, but he dreaded the answer, ‘How is she now?’
‘I... I’m not sure... she’s out cold. I’ve slapped a nano-patch onto her suit to seal it and I’ve re-pressurised it.. She’s breathing ok, but her leg is a mess. I’ve injected gel into her suit to stop the bleeding and put her leg in an inflating splint. I’ve strapped her into the navigator’s seat until I can restore hull integrity.’
‘Tarun, it’s Loren, if you lose air pressure...’
‘I know.’
‘Tarun, are your shield deflectors still intact?’
‘Yes.’ At least the sled was still protected from radiation and particle impacts, and could still travel at superluminal speeds -- provided the strain didn’t tear the hull apart like a cracker.
Mervyn took another look at their position -- Tarun could not afford the time to work on his sled. To save himself, Tarun would have to fly the gamma jet without hull integrity and hope the shield deflectors alone could hold the sled together. It would be the biggest gamble of Tarun’s life, and he would risk killing Aurora in the process, but it was the only option. It was a hard choice and Tarun would never make on his own.
‘Tarun, forget the hull integrity,’ Mervyn ordered. ‘You’ve got fighters coming straight at you and you’re right on top of the neutron star. Either way, you’re both dead if you stop to repair the hull. You’ll just have to fly the gamma jet as you are and hope for the best.’
‘Oh, Quarks, I’d forgotten about the gamma jet. I can’t do it, Merv, I can’t fly that on my own, I’ll never make it!’
The second fighter fired, but at extreme range, and the photon blast erupted harmlessly ahead. Tarun was right: he just did not have Aurora’s skill. The odds were against him.
‘You have to,’ Mervyn said, ‘it’s your only chance.’
‘If I lose air pressure I’ll kill Aurora.’
‘I know, but it’s your only chance of saving her too.’ Even with the enhanced performance of the biolink Tarun would never be able to weave his way through the gauntlet of photon blasts, ‘Loren, we need to bring our plans forward -- their sled can’t survive another hit.’
‘You’re right,’ Loren said. Then over the biolink, ‘Ok, guys, new course on the screen -- we’re changing our plan. And we’re going in three...’ New trajectories appeared on the screen.
‘I can’t do that,’ Tarun blurted, ‘I’ve got thick gloves on.’
‘Forget the hand controls, Tarun, use your biolink.’
‘Oh yeah...’
‘Just imagine your body doing it -- you’re flying along and then you’re turning through ninety degrees and then flipping on to your head.’
‘Oh, is that all -- that’s fine then.’
‘Two...’
‘Rehearse it in your mind first,’ Mervyn advised. Tarun obviously did, but he forgot to separate his mind from the biolink, because his sled followed his every thought. Without warning, it rolled on to it’s back, righted itself, flipped through ninety degree, and cart wheeled end over end out of control.
‘Wow, help! I’m going to crash.’
‘One...’
Mervyn ignored Loren’s count and followed Tarun. He flipped his sled effortlessly and roared after his friend, ‘Tarun, use the sled’s momentum to twist it into a barrel-roll. You must keep your speed up.’ If he slowed even a fraction he would be a sitting target for the fighters.
‘I can’t... I’m pinned into the seat... I can’t reach the controls. Go on with out us -- save yourselves!’
‘Use your biolink, you great muon, and stop the dramatics.’
‘Oh.’ Tarun’s sled twisted and corkscrewed as it tumbled. Finally it slipped into a controlled barrel-roll as it flew up the neutron star’s north face towards the gamma jet. Not the best place to cross, maybe, but it would do. Gently, Tarun slowed the roll until he regained full control.
‘Great stuff these biolinked controls,’ Tarun said stiffly, ‘I could never have stopped that spin otherwise.’
‘You’d be heading the same way as that fighter then,’ Loren said. Behind them one of the fighters cart wheeled towards the centre of the neutron star. ‘Must have tried to copy us.’
The worst was yet to come.
The gamma beam swept through a full rotation every four seconds: the difference between life and death.
‘Actually, Merv,’ Loren said, ‘Perhaps we should Suit up too -- just in case.’ In the last moments of peace Mervyn freed himself from the seat and struggled into his full spacesuit. Five layers of insulation, integral gloves and boots, an air tank on his back, and a helmet which clipped on around his neck. The friends checked the integrity of each others suit before strapping themselves back in. Mervyn tied his helmet within easy reach. The gamma jet accelerated towards them.
‘Power back a little so you’ve got some reserve energy, Tarun,’ Mervyn suggested easing up on the throttles. ‘You’ll have to go first. Let the beam sweep round in front of you, then follow through behind it.’ It was frustrating not being able to help his friend, all he could do was offer advice.
‘Don’t try to time it,’ Loren suggested. ‘Use your judgement and let the biolink control the sled.’
‘You’re accelerating from the neutron star’s slingshot so you’ll have to take that into account--’ Mervyn began.
‘I know! Stop bugging me -- this either works or it doesn’t -- it’s too late for advice.’
They watched their viewscreens in silence as the beam of gamma rays swept round towards the lead sled.
‘Hear goes,’ Tarun said, ‘and in case I don’t make it I’m proud to have been a Misfit -- best mates... and... and all that.’ Before Mervyn or Loren could reply the sled shot forward.
‘Tarun, pull up!’
‘You’re too close!’
The sled carried on.
‘Nooooooo,’ Mervyn’s warning came to late. The pillar of destruction swept down and his friend’s sled disappeared.
A lump stuck in Mervyn throat. Tears pricked his eyes. Behind him, he heard Loren swear. But there was little time for grief. Mervyn forced his tears back, he had to concentrate on the job in hand. No doubts. He cleared his mind -- he had to cross on the next sweep if he and Loren were to survive.
The gamma jet swept towards them. He let it pass, then powered towards the centre of the jet at full throttle. The viewscreens went blank as gamma rays overloaded the sensors. He held his breath.
Suddenly, the beam swept round behind then again, and they were through.
He had done it -- he had crossed a gamma jet and lived -- but his friends had not. The lump returned to his throat, and this time he let the tears flow freely. Two of his best friends were gone -- torn apart by the cruelties of the galaxy. What wou
ld he say to Lord Tivolli? What would he say to the Patriarch? How could he possibly describe the loss of his friends or what they meant to him?
‘Look, there!’ Loren shouted as a viewscreen flickered on to reveal a twinkling star-field, and something else.
‘They got through, they got through!’ It took a moment for Mervyn’s numb mind to register what Loren was shouting about. Then relief flooded through him like a gush of water, and he felt happier than he could ever remember. Straight ahead, powering away from the star, was the other sled.
‘Wooo Hooo ! ‘ Tarun shouted. ‘I made it.’ A pang of guilt stabbed at Mervyn’s heart -- Tarun lived, but what about Aurora?
‘Yeeehaaa!’ Echoed another voice.
‘Aurora, is that you?’ Mervyn could barely contain his excitement -- the gamble had paid off.
‘Didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you, Mervyn?’
‘I gave it my best shot. How are you feeling?’
‘A little woozy, but well enough to take over the driving again. I’m sure my boot is full of blood, but if no one blows me up I reckon I should live.’
‘I though you were a gonna there, Tarun,’ Loren said
‘No chance, you said to trust my judgement and my judgement said go, so I went.’
‘I thought I’d lost you both,’ Mervyn said and quickly wiped away a tear.
‘Sorry, Mervyn, you’ve still got to put up with us,’ Aurora laughed. Despite her prickliness Mervyn had become rather fond of her.
‘There’s a fighter crossing the jet,’ Tarun called, ‘Oh, it was there a moment ago, I could have sworn I saw a fighter.’
‘You did,’ Loren said. ‘It got caught -- blasted to atoms in the blink of an eye. Let’s hope the others make the same mistake.’
‘There’s another one,’ Tarun called, ‘ouch -- that could have been us.’ The gamma jet gobbled another victim.
‘You’d think they would just give up after seeing two of their colleagues fried,’ Tarun said.
As if in answer, a third sled tried to pull out before crossing the stream, but it was already committed and the manoeuvre ended in a fiery burst of flame from the surface of the neutron star. The remaining sleds turned back. Mervyn watched his viewscreen, anxiously, expecting them to take the long route round the neutron star’s equator. Instead, the remaining fighters curved away towards a large object that had suddenly appeared -- the Naga’s warship. The chase was over. They were free.
For a moment no one said anything.
‘They’ve gone,’ Tarun whispered. ‘do you think that’s it?’
‘Don’t even think about it,’ Aurora said, ‘They will come after us with the warship.’
Loren tapped away on her consul, ‘Nope, they’re sending out a homing beacon. I reckon that means they’re staying put and waiting for the rest of the invasion fleet. Look, they’ve come to a halt behind that globulus.’ The pirate ship disappeared behind a dense cloud of gas which reared up like a predator reading for the kill : a deaths-head taking millions of years to deliver its killer blow.
‘You mean we’re home and dry?’ Tarun asked tentatively.
‘Home and dry, free and easy. We won,’ Loren replied, ‘All we do now is keep on this heading, send a May-Day message when our fuel runs out, and wait for someone to pick us up. I can hardly believe it. Yes, yes, YESSS.’
‘Woo Hoo!’ Tarun shrieked, his relief flooding the biolink, ‘Bunghoy.’
Even Aurora let go, ‘Yahoo, we did it. We did it, guys, we really did it. Loren, you are a genius.’
Mervyn said nothing.
‘We all played a part -- we’re a team,’ Loren said modestly.
‘We’re the Misfit,’ Tarun shouted. ‘If you don’t like the game... ’
‘Change the rules,’ Aurora and Loren shouted back.
‘What do you think, Merv? Did we do good or what,’ Loren asked, ‘Merv, what’s wrong.’
Mervyn closed his eyes and took a deep breath, ‘We have go to go back.’
‘No, Mervyn,’ Aurora said firmly into the silence. ‘This nightmare is over. It is finished. Now we go home.’
‘We have to save Zetalona.’
‘We will Mervyn. As soon as we are in communication range we will do what Loren said – give a warning and tell them about the threat from the Naga. Until then Zetalona can hide behind its famous planetary defence grid and wait for the Republican navy to come back from where-ever it’s playing war games. It’s not our responsibility any more, Merv. Let it go.’
Mervyn would have loved to let is go, but her couldn’t. He thought of his mother and sisters in a refugee camp on Zetalona. He though of Starlight and the destruction he had witnessed from afar, friends and neighbours homeless or dead, and the way the Puncheon callously picked off the escape pods. No way was he going to watch another world die -- not when he could maybe stop it.
‘There is no defence grid,’ he informed the others. ‘When the Naga destroyed Starlight, the Helium-three meant to power the defence grid disappeared as well. They were saving it up for a single shipment with a military escort. My dad told me. Zetalona is defenceless.’ He took another deep breath. They were not going to like this – he had figured it all out while they were celebrating, all the pieces were in place, to succeed it just needed courage and a good dollop of luck. ‘I have a plan.’
‘Let me guess,’ Aurora snapped, ‘another crazy plan, without an ending, that will get us all killed.’
‘They’re the best,’ he said lamely.
‘No, Mervyn, they are not. We will make contact, give our warning, and go home. Leave it to the navy!’
‘We have no loyalty to the Republic,’ Tarun said quietly, ‘we owe them nothing.’
‘It my Dad’s dream,’ Mervyn said. ‘If the whole sector unites under the banner of Al-Zak-Uilin’s Republic, then we can stand against the Centaph Swarm. If not, they’ll pick us off one by one for sure -- Ethrigia first. And think what we could do, how strong we would be if the Human’s joined us. ‘Give me a squadron of Humans’, Cage said, ‘and I’ll drive the Centaph out of our sector.’ If we desert Zetalona, all is lost.’
‘That sounds like your dream, Merv, not your dad’s.’
Tarun was right. He hadn’t realised until he said it, but the Republic was something he cared about, something he cared about very much; something worth giving his life for. But it wasn’t just for him, if was for Valna, for Al-Zak-Uilin, for Rose, for Starlight, but most of all for his family. His father had never imagined a scenario in which Humans might join the Republic, if he had it would have been his dream too.
He tried again, ‘My family is there, Tarun. I have to try and save them.’
‘Mervyn’s right,’ Loren cut in, ‘the warning will be too late. The entire fleet is on the border waiting for a Centaph attack -- we are the only hope those people have.’
‘Are you with me Loren?’
She smiled she crooked smile, ‘Of course I am, Merv. You didn’t need to ask.’
‘What are you two discussing over there?’ Aurora demanded.
‘I’m with Mervyn,’ Loren declared. ‘We’re going back.’
‘Are you mad?’
‘I think we should go back too,’ Tarun said.
‘Not while I’m driving we don’t.’
‘They’re our friends, Aurora. They’d do the same for our families?’ Tarun argued. ‘At least listen to the plan.’
Aurora listened, while Mervyn outlined his plan.
‘How do we get out?’ she asked. He remained silent; he knew better than to give her false hopes.
‘Oh, Quarks,’ Aurora sighed. ‘If I live to regret this, Mervyn, I will kill you.’
In silence, both tiny sleds turned and headed for the deaths-head globulus.