push a button and step out of that machine like nothing happened.
“This whole engagement was about trapping and destroying the Nexus. I will not stop now after so many lives were sacrificed to get here,” Goron said with disbelief in his eyes.
“Your people will finally have to deal with the loss of life in this war and we both know you Novi don’t have the stomach to carry on a fight when real stakes are involved. Destroying the Nexus here today will decimate the Novi’s will to continue the war.”
“Do you smoke those drugs you’re on or just snort them through that long snout?” Hastelloy asked with a laugh. “You think the loss of life will cause us to run away and hide? That’s extremely naïve of you, so let me correct your thinking.
“When word gets out that 20 million soldiers are dead, the masses will be enraged. The Novi people will insist on immediate and decisive vengeance and they will get it. If the senators of the council are anything, they are politicians that bend to public sentiment when united behind a common goal. This will give the war hawks in our government a green light to implement the all out, scorched planet, warfare they’ve been pressing to wage for a generation.”
Goron let loose a dismissive snarl. “We’ve repelled your offensives before, and we’ll do so again if it comes to that.”
“Rage and revenge are powerful emotions, especially from a people who haven’t dealt with them for a thousand years,” Hastelloy countered. “Why take the risk of invoking that wrath. Instead, you can return the Nexus device to my people and use it as a means to begin a peace process. That can only start with one side showing compassion to the other and now is your chance to make such a gesture.”
“Your people risk nothing in the fighting so there is no motivation for peace on your part,” Goron snapped. “Only the potent sting resulting from the loss of life will bring about a peace accord.”
Hastelloy leaned forward and looked Goron square in the eyes. “The truth is you resent the Nexus because deep down you really envy the technology. The tragic part of the situation is if we weren’t at war the technology would almost certainly be shared with the Alpha.”
Goron’s eyes lit up with a twinkle that made Hastelloy consider if he just made an error. “You are revising history Captain. In the two hundred years between first contact and the first shots fired in the war, how many catastrophic plagues ravaged my world? How many millions - check that - how many billions died from these pandemics?”
Goron’s eyes narrowed as the hatred he bore the Novi erupted. “You had the cures! You received our transmissions desperately begging for assistance, and the Novi responded with a casual shrug. If only you could have seen or heard the sound of all those people dying. Alas, you were safe and content all those light years away so you did nothing and were thrilled to death about it - pun intended.
“The Novi standing idly by with a cure is the same as you dropping a biological weapon on our planet. There’s a word for your people’s actions, or rather inactions Captain – genocide.”
“Equating our lack of curing all the plagues of your planet to an act of genocide is outrageous,” Hastelloy shouted. He took a few heartbeats to gather his composure before continuing. “Without warning you destroyed our boarder outposts and promptly took over the surrounding four systems and enslaved those races to support your war efforts. You plunged the galaxy into generations of warfare because you felt we didn’t help you enough?”
“I will concede that we technically fired the first shoots if you admit a quiet war without weapons fire exchanged was already raging.”
“I certainly will not,” Hastelloy exclaimed. “When we left your planet after first contact the Novi never came within ten light years of your planet again. You were left untouched so your culture could continue developing at its natural pace. How does that show any sign of aggression on our part?”
“So my ancestors were supposed to sit on their hands while the Novi went about claiming everything around the galaxy as their own?” Goron asked rhetorically. “The Novi isolate races and claim everything else to lock in your dominant position for all eternity and leave the rest of the galaxy’s sentient beings to wallow in their relative poverty. It’s fascinating to me you can even wonder why one of those species might want to fight back? How dare we challenge your right to own everything you choose?”
“We made a preemptive strike,” Goron continued. “That gave us a more advantaged position to defend ourselves for the future. It was an act of self preservation. We learned our lesson all too well what asking something of the Novi while on our knees gets us. If we want anything from you, it must be taken from a position of strength.
“After today the advantage the Nexus conveys will be no more,” Goron concluded. “Your council will be forced into a peace process, one negotiated while the Alpha hold the upper hand and can dictate terms.”
Goron’s virtual image suddenly looked to the side and reached for something. After a few seconds, he stared directly at Hastelloy. “The time this discussion gave my repair crews has proven most useful. Now we finish this and change the course of history.”
The image of Goron and his subordinate faded to nothing. On their way back to the bridge Gallono questioned the Captain. “Was it really wise to give them time to rearm?”
Hastelloy patted his first officer on the shoulder, “It bought us time as well. Valnor, have the Onagers made the required changes?”
The young helmsman gave a solemn nod as Hastelloy opened a channel to the remaining ships. “The Nexus has collected nearly 20 million lives. This collector ship must escape or these lives will be lost forever. Your orders will achieve this but will require the bravest of all acts from the Onager crews. To be able to die with purpose and for the greater good is all any soldier can ask. This noble death belongs to you. Execute order Omega.”
With the command given, the Onagers broke away from the other ships, peppered the Alpha vessels with a volley of pulse concussion bombs, and headed directly away from the constrainer ship.
The Onagers were no match for the speed of the Alpha vessels. All five ships closed in for the kill. At the last possible moment one felt the trap and pulled away. Just then the two Onagers detonated their remaining ordinance inventory. The result was a massive concussion wave that destroyed anything it touched.
While the Alpha were busy falling into the trap, the two remaining Novi ships headed at full speed for the constrainer ship. The Hastati cruiser fired everything it had at the vessel and didn’t flinch on its way to collide with the ship at full speed where the shield generators were located.
The resulting fireball caused Hastelloy to shield his eyes. As the flames died down Hastelloy was horrified to realize the constrainer ship was still there. “Gallono, what’s the status of the mass density field that ship was putting out?”
“The constraining field is still in place, but both their shield and structural integrity fields are down.”
“Did you say both fields are down?” Hastelloy asked hopefully.
“Yes sir.”
A bright and broad smile filled Hastelloy’s face. “Valnor, plot a collision course for their engineering section.” Then Hastelloy issued an order not uttered by a naval officer intending to survive a battle since wooden boats sailed the oceans propelled by wind. “Ramming speed. Execute.”
With both fields down the Alpha ship was only held together by the metallurgy of its hull. This was no match for a fully shielded ship traveling 200 miles per second. In the blink of an eye the Lazarus flew in one side and blew out the other, igniting the fuel in the engine compartment which starting a chain reaction of explosions that destroyed the Alpha ship from within.
A deafening war cry came from the crewmen on the bridge. Valnor bellowed at the top of his lungs. “It is a privilege to serve with you captain!”
“What’s the status of the mass density field blocking our retreat?” Hastelloy inqui
red calmly.
“The field is down. We’re free to return home at your leisure.” Gallono replied.
“It looks like one of their ships survived the blast from the Onagers. What’s their status?” Hastelloy asked.
Gallono delivered his findings with an executioner’s smile. “They have no power and their life support is failing. We can simply leave and let the cold nature of space do its duty.”
“Like Goron pointed out, doing nothing is the same as murdering them ourselves. That’s what we’ve done for generations and nothing has changed.” Hastelloy pondered before issuing new orders. “Bring us alongside their ship. Lets give them a little get well package. Violence hasn’t changed anything, maybe some kindness will.”
On the way out of system the Lazarus crew placed a set of portable generators and a long range communications array just outside an airlock on the Alpha ship. Then the collector ship continued on and passed through a space fold, returning the ship and its valuable cargo safely to the Stelon system.
Upon their return, the bridge officers let out a collective sigh of relief. Without looking up from his display screen, Hastelloy commended his crew. “Well done gentlemen, but we need to save the celebrations until we dock.”
When he didn’t hear any movement to carry out his orders Hastelloy looked up to find