her head, indicating to Admiral Byrd there was no chance that a week’s worth of repairs would even put a dent in it.
Admiral Byrd looked up, staring at the vid screen around his bridge, seeking any change in space—a blip—any indication that Matrona had made the jump. “Admiral Jenkyns, some of our sensors are down. Do you have Matrona on your sonar?”
“Hold on, Admiral.” replied Jenkyns. A long pause ensued as they watched the image of Jenkyn's hologram looking at something. He pinched his chin while concentrating, and then frowned.
Admiral Byrd's eyes fell to his lap. The last time he had looked at his lap he was on vacation, wiping off lemonade. “Admiral Jenkyns, do you have the location of Matrona or not?”
After more silence, Jenkyns shook his head. “No, sir, we don't have her on our sonar.”
Admiral Byrd brought his fingers to his forehead, rubbing his thick, dark skin. “We have a problem, Jenkyns. We lost all of our fresh water reserves. We’re empty.”
“You have water in Aquaponics, correct?” asked Jenkyns.
“Aquaponics is gone as well. A rupture wiped them out...” he glanced up, trying to better describe the damage. “No, a rupture sucked them both out. We have no food or water, and no Matrona.”
“You were our lifeline, Admiral,” stated Jenkyns. “Our Starship doesn't hold water reserves. We have a minimal amount of food and water. Our run to get more from Matrona was scheduled for later this evening.”
“How much do you have on hand?” inquired Admiral Byrd.
A short pause. “About two days, sir.”
“Incoming!” yelled Eden.
Admiral Byrd's eyes shot to the vid screen and Admiral Jenkyns’ image bleeped out.
“They're coming in fast, Admiral,” said Eden.
The admiral knew there was no way they could survive another attack. He glanced at his shoes, seeing how clean they were. An image of them blowing up and bursting into flames popped into his mind. “Jenkyns—evasive action! Command at will!”
“Aye, aye, Admiral!” The com link clicked off.
Admiral Byrd watched two large red pyramid-like shapes on the vid screen many miles away; and Eden was correct—they were coming in fast.
“Any idea when the hyper drives will be fully functional?”
Eden moved her eyes all around the HDC. “Yes, about half a day. Mechanical is working on it.”
“We don't have half a day. Tell them to speed it up.”
“Yes, sir.”
A loud beep sounded throughout the bridge and the vid screen zoomed in on the two objects speeding toward them.
Before he could ask what they were, Eden spoke, “Heat signatures suggest that those are torpedo projectiles carrying a photon load.”
“How big is the load, Eden?”
“I don't know. Most of our sensors are down. All I have is the heat sensors.”
“Launch countermeasures,” responded the admiral.
Eden pointed to a crewman operating at another station. He pressed a few buttons, targeting the torpedoes and gave a nod to Eden. “Countermeasures launched.” The vid zoomed in, showing two dozen large, star-like projectiles soaring from Brigantia, toward the torpedoes.
The admiral folded his arms and watched, but, just as the countermeasures eventually met the torpedoes, Brigantia’s star-like projectiles exploded, shooting thousands of pieces of shrapnel outwards. It was an explosion ten times what they were expecting, and then another one occurred. Then a blue haze blasted out from the explosions, looking like a ring around a planet, expanding as it went and spreading into Brigantia's direction.
“Brace for impact!” shouted the admiral.
They all grabbed hold of safety bars located at each station. The admiral clicked the restraining belt located on his seat and held on to his bars. Then, like a wave hitting a large ocean vessel, Brigantia rocked back as a rise of photon energy hit, moving it up and backwards, vibrating Brigantia into a massive shudder.
After a few moments, another wave consumed the starship, causing everyone to grab hold yet again, doing their best to overcome the shock as best they could.
The admiral closed his eyes when the third wave hit, wondering if his vessel was going to make it, or if every screw onboard was going to vibrate loose.
For a moment, he thought all would be easier if it just ended now. All of this would be over in seconds and he wouldn't have the remainder of the fleet to worry about. It would be over. He wouldn't have to decide the fate of anyone, ever again. It wouldn't matter about this enemy. It wouldn't matter that they didn't have any water. Nothing would matter. It would all be over.
“Admiral. Admiral!” someone yelled.
Why had he chosen this path, to be in charge of thousands, no, millions of souls?
“Admiral!”
Admiral Byrd jostled himself from his thoughts. “Yes!”
Eden stared at him. “Orders, sir?”
“What?” Admiral Byrd pondered her question, wondering why she seemed to be in such a hurry.
“For the second time, Admiral! We have more inbound torpedoes! Shall I launch more countermeasures?”
He looked at the vid screen, seeing that there were indeed more torpedoes, and nodded his head. After a brief pause, he exhaled a breath he didn't know he’d been holding. “Launch more countermeasures.”
“Countermeasures launched, sir!” said Eden, wiping her brown hair off of her sweat drenched forehead, eying the Admiral and hoping he could keep himself cool, unlike the way he had been in his Thunderbird.
The Admiral placed his palm under his chin, deep thought yet again. Eden wanted to pinch him, pull his hair, punch him—do something to get his mind back into the game where it belonged.
Two words kept repeating in his mind. Knights. Templar. Templar. Knights. Over and over again. Those were his grandfather's words, and his great grandfather's words before him, and his great, great grandfather's words before that. They were the helpers, the guiders of the lost. They gave their lives to be in service to others. Their oath was to help those less fortunate, to be a force of light in any darkness. But, he knew the Knights Templar were a myth. Everyone knew that, but he had no other option, no other strategy to turn to. He simply couldn't hold off this enemy forever. They were outnumbered and outgunned, so why not think about Knights and Templars?
Eden leaned over, whispering into the admiral's ear, “Never give up, Admiral. We need you now more than ever.”
He gazed into her eyes, then narrowed his own. “Press the distress beacon.”
“What?” Her eyes widened, thinking that this wasn't her idea of not giving up. “The distress beacon?”
“You heard what I said, Lieutenant.”
A slight frown appeared on her face, not fully understanding why he'd send out a distress call. “To who, Admiral?” She put her hands out, palms up. “There is no one else out here. It's only us and them. No one can save us but ourselves.”
He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out his golden pendent, rubbing his thumb over the knight sitting on a horse, wondering why there was a second knight sitting behind the first one. “Send the distress call, Lieutenant! Now!”
“But, sir! Who will receive it?”
He stopped thumbing his pendent, looking deeply into her eyes. “The Knights Templar.”
She tilted her head, frustrated. “What?! That's a myth, sir!”
“We’d better hope it's not.”
Then an alert horn sounded throughout the bridge. The admiral and Captain Stripe hurried out of their chairs to view the HCD in front of Eden. Eden stared at them, mortified, shaking her head. “We have inbound fighters heading our way. It looks like hundreds, sir! Between Brigantia and Taranis, we have just over a hundred pilots left—if that.”
The admiral stepped around and walked closer to the vid screen, his lips quivering with fury. He wanted to tear the attackers apart–every atom–destroy them all! But, it didn't matter what he wanted. He had to do what Admirals d
o. Give orders and make the final decision. “Open com link.”
“They're open, sir!” said Eden. She crinkled her brow, still staring at the HCD. “The torpedoes have just deactivated, Admiral, giving their fighters a clear path to us.”
The admiral glared at the vid screen, watching two torpedoes slow down and stop, then hundreds of oncoming crafts barreling past them, heading straight toward Taranis and Brigantia with incredible speed. “Pilots! Report to your Thunderbirds!”
He flipped over the pendant, mouthing the words inscribed on the back:
Equites non intercedere nisi invocatum
________
Knights Do Not Interfere Unless Called Upon
Episode 2
The Prime
The creature peered through the glass pane, showing itself, meeting Crystal's eyes with its own. Crystal screamed at the top of her lungs and crawled backwards, doing her best to get as far away from it as possible. Striking her head against the metal cockpit hatch, she swiped hair out of her eyes but suddenly relaxed.
“Daf?”
Her friend—her fellow Mechie—was blinking her eyes frantically, peering through the Mech window at a frightened Crystal. It had been Daf driving her own Mech, who had pulled Crystal's Mech into the warehouse. It wasn't an alien creature with fangs hanging down to its feet, driveling green goo out of its mouth like she had imagined. No, it was human. Thank Guild for Daf.
“You're alive!” Crystal gave a hardy laugh full of relief.
Realizing that Daf couldn't hear a word she was saying, she reached up and pressed the hatch button. A hiss and a clank told her the hatch had unsealed. She placed