I.S.S. Starkiller Chronicle: Part Five Read online

  I.S.S. STARKILLER CHRONICLE

  PART 5

  LON E. VARNADORE

  CONTENTS

  Previously on Starkiller Chronicle

  Starkiller Part Five

  Also by Lon E. Varnadore

  PREVIOUSLY ON STARKILLER CHRONICLE

  The I.S.S. Starkiller was given a dangerous mission. To find a rogue planet for their one time enemies, the Eridani. They picked up a troublemaker named Trevor whom was raised by the Eridani. After dealing with a situation on the space station Cornelio, the Starkiller found the rogue planet, PFC Garret along with others went down to the planet to give a sit-rep. Losing his comrades to Eridani traps and enemy alike, Garret got the drop on two of them inside a strange facility.

  Meanwhile, Yamahara and the crew lurch from one pitched battle to the next, trying to find allies for a rescue attempt. Finally, she knows she can only rely on the crew and herself.

  STARKILLER PART FIVE

  “Shipwide,” Yamahara ordered. The whistle echoed through the ship, snapping up everyone’s attention. She knew that the small crew on Starkiller would be listening. She took a deep breath and settled herself. She closed her eyes to see her words before she spoke.

  “We are on our own trying to find Lt Cyrus, PFC Justin, and PFC Garret. The Eridani that were on the station disclosed that Garret was the target. I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re heading back to the rogue planet. I know everyone will do their jobs right and do what they need to do.”

  Taking a beat to gather her thoughts, she needed to put together a team, and besides Jennings and Knapp on the bridge, there was one more person she needed. “Ensign Miln, please report to the command deck.” She then gave Knapp the cutting motion, and the commlink was shut off.

  Moments later, Miln strode in with a hastily pulled-on uniform. He looked around bored, stifled a yawn, and stood at attention waiting. “Ensign Miln—”

  “At ease. Miln, you, Knapp, and Jennings will be joining me on the surface of the planet.” Yamahara waited, gauging his reaction.

  Miln nodded. “When?”

  “When we get to the planet, be ready.”

  Miln stifled a yawn. “Can I go back to bed then?” He asked, the yawn finally escaping his slack jaw. He scratched at the three-days-growth of beard as well.

  Part of her wanted to dismiss Miln, scratch the mission, and give up. There was no chance with such a broken crew. “Yes, go,” she said with a wave and a sigh. She clenched her fist and felt ready to tongue-lash the next person to confront her about anything for the next week. If we survive that long.

  Jaime heard, “Captain?”

  She turned to see the teen troublemaker, Trevor. “Yes?” She asked, balling up her fists.

  “With you gone, who’s going to be in charge?” Trevor asked.

  “Not you.”

  “I believe I can—”

  “Cerberus, I really don’t think you should—”

  The drone head swivelled and skittered closer to Yamahara. “In the event the captain is gone and no other senior ranking officers are onboard, the AI can—”

  “Did you just quote regs at me?” Yamahara asked, cutting Cerberus off.

  “Yes,” the AI said simply.

  She let out a sigh. Fuck it, why not? What’s the worst that could happen? “Fine.”

  Yamahara looked at the few people she had that she could trust with the mission to get Garret and the others back. Miln had left, but she knew he’d be ready when the time came. Jennings was green, but sounded eager. Knapp was not ready at all, and Yamahara saw that. It could be a mistake. Since Cornelio she’d been quiet and sullen. But, she needed people to watch her back and a pilot. Knapp was the best pilot, after Garret and the rest of the team on the planet’s surface. Still better than herself, Jennings or Miln. Hell, Yamahara hadn’t touched a stick in years, and she knew it.

  “Dismissed,” she said. Jennings disappeared, and Knapp went back to the communication station.

  “I need a word,” Cerberus said. There was a beat as Yamahara waited. The eyes of the drone head turned to look at Knapp and then back at Yamahara. “It’s private.”

  Yamahara put Knapp in charge and turned to the lift which swept her to her ready room. A smaller drone head appeared out of the small opening in the room and moved to hover on the other side of the small metal desk that was her only furnishing. She sat with her legs crossed, her hands clasped, and on the propped up knee. “Well?”

  “Captain, you can’t be serious,” Cerberus moaned.

  Yamahara looked at the small drone and shook her head. “What’s wrong, is the big bad ship afraid I won’t come back?”

  “That is exactly my issue,” Cerberus hissed. “This is my own survival here. If you get killed. I am going to be destroyed.”

  “Then, you had better make sure we don’t die,” Yamahara said, a sharp smile and a wicked glint in her eye.

  “Humans are insufferable,” Cerberus said, though the volume was low and from Yamahara’s point of view, was the best the AI could whisper.

  “Is that the only reason you had me come to my ready room?” She asked with a heavy sigh.

  “Yes.” The drone started to move back to its alcove.

  Yamahara sat there for a few more moments, conflicted. She could call the mission off, go back to Alastair, and pledge obedience. Get reinforcements and get Garret. But she knew that was a stupid idea. Alastair would never fully trust her. She was the Old Guard, from before he gained power. She knew what he was. A snake.

  She stood up and took a deep breath before nodding to herself. “You can do this.”

  Yamahara walked onto the command deck and looked at Knapp. She was still in a dress uniform. “Get suited up. Trevor, get ready to take us to the planet.”

  “What about the ship that chased us off?” Jennings asked from his station. He, at least, had put on the “bug suit” uniform, all he needed to do was get into it.

  She smirked. “I have a surprised for them,” Yamahara said.

  “How?” Jennings asked.

  “Slingshot.”

  “What are you talking about?” Trevor asked, though the look on his face told Yamahara he knew what she meant.

  “She’s talking about coming out of FTL while accelerating around the nearest gravity well: in this case, the rogue planet itself,” Cerberus said. “You are talking about ripping me apart.”

  “There goes that complication, huh?” Yamahara said with a sneer to the drone.

  “I like to continue to exist, Captain Yamahara,” Cerberus said. There was a silence on the command deck for a heartbeat.

  “We can do it,” Trevor said. He turned to his portable console and tapped away at it for a handful of moments. “I know we can.”

  “How?” Cerberus asked, the drone’s head swiveling towards Trevor.

  “The worst that could happen is you lose an engine,” Trevor said. “Not a complete—”

  “Let me remove your leg, and we will see if you still feel like it won’t be a ‘complete’ loss.”

  Yamahara looked between the drone “head” of Cerberus and Trevor and wondered what had happened between the two. When he had first come on board, Trevor scared Cerberus. Yet, it seemed the young brat had lost his hold on the computer. File it away for later, Jaime. Focus on one problem at a time.

  “But that doesn’t stop the Eridani from firing on us,” Jennings said, speaking up from his position.

  “We would get in so fast,” Yamahara said, “That the Eridani wouldn’t know were there until we were in range and firing on them.”

  “Sensing more than a few ‘ifs’ Captain,” Knapp spoke up from her position.

/>   “That is if I allow it,” Cerberus said.

  Yamahara looked at Trevor. “You going to let him say that?”

  “I don’t know how he is doing it now,” Trevor said. “Frankly, I’m irked by it,” He turned to his little console and began to tap away on it.

  “Don’t try it, boy,” Cerberus said. The drone’s head swiveled towards Yamahara. “I want to save PFC Garret as much as you do. More so.” There was a pause. “I also want to survive the journey as well.”

  “Why?”

  The drone stopped. Then, there was a long pause. “He knows where I stand, and I know where he stands.”

  “That’s rather cryptic,” Yamahara said.

  “And where is that?” Knapp asked at the same time.

  “He’s one of the crew,” Cerberus said. “All of you are part of my crew.”

  Yamahara quirked an eyebrow. “So you are going to help without having to be forced to?”

  The drone moved a little closer on his track. “Captain Yamahara. PFC Garret is part of my crew.” The drone turned to Trevor. “Make sure your calculations are precise.”

  “You know who you are talking to?” Trevor asked, an aggravated look on his face.

  “I do. That is why you need to make them precise.” The drone’s “head” slid away into its main housing of the command deck.

  “Are we ready?” Yamahara asked Trevor.

  “Ready as we’ll ever be.”

  She nodded, walking behind the back of the command chair. “Full ahead.” She sensed the slight thrum of Starkiller’s engines. She counted out to twenty and knew when the rippling thrum disappeared, they’d achieved the full speed. Trevor nodded when Yamahara looked at him. There was a tense but excited look on his face. He is looking forward to this. That makes one of us. She gripped the back of the command chair. “Spool up.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  Alerts started to sound on the command deck, as well as the throughout the ship, Yamahara was sure. The warning lights came with an announcement in the deadpan voice of Starkiller’s usual AI, “Warning, the ship is under engine control. A spooling up of the FTL is likely to cause death and—”

  “Sorry,” Cerberus’s voice said, cutting through the warning. The lights went off, and Yamahara saw the controls unfreeze.

  This is going to be interesting. “Go.”

  Going through FTL usually was something Yamahara had taken for granted. A ship’s FTL drive spooled up, there was a flash of light, and the ship disappeared from one place in space-time and was in another place in a moment, light-years away. That was if the ship was stationary. Starkiller was already under full engines when the FTL was spooled up, which was dangerous, to say the least. The ship rattled, and Yamahara heard before she saw the cracking of beams and three of the forward monitors blew up. With the skeleton crew, no one manned those stations which was a small blessing. The loud groaning and moaning of the starship under the increased stress echoed through the ship in that slice of a moment between one second and the other. Time itself slowed to a crawl in FTL. The noise roiled Yamahara’s stomach. Hold together, dammit.

  The entire process through FTL was done in an instant. One moment they were in the middle of Wild Space, the next, Starkiller was hurtling towards the rogue planet. Knapp and Jennings helped Trevor and Cerberus make calculations and trying to shift the mega-tonnage ship from slamming into the planet. Yamahara watched as the planet came hurtling closer and closer. The ship shuddered, and a strange moaning echoed through the ship. It also started to alter course as the ship followed the path Trevor and Cerberus had set up. They swooped around the planet, and Yamahara smirked when she saw the two Eridani ships that had chased them off before in orbit, unaware of Starkiller swooping towards them.

  The Eridani ships were smaller than Starkiller, yet were still something that could cause problems even with their small crew and their increased shielding tech.

  “Cerberus, open fire.”

  The AI was ready. Before the order had slipped from her mouth, all of the cannons fired, and the torpedo bay let loose on the ship on the right. The shots caught the two ships completely by surprise. One was shut down by the first barrage, the running lights of the ship flickering before dying out. The other tried to come about to try and mount an offense of its own, but the torpedo and two pulse cannon shots crippled it as well.

  “Knapp, Jennings, Miln. Launch bay, now.” Yamahara shouted. She followed the two crewmen down the short hallway and to the lift. A short ride down and laterally brought them to the launch bay and the last shuttle they had. It was already powered up. Miln was already inside, suited up and checking on his pulse rifle. He was already shifting it into a sniper configuration. Knew it.

  “Thank you Cerberus,” Yamahara said, before pulling on the armored suit’s helm and grabbing a seat in the shuttle behind Knapp and Jennings.

  “Captain, they are sending out fighters,” Trevor’s voice came over the ship’s comm, a little shaky.

  “You know your orders,” Yamahara said, looking over her suit one last time before pulling on the helm. “Cerberus knows his.”

  “If we don’t hear from you in ten hours, jump out of here and find a place to live,” Trevor said, cutting in. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

  “Then, I suggest you hope we get back. And monitor my commlink carefully. Yamahara out.”

  “Captain, the sky is getting a little thick,” Knapp said, juking around a pair of Eridani fighters.

  Yamahara had to admit, Knapp was good, but she knew that Garret would have already landed by now. “Get into the atmo. They aren’t as maneuverable in atmo.”

  “You know this how?” Knapp snapped back.

  “I fought them, I know what they can do,” Yamahara said back, as evenly and as calmly as she could.

  Knapp plunged the craft down, taking the descent at a steep angle. Jennings gripped the arms of his chair. Miln was “resting his eyes.” How can he sleep at a time like this? A few Eridani drones skipped off the atmosphere and went careening out into space. A handful stayed and started to fire again, chasing the launch. One of their shots clipped the shuttle’s port side. There was a small burst of fire, and the launch shuttle bucked a little before evening out.

  “You know what you are doing?” Yamahara asked Knapp. “Keep calm and serpentine.”

  Knapp clutched the controls too tightly, and Yamahara had to remind her about the yaw again as the shuttle started to serpentine. Yamahara’s stomach dropped out of her for the last time. “Knapp, I am taking over.”

  Knapp looked over her shoulder at her. “Captain, you said—”

  “I know what I said. I’m taking over.” Yamahara already snapped out of the restraints and moved closer to Knapp. She leaned forward to touch the PFC’s shoulder. “I don’t want to die either. Let me give it a go.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Knapp said thankfully.

  Knapp snapped out of the restraint harness, and Yamahara was into the pilot seat in the blink of an eye. She didn’t wait for Knapp to grab a seat before she shoved the accelerator to its maximum and slammed through more of the atmosphere, the heat shielding glowing a bright cherry red. The pursuing Eridani ships started to peel off as the ship descended faster. Except one. It fired at the launch and missed by a narrow margin. “Fine, you want to see what I can do?” Yamahara growled. She grabbed the accelerator handle and jerked it backwards, the Eridani drone shot past them as the launch shuddered and stalled. Yamahara snapped the accelerator forward. Without lining up a shot from the small pulse turret, she fired and destroyed the ship. While the others crowed about the shot, she didn’t. They had to get in and out before they could do anything for Garret and the others.

  “Don’t count your chickens yet. We still need to find Garret and the others and get out of here.”

  The voices toned down to nothing. She didn’t like to cut down the cheering, yet they needed to focus ton the mission. We can celebrate after.

  Landing was a bit
harder than she thought. Or remembered. She looked at the rest of the crew. Miln was up and already at the door. He swept his eyes over the rest to see if they had their helms on before he popped the hatch and was outside, sweeping the area. Following Miln, she saw the other launch. Seeing the condition of the other launch shuttle, she didn’t feel bad for the rough landing. “Weapons hot, we need to be ready for anything.”

  Knapp was the only one who didn’t grab a rifle and nod immediately. Yamahara shoved the rifle into her hands. Knapp looked up, shocked by it. “Get your head in the game. Knapp.”

  “Yessir.”

  As soon as they left the shuttle, they were attacked. It was a small party of Eridani flying drones, missile drones that dissolved into humanoid shapes. Yamahara and Jennings charged forward. Knapp was in the back, firing and missing. She didn’t know where Miln went, though she trusted he was situated. She focused on fighting the drones as they closed in, as she did, she saw that three drones were knocked from the sky by someone.

  The drones were creeping closer and closer, pulse rifle fire became close combat with the thick electrified club Yamahara ripped from the back of her suit. She blinked and found her group alone, the drones had all dropped and been destroyed. Two drones appeared from over the hill, hovering, then dropped when they were shot from their position. Yamahara traced back the shots to see Miln, prone on the top of the launch. Of course.

  When he signalled “all clear” and dropped onto the ground, Yamahara beckoned him over. When he did so, she said, “Miln, I need—”

  “You won’t even know I’m around, but I am,” Miln said, snapping off a salute before taking off ahead of the group at a jog. He was over the small hills, his rifle ready, and his head scanning before Knapp was done puking in her suit.

  Knapp looked up, bits of vomit still clinging to her lips before she flushed her helmet. “Where did he come from, Captain?” Knapp asked, nodding towards Miln’s retreating form.

  “Sniper school,” Yamahara said, looking away from her.

  “Oh.”

  Yamahara turned back to Knapp, put her hands on Knapp’s suit, and leaned in close. “I need you to get your head back in the game, Knapp. You need to snap out of it. I know that the grey on the station—”