Dark Chaos
A story of romance, mistrust and the Human heart
Episode 3: "All alone"
By:
Arron Alderson
Copyright – 2006
Ethan Smith
Ethan couldn't believe it; he was staring at a view screen that held the face of his childhood friend who he hadn't seen since he was ten years old. Could it be some sort of trick? But everything about the guy, from his voice up to his looks from his helmet looked just like Zack.
"Zack, why are you fighting for the Mars Union?" He yelled, more out of confusion then anger. "You told me you hated fighting and were going to stay in the neutral nation of Scandinavia!"
Zack seemed to sigh from across the screen, "A lot has happened since then, Ethan. My father became a general of the Union military and recalled my mother and me to Mars. However I joined up to follow in his footsteps, but only committed to the war because my mother was based at Antaries!"
Ethan shook his head, "No...Your mother was at the Antaries colony during the attack?"
"Yeah that's right", Came the reply.
"Ensign Smith!" Came Lucy Romulus' voice from across the comm, "The Iceni and the remainder of the fleet is retreating, get back here now!"
Ethan snapped back to reality and looked around – the lunar fleet was all but destroyed, vast hulks of ships and fighters lay all around space as the Mars Union capitol ships continued to push forward along with their combat-armours.
"Go," Zack said. "Get away while you still can"
"Zack..." Ethan wasn't sure what to do.
"Go, my squad mates wouldn't hesitate to finish you. Get out of here"
He didn't ask twice, switching power to his engines he flew away towards to remainder of the lunar fleet. As he did he watched the Mars Union ships take orbit around the Earth and begin deploying drop-pods.
Drop-pods were capable of holding over three thousand troops and equipment and they were being dropped to Australia – most likely to gain a foothold for the Union to invade the rest of Earth.
He still couldn't believe he had encountered Zack after all these years, worse yet they were now on opposite sides of the war. He docked with the Iceni and pulled of his helmet, sweat escaping from the cramped space and floating in the 0g environment.
As he leapt from the cockpit he noticed that none of the other pilots or their craft had returned, from the Iceni's fighter compliment, he had been the only one to make it back. So much for a quick end to this war.
Lucy Romulus
She formed a fist and banged it into her chair; the 8th orbital fleet had been completely decimated. Only three battleships and one destroyer, along with the Iceni, had made it back to the Moon. On top of that the Iceni had lost all but one of their space fighters along with their pilots.
As soon as they had reached lunar orbit reports had flooded in that Australia was under heavy ground attack and would most likely fall to the Mars Union tomorrow morning. More new had also followed that the use of nuclear weapons had been banned again and would not be used under any circumstances against Mars again – this was to stop public outcry since the attack and to regain some sort of civilian popularity.
At least that was one bit of good news, she hadn't agreed with the use of nuclear missiles in the first place. Her XO came up behind her, "Ma'am, here is the damage report. Minor damage to deck eight, nine and eleven and the weapons system is down to fifty percent efficiency. We expect to be combat worthy again in twelve hours."
Lucy looked at Rachel, "Not a good start to the war is it?"
Rachel looked down at her, "No, Ma'am. It seems command underestimated the technology and strength of the Mars Union."
"So it seems," She said back. She leaned into her chair and sighed, "I wonder just were all this is going to lead?"
Rachel looked at the view screen that showed the remains of the 8th lunar fleet. She quoted the motto of the Atlantic Empire's military forces, "For the protection of Mother Earth"
The doors to the bridge opened and a tall man stepped through them. Lucy and Rachel both turned to the newcomer; he a blue fighter pilot uniform and had long blonde hair down to his eye-lashes. He sighted Lucy and walked towards her, his face lighting up when he got close. He saluted, "I'm Lieutenant James Parker, and I've been assigned to your ship as a fighter pilot"
Rachel saluted to the captain and moved back to her station as Lucy stood; "Welcome to the Iceni, I'm Lucy Romulus, the commanding officer" She smiled back to him.
"Glad to be here captain, I heard things didn't go so well with a Union battle group?"
She sighed, "We were lucky to make it back it was one hell of a one-sided battle"
"Seems were going to be having plenty more of them in the future."
Zack Race
The pilots of Zack's squad sat in the briefing room of the York Town once again, now orbiting grid seven of Earth orbit. From reports it seemed the conquest of Australia was going nicely.
However he couldn't help but feel bad about all this, he now knew his old friend Ethan was involved on the enemy side, what if he had to shoot him down or worse yet kill him?
"Did you see those Norms run with their tails between their legs?" Rex said from the seat behind him, "They were stupid but they got what they deserved after what they did to Antaries"
"I hear that," Alan replied back.
Moving to sit next to Zack, Chris broke into his thoughts. "Are you ok, Zack?"
"Huh?" He turned, "Oh am fine Chris, I just got a lot on my mind right now"
The briefing room door opened and the commander of the York Town entered. "As you were" He said, moving to the centre of the room to get their attention. "You each did a grand job at there are combat-armour squad scored the most kills out of the battle group."
"Damn right" Rex said.
"However, during the battle we sighted an unknown class of enemy battleship," A holographic projection appeared showing the Atlantic Empire's Iceni class battleship. "This ship was able to destroy three of our own before we could hit her back, and she carries more firepower then two of the Earth's standard battleships."
"Damn the Norms, building such a monstrosity for the simple fact of killing us!", Yelled Alan.
"Regardless," Tony continued, "The York Town has been ordered to intercept and destroy this new battleship before she is able to cause more problems down the line."
Zack's expression suddenly changed, he remembered the flight data of Ethan's fighter – he had docked on the new class of Earth battleship. Would he be forced to fight him already?
"Recon believes our target is currently supplying near the Moon, so we'll wait for her to leave before engaging. I recommend you each get some rest. We will begin our operation tomorrow at 0950 hours."
The group left the briefing room and Zack intended on getting some sleep, Chris floated up next to him. "Hey Zack, I hear we'll be getting some R&R back at Mars shortly, I plan on holding a concert. Do you want to come?"
Zack looked at his friend, "I concert? I didn't even know you played anything, Chris"
Chris smiled, "Yeah I play the violin, might not be popular with the girls with it but I enjoy it"
"Sure, I'll go." Zack said back as they both entered the lift door.
Lucy Romulus
Once again she sat in the command chair as Admirals briefed her on her ships new mission. She tried not to look impatient but with the destruction of most of the 8th lunar fleet and now the fall of Australia, she just wanted some action to help boost moral.
"Captain, we have a fairly simple operation for the Iceni." The grim voice spoke to her over the comm.
"We're ready for it, Admiral."
"With the fall of Australia, the Mars Union now have a base of operations from were to strike other locations of Earth. Therefore we must stop them from sending troops from space to other places on Earth, to this end the Iceni will patrol around grids two and five to see if the Union has deployed any ships or drop-pods to that area"
"Sounds simple enough, Admiral"
"You will depart immediately, command out"
She closed the channel and switched to internal communications. "All hands prepare to departure, man your stations"
Lucy turned to her XO, "Keep an eye on the scanners. Were on our own here and I don't want to run into any Mars Unions surprises"
"Yes, Ma'am"
Tony Davis
"Sir, we are reading the target leaving lunar orbit. Her course puts her within striking distance in three hours"
Tony shifted his weight so that he had a better view of the screen. "Very well, plot an intercept course and set condition yellow throughout the ship. All combat-amour pilots are to report to the briefing room"
"Aye, sir"
It was strange; why would the Atlantic Empire send their most powerful warship out into space alone? Either they were truly stupid for Norms, or that ship was just as powerful as they predicted.
Either way they would know there answer soon it wouldn't be long before they would be engaged in combat with them. Standing, he floated towards the lift heading to brief the combat-amour pilots of their upcoming mission.
As he travelled he remembered reviewing the mission logs from the battle with the Earth's lunar fleet, and that Zack had almost been captured. Though it was strange to review as it seemed the Earth fighter had simply aborted its capture operation for some reason, perhaps having a talk after the briefing would wield more answers.
The briefing room doors opened and Tony was greeted with the combat-armour pilots of his ship. "Be seated" He said as the doors closed behind him.
"We've located the Atlantic Empire's new warship heading to grid 5, our orders are to engage and destroy it. We can't allow such a powerful ship to remain an obstacle."
Zack spoke, "We are doing this alone, sir?"
"Yes, our forces are currently stretched to the limits following the occupation of Australia. Your orders will be to deal with the fighters and then assist us in destroying the enemy ship, simple enough."
Rex stood, "It's about time. That ship is going down for good this time"
Alan also stood, "You're right about that. No way are they getting past me"
"Very well," Tony continued eyeing his pilots, "The operation will commence in an expected three hours, mission prep in two. Dismissed"
The pilots moved to exit the room, "Zack, I want to speak with you"
Zack stopped and looked at his fellow pilots before moving to his CO. He saluted "Yes, sir?"
"Zack, do you want to tell me what happened out there?"
Zack looked away, knowing what he was talking about. "The pilot of the Earth fighter was a friend of mine when I was a kid"
Tony sighed, "I see"
"More then that, sir" Zack continued, "The pilot is a High-Born. We both grew up in Scandinavia as kids; he remained in the neutral nation while I returned to Mars. I never thought he'd join the Atlantic Empire though..."
"War is confusing to friends, Zack. But you have to ask yourself a simple question – can you kill him? If not you put yourself at risk as well as your squad mates and even this ship. Remember that, Zack."
Lucy Romulus
"Fire anti-beam depth chargers! Bring us to port and get a firing solution on the hostile craft!" Lucy yelled as the ship rocked from weapons fire. Before the Iceni could react a Mars Union warship had fired on them, ripping into the hull within moments and had already launched their combat-amours. "Launch our two remaining fighters!"
"Ethan and James are launched and moving to engage enemy combat-armours, Ma'am" Rachel shot in as she directed firing control.
"As soon as we close into range, open up on them, Rachel. We can't let them build momentum against us"
"Aye. Load missile tubes one through then with diablo missiles, lock forward beam cannons on hostile crafts engines. Fire when we enter optimum range"
The ship rocked again as the battle became joined, a moment later the Iceni's forward beam cannons fired, missing the enemy craft by a few meters. Outside the space around the Iceni and Union ships was full of attractive lights of weapons fire and debris as the two forces continued to exchange deadly blows with each other.
Ethan Smith
Ethan fired at the combat-armour as it streaked past, missing but none the less firing anyway. He pulled the fighter around and continued firing, trying to score a hit on the evasive enemy.
"Ethan!" Came a familiar voice over the radio, a moment later Zack's face was shown on the small screen. "Ethan stop firing on us, your attacking your own people!"
"Zack, I can't stop. You're attacking the Iceni!"
"Ethan! We're your people, not the Norms. Stop being foolish!"
A moment later Zack's combat-armour shot in front of Ethan's craft, blocking his fire from hitting his fellow pilots. Ethan shifted his fighter's position, trying to avoid firing on Zack.
"Ethan stop this!"
A moment later the Iceni's beam cannons fired again, green lancers of energy flew through space and ripped into the Mars Unions warship, severing a large engine pod as the ship turned from the impact – damage but still alive.
A new voice cut into the comm. channel, this one seemed smoother the other Union pilots he had heard. "Zack? The York-Town has been hit badly, should we withdraw to provide cover?"
Another voice came through, "Pull back? We've just started to attack them and were going to withdraw?"
Zack's expression showed that have concern and failure. "We're pulling back; withdraw to the York-Town. We've lost the advantage."
The other Union pilots voiced their opinions, but began to withdraw from the Iceni. Zack's combat-armour began to turn. "Ethan come with us. There is no reason for you to stay with the Atlantic Empire."
"I can't do that, Zack. I'm sorry" He sighed.
"Then I have no choice," Zack said, sorrow in his voice. "The next time we meet I will have to kill you."
"I'll have to do the same...Zack."
Zack's ship began to turn and head back with his fellow pilots. "Whatever happens next time with meet, Ethan...know that I am truly sorry for what I must do"