The front viewport displayed a lot of space traffic in the hangar. Many fighter ships and shuttles were all jostling amongst each other in an effort to leave the hangar bay.
“Why can’t all these ships give me space?” Tara shouted, at the viewport. “I am done waiting for them.”
Then, the shuttle lurched forward, gently scraping against a few other ships, as it headed rapidly to the launch doors. Celeste hoped Tara remembered how to fly a ship properly. This was neither a simulator nor a confined area of space.
“We are out!” Tara shrieked.
Celeste peered ahead. The darkness of space dominated the viewport. She couldn’t see any signs of the enemy. “Where are the Zandrax ships?”
“I am not sure,” Tara replied. “Shields are up. Life support is normal. I cannot believe I am actually flying a shuttle in space. But we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Our cloak is offline. I am trying to rectify it now. But I will need some time.”
An uncloaked ship was a sitting target for the enemy. Celeste stood up behind Tara. “Can you move us away from the starship?”
Celeste also didn’t want to be anywhere near the Grekk starship. She feared the worst now that the order had been given to abandon the starship.
“But where to? I need a position.”
Celeste paused as she scanned the background profile of Zandrax. “Head over to the western side of the planet.”
One thing Celeste had gathered from the background profile was that the Zandrax had only a few cities, all of which were located on the eastern side of the planet. The rest of the planet appeared to be sparsely populated. At least, according to the Grekk intelligence on the planet. This probably also had to do with the fact that the background profile highlighted the presence of water on the eastern side of the planet. She doubted the Zandrax would chase anyone to that side of the planet. Their attention would remain on the Grekk starship.
“This is not possible!”
“What?” Celeste asked.
“Sensors indicate a group of Zandrax fighters approaching this area. They must have detected all of the ships leaving the hangar.”
Celeste looked at the sides of the viewport. She couldn’t see anything out there. How many Zandrax fighters were out there? It must have been part of those that had launched from the planet’s surface.
“Weapons armed and ready,” Tara reported.
Did Tara even know how to fire the weapons? Celeste dared not ask Tara. This wasn’t the time to instil any doubt into her. Instead, Celeste would need to trust her.
The Grekk, being a dominating species, had many distinct values. One value was that every ship, whether it be a shuttle or battleship cruiser, had to be armed to the teeth. The abundance of Depiom had been a major factor that pushed this value forward. Scientists had made good use of Depiom to create weapons of all shapes and sizes to fit the entire Grekk fleet.
The on-board system interrupted her thoughts. “Missiles incoming!”
Celeste gripped the sides of her seat as she belted herself in. The shuttle did a hard right and began to accelerate as it went into an evasive pattern to avoid the missiles. The Zandrax didn’t seem to care about the number of casualties they afflicted on the Grekk.
“Countermeasure flares deployed,” the on-board system highlighted.
Celeste heard a series of explosions in the distance as the shuttle began to slow down.
Tara was obviously excited. “That was …”
The shuttle shuddered. One of the missiles must have found its targets.
“Aft shields at 70%.”
Then, the shuttle shook again. It was another missile.
“Aft shields at 50%.”
Celeste felt the shuttle begin to turn around. “What are you doing?”
“We need to get those fighters off our tail,” Tara said, as she turned the controls to the left.
“No, we don’t,” Celeste shot back. “Just get us out of here.”
Tara’s enthusiasm at flying the shuttle was going to her head. They didn’t have time to fight the enemy. This shuttle, despite its weapons, was no match for a group of enemy fighters.
Celeste frowned. It was too late. The shuttle was facing one Zandrax ship. The rest had seemingly vanished from the area. They had probably considered this shuttle not worth their effort and instead gone chasing after other Grekk ships.
“Tara …”
But Tara failed to hear her as the shuttle launched two missiles. The contrails streaked ahead of them at the Zandrax fighter, who immediately began to take evasive action.
“Nice try,” Tara shouted, as the shuttle then fired a volley of shells.
They went rippling towards the space where the Zandrax fighter had been forced to evade into because of the missiles. The Zandrax fighter again went into an evasive pattern, but was too late as it fell into the path of one of the missiles. The missile ripped through the fighter as it exploded into a ball of flames.
Celeste expected a shout of victory from Tara, but there was none. She found it odd and got off her seat to find out what was going on.
Tara was staring ahead with tears in her eyes. Celeste looked ahead and staggered back in horror. The Grekk starship was on fire. There were many smaller Zandrax ships surrounding it. They kept firing their cannons at it. The aft of the starship began to break apart. There were over two hundred Grekk crew on board that ship. This was the first time the Grekk had lost a starship since the end of the Enigma War. Celeste thought she would never see the day the Grekk lost a starship during peacetime.
Celeste touched Tara’s shoulders, but she brushed her away, in anger. “The Zandrax will pay for this incursion.”
“Did everyone get out?” Celeste inquired.
“It seems like it. Long-range sensors picked up a dozen Grekk signatures on the port side. But they may not make it.”
“Why?”
“The reactor core meltdown will cause a shockwave,” Tara declared, as she turned the shuttle around. “We need to get out of here now.”
The shuttle began to accelerate quickly as Celeste went back to her seat. Tara was right. The Grekk were strategic even when their starships were about to be destroyed. Upon the destruction of any ship, the Grekk had intentionally built into the reactor core the ability to generate shockwaves that would annihilate any surrounding ships, enemy or Grekk. It was the final act of defiance against any enemies. The fact that the Zandrax ships had remained in the vicinity implied they were not aware of this Grekk capability.
“The shockwave has started,” Tara reported, as she further accelerated the shuttle.
Celeste didn’t know if the shuttle could outrun the shockwave. She had never been in such a situation. She held her breath.
“Hold on,” Tara warned. “This is going to be rough.”
The shuttle began to shake. Celeste felt the seat she was sitting on begin to rattle. She gripped the seat tightly. Celeste closed her eyes as the shuttle continued to vibrate violently. She could feel her head swaying to and fro.
And, then it stopped.
Celeste opened her eyes. “What happened?”
There was silence.
“Tara …”
Tara was slumped at the console.