The Topaz Operation Read online

  Lygalia entered the Arrow’s cockpit. “I hate being locked in here like a turtle.”

  “Hopefully not for long,” said Ryle. He pressed the comm, “Admiral, status?”

  Static crackled, then Exla’s voice, “We’re losing our escort ships. The Pug just took a fatal hit. Colonel, in your opinion, should we abort?”

  Ryle appreciated being asked and considered the same course of action, but the significance of this mission weighed on him. “No, sir. I say press on. Where’s the rest of the fleet?”

  “Hold on,” said Exla.

  “Bao, Peex, what do you see?” said Ryle.

  “Sir, Decoy Fleet A is in place,” said Peex.

  “Well, that’s encouraging,” said Bao.

  “You haven’t seen these decoys, have you?” said Peex.

  Bao shook his head as he examined the tactical for himself. “Looks like our other battlegroups are arriving.”

  “Exla’s calling...yes, Admiral?” said Ryle.

  “Fleet Group Four is rerouting to slingshot,” said Exla.

  “Let’s do it,” said Ryle.

  “Entering high-speed orbit in two...,” said Exla.

  With the cruiser Pug exploding behind them, the Azurite blasted into Topaz’s orbit.

  “Hang on, folks,” said Peex.

  The ship fired all thrusters, boosting into a tight orbit around the planet’s dark side. Fleet Group Four, consisting of the Battleship Fizer and three light cruiser gunships, followed behind. The Fizer released three squadrons of fighters to hold off the Havoc onslaught.

  “On course, Colonel,” said Peex. “Should hit slingshot release very soon.”

  “How soon?” asked Ryle.

  “Um...very,” said Peex, reading his instruments, then throwing up his hands. “I’m not actually in control of this ship, remember?”

  Ryle checked his screen that showed a live feed of the planet itself as the Azurite passed over: Topaz was a beautiful place—oceans, greenery, clouds—much like Chrysolite. Aqtal had exercised his perverse will here, molesting it as he desired. It must stop.

  “Ryle, look!” said Peex.

  He jerked his head up toward the main viewscreen. Three Archon battleships headed straight for them. He smacked the comm. “Admiral, why don’t you spit out the Arrow here? We can sneak through them—”

  “Evasive action!” shouted Exla.

  The lead Archon battleship, the Barbarian, opened fire with two Neon Prime missiles. One missile scraped the Azurite’s side and the other slammed into the light cruiser on its left flank, the Zephyr, shattering its forward deflector shields. An Advanced Gak Destroyer emerged from the Archon battleship and powered straight toward them.

  “What is that Gak up to?” said Ryle.

  The Gak launched two silver projectiles and made a U-turn back to the Barbarian. The projectiles struck the already damaged Zephyr head-on causing its forward hull to collapse in on itself—vanishing. Its molecular parts imploded into nothingness and the crewpersons inside were sucked out into the vacuum of space while the rest of the ship spun out of control toward the planet.

  Ryle witnessed it and locked his eyes on the tactical. A report ran showing that the mass of the ship’s forward full had shrunk to zero. “Oh my...”

  “Did you see that, Ryle?” barked Exla.

  “Oh my...,” he repeated. “Uh, yesss, sir.”

  “What were they hit with?” said Exla.

  “It’s bad, sir. Very bad.” Ryle guessed this was just a prototype test but didn’t have time to explain. How did they get the implosion technology?

  A slew of other enemy fire followed—plasma cannons, laserfire, and more Neon Prime missiles. The Azurite took hits but stayed on course, its forward shields being depleted minute by minute. The Azurite launched a volley of its own Neon missiles, scoring several hits against the enemy battleships. A few missed leaving behind elongated orange trails floating in space over Topaz.

  The Arrow’s bridge rocked violently. Peex sweated. “Ryle, we’re blocked!”

  The tactical showed no clear path ahead without risking excessive damage and casualties. The comm buzzed again. “Colonel…,” said Exla.

  “Admiral, if we quit now, we can’t try this again anytime soon,” said Ryle.

  Help came from the planet’s surface. Thirty surface-to-space Boron-core rockets emerged from the atmosphere as pinpoints of light, raced upward and impacted the Archon battleships, lighting up explosions all along the ships’ underbellies, piercing through their weaker underside shields and ripping open holes across the hulls. The Archon Battleship Eradicator veered away and headed toward the decoy fleet.

  A new comm signal chimed in. “This is M-1. You’re welcome.”

  “Von, is that you?” said Ryle, the hair on his neck standing up.

  “That’s M-1. Out.”

  The Azurite’s battlegroup banked right and launched straight toward the Archon’s position, taking advantage of the rockets’ distraction. They burst past the Barbarian, barely scraping by and soaking up damage from haphazard cannon fire.

  The Eradicator, accompanied by a cruiser and a pack of fighters, approached a standard-appearing Chrysolite battleship which was firing rounds of cursory cannon fire. Squadrons of Havocs swarmed around it firing at will. At the moment the optimal number of enemy fighters encroached inside the radius, the decoy ship’s hull fractured into several pieces. Each piece exploded outward, taking out dozens of Havoc fighters and revealing a fleet of small spinning drones. The drones fired a steady stream of blasts in all directions, forcing the Havocs to withdraw and regroup.

  A huge drill, itself the size of a light cruiser, emerged from inside the decoy ship and with one powerful rocket blast shot across space and lodged into the Eradicator’s upper hull. The drill’s point spun and sliced its way into the battleship’s interior, causing massive mayhem aboard.

  * * *

  Bao slapped Peex’s shoulder. “Wow, you were right about that decoy.”

  As Peex was nodding, he let out a big sneeze. “I sneeze when I get excited,” he said as he wiped white mucous off his face.

  “Ugh,” said Bao.

  “Decoy Fleet B is causing trouble over there too,” Peex said, showing Bao on the tactical.

  “Stand by for orbital emergence,” Exla’s voice boomed over the comm, speaking to the entire crew of the Azurite as well as the Arrow.

  Everyone on the Arrow grabbed a seat and strapped themselves in. Within moments, the residual blue glare from Topaz faded into the blackness of space as the Azurite launched out of orbit on a direct path toward Onyx.

  “We made it, Ryle,” said Bao.

  “Not yet, my friend.” Ryle frowned at the sight on the rear tactical screen showing the confrontation over Topaz escalating. “Not yet.”

  Chapter 11

  The battery was drained, but Rez always had a contingency plan. The ship his father traveled in to Chrysolite over six months ago—an Archon K-class recon freighter—still functioned but was depleted of power. Rez managed to scrounge up the right components and power cells on his way out of the military base to charge it up. His mother would face legal trouble for letting him out, but it was worth it. She insisted and agreed with him on his task.

  Should he message Ryle? No. Not yet.

  Reythin had hidden this ship under an obscure waterfall on the northern rock face outside of Ochuroma City. Water gushed over a narrow rocky ledge a hundred feet up. Rez knew of the hiding place and guessed it would be the best place to look. He gambled and was right. Ryle knew of the spot as well, for it was a “family secret” very few knew about. And fortunately for Rez, Ryle didn’t have the time recently to check it out. Somewhat in plain sight, a ship could rest inside a nook of the rock undisturbed by explorers as people could not approach on foot unless one was a wizard or a highly trained soldier.

  The recharge worked. Rez disconnected the tubes and climbed up the ladder into cockpit. System instruments sprang to life. The easy
part was accomplished. Now, where to find Jez.

  Rez’s damaged ear hurt his ability to tap into musical wizardry. He had tried to sing softly in his cell, but it was a frustrating, awkward experience. A positive, he supposed, was that the dark music, day by day, held less pull for him. It felt more and more like mere noise. One day he attempted a song of harmony, but his ear frustrated him. Pulling together strands of harmonious music was much more challenging than he anticipated, even apart from having only one real ear. He reached back in his mind, back to when he was younger, but his memories felt blocked. Nevertheless, the ways of magical music were deeply ingrained in him and he made do as he could.

  Rez’s fingers hovered over the coordinates keys. Where to go first? Carnelian? Aqtal had several large-scale operations there. Beryl? A possibility. Jacinth...his memory raced with diamonds he had seen there once. Not many, but just a few which were discovered a year ago and quickly locked away out of even his sight. At the time he thought nothing of it, but his conversation with Ryle and Qusam combined with Jez’s questioning had affected his perspective. If word of diamonds struck terror in Qusam, it must be significant. Clearly a diamond sword played a role in his escape from Aqtal’s clutches and in the ensuing battle on the mountain. Based on the unmistakable feeling of dread Rez had felt from his cell, Aqtal was up to something new.

  He couldn’t be certain where to start his search and couldn’t waste time blasting off to every single planet, but Rez knew of one person—on the fringes of Archon territory—who could help him. He would start with her. She worked at an Archon outpost near the radiation field, and Rez would likely be shot if discovered, but she was his best chance at information.

  He fired up the engines. With a dull roar, the ship vibrated to life. The ship rose up, blasted through the waterfall and zoomed into the sky, fast enough to be just a momentary blip on Chrysolite’s sensors.

  Jez, my brother, I will find you.

  Chapter 12

  “They’re not supposed to be here,” said Ryle, incredulous at the tactical report.

  “Sensors don’t lie,” said Peex.

  “Sometimes they do,” retorted Bao.

  A sizeable Archon fleet pursued the Azurite and its entourage as they rushed toward Onyx. Disturbingly, the Archon ships were gaining.

  Lygalia, standing behind them, crossed her arms. “Two battleships. Two or three Gak squads and a couple hundred Havocs. If our readings are correct, there’s more between us and Onyx. If I ever find that mole I am going to personally pull out his fingernails and then sing him a song of anguish.”

  “Don’t mess with her,” said Peex, elbowing Bao.

  “Be careful, man. She might practice on you,” said Bao.

  Lygalia squinted at them.

  Ryle swiveled in his chair toward Lygalia. “Sounds a little harsh for a good wizard.”

  “All in the name of justice, Colonel. You understand, I’m sure,” she said.

  Indeed I do. He held her gaze for a moment. “No comment.” Ryle truly was not sure what he would do with Jez if and when they caught him.

  “Colonel,” Exla’s voice reverberated over the comm.

  “Here,” said Ryle.

  “I hate to break to you, but we’re cutting you loose early.”

  The Arrow’s cockpit broke into cheers. Ryle waved them quiet.

  “What was that?” said Exla.

  “Nothing to worry about. I think my team’s ready for a change of scenery.”

  “Apparently the Archon figured out how to double their speed, and we’re the guinea pigs for their first assault.”

  “Great,” said Ryle.

  “Ryle, it’s best if you get out of here now and accomplish your objective. We’ll lead them as far away from Onyx as possible and hold ‘em off.”

  Exla’s tone implied his intent, and Ryle didn’t like it. They won’t survive. “Yes, sir, though I fully expect to see you soon.”

  “Copy that. Prepare for ejection. Exla out.”

  The Arrow’s crew rushed to work preparing for detachment as they all had been impatient for this moment.

  Ryle kept one eye on the wide tactical and one on the detachment protocol. “Boosters?”

  “Check,” said Peex.

  “Engineering.”

  “Check!” shouted Flaro from the back.

  “Clamp gear.”

  “Check,” said Bao. “Detaching protocol has commenced.”

  A prominent rectangular light above the main viewscreen had blazed bright red the entire trip. “When the light is green, time to get mean,” said Peex.

  “That’s awful,” said Bao.

  “They’re here!” said Ryle. The ship rocked from the new onslaught—orange flashes streaked across the viewscreen and reddish-purple cannon fire lit up space before them.

  Everything spun.

  A wave of Archon fire struck the Azurite before it could release the Arrow, sending the ship into extreme evasive maneuvers culminating in a rolling spin. The Fizer returned fire on the nearest Archon battleship, though accuracy diminished at such high speeds. When the spinning stopped and the view leveled out, they faced point-blank two new Archon battleships fresh on the scene.

  The light went green.

  “Wait!” said Ryle, punching the comm.

  The Azurite ejected the Arrow. They shot out of the Azurite straight toward the Archon battleships. Peex jerked the controls, turning the ship just in time to miss a squad of three Gak Destroyers swooping past, and then swerved downward to avoid colliding with the battleships. A laser blast nicked the Arrow’s left wing.

  “Get us out of here, point 73!” said Ryle.

  “Working on it!” said Peex.

  The Arrow slipped between the two battleships while dodging cannon fire.

  “So much for a stealth mission,” said Bao.

  The Azurite emptied the rest of its fighter squadrons resulting in a plethora of dogfights erupting. Both the Azurite and Fizer traded heavy cannon fire and Neon missiles with the Archon battleships. The two remaining light cruisers hunted Gak squadrons.

  “Almost clear of the battle,” said Peex.

  “Good,” said Ryle as the first sensor readings of Onyx and its moons brought some comfort.

  Flaro ran into the cockpit, “Colonel! We’re caught in a—” before he could finish, the ship lurched to a halt, sending Flaro face-first into the back of Bao’s seat. “Tractor…beam,” he groaned.

  “Not good,” said Ryle. The Arrow began moving backwards toward the Archon Battleship Skalyar. “Turn our cannons toward the source.”

  “We can’t. The beam shut down our weapons,” said Lygalia from the mid-ship weapons station.

  Frustrated, Ryle weighed his options. Being captured was not one of them. “Everybody, prepare for action.”

  “Fighters coming in,” said Peex.

  “Ours!” said Bao.

  Three Chrysolite Hydro-5 fighters swooped around the battleship and opened fired on the beam’s source. A few hits struck the target, but the Arrow kept trekking backwards. The fighters swung around for another pass. Plasma torpedoes raced from the fighters’ launch tubes and struck the tractor beam’s generator, blowing it to pieces. Intense counterfire from the Skalyar destroyed two of the fighters, but one escaped free from harm, swerving in a daring move.

  The Arrow stopped moving.

  “Yes!” said Peex as his face contorted with a huge sneeze.

  “Go!” said Ryle.

  Peex fired the ship’s boosters, blasting them away from the Skalyar toward Onyx.

  “We need the names of those pilots so we can thank their families,” said Ryle.

  “One of them is tracking with us,” said Bao.

  The surviving Hydro-5 fighter caught up with the Arrow. It flew extremely close, almost close enough to touch. Ryle jumped over to the side viewport to see what foolish, reckless pilot would do such a thing.

  His sister—the pilot—waved at him.

  He shook his head as he
gave Jyssa a cursory return wave, then pointed back the other direction and mouthed the words, “Get back there!”

  She shook her head “No.”

  He nodded to her and pointed back to the battle.

  She shook her head and punched her comm. “Arrow IV, can you hear me?”

  Bao punched the secure comm line. “Jys! Is that you? Thanks for that back there.”

  “You’re welcome, Lieutenant.”

  “Jyssa,” said Ryle. “Thank you, but this is a highly classified mission. And they need you back there.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Jez?”

  Ryle nearly spit out his lunch from two hours earlier. “Huh?”

  “You heard me. Why?”

  “We’ll talk later. That’s an order.”

  “Fine. I’ll see you on the planet.” Her fighter veered away.

  “New team member?” said Bao, turning toward Ryle. “And what is up with Jez? I haven’t seen him in a while, come to think of it.”

  Ryle fell into his seat, hoping to avoid answering that question.

  Chapter 13

  “Gang leader, ready to launch another salvo?” said M-3, Corporal Tiz Retmann. “We have Archon Battleship Crix in range.”

  Mitchett, distracted by sensor readings over Topaz, replied, “Just a sec.” Mitchett’s team hacked into Laylon’s rocket launching system which the Archon had shut down, but Semo found a way back in. Now another signal was showing up—one very familiar.

  Semo pored over the screen. “What does that look like?”

  Mitchett shook his head. Chrysolite-style defense shields? “I know what it looks like, but I hope I’m wrong. Hurry up and fire, M-3!”

  Retmann pressed the fire button. Twelve rocket-missiles blasted from their underground enclave. They cleared the atmosphere with the Crix in their sights.

  A power surge in the building adjacent to Mitchett’s team produced a bright green spark of light on its tower and a shrill reverberation of electrical power. Semo’s computer screen flashed green.