Star League - The Last Zomban

SL-TLZ Chapter 7 Calamity

Deep fissures form in the thick glass. Donnos wonders why he got out of bed this morning. How much more pressure can the window take before it blows out into the bay and takes them with it? The bell chimes; the airlock is pressurized. Mo cranks the handle around and shoulders the squeaky door open. Krag rips off his helmet, takes a deep breath and goes into a coughing fit. As he wretches, Po pulls him from the airlock, telling him to take slow deep breaths to force the foul, poisoned air from his lungs. He sets him on the bay window ledge and takes position to shut the door. Mo yanks Donnos by the arm to hurry him along and shoves him in the corridor when the glass explodes outward, sending shards into Vicky’s lifeless body. The endless vacuum of space sucks precious oxygen out into the bay with such force it pulls dust and loose papers with it.

Mo runs but can't move forward. He is caught by the wind tunnel and dragged backward. The terrified Dwelf jumps with all the strength he’s got and grabs ahold of the overhead pipes above the door. He holds on with all his might but the strong wind is pulling him by the legs out through the door. His strength is weakening. Po fights against the wind to keep the door open; if it closes, Mo will be cut in half. He yells forsomeone to hurry.

Donnos props himself against the wall to the left of the door and grabs Mo by the legs. He struggles against the wind to pull them in. Once clear, Po lets go of the heavy door. It slams shut with an ear popping boom and the gang falls to the deck in a heap. The corridor is deathly silent.

Listening to himself breath, Donnos scrambles to his feet. They have got to keep moving. He taps Mo on the shoulder and points toward the exit while he runs around the corner. He finds Johnny sitting against the window staring at his mother’s floating body, hugging his knees and crying. Johnny reacts to the reflection in the glass. He screams and tries to push himself out of the corner but Donnos blocks his way. Johnny punches him in the groin as he pulls off his helmet. Donnos catches him by the arm and spins him around. "It's me, boy. It's me." he says quickly. Johnny recognizes his voice and jumps into his arms. The boy squeezes his neck as hard as he can and just cries on his shoulder. The poor boy must have seen the whole thing and thought the Magorr had come for him. Donnos holds him tight and runs for the door through the central hub to the inner ring.

Donnos hands the boy to Krag and orders them to the bridge while he moves to the nearest wall comm to call in. Jal is surprised and glad to hear from them but quickly turns to business and wants a report.

“What’s there to tell…the entire crew is dead…including Vicki.”

Jal is silent. His wife was out there. She’s not in the military anymore so why was she out there? If she had stayed in the ship, she would still be alive. "I thought you were dead too," he says finally.

"Listen: The Magorr retrieved something from the ship. Vicky said they set it to blow up. You have to jettison the bay.”

“You mean all those people died for nothing?”

“We’ll all die too if you don’t. I don't know how much time we have."

"Krag is on his way up with Johnny.”

This catches Jal off guard. "What? Johnny was down there?"

“He was watching his mother suit up. I think he saw everything. Think about the rest of your family.”

Jal growls in frustration. “Standby…Ejecting the bay now…Nothing happened.”

****

The battle wages across the air waves as well as in space. Malak goads his opponent from across the void. ""I'm coming for you. I will personally kill you and spread your bones all over the rocks. When I’m through with you I will go to your home planet Marroo and make it my own to replace the one you took from me."

Hsst releases a long feline throaty growl and with it, his anger. "This ends here and now," he yells, playing right into Malak's hands. "I will not live in fear of hairy beasts!"

"I'll meet you in the middle."

Hsst growls again.

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty…”

Don’t play his game! Jolan thinks. Malak is your worst enemy. He was your friend once. He knows what buttons to push to make you mad and when you’re mad, you make mistakes. Keep a level head and you will keep your life. Static fills the comm, interference caused by heavy weaponry thrown from across the distance between fleets and missies strike as the opposing fleets close the gap between them.

Jolan is not crazy about the Magorr, whose sole purpose in this fight is to kill. Period. They deserve whatever punishment they get but the entire race shouldn't have to pay the price wrought by their leader. If the Magorr win, the Felline will be wiped out to the last. When that’s said and done, they would most certainly come after the humans. Malak’s had a taste of their blood. He hopes he is wrong. He prays that he is being the stereo typical warrior who is nervous of his own shadow. They should settle down and rebuild their world, but Malak has already shown he is not afraid of anything.

The Felline, on the other hand, will fight for their freedom and keep it at any cost. The collateral damage to their ships is too great. They cannot possibly win. Yet they are aggressive fighters and should never be underestimated. From the beginning of this war, the Magorr have attacks and the Felline defends. Jolan wonders when the tide will turn.
The Felline fleet moves into an unknown formation with the newer smaller ships moving ahead of the larger ones. They spread out into three groups of four in a diamond formation. Jolan has spent his lifetime studying battle strategy and he can’t seem to figure this move. He smiles grimly and wonders what they are up to.

As one, the vanguard flies fast into the Magorr fleet, appearing to leap into the space between the slender tree-like ships. As they occupy the tight space, razor sharp blades extend from the sides of the slender ships, tearing deep gashes into the bulky tree-like ships. Orange fireballs blossom in beautiful and deadly bursts. The “pounce” is success and disables nearly a third of the Magorr fleet before they start to track and target the cutters but only strike two of the fast ships. When the Felline capital ships arrive, all hell breaks loose on weapons fire. At close proximity, both sides take heavy damage. No matter who wins, there won’t be many left to enjoy the victory.

The leader of the Alliance watches the battle with a heavy heart. Ships on both sides take heavy damage and many die. As a man of peace, he is sickened by the loss of life. Killing is pointless when there are peaceful solutions to every conflict; killing is easier when you are unwilling to find a solution to the problem. But that is not so with the Felline. They are defending their lives and their freedom against the unprovoked attack by an equally powerful empire who use their great power to kill and destroy.

A mighty empire is not only built on strength but the ability to know how and when to use it. A mighty empire knows right from wrong and doesn’t influence its’ great power on lesser ones. A mighty empire should not use that great power to kill and destroy. For that reason, they call him weak. He waves it off. He is a man of compassion and a seasoned warrior who will punch you in the nose if you need it.

All life is sacred to Jolan Oakraider.

It pains him to sit here and watch it happen. He feels the need to do something to stop them but his advisor reminds him that they must take great care here. He is ready to help the Felline but not until they ask for it. Any attempt to do so will drag the Alliance into the war and that is a road they don’t want to travel on ever again. They were a long time climbing out of the hole dug by their ancestors. Still, he can’t just sit here and do nothing. That’s not his way.

He wants to talk to both leaders but neither one will answer. He at least has to try to put an end to this. Aganon looks on him as both wise and foolish. Any interference can be viewed as hostility so he has got to be very careful how he handles himself. He asks the Psyen is there is any other way to talk to them. Aganon nods and moves to the comm board. He touches the send and receive controls and sends a pulse of magic along radio waves directed at both flagships. The view screen comes alive with the activity on the bridge of the Rook. The honey brown furred leader turns to the screen and gets extremely angry with the forced call. He becomes irate when he learns he can’t shut down the monitor.

"How dare you human!”

"Forgive the intrusion but we need to talk.”

“With a nose like that, you should be an expert at talking.”

Jolan flushes from the personal insult but ignores it. “You have gone too far this time. You fired on a civilian vessel."

"They were stealing my ship," he says matter of fact.

Jolan is astonished. "So that gives you the right to butcher the crew?"

"They should have left my property alone.” He looks Jolan straight in the eye. “You are weak human. You think you are strong but you really are weak." He paces across the floor and back before he continues. "Were I in your shoes, I would have killed you by now but you, human, are bound by the rules of our grandfathers. Interstellar war is of the past and the eventual future. I would welcome it but you...you fear it and that makes you weak.”

“I will not be provoked by your words Malak. You have to end this nightmare.”

"This is not your fight human. I don’t know why you’re here but stay out the way or I’ll shoot your nose off. This is my only warning."

"I don't fully understand your war against the Felline."

Annoyed, Malak forces a sigh and acts as if he has been made to explain his actions several times already. "The Felline attacked Ralrulk during a religious celebration with a super weapon that nearly wiped us out."

"We did no such thing!" Hsst’s image shares the screen with Malak.

"Your ships were there in orbit when it happened!"

Exasperated, Hsst shakes his head. "You invited us to the celebration and then denied us landing privileges!"

"So you attacked us with a super weapon instead!"

"We did not attack you nor do we possess a super weapon. Marroo has also suffered."

"You lie!"

"The data from your spy ship will show you that I speak the truth."

Jolan clears his throat. "Maybe we should all check it out together."

Malak chuckles. "You better hurry."

Jolan does not like the look in his eyes and grows cold with fear. "Get the Scowl on comm immediately."

                                ************

Yellow and orange flames engulf the ceiling from a single stream of liquid heloden that ignited under the deck plating beneath their feet. The survivors of the salvage team were expecting to see the fiery disconnection of the salvage bay from the mothership but instead a tiny explosion drops them to their knees, cowering from heat too unbearable to withstand.

Donnos's heart nearly beats out of his chest. We’re too late! The drift exploded! He is only slightly relieved to discover yet another malfunction on this doomed ship that could result in his death. He instinctively shields his face from the heat. The ignited liquid is streaming up through the floor. He didn’t realize how flammable Heloden is. Small droplets of burning chemical spit off from the main stream to burn on the metal near their feet. Someone has to shut the valve!

As he thinks it, Mo skitters across the floor beneath the flames and drops into the hole. Donnos strains to see him but the intense heat threatens to burn out his eyes. He wishes him well.

The fire soon streams down to nothing but burning puddles of chemical. Black smoke quickly fills the room heavy with an acrid smell of burnt plastic and super heated metal.

Po kicks the warped deck plate aside and helps his brother out of the pit. His hair is singed and his hands are blistered with third degree burns but the hero is alive.

With eyes that sting, Donnos inspects the panel. He quickly assesses the situation. A spark from the main conduit ignited a heloden line and nearly burned everyone in the room.  The fire damaged the conduit beyond repair. If he is right, the conduit controls the lock mechanism.

“There's an arms length of cable missing...and one end is live.”

“Can you find something to bridge the conduit?"

Donnos hangs his head. He doesn't know how much time is left until the Magorr ship explodes. No one else has to die because he tried to steal the boss’s wife. That's the bottom line: It's his fault they are here. He alone will get them out.

He stares at the smoldering mess and takes a deep breath. “Nothing inanimate.”

"Take your brother to med bay." Po holds his eyes for a moment and nods once. Donnos feels the emotions welled up inside him begin to flood out as he watches Po helps his brother into the corridor.

“Hey Jal, I forgive you for trying to kill me. I’m gonna have to kill you later.” He grabs the dead cable and holds it tight. “For what it’s worth, Vicky was loyal to you until the very end, though I don’t know why. Take care of Krag for me.”

Donnos Zen takes a deep breath and grabs the live wire with an iron grip before he can talk himself out of it. High voltage courses through his body filling the dead cable with energy to complete its circuit. His body convulses, his skin smokes and blackens, his scream blends in with the sound of raw voltage.

The scream is felt by everyone aboard and will be for the rest of their lives.