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Savage Heavens

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson

By Tony RenaldPublished 2 years ago 10 min read
5

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Whether it’s true or not matters little though. Watching from the cockpit of your fighter while one of your squad mates, your friend, screams into the void as they drift silently to their icy demise is haunting enough without that knowledge.

Zachariah Vanderbilt. Boyd Grayson. Elliot Martin. And now Derrick Agung.

Travis Taylor stood at the top of his cockpit access ladder as he finished scratching Derrick’s name after the others, followed by the letters R.I.P., onto the console of his ZK12 Falcon, Tanya. He placed his fingers to his forehead then set them on Derrick’s name as he lowered his head. “Rest easy buddy.”

He began to wonder if this rebellion was even worth it. He didn’t even question it when it began. Now though, now things had taken a turn for the worse. They had just lost two Valkyrie Class cruisers in this last battle and nearly half a squad of fighters. It was the most devastating blow to their cause since the rebellion started nearly a year ago. He knew he should never have trusted intelligence. There was only supposed to be one Justice capital ship in the space above Vitam Novam but there were three and two Courage transports each with a full squad of fighters. He knew there was at least one traitor, likely more, somewhere within their ranks.

“Taylor!” A woman’s voice interrupted his thoughts from across the hangar bay of the last remaining Valkyrie in their fleet, the Wings of Libertas.

Travis climbed down the cockpit access ladder and turned to see a woman in an officer’s uniform approaching. Her dark black was hair pulled up in a tight bun atop her head. Her large, angular dark eyes matched her hair which contrasted starkly against her pale, almost white skin. She could be beautiful if she could lose the constant scowl and hard stare.

“What is it Lieutenant Hayashi?”

“What is it? Is that how you address officers?”

“You know I’m just a volunteer. I’m not enlisted. This whole silly routine of feigning respect isn’t my thing.”

“Excuse me? Feigning respect?”

Travis let out a sigh. “Can we just get on with this already? What are you here for?”

“Volunteer Taylor. You will address me properly. Do you understand?”

“Or what? I own this Falcon. I can fly right out that hangar bay door and there is literally nothing you can do about it.”

Travis didn’t think Hayashi’s jaw could clench any tighter, but it did. “I’m really not in the mood for this right now Hayashi.”

“Nor am I Taylor. I came to offer my condolences but since you felt the need to cop an attitude I’m not exactly feeling so charitable anymore.”

“I copped an attitude? You’re the one-”

Alarm sirens began screaming throughout the hangar bay and red lights flashed. “ENEMY APPROACHING. MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS.” Came the ship’s computer’s voice over the intercom. “REPEAT. ALL HANDS ON DECK. MAN YOUR BATTLESTATIONS.”

The Wings of Libertas lurched wildly as an ordinance slammed into it and exploded.

Travis fell to his knees, and saw Hayashi collapse as well. “Approaching!? They’re already on top of us! What the hell!?”

Lieutenant Hayashi fumbled with her wristwatch and brought up a holographic 3D display of the Wings of Libertas. Most of the hologram was blue but there were a number of areas in red. “They’ve hit the bridge already. How? How did they hit us without any warning?”

Travis pushed himself back to his feet and held out his hand to Hayashi. She took it and he hauled her tiny frame effortlessly back to her feet. “Get in.”

“What?”

“Take the copilot seat.”

“I need to get to my station.”

“Your station is gone. Get in!”

Hayashi looked around frantically. “I…”

“Get in!”

Another ordinance rocked the Valkyrie but the two held their ground this time being a little more prepared for the sudden heaving of the ship. Hayashi rushed to the Falcon and climbed up the access ladder. Travis followed quickly behind her.

As he climbed into the cockpit he kicked the ladder away. Quickly he began flipping switches and hitting buttons as the cockpit hatch closed and Tanya’s engines began to hum.

The ship shook violently as it was hit again. This one was much closer. The Falcon slid around the hangar bay as the Valkyrie continued to shudder and creak. Explosions could be heard all around.

Travis hit a button overhead. He hit it again. And again.

“Damn it. The hangar bay door isn’t opening.”

“What!?”

“Hang on!” He grabbed the yolk and squeezed the triggers for his main, forward facing cannons. The laser bursts slammed into the door propelling it out into space and the blast caused the Falcon to lurch backwards. He slammed forward the throttle and the fighter lurched again but forward this time and he guided the it nimbly through the makeshift door. They launched into the ensuing chaos outside.

There were other fighters scrambling as well and two Justice Capital ships firing on the Wings of Libertas which was now nearly coming apart entirely.

Lieutenant Hayashi looked back. “Oh my god…”

“It’s over. The rebellion is crushed.”

“I… I can’t believe it…”

“We’re going to warp.”

“What!? You’re not going to fight? You have to fight.”

“It’s over. There’s no reason to continue the fight.”

“I order you-”

“It’s over!” Travis entered some coordinates into his navigation system, flipped the small cover to his right, and slammed his hand on the green button underneath. The engines’ whine accelerated to a crescendo and then dropped to a sudden deep boom as everything around them began to distort. All the stars, the other fighters, and the capital ships disappeared into a blur.

The area outside the cockpit swirled and flashed as the ZK12 Falcon warped through space.

“I can’t believe you abandoned everyone!” Hayashi screamed as she smacked Travis repeatedly on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you!”

He grabbed her hand and held it from hitting him anymore. “There was literally nothing we could do in that situation,” he growled through clenched teeth.

“Then we should have at least gone down fighting for what we believed in.” Her voice was cracking.

“To what end? Why?”

“For honor.”

“Honor? What good is honor if you’re dead? The least I could do is save myself and you.”

“Where are we even going? There’s nowhere left. If they take Vitam Novam then The Federation controls everything.”

“There is no if about it anymore. They control Vitam Novam now.”

“Then where are we going?”

“I have a place.”

The swirling outside began to subside and the space and stars began to materialize.

Hayashi looked around at the vast empty space. “Where is this?”

“The Sigma System.”

“What!? Are you insane? There’s nothing around Sigma for light years!?”

“Exactly.”

“We don’t even have supplies. We’ll starve to death. We may as well have gone down fighting.”

Travis just ignored her as he set about fiddling with his tracking system. Beep, beep, beep. He had picked up what he was looking for. He set his coordinates and pushed the throttle forward veering off to the right as he did. It was a quick jaunt before the ship slowed down again.

“What is that?” Hayashi said leaning over the front seat. “Is that… it can’t be.” She said in a whisper. “It’s an Imperial Worldbreaker.”

“It’s derelict. But some of the systems still work. I have been stocking it with supplies for years.”

“They were all destroyed.”

“Except this one. It’s been drifting out here for probably near a century.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone about this? If it’s salvageable it could have turned the war around.”

“I did tell some people. Most are dead… well perhaps all of them now…”

“No, I mean someone with authority? Someone that could have done something with it.”

“Well I have had suspicions about spies in our ranks. And with what we just went through at Vitam Novam I suspect I was right.” He reached up and hit a button overhead. One of the doors on the Worldbreaker slid open. Travis guided Tanya inside and the lights in the hangar bay came on as the doors closed behind them.

Travis opened the cockpit and jumped out on top of the fighter and climbed around to the wing and down as close to the ground as he could get before letting himself fall to the floor below. Hayashi followed his lead awkwardly.

Hayashi looked around almost in awe. “This is a piece of history.”

Travis was already at a control panel booting up some of the systems on the ship. The solar cells on board were sufficient to keep minimal systems such as life support operational. He entered one last command and a nearby door opened up. “I can show you to the officer’s quarters. We’re going to need some time and some rest to determine what to do next.”

“Next? What is there to do next? Nothing’s left. The rebellion is destroyed.”

“I… don’t know. There must be something we can do.”

“There’s nothing. There are two of us here? What are two people going to do? Rebuild the rebellion from the ground up? On an old derelict Worldbreaker? It’s over. Everything we’ve lost was… was for nothing.”

For the first time Travis saw the scowl leave Hayashi’s face. Her jaw quivered slightly and he noticed a glistening in her eyes. It was something he never expected to see from her.

She leaned her back against a nearby wall and slid down it lowering her head into her knees.

“Lieutenant Hayashi…”

“Chihiro.” She sobbed into her knees. “There is no Lieutenant now.”

“Excuse me?”

She lifted her head and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Chihiro. My name is Chihiro.”

“Chihiro…” it felt strange calling her that.

“Just go. I can use the console. I’ll figure out where to go.” Chihiro lowered her face back into her knees.

“Very well. I… I will be in room three ten if you need anything.” He walked into the hallway leading from the hangar bay. He briefly glanced back at a sight he could never have imagined witnessing before today, then closed the door behind him.

He started up a flight of stairs, avoiding the elevators, not just to save power but also because he still didn’t know how badly some parts of the ship might be in disrepair. Continuing past the third floor where his room was and on up to the tenth he reached a large lounge. It was mostly covered in dust with a decent sized bar at one end. There was another stairwell at the back. He went up this last flight of stairs. There was less dust here. He came here often.

The door on the landing at the top of the stairs opened up as he touched the keypad and it revealed a huge dome shaped windowed room. The observation deck.

Travis sighed heavily as he entered and then walked across the room to one of the massive windows. He leaned against it and let his forehead hit it with a slight thump.

Chihiro was right. What were they supposed to do now? He had no plan, no more friends, and didn’t know if his last known remaining family, his sister Tanya, was even still alive anymore. He swallowed hard to fight back tears of his own. He wanted to scream. He looked out into the vast empty space before him. What good would screaming do here? Even if you could hear it in the vacuum of space.

Sci Fi
5

About the Creator

Tony Renald

Aspiring Sci-Fi/Fantasy writer.

Reader insights

Outstanding

Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!

Top insights

  1. Compelling and original writing

    Creative use of language & vocab

  2. Excellent storytelling

    Original narrative & well developed characters

  3. Easy to read and follow

    Well-structured & engaging content

  1. Heartfelt and relatable

    The story invoked strong personal emotions

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Comments (3)

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  • Dakota Rice2 years ago

    Cool story, a fun read for sure

  • Steph Powell2 years ago

    I really enjoyed the way you write dialogue!

  • Kelly Robertson2 years ago

    This is a great opening! It kept me engaged and wanting to know more about the rebellion and the characters. Great job!

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