The Shadow of the Moon-Lydia's Tale

Chapter Four

Standing next to the Commander on the orbital deck of The Revenge where they had a panoramic view around the Flagship it was difficult for Faulke to comprehend what he was seeing.

Beyond them the straggling remnants of the fleet stretched out across the endless celestial cloth of space. It was a stark sight even to an experienced warrior such as Faulke. Rama had receded into a pale blue disc of light. Now as they raced away from the enemy he watched appalled as the true extent of the damage to the fleet became apparent. Majestic star cruisers, colossus's of unbelievable size, control towers shattered beyond recognition spun slowly out of control, to drift off into space or slowly cut across their fellow star ships ripping huge swathes of metal out of each other's hulls. Chunks of ships were breaking away to spin off into space leaving billowing clouds of dirty black smoke trails behind them. Damaged pulse drives pulsed flumes of stark blue light before exploding into vast radiant balls of fiery red light vaporising all they could consume before shrinking back into the void. All around The Revenge lights flashed and burst in a hideously malevolent pyrotechnic display that burnt the retinas of Faulkes disbelieving eyes.

A ragged tear had opened up in the bows of The Revenge where a Swarm ship had managed to break through the torrent of fire thrown up by the Flagships guns and smash into the ship. From the exposed innards of the ship decks electrical discharges sparked like lightening, eerily illuminating the shattered floors and ghostly forms of the clumps of bodies piled up against the broken walls, trapped there by the ships acceleration.

The fleet that was once the pride of the humans, the fleet that had finally crushed Faulke's planet and their allies now itself lay half annihilated, shattered and wrecked. This was the fleet that had faced off a starship fleet almost twice its size at the Rings of Grytten. This was the fleet that had daringly jumped through the wormhole at Sqalon-Pol and attacked the allies in their rear without the loss of a single ship. Whatever anyone felt about the humans it was hard to face the fact that what had happened at Rama was a devastating reverse of fortune and the ramifications would affect both humans and non-humans alike.

Commander Waite-Kidd stood resolute, unflinching; implacable in defeat. Standing bolt upright deep chest thrust out, arms crossed over the chest of his uniform, his piercing blue eyes set unwavering on the desolation before them. Faulke knew this would wound him deeply but he also knew that the Commander was a soldier. The man chosen by the Council of Earth Maxim Colonies to stop the advance of the Spawn would not yet be ready to accept defeat.

Faulke stepped forward, rested his hands on the barrier and was hit by a blanket of noise rising up from below him. Looking down he watched the manic activity on the ships main Battle Deck. Officers barked orders, crew ran from halostation to halostation. A hundred faces from the ships around them, thrown up by the lights of the halo-tubes reported in. Resolute Captains, weary navigators, startled looking crewmen; the deck was full of the halo images of the bloodied faces from the cruisers of the beaten fleet. Heads came and went amidst of riot of shouts of confusion, cries of pain, dull sounding explosions. Looking around he saw the Commander had moved up next to him, trying like himself to understand the magnitude of the losses.

'Quiet.' The Commander raised his hand then pointed to one of the tubes of light. 'There. Captain Qazon. Bring him up on the main halo.'

The crew turned and looked up at Faulke and the Commander, a wave of silence falling over them before they turned to the main halo and the haggard face that had appeared there.

'... the core of our pulse drive is about to go reactive. We're breaking off from the fleet to move to a safe distance away. I'm evacuating the crew, what's left of them.' Captain Qazon's face was ragged, blackened with smoke. A deep cut across his head oozed with dark blood.