“We have to hold out just a little longer!” Commander Moore
shouted out above the sound of explosions.
“They’re almost finished. We have
to buy the enough time to get Codename Destroyer completed. No matter the cost.”
His men were exhausted.
Somehow word had leaked that their remote outpost was where the work was
being performed. Nobody knew how it had
happened, as only the very top personnel of the military were even aware of
Codename Destroyer, much less its whereabouts.
Regardless, the Kardin Fleet had descended on them three days ago, and
Commander Moore and his forces had been under constant fire since then. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t know
if they would last much longer. But, he
knew that his men needed his confidence, even if it was inauthentic.
“They should be running low on energy. They won’t be able to hold up this assault
much longer – Lt. Anson, I need the shields to hold just one more hour!”
“Sir, I don’t know how they’ve lasted this long! It’s only a matter of time before they
collapse; and if I put any more energy into them, they might take the entire
station with them when they do,” Lt. Anson shouted back through the comms.
“Lieutenant, I don’t care what you have to do, and I’d
rather this station be blown to bits than for Codename Destroyer to fall into
Kardin hands. Just do it!”
A high pitched whine became audible throughout the station
as Lt. Anson’s last bit of fission generated power was pushed through systems
that were no longer able to handle the strain.
But, as long as the troops on Station 39 were able to hear the whine,
they knew that they were at least alive, so nobody complained.
“Commander Moore, we’re losing men everywhere. When will reinforcements arrive?” This time it was Doctor Yang crackling over
the comm relays. He had been in battle
before, but it always made him sick to see this many men dying – and for
what? Some science experiment; that’s
all he got to know. That’s all any of
them got to know. Commander Moore, knowing
full well that they were on their own, chose to ignore Doctor Yang’s pleas.
In the lab, the scientists were frantically trying to keep
Codename Destroyer intact, while also desperately trying to finalize the last
steps needed to bring the power core online.
There were so many parts that hadn’t been tested that they had no idea
what would happen. Frankly, they were
throwing pieces together so quickly, that they were certain that they had made
some mistakes. And they knew that any
mistake at this juncture would be fatal.
There simply was no time to fix anything.
“Shields are down, sir – and they’re not coming back up!”
Lt. Anson called back through the comms.
“We’re sitting ducks; they’ll be boarding us shortly.”
Almost on cue, Kardin shock troops immediately could be
heard cutting through the side of the station.
Commander Moore and his men all pulled out their sidearms. “You – you go and protect the lab!” he
shouted to all of the other men on the bridge.
They hesitated briefly, knowing that if the Commander stayed, he had no
hope of surviving this fight; yet they conceded and retreated through the
spiderweb of hallways that led to the lab.
Just as they were leaving earshot of the bridge, they heard
gunfire. A few targeted shots of a hand
weapon followed by the repeating explosions of the shock troops’ weapons. Then nothing but the clang of heavy boots
slamming against the ground.
The Kardin troops were filing through the opening that they
had made in the Station by the hundreds.
The only thing between them and capturing Codename Destroyer was the
empty hallways and the small handful of troops that had left the bridge under
Commander Moore’s orders. It was only a
matter of time.
In the lab, the scientists heard a few shouts. They were muffled through the blast doors,
but they could hear enough to gather that the base had been compromised. They continued their frantic work, and very
soon the muffled shouting turned to the explosions of weapons. Then clanging on the blast doors as the Kardin
troops began cutting through the final layer of protection. And, just as theyfirst shock troop stepped
through the newly penetrated doorway, they heard a deep bass sound booming
through the lab: “Codename Destroyer
online. Awaiting orders.”
