Into the Horizon: Power Contested Part 3
#28 of Into the Horizon
Greetings all, I present you with the final part of this chapter. The wonderful Dasher Cheetah assisted me with it, so be sure to give him the credit he deserves should you like this story. I hope you enjoy.
Power Contested Part 3
As Dasher entered the cargo bay, an explosion rocked though the ship. It was tearing itself apart. Anything electric and explosive was indeed exploding. The entire deck shook and Dasher fell to the floor. Unknown to Dasher, and the fox in his arms, this cargo bay held expe-riments that were being conducted were stored. As Dasher fell, a canister that was sitting on a shelf was knocked to the floor and exploded sending shrapnel into Dasher's arm and side, as well as Seamus to a lesser degree and spraying its contents onto the cheetah. He coughed and sputtered as the unknown liquid dripped into his nose and open maw, leaving a terrible after-taste and blurring his vision. Dasher began to cough and choke as the fumes from the canister filled his lungs. He let out a soft groan then a mournful cry as his entire body seemed to be set on fire both inside and out. Even his nerves seemed to be on fire, and his senses began to dull as the chemicals entered his blood stream thru the shrapnel wounds themselves. Dasher pulled himself onto his paws and knees as the door to the compartment opened with a hiss and Cap-tain Devin ran into the room. A pistol in paw, he eyed the situation as another explosion rocked the ship. This one was the sub-light's going critical. Dasher heard the door open and realized that he was helpless to do anything to save himself. He still didn't have his vision. The good Captain realized that if they stayed where they were then death would surely greet them. In fact Admiral Black had already escaped from the ship, though he had ordered them to continue the assault. His fleet would die in the battle. Captain Lopez had no desire to die, in fact he would prefer to live. He holstered his gun and approached the cheetah. Dasher made a feeble attempt to escape and hissed at the sound of approaching footsteps. He was quickly stopped by Devin's paws on his arm helping him up. He was both shocked and confused by this. "W-what are you doing?",the weakened and barely able to see cheetah asked. "Well," said Devin, "I don't know about you but dieing isn't on my list of things to do today. Let me help you and maybe we can all get out of this." Devin quickly helped Dasher to the transporter and then picked the fox up and carried him to the transporter as well. "Time for us to go, don't you think?" With that, Dasher nodded and provided the Captain with the coordinates and shield frequency to Bill's ship. Devin activated the cycle and joined the two on the pad. Just as they dematerialized from the ship, the reactor went critical. The blast took out all of the fleet except for the lead ship. Realizing its danger, it activated its hyperdrive and channeled the energy into its shields. This saved it from the initial blast, but crippled it and the shock wave knocked it from orbit. The energy surges sent though the shields from the shock wave overloaded its propulsion systems and left the ship helpless to maneuver. The doomed ship plummeted from orbit. Only the shields kept it from burning up on re-entry and held the reactors together until it impacted the planet. The reactor went critical and the shock wave shook the base and its inhabitants.
As Bane was finishing examining the fortifications for the base, the intercom came to life and a voice summoned him to the command deck. Bane quickly ran back and was met by his executive officer. "Sir, we have an emergency! The plan of Admiral Bill to take out the enemy ships was successful and all ships in the fleet have been destroyed except one. It was damaged but the explosion knocked it out of orbit and it is on a collision course with us!" Bane quickly assessed the tactical situation and contacted Ron on the intercom. "Ron, we have a ship on a collision course with the planet. We aren't sure where its going to impact, but projections show somewhere near here. We need all the power you can throw at the shields and we need it now." There was a brief pause followed by Ron yelling, "Holey fucking shit, they are throwing a ship at us? I'll give it my best, Bane but We are going to take damage, no matter what I do." Shortly after this communication, Ron ran into the command room to find a nervous looking Bane sitting in the command chair. "Well, I've put everything we have to spare into the shields but I don't know if it will be enough. The emitters are damn near cooked as is and the core is nearing exhaustion." Bane shook his head, "We'll find out soon enough." The command crew watched as the ship plummeted from space. The fiery trail in the sky pointed right towards them and no one knew if this might be the last thing they would see. Had their own desperate gambit now caused their own end? The ship impacted the ground. Its decks and all internal components thereof were thrown forward, the entire ship was crushed and the reactor safety equipment obliterated. The power core detonated, resulting in the entire continent quaking. As it hit the ground, it sent out a shock wave, from the destruction of the power core. Bane watched as it raced for the underground base. He activated the intercom and sounded an alert for all crew to brace themselves. The wave hit the shield of the base and washed over it like a tidal wave. The ancient power system of the base simply wasn't any match for the power of a continental quake. Circuits that were already being pushed beyond their capacity were suddenly pushed beyond their limit. Power systems voiced their disapproval of this by exploding. Panels that were fixed to the wall were suddenly launched across rooms turning into debris that caused more damage as sparks flew from new openings in the walls. The entire base shook with power not yet felt by many inside of it. The upper floors, already weakened by the blast of the space gun caved in upon themselves, killing some and trapping others in the rubble. To anyone outside, it looked as if an area of ground subsided into a depression where the base had lain under it. The command room was in the center of the complex to protect it from attacks. Even it's extra strong construction, was not enough to protect it from an assault of this magnitude. Panels on the wall that concealed power components were blown off sending shrapnel and molten bits of metal through the room. Crew members fell to the floor from a combination of shock, injuries or fright. The entire base went dark as the power core gave its last and the shields fell. Bane was knocked to the floor as a panel behind him blew off. A piece of metal tore through his shoulder and he grimaced, crying out in pain. He held his paw over the wound and prayed that their efforts had been enough. He had to stay conscious and determine what was left of the enemy and his own personal as well. If any of the wolf forces were left, they would be heading here to finish them.
Caption Rodger Taylor stood on the battle bridge of the lead ship in the Alliance home base defense fleet. They were staying in the battle but not by much. They had the advantage of faster ships but that's not much of a benefit when they were up against this many ships. The Caption shook his head as his ship was rocked by the wolf fleet pounding at the shields. They wouldn't last much longer and he knew it. Then, as he began to give up hope that Admiral Bill's desperate gamble had succeeded, the command ship exploded. The shock wave miraculously took out the rest of the fleet, all but one ship. Rodger watched as the ship hit the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere and fell from orbit. He quickly turned to his chief tactical officer. "Chief, where is that ship going? Is that an attempt to escape or is it going to impact the pla-net?" The young officer quickly ran his foxy fingers across the keys of his console, "Sir, accord-ing to projections its going down close to the base!" Just as the Captain ordered the other two ships to pursue and destroy it, he received word that three individuals had materialized in the transporter bay. Had the Admiral and Dasher escaped and who was the third person? He quickly turned and ran to find out the answers to his questions. He was hoping beyond hope that one of them was Bill Williams. Getting the Admiral back would be a great advantage for the Alliance forces.
Dasher, Seamus, and Devin materialized on-board the command ship of the alliance de-fending fleet. Since Bill Williams had departed, completed his mission and as a result died, a fox named Rodger Taylor had been left in command of the defense efforts by the space fleet. He entered the teleportation room and took in the situation. He quickly ordered an armed guard to escort the wolf and strange green fox to the med bay and a medical team to bring the injured Dasher. Who were these two unknown persons and why had the cheetah brought them with him? Answers would have to wait until they were tended to and Dasher could tell him what had happened. Both Seamus and Dasher had to be carried by medical personnel, under armed guard as Dasher had passed out in teleport from his injuries. The mysterious green fox was very weak and had obviously been tortured. He had everything from broken bones, to internal injuries as a result of being beaten, to nasty looking cuts. That alone indicated that he was someone the wolves held as an enemy prisoner. He could be of use to the alliance if he had information the wolves wanted but even if not, his status was uncertain and Commander Taylor ordered he be treated as a friendly but guarded until Dasher could tell what he had brought him back for. The doctor, a human who had joined the alliance after the rescue of Admiral Williams, quickly went to work on Dasher, assessing his situation. It was obvious that he was the most severely injured and needed attention first. The good doctor ran a scanner over the Cheetah's body and stood back with a puzzled look on his face. The readings were confusing and he had never seen any-thing like them before. Comparing it with the readings previously obtained from Dasher, the only information they had for this unique specimen, the doctor thought, 'I have no idea whats wrong with him. He's covered in some chemical agent but I've never seen it s like before and don't know what it is. The best thing we can do for him is to keep him in isolation and observe him to see what his symptoms are. These life signs are fluctuating wildly, as if he were fighting a massive infection but I can't see how he could have contracted it or what is causing it. The chemicals are not biological agents.' As the doctor continued to think and research his data base for anything that could be of use, the staff members of the med bay looked at the poor cheetah laying on the hospital bed. He had somehow made it back to them from what had been thought to be a suicide mission and if they could not help this hero, it might still turn out to be one. It was obvious that something was wrong as he writhed on the hospital bed but nobody really knew what. The doctor began treating the other patients as he could do no more for the cheetah, when Dasher suddenly sat up in his bed and yelled out Bills name. He began trying to get up off the bed, tearing out IV lines and monitoring sensors as he thrashed and it took a team of med crew members to sedate him again. Even in his sleep, he kept mumbling. It was obvious that scenes of the battle were running through his muddled mind. The doctor looked upon the poor feline with pity. However, the battle had caused many wounds on the ship and the doctor had many other patients to tend to. Hours later as he walked back into the med bay, he found the table Dasher had occupied to be empty. In fact, there was even a small trail of blood running from his table and into the hallway but Dasher was nowhere to be found. The doctor sounded the ship wide alert,and tho a search of the ship was conducted, it turned up nothing. The Cheetah had vanished!
In the command center of the base, Bane was unconscious and his senior officer had taken command in his place. So much damage had been left that communications were spotty at best and a number of personnel had been killed or injured. Those who were not critical or too badly hurt had been tended to and were helping search for survivors, clear away debris or beginning repairs where they could be made. It was lucky that Ron had escaped injury and was able to lend his considerable skills and knowledge to trying to get systems back up and running. Without him, Banes second in command would have had little chance of restoring anything and further loss of life would have been the result. The fox worked his tail off, trying not to think of his injured friend Bane, or the addition of Bill and Dasher to the role of those they had lost in this damned war. Bane soon received first aid and when the rescue crews had reached the command area where they were trapped, the medical teams were brought in. Bane was looked after first as his leadership was needed by them all. His second in command was greatly re-lieved to learn that he had a mild concussion, some bruises and small cuts that were easily tak-en care of. The wound to his shoulder was cleaned, stitched up and wrapped in bandages, then his arm put in a sling to keep him from moving it until the wound had sealed again. He was brought around again and after the medical team had released him from their care, the second in command updated him on the situation. Bane had refused pain medications as he did not want his mind clouded and the pain of his shoulder helped keep him focused. He called for Ron and after the fox had expressed his joy that Bane was alright, Bane explained that his first priority was to get some sort of communication back up with the fleet, or what remained of it. Ron's concern for him was comforting to the wolf, who had lost his lover and other friends. He would have liked nothing more than to retire to his room with Ron and rest in his friend's company but there was too much to do. Bane directed the repairs and gathering of what weapons remained to them, as well as trying to set up what defenses he could. They had seen the fleet destroyed but any survivors would be headed planet-side and for all they knew, the wolf reinforcements were on the way too. Within an hour, Ron sent word that he had pulled the radio gear out of the stealth ship Dasher had used to mount a rescue of Admiral Williams with and he now had a way to talk to the remaining ships of his fleet. It wasn't much, and certainly wasn't long range as the power simply wasn't available. However it would allow contact with orbiting craft. As the final preparations to the communications gear was made, Bane walked into the Command Center, which had partial power, and resumed command of the base. Contact was made with Commander Taylor and Bane asked what the situation was up there.
"Sir," began Commander Taylor, "the fleet has been destroyed." There was a brief cheer in the control room as this already known fact was confirmed. "What of Bill and Dasher?" There was a brief pause, "I'm sorry to report that Bill has been lost in the line of duty. However, Dasher was recovered but is currently missing in action." Bane paused before asking for clarification to this. The commander reported, "Sir Dasher was indeed brought back. However he was covered in a chemical agent, the doctor did what he could but it was and is unknown to us. Later he was discovered missing. We are unsure of his whereabouts as a search turned up nothing. He is believed to be.....lost in action sir." Bane couldn't believe what he had heard. His dear friend was recovered only to be lost. How had he escaped the med bay? Furthermore how had he gotten off the ship? This was a mystery to him, but it would have to wait. There were too many injured soldiers here. "Commander, can you scan the surface of the planet for survivors of the fleet?" There was again a brief pause. "No sir we cannot, our scanner array was knocked offline in the fight. We were beat up a good bit. We are still functional, but we cannot with-stand much more." Bane then thought of the two fleets that were on there way. "Commander, there are two more fleets on there way, their intentions are unknown. Try to get in touch with the rest of our fleet and get reinforcements as soon as possible." The commander signaled his understanding and then was out. It was also understood that the communication equipment would be powered down to half power. This would save the limited power the base had left. They were running on backup generators. Bane struggled into his office. The door had been manually opened as the mechanism had been fried. He look at the remains of his conference table. A support beam had fallen onto it and crushed it. He shook his head, he had always liked that table. He walked to and sat down at his desk. His chair had remained untouched, which was good. He decided at least something should come though this unharmed.
A knock at the door brought to his attention that Ron was at the door. Bane smiled warmly at Ron, although the sentiment wasn't shared. Ron walked in with tears in his eyes. He ran in and wrapped his arms around Bane and sobbed into the wolf's shoulder. Bane grimaced a bit as Ron was sobbing into his shattered shoulder. "I....I though I had *sobs* lost you." Bane smiled at the gentle fox, today had simply brought him more pain than he could stand. Bane put his good arm around the fox and held him tightly. "Its OK my friend, it will all be OK" After Ron has sobbed himself dry, he looked at Bane. "I'm sorry Bane, you must think me weak." "Not at all my foxy friend. You have the courage to do what I cannot. You are showing how you feel." Ron nodded to the wolf and sat in a chair opposite of the desk. "What shape are we in Ron?" Ron shook his head, "we've been better. Basically the crystal core is shot. We need another crystal. Furthermore the main circuits have basically been melted. New ones will have to be laid down. The overall structure is stable. However a large section of a wall on the bottom floor has collapsed and the upper floor has basically fell in upon itself. We have crews digging in the rubble but it doesn't look good." Bane sat and absorbed this information, it was almost too much. His friends dead, the base near destroyed and defenseless, backup nowhere to be seen, an unknown number of potential soldiers heading for the base, and two fleets on their way without any information on the intentions of them. It was bad, very bad. To make matters worse, now they didn't even have power for the shield. Assuming that the emitters would work. They also didn't have enough power to supply the force-fields with. They did have a few mobile generators, however they wouldn't last long if they were battle tested. Furthermore, they were needed for internal systems as well. Therefore, only a select few force-fields could be activated. Bane also recognized that much more of a pounding and the entire base would collapse. Lastly, if reinforcements for the wolf empire was on their way then the alliance didn't have enough troops left in the base to hold it for very long. The battery packs for the weapons on base were almost depleted, and there wasn't enough power to recharge them. Bane sat back and signed deeply. The weight of command felt like an entire planet on his shoulders right now. Everybody looked for him to find a way to win. He always came out on top, he never failed. He never had failed in fact. He didn't believe in the no win situation. But it seemed as though he was in one now.
Ron looked at Bane with a sad and tired look in his face. Nobody could remember what it was like to sleep. "Bane, what do we do?" This was an honest question. One Bane himself had actually asked several times over this battle. Bane straightened up in his chair and cleared his throat. "We do the same thing we have been doing. We walk toward the horizon with strength and dignity. If this base does fall, then nobody will ever say that my men didn't do their best to save it." Bane stood up and offered his good paw to Ron. "Shall we walk beyond the horizon together?" Ron smiled at the wolf. "Yes, lets. While we are at it lets see if I can salvage a little project of Scotts that might just give us the edge." Together the two friends went into the control room to face what they thought would surely be the end.
_I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of Into the Horizon. *gives an evil smile* As always I enjoy feedback from my readers. Please let me know your thoughts.
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