Echoes of Harmony

SSV Celestial Phoenix

Stariek Orbit

22 November 3296

The proximity alarm blared loudly throughout the entirety of the bridge. Admiral Hayes watched through the viewport as Master Three steadily grew larger. His breath caught in his throat at the thought of those unable to evacuate the danger zone. Two minutes, while it felt like an eternity on the bridge, was nothing when traversing the largest vessel Stariek ever constructed. Those deaths, he knew, would be because of him.

He counted down the seconds until collision. The cruiser made no motion to change direction or evade the ship. Its magnetic cannons swiveled to fire at the carrier, but its shields absorbed them with ease, even in those sections already damaged by the overloaded emitters exploding. At the least, they were able to keep them from destroying another frigate. Though this didn’t protect Sierra Nineteen, the SSV Jenkins, from taking the next neutron beam to lance out, which cut it in half. Seeing no escape pods appear gripped his heart with ice.

“Conn, TAO!” Captain Gibson called out. Her voice rose an octave before she corrected herself. Hayes’ head swiveled quickly to stare at her. “Energy buildup detected in Master Three. They’re overloading their reactor!”

One problem after another. A reactor overload would surely wreak havoc on the ship. While it wouldn’t destroy it, it would cause many more deaths than his ramming plan.

“Navigation, adjust course to bearing zero four five, positive inclination twelve degrees immediately.”

“Sir, the delta-V necessary for that change would result in a force that could rip the ship in half.” Lieutenant Perkins’ hands still moved as he plotted the designated course. “I cannot recommend it.”

Admiral Hayes opened his mouth to argue when a hand landed on his shoulder. His XO, Commander Reese, stood next to him and shook her head.

“This ship can take the force of the overload, even from a Hyperion ship,” Reese whispered. “Better to lose a few hundred hands in the detonation than twenty times that by ripping the ship apart.”

Hayes sighed and pinched the bridge of his noise. The longer he waited, the less time they had to adjust their course. Reese was right, he knew. Perhaps the stress of the situation was getting to him.

“Navigation, belay the previous order,” he said. “Bring our nose up as much as you safely can. Try to impact with the lower decks if possible.”

“Aye, sir.”

At once, the front of the ship inched its way upward. Hayes checked the tactical board and accompanying chronometer. Less than ten seconds to impact. He considered moving to his chair as Reese did, but decided against it. Not because he expected to be able to stay standing under the force of the impact but because he felt the small gesture showed the Hyperions he wasn’t afraid of them. As if they could see him anyway. He couldn’t deny the nervousness that was rising in his stomach with each passing second.

Part of him wished he had one of the Druthagar warships with their hammerheaded bows designed for ramming. No such luck.

Slowly, the chronometer reached zero.

Immediately, the ship rocked like a rowboat in a hurricane. Hayes was thrown to the ground, hitting his head on a railing. His vision went black for a moment before he recovered and pushed himself up to his hands and knees. Shards of metal shot around the bridge, some of them slicing through his arms and legs. Pain surged through him but he remained conscious. He pushed himself up enough to look out the viewport. The smaller frigate was turned perpendicular to its previous course, all its forward momentum negated. Much of the bow of his own ship was crumbled and torn. Twisted metal stuck out at odd angles. Half of the Hyperion ship was lodged into the front of the Celestial Phoenix. The two of them almost seemed to be fused together.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

The shuddering continued for several seconds as the carrier kept plowing forward, attempting to tear the tiny frigate in half. Ceiling tiles crashed to the ground. Circuits blew out around the bridge, sending half of it into darkness. Fires erupted where sparks met oxygen lines. Those not secured by belts to their chairs were thrown about the bridge, slamming into the nearest surfaces. The ship continued shuddering for another few moments as it tore through the front half of the Conta.

Then the frigate’s reactor exploded. The force of the explosion radiated through the ship, nearly turning it sideways. This forced the inertial dampeners to compensate and keep them from slamming into the sides of the bridge. It did not, however, prevent those closest to the starboard wall from hitting it. Several ratings fell to the ground unconscious, their heads or arms or chests bleeding.

Eventually, everything went still, the only sound that of groans from technicians and damage control teams doing their jobs. Pulsing red lights periodically illuminated the room. An alarm gently sounded from a nearby console.

Hayes stood slowly, testing his footing. Pain throbbed though his head, and he swayed slightly in place for a moment. He looked at the tactical board and found it had gone out. Pushing the button to pull it back up, nothing happened. He took a deep breath and looked around the bridge. Captain Gibson still sat in her seat, buckled firmly in it. Her head wavered from side to side as she struggled to keep it upright. Commander Reese was also in her chair, but a pipe still attached to the ceiling was sticking out of her chest.

“Reese!”

Hayes rushed over to her chair, stumbling for a moment as he lost his footing, and wrapped his hands around the pipe. It had pierced directly through and out the back of the chair, almost touching the ground. He took deep breaths as he stared at the spreading red spot in her blue uniform. Her eyes met his, a pained expression on her face.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, releasing the pipe and grabbing her hand. “It should have been me.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, her voice weak. Blood gurgled in the back of her throat, and a shudder went through her body. “I’m glad I was able to serve under you, Admiral.”

Before either could say anything further, her eyes closed. Her body went still. Hayes took several seconds to stare down at her lifeless corpse before he turned his attention back to the bridge. A pair of medical technicians scurried to her and checked her body before removing it. His own breathing was ragged. He ran his hands through his remaining ring of hair. Sweat slicked his shaking fingers. He closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. A losing battle. Both inside and outside the ship.

Finally, he pushed himself up. The crew needed him now more than ever. There would be time for mourning later. Or there wouldn’t. Either way, he needed to get his head back in the game, as horrible a game as it was.

“TAO, status of Master Three?” He attempted to put as much vigor into his voice as possible. A pain in his stomach from a broken rib nearly caused him to double over. “And what of Mornage?”

“Conn, Master Three confirmed destroyed. No escape pods detected. Several tons of space debris is going to crash to the surface over mostly unpopulated areas and ocean, but no significant danger is present.”

“Very good.” Part of him questioned whether he made the right decisions to stop the Hyperion frigate. Another part quickly replaced it, saying it was the better of two horrible options. “Damage report?”

“Pardon my language, sir, but there’s no other way to put it: the ship is fucked.” She brought up a depiction on her console and showed him. The entire front half of the ship was red, representing spaces exposed to the void. Nearly half the bottom was also bathed in crimson. The port side had a gaping hole in the side from the detonation of the frigate’s fusion reactor. Only one pair of hangar bays were left unobstructed. “Our reactor is currently offline from an electrical overload. We’re going to need extensive dry dock time to repair the damages. Our communications arrays and life support are connected to the backup generators and are currently online. Casualties are still coming in but are up to one thousand so far. We’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”

“No thanks to my lack of trying,” Hayes said, managing a weak smile for only a fraction of a second. He turned to Lieutenant Price. “Communications, send out a message to all our birds. Tell them we’re going to be unable to accept their return flights in our condition. When this is over, have them land on other vessels if they can.”

“Aye, sir,” the man replied, carrying out the order.

“Now what, admiral?” Gibson asked.

“Now, we wait for the rest of the fleet to carry the day.” He walked back over to the holographic projector and pushed the button again. This time, it flickered for a moment but went right back out. A grim smile touched his lips. “Might as well start on repairs.”

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!