Oceanna Blue

Hi everyone!

This is a little something I've thrown together. I'll have The King: Book 3, of my award winning series Trolling In Paradise, up on Lit in the next few weeks, maybe early December (Please read The Beast, and The Leader first). If you'd like to know more about my writing schedule or how to get in touch, check out my bio!

Till next time,

Monty

***

Chapter One

It was simultaneously the most beautiful, and most terrible thing, she had ever seen. Oceanna Blue. One of the most spectacular water worlds known to mankind. From orbit, aboard the Yamato, the sunrise was absolutely spectacular. The deep blue of the planet reflected the bright white of the nearest star. Scans had told humanity that the oceans were of a similar composition to those back on Earth. At least, Earth before the corporations took over and turned the entire planet into a desolate rock. But that was a long time ago. There have been many Earths since then. But none quite so spectacular as this blue orb of perfection.

"Sir, we're picking them up on long range scanners."

Grimacing, Captain Sam Turner nodded to her sensor operator. "It's time to end this. Send the ship to action stations. Bring the forward batteries online."

The communications officer didn't need telling twice. Hitting the ready siren, he opened the internal comms. "Hands to action stations, hands to action stations. Assume condition alpha and await further instruction."

As word went out, Captain Turner could see on the display as the fleet readied their weapons. The few personnel not already in position would soon be. They'd been in battle formation for days. The stims in their implants had been keeping everyone alert and ready for this very moment. They'd forced this engagement. A last ditch effort to stem the tide of the Et-Al.

At first, communication was peaceful. They learned, exchanged information where they could, adapted. And then humanity requested a biological sample. That led to confusion as they were given what ended up being a slave. The problem was, they wanted a human slave in return.

Our refusal to allow the sale of a fellow human, turned to the withdrawal of communications. When civilian transports started to vanish along their borders, it wasn't difficult to pinpoint where they were going. Skirmishes broke out, then war. Humanity turned to elite units, augmented bodies, implants, mechanical prosthetics. The Et-Al, being rather weak physically, relied on machines. Large, powerful, difficult to put down with anything less than demolition teams. Both sides pushed, both sides won and lost and finally here on the brink, would be the final confrontation.

Humanity had had enough. The arks were built, like they had when Earth fell. Their destination was set and they were primed and ready to go. All they needed was a break in the fighting to leave. And we were that break. The last of the augmented regiments. No homes, no families, and nobody to mourn their loss. We'd each seen the memorium planned for humanity's new home. We would be remembered.

"Hold fire until they enter the event horizon of the planet. I want them to have to open fire within the gravitational field of Oceanna Blue." Captain Turner didn't need to give the order to know it was being relayed through the fleet.

It was a last ditch ambush. Every last spare ship that could handle a railgun was here. There was no further use for them with the arks set to leave. The nebula surrounding the system would disrupt the communication equipment the Et-Al used. The debris field from the collapsed moons that made up the other side, was picketed with mines that would take years to clear. All that was left was this one narrow corridor. It was perfect. Oceanna blue, with all its mass, would collect most of the debris, regardless of who came out on top of this conflict, choking it up as well. The Et-Al would take years to pick their way through with a significant force to be a threat. And by that time, humanity would be long gone.

"Sir, they're launching torpedoes."

"Shields up," Captain Turner sighed. "Send the first wave."

They all knew this was a one way trip. To make the most of it, the smallest of the craft. Fighters, but also simple passenger craft all set off at once. Those with weapon systems struck first. Every hit to a torpedo, a small flash in the endless dark of space. But that was secondary. One by one, each craft vanished in a flash of devastation. The debris from each explosion set off others and like a ripple of white, red and blue, the first of humanity's best, secured the future for those back home. Countermeasures existed, but once detected, the torpedoes went 'dumb.' So the only effective way to stop a large volley was to destroy them.

"Send word to the arks," Captain Turner ordered. "Charge the capacitors, I have the forward batteries. Operations have the auxiliaries. Concentrate on similar sized craft."

Taking a seat, Captain Turner pushed the master throttle forward to combat speed. Twentieth century warships had crew members just to tell ships to move forward and back. But modern starships gave the captain more direct control. And the more they could throw at the enemy now, the better.

Sitting in one place wasn't going to benefit anyone but the enemy. But a fully loaded six hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred ton, battlecruiser moving at thirty-thousand kilometers an hour, would still be a fully loaded battlecruiser, moving at thirty-thousand kilometers an hour, even as the ship burned. A battering ram didn't need to be steered when it was that big.

"Bring the fleet up to combat speed. We move as one."

"All ships, all ships," the communications officer started. "Combat speed and hold formation. Repeat, combat speed, and hold formation."

A small cheer went out as Captain Turner took full control of the ship. The main battery was hers to control. But all the smaller armaments were for the operations crew. Others would cycle systems as needed while dialling back on others that failed. Life support was optional as they all wore preservation suits, the modern equivalent of twentieth century flash suits, but with oxygen replenishment. As the battlecruiser accelerated to combat speed, Captain Turner aligned herself with the head of the enemy fleet, a large capital ship.

"Torpedos!"

The soft thump of the slow projectiles echoed off the hull. They were big, slow and only had a moderate tracking ability. The originals were highly advanced and could track and turn with ease to give a ninety-nine percent hit rate. But the more technology crammed onboard, the easier it was to find something to exploit, and when those torpedoes started turning around, they'd gone back to basics. EMP shielding and a metal detector. They were big, slow and once fired, they only needed to travel slightly faster than humanity's fleets to make sure they didn't target something friendly. Not that any of that mattered now.

Adjusting the ship's pitch, Captain Turner's finger hovered over the trigger. "Godspeed everyone." She waited a moment as the operation crew unlocked their controls and got ready.

Then fired.

The glow of the forward batteries firing lit up the bridge. The yellow beams of pure plasma slammed into the Et-Al capital ship. The first shot flared brilliantly across the enemy's shields. While most of the Et-Al ship was automated, the bridge crew were living beings. It would do no good for sensors to be disrupted and having their fleets shut down or act irrationally over long distance comms. Their machines had programming, but it was rather basic. Stand and fight, fall back and regroup. They couldn't anticipate an ambush or know when they were outnumbered.

"Command Veto approved, remove all weapon safety's," Captain Turner announced. "Melt your barrels if you need to."

As the enemy ship shifted to return fire, she surprised them by firing again. This was planned to look like a long engagement. That told the enemy that volleys would come over longer spans, to allow the barrels to cool. But there were no intentions to drag out this conflict. There was simply no need. The heads up display flashed as they took rounds to the area around the forward hull. The shields absorbed the impact, and the Captain fired again.

"Sir, transmission from the Damoclese."

"Put it through," Captain Turner sighed.

A familiar face popped up. Captain Turner's oldest friend saluted. "Sir, our main guns were hit on our opening volley. I request we advance within their ranks."

"Granted."

"Turner," her friend said, in a different tone. "I'd like it to be you."

Nodding her head slowly, Captain Turner saluted her friend. "Save me a seat, Joss."

"Sir!" Joss saluted and shut down the com.

"All ships, keep them off the Damocles."

Then she went back to taking chunks off the enemy ships. Using retro thrusters to slew the battlecruiser horizontally and vertically, it kept the enemy guessing. The Et-Al used predictive algorithms to do the same thing, but a laser is harder to dodge than a sub-lightspeed anti-matter shell.

After the sixth blast, Captain Turner could see the Damocles pulling ahead. It's main thrusters burned everything they had to punch through the first line before the rest of us arrived. The smaller armaments still fired. They blasted away nearby torpedoes, before concentrating on hitting the sides of smaller ships around them. Every enemy ship that turned towards them met a hail of fire from the Yamato and the others, only to be quickly overwhelmed.

Captain Turner got the warning for the barrel overheating as their own shields began to waver. But it was meaningless. Lining up another shot, she squeezed the trigger and silently cheered as it punched a hole clean through the enemy bridge. These massive engagements hadn't been common. Total destruction of one side or the other was rare. As the massive enemy ship began to drift, powerlessly, their automatic firing control systems switched to random mode. Peppering fire at random towards humanity's ships. It was no use though. A warning flared inside the bridge and the ship shuddered from an impact.

"Captain, damage control is reporting the starboard hanger is gone!"

"Seal and vent the nearby compartments to prevent fires. If they spread, this is already over."

"Sir!"

It would mean deaths, but nobody was coming out of this alive. Even if they somehow pulled this off, there was nowhere to return to.

Anti-matter bombs were about to obliterate every last human presence. Their lives would be spent floating in space, within their ships until either picked off by the Et-Al, or far more likely, starvation.

Shifting to a new target, Captain Turner ignored the warnings and kept firing. Volley after volley went out and ship after ship fell. The Damocles took fire, and the shields were overwhelmed. Et-Al weapons began hammering into the hull, spitting debris into the vacuum of space. It was only running on a single engine and was in an uncontrolled corkscrew when Captain Turner's personal communicator chimed. Glancing down, she frowned.

COMMS IS DOWN. I'LL SAVE YOU A SEAT

Captain Turner smiled. It was a sad smile. One she'd rarely used before, but usually as she gave an order that would mean someone had to die. It was one of regret, pain and a longing to join them. To at least experience the hell she was sending them towards.

PUT YOUR FEET UP. I'LL BE THERE AS SOON AS I CAN

With that, she pitched the bow of the Yamato towards the rear of the Damocles. Something inside detonated, sending debris into the enemy fleet. They hammered it with broadside fire from all sides, slowly taking it to pieces. Captain Turner lined up the forward battery with the remaining engine. One straight shot, into the reactor core and it was all over.

"Goodbye my friend."

She closed her eyes as she squeezed the trigger. The flash was all the brighter as the beams lanced the core as intended. The explosion was silent in the distance, but as the wave of white energy washed over them, the hull of the Yamato vibrated and groaned as the klaxons warned the Yamato's shields had failed. The effect on the enemy was far worse. The Damocles was no more. Not even a husk. The ships in the immediate vicinity were now unrecognisable scrap spreading outwards like ripples in a shallow dish. The capital ship Captain Turner had disabled was completely dark, it's side completely open and vented into space.

"This isn't over!" Captain Turner roared as a tear sneaked its way down her cheek. "We end this now!"

Someone disabled the alarm as Captain Turner lined up the next shot. Squeezing the trigger the yellow beams burst free. Unfortunately, they fizzled out unexpectedly, after only scraping the enemy ship's hull.

"Sir, the main battery has melted down!" An engineer called out.

"This is it!" Captain Turner called out. "All hands, fire everything we've got. Get ready to overload the reactor!"

"Sir!" The chorus went up.

Regaining control of the battlecruiser, she pushed the throttle to full speed and began to accelerate. An explosion rocked the side of the Yamato and the battlecruiser began to list. Captain Turner didn't even bother correcting. They were still on course with the next largest ship. The battle was already over. In a normal conflict, this would be a mop up operation. Prisoners would be taken and that would be the end of it. Not this all or nothing fight to the death. Captain Turner spotted the torpedo at the last moment.

"Brace!"

Hitting the button on the seat to engage the safety locks, the torpedo struck just below the view of the bridge where the forward battery capacitors were. The ship lurched and the front of the Yamato simply vanished in a burst of superheated plasma. When Captain Turner got a hold of herself there was no longer a bridge. Only the console before her and the vast emptiness of space. What parts of the Yamato that were visible, vented gas, plasma and crew in all directions. Grasping the controls, Captain Turner cheered as they responded, albeit sluggishly.

"Come on you big beautiful bitch!" She snarled.

Re-acquiring the target, this time visually and without sensor data, Captain Turner urged the doomed vessel onward. The Yamato shuddered, before twisting violently. Captain Turner wrestled with the controls, trying to keep everything on the collision course, but it was no use. A huge vibration went through the hull and as the Yamato swung around to face backwards, Captain Turner could see the glow from the Yamato's thrusters. The ship hadn't lost control, it had snapped in half.

A white flash washed over the crippled section of Yamato, rumbling the deck. Captain Turner watched as bodies tumbled past. Some kicked, some seemed to be reaching for one another. Others were limp or missing parts. One soul landed within the confines of the bridge, before bouncing and catching a loose cable. They clung to it and turned to look around. Spotting the Captain, they saluted. Captain Turner saluted back, recognising the young face of one of the cooks. Too young to be on a one way trip like this. But as a second wave of white energy washed over the Yamato, they were swiftly blown into space, tumbling away into nothingness.

Lifting her communication, Captain Turner opened a personal message to all within range.

THE YAMATO HAS FALLEN. IT HAS BEEN AN HONOUR. GODSPEED.

Captain Turner leaned back into her chair. Her fight in this was over. There was nothing else that could be done. Her communicator chimed. Glancing down, she smiled seeing dozens, then hundreds and finally thousands of replies. Whole crews, wishing her well, thanking her for her service. Others crying out for help, in desperate situations or just wanting a friendly reminder they weren't alone. These, Captain Turner replied to. The ones who were scared of the end. So many had volunteered, so many more had felt pressured to do so. But reality was that there was no room for beings of war where the rest of humanity was going. Many of those here should not have been, if the situation had been different. She spent the hours messaging those she thought needed it. She mourned every unread message, knowing their time had expired.

Wave after wave of white energy vibrated the Yamato from each core detonation, but Captain Turner paid it no mind. She laughed at a shared joke sent by a marine who had been pinned under a vending machine they had been responsible for filling hours earlier. As the Yamato tumbled, Captain Turner saw the ravaged fleets in the distance. The Et-Al were functional, but with each core detonation, more of them perished. Their ships were falling back, but the debris was heavy and the losses were catastrophic on both sides.

With a sigh, Captain Turner went back to the comms. An old gunnery sergeant had been blown out of an airlock that malfunctioned. He had linked arms with a group of fellow soldiers. They said their goodbyes, before releasing one another's helmets.

As the Yamato turned back towards Oceanna Blue, Captain Turner realised she wasn't going to be trapped in orbit. It was odd, knowing the first human to make it to the surface of the beautiful, blue planet, would die doing so. She shared the information with her new friends and they laughed about giving her an award.

An odd chime caught her attention. Switching channels, it was from the Chancellor aboard the Ark 1.

GRANTED. SAM TURNER WILL BE RECOGNISED AS THE FIRST TO STEP FOOT ON OCEANNA BLUE. CONGRATULATIONS CAPTAIN.

Closing her eyes, she cried softly into her helmet for a few minutes, while the others continued to support one another. Hours later, the comms were relatively quiet. It didn't ping often and Captain Turner was watching as a piece of plastic sheeting began to shift as it reacted to the outer edges of the atmosphere of Oceanna Blue. Her comms pinged, and she glanced down at the one word question.

CAPTAIN?

She smiled, before replying.

STILL HERE

YOU OKAY?

ENTERING ATMOSPHERE

There was no word for a few minutes and Captain Turner sighed, as she accepted she was the last. Only for her comms to ping again.

BUT ARE YOU OKAY?

She smiled again.

I'M SCARED

SO AM I CAPTAIN

CALL ME SAM

WELL SAM. I'M HENRY. AND IT WAS AN HONOUR TO SERVE WITH YOU.

Captain Turner sat in silence for a few minutes and realised that the bridge was no longer silent. It was just the faintest whisper, but there was the sound of wind rushing through the bridge.

TAKE CARE HENRY

TAKE CARE SAM

She smiled, before activating her mag boots. Unclipping herself from her seat, Captain Turner listened to the heavy thump of each step, as she made her way to the rear of the bridge. She had no interest in burning alive during atmospheric reentry. So putting a few layers of hull between herself and the atmosphere would be best. What she didn't expect, as she wedged the nearby door open, was for the burst of air to rush out. Stepping inside, Captain Turner forced the doors closed, before locking them manually. The next set of doors opened more easily and her comms chimed, saying they were at one atmosphere again. The interior was only running on backup power though. So the room was dim. Still, she made her way across to a set of emergency seating on the far side. This was the Citadel of the ship. Designed to either house people fleeing the bridge, or to act as a buffer during an emergency. A way to shut off parts of the ship in the case of catastrophic venting or fires. But even these areas had emergency seating. Places to wait, if you had the right emergency equipment, for rescue.

Taking one of the seats, Captain Turner strapped herself in, before checking her comms unit one last time.

HENRY?

YEAH SAM?

Captain Turner smiled, that sad smile of hers.

I'M SORRY

DON'T BE. IT'S YOUR PLANET ANYWAY.