Frontier's Reach: A Space Opera Adventure (Frontiers Book 1) by Robert James (beach read TXT) 📗

filling up the viewport. A rumble reverberated throughout the Vanguard as it maneuvered over the top of the hull, missing them by mere meters.

“It’s headed for the planet, sir,” Worthington said. “They passed us as if we weren’t even here.”

“The ship’s taking a geostationary orbit above the mining facility,” Sharma added.

“Ensign Worthington. Bring us around and follow them. Full thrusters,” Ravith instructed him.

“Aye, sir,” the helmsman shot back.

While the Vanguard circled, Ravith studied the scans of the foreign ship. It was unlike any design he’d seen. Who’d have the technology to build something like this?

“Approaching the unidentified vessel,” Worthington said.

“Come to a full stop.”

The Vanguard came to a halt off the unidentified ship’s stern. The behemoth gazed at the planet ominously.

“Commander, look!” Worthington pointed at viewport.

Two green blasts burst forth from the ship’s wings and dropped into the atmosphere of Orion V.

“The blasts have made direct hits on the mining facility!” Sharma shouted.

Ravith gripped the edge of the command station, his knuckles whitening. “Ensign Xeh, get me the captain!”

She shook her head. “I can’t establish a commlink!”

“Then try again.”

“I can’t! We’re being jammed.”

The unidentified ship fired another pair of blasts which tore through the planet’s atmosphere.

“Sharma, get me a firing solution.”

The lieutenant was way ahead of him. “You’ve got it, Commander.”

“Fire tubes one and two.”

Two torpedoes launched from the forward tubes of the Vanguard. They streamed across the abyss toward the hulking black mass. The seconds felt like minutes for Ravith, watching the graphical representation of the torpedoes home in on their target.

Then they hit.

Everyone shielded their eyes from the explosion. As the blast dispersed, they looked up. The giant wing in the night hadn’t budged a millimeter.

“Did we do any damage at all?” Ravith asked.

“It doesn’t appear so, sir.” Sharma’s eyes widened as the unidentified ship rotated and moved toward the Vanguard. “But I think we got their attention.”

“At least it stopped them firing on the surface.”

It hovered over them, as if eyeballing the smaller vessel.

“I’m reading an energy buildup, sir,” Sharma said. “They’re firing!”

Two bolts of energy discharged from the giant ship.

“Worthington, evasive maneuvers!” Ravith bellowed. “Everyone brace for impact!”

It happened so fast. The boom was deafening. The attack threw the Vanguard into a spin. The command deck lights extinguished, and Ravith tumbled against the rear bulkhead. The yells of his crew echoed around him.

With a rub of his head, he gradually pulled himself to his feet. He peered around at the carnage in horror. The command deck had been gutted. Everyone was either dead or unconscious, slumped over their consoles. In two shots one of the finest ships in the Commonwealth Defense Force had been crippled.

Ravith gazed at the unidentified ship continuing to draw closer through the viewport. He hurried up the steps to the combat station where Sharma was coming around. He grabbed the lieutenant by the shoulder.

“If anyone’s left in the torpedo bay, I need you to tell them to load a tritonium torpedo into a working tube.” It wasn’t a decision he took lightly. A tritonium warhead hadn’t been detonated since the end of the Earth-Centauri War and wasn’t to be used unless it was deemed absolutely necessary.

Sharma hesitated for a second before he alerted the torpedo control team below decks.

Ravith activated a commlink on the opposite station. “This is the UECS Vanguard in orbit of Orion V,” he said. “We are under attack by a vessel of unknown origin. We request immediate assistance. We—” The console went dead.

Damn it. We’re being jammed.

“The torpedo is loaded and ready, sir.”

Ravith walked back over to Sharma and stared at the beast through the viewport. At this distance, the Vanguard would go up with them, but if it meant taking that thing out, they’d at least save a lot of people on the surface. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Fire!”

Seventeen

Cargo Ship Argo

Jason stared back at himself. His eyes were bloodshot and his eyelids heavy. Above the mirror, the light flickered while the bulkhead gently vibrated. The Argo was shooting through the stars at FTL to deliver their consignment to the Tau-Zeta system. Frontier’s Reach had become a distant memory.

He felt like hell. His bottle of bourbon sat next to the washbasin with only a few mouthfuls left. He eyed the reflection, hearing footsteps coming toward him. His uncle detoured into the Argo’s communal bathroom and ignored Jason, stepping into one of the two toilet stalls.

The last thing Jason wanted to listen to was Althaus taking a crap.

After a few minutes, the toilet flushed, and Althaus left the stall. He stepped up to the washbasin beside Jason and cleaned his hands. The pair locked eyes and Althaus peered at the bottle of bourbon. Without saying a word, he strode towards the door.

Jason breathed a sigh of relief.

“You had no right to do what you did, you know.” Althaus glared at him from the doorway.

“No right to do what?” Jason spun around, getting slightly dizzy.

“You know very well.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “I’m not in the mood to play your games. If you’ve got something to say, then say it.”

“You shouldn’t be here.” Althaus put a hand on his hip. “You should never have asked your brother to take you to Frontier’s Reach.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t have.” Jason couldn’t believe Althaus might be right for a change.

“What did it get you? Nothing.”

Jason might have been drunk, but he had enough of his wits about him to realize Althaus was trying to get a reaction out of him, just like he did when he was a kid. “I’m already feeling crappy. I don’t need you compounding the problem.”

“Too bad.” Althaus raised his fist. “You intended to leave your father before he died, and then walked out on your brother when he needed you the most. You’re not allowed to get away with this.”

Jason faced the mirror again.

Althaus stepped closer to him. “Don’t turn your back on me, kid!”

Kid?

Althaus gave him the moniker when he was a child. Jason hated it then and hated it now. He took a