The Annabel glared at the fleet before it. The ships of the Anzari Empire were arrayed at the edge of the asteroid field, weapons primed, shields charged, exteriors glinting in the light of the Zaxus star. The long black hull of the Annabel, sharp edges and ferocious design, was a sharp contrast to the near holy appearance of its adversaries, with their curved white and gold hulls, looking like the very chariots of God himself.
Captain Mason sat in the command chair on the bridge, scanning the visual of the enemy fleet intently. The Anzari had brought the entire Sweeping Force here, for this last free remnant of the people of Earth. In the forefront was the Ha’ahfaset, the uninhabited husk of the god Ha'ah, the crown jewel of the entire Anzari fleet, and the personal flagship of High Prior Rezzenin. Blood flowed to Captain Mason’s face as he gazed at it, the vessel that had lead the slinkers all the way to Earth and had helped bomb its surface so intensely the crust had cracked.
“Sir?” First Mate Davidson said, interrupting the captain’s hatred for a moment. “All personnel are at their stations. The Anzari are not hailing yet, though they will before they begin their attack. Knowing you, you will have something to say.”
Mason nodded. “I will.” He turned to his first mate. “Davidson, you remember the Curve, don’t you?”
She nodded. “I remember what we did there.”
He cast a glance at the alien fleet and turned back to her. “Do you think it was worth it?”
“That will depend upon how many we bring down today, sir.”
Mason nodded and looked back at the view screen. The tactical readout gave their situation plain enough. An asteroid field to their rear. Fifteen cruisers, fifteen destroyers, five carriers, ten battleships, and one big godship before them. It was bleak, and everyone knew that.
Mason flipped the switch that turned on the shipwide intercom. “My friends, this is your captain speaking. They’ve hunted us down, finally. It took them four long years, following in our wake while we burned a swath of destruction across their little empire. Now they’ve got us pinned.”
“I’ve known you all for a long time. We escaped the destruction of Earth together, endured these four long years together as a force that has instilled dread in the Anzari, as a last demonic remnant of humanity. But now we are faced with the possibility that this battle shall prove to sunder us all in one fell stroke.”
“I will not ask you to forget that. I cannot forget it myself. But, I would ask you to remember all that we have done, all the things that we have accomplished as brothers and sisters aboard the Annabel. We have schemed, fought, and screamed at the void countless times. Now, today, I ask you, not as captain to crew, but as brother to brother, to stand at your posts and do it one last time.”
“And to those of you who fear what may come, I have found comfort in this. Once, I walked through green trees and fields in the garden of New York. It was the one place I would have liked to see again before Earth was destroyed. But the old legends have hope for us in that regard. They spoke of a place where the souls of sailors went when they died. Fiddler’s Green. A garden beyond comprehension, where eternal rest might be found.”
“We are sailors too, if of a different time than those long ago. So this same Fiddler’s Green is ours to claim should all go amiss. And if it does, and today is our last battle, then I shall welcome that rest. We have fought too long and too hard. An end must come, be it ours or theirs. If it shall be us, so be it. Fiddler’s Green awaits. But, if it is them, then I shall not mourn them, nor question the victory even once.”
There was a moment of silence. “Who among you shall step down from his post?”
The ship was still. No one moved. Mason could see it on the view monitors. Those who were at their posts remained there. He looked at his bridge crew. They also stood still, looking at their captain, waiting for his orders.
Mason smiled and turned back. “I thank you for your services. Prepare for battle, and what may come of that.”
He turned off the intercom. Pride welled up in his heart. This was the end of it all, and yet even now his crew was loyal and stout-hearted. They were human, through and through, passionate and hard-headed to the last.
“Captain? The Anzari are hailing.”
Mason nodded. “Put them on screen, Davidson.”
The viewscreen flickered and an image appeared. High Prior Rezzenin sat at his own command deck, his eyes blinking as they adjusted to Mason’s image on his own ship. A wave of disgust went through the human captain. Even now, seven years after first seeing an Anzari, they still reviled him. Pale, femininely thin, moving as though they were afraid of breaking something, they did not seem to be the conqueror race that they were. It was deception of a sort, a deception that many captains before Mason had succumbed to in one way or another. He was determined to not be the last.
“Captain Mason of the starship Annabel, we request that you...” Rezzenin began.
Mason cut him off. “No, Rezzenin. Not even if you promised freedom would we do what you say. There’s only one thing we would take in return, and it is not in your power to give it to us.”
Rezzenin’s forehead wrinkled for a moment or two, then smoothed again. “So be it.”
The viewscreen flickered off. Mason wasted no time. “Begin the bombardment.”
Decker, the weapons officer, activated the first card in the Annabel’s deck. From behind them, some of the asteroids began to move forward. Powered by engines that had been salvaged and cannibalized from the Annabel’s conquest, the rocks advanced on the Anzari fleet.
Mason held his breath. The shields on the Anzari ships would not deflect these. His hope was that they managed to accelerate to an optimum speed. Then, even if they were broken apart by missile or plasma fire, they would still head forward, and either cause damage to the fleet, or force it to break ranks.
The Anzari ships fired at the asteroids. A few of the smaller ones were picked off before they reached the critical speed. But for the most part, the rocks surged on, even after they lost their engines, driven forward by simple inertia.
The enemy fleet tried to take evasive maneuvers. Most of the cruisers were able to avoid being hit, and the asteroids missed the Ha’ahfaset completely. But a good deal of the rocks smashed into the Anzari ships. A destroyer was split right down the middle by a particularly large one. A smaller one slammed into one of the carriers, damaging but not destroying it. Everywhere, ships broke apart as they met the incoming asteroids.
“Report,” Mason barked.
“Sensors show that our gambit has destroyed or damaged a third of the Anzari fleet,” Davidson said.
Mason nodded. It was a good chunk. But the battle was not over yet. “Hard ahead, maximum speed. Steer for the Ha’ahfaset. Begin firing offensive weaponry. Concentrate on the cruisers. Keep us on course.”
The Annabel surged forward. Its black hull threaded through the vacuum like a great needle. The Anzari ships that were still unscathed began to fire upon it. Their energy bolts impacted upon the shields. The ship shuddered, but stayed true, moving towards the enemy fleet on dark wings.
All along the spine of the Annabel missiles launched from primed tubes and streaked towards their targets. Their impacts blossomed upon the ships of the Anzari fleet. The mining beam mounted at the front of the ship burned bright red as it cut into a nearby cruiser, breaking through it’s shields and searing a jagged line in its hull.
All the while, the Ha’ahfaset loomed larger and larger upon the viewscreen of the Annabel. Mason’s eyes were fixed upon it, watching the distance between the two ships grow smaller and smaller. He had one trick he wanted to play here, a trick that might give the Annabel a victory that the Anzari Empire could not recover from.
“Shields are at 45 percent. Hull integrity is still holding,” Davidson said.
Mason nodded, registering the situation. So much could still go wrong at this stage. If enough ships recovered and attacked, if a lucky missile strike happened to disable a critical system, if the Ha’ahfaset grew wise to their ploy, then all of this would be for nothing. Tall odds. But it was nothing this crew had not faced before.
The Ha’ahfaset fired its main plasma cannon. The beam struck at the Annabel. The ship rocked with the force of the impact. Warning lights flashed on the bridge and the officers held on to their stations to avoid getting thrown to the ground.
“Status!” Mason called out.
“Shields are now at 15 percent!” Davidson called out. “Hull integrity is at 75 percent and fluctuating!”
Mason looked up at the viewscreen again. The Ha’ahfaset looked to be charging up another shot. They couldn’t withstand another blow. The distance wasn’t optimal. But there was no choice. The Annabel had to at least attempt to live.
“Davidson, release the spear.”
Without a word, Davidson performed the command. On the spine of the Annabel, the long dorsal engine was released from its bonds to the ship. At the same time, it doubled its speed and raced forward.
“Bring us down!” Mason barked. The Ha’ahfaset was coming on fast.
The Annabel banked downward. Its bristling hull prepared to pass below the Ha’ahfaset.
“Fire warheads at the Ha’ahfaset’s weaponry. Protect the spear.”
Decker sent a command to the warhead tubes. The long silver bolts slid out of the side of the ship and shot forward. They streaked around the engine and raced ahead of it, seeking out plasma emitters and destroying them.
“The spear is holding course,” Davidson said. “The warheads are eliminating most of the defensive weaponry.”
“Pummel the Ha’ahfaset as we go beneath it.”
Decker punched in more commands. Now the Annabel’s fire was directed solely at the Ha’ahfaset. The engine passed through the shields of the Anzari godship and slammed into its stainless exterior, tearing a wound in it.
The viewscreen flickered again. High Prior Rezzenin stood there. A look of rage was embedded in his face. Mason laughed. ‘Don’t look so angelic now, do you?’ he thought to himself.
“You dare to attack the Ha’ahfaset?” the Anzari asked.
“I’ve got one better,” Mason said. “I’m not done yet.” He turned to his first mate. “Davidson, detonate the spear.”
Without a word, Davidson pressed a button on her control panel. The tear in the side of the Ha’ahfaset soon expanded as the engine went critical and ripped open the structure of the godship. The image of Rezzenin on the viewscreen suddenly flickered into blackness, leaving all of the bridge crew with a better view of their handiwork. The explosion tore the Ha’ahfaset in two, sending shards of metal careening out. One hit a cruiser, ripping it in two. The upper half of the godship still tried to fight on, but the lower half was done for. Broken and separated from the bridge, it soon succumbed to explosions and was ripped apart.
The viewscreen flickered again. Rezzenin was now visibly shaken. Sparks and smoke flew about on the formerly immaculate bridge behind him. A thin grim smile crossed Mason’s face when he saw this.
“How could you?” the High Prior asked. “This is our jewel!”
“Reap what you sowed,” Mason said.
The continuing fire from the Annabel as it dove beneath the wreckage of the Ha’ahfaset hit the upper section hard. The screen flickered black again, this time for good as the mining beam tore through it. The upper section now broke apart. Bits of metal drifted off in all directions as the Anzari fleet tried to regroup around it.
Mason sighed. “We’ve done good.”
A blaring alarm brought him out of his momentary victory stupor. The Annabel rocked as bolts from the remaining Anzari ships hit its hull.
“Sir, the shields aren’t going to hold much longer!” Davidson said.
“What’s the tactical situation?” Mason asked.
Davidson looked down at her viewscreen. “Half of the remaining ships are breaking off. A few appear to be self-destructing. The remainder are still continuing their assault.”
Mason laughed. “You hear that? They’re not in this! They’re quitting! Fire remaining warheads at the last cruisers. Blow them apart.”
The Annabel sent off yet another wave of its deadly payload. The warheads streaked through the blackness of space towards their targets. The cruisers shot most of them down, though a few still managed to find a mark and detonate, sending more Anzari out into the void.
“Sir! More Anzari ships have just entered the system! Six dreadnoughts and two carriers!”
“Viewscreen, Davidson.”
The viewscreen flickered on. The ships had only just dropped out of slipstream. Mason did not wonder what they were thinking, gazing upon what was left of their fleet, upon the remains of their pride and joy. He had already felt it once before, gazing upon the surface of a black and burning Earth. Now he only felt elation.
“They’re hailing,” Davidson said.
“Put them on,” Mason said.
The viewscreen flickered again. The image of another Anzari, one less important than Rezzenin had been, appeared.
“I am Lesser Prior Wrozzin. Tell me what has happened here! What has become of the Sweeping Force? Where is the Ha’ahfaset?”
“We destroyed it,” Mason boasted. “We broke it in half and scattered its pieces to the void. You hear that? The body of your god, the sacred vessel of Ha’ah himself, is just bits of metal floating in space!”
The Anzari furrowed his brow. “We will burn you. Your ship will be annihilated to such a degree that nothing will be left to scavenge. Only dust and echoes will mark your passage into oblivion!”
“Very well,” Mason said. “But that still won’t bring back Ha’ahfaset.”
The viewscreen flickered off. Mason turned and looked at the bridge crew. “Fire away.”
The Annabel fired at the Anzari ships. Missile after missile streaked across wreckage-filled space. The mining laser cast it’s orange light upon the shields of the enemy vessels, attempting to weaken them. But the Anzari ships were fresh, and filled with a desire for vengeance. There was a solid wall of plasma between them and their victim.
An explosion rocked the Annabel. “Shields are disabled!” Davidson said. Another explosion blew out her viewscreen, filling her face with bits of metal and glass. Mason turned and looked at her prone body. He should be sad, should mourn this death. And yet he laughed.
“Farewell, Davidson!” he said. “I’m proud of what we were. I will see you soon!”
The Annabel buckled under the stress of more explosions. “We’re breaking up!” Decker yelled over the confusion.
“What more did we expect?” Mason asked. “Fire until we cannot fire any more!”
Missiles still streaked out from the human ship. They bloomed upon the hulls of the Anzari ships, tarnishing their immaculate hulls with fire and death. The mining laser fired out until it was destroyed. Mason laughed and laughed, even as his ship fell apart around him.
“Come on!” he yelled to the Anzari fleet. “Let your fire come! Give me wings that I might fly! My restless soul is longing!”
The enemy ships answered him with a greater barrage. The Annabel began to break up. The ventral engine went out with a spectacular explosion, ripping the stern of the ship apart. The weapons console caught fire in Decker’s face. He ran from the bridge screaming, searching for something to put out the flames.
In those last moments of chaos, Mason felt something. A warm summer breeze graced his cheek. He thought he smelled honeysuckle and jasmine, the sweet smells from home. A smile crossed his face as he took deep breaths.
“No pain remains,” he said as the Annabel began to ignite. “No feeling, save that of wonder. Eternity awaits.”
The bridge was consumed in the final death explosions of the Annabel. Her long black hull broke apart under the concentrated plasma fire of the Anzari fleet. The demon died, and her wreckage mingled with the Ha’ahfaset’s. Black bits of metal mixed with gold and white, and all were the same in the void.
This is for Cal's Chorus Contest. The song is Fiddler's Green by Tragically Hip. The word is catharsis.
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