The Last Charge of the 1st Legion (The Last Hero Trilogy Book 3) Read online

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  Cover Art:

  Michelle Crocker

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  Publisher’s Note:

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and events are the work of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is coincidental.

  Solstice Publishing - www.solsticepublishing.com

  Copyright 2015 Nathaniel Danes

  The Last Charge of the 1st Legion

  By

  Nathaniel Danes

  Book 3 of The Last Hero Trilogy

  Chapter One

  The Fall of Alpha Gate

  The battleship South Africa, Admiral Chen’s flagship during the Kitright Prime campaign, blossomed into a short-lived supernova right before his eyes on the view screen. Its reactor lost containment when a direct hit from the silver pyramid’s lightning weapon split the man-of-war in two. It was the first to fall.

  The tragic loss barely registered in the ocean of chaos and death that had washed over the local space of Alpha Gate. The command center was a frenzy of activity, most of it useless action by shocked and terrified officers not sure what to do but feeling the urge to do something.

  Chen was a rock. He knew what to do, what needed to be done.

  “Launch all fighters and drones.” He walked to the holo cloak and let the cocoon of light drape over him as a heavily damaged Bearcat cruiser exploded. “Attention all vessels! Form around the base in attack position. Engineering, rig for max acceleration!”

  You’re not getting by me without the fight of your life, you bastards. No Chen goes quietly into the night. I will fight to my last breath, just like my father.

  “Prepare to launch missile salvos. We need to give these pricks something to think about while we get organized. Someone get me Earth’s Fist on the com.”

  ***

  “Launch all fighters!” Captain DeWalt took his chair on the bridge of the battlecarrier Earth’s Fist.

  Trent waved his hands. “Cancel that order!”

  The crew turned and stared at the frantic Legion general like he was a madman.

  “Get off my bridge, general. I don’t have time for this.” DeWalt’s deep blue eyes burned cold.

  Trent’s eyes shot wide open. “Captain, our mission. We must complete our mission. It very well might be humanity’s only chance to defeat these things.” He thrust a finger at the view screen. “We won’t make a difference here but we might if we can make it to the gate.”

  “How do you propose we do that?”

  Trent opened his mouth to beg but was interrupted by the com officer.

  “Captain, Admiral Chen is ordering us to hold back and await further orders. He’ll cover our approach to the gate.”

  DeWalt glanced at the ensign and turned back to Trent, throwing his hands in the air. “Where exactly are we going?”

  ***

  Chen did the sick math in his head. The fifty-three ships and hundreds of fighters and drones holding position around the base were the best he could do. Battle groups’ worth of strength were scattered all over local space but there wasn’t time to bring them all in. He had to attack with what he had, now.

  Dozens of ships had already been destroyed, although their deaths weren’t for nothing. They’d bought time for him to gather his strength into one hammer blow. Time had now run out, however. If this charge failed, nothing would be able to stop the super-dreadnought—at least, nothing currently in the human arsenal.

  With a blizzard of thought-commands, he assigned final orders to the loose ships. Some were in position to join his charge from different angles. He ordered a few to form around Earth’s Fist. Those out of position to do anything of value, he ordered to accelerate for Earth. Maybe they’d do some good there.

  He deactivated the holo cloak. He wanted to be with his crew for this attack. The bridge froze, every head turned to face him. “Engineering, push the engines to a hundred and ten percent. Do the same to the tugs. All designated units, attack.”

  The massive engines of Alpha Gate Base fired and tugs strained to help. At first, the giant black ball, measuring twenty-nine kilometers at the equator, lurched forward but gained momentum. The fleet divided on its flanks sped ahead to close the distance.

  Orbs of light formed on the points of the pyramid. Chen held his breath. Energy streaked into the center before leaping out to atomize a battleship.

  He sucked in a breath. “Missiles away.”

  The nuclear warheads ran forward. A few survived to bathe the enemy shield in flames. The barrier held but the strike kept their target busy for a moment.

  Two more capital ships disappeared before the attack wings reached laser weapon range. Their concentrated fire poured onto the enemy. The invisible wall rippled with distortions from the hot impacts.

  Chen absorbed the situation. Events unfolded around him in slow motion. It felt like an out-of-body experience. He remained a stalwart statue, seemingly impervious to the impending doom. Truth be told, he was screaming on the inside. He saw before him the instrument of mankind’s extinction. He’d resolved to do whatever it took to win but wasn’t sure that would be enough.

  Admiral Yoho, the station XO, turned to him. “Sir, we’re almost in range. Should we cut acceleration?”

  “Negative. Helm, take us right down their throats. Weapons, fire till the cannon coils are burnt out. This is it. Earth is counting on us to do all we can.” He scanned the nervous faces staring at him. “It has been an honor to serve with all of you. Now let’s show the galaxy why it’s a bad idea to mess with the human race.”

  “Aye aye, sir!” Yoho snapped to perfect attention. “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”

  “Hoorah!” the bridge crew cheered.

  He beamed with pride. “Fighters, engage. All units prepare for alpha nuke strike.”

  A hundred and thirty-seven Avengers firewalled their throttles. Once past their own lines, they unleashed a mass of two-hundred seventy-four thousand depleted uranium rounds from their kinetic kill cannons. The wall of dense rain slammed into the shield, turning it new shades of distressed yellow. They failed to bring it down.

  “Communications, get me Earth’s Fist. It’s time for them to make their run. If we fail, it’ll all be up to them.”

  ***

  DeWalt nodded to himself when the order came in. He was encased in the holo cloak, alone and focused. He opened a channel to the task force under his command. “Execute escape maneuver.”

  The battlecarrier was escorted by three battleships and six cruisers, which formed a screen between Earth’s Fist and the pyramid. They were on a desperate mission, one that wouldn’t even begin if they couldn’t jump through the gate.

  Chen’s battle line was demanding the enemy’s full attention. At a terrible cost, the admiral’s headlong charge had driven the pyramid from the gate. Ship after ship fell to the powerful energy weapon. The base itself had taken hits. Gaping holes had opened up on the once invulnerable installation.

  The wounds seemed irrelevant, however. Like a crazed beast, it kept advancing and firing. Nuclear flowers bloomed all around. Their detonations flooded space with radiation. Maybe, just maybe, it would annoy the enemy sensors.

&nb
sp; The price to get his task force through the gate increased the weight on DeWalt’s shoulders. He’d always craved command of a battle group—a chance to show his tactical brilliance. He always imagined he’d get his chance under different circumstances, though. Sometime when the stakes weren’t so high.

  DeWalt’s stomach plummeted into his boot. The intelligence that controlled the silver demon had deduced something was afoot, and it now moved to intercept him. He ran the projections. It would beat him to the gate if nothing happened.

  ***

  Chen grinned. The bridge was a mess. Sparks rained down, alarms sounded, smoke lingered in the air, medics tended to the wounded, and a beam had collapsed. Still, he grinned with satisfaction.

  He’d long since resolved that this would be his final battle. What he detested most was his inability to close with the enemy, to give them all he had. Dying while the enemy kept his distance and picked his ships off one at a time wasn’t how he wanted to go.

  Now the enemy was reacting to him. It didn’t want anyone to escape, and that gave him his chance.

  “Engineering.”

  It took long seconds for a reply to come. “We’re still here, sir.”

  “Re-route all available power, including life support, to the engines. Run them at a hundred and twenty percent.”

  Under normal conditions, such an order would’ve been pure madness. At twenty percent above design capacity, there was a fifty-fifty gamble the engines would explode, taking the entire station with them. This was a death charge, however, and everyone knew it.

  “Aye, aye, sir. You’ll have it in twenty seconds.”

  The laser cannons went silent as the pitted sphere surged forward. The final nineteen capital ships capable of providing covering fire did so. The remaining fighters, having exhausted their expendable ordnance, pricked the enemy with puny lasers like bees attacking an elephant. The last of the fleet’s nuclear missiles zipped ahead.

  The stress on the enemy shields and power diverted to the point defenses finally showed a tangible result. The pyramid’s rate of acceleration weakened.

  ***

  DeWalt almost didn’t believe his eyes. We’re going to make it!

  Maneuvering thrusters fired, positioning the task force into the right trajectory for the jump coordinates. The hulks of steel and carbon fiber danced in the vacuum of space with grace.

  He shifted his gaze to the enemy in time to see the ominous balls of light form on the points of the pyramid facing him. A river of energy lunged forward. It struck the cruiser that shielded the battlecarrier. Nothing now stood between him and the enemy.

  DeWalt stiffened. “Evasive maneuvers!”

  “Sir! We’ll miss our jump,” a voice said from outside the cloak.

  “Christ!” A burst of sweat flowed from his forehead. “Order the United States to take the cruiser’s position.”

  ***

  “Throttle the engines back to ninety percent!” Chen could see his breath now. Temperatures drop quickly in space without life support. “All other power to the cannons. Weapons, I want continuous fire. Fire till the cannons melt themselves.”

  The telling balls of light formed. Earth’s Fist was still exposed.

  “Fire!”

  The last three operable laser cannons, enormous machines of war even compared to a battleship, added their fire to the fleet’s barrage. The invisible force raked across the shields. Alarms warned of the weapon’s imminent failure. Regardless, they poured the last of their strength onto the enemy.

  Chen’s teeth grinned. Come on, just a little more.

  Waves of distortions flowed across the barrier. The balls of light flickered and then extinguished.

  A cheer erupted from the crew. He remained still.

  “All power to the engines! Ramming speed!”

  ***

  Trent witnessed the final moments of Alpha Base with a heavy heart and desperate hope. The sheer mass of the base appeared to be in far excess of the pyramid. Surely, the primal collision would render the enemy’s technological advantages moot.

  Like a wooden seagoing vessel of old slamming into a rocky reef, the base impacted the shield and broke apart around it. Splinters of carbon and metal flew off as the pyramid sank deeper and deeper into the base until it was totally enveloped.

  In a bright flash, the reactor went critical. Blinding light and raw energy prevented the sensors from gaining a picture of the battle for awful seconds. Trent felt his heart pounding in his chest with anticipation.

  He did it! That son-of-a-bitch did it!

  Then reality murdered his spirt.

  Inside the fading light, in-between crimson waves of an overtaxed shield, the silver pyramid sat undamaged.

  The muted cheer of the bridge crew died. A mournful silence fell over the room. Chen had given his life and the lives of those under his command, to give Earth’s Fist a chance to fulfill her mission. As the particle beam fired and the battlecarrier entered the vortex, Trent swore he’d do just that, no matter the cost.

  Chapter Two

  The Mission

  The miracle of wormhole travel had never been so stark to Trent. One second he was in the fight of his life and the next he was in relative safety. That was the part that burned the most, that he was safe. Tens of thousands of Earth’s finest had died or were dying, fighting a futile battle in the hopes of somehow giving their species a chance. He and the task force were that chance.

  He’d been here before. The ‘savior of mankind’ role wasn’t new to him, but this time it felt real. It was very real, in fact, not a load of PR bullshit cooked up at some media firm. He wanted to slither away and get good and drunk. The saving-the-human-race stuff could wait till tomorrow.

  That wasn’t to be.

  Captain DeWalt finished assessing the task force’s condition and shot daggers at Trent with his eyes. “My ready room, now.”

  Trent followed him into the small office adjacent to the bridge. The second the door slid shut, the captain turned. “You have three seconds to start telling me what the hell is going on, and I won’t stand for any need to know crap. I want the whole story and nothing but.” DeWalt jerked his head back, throwing his hands in the air. “My God! Alpha Base is gone! There’s nothing standing between that thing and Earth! We should’ve stayed and fought. Maybe we would’ve made a difference?” He paced frantically.

  He’s got to get a grip on himself. I can’t do this without him.

  “Captain, you saw the same battle I did. Nothing we have can get past those damn shields. Even Chen kamikaze-ing the entire base, guns blazing, and a reactor meltdown didn’t put a scratch on it.” He exhaled deeply. “They weren’t fighting to stop the ship. They were fighting—they sacrificed themselves, so we could jump. So we can complete our assignment.”

  DeWalt tossed his arms to the side. “How the hell is this mission so important? How can we do anything out here that can possibly save Earth?”

  “We’re out here to find answers.”

  DeWalt scoffed. “What? Answers? Stop playing with me and spit it out.”

  “Okay.” Trent sighed. “First—sit down and pour yourself a drink with that bottle you keep in your desk. Pour me one while you’re at it.”

  DeWalt looked confused for a few seconds before determining Trent had the right idea. He collapsed into his cushy chair and pulled a bottle of tequila and two glasses from his drawer. They clanked loudly as he set them out.

  Neither uttered a word as he poured the drinks, splashing droplets onto the desk. They kicked back two rounds before the wild look in DeWalt’s eyes faded. Lifting the third drink, he leaned back. “What answers?”

  “Hopefully, to everything.” Trent took a sip. “Ever since the Kitright made first contact, we’ve been stumbling around the galaxy in the dark. First, we were tricked into fighting the Bearcats. Then we thought for sure the Kitright were solely at fault. Now we know someone or something has been pulling their strings the entire time. It’s high time
we figure out what the hell is going on.”

  “Agreed, but what are we doing here? This system isn’t even on our charts.”

  “I don’t have the whole back story.” Trent shrugged. “I don’t think it matters anymore, anyway. Something to do with a secret agenda inside the United Earth Systems government to create an empire. Anyway, where we’re going, P-1425X, is some kind of off-the-books research facility.”

  DeWalt narrowed his eyes. “What kind of research?”

  “From what I’m told, it’s a dig site. Their excavating an ancient alien city or something like that. They’re trying to reverse-engineer whatever technology they find.”

  DeWalt leaned forward. “And this site is connected to the silver pyramids?”

  “According to what I’ve been told, yeah. The tech found at the dig site matches what we’ve seen from these super ships.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So, we go to the planet and investigate. Find something we can use against them.”

  “Or find nothing of use at all.”

  Trent nodded. “That is a possibility.”

  “Let’s hope not.” DeWalt finished his drink and put away the bottle. “This secret base, should we expect any issues with the personnel there? You mentioned something about a hidden agenda? That doesn’t sound all warm and fuzzy.”

  Trent throw the last of his drink back. “I hope not. Whatever their designs were, they don’t mean dick now.” He slid the glass across the table and stood. “I’m going to check on the legion and let my officers in on our mission.”

  The doors parted. DeWalt spoke up before Trent could leave. “Thanks, general, for talking me down. I lost it there for a minute.”

  “Don’t mention it, captain. I know how you felt. We all lost a lot today.”

  ***

  En route to the sick bay, Trent thanked God for the hundredth time that Susan hadn’t been transferred to Alpha Base. He kicked himself for ever insisting she be sent off Earth’s Fist. It should’ve been obvious that Alpha Gate would be attacked in short order. It just seemed safer at the time.