Marcus

#

The smell was the first thing Marcus noticed when the hatch of the hopper slid open. Gone was the sterile, processed air of the Vengeance and instead there was the familiar scent of a Caxian forest wafting through the remains of the ship. Marcus instinctively knew he was home, or at least close to it.

"So this is Caxis?" Hamasa limped out next to him. She was bloodied and bruised, but she was here. She had stayed when all else had gone.

"It is." It felt weird to be on a planet again after so long in space. The gravity tugged at him in a way that the artificial system on ships couldn't.

"I saw a settlement on the way down, a kilometre or so south from here," Hamasa said, stretching out her arms.

"My house backs onto this forest." He paused before continuing. "Thank you, Hamasa."

She froze, a look of surprise on her face. "For what?"

"You stayed. You got me here--you didn't have to."He welled up, overcome by the emotion that had been building up inside him.

Hamasa shrugged. "I got them the bomb, the Alliance won't recover from that. Figured you needed a hand down here. I know what it means to lose family."

Marcus broke down. He fell to his knees and sobbed. Hamasa left him to it, but he didn't mind. He just couldn't believe he was on Caxis after everything that had happened.

After everything that was still to happen.

"What about the bomb?" He sniffed.

"Look." She pointed upwards.

He did as he was told and followed where she was gesturing. He looked through the red smoky haze that filled the sky, past the streaks of wrecked ships as they fell down to orbit, past the artillery that shot through the air to some target in the distance.

Marcus froze when he saw it. "What the hell is that?"

"The bomb."

A swirling gold light stretched out above him; fiery, sweeping arcs bursting out of a stellar corona that surrounded a pitch black circle--the singularity left after the detonation of the gravity bomb.

It was the maw of a great beast, unnatural and unyielding, that threatened to devour his world--Sophia and Lio with it.

He tried to swallow but his mouth was bone dry. "Let's go find them."

Hamasa didn't need to ask who he meant.

There was a strange stillness to the forest. No birds made a sound and there wasn't even a gust of wind. It was as if nature itself knew that something was deeply wrong. The journey passed in a haze of pain an exhaustion. Everything hurt. He was sure he looked terrible, but Hamasa must have looked worse.

Before he knew it, they were approaching the house. He caught a glimpse of the panelled walls, the gentle pitched roof, the large glass doors on the ground floors that gave them a view of the often mist covered forest that he and Hamasa were staggering through. He had always imagined Lio would play on swings in their garden. Now that would never happen.

He realised with a start that there was a chance that they might not even be there. That thought stirred the panic within him again and despite the aching in his legs he bolted towards the house, shouting out.

There was no sign of movement. The glass doors were locked so he resorted to pounding them with his fists, but there was still nothing.

Despair welled up within him, but he refused to give up. He looked around for anything that would smash the glass and let him inside. Hamasa appeared beside him offering a rock, reading his mind. Marcus took it, and with a couple of attempts he managed to break through.

Inside he scanned the room for any sign of Sophia or Lio, but there was nothing. He went door to door on the ground floor--nothing. He bolted up the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him.

The first door--nothing.

The second door--still nothing.

The third door--

"Marcus?" A woman's voice called out.

His heart skipped a beat. He knew that voice.

A child began to cry. He had never heard anything more glorious in his life.

"Soph? Lio?"

His wife stepped out of a cupboard holding a toddler that he barely recognised but he knew it was his son--he had his wife's eyes, her hair.

He had found them. Marcus jumped forward and embraced his wife and son and for a minute, everything was right in the galaxy.

When the moment passed and reality dawned on him, he knew that the bigger challenge was still to come--getting them to safety. Because there was no way after everything he was going to give up now.

#

Garrick

#

Garrick woke with a start. He didn't know where he was, but he was alive.

"Ah, you're awake," a voice that he recognised as Ramsey's said.

"Where am I?" As soon as he said it he realised it was a stupid question. He was in a hopper, or an escape pod. Either way, they weren't on the Ezekiel any more.

"We had to abandon ship," Okoro's voice came from up in front of him. Peters sat next to her, staring out the window.

"The insurgents? Did we stop them getting the bomb?"

Ramsey and Okoro shared a look. "We stopped them getting a bomb yes, though from the looks of it it's about to detonate," Okoro said darkly.

Garrick could live with that so long as the insurgents didn't have it. "Wait, you said 'a' bomb? What did you mean?"

"I'm sorry, sir," Ramsey said. "We think they escaped with the Edinburgh."

He bit his tongue. It wouldn't do to lash out in the enclosed space of the escape pod. "Are we in pursuit?"

"Hoppers can't get through jump gates, the Edinburgh is already most of the way to the gate now. The Alliance fleet is fleeing to the gate on the other side of the system. Everyone is running from the bomb."

"But where are we?" He strained his neck to try and look out one of the viewports but he couldn't make it out.

"We're headed for the only spot that will be safe for a little while," Peters said. "We're heading for Caxis."

That was too much for Garrick. He went to smash his fist against the viewport but they had restrained him.

"Sir, wait!" Okoro turned around. "You need to know something before you get angry with us."

"What," he said through gritted teeth.

"The Mandrake is going for an emergency landing on Caxis. They were crippled in the attack, Jansen disabled it but didn't destroy it. Allison will be down there."

Garrick considered this. They may not have long, but he would make sure that he killed Allison before the gravity bomb did, and that they found a way to escape Caxis before the bomb got them too. "Have you got control of the hopper?"

"Yes, sir," Okoro replied.

"Follow the Mandrake in," Garrick said. "We aren't letting that bastard get away again."

END OF PART ONE