Resistance: Vol. 1, Chapter 1

by ~SekiRyuu

TDF Pegasus - One Week Ago

The CIC was virtually silent. Only the ambient sounds from the various control consoles permeated the air. The two dozen or so people in the Combat Information Centre were all silent and motionless. All eyes were fixed on me, and I could feel the weight of their stares. Some wore shocked faces, others displayed contempt. A few were somewhat neutral.

I turned to face my XO again.

“Colonel Fox?” I prompted. She swallowed before opening her mouth to speak. Her voiced stuttered to begin with, but still carried that tone of authority you expect from a senior officer.

“Commander Kane. For refusing to carry out a direct order from a superior officer, Admiral Hayes has ordered you to stand down. I hereby relieve you of command with immediate effect.” She took a step towards me before continuing.

“I’ll need your rank insignia,” she said, stretching out her hand. I reluctantly removed the symbols of my rank and handed them over. She looked over my shoulder.

“Marines!” she barked. Two pairs of footsteps approached behind me.

“Yes sir!” one answered.

“Take Kane to the brig,” she ordered. I no longer had the right to be referred to as Commander. A decision that I expected would be permanent. The marines began to escort me out of the CIC.

“Captain Reynolds, as next ranking officer I’m making you my XO for the time being” said Colonel Fox. She turned to the crew to issue her first order in command of my ship.

“Inform all batteries to open fire on the targets,” she ordered.

My first officer had betrayed me.



Military Facility, Planet Athenia – Present Day

It was the first time I’d been out of my cell since I’d arrived and the lighting here wasn’t much better either. A pair of armed guards marched me to another room down the hall. Inside were another two men, a table, and three chairs. Again, the lighting was dim, probably in a deliberate attempt to create an intimidating atmosphere. At least this room had a window to let some daylight in. I didn’t care that it was only cloudy outside.

“Wait outside,” one of the men ordered the guards. They both saluted and left the room silently, taking up flanking positions either side of the door before closing it. I was hardly going to be able to escape, but protocol was protocol.

“Sit down,” barked one of the men, without trying in the least to be polite. If there was even the slightest notion remaining that I was here for a friendly chat that was soon dispelled.

I noted that both men were not in any uniform – in fact they were dressed in civilian clothing. Coupled with the fact that they didn’t bother introducing themselves, it was clear to me who they were. “Spectres” we liked to call them, agents of the military who, officially at least, didn’t exist. Even at the rank of Commander, I knew nothing of them besides the usual rumours. Despite the predicament which I now found myself in, I was actually looking forward to learning more about them and first-hand too.

The role was allegedly part spy, part internal affairs. Part anything really, as long as it involved covert operations or backstabbing, sometimes both. There had been rumours that they were responsible for the mysterious disappearance of several officers in the fleet. I couldn’t help but wonder now if that was now my fate too.

One of the men sat down opposite me at the table. The other was leaning against the wall in the corner.

“You know why you’re here,” stated the seated man, pointing out the obvious.

“I know why you want me here,” I corrected. I might be digging myself a deeper hole, but I’ve always been one to stick to my guns, even when I know it’s not smart. Especially when, politics aside, I knew I was right.

“You’re here because not only did you disobey a direct order from Admiral Hayes, but you also openly questioned her authority – and publically in front of the entire assault fleet.” It was clear from the venom in his words that he was disgusted with my actions. There would be no negotiating with this man. Hardly surprising given his job – He’d throw himself out of an airlock if he was ordered to. These “Spectres” were an unusual group, and loyal to the bone.

“True,” I conceded”, “but every action has a context, and you are ignoring my reasons for taking that action,” I countered. The man at the table looked taken aback by my firm stance. Clearly he had expected me to back down in the face of such overwhelming odds, but I didn’t get to my rank by backing down in the face of adversity.

“You honestly think that you can justify taking on an Admiral?” asked the man in the corner, breaking his silence. He sounded somewhat intrigued.

“Absolutely,” I replied. “Of course, whether you actually listen to what I say and mention it in your report is out of my hands.” There was a bit of venom in my voice now, probably because I knew they wouldn’t, even if I had been polite the whole time. Still, it was worth a shot. The man in the corner came over to the table and made himself as comfortable as possible in the remaining chair.

“Fire away,” he said, eagerly awaiting my account of the events leading to my demise.



TDF Pegasus – One Week Ago

“Our orders are to prevent the escape of any resistance transports attempting to flee orbit. Admiral Hayes and her element will be dealing with the actual assault, while we have been tasked with securing the far side of orbit.” I told my XO. I’d just gotten off the comm to the Admiral herself.

“Who do we have then?” she asked about the ships in our element. Our fleet consisted of eight ships: Admiral Hayes’ dreadnought, my battleship, and a pair each of cruisers, destroyers and frigates. It had been decided that each element would have one of these each.

“Odysseus, Persephone & Aeolus,” I replied. The Admiral would have the Achilles, Europa & Eris.

“Enemy resistance?” asked Colonel Fox.

“Expected to be light, certainly no credible threat to the fleet. That’s why we’ve been assigned to a holding pattern while the Artemis spearheads the assault on the base.”

“Excellent,” she replied. We might be career military, but that doesn’t mean we always spoil for a fight. “What’s the plan?”

I mulled it over. I didn’t expect to run into trouble based on the intelligence assessment, but then intelligence wasn’t always reliable. I’ve always considered it better to err on the side of caution. I decided I may as well make it somewhat of a live training exercise too.

“I want to try something new. Co-ordinate with the other ships to get them to jump in between us and the sun, in a convoy formation. On arrival all ships are to hold for further orders,” I told her.

“Yes sir,” she acknowledged before heading off to navigation to make the necessary arrangements. There were several points to my plan, both on the operational & training side of things. Jumping in to the system in a convoy formation would theoretically confuse if not completely fool any radar installations on the planet. The other ships would be in our radar shadow, and so invisible to any sensors aimed at us. In turn this would reduce our threat rating, in the event that hostile ships were present. What’s more, jumping in between the planet and the sun would also blind any optical sensors that tried to look in our direction, further enhancing our stealth effect. The heat from the sun would also mask our heat signatures too.

I looked over at the XO. She was still busy co-ordinating the jump preparations. Plotting a jump wasn’t easy at the best of times, primarily due to the enormous travel distances involved, but plotting officers also had to account for stellar drift, and objects that might cross the flight trajectory. The maths was well beyond me, and only a select few were smart enough to do it. Crashing into an object at faster-than-light speeds was not a pleasant thought. The result would be being turned into dust faster than anything could measure. You wouldn’t even know what had happened.

Such collisions were rare these days, primarily due to the maintained interstellar jump routes. Ships deviated from these at their own risk. Generally, only three types of ship strayed from the safe routes – Military vessels, criminals or explorer ships – whether they were for stellar cartography or scouting for fresh resources to exploit.

The XO interrupted my thoughts.

“All ships acknowledge the orders captain. Out jump has been plotted and the co-ordinates have been passed on to the other ships,” she reported.

“Very well colonel. Make sure our fighters are prepped and ready for launch as soon as we complete the jump,” I ordered. Only battleship and dreadnought class ships had a fighter contingent, which meant we were the only carrier in our contingent.

“Yes sir,” she acknowledged. “Do we need them?”

“Unlikely,” I told her, “but there’s no harm in being prepared.” Colonel Fox left to carry out her orders, leaving me alone staring at the map table. It looked straightforward enough.

30 minutes later, we were ready to make the final jump to Phrygia from our rally point, some way off the beaten track of the Seriphos-Phrygia jump route.

Admiral Hayes gave the command to commence the operation, and promptly her contingent made the jump. I deliberately waited to give the order to jump, in order to give them a head start. That way any eyes that happened to be watching the sky would be focussed on the arrival of the first task force, allowing us to slip in from behind.

Half a minute later, I picked up the receiver and keyed it to external broadcast.

“Bravo team, this is Pegasus Actual,” I announced. Actual was the radio call sign for the commanding officer of a vessel. “Commence countdown on my mark...Mark!” I put the receiver back in its holder. All ships had previously been ordered to set their jump clocks to a 10 second countdown. Ten seconds later we made the jump.

“XO, status report,” I asked Colonel Fox.

“All ships have successfully made the jump accurately, and are now manoeuvring on the spot into position behind us. No radar contacts except friendlies,” she replied. From the direction we’d jumped in, the planet was to our right, and we needed to realign ourselves.

“Good,” I answered. “Now we wait.”

It took around fifteen minutes for something to happen.

“New contacts! They’re coming out of the atmosphere and heading straight for us commander,” a lieutenant shouted out. I could hear the distinctive double-beep chimes emanating from the radar console as each new unknown contact registered.

“Identify!” I ordered. The lieutenant checked his console.

“I count ten contacts sir, all appear to be transport class vessels, civilian designs,” he replied. “No signs of external weaponry or other modifications to the hulls.” That came as a surprise. I didn’t expect the Resistance to have much firepower, but to have none at all...something wasn’t right.

“Any chance those ships are carrying nukes?”  I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“Negative sir, no radiological readings coming from the targets”. It just didn’t make sense.

“Any sources of radar jamming?” I asked.

“Negative again sir." They couldn’t even be trying to ambush us. There simply were no armed ships present. And right now, that concerned me more than a bunch of kamikaze transports ever could.

I figured we still had a good ten minutes before the ships could warm up their FTL drives from a cold start. There was no rush yet.

“XO, order all ships to break formation into a holding pattern,” I commanded. I wanted to see their reaction. As expected, they veered well clear of us now that they picked us up on their sensors. Now we knew they had no attention of attacking us. I picked up the radio receiver and keyed for external broadcast again.

“Unidentified vessels, this is the battleship Pegasus. You are ordered to shut down your engines immediately or you will be fired upon.” All ships more or less immediately complied with the order.

“Pegasus, this is the transport Polydectes. What the hell are you guys playing at? You’re attacking farming communities!” I don’t know why, but I believed him straight away. There was something in the tone of his voice, plus all the facts added up. There was no Resistance here.

“Polydectes, our ships are engaged in operations against resistance fighters on the planet, not against the indigenous population,” I replied. A knot appeared in my stomach as the sickening truth hit me.

“Resistance my ass!” the pilot replied. “The only people here are farmers, and while we’re exchanging pleasantries, your buddies are wiping out every man woman and child on the face of the...” The voice was suddenly cut off by static.

“New jamming source. It’s...coming from the Artemis sir,” the lieutenant said. That hardly came as a surprise; Admiral Hayes had her orders and didn’t want anything getting in her way. Even the truth.

“Sir,” called one of the petty officers at the comm station. “I have Admiral Hayes on a secure channel. She wishes to speak to you sir, and is insisting that you place her on speaker.” That sounded ominous.

“Very well,” I replied, and picked up the receiver. “This is Pegasus Actual,” I announced.

“Commander Kane, would you care to explain why you are not following orders?” the cold voice of the Admiral asked.

“These are farmers trying to flee the scene of battle. They have powered down their engines as ordered and are not a threat. They are not –say again, not – part of the resistance.” I answered.

“Your orders were to destroy all ships fleeing the scene. Are you refusing to carry out that order?” was the blunt response. By now, the atmosphere in the CIC was tense as the crew watched their commander square up to an Admiral.

“I refuse to open fire on civilian vessels!” I emphasised. “Would you care to explain why you are exterminating the local populace?” There is no resistance here! You’re slaughtering unarmed civilians!” There was some background chatter over this accusation. After a long pause the Admiral spoke again. Clearly she did not expect a direct attack on her authority.

“I will not ask again commander. Carry out your orders, or there will be severe consequences.” Her tone was incredibly bitter.

“That’s a negative.” Subconsciously, something made me leave the word ‘Admiral’ off the end of that statement. How was I supposed to play this? I couldn’t attempt to relieve her of her command, I wasn’t aboard her ship. And responding with force would get me nowhere, except killed or court marshalled.

“Very well Commander. Colonel Fox, you are ordered to relieve Commander Kane of command with immediate effect and carry out the standing orders, unless you want to join him.

I was confident that my XO would back me up, as this was an unreasonable order given the circumstances...



Military Facility, Planet Athena – Present Day

“Well I don’t know about you,” the second man spoke to the first, “but I thought that was a wonderful story!”

“Indeed,” replied the first. “Pity it doesn’t change anything,” he said in a mocking tone.

“So that’s it?” I asked. I just about managed to disguise my panic under a casual tone. I knew what would come next, and any hope of avoiding that fate had just evaporated into thin air. “You’re not even going to mention it in your report?” I asked, gesturing to the folder on the desk.

“What report?” asked the first. “We all know what you did. Disobeyed orders, challenged the Admiral in front of the fleet. We cannot allow such acts of sedition to go unpunished.” The faked politeness had left his voice, leaving only contempt for myself and my actions.

The second man opened the folder to reveal a newspaper article with tomorrows date at the top I looked down at the main headline: Decorated Fleet Officer Faces Execution Today. I swallowed hard, and the second man chuckled.

“You’re going to hang, my friend,” he laughed. Both men stood up to leave. “We’ll let you keep that,” he added, nodding at the paper, “but you better read fast!” He sniggered to himself as they left the room.

I was alone again. Alone, and about to be executed.



The Next Morning

It’s amazing how calm a man can feel, despite knowing that he is walking to his own execution. No longer burdened down by the trivial matters of everyday life, there was just myself and a single point in time that was of importance anymore. For the first time I could remember, I felt at peace.

The guards led me out into a deserted courtyard, the first time I’d been outside in a week.

I closed my eyes to savour the moment, one last time. The warm summer sunshine caressed my face with its gentle glow. A light breeze ran its fingers though my hair. A final, parting embrace.

The temporary spell of freedom was soon over, and I was led back inside. The warm sunshine was replaced by the cold chill from the air conditioning, which sent shivers down my spine.

I was led down a few corridors before I set eyes on the large black doors at the end. This was now the twilight of my little walk; of my life. My journey was coming to an end, in both senses. To me the doors were death incarnate. I didn’t fear them; they just symbolised crossing the threshold to whatever laid beyond. A mystery in life as it was in death.

We reached the doors which opened of their own accord, as if to say “death welcomes you”. We were in a large hall, upon a stage of sorts. There would be no entertainment here, though upon reflection, I suppose that was subjective.

I was led to the centre of the stage, where a rope hung from the ceiling above a trapdoor. I counted down my last ten steps, and then that became one more thing I’d done for the last time. Now I just had my senses, and precious few seconds left to live.

The noose was placed around my neck, and someone started their speech to the masses. I didn’t bother listening, what was the point? I’d heard all the twisted facts and lies already. Instead, I took the time to glance around the room at my audience. I noticed that there were even cameras at the back. No doubt this was being broadcast live – It must have been a big story for the media. I was after all the highest ranking officer by far to face this fate.

“...Is therefore sentenced to death,” finished the speaker, who I soon realised would also be my executioner. He casually walked over to the level at the side of the stage, with a half concealed grin on his face.

The moment had come. I faced forward, chin high and prepared to die proud. The floor gave way beneath me. I fell...and fell...and landed hard a good few meters below where I once stood. My legs crumpled from the impact and a jarred my right ankle. I let out a groan and winced at the pain.

“Come on!” a male voice shouted. I couldn’t see where it was coming from. It was dark in the pit, barring the square of light in the ceiling.

“We need to move now!” shouted another male voice, and I felt a hand grab my arm and haul me to my feet. I was confused to say the least, and the pain didn’t help, but I hobbled along anyway. I noted that my foot couldn’t take my weight properly as I was led through the gloom.

A door opened and we were led into a dingy service corridor where two more armed men were on guard. The five of us silently made our way through the tunnel network as fast as possible, clearly taking a precise route.

“Who are you? What’s going on?” I asked, though if I was thinking clearly, the answer was obvious.

“All you need to know right now is that we’re part of the Resistance, you’re not dead, and everyone in the building is mighty pissed off right now!”  He sarcastically replied. This was from a tall blonde man who was one of those I met in the room. Within a minute, we were at a ladder.

“Carter, we’re in position,” he spoke into his radio.

“OK, ETA 30 seconds,” came the reply.

The three armed men climbed the ladder first, followed by myself and then the blonde man. We were back outside. It took me a few seconds to realise that I was in the courtyard I’d crossed earlier, but tucked in a corner.

In the distance, a transport was flying in low and fast, heading straight for us. It made a hard but otherwise textbook landing, and immediately lowered an access ramp for us to run aboard.

“Go!” barked the blonde man, and we all scrambled inside. “Carter: clear!” he shouted over the radio, and with a jolt we took off, with the ramp closing as we went.

I followed the blonde man towards the cockpit.

“Oh,” he said, turning to face me and offering his hand. “The name’s Alan Wade.” We shook hands, but before I could reply he was off again. I awkwardly jogged to catch up.

There was only one man in the cockpit, who I assumed was Carter. I was proved correct a moment later.

“Marcus Kane, meet Daniel Carter,” Wade introduced us.

“We don’t have time for that now,” he replied bluntly. “Everything in the system with a military logo on it is heading right for us.” He gestured towards the radar display, and he wasn’t joking either. Never in my entire military career had I seen so many contacts on radar at once. Hardly surprising, I thought. This would be extremely embarrassing for them, to say the least.

“Hurry up and make the jump then!” Insisted Wade. Carter sighed. “The FTL drive is still spinning up, otherwise we’d have been long gone already.”

At this point the radar console was spewing forth a torrent of beeps to indicate new contacts. A pair of carriers were launching their entire fighter compliments, just for us.

“30 seconds!” Carter shouted over the din. It was going to be close; the fighters were pursuing us on full afterburners and gaining fast.

“10 seconds!” a buzzer sounded and lit up the board. Missiles were locked on and incoming.

“5...4,” he counted down. The missiles had already covered half the distance.

“3...2...1,” It was too close to call.

“Jump!” Carter shouted, and there was a bright flash. It took a few seconds to register that we’d made the jump rather than been hit. For the second time that day, I’d cheated death.

“Can we talk now?” I asked in order to break the silence.

“Sure,” replied Wade. “Fire Away.” He slumped into the co-pilot seat, exhausted and relived.

“Why did you rescue me?” I asked, unsure of what the answer would be.

“For any number of reasons,” he answered, raising his hand to tick them off. “You’re innocent for a start. Then, you’re probably not to keen on the whole death thing. Thirdly, the boldness of this rescue makes a big point for the Resistance. Live media coverage was an added bonus too – there’s no way they can cover this up now. You’ve got to admire their arrogance,” he commented on the fleet.

“Perhaps most importantly though, we need someone with your talents to help lead our resistance. You’ve already shown that you’ll take a moral stand against the government’s oppression. That’s how we all started,” he added. Something about the way he said it made me think that his reasons were somewhat more personal.

“Lastly, a high profile defection would be a massive propaganda boost, and it’ll hurt them hard. Only you can make the choice though – to die for nothing under a pack of lies, or to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves?” That last sentence was a deliberate appeal to reason as well as my own morals. He was right though, I had a choice before me. It was arguably the biggest choice of my life so far – maybe ever. I hadn’t considered the option of joining them until now. A path and a purpose lay before me – and only death lay behind. By rights, I ought to be dead now, but I wasn’t. Every second now was a gift. I was a man reborn, liberated from my shackles and tunnel vision. The choice was an illusion. I knew what I had to do.

“Count me in,” I said.