Galaxy of Heroes

The Red Wrath floated inside a V-formation of eight decoy spacecraft. Spade sat at the controls of his interceptor peering out at dark Naos. The moon was a black dot in front of the roiling clouds of enormous Roga.

The decoy spacecraft looked predatory as they floated in formation in front of the Red Wrath. They were nothing more than unmanned engines built for speed and armed to the tooth—but merely targets on this mission meant to misdirect enemy fire.

The entire crew was in the cockpit looking out at the little moon. Spade found it hard to concentrate. He had always found the swirling colors of Roga mesmerizing, and it had been ages since he had gazed upon them.

“I don’t like this,” Brute said.

“I know,” Spade said. “It sucks.”

“Pessimism serves no purpose now,” the professor said. “Think only happy thoughts.”

Tanaka let out a sarcastic laugh.

“You know what would make me happy, professor?” Brute asked. “If we aborted this fool’s errand and bugged the hell out of here. I say let the Craaldans and the Diocons fight it out, and if the two of them kill each other off, the universe will be a better place for it.”

“That would make me happy on the inside,” Tanaka said.

“You humans do not comprehend the meaning of what you speak,” the professor said testily. “But this is expected from creatures on the lower end of the evolutionary ladder.”

“Those aren’t happy thoughts, professor,” Mingus said.

“Brute. Mingus,” Spade said. “I want you two down in the engine room for damage control until we get to the surface. Take the professor with you.”

“Roger,” they said. Brute grabbed the professor by the back of his neck and pulled him from the cockpit.

Spade contemplated calling off the mission. It was too risky. If the two empires got into a suicidal war, it would serve them right for all the suffering and pain they had inflicted on the galaxy.

Tanaka completed a diagnostic check while monitoring communications traffic. “All systems good to go,” he said.

“Roger that,” Spade said.

These Craaldans live only for war, Spade thought. They had no use for comfort, luxury or civilization. They had turned over to the Noctish all the wealth of the civilizations they had smashed, only for actionable nuggets of intel that served their lust for victory. Battle and conquest were all the Craaldans wanted from life. When they conquered a world, they enslaved any survivors and placed them in work camps or on labor teams and then plundered the planet’s resources to feed their insatiable war machine. Within a few years, even the hardiest survivor of a Craaldan conquest would be reduced to an empty shell and would soon succumb under the heavy boot of Craaldan oppression.

The Diocons, on the other hand, had no need for slaves. They fought wars of annihilation. Their aim whenever they encountered resistance was to eradicate every living thing. They would then occupy whatever world they had leveled only if it had strategic value or critical resources for the construction of armaments. Where the proper resources were present, the Diocons built huge automated factories that churned out weaponry, ships and soldiers to expand their capacity for the delivery of death.

These two empires had been rampaging across the Inner Galaxy for eons. Spade would feel no sorrow if both Craaldan and Diocon were to destroy themselves and disappear forever from the galaxy. But now here he was with his crew caught between these two agents of destruction.

“Here they come,” Tanaka said.

A display panel tracked the blistering ascent of six missiles from the Naos surface.

“The missiles are entering the mine field,” Tanaka said. “Hold on.”

The black void of space flashed white. A blinding light flooded the cockpit.

The flashes flickered and nuclear fireballs expanded in the vacuum above Naos.

The first violent shock wave shook the ship—then five more in rapid and jarring succession.

“Go, go, go!” Tanaka yelled.

Spade fired the engines and the Red Wrath shot forward in unison with the decoy formation. They jetted for the fireballs above Naos. At the last second, the formation veered away and hurtled downward toward the Naos surface.

The rugged, black topography of the moon came into sharp focus. Spade had seen these same rock formations and canyons countless times and knew them better than anyone.

“We’re coming into range of their cannons,” Tanaka said.

“They’re not picking us up,” Spade said. “The electromagnetic pulse blinded them.”

The decoy ship in front of the Red Wrath erupted in an explosion of metal.

“Kinetic laser,” Tanaka said. “They’ve found their range.”

“These damn decoys are slowing us down,” Spade said. “I’m going to punch through.”

“Don’t do it, fool,” Tanaka said. “If we’re out front, we’ll be an easy target.”

Spade pulled the ship behind a decoy. In a flash, three decoys disintegrated, hit by rapid pulses from kinetic laser cannons.

Spade shot the ship through the debris.

“We’re not going to make it!” Tanaka yelled.

Instantaneous pulses pulverized the remaining decoys in flashes of exploding metal.

Spade shoved forward on the stick and dove straight for the surface.

“They’ve got a lock!” Tanaka yelled. “This is it!”

The moon’s jagged black surface rushed up toward them.

Tanaka looked over at Spade through his glowing green lenses. The tendons and veins in his skinny neck were tense and pulsating. “I know I’ve been insolent and inconsiderate!” Tanaka yelled. He reached over and gripped Spade’s forearm, digging his bony fingertips into the muscle. “But I always loved you, Spade, you one-eyed bastard!”

Spade yanked back on the stick, struggling to remain conscious under the weight of immense g-forces. The interceptor skimmed low over the Naos surface, then zoomed over jagged peaks before diving for cover behind them.

Spade sighted a Craaldan reserve tank company encamped in a narrow valley below. He circled low over the tanks. The Red Wrath was now safely behind the mountain ridge and concealed from the Diocon laser cannons.

He zoomed over a flat area and then opened his landing gear.

“Now, that is what I call flying!” Spade said.

“No, they held their fire,” Tanaka said. “I don’t know why, but they did.”

Spade set the interceptor down on the black Naos surface inside the Craaldan camp.