Jak Phoenix

  ***

  “Entering orbit now.”

  “Stay quiet and slow,” instructed Dodge.

  The crew observed the glow of the moon dissipate as they slowly turned in their orbit around to the dark side. The light disappeared and the darkness ensued.

  “I don’t like this,” said Dodge aloud.

  “No reading on the ship yet,” said Garner. “But I have my tap program ready if they show up. They’re probably on the other side of the moon by now.”

  Dodge looked out the window at the blackness. As each moment passed, he began to feel less and less sure of the situation. Something was not right.

  “Break the orbit,” he said.

  “But—”

  “I said break the orbit, goddamn it!”

  The clanging sound of metal on metal contact on the outside of the ship confirmed Dodge’s instinctual fear. The metallic sound echoed throughout the ship and silenced as the magnetic mines latched onto their target. The crew looked at each other and then looked out the cockpit window where Murdock’s ship had just come into view, facing them.

  “Hold on!” screamed Dodge, trying to get to a safe position.

  The string of explosions shook the ship and battered the crew. Standing was impossible as the ship rocked and vibrated. Every alarm that still worked was ringing simultaneously, defeating their purpose of bringing attention to a specific problem. The relentless pounding from multiple detonations knocked the crew about like someone was pulling a rug from beneath their feet.

  “Fire in the engine room, Dodge,” shouted a crew member running from the rear of the craft back into the cockpit. Dodge stumbled his way to him to pat out a fire on his clothes. He noticed a couple of burn marks that the man likely hadn’t yet had a chance to notice.

  “Go take care of yourself,” shouted Dodge, over the noise of everything going absolutely wrong. “You’re hurt.”

  Dodge rushed back to the front console as he took a quick visual inventory of his shipmates aboard. He struggled to use the crippled systems and get some information on their status.

  “Garner, can you still tap into his ship?”

  “I think so.”

  “Do it!”

  Garner worked at trying to hack into Murdock’s system while Dodge attempted to steady himself and focus on an action plan, while avoiding fire and surges from the fried electronics. Unbelievably, parts of his weapon systems were still operational.

  “Lock on to their ship and fire anything that still works,” ordered Dodge. “Get that flight plan of his and send it out to Rusty before the systems die.”

  The helmsman complied and let loose everything they could currently expel from the ship. As they drifted closer to Murdock’s ship they were able to experience the temporary pleasure of viewing a missile and several laser blasts impact into its hull. Murdock’s ship absorbed the weakened attack.

  Dodge watched as one by one, his own systems overloaded and shut down from the additional stress of the firing.

  Another explosion rocked their ship, but this time it was from inside. The fire from the engine room was raging to the point where they could hear its roar from the cockpit.

  Dodge turned around and headed out of the cockpit, toward the searing heat. “We gotta get this damn fire out!” He approached the flames with an extinguisher in the seemingly futile attempt to subdue it.

  Another explosion thumped from the back of the ship, sending an extra burst of energy into the fire and toward Dodge, surrounding him with heat and flames and knocking him over onto the floor.