War Fleet: Resistance

was a suicide mission, and everyone on board knew it. They needed to be there to ensure that the warhead entered the sun, and no other civilizations arrived and got hold of the spatial detonator before it had a chance to unleash its carnage.
But after the deed was done, their names would go down in history as those that turned the tide of the war against the humans, so that they could eventually win the war. They’d have statues erected in their names, and their descendants would live in peace in an Arstan galaxy.
“We’re not,” Kraic confirmed. Like any creature alive, the Arstans hated pain, but they weren’t afraid of death.
“Then it’s good to see everything’s going as planned. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have other meetings to attend to.”
“I wish you well,” Kraic said. Then after a considered moment, he added, “Frande.”
But the Tauian didn’t register the significance of the honorific, nor did he reply. Rather, he cut himself off the comms-channel and shortly afterwards, his ship ghosted back into space.

24
Redrock’s toe tapped rapidly against the floor of the Extractor as he watched Kota, Singh, and their Arstan captive sprint towards the shuttle cargo doors. Connery and Turgin had already made it back, and they were in the cargo bay with Riley, but it seemed having a hostage might have slowed the other two Marines a little. Redrock wasn’t sure he could get back to the Tapper in ten minutes, let alone eight, but the thought of leaving Kota behind made him sick. It just wasn’t going to happen, mission be damned.
He kept his hand clenched around the control stick as he flitted his gaze between the Marines and the button to close the cargo bay doors. Meanwhile, he kept muttering “Hurry up” under his breath.
Kota appeared at the cargo bay entrance first, followed by Singh, who pushed the Arstan inside. Redrock let out a tightly-held breath, and then he closed the cargo bay doors. “Does he have mag-boots?” he asked.
The crocodile-man shook his head before anyone else could answer. “Do I look like I came equipped for interstellar travel? You woke me up from my afternoon nap and didn’t even give me time to put my slippers on.”
“Pin him down, damn it,” Redrock shouted back to the Marines. “We don’t want to have come this far and lose him to a bang on the head.”
He waited until Riley and Turgin, the two strongest men, rushed forward and locked their arms around the Arstan, then wrestled him to the floor. Redrock ramped up the dial for the under-ship thrusters, and the ship shook to life. He flipped out the wings that he’d put in to keep the ship concealed. And as it rose, the branches and leaves that he and Riley had secured for cover were sent scattering around the terrain.
“Brace yourselves,” he said. “This is going to make all of us want to puke.” He lifted a metal hatch underneath the throttle and turned a dial underneath from zero to a hundred. He wasn’t meant to use the afterburners unless in an absolute emergency. Burn them for too long, and the ship could become liquid metal.
But right now they didn’t have a choice.
The inside of the ship heated up to the temperature of a mid-afternoon desert. Redrock took hold of some water from the cooler underneath the dash and threw back some bottles. “Use these to stay cool,” he said, and poured some liquid down his throat himself.
Then he turned the thrusters around and screamed out — and he wasn’t sure if it was in pain or ecstasy — as the acceleration pushed him hard against the back of his seat. “Captain, I’m running the afterburners,” he shouted over the comms channel. He hoped that he’d be coherent amidst the heat and the feeling of restricted air. “How long we got?”
“Four minutes. Dammit, Redrock, do you think you can make it? I wish we could cancel, but if this station gets another hit on us, we’re shrapnel.”
“I’m going to damn well try.”
He looked back at the Marines, all of them crouched down on the floor. Kota looked at him with wide eyes. She was worried — he could see that — and she never got worried.
“Captain,” he said over the comms channel, “I want to say you should go. But we’ve got the Arstan, and I know a lot more is at stake.”
“Just stop talking and start focusing, Redrock. Get that ship here.”
“Yes, sir,” Redrock said.
He’d never seen a planet spin away so fast. Even in training, he’d not been allowed to use a ship’s emergency controls — only in computer simulations, which couldn’t quite emulate the real thing. The whole ship was creaking, and by the way it shook, even in space, it felt that if Redrock veered it too sharply to one side, the whole thing would fall apart.
As the atmosphere thinned, two specks of light in the sky began to take form. The brightest of these was a space station — although, on closer inspection, it was now a detached mass of Arstan modules, all of them deployed in position to destroy the Tapper.
The other was so much smaller that it remained a speck of light for several more moments before it also took form. After a while, Redrock could see that it had indeed taken a beating. And the station had its guns firing up, glowing in colors that Redrock had learned to fear — the colors of annihilation.
“Three minutes,” Olsen said. “I’ll keep you updated by the minute. Don’t say a word, just focus.”
He cut out again. Olsen, wisely, hadn’t kept what was happening on the ship on the channel. Redrock imagined they were flailing around, shouting orders out, Olsen frantically trying to get as much data as possible.
The Tapper was dipping down into the atmosphere, trying to scoop up the shuttle; but at that position she was terribly exposed to the enemy station, and must be straining to hold steady.
As