Galaxy of Heroes

Capt. Spade and Capt. Casey limped up the steep, muddy slope through scorched foliage until they ascended the ridgeline. On the other side of the ridge, the lush forest remained.

A still quiet had descended over the mountainous landscape. The pink sky was clear of the usual traffic of spacecraft.

The mushroom cloud behind them dissipated. An enormous column of black smoke funneled upward into the sky over where Portogallos used to be. Orange fires burned brightly beneath the thick smoky blackness. The smoke rose upward and then blew horizontally over the purple sea.

Captain Casey and Spade were exhausted as they trudged down the muddy mountainside through the thick vegetation.

They picked their way slowly down the steep backside of the ridge for hour upon hour, barely speaking in their torpor.

Eventually, the steep grade flattened and they emerged from the vines and trees onto a meadow. Blue-green grass billowed in a soft breeze.

They walked across the expansive field to the spaceport’s long tarmac. They stepped onto the hard surface and walked toward the stacks of containers and spacecraft parked in the distance.

The tarmac was scarred from blasts from pulse cannons. Burning corpses were strewn here and there along the long runway. They walked past crashed ships that still burned. Flaming wrecks were everywhere.

The spaceport was a scene of destruction. Most of the containers, ships and hangars were aflame or flattened and smoldering.

Spade trotted as he neared a stack of burning containers. He jogged toward a half-collapsed hangar. Capt. Casey broke into a trot to keep up.

“They didn’t hit my shuttle,” he called over his shoulder.

He ran up to the undamaged craft that was parked in front of the hangar. He punched in a code. A door opened and he ducked inside.

Capt. Casey stood out on the tarmac looking around. The body of a Paltran pilot was still burning only a few meters from where she stood. His mechanical prostheses glowed orange-hot over his charred corpse. Containers blazed, their exteriors smashed from pulse blasts, and their contents scattered in concentric circles. Flames shot upward from row upon row of parked shuttles and spacecraft. But remarkably, many of the vehicles appeared undamaged. It seemed that the Craaldan drones had only targeted occupied craft that were attempting to flee.

Spade poked his head out of his shuttle.

“The Red Wrath is still up there in orbit,” he said. “It’s OK.”

“What about my ship?” Capt. Casey asked.

“It looks like the Craaldans didn’t target any of the ships parked in orbit,” he answered. “They are still out there by the Gallos moon—thousands of them.”

“Maybe the Craaldan commander took Lt. Zeth’s advice to heart,” Capt. Casey said. “They are going to let us go and track us.”

“They won’t be tracking me,” Spade said. “I’m not waiting around. Get in. Let’s get off this rock while the going is good.”

Capt. Casey looked up at him. He stood in the hatch of his shuttle on the smoky, windblown tarmac. His flight suit was muddy and torn and his face was still bloodied and grimy. But as always, Capt. Jace Spade remained his rugged and handsome self.

“Come with me, Mina,” Spade said. “You and me, just like old times.”

“Like old times?” she asked.

In the distance, stragglers were stepping onto the tarmac and walking down the runway. They were emerging from the trees all around the spaceport and were walking across the tarmac toward the hangars and spacecraft.

“Come with me,” Spade said.

“Negative,” she said.

Spade put the stub of a cigar into his mouth and lit it. He hopped down onto the tarmac. “We make a good team, Mina.”

“Been there, done that,” she said.

“Well, I ain’t hanging around here for the bombardment. What do you have planned?”

“I was thinking about what Dr. Zander would do in a situation like this,” she said.

“Dr. Zander?” Spade asked. He looked over one shoulder and then the other at the stragglers walking across the tarmac. “Well, first of all he wouldn’t be standing out here in the breeze wasting time.”

“What would Dr. Zander do, Jace?” Capt. Casey asked.

“He would set up medical stations for the wounded,” Spade said. “That would be his first instinct. Second, he would probably organize search parties to gather everyone to a central location, probably that field over there. Next, he would implement an evacuation plan to get the survivors off the planet. Then, he would plot a course out of here to safety. He would turn that parking lot of space ships up by the Gallos moon into a flotilla and lead us out to some friendly star where he would build a society where humans could live in freedom, away from the Craaldan war machine.”

“Sounds like he would know exactly what to do,” Capt. Casey said.

“Yeah, he would,” Spade said. “Now get in the shuttle and let’s get out of here. We can find him together.”

“Come here,” she said to him.

Spade dropped his cigar and stepped on it with his boot. He walked away from his shuttle toward her.

She looked up at him. “Jace, you’ve found Dr. Zander. He’s alive inside of you.”

She looked to her left and to her right as the survivors of the Craaldan assault walked toward them. “These people need a leader,” she said.

“To lead them where?” Spade asked.

“To some friendly star,” she said.

“You got one in mind?” he asked.

“I heard there are a lot of them out in the Calli Sector,” she said.

“Grimes wouldn’t like it if we followed him out there,” he said.

“No, he wouldn’t,” she said. “But he’ll get over it.”

“If we showed up out there with thousands of refugees, it would be worth it just to see the look on his face,” Spade said.

Capt. Casey smiled. “We need to set up medical stations in that field over there. Then, we’ll need to organize search parties.”

“You have to be the hero, don’t you?” he said.

“We’ll have to implement an evacuation plan to get the survivors off the planet.”

“You know it’s a long voyage to the Calli Sector,” he said.

“Roger,” she said. “It will give us time to get to know each other again.”

He pulled her into his arms. “Does this mean we’re back together again?” he asked.

“I promised myself that would never happen,” she answered.

Spade planted a kiss on her lips.

She put her arms around him and kissed him back. She turned away and walked down the tarmac toward the approaching throng.

Spade stood watching her. He lit up another cigar.

“Are you coming?” she asked over her shoulder.

“Lead the way.”

The End

GALAXY OF HEROES II: War Heroes

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