KIERAN
The explosion threw Kieran forward against his restraints.
Alarms screamed louder than before. Red emergency lights strobed across the bridge. His crew scrambled to their stations, hands flying over controls.
That blast was different from the others. Bigger. More focused. Like someone had aimed directly at their weak point.
Kieran pulled up the tactical display, searching for the attack's origin. His fingers moved fast across the screen, tracking trajectory data.
Nothing.
No enemy fire from that vector. No missiles. No plasma bursts. The angle was all wrong for an external attack.
Marcus appeared at his shoulder, also checking the data.
Sir, where did that hit come from?
Kieran's jaw tightened. He ran the calculations again. Same result.
I don't know. Show me the defensive perimeter.
Marcus pulled up the fleet formation. Human ships positioned in standard battle array. The defensive grid should have been active. Should have blocked any attack from outside.
But the blast hadn't come from outside.
Kieran's stomach dropped as the truth settled in.
Marcus, run trajectory analysis again. I need exact coordinates of origin.
His second in command worked the console, face going pale as numbers appeared.
Sir, this doesn't make sense. According to this data, the attack came from inside our formation.
Show me.
Marcus transferred the display to Kieran's screen. The trajectory line was clear. The blast originated from their own fleet's position. From where only human ships should be.
Someone on their side had just fired on them.
Kieran's hands gripped the armrests of his command chair hard enough to hurt. His mind raced through possibilities. Malfunction. System error. Misread data.
But the numbers didn't lie.
Run it again, he ordered.
Marcus did. Same result.
It's confirmed, sir. That blast came from inside our defensive perimeter. From coordinates occupied by the destroyer Achilles.
The Achilles. One of Admiral Reeves' personal command ships.
Kieran reached for the comm to contact Reeves directly. Demand answers. Demand to know why a human ship just attacked the Valiant.
His hand was halfway to the comm button when everything went wrong.
The second explosion hit like the hand of an angry god.
Bigger than the first. So much bigger. The entire bridge lurched sideways. Kieran's command chair tore free from its moorings. He went flying, crashed into the tactical station hard enough to crack ribs.
Pain exploded through his chest.
Around him, crew members screamed. Lieutenant Chen's console exploded in a shower of sparks. She went down, not moving. The main viewscreen cracked down the middle. Emergency bulkheads started slamming shut across the ship.
Kieran dragged himself upright using the ruined tactical station. Blood ran into his eyes from a cut on his forehead. He wiped it away and tried to focus.
The damage reports flooding his screen made his blood run cold.
Hull breaches on eight decks. Engine core temperature spiking. Reactor two going critical. Life support failing in forward sections.
They'd been hit in exactly the right places to cripple the ship completely.
This wasn't random. This was surgical.
Marcus pulled himself across the tilting deck, grabbing onto whatever he could reach.
Captain, we're losing altitude. The engines can't compensate.
Kieran checked the navigation display. His worst fear confirmed.
They were falling.
Not drifting. Falling. Into the gravity well of the planet below.
How long until we can restore engine power?
Marcus consulted with engineering over the comm. The answer came back within seconds.
Engineering says negative, sir. The core is compromised. We've got maybe five minutes before complete failure.
Five minutes.
Five minutes before three thousand tons of starship became a falling coffin.
Kieran's tactical mind worked through the options. They had escape pods. Could evacuate some crew. But not everyone. Not even half.
And something else bothered him.
Pull up the sensor logs. Show me fleet positions for the last ten minutes.
Marcus looked confused but complied. The tactical display showed their formation. Showed the battle unfolding.
Showed the Valiant positioned exactly where multiple attack vectors converged.
Kieran's throat went dry.
We were set up.
What?
Look at the formation. Admiral Reeves positioned us in a kill zone. Our defensive grid never activated because someone made sure it wouldn't. The Achilles fired on us from inside our perimeter where we couldn't defend.
Marcus stared at the screen, understanding dawning on his face.
You're saying our own fleet just tried to kill us?
Not tried. Succeeding.
Another alarm started screaming. The altitude warning. They were dropping faster now.
Kieran pulled up the planet's data. Uncharted world. Jungle coverage. Breathable atmosphere but unknown environmental hazards.
They were going to crash there.
And based on what he'd just discovered, Admiral Reeves wanted them to.
Sir, what do we do?
Kieran looked around the bridge. At his crew fighting to save a ship that was already dead. At Marcus waiting for orders. At Lieutenant Chen's body still smoking at her destroyed console.
These people trusted him. Followed him. Believed he'd keep them safe.
He'd led them into a trap.
The realization burned like acid in his chest. Admiral Reeves had briefed him personally. Told him this battle was crucial. Positioned the Valiant exactly where the attack would hit hardest.
His own superior officer had betrayed him.
Had betrayed all of them.
Captain, Marcus pressed. We need orders.
Kieran forced himself to think past the rage and betrayal. The ship was dying. The crew needed a chance to survive.
All hands to survival positions, he announced over the shipwide comm. Brace for impact. I repeat, all hands brace for impact. Get to reinforced compartments. Secure the injured. We're going down.
His voice carried across every deck. People would be scrambling now. Racing for escape pods. Strapping into crash seats. Holding onto whatever they could find.
Some would live. Many wouldn't.
Marcus moved to his station, checking systems.
Sir, the planet's atmosphere is interfering with our communications. Even if we survive the crash, we won't be able to signal for rescue.
Perfect. Just perfect.
So they were falling toward an unknown planet. Cut off from communication. Betrayed by their own military. Set up to die.
Kieran watched the jungle world grow larger on the cracked viewscreen. Beautiful green canopy stretching to the horizon. If they weren't about to smash into it at killing speed, he might have appreciated the view.
The bridge crew worked frantically at their stations. Trying to slow the descent. Trying to angle for a survivable impact. Trying to do anything that might save a few more lives.
It wasn't enough.
Two minutes to impact, the navigation officer called out.
Kieran gripped his command chair. Thought about everyone on this ship. The families waiting for them. The children who'd never see their parents again. The partners who'd get notification letters instead of homecomings.
All dead because Admiral Reeves wanted them eliminated.
Why?
What was worth killing five thousand loyal soldiers?
He didn't have time to figure it out.
One minute.
Through the cracked viewscreen, Kieran saw something that made his heart stop.
Another ship. Falling through the atmosphere alongside them. Close enough to see the hull markings.
Nex fighter.
The enemy was crashing too. Same trajectory. Same planet. Same impact zone.
Both ships falling exactly where someone wanted them to fall.
Thirty seconds.
The pieces clicked together in Kieran's mind. The positioning. The sabotage. The enemy fighter aimed at the same location.
This wasn't just about eliminating him.
Someone wanted both ships down. Both crews dead.
Human and Nex working together to murder their own people.
Fifteen seconds.
Kieran grabbed the comm one last time.
Whatever happens next, you were the best crew any captain could ask for. I'm honored to have served with you all.
Ten seconds.
The jungle canopy filled the viewscreen completely.
Marcus met his eyes across the tilting bridge.
See you on the other side, sir.
Five seconds.
Kieran thought about his mother. About the letter he'd written her. About all the things he'd never get to say.
The Valiant hit the jungle canopy and the world became screaming metal and fire and death.