The Colony on Meranda IV - Part 14

This post started off as a one-off response to a writing prompt in the Freewriters Community. Then I wrote a part 2 (with the outcome literally determined by a coin toss).

But that naturally leads to a part 3, which is where this short series comes in. I felt that doing it in just one post really wouldn't give enough time to build up a bit of suspense 😀 Enjoy !

Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio

The others were down in the light cruiser's brig, but Dafang and Wardek were up on the ship's bridge.

"VIP guests" Kailen Hamatre had called them. More likely he just wanted to keep a close eye on his most resourceful and potentially troublesome prisoners.

Their true status was demonstrated by the fact that not only were they inside a force cage, but a full platoon of Imperial Marines were facing them with plasma rifles and heavy shellers at the ready. Sure, they were in the unarmoured shipboard uniform, but they were good troops and not to be messed with.

"Get me out of this cage Governor, and I can take 'em. Retired or not, the Marines are no match for the ASU's. They should have learned that after all the bar fights we kicked their arses in."

Dafang admired Wardek's spirit, although he doubted one unarmed and retired ASU man could take twenty fully armed and alert Marines. But the possibility was intriguing.

"No, Wardek, let's see how this plays out. We're in deep enough trouble as it is, but if we can talk to Admiral Maraz before Garnes has the chance to do something stupid we might just be able to solve this without violence."

The light cruiser was headed towards Meranda Base, the capital; for a ship used to jumping across whole galaxies it was a local jaunt, taking less than an hour even at the sub-light velocities used in-atmosphere.

As they grew close, Dafang sensed a change in the bridge crew. Something was up, he could tell by their movements, the whispered conversations they were having. The force cage dulled sound a little, but didn't do much to block it.

He could hear the Comms Tech, a note of urgency in the man's voice. "This is light cruiser The Gulls of Darhoo calling Meranda Base. Please repeat your last message. Should we veer off and go deep system ?"

Dafang called out to Kailen Hamatre, "Hey, Kailen, what's going on ? Is there something we need to know about ?"

Hamatre turned to face his prisoners. The officer's grey, faintly scaly skin was a paler than usual shade. He was one of the Darf race, another empire that had been conquered millennia ago and turned out to supply good officers to the Imperial armed forces.

"Just a little local comms difficulty, I suspect," he hissed, "But we're going in carefully just in case."

As they came into sight of Meranda Base, Dafang and Wardek spotted immediately what was wrong. They shared a mutual grim grin.

The whole apron of the spaceport had clearly suffered a problem. Even at this distance, they could spot the great spirals and swirls where the landing pads had been churned up from below.

The bridge crew were clearly a bit confused and shocked by the change.

"Don't worry, Kailen," Dafang called over to Hamatre, "This is what we've been dealing with for the last couple of months. But once it's done, the threat is over and the ground is safe to land on. Although it's not going to have the usual landing pad markings to guide you in."

But Hamatre was really pale now, almost white.

"That's not the problem, Governor. It's the Type 17 battle cruiser Glory of Chalima. It flew in and landed here three days ago. It should be sitting just... over there. And it's just... gone."

"Gone ?" Dafang felt a bad feeling well up inside himself.

"Yes. They said it was swallowed up. Gone...."

Previous posts in this series;

• https://peakd.com/hive-161155/@alonicus/24-january-2025-mariannewests-freewrite-writing-prompt-day-2626-mother-love - the post that started it all, and introduced the spine-spiders
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/escape-from-the-caves-of-meranda-iv - the sequel, where the science team escapes back to base and recommends the planet not be colonised. They were too late.
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-1 - we meet the Governor Dafang and get the first hints that the colony isn't going to plan
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-2 - Governor Dafang takes a trip to the Greenfields settlement, only to find it is not there any more
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-3 - a fractious meeting of the co0lony's government, and a worrying foreshadow
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-4 - this is where things start to really go sideways for the colony
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-5 - Doctor Helen Thwaites returns to Meranda to reveal the cover-up
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-6 - Garnes tries to arrest Helen, and gets told to go away
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-7 - Meranda Base finds itself surrounded by a broad band of patterns
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-8 - Mr Garnes makes his move
  https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-9 - Mr Garnes' juniors aren't impressed by his self-promotion
  https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-10 - Wardek breaks Dafang out of prison, but Doctor Thwaites is swallowed up by the ground.
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-11 - The fugitives use micro-drones to find out what Garnes is up to.
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-12 - Dafang finds out that Wardek was actually a senior NCO in one of the toughest units the Empire has
• https://peakd.com/hive-199275/@alonicus/the-colony-on-meranda-iv-part-13 - Captured by Imperial Marines