“100 kilometers and closing. Why, sir, is there a plan?” the ops officer replied with a puzzled look.
He nodded to the young officer. The plan was simple. So simple he thought it couldn’t work. There had to be a catch.
“Yes, we are going to destroy the enemy from the inside,” he announced to the bridge.
“How do you think we are going to accomplish that?” the chief chimed in, stunned.
“With a nuke. Can we set up a system to detonate one of the nukes in the tube?” Stollar asked Rice.
“Yes, but is has to be done by hand. With the damage the system sustained, remote detonation might not work,” Rice commented.
“Damn,” he thought to himself. He knew the plan would not be so smooth that it could detonate remotely. That means someone would have to sacrifice themselves.
“Ops, status of escape pods,” Stollar asked turning to the young officer.
“Offline for now. It might take engineering 60 minutes to get them up and running.” He replied.
“They have 20.” He stated looking at his terminal.
Stollar keyed in the ship-wide com panel. “At least it still worked,” he thought.
“All hands get to the escape pods. Those who can, help with the injured. Those not evacuating the injured will help engineering with repairing the pods,” he announced, then pressed the button to cut off the intercom. “Lieutenant Rice, you are with me,” he ordered as he looked around the bridge.
The door to the bridge opened, and those remaining started to move, helping those too injured to help themselves.
“Where are we going?” Rice inquired.
“We have a date with a nuke, Lieutenant,” Stollar replied.
A few moments later, Captain Stollar and Lieutenant Rice were in the forward launch bay for the nukes. Stollar had patched into one of the terminals close by. The only display he could get to work was a passive sensor display that showed the distance in meters to the alien ship. They were moving slow—about one kilometer a minute.
“How is it going, Lieutenant?” Stollar asked.
“Slow,” Rice replied.
The Lieutenant had used the mechanical override to retrieve the missile from the tube. He was now opening the panel to the warhead and was rigging a handheld detonation device to the warhead.
“Sir?” Rice began to hesitantly ask, “After I get this detonator put together, who is going to stay behind and use it?”
“I am,” Stollar stated.
“Sir, what about your family?” Rice asked with a somber look.
Stollar sighed, “They will have to go on without me. Plus, if we don’t succeed, they are probably next on this thing’s list of places to hit.”
The Roosevelt jerked to the port almost knocking both men off their feet. Stollar looked up at the terminal monitoring their speed and distance to the enemy vessel. Their speed had accelerated. They would be at the belly of the beast in just a few minutes. Stollar keyed into the ship’s intercom.
“Engineering, how are those escape pods coming?” he asked with a hint of worry.
“Ten more minutes, sir,” The voice over the intercom replied.
Stollar turned the intercom off and bowed his head. They weren’t going to make it. He slammed his hand against the panel. Pain jolted down his hand, and he tried his best to ignore it.
“We are not going to make it, are we, sir?” Rice asked.
“No,” Stollar replied as he turned back to the Lieutenant. “How is the detonator?”
“Ready to go, sir.” Rice answered.
“Hand it to me.” Stollar order.
Rice handed the detonator to him. It was a simple design all he had to do is flick the safety to off and press the button. Stollar then sat on the floor pulling the cord, attaching the detonator to the nuclear warhead with him. He got into a position to view the terminal he had set up.
“If you don’t want to be here, you are relieved, Lieutenant,” Stollar said.
Rice sat on the floor across from him and asked, “Where else do I have to go?”
Stollar nodded at him. He then unzipped a breast pocket on his flight suit and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of his family. To the left in the picture was his oldest, Jessica, with her short brown hair and hazel eyes. She was grinning ear to ear. Then there was Haley, his youngest, with her long blond hair and blue eyes struggling to get a smile out. She hated to take pictures, he remembered. In the center was his loving wife Elaine with her light brown hair and blue eyes. They had known each other for what seemed like forever and now he had to go. This was going to be very hard on her, but he knew she’d survive.
“Sir,” Rice stated.
Stollar looked up and they were only 100 meters from the ship. “Should I tell the others they were not going to make it?” he mulled. What difference was it going to make? The pods would not clear the blast in time.”
Stollar stared at the numbers tick down. When the number was at zero meters the Roosevelt shuttered a little. The arms must’ve been grabbing hold. He was waiting until there was a second jolt letting him know the ship was locked in place. He switched the safety off. Captain Stollar counted backwards from ten staring long and hard at the picture of his family. He got to one and pressed the button.
The screen went fuzzy on the holo-projector. Jessica couldn’t believe what she saw. This was supposed to be a good day for her daddy. Instead it looked like a giant ship was stealing her father’s ship. She sat stunned as a man at a news desk cut into the feed from the broadcast.
“We are trying to get more info, but it looks like there has been an incident at the jump site,” the man on the holo-cast said, visibly upset. The screen returned on as the man on the holo was explaining that they were using something called a long-range remote camera or something. When the image came back on, nothing was there except for pieces of wreckage. She looked for any signs of her daddy’s ship, but she could only make out one thing, a giant arm. It looked like the one from the alien ship.
Behind her, Jessica could hear her mother and sister crying. She turned around and could see her sister had buried her face into her mother. Tears were flowing from her mother’s eyes. She had reached out a hand to Jessica to offer comfort, but Jessica was so shocked she didn’t know how to react. Instead of going to her mother, she ran to her room. Once she got to her room, Jessica leaped onto her bed and searched frantically for a stuffed animal.
“Where did it go?” she thought. Then at the foot of her bed, she found it. It was a small pillow that had a picture on it of her dad in uniform. He had his flight suit on. His face was smiling with his brown eyes staring at her.
Jessica squeezed the pillow as tight as she could. Tears flowed from her eyes. She couldn’t believe her daddy was gone. Jessica felt a hand on her back rubbing up and down.
“It’s okay to cry, baby,” her mother said softly.
Then her mother hugged her along with Haley. In the background Jessica could hear the holo-cast say that they got the beacon from the Magellan and it was fine. It also stated that all four ships to include the invader were destroyed. They were calling the crew of the Roosevelt heroes. Jessica didn’t care. All she knew was that her daddy was gone forever.
1
1 July 2183
Von Braun Shipyards
Cis-Lunar orbit
Actual books were nice to have. Everyone had access to e-books, but Jessica preferred the real thing. She especially loved The Hobbit. Maybe because it belonged to her father and on a day like today it seemed fitting to read it again. She was following in her father’s footsteps after all.
She was in a small waiting room for a change-of-command ceremony to begin. It was your standard military conference room. Very bare except for a few pictures of different military vessels on the wall. A big, rectangular table filled the center of the room and chairs flanked the side of the table. There was a holo-projector at one end of the room where presentations or holo-conferences could be held. Behind her was a large win
dow.
Sitting across from her was Captain Aaron, the soon to be former Captain of the EDS Little Rock. This was only the second time she had been near him. He was in his late fifties, heavyset with gray hair that was badly combed over to hide the fact he was balding. She thought that he would look better if he would just accept his fate and shave it all off, but he was retiring, and he could do whatever he wanted with it after today.
Accompanying her in the room was Admiral Jackson, the presiding officer for the ceremony, and Senior Chief McKnight. Senior Chief Amy McKnight is the highest-ranking enlisted person on the Little Rock and someone Jessica would be working hand-in-hand with during her time commanding the ship.
Jessica was anxiously waiting around for the ceremony to begin. She closed the book, placed it on the table, stood up, and turned around to look out the window. She caught her refection in the glass. She could see her white dress uniform. She wore the suit-like top and white skirt well. She was not the most athletic of builds, just about average. She was fit enough to pass her physical fitness tests. She looked up at her face. Her short brown hair was in place and not out of regs. She looked at her hazel eyes and thought to herself, “Am I ready?” She stepped closer to the window to get a better view outside.
Filling her view was the Little Rock. It was docked close to them, but far enough away she could get a good view of the entire ship. The Little Rock was not the prettiest ship in the fleet nor the most advanced. It had a three-hull design. That meant it had a large main hull with two outrigger hulls attached to each side of the center structure. The center part of the ship held the bridge buried deep in the center. Along with crew quarters it housed the shuttle bay that held the troop shuttles and the small complement of Centurion-class Mechs. Finally, the center structure housed an array of missile launchers for anti-ship combat, and then some automated Point Defense Systems or PDS’s for anti-missile defense.
The smaller side structures held the two sub-light engines in the back. In the forward sections held more PDS’s and a couple of rail turrets on each side. While in dock and not in combat the Rail Turrets were retracted inside the hull.
Perched on top of the Little Rock was the Displacement drive. The ship was constructed during the build up after her father’s sacrifice at the Neptune Jump-point. Back then Displacement drives were huge and had to be placed on the exterior of the ships. The original one on the Little Rock used to span the entire length of the ship. During this latest refit the Little Rock was upgraded to a class VII drive that was a lot smaller, but still had to be placed on the exterior of the ship. Which still made it vulnerable in combat. The new vessels coming off the assembly line have their Displacement drives integrated into the structure of the ship. This offered protection, because the drive is located inside the ship. Versus her ship, in which the drive was a big target.
The exterior of the ship was brownish in color. Mainly from the armor coating the structure. Jessica noticed what looked like window lights on the ship, but when she moved her head the lights seemed to move. It was a result of the new clear ablative plates they added for more protection from energy-based weapons.
“Nervous?” a male voice with slight southern accent asked from behind her.
Turing around she answered, “A little bit, sir.”
Admiral Jackson got up from his chair and began to approach her. He was tall, with dark skin, brown eyes. His hair was high and tight with hints of gray spattered about. The admiral was wearing his white dress uniform of the Expeditionary Defense Force like her, but his rack of ribbons far exceeded hers. That’s what you get when you have been serving from since before the EDF was founded over twenty years ago.
The Expeditionary Defense Force was formed right after the incident at Neptune. Its responsibility was the defense of the Earth and colonies beyond the Sol System.
“Don’t worry everyone gets nervous before these ceremonies,” he stated, trying to comfort her, “I was nervous for every change of command for every ship I commanded.”
“Really? I thought it would be easy for you now, sir,” she replied with a confused look.
“Well, these ceremonies are steep in tradition from as far back as some of the ancient Earth navies and you don’t want to mess it up. That is what always gets me. I bet your dad was even nervous when he took command of the Roosevelt,” the admiral said.
That hit her hard. The death of her father always hurt. Especially since she watched it live. After that event, the countries of Earth poured in resources to develop the defense force they thought that could match the threat, but in the years since the Invaders, or Neptunians as the press called them, have not returned. This meant there was no way to know if their new defense strategy would work.
“I understand, sir,” she replied with a solemn tone and turned back to the window, “I wish he was here to see this.”
“He would be proud,” Jackson stated putting a hand on her shoulder, “Heck, maybe if you do a good a job with the Little Rock, you could be in line to command one of those,” he said, pointing up above in the shipyard.
The ship he was pointing to was one of the new battle carriers. The EDS Monarch. It was in the early phases of construction. Only the main beam of the fuselage was in place. Just with the beam in place Jessica could see that it dwarfs the Little Rock in size. The new battle carriers were the next generation of Capital ships for the EDF. They were described as a whole carrier group put into one ship. It has a whole fleet of next-gen F-27 Phantoms along with dozens of rail turrets, laser turrets, missile launchers, PDS’s and new high-energy particle beam cannons. The EDF’s long-term strategy is to replace most of the fleet with these battle carriers and only have a few support ships like the Little Rock around.
“That is a long way off,” she thought. There was only one battle carrier currently active and that is the EDS Ranger. As it is running its trials, it has several other support ships assigned to it. The Little Rock will be included in that group once it gets underway.
The door to the room slowly opened with someone knocking at the same time. Jessica and the admiral turned to see who it was.
“Is this where the party’s at?” an older woman with blue eyes and graying brown hair asked as she peered around the door.
“Yes, Mom, I guess so,” Jessica replied with an uncomfortable look.
“Well, hello, Elaine. Glad you could make it,” Admiral Jackson said with a smile.
“Good to see you again, Scott, but I am not the only one here,” she replied, opening the door wider.
Entering the room behind her was an older gentleman who stood slightly taller than her mother. He had a tan complexion with combed-back black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a gray suit with a blue tie. He smiled as he stepped from behind her mother.
“Hi, Jimmy. Glad you could make it,” Jessica said, stepping forward to greet her family.
Jimmy was Jessica’s stepfather. Her mother remarried shortly after her father died. It was a bone of contention between her and Elaine for many years. Jimmy eventually grew on her and that seemed to ease the feeling of betrayal she felt from her mother.
“It is my pleasure. Your mother and I are very proud of you,” Jimmy replied, stretching out and shaking Jessica’s hand.
“Very,” Elaine said opening her arms to give her daughter a hug.
Jessica embraced her mother for a moment, and Elaine whispered in her ear, “Your father would be very proud too. I mean he is.” Hinting that he was watching from above.
Jessica pulled away and as she wiped a tear from her eye, she responded, “Thanks, that means a lot, mom.”
“Hey, what am I, invisible!” a young man’s voice exclaimed.
Jessica turned around to see a young man who barely looked old enough to be out of high school standing in the doorway. He was skinny with dark hair cut high and tight. His brown eyes gave her a piercing look of jealousy. He was wearing a white military dress uniform that had one ribbon over his left pocket and fighter-
pilot wings positioned a half inch over the ribbon. On the shoulder epaulets were silver bars with one black square in the center signifying the rank of a Warrant Officer First Class.
“No one can forget about the little pain in the ass of the family,” Jessica said with a half-cocked smile.
“Who, me?” the young man answered looking around him like there were other people around him.
“Yes, you, David,” Jessica replied closing in and giving him a quick hug.
David was Jessica’s half-brother. He appeared on the scene two years after her mother got remarried. Ever since then he had been a pain in the ass.
“Sorry I missed your graduation. How long until you report to the Hornet?” she asked.
“I head out on a transport tomorrow,” he replied.
“Well good luck, and I am glad you came,” Jessica said with a smile.
“At least two of the Three Amigos are here,” he said.
“The Three Amigos. I have not heard that in a while,” she thought. It was something Jimmy always called them as they were growing up. Hearing it brought a smile to her face.
“Too bad Haley couldn’t make it, but I guess being posted 2000 light years from Earth makes it hard to get back in time. That is if she could get the leave time,” David stated.
“I understand, just wish she was here,” she replied. In the back of her mind she knew that even if she had leave, she wouldn’t come.
The sound of someone standing up from out of their chair came from behind Jessica. She turned around and noticed Senior Chief McKnight getting out of her chair, “If it is all good to you, ma’am, Admiral. I think it is about time we get this show on the road.”
Jessica looked over to Admiral Jackson. He nodded to her. She turned and replied, “Yes, I think it is, Senior Chief.”
Everyone began to file out of the room, and Jessica paused looked back at the Little Rock for a second and thought to herself, “Please, God, don’t let me screw this up.”
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