Frank was shocked, not knowing where Gerry’s outburst had come from. Had Gerry lost it?
Tamar was silent for a moment
“An interesting hypothesis, Gerry. But you are wrong. Just do your job, and go,” he coldly ordered.
Then, the four human minds blanked for a second, and they were no longer on Tamar’s ship, but back on Ronin and attempting to regain their resolve.
“That went well Captain,” the interface sphere, Ronin jokingly stated.
“Very funny,” Gerry snapped.
“Sorry Captain. But anyway, I have instructions, and a place to be.”
“Then, get on with it,” Gerry ordered Ronin.
Chapter 31
Arrival
Lexington’s Captain Grant studied his science officer, Lieutenant Harper’s analysis of the distress call they’d just received from an unknown vessel.
“It doesn’t have a verification code, Captain. Just as Alex told us it wouldn’t.”
“Agreed, and it’s the right timing,” Grant muttered as he turned to speak to his coordinator.
“Ensign Lovett. Has VIP Helen boarded yet?”
“No. Apparently she will be staying on the Arrow,” Lovett answered. “You have her schedule on your pad, Captain,” she reminded him.
Captain Grant felt as if he had been told off by his Ensign and straight away checked Lovett’s update on Helen.
Grant knew that the Arrow had berthed twelve minutes ago at dock five. Now, on checking the update, it seemed that the VIP whippersnapper Helen would be staying onboard the Arrow. At least, for the time being.
He had to admit, that even though Helen’s update content was vague, her operational methods and requirements were clear enough to see. Lovett was right. There were no excuses, he had merely forgotten to check for any updated data.
That just brought home to him the fact that he was tired and looking forward to retiring. The sooner, the better, he thought.
“Tactical. Have you located the ship yet?”
“Just locked onto it captain. It’s a Crillon shuttle,” Lieutenant Harper told him.
Only a shuttle. So, where are your Crillon Battlecruisers? Grant wondered.
“Weapons keep your eyes peeled,” Grant said aloud, then felt Helen’s mental contact with him.
Arthur, the danger is not just on that shuttle. You could vaporize the shuttle. But, that would mean fighting five or six uncontrolled Crillon Battlecruisers, Helen warned him.
I think we’ll stick to the plan, he hastily returned.
Wise choice Arthur.
“The plan is to get that shuttle here,” Commodore Bryant irritably reminded Grant. “Get Conqueror moving.”
“I’m doing just that, Commodore,” Grant said, as he tapped the Marine’s Icon.
“Yes, Captain?” Marine Captain Striker answered from Conqueror.
“Time to move out and bring that shuttle in.”
“On it Captain,” Striker acknowledged.
“Try not to blow the damn thing up.”
“We’re professionals, Captain,” Striker simply replied, and was gone.
“Grant, you do realize that Earhart’s group will know all about your WEP stealth deployment, don’t you?” Bryant asked.
Captain Grant found Commodore Bryant’s unnecessary questions and remarks annoying. He certainly didn’t like the man much. Nevertheless, Bryant was a Commodore, and Grant had to put up with his uncalled-for comments.
“I’m well aware of that,” he emotionlessly replied. “You’re assuming Alex has failed,” he couldn’t resist adding.
“No. Just pointing out the facts,” Bryant said, his voice sounding steely.
Captain Grant watched on his secondary display, as Conqueror departed. Like Alex, he was sure that this Lord Garth would wait until he was physically onboard the Lexington before trying to convert the crew members that would be critical to his plan.
“Let’s see, ten minutes out. Three minutes to couple-up. Ten minutes back. So, twenty-three minutes, tops,” science officer Lieutenant Harper muttered, almost to himself.
Grant watched the Marines un-gamely looking vessel vanish, as the Conqueror made the necessary micro-jump.
“Raise shields to fifty percent,” Grant ordered.
Now, all everyone could do was to sit tight and wait for the Conqueror to return with the Crillon shuttle.
Then the fireworks will really start, Grant mused.
Even so, he was sure that if this Lord Garth didn’t succeed in taking over the Lexington, he would make sure that it couldn’t be used against him in the future.
That meant only one thing, Garth would have to destroy Lexington, no matter what.
Twenty-one minutes passed before Conqueror exited its micro-jump, with the Crillon shuttle tethered to the marine’s vessel, and just eight kilometers out from the Lexington.
“We have the shuttle, and it is intact Commodore,” came Captain Striker’s strangely relaxed sounding voice over the ship-to-ship comms.
Bryant nodded at Grant to answer Captain Striker.
“Well done Striker,” Captain Grant replied. “Have you checked out the occupants?”
“The air-lock door is apparently jammed. But we’ve talked to the crew, and all is well.”
“Okay. Debrief the crew once you’ve docked and gained access.”
“Understood, Captain,” Striker confirmed. Then Conqueror’s comms link ended.
Grant looked across at Ensign Lovett’s face and wondered why it was now showing concern.
“What is it, Lovett?”
“He didn’t sound very much like the Captain Striker I know,” Ensign Lovett replied.
“Lovett. We don’t need to know what you two get up to in your spare time. Just ensure our in-house Marines are up to speed,” Commodore Bryant interjected.
Lovett gave Captain Grant a look, but he just nodded his consent and watched her leave the bridge.
Just then, Captain Grant felt it. His enhanced brain cells had burst into action as he sensed someone trying to invade his mind.
Grant gasped. “Lord Garth,” he uttered, as panic overcame him.
Chapter 32
Arrival at Delta
Ronin exited warp in stealth mode, and well outside Delta’s Forward Temporal Operation center’s exclusion zone.
“We’ve arrived,” Ronin advised them, then established a holographic presentation of their surroundings.
“How far are we away from the Time-ship berth?” Frank asked, after noting there didn’t seem to be any planets or space structures nearby.
“We are moving slowly towards the coordinates supplied by Tamar and, no doubt Charlotte,” Ronin replied.
Frank watched the holograph and was surprised when a vista of a familiar planet drifted into view.
“DPav5!” he exclaimed, as the view of the fifth planet in the star system Delta Pavonis centralized in the holographic sphere.
“I have aligned with the planet as instructed, Captain,” Ronin stated. “I must wait for Charlotte’s proceed signal.”
“Looks like DPav5’s been under our radar all along, Frank,” Gerry stated.
“I don’t see any structures,” Susanna commented.
“You won’t, Susanna. The part of DPav5 that’s above ground is cloaked and has various ways of deterring ships from coming too close,” Cindy explained.
“But I thought DPav4 had mining operations there?” Frank said.
“There was talk about it. But, if my memory serves me correctly, the project was abandoned,” Gerry interjected.
Frank thought about Tamar’s plan for them to steal a Time-ship from this Temporal spur. Then travel uptime to the location of the Time crystal at Delta’s Temporal Anchor in 2725.
It seems a simple enough plan, with Charlotte’s help, Frank thought to himself. Hmm, I wonder if Ronin realizes that he will effectively be committing suicide along with the rest of us?
“How do you expect us to get to the time-shi
p, Cindy?” Frank asked, feeling there wasn’t enough detail about the execution of Tamar’s plan.
“Our entrance has to be through the above ground section that contains the hyperspace communications transceiver, and an observation room.”
“But, if the structure is cloaked and no-doubt intruder protected, how do we get in?” Susanna asked.
“Charlotte has access to the hyperspace transceiver area and will meet us just outside. Then, once we’re inside, a gravity lift will take us down, past the Predictor and Habitation level, to the third level where the Time-ship is berthed and waiting for us to take.”
“It can’t be that easy, Cindy,” Gerry stated. “Other people must use that gravity lift all the time. And what about this Time ship’s pilot?”
“Anton. He’ll be okay. Apparently, he’s into Charlotte in a big way.”
Knowing what Charlotte had done to Delta, Frank hoped they weren’t keeping her under surveillance.
“Hmm.… Gerry, while we’re waiting. What do you think of these Varon trackers we’re wearing?” Frank asked. “From what we know of the Varon’s Temporal activity, the trackers seem a bit too high-tech for the Varon’s to have developed them.”
“I was wondering about that myself, Frank,” Gerry replied. “Thinking on, it also seems odd to me that Tamar’s mental ability appears to be far less developed than it ought to be.”
“Yeah, I agree. Tamar couldn’t even prevent me from having a peak in his mind and seeing images of what appeared to be Varon warships that they’d obviously like to keep out of our sight,” Frank added.
“And, the Varons seem overly keen on Gerry reversing our timeline, before destroying the crystal,” Cindy put in.
“I agree. But maybe the Varon’s motives are not as they seem,” Susanna said.
“We won’t be able to return, anyway,” Susanna added, pointing out the obvious.
“We have to go,” Ronin interrupted as the ship started to move towards the planet and the forward Temporal Operations center’s above-ground structure.
DPav5 was well outside the habitable zone of Delta Pavonis and received far less light and warmth than DPav4. It was also a cold and virtually airless planet that, after the brief attempt at mining by the inhabitants of Dpav4, had remained remote and off bounds.
No one knew why the mining expedition had failed. Or, why no one had ever wished to revisit the planet again.
Ronin quickly approached the planet and passed undetected through Delta’s cloak, coming to a halt at the specified coordinates set for the transfer of its four humans into Charlotte’s care.
“We are in position,” Ronin stated as the ship stopped, two hundred meters from the ground, and four-hundred meters to one side of Delta’s above-ground structure, which was now displayed in full detail within Ronin’s holographic sphere.
Outside the ship, everything seemed dimly lit as Delta’s structures moved into the twilight zone, and the light from Delta Pavonis slowly left this side of DPav5.
The above ground structure appeared as several different sized box-like buildings that mated with one another. Various communication arrays, cloak emitters, and weapons ports, emanating from the top of several of the box structures, were just visible. While all the buildings had taken on the color of their surroundings.
“Ronin, how are we going to get down there? Frank asked.
“The same method I used to protect Gerry Stevens’s walk to me on the anomaly you list as 771bg0.”
“Press-field technology,” Gerry told the others. “It’s just a disc that generates a force-field, which stays linked to the parent ship and supplies air along the link during transfer. Like a biblical cord would, for instance. It’s new technology on Earth.”
“There’s Charlotte,” Susanna stated, as she saw her standing just inside an open airlock.
“Time to go,” Ronin stated as four, one-meter discs, appeared on the floor in front of them.
“I am right,” Gerry declared. “It’s definitely Press-field technology.”
“You each have to stand on one of the discs. And they will convey you, one behind the other, out and up through my gravity-lift, then into Delta’s airlock,” Ronan explained.
“So, this is it, Ronin,” Cindy stated.
“Yes. Once you enter the airlock and it closes, I can no longer help you.”
“Then we will never meet again, Ronin,” Frank said with a hint of regret.
“I will wait in orbit in case of an abort. But, I fear I will be no more,” Ronin added. And everyone saw the fluid front of Ronin, that loosely resembled a human face, form into an expression of sorrow.
The human’s transfer discs activated, and their protective force-field spheres established. Then, after a brief pause, while the internal oxygen level stabilized, Ronin sent the humans out through his gravity-lift and heading for Charlotte, who was waiting just inside Delta’s open air-lock.
Chapter 33
Desperation
Lieutenant Harper had failed to notice Captain Grant’s mental struggle, as he was busy tracking the Conqueror and its tethered Crillon shuttle that was approaching the outer boundary of Lexington’s protective screen. Once there, they would need the access codes to pass through Lexington’s screen and enter dock two.
Meanwhile, Captain Grant, now oblivious to the approaching shuttle, struggled to ward off Lord Garth’s mental intrusion. Luckily, Grant’s enhanced brain cells had already concealed his mind’s bolt-hole, thus securing his vital memory recovery information.
“Lord Garth…,” Grant finally said, having been forced to utter the words that would acknowledge the young man whose image was forming in his mind. Then Grant’s actions became slower… and slower….
“Four Crillon Battle-Cruisers have just exited warp, Captain,” the ship’s tactical AI called out, interrupting Grant’s slow slide into submission.
“Four. I thought there were only three?” Commodore Bryant queried. Then glancing at Grant saw an agonized expression on his face.
“Captain Grant,” he ferociously yelled out, realizing that Grant’s mind was under attack. “Fight the bastard,” he growled.
Then, Grant was suddenly free from Garth’s intrusion. And, quickly recovering from the incident, knew it had to be Helen mentally coming to his rescue.
“Lieutenant Harper,” Captain Grant urgently called out to Lexington’s science officer.
“Priority. Move to AI battle control, now. Cancel security entrance codes for the Conqueror.”
“It may be too late, Captain,” Harper replied.
“If it is, try and eject them.”
“On it, Captain.”
Commodore Bryant didn’t like the way the situation was deteriorating and hurriedly began to enter specific symbols on his tactical pad, then tapped in the word Track to activate a super-encrypted code that was automatically sent to the central ship’s security AI.
Current information on the situation was then covertly sent to Galactic Intelligence. Once done, Bryant’s mind automatically erased the fact that he’d just activated the link to GI.
Bryant knew that Grant had acted correctly in taking the human element of control away from the weapons control system, as this would still allow Lexington to engage the four enemy ships without Lord Garth's interference.
Nevertheless, it would only delay Lord Garth’s inevitable control of the humans, which would then enable him to find a way to over-ride the AI ONLY control order. However, it would slow down Lord Garth’s take-over attempt.
So, if this Helen got her finger out, then there would still be a chance to hold out against Garth’s ships until both Alex and the Galactic Navy reinforcements arrived.
“That’s not good,” Lexington’s Lieutenant Harper groaned as dock two’s warning lights started to flash on his consul.
“The Crillon shuttle and Conqueror have force docked,” the Central Security AI warned.
“Damn!” Lieutenant Harper exclaimed out loud. Then called Love
tt.
“OK. The Marines are already there, Lieutenant,” Lovett confirmed.
“Good girl,” Harper said in acknowledgment of her speedy action, though his words were somewhat out of character. But, he missed seeing the piercing look that Lovett gave him for what she felt was a patronizing statement.
Ensign Lovett then decided to relay her concern over the state of Conqueror’s crew, to Marine Captain Sykes.
Captain Sykes and his ten Marines were by the inner door of Lexington’s secondary airlock waiting for Garth’s own Marines to exit the shuttle. Sykes men were dressed in full body armor, with two of them carrying heavy-duty mobile particle cannons, while another had a shield generator.
The Crillon shuttle and Conqueror were both tethered together side by side and had been given permission to pass through Lexington’s protective screen. But, when their docking permission was suddenly withdrawn, they had deliberately rammed into lock two’s opening.
Sykes sized up the situation, and the resultant carnage inside dock two. He wasn’t sure just how many fighters there were on the shuttle. Or whether the Conqueror's marines were still loyal. Nor how they would attempt to break through the secondary airlock to gain access to the central section of the Lexington.
Unfortunately, even though the secondary airlock had an array of lethal decontamination weapons, they would be useless against any foe dressed in full-body armor suits.
He could see that both vessel’s hulls had been forced inwards and were now wedged firmly in the dock entrance. Both were venting smoke. But, as there was no air left in dock two, the venting smoke dissipated harmlessly a few meters away from the Dock entrance.
Galactic War Page 14