by Ricky Sides
“We can’t ignore the dreams. You’ve had experience with this sort of thing in the past. Do these dreams feel the same, and do they affect you physically in the same way?”
“Yes, and yes they do.”
“Then I agree with your assessment. We probably shouldn’t tell anyone else about this. You’re right about how she would react. You’re sure she caught the disease?”
“I’m afraid so, and he stayed with her. He wouldn’t leave her side.”
“No, that’s not something he’d do. He has loved her too long to abandon her, and he’d consider it abandoning her.”
Tim looked at his brother in surprise, and then he said, “He said as much to me in the dream.”
“You haven’t told Patricia?”
“No. Not this time. I wanted to talk to you first. As I see it, we should handle this one alone.”
“I’m not entirely certain that’s the right thing to do, but under the circumstances, I agree. For now, we say nothing to the others.”
“This situation just got a whole lot more complicated, didn’t it?”
“Yes, but it’s unavoidable. We both have a relatively good idea how they’d react if we informed them at this stage. I think it best to discreetly issue orders to try to mitigate what you saw in the dreams. The first thing on the agenda is containing the disease.”
“And if we can’t?”
“In the worst case scenario, we have to ensure the survival of the human race. To that end, we have to destroy or drive away the remnants of the pirate fleet that have been plaguing us since the end of the war. They cannot be permitted to take the disease to Europe and Asia.”
“That’s something we haven’t been able to do since the end of the war. What makes you think we can do it now?”
“The battle fortress is ready. We’ll use it as a carrier to seek out their base and then hit them with overwhelming force.”
“That might work. Between the firepower of the fortress and the fighters and drones she can carry, I’d say you’ve got a good shot of destroying them.”
***
When Tim and Jim walked into the control room of the Peacekeeper Patricia was just finishing her work at the communications console. “Lieutenant, please send a message to our friends in Great Britain. Advise them of the medical problems that we are facing and that they should avoid landings here on the continent until we can determine the actual threat. Then, I need you to contact the Cuban peacekeepers. Apprise them of the situation as well. Tell them that I’m afraid some of the pirates may bring the disease to Cuba, so they should increase their diligence in that regard.”
“I’ll get right on that, Admiral. Is there anything else?”
“There is one other thing. Pol, I want you to do a feasibility study for me. In a worst case scenario, it might become necessary for us to evacuate a small town or possibly even a peacekeeper base, so I want to know what options I have at my disposal.”
“I’ll start today, sir,” Pol assured Jim. Then he asked, “Shall I also work up a plan incorporating the battle fortress for the mission?”
“Yes, although it might not be available. I’m going after the pirates with the fortress as soon as the testing is complete.”
“I thought you’d do that when the ship is ready, my friend,” Pol said. Then, as an afterthought, he asked, “When are you going to name her?”
“When I officially take command at the ceremony today,” Jim said.
“So what’s it going to be? Come on, big brother. Today’s the day, and I really want to know.”
“You’ll find out soon,” Jim said with a smile.
“But I want to know now,” Tim stated impatiently.
Pol laughed and said, “Tim is like a child when it comes to secrets. Remember how he badgered me about the upgrades to the Peacekeeper?”
Jim laughed and asked, “How could I forget? He must have asked you fifty times.” Then Jim grew serious and said, “You’ll all understand why I wanted to save it for a surprise when I make the announcement, and I’m certain you’ll think it a fitting name.”
“The dispatches you requested have been sent, Admiral,” Patricia informed Jim.
“That was fast,” Jim remarked.
“Thank Maggie. She anticipated the need for the orders and had me prep the dispatches in advance,” Patricia explained. “All I had to do was send them when you issued the orders.”
“Shrugging, Maggie said, “It was the smart thing to do in a situation such as this. I felt sure you’d agree and was going to broach the subject if you didn’t.”
“Thank you,” Jim said as he glanced at his watch. “Now if we’re ready, let’s begin the tour. I want to end up in the flight bay on time to see the junior teams land.”
“They are on schedule, Admiral,” Patricia confirmed. “I checked with the bridge of the fortress. They checked in when they were two hours out, as per their orders.”
Smiling his appreciation, Jim said, “I sometimes miss your efficiency, Lieutenant.”
“Thank you, sir,” Patricia said in response. She wasn’t offended by Jim’s formality when they were on duty. That had long been their custom, despite the fact that she was married to his brother. Off duty, they were informal with one another, but when they were on duty, they maintained strict military decorum. During their eleven years of service in the peacekeepers, she could count on the fingers of one hand the times he had addressed her by her first name when they were on duty.
“Let’s go, folks. I’m anxious to see the changes that have transpired since my last tour,” Jim said with a smile.
Fifteen minutes later, the Admiral’s party was inspecting the bridge of the battle fortress.
“I see you have the last of the drone stations installed,” Jim said as he stared at the dual rows of twenty-five operator stations, which were situated on the port side of the bridge. He knew that the fortress carried a complement of fifty drones, and that it had a drone repair shop onboard that rivaled Pol’s personal workshop. The drones were Pol’s latest versions. They were identical to the drones the peacekeepers had used during the war with the pirates, but unlike those drones, they were watertight. “Have all of the drones been tested for functionality?”
“Yes, Admiral, and all passed their control reliability tests,” Pol answered. “Of course most of the drone pilots are green recruits, but then so were we in the beginning.”
“We’ll see to their training in the near future. I want you to work with them on fully utilizing the maneuverability of the drones to ensure that they take proper evasive action. Let’s not make the same mistake we made during the war,” Jim said.
Pol nodded his understanding. He knew that during the war in the Atlantic, several drones had been lost that shouldn’t have been, because their operators hadn’t properly understood their maneuverability capabilities. “I plan a series of training tests to emphasize the proper response to avoiding a field of fire defensive system.”
“Good. That’s why I requested the crew of the Peacekeeper to accompany us on our maiden voyage. I appreciate how much your skill sets will improve the skill of this crew.”
Next, the admiral inspected the weapons consoles, situated on the starboard side of the bridge. Each monitor displayed a different section of the sky and ground around the fortress. Since there were no windows in the fortress, all targeting was done with the aid of cameras. In the event that a camera was knocked out of action, a drone could be dispatched to take the place of the gun. There were forty gun emplacements on the fortress. Those weapons ranged from lasers similar to the original main weapon of the prototype Peacekeeper vessel to one of the shotgun style weapons, which prior to the development of the fortress had only been deployed on the Constitution. There were also a few conventional weapons. Two conventional miniguns augmented the two minigun lasers, which would be used for antimissile defense as well as antipersonnel strikes.
The bomb bay of the fortress carried dozens of bombs in vertical r
acks and could be reloaded in flight in less than forty minutes. As they toured the bomb bay, Pol pointed out that the munitions men seemed to think that they would be able to reload the racks much faster if they could pre-stage replacement bombs in the space available in the bay. He said, “I told them that I would bring this to your attention and that you would make the decision, but I am opposed to the notion.”
“So am I,” Jim concurred. He then related to Pol how Pete had used ammunition stored on a tank to destroy it during the Marauder attack on his farm.
Pol surprised Jim when said, “I’m glad you agree. I designed this bomb bay so that no other section of the ship would suffer major damage, even if the enemy managed to hit one of the bombs in its rack and detonate the others in a chain reaction. Having other bombs present would negate that advantage because the blast forces would overcome the structural integrity built into the bay.”
“You mean to say that in the worst case scenario the rest of the ship would be unaffected?” Jim asked for clarification.
“Oh no, that’s not what I meant. Certainly, there would be some damage to neighboring sections, but that damage would not be catastrophic.”
“All the more reason not to tempt fate by pre-staging more munitions,” Jim said, but he added, “As a rule, we won’t adopt the policy, but I can envision a couple of scenarios in which such a strategy might be employed. I won’t rule it out entirely. Let’s just say it would be a desperate measure for desperate times.”
“Let’s hope we never find ourselves in such a situation,” Pol said.
Glancing at his watch, Jim said, “I think we’d best be heading for the flight bay.”
***
“Are you nervous?” Lisa asked Evan in a quiet tone of voice so that no one would overhear her.
“A bit,” Evan admitted. “From here the door doesn’t look big enough to accommodate us. I know it’s an optical illusion, and that as we get closer it will look bigger. But right now it looks several feet too small.”
“Now you know how Lina must feel every time she has to enter the entrance tunnel at the citadel,” Lisa observed.
“Yes I do. Namid did it first, and she once told me that was the only time she got nervous about a flight when she wasn’t in combat,” Evan responded, and then he said, “Use the intercom, please. Tell the guys I said to buckle in because we’re about to land.”
The next ninety seconds seemed to last an eternity for the nervous pilot, but he managed the maneuver with plenty of space to spare.
Inside the hangar bay, Evan flew the APC to the designated landing area. As the crew of the APC exited, Evan saw a team of cargo handlers waiting to begin the unloading process, and then he saw his dad, Lina, and the others who had accompanied him on the tour of the fortress.
“You made good time, Pilot. Welcome aboard and congratulations on the successful completion of your first official mission,” Jim said.
“Thank you. I think we had a strong tail wind during portions of our flight. I understand that there’s a storm moving this way,” Evan explained as he shook his father’s hand. He took a moment to check to see if the other two APCs had managed to land safely, mentally chastising himself for not verifying that via radio before exiting the APC.
“You’ve got an hour before you’re scheduled to leave for your return flight to the citadel. I suggest you get your team to the mess and visit the head. I’d like to speak with you privately for a moment before you leave, and I want your teams present at the naming ceremony,” Jim said.
“Thank you, but I’m not sure how to get to the mess hall from here. I’ve been there before, but we came in the Valiant so we always took a route from the other end of the ship.”
“I’ll go along with you. I want to talk to Lisa. I’ve missed you, dear,” Maggie stated.
“I’ve missed you too, Mom,” Lisa said and she gave Maggie a hug.
By now, the other two APC teams had joined Evan’s. They followed his team as they left with Maggie.
“All right, let’s inspect the APCs. We want to make certain they are airworthy for the return flight,” Jim ordered.
“Evan mentioned a tailwind on the trip here and the incoming storm system. That means they’ll probably encounter a strong headwind on the return flight to the citadel. If their power reserves are at sixty percent, they’ll have a decent safety margin, but if they are below forty percent, they’ll need at least a partial recharging,” Tim observed. “I know we routinely charge the APCs while they are being offloaded, but we need to make certain none of them leave with less than sixty percent of their power reserves.”
“I’ll check the radios and guidance systems,” Patricia volunteered.
“I’ll help you,” Lina offered.
“I’ll lend Tim a hand,” Pol stated.
“Thank you. I’ll check their weapons racks to make certain everything is as it should be with their rifles,” Jim stated, but he had been encouraged when the teams had all exited their APCs without their side arms. That told him that they were following the protocols concerning not entering the fortress with a loaded weapon, therefore, he expected to find the rifles properly stored with no rounds in the chambers.
***
Maggie sipped her coffee and grimaced. “Is it that bad, Mom?” Lisa asked in a surprised tone of voice. Because of the chronic shortage of coffee in the United States, it was necessary to take whatever they could get in trade deals. Then that base supply was stretched by adding different fillers, thus reducing the amount of coffee needed to brew a pot. The cooks aboard the ships all had their own recipes. Some, such as the coffee aboard the Peacekeeper and the Constitution, were actually quite tasty. Others were horrible.
“I’ve got to get the cook here to talk to Cookie,” Maggie said with a sigh as she pushed the unfinished cup aside. “This stuff is undrinkable. The Peacekeeper’s cook makes the best coffee in the fleet, but he jealously protects that secret recipe. He promised me he’d share it with the cook here if the man would promise not to reveal it to anyone.”
Looking at Lisa sitting beside Evan, she noted that they had both stopped eating their food and were exchanging nervous glances. “Okay, out with it you two. What are you up to this time?” she asked.
Evan reached over and took Lisa by the hand. He was staring into Lisa’s eyes when he said, “Lisa and I have decided it’s time we got married. We were going to wait to mention it to you after we get settled in here in the fortress, but we talked about it during the flight here and decided that we really don’t want to wait.”
Maggie nodded her understanding. Smiling at her daughter, she said, “Congratulations, honey. When’s the ceremony?”
“We were hoping you’d get the Chaplin to marry us while we’re here,” Lisa explained nervously.
“You mean today? Lisa, you’re scheduled to depart in forty minutes.”
“We’re ship brats, Mom. We understand scheduling issues. I know you wanted a big wedding for us, but neither of us want to make a fuss, and we’re tired of waiting.”
Maggie nodded her understanding as she stood up. “I’ll make the arrangements. The official naming ceremony for the fortress will be on the flight deck in twenty minutes. I’ll be there with the Chaplin.” She took a step away from the table, but then stopped and asked, “Will you be getting married in your uniforms?”
“Yes. Since we have a mission to fly immediately after the wedding, we’d better stick with these clothes,” Lisa responded.
Maggie hurried to her daughter’s side and kissed her on the cheek. Hugging Lisa, she reached out a hand to Evan. When he took the proffered hand, she pulled him into their embrace as well. “Pete and I knew this day would come, and we both approved of Evan. He touched your father’s heart with the way he lovingly sat with you on the bad nights. He touched mine too,” she said with her voice breaking slightly. Clearing her throat, Maggie added, “It may be difficult for her, Evan. I hope you can be as patient with her as you’ve been in the past.”<
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“I understand the problems. We’ll face them together. I love her. She’s worth the effort,” Evan said simply.
Sniffing, Maggie said, “I’ll see you both on the flight deck. She glanced at her watch, her eyes widened as she realized how little time she had to prepare for her daughter’s wedding, and then she darted away at a dead run.
Ralph stood up and began to clap his hands, leading the three junior APC teams in a round of applause for the couple. “Well, it’s about time,” he said as the standing ovation ended.
Chapter 3
Fairly is a small town in southern Texas that often served as a stopping point for illegal immigrants who had come across the border. The majority of the residents there were sympathetic to the plight of the immigrants seeking a better life for their families. They had seen too many half-dead immigrants stagger into their town not to feel compassion for their determination to seek out a better life. Therefore, when the young woman who had survived the massacre at the refugee camp staggered into town several people of the community tried to assist her.
She was taken to the home of the local doctor, who did his best to help her. He gave her medicine to calm her wracking cough and IVs to replace the bodily fluids she had lost, but nothing helped her. In the end, she started vomiting blood and on her face and neck, a series of lesions had formed. The doctor summoned a priest to perform the last rites before he officiated at a wedding party that afternoon.
***
“Ladies and gentlemen, my first official duty as commander of this battle fortress is to name this ship. I don’t take this responsibility lightly. Our gifted scientist and engineer, Pol Bleakman and his team have outdone themselves in the creation of this ship; therefore, it’s only fitting that it bears a name reflecting its potential.”
“As I pondered the prospective names, over a period of two weeks, one name kept coming to the top of my lists. Yet, I felt I owed it to Pol to consult with him on the short list that I had developed. After all, this ship was his idea and before it existed as you see it today, it first existed in his mind. I’m pleased to say that Pol took one look at the list of possible names and without a moment’s hesitation, he selected my top choice.”