Scout Force

by Rodney Smith

  * * * * *

  “Shadow Warrior,” began Alan Shepler, “We will be leaving the system soon. Come with me and I will introduce you to our shuttle’s controls.”

  “That is not necessary Mr. Shepler. We are both proficient in piloting this type of ship.

  Shepler continued, “Well then, relax here until we are out of the system. We will parallel the frontier for a time before turning toward our next destination. You will drop off before we turn. You may take the shuttle with our compliments. Would you care for some more Scotch?”

  * * * * *

  Sensors called to the bridge that the Manchu Warrior was departing the 6633 system. Kelly brought the sensor plot of the Manchu Warrior up on his monitor. It was leaving Refugio and heading toward the frontier. It made a turn to starboard. Kelly expanded the field of view to encompass the FTL ship behind them. He expected to see the courier’s ship belch forth for the meeting. Nothing appeared.

  The captain took his seat on the bridge.

  “Kelly, I think we’ve been suckered. The courier’s ship should have appeared by now. We’d better get ready for our run to the border. We’ll take out this guy above us with the EMP and go out the way we came in. We’ll wait ‘til the Manchu Warrior is out of range before we scoot. That EMP burst will show up a long way on sensors.”

  “Bridge, Sensors. We have a shuttle leaving the Manchu Warrior. It's heading for the frontier and directly at us.”

  The captain looked up in surprise. “What the hell? What can it be meeting up with? Oh hell, it’s meeting the fighter.”

  Kelly called up the schematic on the fighter. “It can’t, sir. The fighter has no docking collar or hatch. Same thing for the scouts. It must be going for the FTL ship behind us.”

  The shuttle punched through the frontier without a stir from the K’Rang sensors or mines. The two scouts out on the flanks turned and headed back toward the FTL ship. The fighter above them started to pull out of the tendrils’s mists to join up with the shuttle.

  The captain keyed the intercom and said, “All sections to battle stations. Prepare to employ the EMP. Marines, to your boarding stations.”

  There was only a small amount of movement as most of the crew had been at or near their battle stations for two hours. Everyone was anticipating this action.

  Chief Watson reported, “Sir, the Marines and all sections report ready.”

  The captain said, “Helm, take us out and in pursuit of the fighter. Weapons, prepare to fire the EMP on my order, and heat up the guns. We’re about to need them. Don’t fire on the shuttle, but everything else is fair game.”

  “Kelly, if the EMP doesn’t work, lock on, and kill this guy.”

  Kelly switched his monitor to weapons control and sat ready.

  The Vigilant jumped out of the cloud, directly under the emerging fighter. The Vigilant turned upwards and aimed squarely at the center of the fighter’s belly.

  The captain keyed the intercom, “EMP device, stand by.”

  The Vigilant quickly closed the distance.

  “Weapons, fire the EMP.”

  There was no light or sound, but the fighter above them lost engine power and stability. It started to tumble. The turret gunners targeted the missile bays and guns. The Vigilant shot through the exploding ball of fire and debris that previously had been the fighter.

  The shuttle reacted to the fighter’s demise by kicking into high speed and making a beeline toward the FTL ship. It would not get there in time. With the fighter gone, there was nothing in range that could come to their aid in time. The captain ordered the helm to pursue, and the distance closed in seconds.

  The EMP pulsed again and the shuttle lost propulsion and stability. The helm closed in on the shuttle, locked it in place with the tractor beam, and turned to align the assault pod with the port side of the shuttle. The dorsal weapons pod hatch opened and the pod’s docking collar extended, preparing to attach to the side of the shuttle.

  A slight shock was felt as the docking collar contacted the shuttle. The captain had the tractor beam hold the shuttle in place to keep it from tumbling away. Kelly switched his monitor to LT Chen’s helmet cam feed.

  As in the training simulation, the white circle flared and a section of bulkhead fell into the shuttle. Two marines with stun guns rushed into the cabin, followed by LT Chen and the rest of the assault squad. The two K’Rang occupants hit the deck immediately and were quickly bound, gagged and transported out the hole into the docking collar.

  The two scout ships had turned to try and come to the aid of the shuttle, but they would be too late. At max burn they would find only empty space when they got here. The captain keyed his intercom and said, “LT Chen, place your charges, but don’t set the timers yet.”

  “Kelly, how long for the scouts to get here, exact as you can get, please?”

  Kelly punched a few keys on his console and answered, “Sir, they will be here in two minutes and 28 seconds.”

  The captain keyed his mike again, “LT Chen, set your timers for two minutes 30 seconds from now. Let’s get moving. We’ve got company coming. Sensors, is there any movement from the FTL ship back there?”

  “Not a bit, Captain. They are just sitting there. Their comms are active though.”

  LT Chen came up on the intercom, “Captain, all charges set. We’re all back in the collar. We’re closed up and ready to separate on your command, sir. All personnel accounted for with no casualties.”

  “LT Chen, separate now. Get your Marines and our guests back inside.”

  “Helm, get us back across the frontier, full speed ahead. Close up the weapons bay hatch. Let’s go home. Kelly, go check on our guests.”

  Kelly went aft to the makeshift brig in the port stores locker. Three Marines each carried the two unconscious and bound K’Rang into the cells. They didn’t know which was the courier, so they put one in the big cell and one in the smaller cell, for sorting out later. They stripped the two down to their fur and scanned them for any hidden or internal devices.

  Each K’Rang had a small blade in a surgically emplaced pouch on their hips. The corpsmen removed these with ease. One K’Rang had a small electronic device in his ear. This was also removed and sent to Sensors for analysis. Small pins were found bound into their fur. A small pair of scissors removed these. Their clothes were searched and two weapons were found, along with a small data crystal and a small electronic device. All the devices were scanned for explosives, found to be clear, and sent to Sensors. When the search was completed, the K’Rang were dressed in extra large hospital pajamas, untied, and left guarded in their cells.

  * * * * *

  The two K’Rang scout ships arrived simultaneously at the site of the tumbling, lifeless shuttle craft. Five seconds later it exploded in a large fireball, consuming all three ships. The courier ship’s debris intermingled with that of the scouts ships.

  * * * * *

  Kelly rejoined the bridge crew and reported that their guests were in their quarters and resting. Chief B came up behind him with a small electronic device in her hand.

  “Captain, this should make it easier for us to cross the frontier.”

  “What is it, Chief B?”

  “Captain, this is what the K’Rang used to cross through the frontier unmolested. I think it turns off the mines. Want to try it?”

  “Well, we’re almost there and going through anyway. It can’t hurt. Sound collision. Here we go. Punch it, Chief.”

  “Chief B punched the white button on the device as the Vigilant passed through the frontier. One mine that had activated and oriented on the Vigilant returned to its normal position. They were through.

  The captain said, “That wasn’t so bad. Put us on course for Antares. Maintain full speed. Chief B, would you link into comms through Refugio and send the success code?”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  The Manchu Warrior continued on, showing no reaction to the activity across the frontier.

  * * * * *
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  Ten days later they were back at Antares Station. Surprisingly, their passengers had survived the journey. It required restraints and occasional intervention by the three corpsmen, but they made it.

  The Vigilant was directed to a remote docking station in the back corner of the station. The Marines, heavily armed and in full body armor, escorted the K’Rang Shadow Warriors to the station’s special holding facility. Their interrogations would begin shortly.

  1LT Chen was packing when Kelly came into his quarters.

  She looked up at Kelly as he came in, smiled and said, “Sir, I know this may be out of line, but I really enjoyed working with you and sharing your cabin. You were always a complete gentleman. I only hope that there may come a time when we could meet under less formal circumstances. Perhaps I could buy you a drink someday.”

  Kelly smiled, “I’d like that too, Mary. You know we are actually the same rank. Why don’t you call me Kelly from now on.”

  “All right, Kelly, I’ll do that in private for now, but wait until I’m no longer attached to the Vigilant before I do that in public. We must observe the protocols. Here is something else I’ll do in private.”

  She moved up against him and gave him a slow, soft kiss.

  “Sorry, Kelly, but I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you at the Marine Special Ops Academy.

  Kelly straightened his uniform, although it wasn’t wrinkled, and said, “Thank you, Mary, it was my pleasure. If you're all packed, let me help you with your gear.”

  * * * * *

  Captain Hasselrode came onboard to escort Kelly and Timmons to the admiral in his station office. They were told to bring all the items taken from the K’Rang. They made their way to the familiar cypher door, went through Admiral Craddock’s outer office, knocked, and were told to enter. The admiral was at his terminal sending a message.

  When he sent the message, he looked up and a broad smile came on his face. “Ed, Kelly, I’m glad you made it back safely. I just sent the identifying data on our guests to Fleet Intel. We might know who they are by morning.”

  “Sit down, sit down. Make yourselves comfortable. I'm so proud of you two. You're making quite a name for yourselves and the Vigilant. Ed, I’ll need any recommendations for awards from you by the morning.”

  “I’ll send them as soon as I get back, sir. 1LT Chen did a great job. She and her platoon deserve all the praise. The boarding was done superbly, under great time pressure, and was 100% successful. She accomplished her mission in the finest tradition of the Corps.”

  “Well, get me your recommendation and I’ll see what I can do. Now why don’t you get back to your ship and down to Antares Base? We’ll talk again tomorrow. Captain Hasselrode will contact you when we have the debriefings set up. 1LT Chen is released back to her command when you reach planet-side and the debriefings are done. The orders will be on your terminal when you get back to the Vigilant. Have a good trip. Oh yes, I’ll probably be sending you back out shortly. So you’d better undo all the modifications to your ship.”

  Kelly and Timmons stood up, saluted, and left to return to the Vigilant and planet-side.

  Chapter Twelve

  Shadow Leader M’Trang was back before the Elders again.

  “Esteemed Elders, although we are missing one information installment, we have all the information that we need to take out the Human settlement on G’Dranu, what they call New Alexandria. The final installment of information that was lost to Human treachery was only additional updated information that is superfluous to our requirements to wipe out the Humans.”

  The senior elder with gray whiskers protruding from his face replied, “But Shadow Leader, would it not be prudent to wait until we have the latest information before launching our strike?”

  “Excellence, we have a window here. The Human’s 15th Fleet has returned to Tau Ceti and disbanded. Many of the ships are due to enter the shipyard for repair and refitting. There is no force that can be brought to reinforce the Humans at New Alexandria before we have wiped them out and put our own defenses in place. When a Human force arrives in three to four weeks time, it will be too late to do anything but realize it is a situation that they cannot change. We might lose some forces to their attempts at revenge, but they will be unable to change the situation. We will have extended the frontier and provided a defensive buffer for our major systems G’Sren and K’Nol. It will remove that vulnerability. We also gain a listening post into Human space.”

  Another Elder said, “Understand our concerns, Shadow Leader. The 27th Battle Group you propose to employ is our only main force in that region. Reinforcements are enroute from other regions, but will not be available to go in with them at the time you propose. They won’t arrive until several hours or days after the initial assault takes place. The assault force will be on its own. There is always a danger of our forces being destroyed in detail if we have miscalculated and the Humans are stronger than we have assumed.”

  “Elders, it is crucial to strike when I have recommended. If we hit them at that precise time, we will catch them during one of their major planet-wide feasts. It is their Founders’ Day, when they celebrate the first Human colony ship’s arrival. Their military will be on maximum leave. Their defensive fighters will be participating in exhibitions, demonstrations, and flyovers. They will be unarmed, unprepared, and easy to destroy. If we wait, even a day, they will be back to full readiness and we could suffer significant losses. The 27th Battle Group is the only force available to strike during this period of Human vulnerability. We must take advantage of this opportunity. It will be another year before this will come again.”

  The third Elder chimed in, “Very well, Shadow Leader, where do you plan to be during the battle?”

  “Elder, I will join the 5th Battle Group. It will arrive within 12 hours of the start of the battle and will be the defensive force to hold off any Human counterattack while the 27th mops up the last of the Human resistance. I will be on the Shadow Scout Destroyer, J’Fawd. Shadow Force has put it at my disposal for this operation. I will join the 5th Battle Group as they pass here in two hours.”

  “Go then, Shadow Leader. May the killing spirit of the K’Rang lead you to victory. Prepare to assume governorship of the Human world with our blessing. You have earned this honor. Try not to destroy too much of the essential infrastructure. We will need it. It is less expensive to modify the Human facilities to our needs than to build them from the ground up.”

  The Shadow Leader swelled with pride at the honor, bowed, and left the audience chamber. A governorship was much more than he had ever hoped for. It put him in the line for promotion to the nobility. Now all he had to do was sweep aside the Humans on G’Dranu.

  * * * * *

  Preparations for the upcoming patrol had consumed most of Kelly’s very long day. The captain was spending more and more time at Scout Force HQ with the admiral lately, and that left the burden on Kelly. The chiefs were a great help, but there were many decisions that required Timmon’s okay, but couldn’t wait, so Kelly practiced the age old technique of “You bet your bars.”

  It required deciding things for the captain and hoping you got it right. The captain kept telling him that he had complete faith in Kelly and just to use his own judgment. He told Kelly to make decisions on his own, without thinking what would the captain do. LCDR Timmons kept certain matters of command authority under his exclusive purview, but those had mainly to do with disciplinary matters that only the captain of the ship could exercise.

  Kelly found the initial decisions to be nerve racking, but he was becoming accustomed to it. He no longer provided detailed briefings of what he had decided during the day to Timmons when he returned in the evenings. The captain trusted him.

  The next day, the captain went off to Scout Force HQ as usual. Kelly was beginning to worry. He could tell that something big was up. He had noticed tension building in LCDR Timmons’ face for several days. Kelly searched the intel reports and found nothing there t
hat would cause such worry. Of course he didn’t have access to all the information. Strict need to know was observed in the Fleet. He had gotten access to close hold information enough in his service time to know there was a lot more out there.

  After Kelly returned from lunch, Chief Pennypacker caught him at the bottom of the ramp, “Sir, Captain said for you to report to HQ as soon as you got back. He said not to bother to change.”

  Kelly looked down at his coveralls, decided they were clean enough and headed to HQ. LTJG Taylor him met at the door. “Good to see you again, Kelly. Follow me, will you? The briefings have already started.”

  Kelly entered the command conference room to find the captains and execs of all the in-port Scout Ships. The captains were at the main table and the execs in the theater seats in the back. Kelly took a seat at the end of an open row.

  Admiral Craddock was at the front speaking, “Fleet intel says that the K’Rang are massing their forces near three of their main worlds. Fleet thinks they are going to try an assault into the Scutum Sector in 30 to 60 days. A data device recovered by the Vigilant on a K’Rang merchant ship, a copy of that data found on New Amsterdam, and another K’Rang data device also brought to us by the Vigilant, finally have been decoded. It was a particularly crafty code hidden in some partial schematics. The data in the code gives all Galactic Republic defenses from the Scutum Sector to here and beyond.”

  “Some of our agents in the K’Rang Empire have gotten word out that the K’Rang have been building large numbers of the torpedo ships that the Vigilant came up against. In addition, they have created a small fighter drone that is controlled remotely from a mothership held to the rear of their battle formations. Each of these motherships carries 100 of these drones and pilots capable of operating up to 30 drones at a time. Our agents tell us they are probably on a par with our F-48s. Unlike our fighters, though, they carry a large antimatter charge warhead in their nose that can cut through our capital ships’ shields and armor plating. They are both fighter and anti-ship missile.”