by Ben Winston
"Damn straight! How dare those assholes interrupt my sex time!" Alice replied.
"No need to dress, we're looking at a four hour transit." John replied.
"Four hours? How the fuck did they get so close?" Carl asked.
"Obtuse angle," Alice replied. "They didn't come through the border space. We have no way to detect that."
"Be ready in five, kids, Chloe and I are in route," John replied.
"What about Will?" Carl asked.
"Mark didn't say anything, but I'll handle that, now scoot," John ordered.
John turned to Mark. "Sire, I'd like you to order Will to your flag ship. We can't leave him out of this."
"Actually, I've got a better job for him. Go get the rest of your dilettantes and get out of here," Mark replied. "Good hunting Guardian."
"Die well, Sire." John returned the parting phrase as he and Chloe ran back the way they'd come. "And take as many of those fuckers with you as you can!" Chloe shot back over her shoulder.
Chapter 29
True to his word, Mark did indeed have a better place to assign Will. The tired Guardian was now in the planetary defense control center advising operations for the defense of the Capitol and Centauri system.
The shuttle dropped John off at his ship before continuing on to drop the rest at other small ships detached from the planetary defense fleet. John was met by the XO and another officer. "Captains compliments, Lord Guardian, he apologizes for not meeting you himself, but he wanted to make sure we got underway as soon as your shuttle left the bay."
John nodded. "I agree with him, we really don't have time for niceties. Lead on Commander."
The man nodded and turned. He hurriedly introduced his companion. The small woman seemed to be slightly in awe of John. "Sir, this is our chief engineer, Lieutenant Dupree. Lieutenant, Guardian-General John Aster."
"It's a pleasure Chief," John replied.
"Very much so, Sir. It's an honor to meet you," the Lieutenant replied. "Sir, the Captain wanted me to fill you in on the new additions to the destroyer class."
John raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "New Additions?"
"We're fresh out of Xanadu Sir. This is an entirely new ship design, we have a couple extra weapons, and what we have is much more powerful than the old class. We have some stealth systems to prevent missile lock, as well as a new form of reactive armor. Energy weapons hits will make our armor and shields stronger up to a point. We have mass drivers and small lasers for point defense, an anti-missile missile pod mounted between our engines aft, two additional heavy pulse cannons, and an entirely new gadget called a hyperspace disruptor," the woman said, obviously proud of her new ship.
John nodded, "I followed you up until that last item, Chief. What's a hyperspace disruptor?"
"A nasty trap for enemy ships." She replied. "When activated, the disruptor prevents any ship within ten light seconds from jumping into hyperspace."
"That could go either way, Chief. I understand the use, but we'll have to be careful with it. How long does it take to activate and deactivate?"
"The effect is light speed, Sir. So, about four seconds. The device itself is a switch flip," she explained.
John nodded. "With the new weapons, that should almost put you on par with a Tammerain light cruiser. I'm sure she'll do great, Chief. Thanks for the answers."
Destroyer class ships simply aren't that big, so by the time they had finished talking, they had arrived at the bridge. The Chief excused herself to return to Engineering. "Attention!" the XO called as John followed him onto the small bridge.
"As you were," John replied and approached the smiling Captain. The woman was actually the same rank as her XO, but since she was the person in charge of the ship, she held the title of Captain.
"Welcome to the Hades, Guardian-General. I'm Commander Dione Stilts, Captain," she said and offered her hand.
John shook her hand nodded his head. "Good to meet you, Captain. What's our status?"
"Course out of the system is set, and the jump to Haven is laid in. We're just waiting for our sister ships, and we'll be on our way," Dione replied. "Can you tell us what's going on, General?"
"Sure, a Tammerain task force just dropped out of hyper at Haven, and we're going to go kick their asses," John said with a slight smile.
"Four Destroyers against a task force?" the woman asked.
"Well, you have four Guardians too," John replied grinning.
"More than enough then!" the XO replied laughing, which caused the Captain to laugh as well.
"John? You on the Hades yet?" Mark called.
"Excuse me a moment, Captain," John said and put his hand to his ear to let everyone know that he was on the Comm.
"Yes I am Mark, but I don't think the others are ready yet." John replied.
"Won't matter very much, have Captain Stilts head out, I need you there ASAP. Those fuckers are twenty minutes from orbit of Haven," Mark said.
Turning back to the Captain, John said. "Captain, head out now. We can't wait for the others. Fast as possible if you please."
The woman nodded to him and turned back to her bridge crew and started giving orders. The XO pointed John to a chair with straps, as he took his own station.
John sat down and strapped in. "We're on our way, care to tell me what kind of help we're going to have? This seems like a good crew, and I don't want to lose them."
"I've managed to redirect the Fourth Russian Task force to Haven for you. They should arrive within ten minutes of you. They'll be coming in on the far side of the system from you. However, they are equipped with the new missiles. Feel free to terrify the enemy all you want. Uh, John..." Mark said.
"Yeah?" John asked.
"They have violated our space. None of them leave. Understand?"
John sighed. "Yes Sire. None will."
"Thanks, keep me in the loop. Contact Commodore Rostov for the missiles," Mark replied.
"Mark, who named the fleet? There hasn't been a 'Russia' in five thousand years," John asked.
"Heh, I did, actually. I named them all after different countries from old earth."
John chuckled. "So what is the name of the Capitol guardian fleet?"
"The First North American Guards, or first NAG for short. I thought it would be fitting considering they'll tell me when to get the hell off the planet," Mark replied.
John laughed at the name. "It's a good name. I need to go calm the Captain a little, I told her we were going to kick ass on a task force, and she paled a little. I'm going to talk to her and see what she thinks of my strategy."
"What is your strategy?" Mark asked.
"Muerte invisible" John replied in an old Earth language. "Invisible Death,"
He could hear the grin in Mark's reply. "I get it! Sounds like a good plan to me, just try to keep them from attacking that planet."
"Well, if they do try to hail the planet, make sure it gets piped through to me. Maybe I can keep them talking until we get there," John said.
"Okay, go talk to the Captain so she doesn't get her knickers in a knot. I'm sure she'll love your idea!" Mark said as he closed the connection.
John looked over at the Captain. "Captain, do we have time for a talk?"
Chapter 30 Moon Day (Eighth Day)
John had time during the trip to brief the other guardians as well as put in a call to the Commodore. Everything was in place to give the Tammerain fleet a warm reception to the Kingdom. The fleet itself didn't try to contact anyone, they settled into orbit of the planet, and began intensive scans of the surface, it was very obvious they were looking for something.
Twenty minutes from arrival, the being in charge of the fleet finally hailed the nervous colony. As per their instructions, they set up a subspace link to route the call to John.
After making sure there was nothing behind him to betray his location, John opened the channel, and bowed. "Greetings Fleet Commander, you are orbiting a planet that is mine to defend. I seek knowledge of your intentions?"
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The large being just sat for a moment and stared at John. Finally it spoke. "I am Fleet Commander H'drean. We have tracked a group of Kingdom spies and terrorists to this system. We seek knowledge as to their current location."
"Fleet Commander H'drean, two solar cycles ago, two freighters arrived in this system. Both crews had expired due to dehydration, and the computer systems of the ships had been destroyed by what looked like battle damage. As for any spies aboard either ship, I'm afraid you know more about that than I do," John replied.
"Come now, Demon, you know as well as I do that those supposed trading ships are little more than spy vessels sent to deceive the faithful. These ships you claim to have been destroyed, where is their current location so we may verify their status ourselves?" H'drean asked.
"They were taken away, we do not know by whom. I assume they were taken to be analyzed as to because of the battle damage, so we could discover who murdered them," John replied.
"Murdered is not the word used for the termination of spies, Demon. You will learn this soon enough. You will provide us with the location of the ships or we will destroy this colony. No more games will be played with you," H'drean replied.
"Fleet Commander H'drean, I feel I have to point out a few things to you, since you have overlooked them. First, you are orbiting a world in Kingdom Space, not Imperial. This world is not yours to destroy. Second, if so much as one child on that planet is harmed by your presence here, I will not allow any of your ships to return to your own space. Third, again you are not in the Empire, you are in the Kingdom, you are surrounded by forces that will destroy you utterly if you do not surrender immediately.
"Lastly, the planet you are threatening is unarmed, and has no defenses. By your own imperial law, as well as the laws of your Goddess, this would be an act of terrorism thus resulting in the same punishment you wish to inflict upon those already beyond this world. Such an act, in itself has been condemned by your own Goddess as well as the Jal-Haraad. You would destroy your own soul and the souls of those that follow you for no gain?" John replied.
They were five minutes out now, he had to buy enough time to get in range of the fleet so they could target them.
The large being narrowed his eyes and glared at John. "You will not use your demon tricks on us! We are defended from the likes of you. Our Goddess has directed us to destroy the spies at any cost, and we will not be denied. She will not allow our souls to be forfeit if we must destroy this world, since it is not us that does this but you that forced our hand."
John nodded. "H'drean, five thousand years ago, there were people that used those very same words to justify the wholesale slaughter of millions of innocent people that had no direct link to the events in question. Just as these people on this world have no idea what you are speaking of. You would be killing the truly innocent, and it would be you that has done it, since it is by your hand that you guide your weapons, it is by your voice that the order for their deaths is given. How can it be seen as anything else?"
John saw that they had indeed exited hyperspace, and he was showing the ships of the fleet as targets. The Captain and her crew had put them right where he needed them to be. The Commodore had also signaled that the missiles were ready whenever he needed them.
"You have only one last choice for salvation, Fleet Commander, surrender, and allow us to repatriate you back to the Empire," John said marking both of the Battleships for multiple strikes and pressing the firing command for the hyper-missiles.
The being nodded at John. "So be it. Weapons officer, target the largest city, and destroy it."
Before anything else could be done, the two battleships in the task force blew up. John quickly began targeting the rest of the ships he could see, and sent a fire as ready command.
"Computers nearing maximum, Captain!" the Engineer said via the comm.
"If this locks them up, then it does, we have to destroy them before they can bomb that world, Captain!" John replied.
"Engineering, shut down everything but life-support and the reactor, even if it costs this ship, we have to do this!" the Captain ordered.
"The other destroyers are exiting hyperspace, Captain!" the weapons officer replied.
"Hand off as many targets as we can!" Stilts ordered.
"Ma'am, there are several of the smaller ships entering the atmosphere of the planet, they are out of range for the missiles!" the Navigator called.
"Reset all systems, Helm ahead full! Battle stations! Spin up the weapons, Mr. Eisle. Raise our shields and rig for atmospheric! Strap in tight Sir, this is where it gets bumpy!" The last she said to John. "Sir, could you ask the Fourth to join us for clean up?"
Chapter 31
"I will, if you have any Marines on board, please get them suited up for planetary assault. I'll be joining them," John said. "Captain?"
"Yes?" the woman turned back to him.
"No mercy, Captain. They are attacking an unarmed, undefended, and innocent planet. Even by Tammerain Law their lives are automatically forfeit. They know that they will be killed for their actions. Give no quarter and accept no surrender, Captain. If any of them try to surrender, it will be a trap," John said.
"I understand, General. Good hunting!" Captain Stilts replied grimly. "Marines are assembling in the landing bay, Sir. We're fifteen minutes from atmosphere."
John nodded and headed for the landing bay. He'd already put on his armor, as had the rest of the crew, before they arrived. When he arrived in the small bay, he found a platoon of Marines gathered around a small holo -display of the area the Captain was going to drop them in. John nodded when he saw that it was the largest city.
"Welcome aboard Sir," the lieutenant said when he saw john had joined them. During combat operations, the usual protocol of announcing the officers was foregone, much to John's relief.
John nodded. "Thanks Ell-tee, (Ell-tee is short for Lieutenant; 'LT' pronounced) I don't know if the captain told you, but we're going up against religious zealots that believe they have nothing to lose. These guys are not your normal imperial troops. From their markings, they are Imperial Guards which means they not only fight dirty, they do not surrender. Their goal will be to spread chaos, terror and destruction before they are killed."
"Sir, I thought the Tammerain didn't attack civilians?" one of the troops asked.
"Normally, they won't. They believe to do so would destroy their soul and deny them an afterlife with their Goddess. If the Civilians take up arms and join in the fight that's a different matter. The simple fact that there are units like this one should be proof that the Tammerain will not stop until every human is dead. Expect these troops to be pathological killing machines. Leave none alive, and you will live, and you won't get shot in the back."
"Are you ordering us to slaughter them, Sir?" the Lieutenant asked in disbelief.
John sighed. "Lieutenant, these fuckers are fanatics in every sense of the word. If they can pull the trigger with their tongue they will do it in an effort to kill at least one more human. Yes, I am ordering you to slaughter them. I have a sinking feeling that you'll understand why all too soon."
"Four minutes to atmosphere! Marines Assault drop positions! Drop in two minutes! Landing Zone is hot, I say again LZ is hot!" the Captain announced. "People, these animals are firing on anything that moves. Men, women, children... even the animals are being shot! Four of these snakes hit a hospital and are going from room to room, killing the patients!"
John opened a com to her. "Hold it together, Captain. We'll stop them, but you have to hold it together."
"Yes Sir, but how can they even do this?" Dione Stilts asked.
"Long ago, on Earth, there were people that believed it was their duty to kill or destroy those they had deemed the enemy of their God. They would go to any lengths to do it. They even strapped bombs to their own bodies, went to a crowded place, and detonated it. Dione, these people actually believe by doing something like that, it will ensure their place with their God
while making life better for their people. These Tammerain are like that. They have been conditioned to believe that any action they take will help their Goddess. Killing humans is something they know to be a holy sanctified action."
"That's twisted!" the Captain replied.
"Yes, it is. But it is also what we are dealing with," John explained. "That was the reason I gave you the no mercy order."
"I understand much better now Sir, thank you."
John had entered his drop pod while he had been talking to the Captain and had secured his weapons. He felt the ship bucking as she entered the atmosphere as it evaded fire from the ships still in orbit above them. It was a really rough ride until everything stopped and became smooth. The pod had been ejected from the ship.
John brought up the data feeds from the sensors on the hull of the pod so he could see the area they were dropping into. The Captain had dropped them over a large park in the center of the city.
Assault pods were fired from a ship usually in orbit and directed to a spot on the surface by their own guidance computers. Even though they had been 'dropped' ten thousand feet over the city, this would be considered a 'low' drop. The retro thrusters fired almost immediately in order to slow them down enough to land without killing the occupants.
Right away, John could see which direction the Tammerain killers had gone and let the platoon leader know they had to move in that direction. In his mind, John knew that the Tammerain had most likely dropped more 'troops' than they could chase down, but he was determined to do as much as he could with what he had.
A shuddering impact and he was down, the hatch blew off, and John was out, taking a position to help cover the troops that had grounded near his position. On the inside of his visor, his display automatically tracked the positions of the troops near him as well as the rest of the platoon. The Ell-tee and five other troops had grounded closest to the direction the Tammerain had gone. John directed 'his' people to head in that direction.
In the park around them lay the bodies of dead civilians, over by a path through the park, John saw the dead bodies of a man and his dog. The dog had obviously tried to protect his master before it was blown apart by a Tammerain pulse weapon.