Con-Red: Recourse
Page 60
Even as he stood there another pair of fighter craft buzzed by only meters away to land in a newly cleared bay. One of these Dragonfires appeared heavily damaged with multiple disabled engines, one missing wing, and impact holes throughout the armored hull. It was a miracle the heavy fighter had made it this long, Styker thought as he watched with held breath while it paused in its directed bay before settling on the deck. With relief Styker finally looked away and realized that others of his squadron were now standing around him. All but Gator, who was still being recovered by the S&R team, and of course the deceased Brent, stood there looking out together while savoring the cold beverages brought to them.
Many of the pilots had different responses to what had happened and all that they had witnessed. Some were jovial together, happy to just be alive after everything, while others simply stood there in silence with blank gazes and expressions as they drank their fill. Styker knew those feeling and reactions would change slowly once their adrenaline began to wear off and some rest was had.
As he took his first steps forward towards the hanger exit his ears caught sounds he had not heard on a military ship in a long time. The weeping and crying took seconds to become thoroughly apparent, but when they did it was hard to hear anything else. Male and female pilots alike had simply collapsed under the weight of their emotions and fatigue after emerging from their fighters and interceptors. Most of these brave pilots based on the carrier had never experienced actual wartime combat before. Sure they had been involved in skirmishes with pirates and the like, but heavy combat the sort they had just experienced was something entirely new.
Each person had suffered loss that day, be it comrade or lover. This had not truly hit home until they had touched down on the hard decking. During combat those feelings were suppressed, thanks to training, medication, and constant innate self-preservation, but now at the end of it all there was nowhere to hide. The experiences they had suffered flooded into them like a broken dam to overwhelm them. Styker knew those feelings well, he had been through them before and was in no position to judge. Everyone went through them differently. Some would still take days to fully register what had happened, while others were almost catatonic with medical personnel surrounding them. They all mourned those that had died as well as those that they had killed, for taking another’s life was no easy task, even if that life had been that of an enemy.
“Glad you made it through Hotshot.”
Styker heard coming from his left and turn quickly with a smile already on his face in recognition. As he turned Tiari Okawa ran into him and wrapped her petite arms around his body, almost causing him to fall over. Her warmth washed over him as he held her tight and felt her lips on his for the first time in days. At that moment there was no one else. The entire hanger vanished for just a few seconds and Styker was truly happy in this day of mourning and death.
“I had a little help?” he smirked and pulled away really slowly while looking into her eyes, “I’m really glad you made it out alright too. It got really rough out there.”
Tiari’s smile faded slowly as she thought about the battle and gently rested her head into Styker’s outstretched hand as it caressed her cheek gently, “yes, not everyone was as lucky. We lost a lot of good people out there. The Battle Group, if we can even call it that now, got really hammered today. If those RedSky people hadn’t shown up…”
“It would just have taken us a bit longer to take care of business,” Styker interrupted and smiled into her eyes once more as he pulled her closer, “you and I were just getting warmed up out there.”
“Well look who turned into an optimist out there,” Tiari expressed softly as she lifted her gaze to his eyes, trying hard to not look around the hanger itself.
Both of their respective squadrons had come through relatively unscathed by the enemy. Each one had lost some fighters, but thankfully only a single pilot. Other squadrons, however, had been much less lucky. Many had been reduced to less than fifty percent effective combat strength. The precious few Valkyrie bombers had been devastated even further due to the dangerous nature of their assigned missions.
“Ti, why don’t we go change out of our business clothes and celebrate life. We can mourn our casualties later, but right now I’m just happy we both made it,” he said while sensing her thoughts and feelings about the situation.
He saw her nod slightly before taking her gloved hand into his. Together they turned to the large entrance way that linked the hanger to the rest of the ship and took their first steps forward towards some semblance of happiness.
That slight progressed was stopped in its tracks as the overhead speakers came to life, “attention, attention, this is the Captain. All Senior Officers report for debriefing in twenty minutes by order of the Admiral.”
Letting out a long breath in slight annoyance the commander looked back over at Tiari, “our Admiral sure has some horrible timing.”
Twenty minutes later freshly clean and redressed in uniform Commander Telwin strode into the assembly room with a mealbar in his hand. There had been no time to eat so he had grabbed one from his quarters. Thankfully most of the senior officer quarters had been spared, but that was not true for some of the others he quickly found out through overheard conversations and complaints. They would have to deal with that later. For the moment the battle was won and there were bigger issues to deal with.
Inside the briefing room there were more empty seats than Styker remembered. He recognized Tiari’s hair from the back and took a seat beside her without a second thought. She appeared to have had the same idea as him about bringing food to the meeting, but unlike Styker she had apparently had enough time to stop by the mess hall to get a food tray before showing up. Tiari gave him a quick smile and gently pushed the tray in his direction. Smirking back at her he reached down to took some fruit from the tray before looking around once more.
At first he thought that perhaps he was a little early as there were still many seats unoccupied, but that soon proved to not be the case as the blast doors came down to seal the room off from the rest of the ship. With that the light dimmed and Admiral Singh entered the room from the right with Captain Hinnamen. The look on both of their faces told Styker everything he needed to know about this meeting and caused him to stiffen in his seat. Even Tiari noticed his new posture, causing her to examine the commanding officers more thoroughly herself.
“First off let me congratulate each and every one of you on our victory today,” Admiral Singh began while looking over the entire room, studying every person seated there, “without the hard work done by you and the pilots under your command we would probably not be here today. At the same time without the crewmen and crewwomen throughout the battle group the same might be true for all of you. It just goes to show you how important teamwork really is and why we train so hard to work together in unison.”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “also, in case some of you were not aware yet, I want to wish you a Happy New Year. I know this was not quite the start you were hoping for, but there is nothing we can do about that.”
“I was hoping to celebrate the New Year with our hard fought victory, but unfortunately there is more bad news to be had.” Once more the admiral stopped to look around the room, the anticipation of his words drawing everyone towards him. “Less than half an hour ago I received a transmission via FRINGCOM that during the battle unknown enemy forces penetrated Aquarius space and carried out a surprise attack on Telcore itself. A number of other targets throughout the outer sectors were struck as well.”
At the mere mention of Telcore Styker’s heart dropped in his chest and shattered. He actually had to replay the sentence in his mind as he did not want to believe the words spoken to him. The new came as such a shock that he almost failed to hear the rest of the Admiral’s announcement and never felt Tiari’s hand fall upon his arm.
“We have to go back!” Styker yelled out at the admiral before even realizing that he was standing now.<
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Achyuta Singh’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stopped and looked over at the origin of the voice, “excuse me Commander Telwin, I didn’t catch that.”
“Sorry sir,” Styker finally caught himself, still shaking a bit from the image of his children and wife being caught in the middle of a planetary invasion, “we have to take the CBG to Telcore. There are millions of civilians that need our help. We can’t just leave them stranded!”
“At ease Commander,” Admiral Singh eyed Styker, “I understand and sympathize with your concern, but we have our orders. AQUACOM will handle Telcore. We have orders to 3R at Port Lima and that’s what we are going to do.”
Instead of calming Styker down this only enraged him further. He knew that going to the Port Lima Naval Base for Repair, Replenishment, and Recuperation would take weeks at best to complete before the group would head out again. In that time the entirety of Telcore could be conquered and his whole family could be dead.
“I understand sir, but there isn’t time for that! We’ve already fought the enemy. We know how they operate. We have the advantage. Any other units sent to Telcore would be green in this instance. They will be slaughtered and the planet would still be conquered. AQUARCOM needs the data we collected today and our experience,” Styker insisted forcefully while feeling Tiari tugging and squeezing at his arm.
“You’re out of line Commander Telwin!” Captain Hinnamen shot back and took a step forward in defense of his admiral, “have you seen the situation outside? We are in no position to fight a superior force.”
“The Captain is right,” Admiral Singh added calmly, “and I think you know that. You yourself witnessed the damage suffered by the Battle Group in this attack. If we jump into a warzone, even with our new found experience, we will be the ones who are slaughtered and would not help anyone. How would you feel then?
“I know you have family on the planet Commander. The same is true for many in the group, but we have to be smart about this. Trust me when I say we will go back to Telcore as soon as possible and pay the enemy back tenfold for every life they take. Now please, sit down so we can finish this meeting and get underway.”
It was apparent that neither of the commanding officers would budge from their standing orders and there would be nothing he could do from the brig. With clinched fists Commander Telwin forced himself to stop the fight and disengaged. “Yes Admiral, sorry sir.” Styker added and finally sat back down, not carrying what the others thought.
From that moment on no one else existed for him. He still heard the admiral’s voice, but not what was being said. He still felt Tiari’s hand on his trying to comfort him, but felt nothing back for her. It was like his whole mind shut down except for thoughts of his family. All of the training and teaching he had gone through was instantly thrown out the window. No longer was he just a good soldier following orders. At that point Styker became a very concerned parent and husband. Before the debriefing had even finished a plan was already formulated inside the commander’s mind.
Upon dismissal both he and Tiari filed out of the room along with the others. Styker heard her voice from what seemed like a distance. When he failed to answer she grabbed him firmly and turned his body to face her.
“Styker! Snap out of it,” when he finally looked down at her he could see sincere worry in her eyes, “I’ve never seen you like this Hotshot. You’re scaring me.”
He took a breath and forced a smile after a second of studying her face. Reaching up he ran one hand over her cheek, “sorry Tia, I’m alright. I don’t mean to scare you. It was just a shock, you know.”
“Yeah, I can understand. It’s your family,” she frowned and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him a little tighter than usual as if trying to prevent his drifting away from her. “We’ll rescue them soon enough. I’m sure these aliens aren’t out to get civies, its military targets they are after.”
“You’re probably right. I was just acting out,” Styker tried to comfort her by rubbing her back slowly.
“Promise me you’ll behave?”
“Promise, I’m just tired and irrational. Maybe I’ll go get some dinner and sleep?” he replied and looked down into her eyes again with a half-smile, “perhaps sleep first then dinner.”
“Yeah? Maybe I can join you?”
“Alright. How about we meet up in my quarters in twenty?”
With that she flashed him her smile and kissed his cheek, “sounds good hotshot, I’ll see you there.”
As he watched her turn and walk away Styker’s smile quickly receded away. What remained was a hard emotionless expression. Once Tiari was safely out of site he turn away and proceeded deeper into the carrier. Some areas were now cordoned off with warnings and barrier fields in order to prevent anyone from wondering into damaged areas of the ship. Taking the long ways around these sealed areas added precious minutes to his rapidly decreasing timescale, but finally he stepped through the hatchway of the shuttle bay.
These launch platforms actually overlooked the cavernous main hanger bay of the Regal. In contrast to the crowded landing bay below the shuttle bay looked barren. Most of the platforms were empty with their craft on duty in the surrounding space. Walking along the corridor between the loading pads Styker finally reached his target craft. It was one of two Shadow class assault shuttle/transports still remaining onboard the carrier, while the others were out conducting rescue or recovery operations.
Styker approached the twenty-two meter long shuttle’s flat nose and was instantly recognized by its internal computer system. His rank allowed him certain privileges, one of which was access to most areas of the Regal as well as every craft onboard. With a simple mental command the shuttle began to conduct its preflight diagnostic check and power-up sequence. Styker just initiated the order for the forward hatch to open when his standing there drew some unwanted attention from a maintenance technician nearby.
“Sir!” the tech jumped up from his work on a large engine assembly and straightened up, “can I help you?”
“At ease Petty Officer Wikler,” Styker replied after spinning around to study the man, hearing the hatch open behind him and the ramp descend, “I’m just taking her out on an engineering run. Is she ready for flight?”
“Yes sir, she is, but I haven’t received any flight orders. Why do they have you driving Shadow’s now? Where’s Lieutenant Zelua?” the tech questioned and reached over for his wristcom that he had left on the workbench, “I’ll just check in with FLOPS to get it all squared away.”
“It was a last minute change. The LT wasn’t feeling too hot so I volunteered. It’s just a shuttle run for an engineering team from the Serpieri to Karabela. Be back before you know it Petty Officer,” Styker tried his best to persuade the man as he turned to walk towards the shuttle’s open ramp.
“Understood sir, but I still have to clear it personally. I’m responsible for the craft, I’m sure you understand Commander. Please wait here. This will only take a second.”
“That will not be necessary. As I’ve said it was already cleared. I’m sure the orders will come through in the next few minutes.”
“I’m sure they will, sir, but I still have to confirm it before you take off. That’s protocol.”
His plan now slowly unraveling there remained only one viable option for the commander. Without further thought he turn around and at the same time pulled out the Stunner from his thigh holster. The Petty Officer saw the motion and looked back at Styker. He opened his mouth to speak, but before any words could emerge Styker pulled the trigger. Two white balls of energy shot out to hit the tech in the shoulder and chest. His body shook for just a few seconds before collapsing to the hard metallic deck as his neural network suffered a massive disruption.
With that he holstered the weapon and ran back towards the shuttle. It only took a quick jog before he was up the ramp and inside the cockpit. Less than a minute after that the hatch sealed closed as the shuttle lifted into the air. Styker knew he only had a short
time before the entire ship knew what was happening so he punched the throttle and accelerated out of the shuttle bay. At the same time he instructed the computers to run a thorough diagnostic of the remote command system in order to prevent the Regal from taking control of the ship while it plotted a route to Telcore.
“Commander Telwin, this if FLOPSCOM, stand down! I repeat stand down. You are not cleared for mission,” the orders came through clearly faster than Styker expected, “if you do not turn back you will be in violation of Naval Code and subject to AWOL designation.”
When he did not respond there was a rather long pause before Captain Chulovski came back online, “Raven, don’t do this, I plead with you. How long have we known each other? Come back and no charges will be brought on you. We can fix this.”
“The Captain is right Commander,” a new voice interrupted, that of Admiral Singh, “I know what you’re feeling. You are not yourself at the moment. The records will show that you were still under some influence of the enemy. Don’t make us put out a warrant for your arrest.”
“I’m sorry Admiral. I respect you immensely and you have to do what you have to do, but this is something I can’t turn away from. You can court-martial me on Telcore once this over. I’ll see you on the other side, sir,” Styker added just as the computer finished its plot. With a deep breath he leaned back into the seat only thinking about his family and triggered the jump. The whole galaxy fell away from him and he left all alone as the shuttle dropped into the opening to transdimensional space, instantly whisking him away from the Carrier Battle Group.
Epilogue
January 3, 2487 S.E.D – Post Invasion Day 14
Tesagia, UPF Fringe Sector Command
Naval Station Yakovski