“Concentrate on that breach,” Payton ordered, barely able to contain his excitement. We have them, he thought. We’re going to win this war.
Pieces of the Earthbound Gyssyc ship fell off in huge chunks. The ship didn’t explode as much as is it broke apart. The gamma gun fired into the ship. Slicing through empty hallways, opening new sections to the emptiness of space. The Gyssyc ship fired at him, aiming at sections where the mirrored armament had peeled away, exposing the non-reflective hull. They found his weakness and exploited it just as he was exploiting theirs. It was a matter of who was going to die first. There was no strategy right now, just two boxers fighting, hoping to be the one to deliver the knockout blow.
The end of the battle happened faster than Payton expected. The fire from the Gyssyc ship stopped as another blast from his own gamma gun eviscerated the interior. The other cannons continued to blast large chunks into space. He looked at his sensors. Power levels emanating from the ship dropped considerably, almost to nothing.
Did they hit something vulnerable? Did they destroy a power generator or did the accumulating damage finally catch up with them? “Gunners, stop firing,” he said.
Lights from inside the ship dimmed. Power readings dropped to nothing. Payton diverted some energy to scan for life and found small pockets of it. When he ran another scan he found less. The third and final scan was all he needed to confirm what he hoped: the Gyssyc ship was dead, there was no life left inside.
We won, he thought. We stopped them.
~*~*
Marjorie paced on the bridge awaiting word from the Rulla. The repairs to the Arwen were continuing even as she readied herself for battle. All Marjorie wanted was word to attack and she would lead the fleet.
Commander Pippleton also paced. His small Ulliam body shuttered in anticipation. A common Ulliam response to pressure.
The communications officer called the commander over. He did a quick sprint to the station, looked over the officer’s shoulders, and then turned. “Captain, we just got word from the Rulla, all the bombs are in place. The shuttles are on their way to pick the survivors up.” He paused, listening to the communication. “He said to only send two shuttles. That’s all they’ll need.”
Marjorie gave a nod of acknowledgment. “All ships ahead, tell the carrier to launch the bombers and to concentrate on the exposed sections.” If his plan works, Marjorie thought, we should have plenty of exposed areas to attack.
She felt the Arwen move forward as she made her way back to her chair. On one of the screens she had the Gyssyc ship centered and she watched it carefully. The computer marked the shuttles and confirmed a touchdown on the surface; seconds later they took off to head back.
“Captain,” the communications officer said, “the Rulla would like to talk to you.”
Marjorie nodded and the bloody face of the Rulla appeared. He was smiling. “I have earned many new tattoos today,” he said. “The bombs should be going off in five seconds. I shall return to my ship and assist you in battle.”
“You’re help will be welcome,” Marjorie replied.
One side of the Gyssyc ship bubbled out like a blister before erupting in a ball of fire and smoke. From the opposite side another explosion melted and peeled large sections of the ship, blasting red hot molten balls into space where they quickly cooled into deformed hunks of metal.
A long crack formed and branched out along the surface. Orange flames were quickly extinguished as they were exposed to the vacuum of space. Charcoal black smoke poured out of the cracks which continued to grow as more bombs exploded.
Marjorie smiled as two large cracks, one from the top of the ship, the other from the bottom, met. The Arwen arrived first and started firing. There was no opposition, nothing firing at her; nothing stopped them from destroying anything that was left.
~*~
Payton sat back in his captain’s seat. It was a bloody battle that decimated his force. He had no desire to celebrate; all he wanted now was to know what happened to Marjorie and the Ulliam force.
Moments after the battle ended he sent a message to Marjorie asking for an update. He would return to Earth so they could rebuild and plan their assault on the three races that dare challenge them. His plan would utterly devastate all three worlds; he wouldn’t kill every one of them, genocide was still outlawed, but he would blast them back to before they could build spaceships.
“Vice Admiral,” his sensor office said. His voice was filled with confusion and surprise. “I’m reading a massive worm hole forming directly in front of us.”
Payton sat up and focused his screen to the location. What he saw made his mouth open wide, his eyes pop out and his heartbeat increased so quickly he lost his breath for a moment.
From the dark center of the wormhole, a Gyssyc ship, much larger than the one his fleet fought, slowly made its way from wormhole space into real space. So enormous was the ship that it filled his entire screen. So close was it he knew he’d never have time to move out if its way. He ordered the Valentine to move anyway.
The wormhole closed and the ship accelerated toward Earth but not before opening fire.
The gamma lasers sliced through the Valentine, carving it up like the Gyssyc had carved many ships before. Payton heard the screams from the men outside the bridge. Air was sucked from the room and from Payton’s lungs. He gasped, trying to catch his breath, trying to hold on for as long as he could.
Blackness filled his vision as his oxygen ran out. He fell forward, his head hitting the main screen. He looked at it one last time as his enemy ship shrank, pulling further away. He closed his eyes and thought of Marjorie. If she survived she would be Earth’s last hope.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Marjorie sat in her office and watched the recording of the battle she had just fought. She realized, after dozing off several times, she hadn’t had any sleep in two days. How could she? The repairs on the Arwen were going well but there was still a lot to be done and she couldn’t afford to miss several hours of work just to rest.
She slowly opened her eyes when she heard the knocking on her door. “Yes?” Groggy, she looked at the time and realized she had fallen sleep for twenty minutes. Her neck felt stiff.
“Captain, it’s Commander Pippleton. I just received a very important communication from Earth. May I come in?”
“Sure,” she said. The door opened and the commander waddled in. “Why didn’t you just send it to me?”
He shrugged his shoulders and she had a hard time interpreting the gesture. Normally they shrugged when embarrassed, angry, or trying to comply with someone as a superior. Nothing here seemed to suggest any of those were correct. He handed her a slip of paper. “Paper? Why did you print this out?”
He kept his head low. “I would like if you read that after I left.”
For a moment she wondered if maybe she was still asleep. “Okay, dismissed, Commander.”
He briskly walked out of the room and closed the door. Marjorie held the note for a moment before opening it. Her eyes scanned it quickly. It told of the battle for Earth, of the destruction of the Earth fleet, of the valor of the Valentine as it held its ground while every other ship had been destroyed. It gave details of how the Valentine had destroyed the Gyssyc ship.
She scanned the next section shaking her head in confusion unable to comprehend the paragraph: “Thirty minutes after the first Gyssyc ship was destroyed, a second one appeared and destroyed the Valentine. All hands were lost in the brief battle. The second Gyssyc ship is on its way toward Earth. Reorganize your fleet and return at once.”
The Valentine has been lost. Everyone on board was dead. Payton was the commander of the Valentine. He was lost? He was dead? Dead? No, he can’t be dead. She felt the tears well up in her eyes. Droplets fell down her cheek. It was as if her emotions had caught up but her mind couldn’t understand. Payton can’t be dead, he was too good a commander, and he was too smart to die in combat.
The paper dropped to
the floor. Marjorie’s limbs felt as if they were floating, as if they were no longer part of her body. She wanted to stand, she wanted to move but the grief had overtaken over. It washed over her like an unstable wave. Pain reached out from her heart and radiated out to every cell of her body which shuttered as the sobs came. Her tough interior dam, the one she had erected to become a great captain, burst open.
She fell off her chair and onto the floor landing on her knees. Her back slumped, her shoulders collapsed, and she cried until she had nothing left. Payton, the man she loved, the only man she would ever love, was dead.
She stood and wiped the dried tears from her face. All she wanted to do was sit to cry some more. She wanted to give her command up. She wanted to head to bed to sleep and forget the past few days. It was time for Marjorie Cook to fade away and to be pushed down into her conscience and for Captain Cook to come out. Captain Cook was the one who wasn’t in love with Payton. Captain Cook was the one who commanded the Arwen. She was the hero of the fleet. Marjorie Cook was no one, a nothing in combat, and had to be ignored. Marjorie Cook was the one who let Payton run roughshod over her life. She was weak.
She cleared her throat and said a few words to be sure Captain Cook was in control. Her voice came out strong and confident. No quiver from emotion. Marjorie had been suppressed. She pressed the communication button. “Commander, please have Captain Lipton and Rulla Plooma meet me in the hologram room. I would like you there as well.”
Captain Cook stood from her chair and walked out of her office. There was still the strong scent of smoke that permeated the walls. Every so often she would pass a wall stained black or see a group of crew members working on something inside the walls. Walking past the people who were working so hard to fix up her ship made her feel somewhat better. Then she remembered Payton was dead and her mood turned sour once again. Captain Cook told Marjorie to shut up and pushed her down again.
She walked into the hologram room and waited. No one else had arrived and she figured it would take them a while to get there. She dimmed the lights then programmed the computer to show the Earth. She set it in motion to watch it rotate ever so slowly. “How many more times am I going to sacrifice for you? How many more people are you going to take away from us to defend you?”
The door opened and Commander Pippleton walked in, looked over at Captain Cook, and shrugged his hello. “The two captains will be here shortly,” he said. “I have the most up to date information from Earth. I will program it into the computer so we can project it into the room.”
“Thank you, Commander,” Captain Cook said, stepping aside to let the Ulliam pass. “I appreciate your respect for me by not staying in the room.”
“I’ve learned you like your privacy. I knew the content of the message and I did not feel it was my place to be with you as you read it.”
“Your instincts were right. Commander, I need to know something from you.”
He continued to program the computer as he spoke, his thin boney fingers moved deftly across the controls. “Yes.”
“Do you feel you’d be right to take over the Arwen if asked?”
“It’s what I have been trained for,” he replied. “Why? Do you feel that I might need to take over in the upcoming battle?”
“I don’t mean in this battle, I mean afterwards. If I were to give up command of the Arwen, it’s my right to recommend a successor. Kel always seemed to be the most obvious choice but he’s not the only one.”
The commander fiddled with the controls not really punching any information into the computer, just grazing the tips of his fingers over them. “If you were to recommend me as your successor, I know I would be a good captain and I would do you and this ship proud. I’m an Ulliam on an Earth ship. I went through your schools to get here and that was not an easy task. I did it because I saw the shortcomings of my race and I knew someone needed to be an example to them. I found it hard to believe that after all these years I am the first Ulliam to achieve what I have achieved and I know word of my accomplishments has gotten back to Ulliam and others are signing up to join Earth ships. I want to continue on that path and being the captain of a high profile ship like the Arwen would inspire many.”
“I can’t promise anything right now. We don’t even know if we’ll survive the upcoming battle. But, if we do I’m probably going to step down and retire, so I need to start thinking of who I want to command my ship after that.”
“I have to say, I never thought I’d hear that you would want to retire.”
“I never thought I’d say it,” she replied. “I’ve lost so much in this war. So many friends gone. So many lives destroyed. The one person I thought would always be there for me is dead. Once this war is over and if we win, we’ll need to rebuild. I’m too old and tired to want to be a part of that. Rebuilding is for the young.” She laughed. “When I first joined we were just expanding out into space, meeting other races. Most could care less about us and others wanted to destroy us. We were expanding, building ships faster than we could get crews for. Those glory days are over and a new era is about ready to start. People . . .” she stopped and corrected herself. “Ulliam like you are the future. Not people from another era.”
The door opened and Captain Lipton walked in. Marjorie looked over at the commander and, while Kel was out of earshot, said, “This is just between us, understand?”
Commander Pippleton shrugged his shoulders in acknowledgment.
Kel stood next to Captain Cook while the commander continued to punch the information into the computer. Leaning close to Marjorie, Kel said, “Captain, I heard about the Earth fleet. I’m sorry about the admiral. I know how much he meant to you.”
“Thank you,” Captain Cook said, ignoring Marjorie who wanted to vent and talk about the pain she was feeling. “There is no time for me to think about that right now. We need to come up with a plan.”
“Rulla Plooma’s plan worked well. Do you think we should try that again?”
“I don’t see we have any other choice,” Marjorie replied. “We need to wait for him to show up to see what he thinks.”
The door opened and the impressive figure of the Rulla Plooma walked in. He seemed to walk with a limp. His face had a large bandage on it marking what surely was an impressive wound. He held himself high, a presence that was hard to ignore. “Captain Cook, Captain Lipton, it is good to see you.”
“Thank you, Rulla,” Marjorie said. “I don’t know how we can repay you.”
“You can repay me by helping me get my planet back.”
Captain Cook nodded. “You have my promise Regal will be free again. We need your help one more time. Do you feel like you can help us?”
“Yes,” Rulla Plooma said crossing his arms. “I will help you. First, we need to know what we are dealing with. I hope you have some information. I hate going into a battle blind.”
Marjorie nodded at the commander who played the program he was working on. The room dimmed and an image of the sun and the Earth hovered over their heads. Commander Pippleton started, “The Gyssyc ship is about three days out from Earth. It’s moving slower than the other ships, probably because of its size. We have orders from the president who wants us to come out of wormhole space here.” A small disk appeared in the orbit between Earth and the moon.
“That’s really close to Earth,” Captain Cook said. “We have to be very careful when we do this.”
“The gravity of the Earth could really affect us,” Kel said.
“We’ll just have to deal with it,” she replied sharply. “Go on, Commander.”
“By the time we arrive, the orbital defenses from the Earth and the moon will be engaged with the ship.”
“Captain, if I may,” Rulla Plooma interrupted. “I don’t think this is the best strategy for us. I believe we should come from outside the orbit of your moon. Get the Gyssyc ship between us and the Earth and attack it from both sides.”
“I agree. I was also going to recommend we use the sam
e tactic we used here. You lead a large group of soldiers over there to plant some Star bombs. Would you be willing to lead such an attack?”
The Rulla laughed. “I may not have enough body left for the number of tattoos I will need! Yes, I will lead the men over.”
“And you’ll have a bigger force,” Kel said. “We have several platoons on Ulliam. We can take them with us and train them while we’re in wormhole space.”
Commander Pippleton’s communicator beeped. He picked it up and listened. “Captain, I just got word from Ulliam. They have found and arrested Einstein. It seems the Gyssyc were in such a hurry to leave they left him on the planet.”
“Tell them I don’t want him harmed in any way. Kel, Rulla Plooma, would you like to accompany me down to Ulliam? I don’t know about you but I want some answers.”
Both Kel and the Rulla nodded enthusiastically.
~*~
“This is an outrage!” Professor Ricter yelled seconds after seeing Captain Cook walk out of the elevator. He completely ignored the Rulla and Kel. “How dare you arrest my partner?”
“Perhaps you did not see the attack on the fleet?” Rulla Plooma bellowed, his eyes filled with rage. “Many died in that battle and many more died at the battle on Earth.”
Ricter looked at the Rulla and then back to Marjorie. “Earth was attacked as well?”
“Yes,” she said. “The fleet was destroyed.”
His eyes lowered. It seemed as if the enormity of what was going on had suddenly hit him. “I didn’t know the Gyssyc has also attacked Earth. I thought it was only the ships from the armada.”
“They seem to have formed an alliance. We need to talk to Einstein,” Captain Cook said. She looked at Kel and Rulla Plooma as she walked by the professor. “I would like to talk to him alone,” she said.
The Arwen Book one: Defender Page 30