by Ivan Kal
He looked to his first officer. “Contact Dauntless, they are to start transmitting as soon as we pass into Olympus territory.”
Dawson turned his eyes back to the screen that now showed the enhanced image of Cloud station. Yes, soon.
***
“We are receiving communications from Dauntless Captain.” Comm officer said.
Captain Reginald Smith of Bismarck turned to him from his study of the screen in front of him.
“Start sending them prepared packages.” He said, and then turned to his first officer. “Are the marines safely aboard?” He asked.
“Yes, Captain.”
“Good, disconnect us from the station, and set a course away from our ships, we must appear as if we are trying to escape.” Captain Smith said. A minute later they were disconnected from the station, and heading away from the Earth, Viking and Dauntless following. So far everything was going according to plan.
“Captain, we are detecting another ship on an intercept course!” Sensor officer yelled.
“What? Where is it coming from?” Captain asked. The ships sensors looked for a heat signature that was given by spaceships drives, it worked in tandem with their visual sensors to then detect the ships trajectory.
“It just came from around the planet Captain. The sensor readings match that of an Olympus drive, but we can’t match the visual. And Captain, its coming fast, a lot faster than anything we thought Olympus had.” The sensor officer said his voice wavering slightly. Captain Smith, checked the stats of the new ship and was amazed. The ship was traveling at least four times their max speed, and it was slowing down. They could go from the Earth to the moon in a hour or two if they wanted, then it dawned on Captain Smith that they must have come from there. He asked for a visual of the ship, and a few moments the big screen on the front wall showed the new ship, at first it was blurry but quickly the image focused and they could see the ship speed towards them. The ship had the same general shape as Bismarck, but it didn’t have any sharp angles, its corners were all rounded, soft. There were things mounted on top of the ship, it took Smith a moment to realize what they were.
“Turrets?” Captain asked without noticing that he was talking out loud.
“Captain we are getting a laser communication from that ship. Voice only.” Comms officer said.
“Patch it through.” Captain said.
“To Concordis vessel under the command of dissidents. This is Ship Master Adrian Farkas of Olympus warship Athena, shutdown your drives and prepare to be boarded. Any hostile action will result in destruction of your vessel.”
Everyone on the bridge turned towards Captain Smith with their faces pale, and he looked back at them in the same manner. A warship? Olympus isn’t supposed to have warships! And yet, there one was, racing towards them at an unimaginable speeds. He was just about to try and contact his sister ships when his Comm officer yelled out.
“Captain. The Station!” Comm officer yelled, his voice terrified.
***
Major Taylor was sitting back in the cargo hold of Bismarck, a part of their mission accomplished, as proved by the evidence in the palm of his hand.
“It’s really small.” He said.
“Olympus has superior technology, that little thing has the capacity to store the entirety of data created on Earth since the start of the internet age.” The man who extracted the core, Hughes said.
“Really? That’s impressive.” Taylor said. He turned the core in his hand one more time, and then stored it away in a special container they brought with them. After securing the core, he turned to Novak.
“Are we away enough from the station?” He asked, there was no need to elaborate, they both knew the reason for the question.
“Yes Major.” Novak said.
Taylor looked around his men, he sighed. “Do it.”
Novak took out a small device from his belt, there were two switches, and a red light. As he pressed one of the switches the light turned blue. He then pressed the other switch, the light flashed twice and then turned green.
“It’s done.” Novak said.
Taylor nodded, there was no need for anything else, it was their job.
***
“We are receiving a voice only communication from the new ship Captain.” Viking’s Comm officer said.
Captain Tucker Dawson, turned to his Comm officer.
“Play it.”
A moment later the speakers around the bridge came to life and a commanding voice boomed out.
“To Concordis vessels. This is Ship Master Adrian Farkas of Olympus warship Athena, you are in direct violation of the international law. Turn your ships around and exit Olympus space, any other action will be treated as hostile, and will be responded to as such.” The voice said.
Dawson slammed his hand on the armrest. He looked at the video of the approaching ship, provided by their visual sensors. Olympus had warships. How could have that gone unnoticed by everyone Dawson wondered. The arrogance, they weren’t even a real country. He was convinced that it was all part of Tomas Klein’s plan. He might have even goaded the politicians to attempt this move, so that he may turn out a hero. He thought that his one ship was enough to turn them away from their goals. Well he was mistaken. Dawson turned to his Comm officer intending to send a message to the other Concordis ships.
“Captain! The Cloud station just blew up.” Viking’s sensor officer yelled out.
Dawson stopped, for a moment he had forgotten about that part of the mission, he shook his head and forced himself to think clearly. His mission was to retrieve the server core. Slowly he pushed his anger aside, and tried to think clearly, he still had a mission to accomplish.
Chapter Twenty-two
Adrian Farkas looked helplessly at the screen as the Cloud station blew up, there was nothing to indicate that it was going to happen, one moment it was there, and the next it was in pieces. Pieces that were now falling down to Earth, some will burn up in the atmosphere, but others, Adrian knew would survive and crash into the planet. Everyone in the Command Center shared Adrian’s feelings at the moment, the heavy weight in their chests, the feeling of total helplessness. Adrian allowed himself and others a second more of sorrow, and then he turned to his Comm Handler.
“Comms, inform the Fleet of the situation.” He said coldly, there would be time later for sorrow for the souls that perished with the station, they had a job to do now.
“Bethany, I want tracks on movements of all three ships.” Adrian said. Bethany nodded and went to work.
“Weapons, get me targeting solutions on all three ships.” Adrian told Noah, who got to work immediately.
“Navigation, get us closer to the dissident ship, put us between it and the Concordis ships.”
“The Fleets Master Reiss is on the comms for you Ship Master.” Estevez said.
Adrian accepted the call, and immediately Laura’s face filled his screen.
“Ship Master Farkas, from this moment you have authorization to open fire on Concordis ships, try to avoid it, but if they keep ignoring your warnings, fire a warning shot. As for the dissident ship, disable them, it is now imperative that you take ship and its crew prisoner. Do you understand?” She asked grimly.
“Yes, Fleets Master.” Adrian responded.
Laura nodded and ended the call.
“Comms record a message for the Concordis ships.” Adrian said.
Estevez gave the go ahead.
“Concordis vessels, turn your ships around and leave Olympus space. This is your last warning.” Adrian said.
“Comms record another message for the fleeing ship.” Adrian said.
“Power down your drives, surrender and prepare to be boarded, you have-” Adrian looked at the estimated time it will take for the Concordis ships to intercept it. It showed 13 minutes.”-five minutes to acknowledge this message, or we will open fire.” Estevez sent the message.
“I have the tracks, Ship Master.” Bethany said. Rather than s
ending it to his screen she turned on the holo-desk. Image of Athena was shown in the middle, with its current course represented in a white line, the other ships were shown also, with their trajectories shown also but with a blue line, a red orb signified where Cloud station used to be, other information was shown, distances between the ships, and their speed were shown on a board that floated above the hologram constantly updated. Adrian was amazed at the amount of the information showed there, much more than his screen could show, he knew that Bethany was playing around with the holo-desk since it arrived but wasn’t aware that she was this proficient with it. He looked at the fleeing ship, it was going a lot slower than Athena’s top speed, but they had slowed down in order to not over shoot the station, Concordis ships were closer, and even though they moved slower they would reach the fleeing ship around the same time as Athena did.
“Did the Concordis ships respond?” Adrian asked.
“No Ship Master.” Estevez said.
Adrian turned to Bethany. “Are there any signs that are going to comply with our demands?”
“None sir, they are still moving on an intercept course towards the fleeing vessel.” She said.
“Weapons, you have targeting solutions on both ships?” Adrian asked Noah.
“Yes Ship Master.” He responded.
“Arm two missiles, fire one at each of Concordis ships, and set them to detonate five hundred meters before impact.” Adrian said.
“Yes Ship Master.” Noah said.
A moment later, two new tracks appeared on the holo-desk, moving on an intercept course towards the two ships. Adrian hoped that they get the message.
***
“Power down your drives, surrender and prepare to be boarded, you have… Five minutes to acknowledge this message, or we will open fire.” The voice boomed out of the bridge speakers.
Captain Reginald Smith of Bismarck, looked helplessly on his screen. Olympus ship was gaining on them, and he knew that it will catch them, that it will arrive after their sister ships did not matter. This mission was a failure, they will not be able to surrender into Concordis custody with an Olympus warship there, it will not allow it, not after the station blew up, and if they open fire on them, well, then one of them will be destroyed. Which will start a war one way or another, if one didn’t start already. The Marine Major confessed that he had orders to place an explosive device and to destroy the station after they accomplished their mission. He looked at his screen trying to find a way for them to accomplish the rest of the mission without starting a fight with the Olympus ship and couldn’t find it. The Olympus ship didn’t seem concerned with the other two Concordis ships, which suggested that they knew they could take them in a fight. And Smith hoped that Captain Dowson was competent enough to back off. This just proved that they knew nothing about Olympus, who know how much more ships they had.
Captain Smith opened a channel to the Viking, a moment later it was accepted.
“Captain Smith.” Captain Dowson said, his face held a terrible expression a cross between hate and eagerness.
“Captain Dowson, you should retreat. The mission is a failure, turn around. We will surrender to Olympus, the government back home can disavow us, and try to salvage this.”
“No, you will follow the plan Captain Smith. Turn your ship toward us, we will block the Olympus vessel.” Captain Dowson said.
“Dear god man, we are in their territory, we have already broken the international law, let’s not burry ourselves any more than we already have.” Captain Smith said.
“You will follow your orders Captain!” Captain Dowson yelled at him. There was something profoundly wrong with the Captain of the Viking. Smith looked at his crew, he owed it to them, to see to it that they get out of this alive.
“No, Captain Dowson, my ship will surrender to Olympus.” Captain Smith said, and closed off the channel. Just as he was to order a message sent to Olympus ship, his sensor officer yelled out.
“Weapons fire form Olympus ship!”
Before Smith had a chance to ask who was the target his sensor officer added.
“Two missiles, one on course towards the Viking and one at Dauntless.”
Only two? They were warning shots Smith realized.
“Comms, send the message to Olympus ship, we are surrendering.”
***
Captain Dowson looked on the screen watching as two missiles speed towards his ships, and exploded before hitting his ship, they were faster than his missiles, yet again Olympus technology was superior, but his sensors officer told him that they were smaller, with a smaller payload. He knew that this were warning shots, no Captain would order only one missiles fired on a hostile ship, unless it was a warning. Dowson had no intention of heeding that warning.
“Captain, Bismarck just sent a message, they are surrendering.” Viking’s comm officer said.
“They are shutting down their drives.” His sensor officer said.
That fool Smith was going to ruin everything, not only will Olympus have proof that this was Concordis mission, they will also know that they were after their technology. He couldn’t allow that.
“Captain, we are receiving a communication from the Fleet.”
“Ignore them.” Dowson said. He had no time for bureaucrats and politicians.
“Captain! Dauntless is breaking off, they are going back!” His sensor officer said.
Dowson looked at the screen, one ship, just one Olympus ship had destroyed their entire plan. He couldn’t let Olympus have this, he just couldn’t. All the anger inside him came to the surface in one big wave.
“Target the Bismarck.” Captain Dowson ordered.
“Captain?” His first officer asked.
“Target the Bismarck!” He yelled. “They have disobeyed orders, they are deserters!”
“Yes Captain.” His first officer said shakily.
***
“The Viking is ignoring our comms Mr. President.” Admiral Weiss said.
“What the hell is going on? I thought that we agreed that there will be no casualties!” President Von Holt said. He looked around the room they all looked at him with the same confused look that he wore as well, except for one. When he met his eyes he knew.
“Victor, it was you?” The Minister of Defense Victor Ross remained silent. “Why Victor?”
The rest of the room turned to look at him, their faces unbelieving of the situation.
“Because it needed to be done. And all of you are too cowardly to have done it.” He said hatefully. No one had ever heard him talk like this, so they were all too shocked to say anything. “If we took the data and left the station, they would have known that we took it, hell, no matter what we did they would have known, when we started catching up to them in technology. And say whatever you will about Tomas Klein, but he would have remembered, and he wouldn’t have stayed silent.” He chuckled. “Hah! You thought that you could stay his hand with the press? With public opinion? He isn’t part of Earth! He doesn’t care about public opinion. His people are indoctrinated to follow him! They wouldn’t have cared either. So we needed to make a statement, to make him remember what happens when he tries to control us. And that station was the perfect target. He built it to remind us that they were better. He all but told us “Look, here we are above you, we are better than you.” So we made a statement of our own, that no matter how high he thinks he is, we can always shoot him down. And Captain Dowson will make sure off that.”
The room looked at him as if he was a madman, which he was. This is why Tomas Klein didn’t share anything with us, President Von Holt realized. He gestured for the security to take him away.
President looked at Admiral Weiss.
“Can we contact the other two ships?”
“The Bismarck has already surrender to Olympus. And I have already sent the recall to the Dauntless, they will turn back.” He said somberly.
“And the Viking?” President asked.
“Based on their actions a
nd the comments the Minister made, we can assume that the Captain of Viking is his man. That also explains why they are ignoring our comms.” Admiral Weiss said.
President looked around the room.
“We need to get on damage control right away, contact the ambassador on the Moon. Let’s hope that Olympus can resolve the situation. And also I want to know how the hell we didn’t know about that warship.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Adrian looked at the holo-desk, the dissident, or rather Concordis ship has surrender, and they identified themselves as Concordis warship Bismarck. They have turned off their engines and were currently firing their front thrusters in order to slow down. The intercept time on the board above the holo-desk was rapidly coming down. It now said 7 minutes. One of the other Concordis ships was in the process of turning around, while the last one kept coming, Adrian was studying it closely looking for any sign that it will turn and follow the first one, but with each passing minute he grew more and more certain that it would not.
Finally after three minutes Adrian was sure that they meant to ignore his warning.
“Weapons, target the remaining ship, ten missiles, five at the back, the rest spread out the ships length.” Arian said. He didn’t know much about the ship, but he knew that it had missile pods on its entire length, and he hoped to disable them and the ships drives.
“Captain! Missile launch from the Concordis vessel.” Sensors said. Adrian shifted his eyes to the hologram, a moment later fifty missile tracks appeared, and all of them were targeting the Bismarck.
“Impact in six minutes.”
“They are going to destroy their own ship.” Bethany asked incredulous, Adrian filled her in about the Bismarck’s crew when they surrendered.