“Strangelet count at saturation. Preparing to leave wormhole space.”
“Thank you,” Marjorie said. “When we get out please contact the Peter Wiggins. I want Captain Lipton to be the one to escort us to the planet.”
“Yes, sir.” Commander Pippleton said.
The pointed bow of the Arwen opened like a blossoming flower. The ship vibrated as the particle accelerator threw the newly created strangelets into the nothingness of wormhole space. The point grew bright then expanded, poking a hole into real space. The stars looked as if someone had taken a black blanket, poked thousands of holes in it and hung it in front of a very powerful lamp.
The Arwen moved from wormhole space into real space. Light from the Ulliam sun caused a sun flair effect on Arwen’s hull, blinding the cameras for a moment.
She stood from her chair and looked down at the bridge crew. “Commander, I’d like to have a word with you in my office.”
“Yes, sir.” He said then waddled over to meet her as she stepped down. The two walked off the bridge. Across the hall was the Captain’s office and, as they walked in, she pointed to the chair to have him sit.
“Commander, I’m getting an odd feeling from you. Now, I’ll admit, I’m not the best at reading the Ulliam so I might be wrong. I want you to tell me if I’m wrong or not.”
She noticed his shoulders slowly rise, then fall. She knew most Ulliam carried their emotions in their shoulders and posture. Sometimes it seemed the same gesture could mean many different things but she knew this was a sign of stress. The way a human might start to sweat or blush when they were asked a difficult question. “Captain perhaps that is the problem.”
Such an odd answer. She thought. “Explain, please?”
“Only if what I say will not go on the record or affect my performance review.”
“Depends on what you say,” she replied.
She saw his flat, gray face scrunch up, and then he continued. “I do not think you respect me as a second because I am not like your last commander.”
“What evidence do you have for that?”
“The way you look at me. The way you order me around. The fact you have never had breakfast with me like you did with Commander Lipton.”
She leaned back in her chair and folded her hands across her belly. “You’re right, Commander. I guess I’ve been so caught up in other responsibilities I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I’m sorry, Captain. I didn’t mean to have you think that having breakfast with me was more important than your duties.”
“No, Commander. You’re right. Tomorrow we have breakfast together.”
“That will not be necessary.” He shook his head. “I don’t think you really understand. This isn’t about breakfast.”
“Then tell me-”
The lights in the room went red and the computer squawked. “Captain to the bridge.”
Marjorie and Commander Pippleton ran out of the office and onto the bridge. “What’s going on?”
Her sensor office said, “We just picked up a massive wormhole.”
“Put it on the screen.” She took her seat just as the monitor in front of her lit up.
The outer edges of the wormhole glowed brightly while the center was pitch black. She had never seen a wormhole that large before and feared whatever might come through. Confusion caused her brow to crinkle as she watched the now familiar form pass through into real space. It looked like a spherical version of the Gyssyc ship in orbit around Ulliam.
“Communications, try to contact them.” She sat back in her chair trying to keep a veneer of calm about her that she wasn’t feeling inside. Did the Gyssyc have more ships out there? If so, why didn’t Lincoln or someone else tell them? This was wrong, it all seemed wrong. “Commander, go to red alert.”
“Red alert?” He asked.
“Yes, I don’t know what’s going on but I want to be ready for it.” The thoughts of the ambush at Regal and the Lancing corridor danced in her head. Never again will I be unprepared for a fight.
The ship moved closer to the Arwen as the wormhole closed behind it. Marjorie felt a static charge as the Arwen’s force field crackled into existence. She heard the communication office repeat his request at contact again and not getting any reply.
“Captain,” Commander Pippleton said, “do you think they’ll consider us a threat if we have our shields up and weapons charged?”
“They might,” she admitted.
“Communications, are you getting anything?” Commander Pippleton asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “They seem to be jamming my communications with Ulliam. Captain, Rulla Plooma would like to talk to you.”
“Put him through.”
His face appeared on her screen. “Captain, what is going on?”
“I don’t know, Rulla. If they attack we’re going to have to run. We can’t stand up to that kind of firepower.”
“I hate to run, but I agree.” He said then turned the communications off.
The ship increased its speed and moved faster toward the Arwen. “Helm, move us away, I don’t-“ Her words were cut off as the Gyssyc ship opened fire with a devastating energy beam.
The shields absorbed the beam causing a ripple across the highly energized surface. A second beam was also absorbed and harmlessly displaced. The Commander ran over the sensor officer. “Shields holding but we won’t be able to take another blast like that.”
“Retreat,” Marjorie yelled. “Get us out of here!”
She felt the Arwen lurk forward. The gravity plates groaned as it did a high power turn. The hum of the engine rose in pitch as it revved to full power. Another beam struck the Arwen causing it to shake. Commander Pippleton had to grab onto a chair to avoid falling. “Shields collapsing!”
The Arwen moved fast but couldn’t escape the onslaught. As the Gyssyc ship moved closer it fired rapidly and with deadly accuracy.
“We lost the engines!” Pippleton yelled. “Fires on decks three through nine.”
The lights on the bridge flickered and then went out. Seconds later they came back on but were dimmer. The smoke made it hard to breath. “What’s going on?”
“We lost power,” he said. “We’re working on emergency power now.”
Another blast from the Gyssyc ship ripped a long, ugly slash from bow to stern. The new improved hull prevented the blasts from slicing the ship in half, but the damage was still severe.
Marjorie felt everything in her gut. They were slicing up her baby, they were destroying her child and she had no other choice but to abandon her.
“Abandon ship! Commander, get the bridge personal off. I’ll meet you in the pod.”
Marjorie sat at her command chair frantically trying to establish communication with Ulliam. She gave up after a few attempts. She sent a command to the computer to fire a communication rocket when her message was completed. “Ulliam, this is the Arwen, the Gyssyc have more ships. They’re attacking. The Arwen in lost.” She uploaded all the sensor information she had and fired the rocket.
She jumped from her chair into a cloud of smoke, covered her mouth with her sleeve and ran for the door. When she arrived she saw Commander Pippleton waiting for her. “Come on.”
She nodded and the two ran through hazy, dimly light hallways to the closest escape pod. She opened the door and grimaced when it filled with smoke. No other choice, she thought as she stepped in. The Commander followed closely. He closed the hatch behind them. Marjorie took one last look from the pods porthole. She was about to leave her ship, something she swore would never happen.
Pippleton pressed the release button and the pod blasted out into space. Marjorie positioned herself so she could see the Arwen. Smoke billowed out of the engine, spiraling tightly as her ship continued the turn it had started before it was attacked. If they never returned it would continue to spin forever, turning without anyone there to stop it. All around she saw flashing distress signals from the other escape pods.
As her own escape pod turned the Gyssyc ship filled her view. She watched as it continued to fire at the defenseless Arwen, blasting mirrored armor plating into space. The Arwen never exploded, it never broke apart throughout the pounding. As long as her heart is still in tact, Marjorie thought, she’ll live.
~*~
So, this is what it feels like. Kel thought as he sat in his captain’s chair. Below him his Second, Commander Verrocchio, raced around the stations checking their readiness. Kel remembered that feeling all too well. The breathtaking excitement and the mind numbing fear fighting each other for dominance over his mind.
“Sir,” Verrocchio said, “we’re getting a communication from Captain Peet.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Attention fleet,” Peet said. His voice sounded stressed. Kel didn’t know him at all so couldn’t make any judgment on his ability as a commander. “I have been put in charge. We have a hostile enemy heading for us. It seems to be the same class as the Gyssyc ship which attacked this system three years ago. This ship, however, seems to be much larger. We don’t have anything to worry about, our shields and armor technology has improved since then.”
Don’t forget better tactics, Kel thought.
“We are going to make a stand right here, form up into a square, point all weapons at the mark I’m giving you and prepare to fire.”
“That tactic isn’t right,” Kel said out loud. “Communication, get me Captain Peet.”
Moments later Captain Peet’s face appeared on the screen. “This is Captain Lipton of the Peter Wiggins. I must disagree with your tactic.”
“Captain, I don’t have time to hear from the Captain of a support ship. You will follow my orders.”
“It’s not a question of following your orders. It’s a question of what those orders will do. In the event of another Gyssyc attack we should go into a staggered formation, spread the fleet out. Their guns work best when they can concentrate their firepower on one location, if we stagger. . .”
He heard someone, probably Peet’s second, say something in the background. “Follow my orders Captain, dismissed.” He shut the screen off.
A tight square formation was a good tactic against a large fleet. It helped concentrate firepower over a wide area. But against a ship like the one attacking it was useless. To much surface area to hit but not strong enough to do any damage. This was suicidal. It was also an order. Kel didn’t want to obey but knew he had to. “Form up with the square,” Kel said. “Raise the shields to full power. Load all missiles and charge all weapons.” The ship’s crew came to life executing his orders. All he could do was sit back and wait for the command to fire. This was the same, useless tactic that got the first and second Ulliam fleets destroyed. “Helm, contact the engine room, tell them to charge the main engine.”
Kel understood taking power away from the energy weapons and diverting it to the engines would weaken the weapons but he also knew this battle would be over quickly and he didn’t want to waste one minute charging his engines to full power.
“All ships, target this area,” Captain Peet said, his voice booming over the bridge intercom. A series of numbers flashed on the screen. Kel looked down at his weapons officer to confirm they were showing up there as well. “Arm all missiles and prepare to fire.”
“Follow that order,” Kel said.
“All ships, report when ready.” Peet said.
“Peter Wiggins, ready,” Kel replied. Others followed in order until all ships were accounted for.
“Fire!” Peet ordered.
The Peter Wiggins vibrated as its payload fired into space. A long line of rockets, their engines glowing a bright orange, vanished into the deep black of space as they headed for the Gyssyc ship.
Kel looked at all his external monitors, watching the sensors as the computer marked each missiles as red dot. It amazed him how many had been fired. He watched with trepidation as the red marks disappeared miles before they reached the target. The Gyssyc ship, just as Kel feared, was efficiently destroying the missiles.
“Ready second volley,” Peet said. “All ships report when ready.”
“Weapons,” Kel said, “belay that order.”
“Captain,” Commander Verrocchio said, “we can’t disobey an order.”
“I’ll take full responsibility for it.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Commander, you will follow my order or you will be dismissed. I’ll explain myself later.”
Captain Peet’s said. “All ships report when ready.”
“Peter Wiggins, ready.” Kel said. He looked at Commander Verrocchio who looked back very unhappy with the situation. “Commander, please trust me on this one. You saw what happened. The Gyssyc ship can easily destroy our missiles. I want to have a few for the battle ahead.”
“Yes, sir.” He said uncertain.
Kel wondered if Captain Cook felt the same way he does now, unsure of himself, wondering if his second was right, willing to be relieved of duty for disobeying an order. He could only remember a few times Captain Cook disobeyed an order but it was never anything as important as this.
The order to fire was given again and Kel watched as the results played out on his screen. Within seconds all the rockets had been destroyed. The Gyssyc ship now appeared on their sensors.
“All ship, ready energy weapons.”
“Weapons, fire when ready.” Kel watched as the Gyssyc ship moved into range of the energy weapons.
Powerful generators whined loudly as they discharged. Small flashes denoted explosions on the ship’s surface. Kel was sure they were doing damage and for a moment his hopes ran high.
The counter attack was devastating. Gamma laser bounced off powerful shielding. The Peter Wiggins was hit and shook.
“Shields holding,” Verrocchio said.
The fleet fired another volley which was returned a more powerful gamma beam. Kel looked at his monitor and watched as the ship next to him, the Andrew Wiggins, was hit. Its shield collapsed in a quick flash. “Wiggins, get out of there!”
The ship replied by igniting its engine, trying to get out for formation. Seconds later Peet yelled, “Wiggins, get back into formation. Captain Lipton, you do not-“
He was cut off abruptly. “Communication, what happened?”
“Captain Peet’s ship has been hit.” His sensor officer, who had a better view of the overall battle, answered.
“Let me see.” On his screen he watched as a gamma laser scorched the surface. A black mark seemed to magically appear. The armament bubbled and pealed away. The gamma beam continued until it reached the back where it met the engine.
Captain Peet’s ship exploded from the engine forward sending shards of metal, armor and burnt corpses into the vacuum of space. The explosion didn’t last for more than a second, the only air that fueling it was the air inside the ship.
Kel wanted to take charge but he was only a light cruiser captain. He knew the right thing to do was to retreat, regroup and attack again. Who was he to give that order? Would someone else step forward to take charge of the fleet?
Ships around him exploded or broke apart. The bombardment continued, it was playing out exactly the same way it did during the first Gyssyc war. They were going to lose and have no ships left to fight. That couldn’t happen. “Open a channel to all ships.” Kel took a deep breath to calm his nerves. This was something he saw Captain Cook do all the time. “This Captain Kel Lipton of the Peter Wiggins. I’m ordering a retreat. We’ll regroup around the third planet.” Kel looked down at the helm. “Get us out of here!”
The fleet split, as each ship did its best to get out the other’s way. As the fleet broke up and became more scattered Kel noticed the Gyssyc lasers were doing less damage. The experts were right; a scattered formation was the best way to attack the ship. Their computers seem to have a hard time targeting a large number of moving ships. “That’s the key to beat them,” Kel said out loud. “And we need a real leader to help. H
elm, set coordinates to the Arwen’s last known location. We need Captain Cook. She’ll know what to do.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Captain Cook looked at the crippled Arwen from the window of her escape pod. It never exploded, it was still in one piece and as long as it was still intact it could fight another battle. My friend, she thought, I’ll be back to make sure you get your revenge.
Commander Pippleton shifted in the seat next to her trying to get comfortable. “They didn’t make this pod for comfort, did they?” He asked.
“No, not for human or Ulliam. We should be rescued soon.”
“I wouldn’t count on it happening anytime today,” he said. “I was able to pick up news of a battle on our radio.”
“The fleet doesn’t stand much of a chance of winning,” Marjorie said. “That ship was larger than the first Gyssyc ship and the fleet meeting it smaller.”
“We have improved in both tactics and technology. That could give us an edge.”
“I hope so.”
“I hope there are a few space faring ships left after the battle. If not we could be floating here for a very long time.”
“Well, we have enough food and water for six months and the air recycler seems to be working.”
“Six months, that would give us plenty of time to get to know each other.” He said without much humor in his voice.
Marjorie lifted her eyebrow and smiled. “You said you wanted to spend more time with me. Careful what you wish for, you might get it.”
Looking out the window Marjorie caught the sun reflecting off the surface of her ship. The Arwen continued to spin and the reflection dulled as it moved across a section missing its protective armor.
The Commander followed her gaze out the window. “You have some connection to that ship, don’t you?”
She said contemplatively. “She’s taken good care of me and everyone who served on her. I know it’s silly to feel this way about a ship.”
“I don’t think it is. From what I’ve studied of your people you have always had emotional attachments to objects.”
The Arwen Box Set Page 27