Captain John 1: A Galactic Coming of Age

by Krystyn Dean

  Sensor concurs, Reagan clear of Titan Base mooring sir,” Lieutenant Gomez reported.

  Fritz said, “Mr. Turner set your course to Apsis Prime.” “ Aye sir, course set.” “Very well Mr. Turner, all ahead two thirds.” “Aye sir. All ahead two thirds.” The engines on Reagan acquired a soft whine. Fritz said, “Admiral, FTL jump point in fifteen minutes”. “Very well,” I replied, “prepare the fleet for FTL.” The intercom announced all hands FTL jump in fourteen minutes. A few seconds later Turner reported “All ships report ready for FTL sir.” All right Mr. Turner, “let’s go to Apsis Prime.”

  By now we had all adjusted to the slight shudder Reagan experienced during transition to FTL. Three days later we exited FTL about three hundred thousand kilometers from Apsis Prime. Carrier Group Two, or Blue fleet as it is now known knew we were coming and we were escorted into orbit.

  I transported to The Intrepid. Captain Dylan Antonakos met me in his ready room, he said, “I can’t wait to get one of those things. They sure save a lot of time.”

  Captain Antonakos had received the message drone from Admiral Miller and knew I would be taking part of his fleet. He asked, “how many ships do you need John?”

  I replied, “I need two of your cruisers and three of your destroyers. Leave your Corvettes in the outer edges of the system, in stealth for early warning. It will be tough on your corvette crews, but they can handle it. I will leave two of my Corvettes for two of yours. With their FTL comm. units, my two Corvettes will give you instant communications. You can put one out with the rest of your outer shield and keep the other close. That should give some heads up if something does come your way.”

  “If the Eldirelians do show up, dispatch my two Corvettes at top speed to the Goranth system. Hold as long as you can, but don’t lose what you have. It is not an ideal situation, but the Egolari intelligence system says that the Eldirelians are showing a lot of interest in the Goranth system. They need a win after we have bloodied their noses twice.” “If the Egolari are right, and they haven’t been wrong yet, you should be OK here.”

  Captain Antonakos said, “John, take the Cruisers Cantabria and Toronto, the destroyers Congo, Cairo and Charlestown. Those are my most experienced captains and crews. Also take the Corvettes Big Horn and Reaper. All of those ships were with you at Alhena.”

  “Ok” I said, “Dylan, I am going to leave you Corvettes Stroganar and Bomeer. The Captains are some of the best we have.”

  It took four FTL jumps to make it to the Goranth system from Apsis Prime, about four days. We would make good use of those four days. Drills took a good deal of the awake time for the different crews. Simulations of many different situations were practiced and then practiced again until the smoothest and most polished performances drew a smile of approval from section leaders.

  Finally, after four days we jumped out of FTL just outside of the Goranth system.

  The Goranth system is comprised of one small yellow dwarf, main sequence, star. Very similar to Earths sun. The system consists of five planets. The planet Necho is the home planet for the Credayall and is the only planet that will support life. Of the other four planets three contained large amounts of Scandium, Yttrium, Lanthanum and Praseodymium. All Rare earth metals. The fourth Planet was a gas giant that had large deposits of hydrogen and deuterium.

  I left the combined Red Fleet and the elements of Blue fleet waiting in the outer system. We are certain the Credayall don’t have the technology to detect our ships, but the fleet will remain cloaked just in case. We may appear threatening enough with just the Reagan. I took two of the destroyers, the Monserate and the Charleston with me. We went in cloaked, settled in to low orbit and then I uncloaked the Reagan.

  I began broadcasting a message that said, and kept repeating. “People of Necho, we are representatives of the Federation. The Federation is a large group of spacefaring nations from this galaxy. We come in peace, and wish only to establish friendly relations with the Credayall. Please respond.”

  It didn’t take long, six ships about the size of destroyers approached. We received a message that said, “do not try to move your space ship or you will be destroyed. Prepare to be boarded.” I responded, “we are friendly and would like to establish a peaceful relationship with your people. We come in peace, but do not attempt to board my ship, that would be an act of war.” With that the ships fired plasma cannons at our engines. Our shields were up and the cannons were not nearly powerful enough to damage the Reagan. I said “Fritz, bring up your point defense systems, they just might try to shoot a missile or two at us. We need to convince these folks that they need to talk to us.” Fritz said, “alright Admiral, would you like me to arm weapons? No Fritz, I said let’s not upset them any more than necessary.”

  Gomez said, “Missiles fired sir. Sensors indicate ten missiles, low speed and low yield.” Fritz said, “Lieutenant Gray have our point defense take those missiles out please.” “Aye sir,” said Lieutenant Gray. “Point defense has taken out six missiles, four remaining.” Then, “got them sir, all missiles are down.” “Thank you Gray,” said Fritz.

  “Admiral, it just doesn’t seem natural to sit here and let folks shoot at us.” Protested Fritz.

  “I know Fritz,” I replied “but somehow I need to convince them to talk to us.”

  Gomez said, “more missiles sir, a ten-missile spread from all six Credayall ships.” That was sixty missiles, and one might get lucky and get through. I called Mac, Captain of the Monserate and Sam Johnson, Captain of the Charleston, I said “Gentlemen, please uncloak and take out those missiles for us.”

  The Connecticut and the Monserate both uncloaked and took out forty of the missiles, we took care of the other twenty. I said, “people of Necho, I am being patient, but please stop firing on my ships, we mean you no harm and only wish to talk.” Finally, another voice came on the Comm.

  “This is Jurgav Drozub, first administrator of the planet Necho. To whom am I speaking?”

  I replied, “First Administrator, I am Admiral John Anderson, Commander of SOL/FED Fleets.” “We wish to have peaceful talks with you about trade and cooperation between the Federation and the people of Necho, and invite you to join the Federation.”

  Administrator Drozub said, “and if we don’t wish to join your Federation you will go get your fleet and conquer us and make us your slaves?”

  I replied, “Administrator Drozub, if I wished to conquer you I would already have done so. My only goal is to establish peaceful relations with the people of Necho.” There was a pause, finally Drozub said, “let me meet with my other governing members. We will reply to you within three hours.” Just as I was about to reply, Gomez said, “Admiral, I have thirty ships jumping out of FTL at five hundred thousand kilometers. Sensors identify them as Eldirelian, they are assembling in a semicircle formation and cruising inbound at .025 c.” “I said, Administrator Drozub, there is a fleet of enemy ships jumping into the Goranth System. We will not have time for conversations right now, but if we survive this battle we would very much like to have those talks.”

  Drozub said, “who are these people and why have you come to our system to do battle?” I answered, “Administrator Drozub we came because the Credayall have developed the ability to go in to space, unfortunately the Eldirelians find advanced inhabited systems the same way. They take advantage of such emerging systems, plundering the planets for their wealth and selling the people in to slavery. The Galaxy is not a friendly place, but the Federation is trying to help those people we can.” I added, “and Administrator Drozub. Please keep your ships close to your planet. They are no more a match for Eldirelian ships than they are for Federation ships. We will contact you when this is over.” Drozub said, “and if you lose?”

  I said, “then good luck to you and your people.”

  I called up all ships on our FTL comm. Except the two Blue Fleet Corvettes that didn’t have the equipment yet. I called Captain Mikhail Berzenski On Board th
e Anton Karpov, “Mikhail, I want the Karpov to take Congo, Cairo, and Legolas, jump to a position above and slightly behind the Eldirelians, you are strike force Alpha.” “Maria, take the Ellen Baker, the Connecticut, the Cumbria, and Corvettes Maiden and Reaper. take up a position behind and slightly below the enemy formation, you are strike force Bravo.” “Mary Irons, I want the Sheppard, to take the Orleanais, the Perth Shire, and the Corvettes Photon, and Bighorn. Take up a position on the starboard and slightly above the Eldirelians, you are strike force Charley.” “Taurian, the Cantabria will take the Ontario, Corvettes Dauphin, Revenant, and Esbensen. Your attack position will be on the port side, slightly above the enemy formation, you are strike force Delta.” “And Sebastian You take the Toronto along with the corvettes Ptolemy, Norgass, and Vesta.” Your position will be below and slightly ahead of the Eldirelians; you are strike force Echo.” “The Reagan, Charleston and the Monserate, are strike force foxtrot.”

  “All ships do a combat jump into position.” “All ships stay cloaked until I give the signal.” “On my signal do a combat jump to within weapons range. Fire a full rocket spread, and hit them with your LPP cannons.” “When you begin to take enemy fire jump out. Synchronize your jumps with plenty of time built in for capacitor recharge.” “Captains Orange and Guerra pay close attention to what your group is doing. Do not let yourself wind up in that melee alone.” “Coordinate your attack and escape jumps with the computer on the Reagan. I don’t want two of you jumping into the same space. Also be advised Reagan will be using our rail guns in the initial attack.”

  “The Eldirelian formation is a semi-circle with the light ships in the outer ring, acting as point defense. Their medium ships closer in and the command ship and heavy stuff is in the rear center.” “Maria, you and Sebastian will be coming in from behind. Put as much firepower on the engines of the command ship and the Cruiser class ships around her as you can. Do as much damage as you can. When you begin to take enemy fire do an escape jump.”

  “The rest of you, take out the shielding ships. This won’t be over in one attack.”

  “Fighters and fighter bombers, stay and harass your targets, but Squadron leaders, if you begin to take heavy losses get your people out of there.”

  “We have an opportunity to take out a significant part of the Eldirelian fleet. We can shorten this war by a substantial amount if we are successful.” “Any questions?” There were none. “I said alright people, we have about twenty minutes, let’s make this happen and, good luck.”

  From the flag bridge, I ordered all Foxtrot ships to turn directly for the Eldirelian fleet and said, “all ahead full, battle stations, shields at one hundred percent. Fire as soon as we reach weapons range.” “Fritz, I want those rail guns concentrated on the command ship and her escorts. All weapons released.”

  I turned to Qobrun and said, “Your recommendation to prepare a battle plan was spot on. Any other suggestions?” Qobrun replied, “not at this time Admiral. However, I have the same sensation of malice that I had earlier. There is an entity not in evidence that is observing. It is a sensation I have had before.”

  I replied, “Nothing can be done about it now, but if we make it through this mess we will look in to it.”

  On board the Eldirelian Flag ship

  Supreme commander Verbenav Orgabv'h said, “It was good fortune that we have found the Human ships in orbit around Necho. Now we will not have to wait for them. We will destroy the humans and overwhelm the Credayall. This will be a significant victory for me.”

  Gwof Ozar, sensor operator sub lieutenant Hejaz said, “Captain Bikir, sensors show all three Federation ships have turned directly toward us. Sir they have armed their weapons.”

  Captain Bikir turned to Supreme commander Verbenav Orgabv'h and said, “what madness is this, we outnumber them ten to one. I don’t understand why they have chosen to attack?”

  Supreme commander Verbenav Orgabv'h said “Bikir these humans are new to space, they do not understand the power of the Eldirelian fleet, we shall demonstrate to them their folly.”

  “With all respect, Supreme commander,” said Captain Bikir, “the reports we received from Supreme Commander Apisibaar Kabol when they met in the Ahena system indicate these humans are a wily and aggressive species.”

  “You mean Sub Commander Kabol, Captain Bikir.” “Kabol was demoted for cowardice for not fighting the Humans in Ahena. Anything Kabol says is tainted by his timidity. These Humans are no match for us, now prepare to destroy them.”

  Aboard the Reagan

  Fritz turned to me and said, “Admiral, the Eldirelians must think we are nuts, attacking with just three ships.” “I know Fritz,” I said, “I only hope what we are trying will work. We can’t afford to lose many ships right now, but if we can beat them, here with the Credayall watching I think it would make it far easier to gain the Credayall trust. Besides, I wasn’t kidding about taking out a large part of the Eldirelian fleet. They have already lost several ships to us. How long can they absorb those kinds of losses?”

  “This battle will be pivotal and could dictate the outcome of this war.”

  Fritz said, “Admiral, the Eldirelians have armed their weapons.” I said, “all foxtrot ships fire at will. All ships execute now.” Just as we opened fire the Narada jumped in to formation and began firing.

  The new LPP cannons indeed had more power, and they had better range. Just as we began firing the LPP’s, the rail gun projectiles began to impact the leading escorts. Undetected, they were a devastating weapon.

  The smaller Eldirelian ships shielding the forces were no match for our LPP cannons, we hammered their shields then hit them with missiles before their shields could recover. As the range closed we came under fire from the heavier class ships. Charleston reported one LPP cannon overheating. We had taken some hits on our shields and Monserate was reporting forward shield damage. I said, “Foxtrot, exit jump, execute.” Almost instantly we were out of range.

  Aboard the Eldirelian Flag ship Gwof Ozar, sensor operator sub lieutenant Hejaz said, “Sir, the Human ships have disappeared, there were four of them and now there are none.” “You mean we have destroyed them?” Asked Captain Bikir. “No sir, there is no debris field, they are no longer in sensor range. They have just disappeared.” “That is not possible” said Supreme commander Verbenav Orgabv'h. “There must be debris, or ships. Ships cannot simply disappear.” “Sir, we are under attack, I count seventeen ships, we are being attacked from several directions, and sir our escorts are reporting damage from inert projectiles.”

  The flag bridge of the Reagan

  “On my command, Foxtrot, jump to attack point victor, execute.” We came out of FTL once again in front of the Eldirelian ships and immediately began firing. “Foxtrot, weapons free and jump as needed. Stay mobile and nimble.”

  By now the fighters had joined the fray. They were swirling in attack patterns that could only be flown by our A.I.s. The human minds could never deal with the variables. We had taken out nearly all of their small shield ships and those few small ships remaining were not a threat. I said, “Fritz, I want the command ship. If we can disable it and capture those aboard we can hand the Eldirelians a humbling loss. Jump us in close behind him and blast his engines.” “Aye sir” said Fritz. Fritz rotated the Reagan one hundred and eighty degrees then did a combat jump. We came out of our jump right on the Command ships tail. Fritz blasted their engines with all forward LPP’s. Almost instantly the command ship began to show signs of severe damage, rolling slowly out of control. Fritz said, “tactical, take out their communications array.” Both missiles and laser pulse began to decimate the Communications array. The Command ship may have been dead in the water, but she still had teeth. We took several hits from their LPP cannons, causing our upper shields to weaken. Fritz said, “show her our belly, lower shields at full power. Combat jump Mr. Turner put us on her nose, all forward cannons fire at will.”

  The command ship lo
st all shields she was drifting and defenseless.

  Back aboard the Eldirelian Flag ship Gwof Ozar

  Supreme commander Verbenav Orgabv'h said, “what is happening?” Captain Bikir said, “not now Supreme commander.” “Engineering, what is your status?” Chief Engineer Blisoon responded, “Sir we have no power, the blasts to our engines caused a cascade failure in the Reactor power cores. We have also lost all weapons. We are running on batteries and I don’t anticipate that we will be able to recover the power cores in less than six hours.” “Six hours?” Said Captain Bikir. “This will be over in twenty minutes.” Sensor operator sub lieutenant Hejaz said, “Captain, we have lost our comm. array Sir.” Captain Bikir turned to Supreme Commander Verbenav Orgabv'h and said, “Sir you must transfer your flag, we can no longer defend the ship.”

  Supreme Commander replied, “transfer my flag? During a battle? Are you mad.” “There is no option sir, you cannot be captured nor can this ship.” “We must destroy the ship, but you can teleport to another ship, I would suggest the Cruiser Prod Uavoo.”

  Supreme Commander Verbenav Orgabv'h said, “then we must do it as soon as possible. Tell Captain Weef Mansoon I will be coming aboard.” “Sir, it will be a blind teleport, we have no communication array.” “Very well,” said Verbenav Orgabv'h, “let us do it now.”

  Supreme Commander Verbenav Orgabv'h made his way to the Teleport deck. The operator, having been alerted by the Captain, was expecting him. He said, “Supreme Commander, everything is in readiness please step into the transporter.” Supreme Commander Verbenav Orgabv’h did so and immediately felt the effect of the transporter. He suddenly appeared on the transporter deck of the Prod Uavoo.

  Unfortunately, the Teleport officer had never met Supreme Commander Verbenav Orgabv’h. Being unaware of the pending transport and fearing an attack by the unknown enemy, he drew his laser pistol and fired. Realizing to late what he had done and fearing for his life, the Teleport officer reversed the transfer. Supreme Commander Verbenav Orgabv’h was suddenly back on board the Gwof Ozar.