Captain John 1: A Galactic Coming of Age

by Krystyn Dean

  “Captain Patton”, I said, “what is your impression of the situation?” He replied, “Captain are you familiar with Greek mythology?” What the hell was he talking about, of course having gone to the Academy I was acquainted with Greek mythology, but it wasn’t something I had even thought about in many years. I replied, “I am Tom, although I am not an expert.” He replied, “how about the Fall of Troy and specifically the horse involved?” I said, “Tom I think you are probably talking about the gift horse aren’t you?” Tom replied, “times three Admiral.”

  “OK Tom these are your orders. The Eldirelian ships are to stay where they are. Any attempt to move closer to Titan Base and you are ordered to disable the ships.”

  “Here is what we are going to do. The Eldirelian ships are to hold their position. Have the Cumbria, Monserate and the Connecticut hold station with the Eldirelian ships. Advise the delegation that as soon as arrangements can be made we will set a site for the meetings.” “Aye, Admiral.” Said Captain Patton.

  I said, “Lieutenant Allan, get me Admiral Miller on the FTL.” Aye sir, I have a call in to the Admiral, he was unavailable for the moment, but should be on the horn shortly.” Less than thirty seconds later Admiral Miller came on the FTL. “John, you wouldn’t be calling if it wasn’t important, what’s up?” I filled Admiral Miller in on what had happened. I said,” Captain Patton believes that we should proceed with care. I happen to agree with him sir.”

  “I concur John,” said Admiral Miller. “We have things pretty much under control here. I can leave our diplomatic people in charge. They have FTL Comm. capability if they need us for anything. I will leave the cruisers Ashigara and Huron in Orbit here at Credayall. I should be in titan orbit within three days.”

  Shortly after I spoke with Admiral Miller, Titan Control said, “Sir, the Eldirelian ships are demanding we allow them to dock. They say they have damage to all ships and need repairs desperately.” I replied, “Titan, advise the Eldirelian ships that if they attempt to approach Titan station they will be destroyed. I will send some tech people aboard their ships to help if they want, but under no circumstances are they to approach Titan Station.”

  I had Lieutenant Allan hail Captain Patton on the FTL Comm. As soon as Tom answered the hail I said, “Tom, I assume you heard the demand from the Eldirelians?” He replied, “I did, Admiral, and I agree with you. I have looked over the damage they are talking about. It is all superficial. I believe it is a ruse.”

  “Thanks Tom, be sure to give these ships plenty of room. I don’t want an accident to happen that could damage any of our ships.” Tom replied. “they are no threat Admiral, but we intend to keep passive and active weapons lock anyway. Any kind of aggressive move on their part and they are history.”

  The Eldirelians complained bitterly about being required to stay in the outer system. They said that they couldn’t understand why they were not being allowed to approach Titan. We simply told them that it was our policy and that our talks could not begin until Admiral Miller was back in system.

  Two days later Titan control called again. “Admiral Anderson, we have a ship hailing us from the outer system. The ship is in stealth so we have no idea who it is or exactly where they are. The captain will speak to no one but You. He is using standard comm. and the time lapse is about five minutes so he is about ninety million k out, his signal is scrambled so we are not certain the direction either.” I replied, “Very well, put him through”. A few minutes later a voice came on the standard Comm. unit. “Admiral Anderson, we spoke some weeks ago near Necho. We agreed to meet one day at the Bella Foss tavern. Do you recall? If so, we should talk, probably in person, at our earliest opportunity. I can be located near the object your earth poets found so romantic.” I replied, “I do recall. I’ll meet you there.” I said, “Fritz, how soon can we make a jump to the vicinity of Earth’s moon?” Fritz said, “fifteen minutes Admiral.” “Make it happen Fritz,” I replied, “and as soon as we arrive start scanning for the Adrastea.”

  Twenty minutes later we exited our FTL jump near the moon. It took the Adrastea another thirty minutes to arrive on site. I said, “Fritz, please send a shuttle for Captain Vhazhen please. I would prefer not using our transporter technology. What he doesn’t know about he can’t talk about.”

  A few minutes later Lieutenant Jenson escorted Captain Vhazhen into my ready room. Vhazhen said, “Admiral Anderson, how nice to see you again, and aboard a most imposing new ship.” I replied, “I didn’t expect to see you so soon Captain, and certainly not with so much secrecy involved.” Vhazhen said, “Captain it is important for you to know that Eldirelian peace delegation you have near Titan is not exactly what it seems. The crews are unaware, but those ships are loaded with antimatter pods that are rigged to explode on a signal from the leader. The plan is to destroy titan station and your ability to build and repair ships, then attack Earth while you are in a weakened state. The Earth attack fleet is forming up somewhere in the Sagittarius Arm. I have a General location, but nothing specific.”

  “Admiral Anderson I am not a great joiner of causes. That being said, the stability of the Galaxy is dependent on the fair and impartial administration the Federation has provided for centuries. My life and the lives of nearly everyone in the Galaxy would be negatively impacted if the Federation was to be destabilized. Chaos would reign. That is why this information is free of charge. I don’t make a habit of giving away free information, but I am making an exception this time. I don’t have exact information on the attack fleet assembly area or numbers. What information I have is included on this data cube. Good luck to you and your people. For all of our sakes, I fervently hope you prevail.”

  I said “Captain Vhazhen, thank you for this information. At least let me give you a token of my appreciation.” I called in lieutenant Jenson. “Wayne, do we have a case of that good Trigo Reserva Añeja rum?” “Yes we do Admiral.” Replied Jenson. “Good” I replied, “Make certain Captain Vhazhen has a case on the shuttle when he returns.” Vhazhen said, “thank you Admiral, now I must make my departure. The only safety we enjoy is our anonymity. Good luck to you. You have a difficult task ahead of you.” “Be safe Mathen,” I replied. “I hope we get to meet after this is all over.”

  After Captain Vhazhen had departed we jumped back in to orbit at Titan. I had Lieutenant Allan call up Captain Patton aboard the Cumbria. The message simply said, “your suspicions confirmed. Protect yourself accordingly.”

  Admiral Miller arrived at thirteen hundred hours the next day. He immediately asked me to join him aboard the Magellan. The Admirals aide met me in the teleport station. He accompanied me to the ready room where Admiral Miller was waiting. We sat and I filled him in of all that had happened in the last few days. He said, “the first order of business is how to deal with the three Eldirelian ships in this system. Any suggestions?” I said, “If we can project a stasis field over those three ships, we could put Marines aboard and evacuate the ships before we destroy them. That would be my preference. Those crews are not aware they are aboard huge bombs set to go off.”

  “I agree John,” said Admiral Miller. “The question is, are we capable of doing that?” He called Colonel Anne Hiller and Dr. Garrett, and asked them to meet us in his ready room. A few minutes later Jenson showed Dr. Garrett and Colonel Hiller in. I explained our problem. They both felt that we could project the stasis field, but that it would take three ships to do it successfully. She also said that the Ultron ships had a much stronger stasis projector that the Egolari hull ships. We decided to take the Magellan, the Excelsior and the San Francisco.

  After I returned to the Excelsior I asked Colonel Finnerty to join me in my ready room. When Jamie arrived, I filled him in on what we wanted to do and asked how he would like to evacuate the ships. He said that he felt a squad per ship would be sufficient to take care of the crew. They would need to be in place on each ship before the stasis field was projected. The Marines would use their combat suits to nav
igate to the three ships. The suits had their own stealth shields. Once the Marines were in place they would send a laser tight comm. signal to the Excelsior and we would activate the stasis fields. As soon as the stasis fields were active, Jamie and his men would enter the airlocks. We had discovered from the captured ships we had that there was a universal code to open Eldirelian airlocks externally. This was apparently for safety, but served our purposes well.

  It took about two hours to get all the people and equipment in place. As a matter of misdirection, the three ships set a course for Earth and entered FTL. The actual FTL jump was outside the location of the Eldirelian ships. We activated stealth before exiting FTL.

  As soon as all three Federation Ultron ships were in location Jaimie and his Marines set out for their targets.

  With Colonel Finnerty in route to Eldirelian ship number one.

  Free suit navigation to the enemy ships was something we practiced, but each time we did it, I was awed by the majesty of space. It is difficult to pay attention to what we are doing with the grandeur around us.

  It took us just over twenty minutes to reach the number one ship. I received verification from Lieutenant Kathy White and Lieutenant Buddy Zatek that their squads were in position. I relayed the information to the Excelsior. Within a few seconds the stasis field was activated. We immediately accessed the outer airlock door.

  The airlock was not capable of holding the entire squad. We had to cycle through in two groups. We had planned the operation for late in the night watch, hoping those on watch might be a little less attentive. It worked fine. As we entered the corridor Gunny Applewhite took six Marines and turned toward engineering. I took the remainder of the Marines and hurried to the bridge. As I walked in to the Bridge I was surprised to find a single crewman at the controls, sound asleep. Lieutenant white and Lieutenant Zatek had similar experiences. These were obviously civilian crews to whom security was not a priority.

  We had the crewmen call their respective Captains and tell him there was an emergency on the bridge. Shortly the Captain came rushing on to the bridge, only to be greeted by six heavily armed Marines. The captains all agreed to summon the rest of the crew to the Freighters common room. When they entered, my marines secured them with microcell ties. Then we proceeded to search the diplomat’s quarters. The “diplomat” was livid, he said “We came in peace and this is how you treat us?” I replied, “I am just following orders Sir.” The lead diplomat said, “We are here to help you in your fight with the military arm of the Eldirelian empire.” I said, I understand Sir, I am sure we will have it all straightened out shortly.

  Our marine shuttles had arrived to evacuate everyone from all ships. My marines ushered all of the people from the freighters onto the shuttles. We made one more search to be certain no one had been left onboard. We found one controller in each of the diplomats quarters.

  The Captains of the freighters confirmed that everyone was accounted for. All shuttles returned to the Excelsior and our prisoners were deplaned. It was one of the few operations that had gone exactly as planned. The is the exception to the rule. The Marine motto should be if it can go FUBAR, it will.

  Back aboard the Excelsior

  Colonel Finnerty had pulled the operation off without a hitch. Unfortunately, the “Diplomats” were furious and vocal. We gathered all Eldirelian personnel in the landing bay of the Excelsior. I said, “please gather in your respective groups. Diplomats over here and ships crews and officers over there.”

  The Diplomats complained, but moved. I had the controllers for all three ships in a case I held.

  Once again, Edav Chakub, the lead diplomat said he was outraged at his treatment. He said, “you have no right to take us from our ship in the middle of the night. You have violated the diplomatic process. This is no civilized way to treat diplomatic representatives of the Eldirelian Empire.”

  I said “very well, Mr. Chakub, you may take your other diplomatic representatives G'Fleuf Yucholl and Vulobatar Warloden with you”. “We will transport all of you to the Eldirelian ship or ships of your choice.”

  Chakub said, “I don’t understand why we were brought here to begin with. Return us now.”

  “Very well Mr. Chakub.” “You should know however; I intend to activate each of these controllers after you are aboard. Of course, if I knew what they activated perhaps that would be unnecessary”. I opened the case and took out all three controllers.

  Chakub and his two representatives grew pale. I said, “Colonel Finnerty, please transport these three people to their respective ships.” “Aye Sir” said Jamie. “Gunny Applewhite, on me. We will take these folks where they want to go.”

  “You can’t take us back now, shouted Chakub. How do we know you haven’t sabotaged them somehow?” I turned to the Captains of the three ships and said, “Have we transported anything aboard or done anything to your ships?” All three Captains agreed that there wasn’t time for us to have done anything to their ships. I said “Mr. Chakub, make up your mind, either go or stay. I don’t really care which you do, but do it now.” Chakub said “We will stay.” As soon as the words left his mouth I activated each controller. One by one all three Eldirelian vessels exploded with such violence there was not even a tiny fragment of the three ships in evidence. “That could have done a great deal of damage to Titan Station had we allowed those ships to dock.” I said.

  The three Captains immediately said, “Admiral, we had no idea. This was supposed to be a legitimate diplomatic mission to stop the war. We would never have agreed to a suicide mission like this.”

  I replied, “I believe you, it is difficult enough to find one fanatic who would give his life for a cause. In this case they found three who were not only willing to give their lives, but your lives and the lives of your crews as well. You might want to check to see where your loyalty should really lie.”

  We jumped back in to Titan orbit. I had Colonel Finnerty take the captives to the holding cells on titan base. Before they left, Tauxer Lorke, Captain of one of the Eldirelian freighters asked to see me. Once again he apologized for the actions of the supposed diplomats then he said, “Admiral Anderson, I know the location of the Fleet being prepared for the invasion of Earth.” “I had hopes we could avert more killing. I realize now I was a told a lie. They were willing to sacrifice my crew and me. We were nothing more than pawns to them. They should not prevail.”

  “The invasion fleet is located at the coordinates on this data chip. There is also some information about the ships involved and the proposed schedule. I was given this chip by someone in the resistance whom I trust. Please use it to protect your planet.” I was overwhelmed. I said, “Captain Lorke, I can never thank you enough. This will be a great help in our planning.”

  Captain Tauxer Lorke would be thoroughly debriefed and then join his crew and the crews from the other two ships. They would be transported to a prison planet shortly, with the exception of the three leaders. They were turned over to SFN security for interrogation. I anticipate it will be long and uncomfortable.

  Admiral Miller asked me to bring the information and join him on the Magellan. We sat in his ready room and began to plan an ambush. The first thing we did was close down all communications to or from Titan station. It was a total lockdown. No message, no matter how important it was, would be allowed to leave Titan without the direct approval of Admiral Miller or myself. We then began a disinformation program. Earth TV stations were reporting mysterious explosions at Titan station, with damage estimates from serious to total destruction.

  The Black Fleet began to provision for war. The data chip Captain Lorke had given me included the makeup of the Earth invasion fleet and their route from the Sagittarius arm to the Solar System. Best of all it gave the date of departure. It is a long way from the Sagittarius arm to Earth. The Eldirelian fleet commanders were projecting five months to prepare the fleet and to make the trip. They could only travel at the rate of their slowest ships. Th
ere were a number of planned stops scheduled to take care of required maintenance repairs and rest for crews. It was a well-planned sortie. I couldn’t have done better myself.

  Fortunately for the Solar Federation Navy, five months would see us with another five Ultron Battleships and ten Ultron destroyers. We also had new mines. The mines were anti matter and were far more powerful than the mines we initially used in Apsis Prime.

  We were deploying a lot of new technology. Powerful stuff the Eldirelians had not seen before, but we were still outnumbered. The Eldirelian fleet consisted of at least fifty ships. The Sol/Fed expeditionary fleet had just over forty ships.

  Even though we were outnumbered, we should have the upper hand with regard to firepower. The Eldirelian fleet consisted of 10 Binesla class (command ship equivalent of the Ultron Battleship), 16 Erulsan-class cruiser (roughly the equivalent of an Ultron destroyer), 12 Narauder class (Roughly equivalent of an Egolari hull destroyer) 12 Araime class (Roughly the equivalent of an Egolari Corvette).

  The new Ultron class ships and the new technology weapons should make the battle at least even. Even is not good, overwhelming superiority is ideal, but is unusual. There will be forty-five combat ships and five Corvettes in the Sol/Fed expeditionary fleet. The five Corvettes will have a mission and, hopefully, will not be a part of the actual battle.

  We would need the element of surprise in our favor. A little luck wouldn’t hurt, but as a famous General once said, “A warrior who depends on luck in battle is doomed to defeat”. Our strength was in superior equipment, technology and training. That and the fact that we were the only real defense Earth had. We were defending our home.