by Sid Kar
“Yes, our frontlines stretched almost a thousand light years across,” Antrar nodded.
“I am the only Commodore in Sixth Frontier with battle experience, but Carvyk overlooks that,” Dartar said.
“But appointing the Star Commander for a battle theater is a decision for the Supreme Commander of the Army,” Antrar said.
“Supreme Commander doesn’t know the records and talents of officers posted in the far flung frontiers, he stamps the recommendation he gets from the Regional Star Commanders,” Dartar said, “For that matter, why not Commodore Raptor himself? Given his past record isn’t exemplary, but it has always been the official policy of Starfire Army to prefer actual combat experience over a better peacetime record when it comes to assigning command and duties, especially when the said combat experience is above expectations. But no, they choose an officer whose talent is polishing boots.”
Rockvyk laughed and Antrar looked at him surprised.
“Rockvyk knows,” Dartar motioned to Rockvyk with his chin.
“He means Com. Segwyk can be seen at the parties always hanging around Com. Carvyk and flattering him,” Rockvyk said.
“He is Carvyk’s boy,” Dartar said, “He isn’t even the best non-experienced commodore, more like the 5th or 6th amongst the 29 commodores of Sixth Frontier.”
“Then the reason must be simple,” Antrar said, “Carvyk is trying to take control of the situation and what better way than to have his own loyalist become the top ranking officer of all Starfirian forces in Nestorian space. This is bad for Commodore Raptor for he will have to take orders from Segwyk.”
“Exactly,” Dartar said, “Whatever Carvyk is cooking, he is sending Segwyk over there to keep a lid on it.”
“Alright Com. Dartar,” Antrar said getting up and Rockvyk followed him, “I don’t need to remind you that we can’t be on the visitor’s list.”
“Joking right? Carvyk would blow a gasket on my face if he finds out I talked to a SPASI detective,” Dartar said, “I can’t help further but you get that inquest going and I will spill my guts to them.”
“Appreciate,” Antrar said.
Antrar and Rockvyk got up and took Dartar’s leave who remained behind in the room while the Starship Guards posted outside the door escorted them to the space shuttle they had come abroad. The guards had kept the rest of the crew away from this bay and they departed the orbiting starship with few eyes noticing their exit.
After their shuttle had started descending into Bravo’s atmosphere, Rockvyk scratched his chin in puzzlement and said, “What I don’t understand is why send your protégé Segwyk all the way to Nestorian space to silence commodore Raptor? He could just as well slap a silence order on him and his officers like he did on commodore Dartar.”
“Detective Rockvyk, remember I said this matter was a lot bigger than just the assassination attempt,” Antrar said as he reduced the speed of descent of the shuttle. They would not get privacy like this anywhere else.
“What is it?” Rockvyk asked.
Antrar gave him a summary of the events beginning with when he boarded Conquistador as a guest and representative of a plasma weapons company, however he described their battle against unknown spaceships in transit in some detail and gave his reasons for believing why they were Starfirian Army’s own battle vessels. Rockvyk jaw’s hit the floor of the shuttle and his eyes widened to transform into large circles of bewilderment with a slight tinge of fear, his fingers twitched and he was at a loss of words.
“I…this is…Com. Antrar this is more than just a coverup, it is treason if it’s true,” Rockvyk muttered.
Antrar nodded his head calmly.
“What are we going to do? What should I do?”
“You wait,” Antrar said.
“Wait, but why?” Rockvyk asked.
“Because there is one more person I need to meet,” Antrar said, “I need to know how the Lambda Man is involved in all this. Then we can decide our next move. These people have infiltrated our army, but SPASI may be clean, we will definitely need you to run an investigation.”
“Who is Lambda Man and can I meet him?” Rockvyk asked.
Antrar laughed, “It’s a secret group not a person. And the man I am trying to meet, may not talk with you. I need to go first, I will send you a secret, encoded message. You can set that up, can’t you?”
“Yes, SPASI has encoding machines to create one time ciphers,”
“Await my signal, I won’t be long,” Antrar said.
They did not speak afterwards while their shuttle slowly descended to the planet’s surface. Antrar’s thoughts were on his journey ahead while Rockvyk was still grasping to digest the dangerous revelations he had just heard.
Chapter 8: Avenger
Capitan Agnosis Wornus saluted General Bakus in the hallway of the headquarters of Nestorian Battlefleet. After Agnosis had been released by the Starfirians, he was ordered to fly his spacefighter out here to meet with Bakus. He smiled at Agnosis and said, “welcome back.”
“General, I really did not know that the Mercurian battleship had been totally disabled and was marked for capture…” Agnosis began to speak apologetically when Bakus waved his hand in the air, turned around and muttered, “follow me.” They started walking down the hallway.
“You did right, Capitan,” Bakus said, “Do you really think the Starfirians would have shared the secrets they might have discovered from reverse engineering that spaceship?”
“Why not? We are their allies,” Agnosis said.
“Allies,” Bakus scoffed, “We are their protectorate. See how they detained you without as much as consulting us.”
“That was some bullcrap,” Agnosis said, “excuse my anger, General.”
“Of course it was,” Bakus said, “how did they treat you?”
“They didn’t hurt me,” Agnosis said, “But I was restrained with steel chains, or some strong metal alloy like steel, and put in a small metallic cell onboard starship prison.
“I will have you examined by a doctor before our departure,” Bakus said.
“Our departure?”
“We are going to hit the Mercurians right back,” Bakus said.
“Absolutely right, General,” Agnosis said, “I would have hated to be left out of that mission. But Battleship Defender was in no state to travel, let alone fight last I saw her in space.”
“I had you transferred abroad Battleship Avenger,” Gen. Bakus said, “I need a spacefighter commander with the guts to lead an attack against planetary defenses about which we don’t have the slightest clue. Who better than a pilot bold enough to attack an entire battleship by himself?”
“I am your spacefighter comm…”
“You are promoted son,” Bakus took out his identification card and scanned it to open a big metallic door that they had reached at the end of the hallway. It was a large room containing a small auditorium and a multitude of battleship officers sat upon the benches that faced down towards a central point with a large table and a big chair behind it. A projector to create a holographic space map and a stick were the only items on the table.
Everyone stood up when they saw Gen. Bakus enter and saluted him.
“At ease everyone,” Bakus said then turned to Agnosis, “take a seat anywhere.” Bakus walked down the stairs towards the table where Major Joules was standing with his hands behind his back. Bakus turned around and faced the room.
“Officers, all of you have been chosen for a special mission,” Bakus said, “to crew our newest and most powerful spaceship ever: Battleship Avenger. I will discuss our goal in a minute, but first take a look around you, if you haven’t already. All of you come from different battleships, but a majority of you are either from Defender or my own Republic. I deliberately selected many officers including Major Joules who will be my second in command from a battleship that has had extensive practice coordinating battle tactics with planetary defenses because that is what we will be going against.”
Capitan Agnosis looked around the room and sighted Tolus, Porus, Tagg, Jovus and Xanus amongst others from Defender.
“Turn off the lights please,” Bakus said and Joules flicked a switch on a small remote in his hand and the room became near pitch dark. Then he pressed another button and the projector came alive beaming a three dimensional space map above the table with stars represented by blinking lights, planets as white circles and Nestorian space bathed in green light. A red arrow connected to a bold, red circle at the far end of the map. Bakus picked up the glow in the dark stick and pointed to that red circle.
“That is our target,” Bakus said, “That is the only inhabited planet of the Mercurians that we are aware of. Our primary objective is to destroy the military infrastructure on this planet. Depending on the damage we sustain, we may or may not try to target the industrial infrastructure as well. That will be our secondary objective. We only have one battleship for this mission but that should be sufficient since Mercurian’s entire fleet took varying degrees of beating. There is a good chance we may not make it back, but we owe it to our people to avenge them. We lost over two hundred thousand of our battlefleet crew with as many civilian deaths and their numbers are still climbing. The actual attack plan and your roles in it will be finalized abroad Avenger. The target is 87 light years from planet Blackskull and our journey will take approximately three weeks. Any questions?”
“General, what is the larger, strategic objective behind a rapid retaliation?” Porkus asked, “There are rumors that Starfirians have dispatched a large fleet for our protection. Why not wait?”
“First let me say that those rumors are actually true,” Bakus said, “Their Supreme Commander sent a message to our Chancellor that they are sending 15 starships. But they are not going to attack Mercurian Empire but guard our space. With their involvement, no doubt the Mercurians will be forced to negotiate. However,” Bakus raised the stick to emphasize his point, “the terms of peace may not end up favorably for us if we don’t display our own strength. We need for Mercurians to believe that we can strike back at them, only then will they show us respect and heed our interests during ceasefire talks.”
“We are assuming that Mercurians don’t have any fresh battleships,” Agnosis said, “which is unlikely since they wouldn’t have sent their entire fleet and left their home planet unguarded.”
“Good observation, Capitan,” Bakus smiled, “But by the same token, they aren’t going to send battleships away from their home planet. By the time any reinforcements arrive, we will be long gone. We aren’t planning on taking and holding that planet.”
The room stayed silent after Bakus’ comment and Joules turned off the projector and turned on the lights. He stepped forward.
“Battleship Avenger has been towed to Nestor’s orbit,” Joules said, “the crew has begun boarding. Me and General will lead you to it now. Follow us.”
General Bakus and Major Joules walked up and out into the hallway and the officers followed them. They walked up the stairs to the rooftop of the headquarters where a large transport shuttle was waiting for them. They boarded the shuttle and it took off skyward.
Their estimated time of arrival was half an hour and Bakus and Joules took their seats in a small, private compartment that was separate from the larger, open space filled with the officers. When the shuttle settled into a steady ascent, Agnosis walked over and knocked on the window in front of Bakus. Joules opened the door and let Agnosis in.
“Sorry to disturb you General,” he said.
“What is troubling you, capitan?” Bakus asked with a wry smile.
“Will Roofus be coming with us?” Agnosis asked, “He was the one who discovered our target world. He was also inside a Mercurian battleship.”
“I know you escorted him to the planet,” Bakus said, “and that was one more point in your favor: you grasped the importance of Roofus’ spy work and were able to see the larger picture. I had to trade him to the Starfirians for your freedom but he has told us everything that he witnessed.”
“Trade him for me?” Agnosis said, “I would rather you had left me a prisoner than…”
“Relax capitan,” Joules chuckled, “He isn’t their prisoner. He is only there for examination and will be returned to us.”
“Why aren’t we waiting for him?” Agnosis asked, “He can be used as an advanced scout. He has the fastest spaceship in Nestorian Republic and he has been there before.”
“I have a bigger use for him back home,” Bakus said, “Just amongst us. I have left a message for him when he gets back. He is to quietly investigate the late coup attempt and find the top conspirators.”
“But…” Agnosis said.
“That will be all for now, dismissed capitan,” Bakus said.
Capitan saluted him and went back to sit with the rest of the officers and Joules closed the door.
Their shuttle flew closer to Avenger and many of the officers got up from their seats and walked over to the windows for a better view. Battleship Avenger was twelve miles long at its longest and four miles wide at its widest. It was painted a deep shade of green that would have been in place in a dense forest. The structures protruding from the main hull were outlined in blazing gold.
The officers were filled with pride at their latest and biggest spaceship and at being selected to crew it for its maiden mission. They also renewed their determination to pay the enemy back for the havoc it had wrecked on their home planet.
Chapter 9: Officer’s Dinner
Commodore Raptor invited his entire command room staff to a formal officer’s dinner. It was a tradition in Starfire Army for a celebratory dinner, a formal feast, for all officers and soldiers after a major victory. The rest of the crew of Starship Conquistador had their own formal celebrations scheduled and Commodore and Vice-Commodore attended one for each section to show their appreciation for the crew’s courage and combat efforts. For this reason they were usually scheduled at different times. Raptor intended to dine with different sections of the starship crew and he first started with his command officers. However he had another reason to hold this gathering, he had kept the lid on the events of the ambush during their transit too long and it was now time to bring it out in the open amongst themselves, lest some impatient officer talked and leaked the news to the rest of the ship.
They were assembled in a separate room adjoining the forward cafeteria located near the command room. The two tables were set in an inverted ‘T’ form where the first long table stretched down from the Commodore’s chair at its head and the second long table was set perpendicular to it. The tablecloth was of the same red color as the Starfire Army uniform and the carpet was black. The plates, cups and utensils on the table were all made of pure silver with a slight mixture of iron to give it strength. The army stewards were busy setting up food and drinks on the table and finished two minutes ahead of the scheduled time.
Commodore Raptor and VC Barryett entered the room followed by the rest of the command room officers. Raptor walked over to the chair at the head of the table, VC Barryett stood on his right and Colonel Tollvyk to his left and Capitan Alvina was right next to Tollvyk. Raptor’s and Barryett’s seats were fixed but he had choice over the rest of the seating and he had asked stewards to seat Tollvyk and Alvina right next to him. There were about forty chairs set facing opposite to each other on the table in front of Raptor. These were for senior officers of the command room: colonels and capitans – senior rank; officers who had final command responsibility for a particular weapon, tool, section, information or action. On the perpendicular table below were chairs set in the same opposite facing order for about hundred and ten junior officers: all capitans – junior rank; officers who assisted a senior officer who would be assigned zero to three juniors to aid them in their task. The juniors were all trained to take over command of their section if necessary but didn’t have sufficient experience to progress to the first rank.
All of them, a little more than hundred and fif
ty in all, stood facing their chairs in attention and at the exact second of the dinner’s beginning Commodore Raptor said, “Please be seated and commence your meal.”
All of them sat down except for Raptor and began eating voraciously. The fattest of the livestock from the starship’s ranch section had been slaughtered and served for this evening and the finest of whiskeys and ales broken out of the ship’s cellars.
Raptor picked up his glass and raised it high, “Warriors, today we celebrate our first victory as a starship and as a crew. I am proud of the distance you have gone with me and all the work you have done. Please enjoy the feast to your heart’s content.”
Raptor joined them thereafter and a steward had placed a big bowl of mutton which he started devouring with great relish. Tollvyk had picked a big slab of barbequed ribs for himself but he was smiling at Raptor, “Ever since I have known our Commodore, and I have known him for a great many years now, mutton has been his favorite.”
“It was Colonel Sthykar’s favorite too,” Raptor said.
“I do remember reading books about him with great interest when I was a child,” Barryett said, “But I don’t recall reading of his favorite meal.”
“Commodore here is the biggest admirer of our old hero Sthykar that I know of,” Raptor said.
“He is the one responsible for me joining the army,” Raptor said, “After reading his stories I made up my mind to become a soldier. Toll, but do not indulge in too much of your favorite,” Raptor pointed to the whiskey glass in Tollvyk’s hand.
They guffawed and many others joined in the laughter. The dinner continued for half an hour as planned. Occasionally they would sneak a glance at the large display screens on the walls of the room that relayed information from the command room. But the happenings outside the spaceship were uneventful. They were orbiting Nestor and the only movement was Battleship Avenger preparing for departure.