Sentinels: Children of Valhalla (Sentinels Saga Book 1)

by Linn Schwab

  Sheri explained, “If you deactivate the warheads in our rockets, they function as distress beacons. We can enter a message into their memory and fire them off toward friendly space.”

  “Katrina,” Robin ordered, “find the camera footage from when we passed by that shipyard! Make sure the coordinates are visible on it, and try to load it into our rockets!”

  “They’re the last piece of defense we still have,” Katrina noted.

  “I know,” Robin told her. “We’ll hold onto them for as long as we can. If it looks like we’re not going to make it, then we’ll go ahead and launch them. And we’ll just have to hope that one of them makes it through. But let’s go ahead and get them ready right now. We might not have time to do it later on.”

  Katrina nodded and began preparing the distress beacons.

  Commander Ingman knew he was running out of time. Having still not received confirmation of the enemy ship’s destruction, he now had to consider taking further action. He couldn’t afford to let them clear the asteroid field and get a radio transmission off. But if he started jamming radio frequencies, the enemy would be alerted to activity in his sector; and that was something he was hoping to avoid. Any chance of launching a surprise attack would be negated if he resorted to such a measure. And on top of that, it meant losing contact with the rest of his fleet since their own transmissions would be blocked as well. They would all be searching for that ship on their own, without any central coordination whatsoever.

  The commander looked at his radio operator. “Any word from Captain Straydel or the Alabama yet?”

  The operator shook his head. “Nothing yet, sir.”

  “Alright,” the commander said with a sigh. “Put out a call to all of our ships. Initiate radio jamming.”

  “Yes, sir,” the operator replied.

  Delia stood near the front of the Calypso’s bridge, peering out at the fragments of old ship remains. The loss of the young training squad was still fresh in her mind. She was saddened that Major Richards had called off the search. But she couldn’t afford to dwell on that now. There were other things for her to worry about. Still troubled by the missing Ticonderoga, she’d returned to the site of the old battlefield to look for answers in the ship’s disappearance.

  “Initiate a long range scan,” Delia ordered. “Let’s see if that ship just drifted away.”

  “Commencing scan,” Wendy announced.

  “Those poor kids,” Audrey lamented. “What do you suppose happened to them?”

  “I’m sure Volaris is convinced they’re dead,” Delia told her, “or they wouldn’t have called off the search so soon.”

  “Uh-oh!” Wendy exclaimed in panic upon seeing the scanner’s results on her monitor.

  “What is it?” Delia insisted.

  “Enemy ships! A lot of them! And it looks like they’re all coming our way!”

  Audrey suddenly gasped and grabbed her headset. “Jamming!” she yelled. “They’re jamming all the radio frequencies!”

  Delia looked out toward the advancing ships. At the moment, they were still beyond visible range. It seemed that her suspicion had been correct. An attack in this area was indeed imminent. And a fairly substantial one at that.

  “Prepare for battle!” Delia ordered. “Audrey, establish an optical link with Volaris. Tell them what’s happening. Ask them if they can send us any help.”

  Emily looked back from her position at the helm. “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

  “Let’s just stay put for right now. We’re pretty well concealed in between all this wreckage. If they come close enough to be a threat, maybe we can surprise some of them.”

  The girls exchanged apprehensive glances, their expressions revealing great concern. They’d been patrolling their sector for nearly two years now, but this was going to be their first taste of actual combat.

  MAELSTROM 044

  Major Richards had just hit the elevator button when she heard the station’s alarms begin to sound. As soon as the doors slid open for her, she scrambled through the corridor and into the control room. The controllers were frantically checking their instruments and trying to make contact with patrol ships in the sector. She could tell right away that something significant was happening, just from the amount of sheer chaos in the room.

  “What’s going on?” the major asked, rushing immediately to Veronica’s side.

  “Our transmissions are being jammed! Radio frequencies are completely shut down!”

  “Major!” Miranda called out to her, “I’m getting an optical link from the Calypso! They say enemy ships are advancing on their position, and they’re asking us to send assistance!”

  The major moved closer to Miranda’s station. “Where are they?” she asked. “Do you have their location?”

  Miranda pulled up a map view on her console and pointed out the Calypso’s position to her. “Here’s what their scanner is showing,” she said, calling up an image on the monitor screen. The image showed a large number of objects moving in the Calypso’s direction. “It looks like they’re converging near the edge of Pangea. There’s no way the Calypso can hold them off by herself.”

  “Get all of our fighters out there,” the major ordered. “What about our patrol ships?”

  “They’re starting to call in now,” Veronica told her. “It’s procedure to establish optical links whenever radio jamming is encountered.”

  “Tell them all to head to the Calypso’s location, and to get out there as fast as they can. And start contacting the other bases in our sector. We’re going to need their help as well.”

  Commander Ingman stood near the Melbourne’s windows, looking out over the extensive formation of battleships. He could see the repair crews still welding on the hulls, working tirelessly to make them ready for battle. But he was beginning to suspect it was all wasted effort. That none of those ships were ever going to see any combat.

  “Lieutenant Briggs!” he called out to one of his officers.

  The lieutenant quickly scrambled to his side. “Yes, sir,” he said.

  “Start sending our shuttles out to retrieve those workers. We’re going to have to evacuate this area for a while.”

  “What about all those battleships? Can’t we try to move some of them?”

  The commander shook his head. “It would take too long to fire up their reactors. We need to get those repair crews to safety. Their skills are invaluable to us. Whatever’s going to happen here, those battleships are stuck where they are for right now.

  “Helm!” he ordered, “make us ready to get under way! As soon as all of those workers are on board, we’re leaving!”

  As Virginia slowed the shuttle on its approach to Volaris, she noticed a flurry of activity in the area. There were fighters and destroyers streaking past the station as though they were in a hurry to get somewhere. She made an attempt to contact the control room, but got only static on the shuttle’s intercom. “Jenny!” she yelled, “you’d better get up here! Something big is happening!”

  Jenny jumped up and raced to the cockpit. “What is it?” she asked, leaning over Virginia’s shoulder.

  “Look,” Virginia instructed her. She pointed to a squadron of fighters racing by.

  “That doesn’t look good! Hurry up and land this thing, Virginia. We need to get out there as fast as we can.” She leaned back and yelled into the cabin. “Everyone be ready to fly! It looks like Volaris might be in trouble!

  “Did you try to contact them yet?” she asked, sitting down in the copilot’s seat.

  “Yeah,” Virginia insisted. “There’s nothing but static on the radio.”

  “They must be jamming us. But we should be close enough for infrared now.” She reached for the control panel and switched the infrared transmitter on. “Volaris, come in,” she said. “This is Captain Jenny McNeil calling.”

  “Major Richards,” Miranda called out, holding her headset out toward the major, “Captain McNeil wants to speak to you!”


  Major Richards grabbed the headset from her and quickly slipped it onto her head. “Captain McNeil?” she asked anxiously.

  “Major,” Jenny said, “we’re just landing on Volaris now. Please tell me what’s going on.”

  “There’s a lot of enemy ship activity near the tip of Pangea. Is your whole squadron with you, Captain?”

  “Yes they are, Major. I hope you didn’t give our planes away yet.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of doing that, Captain. I had a feeling you might be back.”

  “Yeah. We’ll talk about that later, Major Richards.”

  “Fair enough, Captain McNeil. Life!”

  “Valhalla.”

  Delia could feel the tension escalating as a pair of enemy ships drew near. She’d concealed the Calypso behind an old hull fragment and was watching them on her surveillance scope. They’d been approaching directly toward the Calypso, but were now veering off toward her starboard side. She could tell by the vessels’ profiles now that the one nearest to her was a standard light cruiser and the one traveling with it was a heavy cruiser. She would’ve preferred not to take on two ships at once, during her first attempt at combat. But the enemy cruisers remained close together, with their guns covering every possible angle of approach.

  “Retract the surveillance scope!” she ordered. “It’s time.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait for help?” Jennifer asked.

  Delia shook her head. “We can’t wait any longer. If those ships come any closer, they might be able to locate Volaris. Take us out there, Emily,” she said. “Make for the starboard side of that light cruiser. We’re going to try to cripple her first, then loop around behind her to set up a run on the other ship.”

  Emily took a deep breath and pushed the throttle forward. The Calypso moved out from its hiding place and swung to the right to home in on its prey. The roar from her engines became a crescendo as she quickly started to gather speed. A few seconds later there were discharge flashes erupting from the barrels of the light cruiser’s guns.

  “Ready on torpedoes!” Delia ordered.

  “Ready!” Jennifer responded.

  The digits on the targeting display were counting up rapidly: 88 …92 …95

  “FIRE ONE!”

  “FIRE ONE!” Jennifer repeated, pulling down on the firing trigger. The forceful thunder of a pressurized launch rattled the Calypso’s hull, and the first torpedo was on its way.

  “FIRE TWO!” Delia ordered, as soon as the first torpedo was clear.

  “FIRE TWO!” Jennifer yelled, pulling down on the firing trigger again.

  “Hard to port!” Delia ordered.

  The first torpedo found its mark, resulting in a tremendous explosion. But the second one didn’t impact on the hull’s exterior as Delia had expected it to. Instead, it flew into the same spot as the first and penetrated deep inside the ship before exploding. As the Calypso began to bank away from it, the cruiser erupted in a massive fireball, flinging debris out in every direction. The Calypso was hammered by the force of the explosion, forcing Emily to regain control of the ship before setting her sights on the heavy cruiser.

  “Let’s come up on her from the stern,” Delia said. She kept her eyes trained on the targeting display. “We’re going to sweep her from stern to bow along the starboard side of the hull.”

  “The reloader’s been damaged!” Wendy reported. “Tubes one and two are still empty!”

  “Jennifer,” Delia said, “when I give the order, I want you to fire three, four, and five in rapid succession!”

  Jennifer nodded and reached for the controls. The Calypso raced past her first victim’s smoldering remains and began to close in on the second target. The heavy cruiser’s guns began firing at her in a desperate attempt to ward off the attack.

  “Ready…” Delia prompted, her eyes fixed firmly on the targeting display. “FIRE!”

  Jennifer followed her orders and fired off three torpedoes in a row. Just as she got the third one off, an enemy shell impacted on the Calypso, hammering the ship with a violent blow. Fragments of debris shot up through the floor and punched several holes in the roof of the bridge. Warning alarms began to sound and the emergency seal activated itself, dispersing its black liquid into the air. Through all of the chaos and commotion around her, Delia kept her eyes trained on her torpedoes. They all slammed into the heavy cruiser, inflicting serious damage to its stern and very likely knocking it out of action for a while.

  “How bad are we hit?” Delia yelled. She turned to look at her systems controller. Wendy was lying doubled over on the floor, and Cheryl was lying there right alongside her.

  “Emily!” Delia screamed, “Head for Volaris! Cheryl and Wendy are hurt!” She rushed to their sides and dropped to her knees. Both of them were unconscious and bleeding badly. “Hurry!” she pleaded. She stood up and looked back at the heavy cruiser, checking to see if it still posed a threat. It was in no condition to chase after her. A large portion of its hull had been torn away and only one of its four engines still appeared to be undamaged. There were more enemy ships still approaching in the distance, but with her reloader out of action, there was nothing she could really do to stop them.

  “Sentinel forces!” Tammy yelled, pointing out through the forward window. As the Calypso attempted to withdraw from the area, the Angelfish and Terrapin raced past her toward the enemy, followed closely by three full squadrons of fighters — including Charlie Sinclair’s Hornets.

  “Tear ‘em up, girls,” Delia said under her breath. “I’ll try to get back here as soon as I can.”

  “We’re getting close,” Michelle announced. She checked the Wallaby’s position on her screen. “We’re almost to the end of the debris field. If we just keep following around its edge, we should be able to contact Volaris pretty soon.”

  Mindy looked at Robin. “Do you want me to try the radio?”

  “No,” Robin said, “those fighters might be able to track us. Michelle, as soon as it looks like we might have a clear angle, I want you to coordinate with Mindy and try to establish an optical link with Volaris.”

  “Robin,” Caroline said in alarm, “it looks like there’s something going on out in front of us!”

  Robin looked out through the forward windows and saw a cascade of discharge flashes in the distance. “Oh no!” she said, “that looks like a battle. Find us a place to hide, Caroline.”

  When Jenny’s squadron had all passed through the airlocks, they settled immediately into formation and headed straight for the tip of Pangea. As they pulled away from Volaris, they passed a lone destroyer heading back in from the battle.

  “That’s the Calypso!” Nancy said in surprise.

  “Looks like she got hit pretty hard,” Jenny said, noticing some damage on the front of the ship.

  “So we’re down a ship already,” Zoe said. “How many ships do we have in this sector?”

  “I don’t know,” Jenny said. “It sure would be nice if the Fourth Fleet would show up right now. When we get out there, everyone try to stay within infrared range. I don’t want to lose contact with anyone.”

  Delia leaned back against one of the ship’s consoles, with tears streaming down both sides of her face. Her spirit was on the verge of being destroyed. Cheryl and Wendy were both dead.

  “There goes the Osprey,” Tammy somberly remarked, as another destroyer flew past them toward the battle. “That makes six destroyers now.”

  “Six destroyers against all those ships,” Audrey said. She shook her head glumly. “We’re gonna get massacred.”

  Delia sniffled and looked up at her. “Are we in range of Volaris yet?”

  Audrey switched her transmitter to close range and checked the STANDBY light. “Yes,” she answered, “we’re in range now.”

  “Patch me through to them.”

  Audrey flipped a switch and nodded, indicating the transmitter was ready.

  “Volaris,” Delia said, “this is the Calypso. Come in, please.”


  Standing near the back of the control room, Christy and her squad tried to follow the action, watching the overhead monitors and listening in on the frantic communications. The Calypso’s optical link had been severed when Delia had launched her attack on the cruisers. The ship’s current status had remained a mystery until her voice had come through on the intercom speakers.

  “Calypso, this is Volaris,” Major Richards answered her. “What’s happening out there, Delia?”

  “We engaged two enemy cruisers, but were forced to retreat after taking damage. Two of my crew members are dead, and my auto–‌reloader is out of commission.”

  “What kind of Sentinel forces are out there?”

  “We passed six destroyers and eight squadrons of fighters. We need to get back out there, Major. I need to borrow some of your personnel for manual reloading duty.”

  “We’re already understaffed as it is,” the major told her. “I need all of my personnel for station defenses. I can’t afford to give you any powder monkeys right now. Dock your ship and wait for further instructions.”

  “Yes, Major.”

  Christy looked around at her squad and quickly decided what needed to be done. “Come on, girls!” she said to them, then led them sprinting toward the elevator.

  After docking at the spur, the Calypso’s crew carried their dead comrades through the airlock and laid them on the floor behind their ship. Delia knelt beside each of them and continued to shed tears as she looked at their faces. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, gently grasping onto Wendy’s hand. “I failed both of you.” She carefully lifted Wendy’s arm up and placed a kiss on the back of her hand, then held it against the side of her face. She heard a group of footsteps approaching rapidly, but was too distraught to pay them much attention.

  As Christy ran over to her and stopped, she could see the grief on Delia’s face. Looking down at the two dead girls on the floor, it suddenly occurred to her that these weren’t just random crew members who’d been assigned to serve on Delia’s ship; they were members of her training squad who had been with her since they were all eight years old. The realization gave her a profound understanding of the sense of loss Delia must have been feeling. She and her squad remained respectfully silent while they waited for Delia to acknowledge them.