Serve and Protect

by Douglas Varnell

  Rebecca commented when they left, “That child never warms up to anyone. How do you do it?” Paul laughed and answered, “It has to be my charming personality, don’t you think.” Rebecca replied, “Yeah, right. What can I do for you?” Rebecca was also a woman of few words. Paul got down to business and told her, “I’m here for two reasons. One, I want to see if there is anything you two need and two, I want you to keep Desiree and Marie in your prayers. They are on a mercy mission to Kenya and as you well know, that place has been a bit unstable. I sent plenty of protection, but only prayer will give them the protection they need. Oh yeah, before I leave, I just left Hon, Fu and Lin, pretty soon you will have 10,000 Chinese prisoners delivered to your doorsteps. Let me know how many extra people you’ll need to process them through medical. Even with the Chinese assistants you have, it will be more than you can handle, just talk to Dr. Joe or Tlase.” As he walked toward the door, he added, “Same goes for Brad, he’s going to need help with a sudden increase of students as well, contact Marianne Uschelbec for that.” Then he vanished. Rebecca stared at the empty spot where he had just stood, shook her head and said to herself, “Thank You! Good to see you again too.”

  Paul decided while he was out, to make a visit to Grnardo to prepare Supreme Commander Gonathin for the shock of finding out Earth now knew of their existence. He had no doubt that he had planted the seed with the right person and that Admiral Sullivan would leave Verron on very good terms with the Grnardo training there. He showed-up in Gonathin’s office and was greeted by his wife sitting behind his big crescent shaped desk instead of the Supreme Commander. She smiled, unsurprised by his appearance and commented, “My husband’s little secret. He not only hates paperwork, he is horrible at it and he despises making trivial decisions, that’s where I come in. What can I do for you?” Paul told her about the meeting of the Earth astronauts and the Grnardo officers and was surprised by how well she took it, saying, “I’ll tell Gonathin. He may as well accept the fact that it was going to happen sooner or later, better that we do it on our terms instead of theirs.” After a few pleasant exchanges, Paul excused himself and headed for Tramlaw. He arrived at the Governor’s Mansion just in time for lunch and was invited to dine with Nitaleg and his wife. Most of the conversation was devoted to discussing their son Metsis and his progress on Verron. Paul mentioned the fact that he was considering adding Metsis to the Dragon Guard and just what that would entail. Of course no mother wants her son away from home to that extent, but the Governor knew that it was a very wise and beneficial political move. He gave Paul his blessing. They discussed the progress they were making on Renee’s economic programs and if there were any issues with the presence of Verron Marines establishing bases on Tramlaw. So far everything was going smoothly. Then the little boy in Paul came out and asked, “Can I see the spiders?” The Governor’s wife gave him a strange look and her husband smiled, and answered, “I’ll take you myself.”

  Chase and Daniel had been working every moment of the day when they weren’t with the twins. Actually the twins were feeling slighted because the boys would often spend their time at the weapons factory or the Space Center instead of with them. Their mother knew that the boys had other responsibilities and tried to remind the girls that young men like Chase and Daniel could not always do just as they please whenever they felt like it, they had responsibilities. Jill Morgensson had not told Kay and Fay about her experience on Tramlaw. Her husband now knew and looked upon the two boys in a different light. For the past few days, other than the wedding, both boys had spent all their time at the Space Center with a group of engineers and technicians installing some new weapons systems in three of the Fighters and one of the Light Destroyers; in fact, Chase was working with Colonel Lawson to help occupy his time while Amber was busy with the NASA people making last minute adjustments to the new Space Shuttle. The new Two Tap missile was almost installed in the Light Destroyer and would later be tested against a shielded asteroid, but first there was some testing to be done on the Fighters. Tala and Katelyn were preparing to use a new weapons design that should drastically change the way a Fighter Dog Fight was conducted. What they had just installed would allow their Fighters to engage an enemy ship both in front of them and behind. After facing the overwhelming numbers of Jhxunka, the two boys reviewed the video of the battle over and over and decided that there was no reason why a Fighter had to be facing an enemy to shoot at an enemy. They had installed the new Rear Offense Targeting System in three Fighters and Daniel was going to fly target drones in a mock pursuit to see how well they could shoot down an enemy aircraft following from behind, which has always been a defenseless position.

  At the moment, Chase was more concerned about his Two Tap because it was a duel-purposed test. The second missile was his personal design. He called it the Gut Bomb. The members of the Dragon Guard joked with him about how he was going to get the enemy to eat it. Actually, he had designed it to gut a ship, quite literally to push a superheated flame, Daniel called Acid Reflux, from one end of the ship to another at such a high speed that it incinerated every living thing but did minimal damage to the ship itself; in theory. It had an armor piercing round designed not to explode on impact, but to explode after it penetrated the ships outer shell. He and Robert were now in the process of loading a newly mounted plasma mine system. These little golf-ball sized air-mines were designed to be launched from the rear of the Destroyer and into the path of trailing Fighters or other enemy ships. They were too small to be seen or to avoid at the high speeds of a Dog Fight and were immediately homed in on any transponder code or radio frequency that was not from Verron. Robert looked at the thousands of little balls as they loaded them and wondered just what the little floating balls could possibly do.

  Captain Alcan Calchas had been commanding Qualoc Scout Ships for over twenty years. When he was commanded to shift his attention from the Monzordian Cluster Galaxy to the Whirlpool Galaxy he was told that he was to locate, but not engage, any civilizations he encountered. It was made clear to him that High Commander Slinsk and his large armada had been destroyed by someone from that galaxy. The Emperor had given him the job of finding those responsible and informing Emperor Lykios of their location. The planet he was approaching had been uninhabited one hundred years earlier and was destined for eventual exploitation. What his sensors were telling him was that the big water-rich planet was no longer uninhabited. The Qualoc Scout ships were designed for long range interstellar travel. His 15,000 foot long ship had been away from Qualoc for over six years. They had successfully located dozens of potential conquests for the Emperor, several of which the Imperial Space Fleet had already conquered and declared property of Emperor Lykios. He was proud of his ship. Since scouting was to be done as discreetly as possible, he had the very best in radar and sensor jamming systems. He could literally fly right next to another ship or orbit a planet, and unless visually seen, would never be detected.

  The Captain was now sensing a heavy concentration of civilization primarily located on one continent. He called Scout Leader Gaea to prepare his squad for a low altitude observation flight in order to see firsthand just what was on the planet. He could tell by the sensor readings that there were very few inhabitants and should be a perfect acquisition for the Empire. He thought to himself, “If I took possession of this planet for the Emperor, maybe I will be promoted to a fleet command position. With 200 Fighters and 5000 Ground Troops, I should be able to easily handle any resistance.” He began to get excited about the prospects of his future. He grabbed the communications unit and informed Scout Leader Gaea to send a squad immediately for observation, then commanded Flight Commander Ino to prepare his Fighters and Ground Troops for an invasion.

  “Hurry up and get those things in the air. I can’t wait to try this stuff out” shouted Tala to Daniel, as she walked out of the control room. “You only get to shoot down one of them; the other is for your sister!” Daniel yelled back. Tala thought to herself, “Not if she doesn’t
hurry up. Ever since those surfer friends of hers came to visit, she seems to be late for everything, especially when Rusty is around.” She looked in the window of the pilots break room when she walked by to see Katelyn and Rusty having a conversation over a shared plate of nachos from the vending machine. She tapped on the window and flapped her arms in a wing flapping motion and pointed toward the Fighters awaiting them. Katelyn held up one finger to indicate, one minute, and Tala headed to her test vehicle, she had no intentions of waiting one more minute. She thought of the vultures in Uncle Paul’s office and realized she had no patience either. The ground crew was finished with her Fighter and almost finished with Katelyn’s and one other when she climbed into the aircraft designated as hers for the day. She looked over her shoulder one last time to see that Katelyn was slowly getting up from the break room table, then put her helmet on, there was no way she was waiting. As soon as she was strapped in and her canopy closed, she contacted Daniel, saying, “Blade to control – Blade to control, departing in 30 second, I repeat 30 second” She then broke protocol and said, “Hurry-up and get those things in the air – I want to kill something.” Her Fighter lifted off the ground and she headed out across the surrounding Robert’s Range along the preplanned path for the test.

  Tala was about 5 minutes out, cruising at Mach 4, when she noticed the tiny spot in her new rearview camera. Daniel and Chase had an SUV while they were in Israel that had a rearview camera built-in. Daniel commented to Chase, “If a $30,000 SUV has a camera showing what’s behind them, why shouldn’t a billion dollar spaceship.” The idea was then born and evolved as they remembered how many Fighters they had encountered in previous outer-space dog-fights that had crept-up behind them while they were engaged with other Fighters in front of them. The biggest problem was having room for the weapons and ammunition in the already crowded reactor compartment area. The two designed a set of weapon struts that extended off each side of the Fighter and a small dome shaped object that mounted on the top and extended about six feet along the fuselage of the ship. The two struts held 20 plasma tipped FTL mini-missiles, only about a foot long, each and the pod or dome held a redesigned shoulder-mount 5mm Gatling gun, tailgaters would not be tolerated. Both weapons had computer enhanced target acquisition and could seek and destroy an enemy following behind while the pilot took care of what was in front. Tala activated the weapons system and took another look at the small video screen showing what was behind her. The small approaching spot, she could more clearly see, was two spots. She jokingly spoke into her helmet mounted microphone, “Blade to control - if test ship two does not arrive soon she will have nothing to shoot down.” While the voice on the other end responded, “Target drones have not been launched.” Tala noticed in the camera at least six fast approaching objects. She quickly switched on the target acquisition system and asked, “Control please identify any other birds in the air – over.” Daniel came back, replying, “All flights over target area suspended till further notice.” Tala realized what her situation was as the computer enhanced voice of the targeting system informed her, “10 unidentified aircraft approaching – 8 seconds to target range.”

  Tala immediately radioed in, “Control – 10 unidentified ships 8 seconds from target range, will engage.” She then broke protocol again, saying, “It might be a good time to send a few reinforcements.” As the 10 Qualoc Scout Fighters approached Tala from the rear in what they believed to be a surprise attack, Katelyn slammed the canopy shut on her Fighter and launched her ship to Mach 2 while she was still over the airbase. The thundering boom rattled windows and more than a few people’s teeth. When the invasion alarm sounded, Amber was across the ramp with Admiral Sullivan and her NASA contingent. Without a word she made a jump directly to the third Fighter, now prepped for flight with the new systems, and grabbed her awaiting body armor/survival suit from the seat. She stepped into the activation shoes and it quickly had her covered in its protection in seconds. She also put the petal to the metal and shot away from the base in a loud boom. Admiral Sullivan and the NASA Astronauts looked on in wonder as pilots and crews began to scramble for thousands of ships scattered all over the space center. Chase had just finished loading the last of his test weapons and quickly grabbed his armor, indicating that Colonel Lawson should do the same with the suit Amber had provided for him.

  Tala reduced her speed abruptly and the front three Fighters overflew her position, five quickly climbed to a higher altitude, leaving two bearing down on her position and firing on her. In a bright flash of light both ships disappeared. They were so close that her ship bounced from the turbulence created from the explosion. She knew now that the rear mounted FTLs worked as expected. She hit the throttle and took off after the three ships in front of her. This was the first chance she had to make a good identification. They were the same design she had encountered over the planet Klelta. She got a lump in her throat to think that the Qualoc now knew where Verron was located. The ships in front were circling back around to engage Tala and the profile of their predatory looking ships made for an easy target. As she accelerated toward them she unleashed three whitematter FTLs and flew through a glaring area free of all debris. Six down – four to go. Tala pushed the Fighter to Mach 6 and headed for the Needle with the four remaining Fighters increasing their speed to match hers. Over her radio headset, she heard Katelyn say, “Blade this is Speedy, over – you’re 20 in 10 – repeat, one - zero seconds.” She heard Amber respond, “Blade – this is Big Bird – you’re 20 in 12 – repeat 12 seconds.”

  Tala had the four Qualoc Scouts right where she wanted them. Aiming her Fighter at the Needle and continuing her Mach 6 speed she wondered if any of the Fighters would be stupid or brave enough to follow. One brave Fighter had pushed his speed to catch her and was welcomed as he approached her tail with a burst of 5mm laser rounds, ripping into his hull at 5000 rpm. His ship flew apart just as Tala tilted her Fighter perpendicular and shot through the Needle. One of the remaining three ships attempted to follow and imitate her moves. Qualoc ships are just a bit larger than Verron Fighters and the ship was torn to pieces as it tried to shoehorn through the small opening, the remaining two Fighters had the time and the good sense to pull up and head for home. Tala did a loop-the-loop back over the mountains surrounding the Needle and observed the two escaping ships headed orbital. She shot skyward in pursuit, followed close behind by Katelyn and Amber. Amber asked, “Blade – you said 10 enemy ships.” Tala came back with, “Well, I saved you two.”

  Captain Calchas received the distress signal from Scout Leader Second Grade Junce. He couldn’t belief that in a matter of minutes 8 of his Scouts had lost their lives. He attributed it to heavy ground defenses that no one had known was there. But when a panicked call came in that the two remaining Fighter were being pursued by enemy Fighters, he sounded the alert to Flight Commander Ino to deploy the remaining 190 Fighters to receive their unwelcomed guests. Scout pilots were scrambling like mad men. They had always been the aggressors on every other planet they had encountered; they were shocked to think that these ships would be foolish enough to come to them. In minutes the first wave, led personally by Scout Leader Gaea, were exiting the cavernous hanger doors and spreading out around the mother ship to protect against attack. Those that continued to vacate the giant ship flew out to receive those that were following the two remaining scouts. The 5000 ground troops felt useless as they prepared for battle on the planet’s surface and boarded their Troop Transport Ships in the lower decks. Captain Calchas looked proudly upon his Scouts surrounding his Command post and was confident of a quick victory. He smiled and almost laughed when his radar picked-up only three small vessels in hot pursuit of his fleeing Fighters. He would wait until they were a bit closer so there was no chance for them to escape.

  When Tala, Katelyn and Amber hit the starlit surroundings of outer-space, it didn’t take long to realize they were no longer concerned with the two Fighters they had been chasing. Racing in their direction was no les
s than 50 more of those birds of prey looking ships and the two seemed like a mute issue. Amber knew the three of them wouldn’t be alone for long, but had no intentions of waiting for reinforcements. The three members of the Dragon Guard spread out and pushed hard directly into the approaching Fighters, wasting no time as they engaged ship after ship in their drastically outnumbered battle. It didn’t take long for the Qualoc Scouts to realize these ships could bite you from both ends. After several of their Fighters had been hot on the tail of the enemy, with the missiles locked-on, only to disappear in a flash of light or be ripped apart by overwhelming laser fire, the Scouts began to approach more cautiously from the sides when possible. These little ships were unbelievably fast and more maneuverable than their own aircraft and made for difficult targets, and when they did actually have a direct hit, their forcefields obviously held much better than the Qualoc ships.