by T. J. Jones
Adrian nodded. He was starting to like this Dekav guy. There was a break in fire and they popped up and let off a few shots. Three crewmen fell. “I count two left,” Dekav said.
“Combatants?”
Dekav shook his head no. Adrian stood up then. “Ok, so uh, hi. Let’s try this again. I’m Commander Adrian Rain of the USS Odyssey. We just want to send a message to Dekav’s people. We were hoping you folks wouldn’t mind. Would you?”
Two elites rose from their cover. Solemn faced. Each shook his head. Dekav patted Adrian on the back. He keyed in a few commands. One of the elite crewmen did so as well.
“The channel is ready for you, Acolyte.”
“Elites of the Holy White Empire. This is Acolyte Dekav. For countless megacycles now, we have been lied to by the proxy of the false prophets. Accumulating subjugates for them to push their power at the expense of the gods and our conscious. I tell you, that ends now. Join with me and make a stand. I have found others. Non-subjugates who need our help. As much as we need theirs. To wrench ourselves free of the yoke of false prophecy and finally do the will of the gods as they always intended for us. Join me at these coordinates as we cast off the Holy White Empire and teach the false prophets how to truly worship.”
He cut the channel, and the two elites in the room were bowed to him. Adrian felt more than a little confused. He wasn’t surprised, though, religion always did this to him, and an alien religion was no different. “Rise, brothers. Please.”
“As you wish, Herald.”
Adrian looked confused. “Herald?”
Dekav shrugged the title off uncomfortably. “In my religion, there is a legend that one among us will rise as a herald of his people. To throw off the collar of slavery and rise as a free people again. Many have speculated on the nature of the legend and more than a handful have believed that we are now in those times.”
“What about you?”
“I am just a patriot of my people. I would not presume myself to be the herald.”
“Not what they think,” Adrian said jabbing a thumb at the two bowed to him.
Dekav sighed looking progressively uncomfortable with the notion of being a hero for his people. “We should get moving. The command center will have detected the weapons fire.”
“Herald, wait. Before you go, you should know. The docent has sent word for his battle group to rendezvous with him here. He means to surround and subjugate the pink skins’ ship.”
Adrian sighed. So much for trying to outnumber him. “Well, that complicates things. Thanks for the heads up.”
The elite bowed to him. Adrian slapped Dekav on the arm. “Come on, we gotta get back to the ship.”
Dekav nodded. “Agreed.”
Adrian could see the concern in his brows. When the doors parted, Adrian peeked to both sides of the corridor and then tugged Dekav out behind him. They trotted back along the route to the port out point for the fighter. They found a security detail heading toward the comm room. They didn’t even try and bother with detaining him and Dekav. They just lifted their weapons to fire. Dekav stepped in front of him and lifted his staff and spun it. It created a trailing band of excited phased energy forming a shield effect that blocked their weapons fire and reflected it back at them.
Adrian walked around Dekav looking at his staff. “That’s a damn neat trick.”
The two pushed off in a sprint now. Adrian spun up the fighter’s power core getting it ready. He set the teleporter to automatically grab them as soon as they got into range. Since it was smaller and the teleporter was for emergency purposes only, its range was fairly limited and not very strong. That meant they’d need to get almost right under its nose.
They ambushed another security detail. “If this keeps up they’ll pinpoint our position from the weapons fire and missed checkins,” Dekav told him.
“Then we’ll just have to be gone before they do.”
They exchanged affirmative looks continuing their pace. Adrian stopped once they reached the spot. “This is it, right here.”
He keyed his comm device and the fighter ported them back. Once they were seated inside the fighter, Adrian hailed the Odyssey. “Commander Rain to Odyssey. Mission accomplished. Continuing mission. Give me a sitrep.”
“Two-thirds of the crew recovered. The enemy has grown cagey. They’ve been taking some very close shots at the shuttles. I suspect we don’t have much longer left,” Tiaahl told him.
“Shit,” Adrian growled. “Understood. Get who you can but pull those shuttles back if you have to. No one else dies for this mission.”
“Commander?” Tiaahl protested.
“You heard me, damnit.”
“Yes, sir.”
The fighter released itself from the hull of the Truth and Jubilation. Righting itself, he boosted the engines hard as the inertial dampers went to full power to keep them from being compressed into the seat backs. He whipped the fighter around violently and pushed in for an attack run. “Target their weapons points. Let’s defang them as best as we can.”
“Aye aye, locking onto weapons hardpoints,” Dekav announced. His hands working the touchscreen controls and holographic interface competently enough. Tia’s crunch lessons with Dekav paying dividends.
Adrian swerved and veered with the fighter dodging massive streams of charged energy that would have consumed the fighter in one burst. The shields just wouldn’t have been able to withstand the entire blast. “Fire when ready,” Adrian ordered.
The sleek and silver Hornet frame opened fire with its phased cannons and let loose a volley of Kestrel missiles at various weapons points. Adrian took the Hornet straight through the explosive plume of one of the weapons points being destroyed. Bringing the fighter around hard he lined up another attack run. “Again.” His expression was hard, set and determined. He was going to buy his crew all the time he could.
A beam lanced out and struck one of the shuttles in a glancing blow. It broke formation and fell back to the ship. “That’s it, Commander. We have to fall back. Sorry.”
“Dammit!” He smashed his fist into the console.
“Commander, they are locking onto the GN particle dispersal on the shuttles. That’s how they’ve been walking their fire in,” Jarod reported.
He nodded. That was fine. So they weren’t dealing with total idiots. Not ideal but he could work with that. “Fine, order a retreat. All remaining units fall back.” He broke off his attack run and went full power to engines to make a hasty retreat. They’d certainly dug in the ship’s ass, though. Much more of its hull was pockmarked bright orange. It still wasn’t enough, though. Dekav had mentioned it had great many redundancies throughout the vessel to prevent systems from collapsing under duress.
As the fighter pushed at full burn through the nebula, he took his helmet off and ran a hand through his hair. Setting it down on the console, he opened a comm line with the Odyssey again. “How many of our people did we get back?”
“We’re still missing a couple hundred people. Including Lieutenants Vail and Kaine.”
Dekav looked at him with concern in his eyes. “Commander, this feels too set up.”
“How?” Adrian wanted to know what was digging at him.
“Consider, you were able to retrieve most of your people save for the members of your senior staff.”
“Could just be bad luck?”
Dekav shook his head. “I’m not so inclined to believe that. It is more likely your senior staff is being interrogated on the whereabouts of your home worlds. The docent may have even allowed you the marginally successful attempt of getting your crew back just to keep you rooted here. He would know that you would either have run for your home space or stayed for your people.”
“Staying here keeps us in play. So he can get what he wants?”
Dekav nodded. “We’ve played into his hands. When his battlegroup arrives, I am unsure of the possibility of surviving a sustained assault from them.”
“What about your people?
”
“Uncertain. Even if they were to arrive, it is difficult to say how many would come and with what resources.”
“And no matter how much hurt we lay on that ship, it can still limp forward.”
“Indeed.”
Adrian sighed. “I guess it’s asking too much for something to go our way for a change.”
Dekav frowned at Adrian’s frustration. “We will do as you decide. Thus far you have made the best-calculated decisions possible. Look at the results. You have much more of your crew back. Their families are safe again.”
“For a time. Till that battlegroup rolls in.”
“But you’ve bought your crew peace of mind. They will work that much harder now that their faith in you has been rewarded. You are a cunning commander who is a man of his word.”
Adrian nodded. “Yeah, but I can only bluff on bad hands for so long before I get called on it.”
Dekav looked confused. “You keep making these references I am unfamiliar with.”
Adrian couldn’t help but be a little amused at the cultural gulf between them. “It’s a poker reference. Fun game. It’s as much about luck as it is knowing how to deceive your opponent.”
“I see.” Dekav looked as though a puzzle piece had clicked into place. “Remind me not to play with you then,” he said with a canny smile.
“Awe shucks, ya can’t say no without trying it.”
“A wise man plays the part of a fool. A fool plays the part of a wise man,” Dekav retorted.
“Huh?”
“It would be foolish of me to engage you in a game know quite well.”
Adrian nodded, his mind drifting. “Yeah.” Something about what his pale skinned friend said stuck out to him. He wasn’t so inclined to fold just yet. He still had some tricks left up his sleeve.
Acting Captain’s After Action Report
We just conducted a multi-pronged rescue mission using some rather unorthodox and creative methods. With a third of the crew at my disposal we were able to make effective enough repairs to the ship to slave the QT drive into the teleporter matrix and daisy chain the shuttles together to fish our people out of the enemy ships bowels. Thankfully, their while massive and redundant was not using any kind of scattering or damping field against our teleporter targeting systems. Much to my chagrin, Dekav, the alien seeking asylum on the ship has advised me it was all just a ploy by the enemy field commander to keep us rooted her in play. In short, we’re both stalling. There is one card I’m putting big bets on though, we were able to place a wide spectrum hail to the rest of Dekav’s people. A plea for help. How this boils over is anyone’s guess. This is very quickly going to turn into a race of engineers and time.. I just hope Tia and her team are up to the task. The clock is ticking. End Report.
They had a partial mission success. They were able to get most of his crew out without suffering additional losses. They wounded the enemy ship more, and beyond that, they were able to put into motion a potential revolution within the empire thanks to their pale-skinned ally. Dekav was proving an immeasurable asset during all this. Both in his wisdom and his combat prowess.
The hangar maintenance crews were already hard at work patching up the shuttles, fighters and bombers from the damage they’d taken over the past two battles. Adrian had told Ben they weren’t going to sortie for a while, so it would be a good time to do some serious repair work and not just the quick fix patch jobs.
Many of the crew were back, which meant repair job estimates were now half what they looked like previously. Dr. Dorren was working double time treating injuries and checking patients out as they filtered in from the enemy ship. Adrian wanted to give everyone some time to sort through the commotion.
He now found himself in the lounge. It was empty considering all the people they’d brought back. Just him and Linara.
“Penny for your thoughts, Commander?”
He turned from the viewport. The reds, ambers, and oranges of the nebula were swirling about in a gaseous ballet outside the ship. He shook his head unsure. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“Sounds to me like you already have.”
He looked at her confused. What could she possibly know? She smiled at him. “Empathic, and telepathic. Remember?”
He nodded. “Ah.” A beat passed, “Right.”
“You’ve committed to getting your crew back. That’s a start. Thanks for that, by the way.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “No worries.”
“It was a worry. A big one. I hadn’t realized how much I’d actually miss this lounge until some pale-skinned trooper yanked me out of here and threw me in a transport shuttle for their vessel. We never gave up hope you’d come back for us. And those people still over there are counting on you to get them back.”
“Yeah, just trying to figure out how.”
“You’ll find a way. I may not know you too well, but I’ve seen men like you. Men with the spark of leadership in them. They may not see themselves as leaders, but everyone else does.”
He slid up to the bar onto a stool. Propping his chin on his palms, he fought the urge to sigh. “This is something they never really prepared ya for in training.”
“No. How could they? It’s always an assumed possibility, but it’s never something anyone wants to expect will come to pass.”
“Yeah.”
“But you’re the captain of this ship now. It’s up to you to see them through. You have all the best tools and resources of the Alliance at your disposal. You’ve got this big ship, a great crew, and your wit. You’ll get them. I believe in you, Commander.”
Chapter Thirteen
Truth and Jubilation
Maintaining static position 200k kilometers from the nebula
2 tenths of a cycle post 2nd engagement with the Pink Skin vessel.
Docent Vay stood firmly in his command center with a wry grin. “Has the enemy moved from the nebula?”
Tacent Cor shook his head. “No, Your Holiness. They appear to have held the position. Just as you predicted.”
Vay nodded. He’d given them a bit of bait in the form of allowing them to teleport their missing crew members back. He had to hand it to the enemy commander for pushing the nebula outward and linking the teleporter streams through obscured transports. The power needed for that was immense. The enemy has retrieved most of its personnel back. Once they’d reached a certain limit, he had his crew fire on the shuttles they were using to boost their signal. The enemy commander was quite cunning. He’d used the nebula to shield his smaller ships. A ploy that would have worked rather flawless normally. However, they’d had to use their quantum singularity drive to generate the power to extend their teleporters’ reach beyond the nebula and bring their people back. Using the Shuttles in a tiered retrieval pattern was creative. It kept them from being sitting targets for too long as well as reducing the total operational time.
The excited Gamma Neutrino particles the small ships were emitting allowed him to target their vessels. Thanks to his rather capable sensor technician. With that bit of knowledge in hand, it was easy to have his weapons teams fire randomly and walk their fire in progressively as the enemy extracted its missing crew, severing their support chain of the small craft when the time was right. He now only possessed a modest amount of the crew they’d captured.
Vay was eyeing the end game, though. Cutting off the enemy before they’d removed all their crew kept them rooted here. He was consuming time until his battlegroup could arrive to finish subduing the enemy vessel. His thoughts drifted back to the enemy commander. Using the small strike craft to injure his vessel and shield his smaller craft. He’d exercised a strength that Vay wasn’t counting on. It was blind luck they were able to target the smaller shuttles the way he had. That would likely not happen again.
He’d ordered his engineers to get to work repairing all the damage and to expand the slave pens. They would be expecting quite a haul once the enemy was subjugated. Once the battlegroup a
rrived, they could help repair the damage done to the Truth and Jubilation. He called up an image of the nebula before his ship and had the updated sensor scans accounted for its expanded mass care of the enemy’s tactics.
It had occurred to him to detonate the nebula, but the resulting explosion would be like sitting in the center of a star. The sheer from the nuclear forces would likely tear the enemy ship to pieces. Still, it proved to be quite resilient. More so than any vessel he’d encountered so far. A capable match for the Truth. He sent a calculation inquiry to the master engineer. He wanted to know if the Truth could withstand the detonation of the nebula. If it could, he would assume the enemy could as well.
He roughed out positions for his fleet to take and fire from, forcing the enemy out of the nebula and catching them in a pincer attack. Their ship would be weakened by the nebula detonation and easier to wound in the engagement that would follow. It would be a swift victory with a forced defeat. He praised himself and the gods for devising a strategy that would culminate in victory.
“Tacent Cor, what is the status of the Tetryon cannon?”
“Repairs are progressing ahead of schedule. The master engineer expects it’ll be operational before the next battle.”
“Good. See to it he is rewarded for his efforts. The glory we secure from the next battle will be beyond measure.”
The command center staff seemed uplifted by his confidence. They were more confident in him and his predictions after the most recent engagement. He was learning to anticipate the enemy commander much more as he spent more time with them. That made him dangerous to the enemy. To know his enemy was to know himself. Knowing himself was to know victory. With the will of the gods, he would be unstoppable.
He checked the cell readout for Lt. Kaine. He smiled as the man was writhing in his cell. Clearly the mental attack regimen was wearing him down. Soon he would be ready to spill all the secrets he had. Only a matter of time now. Time was something his opponent was running out of. Then this little game of cat and mouse tactics could be over.