Titan Fleet: The Invictus

by Jason J Black

  Anc checks his systems and replies, “No, I appear to be fine and running at 100 percent, thank you, Padley.” Padley begins to help Anc with his work and after a few hours, with the last crate in place, they both return to their bays, where they rest for the night.

  Chapter Sixteen

  In the living room, the remaining troopers sit and play cards, drinking ‘Stim’, the drink for warriors. It was just a high energy drink packed with lots of vitamins, and laughing away, they arm-wrestle and poke fun at each other. Tom smells food, and the other two follow when he walks into the canteen, expecting his food on the table.

  “Hey man, I’m Rusty, and I’ve cooked corned beef hash tonight. There should be enough to go around. I would expect you guys are good at cooking too, so your turn tomorrow night to impress us. Now grab a seat and prepare your taste buds.”

  Tom and the others sit, and every one turns up to the table and Pace introduces the crew to Tom and his men and then waits for Tom to do the same. There is an atmosphere in the room that you could cut with a knife, but none the less Tom begrudgingly introduces his troops.

  “Well, Briggs has gone out. This is Stephen Hanks and that is Talia Kovalev. They are the best, so no worries there and I’m Chief Tom Mortis. Now, I know you all don’t want us here, but we are necessary to this mission, whether you like it or not. So, we will try to stay out of your way as much as possible, but when it comes to the crunch we will be there.”

  Everyone tucking into the hot food, the table goes quiet once again, eyes wandering around the room, checking each other out, and opinions being formed in people’s minds, like dark storm clouds waiting to explode with lightning.

  “I am surprised that you guys are not out with Briggs getting drunk and laid, tonight being your last night.” Sam says, making a break in the silence that seemed to have lasted an eternity.

  “Well some of us would be, but we are on blooming guard duty tonight. It sucks, Chief!” Talia is not looking very happy at having to spend the night on the ship, when she could be partying.

  “Less of your moaning, Talia.” Tom signals with his eye brows to Talia to shut up and Nova spots this out the corner of her eye.

  “What you got to guard then? Not us I would say, and so it must be something valuable for three troopers to be stuck in doors all evening, and why only one of you has gone out. Does he get special treatment or something?”

  Talia nods and smiles at Nova and then looks back at Tom. “Yes, Chief. Why did Briggs get to go out and not me or Shanks. That’s not fair, sir.”

  Tom laughs and first responds to Talia, “Need to know basis, Talia, that’s it.” Tom looks at Nova, not fooled by her in the slightest. “In answer to your question, Nova is it? Well, we have a lot of expensive gear on this ship, not to mention the ships themselves, and tonight is the last night for anyone to be able to steal things from them, so that’s why we are still on duty, but rest assured you won’t get much past us.”

  Pace leans forward in his chair and leans on the table. “So do they have security on the other ship too then, Tom?”

  Tom nods, “Yes, they do. We are in comms with them, so all is safe there too. So have you met their captain yet? He is a real ballbreaker, not like you. He would even get me shaking in my boots.” Laughing with Shanks and Talia, Tom then explains that the other captain was ex-trooper and a good friend of Tom’s, and that things were very safe all round.

  “No, I have not met the other captain. I have been far too busy here to worry about the other ship. Besides, if you guys say he is ok, then that is fine with me, and maybe I will pop around in a while to say hello, who knows, or I can wait to see if he will extend me the same courtesy first.” Pace pours another cuppa and leans near the sink. “I think it is also only fair that you guys wash up tonight, seeing as we cooked for you, as that would also be showing courtesy.” Pace looks at the pots and pans, then over to Tom and his men. “We all pull our weight around here and work as one.”

  Laughing under his breath, Tom deep down knows neither himself nor his men will be doing the washing up. That’s beyond their duties. “We got no time for washing up, that’s for civvies, and we are far too busy protecting things to waste our time doing petty chores. So Captain, what I am saying in a polite way is, if you want it doing, do it yourself.”

  Pace turns around, as he walks out the door and smiles back at Tom, “I knew you would say that. Well, that’s an order trooper. Each one of us has several different jobs to do, and several skills if needed, to step into roles if someone falls ill, so you better start getting used to it around here, because it’s your turn to cook tomorrow, and I want dinner on the table at 1700 sharp. I want the washing up done within the hour. I hope that is clear.” Pace walks out of the door before Tom has chance to say anything else.

  Tom laughs once again and facing his men he winks. “He can want on, is all I’m gonna say.” Megan, looking serious pipes up, and in a forceful voice says to Tom. “I would do as the Captain ordered if I were you. Remember, we all have to live here, and he has a bad temper once he gets started, but first he warns you and then, well, never mind, just hope you don’t find out.” Megan also stands up and walks out of the canteen. One by one, all of the crew get up in disgust and go about their final preparations.

  “Was it something I said? Ha, well, now they are all gone, how is the missile doing.” Tom looks and asks the question to Shanks, who is their explosives and weapons specialist.

  Shanks looks around before talking at all, and leans in and whispers to Tom, “The PD1 is in a stable condition, Chief, and will still need the activation codes to arm her, but other than that all is well, sir.”

  Talia leans in along with Tom, and huddled together she too whispers, “Sir, I take it Briggs is out getting the codes from the Prime Lady tonight, and not just out getting his jollies?” Tom nods, but does not answer straight away, as Rusty comes back into the room. He picks up his half mug of tea he forgot to take with him down to the engine room. “Sorry to disturb you guys from your important guard duty. I’ll just grab this and go.” Rusty shakes his head as he passes the back of Tom.

  Tom continues to talk after Rusty leaves the room. “Yes, he is retrieving the codes tonight, and what I have got him to do is put a ship controller under their pilot’s seat, so if we need to commandeer the ship, we can do it in another room. We have a few tasks ahead of us, I believe. We will find out more later, when Briggs gets back. Until then, check the perimeter and make it look like we are on guard duty, and you will have all the leave you can wish for when this blows over. Now jump to it.” They all jump up and take up their posts around the ship patrolling the area.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Yes, Prime Lady. I fully understand the situation, and you are sure this is what you want, and our families will be with you when you leave?” Briggs is in shock to hear the plans, but a new start on a new planet sounds promising.

  What are 20,000 deaths? They had lost more life on Dalgen 9 when the meteors hit, and this time the planet destroyer, or PD1 as the military called it, would vaporise anything up to two miles deep on Foloss. The people there would not feel a thing, and not to mention there would be more resources to share, thought Briggs, mulling it all over in his mind while he waited to be handed the codes.

  Prime Lady Eve Thorn explains to him that families of the security crew will be safe as promised, but there will only be room for 10,000 aboard the Fahrenheit, her flagship, which was one of 100 ships built when resources were ample. However, most of the other flagships were also destroyed when leaving Dalgen 9. A few ships hopefully found life on other planets out there somewhere. She also mentions that there will be a round-up of materials, and the selected crew will be aboard before she leaves for Falvus, the new planet where she hopes to start afresh, with better resources and a better type of people.

  Eve hands Briggs the codes, and also warns him of the disasters that befell the previous ships. “Like I said, we have a small base on Falvu
s, but have not heard from them in some time, so we need you to head towards that and recon it before we set off.” Eve returns to sitting at her desk and picks up a litepad to examine stats and results.

  “Thank you ma’am, a pleasure as always, and the crews on the two ships, what if they don’t agree with what we are doing? Will it be termination as usual?” Eve looks up from her pad and gives a simple smile without saying a word. The message is a clear one.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Pressing hard on the buzzer to Pace’s room, a worried Rusty is at the door looking around, hoping not to be seen by the security team. A couple of seconds and the door slides open and Pace is sat at the desk. “Do come in, Rusty. What can I do for you? Please sit. I just have to finish this a second.” Typing frantically away, Pace finishes what he is doing and then rubbing his eyes with his fingers he asks Rusty what was wrong.

  “Well sir, a short while ago I went back into the canteen to grab my drink, because its thirsty work in the engine room, and I’m not talking ‘drink’ drink before you ask,” Rusty makes air quote signs over the word drink, and Pace raises his eyebrows. “Anyway, I overheard part of a conversation after I left, because I sneaked into the living room and sat under the serving hatch. The security team are up to no good sir, I’m afraid to say.” Rusty takes off his woollen hat and scratches his head before putting it back on.

  “Go on, Rusty, tell me more.” Pace’s face becomes flushed red with anger. He is becoming more and more incensed with Tom and his team.

  “Well, there was talk about codes or such like, and a ship controller under the pilots seat and a few other bits that I could not hear, as the air purifier kicked in, but I thought you should know, sir and just to say we are all behind you. To be quite honest, that Tom needs to be taken down a peg or two.” Rusty begins to rub his hands together nervously, worried about what he has heard.

  “Firstly, don’t worry, Rusty, I can see that you are, but you’ve done the right thing. We have to let the others know, and I would suggest keeping your gauntlet hidden nearby, as I have a feeling this could be another trick by our prime lady once again. I don’t think they will be getting control of my ship that easy.” Pace presses a button on his gauntlet and has a conference call to the crew, the security team excluded.

  “Ok, listen up. We have not even taken off yet and they have started scheming already. Nova, I need you to check the bridge for a controller box, probably under the pilots seat, and then I need you to trace where it is controlled from. Once we find that out, we will lay a trap for these sons of, well you know what I mean. There is a mention of codes, so I can only assume it’s a bomb or something big, so if there is a chance of taking a look at that crate they brought on, then take it. We need to know what’s in it. Other than that, keep your gauntlets near and hidden, and act normal. I will need all of you to help me with a surprise in due course. Pace out.” Pace’s screen goes black and his attention is turned back to Rusty. “So act normal, Rusty, and keep your ears to the ground for me. Thanks.” Pace pats Rusty on the shoulder and Rusty then gets up and smiles and leaves the room.

  An incoming message flashes on Pace’s gauntlet. It’s Nova. She has found the control box and traced it back to Tom’s room, just as first thought. “I have disabled the control mech, Cap, and other than that she looks good. I also found my way into their comms easy enough. I will monitor them when I get chance and report back, a.s.a.p.” Pace, feeling once again in control, thanks Nova.

  As he walks down the stairs and past the door to the bridge, Nova pops her head out, “Oh, Cap. You had a missed call from Eve Thorn. She left a message that she is busy today, and will not be here for lift off tomorrow due to a meeting, but to wish us all luck out there.” Pace wonders for a moment why Eve did not contact him on his gauntlet, but instead on the ships console, knowing he would not be there to answer. Ah, that was it; Eve knew I would ask questions, that’s why. The fun would really start tomorrow evening in space, Pace thinks.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Briggs tiptoes back in to the dock area for his planned rendezvous with Tom. He fills Tom in on the missions, and after a short while he heads for the ship, pretending he is drunk and making a lot of noise as he goes. He takes a swig of rum, from a bottle in his gear bag, so that he smells of drink a little, in case he bumps into anyone, and heads for the canteen. He walks through the door and Sam and Nova are still awake and chatting over a cup of hot chocolate, so he stumbles and falls to the ground in the attempt to look drunk, which does make Nova and Sam laugh.

  “Wha ya allz laughing bout, ne’er seen a drunk trooper before, eh? Well, I cah still beat ya in a fight. I’m still 63 percent combat ifflec, iffec, eee-ffective, so whoz laughing now, eh!” He puts his fists up to simulate a boxer.

  “Briggs, get to bed before you hurt yourself. You are making enough noise to wake an army.” Sam helps Briggs up in his imagination, and then lets him fall flat on his face again, just to laugh out loud. Briggs picks himself off the floor, and sways left and right before disappearing back towards the rear of the ship and his room. He opens the door and closes it behind him, this time the door makes a clicking sound as it locks, but it goes unnoticed. Briggs stands up straight and sober, and pulls out of his gear bag a small robotic device called a nanite drone. It was like a pet to him, as it was the only thing he could call his own while growing up. It was a self-autonomous drone when turned on, which could fly about without making a noise, and spy on unsuspecting victims, before stinging them with a sleeping toxin, or whatever Briggs chose to load it with.

  “Come on boy, there is work to be done.” Briggs turns on the drone and it fires up a tiny generator, and starts to fly around, getting its bearings. Once it had done this, Briggs tells it what to do, and it silently sneaks through the air vent and soon uploads an image to Briggs’ gauntlet. He sits down on the bunk bed, happy with himself. He remembers the bottle of rum in his gear bag, and as it is not going to drink itself, he thinks, he untwists the cap and starts to chug on it, until the burning becomes numb and numb becomes good. Shanks enters the room around an hour later, and finds Briggs asleep, with the bottle three quarters gone. Shanks picks up the bottle and polishes off the rest, before undressing for bed. The drone returns and lands and powers down. It has spent the last hour spying on everyone, and now its mission was over.

  Chapter Twenty

  One by one, the crew of the Invictus climb into their beds, and the ship is all locked up for the night and everyone, apart from Megan, is asleep. She lies in her bed, mind wondering and pondering thoughts, thinking about the day just gone, and thinking about how strange the room still feels to her, not being used to such luxury. She is tired after a busy day and is begging her eyelids to close, until she hears a slightly muffled sound of Pace screaming himself awake. She launches out of her bed, fearing the worse. Had someone got to him in the night? Using the override code for his door, she enters the room to see Pace, butt naked stood before her, glistening in sweat. Her eyes drop down for a moment and she is pleasantly surprised, before she quickly looks back up at Pace’s surprised face.

  “Whoa! Don’t you knock girl?” Pace quickly grabs at the sheet from his bed and wraps it around his waist to cover his dignity.

  “Oops, sorry. I heard you shout and I, well … glad I saw, I mean, oh nuts, I mean …”

  Bursting out laughing, Pace relaxes at Megan’s embarrassment. He drops the sheet, grabs his shorts and turns, revealing his bottom to her. She stares at it with a mesmerising look of lust, her heartbeat getting stronger in her chest, like a thumping piston of an engine in overdrive. She too begins to laugh, until Pace turns and approaches her, a coy smile on his face.

  “So, I was just thinking, perhaps you should stay tonight, you know, just in case I have more bad dreams. The thing is I only have one bed in my room.” Megan smiles and her heart skips a beat. Finally he has invited her to stay, and she knows it will be a wonderful night. Without saying a word, she takes Pace by the hand ove
r to the bed and sits down, and begins to kiss him. The yellow light in his arm softly lights the room and has a romantic feel.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The sound of running water flowing fast, splashing a tiled floor, wakes Pace. He reaches out beside him for Megan, but she is taking a shower. He can just make out her body shape in the mist that envelopes her. Pace feels content, and for the first time in a long while, happy, all the stress has gone and it is a new day, full of new things to happen. He reaches out for a glass of water and takes a sip, half sat up still watching Megan. She begins to sing a little. She too is happy this morning, which is all that matters. Pace sits up and dangles his legs off the side of the bed. His feet touch the cold floor and retract a little until they are brave enough to stay there. He walks over to the towel rail and then walks to the shower where he opens the door and surprises Megan.

  “Hey morning sweet, here is a towel for you, did you sleep well?” Megan takes the towel and wipes the soap from her eyes.

  “Oh yes I did, thanks. I think your bed is far more comfy than mine.” She smiles up at him, going a little red in the cheeks. She walks out past Pace and dries herself, and begins to put her clothes on.

  “You can keep my bad dreams away again anytime. I would not want you sleeping on a hard bed, so you can use mine again tonight, if you like.”

  “Cheeky boy!” Megan smiles and walks past Pace, and runs her hand along his cheek. “I will see you on deck, sir.” She exits the room, leaving Pace all hot under the collar. Pace quickly grabs the chance to shower, and also dresses, thinking about the night before. It was going to be a busy day today, and so much to do. He finishes getting ready and pulls on his gauntlet, then leaves his room and slides down the banister of the spiral stairs, to the bridge floor, where he is met by Nova.