by Saxon Andrew
“The Warscouts only have one blaster. The Terminators have fifty. I don’t want to take any chances.”
Jingle saw Alex’s expression and asked, “Why are you against using the blaster’s?”
“There’s no way to avoid them learning about the missiles if you don’t destroy that ship. I want to avoid them seeing all of our weapons.”
Jingle looked at Adam on the Monitor, “Forget the blasters; Alex is right. Use a defense missile on the escorts.”
“Yes Sir.”
Jingle turned to Alex, “I told you I was out of my element.” Alex smiled and turned back to the tactical monitor.
• • •
“Admiral, those units are packed in tight and getting to the warships in the middle is going to be impossible.”
Adam thought about the situation and ordered, “Have your fleets move in behind their lines and target their warships from there. The defense missiles are programmed to hit a critical place on their hulls and can still accomplish that even if they’re fired from the rear of those ships.”
“Ordering the change, Sir.”
Adam sent Commodore Nobles to take out the twenty escorts and forgot about it. He knew that task was in good hands. He watched his tactical monitor closely and saw the thousands of Warscouts scrambling to move behind the aliens’ lines.
He looked at Lynn sitting next to him and sighed, “I felt bad when you turned the promotion down to command a fleet but now I’m so relieved at having you here with me.”
Lynn smiled and kept her eyes on the fleet tactical monitor, “My place is with you. Besides, I was promoted to Captain and that’s fine with me.” Adam chuckled and Lynn turned to him, “What’s amusing?”
“I’ve been promoted to Senior Fleet Admiral and the direct subordinate on my ship must hold the rank of Junior Admiral. You have your promotion anyway.”
Lynn smiled and turned back to the tactical monitor, “The Warscouts have moved into position and are targeting the warships in the two lines.” Adam nodded and waited for Admiral Berringer to issue the launch order.
• • •
The alien Fleet Commander was nervous. Nothing had been detected and his fleet was rapidly approaching the small galaxy. He turned to his Second and ordered, “Have all ships load missiles into the tubes and be prepared to launch them.” The Second turned and issued the orders to the fleet and he sat back in his combat chair. Was it possible that threat was just a bluff by the civilization in the small galaxy? He thought about the one that issued the threat and felt his nervousness grow. If it was just a threat, that alien really sounded serious. He watched the small galaxy growing larger on the monitor and then…”
• • •
“Launch your missiles in three…two…one…NOW!” Alex ordered.
• • •
The Fleet Commander saw every warship in his fleet suddenly go up in massive explosions. His ship was immediately rocked and shaken violently as the twenty escorts around it blew up at the same moment. The shockwave blew out from the exploding warships far ahead of him and blew past his huge Battleship rocking it severely. In an instant, everything was gone.
Jingle kept the Fleet Commander’s ship on her monitor, and she smiled broadly, “The Command ship managed to survive. Jangle connect me with that ship!”
The Fleet Commander was in a state of shock when Jingle appeared on his monitor, “Connect me with the Kraken.” The Fleet Commander could only stare at Jingle and she said, “Get moving! I suspect he’ll want to discuss what just happened.” The communication commander on the Flag Ship transferred the connection to the Kraken. The Fleet Commander was still in a state of shock.
• • •
The Kraken appeared on Jingle’s monitor and this time, there was no visible evidence of arrogance. Jingle smiled and then turned serious, “Before I destroy this last warship you sent, I want you to understand that I will not tolerate any further movement of your ships into my territory. If there is, I will be coming to your space to insure it doesn’t happen again!”
The Kraken was connected to the feed coming from the Fleet Commander’s battleship and witnessed the destruction of his huge fleet. He nodded slightly and said, “I will not allow any future violation of your territory.
Jingle smiled again, “That’s good to hear. My possession includes the large Galaxy close to the smaller galaxy, just to be sure you understand.”
“Will you allow the surviving warship to return?”
“Oh, I can’t do that! It violated my territory and must pay the price.”
“Can’t you just allow it due to the agreement I just made with you?”
“If I start showing mercy, I’ll be seen as weak and I don’t want anyone to ever believe that. Besides, why are you so concerned about that ship; you had no trouble sending in all the others to die.”
“The ship’s commander is my oldest daughter.”
Jingle stared at the Kraken and glanced at Alex. He shrugged leaving it up to her and she turned back to the Kraken, “We understand family and respect the term. If not for that, I would destroy it at the end of this communication. It may go in peace.”
Alex quietly ordered over the fleet frequency, “The surviving warship will not be attacked!”
Jingle stared at the Kraken and leaned forward, “You’ve been warned! Don’t allow your anger and arrogance to overcome your fear!” Jingle ended the contact and saw the sole surviving warship on her monitor turning and then slowly start moving away. Soon it went to full speed and fled from the small galaxy.
“Well, it looks like you got your delay.”
Jingle took Alex’s hand and smiled, “We needed to do this. We’re still not ready to take them on inside their space.”
“Why not?”
“Because the bordering civilizations may decide to join the party against us. We have to be ready to take on all of them if we’re forced to take the fight there.”
Alex ordered, “All ships except for the guard Warscouts will return to their home bases.” Alex turned the Warscout and headed toward New York to report in to Fleet Operations and visit Belle. After that, it was back to Bucket to await the arrival of their newest child.
• • •
Belle entered the Academy and life was a whirlwind. She settled in and began working hard on her homework assignments and she sat in the back of her classes to avoid attention. She didn’t raise her hand and kept a low profile; it wouldn’t do for her to get too much notice and she managed to pull it off successfully. However, two weeks after classes started, a young man stopped her after their history class, “Katherine, I didn’t recognize you. How are you doing?”
Belle’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head slightly, “Do I know you?”
The young man laughed, “You should; you put me in the hospital when I was in the tenth grade.”
“BARRY! You’ve changed a lot as well.”
Barry smiled, “I’ve grown about five inches and I’m not as thin as I was.”
“I didn’t know you wanted to go to the Academy.”
“I made the decision my senior year. My grades had improved enough for me to be accepted. I’m not surprised to see you here; you certainly have the brains to get in. Why don’t you meet me after classes at the student center?”
Belle shook her head, “Barry, I’m totally focused on making the grades and I just can’t afford the time. Thank you for asking.” Belle quickly walked away leaving Barry wondering why she refused his offer. From that point on, Barry didn’t give up and Belle studiously avoided him whenever possible. She looked older due to good use of makeup and padding in the proper places. Barry wasn’t the only one trying to get her attention, but the others gave up after several rejections. She finished her first year without being discovered.
It was during her second year that trouble raised its ugly head.
• • •
“JINGLE, MORE THAN A HUNDRED-THOUSAND WARSHIPS HAVE MOVED OUT OF THE EDGE OF THE LMC!”
“Alex, what’s going on?”
“The LMC Aliens destroyed all of the stealth probes in their territory a few months ago and we’ve not been able to keep track of them. I’ve ordered the Fleets out to Canis Major and we’re going to meet them there. Get Mab to Dolly and I’ll pick you up at her house.”
“On my way!”
• • •
Jingle left Michael at Dolly’s and was waiting outside for Alex. The Warscout flew in and Jingle jumped into the port. “Why haven’t you told me about the stealth probes?”
“It just happened a couple of months ago. They’ve found a way to detect them and we haven’t launched any of the new probes yet. They caught us with our pants down.”
“Surely they know a hundred-thousand warships won’t cut it?”
“I don’t know. It does seem something fishy is going on.”
“Will they be able to detect the new probes?”
“I doubt it; they don’t use a stealth field but depend on the stealth coating. They’re also minute in size compared to the old stealth probes.”
They arrived at Canis Major and Admiral Wolfe contacted them, “The enemy fleets have moved out of the LMC but are moving at a slow rate of speed.”
“Send me the feed on their progress,” Alex ordered. The wall monitor illuminated and the giant fleet was huge. But Alex had more than double that number of Warscouts to meet them and wasn’t greatly concerned. What was going on? The huge fleet arrived halfway between Canis Major and the LMC and came to a stop. The fleets then broke up and began going through war maneuvers. Jingle stared at the fleets on the monitor and shook her head, “They’re up to something.”
“What could it be?”
“They’re deliberately causing a distraction. Have any other ships been detected moving toward the Milky Way?”
“No.”
Jingle stared at the monitor and tried to come up with what they were doing.
• • •
The alien warship flew into the Milky Way undetected. It was traveling at high-speed and wasn’t seen until it passed too close to a commercial freighter headed in the opposite direction. The freighter detected the small ship’s thrusters as it passed, and immediately sent a warning to Fleet operations.
• • •
Belle was in her final class and the sun had already set when alarms went off at full volume. “ALL STUDENTS AND PERSONNEL LEAVE THE BUILDING NOW! ALL STUDENTS AND PERSONNEL LEAVE THE BUILDING NOW!”
The students rushed out of the classroom and Belle stopped one of the Academy Guards, “What’s going on, Sir?”
“An alien warship has been detected on a course for New York! It’s a stealth ship. Get out of here and put some distance between you and the Academy.”
Barry had followed Belle out of the class, and he fell in behind her as she ran out of the building. He stayed close to her and Belle turned around, “Barry! You need to run!”
“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Where you go, I go!”
Belle stamped her feet and then shook her head as she said over her link, “Ringie, get over here now!” She turned to Barry, “You should leave.”
“Not without you!”
Belle sighed and suddenly a port appeared hovering just above the ground. Belle ran and jumped through it and Barry followed her through the port. Belle saw him and didn’t have time to argue with him, “Ringie, there’s an alien stealth ship headed toward New York. I believe it’s going there to attack Fleet Operations and the spaceport.”
“Do you have the location it was detected, Belle?”
“No, but I’m sure fleet is sending that information out to the Terminators lifting from the planet. Tap in to Fleet Communications.”
“You’re right, I’ve got it.”
“What are you going to do, Ringie?”
“Go to maximum speed and fly past its possible current location. I’ll turn around and head back toward New York scanning for its thrusters.”
Belle stared at the wall monitor and Barry said, “Katherine, that computer just called you Belle.”
“NOT NOW BARRY!”
Barry looked around and saw that they were on board one of the Union’s newest Warscouts. Katherine started activating the systems on her console and Barry shook his head. How did she know what to do? He sat down in the chair next to her and remained silent.
“Ringie!”
“I’m turning around now. We’re at the outer planets and I’m going to start weaving my way in back to New York.”
“Why are you weaving?”
“I have to believe the alien ship knows it was detected and changed its approach course. The Terminators are all going on the line it was detected and they could miss it entirely.”
Time seemed to be passing faster than normal and Belle began to worry they had missed finding the attacker. “I’VE GOT IT, BELLE!”
“PUT IT ON THE MONITOR!”
A distant speck of light appeared and Ringie announced, “It’s closer to New York than I thought; going to maximum speed.”
“Can you hit it with a defense missile before it arrives at the planet?”
“The closing speed between the missile and that ship wouldn’t be fast enough! It’s got to be taken out with a blaster beam,” Ringie replied. Besides, I cannot use my weapons.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve had restrictions placed on my core that prevents me from using them without the password that was used to put them in place.”
“Who placed them.”
“Your mother.”
“RINGIE, YOU MUST OVERRIDE THOSE RESTRICTIONS!”
“It’s impossible for me to do it!”
“Tell me the password!”
“I’ve also been forbidden to do that.”
“Can you give me a clue to what it is?”
“It’s the most important thing to your mother.”
Barry spoke up, “It must be your name.”
Belle shook her head and forced herself to focus. She finally began tying on her keyboard, Alexander Wade Berringer.”
“Password accepted. Sending message to notify your mother that the password has been overridden.”
Belle put on her combat helmet and moved the blaster’s targeting cursor over the distant speck. It wouldn’t hold lock and Belle shouted, “YOU MUST GET CLOSER!!”
“Doing the best I can. We’ll be in range in twenty seconds; it will arrive at the planet in thirty seconds.”
Belle forced herself to calm down and focused on the cursor. It finally locked on the fast-moving warship and Belle waited as Ringie counted it down. “We’re in range now!”
Belle waited another three seconds and pressed the firing button on the arm of her chair. A brilliant beam lanced out from the Warscout and hit the stealth warship; it blew up in a huge nuclear detonation. Belle shook her head; it was carrying nuclear missiles.
The explosion happened inside the orbit of New York’s closest moon and it strobed a huge white flash on the nightside of the planet. Belle pulled the ship vertical and moved away from the huge shockwave heading toward her ship. She flew around the planet and approached the nightside from the day side. She looked at Barry and he said, “Why did that computer call you Bell?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“If I do, I will be expelled from the Academy.”
Barry stared at her for a very long moment in silence and then asked, “Are you sure about that?”
“I am.”
Barry nodded and raised a shoulder, “I won’t press you on it.”
“Barry, I know you have a lot of questions about what just happened, but I can’t answer them!”
“Then I won’t ask them.”
Belle said, “Ringie, land us near the Academy where we won’t be seen. Then go to the roof where you stay.”
“We’ll arrive in four minutes.” The Warscout flew in under the cover of its stealth coating and opened the ship’s port.
Belle and Barry stepped out and started walking toward the front entrance of the Academy. The other entrances to the campus were closed and Belle saw the Academy Commandant sitting in a chair outside the front entrance. “Oh crap!”
They walked up and the Commandant stood up, “Where have you been?”
Barry spoke up, “Sir, one of the guards told us to get off Academy grounds and move as far away as possible. We hitched a ride with a woman who took us out of the city and dropped us off. We weren’t so lucky getting a ride all the way back.”
The Commandant stared at Barry and turned to Belle, “Fleet Admiral Glennon has asked me to order you to report to his office when you showed up.”
Belle felt her heart go into her throat before replying, “It’s rather late…”
The Commandant interrupted her, “He spoke with me a few moments ago and is still awaiting your arrival.” She turned to Barry and said, “Cadet, report to your quarters.”
Barry went to attention and said, “Yes Sir!”
The Commandant turned to Belle, “I’ll have a guard waiting to allow you to enter after your meeting with Admiral Glennon.”
“Yes Sir.” Belle turned and walked toward the tall building six blocks away. She arrived twenty-minutes later, and a Guard greeted her at the entrance, “The Admiral is waiting for you in his office.” He opened the armored door and Belle walked in.
Chapter Fourteen
There was only one elevator still operating in the lobby and it took Belle to the top floor. She knocked on Admiral Glennon’s door and heard, “ENTER!”
Belle walked in and went to attention in front of his desk. Mike glared at her for a long moment in silence and then asked, “Has anyone learned who you are during this emergency?”
“No Sir.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes Sir, I am.”
“I was not aware that you have access to a Warscout!”
“It’s parked on the roof of the building my parents have rented to come visit me. They use it to pick me up without being seen.”
Glennon stared at Belle and her heart was beating almost too fast for her to handle. Then Glennon said, “You may report to your quarters.”
Belle blew out a breath and did an about face. She headed toward the office door and Mike said, “Belle.” Belle turned and looked at him. “Thank you.”