Cadets: 2 The Ship of the Gods

by Edward Miller

  “I appreciate your understanding, Supreme Commander. Let’s hope we both survive the upcoming battle. Thompson out.”

  The next few minutes passed in silence. Upon arriving at the entrance to the wormhole the combined fleets positioned themselves for battle. Thompson ran over the plan one more time. If they were successful they could take out twenty-five up to maybe fifty of the enemy ships before the sheer numbers would overwhelm them. At that point they’d have to fall back and make a beeline back to their system and prepare for a last stand.

  Thompson, as usual, had no delusion of defeating the Karang. That possibility had never been on the table. Their entire mission was to delay the enemy as long as possible and give Amanda and her team time to find the one and only weapon that could save humanity and the Altarrans. He truly hoped that all the sacrifices of those who had already perished would lead to their ultimate victory.

  “Sir, our probes have picked up the enemy fleet,” said Diego. “They appear to be in formation for entering the wormhole.”

  “Okay,” said Thompson. “Let me know the minute they enter.” Turning his attention to his com officer, he continued. “Ms. Barnes, patch me through to the fleet.”

  “Aye, sir,” said Barnes. “Channel is open, sir.”

  “Listen up,” said Thompson. “This is it. Once they enter the wormhole we have fifteen minutes until the first wave of ships exits. Since we can’t pick up any signals once they’re inside, we will need to open fire the moment the first ship exits and maintain firing until we exhaust our weapon supplies. Are we all clear on my orders?”

  Within seconds all ships acknowledged Thompson’s orders. He sat back in his command chair and waited.

  As they watched on the main screen, they saw the enemy ships enter the wormhole. “Barnes,” said Thompson. “Shut down the probes.”

  “Aye, sir,” she replied. “Shutting down now.”

  “Now we wait,” said Thompson.

  “Sir?” said Barnes.

  “Yes, Ms. Barnes,” said Thompson. “What is it?”

  “Most likely nothing,” she said. “But ever since we had the systems overload after the last battle, I have maintained a close watch on all power grids and there was a very minimal spike immediately after I shut down the probes.”

  The hairs on the back of Thompson’s neck started to rise. “Do you know where the spike originated?” he asked.

  “It’s very difficult to tell with the proximity of so many ships,” she said. “It could simply be a delay in shutting down the probes, or it could have originated from engineering. It’s impossible to figure out unless I run a full diagnostic.”

  Thompson knew that would take at least thirty minutes and they didn’t have that much time. Something was amiss and he was sure of it. All of these coincidental issues were not an accident. He stood up and headed towards the exit. “Romano,” he said. “You’ve got the con.” Turning to Barnes he said, “I’m heading to engineering. Maintain radio silence.”

  “Aye, sir,” replied Barnes and Romano.

  Thompson exited the bridge and entered the lift. He immediately hit the engineering insignia. It was only a few seconds to reach the area but it seemed like much longer. Finally he heard the familiar sound of the elevator doors opening as the computerized voice announced he was in main engineering. There were very few crewmembers inside the engineering department as they were in a battle-ready situation and at their monitoring stations. He continued to make his way deeper into the bowels of the ship. “Chief! Can you hear me?” he called out.

  He heard the familiar sound of a pulse gun being discharged. He quickly pulled out his weapon and made his way towards the sound of the disturbance. In the distance he saw a body on the floor about twenty feet in front of him. He made his way towards the fallen figure and bent down to check his vitals. Turning the man over he saw that it was Niles. He was unconscious but breathing. Hearing footsteps behind him he turned to see Chief Fowler.

  “What happened down here, Bill?” he asked.

  “Obviously we have a traitor on board,” said Fowler. “But luckily for me, you showed up just in time. I appreciate that, Admiral. It will make my cover story even better.”

  “What the devil are you talking about?” Suddenly, the reality of the situation hit Thompson like a ton of bricks. The traitor wasn’t Niles at all. It was Fowler. “Why? Why in the name of God would you commit such treachery?”

  “God?” he answered. “There’s no God, Admiral. Both my sons died fighting the Altarrans and my daughter was paralyzed. My family has been destroyed. And now they are our friends? What kind of God would allow such things? Get a grip. No aliens are our friends. None of them. We need to cleanse ourselves of all of them. Only then will mankind be safe.”

  Thompson couldn’t believe he had been so wrong. It had never dawned on him that Fowler was the traitor he’d been looking for. But now as he thought about it, it did make sense. The disabling of the long-range communications and now the signal that Barnes had just picked up. It would be easier for an experienced engineer to pull those off than an executive officer, even though his exec had begun his career as an engineer. The one command officer who would have the most time alone as well as knowledge of the ship’s systems would be the chief engineer.

  “You’ll never get away with it, Bill,” said Thompson.

  “You just made it all nice an easy for me, Admiral. Now I can say Niles was the traitor. I found him sending a coded message to the enemy. Unfortunately I got here just in time to see him kill you. Then I killed him in self-defense. That will leave me in charge of the ship and I will order the fleet to retreat to Earth. Unfortunately we will have no other recourse as Niles gave our plan to the enemy and they know the position of each of our ships. I will be a hero and you will be remembered as a hero as well. It’s a win-win situation for me. Now drop your weapon and move away from Niles.”

  Thompson saw that Niles’s weapon was still in his holster. Maybe if he could distract Fowler as he kicked his weapon away he could grab the gun and have a chance. It would be a slim chance as Fowler was less than ten feet away and had his weapon drawn. But he knew he had to try something and he had to act now. A slim chance is better than no chance at all.

  He dropped his weapon and kicked it towards Fowler. In one motion he reached for Niles’s gun and dove to the floor. He heard the sound of a weapon firing and figured he was a dead duck. He thought of his son and of the rest of those under his command. His deepest regret would be that he had failed them. How could he have been so wrong?

  Suddenly it dawned upon him that the weapons fire hadn’t come from the chief’s gun. Looking up he saw a surprised and pained look on Fowler’s face. Fowler dropped his pulse weapon and fell face down on the floor. Standing behind Thompson, to his surprise, was his communications officer, Lieutenant Barnes.

  “You certainly are a sight for sore eyes, Barnes,” he said. “Now could you please tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “You’re welcome, sir,” said Barnes. “And to answer your question, I’m with Internal Fleet Security. It’s standard protocol for any command vessel to have one of our officers assigned to the bridge crew. But keep that to yourself, sir. It’s top secret. I’ve been working along with Niles and the president since we heard about the impending attack by the Karang. We received credible information that there was a traitor on board your ship and that it was one of the command crew. And before you ask, it was because of your report mentioning the IC-12 when you were blindsided by them on the Sentinel Islands. The fact that they’ve been able to maintain operations since the mid-twentieth century without being noticed is mind-boggling. The only crewmembers we knew to be clear were Niles and you. We had to keep you out of the loop in order to try and sniff out the traitor. But that’s a long story and we are running out of time. We need to get back to the bridge and change plans immediately.”

  “Wait a second,” said Thompson. “You mean to tell me that every command ship sin
ce the UEDF has come into existence has had a member of Internal Security on board?”

  Barnes smiled. “Yes, sir. It wouldn’t be top secret if everyone knew about us, now would it?”

  “I see your point,” he said. “Not really sure I approve of it. But I completely understand.” Thompson opened his slider and called for the doctor and a medical team to come to the reactor room in engineering. Noticing the time, he realized that they had just a few minutes until the Karang exited the wormhole. “Come on, Barnes,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to the bridge.”

  As they made their way back, Thompson ordered all ships to prepare to fire into the wormhole and then to retreat at maximum speed. They had been set up and had to pull back and regroup before the Karang fleet was aware of their intentions. Better to run and fight another day than not to have one at all.

  Wherever they were it was pitch black. Amanda couldn’t see anything at all. She activated the light on her slider. What really surprised her was the fact that she was conscious and not nauseated like the last time they had been transported. Not only was she awake, so was the rest of the team.

  “How’s everyone feeling?” she asked.

  “I feel fine,” said her father.

  “So do I,” said Commodore Laurent.

  “I am well,” said Kyron.

  Amanda nodded to everyone. “The last time we were transported, all of us with the exception of Kyron were rendered unconscious and when we awoke, we were sick as a dog. This time I feel fine. Apparently all of us do.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if the Semina Vitae made an adjustment to the systems after what transpired the last time,” said Laurent.

  “I concur,” said Kyron. “The gods are wise.”

  “Regardless, we all feel good, which is a definite improvement,” said her father. “More important, where the hell are we?”

  As if on cue, lighting activated and it became clear that they were on some type of massive vessel. The room they were in was circular and had to be at least a thousand feet from one end to the other.

  “Look,” said Kyron. She was pointing to what appeared to be some type of large console with three chairs in front of it. Amanda broke into a sprint and headed for the console. Her father, Commodore Laurent, and Kyron followed her lead. As soon as Amanda reached the console, she stopped and surveyed her surroundings. There were all types and sizes of screens and equipment in front of her. It was impressive and she was in complete awe. Systems around her started to light up. She could hear the sound of humming.

  “The Gods have smiled upon us,” said Kyron, pointing at a massive screen that appeared in front of them. On it was an obvious diagram of the Sol system. There was a yellow flashing border that had some sort of writing on it. It wasn’t a language that Amanda had ever seen before.

  “Does anyone have an idea what language that is?” she asked.

  “It is the ancient scripture of the gods,” said Kyron.

  “Can you translate it?” asked Laurent.

  “Some of it,” said Kyron. “It appears to be some type of long-range early warning system. If the data I am reading is accurate, it has a range beyond my comprehension.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Amanda.

  “The data seems to be coming from a distance that is unprecedented. This is truly the work of gods.”

  “What data are you talking about?” asked the admiral.

  Kyron pointed to the objects on the far right. “From the information I can decipher, those objects are the Karang fleet. They are headed towards the place you call the Dyson Wormhole. As you can see there are many of them.”

  Amanda noticed the much smaller number of objects waiting on the other side of the wormhole and pointed to them. “That must be what’s left of our defense fleet. My God, they are sorely outnumbered.”

  “They were overmatched before they left,” said Laurent. “There were five Karang ships to every one of ours. It was a no-win scenario from the start.”

  “It wasn’t about winning,” said the admiral. “It was about buying us time to find the ship. But you’ve got to give Admiral Thompson credit. He’s waiting for them to enter the wormhole so he can ambush them while they’re still inside.”

  Amanda noticed what appeared to be a very small number of dots behind the fleet headed towards the combined Earth and Altarran fleet. “Oh no!”

  “What is wrong, Amanda Williamson?” asked Kyron.

  “See that small group of objects heading towards the fleet?”

  “Why yes. I do see them. Do not fear them as they cannot be Karang vessels.”

  “I know it’s not the Karang,” said Amanda. “It’s got to be Ryan and the rest of the cadet fleet. Those old crates aren’t in any shape to go against the Karang. He’s supposed to be in our system, not out there.”

  “Obviously he’s going to help his father and the Altarrans,” said her father.

  “He is a true warrior and a devoted son,” said Kyron.

  “Look,” said the Admiral. “The Karang ships are entering the wormhole. They’re going to be surprised when our combined fleets are waiting for them when they exit.”

  “How long do you think they can hold them off?” asked Amanda.

  “I don’t think it’s about holding them back as much as it is taking their numbers down,” said her father. “Hopefully they will be able to take out twenty-five ships or more before they’ll have to fall back.”

  Suddenly the screen they were watching turned red and an alarm started to sound off. “Look at the view screen,” said Amanda.

  A red light encircled one of the ships in the UEDF fleet. Then a yellow beam emanated from the ship and penetrated the wormhole. The beam of light stopped at the lead Karang ship. As Amanda watched intently the Karang armada came to a halt. Then more words came across the top of the view screen.

  “Kyron,” said Amanda. “Can you make any of that out?”

  “This is most discouraging,” said Kyron. “It appears that someone from our side sent an encoded message to the Karang. There appears to be a traitorous individual in our midst.”

  Before another word could be said, the entire room began to vibrate. Systems and consoles throughout the ship started to activate. Within seconds the entire room was vibrating and seemed to be moving. All of them fell to the floor from the rapid ascent.

  “What’s happening?” said Amanda.

  “We appear to be moving upward,” said her father.

  Faster and faster the ship moved as it continued its path towards the ceiling. The sound grew deafening. Then after a few minutes they started to slow down. After another moment, the massive vessel came to a complete stop.

  “Anyone have a clue what that was all about?” asked Amanda.

  Before anyone could answer, a platform appeared within a few feet away from where they were standing. The door to the platform opened.

  “I believe that’s our cue,” said Laurent.

  One by one they got on the platform, then the door shut and it started to rise. It appeared that the ceiling was a good hundred stories high. The platform accelerated and moved closer to the top. Within minutes they were approaching the ceiling. Just before they reached the top, an opening appeared directly above them. The light coming from it was blinding.

  Amanda tried to focus on what was in front of her. They were in the middle of the ocean, on top of an enormous ship, and surrounding them was the entire Japanese navy with United Earth Defense ships in the air as well as in the water.

  Now that she knew they were safe and where they were, they were ready for the next step. They had to figure out how to get the ship operational before the Karang arrived. Adding to their problems was the fact that Ryan was headed into harm’s way. And to make matters worse, it was obvious that there were those who were intent on stopping them as well as a spy on board one of the fleet’s ships, but who were they and what was their motive?

  Ryan checked the time. They would be at the Dyson Wormho
le in less than thirty minutes. Hopefully they would be in communication range in fifteen. Long-range scans showed that the remaining thirty ships of the combined Altarran and UEDF ships were in position on their side of the wormhole.

  He ran the scenario over and over again. They would have to make contact with the fleet and convince his father to fall back the minute the Karang armada exited the wormhole. Then he would fire the entire arsenal of nuclear missiles into the wormhole. After that would be a hasty retreat back to Earth. Ryan was under no illusion that they would wipe out the entire enemy fleet. Of course that was everyone’s hope, but the reality of the situation was complete uncertainty. There was no precedent concerning their tactics. The hope was that they’d destroy as many Karang ships as possible as well as delay the remainder of the enemy fleet’s progress and buy Amanda and her team more time to find the ancient weapon.

  “We will be in communication range in five minutes,” said Jill.

  “Understood,” said Ryan. “Inform all ships to prepare to receive their orders as soon as we are in weapons range.”

  “Sending message now.”

  “Tanner,” said Ryan, “did you decide on a firing solution?”

  “C’mon, Ry,” said Tanner. “Of course I did. I have it ready to send out to each ship. I have each set of two nukes set to detonate at equal distances throughout the wormhole. I was thinking about having them all detonate together, but since we really don’t know exactly how it’s gonna react, I figured I’d rather have multiple impact points. Theoretically speaking, that should give us the most coverage and hopefully destroy more of their ships.”

  As usual, Ryan was impressed. He knew that Tanner was full of himself and a prankster, but when it came to weapons and attack procedures, he was absolutely brilliant.