Warlords Saga
Page 64
Gilmore stood with his hands in his pockets, head lowered as if he studied the ground, “Admiral Fitz,” he said, now looking up, “how nice of you to pay me a visit.”
Jed clenched his fist, entered the cell and struck the Admiral crossways on his jaw. Blood spat out of Gilmore’s mouth as his neck snapped to the right.
The Admiral grabbed his chin and gave Fitz a glare, “Nice right cross, Admiral.”
“Why did you do it, Admiral?”
“Do what, Fitz? What are you talking about?”
“Why’d you fire on those people down there!?” Jed snapped.
“I did what was necessary to defend this planet, Fitz!”
“By killing ten crewmen and destroying a transport? Is that how you planned on protecting our planet?”
“I don’t answer to you, Fitz,” Gilmore said, pointing a finger at his face.
“No, you may not answer to me, but you do answer to the President and he ordered you to stand down to allow our teams to be evacuated!”
“Like I said, Admiral Fitz, I don’t have to answer to you, so you can just end this interrogation.”
Jed stepped closer to Admiral Gilmore, drawing his face close to his own, “This isn’t over yet, Admiral.” Jed’s eyes narrowed, “I have not yet begun to interrogate!”
“The President will look the other way, Jed. He’s in my pocket, you should know that.”
“I don’t think so, Admiral,” Jed growled.
Jed’s headset squawked again, “Lieutenant Henderson, Sir, the transport has just landed.”
Jed tapped the side of his earpiece as he answered and stepped away from Admiral Gilmore, “Is Doctor Lambert ready on his end?”
“Yes, Sir, we’re using standard infectious protocols.”
“Very well, Lieutenant. Tell Race and the rest of his team I’ll meet them in sickbay. I’m on my way.”
Gilmore smugly looked over to Jed as he cut his wireless channel, “Ahh, I see my strategy worked after all; they came out of hiding, did they? I think that will help sway the President in my favor.”
“It was no thanks to your killing my men! They don’t even know about your attack. You cannot even begin to understand what all this means.”
“You’re a sick man, Fitz. Guess you should’ve stayed off the bottle, eh?”
Jed turned to exit the cell but paused at Gilmore’s last words. He quickly spun around, his left fist already swinging at the smiling Admiral, the left cross struck Gilmore’s jaw sending his head to the left with more blood spewing from his mouth.
Jed flexed his hand, slapping off the hurt before exiting the cell. “Turn the cameras back on and post your guards.”
“Aye, aye, Sir,” Rollins nodded, reaching to close the cell door.
“That’s an even better left hook, Fitz,” Admiral Gilmore smiled as the cell door closed and locked.
“My men are returning to their ship. Colonel Jennings is with them.”
“I understand, Sir. As soon as the Colonel is ready, I will be relieved.”
Jed walked with Commander Rollins back to the airlock, “Is that what you want, Captain?”
“Sir?” Rollins stopped in the corridor and stared as Jed continued to stroll to the causeway, “Captain, Sir?”
“I expect my senior officers in command of their own vessels to anticipate my next move,” Jed smiled at the catching up Rollins.
“Captain, Sir? Thank you, Sir! I’m honored to serve.”
Jed slowed as they approached the guard at the causeway and whispered, “Race didn’t want the command anyway. You’ve proven yourself, Captain Rollins.”
The two stopped as the Marine guard opened the hatch between ships. Rollins stood at attention and saluted, “Admiral leaving the DECK!”
Admiral Fitz looked at his new Captain. He smartly brought his arm up, holding his salute for several seconds.
Fitz snapped his arm at rest, turned and walked through the hatch, “Finish your resupply and prepare to undock, I think we will be under way rather soon.”
“Aye, Sir,” Captain Rollins answered. “Corporal, seal this hatch and prepare to undock.” Jed paused, turned before the door was closed, “Oh, and Captain, you’re out of uniform. Make sure you correct that before returning to your CSC.”
“Yes, Sir,” Captain Rollins nodded, glancing at the silver oak leaf on his lapel.
“I think the eagle wings will look nice in their stead,” Jed smiled as the marine sealed the hatch between ships.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
________________________
Betelgeuse Sector
The Yamato
________________________
“Aye, Sir,” Lieutenant Diasuke reported, “Confirmed we have the CAP.”
Captain Shin nodded his approval, “Helm, move us to the outskirts of this sector and begin patrols. Comm, send word to the Bristol that we transferred the watch to the Yamato.”
“Aye, Sir, our Chief has launched the first fighter squadron, Sir,” Lieutenant Ren reported.
“The Bristol is moving off, Sir,” Lieutenant Yoshi added, “Turning course one-five-five mark one-eight-zero.”
“Open a channel to the Bristol,” Captain Shin ordered.
“Aye, Sir,” Lieutenant Diasuke acknowledged.
The radio crackled and then Captain McCartney’s voice broke through, “Captain Shin, I’m taking the Bristol behind the Centaurian fleet to perform some engine maintenance.”
“We’ve taken point on watch out here, Captain McCartney. You’ve taken the last thirty-six; it’s about time you let the Yamato take over watch for a while.”
“More than happy to take some downtime, Captain,” McCartney said, “I’ll talk to you in a few hours, Bristol out.”
The channel became silent and Captain Shin took his place at the CSC, and turned to his XO, “Commander, increase our scanning range to maximum. Launch a second wing with two ACE Support ships. Let’s extend our eyes out a bit further, shall we?”
Commander Hikaru nodded his acknowledgement and turned to his tactical officer, “Lieutenant Ren, put it together and launch immediately.”
The Lieutenant called the flight deck to the ship’s crew chief and relayed the order.
“Sir, Blue Squadron is launching. Do you have coordinates to relay, Sir?”
“Tell them to go eight hundred kilometers forward of our current heading.”
“Aye, Captain,” Ren acknowledged, “Sending coordinates to Blue ACE-One...Blue squad is departing zero-nine-zero mark zero.”
“Helm; slow to one-third impulse. Match course to Blue Squadron.”
“Aye, Sir,” Lieutenant Yoshi acknowledged, “turning zero-nine-zero mark zero.”
“Get word to Red Squad. We’re following Blue and to maintain current CAP protocols.”
“Aye, Sir, relaying message to Red Leader.”
“Lieutenant Diasuke,” Captain Shin ordered, “Open a channel to the Centaurian Flagship.”
“Channel open, Sir. I have Captain Zetaal on the line.”
The clicking of bridge relays and computers buzzing was broken by the hissing voice, “Yesss, Captain Ssshin, what can I do for you?”
“Captain Zetaal,” Shin nodded a smile at the Centaurian Captain through the vid-link at his console, “Just checking in and letting your people know the Yamato is on point.”
“Yesss Captain Ssshin, we are monitoring your communicationsss. We underssstand the Brissstol needed a break. However, you can count on the Cssentaurian fleet to keep thisss sssector sssafe.”
“Thank you, Captain Zetaal. How is the Chancellor?”
“The Chancssellor hasss departed for Theta Cssentauri to fully assesss our lossesss.”
“Oh, that’s too bad, Captain, I was going to extend an invitation for you and the Chancellor to dine with me this evening.”
“I thank you for the offer, Captain, however...”
“...you can still come over. Why don’t you? We should spend more time getting to
know one another.”
“Captain Ssshin, I must decline your mossst graciousss offer. My digessstive sssystem isss not accusssstomed to sssuch sssophisticated methodsss of cooking food.”
“How about I have my chef prepare you something that’s a little more appealing to you?”
“Sssuch asss?” Zetaal leaned closer to the vid-screen and gave his thin green lips a quick lick.
“I understand you like raw and live food, am I correct?”
Zetaal licked his tongue across his lips from the other direction, “Yesss Captain Ssshin. You are mossst correct.”
“I might be able to get you a private stash of live rodents, if you’re interested?”
“Mossst tempting...”
Zetaal’s vid-link was interrupted by blearing alarms. Captain Shin’s tactical officer’s urgent voice called, “Multiple contacts!”
Commander Hikaru barked the orders before Shin had a chance, “Sound General Quarters and confirm origin!”
Zetaal turned from his video to address his tactical officer, “Confirm targetsss!”
“Stand by Captain Zetaal,” Captain Shin ordered, “We’re confirming now! TATICAL, REPORT!”
“Sir,” Lieutenant Ren answered, “they’re Antarian warships! Twenty and counting... thirty... sixty...”
Alarms continued to blear over the bustling CSC. Captain Shin turned back to his vid screen, “Captain Zetaal, we have hostiles! Go to full alert!”
“We confirm; Antarian warshipsss. My tactical reportsss eighty ssshipsss inbound escorted by one large ship.”
“We’re reading that now, Captain Zetaal. I would bet that large warship is the flag!”
“We’ll be hard pressed to fight them all off with thisss one in sssector.”
“Launch all fighters!” Commander Hikaru ordered, “I repeat, launch all fighters!”
“Aye, Sir, relaying orders to the flight deck... we’re launching all wings!”
“ETA?”
“Two minutes to firing range!”
________________________
Betelgeuse Sector
Warlord Flagship
________________________
Dumakas stood from his chair as his ship completed the jump to Betelgeuse, “Tactical, launch our fighters! Getera, order the fleet to target ships as planned!”
“Yes, my Lord. Two minutes until the fleet is at full power for Scalar weapons.”
“Very good, Ma’har. Have them cycle their jump drives. I want them to jump back as soon as they fire the first wave.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“The Earth ship had fighters already launched. Our fleet jumped right in their midst, Lord Dumakas.”
“Not to worry, Ma’har. Take ten of our reserve ships and engage them. Our next fleet will cut them off from the rest of their fleet.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Ma’har nodded.
“Open fire on any ships close enough to hit, I wish to fill my blood lust today.”
“Targeting the closest Earth ship, my Lord.”
“Fire when ready!”
“Yes, my Lord. We are in range now!”
“FIRE!”
________________________
Betelgeuse Sector
The Yamato
________________________
“Sir, Blue squadron has engaged the enemy! They jumped right on top of them. Our fighters aren’t meeting much resistance, only the big ship launched fighters. Still, we’re not having much of an impact on their warships!”
“Why aren’t they launching fighters?”
“Sir, there are ten warships moving into position and are arming weapons.”
“All squadrons assist Blue Squadron!”
“Captain,” Zetaal moved closer to the vid screen, “They’re not planning on ssstaying, that’sss why.”
“The larger warship is launching fighters and are on intercept course to our fighter wings,” Ren reported.
“They’re sssending sshort wavesss, Captain,” Zetaal warned, “You ssshould focusss your firepower on that large warssship at all costs!”
“Ren! Move the squadrons to intercept!”
“Aye, Sir! Sending Red, Green and Yellow squadrons to intercept!”
“Captain Zetaal, I’d sure appreciate some of your fleet’s firepower right about now.”
“We are engaging the attacking fleet. Thingsss are getting busssy over here, Captain Ssshin. I am afraid I will have to take a rain check on your mossst graciousss dinner offer. Zetaal out.”
“Almost in weapons range, Sir!”
“Arm PDS and engage when ready!” Captain Shin ordered. “Helm, new course: two-seven-zero. Z Minus zero-seven-zero, rotate thirty degrees port.”
“Fire all turrets!” Shin’s XO barked, “Aim for their weapons and landing bays!”
“Sir,” Lieutenant Ren reported, “I’m reading fifty plus odd power signatures.”
“Identify!”
“They’re coming from fifty different ships, Sir. I’ve never seen power fluctuations like this before.”
“Sir, Captain Zetaal is hailing us again.”
“Put it on, Captain, are you reading this?”
“Yess, Captain Sshin. We have sseen thiss! Power down all your ssystemss! NOW!”
“Explain...”
“There’ss no time!” Zetaal urged. “DO IT NOW!”
“You heard him!” Captain Shin said in a panic, “Power down all systems!”
“It’s too late, Sir, they just fired some type of wave weapon at us. They only targeted our Earth and Eridonian ships.”
“What kind of beam?” Shin demanded.
The Yamato shook violently when the powerful wave hit the ship.
“Shields are down, Sir!”
“Whattya mean they’re down!” Shin barked.
“I can’t explain it, Captain. That beam they fired neutralized our shields. It’s the same for all targeted ships, Sir,” Ren reported, and then raised his eyebrows, “Sir, they’re jumping away!”
“How many of them?”
“All of them, except their flagship, Sir.”
“Captain Sshin!”
Shin leaned over to the vid screen, “What was that weapon?”
“Do you underssstand Sscalar technology, Captain Ssshin?”
“I’ve heard about it...”
“You’ve only got a couple of minutess, Captain. They’re next wave that jumpss in will overload all your systemss unless you sshut every ssystem down now!”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, Captain. We can’t just flip a power switch and everything turns off. We have redundant backup systems that will kick in if we have a power failure.”
“Another wave is jumping in, Sir! They’ve cut us off from the rest of the fleet, Sir!”
“Captain Sshin, get you shipss out of thiss ssector, NOW! Jump them through the corridor, that’ss your only hope for ssurvival!”
“Sir, he’s right,” Ren reported, “I’m reading that same power signature building up, a minute and a half at best, Sir!”
Shin turned to the front of his ship in horror, knowing they wouldn’t make it out, “Fire all weapons at this fleet, try to take out as many as we can. Captain Zetaal, take command of the fleet! I’ll keep them busy for as long as I can!”
“Understood,” Captain Zetaal nodded. “Good luck, Captain. You heard Captain Sshin!” Zetaal barked before his screen shut off, “Order those Earth and Eridonian shipss through the corridor! Engage our reserve shipss!”
Captain Shin studied his screen, “Helm, new course: three-five-zero mark two-nine-five, head straight for that flagship!”
“Aye, Sir,” Lieutenant Yoshi nodded, “Turning three-five-zero mark two-nine-five, rotation forty-five degrees starboard.”
“Weapons hot!” Ren shouted.
________________________
Betelgeuse Sector
Warlord Flagship
________________________
“My Lord,” Ma’har repo
rted, “Our first wave has jumped away. The next wave is now arriving.”
“Continue your focus on that pesky Earth ship,” Dumakas ordered.
“Yes, my Lord. They are firing weapons at us.”
“Time to second Scalar Wave?”
“Thirty seconds, my Lord.”
“Helm, change course: two-seven-seven mark three-five-zero.”
“Yes, my Lord, turning two-seven-seven mark three-five-zero. That’ll put us below the approaching Earth vessel.”
“Indeed,” Dumakas snorted, “two-dimensional thinker.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Tira laughed with Dumakas.
“Ma’har, ready a spread of five torpedoes. Aim them at the enemy ship’s ventral. Fire as soon as they’re systems are shut down.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Ma’har acknowledged as he pressed various commands. “Missiles locked and ready, my Lord.”
“Ten seconds to Scalar wave, my Lord.”
Dumakas grew an evil smile before giving the order, “Fire...”
Ma’har completed the firing sequence, shooting five targeted missiles at the lower section of the Yamato.
“The Scalar weapon has fired, my Lord.”
________________________
Betelgeuse Sector
The Yamato
________________________
“Sir, all systems are shutting down!”
Sparks and fires erupted as the Scalar blast passed through the hull of the Yamato.
“I’ve lost helm control!”
“All systems are off-line,” the XO shouted in the now darkness of the CSC which was now only dimly illuminated by the burning consoles. The ship’s control center was venting black toxic smoke from the flames lapping at the fried electronics.
“Environmentals are off-line,” Lieutenant Ren continued to report, “We’re losing gravity plating. All weapons systems are off-line!”
“Can you scan their position,” Captain Shin begged, holding on to his restraint system as the ship rocked from five detonations below decks.
“No, sir! Every system is down!”
“What were those explosions?”
“Five missiles detonated on our ventral, Sir. We’re venting atmosphere!”