by Saxon Andrew
“Jan show me where I can cut those two scanning-vessels off.” Jan ran the data and a track appeared on the monitor. Tal turned the ShaKa on the track and Rachael rushed back to her chair. “Rachael!!” Tal yelled.
“I’m setting it up, Tal.”
“Tal, those are entirely new warships. They’re larger than any we’ve seen to date!” Jan reported.
“Will they see us?”
“Not until the last moment. All of their scanners are operating ahead of their course.”
“Rachael, you can’t…”
“I’ve got it handled, Tal. You need to concentrate on how to get us out of trouble.”
Tal nodded and gripped the steering wheel harder. The huge mass of alien warships began growing larger by the second. Rachael shouted, “You need to slow down!”
Tall pulled the thruster handle back as they roared in on the huge formation and Rachael said, “Hold it there…hold it there…MISSILES LAUNCHED.”
Tal felt the vibrations, as four missiles launched from the front-two missile tubes and lept out at the two-gigantic-warships ahead of them. The first two-missiles activated their phase fields and leapt away followed by the last two-missiles launched an instant later.
Tal could not take his eyes off the front monitor and saw the first two-missiles knock down the two-giant’s phase field and open fire with their pulse cannons. Every blaster on the two alien warships opened fire on the approaching missiles and their blasters broke through the energy pulses and destroyed them. They didn’t have long to cheer their success. The view of the second-pair of missiles was blocked by the explosions of the first-two and they slammed into the two-giant-warships causing massive explosions. “Their scanners are down!” Jan shouted.
“RACHAEL, GIVE THEM EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT!” Tal pushed a button on his panel activating the general frequency, “WE’VE KNOCKED OUT THEIR SCANNERS. LAUNCH EVRYTHING YOU HAVE AND GET OUT!!”
The surviving Epy Warships disappeared from the alien’s scanners and they turned and flew in at maximum-speed toward the ships pursuing them. They launched every missile in their inventory before turning away.
Rachael was firing all three missile-magazines as Tal swept the ShaKa’s bow across the alien formation. He reversed the ShaKa and flew away at high-speed, as fifty-alien-warships turned to pursue. He disappeared out of their scanner range just before they could start chasing the ShaKa. Tal shouted over the communicator, “We’ll rendezvous at the freighter! Make sure you’re not followed!!”
“TAL!” Tal jerked his head around to Jan. “I HAVE THREE TRANSPONDERS BEHIND US!!” Tal whipped the ShaKa around and jerked his eyes to the forward monitor. Three-tiny-white dots were on the lower edge of the monitor. Jan looked up from her console, “They’re suit-transponders, Tal!”
Tal shook his head angrily and pushed the thruster handle forward. Who could they be? He glanced at Jan and she started speaking as she kept her eyes on her monitor, “Those transponders are not far from where the Americas self-destructed!” She looked up to him, “That has to be Dan and his crew!”
“How many enemy ships close by?”
“Tal, we’ll be detected by at least six of them if we go to their location.”
Tal turned to Rachael, “Please tell me you didn’t launch all your missiles!”
“You ordered me launch them!”
“RACHAEL!!”
Rachael sighed, “Sir, I have one in each tube; I hate not having enough weapons to defend our ship! I’m sorry I didn’t follow your orders, Sir.”
“I love you, Rachael! Keep those warships off us!!” Rachael rolled her eyes and pulled her faceplate down.
• • •
Dan looked at Meghan and Mila, as he used his suit-jets to move in on them. They were holding hands and Mila reached out and grabbed Dan’s arm as he came in. Meghan used her jets to stop them and Dan puffed, “Thank you; I thought I was going to pass you.”
They were floating in open space and Mila sighed, “Sir, do you think they’ll come after us?” Dan fixed his eyes on Mila and finally shook his head. Mila sighed, “I didn’t think they would.”
“Why not?” Meghan asked.
Dan sighed, “This area is full of alien warships and I’m reasonably certain the Admiral ordered the task force to evade and flee.”
“If that’s the case, why did you order us to jump out of the Americas?” Meghan asked.
“I guess I did it instinctively. I saw it was the only way to not die. I feel responsible for your lives and wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“If you had to do it over…” Mila’s question faded off.
“I’d probably have just allowed us to die on the Americas when its self-destruct activated. It would be a faster death than dying out here from asphyxiation.”
Mila nodded slightly and looked out at the galaxy around them. “Well, I guess if one has to die, this is a great place to do it. The view of creation from here moves my soul to wonder at the incredible universe around us.” Mila turned to Dan, “It’s been great serving with you, Sir.”
Meghan smiled, “Yes it has. At least we’re here together at the end.”
Suddenly, something flew in on them at an unimaginable speed; it instantly stopped ten feet from them and Dan’s mouth flew wide open. The bay door opened, and Jan threw a cable out of the bay toward them. Dan snagged it, as Meghan and Mila gripped his suit. Jan anchored an arm on a handhold inside the bay door and pulled with all her strength on the cable. Dan saw a missile leap out of the rear-missile tube, as the crew of the Americas flew into the landing bay in an instant. Just before they passed into the bay, they saw three-pulse-cannons on the ship’s hull open fire.
Jan closed the bay door, pressurized the bay, and ran out of the landing bay. She removed her helmet and yelled over her shoulder, “Meet us on the bridge!!”
Rachael yelled, “GET US OUT OF HERE!!” Tal shook his head and was forced to wait on the bay door to close. Rachael hit an incoming alien warship with two pulse canons, but not before it launched a missile barrage. Tal saw the bay door light turn green and he slammed the thruster handle fully forward; the ShaKa went vertical at maximum-speed to avoid the incoming missiles. He stared at the tactical monitor and started another turn, but Rachael’s pulse cannons swept across the incoming missiles and they went up in massive explosions.
Jan rushed to her console and Tal yelled, “JAN!”
“REVERSE COURSE!!” She shouted.
Tal grabbed the thruster handle and pulled it fully back. The ShaKa came to an immediate stop and reversed course. Twenty-brilliant-blaster-beams flashed by behind them. Rachael’s eyes went to slits and she launched her last-two-missiles. Tal saw them leap ahead of the ShaKa and he followed them in on two warships flashing in on them. The alien warships had no choice but to target all their blasters on the incoming missiles. Rachael activated the force field just long enough to blow past them. Tal whipped the ShaKa hard right and dove the ship into the LMC. Ten minutes later, the ShaKa lost its pursuers.
No one noticed, but the crew of the Americas had entered the bridge, sat against the back wall, and watched Tal, Jan, and Rachael fight their ship. Dan was impressed with what he saw. Tal’s crew seemed to work together on an almost instinctive level. They seemed to know what each other was thinking and reacted without orders. He glanced at Mila and saw her staring at Rachael. She was shaking her head and she noticed Dan watching her. “I thought I was good, Sir. I’m nowhere close to being able to do what she’s doing,” she said softly
Dan shrugged, “Now we have a target to shoot for.” Mila turned back to Rachial and nodded.
• • •
Tal dove the ShaKa deeper into the LMC and went to full-speed. An hour later, he went vertical and flew toward the distant freighter. He set the ship on autopilot and turned to Dan with an angry expression, “Report, Captain!”
“Sir, I can understand your anger at not dying with the Americas. But we had time to get out and still insure the Ameri
cas self-destructed.” Tal’s eyes stayed fixed on Dan and he didn’t respond. “Sir, the generator powering the top-pulse-cannon exploded in the rear of the Americas and damaged the batteries powering the other generators. I saw the power level on all our system dropping fast. I ordered my crew to evacuate the ship and programmed the computer to use our remaining power to move the Americas away. I set the self-destruct to activate three minutes after the ship accelerated away.”
Tal glared at Dan and Rachael chuckled. Tal jerked his head around to her and she rolled her eyes. “JUST WHAT DO YOU FIND AMUSING, LIEUTENANT?!” Dan, Meghan, and Mila jerked at the volume of Tal’s voice.
Rachael leaned back in her chair and answered, “I’m amused at seeing you act like an ass like I used to and making the same mistakes.”
“JUST WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!”
“I was famous for punishing members of my crew for doing something they had no idea was wrong. Everyone on my ship walked on eggs hoping they didn’t make a mistake they knew nothing about.”
Tal’s demeanor changed slightly. His glare changed to just staring at her. “Care to tell me how I’m acting like you?”
“Sure, I’d love to.” Rachael looked at Jan, “Please correct me if I’m wrong about this.”
“I prefer you leave me out of this altogether. I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about,” Jan replied.
Rachael smiled at Jan, “Try to keep up.” She then turned to Tal, “Sir, tell me one time where you told the crews under your command that they could not fall into enemy hands.”
“I told them to self-destruct their ships before they allowed that to happen.”
Rachael turned to Jan and smiled. Tal jerked his head around to Jan and she lowered her head into her shoulders as she pressed buttons on her console, “Sir, that’s not what your ordered.”
Tal’s eyes went to slits and Jan’s head went lower. He saw her and stood up. his hands were tightened into fists behind his back and he blew out a hard breath. He inhaled slowly, sat down, and turned back to Jan, “Admiral Stevens, please educate me as to what I ordered.”
“Sir, you ordered every ship commander to self-destruct their vessel before it fell into enemy hands.”
“EXACTLY!!”
Rachael shrugged, “Tell me where in that order does it mention anything about the crews?”
Tal whipped his head around to her and Rachael was clearly not intimidated by Tal. Tal glared at her, and after a moment, sat back in his command chair. Tal kept his eyes on Rachael, then turned to Jan, and then turned around to Dan, “I apologize, Captain; my weapons officer is correct and my hostility toward you and your crew is not called for. You weren’t told why you had to die with your ship.”
Dan watched the proceedings and asked, “Why are we required to die with our ship, Sir.”
“Captain, why are we out here?”
Mila answered, “We’re out here to pin the alien’s fleets down in this galaxy.”
“And just who do the aliens think we are, Lieutenant?”
Dan’s head went back, and he started shaking his head. Tal saw him and lowered his eyes, “Do you understand now?”
Dan nodded, “If the aliens happened to find us floating in space, they would learn that humans are flying the ships attacking them and not some strange alien species. We would have revealed that Earth has a stardrive.”
Rachael snorted, “I wondered why you went back after them! It was an incredibly brave thing to do but also extremely stupid. Now I see you had no choice.”
Tal nodded, “No! I didn’t.”
Mila stood up, walked over to Tal, threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him, “I’m so thankful you did!” Tal rolled his eyes and looked at Dan, “Don’t do it again!”
“You can count on it, Sir. However, I think this is something you need to share with all the crews.” Tal nodded as Meghan joined Mila.
• • •
The eight surviving Epys fired more than four-hundred-missiles at the alien formations; all of them hit an alien ship. The alien ships flew wild evasive maneuvers and some of them hit their own warships around them. The loss of warships was catastrophic, and hundreds of support vessels had to be summoned to assist the crews on the stricken ships. The Supreme Fleet Commander was fired, and a New Commander was dispatched to command the surviving warships.
• • •
Tal ordered a communication black out and he met up with Jeremy and Greg in the freighter’s landing bay. The first thing he asked as they walked up was, “Who?”
Greg sighed heavily and began, “We lost both of the older Epys. Dan and Mo’s ships were the first to die.” Tal closed his eyes and Jeremy added, “We also lost Captain Jones’ Atlanta and Captain Holborg’s Stockholm.” Jeremy paused and said, “I’m sorry, Sir. We were caught completely off guard by what happened.”
“New technology can do that,” Tal replied. He put his hands on their shoulders and shook his head, “You had no warning about their new gravity scanner. However, I was able to save the Americas’ crew.” Jeremy’s eyes widened, and Tal shrugged, “I’ll tell you about it in our next meeting.”
“Is that what it was; a gravity scanner?” Greg asked.
“Yes. Rachael recognized the pattern. We were fortunate that I was behind them and had an opportunity to take them out.”
“What happens now?”
Tal turned to Jeremy, “We grieve for our dead and put our heads together to decide.” Jeremy shook his head slightly, “Sir, I need to meet with my crews.”
“Go ahead,” Tal answered.
Greg remained and said, “If they bring more ships with that gravity scanner…”
Tal held up his hand, “I know! We’ll need to call this off.” Greg nodded and left to meet his crews. Jan was standing beside Tal and he said softly, “Send a report to Duncan on what happened.”
“Yes, Sir.” Jan turned to go and said, “Thank you for saving my brother.”
“I didn’t just do it for him, Jan.”
“I know.” Jan turned and walked away.
Tal glanced at Rachael, who was staring at him, “You can’t blame yourself for this, Sir.” Tal could only shake his head. “If it makes you feel any better, there are hundreds of alien commanders feeling just like you do now.”
Tal raised his eyes to her, “No one should feel this way, Rachael.”
“It takes war to teach that lesson, Sir.” Rachael turned and followed Jan back to the ShaKa. Tal had to agree, Rachael was right.
• • •
Jan walked around the Retribution talking to Rachael and saw Dorman standing outside the ShaKa’s landing bay door. Rachael also saw him and said, “I think I’ll go get a bite to eat.” Rachael veered away, as Jan continued toward Dorman. She arrived at the ShaKa and Dorman raised his hands and said, “I want to apologize for not being honest with you, Jan. I’m sorry if I’ve caused you any pain.”
“Why did you do it?”
Dorman signed and lowered his head, “I wish I could give you a good reason, but the truth is I was just being selfish.”
“What is that supposed to mean!?” Jan demanded.
Dorman looked up, “I was lonely, Jan. I was trapped in a relationship I couldn’t escape, and I felt the first bit of happiness in a very long time when I first talked to you. I put my own feelings ahead of yours and I am truly sorry about that.”
“You know what they say, don’t you Dorman?” Dorman looked into Jan’s face and heard her say, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.”
Dorman took a breath and lowered his eyes, “I deserve that. I am sorry for what I did. I don’t expect you to forgive me; I just needed to tell you that you didn’t deserve what I did to you.”
Jan saw his pain and replied, “Dorman, my hatred for you is gone. After learning what was going on, well, I no longer felt so angry about it, the only pain I suffered was self-inflicted.”
“Thank you, Jan.” Dorman started to walk away but sudden
ly stopped and pulled Jan into his arms and hugged her tightly, “Thank you so much for making my life somewhat brighter. I didn’t deserve it, but I will always be grateful for it.”
He released her and turned to go but Jan grabbed his arm and pulled him back into an embrace. She kissed him and then held him tight. Dorman quickly said, “Jan, you are the most perfect woman I’ve ever known. You’re so much more than I could ever deserve.” He stepped back, and Jan grabbed his arm stopping him, “Do you know what else they say, Dorman?”
“No, what is that.”
“Shoot for the stars and you’ll at least make the sky.” Jan turned and walked into the ShaKa’s landing bay.
Dorman watched her walk away, as Tal walked up beside him. Dorman saw him, and Tal nodded toward the landing bay, “She’s really something, isn’t she?” Dorman glanced at the landing bay and nodded. Tal put his hand on Dorman’s shoulder, “So are you, Pal! Don’t set your sights too low.” Tal walked into the landing bay and Dorman put his hand on his lips. He stared at the landing bay door and then raised his arms and did a double-fist-pump as he said, “YESSSS!” He walked away with a spring in his step.
Jan was watching him on the ShaKa’s scanner and asked Tal as he entered the bridge, “What did you say to him?”
“You’ll have to ask him,” Tal answered with a wink.
Rachael walked in with a burger in one hand and a soda in the other. She asked with a serious expression, “How’d it go?” She sat down in her chair and took a bite of her burger.
Jan stared at her and said, “Racheeellll.”
Rachael laughed and took a sip of her drink. “Dorman is a good person, Jan. He’s one of the best men I’ve ever known, lighten up.”
“Have you sent my message?” Tal asked.
Jan turned to her console and Tal said, “I told him not to set his sights too low.” Jan stopped and turned to Tal. “Jan, I agree with Rachael. He’s really a good person.” Jan smiled, and Tal lowered his eyes, “What about my message!”
Jan jerked her head back to her console and began entering data. She smiled the entire time, until she began entering the names of the lost ships and their crews.