The Raygin War

  Tews broke the silence. “You know, this ship is huge, but we haven’t seen as many spaces as we should have by now. There must be other vents isolated from ours”.

  Spaz felt surprised. His friend never seemed to stop thinking. “You may be right. There have been a couple long lengths of vent shaft between rooms. Makes you wonder what else this ship is carrying. If that’s true, how do you suggest we explore the entire ship?”

  “You don’t want to know, but I’ll tell you anyway. We would have to go out a vent, and into a room. Next, we would have to leave the room and travel perpendicular to the passageway, find another vent and remove the cover. Hop in and begin exploring again. We’d have to do it all over again to get back to the pen.”

  “I have to tell you, I’m not a fan of your idea.”

  “I’d calculate our success at less than ten percent.”

  “We have to find another way to explore the ship because that’s not going to happen,” said Spaz.

  “If we could take over and hold engineering, our chances of success increase to about thirty percent.”

  “What if we poison the crew before we take control of engineering?” asked Spaz.

  “That is a great idea. I would guess our chances of success increase to about forty percent.”

  “One more question. If you round forty to the nearest increment of fifty what would that be?”

  “Fifty, I know you’re not that stupid. What are you getting at?”

  “I’ll tell you what I’m getting at. Stupid me just increased our odds of success to fifty percent, and I can live with fifty-fifty odds.”

  Tews shook his head. “Come on. Let’s get going.”

  “Do you want to go back to the holding pen?” asked Spaz, hoping Tews would continue on instead. He didn’t mind the rest stops, but their lives were at stake. They needed the intelligence. He crossed his fingers, hoping Tews would push on.

  “Man, I’d like nothing more than to go back. My head’s pounding, my body aches, and I have sweat so much I’m starting to smell like you.”

  “Be careful, my musky smell is what attracts the females.”

  Tews burst out laughing. “Yeah, maybe female dung beetles.”

  Spaz started crawling towards Tews. When he was close enough, he grabbed his head, and started pulling it towards his armpit.

  “Stop. Stop it. You win. I’ll keep going, you little rat bastard.”

  Spaz released Tews, smiled, and said, “What made you change your mind?”

  “If I’m going to pass out, it may as well be on my terms, not yours.”

  “Come on buddy. Let’s go find a way to kill more bugs.”

  Spaz held out his fist. Tews smiled and gave him an exploding fist bump. They started to crawl again. When they got to the main vent, Spaz labeled the arrow on the wall with the word engineering. The glow sticks still put out a decent amount of light, but not enough to see down the long main corridor.

  In time, they came upon another T.

  “Which way Tews?”

  “Let’s go left.”

  “Okay, but I have a bad feeling about your choice.”

  “So we go right instead.”

  Spaz grinned at Tews. “Okay, but I have a bad feeling about that way too.”

  Tews couldn’t help but laugh. “Did I ever tell you my parents wanted me to study psychology? This caused a great conflict within me, because I wanted to focus on bugs. My solution was to study both fields at the same time. In the end my parents accepted my love of entomology. Why is this important you might ask? I recognize crazy when I see it. I also know you’re trying to distract me from my physical pain with what you perceive to be witty wordplay. You must have learned a few simple medical tricks in military field training.”

  “You know Tews, a simple thank you, would have been fine. Did it work?”

  Tews stretched his back and rubbed his neck. “I’ll be darn. My headache is gone.” He smiled at Spaz as he patted him on the shoulder. “Thank you.”

  The two friends kept crawling. The length of vent seemed to go on forever. Spaz passed an isolation point in the air moving system. Something important was ahead again. He stopped to let his partner catch up. “Do you want to rest?”

  Tews stopped and sat in silence for a moment. “Can you hear the clicking? It’s bugs. They’re talking to each other.”

  “I can’t hear shit.”

  “Let’s keep going. I want to see what they’re up to,” said Tews.

  Spaz stopped crawling when he came upon a small cavity offset from the main vent. He stuck his head into the dark tiny room. It seemed loaded with high tech electronic equipment. “Look at this. It’s some kind of transmitter and receiver. It’s hard wired and has a back up power supply. What’s it doing in a vent?”

  “Its placement had to occur during the ship’s construction. Someone wanted to hide the equipment. There has to be hundreds of locations better suited to place this antenna system,” said Tews.

  “Do you think they have bug spies on their ships? Man, look at the little antenna. I’ve worked with hundreds of transmitters and receivers in my military career. I have never seen anything so small. What are they transmitting and receiving? Communication systems placed inside a ship with all this structure around it has to have all kinds of interference. I know they don’t think like us, but no human engineer would put a transmitter and receiver deep inside a ship.”

  “We aren’t going to solve the issue here,” said Tews. “Let’s keep going.”

  Spaz led the way once again. When he got to the point where he could hear the bugs clicking at each other, he stopped. Both he and Tews removed their light sticks to avoid drawing attention to themselves. In darkness, they crawled to the vent cover. Jackpot. As the two peered through the vent slats they could see the ship’s bridge. A 360-degree view screen showed a planet and two other bug ships sitting stationary.

  Spaz counted fifteen bugs on the bridge. At the center of the open area sat an elevated spoon shaped chair with a big bug in it. The chair swiveled left and right as the bug clicked out orders. The one in the chair had to be the captain. It hissed and clicked some more. Two bugs appeared on the screen. These had to be the other bug ship captains. Each captain clicked and hissed. It looked like they were arguing about something.

  The ship they were on rocked as if it collided with another ship. The air entering the vent smelled as bad as one of Tews’s farts. Alarms started sounding. The captain hissed and clicked. Spaz looked at the 360-degree view screen. One alien ship was being blown to pieces! Spaz resisted a cheer as he saw six human ships and scores of fighters with weapons blazing. They caught the bugs with their shields down. They must have jumped knowing the bugs were here. Spaz couldn’t move as he watched with awe. The fighters were firing at their ship. The battle’s action absorbed all of his senses.

  The bug captain pulled a lever. The ship jumped to life, and maneuvered as it fired at the humans. Spaz wanted to help but Tews was tugging on his arm. Spaz forced himself to leave his view from above. When they crawled a little ways into the main tunnel Spaz said, “What are you doing? I want to see the battle. We have to help them somehow!”

  “If we can get back to the captain and attack the ship from within, I calculate success at fifty percent without rounding. Are you listening? That’s only true if we attack the bugs during this battle!”

  “Why you sitting here yacking? Let’s tell the captain,” said Spaz.

  With adrenalin pumping through their veins, the two friends scurried to the holding pen like hungry rats to food. By the time Tews and Spaz got back to the pen, everyone knew something major was happening with the ship. The captives could feel power surges as the ship maneuvered. They also felt strong jolts knocking them off balance.

  The captain assembled representatives from each group of captives. Everyone listened as Tews and Spaz described their findings. When they talked about what they saw on the bridge moments ago, it got instant attention. Smitty ag
reed with the vent crawling duo, it was the time to strike, while the crew was distracted. For once, everyone agreed. Urgency forced them to develop a hasty plan of attack. They would take over the pen, engineering, and the bridge. They would also send a team to the armory to acquire more weapons and cause general havoc.

  They split the weapons. Ten weapons would stay with those in the pen and fourteen would go with the engineering group. Of those remaining, fourteen would go with the group attacking the bridge, and six would go with the armory group. The pen would get two additional rifles when they killed the guards. Each vent team would have thirty humans. Each team preselected riflemen who dipped their fingers into the blood Tews brought back. Each team also took a small container of blood, in case they needed more riflemen.

  Smitty and his group were already heading towards the vent. Their mission was to take control of engineering, neutralize the ship’s weapons, and isolate the drives. The second team started to crawl toward the bridge. The pen captives began to count to three hundred. At three hundred, two flashes from plasma rifles lit the pen walls. Both guards slumped into the arms of their captives. Spaz grabbed one rifle and another captive with blood on his finger took the other weapon. They moved toward the pen door.

  CHAPTER NINE: The Landing

  Lieutenant Phlop started to shake as he read the order. “Commodore? There’s no such rank as a commodore. This is some kind of a joke gone wrong McCormack. You’re going to pay for this! Hah, you in command? You’re nothing more than a non-com.” The lieutenant pulled a gold tube out of his pocket and placed it in his mouth and sucked in. Mac knew Lieutenant Phlop was puffing Ep Flavors on the trip. It was a disgusting habit practiced by the rich. It gave the user an epinephrine rush and was suppose to boost the firing of neurons giving the user a mental burst.

  The lieutenant held the orders up for the class to see. He looked at the troops and pulled a fancy chem-tube from his pocket. It was a type of lighter the colonists used on remote planets to start a fire. He ignited the lighter and held the hot flame to the orders. Nothing happened. He grasped the orders and tried to rip them in half. He pulled and pulled to no avail. With each attempt to destroy the orders, Mr. Phlop’s face got redder and redder.

  Mac grinned. The neuron boost must not have worked. “Let me give you a little history lesson Mr. Phlop. During the mining wars, messengers often had to deliver orders by hand due to radio silence, jamming, or plain old com problems. It’s why Fleet Command started making the orders out of spun Inconel. Its impervious to fire, and the strongest man in the universe can’t tear it,” said Mac.

  Lieutenant Phlop looked around the room. He pointed to Dwain and said, “Take Sergeant McCormack into custody.”

  “Does the paper you’re holding say Sergeant McCormack is a commodore?”

  “Yes, but it’s a lie.”

  “Sir, I hate to tell you this, but it looks like an official document. Commodore always outranks a first lieutenant. No disrespect Mr. Phlop, but as I see it, Mr. McCormack is your superior. In fact, if I remember my military history right, he has a lot of power. Not even fleet command, or for that matter, not even the president can override a commodore’s order during times of war.”

  The lieutenant looked at Dwain in disbelief. “This phony war hero has fooled everyone. He’s not even college educated. This is mutiny!”

  Mac had taken all he could. Most of his ground pounders were not college educated. It didn’t mean they weren’t intelligent.

  “Mr. Phlop, I’m ordering you to leave this room. I want you to think about your future, because you are on the verge of not having one in the military. We will talk after you have time to think. Now go.” Mac pointed at the door.

  The lieutenant spun around, and stomped off like a frustrated, angry child.

  Dwain was the first one to break the silence. “So, Commodore McCormack, what are you in charge of?”

  “I work through Vice Admiral Farragut. I am in charge of special operations.”

  “Fuck, no wonder we got all this fancy equipment,” said Dwain.

  Mac shrugged his shoulders. “Rank does have certain privileges.”

  “How come no one knows you’re a commodore?” asked Dreng.

  “We kept it a secret. As a sergeant I can move without notice within both the military and civilian organizations. A commodore draws way too much attention.”

  “What do we call you now? Sergeant or commodore,” asked Tinker.

  “Neither. Call me Mac.” Everyone laughed. “Look, nothing changes. We still have our primary job to do: to protect. Only now we protect the colonists, our ships, the crews, the folks back home, and everyone in-between.”

  “What’s the game plan? What do we do now?” asked a trooper.

  “Tinker will take charge and be responsible for loading our equipment onto the skiff. I have several containers on the hanger deck labeled UFC.Specop.Rayne. Make sure they get loaded and be gentle, the contents are fragile.”

  “What’s in the containers?” asked Dreng.

  “I brought a little surprise that might be useful if we have a problem. Whatever Tinker needs, Dreng and Dwain, I want you to make it happen.”

  “Who’s in charge of which troops?” asked Dwain.

  “You’re both corporals now, work together and supervise all three platoons.”

  They both nodded their heads.

  “Tomorrow, when we deploy on planet, each of you will wear your body armor with a scout pack. This includes a helmet with face shield, and you must each carry a rifle. Beyond that, I am flexible. You can carry a back-up weapon. Hell, you can even carry additional supplies, pictures from home, or anything you want. I don’t even care if you bring five pounds of sweets to share with everyone.”

  The team jostled each other and laughed.

  “Keep in mind anything extra is your responsibility to carry. With that said, I have to go to the bridge and use their com system to talk to the Warhammer and Dagger. Now get loading. When I’m done, I’ll meet you by the skiff.”

  Mac called the com group and explained he needed to use the ship’s communications system. When his request was denied, he explained he was Commodore McCormack and this was not a request. The com officer laughed.

  “Look Sergeant McCormack, I already know who you are, and I admire your creativity. I am aware of the link between you and the captain, but he’s asleep right now. We don’t let anyone on a whim come to the bridge to use the ship’s com system. You can fill out a transmission slip, we will prioritize it, and in time, your message will go out. It’s the best I can do right now.”

  “Never mind,” said Mac. I’ll take care of it myself. He broke the link and headed for the bridge. Time to see if his staff was right. They said I could get into secure areas I didn’t even know existed. Right now, I’ll be happy if I can get access to the bridge. He walked through the passageway to the direct elevator and put his hand over the scanner. The light turned green, the elevator door opened, and he stepped in. The elevator door closed and when it opened again he was standing at the entrance to the bridge.

  A big metal door blocked his entrance. He stepped onto a trigger mechanism causing his whole body to be scanned. A computer-generated voice greeted him with a, “Good morning Commodore McCormack.” He had to remember to thank his team. Mac stepped through an opening and was standing on the bridge.

  A com officer stood talking to the person in the captain’s chair. Mac could hear her say, “It’s not a mistake, the computer said commodore on deck.”

  Mac didn’t have time for games. He walked right up to the watch captain. “I’m Commodore McCormack, who are you?” Mac had the attention of everyone on the bridge.

  “Forgive me, Commodore McCormack, but we were not told we had a commodore on this flight. I am Commander Staltz. I have to ask, how you got onto the bridge?”

  “I was traveling under the alias of Sergeant McCormack. No one on this ship knows who I am. I no longer have the need to travel under a false
title. As for your second point, a commodore has unlimited access to everything. Right now I need to use your com system. If you refuse, I will seize your ship and do it anyway. I don’t mean to pressure you, but this is time sensitive. What’s your decision Mr. Staltz?”

  The commander looked worried, but he made the right decision. “Lieutenant Tybur, show the commodore the com system and give him anything he needs.”

  “Thank you commander, you made a good decision.”

  Mac walked over to the fancy com station, and studied the controls for about thirty seconds. “I don’t need your help Lieutenant Tybur, I’m familiar with the com system’s operation.” He put an earpiece on, switched the system to privacy mode, and activated a sound dampener. Next, he broadcast a coded message on a military use frequency. “Tango Tango Three Charlie Foxtrot, I say again, Tango Tango Three Charlie Foxtrot.” He sat in silence as he waited.

  The broadcast activated a series of events on the Warhammer and Dagger. Both ships’ captains would open and read sealed orders from United Fleet Command. Neither captain realized the orders existed. He hated all secrecy, but when the Argosy left Trinity Prime, they didn’t know who had attacked Nomad or the probes. He waited as the minutes ticked off. The two ship’s captains didn’t realize it, but they were hand picked by Mac. During the battles they participated in each captain used creative thinking to defeat attacks by multiple ships. Imaginative thinking was a trait Mac often sought out in those working for him.

  The Argosy’s proximity detectors went into alarm mode. The giant view screen showed two large UFC war ships facing the Argosy. The bridge crew watched in amazement. Great move. He knew he made the right choice in picking these two pilots. They blocked the Argosy from escaping. The ship could not move backwards as fast as they could move forward. In case of a scam or elaborate hoax, they obeyed orders, but took an extra precaution.