War Angel: part sixty-six

Alarms and claxons roared across every deck of the Rea’Cerb. J’rwa R’ybt leapt forward from his command seat and began barking commands of his crew. “Report! I want to know what just happened and I want to know right now! Send to other ship to go to all stop!” He took a breath, and whispered to himself. “Did we open fire without my permission?” Shocked Omegan faces did their best to concentrate on the tasks at hand, each warrior focused on the data being retrieved by their instruments, not a soul wishing to turn and face the commander with potentially life-ending news. Finally, a single brave warrior spoke up.

R’ybt cast his steely gaze at the young warrior. The commander made note of how the young subordinate was taking the time to steady himself and calm his nerves. “My commander?”

“Speak!” R’ybt began to feel his patience slipping away. “I await answers!”

The young warrior coughed. “My commander, indications are that their port side cannon mechanism exploded. They caught fire and ventilated atmosphere for almost a full minute, but it stopped.”

J’rwa R’ybt paced the bridge slowly. “You are certain, warrior?” He nodded assent. “What is your name?”

“R’kah K’darl, commander.”

The Rea’Cerb’s leader strode to the warrior’s side and clasped a hand to his shoulder. “You have done well. It will be noted.” R’ybt turned to face the rest of the bridge crew. “What are they doing now?”

Each of the Omegans doubled their efforts with their instrumentation, all hoping to find a way for them to join R’kah K’darl on the list of commendables from this mission. The main screen flared to life, and suddenly the damage to their foe was easily seen. A four-foot gap in the War Angel’s hull was readily apparent. A closer look revealed a figure moving within the enemy ship, and R’ybt realized that the earthers were making emergency repairs.

“Fascinating,” he muttered to himself.

One of the other warriors spoke up. “My commander? Should we not use this opportunity to destroy them? They are weak. Their defenses will not hold against us.”

R’ybt waived him off. “Bah. As if they would have at full strength. No, we are charged with bringing them to the Kan’Tar, and that is what we will do. Supreme Commander M’isti wants this ship and this crew in his grasp. Our glory lies within his plan.” He frowned. “Still…” he tailed off… “Hail them.”

“This is Captain Jack Keys. I’m a little busy at the moment, commander.”

“We can see that,” R’ybt replied calmly. “Do you require assistance?”

The face on the screen looked sad and puzzled for a moment, and R’ybt felt like he had caught the young earther off-guard. “Huh. Umm, no, I don’t think so. The fire is out and we’re working on plugging the hole.

A wide smile crossed R’ybt’s face. “Yes. A cannon-sized hole. Most… unfortunate.”

Keys scowled. “The cannon was unimportant.” His face sagged. “But the man we lost was our friend.” He wiped sweat from his brow. “Anyway, we’ll… be patched soon and be ready to get back underway. I know we’re due at the Kan’Tar.” He paused. “We’ll mourn on our own time, not yours. Keys out.”

The channel closed, leaving the screen on the Rea’Cerb empty and its commander intrigued. “I want a scan of that ship for life signs immediately!” he barked.

“My commander, I show six life signs.”

R’ybt lifted an eyebrow. Indeed, there were seven around Saturn and seven as they approached. He had just watched his enemy become crippled before his eyes and lose a member of its tiny crew in the process. As his crew noted, there would never be a better time to remove them from the board.

He swiveled and headed for the bridge exit. “Keep an eye on them. I will be in my quarters.” The bridge crew saluted him. “I need to talk to the Kan’Tar.”

As the door closed behind him, the crew exhaled with relief, and each smiled at the other. Perhaps the Kan’Tar would change the nature of their mission after all.

War Angel: part sixty-five

2142 – Approaching Phobos

“Putting them on screen,” Sarah’s voice echoed softly through the silent bridge. She took a deep breath and held it for as long as she could, exhaling slowly. “Visual confirms two B-class ships orbiting Phobos.”

Jack slid forward in his chair, leaning his elbows against his knees. “F.A., you reading anything else?”

“Negative, Captain. We have ourselves a devil’s threesome.”

“Sounder,” Jack’s said, his tone deepening, “Any chatter?”

Drake took his time, maneuvering every button and dial in front of him. “I’m picking up nothing unusual, Captain. Except for the fact that they have to have seen us by this point and haven’t hailed us.”

“Maybe they’re waiting on us to break the ice?” Sarah asked. She stood from her station and walked over to stand next to the Captain’s chair. “What do you think? Should we say hello?”

The War Angel’s captain leaned back in his chair. “I don’t want to seem too eager. They need to buy this.” He looked down to Gina at the helm. “Hime, how long ‘til we rendezvous with them?”

She swiveled in her seat to face him. “Eight minutes. Unless they start moving towards us, of course. Or they decide to open fire and kill us right now. Which they would probably succeed at. Which…”

Jack cut her off. “I know, I know… I get it. Okay, two minutes. If we haven’t heard from them, we’ll send the first hello.”

Gina pushed a button and a countdown clock appeared on the screen, just below the looming sight of the two Omegan battle cruisers. It showed seven minutes and twenty three seconds, then began counting down. Silent tension returned to the bridge, as the five of them watched, transfixed, as the enemy grew nearer and nearer. Ben found himself absently biting his nails, while Sarah began to gently tap her foot against a nearby railing. Finally, as the clock his 4:40, Jack broke the quiet. “Sounder, open a channel to the Omegans.”

Drake pushed a button and then gave Jack a thumbs up. “This is Captain Jack Keys of the EAD ship War Angel. We have arrived under flag of truce to be escorted to the Kan’Tar.” He paused and looked around the bridge. The crew looked back at him blankly. He shrugged and continued. “I bid you greetings.” He gestured to Drake to cut the channel. “Now we wait, I guess,” he said, exhaling.

A minute later, the comm. activated. “Captain Keys, this is J’rwa R’ybt, commander of the vessel Rea’Cerb. You will place your ship between our vessels and be escorted to the Kan’Tar. You will maintain speed and comply with all commands, or you will be destroyed. Understood?”

Jack smiled. “Charmingly so. Lead the way, commander.”

Gina and Kate worked quickly, analyzing the tactical data and moving the War Angel into a parallel course between the two Omegan ships. “We are in the corridor, Captain,” Gina said, her teeth gritted. “Coming up to position between them.”

“Right into a perfect ambush point,” Kate added.

Ignoring her, Jack turned to Sarah. “Is the package ready to be delivered?”

She nodded. “Timing is crucial. But everything is in place.”

Kate spoke up. “Captain, they are revving up their engines and starting to move.”

“Helm, match them!” Jack said with gusto. “Keep us on plane with them!”

The War Angel lurched forward as Gina kicked the engines back into speed. The three ships began moving towards Earth at a slow but steady pace. It almost felt, Jack thought, normal. As normal as could be, anyway. He stood from his chair and walked over to watch the tactical readout. The numbers spun and spooled their way across the screen, and he knew that the critical moment was coming. Suddenly, he looked up and over at Sarah. She gave him a subtle nod and turned to a nearby workstation. “Steady as she goes, Hime,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She started to respond, but before she could, the red alert system kicked on throughout the ship.

The bridge crew’s intensity levels hit maximum, but there was nothing they could do about what came next. A massive explosion tore through the port side of the ship, sending chunks of the old battlecruiser flying through space and bouncing off of the Omegan escort on that side. Fire blew out of the War Angel, aided by an oxygen supply that had not been shut off yet by the ship computer. Finally, the ship’s systems began to compensate for its wound and the engines screeched to a halt.

After a moment, the fire suppression equipment, combined with the vacuum of space, extinguished the blaze. But the result was still the same: the War Angel was dead in the water and surrounded by enemies.

War Angel: part sixty-four

2142- The Asteroid Belt

Gina leaned forward over the helm. Sweat dripped from her forehead to the console, blurring some of the numbers, but her head stayed steady. Timing was going to be everything, and this was a moment that required delicacy. A small droplet slid down her nose, tickling her gently, and she gave a quick jerk to fling it away. Her focus recovered, she began to speak; quietly at first, then growing louder. “Twenty seconds to shutdown, Captain… eighteen… fifteen seconds.” Her mouth felt dry. “Approaching shutdown point, Clover! Ten seconds… eight…”

“Steady…” Jack said, standing behind her.

“Five seconds… four… three… two… one… Disengage!”

Richard’s hands flew across his workstation, a flurry of commands input into the War Angel’s computer system. “Tachyon scoop disengaged!”

The ship jerked and shuddered as it slowed down, and the groaning sound of metal eased away. The sensation of speed actually became more acute for the crew, as the adjustments made after their maiden voyage had made the tachyon drive a far smoother ride this time. But a lag remained in how the shields dealt with dropping out of FTL, leaving normal space a bit bumpy for these first few moments.

“I ought to look into that,” Sarah thought as she gripped a railing while waiting for the ride to smooth out.

Jack turned to her. “Positioning?”

Sarah made her way to a nearby workstation and activated the main viewscreen. All eyes on the bridge saw it at the same time: they were moving at a blistering pace past on a parallel course with the asteroid belt. “We’re on a parallel heading, Speed is bleeding away slowly. But we have plenty of space to do it with. By the time we reach a Mars position, we’ll be where we need to be.”

The captain turned to his newest bridge crew member. “Sounder? What do you hear?”

Ben gently moved knobs and tapped in commands, doing his best to regain his focus. “Umm… chatter. All Omegan. No sign of Earth channels.”

“Have they spotted us?”

“If they have, they aren’t saying anything.” Ben stopped for a moment. “Hell of a ride, there, Jack. Hell of a ride.”

Jack smiled. “I’d tell you that you’re lucky you missed the first one, but…” Kate’s head snapped around to look at Jack. “But you aren’t. Staff meetings are mandatory from now on.”

Ben turned back to his station, looking away. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Standing up from his chair, Jack walked slowly to the front of the bridge. “The wonderful thing about space being so large is that, unless you know precisely where to look, it can be damn difficult to find what you’re looking for. Right now, they’re expecting us to arrive at Phobos under full tachyon drive in three hours. There’s no need for them to be looking at the asteroid belt, and even if they did, there are so many rocks with weird properties here that we’d be tough to pick out against the background noise. Sounder’s going to keep listening, but right now we proceed planned. We have our window, let’s make the most of it. Richard, Sarah, to the shuttle. Kate, Gina, you’re in the lab. I’ll be working on the cannon. Dismissed.”

Jack put down the soldering tool he was using and took a drink from his water bottle. What he was doing was tricky, a work of slight-of-hand that he wasn’t sure he could really pull off. The issue, he knew, was simple: too little, and the whole thing was blown before they ever left Martian orbit. They would be outgunned and unable to run. Victory would be possible, but, he conceded, not likely. On the flip side, too much and the entire ship could be wiped out instantly. Game over. He arched an eyebrow. “Then I’d better get this right,” he muttered to only himself.

Really, though, it was more than that. Jack had confidence in Sarah, which enhanced his confidence in Richard. He knew that Kate could pull off what he was asking of her, and that Gina would keep her focused in the lab. “No, Jack,” he thought, “this is about you. You’re betting everything on your little plan. Everyone.”

“What if you are the weak link?” he finally asked himself, giving voice to the fear that was haunting him. “Saturn was luck. It can’t be luck anymore.” He reached into the panel and began tightening every screw he could see, anger swelling in his chest. As he finished, he stepped away and dropped his tool belt to the ground. For a long minute he stared into the mass of wires and circuits, then he lifted the panel cover into place and listened to it click into locked position. Satisfied, he stepped to the side and leaned his head against the wall.

Suddenly, Jack’s anger took over and he delivered a savage punch to the wall in front of him. Not satisfied, he swung again. And again. And again. He heard a howling sound that carried throughout the corridor, the realization that it was his own screaming coming seconds later. Out of breath, his hands tender and raw he stopped. Jack panted and puffed for a moment, taking a quick inventory of himself, and as he wiped away blood from his knuckles, the comm. system chirped. “Captain, this is Sounder, come in.”

“Go ahead.”

Drake’s voice echoed off of the surrounding metal. “EVA activity reports complete and that they are returning now. Lab says they’re – and I quote – ‘as ready as they can be’.”

Jack took a deep breath and exhaled slowly before responding. “Very good. Send response for everyone to make their way to the bridge. We’ll convene there in fifteen minutes.”

The channel closed. Jack looked at his hands, and they trembled for a moment. He shook them vigorously for a few seconds, then began flexing his fists. Satisfied that he had himself back under control, he began making his way back to the bridge. “Enough of that,” he said, then quickly wondered if he was making a statement… or praying.