I'm sad to report that First Blood is not yet ready for release. Editing the final draft is taking a lot longer than I'd anticipated. I'll let you know when it's ready. In the mean time, I'll continue to let out some scenes from the book here as I get them ready.
If you'd like to be a beta reader for the new episode, leave a comment here.
Ken
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Vignette from Days of Valor
This is just a peak at what's coming...
On a hot battlefield, you survive only by moving: the bad guys know where you are as soon as you shoot. And the only way to keep them from getting close to you is to shoot. Lt. Kieffer grimaced at the thought as he glanced up at the tactical display in his helmet visor. When this engagement started, he had two full fire teams. Now, he was down to six healthy troopers and a couple of mobile injured troopers. The other ten were now just letters he’d have to write to next of kin... If he survived.
He was moving in van with Trooper Stinson, providing delaying fire for the rest of the team to escape behind. A heavy mechanized battalion with air and artillery support had responded to their attack on the communication center.
“Starbase. This is Roadrunner two over.” He called out on the uplink. He dove hard across the side of the hill as a homer round slammed into the ground where he’d just been. He almost didn’t hear the answer as he rolled to a stop behind a large boulder.
“Roadrunner this Starbase. Status?”
He rolled on his back to glance up into the night sky over head. All he could see were twinkling stars in a cloudless moonless night. She must be high he thought. “Mission accomplished. Taking heavy fire. We’re closing around alternate extraction site. Ten troopers k-i-a. Eight effective, two injured. Being pursued by heavy mechanized infantry with artillery and air support. Copy?”
The answer was immediate. “Copy Roadrunner. Dustoff and Vipers are downbound now. ETA five minutes.”
“Faster would be better Starbase.” He paused as he jumped again to a new location. He felt the heavy bumps of fragments hitting his suit as he did. He didn’t feel any pain. His visor flashed yellow. His suit’s armor was compromised: it wouldn’t protect him again.
“Roadrunner, we’ll be above the horizon in a couple of seconds. We’ll take some of this heat off you you. Tell your guys to go armor bravo.”
“Roger Starbase. Go Armor Bravo.”
He switched to his tactical net. “Roadrunners.” He shouted. “Go Armor bravo now. Dustoff in five.”
It was a testament to their discipline and desperation that there was no typical pre-pickup chatter that usually accompanied a dustoff call.
The Lieutenant grabbed his wrist control ring around his shooting hand and twisted it to Armor-bravo setting. The Witch warned him immediately. “Alert, suit power will last two minutes at this setting.” He didn’t bother to argue with the suit’s computer. He jumped to another hiding place and for the first time in several hours crouched behind the boulder.
The ground shuddered under his feat, again and again and again. Overhead the sky glowed yellow and actinic white from the reflected glare of massive explosions. His suit stiffened from the impact of a surge of high energy particles.
Friday, April 4, 2014
First Blood: Chapter 1, Scene 1
REPUBLIC
BETA HYDRI DEFENSE STATION
MISSION DAY: 0 TIME: 12:20
Ty found himself standing in the middle of a tree lined city park filled with people. Out-stretched branches of ancient elms shaded picnicking families and busy people on the sidewalks. Children were chasing one another in play on the park’s manicured grounds. Others intent on their tasks, walked by not noticing him. Overhead the sun shone a friendly bright yellow in a pale blue cloudless sky. A gentle summer breeze blew into his face carrying the scent of flowers mingled with city. The sounds of a thousand conversations inundated him; children squealing in delight, the occasional barking dog plus the distant muted rumble of a large city.
This was the business section. office buildings protruded above the trees tops with their glass and chrome surfaces glinting and sparkling in the sunlight. On the north corner, an ornate red brick and glass bell tower began tolling ten o’clock. In the distance, to the south, he could see the distinctive shapes of shuttles bound for low orbit, lifting off and rising out of sight into the sky.
The longer he stood there the more he could sense. Soon he could hear the quiet conversations of couples whispering, the soft tap of chess pieces being moved, even the sound of birds chirping and insects calling to one another. If he gazed in a direction for more than a few moments, he saw distant blades of grass and leaves waving in the breeze. What he noticed and felt most was the life energy of the people in the park and the city beyond. He felt and experienced the warmth of hands being held and the gentle touch of mothers stroking the backs of their children. This connection left him with a profound feeling of reverence and awe.
He noticed at his feet, a second shadow next to the one cast by the late morning sun. He looked up and saw a bright point of light, like that of a miniature sun. In an instant, it shot down through the sky and over the eastern horizon, shining with such piercing brilliance, he had to close his eyes. The after images of its passing were as a razor straight white rip in the sky.
With everyone else, he looked to the east. A distant line of white appeared on the horizon. As it approached it grew into a wall of white light. The massive shockwave of compressed air was heated to white incandescence, blasting buildings to sand, gravel and fine powdery sawdust as it passed. Before his eyes, every person, every tree, shrub, animal in the park, was atomized instantly into pink and brown mists. It left nothing but scoured rock and foundations.
Overhead the sky grew dark indigo then black as the atmosphere was blown into space behind it. Stars appeared in dazzling brilliance along with the sun.
He looked down at his body and was bewildered when he saw he’d been unaffected by this event. Then he felt a rumbling coming from deep in the ground beneath him. He looked again to the east and saw another approaching shockwave, this one orange and yellow in color. Its passage shattered the ground beneath him. In its wake, the planet’s crust roiled like boiling mud and then disappeared, buried under boiling lava and magma that rose from the depths. Glowing chunks of stone ranging in size from small rocks to small mountains began falling to the ground causing explosions as they slammed into the ravaged surface of the planet around him.
Then they appeared. They were white, wraithlike apparitions of the people he’d seen. They covered the tortured landscape as far as he could see. Turning to him, they pointed their outstretched arms at him. Ty gasped when he saw Lieutenant Commander Andrews and the rest of the people in the command center among them. In unison they called to him in pain laden and accusing tones, “You left us, you could have saved us. Don’t let more die this way.”
He answered back to them, “But I did save you all.”
They wailed back, “No, you let us die. Don’t let more die too.” Ty in that last instant felt the pain and terror they felt as their bodies were destroyed by the shockwave.
He shouted in tormented agony, “NO!!” He held up his hands to shield his eyes from their gaze. Amidst the incessant cries, he pulled his hands away from his face and saw they were covered and dripping in blood. Then the wraiths rushed towards him, their screams rising to a deafening crescendo. He gasped when he saw Amanda among them as they rushed in towards him.
He sat up on the bed, his heart pounding like it would explode out of his chest, the thump-thumping of its beating audible in his ears. Images of the faces appeared in the darkness around him. “Lights,” he croaked. With the coming of the dim lights, the images receded into the dark crevasses of his mind and the shadows of the room. He placed a hand on his chest trying to get control of the pounding. He glanced down and saw no trace of blood. He leaned back on one arm and raised his trembling hand. His forehead wet with sweat.
Stunned, he shook his head and said to the air around him, “That wasn’t just a dream!” The silence of the room was unnerving. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, saying, “It couldn’t be real.” This did little to convince himself.
He looked at the clock by his bed. It was still a couple of hours before the Congo was scheduled to leave the station. Ty grabbed his ID card and made a call, “Beta Hydri Command Center, this is Ty Weiss.”
Andrews answered, “Hey Ty, glad you called. There’s been a change.”
Ty didn’t say anything, he just sat in silence.
”Is everything ok?”
Ty shook his head no. He looked at his hand again which was still shaking. “I just had a horrific nightmare. It was so real, it has me spooked.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Ty shook his head no. “I want to forget it!” He took a deep breath and felt his heart finally slow down. “I think I’ll be OK. There’s no way I’m sleeping again for a while.”
“With what you’ve just been through, I’m not surprised. But suit yourself, however; you might want to consider talking to a shrink if they persist.”
“Another dream or two like that and I won’t need a therapist. You’ll need a mortician.”
Andrews gave a subdued chuckle, but there was real concern in his voice.
Ty wiped his face with his hand. “So, what’s the change?”
“Congo just got reassigned, flash orders from the fleet. She pushed out a few minutes ago.”
“I really had my heart on seeing a larger ship. I guess that means I get to chill here for a few days?”
“I wouldn’t get too comfortable, fleet said to get you to Nova Terra ASAP some other way, so I’m looking for another ride for you.”
Ty chuckled. He had just the solution. “Relax, I can go in the LightJammer. Remember, it’s my ship now.”
“Heh, I’d forgotten about that. Chief Sanborn was headed to Nova Terra, too. He got bumped as well, got room for him? Like you, his orders say to get to Nova Terra the fastest possible way.”
Ty thought of the back cabin of the LightJammer and how it was configured. He smiled as he shook his head. “There’s room for him. He may not like it, not the way it’s rigged right now.”
“Oh yeah, the smell!” Ty and Andrews both laughed.
“Well, he’s a big boy and a married man. I think he can handle the cabin for a few hours.”
Andrews snickered. “I caught a whiff of that scent. The pheromones in it are sure potent.”
“They are indeed. Let me call Toni and get it set up.”
“Sure thing. Command clear.”
Ty set his ID on the bed beside him and thought about Toni and the LightJammer. He still couldn’t believe her dad had offered him her hand in marriage as a reward for saving the lives of his family. In the end, the old man had given him the LightJammer. Ty felt more like the proverbial dog that caught the car when he thought of owning the sleek hotrod of a ship that was the LightJammer. He decided, this was one way to make that dream more real. He grabbed his ID card and placed a call. “Antonia Belutoni, this is Ty Weiss.”
There was no answer. She didn’t answer until after his third call. “Hi Ty.” Ty could hear loud dance music playing in the back ground and that she was shouting over it.
“I have a charter trip for you.”
“A what?”
Ty spoke louder almost shouting into the card, “I have a charter for you.”
“I still can’t hear you. Just a sec.” He could hear the music continue to play in the background and heard her talking to several other people. From the sound, he could picture her walking somewhere quieter. At last, the music went away. “Ok. I’m in a hush booth,” she said. “We’re you asking about a charter?” There was a trace of disbelief in her voice.
“Yes. I need you to make a quick trip to Nova Terra, carrying two people.”
“How much are you charging? Charter runs aren’t cheap. Transit fees in core systems not to mention operational costs are going to be,” she paused a second. Ty figured she was estimating the cost in her head. “About two thousand credits per person for a round trip.”
“This would be one way for both.”
“Well double it then, because we’d be deadheading the ship back here.”
Ty was surprised. “It costs that much?”
She came back instantly, “It sure does. Transit fees alone are five thousand credits for a core system like Nova Terra. Add to that power costs and the amortization of inspections fees. It adds up quickly.”
Ty shook his head, he was the one in disbelief now. “I guess. Well, the fleet will pick up the cost.”
“Sweet! We usually charge double or more for those runs since there’s so much paperwork and delay between the trip and when they finally pay. Who am I carrying anyway and when do we need to go?”
“Who, is easy, me and Chief Sanborn.”
She laughed a full bellied laugh. “I won my bet!” she shrieked.
“What?”
She took a minute to settle down. “My dad said it would be less than a week and you’d be asking for a ride in the ship. I told him, it would be less than two days. He laid a hundred note on you traveling in a week.” She laughed again. “I doubled down saying it would be in less than two days and doubled that if it was today. So let me guess, you do want to leave right away, right?” He smiled at the less than subtle encouragement in her voice.
“Yeah, actually I do.”
“Woo hoo! You made my day! Tess is docked at level three port two. Grab Sanborn and get there. I’ll arrive in a few minutes myself. We can push as soon as the two of you are aboard.”
“That fast?”
“When that kind of money is on the table, we move quickly to keep our customers happy, plus we haven’t been docked that long, the system will come up pretty fast. And since you’re the owner, I can push off those Persian ice miners. I can get you there and back in less than a day, so I can still carry them. It does mean one of you has to ride in the back.”
“Heh. We’ll have to discuss that. Anyway, I’m getting the Chief. You get the ship ready to go. See you in a few.”
“Remember, level three, port two.”
Ty called back to Andrews. “Command, Ty Weiss.”
“Hi Ty,” said Andrews. “Got a ride?”
“Yes and one for the Chief too. Round him up and send him to level three port two.”
Andrews said, “Ok. By the way, I’ve got something for you.”
“Oh?”
“The REACT made a final sweep through the debris field of the Adventurer while you were sleeping. They found your notebook floating several miles from where the Adventurer was. It has a trace of your DNA on it.”
Ty stopped in mid stride. “My notebook? How can that be?”
“Beats me. The only possible explanation is that someone threw it away from the ship when they realized what was about to happen.”
Ty went back to his last moments on the Adventurer when they opened the emergency evacuation port prior to his leaving the ship. He could clearly see her haggard face towards the end of their ordeal and how tired she must have been. He thought of the tense hours they’d spent trying to save the ship from the Alliance’s relentless pursuit. He was sad for her death, but he felt finally, she was at peace. She was the only other person on the ship who knew how important the information on the notebook was. He was grateful he’d known her. She was a trooper to the very end of her life. "Sir, my guess is chief Anderson threw it away from the ship through an emergency evacuation portal.”
“What’s on a notebook that would be so valuable?”
“It’s a program she and I developed. Can you get it to me?”
“Sure! I’ve got it with me. We’ll just have you gate in here on your way to the LightJammer.”
“Thanks, sir.”
He jogged back to the bathroom and collected his boots and gloves where he’d left them before showering and taking a nap. By the time he had them on, he could hear the gate shimmer to life. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Ice blue eyes under crew-cut-short, sandy hair in a face defined by its sharply chiseled chin, looked back at him. There were also rings of fatigue around his eyes. Yet, a lifetime of laboring for his step father a brick maker left him with wiry thin but incredibly strong arms and muscles. He smiled briefly thinking of how many times he’d turned down offers from the fleet to be a model for recruiting posters. He turned to the door and jogged through the sitting area, towards the gate. Andrews stood by the gate holding his notebook in his hand. He took it from him once he got through.
“Level three is actually two hundred feet below us,” explained Andrews. “There’s an elevator down the hall outside the entry to the command center here. It’ll get you to level three. Just follow the signs to the dock. Got it?”
Ty nodded. “I guess this really is it.”
Andrews stuck out his arm, “Good luck.”
“You too, sir,” with that, they shook and Ty headed out the command center towards the elevator. When Ty got to the docking port, he recognized Toni and Chief Sanborn but not the regal looking woman standing next to the chief. She was the Chief’s height, nearly six inches taller than Ty. They were both wiry thin and both had silvered hair. His was short like Ty’s, her’s would’ve been shoulder length, but she’d had it pulled into an intricately braided pony tail.
They were standing with Toni talking and laughing together. Toni saw Ty coming down the hall and waved enthusiastically at him as he approached them. When the chief and the woman turned towards Ty, he noticed they were holding hands. The chief was in a sharply pressed fleet space suit. His gloves were resting on the duffle bag at his feet. She was wearing a light satiny sheer blue colored tunic with iridescent highlights and brown leather high-heal boots. As Ty drew close to them, he could see the Chief’s eyes were grey and hers were aquamarine blue.
“Hi Chief,” said Ty as he stopped in front of them.
The chief, smiled at him and motioned at the woman with his free hand. “Ty, this is my wife, Dottie.” He looked into Dottie’s eyes and said with a smile, “Dots, this is the officer I told you about. The one who stopped the missile attacks.” Her smile lit up enough to illuminate the room. She dropped his hand and reached to give Ty a hug. Instinctively, he returned it. A faint rose and lilac scented perfume washed over him as she did.
She whispered into his ear, “Thanks for saving us all, especially my Jim.” She pulled away from him giving him another warm smile. She grabbed his hands with hers and gave them a gentle squeeze before taking the Chief’s hand again.
“You’re welcome, I ah…” stammered Ty.
Toni laughed softly. “See what I meant, Ty?”
Ty glanced at Toni. She was still wearing the jeans and scoop necked blouse she’d worn when they’d met in Tillies several hours earlier.
In the light of the passenger waiting area of the docking port, Ty could see her hair was actually a dark walnut color. He was wasn’t too surprised to see her hair matched her eyes. She was shorter than she seemed on the ship, her head barely came up to his eyes. She also had the face and figure which would never need the help of a pheromone to get men aroused. What surprised him most was how young she looked. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was about her, but she exuded a vivacious energy.
He conceded her point with a friendly nod. Ty glanced at her and at Dottie then the chief. “Hey, I have an idea, Mrs. Sanborn…”
“Call me Dots please,” she answered.
“Dots?” asked Ty questioningly.
She gave a soft laugh. “My name is Dorothea Annabella Lynn. It’s such a stuffy mouthful, I prefer being called ‘Dots’ by my friends.”
“Very well, Dots. As owner of this fine vessel we’re about to embark on, it would be my pleasure to have you come along with us to Nova Terra. After we’re dropped off, Toni can have you back in a day.” He gestured at Toni invitingly who first looked surprised then pleased with the offer.
“It would be great fun. We can keep each other company on the return trip,” offered Toni.
Jim turned to her, “Come on Dots, it’s just a day. The store will wait.”
She gave him a serious look, but his plaintive expression melted her resolve. The adoring look in her eyes as she looked at the Chief touched Ty. She relaxed a bit then relented. “I guess.” A twinkle came to her eyes. “Sure, why not! That’s a well trained mess down there in the shop. It’ll stay right where I left it.” Everyone laughed.
A mischievous twinkle lit up Toni’s eyes. “Gotta warn ya Dots, the cabin configuration is rather interesting.” Ty immediately thought of the scent and the pheromones and how hard he had to fight its effect to not see Toni as a sex object. He briefly wondered what it would be like to not have to resist its effect and let his desires for his wife Amanda to run unchecked.
“Oh?” The older woman gave her a concerned look but seemed mollified by Toni’s smile.
“You’ll see what I mean in a moment. Let’s get aboard. We’re burning time.”
Ty said, “Lead on.” Toni headed for the portal and tapped a series of numbers in a keypad. The inner door opened revealing the tube to the ship. While Ty knew what to expect when the fragrance and the pheromones hit him, he still found it hard to stay focused. He saw Toni was concentrating too. The Chief and Dots had completely different but reactions Ty expected. The chief dropped his duffel at the hatch and turned to look at Dots, desire written all over his face. She returned the look with an equally intense desire. Soon they were in a close embrace, swaying slowly, rhythmically side to side. Ty felt more than a little pang of jealousy as he watched the chief’s hands slowly, sensuously caress Dot’s thighs, hips and waist.
Dots spoke with a dreamy voice, “Toni, I love this. You guys lock the door. We’ll be fine back here.” Ty and Toni quickly got into the flight deck. The hatch slid closed but not before the sound of Dottie giggling with delicious delight echoed through the small cabin.
Ty and Toni both sat still for a moment grinning at each other, trying to clear their heads of the pheromone’s effect. Toni finally spoke, “Well, that didn’t take long!”
Still grinning, Ty shook his head no, “It sure didn’t.”
“Envious?” asked Toni. She gave him a teasing glance.
Ty shook his head no again. “Well, maybe.” He paused as she gave him a stern, disbelieving look. ”OK, a lot,” he admitted.
Toni gave a wistful sigh. ”Maybe I’ll try that on my honeymoon. Anyway, let’s let them have their fun. I think they’ll be pretty occupied for the trip.”
Ty laughed. “I suppose they will.”
Toni reached in front of him across the console and tapped a couple of commands on the main screen in front of Ty. A checklist appeared on the screen. “Why don’t you help with the preflight, OK? It’ll keep us both preoccupied.”
He pursed his lips and nodded with a faint smile. He had to concentrate to keep from thinking about being in the other cabin with Amanda and appreciated the distraction. “Sure. Thanks,” he said at last.
BETA HYDRI DEFENSE STATION
MISSION DAY: 0 TIME: 12:20
Ty found himself standing in the middle of a tree lined city park filled with people. Out-stretched branches of ancient elms shaded picnicking families and busy people on the sidewalks. Children were chasing one another in play on the park’s manicured grounds. Others intent on their tasks, walked by not noticing him. Overhead the sun shone a friendly bright yellow in a pale blue cloudless sky. A gentle summer breeze blew into his face carrying the scent of flowers mingled with city. The sounds of a thousand conversations inundated him; children squealing in delight, the occasional barking dog plus the distant muted rumble of a large city.
This was the business section. office buildings protruded above the trees tops with their glass and chrome surfaces glinting and sparkling in the sunlight. On the north corner, an ornate red brick and glass bell tower began tolling ten o’clock. In the distance, to the south, he could see the distinctive shapes of shuttles bound for low orbit, lifting off and rising out of sight into the sky.
The longer he stood there the more he could sense. Soon he could hear the quiet conversations of couples whispering, the soft tap of chess pieces being moved, even the sound of birds chirping and insects calling to one another. If he gazed in a direction for more than a few moments, he saw distant blades of grass and leaves waving in the breeze. What he noticed and felt most was the life energy of the people in the park and the city beyond. He felt and experienced the warmth of hands being held and the gentle touch of mothers stroking the backs of their children. This connection left him with a profound feeling of reverence and awe.
He noticed at his feet, a second shadow next to the one cast by the late morning sun. He looked up and saw a bright point of light, like that of a miniature sun. In an instant, it shot down through the sky and over the eastern horizon, shining with such piercing brilliance, he had to close his eyes. The after images of its passing were as a razor straight white rip in the sky.
With everyone else, he looked to the east. A distant line of white appeared on the horizon. As it approached it grew into a wall of white light. The massive shockwave of compressed air was heated to white incandescence, blasting buildings to sand, gravel and fine powdery sawdust as it passed. Before his eyes, every person, every tree, shrub, animal in the park, was atomized instantly into pink and brown mists. It left nothing but scoured rock and foundations.
Overhead the sky grew dark indigo then black as the atmosphere was blown into space behind it. Stars appeared in dazzling brilliance along with the sun.
He looked down at his body and was bewildered when he saw he’d been unaffected by this event. Then he felt a rumbling coming from deep in the ground beneath him. He looked again to the east and saw another approaching shockwave, this one orange and yellow in color. Its passage shattered the ground beneath him. In its wake, the planet’s crust roiled like boiling mud and then disappeared, buried under boiling lava and magma that rose from the depths. Glowing chunks of stone ranging in size from small rocks to small mountains began falling to the ground causing explosions as they slammed into the ravaged surface of the planet around him.
Then they appeared. They were white, wraithlike apparitions of the people he’d seen. They covered the tortured landscape as far as he could see. Turning to him, they pointed their outstretched arms at him. Ty gasped when he saw Lieutenant Commander Andrews and the rest of the people in the command center among them. In unison they called to him in pain laden and accusing tones, “You left us, you could have saved us. Don’t let more die this way.”
He answered back to them, “But I did save you all.”
They wailed back, “No, you let us die. Don’t let more die too.” Ty in that last instant felt the pain and terror they felt as their bodies were destroyed by the shockwave.
He shouted in tormented agony, “NO!!” He held up his hands to shield his eyes from their gaze. Amidst the incessant cries, he pulled his hands away from his face and saw they were covered and dripping in blood. Then the wraiths rushed towards him, their screams rising to a deafening crescendo. He gasped when he saw Amanda among them as they rushed in towards him.
He sat up on the bed, his heart pounding like it would explode out of his chest, the thump-thumping of its beating audible in his ears. Images of the faces appeared in the darkness around him. “Lights,” he croaked. With the coming of the dim lights, the images receded into the dark crevasses of his mind and the shadows of the room. He placed a hand on his chest trying to get control of the pounding. He glanced down and saw no trace of blood. He leaned back on one arm and raised his trembling hand. His forehead wet with sweat.
Stunned, he shook his head and said to the air around him, “That wasn’t just a dream!” The silence of the room was unnerving. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, saying, “It couldn’t be real.” This did little to convince himself.
He looked at the clock by his bed. It was still a couple of hours before the Congo was scheduled to leave the station. Ty grabbed his ID card and made a call, “Beta Hydri Command Center, this is Ty Weiss.”
Andrews answered, “Hey Ty, glad you called. There’s been a change.”
Ty didn’t say anything, he just sat in silence.
”Is everything ok?”
Ty shook his head no. He looked at his hand again which was still shaking. “I just had a horrific nightmare. It was so real, it has me spooked.”
“Want to talk about it?”
Ty shook his head no. “I want to forget it!” He took a deep breath and felt his heart finally slow down. “I think I’ll be OK. There’s no way I’m sleeping again for a while.”
“With what you’ve just been through, I’m not surprised. But suit yourself, however; you might want to consider talking to a shrink if they persist.”
“Another dream or two like that and I won’t need a therapist. You’ll need a mortician.”
Andrews gave a subdued chuckle, but there was real concern in his voice.
Ty wiped his face with his hand. “So, what’s the change?”
“Congo just got reassigned, flash orders from the fleet. She pushed out a few minutes ago.”
“I really had my heart on seeing a larger ship. I guess that means I get to chill here for a few days?”
“I wouldn’t get too comfortable, fleet said to get you to Nova Terra ASAP some other way, so I’m looking for another ride for you.”
Ty chuckled. He had just the solution. “Relax, I can go in the LightJammer. Remember, it’s my ship now.”
“Heh, I’d forgotten about that. Chief Sanborn was headed to Nova Terra, too. He got bumped as well, got room for him? Like you, his orders say to get to Nova Terra the fastest possible way.”
Ty thought of the back cabin of the LightJammer and how it was configured. He smiled as he shook his head. “There’s room for him. He may not like it, not the way it’s rigged right now.”
“Oh yeah, the smell!” Ty and Andrews both laughed.
“Well, he’s a big boy and a married man. I think he can handle the cabin for a few hours.”
Andrews snickered. “I caught a whiff of that scent. The pheromones in it are sure potent.”
“They are indeed. Let me call Toni and get it set up.”
“Sure thing. Command clear.”
Ty set his ID on the bed beside him and thought about Toni and the LightJammer. He still couldn’t believe her dad had offered him her hand in marriage as a reward for saving the lives of his family. In the end, the old man had given him the LightJammer. Ty felt more like the proverbial dog that caught the car when he thought of owning the sleek hotrod of a ship that was the LightJammer. He decided, this was one way to make that dream more real. He grabbed his ID card and placed a call. “Antonia Belutoni, this is Ty Weiss.”
There was no answer. She didn’t answer until after his third call. “Hi Ty.” Ty could hear loud dance music playing in the back ground and that she was shouting over it.
“I have a charter trip for you.”
“A what?”
Ty spoke louder almost shouting into the card, “I have a charter for you.”
“I still can’t hear you. Just a sec.” He could hear the music continue to play in the background and heard her talking to several other people. From the sound, he could picture her walking somewhere quieter. At last, the music went away. “Ok. I’m in a hush booth,” she said. “We’re you asking about a charter?” There was a trace of disbelief in her voice.
“Yes. I need you to make a quick trip to Nova Terra, carrying two people.”
“How much are you charging? Charter runs aren’t cheap. Transit fees in core systems not to mention operational costs are going to be,” she paused a second. Ty figured she was estimating the cost in her head. “About two thousand credits per person for a round trip.”
“This would be one way for both.”
“Well double it then, because we’d be deadheading the ship back here.”
Ty was surprised. “It costs that much?”
She came back instantly, “It sure does. Transit fees alone are five thousand credits for a core system like Nova Terra. Add to that power costs and the amortization of inspections fees. It adds up quickly.”
Ty shook his head, he was the one in disbelief now. “I guess. Well, the fleet will pick up the cost.”
“Sweet! We usually charge double or more for those runs since there’s so much paperwork and delay between the trip and when they finally pay. Who am I carrying anyway and when do we need to go?”
“Who, is easy, me and Chief Sanborn.”
She laughed a full bellied laugh. “I won my bet!” she shrieked.
“What?”
She took a minute to settle down. “My dad said it would be less than a week and you’d be asking for a ride in the ship. I told him, it would be less than two days. He laid a hundred note on you traveling in a week.” She laughed again. “I doubled down saying it would be in less than two days and doubled that if it was today. So let me guess, you do want to leave right away, right?” He smiled at the less than subtle encouragement in her voice.
“Yeah, actually I do.”
“Woo hoo! You made my day! Tess is docked at level three port two. Grab Sanborn and get there. I’ll arrive in a few minutes myself. We can push as soon as the two of you are aboard.”
“That fast?”
“When that kind of money is on the table, we move quickly to keep our customers happy, plus we haven’t been docked that long, the system will come up pretty fast. And since you’re the owner, I can push off those Persian ice miners. I can get you there and back in less than a day, so I can still carry them. It does mean one of you has to ride in the back.”
“Heh. We’ll have to discuss that. Anyway, I’m getting the Chief. You get the ship ready to go. See you in a few.”
“Remember, level three, port two.”
Ty called back to Andrews. “Command, Ty Weiss.”
“Hi Ty,” said Andrews. “Got a ride?”
“Yes and one for the Chief too. Round him up and send him to level three port two.”
Andrews said, “Ok. By the way, I’ve got something for you.”
“Oh?”
“The REACT made a final sweep through the debris field of the Adventurer while you were sleeping. They found your notebook floating several miles from where the Adventurer was. It has a trace of your DNA on it.”
Ty stopped in mid stride. “My notebook? How can that be?”
“Beats me. The only possible explanation is that someone threw it away from the ship when they realized what was about to happen.”
Ty went back to his last moments on the Adventurer when they opened the emergency evacuation port prior to his leaving the ship. He could clearly see her haggard face towards the end of their ordeal and how tired she must have been. He thought of the tense hours they’d spent trying to save the ship from the Alliance’s relentless pursuit. He was sad for her death, but he felt finally, she was at peace. She was the only other person on the ship who knew how important the information on the notebook was. He was grateful he’d known her. She was a trooper to the very end of her life. "Sir, my guess is chief Anderson threw it away from the ship through an emergency evacuation portal.”
“What’s on a notebook that would be so valuable?”
“It’s a program she and I developed. Can you get it to me?”
“Sure! I’ve got it with me. We’ll just have you gate in here on your way to the LightJammer.”
“Thanks, sir.”
He jogged back to the bathroom and collected his boots and gloves where he’d left them before showering and taking a nap. By the time he had them on, he could hear the gate shimmer to life. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror. Ice blue eyes under crew-cut-short, sandy hair in a face defined by its sharply chiseled chin, looked back at him. There were also rings of fatigue around his eyes. Yet, a lifetime of laboring for his step father a brick maker left him with wiry thin but incredibly strong arms and muscles. He smiled briefly thinking of how many times he’d turned down offers from the fleet to be a model for recruiting posters. He turned to the door and jogged through the sitting area, towards the gate. Andrews stood by the gate holding his notebook in his hand. He took it from him once he got through.
“Level three is actually two hundred feet below us,” explained Andrews. “There’s an elevator down the hall outside the entry to the command center here. It’ll get you to level three. Just follow the signs to the dock. Got it?”
Ty nodded. “I guess this really is it.”
Andrews stuck out his arm, “Good luck.”
“You too, sir,” with that, they shook and Ty headed out the command center towards the elevator. When Ty got to the docking port, he recognized Toni and Chief Sanborn but not the regal looking woman standing next to the chief. She was the Chief’s height, nearly six inches taller than Ty. They were both wiry thin and both had silvered hair. His was short like Ty’s, her’s would’ve been shoulder length, but she’d had it pulled into an intricately braided pony tail.
They were standing with Toni talking and laughing together. Toni saw Ty coming down the hall and waved enthusiastically at him as he approached them. When the chief and the woman turned towards Ty, he noticed they were holding hands. The chief was in a sharply pressed fleet space suit. His gloves were resting on the duffle bag at his feet. She was wearing a light satiny sheer blue colored tunic with iridescent highlights and brown leather high-heal boots. As Ty drew close to them, he could see the Chief’s eyes were grey and hers were aquamarine blue.
“Hi Chief,” said Ty as he stopped in front of them.
The chief, smiled at him and motioned at the woman with his free hand. “Ty, this is my wife, Dottie.” He looked into Dottie’s eyes and said with a smile, “Dots, this is the officer I told you about. The one who stopped the missile attacks.” Her smile lit up enough to illuminate the room. She dropped his hand and reached to give Ty a hug. Instinctively, he returned it. A faint rose and lilac scented perfume washed over him as she did.
She whispered into his ear, “Thanks for saving us all, especially my Jim.” She pulled away from him giving him another warm smile. She grabbed his hands with hers and gave them a gentle squeeze before taking the Chief’s hand again.
“You’re welcome, I ah…” stammered Ty.
Toni laughed softly. “See what I meant, Ty?”
Ty glanced at Toni. She was still wearing the jeans and scoop necked blouse she’d worn when they’d met in Tillies several hours earlier.
In the light of the passenger waiting area of the docking port, Ty could see her hair was actually a dark walnut color. He was wasn’t too surprised to see her hair matched her eyes. She was shorter than she seemed on the ship, her head barely came up to his eyes. She also had the face and figure which would never need the help of a pheromone to get men aroused. What surprised him most was how young she looked. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was about her, but she exuded a vivacious energy.
He conceded her point with a friendly nod. Ty glanced at her and at Dottie then the chief. “Hey, I have an idea, Mrs. Sanborn…”
“Call me Dots please,” she answered.
“Dots?” asked Ty questioningly.
She gave a soft laugh. “My name is Dorothea Annabella Lynn. It’s such a stuffy mouthful, I prefer being called ‘Dots’ by my friends.”
“Very well, Dots. As owner of this fine vessel we’re about to embark on, it would be my pleasure to have you come along with us to Nova Terra. After we’re dropped off, Toni can have you back in a day.” He gestured at Toni invitingly who first looked surprised then pleased with the offer.
“It would be great fun. We can keep each other company on the return trip,” offered Toni.
Jim turned to her, “Come on Dots, it’s just a day. The store will wait.”
She gave him a serious look, but his plaintive expression melted her resolve. The adoring look in her eyes as she looked at the Chief touched Ty. She relaxed a bit then relented. “I guess.” A twinkle came to her eyes. “Sure, why not! That’s a well trained mess down there in the shop. It’ll stay right where I left it.” Everyone laughed.
A mischievous twinkle lit up Toni’s eyes. “Gotta warn ya Dots, the cabin configuration is rather interesting.” Ty immediately thought of the scent and the pheromones and how hard he had to fight its effect to not see Toni as a sex object. He briefly wondered what it would be like to not have to resist its effect and let his desires for his wife Amanda to run unchecked.
“Oh?” The older woman gave her a concerned look but seemed mollified by Toni’s smile.
“You’ll see what I mean in a moment. Let’s get aboard. We’re burning time.”
Ty said, “Lead on.” Toni headed for the portal and tapped a series of numbers in a keypad. The inner door opened revealing the tube to the ship. While Ty knew what to expect when the fragrance and the pheromones hit him, he still found it hard to stay focused. He saw Toni was concentrating too. The Chief and Dots had completely different but reactions Ty expected. The chief dropped his duffel at the hatch and turned to look at Dots, desire written all over his face. She returned the look with an equally intense desire. Soon they were in a close embrace, swaying slowly, rhythmically side to side. Ty felt more than a little pang of jealousy as he watched the chief’s hands slowly, sensuously caress Dot’s thighs, hips and waist.
Dots spoke with a dreamy voice, “Toni, I love this. You guys lock the door. We’ll be fine back here.” Ty and Toni quickly got into the flight deck. The hatch slid closed but not before the sound of Dottie giggling with delicious delight echoed through the small cabin.
Ty and Toni both sat still for a moment grinning at each other, trying to clear their heads of the pheromone’s effect. Toni finally spoke, “Well, that didn’t take long!”
Still grinning, Ty shook his head no, “It sure didn’t.”
“Envious?” asked Toni. She gave him a teasing glance.
Ty shook his head no again. “Well, maybe.” He paused as she gave him a stern, disbelieving look. ”OK, a lot,” he admitted.
Toni gave a wistful sigh. ”Maybe I’ll try that on my honeymoon. Anyway, let’s let them have their fun. I think they’ll be pretty occupied for the trip.”
Ty laughed. “I suppose they will.”
Toni reached in front of him across the console and tapped a couple of commands on the main screen in front of Ty. A checklist appeared on the screen. “Why don’t you help with the preflight, OK? It’ll keep us both preoccupied.”
He pursed his lips and nodded with a faint smile. He had to concentrate to keep from thinking about being in the other cabin with Amanda and appreciated the distraction. “Sure. Thanks,” he said at last.
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Hi Everyone,
The next episode of the series is now live in the Amazon book store as a kindle ebook. It's name is: Commander. Here's a link
I've also submitted an omnibus containing episodes one and two. It's named: A Call to Arms. Here's the link to it
Right now, Pariahs, Episode One is free in Amazon Friday and Saturday this week.
I'm editing episode three, First Blood right now. I will be posting chapters from it in the next few days.
The next episode of the series is now live in the Amazon book store as a kindle ebook. It's name is: Commander. Here's a link
I've also submitted an omnibus containing episodes one and two. It's named: A Call to Arms. Here's the link to it
Right now, Pariahs, Episode One is free in Amazon Friday and Saturday this week.
I'm editing episode three, First Blood right now. I will be posting chapters from it in the next few days.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
The Stilettos
ADVENTURER: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 39 MINUTES
Thirty-seconds before the Adventurer could jump, the stilettos arrived. They’d traveled 1.8 million kilometers in eighteen minutes with an average velocity 166 kilometers per second. The fire-control systems of the fourteen unmodified missiles concluded they could not engage and sailed on behind the Adventurer. The two modified missiles concluded they could intercept the fleeing Adventurer and fired their terminal engagement systems.
The two EMP blasts hit the Adventurer in quick succession. Breakers on the few circuits that they had left on popped and reset causing the systems to reset or restart. Throughout the ship, outside the shielded engineering compartment, electricity arced across exposed metal surfaces causing showers of sparks and arcing as the electricity generated by the burst dissipated throughout the ship. Air in the other spaces ionized leaving a tangy scent of ozone. Most of the ship was so severely damaged already, the effects of the bursts were spent without further ill effects on the ship.
ADVENTURER: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 39 MINUTES
“Ty, what was that?” Anderson asked.
“The terminal charges of two stilettos. We need to go NOW,” he shouted. “Chief, I don’t know how they did that, but we gotta move hard.”
Her hands flew over her console. “You’ve got it,” she shouted back at him.
Ty grabbed the flight stick and commanded a one-second level two push out of the engines. The Adventurer surged forward for an instant. He switched to the jump controller, saw that the Beta Hydri was centered in the jump targeting reticle and squeezed the jump trigger.
The two penetrators sailed harmlessly behind where the ship had been.
THE AATARR: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 40 MINUTES
The timer indicating when the missiles should have attacked the Adventurer counted to zero. There were no explosions. The commander deflated then turned to the tactician and asked, “It must have jumped even with those modified missiles. Did we get a Remora notification of a jump?”
The man’s face at first shook no. Then his face scrunched up in a frown as he stared intently at the displays. “It’s inconclusive sir. Remora sent no jump data from the Adventurer.”
“What!?”
The tactician held up a hand to forestall any other comment, ”Yet, there has been a gravity field discontinuity event that indicates they did jump.”
The commander glanced sharply at the tactician, who replied with a startled shrug. The commander’s neck muscles rippled as he clenched his jaw and fists in an effort to come to terms with the information.
“This changes things doesn’t it,” the tactician said.
The commander let out a large sigh, “Most profoundly, I must send a message to the fleet immediately that Republic warships can now jump without Remora knowing about it.”
He turned to go to his stateroom, completely lost in thought as he began mentally composing a message to fleet command.
IMPERIAL PALACE: T-PLUS 9 HOURS
The Emperor sat as still as if death had taken him, staring at the display of the last still image they had of the fleeing the Republic ship. No one else in the room dared move or speak as he sat staring at it. He sat at the head of the table showing more emotion than he’d shown in years. His cheeks were flushed, spasmodically he rapped the table with his knuckles. Anger smoldered in his eyes. The rest of the people sat motionless around the table fearing even to breath as they waited for him, or Ramon, to do or say something.
Ramon himself was outwardly impassive, but inwardly he smoldered too. The escaped ship had caused the death of his latest play thing, the tantalizingly blue-eyed, blue haired Lucretia Alvarando. No one had taken anything from him like that. He was determined to get revenge. The incompetent Jellis had insisted that she be sent out to make the final installations. He’d pay too. Worst of all, now, he’d have to find someone else.
They all looked in disbelief with their gaze switching from display screen on the wall opposite the Emperor which showed the Adventurer before it jumped away and the order of battle display, with red lines through eleven ships and a yellow line through one denoting the losses and crippled ships respectively. They were mute testimony to the disaster that had played out in real-time before their very eyes. Compounding the disaster was the message from the Aatarr on station in the Sol system warning them of the ship’s ability to jump without triggering a Remora notification.
Trays of cold, partially eaten and uneaten meals were scattered on the table. They sat with bloodshot eyes and waited.
The Emperor spoke, “All of you out, except Mr. Mellendes.”
There were several stifled gasps around the table. The Fleet Admirals looked impassively at each other not daring to betray what they were thinking and not daring to get involved in the exchange between the Emperor and his chief assistant.
Ramon stood without saying a word as the rest stood and filed out of the room.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Ramon answered with polished servility after they’d left.
The Emperor continued, “How do you explain what has happened?”
Ramon saw his opening. He paused a moment to organize his thoughts and desired outcomes. Then he spoke, “There were three breakdowns and two factors your highness. The first breakdown; our intelligence services underestimated the Adventurer’s resilience to this upgrade of Remora. Testing on the captured asset was clearly inadequate. I fear your Highness, we may need to delay deploying of version two of Remora until we conduct further tests. The second; the commanders of the various vessels involved were lax in their combat discipline in dealing with the Adventurer. The third; the commanders were also lax in utilizing data from Remora.”
“And the factors?”
“The commander of this Adventurer was one step ahead of our ships’ commanders throughout the engagement, which was in no small measure now attributable to the fact that he could jump without Remora knowing about it.”
“And your corrective actions, Mr. Mellendes?”
“The Ministers of Intelligence and Technology will be called to account for their failures today. The commanders of the ships have paid for their mistakes already. Admiral Bedring’s successor will address the training oversight that has been allowed to occur. We must notify the fleet that this has occurred and that they need to adjust mission plans and operational tempo accordingly.”
The Emperor nodded. Ramon smiled inwardly, three competitor’s for the Emperor’s ear removed in one action. He felt that despite the losses of ships and men, it was a good day after all. The Emperor held up a hand to keep the man in his place. “I have one more assignment for you.”
“Yes, your Highness.”
“Negate this commander who did this today. Find out how this was done. I do not see how the fleet would deploy this capability to an obscure escort vessel first. Contain the spread of this information. Use our resources in the Republic to discredit him where possible or lead us to him if necessary and remove him. It must be done quickly. If the rest of the fleet learns what he knows… Understood? This is a personal assignment I give you.”
The man bowed obsequiously. He focused his anger at the unknown commander and began to contemplate ways to get to him.
He answered the Emperor, “My honor sire, is to do your bidding in this matter.”a
Thirty-seconds before the Adventurer could jump, the stilettos arrived. They’d traveled 1.8 million kilometers in eighteen minutes with an average velocity 166 kilometers per second. The fire-control systems of the fourteen unmodified missiles concluded they could not engage and sailed on behind the Adventurer. The two modified missiles concluded they could intercept the fleeing Adventurer and fired their terminal engagement systems.
The two EMP blasts hit the Adventurer in quick succession. Breakers on the few circuits that they had left on popped and reset causing the systems to reset or restart. Throughout the ship, outside the shielded engineering compartment, electricity arced across exposed metal surfaces causing showers of sparks and arcing as the electricity generated by the burst dissipated throughout the ship. Air in the other spaces ionized leaving a tangy scent of ozone. Most of the ship was so severely damaged already, the effects of the bursts were spent without further ill effects on the ship.
ADVENTURER: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 39 MINUTES
“Ty, what was that?” Anderson asked.
“The terminal charges of two stilettos. We need to go NOW,” he shouted. “Chief, I don’t know how they did that, but we gotta move hard.”
Her hands flew over her console. “You’ve got it,” she shouted back at him.
Ty grabbed the flight stick and commanded a one-second level two push out of the engines. The Adventurer surged forward for an instant. He switched to the jump controller, saw that the Beta Hydri was centered in the jump targeting reticle and squeezed the jump trigger.
The two penetrators sailed harmlessly behind where the ship had been.
THE AATARR: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 40 MINUTES
The timer indicating when the missiles should have attacked the Adventurer counted to zero. There were no explosions. The commander deflated then turned to the tactician and asked, “It must have jumped even with those modified missiles. Did we get a Remora notification of a jump?”
The man’s face at first shook no. Then his face scrunched up in a frown as he stared intently at the displays. “It’s inconclusive sir. Remora sent no jump data from the Adventurer.”
“What!?”
The tactician held up a hand to forestall any other comment, ”Yet, there has been a gravity field discontinuity event that indicates they did jump.”
The commander glanced sharply at the tactician, who replied with a startled shrug. The commander’s neck muscles rippled as he clenched his jaw and fists in an effort to come to terms with the information.
“This changes things doesn’t it,” the tactician said.
The commander let out a large sigh, “Most profoundly, I must send a message to the fleet immediately that Republic warships can now jump without Remora knowing about it.”
He turned to go to his stateroom, completely lost in thought as he began mentally composing a message to fleet command.
IMPERIAL PALACE: T-PLUS 9 HOURS
The Emperor sat as still as if death had taken him, staring at the display of the last still image they had of the fleeing the Republic ship. No one else in the room dared move or speak as he sat staring at it. He sat at the head of the table showing more emotion than he’d shown in years. His cheeks were flushed, spasmodically he rapped the table with his knuckles. Anger smoldered in his eyes. The rest of the people sat motionless around the table fearing even to breath as they waited for him, or Ramon, to do or say something.
Ramon himself was outwardly impassive, but inwardly he smoldered too. The escaped ship had caused the death of his latest play thing, the tantalizingly blue-eyed, blue haired Lucretia Alvarando. No one had taken anything from him like that. He was determined to get revenge. The incompetent Jellis had insisted that she be sent out to make the final installations. He’d pay too. Worst of all, now, he’d have to find someone else.
They all looked in disbelief with their gaze switching from display screen on the wall opposite the Emperor which showed the Adventurer before it jumped away and the order of battle display, with red lines through eleven ships and a yellow line through one denoting the losses and crippled ships respectively. They were mute testimony to the disaster that had played out in real-time before their very eyes. Compounding the disaster was the message from the Aatarr on station in the Sol system warning them of the ship’s ability to jump without triggering a Remora notification.
Trays of cold, partially eaten and uneaten meals were scattered on the table. They sat with bloodshot eyes and waited.
The Emperor spoke, “All of you out, except Mr. Mellendes.”
There were several stifled gasps around the table. The Fleet Admirals looked impassively at each other not daring to betray what they were thinking and not daring to get involved in the exchange between the Emperor and his chief assistant.
Ramon stood without saying a word as the rest stood and filed out of the room.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Ramon answered with polished servility after they’d left.
The Emperor continued, “How do you explain what has happened?”
Ramon saw his opening. He paused a moment to organize his thoughts and desired outcomes. Then he spoke, “There were three breakdowns and two factors your highness. The first breakdown; our intelligence services underestimated the Adventurer’s resilience to this upgrade of Remora. Testing on the captured asset was clearly inadequate. I fear your Highness, we may need to delay deploying of version two of Remora until we conduct further tests. The second; the commanders of the various vessels involved were lax in their combat discipline in dealing with the Adventurer. The third; the commanders were also lax in utilizing data from Remora.”
“And the factors?”
“The commander of this Adventurer was one step ahead of our ships’ commanders throughout the engagement, which was in no small measure now attributable to the fact that he could jump without Remora knowing about it.”
“And your corrective actions, Mr. Mellendes?”
“The Ministers of Intelligence and Technology will be called to account for their failures today. The commanders of the ships have paid for their mistakes already. Admiral Bedring’s successor will address the training oversight that has been allowed to occur. We must notify the fleet that this has occurred and that they need to adjust mission plans and operational tempo accordingly.”
The Emperor nodded. Ramon smiled inwardly, three competitor’s for the Emperor’s ear removed in one action. He felt that despite the losses of ships and men, it was a good day after all. The Emperor held up a hand to keep the man in his place. “I have one more assignment for you.”
“Yes, your Highness.”
“Negate this commander who did this today. Find out how this was done. I do not see how the fleet would deploy this capability to an obscure escort vessel first. Contain the spread of this information. Use our resources in the Republic to discredit him where possible or lead us to him if necessary and remove him. It must be done quickly. If the rest of the fleet learns what he knows… Understood? This is a personal assignment I give you.”
The man bowed obsequiously. He focused his anger at the unknown commander and began to contemplate ways to get to him.
He answered the Emperor, “My honor sire, is to do your bidding in this matter.”a
Friday, January 31, 2014
The Adventurer Again
ADVENTURER: T-PLUS 8 HOURS 20 MINUTES
On the Adventurer, Ty watched the clock tick slowly by. This was the longest twenty minutes he’d ever lived through. A tickle of a thought began to brew in the back of his mind.
“Anderson, I’m going to look back at that Aatarr.”
“Ok, passive only. Keep it short. It’s on your main panel.”
Ty powered up the main panel. He punched in the coordinates for where the Aatarr would be. Only stars were visible. The drive flare was gone. He pondered the information and set the sensor to spread spectrum viewing to merge information not only from visible light, but from deep into the infrared and ultra-violet ends of the light spectrum. A bright dot appeared on the screen. Ty was certain it was the Aatarr and he could tell it had broken off the pursuit. He focused in on the dot and zoomed the magnification. A small cloud of sixteen flecks of barely discernible light appeared. They were on a different trajectory than the Aatarr.
“Missiles… stiletto’s. They’re the only ones that have a chance of getting us,” Ty said out loud.
Anderson came over to look at the screen. “How much of a risk are they to us?”
“You know what happens if they do hit us since we’ve been hit twice by them already. In our shape, another direct hit from just one will take us out.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah, it’s a desperation shot though. That Aatarr is apparently at his limit on his engine otherwise he’d still be burning towards us. You can see how he’s broken off the pursuit.” Ty pointed at the dot that was the large ship. “See how it’s starting to move off to the left here.”
“What about the missiles?”
“What we’ve seen of stilettos is they are incredibly fast, but once the motor finishes, they’re purely ballistic weapons. Their typical flight profile however is burn, coast, burn to close, and then they orient towards the ship and fire a self-shaping penetrator at the target ship. Some of the later versions use the EMP burst that shapes the penetrator to disrupt the shields too. Nasty stuff.”
“How nasty?”
“It was such a stiletto that took out the Devonshire last month.”
“Ouch! A stiletto did her in?” Anderson was incredulous.
Ty nodded in assent. ”Yeah, she had four centimeters of energy-reinforced, ablative-doped, spun-fiber armor. Older stilettos just bounce off of the stuff, but the EMP burst weakened the reinforcement enough that the penetrator made it through the armor at nearly full speed. Our best guess is that it ruptured a containment bottle as it banged around inside the ship. By comparison, we have three millimeters of energy reinforced nano-fiber armor. If we had our energy reinforcement working, it would still get through, but it wouldn’t have enough energy to get this far into the interior of the ship.”
“Yeah, but we don’t have the hull energy.”
“It doesn’t matter really, they’re coming towards us at nearly ten percent light just to get to us. Remember that first Aatrix we took out?”
She nodded.
“That’s what will happen to us if even one penetrator touches the ship.”
“Ever the proverbial fountain of good news,” she said with a slight smile.
“Right.”
“So what can we do?” asked Anderson.
“It’s a sure thing they’ve spread those missiles out to try and cover the entire section of the trajectory where we’ll jump. To be perfectly safe, we need to change our velocity enough to move our jump point outside of that area.”
“How much?”
Ty paused a moment to do the calculation in his head, “Probably about fourteen seconds of a level one push against Jupiter from the gravity engine, is the least I’d do.”
Anderson paused as she did some calculations of her own in her head.
Ty interrupted her by adding, “The longer we delay, the greater the velocity change will need to be to get us out of harm’s way. If we wait until the terminal attack of those missiles, we’ll need to make a level three or four push.”
“You made your point there. What other options do we have?”
“Jump now or before the penetrators hit us. As it is, we’re…,” he glanced at a chronometer that was counting down to the jump point, “we’re fifteen minutes and a few seconds from jumping.”
“How about those missiles, have a guess on their ETA?”
“The commander out there knows we’re trying to get to Beta Hydri. He also knows our trajectory. So he knows where to aim the missiles because the arc of the trajectory that actually points at Beta Hydri is pretty short… maybe a hundred-fifty clicks or so long. So, his aiming solution is simple. With fifteen missiles that’s about one per ten click stretch. Those shards from the warhead are wicked fast. If they get there a couple of seconds before we do, we’ll be lucky if no more than three missiles are close enough to engage us.”
“Well, he fired them so he must be pretty confident they will.”
“I’m not so sure. He shot nearly his full complement of missiles in one volley.”
Anderson interrupted him, “How do you know that? How do you know all this stuff about the Alliance weaponry?”
Ty paused and gave her a strained look before he continued, “I’m a tactician.” He offered no further explanation.
“Is that all? Do they all know this stuff?”
“The good ones do. The only way I can anticipate what the Alliance will do is if I know what they can do.” He emphasized the “can”. “We have pretty good intelligence on their weapons. They’ve shot enough of them at us lately.”
“That’s for sure, you were saying?”
Ty picked up his comment as if nothing had happened.
“He broke off pursuit. My hunch is he’s got a hurt ship, yet he’s desperate to get us. The Alliance rewards failure brutally and we handed them their heads on a platter today. He knows these missiles are his best chance to get us and he’s not too confident that they will. He’s rolling the dice on at least one of them getting to us before we jump.”
“What do you think?”
“I’d know if I could get a sensor sweep. As it is, my guess is he’s betting we can’t make any course correction and he spread them all along the jump arc.”
“Hence, jumping early is our only real escape option?”
“No, changing velocity now is. It takes less energy, but there’s still a risk if we don’t make a big enough change. Our velocity change needs to be a big change, like a level two push. Anything less and we may still be in range of some of those missiles. Everyone of them that can fire, will fire if they detect they have a firing solution. Then it’s up to the accuracy of the aiming gun.”
“How good is that?”
“That’s the stilettos’ one weakness, it’s so-so. A focused EMP burst shapes and drives the penetrator. The strength of the stiletto is it gets right up in your face before it fires. Remember the burn-cruise-burn. That last burn is a fine point aiming or a sprint to close firing maneuver. So they didn’t have to make it really accurate.”
“And you think they had to use that secondary burn engine to even make the intercept?”
“I’m certain of it.”
“You betting the survival of this ship on that assessment?”
Ty paused before answering, “Yes”.
“If you’re wrong?” She gave him a look.
He couldn’t tell if it was angry or just joking. His answer was flat and matter of fact. “Then we’ll die.”
“Then I hope you’re right one more time.”
Ty chuckled before answering. “Me, too,” is all he said. “I’m programming a twenty-second level one push to get us out of that corridor.”
She made the computation in her head. “That’s about fifteen minutes of containment power then,” she said.
“I can live with that,” said Ty. He keyed in the course change and committed the change. The drive came to life for twenty seconds as it pushed them forward.
The two modified stilettos observed the course change, computed new intercept courses and fired their remaining engagement motor.
On the Adventurer, Ty watched the clock tick slowly by. This was the longest twenty minutes he’d ever lived through. A tickle of a thought began to brew in the back of his mind.
“Anderson, I’m going to look back at that Aatarr.”
“Ok, passive only. Keep it short. It’s on your main panel.”
Ty powered up the main panel. He punched in the coordinates for where the Aatarr would be. Only stars were visible. The drive flare was gone. He pondered the information and set the sensor to spread spectrum viewing to merge information not only from visible light, but from deep into the infrared and ultra-violet ends of the light spectrum. A bright dot appeared on the screen. Ty was certain it was the Aatarr and he could tell it had broken off the pursuit. He focused in on the dot and zoomed the magnification. A small cloud of sixteen flecks of barely discernible light appeared. They were on a different trajectory than the Aatarr.
“Missiles… stiletto’s. They’re the only ones that have a chance of getting us,” Ty said out loud.
Anderson came over to look at the screen. “How much of a risk are they to us?”
“You know what happens if they do hit us since we’ve been hit twice by them already. In our shape, another direct hit from just one will take us out.”
“Yikes.”
“Yeah, it’s a desperation shot though. That Aatarr is apparently at his limit on his engine otherwise he’d still be burning towards us. You can see how he’s broken off the pursuit.” Ty pointed at the dot that was the large ship. “See how it’s starting to move off to the left here.”
“What about the missiles?”
“What we’ve seen of stilettos is they are incredibly fast, but once the motor finishes, they’re purely ballistic weapons. Their typical flight profile however is burn, coast, burn to close, and then they orient towards the ship and fire a self-shaping penetrator at the target ship. Some of the later versions use the EMP burst that shapes the penetrator to disrupt the shields too. Nasty stuff.”
“How nasty?”
“It was such a stiletto that took out the Devonshire last month.”
“Ouch! A stiletto did her in?” Anderson was incredulous.
Ty nodded in assent. ”Yeah, she had four centimeters of energy-reinforced, ablative-doped, spun-fiber armor. Older stilettos just bounce off of the stuff, but the EMP burst weakened the reinforcement enough that the penetrator made it through the armor at nearly full speed. Our best guess is that it ruptured a containment bottle as it banged around inside the ship. By comparison, we have three millimeters of energy reinforced nano-fiber armor. If we had our energy reinforcement working, it would still get through, but it wouldn’t have enough energy to get this far into the interior of the ship.”
“Yeah, but we don’t have the hull energy.”
“It doesn’t matter really, they’re coming towards us at nearly ten percent light just to get to us. Remember that first Aatrix we took out?”
She nodded.
“That’s what will happen to us if even one penetrator touches the ship.”
“Ever the proverbial fountain of good news,” she said with a slight smile.
“Right.”
“So what can we do?” asked Anderson.
“It’s a sure thing they’ve spread those missiles out to try and cover the entire section of the trajectory where we’ll jump. To be perfectly safe, we need to change our velocity enough to move our jump point outside of that area.”
“How much?”
Ty paused a moment to do the calculation in his head, “Probably about fourteen seconds of a level one push against Jupiter from the gravity engine, is the least I’d do.”
Anderson paused as she did some calculations of her own in her head.
Ty interrupted her by adding, “The longer we delay, the greater the velocity change will need to be to get us out of harm’s way. If we wait until the terminal attack of those missiles, we’ll need to make a level three or four push.”
“You made your point there. What other options do we have?”
“Jump now or before the penetrators hit us. As it is, we’re…,” he glanced at a chronometer that was counting down to the jump point, “we’re fifteen minutes and a few seconds from jumping.”
“How about those missiles, have a guess on their ETA?”
“The commander out there knows we’re trying to get to Beta Hydri. He also knows our trajectory. So he knows where to aim the missiles because the arc of the trajectory that actually points at Beta Hydri is pretty short… maybe a hundred-fifty clicks or so long. So, his aiming solution is simple. With fifteen missiles that’s about one per ten click stretch. Those shards from the warhead are wicked fast. If they get there a couple of seconds before we do, we’ll be lucky if no more than three missiles are close enough to engage us.”
“Well, he fired them so he must be pretty confident they will.”
“I’m not so sure. He shot nearly his full complement of missiles in one volley.”
Anderson interrupted him, “How do you know that? How do you know all this stuff about the Alliance weaponry?”
Ty paused and gave her a strained look before he continued, “I’m a tactician.” He offered no further explanation.
“Is that all? Do they all know this stuff?”
“The good ones do. The only way I can anticipate what the Alliance will do is if I know what they can do.” He emphasized the “can”. “We have pretty good intelligence on their weapons. They’ve shot enough of them at us lately.”
“That’s for sure, you were saying?”
Ty picked up his comment as if nothing had happened.
“He broke off pursuit. My hunch is he’s got a hurt ship, yet he’s desperate to get us. The Alliance rewards failure brutally and we handed them their heads on a platter today. He knows these missiles are his best chance to get us and he’s not too confident that they will. He’s rolling the dice on at least one of them getting to us before we jump.”
“What do you think?”
“I’d know if I could get a sensor sweep. As it is, my guess is he’s betting we can’t make any course correction and he spread them all along the jump arc.”
“Hence, jumping early is our only real escape option?”
“No, changing velocity now is. It takes less energy, but there’s still a risk if we don’t make a big enough change. Our velocity change needs to be a big change, like a level two push. Anything less and we may still be in range of some of those missiles. Everyone of them that can fire, will fire if they detect they have a firing solution. Then it’s up to the accuracy of the aiming gun.”
“How good is that?”
“That’s the stilettos’ one weakness, it’s so-so. A focused EMP burst shapes and drives the penetrator. The strength of the stiletto is it gets right up in your face before it fires. Remember the burn-cruise-burn. That last burn is a fine point aiming or a sprint to close firing maneuver. So they didn’t have to make it really accurate.”
“And you think they had to use that secondary burn engine to even make the intercept?”
“I’m certain of it.”
“You betting the survival of this ship on that assessment?”
Ty paused before answering, “Yes”.
“If you’re wrong?” She gave him a look.
He couldn’t tell if it was angry or just joking. His answer was flat and matter of fact. “Then we’ll die.”
“Then I hope you’re right one more time.”
Ty chuckled before answering. “Me, too,” is all he said. “I’m programming a twenty-second level one push to get us out of that corridor.”
She made the computation in her head. “That’s about fifteen minutes of containment power then,” she said.
“I can live with that,” said Ty. He keyed in the course change and committed the change. The drive came to life for twenty seconds as it pushed them forward.
The two modified stilettos observed the course change, computed new intercept courses and fired their remaining engagement motor.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
The Aatarr
ALLIANCE BATTLESHIP “AATARR” CLASS: T-PLUS 8 HOURS
Two million kilometers away the Aatarr continued to bear down on the ship. The commander of the vessel looked at the readout on his main drives. They were on the verge of failing, due to being pushed so hard in their attempt to capture the fleeing vessel. He weighed his options carefully. If they broke off the pursuit and saved the engines and his crew, he knew he’d likely pay for the choice with his life. The Jackal did not care about people or machines, only the accomplishment of the mission. Those who failed, paid dearly. It was that simple. Yet, if he continued the pursuit, he’d condemn himself and his crew to death with the failure of the main drives. As it was, he wasn’t sure they’d survive now. He hoped a long shot would suffice.
“Tactical, status of the fleeing Adventurer?”
“Sir, the vessel continues in a ballistic trajectory away from the fifth planet. It has not so much as made a single minor course correction in the past hour after making the trajectory change, sir. At our present course, we will be in range within twenty-five minutes.”
He walked over to the officer’s station. “You say, it hasn’t maneuvered at all?”
“Not a bit, sir. As near as I can tell, their main generator is in running at a high level since we transitioned into this system. Yet, they are completely silent in their emissions, sir.”
“So she was hurt badly?”
“Yes, if I were to guess, their power busses are damaged forcing them to rely upon their reserves. By now those are so depleted, they don’t have the power to shoot back, nor drive their shields, nor maneuver. I doubt they can even power a sensor. If they have any power at all, they’re hoarding it to make a jump.”
“A jump? How?”
“Their trajectory, sir, it’s a perfect shot at Beta Hydri or will be in about twenty minutes.”
“Have we gotten anything on Remora yet to indicate an exact jump coordinate?”
The man shook his head, “Not yet. Normally, Republic vessels transmit within the hour before jumping. This one hasn’t. But we can still identify where they must jump to hit the Beta Hydri system.”
“When will they be aligned to jump?”
The man studied his display for a moment. He keyed some data in and looked at the results.
“Beta Hydri is fairly close, so they have a fair amount of leeway in their jump zone.”
“I don’t need the lecture.” He smiled reprovingly as he spoke.
“Sorry, sir, they have about a ten second jump window. They’ll enter the window in about twenty minutes.”
“So, twenty minutes to cross two em-clicks?”
“Right, at this range, energy weapons will be too dispersed to be effective.”
“But a fast solid…”
“Yes, the Stiletto.”
“Can it reach them in that time?”
The commander nodded as he assimilated the data. He thoughtfully stroked the tip of his beard. The Adventurer’s condition was poor consolation for the vessels that had been crippled or destroyed fighting her. He’d never heard of a warship used like this. He marveled that a small fleet escort bested so many capital ships. He marveled even more that such a consummate warrior had been relegated to such a menial ship. He held any further thoughts along that line in check. That commander, no matter how gifted, was a member of the Republic and therefor an enemy of the Alliance.
“When’s the latest we can engage the Adventurer with Stilettos?”
Ker’rhoam glanced up at him from his station. He pursed his lips as he thought for a moment. A faint grin flashed across his face. He looked down and typed vigorously into a keypad for a moment. His brow furrowed in concentration. Then a smile appeared in his face.
“If the main drive holds up, we can launch in three minutes. Using its engagement drive as a booster, a Stiletto will then get to the Adventurer just before it jumps; however, we’ll only have terminal aiming of the penetrator so they could easily evade it.”
“True, but I’m willing to bet they don’t have the power to do it. Prepare a volley of… how many do we have?”
“Twenty, sir”
“This commander has done the unexpected repeatedly today. I think he knows what he thinks we’ll do, so launch fourteen of them configured as I’ve said. Stack the engagement drives of the other six into two missiles, so each of the last two have three engagement drives.”
“You want to have two missiles with the ability to respond to a course change on his part?”
“Yes, the extra engagement drives will be needed for the extra mass, but it should leave them with enough maneuvering capability to catch anything except a major velocity change.”
The old tactician nodded his head in agreement.
“Then launch all of them as soon as we can. Reprogram them for this different mission profile and then set them for a proximity burst, spread for maximum coverage of the Adventurer’s jump corridor.”
“Yes, sir,” he answered and repeated the order before leaving.
The orders were given. The minutes ticked by. The commander watched the number of ready missiles count up on the status panel. Ten-seconds before the time ran out, he gave the fire command.
“Weapons, fire when ready on the count.”
The remaining seconds ticked down.
The ship trembled slightly as sixteen missiles volleyed away from her. The flares of their drives showed as a cloud of rapidly fading stars on the display. Then, as their motors burned out, the stars winked out. The engagement drive of each missile flared for a moment and then all of them were dark.
“Helm, stand down from the pursuit. Engineering, you may begin repairs on the main drive.”
Two million kilometers away the Aatarr continued to bear down on the ship. The commander of the vessel looked at the readout on his main drives. They were on the verge of failing, due to being pushed so hard in their attempt to capture the fleeing vessel. He weighed his options carefully. If they broke off the pursuit and saved the engines and his crew, he knew he’d likely pay for the choice with his life. The Jackal did not care about people or machines, only the accomplishment of the mission. Those who failed, paid dearly. It was that simple. Yet, if he continued the pursuit, he’d condemn himself and his crew to death with the failure of the main drives. As it was, he wasn’t sure they’d survive now. He hoped a long shot would suffice.
“Tactical, status of the fleeing Adventurer?”
“Sir, the vessel continues in a ballistic trajectory away from the fifth planet. It has not so much as made a single minor course correction in the past hour after making the trajectory change, sir. At our present course, we will be in range within twenty-five minutes.”
He walked over to the officer’s station. “You say, it hasn’t maneuvered at all?”
“Not a bit, sir. As near as I can tell, their main generator is in running at a high level since we transitioned into this system. Yet, they are completely silent in their emissions, sir.”
“So she was hurt badly?”
“Yes, if I were to guess, their power busses are damaged forcing them to rely upon their reserves. By now those are so depleted, they don’t have the power to shoot back, nor drive their shields, nor maneuver. I doubt they can even power a sensor. If they have any power at all, they’re hoarding it to make a jump.”
“A jump? How?”
“Their trajectory, sir, it’s a perfect shot at Beta Hydri or will be in about twenty minutes.”
“Have we gotten anything on Remora yet to indicate an exact jump coordinate?”
The man shook his head, “Not yet. Normally, Republic vessels transmit within the hour before jumping. This one hasn’t. But we can still identify where they must jump to hit the Beta Hydri system.”
“When will they be aligned to jump?”
The man studied his display for a moment. He keyed some data in and looked at the results.
“Beta Hydri is fairly close, so they have a fair amount of leeway in their jump zone.”
“I don’t need the lecture.” He smiled reprovingly as he spoke.
“Sorry, sir, they have about a ten second jump window. They’ll enter the window in about twenty minutes.”
“So, twenty minutes to cross two em-clicks?”
“Right, at this range, energy weapons will be too dispersed to be effective.”
“But a fast solid…”
“Yes, the Stiletto.”
“Can it reach them in that time?”
The commander nodded as he assimilated the data. He thoughtfully stroked the tip of his beard. The Adventurer’s condition was poor consolation for the vessels that had been crippled or destroyed fighting her. He’d never heard of a warship used like this. He marveled that a small fleet escort bested so many capital ships. He marveled even more that such a consummate warrior had been relegated to such a menial ship. He held any further thoughts along that line in check. That commander, no matter how gifted, was a member of the Republic and therefor an enemy of the Alliance.
“When’s the latest we can engage the Adventurer with Stilettos?”
Ker’rhoam glanced up at him from his station. He pursed his lips as he thought for a moment. A faint grin flashed across his face. He looked down and typed vigorously into a keypad for a moment. His brow furrowed in concentration. Then a smile appeared in his face.
“If the main drive holds up, we can launch in three minutes. Using its engagement drive as a booster, a Stiletto will then get to the Adventurer just before it jumps; however, we’ll only have terminal aiming of the penetrator so they could easily evade it.”
“True, but I’m willing to bet they don’t have the power to do it. Prepare a volley of… how many do we have?”
“Twenty, sir”
“This commander has done the unexpected repeatedly today. I think he knows what he thinks we’ll do, so launch fourteen of them configured as I’ve said. Stack the engagement drives of the other six into two missiles, so each of the last two have three engagement drives.”
“You want to have two missiles with the ability to respond to a course change on his part?”
“Yes, the extra engagement drives will be needed for the extra mass, but it should leave them with enough maneuvering capability to catch anything except a major velocity change.”
The old tactician nodded his head in agreement.
“Then launch all of them as soon as we can. Reprogram them for this different mission profile and then set them for a proximity burst, spread for maximum coverage of the Adventurer’s jump corridor.”
“Yes, sir,” he answered and repeated the order before leaving.
The orders were given. The minutes ticked by. The commander watched the number of ready missiles count up on the status panel. Ten-seconds before the time ran out, he gave the fire command.
“Weapons, fire when ready on the count.”
The remaining seconds ticked down.
The ship trembled slightly as sixteen missiles volleyed away from her. The flares of their drives showed as a cloud of rapidly fading stars on the display. Then, as their motors burned out, the stars winked out. The engagement drive of each missile flared for a moment and then all of them were dark.
“Helm, stand down from the pursuit. Engineering, you may begin repairs on the main drive.”
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