The Short End: Broken Galaxy Book Four

by Phil Huddleston

  Slowly it dawned on him.

  “I take it the Fleet is out of coffee?” he said wonderingly.

  “Been out for months,” Norali said between sips. “Been drinking Nidarian nish. It’s better than nothing, but it ain’t coffee.”

  “I see,” said Saito. He snapped his fingers, and the steward stuck his head around the door of the tiny kitchen next door.

  “Hank, I think you’d better just bring the pot and leave it on the table,” he said.

  ***

  At that moment, the Chief Petty Officer in the back of the room barked “Attention on Deck.” Everyone came to their feet and stood at attention as Captain Joshua Westerly stepped into the briefing room.

  “As you were,” he said, stepping to the head of the table. Everyone took their seats again as Westerly looked at the new arrivals.

  “Greetings, Commander Peralta,” he began. “We’re awfully glad to see you. We’ve studied the tapes of the battles here in the Sol System until we’re blue in the face, but there’s no substitute for talking to someone who’s actually been there and seen the enemy. So welcome to our little home away from home.”

  Norali sized the man up. He seemed a decent sort so far; no signs of arrogance or stupidity.

  But of course, that could mean nothing. If he was Ken Elliott’s man, they were in trouble.

  Norali spoke up. “Well, I’m actually sailing under false colors, Captain. I was only involved in the ground war on Deriko. It’s Lieutenant Commander Rodgers here who will do the briefing. She was Tactical Officer on the Dragon at the time of the recent battles.”

  Sitting down in his chair, Captain Westerly seemed puzzled.

  “Nothing against Commander Rodgers, but did you not have a more senior officer from Dragon who could do the briefing? What about the Captain or the XO?”

  “Ah, unfortunately, both the Captain and the XO are indisposed today. They caught some bug, probably from the re-supply shuttles that have been coming and going. Both of them are under quarantine in Dragon’s medical ward, I’m afraid. But we didn’t want to put off this briefing, as we’ll only be here for a short time. We have to get back to the Fleet as soon as possible.”

  Westerly looked over at Saito. Norali could have sworn what passed between them was a look of regret.

  They want to go to the Fleet. These guys want to fight.

  But she could say nothing yet. They had a lot more assessing of this captain to do before they were willing to take a chance with him.

  So Bonnie stood, and started the briefing. And it was a damn good briefing. After all, beneath the dark wig and the Lieutenant Commander uniform was the very person they had asked for - the Captain of the Dragon, who had more time fighting Ashkelon than any other officer in the Fleet.

  Two hours and several bio-breaks later, Captain Westerly called a halt.

  “I don’t know about the rest of you,” he said, looking at Saito and the two Lieutenants, “but my brain is overstuffed. Let’s break for chow.”

  Turning to Norali and Bonnie, he continued.

  “Would you be able to join me in my cabin for dinner, ladies?”

  “Yes, sir,” Norali responded.

  Saito and his assistants drifted out, shaking hands with Norali and Bonnie as they left. Captain Westerly led them through a hatch in the back of the briefing room and they found themselves in his cabin. A steward had just completed setting a lavish dinner on a large table. Westerly gestured them to seats, and then stood behind his chair as they got comfortable.

  “I have one more guest coming,” he said. “My new XO just reported aboard, and he’ll be joining us. Ah, here he is now.”

  Bonnie turned and looked at the figure coming into the cabin from the bridge hatch. He was a tall man, well-built, with dark hair and flashing blue eyes. He could have been a twin to Jim Carter, Rita’s husband. In an old-fashioned gesture of formality, he stopped, braced up, and bowed, and somehow Bonnie knew instantly he was German or Russian.

  “Commander Peralta, Lieutenant Commander Rodgers, may I present Commander Fabian Becker, my XO. Commander Becker has just reported aboard, seconded from the Deutsche Marine.”

  “Very pleased to meet you. Were you wet navy?” Norali wondered as Becker sat down at the table.

  “Ja, I mean, yes, Commander. I was XO of the Nord-Ostsee. What you call a frigate, I believe, in America.”

  Norali responded quickly, with some sting in her voice. “I’m not American, Commander. My father was from Argentina, and my mother from Ukraine.”

  “Ah, sorry,” expressed Becker. “These days, with such a multi-national force in space, I should know better than to assume.”

  As the steward brought the food, the meal progressed into small talk, beginning when Becker told them about his adventures on a wet-navy frigate, fighting pirates off the coast of Africa.

  Piracy had become a recurring problem, particularly in the last twenty years as climate change bit deep into the global economy. Agriculture had been thrown for a loop by the changes. This had caused mass famine in many places, but nowhere worse than Africa and India.

  Piracy had been a prickly but manageable problem back in the early part of the century. But as Africa and India fell into chaos, it had become a much larger issue in the latter half of the century. Millions died of hunger - and thousands took to the sea in an attempt to survive via piracy. The entire Indian Ocean had become too dangerous for travel due to the onslaught of well-armed and ruthless pirates who took what they wanted at the point of a gun.

  Recently, to prevent well-organized pirate fleets from forcing their way into the Mediterranean, Egypt had put a large warship presence off the southern end of the Suez Canal. The Chinese, Indonesians, and Australians had fielded a wall of warships from Malaysia all the way to Australia to protect their waters. As a result, with the east closed off to them, the pirate fleets had started coming around the African Cape of Good Hope into the eastern Atlantic, first a few dozen smaller ships, then as they got better organized, larger fleets of warships with modern weapons. By joining forces with the pirates already working the east side of Africa, they had formed into quite formidable fleets.

  NATO had finally been forced to station a permanent fleet near the Canary Islands to fend off the pirate attacks. Becker had been part of that fleet. Several sharp actions had occurred between his frigate and well-armed pirate vessels - vessels which were easily the equivalent of a frigate in speed and firepower.

  “You were wounded?” wondered Norali as the story progressed, pointing to a ribbon on Becker’s uniform which she knew was equivalent to a Purple Heart.

  Becker looked down at the ribbon, a somewhat sheepish smile on his face.

  “Only a little bit,” he replied. “A small piece of shrapnel from a 40mm. It went through and through, so I was lucky.”

  “I’m glad,” Norali replied. She glanced at Bonnie across from her. An unspoken thought went through both their minds.

  We need people like this.

  Finally, dinner was complete, and they sat back, enjoying their coffee. Norali looked across at Bonnie, wondering how to start the sensitive topic they had in mind - and if she should discuss it in front of Becker, who was a new player in the game.

  But Westerly beat them to it.

  “So,” he began, looking at Bonnie. “Why is the captain of the Dragon sitting at my table disguised as a Lieutenant Commander?”

  Chapter Nine

  Sol System - Earth

  Battlecruiser Victory

  “How did you know?” asked Bonnie. She reached up and removed the wig, tossing it to a nearby side table, and flicked out her blond hair to remove any residual threads.

  Captain Westerly smiled like the Cheshire cat. “My dear Captain Page. I take my job very seriously. That means I’ve spent dozens of hours going over tapes and pictures of everything related to the coming of Jade, the battles fought with the Ashkelon, and of course your discovery of Dragon on Mars.

  “And li
ke it or not, Captain Page, you are one of the most beautiful women in the world. Attempting to disguise yourself by changing your makeup and adding a wig is not nearly enough to hide you from anyone who’s spent much time viewing you on video. Especially the eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such distinctive green eyes as yours. The next time you attempt to disguise yourself, you should wear contacts to change your eye color.”

  Bonnie grunted in frustration, glancing at Norali. “I’ll remember that, thanks.”

  “Now,” Captain Westerly continued. “I’m sure you didn’t go to all this trouble just to give a briefing to my crew without them asking for autographs. So why would the most famous captain in the EDF sit at my table in disguise?”

  Bonnie hesitated, looking at Becker. Westerly saw the look and spoke.

  “Captain, Commander Becker and I served together off the coast of Africa. I trust him with my life. You can be assured that whatever you say here is confidential.”

  With a sigh of trepidation, Bonnie decided truth was the best policy. She gave them the whole story - Admiral Elliott’s ploy to relieve Rita of command, his decision to retain the Victory and the two cruisers for the defense of Earth rather than send them to the Fleet, and his determination to accost Bonnie and Luke at his first opportunity to relieve them of command of the Dragon.

  At the end of her exposition, Westerly shook his head and sighed. “I knew he was retaining the Victory and the cruisers here to defend Earth. But I didn’t know about the rest of it.”

  Westerly looked at Becker, who grimaced.

  “Keeping us here is just stupid,” Becker said. “One battlecruiser and two cruisers will last about five minutes against an Ashkelon fleet. They would do a world more good with Rita as part of the Combined Fleet. What is Elliott thinking?”

  “He’s not thinking,” said Bonnie. “He’s playing politics. He’s an armchair admiral with no concept of how to fight this war.”

  Westerly lifted a hand in caution. “Regardless of circumstances, I won’t criticize my senior officer. Let’s focus on the practical and leave the opinions aside.”

  “Fine,” said Bonnie. “What Commander Becker said is correct. Stuck here in orbit, you’re a sitting duck for the enemy. I could take you out myself with only the Dragon. You’d never know what hit you.”

  Westerly nodded. “I know that. But what can I do? The Chinese have played this well; this ship was built under a U.N. budget, and has been assigned to the UNSF. The West has played right into their hands with this whole U.N. thing. Regardless, I have my orders, and I’ve never disobeyed an order in my life. I certainly don’t intend to start now.”

  Bonnie, greatly disappointed, gazed at Norali. “Then I guess we’ve wasted a trip.”

  “No,” Westerly said. “Not wasted. Now that I’ve met you, I see that you are exactly what the vids say. A competent, dedicated captain intent on protecting Earth. And for that, I’m glad to have met you. Let us raise a glass.”

  Together, they stood. As it happened, it was a Friday. Westerly made the traditional Royal Navy toast of the day - a tradition which had seeped over to the EDF due to the large number of Royal Navy personnel in the Fleet.

  “A willing foe, and sea-room to fight,” Westerly smiled.

  They clinked their glasses and drank.

  Sol System - Earth

  Destroyer Dragon

  “Well, that was a bust,” Bonnie said as they returned to Dragon. The shuttle touched down on the sortie deck and the autodock picked it up and started the movement inside.

  “Not necessarily,” said Norali. “I think we planted a seed in Westerly’s mind. Let’s hope it takes root and grows.”

  “He’ll never cross Elliott. You heard him.”

  “I heard him. But I also heard something else, between the lines. He wants to fight. He knows he’s wasted sitting in Earth orbit. And he knows it’s suicide if the Ashkelon come. Let that work on his mind for a while. Meanwhile, we’ve got step three to complete.”

  Bonnie groaned. “Do we have to do that? Do you know what Rita’s going to do when she finds out?”

  “Well, let me put it this way. This is one time I’m super glad we don’t have balls; because if we did, Rita would surely cut them off when she finds out about this.”

  Bonnie rolled her eyes but nodded. “So the tape’s ready to release?”

  “Yes. All you have to do is say the word.”

  “So…we’ve turned over the two beat-up destroyers to Elliott. We’re fully re-supplied. Nothing standing in our way to leave, right?”

  “No,” came Norali’s glum voice.

  At that moment, the shuttle came to a stop in the autodock slot and the cradle settled to the floor. Chief Nash behind them opened the hatch and extended the ramp, then stood by waiting.

  Bonnie slapped her five-point harness release and stood. She looked at Norali.

  “Do it,” she said. “But I expect trouble. So bring all our folks back onboard before you release it. Button up the ship, set guards at all external hatches. I want to be ready for anything.”

  Norali nodded and headed off to make arrangements. Bonnie returned to her cabin and stripped, changing clothes back to her normal uniform, then moved to her desk.

  Things are about to get interesting. I sure wish I could run this by Rita first. But if I do, she’ll tell me to stand down. And I’m not standing down on this one.

  Sol System - Earth

  United Nations Building - Beijing, China

  Ken Elliott could not believe his eyes.

  The video playing in front of him showed Captain Bonnie Page of the Dragon, one of the most well-known - and well-respected - members of the Earth Defense Force. He had watched it three times now. Each time, his anger rose another notch.

  “This is mutiny!” he yelled again, probably the tenth time he had yelled it in the last half-hour. His face was red, and his eyes were protruding as his blood pressure rose.

  “I want her arrested! I want her in the brig before sundown!”

  Behind him, Captain Dewa Shigeto nodded. “I’ve issued the orders, Admiral. However, the US has responded that the chain of command for the Dragon is unclear, and thus they will not mount an assault on an EDF vessel in orbit. They suggested we call the UK.”

  “And?”

  “The UK has responded the same. They suggested we call the Japanese.”

  Elliott glared at him.

  “And what did the Japanese say?”

  “Sir, they have responded that it’s a round-eye problem, so we need to find a round-eye to take care of it.”

  Elliott closed his eyes in anger, his rage overwhelming him. Opening his eyes, he glared at Shigeto with malice in his eyes.

  “Then we’ll have to involve the Chinese. I didn’t want to do it - Zemin wants to stay out of this - but I can’t let that bitch get away with this.

  “Captain Shigeto, contact Li Xiulian. That’s Zemin’s liaison. Have him put together a Chinese combat team to capture the Dragon and arrest that bitch Bonnie Page. And Dewa - if you don’t have her in the brig by dawn tomorrow morning, you are going to be sorry. Understand?”

  “Aye, sir, I understand. I’ll get on it.”

  With a crisp salute, Shigeto turned, left the Admiral’s office, and entered his own. Closing the door, he sat at his desk.

  Then he played the vid one more time, listening as Bonnie Page made her case. She had sent the vid to every major news outlet in the world. It was the hottest news item of the day, playing on every station. And it was brutally simple in its message.

  It began with a short statement from Bonnie. She stood in front of the camera and spoke from the heart.

  “Hello, people of Earth. My name is Bonnie Page. I am the captain of the EDF destroyer Dragon. I have just returned from the Ashkelon system, where we are fighting a campaign against the most brutal, vicious enemy Humanity has ever encountered.

  “I returned to Earth to ask for your help. We need ships; every time we go for
th to fight those who would enslave our planet, we are outnumbered and outgunned. Yet we have survived, so far, due to the wisdom of our leader, Admiral Rita Page, and the courage of our spacers. But unless we receive more ships and more weapons, we will lose this war. That is absolute fact.

  “For that reason, we need the newly completed battlecruiser Victory to be released to us, along with the two cruisers that are in orbit with her. Let me assure you of one thing - leaving those ships in orbit around Earth dooms them to destruction. If you don’t believe me, let me show you.”

  With that, the video cut away to the bridge of the Dragon. The destroyer was on an attack run toward Earth, traveling at 20% of light speed. In the front display, the planet approached rapidly. Bonnie was shown in her captain’s chair, and her XO Luke Powell to one side of her. Callouts from her crew could be clearly heard as the Earth got larger and larger in her front display.

  “Time to target?” Bonnie called.

  “Eighty seconds, mum,” called a young lieutenant at the Tactical station. “Weapons are free and locked on target.”

  “Fire at will, Emma,” Bonnie called.

  In a close-up of the holotank, their target came into view. Enhanced by the AI, it could be clearly seen.

  The Victory. The battlecruiser swing in high Earth orbit over the west coast of South America.

  “Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Fire,” called Emma at the Tac console.

  In the video, the sound of the gamma lance firing was simulated, followed almost instantly by the sound of simulated missiles departing the Dragon’s tubes.

  Even though the video was clearly a simulation, it seemed so realistic that Shigeto couldn’t help but gasp as simulated holes were punched into the simulated battlecruiser in the video. The Victory appeared to stagger, as a huge hole from the gamma lance punched all the way through, just behind her port engines. Instants later, eight missiles splashed against her. Explosions covered her from stem to stern. With a groan, Shigeto watched her break apart, fragments spraying in all directions. Behind her, the two cruisers of her screen veered away wildly as they tried to escape the splatter of parts and pieces coming at them.