by Saxon Andrew
Ka was going to shout at Mila for the sudden course changes throwing off her targeting but saw that the ship was still alive and hadn’t been hit. She remained focused on her monitor and changed her pulse cannons to target any new blips as they appeared.
• • •
Indie stood beside Tal and waited for the inevitable. The simulation should be over quickly…but…after five-minutes, the simulation was still running; what was going on?! He walked forward and stared at the front monitor. The Zak’s Jil was violently changing direction and it always seemed to move toward smaller groups of enemy vessels. His mouth was hanging open and, after fifteen-minutes passed, he knew something was wrong. This just wasn’t possible. He walked back to Tal’s console shaking his head. “What’s wrong, Indie?”
“Sir, this isn’t possible! They should have been knocked out of the simulation within the first two-minutes. I don’t care how good they are, surviving this long just can’t be done.”
Tal moved his attention to the wall-monitor, “They appear to be proving you wrong, Captain.”
“They’ve done something, Sir. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not something normal.” Indie’s attention was glued to the wall-monitor and saw Zak’s Jill destroying an incredible number of enemy warships as it moved on a radically erratic course through the enemy formations. The simulation attempted to overwhelm them with massive numbers of warships but failed to make it happen. After another thirty-minutes, Mila broke out of the enemy formations and went to maximum-speed, escaping the pursuing warships. The computer announced over the wall speaker, “SIMULATION SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED!” The crew jumped to their feet cheering and Indie shouted out of frustration, “EVERYONE TAKE YOUR SEATS!!!” Ka turned to Indie and he quickly added, “Sir.” Everyone sat down, and Indie stared at them before starting, “What you’ve just done is impossible. This simulation cannot be beat, and you’ve just done it.”
“That’s because we have a superior crew, Captain,” Ka replied with a frown.
“Superiority has nothing to do with it, Sir! This simulation can’t be completed. Something else was going on here and I want to know what it is…NOW!” Indie responded instantly.
Indie glared at the crew and Mila reluctantly raised her hand. Indie saw her and walked straight up to her, “What did you do, Captain Anand?”
Katy immediately spoke up, “Actually, it was me, Sir.”
Indie jerked his head to Katy and she shrugged, “I made a change in my computer’s programming, Sir, and fed the results to Mila’s console.”
Indie took a remote out of his pocket and pressed several buttons. The wall monitor activated showing the original ship positions at the start of the simulation. The simulation started, and Indie instantly froze it. He spoke into the remote, “Overlay Captain Anand’s monitor on top of the original.” Everyone in the room, including Tal, walked over, and stood beside Indie staring at the monitor. The room was silent, and Ka leaned toward Mila, “What are those colored tracks on your monitor, Mila?”
Katy spoke up, “I programmed my scanning computer to find the safest routes out of an enemy formation, Sir. The green track is the optimum track, followed by the white and then yellow tracks.” Indie turned to her and Katy saw he was confused. “Sir, I programmed the scanner to find the smallest groups of ships inside the enemy formations and plot a path in their direction.”
Indie’s anger was gone. He looked at the wall monitor and started it moving in slow motion as everyone watched. He moved the view out and saw that Zak’s Jill moved at high-speed along the green track toward a group of four enemy ships. The four ships were destroyed, and the ship instantly turned away from a formation of fifty-one enemy-warships moving in and Zak’s Jill immediately moved toward another group of three-warships. He stared at the monitor in silence as he saw the green track disappear, as a large formation of enemy warships moved directly in front of the ship’s position. The ship instantly jumped on the white track and stayed on it until the green track appeared again. Everyone watched the simulation until completion, at which point, everyone turned to Katy when Indie asked, “How did you come up with this?”
“Sir, I was playing around with the Universal Routing System, you know how the system can designate a track to a distant object, right?” Indie nodded. “Well, it dawned on me to ask why it couldn’t lay down a track into a group of enemy warships. I started fooling around with the system and found that it could find smaller groups of ships within a much larger formation. What you saw on the monitor is what I came up with after some reprograming of the scanning computer.”
“All I did was follow those tracks to escape the enemy formation,” Mila interjected.
Indie looked back up at the monitor showing Zak’s Jil escaping from the pursuing warships. He took a deep breath and started shaking his head. “Did I do something wrong, Sir?” Katy tensely asked. “I made the changes before the simulation; should I have not used them without permission?”
The corner of Indie’s mouth went up as he turned to her, “No, quite the contrary, your invention is going to revolutionize the way future space battles are fought. I trust you have this program saved?”
“Yes, Sir.” Katy pulled the computer chip out of her panel, “I have it saved to this chip.”
“Please copy it for me, Lieutenant.”
“What are you thinking, Captain?” Tal asked.
“I’m sending a recording of this simulation to the developers along with this chip. I’m going to ask them to enhance this program and see if it can’t be improved.”
“Sir?”
Indie and Tal turned to Katy, “I also have an attack program.”
“Say what?!” Tal asked in a surprised tone.
“After I developed an evasion program, I developed a program to attack an enemy formation by selecting the most vulnerable targets.”
Indie was intrigued, “Do tell?”
“Yes, Sir. Do you want a copy of that as well?”
“Indeed, I do, Lieutenant.” Indie turned to Tal, “Sir, I want to recommend some immediate changes to your ship’s crew.”
“What are they?” Tal asked.
“It’s clear Katy is far more talented with the scanner console than me. I want to make her the scanning officer and I will replace her as the coverage officer. The change makes better sense in that she cannot operate Commodore Albritton or your consoles, where I can.”
Tal chuckled, “The change is so ordered, Captain. You’re right and that change does make more sense.” Tal turned to Katy, “I’m proud of what you’ve developed, Lieutenant. I think we don’t fully understand what’s going to come out of your invention, but I know it’s going to be something special.”
Katy’s face was red, and she had a huge smile, “Thank you, Sir.”
Tal looked at the crew and smiled, “This simulation was called the no-win scenario. You’ve proven that wrong and you have the rest of the day off. Congratulations.”
The crew shouted their joy at their accomplishment and Tal turned to Indie, “I guess this means my crew is ready, right.”
“They’re as ready as I can get them, Sir.”
“Contact the other instructors and offer my crew to assist them in training their crews.”
Indie took out his communicator and began speaking to the other trainers. Tal walked over to Ka’s console, “That was incredible shooting, Love.”
“Wouldn’t have happened without Katy’s tracks. Mila kept us out of trouble long enough to fight our way out,” Ka stated.
Indie walked over to Tal and waited to be noticed. Tal turned around, “Yes, Captain.”
“Sir, the other trainers have respectfully declined your offer. They say they are doing fine with their crews and don’t require additional assistance.” Tal stared at him and blinked. Indie could only shrug.
Tal’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at Ka, who also shrugged. “Captain, send an announcement to all the ships under my command that there will be a war game th
e day after tomorrow to determine their readiness. Tell them the details will be sent to them in the morning.”
“Sir…”
Tal interrupted Indie, “That will be all Lieutenant.”
“Sir!” Indie pressed. Tal’s eyes narrowed as Indie quickly pointed out. “Sir, you have two-warships directly under your command. They’re slotted to defend your ship and it might be a good idea to teach them this system before we go into a war game.”
Tal pursed his lips and then started chuckling, “You’re right. Thank you for pointing that out. Call in Captain Turner and Lasalle’s crews to start training with my crew in the morning. Once they’re on board, we’ll schedule the war game.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Indie did an about face and walked away. Ka looked up at Tal, “This should prove interesting.”
Tal smiled, “I’m really hoping it does.”
• • •
It took five days to train the two crews and Tal dismissed their trainers on the second-day; they wasted time asking frivolous questions and getting in the way, constantly interrupting Tal’s crew during their presentations. The two crews were able to survive the crew simulation on third-day and they spent two days learning how to link their ships into Katy’s scanning computer for the attack program. During the first simulation, Nicole’s ship was lost, and Jack’s ship was lost during the second simulation. When Indie confronted them, Nicole confessed that she hadn’t broken off an attack to stick to the red attack track. I thought I could get some shots off before I broke away, Sir.”
Jack nodded, “I did the same thing, Sir. It won’t happen again; I’ll stick to the attack track.”
Indie nodded, “Then let’s try it again with a new simulation and see how you do.” This time, all three ships survived, and every enemy vessel was damaged or destroyed. Indie turned to Tal and announced, “Sir, I think we’re ready.”
Tal smiled, “Send the announcement about the war game, Captain along with the details of how it will be conducted. Let them know that there will be a discussion over my communicator just prior to the start of the exercise.”
Indie smiled, “Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Jee looked at Jan on his console’s monitor, “What is Tal up to, Jan?”
“I think he’s worried about where we are in our training, Jee. I don’t see anything else going on, do you?”
Jee’s expression was wry, “He’s doing it for some other reason, Jan. He wouldn’t put new crews in a position to be embarrassed. He must be up to something.”
“How are your crews doing, Jee?”
“My crew, Dorman’s Crew, and Gibbs’ crew are working on the crew simulation, but none of them have come close to handling it.”
“The same for my crews,” Jan replied. “In my opinion, that simulation is impossible to beat.”
“I agree, and I need to discuss this with Admiral Trainor.”
“Admiral Trainor?” Jan asked.
Jee smiled, “He’s in command of the fleet’s training corp. What a perfect name for his position. Anyway, I’ve left a message with him about the simulation but haven’t received an answer.”
“I understand that all of our units are charged with taking out the other units in this war game and it includes Tal’s three-ship unit. Do you find that odd?”
“That’s what leads me to believe something is up, Jan.”
“Did you know that Tal offered his crew to assist in training the other crews?”
Jee sat up in his chair, “No. I didn’t.”
“The other trainers told him that further assistance isn’t needed.” Jee rolled his eyes, which prompted Jan to ask, “What?”
“Tal wouldn’t have done that unless he had something to offer; this war game is his way of showing us the error of our ways. Stay away from his unit during the game, Jan.”
“But we outnumber his unit two-to-one, Jee.”
“Do you think he would have included his unit in this exercise if he had any doubts about him being capable of winning?” Jee sighed, “Trust me, avoid his unit.”
Jan stared at Jee on her monitor and nodded, “We’ll leave him to Rachael’s unit.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to leave anything to her. You’d have to race her to get at Tal’s unit, which I trust you won’t do.”
“I won’t. I’ll go after your unit and keep my eye on what Rachael can do.”
Jee laughed, “Think you’re ready for me?”
Jan smiled with him, “Oh, I think so. We’ll wait and see.”
Jee laughed out loud again, “See you in the morning.” The monitor went dark and Jee thought about possibly joining Rachael in going after Tal’s unit. Nahhh…Rachael would look at it as barging in on her game and possibly turn on him. Jee wondered what was up Tal’s sleeve; there must be something surprising.
• • •
The next morning, Tal had every admiral and ship commander on his console. He smiled, “Good morning everyone. I want to take a minute to make sure everyone understands the rules and structures involved in the exercise we’re about to take part in. The most important restriction is that the area where the exercise will take place is inside a cube that measures three-light-years on each side. Your computers have been programmed such that pink walls will appear enclosing the exercise area. If any ship moves outside the walls, they will be considered destroyed and taken out of the simulation. The way the exercise will begin is that Admiral Meadows and Admiral Jee Stevens will start at the top two-corners of the area and Admiral Jan Stevens and I will start in the bottom two-corners.”
“Doesn’t that give you an advantage, Sir?” Racheal quickly asked.
Tal smiled, “Admiral Meadows, we will swap places. I’ll move my unit to the top corner and your unit will take the bottom corner I was slated to take.”
“Thank you, Sir!” Rachael responded brightly.
Tal chuckled before continuing, “Any ship that the simulation considers damaged or destroyed during the exercise will have their controls cut off and that ship will be out of the exercise. The destroyed ship’s monitors will still be operational, so they can still observe the conclusion of the exercise. The victory will be awarded to the unit the last surviving ship is a part of. Any questions?”
“Sir, you are operating at a disadvantage in numbers,” Rachael commented.”
Tal smiled slyly, “I’ll try to get by, Admiral Meadows.” Rachael smiled broadly, and Tal laughed, “Bring it on, Rachael!”
“You know I will, Sir.”
Tal asked, “Any more questions?”
“Sir, is there a reason for this exercise?” Jee asked.
“You mean other than seeing where my fleet is in their training to go to Andromeda?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Tal shrugged, “I offered my crew to assist training your ships and was turned down. I intend to show you what you refused. Other than that, there is no other reason.” Tal smiled, “The exercise will start in sixty-seconds. Good-luck to all of you.”
The monitors went dark and Jan thought, “OH CRAP! JEE WAS RIGHT!”
Samantha turned around and looked at Jan’s expression, “Sir, is something wrong?”
“Stay away from the Admiral’s unit, Sam! He’s delivering a message and I don’t want to be the first one to receive it.”
“But he only has three ships, Sir.”
“Captain Onda, I know him! If you want to be removed from this exercise and watch it from the sidelines, go right ahead and go after him. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Jan pulled up the commanders of her five-ships on her console, “We will go after my brother’s unit when the exercise starts.” Jan watched her console and examined the monitor showing Jee’s ships across the zone where the game was taking place. She started to warn Rachael but knew it would be wasted breath; she was determined to show Tal that she was his equal. Rachael was just too aggressive for her own good.
• • •
Rachael kne
w Tal was up to something and turned to Lani, “Captain, don’t go rushing in on the Admiral’s formation.”
“Sir, we can take him out easily enough.”
“You think just like me, Lani; I don’t know if that’s a good combination. I’m assigning two of my ships to each of his, but I don’t want to rush in and get caught unawares of what he’s planning. Got that?”
Lani nodded, “Yes, Sir!” Rachael began issuing orders to her five ships and she slotted her ship to be one of the two ships assigned to go after Zak’s Jil. She didn’t feel good about this war game, especially since Tal said he was going to teach them a lesson.
• • •
“Lieutenant Montana, are the other ships linked in?” Indie quickly asked after Tal stopped speaking.
“Yes, Sir.”
“And which program are you using?”
“I’m using the attack program, Sir.”
Tal interrupted, “I want the evasion program used first, Lieutenant. We’ll go to the attack program after the evasion program is trialed.”
Katy turned to her console and quickly began entering the instructions. She turned around and announced, “Evasion program is activated, Sir.”
Tal pressed two-buttons on his console and said, “Jack, Nicole, we will use the evasion program initially to see how it functions against our ships. We’ll go to the attack program after I determine if it is operating effectively.”
“Yes, Sir,” both answered. Tal watched the countdown and it finally reached zero. He looked at the huge wall-monitor and saw Rachael’s unit accelerate at high-speed toward his three-ships. Rachael was, if nothing else, consistent. He examined the tactical monitor and saw Mila moving into the center of the war games allowed area.
Chapter Nine
“LANI, CUT HIM OFF!”
“Sir, I’ve been trying to do just that,” Lani snarled. “His ship turns when I’m not in position to cut him off; it’s like he’s reading my mind.”
