by Daniel Gibbs
“Listen up, everyone! Get to the sewer tunnels and make your way back to your cells. Lay low for the next couple of weeks. Now get out of here; we’ve got three minutes until the nearest Leaguer QRF arrives!” the older Marine thundered.
Ruth didn’t need any more encouragement to move; following the practiced plan they’d trained on repeatedly, she and Greg opened the sewer cover, and they climbed down into the smelly river of sludge.
“You did all that when you were my age?” Susanna asked, her eyes wide and jaw halfway on the barn floor.
“Yeah, I did,” Ruth replied, chuckling a bit. “Sometimes it seems like yesterday.”
“Why didn’t you kill him?”
Ruth shrugged. “Shooting an unarmed man was a line I couldn’t cross. I’m glad I didn’t, but later on, I regretted it.”
“Why?” Susanna asked with a frown.
“Because later on, some of us, including me, were captured. It was a dark time and place.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
“Maybe some other time. Not tonight. We both need some rest. I have to stand watch later, so… how about we turn in?”
“Okay,” Susanna said, scurrying off to a bed of straw she had put together.
Ruth took notice as Susanna knelt and prayed in a language she didn’t understand. Pondering on how long it been since she’d prayed, Ruth lay back, looking up through the hole in the roof into the sky at the stars. She closed her eyes and tried to pray silently.
HaShem, if You still listen to me, please hear my prayer. I come to You to ask for help in saving these people from the League. Help the team, give us wisdom, strengthen our hearts and our courage. Help me… I know I’m a bad Jew, and I don’t even know what I believe anymore. If You haven’t turned Your back on me, please try to guide me back to where I belong. After praying, she stared at the sky for what seemed like hours. Rest would not come, and her soul remained troubled. Why did I encourage this young woman to join us? I’m setting her up to become me. Despite rationalizations, the guilt wouldn’t disappear.
16
A few hundred lightyears away, the Lion of Judah flew through space. David glanced up at his personal viewer as the last merchant vessel in the group they’d been escorting disappeared from LIDAR. A successful run with no League intercepts. I’ll take a small victory.
“It has been quiet the last two hours,” Aibek said from his chair.
David didn’t bother moving his head; he stared straight ahead into the blackness of space. “Don’t jinx us, XO.”
Taylor cleared his throat. “Conn, communications. Incoming flash traffic, sir. Text only. Message reads, Convoy 17 under attack, request immediate assistance. It repeats, sir.”
“Too late,” Aibek stated.
Under normal circumstances, Aibek’s dry humor would be funny, but not now. David hit a button on his chair to engage 1MC. “General quarters! General quarters! This is the commanding officer. Man your battle stations! I say again, man your battle stations. Set material condition one throughout the ship. This is not a drill. I say again, this is not a drill!”
“Conn, TAO. Condition one set throughout the ship, sir,” Kelsey said above the din of the alert klaxon. The lights on the bridge turned to a dim blue hue, shadows forming across every surface.
“Navigation, prepare for Lawrence drive jump, input coordinates from the distress call.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Hammond replied.
“TAO, load all magnetic cannons with dual EMP and high explosive shells. Raise shields.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
She’s a bit too enthusiastic for my taste, but a competent officer. I’ll have to give Ruth some advice on how to mentor her going forward.
“I have a bad feeling about this, as you humans say, Colonel.”
David turned his head toward Aibek. “Oh?”
“Convoy 17 is two jumps behind us. How did the enemy know where to strike?”
“We’ll get answers on that later. For now, focus on the task at hand—defeat the Leaguers, save the merchant ships.” XO is spot on as usual… something more is at work here. League officers are never this clever.
Aibek nodded curtly and apparently had nothing else to say.
“Conn, navigation. Coordinates inputted, Lawrence drive charged, sir.”
Here we go. “Navigation, engage Lawrence drive.”
The lights on the bridge flickered from the enormous power draw of the artificial wormhole generator. Suddenly visible through the transparent metal window at the front of the bridge, was a multi-colored distortion whose maw opened and beckoned the Lion in. Her sub-light engines kicked in, and the ship flew into its tunnel between the stars, popping out a moment later.
Anxiety gnawed at David’s stomach as the first few seconds after emergence ticked down. God, please protect my crew, as well as the crew of Colonel Dyson’s ships and the merchant vessels. Allow them to return home safely to their families if it is Your will.
“Conn, TAO. Showing twenty-two sierra contacts, nine Rand class cruisers, and twelve Cobra class destroyers.”
My God… Convoy 17 had thirty-five ships in it, plus escorts. “TAO, populate the board.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
David glanced up at his viewer as the multitude of red and blue dots appeared. Where are their escorts? “Navigation, intercept course, Master seven. Flank speed.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
The bridge hummed as the Lion’s engines engaged at maximum thrust. Inertial damping systems aside, the drives generated incredible G-force. At flank speed, it was evident in a one to two-tenths of a gravity more pull.
“We appear to be out of position, sir,” Aibek said.
“The jump put us on the far side of the convoy.”
“Conn, TAO. Sierra twenty-one destroyed, sir! Sierra twelve destroyed… Sierra six… destroyed, sir.”
“Navigation, everything we’ve got.”
“We’re at flank, sir,” Hammond reported.
David punched a button to connect his commlink to engineering. “Hanson, this is the bridge. Can you hear me?”
“Hanson here, sir. What can do I for you?”
“What percentage of reactor output are we at?”
“One hundred and five percent, sir.”
“Take us to one hundred and fifteen percent.”
There was a pregnant pause on the open commlink, with muffled voices in the background. “Sir, Doctor Hayworth strongly advises against it, as do I.”
“Noted. One hundred and fifteen percent, now, Major.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
David clicked off the line and glanced toward Hammond. “Navigation, direct all additional power into the engines.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
“Conn, TAO,” Kelsey interjected. “Sierra seventeen destroyed, sir.”
David gripped the rests on his chair, willing the ship to go faster. How’d they get the jump on another convoy? That’s the question, isn’t it? I’m fighting like a man with one arm tied behind my back, and it's costing too many good people their lives. He pulled up the status display for the launch tubes, which showed two squadrons of space superiority fighters—SF-106 Phantoms—on ready five alert. “Communications, signal the air boss to launch both squadrons of ready five fighters. Orders are to engage the enemy as quickly as possible.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Taylor quickly replied.
“I cannot imagine two squadrons of Phantoms will be effective against cruisers, sir.”
David turned to Aibek. “I know, XO. I’m hoping they can distract the enemy from blowing up more freighters.”
As if to underscore David’s point, Kelsey interrupted him. “Conn, TAO. Sierra ten destroyed, sir.”
“Navigation, use the thrusters to boost our speed. Time to intercept?”
“Just under two minutes, sir.”
David glanced back up to his monitor and toggled an overlay that showed the maximum range of all weapons as a differ
ent color. Their missile armament was closest to being useful. “TAO, firing point procedures, forward VRLS. Make tubes one through one hundred twenty ready in all respects, open outer doors. Target ten missiles per Rand, and eight per Cobra with what’s left.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Kelsey said.
Aibek raised an eye scale. “Overkill, much?”
“We don’t have time to play around at the rate they’re bagging merchant ships, XO.”
“Conn, communications. The lead civilian vessel reports the convoy is moving toward us, sir, and begs us to hurry.”
“Lieutenant, tell them help is on the way.”
“Conn, TAO. Tubes one through one hundred twenty ready in all respects, firing solutions are set, outer doors are open.”
David leaned forward in his seat. “TAO, match bearings, shoot, tubes one through one hundred twenty-five.”
A different type of rumble emanated from the Lion of Judah as missile after missile roared out of her forward launch array. A sea of new blue bots appeared around the ship on David’s tactical readout, quickly zooming away from the vessel and toward enemy targets. More blue dots disappeared—victims of the League task force—but finally, the scales began to even. Several enemy contacts blinked out after icons representing the Starbolt and Hunter missiles intersected with them.
“Conn, TAO. Master six destroyed. Master eight destroyed. Master two destroyed!”
“TAO, firing point procedures—”
Kelsey interrupted him mid-word. “Conn, TAO! Aspect change, all remaining enemy contacts. Lawrence drive spin-up!”
“TAO, snap shot, anything we’ve got that’s in range, closest enemy contacts!”
“I’m sorry sir, they’ve jumped out,” Kelsey reported, briefly turning in her chair toward him.
David slammed his fist into his hand in frustration. “Lieutenant Taylor, get search and rescue moving.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
David stood up from his chair and paced to Taylor’s console. “Have you had any luck working with the Oxford?”
Taylor looked up. “We’ve got a theory, sir. Lieutenant Tamir is running down a few things…”
“Be ready to present it in an hour. Main conference space, deck one.”
A look of uneasiness passed across Taylor’s face. “Sir, it’s still a theory.”
“Firm it up. This doesn’t happen again. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Carry on, Lieutenant.”
David walked back to the CO’s chair and resumed his station. I’m done watching civilians die. We’re going to find out the source of the League’s intelligence and terminate it for good. So help me, God.
17
Precisely an hour later, the conference room on deck one was occupied with David, Aibek, and Taylor all clustered together. Far less than the usual number of officers for a high-level briefing.
I hate having to keep my senior officers in the dark. David had gone so far as to have sentries posted outside of the door to prevent any interruption from occurring. Forcing himself to move on from the disaster of Convoy 17, he tried to focus on the task at hand.
“Lieutenant Taylor, do you have the vidlink ready for us?” Aibek asked, interrupting David’s thoughts and putting him back onto the subject at hand.
“One moment, sir.”
“I am amused our communications officer is working hand in hand with spies,” Aibek stated.
“The Oxford isn’t a spy ship, XO. It’s a technical research vessel studying deep space phenomenon,” David said, somehow managing to keep a straight face. I must always show the mask of command. Never let them know it affects me.
The banter was short-circuited by Taylor cutting in. “I’ve got the vidlink up, sir.”
“Take us live, Taylor.”
The screen at the far end of the room shifted from blank to showing two separate video streams, one of Dyson, the other of Sinclair and Alon. All three smiled. “Greetings, Colonel Cohen,” Sinclair said before anyone else spoke.
“Back at you, Sinclair,” David responded with a smile. “How’s spookville?”
“Another day, another decryption. Life on the front lines?”
“Harrowing and action-packed, at least with all these Leaguers around and seemingly able to guess our next steps.”
“Lieutenant’s Alon and Taylor have some thoughts on why that’s happening,” Sinclair responded. “I’m going to let them run with it.”
“By all means, gentlemen. What do you have for us?” David said.
Taylor cleared his throat. “Well, sir, we believe that we’ve identified a possible vector for the intelligence leak that seems to be plaguing us.”
“If you put any more qualifiers in there, Taylor, I’ll get you a paddle for your canoe,” David deadpanned.
“Sorry, sir,” Taylor replied, his face turning red. “What we’ve determined is whoever or whatever the leak is, it is one rung out from the Lion of Judah, and Colonel Dyson’s space action group.”
“One rung?” Aibek asked. “Explain.”
“One operational link. Specifically, the ships that provide intelligence for us. That would be the Oxford, and the three stealth raiders conducting deep space scans of our intermediate Lawrence drive jump points.”
“I’m going to assume you’ve already examined the Oxford?” David said.
“We went through our comm logs, incoming and outgoing, and swept the entire ship for transmitters and bugs,” Sinclair said. “Nothing. I also reviewed the file of everyone on this ship personally. No red flags. For now, our personnel are in the clear.”
“That leaves the stealth raiders,” David said.
“Exactly, sir,” Alon interjected. “We believe all things being equal, our leak is in the comms shop of one of these ships. With your and Colonel Dyson’s permission as the ranking officers in our area of operations, I’d like to have lie detectors ordered for all communications officers and subspace radio room enlisted personnel on the three vessels in question.”
“Any objection to that course of action, Colonel Dyson?” David queried.
“None from me, Colonel,” Dyson answered quickly.
“What are we hoping to gain from doing this?” Aibek asked.
Taylor took up the answer. “We feel whoever’s behind this will be rattled and make a mistake. They’ll probably communicate back with their handler. The Oxford will be watching for any stray transmissions, and that’ll help us narrow down which ship. Once we can, a simple visit to and questioning of the crew will get us the traitor.”
“I’d like to remind everyone that whatever is going on, everyone involved is innocent until proven guilty,” David remarked.
“In God we trust; all others we monitor,” Sinclair said. “I trust no one.”
“I suppose it takes all types, Colonel Sinclair,” David responded, unable to suppress a grin. “Anything else, gents?”
“Not from us, sir,” Taylor answered.
“Oxford is good,” Sinclair said.
“I’m clear on the course of action, though still shocked at the idea of a traitor,” Dyson interjected.
“For once, I hope you’re wrong,” David said toward Taylor. “I really do. Okay everyone, back to work. Dismissed.”
The vidlink shut off, and Taylor stood up quickly, heading for the hatch. Aibek, however, remained seated. “May I have a word, sir?”
“Certainly, XO,” David replied as the hatch opened and shut behind Taylor. “What’s on your mind?”
“I thought your species, at least those members of it that were a part of your nation, were united in their war against the League of Sol. If this is the case, why would there be a traitor in our midst?”
“One, we don’t know if there’s a traitor. Second, humans are all… different, XO. Each one of us is a unique piece.”
“On Sauria, once the government makes a position on a subject of species importance such as war and peace, dissent is not tolerated.”
&nbs
p; “The Terran Coalition welcomes, and even celebrates, dissent.”
“Why?” Aibek asked, his tone rising, and his eyes scrunching together. “Such behavior only weakens the resolve of the whole.”
“Because we believe dissent adds to our society and freedom is an antidote to any evil.”
“If the Terran Coalition suppressed dissent, it would likely have fewer incidents such as these.”
“Perhaps,” David replied. “I would argue it would cause more, at least among humans. Citizens would chafe at being told what to do by the government, and question why they were being suppressed. In turn, causing more dissent and eventually rebellion against our rulers.”
“An interesting position. Our cultures are quite different, I concede. Our government, before losing the war fought against your people, hadn’t changed in a thousand years.”
“And yet with those differences, we’re still allies and friends. I would argue it’s precisely because of our uniqueness.”
“An interesting perspective.”
David grinned. “Hey, better to be interesting than dull. I’m going to hit some paperwork.”
“I have the mid-watch to stand,” Aibek said, standing.
“See you later, XO.”
Aibek stood up and left, leaving David alone in his thoughts.
I may put on a brave face, but I’m still as bothered as the rest of them. I hope this is some deep cover sleeper agent. A loyal citizen turning to the League is beyond belief. He stood and walked toward the hatch, stopping right before it. Closing his eyes for a moment, he shook his head. God, please help us all.
“Is it just me, or are there a lot more Leaguers out today?” Ruth said into her commlink as she skipped over a tree trunk that had fallen across the path through the forest they were hiking through. She was taking the rear security position, while Susanna was up front with the rest of the team.
“Not up for the challenge, LT?” MacDonald’s gruff voice answered.
“You know me, Master Chief. Always ready, always there.”
