Gates of Hell

by Daniel Gibbs

  “Yeah.”

  Back to one-word answers. “So I gave him that nickname several years ago when we started working together. It stuck.”

  “I heard him say he didn’t earn that rank,” Kadesh stated.

  “Not in the CDF, no.”

  Silence reigned, leaving Kenneth not entirely sure what the point of the conversation was in the first place.

  “Boss, made it to the third device. How much time on the clock do we have left for this fighter?”

  “Eight minutes, Master Chief.”

  “Roger that. Proceeding with the test.”

  “I fail to understand why you would call him a rank he didn’t earn,” Kadesh interjected.

  “He’s earned it on my team,” Kenneth replied.

  “How?”

  “By single-handedly training dozens of young people, most of them straight out of the CDF, on the proper way to maintain electronic equipment and advanced computer systems. I’ve seen that man raise up so many, without hesitation. It’s like his life mission.”

  “I see.” Spanners have more personality. I’m dying here.

  “Third device checks out, moving on the fourth, boss,” Billings said, his voice echoing through the cockpit.

  “Understood,” Kenneth replied. “Do you have the next fighter location locked in, Kadesh?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Colonel David Cohen, to Kenneth Lowe. Come in, over.”

  Kenneth exchanged a surprised glance with Kadesh, who had his eyebrows raised. “This is Kenneth Lowe. I read you loud and clear, sir.”

  “How far into the testing process are you?”

  “We’re almost done with the fourth fighter, sir. We’ll be moving on to the next one in a couple of minutes.”

  “Any issues so far?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Good. Stay on schedule. We’ve only got a few hours left.”

  “Yes, sir,” Kenneth replied crisply.

  “Godspeed, Cohen out.”

  “Since when does the colonel call up a civilian by name?” Kadesh blurted out.

  Kenneth shrugged. “Since now?”

  “That’s mightily peculiar.”

  “Just another day in the office, Warrant,” Kenneth said with a grin.

  “The fourth device checks out, boss. I’m heading back to the airlock.”

  “Great, Master Chief. Step on it… we’re on the clock.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  Four down, thirty-six to go.

  After finishing up a small meal —David never ate much before a battle— he made his way the short distance to the gravlift and up to deck one. Walking off the lift, he crossed the distance to the large hatch to the bridge in thirty steps. The two Marines posted on either side of the entryway saluted sharply, which David returned and pulled on his cover as he crossed the threshold.

  “Colonel on the bridge!” Master Chief Tinetariro announced.

  “As you were,” David replied a split second after everyone who was standing and not harnessed into their stations came to attention.

  “Officer of the Deck, this is Colonel Cohen. I have the conn.”

  A young lieutenant jumped up from the CO’s chair, and he turned to face David. “Aye aye, sir, Colonel Cohen has the conn.”

  “Anything to note, Lieutenant Jackson?” David asked.

  “No, sir. All systems normal, right where you left her.”

  “Very good. You are dismissed, Lieutenant,” David replied and settled into the CO’s chair; the chair directly next to it, marked “XO,” was unoccupied. He supposed Aibek hadn’t made it back yet.

  The second watch tactical officer, Second Lieutenant Victoria Kelsey, was present at her station, along with 1st Lieutenant Shelly Hammond, the Lion’s chief navigator. Over the next fifteen minutes, David reviewed the ship’s readiness status and tactical board. The waiting… the waiting never gets easier. It’s a broken record before battle, but I can’t escape it. He was rousted from his thoughts by the deep baritone voice of Aibek. “Are you ready for the battle to come?”

  “I think I’d be lying if I said I was ever quite ready for battle. You can be prepared for it, but I don’t think anyone is quite ready,” David replied.

  “Saurians look at it differently. We view life as one long, ever-changing battle. In effect, we are always ready for battle,” Aibek stated as he made himself comfortable in the XO’s chair.

  “Perhaps we can both learn something from each other, in that case.”

  “Perhaps,” Aibek said with a toothy grin. “I prefer my way.”

  “Somehow, XO, that just doesn’t surprise me,” David said, smirking. “Ship is ready. How was your inspection tour?”

  “I visited both the reloading compartments for both our forward and aft VRLS. Major Hanson has done an outstanding job of staging additional manpower and equipment for reloading the missile tubes.”

  “That’s one of the critical pieces of the plan. Hanson’s a good engineer, though. Hasn’t failed us yet.”

  “What’s the time left before mission start?”

  David glanced up and looked at the mission clock directly above his head. “T-minus eighteen minutes, forty-nine seconds. I’m not sweating those forty-nine seconds. Our fighters and bombers are all strapped onto merchant ships… everything is ready.”

  Aibek snickered a bit, then began to review information from own display.

  David realized that over time, those around him had learned to allow him the few minutes before the commencement of combat to clear his mind and prepare it along with his soul. As the clock ticked below fifteen minutes, he closed his eyes and prayed softly in Hebrew. “God, King of the Universe and all things within it, if it is Your will, please grant mercy and watch over those under my command in the battle to come. Protect them and allow them to return to their families safely. Amen.”

  “Amen,” Aibek said, jolting David’s eyes open. “I have been working on my understanding of Hebrew,” he explained.

  “Ah, I see.”

  “I still don’t understand, after all this time, why you don’t ask for victory.”

  David turned to look at Aibek. “I don’t think I have the right, XO. We’re sitting here and, in a few minutes, we’re going to do our best to eradicate thousands of God’s creations from the universe He created.”

  “Does the toll from the battle bother you?” Aibek asked. “As a Saurian, the human viewpoint on the subject is different and interesting.”

  “XO, I’m quite at peace with the fact we must fight. The cause is just, and this is a defensive war. Even so, I can’t bring myself to ask for victory. That feels presumptuous to me. So I ask God to spare those I lead; I discharge my duty to the best of my ability. The outcome and consequences of those actions are solely in the hands of God.” But do we have the right to kill? That’s what it comes down to, because no matter how I rationalize it, I’m going to kill a lot of people today. Worse, too many of the men and women under my command won’t be going home.

  Aibek nodded and didn’t respond further. The mission clock continued to tick down.

  At T-minus ten minutes, David spoke again after cueing the microphone on his chair to 1MC. “General quarters. General quarters. This is your 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!”

  The lights immediately dimmed and switched to a soft hue, bathing the bridge in blue light. Kelsey was the first to speak afterward. “Conn, TAO. Material condition one set throughout the ship, sir.”

  “Thank you, TAO,” David replied. “Communications, get me Colonel Dyson, please.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Taylor said. “One moment.”

  Dyson’s face appeared on the monitor directly above David. “Colonel Cohen, good to see you, sir.”

  “I thought I’d check in one last time. Knowing the enemy’s plans is naturally a great advantage, but we�
��re still outnumbered and outgunned.”

  “Every ship remaining in my task force is combat ready, sir. On your signal, we’ll jump in and engage.”

  “Remember, Colonel,” David said. “Don’t tangle with the League battlewagons. That’s the Lion’s job. When we give the word, drop in and attack whatever’s left of their escort forces.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Dyson replied crisply.

  “Okay. Time for our final Lawrence drive prep. Good luck, and Godspeed.”

  “Godspeed to you too, Colonel Cohen.”

  The vidlink blinked off, leaving David to look at the clock, which now ticked under five minutes to showtime. “Navigation, confirm Lawrence drive coordinates.”

  “Conn, navigation. Lawrence drive coordinates triple checked and confirmed, sir.”

  “Jump readiness?”

  “Weapons capacitor is discharged, Lawrence drive is at full power and ready,” Hammond answered, her voice calm and professional, as David had come to expect from over a year of working with her.

  “About time, XO,” David observed as the clock marched on.

  “How do you humans put it? Time to kick some ass?”

  David laughed in spite of his combat demeanor. “That’s what Marines say, XO.”

  “I am still learning your idioms.”

  “Yeah, so am I. I can’t keep up with the kids these days,” David snarked. “Here goes nothing,” he said quietly to Aibek and turned back to Hammond. “Navigation, engage Lawrence drive.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Hammond called back.

  From deep within the ship, David felt the straining of the reactor and the massive Lawrence drive generators. The lights dimmed for a moment, and through the transparent metal window, he saw the familiar form of an artificial wormhole take shape directly in front of the ship. A kaleidoscope of many colors, the Lion sprang forward under sub-light power, gliding through its portal through the vast distances of interstellar space.

  Emerging on the other side, the ship’s power cycled and sensors reset. Just like every other jump David had been through. Those five seconds were the longest of any ship-driver’s life. No incoming fire… Intel checks out for phase one.

  “Conn, TAO. No contacts, sir,” Kelsey reported. “We’re clear.”

  “Now, XO, the next question is when do we launch the first volley of Hunters.”

  “Remind me again, what’s the loiter range on those missiles?”

  “Roughly thirty minutes.”

  “If the intelligence the traitor gave us is accurate, the League fleet arrives in fifteen minutes.”

  “We’ll wait ten minutes, then launch,” David said, his tone firm.

  “I thought we were going to launch immediately,” Aibek insisted.

  “Call it a gut feeling. I think we’ll need those ten minutes somewhere.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Don’t worry, Aibek. We’ll get our chance to pound the Leaguers. I promise you.”

  24

  Amir cranked his head around, staring off into the black of space. These moments, gliding through the cosmos before and after combat, are when I can appreciate the beauty of the universe Allah created. He could see a distant nebula directly in front of his cockpit, its red and green coloring a picture of natural beauty. Such a pity that the League must mar this universe with their infidel desire to destroy the faithful.

  “Colonel, can you hear me?” Major Hume, his XO, asked through the commlink.

  “Loud and clear, Major.”

  “Our Leaguer friends appear to be late,” Hume observed.

  “Since when do the Leaguers do anything right?”

  “When they kindly blow up.”

  Amir snickered. “Dark, Hume. Very dark.”

  “British humor, sir.”

  “All fighter squadrons show ready to detach. Any malfunctions among the bomber squadrons?”

  “None, though we do expect a couple of these explosive bolts to fail. Contractors put them together after all. The phrase ‘good enough for government work’ comes to mind,” Hume continued.

  “You ever think about getting out here without combat? To look at the amazing sights of the universe?”

  “My absolute favorite pastime when on shore duty is test flights for that very reason, sir. I volunteer for every one I can get, especially the extended tours through a high gravity system.”

  “Someday, I would like to own a pleasure craft I could fly through a nebula or another anomaly. Once the war is over.”

  “Amen,” Hume replied.

  The mission clock ticked forward on Amir’s HUD. He closed his eyes, reciting an Arabic prayer. “Allu Ackbah, hasbunallaahu wa ni’amal-wakeel.” It was a prayer for protection against evil. Allah is sufficient for us and the best on whom to depend. Right hand gripped tightly on his flight stick, he waited for the enemy.

  “Ten minutes is up, Colonel,” Aibek stated, causing David to turn his head. The bridge lighting made it difficult to see, and the blue hue caused shadows to stretch across the room.

  “I know,” David replied.

  “You know something I don’t?”

  “Ever get that unsettled feeling?”

  “Usually after eating something humans try to pass off as food, called kale.”

  “Try it in a salad with fish on it. It’s pretty good then,” David said with a small laugh. “This one is a go, no go decision point.” He closed his eyes and hoped he was making the right choice. “TAO, make VRLS tubes one through two hundred and forty ready in all respects. Input flight path to move them eight thousand kilometers in two groupings, one port, one starboard. Open outer doors.”

  “Aye, sir,” Kelsey said as she tapped furiously at her controls.

  “Guess you made it, sir,” Aibek said quietly.

  “Fortune favors the bold, right?”

  “Another human saying.”

  David grinned at Aibek before glanced forward.

  Kelsey interrupted the exchange. “Conn, TAO. Tubes one through two hundred and forty are ready in all respects. Outer doors are open.”

  “TAO, snap shot, tubes one through two hundred and forty.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Kelsey answered crisply.

  David felt the salvo of missiles thundering out from both the forward and aft VRLS simultaneously. The shake was barely noticeable, but he’d spent so many months on the Lion that he could tell what practically any vibration or movement was by sound and feel.

  “We’re technically not shooting at anything,” Aibek said as the missiles continued to blast forth from the ship.

  “Does everything have to be sarcastic with you, XO?” David replied with mock annoyance. “It’s a snap shot because we don’t have a target. I can’t think of anything else to call it.”

  “Always have to follow proper procedure, eh?”

  “By the book. Always by the book. That way, no mistakes. There’s a reason why we use the same commands, the same order syntax over and over. There can be no mistaking my intentions because the orders are clear and concise.”

  “Human can be quite confusing.”

  “How so, XO?” David asked.

  “Some humans say to live in the moment. Others quote people who have been dead for hundreds, even thousands of years. You have a myriad of rules to follow, but most of you say you would like to have less rules and do what you want. When a Saurian wants something, we go get it.”

  “Different strokes, different species?” David offered. Heh, Aibek isn’t wrong. We are quite confusing at times.

  “Another human saying.”

  David grinned, looking up at the clock as the shudders finally ceased. “Conn, TAO. All missiles launched and running hot, straight, and normal.”

  “Excellent, Lieutenant. Update the mission clock with the time remaining before our Hunters run out of fuel.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Kelsey replied.

  A few moments later, the mission clock changed to show a countdown from twenty-nine minutes, eighteen s
econds.

  “Now back to waiting,” David said with a grimace. “My favorite pastime before an engagement. Leaguers better not be late.”

  “We’ll give them a reception they won’t forget when they finally do arrive, Colonel,” Tinetariro said from her perch behind the CO’s chair, overseeing damage control functions.

  “Amen, Master Chief.” God, I hope she’s right. Otherwise, a lot of CDF soldiers are going to die today. All because of a disgusting set of traitors.

  “Get that brace over here right now, Corporal! Move it!” Hanson shouted at the top of his lungs toward the young soldier who led a team of four carrying a large metal pole, designed to be used to prop up a missile as it was pushed into place in the tube.

  “Yes, sir!” the ruddy-faced soldier replied as his team struggled to comply. All around them, there were hundreds of other personnel—enlisted, officers, and civilian contractors— frantically trying to reload the VRLS as fast as possible.

  Colonel Cohen challenged me to have both launch arrays reloaded in fifteen minutes. It’ll still take a miracle to pull that off. Hanson jumped out of the way of a cargo drone carrying yet another missile up and into the tube. There’s a reason we don’t do it this way… if one of these things drop, it could set off an explosion that destroys the ship from the inside.

  “Five minutes in, twenty-five percent reloaded, sir,” Corporal Hunter, who had been on Hanson’s team for the past six months following her promotion, said, causing him to look to his side quickly.

  “Didn’t see you standing there, Hunter.”

  “Sorry, sir, it’s a bit loud in here.”

  “That it is,” Hanson agreed.

  “I wish I still had my bionic arm. It lifted ten times what my normal arm can,” Hunter said with a grin on her face.

  The fact that she came back from a triple amputation, reenlisted, and has a great attitude about life should put all of us to shame. Hanson nodded toward her. “You know how it is, though, regulations prohibit use of any bionic devices except for therapeutic reasons.”

  “Yeah, it would be nice to have about now,” Hunter replied. Another missile was carried in by a team of eight soldiers, and they started pushing it up into the cell, using hand tools.