Stollar's Gambit

by Jason Borondy

  “Lieutenant Commander Magnuson, have you heard from your brother recently?” she asked.

  Magnuson stopped and looked up at Jessica. His expression changed from focused to almost relaxed.

  “From his last message packet I received, he seems to be doing well. He was about to make another jump to become farthest ship to travel beyond the marker in the fleet,” he replied. Even with an accent Jessica could hear the pride in her chief engineer’s voice.

  “Is he due back soon? How far is he going?” she asked. Jessica at one time thought about going into the Exploration division but changed her mind right before she graduated. She still loved to get updates from time to time though.

  “In a few weeks. I think they are set to make a few more jumps out before returning,” he replied.

  “You seem excited.”

  “I am, but not for just him. I get a sense of pride of how fast and far we have gone in just a couple of decades,” he said.

  Jessica understood his statement all too well. After the incident at Neptune, all manufacturing companies retooled to rapidly build the new hardware to explore and defend their corner of the galaxy. It was something reminiscent of what she learned in history about World War II and how companies ramped up production of war materials.

  “Not to mention the fact that it was necessary,” the individual with black hair sitting next to Magnuson said.

  “Lieutenant Ray, what do you mean by that?” she asked.

  The young science officer swallowed hard before he began, “Well, first we had to relocate throughout the Sol system in the 21st century because the ocean rose and forced us to take a hard look at the environment. With limited space in the Sol system, they tried and failed spectacularly with Warp drive. Lessons learned from that tech led to our Displacement drive and we know what happened there. The Neptunian threat led to the formation of The Alliance of Nations and EDF. Now we have colonies stretching out 2000 light years.”

  “Thanks for that brief but unnecessary history lesson, Lieutenant. I think that everyone here probably learned that in grade school.” There were chuckles from around the table.

  Jessica drifted back and turned to Wei. He had completed his meal and now was reading something on his tablet.

  “So…” she began before a beep from the room's Comm panel interrupted her.

  Isaiah stood up from his chair and walked over to the panel. He pressed the button to open the channel and said, “This is the XO.”

  “XO, this is the bridge. Admiral Jackson has sent a message requesting the captain to contact him immediately,” a voice replied from the speaker.

  “Understood,” Sinclair replied and turned off the channel.

  Jessica got up from her seat and headed to the door. Everyone stood to attention.

  “As you were. Please stay and eat as much as you want. Don't worry, the XO will coordinate the cleanup,” she smiled and winked at Sinclair then walked out the door.

  It didn’t take long for Jessica to get to the ready room. She sat down at the desk and pressed a button at her terminal, and the screen rotated from her desk up where she could see it. She keyed in some commands to access the network to contact Admiral Jackson.

  The admiral's face popped onto the screen. He was wearing a blue t-shirt that would normally be worn for physical fitness. His face, though, looked tired, and she wasn't sure but he might have added a few gray hairs on his head.

  “Evening, Admiral, going for a run?” she asked.

  “Yes after I pass on this message,” he replied.

  “Go ahead, sir,” she said leaning back in the seat.

  “To begin with, the information I am about to tell you is just for you. The only reason I can tell you is because you have someone on your crew that could be affected. You can't even tell them yet. Understand?”

  Jessica nodded and said, “Understood, Admiral.”

  He let out a deep sigh. “As of right now, the Carson has missed its scheduled check in. We have been trying everything to try to reach it. As you might know, the ship is so far out that it can only send packaged messages from time to time. That is why we have it on a strict check-in schedule.”

  “Yes, I know. It is standard protocol for exploration vessels on mission,” Jessica stated now sitting up in the chair. She had a bad feeling where this was going.

  “For now, we have tasked the Moscow to go see if it can find the ship close to its last known Jump Point. It might take a few days.” He moved closer to the screen before continuing, “Most people here in command don't have high hopes, though. Some here think we might have a repeat of the Allure incident.”

  Jessica’s mouth dropped. The Allure was a passenger vessel that had one of the worst Displacement drive incidents on record. “Is this what you think?” she asked, “I mean, I thought the current safety protocols prevent it from happening.”

  He gave her a half smile. “I am more hopeful about it. I am praying for a simple communications failure.” His smile disappeared again. “The captain of the Carson is the older brother of your chief engineer. I want you to be prepared to deliver the bad news in case the worse happens.”

  “How do you prepare to give that sort of news?” she asked.

  “Very gently and with empathy.”

  “I copy. Anything else, admiral?”

  “No, that's it for now. More to come later.”

  “Have a good run, sir.”

  “I will try.” The screen went blank and Jessica leaned back in the chair. “Another possible Allure incident? God, I hope not.”

  11

  EDS Oppenheimer

  Sol System Asteroid Belt

  “A flying phallic symbol.”

  Those words stuck in Commander Drake's head. He knew Jessica was kidding, but it still bugged him. Sure, the Oppenheimer wasn't the most conventional looking vessel in the EDF fleet, but that wasn't the point. It is a test bed for new tech.

  The Oppenheimer’s uniqueness is its modular design. It has an integrated Displacement drive, hard points to attach test equipment, and it also has a second power reactor exclusively used for testing purposes. The ship has a few defensive systems to include automated PDS's, and two rail cannon turrets.

  The current project was based off a theory that Eric came up with while attending school with Jessica. It wasn’t the most original, but he convinced the EDF to at least try it on a small scale first. He worked with the science division to lay out the details. Right now, they were behind schedule and constantly finding bugs in the system. They got the small-scale version to work in the lab right away, but getting a full-sized version working had been a challenge.

  Sitting at the command station in the middle of the bridge, Eric was looking over the display. A diagram of the Oppenheimer filled the center of the screen. He zoomed in on the attachment that fitted the front hard point of the ship. The length of the device doubled the length of the ship. He looked over the checklist that popped up onto the left of the screen. Every item on the list was showing in the green.

  Eric looked up from his terminal to the bridge view screen. On the screen was a view of the space in front of the ship. He could make out a small asteroid being towed by a group of tugs into position. The tugs were attached by rods buried deep inside of the rock.

  “Sir, the lead tug is reporting that they are in position,” a voice from his right reported.

  “Thanks, XO. Tell them to release and get clear,” he replied.

  Eric could hear his XO repeat the orders he gave him. Watching the screen, he saw the tugs bring the asteroid to a stop. Then they detached from the tow rod. Free from the mass of the asteroid, the small ships sped away.

  “Tactical, are the tugs clear of the hazard zone?” he asked

  “They just now cleared,” the young woman responded.

  “Good.”

  He turned to his left and asked the man in the green flight suit, “Are you ready?”

  “As ready as I can be,” he replied.


  Eric smiled. The man in the green flight suit was Doctor Mark Reading. He was the individual from the science division that helped designed the device. He was a smart guy. Just lacked some confidence.

  Eric turned back forward looking at the large rock that now floated motionless in the space three kilometers in front of the ship. It was oblong and pitted all over from small impacts. It was roughly the same mass as a Destroyer-class vessel. The size was a requirement for the test.

  “Tactical, target the asteroid with the anti-proton cannon. Set the cannon to 50 percent power,” he ordered. This was the first test at 50 percent power. Previous low-power tests had been successful, but this one had been a challenge. Safety systems always seemed to trip when they got close to the required power level.

  “Aye, sir,” she replied.

  Eric turned his attention to his monitor again. He watched the power level indicator increase 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, percent and rising. He could hear a low hum grow louder as the cannon powered up. He held his breath as 30 percent came and went with no shut down.

  “50 percent power achieved,” the tactical officer reported.

  “Yes!” Mark exclaimed. He couldn’t hold back his excitement.

  Eric turned and gave him a quick smile. He was happy for him at this point.

  “Alright, Ensign, get me a target lock on the center of that rock,” he ordered.

  “Locked on, sir,” she answered.

  “Remove firing safeties and stand by to fire.”

  “Safeties disengaged, power levels holding at 50 percent, ready to fire.”

  “Helm, ready on stabilization thrusters?” he asked. The thrusters were mounted on the other hard points. They were designed to keep the Oppenheimer stable and not to drift off target as the cannon fired.

  “Ready, sir,” replied the helmsman.

  Eric looked over his terminal one last time, then looked back up to the main screen.

  “Fire!”

  The bridge of the Oppenheimer shook and a loud hum filled the air as the anti-proton cannon fired. Glancing at his terminal, Eric noticed the indications of the stabilization thrusters engaging, keeping the ship aligned to the target.

  Eric looked at the target. Since the beam was invisible, there was no way to see it emitted from the ship. The only indication he could make out was on the target. A large circle began to glow red, and dust from the asteroid’s surface began to spray out away from its edges.

  Cracks began to sprout across the surface of the asteroid as the beam dug further into its core. Suddenly the target shattered. Pieces of broken rock dispersed in all directions.

  “Cease Fire!” the captain ordered.

  “Aye, Captain,” the tactical officer responded as she keyed in commands into the terminal.

  The shaking on Oppenheimer’s bridge began to subside and the loud humming stopped.

  “Cannon is now in safe mode, sir,” she stated.

  “Thank you, Ensign,” he replied.

  Eric turned to Mark and said, “I would have to say that was not only successful but pretty damn impressive. Don't you think, Doc?” He noticed the man was staring intently at his terminal. Puzzled, he asked, “Doc?”

  “Oh, sorry, Captain.” He looked up and answered, “Yes. very successful, and according to the data better than expected. I can't wait to get the results back to command.”

  “Me too, Doc,” he said as he gave the man a smile.

  This test even at half power gave Eric some validation. He couldn''t wait to see what this thing could do at full power. That is if the Oppenheimer could do it without falling apart.

  12

  EDS Hornet

  Grand Isle System

  The dining hall was crowded. David made his way through the rows of tables until he found an empty table in the back of the room. He set his tray of food down and then pulled out the seat that was attached to a swivel floor mount and sat down at the table. He placed the napkin on his lap, picked up a fork, and began to eat what seemed to pass for scrambled eggs. He looked up for a moment while chewing his food to notice that a young woman with blond hair sitting at another table across the room was giving him the death stare. He coughed as a piece of egg went down the wrong throat and took a sip of water.

  “What is up with her?” he thought, then returned to eating, making no effort to look up. Suddenly it seemed like the light around him was getting darker. He looked back up to see two large individuals in flight suits standing over him. One of them had a dark in-regs beard and the other was kind of baby-faced. They were both holding trays of food.

  “May we have a seat?” the one with a beard asked.

  “Of course,” David replied standing up gesturing to the two other chairs, “My name is David Ramirez.”

  “We know who you are,” the baby-faced man said in an oddly deep voice.

  David swallowed hard, “You do?”

  “Of course, we do. We are the other two members of Diamond flight. My name is Mike Stratford, or you can call me by my call-sign ‘Mouse.’ My friend here is John Erickson,” the baby-faced man said.

  “Or you can call me by my call-sign too. I go by ‘Mountain Man.'”

  “Mountain Man and Mouse. Those are interesting names," David replied.

  “Well, we all can’t get great ones like Rockhound now can we?” Mouse said with a smile.

  David cringed. Guess Jasmine got that out there quickly. “Yeah I guess so,” he looked in between the two men to catch the girl who was still staring at him. John turned to look at the woman and she turned back to her meal.

  “Oh, I see Daphne found you,” John said.

  “Yeah she has been staring at me for a while. What is going on with her?” David asked.

  “Oh she was part of Diamond flight up until yesterday,” Mouse replied.

  “She was? What happened?”

  “She was reassigned to Viper flight after Hennessy assigned the Lieutenant as your wingman. I think she was planning to pawn you off to Daphne and that would let her keep flying without a wingman, but the CAG had other plans,” John said.

  “What is with her anyways? Why doesn’t she want a wingman?” David asked.

  “We don’t know, but every time someone is assigned to her they don’t last too long. As of today, you have lasted longer than her previous wingman,” Mouse said.

  “Is that a good thing?”

  “I think it is for now at least,” a familiar voice stated behind him.

  David turned around to see Jasmine holding a tray of food standing behind him. “Morning, Ma’am.”

  Jasmine sat down. “Morning Rock Hound. How are you feeling today?”

  “Good,” he replied.

  “Excellent. Have you had your workout this morning?”

  “Yes, I have,” he said with a smile. He was proud to get ahead of the game for once. The first day he could get to the gym until after the all day Sim session and he was so wiped he just sat on the stationary bike for thirty minutes.

  “Well, good. Then you should have no problem with today’s schedule,” she replied taking a bite of food.

  “And that is?”

  She smiled back at him, “I will take it easy on you today. Only one versus five in asteroids.”

  “Wonderful.”

  13

  Outside Camp Chapman

  Planet M051

  The little animal stared at Haley with its yellow eyes. The small, light brown creature sat on its hind legs. Haley could have sworn the thing was praying for food the way it held its hands together. The original surveyors of this planet called them Tunnel Squirrels, and they were one of the few lifeforms on this planet. It did remind her of some of the squirrels back on Earth that she would see in her back yard as a kid. She tore off a piece of cracker from her rations and tossed it to the animal. It picked up the piece of food and placed the crumb in its mouth. The animal chewed the piece of cracker. A shadow crept over Haley and covered the squirrel. It looked up past Haley’s head and then scurri
ed off.

  Haley turned around. Standing behind her was a man who stood somewhere about six feet tall. He was wearing a combat exoskeleton that had a breast plate of light-weight ballistic armor that was a dull brown color that matched M051’s color. He held a rifle with two hands across his body with the muzzle pointed at the ground. His face was obscured by the battle helmet that covered his face.

  “Looks like you made a new friend,” he said in a near mechanical voice.

  Haley stood up and turned completely towards the soldier and replied, “Maybe. At least it would be loyal, unlike some people in this unit.”

  The soldier clipped his rifle to the breastplate of his armor and reached up with both hands to his helmet. He pressed two buttons on the side of the helmet, and with a click the faceplate came loose. He took his hand and flipped the facial obstruction up. Haley could now make out his face. He stared angrily at her with his brown eyes. She could tell her statement kind of made him mad. He reached out with his arm and pointed at her with a gloved hand.

  “You bring that stuff on yourself!” he yelled.

  Stepping towards him she answered, “Really? You’re going to take the little kiss-ass’s side? Do you want to be crumpled in a little pile of tears too?” She balled her fist ready to give him a quick jab to the nose.

  Another soldier stepped in between the two of them. He stiff armed the other soldier in the chest and pushed him back.

  “That’s enough, Private Sanderson. Go back to the Armadillo and cool off. I don’t want her to embarrass you in front of everyone,” the soldier ordered in a mechanical voice.

  “But Sergeant--” he protested.

  “But nothing, Private, now go,” he ordered as he pointed towards the armored vehicle.