Stollar's Gambit

by Jason Borondy

  David chuckled. “Hey, at least you get to rest. We are so amped up on stims right now I don’t know if we are coming or going.” The image on the screen froze and green dots rolled across the bottom. Then a few seconds later Haley’s face synced back up. “Jump?” he asked.

  “Looks like it,” she said.

  “I can tell. Your face is going green. I can see now why you became a ground pounder.” He laughed.

  “Why you—” she started.

  Sirens began to ring out. The sudden change in sound startled David. Then a voice came over the loudspeaker. “Battle stations, battle stations. All personnel report to your sections. Pilots to your fighters!”

  David jumped from his seat. “Sorry, sis, but I have to go.” Haley looked like she was about to say something, but he cut off the feed and the screen went black. He left the communications pod. People were scurrying about the hallway to get to their assigned stations. He turned to his right and began to make his way as fast as he could weaving around individuals towards the pilot’s locker room.

  It was chaos in the locker room. People were rushing to get their suits on. People were asking what was going on. “Is this it?” one of the pilots asked out to the room. David was trying to block out the distractions. He finally got his last glove locked into place, hands shaking a little from the adrenaline rushing through his body.

  He felt something slap him on the back of his left shoulder. He spun to see who it was. Jasmine was standing there, already suited up helmet under her left arm. She was looking at him in disapproval. “When is she not looking at him like that,” he wondered.

  “Come on, let’s move! You are holding us up,” she said sternly.

  “Understood,” he replied, fumbling to pick up his helmet. She just shook her head.

  He fell in behind her through the door into the flight deck. Other pilots were scrambling to get into the cockpits of their fighters. Jasmine made a bee line to her fighter and David followed, then broke towards his fighter. He climbed up the steps of the ladder and slid into his seat. He put his helmet on and it made a click sound when he twisted into place. He plugged the environmental feeds into the suit and a cool feeling hit his body as the air flowed into the suit. He then put his arms through the straps and fastened the five-point harness. He cranked down on the straps until the restraints were snug on his body. He pressed a few buttons on the center console and HUD in his helmet turned on as the fighter’s systems came to life. He looked to his left to make sure the ladder was removed and noticed it was gone already. He pressed another button and the canopy rotated down and closed over him with a clunk.

  “Ready over there?” Jasmine said through his helmet.

  “Honestly, no,” he replied as he shook to type in commands to complete the startup sequence.

  “Just breathe and follow your training, you will be fine,” she said in a calming voice.

  David closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then opened his eyes. That seemed to steady him. He looked over his flight systems. Everything was in the green and looking good. He then peered out the canopy and he noticed fighters being pulled over to the launch bay by the autonomous drones that would attach themselves to the front landing struts of the vehicles.

  There was a beep over his headset. Then the CAG’s voice began to broadcast through his helmet. “All pilots, this is the CAG. As of ten minutes ago, the Invader ship jumped into the system. They are currently fifty minutes from the initial strike point. We are short a couple of ships in the formation, but all Tigersharks and Avengers will deploy as planned. Good luck out there. CAG out.”

  “Well that was encouraging,” David thought to himself. “No big speech like in the holo’s, just short and to the point. I don’t know if that is good or bad, and what ships are not here yet?”

  34

  EDS Little Rock

  Grand Isle System

  Jessica ran into the bridge. Sinclair stood up and turned to her “Captain, the enemy ship has jumped into the system.”

  “Location?” she asked stepping up to her station.

  “Close to JP1, and at their current speed they will reach the strike point in fifty minutes,” he replied.

  She looked at her terminal and keyed in her I.D. code, then brought up a map. It displayed the locations of all ships in the system. She noticed the 8th Battle Group’s ships in the planned formations. Smaller icons were appearing from the Hornet. They were the fighters she assumed. Her thoughts went to her brother, hoping that everything went according to plan. If it did, he would not have to engage in combat. She pushed thoughts of her brother out of her mind to focus on the map. Nowhere on the screen was the 17th. Good, she thought. That means they were successfully hidden in the debris field. She hoped the Invaders didn’t have any advanced systems that could detect the hidden ships.

  “Helm, how long to the combat area?” she asked looking down at the Ensign Hunter.

  Hunter turned to face Jessica and frowned. “Captain, at full speed it will take us two hours.”

  Jessica pounded her fist on the armrest of her chair. Pain shot through her hand, but she focused on blocking it out. Damn their luck.

  “Captain, what about a micro-jump?” Sinclair asked from his station. “We could close the gap in an instant.”

  Jessica thought for about it for a moment. A micro-jump would get them in time, but they could end up in the crosshairs of the Invader ship diverting its attention from the 8th. She turned back to Sinclair and replied, “No, it would get us there quick, but it could cause more problems. Good suggestion, though.” She then turned to Lieutenant Wei. “Tactical, how long before we could be in weapons range?”

  Wei turned in his chair. “We could use a two stage Thunderbolt from here. Unfortunately, from what we know of their defensive technology they would probably have no effect, or they could simply just jump away before the missiles reached the target.”

  “So, we are pretty much spectators right now. Great,” Jessica said sarcastically. A beep from her terminal caught her attention. She looked down at terminal and saw that the lab was calling. What now, she thought. Jessica pressed the button to open the link.

  “Captain, this is Lieutenant Ray, you might want to get down here,” he said. Jessica could make out some panic in his voice. She looked at Sinclair and he just shrugged his shoulders.

  Annoyed, she asked, “Lieutenant, can this wait?”

  “Um, no, ma’am. I don’t think so,” he replied.

  “I will be down in a moment. Stand-by,” she said then jammed down on the button to cut the connection. “Could this get any worse?” she thought. “Helm, plot a course that will bring us below the 8th. I don’t want to drift into their line of fire. Once your course is set, engage the engines at full thrust,” she ordered.

  Hunter gave her a nod. “Aye, Captain, working now,” she replied turning back to her station.

  “Tactical, I want weapons deployed and standard Thunderbolts in the tubes,” Jessica said.

  “Yes, Captain,” Wei replied.

  Jessica turned to the Sinclair and said, “XO, you have the Con,” as she stepped away from the Command Terminal.

  Jessica opened the door to the lab. What Jessica saw turned her stomach. The alien body was gone, and the armor was piled on the table. Green fluid puddled on the table; it was the constituency of snot. Some of it was even dripping over the sides of the table. The smell of rancid pork attacked her nose and a wave of nausea rolled in her stomach.

  “What happened?” she asked holding back the urge to vomit.

  “We don’t know,” Doctor Gunter said, handing her a white face mask. “One minute it was whole, the next it liquefied.”

  Jessica noticed both Gunter and Ray were wearing the same masks. She put on the mask, placing the band around her head. The mask had a strong smell of oranges. It seemed to overpower the pork smell enough that the urge to throw-up subsided. “How long ago did this happen?” she asked.

  “Close to ten minut
es ago, and once it started the process was rapid,” Lieutenant Ray replied.

  “So basically about the time the Invader ship jumped in system?” Jessica stated.

  Panicked, Ray said, “What? Why are we not at battle stations?”

  Jessica held a hand up. She knew they were going to need another counseling session on chain of command, but right now isn’t the time. “Because they are still a couple of hours away and they seem to be focused on the Hornet right now. Don’t worry, I have ordered our weapon systems to be deployed and are on standby.”

  Gunter snapped his fingers. “That’s it! There must have been some sort of signal that was received once the ship entered the system,” he said.

  “But that doesn’t explain why this was the only one intact and all the other ones on M051 became green goo. Also, I don’t think the Invaders would self-destruct their army before an engagement,” Ray chimed in.

  “Good point,” Gunter responded.

  “Did you all play with anything on the suit since we last talked?” Jessica asked.

  Ray approached the table, careful not to step in the liquid, and pointed at the helmet. “I had removed the helmet to inspect it,” he began. “But nothing happened right away. So, I figured it was good.”

  “How long after you removed the helmet did it destruct?” she asked crossing her arms.

  “It was about twenty minutes or so before our last jump,” Ray replied.

  Jessica paused for a moment to think. “So, there might be a correlation between the removal of the helmet and the introduction of the enemy vessel in the system,” she said staring at the remains then looked at her watch. Time was ticking and she needed to get back to the bridge. “Okay. Lieutenant Ray, I need you to report to the Bridge in thirty minutes. In the meantime, take some samples for analysis and help the Doc dispose of the rest. Also keep the armor locked up for further study,” she ordered.

  Both men nodded in agreement and answered in unison, “Aye, Captain.”

  “Good. If you have any further questions I will be on the bridge,” she said.

  35

  Tigershark Cockpit

  Grand Isle System

  Time seemed to pass slowly for David as he stared at the large starship lumbering towards the group. The only noise in the fighter was the hum from the computers and a low rumble from the engine behind him. He peered to his right, where Jasmine’s fighter was holding station with his. To his left, he noticed there was one of the SA-12’s. The larger fighter seemed to just hover in space. He could make out the weapons officer in the right seat staring at his controls. David looked forward to triple check his systems. Everything was in the green, still.

  He toggled the small screen in the center of his console. It changed back to the radar view. Two green dots were displayed ahead of him. The Talisman and Levchenko hung in the space between him and the Invader ship. The Talisman was a Shenyang class destroyer. From this angle David could make out the two main engines that were attached to the sides of the main hull. The shuttle bay door in the back was sealed shut, and he could make out the three missile launch ports below it. He could also make out the deployed PDS turrets and the dorsal and ventral Rail cannon turrets.

  To the Talisman’s port side, about one kilometer away, was the Levchenko. It was one of the last Mars class destroyers. It reminded David of a larger version of the Little Rock. Unlike his sister’s ship, which only had four double barrel Rail cannon turrets, this ship had eight. Four forward of the ship and four closer to the mid-ship. The Levchenko wasn’t state of the art, but it is what they had to work with right now.

  Dead center between them like an approaching nightmare was the Invader ship. It was an identical twin of the one in all the history books. David looked at the radar. The enemy ship was approaching the edge of the planet’s gravity well. He knew once it was past the line, all four missile frigates would fire, and hopefully this whole ordeal would be over quick. He took a deep breath as the ship neared the imaginary line. Then something caught his eye. The speed in the Invader ship seemed to slow. He suddenly felt a pinch like something wasn’t right.

  He opened a channel to Jasmine’s fighter. “Diamond Lead. Am I crazy or is the Invader ship slowing to a stop?” he asked.

  His helmet’s headset crackled as she replied, “Yes, Rock Hound I notice it. That is odd.”

  “Do you think they are going to run?” he asked, turning his head to look at her fighter.

  “Not if they want to tear their ship to pieces in the process. According to what I am seeing, they are barely inside the well. Engaging a jump would be—” his reply was cut off by a loud alarm in the cockpit.

  David looked at the screen; it was showing a displacement signature. Maybe the enemy was suicidal after all. Just as fast as his hopes went up, they came crashing back down. A ship suddenly appeared to the starboard and behind the primary Invader ship. It was just inside the jump area and was steaming towards them. This ship was nothing like David had seen before. It was longer and rounder than the primary Invader ship and was covered in the signature weapon spheres. More alarms rang out as smaller threats populated the radar. Fighters--and lots of them, he assumed--were pouring out of the new ship. “This is not going to be a walk in the park anymore,” he said to himself.

  36

  EDS Little Rock

  Grand Isle System

  “A second ship?” Jessica asked, confused, standing at her station.

  “Yes, Captain,” Lieutenant Wei began. “I am also detecting fighters. They are the same design to what we encountered in the Canary system.”

  Her heart sank. She knew her brother was going to be in the thick of it and that frightened her, but she had to focus on the task at hand. They were still too far away to help. Her terminal lit up with another warning.

  “Displacement Signature!” Wei yelled out.

  “Where?” she asked.

  “Aft 100 kilometers,” Wei replied pausing. “It’s the Spruance.”

  Jessica sighed. At least it is not a third enemy ship-- she thought to herself—then again Kovacs is so full of himself there really isn’t a difference. “Comms, open a line to the Spruance,” she ordered.

  “Aye, Captain,” the comm tech replied.

  A moment later, Captain Kovacs' face appeared on the screen. She could see a flurry of activity behind him. She forced herself to smile before offering a greeting. “Captain Kovacs, welcome to the party. As you can see there has been a change in the status here.”

  Kovacs, not looking too amused, stated, “We can see that. How long has the second ship been in system?”

  “Only a few minutes. It seems to be a carrier class ship. Both ships are closing quickly on the battle groups,” she replied. Before she could add to her report, Kovacs held up a hand and was looking off screen. “What now?” Jessica thought as she waited, placing her hands on her hips.

  Kovacs turned his attention back to Jessica, returning his arm to his side. “Sorry, Commander, I have a message from command that requires my immediate attention. Please have your Operations officer send over a summary of the data you collected. I will review it and contact you to go over the next step. Now if you will excuse me.”

  The connection was cut, and the main view screen image returned to the blueish planet ahead of them. Jessica wanted to hurl her coffee cup at the screen but refrained. What the hell could be so important? She looked over to her XO. Sinclair just raised his eyebrows. She then turned to Chief Adkins. “Chief, send the captain the information he needs,” she said, then sat back in her seat. “What sort of game are you playing, Kovacs?” She ran through her mind, unconvinced command called him.

  Kovacs ran to his ready room. He landed hard in his seat and quickly punched in his authorization code. The screen in front of him lit up and Director Rhee’s face appeared on the screen. The man gave Kovacs a disapproving look.

  “Director Rhee, I am kind of busy. What do you want?” Kovacs asked trying to hide the frustration in
his voice.

  “Why have you not delivered the items you collected in the Canary system yet?” he asked sternly.

  Kovacs sat back in his chair. “Well, as you probably are aware we got recalled to deal with a critical threat to Earth’s security,” Kovacs replied.

  Rhee pounded his desk, which startled Kovacs. “Yes, Captain, I know what your orders were, but I expected you to deliver my cargo before you raced off. Now I need you to deliver the items to the coordinates I am going to send you.”

  Kovacs leaned forward. “I will once things here have settled down.”

  “No!” You will come here now!” Rhee barked.

  Kovacs shook his head. “I can’t just disobey orders and leave a battle. They court martial people for that!” he yelled back.

  Rhee’s face became smaller as the man leaned back in his chair. “Don’t worry about Admiral Jackson, I can take care of him,” he began. “Just deliver what I asked and I will make certain a set of files won’t suddenly appear.”

  A chill ran down Kovacs' back. He was in a no-win situation. He had to trust that Rhee could make any punishment that came his way disappear or defy him and sink his career. Kovacs sighed, lowered his head and gave his answer. “Fine, I will come to you.”

  “Excellent, Captain. See you soon,” Rhee replied, smiling like a Cheshire cat. Then the screen went blank.

  “Captain, my link to the Spruance just cut off,” Adkins said as he sat back in his seat confused.

  Surprised, Jessica responded, “What do you mean cut-off?”

  “I mean cut-off. I can’t explain it,” he replied. “I have been trying everything to get him back. No success.”

  She turned to the communications station. “Comms, hail them. Ask if they require any assistance.”

  The communication tech was punching in different commands trying to find an open channel. He turned back to Jessica and shook his head.

  “What the hell is going on over there?” Sinclair chimed in.