“Yes!” David exclaimed, then BANG! His fighter went out of control spinning along its long axis. Red lights flashed all over his cockpit indicating catastrophic damage to his fighter. The g-forces slammed him into his seat. Frantically, he inputted commands into the flight system to regain control, but it was no use. He calculated that he had seconds before the fighter slammed into another rock. Straining against gravity, he reached down between his legs desperately searching for the ejection handle.
Jessica slumped in her chair as she saw the indicator from David’s fighter go red. The pain of losing her brother hit her like a tidal wave. She could feel her eyes begin to water. “No!” she thought. “I must maintain control. I will have time to mourn later.”
“Captain, did you hear me?” Chief Adkins asked. The question snapped her back into reality. The ops chief was turned and staring straight at her. She looked around and noticed that everyone was looking at her. How long have I been out of it?
“Sorry, Chief, no, please repeat what you just said,” she asked straightening up in the chair.
“I said, Engineering is reporting that all of the safeties are removed, and they are standing by for your command.”
“Good. Tell Commander Magnuson that we will be jumping immediately and to prepare his team for a rough ride.”
“Aye, Captain,” Adkins replied as he turned back to his console and began typing.
Jessica felt a hand on her left shoulder. “Are you okay?” McKnight asked in a low voice.
“Not really,” Jessica replied, matching McKnight’s volume. “But right now, it will have to wait until we are done.”
“If we survive,” McKnight added. Jessica half smiled and gave her a quick nod.
“Captain! Target is moving,” Wei yelled from tactical.
“We know that, Lieutenant. It has been moving for a while,” Sinclair chimed in before Jessica could respond.
“No, I mean it is turning. Like it is trying to head out of the gravity well,” Wei started. “And at its current speed it will be cleared to jump in two minutes.”
“On screen, Chief,” Jessica ordered.
“Aye, Captain.”
The main screen changed from a tactical view to a live camera view. The enemy ship had stopped firing on the battle group and now was finishing its turn and heading away from Grand Isle gravity well.
“Shit, that thing is fast for its size, but why are they running all of a sudden?” Sinclair asked.
“I have no idea, XO, but then again the Invader’s strategy has been erratic. Lieutenant Wei, can you still make the calculations for the jump?” Jessica asked.
The young tactical officer was already taping keys at his terminal then turned to face her. “Yes, I will just have to plot the target area farther out to account for the increased speed.”
“Good. Get on it.”
Wei gave her a quick nod and turned back to his terminal to begin his calculations. “Everyone strap in--things are about to get really bumpy. XO, send out the order,” Jessica said as she buckled into her seat restraints.
She looked over to Sinclair, who was already strapped in—the restraints straining to keep his large frame in. He pressed a button on his side terminal and opened the ship-wide intercom. “All stations prepare for--” he paused and gave her a smile, “Stollar’s Gambit.” Then he cut off the line.
“Really, XO? Stollar’s Gambit? Are we naming jumps now?” she asked a little perturbed.
He shook his head, “No, but if we pull this maneuver off, the scholars are going to want to call it something.”
She stared back at him, “Let’s just survive this first then we can start naming things. Okay?”
“Aye, Captain,” he replied and turned to face the main screen.
“One minute until the enemy target is clear,” Wei stated.
“I take it your calculations are ready?” She asked.
“Yes, Captain, they are being fed to the helm now.”
“Let’s do this then,” she stated. “Helm, are you ready?”
“Yes, Captain,” Hunter replied.
Jessica sat back and braced herself before giving the command, “Hit it.”
The ship rocked hard and warning sirens began ringing out all over the bridge. Red flashing lights on the walls began to strobe. “DISPLACEMENT DRIVE ERROR, FIELD GENERATION ERROR” scrolled repeatably on the screens. A loud roar reverberated throughout the bridge as the emergency escape boosters fired. Jessica could feel the nose of the Little Rock pitch down and a sudden rush of negative g’s tried to drive her out of her seat. The restraining straps dug deep into her shoulders. She focused at blocking out the pain and the nausea, by keeping her gaze on the image of the enemy vessel. “Come on, work, damn it!” she thought to herself.
Seconds seemed like an eternity. Then, a flash of white light appeared on the screen, followed by a hard jolt, slamming her forward. Sparks erupted from different terminals around the bridge. Jessica could hear people yell as the ship began to list to the starboard.
“Helm!?” she yelled out.
“Just a second, ma’am,” Hunter replied as she was struggling with the flight controls. “She is fighting me.”
The spin began to slow and after a few seconds the ship came to a stop. On the view screen the enemy ship was split into two. The front half of the ship continued to drift forward out into space. The back half on the other hand was making its way down towards Grand Isle’s debris field. She could hear the cheers erupt from the bridge, but it wasn’t as loud as she thought. Jessica unstrapped from her seat to look around bridge. It was a mess; terminals were blown out at various stations. Crew members were holding their hands over wounds. She looked over to Sinclair and he was wincing as he was unstrapping from his seat. His left arm seemed to just hang loosely to one side.
She then turned to McKnight’s station. She looked in horror as McKnight’s body was slumped over her terminal. Jessica raced out of her station and over to the senior chief’s. She pulled back her body and there was a crunch of broken glass. As Jessica pulled McKnight up, she noticed the blood. Looking over the body she noticed a large shard of the terminal jammed in McKnight’s neck. Blood soaked down the front of her body. In a reflexive move, Jessica reached to check her pulse--it was there but very faint. She grabbed at the wound to try to stop the bleeding.
Jessica heard a loud click as the blast door to the bridge unlocked and she could hear more people rush in.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Captain, are you hurt?”
In shock, she turned to face the young corpsman facing her. “I, I’m fine, Corpsman. You need to help her,” she said, still holding the wound at McKnight’s neck.
“Aye, Captain,” he replied. The young man grabbed something from his bag and then squeezed in beside Jessica. “Okay, Captain, on three I need you to remove your hand. Ready?”
She nodded
“One, two, three!” Jessica let go and the corpsman shot in and placed a syringe close to McKnight’s neck. A pink substance was squeezed out the end and it seemed to seal the wound around the glass shard. He then placed the empty syringe down and checked her vitals. He nodded. “She has a weak pulse.” He looked up and flagged down another corpsman. “But if we can get her to Doc Gunter, she should be good.”
Jessica nodded and walked back to the command station. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She looked over at Sinclair getting his arm looked at by another corpsman. She looked down at her terminal and the damage indicator was lit up like a Christmas tree with different reds, yellows, and very little green.
“Captain?” Adkins queried.
“Yes, Chief,” she responded solemnly sitting back in her chair.
“Engineering is reporting that the reactor is offline, and it will probably take about eight hours before it is back online. Commander Magnuson also reported he is deploying damage control teams throughout the ship to fix other issues.”
“Very good, Chief. Can you give me
an update on the enemy?”
“Aye, Captain. The enemy vessel is was split into three pieces.”
“Wait--” she held up a hand, “three pieces? I only see two.”
“Yes, ma’am, the third piece is floating away from us at about 30kps to our aft. It was the piece of the Invader ship that was displaced when the Drive swapped its point in space. The shockwave of gravity from the jump is what impacted the Little Rock.”
“Understood. Thanks for the update, Chief.”
“Captain, the Hornet is asking for a status report,” the comm tech behind her said.
She turned to him and replied, “Tell them I will send it momentarily.” The comm tech gave her a nod in acknowledgment and turned to his station. She noticed Sinclair being escorted by a corpsman off the bridge. She then turned to the tactical station. “Lieutenant Wei, you have the Bridge. Keep me informed on the repair progress. I need to send a update to the Hornet.”
“Yes, Captain,” Wei responded as he got up from his station to relieve the captain.
Jessica exited the bridge and stood in front of her ready room. She punched in a code and the door opened. She took one step in. The door closed behind her. She leaned back against it and slid down to the floor. The weight of what had happened today hit her like a ton of bricks and she couldn’t hold it in any longer.
The loud beeping noise in his helmet sprung David from unconsciousness. Looking around he noticed he was still in his cockpit. He also noticed the rest of his fighter was gone. A sigh of relief came over him—at least he was not dead. Just floating in the escape pod. A crackle came in over his radio. “Are you okay over there?” It was Jasmine’s voice.
“Yes, but I seemed to have lost the rest of my fighter,” he replied.
“I’ve noticed. That’s another 12 hours of asteroid navigation training for you,” she replied. He couldn’t make out if she was kidding or not.
A flash of white light blinded his vision. Another nuke? He thought. Why waste it? It’s not going to work.
“Um, Rock Hound. Do you have any thruster capability?” Jasmine asked. Her voice sounded panicked.
“No. Like I said I have no fighter,” he replied wondering what was going on. He looked out of the escape pod and his stomach dropped. A large piece of what looked like ship debris was knocking rocks out of the way like a bowling ball and heading his direction. “Guys, a little help please!” he yelled out over the radio.
“Hold on, David, I am going to try something,” Jasmine said.
“I don’t think I can hold on very long.” He paused looking at the large piece of ship bearing down on him. “So, if you are going to do something, now would be the time.” Then he thought, "Wait did she call me David? She has never called me David. What the—"
He heard a loud clank noise that sounded like something attached to his pod. Then he was yanked back into his seat as if he was being pulled. “What the hell?” he said looking out the glass. He noticed he was now moving up and away from the oncoming freight train of wreckage. He noticed a steel cable jutting out from the front of the cockpit. His eyes followed it forward to back end of a Tigershark. Jasmine was towing him out of the way. He glanced down as what looked like the back end of the enemy ship drifted under him. “How the hell?” he called out.
“Not sure. I am getting some chatter that the Little Rock pulled some sort of crazy stunt that cut the enemy ship in half,” Jasmine replied.
“Is the ship okay?”
“I don’t know, we’ll find out more once we get back to the Hornet.”
“What about the enemy fighters?”
“Dead in the water.”
“Really how?”
“Enough questions for now,” she said. He could hear in her voice she was getting annoyed. “Just sit back and enjoy the ride back to the ship.”
45
EDS Hornet
Grand Isle System
The shuttle rocked a little as it touched down inside the Hornet. The movement caused Jessica to look up from her tablet. Sitting across from her was Haley. She gave her sister a smile, then returned to her tablet. She was trying to write letters to the families of the crew members she lost just a day ago. All 23 of them.
The shuttle gently rocked again, and a green light illuminated above the side hatch. There was a clicking sound throughout the back of the shuttle as the people on board released their restraints. Jessica unbuckled herself and rose out of her seat placing the tablet under her arm. She looked over to Haley who was now dressed in a clean set of black EDF fatigues as she slung a backpack over her shoulder. It was good to have her back, if it was only temporary. They walked side by side to the hatch, which was now sliding open. They stepped down to the deck of the ship.
“Commander Stollar?” a young ensign asked as she approached. She looked too young to be in the military much less out of middle school.
“Yes, Ensign?” she replied.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Jessica could tell the young woman was nervous, “but an early opening appeared in the admiral’s schedule and he would like to see you right away.”
She sighed, “Very well, Ensign, just give me one moment.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the young woman replied.
Jessica turned to Haley, “Sorry, sis. It looks like I will have to meet up with you and David later.”
Haley gave Jessica a quick hug, “Don’t worry, duty calls, I understand. I will see you in a few.”
Jessica released her sister, “Oh and try not to talk his ear off too much. I would like him not to be bored out of his mind when I see him.”
Haley stuck her tongue out at her then turned and walked away. Jessica turned to the young ensign. “Lead the way.”
Moments later Jessica was standing in front of the admiral's door. The ensign standing next to her pressed a button on the panel next to the door. It beeped and the admiral’s voice came over the speaker. “Yes?”
“Commander Stollar to see you, sir,” the ensign replied.
“Please send her in.”
The door opened and Jessica stepped across the threshold. Admiral Petrov’s office was larger than Kovacs'. Various ship photos hung on the wall. Some old Russian cruiser, pre-EDF, all the way up to the Hornet. A large couch was against the wall to her right and to the left was the head along with a half galley. Petrov sat behind a large metal desk. In front of the desk were two chairs. One was occupied by Admiral Winters.
She approached the two men. Winters got up from his seat and offered Jessica a hand. She reached out to shake his, “Thanks for saving my ass, Commander,” Winters said.
Jessica shook his hand and replied, “You’re welcome.” The comment caught her a little off guard and she felt uncomfortable.
“Yes, Commander, excellent job,” Petrov chimed in. “Please have a seat. Would you like something to drink?” he said gesturing to the empty chair next to Winters.
“No, thank you, sir,” she replied as she sat down, being mindful to keep her posture straight.
Petrov took his seat and leaned forward on his desk. “How are you doing, Commander? I understand you lost 23 crew members.”
“As good as you can expect, I guess, sir.”
“It is hard I know. Don’t be afraid to see your ship’s therapist if the strain becomes too much,” Petrov stated sympathetically. Then he leaned back upright in his chair. “Alright now to business. I wanted to call this meeting to get all of the remaining ship captains in this system together to talk about what’s next.”
“What about Captain Drake?” Jessica asked confused why he wasn’t there.
“The Oppenheimer was able to regain partial main power and was called away. They left the system about an hour ago.” Petrov said looking at his watch.
Not even a good-bye. I see how he works, she thought to herself. “Understood, sir,” She replied.
“Now on to the issue at hand. Command is sending some support ships to help in repairs of the Ranger and Hornet. They are also send
ing some science division specialists to inspect the what’s left of the Invader ship floating around Grand Isle.”
Jessica raised her hand and Petrov paused. “Sorry to interrupt, Admiral, but what about the Little Rock?”
“From the reports you sent, command has determined that she will be towed to the Bone Yard in the system 2143 for decommissioning.”
Shocked, she asked, “Wait so we are giving up on the ship? What about my crew?” she asked fearing the answer.
“It was deemed too damaged to warrant spending the money to repair it. Your crew will be reassigned. At least that is what command is saying right now.”
“What about me, am I getting a new ship?”
Petrov shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know; they didn’t give me that information. Yet.”
“Don’t worry,” Winters started. “After what you did here at Grand Isle, command would be crazy not to give you another ship. You will get one, I can almost guarantee it.”
“Thank you, Admiral,” she responded.
“I would have to agree with Winters,” Petrov added. “But can we continue? We have a lot of logistics to go over.”
Jessica nodded and looked at her watch. She knew this meeting wasn’t going to be as short as she hoped. This was another part of command that she hated.
“Ma’am, we are supposed to depart in fifteen minutes,” an impatient voice said from Jessica’s wristwatch.
“I know. I have to stop somewhere for five minutes,” she replied bringing her right arm up to talk into the communicator.
“But—”
“No ‘buts,' Chief. I will get there on time.”
“Understood, Captain.”
Jessica pressed the button on the watch to cut off the line. Speedily walking down the halls, she finally made it to the mess hall. The door opened, and she stepped in. The room was full of people eating and talking. She looked around and spotted David and Haley sitting in the back corner of the room. They looked to be joined by two other individuals. One was a woman of what looked of Indian descent with dark skin and black hair. She was sitting next to Haley on one side of the table. Next to David was a huge man that looked like he should be a Marine and not a pilot. She wondered how he could even fit in a fighter. David looked up and smiled and waved Jessica over. She smiled back and weaved through the tables to join them.
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