"Our main concern is the Mythrar pods. While we didn't face any of these back at Entropa, we have to prepare for the eventuality that they will use them here." Wellard waited for the aide to pull the schematics of the pods on the main viewscreen. "While the actual dimensions and attributes of the pods vary, their function remains the same. The devices are designed to attach to the hull of an enemy ship. Once there, they disrupt all communications aboard the affected vessel before unleashing a Klypton boarding party on the ship. From there, the aliens systematically work their way towards the bridge, killing everyone who gets in their way."
"By our estimates, they can take over a ship in a matter of hours. Perhaps even less." Admiral Flannigan paced the room. "If that happens, you have little time to prepare. My advice is to do what you can to secure the bridge, as there will be little your crews can do to stop them."
"What if we station our Marines around the bridge? That way, if we get boarded, we will have an option to defend ourselves."
"Normally that would be the ideal plan, but we don't have that option." She motioned to her aide, who changed the screen once again. "Every one of our Marines is being sent to the surface to prepare for an eventual ground battle."
That seemed to be a surprise to the captains, including Wellard. He wondered why they hadn't heard about that until now. Surely the Admiralty had to figure the Mythrar might deploy the pods during battle. If they did, and the Marines were down on the planet, there would be little anyone could do to keep the NEC ships out of enemy hands.
Wellard could tell most of the captains wanted to object. Like him, he suspected they only kept their mouths shut in fear of a reprisal down the line. He suspected if the Marines were being sent to the surface, they must have reason to believe they'd assault the planet. Why else risk the security of the fleet during the battle?
Flannigan raised a hand, silencing the room. "I understand your position, but this comes from the top." She waited for the aide to flip the screen again before continuing. "I've split up the fleet into three battle groups. Each one is to focus on taking out one flagship. Admiral Pennington will be in charge of Battle Group A, Admiral Navarro is in charge of Battle Group B, and Admiral Parks is in charge of Battle Group C. I will oversee the whole operation from here on New Earth Station. Once we are done here, I expect each of you to gather with the rest of your battle groups and discuss your plan of attack. If you have questions, now is the time." She gave the room a few seconds to voice any concerns. When there weren’t any, she spoke again. "Dismissed."
Chapter Thirteen
Terivar Sector
Bridge, Flagship Koniva
Captain Miller swallowed a mouthful of bile after the ship rematerialized. He'd done hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these jumps over the years, and it was always the same. Part of him expected to get used to the way the jumps made his stomach act, but to this day the sensation hadn't changed.
The rest of the fleet materialized around the ship shortly after. Hundreds of ships littered the sector, all surrounding the three flagships at their core. This was in contrast to the seven human vessels clumped together a few kilometers away. Miller couldn't imagine what was going through the enemy captain's heads when the fleet appeared out of nowhere. Surely the captains would've known they were coming, but it still had to be terrifying to see.
Klaxons blared as one of the human vessels fired on the Mythrar fleet. Miller sat back in his command chair as the rest of the bridge crew turned to him for their commands.
"Fire on those ships. Leave no survivors." He waited for the rest of the crew to relay the orders down to their subordinates before allowing himself to relax. He hated issuing orders that killed more of his kind, but there was little he could do to keep it from happening. He understood that if he didn't give the order himself, Koniva would have done it for him. If it came down to that, then his life would be in danger. Koniva was fine with the questions from the crew, and even some reluctance on their behalf, but he didn't tolerate failure. If they could get the human ships to surrender, nobody would have to die, but he knew the odds of that happening were slim. Best to kill them now, he thought.
The screen lit up as fifty of the Mythrar ships opened up on the human-controlled vessels. Explosions erupted across the screen among the human ships, from where the Mythrar weaponry hit home. Bits of armor plating and debris rocketed away from the vessels as the damage tore them apart. Then, without warning, the first human-controlled ship exploded. The scene was repeated three more times, improving their odds.
"Sir, we're receiving a broadcast from the lead ship. Their captain wishes to surrender."
Surrender? Didn't the fool know what he was getting into by giving up now?
Miller scanned the room, making sure Koniva was not within earshot before giving his next command, not that the alien needed to be close to hear what he had to say. At times, it seemed as if the Mythrar could hear his commands from clear across the ship. As he prepared himself to issue the next command, he expected the alien to enter the room and issue the command himself, but after nearly a minute, the door remained closed.
"Ignore him," Miller said. "Destroy those ships with the others. We don't have time to integrate them into the fleet." It wasn't quite the truth, but enough to get the rest of the crew off his back. In reality, he had issued the order to spare them from making the decisions he’d had to make himself, to keep them from having to kill their own kind for the sake of helping the Mythrar conquer another planet.
The remaining ships lasted another minute before exploding in a brilliant flash of light, leaving a handful of expanding debris fields in their wake. Miller closed his eyes and offered the dead a silent prayer before flipping the viewscreen off.
"How long until we can make our next jump?" Miller asked.
"Just under an hour," Robbins replied.
Miller nodded. "And what of our losses? Will they be able to join us, or are we leaving them behind?"
"Leaving them behind," Robbins said. "I doubt we have enough time to evacuate the wreckage."
"Fine. Order half the fleet to destroy the remains. I don't want to risk the humans getting the sacred tech." In truth, he wanted them to have the technology, praying that the flagship didn't have the means to track any ships it was installed on. Anything to give the humans an edge against the Mythrar, even if that advantage led to his death.
Chapter Fourteen
New Earth Sector
New Earth Station
Walker glanced down at his datapad one more time to ensure he’d read the text right. Did they really plan to pull the Marines off the ships and have them all on the ground? Surely the Admiralty realized the Mythrar were trying to steal their ships out from under their noses. Walker knew the Marines would be better utilized for ship defense than trying to defend the planet.
The looks on the faces of his Marines suggested they felt the same, even if they weren't willing to speak up about the matter.
Most of his Marines had only served under him and Captain Wellard and were loyal to them both. They had been through hell together, both on the Endeavor and the Reliant. Several boarding parties and the attempted hijacking of the Endeavor had brought them together as few things could. This group of Marines was some of the best he'd had the pleasure to serve with.
"Pardon my saying so out loud, Sergeant, but these orders are bullshit. We should be on the Reliant in case they use those pod things." Rhodes flipped through his datapad as if reading it for the third time would change what it said.
"No shit," Mitchell agreed. "They have to have enough boots on the ground to mount an effective defense. What are a few thousand more from the ships going to matter?"
"It won't," Walker agreed. "If the Mythrar get past the fleet, this dance is over." He flipped off his datapad and returned it to his pocket. "But orders are orders. If they want us dirtside, that's where we’ll be."
The rest of the Marines grunted their approval but were slow to grab their gear an
d get to their feet. They made it down two long hallways before Walker noticed Captain Wellard standing in the hall. Wellard's eyes flitted back and forth between the datapad in his hand and the doorway. He stopped when he saw Walker and the Marines walking down the hall.
"Captain?" Walker said. "This is the last place I expected to find you."
Wellard looked both ways down the hall. "Got a few minutes? I have something I'd like to talk to you about."
Walker turned to his Marines. "Take a knee. I'll be back in a few minutes."
The Marines gathered alongside the hallway wall while Wellard and Walker strode down the hall.
"Problem, Captain?" Walker followed Wellard down the hall. Wellard led him around the corner and into a conference room. Once inside, Wellard shut the door.
"Not exactly," Wellard replied. "Just wanted to ask you for a favor."
Walker crooked his head to the side. It wasn't like Wellard to ask him for a favor. Order him to do something, sure, but never in this context. Considering he had standing orders to report on the planet, he knew it had to be something bad.
"Captain?"
Wellard pulled out his datapad, pulled up a file, and handed it to Walker. Walker scanned the contents of the first page before giving it back.
"They think Jason did it?" Walker had heard rumors about the assassination over the past few hours but never considered their validity until now. He'd assumed it was a false report, like so many others. A story created by Mythrar loyalists aboard the station.
"They did," Wellard said. "Which is why I'm here. I'd like you and the others to remain aboard the station to look for him."
Walker stared at Wellard incredulously. "Wasn't he on leave? What makes you think he's on the station?"
"Call it a hunch. Someone aboard the station wants him to watch the battle play out. There's no other reason for them to have moved so fast after the assassination."
"So it's true." Walker's head dropped slightly. "I'd hoped it was like the other reports. Someone is trying to throw us off before the battle."
"I'm not sure that wasn't their intention. The only difference was that they were successful this time around."
Walker stared at the floor for a moment, debating what to do. The reasonable answer was to head down to the planet and report with the rest of the Marines. While he didn't believe it was the best place to be, it was what his superiors wanted.
But part of him questioned when the orders had come down. If it was after the assassination, there was a good chance the orders were made by someone loyal to the Mythrar cause, like Vice President Landry. If that was the case, they might have been sent to the planet to help facilitate the Mythrar's attempts at hijacking more ships.
"Fine," Walker agreed reluctantly. "I'm in, but I won't force any of my men to join me."
Wellard nodded. "I've already talked to Commander Bradley. Her pilot is already aware they might be flying an empty shuttle to the planet. That should buy you some time to get started up here."
"We'll do what we can."
Wellard turned to walk away but stopped when he felt Walker's hand on his shoulder. "Sergeant?"
"Be careful out there and bring the crew back in one piece."
Wellard smiled. "You bring back my XO, and I'll bring back the ship."
Walker returned the grin. "Deal."
Chapter Fifteen
New Earth Sector
Prison Cell, New Earth Station
"Let me out of here." Jason pulled on the bars as if his modest strength would allow him to bend the bars far enough for him to escape. He'd heard the charges against him a dozen times and was still struggling to come to grips with them. How could anyone think he was capable of killing the president? Not only did he not have the time to make it happen, but he'd also been down on the planet with his wife and kid. Surely someone had taken the time to check the video evidence proving his innocence.
One of the MPs stationed around the corner swung the cell keys around his finger as he made his way down the hall. He had a smug, almost mocking, look on his face as he walked. Jason wanted nothing more than to pull the man through the bars and knock the look off his face, but reined it in as he got close. The last thing he could afford was adding an assault charge to his list.
"Keep it down. People are trying to sleep down here." The guard stopped a few feet in front of the cell. Far enough to be well out of arms-reach from Jason.
"Sleep?" Jason yelled, incredulously. "There's a Mythrar fleet headed this way, and you are trying to sleep?"
The guard laughed. "Not me. I have to listen to you whine all day. But some of the other prisoners." He leaned his head in close while keeping the keys well away from the cell. "You know, people like you."
Jason's temper got the better of him, and he lunged for the guard's head, missing it by inches. He held his arm out for a few seconds longer, to emphasize how close he'd been before bringing it back to the bar. "I didn't do it. I was down on the planet. Check the security footage, and you'll see I'm telling the truth."
"We've seen it. Saw you walk into her office clear as day and gun her down. Shoot, we even have the testimony of her Secret Service staff that you were the last one to enter the room. The question, as I see it, isn't if you killed her. It is how you escaped. There was only one way into and out of that room. Somehow you managed not only to get out, but off the station."
"Bullshit," Jason spat. "I haven't been on the station for a week. Check the station logs. You'll see I took a shuttle back to New Earth last Thursday."
"Station logs can be forged. Security footage, not so much." The guard leaned back against the cell across the hall. "Besides, we have something better than video evidence."
Jason stared at the guard, willing him to go on, but the man remained tight-lipped about his information. There was only one thing that was better than video evidence, and that was physical evidence. Whether that was something as simple as fingerprints or DNA, he couldn't be sure, until the evidence was presented before him.
Regardless of what they had against him, it was on them to prove his guilt. Still, he couldn't help believing they had more than the guard was letting on.
"I want a lawyer." Jason stepped away from the bars.
"Lawyer?" The guard stepped away from the cell, his hand hovering towards the blaster on his hip. "You'll be lucky to survive long enough for a trial. I have half a mind to blow your head off right here."
Someone cleared their throat down the hallway. The guard glanced in the direction of the sound before releasing the grip on his weapon. "Saved once again. Guess someone is looking out for you from the top. Won't matter in a few days, though. Once the public finds out what you did, they'll be begging to kill you themselves."
Chapter Sixteen
New Earth Sector
Pilot's Ready Room, NECS Reliant
Tegan stood on the dais of her ready room as the last of the pilots trickled through the door. All of her pilots, minus the handful designated for shuttle duties, were present, making the room much more crowded than it usually would be.
The room had been designed with the usual complement of pilots in mind. In the case of the Reliant, that meant the hundred pilots that would be on duty at any given time. She'd spent an hour spreading things out to allow nearly double that number, supposing everyone sat in a seat, but that still didn't account for the fifty or so others who would join them in the room. The Admiralty had called for anyone with any form of flight experience to be ready to fly a fighter. At first, she'd expected a handful of her repair technicians and maybe a dozen others to show up, but was surprised when four times that number came. For the first time in her career, she had more pilots available than birds. Not a bad problem to have, given their current circumstances.
"First things first, all fighter techs are to return to the flight bay. Everyone else, please stick around." She waited a few minutes for the technicians to leave the room. Some in the room grumbled their disapproval, but she let it g
o. With an abundance of pilots, she'd need every technician she had to keep the birds going. Not only with the last-minute repairs leading up to the engagement, but with the inevitable loading and reloading of armaments that needed to happen during the fighting. If the others didn't understand that, then they’d taken up the wrong line of work.
She gave them a few minutes to settle down before continuing her speech. "The rest of you are being split up into squadrons of four fighters each. Each squadron consists of two veteran pilots and two rookies. You should receive your orders in the next ten minutes." She gave the pilots a moment to check their assignments before continuing. "I want all rookies in the sims until 2100. Squad leaders, teach your squadmates standard combat maneuvers. Make sure they are ready when the fight comes to us."
In the front of the crowd, she noticed Fireball fidgeting in his chair. He glanced down at his datapad a few times before his eyes shifted to someone in the crowd. Tegan tried her best to determine who he was looking at but found it impossible with so many people in the room.
"Squadron leaders, form up with your unit down on the flight deck. I expect your cadets to be in their birds in fifteen minutes. Dismissed." As the last word left her mouth, Tegan was already making her way off the stage. She stopped in front of Fireball and grabbed his arm before he got away.
"Commander?" he asked, voice steeped in confusion.
"Stick around. We need to talk."
She waited until the last of the pilots left the room before taking a seat next to Fireball. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes still focused on the datapad in his hands. It didn't take a psychiatrist to know something was wrong. Part of her wanted to report his behavior to the doc but didn't want to overstep her bounds. Fireball had been a good friend of hers since she joined the fleet years ago. The last thing she wanted to do was to destroy his confidence in her.
Defiant (The Mythrar War Book 4) Page 5
