“Damage reports coming in from decks four, six, nine and eleven. A glancing blow, sir, the lance skipped along the field and caused pressure breaks,” Corman said.
“Status of the Higgs bottle, Mister Washoe, how’s it holding up?” the captain asked. All around him officers and men were moving through his line of sight and barking orders and instructions to sailors shipwide. But Captain Haad kept his focus on what he had to do to keep his ship and ultimately his men safe. His obsessive attention to detail at a time like this was staggering and it was hard to keep up with. The individual officers and ratings that he addressed by name were tuned in to only his voice. It was a lesson in calmness under fire that should be recorded and made required viewing for every man in the Colonial Navy, Davi Yorn thought.
“Higgs Field at eight two and falling. Another lance from the alien might burn a hole in it.”
“Prepare for impact,” Yorn repeated.
“Give me lateral roll to port, Mister Gant. Take the nose down to one five.”
“Roll commencing, down angle to one five degrees.”
“Mister Washoe, get the Higgs back up to at least nine zero. We can’t afford to loose our gravity.”
“Cutting in reserve generators, sir,” Washoe replied.
The ship shuddered for the second time. This one was more violent than the first.
“Sir, they’re painting our hull with an energy beam. Judging by the frequency it’s similar in makeup to those hand-helds the worms used internally. Depleting energy from the Higgs, sir!”
For the first time in the minutes-old battle Haad was growing concerned. They would be a sitting duck with the Higgs Field destroyed or weakened. “Waiting for a reply from the Pearl, Mister Corman.”
“Transmission on screen, sir,” the comm officer said.
Haad looked at the forward blister. It showed the alien ship from a high angle. A wan purplish light danced from the bow of the alien worm and lit up the starboard side of the Christi as she fell away and rolled. Suddenly the image brightened and flared out. When it resolved again a dashed line of blue fire stitched down the spine of the alien. When the line of fire reached the curve of the aft quarter another line began at the bow and traced a ruler-straight series of holes in the vessel’s hull. Haad watched as the alien seemed to hitch and compress, going through that rhythmic expansion and contraction thing he had first saw on the derelict.
Then a series of small flares shot out of the holes in the side of the ship. These flares were immediately followed by a quick eruption of metal and fire as the line of damage worked its way aft.
The high-angle relay from the Pearl Harbor showed the alien worm in catastrophic distress. Haad watched as several explosions rocked the vessel amidships and from below the central bulge a huge light blue and orange fireball erupted silently and mushroomed out and away from both flanks. Half of the lighted pores along the ship’s spine sputtered and winked out. She was floating free and no longer under power.
“Good shooting, Captain Curton,” Haad said. “Comm, get me ship-to-ship with the Pearl Harbor.”
“Aye, aye, sir. On your console.”
“Damage reports from decks eight through fourteen. Sealed everything aft of sections oscar through romeo. Looks like the Higgs is holding, captain,” Yorn said.
“Hey Pax, Uri Haad. Good shooting.”
“Glad to be of service, captain. That was some move on your part, too. I wouldn’t have thought of turning my keel to the attacker. Then again, I wouldn’t have had the balls to stand down a battle cruiser from the bridge of a patrol boat either.”
Haad rubbed the side of his face. “The advantage of driving a fast-boat, Pax. Of course, I was thinking of protecting my crew as much as possible. I knew you were there, but I hoped the alien didn’t.”
“Well, your heliospasms blinded the thing. They had no idea we were coming,” Pax Curton said.
“Buy your gunners a round on me, captain. Job well done.”
Captain Curton laughed. “You can do it yourself, Uriel. I’m sending a boat for you. It’ll drop some electronic gear off and I’ll have a few of my guys assist your damage controlmen. Get you back up and running in no time.”
Just like Curton to try to take over. “I’ll take the help and the gear, Pax, but, for the moment, I’m staying here. I’ve got a boat to mind and probably a lot of dead and injured to account for. When Robi Zane shows up, if he ever does, you two can corner that alien ship and keep her at bay while I make repairs and bury my men.”
“Sir,” Commander Yorn interrupted, “casualty reports coming in from below decks. We’ve got seventeen dead and over two dozen injured.”
Haad stood. “You hear that, my friend? Like I said, I’ll take a rain check on the drinks.”
“Understood. Go to one niner six point three. If you need any help with medical.”
Haad thanked him again and broke the connection. He looked around the deck of his bridge and a smile worked at the corner of his mouth. “Good work, gentlemen, good job,” he said.
“Lieutenant Mols, organize a message to that ship. If they make any overt moves in our direction, tell them that they will be destroyed immediately. Notify me if you get a reply.”
A susurration of quiet chatter wafted across the bridge.
“Mister Gant, right the boat and come to three one one. Put ten thousand klicks between us and that worm. Hold our station at zero angle. Number One, you’ve got the conn. I’ll be in my quarters.”
Yorn acknowledged and gave Haad a pat on his shoulder when he walked by.
He was piped off the bridge and for Captain Uriel Haad another day in the Colonial Navy ended with him still breathing.
PART SEVEN: Crime and Punishment
Chapter 42
The good ship Casco Bay finally unfolded two hours after most of the excitement was over. Between Robi Zane’s excuses and Pax Curton’s overbearing leadership, the two destroyers managed to put an armed picket around the mortally wounded worm ship. The two captains had discussed with Haad the possibility of sending an S&R party aboard the ailing ship but after Haad had shared his recordings of the first encounter with the derelict worm that idea was scuttled. The Pearl had immediately sent a courier back to Elber with the latest reports from the task force and that automatically meant at least a thirty-hour wait for further instructions.
The wait time would give Haad time to assess the condition of his ship and time to attend to a few pressing personnel matters.
He still had to figure what to do about Lieutenant Hansen and her son. Having set himself up for a tender, compassionate moment when he would have signed the order for her bereavement leave, he was now faced with the prospect of sending her back to Elber in disgrace to face a general court martial. An administrative Article 15 was out of the question. He had even thought of at least sending the boy back on the courier boat in advance of his determination about the lieutenant, but under the circumstances, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
Something about the way that kid had yelled and attacked that worm when the damned thing had the whole bridge held fast made him pause each and every time he went over the harsh wording of his articles of condemnation in his mind. One part of him knew he could not allow such an act as harboring a stowaway onboard a warship and another begged him for mercy and understanding.
Either way, he’d scheduled a hearing on the matter at 0800 tomorrow. He was anxious to get this mess off his plate and free his time for overseeing the repairs to the ship.
Haad heard the single knock on the hatch of his ready room. “Come,” he said.
“Sir, Lieutenant Mols, sir, reporting as ordered.”
He got up from his chair and walked around the desk. “Ahh, yes, come on in and have a seat. You’ll have to excuse the mess in here, that kid sort of leaves his things laying around.” Haad moved a stack of retro comic books and a tattered backpack from the side chair and gestured her into it. The little compartment had the look of a mess ha
stily removed and even though things were basically in their place, she imagined the captain had returned to his quarters and found them pretty jumbled after the hits the ship took from the alien worm.
“Lieutenant, I have a special favor to ask of you,” the captain said as he returned to his seat. The young officer sat stiffly in her chair with both feet on the floor and her hands in her lap military style. She was wearing a clean uniform and had taken the time to freshen up her hair from the looks of it.
“A favor, sir?”
“Actually, two favors. The first one involves the alien ship. I want to transfer you over to the Pearl Harbor so you can get that alien translator thing going on Captain Curton’s ship. I’m afraid that the Christi’s done her fighting for the time being. The electrical techs Curton sent over with the new circuits for the Dyson Drive tell me that she’s going to be fixable but that’s about it. We’ll be limping along out here for weeks before we can get back to Elber and drydock. So I want you to go on over to the Pearl and get them communicating with those worms. Send them a couple of messages and have them make for home if you can. Since the heliospasm blasts we hit them with, their squawk has been silent.”
Mols nodded and said, “Certainly, Captain Haad. Can I assume you will notify Uncle, ahh, Admiral Paine of my change in orders?”
He smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “By all means. And if we get patched up soon enough, before an assessment is made of that alien ship, I’ll gladly offer you passage back to Elber when we’re certified space worthy.”
“If you’ll pardon me for saying this, sir, that sounds like a deal. I’ll get to do more work on my translation tables and interface with a bigger and better boat.” Mols squirmed a bit in her seat then quickly added, “I mean, you know, a boat with a bigger mainframe. A destroyer, I mean.”
Haad chuckled at her discomfort and did not take her put-down of the Christi as an insult. She was right. His boat was in dire straits right now and even after the repairs were finished, she’d still be just a little patrol boat, a minnow in an ocean of bigger and deadlier fish.
“Don’t worry, I’m not offended when someone tells me the truth.”
“I think you held your own against that thing, sir. That lateral roll probably saved the whole ship.”
“Well, I don’t know about that, but it seemed the logical thing to do at the time,” he said.
Mols started tapping her foot. “And the other favor, sir?”
Haad stood and walked over to his bookcase. Among his trinkets was a little square holocube with several pictures on its sides. One was of a smiling Haad being decorated by a one-star admiral when he got his first command. He picked up the cube and showed it to the young lieutenant. “Your Uncle Vincent pinned my eagles on when I got my first command. That was perhaps the proudest moment of my life,” he said, returning the cube to his bookshelf. “But I just wanted to take a moment to tell you personally that your performance on my bridge was right up there. You handled yourself admirably, lieutenant. Not only your technical expertise, but the way you reacted to all the other life-threatening situations during those critical moments. I’m sure Admiral Paine will be very proud of you when he reads my report.”
Mols stopped tapping her foot and tried to hide her smile. “Why, thank you, sir,” she said. “I was just doing my job.”
“No, you did more than your job. That’s where the second ‘favor’ comes in. I would ask you not to discuss the events on the bridge with anyone until I file my reports. While you may be tempted to get a message as to your status back to Elber on the next courier, I am asking you to hold off. Until I get a few of my administrative duties into the books.”
“Admin duties, sir?”
He told her about his hearing with Lieutenant Hansen in the morning. “Until I adjudicate that matter, I would like no comments to leave this ship.”
“Aye, aye, sir. My lips are sealed. Uh, would it be imprudent of me to ask now what you intend to do with her?”
“Yes, it would.”
“Well, with your permission, sir, I would be prepared to stand as witness for her. I think she saved my life up there. I owe her something.”
Haad paced a few steps in front of his desk. And her kid, now down in the crew mess eating food he didn’t have to steal, probably had saved them all. “Duly noted, lieutenant,” he said. “Well, get your gear together and meet the shuttle craft from the Pearl at 1845 hours.”
Mols stood and squared her shoulders. “Aye, captain,” she said smartly.
“Dismissed. Oh, and one more thing,” Haad said before she left the compartment, “you’ll always be welcomed on the Corpus Christi, Lieutenant Mols. I’d sail with you into battle any day.”
She smiled, saluted and left.
Chapter 43
The bright LED lights finally bored their way into her consciousness. Max Hansen was in a hospital ward bed in the makeshift infirmary in the recreation compartment. She tried to sit up and her head started to pound immediately. She felt the heavy bandage over her left eye and winced. She felt as if she had fractured her skull.
Once her head hit the pillow again she looked around her. There were at least twenty beds arranged in a row with small equipment tables and monitors spaced in between. An assortment of chirps and beeps from the bio-readout indicators infused the area with a mechanical-sounding salsa rhythm.
Medical techs and doctors were making rounds and inspecting charts. One end of the bay was closed off and a temporary wall was used to isolate some of the injured. Intensive care facility? At least she wasn’t behind curtain number one with tubes and wires sticking out of every orifice. Occasionally she heard a muted scream from behind that partition.
She bent her neck forward and looked across the compartment. A long section of low partitions had been erected in front of the containment area and from what she could see a thin mist was clinging to the top of the contained area near the overhead. Her mind was too jumbled right then to try to make any sense out of what she saw.
“There you are,” a soothing voice said. She turned her head and looked at the speaker. “You’ve finally rejoined the living.”
“How long have I been out?” Max asked the medtech.
“Oh, about three hours. Then a couple of more where you were in and out. Probably the drugs. You took a nasty tumble up in your quarters, lieutenant. Do you remember?”
She shook her head. “Not really. First the ship started shaking and the stupid deck came at my face.”
Doctor Isaacs walked over to the foot of her bed. “Well, Maxine, how’re we doing?”
“What’s this ‘we’ shit? You look okay, doc, I feel like I’ve just had a skull transplant.”
“Corpsman Hill, mark that down as a positive, okay? I think she’ll be okay.” He walked up to Max and took a little pen light out of his lab coat pocket. He had her follow the light, look up, look down. He looked at her vitals displayed on her monitor and voiced in a couple of things to his tablet. “You cracked your head pretty good, there, Maxine. Took a few stitches to close up that gash. The ecchymosis from the wound should start to ease and your black eye will take a week or two to return to normal. In other words, it’s better than it looks. No permanent damage, negative on a fracture. You’re lucky, lieutenant. A lot of your mates didn’t fare so well.”
Her eyes dropped. “What about the sentry outside of my door? Is he okay? I was pounding on the hatch, that’s the last thing I remembered.”
The doctor looked at the medtech and she just moved her head slightly back and forth. “Ma’am, Petty Officer Yates didn’t make it. Falling debris put him down and then a pressure door blew a few meters away from your compartment. It pretty much, well, that door. . .”
Max nodded at the woman and said nothing. This horror was never-ending. If she hadn’t been confined to quarters with a guard outside of her door, that sailor would probably still be alive. Her head started to pound again as she thought of the geometric progression of her st
upidity and how many lives her careless decision three years ago had affected. “Can you give me something for my head, doc? It feels like it’s going to explode.”
“I think you’ve probably had enough of the pain-killers for now, Maxine. Your headache should go away soon and you need to have your wits about you for tomorrow morning.”
He would have to bring that up. “Yeah. Well, at least he didn’t order me chained to my bed. That makes me feel a little better.”
Issacs chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about that so much if I were you. Sometimes the captain’s bark is worse than his bite. As a matter of fact, you also have a visitor! Maybe that’ll make you feel a lot better.”
She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair.
From the end of the bay she heard clumping footfalls and the swish of baggy pants. Harold was coming followed by a burly MA petty officer.
“Mom!” the boy said as he ran up to the bed. “Boy am I glad to see you! They told me you got hurt in all of those explosions and I wanted to see you but those goons wouldn’t let me so I didn’t eat my dinner and I told that petty officer that I was going —”
He made an effort to jump up on the side of her bed but the doctor intervened. “Whoa, slow down young man. Your mother is just waking up. Don’t talk her into relapse.”
Har looked up at Isaacs and said, “Hey, let me go. I’m your boss in case you care to look it up.”
Doc Isaacs smiled and helped the boy sit down on the bed. He exchanged hugs with his mother and for a minute tears were flowing freely. Finally she pushed him back and her smile turned into a motherly frown. “I should be terribly angry with you, Har. What you did was stupid and dangerous. Where on earth did you get that gun?”
“Oh, that. I, uh, I found it. Some lazy seaman left it on his desk and I took it. You can’t expect me to fight aliens with my bare hands, can you?”
The Belt Loop _Book One Page 26
