by Saxon Andrew
Shane shook his head, “No, they won’t.” The three turned to Shane, “The Saturn will jump in to the middle of the Grey Ships and fire a massive cloud of plastic shells. The Rovers will follow that cloud out and emerge into the ranks of their standard ships.” Shane turned to Gibbs, “I’m going to make a wild guess here and assume the Rovers assigned to this ship will also have the plastic guns as part of their armament?” Gibbs nodded. Shane tilted his head, “Once they’re clear of the Saturn, they’ll be deadly in ship-on-ship fighting.”
Kelli looked at Shane, “And just what do you think the enemy is going to be doing to the Saturn while all this is taking place?”
“Oh I’m sure they’ll be attempting to target it with enough ships to take it out…but…we have penetrators and dark matter beams that are deadly and we won’t be sitting still for them to gang up on us.” Shane looked at Gibbs, “I suspect we’ll be the ones keeping the pressure off our Rovers, Sir.”
Kelli shook her head and Gibbs smiled; he turned back to Shane, “What do you see, Captain?”
“My computer is the best in the fleet at programming multiple jumps. We will scan the location of our attack for any Grey Ships and start jumping to their locations. We’ll fire on them just outside their beam range and jump away. It will be a learning process, but I do think there is merit to coordinating the Jukebox and Rovers into a plan of attack.”
Lydia smiled at Kelli, “Lieutenant, I’ve seen this man fly; perhaps you will reserve your doubts until after you see what he can accomplish.”
Kelli looked at Lydia and saw she was serious. She respected Admiral Gibbs but Lydia was one of her Heroes. “Yes Sir. I’ll do the best I can to make this work.”
Shane looked at Gibbs, “Who will I be reporting to, Sir?”
“On paper your ship will be designated as a single unit reporting directly to me. You will be assigned your missions by Fleet Control. I suspect you will be brought in at the battles that are getting out of hand.”
Shane smiled, “Thank you, Sir. I look forward to this opportunity.”
“Now for the part you won’t like.” Shane knew he wasn’t going to like what was coming. “I want the best Rovers in the service to be assigned to this ship. Most of them are Captains and some of them actually have more seniority than you do.” Shane started shaking his head. “I am going to promote you to Rear Admiral and Captain Carpenter to Commodore. You will only command this ship and you will be a fighting Admiral.”
“Sir, if I accept this promotion you could transfer me to command a fleet.”
“I’ve discussed this with Fleet Admiral Hull and Admiral Arvolo and they have agreed to not do that. I think Arvolo’s words were, ‘I wish I had the same situation.’”
Kelli looked at Shane, “Why are you so against a promotion?”
“I don’t like having the responsibility of another’s life.”
“You had the responsibility of your second officer. Did that bother you?”
Shane was startled by the observation and thought a moment, “No, I guess I figured I would die if I let her down.”
“You need to look at this as participating in a fleet battle and you’re doing your part to save all the ships around you. You’ll still only be directly responsible for those onboard the Saturn, and if they die, so will you. You won’t have to worry about it afterwards.”
Shane turned to Gibbs, “How many crewmen are going to be onboard?”
“Not counting the pilots of the Rovers, eighteen hundred.” Shane was shocked at the number and Gibbs said, “You should know that they will be there whether you call yourself a Captain or an Admiral. By accepting the Flag Rank, you will be given the best pilots in the fleet to defend your ship and crew.”
“This is a no-brainer.”
Shane looked at the wall speaker, “Why do you say that, Cally?”
“You know this is where we’re going to have to move in the future. You might as well get on board now.”
Gibbs looked at Shane, “What did your computer mean by that?”
Shane sighed, “We were discussing the Grey Ships and I think it’s obvious that the Grillen received them from someone else to use against us. If that’s true, I suspect we will be taking on that source if we survive the Grillen. I also suspect their ships will not be as brittle as the ones given to the Grillen.”
Kelli was shocked at Shane’s statement and she saw he was not the dummy he appeared to be. She said, “You knew the answer to the Admiral’s question earlier.” Shane shrugged. Kelli smiled for the first time; maybe she was going to learn something on this assignment. Shane surprised her with his next question.
“Admiral, why was Captain Carpenter selected to be my second-in-command?”
“She is being groomed to ultimately take a fleet. She is quite talented and I think she has all the knowledge needed but doesn’t understand the niceties of actual space combat. This assignment should teach her what she’ll need later.”
Shane looked up and rolled his eyes at the ceiling. Gibbs said, “Don’t be surprised by this. Gem was also selected for the same reason. She’s being groomed for a Flag as well. We have hounded you to accept the promotion but have been unsuccessful.”
Kelli said, “What’s wrong with this?”
Shane shook his head, “Nothing.”
Gibbs said, “Something’s bothering you.”
“I just wonder where all the Indians are. It seems everyone I encounter wants to be a chief. I would think there would be those that want to shoot the arrows instead.”
Gibbs got a far-off look and Lydia knew that he missed the adrenaline rush of fighting one-on-one against a worthy enemy. Gibbs smiled, “I hope you show Commodore Carpenter the glory of that calling. Now, if you’ll sign here, we’ll get this party started.”
• • •
Gem sat on board the Triton and received the announcement that Shane had been promoted to command a special ops ship. She also saw that his new second was also promoted to commodore. She realized she would have the same rank she now had if she had remained on board. She reached into her panel and pulled a picture out of Shane and her on a beach. Her tears fell; she missed him so much. She put the picture away and went to her quarters. A week later she threw the picture away. A week after that, she was ordered to take her ship to Space Dock and have it modified. She arrived and saw the Saturn being worked on by massive numbers of construction workers and engineers. She also saw on her scanner that four hundred Rovers were going through maneuvers not far away. She knew Shane was present. She fought her feelings and was determined to not allow her emotions to show.
• • •
Kelli was working with an engineering team on the new ship tubes when she saw the Triton arrive. She contacted a Lieutenant she had attended the Academy with, who held a position in Fleet Control, and discovered that the Triton was also going to be modified to take on the Grey Ships. Her eyebrows went together and she wondered about how Admiral Matthews would respond to his former navigator. She sensed there was a thing between the two of them and she didn’t want the former interest of her commander to have an edge in future promotions. She would just have to make sure her new rank wouldn’t be jeopardized by the Triton’s Commander. She left the tube and headed toward the bridge. She found Shane staring out of the main viewport watching the Triton maneuver into Space Dock. She said, “It appears there are going to be two ships modified to take on the Grey Ships.” Shane looked away from the viewport and simply nodded, saying nothing. “Have you heard anything about this, Sir?”
Shane’s lip went up at the corner and he slightly nodded, “She’s a good choice. Her commander is well qualified for this type of combat.”
“Will she also be promoted to Admiral, Sir?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Shane looked back out of the viewport, “If we have to fight together, Admiral Hull wants me to have command authority. I suspect there will be other ships modified as quickly as pos
sible; Fleet is selecting their best officers to be the nucleus of this effort.” Kelli smiled; Gem wouldn’t outrank her. Shane saw her expression and shook his head; he knew what she was thinking. “Always planning the career, Commodore? She does have seniority.”
“But not on the command ship, Sir. This is where the real action will happen.
Shane sighed and shook his head, “Have my quarters provisioned; I’ll be staying on the ship.”
Kelli smiled again, “Yes Sir.”
Shane continued to stare at the beautiful Jukebox Battleship moving into the Space Dock and decided that he could not go back to what he had endured when Gem left. Seeing her would only open old wounds that were beginning to heal and that was the last thing he needed during this new assignment. He wouldn’t leave Saturn; he would remain onboard and focus on his new ship and crew. It should be enough to keep him from staring at Gem’s ship. He stood up and went to attend a meeting with the new gunnery officers. He needed to know how their new systems operated and see if there were any issues with covering the Saturn during combat.
• • •
Every night for five weeks, Gem would go to the Space Dock’s cafeteria to have dinner. She couldn’t decide if seeing Shane was something she wanted or not. She did see his new second officer and she had made it a point to come over and introduce herself. What a little twit she was! Rank envy was written all over her and she had told Gem it was great to be serving on the best Jukebox in the fleet. Gem had told her that she had a fine commander who knew his stuff. She would learn a lot from him. That deflated her balloon and she left quickly after the remark. Gem wondered if she was just like her. She had been chasing a high rank in the Navy since her first day at the Academy. “God, I hope I’m not like that.” Three days later she saw the Saturn powering up to leave Space Dock for initial flight trials. Shane had never left his ship.
She leaned back in her chair and looked out of the viewport of her personal quarters on the Triton and head a beep on her console, “Yes, Euclid.”
“Cally asked me to deliver a message to you.”
Gem’s heart went into her throat, “What is it?”
“When love walks out of your life, the pieces left behind never fit well together.”
“But I didn’t walk out!” Gem waited and Euclid remained silent. After a minute Gem sighed, “I guess I did.”
“Cally says you ran.”
“What do you think about that?”
“You made a decision about what you loved more, Gem. I hope you can live with your choice.”
Gem’s tears fell and she watched the Saturn in the viewport as it moved away. She made a decision and pressed a button on her console. The hull lights that lit up the nose of the Triton came on at full power and the ship was brightly illuminated. Gem began pressing a button on her panel.
• • •
Shane sat on the bridge as the Saturn backed out of Space Dock and stared at the Triton hanging in space dock. His heart was heavy and he fought hard to maintain control of his expression. The Saturn cleared the moorings and started moving away and he saw the lights on the bow of the Triton start flashing; he wondered what was going on. He watched the pattern and suddenly knew. He had taught Gem how to use ancient morse code to communicate. He was always fascinated by the ways ancient sailors had communicated. He heard the navigator say, “We’re ready to jump, Sir.”
He continued to stare out of the viewport and held up his hand delaying the jump as he watched the pattern. It said, “I love you, Shane.”
He smiled and lowered his hand, “Execute Jump.”
• • •
Gem saw the Saturn disappear and wondered if he saw the message. Euclid said, “He did.” Gem shook her head. She was starting to believe the ship’s computer could read her mind.
“Now he knows…at least he knows.”
• • •
Kelli wondered what Shane was staring at through the viewport and she looked out of the port next to her command chair and saw the flashing lights on the Triton. She saw Shane smile and knew something important had been communicated. He seldom smiled. She wondered what he saw. “Sir, why was the Triton flashing its hull lights?”
Shane looked at her with a large smile and shook his head, “They have to check out all the systems, Commodore.”
Kelli knew this was one thing she would never know. She did know that Gem had managed to communicate with him. She was nervous about what that might mean.
• • •
Lydia entered Gibbs office and he saw something in her expression, “What?”
“The Space Dock Computer recorded the Triton flashing its hull lights as the Saturn left for flight trials.” Gibbs waited and raised his shoulders and eyebrows. “Gem sent a message to Shane using morse code.”
“Does anyone still know that?”
“It appears they do. It took the computer three days to finally work out what it was.”
“And?”
“She told him she loved him.”
Gibbs’ smile was instant, “Now that’s what I’m talking about. They can work together.”
“We’ll see, Love. Give it some time.”
Gibbs laughed out loud, “We will get him to command other ships! Hers will be the first.” Gibbs leaned back and said, “I thought he wasn’t going to take the bait and see her.”
Lydia smiled, “Love will find a way.”
“Indeed it will.”
Chapter Nine
The Grillen King looked at the tall creature that called itself a Servant and sneered, “You’ve given us ships that are little more than brittle pieces of metal.”
“They are much more than that.”
“I could damage one with a hard wooden staff.”
“If you could get close enough to it that might be true. The problem you have is that you are not detecting the objects being fired at you. All you need do is to add a standard scanner that detects solid objects and simply jump out of the path of the incoming projectiles.”
“The projectiles are fired before out ships enter normal space and are on them before they can respond.”
“Then enter normal space further away from the target. I shouldn’t have to tell you these simple things.”
“You should have informed me about the brittle hulls on the ships.”
“I would think you would have seen that during their construction.”
“You know you designed the construction process and at no point would the hulls be hit by an outside object.”
The creature slowly shook its massive head, “You have a ship that can destroy any ship it faces. Are you telling me you don’t have a use for it?”
“But it can also be destroyed.”
“So can your standard ships and they aren’t guaranteed to win if they get a shot off first. No technology is absolutely perfect. Everything created has a weakness and this is an issue you should be able to work around to defeat your enemy.”
The King stared at the Creature and said, “One of my Scouts was destroyed by your ship.”
“I humbly apologize for the indiscretion. We thought it was possibly one of the Union Ships attempting to follow us to our home worlds and fired on it as quickly as possible. Why did you send a scout to follow us?”
“We know next to nothing about you. You have to know I’m curious about where you’re located.”
“I humbly regret that we keep our civilization’s location secret. You would do the same with all the dangerous civilizations that inhabit the universe.”
“You know my location.”
“But we are a friend assisting you. We represent no danger to you and we fear the Union might find us if they follow one of your ships to our location. You know their probes cannot be detected.”
The King stared at the smooth talking beast and knew it was thoroughly prepped to answer any of his questions. He smiled, “Thank you for coming. You’ve answered my questions.”
“Is there nothing else I can
help clarify?”
“No, I understand now.”
“I wish you success against your enemy.” The tall creature turned and left the huge throne room. The King saw it step around his son, who was bowing to it as it passed. It disappeared out of the chamber and the King’s son looked at the floor and then nodded. The corners of the King’s mouth went up and he waited for the Servant’s Ship to jump away.
• • •
Four weeks earlier, one of the Grillen scientists had found a small clear object on a piece of charred metal on the planet where the production facilities had been destroyed. It had brought the piece of metal to a lab and discovered the danger the small clear object represented. The scientist examined the dot on its molecular structure and determined that the explosion of another dot had damaged the transmitter on it. He was called to the King’s office to discuss the findings with him.
“Are you saying something that small is that powerful?”
“I am, Your Majesty. And we are not able to replicate it.”
“Why not?”
“The technology of the control system is beyond anything we’ve ever created. We are centuries from being able to duplicate this.”
“Is it a Union device?”
“Who else would have put it there?”
The King remained silent and wondered if his new “Friends” might have done it. However, that didn’t make sense. It had to be created by the Union. If they were advanced enough to do this…this was not a good thing. “Can you activate it?”
“I can only set the time for it to detonate.”
“I want it set to go off in four weeks. If I need it changed, I’ll call you.”
• • •
Two weeks later, the King had watched the Servant walk over the place on the floor where the dot had been placed and his son verified that it was no longer there after the creature passed over it. He smiled and wondered if the Servants might be joining him in his fight against the Union. He’d soon know.
• • •
