“I’ve never asked anyone under my command to enter into combat knowing we would likely pay the ultimate price. But today, I do. I ask nothing of you that I do not ask of myself. When the time comes, I will lay down my life along with the rest of us to stop the League from extinguishing the Terran Coalition. I do this freely, and because I know it is worth defending, even with my life.” David swallowed and choked back emotion. “Intelligence and recon assets tell us we’ve got around four hours before they get here. We’ll go to battle stations an hour before they emerge, which leaves us some time to do the things that need to be done. Take it to send a message to your loved ones, and get right with God.
“No matter what happens today, I want you all to know; it remains the honor of my life to have served with you. I wouldn’t change any of it, and I promise you all, that while history may forget our names—it will never forget the Lion of Judah!” David’s voice rose to almost a shout at the end, a cry of defiance for what they faced. He bit his lip, still determined not to let them see his pain. “I couldn’t pick a finer group of soldiers to make a last stand with. So do your duty. Make every shot count. Each Leaguer we defeat is one less our loved ones have to worry about chasing them down. Twelve hours, ladies and gentlemen. That’s how long we have to hold, and we will hold, no matter what. Cohen out.”
Complete and total silence swept the bridge. It was oppressive, almost suffocating to the point that the only sound was the whirring of electronics. No one moved. Mute expressions of shock were present on most of them, excepting the Master Chief. Tinetariro looked ready as ever to fight the Leaguers.
“All non-essential personnel are relieved,” David announced. “Take whatever time you need, and report back at 1300 hours.” Three hours to what… pray? What does it even mean, get yourself right with God? The prospect of preparing for his death was something he didn’t relish. For some reason, going into the teeth of the League regularly had become undaunting. But knowing he was going to die shook David to his core.
As enlisted personnel stood up from their posts and exited the bridge, Ruth turned around in his chair. “Permission to depart, sir? There’s something I need to do.”
“Granted, Captain. Just be back in time for the fireworks.”
“Of course, sir.”
* * *
The observation lounge on Churchill’s central shipyard was one of Kenneth’s favorite haunts. At least it had been, before the last couple of weeks. It was an enormous space with dozens of tables and chairs, serviced by a full bar and restaurant. Through the transparent alloy windows, one could view the entire shipyard complex in orbit of Churchill. He found it relaxing to sit with a cup of coffee and enjoy the sights, along with a bagel and cream cheese. Today, Kenneth allowed himself ten minutes to view something even more special: the first batch of ships heading to Canaan to join the fleet. If only they arrive on time.
“Nice work, boss,” Billings said.
The voice jolted Kenneth out of his thoughts. He turned toward the older man. “Master Chief. Sorry, I had to take a break for a minute.” He sighed. “Seventy-two hours without sleep is catching up. I think I was hallucinating penguins walking around my office earlier.”
Billings laughed loudly. “I didn’t realize those stims the doc injected us with caused us to see things.”
“I think it’s more sleep deprivation that causes hallucinations,” Kenneth said as he smirked. “The least of our problems. How many?”
“One hundred seventy-eight.”
Inwardly, Kenneth groaned. He wanted the entire group of two hundred and fifty ships ready to go. Still, two-thirds was better than nothing. “What about the rest?”
“We’ll have more within thirty minutes. Unless you direct otherwise, we’ll send them in small groups after this.”
“Agreed.” Kenneth glanced back out the window to see nearly two hundred Lawrence drive artificial wormholes opening. The sight was spectacular. While one wormhole and its kaleidoscope of colors was impressive, the sheer number of them created a light show like he’d never seen before in his life. “Nice work, Master Chief.” Kenneth slapped Billings on the shoulder. “Damn nice work.”
“Team effort, boss.” He paused. “I do worry, though.”
“About what?”
“We couldn’t even test the weapons on some of these ships.” Billings turned and faced him. “What if they don’t work? Or the shield modifications fail? It takes months to shake out a vessel properly.”
One by one, the dozens of warships entered their respective wormholes, and moments later, they closed in a cascade of colorful charged particles. The effect backlit Churchill, giving it an almost luminescent glow.
“Well, we don’t always test our work, but when we do, it’s in combat.” Kenneth aimed for a lighter note to his voice but ended up shaking his head. “Gallows humor doesn’t always connect.”
“Call the big ugly fat, well, you know… because that one bombed.”
Kenneth laughed loudly at the mention of the nickname for the Terran Coalition’s heavy space bombers. “Point taken, Master Chief.” He sighed and hung his head. “I’d better get back down there. We’ve got more work to do.”
“Boss,” Billings said as he put his hand on Kenneth’s shoulder. “I want you to know, however this goes down, it’s been an honor.”
Emotion crept up within Kenneth, and a tear formed in his right eye. “Same here.” He pursed his lips together tightly. “Okay, now, no slacking.” With a grin, he walked off toward the nearest gravlift—back to the ship he’d been working on.
* * *
Much like David’s day cabin on the Lion of Judah, Aibek had his own small office, directly aft of the Resit Kartal’s bridge. He’d retired to it so he could privately contact Chief Minister Obe. Breaking most rules regarding the chain of command, he reached out to the Chief Minister’s office directly.
A Saurian dressed in the equivalent of a human business suit appeared on his vidlink monitor. “Chief Minister’s office, how many I assist you?”
“I require a virtual audience with the Chief Minister.”
“You and every other Saurian,” the youngster replied. The disdain in his tone was unmistakable. “I’ll take your name and have him call you back as soon as he’s able.”
Aibek bared his teeth. “Do not mock me, sheeret.” He invoked a Saurian profanity. “I am Void Captain Talgat Aibek. Dishonor my request, and I will challenge you to blood combat… to the death.”
On the screen, the other Saurian’s scales went grey, and his jaw dropped open. “Void Captain, please, forgive me. I did not know. The Chief Minister’s schedule is so busy, can you not go through normal channels?”
“It is a matter of honor I speak with him, now.”
The screen went black without another word, and Aibek wondered if the youngster hung up on him. The connection still showed active, however, so he sat patiently. Or, at least as patiently as a Saurian who had to answer the call to fight could. After a good five minutes, the screen came back on. It showed Obe at his desk.
“Void Captain… what is the meaning of this?” Obe demanded. His scales flushed as he spoke. “You are far outside the bounds of protocol and honor.”
“Am I? The Terrans now stand alone, without allies or support. The entire fury of the League comes for them, yet they stand bravely against it. We are the ones who are outside the bounds of honor.” Aibek stared into the camera, hoping his intent stare transferred via the electronic device.
“They lack our support because they acted dishonorably. This man, Fuentes, he wasted the blood spilled by our warriors. That is something I cannot forgive.”
“Fuentes is no longer in charge,” Aibek replied matter-of-factly. “Spencer has returned. A man of great honor that you stood scale to scale with.”
“This is true. But the faction within our government that opposed the alliance with the humans in the first place has the most political power. I cannot override them without triggering a
schism. It could lead to civil war.”
“Even with the knowledge the League will surely come for us?” Aibek realized that Obe was just as hard on his position as he was in his. He furrowed his brow in a frown. “Chief Minister, did not the Prophet call on us to use our strength to aid the weak? To defeat evil and stand against the unjust? It is a matter of faith that we stand with the humans. To do otherwise would invite damnation of our souls.”
Obe sat back, and his scales flushed again. “You think I do not know this?” He gestured wildly. “I have pressed scales all over Sauria, trying to find those who would stand with me to aid the Terran Coalition. The support is not there, Void Captain.”
Aibek felt an unfamiliar feeling: defeat. He agrees with me, yet cannot or won’t change the outcome. Various lines about politicians being the worst enemy came to his mind, but he wasn’t in the mood for jokes. “I see. Then I must announce my intention to claim the right of conscience. I, and the warriors on my vessel, will take the Resit Kartal to Canaan. There, we will stand with our human brothers and sisters to the bitter end.”
Abject silence came over the vidlink. Obe blinked a few times before his mouth curled up into a wide, toothy grin. “Your guile is quite indulgent.”
“I do not understand, sir.”
“If you would claim this right, perhaps others in the fleet would as well.”
It took a couple of seconds for what Obe was suggesting to register with Aibek. When it did, he too grinned broadly. “I had not thought of that.”
“We will not speak of this again, Void Captain. Address your fellow warriors directly. If they choose to join you, I will not stand in their way. May you walk where the Prophet guides.”
“I will do my best, sir. May we all see victory over evil. Aibek out.” He touched the disconnect button on the screen before anything more could be said.
* * *
The sound of the buzzer to his day cabin’s hatch jolted David out his pondering. He’d been studying scans of the League fleet, trying to devise a set of tactics that might allow them to inflict significant damage on the enemy. With only a hundred and fifty ships, there wasn’t too much he could do. Grateful for the distraction, he called out, “Come!”
Ruth appeared in the hatch as it swung open. “Do you have a minute, sir?”
“For you, I’ve got two,” David replied with a smile. “Come in, please.”
She made her way to his desk and sat in the closest chair. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”
David spread his hands out in front of him. “Ruth,” he began, emphasizing her name to indicate it was a discussion between two friends. “We’re about to die. I’m not standing on formalities. What do you have to say?”
“Sir.” Ruth’s voice trailed off as she bit down on her lip. “Maybe we’re not going to die. We’re not defeated yet. Canaan’s planetary defense system is still intact.”
“Twenty thousand or more ships against a hundred and fifty. We don’t even have the best vessels in the CDF fleet. No, we’re saddled with the worst and the damaged ones. Sometimes you have to face facts. The fact is we’re a speedbump, at best. If we can slow them down for twelve hours, our friends and families get away. That’s what counts right now.”
Ruth reached out and touched David’s hand. “I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“I thought I was done with this life. I finally started doing what I thought God wanted me to do,” David said. A tear fell down his face. “Nope. Here I am again. I will give my life for the cause, and I wonder, Ruth. I wonder if God will accept me. More than that, I wonder why God isn’t helping us. He said in His word that He made a covenant with His people—Israel. I’ve never doubted that in my life. But I do today.”
There was silence for a good thirty seconds. Ruth finally spoke. “Israel will continue. Our people will escape, the Terran Coalition will survive. Isn’t that enough?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you waver—”
“Ruth, I’ll never give up or surrender in the face of the League. I might lose my faith, I might secretly long for it to be over, but I’ll never stop fighting them. Because there are times, and this is one of them, if I’ve ever seen it, when you keep on fighting. Not for any hope of eventual victory, but to deny your enemy the satisfaction of your defeat. Do you think I’m going to give that smug bastard Seville a win? I’ll ram his flagship and send him straight to hell first.”
Her face scrunched up, and a frown spread across it. “I’m worried about you.”
The pure nature of the statement touched David. As he mulled it over in his mind, the realization came to him that he should probably be worried about his mental state too. “Cutting off my payos last week was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.” He glanced at her. “It was as if it erased everything I’d done to try and get closer to HaShem the last six months.” He held up his hands. “I can’t get away from the blood that stains them.” There was something different about her uniform, he noted. There was a Christian flag under the one of New Israel on her uniform’s shoulder. “That’s new.”
Ruth blushed deeply. “Yeah. You told us to get right with God. So I did. At least, I think I did. For me. Some of us were talking… the feeling of knowing we’re going to die, and not being sure where we’ll wake up. It’s scary, you know?”
“More than you know.”
“Sir, you’ve always been a great example. Don’t give up now. Somehow, I still think we’re going to be okay.”
Does she believe that? Or is it just wishful thinking? David opened his mouth to answer but never got a word out.
The voice of Lieutenant Hammond cut in. “General Cohen to the bridge. I say again, General Cohen to the bridge. We have an urgent situation.”
David sprang up from his chair. “With me, Captain.” Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he walked out of the small office, exchanged salutes with the Marine sentries guarding the hatch to the bridge, and strode onto the deck. “This is General Cohen. I have the conn.”
“General Cohen has the conn,” Hammond announced.
“Sitrep?”
“Better to show you, sir.” She gestured to the tactical plot showing on the holotank in the center of the CIC area. As per the last time he looked at it, there were hundreds of blue dots encircling the Lion.
Then it hit him. There were a lot more friendly contacts. “TAO,” David began. “Are my eyes playing tricks on me, or did we get reinforcements?”
Kelsey turned around in her chair. “Two hundred plus starships, Saurian signature, sir.”
“Sir, I’ve got Colonel Aibek on a vidlink for you,” Taylor interjected. His voice held something it didn’t only a couple of hours before: hope.
“Put him through, Lieutenant,” David replied as he quickly closed the distance to the CO’s chair and sat.
Aibek’s smiling face, complete with bared teeth, appeared on the monitor above. “I greet you in the name of the Prophet, General.” He had a full Saurian uniform on, and his scales were a distinctive purple hue.
“I,” David started to say, then stopped. His jaw hung open. “I’m so glad to see you. We all are. I thought you’d be alone.”
“And I, you. It was a dark day when your leaders abandoned the noble fight. Perhaps if honor had been maintained, we would not be here now.”
The words stirred anger inside of David. A white-hot emotion he could ill afford at the moment. He forced it down. “We’ll have time to beat up on the politicians later. Is this all we get or are more on the way?” Quick mental calculations told him that even doubling his active forces wouldn’t be near enough firepower to have a reasonable chance of victory.
“I am afraid not, old friend. Our leaders are as feckless as yours were, though the Chief Minister did graciously allow me to circumvent the law. Those you see gathered with me were the ones who answered the call of the Prophet. We still stand with you till the end, even if it means our own death.”
The
anger quickly faded, replaced by sadness. The feeling of helplessness returned to David, coupled with guilt that he was leading even more people—and friends—to certain death, in an unwinnable fight. “We’ll do our best.”
“Conn, TAO. Aspect change!” Ruth’s voice was an octave higher than usual. “Additional wormholes opening all over the place, sir.”
“Talgat, hang on. We’ve got incoming. Might have to cut this short and engage.” Without the benefit of dressing our lines or integrating the tactical network. David stared at Ruth. “Enemies, TAO?”
“Negative, sir,” Ruth replied. “CDF signature. Destroyers, frigates, and a few cruisers. One hundred and seventy-eight new contacts.”
The mothball fleet. David broke into a grin. How in the heck did Lowe pull this off? “Communications, signal the lead vessel over there. Split-screen with Colonel Aibek.”
“Aye, aye, sir. One moment.”
A CDF officer wearing the full bird insignia of a colonel appeared on the screen to the right side of Aibek. David found him vaguely familiar; there was something about the silver hair and Caucasian complexion that tugged at his memory. “Colonel Clint Waterman, commanding the CSV Resolute, reporting for duty, General. Sorry to make such a grand entrance. We didn’t want to announce ourselves prior in case there’s unwelcome ears.”
“Do we know each other, Colonel?” David asked.
“In a manner of speaking. You rescued me and many others from the League POW transport at the second battle of Canaan.”
Finish the Fight: Echoes of War Book Seven Page 16
