The Warlord

by CJ Williams

  All three officers concentrated on the laser-like beam lancing out from the dreadnought at the six targets. After it struck the first decoy, the beam instantly whipped across the next decoy in the formation.

  “You’re right,” Luke agreed. “It looks like a curving whiplash, but I think that’s optics. In slow motion, it’s more like the slash of a rapier.”

  Grant asked, “You think if we take out the radome, we take out that beam?”

  Luke shrugged. “No way to be sure without trying.”

  “Also,” Elaine interposed. “What would happen if we spread out the attack. How fast can it cycle side to side? In the past attacks, it caught us by surprise. The dreadnought holds back and then races in to strike when we’re concentrating on the Booker ships.”

  “We’ve got another dozen of those decoys ready to go,” Grant told Luke. “Want to launch them all or just six at a time?”

  “What do you think?” Luke asked Elaine.

  “I’d launch them all at once,” she said. “Let’s test how well it can handle a larger force. We can get a record from each drone and I’ll include a couple of our smaller in-system reconnaissance drones to monitor the result a little more closely.”

  “Make it happen,” Luke said. “And for Pete’s sake, keep our combat patrols on their toes. The last thing we need is for that dreadnought to show up in the middle of our formation while we’re napping.”

  “We’re ready and then some,” Grant said. “Valentine, show the deployment of our forces, including the combat air patrols.”

  The screen changed to show the Haiyanas solar system. The planetary orbits were displayed as thin gray lines. At various points along each arc, a graphic image indicated the planet. If Luke looked closely, he could see individual moons in orbit around the planets.

  White squares depicted the post office modules and blue showed the recon drones. Hundreds of yellow diamonds, all of them Booker warships, orbited the seventh planet where King Haejeog reigned. Embedded in the yellow diamonds were a handful of white ovals, indicating the remaining AI controlled warships. Those could be ordered to attack the Bookers, but there were too few to have much impact.

  Luke’s forces had infiltrated the system, taking care to avoid detection. The Phantoms were organized into combat groups, each consisting of three squadrons They were depicted on the tactical display as large white ovals. After battle stations, the icons would split apart to show a separate oval for each Phantom and a colored dot for each fighter.

  The Alliance forces had spread across the solar system. At the outer edge, Luke’s own royal escort group waited with one of Lenny’s combat groups. Two other combat groups were hiding on moons orbiting the ninth planet., Lenny Holt was holding far above the solar system’s orbital plane with the remaining five squadrons. He was responsible for providing backup to any engaged unit should reinforcements be needed.

  Luke studied the display for a moment and nodded to Elaine. “All right, launch all twelve decoys. It’s more evidence that we’re coming, but they’ve probably figured that out already.”

  Valentine’s voice suddenly cut him off. “Commander, we have an urgent report from one of our recon drones. King Haejeog is dead.”

  Ensign Sanford came charging into the conference room. “Did Valentine tell you about the king?”

  “Only just,” Luke replied, trying to factor in the news. “Give us a report.”

  “On screen, please,” Sanford said to Valentine. The scene changed to show rioting in the center of the capital city. It could have been Paris or Berlin. Crowds yelling, people rioting, police in a long line and smoke going off everywhere, either from tear gas or protester’s Molotov cocktails.

  “Doesn’t look good,” Grant mumbled.

  Sanford explained. “Evidently he died in his sleep during the night. We’re hearing conflicting reports. Some say that it was natural causes and others claim it was an assassination. No way to tell for now. We just got the news and haven’t made an analysis as yet, but I wanted you to know the situation is fluid.”

  “How old is this?” Luke asked.

  “No more than eight hours.”

  Grant looked at Luke. “What do you think? Things must be a mess down there. Time to attack?”

  “I think so,” Luke nodded. “It’s our best chance to see how the Alliance holds up against the dreadnought. And I don’t want that thing to suddenly take off if Annie is on it. How quickly can we establish a coordinated zero time with the rest of our Phantoms?”

  “At least an hour,” Elaine said. “Probably closer to two if you want to include new tactics.”

  Luke shook his head. “We don’t have time to waste. Send messages to the combat groups. Attack! Establish air superiority in the system. We will engage the dreadnought and Lenny can back us up after taking out the local forces. Launch those decoys now and go to battle stations, we go inbound in ten minutes. I’ll meet you on the bridge then.”

  “Got it,” Grant said rising from his eat.

  The tactical and reconnaissance officers acknowledged the orders and ran from the conference room, both of them talking to Valentine.

  Luke wanted to charge straight to the bridge but instead, he walked slowly to the break room and got a cup of coffee. It gave Grant a few minutes to get his thoughts together before the attack. Luke promised himself once again, that he would not step on Grant’s toes when the battle got going. Luke had a bad habit of taking charge in the middle of combat operations and that didn’t help anyone.

  *.*.*.*

  “Decoy footage coming in,” Sanford relayed.

  “On screen,” Grant ordered.

  The tactical screen contained a real-time shot of the decoy attack on the dreadnought. The twelve fighter-sized decoys were attacking from different angles. They were slightly staggered, maximizing the amount of travel for the deadly beam to track back and forth.

  It may as well have been a firing squad. One by one, the decoys were cut in half. None of them got close enough to get a good gun shot on the nose. If they fired from too far a distance, and were successful, the chances were their projectiles would kill everyone on board, including Annie.

  Luke examined the scene after the attack. Chunks of the decoy drones drifted apart. Some of the debris collided with the other decoys.

  Luke was trying to devise an alternate attack plan that would not get his forces totally wiped out. It suddenly dawned that he was still watching the live feed. “Holy crap! Why are we still getting drone video?”

  “What do you mean?” Grant said.

  “Look how close that recon drone is to the dreadnought and yet it’s still working. There must be a size limit on the beam’s firing solution.”

  Grant nodded in understanding. “You’re right. Tactical, launch missiles at the dreadnought.”

  “Unarmed!” Luke shouted.

  “Right,” Grant acknowledged. “We do not want a detonation! I want the missiles to take out that nose. Ram the thing as hard as you can!”

  “Got it!” Elaine shouted, chattering like crazy into her headset, programming instructions through Valentine directly into the missiles and then passing those instructions to the rest of Luke’s combat group and their fighters.

  Luke hurried to the viewing window, squeezing the grab rail until his knuckles were white. He could not see the dreadnought, but caught glints from the missiles as they raced away from Valentine.

  “How long to impact?” Luke barked.

  “Two minutes,” Elaine replied, her fingers flying across the controls in front of her.

  Two minutes! Luke’s heart was going to explode. Around him a constant buzz of orders flew back and forth as the battle unfolded. None of it registered on Luke. His eyes were drilling holes through the thick transparent wall in front of him. He still could see nothing.

  He glanced over at the tactical display. It was showing an overview of the battle throughout the solar system.

  Valentine, put the drone cameras back on
the tactical display. He ordered mentally. Don’t change it until I say otherwise.

  “Acknowledged, Commander,” Valentine responded verbally. “General Jefferies, the Tactical Display is being altered for a higher priority mission.”

  “What the h—” Grant started to swear and then stopped, his eyes drawn to the screen.

  The nose protruding from the dreadnought began to deform like the schnozz of an untalented boxer taking one blow after another. Again and again, the guided missiles from Luke’s combat group struck it directly, each impact causing damage.

  The weapon was even bigger than Luke thought, seeing it up close. The massive proboscis on the front of the warship was at least four times the size of the Phantom. But it didn’t matter. The missiles were taking it apart.

  “Target the engines!” Luke shouted.

  “I can’t do that, Commander,” Elaine yelled back. “They’re integral to the ship. If we hit the engines, it will definitely penetrate the ship’s hull. It may kill whoever is aboard, depending on their location.”

  Belle’s voice sounded. “Brace for impact!”

  The bridge shook madly and Luke found himself hanging on to the grab rail to keep from floating away. The ship’s gravity system had momentarily shut down. It was Belle’s autonomous response if there was any chance the function of internal gravity plates would be interrupted. The alternative was to squish everyone to red jelly under the enormous gravity loads of combat operation.

  Gravity returned and Luke found his footing.

  Think! Luke cursed himself. He had to contact Annie, make sure she was not near the engines.

  Valentine, connect me to Annie, he ordered the ship’s AI.

  “Unable, Commander,” Valentine responded aloud. “It is unlikely that I can establish a connection at this distance.”

  That was bullshit. He had talked to Annie from orbit on many occasions. He had talked to her from even further distances with George assisting as an intermediary.

  Valentine, connect me to Annie, now.

  “I will try, Commander. However, the stresses of battle are preventing me from…”

  Luke lost it. He screamed at the ceiling. “Valentine, connect me to Annie right this second or so help me God I will order you to self-destruct! I don’t care what it takes. Do it now!”

  The command bridge grew very quiet. The unadulterated fury in Luke’s voice froze everyone in place. All the tactical displays blanked out and gravity went off again.

  Luke bent over in concentration, floating off the floor without realizing it. Annie, he thought. Where are you? Talk to me babe.

  A faint echo appeared in his brain. Luke? Is that you?

  Luke’s heart stopped and he grasped at her presence.

  Annie! It’s me! It’s Luke! Annie, my God! I’m so sorry! I never should have left you.

  Annie called out with her mind. Luke?

  I’m here! Listen to me! Where are you? We’re attacking the ship you’re on. I’m going to fire at the engines but…

  Annie mentally slapped him in the face. Luke, be quiet. I can hear the engines running up so we only have a few seconds.

  Luke grew frantic. “Prepare to fire at the engines!” he yelled. “I’m talking to Annie!” Babe, you have to tell me…

  Annie hit him again, harder. Luke, shut up! I have something to tell you.

  Luke tried to shout her down. Annie, where are you in the ship? I need to fire right now!

  Luke felt a baseball bat thunk inside his skull. Annie wanted him to pay attention.

  Listen to me! she sent. I only have one chance at this. This is going to hurt, but it won’t kill you. At least I hope not. Here it comes. I love you…

  A blinding, flaming, white hot iron rod bored into Luke’s brain. It was more brutal than anything he could ever imagine, far worse than the agony of the original brain implant that Sam had tricked him into taking years ago. He put his hands over his ears and tried to fight the pain, but it kept coming. The last thing he knew was that he couldn’t stop screaming.

  *.*.*.*

  “Unnnh,” Luke said.

  “Doctor!” A female voice called out loudly.

  That hurt. It would be nice if she wasn’t shouting right into his ear. Luke tried to tell her to quiet down but the only word that came out was another, “Unnnh.”

  A swishing noise told him she had left the command bridge.

  With effort Luke managed to open his eyelids. They were covered with gauze. He could perceive light beyond his veiled eyes, but that was all.

  It felt like he’d been through a ringer. He hadn’t been this sick in a long time. He concentrated, the way Annie had taught him, on using his implant to do a little healing, to get his energy up. But it wasn’t working, he was too exhausted.

  “Your Majesty?” a male voice said.

  “Unnnh.”

  “Now, now. Just rest easy. You’re doing fine. We need to do a few tests, all righty?”

  No. They needed to help Luke off the floor and fire a volley of missiles at the dreadnought’s engine cluster. What did Annie call that vessel? The knowledge floated into his mind from some deep recess. The Bismarck. He was glad she still had a sense of humor. It was an acknowledgement that her husband would eventually take that ship down. He tried to pull the bandages off of his eyes.

  “Go ahead. Ten units of two percent aseupilin.”

  What the hell is that? Luke wondered.

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  Luke felt the lassitude of…

  *.*.*.*

  Luke was a bit stronger when he woke up. The gauze still covered his eyes but now it was a nuisance. He tried to pull it away but had trouble coordinating his movements. His efforts created a flurry of movement next to him.

  He noted the constant thrum of the Phantom’s generators was missing. The memory came back to him. He had threatened Valentine and she cut all power to focus on his order to contact Annie. Good job, but why were they still shut down? Had they taken a hit? He still felt fuzzy headed.

  “Luke?” a faintly familiar feminine voice asked.

  “Wha…”

  “Luke, it’s me, Carrie. Your little sister. Remember?”

  Luke felt an awareness in his mind that infused strength into his body.

  “Carrie?” he rasped. His throat was dry and sore.

  “Drink this,” Carrie whispered.

  Luke felt a straw at his lips and took several sips.

  “Feel better?” she asked.

  “Yah.”

  “You’re in a hospital Luke, here on Haiyanas Seven. Everything will be all right.”

  That was worrisome. When someone tells you, everything will be all right, it’s the same thing as saying bend over. What was going on?

  “Carrie?” he croaked. “what are you doing here? I thought you were on Mars.”

  “I was,” Carrie replied softly. “Grant sent for me. He said you were hurt.”

  “Sent for you? What’s he talking about? I’m not hurt.”

  “Relax now. You’re on the mend, I can tell.”

  The ramifications of her presence gradually seeped into his consciousness.

  “How long?” he asked. “How long was I out?”

  “Six months,” Carrie replied gently. “It’s been six months since the battle.”

  That started the panic in his mind. “Annie?” he tried to shout her name but it came out as a wheeze. “Where’s Annie?”

  “I’m sorry Luke, Annie’s gone.”

  That’s when the real pain hit. Not the simple physical agony that coursed through his entire body, but the fact that he had touched her mind, had been so close to being with her, and then lost her again. It drove him crazy. He tried to get up. He had to…

  A hand pressed on his chest, keeping him flat on the floor of the command bridge. Only it wasn’t the bridge. He had to accept that fact. It was a hospital.

  A male voice said, “Go ahead, nurse. Ten units of two percent aseupilin.”

  “
Yes, Doctor.”

  *.*.*.*

  Luke pushed the food tray back toward the nurse. “I want a steak,” he said again. “I need meat!”

  “Your Majesty,” she pleaded. “You must gain your strength.”

  “Well it’ll never happen with that crap.” Luke had tried being nice. He had been professional, but his patience had run out. He ripped the IV out of his arm and pushed the wheeled trolley carrying the offending meal away from the bed. That sent the nurse scurrying from the room calling for assistance.

  Right then Grant came in. His eyes widened as he took in the scene and he chuckled. “You got something against green mush?”

  “I gotta get out of here,” Luke yelled. “And I am getting out of here. Right now!”

  Grant laughed out loud. “Well, that’s what I’m here for. Carrie just called me and said you were released by the doc. I came over to come pick you up.”

  Luke’s anger dissipated somewhat. “Well thank God for small favors. I need to get back onboard. What’s been happening.”

  “Those weren’t my instructions. I’m taking you to the palace. Carrie’s decree.”

  “I need a status report!” Luke barked.

  “I know. Everyone is there waiting to give you one. Carrie said that was the first order of business.”

  “Good,” Luke said grudgingly. He forced himself to calm down. Carrie was smart. She had been a first-class second-in-command when she worked for him. She always knew what he wanted. For her sake, he’d hold off on his anger for another hour.

  *.*.*.*

  The senior staff from several Phantoms were waiting for him in the palace’s royal conference room. The room was a lot different from the one on Valentine, but there was no mistaking what it was. A large rectangular table with comfortable chairs all around. At the end of the room a display screen said WELCOME BACK.

  Luke contained his impatience while everyone applauded. He saw no reason for celebration, he’d been sleeping for the past six months and nothing had been done about Annie. But he let the crew have their little ceremony for his return; it was good intentioned.