Gray Panthers: Battle for Earth

by David Guenther

  Dan sat in the Gray Panther command post monitoring what was going on, angry he had nothing to contribute. "Grub, have you analyzed the battle for anything we can contribute or pass on to the Nike?"

  "Sir, the enemy ships are more advanced that I predicted. Our weapons can damage them if we can hit them. I can find no pattern to their maneuvers. Recommend that Nike copy their tactic."

  "Can the Nike do that?" Dan replied nearly frantic.

  "Yes Sir, I have sent the recommendation to Nike now and the specifications for them to use their fabricator to make a faster than light drive. It should only take an hour to fabricate and another hour to install."

  "Grub, we don't even have ten minutes at this rate. Order Nike to retreat behind the moon to perform the modifications if it can, and have the shuttles try to keep the enemy ship distracted,” Dan ordered as he wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt sleeve

  "Major Rhodes, have you been monitoring what’s going on?" Dan asked as he brought up the retired Air Force Major on screen.

  "Yes sir. I recommend we launch Operation Recall immediately."

  "Go ahead Dusty. It’s your game from here,” Dan replied as others in the room looked at Dan in confusion.

  "Sorry gentlemen I seemed to have left some of you out of the loop. All the shuttles we sold have been automatically recalled to our shuttle depots. Those shuttles are being armed as quickly as possible from there. That is the first part of Operation Recall. The shuttles all are capable of space travel; we just never advertised that fact when we sold them. They are all now being armed with both beamers and modified rail guns. As soon as they are ready, we will launch them en masse. If we get them all off, we will have ten thousand of them to annoy our visitor while the Nike is out of the game. They will all be piloted by their AIs as directed by Dusty.”

  “Sir, it looks like we are now having multiple launches from all over the world. Looks like groups of one hundred at a time from each site. Estimate it will be ten thousand en route in 12 minutes,” the sensor operator reported to Dan.

  “Good, good, suggest to Butch that he have the remainder of his squadrons break off from the enemy ship and begin to harass the disabled ship, trying not to destroy it. Dusty, I have a new plan for you, go ahead and have your shuttles converge on the disabled ship. I have a feeling that will get the other ship off Nike and we might get a real shot at the enemy. Grub, try to contact the enemy and tell them unless they cease all hostilities now we will destroy the damaged ship.”

  “Captain, we have damage in over a dozen compartments. Damage control is handling it, and so far they have managed to miss any major systems,” the XO reported to the captain as a shudder was felt by all crewmembers.

  Richard "Ricky" Vasquez was checking up personally on two technicians who were not responding from inertial dampener control. Starting to open the hatch to the control room he saw that the hatch control was red, showing there was no atmosphere in the next cabin. Securing his helmet Ricky opened the hatch and was surprised to see that to his right he was looking through a jagged ten foot wide hole to space. From the way the pattern looked it must have been from the destruction of one of the missiles that had gotten too close to the Nike. Inspecting the control room showed the runs from both the inertial dampener main control and auxiliary were untouched but both the primary and secondary power supplies were gone as was the part of the bulkhead they were mounted. “Bridge, Damage Control 1,” Ricky immediately called realizing the danger.

  “Damage Control 1, XO, What have you got Ricky?” Red asked.

  “Do not engage engines, we have lost inertial dampeners, if you engage engines we will all be splashed like raw tomatoes. Copy?”

  “Copy that. Get it repaired ASAP and keep me informed, XO out.” Red then turned to the captain

  “Sir updated report from engineering. The inertial dampeners master control has sustained damage. If we maneuver faster than thrusters we will all be splattered against the bulkheads. ETA for repairs unknown at this time,” Red reported.

  “Damn we don’t have ten minutes. Nike, do you have any suggestions?” Butch asked.

  “No sir, but the enemy is no longer attacking us. He has pulled back and is returning to the other alien ship. Sir, massive numbers of contacts are coming up from the planet. It looks like thousands of shuttles are coming our way. Correction, forward units are headed toward the damaged ship. The total count is approximately ten thousand shuttles. Our shuttles appear to be engaging enemy shuttles that are deploying from the damaged ship. Reports coming in, it appears the enemy shuttles are trying to get to the undamaged enemy ship, and are not engaging our shuttles after all.”

  “All shuttles, do not attack enemy shuttles. Use your tractors and instead capture as many as possible. Tractor them to the vicinity of the Nike, but not to the ship in case they try to destroy themselves,” Butch ordered.

  “Sir enemy ship is now taking damage as it’s trying to protect the damaged ship. It appears they are not able to maneuver and have reduced their fire. Suggest we direct all fire toward external armaments; perhaps we can capture both ships,” Nike reported.

  “Good suggestion Nike, pass it on to all shuttles.”

  “Sir, we are receiving communications from the enemy, demanding we cease fire. They will be open to negotiations to accept our surrender.”

  “Reply back to them they have five minutes to surrender or we will destroy them totally. Tell them I tire of playing with them and I have more important things to do. Contact all shuttles to cease fire but to take up firing positions on the main enemy ship.”

  "Sir, the enemy captain wants you to promise good conditions for his crew."

  "Will we be able to provide life support and food for them Nike?"

  "They are similar to humans in that they breathe an oxygen mix similar to yours. We can take basic food proteins to use with a food machine to provide them everything they need. We can create a cavern for them on the moon that is not connected to any of ours. That would reduce the chance of escape also."

  "Tell their captain he has my word as a ship’s captain, his crew will be treated well and that we respect that they fought well."

  "Peary Base, this is Nike, over"

  "Nike, this is Peary Base, go ahead, over."

  "I need three new caverns immediately. They can connect with each other, but not to any others. We will need full life support for them. We will be having uninvited guests and I want them to be comfortable, over."

  "Three caverns for uninvited guests. We will start now. How many are we expecting?"

  "Nike, how many life forms total on both enemy ships?" Dan asked unhappy he did not ask earlier.

  "Sir, there are a total of 800 survivors on both ships."

  "Peary Base, we will need accommodations for 800, Nike out."

  "Nike, can our shuttles dock on their ship and can the life support on the shuttles be adjusted to their atmosphere?"

  "That would be no problem sir; I can send the order to the shuttles now to adjust their cargo bays."

  "Make it happen. I want to start clearing those ships immediately. Inform the enemy captain to prepare to evacuate his ships as our shuttles dock. His crew will be allowed to take all personal possessions; anyone found with a weapon will be spaced. Let him know accommodations are being provided now, but we will want a skeleton crew left behind. Any sabotage of either ship will not be looked on favorably."

  "Security, this is the captain. Prepare three ten man teams with droid support. I want one team for the small ship, and two teams for the larger ship. Both ships have surrendered, but I want to make sure they do not self-destruct them. I want the droids to immediately access any terminals so we can download everything we can. Be careful; do not take any chances."

  Major Patricia Paulsen, USAR, Retired, had regretted that she had never seen combat or led troops in battle. She now doubted everything she had ever trained for and herself. Her men and women stood in small groups, in their spacesuits. T
here was light banter as they checked over each other’s gear. The teams had trained hard and long in the past; most had retired as senior NCOs and accepted their new positions as enlisted in the Gray Panthers gladly. Seeing the men and women were done checking each other, Paulsen figured it was time to give one last brief before they loaded in the shuttles. “OK everyone, the enemy has surrendered. All we should need to do is board their ships and escort them to shuttles to get them off as soon as possible. Don’t get nervous in the service when you see these guys. They are going to be tall and pink, with huge fangs. Be firm but don’t try to bully these boys. The communicators in our suits have their language in the built in translators so you should be able to understand what they have to say and what we say to them. We don’t want to damage their ship any more than they are already, so avoid firing if possible. Do not undo your helmets as they have a different atmosphere than us. No souvenirs, turn in all weapons to intel. There is a possibility they use poison on their blades so use caution, any questions? Good everyone get in your chalks.”

  Butch was looking over the reports of damage from throughout the ship. He was amazed they had managed to avoid any serious damage and only four missing men. They were lost when they were blown out of the ship where the hull had been holed. They were in full suits so he was still holding out hope they would be recovered. Dan blamed himself that the suits did not have any beacons on them for such an occasion. He would fix that soon. Droids working on the exterior of the ship had already completed repairs on all hull breaches and all systems that were damaged had the damaged portions replaced with new parts. Dan could not help but feel proud of his crew for how they had come together and worked as a team in their first battle.

  “Sir, the evacuation of the enemy ships is going well. The enemy captain and his officers are evacuating their people into their shuttles faster than anticipated. Their crew is also performing repairs on their ship while waiting for their turn to get off the ship. Our boarding crews should be along shortly. We have two teams for the larger ship and one for the smaller. Because of the battle damages to the smaller ship, we have not been able to dock any shuttles yet. I have a schematic of their ship and do not believe their excuse. Advise caution when we try to enter that ship.” Dan listened to the report from Nike and looked again at the fact that the damaged ship had been almost totally ignored.

  “Get half of our shuttles in position to fire on that ship ASAP! Send a message to them that they will evacuate now or we will not accept any surrender from their ship. Helm set course for the first target, half impulse speed. Weapons officer, ensure all weapons are on line and targeting the ship. I smell a rat. Hold the boarding party until they start to enter our shuttles. Nike, what do we know about the ships we have here?”

  “Sir, the larger ship is from Libra. It is 400 years old. Its last known owner was a trading company, and it’s a cargo ship. The other ship is a long-range patrol ship. Its design is approximately 200 years old, and it’s from the Libra government; additional information not available. There are information nodes for use when in space dock on the exterior of their ship. A droid could connect to and then begin downloading the ship’s database, same for the cargo ship,” Nike informed her captain.

  “OK, launch shuttles to each ship so we can start downloading their data. See if the droids can manage to shut down the ships also.”

  “Mr. Daniels, we have thousands of customers and about every government on the planet wanting to know where their shuttles are. What should we tell them?” Wolfgang asked nervously.

  “Mr. Bauer, do you know what is going on right now? We are fighting for our planet’s very survival. Those shuttles are a major part of that battle. If we survive we will return the shuttles to our customers. If we lose, it doesn’t matter. However, if you are worried, ask the legal department. The sales contract states we can recall the shuttles at any time at no cost to the customer. That is what we did. I want you to call a news conference and let the world know what’s going on. Let me know when it’s done. Have a nice day Wolfgang.”

  “Captain, the enemy ship’s captain says the shuttles need to have their atmosphere adjusted. He has sent the requirements. It appears the crew of the ship is Jacka, not Libra. I have already sent the update to the shuttles, and updated the requirements for the caverns. They are able to breathe our atmosphere without any problem”

  Major Paulsen began to get an annoying itch in the back of her shoulder as she waited for the shuttle to dock with the crippled patrol ship. Standing in the front of her crew, she would be the first to engage the enemy if needed. Her heart found its way into her throat as the hatch started to cycle open; her heart beating like a machine gun. The first thing she saw as the hatch slowly raised was tall black cavalry boots followed by blue pants. When the door was fully open she was looking at what appeared to be a 7-foot tall lion standing on his hind legs wearing a civil war era union cavalry Colonels uniform; except for the additional set of arms under the top set of arms. Behind him stood another alien dressed as a captain with a Sergeant. All wore belts containing covered holsters and swords.

  The major walked up to the furry colonel then saluted. The Colonel immediately returned the salute in the best parade ground manner.

  “Colonel, I am Major Paulsen, I have been sent onboard to accept your surrender and evacuate your troop to a more safe location.”

  “Thank you Major Paulsen, I am Colonel Blade of the Claw Clan from the planet Glory. Is there a senior officer I may surrender to?” Blade replied not trying to hide his disdain at the mere thought of a female warrior, let alone a female officer.

  “Colonel, you may order your troops to stack arms, and retrieve any personal effects, to take with them. They will not be returning to the ship. Anyone caught boarding the shuttle with a weapon will immediately be spaced, is this understood?” The Major snarled as she stood chest to chest looking up into the Colonels face. Behind her, her troops spread out checking for threats, but not aiming their weapons. The Colonel took it all in and surmised the little female under him was a warrior.

  “Understood Major, I will have my troops turn in all weapons to the armory. Would it be all right for them to retain their short knifes. They are family heirlooms in our culture.”

  “You may deposit all short knives in the armory; we will decide if they will be returned later, based on the conduct of your troops.”

  Upon hearing the major’s reply, the colonel unsnapped his holster. When he saw the weapons now pointed at him, he stated he wished to surrender the weapon, per tradition, to his victor. Paulsen expected to see an old colt and was surprised to see that the weapons instead appeared like a pistol, except for the grips being twice the size and the trigger guard was almost big enough for her entire hand. The remainder of the weapon only seemed to consist of a single fat barrel.

  Flashing back on old movies, the major accepted the offered weapon and formally stated, “Sir, I accept your surrender.” The colonel seemed to slightly deflate at the acceptance of his surrender. “Colonel, if you would do me the honor of maintaining command of your troops until they are evacuated, I would be grateful, but speed is of the essence to get us all off this ship.”

  The colonel simply saluted and began giving orders to the sergeant and captain who both quickly disappeared to comply with their orders.

  “Colonel, I have to ask, why are you dressed like a colonel from my countries civil war 400 years ago?”

  “We visited your planet at the time of your War Between the States, and we were impressed by the incredible warrior spirit on both sides. To honor such courage we created our uniforms to remind ourselves there are other warriors that might be equal to ourselves. My clan wears the Blue of your northern forces, and the other clans wear the same design of your uniforms, but use their clans color to distinguish ourselves from one another. How did the war end?”

  “The North won, and after years of healing the country was finally reunited, but there are those that are still s
ensitive even after 400 years.”

  “So the north did not totally destroy their enemy? That is strange, why leave an enemy to re-attack at a later date?”

  “That is not our way. The two sides are now one. We even went to war as one country barely 34 years later, and many times since then, and that is why we are called the United States of America.”

  “Amazing you have survived so long.”

  “So you think we should kill you instead of taking you prisoner?”

  “Of course not, you will be able to get tribute for our return and the fact that you did that will deter others that would have thought to attack you.”

  “But what is to keep your people from coming to rescue you and continue the attack on us, or the Libras from doing so?”

  “You are too far away for the Libra to put any serious effort into wanting to capture. If the task is easy, they will come time and again to take what they want from your planet. They were after precious metals and slaves on this trip. They are at war and thought your species would make good warriors for them. They hired my clan to provide security and any support they needed for their first raid. The pay included this ship unfortunately. They were not sure what to expect. I doubt they will bother with your planet again. The return is not worth the investment.”

  “But what about your people? Since they are professional soldiers, will they not wish to reclaim their honor after being defeated by our people?”

  “No such thing. We are under the flag of the Libra. This is their defeat, and they have little honor, ha ha ha.”

  “Colonel, are you in command of this ship, or is that someone else?”

  “This ship is not under my control, but under the command of Admiral Cannon of the Fist clan. The Fist clan provided the crew for the ships. The only exceptions are crews for the fighters and long range shuttles. They are manned by the Libra, or I should say that they were manned by the Libra. The kept to themselves on the cargo ship in their own area. They can survive in the same atmosphere settings as us; they prefer not to so they can avoid contact with us.”