The Commander

by Kevin Groh

  »And how should we keep the fighters away from the hangar?«, Nambur wanted to know.

  Carter had an idea. He flew to the outer edge of the battle zone and asked Jenny: »Who’s in command of the fighter squadrons here?«

  »Commander Rokos. He’s aboard the homebase, but due to the boarding attempts, the signal is compromised. The pilots fly as they see fit.«

  Carter put on the open military channel and addressed the word to all pilots.

  »This is Commander Sanders speaking. Due to the interruption of our communication with the homebase I was given the command. We have a plan to eliminate the enemy, but a small area of the battlefield must be free of fighters. I will send you the coordinates of the affected area. Keep the enemy busy and keep the bombers away from the homebase. Abort all fire on the enemy battleship, it won’t do any good. Focus on destroying the fighters and lure them away.«

  One by one, the squadron leaders confirmed the order and began new maneuvers.

  Rod laughed loudly: »What was that? ›Commander Sanders‹? They’ll throw you in jail for that.«

  »Banes is going to rip our asses open anyway, it doesn’t make any difference now.«, he returned without any worries.

  »All right, ›Commander‹. Are we going to fly to the enemy’s hangar now?«

  Carter confirmed that and they carefully approached the battleship. The closer they came, the bigger the colossus seemed to be.

  »Jenny, can you block the enemy’s scanners?«, Leena asked.

  »I’ve been hacking into their system since the beginning of the conflict using the homebase’s signal amplifiers. I just got access. When I block their scanners, they notice my intrusion and will take countermeasures. I suggest deceiving their scanners instead by hiding you from them. They will be able to see the rest of the ships correctly, so it won’t arouse suspicion.«

  That seemed like a good plan and Jenny executed it. Now they could approach the battleship safely. But as soon as they were inside, this would change.

  The closer they got to the hangar, the more nervous they became. Leena had several ideas and Carter could improvise well, but it was very likely that they flew to their deaths. They passed the shields and he was impressed. He would remember that trick. The hangar was almost empty as all the ships were out. Only a few Lorgan workers carried barrels around. As soon as they saw them, they dropped everything and hurried to sound the alarm, but the fighters had modern targeting systems and they pulverized everyone in the hall before anyone could activate a switch. There were no control rooms anywhere that anyone could hide in. So their intrusion was successful. They landed and transferred the connection to Jenny to their bracelets, but no signal arrived inside the ship.

  »Fuck! If we want Jenny’s help, we have to find the signal blocker and destroy it. What’s the plan anyway?«, Kelly asked.

  Carter rushed to a closet with weapons in it. The design was a little more massive than the military assault rifles, but the principle was the same. He grabbed some extra cooling magazines and one of the rifles.

  »Take weapons so that we can defend ourselves when they spot us. I have no idea what we have to do to destroy a ship. So I say we take care of the signal first.«, Carter decided.

  He found armor pieces on the Lorgans and strapped several of them to the pilot’s suit. Arms, legs, and chest were better protected this way. He connected his multitool with a communication node of the ship and downloaded the plans. A hologram appeared above his forearm and the others looked enthusiastic. The signal was blocked from the bridge, but the actual device that prevented the transmissions was not far from the hangar.

  »That should be possible.«, Jimbo said.

  »Depends on how much resistance there is.«, Rod remarked and took a closer look at his rifle. He discovered a small lever that extended a short but stable bayonet.

  The holographic display enabled Carter to use the HUD in his eyes to calculate a route to the destination and to permanently highlight the correct route as with a navigation system. In order to make them not only dependent on him, but he also transferred it to Leena’s Multitool.

  After they had all got armed and roughly stocked up with armor pieces, they made their way into a long corridor in a row. The interior of the ship was illuminated with bright yellow light strips in the floor and ceiling, creating a somewhat gloomy atmosphere. Whenever Rod, who walked ahead, came to an adjacent corridor, he gave hand signals and waited. Then, after spotting around the corner, they rushed to the other side and moved on. A Lorgan and a Gumai approached their position from the right and they spoke in their strangely throaty language. Rod was worried, but Carter nodded encouragingly. When the two were close enough, they jumped out and he first punched the Gumai in the face with full force. His increased strength broke part of his skull and when Carter grabbed him by the neck and smashed his head against the wall, it finished him off. Rod rammed his bayonet into the Lorgan’s throat. So both were quietly eliminated. They threw the bodies into a nearby garbage shaft and moved on.

  The communication room with the signal interference was in front of them, but about ten enemies were lurking around. Seven Gumai and three Lorgans, which seemed heavily busy. One wrong step and the whole ship would be alarmed. They couldn’t stay in the hallway forever before someone noticed them.

  »Since they all look in different directions, there’s no silent option here.«, Urma whispered.

  »We only have one chance here. We’ve got to aim precisely, then we can kill seven of them at once. We have to kill the remaining three quickly with a determined attack afterward.«, it came from Rod.

  »Then it would probably be best to shoot the Gumai immediately. They can sound the alarm faster.«, Nambur suggested.

  Since nobody had objections, they distributed themselves somewhat and targeted the Gumai. They didn’t see them because they were squatting behind a waist-high railing construction while pointing at them. At Carter’s signal, they all fired simultaneously and six technicians dropped dead. One had missed his target. The three Lorgans and the last Gumai swirled around in fright and confusion, then they got angry. Before one of them came to one of the two alarm switches in the room, they already fired at them and forced them into cover. Carter knew that only he and Rod had the physical strength to kill a Lorgan in close combat, but since they used their own rifles against them, the firepower was sufficient. Two of them were hit quickly, the third one got three steps away from the alarm before sinking to the ground. The lizards, however, returned the fire before their death and hit Jimbo in the arm. Fortunately, it was just a scrap, but it affected his accuracy. The Gumai almost had his hand at the emergency switch when he was knocked down by Nambur and killed with a knife.

  Carter said: »Very well done. Now destroy the jamming device.«, then he looked at Jimbo’s injury.

  »Yes, ›Commander‹!«, Rod joked and fired a salvo at the device, whereupon it broke down.

  A short beep was heard and then a holographic representation of Jenny’s head appeared above Carter’s multitool. Her appearance had apparently been modeled after a famous actress. A slender, attractive face with a long ponytail.

  »Connection established. Nice to be back, Carter. I’ve analyzed the situation. I suggest you paralyze the alarm system so as not to lose the element of surprise if you are discovered by enemy agents. To do this, you must hack into the console next to the entrance, which is separated from the rest of the ship’s network.«

  Jimbo was able to crack the terminal with Jenny’s help and finally turn off the alarm.

  Carter asked the VI: »All right, how can we destroy the ship?«

  Jenny called up the holographic plan of the battleship and marked three locations. One of them was the stern, the other was in the center and the last point was further forward.

  »To destabilize the ship from the inside out, the propulsion core must overheat. For this to happen, you must destroy the emergency power supply in the front generator room. The engine must then b
e put into maintenance mode and turned to full power, overriding the back coupling protection. Finally, the cooling system must be shut down by cutting off the main power supply.«

  »Let’s say we can do all this, how much time is left to get away?«, Urma asked.

  »According to my calculations, ten minutes after the cooling is switched off, the engine core will go into a critical state and explode. The explosion will affect a radius of fifteen miles.«, Jenny explained.

  »Oh, crap.«, Kelly said.

  »There are three parts of the ship that we must reach before the Lorgans can take countermeasures. That means we have to go as unnoticed as possible. That’s only possible if we split into at least two teams, otherwise, it takes too long.«, Jimbo commented.

  »In this case, Leena will lead the team to the engine core and Rod accompanies her. In every team, there has to be someone with more strength and a HUD. It’s best if you take Urma and Nambur with you. I go with Jimbo and Kelly to the reserve generator. When both are done, we meet in the engine room in the middle. It’s close to the hangar and we can leave quickly.«, Carter decided.

  »Why can’t I go to the emergency generator?«, Rod asked.

  »Don’t forget who‹ s the commander here.«, he reacted dryly.

  They split up and Carter went off with Jimbo and Kelly. Jenny and the HUD helped them greatly to stay undiscovered. Because the VI had hacked the systems, they could use the surveillance systems to warn them of patrols and enemies. She also triggered technical alarms and redirected crew members to avoid encountering the team. They sneaked around the big ship and the road was long and dangerous. When a Gumai came across the passage, Kelly grabbed him from behind and broke his neck. But she looked horrified. Then Carter realized that this was the first day they had both ended a life. The simulations had been so real that he felt he had killed several times before, but today a real creature was dead because of him. He put the thought aside for the time being because his own life depended on him remaining attentive.

  »How are things with you?«, he asked Leena.

  After a short murmur, she replied: »The way to the engine core was not as far as we had feared. We used a freight elevator. We see the control panel, but there are several mechanics on the way. We’ll never get there unnoticed.«

  »I’m afraid they’ll notice the maintenance mode is activated anyway. You’ll have to kill them all. Once the engine is set, you’ll have to encrypt the console.«, Carter advised.

  »We’ll figure it out somehow. How are things with you?«, it came from Nambur.

  »It’s still quiet. Our target is in the next room and because there isn’t much more than the emergency generator, there’s hardly any crew.«, Carter said.

  But he was wrong. The destruction of the signal interference had aroused the crew’s suspicion. Jenny had made sure that no investigation was initiated and had pretended to them that the power had failed. So technicians were at the emergency generator to see why it hadn’t started. That was an unfortunate complication, but nothing could be done about it now.

  The Gumai in the room talked to each other and the translation system in their helmets translated it into their language.

  »I have now checked the main generator three times from back to front. Everything is fine there. We should have a look at the feed lines, the control units, and the regulators. Hopefully, it’s them, otherwise there is a broken line somewhere and we may go looking.«, one of the technicians grumbled.

  Since the mentioned components were in the same room as the generator, they somehow had to go unnoticed while sabotaging it. Jimbo and Kelly waited in a small maintenance room because the three of them would only cause unnecessary noise. Carter sneaked into the generator room in the shade and squatted down to wait for a good moment. When one of the technicians looked away, he grabbed a sharp-edged tool from his toolbox. He waited a few minutes, but the Gumai didn’t seem to hurry and wiggled their tails relaxed as they worked on various systems.

  »We don’t have time for this shit!«, he cursed quietly. »Jenny, can you distract them somehow?«, he asked.

  About five seconds later it hissed continuously from a ventilation shaft on the other side of the room. Since the chameleon-like Gumai were scared, they all became briefly invisible, so that only their work clothes could be seen. Carter took advantage of this moment to pry open a cover on the back of the generator. There were several wired connections and a large control board. His HUD illuminated the line that would power the engine. Carter gave Jenny a signal and she caused another loud noise from another ventilation as he disconnected the wire and loosely tugged it between the others to make it look like everything was as usual from the outside. Another hiss and he ripped out the circuit board for safety’s sake and broke it, whereupon he put the individual parts back. He put the cover back on and put the tool on the floor around the corner, whereupon he scurried out of the room under the protection of the last sound. Before he walked away with Jimbo and Kelly, he heard a technician murmuring that he had probably dropped his tool.

  The moment the three returned to the hallway, they ran into a group of five Lorgans. They had no official order to go down there, so Jenny hadn’t been able to warn them.

  Kelly let her eyes wander upwards and just said: »Oh crap.«

  Since Carter couldn’t pull his rifle that fast, he ripped Jimbo’s gun out of his hands and shot the first opponent through the head from below. The rest of the lizards roared and one punched him so hard that he flew five feet. The other two had jumped behind cover. Jimbo didn’t have a gun, so Kelly had to defend him. She shot around fiercely so the enemy couldn’t aim at her in peace. She even caught one of them by the leg, whereupon he limped off screaming. Carter got back on his feet and saw one of the Lorgans with his head down storming towards him. He now ran in the direction of the greenish lizard man. In the last moment before the collision, he threw himself aside and fired in the air at the attacker’s back. A normal weapon wouldn’t have helped, but it was a Lorgan rifle that pierced him and knocked him to the ground.

  Then Carter tossed the second gun at Jimbo so that he and Kelly put the other two enemies in the crossfire. One of them knocked her down and Jimbo jumped on his back. Meanwhile, Carter ran towards his last opponent, avoiding a few shots with his enhanced reflexes. He also fired, but while running he missed and had to dodge a punch as soon as he was close enough. He heard Jimbo screaming as his mount shook him to throw him off. It was time to apply Jazzir’s lessons. He knew the weak points of the Lorgans and got involved in a duel. Despite the size of the opponent, he was able to hold his own due to his upgrades and deliver some good blows. Carter took three body hits, each throwing him back a bit, but his opponent was also crushed against the sidewall. Kelly regained consciousness and killed the enemy who had just thrown Jimbo off. This distraction was enough for the fistfight to turn out in their favor as well. Carter had picked up the opponent’s weapon and beheaded him with his own ax blade.

  »Fuck! What the hell Carter?«, Kelly freaked out as the head flew against her chest plate.

  They saw the bodies they had left behind. A few moments later, the Gumai technicians came around the corner and fired at them. A real shower of bullets struck the recruits.

  »That’s too many! We have to get out of here!«, Jimbo shouted through the noise.

  Jenny calculated the fastest escape route and Carter led them around several corners, through smaller corridors and further on. They were followed by the Gumai, who were shooting closely behind them. Kelly was hit in the shoulder, but at that moment she barely felt it. They saw an elevator in front of them, allowing them to drive to safety. Jimbo reached it first and covered them as best he could. He pushed the button and the other two slid through the closing doors at the last moment.

  Then they just gasped for a few heartbeats and realized how lucky they were to be alive. The elevator headed to the hangar, but there was also a stop near the power supply where they had to get off.


  Kelly groaned as the pain surged in her shoulder. Jimbo examined the wound as Carter searched himself. The armor pieces were scorched in several places and his helmet had a hole. It was pure coincidence that the hit hadn’t gone all the way through. He already felt some bruises, but that mustn’t stop them. The shoulder wound was a full penetration and since energy projectiles immediately sealed every wound with heat, she would not bleed to death. She had to endure it because they had no medical equipment.

  Rod reported shortly afterward that they had finished up with the engine core. Nambur had got a shot in the leg, but even though he was limping now, he could still fight. They had survived a small firefight and killed about ten Lorgans to get to the controls. Apparently, Rod had attacked the guys like a berserk and had distracted them so much that they could hack several maintenance drones. They had given them the time they needed. Leena had protected the control from intervention with an advanced encryption program after the start of the maintenance protocol. Unfortunately, the crew at the drives was too big, so they were chased through the corridors. This meant that Carter’s team also had to hurry. They ran from the elevator to the central engine room. Secrecy would not have been possible there anyway.

  Just before they reached the destination, Carter noticed a small open room. Due to a premonition he looked inside and found a pleasant surprise. Some heavy weapons were lying around on a workbench. The design was unknown to him, but he had his HUD. He grabbed a grenade launcher and attached it to his back. Then he grabbed a rocket launcher and ordered the other two to take one gun each. Kelly took the flamethrower with her and Jimbo grabbed another grenade launcher. They rushed to the engine room and already heard the roar and rifle fire. Rod had apparently not waited for long. They entered the room ducked and took cover behind a railing. They were on an elevated path that led past the many control consoles more quickly. Below them, several Lorgans and Gumai with pistols and rifles were standing, firing wildly at Rod and the others. From the passage behind them, they were also attacked and encircled. Carter saw a dead Lorgan lying next to him, carrying some grenades on his belt. He sneaked over and grabbed them. Then he dived down ducked on the climb above the opponents and said into his microphone: