by Andrew Beery
“Yorky, reposition two drones between the first two aggressor ships. Designate them d1 and d2 and position them so they are between a1 and a2.”
The Mardarians had seeded their decoy drones near the systems only jump point. The one advantage the universe had handed them was a sure knowledge of where their enemy would come from.
The Yorktown’s fabricators had managed to retrofit each of the shuttles in the decoy fleet with an FTL QUEC network. This network had been tied into the control interface of each shuttle allowing the Yorktown’s powerful AI to control the ships remotely. This was essential because there was a very real chance that few of these ships would survive.
Cat set up two more pairs and then she decided it was time to start the fun.
“Commander Martinescu, be so good as to launch your fighters. Please instruct them to pursue engagements of opportunity… full Cassius Clay mode if you please.”
“Acknowledged Admiral. ‘Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee’ it is,” the CAG acknowledged from the CIC.
“Yorky, its time. Engage the holo-emitters on all active pairings. As new pairs are created bring the decoy systems online.”
“Decoys coming online,” the Yorktown’s AI reported.
***
Senior Fleet Admiral Imera’s flagship, the GCP Dominator came out of its hyper-field jump into a scene of absolute chaos. The carefully crafted battle plan had fallen apart within mere moments of his fleet arriving in theatre. Missiles, plasma beams and railguns were firing indiscriminately at targets that shouldn’t be there. On his screen he could see two identical ships, both with transponder ids that said they were the GCP Levy.
Behind them were two GCP Faragons. The scene was repeated for every ship in the fleet. Suddenly he heard the Dominator’s captain utter an oath the likes of which he had never heard from the man.
Suddenly Admiral Imera saw what had upset the Captain. There off the port bow, perhaps three kilometers away was the GCP Dominator. If the Admiral had not been on the bridge of the real version he would have been convinced the other was indeed the real McCoy.
“Communications Officer, signal the fleet. Send that other ship’s coordinates and inform them that it is to be considered a hostile.”
“Sir!” the communications officer yelled. “The other ship has already sent a similar message concerning us.”
Suddenly an alarm klaxon sounded.
“We are taking fire,” the weapons officer declared.
“I’m hearing the klaxon but I didn’t feel the ship get hit? Confirm we are taking fire?” Admiral Imera barked.
“Confirmed Admiral. We are taking fire but the yields are very low. Something on the order of what a fighter might hit us with.”
“Return fire, full strength, all batteries!” the captain yelled.
As the Dominator’s powerful weapons lashed out Admiral Imera finally thought he understood what Cat Kimbridge was up to. The full force of the Dominator’s weapons seemed to pass through the Dominator’s doppelganger… as he knew they would… to impact on the GCP Levy where they did considerable damage.
***
Honey had taken the lead with Admiral Melbourne in the middle and Harry bringing up the rear. With a little coaxing Harry had been able to convince Sergeant Wachter to divulge the route through the mansion to what the staff called the Dragos Vault – although he could not confirm the presence of Admiral Faragon’s stasis chamber.
The vault had been protected by three feet of hull-metal. There was no way that even Honey could force her way in. Fortunately they didn’t have to. Thanks to Cat Kimbridge they each had access to a full complement of Heshe augmentations. They quickly found the security AI’s control room.
The AI that guarded the vault was no match for Honey’s far more powerful AI. Gaining access to the Dragos computer core was almost trivial and involved dissolving a few door jams and interfacing with the terminals they found within. In short order Honey had complete control of the Dragos security system. She ordered the vault door to open and it did. At the same time she instructed the AI to suppress all alarms and to deny entry into both the mansion and the Dragos Vault without her specific permission.
The Dragos Vault was everything the imagination could muster. Opulence was hardly adequate. The entire facility was dedicated to displaying rare works of art in their absolute best light.
There were crystal displays that sparkled from every direction as carefully placed lighting interacted with the gemstones. Several holographic water scenes created by the immortal Ashkelon artist known only as ‘the Dsana’ graced the entrance to an entire section devoted to aquatic art. The eye could not begin to take in the fullness of what was on display around them.
Sherry had never met the Pirate King, Sharn Dragos but she was sure that despite his many faults he was a man of immense depth. Anyone who could oversee the creation of such a wondrous witness to the Creator’s ability to inspire creativity was a person worth respecting.
Harry and his wife were equally enthralled. It almost seemed a crime that they would not be able to spend the days necessary to fully appreciate the beauty of all they were seeing. Nevertheless, they had a mission.
“The AI says the stasis chamber is on display in the main collection,” Honey said as they moved through the interconnected exhibition rooms.
“This isn’t the main collection?” Harry gasped in amazement.
Honey shook her head. “There is a turbo lift one room over. It can take us down into the main collection.”
The turbo lift had glass sides that allowed the occupants an unencumbered view of the chamber they were descending into. Sherry whistled in amazement. The chamber they were descending into was fully half as large as the entire dome above them. Shipboard sensors had given no clue whatsoever that this chamber even existed, much less that it was as big as it was.
“There appears to be a pond in the middle of all this,” Honey said. “The Admiral is dead smack in the middle of it.”
“Poor choice of words dear,” Harry said as the turbo lift doors finally opened.
Sherry looked concerned. “The stasis chamber is in the water?”
Honey looked at her friend and commanding officer with an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry Admiral, I should have mentioned that his stasis chamber is located on a platform in the middle of the pond. In addition, the water is apparently only about three inches deep. It’s more of a reflection pond or a large bird bath than anything else.”
Harry started to laugh.
Sherry and Honey looked at each other dumbfounded. They had no idea what he found funny. Seeing their confused looks he paused with great difficulty to explain.
“Bud Faragon is an ornament in a giant bird bath… surely I’m not the only one that finds that funny.”
“Hilarious,” Sherry said dryly. “Honey can the computer drain the water?”
“Done,” she answered after a brief pause.
“Come along Mister Giggles. Let’s go rescue our bird bath ornament.”
The walk to the pond took only a few minutes. The main collection was a series of discrete partitions within the chamber that housed specific classes of artifacts. Some items were rare sculptures, some rare plants or exotic animals, some one-of-a-kind machines. In every case the item in question was preserved in a glass enclosure and protected by a stasis field.
When they reached the pond they paused to read a small bronze plaque.
Here lies Fleet Admiral ‘Bud’ Faragon. In life he was a hero. In death he condemned an empire.
“How very strange,” Sherry said.
“Agreed,” Harry echoed. “I have a feeling this Sharn Dragos is an interesting character.”
Honey walked over to the stasis chamber and signaled the vaults security AI to release the clamps holding the vertical chamber in place. Although it weighed something north of six hundred kilograms she had no trouble laying it flat by the time Harry and Admiral Melbourne approached.
&nbs
p; Sherry reached forward without preamble and keyed in the access code that only she knew. The stasis chamber shutdown. As a result the glass door protecting her friend slid into a recessed space in the unit. Air touched the dead Admiral’s face for the first time in decades.
“Hello old friend,” Sherry said softly as she reached in to touch his face. “Be well Blessed of the Creator.” A drop of liquid metal seemed to flow from her fingers into her friend.
At first nothing happened. Sherry was beginning to wonder if everything they had just gone through had been for naught. When she had just about given up hope; she said a silent prayer. Unbeknownst to her, Harry and Honey were also praying. Moments later Admiral Bud Faragon blinked and sat up. The confused and startled look on his face said all it needed to. The ghost of Bud Faragon was no more. The man Bud Faragon lived again… and the Galactic Coalition of Planets would never be the same.
Chapter 19: Faraway Friends…
The battle for Mardarus was not going well for either side. Senior Fleet Admiral Imera knew he would be spending quite a bit of his time over the next several months explaining to the Grand Senate how a single starship and a rag-tag group of farmers and pirates could do so much damage to his fleet. The fact that Admiral Kimbridge had managed to engineer a scenario wherein his fleet essentially decimated itself with friendly fire was doubly galling.
The real surprise had come when a couple of the decoys, which up to this point had been somewhat toothless, opened fire with powerful plasma beams that were every bit as powerful as what the Dominator could fire. They had taken out two of his damaged ships. Apparently these were suicide weapons because once they were fired, the holographic projection that surrounded the decoy would collapse and the decoy would be effectively dead.
Imera was thankful that Kimbridge had only managed to deploy two of these. Still the threat of what might happen had slowed them down again as he was forced to order a more careful advance against the decoy ships.
In the end though, the numbers were just not there for Admiral Kimbridge. Her defense of this system, while misguided, was brilliant. The GCP Dominator and the ragged remains of his force made their way towards Mardarus III. The only thing between them and the planet was the GCP Yorktown and a few dozen remaining Scorpion-class attack fighters.
***
Cat crossed her legs and sat back in the Yorktown’s command chair. One way or another the battle for Mardarus was coming to a head.
“Ziggy, any word on our friend?”
Lieutenant Zimmerman looked up, “101 reports he is twenty three minutes from the jump point. Once in system he can travel no faster than 0.8c. He calculates he can be in position in thirty two minutes.”
Ken walked over to his command chair which was currently occupied.
“You’re looking comfortable Admiral. I trust you intend at some point to give that chair back?”
Cat winked at him. “The admiralty giveth and the admiralty taketh away.” Her smile said she was kidding. “We have about thirty minutes until this is all over… one way or another.”
Ken nodded. “Up to this point we’ve inflicted significant damage but not taken a lot of lives. That may all change here in the next few minutes. What we do here cannot be undone.”
Cat uncrossed her legs and leaned forward in the chair to whisper softly for his ears only. “I’m afraid we crossed that line several days ago. The Grand Senate has become a cancer that is destroying all the good that the Galactic Coalition was and could be. We cannot allow them to win here. We cannot allow them to win anywhere. The cost to our souls would be too high.”
Ken stood tall and proud. “In that case I’m going to order the CAG to deploy all wings and prepare to engage the enemy.”
Cat nodded.
“Ziggy, ship-wide please.”
“Aye Admiral, channel open.”
“Attention crew of the GCP Yorktown. This is Admiral Kimbridge. In a few moments we will do the unthinkable. This vessel will engage in direct combat with sister ships of the fleet. We will draw blood and lives will be lost. This is not a battle we choose but it is a battle we must win. The very fate and future of the Galactic Coalition of Planets depends on us winning this battle. If freedom is to have any value, it must upon occasion be paid for with the blood of patriots. I know you will do your duty. May God keep you safe and may God grant us victory this day. May history never forget the ship they called the Yorktown. That is all, Kimbridge out.”
Cat looked at Ken and nodded. It was time.
He nodded back.
“Helm, prepare to intercept the enemy. Engineering, bring power systems up to one hundred and ten percent. Weapons Officer, load all tubes, charge all batteries, and rotate the shields. CAG, put everything we have in the air.”
Cat listened to the Yorktown’s captain bark out orders. She recalled the first time she had seen him years ago when she and he were both assigned to the Bowman. He had been dressed in a red monk’s habit, having just officiated a wedding in his capacity as a chaplain. She had been surprised to learn he was also a fine engineer. Never in three point five billion years did she ever expect to see him here… giving the orders he just gave and was about to give. And yet she was proud of the man she called friend. Come what may in the next few minutes… the Yorktown had a good Captain and a good crew.
“Here they come!” Commander Ben yelled from his First Officers station.
Cat got out of the command chair and signaled for Ken to take it. If per chance this was to be the last battle of the GCP Yorktown, she deserved to have her captain in his chair.
“Helm,” Ken barked. “Bring us about. Course one-niner-three. Z-plus forty. Weapons fire all railguns, scatter spread. Take out their fighters. Comms… signal our men on the Liberator. Now would be a good time for some creative interference.”
“Sir,” the sensor officer interrupted. “I’ve got over one hundred ships launching from the planet’s surface.”
“What in the world…” Ken began. “Ziggy open a channel. Get me whoever is in charge of that mess.”
A moment later Ziggy made the connection and a familiar image appeared on the view screen.
“Captain McCarthy, what the heck are you doing? Are any of those ships even armed?” Ken asked as the older man’s image on the screen.
“They ain’t armed, but they can sure ram somebody.”
“Captain,” Ken said resolutely. “I can’t allow your pilots to do this.”
“Sonny, we ain’t asking… we’re telling. Every bullet they fire at us is one they don’t fire at you.”
“It’s suicide!” Ken yelled.
“If you don’t make it… we’re dead anyway. At least this way ya have a better chance. Hell son, yer risking your life for us. The least we can do is return the favor.”
Ken nodded in defeat. He toggled his comm link.
“CAG, this is the Captain. In a few moments you are going to have some company from the planet below. Provide what cover you can. Kirkland out.”
“Chief Wrobleski, fire everything you’ve got and keep firing until you either run out of ammo or you melt the gun.”
The battle that raged for the next several minutes was, by any measure, intense. The GCP Yorktown was outnumbered six to one. She gave at least as good as she got. Her railguns took out the Lincoln and the Onida. Her plasma beams even managed to damage the Dominator.
Try as she might, however, she could not avoid taking a beating. The Heshe technology built into the Yorktown allowed her to recover from blows that would have permanently crippled another ship but the real cost was time. They were running out of it.
Slowly, inexorably, the Yorktown was forced to give up ground. Smoke filled the bridge as the ventilation systems struggle to deal with the host of small fires from shorted out panels. At a certain point the taskforce being led by the GCP Dominator slipped past the Yorktown as she struggled to bring her drives back online.
Cat, for her part, was working frantically with Ben and
Ziggy, the communications officer.
Ken brushed the sweat from his brow.
“Helm, give me whatever you’ve got. Get me between that task force and the planet.”
“The helm is dead sir”
Ken slammed his first into his chairs comm link. “Engineering. I’m dead stick up here. Give me something… anything. This ship has got to move!”
“Captain, this is Thais. The control nodes to the bridge have been shattered. The nanites can fix them but it will take a few minutes.”
“The planet doesn’t have minutes.”
“If you can, have the helm call in the coordinates, I can have one of my engineers manually enter them into the drive computer. It won’t be pretty and it won’t be responsive but it will get us moving.”
Within moments the Yorktown began to inch forward. Unfortunately it was painfully obvious to everyone on the bridge that it was too late. The GCP Dominator was entering orbit around the planet. Immediately the big ship started launching high speed kinetic energy weapons at the planet’s surface.
Ken’s heart sank. Cat moved down to his chair and placed a hand on his arm. At the same time something very strange happened. A massive brick-shaped ship shimmered into existence. It was easily a thousand times the combined mass of the entire GCP fleet that had invaded the system. A loud voice filled the bridge of the Yorktown and every other ship present.
“Greetings Blessed of the Creator!”
Epilog…
WhimPy-101 orbited its new home, Mardarus III. His arrival several days ago had spelled the end to a very violent battle in the system. He was enjoying his new assignment. He was after all a Heshe defense platform. Once he shielded the planet he issued stern instructions to the aggressors that they should leave and seriously consider the wisdom of ever returning.
In one of his secondary service bays the GCP Yorktown was being repaired and retrofitted with some new technology that the Heshe had decided was now appropriate for Cat Kimbridge to have access to. He enjoyed working with Cat Kimbridge. It was good to have powerful friends… even if they didn’t know how powerful they were.
