by Libby, Seth
“One second, miss, as I need to get you a visitor’s badge.”
Turning, the soldier stepped into the guard hut next to the gate. After about a minute, the soldier returned and handed a small badge to Leah.
“Clip this on your shirt so it is visible at all times. This badge will give you access to all green zones. Do not enter any other zones, as that will set off alarms and you will be quickly arrested or could be shot,” the soldier said seriously.
The soldier then waved another soldier over. Quickly, the second soldier ran over and saluted the soldier manning the gate. Turning back to Leah, he spoke again.
“This is Private Jorkins. He will escort you to Lieutenant Brennan’s old quarters where you can retrieve his effects.”
Leah nodded and then followed Private Jorkins to a nearby Humvee. She sat in the front passenger seat in silence as she wiped away tears.
“Are you okay, miss?” asked Private Jorkins.
Finishing wiping her face, Leah then smiled halfheartedly. Private Jorkins didn’t look old enough to drive, never mind old enough to be in the military.
“Yeah, I will be okay . . . eventually.”
“So you knew Lieutenant Commander Brennan? Were you his wife or girlfriend?” he asked shyly.
“No, we were neither, although now that it is too late, I wish we could have been more,” she said sadly.
“I’m sorry for your loss, ma’am. From what I have heard, he was incredible to watch with the sword. A guy from another squad said he was there when Lieutenant Commander Brennan saved the President’s life. He was in one of the jeeps to arrive just after the Lieutenant Commander killed two of the attackers. The guy I know had been watching through a pair of binoculars, and he said he had never seen anyone move so fast. One second the Lieutenant Commander was using his body as a shield, and the next he crossed the fifteen feet to the attackers, decapitated one, and impaled another with his sword,” Jorkins said enthusiastically.
Leah couldn’t help but smile slightly at the Private’s enthusiasm. “Yes, I saw it. The whole thing was captured by a film crew not too far off and leaked onto the Web. Although it was at a pretty far distance, I still could make out that it was Liam.”
Not seeming to know what to say next, Private Jorkins returned to silence and concentrated fully on driving. Within a minute, they arrived at a large brick building.
“Here we go, ma’am. Do you know the room number and access code?” asked Private Jorkins.
“Yes, I have both . . . are you waiting here or coming with me?”
“I’m to wait here. Take as long as you need,” said Jorkins.
“Thank you.”
Leah exited the Humvee and walked to the front door, where she punched in the access code and entered the building. She found Liam’s old quarters with relative ease but hesitated entering. What would she find? Finally she decided that standing out in the hallway would solve nothing, so she opened the door and entered.
The quarters were rather nice. In fact, they were nicer than her apartment. She walked around, taking in everything. There were very few personal effects about. Picking up an empty box, she set it on the table and then began to walk around again. Slowly, she picked up items, inspected them, and placed them in the box. Finishing the living room and the kitchen, she then went into the bedroom. Slowly, she began to open drawers in the bureau and then close them again when she saw they were empty. Walking over to the closet, she opened it. Inside, except for hangers, it was also empty.
Turning, she looked around the room to see if she missed anything. Noticing a picture frame on the nightstand, she walked over. Picking up the small eight-by-ten frame, her mouth went dry and her stomach knotted at what she saw. A perfectly drawn rendition of Leah occupied the picture frame. Written along the bottom of the drawing were the words: “Leah, I love you.” Leah sat down and clutched the drawing to her chest as she once again felt warm tears running down her face.
As Leah sat there, she thought of Liam. He must have wanted a picture of her, so he had drawn one. It would make sense that he hadn’t brought one with him, although she thought he kept one in his wallet. After Liam had left for deep space, Leah had found out that he and his squadron were different from the rest of the Templar Knights. While all of the Knights had lost their memories to alien enhancement, Liam and his squadron’s memories had returned somehow.
Sighing, she wiped the tears from her eyes and stood. As she started to walk from the room, she noticed something in the closet. The closet wasn’t empty after all: a briefcase sat in the rear corner. Retrieving the briefcase, she set it on the bed. Pushing against the latches, she found it locked. A three digit combination lock was to either side of the two latches.
A thought struck her suddenly, and she turned the picture frame over and opened it to reveal the back of the drawing. Written in the corner were three numbers: 3, 1, 8. Dialing the numbers to match the numbers on the drawing, she once again pushed the latches and the briefcase popped open. Leah smiled to herself; Liam had used her birthday, March 18.
Opening the top of the briefcase revealed a very large amount of cash and a letter. Retrieving the letter, she read it.
Dear Leah,
If you are reading this, then I have died. I am sorry for that. I wanted to make things right between us before I left, but I never got the chance. As I said before, I love you and wish the best for you. In this case is one hundred thousand dollars for you. In addition, once you finish college, you are to receive the contents of a trust fund I have set up for you. The trust totals one million dollars and is for you to start your life. I trust you won’t go crazy with it, but I expect you to do something nice for yourself. Enjoy life and never look back.
I love you,
Liam
Leah once again started to cry as she ran her fingertips down the letter. She lay back on the bed and sighed as she wondered when the pain would finally go away.
December 21, 2012, 11:28 a.m.EDF George Washington, Flagship of the EDF
Fleet Admiral Derek Saunders leaned forward in his command chair and studied the holo-map of the area around Saturn. Keying his comm unit, he addressed all of the Earth forces in and around Earth.
“Attention, all Earth forces, this is Fleet Admiral Saunders. We have multiple Shenkar forces inbound. All forces form up on the George Washington. Remember, we are the last line of defense for Earth. You are now defending your friends, your family, and your home from annihilation. Today, we either live or we die, as there is no second place in this contest.”
Closing the link, he turned in his seat to his tactical officer. “What are we facing? Give me numbers!”
“Latest estimates put the Shenkar forces at four thousand light and heavy fighters, thirty-eight light destroyers, twenty-five medium cruisers, eighteen battlecruisers, and what appears to be a mobile command center. Also, there are another fifty support ships that register as lightly armed personnel transports with an additional one hundred support craft such as gunships, supply ships, mining cruisers, and shuttles,” answered Lieutenant Commander Kresi.
“That thing is the size of fifteen battlecruisers put together,” said Ensign Porter.
“Enough!” commanded Saunders.
The bridge went silent as everyone watched the holographic display of the approaching Shenkar forces. Earth’s forces moved in from all directions, forming a line between the approaching Shenkar forces and Earth.
He knew their chances of winning this battle were very small. They just didn’t have the numbers. Total Earth forces numbered ten battlecruisers, eight heavy cruisers, twelve medium cruisers, ten light cruisers, fifteen destroyers, and roughly thirty-five hundred light and heavy fighters. The only comfort he found was that two hundred of the thirty-five hundred pilots were Templar Knights that had been found and trained--that and the newly constructed orbital defense platforms.
The orbital defense platforms were unmanned points of death in space. They were sixty thousand tons--r
oughly the same tonnage of the United States World War II battleships--and armed with thirty heavy and light energy cannons and twenty-two torpedo tubes. The weapon systems were controlled remotely from the temporary command center at Hanscom Air Force Base until the new base was completed in Texas just northwest of Midland. The multi-national base would be the largest base in the world for the newly established Earth Defense Force. While largely composed of men and women from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, other nations such as Russia, Canada, France, Australia, Israel, and Spain would be contributing manpower and materials as well. Eventually, it would be all the nations of the world working together in the defense of Earth.
If one were to actually sit back and think about it, they would see, in a manner of speaking, that this could be the best way to unify the nations of the world. What better way to make the nations of the world come together than to throw the threat of human extinction at them?
December 21, 2012, 11:28 a.m.Shenkar Command Base, Terran system.
Krailsha stood at the command station as he watched the holographic images of the human fleet forming up between Earth and his closing Shenkar fleet. He had to give the humans credit; they knew how to establish a good defense. They kept their battlecruisers separate from each other but not so far apart that they couldn’t lay down sufficient crossfire to anything that tried to pass between them. Consequently, a quick thrust while the troop transports slipped through was out. Four heavy cruisers were positioned to the right and left flanks to prevent any attempt to overwhelm the center forces and punch through. The heavy cruisers would sweep in and crush them from behind. The humans also had a number of medium and light cruisers in addition to destroyers spread about. As for fighter support, it looked pretty close to even, which wasn’t comforting for Krailsha, as the humans had already proven to be exceptional pilots.
Then there were what looked to be orbital defense platforms. There were two that were nearby and would be within striking distance when he chose to attack. Scans of the platforms revealed a heavy array of weapons. Those would be a problem as well.
By the looks of it, this was going to come down to a straight-out slugfest: throw everything at them and do more damage to them before they did it to his fleet. Krailsha was pretty confident that his fleet would be successful, but his losses would be very high. His thoughts were interrupted as a subordinate hurried up, holding a handheld computer.
“Supreme Commander, the surveys as you requested.”
Taking the computer, he read the screen. “And these are all accurate?” he asked the subordinate.
“Yes, Supreme Commander, the resources present in the asteroid field are plentiful enough to replace all losses we might incur in the upcoming battle.”
Waving the subordinate away, he turned back to the holographic display. As he surveyed the scene before him, he began to change his battle plan. He no longer worried over the losses he would suffer as it seemed they could be easily replaced. This command base could construct a battlecruiser in under three weeks. The soldiers needed to crew the ship could be grown in slightly more time. Even if he lost half his fleet, he would have them replaced within the next six months. Turning to his communications officer, he then spoke.
“Command all mining cruisers to establish a mining outpost. Begin gathering the resources we will need to replenish our forces. Also, ready the incubation centers to begin a new batch of clones. We will need them for the new ships.”
“Are we to send any warships with the mining groups?” asked the operations officer.
Krailsha, slightly annoyed at being questioned, thought this over for a time before answering. The humans should be too occupied with the assault fleet to spare any ships to attack his mining cruisers, but these humans had already proven resourceful.
“Send a cruiser with three squadrons of light fighters to cover them.”
Once the order had been relayed, Krailsha then turned back to the holographic display.
“Order all ships forward. I want to crush them, and I want to crush them NOW!”
“Supreme Commander, we aren’t leaving any forces to cover the command base?” asked the operations officer.
Krailsha swept forward and gripped the operations officer by the throat, lifting him free of his chair. The officer’s fingers tried to pry Krailsha’s fingers free but couldn’t break the viselike grip. “I WILL NOT BE QUESTIONED FROM SUCH A LOWLY SUBORDINATE SUCH AS YOURSELF!”
The sound of popping cartilage and breaking bones cut off the gasping sounds coming from the operations officer. Without a thought, Krailsha tossed the body against the nearest bulkhead, where it made a sickly crunch and slid to the floor.
“Now, do I have a warrior who will do what I ask without question?!”
The seat was immediately filled by the warrior Krailsha had expected. This warrior was ambitious and one to be watched, but if he proved to be not too ambitious, then this warrior could one day be a fleet commander.
Turning back to the holographic display, he saw that his forces had now begun their push forward. Shenkar fighters streaked forward ahead of the fleet to engage the awaiting enemy fighters.
So now it begins, he thought to himself. Now he would crush the humans once and for all.
December 21, 2012, 11:44 a.m.EDF George Washington, Flagship of the EDF
“FIRE!” commanded Fleet Admiral Saunders.
Dozens upon dozens of antimatter torpedoes streaked forward from the Earth forces toward the oncoming Shenkar forces.
Saunders watched as the blips that indicated the torpedoes closed the distance to the enemy fleet. Soon the Shenkar forces’ energy cannons opened up in an attempt to intercept the incoming torpedoes. One by one, blips started to wink out as the torpedoes were successfully intercepted. However, not all were intercepted. Soon, explosions could be seen in the distance through the view port. The holographic image of one of the Shenkar cruisers winked out as did three of the destroyer images. Looking up through the forward view port, Saunders could see four massive explosions off in the distance as the four Shenkar warships exploded. The bridge crew cheered at the sight, and Saunders had to admit he felt some inner satisfaction.
Keying the fleet comm channel, he spoke. “Okay, people, we gave them a taste of what they have come for. Now let’s shove it down their throats and make them choke on it. All fighters, engage those incoming fighters. Blow them out of my sight! Defense Platform Alpha-1, lock all weapons on that big bastard in sector three two. Defense Platform Alpha-2, lock all weapons on the one in sector three five.”
“Sir, enemy torpedoes incoming!” said an excited ensign.
Looking back to the holographic display, Saunders saw dozens of Shenkar torpedoes closing the distance.
“Fire energy cannons!” commanded Saunders.
The faint thump of heavy cannons firing sounded off in the distance as fire control worked to intercept any torpedoes inbound on the George Washington. Saunders gripped the railing in front of him tightly as he watched the incoming threats. Soon energy began to intercept the torpedoes, and they began to wink out.
“Sir, all threats eliminated.”
Saunders let out his breath that he hadn’t even realized he had been holding.
“Lock all weapons on the nearest enemy warship and--”
Before he could finish his orders, he was interrupted as the ship shook and the sound of a massive nearby explosion sounded through the hull.
“ Are we hit? Give me a damage report!” commanded Saunders.
“No, sir, we are clean. Reports coming in saying that was the EDF Jericho. She was hit . . . we lost her, sir,” said a stunned comm officer.
Silence filled the bridge at the news of the loss. Someone could be heard whispering to himself. “My brother was aboard the Jericho.”
Anger boiled up in Saunders as he watched the holographic display of the battle unfolding. Both groups of fighters had fully engaged now and were slugging it out.
She
nkar forces had now closed the distance, and by the looks of it, both forces would be fully engaged soon. Two Shenkar battlecruisers were moving toward the Yamamoto, and the three warships were trading heavy fire. If something wasn’t done soon, they were going to lose the Yamamoto, too.
“Get me the Reagan!” commanded Saunders.
Within a few seconds, the communications officer signaled that he had the link established.
“Admiral Gergi, this is Fleet Admiral Saunders. I want you to take the Reagan and support the Yamamoto. She is taking a beating and won’t survive much longer.”
“On our way, sir!” answered Admiral Gergi.
The holographic display showed the EDF Reagan pulling up and moving to stand with the Yamamoto. At this point, the battle was quickly turning into mixed battles as the warships began to intermix. Destroyers were moving in and about quickly to support the heavy cruisers and battlecruisers. Over the next half hour, Saunders was constantly on the comm net, relaying orders and moving ships about in support of others. While the Earth forces were certainly dealing out severe damage to the Shenkar assault fleet, they were in turn suffering heavy losses. Already they had lost four battlecruisers, one heavy cruiser, two medium cruisers, five light cruisers, and four destroyers. The Shenkar forces had so far lost seven battlecruisers, five cruisers, and twelve destroyers.
“Sir, all Shenkar forces are pulling back.”
Watching the holographic display, Saunders saw that the Shenkar forces were, in fact, pulling back. Some Earth forces moved to follow. Keying the fleet net frequency, he spoke.
“This is Fleet Admiral Saunders. All forces are to pull back to the line. No one is to follow the retreating Shenkar forces, no matter how tempting a target you think you have. I want complete damage reports to me within the next half hour. Saunders out.”
Pulling his headset off, he set it aside and actually sat back down in his command chair. Oddly, the first thing he thought of was how comfortable the chair was. For the first time, he actually looked at the chair. It had a view screen that swiveled over to show the same holographic display he had been watching for the past forty-five minutes. The chair also had a small display that provided a net channel to connect directly to any of the EDF fleet. Well, when the battle resumed, he would definitely be occupying this chair. The question was, when would it begin again?
