The Garoden War. (SpaceFed StarShips Series) Book 7. An exciting, action-packed SpaceFed Series finale that also concludes the Garoden War.: ‘Military Gamble.’

by Gerry A. Saunders

  Then, he shot a glance at his secondary display’s magnified view. And saw the tell-tale buildup of energy at the back of the Crillon ship. And suddenly remembered the Time-Shift event, when Andromeda was destroyed and knew he’d seen this ‘bird-like’ crest, then.

  Just then Andromeda’s systems confirmed that Charlotte’s ship was about to fire its Antimatter weapon.

  “Jump, Andromeda,” Frank yelled.

  However, Andromeda’s jump ring had already extended, and the hyperspace linking wormhole flashed into being. Its swirling milky mouth beckoning the ship in.

  Frank prayed for more time, as Andromeda surged forward. Then saw the familiar elongation of his surroundings, followed by the usual stomach yanking sensation that made him feel as if his stomach had been left behind.

  Frank sighed with relief, knowing that he had outwitted Charlotte. And, that the Andromeda was now safely traveling through the wormhole.

  He was convinced in his own mind, that Charlotte would not dare take the risk in chasing after him as she must surely realize he would be heading for the battle zone.

  Charlotte, feeling rather unladylike, cursed at Frank’s escape. But decided that it was too risky to attempt to intercept him. No, she must leave now before Delta’s time overlay points could track her.

  Charlotte smiled as her Crillon ship, with the ‘bird-like’ crest on its bow, jumped for her secret location. She was pleased that Andromeda had confirmed that she was pregnant with twins, one female, and one boy.

  Everything had gone to plan. The two children born to her and Frank would possess both parent's mental powers. And, with the micro-miniature ‘BEC’ Cryopreservation injections being able to boost their mental powers, then the children would be invincible.

  Yes, one day, she thought. They would rule the Galaxy.

  Chapter 38

  The Wreckage of War

  Excellency Plank, son of Lord Dankel, was appalled at seeing Excellency Vectra’s flagship blow apart.

  Then, to see his own father’s Battleship jump to safety, even though there didn’t seem to be the significant number of Alien ships they had expected, was disastrous.

  Plank was sure that Lord Dankel’s action would cause the Garoden Senate to put a coward’s mark against the whole of their dynasty.

  A short time later, Plank remembered that the Alien ship, which he now believed had somehow killed off their Companion brains, was still sitting there doing nothing.

  “Destroy that ship,” Plank ordered, yelling out loud at his weapon’s officer.

  Then, after some confusion, as his crew scrambled to comply with his order without their companions help, they manually fired the weapons. Seconds later, the lone alien ship was reduced to a smoldering lump of metal.

  At the start of the engagement, before the battle ground was infested by the increasing numbers of alien ships now exiting warp. Plank had been convinced that his ships could have easily overcome the few alien ships that had been there previously, and, his fleet certainly would have been victorious.

  However, without the aid of their companions, the situation had suddenly reversed. And, even though Plank’s own crew had now managed to complete one operational simulation without the help of their Companion Brains. The excruciating pain caused by the death of their companions had sent a call throughout his fleet’s personnel, for him to abort the mission and return to Garoden.

  By now, Plank’s main tactical screen showed three distinct groups of alien ships operating well apart from each other. But, his ship wasn’t under attack, right now. And, thankfully, his crews were starting to use their own brains to learn and operate the ship’s primary functions.

  So, Plank now thought that there was a chance they could regain the Garoden’s dominance over these creatures.

  He was convinced in his own mind, that the golden colored ships were the only ones with the mental ability to manipulate his crews. Therefore, he needed to take the fight to the other alien ships, and not risk being mentally manipulated.

  Yes, that must be the way forward, he decided.

  Comms Officer. Ensign Palvric interrupted Plank’s thoughts.

  “Excellency, Garoden Command has been attempting to re-establish contact with Lord Dankel… Apparently, without success,” the Ensign told Plank.

  “And, now Lord Converic, the supreme head of the Garoden Navy, is demanding to speak with you,” Palvric then added.

  “My chair, now,” Plank ordered.

  After a few seconds, the transmission stabilized, and a holographic image of Lord Converic’s head hovered above Plank’s console.

  “Plank… Where’s Dankel?”

  “He has trouble with his ship, my Lord.”

  “You were never good at lying, Plank,” Converic snapped. “Where is he?”

  Plank used the time delay between each of their transmissions to think up plausible answers.

  “On his way, back to Garoden with an erratic warp core Exciter, so I believe.”

  “H’mm… It seems that we’ve been attacked by a single alien ship,” Converic stated, having given up on trying to get the truth out of Plank.

  “And now, all your companion brains are defunct. Yes?” Plank couldn’t help asking.

  “So, it would seem, Plank.”

  But Plank didn’t see any sign of panic in the Commander in-chief’s expression. “Are you still in danger, sir?” Plank asked Converic.

  “No Plank… Whatever it was, has gone now… And, to be honest, we’ve been reliant on our Companion brains far too long for our own good.”

  “My sentiments exactly. Did you know that Excellency Vectra’s flagship has been destroyed?” Plank asked.

  “No,” Converic exclaimed, and Plank could see Converic’s face sadden at hearing the news.

  “My Lord, even if there’s no immediate danger to Garoden itself, we’re up to our neck in alien ships, now. And, with us not being able to use our Companion’s. Well, this puts us in danger of being wiped out if our crews cannot manually respond quickly enough.”

  “Very well. If you find yourselves in a no-win situation, Plank, save as many of our ships as you can,” Converic ordered. “Understood?” Converic then asked, his voice sounding hard.

  “Yes, my Lord,” Plank said, then indicated to Ensign Palvric to kill the link.

  “Lieutenant Isko, Isolate Vectra’s ships from ours and overlay….” Plank started to say… when Plank’s Star Destroyer shook violently from the shock waves as two nuclear explosions hit his vessel’s protective screen.

  The Jefferson had completed her maneuver, then released two nukes that exploded close to the periphery of the Garoden warship’s protective shield.

  “Their shield has dropped twenty percent at the blast area,” Lieutenant Farrow warned.

  Then, as the Garoden ship tried to stabilize its sideways push, Jefferson’s forward particle beam cannons opened up on the now weakened area of its shield.

  The Argonaut, had by now joined the Jefferson, and once she was within firing range of the Garoden ship, Captain Serrell ordered weapons to join in the attack.

  Plank’s head was pounding from the violent movement of his ship under attack.

  “Shield failing,” Lieutenant Isko yelled at Plank.

  “They’re attacking our missile launch bay,” his weapons officer called out.

  “AI’s down,” Captain Tisk said, disbelief sounding in his voice.

  Plank knew that Captain Tisk was trying to recover the situation. But, looking at his main tactical screen, he could see that even within the last few minutes, all the alien ships were making rapid inroads in ripping his two Garoden fleets apart.

  Plank felt sick as he noted that his weapons officer, Ecoric, was having trouble operating the weapons system without his companion brain. And, knew the same must be applying to the rest of his crew.

  The green markers on Plank’s tactical display, also showed that his ships were moving erratically. That could only mean that all other shi
p captains and crews, not familiar with operating without their Companion brains, were now at a significant disadvantage, and unable to conduct this war in a way that would ensure victory.

  Then Plank, heard someone panicking about the hull’s temperature, and about screen emitters starting to blow. No, Plank thought, this isn’t going well at all.

  “Excellency,” Captain Tisk said, jolting Plank from his thoughts.

  “The Blue Globe ships are attacking some of our other ships. They must have found a way to circumvent our shields. We must jump now before we all die.”

  So, a failure, Plank thought to himself, as he touched the display area on his screen where the blue spheres were operating. Then zoomed in on a Sphere ship as it was in the process of passing straight through one of his ships.

  He was surprised that there hadn’t been an explosion. This must mean, that the Solveron world hadn’t been destroyed after all. And, that they must have, not only perfected their disruptor weapon. But somehow, now knew exactly where to hit his Garoden ships, to sever them.

  Captain Tisk was starting to panic as warnings flashed everywhere.

  “Excellency,” Tisk called.

  “Yes: Yes, Tisk, give the destination jump coordinates to our ships, and Jump,” he ordered.

  “What coordinates?”

  Plank, annoyed with himself for not passing the information on, quickly opened a folder on his tactical display, then sent the coordinates directly to Tisk, and all the Garoden ships now under his command.

  “Jump there,” he irritably snapped at Tisk.

  “Quick. Back off,” Lieutenant Farrow, Jefferson’s science officer yelled as the Garoden Star Destroyer ship warped space to Jump.

  The Jefferson’s Skipper drive groaned as it pulled the massive battleship ship clear of the warp field.

  “Argonaut. Tag that ship,” Winton yelled as the Garoden ship’s wormhole formed, and she slid forward safely into the wormhole’s opening mouth.

  Both Argonaut and the Jefferson continued with their weapon’s fire until the Garoden ship, venting smoke by now, finally disappeared into its wormhole.

  Captain Serrell’s voice rattled in Winton’s ear.

  “The ship is tagged, Sir. But for how long is anybody’s guess.”

  “Try and trace it to their exit location if you can, Hector.”

  “Sim’s team are on it, Admiral.”

  “Thanks,” Winton said as Jefferson’s tactical AI swung the Jefferson to engage another Garoden target.

  As the Jefferson surged forward, and away again from the Battleship Argonaut that had been left behind to monitor the wormhole thread. Admiral Winton could see that the Michigan and Repulse were working well together in trying to force a Garoden ship into the path of the weaponry of the Lexington, and its WEPs. And, both ships were doing it with some success, Winton realized.

  Looking at his tactical screen again, Winton could also see that the Solverons and Crillons had destroyed at least twenty-three Garoden ships between them, as the ships no longer registered as hostile red markers.

  “Thirty seconds to contact,” the Jefferson’s AI warned.

  Winton heard the warning. But was, initially, more concerned about the number of Garoden ships that were jumping out of the battle area.

  Then, before the Jefferson could engage, the targeted Garoden ship, it had jumped.

  “Damn,” Winton exclaimed.

  With no target to pursue, now. Winton checked tactical again and saw that their older ship, Illustrious, had been slightly damaged.

  However, the data flow from her confirmed she wasn’t in immediate danger. So, she would just have to sit it out until her repairs had been completed.

  Then he heard Captain Garret curse, and he could see why. The Garoden ship that was being forced into the path of the weaponry of the Lexington had just warped out of the arena, as well.

  Now, the Jefferson, Revenge, and Harbin were finding it difficult to lock onto any of the Garoden vessels before they Jumped.

  Chapter 39

  Jubilation

  Illustrious, drifting safely out of the war zone, had again suffered the loss of maneuverability caused by her warp and skipper drive exciters being overloaded.

  Plus, some of her alignment thruster controls had been vaporized.

  But, Lexington’s Commodore Lenny Denning had saved Illustrious from certain destruction, having interposed his ship between two Garoden warships that were pounding the Illustrious. Then, Lexington had turned the tables on the Garoden ships, so much so that they sustained severe damage and were forced to Jump out of the battle area to safety.

  Lexington had then stayed close by the Illustrious until she too had been ordered to Jump in pursuit of the fleeing Garoden ships.

  Derrick Patterson, Illustrious’s Captain, studied the tactical read-out.

  “Ensign Demetrof, what’s the repair time?”

  “Damage control team and service droids estimate five hours twelve minutes, Captain. However, the maneuvering thrusters will need replacing by a service vessel.”

  “The only vessel able to do that, out here, is the Cruiser Caspian,” Lieutenant Jameson pointed out.

  Captain Patterson ignored his science officer’s statement. Instead, he was intrigued by the data flows coming from Illustrious’s long range sensor grid.

  The sensor grid was indicating that virtually all of the Garoden ships that had been unable to fight without their companion brains, had jumped out of the battle area.

  That was good news in one way, Patterson thought. As the Illustrious would now be unlikely to be attacked by any Garoden ship. But, with his AI carrying out an auto-repair on itself, and them waiting for the service vessel to arrive. This, meant the ship still couldn’t move, leaving them vulnerable.

  “Lopez, any luck with any form of contact with our fleet?”

  “Still trying Captain… But… Ah, wait a minute…, noise... There we go, I’ve got someone.”

  “Who?”

  “Err, Admiral Winton.”

  “Put him through.”

  The crackling on the Comms link soon cleared.

  “How are you Captain Patterson?” came Winton’s somewhat urgent sounding voice.

  “Still in one piece, Admiral. And our droids are running repairs as we speak.”

  “Good. We see from our AI’s analysis of Illustrious that you are out of this fight, Captain. So, you’ll have to wait it out for Caspian to complete your repairs. Caspian has a huge stock of Warp crystals and will help you return to Earth.”

  “Very well, Admiral,” Patterson concurred, trying not to sound too pleased to be out of the battle.

  Winton’s voice faded a moment, then it came back at full level. “All three fleets are about to pursue the Garodens while they’re on the run.”

  “Then, good luck, Admiral,” Derrick said.

  “You too. Out.”

  “Link has ended Captain,” Lopez informed as it went dead.

  “Lieutenant Jameson. Do we have an intercept time with the Caspian yet?” Patterson asked.

  His science officer checked for any covert signals.

  “Not yet, Captain. My guess is that it could be more than eighteen hours, from when we actually receive her rendezvous burst.”

  “Too many other damaged ships to contend with,” Ensign Demetrof of Damage control stated.

  “Hmm. Okay, we’ll just have to live with that,” Patterson said while checking on the status of his personnel.

  Out of the twenty-three crew members, only two had been injured during the battle. However, even though their injuries were slight, the medical Droids were insisting on taking extra care of them.

  Captain Patterson studied Ensign Maria Lopez for a moment, she was just sitting and tapping her fingers aimlessly on her chair’s armrests, her frosty looking breath exhaling into the cold air of the bridge.

  “Now I suppose we’re gonna bloody freeze,” she muttered seeing Derrick studying her.

  “L
opez, my ready room. Now,” he snapped as he exited the command chair.

  “Ooooh,” came an almost united murmur from the bridge’s crew, as she left.

  Lopez followed Derrick into his ready room.

  “Close the door,” he ordered.

  She did so, leaving both now standing face to face.

  “You’re too out-spoken, even if it’s true,” Patterson irritably stated.

  “That’s not fair, Captain,” Lopez returned. “You can’t keep your eyes off me. And, in my book, harassment is what I’m thinking of calling it.”

  Derrick just stared at her in disbelief.

  “Captain, can we talk off the record, person to person?” Maria then asked, smiling gently at him.

  “Go on then, you’re going to anyway,” Patterson returned, not knowing what to expect.

  “How many years ago was it that your wife died at the hands of the Crillons, on the Hawk?” Maria asked him.

  “Too many,” he painfully replied, remembering how he’d received the news from Andromeda, and had seen the Droid’s recording of Georgiana’s frozen, lifeless body. And, that sickening look of terror on her face.

  “Exactly… Look, you need to move on… Derrick. You’ll never forget her, she’ll always be there, in your mind,” Maria urged him.