by Robert Boren
“Their shields aren’t holding up,” Sondra said. “We’re hitting the surface directly on most of them.”
“Captain Clarke, we’re about to have company,” said Commander Klemperer.
“They shut down their shields to launch fighters,” Nolan said.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” I said. “Launch the other hundred fighters.”
“No,” I said, “but it’s my decision. This is a battle.”
“Here they come,” Skip said, as we watched bay doors open on three of the Razor ships, enemy fighters flying out by the dozen. They were long, skinny two seaters. A handful of the Mark Vs engaged the enemy fighters as the rest continued to concentrate on the Razors. The enemy fighters were slow to turn, but had good weapons, destroying two Mark Vs before Klemperer ordered several others to break off the attack on the Razors and help out.
“You’ve got a speed and turn advantage, dammit,” Klemperer said. “Use it!”
“Permission to use the AIs to watch our backs, sir,” Hicks said. “They’re targeting the rear since we don’t have a second pilot. That’s how they killed Morris and Keach.”
“Captain Clarke?”
“Go ahead, but if it’s hinky, go back to manual,” I said.
“Thank you, sir.”
“Yes!” Nolan shouted. “We just sent several rounds into the fighter bay of that Razor. Wow.” We watched as debris flew out of the door, the structure of the ship cracking as hundreds of enemy fighters blew up in the bay, the ship starting to implode.
“There goes the first one,” JJ said, as one of the Razors jumped away.
“They’re going to leave their fighters stranded,” Vermillion said as two more of the Razors jumped away, the Mark Vs destroying another Razor before it could flee. Then the other Mark Vs came out of the jump, railguns blazing, two more Razors hit, one of them trying to recall their fighters, the other jumping away damaged.
“We’re firing right into the bay door on that one too, look!” Skip shouted. The ship blew up big, the rest of the Razors jumping away as the Mark Vs took on the last of the enemy fighters.
Suddenly the balance of the enemy fighters disappeared.
“Dammit, their fighters can jump too,” Vermillion said. “I was afraid of that. We need to study this engagement carefully.”
“True,” JJ said, “but this was a rout. No getting around that.”
“By my count, we killed eight Razors,” Nolan said. “And about twenty of their fighters.”
“One that jumped was pretty badly damaged,” Sondra said. “I’ll bet it doesn’t survive.”
“Where are they headed?” I asked.
“They’ll try to hide.” Vermillion grinned. “Except they can’t.”
“We should hunt them down and destroy them,” Skip said.
“We might decide to do exactly that, but let’s keep our eye on the longer term,” I said. “If they only had the twenty Razors we could see, they’ve now got nine on the run, and one pinned down over Devonia Axxiom.”
“Let’s get the fighters back onboard,” I said.
“Heard you,” Klemperer said. “On our way.”
“Nice job, Commander.”
“Thank you, Captain Clarke. See you soon.”
“Who recognized those fighters?” Vermillion asked.
“Not I,” Nolan said. “We’ve got video, though, so we can look for a match. Other than the ability to jump, I’m not impressed.”
“They were able to kill two of our fighters because of a known flaw,” Nolan said. “If we had the new AI capability fully implemented, they wouldn’t have been successful.”
“I’ll grant you that, Dojo,” Nolan said. “Nice job.”
“Let me know when they’re in safely,” I said. “Anything on those enemy fighters?”
“Another new design, I’m afraid,” Nolan said. “The initial searches didn’t show anything. Dojo is going deeper, but I’ll be surprised if we find much. The Overlords have been deceiving the Central Authority for a while.”
“They’ve been planning a coup for several years,” Vermillion said. “Don’t be thinking they’re done. They have at least nine Razor ships left, who knows how many of those rather potent fighters, and possibly more spacecraft hidden and in production.”
“Butch, did you sniff out anything on the Razor manufacturing plants yet?”
“Don’t be so sure,” Nolan said. “They have to know we can track them now.”
I noticed JJ sitting with her brow furrowed, deep in thought.
“JJ, what is it?”
Her head snapped towards me, startled. “Are we tracking the enemy fighters?”
“Dammit, so they could surprise us?” Vermillion asked.
I thought for a moment, my head spinning, almost making me feel faint. “Okay, we need to re-direct all the AIs except for the two hundred connected to the fighter pilots. I want a full investigation done on the New Jersey. If we’ve got any weak spots, I want to know about them, and I want them fixed before those Overlords fighters attack us.”
“I want those fighters getting up to speed on the use of the AIs as soon as possible. The Overlords will come after us again. We need to be ready.”
“Prudent,” Vermillion said. “I’m going back to my stateroom, to see how my back-channel probes have been going. Let me know if anything comes up.”
I nodded, and he left the bridge.
“How long until we get to the natural worm hole?” JJ asked.
“And then we’re in a three-week jump,” Nolan said.
“Thanks, Butch.”
“We’ve got time to work a strategy for keeping our edge over the enemy,” Sondra said.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” I said. “Nolan, are you getting any news?”
“There have been two articles. I’ll keep the scan going until we make the jump. Do you want to watch what we have now?”
“Later. I need some food and some rest. I’m sure the rest of you do as well.”
“It’s okay to leave the bridge so soon after an engagement like that?” Sondra asked.
“The AIs are monitoring,” Nolan said. “We’ll know right away if anything goes down.”
“Keep the battle pilots on duty,” Skip said. “They’ll watch too, plus we’re running cloaked. We should be fine.”
“Butch, what’s the status of Andrea, Cyrus, Tim, and Izzy?”
“I want to know if they’ve h
ad any rest.”
“Yes, have all but Andrea come to relieve the New Jersey bridge crew, please. I’ll wait around until they arrive to make sure they know what to look for.”
“Good idea,” JJ said. “I’ll wait here with you, and then we can go get a bite.”
I nodded. “Nolan, Sondra, and Skip, go get some rest. That’s an order.”
“Aye, Captain,” Sondra said, Skip grinning as he got out of his seat.
“Will do,” Nolan said.
“Oh, and Nolan, try to sleep, okay? I need you sharp. Don’t go back to your stateroom and work.”
Nolan chuckled. “You’re getting to know me well. I’ll give it my best shot.”
I watched as they left the bridge, leaving JJ and I alone.
“Are you okay, honey?” she asked.
“Honey?”
She chuckled. “If you get to see me naked, I get to call you honey. At least while we’re alone.”
JJ and I both said sleep at the same time.
“Thank you.” I looked at JJ. “Honey, huh? Hmmm. I’ll take that trade.”
JJ smiled at me, but there was concern in her eyes. “We’re in worse shape than they think, aren’t we?”
“We need more ships. We’ll have a second Zephyrus class ship ready to go by the time we get to Boroclize, and another a few weeks later.”
“We’ve got months before the next New Jersey class ship is ready, though, don’t we?”
“Just under six months, but we’ll get a second one shortly after the first, and then another. We’ll have a few more Zephyrus class ships by then too.”
She eyed me. “All we have to do is survive that long, and hope Simone doesn’t find our manufacturing plants or our fuel sources.”
“You got it.”
{ 13 }
The Natural Worm Hole
J J and I were on the New Jersey bridge, waiting to be relieved by Cyrus, Tim, and Izzy. They arrived after about fifteen minutes.
“Hi, Captain,” Izzy said. “JJ.”
“Hello,” JJ said.
“Thanks so much for coming up,” I said. “We’ve been up too many hours. You’re our relief team. All well enough rested to work, I hope?”
“I’m good,” Tim said.
“Me too,” Cyrus said.
Izzy smiled. “I was bored. This will be a welcome change.”
“Good. We should get to the natural worm hole in six hours. We’ve got battle pilots watching for Overlords ships, and the AIs as well, although the main focus of the AIs at present is to find any weak spots we might have in the New Jersey.”
“Ah, don’t want Simone to do unto us what we did unto her, huh?” Cyrus asked.
“You got it.”
Tim’s brow furrowed. “We were patched into the video. They wasted two of our fighters. Not good.”
“That’s why we’ve got the pilots working with their AIs. They should be able to handle the rear-seat fighting much better than the onboard AI system.”
“Hey, when you get a chance, come down to the Zephyrus and check out Barney,” Izzy said. “He’s through the rest of his training. Those Neanderthals are wicked smart. I had no idea.”
“Yeah, he’s not the mascot anymore, that’s for sure,” Tim said.
“Has that changed his relationship with Deneuve very much?” JJ asked.
Izzy chuckled. “It’s like a parent child relationship, when the child is an adult.”
“Interesting. If he’s willing, we’ll use his capabilities. I’ll head down there once we’re in the jump. Has he been off the Zephyrus yet?”
Tim chuckled. “Not yet, Captain, but he’s been asking about it. He’s been looking at the video feeds of the bay and asking loads of questions. He understands that the Zephyrus is inside a larger ship.”
“Fascinating,” JJ said.
I finished giving a few instructions to them, and JJ and I left the bridge.
“Let’s get food and take it back to your stateroom,” JJ said.
“Love too, but we both need to sleep after we eat.”
JJ nodded. “I know, honey. I won’t keep you occupied for more than a few minutes. Promise.”
We had our food and were back at my stateroom in less than twenty minutes. We sat at my table to eat.
“What is that?” I asked, looking at her meal.
“Meatloaf,” she said, taking a bite. “Not bad. Tastes like real beef.”
I opened my package, which had turkey breast with mashed potatoes and green beans. The smell reminded me of grandma’s house. I ate quickly, the urge to sleep overpowering.
“You ate that fast,” JJ said. “Smelled good.”
“It was good. They must be farming turkeys someplace on this ship.”
She chuckled. “They’re just getting better and better at fooling us. Let’s go to bed. You don’t mind if I sleep with you, I hope?”
“Oh, you were planning on sleeping here?”
She eyed me silently, then got up and walked to the bed, her clothes coming off on the way. “C’mon.”
“Turn around,” I said.
“I thought you wanted to sleep.”
“I do, but I also want a better look than I had before.”
She sighed, then turned around, revealing her curves to me. “There. Is that okay?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, getting up. I put the trash into the waste unit and followed her, pausing next to the bed to take off my clothes and the Nano suit. “When we get up I need to cleanse. Wonder how we wash these suits?”
“I suspect you don’t,” JJ said, climbing under the sheet. I got in next to her. She turned towards me, her arm going over my torso. “Wow, a little clammy. Those suits need some cooling capability.”
I laughed. “Hell, they might have that. I’ve just barely touched the surface.”
“Weren’t you supposed to spend more time training with the designer?”
“I was, but then the Razor ships showed up. Now I’ll have to wait until after our trip through the natural worm hole.”
“You know enough to train others, though, right?”
I nodded. “The basics, anyway. How to fight. There’s documentation on board. I’ll work through that, with some help from Butch once he’s done leading the effort to find flaws in the New Jersey defenses.”
We cuddled for a few minutes. I drifted off to sleep quickly, not waking until my PA buzzed, JJ shoving me in the shoulder.
“Oh, good morning.” I kissed her lightly on the forehead.
“Only a peck? I don’t think so.” Her mouth found mine, kissing me deeply. It felt good, but my PA buzzed again.
“Somebody’s trying to get my attention.” I turned my arm towards my face and tapped. It was Andrea.
“Hey, Andrea, what’s up?”
“We’re just about to that natural worm hole, Captain.”
“You’re on the New Jersey bridge?”
“I am, and I’m a little perturbed that you didn’t call me with the others.”
I laughed. “Butch checked your biometrics. You were the only one who didn’t sleep during the time we were on the bridge.”
“Oh,” she said. “Now I feel stupid.”
“Did you sleep any?” JJ asked.
“Oh, JJ is with you, huh? Hmmmm.”
“Stop,” I said. “Answer the question.”
“No.”
“Okay, we’ll be back there in about half an hour, and then you’re going to get some rest. Got it?”
“Yes. At least I’m finally tired.”
“
It’s been quiet, sounds like,” JJ said.
“Yep, no sign of any Overlords activity. The New Jersey has been working like a dream.”
“Good,” I said. “See you soon.”
I got out of bed. “I’m going to cleanse.”
“Does it hold two?”
“It’s supposed to, but I never tried it.”
“First time for everything,” she said, getting out of bed and following me. We both got inside the unit, the sensor picking us up and automatically setting for two people. The water started, then the cleansing solution. We soaped each other down, me taking the time to play a little, JJ’s face and neck flushing.
“You’re liking this,” I said.
“I am, you bad boy. C’mon, let’s turn on the dryer. They’re waiting for us, and we’ll get enough kidding as it is.”
“I can hear it now.” The drier finished with us quickly, and we got out and dressed.
“You’re putting that suit back on?” JJ asked. “Is it still damp?”
“No, it’s dry as a bone.” I lifted it to my nose and sniffed. “Wow, it doesn’t smell bad either. I’m surprised.”
“Let me,” she said. I held it in front of her face and she took a whiff. “You’re right, it smells clean. Interesting.”
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing down to a small clear capsule, sitting on the floor where the suit had been. I picked it up. “It’s got some kind of liquid in it.”
“Careful. Is it dangerous?”
I looked at it more closely. “It smells like detergent.”
“Hmmmm.”
“Butch, wake up please.”
“What’d he say?” JJ asked.
“These suits self-cleanse. It’s waste from that process. I’m to throw it away.” I opened the waste unit and dropped it in. “Wake up Emerald and you should be able to listen in to my conversation with Butch. I don’t want to put this on speaker outside the bridge.”
