by Shane Black
Yili won several bets with both marines and fleet crewmen over who could field strip and reassemble her blaster pistol the quickest. The OCE Lieutenant’s best time was just nineteen seconds, which left several of the young men both dumbfounded and slightly poorer for their trouble. Yili used her winnings to buy dessert, consisting of an oversized sundae dish heaped with chocolate ice cream.
The Captain held court, flirting with the girls, high-fiving the guys, downing one drink after another and having a loud, cheerful good time of it. He would often interrupt the revelry to make an announcement while pointing to one of his officers, which would result in another cheer going up while the assembled all raised their glasses and enjoyed another drink together.
Hunter’s commlink alert went off. The sharp red light was instantly noticeable even in the crowded bar.
A moment later, an all-business Skywatch officer appeared at the table.
“Captain Jason Hunter?”
He looked up at the young brunette. She was obviously not here for the party.
“That’s me,” Hunter replied with a grin.
She saluted and handed him a sealed transmittal chip. “I have new orders for you, sir.” The Captain took the locked container and looked at her with a confused expression. She saluted again. He returned the gesture before she turned on her heel and left the bar.
He fumbled with the channel selector on his commlink. Finally the indicators switched over.
“Argent to Captain.”
“Hunter here.”
“Sir, ComSat reports reception of a sixteen-part scrambled flash message on Fleet priority frequency keyed to your identifier. Code Zero Zero Black. I say again, code Zero Zero Black.”
Zony was already at his side. Lucas put his arm around Hunter’s shoulders and cradled his half-empty stein. “Whaddya got there, Cap?”
“That’s a disaster signal,” Zony said quietly. A moment later her commlink lit up. Moody pulled a buzzing handheld radio out of his pocket and checked the readout. Then Yili’s communicator started blinking. Annora was already in communication with someone on her headset. The music, laughing and dancing continued around them, but for the five senior Skywatch officers, the world had changed in the space of only a few seconds.
“I think the party’s over, Major.”
Seven
Less than sixty seconds after the communication from the Argent bridge, the Bandit Jacks were racing through an abandoned fuel station terminal. They had only moments to gather what they had brought with them. Hunter made the decision to try and find a shortcut through the darkened and supposedly secured facility, and he was cursing himself every step of the way now that the clock was ticking. Command One was less than 200 yards away, but every time they turned in the right direction, they found a locked door.
“Walls, I want you to listen to me very carefully! Remember when I said you were on your way to a real command? Well, this is it! Signal emergency condition two! Notify engineering I want all the fires lit! Alert section chiefs I want to muster the crew on Flight Deck One thirty minutes after we hit the jump gate! Acknowledge!”
“Affirmative, sir! What is your status?”
“We will board Command One in three minutes and rendezvous with Argent on your next orbit, Hunter out!”
The ad-hoc landing party rounded another corner and found stacked metal boxes in front of twin warehouse doors.
“Blocked again!” Moody shouted. He put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath.
“I don’t believe this!” Hunter barked. The sound echoed in the abandoned hallways. The others stood hesitantly for a moment before Yili wordlessly took action. She drew her blaster, turned it sideways to change settings and then took aim.
“Wait! What are you--!?”
The percussive sound and searing bright light shook the small side corridor like a metal cabinet falling down a flight of stairs. The engineer fired again and again, tearing huge fiery holes in the empty containers as one bolt of reddish energy after another exploded through the tangle of debris. Within seconds, a six-foot ragged exit had been torn in the doors. Molten steel dripped from its edges.
“Well, I suppose that’s one way to do things,” Hunter quipped. “If you can’t find an unlocked door, make one.”
Yili holstered her weapon and gestured to the others with a hand as if showing them out. Hunter stepped over the sharp, hot pieces of wreckage as quickly as possible. The others followed. Once past the loading doors, the group ran across the tarmac through the night air. Cold lights glowed from the corners and rooflines of the buildings. In the distance, they could still hear the music from Scary’s.
“Neek! This is Hunter. Scramble all systems for immediate dustoff!” The Captain held a hand to his ear as the group ran towards the waiting shuttle.
“Affirmative, Captain. Command One liftoff prep countdown thirty-five seconds and counting. DSS Argent is reporting emergency condition two. Surface scanners have picked up possible weapons fire in our defense perimeter. Are you in any danger?”
“Negative Command One. Stand by for liftoff. I’ll have a briefing when we hit system’s edge.” The group arrived at the shuttle’s hatch all at once. Neek deployed the ladders and one by one the Argent’s officers piled aboard.
Hunter scrambled inside and sealed the hatch. “Sorry about your party, Doc.”
“That’s okay, Captain,” Annora replied as she laced up and snapped her power harness into position across her shock couch. “I know how painful it was for you to leave all that good scotch behind.”
“Everybody in?” Hunter asked as he quick-configured the flight controls. The engines spun up rapidly.
“Punch it, Skipper!” Moody shouted.
Command One bounded into the sky on a superheated jet of thruster exhaust and then rocketed almost straight up. In moments, the tiny ship had reached a velocity of just under ten miles a second.
“Hunter to Argent.”
“Go.”
“Patch us to CIC and report all contacts.”
A moment passed.
“CIC to Hunter. Negative contacts. SRS is clear. No further updates since the original ComSat bulletin.”
“Very well, Argent. Navigation, give me a position report.”
“Azimuth two six zero. Estimated time to intercept your escape track is three minutes. Stand by to lock ILS. Approach control will key horizon LOS datalink and intercept closure in five.. four.. three..”
“Oh, wow...”
Everyone leaned forward to look out the starboard ports of Command One. Within moments, the impressive shadow of the battleship Argent emerged from behind Jupiter Five and approached their position, growing larger as it orbited along the edge of the planet’s atmosphere. The moment the huge vessel’s antennas cleared line-of-sight, the shuttle’s navigation systems all switched over to automatic. Hunter secured them and swiveled his pilot’s seat.
“Time to introduce yourselves to my ship and lock your codes.”
All four of the other officers nodded and murmured their agreement.
“Neek, engage Argent’s command computer. Scramble signal and authenticate Hunter, Captain Jason M. Identifier Victory Seven-Seven-One-Five. Match voice print, stand by for record write and confirm.”
“Affirmative. Identity Captain Hunter, Jason M. confirmed. Argent is standing by for new orders.”
“Stand by to authenticate assignment to Executive Officer post, DSS Argent. Voice print follows.”
Captain Hunter nodded to Annora. She cleared her throat gently.
“Commander Doverly, Annora C. Identifier Marigold Nine-Zero-Five-Six.”
“Affirmative. Executive Officer Commander Doverly, Annora C. Officer posted.”
“Stand by to authenticate assignment to Commander, Marine Ground Forces, DSS Argent. Voice print follows.”
“Major Moody, Lucas R. Identifier Thunderbolt Zero One Zero Five.”
“Affirmative. Commander, Marine Ground Forces Major M
oody, Lucas R. Officer posted.”
“Stand by to authenticate assignment to Signals Officer, DSS Argent, Voice print follows.”
“Lieutenant Tixia, Zony, Identifier Hummingbird Eight Eight Seven Seven.”
“Affirmative. Signals Officer, Tixia, Zony. Officer posted.”
“Stand by to authenticate assignment to Chief Engineer, DSS Argent, Voice print follows.”
“Lieutenant Yili, Identifier Ghost Two Nine Four Six.”
“Affirmative. Chief Engineer, Yili. Officer posted.”
“Alright boys and girls. Now you’ve got keys to the executive washroom. Let’s get aboard and get situated. I’m mustering the crew in twenty minutes to announce our orders. The quartermaster will show you where you can park and stow your gear for the time being.”
By now the Argent filled the forward viewports. It’s tractor beams were guiding the shuttle to Flight Deck Three. The four new officers stared quietly. They had been told stories about the new Citadel battleships, but being told about a ship and then flying under it into a flight bay the size of five football fields was something else entirely.
The flashing red alert indicators, however, left precious little time to be awestruck.
Eight
“Skipper!”
It wasn’t often Lucas Moody found himself rushing to keep up with his somewhat shorter commanding officer, but this was one of those times.
“Sir, I need a moment--”
“We’ve got a crew briefing, Major. I’m short on time here.”
“Hold on a second, old man,” Lucas said assertively. He pulled on Hunter’s arm to slow him down and get his attention. The Captain looked both impatient and terribly nervous.
“What exactly is going on here, sir? We’re not even five years out of flight school. You’re five pounds of officer wearing a hundred pounds of brass, and you’re about to bring a room of nearly seven hundred people to attention! Now I realize we scored a few touchdowns flying the Jacks, but all this?” Moody gestured at the spotless metal walls of the corridor around them. “This ship should be under the command of a guy old enough to be our grandfather!”
“I’m technically not at liberty to discuss it, Moo.”
“You’ve been ordered to keep quiet?”
“Negative. Just encouraged.”
“What is all this anyway? Captains normally do this kind of briefing on the intership.”
Hunter looked even more impatient. “I have some co-stars in the flight bay I can’t put on video, Moo. This isn’t just about a briefing. This is about making a statement to everyone watching.”
“Including--”
“Our enemies, wherever they might be.”
Moody took a deep breath and exhaled. His urgency had abated somewhat. “With all due respect sir, if I’m going to lead Second Paladins into harm’s way, I need to know we’re all on the same page here. I’m betting the rest of the Jacks are going to agree.”
Hunter hesitated. He knew well the difference between Moo’s expression during a party in a bar and the look he wore now. This was their business, and if he couldn’t have his senior staff’s trust...
“This stays with us. Understand?” Hunter locked gazes with the Marine officer. Moo nodded attentively.
“There’s been a schism in the upper Skywatch ranks over the past three years. Half the flag officers are convinced Fleet isn’t doing enough to prepare for hostilities along Gitairn. The other half have been spending time and budgets painting the first group as alarmists and trying to sabotage their plans. It all came to a head right after the last council election and the appointments to replace two key members of Joint Supreme Command.”
“I remember reading quite a bit about that,” Lucas said quietly.
“Open war broke out on the council floor, and the split vote forced the highest-ranking ally of the so-called ‘alarmists’ into early retirement. All the officers that had publicly supported him were singled out by the opposing flag officers. Most were stripped of their commands. Skywatch lost almost 40 Captains in a matter of a few months. It got so bad some of their ships were decommissioned, all to prove a point. The cooler heads at Fleet need to gain ground and also need to avoid anyone likely to be a target for the more numerous ‘anti-alarmist’ faction. Unfortunately, that means pretty much everyone above the rank of lieutenant.”
“And you’re the new poster boy.” Moo’s expression lit up as he assembled the puzzle pieces. “No wonder they promoted you so fast!”
“It’s why they promoted all of us so fast.” Hunter replied. “This plan’s been underway for two years. What we did with the squadron earned us just as many enemies as friends, and now we’re right smack in the middle of the spotlight. Everything this ship does, good or bad, is going to be used against us. I’ve been advised to get as far away from the Core Systems as possible to avoid saboteurs and spies until I can hammer this crew into a team.”
“Skywatch flag officers plotting sabotage against one of their own ships?”
Hunter nodded. “It’s gotten that bad. There are two people at Fleet I can trust, and one of them might be aboard the missing ship we’ve been ordered to locate.”
“I’m sorry I asked, sir.”
“Now you know why I requested you and the others, Major. There may be people aboard this ship with orders to kill us. I need officers I can trust.”
Moo’s expression hardened. “You need to tell the others.”
Hunter nodded and put his hand on the taller marine’s shoulder. A wordless exchange said everything the two brothers-in-arms needed to say. They both headed for the flight bay.
Nine
Despite Flight Deck One’s seven-acre area and it’s five-story-high ceilings, The murmur of hundreds of people engaged in hundreds of conversations was loud enough to fill the precisely filtered air with a dull roar. A row of Tarantula-Hawk class gunships was arranged behind the seating for the Argent crew, and Wildcat fighters were parked on opposite sides of the dais set up for the crew address. The vessels were a reminder to everyone present the magnitude of the firepower at the command of the young Skipper. In light of the non-public political situation, they were also meant to remind anyone with designs against DSS Argent what they were up against.
Argent’s majestic starburst logo was emblazoned on the wall behind the speaker’s platform, and a royal blue banner depicting Captain Hunter’s insignia and the Argent’s designation was draped across the front of the lectern.
At the precise moment the briefing was set to begin, the marine sergeant stationed at the egress hatch closest to the platform barked the command to come to attention loud enough to pierce the noise. The abrupt sound of virtually an entire battleship crew snapping their heels together exploded like a rifle bullet and echoed twice. It was suddenly quiet enough to hear Captain Hunter’s footsteps on the deck. He arrived at the lectern and set down his tablet.
“Be seated.”
A short burst of noise preceded total silence once again.
“I have ordered a standing yellow alert.”
A careful murmur quickly subsided.
“A Gitairn sensor beacon in Sector Eight last reported a transponder reception from the starship Dunkerque over sixty hours ago. The Dunkerque is a Strike Cruiser with a crew of 200 officers and men. Vice Admiral Hughes is in command. He is in the sector to show the flag and establish a forward post from which to observe activity along the Reach. Since the Sector Eight contact, there has been no sign of the Admiral’s ship or any other contacts in that region of space.”
Hunter paused. The crew listened attentively and silently.
“I have orders to navigate to the last known position of the Dunkerque and conduct search and rescue operations. There may be hostile forces in the area. We are authorized to defend ourselves and any friendly vessels. We will enter Gitairn space in approximately 28 hours. Between now and then our new department chiefs will schedule four sets of combat readiness drills, one for each watch.”
“I realize we’re still a shakedown ship with a shakedown crew. But I expect all of us to perform to the best of our ability. This is a battleship. Let’s make sure nobody forgets it.”
The sergeant barked again and the crew returned to attention. Hunter gathered the items off the lectern and stalked off the platform.
“Have the senior staff assembled in my in-board cabin in ten minutes.”
“Aye, sir,” the sergeant replied before saluting.
The Captain stalked down the corridor.
Ten
The officers of the Argent sat together in a contemplative silence.
“You requested transfers for all of us to protect us,” Zony finally replied after listening to Captain Hunter’s short briefing.
“That’s one way to look at it,” Hunter replied. The five pilots were seated around the Captain’s luxurious conference table. Behind Hunter’s chair was a spectacularly colorful real-time map of the Gitairn Reach lit up in glowing vector graphics projected on a transparent 12-foot high slab of dense reactive crystal. At the lower edge, a small replica of the Argent’s flag crept along towards the sprawling asteroid field that separated the Core Systems from the rest of space. Next to the avatar was a readout of the ship’s position and designation.
“I haven’t had time to do a complete control check yet, but if your stories about your sister are accurate, you might want to take her up on that robot offer,” Yili said evenly. “The last thing we need is a concussion charge popping off in our life support circuitry during a critical situation.”
“We should rig the ship to catch any saboteurs in the act,” Moo offered.
“That could take days,” Annora replied. “I think we should be careful not to start second-guessing ourselves and we definitely shouldn’t be running here and there preparing for potential enemies when there are plenty of real ones.”
Zony and Yili nodded.
“Agreed, XO. I want all of you armed until further orders. Each of you will quietly select one person from your department you can trust. Tell them I’ve ordered an unusual drill and they need to be prepared to take over for you at a moment’s notice. Moo, I want you to recruit fifteen marines you know well. Order them to shadow each of us two by two in shifts. Don’t make it too obvious.”
