Ambush

by G J Moses

  Anger at Jax and his crew for staying was short lived as Zeke realized how much he needed them if he was going to have any chance of stopping the bombardment.

  “Lieutenant Commander Andrews, quite a surprise to hear from you. I will talk to you later on your still being here, but we do not have time for that now. How soon can you let me know if it is repairable with a timeframe before we can bring it back online? I cannot stress the importance of getting that engine back online.”

  “Captain, right now I cannot answer you with any confidence of accuracy. We will need several hours just to fully understand the issue. Give me two to four hours and I will let you know once I do.”

  The thought of what would happen once the lasers finally breached through to the shelters horrified him. He still remembered holding the corpse of that little girl in his arms. The image of millions suffering the same fate made his blood freeze in panic.

  “I cannot express how much we need those engines Jax, just get it back online. Niflhel needs you to do one more miracle, more than ever before!”

  “Understand Captain, we will get the engines back online, you can count on us, Jax out.”

  Meanwhile, Jax was pounding his fists against engine three. Picking up the communicator supplied to him by Karter, he hit the connect button.

  “Karter here, Jax?”

  “Yeah, it’s me. I got some bad news to relay to Captain de Clisson. Is the Captain around?”

  “Yes, hold one second.”

  “Jeanne here Jax, what’s up?”

  “Well, you got the delay you wanted, but I had nothing to do with it. I was going to shut down engine three manually, but both three and four failed on their own before I could anything.”

  “Damn, any idea on what it is going to take to repair?”

  “Not at this time, it will take a bit before I can answer that with any type of confidence. We have been pushing them hard for an extended period of time. Once I get an idea, I will let you know once I have updated Captain Kinsley.”

  “Understand, well, I better let you go. I will be waiting to hear from you.”

  It was Hawke, who next experienced a panic attack. Besides watching the scanners, he was keeping track of Zeke, who was deteriorating quickly in front of his eyes. A lot faster than he ever imagined. When all this started, he knew Zeke was in bad shape, but he expected that both of them would die together when the Lucky Strike was destroyed. He had no false hope that they could survive against several fresh fleets alone.

  Just after the notification from Jax about the engine failure, he watched Zeke slump down in his chair where it looked like he was going to collapse on the floor. Just as Hawke jumped up to run to his side, Zeke straightened enough to wave him off.

  Looking around his bridge and seeing all the empty chairs and stations brought Zeke’s spirits down even more. The bridge did not have the sparkle and cleanliness as when they first entered the system. The workstation where Juan used to sit at still showed the scars of the fallen beam. Many others showed both smoke and heat damage. But most of all, it was the empty seats that depressed him more than anything.

  As the minutes passed, Zeke watched the velocity indicators slowly tick downwards. It was hard not to contact Jax to see if he had any update. Not only was it hard not to contact Jax but he was having difficulty staying awake. His strength was almost gone. It was not until almost close to two hours passed that he finally got the call he was desperately waiting for.

  “Captain, Jax here. We have identified the issue. It is not good, but not something we cannot handle. Several power transfer modules have blown. Bad news is it will take time. The best estimate is ten to twelve hours, but that is only if everything goes right. Better plan on fourteen hours, just to be safe. Captain, so you understand, to make the repairs happen, I will have to shut down engines one and two for six to eight hours of those hours. During that time, I will have to bring us to a halt.”

  “Crap, can it get any worse? What happens if we do nothing?”

  “We will continue to lose speed. At the speed we are traveling, even the emptiness of space is like walking through sand on a beach. Our ship’s force field will deflect the small space debris we encounter, but it still requires a constant output to maintain speed. With only two engines, over time, we will fall to below quarter speed as a lot of the energy produced by one engine is allocated to other uses, such as the afore mentioned shield. Normally, we would have a full crew to do repairs.”

  “I guess I blew the call to let all the engineers go, didn’t I? I figured it was worth the chance. Well, we cannot afford to arrive at Niflhel without full power. Ok… cough… do what you need to… cough… remember, time is against us… cough… we are counting… cough… on you Jax. Captain out.”

  It was with a heavy heart when Zeke saw the speed indicators indicate they were slowing down even faster than before. It took a good ten minutes before they had finally stopped.

  No sooner had they stopped than Jax was paging the Zeke on his command chair.

  “Captain, we are in the process of taking the engines, offline where the ship will be going to emergency power only. Hawke confirmed he has sent out multiple probes and nothing is registering to concern us at the moment. If anything is identified, we should have enough time to bring engines one and two back online.”

  With a heavy heart, Zeke responded. “Ok Jax, do what you need to do. I know I said it before, but please remember, time is critical. Captain out.”

  The hours passed slowly. The pain in his chest intensified as the time passed. But at least he had finished his programming by the sixth hour.

  Wallowing in pain, he did not notice Hawke’s presence until he was standing next to Zeke’s chair. When Hawke puts his hand on his left shoulder, he jumped in surprise and groaned as a fresh wave of pain racked his body.

  “My friend, Jax will get those engines back online. You can count on Jax and his crew. I am sorry they are still on the ship, and you know as well as I, they did not miss any shuttle. They knew this was a one-way trip, and despite that, they decided they needed to be here. And thank heavens they are, we need them.”

  “Your right, but… cough… that does not make… cough… it any easier. So many have… cough… died already, so many innocents, I… cough… just hate to see more die in this… cough… stupid war. If…’

  The pain was too intense for him to continue. It took all he had to sit in his chair and not curl up on the floor.

  Before Zeke could finish, a man he never expected to see again stepped onto the bridge. Behind him hovered a medical pod on full auto.

  “Doc, what… cough… the hell… cough… are you doing here? Cough…”

  Both Hawke and Zeke watched in amazement as Doc walked with his hands clasped behind his back to stand next to the Captain’s chair on the side opposite Hawke. Without responding to the question, he spoke out loud. “MedPod23, right side of Captain’s chair. Once in position, open to accept patient.”

  While the two surprised men watched the medical pod make its way across the bridge, Doc turned to Zeke where he glared at him in anger. His tone when he spoke mirrored his glare.

  “Captain, you must have forgotten that all on this ship are under my care, including yourself.” Whereupon Doc, swung his right hand, holding an injector, to Zeke’s arm.

  Before the surprised Zeke could react, Doc placed the injector flat against his arm and pressed the button on top to start the injection.

  In seconds, while his mouth was open to order the Doc away, the injector emptied into his arm. No sooner done, Zeke went rigid as his whole body convulsed.

  “Yahhhhhhhh… screamed Zeke as he tried to rise up out of his seat.

  “What the hell did you give him?” exclaimed Hawke, who was now gripping Zeke by his shoulders trying to keep him seated.

  “Nano’s that will prep him for this…” where Doc pulled out another injector out of a pouch around his waist.

  Positioning the injector o
ver Zeke’s chest, Doc yelled at Hawke. “Hold him down, it is critical it is injected in the right spot!”

  As hard as he tried, Hawke could not keep Zeke still. It wasn’t until Doc jumped in Zeke’s lap that they could hold him still long enough for Doc to place it properly and finish the injection.

  The response to the injection was immediate as Hawke watched Zeke collapse unconscious.

  “I said it before, but I will say it again, what the hell did you give him?”

  “What he needs to recover, if he survives that is.” Doc said as he monitored Zeke from a display on the medical pod. “Help me get him into the medical pod.”

  As hard as they tried, even having the medical pod lower inches from the ground, they could not get Zeke over the lip of the medical pod. After leaning him against the pod, both looked at each other in frustration, not noticing they now had additional company.

  A huge shoulder loomed over them just before Corporal Shon Dennison picked Zeke gently up and placed him in the medical pod.

  Chuckling under his breath, Doc stood up and patted Shon on the back. “Thank you, son, I am afraid I am too old to pick people up anymore. And Hawke just does not have the mass to accomplish it even with my limited assistance.”

  Meanwhile Hawke, who had risen to stand by the medical pod, was looking at the other guests who stood quietly just beyond Shon.

  “I figured you were up to something when you asked me to look at the memory stick. But I never figured you could pull Khaleesi into this. How did you manage that?”

  “I didn’t have to; she was never leaving.” replied Jeanne, who sidled up next to Doc looking at Zeke as he rested in the medical pod. The top had closed where visibility was now partially limited by mist.

  Putting her hand on the glass, she peered intently at a man that was hardly recognizable from the person she had first met. In a whisper laced with concern, “How is he?”

  “Not good, he is much worse than I expected. If I had come in another few hours, there would not have been anything I could have done. It will still be close, very close. Now I need to get him to medical so I can monitor him properly. You go do what you need to do”

  Running her hand slowly over the top, Jeanne stared down wistfully at Zeke. She was startled when a hand came to rest softly on her hand and squeezed it. “I will look after him, let the nano’s do their work. Hopefully in twenty-four hours we will have our captain back close to normal.”

  Tapping her fingers, she leaned her face forward until her forehead rested against the pod. Jeanne whispered silently for a few seconds before she turned to Doc. “Like I said before, I think you have the most important job. We need him Doc, we need him badly.”

  Keeping his eye on the proceedings, Hawke made his way back to his workstation and glanced at the scanner display before returning his attention back to the new group. Things were getting very interesting.

  Watching as Doc started walking out, followed by the pod, Jeanne was surprised to see Shon following behind. Seeing her puzzlement, Khalessi informed her. “Just because the Captain is immobile does not relinquish his duty. Shon will watch over both and assist Doc if he needs to move the Captain.”

  Nodding her understanding, Jeanne settled into Captains chair before speaking into the air. “Ship AI, this is Captain Jeanne de Clisson of the planet Tortuga, Capital planet of the Irracan Enclave, how should I address you?”

  From all the speakers in the Bridge came a male voice. Nothing spectacular to note about it. It was not loud nor soft but one that sounded like anyone you would meet anywhere with inflections and all.

  “My real name supplied by the Royal Galactic Naval Research and Development is too long for normal conversation. Captain Kinsley calls me LS1. I am cognizant of what has been progressing, but I must warn you, I have been programmed to only accept orders given by Captain Kinsley.”

  “I can confirm that Jeanne. LS1 would not even allow me in earlier. The protocol only allows the Captain of the Lucky Strike to give orders to the AI.” said Hawke, who sat at attention watching the events proceed with angst. “I tried to get the AI to show me what Zeke programmed, but to no avail.”

  “LS1, has Zeke finished his programming?”

  “Your question is unanswerable. I do not know what would constitute the Captain being finished.”

  “Can you tell me anything about what he programmed? Something so we can know what to expect?”

  “I am sorry, but that is not something I can do. I was ordered by the Captain that I am not to share any of his orders with anyone to ensure that they do not fall into the wrong hands.”

  “LS1, we are trying to save the Captain’s life along with anyone else aboard this ship. Is there anything you can tell us to help up in this matter?”

  “I can tell you this, as it is not something I have been ordered not to do, and has nothing to do with the actual commands he is programming. The Captain does not expect to survive to see this through, he knew his injuries without treatment, would cause him to expire whether he made it to Niflhel or not. But if he did make it to Niflhel, the Chohish would finish him off in in a matter of minutes anyway. When that happened, I, if I am still sentient, was to make sure his final wishes to end the bombardment on Niflhel was accomplished. How I did that is up to me, but my number one priority is to end that bombardment. I will use any tool available to me to make that happen.”

  “I also know the Captain would not wish anyone else to perish along with him. The Captain has great love for all of you, any other loss of life besides himself would bring him great pain. But he would sacrifice all of you, if necessary, to try, even if not successful, to stop the bombardment. He must try to be true to himself. My recommendation is that all personnel on this ship leave now, if you care for him.”

  “Well LS1, we do care for the Captain, and we will not abandon him when he needs us the most. What I will ask from you though is that if, we can change the scope of the operation, will you allow us to complement whatever he programmed? Would that be acceptable?”

  “Only if it does not require that I violate any of the orders given to me by the Captain nor change the end goal that he has ordered me to accomplish. That I can do. But know this, your survival is not part of any order given and I will do whatever is necessary to stop the bombardment.”

  Standing, Jeanne looked at Hawke like she was going to ask something, but shook her head instead.

  Seeing this, Hawke smiled “Go ahead, ask away. Now is not the time to worry about my feelings.”

  Sitting down in the chair again, while gripping the arms of the chair tightly, Jeanne looked at Hawke with narrowed eyes. “You are a puzzle to me. Your friend is dying along with both of you headed to your doom. Yet you are happy. I cannot figure out the puzzle of why?”

  Suddenly serious, Hawke, still standing, fluffed his wings before answering. “That is because you do not understand Sorath’s. We believe that sacrificing one’s life while in the act of trying to save innocents is the highest honor an individual can have. To do this at the same time as fighting the race that caused so many deaths and harm to my race, well, I cannot tell you in your language how much that means to a Sorath. Both Zeke and I will be heroes that will be honored and celebrated by my people for all time.”

  “Do not get me wrong, if there was another way to do the same action, I would rather go that way as I have no wish for myself, nor Zeke, to die. You know I would gladly give my life to save Zeke’s, as I look upon him as a brother. But from where I sit, I see no other option. Neither did Zeke or we would not be having this discussion.”

  “Well, my feathery friend, there is another option and you are going to help us. I hope anyway. Now we need to hope everyone else can come through.”

  LS1

  It was another few hours before Jax, now aware that Jeanne was on the bridge, contacted her to let her know he had reached a stage in the repair he could bring engines one and two back online.

  The ship shook as the huge eng
ines ignited and started supplying power again. It was another half hour before Jax let everyone on the bridge know that everything checked out for the two engines and they were now available for use.

  As Hawke made his way to the helmsman station, he felt the ship start moving. Reaching the station, he found he was unable to bring up any controls.

  “LS1, are controlling the helm?” asked Hawke.

  “I am following Captain Kinsley’s orders.”

  Then everyone was taken by surprise as the ship rocked with the firing of missiles.

  With confusion in his eyes, Hawke ran over to the ship’s fire control. Again, he could not access the controls. Turning to Jeanne, he raised his hands in exasperation.

  It was Corporal Michale Lance that spoke next. The Corporal was bent awkwardly in his armor over the scanner controls where he grasped the edge of the desk as the ship rocked again to another missile firing. Standing straight, still wearing his deadpan face, he turned to face Khaleesi who had been standing silently by the door ever since they had arrived on the bridge.

  You would have thought Khaleesi was asleep, she had been standing so still and quiet. It was only her eyes that would have given away that she was awake. While her head never moved, her eyes darted back and forth constantly taking everything in.

  With a slight nod to Corporal Lance that most would not have noticed even when looking at her directly, Khaleesi waited on his report.

  “The missiles are not firing, but being grabbed by tractor beams, they are trailing along behind us.”

  The ship reverberated as the missile tubes fired again, and again, without letup.

  “LS1, Captain de Clisson here. Can you let us know why you are firing missiles?”