by Daniel Gibbs
“Back at you, Colonel Sinclair. See you on the other side,” David replied with a smile before the viewer cut back to a black screen.
“XO, what’s the readiness of Captain Singh and his commandos?”
“My understanding is that the contractors have completed all modifications, and the commandos are performing final checkout of the new equipment now, sir,” Aibek said.
“Let’s get down there, then. I want them on the raider as soon as possible, standing by for deployment.”
“Does that exceed our orders, sir?”
David shrugged. “Maybe it does… but I don’t care. This is a high-risk op, and we have a very narrow window of opportunity. Lieutenant Goldberg, you have the conn.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Ruth replied as she stood from her station at the same time as David and Aibek. “This is Lieutenant Goldberg, I have the conn.”
Adjusting the large helmet associated with his space suit, Singh looked to his right to see his alpha team leader, Master Chief Petty Officer Gordan MacDonald, performing the same systematic review. They’d been preparing for the last hour by putting on their combat space suits, checking then double-checking all interlocks, connections, and seals. Singh had served with MacDonald for the last six years at Space Special Warfare Command in various roles. His squad of six tier-one operators was one of four teams assigned to the Lion. The entire force of twenty-four operators was committed to this single assignment. It was the first time in Singh’s memory they’d sent so many special warfare operators at the same target.
Doctor Hayworth had spent the entire time with them, confirming his work with the AI and sensor reprogramming. His assistant, Major Elizabeth Merriweather, had joined them as well. Singh was particularly impressed with her ability to modify a science sensor designed to measure nebula interference into a detector for the stealth mines.
“I think we’re good, Captain,” Hayworth said as he reviewed a readout from a diagnostic tablet he’d plugged into the utility port on the space suit. “It would appear based on all simulations, the interface works and your entire team will be able to avoid triggering the mines.”
“Appears?” Singh asked sharply.
“Well, it’s not like we’ve got a supply of League mines to test it out on, Captain. There’s something left to the unknown here. I have confidence the scientific team got it right.”
“So you want them to accept on faith that your contraption works?” Merriweather asked in a sugary sweet voice.
Hayworth was utterly silent for a moment. “I think I’m going to, how does the military put it? Decline to engage.”
Singh laughed before reaching out and slapping Hayworth on the back. The older doctor jumped back a bit. “Doctor, you’ve got to be a little bit crazy to jump out of a perfectly functional spaceship in a combat EVA suit, knowing you're flying through a minefield, and be looking forward to the thrill.” Turning to the other commandos, he asked them, “Am I right?”
A shout went up from the entire group, punctuated by MacDonald. “If you ain’t spacewalking, you ain’t shit!”
At that moment, David walked into the room, followed closely by Calvin, with Kenneth Lowe taking up the rear. The three men strode across the vast area that housed the special warfare operators and their equipment; it was equipped with airlocks and launch points for the sleds the commandos used to ferry to their targets in space. David addressed the team as he walked closer. “I recognize that shout anywhere.”
“Attention on deck!” Singh barked, his team coming to attention smartly.
“As you were,” David said quickly. “How are preparations going?”
Hayworth spoke first. “All modifications to the suits are complete, General. I’m confident in their ability to get the team to its destination.”
“Captain, do you concur?” David asked of Singh.
“Yes, sir. All simulations look good to us, as we were saying before you arrived. We’re a bit nuts, but we also like to come back,” the tall Sikh commando replied.
MacDonald interjected, “If for no other reason than to toast our accomplishment.”
Calvin and David both laughed, but it was Calvin who spoke. “Captain, I wish I was going with you on this part of the op. Been a long time since I donned a combat EVA suit.”
“You’ll be joining us soon enough, Colonel. The moment we get those mines down—”
“The fleet will be there to put the hurt on Admiral Seville,” David finished.
Calvin glanced back at Kenneth. “Not bad for once, Kenny.”
Kenneth rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Cally.”
“Do I have to get you two down to the gym for some friendly sparring? You could settle this like civilized people, with a good fist fight,” David said in a tone that suggested he was only half joking and with an exaggerated sigh.
After the laughter from everyone died down, Singh noticed that David was looking at him intently. “Captain, permission to address your team?”
“Of course, sir,” Singh answered crisply.
David turned to the commandos. “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re about to embark on a mission that is both uniquely important and extremely perilous. I know you all understand the risk and potential rewards. If the mines come down, I believe we’ll carry the day. Ultimately, I can’t in good conscience order you to accept this mission, using untested technology we’re using for the first time on a wing and a prayer. Anyone willing to undertake the mission, please take one step for…” Before David could get the word “forward” out of his mouth, the entire team had taken one resounding step forward at the same time. David broke into a smile and finished the word, “..ward. Very well. Op approved, Captain Singh. Good luck, good hunting, and Godspeed.”
“Godspeed, General. Permission to disembark?” Singh asked as he glanced over his team, seeing all members ready to go.
“Granted, Captain.”
“Thank you, sir,” Singh replied before turning back to his team. “Okay, folks, complete the final checkouts of your gear, then get it all off and stowed onto the anti-grav equipment sleds for transport to our ride. We’ll see you in a few hours, General.”
David took his seat at the head of the conference table, flanked by the senior crew from the Lion; Calvin, Hanson, Ruth, Amir, Aibek, Taylor, Merriweather, and Doctor Hayworth were all presented and accounted for. They’d filed in over the last few minutes, ready for the final presentation to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the CDF and the overall Canaan Alliance leadership. Steady now, just imagine them all naked, and you’ll get through it. At the mental image, he smirked a bit.
“Lieutenant Taylor, please connect us to the briefing,” David ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Taylor responded crisply. He fiddled with the controls on the conference table, and a moment later, the video image from Canaan popped onto the large screen.
Staring at those assembled on the other end of the connection, David put on his best confident smile. “Greetings from the Lion of Judah, Mr. President, Chief Minister, Secretary Dunleavy, and all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
“Thank you, General Cohen,” President Spencer began. “You’ve got a lot of concerned folks in this room. We saw the holonews broadcast from the Lion. I think I speak for all of us when I ask, what’s going on?”
That didn’t take long… the president is nothing if not direct and to the point. “Sir, we staged that news report with the full cooperation of GNN’s reporter, to trigger a response from the League. We received intelligence from the CSV Oxford which led us to believe Admiral Seville’s civilian leadership was leaning toward sending out his fleet to find us,” David explained, smiling thinly. “We gave them a push to do just that. The push has succeeded, I might add. The Oxford’s stealth drones have already detected half the League fleet moving out of the system.”
“I presume this will allow an assault with better odds of success?” Spencer asked.
“Yes, sir. We’ve got an operational plan to disable the minefield. Doctor Hay
worth was instrumental in developing a solution that will allow our commandos to infiltrate the League space station without triggering the mines.”
“Why can’t you adapt the solution to our ships?” MacIntosh interjected.
“Because we took a Hunter missile’s AI and adapted it with real-time scientific sensor data into the commandos’ assault suits. I don’t think anyone would propose integrating AI with our warships.”
Spencer’s jaw momentarily dropped. “How’d you alter an AI on the fly, General?”
“Well, sir, the brevet rank did come with a set of gold-level access codes.”
MacIntosh nodded. “Unorthodox, General. I like it.”
“We have the commando team standing by for final deployment orders on a raider. Once the order is given, it’ll take them roughly three hours to transit to the space station. They will ingress the facility, turn off the mines, and our combined fleet will jump in and assault the League installation and its defending fleet.”
“Do you have enough forces to accomplish the objective, General?” Secretary Dunleavy asked.
“Yes, sir. My team has been over the tactical plan repeatedly, and we believe there’s enough ships, fighters, and Marines to pull this off. We replenished the Marine ranks with ship’s security personnel and volunteers.”
“I’m inclined to approve the attack, General Cohen. Chief Minister, what say you?”
Obe leaned forward in his chair. “If the commanders on the ground believe we can carry the day, then I too am inclined to agree.”
“What’s your projection of causalities, General?” Spencer queried.
“Five to ten percent of capital ships, twenty-five to thirty percent for small craft and our Marines,” David replied in a grim tone.
Spencer looked at Dunleavy. “That’s a lot of good men and women. Weighed against taking Unity, and ending the League’s ability to project power in our galactic arm… I have to say it’s worth it.”
“I agree, sir,” Dunleavy replied as the rest of the generals at the table nodded their heads in silent agreement.
“General, you have a go,” Spencer announced. “If at all possible, bring Admiral Seville back to Canaan for trial.”
“Yes, sir. We’ll get to it, sir. I’ll contact General MacIntosh when the Terran Coalition flag is proudly flying from Unity’s control room.”
“You do that, General,” Spencer replied with a slight grin. “Any closing thoughts, ladies and gentlemen?” he asked of those in the room with him. Seeing no takers, he continued, “Good hunting, and Godspeed, General Cohen. You and the entire fleet are in our prayers.”
“Thank you, sir. Lion of Judah out.”
The screen blinked off, and David let out a sigh. “Okay, the easy part’s done. Now we have to go beat the League.”
“After convincing all that brass to let us attack, defeating the League will be easy,” Calvin said with a snort.
Laughter swept the room, as even David joined in. “I’ll hold you to that, Colonel.” His eyes swept the room. “Okay, people, you’ve got your orders. Let’s move out.” Everyone sprang up at his command; he did as well. “Demood, Amir, please join me and the XO on the bridge. I’ll want a final review of the plan before we engage.”
“Aye aye, sir!” Amir replied in his normal accented tone.
“Roger that, sir,” Calvin muttered while heading for the exit.
David waited until the room had cleared to walk out himself. Focusing on his mind on the upcoming task, he resolved to talk to Calvin after this was all over as his earlier pep talk apparently hadn’t worked. There was something wrong with his friend, and he wanted to help.
25
After David had returned to the bridge, Calvin and Amir joined him and Aibek about fifteen minutes later. Standing around the big holoprojector in the middle of the CIC area, the four men stood side by side, staring at a visual presentation of the League station and its defending fleet.
“With half of the Seville’s fleet gone, the strategy is simple,” David said, zooming in on the station itself. “Our fleet will jump in once we get the word from the commandos that the minefield is down. The Lion of Judah will confirm it’s down…then we’ll launch everything we’ve got—fighters and Marines—and move forward. Nothing fancy about this, we punch straight down their throats.”
“What about reserves, sir?” Aibek asked.
“We don’t have enough ships for reserves, XO.”
“So we’re all in?” Amir said, his nose quirked.
“That we are. Final status of our flight wings?”
“We’ve got every pilot in the fleet on deck. A number of former pilots who transferred at some point in their careers to the fleet volunteered as well,” Amir said. “We’ve got more bombers than fighters, which will be an interesting dynamic. It’ll make an easier time of clearing enemy capital ships, but will make neutralizing their fast movers and achieving space superiority that much harder.”
“On top of that, we’ll need to avoid the point defense fields of Unity Station,” David said. “It’s going to be a tough nut to crack.”
“The Marine shuttles are all sporting the best ECM we’ve got, sir,” Calvin said in a glowering tone of voice. “But we’ll need cover from the fleet.”
“Of course. I’m not entirely sure when or how we’ll launch the assault on the station. The League fleet may sortie out to attack us, in which case we’d grind it down before moving forward. They may sit back and wait for us. That’s what I would do, personally. There will be events in the battlespace which drive my tactics; of that I am certain.”
“Going to be a lot of dead Marines out of this,” Calvin said.
Choosing to ignore the pessimism, David addressed a different question with his MEU commander. “Do we have enough troops?”
“Between my remaining Marines and the volunteers, yes. We have more than enough volunteers, actually… over two thousand of them.”
“Told you the people here are ready to fight,” Amir interjected.
“Yeah. Let’s hope it’s enough,” Calvin groused.
“It’s got to be enough,” David said. “Our hopes and dreams ride with us into battle today. I wanted to see you all personally one last time before we go into combat, to thank you for your efforts and wish you Godspeed.”
David reached out his hand and shook warmly with Amir; he would have hugged him, but bridge decorum prevailed.
“Inshallah, General,” Amir said.
Calvin also took David’s hand and shook it. “Good luck, General. Let’s put the hurt on these bastards.”
“Amen,” Aibek said, surprising all three of them.
“Okay, gentlemen. Get down to your respective commands and let’s get ready to roll,” David replied with finality.
Kenneth Lowe sat at his desk, deep in the bowels of the Lion of Judah. Joined by his two top leads, he’d reviewed outstanding support requests and ship repairs for the last thirty minutes. He’d been deep in thought before the two men arrived. Feeling like he wasn’t contributing to the war effort had taken its toll on him over the previous months. Colonel Demood’s call to arms had awakened something within him, and he’d been unable to set it aside.
“Everything that can be fixed is fixed,” Harold Billings stated in an exasperated tone, sitting in one of the two chairs in front of Kenneth’s desk.
“Everything? Including fighters?” Kenneth asked.
“Everything, boss.”
Kenneth glanced at Joshua Carter, his right-hand man. “What about on your side?”
“Anything we could do, we did. I’ve ensured our teams are posted around the Lion, but aside from that, we’re waiting for something to break.”
“You mean something to be blown apart during combat?” Kenneth said with a grin. “This waiting… I hate it. I want to be of use and contribute something to the battle.”
“The calm before the storm, I suspect,” Carter said, with an air of having been there before. “In some wa
ys, it’s incredible to be a part of this. To say that we were here, at a moment of history where everything changed. I hope it’s something for the better.”
“I’ve been thinking,” Kenneth began, drawing interruption from Billings.
“See, thinking, that’s what we don’t get paid to do, boss.”
All three men laughed before Kenneth continued. “If they don’t pay us to think, I shudder to think what they do pay us for. No, seriously… since Colonel Demood sent out the call for volunteers, I’ve been thinking.”
“You’re not volunteering for combat duty, sir. You were a comms guy; did you even see combat?” Carter asked.
“No, I didn’t. I served my entire stint on shore duty. I’ve been far closer to combat as a contractor than I ever was as an enlisted soldier.”
“Then what in the name of God has come over you?”
“Gentlemen,” Kenneth began before stopping, shaking his head, and speaking up again. “I’ve done all I can do to help the cause. When the shooting starts, there’s no need for another program manager. I’m removed enough from the real work… I can’t be of too much use there either. But on the boarding party, I could at the very least provide some covering fire. I could move boxes. I might be able to help.”
“Do you even know how to use a gun?” Billings asked with a snort.
“Hey, I’ve got eleven guns at my house, thank you very much.”
“I didn’t ask how many guns you owned. I asked if you knew how to use it.”
Kenneth rolled his eyes. “Yes, Master Chief, I know how to fire all of them, and one is the civilian version of our standard battle rifle, so I meet the requirements that Colonel Demood put out.”
“I’m coming with you, then,” Carter announced, setting his jaw.
“No, you’re not.”
“And why not? I know how to use a gun too.”
“Because you have three children at home and your wife would kill me if you got hurt. I don’t have that waiting for me like you do. Besides, if it all goes to heck here, our guys will need someone to look after them,”
