by Ken Lozito
“Thank you, General,” Major Cross said.
Connor gave her an approving smile. “We’ll use some of these solutions as the training standard.”
Connor swung his gaze to Major Corwin and pressed his lips together.
“Major Corwin,” Connor said sternly.
“Yes, General.”
“Is Captain Mattison with you?” Connor asked.
Major Corwin frowned for a moment. “No, sir . . . I . . . she’s on the bridge.”
Connor glanced over at Sergeant Boers at the comms station. “Open a comlink to the Wyatt’s bridge.”
A third window opened, showing a young dark-skinned woman. She was standing near the command chair and gave Connor a determined look.
“Captain Delta Mattison, I’m ordering you to assume command of the destroyer Wyatt as the ranking officer on the ship,” Connor said and looked over at Major Corwin. “Major, you are hereby relieved of duty as commander of the Wyatt. You are confined to your quarters until we reach Titan Space Station, and arrangements will be made to take you back to New Earth. Your performance in command of the Wyatt was reprehensible, and no amount of pathetic looks is going to convince me to give you a second chance. The soldiers serving aboard that ship would not get a second chance if they all died because you froze up at the first sign of battle. This next part is for all of you,” Connor said and glanced at the rest of them. “I know it’s become a popular notion to question whether there really is an attack force heading to this star system. Our job in the Colonial Defense Force isn’t to agree one way or another, but I think you know what I believe. Regardless, every one of us has to be prepared for the unexpected. We don’t have a fleet of ships at our disposal. We’re all we’ve got for the time being. It will be years before we build enough ships to defend the colony. Major Corwin, I want you to think long and hard about your performance and the road that led you to where you are today. You’re not commanding officer material, but perhaps there’s some other way you can contribute to the CDF. As commanding officers, we set the standard, and it would be outright negligence on my part to leave you in command of that ship.”
Major Corwin’s shoulders slumped and a flush swept across his face. A moment later he stood up straight and gave a salute. “Yes, sir,” Corwin said, and the video feed cut out.
Connor softened his gaze and looked over at Delta Mattison. “Captain, are you equipped to carry out the orders I’ve given you?”
Captain Mattison stood ramrod straight. “Yes, sir.”
Connor bobbed his head. “Okay then. I’ll need a list of candidates who can serve as your XO, at least until we return to New Earth.”
“Yes, General,” Captain Mattison said.
Connor looked at Reisman. “Send the data burst to them now.”
Reisman opened a menu on his terminal and, after a few moments, said, “Encrypted orders sent, sir.”
Connor turned back to the main screen. “Alright, ladies, time for the real fun to begin. What Colonel Reisman has sent over is an updated mission plan for Titan Space Station. At the Chmiel’s best speed, we’re still several days out from Titan Space Station. However, we can and will go much faster than that. I expect you to review the plans with your crew. If you have any suggestions, I want to hear about it.”
“General, may I ask a question?” Major Cross asked.
“Yes, Major.”
“Colonel Douglass is in command of the Space Station. Won’t he expect something like this?”
“I know I’ve developed something of a reputation for springing training missions when you least expect them, and I’d hate to disappoint Colonel Douglass. He and I have served together for a long time. If anything, these surprise drills teach us how we will react in tough situations,” Connor said.
“Grace under pressure, sir,” Major Cross said.
“Yes, and if we succeed, you have my permission to lord it over Colonel Douglass whenever you see him,” Connor said.
“I’ll do my best, General,” Major Cross said.
Connor dismissed the two of them so they would have time to review the details of his planned assault on the space station.
“She’s right. Kasey is expecting something like this,” Reisman said.
“He better be or I’ll bust him down to private,” Connor said.
“I have a question, if you don’t mind,” Reisman said.
“Go ahead, Wil.”
“Major Corwin. Had you already decided to relieve him of command, or did you decide during the presentation?” Reisman asked.
“I meant everything I said before. If I wasn’t convinced he should be in command, then he was done. The thing I’m debating now is whether to send you over to the Wyatt to take command,” Connor said.
“Wouldn’t be my first tour of duty on a destroyer. If you give the order, I’ll go over there and whip that ship into shape, but you might miss me,” Reisman said with a wry grin.
“Watch it or you’ll draw that short straw to be the pregnant woman this time,” Connor said.
Reisman’s eyes lit up. “Samson Denton! God, he hated when that happened to him. Too bad we don’t have any of those Ghost combat suits here. I could have a lot of fun with that.”
Connor laughed. “Let’s go over our assault plan with the rest of this crew. I really want to catch Kasey off guard.”
“If you really want to catch him off guard, you should send Sean in with a small team to temporarily disable some key systems,” Reisman said.
Connor’s eyebrows rose. “That’s not a bad idea. Too bad we don’t have any stealth combat shuttles.”
“Therein lies the fun,” Reisman said.
Connor shook his head. “We’re not modifying our shuttles. The heat stabilizers are there for a reason and I won’t risk a shuttle for the sake of a training mission.”
“Fine,” Reisman said, feigning disappointment. “I’ll come up with another way.”
“I’m sure you will,” Connor said and glanced at the main holoscreen, which now showed a star map and their trajectory to the space station.
Connor studied the area beyond the space station and sighed. For everything they’d accomplished in the past seven years, they still didn’t know what was beyond the nearest buoy. Noah Barker had thrown himself at the problem, trying a multitude of ways to glean more intelligence from them. They’d even debated sending a deep-space probe out there as an early warning device. At least then they’d have some confirmation that an attack force was coming for them. But this was around the time Stanton Parish had been voted into office, and the proposal was denied. So Connor had devoted time and resources to Titan Space Station instead. The station was their first line of defense and he hoped it was enough. He’d much rather be the fool who was wrong than be right and have everyone else pay the price if the CDF failed.
12
Noah ran his fingers through his short-cropped hair as he waited for the latest diagnostic to finish for the modified HADES IV missile system. He’d ditched his long hair years ago when he joined the Colonial Defense Force. Sometimes he missed it, though having long hair wasn’t the most practical of things to maintain. In truth, he liked not having to deal with it when he got up in the morning.
He was in a cramped engineering work area on Titan Space Station and had been for eight months, which was longer than he’d originally been assigned, but the work he was doing here was important. The bulk of Titan Space Station’s infrastructure had been taken from the original Ark. On more than one occasion Noah’d had trouble imagining that the space station was once part of the massive colony ship that ferried over three hundred thousand humans to this star system. The original intention for the Ark had been to be broken up and taken to the surface of New Earth to be used by the colony. Those goals had changed. The colony needed this outpost to monitor and scan for any threats that meant the colony harm. Titan Space Station was the first line of defense for the entire star system. They maintained their position relative to the
nearest deep-space buoy. Over the years, Noah had come to appreciate the engineering marvel of the deep-space buoy network that was put in place as a means to bolster communication signals from Earth. He was also well aware of their shortcomings. For years he’d worked on trying to glean any piece of data off of the deep-space buoys that would give them some insight into what catastrophe had befallen Earth and whether there was an invasion force coming for the colony. He’d failed on both counts.
The powered door to the Engineering lab hissed open and Noah glanced behind him.
Kara walked in, carrying two cups of glorious, steaming coffee.
Noah perked up in his seat. “You’re a saint. Thank you.”
The edges of Kara’s lips curved upward into a smile that exposed an adorable dimple on the side of her cheek. She handed him his coffee and set hers down.
“Where we at?” Kara asked.
Noah took a sip of his coffee and relished the taste of the creamy brew. “Oh, attempt number eight hundred and thirty-six . . . maybe thirty-seven,” he said, bringing up the simulation iterance number and frowning.
“Only slightly off there, genius. You’re at eight hundred and forty-seven. What did you change this time?” Kara asked.
She rested her hand on his shoulder and peered at the holoscreen in front of them.
Noah turned toward her and caught the sweet scent of the lavender shampoo she’d used.
Kara glanced at him and smiled, then gave him a quick peck on the lips and sat down.
“When I stopped thinking of these things as missiles and thought of them as small spacecraft, I had the idea of adding additional systems. Primarily I added a secondary targeting array and had the shielding for it pop off during its flight. I even added a third, which will enable the guidance system to stay on target and not get blinded by other detonations or point defense systems,” Noah said.
Kara frowned and had the computer highlight the systems that were modified. “I can see that it’s longer, but show me—” She stopped speaking and took control of the interface. The simulation showed that the HADES IV long-range missile had reconfigured itself during its flight toward its intended target. “I can see why Colonel Douglass was so excited by this.”
“He just said that no matter what I changed, the missile still had to fit in the tube. But once it leaves the ship it doesn’t need to retain its shape, which gives us some flexibility. It’s not like there’s any aerodynamics in the near vacuum of space,” Noah said.
Kara frowned. “Yeah, but there is always a cost. The engines still need to push the added weight along. See, the range is cut down by twenty percent.”
“Yeah, but it’s more accurate. What’s more important—that we hit our target or how far away we can miss them?” Noah asked. He’d known the additional equipment would impact the range, but he’d rather stand a better chance of hitting his mark.
“Depends, and it’s not up to us, regardless,” Kara said.
“The range of the missile isn’t fixed, so couldn’t we modify that to get the twenty percent back?” Noah asked.
“We could. It just depends on how far away the targets are and it also depends on the warhead on it. Let’s run a few more simulations and then take it to the colonel,” Kara said.
Noah nodded and took another sip of his coffee. Kara was the lead engineer when it came to the defense systems of Titan Space Station. Noah had learned that with any weapons of war it was a game of give and take. Higher accuracy required more sophisticated systems, which impacted other things like weight and yield. There was always a price to pay.
“I’m not saying the colonel won’t like the idea, but we need to be upfront about the system’s limitations. However, given that we’re constantly being expected to accomplish more with less leads me to believe he’ll approve these changes,” Kara said.
Noah nodded and stood up. He stretched his arms overhead and worked out some of the stiffness in his shoulders.
“He’ll probably want to know how many HADES IVs we can modify,” Noah said.
Kara grinned and shook her head. “You’re learning, but it won’t be you and me modifying all these missiles. We’ll need to come up with a process so we can task my team with it.”
Noah pressed his lips together. “I’m not sure—”
“You just worry about the technical steps and I’ll worry about how to get it done once I make sure you won’t blow us up,” Kara said. “I was kidding,” she followed up quickly.
“That was a long time ago,” Noah said, getting a bit defensive.
He’d made a quick update of the power relay systems when he’d first arrived and nearly destroyed one of the subsections of the space station. He’d only been trying to help, but he’d thought Colonel Douglass was going to ship him back to New Earth before the cargo carrier left. Noah hadn’t been particularly enthused to be assigned to the space station, but Connor insisted that they could use his help. It was only supposed to be for one six-month rotation, but he’d requested to stay when his six months were up, which was in no small part due to the work being done and meeting Kara. He’d even sent a vid to Lenora telling her about Titan’s lead engineer. Though they weren’t related, Lenora Bishop was like a big sister to him and she was as close to family as he had here on the colony. He looked forward to introducing Kara to Lenora one day.
Noah spent the next few hours finalizing the process required to modify the HADES IV missiles. The best thing about his proposed process was that it required very little in the way of fabrication. They could feasibly get away with the supplies they had on hand. When it came to work, Kara Roberts was all business, and just because she happened to be in a relationship with Noah didn’t mean she took it easy on him in the slightest. She went over his proposed process with a fine-toothed comb and refined the areas where it was lacking.
“This should be good enough to present to Colonel Douglass, but we’ll likely adjust it more as we have more people analyze it,” Kara said.
“Only if they want to break what I’ve done,” Noah replied.
He’d had some engineer jockeys go through his work for other projects and try to improve on them, only to break the system entirely. If they’d just followed his process, things would’ve worked out fine.
“We’ll see,” Kara said and climbed out of her chair.
She arched her back, and Noah couldn’t help it as his gaze took in the sight of her.
“Eyes up. We don’t have time for that now,” Kara said.
As Noah complied and turned toward the door, he felt Kara’s hand squeeze his shoulder and her breath tickle his neck.
“Perhaps tonight, if you’re lucky,” she said in a breathy tone.
Oh god. If she kept that up, he’d have trouble walking down the hallway. Kara darted ahead of him and Noah had to run to catch up to her. One thing he definitely didn’t like about the space station was that the corridors were so small.
He wondered if he could convince Kara to come back to New Earth with him, not that he’d have much time on the planet. He had a feeling that Connor would send him to help work on the battleship carrier being constructed with the last section of the Ark, but he should be able to make a decent argument that his next assignment be planet-side instead of in space. He missed the good old days when he was simply dispatched to different parts of the colony to set up systems and fix things. Once Connor Gates showed up, that all changed. The CDF founder and general had snatched him up and would only share him with Lenora, at least for a time. Lenora and Connor hardly spoke to each other anymore, which was a shame because he liked them both and thought they were a good pair.
They waited for the elevator that would take them up to the Command Center level. He checked the elevator’s location and noted its steady descent. A cluster of CDF personnel approached and waited to get on the same elevator. Suddenly, the lighting in the area went out and the emergency lighting came on.
The station’s AI chimed and then spoke: “Power consumptio
n exceeds the usage designated for this area of Titan Space Station. Mandatory power rationing is in effect.”
Noah looked at Kara and rolled his eyes.
“Apologies, folks on E deck. We’re testing the failover system for the power relay between the upper and lower decks. The power should be restored momentarily,” a man’s voice said over the nearby speaker.
Noah glanced at Kara. “Next, we’ll hear Butters screwed up the assembly again and what should be a five-minute fix turns into a five-day nightmare for the rest of us.”
“You really don’t like that guy,” Kara said.
“I’m sure he’s a great guy who works awfully hard to make stupid mistakes. Makes me wonder if he was sent out here as some kind of punishment,” Noah replied.
Kara grabbed his arm and guided him toward the ladder shafts they could use to climb to the upper levels. She started climbing first and Noah followed.
“Too bad they didn’t put in stairs,” Noah said as he climbed.
“Wouldn’t work well here,” Kara answered.
“Why not? Certainly would be easier than climbing a ladder,” Noah said.
“Stairs are fine when there’s gravity, but when there isn’t, you’d be glad for the ladder instead of the stairs, trust me,” Kara replied.
“Great. Maybe they can get Butters to work on the artificial gravity fields next,” Noah said.
Kara didn’t reply and they continued to climb. Noah glanced down and wished he hadn’t. Beneath him was a dizzying view of a ladder shaft that was eight decks long. He swung his gaze in front of him and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. He should have waited for the elevator.
They got out of the ladder shaft a few levels above and took the elevator the rest of the way. The Command Center for Titan Space Station was a large open space with many workstations that rivaled the bridge of most ships. Titan was more of a space port than merely a station, given the size of the place. Most of it had been converted and retrofitted with missile tubes and various types of heavy cannons. There were plans for another hangar bay to be added to support a squadron or two of small attack spacecraft.
