Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (18 page)

John said, “Sir, I didn’t come up with the plan. Private Graves made it.”

“So you allowed a brand new recruit who had never taken part in any of our exercises make a plan for the four of you who have been here from the beginning?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Why did you do that, Private?”

“It sounded like a good plan, Sir.”

“Oh, it did, did it?”

“Sir, yes Sir.”

Kline turned his attention to the short, red haired, woman as she stared straight ahead. He stood and walked up in front of her and looked her in the eyes, “Explain to me how you were able to convince these four to follow you. Did you use your former rank to push your weight around?”

“Sir, no Sir. My teammates didn’t know about my former rank.”

Kline looked over at Vaughn and said, “Did you know?”

Tommy looked very uncomfortable and said, “Sir, I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Sir.”

Explain to me, Private Graves, how you made the decisions to carry out this plan?”

“Sir, I know that all the conduits that control all the ship’s systems fed through the landing bay. I determined that if they could be cut and the walls breeched, the bridge would lose control of their boards.”

“Did you consider that the bridge had an auxiliary power supply?”

“Yes Sir, but according to the boards that were taken from a Black Ship by The Zord Kreej, it was also located in the rear of the landing bay. If the cut was made in the center of the bay, it would have been cut as well.”

“Just where did you get that information, Private?”

“Sir, it’s in the mainframe on the Algean Ship. I asked our pilot if he had any information about the Black Ships and he shared it with me, Sir.”

Kline turned and walked back to his desk and sat down. He said on his com, “Sgt. Johnson, please come in with the disciplinary papers.”

Kline saw all five show their despair in their eyes. He had seen that expression hundreds of times during basic training as recruits washed out. Johnson came in and handed him a stack of papers. He looked at Private Vaughn and said, “What are you going to do next time, Private?”

Tommy didn’t hesitate, “I would do it again the same way, Sir. It was a good plan.”

Kline smiled, “Yes, it was.” He looked at Gina and said, “Private Graves, you are promoted to Captain and will be the commander of this company. We have four platoons in our company and each of you will be promoted to Lieutenant commanding them. You shattered the record for destroying a ship with half the normal number of warriors. I expect you to teach those under your command how to use the tactics you followed. You have made me proud and your willingness to stand by your team member only makes me certain I’m making a good decision. At ease.”

The five relaxed and Kline saw their excitement. “Sgt. Johnson, if you will have them sign the forms, they need to report to their platoons and start training them. Captain Graves, if you will remain behind, I would like to speak with you.”

Gina smiled and said, “Yes Sir.”

• • •

Gina entered the room, came to attention, and saluted. Kline returned Gina’s salute and said, “Sit down, Captain.” She pulled a chair up and sat in front of Kline’s desk, “Why have you been trying so hard to become a part of this exercise?”

“This is where the future leaders of our warriors are going to be chosen. I want to have a hand in fighting the Black Ships.”

“Wouldn’t you do that just as well commanding a Warship in the Navy? I’ve looked at your test scores and you could have acquired a command rather quickly.”

“Killing them in a warship doesn’t really meet my needs, Sir.”

Kline narrowed his eyes and said, “Tell me what you mean by that?”

“Watching a ship explode from a distance just doesn’t do it for me. I want to see the death of the invaders up close.”

Kline started to worry that the woman in front of his might not be stable. Her psychiatric exams said she was but this didn’t sound good. “I think you need to explain what you mean by that?”

“Sir, I was visiting New Hope on a field trip with my second grade class when Bristone and the other worlds in our universe were destroyed. When they burned Juniper, they killed my entire family including my twin sister. They created a void in me that can never be filled. It became my quest to make them pay. I’ve been working on that since that time. I joined the warriors in the hope that we would one day invade their home worlds and I would have an opportunity to remove them from Creation.”

She paused and Kline said, “Go on.”

“When I heard about this command actually teleporting into their ships to destroy them, I knew that I had to be a part of it.”

“Why?”

“Because it would give me the opportunity to actually see those orange pieces of groad die.”

Kline stared at Gina and remained silent.

“You’re worried that my desire for revenge would jeopardize the lives of those under my command.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Every one of us is more valuable than a million of those creatures. I will not waste one life unnecessarily. I will do all I can to make sure my warriors have the best chance of survival. I’m not blinded by my hatred; I’m just motivated by it.”

Kline smiled, “I understand. You realize that if you advance in rank you might not be taking part in the actual fighting?”

“That’s where I hope I can count on you to prevent that happening. That fear is what made me tell you the truth about my feelings. I worried that you might remove me from the exercise, but I knew that to fulfill my debt, you had to know.”

“What exactly is your debt, Captain?”

“Just killing them in their ships is not enough, Sir. The evil they represent must be removed from existence. I’m driven by the long view on this and will do the right things to make that happen.”

“Captain, I will help you balance your debt. I was originally intending to take out two ships with this company but you have come up with a plan that could make the numbers more meaningful. We have a hundred and sixty Life Warriors in this company and if we can kill a Black Ship with five of them, we can take out more than thirty. “I want you to get your command trained to make that happen.”

“I will do exactly that, Sir. And thank you.” She stood and saluted.

Kline returned her salute and Sgt. Johnson walked in as she exited the room, “Are you sure about this?”

“Oh yes. Some commanders are frightened to take risks while confronting an enemy. We won’t have that problem with her.”

Sgt. Johnson looked out the door as Gina left the building and said, “You are right about that. She does have a warrior’s heart.”

Kline leaned back in his chair, “And that is what will make the difference, Sarge.”

• • •

Gina walked quickly back to the company’s barracks thinking about how to get the warriors trained. She thought about the young Major that had beaten her scores in training and discovered that his youth didn’t bother her. She was four years older but he handled himself much better than most of the officers she had encountered. She stopped and suddenly realized that he said he understood her quest. She sensed that he really did understand and wondered what had happened to him to allow him to see it. She started walking again and realized that he would not give up the right to take part in the fighting either. Sheena would have liked him. She knew she did.

• • •

Tag and Trey entered Kline’s office and he jumped to attention. “At ease, Major. How long will it be before your command is ready to fight?”

“We are ready now, Your Grace. We’re just waiting on the additional ships needed to transport the attack groups.”

Tag looked at the report in his hand and said, “I thought two ships were enough?”

“It was originally, but we’ve determined that we can destroy their ships with only five warriors.”

Trey said, “Just how are you going to do that?”

“Our original plan called for destroying their reactors which would explode and kill the ship. We were concerned that the explosion would trap our warriors inside the force field and possibly kill them if the explosion arrived before the field went down. Now, we are not going to attack the reactors.”

Tag sat down and said, “Please sit, Major. What are you going to do?”

“We are going to teleport five Warriors into different sections of the ship and have them cut through the walls from ceiling to floor. They will then teleport out.”

“What will that do?”

“We’ve learned from the theft of their dimensional drive by Kreej that, if power is interrupted to the control boards on the bridge, the ship will self-destruct. Once that happens, the force field will drop and the Warriors will teleport to the coordinates of their attack craft. The self-destruct explosion will not be as powerful as the one produced by the destruction of their reactors. It is our intent to destroy thirty of their newest ships in our first attack, Your Grace.”

Tag looked at Trey and saw him nod, “Major, you are hereby promoted to the rank of General and will assume the command of our Life Warriors once this exercise is completed; congratulations.”

“I’m sorry, Your Grace, but I must refuse.”

Tag stared at the young man and said in a stern voice, “You are needed to prepare our forces.”

“Your Grace, I am needed at the front fighting the Black Ships. Any one of my officers can manage the training you require. I will resign my rank and be a private before I give up my right to fight the enemy head on.”

Trey smiled and said, “You’re doing it for your father, aren’t you?”

“Yes Sir, I am.”

Tag looked at Trey as he said, “Then we will do this. You will be promoted to the rank of General and we will send you a regiment to train. You will be our Special Forces that will be used in missions that are the most difficult. We won’t prevent you from taking part but we insist that you have a replacement trained to replace you in the event you are lost. If you refuse this, you will be out of the Marines.”

“I have already selected five that can take my place. I need you to promote them so that it will be done automatically if that should happen. However, isn’t there only enough Life Warriors to make a regiment?”

Trey smiled and shook his head, “You are quick, but you are not exactly right. Remember the Realm has more than a million Red Warriors defending it.”

“What are you going to do with them, Sir?”

“Unfortunately, their armor is not as good as the new armor we’ve developed. Since it is in their DNA, it can’t be heavily modified and they will have to be used as drop troops. They understand their role and really wish they could join the new Life Warriors but realize their limitations. Their destiny lies in what happens if we survive the Demons”

Tag smiled at Trey and said, “I wish I had done this when faced with promotion.”

Kline said, “Your Grace, no one could replace you.”

Tag laughed and said, “Trey, make sure this command is completely independent of all other forces. The General here will take his orders directly from you.”

Kline said, “Your Grace, would you mind if I sent my officers to choose those that will command? And if I may be presumptuous, will you give me two stars; I have a member of my staff that should be a General handling the Regiment’s preparation while I oversee the general operations. She will be the one that takes my place if I’m lost.”

Tag smiled, “Done; General, make your own promotion recommendations and send them to us. You may then start choosing your warriors; that’s assuming you survive the mission.”

Kline smiled, “If we don’t, we will go out with a bang taking Black Ships with us.”

Tag said, “Make it back, General.”

“I have every intention of doing that, Your Grace.”

• • •

Tag sat with Trey in the Map Room at Castle Gardner and took a sip from his glass, “I’m not sure about allowing our General to take part in combat operations.”

Trey laughed, “If I’m not mistaken, weren’t you the one leading gorilla operations against the Algean Fleets in that war?”

“Well, yes, I guess so.”

“That’s why the Realm loved your family so much. They knew you put your life on the line to defend them. This General will also be loved by the Warriors under him because he will share their risk; just like the Realm’s Navy respected you. This is a good thing.”

Tag tilted his head and said, “I guess you’re right.”

Trey laughed, “You know I am. I’m getting better at seeing things.”

Tag smiled, “You are right again. Let’s see how this turns out.”

• • •

Kline sat in front of his officers and said, “The ships are ready and our departure time will be at 0700 in two days. We have the Intel on the enemy’s ships and have given the selection to our Algean Pilots. They will teleport simultaneously to your assigned targets.” Kline saw their excitement and said, “Before we go, there is something I need to do. Effective after the mission is completed; Captain Graves will be promoted to Brigadier General and will be reporting to me. Each of you will be promoted to Colonel and will command a battalion of Life Warriors. The team leaders in your platoon that command a squad will be promoted to Captains and take command of the Regiment’s Companies.”

Gina interrupted saying, “Sir, I respectfully decline the promotion.”

Kline said, “Oh, be quiet, Gina. You and I both will be taking part in the fighting. That was the only way I would accept this structure.”

“Then I withdraw my objection, Sir. I’m sorry for interrupting.”

“Just don’t do it again, General.”

“Not yet, Sir; after the mission.”

Kline smiled and nodded, “You’re right. Now we’re going to need sixty four more warriors selected to promote to Lieutenant to command our platoons. I want a list from each of you of those that have demonstrated the needed skills to handle that duty. We will make our selections from those on the list that survive this mission. In the event I don’t make it, Captain Graves will replace me. Lt. Vaughn, you will replace us if both of us don’t make it back. Any questions?”

No one said anything and Kline said, “Pick up your Intel packs and get your Warriors ready. Captain Graves and I will prepare our teams.”