First Contact (Galactic Axia Adventure) (13 page)

The commander’s lips tightened at the news. It indicated that losses were heavier than the holographic display was showing.

Commander Tess fingered the display’s controls and changed the settings to magnify sector J-32. Enlarged, it showed the Red-tails had breached the line of Axia ships and were vectoring away toward open space. While she watched, she saw two more Galactic Axia indicators flare and die. She felt a tear form in her eye and then trickle down her cheek.
How many lives will be lost?
How many of our friends must pay the price of freedom?

“Is there any word from the fast picket ships in that sector?” Her voice was still choked from the sudden surge of emotion.

“All I’ve got is that several are responding to the call of the ships under attack,” the comm officer replied.

“Signal a squadron to pursue the Red-tails. Seek and destroy.”

“Acknowledged,” the comm officer replied. “We also have reports that the mopping action is going well and is without casualties.”

The commander nodded and continued to watch the battle unfold in the display tank. She could see several fast ships converging on the battle and smiled when she saw a number of them change their course and pursue the fleeing enemy ships. With satisfaction, Tess watched a dozen Red-tail ships wink out in the crossfire from the fast attack pickets. Moments later, the small knot of Red-tails broke up and scattered at high speed. The holographic display showed the pickets torching a few of them but several got away.

“The picket ships report that the enemy has scattered,” the comm officer called. “They got a few of them but the rest escaped.”

“Do they have a probable course for the fleeing ships?”

“Not specifically. But they do have a general idea.”

“Pursue and destroy,” the commander ordered as the last of the fleeing Red-tails disappeared off the edge of the holographic display. “I don’t want them getting through to any population centers.”

“Acknowledged,” the comm officer answered. “We also have a report of one intact Red-tail ship captured.”

“What about its crew?

“Unfortunately, they were killed when the ship was boarded,” the comm officer reported. He didn’t sound particularly disappointed.

“Have it turned over to one of the reinforcement teams,” she said. “Order standard search procedure for our people. I want everybody accounted for. All ships not involved in searches or repairs are to return to their normal duty stations, adjusting for any gaps left by missing ships.”

“Yes, Commander,” the comm officer replied. He turned and began issuing orders to the ships under their command. In the quiet buzz of the control room, the commander overheard other departments directing the recovery and accounting of all Axia ships and personnel involved in the just concluded battle. Pleased though she was, Commander Tess felt a stray thought demanding her attention.

Looking again at the holographic display, she had an epiphany. Adjusting the controls, she moved the focus back to the point where the Red-tails had originally concentrated. Enlarging the display, she brought out the image of the planetoid where the Red-tails had been staging this infiltration.

“Signal the reinforcement fleet to dispatch teams to investigate that planetoid,” she called over to the comm officer. “Tell them to be prepared for anything down there. They were up to something and we better find out what it was.”

∞∞∞

Almost an hour late, Delmar safely brought his ship down to land on his assigned pad on Rodar. To advert a search, he’d called in as soon as he regained the edge of the practice range. But now he had to face the music. There was no way around it. Service regulations required him to report his engagement with the enemy. He could not cover it up. Not only would the other Axia ship most likely report the engagement but the ground crew would notice almost immediately that one of the torps from his ship had been fired.

“Control to AR-237,” came the call as Delmar was shutting down ship systems.

“AR-237,” Delmar replied, fearful of what the controller might say.

“Report to the Orientation Officer for debriefing.”

“Acknowledged,” Delmar replied with a sinking heart. It wasn’t so much the engagement with the enemy that worried him. It was the fact that by his own stupidity he’d gotten lost. On the way back to the range at high speed, Delmar belatedly remembered the damper controls on his ship meant for maneuvering at high speed. Its use prevented the controls from drifting or accidentally being moved by something as stupid as a twitch.

“Bring your flight recorder,” the controller continued. Now Delmar felt sick. The order only meant one thing—a review board.

“Acknowledged.” Then he made what he hoped would not be his last transmission. “AR-237 out.”

∞∞∞

“Seven...six...five...four. We have ignition. Three...two...one. Lift-off!” sounded the voice from the speakers in the control room. Outside, the titanic rocket lifted ponderously from the launch pad amid billowing clouds of flame and exhaust. Attached to the side of the towering mass of explosive fuel and engines was Maranar’s first orbital shuttle craft. Designed to return to Maranar and land like a giant glider, the shuttle was the world’s first reusable space vehicle. More than that, the shuttle program expanded the limits of human achievement and broadened the understanding of their world. The craft had been launched a dozen other times to help establish Maranar’s orbital satellite program. This was the first mission where it would carry a human cargo on a manned exploration to map the planet’s primary moon.

The shuttle consist of three major components – the orbiter which houses the crew, a large external tank that holds fuel for the main engines, and two solid rocket boosters which provide most of the shuttles lift during the first two minutes of the shuttle’s flight. All of the components are reused except for the external fuel tank which burns up in the atmosphere after each launch.

Four men grit their teeth while they experienced the painful rapid acceleration of the rocket. Two of them, veterans of the space program, had launched with the program before. The other two had experienced flight in aircraft and simulators, but had yet to launch in the actual spacecraft. Although Maranar had sent up several orbital missions in the last decade, this was the first manned exploration mission to head away from their home planet.

The press and media safely perched on a viewing platform over a mile away tracked the rising rocket as it struggled to climb ever higher. Long-range lenses and high-speed film and video cameras kept the view of the thundering rocket filling the screens of viewers around the planet. As the rocket sailed upward, the separation of each booster stage occurred according to plan as the explosive bolts fired. The untrained eye saw the spectacular display of fire and smoke. Those familiar with the process observed details that could portend more serious developments.

It only took a matter of minutes to boost the ship into high orbit around Maranar. A cheer ran through the control room at the announcement that the mission had reached a stable orbit. In spite of the complexity of the equipment and procedures involved, the mission was going according to plan. In another hour, the rocket would be in a position to blast its way out of orbit and onto a trajectory toward Maranar’s largest moon.

∞∞∞

Stan Shane found his first ship-to-ship suit transfer much easier than he was led to believe. The transport ship had come to a relative standstill next to one of the airlocks of the much larger mothership. Stan and a couple of other troopers were suited up and waiting with their gear inside the transport airlock.

When the signal light over the outer door turned green, they opened the hatch to see the open entrance of the mothership a mere fifty yards away. One of the troopers attached a safety line to a hook beside the hatch and then propelled himself effortlessly across the gap. Troopers on the other side helped stop his momentum and secured the line to their ship. Then each of the others attached themselves to the safety line and pulled themselves across.

Stan and one other man stayed to push each of the pressure containers filled with gear out through the hatch. These were also attached to the safety line and then given a shove, sending them sailing across the space between ships. Troopers on the other ship caught each container as it reached the hatch and stacked them inside their airlock.

Finally, Stan hooked onto the line and glided across. It was strange that he had no sense of motion, except for what his eyes told him. Arriving at the airlock of the mothership, he quickly unhooked and stepped inside. He immediately felt the effect of the ship’s artificial gravity. One of the troopers on this end disconnected the safety line and the trooper still on the transport reeled it back in. With a wave, he shut the hatch and the transport moved silently away.

On this side, one of the crewmen secured the outer hatch and cycled the airlock. When the green indicator light came on over the inner door someone opened the hatch and they all filed into the ship carrying the pressure containers between them. The new personnel were assigned quarters and instructed to drop off their gear and get out of their pressure suits. Afterwards, they checked in with the duty officer. Thanks to forewarning from Regional Fleet Command, the officer was able to integrate their duties and specialties into the duty roster.

Adjusting to duty aboard the gigantic mothership would take some getting used to but Stan decided he would be able to manage. It was still unsettling, however, to consider just how big one of these ships really was. The idea that it had over a thousand crew members and was capable of carrying another twelve dozen smaller ships in its docking bays was mind-boggling! Stan felt lost thinking of all the constant activity going on all around him.

Stan cleared his thoughts and consulted one of the frequent ship maps to find his way to his new duty station. It took him several minutes and only a few wrong turns to find his way through the huge ship. The experience only heightened his sense of feeling lost and out of place. Once Stan reported to the Computer Section, however, things started falling into place. There was something about working with the familiar that helped him feel at home.

Shortly after arriving, Stan was taken aside by the section leader and briefed on their mission. “Has anyone told you why you’re here?” he asked once they were alone in a small office.

“No sir, they haven’t,” Stan answered. Then with just a hint of mischief he added, “But I suspect it has something to do with computers.”

“Good guess,” the leader replied, aware that his leg was being pulled.
I’m going to like this guy
, he thought. “In general, we’re all here in support of the recent action against the Red-tails in the neighboring sector.”

“I’d pieced that much together from the talk aboard the transport,” Stan replied. “But I understand the battle has already taken place.”

“That’s correct,” the leader replied. “And in case you haven’t heard, it was very successful.”

“So why are we still in such a hurry?”

“Because the real interesting stuff is just beginning!” the leader said with a grin. “We’ll be part of the team to land on the former Red-tail stronghold. Preliminary reports show that it’s still pretty much intact.”

Stan’s eyes widened at the prospect. “You mean they didn’t destroy their own equipment when the Axia attacked?”

“That’s right. We get to take first crack at a Red-tail main frame computer!”

Chapter Nine

The small room was deathly still without even dust motes moving in the morning light streaming in through the windows. Delmar stood ram-rod still at attention in his dress uniform before the review board. To one side stood the playback equipment on which was being shown the critical timeframes while Delmar was outside the training range, lost and out of contact.

Using toe-flex techniques he’d honed in basic, Delmar kept his blood circulating in his legs while he stood at rigid attention. Though fearful at the unusual circumstance of being called before a review board, he tried not to show it. But the chill he felt from the officers who now held his fate in their hands made each rivulet of sweat that ran down his back feel like an icy claw of death.

Normally, the review board allowed the person under investigation to stand at parade rest if not seated before them. But as the Orientation Officer had told Delmar when he reported directly from the flightline, this review was anything but normal. Now he was seriously on-the-carpet and found himself scarcely breathing. Time seemed to stand still except for the hum of equipment. Only shifting his eyes, Delmar looked at the wall clock and swore that even the second hand had ceased to move.

The flight recorder finally finished showing the brief battle and aftermath of Delmar’s encounter with the Red-tail. The civilian ship he’d rescued appeared on the screen for only a few minutes and then departed as Delmar turned his ship for home. The three officers wrote a few more notes and then took their time reading the transcripts from Delmar’s comm equipment. Finally, the presiding officer deigned to look in Delmar’s direction.

“You are dismissed into the custody of the sergeant at arms,” the officer said in a flat voice as he fixed the young captain with a steely gaze.

“Yes sir,” Delmar managed to say with only a slight shake in his voice. Showing he had learned well in basic, Delmar turned smartly on his heel and followed the armed trooper out of the room.

After the young captain was gone and waiting in a small stark holding area, the lead officer let out his breath. “Ok men, now we can relax for a moment,” he said. The other two sighed their relief. One loosened his collar.

“What do we do with this pup?” the youngest officer asked. Though appointed as second on this review board, he was still uncomfortable having to review a fellow captain, no matter how new and untried.

“Well, he definitely showed poor judgment, and at times he mishandled his ship,” noted the third officer.