Into the Black: Odyssey One (49 page)

For a nation struggling with the first devastating defeats of the World War and the oppressive weight of the Block’s troops pushing in from all sides, the ’Angels had been one of the symbols that turned things around.

Jennifer Samuels had to wonder, now that she was confronted with what she had wished for, how well was she going to stack up against those giants?

“Nervous?”

Jenny jumped. Or, rather, she jerked and went flying off the seat in the null gravity. Her quick reflexes let her hook the cockpit canopy with her fingers and push herself back, as she looked back to the source of the voice, but she almost wished she’d just kept flying off when she recognized Commander Michaels.

“No Sir,” she told him evenly.

“Bullshit,” he snorted in response. “Lieutenant, let me clue you into one thing, something Eric told me, before my first flight.”

She swallowed at his tone, but nodded.

“You can bullshit yourself all you want, I don’t care. You can lie to your mates about how scared you are, ‘cause Lord knows, they’re going to lie to you,” he flashed a crooked grin, then looked serious again. “But I’m the Honcho of this circus, and if I ask you a question…, any question, you can damn well bet I have a good goddamn reason for asking. So when I ask, you give me the truth. We clear?”

Jenny nodded. “Crystal.”

“Good.” He nodded once, “Nervous?”

“Yes Sir,” she told him evenly.

“Also good,” he told her evenly. “Don’t lose those butterflies. They’ll keep you alive, long enough to become an old timer, like me.”

She risked a smile at that, since Michaels wasn’t even twenty-eight, yet.

“But when we engage the interface, watch out for your nerves,” he told her. “You can mess up your stabilizers pretty bad if the plane can’t figure out what direction you want to jump. So nerves are okay, just don’t let them screw up your flying.”

Jennifer nodded. “Yes Sir.”

“Good,” he clapped the canopy with his hand. “Then I’ll let you get back to communing.”

“Sir?” She looked confused.

“Talking to your plane,” he smiled. “We all do it, Lieutenant. Stark raving lunatics, the lot of us.”

“Yes Sir,” she grinned in response. “I think I’ll fit in fine.”

“I’m sure you will, Lieutenant. I’m sure you will.”

*****

Captain Weston stepped back on the Bridge twenty minutes to the second, after he’d left it and shot Commander Roberts a look, as he crossed the deck to the central chair.

The Commander rose without comment, nodding respectfully as Weston sat down, then excused himself and left the Bridge.

“Enemy status?”

“Still on the predicted course, Captain,” Waters replied. “We’re now within one AU of the task group.”

“Understood,” Weston replied. “Lamont, inform all decks that we’re going to drop all nonessential power consumption, until further notice.”

“Aye Captain. Powering down all nonessentials,” Lamont replied, tapping the order.

The lights dimmed immediately, as did many of the displays that littered the Bridge and in a few moments, they were sitting in near darkness, as only the low powered red lamps joined the dim glow of the combat displays, as they slowly counted down the time to intercept.

Weston reached down to the arm of his chair feeling out the controls by touch toggling the ship-wide communicator.

“This is the Captain speaking,” he said firmly, looking ahead at the display. “I’d like to say a few words to everyone, so if you can…, take a moment to listen.”

*****

The cafeteria hushed, everyone looking up at the speakers that were built into the walls and ceiling.

“In…, a little over thirty minutes, we’ll be going into battle once more. The enemy has proven himself to be ruthless, having destroyed at least two entire worlds that we know of, and has obvious designs on a populated planet in this system.”

Faces darkened, even in the shadows that covered the room, some of the people looking down at ground.

“I… We won’t stand by and simply allow this,” the Captain’s voice said. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to stop it, but I do know that to let it simply… happen… would be a crime in itself.”

*****

Commander Roberts looked up as he finished stripping off his uniform, hand a few inches from the shower controls.

“We’ve already become more involved in this war than I would have liked,” the Captain said. “But each time we have proven that we are not playing out of our league, as many might have believed. Further, and more important, we… you have proven that you are exactly what the Earth believed you to be, when they assigned you to the Odyssey…”

*****

“… that you are the very best, that the Earth has to offer.”

Jennifer Samuels let out a long breath, laying her head back against the seat, as the Captain’s voice filled the deck around her and the other Archangels.

“You’ve proven that, and proven yourselves beyond all doubt so far as I’m concerned, and I am honored to be serving with each and every one of you.”

She smiled slightly, and the nerves dimmed a little as she felt herself nodding in agreement with the Captain’s sentiment.

“So, in this last battle before we go home, with one of the greatest discoveries ever made by man, I want you all to continue doing just what you have done and know that you have all secured your places in history.”

*****

Doctor Palin glanced up disinterestedly at the speakers, and reached over to shut them off. He stayed his hand when he saw the awed look on the technicians face and sighed, rolling his eyes and let the Captain drone on.

“Just one more fight,” Weston said over the speaker. “One more fight against an enemy as ruthless as any we’ve seen. Then we’ll be heading home.”

*****

Eric Weston took a breath, glancing around the Bridge to where everyone had turned to look at him.

Then he continued to speak.

“So if this is our last battle, for a while,” he let his voice grow a little harder, “let us make it their last battle… ever.”

“I want to go home with a victory painted on our bow, ladies and gentlemen,” he said sharply. “It’s not every day that we get to save a world. Let’s make sure that the name Odyssey is one hell of a challenge to live up to.”

He reached for the controls to the ship-wide communications again.

“That is all. Weston, out.”

Chapter 33

Commander Roberts stepped onto the Bridge twenty-five minutes after he’d left and noted that the rest of the senior staff had already manned their stations.

“Ensign, what’s the current status of our friends out there?” Captain Weston asked as he nodded in greeting. Roberts returned the nod and stood at his station as Waters looked up from his board.

“Our soft lock has been upgraded to a seventy percent solution, Captain. Our current estimates have them right…, here.”

Roberts looked at the board, as the section Waters pointed to was highlighted in red, while the Odyssey’s current position, glowed a steady blue. The two points in space were closing rapidly, as the icons and spatial reference points were constantly updated to include the latest ranging estimates.

“How long to our outer engagement range?”

“We’re looking at five minutes to extreme Pulse Torpedo range, Captain,” Waters replied, but frowned and shook his head. “But without a real time lock, we’d probably just give away our position for nothing.”

The Captain nodded. “Understood. Give me a range chart with incremental adjustments to our probable targeting solutions.”

“Aye Captain,” Waters replied instantly, tapping in a comment.

The screen lit up again, this time with a time-line, counting up from zero to one hundred percent in increments of five light-seconds, across the board.

“When we launch, we’ll be giving away our position anyway,” Weston said as he frowned at the board. “So I don’t want us too close. Lay in firing commands for one hundred light seconds.”

“Aye-Aye Captain,” Waters replied, leaning back down again as he went back to work.

“Commander,” Weston motions slightly, beckoning Roberts over.

The Executive Officer went over to the Central Command chair and came to stop at Weston’s right hand. “Yes, Sir?”

“I’ll want you manning the auxiliary Bridge again, Commander,” Weston told him seriously. “It’s vital that we don’t lose the chain of command, in the event of a ship board strike.”

Roberts nodded. “Aye Sir.”

The Captain looked down for a moment, before looking seriously at Roberts again, “you and I both know that the Auxiliary Bridge is a lot more vulnerable than here, so I appreciate your willingness, Commander.”

“It’s for the best, Sir,” Roberts responded. “As you say, we can’t afford to lose the chain of command, if worst comes to worst.”

Eric nodded, “I know that Jason, which is why I’m also going to attach an addendum to your orders.”

“Sir?”

“In the event that the main Bridge is incapacitated, under no circumstances are you to close with the enemy,” Weston said firmly. “I don’t believe that this is a necessary order, given your thoughts on our situation, but I want it on record. If you lose the ability to engage the enemy from a distance, you are to abandon the defence of this world and return to Earth via a circuitous route. Is that understood?”

“Aye Sir,” Roberts nodded, and frowned, “Sir… the troops dirt-side?”

“If you can get them out without risking my ship, do so. Otherwise, they’re on their own.”

“Aye-Aye Captain.”

Weston and Roberts looked at each other for a moment and Eric nodded his head. “Now get off my Bridge and do your duty, Commander.”

“Aye-Aye Captain,” the Commander repeated grimly, turned on his heel and marched off the Bridge.

Eric leaned forward, looking into the eyes of the young man handling the big guns of the NAC Odyssey. For a moment he held Waters’ eyes after the Captain just nodded. “All right, Mr. Waters. Let’s have a look at your combat programs. I want to see what you’ve put together from the data we gathered on these bastards.”

“Yes Sir. I’m sending it to…”

“No, put in on the main screen.”

“Aye Sir.”

*****

Commander Michaels watched as Paladin flipped a card across the twenty foot gap between him and Lieutenant Gabrielle ‘Racer’ Tracey. The Lieutenant caught the card easily and palmed it, as Paladin flipped the next one from the deck to the next player in the circle.

“Hey, Sammy baby!” Paladin yelled across to Samuels, smacking his gum as he did, “you in?”

“What?” Jennifer Samuels looked up, confused.

“You in?” Paladin repeated.

She saw the cards in his hands and stared for a minute before looking back at her instruments.

“Don’t look at those,” Paladin shook his head, a crooked grin on his face. “If you ain’t got it together by now, you’re checking out, anyway.”

“For Christ sakes, Alex!” Racer snapped, her face flaring.

“Hey, I’m just saying, is all,” the cocky pilot shrugged defensively. “You know it’s true.”

“Yeah, and I also know that, that’s the Captain’s plane, Paladin.” Racer glared at him. “It’s fuckin’ ready to fly, so don’t spook her.”

Paladin just shrugged again, still chewing the gum that had replaced the cigar that would normally be clenched in his teeth, while looking back at Samuels. “So? You in?”

Jennifer looked at him for another minute, and shrugged as she pulled herself up and out of the cockpit. She settled down on the nose of the fighter, straddling it in the zero gravity to hold her place and nodded. “Sure. What’s the game?”

“Five card stud?” Paladin smirked, flipped a card. “We’ll keep it simple for ya. Deuces wild. Five buck ante and the table limit is a fifty dollar bet, fair ’nuff?”

The card spun easily through the air in the zero gravity compartment and Jenny snatched it easily from the air as it twisted past.

“Sure,” she smirked. “We gonna float the pot in the middle of us all?”

“Nah,” Paladin flashed a toothy smile. “That’s the fun part. You gotta keep tally in yer head. Up to it?”

“Keep dealing the cards.”

*****

“We’re entering the engagement envelope now, Commander.”

“Thank you, Ensign,” Roberts said, not looking up.

He knew that the Captain wasn’t going to engage at extreme range, so there was no rush. “What’s the disposition of enemy forces?”

“Still continuing on course to the planet, Commander. They don’t appear to have changed their formation.”

Running fat and slow, Roberts hoped. He’d been looking over the reports from the ground fighting, as well as comparing the after action reports filed from each station concerning the alien ships. They weren’t too bright, when it came to combat maneuvers, but they seemed to learn fast.

That bothered him, perhaps more than anything else, because there was something about that fact that was itching at the back of his skull.

Something, he was missing.

Something important.

A warning buzzer sounded, interrupting his train of thought and he looked up sharply. “Ensign?”

“The Captain’s set all stations to action alert,” the Ensign said tensely.

Roberts looked over the board, noting that the scale of the battle zone was rapidly dwindling, as the range closed. He nodded shortly, “the Captain will open the engagement shortly. Stand to for battle-stations.”

“Aye-Aye Sir.”

*****

“What’s our lock status?”

“Soft lock Sir, but we’re approaching sixty-five percent.” Waters responded.

“Charge even tubes, two through twelve.”

“Aye Captain. Charging tubes.”

In one of the old submarines, or any Navy ship, that order would have sent people on the weapons decks scrambling to load torpedoes into the tubes, or even double check all the systems involved, but on the Odyssey, the military had been forced to bow even more to the Gods of automation.

The Pulse Tubes charged from the capacitor banks that circled the habitats of the Odyssey, draining the charge in mere seconds to bring themselves up to full battle ready status. They could only hold that charge for a mere eight minutes, before they would lose the power needed to generate and fire one of the lethal bursts, but Captain Weston didn’t plan to hold them that long.