Starstorm (Starstorm Saga) (11 page)

“I’m truly alone, now…”

She again put her hand on his face.

“You’re not alone, Jack,” she said. Then she kissed him tenderly on his forehead, gave him a smile, and slipped out.

“Do you think he should go back out there?” she asked Trey.

“If at all possible, yes.”

“Just...” her com-link beeped. “Kelley here.”

“Commander, your needed in the CIC.” said the voice.

“On my way.” She gave Trey a parting glance and said, “Take care of him.”

After April left, Jack just continued to stare at the wall. His whole body hurt. He felt it coming and he knew there was no stopping it. Whereas before a few tears had forced their way out of his eyes, now the flood gates opened. He buried his head in his arms while floating and cried openly. His sobs could be heard throughout the nearby corridors. He sniffled and tried to wipe his eyes dry and in doing so sent some of his tears floating off in the cabin.

He tried to remember the good times. He thought of when they were kids. He thought of when he and Red flew had flown their trainers in orbit above Earth and pretended to be fighter pilots. He remembered the summer trip when he, Jennifer, Red and one of Red’s girl friends went to the Moon. He and Red had roamed the surface for hours outside the habitat in rented space suits. Red had taken Jack to his first Moon ball game on that very trip. Moon ball was Red’s favorite sport and once Jack had seen one game of it, it was his favorite too. He also remembered a lot of the pranks Red had pulled on people back at the academy. He hadn’t thought they were funny then. But now that Red was gone, Jack was finding it easier to overlook all of his faults.

If only he’d retreated with us! If it wasn’t for those aliens...those things!”

A great anger came over Jack. He clenched his fists. They would pay dearly for robbing him of his friend, of his brother. He filled his mind with pictures of exploding enemy craft. Jack quickly calmed himself. It wouldn’t do to let hate consume him.

“Revenge is not the answer.” Absently, he reached up and felt the spot on his forehead that April had kissed. The memory warmed him, and gave him one small sliver of light in the darkness and gloom that had overshadowed his soul. He took two deep breaths dried his eyes and made his way towards his boots which were still attached to the floor.

Trey was about to head back to his cabin when Jack came out of his.

“Hey Trey. How about a drink?” Trey smiled.

“You’ve got it, my friend.” Trey put his arm around his friend and they were off to the Rec room.

In the Rec room there were several other pilots. Jack had never met most of them. Most of the pilots he had known in his short time on the Saratoga had gone out in a blaze of glory around Neptune. The Rec room was full, but deathly quiet. In their own way, the pilots were mourning there lost comrades and trying to relax in a vain attempt to forget that the worst may still have been to come.

Jack strapped himself into a seat and Trey went over to the dispenser to get the drinks. Trey took a seat by Jack. As he began to slurp his drink, Trey realized something. Jack was missing something that he and all the other pilots in the room had. A Pirate Wars service ribbon. All the other pilots there were veteran fighter pilots. All the rookies were dead except one... Jack Thunder.

Kaydan entered into Akdon’s personal Chambers. “Commander, I’m pleased to report that the reactor is back on line and that we have repaired a great deal of the damage incurred in the battle with the Humans.”

“We lost 92 fighters and two battle cruisers!” yelled Akdon. “All because our shields were not effective! I want to know why!”

“I’m at a loss to explain it, Commander. I’m afraid the interference from their sun will only get worse the closer we get to their home world. The Humans have learned a valuable lesson, we can no longer expect them to come to us, we must go to them. To that end I think we are going to have to ask for re-enforcements from headquarters just to be safe.”

Akdon shook his head.

“I’ve never had to ask for re-enforcements and I’ve never failed a mission. It would play right into the hands of whoever fed us the false intelligence reports about this system. I can’t afford an imperfection on my record. I’m in line to be the next member of the Junta. To ask for help in defeating this race of primitives is to show weakness to our superiors, we must take this system alone! Besides, it would take seven months for re enforcements to arrive from Zidia and I‘m not willing to wait that long”

With their fold generators, Zidian ships were easily able to travel over interstellar distances. Never the less, their home world of Zidia was a long distance away. Kaydan bowed his head in submission.

“As I’ve said, there is a large human fleet in orbit around one of the moons of the sixth planet,” said Kaydan.

“Then that will be our first target,” said Akdon. “We’ll annihilate the defending force and destroy the colony. Order the fleet to prepare to jump. We’ll take them by complete surprise.”

“I’m sorry Commander, but we cannot use the jump sytem. The increased interference from their sun is interfering with our ability to open and maintain hyperspace corridors. The risk of collapse is too great. We must travel in normal space, which means our speed will be little better than the humans.”

Akdon pounded his fist on his desk. “I despise fighting these primitives on their own level! However, I do love a good challenge. Do you believe the Humans could be responsible for the interference?”

“No, Commander. Logic demands that in order to develop technology to jam shields and fold-systems, you must first possess those technologies yourself. The Humans possess neither.”

“Have you made any further progress on their language?”

“No, Commander. When the reactor was damaged the main computer and the translation matrix went off line. It has just now started to work again.”

“Very well, Kaydan. Keep me updated. Have the fleet plot a coarse for the sixth planet then we’ll come up with a plan of attack.”

“As you wish, Commander, but there is one other thing that I think you should see.”

“What is it?”

Chapter Nine

R
ed Styler’s head was spinning. He had the largest head ache he had ever had and he had no idea where he was. It was very dark and his vision was a little blurry. He took a few breaths and tried to take in his surroundings. He was in a large dark room, filled with all sorts of strange equipment. All of it was made out of the same dark gray metal as the walls. He could not move. He was on a table that was almost totally vertical, so he was facing the wall not the ceiling. So far as he could tell, nothing was holding him to the table. He was merely stuck to it. He was also, he realized, completely naked.

He racked his brain to try to remember what had happened. The last thing he remembered was chasing an alien fighter. He remembered the order to retreat and then a big explosion....then nothing. He tried in vain to move but some invisible force kept him from separating himself from the table. Then he noticed something about the place he was in. There was something different about it. Then he figured it out.

This place has gravity!
Then he heard loud footsteps outside of two large double doors that he had not noticed.

Akdon and Kaydan marched down the long corridor that ran the entire length of the Krusha. They stopped at the door to Kaydan’s laboratory. The doors slid open and they stepped inside.

“Here it is Commander,” said Kaydan as he pointed at the creature pinned to the table.

“I see you actually managed to capture one alive,” said Akdon. “So...this is a Human. Shorter than I thought it would be.”

“Actually, Commander, it was nearly dead before I found it. It was in a cockpit that had been blown away from one of those Human fighters. I had one of our own fighters bring it aboard. Its injuries were quite severe, but I managed to repair them.”

Akdon studied the Human closely.

“It’s also awake.”

“Yes, but the gravity table will hold it. I assure you it is harmless.”

“What have you learned about it?”

“Well I have studied the creature carefully and have been probing it’s mind with my computer. Thus far I have determined that it is male, omnivorous, twenty-five Earth years old, and is called ‘Red Styler’. But what you will find most interesting is their highly complex brain and psionic potential. They only use a fraction of the brain power that they possess. They’re brains could theoretically process much more information than ours. I theorize that this Human could pilot the Tortalus.”

This peaked Akdon’s interest. The Tortalus was a top secret military project that both he and Kaydan had worked on. It was an experimental command and control system so advanced, that the pilot of a Tortalus vehicle could use his brain to pilot it. Tortalus fighters and mechas were capable of maneuvers no pilot could accomplish with mere manual controls. Unfortunately, no Zidian pilot had ever been able to adequately control it. Their brains just could not process the necessary data. The Zidians had lost many pilots trying to perfect it. Some had crashed because they could not maintain control of their craft, others had died because their brains had literally been fried by neural link up. Most of the prototypes had been destroyed, however, they had both one of the remaining fighters and one of the remaining mechas in the Krusha’s main hangar.

Red was terrified at the site of the two creatures standing before him—scrutinizing him like an insect. Their skin was brown and rough. Their tall foreheads and beaklike mouths made them look quite formidable not to mention their height—they stood seven feet tall. They talked to one another in a very strange language. Red had never been so scared in his life.

What are they going to do to me?
All he wanted to do at that moment was to be back on the Saratoga, away from that horrid place. One of the aliens hit a button and the table he was on fell flat. He was now facing the ceiling and the two faces were staring menacingly down at him with their solid black eyes.

Kaydan was preparing to probe the Humans mind again.

“Commander, I believe I can extract the remainder of their language from this human’s mind.”

“Excellent, I must admit that if these humans are capable of what you claim, then they will be the most valuable resource from this Earth.”

Kaydan began to attach neural connectors to the Human’s head. Red began shouting something to Kaydan in an agitated voice. Akdon looked amused. Kaydan finished the connections and activated the computer. Red howled in pain and his body began to shake. Then he became still and the screen on the far wall began to flash with images. A picture of Captain Doran appeared on the screen.

“This, Commander, is your counterpart.”

Akdon eyed him with respect. He had mounted a daring attack. The screen then flashed through some more images.

““This is an old female companion.” More images scrolled by, then there was a picture of Jack Thunder. “This is the specimen’s closest comrade. A fellow pilot. I am reading great amounts of loyalty and friendship but equal amounts of competitiveness and jealousy. There is also a great hostility and animosity towards most of his comrades and an apparent disdain for authority. Apparently, this human is not well liked amongst his peers.”

“Perhaps we could use this to our advantage,” said Akdon. “Could you suppress his loyalty and stimulate his feelings of jealousy and animosity?”

“I could... but there is no telling how well it will work or how long it will last.”

“Do it. Then finish downloading the rest of their language from his mind and call me when you are finished.”

“This will take some time, Commander.”

“Do it as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I’ll move the fleet against the Humans.”

“As you wish commander.”

Back on Earth, the President of the United States was about to announce to the United Nations and the world that the Solar System had been invaded by an alien force. He had already informed the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of Japan of all that had transpired. The Russian and Japanese space forces were each dispatching ships to reinforce the American fleet around Saturn.

President Garrett stood before the General Assembly and was about to give a speech that would be broadcast around the world.

After a brief introductory speech, the Secretary General of the UN announced: “and now I present the President of the United States.”

The assembly stood and applauded the president as he ascended the podium. The applause died down and the President cleared his throat, stared out at his audience, and then began his address.

“Madam Secretary, honorable delegates, ladies and gentlemen. For many years now our great nations have strived to live in peace. We have accomplished a great deal in the past few decades. We have improved the living standard of people living in every nation on Earth. We have gained wondrous new strives in technology and most incredibly we have begun to colonize our vast solar system. Our imperfect human nature inevitably led to conflict. The Pirate Wars and nationalistic rivalries that led us to the militarization of space were caused by human greed and distrust. Now that the threat of the pirates are gone there are those who say that we should de-militarize space. But unfortunately, the threat to our global security from space is not gone. The announcement I am about to make will make clear that we must now work together more than ever before.”

The President paused and took a deep breath. This was it.

“Our Solar System has been invaded by a hostile alien force.” There he had said it. After a gasp and brief mumble by the audience, the President continued. “As incredible as it may seem...a fleet of Alien warships has entered this Solar System. They came and attacked us without provocation, without reason. The United States Space Force has already engaged this hostile force around the planet Neptune. Tragically the attack was a failure and the Space Force incurred heavy casualties. Over three thousand American space servicemen are dead. Our Space Force has lost hundreds of pilots and fighters as well as eight fleet ships two of which were the carrier Lexington and battleship Constitution. The enemy has massive amounts of fire power and extremely advanced technology. Their forces, however, did not escape damage. They also suffered casualties, so there is no doubt in my mind that they can be defeated. All attempts to communicate with them have failed. Right now, the Space Force is evacuating as many people from Titan colony as possible and the Alien fleet is on its way to Saturn. The first battle was lost, but the Space Force will not waver. The three space faring nations-America, Russia, and Japan are currently concentrating our military forces in Space to resist the invaders. Here on Earth we must begin to mobilize the militaries of every nation on Earth. Time is of the essence and there is much to do. In closing, I quote a former US president: ‘No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated our people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory!’” The historic ending had the effect the President wanted, and the General Assembly erupted in applause. The President felt he had made the world feel somewhat secure, but he knew that the events of the immediate future would dictate what the future of mankind would be.