Starstorm (Starstorm Saga) (8 page)

To April, he now looked sad. He turned back to her.

“Do you have anyone?”

Ever so softly she said, “No.”

For a few quiet seconds that seemed to last an eternity, they just stared into each other’s eyes, transfixed upon one another as if for that brief moment their thoughts and feelings were locked together as one. Almost magnetically they moved closer to one another.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“I’m not interrupting anything am I,” said the sly and amused voice of Trey Knight.

Taken completely by surprise, Jack and April virtually jumped away from each other.

April felt her face flush in embarrassment.  Thankfully, her wrist comlink chose that moment to sound.

“Kelley here,” she said.

“Commander, report to my office.”

“On my way, Captain.” Then, without another word, she hurried off for the Captain’s office faster than Star Sword that had fired its boosters.

“Well, you two seem to have made up just fine.”

“Yeah…well…she’s a…a lot nicer once you get to know her.” Uncontrollably he yawned, long and loud.

“You’d better be getting some rest, Jack,” said Trey. “You’re one of my two best pilots and I need you at one-hundred percent out there.”

“I was just on my way back to my cabin.”

“Everything alright?”

Jack nodded.

“I guess I’m just apprehensive about the fight that’s coming. You know what Trey? I never really wanted to be a fighter pilot. It’s not that I’m scared, I just never thought I could take a life. But after today, I think I could kill those things. I’m just ashamed that I froze.”

“Jack, let me tell you something. We almost all go through that when we first see combat. I did the same thing in my first battle with the pirates. If Captain Doran himself hadn’t saved me the way Red saved you today, I wouldn’t be here.”

Trey then smiled. “On another note, saving you is the only selfless thing I’ve ever seen Red Styler do.”

Jack nodded. “He’s always been there for me.”

“Then you can be thankful you have such a good friend to watch your back.”

Jack turned to look out the view port again. He was startled to see another ship flying alongside the Saratoga. It was a Space Force destroyer.

“Looks like our escort has arrived,” said Trey. Jack looked at the destroyer. It was about the size of a medium sized space liner but it was heavily armored and bristling with weapons. A large seventy-star American flag was emblazoned on its side, and it read United States Space Force down the side. Underneath that it read
USS Guardian
.

“Trey, how did you recognize those ships?”

Trey stared out into the stars.

“Well back in sixteen, shortly after I was assigned to the Saratoga, we were investigating one of Jupiter’s moons. The pirates had been hitting lots of convoys in that area. We knew they were striking from a hidden moon base. Through close monitoring of the area we located the base. The rest of the fighters and I launched and went to engage the large Pirate force defending the base. We flew straight into enemy fire. It cost us several of our guys but we destroyed the defending force. We were just about to take out the base, when we got Saratoga’s distress call. An entire pirate squadron plus a pirate base ship was attacking her. While their comrades died at our hands, they had slipped around our scanner range and had hit Saratoga. By the time we got back, she was near destruction. We were outnumbered, plus we had already taken some damage but we beat them and saved Saratoga. About that time we picked up another bogey. Saratoga couldn’t take anymore so we moved to intercept before it could get near her. I was one of eight Star Swords that engaged the mystery ship. At first we thought it was another Pirate ship, but once we engaged it, I knew it had to be something different. Its look, its maneuverability, its weaponry and its energy shields were all radically more advanced than anything I’d ever seen. The battle lasted only a few minutes and all of my remaining wingmen were destroyed. No matter how many times we hit it, it remained undamaged.”

“But the ones we fought today suffered damage. Our weapons hurt them, if only a little.”

“I know. I reported as much to Captain Doran at the debriefing. I’m at a loss to explain it. Anyway during the battle, my Star Sword took a glancing blow. I lost all power. I suppose the enemy ship thought I was dead. I watched some sort of vortex open and the alien disappeared into it. Afterwards command deemed the whole thing classified.”

“How did you get back to the Saratoga? I managed to hotwire my radio and get a short burst transmission off. Doran sent a shuttle to tow me back. It was a bad situation. Saratoga’s engines were out. We were stranded. We knew it was only a matter of time before more pirates found us and finished us off. Luckily the Yorktown arrived in time and towed us to safety. When we returned to Earth they pinned a medal on my chest then told me if I ever breathed a word about what I’d seen they’d lock me up and throw away the key.”

“I’d say that’s a mute point now.”

Trey nodded.

“If you ask me, I say they were scouting us out four years ago.”

Jack nodded.

“Now they’ve come in force to finish the job…”

April Kelley hit the buzzer on the door to the Captain’s office.

“Come in,” said Doran. April entered to see the Captain in heated discussion with a person on the view screen. Since there was only a slight drag in the transmission, April knew the other officer had to be on one of the several ships that were nearby.

“I’m sorry, Morton...” said the man on the screen, a black man who was about Doran’s age and who wore the uniform of a Space Force Marine, “...but there’s no way I’ll be able to convince the Admiral to get you the extra fighters.”

“Colonel,” said Doran. “These aliens undoubtedly have higher technology than us. We need numbers if we’re going to beat them!”

“Morton, you know as well as I do that those blasted bureaucrats in Washington cut our funding by fifty percent last month. Even if they had the Star Swords to send you, there’s not enough qualified pilots.”

“So how are things on the Titan colony?” asked Doran.

“The colonists know that something unusual is happening. They’ll eventually have to be told. What word have you received about what’s going on back on Earth?”

“Not much, but from what I’ve been told it’s being kept quiet,” said Doran. “Only the high command level officers and top government officials know. Everyone else is being kept in the dark. The only ones who know anything are those of us in the field.”

“That’s because we’re the ones who will be doing the fighting,” said Colonel Travis.

“My last report from Earth states that President Garrett is meeting with top officials and experts now trying to figure out a way to communicate with the aliens,” said Doran.

“You think it will do any good?”

“Not a chance. But the politicians are still going to make us try.”

“Have you formulated a plan of attack?”

“I have,” said Doran. “Listen to me, Ron, when you reach Mars colony tell the Admiral we’re going to need more ships. I don’t care what it takes, even if we have to ally with the Japs and Russians. We need numbers.”

“Will do, Morton. Good hunting, Travis out.” The view screen went blank. Captain Doran turned to April Kelley.

“Well Commander, as you know doubt heard we are going to attempt to communicate with the aliens, as soon as the fool politicians figure out what we want to say. If you ask me it’s a waste of time. If they’re friendly why’d they destroy ten of our ships?”

“Maybe they felt threatened,” said April.

“Let me tell you something April. Commander Knight and the other survivors brought back detailed information about the five ships they fought. Their weapons are greatly superior to ours, their ships are larger, plus they appear to be protected by some sort of force field technology. With all that it’s very unlikely that they had anything to fear from our Star Swords.”

“So exactly how much are we going up against?” asked April Kelley.

“Scanners have picked up four hundred and thirty one individual contacts. Three hundred and fifty of them are fighters like the ones we’ve already encountered, thirty appear to be support craft slightly larger than one of our cruisers, fifty are large and bulky ships we believe to be transports of some kind and one is an enormous craft over twice as long as one of our carriers that intelligence believes is the enemy command ship.”

“So what is the Space Force’s current status?”

“Five carriers, twelve destroyers, four cruisers, one battle ship and a little over eight hundred Star Swords. It doesn’t look good.”

“What’s the plan?”

“That’s what I called you here for. I have to familiarize you with our plan of attack. There will be four battle groups. Battle group one will be led by the Saratoga. Battle group two will be led by the carrier Lexington. Battle group three will be led by the carrier Yorktown. Battle group four will be led by the Battleship Constitution. We’ll have the destroyers Guardian and Chariot with us plus all our fighters. The Lexington will have the destroyers Firebird and Hawk. The Yorktown gets destroyers Apache and Daredevil. And the Constitution will get the destroyers Ripper and Viper plus the cruisers Arizona and Washington.”

“What about fighters?”

“Like us, Lexington and Yorktown have full fighter compliments: fifty-six Star Swords each. Battle groups one and two will provide cover for battle group four which will try to eliminate the enemy command ship. We are gambling that whatever they’re planning to do, they can’t do it without that command ship. Battle group three will attempt to attack and draw off some of the enemy cruisers and transports while all the fighters hold off the enemy fighters. Once the command ship is destroyed, we’ll bogie the whole fleet out and establish a defensive line at Saturn. Then we’ll fight them hit and run all the way back to Earth where hopefully with the combined forces of America, Russia, and Japan we will defend the Earth and with luck be victorious.”

“What about Mars?”

“They are discreetly making preparations to evacuate as many people as possible but they’ll never be able to evacuate them all. The Martian Colonial Defense Force will defend Mars as best they can and we’ll give them all the support we can.”

“What if we lose?” asked April.

“Then the enemy will still have to deal with the combined armies, navies, and air forces of every nation on Earth.”

“With control of space that might not be difficult.”

“Then we better hope we win,” said Doran. “April, at 0800 I want you to brief the pilots on the plan I just outlined to you.”

“Yes sir, Captain.”

“You’re dismissed.” April saluted Doran and exited his office. She was quite exhausted so she returned to her cabin. She got out of her boots and uniform and put on her gown. Then she floated into her bunk and went to sleep.

“Commander I must ask: why are we just sitting here?” Ever since making the final hyperspace-jump, the entire Zidian fleet had been in orbit around the eighth planet for three standard rotations.

“Patience, Kaydan,” said Akdon. “Look, the enemy is assembling a fleet around the sixth planet.”

“While we sit here and do nothing!” protested Kaydan.

“Kaydan, I don’t want to be running around this star system putting down tiny pockets of resistance for the next three cycles. I am allowing the enemy to assemble their forces into one group so we can destroy them in one massive battle, and I want that battle to be waged as far from that sun as possible! Once we’ve destroyed their fleet, we’ll take out their installations then capture their home world.”

“A most ingenious plan, Commander,” said Kaydan.

“Yes, I know,” replied Akdon. “How are you coming on their language?”

“Well, sir, we’ve translated about twenty percent of it,” said Kaydan.

“Excellent. Keep me informed of your progress.”

Kaydan went back to work.

Back on Earth, in the Presidential compound in Washington DC President Richard Garrett sat with his cabinet and military advisors.

“Mr. President, we must not allow the people to know about the invasion!” said one official.

“We don’t know if it’s an invasion!” yelled another.

“Then why’d they attack us!” screamed the next. “Mr. President we must at least inform the other major world governments.”

“I agree, Mr. President, the Russians and Japanese are demanding an explanation as to why the Space Force has completely mobilized. That story about an exercise just isn’t buying it.”

“Why?” asked the President.

“Because they found out we have SSI mass producing Star Swords again in what they view as a time of peace. Put simply, Mr. President, they think we’re up to something.”

“Why haven’t we begun the evacuation of Mars?”

“Because then the public would definitely know something was wrong. We’d have no explanation for doing it.”

“The fact that we mobilized Space Force for no apparent reason is all over the news. The media and public are demanding answers.”

“We’ll announce it to the UN when the time is right,” said the President. Just then a knock came at the door.

“Excuse me Mr. President, Professor Foshee is here.”

“Let her in,” said the President. “Professor any luck communicating with them?” “No sir. We are using all sorts of signals and messages like what S.E.T.I. would look for. There has been no response. Of course we will continue to try.”

“Thank you, Professor.” The President then rose from his desk. “We will inform the Japanese and the Russians of the invasion. Unless the aliens respond to our communication attempts, I’m afraid we have no choice but to send in the Space Force.”

Far away on the Krusha, Commander Akdon and Kaydan stood on the bridge overlooking the massive view screen which showed the slow but steady approach of the Human ships.

“The aliens are on approach, Commander,” said Kaydan. “We’ve also been receiving signals from their home world directed at us.”

“What do they say?” asked Akdon.