Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer Page 24

  “It’s what I do,” Alan replied and shrugged.

  Ty nodded back to his office. “Come on, let’s go get some breakfast. The Enemy ship just arrived, so it might be the last chance we get to eat for a while.”

  “Well, they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, lead on my friend.”

  F.S.S. Star Dancer

  Selene (Earth’s moon) Orbit

  Sol Sector.

  Combat location: Dark Palace

  Ian walked out on the bridge with an hour left on the countdown clock that showed when the Caldarian was either just entering the system, or would be shortly. A glance at the plotting board showed it to be just inside the Oort cloud which officially put it in the system.

  It was still technically night watch since it was so early in the morning. Ian hadn’t actually gotten any sleep since shortly after he had went to bed after talking to Beth, Ty had called him. That was a situation he would still worry about, but for the moment, his attention was focused on the object entering the system displayed on the main board. Doing the math in his head, he realized that the data being displayed was wrong.

  “Ensign, get me hyperspace tracking please,” Ian said as he relieved the third watch officer, a senior lieutenant Ian didn’t recognize.

  The Ensign sitting at communications had jumped when Ian spoke, causing him to grin. But responded quickly enough to Ian’s order.

  Looking at the Lieutenant he relieved, Ian smiled. “Thanks Lieutenant, I’d try to get a quick nap if I were you, but from the looks of things, it’s gonna get busy around here pretty quickly.”

  “Sir?” the young man asked, confused. The board said there was still over an hour before the enemy ship arrived.

  “Tracking is on the comm for you, Sir,” the Ensign called.

  Ian held up a finger to the lieutenant and thumbed the comm on the console. “Tracking, this is Command. Please recheck your math on the ETA. It looks way out of line to me.”

  “Right away, Sir.” The voice that had replied sounded like he was about twelve. Since Tracking was a non-combat department, he might have been.

  Ian could hear him typing away furiously on his terminal, then he heard a soft, “Oh shit” followed by furious typing again. Then “Shit-shit-shit!” the boy came back to the comm. “I’m really sorry, Sir, I thought it was set to automatically recalculate every thirty minutes, but it dropped off an hour ago. Updating now.”

  The numbers on the board flashed a few times, then changed to something a lot less than even Ian thought there was.

  “Thank you,” Ian replied, and closed the comm. “Sorry folks, no nap for any of you. Ensign, sound general quarters and take us to Yellow alert. Day watch on deck, night watch stand down. Mid watch to stand-by. Engineering bring the reactor up to thirty percent but try to keep the plasma chambers cool. Weapons control, activate all weapons system, master safety is on. Flight control activate all systems and stand-by. Enemy ship will arrive in fifteen minutes. I say again, Enemy ship will arrive in fifteen minutes.” Ian ordered.

  Just as when they lifted off the moon, Ian could feel the great ship coming to life. It was faint at first, but it built quickly as the people on her ran to get to duty stations, or secured their homes for combat. Ian could feel an anxiousness and a good deal of worry, but there was a fierce determination building. Ian could recognize it now as an implacable resoluteness. Not hatred, not fear, but a determination not to let the enemy destroy this system like they did to Talos all those millennia ago. Not to let them come here and rape the planet and enslave the people. Ian was relieved to feel that, he knew he would lose people today, but he would do everything in his power to not let that happen.

  Jenny came running onto the bridge, buttoning up her uniform and talking on her communit. “All departments, report readiness to operations. All non-essential personnel report to your designated safety areas. Medical department, prepare for casualties.”

  She stepped in front of Ian and saluted. “Sir, all guns are manned and ready, at one minute forty-five seconds. Missile command reports an autoloading malfunction on tube thirty-one portside. Engineering has been notified and the tube is offline.”

  “Very good, Colonel. Carry on,” Ian replied. That tube was worrisome, considering how badly they were outgunned every tube was going to count if this turned into a slugging match.

  Ian again thumbed his comm. “Armory, prepare four hyper-missiles with heavy AM warheads, but do not activate the warheads.”

  “Will do, Commander!” came the rushed response.

  “Star, bring up a system holo, I want to see where everything is right now and activate the battle boards,” Ian ordered and the hologram took form in front of Ian, but above the heads of the Communications officer and the navigator.

  Ian watched as the area filled up with the assets and ships that were still out there. The drones, weapons platforms, missile launchers, and Centurion picket ships. Ian would have ordered them to cloak, but the icons in the display said they already were. He noticed that one of the small ships was near Venus, the projected final destination of the Caldarian.

  “Who ordered the Odin to post near Venus?” Ian asked.

  “They are on an Intelligence mission. We’ve set up a secure laser link for communications with them. They’re going to remain cloaked and dark, except for that laser link,” Jenny reported. “I didn’t think you’d mind, so I approved the mission. I did send you a note about it.”

  Ian nodded. “It probably got lost in the never ending pile of reports I’ve been reading. One of these days I’m going to have to get myself one of those too-cute-to-be-believed secretaries so I can drive you insane flirting with her!”

  “Nah, I’d just warn her about you. Once she knows the truth, she’ll stay away from you all on her own,” Jenny replied.

  Their banter was easing the stress that had been building in the bridge crew. Ian winked at her, and she smiled back.

  “Pass the word to go dark. Colonel, please ask the moon base to put their camouflage up. Major Dancer, silent running if you please,” Ian said, once again watching the hologram.

  Ian could hear the comm officer and Jenny talking on their respective comm systems. Star looked up at him. “Silent running systems engages zero emission in twenty seconds. Cloaking system is engaged and is optimal.”

  “Thank you, Major,” Ian said glancing at her and winking. She smiled nervously at him.

  “Relax Star, these asshole will never know what hit them,” Ian said.

  “I am Sir, I’m a little nervous because none of these tactics follow standard Talosian Doctrine,” Star replied.

  Ian frowned and shook his head. “I know, but if we would have followed what the book had to say about this situation, we wouldn’t last very long. I chose this approach to minimize our losses while maximizing enemy confusion. If we kill them off, great, but if they flee in confusion, that’d be good too.”

  “If they leave, Caldarians never flee, they would be simply backing off to call for more forces before returning,” Star said. “Should we not focus on destroying them?”

  Ian sighed. “No, because that will most likely end up getting us killed in the process. If they do call for help, which is unlikely, that’s fine, it’ll give us more time to get ready to deal with them. Just look at what our people have accomplished in the short amount of time we had for this? With the extra year we would gain by them retreating and calling for assistance, we could make this system into a lethal gauntlet that they would never survive.”

  On Ian’s terminal the message appeared. ‘I am asking these questions, because of things I have overheard from the crew. I know, and understand the reasons for what you have done. – Star.’

  Ian read that and winked at her, nodding his head slightly. She gave him a twitch of a smile. “Thank you, Commander. I think I understand better now.”

  “No problem, Star. If you ever have a question about something, feel free to ask me or the XO if time allo
ws,” Ian replied.

  “Thank you, Sir. I’ll use the email system if I have any other questions,” Star replied. On his screen she wrote, ‘I have sent that part of the conversation to the people I heard talking about it, with a note apologizing for eavesdropping on them, and assured them that their identity has remained confidential.’

  Ian typed back. ‘How was it received?’

  ‘With shock and a little fear at first, but with thanks after the text message,’ Star replied.

  “Command this is tracking, we are showing emergence on the inbound. Event should be in the vicinity of Jupiter orbit, far side,” Hyperspace tracking said over the comm. Ian noticed that the person sounded a lot older this time.

  “Aye, we have a hyperspace event in that location. It looks like the big bastard decided to drop out a bit further away than we guessed,” Chekov said. “Hyper-track, this is Navigation, we got it from here, thanks,” Chekov replied.

  “Roger, target is yours. Blow it to hell, guys.”

  “Stay calm everyone, they haven’t done anything yet,” Ian ordered.

  “Confirmed one Caldarian Super Nova class star ship is in system. Target is proceeding deeper into the gravity well and is decelerating. Current course and deceleration profile indicates parking orbit vicinity of the planet Venus,” Chekov reported.

  An image of the ship, transmitted by one of the small sensors dropped weeks ago by the Centurions, was placed on the big monitor.

  “Holy shit! That is one big honkin’ ship!” Jenny said softly.

  “Yes it is. Is it me, or does that thing look bigger in person?” Ian asked, rhetorically.

  “Operations, I am showing life signs in the atrium, please make sure it’s evacuated,” Star said out loud.

  “Sir, hostile is launching carriers and doing full, active, sensor sweeps of the system,” Chekov said.

  “Those assholes are certainly sure of themselves!” Jenny said.

  “Keep a track on those carriers, I want to know where they’re going and what they’re doing. Remain silent in all systems. All drones to remain in low power mode for the time being,” Ian ordered. “Let’s see what they’re up to before we start something.”

  “Sir, six hostile fighter-carriers are heading away from the Super Nova. It appears they are going to do a system patrol. They are staying in pairs. One pair is falling behind the bigger ship, and the other two sets are under full burn for adjacent solar quadrants,” Chekov reported. “I would assume the last quadrant, ours, will be launched when they get here.”

  “Thanks Chekov, please keep an eye on them,” Ian asked as the tactical hologram and battle boards added the carriers as active assets.

  Jenny smiled. “Engineering has reactivated tube thirty-one portside. They report it was a software glitch, and it has been repaired.”

  “Thank you, please tell them good work,” Ian said, nodding. “What is that big fucker waiting for? If she knew we were here, she would have come barreling in here, guns blazing. This seems a very cautious approach.”

  “You are correct, Commander,” Star replied. “If the goal were to take the planet, then they would be assuming an Earth orbit in order to use ship-board assets in the assault. This is very cautious for a Caldarian.”

  “Colonel, get ground ops, space ops, and intel in the combat conference room. Star, could you make sure they have the assets they will need to analyze this situation? If we had the time, I’d replace the table in there with a holo-tank, and turn it into a CIC,” Ian ordered.

  Star nodded. “Dispatching maintenance drones. I will rebuild the room while they’re using it, Sir. It’ll be slow going, but it shouldn’t be hard to do. The conference room is close enough to the bridge systems that a tie-in is possible without reworking any major systems.”

  “Sir, Chloe said she would take charge of it, and Intel agreed with her. They are putting together permanent teams for this. Chloe further suggested we simply move her department there, since most of the equipment is the same,” Jenny replied.

  Ian shook his head. “No, it isn’t permanent. Tell her we will have a meeting about it after the current situation is taken care of. This is simply a stop-gap fix to a major problem in Talosian design. Chekov, E.T.A. until the Super Nova reaches her parking place?”

  “Current course and speed will put her in position in six hours, thirty-one minutes. She is still moving pretty fast Sir,” Chekov replied.

  “Combat teams stand down to Orange-Two alert status. Command teams remain at Yellow-One. Night watch go get some sleep, if you can,” Ian ordered. “Get some breakfast everyone.”

  Chapter 15

  Talos, New Mexico

  Earth, Sol Sector

  Combat location: Eden

  Luke let out a sigh. “So, the ship has arrived, it’s still a few hours away from attack position, and we can take a breath and make any last preparations. I can live with that.”

  “Yes Sir, but I can’t think of anything else to do. We’re as secure as I think we can make ourselves. That’s not to say we’re as safe as can be, but I think we’re as safe as we can make it for now,” Ty said.

  “What about the civilians? Do we get them into the shelters now, or do we wait?” Elias asked. “I’d hate to just sit on my hands and have people get hurt or worse, when we could have gotten everyone to safety.”

  “I agree, but right now we still have to maintain the show for our guests outside the gate. So, for now, keep everyone doing their normal routines. We also don’t want anyone to panic, so we can’t announce the ships arrival yet,” Luke said. “Is that Colonel still content out there?”

  “I believe he is Sir, DARPA is notorious for not letting anyone know what they are doing. They won’t tell the Marines I’m not an agent. I honestly believe that even they don’t know exactly what all of their agents are doing. I don’t think the Marines will leave any time soon, but I don’t think they’ll hassle us either,” Alan replied.

  “Amazing, you’d think once they found out that one of ‘their’’ projects was being run out here, they would send more agents in to assist,” Elias said.

  “Nope, that’s the reason for the name I gave the Colonel. It’s obviously one of the fake agent names they all use. The simple fact that I used that name will tell the upper command structures that DARPA won’t give them anything.”

  “I’m not worried about the powers that be finding out we lied to them, so much as I’m worried about what will happen to those troops if we get attacked. Those Marines don’t stand a chance, and we can’t bring them in here to protect them,” Ty said. “Sir, with your permission, I’d like to replicate a few crates of man-portable mass drivers and have them stacked near the front gate. If we get attacked, at least we can give them a weapon that will stand a chance of making a difference. We can always set them to self-destruct after the battle.” Ty asked.

  “What do we tell them once the battle is over, and we destroy the weapons? That they had just been fighting with figments of their imaginations?” Luke asked.

  “Sir, with respect, if we get attacked by aliens, I would think explaining where those weapons came from would be the least of our worries. We’re going to have investigators from every agency you can think of, and a couple that you can’t, crawling all over themselves to get into this compound. Everyone on the planet will want to know why some tiny-assed corporate township was attacked by aliens when nowhere else on the planet was,” Ty asked.

  “Who’s to say we’ll be the only ones they attack? I was led to believe that ship is capable of an entire planetary assault?” Luke asked.

  “They are capable of planetary bombardment and suppression, but not invasion. They simply don’t have the millions of ground troops they would need for that. If they attack this planet, they might hit a few of the other cities, but we will be singled out for a ground attack. That much I can guarantee you,” Ty said.

  Alan nodded. “I’m afraid I have to agree with Ty, Governor. Having those weapons available
for the Marines will make little difference in the grand scheme of things. I have already primed the Colonel for this attack, although I doubt he actually believes me.”

  “Okay, make up the weapons, Ty. But if Ian has an issue with this, you two are going to have to explain it to him, this is a military matter, and he is your ultimate commander in this,” Luke said.

  Ty smiled, “Thank you Sir. You have no idea how much this eases my mind. I may not be a part of them anymore, but I still don’t want to see any of them hurt if I could have done something about it.”

  “I can very much understand your concern for them, Ty. I share it, but I also cannot allow any breach of security here, so I better not see even one uniform with ‘U.S. Marines’ on it inside the gate. Do I make myself clear?”

  Both Alan and Ty nodded. “Yes Sir!”

  F.S.S. Star Dancer

  Selene (Earth’s moon) Orbit

  Sol Sector.

  Combat location: Dark Palace

  Ian had checked on the progress of the new ‘CIC’ being built in his conference room. He was surprised at not only the progress of the drones, but of the people that had come here to work. It was almost like they had been waiting for a place to be made for this purpose. Chloe grinned at him when he entered and came over to him.

  “Right bloody good idea this was. It’s a wonder no one thought of it sooner,” she said.

  “Actually, I did, I planned on having something like this included in upgrades after we get through this. Star and I have plans for a good portion of the ship. I’m going to be adding an operations and flight section to the bridge crew. It should make things a lot more efficient,” Ian replied, looking around.

  Chloe nodded. “Aye, this’ll help a lot too. Having Intel in with us will make things flow better also. We’ll be able to get more information to you faster, while increasing our ability to respond to it.”

  Ian nodded in agreement. "That’s the plan. I’m going to be adding another bridge set-up as well, in case the main bridge gets disabled. If you are going to need more people, you should probably think about getting a list made up for the Personnel Department to act on.”