The War Across the Stars (4 page)

“Please send identification codes,” Dixon’s voice boomed.  “You’re showing up as a Vorgian ship.”

“Sending now…” Ryan told him. 

“Codes approved,” the COM officer informed us. 
             
“Gates to the main hangar are open.”

             
Our transport flew through the open gates into the primary hangar bay. Then, the hangar shook, bouncing our transport as we landed. 

“I’m alive!”  Max exclaimed. 

“For now,” Nevin responded, referencing Max’s earlier comment. 

“Let’s get to the bridge,” Ryan suggested.

We ran out of the hangar bay, and then ran for the bridge.  We made our way through the metallic halls of the ship, passing several crewmen along the way.  It was not long before we were far enough inside the ship that it became easy to forget that there was a battle going on around us.  We climbed several staircases as we made our way to the elevated bridge.  When we arrived on the CIC floor, we moved quickly toward the large metal bulkhead that led to the bridge.  It opened with a quick tap of the nearby panel.

             
“Are you Dunkelman?” Admiral Dixon asked, turning away from the view port.

“Yes sir!” Ryan said as we all saluted. 

“Good to see you alive,” he told Ryan.  “Fire a salvo of Pyro Rockets at
Fargo
.” 

“Yes sir!” the weapons officer said. 

A stream of twenty Pyro Incendiary Rockets shot from the front of the ship.  They crashed into
Fargo
, erupting into flame after penetrating the station's hull.  The flame ignited several nearby VDF-74 fighters. 
Fargo
was running on reserve power now, which would quickly lead to its demise.

“Captain Chambers!” Dixon called. 

“Ready a nuke.” 

“Understood, sir,” Chambers said. He entered a code into the weapons system.  “Sir?  What’s our target?”

“The furthest Avenger… There,” he said, pointing at the holographic TRIAD display. 

“Target locked.”  Dixon gazed out the window toward the battleships. 

“Chambers…  Fire the nuke.”

“I love nukes!” Max exclaimed.  “You know, the big plumes.” 

             
“Get out of here!”  Dixon yelled at Max, his face showing quite clearly that he wouldn’t put up with Max’s behavior.

“Yes… Sir…” Max said as he left the bridge. 

The sight of him finally being punished for his immaturity brought a bit of satisfaction to me.

The nuke launched out of the bow of the dreadnaught.  It hurtled toward the enemy battleship. 

“Expected impact, five seconds,” the weapons officer announced.  “Four…three…two…one…”

             
The missile exploded inside the Avenger, after just narrowly piercing its armored hull.  The explosion blew off the first quarter of the ship, exposing it to the vacuum of space.   The remainder of the ship began to break apart due to the extensive damage to the bow.

“Wow…” Nevin remarked.  “I’ve never seen a ship blow up.” 

“I’ve only seen it in simulations and recorded battles.  Never right in front of me…” Philip said. 

Then the COM link opened and we heard voices. 

“Help!”  All turrets are down.  We’ve lost the warp drive.  We’re gonna d—” the voice said as the transmission stopped. 

“Sir,” one of the officers said.  “We just lost the
Voyager
. 

“Understood, Roberts” Dixon said, seemingly unfazed.  “Another salvo of Pyros,” he ordered. 

“Understood, sir,” the weapons officer said. 

I watched out the window as laser shots and rockets flew about, amidst autocannons and missiles crossing paths. 

“It’s really incredible, isn’t it?”  I asked. 

“Yeah,” Nevin agreed.

             
Then the COM link opened and an authoritative voice came over it.

“This is the
Comanche
.  Neutron Bullet is fully charged and ready to fire.” 

“Target the station,” Dixon ordered. 

I watched in awe as a blue streak flew from the bow of a ship and slammed into the space station.  It was much faster than the rockets that were still being exchanged.

             
“Sir!”  the weapons officer called. 

“We’ve exhausted over half of our Pyro Rockets.” 

“All right… Give ‘em a round of Seismic Rockets,” Dixon told him. 

“Right away sir.” 

“Commander McNary…” Dixon said as he turned to the commander.  “Give me a status report.” 

“Understood,” Commander McNary said while she put the data on-screen. 

“Thirteen percent shields, sir.  We still have an amazing ninety-six percent hull integrity.  Warp and Ultra drives are up, and sub-light engines are fully operational.  As for fleet-wise, we’ve lost several ships,” she explained. 

“Which ones?” Dixon requested. 

“We’ve lost
Voyager
,
Theta
,
Intrepid
, and the
Blackened Bruise
.” 

“Did Captain Braizer survive?  Anyone brave enough to name their ship the
Blackened Bruise
is respected in my fleet,” Dixon said.

“So far we can't be sure, sir,” Commander McNary informed him. 

“Understood Commander,” he uttered quietly.

             
“Hey!”  Philip said, pointing at a small Vorgian frigate.  “It’s headed right for us!” 

“Oh no… I think you’re right!”  Ryan announced.  “Admiral!  We need to target that frigate over there.  I believe it is trying to ram us.” 

             
Dixon glanced down at the TRIAD display. 

             
“That does appear to be its intention,” Dixon said in an alarmed tone. 

His usually expressionless face showed faint signs of worry.  I was terrified. 

“If it hits our ship, will we take enough damage to blow up?”  I asked. 

“Not even close…” Phil said knowingly.  “However it could easily destroy a portion around where it hits.  And possibly additional damage if the bulkheads aren’t sealed off around the impact area.” 

“Let’s hope it doesn’t hit here…” Robert told us quietly. 

“Agreed,” Nevin, Philip, and I said in unison.  Then, Ryan walked back over to us. 

“He’s aiming all of our turrets on it.  We have to destroy it before it impacts us,” he informed us.

             
“Sir!  It’s closing on us.  Impact to engines in ten seconds,” McNary announced. 

“Redirect all power to the engines!  NOW!” Admiral Dixon commanded. 

“Powering engines, sir,” the nav officer said. 

“Hurry,” Dixon ordered as he looked toward his navigation officer.

             
The
Concordia
began to crawl forward. 

             
“Engines at maximum,” McNary announced.  “Not fast enough, sir. Two seconds before—” 

The ship shook and sparks shot out of some of the equipment.  There was a crunching sound, and then a massive explosion.   It caused the ship to shake again.  Nevin and I both fell to the floor.

             
“Sir…” Commander McNary began.  “Sub-light engines and warp drive are down.”

As I stared out at the battle, the mushroom-bulb at the top of
Fargo
showed clear signs of extensive damage.  Large breaches in its hull began to appear as the surface fractured.

             
“This is our chance,” Dixon boomed, seemingly recovered from the impact already.  “Ready a Mark II Seismic Rocket.” 

“Yes sir!” the weapons officer announced.

The COM opened again with another transmission. 

“Sir… this is the
Appomattox
.  We have lost all shields and hull integrity is low.  Permission to jump?” the captain explained. 

“Permission granted Captain Rebik,” Dixon accepted.

             
I knew a ship was about to jump, so I looked around the fleet.  Then the familiar blue light surrounded one of the destroyers and then it was gone. 

“Firing Mark II Seismic Rocket sir,” the weapons officer announced. 

A long blue and white rocket pushed out of the bow of the
Concordia
.  The rocket launched forward, slower than most rockets, and far slower than the Neutron Bullet had been.  Point defense beams flashed around the rocket to no avail.  As it impacted, a massive blue wave blasted out of the bulb, breaking it open. Without sides, the peak of the bulb lifted away from the rest of the broken station.

             
“How exactly do those rockets work?” I asked Philip. 

“They are composed of extremely dense Hentronium with a seismic charge inside.  Upon impact, inertia causes the unstable charge to hit the Hentronium with enough force to set it off.”

             
“Right… That’s great,” Nevin said, obviously confused. 

“Okay,” I respond, “How about Ultradrive?” I asked curiously, trying to distract myself from the gnawing fear of the
Concordia
exploding like the great station
Fargo
.

“It works by putting us out of phase in a dimension where everything is exponentially smaller.  Ships that were around us would not be in the alternate dimension, unless they too enter Ultraspace.  As we travel at normal speed, the distance that must be traveled is vastly decreased.  As soon as we drop out of Ultraspace we will remain at our relative location in our dimension.  Essentially, this reduces the total distance a ship must travel, as opposed to attempting to boost the speed with which it does so,” Philip explained. 

“I see…” I said, somewhat confused by the technical jargon.

             
Suddenly we heard a tremendous explosion.  I hurried closer to the window.  Where I once saw
Fargo
, I now saw nothing but  rubble left of the station.

“Sir,
Fargo
has been destroyed.  Mission complete,” Commander McNary announced.  “Remaining Vorgians are jumping.” 

“Good work crew,” Dixon congratulated.  “That’s it for us, we just have to sit back and let the Marines do their job.” 

“Sir!  Final damage report is eighteen percent shields and gaining.  Hull integrity remains about eighty-seven percent.  That frigate took its toll on the engines.  Ultradrive is still online, though,” Commander McNary informed the crew. 

“That’s good,” Dixon approved.  “Set us into standard orbit.”

“Yes, sir” McNary said. 

She moved over to the COM console and opened a link with the ships in the fleet. 

“We have won.  For now just set into standard orbit and await further instructions,” she announced.

             
With the battle over, we were asked to leave the bridge, and were escorted by a guard to a relatively small room with a few naval cots.  It wasn’t the most comfortable place, but it felt secure compared to the hustle and bustle of the bridge.  We waited on board the
Concordia
, mostly in that room, for at least a day.  Then Admiral Dixon walked in with news.

             
“Hello, Dunkelman,” he said as he stepped into our room. 

“Welcome, sir!” Ryan responded as we all saluted. 

“At ease,” Dixon ordered calmly.  “We have our jump drive back online.” 

“Se-weet!” Max exclaimed. 

“Careful soldier,” Dixon warned. 

“Ok…” Max whined.  

“Do you need anything else, sir?” Nevin asked. 

“Actually, I do.” Dixon answered.  “Two things to be precise.” 

“Cool!” Max said.  “There are two!” 

“Soldier!” Dixon growled. 

Max simply shrugged.

             
“Anyway…” Dixon continued.  “Our shipyards above Euphola have just launched our new super-weapon.  It is called the
Enforcer
.  It is so large, it doesn’t fit into any of our current ship classes.”

“Wow,” I murmured in amazement. 

“Yes, ‘wow’ is right.  It is nearly two and a half times longer than my dreadnaught.  Plus, since dreadnaught is our highest class, many people think we should make one more class.  But more importantly, the
Enforcer
is going to Hothonos.  Spies report that two avengers and about eight frigates jumped in after Enphuerzo.  We will be testing the
Enforcer
there.  It will have two back up ships to accompany it.  The
Lone Wolf
, which is a destroyer, and the frigate,
Sandy Shore
.  I personally don’t like the idea.  However, the Senate has voted forty-eight to twelve that we test it there,” Dixon lectured.  “And if
you
are any indication… the Senate doesn’t always make decisions I like,” he continued, revealing his distaste for the Ranger program.