Warrior One - Fleet Action Pt. 01

"Well sir, I really don't like talking out of turn, but the way he treated his crew and those who were his equals as well as those who were his superiors was shameful. I'm surprised he made it through the academy, I really am."

"Please continue Captain," Admiral Adair told her.

"Sir, I... I just can't... "

"Did he... you know, to you... "

"No, sir. He was a belligerent son of a bitch and looked down at me, but he knew better than to try anything like that. After all, I was his superior, which when it came to being polite, meant nothing to him."

"And your assessment of him Ezra?"

"The same. He had no respect for anyone, especially those in authority over him."

"Mister Pierce?"

"Sir?"

"Mister Pierce?"

"Yes, sir. Rohan was all that Captain Brogan said and then some. He had no respect for his crew, including me. I wouldn't have been surprised if a mutiny didn't occur on this mission. I have a stack of complaints in my quarters if the Admiral wishes. I did all I could to keep the crew from committing such an act, sir."

"I do. Transfer copies, you keep the originals, to my ship before you leave."

"Would the Admiral also like to take custody of Mister MacKenna?" Ezra asked.

"No, Captain Nichols. You will turn him over to the proper authorities when you return. Keep him in cold sleep until such time as you do. Those are my orders to you, even though I am not in your chain of command. Also, I will draft a brevet promotion to Captain for Commander Pierce."

"Aye, aye sir," Ezra replied.

Sadness washed over him, yet he was glad the Admiral had done the right thing. Most Admirals would have wanted to take charge of the offending Captain assigned to their fleet for courts-martial or administrative action. Ezra felt that Admiral Cook would have done the right thing, but hadn't known what Admiral Adair would do.

"Very well, Captain. Now I will leave you to your mission. I will report this to High Command when I am able so there will be no repercussions when you get back. Where do your orders place you when it is over?"

"Uh, sir, I'm afraid I can't tell you that, orders, sir."

"I see. Well, good luck to all of you. Nice to have met you, Captain Brogan. Mister Pierce, I look forward to reading your mission report afterward."

"Thank you, sir," Bridget responded.

"Yes sir," Ronan answered.

The Admiral rose as did the three Captains.

"Ezra, if you will show me the way back to my shuttle?"

"Of course sir," Ezra said walking out of the conference room.

"So, Ronan, do you need any help with your crew?" Bridget asked.

"Nice of you to offer, but I think I can handle it."

"No doubt. I'm sorry if I overstepped... "

"Don't be ridiculous. We all can use any help offered if needed."

"Well, Captain," Bridget smiled at Ronan.

"Not the way I wanted to make Captain, Bridget."

"Nor I."

Chapter 37

After the Admiral left, Ezra made his way back to the conference room, where Bridget and Ronan waited for him. He had to bring Ronan up to speed on the mission. And it wouldn't hurt to socialize a little, having just yanked the rug out from under his feet. Ezra wasn't sorry he had to relieve Rohan MacKenna, the man was an ass and had no business in the service. Well, it was done. Now they moved on. When he entered the conference room both Bridget and Ronan jumped to attention.

"At ease. Be seated. Ronan, had Captain MacKenna briefed you on the mission?"

"Not completely. He told me where, but that's about all. Chandler, did he brief you?" Ronan asked his command android.

"No sir, although when he posted the orders in his log I knew what, where, when and how, sir. And now that you are Captain, I can tell and let you read the orders if you wish."

"I do, Captain Nichols... "

"I will tell you this. We will be traveling eighteen hundred light years to a system known as Wezen and we will be attacking Wezen III and IV with every missile we have, split between the two worlds. Missiles are being loaded as we speak, are they not Candle?"

"Yes, sir. Each ship will have a complement of forty thousand missiles."

"My god," Ronan whispered. "So it's true, you split a planet-wide open?"

"It is and that was with only twenty thousand. The half of your crew that is in cold sleep will remain there for the duration of the mission. The others will rotate over the fifty-six days it will take us to travel to the Wezen system."

"Fifty-six days to travel eighteen hundred light years?" Ronan queried.

"Rohan was given the acceleration schedule. Chandler, did he file those too?"

"Yes, sir. They are available online for Captain Pierce."

"Thank you, Chandler," Ezra said.

"You are welcome, sir."

"Now as to how we get there. We accelerate while in hyperspace. Warrior has done it before when we went to Atlas and back. But then we had to slow down twice. Now we don't. We pop out of hyperspace to get a bearing on the system where we can pass both worlds closely. Then jump back into hyperspace on a course for Aldebaran V."

"We're not coming back here or to Earth?"

"No, our order place us at Aldebaran V in one hundred and ninety days."

"Yes sir," Ronan said.

"Now go, get your ships ready. We leave tomorrow at fifteen hundred hours."

"Aye, aye sir," both Bridget and Ronan said standing and leaving the room, their androids in tow.

"That went smoothly sir," Candle quipped.

"It did, didn't it." Ezra smiled at Candle as he rose and headed back to the bridge Candle following.

Chapter 38

"Candle have the other ships reported in?"

"Yes, sir, just. They are ready."

"Thank you. Helm, course has been plotted, all ahead one-third."

"All ahead, one-third, aye, aye sir."

The ship surged forward slowly. Warrior Two and Three followed. They knew the schedule. All three ships were on radio silence protocol. Fifteen minutes after they started, sub-light engines were increased to two-thirds. It took them two hours to leave the system so they could make the jump to hyperspace. When all three were in hyperspace the sub-light engines were throttled up to full. They were now accelerating at fantastic speeds. By the time they reached Wezen, they should be at two-thirds the speed of light.

For the first twenty days, Ezra reported to the bridge. Then on the twenty-first day, he was visited by the ships Doctor. A ship's nurse was with him.

"Doctor, what brings you to the bridge?" Ezra asked.

"You do Captain. It's time you were placed in cold sleep until we arrive at Wezen."

"No, no, I can't. I have to be here... "

"Doctor's orders Captain."

"Really? You're going to pull rank on me... "

"I'm afraid I have to Ezra. You have been awake in hyperspace too much of late. It's time to restore some of your equilibrium by taking a long needed nap in cold sleep. So, come along and Nurse Gold won't have to drag you."

"I have no one to relieve me... "

"I'm here Captain," Commander Beckett said as he entered the bridge.

"Ah, I see, a conspiracy. Very well Doctor. Commander Beckett, you have the ship," Ezra said rising from his couch.

"Aye, aye sir," Phinias said softly saluting Ezra.

"Take care of her while I'm sleeping, Phin," Ezra said returning the salute.

"I will sir, I promise."

"Lead the way Nurse Gold," Ezra said turning to the android and bowing.

"This way sir," she replied striding off the bridge so fast the Ezra was hard pressed to keep up.

"Nancy, please slow down?" Ezra said.

"Yes sir," she said slowing her pace.

"So, how have you been of late?" Ezra asked her in idle conversation.

"I'm good sir. How are you really feeling?"

"A little worn, but I could have coped. You know where I'm from, don't you?"

"Yes, sir. Just because you lived in the wilds of North America, doesn't mean you can survive staying awake in hyperspace for long periods."

"I guess not with you and the Doctor looking out for me," Ezra chuckled as he responded.

"All right, here we are. In you climb. Do you need to void your bladder or empty your bowels?"

"No, I'm fine Nancy," Ezra grunted as he climbed into his cold sleep pod.

Once he was comfortable, well as comfortable as one could be knowing that you were about to be frozen solid for an extended period of time, Ezra nodded to Nancy.

"Here we go," Nancy said pulling the pod lid down to the closed position. "Sweet dreams Captain, she said as the pod filled with the cold sleep mist.

Nancy pressed a sequence of buttons on the end of the pod and it slid forward into the wall. Looking at the gauges, she nodded once, smiled and turned and left the hibernation bay.

As Phinias Beckett sat in the Captain's chair he wondered about the future. Not his future, but mankind's future. After the war back home and now this war with the Gar, he wondered if man would ever stop fighting and killing. Well at least now, man wasn't killing his own kind. Or was he. So far no one has seen a Gar. Man didn't know what his foe looked like. The K'lar looked so much like man that the only visible distinction was their height. But that could be explained.

So far, the battles they had been in had been exciting and they had traveled farther from Earth than anyone back home. He shook himself out of his revere and scanned the panel in front of him. All stations reporting nominal. He glanced up at the big screen. No contacts showed there. Yet, still, there was this feeling. He wondered why the hairs on his neck were standing on end. Shaking his head, he wondered if it could be a residual from cold sleep.

Chapter 39

The trip to Wezen was uneventful. Two days before they were to drop out of hyperspace, the Doctor woke Ezra. A shaky Captain returned to the bridge the following day, ready to take command.

"Good morning Captain," Commander Beckett greeted him as he rose from the Captain's couch.

"Good morning Phin, how goes the ship?"

"Everything is running like clockwork and we are twenty-three hours from normal space."

"Very good, Phin. Now go get some chow and a nap before we do."

"Aye, aye sir," Phin said, turned and left the bridge.

Ezra sat on his couch and scanned his board. All clear. Smiling, Ezra leaned back in his couch and gazed at the big screen up front. There he saw Warrior's speed, heading and time to normal space. It was the speed readout that drew his attention. Almost zero point six-six of the speed of light. They were going faster than any ship in the fleet. On the screen was the information about the other two ships.

"Sensors," Ezra called out.

"Sensors aye, sir."

"What are the four blips showing up on the board?"

"I don't know sir, they showed up day before yesterday."

"Did you inform Commander Beckett?"

"Yes, sir. The Commander and Lieutenant Dwyer postulated that it was a ghost image."

"Well the computer doesn't think so, it has vector and speed readouts on the four and they are closing on us. Ghosts don't close. All hands battle stations," Ezra called out.

Candle tapped in the call to battle stations and the klaxon howled. The crew came running onto the bridge as the howling continued. When Commander Becket appeared, Ezra motioned him over.

"Phin, why didn't you tell me about the Ghosts?"

"I really didn't think it was important sir. Sorry, it won't happen again."

"Go to your station. All stations report, verbally," Ezra shouted.

"Weapons manned and ready," Lieutenant Kinsella called out.

"Countermeasures, manned and ready," Lieutenant Byers shouted.

"Comms, manned and ready," said Ensign Flannery

"Navigation ready," Commander Nolan said.

"Helm manned," Lieutenant Bergin said.

"Sensors ready, sir," Ensign Carlson croaked.

"Just out of cold sleep Ensign?"

"Yes, sir," Carlson said weakly.

"Very well. What are your assessments of the four bogies on our six?"

"Not ghosts sir."

"Very well, let me know when you have identified them."

"Aye, aye sir," Samuel croaked.

The bridge was silent, only the thrumming of the engines, felt, more than heard, filling the large room.

"Comms, we are being hailed, sir. In the clear on the FTL comm. It's K'lar."

"Put it on speaker," Ezra called out.

"Aye, aye sir."

The bridge was filled with a booming voice, so loud it was unintelligible. Ensign Flannery finally lowered the volume and the translation could be heard.

"Earth ships, please respond. Earth ships, please respond."

"This is the Earth ship Warrior One, responding," Ezra said.

"Earth ships, please respon... thank you for responding. I am Commander H'ese. I have to assume you are going to attack the Gar at Wezen?"

"We are Commander."

"The third planet is a colony of ours and our people still live there."

"Then we will not attack the third planet, but we will attack the ships in orbit around it."

"That will be fine. The fourth planet has a Gar mining operation on it, feel free to destroy that."

"We will. Will you be joining us in the attack."

"Wish that we could, but we are extremely low on fuel. Catching up with you has taxed our fuel supply, so we must continue on course to our tanker waiting two hundred and fifty light years beyond Wezen."

"Very well and good luck."

"Good luck to you Captain."

"Thank you, Earth ship Warrior One out."

"K'lar ship Kelvin Five, out."

"Comms, get me Warrior Two and Three Captains on the line."

"Aye, aye, sir."

Chapter 40

"Sir, I have Captain Brogan on channel two. I have not been able to raise Warrior Two yet sir."

"Keep trying," Ezra told Ensign Flannery as he punched up Bridget on his console. "Bridget, change in target. We will only be hitting Wezen IV. Those ships in our wake are K'lar and Wezen III is one of their colonies that the Gar have taken over. We will be hitting every ship in orbit around III."

"Yes, sir. Why isn't Ronan on this call?"

"I don't know, we haven't been able to raise them... "

"Sir, Sensors, Warrior Two has just dropped out of hyperspace."

"Engineering, immediate shut down of our hyperspace engines," Ezra called out.

The lurch into normal space was jarring. Warrior Three dropped out right beside Warrior One. Ezra grimaced as his stomach did flip-flops.

"Sensors, where is Two?"

"Two is three hundred thousand kilometers behind us."

"Helm full reverse, Comms, keep trying to raise Two. Sensors, give me closing rates I want to match."

"Aye, aye sir," all three answered together.

"Sensors, Two is closing at one hundred k per second. Three is also braking."

"Very well. Navigation, I want to match speeds with Two."

"Aye, aye sir," Commander Nolan replied calmly.

"Sensors, lifeboats are launching from Two. Now detecting shuttles."

"Plot on screen," Ezra shouted.

"Sensors, two K'lar vessels have dropped back to normal."

"Comms, K'lar are hailing us."

"Channel five, comms."

"Aye, aye sir."

"This is Captain Nichols."

"Captain, this is Commander H'ese, do you need assistance?"

"Thank you Commander, but no, we can handle the problem," Ezra told him, not even knowing what the problem was.

"Very well Captain. Fair sea and following winds."

"Fair seas and following winds Commander."

"Comms, I have Captain Pierce on channel four."

"Pierce, what the hell is going on over there?" Ezra shouted.

"Sir, I am sorry to report that we have lost Warrior Two."

"What?"

"While I was in cold sleep, several of the staff officers who thought that Mister MacKenna was wrongfully removed from command, woke him up and attempted to take over the ship. They failed, but did manage to take and hold key sections of the ship and did initiate the self-destruct protocols."

"Shit, I knew I should have had him shot. Very well, you report aboard One, split the rest of the boats and shuttles between One and Three."

"Aye, aye sir, see you soon."

"Does Rohan have control of the weapons?"

"No, Chandler was working furiously to install lockouts on the bridge when I gave the order to abandon ship. As we have not been fired upon, I can only speculate that he was successful."

"Very good."

"Plot, we have matched with Two."

"Mister Nolan, time to jump for our attack run?"

"Two hours, fifteen minutes."

"Crap. All right get the crew of Two aboard. Mister Nolan have you determined a vector for our run?"

"Yes, sir, we have to make a course change in one hour ten minutes."

"Damn. When Captain Pierce is on board, show him to my ready room."

"Yes, sir," Candle said.

"Sensors, Three has matched speeds with us and is taking Two's boats and shuttles onboard."

"Very good," Ezra answered.

Chapter 41

Ezra sat behind his desk waiting for Ronan Pierce. His shuttle had docked ten minutes ago. A knock at his door brought Ezra back to the here and now.

"Enter," he shouted.

It was Candle, "Sir, Mister Pierce is in sickbay, he was wounded during... "

"Thank you," Ezra said, rising and pushing his way past Candle.

"You are welcome sir," Candle whispered, turned and went back to his post on the bridge.

Ezra was trotting down the corridor to the nearest lift. He was in sickbay within minutes.

"Ronan, why didn't you say you were injured?" Ezra asked when he pushed past the Doctor and nurses.

"Captain, please," Doctor Collins huffed.

"I'm, sorry doctor, but I must. Ronan, how long until Two destructs?"

"It was blaring two minutes, but that passed as we were transiting to One and Three. They may have turned it off once they realized we were gone."

"Anyone left on Two... "

"The Marines stayed and were staging several counter-attacks as I was carried off the bridge."

"So your contingent of Marines were still loyal to you?"

"Yes, as were ninety-nine percent of the crew. The only reason I gave the evac order was because they had control of the self-destruct."

"You get well Ronan, you are a good officer, I would hate to lose you."

"Right sir," Ronan chuckled.

Ezra turned and headed back to the bridge at a dead run.

"Mister Nolan, time to course change?"

"Fifty-five minutes, sir."

"Comms, I have a Major Aaron Kelly from Warrior Two on channel two.

"Major Kelly, Captain Nichols, what news?"

"Sir, we have captured or killed those involved in the mutiny. Request the status of Captain Pierce?"

"Captain Pierce is in our sickbay, word is he will survive, despite being the ornery cuss he is."

"Well said, sir," Kelly laughed. "We can take the crew back on board now sir, so we can complete the mission."

"That won't be possible as we are short on time. Is Chandler there?"

"The android sir?"

"Yes, the ships command android."

"He's here. Robot, the Captain of Warrior One wants to talk to you."

"Major!"

"Chandler here sir."

"Candle, send him the course change schedule."

"Received sir," Chandler said.

"Chandler, this is an order from the Group Commander, is Major Kelly listening?"

"He is sir."

"Major, Chandler is not to be interfered with, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Chandler you will execute the course corrections as scheduled."

"Yes, sir."

"Major," Ezra queried.

"Sir, I understand the bot will be flying the ship."

"Major, don't be an ass."

"Sir!"

"Would you prefer I relieve you?"

"No, sir! I follow orders, sir!"

"Your life depends on Chandler, Major."

"I understand. I don't like it, but I understand and will obey."

"Good. Candle keep this line open."

"Yes, sir."

Chapter 42

"Mister Nolan, will we have time to return the crew or those who are needed to run Two after the course correction?"

"Sir, we will have one hour five minutes once the course correction is complete."

"Time enough. Candle, coordinate with Chandler and Three's android for transfer of personnel. The rest we can transfer after our run through the system."