Warrior One - Fleet Action Pt. 03

"Good. Was she feeling better... "

"Yes sir, I think the rest did her good. I don't know about the funeral, though."

"Of course, laying one of your family to rest is not a task to be taken lightly. In case, this is really just for you Dana, none of you knew, Abigeál's mother passed away three, no four days ago."

"Oh my, no wonder she was... "

"Yes." Admiral Cook took his glass and raised it. "To her, dearly beloved mother, may her soul rest in peace."

"Hear, hear," the group said in unison.

Then other officers started to arrive, each looking around with wonder in their eyes. Soon the table was full and still, others came.

"Captain Ó Daire, if you would be so kind and take the most junior of our Captains to that table over there," Milford said pointing to a table next to his.

"Of course sir, Ladies, Gentlemen?" Áinle said gathering the junior officers with her eyes.

Dana Tracy started to get up.

"Whoa young lady, you stay here."

"But, I'm... "

"Not anymore. You are in the planning group, therefore you are senior to most everyone in the fleet. I will tell you who after we have left the system. But at this table," Milford looked around, "there are only three who outrank you, that is until Captain Kerrin arrives."

"Yes sir," Dana said gulping as she looked around the table. Mealla smiled at her, nodding. Donal chuckled.

"So, how does it feel to be the Admiral's star pupil?" Donal leaned in whispering in her ear.

"Not so good," she said softly.

"That rear admiral that left as we arrived... "

"Yes?"

"He was the Admiral's last pupil... "

"That was Ezra Nichols?" Dana asked, in a harsh whisper.

"It was," Donal answered with a chuckle.

Things settled down and for the rest of the night, light banter and Irish whiskey kept the officers busy.

At twenty-two-fifty Abigeál Kerrin entered the tavern. Smiling she walked toward the Admiral's table. Lieutenant Coulter rose, holding his chair for his Captain. The Admiral nodded to her and she took the chair, turning to thank her first officer.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," she smiled up at him as he nodded to her and the Admiral. Abigeál turned back to the Admiral, "Thank you, sir."

"It was my pleasure as well as my duty, Abigeál."

A waitress placed an Irish and water down in front of Abigeál. Picking up her glass she raised it, "To the fleet and all its members," she toasted.

"To our families without which we wouldn't be here," the Admiral countered.

"Hear, hear," the rest answered. Everyone tilted their glass and sipped the potent liquor.

Milford saw a tear slowly run down Abigeál cheek. As she glanced his way, he smiled and nodded at her.

Chapter 69

The next morning, Milford Cook, Admiral in the Fleet, sat in his chair, just abaft of the Captain's chair. He had a clear view of the main viewscreen as well as the eight screens on the console in front of him. Plus, his chair being raised a little higher than everyone else's, he could see all the screen of every chair in the room.

"Shaffer, begin program."

"Yes, sir."

On the main view screen, the fifteen pips started forward. For the next hour they would be accelerating hard, three-quarters sub-light. Once out of the system, they would jump to hyperspace. Three days from today they would drop out and begin their run on Melissa. For this run, everyone stayed awake.

"Shaffer, I'll be in my cabin."

"Yes, sir."

"Admiral leaving the bridge," the yeoman said loudly.

Admiral Cook walked down the passageway to his cabin. It would be three days with nothing for him to really do. He might as well get some work done.

For three days, Milford worked on the plans for their next raid. He had three systems, so he planned all three. They may or may not hit all three, but the planning board might pick any of the three and Milford wanted to have a plan ready for discussion when they did. On the morning of the fourth day, the ships dropped out of hyperspace. Milford was in his chair, just behind Donal.

The screens were lit up with the blips of enemy ships in the system. The outpost was on the second planet. It was a huge planet. Yet the sensors said the gravity was only half of Earth normal. No iron core. Milford watched the blips on the screen. None were maneuvering as of yet. About now their sensors have started to report the presence of the fleet. And there they go. Every ship in the system started to move.

"Those four ships moving away from us hit them with four torpedoes each," Milford said to Donal, just in front of him.

"Already targeted Admiral."

"Good."

He watched the torpedo tracks on the screen. Dashes really. The torpedoes dropped in and out of hyperspace on their way to a target. Milford sat back and watched the plan develop, only occasionally making slight changes. Each time Donal had anticipated him when it came to the Doog.

Four destroyers broke formation and headed to the planet. Right on schedule. Six Gar ships, smaller than the destroyers, broke off their attack to give chase.

"Abigeál, break off and protect the destroyers going down to the planet," Milford said on his private communications line.

"Aye, aye sir," came Abigeál's response.

On the screen, Milford watch as the Altan quickly moved to follow the two groups headed to the planet. The Admiral could see the plasma bolts reach out from Altan and touch the small Gar craft. Nothing visible happened, but Milford knew the crews of those ships were being knocked about from the impact.

Then four Gar ships went dark and the other two disappeared. Torpedoes had caught up with them. His ships were fighting magnificently. Gar ships were going dark, exploding or just disappearing into hyperspace.

"Sensors, fifteen more Gar ships just appeared behind us," the sensor crewman called out.

"Doog, Éidin, and Nóe turn and fire. Destroyers to clean up what's left in front of us, then join us."

Three aye, ayes came over the comms. On the screen, the three ships turned, still heading in-system and faced the enemy behind them. Fire streaked between the two sets of ships. The Doog started to shake from the impact of the Gar plasma cannon and missiles. The shields shook off the attack.

On the display up front, the tracks of the torpedoes made straight for the fifteen Gar ships. All the torpedoes converged on their target at the same exact moment. Fifteen ships either went dark or disappeared.

"All ships turn back to the fight... "

"Sensors, another ten ships just appeared on the same vector as the last fifteen."

"Belay that... eliminate those ships." Milford wondered where all these Gar ships were coming from.

"Nóra, Lonán, I want you to jump one AU back the way we came and find those ships."

"Aye, aye." Echoed from his left speaker.

The two ships disappeared from the display, only to reappear one AU out from the system. Suddenly, fifty Gar ships appeared on the screen close to the two ships.

" Fáelán, Rónán, Tór, jump to assist Nóra and Lonán. Éidin, follow in twenty seconds."

"Aye, aye." Came from Milford's speakers. Three ships disappeared only to reappear alongside the destroyers. Then the Éidin was gone. Milford had just split his forces. In some circles, that would be considered an unwise move. But for him, it was a strategy that had worked more than once.

Twenty minutes later the ships were back, having destroyed all the Gar hanging out at the rim of the system. The ships still maneuvering in system suddenly jumped into hyperspace. The system was theirs, but they were only passing through. The jump back to Earth came thirty minutes later. Three days and they would be home.

Chapter 70

Four days later, Captains Bree, Kelly, Ó Daire, Tracy, and Mac Aodhagáin sat waiting in the Doog's command conference room. On the table in front of them was the intel on the three systems Admiral Cook had pulled so they could decide which would be their next mission.

"One of these is really far from homeworld," Mealla Bree said to nobody in particular.

"And that's the one we should do. Don't look so shocked. It will prove to the Gar that we can hit them anywhere in the galaxy... " Dana Tracy said.

"But so far we have only hit them out here in the rim... " Mealla said, cutting Dana off.

"Yes, but this one is down toward the galactic center, where the Gar are from. This might get them to stop, even retreat back down this spiral arm."

The door to the conference room opened. Admiral Cook strode in waving them all back to their seats.

"No need to jump to attention, sit," he told them as he made his way to the head of the table. "So any consensus?"

"Not really sir," Mealla said.

"Sir, I think we should hit... "

"And I don't... "

"But we should, it's only logical," Dana retorted almost shouting.

"Settle down," Milford said quietly.

The room went quiet. So quiet that you could hear a pin drop and tell what direction it bounced.

"Good. Now... "

"Sir... " Dana started.

"You'll get your turn, Dana. Just be patient."

"Of course sir."

"To recap, I have given you three systems that are fairly far from Earth. They are all down toward the center of the galaxy. All three have a significant Gar presence. One is a star that is part of the constellation Canis Major. Another, also part of Canis Major, is the farthest from earth. The last is not part of the constellation but is in that direction and the closest of the three.

"Only one has a name, Aludra. The other two just numeric designations. SAO 173446 and SAO 150340. 173446 is the farthest from Earth, some three thousand light years. Aludra is next at twenty-four hundred light years. While 150340 is a scant fifteen hundred light years. None of these stars has a spectral type that would be conducive to creating life on any planet that orbits them. Well, not life as we know it anyway.

"Aludra is a Class B, 446 is an O, and 340 is another B. But the intel in front of you indicates that all three have planets, two with some kind of atmosphere. The others are craggy, barren balls of rock.

"So, Mealla, which do you favor?"

"I would go with 340. It's the closest and one of the planets has an atmosphere."

"Donal?"

"Sir, may I reserve my choice until everyone else has had a... "

"Very well, as I already know your choice I will come back to you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Áinle?"

"I see Aludra as a prime target, sir. One of its planets has an atmosphere and even though it's a little farther away, it wouldn't take that much longer to get to."

"Thank you Áinle. Ólchobar?"

"Initially, I was for Aludra, but after some discussion, I am now leaning toward 446."

"Why?"

"I think Captain Tracy made the best argument... it's the farthest down the spiral arm and would let the Gar know we can hit them that far away. In fact, if there was a star system farther down the spiral, I would choose that one for the same reasons."

"I see. Dana?"

"Well, Captain Mac Aodhagáin expressed my thoughts on 446. Two lifeless rocks circling the planet with a Gar presence could only mean a supply station. We should hit them hard to let them know, we can not only find them but hit them that far away."

"Donal?"

"I with Dana and Ólchobar, sir."

"Same reasons?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well then you have a consensus, 173446 is our next target."

"But sir... " Mealla started until Milford waved her to be quiet.

"Mealla, Áinle, our mission is to inflict the greatest damage to the Gar as possible. I haven't given you my interpretation of those mission parameters as yet... so here goes. We hit them hard, we hit them as far away from Earth as possible, we hit them often. Now that you have those parameters, which system would you hit Mealla? Áinle?"

"446, sir," Mealla answered.

"I concur, sir," Áinle replied.

"Good, prepare the fleet for maneuvers," Milford told them. "This trip will be the longest any of our ships have undertaken. Two hundred and eighty days at best possible speed. We'll probably have to stop along the way to draw fuel from the Tór. All that can be handled by the androids. Also, each of the battlecruisers will carry four destroyers. There are four pad points on the outer hull where the destroyers can land and be tied down. The Doog will only have to carry two. So there will only be four ships to refuel.

"Mealla, make sure you have your fuel tanks topped off. Same for all of you. We will be accelerating at a computed speed, not hard enough to empty our tanks too soon, but hard enough to get us to 446 in two hundred and eighty days. Now go, get your ships ready, we leave in twelve hours.

"Aye, aye, sir," Donal answered for all of them.

"Donal, you being the ranking Captain, you have the lead."

"Yes, sir," Donal said saluting his Admiral.

"Dismissed," Milford told them.

They all filed out of the conference room silently.

Chapter 71

Slowly the ship started to wake. Shaffer Steel had just woke up and was on his way to the bridge. He knew it would be several hours before the Admiral appeared there. In fact, it would be several hours before any human appeared on the bridge. Two hundred and eighty days was a long time to be in cold sleep. As he entered the bridge, he nodded at Poll, Captain Kelly's command android. Four hours later Admiral Cook wobbled onto the bridge. He took his seat, scrubbed his face with his hands and scanned the screens in front of him.

"Still in hyper?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. We are four days out from 446. Sensors are picking up a lot of activity. Ships coming and going all day, all night."

"Good, we picked the right place then. This should be a blow to them that they won't be quick to recover from."

"Yes sir," Shaffer replied.

Over the next couple of hours, crew members stumbled, wobbled or staggered, onto the bridge and took their positions at their consoles. By the end of the watch, all stations were manned and ready. Admiral Cook retired to his ready room to go over his plan.

Four days later, Milford sat in his chair, watching the screens in front of him intently. Blips were moving to and from the second planet out from 446. They were minutes from dropping out of hyperspace. Then they were in normal space. Stars filled the screens behind the planet that was now centered on the main screen.

"Sensors?" Captain Kelly called out.

"They haven't detected us yet, sir."

"Weapons?"

"Weapons ready sir."

"Detach destroyers."

"Detaching destroyers. Destroyers away."

Counter Measures?"

"Counter Measures ready sir."

"Comms, any chatter?"

"None pertaining to us, sir."

"Weapons, in range, in five minutes."

"Thank you Weps."

"Comms, all ships please?" Admiral Cook asked.

"Aye aye, sir. Channel open. Four."

"Admiral Cook to all ships. Everyone is to offload half your missiles at the planet. Torpedoes at every ship you see. Admiral out."

"Weapons, in range, torpedoes out. Missiles in two minutes."

"Very well. Sensors any activity?" Captain Kelly asked.

"None sir. They are oblivious to us so far."

Weapons, Missiles launching. Missiles out."

"Very well."

"Sensors, Gar ships maneuvering."

"Toward us?"

"No sir, away from the planet at best possible speed."

"All ships... stay on course. This is a flyby, not an engagement."

"All ships answering sir," Poll said.

"Thank you, Poll."

The planet was fast approaching. Then it was behind them. The missile impacts were on the opposite side, but the flare as they hit, backlit the planet. At first, it didn't appear anything was happening. Then a dark crack appeared across the width of the planet. Suddenly, it burst into millions of shards, flying out from the planet in all directions.

"Holy mother... " a whispered curse came from across the bridge.

"Too right," Admiral Cook responded.

"Sensors, Gar ships now vectoring for an intercept course."

"Will they catch us?" Donal asked.

"No sir, not even close."

"Retrieve destroyers. Make ready for hyperspace."

"Aye, aye, sir."

It took two hours to get the destroyers back aboard the battlecruisers. While that was happening, the crew started to go into cold sleep for the long journey home. Throughout the process, Milford sat in his chair, watching and waiting for the shoe to drop. As the preparations for hyperspace echoed through the almost empty passageways of the ship, Milford checks his ship one last time.

"It's time sir," Shaffer said softly from his console.

"It is."

"Yes, sir."

Milford made his way into the bowels of the ship to the cold sleep chamber he would be placed into. Their second mission appeared to be a success. And as he closed his eyes, he hoped the rest would be just as easy and just as successful.

Chapter 72

The fleet, his fleet, sat just abaft Capella Station. Milford Cook sat at his desk in his ready room, going over intel about their next targets. The rest the Planning Group would join him in an hour. All ships having been refueled and rearmed, now just floated in space waiting for their next assignment.

Milford had selected three more star systems to evaluate. In front of him, he had the three folders. He had already picked the one he thought they should hit. Now it was up to the team to make a decision and persuade him to their pick. The three were farther down the spiral arm than the last three.

All of them had only numeric designations. The first was HD36352 a B9.5 spectral class star approximately two thousand light years distant. It had sixteen planets circling it, three of which were gas giants. Those gas giants each had three large moons orbiting them. One planet, which should have been a gas giant, but was a large ball of rock, had a moon in orbit. The Gar had set up on that moon, a resupply station.

The next, HD37642 was two thousand five hundred light years away, a B9 spectral class with two rocky planets. The innermost planet had three small moons circling, while the other had two, one large moon and one nothing more than a rock two hundred meters across. The Gar had set up on the second planet in the system. They appeared to have set up a resupply station on the planet and the large moon.

The last was HD37699, four thousand light years away. It was a B5 spectral class with 3 planets, one a gas giant, orbiting it. The gas giant had two moons circling it. The Gar had a station on the second planet. The gas giant was the third from the sun. The Saxon had made a flyby detecting the station, but on one of the moons of the gas giant, they had detected activity, but couldn't tell what was going on. And so far they hadn't been back to check.

A knock at his door startled Milford.

"Come in," he bellowed.

The door opened and his team filed in.

"Sit. Get a beverage. We have a lot to go over." Everyone sat. "All right then, in front of you, you will find three folders with our possible mission in one of them. Yes, I have already made my choice. Now it's time for you to make yours. Read them. I will be on the bridge. Call me when you have reached a consensus. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," Donal said.

Milford rose and left the room, closing the door behind him. He almost knew which target they would choose, but had to let them find it first, then tell them why they were wrong.

"Admiral on the bridge," the watch officer said in a loud clear voice.

"At ease," Milford said and went to his chair, just behind and to the right of the captain's chair.

Sitting, he scanned the screens and gauges on his console. He looked up at the large screen up front on the wall. Sure that nothing was amiss, he leaned back into the cushions of his chair and just watched the crew work. After a while, they forgot he was there and let their guard down. With nothing to worry about there was some horseplay. Milford smiled, remembering his tours on the bridges of many ships, both land-based and space-based. Shaffer was beside him.