Atlas: Infinity Verge Trilogy: Book II (19 page)

It is more likely that Fleet Admiral Clark has a different reason for being there
, she thought.

The thought unsettled Echo. She needed to trust the EFNF, but she felt like that trust was breaking down. Echo agreed that Eden needed to be watched for EXO activity. She believed that Eden’s people needed to be protected, but whatever the Fleet Admiral intended to do, Echo wasn't sure she had the best interest of Eden at heart. The people of Eden did not need another dictator, they needed a savior. She realized then that she thought Abel might be more suited to the task of helping Eden than Fleet Admiral Clark.

“Ma'am, I'm picking up multiple contacts,” Andrew said.

“Hostiles Lieutenant?” Echo asked.

“I don't think so ma'am. They don't look like vulture backs. Heat signature is off. Ma'am they're RAVEN fighters.” Andrew responded.

“Master Chief, open secure comms, EFNF channel India Kilo November,” Echo ordered.

“Captain? That's old EFNF,” Six replied.

“Just do it Master Chief,” Echo barked.

“Ma'am.”

The Transteel viewer flickered for a moment and the face of middle aged man appeared. He had grey in his beard and eyebrows. His skin was lighter, almost ghostly white suggesting he had been raised aboard one of the Jupiter stations where they used artificial heating drawn from the planet's radiation.

“Hello pilot,” Echo said. “You are in True EFNF restricted space. Of course I am sure you knew that since you did not breach the asteroid belt.”” Echo said.

Thoughts of the asteroid belt concerned her. They had yet to pass through it and their exit through it was now blocked by a small squadron of RAVEN-F and RAVEN-S pilots. She had to admit though, she was curious. With the exception of her RAVEN-F no EXO had ever taken a RAVEN ship. They were too light on the defense and not heavy enough on firepower for the EXOs liking.

“You are correct Captain …” he let it hang obviously wanting Echo to fill in the rest. Although, Echo was sure the man knew who she was.

“Captain Echo Shade, of the True EFNF, of the TP-D
Justice
.” Echo said indicating the ship around her. “You have not introduced yourself or your squad Commander …”

“Fleet Commander Ahab Doyle at your service Captain Shade, your father was a good man.” he said.

Echo started. She had not expected any of the old EFNF to have survived. She had not expected them to seek out the True EFNF if they had.

“Scans indicate no EXO life signs aboard any of the vessels, Captain.” Ensign Kay reported.

“Thank you Ensign.” Echo said and turned back to the Fleet Commander on the view screen. “Well met Fleet Commander Boyle. I'd love to stay and chat, especially to find out why the EFNF is here and why now, but I have a mission I must see to.”

“The URSA gunship known as the
Kodiak
?” the Fleet Commander asked.

“It is not the
Kodiak
. Yes, she looks enough like it, but it is not the
Kodiak
,” Echo corrected him.

“Then we have much to discuss. We will form up on your exit vector and accompany you.” Ahab said.

“I'd rather you didn't.” Echo replied.

“There is no hostility in our action Captain Shade, think of us as an honor guard. There is much you need to know.” Ahab said.

“Fine, but don't interfere with my mission.”

“Wouldn't dream of it.” Ahab said.

20:
CATCHING UP

EFNF Destroyer: TP-D Justice

2973 ESD - Monday, June 7th 13:07 hours

Over the next couple of hours Echo and Ahab had a lengthy discussion. Where they had been and what they had done after her father's insane plan seemed to be the recurring theme. Most of the story seemed unreal. The First Fleet - Ahab and his men - had decided to go against Admiral Shade's order to self-destruct above Quintar V.

When the other orbital stations exploded they temporarily lost power on their station. The crew of orbital station nineteen worked quickly and managed to restore emergency backup power before the station was dragged to the planet's surface.

“It took a while to get things in order,” Ahab said. “After the EXOs started a mass exodus we had to regroup and try to keep the station hidden. About a year ago the EXO Prime returned and we were forced to abandon the station.”

Echo listened intently to the Fleet Commander. The ordeal that her father had caused his squadron as well as the many souls aboard the orbital station made her feel responsible. She wanted to turn back the clock and convince her father not to take this foolish path, but she knew she could not.

“What of the station engineers?” Echo asked. Ahab's face was all she needed to know, but he told her anyway.

“The EXO Prime invaded personally. There were just too many of them. The crew and I didn't want them to take the RAVENs so we abandoned ship.” Ahab hung his head as he spoke.

“You left them to die …” Echo trailed off, horror reaching her eyes and causing them to tear up. “Like that? By his hand? Why Commander? Why would you leave them?””

“The chances of survival were already none, Captain. We had to keep the technology out of their hands.” Ahab said.

“They already have it. The EXO Prime captured my RAVEN-F last year, likely before he went back to Quintar V,” Echo said.

“How did you survive?”

“I almost didn't, but I had found Abel Cain hours before. He came to my rescue,” Echo said.

“By the god! Abel Cain? Is he … is he on Quintar IV?” Ahab looked genuinely shocked.

“He is,” Echo said crossing her arms beneath her bosom. The stance said she was not pleased with the Fleet Commander's question.

“If you're thinking he is the only way to finish this, think again. Abel Cain is little use to anyone right now. This ship is fully combat-capable and shielded against EXO intrusion,” Echo said.

She unfolded her arms and put her hands on her hips.

“We're going to finish the EXO Prime, but first we're going to eliminate the other threat. Speaking of, did you get any readings on an URSA class gunship while you were meshing into the system?”

Ahab looked confused. “I thought you just said Abel Cain was on Quintar IV. He is the only one with an URSA class ship,” He said.

“Not anymore Fleet Commander. I know for a fact Abel is planet side, but I also know than an URSA class ship that was not the
Kodiak
attacked EFNF forces on the planet less than a month ago. Did you get any scans or signs of that ship?””

“We assumed it was the
Kodiak
and did not want to get embroiled in complications with Abel Cain, we did not track the URSA ship's exit vector,” Ahab said.

“Very well Commander. Gather your men and take rest aboard our ship. We only have room for eight of your RAVENs, ten if they're all RAVEN-S models.” Echo said.

“We have fifteen in total, seven RAVEN-S and eight RAVEN-F. We were able to refuel on Quintar VIII, there is an old EFNF supply depot there. It is mostly abandoned, but the plasma cores in our RAVENs were underground. The EXOs didn't know they were there. So we should only need to house the RAVEN-Fs. We'll start a rotation to get all the men rested,”” Ahab said. “Thank you Captain,” he added.

“Very good Commander, dismissed.”

As the Fleet Commander left the deck, Echo sighed. She found the entire situation coincidental and that made her nervous. She had known Ahab before; he was one of the few men her father trusted. It concerned her that while Ahab had openly supported her father's decision he led a mutiny to undermine it. Then he left the scientists and engineers aboard the orbital station to the EXO Prime and whatever horrors that being would inflict.

He had aided the enemy in harming our people,
Echo thought.
Whose people? Aren't you half-human?

Her thought caught her off guard. It wasn't often she let her thoughts get the better of her.

Pull yourself together E, you can use this.

Echo knew that the Fleet Commander's squadron would be extremely beneficial when she faced the URSA gunship and possibly the
Infinity
- the EXO Prime's flagship. She sat in the office adjacent to her quarters. The office was plain and decidedly military. It was the larger part of her suite aboard the
Justice
. Echo reached out and activated the communications node by waving her hand over the top.

“Master Chief,” Echo said.

“This is Master Chief Petty Officer Remington. Ma'am.” Six replied.

“Please make arrangements for the Fleet Commander to have access to the flight deck. Lock down vital systems and assign someone to oversee their refueling and rest accommodations,” Echo said.

“Yes. Ma'am.” Six replied and ended the transmission.

* * * *

EFNF Destroyer: TP-D Justice

2973 ESD - Monday, June 7th 19:59 hours

After five hours of maneuvering, the TP-D
Justice
and First Fleet fell into a groove. Seven of the eight RAVEN-F ships were docked with the
Justice
and regular landing and departures of the RAVEN-S ships were scheduled every two hours. Echo had decided to rest in her quarters for the remainder of the exercises. She was still not feeling completely herself. The ordeal on Quintar IV had taken her strength. She still saw the EXOs and their disfigurement every time she closed her eyes.

The seventh rotation of the First Fleet was about to start when klaxons began to blare across the
Justice
. Echo sat up right and rushed to the communications node. She activated it and Six's voice came in.

“Captain, we need you on the bridge. Single contact with magnetic signatures on an intercept vector,” he said.

“Understood. Ensign Kay have an exit vector at the ready, if this goes south we need to get out of here. Master Chief power up shields and coordinate with First Fleet, I want them at the ready. Do not engage unless fired upon. Boulson, get weapons at the ready. This is not a drill ladies and gentlemen,” Echo said.

She knew her crew didn't need a play by play, but being Captain sometimes involved stating the obvious. It was too easy to panic in combat scenarios. She activated the comms again and searched for the new contacts she added when First Fleet came onboard.

“Fleet Commander, this is the Captain,” Echo said.

“Captain, go ahead.” Ahab replied.

“We've got an incoming hostile, have your men at the ready, but do not launch. I want you to coordinate with MCPO Remington.”

“With all due respect Captain-” Ahab started to say before Echo cut him off.

“No, with all respect to you Fleet Commander, you are onboard my ship, you will follow my orders. Is that understood?” Echo said.

“Loud and clear ma'am. I will coordinate with MCPO Remington.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Echo said.

She cut off the comms and ran to the bridge. The first impacts nearly took her off her feet. The TP-D absorbed the impact, but not before the shockwaves caused it to shake violently. Echo considered the fire power the
Kodiak
had and decided it was safe to assume that the URSA ship would have the same accompaniments. The second impact was more jarring than the first.

Echo tapped the Writcom, “Master Chief, what the flak is happening up there!?”

“Anti-matter cannon Captain, they're firing directly on our anti-grav stabilizers. I think they're planning to cause a gravitational shift that will disrupt First Fleet,” Six replied.

The small holographic image of the Master Chief flickered just above her wrist.

“The
Kodiak
used to have a hard time aiming that beast. Have Fleet Commander Doyle run strafing attacks with the RAVEN-S models. I want him to target the shield emitters and the magnetic strips along the port and starboard sides.”

Echo knew that the magnetic strips were the only thing holding the quantum plating in place. She had seen this URSA use them in a manner different from Abel’s design, but they were still a formidable bit of defense.

“Aye. Captain,” Six said.

The Writcom disconnected. Echo decided she was going to have to talk to Six about prematurely ending conversations. She was the captain of the ship, if he didn't respect her there would be problems in the future. She began to worry about being undermined, when the ship bucked again. Echo stepped onto the bridge as the klaxons began to blare louder and several stations showed alerts. The destroyer tilted to her right. She grasped a hold of the command console and sat in her seat.

“Stabilizers are damaged, they managed to get another shot from the anti-matter cannon, but it’s not showing any signs of recharging,” Six updated Echo.

“Alright, Chief Petty Officer Martinez! There is not much for you to do at the moment, get on the comms with engineering and have a team look into boosting the effectiveness of the port gravity stabilizer. We need to level ourselves out and fight back. Where are my weapons Lieutenant?” Echo barked at Lieutenant Andrew Boulson.