Dark Vengeance (35 page)

“Been a busy few days for you, hasn’t it, Control?”

“You don’t know the half of it, Captain.”

As the bay doors opened, I switched on hover and felt the ship lift from the floor plane.

“Cleared for departure, Captain. Have a good flight.”

“Thank you. Gideon rolling.”

I pushed gently forward on the control stick and watched as the obedient shuttle coasted forward and out into orbital space.  Once clear, I engaged the flight plan and the shuttle tipped to the left and dived down toward Earth. It had been a while since I had been pilot in command so I kept a close eye on the navigation screen, watching the autopilot follow the green line down. In the front windshields a beautiful view of the east coast of the U.S. filled the window. More and more detail came into view until we leveled off at 6,200 and turned due south.

It became a wonderful, relaxing cruise down the coast for the next 90 minutes until the shuttle’s flight plan took it more westerly out over open ocean. It’s a strange feeling being that far out from land. If trouble arises, chances are good you’ll be floating home. I found myself loving the familiar dare of it. Too soon the first of the islands appeared ahead. Gideon seemed to search a moment for Samana, but quickly settled into a due course.

It came into view through a thin haze, a still, barren, brush-covered piece of land with a couple of salt lakes and beach all around. But it looked like a peaceful place, concealing the countless ravaging storms that had visited from the Atlantic.

I switched to manual as we approached, slowed and brought Gideon down to about fifty feet along the beach line. It took another twenty minutes to cover enough beach to spot the island’s only inhabitant. With my best show-off turn, descent, and landing, the shuttle settled down on dry white sand. I popped the door to find Wilson gawking from just outside.

He looked like Tom Hanks in Castaway. No shirt, deep brown, ragged cut off jeans, some kind of leather medallion around his neck, rough cut sandals. We performed the big crushing hug, and a long arms' length look at each other. He was lean, toned, and in great shape.

“Adrian, you are indeed a sight for sore eyes. I needed this.”

“What the heck are you doing way out here, Wilson? You look like Robinson Crusoe.”

“Had to get back to my old self, Adrian. No better place than this to do that.”

“Well, I’m here to take you away from all this,” I said.

“What kind of party is it? You know every time I tell somebody I don’t want any trouble, that’s all I end up getting.”

“This is a party you would have been really pissed if you had missed it.”

“Let’s sit down over there by my camp and see if you can convince me.”

So we sat. He handed me some kind of root to chew on. I tossed it over my shoulder. He laughed. “Candy ass.”

“So what’s the deal, Wilson? What about Jeannie? Where’s she while you’re castaway here?”

“Oh, she’s great. She’s in a cram course at that private space prep school in Delaware.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Well, when we got married, she wanted to get certed for long term space missions in case I got recalled so she could go with me. I got her an in with a friend at that school, but damn if right off they didn’t offer her a management spot on a three-year cartography gig. I don’t remember what ship. But anyway, she really wanted to do it, but I wasn’t gonna sign on as security on any cartography ride so her and I decided to temporarily dissolve the marriage and when she gets back if we both still want to be married we’ll do it again.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, that’s kind of why I’m here. I needed to reset, if you know what I mean.”

“Are you okay? Really?”

“Oh, hell yes! Marriage was great, but you know something, being single is great too. You know that better than anyone, Adrian. There’s just some things you lose when you hook up with another person that serious and all.”

I looked into his eyes to see if I could find pain there. The only thing I could see was the wonder of Wilson, the greatest special ops combat engineer I had ever met; the person who had saved my ass on that last privately executed rescue mission from XiTau.

“Wilson, you remember the last party we went to?”

“You must mean rescuing the good doctor’s daughter from those bastards?”

“That’s the one.”

“We left so many behind. It still pisses me off, Adrian. But, what about it? Doc Pacell’s daughter is still okay, isn’t she?”

“Earth is planning on going back to get the rest of them.”

“You’re not making sense, pal. We barely made it out of there alive. It would take dozens of ships.”

“I’m glad to hear you agree with the Pentagon’s planning.”

He looked at me with a questioning stare. “You’re saying they’re going to launch an offensive in space millions of miles from here?”

“Yes.”

Wilson’s mouth dropped open. He stood up abruptly. “Let’s get going!” He hurried over and grabbed his backpack. A snorkel and spear gun were sticking out of it.

“That’s it? That’s all you brought?”

“Yeah, so what?”

We put into the hangar bay roughly three hours later. Wilson stepped down from the shuttle, causing everyone reentering the area to stop and stare at the bearded, half naked humanoid. It was possible I was bringing some primitive creature aboard for some as yet unexplained reason. I called up for a yeoman to be assigned to get him settled in and headed for the virtual bridge in my stateroom.

Our departure readiness ops were nearly complete. Ship’s stores were full, weapons systems fully charged, ordinance fully loaded and staged. All personnel, including one extra, now on board. As I continued to check though departments, the comm beeper sounded. I let it in and a picture of Fantasia appeared on my screen.

“I know you’re well but busy, Darling. I am still tied up here with formalities. They are fully into the Star Seven investigation now. They keep calling for clarifications. I would love to join you no matter where you are headed but I am certain that’s not possible. At least I can keep close tabs on you from within. Please send me a hello. I need to see your face. Love you. Be good.”

The screen went blank but I could feel her within. I thought to record a message for her but was distracted by a view screen with a plot of the low XiTau orbital engagement profile I had asked for. We would be in a fast, low orbit facing the planet’s surface, blasting each of their surface to orbit defenses as we passed over them. It was a maneuver that had never been done before to my knowledge. Even though we would be doing battle drills all the way to XiTau, there was no real way to prepare for this one. It was as close to shooting from the hip as you can get with a starship. Every single target needed to be neutralized on a single orbit or any weapons not eliminated would be waiting for us the next time around, and we would be so close it was doubtful they would miss.

I needed something to eat and bailed out for the cafeteria. Just outside my door there were terse voices coming down the corridor. It was a freshly shaved Wilson and Perk.

“Special Ops doesn’t fall under Security, you know that, Murphy,” insisted Wilson.

“But Security does not answer to any glorified Seal grunt, either, Mirtos. You know you’re gonna have to accept that!”

“All I’m saying is… Oh! Adrian! Hey, settle this for us. Who coordinates ground Ops? Security or Special Forces?”

It forced me to hold back a laugh. The two greatest combat warriors on Earth or in space, ready to lock horns over who gets to face death first.

“Gentlemen, this is not a standard op. It’s the first large scale assault ever made on another planet. The two of you will be on opposite ends of the planet! You will each be coordinating a large sector. I would have kept you both up high to oversee the operation but I know neither of you would stand for that. So in this mission, you are equals. And, once on the ground one of you may need the other’s support, so you better get in sync. You’re the two best combat vets I know of. That’s why you’re both here. Does that answer your question?”

They stammered a bit. Finally Wilson was able to form words. “Well, I didn’t mean I wouldn’t face down the enemy with you, Perk.”

“I know your reputation, Wilson. Nobody has to tell me what you can do,” replied Murphy.

“You know, we could have used you on the last visit to XiTau,” added Wilson.

“Yeah, I’d like to hear more about that especially since we’re on our way there now,” answered Murphy.

“Well, how about I buy you a drink in the lounge and we’ll compare notes then?” suggested Wilson.

“Took the words right out of my mouth. Let’s go.”

And off they went, forgetting that I was even there. I waved them off and headed for the main cafeteria and tried to stop thinking that very soon the time would come I would order them both down to a forbidding planet.
 

Chapter 23

We broke orbit twenty-four hours later on a flight plan that made it look like we were headed away from XiTau’s sector. They were doing that to disguise most departures, but so many ships had been leaving orbit over the past few days it seemed like an effort in futility. The flight plans were deviously designed so that all ships would arrive on station within 24 hours of each other. For Electra, now approved to run at full power, it was a twelve day run with continuously practiced war drills and combat troops on board using the hangar bays to practice maneuvers. We also had a new Lieutenant Commander aboard, assigned as third in command. His name was Armstrong, although he was no relation to THE Armstrong. We now had crew for three shifts, and each ran their drills over and over. At times we drilled two shift crews together for added unity. Everyone was finally informed about the mission, and everyone was resolved to it.

Twelve days later we dropped out of light a mere two hours from the outer edge of XiTau’s asteroid field. The sublight engines pushed us halfway to rendezvous with Admiral Provose’s command ship. We decelerated the rest of the way there. The standing order for silent running was still in effect, so upon arrival Command launched a communications buoy which was tractored in to our hangar bay where its transmission was extracted and sent to the bridge. As planned, all three shifts were up and on duty. There would be no sleep for anyone now. I had been in the command seat for ten hours. R.J. was seated to my right. Armstrong to my left. A double contingent of bridge crew continually came and went. We had nothing to hide at this point. Admiral Provose’s message was put up on the main viewer. His face appeared on the screen; a dark, terse, expectant expression.

“Captain Tarn, we salute your on-time arrival for this first-time mercy mission of the new Federation of Planets from Earth sector. We have been monitoring XiTau’s communications and orbital activity and see no reason not to proceed as planned. In fact Captain, XiTau transmissions and orbital traffic seem to be unusually minimal at this time, and give no indication that our arrival is anticipated. We also believe all Earth units are on station as promised. We have received no comm buoys to indicate otherwise. As previously estimated, we expect an 83 second delay before telemetry and communications will reach us from XiTau orbit.  All mission parameters are green. You are cleared to position Electra and make the Phase One jump to XiTau space. If your Phase One orbit is successful, the silent running constraint will be lifted as planned and all communication channels will be open. Good luck, Electra crew. Our prayers fly with you. Provose out.”

And that was that. Any lingering thoughts that the mission might be delayed or called off were now gone. This was the moment when no further questions could be asked, the moment when your heart tightens up and protests, “wait a minute, should we really be doing this?” It is one of those times when the soul senses extreme danger but that feeling must be overridden by the mind, one of those times when you must trust your mind over every other sense you have. It is a feeling that pilots who fly blind by instruments know only too well. Your senses tell you to urgently do one thing, but the instruments and your mind say the opposite and no matter how strong the feelings you must trust your mind.

There was a completely new kind of heavy silence on the bridge. R.J. continued to look straight forward as though he feared his doubts might show if he moved too much. Armstrong kept looking around the bridge expecting he might spot something not ready. There was an emotional pulse inside me from Fantasia asking if everything was alright. I blocked it out, pushed up in my seat, pulled down on my uniform jacket to straighten it, and spoke in a calm voice learned from too many desperate times past.

“Captain to Alpha shuttle.”

Wilson’s heavily armored head turned to face the camera on our viewer. “Go ahead, Captain.”

“Is the Alpha team loaded and ready?”

“We are standing by to engage, Captain.”

“Very well. Captain to Bravo team.”

Perk Murphy appeared, equally loaded down for battle. “Bravo team on station and ready to deploy, Captain.”

“Very well, stand by. Mr. Collins, are weapons systems all green and is the pulse cannon on line and set to stun?”