DJ's Mission

A race against time…

DJ heard the high pitched retorts of the Ŝkorpion gauss gun
milliseconds before he was hit.

He felt multiple impacts
along his left side but after that, how many he had no idea. The first few that
hit him had knocked him down and his whole left side was afire with pain. Even
though he felt the wetness of blood along his arm and chest he knew that he had
been lucky that the trauma plates built into the liberated SIS uniform had
absorbed the majority of the energy from the hailstorm of bullets. The two
android bodyguards hadn’t been as lucky as they lay in pieces with just a
twitch here and there.

When the gauss gun clicked
empty, DJ looked up and gauged the distance to the Admiral. Considering the
pain in his left arm, he knew that at least one bone had been shattered. A
quick glance also informed him that several rounds had entered and exited
through the meaty part of the arm. And since he was having trouble breathing,
at least one rib was broken. With those limitations in mind, he knew he
couldn’t cover the distance between them before Roger had a chance to reload.

But he had to try. Forcing
himself to his knees, DJ began the race against time with the fate of his
daughter as the prize.

Prologue

Every Friday at noon Galactic Standard Time (GST)
the displays of nearly every system hooked to the Core-Net became filled with
exciting images of the events which had happened that day from around the
Coalition. Of course, interspersed throughout was some of the award winning
footage captured by news reporter Jennifer Moody and holo-recorder Ryan Puente
during the failed assassination attempt on the President eight months earlier.
When the tagline ‘YOUR DAILY NEWS IN A FLASH’ came on the camera panned down
and shifted from the studio in New Atlanta to whatever remote site they found
themselves in, today it was the ruins of Egypt.

Ryan panned his camera across the ruins of the
Great Pyramids of Giza. He knew from his lessons back in school that there were
once three magnificent stone pyramids built by slave labor over five millennia
ago. However, only one of the massive structures remained intact and a major
portion of its top had been blown off during the war with the Unified Islamic
Nations at the turn of the century while the other two had been completely
destroyed leaving only piles of rocks. Nevertheless the lone pyramid made the
perfect background for today’s story.

Bringing his camera around, Ryan focused it on his
beautiful partner. He often wondered how strange that being in the right place
at the right time had taken a part-time job and turned it into a wonderful
career. With a shrug he chalked it up to good karma and flicked his hand to
signal his partner. Showtime.

Jennifer Moody, the dark haired reporter who had
become a network darling overnight, fidgeted with her hair as Ryan panned his
camera across the desolate landscape. Even after eight months of globe hopping
and countless interviews she always felt slightly nervous right before she went
on camera. Even she had to admit that Ryan had picked a perfect location for
today’s segment. She held her breath as the camera was trained on her and he
gave her the signal. Flashing the audience a beautiful smile, she began.

“Good afternoon everyone, I’m Jennifer Moody and
I’m here at the ruins of the Great Pyramids of Giza with my favorite holo-recorder
Ryan Puente…”

Ryan’s hand briefly popped onto the screen as he
waved from behind the camera. They had done it during their first report
together after the failed Presidential assassination and it had quickly become
their trademark.

“…and welcome to your daily news in a flash.”

Jennifer turned away from the camera and looked
across the sea of sand. Ryan followed her lead.

“And why are we here in the ruins of Egypt? Well
it just so happens that the refugees of the Unified Islamic Nations play a part
in today’s story. As many of you know, after the war the majority of the
survivors from the countries which made up the U.I.N. had to evacuate these
regions due to the high levels of radiation which covered the countryside. Most
left Earth to live among the stars and they became the driving force for the
colonization of Jupiter and Saturn. As a matter of fact, one half of the
members of the Jupiter Defense League and one of every three working for Titan
Avionics can trace their heritage back to these lands. Why is that important?”

Jennifer paused. She knew that Ryan was shunting
video-feed from the network archives to the transmission.

“Some of you may remember that Titan Avionics
builds the Raptor, a military grade starfighter currently used by the JDL and
the Confederacy. Interestingly enough, the Raptor was originally designed and
built for a Coalition Fleet contract but the military chose the Avionics
Strategic International Dragon over the Raptor to become the standard Fleet
starfighter. Titan Avionics was left to peddle their starfighter to the
colonists to use for a local defense force. Of course, when certain systems
seceded from the Coalition and formed the Confederacy, the CSA immediately had
access to an extremely agile starfighter that could rival the Dragon. During
the war there were allegations that high ranking Titan Avionics executives had
collaborated with enemies of the Coalition and a congressional investigation
was called. Eventually Titan Avionics was cleared of any wrong doing and all charges
were dropped. Still one has to wonder how the Confederates always had the
latest versions of the Raptors. Hmm….”

She waved her hand as if to dismiss the subject.

“That’s a question best left for another day. This
reporter has learned, through very reliable sources, that Titan Avionics has
been granted the contract for the next generation warship. Now, I’m not talking
about another starfighter here, I mean the biggest nastiest starship ever
created by man. How do I know?”

Jennifer flashed her award winning smile and
leaned forward ever so slightly; just enough to highlight her ample cleavage.

“Well, I could say it was female intuition but it
isn’t just that. The project name for the ship is ‘Dreadnaught’ which when
broken down to its root words means ‘Without Fear.’ Now, I’m no military
scientist but it doesn’t take a genius to realize that you don’t go naming a
small cruiser or even an advanced battleship,” she paused and made the
quotation mark symbol with her hands, “Without Fear. Logically, this name would
be reserved for something massive.”

Jennifer stepped back and shifted her head to the
left to highlight her favorite profile.

“We have also learned that this ship was rushed
into production mere days after the failed Presidential assassination attempt.
This brings several questions to mind. Is this a sign that the truce with the
Confederacy is coming to an end? Has the administration learned more
information concerning the assassination attempt which they aren’t sharing? And
why would such a lucrative contract go to a company that clearly has
connections, currently unsubstantiated, to the Confederacy? Inquiries to the
Fleet have gone unanswered. However, we have been granted an interview with
retired Fleet Admiral and Titan Avionics Chief Executive Roger Thomas.”

Stepping to the left where the lone pyramid was
once again behind her, she gave the audience a big smile. “So, we will be
traveling to Saturn to get some answers. Until then remember… K.C.C.O. This is
Jennifer and Ryan, signing off.”