Frontiers Saga 12: Rise of the Alliance (28 page)

Cameron raised her hand, cutting her tactical officer off in mid-sentence. “Wait for the light to come back.”

“Detonation confirmed!” Ensign Kono reported. “Oh, my God,” she exclaimed as her sensor displays offered her readings that she never thought she would witness.

“What about the battle platform?” Cameron urged. “Can you see her?”

“I can’t see anything, sir,” Ensign Kono explained. “The blast is obscuring all my… Wait…”

Cameron held her breath. If the antimatter blast failed to force the battle platform out of FTL, then the folded space around the target would again swallow up all their plasma shots and spit them back out the other side, leaving them with no choice but to fight the platform in yet another do-or-die scenario in their own system.

“Contact!” Ensign Kono finally reported. “Just came through the… Weapons impact! Fuck!” Ensign Kono glanced over her shoulder toward her captain. “Sorry, sir,” she apologized, “I’ve just never seen that many weapons strike a target all at once.”

“Its shields, Ensign,” Cameron reminded her. “Its shields.”

“Her forward shields are down!” Mister Navashee reported from the Aurora’s sensor station. “All neighboring shields are at half strength! I’m showing exploded shield emitters all across her forward arm!”

“Jump nine!” Nathan ordered. “Snap jump!”

“Snap jump, aye,” Mister Riley answered as the Aurora’s jump flash began to wash over them.

“Stand by all forward weapons,” Nathan continued in a slightly calmer fashion. “Target their forward arm. Triplets on all weapons.”

“Jump nine, complete,” Mister Riley reported as their jump flash subsided.

“Target is ten kilometers, dead ahead!” Mister Navashee reported.

“Nose on the target,” Mister Chiles added from the helm.

“Locking all weapons on the forward arm, triple shots,” Lieutenant Eckert announced.

“Fire when ready, Lieutenant,” Nathan said. “Mister Riley, execute jump ten as soon as our weapons are away.”

“I have firing solutions!” Lieutenant Eckert announced. “Firing! Triple shots on all weapons!”

“Standing by for jump ten,” Mister Riley acknowledged.

“Target is firing!” Mister Navashee reported as red-orange light washed over the bridge. “All forward rail guns!”

“Weapons away!” Lieutenant Eckert reported.

“Jump ten! Snap jump!” Nathan ordered. His navigator was one step ahead of him, as the blue-white flash of their next jump was already lighting up the main view screen and filling the bridge.

“Jump ten, complete,” Mister Jakoby reported as the Celestia’s jump flash subsided.

“Turning toward next jump point,” Ensign Hunt added.

“Did you catch anything before we jumped?” Cameron asked her sensor operator.

“Only that our weapons hit the target,” Ensign Kono replied. “We jumped before I could assess the damage.”

“Well, if we hit them, we damaged them,” Cameron said confidently. “That much, I’m sure of.”

“Turn complete,” Ensign Hunt reported.

“Jump eleven, in three……two……one……jumping.”

“Jump eleven, complete,” Mister Riley reported from the Aurora’s navigation station.

“Starting our next turn,” Mister Chiles added.

“How are our weapons holding up?” Nathan asked.

“Main cannons are still a little hot,” Lieutenant Eckert said, “but they’ll hold up, Captain.”

“Jump twelve, ready,” Mister Riley reported.

“Turn complete,” Mister Chiles reported. “Pitching down to firing angle.”

“Jump twelve in three seconds…” Mister Riley began.

“All weapons charged and ready,” Lieutenant Eckert reported.

“…Two…”

Nathan sat unmoving in his command chair, trying to appear calm and collected. This was the moment he was waiting for. This was the moment that they needed, to give the Earth a chance to recover, and to give them a chance to prepare to take the battle to the Jung with all their might.

“…One…”

Without their shields, the battle platform was as vulnerable as they were, with nothing more than a thick hull between them and the weapons of their opponents. They would take rail gun fire, of that he was sure. By now, the battle platform would undoubtedly be spraying the area in front of their missing shields with as many rail gun rounds as possible in the hopes of denying the Aurora and the Celestia a decent firing angle. However, both ships were willing to take the hits. As long as their jump drives still worked and their weapons still fired, they would continue to press the attack until they reached the only acceptable outcome.

“…Jumping.”

The blue-white flash washed over them once more.

“Jump twelve, complete,” Mister Riley reported.

“Position verified,” Mister Navashee confirmed as he began scanning for the battle platform.

Seconds went by in silence.

“Mister Navashee?” Nathan finally asked.

“I’m not picking up any contacts, Captain,” the sensor operator reported. “Only debris.”

Nathan felt his emotions beginning to rise, as if he were about to explode in triumph.

“Something is
wrong
, though,” Mister Navashee continued. “There’s not
enough
debris.”

“Lieutenant?”

“Nothing on target scanners either, sir,” the lieutenant reported.

“Stand by one,” Mister Navashee urged.

Nathan felt his heart sinking.

“I have a red-shifted target,” Mister Navashee finally announced. “Same course and speed as before.” He turned to face his captain. “They went back into FTL, sir.”

“How is that possible?” Nathan wondered. “We just blew the hell out of their forward arm. You reported dozens of emitters had exploded before we even fired that last round.”

“They must not be using the same emitter arrays for both shields and folding space,” Mister Navashee surmised.

Nathan said nothing, only leaned to his left and rubbed his eyes. “Damn it,” he muttered under his breath.

“Celestia just jumped in to start her attack run, sir,” Mister Navashee added.

“Stand down from general quarters,” Nathan said, his frustration barely hidden. “Contact the Celestia, tell her to return to Sol.”

“Standing down from general quarters, aye,” Lieutenant Eckert acknowledged.

“That’s it?” Captain Roselle said.

“Celestia acknowledges,” Naralena reported.

“You’re not going to try anything else?” Captain Roselle added.

“The target has already gone to FTL,” Nathan explained.

“Then go after them,” Captain Roselle argued. “You have the initiative now…”

“Captains,” Nathan said rather forcefully as he rose from his command chair and turned aft. “Perhaps you’d like to discuss this in my ready room?”

“Celestia has jumped away, sir,” Mister Navashee reported.

“Scott…” Captain Roselle continued to press.

“In my ready room…” Nathan demanded, his eyes fixed on Captain Roselle’s, “…Captain.”

Captain Roselle did not turn away as he spoke. “As you please… Captain.”

“Mister Riley,” Nathan said, his eyes still locked on Captain Roselle, “jump us back to Sol.”

“Aye, sir,” Mister Riley acknowledged, “plotting the jump back to Sol.”

Nathan waited for all three of the Scout ship captains to turn and head for the entrance to his ready room before turning to look at his tactical officer. “You have the conn, Mister Eckert.”

“Aye, sir,” the lieutenant answered calmly.

Nathan followed the captains aft, his eyes catching those of the sergeant standing by the hatchway to his ready room. The look on Sergeant Weatherly’s face told Nathan exactly what he had expected; that his trusted sergeant had been watching the entire exchange with great interest. “Sergeant.”

“Captain.” Sergeant Weatherly did not smile. He didn’t need to. The look in his eyes told his captain exactly what he was thinking. He waited for his captain to step through the hatchway, then reached in, pulled the hatch closed and assumed his position in front of it.

“Captain Roselle,” Nathan began as he moved around the three men to get to his seat behind his ready room desk, “I would respectfully request that in the future if you have a problem with my course of action, that you raise your concerns in private rather than in front of my crew.”

“Oh, fuck you, Scott,” Captain Roselle replied as Nathan took his seat. “Who the hell do you think you are? Did you think you could just put on Roberts’s insignias and sleep in his bed and that would make you captain? Did you even change the sheets? If the Jung hadn’t shown up, you probably would’ve gone down to his house to fuck his wife, too! That seems to be about the level of thought you demonstrated when you first took over and you let hostile security forces board your vessel… Twice!”

Nathan sat quietly at his desk, watching Captain Roselle and listening to his tirade, unsure of what to make of it. “By the way,” Captain Roselle continued, “did it ever occur to you that nothing about that passage authorizing you to open up trade with other powers authorized you to declassify anything about the ship’s systems that you were sworn to protect? I bet that one slipped your mind as you were committing treason!”

“Gil…” Captain Poc interrupted, trying to no avail to bring his fellow officer down a notch.

“While some aspects of your reports were somewhat vague, you were clear in describing how much you liked that green-eyed bitch… What’s her name? Jalala or something?”

“Roselle, come on,” Captain Nash urged.

“You were Earth’s first emissary to a new people, and you couldn’t even say ‘hello’ properly without giving away the whole fucking farm while chasing some terrorist tail, and now you want us to back your play as you commit Earth to a course of action which may lead to the annihilation of everything we know and love?”

“Enough, already,” Captain Poc insisted.

“Shut up, Poc,” Roselle insisted. “I’m not done with this guy yet.” The captain turned his attention back to Nathan. “You know, Scott, you gave away everything and what did you get for it in return? Did Jalala at least give you a piece?”

Nathan could feel his anger building as Captain Roselle continued on his rampage. It was not the first time he had been chewed out by an officer. During his first year at the Academy, it had occurred with some regularity. However, he knew he had deserved it back then.

“What about this entire course of action screams ‘fulfillment of the EDF charter’?” Captain Roselle continued. “From what you yourself have reported, you would have been better served to have signed a deal with Caius and turned over all of your little terrorist friends! Hell, he’d at least have made sure you got laid! I bet that crazy little fuck would have had warships crawling all over Sol in our defense by now. What did you really know about him anyways, other than what your little band of rebels told you? Did you ever think for a second that maybe you were getting played?”

“ENOUGH!” Nathan yelled, coming quickly to his feet.

The hatchway swung open, Sergeant Weatherly stepping inside, one hand on his sidearm holster and a menacing look in his eye. The sergeant said nothing at first, his eyes darting back and forth as he assessed the position of each person in the ready room. “My apologies, sir,” the sergeant said. “I thought I…”

“That’s quite alright, Sergeant,” Nathan said calmly. “As you were.”

“Yes, sir,” the sergeant answered, closing the hatch behind him on his way out.

Captain Roselle’s eyebrows were up. “So that’s how it is, huh, Scott?” he said as he gestured toward the now-closed hatch.

“Knock it off, Roselle,” Captain Poc said, this time with the authoritative tone of a senior officer rather than a fellow Scout ship commander. “The sergeant was only doing his job, and you know it.” Captain Poc looked at Nathan. “Sit down, Scott.” He turned and looked at Roselle. “You too, Gil.” He paused a moment, waiting for both men to take their seats, as well as to let the situation de-escalate. “While you raise obvious concerns, Gil, we were
not
there. We couldn’t possibly begin to understand what happened and therefore we have no moral authority to second-guess Captain Scott’s decisions. The plain truth is that he did in fact follow the rules as they were written.” Captain Poc looked at Nathan again. “You should also understand, Scott, that you pushed the absolute limit of those rules. And while a greater authority may someday demand that you answer for your actions, it is not our place to make that demand… And most certainly it is not the right time. The facts, as they appear, are that a young Lieutenant Scott had the responsibility thrust upon him, all without the proper training or resources. The fact that this ship is still alive today is at the very least a testament to either his tireless efforts, or his extreme luck… Most likely, both. Regardless of whether he was right or wrong, he now holds the hopes of all the people of planet Earth in his hands.”

“It is no longer just about the people of Earth,” Nathan reminded Captain Poc.

“I stand corrected,” Captain Poc agreed with a nod. “Right, wrong, or indifferent, for the sake of us all, we have to make sure that Captain Scott is successful, no matter the consequences, or how we may feel about him personally.”

The ready room was quiet for several seconds.

“Roselle?” Captain Poc asked.

“Is that an order?”

“It can be,” Captain Poc replied.

“Understood,” Captain Roselle finally agreed.

Captain Poc looked at Captain Nash.

“Agreed,” Captain Nash said.

Captain Poc turned to look at Nathan again. “Captain Scott. Until such time as a proper chain of command can be established, by whatever entity we should all fall under, it might be best if the three of us were included in your briefings from this point forward. I believe you will find that we can bring quite a lot of valuable experience to the table.”

“I would appreciate that, sir,” Nathan assured him.

Captain Poc took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I think that should do it for now, gentlemen.” Captain Poc rose to his feet, as did Captain Roselle and Captain Nash.

Captain Roselle looked at Nathan. “Don’t fuck this up, Scott,” he said as he turned, pulled open the hatch, and left the compartment.