Gray Panthers: Earths Revenge (7 page)

Gray Panther Space Academy, Arizona

13 August 2128

Cadet Andrews awoke and looked at his wrist computer, ten more minutes and it would be the start of another day in hell. Instructor Diego had become very inventive at finding faults with the flight, and it always ended up in his lap as flight leader, it looked like he might even be replaced if any more demerits were accrued. The flight still had the best all-time records in the simulator and their academic scores were very high. The only Achilles heel the flight had was the inventiveness of Diego’s inspections and his love of going for unscheduled nature walks. Since the attack, all flight were to carry ammunition for their beamers when they left the protection of the compound. Looking at his wrist computer again he noticed it was going to be Friday the 13
th
, what else could go wrong for the flight today? His thoughts were interrupted by the heavy crack of thunder, he really wished he had taken the offer of a direct commission as a shuttle pilot! In conjunction with the first beat of reveille blasting on the PA, Instructor Diego sauntered into the bay actually smiling.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Because of the inclement weather we will be having calisthenics after breakfast here in the bay. Now please be so kind as to get yourselves in gear, I have a long day planned for you.” When the flight returned to the dorm the bay had a large area cleared in the center as Instructor Diego welcomed them back. Their bunks and short lockers had been thrown against the wall in random order and the footgear was equally scattered along the walls that had been under the bunks.

“Welcome back. I was feeling very magnanimous and thought I would prepare the bay for you. No thanks are necessary. After we are through we will need to have a GI party since you will undoubtedly scuff up my floors.

“Cadet Hagen, will you be kind enough to come to the center of the room and lead the flight in calisthenics. We can’t do one of our nice jogs so instead we will run in place until I get tired. Be sure to keep those knees up high, begin.” The unpleasantness of running in place instead of normal running made itself obvious after fifteen minutes.

“Ladies, my grandmother can do better than what I’m seeing. Stick your hands out in front of you, palms down with your arms flat at your side, elbows at 45 degrees. Now I want to hear those knees slap those hands. I’m sorry I can’t hear those knees slapping maybe you need to be moving faster. Cadet Hagen, let’s see if we can do better if we double-time this, proceed.” Pools of sweat started to form under each cadet after 30 minutes of double time in place. “Ladies, I am disappointed. Cadet Andrews recover. I want you to keep count after 150 pushups please keep the flight engaged for an additional 20 minutes then you may clean and organize the bay. You may also march the flight to academics at 0930, carry on.”

Matt felt like a prick ordering the flight through the rest of the calisthenics. A few of the cadets winked at him to show they did not mind and that they saw through the game. He started to move to get a bucket and he could see the look of panic in many of the flights eyes as he realized it could be an ambush by the instructor.

Gray Panther Head Quarters, Arizona

13 August 2128

Abdul and Danny were enjoying a pizza in Dan’s office going over ideas for how to take the fight to the enemy. He had already received General Blacks report on the politics and order of battle and it did not seem to help any. He was reaching for another slice when the door banged open and Juanita ran in.

“Quick, turn on the news station,” she ordered as she reached for the last slice of pizza smiling at him. The news reporter was panning the camera out from in front of an assisted living facility in Surprise, a crowd of thousands had gathered, the news reporter was describing the new religion of 'God's returning soon and he is pissed'. Dan spit up his beer as it also flowed through his nostrils, Abby was on the floor trying to catch his breath as he could not stop laughing. The news reporter continued, describing the first patient, Abdul “Abby” Bahadur, age 60 was known to be cured. He had only been kept alive via a machine. He had described to his nurse, how a brilliant white glow that had filled the room and that God himself had cleansed him. Abdul had run out of the facility yelling the warning, “God is returning to the world soon and is pissed off. Tell everyone they need to ask for salvation while there is still time!”

“I hope you two are happy, on top of everything else you have started a cult.” Juanita chastised the two even as she smiled.

“Reports have come in from all over the United States about seniors getting out of their death beds, in old folks homes, VA hospitals, and hospices. Many with incurable cancers, others on life support have simply walked out the door never to be seen again. We will keep on the story until we dig up the details. This is Carmen Juanita Viviana Cortez-Jones from Surprise, Arizona.”

“Congratulations Abby, you’re now famous, wait until they make the connection to the Gray Panthers, maybe we can say we are God's Army?” Dan quipped.

“Or, maybe you can finally come clean about the nanites given to volunteers and get even more volunteers so you don’t have to rely on the military for bodies,” Juanita mentioned as she walked out of the office carrying the remains of her slice of pizza like a trophy.

“Where were you with that suggestion before we were interrupted Abby?” Dan asked.

Abby continued, “In point of fact, it was Grubs suggestion. In the cargo bay of our Libra cargo ship is a long-range raider. It has the capability for long distance missions, and has ten of its own fighters. Those fighters are not as lethal as our shuttles, but we could install the shuttles onboard and use it for reconnaissance or raids. It also has a new multi-speed faster than light drive, we can send it in front of the invasion fleet and drop sensors with FTL transmitters so we can track their progress. Then we can start giving them a special welcome by planting limpet mine fields in front of their line of approach. Perhaps we could even attack any ships that stray away from the main convoy, crippling them so they either slow down the convoy or return to their space. We have the navigational records from both captured ships to make it even easier. Grub can make the modifications so we can get the ship configured for human use as well as an upgraded AI. With the upgraded AI the raider will only need a five man crew, plus the crew for the shuttles and conceivably a team of commandoes for boarding enemy ships.”

“Our Grub came up with this plan you say? Why does that make me nervous? Well the price is low enough if it will slow our friends down or even discourage them. When the raider is ready pick a crew and assign a flight of shuttles to it. Do you have any ideas for a Captain yet?” Dan solicited.

“I was going to have Admiral Bad recommend the Captain. I’m also thinking for the commandoes to use our Lt. Young. His Marine Force Recon training and the fact that the entire Gray Panther force has it in for him and his men for the many times he’s kicked their ass as the OPFORCE commander. He will be perfect for the job and his team of cut throats,” Abby advised.

Arizona Space Ship Nike in orbit around the moon

13 August 2128

Admiral Bad was reviewing the requirements for the new raider and had ideas of his own. He wanted the raider to keep all the original external appearances in order to sow confusion when it was behind enemy lines. The original fighters should be used instead of shuttles so it couldn’t be proven the raiders are from Earth. When the raider and its fighters attacked shipping and other targets in enemy space they wanted to leave survivors so word would spread that the Libra are attacking their allies. The fighters should be upgraded as much as feasible to give them as much of an edge as possible. Targets should be cargo and support ships to reduce the number available to be part of the invasion of Earth. Any enemy infrastructure should be disabled as much as possible.

The best choice for Captain of the raider appeared to be a Navy retiree in Florida that still ran charters at the age of 76. During the Iranian War he had been in command of a Naval Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Unit where he was awarded numerous awards for valor and three purple hearts. He also earned a Master's in Astrophysics. Admiral Bad decided he had better have the retiree brought in before something happened to him. He quickly submitted the request to have Kyle Johnson recruited into the Gray Panthers as soon as possible with the rank of lieutenant commander.

Gray Panthers Head Quarters Arizona

13 August 2128

Adam Jackson saw the new high priority request for a Lt. Commander by Admiral Bad and decided he would handle it himself as he requested a report be compiled on Kyle Johnson. The file he knew would only take a few minutes the way the system worked. He requested an immediate shuttle and pilot to get him to Florida so he could hopefully get back that night. The others in his office saw he was on a high priority recruitment tasking and laughed as they expressed pity for whoever he was going after. Jackson was like a pit-bull when he was trying to recruit a new lead. Adam started to read the report as he was driven to the port to catch a shuttle. He ignored the driver and his pilot as he dropped his bag and continued to the flight deck and strapped himself in the co-pilots seat, still reading. He finished reviewing the file as the pilot announced they were now landing. He immediately commed Grub to find out where he would find Kyle, he was annoyed when he was informed the prospect was still out to sea working a charter.

“Abort landing. You will be receiving a new heading from Grub,” Adam angrily informed the pilot. Twenty minutes later the shuttle was hovering over the sport boat as Adam jumped the five feet to the back of the boat.

“Sorry for the theatrical arrival. Are you Kyle Johnson?” Adam asked with a big smile on his face.

“Yes I am. What can I do for the Gray Panthers today?” Kyle replied. Adam took a moment as he looked over the old sailor. He was slim, of medium height dressed in only shorts and a pair of tennis, his neck and shoulders were like leather from the constant sunburns. His face was narrow with small brown eyes that seemed to see all. He had a dense shock of white hair sticking out from under a grease stained baseball cap.

“Sir, I’ve been sent out here to offer you a position with the Gray Panthers if you are interested.” Kyle simply rolled his finger to continue. “We would like you to take command of a yet unnamed space ship that has been captured from the Libra. We can offer you…”

“Sold, call your shuttle down and I will leave with you, my crew can return to port on their own. Only thing I’m going to demand is that I name my ship,” Kyle stated. Adam commed Admiral Bad with the news and was surprised when he said it was a deal. Hiding his pleasure Adam turned towards Kyle as the shuttle began to hover closer and he shook his head “yes.” Adam would be home tonight in time to take his wife out to dinner. Aboard the shuttle after the contracts were signed, he finally thought to ask, “What are you going to name your ship?”

“Beater” was the reply. Adam said nothing on the return trip keeping to himself. Kyle sat and enjoyed the ride in the shuttle. His life's dream of being an astronaut would soon be realized.

After landing, a reception team was there to process Kyle into the GPs including the start of his nanite therapy. Then he would spend the next 30 days almost constantly in the newly made simulator of the Arizona Space Ship Beater, learning all he could on the technology and processes before taking command. As a retired officer, they were not going to waste any time going over military courtesy or other time wasting courses he obviously would be familiar with.

Kyle started immediately querying Grub about everything he could think of for the nature of galactic politics and how wars were fought. Then started to learn all he could about his new ship. The original crew for a raider was twelve, but the projected upgrades and modifications made by Grub would reduce the crew to five, Captain, pilot, weapons/navigation officer, and two crew chief/gunners. Three droids were designed and programmed to assist in any ship's required maintenance.

The main propulsion for the raider was a multi speed FTL drive as well as thrusters able to launch or land on any planetary body. The original weapons were four batteries of lasers and a missile system. The new weapons systems were four beamers, two rail gun systems, and two phalanx batteries. The original ships computer would be able to automatically control life support and monitor the engine performance and ships status. The computer would also assist in navigation. The fighters carried onboard were semi-autonomous, needing minimal support from the raider. Their engines were installed with a five year antimatter reactor so would need no fueling just ammunition and any repairs or servicing as needed. The original fighter could almost achieve faster than light speed and had a concentration of two forward firing lasers with hard points for additional weapons as needed. The new modifications would keep the same speeds but add a force field generator. The new weapons would be a pair of beamers and a central cannon that fired smart 40mm ammunition, each round like an independent missile. The modifications to the raider also enabled there to be enough room for a pair of shuttles to supplement the ship. The only drawback to the raider was room, originally configured for a crew of twelve and ten passengers under Spartan conditions at best. With the upgrades there was even less space now with a crew of five and twenty-two passengers. Most free space was used for ammunition and raw materials used to create parts as needed.