Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (7 page)

              In addition to the location of the command bridge the battlecruiser two had also had several new updates to her weapon systems. They were now sporting the new
Foxfire
interceptor missile pods, capable of intercepting and destroying incoming enemy torpedoes. The
Foxfire
system could also be used against incoming enemy fighters but it tenuous at best. The engineers had claimed they were close to solving the bugs that prevented the pods from being an effective offensive weapon.

              All of these new additions were achievements of human ingenuity, much to the distress of the Meshtrell. Meshtrell were dumbfounded to how a race such as the humans, who almost two years ago were barely space worthy, could understand and improve on Meshtrell technology.

Captain Jenson Donaldson enjoyed his new ship; she was beautiful, which was now out on her shakedown cruise. Even though it was so late, he found himself unable to sleep. He was as excited as a boy on Christmas morning to finally have his very own Battlecruiser. Everything sparkled with a new shine as he looked about the command bridge. Reading the tactical display he checked on the other four warships that accompanied the
Phoenix.
Of the four other warships present only one was a Battlecruiser, the EDF
Minotaur,
a recent addition to the fleet. The other three warships present were two heavy cruisers, the EDF
Okinawa
and the EDF
Glasgow
, and one light destroyer, the EDF
Patriot
. Donaldson didn’t know any of the captains well as all were newly promoted and had little to no combat experience. Only the commander of the
Okinawa
had any real combat experience with the Shenkar. Captain Donaldson had never met the young lady but he had heard she originally been stationed aboard the
Sacrifice
.

              After making sure all was well with the other warships he turned back to his surroundings. Except for him there were only three other crew members on the bridge. He liked the late nights, it was relaxing to just sit in command chair and just enjoy the hum of all the equipment.

         The sound of the door opening behind him made him look around to see the newcomer. Seeing who the newcomer formed a pit in his stomach causing him groan inwardly. Occasionally, one of the council of Earth would accompany a shakedown cruise to see how well the new crew performed and to report back their findings. Captain Donaldson unfortunately had been unlucky enough to have the President of France, Jacque Lecroix, on his shakedown cruise. Turning forward again, Captain Donaldson studied the tactical display on the command chairs personal computer. Trying as hard as he could he attempted to feign interest in a report of the latest readouts on the performance of the pulse drives. As he re-read the report for the second time he became aware of Jacque Lecroix standing beside his chair, evidently wanting to speak with him. Finally realizing that his mere presence wouldn't be enough to initiate a conversation with the young captain, Jacque Lecroix spoke, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

              “Mr. Donaldson, may I have a word with you?”

              “Captain,” Donaldson said simply without looking around.

              “Excuse me?”

              “I am Captain Donaldson aboard this ship, not Mr. Donaldson. How would you like it if I addressed you as Mr. Lecroix instead of your due rank Mr. President?” Jenson asked as he turned to look at the French president.

              Jacque Lecroix's face darken red at being addressed so by a mere captain. Especially when he had clearly spotted some of the bridge officers, although attempting to hide it, were clearly smirking at the way their captain addressed the President of France.

              “Captain Donaldson, do I have to remind you I am part of the Council of Earth. If I wish it, I could have you busted down to an ensign and cleaning the toilets. So I recommend you change your attitude or I will do just that. Do we have an understanding?”

              “My apologies Mr. President, how may I help you?” Donaldson asked, although he clearly didn't sound sorry as his dislike for the President was evident in his voice.

              “I have requested repeatedly to have someone check my quarters. There is a smell that is truly dreadful. It smells as if something died in there,” explained the President of France.

              Captain Donaldson had to fight from rolling his eyes at hearing this. He knew exactly what the smell was as he had overheard two of his ensigns speaking of how they were going to put a dead fish in the President's ventilation duct. Although he didn't condone such behavior aboard his ship he sympathized with the two ensigns as he knew the President had embarrassed them earlier in the day.

Evidently the two ensigns had been talking about visiting France and seeing the Louvre. One of the young ladies, Ensign Pedroya he thought, remarked how she wanted to view the Pyramid at night. Apparently the President of France had overheard the conversation and proceeded to comment on how only an ignorant American girl would go to the great Louvre and would want to see the Pyramid first over all of the other great pieces of art present. Both ensigns had attempted to explain they had wanted to see it all and just happen to be speaking of the Pyramid when the President overheard their conversation. Instead the President just sneered at the woman and continued to insult their intelligence to a group of French soldiers. It wasn't until Captain Donaldson came upon the scene did the abuse cease. Captain Donaldson had been furious with the French soldiers as well as the President of France. The French soldiers were now responsible for keeping the bathrooms clean throughout the Battlecruiser. As for the President of France, all he could do is remind him that he was only there as an observer and not to berate the crew on non military conversations. Since then the President had been absolutely irritating with demands. He would have to remind himself to give the two young ensigns an extra weekend leave as a reward for their stunt.

              “I will have someone look into it as soon as I can Mr. President. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

              The President looked as if he did have more to say but before he could say anything further he was cut off. Ensign Mendez, his communications officer, spoke.

              “Sir, I am receiving a priority one message from Outpost 238, it seems they are under attack.”

              “Put it on the overhead,” ordered Captain Donaldson, all thoughts of the President of France forgotten.

              Immediately Ensign Mendez pressed a few keys on the panel in front of him and transferred the broadcast to the overhead bridge speakers. A panicked voice full of desperation blared to life.

              “This is Outpost 238; we are in need of immediate assistance. Multiple Shenkar warships are firing upon the asteroid belt. So far we haven't suffered any serious damage. I believe they do not know exactly where we are but they will soon at the rate they are going. Numbers are undetermined due to interference but last count had the Shenkar warships numbering fifteen Battlecruisers, thirty
Shirec
medium cruisers and twenty
Kelgen
class destroyers. They also have multiple
Drelai
gunships as well as heavy fighter support. I repeat we are under attack and in need of immediate assistance. We can't hold out much......”

              The transmission was cut off suddenly. The Ensign moved to try and re-establish the connection but was unable to.

              “Captain, the transmission has been lost,” reported Ensign Mendez.

              “Does this mean they all have been killed?” asked Jacque Lecroix.

              Captain Donaldson looked to the President of France for a second at the sound of his voice. He clearly seemed distressed by the news of Outpost 238 which surprised the captain. What disturbed him was the transmission was at least two hours old which may mean the outpost has been destroyed. While the communication relay system could transmit messages around such a vast distance in so short a time, sending a fleet to reinforce the base would take much longer.

              “Possibly Mr. President, but highly unlikely. It is more likely they hit the communications transmitter than to have destroyed the outpost. I was there and I can assure you that place is solid,” explained Captain Donaldson.

              Clearly the President wasn't satisfied by this answer.

              “We need to get there immediately. Summon all available warships!” commanded Jacque Lecroix.

              Captain Donaldson was annoyed at being commanded to do this by someone who wasn't his superior officer.

              “Mr. President, we cannot simply fold the entire fleet away from Earth. For one it would leave the Earth defenseless and two, I don't have that kind of authority.”

              Turning back to Ensign Mendez he was about to give orders to contact fleet command but again Jacque had another outburst.

              “I am on the Council of Earth, I have the authority and I am commanding you to send word to assemble the fleet. We leave for Outpost 238 within the next half hour. If you disobey me I will have you fired from the nearest torpedo tube,” the President of France commanded in his most authoritative voice he could muster.

              “Sir, they will not accept my orders.” Captain Donaldson tried to explain.

              “Give me a headset and connect me to fleet net,” commanded Jacque Lecroix.

              Sighing, Captain Donaldson signaled for a headset to be given to the President. After donning the headset he indicated he was ready.

              “Attention to all warships of the Earth Defense Force, this is President Jacque Lecroix. I am invoking a priority one directive. Outpost 238 is currently under assault by a heavy Shenkar force. I am calling in all available warships to form up in sector 22,” ordered the President of France.

December 22
nd
, 2013 4:43am

                                                     EDF
Okinawa,
Terran system

Commander Kimino Sukita sipped at her tea as she read the latest reports regarding preliminary results of the shakedown cruise. The flavor was robust and of her private stock, sent to her from her mother in Japan. She had received the care package before she had reported to the
Okinawa
. Her mother had also included a long letter pleading with Kimino not to accept another posting aboard an EDF warship. She felt for her mother but she had explained to her mother that she had never felt such contentment as she did now. Her mother had cried at length stating she would never understand but she would pray every day for her and that she loved her.

All thoughts of her mother were driven from her head as her communications officer spoke.

“Commander, we are receiving a priority one directive. It is from the President of France….he is aboard the
Phoenix
. We are directed to sector 22 where we are to fold to Outpost 238.”

“The President of France doesn’t have that kind of authority. What is the reason for this?” Kimino asked.

Her communications officer was silent for a moment as he listened.
              “Ma’am, it seems that Outpost 238 is under attack from Shenkar forces,” explained the young officer.

Kimino was surprised at the report; she hadn’t expected the Shenkar to be back so soon. She had, in fact, hoped they wouldn’t come back at all.

“Inform the captain of this news and get me Fleet Admiral Saunders on the
Reagan
,” commanded Kimino.

Kimino wasn’t sure but something about all this just didn’t make any sense. She knew she should have waited till Captain Dvares arrived on the bridge before she called the Fleet Admiral but she had a feeling time was of the essence.

“Commander, the
Reagan
reports that Fleet Admiral Saunders isn’t aboard, he is attending a summit on Earth.”              

“Damn it, well then try and get Admiral Kelvin at the Texas facility and connect me with the
Phoenix
.”

December 22
nd
, 2013 4:53 am

                                                     EDF
Phoenix,
Terran system