TFS Navajo: The Terran Fleet Command Saga – Book 3 (22 page)

“The fact that you know the name of Commander Takkar carries little weight, Lieutenant,” the Wek growled in response, “and we all know that Prince Rugali was killed by your forces months ago. Why should we willingly agree to come aboard your vessel and become prisoners of the Pelaran Alliance?”

Jacks sighed inwardly and rolled his eyes in response, then took a moment to compose his thoughts before continuing. “Sir, I’m assuming that, since we are near your ship’s medical bay, some of your group may be civilians. You, however, sound like a military man to me, so please allow me to do you the honor of shooting it to you straight,” he said, wincing as he realized that his last statement might result in an awkward translation. “I only have a few minutes to get each of you inside emergency evacuation pods for transport back to our shuttle followed by a short ride over to
Theseus
. If I leave without accomplishing this task, I don’t know whether I will get the opportunity to come back for you. As I’m sure you know, the
Keturah
is dying, and you will surely die with her if you remain aboard. As far as your status as prisoners goes, it’s true that I am required to treat you as enemy combatants for now — that’s for your protection as well as that of my unit — but you have my word that you will not be mistreated in any way. We have a Wek surgeon aboard the
Theseus
who can see to your medical needs and, although you will be escorted by Marine guards while onboard, as long as you conduct yourselves as guests, that is precisely how you will be treated. It will, of course, be up to Captain Prescott to decide what to do with you after that, but my guess is that you will be given the opportunity to transfer to the
Hadeon
as soon as it is safe for you to do so.”

There was silence on the intercom, indicating that the feed from inside the room had been muted. Jacks took advantage of the lull in conversation to note the progress of the two Marines working feverishly behind him in the corridor. He was gratified to see that they had three pods deployed and were already preparing to inflate the fourth.

“Lieutenant Jacks?” the Wek male called from inside the room.

“Yes, sir,” he replied immediately.

“We agree to your terms. I warn you, however, that I am armed and will not hesitate to open fire if I see any evidence that your intentions are other than what you have described. All four of us are injured to some degree, but one of the medics here has sustained serious burns and needs immediate attention. We did what we could to stabilize him, but we were unable to reach the supplies and equipment we needed inside the medical bay itself.”

“Understood. In just a moment, I’m going to need you to stand clear of the door while we equalize the pressure between the hallway and your room. There is a leak in the adjoining compartment, so I’m afraid you are going to experience a brief period of low pressure and oxygen content once we open the door. It will be uncomfortable, and you should expect to start feeling lightheaded shortly after we enter the room. Again, we will need to place each of you in your own evacuation pod in order to transfer you back to the
Theseus
. The pods have their own medical AI that is familiar with Wek physiology, so please relax, lie still, and allow the system to begin administering whatever treatment it deems necessary. Regarding your weapon, I will allow you to keep it as we enter the room, but, for your own safety, I ask that you place it on the floor once we begin loading your most seriously injured colleague into his evacuation pod.”

“And will you also be armed, Lieutenant?” the Wek asked.

“Yes, I will, but don’t let that alarm you. We are Terran Fleet Command Marines, sir. We never go anywhere without being heavily armed.” Jacks chuckled to himself in spite of the gravity of the situation. “You will also see that we are wearing a type of combat armor that allows us to operate in all environments. It can be a little intimidating when you see it for the first time, but you have my word that the only reason we are here is to help get you safely off this ship. So do I have
your
word that you will not attack us when we enter the room?”

There was another brief period of silence during which, Jacks assumed, the survivors were giving final consideration as to whether they had any choice at this point other than cooperation. “You have my word, Lieutenant. Let’s get this over with,” the Wek said, sighing resignedly.

Chapter 15

Exclusion Zone, Location Dagger

(3.3 light years from Earth)

Had an observer been in the unenviable position of witnessing the arrival of SCS
Zhelov
and
Serapion
at close range, the sight would almost certainly have inspired a sense of awe replaced shortly thereafter by fear. The starfield near their points of hyperspace interface seemed to blur and twist convulsively, then turn completely black in the instant before two spectacular flashes of gray light heralded the battleships’ arrival.

Hyperspace transitions in the immediate vicinity of other ships are inherently dangerous, but centuries of naval operations experience had allowed the Sajeth Collective to develop procedures designed to minimize risk and render such activities largely routine. One example of just such a procedure required the two
Baldev
-class battleships to arrive in what was considered a tight formation for warships of their size. Doing so allowed for a predictable interface footprint, followed by an equally predicable pathway for their deceleration burn.

“Tight” formation flying was something of a relative term, the definition of which tended to vary with the size and configuration of the ships involved. In this case, the two-ship formation had maintained a separation of just over ten kilometers during the final leg of their journey to the Resistance rally point. This was done primarily to avoid any potential for the fields generated by their massive hyperdrives to interfere with one another, but also to provide a little room for the ships to maneuver as necessary after transitioning back into normal space.

Although the speed and range of modern naval weaponry made the idea of “formation flying” seem like something of an anachronism, there was still value in the mutual support two or more ships of war could provide for each other. As powerful as each individual ship was, there was still safety in numbers, particularly when there was the potential to encounter hostile forces immediately upon arrival at their destination.

Now, as the two, thirteen-hundred-meter-long warships streaked downrange at nearly ten percent the speed of light, four forward-facing panels slid into recesses in their hulls, each one revealing the presence of two massive sublight engine nozzles. Much like the retrograde engines employed by the BD cruiser
Keturah
during her battle against the
Theseus
— but significantly larger due to the battleships’ size — all eight flared to life as they engaged at maximum power. When viewed from the side, a ghostly blue aura issued forth from the two battleships in their direction of flight, allowing the formation to decelerate at a surprising rate for ships of their size.

As the pair neared the end of the exclusion zone, the captains of both ships noted that the situation at their rally point was not as they had expected it to be. In response, both began an intense scan of the area utilizing their entire suite of both active and passive sensors. Even with the limitations imposed by the speed of light, the distances involved were relatively short, and it took only a few moments for the two captains to assess the situation and settle on an initial course of action.

On the side of each battleship facing the center of their formation, the forward-facing engines vectored their thrust to begin increasing the distance to the other ship while the engines on the opposite side ceased operation entirely. At the same moment, the stern of each ship was lit by a bluish-white glow as a total of twenty-four enormous sublight engines added their colossal thrust to the task of positioning the two ships for imminent combat operations.

From the opposite end of the exclusion zone near their original transition point, the two
Baldev
-class ships had the appearance of an eerie duplicate of the star Sirius, which just happened to be located just above their current plane of flight at the moment. Shortly thereafter, the false star created by the combination of the two ships’ huge drive sections separated into two distinct points of light, then rapidly diminished in brightness as the battleships completed their turns and settled on their new courses — both aligned perfectly to intercept the starship
Theseus
.

TFS Theseus, Location Dagger

(3.3 light years from Earth)

With Lieutenant Lau still away from the bridge, his replacement jumped involuntarily as a series of urgent-sounding warning tones issued from the Tactical 2 console, none of which she had ever encountered outside of the simulator.

“Contact!” she reported, excitedly but without hesitation.

“What do you have, Lieutenant?” Commander Reynolds asked immediately. Although the XO tried to sound as casual and relaxed as possible, the first thought that had entered her mind was the hope that they were detecting the arrival of several replacement fighters rather than the long-anticipated appearance of
Zhelov
and
Serapion
. Just as the eager young lieutenant from the standby crew was fully qualified to sit in for Lieutenant Lau at Tactical, Commander Reynolds was more than capable of commanding the destroyer in combat. But with Captain Prescott off the bridge and three separate EVA missions underway, she couldn’t help but feel a chill of dread run down the length of her spine at the thought of being faced with a completely unmanageable set of circumstances.

“I don’t think it’s one of ours, Commander,” the lieutenant replied gravely. “The AI is still working to classify it, but the point of hyperspace interface corresponds with the exclusion area outlined by Commander Takkar.”

Reynolds glanced to her right at the tactical plot, noting with some relief that there appeared to be only one new ship — currently displayed with the yellow icon reserved for unknown contacts. Realizing that, at this range,
Theseus’
AI could be expected to provide additional details rather quickly, she paused momentarily to observe the new arrival. In the back of her mind, she still harbored a faint hope that the contact would turn out to be a friendly — perhaps even one of the
Theseus
-class destroyers that had taken part in the battle at Location Crossbow.

“Can we get a decent visual from here?” she asked, not directing the question to anyone in particular.

“We can try, ma’am,” Lieutenant Commander Schmidt replied from Tactical 1. “It’s heading away from us at the moment, so assuming it’s a ship, we should be able to see the light given off by its drive section.”

Reynolds’ gaze now shifted to the center of the bridge view screen, which shortly thereafter displayed a pulsating green oval surrounding an otherwise unremarkable section of the starfield to port. After a brief pause, the oval pulsed red three times before the entire view screen zoomed in on that section of the sky. It took several seconds for
Theseus’
AI to focus its optical sensors on the distant, rapidly moving contact. With a growing sense of anxiety, Reynolds divided her attention between the tactical plot and the slowly sharpening image on the view screen.

“Captain Prescott to the Bridge … Flight Deck, bridge,” she announced in rapid succession. Although they had detected the new contact just ten seconds earlier, Reynolds was unwilling to wait any longer to begin taking definitive action.

“Bridge, go for Flight Deck,” came the immediate reply from the on-duty flight operations officer — currently standing just forward of the destroyer’s main aft airlock that led out to the stern flight apron.

“We’re working a contact up here that may be another hostile. What’s the status of our … stand by one.”

It was at that moment that
Theseus’
AI had finally processed sufficient information to both classify and positively identify the contact. Reynolds heard several expressions of recognition from members of the bridge crew as the image on the view screen resolved into near perfect clarity. Although the two massive warships displayed were currently headed away from the
Theseus
, the configuration of their drive sections were now all too familiar. On the tactical plot, the single yellow icon divided into two distinct contacts now represented by diamond shapes outlined in the angry red color indicating that both were hostile warships. Inside each icon, the traditional, two-letter code of “BB” indicated the enemy vessels’ platform type, while the accompanying text blocks provided an even more specific identification — SCS
Zhelov
and SCS
Serapion
.

“AI, resume General Quarters for combat operations, Condition 1,” Reynolds ordered. “Set status of all EVA activities to ‘Terminate Until Further Notice.’”

“General Quarters for combat operations, Condition 1 set,” the AI’s synthetic female voice responded in a businesslike tone. “EVA status change acknowledged. Please note that EVA activity is currently in progress.”

“Uh huh, tell me something I don’t know,” Reynolds muttered under her breath as the AI began announcing the status change over the ship’s intercom. “Flight Deck, are you still there?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the duty officer replied. “I believe you were about to ask about our EVA status.”

“Yes, I was. Who do we still have outside?”

“The last of the damaged fighters is aboard and being secured as we speak. We have all four of them pushed as far forward as we can get them now, so they are no longer interfering with flight ops. Commander Logan and his team came in with the last fighter, so they’re all back aboard as well. I just spoke with him briefly and he said to tell you that he would report in as quickly as he can get back to Engineering.”

“That’s all good news. And what about the Marines?”

“One of the
Sherpas
, that’s Marine Rescue Flight niner zero two, is on final approach and will be aboard in zero two minutes. They have eight of the fifteen Marines aboard plus three Wek survivors from the
Keturah
. The other
Sherpa
— with six other Marines plus Lieutenant Jacks — was not yet en route back to the
Theseus
at last check.”

“Yes, that’s still the case. I need you to get that first
Sherpa
onboard and secured as quickly as possible. We have two battleships just like the one we fought earlier headed our way and unless we get underway before they have a chance to open fire —”

“Understood, Commander. And what about Lieutenant Jacks and the other shuttle?”

“I’m afraid they’re on their own for the moment. His team is aboard a Resistance ship, so I suspect they’re a lot safer than we are right now. Reynolds out.”

Marine Section “Rescue 11,” Location Dagger

(Near SCS
Keturah
External Access Point Two)

“Rescue 11, bridge,” Commander Reynolds called over the tactical comlink.

“Bridge, go for Rescue 11,” Lieutenant Jacks replied, sounding uncharacteristically winded.

“You’re out of time, Lieutenant. What’s your status?”

“We’re nearly there, Commander. We have all four Wek survivors secured in triple EPs. Three of them should be fine, but one is in pretty bad shape with third degree burns. The medical AI on his pod says he’s stable for now, though. We ran into some trouble on egress. I think our pressurizing and depressurizing several large compartments caused some additional structural instability and we ended up needing to clear quite a bit of debris on the way out. We’ll have everyone aboard the shuttle in zero three minutes.”

“I’m sure you received an alert that the
Zhelov
and
Serapion
have arrived.”

“Yes, ma’am. Are you still planning to move
Theseus
in closer to pick us up?”

“I don’t think we have time,” Reynolds sighed, the stress and frustration of the current situation clearly evident in her voice. “We’re in the process of recovering your first shuttle as we speak. In the meantime, those two battleships are headed right at us and will be well within weapons range before you can get back aboard
Theseus
. I’m afraid our moving in closer might actually put you in more danger than just having you stay put. Stand by one, Lieutenant. Captain Prescott just stepped back onto the bridge.”

“Careful, there,” Jacks’ AI interjected after ensuring that they were no longer broadcasting over the comlink, “she sounds calm enough, but I’ll wager she’s as mad as a cut snake.”

Nah, she’s just in a tight spot, that’s all. She’s a pro, that one … I wouldn’t want to cross her, though, and that’s a fact.

For the next few minutes, Jacks continued to supervise final preparations for his team’s departure from the
Keturah
, assuming (correctly) that his captain and XO were in the middle of a discussion regarding precisely what, if anything, they could do to help him. The prospect of being left aboard the dying ship, while a bit unsettling, didn’t pose much of a problem for his section of Marines — at least not in the short term. The power supplies in their EVA suits would last pretty much indefinitely, and would continue to generate plenty of oxygen for far longer than they would need it. The limiting factor, as usual, was food and water. Having exerted themselves over the course of the past hour, he assumed that most of his troops would have already run through the two liters of water in their suits’ onboard drink bags, and a quick status check of his own supply showed it to be less than half full. It would be at least a day before lack of water posed what he would consider an “emergency” situation, however. If they reached that point, there were several metric tons of survival rations, water, and medical supplies aboard their
Sherpa.
Even in the unlikely event that they somehow lost access to the shuttle, he felt sure they would be able to locate additional supplies aboard the
Keturah
, if required. Finding a safe place to eventually remove their helmets in order to eat might prove a problem, but it was one he could afford to ignore for now.