Tim Murray
Through space, time and dimension
Well...here we go again.
Captain Arnold nervously drummed his fingers near the console pad on the hand rest of his chair.
“Do you think it’s wise to put a secret listening post this close to Terelian space?” Jack Morgan, his Executive Officer, asked in a concerned tone.
“Intelligence has confirmed their alliance with the Kek’s. They’re bad news; the Voeleron war taught us that. For a race of reptilians, they’re crafty and intelligent.” The Captain dryly replied.
Great! Jack thought to himself, remembering the Voeleron war and the Kek’s suicidal tactics. He and Bob Arnold trusted each other implicitly. In the last month, The Armstrong had been in two other skirmishes with the Terelian’s in neutral space. Terelian’s are predictable to a fault, the Kek's are not and that’s what concerned him the most.
Jack called the Captain aside for a conference. “Bob, you were at Voeleron, what do you think of these developments?
He frowned and shook his head, “I don’t know, Jack. If Kek’s are on board any warship, that changes everything.”
“If that’s true, we had better expect some surprises. We know the Terelian’s capabilities. The latest upgrades on our armor and shields should deal with them. The Kek’s are another matter; their weapons tech is at least equal to ours.”
The Captain cast a long glance at his XO, “so the intelligence reports confirm, what do you propose?”
“We should deploy an Alliance Special Ops unit (ASO’s) to the planet’s surface in a Calvary class cruiser, just in case the Terelian's discovers the new base.”
After a thoughtful pause, the Captain agreed. “Deploy an ASO unit, Commander.”
“Aye, sir, Lieutenant, notify Lt. Commander Phar to report to docking bay four immediately.
“Aye, sir, He’s on his way, they launch in ten minutes.
The bridge crew watched and waited, half expecting a Terelian patrol to show up at any moment. The silence of inaction increased the apprehension.
“Launch confirmed, Commander; they’ll land in twenty minutes.”
All eyes watched the shuttle enter the atmosphere with a long fiery tail giving away their entry.
“Anyone within the two moons orbits can’t miss that.” Ensign Masterson nervously commented. Tensions always ran high on top secret missions.
“That is what concerns me, Ensign. I would have had them enter from the dark side of Eregor if time was not of the essence.” Jack addressed his navigator’s obvious anxiety. “Lieutenant, do we have any reports from the planet surface?”
“No, sir.”
“Raise them, something’s wrong, at least one Terelian patrol should have checked us out by now.”
“Aye, sir,” he waited for confirmation. “Life support is up and the techs are finalizing the computer downloads.”
“Tell them to finish fast; we need to get the engineering crew shuttled up and leave. Are long range scanners picking anything up?”
“No, sir, but the first moon is blocking our signal, they could be hiding on the dark side of the moon.”
“Deploy probes to close that gap,” Jack ordered.
“Probes launched, incoming data in five minutes,” Lt. Johnson reported.
Blue tail flames from four probes shot forward, an eerie silence pervaded the bridge. Jack's eyes were glued to his console.
Minutes later, Jack looked up with a dark scowl. “Captain, the probes have picked up movement from the moon's dark side, they’re headed our way fast. Lt. Sperry, notify the ground crew to stand fast and get those shields up.”
“Aye, sir,” she watched her console for the reply. “Shields are up and they’re taking cover. The ASO’s are changing to a possible intercept course with the incoming bogies.”
Lt. Johnson looked up from his console with dread. “Captain Arnold, five Ging class cruisers approaching from aft at attack speed. They’re taking a reverse pyramid formation, two port and starboard, two top and bottom side and one five thousand yards behind the primary group.”
Captain Arnold moved fast, “red alert, shields up full, take evasive action, let’s move this fight away from Eregor.”
“Aye, sir,” the helmswoman obeyed.
The Armstrong broke orbit and flew towards the second moon at one-quarter impulse. Eregor and the now stranded base fell away from the viewport. The inverted pyramid formation of Ging class light cruisers changed course to follow them. As they passed the planet, the bridge crew saw the rear Ging cruiser break off for Eregor’s surface, only to be met by the ASO’s ship rocketing out of the atmosphere firing her phase cannons onto the bottom side of the enemy ship.
They’re hiding something, I know it. We’ll have to come back with a fleet and scour this quadrant. Jack thought before Captain Arnold asked him a question.
“Commander, are damage control teams prepared and medical bays ready to receive casualties?”
“Aye, sir, the cruisers are moving in fast and they’re not standard Ging class cruisers, Captain, they have Kek insignia on the bow.”
Near the second moon, the Terelian ships caught up with them. Their formation stayed true as they surrounded The Armstrong.
“Their weapons are charged and firing, incoming, incoming, brace yourselves!” Jack warned the bridge crew.
The crew held on to anything solid within reach before the first volley hit. The ship shook violently and the crew rocked with the motion, staying upright. The shields dropped to sixty percent.
A look of sadness and shock filled Lt. Sperry as she looked up from her console. She fought back tears before reporting. “Captain, we lost the entire hydro-bay, including the personnel.”
Flash frozen plants and debris with floating bodies streamed out into space for all to see.
“Captain, they’re using highly modified weapons. Terelian’s do not have the capability for such fire power. This has to be Kek mods, our shields are almost useless.” Commander Morgan reported with alarm.
“Switch all available power to aft shields,” Captain Arnold ordered. “Lt. Johnson, are the targets locked?”
“Aye, sir, locked and loaded.”
“Fire port cannons.”
The phase cannons fired and the Lieutenant tracked the shots on his console. “Direct hit, sir, they’re losing power.”
“Target the weapons and fire.” Jack ordered.
The cannons fired again, the enemy ship rolled to port side and fell back. Debris and bodies shot into space from several large hull breaches. One gone and four remained.
Damn these Terelian’s, if we don’t find a way to defend this, were in big trouble, Jack thought. “What about the ship that broke off, is our base still there?”
Captain Arnold nervously drummed his fingers near the console pad on the hand rest of his chair.
“Do you think it’s wise to put a secret listening post this close to Terelian space?” Jack Morgan, his Executive Officer, asked in a concerned tone.
“Intelligence has confirmed their alliance with the Kek’s. They’re bad news; the Voeleron war taught us that. For a race of reptilians, they’re crafty and intelligent.” The Captain dryly replied.
Great! Jack thought to himself, remembering the Voeleron war and the Kek’s suicidal tactics. He and Bob Arnold trusted each other implicitly. In the last month, The Armstrong had been in two other skirmishes with the Terelian’s in neutral space. Terelian’s are predictable to a fault, the Kek's are not and that’s what concerned him the most.
Jack called the Captain aside for a conference. “Bob, you were at Voeleron, what do you think of these developments?
He frowned and shook his head, “I don’t know, Jack. If Kek’s are on board any warship, that changes everything.”
“If that’s true, we had better expect some surprises. We know the Terelian’s capabilities. The latest upgrades on our armor and shields should deal with them. The Kek’s are another matter; their weapons tech is at least equal to ours.”
The Captain cast a long glance at his XO, “so the intelligence reports confirm, what do you propose?”
“We should deploy an Alliance Special Ops unit (ASO’s) to the planet’s surface in a Calvary class cruiser, just in case the Terelian's discovers the new base.”
After a thoughtful pause, the Captain agreed. “Deploy an ASO unit, Commander.”
“Aye, sir, Lieutenant, notify Lt. Commander Phar to report to docking bay four immediately.
“Aye, sir, He’s on his way, they launch in ten minutes.
The bridge crew watched and waited, half expecting a Terelian patrol to show up at any moment. The silence of inaction increased the apprehension.
“Launch confirmed, Commander; they’ll land in twenty minutes.”
All eyes watched the shuttle enter the atmosphere with a long fiery tail giving away their entry.
“Anyone within the two moons orbits can’t miss that.” Ensign Masterson nervously commented. Tensions always ran high on top secret missions.
“That is what concerns me, Ensign. I would have had them enter from the dark side of Eregor if time was not of the essence.” Jack addressed his navigator’s obvious anxiety. “Lieutenant, do we have any reports from the planet surface?”
“No, sir.”
“Raise them, something’s wrong, at least one Terelian patrol should have checked us out by now.”
“Aye, sir,” he waited for confirmation. “Life support is up and the techs are finalizing the computer downloads.”
“Tell them to finish fast; we need to get the engineering crew shuttled up and leave. Are long range scanners picking anything up?”
“No, sir, but the first moon is blocking our signal, they could be hiding on the dark side of the moon.”
“Deploy probes to close that gap,” Jack ordered.
“Probes launched, incoming data in five minutes,” Lt. Johnson reported.
Blue tail flames from four probes shot forward, an eerie silence pervaded the bridge. Jack's eyes were glued to his console.
Minutes later, Jack looked up with a dark scowl. “Captain, the probes have picked up movement from the moon's dark side, they’re headed our way fast. Lt. Sperry, notify the ground crew to stand fast and get those shields up.”
“Aye, sir,” she watched her console for the reply. “Shields are up and they’re taking cover. The ASO’s are changing to a possible intercept course with the incoming bogies.”
Lt. Johnson looked up from his console with dread. “Captain Arnold, five Ging class cruisers approaching from aft at attack speed. They’re taking a reverse pyramid formation, two port and starboard, two top and bottom side and one five thousand yards behind the primary group.”
Captain Arnold moved fast, “red alert, shields up full, take evasive action, let’s move this fight away from Eregor.”
“Aye, sir,” the helmswoman obeyed.
The Armstrong broke orbit and flew towards the second moon at one-quarter impulse. Eregor and the now stranded base fell away from the viewport. The inverted pyramid formation of Ging class light cruisers changed course to follow them. As they passed the planet, the bridge crew saw the rear Ging cruiser break off for Eregor’s surface, only to be met by the ASO’s ship rocketing out of the atmosphere firing her phase cannons onto the bottom side of the enemy ship.
They’re hiding something, I know it. We’ll have to come back with a fleet and scour this quadrant. Jack thought before Captain Arnold asked him a question.
“Commander, are damage control teams prepared and medical bays ready to receive casualties?”
“Aye, sir, the cruisers are moving in fast and they’re not standard Ging class cruisers, Captain, they have Kek insignia on the bow.”
Near the second moon, the Terelian ships caught up with them. Their formation stayed true as they surrounded The Armstrong.
“Their weapons are charged and firing, incoming, incoming, brace yourselves!” Jack warned the bridge crew.
The crew held on to anything solid within reach before the first volley hit. The ship shook violently and the crew rocked with the motion, staying upright. The shields dropped to sixty percent.
A look of sadness and shock filled Lt. Sperry as she looked up from her console. She fought back tears before reporting. “Captain, we lost the entire hydro-bay, including the personnel.”
Flash frozen plants and debris with floating bodies streamed out into space for all to see.
“Captain, they’re using highly modified weapons. Terelian’s do not have the capability for such fire power. This has to be Kek mods, our shields are almost useless.” Commander Morgan reported with alarm.
“Switch all available power to aft shields,” Captain Arnold ordered. “Lt. Johnson, are the targets locked?”
“Aye, sir, locked and loaded.”
“Fire port cannons.”
The phase cannons fired and the Lieutenant tracked the shots on his console. “Direct hit, sir, they’re losing power.”
“Target the weapons and fire.” Jack ordered.
The cannons fired again, the enemy ship rolled to port side and fell back. Debris and bodies shot into space from several large hull breaches. One gone and four remained.
Damn these Terelian’s, if we don’t find a way to defend this, were in big trouble, Jack thought. “What about the ship that broke off, is our base still there?”
