Lens of Time Page 4

  He stared at her and said, “What do you mean by do it right?”

  “You should not jump into the center of the jet. You must jump in just outside the center. I’ve talked with Dr. Hendricks, who is our best physicist, and he says there may not be Sierra Space where the center of that jet is located. It will require two jumps; one to just outside the jet where readings will be taken and then a jump into it. This is the only chance of you surviving this mission and I’m going to be there to make it happen.”

  RV took a deep breath and said, “We’re going to leave the two of you to discuss this. Let us know what you decide.” RV looked at Bob and Kenny and nodded toward the door. They followed him out of the room.

  Once they were outside Kenny said, “RV, she is too valuable to lose on this hair brained mission.”

  “This mission is more important than anything she’ll do as an admiral, Kenny. How many attack craft do we have in our fleets?”

  Kenny thought a moment and then said, “You’re right, as usual. She would have to lose an entire major fleet to come close to those that would die if this doesn’t work.”

  RV smiled, “Those two in that room figured that out before we did. He was the first to see it and Captain Barber is probably right. Mikal should be in a major leadership position.”

  Kenny smiled, “It’s good to have you back, Sir, and if I might add, you look smaller than the last time I saw you. Have you been exercising?”

  RV’s face turned red and he smiled, “Let’s go get a beer and discuss it.”

  • • •

  Mikal was struggling and Loree knew it. He finally said, “I’m going to cancel this mission if you don’t agree to stay here.”

  Loree came around and sat in a chair next to him and took his hands in hers, “If you do that, I’ll go alone. You’ve made me see the importance of doing this and it must be attempted. Millions of lives are at stake in this decision.” Mikal stared into her eyes and finally nodded. Loree said, “Honestly, my life would be less if I lost you. I have to go with you to make sure I can continue to laugh…”

  Mikal looked at her and said, “What are you saying?”

  “Mikal, I don’t know how I feel about you. I just know that when I look at my days without you in them, they just look dull and boring. You’ve been the most fun I’ve had in years. This way I’ll have at least one more day with you in it.” Mikal continued to stare into her eyes and then he smiled. Loree leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek. The kiss lingered for moment and then she leaned away.

  “We should leave the day after tomorrow.”

  “I thought you were planning to leave tomorrow?”

  “I want a day with you off this ship. Then I can go.”

  Loree smiled, “I know just the place.”

  Mikal softly said, “I was hoping you would.”

  • • •

  RV sat in his command chair on the Havana and said, “Cyanna, pass these coordinates to the eighth fleet and have them ready to jump.”

  Cyanna looked at them and then looked at a chart, “These are out in deep space.”

  “I know, just do it. We’ll be going with them.”

  “What’s going on?” RV stared at her and she quickly said, “Yes Sir, I’ll get these out immediately. Is there anything else I should do?”

  “Inform the fleet they will make the jump at general quarters and weapons will be free.”

  Cyanna’s expression turned serious, “What about the attack wings?”

  “They will be launched on arrival.”

  Cyanna turned back to her board and knew something serious was about to happen. She sent the instructions and notified Riebbe and Beth to get their wings ready.”

  • • •

  Mikal went over the readings on his pilot’s board and made sure everything was at optimum. He looked over at Loree, “Are you ready?”

  “The weapons are active and sensors are already operating. I’ve preprogrammed the first jump and will need you to let me know when to activate it.”

  “The jump word is ‘run’.”

  Loree smiled, “I like the simple things in life. I’ve set the drive to make the jump if you repeat that word three times.”

  Mikal nodded and then reached over and squeezed her hand, “Jump in ten seconds.”

  Loree smiled and said, “Get us in and I’ll take it from there.”

  Mikal turned back to his console, reached forward, and pushed the blue button.

  • • •

  The operator in Sensor Control saw the small ship appear in his sector. He pressed a button and two ships were immediately jumped to the coordinates on his board. The ships were jumped automatically and their force fields and weapons were also automatically activated. The operator smiled at the simplicity of the system and waited for the message about the destruction of the ship that had trespassed into his area of responsibility.

  • • •

  The small attack craft entered normal space and its force field immediately activated. Mikal set the force field into a sharp point as two giant orange colored battleships appeared within a mile of his location. He immediately went to ramming speed and accelerated toward the closest. The two ships opened fire just as the small ship hit the battleship’s force field. It broke through the force field and Mikal began orbiting the giant ship using his sensors to move away from any weapon that was charging. “Were we hit with any of those beams before we broke through?”

  “Three of them.”

  “I’m surprised our force field was still strong enough to break through.”

  “It wouldn’t have been if we were hit by six. That’s something we need to make sure fleet knows.” Loree glanced up from her weapons panel and said, “How long are we going to fly around in here?”

  “I want to see what they do about us. We need to know if they can do anything about our presence inside their field.”

  “They could always fire at us with their lasers.”

  “That’s going to be hard to do with us flying so close to their hulls. Their lasers are spread out evenly on the ships surface and they can’t be depressed enough to bring more than one or two to bear on us. I think they’re starting to get frustrated.”

  • • •

  The second ship saw the small white ship flying around inside the first ships force field and said, “Lower your screens so I can take a shot at it.”

  “Are you crazy? Even if you hit it, the beam will also hit the unprotected hull below it. You’ll destroy my ship.”

  The second ship’s commander was getting frustrated as the small white ship flew to the side away from his ship. He flew around the ship as quickly as possible but the small ship managed to keep the first ship between it and his ship. There was no way to fire on it without destroying the other ship.

  The Operator at Sensor Control entered the conversation, “How did that ship get inside your force field?”

  “I have no idea but I’ve been unable to hit it with enough beams to destroy it.”

  “Are you saying one beam won’t do it?”

  “Apparently not, it survived three hits before it broke through. I wonder why it hasn’t attacked.”

  The Operator hit his board and thirty more battleships appeared on the scene. They surrounded the penetrated ship. The operator said, “All ships, target that ship.”

  “Wait a minute; you aren’t going to fire on my ship!”

  “We are; we do not tolerate violations of our borders.”

  “But you’ll destroy my ship and kill the crew!”

  “Then I would highly recommend you evacuate your ship.”

  The ship’s captain was frustrated beyond words but knew he was going to die. All efforts to destroy the tiny ship had failed and he knew time was running out. He looked over and said, “Abandon ship.”

  • • •

  Mikal and Loree watched the gathering ships and wondered if they would fire on one of their own. Suddenly, hundreds of small escap
e vehicles flew out of the ship’s hull and headed toward the force field. Loree said, “Notice that all of those escapees are headed toward the same place in the force field.”

  “That’s the only safe route out. I’m lining up with that point and I’ll accelerate to the closest ship on that line once those escape pods clear. Let’s see if we can do this again.”

  “Are we going to destroy this ship?”

  Mikal thought a moment and said, “They’ll probably do it if they see us escaping with the others.” Mikal paused and said, “They may not fire on it if we’re leaving. Launch a missile on my mark.” Mikal watched the escape pods exiting the force field and said, “Ready…mark!”

  The small white ship accelerated at an amazing speed towards the force field surrounding the battleship and broke through just behind the escape pods. It roared up on another battleship and penetrated its force field before the surrounding ships could target it. An instant later a huge atomic blast blew out from the previously infected battleship leaving nothing but an expanding vapor cloud.

  The Operator was furious. The expanding blast blew most of the escape pods away without killing them and the small ship was again inside the force field of another ship. The Operator watched what happened and said, “All ships back away from the intruder now!” The orange ships backed away from the second ship that had been breached by the small white craft until they were a hundred miles away. “Charge your weapons.”

  “Are you going to fire on my ship?”

  “I am and you are going to drop your force field when I order. We will target the vessel inside your screen. We will then start rescue operations for your survivors. I trust you understand the necessity of this.”

  “I do. We will move all crew members to the ends of the ship. The intruder is maintaining an orbit around the middle.”

  • • •

  Loree looked at her scanners and said, “What are they doing? This ship has ceased firing at us.” Loree looked at her long range scanner and said, “The remaining ships are charging their weapons.” She looked up at Mikal and said, “Should I launch another missile.”

  “No!”

  “Why not?”

  “No time, I’ll tell you later.” Mikal flew out of the force field and yelled, “run, run, run.”

  The Jump drive computer heard the command and the small ship jumped away.

  The Operator yelled, “Hold your fire; go after that ship and destroy it.”

  The Captain of the ship that was about to be fired on collapsed in his chair and wondered why the small ship had not fired a missile at his vessel. He glanced at his scanner and saw the remaining ships had disappeared giving chase to the small white ship. He hit the panel in front of him and said, “Return to your stations and power up all weapons.”

  The Operator watched the remaining ship come back online and then turned his attention to the chase. It wondered why the small ship had not killed the second ship and why it had allowed the escape pods to escape; it could have very easily killed both. He looked at the coordinates of the small ship’s jump and then saw the second set come in. The ship was jumping towards the radiation stream. It hesitated and then ordered half the ships to continue their pursuit. The small ship disappeared and thirteen ships followed it into the stream. Ten of them were quickly destroyed when they emerged into the center of the violent blast coming out of the giant black hole. Three battleships were able to see the small ship’s route through null space and accelerated after it, making sure they avoided the center of the raging storm of radiation emanating from the monstrous black hole.

  • • •

  RV hit the general frequency, “I expect one of our attack craft to jump to this location. You will withhold firing your weapons on the first ship to enter normal space. If it’s not our ship, open fire immediately; if it is our attack craft you will instantly fire at any ship that enters normal space behind it. Do not hesitate, fire immediately at the breakout points.”

  Cyanna looked at RV and said, “Should we take this risk?”

  “If I were piloting that ship, what would you be doing?” Cyanna stared at him and he said, “If you’d do it for me, you should do it for them. You know the talent in that ship.”

  Cyanna continued to stare and then smiled. She turned back to her board and moved the sensor monitor to the main display. They waited. RV wondered if Mikal and Loree had already been killed but then the sensors alarmed as the small white ship broke into normal space.

  • • •

  Mikal watched as normal space appeared and he slammed his hand on the drive control button shutting it down. Loree screamed, “What are you doing?” Mikal hit the gravity control making the ship weightless and hit the thrusters. He grabbed the flight controls and turned the ship violently to the left and right as it flew through the fifty thousand ships of the 8th Fleet. Immediately behind them three orange colored battleships emerged into normal space and they were immediately fired on by fifty thousand ultrabeams targeted at their points of entry. The three ships blew up in huge explosions but not before the third orange ship to emerge fired at three Union battleships. The three ships exploded and started burning.

  RV hit the general frequency and said, “All hands on board the three ships that are hit will evacuate immediately. You have two minutes and then your ships will be destroyed.”

  Captain Juan Mendoza on the Acapulco appeared on RV’s display, “Sir, I have some of my crew trapped in the burning sections.”

  “Captain, you now have one minute fifty seconds. Get out and get out now! That is an order!”

  Escape pods and shuttles flew out of the three stricken battleships in huge swarms. They rushed towards the closest battleships and boarded through the landing bays. RV watched the countdown and ten seconds before it hit zero he ordered, “All ships will immediately jump to the assembly coordinates.”

  Fifty thousand ships disappeared and RV said, “Launch a fusion missile at each of those ships and get us out of here.”

  Cyanna felt grief for the trapped sailors on the three ships but hit the jump button after Dolly launched three fusion missiles. Just before the Tampa jumped out, RV hit his console, releasing a sensor buoy.

  • • •

  The three missiles struck the three battleships, releasing three massive explosions that merged into a gigantic shock wave just as three thousand orange battleships emerged into normal space. A hundred ships were slightly damaged when the combined shock wave from the fusion explosions washed over them. The damage was not severe but there were injuries to the crews on the ships when they were violently pushed by the expanding wave.

  The Fleet Commander watched the expanding wave from a distance as it moved toward him and then passed his ship. He looked at his Sensor officer who said, “I have no idea what was just destroyed.”

  “Do you think it was our ships?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Shouldn’t there be enough material to make a determination?”

  “Ordinarily there would be but the three explosions burned everything into energy. My readings indicate these explosions were fusion generated.”

  “Would those explosions have penetrated our force fields?”

  The Sensor Officer looked at his readings for a long moment and said, “I’m not really sure. I know the shock wave wasn’t strong enough but I don’t have enough information to make a determination how strong the initial blast centers were.”

  “Do we have any trails to follow?”

  “No, there are none.”

  The Commander knew that a very advanced civilization had to be involved in what happened. He thought a moment and contacted the Operator and told him what he had been able to determine. The Operator examined the information and said, “Return to your assigned stations.” The three thousand orange ships disappeared.

  • • •

  The Commonwealth Fleet waited at the assembly coordinates until the Tampa appeared. RV shouted over the general frequency, �
��Initiate escape plan Alpha, Alpha, Alpha.” The Huge fleet disappeared with every ship starting their jump protocols. They each jumped more than a hundred times in different directions and waited after the last jump to see if they were followed. After six hours the ships jumped to a coordinate. RV watched as the ships began arriving and said, “Dolly, let me know if any don’t arrive.”

  “They are all here, Sir.”

  RV hit the general frequency and said “I know that the survivors from the ships that were hit are disturbed that we destroyed your ships with some of your crew trapped on board. I’m going to play a recording from a sensor buoy I left behind.”

  The fleet watched as the three thousand orange ships emerged into the blast of the fusion missiles. They all knew that the ships arrived immediately after the fleet had jumped away.

  RV said, “One of their ships killed three of our ships even after it was hit with thousands of our beams. Think about how many ships we would have lost if we had delayed our exit and were forced to fight those ships.” RV waited a moment and said, “Return to your port. Captains Roman and Barber will report to the Havana upon our arrival.”

  Cyanna turned around, “How did you know they were coming?”

  “Think about it, Cyanna; what would you be doing if you were in pursuit of a ship? You’d be broadcasting the coordinates of your chase every time you jumped.” Cyanna nodded. “And if you were cut off in mid-broadcast; what do you think would happen?”

  “Do you think we can stand up to those ships?”

  “All of our ultrabeams penetrated their force fields but didn’t kill them fast enough to prevent one of them getting off some shots. We can kill them but we will also die if they hit us with their beams. Our force fields are not up to the power of their beams, so we’re vulnerable to them.”

  “But the attack craft made it through their beams.”

  “We would too if we used every reactor for the force field and shrunk it to just a few feet from the hull. We’d take some of their shots before our force field failed but not have anything to fire back at them. Their force fields are stronger than ours and a single penetrator wouldn’t penetrate. We have to use the ultrabeams to kill them. If we use power for the beams our force field will fail.”