Scrapyard Ship 7: Call to Battle (7 page)

“Dira!”

She turned back toward her father’s antechamber.

He stood there, looking around the half-opened door. “Come in, Dira. Join me for a hot
sangerine
.”

She smiled and joined her father as he widened up the doorway, and entered into what she knew was his favorite refuge. She eyed the leather couch, and the two matching leather chairs in front of his desk, but didn’t sit. She watched the King of Jhardon walk to a credenza and pour two steaming cups of the bittersweet sangerine. He handed her a cup and waited for his daughter to speak.

She took the cup and sipped. Finally, she met her father’s loving gaze. That was all it took for her eyes to brim up with tears. Her father’s thick arms surrounded her—pulled her into his chest. “This is what you were destined to be, my sweet daughter. I have never known a more capable person than you, Dira.”

She pulled herself away and looked into the king’s heavily lined face. “I don’t know if I can give up my life—”

“Yes, you can … and you will. Because this involves much more than simply you and what
you
want.”

“But why now, father? Why not in a year, or five years?”

“Because when your mother dies … I’ll die. We are one. It is the Jhardon way, Dira. Husbands and wives … kings and queens, we have always had this choice. Our ultimate commitment is to one another. You are our sole heir, my daughter. In less than a week … you will be queen. You will rule Jhardon, and those who live here … our good, wonderful citizens … you’ll rule all the land, and the space around our still spectacular planet.”

Again, Dira’s hand found its way to her heart. Every beat ached for the love she would never realize. Every beat pounded, like a distant drum—echoing her shattered dreams. And then she thought of Nan and her unborn child. Jason’s unborn child.

“Yes, father. I will do as you ask. I will make you proud. And when you lie down next to mother … next to the Queen. When you go …” tears were now streaming down Dira’s cheeks, “I will send both of you on your way … back home … to the heavens of
Calime
. I will then proudly take my rightful place on Jhardon’s throne.”

Yes
, she’d said the words. With them went any chance of a future life with Jason. The Queen of Jhardon could never marry outside her Jhardonian bloodlines.

Chapter 9

With the fingertips of his hands touching—as if in prayer—Jason sat quietly in the command chair as they approached the line. It was six hundred thousand miles of nothingness—a mere stone’s throw away, considering the vastness of space, between the U.S. fleet of about one hundred ships and the three Craing fleets—about five thousand strong. Jason stood and looked up at the display and what comprised the entirety of the U.S. fleet. Even with their recommissioned Craing meganaught added to it, the small U.S. fleet seemed ridiculously outmatched. But the advanced technology of
The Lilly
and the
Minian
, both Caldurian vessels, put things on a somewhat more level playing field.

Jason watched as they approached the
Minian
. Nearly identical looking to
The Lilly
, she was almost twenty times her size, and significantly more advanced. They’d had two full months to complete the
Minian
’s repairs. Ricket, Bristol and Granger, an impressive combination of intellect and talent, revived the ship to her former glory; after having been technologically gutted, thanks to the Craing, she was now operating at full capacity.

“XO, you have the bridge.”

“Aye, Captain,” Perkins replied, taking the vacated command chair.

As Jason left the bridge and passed by his officer’s quarters, he thought about his priceless cargo, Mollie and Boomer, still asleep in their bunks. Would having them on board affect his decision-making? He didn’t think so … at least, no more than usual. But the battle that was coming would be like none any of them had fought in before—he knew that. He also knew losing to the Craing would ensure Earth’s demise. There simply wasn’t a safe haven for anyone … especially the children of Captain Jason Reynolds.

Off in the distance, down the corridor to the left, Jason’s eyes locked on the entrance to Medical. How many times had he taken these same steps only to see Dira emerge, coincidentally, fifty feet in front of him? Their eyes would meet and neither would be able to keep themselves from smiling. But today the corridor remained quiet—Dira didn’t emerge from Medical … she probably never would again.

He made his way to the DeckPort, stepped in, and emerged from the DeckPort closest to the flight deck. He still had forty minutes before he was due at the command meeting taking place on board the
Minian
. He could simply phase-shift over, but he needed to think and he knew the best way to do that would be getting behind the stick of the
Pacesetter
.

The flight deck was relatively quiet, with only a few droids moving about, conducting general maintenance on the varied selection of shuttles and on the six Caldurian fighters. The dark red
Pacesetter
sat on the open deck; she’d been prepped and seemed to be waiting for him—beckoning him to hurry up and climb on board. Jason felt his pulse quicken. With her gentle curves and slightly backswept wings, the fighter could best be described in one word:
sleek
. Everything about this fighter said fast—fast and dangerous. Jason climbed up the inset ladder and climbed into the forward cockpit. The canopy slid silently into place as Jason went through his pre-flight checklist.

Within a minute’s time, he’d brought the
Pacesetter
off the flight deck and was heading into open space. He banked right, giving himself ample clearance of
The Lilly
’s two powerful drives, and accelerated. Jason moved away from the fleet of U.S. warships and headed into open space. With his HUD synced to the fighter, he placed the
Pacesetter
into training mode and started with some simple Basic Fighter Maneuvers, BFMs. Some of what he was seeing now was simulation and Jason marveled at the complexity of it all … how reality, such as the contours of the adjacent ship, was integrated into this new battle scenario. He scanned his surroundings—the brightness of distant stars—a giant nearby planet with its amber continents and blood red oceans. Four silvery moons … all of it transported Jason to another place in reality. This was the ultimate video game and he couldn’t help but smile. He heard the soft voice of the AI in his ear, “Three bogies are approaching at sub-light speeds. All three have detected your presence and have locked on to your coordinates.”

“Who are they?”

“Caldurian RAM fighters, Captain.”

Jason saw the three fighters, approaching in a V formation, on the center 3D virtual display. Another smaller display to his right showed a wire-frame depiction of a RAM fighter, along with the vessel’s impressive stats. More compact than the
Pacesetter
, these little beasts were fast and highly maneuverable. They also possessed a generation newer tech.

“Let the games begin …” Jason said, adjusting the position of the stick. Masses of information streamed into his mind—information he’d acquired through the hours of HyperLearning spent within a MediPod. Within this realm, the BFM program would push the pilot to the limit … his understanding of the mathematics of pursuit within a three-dimensional arena, where different angles of approach equated to different rates of closure. He needed to use this geometry now—to not only get within firing range, where the
Pacesetter
’s weapons could be used, but also to avoid common mistakes, such as overshooting, which consisted of flying in front of the opponent, called a “wingline overshoot,” or crossing the enemy’s flightpath, called a “flightpath overshoot.”

The three bogies separated and the
Pacesetter
was almost upon them. In space, at the incredible speeds vessels could achieve there, virtually all flying was managed via the onboard AI. That’s not to say all pilots simply sat back and let the advanced computer do the fighting for them. What Jason had come to understand was this was a melding of man and technology that was almost supernatural
—
the way one would anticipate the actions of the other. Jason had come to learn that not all AIs were the same. This
Pacesetter
’s artificial intelligence had seemed to become one with his own thoughts … his own intent.

“Incoming!”

Jason saw the crisscrossing vector lines on the display—each constantly altering to the relative positions of the three enemy crafts, each of which had fired off two fusion micro-missiles. He searched his mind for a solution and quickly came to the realization it wasn’t a part of any past HyperLearning session.

“Any suggestions, AI?”

Jason reflexively jerked back in his seat as one of the Caldurian fighters crossed mere yards in front of the canopy. “You ballsy shit!” Jason said aloud. He banked right in pursuit of the fighter as his fingers moved to the trigger. The
Pacesetter
’s primary plasma gun came alive with rapid-fire bolts of energy. The virtual display showed he was actually gaining on the smaller craft … but it also showed he now had six micro-missiles quickly closing in on his ass. He pulled the stick back and then to the right and felt the crushing G-forces against his chest as the
Pacesetter
initiated a backwards loop. “You’re going to have to do a better job compensating for those Gs, AI.”

“Yes, Captain. I’ve already modified settings.”

Jason pulled up a new menu on his HUD and made a quick scan of his available munitions. “Ah … there we go. Old school.” He deployed the rail gun and selected rail gun munitions, with tracking explosive rounds.

The trick was to instigate enough quick maneuvers to get in behind the missiles, while still evading the three fighters. They were firing their own plasma weapons now and over the past thirty seconds Jason saw that his shields were dropping—fast.

“Shields are at twenty percent, Captain.”

“Yep … see that.”

He rolled the
Pacesetter
into a forward roll, and then back out into a backward figure eight. The superior speed of the
Pacesetter
put her in behind two of the Caldurian fighters and he let loose with the rail gun. In a flash, both fighters exploded, leaving fragments behind no larger than a pencil’s eraser.

He banked and banked again. He saw the six missiles out through his canopy, moving in the opposite direction. He didn’t need to get in behind them. As she’d done many times before, the AI was anticipating his commands.

“Acquiring lock.”

The
Pacesetter
’s turret-mounted rail gun spun, firing backward at close to a forty-five degree angle in the direction of the now-tightly-clustered grouping of missiles. Out of visual sight, Jason watched as the missile icons faded away, one by one, on the virtual display. Unfortunately, within that same fraction of a second, the one remaining Caldurian fighter was upon him. Close range plasma fire took the
Pacesetter
’s shields down to five percent … two … zero.

“You have been destroyed. Simulation complete,” the AI said, without a trace of sympathy. Jason let out a deep breath, allowing the tension in his shoulders to unwind. He was being hailed.

“Go for Captain.”

“So if you’re done fucking around, you might want to get your ass back here … we’re all waiting for you.”

“Aye, Admiral. I’m on my way.”

Chapter 10

Jason entered the admiral’s ready room and took a seat in the one remaining chair at the far end of the table. With a quick glance around the room, he nodded to the others. The admiral was seated directly across from him, at the other end of the table; to his right was his brother, Brian; next to him was Perkins, then Bristol, Billy, Gunny, and the Caldurian, Granger. On the other side of the table was young Captain Curtis Pollard, who’d been promoted to skipper of the
Anvil
, one of the Craing’s heavy old cruisers. Next to him was Commander Dolm Mo Huck, a representative of the now-collapsed Alliance. And directly to the admiral’s right, surprisingly, sat Secretary of Defense Benjamin Walker.

“Thank you for joining us, Captain,” his father said, making no attempt to hide his annoyance. Jason glanced around and noticed that each of the inset displays in the ready room had active live feeds, showing at least another twenty attendees. Now Jason did feel some guilt at holding things up … especially seeing Nan, the acting president of the United States, looking back at him with obvious irritation.

The other, virtual, attendees were mostly unknown to Jason, but judging by many of their non-human physiologies, it was evident that they also were, for the most part, past Alliance dignitaries and command personnel. Jason took the next few moments to acknowledge each of the virtual attendees. His focus abruptly stopped on the display on the bulkhead directly to his left when he recognized the king. An imposing figure, with wide, muscular shoulders, and wearing some kind of animal hide robe, was King Caparri, whose striking violet skin first caught Jason’s attention. So did the unmistakable female beauty, sitting just slightly behind him. Like the Jhardonian monarch, she was also attired in formal, royal vestments. So striking was Dira’s appearance, Jason realized she’d purposely downplayed her looks while serving on
The Lilly
. Their eyes met and held—locked on each other for several moments.

The admiral cleared his throat. “I’m going to move things along. We have four key developments or issues we need to address, one by one.”

Jason brought his attention back to the meeting. He consciously willed his heart rate to slow—to concentrate on the words his father was saying.

“Issue number one: The ongoing revolution within the Craing worlds has culminated in what appears to be a fortuitous end; they are becoming an independent and free society that is separating itself from its former Craing dominion warring ways of the past. With the death of the emperor, and the scattering of their remaining high-priest overlords, all the Craing worlds are on the precipice of true change. We have been in direct contact with the interim revolutionary government there and Earth has agreed to further peace discussions.”