Chapter 22

Edited by Steve

“Tim, Tabitha, and Tammy, please proceed to the bridge?” Asked Sarha.

Tim took off from his quarters and headed for the bridge. “Sarha, what’s the matter?”

“I need Tabitha and Tammy on the bridge. You must be here also.” Said Sarha.

Tim made his way from the lift to his seat. He looked around to find out if there was anything different. Not noticing any difference, he sat down and waited.

Tabitha and Tammy were heading towards their seats. “OK, Sarha, what seems to be the issue?” Asked Tabitha.

Sarha looked toward the large viewscreen. The screen started to show that there was an ongoing battle. “Tabitha, take a close look. Are those your father’s ships?”

Tabitha and Tammy both studied the ships doing battle. “Yes, these small vessels are in our fleet, and we need to be there for them!” Said Tabitha.

“Look at the size of the other ships; they are three times the size of ours. Who are they?” Asked Tammy.

“They are Targkeleax’s. “This is the same race with which humans are at war,” Tim said.

“Tim, we’ve got to help them!” Said Tammy. Both girls turned towards Tim with a pleading look on their faces.

“Sarha, I need all the passengers to go and stay at their accommodation. I need every battle technician to report to the center, and pilots must report to Launch Bay 13 on Deck 10.” Said Tim.

“Sarha, could I get a count of the number of ships we will be up against.” Asked Pauline. She had just walked onto the bridge when Tim started giving his orders. “I will be in tactical operations.” She turned to go back to the lift.

“Tabitha, I need you to contact the group commanding officer. Sarha, enter a battle mode for shields and weapons. Tammy, go to Deck 10; tell all the pilots this is not a drill.” Said Tim.

“Sarha, could you open a channel for me?” Asked Tabitha.

“To the Commander of the Katteena forces, this is Princess Tabitha. Please answer.”

“Pardon me, who did you say you were, and where are you?” Said the Commander.

“This is Princess Tabitha. I will uncloak when the time is right. But right now, I need you to retreat.”

“I am sorry, but we are in the middle of a fight. How do I know you are who you say you are?” Said the Commander.

“Sarha, are we within the firing arc? If so, can we fire a shot?” Asked Tabitha.

“We will be within the arc in one minute. Yes, we will be able to fire one round only.”

Pauline walked into the TOC while she listened to the Tabitha and Sarha conversation.

“Sarha asked Tawni ... if she has one of the larger shells ready?” Said Pauline.

“Pauline, Tawni says she has one ready. Why?”

“Now would be a great time to test her new shell. Have it loaded into the Mass Driver?” Pauline replied.

“To the commander of the Katteena forces: In one minute, I will fire one round into the Targkeleax’s rear ship.”

“Pray do tell, why the rear ship?” She asked.

“Because if I fire at the lead ship, they will know someone else is here and will not follow you.”

“We have the one Mass Driver online now. It will bring down the shields and pierce a hole in their ship. The whole ship will be obliterated within ten minutes with the new shell.”

“To the commander of the Katteena forces: Please watch the last ship.”

“Sarha, fire on the last ship?” Said Tabitha.

Sarha calculated the angle of fire and prepared for the shot. She fired the Mass Driver, and there was a flash on departure from the ship. Three seconds later, the last vessel in the formation did not have a shield and had a large hole in the side.

“Sorry, Princess Tabitha, we will do as we were told. We will await your orders.”

“Captain, please keep an eye on the last ship.” Requested Tabitha.

“Princess, what are we after, wait a minute; their ship disappears.” The commanding officer said. With a stunning look on her face, she said, “Do whatever she says now.”

Tabitha observed the Commander’s ship, and the other ships began to distance themselves from the vessels of the Targkeleax.

“Sarha, I am going down to deck 8,” she said. She turned and walked to the lift.

Tammy came out of the lift on Deck 10 and walked to Launch Bay 13. All six pilot trainees were waiting for her. Ladies, this is real life. Remember your simulator training. Also, remember that you have the new shells loaded onto your ships. Remember, you only need to hit your target with at least ten rounds. Each of you will pick a target. You will prevent all boarding parties from getting to these vessels. Fire will come from those motherships. If your shields are less than 50 percent, you need to retreat. Your shields will reload the way they do in the simulator. Then you can get back into the action. Listen, I will be giving you commands from the operations center. Take care of each other, come back safe.”

“You will wait for my orders to launch.” Said Tammy.

All the trainees came to attention and saluted her as if they were in the service.

Tammy headed up to deck eight and checked into the operations center.

Everyone reported to the operations center. “Tammy, you will move to station # 9; you will control the Kei fighters there.” Said Pauline.

“Pauline, there are thirty Targkeleax’s ships. They have seven corvettes out front, One Flagship, four assault transports, 11 destroyers, two light cruisers, one heavy cruiser, and four frigates.”

“Commander: This is Princess Tabitha. I am turning you over to my tactical officer. Please do as she asks.”

“As you wish, Princess.” Said the Commander.

“This is Pauline; I need to know each ship’s shields status. All ships with less than 50% move to the rear. You will not fire unless told to move forward. The remaining ships in front will concentrate fire on the ships to your far right. When your shields fall below 50%, you move to the rear and allow the other ship to move forward.”

“We have fighters that will keep any boarding party vessels from getting to you. We will be uncloaking; we will be to your left but further away from the fight. You have seen what our weapons can do. If you are ready, we can start.” Said Pauline.

“Sarha, please uncloak. Number 9, launch your fighters. Number 4 launch camera probes. Number 11 begins with the lead ship. Numbers 13 and 14 take the closest ship. Number 15 starts at the rear. Number 16 and 17 anything that comes close. Number 18, you will work with Number 11.”

“Sarha, are we uncloaked?”

“Yes.”

“Let them have it.”

Just as the ship uncloaked, all weapons started firing,

“Commander: please start your attack on your targets.” The Katteena forces, doing as instructed, all fired on the furthest ship to their right.

The Targkeleax vessels followed the forces of the Katteena. Katteena’s forces were moving backward, just out of the Targkeleax’s firing range. All Targkeleax vessels were confident that the enemy feared them. They were satisfied, thinking it would be easy.

They heard there was a problem with a ship in the rear, thinking it was an accident. The Targkeleax’s ships were firing their weapons, hoping that they might hit something.

Then out of nowhere came all this firepower. It came from a ship that just appeared from nowhere. Simultaneously, the Katteena forces stopped retreating and started firing at one of their vessels on the right side.

Within a few seconds, the Targkeleax were now the ones being hunted. The group commander started splitting his forces into two groups. One group of fifteen to take on the new ship in town, and the other to now finished off the Katteena forces.

The group commander wanted to know who the new ship was and who the ship’s Commander was. His second helmsman said. “Commander, the ship transponder, says Star Gladiator 1. That ship is not on any of our databases.”

“Can you tell me any more about that ship?” The Commander asked.

“No, Sir, we cannot get through the shields or whatever they have around their ship. I can tell you that thing is 1.6 kilometers long.”

“I want every ship firing at that thing. Now.”

Fifteen ships started firing at Tim’s ship.

“Sarha, do we have the combat shields up?” Asked Pauline.

“Yes, they’re up and will hold up against anything being fired at us.” Said Sarha.

Pauline watched as the Kei fighters started their run. The first fighter headed right toward the lead boarding party’s ship.

“Asik, start your run on the lead dropship. Docham, take the next one back. I will take the third one. We’ll start with one run and pull to the right, facing away from the fleet.” Said Casard.

Asik started her run. She was lining her sights onto the lead dropship. Remember how the simulator looked, and this looked almost the same. Thinking, please let me do everything right. She was setting the sights and checking the weapons, ready to fire. She turned and pointed the nose down, pulling back on the trigger, firing a short burst. Pulling up, she headed to the right as instructed. She felt good. There was a smile on her face. She felt the pride of her first real mission, waiting for further instructions.

The others were doing the same thing. There must be thirty or thirty-five dropships headed for the fleet. The six fighters had a real job, keeping the drop ships from reaching the fleet. Each one headed back and started their next run. They did not pay any attention to how the dropships began to disappear.

Once all the dropships had disintegrated, they headed back home. To get reloaded and wait for the enemy fighters to come out.

Back onboard the Targkeleax’s command ship: “Commander, the Huaguetcati is not answering our call, and it seems to have disappeared.” Said the communications officer.

“I’m not worried about that; they will show up. I just watched six Kei fighters take out thirty-five dropships. And they did not blow up; they just disappeared. There seems to be something special about that ship. Fifteen of our vessels are firing unsuccessfully at them. However, six of our vessels have been lost. I need everybody to stand down. It is essential to know more about this ship.

With the Commander calling for a retreat, all the ships started to withdraw. “We will meet again and just wait.” Said the Commander.

Back on the Star Gladiator 1. The fighters had made their first pass at the dropships. Pauline watched the screen, waiting to see how these new shells would function. It was not long before the dropships started to disintegrate, and the shells worked as Tawni said they would. She just stood there and watched all the dropships vanish.

During that time, the girls at the control panels were doing their thing. Each one attacked the new foe. Sarha’s battle shields did not allow a single shot to pass; the shields were still 100 percent.

Tammy instructed the Kei fighters to return to the bays to reload with more new shells. She let them know that they did an excellent job and that she was proud of them.

Madlyn was controlling the probes with the cameras inside. A camera remained near the bay’s doors. So that Pauline and Tammy could see the fighters going back and forth, she stationed two probes near the Katteena forces to monitor them. She did not want anything to happen that she did not know.

She placed two more cameras in front of Katteena’s forces to watch for inbound dropships. Thus, Pauline was able to see how the new shells functioned. Madlyn wanted to keep a record of all the battles to the best of her ability, and she did not want to be caught off guard by anything.

Jeanne controlled the two heavy power pulse particle beam cannons. Pauline told her to start with the lead ship, and these were four corvettes facing her. Her cannons are extremely powerful, and they will melt a hole straight through the hull. She started with the close’s corvette. Hit it with both barrels to soften it up for the rail gun. Marq was doing her part with the rail gun. Jeanne hit the lead corvette with six shots, and Marq followed two shells, one right after the other. That eliminated one corvette. They then did this with all four corvettes. After finishing off the corvettes, they started on a destroyer. Before they could get a good shot, the destroyer began moving backward.

Ralim and Thessa were on the heavy long cannons. These cannons were as close to a rail gun as possible, and they were for the bigger ships that stayed further away. They both only had about two hours of practice but doing great. Working as a team, they picked a frigate to start their live training on. They peppered it with about twenty shots. Its shields broke down within the first ten shots, and then they started punching holes into the sides. Once that ship was so severely damaged, they began on a destroyer.

The only two that were not seeing action were Otiro and Lastai. They were on the sixteen beam cannons for the defense grid. They just sat in their seats and watched the action on the viewscreen in front of them. “I wish they would let one through, so we could have some practice.” Said Otiro.

Pauline watched the Targkeleax fleet start to retreat. “OK, ladies, they are on the run. Hold your fire. Katteena forces, please hold your fire also.”

“Sarha, tell the guest on deck 3; it is all clear.” Said Tim. Tim walked up to Pauline, and I needed to see this whole group in the assembly room on deck three, including the Kei fighter pilots. Have every individual there in one hour, and I’m talking about all 300 and some individuals.” Said Tim. He left the room, leaving the rest of them wondering what he was doing.

“Sarha, I need a few things made. I need these items made within the hour and brought down to deck 3. Can that be done?” asked Tim.

“Tim, I will get to work on each item; how many of the first?” asked Sarha.

“Sarha, the first item. I will need eight, each in a box, and the rest is also in a box.”

“They will be as you ordered, and I thank you for this.” Said Sarha.

“You heard Tim, One hour in the assembly room deck 3. Don’t be late.” Said Pauline.

“Sarha, am I still connected to the Katteena forces?” asked Pauline.

“Yes, they are waiting for your orders.” Replied Sarha.

“Tabitha, could you stay for a minute?” asked Pauline.

“Yes, what do you need?” asked Tabitha. Now walked over and stood next to Pauline.

“I need you to thank the Katteena forces for their help.” Said Pauline.

“But we were helping them. Why to thank them for something, and they should be thanking us for?” said Tabitha.

“You are their Princess, they needed you, and you were there. Make it sound like you needed them to help in this fight.” Said Pauline.

“OK, now I understand, thank you. Commanders are you still there?” asked Tabitha.

“Yes, Princess. What are your orders?” she asked.

“First, I wish to thank each member under your command for the help they gave in this battle today. Your fleet did a great honor dealing with the enemy. As for you, I will tell my father about how brave you were and ask that you receive a silver cluster for bravery.” Said Tabitha.

“Thank you, Princess. I will be forever thankful,” said the Commander.

“Now, before this fight, what were your orders?”

“We were out here on patrol.”

“I will need your ships to stay in place for one hour while we clear up the mess. Then go ahead and follow those orders. Have a great day, and thanks again.” Said Tabitha.

“We will do as per your instructions. Are you heading towards home?” asked the Commander.

“Yes, but first, we will be stopping at the space station to drop off freed prisoners, then home for a short visit.” Replied Tabitha.

“Hope to see you again, but have a safe trip under better conditions.” Said the Commander.

“Well, how did I do?” asked Tabitha.

“You sounded just like a Princess.” Replied Pauline. She walked up to Tabitha and patted her on the back.

“Sarha, could you do a clean-up on the outside?” asked Pauline.

“Have already started doing that.” Said Sarha.

One hour later, in the assembly room: “Pauline, please have all the pilots and the operations staff at the front of the room.” Said Tim.

Pauline grabbed everybody Tim wanted and moved them to the front. Everyone wondered what was going on. Tim entered the door, and the whole room went quiet. He moved to the front and stepped onto the platform, moved to the center, looked out towards the entire group, and then at the front roll and smiled. He turned towards the side doors and signaled. The bots standing outside the door moved on to the platform carrying a long table between the last two.