Chapter 14: The Attack

Things settled into a routine after the visit from Mary’s father. The three little lambs, as I had nicknamed them, all seemed to be a bit more docile and required more physical attention from me.

I also noticed that they seemed happier. I would find Xina singing in the greenhouse as she tended to our crops. She didn’t seem to mind the messier jobs and when I praised her work, she beamed with happiness.

We were also enjoying the fruits of her labor, literally. While I had done alright growing enough food to sustain me and even share with the neighbors, Xina had a real knack for it. She had planted more crops and increased our harvest by more than five-fold. So, there was not only enough food for the four of us, but still some to put away.

Mary had also gotten rather good at using the ingredients for cooking. Nothing went to waste and she was good at mixing flavors. We had added onions and garlic to the garden for flavor, a gift from our friends who were building Lunar Base. They had been happy to share a few seeds in exchange for some bread that Mary had baked.

The only thing we lacked was salt and pepper, but we made do. We could make small amounts of salt from some of the elements that were mined by the processor, but pepper was a rare commodity for us Lunars.

Karen was also finding her place in the family. She acted as the administrator for our little group. She was even taking over the bookkeeping part of my skimmer operation. She was also helping me plot the best courses and learning about the costs associated with operating a ship.

We still had the ship that had contained the women parked near the skid pad. I had been over it several times and had not been able to find anything wrong with the ship. Its systems all passed calibration checks and when I erased the computer and reloaded the ops system with the same one that I used on my ship, it appeared to function the same.

I had also searched for any tracking beacons, and while I hadn’t dismantled the entire ship, I couldn’t find anything that was getting power from the ship, so any batteries would have been depleted by now.

All that to say that Space Command had approached me about installing two rail guns on the ship, along with a new COIL laser system. This system was being installed on Space Command crafts to combat potential threats from the state.

I had been skeptical of the laser system, but after seeing the COIL laser in operation, I had readily agreed to the installation of the device along with the rail guns. It was only good for half a dozen shots but could be fired from further away than the rail gun.

Space Command had also agreed to keep the ship fueled and ready, with the agreement that I would respond when called upon. I was the first ‘reserve’ member of Space Command apparently!

As part of this agreement, we had a direct line to the command center at Lunar Base, including an alarm that would sound if there was an emergency. I had always thought this was a good idea, something that any of us could trigger if we had an emergency. Then it would be ‘all-hands-on deck’ to help!

And so, it was a lazy afternoon when it happened.

I was taking a nap, a rare luxury for a Lunar, when the alarm went off and nearly scared me into a heart attack!

I was tired after helping Xina in the greenhouse. We were working to aerate the soil in our garden. We had gotten a shipment of cow and chicken manure delivered to help replenish nutrients and microbes in our soil.

Who would have ever guessed that we would pay to lift animal shit into orbit!

Nevertheless, after a long morning of manual labor, I had cleaned up, eaten some lunch and was taking a nap in the common room when the alarm went off. I quickly climbed up to the control center and read the incoming alert.

“Space Command has detected three ships lifting off from State controlled area and headed into orbit. Their destination is not immediately clear, but based on lift speed and rocket size, these appear to be bound for Lunar Base or other distant high value targets.”

If they lifted off less than an hour ago, then with full thrust, they could be here in about eight hours. Knowing them, they weren’t planning on a return trip. They could spend all their fuel and energy to go as fast as possible to get here and set off whatever attack they were planning.

I started to yell down into the habitat, when I realized my lambs were gathered around the entry.

“It seems the State has launched three rockets with enough fuel to reach the moon, so we have to assume that we are the target of their attack.

“I need for you to get the habitat locked down. Close the cover over the green house, close all the bulkheads, and get into your EVA suits.”

“Are you going to go fight them in your ship?” Mary asked nervously.

“I have to go try and stop them.” I replied seriously. “Space Command is also launching their three ships and if I join, we’ll have four ships to try and destroy theirs.”

They all looked scared and about to cry. I held open my arms and they all rushed to get a hug.

“Please be safe, Master!” Xina cried.

But then Karen surprised me.

“I want to come with you, Sir.” Karen said forcefully. “I know we can’t all come, but I’ve been helping you with the ship, and I probably know it best. I’ve also been studying navigation and plotting trajectories. While I can’t do what you do, I think an extra pair of hands might be wise.”

I expected Mary and Xina to protest, but instead Mary turned to Karen. “Take care of our Master!” she said forcefully.

Then all three of them turned to look at me.

Knowing I was outvoted here, I simply nodded my agreement and watched as the three of them rushed away to start following my orders.

I headed down to put the processor into standby mode. If we did take a hit, I didn’t want to do any additional damage to it. I also put the life support system into emergency mode so that it would only work on cleaning CO2 from the air and maintaining air pressure. This would minimize energy usage and made it so that any change in pressure, however minute, would trigger an alarm.

By the time I made it to the airlock, Karen was in her EVA suit and had her view pad with the latest information from Space Command. Lunar Base had identified the three incoming ships, along with their trajectory. All three appeared to be headed for Lunar Base. Interestingly, a fourth rocket had also been spotted, on a slightly different course that would appear to put it into lunar orbit.

Karen and I exchanged final hugs and kisses with Xina and Mary, and then we donned our helmets, checked our coms, and headed into the airlock. A couple of minutes later we were climbing up to the surface and over to the ship.

Once we were in the ship and had everything up and running, we prepped for launch. The plan was to rendezvous with the three ships from Lunar Base in an attempt to intercept the rockets as close to earth as possible.

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A man, nearly broken by loss, lives a solitary existence off planet earth in a small habitat he has constructed on the moon.

Skimmer

Lorn Skye

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