Chapter 574

The Training Mission

... One of the few things left unharmed about the cruiser was its heavily shielded engines. The Captain, desperate to destroy the dreadnought before it could launch, did something that Diana knew would kill them all – at full acceleration, he went to warp while headed straight toward the shipyards, and the destroyer was so close to the cruiser that it took the smaller vessel with it – maybe several of the destroyers; she didn’t know. Cruisers don’t do microjumps well – at all – and the Atlas was no exception.

Diana thought about trying to fire her rail gun toward the spiders’ facility in the half-second or so between jumps, but realized that when the destroyer jumped, the projectiles she fired would be behind them. All they had to do was hesitate, and they would be hit by her own weapon. Her second thought a half-second later was whether she could hold her gorge down as the cruiser jumped much like a stone skipping across a pond. Nobody wanted to even think about throwing up in a suit.

After a series of jumps so close together that they were barely distinguishable as separate, five she thought, but it may have been more, the shipyard ballooned in her screen. Knowing that the Admiral had decided to ram the enemy dreadnought, she sucked in a breath and prepared to die.

What she didn’t know was that the cruiser had launched a massive nuclear device between the last two jumps, planting it, more or less, literally in the shipyards beside the dreadnought.

There was another microjump, this one lasting a fraction of a second longer. When her abused mind could again focus on her screen, there was a brilliant ball of blue-white where the shipyards used to be. Nuclear, she thought. The cruiser made another jump to stay clear of the debris field but as everything steadied, something seemed wrong. According to her screens, none of the spider ships were attacking – they almost seemed to be only ... drifting.

Diana remembered there was speculation about the spiders having a hive mind, but if true, the bomb must have killed the queen or whatever the mind that controlled the spiders was called.

There was a pause as the Captain of the cruiser cleared his throat on the command channel. “I have just verified that the Admiral has bought the farm. He died from flying shrapnel while manning his post. I have assumed command of our fleet until relieved of that duty.

“All vessels, see to your wounded and dead, of course. While that is going on, every functioning ship will destroy every spider vessel in the system. When I say destroy, I mean that no hull plate on any spider vessel will remain attached to another hull plate. Let them know what it means to attack Federation planets. Any vessel not able to go to warp, signal me and I will assign a vessel to tow you home. Now, let’s get to it.”

Diana turned to check if all her friends had made it, but something was wrong. Sitting up, she stared about her as the others did the same.

“Welcome back,” Ship announced jovially, perhaps too jovially as far as the women were concerned.

All the women slowly came unsteadily to their feet, obviously stunned that what they had been doing wasn’t real – well not completely real, that is.

“The aches from your injuries will go away shortly. Congratulations on your first successful combat mission, and... is there any among you who is not confident that you can handle my auxiliary weapons?”

More than one of the women had tears in her eyes. “I thought that you were going to teach us how to operate your guns,” Melissa accused.

“And just how did I fail in that?” Ship asked, reasonably.

“But I didn’t have any training...” Melissa began before a quiet, “Oh.”

“Anyone can fire a weapon on the range, but combat is an altogether different matter,” Ship now needlessly pointed out.

“I threw up inside my suit,” Jennie admitted in a whisper. “I could barely see my screens.”

“But you never stopped firing and hitting your targets,” Ship insisted.

Susan snarled out, “It was too loud. It was too real, and it hurt like hell when that shell hit our cell. I was so sad that the Admiral had been killed that I cried when the Captain told us about it. I’ll dream about that raid forever. I could never go back...”

“But your race does, and you will too,” Ship insisted.

“That’s why warriors sometimes come back with PTSD,” Jeff said as he walked into the training room.

Diana launched herself at her husband, tears streaming down her face. “I never knew. I thought I did, but I didn’t even have a clue. And ... maybe I still don’t. None of us was killed in the training scenario. I can’t imagine how bad it would be to see your friends blown apart right next to you. Baby, how do you stand it?”

“My team was exceptionally lucky. We had injuries, sometimes quite severe, but we all made it back.”

“Because of you and your Precog abilities,” Laura said as she stared at her husband while tears slid down her cheeks.

“I’ve been blessed,” he said, simply.

Jeff hugged and kissed each wife before turning to Tosha who didn’t seem nearly as upset. “And, how about you?” he asked with a wink.

“Well,” she said with a grin, “other than having the crap scared out of me when that weapon holed our area, I’m fine. Half of the time, I didn’t know what was going on, so I just kept firing at anything that came on my screen. Thank goodness for the friend-or-foe markers that the battle comp put on everything; otherwise, I wouldn’t have known which fighters were ours and which were the enemy’s.”

In Jeff’s mind, Ship commented, Her hit rate was 72%, with Diana next at 67%. Under the circumstances, both were well beyond statistical probabilities. Her heart rate never exceeded her norm plus ten percent. She also passed on pertinent information to her comrades during the battle. Her previous military training seemed to be a distinct advantage. Although they all fought without hesitation and did not give in to distractions such as minor injuries, smoke, or their cell losing air, they could all use additional training on the guns. With that additional training, they could develop into an exceptional fighting unit. You should be proud of them.

With a smile on her face, Diana turned to the women, “Let’s go back to the Retreat. I suspect that we need to make love to our man to reaffirm ourselves,” the Clan Queen quietly said. Then realizing what she had said in front of Tosha, “Ooops, sorry.”

Tosha’s face was flushed, but Diana didn’t know whether Tosha was embarrassed or she was wishing she could be part of the lovemaking. Where Tosha couldn’t see, the Clan Queen glared at her husband.

Dammit, I want to marry her, but if I do, you will only start looking for someone else, he thought as he smiled at his Clan Queen.

Back in the Retreat, they gathered in the living room where Jeff turned to Tosha. “Think you will want to be on board when we square off against the aliens?” he asked her.

“Respectfully, and to use one of your favorite terms, damn straight, Sir. I would consider it a privilege.”

“You’re going to be with us for the weddings tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, Sir, but it will be the last of my time off that I’ve requested. I think I’ll head back to my quarters and sack out early, if you don’t mind, Sir.”

“Doggonit, Tosha. I told you that I’m Jeff when you’re here.”

“Yes, Sir, I mean Jeff. Habit. I just forgot.”

“Let’s see; you spent two days at the academy or aboard that destroyer, right?”

“Yes, Si ... uh, Jeff. It may have been only a few hours real-time, but it was two days in the Ship’s training. Whatever it was, I’m bushed, and I know all your wives that went are too.”

“Tosha, you were training for some forty-eight hours to help defend against the aliens. Now, if this were someone else, would you think that forty-eight hours of training time should go without at least compensatory time off?”

“Jeff, you know that we only spent three hours...”

“Did it feel like three hours? You surely look a bit bushed for only spending three hours asleep in Ship’s training room. Tosha, I don’t pretend to understand how Ship does it, but I’ve spent many hours in her training facility. For all I know, your mind is in another dimension where time moves at a different pace. I do know that those hours there leave me feeling as if I have genuinely lived them, and that also means that I sometimes awaken exhausted – just as you obviously have. From the looks of my wives, they will probably sack out as soon as supper is over. You are invited to spend the night here, and I suggest that you do just that.

“Tomorrow, you can drop by your quarters for an outfit to wear to the wedding on 2214, or borrow something from one of my wives.”

“We have plenty of outfits that will fit you,” Diana told her with a smile.

“I have already contacted your Sergeant and told him that you have spent two days in training to be a gunner on board Ship. Those days will be added to your earned compensatory time. You have already asked for and been approved to be off one more day.”

“Thank you ... Jeff. I will still need to go by Security Headquarters and pick up a pulse rifle. Kayla brought hers, and I would feel better if I had mine when we go back to 2214.”

“No need. You can take one from the arsenal here. So, why don’t you just plan on staying another night?”

“As Di said, we have clothes and shoes that will fit you. That way you’ll wind up with more rest, and we can have some more girl time together,” Susan added.

Diana winked at Tosha, who blushed and said she would love to stay another night. Actually, I would like to stay forever.

Diana started toward the kitchen, but Arlene, who didn’t train with them because she would either be on the bridge during any battles or in an interceptor with Ann, touched her mother’s shoulder. “Ann and I can certainly vouch for how much training missions take out of you. Been there. Done that.” Then a little louder to include the other wives, “The ones of us that didn’t go on the training mission will prepare supper.”

The wives who had remained home hadn’t expected anything else, so they immediately headed to the kitchen to be with the other women of the Retreat while preparing the meal. None really disliked helping to prepare meals because it was so much fun talking and kidding around with the other Alpha wives.

“I’m fine. I can help,” Tosha began, but Jeff took her hand and pulled her toward the living room with the other wives.

They had been in the living room only a couple of minutes when the puppies and kittens, all seemingly about half-grown, began appearing. Recognizing that the new person (Tosha) was again near, they, as they usually did when someone not of the family was around, began chasing each other both physically as they darted in and around the furniture, as well as teleporting.