Chapter 9: Training

Amy paced through the medical ward aboard the ship, while the spiders continued their maintenance. Down in the main cavern, the spiders scurried about the cavern, and over two gantries as they worked. Amy did a quick check and saw all systems were a go. She walked over to Ken and looked down at his peaceful face. She leaned down through the force field and kissed him, and tapped into Ken's nanobots. She was regretting what she had to do, but knew that she must. For they all needed to learn about the enemy they will so be facing, and the horrors they must learn to battle in space.

"I am sorry my friends, but I must do this, so that you all will know," she said as she watched through the nanobots as the dream world engulfed them all.

The USS San Francisco moved through space, staying near the rear of the convoy of Federation ships. On the flanks of the convoy, several destroyers watched for any quick hit and run raids on the civilian ships. Up in the front, a State class battleship led the group.

Ken paced the bridge and watched the sixty-ship convoy of ships running from the evacuated colony. The freighters, passenger ships, yachts ... any and every ship they could get that could carry people, was there. Even the crippled State class battleship Louisiana had thousands of civilians aboard. In total, they carried almost three million woman and children. Mostly, they were children. They were leaving behind on the planet almost every adult male, and ninety percent of the women, to carry on the fight. Ken came to a stop in front of his chair. Looking over at the navigational terminal he spoke to the young ensign who was sitting at the console.

"Ensign, how long until the merchants can fold?"

"Sir, we are thirteen minutes from the fold point," replied Ensign Ki after checking their positions with the navigation buoys.

Ken started pacing again. Every few minutes, he looked at the main screen and then at the battle map.

Lieutenant John Breckenshire examined his sensor scans. Watching intensely for the slightest sign of the T'Lari, he reached up to adjust the scanners. He stopped as several icons appeared, and then more started appearing as the invasion fleet arrived. Turning to the Captain, he made his report.

"Captain! We have three T'Lari light cruisers closing on us from astern. The T'Lari will be in range in less than ten minutes."

Ken returned to his command chair, sat down, and thought. Then a plan came to him and he grinned. He started issuing his orders to the crew.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, and please open a com channel throughout the ship."

"Aye, aye, Sir. All com units are now online, Sir."

Taking a deep breath Ken gathered his thoughts once more, and looked again at the main screen and the enemy ships.

"This is the Captain speaking. We need to make time for the civilian ships to reach their fold point, so they can fold out. Therefore, I am going to turn the ship ninety degrees to port cutting across the tail of the convoy. We will target all main weapons on the point cruiser. Once we destroy her, we will execute another ninety-degree turn to port, and run between the two light cruisers. We will fire all our weapons on the T'Lari ships! Hold nothing back. Bow weapons will target the cruiser to both port and starboard by using the even/odd mount system. The even weapons will engage the portside cruiser, and the odd weapons will engage the starboard cruiser. I want the stern weapons to target the starboard cruiser as we go by.

"Now I want everyone to remember this. We have a newer weapons package, and the T'Lari will be surprised when battleship lasers engage them, these weapons have a faster recycle time, and a longer range.

"I want all marines to attend to emergency repairs, and be to prepared to repel boarders, just incase they try to lock on. We will not be boarding this time so please help out where you can.

"Medical, I want you all armed and prepared for wounded. That is all, and God bless us all."

He made the 'cut' motion to the Communications Officer. Turning to his second in command, he issued more orders,

"Tammy, I want you and Jenny in CIC and Battle Command two, just in case we get hit up here. You know my orders and my tactics. If anything happens to communications, you will take over command if the main bridge is out of touch. Good luck."

Coming to attention, Tammy salutes her Captain and lover.

"Aye, Captain! I will see you after the battle. Remember, we have a dinner date."

Rushing out the door, she headed for the CIC.

Jenny stood up from her secondary weapons board, and let the new officer take over. Walking over to her brother, she leaned over and kissed him on his left cheek.

"Take care, bro. I love you. See you after the battle," she whispered in his ear.

Ken watched them go and he quietly whispered, "I love you, Tammy, Jenny, take care of each other if I don't make it."

He looked back at the screen.

"Ensign Ki, turn us ninety degrees to port!" he said.

He pulled a cigar out of his pocket.

Ensign Ki types the commands into his console and replied, "Turning us ninety degrees now sir. Ten seconds until completion of turn."

The seconds count down, as the huge ship turned broadside to the three enemy ships that were closing on them.

"Sir! Turn completed."

"All batteries lock on and open fire. Fire all missiles batteries," Ken said.

As he looked at the main screen, he placed the cigar in his mouth. He started chewing on the end of it, as the weapons started firing on the lead enemy ship.

Aboard the T'Lari cruiser, Commander Kallick of the T'Sherack watched the enemy ship get closer. She was an old human City class cruiser ... under armed and low powered. She would be easy pickings. She knew she had no chance and continued to heard the food to the trap.

"Open fire in twenty cklacks. Go for her engines and weapons. Once we cripple the human ship, order the T'laris and the T'Val to chase the food ships. There should be many small tender ones onboard." With a click of his mandibles, he continued, "We will feast on their corpses and suck the malki from their bones."

"Sir, the last human ship is turning to engage us. She will be in range in six cklacks for us, ten for them."

Kallick looked up in surprise at the weapons officers' announcement.

"Really? It seems not all of the soft shells are the cowards we thought. They will be a special part of the feast for tonight. Have the boarding crews stand ready. We will board very fast. She will be easy meat. That is an old class of ship, under powered, under armed."

Aboard the Terran Federation cruiser, USS San Francisco, the ship heeled to port bringing her weapons to bear on the enemy ships. Originally armed almost fifty years ago; the weapons had been upgraded to much more powerful ones, and shields had been installed just three weeks before. This was going to be a shock to the T'Lari.

From two hundred thousand miles, the San Francisco opened fire with her main weapons. The weapons impacted the shields of the T'Sherack and smashed them down in a giant discharge of energy. The enemy ship quickly tried to reform her shields as the San Francisco recharged her newer more powerful weapons as her missiles flew from their tubes. They spread out and flew towards the cruisers as the T'Lari try to shoot them down.

"Sir! Our shields are down! Missiles are inbound from the enemy ship!"

Commander Kallick looked up and at his weapons officer at the defensive protector, and calls out.

"Get them back up!"

The weapons officer looked at the incoming missiles on his screen. He targeted them as fast as he could. The missiles weaved and bobbed all over the screen. He stopped most of them, but suddenly one came from out of nowhere, and plowed into the side of the ship.

An antimatter explosion ripped through the ship, buckling the hull plates, twisting the frames, and killing the crew with deadly radiation. Looking out the main view port, the weapons officer saw the second round of laser fire hit the bow of the ship. It started carving into the bow as if it was warm butter.

Commander Kallick picked himself up off floor of his command tub, and shouted out his last orders.

"To all ships, target the human ship, destroy her now."

The cruiser exploded into a ball of molten plasma. The remaining two light cruisers continued to charge. The human cruiser turned once more towards the T'laris and the T'Val. The two ships separated to bring all their weapons to bear and opened fire on the human cruiser.

Where once there were no shields, now there were. The crafty humans had stolen another technology from them and they were more powerful as the energy from their weapons bounced off the new shields.

Ken watched the lasers hit the San Francisco's shields and bounce away into space. "Well, we know the shields work. Now, all guns, open fire again."

Captain Tvak of the T'laris watched the human ship thread between them. "He thinks we won't fire because of the T'Val. He is in for a surprise. It is time to crack this sherick like a newborn cub. Drop us below her. Target the bow and destroy it."

"Right away, Captain," replied the helmsman and weapons officer.

Aboard the San Francisco, the ship heaved as she took several hits, one of the shield generators exploded and before the gap could be replaced, she was hit by enemy fire. The explosion detonated in her bow. The hit travelled up from the bottom of the ship, and out through the back of the tower. The San Francisco returned fire, and the enemy ship to starboard took massive damage to her bow as her shields went down from the stern weapons.

"Sir, the T'Lari ship to starboard is turning away. She's showing us her stern."

"Swing the stern weapons around and hit the stern of the enemy cruiser."

"I am swinging the weapons around now. Sir, I have a damage report from CIC, missiles launchers three and four destroyed and the boat bay has taken minor damage, no word on casualt ... aiyyyy."

Looking up, he saw Lieutenant Carol Simmons' remains went flying, as she was sliced in half by a piece of the bulkhead from another hit. Quickly he transferred weapons command to his board, and started targeting the enemy ship.

"Helm rotate the ship twenty degrees to port, bring all portside weapons on to target and fire all weapons, all weapon mounts you may fire when you have her locked on. Medics to the bridge, we have wounded and dead. CIC get me a status report on damage."

Ken staggered as the ship was hit again with what felt like a five hundred ton sledgehammer. When he looked back to his weapons boards, all of them were in the red zone, indicating major damage. Ken turned on his com unit when he got no reply from CIC.

"CIC, come in, please?"

All he got was static, and for the first time in his life, he was afraid. He was afraid for his loved ones.

The T'laris opened fire again and started smashing the enemy shields down. As Captain Tvak watched, the enemy's stern lasers swung around and fired into his weakened shields. The beams punched through the shields and into the bow, carving a trench through the ship as his return fire smashed the two bow cannons of the human ship. Suddenly another laser hit the front of the ship and his remaining shield generator went down.

Aboard the San Francisco, the forward guns target the cruiser identified as the T'laris, from the database and try to pound through her strengthened shield, but without the stern lasers, it was going to take a little longer than last time. The ships started to slide by each other, and all three ships opened fire, they continued to pound each other into wreckage.

Suddenly the San Francisco's bow took a crushing blow, while other hits slammed into the bridge and ricocheted into the CIC. Both forward turrets were destroyed. The landing bay was heavily damaged, thirty percent of all the missile launchers were destroyed. There were only ten left on each side, leaving her in a critical condition for a prolonged engagement.

Aboard the T'laris, her bow was blown off after the missiles and lasers brought her shields down. Another shot travelled down the keel and gutted her to space. However, her sealed weapons stations continued to fire.

The San Francisco heeled to starboard and the T'Val completes her turn and opened fire with all her stern weapons, which smashed into the bridge of the San Francisco. The beams rip through and gut it to space. The last thing Ken felt was his body being sucked into space, along with the rest of the mangled bridge crew.

In the CIC, Lieutenant Commander Tammy White walked into the room, glancing at the holographic board as she issued orders.

"Ok, the bridge is gone, so we now have command. Target all weapons on the ship to starboard. The other is running. Let's destroy this one and then get the other, bring the stern weapons around and hit her hard."

Tammy looked at the monitor showing the bridge as an inferno. Kissing her hand, she touches the screen.

A single tear drops from her left eye as she whispers, "Goodbye my love, I will grieve more for you later, but now I have a battle to win."

Turning back to the holographic board, she started issuing her orders.

"OK, let's get firefighters to the main bridge. Get search and rescue moving. We have people out there that need us. Fire missiles, and turn us ten degrees to starboard," Reaching over to the marine frequencies she contacts her brother. "Ted get your marines suited up, we will board the third light cruiser."

"Right away commander, any word from the bridge?"

"No, they are all gone."

"I am sorry, Sis, I know you loved him. Tell Jenny I am sorry about Ken."

"We will grieve later. Right now, we have a battle to win. Good luck, and God speed! CIC out."

"Ma'am the second cruiser is dead. We're going after the third enemy cruiser now. I am launching remaining bow missiles and going to full speed to try to overtake them, shields are recharged to sixty percent. Without shield emitter number two, it's the best we can do."

Tammy looked at the T'Lari ship. "Very well let's get after her."