Chapter 4;The Battle for the Space Docks

The Battle for the Space Docks

Federation Fleet

Captain John Wilkes walked onto the bridge of the USS America and looked at the main screen. The news he had just received about the takeover had him nervous about possible saboteurs or traitors on board his command.

Pressing the intercom, he started to address the crew, "This is the Captain speaking. All hands man your battlestations. This is not a drill. Units of the United States Military have engaged our bases on the moon and the Arizona base. Both space docks have fallen to the enemy and our people are now prisoners. We have been ordered to proceed to Pluto base and protect our assets there..." releasing the intercom, he turned towards the com station saying, "Send the orders to Bismarck Sea, and the Caspian Sea to join on us and proceed to Pluto base."

"Messages sent sir, both destroyers are moving up to flank us," Lieutenant Jamie Esquire said from her com station.

"Good, now notify Commander Dubuque that we are proceeding to Pluto base where we will take up station to watch over the bases there, and that he is to proceed with all haste to the repairs of the medical ship Relief. I want an estimate when repairs will be completed."

Turning, John looked at his Chief of Security, Major Samantha O'Neil.

"Major O'Neil, I want you to deploy your Marines around the ship in pairs for possible signs of sabotage."

"Yes, Sir," replied Sam as she turned to her security board and started enacting her orders.

Pluto

The three ships turned and headed for a rendezvous with their outer most defense stations and repair docks. After a small fold, the three ships pulled in beside the new space station. Over in the repair docks the remains of the Vaskat and the USS Relief were docked. Repair spiders were swarming all over the Relief, trying to get her back into operations. While Federation Naval intelligence was going through the Vaskat trying to dig up all the clues of the T'Lari they could, they were mostly concentrating on her new weapon systems and her multi-phased shield generators that had protected her bridge and her rear defense towers.

Space Dock Two

Aboard Space Dock Two, seventeen-year-old Judy McGregor watched the United States Marines outside of the window of their quarters. They were herding the defense forces into a large pen. Behind her, her sisters were replicating needlers and explosives. She looked to the door when it opened and smiled as her husband of two weeks entered the room.

Ian McGregor walked over to his wives and kissed all five of them. Once prisoners of the T'Lari, he had fallen in love with them when they escaped after he was caught.

"Judy, are we ready to go?"

"Almost. Charity is replicating some ghost camosuits for us, while Alexis and Abigail get the weapons and explosives. Beth is watching the back," Judy said as she looked back out the window.

"Okay, let's get the suits on, I checked and the maintenance tunnel is empty right now. First we need to turn off our locator beacons so we cannot be found."

"I've got that taken care of, Ian," Charity said as she came over with a med scanner and ran the small box along his skull, and then continued, "We're all shut down."

"Okay first targets are those two destroyers that are almost finished. I figure we can take out their support pylons, it should crash them to the bottom of the dock, hopefully wrenching them out of alignment."

"Sounds good Ian," said fifteen-year-old Beth as she came out of the backroom.

Ian leaned over, gave Beth a kiss, then sealed his suit, and activated it.

The six of them left the apartment together and ran to the transport shaft that Ian had pried open. Activating their antigravity belts, they started descending.

Ian watched his wives descend, and then stepped in to the tube and hovered. Pulling the crowbar out, the doors snapped shut, he followed his lovers down to the bottom of the transit shaft, and they stepped out into the maintenance passageways.

"What now, Ian," Alexis asked as she readied her plasma rifle.

"We head for the docks. They are three miles north from us. I am just glad Space Dock Two is larger than one. It means more territory for the Americans to cover."

Pulling up the portable scanner, he scanned for life forms and only detected the ones up above.

"Let's get going. I have point, you follow at fifteen foot intervals," Ian said as he started jogging down the tunnel. His wives were right behind them, lugging their two hundred pound packs as if they weighed twenty pounds.

Passing through several cross tunnels, they reached the bottom of the gantries for the destroyers, and Ian looked out the air vent at the bottom of the USS Matt Wilson and the USS James Sanders.

"Hate to do this to two destroyers named after our own dead. But it's got to be done," Ian said as he looked at the destroyers.

"I know, Ian, but we can't let them have the ships," Beth said as she knelt beside him.

"Yep. Okay, we will split into three teams. Beth, you and Charity take the Sanders. Alexis and Abigail you're on guard duty ... you're have to keep us covered. Judy, you and I have the Wilson. Now Beth, go for the forward pylons, there are four of them, we will take the stern ones of the Wilson. When they blow, I am hoping they will wrench out of alignment and damage both ships beyond salvage."

"Okay, let's go," Beth said as she removed the grate and climbed out.

Dropping to the cross beam sixty feet below. Charity followed her sister then the rest of them were out of the vent and dropping to the beams. Using the belts they skipped along the main support beams and started planting their explosives. Around them, spider bots were trying to finish painting the hull as they worked. Twenty minutes later, they were finished, and were climbing back into the vents. Two hours later and one replicator later, they were ten miles away and were looking at the bottom of the USS Ark Royal.

Lieutenant Commander Samuel Higgins, United States Navy, walked onto the bridge of the USS George Herbert Walker Bush, the former USS Matt Wilson, and looked around at the stations that were manned.

"How long until we can launch?" he asked.

"About three minutes, Sir, we are bringing the fusion plants online, now."

"Good. I just wish I could have had the carrier. Damn it, I am a naval aviator, not a greyhound driver."

"Well, Sir, right now you are ... and we now have power," Ensign Jeff Whale said as the power came up on the main screens.

"You're right ensign, prepare..."

The explosives detonated, and the alarm sounded throughout the ship as the stern dropped, and twisted as she crashed down on the main deck of the dock. Explosions detonated as the massive two hundred pound charge ruptured the keel and she snapped in half. In the forward part of the dock, the bow of the USS James Sanders snapped off. It dropped down onto the bottom dock, and exploded into twisted scrap.

A containment field of one of the antimatter warheads exploded and a tenth of the huge dock disappeared into oblivion, along with six thousand United States Naval personnel.

"Shit, Ian, you have to be kidding?" Judy said as she looked at the huge ship.

"Nope, we have to get onboard her and blow her engines. It's the only way we can keep her out of the fight. We do not have enough explosives to crack her keel as we plan to do with the destroyers. So it's the only way we can keep her out of..."

The explosion caused the dock to actually shift her orbit and knocked everyone to the deck. Alarms sounded throughout the dock as parts of the station were sheered off.

"Fuck! What was that?" Charity said as she got to her feet.

Ian checked his watched and grinned, "that's two tin cans down, and a flattop to go."

"You mean?" Judy started to ask.

"Yep, the destroyers just blew up."

Adjusting his pack, Ian looked around and signaled for everyone to come out onto the beam. Moving quickly, they stopped under one of the maintenance hatches, and activated their antigravity belts and flew up to hull of the ship.

Entering the standard opening code, the hatch opened and they went inside.

Elizabeth Howler watched what she assumed were six United States Marines entering her hull. Activating her internal com system, she eavesdropped on them. Capturing their facial images, she ran them through the New Federation database and quickly came up with a match of one of the Washington's Marines who was on medical leave due to severe wounds suffered aboard the T'Lari battleship and his five wives.

"Ian, which way is the engine room?"

"I think it's this way Beth, this ship is way different from the Washington."

"Good as soon as we get there we can plant the explosives and get the hell out of here and back into the warrens of the dock."

Making her decision after listening to their conversation Elizabeth appeared behind the six humans, and said, "I am sorry, I cannot allow you to blow my engines up. I may need them."

Ian dropped and rolled, coming up with his plasma rifle and fired. Liquid plasma flew through the image of a young woman and smashed into the wall behind her, bursting into flames.

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder and a force field came on and smothered the plasma fire before it could spread.

"I will not hurt you Sergeant McGregor nor will I hurt your wives. Welcome aboard the USS Ark Royal, CV 1 of the Terran Navy, if you like you may come to the bridge to see what is going on."

"Who are you? Ian asked as he kept his rifle on the hologram.

"I am Elizabeth Howler and I am the ship's AI/Interface, I have locked down all the access ports for this ship. I had forgotten about the maintenance hatches but that oversight has been corrected."

"Can you tell us what else is going on?" Judy asked as she removed the pack full of explosives.

"Well, Judy, it seems that your destruction of the two destroyers has upset their plans, they are airlifting all prisoners off of the station and taking them to Terra, I am tracking them to a remote part of Alaska."

"What about SPD1? Any word on what's happing over there?" Ian asked as they walked to one of the transport tubes.

"I know Commodore Thompson, his wife and fifty of our highest ranking officers are dead including Captain Takia Tanaka, his wife and the executive officer of the Yamato. Scanners detected the explosion on the far side of Kuiper belt right after she folded away from the dock, the size of the detonation suggest it was a scuttling charge that blew."

"Damn it, why would she do that?" Ian asked as the transport tubes opened and they stepped inside.

"I can only assume that their troops were trying to take over and Nancy Dwight, the ships interface, blew the ship to prevent it."

"Well hopefully she took a lot of the bastards with her," Ian said grimly as the transport tube came to a stop and they walked out on to the command deck.

Sergeant Anthony Belleview led his squad down the maintenance passageways. They were looking for more of the terrorists who were hiding down there.

Activating his throat mike, he said, "They have to be here somewhere. Pickens, switch places with Jones."

"Yes, Sir," replied the big Marine as he moved up with his M-60 light machine gun clutched in one hand.

Richie watched the Marines getting closer, the little needler in his hand was pointing at the leader of the squad. The thirteen-year-old's knees were literally knocking in fear and he gulped as the huge man in the lead walked past their hidden location, behind him twelve other kids laid huddled in fear when one of the babies suddenly whimpered.

Mike Pickens enhanced ears picked up the cry and he turned the weapon to his left, and shouted, "Ambush," as he opened fire with the machinegun.

The bullets flew through the hologram, and smashed into Richie little body and hurled him back onto the kids. One of the other Marines yanked a grenade from his combat harness pulling the pin he tossed the fragmentation grenade where Corporal Pickens was firing his machinegun at. The grenade landed next to ten-year-old Loraine Grey and exploded, killing the blond haired girl her six-year-old sister, and the baby she was holding, instantly while wounding the remaining children.

Screaming in pain and fear, the remaining nine children laid there crying for their mothers and fathers as they bled out on to the deck.

Sergeant Belleview heard the children crying and shouted out, "Cease fire."

As quick as the Marines opened fired, they stopped and the sounds of the children's crying came to them.

Anthony stepped through the hologram and into a nightmare as he looked at the bloody scene from hell as he shouted, "MEDIC." Ripping his medkit from his belt, he dropped his M-16, and knelt next to the nearest child and started administrating first aid as his men came through the hologram and started checking the rest of the children as tears started coming to the sergeant's eyes.