Chapter 62: Making a Payment

"Turn the alarm off!" James shouted. "Admiral, sorry, but we can't play with you anymore. People, we're going to need everyone! Get to your stations and call out as you bring things online!"

"Janet!" Yvette added. "I'm headed to the command post. What do the scanners show so far?"

"So far just the jump point. The computers identified it as a hive sphere due to the size," Janet replied. "Wait ... something. Shit! We have a Lares class carrier, it's emerged and the jump point is still growing."

"A Lares?" the admiral shouted. "Impossible, that class has no engines. It's nothing more than a shell used to hold their fighters."

"It appears to have been held in formation by tractor beams," Janet replied icily. "Or maybe this one has jump engines as well. All I know is that it was the first ship to emerge from the jump point and the point I still growing."

"Yvette," James shouted. "I'll be heading to the lasers. They probably can't do much, but it sounds like we'll need every weapon available. There is an auxiliary control center out there, so I can keep up once I get there."

I was frantically getting the teleport system off standby. "James," I called out. "I'll have the teleport up in two minutes."

"I need you in the primary teleport center by the main medical bay. We're going to be handling casualties," James said. "No wait; we need you to teleport the gunners to the lasers first."

The alarm had been muted. I could now hear feet pounding on the floors of our tunnels and people ran to get to duty stations. Overhead the speaker continued to squawk.

"Einherjar, deploy! Este, make sure that we're watching for missiles!"

"Hoplites, get to your guns! Let the spears run with Sa'arm blood!"

"Vikings! Are you going to allow those pansies from Athena to deploy faster! Get to your turrets!"

"Gaels, Let's show them true courage and fight!"

"We need to concentrate our firepower! All ships accelerate to join the Borneo contingent. Captain Evans, who is coordinating over there."

"I guess I have tactical command," Captain Evans replied. "Come in and slide in behind Sif and Athena. They have experienced gun crews. And warn your missile cruiser that the Sa'arm around here have extremely efficient missile defenses."

"And don't send your fighters out except against their fighters or corvettes," a new voice called out. I recognized it as Bernadette Werfel.

"Who said that?" Admiral Timmons asked.

"Captain Bernadette Werfel. I command Mongolia, but a few months ago I was on Andrew Jackson when we faced a Sa'arm force at Wolf. They have a weapon that can take out squadrons of fighters at a time. Any of their ships destroyer size or larger appear to carry it."

"Also, the Sa'arm around here use a missile that breaks into slivers. It doesn't sound dangerous, but we've had more than a few ships badly torn up," Yvette reminded everyone. "Your corvettes need to be very careful."

"What about that torn up corvette?" someone asked.

"I have an extremely good helmsman," Captain Gates replied. "He manages to keep the hits glancing. But just about every ship here has taken hits from those missiles. They will tear up your ship and crew."

"We're at command," Tiffany called out.

"God!" Tamara added. "James, Janet wasn't kidding, this is a major force. Five, six, no ten total Vacuna scouts just came through and I have at least nine more ships still to emerge."

"Joy," James said.

I heard movement behind me and spun around. Kitty was standing there. Her face was pale as she put a hand on my arm. "James, I'm with Meiko, what should I do?"

"Support her," James said. "Maggie, I need you to organize everyone who knows how to run the tugs and mobile teleports. We're going to see ships take hits. Meiko, as ships take hits, I'm going to rely on you and Kitty to get injured crew off fast."

Kitty shivered and I leaned back, stunned by the responsibility that had been dropped on me. Overhead the conversations continued.

"I'm at laser control," Fred called out. "James, we can't really protect that far out. Not in a combat situation."

"I know, but it might help, especially if we have to shield a damaged ship," James called back. "Tiffany, we can't have the communications be free. Can you set it so that the ship commanders can send out blanket messages, but that we don't end up listening to all the chatter. And do the same here, Yvette or I should be able to send out general calls, but the rest should be internal unless it pertains to recovery of injured crew or damaged ships."

"On it," Tiffany replied.

"James," Admiral Timmons called out. "Can you make sure that we get a feed from your sensor net? It's better than anything our ships are going to have."

"I'll get it started ... Fuck!" Tamara said. "James, the scouts are deploying mines. They are using them to take out our system defenses."

"Get the sensors off the ecliptic!" James shouted. "Terrence, I need you and Louis at the command post and working with the system defenses. Try to save something, we might need them."

"Maggie!" Tamara called. "You are in charge of the people running the tugs and teleport pods. Boost them out of the ecliptic as well. These mines don't really identify what they are destroying."

"I don't have enough people," Maggie called back. "So far only Claire and Whitney have arrived to help. We have five tugs and six teleport pads to move."

"Tina, Mike, Mike, Ulla, Veronica, Paula, Jillian, Madison, you know how to guide those pods. Drop what you are doing and go," James shouted.

"The hive sphere has emerged. We can now identify the other ships. Looks like three of the Vesta class Battleships and six cruisers. The hive sphere is launching some ships as well," Tamara called out.

There was a thumping behind me. I glanced back to see Brad entering. Candi and Randi followed. "James," I called out as I turned to the teleport controls. "Brad has arrived at the teleport room. He has Candi and Randi with him."

"Teleport them to the laser ready room. Candi and Randi can take over the auxiliary control there. We might need it," James replied.

I nodded and turned to the console. Brad walked forward until he was on the teleport pad. He turned around as Candi and Randi ran and threw their arms around him. Kitty giggled as I activated the teleporter to send them on.

"James," Reggie called out. "Gina and I have gathered all the babies and younger children. So far we have Marilyn, Bethany and Heather helping out. We should be fine for a while, but we'll need a couple more people once the babies get restless."

"Marie, find Carol and Robin," Yvette called out. "Get to the nursery and help."

"James," Donna called out. "Shawna is going to head to the main medical bay. I'm going to take a few minutes adjusting the pods here. Alexis, Barbara and Janice are still being healed."

"It's been hours!" Yvette called back.

"Yes," Donna replied, "But we were running the medical pods on reduced power and they had severe injuries. They will be healed within the next two hours. I just need someone to watch the pods here so I can join Shawna and Ed at the main medical bay."

"Molly," Gina called out. "You've sat in on some training. Get there right away and work with Donna. We are going to need her."

"Meiko!" James called out. "Amanda and Deb are on their way to the teleport room. Xavier, Mike and I should be a few more minutes. Also everyone, the main passage is still down, you have to teleport to the other side of the colony."

"James!" Yvette called. "We are going to need a command post pairing for coordination with all the ships. Can we send a team to the colony center and the post there?"

""Diana, Ingrid," Tamara called out. "Have Meiko teleport you. I hope you don't mind, Terrence."

"Send Louis as well. He can use that post to do the repair scans. We aren't going to have any room to spare over here," Terrence said.

"Incoming!" we heard Admiral Timmons shout. "Captain Butros, launch the alpha flight fighters. Evans, can we get a Goddess to cut off those scouts?"

"Siberia, stay on Freya's flank! Captain Walker, cut those Sa'arm ships off!" Captain Evans shouted.

"Oh god!, not good, not good!" Janet shouted. "Missile inbound! It's gotten past the ships!"

"Brad!" James screamed.

I heard pounding steps behind me. Before I could turn, Deb and Amanda tore past me. They jumped onto the teleport pad. "Go!" Deb called before they even finished turning around.

I activated the pad and the duo vanished. "Fred!" I heard Brad cry. "I'm in laser one. Can you get me a quick targeting solution?"

"It's raw!" Fred replied. "Call out when you're ready."

"No time to refine the solution," Brad called. "Send me up!"

The colony seemed to pause to listen. I could still hear people running in the background. Kitty had grabbed my shoulder and was squeezing me as we strained to hear the results.

"Hit!" Fred finally called out. "Bringing you down."

"James, that took three shots!" Brad noted.

"The repair systems have been improved," James said. "If we don't use the laser for thirty minutes the seals will be replaced. It will be longer for your armor. The best we can set up will still take over an hour."

"How do I get my armor repaired?" Brad asked.

"There should be an alcove by the ready room. We have servo units to help remove the armor. Yvette thought about it after Mieko got hurt saving Amanda," James replied.

"He thinks of us all the time," Kitty whispered in my ear.

Kitty's action had distracted me and I was surprised to see Diana, Ingrid and Louis run onto the teleport pad. "Lily and Madison will be joining us," Louis said.

"I thought they belonged to Linus," Kitty commented.

"They do," Diana replied. "But they know the command post functions and Linus is going to get into armor. We need more gunners."

I activated the teleport to send the trio to the teleport pad by our main medical bay. They had just vanished when Shawna arrived. She bolted to the pad, followed by Ed, David, Lindsay, Craig and Gina's Michael.

This required that I make several adjustments to the teleport settings. I had to unlock the other pad before I could send a signal. Fortunately, Shawna had everyone organized. They stood quietly on the pad while I worked. "Send us when you are ready," Shawna called out just as I completed my work.

I activated the teleport, sending them to the main medical bay. As they vanished, I realized that Kitty had been watching over my shoulder. "That was a lot of work," she stated.

"More than normal," I admitted. "During the duel to control the unit, I turned off the other pad and locked it down to prevent Colonel Johanes from using it. To send Shawna to it, I had to remove all of the security. Next time I can send someone with just a couple of buttons."

Kitty smiled and backed away slightly. I knew that more gunners were on the way, so I began switching the teleport to send people to the lasers. I had just finished when Tamara's voice called out. "Meiko! Siberia took a major hit. They have two wounded who need medical attention and their pods are down. Can you get them from their teleporter room?"

"I can, but it would be better if I was at the medical bay's teleporter room," I said.

"Meiko!" James called out. "Can you set something up that Kitty can run?"

I started frantically adjusting the controls. My goal was to get the system automated to the point where Kitty would only have a couple of switches to hit before she could activate the system. "Kitty, get a couple of private headsets," I hissed. "I'll set this up for you to run and then you can teleport me to the bay."

Kitty ran from the room. "I need five minutes," I said. "I have to set the controls."

"The injured crew might not have five minutes," Tamara replied. "One of the injured on Siberia is their medic. Their other people with training are tied up in damage control..."