Scrapyard Ship 4 Realms of Time (20 page)

Admiral Reynolds was on the horn for the better part of three hours. Over the past sixteen years, he’d made friends and strong alliances with many of the Allied planets’ ruling officials and military leaders. Above and beyond his command position with the Earth Outpost for the United Planetary Alliance—EOUPA—the admiral had retained his position as commanding officer for all Allied forces. With the latest Allied space victory against the invading Craing fleet, the admiral was heralded as nothing short of a hero. The reality was the war was far from over. In fact, they’d inflicted little damage to the Craing’s overall defenses. Sure, they’d struck a surprise offensive jab to the Craing’s military machine, but not enough to bring them to their knees.

Recent estimates ran as high as one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand Craing warships in fleets spread across the universe. Every day, new Craing warships embarked from orbital shipyards situated far out in deep space, ensuring them of no single location of vulnerability.

But, as the admiral had quickly realized, Allied complacency had already set in. It was taking more time than he’d planned on, but slowly he was getting the Allied forces to awaken to the chilling reality of their situation. Added to that, the prospect of the Craing acquiring the latest Caldurian technology, as the admiral warned them would assuredly happen, sparked new fear in those in power of the Allied planets. What he’d been driving into their heads was that their new reality demanded quick action. It demanded they go quickly on the offensive. From their latest reactions, they were ready.

The ball was in the admiral’s court. But before any kind of preemptive attack could be instigated, he needed more intelligence. Specifically, he needed to know what Granger, and the Craing leadership, was planning. And he needed to know if the Craing and Caldurians had vulnerabilities, and what those were … if any.

A familiar melodic chime indicated there was someone at the captain’s ready room door.

Without getting up, the admiral instructed the AI to allow entrance.

“
Admiral, we have a situation,” Ricket said, entering the ready room.

“
Have a seat. What’s going on?”

“
I’ve been getting acquainted with the Minian’s bridge, her functionality and capabilities. There’s still much to learn. But while I was reviewing the various sensor settings, specifically the short range scans, let me tell you, the levels of sensitivity are really quite—”

“
Ricket, for God’s sake you need to get to the point.”

“
Yes, sir. I found something.”

“
Here, in local Earth space?”

“
Closer to Mars, actually. It’s a ship, drifting, and she’s cloaked.”

The admiral stared at Ricket for a moment and then nodded. “I bet I know which ship that is. It’s the, um, Her Majesty. That ridiculous luxury liner turned warship. We were wondering what happened to the late Captain Stalls’ ship. We knew it was cloaked and out there … somewhere.”

“
Truth is,” Ricket continued, “I found it by accident. Even the Minian had a hard time detecting her.”

The admiral was only half listening to Ricket. His mind was already contemplating the possibilities. The ship could be just the thing he was looking for. A way to get close-in to the Craing undetected.

“
Ricket. Here’s what I want you to do and with all haste. Put together a boarding party and bring back that vessel.”

“
The cloaking device would need to be deactivated, sir. Difficult, on a near-invisible ship.”

“
But possible? You could do it?”

“
Admiral, I’m needed here to deploy the last two paired drones down to Captain Reynolds. As automated as I’ve tried to make things, I’d feel nervous getting too far away from the Minian.”

“
No, you’re absolutely right. Earth’s very survival is at stake. Who else could do this—get on board that ship and reconfigure her cloaking device?”

Ricket looked at the admiral and made a sour expression. “Well, there’s really only one person. That would be Bristol.”

The admiral’s expression turned equally sour. “That pimply kid? I thought he was one of the pirates?”

“
He is, was … He’s currently down on Earth assisting with navigating through the various time realms. As unpleasant as he is, he’s quite intelligent and he already knows the configuration and operation of Her Majesty.”

“
Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You’ll take Bristol’s place on Earth. Send back Bristol, and maybe Billy or Orion; either of them could lead a team of the available SEALs still here on board The Lilly. We’ll intersect with Her Majesty, and deploy Bristol and the team.”

Ricket nodded and seemed to be contemplating the logistics of it all. “That still takes me away from the Minian. Although we have concluded, it seems, that data transmissions do work effectively, such as NanoTexting; I can pre-program the automated systems and control them remotely.”

“
Whatever, Ricket. I don’t need to know how to split an atom here. If you feel it can be done with relative certainty, then we need to move ahead,” the admiral urged him.

“
Yes, sir. I’ll get on it right away.”

“
Wait. Before you go, I want to ask you something.”

“
Yes, Admiral?”

“
Undoubtedly, the plan would be dangerous. My thoughts are this: acquire that cloaked vessel, make her space-worthy, and equip her for wormhole travel. If all that is possible, I want a small team to take her to the Craing worlds. Since Her Majesty will be cloaked, she’ll go undetected.”

“
I understand, Admiral,” Ricket replied.

“
That’s not the difficult part, Ricket. Once you get back from the mission on Earth, I want you and Gaddy on that team. You’ll infiltrate whatever meetings, discussions, taking place. As Craing yourselves, you shouldn’t stand out. I need intel and I need it fast.”

“
I am somewhat recognizable, Admiral.”

The admiral chuckled. “The way you are remembered by the Craing populace is someone who has undergone the transformation of eternity. You look twenty years younger now, and you also have a head full of hair, which you’ll have to shave off. I think your true identity is relatively safe.”

Ricket looked unsure. The admiral knew he’d loaded a lot onto his longtime friend. But Ricket needed to become more than solely a science officer; he needed to become a leader.

“
Look, you’ll have support. I’m going to talk to Brian. He’s actually a fine officer, when he puts his mind to it. He can captain that ship, if you can lead the team.”

Ricket nodded, his mind obviously spinning.

“
That’s all, Ricket. Get down to the planet, bring Bristol up to speed, and let’s make all this happen.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Chapter 32

Chapter 32

Jason and his team phase-shifted to the middle of the beach. SEALs and rhinos moved into a defensive formation keeping Dira and Bristol in the middle of the pack. Undefined things were moving, scurrying about, up ahead deeper into the trees. A chorus of strange animal sounds filled the air. Jason felt as if a thousand eyes were watching their every movement.

Bristol, without looking up, held out an outstretched arm, with his index finger pointed toward the trees. “Drones in that direction. There’s also another shuttle close by.”

“
Here? What do you mean—”

Jason cut his question short. His HUD now registered what Bristol’s equipment had already detected. It was the sister shuttle to the Magnum, the Perilous. It did an overhead pass and landed a little farther down the beach.

Jason arrived as the rear gangway extended and settled onto the sand. Ricket and Traveler moved quickly down the ramp and hurried over to meet him. Standing at the top of the gangway, Lieutenant Wilson, the commander of The Lilly’s Top Gun pilots, gave a quick wave.

“
Good to have you back with us, Traveler,” Jason said. “Ricket? What the hell are you doing here?”

“
Yes, sorry, sir. Apparently even NanoTexting is hit or miss. I tried to contact you repeatedly and failed to receive a response.”

“
So how are we going to deploy the two remaining drone pairs with you down here?”

Ricket pointed to the Perilous. “The two drones … They’re locked down in the rear of the shuttle, Captain. Even if there need to be modifications to their code, I should be able to manage things from here.”

“
We’ll want to move that shuttle out to the lake, next to the Magnum. Nothing’s safe on the beach.”

“
Yes, Captain. Also, there have been other developments we were unable to communicate to you.” Ricket looked over to Bristol, who had wandered over to the gangway and was peering into the stern of the shuttle. “We’ve discovered the vessel Her Majesty abandoned and adrift in space.”

“
Stalls’ ship?”

“
Yes. She’s cloaked … nearly impossible to detect. The admiral wants to board her and make use of her for a mission to the Craing worlds.”

Ricket proceeded to update Jason with everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours, including the arrival of Gaddy from HAB 12, and The Lilly being contacted by Granger, and his threats of bringing the might of the Craing Empire to Earth if the Minian was not returned to him within twenty-four hours.

Jason, musing over Ricket’s information, felt his temper rise. He knew Granger was two-faced—he shouldn’t have trusted him. Now, it seemed pretty obvious he’d been working some kind of self-serving angle all along.

“
I agree with the admiral’s logic,” Jason said. “It’s time we take the battle to the Craing, break the Alliance’s constant cycle of playing defense and start playing offense. Okay, so we send Bristol back to The Lilly. Wilson can shuttle him back there in the Magnum; we’ll use the Perilous to complete our mission.”

Jason didn’t want to lose either Billy or Orion, knowing what he and his crew might be going up against shortly. In the end, he selected Orion to head back with Bristol, and for her to later lead the mission onto Her Majesty. Bristol, all too happy to get away from planet Earth and the fluctuating time realms, handed over his equipment to Ricket. Orion gave Billy a quick hug and together she, Wilson, and Bristol phase-shifted over to the Magnum on the lake. Jason watched them appear on the shuttle’s roof and then separately crawl inside through its top hatch. Next, Grimes and Petty Officer Chris Myers climbed onto the roof and phase-shifted over to the beach. Less than a minute later, the Magnum was airborne and heading toward the horizon.

Traveler joined the three rhino-warriors on the beach. They gathered together, excitedly relaying the events of the previous day. Jason headed out, taking up the lead, with Billy and Rizzo on either side. The other five SEALs took up perimeter positions, while Traveler and the other three rhinos moved into place, bringing up the rear. Ricket, several paces behind Jason, hurried to keep up as he balanced the awkward drone detection equipment that was strapped around his neck and hung down to his hips. Jason slowed and looked back over his shoulder, and caught Dira’s eye. She smiled back at him, but then became serious. Her eyes had left his and were focusing on something in the distance.

Billy began yelling into his comms, “Multiple contacts approaching straight ahead!”

The ground came alive with what looked like small rodent-sized lizards—thousands of them running toward the beach. Their sound, like screeching, was near deafening, and Jason found himself feeling small bodies scrunch beneath his boots as he stepped along.

Trees whipped and jostled fifty yards up ahead, and according to what Jason’s HUD readings were telling him, there were seven large contacts approaching.

“
Take cover, we’ve got company!” Jason yelled over his comms.

The rhinos quickly moved to the front of their formation, which was their standard practice, and held a line. Jason stayed low and watched Traveler race past him. With his heavy hammer tightly gripped in one hand, Traveler strode forward with amazing agility for a being his size. And something else: Jason had come to know Traveler’s expressions and, beyond a doubt, he was smiling. This is where the big rhino most loved to be, in battle alongside his compatriots, who now surged forward after him. It was then Jason noticed Billy and Rizzo wearing similar expressions. And so did he, probably, for that matter. Feeling his adrenalin kick in, Jason straightened up and raised his multi-gun. The ground began to shake and the first of the fearsome beasts came into view.

“
Holy shit,” Billy yelled. “What is that? That’s a T-Rex, isn’t it?”

“
Not even close,” Rizzo yelled back. “I think that’s a Nanuqsaurus. Distant cousin to the T-Rex. No, these guys are much smaller. Probably only a thousand pounds.”

The three rhino warriors continued moving forward. None of them had drawn their plasma weapons, preferring to hold their ground with heavy hammers. Jason almost felt guilty anticipating which beast would best the other in battle. Especially since Traveler was a friend. There wouldn’t be long to wait. Two of the seven dinosaurs, both walking on thick back legs, their heads bobbing up and down, tentatively approached Traveler—seeming almost like two large birds. But the analogy stopped there. Similar to their bigger T-Rex cousin, their heads were large, with ridiculously oversized jaws. When Jason got a glimpse of their huge upper and lower canines, the seriousness of their situation came to roost.

The two dinosaurs split up and approached Traveler from both sides. Traveler wasn’t going to play their game. He attacked. Spinning around backwards a full one hundred and eighty degrees, he let his heavy hammer build-up momentum—only extending his arm out straight at the last moment. The Nanuqsaurus to his right never had a chance. The business end of the heavy hammer blew through the creature’s upper and lower jaws shattering both bone and teeth along its unyielding trajectory. Surprisingly, the dinosaur didn’t die straight away. With much of its head torn away, it flailed its tiny upper arms, arms far too short to be of use for much of anything.

The second Nanuqsaurus attacked, its jaws opened wide and mere inches from Traveler’s back when Jason aimed his multi-gun and took the shot. Not wanting to miss, or hit Traveler, two quick bursts of rail munitions tore into the dinosaur’s hindquarters. The dinosaur’s dead weight continued forward and plummeted into Traveler. Both fell to the ground—only one got back up.

The other rhinos charged. In less than a minute, the other five Nanuqsaurus were plummeted by heavy hammers and lay still on the ground. A new wave of screeching started up as the tiny lizards returned. Like a school of hungry piranha they quickly engulfed the two dinosaurs Traveler had killed. Soon, all that remained of both carcasses were bones. Angered, the rhino-warriors were quick to lift their own quarries off the ground, kicking out at the small predators who snapped at their feet.

In the end, only two Nanuqsaurus carcasses were saved. Jason wondered if eating dinosaur meat was such a good idea, but then remembered his internal nanites would protect him from any parasitic organisms. He also recalled that the feast served up by the rhinos after their battle with the Serapins was one of the best fireside meals he’d ever eaten.

Jason checked on Dira and Ricket. Both were fine—by this point, almost immune to the sheer violence residing here. Long shadows stretched out along each tree trunk. Soon, evening would be upon them.

Ricket looked up from his equipment. “There is a clearing fifty feet from here, Captain.”

“
Lead the way, Ricket,” Jason said, turning toward Billy.

“
I want perimeter fires set up all around camp tonight. Keep them stoked. Two rhinos and two men together, on rotating watches. The last thing we want is a surprise visit by a T-Rex in the middle of the night.”

Rizzo chimed in: “Cap, the latest archeological and scientific findings reveal it’s the raptors that hunt at night—not T-Rexes. They’re the ones we need to keep an eye out for.”

They reached the clearing. A pair of rhinos moved into the open space carrying a Nanuqsaurus carcass as if they were handling a sofa. They dropped it, waiting for the second carcass to be similarly unloaded, while staying close by to fend off the small lizards.

Darkness was quickly setting in. Jason looked out at the surrounding forest.

“
We’ll need firewood. Lots and lots of firewood.”

Chapter 33

Chapter 33