Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone (3 page)

“Damn, Supidi, it looks like we missed it,” said Calvin. They had been orbiting in the vicinity of the stargate for two hours, but nothing else had come through it.

“Do you suppose they learned their lesson this time?” asked the Japanese officer. “First the destroyer and now this? Having only half of a battleship come back has got to be bad for morale.”

“Who knows how Drakuls think?” asked Calvin. “For all I know, they’ll look at that as competition and think that attacking us is
fun.” He thought about it a few seconds and added, “I’m not challenging them, mind you. I hope they stay on their side of the stargate for at least another couple of years. Now that we have a replicator and can build our own ships, if they’d just give us a chance, we could be ready to give them a lot of fun by then.”

“Finally, some competition,” noted Captain
Bullig with satisfaction as the shuttle returned with a couple of survivors from the battleship. The other shuttle had already returned with a full load of dead bodies. No sense letting that much fresh food go to waste, he thought. “Let’s go take a look and see what’s there.”

“But Captain,” said Commander Chark, “
the forces on the other side of the stargate just destroyed two battlecruisers and a battleship. Whatever is there will likely destroy us as well! Our duty is to report to the Overlord.” He looked around the bridge for support. No one met his eyes.

He never saw the blow from Captain
Bullig that hit him in the side of the head, knocking him to the deck. “You are new on the crew,” said Captain Bullig, leaning over him, “so I will tell you this once. This is
my
ship.
I
am the Captain. My word is law.” He looked down at the XO. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“No, Captain
Bullig,” groveled Commander Chark. “I don’t have a problem at all. Whatever you say is good with me.”

“
Excellent,” said Captain Bullig. “Remember that.” He turned to the helmsman. “Begin acceleration toward the stargate. Full speed ahead.”

The XO crawled to the back of the bridge, where he stood back up next to the communications station. “Madness,” he said under his breath. “The Overlord will
flay us alive for violating orders.”

“No,” said the communicator in the same
low whisper; “madness is contradicting the Captain on the bridge of
his
ship. How do you think you got your position? He killed the last two XOs for the same thing. The only thing that saved you was the low ceiling. He couldn’t use his killing punch. The Overlord is a long way away, and who knows if we’ll ever make it back home. The Captain is
here
. It’s best you remember that. Besides, he usually knows what he’s doing; he has gotten us out of many bad situations.”

“If he’s such a good Captain,” said Commander Chark, “why is he on this ship and not
one of the ships that just went through the gate?”

“Simple,” said the co
mmunicator. “He didn’t know his last XO was a second cousin of the Overlord. Being on this ship is his punishment for killing him.”

“
Asp 01,
this is the
Vella Gulf,” the radio blared. “
All ships are to return to the
Vella Gulf
for refueling.
”

“
Roger that,
Vella Gulf,” replied Supidi over the radio. “
We are returning to the ship.
” He switched to the tactical frequency used by the squadron. “
All Spacehawks, we are to return to the ship for refueling. Join up on us.
” The squadron gathered together and headed back to the ship with feelings of both disappointment and relief. Although they were disappointed that they missed out on the action, they were even more relieved that a bigger force hadn’t come through. With a good portion of the system’s defenses depleted, most decided it was better that way.

“Five minutes to stargate,” said the helmsman.

“Battle stations!” ordered Captain Bullig. “Cease the drive. Rotate ship. Engines to full after rotation!”

“Rotating ship,” said the helmsman. “Engines coming to
full.”

“Initiating battle stations,” added the defender. A
blue light began flashing, and a horn began to wail.

“You’re going to go through the stargate...backwards?” asked the XO.

“Of course,” said Captain Bullig with a laugh. “We might get trapped there and destroyed if we didn’t. That might make the Overlord unhappy, and we definitely wouldn’t want that.” He gave another laugh and then was serious again. “Open all weapons’ hatches and extend all laser mounts.”

“Hatches opening,” called both the attacker and the defender simultaneously. “Mounts moving.”
Both of the technicians had missiles and lasers; the defender was responsible for the ship’s counter-missile lasers and missiles, while the attacker ran the
Mangler’s
anti-ship missiles and lasers.

“Transit in five,” said the helmsman. “Four...three...two...one...mark!”

“
I heard a piece of the battleship made it back through the stargate,” said Calvin. All of the crews had swapped out when the space fighters came back to refuel, and fresh crews were now manning them. “Is that true?”

“Yes
, it did,” said Captain James Sheppard, the commanding officer (CO) of the Terran spaceship
Vella Gulf
. “Skywatch said that the back half of the ship made it through.” Skywatch was the Strategic Command’s Joint Functional Component Command for Space. Located at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Skywatch’s Space Operations Center was responsible for the system’s defenses until the newly-formed Terran Space Force was able to take over that function.

“We’ve got to go through and get it,” said Calvin. “If one of their ship
s comes along and sees it, they will know that we’re on the other side of the stargate.”

“I said the same thing,” said
Captain Sheppard. “Skywatch is worried about what happens if we go through the stargate and find out that there are Drakuls waiting for us. We are the only Terran ship in the system right now, and they don’t want to lose us.”

“Lose us?” asked Calvin. “We’re going to lose our anonymity if we don’t go get it.”

“They said—” Captain Sheppard answered.

“
Skywatch reports another gate activation!
” interrupted the communications officer. “They have a single transit inbound. It’s a small ship, cruiser-sized or smaller.”

“Launch the alert fighters!” ordered
Captain Sheppard. He looked over to the offensive systems officer (OSO) seated at the operations station. “Let me know when you have a firing solution!”

The
Vella Gulf
was positioned 7.5 million miles from the stargate, just inside the 8 million mile range of its missiles. It took light and radar 40 seconds to cross that distance. Skywatch had a radar station next to the gate that used a faster than light radio system to transmit what it was sensing, so the
Vella Gulf’s
crew was aware that the intruder had entered the system almost 30 seconds before it was able to see it with the ship’s sensors.

“
VAMPIRE!” called the defensive systems officer (DSO), using the codeword for enemy missiles. “I’ve got missiles being launched!” The intruder wasn’t so handicapped; the
Vella Gulf
would be visible to the enemy’s optical sensors upon entry. A good crew entering a new system could often fire a volley or two of missiles before the defenders were able to reply, even with the time it took for the systems (and personnel) to settle out after a stargate transit.

The intruder obviously had a good crew.

“Minefield!” yelled the defender as the
Mangler
entered the system stern-first. “Minefield defenses on automatic!” With the flip of the switch, the ship’s counter-missile batteries and counter-missile lasers began firing autonomously, as fast as their targeting systems could find and identify the mines.

“We should be OK for a few minutes,” said Captain
Bullig. “Look for ships and try to get their identification. Helmsman, stand by for emergency thrust.”

“How are we OK if we’re in a minefield
!” screamed Commander Chark. “We’ve got to go! Helm, emergency thrust, now!”

“
Belay that order!
” roared Captain Bullig. “They won’t have mines next to the stargate. The mines will be further away, so that the defenders have time to identify any intruders prior to activating their minefield. Besides, the enemy wouldn’t want their mines to accidentally fall into the stargate. We are in no danger from mines.”

“Contact!” called the attacker. “Optical systems show a ship located to starboard!”

“Fire all starboard batteries on that line of bearing,” said Captain Bullig. “Get as much information on it as you can.” He looked at the helmsman. “Emergency thrust,
now!
” he said. “Take us back through the stargate!”

The
helmsman pushed the button that his claw had been hovering over, and the ship shuddered as its inertial compensators tried to keep up with the thrust of the emergency power setting.

Missiles roared away from the ship on the bearing
of the enemy ship. Without radar or laser targeting, the missiles would have to find the ship using their onboard systems. They wouldn’t have their normal range, thought Bullig, but maybe they’d get lucky.

The screens flashed as the first mine intercepted them, but the force of its explosion was absorbed by the shields. A second volley of missiles left the ship.

“Transit in three,” called the helmsman, “two...one...mark!”

The
Mangler
was gone. It had only been in the Solar System for 56 seconds.

“Missiles inbound!” called the DSO. “I have
10 vampires inbound!”

“Defend the ship, DSO,” said
Captain Sheppard. “You are cleared to engage.”

“Cleared to engage
, aye,” replied the defensive systems officer. “Missile hatches open. Laser hatches open; mounts extending.” The ship’s lasers were normally stored inside the hull to prevent damage to them during transit and were physically extended when needed.  “Standing by to launch counter-missiles.” He watched his screen as the missiles continued inbound. “6 million miles...5 million miles...launching counter missiles.” He pushed a button. 27 missiles leapt from their tubes and raced to meet the incoming missiles at over 100,000 G’s.

“All fighters launched and proceeding on mission,” reported Calvin, getting the word from his operations officer via his implant.

“I’ve got a second volley being launched,” said the DSO. “10 more inbound.”

“I’ve got a solution on the Drakul ship!” called the OSO.

“
Fire
!” ordered Captain Sheppard. “Take them out!” Almost immediately, he could feel the rumble as nine large ship-killers launched.

“Second volley of counter-missile
missiles away,” said the DSO. “Intercept of first volley.” He paused, watching his scope. “Four missiles still inbound.” He moved a switch and pushed a button. “Launching missiles at second volley. Second intercept of first volley; all missiles destroyed.”

“Skywatch reports that the intruder just transited out of the system,” called the communications officer.

“
Fuck!
” swore the OSO, losing his target. “Do you want me to abort our missiles?” With no target, the missiles would just be a hazard as they would continue to run until they found a target or ran out of power.

“Yes,” said
Captain Sheppard with a sigh. “Abort the missiles.”

“Second volley intercepted by counter missiles,” noted the DSO. “Six vampires remaining.” He paused. “Second intercept of second volley at 1.2 million miles...three missiles remaining,” announced the DSO. He pushed a new button, enabling the lasers. “
Damn it, these missiles are good. Lasers firing at the second volley.” He grabbed the microphone to transmit on the ship-wide intercom system. “
All hands, brace for impact!
”