Chapter 20

          To most of the gathered Arkonian soldiers, the vast hall would hardly be what they would call a bridge.  It was certainly large enough to house an entire starship with the exception of some of the larger battleships and, of course, a Cyclops Class bombardment ship.  Many of them were still trying to reconcile the fact that the immense construct really was a starship, and not just a magnificent palace dominating the old districts of their sprawling capitol city.  If that caused them any unease, they did not voice it.  The sense of honor that came with being called to serve here certainly drowned any of that out.

          The vaulted chamber was more of a throne room than a control center for the ship.  In fact, the only crewmen actually controlling the craft stood at an unusual control stand, their hands upon strange, rounded protrusions, their eyes upon a field of mist that displayed the space surrounding them.  Elsewhere, deep within the bowels of the ship were more usual control centers, where the more mundane aspects of her operations could be controlled.  Among them were the weapon control stations, where many of these soldiers would direct the huge ship-to-ship weapons that had been added by more recent craftsmen and workers.

          Everyone understood that the Master’s Palace was extremely old.  It not only predated the coming of the Masters, the men who had come from the stars two centuries ago to place the Arkonian people upon their current path, it was rumored to have even predated the Master himself.

          The assembled soldiers minds would shift between the utter dread of serving the Dark Living God of Arkonia and mindless joy at the honor of being selected to directly serve him.  Some had wept openly when given the news that they had been selected to serve in the Palace, that, not only was the legendary figure real, that they would serve in his favor, just as their Prime Ministers had done since he first revealed himself to them almost two centuries before.

          The Masters had come from a place they only referred to as “Their Ruined Home.”  They brought with them the technology to reach into the heavens and to conquer the primitive people of the planet.  They set themselves above the hearty folk of the planet, and gave them a more civilized tongue to speak.  They brought the whole world under their protective wing and embraced it, making it over in the image of their broken original home.

          For the first time in recorded history on Arkonia, the entire world had become one!

          It was then that the one, true Master made himself known to their new Masters.

          The Podondrin, Master of Arkonia, Keeper of the Three Seals of the Ascended was revealed to the Leaders of the Masters, blessing them for their deeds and showing his favor to the greatest among them.  He gave them the gifts of health and long life, putting them on the path that made their world the strongest ever known.  He told them how they would one day rise up to reclaim their ruined world, and make it their own forever just as they had done Arkonia.  He showed them how they would one day be able to cast out the evil that had driven them forth.

          There were more than three thousand men lined up in neat rows, flanking the wide central path of the bridge, leading the large throne resting upon a raised dais.  Most of them had never been in this part of the ship.  They usually were kept in their proper barracks, or served in some other capacity on the ship but today they were dressed out in their blue combat uniforms.  Burnished gray chest plates and high metal boots were worn, just as if they were heading off to battle.  The faceplates of their black helmets had been lowered, indicative that they were one mighty unit, and not a mass of individuals.  Their rifles were held in front of them, their hands gripping the pistol grips just below the trigger guards, their left hands on top of the weapon, holding the muzzle toward the ground.  In combat, the correct hand would hold the weapons, depending whether the soldier were right or left handed, but here, in formal stance, they each held it the same way.

          Many of the soldiers were thankful their faceplates were down.  Even though they were required to stand at rigid attention, their eyes could roam, and many were riveted directly at the large double door at the forefront of the chamber.  Later, many would recall there had been a very slight feeling of drawing back once those doors parted, though they tried by force of will to keep perfectly still.

          In their lifetimes, only one living person had seen Podondrin face to face.  It had been that way since he first revealed himself to the Masters.  A man would be selected who could lead the people, from among those newcomers, and he would receive the direct favor of the Dark One.  He would serve as the Prime Minister to the People, and be the voice of their living god.  Jahan Starler had served in that capacity now since long before any of these men had even been born.  He was a tall man, taller than any of the ordinary citizens, taller than any natural child of the World.  His long black hair hung in rivulets, draping over his caped shoulders.  He wore the same dark blue uniform as the rest of them, without the armored chest plates, with many decorations and medals in its place.

          He looked like a man in his middle years who was still fully in his prime.  There was a brightness and confidence in the man that radiated to whoever laid eyes upon him.  It was rumored that he was actually a century old, though some knew that he was only just shy of ninety.  He not only looked the exact age he had been when he gained the favor of Podondrin, he looked so perfectly healthy that it was almost inhuman.

          Starler was the first to enter, his cape sweeping out behind him as he strode to the exact center of the chamber and turned precisely on his heels.  His arms came up, sweeping the cape aside.  “All bow before our one true Lord.  Master of the Masters, Living Soul of Arkonia, Keeper of the Avatars of the Ascended…

          “Podondrin!”

          As one, the assembled soldiers dropped to their knees, placing their faces upon the deck, not daring to look up.  They could actually feel the presence of the Dread Lord as he entered the chamber for, as far as any of them knew, the first time ever.    

          “Rise.”  The voice seemed to boom and hiss, to thunder and whisper all at the same time.

          Podondrin stood among them.  Despite being carefully selected for this honor, some of the men almost swooned.  Many of them had some notion as how their ultimate master would appear.  There had been many renderings in many temples and many homes where icons of the Dark Leader were kept.  None of them knew for sure if these were artist’s imaginings or if some ancient limner had actually laid eyes upon him.

            He stood as a man, facing Starler.  He was a full head taller, standing over seven feet tall, not counting the curving, backswept wings that flanked his black and silver helmet.  The face was concealed behind the mask, which formed the basis of all the renderings the men had seen.  Slitted, slanting eyes were set deeply into sockets.  The mouth guard formed a sinister, angular smile.  Glittering black chain mail dripped from the edges of the helmet, disappearing into his shimmering black cloak.

          He raised his arms, revealing the black, segmented armor that covered his body.  The cloak was swept aside, much as Starler’s had, letting them see the glossy black and silver wrought into his chest plate.  The black pommel of a long sword was visible at his waist.

            Starler fixed his eyes on a general standing at attention before his men.  “Report, General Drakkon.”    

          “Most high lord!” he began, first addressing Podondrin, then Starler “Honored Prime-Minister.  The first wave has reached the planet and has engaged the small force protecting it.  They have set off a high-yield nullifier so nothing may escape.”   

          A warm smile spread across Starler’s face.  “Excellent.  The second wave?”

          “They are about to drop out of warp.  The escort ships are in place and have formed a cordon that would take a fleet of battleships to breach.  Nothing can stop our assault.”

          “Good.”  Podondrin hissed.  “Obliterate the colony.  Utterly.” He turned suddenly and strode back toward his chambers, Starler close behind.

          Drakkon turned back to his men.  It was as his god had commanded.  I would be done!

Chapter 21

          The sensation of acceleration decreased as they cleared the atmosphere, the synthetic gravity fully taking over.  He could actually feel the field damping their motion as he arced the ship up toward an exit vector.  The ship was powerful enough to take of and leave the gravitational field of the planet without first orbiting the planet, so Jimmy was simply flying directly out until the computer could take over and plot a course out of the system.

          The battle was covering a larger area than he had imagined.  Distant flashes of laser fire looked like heat lightning in the twilight sky of the upper atmosphere.  At first he could not make out individual ships but all were displayed on the tactical.  Their ship sped straight from the surface, the fighters breaking off to look for more targets near the surface.  There were plenty who would take care of the fleeing yacht above.  The computer chimed, drawing his attention back to the tactical display.  They were going to pass directly by two ships locked in combat.  They almost didn’t recognize the American ship as it drew near.  The Delilah was on fire, her main engines dark.  The Deltan ship, a small attack ship nearly as large as the American destroyer was pressing its advantage, firing multiple salvos at the flaming gash on the crippled ship.  Delilah tried to respond, but the enemy ship was staying carefully out of the field of fire of the large main turret.

          “Computer, target the Deltan ship and fire.” Jimmy expected the belly turret to respond, hoping against hope it might actually do some damage to the larger ship, but the Phantasm changed course suddenly.  Twin laser cannons, set in her bow, fired at the attacking destroyer, striking it directly on the large dorsal fin at its rear.  To his amazement, the weapon punched right through, creating a small but intense blast as the weapons located there exploded.

          Jimmy was astounded.  He was only vaguely aware of the forward weapons, but he had no idea why the ship had decided to use them like that.  Of course, it did make better sense, as the smaller weapons were designed to work against smaller craft.  The right tool for the job!

          Tinker was working feverishly at his own console.  A three dimensional tactical display suddenly appeared between them, displaying the two ships as they disappeared to the rear.  The Deltan was breaking off its attack on the Delilah, coming after them.  “Uh oh!  I hope Morrow can return the favor.  I don’t think we have the weapons to go toe to toe with a destroyer.”  Jimmy said through clenched teeth.

          “Actually, I think we do.” Tinker told them without looking up from his work.  “I outright lied to Adams about the capabilities of this ship.  I gave him the real engine schematics, which is what he was looking for, but I found some surprises even he wasn’t expecting.

          “For one thing, your computer did something I haven’t figured out at all yet.  When we downloaded the navigational files from the Delilah, she somehow got into her main computer and copied everything.  I don’t mean just the library files; I mean everything that was hooked up to the main system, which is just about every operational system of the ship.  I thought I recognized her personality once I started to work with it.

          “Then she started hiding things, just like the Delilah would if an unknown person tried to get into her files.  It wasn’t until I started looking at her systems directly that I discovered her true compliment.  She’s got the two turrets, all right, plus the two big lasers.  What was truly amazing are the particle accelerator cannons.  They’re on a palletized system, so they can be rotated out with the main cannons.  Particle accelerators, like those rifles in the armory, use a small metallic ball, accelerated through an ion field to just below the speed of light, imbuing them with a plasma charge.  They’re far more effective than just a laser, better at punching through armor.  These are even fancier than that.  They imbed the accelerated particle in a laser pulse, which causes even more damage on impact.

          “On top of that, we also have four missile launchers.  Those four hatches on the sides of the forward section, well, each one carries a high intensity ion warhead on a fully internal laser guided missile.  If that ship can catch up to us, that’s our best shot.  With the Delilah’s targeting suite, and the advanced tracking facilities we have on board, we’re probably every bit as formidable as the corvette this ship was built from.”

          “Will you quit jawing and do something, that ship is gaining on us!” Murky shouted over the intercom.

          “What do I have to do?”  Jimmy was tightening his harness, taking the throttle controls in his left hand, the joystick in his right.  He exhaled, emptying his lungs, and then taking in a slow deep breath.

          “The throttle is computer aided.  In combat mode, it becomes more like a true throttle.  Since we are outside the influence of planetary gravity, when we accelerate, the ship will not slow until you fire the retros.” He pointed to a switch on the side of the throttle.  “That is your auto-retro system.  In combat mode, you have to hold your thumb on it to make the computer automatically slow us when you back-throttle.

          “To select a weapon, just tell the computer.  The stud on your joystick fires the selected weapon, or you can tell the computer to target it for you, just like it did just then with the destroyer.  Relax; let the ship do the work.  All you have to do is input basic guidance.”

          Jimmy took another deep breath, focusing on the view screen in front of him.  It gave him a better view than the windows above.  If he was going to take the ship into combat in order to escape, he knew it would be done with sensors and artificially enhanced views.  Just looking out the windshield was almost useless.  He re-gripped the controls, bringing the ship about.

          The Deltan wasn’t expecting them to do that.  It banked to one side just as Jimmy fired the large lasers at it again, narrowly missing.  He pulled back on the control, executing a loop, bringing the enemy ship back into his sights.

          An alarm went off on the control panel.  “He’s got a missile lock on us.”  Two puffs burst from the side of the pursuing ship. 

          Jimmy thought fast.  “Engage countermeasures.”  He had no idea just how sophisticated that system was; at least it had been able to deflect twentieth century radar.  “Computer, take us to full ‘Combat Mode’!”

          “MODE ACTIVE.” Flashed up on the screen.  The lights suddenly dimmed, bringing the viewer and the tactical display into sharp focus.  His viewer jumped into a semi-three-dimensional display, which gave him a better view of his surroundings.

          The countermeasures screen lit up, indicating the status of their tracking damping.  “They’ve lost their targeting lock on us, but one of the missiles will hit in three… two... one.”

          The ship rocked at one of the missile struck their forward section.  The blast was momentarily blinding, but the glass of their main view port darkened automatically, protecting them.

          “How bad are we?”  Jimmy shouted.

          “NO DAMAGE!” Tinker reported back.  “One other thing.  That red on our forward section; it ain’t paint.  We have full pentronium armor.  It’ll take more than a standard torpedo to punch through that stuff.”

          Despite that, Jimmy didn’t want to test the strength of their pentra-whatsit on any more missiles.  The next thing fired at them just might be specially intended to work on their armor.  He barrel rolled the ship as the destroyer pressed an attack using laser cannon.  “Computer, switch to forward particle weapons.”

          He took his eyes of the view screen for a moment, watching the schematic suddenly highlight their forward section.  The selected weapon rolled into place, a note on the screen indicating its ammunition load to be one hundred percent.

          The tactical display suddenly showed another ship closing on them.  A fresh Deltan destroyer was targeting them.  He glanced at the countermeasures, which were doing their job, preventing the ship from getting a positive lock on them.  Still, a lucky shot with a manually aimed weapon could still hit them.

          He changed course, meeting the new ship head on.  He bobbed and swerved, dodging laser fire from the cruiser, touching the firing control just as he pulled up from the collision course.  A string of glowing white bursts streaked right at the closing ship, striking it directly in the bow section.  There was a bright flash as the pulses spent their energy.  He fired one missile at the ship as the passed.

          Almost faster than the eye could follow, one of the hatches on her side opened, releasing the guided missile.  It leapt out of its holder, arcing back toward the receding ship.  It struck the damaged forward section, causing an even larger explosion.

          The Deltan ship started to break up, secondary explosions tearing it apart from the inside.  Jimmy didn’t know it at the time, but he had hit the main ammunition magazine.  He turned back to their original course, an eye on the other crippled ship still pursuing them.  Another ship popped up on the tactical display.

          The Delilah was running on its auxiliary combat engines, but that was enough for it to make up the distance quickly at sub-light speeds.  This time, it brought its main turret to bear on its tormentor, firing four quick bursts from each cannon.  It ripped a huge, burning hole in the side of the enemy ship.

          Seizing the chance, Jimmy once again targeted the ship, firing another of their missiles at it.  This time the ship went up all at once as the Ion warhead ripped into its power plant.

          Dona was furiously working the communications console, but she wasn’t able to raise anyone.  Tinker abandoned his console for a moment, checking hers.  “There is a massive jamming field in place.  The only was we’re going to communicate with anyone is to pull along side and hold up signs.”
          “We can thank each other later, if there is a later for what remains of the defenses of this planet,” Jimmy said.  He throttled the ship up once more as Tinker returned to his seat.  “Computer, prepare to engage Hyperwarp Drive.”

          “HYPERWARP NOT ADVISED AT THIS TIME.” Reported the computer.

          “What the hell!” Tinker worked furiously at his station.  “Bad news.  Whatever they’re using to jam transmissions is causing enough magnetic flux to keep us from generating an ion bubble.  Without that, we can’t jump to Hyperwarp.”

          Jimmy and Dona looked at each other.  The whole plan was to break away from the planet, making their best speed to the next colony, a smaller system called Liebenhoff’s World, controlled by the German Republic.  “What can we do?” he finally asked.

          “If we can get clear of the effected area, we can produce enough of a bubble to make our jump.  Once in Hyperspace we’ll solidify the bubble and go to full acceleration.”

          Jimmy studied the tactical readout.  Seven other ships were changing course to intercept them. As formidable as his ship was, none of them considered themselves skilled enough to take on a whole squadron.  “What is that?” he asked, pointing at a long line of contacts at the edge of their selected field of view.

          Tinker adjusted the angle, examining the contacts.  “It’s a convoy of commercial ships.  They’re in the same boat as us, trying to get out of the system so they can go to Hyperwarp.  They were probably caught out in the open, cut off from returning to the surface.

          Jimmy had an idea.  So far, the attacking Deltan ships were concentrating their attention on the remaining UFSA destroyers.  He suddenly changed course, accelerating toward the convoy.

          The nearest of the interceptors entered his field of vision.  It was another of the wedge shaped scoutships they had encountered when they reached that first star-system.  Laser fire glanced off their armor as the small, fast ship engaged them.  The Phantasm dove between two huge freighters, the smaller ship hot on its tail.

          Jimmy’s guess was right.  Just as they were, the freighters were not totally helpless.  While their weapons were not on the par with their own, they battered the little ship mercilessly.  It broke off the attack, running back to the safety of the more formidable Deltan ships.

          With the communications out, Jimmy didn’t know if the other ships were cursing him or offering encouragement.  He sped past the larger ships, on a course for the distant head of the convoy.  A Deltan destroyer was just reaching them.  He fired one of the two remaining missiles, this time narrowly missing the approaching ship.

          “They have their own countermeasures on this time.” Tinker reported.

          He weaved the ship in and out of the thick convoy.  Oddly enough, it was not paying much heed to the slower ships.  They were now an official target of the attacking task force.  He looped suddenly around one of the larger ships, silently praying he didn’t give its crew heart attacks.  He passed directly above the surprised Deltan.  Its upper turrets tried to bracket him, but he turned the ship sideways, letting the bursts pass harmlessly by.  The enemy ship suddenly accelerated, taking up the chase once more.

          Colonel Morrow was busily trying to divide his attention between the whole battle, and the desperate chase-taking place among the convoy ships.  That couldn’t possibly be them, he wondered, watching as the little ship literally danced around the slower Deltan ship.

          “Commander Adams would shit his pants if he could see what that ship is doing right now.” He told his tracking officer.  He scanned the other ships under his command.  A group of five newer model destroyers were holding their own, keeping a squadron of lighter Deltan ships from attacking the already embattled orbital station.  Another contact, indicating one of the Delilah’s sister ships, had gone dim.  The ship hadn’t been destroyed, but it was effectively out of the battle.  That made his ship the lead vessel defending the planet.

          His attention shifted for a moment back to the flight of the Phantasm.  It was deep within the convoy now, trying to bait the larger Deltan ship into the convoy’s field of fire.  He thought it was shear genius for them to lure that smaller ship to the convoy.  He just didn’t want to be there if one of the freighter captains ever got a hold of the pilot.

          He was banking harder than the gravitational dampers could handle. If it were not for the harness they would each have been thrown against the walls.  The destroyer fired again, the blast harmlessly passing to their port side.  His fingers were turning red and white from gripping the controls so hard.  He slammed the control over once more, sending them spiraling to the right as he pulled backwards on the throttle.

          The black destroyer shot by them suddenly, not compensating for his sudden drop in speed.  Jimmy fired the particle accelerator cannons twice, ripping an ugly gash on the side of the Deltan ship.  The rear turret of the destroyer fixed on them, firing a salvo of energy bursts, just missing them as he accelerated ahead again.

          “My arms are starting to hurt!” Jimmy shouted.

          “Relax your grip on the controls.  You’re doing just fine.  Let the ship do the hard part.” Advised Tinker.  Despite the cool temperature maintained on the bridge they were both sweating profusely.

          The Deltan was taking up the chase again.  Its main torpedo launcher flashed again, sending a ball of seething energy homing in on their engines.  The tail gun fired twice, obliterating the missile.  Jimmy throttled up again, sending them rocketing forward.  He released his finger from the automatic retro system and pulled the throttle to zero, slamming the stick to the right.  The Phantasm turned neatly on her axis while still traveling in the same direction.  The pursuing destroyer came into their forward view; the twin cannons fired again, blasting a huge chunk out of the ship’s forward section.  Secondary explosions could be seen as Jimmy slammed the throttle forward again, suddenly sending them rocketing right by the doomed ship.  Murky fired a few parting shots from the tail gun as they passed.

          “Are we clear of the convoy yet?” Jimmy asked, not wanting to take his eyes off the forward viewer.        

          “Almost…. Uh Oh! Three enemy fighters closing on an intercept vector!”

          The fighters appeared as tiny green lights on his 3-D tactical globe.  They were coming from the lower quadrant. “Computer, target the enemy contacts and fire at will.”  As quickly as the word “WORKING” flashed up on the screen, the lower weapon fired, mixing laser bursts with particle fire.  Two of the fighters disappeared in a cloud of expanding gas.  The third flashed by them, arcing on a return vector.

          Jimmy increased velocity again.  The last of the freighter convoy was just coming into visual range.  The ships were huge, whale shaped gray ovals in the night sky.  One was already trailing plasma and debris. A Deltan destroyer was harassing the smaller, unarmed ships, while dodging fire from the inadequate weapons onboard the larger ships.

          “Computer, target the enemy contact and set for auto-fire.” Jimmy ordered.  A targeting icon appeared on the main viewer.  The ship would fire automatically if the Deltan crossed the target.  The fighter had realized the lower turret only protected their lower quadrant, and was pressing its attack from above.  Jimmy simply rolled the ship, bringing the belly gun to bear.  The fighter dived to one side as the computer fired at it twice, narrowly missing it.

          Jimmy finally lined his ship up with the fast moving destroyer.  The cannons fired repeatedly as he maintained as good a lock on the ship as he could.  The particle stream crossed the drive section of the ship, ripping a fiery hole in the outer shroud.  A minor explosion took out part of her drive.

          Murky was hooting and screaming as the fighter passed in and out of his view.  He fired the tail gun as it went by, striking the wing.  The fighter spun momentarily out of control, inadvertently passing into the field of fire of the belly gun.  A quick blast ended it quickly.

          Abandoning its attack on the convoy, the destroyer turned its attention to the Phantasm.  The rotating turrets fired even as it turned to face the fast moving target.

          “Do we have a clear escape vector yet?” Jimmy asked Tinker.

          “It looks like we still have too much magnetic flux to form a Hyperwarp bubble.”

          “Damn!  Computer, return fire control to me.”

          He banked right, skimming the surface of a huge transport.  Using his left hand, he gradually increased the throttle, sending the ship rocketing back out into the open.  The destroyer left the convoy, heading directly for them.    Murky fired his guns, with little effect on the strong armor.  He switched over to particle accelerator; firing wildly at what he hoped was the bridge.  One of the controls on the screen turned red and an alarm sounded as he exhausted his ammunition.  In his excitement, it took him a few moments to switch back over to laser power.

          The Phantasm continued to accelerate.  Jimmy hoped they could out accelerate the larger ship at sublight.  At least they had taken the attention away from the commercial freighter convoy.  “Hold on!” he shouted.  He tried his spin maneuver again but this time the enemy ship was ready.  It suddenly accelerated past them.  Several blasts rocked them as laser fire connected with their hull.

          “The armor is holding.  We’re at fifty percent load on our particle accelerators.  The tail gun is completely out of PA ammo but his laser system is functioning at seventy-five percent.” Tinker reported.  Jimmy fired the engines again, banking left to avoid another volley of cannon fire.  “We have contacts closing on our upper vector.  At least one of them is a battleship.”

          “I see it.” Jimmy slammed the controls over again, sending them arcing back toward the convoy.  The damaged destroyer broke off its pursuit as the fresh ships came into range.  The computer identified the ship as an Andrea Markus class battleship.  It was a slower ship, but the weapons on board posed a serious threat regardless of their armor.

          “Tinker, what happens if you go to light speed without the Ion bubble?”

          “You can get massive energy distortions.  I’ve heard of ships ripping themselves apart just as they enter the Hyperwarp threshold.  Why?”

          “I have an idea.  I have a hunch this ship just might be able to compensate for the magnetic flux just enough for what I have in mind.”  Switching the ship to total manual, he accelerated, turning toward the approaching battleship.  He swerved and banked madly, avoiding the blasts coming from the large, green-black ship.  Using his right hand, he switched on the chronal damping system.

          “WARNING.  MAGNETIC FLUX IS AT CRITICAL LEVELS.  HYPERWARP IS NOT ADVISED.” The computer warned.  ‘Not advised’ Jimmy repeated to himself.  It didn’t say ‘Not possible.’  He said a silent prayer and engaged the Hyperwarp drive.

          The ship bucked and shook wildly as the passed the light speed threshold.  The gravitational compensators only were able to damp a portion of the wild ride.  He throttled the ship back down, dropping out of warp.  As they emerged into normal space, the computer resumed tracking the battleship, now far behind them.

          The ship looked like it was imploding.  It literally stretched as part of its hull tried to pull it back out of stationary space plus.  Patterns of coherent energy coalesced about the hull as it snapped back fully into normal space.  It was more than the ship could take.  The hull split open, sending boiling plasma rocketing out into space.  The whole thing burst into a fireball as the drive went up.

          “GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY DANCING ON MY GRANDMA’S GRAVE WHAT DID YOU DO?” shouted Murky over the intercom.

          Jimmy was too busy to reply.  Tinker offered his explanation instead. “When we accelerated into Hyperwarp, we opened a portal into space plus.  We passed close enough to the battleship to cause part of it to be sucked in after us.”  That part at least he understood.  What he didn’t know was why they hadn’t been ripped apart just like the larger ship.

          The computer was back on-line, computing a Hyperwarp vector.  The ‘not advised’ warning flashed in red on the screen, but Jimmy was not paying it any attention.  He checked the star chart, and then punched in a set of coordinates.  They didn’t have the supplies to get all the way to Earth, but they could make the Indus System in several days.  Satisfied, he engaged the Hyperwarp drive.

          This time, their entry was almost as smooth as normal.  Beyond the influence of the battle, the ship finally created the ion bubble around them, allowing them to accelerate to his chosen velocity of fifteen light speed.  He relaxed, sitting back on his lounge.  He closed his eyes, rubbing his temples.

          Dona undid her harness on her seat at the rear of the bridge.  She hugged both of them in turn.  “Good lord, I’m not cut out for this.”

          “Neither one of us are.” Jimmy replied.

          “Good god, Jimmy,” Tinker blurted, “You just destroyed a battleship and at least four destroyers with what’s supposed to be just a yacht.  Do you have any idea what that takes.  There are starship commanders who don’t have those kind of kills, and in one battle.”

          “Look, the credit is with this little ship.  You said for yourself she’s thirty or so years ahead of her time.  They just weren’t expecting this little thing to have that kind of firepower.”  Murky was making his was back from the tail gun.  He high-fived Dona as he entered the bridge, causing her to jump especially high.  She hugged him around the waist.  Tinker seemed to notice something, turning his attention to the tracking screen.

          “Dear God, that was the most fun I’ve ever had.  And that includes sex!” Murky announced.

          “Now that’s not saying very much.” Dona countered.  Murky just swatted her bottom with his open palm.  “Hey, no copping a feel.” She said when his hand lingered just a bit too long.

          Jimmy looked over at Tinker, who had turned white as a sheet.  “What’s wrong, our drive doing something funny?”

          “No,” he said, his voice oddly quiet.  “We just passed a ship going toward the planet.”

          “One of ours, I hope?”

          “It can’t be.  We don’t have anything that large.”

          Jimmy swiveled his seat to see the computer-generated view of the ship.  It was huge, larger than anything he had seen so far.  According to the scale, it was more than a mile long.  It had a large complicated looking forward superstructure, connected to the monstrous drive section by a long shaft.  The computer displayed the reading it had taken of its drive output.  A single name scrolled by.

          Tymberanden.

          “My parents were in New York during the attack on Earth.  They’re still officially listed as missing, but I have accepted the truth that they died during the attack.  That ship held a position surrounded by dozens of smaller ships and bombarded Earth for hours until enough ships could be rounded up to take on her cordon.  Once it was threatened, it turned tail and ran.  Every time it’s seen, it does the same thing.  We must have accelerated past the cordon without picking them up.”  Indeed, the computer was starting to pick up smaller signals on the rapidly receding task force.

          “What can we do?” Murky asked him.  “I don’t think we have enough particle balls left on this ship to make a dent in that thing.”

          “You said it yourself, Tinker.” Dona said. “We did far more than would even have been expected of us.  We may have more powerful weapons than they expected from this ship, but we don’t have anything of use.”

          “Not to mention they’re jamming any kind of signal we could send.” Jimmy said, reading the communications console.

          “There’s something else I didn’t tell you about.” Tinker sat down on the edge of the right lounge. “The big particle accelerators are one thing, but this ship is equipped with an Ion Lock-in Weapon.”

          “The four big scoops in the nose?” queried Jimmy.

          “That’s it.  I knew what they were the moment I laid eyes on them.  I’m sure Adams knew too, but the computer was displaying a false schematic showing them disconnected and dismantled.  When I was working on the computer system, I discovered the truth that they were not only still in place, they were more powerful than the main guns on the Delilah.  Since these engines are about twenty times more efficient than what’s currently in use, there is far more power at our disposal than there ordinarily would be.  We actually have two cannons, one for each engine.  The four scoops are what’s called a split-fire direction system.  If both are fired at once, they form one beam of immense power.

          “The only thing wrong is; to generate a full power pulse, we have to direct all power from the engines.  On the Delilah, we can use a fraction of the power from the engines to generate a smaller, but usable pulse.  Even with the power we have, we’ll have to use our total output to punch through her armor.”

          “That’s assuming we’re going back to attack her.”  Murky countered.

          “Dammit, we’ve got to do something, anything!  If you don’t, Jimmy, if somebody doesn’t do anything they are going to kill everybody on Swingaround and this time.  There’s nothing left that can stop it.  The Delilah and a clutch of Union class destroyers couldn’t punch their way past the escort even if they were in tip top shape” Tinker looked at him, imploring.  “Dona is right.  You’ve already done more than anyone would expect from you but this is beyond that. This is about more than just the four of us, this is about half a billion people trapped on that planet.  More than half of them are all crammed into one city, ripe for them to blast all to hell with that big mass driver!”

          Jimmy closed his eyes, putting his face in his palms, running his hands down his face.  He couldn’t believe what he was thinking.  “What kind of defenses does that ship have?”

          “I would assume just like any other warship, just a lot more of it.  The only thing I’ve ever really heard about was her escort.  They use a bunch of heavily armored destroyers with massive ship-to-ship weaponry.  They will let loose with a barrage of missiles and laser fire.  Nothing can get through that unscathed.”  He pointed at the hologram.  “These are definitely turrets.  This doesn’t really show the smaller weapons, though I don’t think it will matter.  They’ll fire on us just as if we were any other capitol ship.”

          “And just what are we supposed to do about the escort ships?”      

          “They set off some kind of weapon, assuming it would keep all our ships from jumping to warp.  They’re going to think all they have to do is keep what’s left of our ships from making a suicide run at her.  With their firepower there wouldn’t be dust reaching the bastard!  But we’ve got the ace, we’ve got the one ship that can warp in PAST the escort.  We can get in and get a shot off.  I know it’s not much, but at least we could be lucky enough to do some damage and delay it, even just a little bit so the 3^Rd fleet can return.”

          Jimmy was torn.  The two people he cared for most were right with him, three if you count their unborn baby.  Attacking that ship was just what Tinker said, it would be like committing suicide.  He just could not reconcile that with the millions of lives on Swingaround.  Not to mention, unlike Earth twenty some odd years ago, most of them were concentrated in a relatively small area.  They would be devastated by an attack, probably even wiped out.

          Jimmy had never been called on before to make such a decision.  He was, after all, still a teenager.  By this point, he figured, the most important decision should have been what college to attend next year, and how were Dona and he going to live once the married.  Now he was in command of a sleek, fast fighting ship, involved in an interstellar war, responsible for their four lives, and soon to become a father to boot.  He looked Dona straight in the eye and made a decision. “I love you, Dona.”

          “I love you.” She replied.

          “Tinker, get the computer working on anything it needs to fire that weapon.  Dona, see what you can do with the communications array.  See if you can raise the battleship fleet and warn them what’s coming.  Murky, get back to the tail gun just in case they have fighters in their escort.  Computer, do we have escape pods?”

          “ONE TWO-PERSON UNIT REMAINS.” It replied, displaying its location on the schematic.

          “Dona, never mind the communications.  I want you in that pod.  Tinker, once we’re ready I want you there too.”

          “No way in hell.” He replied.

          “Do it.  I’m in command of this ship.  We’ll only get one chance at this, and you have the best chance of getting Dona away if this goes south.”

          Tinker conceded the point, going to work on the computer.  Jimmy shut down the Hyperwarp Drive, plotting a return course.  He said a prayer aloud, joined enthusiastically by Tinker.

          “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want….”

          Commander Adams sat smugly in his command seat at the rear of the U.S.S. North Carolina’s bridge.  They engaged the three ships before they could attack the small colony on Rodner’s World.  The destroyers put up little resistance, only turning to run as soon as the fleet of brand-new battleships emerged from Hyperwarp.  Not expecting the extra speed of the sparkling new ships, they didn’t even get a chance to turn and engaged them in broadside combat.  Ready for an escape attempt, they had their Ion Lock-in weapons primed and caught all three before they could jump to space plus.

          The bridge of the North Carolina was much like the Delilah’s, only larger and much newer.  It was arranged in two levels, with the command center occupying the rear, overlooking individual operations stations on the lower level.  At the front was the main view port, massive shuttered windows looking out over the bow of the massive ship.  A large holographic display hung over the main opening, giving everyone a view of their tactical situation. A communications officer called to him from ‘the pit.’ or the lower section.  “Commander, we have a transmission coming from the Swingaround system.” 

          “On my screen.”  A small view screen popped up to the left of his seat.

          “Its badly garbled sir.  It was jammed at the source.”

          “Can you make it out at all?”

          “Just the visual, Sir.  It will take a few moments to clean up the audio.”

          “Get on it, give me the visual.”  He immediately recognized the young woman on his screen.  Dona Argus was animatedly saying something in the grainy picture.  The message ended, repeating again.  The picture cleared up slightly, and something behind her caught his eye.  “Enhance that holo-image in the lower corner.”

          The image popped up, the computer filling in details the damaged image couldn’t maintain.  Adams felt the blood run out of his face.

          The attack on Rodner’s world was a ruse to draw them away from Swingaround.  He realized his mistake.  They were too secure in the fact Swingaround was so far from the front lines.

“Red Alert.  All Hands to battle stations.  Contact the fleet.  Set a return course for Swingaround at maximum speed.  I don’t care if some of the ships can’t keep up; I want every ship back as fast as they can get there.

          “Ready for normal space in five, four, three, two, one…” Jimmy pulled back the throttle as the dropped out of Hyperwarp.  They emerged inside the escort cordon, the massive torg just coming into view.  He throttled back up, making a run right at the huge battlewagon.  A massive barrage of laser fire greeted them.  He dodged the larger blasts, trying to ignore the lighter fire, hoping the pentronium armor would hold.

          The Tymberanden had emerged from Hyperwarp.  The planet was a tiny speck in the distance, right in the huge bombardment weapon’s sights.  Suddenly, the battle-head flared, sending a huge ball of charged Plasma toward the surface.  It was called a charged particle weapon, a monstrous version of their particle accelerators.  The ‘torpedo’ picked up speed, rocketing toward the planet.  Their viewer switched to a closer view of the planet.

          The torpedo hit Swingaround Station in what they recognized as a commercial refinery.  It went up in a blinding flash.  Weak beams of light struck out at the distant torg.  None of the remaining Starforce destroyers could break free from the smaller ships engaging them.  They would be no match for the escort cordon.

          “The escape pod is shot!” Dona shouted, mounting the spiral stairs.  “Something must have got it through our armor.”

          “Find somewhere and strap in.” Tinker shouted back at her.  He threw the final switch. “We’re ready.”

          Jimmy throttled the engines up to maximum but they didn’t accelerate.  Instead, their power was directed within.  He touched the control to close the shutters on the bridge.  A cover also irised closed over the forward observation lounge.  The engines increased in pitch, a screeching sound like metal tearing filling the ship.  He could feel the force feedback system fight him, the ship using only small control jets to avoid the constant barrage of anti-ship laser fire.  He once again gripped his controls like death itself was at his heals.  Just as the sound reached intolerable levels, he touched the firing stud on his joystick.

          The sound was sudden and deafening.  The ship roared like a thousand waterfalls were pouring over them at once.  He could feel the harness grab him as the massive recoil of the Ion cannons threw the ship backward.   He risked a look at the view screen.  “Good God! Hold on!” he let go of the controls, grabbing a hold of his lounge arms.  The ship was suddenly rocked as something hit it like a hammer blow.

          Everything had gone completely black. Debris pounded against the hull, sounding like a rain of bullets.  Jimmy found the control for the shutters, but it would not work.  A tiny light suddenly shined from Tinker's workstation.  He had Jimmy's old-fashioned flashlight.

          The bridge was filled with thin white smoke.  The main computer screen was cracked and charred.  The smoke was filled with the odor of ozone.  "We're dead in space.  We don't even have an engineering screen operational to tell us whatever’s wrong."  Tinker fumbled out of his harness, and pushed himself to the open hatch behind them.  The light cast an eerie beam in the smoke, making him look like an ethereal shadow as he made his was carefully back.

          Jimmy suddenly remembered his own tools and touched a control on his chronometer.  The tiny light was just enough to make out the controls around him. It didn't matter. Everything was completely dead.  "Dona, where are you?"

          "Back here." he panned his light around and found her strapped into one of the crew quarters acceleration lounges.  It must have been the only one she could get to in time.

          "Stay where you are.  The gravity is off and we have no power."  He suddenly remembered something and pulled himself down to the floor.  The main power distribution panel had kicked fully to the off position.  He mentally crossed his fingers and started to switch them to prewarm.  Nothing happened.

          Then, suddenly, the ship began to shudder.  Slowly, the old familiar humming sound grew from the rear.  He waited until it died down, and then flipped the controls to stand-by.  Tinker pulled himself back into the bridge.  "Try the Life Support System first.  It should be the third switch."  Jimmy remembered the order, but was thankful for the help.  Air handlers hummed, removing the smoke from the air.  Dim lights started coming on, though many of them no longer functioned.

          One by one they threw the switches, turning power back on.  The gravity came back on, much weaker than before.  At least they would have a floor to stand on; Jimmy was already getting tired of free-fall.  They threw the Main Computer Core last.  A shower of sparks erupted from the shattered screen, quickly smothered by automatic fire suppression.  Tinker checked the auxiliary console at his station.  "The whole system is fried.  We must have had a massive power backlash."  He operated another set of controls.  "We have manual control, but the automation system is out too."

          "Dona, get back to the tail-gun and check on Murky." Jimmy said.  He reached for the shutter control.  The two of them stood in utter shock at what they saw.

          All that remained of the Tymberanden was a rapidly dissipating cloud of debris and charged particles.  Even Tinker thought the best they could do was damage the outer hull of the monster ship.  Instead, the combined fire of their Ion Lock-in weapon had destroyed the entire ship.  "Dear God..." was all Jimmy could muster.

          The cheering finally died down on the bridge of the North Carolina.  They emerged from Hyperwarp just as the Tymberanden had, watching in horror as the tiny ship charged.  They thought at first the Phantasm was going to ram the ship in a futile attempt to destroy it.  Adams stood there slack-jawed.  He knew the craft had once had ion weapons, he just couldn’t believe they were still operational and capable of destroying such a large ship.  He had been hoping to get a good shot in with the North Carolina’s own cannon, but he was expecting to throw the entire Third Fleet at the ship.  A sensor operator brought him an electronic clipboard.  The readings it showed were unbelievable.

          The Phantasm appeared on the main screen.  The blast had seared away most of her outer paint, showing the dark red of her pentronium armor beneath.  She was slowly drifting planet ward.    He turned his attention back to the battle command center.

          The remaining Deltan ships were retreating.  Without their main bombardment weapon, they were of little use against the massing Third Fleet.  A flotilla of Union class destroyers broke off and harried the fleeing ships.

          Commander Adams returned his attention to the small ship.  "Just what did they do?"

          The younger man at the console touched a control and a brief playback appeared on his small screen.  It showed the tiny ship again rocketing toward the huge ship, a by-line showing the build-up of power in her engines.  A blast of searing white light erupted from the four scoops in her bow, joining to form a single beam of coherent energy.

          The beam struck, not the hull as they had thought, but a torpedo as it was fired toward the planet surface.  The blazing ball of red plasma did not even clear the launcher when it erupted, discharging its immense energy.  The great battle-head of the ship went up first, secondary blasts working their way back the tubular shaft to the main drive.  The drive went up in a huge ball of white light as its singularity power source imploded.  Another flash, this time like a supernova, followed as free matter combined with anti-matter, causing mutual annihilation.  There was nothing left except an expanding cloud of debris and glowing plasma.

          The crewman replayed the sequence again, this time highlighting the position of the Phantasm.  The First explosion encompassed the ship instantly.  By the time the ship was visible to the naked eye again, the cloud had already begun to dissipate.  She was drifting faster and faster toward the planet.

          "Pull along side her and get a tether on that ship.  Those people are alive, that's an order."

          "YES SIR!!" responded the helmsman.

          Tinker pulled a section of the console loose and started pulling out conduits.  He hastily reattached them to the communications console.  It flickered, and then lit up.  The chatter coming over the speakers was cacophonous and impossible to understand.  He made a few adjustments, singling out one signal.  "Come in, X.S.S. Phantasm.  This is Station control, do you read?"

          He handed the headset to Jimmy.  "Station control, this is Phantasm, over."

          "What is your status, Phantasm?"

          "We've lost computer control and automation.  We're totally on manual and our engines haven't come back on line yet."  

          "U.S.S. North Carolina is trying to get a tether on you.  You are drifting toward Swingaround."

          There was a clang as a magnetic tether contacted the hull.  The battleship pulled her around, parallel to her course.  The screen on the console winked to life.  Commander Adams was at the same time congratulating them and giving them instructions.  He didn't hear him as his attention was diverted to the crew quarters.

          Dona wasn't having too much difficulty with the unconscious Murky in the light gravity.  His uniform shirt was soaked with blood.  Jimmy rushed over to him and helped her put him on one of the bunks.  Dona had already found a med-kit in the turret and bandaged the ragged wound on his shoulder.

          "How bad is he?" he asked.

          "I don't know.  He was still conscious when I found him.  Part of the servo mount broke loose and skewered him."  Jimmy hunted in one of the lockers.  He produced a fresh can of med foam and sprayed it liberally on the wound.  Murky was pale, it seemed like he had lost a large quantity of blood.  There was a loud clank toward the rear of the ship.

          “Phantasm, do you read?...  The magnetic tether had failed…  Come in Phantasm.”

          Tinker rushed back over to the console.  He tried to fire their own tether, but the controls were fused.  “Jimmy, if we don’t get the engines started, we’re in trouble.”

          Jimmy shoved the med foam can into Dona’s hand, running back to the bridge.  He hit the engine control over and over, hoping beyond hope the ship would respond.  He started working the throttle controls back and forth.

          “We’re going to hit the atmosphere in ninety seconds.”  They watched in horror as the North Carolina tried to fire its tether again, falling well short of the falling ship.

          “Gravity repulsion?”

          “Nothing, we barely have enough field to produce deck gravity, and that is failing rapidly.”  They could feel the lessening pull on their bodies.

          “What about maneuvering thrusters?’

          “We’re falling too fast for them to do any good, they’re just not that powerful.”

          “Dona! How bad was that escape pod!?”

          “No good, it’s pretty badly shot up!”

          An idea suddenly struck her.  She grabbed Murky, regardless of the severity of his wounds.  “Both of you come with me.  If this works we’ll all get out of here.

          Adams was gripping the rail overlooking the ‘pit,’ his knuckles turning white.  Three time they fired the magnetic tether.  He had no idea how the first one had slipped loose, and the other tries didn’t even connect.  The massive ship just couldn’t maneuver that quickly.  If they just were in a smaller ship, he could order them to fly under the ship, actually catching it.  That would have damaged both ships, but everyone would likely survive.

          The Phantasm was just starting to re-enter the atmosphere, streamers of super-heated gas forming in its wake.  At any other angle, the pentronium armor might afford some protection, but falling ass backwards toward the planet, the whole ship would burn up entirely before it got anywhere near the surface.  About the only thing left would be pieces of the pentronium armor.

          A wave of guilt washed over him.  Despite his active dislike of that boy, Argus, he couldn’t deny what the young man had done that day.  Respect meant more to him than any like or dislike, and despite the other feeling he had about the young man, he certainly had a great deal of respect for him now.  Not to mention, this was no way for a hero of that magnitude to die.  Better to have perished in the initial blast than burn to death as your ship crashes planet ward.

          There was a sudden flash of light from the belly of the doomed ship.  Something small and gray was moving rapidly away, climbing free of the burning atmosphere.  The tiny little ship swerved around, taking a stationary position in orbit, as if watching the larger ship burn away to nothing.

          The Phantasm suddenly exploded in a white-hot ball of energy as it fell toward the planet, finally obliterating the ship.

          Adams pushed a pile of forms across the conference table in Jimmy’s direction.  “That is your application to the Starforce Academy at Miami.”  He pulled out a pen, setting it on top of the stack.  “Filling that out is just a formality at this point, since your appointment has already been signed by the colony’s senator.”

          “I don’t understand.  I thought I’ve made it perfectly clear I wasn’t going to join any sort of military service.”  He said, glancing at the papers.  They were already stamped ‘approved’.

          Adams tapped on another stack of forms in front of him.  “Do you know what these are?” He turned the top page so Jimmy could see it.  “I have twenty three criminal complaints from freighter captains against you and your companions.  And here is a citation for ignoring a stand-down order from ground control.  Here is a citation for operating a class one ship manually without a license.  Do you see where I’m going, son?”

          Tova stood up from his place behind him.  “Mr. Argus, you’ve demonstrated abilities far beyond the average candidate for the academy.  You are the type of quality person we desperately need, especially now that Delta has launched these new offenses.”

          “So in order to get me, you’re willing to blackmail me?”

          “Let me just say, if you agree to sign up, we’ll put our full legal weight behind you.  For instance, that also contains a battlefield commission to captain, backdated to before the battle.  That essentially would absolve you from prosecution for almost all of this.” He tapped the stack lightly. 

          “Call it what you will, son.” Adams added.  “If you don’t sign those papers, a whole shit-storm is going to land in your lap.”

          “And what about my wife, Lt. Peterson and Murky?”

          “What about them?”

          “Are they in the same kind of trouble?”

          “No, Peterson and Bedarest were acting under orders from their commanding officers.  For all intents and purposes, that was you, since they were assigned to your ship by Colonel Morrow.”

          “Commander Morrow.” Tova corrected him.

          “Anyhow, I’m prepared to offer commissions to Bedarest and your wife as well, if that’s what it will take to convince you.”

          Jimmy was having a hard time hiding how upset he was.  Reluctantly, he started signing the forms, finally handing them back to Adams.  “I don’t know if that’s what Dona wants, but I’ll ask her.”

          “You do that, Captain.” Tova said, getting up to open the door for him.  Jimmy stood up, going to attention and saluting as best he could.

          “Dismissed.” Adams said, barely waving his hand returning the salute.  He watched the young man leave as Tova closed the door.

          “That was an awful chance you took there, John.  Those aren’t complaints, they’re commendations from the various shipping companies he saved their ships from that destroyer.”

          Adams chuckled slightly.  “You see, I’m learning from you Barron.  No, I know we couldn’t convince him otherwise.”

          “Yes, but if he still refused and you tried to prosecute him anyway, you would have gotten barbecued by the public.  They’re holding him up as a war hero now.”

          “Oh, I know that.  I wasn’t going to press the matter further.  Besides, he would have looked silly refusing a commission from the President himself, not to mention a Silver Star.  I could care less what the public thinks about me.”

          “We really missed out on that ship of his.  At least now we’ll get a good look at the little one this time.  I see you ordered it outfitted with new weapons and armor.”

          “That was Commander Vinson’s idea.  He wanted it to be a repayment of sorts for their losing their ship in the battle.  I’ll play it safe this time and let him hold on to it for now.  We’ll have plenty of time to go over it while he’s in the Academy.”

          Yes, Tova thought, at least this hasn’t been a total loss.

          The spring air was clean, cool and invigorating.  The sun was high overhead, flanked by the two small moons of Swingaround.  The sky was clear blue, with only a couple wispy white clouds.  Jimmy and Dona stood at attention on the highly polished landing pad, waiting for the approaching group to reach them. They were both wearing blank Starforce Uniforms, black slacks, gray and yellow shirts and high dark brown boots.  It had been more than two months since the battle, and Dona was starting to show.

          Murky, also in his uniform, fidgeted in his floating 'wheelchair.'  He did his best to come to attention as Commander Adams and his entourage reached them.  Timken "Tinker" Peterson stood at attention to their side. All four fired off crisp salutes.   Adams stopped ten feet in front of them and returned the salute.

          "By order of the Commander-in-Chief and Congress, under the recommendation of the Governor of Swingaround, The Unified Federal Starforce of America bestows upon you the following commissions.  For bravery in the Battle of Swingaround, Lieutenant Peterson and Corporal Bedarest, you have both been promoted to the rank of Captain.  James Argus and Dona Argus, by special order from the president himself, you have been granted a battlefield commission." he reached into a box held by one of his men.  He pulled out captain's insignia and pinned them on each of the four.  "Captain Peterson, your new assignment will be Chief Engineer on my ship.  Captain Argus, Captain Argus and Captain Bedarest, your orders are to report to Starforce Academy on Earth for special training."

          "When are we to leave, Sir?" Jimmy asked.  It would take their little Azarian ship seven weeks to reach Earth at conservative speed.  No need to show off to everyone the just how special the little ship was.

          "That's up to you, Captain.  Your classes will not start until September.  I suggest you get to know about your new world.  And I think some celebration would be in order."  It was the first time any of the quartet had ever seen Adams smile.  "Dismissed." He turned on his heel, followed closely by his men.  A single clap sounded from the assembled crowd just beyond the edge of the landing pad.  Suddenly the whole crowd erupted in applause and growing cheers for them.

          Jimmy turned and patted the forward strut of his ship.  He looked up at her.  The little ship was just large enough for the time-lost trio to make their trip back to Earth, though not in the comfort of their old ship.  The smaller craft was bright red, with gray and black accents all over.  Just like the Phantasm; the red was not paint, but the natural color of her new pentronium armor.  On her flanks was a hand painted insignia of the Norse Goddess, Brunhilda, the Valkyrie, Chooser of those slain in battle.

             A sergeant came forward and presented them each with a shoulder patch with a black outline of Deltan Torg for their uniforms.  He used a special tool and applied it to each of them in turn.  Jimmy waved to the crowd, took Dona's hand briefly in his, and climbed into the cockpit of the sparrow mini fighter.  Dona helped Murky into the main cabin, his wounds still needing to heal for a while.  Tinker waved at them as they left.

          Soon the engines revved to life, and the ship lifted smoothly from the pad.  It drifted over the cheering crowd before climbing into the sky.

Chapter 22

          After a weeks preparation, they were finally ready to leave.  Dona and Murky were stuffing bags into the small hold.  Despite the fact everything they owned was on board the Phantasm when it went down, they lacked for little.  In fact, they now had more things than they could carry on the Valkyrie.  Jimmy watched them from the forward cockpit, considering the few things they could grab as they fired up the small ship to escape the doomed Phantasm. They had gone straight to the hold, and the only things in it beside the fighter ship were tools.  They almost tripped over Jimmy’s discarded bicycle, but they decided to leave it behind.  The only thing he grabbed as he left was the expensive pistol they had found in the hold.

          Murky was trying to figure out how to load their new recumbent bicycles into the ship without cramming them into the main living quarters.  Jimmy almost wanted to tell him to leave them behind, donate them to a charity or something.  He had no intention of riding the silly things.  Tinker had made technical drawings on the computer, and given time, he could duplicate the old design.  He wished they actually had a photo, so they could duplicate the paint job. 

          Jimmy wondered if Murky had been in touch with Susan.  She should have reached Earth by now, but Murky didn’t speak of her any more.

          A lone man was walking up to the ship.  Tova actually looked a little odd out of uniform, wearing a tunic like shirt and green slacks.  “Are the three of you leaving today?”

          The three of them stood, coming to attention and saluting the Colonel.  “That’s not necessary right now.  At least till you’ve been to the Academy.  My secretary said you had something to tell me before you left.”

          Jimmy pulled an object out of his shirt pocket, concealing it in his hand.  “We were going to stop at the station and drop this off.  Thanks for saving us the trip.”  Jimmy shook his hand, depositing the small object in Tova’s hand.  Not quite believing what he thought was happening; he put it into his own pocket to look at later.

          “Colonel,”

          “Actually, Jimmy, as of yesterday, it’s Commander.”

          “Congratulations, sir.  One thing I’d like to tell you, all you ever had to do was ask.  All of this sneaking around and spying wasn’t necessary.  The only thing I ever asked was that I wouldn’t lose my ship.  I’m not like you, there isn’t a bit of guile in me.”

          “I’ll remember that Captain.  A little advice, though.  There are more like me out there, and most of them won’t like you personally.  It would benefit you greatly to learn as much as you can about people like me.  Without us, many of the most important events would not happen.  Now don’t disappoint me.  I vouched for you personally with the senator.  I think you’ll be a fine Commander some day.  It’ll serve him right if one day you’re even over old Adams up there.”

          Tova turned, walking back to his mini-shuttle.  Only when he was flying back to the station did he inspect what Jimmy had given him.  He replayed the contents over and over.  It was a complete schematic of the Phantasm, right down to the powerful ion lock-in weapons.  Attached was a note; “Destroy the old copies, they’re fakes.  Build something to win the war with out of these.  Yours very truly, J N Argus.”

          The Valkyrie suddenly flashed past his small ship, tipping its wing as it passed, jumping into Hyperwarp as it cleared the Atmosphere.

-Five years later

          A trim woman in a neat Starforce uniform with captain’s bars stood at one of the viewing windows looking out over one of the main landing areas of Miami Starforce base.  A small reddish-blonde haired girl in a white and pink dress rushed up from behind and took her hand.  Nearby, a baby girl dozed in her stroller.

          "Is that Daddy's spaceship out there Mommy?"

          Dona bent down and picked up her four-year-old daughter, pointing to a tiny green ship landing on an upper pad.  She had put off her entry at the Academy almost a year to have her.  Docked on the far side of the pad was a larger ship, long and lean, bristling with weaponry.

          "Daddy is flying that little green ship, the Piercer.  That other ship is the Delilah.  That's where we got married, Aleeta."  Dona’s daughter was the spitting image of her namesake except the reddish tint in her hair.  The little girl clapped her hands, waking the infant, who started squalling.  Aleeta looked over at her sister and asked her mother, "What's wrong with Jenny?"

          "She just wants to see her father too.  Now hop down and we'll go get on the transport."

          "Yay, we're going to see Daddy!" she cheered as she headed down toward the tram-tube.

          The Piercer was a tiny ship colloquially known as a Scorpion scout ship.  It hardly qualified as a starship, as she was even smaller than some bombers. It was designed originally for deep space exploration, but the design had been adapted as a mobile listening post.  It fairly bristled with sensors of every imaginable type. They had just returned from a six-month tour of duty near the Argos Asteroid Field, keeping an eye out for Torellian Empire incursions.  One of his crew had painted 'U.S.S. Piercer' on the side, though that was totally unofficial.  The ship was legally known by just a series of numbers in her registry.

          Jimmy was the only member of his crew in full uniform, decked out as he was in his black slacks, high boots and gray shirt.  He even wore black pentronium Chest armor, emblazoned with the emblem of his squadron, the outline of his ship Valkyrie.  Long-term deep space crews like his usually adopted a more casual mode of dress, in their case, tee shirts and shorts.  Scorpion class scout ships had notoriously bad air-conditioning systems, and he spent the great majority of their tour wearing just such clothes.  The three other members of his crew were dressed in gray tees and red shorts, the 'uniform of the day' he adopted for his ship.  At least they put on shoes, he mused.

          He was wearing his uniform for a reason.  At twenty-three, he was about to be the youngest officer in the Starforce to receive a command.  He brightened up as his family reached the landing pad, and he rushed over to them, scooping up Aleeta in one arm, grabbing his wife by the waist with the other, and kissing them each in turn.  He let go of them and picked up the infant.

          He was blessed to be able to be there when Aleeta Isabel was born.  He hadn't been so fortunate when Jennifer Ryan was born.  She had come three months into his tour on the Piercer.  He held her close, waving his fingers above her face.  She cooed at him, reaching up and grabbing his thick beard.

          "You look different with a beard, Jimmy." Dona said, reaching to caress the brown whiskers.  His beard was darker brown than the rest of his hair.  Jimmy had filled out, becoming more muscular in the last few years.  He now wore his hair short, though it looked a little ragged right then.  It was up to the crew to keep each other's appearance up, and it turned out none of them were any good as a barber.

          "And it's coming off as soon as we get home." He stroked the whiskers himself.  He didn't like the beard, it just being a practical necessity since water had to be conserved on such a small ship.  He didn’t trust chemical depilatories and he didn't even take a razor with him, as they were considered bad luck on such ships.  He looked past Dona as another transport stopped at the edge of the pad.

          Dr Rokowski looked only slightly older than Dona now and had married Murky several years ago.  Not before they had one child, Jimmy thought.  Willard, better known as Billy, was nowhere to be seen, probably with Susan’s older kids.  It was just as well, Billy was going to be just like his father, and Jimmy wondered idlely what kind of influence that would have on his daughter.  They all exchanged hugs as they arrived.

          "God, they finally made you a Major!" Jimmy exclaimed, looking at Murky's uniform markings.

          "Hey, at least we're the same rank for a little bit."

          Susan spoke up.    "So you're going to be a Colonel, Jim?"  For some reason, she always truncated his name.  At first, she insisted on calling him James, but he put a stop to that by ignoring her when she did it.  Murky wasn’t so lucky.  She hated his nickname and insisted on calling him Millard.  At least she didn’t call him Murqford, Jimmy thought.

          "That's the rank required for a command." he replied.  A gangplank was extending from the Delilah, disgorging a small group of officers.  Jimmy, Dona and Murky came to attention, Gina taking the two children in her care.

          Robert Morrow wore two Commander's stars on each shoulder now.  After exchanging salutes with the trio he shook their hands in turn.  He said "Aw hell" and embraced each one of them.  "She's a fine ship, Jimmy.  Don't let me down.  She's the oldest ship in the fleet, and I want her to see the end of this war."

          "She won't get a scratch sir." Jimmy looked up at the destroyer with a mix of nostalgia and a growing excitement.  Morrow was going to get another star, and they were going to stick him behind a desk at Miami Command.  He had been in command of the Delilah for fifteen years.

          "I served on her even back during the first attack on Earth.  I was a gunnery officer then." he looked up at her with Jimmy.

          "I guarantee you, sir, Ole Del will be there when we crush Delta."

          "With you, son, I'm sure it will, yes I am."

                                                                   THE BEGINNING!

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