Strong and Courageous Page 3

  “Aye, sir. We’re moving to engage.”

  Amir again turned up the throttle to maximum, his craft racing forward in the vacuum, his mind filled with fury. “Allu Akbar,” he said out loud and pushed back in his seat, looking forward to the destruction of the Tours.

  3

  Back in the expansive bridge/combat information center onboard the Lion of Judah, David focused on engaging the League fleet carrier; he could see from his tactical plot that the Lion’s consorts had made short work of the Tours’ destroyer escorts.

  “Conn, TAO. Enemy CSP neutralized, sir,” Ruth said.

  “TAO, firing point procedures, Master One. Target all available Hunter and Starbolt missiles forward VRLS, make tubes twenty-one through one hundred and twenty ready in all respects.”

  “Aye aye, sir, firing solution set, tubes twenty-one through one hundred and twenty ready in all respects.”

  “TAO, firing point procedures, Master One, mag-cannons, and neutron beams.”

  “Aye aye, sir, firing solution set.”

  “TAO, shoot, mag-cannons and neutron beams.”

  “Conn, TAO. Multiple impacts on Master One, sir. Master One’s shields continue to hold,” Ruth said.

  Aibek looked at David with his eyebrows scrunched together. “What’s the plan, sir?”

  David glanced over at Aibek momentarily before going back to his tactical plot. “Hammer their shields, and then combine our missile volley with the bombers attack to overload their remaining energy shields and armor. Cause as much damage as possible, then attack the flight decks with our mag-cannons.”

  “That makes sense, sir.”

  “Conn, TAO. Friendly fast movers are engaging Master One, sir.”

  “TAO, put the visual image up on my display.”

  A video from the Lion’s forward imaging array popped onto David’s personal monitor. Aibek squeezed over to get the best look he could his chair. It showed the flight of four bomber squadrons closing fast with the League’s fleet carrier before firing off dozens of missiles. “Smart. Amir had his bomber pilots mass fire their anti-ship missiles at short range,” David commented.

  Aibek nodded. “An effective tactic.”

  “TAO, shoot, all missiles,” David said, sending the Lion’s missile armament into the fray. They had twenty Hunters and eighty Starbolt missiles left in the forward vertical missile launch array; the weapons thundered out of the Lion, causing the ship to lurch to one side as they roared out of their tubes in unison.

  “Conn, TAO. All missiles running hot, straight, and normal, sir.”

  David watched on his monitor, which he switched back to the standard tactical plot, as the Lion’s salvo raced across space and impacted onto the shields of the massive League carrier. After eighty percent of their weapons had smashed into its surface, the defensive screens on the Tours failed. As his mind raced to form the words to target and shoot at the Tours further, Ruth interrupted his thoughts.

  “Conn, TAO! Detecting Lawrence drive activation from Master One.”

  Argh, we’re out of time.

  “Navigation, emergency intercept on Master One. Line us up as fast as you can!”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Hammond said crisply.

  David counted off four seconds and hoped his navigator was as good as he thought she was. “TAO, snap shot, forward particle beams one through four, Master One.” It’s a risk, but more than worth it; taking out a League fleet carrier is the stuff of legends.

  “Snap shot, forward particle beams, Master One, aye, sir,” Ruth said as she rapidly depressed the controls on her console to fire the four forward-facing particle beams mounted along the ventral axis of the ship. They could only shoot directly ahead and counted on precise aiming. A snap shot was a Hail Mary; it meant firing the weapons without an affirmative firing solution and without matching bearings with the target.

  The four particle beams radiated with power and erupted into the vacuum. The two to the port side of the ship missed entirely, hitting nothing but empty space. The two on the starboard side of the Lion connected. The top beam grazed the Tours, blasting armor plating off its hull, but the lower beam impacted straight onto one of the large hangar bays on the Tours’ port side. It drilled through meters of armor, blasting through the ship’s superstructure, and out the other side. A couple of seconds passed, and secondary explosions blossomed around the area the beam struck. Massive chunks of the League carrier exploded from the inside out, and the area around them turned molten.

  Watching it play out on his monitor, David was in awe at the raw power the Lion had to project. This ship is a thing of wonder.

  Ruth interrupted his thoughts. “Conn, TAO! Master One is venting atmosphere and scans show it has lost all primary power. I’m showing escape pods launching. Master One has been neutralized!”

  A shout went up on the bridge as the junior officers, and enlisted ratings cheered. Ever the strict disciplinarian, Master Chief Tinetariro, silenced the outburst. “As you were! Maintain proper bridge protocols, or I’ll have anyone who doesn’t comply removed!”

  The tumult ceased immediately. David, while excited himself, stared forward with his mask of professionalism.

  Taylor spoke up, “Sir, the Tours is requesting communication with us.”

  “Put it through to my viewer, Lieutenant.”

  A video feed from the stricken vessel came into focus on David’s personal monitor. The grim and blood-smeared face of a junior League officer appeared. “Coalition Defense Force vessel, this is Lieutenant Zina Naoumov, the ranking officer onboard the LX Tours. We are requesting a cease-fire.”

  David stared at the young woman for a moment, assuming she was like many League officers, of Russian descent, based on her name and her obvious accented English. “This is the Commanding Officer of the CSV Lion of Judah, Colonel David Cohen. What are your intentions?”

  “Would you be willing to discuss our surrender?”

  David could see in her facial expression how her lips drooped down, and her shoulders sagged, that not only was she defeated, but ashamed. “Of course, Lieutenant. Stand down your weapons and prepare to be boarded. I give you my word if your crew doesn’t resist; no harm will come to them.”

  “What will happen to us?”

  “You will be remanded to the custody of CDF Security, and put in a POW camp for the duration of the war. We will treat you with dignity, provide living quarters, food, and exercise as per the Canaan Alliance charter regarding the treatment of POWs.”

  “Very well, Colonel. The Tours surrenders.”

  “I accept your surrender, Lieutenant. Our Marines will arrive shortly. Ensure that all weapons are stowed and no resistance is offered. If it is…the Marines will use deadly force.”

  “There shall be no resistance. I give my word of honor.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. Lion of Judah out.”

  David sat back slowly in his seat. Aibek looked over at him. “Are you sure we should waste the resources on transporting them to a POW camp?”

  David raised his eyebrows. “Please tell me that’s a joke.”

  Aibek snorted. “Don’t you have citizens of your own planets that go without three hot meals a day as you put it? Why waste the money on these… vermin?”

  “Most of them are conscripts, forced to fight. They have no control over their destiny. I doubt most of them want to be out here, fighting us daily. The League’s communist system forces them to do what they do, and if they refuse, their families are exiled to their remote border planets or worse. What would you have us do, execute them all?”

  Aibek’s face morphed into an amused smile. “Of course not, Colonel! I’m not barbaric… I’d make them build ships for us to fight their former comrades.”

  “Slave labor? Set aside the fact that it’s morally wrong and something we stand against as a people… do you really think that League POWs forced to build things for us wouldn’t take every opportunity to sabotage whatever they were assigned to do?”
>
  “That’s a compelling argument for executing them, Colonel,” Aibek said with another toothy grin.

  “That’s outrageous, we’re…” David paused, realizing that Aibek was employing his dry Saurian brand of humor. “You got me there, Colonel.”

  Aibek laughed. “You humans simply aren’t used to my sense of humor.”

  “Conn, Communications. Colonel Amir reports his wing is beginning to sweep the area for escape pods. He also reports no losses or damage among his wing,” Taylor announced.

  David glanced at Aibek. “Not bad. We just wiped out a League task force and fleet carrier…without losing a single fighter or ship of our own. I’ll take that. Communications, raise Admiral Kartal’s flagship and alert the command duty officer to our success.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “TAO, stand down condition one. Rig the ship for condition two.”

  “Aye, sir, standing down condition one and moving the ship to condition two.”

  The lights immediately switched from the deep blue hue of condition one to standard white lights. David punched up the intercom link on his command chair for the Air Boss; the officer that controlled all flights in and out of the Lion’s expansive flight deck. “Boss, this is Colonel Cohen. Launch search and rescue. There are quite a few League escape pods to collect.”

  “Understood, Colonel. S&R is on its way.”

  That duty discharged, David punched in a new intercom code; Calvin’s Marine Expeditionary Unit command center. A moment later, Calvin’s cheery voice was on the intercom. “Colonel Demood.”

  “Colonel, ready to go round up some prisoners from the Tours?”

  “That sounds like a mission for the Marines. We’ll be happy to oblige, sir.”

  “They’ve agreed to surrender, Colonel. Order your Marines to load their weapons with non-lethal rounds. However, if you encounter resistance, you may use any force required to secure that ship. Clear?”

  “Yes, sir. We’ll clean them out. Want us to raise the Terran Coalition flag on that ship?”

  David and Aibek snickered at the same time. “Go for it, Colonel.”

  “Demood out.”

  David sat back in his chair. “Damage report, XO?”

  “No damage aside from a couple of singes on the paint, sir. No casualties on the Lion or our escorts.”

  “Conn, Communications. I have Admiral Kartal for you, sir,” Taylor interjected.

  “Put it on my viewer, Lieutenant.”

  Admiral Resit Kartal, an imposing Saurian of considerable height, measuring more than six feet eight inches, came into focus on David’s monitor. He wore what looked like a CDF uniform, but with Saurian rank insignia, medals, and badges. Either Saurians like to give out awards or this guy is the real deal.

  “Admiral Kartal, greetings, sir,” David said.

  “Greetings, Colonel Cohen. I understand you have engaged the Tours and that the battle was victorious.”

  “Yes, sir, it was. Thanks to the timely intelligence of the CSV Oxford, we got the drop on them. The Tours has been disabled, her escorts destroyed, and we took no losses. Clean sweep, sir.” As David finished his sentence, a wide grin broke out on his face. I probably shouldn’t be so happy we just pasted these guys and killed thousands of them, but that felt good. A few more victories like this and the League will run all the way back to Earth.

  “My compliments to you and your crew, Colonel. Make sure that embedded reporter files a good story on it. We need morale to stay high, as always.”

  “Of course, sir. What are our orders?”

  “Resume your patrol, Colonel Cohen. Continue to attack targets of opportunity. Once the Joint Chiefs of Staff of our respective militaries have finalized the next phase of our battle plan, we’ll brief you and the rest of our operational leaders. Godspeed, Kartal out.”

  Ah, so it’s another day in the office after all. I’d better have a talk with that reporter and make sure she’s on the same page as the rest of us.

  4

  Angie Denman, the embedded reporter from the Galactic News Network on the Lion of Judah, strode quickly down the corridor toward Colonel Cohen’s office. Not a corridor… it’s called a passageway. I should remember that… I did this for four years. Smiling to herself as she pressed the buzzer next to a wall plate that read “Commanding Officer—CSV Lion of Judah,” Angie waited for the door to open.

  “Come!” David yelled from within his office, and the door slid open automatically.

  Angie walked into the office as David stood. She’d noticed he’d always get up when she walked in. Either he’s a gentleman, or I put him off somehow.

  “Ms. Denman, a pleasure.”

  “Angie, please. I’ve been here for four weeks now.”

  David gestured to the chairs in front of his desk; Angie sat down first, after which David also sat. Angie’s eyes roamed over David’s workspace; she continued to be amused by his selection of knickknacks, but mostly at the hand grenade attached to a piece of wood with a plaque on it that read “Complaint Department, please take a number.” There was a little piece of plastic with a “1” on it that hung off the firing pin. It seemed to fit David’s style: brash, unapologetic, and politically incorrect.

  “How are you today, Colonel?”

  “Oh, all things considered, not a bad day. We defeated a League carrier and its battlegroup and didn’t lose a single soldier or pilot.”

  “Well, at least not on our side.”

  “That’s true. The League lost at least ten thousand soldiers today.”

  “Your note said you wanted to discuss GNN’s coverage?” Angie’s voice trailed off after asking the question. In truth, she was always apprehensive discussing her reports.

  “Ms. Den…,” David stopped himself mid-word. “Angie, I understand that GNN’s policy is that it’s a neutral reporter of facts. But you’re on the ground here with us. On the sharp tip of the spear, so to speak. I read your background report before I agreed to allow you on my ship. I know you served in the CDF to the point you were promoted to sergeant before the end of your four-year enlistment. Heck, making E-5 in four years is a feat in and of itself. What I don’t understand is why your reports from the Lion lack…gusto.”

  “You mean, why aren’t I promoting the successes and downplaying the failures?”

  David smiled thinly at her. “What failures? We haven’t lost yet.”

  Oh, I could so pop that ego of his. “‘Yet’ being the operative word in that sentence, Colonel.”

  “David, please.”

  “The point still stands, David. We’re not a propaganda arm for the Coalition Defense Force. We report the news straight down the middle. If you want cheerleading, you might want to look into getting a reporter from Canaan News Network on your ship.” Angie smiled as she finished her statement.

  “I asked for an embed from Canaan News Network but was denied.”

  “Are you saying you don’t want me around?”

  David’s expression softened. “Not at all. I respect your reporting, and I respect that you believe in being neutral. However, I don’t completely buy that GNN is neutral. The ambush interview I had with Leslie Sharp a few months ago, for instance, is exhibit A.”

  “Would it surprise you to know I howled with how you ripped her apart on that live holonet broadcast?”

  David’s eyebrows shot up. “It would indeed.”

  “Ms. Sharp’s shrill attacks on the military aren’t neutral, and they undermine the credibility of the entire network. It was nice seeing her knocked down a few pegs. Not that you’d ever catch me saying that in public.”

  “I would say to you that however you may feel, Ms. Sharp’s point of view is the reigning one at GNN.”

  “Even if that’s true, and I don’t think it is… I’m better served by working for GNN and being neutral, rather than cheering on the military from a studio at Canaan News… besides, I’m a brunette, not blonde. They only have blondes on the air.”

  David laughed.
“Would you consider highlighting some of the positives? Especially the fact that no one died on our side today. Any day I don’t have to write a wife, a mother, a husband, or a father and tell them their loved one died is a good day.”

  Angie stared at David for a moment. He really cares about the people under his command. I thought it was an act at first, but he does. “I’ll see what I can do there, David. That is something worth reporting.”

  “I’m curious. E-5 in four years and you still got out? I suspect you could have gone far in the public affairs office.”

  “I don’t work well with rigid command structures I’m not allowed to question.”

  “Then why’d you make it to E-5?”

  “Because I apply myself to anything I’m in. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.”

  “I feel much the same way,” David said, his eyes dropping as if he’d remembered something.

  “You know, I read the biographic sheet the CDFs released on you. You wanted to be a rabbi, and now you’re commanding the largest ship in the CDF. One named after Jesus Christ, for that matter.”

  “My life didn’t go on the path I thought it would. I suspect that’s true in most people’s lives. As for the Lion being named after Jesus, I prefer to think it’s named after King David.”

  “It seems as if you did a lot of studying toward being a rabbi.”

  David laughed again. “I like to read. It’s fun. My father used to say you could go anywhere in a book. You’ve got me at a slight disadvantage on this subject, though. My religion is well-known, thanks to the patch on my shoulder. You don’t have one.”

  And now comes the awkward part. I wonder how he will react? Angie smiled. “I don’t have a religion.”

  David’s eyebrows shot up. “Atheist?”

  “No, I’m not convinced there is no God. I just don’t know if there is or isn’t and make no judgment on the subject.”

  “Agnostic then, as it were?”

  “Yes, I think that’s the label currently in use,” Angie replied, uncomfortable with the topic.