PG rated for mild language
Comments are always welcome at dougvader@juno.com
PG-rated
A Tale of Two Wars
by
Elaine Davidson
| Two houses, both alike
in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. |
|
| William Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet | |
Chapter One
He didn't like mysteries. McQueen viewed the aerial photos for
what seemed like the hundredth time. How could a small military/mining
operation like Ft. Yamashita have so successfully evaded the Chig's
wrath for so long? They had no superior defenses, at least none
recorded in the specs he had been poring through endlessly the last
couple of weeks. The harsh planet, Janus, where the outpost resided
accorded it no protection. An easy victory for the Chigs yet they
avoided it like the plague. Now the Earth Alliance had ordered the
Saratoga to escort the war damaged Lincoln to Ft.Yamashita for
repairs.
He had questioned the orders in private with his commanding
officer. "Glen, we might as well destroy the Lincoln ourselves,
because there sure isn't any protection that will stop the Chigs at
Janus. Heading to Earth would be the better option."
"Ty, heading to Earth is not an option. The orders were quite
implicit, Janus is our destination." He smiled. "This may be the only
time you and Commodore Harris agree on anything." Ty and Lincoln's
Commodore Harris, had bumped heads on everything from flight readiness
procedures to fundamental principles of leadership. While Glen ran
interference for Ty, because in his opinion, Harris was extremely old
school, however, sometimes Harris's rank won out. "Harris fought this
order all the way to the top and lost. What infuriated Harris the
most,is that they wouldn't tell him why he had to go to Janus. The
only thing I can think of is that maybe the rumors about the pirates
being based on Janus are true. Maybe they are a deterrent to the
Chigs. "
McQueen snorted. "I don't believe a bunch of criminals would
have the Chigs running scared, not when they daily shoot the best the
we have to offer out of the sky ."
"End of discussion. The orders come from the top. We are to
deposit the Lincoln at Janus."
"Permission to take a reconnaissance team ground-side upon
arrival."
Commodore Ross strummed his guitar, Rosalind. Ross stopped abruptly
and looked at his friend and second in command. "Help me understand
why I should place one of my officers and squadrons in danger
unnecessarily?"
"Don't you want to know why the top brass feels Janus is safe?"
McQueen played his trump card. One day we may need to come back here
to repair the Saratoga, wouldn't you want all the facts before making
that decision?"
Glen quit smiling, leave it to McQueen to strike him at his most
vulnerable area, the Saratoga. "You know they say curiosity killed the
cat. However, if you want to take a look ground-side be my guest. But
Ty watch your back. It's a known fact that the pirate scum loathes
invitros.There are documented reports of missing IVs never seen
again, probably enslaved as forced laborers."
"I'll be sure and leave a trail of bread crumbs."
Thoughts of Janus were dismissed as the battle claxons blared.
Damn he thought, this is the third time in five days that the Chigs
had attacked. It almost seemed like they were hell bent on preventing
the two carriers from reaching their goal. As he quickly strode to
the battle bridge, he knew the 58th were already in the air. Along
with the other squadrons, the Wild Cards had fought bravely these
past days. Their skill and courage were the only reasons that they
weren't floating dead in space. He pushed out stray errant thoughts
about wanting to fly with them, and put on his com ear piece so he
could monitor the battle.Because of his inner ear injury, an observer
instead of a flyer was his lot in life now. His kids were up there
and he vowed that not one would die on his watch if he could help it.
A Chig laser shot barely missed the back of the
hammerhead. "Hawkes watch your six." Vansen's voice trembled with
rage. When was he going to learn not to get so carried away trying to
shoot the Chigs in front of him, that he ignored the Chigs behind him!
"I've got his back Shane". Vanessa fired her laser cannon on
the problem Chig. It exploded in a blaze of light. It's fuselage
shattering into a million pieces.
"Hoorah! Nice shot!," Wang yelled.
"Thanks Phoose." Hawkes jinxed to the right, regrouping with
the others. A corner of his mind registered that Shane was pissed
with him. What was worse than that thought was that he knew he was
never going to be able to get his explanation into words. When in
space, even during the worst of the fighting, he felt safe. He knew
the Cards watched his back. His best contribution to the group was
taking point, and using his superior shooting skills to take down as
many of the Chiggies as possible.
"Cut the chatter," Shane ordered. "LIDAR shows three on three
at nine o'clock. Saratoga we need assistance. What's the ETA on
reinforcements?"
McQueen hesitated, he knew they needed to know the truth. No
matter how hard he came down on the pit crew the 47th's hammerheads
had been so damaged from the last night's attack that even working
around the clock they were still not ready. He wanted to give them
hope, but he had to settle on reality. McQueen's voice boomed through
their helmets. "The 47th will be ready in 40 mikes."
"40 mikes, we'll be spam in 40 mikes!," Hawkes blurted, a
half beat later he added "sir".
"Pull it together, Cards." Shane knew she had to take
control of the situation. The 32nd and 22nd had taken massive
casualties, both Lincoln squad's wing leaders had been killed. West
had regrouped the pilots still left and unofficially became their new
leader. Shane made it official. "Nathan stay with the 32nd and the
22nd. Your honcho."
"Hawkes, Phoose, Wang on my six. We're taking point. Let
West and the newbies catch our misses."
For the next thirty minutes, hammerheads and Chig fighters
danced to a deadly and daunting music. One stumble led to a eternity
of darkness. At times during the fierce and heated battle the scales
of fate seem to be favoring the enemy, at other times it looked like
the hammerheads were giving as good as they were getting. As McQueen
intently watched and listened to the battle he thought maybe his kids
could hold on until the calvary arrived. He would trade his soul to
the devil to be able to fly with the 58th at this moment to assist
them.
"No way, no fucking way, LIDAR shows another two on three
approaching at 3 o'clock, only 75 MSK out. Give us break, will yah,"
Hawkes snorted in disgust.
McQueen's heart almost stilled as he heard Hawkes pronouncement of
doom. Where in the universe were these fighters coming from? Damn
they had been so close. What good would the 47th be, if they were
five mikes too late? If he thought it would help speed up the
process, he would push the damaged hammerheads out of the launching
bays himself. Queen Six was not going to allow himself the luxury of
despair at this moment. The pilots needed him to be their anchor,
their center of calm. "OK boys and girls, it's Alamo time. Everyone
regroup, stay close to the covering fire of the 'Toga and
the Lincoln. Don't let them lead you away from the carriers. You can
bear anything, one minute at a time."
"What dead dude said that sir," why he was curious when he
was about to be spammed Hawkes couldn't figure out, maybe he just
didn't want to die a dumb tank.
Lt. Alveraz of the 32nd beat Queen Six to the punch
line, "Abe Lincoln". A rallying cry went up among the 32nd and the
22nd. The Lincoln may be temporarily out of action, but they could
still defend their carrier's honor and score some major hurting to
the enemy.
He always knows what to say, how does he do it?, thought
Shane. "Cards and kiddies, be careful of friendly fire. It would be a
real downer, to avoid the Chigs only to get hit by our own carrier's
cannons."
The new bringers of death seemed to be focused on Nathan and
the newbies. Nathan knew the Cards were still engaged with the last
wave of fighters and feared they would not reach him in time. Even
though he just met these pilots a little more than 72 hours ago, he
sensed it would still rip his heart out to see them fall one by one.
In a millisecond, Nathan planned their defense. Lt. Juan Alveraz was
pretty good. If he kept Juan as his wing, the new flyer would
probably live to see another battle. Hell, that was no good. He
couldn't fool himself. It left everyone else exposed. "Alveraz and I
are taking the lead. Braxton take Juan's left wing. Dodd take his
right. Rothwell and Huigens on my six."
Dodd was eager for glory. She wanted to be a part of the
prestigious 58th. Maybe if she scored enough kills today, she could
arrange for a transfer. She saw a stray Chig from the corner of her
eye. Wow, how lucky could she get! Her mind rationalized her
decision, maybe West wouldn't mind her disobeying orders, if she had
a good reason. Like her mother use to say better to ask for
forgiveness than for permission. She left Juan's wing to go after a
easy kill.
"Dodd, don't!" screamed Nathan. It was an old Chig trick. One
Chig would get very close to a pilot, and when the pilot pulled away
>from formation to take it out, it's two Chiggie partners would swoop
in for the kill. Not only did they get the stray pilot, it made the
remaining team more vulnerable.
Dodd never had time to register Nathan's warning. She didn't
even see the fatal shot, so intent was she on getting a kill. "Damn,"
he thought, as he watched her ship disintegrate from the direct hits
of two Chig fighters.
"Cards, if we don't get help ASAP, we're on a one-way ticket
to taps-ville," Nathan couldn't quite keep the fear out of his voice.
If he had to go out in a blaze of glory, he wanted it to be with the
Cards, and not these strangers. Resigned to his fate, he vowed to
make it hard on the Chiggies. "OK people, let's regroup. On my wing,
v formation."
Nathan had no illusions, this maneuver wasn't going to buy them
more than a minute or two. "Don't fire, until I say, and then don't
stop," he instructed his ragtag squadrons. "Don't break formation,
don't pass go, and don't make it a gimme."
As the Chigs raced closer, Nathan hoped his parents would be able
to accept his death and get some comfort from the letter he had sent
home for his brother's death. He was about to give the order to fire,
when he heard piercing howling over the com. Oh shit, the Chigs are
trying to block our transmissions.
The inhuman baying sounded like a pack of crazed wild dogs.
Several Chig fighters veered from their collision course with the
hammerheads and retreated. Maybe, Nathan thought, it's their new way
of communicating instead of the clicks and whistles that McKendrick
was decoding. That theory was literally blown to bits, when the two
closest enemy bogies exploded into gigantic fireballs.
A new voice was heard on the pilots' com system. "We figured you
jarheads needed some help, anytime you want some pointers on how to
actually blow the Chiggies up instead of the other way around, drop on
by. For a small fee, we could teach you how to fly."
"This is Queen of Diamonds, identify yourselves." Shane was in
no mood for attitude.
"Lady, we're the pilots that pulled your butts from the fire.
Once you reach Janus you can thank me up close and personal. Until
then let's have a little less talk and a lot more action."
The two new pilots, flying in a tight formation that made Shane
reluctantly admit that they may be as good as their claims, proceeded
to methodically destroy any Chig fighter that came into their sights.
The Chig bandits realizing the easy pickings were over, started to
retreat back into the cold dark space from which they had come.
The lead newcomer's arrogant tone broke the silence "Now that
we've given you a freebie lesson, we'll leave the rest of these
Chiggies for you to clean up as homework. Sweet dreams, Queen of
Diamonds. If ever you need a King of Love, just ask for Ice. This is
the wolf pack signing out."
No one could make out Shane's sarcastic reply over the animal
wailing of the pilots as they altered course and departed. Nathan had
been so busy fighting, that he hadn't had a chance to thank them. That
may be to his benefit he thought, since Shane seemed to be really put
off with the new guys' behavior except for their shooting of the
Chigs.
While the fighting subsided outside of the Saratoga, the
in-fighting inside the battleship became fierce. Commodore Ross
wondered when Commodore Harris of the Lincoln was going to give it a
rest. The man had been ranting and raving for the last 5 minutes
straight. Ross didn't even try to argue with the belligerent officer,
a waste of breath he thought. He saw the glint in McQueen's eye. His
second in command was the only other officer in the ward room. Let's
see how funny he thinks it is if I side with Harris. A miracle,
Harris had actually stopped complaining to demand that Ross explain
his treasonous actions.
"Commodore Harris," Ross was using his best diplomatic tone,
"Colonel McQueen did not order the Saratoga to fire on the pirates,
because they were helping our pilots eliminate the enemy."
"Under the Piracy and Sedition Act of 2048, pirates are
considered to be enemies of Earth, and are to be stopped using deadly
force if needed. Any aid given to the pirates is considered treason."
"I know about the Piracy and Sedition Act, however in this
situation when we were vastly outnumbered it was prudent to not think
too closely about the letter of the law."
"You're wrong, Ross. You don't let the enemy flank you. When you
are not looking and when you least expect it they'll stick a knife in
your back. A long sharp nasty thing, and then they'll twist it." He
sighs. "But it was your call. During the repair of the Lincoln, I'll
be ground-side, and then it will be my call when these "situations"
as you call them happen."
Ross watched as Harris stormed out of the room. He turned to
McQueen. "Janus is getting a little crowded between the Chigs, the
pirates and Harris. Are you sure it's the best move to go?"
"There's a piece of the puzzle that's missing. Since it looks
like we are going to be in this region awhile, I think a little recon
would be the most prudent course of action."
"That's a load of b.s.," Ross shook his head. "I know you Ty,
you can't stand it when you can't figure something out. Take the
Cards to watch your six, and don't make me regret this decision."
McQueen left the room in search of his squadron. While he was
proud of them taking the lead in the battle and winning against great
odds, he had a feeling that the battles ahead would become even more
treacherous. How was he going to prepare them to meet these new
challenges?
Most of the 58th Squadron, known as the Wild Cards, were
unwinding after their narrow escape from death at their favorite ship
board spot, the Tun Tavern. Well if they were being honest it was the
only spot that served drinks, so that feature pushed it to the top of
their favorite's list. After the heat of the battle, they just wanted
to forget. Playing cards, listening to music, playing fooseball,
drinking beers whatever helped became a favorite activity.
Shane Vansen noticed how the conversation stopped as she came
closer to the table where her friends were sitting. She rolled her
eyes as she sat down. "Don't stop on my account. I don't care if you
want to waste your time talking about the dog faced boys from planet
Janus."
"Shane, you gotta give them their due," Vanessa said in their
defense. "They have the manners of juveniles, but..."
"They can kick Chiggie butt with the best of them," Wang
finished her sentence.
"They were lucky," Shane took a sip from her beer. She was
about to comment again, when she noticed that McQueen had walked up
to their table. Something in his bearing said he wasn't coming to
play a game of cards.
"There's no such thing as luck or destiny," McQueen lectured
in his no nonsense tone. "Planning and preparation is what caused
those pilots to shoot down the number of Chigs that they did.
Starting tomorrow at 05:00 I want you all to report to the flight
sims, and run through two hours worth each day."
"We ain't no newbies that need sim training, sir," the last
thing Hawkes wanted to do was to sit in some small machine for two
hours.No one could convince him that pilots gave their best when they
knew it was make believe.
For once Cooper was right. Shane stood up and faced the
Colonel prepared for his wrath because she was defying him, "Sir with
all due respect, we are the best in the fleet. We were outnumbered
today, that's why we got into trouble."
"So what's to keep you from being outnumbered tomorrow, or the
next day, or a year from now, when the Chigs are gone and you are
facing down a squad of those pirates."
Shane's throat was dry, his blue eyes seemed to reach right
into her soul. He was right, of course. Why did she even think that
he could be wrong. "Nothing but planning and preparation sir!" She
turned to her squad, "Tomorrow 05:00 be in the sim room."
West threw his cards on the table in disgust. Why did Vansen
have to back down? Ship scuttlebutt was going to be bad. The great
58th training like a bunch of FNKs. Well what else could ruin the
night? It was already hard enough to find time to write to his
parents and his girlfriend, Kylen's parents. Both families were
going through some bad times at home coming to grips with his
brother's death and her imprisonment (in his heart he knew Kylen
wasn't dead, but he didn't know if her parents were as optimistic as
he was) and it was tearing him up that he couldn't be there to help
them. While he never had problems in the past putting his thoughts on
paper, now he seemed to always have doubts on what to say. He didn't
want to sound patronizing, but he was still living his nightmare. He
down played his problems, because deep in his heart he knew they was
barely able to cope with theirs. He loved them with all of his heart,
but it was very hard to be their knight in shining armor when he was
millions of MSKs away. Nathan looked up as McQueen stopped at the
door and turned around to address them. This is it, thought Nathan,
he going to kick us while we down and out for the count.
"There's a briefing tomorrow at 14:00."
"Are we going on a mission soon sir?" Vansen inquired.
"We're going planet side when we reach Janus. I'll give you
the details tomorrow."
The next morning McQueen went past the sim room on his way
to the bridge to make sure his kids were where they were suppose to
be. For several hours he reviewed all new intelligence on Janus. As
they approached their destination, he would get live feeds but none
of the data was drastically different then what Intel already had on
file. Janus had two military bases. The ground base was the usual
military installation, however the recently constructed space station
was a brilliant piece of architecture. It was positioned in the
middle of an stable orbital asteroid belt that maneuvered around
Janus. Normally it would be a relatively easy approach to the
station, any type of heavy cruiser could blast the asteroids into
rubble. This was the genius part, almost every rock bigger than 10
meters had a motion detector on it which triggered some heavy duty
armament. Multiple rocks could track a single bogie and fire from
different angles. It was all computerized and when a friendly came,
it was deactivated. McQueen was wondering why Earth didn't
set up a similar perimeter defense when he noticed the time. He
wanted to talk to Ross before the briefing.
"Who's at my hatch?," Ross demanded. He bent down and
strummed his guitar. The final cords to the song seemed to elude him.
"McQueen."
"Enter." Ross looked up as his friend entered the room.
"Thought you had a briefing at 14:00? By the way, you know the whole
ship is buzzing about the Cards sim practice?"
"Not you too."
"Whoa, you know I'll back you in whatever discipline you
decide is necessary. They were kind of sloppy during the last battle."
"They were outnumbered." McQueen stopped, he knew what Glen
was trying to do. Put him on the defensive about the Cards. "You know
as well as I do, that Harris is hot for an encounter with the
pirates, any day any way. The pirates are good, the Cards need to be
better. It's only a matter of time until they won't be fighting on
the same side."
"The fool. We need to cease hostilities with the pirates. We
need all the allies we can get, we sure as hell have enough enemies."
"While on the topic of Harris, what do you know about him?"
"West Point graduate, fought with distinction during the AI
rebellion, round of bad luck with the Lincoln. He salvaged the
situation as best as possible." Ross peered intently at McQueen, "Why
all this sudden interest?"
"I don't believe in coincidence, he seems to be the wrong
man, at the wrong place, at the wrong time. I just wanted to know if
he had any vested interests."
"Let me guess, you want me to use my time and my
clearance on some fool hunch."
"Only if you think my fool hunch might be possible."
"Uhph," Ross snorted, "I believe the term is check mate."
McQueen walked out of the his Commander's office almost
smiling. He was never sure when he went up against Ross. More often
than not Ross was the winner, but sometimes when he had tripled check
his homework, he came out with his request being honored. He was in a
good mood as he traveled through the ship. He entered the briefing
room with two minutes to spare. The Wild Cards were already seated
and waiting for him.
Next : Chapter Two
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