Counter Strike

Counter Strike

By Karl Thorn

Published by Karl Thorn at Smashwords

Copywrite 2015 Karl Thorn

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

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Counter Strike

Chapter One

Abandon ship! Admiral Izarra reluctantly hollered over the crackling circuits and explosions from below decks. Smoke clouded the air on the bridge. All hands to lifepods! Neither his newly designed pressure suit nor his salt and pepper beard could hide the stern frown on his cracked face.

Abandon ship. The captain repeated, relaying the message throughout the carrier. The unmistakable abandon ship klaxon sounded.

The surviving bridge crew abandoned their posts and raced for the lifepods. Izarra knew the same was happening throughout the doomed ship. The smoke and debris did not hinder their progress, they knew their routes well. Fortunately they still had gravity, but that was expected to disappear as soon as the rollers in the engines spun down, causing the ship’s magnetic vortex to collapse.

This attack had been a big mistake, Izarra regretted as he quickly made his way to his assigned lifepod. Unless the way was impaired it would only take him seconds to get there. How he hoped everyone would have time to reach the relative safety of their pods before the ship exploded.

Empress Star had been a good ship with exceptional performance and history. Now David Izarra was sacrificing her in the hopes of allowing the rest of the fleet to escape. The fusion explosions should provide enough time and cover for them to regroup. Only enemy ships were within range of the carrier’s explosion now. This would be the final task of the Empress Star.

The artificial gravity faded away as he reached the pod. He quickly slipped through the small opening with practiced ease. He scanned the pod, closed the hatch, seeing that he was the last person to arrive. He double checked the hatch’s seal before pulling himself to the only empty seat. He quickly secured himself then nodded to the officer at the pod’s controls.

The officer punched a button on his small console releasing the clamps and igniting the chemical rockets that blasted the lifepod away from the dying ship. They were forced back into their seats with the roar of burning rockets penetrating their helmets. Regulations dictated that they not open their visors during this procedure, as the pod could get ruptured for countless reasons. Though the pressure suits were a marvelous new design, lightweight and very flexible, no one relished a long wait while they hoped to be picked up by friendlies.

In this case, Admiral Izarra didn’t expect to be pickup at all, unless it was the enemy. He would never express this feeling to the other five in the pod. At least they had some hope for survival. He wasn’t going to take that away from them.

Suddenly, the pod was hit in the stern from the shockwave of the exploding carrier. The occupants were forced into their seats. This was the most dangerous part. The pods were designed to take a blast wave, but one never knew if they would be far enough away to make it survivable.

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Jump completed. Patric DeBeck announced to Captain Tyson as the green haze around the outside of the ship dissipated. He heard the magnetic rollers spin down to idle. Slowing our speed to match relative system speed, he added as he adjusted the focusing rings for deceleration. Patric had playful blue eyes and straight black hair that flowed over his ears.

When the magnetic vortex of a ship goes into resonance it exponentially generates magnetic eddies into the fabric space. This in turn creates a man-made worm hole in the direction they were travelling. The ship then can slip through it. The duration that resonance mode lasts determines the distance they travel through space.

One method of controlling the vortex is the speed in which the magnetic rollers spin. Another is the focusing rings. The rings are used to adjust the shape of the field around the ship, which provides movement in normal space.

Captain James Tyson had salt and pepper hair with a slightly receding hairline. He was scruffy looking with a five days growth of beard. He watched Patric’s performance. Grand Admiral Izarra had assured him that Patric and Quinton were exceptional at everything they did. Their personal files said both Quinton and Patric had been training on ships since Patric was seven. So far, on their first cruise with the Astro-Express, the eighteen year old kid and his sidekick were proving to be their worth.

Well done. The captain praised after Patric performed all the procedures correctly. He then switched on the transmitter. This is Astro-Express out of Yeltson requesting to land on Ozarka at spaceport two. He repeated it one more time then shut it off. They were still quite a ways out. They would not get a response for some time. Do you remember anything of Ozarka? Captain Tyson asked, knowing Patric had lived there before escaping the tyranny of Prime Minister Lynch.

For Patric, this brought hard memories to mind, when he lost his mother. Not much, I was only five at the time. He lied. His memories of the planet would have faded if it wasn’t for Quinton. He vividly remembered the ship disaster that took his mother and left him stranded on a strange planet. A five legged creature, native to the planet, found the five year old boy collapsed in the wilderness, during a thunderstorm. Patric later named him Quinton.

Upon touching the strange four limbed creature, Quinton found he could feel its emotions like his own brethren. He sensed this was a youngling of its kind and it was cold, very fearful and near death. Quinton covered Patric with his own body to provide warmth the child needed. He then realized the only way to save the child’s life was to mind link with him. If successful, the link would allow him to communicate with the young child and comfort him.

Later, they found they understood each other’s language, could share memories, and even had other abilities.

Patric and Quinton were special agents for the IAC along with Captain Tyson and his wife Helen. They were the full complement of the crew for the Astro-Express. Their mission was to learn everything they could at every stop they made along their trade route. They also were expected to carry any message or cargo that may need to be passed between the IAC and her spies in the UN colonies.

Quinton scurried onto the bridge with his five limbs, jumped up into the chair of the auxiliary console behind the copilot’s seat. Quinton had two bulbous eyes on stalks with a cone shaped ear behind each eye antenna. If he lay flat he would look like a giant starfish. Quinton’s species was called a quintapod. Most were pink with a purple pattern on their skin. Quinton was no exception to this, though the pattern was unique for each individual, like fingerprints were for humans. Quinton turned on the console with his forelimb and began monitoring the engines and power plant from there.

Quniton’s boneless five legs served as both arms and legs. Each appendage had a complex set of five ‘fingers’ that closed to a single point, much like the jaws of needle nose pliers. He normally kept them in the closed position. The outer surface of each finger was hard, like fingernails and the inner surface was grooved, soft and pliable, making it easy for him to grip things. Closed, he could use them as a stabbing weapon, and had, in the past, to protect Patric. He walked on a padded portion about six inches up from the tip of each tentacle. Each arm then arched up to his main body where his eye antenna and cone shaped ears protruded from the top of the domed body. He whistled and breathed through a small mouth on the front of the rounded body.

Helen stepped into the cockpit as well and took the remaining auxiliary console behind her husband. She was muscular in stature and had short auburn hair.

Captain Tyson turned in his pilot’s seat to view his wife. So is our assistant engineer still performing to standards?

I couldn’t be more impressed. She answered, though she wandered if it was because her expectations of the quintapod had been so low when she first learned who her assistant engineer would be. She learned with his flexibility and small stature he could reach into areas she never could. I must admit he can handle the tools far better than I thought possible.

Quinton gave an uplifting whistle in reply.

He thanks you for the compliment. Patric said.

Quinton had a translator he could strap around his abdomen, but it was uncomfortable. Captain Tyson did not force him to wear it, as Quinton could understand humans perfectly without it. They also had added a translation program to the ship’s computer, but haven’t had the need to turn it on yet.

Captain Tyson turned back to his console. Back to business, he said smiling. Debeck start all optical scans. Record everything you find. I’ll monitor all comm frequencies.

Aye sir. Patric responded.

Hours later and after following all the UN protocol, the Astro-Express was making its final approach to Ozarka. Their cover as a civilian cargo ship appeared to still be intact. They were still recording everything they could hear and see.

It seems UNF ship deployment has changed since our last visit here. Captain Tyson said to Patric. Last time we were here Prime Minister Lynch was still mopping up from Admiral Malik’s attempted coup.

Patric wasn’t a crewmember then, but had kept up with the UN civil war. After Admiral Malik’s failure in taking Cimeron, Lynch replaced him with someone else. Malik didn’t accept that action and had tried to oust Lynch, claiming he didn’t have the authority with the given circumstances to lawfully declare martial law. Both Lynch and Malik had placed their loyal subjects throughout the UN fleet. Both had underestimated each other and hostilities broke out between the two factions. The colonies tried to remain neutral while the fleets battle over their heads.

The civil war took years to resolve and gave the Interstellar Affairs Committee the time they needed for the newly formed government to rebuild their haggard fleet into a cohesive unit and merge the technologies of the separate races that made up the IAC.

The IAC had been the brainchild of Toby DeLuna and was instrumental in creating the new interstellar government. The Tearrains had been the first alien race the rebel fleet had successfully communicated with. They were involved with the wording of the document and the naming of the new interstellar organization. The Tearrain race was governed by committees. So to make the new government more acceptable to the Tearrains, they decided to call the new organization the Interstellar Affairs Committee. The Tearrains already had a Space Affairs Committee that governed over their solar system, but had no laws for interstellar. They had been in space for a thousand years but never had found a practical means of interstellar travel. They eagerly accepted the IAC as that meant they would be given the new technology with the understanding they would help the rebels survive.

How is it different? Patric asked.

All the capital ships have left. Tyson answered. Only peace time forces are present. I would have expected them to hang around here a bit longer.

Quinton gave a chirping whistle.

Quinton wonders if those ships were needed elsewhere, Patric explained. That would explain why they departed so soon.

Helen realized that Quinton wasn’t a one dimensional thinker. While he proved his knowledge in engineering, he now was showing his tactical and logistical side. Logical. Assuming that is the case, the question would then become, where and why? Helen responded.

Chapter Two

Before Prime Minister Lynch declared martial law, Toby Deluna commanded the UN stealth explorer, Tristar. Other than the slight graying of his black hair, nothing much had change with his hansom square face and blue eyes since then. If anything, he looked more distinguished.

The proclamation of Lynch had prompted the flight of countless civilians from the colonies.