(Posted on 06-03-2000)
Chapter 12-Instinct Takes Toll
I didn't know why I had such anxiety like Jade had. Although I couldn't blame him. There was something that bothered me intensely about him and the way the battle was coming along. I didn't know why, but for some reason I wanted to go out there into a fighter with Jade and make sure he was going to be okay in the intense battle that was to follow. I was now at the rendezvous point and talking to Captain Henkins.
"Basically, what we are going to do is flank Voinia. Now, penetrating the other systems will be hard to do, but fortuanately, the Miranu have agreed to take some of their Zachit forces to help us. I want all of the Fleet 1 forces to split up right on the outer rim of the UE Frontier territory, from there, I want you to move your squads in system through system to take out all of their standard forces. Until you get to Voinia, I just want you to hit-and-run your way through to survive, got it?"
"I might have a slight problem with that," I replied to the president. The president closed the primary channel and opened a private one with me. His face flickered onto the viewscreen. I looked at him. One of his eyebrows was cocked and he was smiling slightly.
"What would be the problem?"
"My turret crew is a bit small. We don't even have 4 turrets manned."
"I will take care of that, in the meantime, we need everyone to stay in the system for about 3 days anyway so we can manage all of the ships. I will see if I can get you some of my best UE gunners that are not on duty. Good enough?"
"Certainly, Mr. President," I replied, slightly smiling. Knowing the fact that you were going to have some of the best gunners on your ship was an assuring thing. Still, I only smiled for a moment, as I was again pounded by the thought of Jade's change in hope.
The three days passed. It was time for me to face the awaiting destiny that was out there and shadowed. The anxiety started once again when I heard a voice yelling. At first I thought I was about to have a dream, but then I realized the truth.
"Rise and shine! Get up, get up! Come on!" I heard Jake yelling into the doorway of my qaurters. I yawned for moment, and got up slowly, my back fixed on a pile of pillows. Jake walked in from the hall and stood in my doorway.
"Sleep well?" Jake asked.
"Until you came," I replied, my eyes struggling to open. I was so tired I thought I was going to die. Of course, I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Kino came running from the bridge, yelling at Jake. Kino was an Azdgari whom wanted something different in his life. Kind of like me.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" Kino yelled, irritated beyond belief.
"Waking everyone up," Jake said, simply. "They need to wake up because the President has something he wants to say to the entire fleet."
"Huh?" I made the sound knowing that Jake was telling the unpleasant truth. So I got out of my bed and went to the shower.
"Oh, then that's different," Kino said quietly, slightly embarrassed that he had yelled at Jake.
The bridge door opened, and I walked to the captain's chair, still half asleep. The viewscreen already had the President staring at me, so I had no time to do anything but get straight to the point.
"Good morning, Mr. President."
"Morning, Captain. How does it feel to be sitting in a 23 million credit warship? Bet you're glad you didn't have to study hard in school," the president said, smiling. "Okay, I'm switching to the primary fleet channel."
The viewscreen went black, and I saw a document that was nicely outlined in green explaining our mission objectives in a light blue text. The head of the UE Navy, Jilonan Netina came onto the commlink.
"As you know, during these past three days, several of the Renegades have been spending their time gathering their forces while we prepare for our massive assault. This will be the greatest battle that has ever happend in all of the known galaxy. Therefore we are preparing for the worst. Rumors have it that the Renegades have a new kind of warship. None of this information has been confirmed by intelligence, but we are still preparing for that kind of situation. At this point in the war between us and the Voinians, we have concluded that if this does not destroy at least 1/3 of the Voinian race than the war will go on. However, if we force the Voinians to defeat and completly wipe out all of them that come into our way, it may very well end the war. Fleet 1 has already been told what to do, and as for the other two fleets we require that you split up with fleet 1 evenly as well. If we do this, all three fleets can meet up in Voinia to make a massive assault. We know that the Voinians will most likely take every precaution as they are expecting us to come any day. Therefore, they will probably have at least a hundred or more of their cruisers lined up for our fleet when it arrives. For this reason, we are sending in every single available UE Cruiser to take out their front wall of ships. It won't be easy to do, but we can pull it off, due to the fact that each of our UE Cruisers has been heavily modified over the past 3 days with advanced shields, armour, and a new version of the blaze turret. Seven of them have even been outfitted with our new cloaking device. In approximatly 2 hours and 20 minutes, you are to enter hyperspace, and head for Voinia. I will be in a UE Carrier that will be leading fleet 2. Over and out."
It was said. He said a lot. That was for sure. The thing that still ripped me in two was out there, and it wouldn't stop telling me to go back. It was like an unspoken threat. A meaning for something. I didn't know what. However, even if it meant giving up what I had, I was going to find out.
"Punch it!" I yelled, and with that, Kino hit the hyperspace control on the console. We leapt into the next system with an enormous flash of blinding light. Several UE Destroyers were next to us already engaging the Voinian ships that were right outside of the UE Frontier. KABLOWWZZZZ! The sound stimulated my hearing.
"Fire all weapons to Voinian Cruiser 43. Engage!" I yelled.
The bluish torpedos went twirling out of their tubes straight for the Voinian Cruiser. Several kilometers away we saw that the torpedos made an astounding impact. The Gamur system was more than enough trouble for us. Voinian Heavy Fighters were heading our way.
TF 22 Fighters and UE Fighters launched out of the bays of the carriers and Defender A.K. ships. I watched, but still did not release my fighters. The TF-22 Fighters were in the front taking out several waves of rockets with precise accuracy with their Karticel cannons. The TF-22's broke off, and then the UE Fighters shot their gatling blaze cannons. Half of the fighters were destroyed.
"Let's get out of here! All ships proceed to Naogza!"
"You heard the man! Let's get out here," I cried, as we were suffering 1/3 shield loss and could not take much more beating from rockets. I felt the ship ease up and turn to the left. We entered hyperspace again. This time the light wasn't so bright. We entered the next system and immediatly broke off into a flank, they were not expecting us to escape the previous fleet. Voinian Supply ships were blown to bits in a matter of seconds.
We cruised through the system for a short while. We were going to fly right over the Voinian station that was in the system, and bomb it. I sat back and for once in days relaxed. The sense that something completely horrible was going to happen left me for a short moment.
"Hey, Doc," Jade had contacted me over the commlink.
"We're kickin' butt," I said to him and had a sly smile on my face.
"How are your shields coming along?"
"Not bad, they need about 7 more seconds."
"Cool. Well, guess what?"
"What?" I replied, again kind of laughing to myself at the humor of his personality.
"I'm out of torpedos, mind if I resupply on your ship."
"Go ahead," I said.
The commlink channel closed, and I turned to Kino. "Open the fighter bay doors." It was a simple statement. The last one I would ever give for Jade.
"Sir, I'm picking up something strange on our scopes."
Jade was about 600 meters away from landing inside the bay. Suddenly, out of no where a rocket came lauching right into his ship. An explosion lit up the right side of my ship. The turrets rotated and started firing at an ambush of heavy fighters. The fleet that we had encountered in the previous system jumped in. Forward, straight ahead of us, I saw a horrible sight. Another fleet came from the next system through hyperspace. However, that was not my concern. There was still fire blowing out at the area where Jade was.
"Jade, come in," I said, practically paralyzed. This had been the one moment where I knew something was going to happen that was unbearable.
"Jade, please respond," I said again.
The fire from the rocket cleared, and Jake was gone. The thoughts, the destiny, the instinct, and the dreams had been brought together. Great depression, had arrived . . .
Coming Soon:
The thoughts get deeper, the action rises, and the blood flows rapidly in the sequel to A Hidden Legacy. In the upcoming book known as Jade's Return, we find out more about Doc, the Karticel, and some dazzling ideas about the Azdgari technology. So stay tuned for Book #2!
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 06-03-2000).)