Battleship Avenger (Conquest of Stars Book 2) (2 page)

Commodore Raptor,
Vice-Commodore Barryett, Law Officer Legtar and Colonel Jarvyk ran out of the Nestorian
Senate building and into the front lawn. Starship
Conquistador
was
beaming bright floodlights on the ground because the electricity had not been
fully restored to the city of Nestor. Starfirian airships were parked there and
Starfirian Strike Soldiers were guarding the grounds as well as the wall
surrounding the Senate. One airship in particular was marked as the personal
transport of the Commodore of the Starship and it levitated a foot off the
ground and slowly glided towards them. The door on their side slid open and the
pilot and co-pilot turned around and saluted them. There were four Starship
Guards sitting two each facing the others behind the pilots and far to the back
respectively. There was space for twenty individuals in between them but those
chairs were all vacant.

Commodore Raptor
picked up his personal radio and dialed in to Capitan Dorrvyk, his
communications officer.

“Capitan Dorrvyk,
what is the tactical situation out there?” Raptor asked standing outside the
airship doors while VC Barryett and Legtar jumped in and took their seats.

“Commodore,”
Dorrvyk’s voice came over the radio, “a thousand rockets will impact Nestorian
Battleships in eight minutes in their current position.”

“How long before
these Mercurians can spot Conquistador?” Raptor asked.

“We are too close
to the planet’s gravity for them to tell our gravitational signal apart from
Nestor’s on their gravitron scanner,” Dorrvyk said, “Horyett informs me,” he
said referring to the gravitron scanner officer abroad their ship, “they will
have to get electronic or visual identification.”

“Good, that gives
us time, at least half an hour, perhaps more, stay on line Dorrvyk,” Raptor
turned to face Colonel Jarvyk who was standing opposite to him, “How long will
it take to pack up all the Strike Soldiers?”

“Sir, we can be
loaded and back abroad our Starship in fifteen minutes,” Jarvyk said, “But that
would allow the Republican Guard to foment up new trouble.”

“In the midst of
an alien invasion?” VC Barryett poked his neck out, “I don’t believe they are
that irresponsible.”

“Most likely not,
on the other hand they did launch a harebrained attempt at a coup,” Raptor
said, “Besides these Mercurians may attempt a ground invasion with troops, land
and air weapons.”

“If they do, me
and my soldiers are best placed here to stop them,” Jarvyk said, “They will
attempt to capture the seat of the government.”

“Col. Jarvyk, you
will stay here with the Strike Soldiers,” Raptor said, “Hold this capital city
and more importantly, hold the Senate.”

“Yes sir,” Jarvyk
saluted him and moved a few steps away from the door.

Raptor got inside
the airship and the co-pilot pushed the door button to slide it shut. Raptor
waved his finger up in the air to indicate for them to take off towards their
spaceship above.

“Dorrvyk,
establish communications with their ground defense command centers and have
them clue us in to their planetary defense plans,” Raptor said on his radio.

“What if they
refuse?” Dorrvyk asked.

“Most likely they
won’t,” Raptor said, “But if they do, have Capitan Hedgewyk and his signals
team intercept their transmissions.”

“Yes sir, on to
it,” Dorrvyk replied.

For the rest of
the ride up, their airship compartment was quiet. Three minutes later the
airship docked inside Conquistador’s forward docking bay that was nearest to
the central command room and Raptor and Barryett ran towards the exit. They did
not bother with a hovercraft since the command room was within walking distance
of this forward bay. They ran at a brisk pace and strode into the command room
within five minutes of landing and received sharp salutes from all the officers
and the crew.

“Get back to your
tasks,” Barryett said and walked over to Dorrvyk’s communications stations to
look at the planetary defense plans that were coming in. Raptor walked over to
the Commodore’s station and climbed abroad to his seat and took charge of his
computers.

“Any refusals?”
Barryett asked.

“Some,” Dorrvyk
said, “Capitan Hedgewyk’s team is intercepting and decrypting the rest for us,”
Dorrvyk looked over to Hedgewyk who nodded his head in affirmative and said,
“Vice-Commodore, they are passing electronic confirmations of the plans back
and forth between the ground stations and the battleships. We have grabbed
them.”

“Forward them to
the displays of the entire command room staff,” Raptor said.

“Yes sir,” Dorrvyk
replied and multiple displays lit up with the schematics of Nestor’s defense
plans.

“It would have
been easier to have the new Chancellor you appointed, Commodore, to give orders
to all their ground batteries,” Hedgewyk said, “As it is now, Dorrvyk’s requests
are being accepted or denied base by base.”

Raptor shook his
head but he was in no mood to explain his decision as his mind was already
formulating their response.

“That would have
taken too long,” VC Barryett chimed in to explain, “The candidate whom we
appointed Chancellor is not very popular with their officers and I can just
imagine him getting into debates with individual base commanders.”

“Then why did we
appoint him?” someone asked and Raptor waved his hand.

“Toll, now is not
the time to ask political questions…” Raptor said.

“Sorry sir, I was
just curious,” Capitan Overyk, the navigation officer said, “Colonel Tollvyk
hasn’t returned.”

Raptor turned
around to look at Overyk and was startled at his own absent mindedness. That
was the kind of question Tollvyk would ask and right at that inappropriate moment
too.

"That is
alright, Overyk, I intend to explain that and a lot more shortly after the
battle,” Raptor said then looked at Rocket Fire Section and the vacant chair of
that section’s senior officer, “But why the hell is Tollvyk not at his battle
station?” Raptor could not believe Tollvyk would act like a petulant child who
refused to come out of his room after a scolding.

“You ordered him
out of the command room,” Capitan Alvina said.

“Oh that is
ridiculous,” Raptor stood up from his chair. He looked at Alvina and she
matched his eyes with calm earnestness. He was surprised to see her speak out
for Tollvyk while all the other officers were staring hard at their computers
and displays sensing their Commodore’s anger.

“She is right
sir,” VC Barryett said, “If he returned to the command room without your order,
he would technically be defying a direct order from a superior officer. Now
since you expect him to return without asking your specific permission first and
realistically won’t hold it against him, but that doesn’t mean he is expected
to go ahead and do it without any qualms.”

The officers and the
other staff in the room let out a collective sigh of relief. Barryett was the
only person who by virtue of his rank and of his stature as a former Commodore,
could firmly dissent from the Commodore.

Raptor let out a
deep breath. He knew Barryett was right. Technical the point was, correct it
also was. 

“I will go get
him, meanwhile Overyk get your section to search for the location in Nestor’s
oceans that has the deepest depth,” Raptor said and started climbing down from
his station.

A few faces turned
around to look at each other and there were expressions of shocks on the other
faces as well. VC Barryett walked over to Raptor as he got down on the command
floor and headed to the door.

“What are you
planning on doing, Commodore?” Barryett asked the question that was in
everyone’s mind but that no one else dared ask.

“I am going to
submerge us,” Raptor said.

“Did I hear that
correctly, sir?” Barryett raised both of his brows in wonderment. He looked
after Raptor as he walked towards the door. Barryett had not thought very
highly of the new Commodore he had been assigned, what with the stained records
of nearly every officer abroad, and honestly including himself. But after Raptor
had pulled off that daring victory when even a war hero like Antrar had thrown
up his hands, had made him rethink his opinion. Perhaps Commodore Raptor was a lot
more than the sum of his records.  

Now he wasn’t so
sure if his first impression wasn’t the correct one and the victory some sort
of a fluke.

Commodore Raptor
stopped just in front of the main door, turned his neck with a sly smile on his
face and said, “I want Colonel Tollvyk to be here to hear this, otherwise Toll
will say: what is this, a goddamned submarine?”

The entire room
guffawed loudly and Barryett’s face lit up with a grin. No, he told himself as
Raptor walked out of the main door and disappeared, Commodore Raptor was greater
than his past.

“You heard your
Commodore,” Barryett turned around to face the officers, “let’s find him the
deepest trench one can stick a large spaceship in.”

Raptor knew
exactly where he would find his friend Tollvyk. He eschewed the hovercraft and
kept walking down the hallway and then made a right turn. This corridor led to
the officers’ quarters and a few benches were attached on either side of the
wide hallway. One man was sitting there holding his personal radio in both of
his hands staring down at it, expecting the sound of the command to return to
cackle out of the speaker at any moment.

“Toll,” Raptor
said walking over to him and patted him on the shoulder, “Come on, Toll, I need
you. The war we came here seeking has found its way to us.”

“I am sorry
Commodore,” Tollvyk saluted, “I won’t break decorum again.”

“Perhaps I was too
harsh,” Raptor said and both of them turned back.

“Perhaps you
were,” Tollvyk said, “but don’t second guess your decisions, not even for me.”
Toll then looked around. There was no one else in the corridor as all the officers
and the crew were attaining to their battlestations and their predetermined
positions. “Raptor,” Tollvyk whispered, “we were attacked by our own back
there. That mechanical fail-safe to avert mid-space collisions only works with
other Starfirian Army spaceships.”

“I know,” Raptor
said then put his finger on his mouth as they turned the corridor and walked
into the main hallway leading to the command room. There were twenty Starship
Guards armed with laser guns patrolling the outside entrance of the central
command room and Raptor did not want them to hear anything of this. If even the
rumor of that incident leaked out then it could cause big problems for the
morale of the crew and the outside officers. As it was this Starship had been
assigned a crew with assorted attitude and character problems.

“I intend to hold
the command officers’ meeting to address that issue right after the battle,”
Raptor said as they passed the guards who promptly saluted both of them and
walked into the command room.

“If we survive the
battle,” Tollvyk grinned wryly.

“That’s why I need
you and your rockets,” Raptor said, “get to your station.”

“Yes Commodore,”
Tollvyk turned to face Raptor, then quacked his boots on the shiny metallic
floor with a clang and saluted him sharply in view of the other officers who
were greatly relieved to see them together and calm.

Raptor walked over
to Overyk’s station where VC Barryett was looking over the navigator’s shoulder
at an oceanic depth map of Nestor that Overyk had pulled on the display.

“Found anything?”
Raptor asked.

“Yes sir,” Overyk
said and then pointed to the screen, “Nestorians call it the
Packtonus
Trench
, named in honor of the first submarine commander to dive his boat in
there. It is twelve miles deep and the ocean around the trench is at least ten
miles deep for fifty square miles around the trench. We can submerge and hide
Conquistador
there with at least a mile of water above us to spare.”

“What about the
effects of displacement? Any islands or shore nearby that would get flooded?”
Raptor asked.

“Fortunately, only
a few uninhabited islands that may temporarily submerge,” Barryett said,
“Nestorians would flip out if we drowned a few of theirs just for a tactical
advantage.”

“Take us there and
dive us in,” Raptor said walking back to his station.

Starship
Conquistador had already flown away from Nestor’s capital and was above the
ocean. Capitan Flyptar, the flight officer, increased the speed and directed
the Starship to the location of
Packtonus Trench
while keeping it flying
as close to the surface of the ocean as possible to avoid any detection by the
Mercurian scanners. Overyk engaged the computer and directed it to plot and
program a safe dive into the oceans while avoiding collision with underwater mountains
lining the trench or the ocean bottom. He sent the preprogrammed solution to
Flyptar who along with his flight staff took the Starship down.

Conquistador
struck the water slowly nevertheless the enormous size of the Starship created
huge displacement and waves hundreds of feet high that ran screaming out of the
epicenter in all directions.