“I love you, Roy!”
“I love you, too, Lynn.”
“We should have resigned our commissions and gotten married.”
Roy sighed, “Lynn, if we did that, our warriors wouldn’t have had time to learn a new commander’s expectations. They would be put in more danger if we acted selfishly.”
“I know. It’s your fault!”
“What?”
“You shouldn’t have waited until the very last moment to ask me to marry you!”
“I was afraid you’d say no. I couldn’t muster up the courage to ask.”
“You had to know I’d say yes!?”
“I wanted to believe it but I guess I was amazed that you cared about me at all. You’re just so wonderful and special that I…I just found it hard to believe you’d agree.”
“You didn’t have to wait until a day before we skipped out to ask.”
“Yeah, but it was the fear of the coming battle that gave me the courage to ask.”
“Roy, if you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you!”
“Uhhhhh…ok.”
“I’m serious!”
“I know, I know. Just be careful.”
“What disruptor has your company been assigned?”
“Number six.”
“I’ve been assigned number two. They’re nowhere near each other. I suspect fleet didn’t want us close to each other to prevent us from going to each other’s aid if things get bad.”
“Lynn, fleet doesn’t keep track of their warriors’ personal lives.”
“Fleet keeps track of everything.”
“Come on Lynn. They wouldn’t know about us?”
“Want to bet on that?”
“What’s the wager?”
“The winner gets thirty minutes of back rubbing.”
“I’ll accept that but how would you prove it?”
“Stay linked to me and listen in.” Lynn pressed a button on her console and Eve appeared on her display. “Sir, I’m getting questions about the coming attack. Has fleet determined when we’ll be dropping in?”
“I’ve wondered the same thing but was told that I needed to learn patience. I would offer you that same advice.”
“Yes Sir.”
“By the way, congratulations on your engagement, Captain. I’m sure you and Captain McAfee will have a very happy life.”
“Thank you, Sir.” Eve disappeared from the display and Roy’s face replaced hers. Lynn could see his stunned expression. Lynn lifted her chin and looked down her nose, “I will collect when we get back.”
Roy was shaking his head, “I’ll pay up. I need to check up on my company. I’ll talk with you later.”
“I love you, Roy.”
“And I love you, too.” The display went dark and Roy pressed his company’s frequency. Eve Axel knew they were engaged. How was that possible? Now he was going to have fatigued fingers because of this. How could Lynn possibly know? Roy smiled, maybe his rubbing her back would be interrupted with other activities. He really hoped so. He shook his head again, Eve Axel knew! He blew out a breath and pressed his communicator. The light turned green and he said, “We have some time before we skip out to our target. Take this time to check your armor’s magazines and make sure they’re fully loaded and I do mean fully. You’ve trained for years to do this and I expect you to follow your training! I know some of you are feeling fear at this moment and that’s ok. It’s fear that allows us to be brave and some of us to be heroes. I ask that you give me your best and look out for each other. Now take this time and check your munitions.” Roy heard over his frequency the forty warriors in his company yell, “YES SIR!” He clicked off his communicator and thought, Eve Axel knows we’re engaged! He shook his head and began checking his magazines.
Chris watched the Pods flying at a high speed toward the oncoming mass of Grey Warships. They were nowhere close to their top speed; it wouldn’t do to fly too fast into that huge formation of enemy ships. He saw the battleships moving in with them and the sight was awe-inspiring. The bright force fields lit up the darkness of space and their beauty belied the deadly intentions of both fleets. Then, the two fleets hit head on and the dance of death began.
Marty Helms flew her pod into the formation of Grey Warships and went to the left of the one directly in front of her. The A-Pod to her right swerved to the right of the huge ship. Her three-disruptor turrets swiveled and fired two DE Beams at the ship to her left and one at the ship to her right. She knew the pod of the right side of that ship would also be firing a single beam into it. She moved even with the stern of both ships as they exploded in two massive explosions. In an instant, she was between two more ships and she opened fire again.
Across the entire front of the huge grey cloud of warships, massive explosions erupted at an incredible number. Ten enemy disruptor beams from the next ships in front of her hit her pod but were shrugged off by her force field. She opened fire on them as she passed and checked her force field’s status on her combat helmet’s tactical read out. Its power level was slightly lower but she wasn’t in danger…yet.
Chris watched his command monitor and looked at the average force field level of his pods. It was dropping slightly. The Pods were incredibly small next to the huge Grey Warships. They looked like fleas running between the legs of Great Danes. He smiled, not many of the dogs were surviving them, those that did were cleaned up by the battleships that were following them. He felt his rage at them grow by the minute and he reveled in the destruction he was witnessing. The Pods and battleships blasted their way more than twenty thousand miles into the huge cloud of Grey Ships and Chris pressed his communicator, “All ships will fall back to their original location and reform.”
The giant Alliance Fleet went to maximum speed and was back in formation in less than thirty seconds. The oncoming Grey Fleet had to slow down to avoid running into the massive debris field in front of them. Hundreds of thousands of Grey Warships were either burning or blasted into rubble. The grey cloud split with half of them moving above and the other half below the debris field.
He heard Allison say on the general fleet frequency, “Pod lines one through five will move below the debris field and six through ten will go above it. The Battleships above or below those two lines will follow them in. Stay close to the debris field to prevent being attacked from above or below.”
Chris saw the two groups move apart and he said, “Commence the attack.” The two groups accelerated around the debris field and slammed into the Grey Ships again. He said, “How many ships have we lost?”
“A thousand Pods have been destroyed and one battleship. All of them were destroyed by accidently ramming into one of the Grey Ships. So far, none have been destroyed by their beams.” Chris nodded and watched the carnage continue.
Marty barely missed ramming a Grey Warship on her right when it swerved toward her. She moved out of its path, instantly fired on it with all three disruptors, and saw another grey ship swerve toward her from the left. They were attempting to ram her pod. She clicked her communicator and yelled on her Admiral’s frequency, “They’re trying to ram us! Evade above or below! Staying between them is suicide!”
The Admiral passed the message to the other ships in his fleet and the message was then passed on to the rest of the fleets moving through the enemy formations. Chris pressed his panel, “Jinks, you’re being very quiet.”
“I’m really here to observe. You and Admiral Simmons are doing an outstanding job. If I see anything that might help, I’ll be sure to let you know.” Jinks watched the battle and could see Chris’s malevolence toward the Grey Ships in his expression. He would not participate in commanding the fleets and take away from Chris’s joy of destroying this civilization.