Legacy Ch4

Legacy of the Guardians

AJ Marks

Chapter 4

"Captain, new orders coming in from the high command." The communications officer said to Ahmed, the captain had gone to bed for the night. The last half hour had been a bit tense and nerves were on edge ever since the news about the world trade center attack. Since then they had received word that the pentagon had also been hit, but they did not know what type of damage had been done to the buildings. "This is interesting!" Ahmed said to himself as he looked at the orders. "Captain to the bridge, repeat captain to the bridge." Ahmed said over the intercom.

A few minutes later the captain stepped on to the bridge and Ahmed met him halfway across the bridge.

"What's up?" The captain asked him, to which Ahmed passed him the orders he had just received, to which the captain scanned the orders quickly. "Damn, looks like high command isn't taking any chances." He walked over to the communications panel. "I need to talk to the entire fleet." He told the communications officer. He then waited for a few minutes as the orders were relayed and the officer replied that the fleet was awaiting his orders. "I know that some of you were in bed, and I'm sorry for waking you up but in case you haven't been following the news recently the world trade center twin towers were attacked by terrorists, who flew two planes into the towers. The pentagon has also been hit, but this new has just come in, the twin towers have collapsed."

Ahmed just stared at him in shock; both towers had collapsed. He felt sick inside, who could be so evil to do such a thing.

"Right now the leads that the newscasters are giving are that it was done by a Middle Eastern terrorist group." The captain said continuing. "As of ten minutes ago we are on War Condition Two, repeat, we are on War Condition Two. The carrier battle group Saratoga and the fifth battlecruiser group are on their way to rendezvous with us. All space traffic in Earth space is to be cleared, the only ships allowed are our military ships."

The bridge crew was now very nervous. War condition two meant that war could be possible at any minute and the individual captains were responsible for the responsibility of opening fire. It also meant that half of the guns would be manned at all times and CAP was to be flown at all times.

Ahmed was feeling terrible; someone from his country could be responsible for this terrible action. It was a thought he did not want to dwell on.

Randall walked into the council room late as he had been watching the events in New York unfold and talking to Jack, Steve and General Ginal. The four of them had come up with a short-term situation until the real attackers were found.

"I did not think you would show Ran Dall." Kinser, the ambassador from Ilderm, said to Randall when he sat down.

"Was a bit busy my friend, have I missed anything?" Randall asked his friend.

"Just the rambling of the Skartian ambassador. He has declared that your race has defied the council by keeping your fleet in the neutral zone until our fleet arrived. Then said that you are doing some sort of build up along the neutral zone border." Kinser said.

Randall noticed that the Skartian was still rambling and Randall stood up.

"Ah, I see the human ambassador finally graced us with his presence." The Skartian ambassador said. "I have drawn up a list of charges against the human race, it's on that piece of paper in front of you."

"I'll let you look at the charges and then you may respond." The president said.

Randall grabbed the piece of paper and without glancing at it tore it in two and threw the pieces on the floor. "As of right now Earth and its surrounding space are off limits to all ships. Any ships entering this space will be attacked, boarded, captured or destroyed. We currently have a patrol group at the border of our space and the neutral zone. It will be joined by a carrier and battlecruiser attack fleets."

"You can't do that!" A now nervous Skartian ambassador said pointing at Randall.

"Wrong, its our space, not yours!" Randall said and walked out of the council room leaving a stunned audience in his wake.

Jack had been watching the news and reading reports trying to find out who was responsible for the attack on the trade center. So far the main suspect was a terrorist named Osma bin Laden. He was known to use airplanes in his terrorist attacks and had once before tried to attack the towers unsuccessfully about six years before. He was also known to be hiding in Afghanistan somewhere.

He finally made a decision that could change the course of diplomacy between the Skartian and Human races.

"Get me General Ginal." He told his secretary.

"What's up Jack?" The general said as Jack picked up the phone a couple of minutes later.

"I have an idea, but I think its time we involve the president of the United States." Jack said.

"That's risky business Jack, are you sure?" The general replied, not really liking the idea of involving a politician.

"This is different, listen." Jack said and proceeded to outline his idea and theory.

"Hmm, well I don't like it, but it's the best idea I've heard in a while." The general said after listening to Jack and then thinking about it for a couple of minutes. "When can you get here?"

"How about you set up an appointment for Friday morning." Jack said.

"Sounds good, see you later." The general said and they hung up, both with things to do before Friday.

"Incoming, repeat incoming warships from the Gasica area." Ahmed said as he watched the approaching ships. The invaders had attacked the Ilder fleet with overwhelming numbers and now the Ilder fleet was in retreat towards the Moscow and her escorts.

"How long till reinforcements get here?" The captain asked.

"Half an hour at top speed." Someone answered.

"Inform all commands that we have an invading Skartian fleet in sector three of the neutral zone." The captain said.

"Yes sir!" Ahmed said feeling the rush of impeding battle flow through his blood.

"Open a channel to the fleet." The captain said waiting a few seconds for the channel to be open. "All personal, we have an invading Skartian fleet heading right for us, we must hold them here, or else they will have a clear path to earth, as the Japanese Admiral Togo said, let every man do his utmost." The captain said signing off then he turned and called for red alert.

The Moscow and her escorts formed up in battle formation and waited for the oncoming Ilder fleet to join them for the upcoming battle against the Skartian fleet.

It did not take long before the remnants of the Ilder fleet to join the Moscow. The two fleets quickly joined forces like they had trained with each other for a long time. In no time the Skartian fleet had arrived and the battle began again.

"Come about and concentrate fire on that Skartian carrier." The captain said as he felt the ship be rocked by another hit.

"Damage to section ten trough fifteen on the port side, repair teams on their way." Ahmed said relaying the information to the captain. The battle was not going well for the human and Ilder fleets. They were outnumbered about ten to one, and everyone knew that it was only a matter of time, but the longer they struggled the more chance there was of the reinforcements getting there in time.

The high command's meeting was suddenly interrupted by and aid rushing into the room. "Sir, this just came in." The aide said handing Jack a piece of paper, he could hear his secretary saying an apology and that he rushed right by her without stopping.

Jack was about to give the aide a verbal thrashing when he caught a word on the paper. He concentrated on the paper for a few minutes reading it and making sure he had the right information.

Steve and the others watched in fascination as Jack had gone from angry with the aide to stunned.

"Well is seems that we are now at war again." Jack said to the group.

"Why do you say that Jack?" Steve asked him.

"The Moscow is currently engaged against a Skartian fleet in our space. The captain of the Moscow said that they attacked the Ilder fleet on patrol and that several Ilder warships were destroyed. He also doesn't know if they will be able to hang on until the fifth battlecruiser fleet and the Saratoga carrier group gets there." Jack said to the group giving a synopsis of the report. "I recommend we go to war condition one until the situation is cleared up."

"Agreed." The group said.

"Have a priority alert sent to the Saratoga and the Fifth fleet at once, and let's make sure that the rest of the fleet knows what is going on." Jack said as a message was sent off to the fleet.

"I suggest that Randall be informed of what has happened." Steve said to Jack. They all knew that when the council heard about this news action would be taken.

Another hit rocked the Moscow that jolted the bridge crew. Several crewmembers were thrown from their stations onto the floor. Ahmed picked himself up off the floor and took a quick survey of the bridge. Most people were getting up off the floor, some more quickly than others and returning to their stations. So far the battle was not going well for them, but they were inflicting damage on several of the Skartian warships. The Ilder fleet had backed off as their ships were faster and news of the attack needed to get out, in case the Skartians were successful in their attack.

"The captain's been hurt." Ahmed heard the voice say and he quickly rushed to where he heard the voice and saw the captain lying there in obvious pain.

"Damn, think I broke some ribs in that fall, and I also hit my head!" The captain said with pain in his voice.

"Medic to the bridge." Ahmed said over the ship's intercom system.

"Don't bring him up here for me." The captain said.

"I'm not, we've got several people down." Ahmed said looking around again. "That last hit must have been close to the bridge."

"Captain, we've just lost the Benzin." An officer said. That was the fourth ship they had lost since the battle started. The Ilderian's had lost one more before the captain ordered them to retreat, to which the Ilderian commander had reluctantly agreed.

"How much longer till the reinforcements arrive?" Ahmed asked.

"Not for another ten minutes, but I can't tell you for sure, that last hit knocked out the long range scanners." The officer said.

"Ahmed, you're in charge right now, I can't think straight with the pain." The captain said to Ahmed who nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"All remaining ships, this is acting commanding officer Ahmed, concentrate all fire power remaining on their weapon systems, that might just give us the time we need to survive." Ahmed said taking control of the situation.

Ahmed's tactics might have worked better if he had about twenty more ships under his command, but with only two ships left there was little hope against about a hundred Skartian warships. The remaining escort ship was barely surviving thanks to radical and hard maneuvers by its captain, but now it was only a matter of time before the overwhelming numbers caught the speedy ship. The battlecruiser Moscow had so far survived on its massive shields and superb damage control team.

The battlecruiser was hit twice more in rapid succession and the damage reports came onto the bridge for Ahmed. The news was looking very grim. One of the shield generators had taken some damage along with two of the three main engines, and they would both have to be taken off line before they overloaded.

"Sir, I'm registering more ships." The scanner officer said. "Its the fifth battlecruiser fleet!" She about shouted across the room.

"Get me the commander of the fleet." Ahmed said, and only had to wait for a few seconds before the commander came up.

"Vice Admiral Dinen here." The man said before Ahmed could say anything. "I bet you're glad to see us!"

"You don't know how glad." Ahmed said just as another hit rocked the ship and a report came over that shield generator one had completely failed.

"Pull your ship back behind us, the Saratoga's fighters and the battlecruisers Washington, and Calgary will provide covering fire for you." The vice admiral told him. Ahmed relayed the orders quickly and ship began to withdraw from the battle. Ahmed knew that with the arrival of the Fifth battlecruiser fleet and the Saratoga carrier group that the human fleet now outnumbered the Skartian fleet, and the Skartians would be unable to press the attack against the Moscow.

It took a while but the Skartian fleet finally withdrew from the battle. The human fleet and defeated the Skartians again. This time, peace would be harder to achieve.

End Ch4

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