Alien Shore Chapter Eight
GRID Traveler Trinity: Alien Shores
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content
Chapter 7
They parried and thrust, they side-stepped and cussed, of blood they spilled a great part; the philologist blokes, who seldom crack jokes, say that hash was first made on the spot.
They fought all that night neath the pale yellow moon; the din, it was heard from afar,
And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame, of Abdul and Ivan Skavar.
- (Abdul Abulbul Amir, 1877 by Perecy French)
- (Abdul Abulbul Amir, 1877 by Perecy French)
Chapter 8
Things were not going well. The Webster’s main Fighter Group Wing had been erased from existence. She shook her head over that one, six fighters gone in a wink of light. During the SI war Webster had defeated numerous SI controlled squads. Webster’s pilots performed flawlessly – they always had. They flew in, flashed phasers and spent torpedoes and came back home. This was the first time Wing Group Alpha didn’t return. What made it hard was it took less than three seconds. Robin couldn’t believe it. Johnson was an old ship – 175 years old. It ran on a disabled AI and traveled on long GRID waves. The crew had to be heavily sedated for War Jumps – not the kind of ship she would want to command. The fighter ships were at least sixty years old. So, the first main question was, how did the Johnson’s Wing Group defeat Webster’s. The second main question was, how did the Johnson so easily incapacitate the Webster so completely?
She sat in her quarters and thought. She had sent out security to Necron base. The team reported five individuals. Robin had them transfer all remaining equipment back to the Webster. She hoped that, at least, something of importance could be retrieved. One good thing was that one of GC’s insiders was on the Johnson and at first chance she would, hopefully, send out some information. So, Robin sat and thought of the past. She remembered Sean loved to talk about the Way of the Warrior. Sometimes he said something worth remembering, other times she heard the words but didn’t listen. Sean truly believed in this Way. To Robin it was a dead belief that should have been put to rest hundreds of years ago. But Sean believed and practiced it. He decorated his quarters in Feudal Japan and had samurai and Ninja weapons displayed in many corners of the room. His room was fashioned in an old Japanese-like style. Cut linear wood and pale colors on the walls, with brown wood furniture. Sean said his room followed Feng Shui. ‘You walk in and it feels right.’ Now she looked at her own room. Funny how a major defeat can make you rethink a few things. She bit down on her bottom lip. Robin’s thoughts carried her off. ‘Sean can’t be a better captain. Johnson can’t be a better ship. Old fighters can’t be better fighters.’ Maybe he is. Maybe it is. Maybe they are.
“Computer?” Robin said, “Playback mission vid and 3d sim from the moment we entered Necron space. Show it on wall screen facing me.”
The Computer beeped. The vid started playing.
“Turn the lights down.”
The lights dimmed.
Robin watched twenty minutes of vid and simulations of a battle she didn’t win. It repeated eight hours straight – Robin hardly blinked through all eight hours.