Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (19 page)

             
Looking around the rest of the recreation room, he watched all the other pilots and wondered which of these men and women would not be here after the first encounter with the Shenkar.

EDF
Sacrifice
, Recreation Room

              Liam excused himself, telling his fellow pilots he wanted to go over last-minute preparations. However, exiting the center, he didn’t go back to his quarters. He instead walked toward the hangar. Entering the hangar, he looked around. The media crews were boarding awaiting Omega shuttles to be taken back to Earth. He noticed that the Omega shuttle the world dignitaries had used was already gone. Liam waited until the last of the media boarded the shuttles and lifted off before he entered deeper into the hangar.

EDF
Sacrifice
, Recreation Room

              Evan had watched Liam walk from the room, seemingly deep in thought. Lately, Liam seemed to be keeping to himself, always around yet apart from the group. On more than one occasion, Evan had spotted Liam watching the men and women of Necro Squadron or even other pilots of the other squadrons. When Evan had asked him about it, he simply said he was just thinking about the coming mission. If Evan had to guess, though, he would say that Liam was wondering who would be the first to die and what he could do to prevent their deaths.

             
Evan wished he could do something to help his friend. He had lost his wife and now was in command of nine men and women who would die in the end. A sharp jab to his ribs brought him out of his thoughts.

             
“
Hey, flyboy, already lost in space?” asked a smiling Crystal.

             
Looking at Crystal, he returned the smile, examining her face, drinking in her beauty.

             
“
No, just thinking--worried about Liam,” said Evan.

             
“
He has looked more worried lately than usual,” remarked Crystal.

             
“
Yeah, he is worried about us all. He knows we all went into this knowing our final fates, but it doesn’t stop him. He has always been like that, always trying to protect everyone. If anyone needed something, he was always there to try and help.”

             
“
Well, there is nothing we can do about it now. Maybe later we can corner him and get him to talk. However, until then, let’s talk about something different,” Crystal said playfully as she squeezed his thigh with her hand.

             
Her smile alone would have been enough to get his pulse racing, never mind the thigh squeeze. He had to clear his throat before speaking, yet still stumbled anyway.

             
“
Uh . . . w-w-would y-y-you want to um . . . you know, go somewhere private?” said Evan.

             
Even couldn’t remember the last time he felt butterflies while speaking with a woman--and Crystal was definitely all woman. Crystal smiled even more as she leaned in so her mouth was next to his ear. He could feel her hot breath as she spoke.

             
“
How about your quarters since they are closer? We can work on maneuvers,” she said with a devilish smile on her face. Evan turned quickly to the rest of the pilots at the table.

             
“
Well, guys and gals, I think I will turn in now.” Then he turned to Crystal before speaking again, “Did you say something about needing someone to show you how to get to your quarters?”

             
“
Yes, thanks, I would appreciate it,” Crystal said smiling as she got up.

             
Saying their farewells, they walked quickly from the rec room. At a pace close to jogging, they hurried to Evan’s quarters. After what seemed a very long time, they reached his quarters and keyed in his entry code. No sooner were they through the door then they turned to each other and embraced in a fierce passionate kiss. Each of them pulled at the other’s clothes in attempts to remove them. After several minutes, Evan pulled the top half of Crystal’s uniform down.

             
Just then a loud alarm sounded but was suddenly cut off and a female voice spoke:
“
Attention, all crew members; report station readiness. The first folding sequence will commence in fifteen minutes. Everyone, report to your assigned fold stations. Repeat, everyone report to your assigned fold stations. First fold will commence in fifteen minutes.” The voice cut off as suddenly as it came.

             
“
DAMN IT!” said Evan loudly.

             
“
Guess we have to wait on this . . . ugh, the sexual tension grows,” said Crystal sourly as she pulled up her uniform.

             
They finished dressing, then Crystal quickly leaned up and kissed Evan again before exiting his quarters to go to hers. Evan quickly donned his battle suit, grabbed his plasma sword, and left for the hangar bay.

EDF
Sacrifice
, Main Hangar Bay

              Liam wandered among the F-77 Scorpion fighters, stopping here and there to examine different insignias that had been painted on the sides. Every fighter sported a different insignia: a hawk, a set of bagpipes, an eagle, a dragon, a raven, a werewolf, a tiger . . . and finally he came to his . . . a ghost. Tracing his fingers across the ghost, he hoped he would lead his squadron well. He knew they would all die, but he hoped they would all take as many of the Shenkar as possible with them.

             
“
You will be fine, Lieutenant,” said a deep voice from behind him.

             
Looking around, he saw General Kelvin standing there. Turning quickly, he snapped to attention, saluting. It took Liam a second to realize that the General was wearing the uniform of the Earth Defense Force. Stitched over the left breast pocket was the patch of a crew member of the EDF
Sacrifice
. Looking at the collar of his uniform, he saw the general now wearing four silver stars in a row along the collar: the insignia of an Admiral.

             
“
At ease, Lieutenant,” said a smiling Kelvin.

             
“
Sir, how is it you are wearing an EDF uniform? Last I knew, you were a General in the Air Force, not an Admiral in the Navy,” asked Liam.

             
“
Yes, you would be correct in that. I was a General. However, with the creation of the Earth Defense Force, we developed a new branch of military forces. But it’s more than just that--it’s a worldwide military, a combination of the nations of the world working together in unity. While combat of this type will be largely in common with Naval tactics, there is a large element that involves Air Force tactics. This particular mission will be entirely fighter-based sorties unless something goes wrong. Therefore, the command staff of volunteers is from the United States, Australia, and the UK. And for this reason, I am an Admiral, as all ranks will correspond to Naval titles.”

             
“
Aren’t you a good friend of the President?” asked Liam.

             
“
Yeah, and it was quite the challenge getting him to agree to let me head up this mission. I argued with him for what seemed hours before he relented and admitted I was more than qualified for the job,” explained Kelvin, laughing.

             
Liam smiled, then looked over his shoulder at his fighter before turning back to Kelvin.
“
Sir, what do you think our chances are of succeeding in slowing the Shenkar long enough to build the defense fleet?” he asked.

             
Kelvin looked around, taking in the crew getting the ship ready. Then he examined Liam’s fighter’s insignia before he answered.
              “
Honestly, I don’t know. We are depending on a lot of ‘ifs.’ One factor will be if the Shenkar are where the Meshtrell estimate they are. If we can destroy the advanced elements of the Shenkar forces before they can call in more support or even get a signal off, then that will be another factor. I am hoping we get lucky, but you can’t depend on luck, so we will wait and see. We need to slow them down for three months . . . that might not be possible, but we will try. If we can inflict enough damage upon their lighter capital ships, it might be that we won’t need to slow them for three months. So, like I said, it all comes down to a bunch of ‘ifs,’” said Kelvin grimly.

             
Kelvin turned again to look at Liam’s Scorpion fighter, running a hand along a wing, seemingly lost in thought. Liam stood there quietly, unsure of what to say for a few minutes before Admiral Kelvin turned back to Liam.

             
“
Come with me--I want to show you something.”

And then without waiting, he turned and walked toward a set of large doors marked restricted. Kelvin paused long enough to punch in a code on a security panel set into the wall to the left of the big doors
, and the doors slowly opened. Upon entering, Liam saw that it was a large storage room filled with what looked like motorcycles, yet they were somehow different. Walking closer, he got a better look. The bikes--if that’s what you wanted to call them--rested on what looked like a two-foot-long ski on the front, and the entire rear half was flat against the deck. The front was a mixture between a motorcycle and snowmobile, so that the rider would have to lie forward, his or her stomach resting on the bike. The rear half of the bike held a large engine.

             
“
Ion cycles,” said Admiral Kelvin.

             
“
They are pretty interesting, but why would we need land vehicles for a mission that is going to be space sorties?”

             
“
Well, something no one has been told is that one of the systems we will be going to has a planet with a low oxygen atmosphere. Data shows it to be about one and half times the size of Earth. It could be used as a staging point for the Shenkar to set up a ground base, so we wanted to have these new ion cycles along for reconnaissance work.”

Liam thought the ion cycles really were impressive; a closer look showed they held two energy cannons on
the front, one to either side of the headlamps. Then something occurred to Liam, and he turned to the Admiral.

             
“
Sir, why are you telling me all of this? I mean, I hardly have clearance, and I am one of thirty Lieutenant Commanders on the
Sacrifice
. Yet I get the feeling that I am the only one of us this information has been shared with,” he asked suspiciously.

             
Admiral Kelvin looked at Liam for a long moment as if mulling over his response. Then his serious face broke into a smile, and he clapped Liam on the back with a large hand.

             
“
You know, your trainers told me you were a sharp one. You just confirmed what they said with that question. In truth, you are right--you are the only Templar Knight this information has been shared with. In fact, you are now one of five people on board who know this information, not counting the Meshtrell.

             
That Meshtrell--Reeta, I think its name was--told me it felt you were a natural leader. It also said you had potential to be something they called a ‘Melechite.’ From what I have been able to find out, it translates roughly to mean ‘the Enlightened One.’ I asked Reeta what that meant, but all it did was start to hum the tune from
The Love Boat
. That Reeta is definitely the odd one of the bunch. It seems to love old television songs . . . irritating little fellow. As for my opinion, I tend to agree that you could be a great leader--you are smart and a natural on military tactics.”

             
“
Thank you, sir, but I am just doing what I think is right and--”

             
Before Liam could finish what he was going to say, an alarm blared across the hangar into the ion cycle storage room. After a few seconds, the alarm cut off and a female voice sounded across the ship’s internal comm system.

             
“
Attention, all hands report station readiness. The first folding sequence will commence in fifteen minutes. Everyone report to your assigned fold stations. Repeat, everyone report to your assigned fold stations. First folding will commence in fifteen minutes.” The voice cut off as suddenly as it had come.

             
Liam walked out of the storage bay just ahead of Admiral Kelvin, who sealed the doors, then turned back to Liam.
“
Well, damn it, I didn’t realize the time. I had better get to the bridge, and you need to get to your station.”