Victoria's Challenge

  “Dad, you need to stay in bed so you can be examined.”

  “Fuck that! No one touches my wife!”

  “Dad, so help me, I’ll knock you out if you get out of that bed.” Victoria’s eyes blaze into his. “Don’t think I won’t! No one is going to hurt mom!”

  “Where’s Lucas!” he demands.

  “By now, he's engaging the Regulians.”

  “What?” Peter whispers shocked. “He went back?” His eyes scan his daughter, sees the flicker before it’s gone.

  “It’s his job, now lay back down so I can help with mom.” When he finally nods, she turns away. Magnes has been following the conversation with interest as he completes his scan. Reading the results, he frowns. “I’ve been giving her zyprin. It’s enabled her cough up about half of the foreign matter in her lungs.”

  “This is half?” Magnes looks at the thin pale woman on the bed who has Tori’s eyes.

  “Yeah.” She understands what he’s thinking. “The attacks are becoming less frequent and producing more, warm steam eases them some. She’s vomited once during an attack. I’ve had her on a respirator several times to help relax her.” Victoria pauses.

  “Do you have the original scans?”

  “Yes.” Victoria pulls the scanner out of her pocket, handing it to him. “They’ve all been receiving boosters and nutrition replacements at two hour intervals.”

  “Good, I want to up her dosage.”

  “I’m not sure she’ll tolerate it, the attacks leave her exhausted and weak. She panics when she can’t catch her breath.”

  “You’ve been treating that too?”

  “Yes, twice.”

  “Then, let’s start her with a vaporizer to help ease the production then go on from there.” Victoria nods her agreement. Leaning over her mom as Magnes gets the respirator, she smiles putting a hand on her covered head.

  “It’s going to be fine, mom, Magnes knows what he’s doing. I know I gave you a wild ride out there, so you rest. I’ll handle everything else. Okay?” Cyndy nods tiredly at her then looks at Magnes as he puts the respirator over her nose and mouth.

  “Just breathe regularly, Madame Chamberlain.” When the Retribution shudders, her eyes widen. “We’re fine.” He tells her reassuringly. Only after her eyes close does he turn to the man.

  “So, this is Peter Chamberlain.” Magnes holds his hand out to the thin, pale, gaunt, man lying on his bed. “It is an honor to meet you, sir.” Magnes watches surprise then suspicion enter the man’s eyes before he finally shakes his hand.

  “Let’s get you scanned. Chamberlain?” Magnes asks as he runs his scans.

  “Extreme malnutrition, low degree of foreign matter in his lungs, hasn’t coughed any up yet. Signs of radiation sickness but no vomiting, he's been kept on liquids.”

  “How do you know my name?” Peter knows it hasn’t been said.

  “Peter Chamberlain is something of a legend within the Fleet, sir.” Magnes tells him as he adjusts a pressure syringe. “He’s the older brother of Queen Cassandra. He taught her and his daughter how to defend themselves with some very unique moves. One which is now required learning in the Academy.” He sees the man’s confusion. “It will take time to adjust to the changes, sir, but your arrival will be celebrated throughout the Fleet.” Magnes gives him the injection.

  “Tori…” Peter looks to his daughter.

  “Rest dad, you’ve done more than enough today, let me handle everything else.” Nodding, he looks at his wife then closes his eyes.

  “Get me an update on our fighters!” The Admiral demands.

  “Sir, we’ve lost a dozen birds so far.”

  “Shit.”

  “Sir, squadron leaders report that three Regulian battleships have been destroyed, five severely damaged. The Battle Star is beginning to retreat, the remaining ships providing cover. Sir they want to know if they should pursue.”

  “Negative, let them run.”

  “Affirmative, sir.”

  “And where’s Zafar! I want his report.”

  “Sir, Hawk is currently in his Blade with his squadron.”

  “Fuck!” He should have ordered him to remain on board. “Communications get me the High Admiral.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “What the fuck is going on Quinn!” The High Admiral demands. “All your transmission said is that the Fleet is under attack!”

  “High Admiral, we are currently engaged with five Regulian battle ships. We’ve destroyed three, severely damaged four more and the Battle Star. They are retreating into the Relinquished Zone.”

  “Twelve Battle Ships!”

  “Yes sir.”

  “What the fuck were they thinking? That we wouldn’t notice?”

  “Will… we didn’t and wouldn’t have if not for the advanced warning given to us by the Phoenix.”

  “They’re back?”

  “Yes sir, with three additional all in medical.”

  “Tell me the rest!” The High Admiral leans back in his chair in High Command as he listens to his most trusted Admiral and friend. His gut tightens at how close they had come to total disaster. He looks at the visual of his family. “What’s this new technology?” he demands.

  “I don’t know yet, Will. I haven’t been able to debrief Lucas. He jumped into his Blade as soon as he was back on board.”

  “How many have you lost?”

  “Twelve. All ships at this time are fully operational, reporting minimal damage.”

  “Good, keep it that way. I want reports as soon as the battle is over Quinn.”

  “Yes sir. It’s been a hell of a day High Admiral.”

  “Let’s make sure it ends on a good note, Admiral.”

  “Agreed sir.”

  “Hawk to Retribution.”

  “This is the Retribution.”

  “Requesting permission to land, refuel and reload.”

  “Hawk, your orders are to land and report immediately to the Admiral for debriefing.”

  “Sir….”

  “That’s an order, Major, the High Admiral wants to know what the fuck happened out there!”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Dodge, you’re in charge, keep them running.”

  “Will do, Hawk.”

  Lucas climbs out of his Blade, scanning the flight deck. Deckhands are scurrying around refueling and rearming Blades.

  “Lorre!”

  “Yes Major!” She hustles up to him.

  “My bird can wait. I’m to report to Command. How are you and the men holding up?”

  “We’re all good, Major, a few minor bumps and bruises that’s all.”

  “Good! Keep up the good work, and if you need a rest, take it. This deck runs better when you’re on it.”

  “Sir… thank you, Major.”

  “If you need to bring anything to my attention, I’ll be in Command via medical.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Entering medical, Lucas quickly scans the wounded. There wasn’t as many as there could have been. Frowning, he sees Victoria closing up a laceration.

  “What are you doing? You should be with your family!” He walks up to her. When she turns, he sees the relief in fatigued eyes.

  “They’re sleeping. You're good to go Ensign, keep it clean and check back tomorrow.” She pulls off bloody gloves and tosses them in the recycler.

  “Yes ma'am.”

  “Then you should be too.” Lucas leads her away.

  “Don’t start with me, you’ve been flying for nearly forty hours nonstop, and they’re this way.” Victoria corrects their course, leading him behind a curtain to the three sleeping Chamberlains. Closing the curtain, she wraps her arms around him, closing her eyes.

  “You are so tired, baby.” Lucas can feel it in the way she’s leaning against him.

  “Yeah, I am, but there are things that still need to be done.”

  “Not by you!”

  “I’ll rest when you do.” Stubborn eyes meet his.

  “Yo
u know, one of these days…..”

  “Yeah right.” A tear slides out before she can stop it.

  “Shh…. It’s okay.” Lucas leans down to kiss the tear away. “Everyone’s okay.”

  “I know.” She replies as he leaves a trail of kisses on the way to capture her mouth.

  “Ahem….” Magnes clears his throat as he pulls back the curtain, hiding his smile. “Major, nice to see you. Are you injured?”

  “Magnes should check your leg.” Victoria steps back.

  “What’s wrong with your leg, Major?”

  “Nothing.” He gives Victoria a hard look.

  “My father shot him.”

  “Excuse me?” Magnes’ eyebrows shoot up.

  “He lost a lot of blood. I closed the wound and have been giving him the standard booster, plus an exposure one.”

  “Major, I need to examine you.”

  “Not now, I’m supposed to be reporting to Command.” Lucas looks at Magnes. “See if you can’t get her to sleep. She’s been going nonstop for nearly five days now.” Giving her a hard look, he heads to the Admiral.

  “Major, what took you so long?” Quinn demands.

  “Sorry Admiral, I stopped in medical first.”

  “Are you injured?”

  “No sir.” Quinn just looks at him, knowing why he’d been in medical.

  “She’s okay?”

  “Exhausted but standing.”

  “Yes she tends to. Communications connect me to the High Admiral.”

  “What have you got?” The High Admiral immediately demands.

  “High Admiral, the last Regulian Battleships are withdrawing into the Relinquished Zone. Sensors are tracking them. I have Major Zafar here.”

  “Major, report.”

  “Sir, the Regulians have some new type of technology that makes our sensors unable to pick them up.”

  “How did you discover this, Major?” Lucas hesitates. “Major!”

  “High Admiral, approximately forty hours ago, the Phoenix’s long range sensors picked up the Regulians entering the Relinquished Zone from their side. I immediately shut the Phoenix down so they won’t pick up our warp trail. We were unable to contact the Fleet because I lost the long range antenna in a debris field.”

  “How were your sensors able to track them?”

  “They couldn’t sir. Approximately thirty four hours ago I ran scan and couldn’t locate the Fleet.”

  “So how did you?”

  “We saw them. They were so close we could count them. All sensors showed empty space. Right before they passed, there was an energy pulse, it rocked the Phoenix, but all systems were still operational. We followed them until we were close enough for the Phoenix to make a run for it to warn the Fleet on the short range.”

  “How did you take out their shielding device?”

  “Sir, I didn’t. I can’t explain that. All I know is I was fighting ship to ship to buy the Phoenix time when suddenly all the sensors on the Raptor kicked back in.”

  “Admiral, do you have an explanation?”

  “High Admiral, all I can tell you is the Phoenix’s locator signal suddenly appeared on our systems but we were unable to raise them. When we finally did, we were informed of the situation. I then ordered the Phoenix to leave the combat area. I was ignored. The Phoenix proceeded to execute an inverted 180 turn and shot back into the Relinquished Zone, a very interesting move, High Admiral.” Quinn continues knowing it was the High Admiral’s signature move. “I was then told that the Phoenix’s locator would remain active until the Regulians were spotted and would then be shut off, letting us know where they were. Within one minute of that happening our sensors were able to detect the Regulians”

  There is a pause on the other end. “Then what?”

  “Sir,” Lucas looks at Quinn. “I don’t know what happened next. All I know is I was engaging multiple Strikers, my Raptor down to eight percent when the Phoenix appeared taking out multiple targets and obtaining strikes against numerous battle ships. Reinforcements appeared within thirty seconds.”

  “Eight percent, Major?” Only Quinn hears the alarm in the High Admiral’s voice.

  “Yes sir, I had barely broken off my attack when I lost all power.”

  “And….” William’s voice is tight, thinking of how close he’d come to losing his first born.

  “Sir… I’m not sure you want to know.”

  “Major!”

  “Sir,” Lucas could no longer speak to the High Admiral. “Dad, Victoria shot in front of me, opened the cargo bay doors of the Phoenix and hit the brakes.” Lucas looks at Quinn. “It should never have worked. It should have killed us all, but I’m here.”

  “Victoria?”

  “Currently working in medical.”

  “Admiral, I need to speak with her. I need to know what the Regulians have.”

  “Understood, High Admiral.”

  “Dad…. She’s running on little to no sleep for the last five days.”

  “Understood, but there are bigger concerns here. What if there is another hidden fleet? Admiral, set it up, I’ll give you fifteen.”

  “Yes, High Admiral.” Quinn disconnects. “Lucas we’re heading to medical.”

  “God damn it, Quinn! She’s exhausted! She’s trying to keep her family alive!”

  “And the High Admiral is trying to do the same for the rest of us!”

  People step aside as the Admiral and Zafar head to medical. The look in their eyes daring someone to stop them.

  “Magnes!” The Admiral enters medical.

  “They are this way, Admiral.” Lucas leads him to the curtained area. Stepping behind it, he finds Victoria, her head lying on her mother’s bed, holding her hand. She’s finally asleep.

  “Can’t this wait?” Lucas whispers.

  “Lucas?” Victoria raises her head at his voice and Quinn is shocked at what he sees. She is pale and more than exhausted, it hurt his heart to see her so, but the three on the beds shock him more.

  “Victoria, the High Admiral needs to speak with you.” Quinn tells her.

  “What?” Lucas can see she doesn’t understand.

  “Victoria!” Quinn makes his voice harsh. “You need to report!” At his aggression, he sees a man rise behind her. He is pale, malnourished, and obviously weak but he rises nonetheless.

  “Who the fuck are you!”

  Victoria’s head whips around. “Dad! It’s fine. This is Admiral Tar. He’s in command the Coalition Fleet.”

  “Not doing a very good job from what I’ve seen.” Amber eyes clash with violet.

  “Chamberlain?” Quinn looks to Lucas. “Peter Chamberlain?”

  “Yes.” Lucas answers him. Slowly Quinn walks up to him.

  “It is a privilege to finally meet you sir.” The Admiral holds out his hand. Peter looks first to Victoria and then Lucas who nods. Peter shakes the Admiral’s hand. He doesn’t understand this.

  “Admiral, what do you need?” Magnes enters the curtained off area.

  “The High Admiral needs to speak with Victoria. I need your secure link.” Nodding, Magnes turns to his office. Quinn watches as Lucas leans over to whisper in Victoria’s ear, sees her nod. Turning, she checks the tiny pale woman still sleeping on the bed readjusts the respirator then walks around to check the boy. When Magnes returns, she walks over to Lucas.

  Peter watches as Magnes sets some type of device down on the counter. The Admiral walks over, presses some buttons then steps back.

  “High Admiral, I’m with Victoria.”

  “Report Chamberlain!” The High Admiral demands.

  “Excuse me?” Victoria raises an eyebrow. Her tone, as icy as a queen’s. She is tired, her family is still at risk, and she’s had enough.

  “Report!”

  “I am not one of your men, High Admiral, you can’t give me orders!” Lucas puts a warning hand on her back.

  “Damn it, Victoria, I need to know what happened.”

  “Then ask.” She hears him
take a deep breath.

  “How you were able to identify and destroy the Regulian’s new technology.”

  “Once we started our run to the Retribution, we were able to observe the entire Regulian Fleet. They were flying in an unusually tight formation. In front of them was an extremely strange looking ship, unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

  “You believe you’ve seen all the Regulian ships?” The High Admiral questions.

  “I’ve studied all available data on the Regulians, High Admiral, and the unavailable. I have a vested interest in knowing them.”

  “Yes you do. Continue.”

  “Once we passed the ship, we encounter the energy pulse again. Passing through, we made our run to warn the Retribution. Once done, we returned to assist Hawk.”

  “How did you take out the technology?”

  “I didn’t, I was busy flying. My father did.”

  “Excuse me?” All eyes in the room turn to Peter.

  “My father was in the co-pilot seat, I needed extra eyes. He concurred that the lead ship must be creating the energy pulse. He used the co-pilots weapon controls and took it out. I concentrated on the Battle Ships and assisting Hawk. My father is an expert shot, High Admiral.”

  “So Cassandra’s informed me on more than one occasion. Were you able to discover anything that would help us in detecting them?”

  “I haven’t been able to download the data yet, High Admiral. I’ve been a little busy.”

  “Data? What data!” The High Admiral demands.

  “I engaged all recorders as soon as I saw the Regulian formation. It’s on the Phoenix.”

  “Admiral!”

  “I’ll see to it immediately, High Admiral.”

  “Victoria…. How are you?” William finally lets the personal in.

  “I’m okay, the flying lessons came in handy. Sorry about the Phoenix.”

  “What?”

  “I kind of beat her up. The good news is, you can tell Leander to increase the red line.”

  “You pushed her past the red line?” William asks in a deceptively quiet voice.

  “Just a little.”

  “How far, Victoria Lynn?”

  “9.2.”

  “Fuck!”

  “How’s Aunt Cassie?” Victoria tries to distract him.