First Strike

Tarina sat behind her controls, going through a few last minute checks before she made her jump. Behind her, Wendy was checking and re-checking the calculations provided to them by the Avenger’s onboard navigation computer. She would not be happy until she had verified the numbers herself.

  A voice spoke into their helmets. It was Colonel Wright. “Okay, folks, this is a simple mission. We are going to jump on either side of Derra-5, switch on our sensor arrays and record everything we can before the ships automatically jump back here five seconds later. If we hang around any longer than that the enemy will acquire us and fire a couple of missiles at us.”

  “Got it, sir,” responded Tarina.

  “Okay then, let’s do this.”

  The launch bay depressurized. A second later, the doors below the two craft opened. Using their thrusters, the two pilots flew their ships out into space. When they were one hundred meters below the transport, Wright began the countdown.

  With each passing second, Tarina grew nervous. Her hands tightened around the ship’s joystick. The instant Wright said “zero” Tarina engaged the jump engine. In a flash, both craft accelerated beyond the speed of light.

  Three minutes later, Tarina’s ship emerged on the far side of Derra-5. She could see dozens of Kurgan ships in orbit. Her craft’s sensors, augmented for the flight, got to work recording everything.

  Wendy began the countdown for the return flight. In just five short seconds, Tarina and Wendy had just conducted their first combat mission and proven the viability of deep space reconnaissance. Before any Kurgan ship could lock onto them, they were gone.

  The belly of the transport ship suddenly appeared above them. Tarina smiled and then flew up inside the launch hangar, as did Colonel Wright. The instant the doors closed beneath them, the transport engaged its jump engine, taking them far away from the Derran system.

  The bay pressurized and the artificial gravity was re-engaged. A swarm of technicians ran over to help the crews out of their ships and to replace the expended power packs in their engines.

  As soon as she was out, Tarina walked over to Wright’s ship. “Sir, that was one really short ride.”

  “Quick in and quick out, there’s nothing wrong with that,” replied Wright, handing off his helmet to a technician.

  “I saw several dozen Kurgan warships and transports in orbit.”

  “As did I.”

  “Sir, where are we heading to now?”

  “We’re going to rendezvous with a frigate and transfer all of our data to her. She’ll then jump back to the fleet with our findings.”

  “And us, sir?”

  “We get ready for the next mission.”

  “Which is?” asked Wendy.

  Wright smiled at the two eager officers. “I suspect we’ll be heading back to Derra-5 in a couple of days. Until then, I want you to review the last mission to see if there is anything we might need to change the next time we do this. And I want you two to get some rest.” With that, he turned and left the hangar.

  Lloyd, Wright’s navigator, walked over and joined the two women. They were about to head to the mess hall for some food when they saw a group of technicians wheel out a couple of large objects and move them over to the Avengers.

  “What are those?” Lloyd asked one of the men.

  “Satellites, sir,” replied one of the technicians.

  Tarina grinned at her friends. “I guess we just found out what we’re doing next.”

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