First Strike

The voice in Tarina’s headset counted down toward zero. They had gone over what was going to happen when they arrived in orbit above Derra-5 at least a dozen times, yet she still found herself thinking about it step by step.

  “Zero,” said the voice. Tarina engaged the jump engine. Their transport ship instantly disappeared from view replaced by an impenetrable black curtain. Until she actually experienced it herself, Tarina had always thought that when a ship made a jump that it was still possible to see the stars passing by her ship as long streaks of light. Instead, a dark bubble had formed around her craft. So dark that even light could not penetrate it while she sped through space faster than light. Their mission was to place into orbit two satellites above Derra-5 so they could gather information on the Kurgan Fleet. Using data provided from their first mission, the satellites had been programmed to emit the same transponder signal as the Kurgan vessels in position above the planet, making them seem as if they belonged there.

  Derra-5 appeared directly in front of Tarina’s cockpit as the ship came out of its jump. Right away, Wendy began the countdown for the return trip. Tarina reached down and pressed a button, releasing their cargo. The satellite floated free from underneath her ship. Through her cockpit glass, she could see a wave of Kurgan shuttlecraft descending down through the atmosphere heading for the surface. She estimated that there were at least thirty.

  As before, the mission only lasted five seconds. Without being detected, they jumped away. Minutes later, the belly of their support ship filled her vision. Deftly maneuvering her ship, she flew back inside, landed and then patiently waited for the artificial gravity to be turned on and the hangar bay to be pressurized.

  “My God, did you see all of those shuttlecraft?” said Wendy.

  “Yeah, I suspect that they were sending reinforcements down,” Tarina replied.

  A technician tapped on the glass. Tarina waved back. The cockpit lid lifted allowing the technicians access inside. As soon as her helmet was removed and her safety harness unbuckled, Tarina thanked her crew and climbed down to the hangar floor.

  “All quiet?” asked Wright as he strolled over.

  Tarina shook her head and filled him in on what she had witnessed.

  “That’s important. I’ll make sure that gets passed to fleet right away. Come on; let’s see if our mission was a success.”

  Together both flight crews walked to the ship’s briefing room. Wright asked the ship’s executive officer to send the telemetry being sent back by the satellites above Derra-5 to the computers in the room. A few seconds passed before the information came up.

  “Bingo,” Wright said, smiling. “Now, as long as the Kurgs don’t change their transponder codes, we should be in business.”

  “Sir, how long will it take for this info to reach the fleet?” asked Lloyd.

  “About three days. After that, who knows how long they’ll spend analyzing the information before deciding what to do about it.”

  Tarina asked, “Sir, what’s next on the books?”

  Wright smiled and turned to leave. “We’ll have to wait and see what fleet wants us to do.”

  After Wright was gone, Tarina looked at her friends. “Why do I get the feeling that he’s never going to truly open up to us?”

  “I doubt that he ever tells anyone the full picture, not even his parents,” observed Wendy. “It’s his nature, I guess.”

  Tarina let out a sigh and then looked down at the information on the computer screens. She prayed that it would provide their forces with a tactical advantage needed to engage and defeat the enemy. She did not mind her new role as a deep space reconnaissance pilot; however, since learning about Sheridan’s death all she could think about was killing Kurgans.

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