Mk
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The E.A.S. ANSHAR:

"Mr. Mosey, status report."

Commander John Mosey picked up the data-pad and looked at its readout.

"Captain, we have full power. All systems are green. Engineering has handled that sting that the BELLERAPHON gave us a little while ago pretty well. It's a good thing that Captain Toen told Captain Wikan which side we're really on or we'd really have some problems."

"What is the status of the fusion lasers?"

"Charged and ready, Sir," Mosey responded.

Captain Mark Andrew Siefert shifted uneasily in his seat restraints. He felt as if he weighed a couple of hundred pounds heavier, a strange feat given the fact that he and the rest of his crew were in a state of micro-gravity. ("Why couldn't they put a rotating crew section on these things when they refitted them after the E/M War" was a common question Siefert would hear a crewman in the mess ask his or her shipmate.) It was a feeling that he always got when he went into battle. When he fought the Minbari, he had the same feeling. When faced theRaiders, the feeling was there as well. But in all those past battles, the weight he felt on his soul never felt as bad as it did now. Because this time he was fighting people he had known most of his life. People he knew from the Academy. People he drank with at the officer's club back home. People he called "friend."

Siefert checked his tactical display on the command desk in front of him. The E.A.S. DIONYSUS was now nothing more than a burning hulk in space. That was one less worry on his mind. He didn't know how much longer he could keep up his little masquerade as a loyalist. He had transmitted as many of the late Commodore Field's secret transmissions to Captain Toen as he could. But as time wore on Siefert knew the ruse wouldn't last and Field (the clever, old goat) would have figured it out. The time had come to show his true colors.

"So much for that truce, right John?"

"Aye Sir, things sure did heat up quickly after those . . . things bugged out."

It was not the first time Siefert had seen or heard of those strange ships. He had heard tales from aliens had met at the many space stations the ANSHAR had docked at for replenishment. Tales of black, nightmare ships and an ancient darkness returning to conquer the galaxy. He had also seen the ISN footage from that lost Starfury--That is, before EarthGov and the Nightwatch pulled it. Someone had the rocks to put a copy of the footage on the Net. Unfortunately they caught the guy who did it thrown him in some Ministry of Peace re-education camp on Pallas.

He prayed to God that those things wouldn't come back . . .

Siefert had ordered the ANSHAR to come about hoping he could get into an optimal position to fire on the DIONYSUS. But with her destruction, he had to think of something fast. Then he saw it. The E.A.S. NERGAL was in trouble. She was caught between the rock that was the E.A.S. JASON and a hard place made up of one of the JASON's Thunderbolt squadrons. If he could free up the NERGAL . . .

"Mr. Mosey," Siefert said. "Are the fighters still on stand-by?"

"Aye Sir."

"Mr. Mosey, launch all fighters."

"Aye Sir!" It was the order Mosey had been waiting for. "What orders should I give them?"

"Tell them to engage the Thunderbolt squadron harassing the NERGAL."

"Aye, fighters away." Siefert felt the vibrations of the Starfuries leaping from the ANSHAR. He switched the view on his command desk from the tact-display to the rearward exterior camera. He saw the Furies leave the ANSHAR, igniting their engines when they reached a safe distance. He then switched his monitor to the forward camera to view his quarry: The Omega Class Destroyer E.A.S. JASON.

"Guns," Siefert said to his Weapons Officer. "Can you give me a firing solution for the JASON?"

Lieutenant Donald Nelson looked up from his control console. "Aye sir," the Weapons Officer replied in his native Texas drawl. "From here I can fry her like a ant under a magnifiyin . . . "

"That's good enough Guns," Siefert cut in. "Prepare to fire all forward weapons. Except the class "C" batteries, I still want them set to `intercept' just in case."

"Aye Sir," Nelson replied. "Solution loaded, ready to fire on your command."

Siefert starred at the Omega Class Destroyer for a moment. He then reached back into his rear trouser pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped it open to the picture of his fiance', Gina. He missed her and he hoped she was all right. He had heard rumors of what Clark's Shock-troops and the Nightwatch were doing back home. He should be with her. Siefert would never forgive himself if anything would happen to Gina.

His attention shifted back to the JASON. A feeling of hate began to creep into him. That ship was part of the terror that had infected his world. It's officers and crew had decided to side with the same people who were murdering the citizens of Mars, killed President Santiago, and were oppressing his friends, his family and his lover back home. The weight his chest was replaced by a feeling of rage. He wanted to kill the JASON and the tyranny it represented. He wanted to punch large, burning holes in her hull and have her crew members sucked screaming into space where their cries would be forever silenced in the hard vacuum. The guilt and apprehension were now gone, only anger remained. An anger that he hoped would consume the JASON.

"Guns, open fire."

A millisecond later, the ANSHAR unleashed Hell upon the JASON. First the forward plasma cannons sent bursts of super-heated helium toward her target. Siefert watched the scene on his desk monitor. The JASON's interceptor batteries came to life, firing explosive rounds into the incoming plasma bolts. The first few bolts exploded then vanished into the blackness of space when the missiles struck them, but the interceptors were soon overwhelmed and couple of bolts struck home. Then came the fusion laser. A pair of bright red beams shot from both sides of the ANSHAR and lanced through the JASON spine. No human-made defensive system could protect The JASON from those beams of coherent energy.

"YAHHOOO," Nelson whooped. "That put a fire under their rump."

"Belay that Lieutenant." Mosey warned. However the Executive Officer was unable to contain the broad grin that stretched over his own face.

"Open all frequencies, Mr. Garbish," Siefert calmly asked his Communications Officer.

"Channel open, Sir." Garbish replied.

Siefert waited a moment. He looked back at Gina's picture, it gave him the strength he needed to say what needed to be said. He kept staring at her picture as he spoke:

"Attention all ships: the E.A.S. ANSHAR stands with the forces of General Hague against the tyranny of the Clark regime. If anyone has a problem with that, I suggest you take it up with me."

It wasn't the galaxy's greatest declaration of defiance. Siefert didn't have the time or the patience to be more eloquent. He had more pressing matters to attend to. He closed his wallet and returned it to his back pocket.

"What's the status of our fighters?"

"Reports are coming in now," Mosey said as he glanced back at his data pad. The grin on his face vanished and he turned ashen.

"What is it John?"

"Sir, all of our Starfuries were destroyed. They took out five of the enemy fighters, but . . . " Mosey's voice trailed off.

Siefert slumped back into his chair. Six Starfuries...Gone! Six men and women either dead or drifting about the void in their ejected cockpits. Those new Thunderbolts fighters are as good as "Aviation and Space Technology" said they were. But, his people didn't go down in vain. There are now five less fighters giving the NERGAL trouble.

The bridge of the ANSHAR became quiet. Shock was beginning to set it. Shock that would distract the crew from it duties. Distraction that could lead too . . .

"All right people," Captain Mark Andrew Siefert prompted, bringing his bridge crew back to reality. "We can mourn our losses later. Right now we have a job to finish."

Another brief silence.

"You heard the man," Commander Mosey said, breaking the quiet. "Let's finish this!"