Chapter 62 - Making a Payment

"Turn the alarm off!" James shouted. "Admiral, sorry, but we can't play with you anymore. People, we're going to need everyone! Get to your stations and call out as you bring things online!"

"Janet!" Yvette added. "I'm headed to the command post. What do the scanners show so far?"

"So far just the jump point. The computers identified it as a hive sphere due to the size," Janet replied. "Wait... something. Shit! We have a Lares class carrier, it's emerged and the jump point is still growing."

"A Lares?" the admiral shouted. "Impossible, that class has no engines. It's nothing more than a shell used to hold their fighters."

"It appears to have been held in formation by tractor beams," Janet replied icily. "Or maybe this one has jump engines as well. All I know is that it was the first ship to emerge from the jump point and the point is still growing."

"Yvette," James shouted. "I'll be heading to the lasers. They probably can't do much, but it sounds like we'll need every weapon available. There is an auxiliary control center out there, so I can keep up once I get there."

I was frantically getting the teleport system off standby. "James," I called out. "I'll have the teleport up in two minutes."

"I need you in the primary teleport center by the main medical bay. We're going to be handling casualties," James said. "No wait; we need you to teleport the gunners to the lasers first."

The alarm had been muted. I could now hear feet pounding on the floors of our tunnels and people ran to get to duty stations. Overhead the speaker continued to squawk.

"Einherjar, deploy! Este, make sure that we're watching for missiles!"

"Hoplites, get to your guns! Let the spears run with Sa'arm blood!"

"Vikings! Are you going to allow those pansies from Athena to deploy faster! Get to your turrets!"

"Gaels, Let's show them true courage and fight!"

"We need to concentrate our firepower! All ships accelerate to join the Borneo contingent. Captain Evans, who is coordinating over there?"

"I guess I have tactical command," Captain Evans replied. "Come in and slide in behind Sif and Athena. They have experienced gun crews. And warn your missile cruiser that the Sa'arm around here have extremely efficient missile defenses."

"And don't send your fighters out except against their fighters or corvettes," a new voice called out. I recognized it as Bernadette Werfel.

"Who said that?" Admiral Timmons asked.

"Captain Bernadette Werfel. I command Mongolia, but a few months ago I was on Andrew Jackson when we faced a Sa'arm force at Wolf. They have a weapon that can take out squadrons of fighters at a time. Any of their ships destroyer size or larger appear to carry it."

"Also, the Sa'arm around here use a missile that breaks into slivers. It doesn't sound dangerous, but we've had more than a few ships badly torn up," Yvette reminded everyone. "Your corvettes need to be very careful."

"What about that torn up corvette?" someone asked.

"I have an extremely good helmsman," Captain Gates replied. "He manages to keep the hits glancing. But just about every ship here has taken hits from those missiles. They will tear up your ship and crew."

"We're at command," Tiffany called out.

"God!" Tamara added. "James, Janet wasn't kidding, this is a major force. Five, six, no ten total Vacuna scouts just came through and I have at least nine more ships still to emerge."

"Joy," James said.

I heard movement behind me and spun around. Kitty was standing there. Her face was pale as she put a hand on my arm. "James, I'm with Meiko, what should I do?"

"Support her," James said. "Maggie, I need you to organize everyone who knows how to run the tugs and mobile teleports. We're going to see ships take hits. Meiko, as ships take hits, I'm going to rely on you and Kitty to get injured crew off fast."

Kitty shivered and I leaned back, stunned by the responsibility that had been dropped on me. Overhead the conversations continued.

"I'm at laser control," Fred called out. "James, we can't really protect that far out. Not in a combat situation."

"I know, but it might help, especially if we have to shield a damaged ship," James called back. "Tiffany, we can't have the communications be free. Can you set it so that the ship commanders can send out blanket messages, but that we don't end up listening to all the chatter. And do the same here, Yvette or I should be able to send out general calls, but the rest should be internal unless it pertains to recovery of injured crew or damaged ships."

"On it," Tiffany replied.

"James," Admiral Timmons called out. "Can you make sure that we get a feed from your sensor net? It's better than anything our ships are going to have."

"I'll get it started Fuck!" Tamara said. "James, the scouts are deploying mines. They are using them to take out our system defenses."

"Get the sensors off the ecliptic!" James shouted. "Terrence, I need you and Louis at the command post and working with the system defenses. Try to save something, we might need them."

"Maggie!" Tamara called. "You are in charge of the people running the tugs and teleport pods. Boost them out of the ecliptic as well. These mines don't really identify what they are destroying."

"I don't have enough people," Maggie called back. 'So far only Claire and Whitney have arrived to help. We have five tugs and six teleport pads to move."

"Tina, Mike, Mike, Ulla, Veronica, Paula, Jillian, Madison, you know how to guide those pods. Drop what you are doing and go," James shouted.

"The hive sphere has emerged. We can now identify the other ships. Looks like three of the Vesta class Battleships and six cruisers. The hive sphere is launching some ships as well," Tamara called out.

There was a thumping behind me. I glanced back to see Brad entering. Candi and Randi followed. "James," I called out as I turned to the teleport controls. "Brad has arrived at the teleport room. He has Candi and Randi with him."

"Teleport them to the laser ready room. Candi and Randi can take over the auxiliary control there. We might need it," James replied.

I nodded and turned to the console. Brad walked forward until he was on the teleport pad. He turned around as Candi and Randi ran and threw their arms around him. Kitty giggled as I activated the teleporter to send them on.

"James," Reggie called out. "Gina and I have gathered all the babies and younger children. So far we have Marilyn, Bethany and Heather helping out. We should be fine for a while, but we'll need a couple more people once the babies get restless."

"Marie, find Carol and Robin," Yvette called out. "Get to the nursery and help."

"James," Donna called out. "Shawna is going to head to the main medical bay. I'm going to take a few minutes adjusting the pods here. Alexis, Barbara and Janice are still being healed."

"It's been hours!" Yvette called back.

"Yes," Donna replied, "But we were running the medical pods on reduced power and they had severe injuries. They will be healed within the next two hours. I just need someone to watch the pods here so I can join Shawna and Ed at the main medical bay."

"Molly," Gina called out. "You've sat in on some training. Get there right away and work with Donna. We are going to need her."

"Meiko!" James called out. "Amanda and Deb are on their way to the teleport room. Xavier, Mike and I should be a few more minutes. Also everyone, the main passage is still down, you have to teleport to the other side of the colony."

"James!" Yvette called. 'We are going to need a command post pairing for coordination with all the ships. Can we send a team to the colony center and the post there?"

"Diana, Ingrid," Tamara called out. "Have Meiko teleport you. I hope you don't mind, Terrence."

"Send Louis as well. He can use that post to do the repair scans. We aren't going to have any room to spare over here," Terrence said.

"Incoming!" we heard Admiral Timmons shout. "Captain Butros, launch the alpha flight fighters. Evans, can we get a Goddess to cut off those scouts?"

"Siberia, stay on Freya's flank! Captain Walker, cut those Sa'arm ships off!" Captain Evans shouted.

"Oh god!, not good, not good!" Janet shouted. "Missile inbound! It's gotten past the ships!"

"Brad!" James screamed.

I heard pounding steps behind me. Before I could turn, Deb and Amanda tore past me. They jumped onto the teleport pad. "Go!" Deb called before they even finished turning around.

I activated the pad and the duo vanished. "Fred!" I heard Brad cry. "I'm in laser one. Can you get me a quick targeting solution?"

"It's raw!" Fred replied. "Call out when you're ready."

"No time to refine the solution," Brad called. "Send me up!"

The colony seemed to pause to listen. I could still hear people running in the background. Kitty had grabbed my shoulder and was squeezing me as we strained to hear the results.

"Hit!" Fred finally called out. "Bringing you down."

"James, that took three shots!" Brad noted.

"The repair systems have been improved," James said. "If we don't use the laser for thirty minutes the seals will be replaced. It will be longer for your armor. The best we can set up will still take over an hour."

"How do I get my armor repaired?" Brad asked.

"There should be an alcove by the ready room. We have servo units to help remove the armor. Yvette thought about it after Mieko got hurt saving Amanda," James replied.

"He thinks of us all the time," Kitty whispered in my ear.

Kitty's action had distracted me and I was surprised to see Diana, Ingrid and Louis run onto the teleport pad. "Lily and Madison will be joining us," Louis said.

"I thought they belonged to Linus," Kitty commented.

"They do," Diana replied. "But they know the command post functions and Linus is going to get into armor. We need more gunners."

I activated the teleport to send the trio to the teleport pad by our main medical bay. They had just vanished when Shawna arrived. She bolted to the pad, followed by Ed, David, Lindsay, Craig and Gina's Michael.

This required that I make several adjustments to the teleport settings. I had to unlock the other pad before I could send a signal. Fortunately, Shawna had everyone organized. They stood quietly on the pad while I worked. "Send us when you are ready," Shawna called out just as I completed my work.

I activated the teleport, sending them to the main medical bay. As they vanished, I realized that Kitty had been watching over my shoulder. "That was a lot of work," she stated.

"More than normal," I admitted. "During the duel to control the unit, I turned off the other pad and locked it down to prevent Colonel Johanes from using it. To send Shawna to it, I had to remove all of the security. Next time I can send someone with just a couple of buttons."

Kitty smiled and backed away slightly. I knew that more gunners were on the way, so I began switching the teleport to send people to the lasers. I had just finished when Tamara's voice called out. "Meiko! Siberia took a major hit. They have two wounded who need medical attention and their pods are down. Can you get them from their teleporter room?"

"I can, but it would be better if I was at the medical bay's teleporter room," I said.

"Meiko!" James called out. "Can you set something up that Kitty can run?"

I started frantically adjusting the controls. My goal was to get the system automated to the point where Kitty would only have a couple of switches to hit before she could activate the system. "Kitty, get a couple of private headsets," I hissed. "I'll set this up for you to run and then you can teleport me to the bay."

Kitty ran from the room. "I need five minutes," I said. "I have to set the controls."

"The injured crew might not have five minutes," Tamara replied. "One of the injured on Siberia is their medic. Their other people with training are tied up in damage control.."

"I'm hurrying," I called out as I hit buttons. Behind me, I heard someone in powered armor enter the room.

"I heard," Deb called out. "We can wait for you to finish."

The system indicated that it had accepted my reset of the primary controls and that my secondary lockouts had engaged. I just had to connect the pads to the controls and activate the displays for Kitty. My fingers jumped around the console keyboard as I continued to make adjustments. Then a sound behind me caused me to pause.

"Careful," I heard Amanda call out.

"I'm fine," a groggy Kitty moaned. "I just didn't realize you'd be in the room."

"What happened?" I asked as I completed the reprogramming. Now on the console there were five lit buttons. Two had the locations of the other two active teleport pads next to them. One had the word "send", another "receive". The last lit button was a large red one set about a foot to the right of the others.

"I turned the corner and ran into Xavier as I entered the room," Kitty said as she stumbled over to my side and gently settled a headset over my head. "So how does this work?" I heard in my ear.

"I've set it up to be very simple," I told Kitty. "You have to hit one button to indicate which pad, one for send or receive and then the big red one to activate. The other controls are locked down until someone uses the console's master keyboard. Please don't play with that."

Kitty giggled. "Don't worry, I won't. So to send you, I hit the 'medical' button and then send to ready the system and then the red button to activate?"

"Let's try it and see," I said as I ran around the console and jumped onto the platform. I turned back to see Kitty staring at me, a slightly stunned expression on her face.

"I set it up for you this time," I spoke into the microphone of the headset. "Look at the console. There are two blue lights. One should be a bit brighter."

"I see them, the bright one is next to a text window saying Medical Bay," Kitty replied. "Oh, and I guess the green light shows if the teleport is going to the pad or coming from the pad. That says outgoing, so I guess I press the big red button."

"Exactly," I said.

"You aren't some evil scientist who made the red button activate the self destruct I hope," Kitty said with a giggle as her hand came down on the button.

Bright light flashed in my eyes. I felt a brief moment of dizziness. As quick as it appeared, the light dimmed and I saw that I was standing on the large teleport pad by our medical bay.

"Meiko!" Shawna called. "What are you doing here?"

I shook my head to clear it and then ran over to the control console. "Siberia has two injured crew that we will have to take. Their medical pods are down."

"Shit!" Shawna cried. "We're still getting the bay back up. Good Colonel Johanes' marines messed up the layout. James! We're going to need Gina, Donna, Jacques and Nathan as soon as possible."

"They are all on their way," James replied. "Has Meiko told you about the emergency?"

I had powered up the console and was at the keyboard. The marines had not put in any lockouts, but I still had to convince the unit to look beyond the moons of Ishtar before I could start to scan for Siberia's teleport room.

"She has," Shawna told James as I got the system to start scanning the entire solar system. "She's at the control of the teleport."

"Meiko?" James called out.

"Two minutes more, maybe less," I replied. The system found Siberia and added the pad to my list of usable stations, but almost immediately lost it. I rechecked and found that power surges were limiting the ability of Siberia to support the pad.

"Siberia reports that one of their crew probably only has about two minutes," Tamara called out.

"Two of the Vesta battleships are maneuvering," Tiffany called out. "Looks like Athena, Sif and two of the Asia class destroyers are moving to cut them off. Beowulf is maneuvering for a shot as well.�

'What about the other ships?" James asked.

I was desperately trying to get the link to Siberia to stabilize. The console indicated that it could easily find the pad, but every time I tried to form a clean link, the system would lose contact. Finally, I set up to grab anyone on the pad without waiting for a full link.

"Tamara," I called out. "Siberia's teleport pad isn't giving me a good link. I'm going to have to yank whoever is on the pad. Shawna, this isn�t going to be gentle.�

"On it!" Shawna called. "Craig, Michael, get the gurneys right to the edge of the pad and lower them. We need to move fast."

"Meiko, they are ready. Two injured and one concubine who has some first aid training," Tamara called.

"The Sa'arm carrier just launched everything it has!" Tiffany called out. "They look to be following the lane cleared by the scouts."

I ignored the responses and started another short search for Siberia's pad. The instant the system indicated that it had found the pad, I spun up a full power teleport. The pad in the medical bay lit up with light. As the light started to dim, we could see two prone figures. A third person knelt down between them.

Craig and Michael wasted no time. They jumped onto the pad before the light had completely faded. Craig went to the head of one of the figures while Michael crouched down near the feet of the same figure. As soon as Craig reached the head, Michael nodded.

"We need to be gentle, but let's get him onto a gurney. On one,two..."

The two men reached down. Craig slipped his hands under the figure's shoulders while Michael slipped forward and grabbed the person high on their thighs. They stood up together and lifted the person off the floor.

"Walk back three steps and I'll turn. You'll just have to pivot from there," Craig said.

Craig and Michael maneuvered the first injured person onto one of the gurneys. They seemed ready to push it, but Lindsay ran out and grabbed it. "I'll take this," she screamed.

"Mieko!" the head set speaker screamed out. "The console turned off my go button!"

"What do you mean, Kitty?" I asked.

"Donna is here with some more people for the medical bay, but when I hit the buttons, the activate button turns off," Kitty said.

"We have people on the pad here," I told her. "The injured from Siberia. Craig and Michael are working to clear it. Once it's clear, you should be able to transmit."

"Tell me when," Kitty replied.

I nodded and then went back to watching Craig and Michael. They were about to pick up the other injured person. As they did, the third person to arrive from Siberia looked around. It was a young woman and she was clearly panicked.

"Lindsay!" Shawna shouted. "Can you calm our visiting concubine?"

"I can try," Lindsay said. "Where should I take her?"

"Just use a corner of the room," Ed replied. "Tamara! We have the first Siberia crew in a pod. He'll survive, but right now the system is saying a minimum of eight hours to repair all the damage."

"God, I hate how clinical we end up sounding during a crisis," Yvette called out. "James! It has become too noisy in the command post. We need headsets!"

"There is no one to spare to distribute them!" James shouted in reply. "Fred! We need to target any Sa'arm fighter that tries to get past Astarte. Start running a plot. Deb and Amanda are the next two to go up."

"What about Margaux?" Yvette asked. "Roge and Adam are already running drinks and snacks. She would love to help more."

"Reggie!" James shouted.

"Already working on that," Reggie replied. "I started using a headset a short time ago, the noise was keeping all the babies awake."

I looked up and realized that the teleport pad was clear. "Kitty, you can send now," I instructed.

"Sending," Kitty called out.

The teleport pad lit up and as the light faded I could see Donna stepping forward. "Shawna! What do we have?"

"Broken back on one of the men. The other we just put in the pod and the system is still compiling. It looks like something fell on his legs and crushed them," Shawna shouted back.

"Damn," Donna called back. "What are we looking at?"

"Ten hours for the back," Ed replied. "At least a day for the other man, probably more. From what we are seeing on the readout, he had only a couple minutes left when we got him in the pod."

"Tiffany!" Donna called out. "Tell Siberia that her crew are in pods. We can't return them for hours though."

"Only if they get a break!" Tiffany called back. "The Sa'arm carrier has launched all its fighters. We now have a dogfight that encompasses most of the system."

"Someone, tell River Oaks to break to the right! They are about to get cut off by the Sa'arm!" Tyson shouted. "James! Who's ready, it's long range, but we can try a shot!"

"Deb, you're up!" James shouted.

"Meiko!" Ingrid's voice shouted in my ear. "We have an emergency and I need to see if you can help."

"What's up?" I asked. I rechecked the teleport controls, but all systems were online and functioning normally.

"Morrigan had a gun pod blow. It's inert on their grid. The gunner is alive. Can we teleport them here?" Ingrid asked.

"Maggie!" I called out.

"What!" Maggie shouted. "I've got a dozen different fighters we are trying to recover and Siberia is losing power."

"I need a teleport pod to Morrigan if we can pull it off," I said.

"Damn, one moment," Maggie said. "Who has the nearest teleport pad to Morrigan?"

The answer was blocked out by a high-pitched shriek of pain. It blasted through my earpiece. I put a hand to rip the headset off, but the shriek cut off as quickly as it started.

"James!" Yvette called out.

"Deb's lost her right hand!" Tyson called out. "Another armor seal failure. We need to get her to a medical pod fast!"

"She's still in the gunner's chair!" Randi called out. "The room is filled with mist, but the armor appears to be melting."

"Neutralization has commenced,' the AI intoned. "If you wear protective gear, you will be safe removing the armor."

"Get dressed!" James called. "Damn, we're down to five gunners."

"I can accelerate Barbara's healing," Gina said softly. "Molly, check her pod. I'll be there in a minute to made the adjustments."

I heard a beeping in my ear that cut off the chatter. Looking down, I could see that Kitty was trying to contact me from the other console. I pressed the button to activate the interlink.

"I forgot to show you how to do that," I said.

"The AI helped," Kitty said. "I have Margaux here with headsets for the medics. Can I send her?"

'The pad is clear. Send her," I said. "I still need to find out if we can save the crewman on Morrigan."

"What about Deb? She'll need healing," Kitty asked.

I glanced up and noticed that Michael had lined up a dozen gurneys near the teleport pad. Craig and Michael were standing just off the pad. I could also see Nathan put an arm around the visiting concubine to help calm her while Lindsay moved to be near the pad. Everyone in the room was alert. Their tense stance made it clear they were ready to rush onto the pad as soon as a casualty was teleported.

"We're set up here to receive her. It will be faster if you teleport her to your pad and then forward her to here," I said.

"Won't that be stressful? It sounds like she's hurt bad," Kitty said worriedly. I could picture her chewing her lower lip as we awaited word that she was ready to teleport.

"We have no time to have me link in. I set up your channels as dedicated ones and the pad at the lasers won't accept another connection unless I break the dedicated one."

"OK," Kitty said. "I'm sending Margaux now, then I'll keep the pad clear for Deb."

"Incoming!" I shouted to Craig and the others. "Margaux is coming with headsets for everyone. We also will be receiving Deb shortly!"

Craig raised one of his hands to indicate that he had heard me. I was going to shout again when the speaker in my ear started beeping.