Chapter 64 - The Bark of the Big Dogs

"Freya! Can you break through!" a voice called.

"Not against two Sa'arm battleships," Captain Walker replied calmly. "I might be able to force the Sa'arm to lay off River Oaks, but that's about it."

"Odessa just blew!" a voice called. "It looks like her engines took a direct hit!"

"Esther, do we have escape pods from Odessa? Can we try to rescue crew with our tugs?" I asked.

"Tracking showed at least ten escape pods boosting from Odessa before the end. But her destruction threw up a debris field. Right now I can't localize on any one escape pod."

"They have an open transmitter on a specialty channel," James said. It sounded like he was talking through clenched teeth as he continued. "Tif, if we can, have someone transmit on that frequency and get the escape pods to move off the ecliptic. That should reduce the chance that they will be hit during the battle."

"Marilyn?" Tiffany called out. "Can you handle that from the nursery? We are out of bodies."

"I'll take care of it," the woman replied.

"Meiko!" Michelle called. "I'm the one coordinating with the carrier. Is your search and rescue team ready?"

I looked up. The sergeant had moved over by his men. The fatigues he had been wearing were now covered by a vacuum suit. He was holding the helmet in his right hand and glaring at two marines who were kneeling down and adjusting the legs of their suits.

"Sergeant, are your men ready?" I called out.

"All present and accounted for," the man said. 'We are ready to serve."

I stifled a giggle and spoke. "I have seven marines here. Five in regular vacuum suits, two in battle armor. I just need to brief them. What's the status, Mike?"

"Good and bad news," Michelle said. "The carrier has taken more than a dozen hits and only a few rooms still have power and pressure. Can you even see their teleport rooms?"

I checked the console. The system reported three rooms, but only one with power to the pad. It was designated as the central starboard teleport room. "I see three, but only one works. The name suggests it's in the middle of the ship."

"Must be the starboard one," Michelle said. "It would have been on the far side of the attack. That is good. The concubines' room is a short walk aft. The flag bridge is actually directly above the concubines' room. Those should be their two priorities."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"The main bridge is intact. Engineering got shook up, but the rooms are holding pressure. The hanger and launch areas are a bit of a mess, but the ship's damage control is already working there. They say they don't need help," Michelle told me.

"Ok, Mike, I'll pass that on. I'll be teleporting the men shortly," I replied. "Sergeant. I have a quick status of the ship you are going to."

"Right, maggots," the sergeant barked out. "This is your opportunity to redeem yourselves after we got stuck on this career ending shit detail. Listen closely."

I shook my head. "The carrier has taken several hits and most of the ship has been depressurized. I'm going to be teleporting you to a teleport room near the middle of the ship. From there you need to go aft. A short distance aft from the teleport room is the concubines' quarters. The concubines need to be evacuated. After that, we need to check the flag bridge to see if anyone is alive. It's one level directly above the concubines' room."

One of the marines raised a hand. "How can we move the concubines if the passageways are depressurized?"

"Mike?" I whispered. "Can we move the concubines?"

"Yes," she replied. "Captain Burros confirmed that all of them are in skinsuits. However, the doors to their room are all jammed. The marines need to open up the room."

I nodded at this and looked at the marines. "The concubines are in skinsuits. They just can't escape their room, the doors are jammed."

Sergeant Watkins nodded. "Ballard! Take Hodges and Miller once we are there, you'll head to the flag bridge. The rest of you will be with me as we free the concubines."

He turned and walked over to the pad. The marines scrambled to follow him. One of the armored members separated himself slightly from the others. When the other marines noticed this, two others joined him. As soon as all of the marines were arrayed on the pad, Sergeant Watkins turned to look at me. "Ready."

I looked at the console to confirm that the teleport connection was solid. The display confirmed that all was ready. I held up my right hand. "Sending in three, two..."

The men disappeared from the pad. "Esther, the marines here have headed out to the carrier."

"Good," Esther replied. "The other two are back here. They will be returning with Mickey and Terrence shortly."

"Kitty, let me know when you are sending," I ordered.

Before she replied, more panicked comments came over the open communication. "Cancun! Captain, two Sa'arm cruisers are stalking the corvette."

"Captain Evans, the two visiting Asia class destroyers are in trouble!"

"Sif, Athena! We might be able to line up the lead battleship, but you have to keep their missiles back. We lost our port point defense stations to the fighters."

The cries cut off almost as quickly as they had started. "Sorry, we've had some issues with the communications filter," Tiffany said. "Right now the battle above us is close. The carrier has been heavily damaged, but is still fighting. The missile cruiser and one of the Asia class destroyers have been destroyed."

"Good to hear," James said. "What is the status on the Sa'arm?"

"All their lighter ships are gone. Every scout, fighter and corvette has been destroyed. They still have four... no, one of the remaining Sa'arm cruisers just blew up, they are down to three there. They still have all three battleships and the hive sphere," Tamara replied.

"Can we win?" Esther asked.

Just then, a huge cry of victory rang out over the colony's speakers. "Scratch one Sa'arm battleship!"

"What happened?" I asked.

"Beowulf got one of the battleships lined up and managed to send four rail gun bullets in," Ingrid said. "That took out a battleship."

"Meiko!" Kitty called out. "I have people to send to you."

"The pad is clear," I said. "Send them now."

The pad lit up with an incoming teleport. I watched the light fade and saw the two marines I had sent to Kitty appear. Each one was carrying someone in their arms."

Craig sprinted out of the medical room. He was dragging a gurney. "Lindsay!" he shouted. "We need a second gurney!"

One of the marines stepped forward and deposited his passenger on the gurney that Craig had brought. From the medical room I could hear someone grabbing a gurney and rushing forward with it.

Craig pushed the first gurney into the medical room. The marine stepped forward and looked around. He walked toward me as Ed appeared from the medical room pushing a gurney.

"Where is the rest of the squad?" the marine called out.

"They are on the carrier. The ship has taken a lot of hits and they are performing search and rescue," I said.

"Can we join them?" the other marine asked.

"The ship has lost pressure in the areas the rest of your squad is in," I said. "And we can use some help here."

"Doing what?" the first marine asked.

"Meiko!" Ingrid called to me. "We need the teleporter."

I raised my right hand with the palm out and put my left hand over my ear. "What?"

"Athena was covering Beowulf and just got peppered with a flight of missiles. They're still getting the full casualty count, but the ship is definitely out of the fight and will need injured evacuated," Ingrid told me.

"I'll have people get gurneys lined up and prepare Donna's group. How many and what kind of injuries?"

"Last count I got was that, of their forty gunballs, only eight responded green after the hits. Sixteen are making their way to the elevators for recovery. Another twelve are dead on the grid. It was a couple of those sliver missiles," Ingrid informed me.

"That leaves four gunballs unaccounted for," I observed.

"The system shows them on the grid and moving, but they get no response," Ingrid replied. "They are counting them as still active for now.

"Damn," I said. "Have them contact me directly when they are ready."

I looked up across the room. The marines had left the pad, but were simply standing in the middle of the room. "Donna!" I shouted. "We have incoming wounded! Athena took hits from some of the sliver missiles. They have reported massive casualties among their gunners."

"Athena has broken off from the fight," Esther's voice called out. "Who is working with them?"

"I'm working with them," Ingrid replied. "They have lost too many gunners to continue the fight. Meiko and I are trying to coordinate evacuation of wounded. I'm going to guide them to a repair dock."

"Use Inanna," Louis called out. "Our lasers can perhaps give them a little cover."

"It looks like Mongolia is covering Athena," Tamara called out.

The noise in the headset stopped again. Over the colony speaker system Tiffany's voice called out. "Everyone, the filtering system is failing. Try to keep all communications to a minimum when possible so we don't miss important information."

"Mieko!" Ingrid called out. "Three to teleport from Athena's aft teleport room. Well, six, their concubines are carrying them."

I looked up to confirm that the pad was clear. My console was still set to the carrier's teleport room so I frantically tried to switch the teleport connection to allow the injured from Athena to be brought down. The system was a bit sluggish, but I managed to get a strong connection to the pad on the cruiser. �Athena, we have a good connection, do you want me to initiate teleport?� I asked.

"I can handle that," a voice said in my headset. "Starting teleport now."

I looked up and watched as the teleport pad brightened with the now familiar light of an incoming port. It quickly faded to reveal three concubines kneeling over three prone figures.

"Damn!" Donna called out as she noticed what the fading light revealed. "Craig! We have three on the pad that need to be moved now!" She glanced over and noticed the marines still standing in the room. "You! When Craig comes, help him put the bodies on the gurneys and bring them to the pods. Listen to him and be gentle, but be fast."

"Meiko!" Brittany called out. "Kitty! James just fell over. He's not waking up!"

"Where?" I asked.

"We're still in the laser ready room," Randi said. "James started shaking and then fell over. I'm guessing that the acid wasn't fully neutralized. We need to get him in a pod.�

"Meiko!" Sergeant Watkins voice called out. "I've received a report on the flag bridge. The admiral is dead as were three other officers. We have rescued two scanner techs, but both are badly hurt. I also have the door to the concubines quarters opened. We need teleport back to Ishtar.�

"Donna! I need the pad cleared!" I shouted. "Kitty, the pad is blocked, but get James to your pad and prepare to teleport him here. The instant the pad is clear you should be able to send James. Sergeant Watkins, we have just teleported some injured crew from Athena and are clearing the pad. It will be a minute before I can open the portal from the carrier."

"I'll get my men organized," Sergeant Watkins replied.

"Meiko!" Kitty cried. "This is James. We need to hurry."

"I can't teleport him to an occupied pad," I replied.

I looked up to see that Craig had run out pushing two gurneys. The marines in the meantime had rushed onto the pad. From the waving of their hands, they were trying to get information from the concubines on who they could move. They waved to Craig to bring the gurneys onto the pad.

"Serious internal bleeding on these two," one of the marines said, pointing to the two bodies closest to him. "The concubine here is a former emergency room nurse and says that one has a broken neck. We have to be careful and fast with the neck. We can probably just carry Justin," he pointed to the person nearest him. "He has abdominal bleeding and would be very uncomfortable, but being carried won't kill him."

Craig nodded. "Let's get the one with a broken neck first." He touched something on one of the gurneys and it dropped down to ankle height. He spun it around so it was alongside the injured gunner. "Can you help?" he asked, touching the concubine kneeling next to the gunner.

The concubine nodded and then pointed to the head of the prone man. "We need two people to hold the neck up while we get Steve moved to the gurney. Your other two friends should probably grab the thighs and ass. The less pressure we put on the torso and neck the better it will be."

Craig and the three marines moved to surround the injured man. They squatted down and, in a motion that seemed carefully choreographed, picked the body off the floor. Craig and one of the marines then carefully walked backwards over the gurney and the group lay the man on the gurney. The concubine stepped up as their hands slipped away. She placed a finger on the man's neck for just a moment. "He's still breathing," she whispered.

Craig tapped the marine behind him. "Get him into the medical room," he said. "Shawna or Donna will rush him into a pod."

"Meiko!" Kitty cried. "Make the people hurry!"

I shook my head. One marine was rushing off the pad, pushing the gurney containing the one injured gunner. Craig had already collected the second gurney and was moving another injured gunner with the assistance of the concubines. The marine had picked up the gunner he had called Justin and was walking to the medical room.

As the concubines rushed off the pad, following Craig who was now pushing the second gurney back to the medical room, I let out a huge sigh. "Kitty, send James now."

The last word had barely left my mouth before the teleport pad flashed with an incoming teleport. This time, the light had not even started to fade before Tina and Brittany appeared at the edge of the pad. They had James draped over their shoulders as they almost dragged him toward the medical room. Ed came out as they cleared the pad.

"Damn! Michael, get over here and help!" he shouted.

The pad was clear again, so I reached up to touch the headset. "Sergeant, I'll open the portal now. If you can't get everyone on the pad at once, I can leave it open, but they would have to move off the pad here as quickly as possible."

"We've got nearly two hundred concubines here," the sergeant replied. "And the ship is starting to break up. I'll send the healthy ones first in groups of four and then we'll carry the injured off at the end. Just tell me when."

I reached over to reconnect the teleport system with the carrier. Above me, I could hear the AI. "Devil hour has just started."

"Donna!" I called out. "We have almost two hundred incoming concubines from the carrier. What should I do?"

"Lindsay, Janice!" I heard Donna call back. "Lead them off the pad. Margaux can lead them to the barracks, she helped set them up."

I hit the activation button for a continuous teleport. "Sergeant," I said. "The portal is open."

The teleport pad seemed to have a glowing field of fog above it. From this fog emerged a stream of concubines in skinsuits. Many of the suits were patched or torn and it seemed half of the concubines either held an arm awkwardly or walked with a limp as they emerged from the fog and stepped off the pad.

Lindsay had rushed out of the medical room as the first concubine stepped off the pad. She raised her left hand and shouted. "Everyone, if you could head to my left as you emerge. We need to do a quick triage and then we'll find you a place to rest. Please move quickly."

The concubines shuffled in the direction she indicated as Janice ran out. Lindsay grabbed my sister concubine. "Please keep them moving. I'm going to start doing some triage so any serious injuries can be dealt with now."

"Sergeant Watkins said they'd bring the worst injured after sending the concubines still able to walk," I shouted.

A wave of blackness crossed my vision for a moment. I shook my head and concentrated on watching the teleport controls. The signal from the carrier was starting to fluctuate and I had to concentrate to maintain the connection. This worried me and I stopped listening to what was happening as I made adjustments.

The teleport connection finally settled into a weak stability. The power to the pad on the carrier was failing and the strain of keeping the portal open was going to cause the unit to fail in the near future. I worried about it as I glanced up to see how the evacuation was going.

I found that Tina and Brittany had come out to assist Janice. They were standing at the edge of the pad and would offer a hand as each group of concubines arrived. They were doing this as two marines appeared, each had a concubine in a fireman's carry. One immediately shouted. "We have five more seriously injured concubines coming. Can we get gurneys?"

Tina turned and ran towards the medical room. "On the way," she shouted.

The two marines followed, still carrying the injured concubines. As soon as they left the pad, another marine appeared. He was turned around and had his arms under the shoulders of another person. As he staggered backward off the teleport pad, another concubine followed, carrying the legs of their passenger.

Two more marines were able to appear before Tina returned, pushing a pair of gurneys. "Craig will try to get two more," she called out. "Right now everyone in there is helping people into medical pods."

"We only have three more injured to bring out," one of the marines said as he made his way over by the gurneys. He and the concubine assisting him carefully lifted the body they had carried onto the gurney. "Rush this one to medical," he told the concubine as he stepped aside to watch the platform.

A beeping sound warned me that the portal was becoming unstable again. I glanced down and found readings that indicated problems on the carrier. It looked like the area around the teleport pad had started to deform as thrust and gravity attacked weakened hull braces. I desperately tried to maintain the link, but the signal was becoming weaker. "Sergeant, I'm about to lose the connection!" I screamed out.

The pad in the room flashed once and the persistent fog of light became a cloud for a moment before dispersing. When it was finished, I could see nine people lying on the pad. One struggled to his feet. He reached up to pull his helmet off and the grizzled visage of Sergeant Watkins looked around the room. "Marines, come and help move these concubines!" he ordered.

Absently, I reached out to completely break the link to the carrier. Once again, black curtains blocked my vision and I worked from muscle memory as I made sure that the teleport system was secure. As I finished, I reached a hand upwards, thinking to ask for status, but the darkness hammered at me.