(From)
First Contact - Graplians
Book Three
Chapter Two
Ellie and Ruby had identified the weakest area of the Antillian ship that a boarding party could enter. It was a maintenance hatch on the underside of the ship. Ellie would control the external cameras of the Antillian ship and turn off the alarms so that the Antillians would have no advanced warning of their boarding attempt. She would blind them at just the right moments and only briefly enough not to raise the Antillians’ suspicions.
The Antillians had forty-two security forces to handle boarding attempts. Ruby was taking one hundred fifty Marines with her to board the enemy ship. Their objectives were to take the bridge and engineering decks, after which they would bring the Commodore aboard Protector. If he cooperated, he’d be treated as an honored guest despite being a prisoner. If he were not cooperative, Robert would figure out how to handle that when the time came.
The Vice Admiral commed Ruby and said, “We’re taking control of the Commodores' ship momentarily. Are you ready?”
“We’re ready, Sir. My Marines are eager, too.”
“Hopefully, their eagerness is tempered with caution. I don’t want to lose a single Marine on this mission, Captain.”
“Aye, Sir. They’re a disciplined team. We’ll get it done right.”
“Godspeed, Captain.” Robert looked at Ellie and said, “Do it, Lieutenant.”
“Aye, Sir.”
Robert watched the view screen, which zoomed in on the Commodore's ship. As it began to move towards his fleet, he smiled and said, “I wish I were a fly on the wall of that ship. I’d love to see the look on their faces.”
Commander Allen said, “I couldn’t agree more, Vice Admiral. He’s probably screaming and yelling at his bridge crew, demanding to know which one of them did it.”
“I only hope he doesn’t execute his navigator.”
“That would be unfortunate.”
“Yes, it would.”
Robert watched silently as the Commodore's ship grew closer to his fleet. A few of the Antillian ships began to follow it. He was starting to get concerned. “Ellie, can you shut down the weapons on the ships following the Commodore’s ship?”
“Aye, Sir. Would you like me to shut down their navigation, too?”
“I think that would be prudent.”
Robert watched as the trailing ships went into a drift and were no longer following the Commodore’s ship. The problem was their momentum would still bring them into his fleet. It would get them close enough to his fleet, enabling the Antillians to send their boarding parties to his ships. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
He said, “This is fun. Stop their drifting and make them go back to their fleet.”
“Aye, Sir. Commencing mission puppet on a string.” Commander Allen chuckled.
Robert laughed and replied, “Good name, Ellie. I like it.”
The trailing Antillian ships eventually returned to their fleet, and Ellie released control of them and returned them to the Antillians.
Ellie said, “I imagine the Antillian engineering crew and computer staff are getting frustrated by now.”
Robert replied, “No doubt. I’d be frustrated if this were happening to my ship.”
Commander Allen asked, “I’m curious, Sir. What would you do if this happened to us?”
“I honestly don’t know what I would do. I’ll have to think on that, just in case we ever face this issue.”
Thank you for reading this short excerpt from my book!
Scott Ickes