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Chapters (42)
  1. Cover Blurb
  2. Contents
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty

Ted waited until the other men had left the compartment, then sagged back in his chair, feeling an odd tiredness fall over him.  He knew, despite his show of confidence, just how many things could go wrong with the operation ... and just how easily it could cost them everything.  Every time he thought about it, he wondered if he’d trusted too much in the alcohol.  Surely, if he hadn't touched the bottle, he would have thought of something better ...

But he hadn't, he knew, and nor had anyone else.  He was hardly the type of commanding officer to reject an idea, purely because it wasn't his.  The Royal Navy discouraged the Darth Vader style of command, believing it to be dangerously inefficient.  But Ted could understand why commanding officers worried about accepting outside ideas.  Theirs was the authority – and the responsibility.  The person who had proposed the idea wouldn't be blamed if it failed.

But this is my idea, he told himself.  I will be blamed if it fails.

He wanted a drink.  God, how he wanted a drink.  But he knew he didn't dare touch a drop, not now.  Instead, he pulled himself to his feet, took a moment to compose himself and then strode through the hatch and onto the bridge.  It was time to brief the bridge crew on the planned operation.

“We’ve come a long way,” he concluded.  “Everyone believed that Ark Royal would head to the scrapheap, one day.  Instead, we have devastated the alien fleets and scored victories that have knocked them back on their heels.  Whatever happens today, they will know that we will never surrender, never give in.”

He looked down at the console.  The Marines were reporting in, ready to go.  They’d be on their way within minutes, then Ted would have to wait for them to reach the first waypoint before he could launch his starfighters.  But then ...

There was no longer any time to fret, he told himself, firmly.

“Launch the Marines,” he ordered.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Seven

There was no need for silence in the shuttlecraft.  Sound didn't travel in space; there was no way the aliens could hear a spoken word.  But the Marines said nothing as the pilot guided them though space towards the first waypoint, each one of them locked in his own thoughts and feelings.  They'd all made wills before they’d departed Earth, Charles knew, but it was unlikely their final messages would ever get back to their families.  Unless, of course, they did manage to escape the alien trap.