Category Archives: Short Story

“You know it took you nearly fourteen hours to get here?” Captain Lawrence asked, taking in a mouthful of whiskey. The glass he was drinking from was cracked and the Admiral’s quarters had been in better shape the last time he was in them. In fact, the Actium as a whole had looked much better the last time he was aboard.

“Well, even with your intel it was an ugly fight. We’re still only at seventy percent engine capacity. We were able to limp here, but we’re going to need some serious time in dock to get ourselves back up to fighting strength.” Pierce poured himself a share of the whiskey into a coffee mug with a significant chip missing near the handle. Continue reading →

The journey was anything but smooth. The entire crew was on edge and with good reason. It was very likely their plan was not going to work. Even if it did, it was possible that none of them would live long enough to see the results.

When presented with the choice and the potential consequences, good and bad, the entire crew volunteered, much to Lawrence’s surprise and relief. Ramirez quickly decided that Doc and the wounded should be transferred to the freighter, and Lawrence assigned two of his own crew to accompany them back with a copy of the intelligence, in case the mission went badly. The next six hours were filled with a flurry of activity. The entire crew focused their energies on completing the repairs that were need to get the ship underway and to its destination. Continue reading →

Despite the considerable repairs that were currently underway, James Lawrence had barely left his cabin since the last raid. The stock of bourbon he kept in the bottom of his desk had been getting progressively lower as well.

Michaels’ initial damage assessment had been optimistic. The port plasma reactor had suffered a near overload and would need a major overhaul before they could even think of starting it back up. There were more than two dozen power conduits that needed to be replaced as well as the transfer junctions. Thankfully, life support had tripped due to the reactor shutdowns and was easily restored. Primary gravity, on the other hand, was going to take far more work to bring back. Cargo Bay 8 was nearly a complete loss, but they couldn’t even attempt repairs until the ship was somewhere more civilized. Continue reading →

The bluish glow of the holo-image of Admiral Pierce gave him a faintly ghoulish look. After the last raid, Captain Lawrence had felt the need to break radio silence and let the Admiral know exactly what was on his mind. Having just completed his tirade he was now pacing in front on the image in obvious frustration.

“Do you think we can talk about this like reasonable people?” asked the floating image of Pierce. “Look, I understand your frustrations with Ramirez; I really do. He’s a young officer on a mission of some strategic importance and he’s eager to prove himself. I think we can both understand and accept that. The fact that he is aggressive in pursuing his assignment, while distasteful to you, is exactly why I picked him for this assignment. The more enemy shipments you intercept, the better things are for us, of have you forgotten why you are out there?” Continue reading →