Space Rescue One Page 20

  ***

  Jimmy said, "This war is going to last some time the way I see it. Earth's forces aren't working together."

  Alex said, "I don't see that. They're sharing the defense and none of the VMA forces have reached the Earth yet. I think they're doing an impressive job so far."

  "They're being toyed with. Didn't you notice in the last battle that the VMA forces had their battle plans down almost perfectly?"

  "I couldn't see what their plans were. Did you actually see that?" asked Alex.

  "I mean, the VMA forces stuck together like glue when they met the Earth force. The only ships that didn't were those too riddled to keep up or stay on course. Haven't you noticed that the VMA forces actually inflicted more damage than they absorbed?"

  "Well, I noticed that. I just figured they were desperate and willing to take more chances."

  Jimmy said, "No, that's not the reason. They're winning because it's just possible that General Budakov is a better military leader than Admiral Thurman."

  Alex said, "Are you sure of that? I mean, Admiral Thurman has kept General Budakov's forces from even reaching the Earth."

  "Admiral Thurman has more ships at his disposal than the general. He ought to be winning, not barely managing a stalemate. Hey, something's coming over the Internet news. Let's listen. We can continue this afterwards. Computer command. Volume up."

  "We repeat this news flash. Venus Station One has surrendered after VMA forces defeated the Earth Defiance in combat. Venus Station One has surrendered to VMA forces. Presumably this means that Venusian forces will be joining the Martian forces in their attacks on Earth. There is no word on the exact numbers of casualties on both sides. Experts are predicting that the Earth Defiance probably was lost with all hands. It is not known yet if Venus Station One was fired upon before surrendering."

  "Initial reports from the VMA indicate that the men and women on board Venus Station One will be taken to the surface where they will remain for now as prisoners of war under humane conditions. Neutral observers are invited to visit and verify those conditions. However, that seems highly unlikely since there are no neutral observers available that we know of to make any verification."

  ***

  "Captain, are you willing to travel to Venus to verify the prison camp conditions for us?"

  "I am, provided that I'm given a freighter for that purpose. I cannot take Space Rescue One away from its station just so one person can verify the conditions. Too many others could suffer and die without her presence here," Richard replied. Richard waited while leaders on the other end of the radio conversation conferred among themselves.

  "Captain Saber, we agree. We will provide one freighter capable of taking you to Venus and back to Earth Station One."

  "Then I am willing to make the trip," Richard replied.

  ***

  "Daniel, I can hardly believe my luck. Captain Saber is coming to Venus to inspect the prisoner of war camps. He's the man who broke my jaw. I thought I would have to wait until the war was over. Now it appears that I won't have to wait so long. Once he's on the ground, who's to say that he's neutral or not?" Jerrod asked,

  "I'm not sure that our father will approve," Daniel said.

  "I don't care whether he approves or not. It wasn't his jaw that was broke," Jerrod exclaimed.

  "True."

  "Well? Will you help me get my revenge?" Jerrod asked.

  Daniel answered, "Jerrod, I don't think this is the right time. He's still a neutral. Besides, if you kill him before he verifies the camp status, then you could jeopardize the war effort."

  Jerrod said, "I didn't say that I'd kill him before he checks the camps. I'm not stupid. I just want that to be the last thing he ever does."

  ***

  The intercom blared out, "Earth freighter arriving at Corridor Two."

  Chief Brunner said, "Well, good luck on your mission to Venus," as the solitary figure walked away from him into Corridor Two."

  Chief Brunner watched until the freighter pulled away from the space station a few minutes later and its running lights indicating neutrality went out of sight. Then he finally left the porthole to return to his duties.

  ***

  The intercom blared, "Attention all personnel. Space Rescue One is on scramble alert."

  Space Rescue One pulled away from the station. Moments later, its eight powerful engines engaged as it thrusted away at high speed to reach the latest battle sector.

  ***

  Chief Dickson said, "This looks like a concerted effort by the VMA forces this time."

  Jimmy remarked, "They have the Venusian forces with them this time."

  Isaac said, "Ah, that's it! I should have realized it. With the Venus space station in their hands, they don't have to hold back any forces now."

  Jimmy said, "Exactly, Chief. This battle is going to be worse than the earlier ones."

  Chief Dickson said, "Maybe we should call on Space Rescue Three to leave Mars and assist us here. I'll have to speak to the Captain about that later."

  Jimmy said, "That's probably a good idea. I don't think there's going to be much if any action around Mars."

  Chief Dickson said, "Okay, there's the other forces now. Heads up, everyone, our services are about to be needed."

  Alex said, "There's a ship taking hits. Damn! She fell apart. Doesn't look like much chance of anyone surviving that."

  "Not likely, but if you want, you can be the lead man on that ship," Chief Dickson said.

  "Can I?" asked Alex.

  The Chief said, "Sure. Take Tim with you and undock one of the space tugs we brought along. Make sure you keep your running lights and radio on at all times."

  "Sure thing, Chief! Come on, Tim. We've got a job to do!" Alex exclaimed.

  "Am I next in line?" Jimmy asked.

  Chief Dickson said, "Sure, you can go check the next ship. I'm sure glad we thought about bringing the space tugs along this time. Who would have thought before that we could have them attach themselves as if they were moving us in order to carry them along? Damn, there goes one! Okay, Jimmy, that one's yours. Take Shelly with you in the next tug. Same thing. Make sure your . . ."

  Jimmy said, "Running lights and radio are on. I know the procedure."

  "Good," said the Chief.

  Chief Brunner said, "Well, looks like my team gets the next ship."

  Isaac said, "Not completely. You can give me one of your personnel to accompany me on the next tug. Remember? That's how we planned this."

  Ralph replied, "Ah yes, I remember. I thought that maybe you and I would go out on one call."

  Isaac said, "I thought about that. It's not a good idea for both team leaders to be on the same call. Something could go wrong out there leaving both teams without a leader."

  Ralph said, "I suppose you're right."

  Isaac said, "There's another victim. He's mine."

  Chief Brunner said, "Mitch! Go with Chief Dickson on this one."

  ***

  Chief Dickson helped the injured man inside the Space Rescue One. Inside, another crew member rushed forward to take the injured man to the sick bay where the doctors were feverishly working to save lives.

  Chief Dickson asked, "Anymore spotted in distress?"

  Another crewman answered, "Yes, unfortunately. We're marking the ships on a chart to keep track of which ones have been tended to. You can head for this one, Chief."

  Isaac looked at the chart, nodded, then turned to enter the airlock. He waited a few moments for the lights to change to a single green. Before he could enter the airlock to leave, he had to wait for another injured crewman to be brought inside as another team member entered with a thumbs up signal of success. Isaac returned the signal, then entered the airlock and cycled through the stages for exiting.

  ***

  "Twenty-eight lives saved. That's not bad," said Chief Dickson.

  "Wait a minute here! You can't count all those as your team's score. You had one of my people with you perso
nally. You have to count half of what you and he brought in on my total," exclaimed Chief Brunner.

  Isaac said, "Okay, okay, Ralph. That gives you two more and us two less. You got us this time. We only saved twenty-six and you have twenty-seven."

  Ralph replied, "Thank you, Isaac. You're always getting first shot at most of the rescues. We have to beat you somewhere."

  ***

  Chief Brunner said, "Richard, I mean, Captain, I want to thank you for letting me send one of my team members in your place since you're needed to command the Space Rescue One."

  "You're welcome. I did let myself get carried away earlier when I said yes. I hope your brother enjoys his trip to Venus," Richard replied.

  "Well, he's always wanted to go there. He's also tough minded enough not to let them refuse him entry to whatever he wants to inspect. I don't think he'll verify anything until he's positive that he's seen all there is to see of the prisoner of war camps," Ralph said.

  "I'm sure he'll do as good a job as anyone. It's just as important as what we're doing here," Richard said.

  "Well, I selected him partly to appease our mother. She's old now and doesn't like the fact that we were both sailing into battles to rescue people," Ralph said.

  "How's she bearing up?" Richard asked.

  "Do you mean how's she taking public treatment of our relatives because we wouldn't go to war?" Ralph asked.

  "You could put it that way. Is she all right?" asked Richard.

  "Well, some of her friends aren't friends anymore. A few stood by her so far. She's constantly harassed by the authorities, of course," Brunner answered.

  "They'll regret their treatment to her and others when the war is over," Richard said.

  "You sure about that?" asked Ralph.

  "Yes, I am. Public opinion is slowly changing in our favor because of the lives we saved so far. It might only be a drop in the bucket compared to how many have been lost, but the relatives of the people we saved are squarely in our camp now. Everyone we save changes the minds of five or more people. Usually more. We are making a difference. The authorities will someday jump on the bandwagon just like Admiral Thurman did," Richard answered.

  "I'm glad we got him on our side. Former submarine commander or not, at least he has the sense to see that we're not evil for refusing to fight," Ralph said.

  "Too bad we had to piss him off by interning his people on the moon," Richard said.

  "Well, we never said we'd save them so they could fight. He can't expect everything, can he?" asked Ralph.

  "He probably expected that, though. When you talk to your mother again, give her my best wishes, Chief," Richard said.

  "I'll do that."

  BOSON BOOKS 124

  Chapter 12

  "That's him, Daniel. As soon as he makes his reports, I want him dead," Jerrod said.

  "He doesn't look as big as you said he was," Daniel replied.

  "We're not as close to him as I was then. Anyway, you can tell that he's got the strength to break someone's jaw."

  "Possibly. I just hope you don't cause any problems for the rebellion. Father is going to be sorely aggravated with us if he finds out that we did what we're going to do."

  "Quit worrying about father. Anyway, he's not going to find out."

  ***

  "Welcome, Space Rescue Three. We trust that your voyage was uneventful," Richard said.

  "No troubles, Captain Saber. Just long and boring. Have we permission to dock?" asked Captain Reason.

  "Affirmative. Please use docking corridor two.

  ***

  "Now that we have more rescue personnel, we'll increase the sections to three-personnel per tug we send out. One to remain with the tug and two to investigate the ship for survivors. Since you have more rescue personnel, I'll assign more tugs to your ship than mine," said Richard.

  "Thank you. I understand that you don't want us to circle the battle area for coverage," Captain Reason said.

  "That's right. We're going to stay close to each other. These battles are proving to be quite fluid and can easily change directions in the wink of an eye. We never know for sure just where it's going to end. I really think it's better that we stay in one place and send our tugs out from there. That way, we're also less in the way of the battle. The last thing I want is for one of them to accidentally shoot at us while trying to hit the other side. If we're together, they're going to respect our own firepower and neutrality just that much more," Richard said.

  "You haven't had to shoot at anyone, have you?" asked Captain Reason.

  "Not yet. I hope we never have to resort to that. In the meantime, I've been learning something about tactics and strategy from one of my team members. Using what I've learned, the last thing I want to do is make more than one part of space neutral at a time by our presence. It would be too much of a temptation for one side to use us as an obstacle or funnel against the other side."

  "I understand your reasoning now. That makes sense. We will stay near you once a battle starts. What about the tugs? Are they safe?"

  "They have been so far. They keep their running lights on and they're very small making them difficult to hit should a stray shot go near one of them. However, most of the ships we assist are out of control and usually outside the main battle area by the time we reach them. There isn't too much to worry about," Richard answered.

  "That's good to know. I really don't like the idea of my teams being inside a battle area with nothing more to protect them than a few running lights."

  "I feel the same way, Captain Reason."

  ***

  "Well, Technician Brunner? What do you think of our camp so far?" the camp director asked as he accompanied Gene to the front door of the administration building.

  "So far, I have to admit that you are running the best camp possible under the circumstances. I really expected to see wooden buildings with barbed wire fences and lots of guards," Gene Brunner replied.

  "No real need for that. After all, if they escape, they can't reach Earth from here. We'd let them verify their conditions themselves except some people would think we brainwashed them or forced them to cooperate by some means or another. Well, I have to admit, we're also concerned that they might try to slip out some intelligence information to Earth since we let them have so many privileges while they're prisoners."

  "I can understand that. I'll keep that in mind when I make my first report. Now I'd like to spend the next day or two wandering about their village to talk with them and verify that they're doing well," Gene said.

  "Take all the time you want. You have your portable radio to contact us if you need anything, so there won't be any escort along just to make your interviews less intimidating," the director said.

  "That suits me fine. I'll also mention to Captain Saber in my report that one of us should visit Earth to inspect their conditions for prisoners as you suggested before."

  "Thank you. We really do care about our personnel and hope they're receiving treatment half as well as what we're giving. This war is about fair treatment in more than just the economic sense. We'd hardly be worthy of our independence if we can't treat others as we wish to be treated."

  "Still, it's mostly about economics," Gene said.

  "Yes, I suppose it is."

  ***

  The intercom blared, "Attention all personnel. Space Rescue One and Space Rescue Three are on scramble alert. Corridors One and Two. Attention all personnel. Space Rescue One and Space Rescue Three are on scramble alert. Corridors One and Two."

  ***

  Richard glanced at the course heading. He could tell instantly that something was up. The battle wasn't near Earth at all. He looked at the charts and then saw that it was on a heading for Venus. It was inevitable, he knew. Jimmy Clarke told him before that once Venus Station One fell, Earth forces would attack to retake it. Earth had to deprive the VMA of the repair facilities that Venus Station One possessed. If they didn't, then the war would be prolonged just that much more
. Glancing over at the radar scope, Richard saw that the battle was almost half a day's journey away from his current position. He picked up his intercom microphone.

  "This is Captain Saber. The battle is over a half-day's travel away from us. Rescue teams are to relax in place while Team Chiefs report for briefing. That is all."

  ***

  Technician Clarke looked out the port as he said, "This is a big one. It might even decide the fate of the VMA."