E.D.F chronicles - The Krenaran massacre. Page 21

  Anxious seconds passed as he went over and over his decision in his mind. “Cancel general quarters, and order the fleet to stand down. Allow the other fleet to dock.” Mason finally said with a sigh, as if the massive weight of that decision was suddenly lifted.

  “What? Admiral; are you sure,” the young officer questioned.

  “You heard me!” the admiral bellowed, he wasn’t about to be questioned by a junior officer. “Besides, someone has to take his finger off the trigger. There has been enough unnecessary bloodshed in this war already, without any more.”

  “Err……yes Admiral,” the young officer complied.

  Mason once again looked up at the image of Michael Alexander on the viewer, “Doors open, come on home.”

  On board the Liberty, both Michael and Vargev breathed a huge sigh of relief, “thank you, Admiral.”

  “Ahead one third sub-light until we are within docking range, then slow to docking speed.” He turned towards the Solarian crewmembers, “welcome to Alpha base.”

  Within a few minutes the Liberty had docked with the station, while the Solarian fleet had formed up with the E.D.F one. The highly advanced crescent shaped Solarian battlecruisers were dwarfed by the massive, lumbering battleships of the E.D.F fleet.

  Chapter 13 Dead mans return

  Escorted by a squad of E.D.F soldiers, Michael Alexander and Nikolai Vargev were marched across the vast operations deck towards the Admirals office, which occupied a small room off to the side of the huge main hall.

  Once inside the Admiral nodded, and the troops left the three men alone. He rose from his black desk which was covered in a plethora of fleet reports, strategic information, casualty reports and a thousand other pieces of information, all no doubt vital to the war effort; and regarded the two men in front of him.

  “Well, I hope you have a damned good explanation to account for all of this.”

  “Actually Admiral we do,” both of them replied.

  They told the Admiral the full story. Of how Major Vargev was on a training mission with his unit of commandoes when the Agemman colony was attacked. Of how the landing party sent by the Ulysses was massacred, leaving Michael as the only survivor. And of how they were both captured and brought on board a Krenaran ship, which they later succeeded in capturing; killing the second in command of the entire Krenaran military in the process.

  And of how they met with the Solarian ambassador Kerulithar, and of the meeting with the Solarian council and of the subsequent alliance; bringing the Solarians into the war, and upgrading their captured Krenaran ship, renaming it the Liberty; and of the long journey back to Delta base and then finally here.

  Then finally they told the Admiral what the Solarian council had said; the real reason why the Krenarans had invaded in the first place. Not for territory, or to destroy humanity, but for plain old water, and with it; wealth.

  After hearing all of this, the Admiral rested back down in his seat, taking some time to think about the men’s story.

  “My god, you guys are genuine war heroes. Somehow between the two of you, you have almost single handedly changed the course of the war. They will be handing out medals for a week for this!” the admiral eventually shouted in jubilation. “You shouldn’t be saluting me, I should be saluting you. And I am going to see to it that you get everything you deserve.”

  “Well right now admiral; a rest would be well in order,” Michael suggested.

  “Of course, of course; duly granted, take all the time you need.

  “Oh and by the way; our fleet is only a small fraction of the total fleet that has come to help us, there are over seven hundred Solarian ships in total. They should be nearing bases right across our territory very soon; you might want to forewarn them. Just to make them aware they are on our side.”

  “I’ll have my communications staff send out advance messages to the other bases and stations; it looks like they are going to be busy,” the admiral said with a smile.

  Two days later Lieutenant Michael Alexander and Major Nikolai Vargev were invited to attend their medal giving ceremony, which was being held at none other than the E.O.C.A Presidential building in Geneva. A forty four storey glass building that rose high into the Swiss skyline.

  A large crowd of E.D.F personnel and members of the general public alike were in attendance of the event; especially since both Michael and Nikolai had become famous almost overnight; which unnerved Vargev a little, to him he was just a commando doing his duty, all this pomp and ceremony was unbecoming of him.

  As the crowds awaited the official beginning of the ceremony, the two men were stood in a small quiet side room, and were informed to wait there until called out. Both Michael and Nikolai were dressed in their ceremonial outfits. Which for Michael was the standard white uniform, with gold braiding, black trousers. In addition to the symbolic naval sword in its scabbard attached to his belt on his right side.

  And for Vargev it was the traditional red overcoat, black waistcoat and black trousers, with a red stripe running down the length of the leg. His Majors rank slides were inlaid in gold on his epaulettes and on his upper arms.

  “It’s been a long time since I last wore this,” Vargev said with a smile.

  “Don’t worry I had to borrow my uniform from another Lieutenant. My own was in my quarters on Delta base,” Michael replied. “It’s a shade small,” he said as he adjusted it for the umpteenth time.

  The main hall grew very quiet, and the two men strained to hear anything at all.

  Suddenly over a microphone a voice called out, “may we present to you; Major Nikolai Vargev, first battalion E.D.F commandoes, and Lieutenant Michael Alexander formerly of the E.D.F.S Ulysses.”

  Both of them began their march, and as they entered into view, the crowd gave out a great cheer. Before they stopped and stood at attention before the president of E.O.C.A, James Rushfeldt no less.

  “Lieutenant Michael Alexander, for your bravery, courage, and selfless determination; I hereby award you with the Navy star for valor and gallantry beyond the call of duty.” The president pinned the medal to Michaels’ uniform, together with a whisper of, “you deserve it son.”

  “Thank you Mr. President,” Michael said smiling before taking a pace backward and saluting, pride surged within him.

  “For you Major Nikolai Vargev; for your determination, courage, and valor despite overwhelming adversity, I hereby award you with the Military Cross.” The president also pinned the medal to his waistcoat, before he in turn took a pace backwards and saluted.

  “These two men are shining examples for us all to follow, their deeds are a ray of light in the dark times we find ourselves in, and should inspire courage in every last one of us.” Rushfeldt said to the crowd who gave a huge cheer as the two men marched across the hall and sat down in a row of seating just in front of the throng of people.

  In the evening there was a small ball, where the high ranking Admiralty of the Navy and the select generals of the Military gave their appreciation for what the two men had accomplished.

  Admiral Mason managed to get Michael’s attention to have a small chat. “There are a couple of things I just wanted to speak to you about Lieutenant,” the Admiral said informally.

  “What’s that sir?” Michael replied; a little puzzled.

  “Well, I applied for special dispensation from E.D.F command for the Liberty to have a proper commission, and be officially applied to the fleet register; which was approved this morning,” he said before pausing for a short breath.

  “She can now be officially called the E.D.F.S Liberty, however we have a problem.”

  “Which is Admiral?” Michael asked again, not really understanding the Admiral’s point.

  “Well, with the Liberties systems and design so vastly different from any other ship in the Navy, we don’t have crew trained highly enough to crew her, and with you ranked as a Lieutenant, you cannot officially command a ship, unless it’s an emergency,” he paused to allow time for Mic
hael to mull this over. “However you are the only officer in the fleet with any command experience of the Liberty. I have reported the situation to E.D.F command, and they have also granted me special dispensation to give you a field promotion to Captain, and place you in full, permanent command of the Liberty. Congratulations Captain.”

  Michael felt another surge of pride; he was finally going to command a ship. He had waited so long and tried so hard for this moment; there was also a deep feeling of regret that Jana and Theo weren’t there to share this.

  “Thank you Admiral,” he beamed.

  And with that they returned to the ball.

  A couple of days later Michael was sat outside a coffee shop near to the presidential building; it was a sunny day with an ever so slightly cool breeze which felt refreshing against the heat of the sun.

  He was poring over his selections for the new crew roster for the Liberty, and wasn’t really paying much attention to what was happening around him.

  “May I sit here comrade?” A familiar Russian voice said.

  Michael looked up and it was indeed Vargev, “of course.” Motioning for him to take a seat, as well as catching the eye of a passing waiter, “another coffee here for my friend please.”

  The waiter nodded and disappeared towards the counter.

  “So what brings you here?” Michael asked with a smile putting down the data navigator.

  He pulled out a cigar from his shirt pocket, lit it, and began puffing, “nothing really, I just saw you out here and thought I would chat to you.”

  Strange, Vargev is not normally this nice to anyone, Michael thought.

  “Besides I heard you had been promoted to Captain and placed in full command of the Liberty.”

  “That’s right yeah; I’m just going over the crew roster now.”

  “I got a promotion through too, I got promoted to Colonel. I am now second in command of the E.D.F commandoes, under comrade General Mc’Cree.”

  “Excellent news; I heard Mc’Cree is tough, they don’t call him the bull for nothing,” Michael replied as the waiter handed Vargev the coffee.

  “Kind of, but he’s okay, I’ve worked with him once or twice in the past. He’s tough but a good General, besides you have to be tough to be a commando, it’s kind of in the job description,” he said with a laugh, almost choking on his cigar in the process. “So where is the Liberty heading off to next then?”

  “Well, our first mission is to form up with a Solarian fleet to take back Delta base, and to destroy any Krenaran ships in the vicinity. Beyond that who knows, this war is changing day by day. What about the commandoes?”

  “My platoons have been ordered to reinforce the colony at Barnards star, in case it comes under Krenaran attack again. The Troop division thinks that since Barnards star is so close to earth, the Krenarans will throw the book at it; try to win the war quickly before the new Solarian Alliance can really start ripping into them.”

  “And what do you think?” Michael asked, listening intently.

  “That if they did the Krenarans would be foolish,” he paused, thinking. “The Solarians pouring over the border has put them on the back foot, if I was them I would be consolidating what I’ve already got instead of pushing further forward, especially as they are now fighting a war on two fronts,” he said as he took a puff from his cigar. “But I’m just a commando, what do I know eh, comrade,” he said with a rueful smile.

  “Yeah I suppose, you think this war will be over soon?”

  “I doubt it; the Krenarans are going to fight like dogs to keep hold of those water sources, so I can see it running for a while yet at least.”

  Vargev checked his watch, “Anyway comrade; I shall have to bid you farewell for now, I hope to call you amongst my friends. And it would be an honour to fight alongside you on the battlefield once again in the future, should we meet again.”

  He stubbed out the cigar.

  “Das vidanya,” he said shaking Michaels hand firmly.

  With that, the hulking Colonel Vargev left Michael to his work in the coffee shop, and framed by the bright Swiss sunlight continued walking up the street.

  Michael stared after him; through all the pain, struggle, strife and torment, they had got through it somehow. And Michael felt a bond there, as though brothers in arms, and he didn’t think it would be the last time that he would see the enigmatic Colonel Vargev.

  “Das vidanya, old friend.” Michael whispered quietly.

  The End.

  ###

  About the author.

  Born in Cheshire, England in 1981, to a traditional family, Ian’s mother is a housewife and his father worked in industry and now is a Heavy Goods Vehicle driver.

  Ian developed an affinity for Science Fiction and fantasy at a very early age, and was reading various fantasy and SF novels from the age of 8. The phenomenon that was Star trek, Star wars, and various Sci-Fi shows came to his attention during his early years in high school, and it was here where Ian’s creative writing really began to take root.

  His english teachers would from time to time give him the occasional creative writing exercise to complete, and he always loved doing these, and excelled at them. His teachers noted that one of his main strengths was in fact creative writing, possessing of a boundless imagination which shows through in his writing.

  As Ian grew older and the world of work beckoned, his writing began to wane, although the ideas were still there bubbling under the surface. It was during this time when he first began to come up with the idea for E.D.F chronicles, which would linger in the back of his mind for almost a decade.

  Finally, in 2007, after much upheaval in his personal life, he took up the pen and began writing seriously, completing the first draft of the Krenaran massacre in just three months while spending some time out in Bulgaria with family; although it took almost 2 years for it to become a fully written manuscript.

  Having now completed the Krenaran massacre, he is hard at work writing the sequel, E.D.F Resurgent, due out late 2011.

  Ian is also a keen historian and was shortlisted for the 2008 writers reign short story contest, with 'Just ten pounds' a contemporary story telling the dangers of knife crime within modern day Britain.

  E.D.F chronicles book 1 – The Krenaran massacre is his debut novel, and we hope the beginning of many more.

  Connect with me online:

  My blog http://www.edfchronicles.wordpress.com

  Website http://www.wix.com/ian_smethurst/frontpage

  Facebook page The writings of Ian J Smethurst

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  E.D.F chronicles - The Krenaran massacre.

  Copyright Ian J.

  For my son Luke.

  Chapter 1 Homecoming

  Chapter 2 Little Theo’s questions.

  Chapter 3 The start of

  Chapter 4 The rendezvous

  Chapter 5 Destination oblivion

  Chapter 6 Captured

  Chapter 7 The great escape

  Midpoint

  Chapter 9 The Solarian council

  Chapter 10 Liberty Resurgent

  Chapter 11 Ghost station

  Chapter 12 Race to Alpha

  Chapter 13 Dead mans return

  About the author.