First Strike - An Earth@War Novel

Prologue

Cargo Ship Vladimir
In route to Kylar II, near Omar
May 12, 2487, 0130 UT

James McVeigh, Third Officer of the Cargo Ship Vladimir, stood on the bridge gazing out into space. The 32-year-old was on his third journey doing the Earth-Kylar-Omar run on Vladimir. He had been working for SDK shipping for almost ten years, after serving as a Quartermaster in the navy for four. McVeigh liked the work, enjoyed being in space and liked SDK shipping.

The ship was 1400 feet long, with a 650-foot beam. The bridge was at the aft end of the ship, allowing McVeigh to see the eight cargo holds along with dozens of containers secured to the ship. Vladimir was painted a bright white, with running lights spaced every 100 foot along each side of the ship. The four GX engines, located in the two engine rooms pushed the ship along at 14 AMU, just slightly slower than its maximum fully loaded speed of 16 AMU.

McVeigh walked over to the sensor display on the starboard side of the bridge to check for other ships in the area. The ship was currently on its night cycle, so the only people on the bridge were McVeigh and a helmsman, a crewmember whose name McVeigh couldn't recall. The helmsman was seated at a console at the forward part of the bridge. After checking the sensors, McVeigh move over to the navigation table on the port side of the bridge to check the ship's position. The ship was in the middle of the shipping lane, perfectly on track for the Kylar system. Vladimir would arrive at Kylar II, a mainly tropical planet that was home to Naval Base Oscar, the largest base in this sector and the home to the Navy's Fourth Fleet on May 28th. While unloading cargo, the officers and crew of Vladimir would have two weeks of liberty on the planet known for its warm weather and beautiful women. Then it would be on to Earth to unload the remainder of the cargo and back to Omar with fresh cargo from Earth. It was an easy, safe journey, with well-marked shipping lanes and a well-protected sector, despite the war between Antron and Batron, though Batron was at times threatening Earth who was selling weapons to Antron. Still, earth had a large Army and Navy and no one would dare attack it. Besides, Earth was over 12,000 AMU from Batron.

A beep from the sensor console caught McVeigh's attention. He crossed the bridge and stepped up to the console and saw a blip moving at an angle, crossing the shipping lane and not following it. It was labeled "UNK" indicating an unknown ship. That was strange since most ships broadcast their identity for safety reasons. Fifteen seconds later, several other unidentified ships appeared on the console, all traveling in the same direction at a speed of 22 AMU. McVeigh peered out of the angled windows of the bridge as his mind struggled to find an explanation for what he saw seeing on the console. In the distance McVeigh saw three bright flashes, then streaks of light causing his heart to race. He understood now and reacted immediately.

"Helm, disengage auto, bow thrusters down full! Increase speed to flank! Right thrusters to full!" McVeigh ordered as he quickly crossed the bridge to the internal communication station.

"Bow thrusters down full, right thrusters to full, increase to flank, aye, sir," the helmsman responded, not knowing why the order had been given, but hearing the urgency in the officer's voice. His had moved over his console using the touchscreen to carry out the orders.

"Very well," McVeigh replied as he pressed the button that sounded the collision alarm. The alarm consisted of three loud beeps, a pause and then repeated for a fifteen second pause. The helmsman's eyes grew wide at the sound of the alarm.

McVeigh moved back to the sensor console which was now sounding an alarm also. On the display three dots were closing in on Vladimir. The dots were red and labeled "MIS" indicating inbound missiles. Looking out of the bridge windows, McVeigh saw the view was shifting up and to the right. "Secure the bow thrusters," he ordered.

"Secure bow thrusters, aye, sir," the helmsman replied as he carried out the order.

"Speed?"

"15 AMU and increasing, sir."

Not enough, McVeigh though, quickly moving ack to the internal comm station. He pressed the button that activated the ship's public address system. "Brace for impact," he announced calmly and professionally to his own surprise. Then he pushed the button for the collision alarm for the second time.

"Secure right thruster," McVeigh ordered the helmsman a second before the first missile hit near the communications shack located directly aft of the bridge. The explosion from the impact destroyed the communications shack and the ensuing fireball engulfed the bridge, killing both McVeigh and the helmsman. The destruction of the communication shack cut off any communication from Vladimir, and therefore Vladimir was unable to send a message. Seconds after the fireball consumed the bridge, the fire went out as the air was vented into space.

The second missile struck the bulkhead separating Engine Rooms one and two, venting both engine rooms into space and instantly killing the six people on watch in the engineering spaces. The impact and explosion twisted the ship, causing electrical power to fail throughout the ship.

The third missile struck the keel of the ship near Cargo Bay 3. The ship broke in two. By now, almost all the air throughout the ship was gone and the six officers and 33 crewmembers were dead. The stress on each section of the ship as it twisted and shook began tearing the ship apart. Compartments implodes and bulkheads failed. The remains of Vladimir drifted away from the shipping lane.