Inside her command bunker in Alaska Base, Commander Lisa Hayes was stressed out. She wasn't supposed to be commanding this section, the fire control room for the North American sector, but a falling beam just killed the ranking officer, a Commodore Skinner, during that last barrage they absorbed. Half the controls were shot, sparks and falling wires filled the room, and she and her fellow officers looked as if they had been fighting a fire for the past six hours.
“Engineering,” she snapped.
“Yes, Ma'am.”
“Give me a reading on the power grid. Sensors?”
“Yes, Commander?”
“I want a full threat assessment. Three hundred sixty degree profile of all craft, friend and foe. And I need a full list of our losses, as well.”
“Yes, Ma'am.”
“Weapons?”
“Aye, Commander?”
“What's your status?”
“Half our guns are down, screens are dead, and targeting computers are operating at minimal effectiveness.”
“What about the air fleet?”
“They're taking severe casualties. I could put the battle on the main monitor, if you desire,” the communications officer spoke up.
“Make it so,” she snapped.
The screen filled with shots of huge Zentraedi battlecruisers trading broadsides, as VT fighters zipped in and out among the flotsam and jetsam of space combat. Suddenly, she sees a huge bolt of light graze Skull One, sending him spinning in all directions like a wild top on a glossy wood floor. Lisa felt like someone had sucker-punched her in the gut, and had to grab at the nearest desk to keep from hitting the floor.
If she thought that that visual was bad, she was completely unprepared for the next event, as she witnessed Rick's fighter hurtling towards Dolza and disappearing in a flash of light. She fought back tears as Khyron's division slammed into the SDF-1's rear flank and it disappeared in a suicide ram against the main Zentraedi fortress. “All batteries, fire at will. Target everything the enemy has, I don't care what you hit,” she screamed, her voice thick with hot saliva and choked tears.
“Aye, Commander,” came the voice of the gun crews.
The laser light barrage that the base put out was enough, under normal situations, to annihilate a small squadron of battlepods. This battle, however, was far from normal. The barrage took out a small division of the Zentraedi pilots, but did not damage the battleships that continued to rain down death and destruction upon the globe. “Fire Control Base Theta to Control Bunker Aleph. Come in, Admiral Hayes.”
“Lisa, is that you?”
“Yes, it's me. Can we fire the Grand Cannon?”
“We've got enough in the tank for another shot, without having to build up more energy reserves.”
“I've got their flagship in our line of sight over here. Can you release the targeting controls to my gunners?”
“Done, Theta Base.”
“Good,” she said, and turned to her gunners with a feral look.
“Target that flagship. Add in all ground batteries. I want that ship dead yesterday,” she snarled.
“Aye, Commander Hayes,” they replied in unison.
The second volley into space shook the Zentraedi flagship to its core, melting plating and viewports into liquid droplets, which cooled once more into tiny asteroids. Dolza and his high command were no more, but the fleet still surrounded Earth, and unleashed another punishing bombardment, one which rocked Alaska Base to it's cold, icy core.
Static filled the comm. lines between Base Theta and the command bunker, so Lisa pulled out her private comm. link and tried to raise her father. “Theta to Aleph. Come in Aleph.”
Just then, the base PA system came online. “This is Admiral Hayes. I've just received word that our military base on Mars has just fallen to the Zentraedi advance. With its loss, and, thus, the elimination of any possible flanking maneuver, I, and the remaining members of the High Command, are forced to conclude that this battle has become a forgone conclusion, and that we cannot win. It is therefore decided that we must evacuate this base and continue the fight elsewhere.
“I ask that all fighter pilots meet me in the main hanger, and all base personnel proceed to the flight deck. That is all.”
Lisa locked in the targeting computer on the nearest Zentraedi battleship and set the firing control for continuous fire before she joined the rest of her section in proceeding to the transports. As her rage and blind fury slowly subsided, she felt empty and resigned, hopeless beyond all reason or logic. Rick, dead? He can't be… But in her heart, she knew it to be true, as much as she tried to fight it and deny it. She marched slowly and immune to all sensation to the flight deck.
Once she got there, her father pulled her aside gently and hugged her tight, trying to dry her tears and comfort her from her losses. “I'm sorry, Lisa; I know how close you had become to them all.”
“Thank you, daddy. I appreciate that.”
He pulled away slightly and very reluctantly to announce, “I have an announcement to make. By decree and agreement, the Joint Chiefs hereby do promote Commander Elizabeth Hayes to the rank of Admiral, effective this date and time.”
The crowd gasped, and Lisa's shock set in slowly. A field promotion? Why?
“I would also like to announce that we are leading a last ditch assault on the main battlegroup. I will pilot the lead squadron, and we will try to divert their attention from the transports.” Lisa just noticed that her father was in a pilot's flight suit, and she was stunned.
“All of you going on these transports will be taken to a remote, secret base that will enable you to start a new resistance elsewhere, and hopefully reclaim our planet from the invaders. Godspeed to you all.”
Lisa looked at her father as if she was a scared little girl all over again, but he just smiled and said, “I know this is sudden, but a father has to do what a father has to do.” He smiled broadly at her through tear-clouded eyes.
“Father, be careful out there. I'll be waiting for you to return.”
“I don't know if I'll be coming back this time, honey.”
“Why do you have to lead them?”
“Because I'm the only flag officer left that has any flight experience. And the boys will need a flag officer leading them today.”
Lisa stared at her father, a man she loved with her whole heart, who raised her the best way he knew how to, and kissed him one last time upon the cheek, her final goodbye.
AN: A reviewer told me that I forgot to give credit where credit was due in my last chapter. I offer a thousand apologies for my take on Star Wars, and say, in the interest of full disclosure, that Rick's ramming sequence was taken from Babylon 5, episode “And the sky full of stars.” Please review on content and quality, folks.