Loyalties

Chapter 19

"Cindy, tell the fleet that half, including us, needs to head back to Earth," I order as I walk back towards my girlfriend.

"Adrian, what for?" she asks, puzzled and worries.

"You'll see " I whisper. "Just do it." Cindy nods, and sends a message to the fleet. A couple minutes later, the fleet responds. "Half the fleet is awaiting your signal. Commander Tarkas will lead the other half, and continue the boarding parties."

"Very well," I say, and turn towards engineering.

"Admiral," Lauren says, worry in her eyes as I walk down towards her. "Everything alright?"

I shake my head. "No," I say. "We need to get back to Earth ASAP." I can hear Lauren swallow what courage she had left. "What's your recommendation?"

"We can travel at maximum Mach for thirty minutes before we have to run off auxiliary power. But, it should take us forty-five minutes to get back to Earth."

"What shields could we spare for that?" I press on, not hesitant for a second.

"We could run off secondary shields, but they weren't made to take intense firepower for extended periods," she informs me. "Once we reach Earth, I could see what main power I could spare to strengthen them up for a couple more hits."

"Good, stick with that," I say, walking out of the engineering area on the bridge. "Captain, take us back," I order, knowing what half comes with me will follow.

I can feel the engines start to overcharge, and then a boom as we thunder towards Earth at around Mach 50. I haven't seen the stars pass by my ship so quickly before. It almost feels like I'm in a trance.

"All senior officers, go rest for half an hour," I say, just imagining how beat they are after a long-fought battle. "You'll need it."

Lauren smiles at me, says something to one of her officers, and walks out of the engineering section. "Thank you, Adrian," she whispers as she passes me.

Joseph smiles and claps me on the shoulder as he walks out. "I hope we aren't missing too much fun at home," he jokes.

Denis walks up to me and stands still. Cindy falls beside him.

"Admiral," Denis says, his face straight. "Permission to remain on the bridge."

"I request the same," Cindy says, her face the same as Denis'.

"Requests denied," I say, though I start to regret saying it.

"Sir," Denis says, determined to remain on the bridge. "Unless you rest as well, we aren't going anywhere."

"Adrian, please," Cindy says, her eyes like those of a puppy. "You've been under the most stress of all of us. You need rest as well. I've already given an Ensign from the  Command Program permission to command the bridge. Don't worry, he's top of his class."

I sigh. "Alright, I'll rest." Cindy smiles and orders the Ensign to come to the bridge.

As the doors shut after Denis, Cindy and I, I feel Cindy's hand grip mine.  Denis notices, and smirks a little. "I'll leave you two be," he says as he goes into his quarters. All I can do is laugh and shake my head.

"It feels like forever since it's just been us," I say, remembering times in the Academy when we were allowed to leave. Before the final test, Cindy and I would find a hotel room and stay there until we had to go back.

"It has," Cindy blushes, perhaps remembering the same thing I'm thinking. "I hope that everything's alright at home."

"It will, babe, trust me," I reassure her. "Besides, I am the top Admiral in all the Royal Navy." The door to our quarters opens. "We should get some rest," I say as I kiss her on the head.

"I love you," Cindy says, her eyes and smile warm.

"I love you too," I say to her, lying on the bed, Cindy's head resting on my chest. In no time, we were both sound asleep.

***
"Approaching target, sir," Denis says, a newfound energy about him. I guess we all needed that rest.

"Weapons ready, or what's left," Joseph says humorously. "Adjusting power levels for all 753 turrets and 23 cannons lost."

"Admiral," Lauren beckons me over. "I can spare 10% primary shields while the rest of the power distributes to mostly the weapons systems. Secondary shields will be online at 89%, but they won't last long."

"What if we recycled the secondary shields and converted the power to the primary shielding?" I ask, pointing at a diagram of the ship.

Lauren punches in a couple calculations on her console, and the diagram's outline changes from red to orange. "We'd be at 25.2% for the primary shields, but once those are gone, we'd have no other form of protection," she states. "It'll take power we don't have much of to get them back online."

"Once our shields are down, don't worry about bringing them back up," I say deeply to avoid the rest of the engineering bridge staff hearing.

"Sir?" Lauren asks, fear creeping into her voice. Her eyes widen and she starts to tense up.

"We need as much power to the weapons as we can give them," I tell Lauren, hopefully comforting her. "I can handle the casualties."

I walk out of the engineering section and back towards Cindy. "I wish this war didn't happen," I whisper to her, looking out the front as the stars fly past.

"I do too," I hear her reply, extreme sorrow in her voice.