Chapter 31

Jake

I tried to concentrate on the displays and give out the orders that the princes and generals were waiting on from me, but I just couldn't do it. Krish was right. Without the princess, this war meant nothing. Nothing at all. 'I should be out looking for her, not sitting on my ass here,' I thought viciously.

As if we had a chance anyway. Our starfighter pilots had fought valiently, but they'd lost. If had been just fighters, they'd have taken them easily. Their skill level was miles above that of their Trunsk counterparts. All that didn't matter, though, because of one thing – the Trunsk had capital starships and we didn't. As good as the Taruff pilots were, the sheer amount of laser energy pouring from the battlecruisers had crushed the formations, leaving the survivors scattered and confused, easy pickings for the properly-oriented Trunsk fighters.

I was just about to give up and take off to find the princess. To hell with this. Rachel and Marco hadn't been heard from in over two weeks. Obviously they hadn't succeeded, because the Ellimist hadn't appeared to say, 'Hey, you won!' The holographic representations of the Taruff fighters and troops cold-bloodedly tallied the losses, and I rubbed my eyes wearily. Not even two hours into the engagement, and we'd already lost half of our forces. We didn't stand a chance. Why was I wasting my time here?

"Sensor contact, Prince Jake!" the communications officer bellowed. I resisted the urge to bang my head against the arm of my command chair.

"Is it really necessary for them to bring in reinforcements? We haven't even put a dent in the first wave," I complained.

"Not Trunsk reinforcements, sir. The transponders tagged them as friendlies. They're hailing us now," he explained, a note of hope in his gravelly voice.

"On screen," I commanded, and oriented my chair towards the war room's main holographic projector. Ax's face popped onto the display, and I swear to god if it'd been in person, I'd have kissed him.

(This is Captain Aximili of Andalite Task Force fourteen,) Ax said, and I switched on the recorder so he'd see my face as I was seeing his. As soon as it started transmitting, I saw Ax visibly relax. (Prince Jake, I'm glad you are well. If you'd be kind enough to direct us on an intercept for the Trunsk force, we'd be happy to take care of that for you.)

I grinned broadly as the tactical officer sent Ax the requested data. "They've got twelve battlecruisers and they're swarming with fighters," I warned him. "What do you have to throw at them?"

Ax smiled with his eyes. (Under my direct command are the Dome ships Overload and Graceful Strike. We field four full squadrons of Model 22s between us.)

"That's not enough," I warned, aware that Ax had a tendency to become a bit overconfident when dealing with his own people. I knew a Dome ships main shredders could annihilate any of the battlecruisers, but how many did he really expect to take out before being shot up himself?

The hologram of Ax split, and a weathered-looking human chewing a pipe took his place. The background was that of a warship, with flashing red lights and all. "Howdy, son. Admiral Jimmy Silas of the Earth Expeditionary Force. We're in formation with our Andalite buddies. We'll clean up the mess up here, you take care of stuff for me on the ground."

I grinned. "Roger that, Admiral. Just out of curiosity, what are you fielding?"

He mirrored my smile, switching the pipe to the other side of his mouth. "Research vessels Impending Order, Judiciary, Diplomat…and Red Feathers," he said, his grin turning a little more genuine. I assumed the ship had been named after Tobias. "Between the four of us, we've got those nice, new Falcon starfighters Lockheed and Martin started building for us. Voodoo, Reaper, Harrier, and Ghost Squadrons are composed of the finest pilots on planet Earth," he assured me.

I tried to can my nervousness so the Admiral didn't see it. "No offense, sir, but how do you intent to take on Trunsk battlecruisers with research vessels?"

"Your Andalite pal sent me a message a couple of weeks ago. Our ships were on a peaceful exploration mission, but that doesn't mean we weren't ready for trouble. Don't think we've forgotten scum like the Yeerks are still out there," he said with an edge in his voice. "Red Feathers is pretty much a Z-space capable hangar that carries all our fighter squadrons. Diplomat carries our scientists, Judiciary sports our resident Marine unit, and Impending Order is our missile frigate. We'll make short work of these punks."

"I copy. I'm gonna transfer you to my second-in-command to coordinate with our forces." I switched most of the controls over to Krish's terminal. "I've got some things to take care of here on our end. Good luck," I told him, thinking he was far more likeable than most military higher-ups I'd met before.

"I don't need luck, son. I make my own. You go ahead and get done whatever you need to do. You start beating on 'em from the ground, I'll hammer 'em from up here, and we'll all meet and shake hands in the middle," he laughed, switching off the cameras. I began morphing the tiger after ascertaining Krish could and would handle things, intent on making certain nothing happened to Princess Amni'bel.