Harbinger

by Ken Lozito

  Connor drafted a few orders for the officers in the 7th to file their reports with his office within the next twenty-four hours. Then he began writing his own reports. Disclosing exactly what had happened was easy; Connor had nothing to hide. It was the parts where he included his views on what they should do next that his ideas came to a halt. He allowed his thoughts to scurry down a few proverbial rabbit holes in the hope that one of them might swing the pendulum to a way forward that he could commit to.

  An alert appeared in the upper right corner of his holoscreen, informing him that they were making their final approach to the CDF base at Sanctuary. He wanted to go home and see his family, but he couldn’t. It wouldn’t have been fair. He’d be home, but he'd be distracted by the work that needed to be done. He didn’t want to disappoint Lenora like that. She deserved better. Both his wife and daughter deserved to have his full attention when he came home.

  He turned in his weapon and walked down the loading ramp. New Earth’s rings were visible in the night sky, even amid the lights of the CDF base and city beyond. He hardly remembered the walk across the base to reach his office, but he soon found himself standing inside. A few holoscreens powered on when the identification from his implants authenticated his clearance. Long lists of messages from text to vid-mail came to prominence on the centermost holoscreen, and Connor gestured for the comlink system to go on standby. He didn’t want to check any of his messages. Instead, he went into the bathroom in his office and took a shower. Jets of hot water pelted down on tight muscles. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck from side to side, staying in the shower for a long while. Then he heard someone call out to him from inside his office.

  “Just a minute,” Connor said and rubbed the water from his eyes.

  He shut the shower off and heard someone access the door controls. Muttering a curse, he hastily grabbed a towel. “Hey, I said—”

  Whatever he was about to say died on his lips as Lenora stepped boldly into the bathroom. Her long auburn hair was braided, making her delicate cheekbones more pronounced. She was a tall woman, nearly two meters, with tanned skin that sported a few freckles and soft lips the color of frozen raspberries.

  “So, you don’t want some company?” she asked with a wry smile.

  Connor smiled back. “Your company? Always.”

  Lenora gave him a quick hug and a kiss. “I’m glad I’m not one of those jealous wives because I’d be wondering who else has interrupted one of your showers before.”

  Connor shrugged. “Anyone else would be wasting their time.”

  Lenora grinned. “Good answer, love,” she said and locked the door.

  A short while later, they both took another shower. She told him that Lauren was visiting Ashley.

  Ashley Quinn was a close friend. She was one of the first people Connor had met coming out of stasis on the Ark all those years ago. There may have been a few incidents involving several shock-batons, something that had become a bit of a joke between them over the years, but Ashley loved to dote on his daughter.

  They went into his office where a couple of trays of food were waiting, along with a pot of coffee.

  Connor glanced at Lenora.

  “I thought you’d be hungry, and if you weren’t, I was certain we’d work up an appetite,” Lenora said and sat down at the small meeting table in his office. She eyed him for a few moments. “All right, you might as well tell me what happened.”

  Connor sat down at the table and poured them both a cup of coffee. “You mean Dash didn’t fill you in?”

  “Does it matter? I want to hear it from you.”

  Connor told her what happened while they shared a couple of sandwiches. The food was actually quite good, and Lenora told him she'd gotten it at the Salty Soldier on her way here.

  “Diaz says hello, by the way,” Lenora said and finished her coffee. “So, there's another group of Ovarrow who never went into stasis. It’s amazing if you stop and think about it, given what we know about the planet.”

  “I thought so, and I would’ve thought they'd be more willing to share information with us.”

  Lenora pursed her full lips in thought for a moment. “Actually, it sounds like they shared quite a bit with you.”

  Connor shrugged. “They used the arch to try to find the Krake home world, or at least their ancestors did, but that doesn’t help us.”

  Lenora regarded him for a few moments. “I haven’t seen you like this since the Vemus War. Don’t give me that look, Connor. You know what I mean. I know you know better than this. It’s disappointing, and I agree with you. The Ovarrow should be falling over themselves to help us since they have a better idea of what we’re facing than we do.”

  “You won’t get any arguments from me, but the fact of the matter is that we have one group that simply won’t help us, and the other group—the ones we brought out of stasis—is incapable of helping us.”

  “Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”

  “Not really, no.”

  Lenora gave him a level look and then nodded. “All right, what was the outcome you were hoping for?”

  “Honestly, I was hoping for a lot more cooperation from them. And by 'them' I mean both of them—both groups of Ovarrow,” he said and held up his hand. “I know they’re worried and all that, but still, we’re not the bad guys here. I really wanted to get more information from them. It’s like we’re going to be fighting a war with hardly any knowledge of our enemy. Back on earth, we had thousands of years of history to draw from. And despite all the efforts here to uncover the Ovarrow's history,” Connor said and smiled at Lenora, “we don’t know nearly as much as we need to. Everything is new, and we don't have a lot of resources to spare. And this might shape up to be a very long war. Most small wars in history were meat grinders. The conflict comes down to logistics and numbers. How many of our soldiers will it take to achieve an objective, and how much will it cost the enemy to achieve theirs? I don’t want to start thinking in those terms but . . .” He let the thought go unfinished.

  “It may come down to that,” Lenora said, finishing for him.

  Connor rubbed his fingers on the tabletop for a moment. “Honestly, Lenora, I dealt with generals in the NA Alliance, and I don’t know hardly any of them who were as concerned with the lives of their soldiers as I am. And they didn’t have to deal with this.”

  “Then I’m glad you’re here and not them. Maybe we don’t need any of the military leaders from your past.”

  “They might be able to offer something that I just can’t,” Connor admitted.

  Lenora shook her head and steeled her gaze. “I don’t believe that for a second. And neither do you, not really. Maybe you believed it at one time but not anymore, Connor. I don’t care how angry you are at the Ovarrow. You’re the best chance this colony has to survive. And everyone knows it, even if they won’t admit it.”

  She reached across the table, gripping his hand for a moment.

  “I appreciate the support, but I think you’re just a little biased when it comes to me.”

  “That’s funny,” she said in a bit of a light tone. “I was sure you'd say I was one of your staunchest critics.”

  Connor grinned a little. “Brashirker doesn’t understand what the CDF is capable of. Hell, even Senleon and the rest of the Ovarrow we brought out of stasis don’t know what we’re capable of.”

  “They're doing what they’ve always been taught to do,” Lenora said.

  “The Ovarrow are defeated in their hearts hundreds of years later. What can I do to show them that it can be done?”

  “It might come down to that. Inspire them.”

  “I don’t know anything about inspiring anyone. Well, if the Ovarrow aren’t going to help us, we’ll have to do it alone,” Connor said.

  “What’s so bad about that?”

  “It carries a heck of a lot more risk, for one. And two, I’m not sure if the Security Council will approve of scouting missions through the arch
. They want credible intel for us to act on, and I can’t really blame them, even though it’s frustrating,” Connor said.

  They were both quiet for a few moments, and then Lenora spoke. “So, don’t ask for approval.”

  “Weren’t you always telling me that I should try to function within the system we have here in the colony?”

  “And aren't you the person who takes action when the situation calls for it for the good of the colony?” Lenora replied.

  “I’m still paying the price for the last time.”

  “Oh, poor me,” she replied. “Stop. Nathan supports you.”

  “He does, and we agree that the Krake are a threat worth investigating. So that’s what I’m going to do,” he said and looked at Lenora for a moment. “I’m not going to just send teams of soldiers through the arch. I intend to lead them. I need to see this for myself.”

  Connor watched as Lenora inhaled deeply. She didn’t want him to go, but she wouldn’t tell him that. She didn’t need to remind him of what he'd lose if he didn’t come back home. That was the bedrock of their relationship, and it had taken years to build.

  “Be careful,” Lenora said.

  “I will. You know I will,” Connor replied.

  Lenora looked to be on the verge of saying something else, but a comlink chimed from the wallscreen next to them. It was from Nathan.

  Connor acknowledged the comlink and Nathan Hayes appeared. He smiled a greeting at Lenora and then looked at Connor. “I heard things didn’t go well with the Ovarrow.”

  “No reason why anything should be easy where the Ovarrow are concerned, but I’m still finalizing my thoughts on it,” Connor said.

  “Understood. But that’s not why I am contacting you. Do you remember a few years ago when we sent out probes to explore neighboring star systems?” Nathan asked.

  “Of course,” Connor answered. “They were sent to star systems that might have habitable planets, but we’re still a few years away from hearing back from them.”

  “That’s correct, but we heard back from one a little bit quicker than we thought we would. You see, once the scientists working on the subspace communicator got a stable working prototype, they got the idea that they could send our exploration probes instructions to build a subspace communicator of their own. Theoretically, they’re well within subspace communication range. However, to make a long story short, they sent out instructions for the probes to build one, and at least one of them has gotten back to us. They found a habitable planet that’s just a few light-years away from us,” Nathan said.

  “That’s amazing,” Lenora said. “Did the probe send back any scan data?”

  Nathan nodded. “Some. This news is getting a lot of attention, particularly with the Security Council. I’m giving you a heads-up because we’re going to have an all-hands in just a few hours.”

  “That quickly? Why would they do that?” Lenora asked.

  “Because,” Connor said dryly, “they’re considering whether we should leave New Earth.”

  Lenora frowned and glanced at Nathan for a moment. “That’s a bit premature, don’t you think?”

  “I agree,” Nathan replied. “But as farfetched as the option is, it’s still an option we need to consider.”

  “Is it really an option though? We have double the colonists now, and our resources are spread throughout the star system,” Connor said.

  “There are also the Ovarrow to consider,” Lenora added, and Connor threw her a look that said he agreed.

  Connor looked at Nathan. “She’s right. We need to consider the Ovarrow. We brought them out of stasis. The Krake are aware of our presence and are looking for us. When they do find this planet, are we going to leave the Ovarrow at the mercy of the Krake?”

  “Are you proposing to take them with us if we leave? Would they even come with us?” Nathan asked.

  “I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” Connor replied. “We’ll need to work the problem through because there's a lot more to it than the three of us can think of at the moment.”

  Nathan nodded. “All right. I just wanted to warn you what was coming. When can you be at Sierra?”

  “I’d rather stay here and attend the meeting remotely,” Connor said, telling Nathan about their visit with the Ovarrow.

  After some more back and forth, Nathan agreed that it was best for Connor to stay in Sanctuary. The comlink closed and both he and Lenora stood up.

  “I didn’t see this coming,” Lenora said.

  “Me either. I didn’t think we’d find a habitable world so close, but there has been some discussion about whether leaving New Earth is a viable option. This discovery is going to force us to reexamine the viability of that choice.”

  “Do you think we should leave?” Lenora asked.

  “No,” Connor replied.

  Lenora sighed. “I almost thought you were going to say something about weighing all our options. I don’t want to leave either, but . . . well, you know.”

  “This is our home,” Connor said. “And besides, what’s to stop the Krake from following us to a neighboring star system? If we stay here, at least we can put our energy into fortifying our position. If we decide to run to another world, we’ll have to not only build up our defenses, but also build new homes at the same time.”

  Lenora grinned, and Connor looked at her questioningly. “Your answer is purely rational, but not everything is so cut and dry. You’ll see.”

  Connor frowned. The decision of whether they were to leave New Earth or not seemed obvious to him, but for as long as he’d known Lenora, she’d demonstrated time and time again that she was a shrewd judge of colonial politics. Her keen insight into these matters might’ve come from all her experience as an archaeologist, piecing together ancient civilizations, or she just had the uncanny capability of seeing right to the heart of the matter. Either way, if he were to bet on the outcome, he’d bet on Lenora’s insights. She was usually right about these things, and he’d learned long ago to trust her judgment.

  15

  The all-hands meeting was pushed back to the next day, and Connor was able to go home and spend some time with his daughter. As usual, coming home was always easy, but leaving was getting increasingly harder to do. The last time Connor had left a child of his at home was over two hundred and thirty years ago. His son had been three years old, and Connor was shipping off for a six-month assignment. That six-month assignment turned into a multiyear operation, which had broken his marriage and ultimately ended with Connor being smuggled aboard an interstellar colony ship bound for New Earth. He was a different man now. Lauren would know who her father was because he'd be there to raise her.

  The personal holoscreen on his desk cycled through pictures of his family and his friends. For years, his work areas had been devoid of personal effects, but now he liked having visual reminders of the people in his life. They helped him keep things in perspective and remember what was important.

  The meeting with the Security Council had begun a short while earlier, and he'd noticed that only half the participants were in Sierra to attend the meeting. It wasn’t practical to have in-person meetings as often as the Security Council met. However, at least once a month, they did gather in person, and it had been agreed on by the majority that the meeting would be hosted at any one of the four colonial cities. In a few months’ time, the meeting was scheduled to be at Sanctuary. Policies like this had been put forth by Dana Wolf as a way to convey to the rest of the colony that Sierra wasn't the seat of power for the entire colony. It was a unifying effort, and Connor approved.

  Bob Mullins was chairing the meeting. Bob was of average height with dark, oily hair, mud-colored eyes, and a few days’ worth of beard growth on his face. He had an athletic build, and his voice had a calm, soothing quality to it except when he addressed Connor. They didn’t get along. In fact, Connor was of the opinion that Bob kept the stubbled growth of a beard simply because he thought it made him look more appealing to the
women in the room. Diaz had often joked that there were many faces of Bob Mullins as he sought to ingratiate himself and get people to trust him. That mask was usually dropped when they were discussing anything related to CDF efforts, which was why Connor didn’t like him. He didn’t have to like him in order to work with him, but things would be so much easier if Mullins would simply go away.

  “We pushed the schedule for this meeting back so everyone would have a chance to review the briefing about the space probe data we’ve received,” Bob Mullins said. “We’ve found a viable planet that makes an ideal colonization candidate. The planet is well within the Goldilocks zone, with a chemical composition that will meet our needs. It’s estimated that the gravitational field is above Earth normal but nothing we couldn’t adapt to. The preliminary data provided by the probe exceeds our standard criteria for colonization candidates. It’s a prime world.”

  A man sitting next to Governor Wolf indicated that he wanted to speak. “Dr. Trautmann, you have something to add?” Mullins asked.

  Lionel Trautmann was Dana Wolf’s newest scientific advisor who held specializations in multiple disciplines.

  “The data from the probe is promising,” Trautmann began, “but the probe is still in the system's Oort Cloud and hasn’t made it to interior planets to do an adequate scan of the system.”

  “That is correct, but we have access to the information already gathered a lot sooner than we thought we would,” Mullins said and glanced at Nathan. “Given the potential threats to the colony, there are quite a few people on this council who feel it’s worth discussing whether or not we should establish a colony on that planet.”

  Connor reached toward the speaker button, which would indicate that he wished to contribute, and let his hand hover over it for a moment. His fingertips must’ve grazed it because the request was sent, and as Mullins turned toward him, his gaze narrowed.

  “General Gates,” Mullins said.

  Connor wasn’t about to admit that he’d hit the button by mistake, so he decided to go along with his initial thought. “The briefing doesn’t just imply the establishment of a new colony. It implies that we need to make a decision on whether to move the entire colony to this planet.”