Harbinger

by Ken Lozito

  Connor nodded. “It’s a start, at least. We’ll have to take it from there.”

  A short while later, Connor and Dash entered a small conference room. Nathan and Samson were speaking quietly.

  Nathan looked at Connor. “You’re looking surprisingly agile for someone who broke his back just a few days ago.”

  “You know me; I get irritated when I sit still,” Connor replied and leaned in toward Nathan. “Are you trying to recruit my captain?”

  Nathan grinned. Pilfering each other’s soldiers had become something of a joke between them. “I’m afraid not. Captain Samson was just telling me that the Ovarrow you found have left that capital city.”

  Connor looked at Samson.

  “The report just came in. They’re gone. All traces of them, including the ryklars,” Samson said.

  “There isn’t much we can do about that,” Connor said. He’d hoped to be able to speak with Brashirker one more time with the improved translator. It might have changed the outcome.

  “They worry me,” Nathan said. “They don’t have to work with us, but we can’t let them work with the Krake.”

  “Agreed. We’ll have to keep an eye out for them," Connor said, "but I don’t think they would work with the Krake. They wouldn't have done what they’ve done to stay hidden for as long as they have and then decide to work with the very enemy they were hoping to avoid.”

  “Ordinarily I would agree with you, but I don’t want to leave anything to chance. You said it before—we can’t make any assumptions where the Ovarrow are concerned,” Nathan said and looked at Dash. “Mr. DeWitt, I understand you had a role in all this.”

  “I did, sir, but I’m not sure what to do now.”

  “I’m sure we’ll keep you busy,” Connor said.

  Dash looked at both Connor and Nathan. “I’m ready to help, but I have a request.”

  Connor arched an eyebrow. “I think you’re entitled to one request.”

  Dash smiled a little. “I need weapons training. Things got out of control so fast, and I need to be able to do something so I’m not a liability.”

  “Are you saying you want to join the CDF?” Nathan asked.

  Dash shook his head quickly. “No, and I don’t mean any disrespect either. I’m not a soldier like all of you, but I’ve been working with soldiers for a long time.”

  Dash looked at Connor, letting the thought go unfinished.

  “I’ll give it some thought,” Connor said.

  “I’d be happy to show the kid a few things,” Samson said mildly and then looked at Dash with anticipation.

  Dash swallowed hard. “I’m not sure that would be such a good idea,” he said.

  Connor grinned and the others joined in. “We’ll see. I’m sure we can come up with something, especially if we need specialists in the field with us.”

  “We need to start thinking about the next steps. And . . .” Nathan began to say, pausing for a moment. “Would you two excuse us for a few minutes?” he said, looking at Samson and Dash.

  Samson stood up. “Come on, kid, there’s something you need to see.”

  Dash looked only slightly worried as they left the room.

  “Next steps,” Connor said. “We need to analyze everything we brought back.”

  “You’re not wrong about that, but there are a couple of things I need to discuss with you,” Nathan said.

  “I bet I can guess what one or two of those things might be,” Connor replied.

  “You’ve got what you wanted. You looked the enemy in the eyes.”

  “I’ve looked an enemy in the eyes. I still don’t feel like we have a handle on them as a whole.”

  “Fair enough. Do you intend to lead every mission that involves a team going through a gateway, whether it be here through an arch or a space gate?” Nathan asked.

  Connor shook his head. “Of course not.”

  Nathan smiled. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear that, because it seems to me and a few other people that you excel at putting yourself right in the thick of it.”

  “Maybe I’m just the lucky one.”

  Nathan chuckled. “Or you just have a natural talent for finding trouble.” He paused for a moment and regarded Connor, pressing his lips together. “We have to figure this enemy out—you and me, and a whole lot of other people. We have to be able to trust other people to get the job done. Would you agree with that?”

  “I would.”

  “Look, Connor, I haven’t been a soldier as long as you have. But I do know that not every fight has to be personal.”

  “You think I’m making this personal?” Connor asked.

  “Aren’t you?”

  Connor looked away for a moment and pursed his lips in thought. “This is personal, Nathan. I feel like we’re a heartbeat away from fighting this war in our backyards. It's worse than the Vemus. We dodged a horrible fate with that, but this is different. I know we’re supposed to be diplomatic when it comes to dealing with Governor Wolf and the other Security Council members, but make no mistake—this is personal. The Krake are going to test us beyond anything we’ve ever faced before. It’s like they're hyper-logical to a fault. Extremely advanced. They toy with civilizations just to see if they can influence the outcome.”

  “Ovarrow civilizations,” Nathan said, pointedly. “They haven’t encountered ours before.”

  “And they’ve been at it for who knows how long. It has to be a few hundred years at least.”

  “So, what are you saying?”

  “What I’m saying is that I don’t know how we’re going to defeat the Krake. Throughout every encounter we’ve had, we try to be better prepared for the next encounter, and then we find that they're capable of much more than we thought. This is personal for me because that’s how I can effectively do my job. Our job is to stop the Krake.”

  “Yes, that’s our job, and we’ll need to sacrifice lives in order to attain victory. That means you and I can’t lead every charge.”

  “You’ve seen the Security Council. Do you think they’re ready to hear about sacrifice, especially where lives are concerned?”

  Nathan twitched his head to the side in a slight nod. “They might surprise you. I think you’ve done an excellent job of making them aware of the risk. Just because they don’t like to be reminded of what could happen doesn’t mean we shouldn’t remind them.”

  “Be careful. I bet they won’t like to hear that.”

  Nathan chuckled. “I have a few ideas of my own for how to deal with the Krake, but I don’t even want to entertain the thought of fighting this war without you. This colony needs you, Connor. I know the Krake surprised you,” he said and then shook his head. “I don’t think I would’ve survived if I'd been put in the same situation. I’m not you, and there's no one else like you.”

  Connor shifted in his seat, feeling a little uncomfortable. “We have Sean. They thought Trident Battle Group was there. It was the first confirmation we've received that they’re still around, and the fact that Sean has got the Krake worried is a win in my book.”

  Connor refused to even consider that Sean and the rest of Trident Battle Group had been lost. They were still out there.

  “We do have Sean, and Celeste Belonét, and half a dozen other outstanding young officers, but it seems to me that we're barely staying a step ahead of the Krake. One little misstep and everything changes,” said Nathan.

  “We don’t do this because it’s easy; we do this because it’s necessary,” Connor said.

  The conference room was profoundly quiet while the two generals regarded each other.

  “I might be the head of the CDF, but you will always be its heart. I saw it on the command deck of a warship, and I've seen it in a hundred different ways ever since.”

  Connor felt his throat thicken for a moment. Nathan was speaking as a friend who'd watched as someone close to them almost died. Connor just wanted to focus on the next thing. This wasn’t the first time he’d risked his life, or even c
ome close to losing it. But maybe this was someone telling him to take a few moments and seriously consider what he should do next.

  The door to the conference room opened and Samson stuck his head in. “You’re going to want to see this. Trident Battle Group has returned home.”

  28

  The few moments of elation didn’t last long after they heard the news. Connor and Nathan headed to a briefing room where Colonel Belonét gave them a brief update. The battle group had emerged in an area of space that wasn't near anything—a void between New Earth and Sagan’s orbit. Phoenix Station wasn’t anywhere nearby, so salvage and rescue operations had to be coordinated from the lunar base near New Earth.

  The Vigilant was completely without power, and the CDF soldiers and civilian personnel were being transferred over to the remaining ships in operation. Trident Battle Group now consisted of only six CDF destroyers, and there wasn’t enough room on the destroyers for the people currently stranded. The battle group had lost two destroyers and the converted freighter that had been serving as a carrier. In addition to smaller ships, such as combat shuttles and Talon-V troop carriers, Sean had nonessential personnel in escape pods that were running under their own power. It was a temporary solution.

  “The Vigilant needs to be refueled,” Connor said. “If we transfer the reactor core from one of the ships in the lunar shipyards, we can at least restore critical power to the Vigilant, and that should be enough to get them back to New Earth.”

  Colonel Belonét shook her head, muttering a curse. “Yes, General, you’re correct. I should’ve thought of that. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Colonel,” Nathan said. “General Gates has been doing that to me for years.”

  “Yes, sir. We’ll get to them in time,” Colonel Belonét said as a soldier called her attention off-screen. She nodded and looked back at Connor and Nathan. “I have a priority mission report that is directed to both of you, Generals, for your immediate review. It’s from Colonel Quinn. I’ve sent it along priority channels, and you should have it now.”

  “Thank you,” Connor said as a priority mission update appeared on the sub-window of the main holoscreen in the briefing room. “Carry on, Colonel.”

  The comlink from the lunar base went dark. The briefing room at Sanctuary wasn’t overly large, but there were quite a few people inside. The room quickly cleared out until only Connor and Nathan remained. Priority mission reports required additional authentication, and both Connor and Nathan had to provide that in order to access the report. The minutes flew by as Connor scanned the account. As he read, he felt his brows knit together.

  “Holy shit,” Connor said.

  “That’s putting it mildly.”

  Connor stood up and paced for a moment. “A mutiny,” he said and paced some more. “A damn mutiny!” he repeated.

  Nathan looked away from the report. None of the questions that were now bursting in both of their minds were going to be answered right then. “This is going to require an extensive investigation.”

  Connor nodded slowly. “I know. I just don’t believe it.”

  “Neither do I, and I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. Sean was giving us both a heads-up.”

  Connor shook his head, still coming to grips with what he’d just learned. “What the hell happened to them?”

  “That’s what we need to find out.”

  “First things first. We need to get them to Lunar Base. Then we’ll need to debrief them all,” Connor said.

  “The investigation will be conducted out of Sierra,” Nathan said.

  Connor felt a momentary territorial response, but he squelched it in an instant. He just needed to know what the hell had happened. The briefing indicated that Major Lester Brody had attempted a coup in direct opposition to Sean.

  “We’ll need to brief Governor Wolf,” Connor said.

  When word of the mutiny spread throughout the colony, things were going to get tense. They needed to conduct this investigation and get it done as quickly and as thoroughly as possible so they could be prepared to answer the tough questions.

  “I’ll need you in Sierra for a few weeks but not for a day or two. You’re still healing, and we have a little bit of time,” Nathan said.

  The back brace Connor wore caused an itch that he absently scratched. He looked at Nathan.

  “I want to go just as badly as you do,” Nathan said, as if reading Connor’s thoughts.

  Hearing Nathan admit that lessened Connor’s desire to get on a shuttle and order it to take him to the lunar base right then. “After they reach the lunar shipyards, we’ll bring him dirtside ASAP. We need to follow the protocols for debriefing; otherwise, someone might accuse us of meddling.”

  “We don’t want that,” Nathan replied.

  “The debriefings will be classified until we can present an official report to the Security Council,” Connor said.

  Nathan nodded and then frowned for a moment. “Have you ever had to deal with anything like this?”

  “No, not like this. Mutiny is different than insubordination. This is much worse, and we could speculate on it, but I think we need to wait and get more information.”

  “Agreed. I’m headed back to Sierra to meet with Governor Wolf. She’s going to have a lot of questions that we won’t have the answers to, but at least we’ll be keeping her informed,” Nathan said.

  Connor watched as Nathan looked at the mission report on the holoscreen for another moment and sighed, then Connor walked Nathan out of the room and headed back to his office. Debriefing soldiers who returned from a mission had well-established protocols, but what Connor needed to do was to see if they had anything on the NA Alliance military record that dealt with a mutiny. He might find some historical reference, but he doubted he’d find anything like an official report.

  Connor closed his office door so he had privacy and opened a comlink to Ashley. It didn’t take long for her to be reached at the medical center in Sanctuary.

  “Hello, Connor.”

  “Sean is back,” Connor said.

  Ashley frowned and peered intently at him. “What?” she asked, her voice sounding slightly hushed.

  “Sean is back, Ashley. Your son is home. It’ll be a few days before he gets to New Earth, but I wanted you to know first, and I wanted you to hear it from me,” Connor said.

  Ashley’s eyes welled up and she covered her mouth with her hand. She closed her eyes and he heard a half-formed moan as she smiled. “Thank you. Thank you.”

  Connor smiled back, happy to be the bearer of good news, at least for now. The bad news was coming, but at this moment, Connor was happy to see the relief of a mother who'd learned that her son had returned home from a very dangerous place.

  29

  A week later, Connor was at the CDF base in Sierra. As far as weeks went, it had been long and grueling, even with the extra sleep he was getting. He still needed to wear a back brace, but the doctors were pleased with the progression of his healing spine. One of the biggest adjustments Connor was making was the additional sleep required. He was now getting six hours of sleep each night and had been given control of his implants once again. He did feel less agitated, as if the additional sleep had taken some of the edge off his mood. Connor had to grudgingly admit that perhaps the doctors had been correct.

  The remaining ships of Trident Battle Group were now at the lunar shipyards. The Vigilant had been brought back online with emergency power, and the mission reports had been extracted from the computer core. All the ships in the battle group would be examined from top to bottom before being returned to service.

  News of Trident Battle Group’s return had quickly garnered the attention of the colony. What was supposed to have been an expeditionary mission had lasted almost a year, and they had the mission reports to prove it. It was going to take them a long time to go through everything. Of the 2,290 people who'd left with Trident Battle Group, 1,951 returned. There’d been 339 casualties, and among tho
se casualties were 26 mutineers.

  Both Connor and Nathan had been reviewing the mission reports from the senior officers of Trident Battle Group. Connor had a lot more to go, but he'd stopped because they were finally going to see Sean face to face. The crews of those ships had been brought back to New Earth, and the debriefing had begun.

  Connor headed toward a small conference room where Sean was waiting. He had decided to head there early, and Nathan would join them later. He walked into the empty conference room and found Sean looking out the window. Upon hearing Connor enter, Sean turned around and saluted him. Connor returned the salute and took in the sight of his friend. Throughout his career, he'd seen soldiers age rapidly due to the stresses they'd been exposed to as part of the job. Sean had aged, and he had aged a lot. He was lean and his face was all sharp angles, but his dark eyes still had fight in them. They’d always had a brilliant intensity to them, even though they looked a bit strained. Connor remembered first seeing it when Sean had joined the original Search and Rescue platoon. That was when he’d seen what Sean was really made of.

  Connor tried to think of the last time they'd been in each other’s presence. So much had happened since then. Both men just stood there, silently regarding one another.

  “Hello, Sean.”

  The edges of Sean’s lips tugged slightly. “Sir.”

  “Welcome home,” Connor said.

  Sean’s brows squished together for a moment and he sighed. “Thank you, sir.”

  “At ease. It’s just the two of us in here. Nathan will be along shortly. You’ve had quite a journey,” Connor said.

  Sean was wound up as tight as a torsion spring.

  “This isn’t going to get any easier. There's a lot for us to talk about, but let’s cut right to the chase. Tell me about the mutiny.”

  Sean did. When he first started speaking, it was only the facts—exactly what had happened and what he’d done—but the more he spoke, the more Connor could see some of the tension leaving him. Connor didn’t offer any opinions or ask much in the way of questions. He just let Sean speak. Nathan had joined them part of the way through and told Sean to continue.