“Yes, sir.” MacKenzie replied, then straightened and saluted me. “Sir, regardless of the outcome of this mission, it has been truly an honor to serve alongside the greatest Vandorian warrior ever to live.” Kelis and Lieutenant Meyers, the company commanders of Alpha and Bravo saluted me as well.
“The honor has been mine,” I replied, holding out a hand to shake his. “Bring us back some hope and good news, Major.”
We shook and I watched them depart through the doors at the rear of the command salon. I felt someone approaching me and turned to see Councilor Wingell approach. He held out a hand and I shook it with a lopsided grin.
“Councilor.” I said.
“Colonel,” He replied, returning my smile and looking into my eyes. “We have had a strange and tumultuous relationship.”
“We have at that, Councilor.” I said, shaking his hand. “Be safe out there. Don’t let anyone shoot you.”
“As long as you’re here, Colonel, I doubt that will be an issue.” I broke my longstanding tradition and laughed.
“I’m sure you will be safe, sir.” He shook his head at me and walked past me. Then it was Captain Jones who approached me. She did not offer a salute, instead she looked at me like I was an idiot.
“Captain.” I said.
“Don’t fuck it up, Valentine.” She said, then pushed past me and walked on her way. I chuckled.
“I’ll do my best, Captain.” Though, what I wasn’t supposed to fuck up was a mystery to me.
Chapter Seven
---
Starship Shadow of Eternity
Star system XLY99007
The next morning, Shockwave departed the unnamed system for the edge of our galaxy, a trip that with the help of the holographic intelligence would take something like fifteen days. Which surprised me, because it seemed more and more like the galaxy was just getting smaller.
The data dump that the hologram had mentioned included navigational data on the Gilbaglian system, information about the avian species, and more fascinating, Cetoplin engine designs. They had, by their own admission, very little use for offensive weapons, so they did not deign to include information, as we’d been informed that our weapons now surpassed that of the Cetoplin.
Mallory had ordered us to return to the Sol system while they studied the drive designs for use in our ships. We’d been gone a very short time, but I figured that Earth was as good a place as any, and with their orbital shipyards, we could refit easier. I expressed my distaste to my wife for the constant cycle of refit-fight-refit, and I was politely told that if I didn’t like it, I could get out and walk back to Earth. I figured I’d mind my own business.
It was odd to run day to day operations with a young Phelb Captain named Solaris. “Operations” being a lame ass word for making sure my soldiers were eating right, sleeping well and not getting into fights.
“This deployment is bullshit.” I lamented to Lieutenant Gavin Antillon, a Vandorian replacement for Lieutenant Kelis who was several years younger than me. “We haven’t shot anyone in a month.”
“I would tend to agree, sir, however I haven’t fired my weapon since we landed on Earth.” The younger man agreed, shaking his head.
The display on my desk showed that we had entered the system and were just passing the outer relay stations, would be in Earth orbit in a few hours.
I glanced over at another Lieutenant, who was newly minted, Creston Severson and smirked. He was a Phelb, spoke with a funny accent he called “Australian”, whatever that meant. “Are you ready to go home?” I asked.
“Nah, sir.” He replied with a smirk. “I got those gene mods and jumped aboard this ship to see the galaxy, not go home. I agree we need to go kill some birdbrains.”
I liked that attitude. And I agreed, we needed to go find some Gilbaglians to kill. I was still working up a legitimate battle plan, but I believed firmly that we needed to start taking territory from the Gilbaglians, even if it is only just to push them back away from the area that was, for all purposes, a demilitarized zone. In fact, that was a good name for it, and I decided that we would now call it that formally.
“I agree.” I said, glancing over at Captain Solaris, he was black skinned and had a sharply defined nose. He was tall and lanky, and looked almost like he would be willing to remove the fingers of anyone who touched him. “How about you, Captain?”
“Sir.” His words were thickly accented, being from the horn of Africa, and he bowed his head slightly. “We should make the avians defend themselves rather than standing in a defensive posture ourselves.”
I pressed a control and brought up the star map left by the hologram and pointed with a large finger. “This area here,” There were four star systems that marked the nearest boundary to the Sol system. “This is our new demilitarized zone.” They nodded and I continued, “I think we should start pushing against this flank here.” I rose from my chair, walking through the holographic display and tracing a hand along the edge of their boundary. “I am curious, with this many inhabited worlds along this route, what do you think the odds of us encountering another species are?”
“I would say they’re likely,” Mallory announced, sweeping into my office. “Priority is on ship building from here on out, so if we encounter a species, then we are going to have to tread lightly so we don’t make another enemy.”
“What about an ally?” Solaris asked.
I looked at Mallory. “Allies aren’t always a good idea.” We grinned at each other. “After all, the Gilbaglians were once our allies as well.”
Even if they’d never shared technology, or really even explained why they randomly had two planets that were well outside of the habitable zone of the local star, I thought in amusement.
“What’s up, Admiral?” I asked, sinking back into the high-backed chair, noticing a bit of back pain that had never been there before.
“We’re approaching Earth, and I wanted to see what kind of insane scheme you were down here coming up with.” She replied, raising an eyebrow. “And for once it actually sounds like you have a tactically sound idea.”
“Oh, this was for the fleet.” I explained, holding up a hand. “I have something far more insane in mind for us.” I grinned. Antillon grinned in pleasure, the Phelbs turned slightly pale.
“Sir?” Solaris asked.
I highlighted a system about fifty light-years into Gilbaglian space. “This has been identified as a manufacturing facility. I think it looks like a ripe target for a raid.” I grinned. Mallory slapped her forehead with her palm and I held up a hand, palm up to her. “Right?” It’s such an obvious choice, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier.”
“I can’t believe,” She replied from behind her hand. “That you come up with this shit. You’re like a computer AI with a faulty logic circuit, you only get these ideas to make me angry.”
“No, I don’t do it to make you angry.” I smiled broadly. “I do it because I really like surprising the fuck out of the enemy.”
She sighed explosively then examined the system. “What kind of manufacturing?” She asked.
“Looks like warships, Admiral.” Severson said, pointing at the detailed map, and noting the tiny orbital stations around the planet, in his strange singsong accent. “Could be a smart target. These worlds here,” He gestured to the dozen or so planets around the target. “Are mostly agricultural or they are uninhabited. This one is close to the asteroid field, looks pretty far out from the star though, might not be sustainable for human life.” He nodded to Solaris, who nodded back.
Antillon turned to me. “Sir,” He said. “If we strike, would we hold this planet?”
“We would almost literally be required to,” I replied thoughtfully. “We would have to hold it so we could use it to build ships if we want to have a fighting chance at hitting their capital, or even their heavily populated worlds.”
“And what about their fleets?” Malloy demanded, crossing her arms across her chest. “We have no i
dea what the disposition of their forces is like. You heard our Cetoplin friend, they number in the quintillions. I’m not even completely sure how many zeros that is.” She admitted. “And with that big of a population, you can guess that their standing army outnumbers humans five to one.”
“Only five to one, Admiral?” Antillon asked with a smile.
“What are you grinning about, Lieutenant?” She asked with heat.
“Five to one is considered even odds in the night stalkers, ma’am.” He replied smartly.
“Outnumbered is bad.” Mallory said, shaking her head. “Didn’t they teach you that?”
“You say outnumbered, ma’am,” The Lieutenant was almost shaking with laughter now. “I say target-rich environment.” Mallory threw up her hands and walked out of my office as we all broke into laughter.
Chapter Eight
---
Starship Shadow of Eternity
The communicator on my desk sounded an hour or so later while I sat, half dozing, half looking at a report on the amount of field rations exposed to radiation in the last few months, though why that was relevant to me and not some logistics jockey, I couldn’t answer that question.
“Valentine here.” I called absently.
“Were you sleeping?” Came the ever calm, ever sarcastic voice over the comm and I smiled.
“No, fucker, I was not sleeping. Well, okay, maybe a little, but these reports are so bloody boring.”
“You’re bloody boring.” Ivata replied. “I don’t even know why I bother calling you.”
“Then don’t call.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“I’d prefer it, then I wouldn’t have to see your ugly face anymore.” I replied.
He laughed. “Good to hear from you, Colonel.”
“You as well, Major. Any developments?”
“No, not really. We’ve kicked into a new training cycle and we’re training them more and more like us, now.” He sighed. “But they’re not us, because Earth has lower gravity.”
I stroked my chin, smooth shaved as was the requirement. “Are they at least faster, instead of stronger?”
“Like I said,” Ivata replied with a sigh. “Not like us at all, sir. They are excellent soldiers, but the majority have clutter in their code.” He meant genetic code, whereas we had been tweaked and adjusted to filter out the normal human genetic nonsense, such as the appendix. But the Phelbs and even the Vandorians that hadn’t received their second set of boosters before Vandor was destroyed suffered from not having enough medical equipment on Novela and now Earth. “So far, no more little Destota clones running around. You’re still the best we have.”
I sighed inwardly. I wasn’t even twenty-six years old yet, in a lifetime that would span, with luck, over four or more centuries. But I wasn’t going to be able to be a frontline soldier for all of that time, I would need to step back and gradually hand command over to someone younger as the years passed. And if this war had been raging for millions of years, it seemed fairly unlikely that I would be able to win it in the span of a lifetime.
I sat back slightly, shifting once more as my back began to ache. “Unfortunate, but I know you are doing your best, Major.” I said, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. “We won’t be staying long at Earth. Mallory and the Eternity are discharging us with a squadron of destroyers and four heavy cruisers.” The Cruisers were about half the size of Eternity, which was a carrier, and they packed a fairly mighty punch against anything, including Gilbaglians.
“Why?” Ivata asked in surprise.
“We found a Gilbaglian staging base about fifty light-years inside of their space,” I replied, wincing and touching the spot where my back was beginning to hurt worse. Strangely, I was beginning to feel somewhat ill and hot.
“Oh good,” Ivata chuckled. “I’m glad you figured out a way to go kill a ton of them.”
The pain was growing worse, and as the plan came up in my mind for attacking Gilbaglians, my breathing began to catch, and my mouth went dry. “Yeah. Hey, Ivata…”
“Yeah, I know, you have to get ready, sir.” He didn’t notice whatever was wrong with me. “We’ll talk before you go.”
“Thanks.” I fairly gasped and signed off. I balled my hands into fists and tried to focus on my breathing, but breathing was becoming more and more elusive the harder I focused. I slapped a hand onto the communicator. “Valentine to Doctor Kahleesh,” I gasped. “Please report to my office.”
The doctor took just over seven minutes to reach my office, which I felt had stretched on forever. He looked puzzled when he opened the door. “What is it, Colonel?” He asked as I forced myself not to claw my own flesh to ribbons.
“I don’t know,” I answered, my voice strained. I couldn’t think. It was like there was a massive storm in my mind that prevented me from getting any real answers. “It started with back pain, then I couldn’t breathe. Dry mouth, can’t think straight.”
He stepped forward and waved a long device-handled device over my body from head to lap, then stepped back and examined the device. “Colonel Valentine, you are having a panic attack.”
“A what?” I gasped.
“A panic attack.” He replied calmly, withdrawing an injector device from his pocket, selecting a vial from the small kit at his waist and loaded it. “With your permission, sir?”
I glanced up long enough to see that the bruises I’d left on him when he tried to put me into the healing pod had healed nicely. I’d almost killed him thinking he was my enemy. He’d gotten smarter about asking to approach me. “Go ahead.” I said. He injected me and the nanotechnology flooded into my blood stream and calmed me almost immediately. My hands weren’t even shaking now, and I relaxed the fists that had began to draw blood from my palm.
“Thank you,” I said with real relief and fatigue in my voice. “What caused that?” I asked, gesturing for him to sit down.
“Anxiety.” He replied curtly, taking a seat. “You are under a tremendous amount of stress, Colonel, and that is unhealthy, even for us.” He was three hundred years old and had been practicing medicine since he was my age. I tended to trust his medical expertise. “The human body, even with advanced gene therapy, has not evolved a block to our stress reaction in our brain. In fact, your scan shows that you are currently generating cortisol,” Which is the fancy hormone in your brain that creates stress for those more ignorant than me. “At nearly three times the normal level. You should be suffering daily anxiety attacks, depression, lack of appetite, weight loss…”
I wasn’t experiencing those symptoms, yet.
“Doctor, how can I prevent this from happening again?” I asked.
“You can’t.” The Doctor replied. He was a tall man, darker skinned than I was but not as dark skinned as Captain Solaris from the African continent, he traced his roots back to India. “You need to find a way to limit your stress or you will continue to suffer these attacks.”
“Chemical remedy?” I asked.
“What is causing you stress?” He asked.
“You’re the doctor. All you do is wave a magic wand and poof, it disappears.” I said with a hint of anger in my voice.
“You called me.”
“Is that your get-out clause?” I snapped.
“What?” He asked, raising a brow. “For practicing medicine without a license?” He cocked his head in an odd gesture. “Have you ever asked you to undress for an eye exam? As I told the judge, that was all a terrible misunderstanding.”
I recognized the joke from a favorite author of Earth that was, and his deadpan delivery and slight accent made me burst out laughing.
“I don’t even know what to say,” I said, calming down. “Thank you, doctor.”
“Colonel, you must reduce your stress before it kills you.” He said, eyes firm once more. “You need to lean more on your command staff.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “I’ll get right on that.”
---
I r
eturned to my quarters and found that the service bots had been hard at work, and Mallory was fairly throwing a fit over them, shouting orders that to me, were conflicting. I chuckled as I walked in. “Let them work,” I said softly, putting a hand on her back. “It’s okay.”
She put her hands on her head and exhaled sharply. “I should order you not to go.” She said with anger and hurt evident in her voice.
“You could,” I replied calmly. “But you should not.”
“Oh yeah?” She snapped, spinning on me and jabbing a finger into my chest. “Why shouldn’t I? I’ve been telling you since you attacked the Phelbs on Gilbaglia Two that you’re insane. This is about as insane of a plan as you could have cooked up.”
She was angry now, angry in a way I had never seen her before. My brain flashed through a handful of options and I opted for my usual stoic calm when confronting her anger. “Mallory,” I said. “You have to understand that the 160th is not a group of passengers on a pleasure cruise. We are highly trained, highly skilled special forces operators.” I paused, for a lack of words. “Operators need to operate, Admiral.”
“But you don’t need to go.” She protested.
“I do. I’m not a passenger either, my love. The council selected me as the leader of the 160th and I won’t ask my people to assume danger when I come up with these ideas.”
“If they’re not pushing a major fleet action, why would we need to go fight them anyways? Can’t it remain isolated to minor battles like we’ve had here?” She asked, pleading with me now.
“We both know that we can’t allow the enemy to dictate what we do. You heard our holographic friend; our weapons are more powerful and now with Cetoplin drives we might have an opportunity to strike first and harder.” I was trying my best to be rational. I knew that with the pregnancy progressing, she would possibly not be in her normal frame of mind. “And add to that, with the small number of humans versus the massive number of Gilbaglians, we are going to have to have faster, more powerful ships in our navy to fight superior numbers.” She sighed and put her face in her hands. I wrapped my arms around her. “I know you want me to stay and be safe here, but I’m not like that.” I said.
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