by T. R. Harris
The breach was open and the remainder of Antaere swept inside, bringing the battle to within three hundred thousand miles of the surface of the planet and lighting up the sky with brilliant streaks of plasma fire. Several lines of Human ships disappeared in an instant…and still the Antaere came.
The ship carrying the Rowin waited outside the opening, surveying the battle from a distance. The crew was anxious to join the fight, but there would be time enough for that. Instead, Andus eyed a clear area of space under one of the existing battle platforms. With its weapons pointed outward, the area under it was relatively unguarded, except for the few warships that patrolled the area. But now that the battle had been joined at another point above the globe, most units were forming up there to help with the defense. Andus thought how easy it would be for the powerful warship to slip in, enter high orbit, and unleash at least a preliminary salvo of deadly nuclear missiles.
The plan called for the defenders to be taken out first, followed by a methodical saturation of the surface with the weapons. Although the effects of such an attack would linger, eventually killing off all the unfortunate survivors, Andus wanted the victory to be complete by the time he headed back to Antara and the adulation of his race. And yet, what would it hurt to bloody the noses of the Humans a little beforehand?
“First Insir,” Andus began. “Plot a course for sector nine-k. I propose we make a run on the surface.”
“Prior to schedule, my Lord?”
“Yes. It appears the fleet has the Human defenders tied down on the other side of the planet. We shall have minimal opposition.”
“Should I bring in an escort?”
“Not more than four,” Andus said. “Leave the rest for the offensive.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Noloc turned to the navigator. “Plot your course. Execute upon my command. Second Insir, arrange for four Bond-class ships to flank our incursion.”
It only took a moment to plot the course and for the escorts to move into position.
“Execute.”
The battleship created a shallow gravity-well and moved toward the planet. It entered through the hole created by the earlier attack, but then steered away from the bulk of the fighting. It was picking up steam, fourteen thousand miles from the designated area of operation, when a report came over the comm.
“New contacts, bearing on the aft.”
Insir Noloc moved to the threat board. “Display,” he ordered.
A side panel opened on the main tac screen. There were numerous contacts, entering into scanning range near the orbit of the system’s gas giant. As he watched, more contacts lit up as they came into range.
“Identify,” Noloc barked out.
Andus was at his side, studying the field of contacts as well. “Are they the Enif returning?”
“No, my Lord,” a crewmember called out. “Gravity signatures identify them as Human warships, now numbering ninety and counting, including four battle-carriers.”
“It’s the Crious fleet,” Andus realized. He turned to glare at the Insir. “I was told they were unaware of our attack plans.”
Noloc recoiled from the Rowin’s accusatory tone. “My Lord, that was not of my doing. That is the responsibility of the survey division, and last report showed no leakage of our plans to the Humans at Crious.”
“Obviously there has been a leak,” Andus cried out. Others on the bridge watched their Rowin as he turned pale and jittery, moving about the back of the bridge in a fit of rage. “Options, Insir?”
“Options, my Lord? The attack must continue. Even with these new ships, our forces are near parity. We could win just as well as the Humans. We are on station, my Lord. We must not retreat.”
A voice reported: “First Insir, the second Human fleet now numbers four hundred ninety-one vessels. My Lord—”
“What is it?” Noloc yelled.
“Our main force, it is within the enemy lines….”
Noloc knew the implications of the statement. His forces were operating within a narrow corridor between the defenders and the surface. Most of his warships were not designed for in-atmosphere flight, and to retreat to clearer space would involve leaving the way they came, through the hole created by the destruction of the weapons platform. With more ships soon to arrive on station, Noloc could not allow his forces to remain where they were.
“Pull back. Sound a reformation. Establish a new line at…” He studied the maps. “At sector Green. All divisions report fleet strength. Third Insir Loinsi, tally all remaining forces. Give me a strength count. Time to second fleet intercept?”
“Thirty-eight minutes to the leading edge,” a voice reported.
“Pardon me, my Rowin,” Noloc said, “but we must add strength to the fleet. There will be time enough for the nuclear attack following our victory.”
Andus suddenly lost interest in dropping a few nuclear bombs on the surface of Earth. On the tac screen, he could clearly see the Antaerean forces sandwiched between two strong Human fleets. He acknowledged what Noloc had said; either side had the potential of winning, however, not much would be left of either side at the conclusion. Even so, the Antaere would be in a much more precarious position, located as they were on the opposite side of the Grid from Antara. Even if the Antaere won, the Humans still had formidable land-based weapons that could be used to take out what few nuclear missiles would remain in the greatly diminished fleet. At that point, it would be questionable whether enough damage would be caused to render the Humans impotent in the affairs of the Grid.
And what ships of Antara would survive the coming conflagration? A few of the faster vessels, some of the less-significant? Would the flagship?
“First Insir,” Andus said. “Move the flagship to a safe position outside the field of battle. From there we will direct the action from a better vantage point.”
“My Lord, this ship is one of our most powerful. Without it in the battle, we lose a degree of strength,” Noloc countered. “The Humans are deploying eight or more of their battle-carriers to the fight, and those vessels are even more powerful. We would be at a significant disadvantage without our contribution.”
“I understand, First Insir,” Andus said. “But I believe staying free of the fray will give us a more objective overview of the battle. That is my belief, it is now my order.”
Noloc eyed the Rowin for a long moment, making Andus believe the Insir knew the true reason for the retreat. But then the officer sighed.
“As you wish, my Lord. Navigator, move us to Sector Yellow. Send twenty ships from the fleet as escort.”
The fact that the officer was bringing twenty ships with them was a giveaway, Andus thought. Noloc figured he would need them to help protect the Rowin during the journey back to Antara, and if he waited until after the battle to assign the escort, he might not have the ships to do so. Besides, by then the Rowin intended to be long gone and heading home.
26
“Hey, you boys need a lift?” said a sexy voice from behind.
Angus turned to see Ashley Hunter in the driver’s seat of a transport, her elbow poking out through the open window.
The REVs were still two miles from the spaceport and slowed by the inert body of their leader, Zac Murphy.
“Why aren’t you back at the Zanzibar?” Angus scolded. “It’s too dangerous for someone who looks like an Antaere to be moving around.”
“I’m fine, now get your asses inside.”
It was a tight fit in the back seat for Kyle, Donovan and Zac, but they made it. Angus sat next to Ashley in the front seat. On the console between them was the thin metal box that was Amber the AI.
“I never made it to the ship.”
“What happened?”
“Amber happened,” Ashley replied. “She ordered me to take her to the main transmission building where we took over a small comm station.”
“Why?”
“I’m getting to that,” Ashley snapped. “Let me tell the story!”
“You’re the ones who made that happen?” Donovan exclaimed. “Far out.”
Ashley smiled. “It was mainly Amber, of course. She was able to hack into the main computer system for the relay station, essentially taking over all communications throughout this part of the Grid. She made it impossible to stop the broadcast from going out. I bet there’s going to be some royal shit coming down across a thousand light-years tonight because of this.”
Kyle laughed. “And if others react like the Enif did to the video, I’d say the Antaere aren’t going to like the outcome, not one little bit.”
“Serves the yellow-skinned bastards right,” Angus said.
“Hey!” Ashley said. “Watch your language. I resemble that remark. We all do.”
The REVs had left the production building while Congin’s video was still running, so they didn’t hear about the impending attack on Earth by the Antaere and Enif forces. But Ashley had. After the few light-hearted remarks in the transport, she told them what was going on.
Fortunately, Smitty and Olivia were monitoring the news reports on the Zanzibar and began giving a running account. The fight wasn’t over—in fact it was just beginning in earnest—but it wasn’t looking as bad as Congin had said it would be.
The Enif had retreated without firing a shot, and the Human fleet from Crious showed up unexpectedly. Apparently, the battle-carrier Eldorado—the only Human warship operating in Antaere space at the time—had detected the massive gravity wave from the Qwin fleet as it passed them on the way to Earth. The EL sent word to Crious, and the fleet departed almost immediately for the homeworld. Their arrival in the Solar System was making all the difference.
The Antaere still fought, and casualties were high on both sides. But then the Rowin’s ship departed halfway through the fight. After that, the rest of the Antaere fleet took their cue from their leader and set escape vectors out of the Solar System, essentially every ship for itself. It became counterproductive for the Humans to follow all the Antaere ships, so many escaped. They still had a long way to go to get back to Antaere space—a designation that was bound to change after Congin’s inflammatory video gained more circulation.
Olivia had already gotten the highlights on the battle, so she ignored the stream of broadcasts and tended to Zac when the team returned to the Zanzibar.
He was in pretty bad shape, not only from his injuries, but also from the strange cocktail of alien drugs in his bloodstream. Olivia hooked him up to monitors and started saline and plasma drips. She drew blood and placed it within a portable analyzer she’d brought along just for this occasion. What she saw on the readouts made her nearly faint. She didn’t know whether she should tell the others or not, but decided she had to, but after they were through reviewing the news reports on the battle. In the meantime, she found some crate tie-downs in the cargo hold and strapped Zac to the bed.
“Damn,” Kyle said. “But he’ll live?”
Olivia nodded. “Yeah, he’ll live. I don’t know why, but he will. I’m giving him a small drip of diluted Twilight just to moderate the effects and to keep him sedated. I can’t give him a full dose, of course, but this might help stabilize him until we get back to Earth.”
“I have studied the surveillance videos for most of the time he was held by the Antaere,” Amber said through hidden speakers. “Even with repeated activations and the other tranquillizer drugs they were giving him, he remained in control.”
“That’s good to know,” said Olivia. “But can we take the chance?” She looked down at the sleeping REV. “I imagine with the cascading he experienced during the fight with the Antaere, he was probably at levels beyond activation for both Delta NT-4 and the alien drug. Yet he didn’t activate. That would have shown up. And throughout it all, he retained complete control and cognitive abilities. I didn’t think it was possible to reach such levels and not activate…or die.”
“Are you taking him back to Cross?” Angus asked.
“No matter what we think of the man, he’s still the best at what he does,” Olivia said. “I think that’s our only option to understand what’s going on.”
“Do you think he’ll recover?” Ashley asked.
“Recover from what?” Olivia said. “We don’t even know if this is something abnormal for him, or if this is his new norm.”
Kyle whistled. “So he could walk around as jacked up as an activated REV, but act like a normal person?”
“That’s possible,” Olivia said. And then she stretched out a thin, sad smile, while looking again at her resting REV. “But god help anyone who pisses him off.”
27
Dr. David Cross had received only a thirteen-day heads up from his mysterious benefactor regarding the impending attack on Earth. It wasn’t a lot of warning, but it did allow the scientist time to pack up his research disks, his trusted secretary, Lisa Frost—and the children—and board a fast private space yacht out of the Solar System. He headed for Crious, passing the incoming fleet going in the opposite direction.
He’d asked his well-connected sponsor if there really was a chance Earth could be destroyed? The answer sent shivers down his spine and hurried his efforts to get off the planet. Cross was angry that the man hadn’t done more to prevent the attack. He had influence on both sides of the conflict and yet he’d been blindsided by the news. He blamed Congin Bornak and Andus Zaphin for his lack of foresight. They had kept their plans secret even from Andus’s father, Denak. If not, then maybe he could have done something.
But now Cross was returning to Earth, again angry and frustrated for what would amount to a thirty day delay in his work schedule. Lisa Frost saw it differently, as a forced vacation for the overworked scientist. During the long, boring days in space, Cross had no choice but to relax, watch videos and sleep. In the end, he contracted a mild case of strep throat, saying to Lisa this proved that vacations were hazardous to his health. Lisa blamed the illness on the children.
Earth Military Command was alerted of the impending attack the same time as the people on Crious. This gave them fourteen days to deploy the planetary defenses, although they had no idea what size of fleet was headed their way. When the fifteen hundred warships showed up on their doorstep, they were stunned. Even with the Crious fleet due in at any time, they were still outnumbered by a third. It was only when the three hundred Enif ships retreated that the odds improved somewhat. Still, it was touch and go for a while, but the Humans were fighting for the survival of their homeworld, and in the end, that made all the difference.
When Cross returned to Earth, he found the population was a mess. They hadn’t received the warning the military had, learning of the Antaere attack only when plasma bolts lit up the sky around the globe. Fortunately, it was over in a matter of hours. Still, this upset a lot of people. What if they’d lost, and suddenly nuclear blasts were going off all across the surface? Of course, even with two weeks’ notice, all that would have done is cause massive and deadly panic and allow only the well-healed or the connected to leave the planet.
In reality, that’s just what happened. David Cross was one of those with the connections and the resources.
In the end, the Humans of Earth breathed a collective sigh of relief. The aliens had finally proven to be the threat others had warned them they would be thirty years before. From here on out, there would be no mercy shown, no quarter given.
Cross didn’t return to his Rocky Mountain research facility right away, although he knew the Zanzibar was in route with a severely messed-up Zac Murphy. He would attend to him after the REV arrived on-planet.
Instead, he landed in Denver and drove to the small medical clinic he had in the city. Relief was on the faces of the residents,
relief that they’d survived. David didn’t tell them that he’d left the planet during the crisis, leaving them to fend for themselves, and taking only the children with him.
Silvia Eddington was elated to see her son, Phillip. The boy was only twelve weeks old and already he was big for his age. He also had a clarity in his eyes, even a look of understanding.
“He is healthy and glad to be home,” Lisa said as the mother took Phillip from her arms.
Cross coughed, covering his mouth with his hand. Silvia turned the child away while studying the doctor’s sallow face. “Sorry,” he said. “I caught a bug while I was gone. I took precautions with the children, though,” he said to reassure the worried mother.
“Did you know?” Silvia asked, referring to the Antaere attack.
“I received a little advance notice. That’s why we took the children.”
The woman looked at both Cross and Frost with suspicion. “Do you know something about the baby, something you’re not telling me?”
Lisa Frost smiled. “It was just a precaution, Silvia, since we don’t know.”
Silvia wasn’t buying it, but she didn’t push the issue. “May I take him now?”
Cross nodded. “Of course.”
Silvia hurried away, holding her son tightly to her chest, as if to keep anyone from taking him from her again.
Lisa Frost waited until she was out of earshot before turning to David Cross.
“Do you still think it’s a good idea not to tell them?” she asked. “You see how anxious they are to know.”
“Worried is a better word,” Cross replied. “This batch of mothers is from the unexpected pregnancies. They’re not like the others. Speaking of which, we will have to expand the Ranch to accommodate the influx of volunteers. I’ll contact Summerlin.”
“We’re getting pretty spread out, David,” Lisa said. “The EDC, Cheyanne Mountain, this facility and the Ranch. You’re being pulled in too many directions.”