“As you can probably surmise from my summary, the aliens have been very successful at keeping us in the dark regarding their capabilities and their intentions. That is what has been giving us so many nightmares in the intelligence division, trying to work out all possible scenarios that we might have to deal with in the near future.”
“Thank you, Admiral Brooks,” Schneider said. “Let me state for the record that I, for one, am very concerned about our future based solely on the facts presented. I would ask the Council President to work directly with the Secretary of the Navy and with Fleet Admiral Brooks in preparing a concise report for the council that outlines the possible motives of the aliens and what we might expect when they arrive. I would also like the report to include what capabilities we have, and what capabilities we might be able to develop, to counter any threat to our existence. I see a clear and present danger to our existence, and I want to know what we intend to do about it.”
Everyone at the meeting sat in stunned silence for several seconds as the pondered her words.
“Thank you, Ms. Schneider,” President Travers said finally. “I will accept a motion to adjourn the meeting until the report you have requested can be prepared for the council. Secretary Miller, I would like to see you and Fleet Admiral Brooks in my office in fifteen minutes. Please bring whomever you think might be able to add meaningful context to the report. My intention is to have that report ready by 0900 tomorrow, even if we have to work throughout the night cycle to get it ready.”
Chapter 99 – The Newsies
Richard was the first to break the news about the alien mother ship breaking orbit and heading toward Earth. He knew this would be big, so he doubled his print run for the paper, but it was not enough. When the Rag hit the streets, it sold out within two hours.
Now he had the follow-up story about the release of some kind of ship going out of system back toward where the main ship had originated. This story might be even bigger than the last, because it speculated that the aliens were sending reports about Earth back to their point of origin and that more aliens would probably be dispatched to take over the planet. This seemed a bit farfetched, but so far “The Insider” had been 100 percent accurate on everything reported.
As Richard paced in front of the windows in the conference room, he could see the bevy of television news reporters camping outside his office. He could also see his assistant talking with several of those reporters. Then the group split up and his assistant headed back to the office with one of the reports. “Very good,” he thought. “They have accepted my invitation to have one of the reporters interview me regarding my impeccably accurate sources.”
Richard sat down at the head of the conference table to await the arrival of the selected reporter. Two minutes later, his assistant opened the door and ushered in a tall thin women dressed in gray slacks and a white blouse. As she came into the room, she strode forward with her hand out and said, “Thank you, Mr. Collins, for agreeing to meet with me. My name is Linda Avery and I work for VidNews.”
Richard accepted the offered handshake and gestured to the chair to his left for her to have a seat. “I’m glad that your group of reporters agreed to my terms of having one representative and no TV cameras for this interview. I would rather keep my face off of the Vids right now.”
“Well, you didn’t leave us much choice, Mr. Collins,” said Linda. “May I at least record our conversation so I don’t have to take notes?”
“You may record the conversation but I may ask you to turn off the recording if something particularly sensitive comes up,” replied Richard.
Linda pulled a recording device out of her purse and placed it on the conference table between the two of them. “Ok. Let’s start with the most basic questions. Who is ‘The Insider’ and why did he or she choose the New York Rag to divulge all of this classified intelligence information.”
“I honestly don’t know who The Insider is. I am sorry if that disappoints you, but it is the simple truth. As to why our paper was chosen, I would speculate that my source knew that once a story was printed on paper and distributed, it could not easily be controlled by the corporate media giants, like VidNews. Paper can be handed from person to person without having to rely on any electronic media. I think that is what has the NAU and all of the TV news stations going crazy. You have all lost control of this highly critical story.”
“So how do you get your information from the source” asked Linda? “From what I have heard, the government has been monitoring every possible electronic feed that could be coming to your home and office and does not have a clue where this information is coming from.”
“You have asked the right question, Ms. Avery,” replied Richard. “Unfortunately, I’m not going to answer that question. That would certainly compromise my source and I am not about to do that.”
What Richard would not divulge was that a laser communication system had arrived at his office in a non-descript package with instructions on how to install and camouflage the unit on the roof of his building. This implied that the source was both powerful and secretive. The chances of anyone tracing the communications back to “The Insider” were remote, because the flow of information could be cut off at any time.
Things were going to be very interesting in the next couple of months with the large alien ship heading in-system with unknown intentions. The crazies were going to be coming out of every dark corner on the planet with all kinds of wild speculation about the aliens and their intentions for humanity. Richard knew the Rag would have to remain the source of accurate information and reasoned speculation.
After a few more questions that Richard could not or would not answer, Ms. Avery was escorted out of the building and back to horde of reporters. She had gotten a little bit more out of Richard than the Feds because she asked politely and because what he told her was clearly labeled as speculation on his part.
Chapter 100 – The Endeavour Receives New Orders
When the news of the main alien ship heading toward Earth made it back out to the Endeavour, the ship was just a few days into its return trip back to Luna from Rickover. At first, everyone onboard was shocked into silence, but that ended quickly as the orders from the Admiralty came in just minutes after the receipt of the first transmission.
“Endeavour, this is Lieutenant Commander Bridgeman from Lunar Control. You are to alter course gradually so that you appear to be returning to Earth from Mars and not from Rickover. Since you are currently on the opposite side of the sun from Jupiter, and are heading in-system in the opposite direction from the alien ship, the shuttle itself should mask the output of your acceleration.
“Following this transmission, you will receive specific acceleration instructions to bring Endeavour past Mars and then onto a course for Luna. This change in course will lengthen your trip by thirty-five days, but it will mask the fact your point of origin was in the belt. We calculate that your supplies should be more than adequate for the extended trip based upon the number of passengers and crew on board.
“The aliens have also dispatched an interstellar ship heading away from sun in the general direction from which the aliens entered our solar system. You are to coordinate observations with Discovery over the next several weeks to determine where this ship is headed. The wide baseline from the two shuttles on opposite sides of the sun makes the two of you uniquely positioned to give us the most accurate observations. We have also included the coordinates from your current position that you can use to pick up the exhaust plume from the exiting alien craft.
“Again, we emphasize you are to use only point-to-point laser communication until advised otherwise. We have provided a list of each closest point of contact for these communications for your altered flight path. Bridgeman out.”
“Well, that was interesting,” Sted remarked from his stateroom office chair. He had been working with the communications officer on the bridge when the first transmission was received. At his request, the transmissi
on had been routed simultaneously to his desk console. Recognizing the significance of what was happening, he had called Jessica into the office to listen as well.
“How do you think this will impact your work with AMC?” she asked.
“I really can’t say if the Admiralty will try to accelerate the development of the Epsilons or just mothball them for now because of higher priorities. We’ll just have to wait and see how things develop between the Navy and AMC down on Luna and take our cues from Cam. The report I was just trying to get routed to Cam will probably get transmitted in the next couple of hours, after the dust settles from all of this news. Meanwhile, I think I’ll see if I can be of any assistance with locating that alien ship heading out-system. I’m not sure who they have onboard with that type of experience.”
Jessica stood up. “Okay. I think I’ll bug that cute communications officer you were just talking to and see if we can get any idea of when to expect the aliens to reach Earth. I’m sure they will be there well before us, so it would probably be a good idea to see where Endeavour will be when they arrive.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Sted replied, also standing up. “We can head out together since we’re going in the same direction.”
As they exited the cabin door, both speculated on how the extension of the trip would impact their personal lives and what might be in store for AMC when they finally reached Luna.
Interlude 13 – 2,100 Years Ago
Since the intervention with Greece, AlbuTang had been pleased with the advancement of humanity’s war-making capabilities. No further interventions had been necessary. The formation of the Roman legions and the development of the extensive Roman Empire, however, appeared to be stifling the need for further advancement. It was time for another intervention.
Making direct appearances as gods to the Egyptians and the Greeks had been very successful in advancing humans into cooperative civilizations, particularly with the introduction of the written word. Now it was time to break those societies into factions that would vie with each other for dominance of each society.
AlbuTang decided to take on a new role in human society. Working from the bottom up instead of from the top down, the governor extruded a portion of himself into the baby of a simple young woman of the Jewish religion. It was time for the foretold Messiah to appear among humans. With many of the skills of the Nu bred into the Messiah, it would not be difficult to impress the humans with “miracle cures” for the sick or any other number of miraculous acts currently unattainable by the humans. The development of a new religion around the arrival of a miracle worker would attract the poor by the millions and would sow the seeds of destruction for the Roman Empire.
Chapter 101 – Council of Eight Follow-up Report
“Let’s call the meeting to order,” President Travers said. “We have asked Secretary Miller and Admiral Brooks to prepare a presentation for us on three specific topics: what are the possible motives of the aliens, what capabilities do we have, and what capabilities we might be able to develop to counter any alien threats to humanity. With that, I will turn the meeting over to Secretary Miller.”
Secretary Miller cleared her throat. “Thank you, Sir William. Let me start with what capabilities we have now and what is currently under development.
“As you all know, the original Council of Eight was formed to remove nationalistic control of space weapons technology from the hands of the United States, Russia, and China. Those forward-thinking business leaders commissioned the United Space Navy as the policing arm of their organization and refused to provide any space weapons technology to any of the individual countries.
“Since that time, the Navy has commissioned three space naval shipyards in Earth orbit, lunar orbit, and now in the belt. The Yuri Gagarin Shipyard in Earth orbit has produced thirty-eight Orbital class destroyers used for patrolling Earth orbit and lunar orbit activity. These destroyers have both orbit-to-ground and orbit-to-orbit missile capability as well as laser-based defenses.
“The Neil Armstrong Shipyard in lunar orbit has produced fourteen Asteroid class destroyers, three battleships, and three shuttles to move people and materials between the moon and the HG Rickover Shipyard in the belt. In addition, the Neil Armstrong Shipyard has produced four naval base platforms positioned in the belt to support our destroyers keeping the peace.
“The HG Rickover Shipyard was commissioned to produce three interstellar ships to allow humankind to spread its wings between the other stars in our galaxy. That shipyard has just come online over the past three months and was in the process of laying the keel of our first interstellar ship, we have named Voyager III.
“To summarize, our current inventory of space-based naval ships is thirty-eight Orbital class destroyers, fourteen Asteroid class destroyers, three battle cruisers, and three shuttles.
“Individual mining companies have many smaller ships working in the belt, including mining platforms, foundry platforms, and small assay explorer ships used to locate appropriate materials on individual asteroids. Until recently, these ships would be considered insignificant compared to our current destroyer technologies. This is changing.
“The Navy has recently contracted with Asteroid Mining Company to produce a minimum of fifty Scorpion class ships based upon AMC’s Delta class assay ships. These Scorpion class ships will be small but potent weapons platforms designed for close-in fighting with bigger opponents, just as aircraft carrier jets were on Earth’s oceans.
“Rickover has already converted one of AMC’s Delta class ships and completed field testing over the past six months. They are converting four more of the Delta Class ships, and the conversions should be completed within the next two months.
“The AMC contract with the Navy calls for them to produce fifty additional Scorpion fighters at their lunar shipbuilding facilities over the next year. This is a rush development project. The Navy is providing the weapons and guidance systems so these ships can be incorporated into the fighters. These fighters have more than twice the speed of any of the other assay ships in the belt and have new defensive capabilities that should give them a decent chance to survive an encounter with the aliens in short engagements while hopefully inflicting serious damage on the alien ship.
“Our problem right now is getting the Scorpions into a battle. These ships are designed for short-range missions and require resupply after each mission. We have no space equivalent of the ocean-based aircraft carrier to bring these fighters to battle.
“We are repurposing Voyager III out at Rickover to take on the role of a space-based aircraft carrier instead of an interstellar exploration vessel. This is a much bigger project than developing the fighters themselves, and we estimate it will take a minimum of two years to get that ship operational.
“The Navy has no other weapons projects under development at this time. Fleet Admiral Brooks can field any technical questions you might have at this time on our current and future capabilities.”
“Thank you Madame Secretary,” President Travers said. “Ms. Schneider, this report was created overnight at your request, so I believe you should have first crack at questioning either Secretary Miller or Fleet Admiral Brooks. Let’s limit the questions to our capabilities for now. We should hold off questions concerning the possible motives of the aliens until after that part of the presentation.”
“I am very pleased to see that the Navy has seized the opportunity for building these Scorpion Class fighters,” Ms. Schneider said. “Fleet Admiral Brooks, how, specifically, do you plan on using fifty small fighters to take on that seven and a half kilometer behemoth coming our way?”
“We are currently in the process of developing strategies with Captain Sted Richardson, who is inbound from Rickover on the shuttle Endeavour. Captain Richardson assisted AMC in the development and deployment of their Delta class assay ships out in the belt and was a key architect in the refit of the five Deltas that are being worked into Scorpion class fighters. We have many tactical ideas un
der development, but they all have one goal in common. These assay ships supported one of humanity’s most powerful and advanced laser systems. These systems are used for boring holes in asteroids to determine their metal content as candidates for the accompanying mining platforms. If we can get a number of those lasers working together in close quarters with the alien ship, we should be able to drill some mighty big holes in it.”
Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance Page 23