by PP Corcoran
“I hope you’ll find this a suitable Riesling, Mrs. Papadomas? It’s from my own cellar and has been allowed to age for the last five years.”
Kayla tore her eyes away from the bottle. “Please call me Kayla, Mister Ambassador.”
“Kayla, it is then, but I’m in your home tonight so it’s only right for you to call me Nicholas.”
A rustling at the entrance to the kitchen was followed by a small “Ahem.”
Christos put a supporting hand on the wall, there stood before him was Philippa in one of her mothers’ best evening gowns. A hint of carefully applied makeup accentuated her prominent cheekbones complemented with a light touch of lipstick. Her hair was drawn back into a ponytail that hung down her back almost to her waist. Who is this impostor and where is my Philippa? When in hell did my tomboy teenager turn into this elegant young woman? I’m arranging a few marines to act as bodyguards. Female marines.
Kayla playfully punched him on the shoulder as she walked past and gave her eldest a small hug.
“Nicholas, this is my daughter, Philippa. Philippa’s already received an early acceptance to Harvard to study political science.”
“That’s quite impressive, Philippa. Your father tells me you have ambitions within the Diplomatic Corps when you graduate. Let me assure you, it’s a most rewarding career. If you wish, and with your parents’ permission of course, I’d be happy to discuss suitable additional courses which may assist you.”
Philippa smiled with barely concealed joy. An opportunity to actually quiz a man who had been the Commonwealth’s ambassador to another sentient species!
Christos had used this brief conversation to recover from his shocked realization that little girls eventually grow into young women. Now he said, “I’m sure that won’t be a problem but I believe your mother would like you to set the table or we’ll all go hungry.”
Philippa threw her father a petulant glance before vanishing into the dining room, from where there was an immediate sound of oohs and aahs as Maia pumped her sister for information on their esteemed guest. I’m going to have to watch that one as well in the not too distant future, thought Christos.
“Nicholas, I’m remiss in my duties as host, can I offer you a drink?”
“A small dry gin, if you have one, would hit the spot. I’ve just spent the day being bored to distraction by my brother.”
Christos rummaged in the liquor cabinet before finding the gin cunningly hidden behind every other bottle in there.
“Ah yes, you did mention your brother was here in the lunar colonies. Although I can’t recall what you said he did here?”
“I’m surprised your wife hasn’t met him. He waxed lyrical today about how he’d secured extra funding for a new space medicine wing at the colonies’ teaching hospital.”
Kayla arched an eyebrow when she heard that. “Oh your brother works in the governor’s office? You remember Christos, I told you about the new grant we got to expand my research.”
Nicholas took the glass of gin. “All day William’s been bragging about how the new wing will make the lunar colony the envy of the system. I haven’t seen the man for eight years and honestly, I’d happily not see him again for another eight.”
“Well he’s right, the governor’s been championing our research ever since it was decided to set up a center of excellence in the solar system. Quite a few of the major hospitals on Earth were vying for the funding. A bit of a feather in the cap for the governor. What does your brother do for him?”
Nicholas looked confused. “Do for him? William is the governor.”
A loud belly laugh erupted from Christos at the sight of the dapper ambassador looking at his wife incredulously, as if his brother could be anything but the governor, while Kayla just stood there with her mouth open.
Regaining control of himself, Christos gestured toward the dining room.
“Perhaps we should be seated while Kayla composes herself. I must congratulate you Nicholas, it’s been a few years since I saw my wife completely dumbstruck.”
Throughout the meal, Philippa pumped Nicholas for advice and tips as well as getting him to regale her with in-depth accounts of his previous diplomatic missions. With dinner over, much to the chagrin of her eldest who insisted she was an adult under Commonwealth law, Kayla sent the girls to wash the dishes while the adults settled in the living room.
“Perhaps a glass of Riesling, Nicholas?”
“Only the one Kayla, our shuttle has an early departure slot and I promised William I’d look over a proposal for him before I left.”
Christos was surprised that the wine was actually corked with an old-fashioned cork and not a self-sealing microfiber. It took him a bit of time to find a corkscrew in the kitchen. When he returned, it was to the sound of his wife’s gurgling laughter. He had to give Kayla credit, she could play hostess with the best of them. But he could tell by the look on her face that the laughter was genuine.
Christos put on his best commanding face. “OK, you two, what’s going on in here?”
Kayla’s voice sounded like that of a child caught stealing from the cookie jar. “Oh nothing, my love. Come on, pass that wine, I’ve been dying to taste it.”
Christos passed the glasses.
“Now remember, Christos, savor the flavor, don’t just gulp it down,” cautioned Kayla.
Savor the flavor. It’s only a glass of white wine, for God’s sake. He brought the glass to his lips, took a sip, closed his eyes, tilted his head back and then as loud as he could he gargled the wine before swallowing it. Letting out a loud satisfied “ah,” he looked toward his wife, expecting to see a pretend scowl on her face and ready to berate him for his childish behavior. What he actually saw was a look of complete shock. Uh-oh. Christos glanced across at Nicholas who was failing miserably in his attempt to hide an amused smile behind his glass.
“Christos Papadomas. That wine is over 7000 credits a bottle and you gargled it like salt water. Nicholas I can only say sorry for my husband’s lack of maturity.”
“Kayla, it’s not very often that I see an admiral in fear of anything, but at this moment, the said admiral is shaking in his boots!” Nicholas placed his glass on the table and rose to his feet. “Unfortunately I must bid you goodnight. Thank you, Kayla, for a lovely meal and the hospitality of your home. And as for you, Christos…” Nicholas gave him a smug look. “I shall leave you to your fate.”
Christos walked him to the door were Nicholas thanked him again before leaving. As Christos sealed the door he could swear he heard him whistling. Now he only had to placate his wife. Like that was going to happen.
CHAPTER FIVE
Fateful Decision
CARSON CITY – EARTH – SOL SYSTEM.
It was late on a Friday evening and the sun was slowly setting behind the Sierra Nevada Mountains. From his office on the 58th floor of the Naval Intelligence Service building in Carson City, Ensign Terrance Wilson was oblivious to the view. He hunched his shoulders in concentration as he ran the information again. Nope, it still wasn’t working for him. Young Ensign Wilson was a creature of logic. Give him a puzzle and he would sit perfectly still, run the problem through his head and only move when he had the solution. His father told him it ran in the family and would jokingly compare him to Aunt Elizabeth. But this time Wilson couldn’t quite get the parts of this puzzle to fit. A frown creased is forehead as once more he looked at the data displayed in the holo cube in front of him.
The subject of his consternation was time. He’d had been tasked with analyzing masses of information generated by the researchers in the various fields studying the Saiph database recovered from the Rubicon Cavern and putting it into chronological order. An earlier mistake by Patricia Bath misinterpreted the destruction of the Saiph as millions of years before when in fact it was a thousand. The powers that be did not want a reoccurrence of that error, hence Terrence’s current role.
Terrance was chosen for the job for two reasons. Firstly he had an eide
tic memory, better known as a photographic memory, and secondly, Terrence thought this was the real reason, Commander Bryer Anderson, Terrence’s department head, was the laziest officer that Terrence had ever had the misfortune to meet in his so far short career.
Another of young Terrance’s annoying habits, at least to his superiors wanting answers in a hurry, was his thoroughness. It hadn’t occurred to him to seek permission to stray outside his proscribed parameters, he’d simply expanded his examination to include everything he considered relevant. This incorporated all the current reports on the ‘Others’’ physical make-up and reports on recovered technology and tactics. For comparison Terrence added to the mix the same information about Humans, Garundans, Persai and the Alonas. It was the results of these comparisons that puzzled him.
Sitting back in his chair, Wilson closed his eyes and blocked out the world around him as he chewed over the facts.
One. There was no doubt that Humans, Garundans, Persai, Alonas and the Others all shared common DNA strain, thus proving Saiph tinkering.
Two. It was the Others who destroyed the home world of the Saiph, destroyed the original home of the Persai and attempted to destroy Garunda.
Three. The reason behind the Others attacks was as yet unknown.
Four. But for the discovery of the Rubicon Cave and the Saiph database it contained and the discovery of a similar database on Pars, then both humans and Persai would’ve been incapable of matching the Others’ weaponry.
Here is where it gets interesting, thought Terrance. Using these four facts as a starting point he was able to formulate further questions.
One. If the Others destroyed the Saiph a thousand years ago, why had neither their star drive or weapon technology advanced so far beyond human capability that they simply crushed us, swatting us as if man were an irritating fly?
Two. Average out where human, Persai, Garundan, Alonan and the extinct race from Delta Pavonis had been and you came up with an interesting answer. All five races had been within a couple of hundred year’s development level of each other. So… how come the Others, with no input from the Saiph, had independently developed star travel over 700 years before anyone else but hadn’t managed to progress any further since then?
No matter how many times Wilson ran this problem the answer eluded him.
The incessant beeping of his wrist com brought him out of his trance. A quick tap of the com silenced the alarm as he checked the clock on the wall. Twenty hundred hours? Dammit! I’m late for Maggie, on a Friday night too! There would be hell to pay. Hmm maybe a nice bunch of flowers would help? Terrance powered down his terminal, conducted his usual security routine and locked all sensitive documents away. One last check to ensure he hadn’t missed anything and he left. He had a family lunch on Sunday. Aunt Elizabeth was visiting and bringing her fiancé with her. Terrance chuckled to himself at the thought of Aunt Elizabeth, a fiancé at her age?
As he headed for the elevator Terrence couldn’t prevent the same questions running over and over in his head. Perhaps he could ask Aunt Elizabeth for her thoughts, she was a Rear Admiral after all.
#
“You see the problem Aunt Elizabeth? No matter how I reassemble the data it still leaves the question of how the Others advanced so rapidly then come to a grinding halt? I just can’t explain it.” Terrance threw his hands up then sat back in his chair on the lawn of his father’s house.
Across from him Aunt Elizabeth or more correctly Rear Admiral Elizabeth Wilson (hatchet man for none other than General Joyce, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) regarded her young nephew over her iced tea and smiled to herself at his obvious frustration.
“Have you shared this with your department head? Maybe they have access to information that you don’t.” said Elizabeth soothingly.
The snort that emanated from Terrance spoke volumes about his regard for his superior. “Commander Anderson believes that I’m wasting my time…” Terrance looked pleadingly at Elizabeth as his next sentence came out in a rush.
“But I know that I’m not! I don’t know why, but I know it is important! We’re missing something here. Put aside all the facts pointing to the near parallel evolution of all the races tinkered with by the Saiph, with the exception of the Others. Every sixty days the Others probe Admiral Radford’s defenses. It’s like clockwork! You’d think that after the first couple of ships were destroyed they’d change tactics? But no! Every sixty days, along they come. Who does that? No human admiral would continue to send his crew to certain death. The only logical reason that I can think of, is that it pins our forces in Garunda and that is plain, cold-blooded.”
Elizabeth Wilson had spent long enough dealing with the machinations of the large unwieldy machine of the Terran Defense Force to know how frustrated Terrance must be. He was trying to convey his logic to his superiors but it was falling on deaf ears. The thing is, his logic is undeniable, thought Elizabeth, she was convinced he had valid questions that needed further investigation. It surprised her more that no one had actually asked these questions before but with the rapid expansion of the TDF, the formation of the Commonwealth and the mad rush to build bigger and better weapons to counter the Others’ threat, some things were simply overlooked and this was one of them.
“Look Terrance, I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you put your ideas into a report and forward it to me on Monday. I’ll take a good, hard look at it and see what I can do, OK?”
Relief flooded the young ensign’s face. “Thanks Aunt Elizabeth, I’d appreciate that.”
Elizabeth leaned over and patted him reassuringly on the knee. “Now why don’t you run along and see if you can rescue Maggie from your mother before the baby pictures start coming out.”
With Terrence gone Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and wondered how a young ensign could have stumbled onto the question which could determine the fundamental reason for the Others’ drive to destroy all remnants of the Saiph. And why the hell did this Commander Anderson not realize the importance of it? Idiot!
Well her job was to seek out and identify anything that was hindering the war effort and it sure seemed that Commander Anderson needed a swift kick up the rear. Elizabeth activated her direct link to the office of the Joint Chiefs.
“Joint Chiefs. Colonel Harrison speaking. How may I help you ma'am?”
“Colonel I’d like you to pull a personnel file for me. A Commander Anderson currently stationed with Naval Intelligence, Carson City.”
“Yes ma’am. I can have that for you in about twenty minutes. Would you like that forwarded to your personal PAD or shall I forward that to your office for Monday morning?”
Elizabeth glanced around the garden at her family and friends enjoying the late summer sunshine. This was the first time that Robert’s and her own schedules had coincided to allow them to visit her sister and allow Elizabeth to show off her fiancé since their engagement.
“Is the meeting of the Combined Joint Chiefs still set for next Wednesday?”
“Yes ma’am.”
Well that settles that then.
“Send it to my PAD thanks.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Elizabeth cut the link and stood up with a small sigh of resignation. Time to find Robert and tell him she had some work to do.
#
CENTRAL COMMAND – Mont Salève – EARTH
Keyton took his seat as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Terran Defense Force at a small conference table in a room adjacent to the main operations room of Central Command, buried deep inside Mont Salève, south of Geneva, from here the TDF and newly formed Joint Commonwealth Forces were controlled. While waiting for the remaining seats to fill, Keyton reflected on how much his life, and that of the entire human race, had changed in the decade or so since the invention of the Gravity Drive that had brought the stars within man’s reach.
It was now widely known that in man's distant past, a race known as the Saiph visited Earth and engineered human DNA, ensuri
ng that humanity became the dominant species on the planet. Seemingly unstoppable, the Saiph had also incorporated some of their own DNA into humans.
The Saiph database, found during initial explorations, listed other worlds where the Saiph had interfered in the natural order of things to ensure that a specific species, carrying Saiph DNA, became the dominant species. Out there, on eleven of these worlds, species carrying DNA similar to that of humans, cousins if you like, were going about their daily business. However, it was another piece of gleaned information that really caused concern amongst the politicians and military alike; the Saiph had been at war with a race they identified as “the Others” and they were losing.
President Coston had gone before the citizens of the Terran Republic with a historic announcement. She explained in detail the impact of Saiph engineering on human development; the existence of the Others and the threat they might pose to an Earth with limited defense forces.
No one predicted the public reaction.
Instead of ensuing panic, millions of men and women stepped forward to serve their planet and defend it. Therefore, in the largest military build-up in human history, the Terran Defense Force grew from little more than a coastguard to a true force to be reckoned with, just in a few short years. The First Battle of Garunda tested the mettle of the fledgling TDF and it wasn’t found wanting. It earned humanity its first allies in the battle against the Others. The Persai revealed themselves after more than a century in hiding and, seeing an opportunity for an alliance against the Others, they shared their technology. Many were wary of this new race and felt threatened by their technological superiority, but a single event changed this. The massacre on Delta Pavonis. The murder of 264 scientists was the turning point in race relations. The Commonwealth Union of Planets was born, not only a military alliance but also a political one. The distant cousins were now united under one banner to face the Others and ensure their own survival and a joint future.