“Get on with it.”
“I need you to find the remaining pieces.” With a shrug, he added, “Knight has the same information you do, I presume, but with the advantage that she knows exactly what it is she is looking for. We're going to have to be smarter than her, if we're going to beat her.”
“This 'we' you mention…,” Angel began.
Mallory shook her head, interrupting, “It's time to bring in the big guns, Captain. Contact the Admiralty, tell them what's happened, and get a task force out here for a full-scale investigation. One large enough to hunt down Theseus and either capture or destroy her.” Frowning, she added, “I'd love to know how she managed to get hold of a capital ship, anyway.”
“The same way I did,” Vlad replied. “Theseus was slated for the Mothball Fleet, but she never made it to Triton. Ironically enough, I had a message warning me that she'd disappeared arrive just before you did, so I've got some friends back home. The trouble is that they're all in low places.”
“Surely...” Mallory began.
“Is Knight working alone?” Vlad asked. “It stretches belief that everyone involved in this conspiracy is on Theseus, or died on the other ships you took out.”
Shaking his head, Conway said, “I'd expect that those back doors in our system will be closed real soon, Vlad. If I have to purge back to factory settings to do it.”
“I would expect nothing less,” Vlad replied. “In this line of work, paranoia isn't an occupational hazard, it's a survival trait.”
Morgan looked at the pieces, and said, “Whatever anyone else does, I'm in. Too many of my friends have already died over this for me to give up the hunt now. At least this way they might have died for something.”
“What do you say, Jack?” Vlad stepped over to him, and said, “I'll make sure you have everything you need. My engineers will help bring Churchill back to full combat capability, we've got more fighters, equipment for a second missile tube, the works. As well as extra crew to make up the numbers.” Turning to Mallory, he continued, “Isn't that right, Lieutenant?”
“Wait a damn minute,” she said. “You're asking me to ship out with him? On his ship?”
“I need the crew,” Conway replied, a smile creeping across his face.
“This is crazy,” Angel said.
“Knight's going to hunt you down anyway,” Vlad said. “Lieutenant, what do you think the chances of you and your crew getting back in one piece are? They'd pick you up at the first transit station, and at best, lock you up for the rest of your life. The same applies to you, Jack. You think she'll stop hunting down Churchill?”
“Maybe,” he replied. “If we head out of her way. It's a big galaxy, Vlad, and there are a lot of places to hide in.”
“You've found plenty of them over the years, haven't you,” he replied. Taking a deep breath, he continued, “If you don't want to carry on with this, then I'll find someone else, somehow. You'll be free to go, to run wherever you want, but you'll always be wondering what might have been.” He reached under the counter, pulling out a uniform. “Lieutenant-Captain's rank. Your wartime equivalent.” Tossing a box at Mallory, he added, “Got a set of those for you, as well.”
She tipped the insignia into her hands, looking at Conway, shaking her head. “Some of my crew have families back home.”
“I'll make sure they're notified that their loved ones are engaged on an important mission, and our best people back home will be keeping an eye on them for you. As for your wounded, Belzoni Station has surprisingly good medical facilities.”
“The prisoners?” Angel asked.
“We'll ship them to Charon. Intelligence has a nice little outpost there, perfect for keeping people out of the picture for a while. Once all of this is over, they can stand trial.” Looking at the two of them, he added, “These are just details, Jack. You haven't answered my question.”
He looked at Morgan, eagerly scanning the components, then at Mallory, still looking down at the insignia in her hand. Stepping forward, he picked up the uniform, holding it up. The same cut as in the old days, even if the detailing was all different. And his name written on it, the old wartime assignment patch for Churchill on the sleeve.
“We'll do it,” he said. “You got yourselves a ship and a crew.”
“Excellent,” Vlad replied. “Go get Churchill into your usual parking position, and we'll start work. Ensign, I'll want you working with my intelligence team. I've already assigned you Ultra-Security clearance, and I think you're going to need it.” Looking at Conway with a smile, he said, “Thanks, Jack.”
“Don't thank me. You might end up regretting this when it's over.” Tapping the engrossed Morgan on the shoulder, he said, “I'll send the shuttle back for you later, Nicky.”
“Huh? Yeah.”
Shaking his head, he walked out of the room, Mallory following, holding his uniform in his arms. Angel looked at it, shaking her head.
“Just don't make me put on one of those costumes.”
“Not a problem,” he replied.
“This is going to be fun,” Bennett said, following them. “I'll be staying on board as your intelligence liaison. As well as part of your squadron.”
Spotting an empty room, Conway said, “Go and get the shuttle ready to go, Major. I've got to have a word with, er, Captain Mallory.”
“Sure,” she said. Angel looked at him for a second, then shook her head, following the fighter pilot down the corridor, while he and Mallory stepped into the deserted office. The door slammed shut, and he perched on the desk.
“Maybe we...”
“No, I'll start,” she said. “I don't have to like you to work with you. I think we've established that reasonably well. I'll run the ship, you run the squadron as Strike Commander. Any mission-related decisions we'll make between us. Joint command.”
“Seems reasonable enough to me,” he replied, with a smile. “Just like old times.”
“Nothing like old times,” she said, shaking her head. “I'm following orders, and that's all. We've got a mission to complete.”
Folding his arms, he replied, “I suppose you want to get back to what's-his-name, back on Mars.”
“Not much chance of that,” she said. “He died two years ago, fighting the Cabal. We never actually married. My fault, I guess. I got burned the first time, and it rather put me off the idea.”
“I know just how you feel,” he replied. “I'm sorry, if it helps.”
“So was I, and it doesn't. Just so you know, I'm doing this against my better judgment, but I can act like a professional if you can.” She held out her hand, and he took it, shaking it firmly.
“We'll go over the new crew roster when we get back,” he said. “Work out who goes where. Maybe we can poach from Vlad if we've got any gaps.”
“I'll see to it,” she replied. “I know we need a full-time astrogator, for a start. I'll go and see what I can scrounge. See you back on the ship.”
He nodded as she left the room, looking after her for a long while. Then he glanced down at the uniform, crumpled in his hands, and shook it out, holding it up. With a smile, he tossed his jacket onto the floor, locking the door. If he was going to do this job, he'd better look the part.
A few moments later, he stepped out into the corridor, holding his old clothes in his hand, and a young lieutenant snapped him a salute as he approached. Shaking his head, Conway returned it, then headed to the shuttle dock, a disbelieving Angel watching him.
“I guess it's real, then,” she said. “We're doing this.”
“We are indeed. Let's get started.”
Thank you for reading 'Starfighter'. For information on future releases, please join the Triplanetary Universe Mailing List at http://eepurl.com/A9MdX for updates. If you enjoyed this book, please review it on the site where you purchased it.
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The next book in this series, Interceptor, will be on sale in late August, 2016...
Appendix A: The Triplanetary Confederation
During the aftermath of the Third World War, the unified peoples of Earth, in a desperate hope to find both a new home for mankind and new resources to replenish the old one, launched waves of colonies into space, settling primarily on the Moon, Mars, Callisto and Titan. The Moon, settled by the remnants of the Chinese government, was the first to declare independence during the height of the chaos, and held fast to their goal through the decades of privations that followed to forge the Lunar Republic.
The other colonies, tied more closely to the United Nations of Earth, served as a refuge for civilization, and after fifty long years, the dawn of the 22nd Century saw two triumphs that pointed the way to a bright future for humanity. The geoengineering projects had finally reached a stage where Earth's long-term habitability was viable, and a long-shot experimental program had done what was thought to be impossible, mastering the secrets of faster-than-light travel.
During the darkest days of the war, just before the final Nuclear Spasm, a Franco-American research team had determined a theoretical method of accessing hendecaspace, a higher dimension where the rules of our reality did not apply, and where transit between the stars could be accomplished in days, rather than decades. Research teams launched across the stars, and within ten years had located not one, but two habitable worlds, revolving around the suns of Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani.
With the discovery of these new havens, attention switched from the maturing colonies of the Solar System to the development of the new worlds, and increasing demands were placed upon Mars and Callisto to fund these projects. As discontent grew, the security crackdown worsened, transforming these worlds from havens of liberty to little better than feudal territories, laboring for their absentee corporate masters on Earth.
Finally, a new project proved a step too far. The decision was taken by the Security Council, now the ruler of all of humanity other than Luna, that Mars should be terraformed, transformed into a new Earth in a process that would take a century. Life would be possible on the surface, but harder than it had ever been, and the protests of the colonists were ignored as the work began, comets redirected into the red sands of Mars, slamming into the surface.
The inevitable revolt began as a dozen Martian cities rebelled, many of the troops stationed there switching sides, years of garrison duty providing them with greater sympathy for the colonies than their distant commanders. The United Nations Space Fleet was mobilized, and the Interplanetary War began. As Mars successfully deflected the first blows, Callisto and Titan joined them in their fight for freedom.
The war lasted for more than a decade. For the first half of it, only light blows were exchanged as both sides built up their fleets, raiders striking supply lines across twenty light-years of space, crippling the nascent interstellar colonies. Dozens of colonial parties, those fearing that this war would be the last, fled human space for unknown territory, hoping to find a new life in the darkness.
Earth had the greater productive capacity, a hundred times the population and, over time, that superiority began to tell. A series of battles, the largest ever waged, decimated the fleets of Mars and Callisto, and the Lunar Republic remained resolutely neutral. It fell to the raiders, the Battlecruisers, to win the war, launching hit-and-run attacks on the mines of Proxima Centauri, Barnard's Star, Sirius and a dozen other systems, finally bringing the two sides to the bargaining table.
On June 28th, 2155, the Triplanetary Confederation was born, the worlds of Mars, Callisto and Titan forming a single interplanetary government, initially unified by nothing more than their desire for independence, but ultimately growing closer together, dependent on each other for sheer survival. For a decade, they consolidated, rebuilding the damage caused by a decade of conflict, and all of humanity started to look inward, the distant stars a fading dream.
As a new generation, unencumbered by the fears of the war, moved into key positions, the mood gradually changed, and once again the starships ranged forth on missions of exploration, discovering new worlds, rediscovering lost colonies and outposts, and finding new enemies out in the dark. The shadowy Cabal, ready to conquer all humanity for its slave empire, and the vicious Xandari, a long-forgotten offshoot of mankind, seeking not conquest, but extermination.
The three fleets of the Confederation merged into a single Triplanetary Fleet, ready to stand against all that opposed them, holding the line while new starships, larger than ever dreamed, were built at the mighty shipyards of Mars and Callisto. New colonies were established, and old ones rejoined the mass of humanity. As 2171 dawned, humanity was poised on the verge of either interstellar dominance, or final annihilation….
Appendix B: Triplanetary Rank Structure
When I was making my preparations for the original 'Battlecruiser Alamo' series, one of the elements I had the most fun with was creating the tables of rank. This is something that has often bugged me with science-fiction in the past, with television SF by far the worst culprit; naval and military terms are thrown haphazardly about with no regard for logic, reason or tradition, the latter being the most important of all – for essentially all the military ranks stem from some long tradition or another, often now totally irrelevant – but yet the rank remains. I had lots of fun here; given that that series opened with the merger of three militaries into one, I had to create five tables of rank, two for the Triplanetary forces (one Fleet, one Espatier) and one each for the other three services. I have a nice complicated table, but I'll break it down here one at a time.
Martian Space Service
General, Colonel-General, Lieutenant-General, Major-General, Colonel, Major, Captain, First Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant, Third Lieutenant
Fleet Sergeant-Major, Squadron Sergeant-Major, Staff Sergeant, Technical Sergeant, Sergeant, Senior Corporal, Corporal, Private First Class, Private Second Class, Private Third Class
Mars, was colonized mostly by the United States, though with some immigrants from the United Kingdom, Canada, and a few other places; hence these ranks take the Army as their guidelines, following the model of the USAF, though with a few variations. Colonel-General is a rank used extensively in Asia, Russia and parts of Eastern Europe; it seemed to fit nicely, avoiding the need for a 'General of the Space Service'. Third Lieutenant – well, I read Starship Troopers, and let's just leave it at that. As for the enlisted ranks, those are much more conventional – but Sergeant-Major, instead of 'Regimental', or 'Company' (and I know those are titles, not ranks – but then most ranks started out as titles) breaks down as 'Fleet' and 'Squadron'.
Callisto Orbital Patrol
Fleet Commander, Flotilla Commander, Squadron Commander, Flight Commander, Senior Flight Officer, Flight Officer, Junior Flight Officer, Recruit Officer
Master Astronaut, Senior Flight Sergeant, Flight Sergeant, Junior Flight Sergeant, Senior Astronaut, Astronaut First Class, Astronaut Second Class, Astronaut Third Class
This one was treated rather differently; I decided to follow the same sort of design process as used when creating the RAF ranks – essentially, starting from scratch, taking a few bits and pieces where appropriate. Callisto was colonized by Russia and the 'European Federation' mostly, so that had a role as well – and again, title has become rank in short order, with the flag ranks following the French pattern of describing what size of command is appropriate – a fleet, a flotilla, a squadron, or a single ship. The enlisted ranks were rather easier here, again taking inspiration from the RAF.
Titan Militia
Commodore, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant, Sub-Lieutenant, Midshipman
Petty Officer, Senior Spaceman, Spaceman, Recruit Spaceman
The Titan Militia was pretty easy; it was settled by the East African Federation mostly, with some from the 'Indochinese Union', but it suggested Royal Naval ranks a
s a baseline, especially as I established that this was the smallest fleet, the moon having being settled on more of a shoestring. This was to be much more of a 'part-time' service, implied in the 'militia' term; so they didn't need anything like as many ranks. It boiled down to replacing 'Airman' or 'Sailor' with 'Spaceman', and trimming down. Actually, a lot of inspiration also came from the early US Navy rank structure, before the first Admiral rank was created.
Triplanetary Fleet
Admiral, Vice-Admiral, Counter-Admiral, Commodore, Captain, Lieutenant-Captain, Senior Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Sub-Lieutenant, Midshipman/Cadet
Senior Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer, Petty Officer, Junior Petty Officer, Senior Spaceman, Spaceman First Class, Spaceman Second Class, Spaceman Third Class
This one, naturally, I paid the most attention to, but did it after I'd established the planetary ones; the peculiarities of the setting meant that it would have to draw inspiration from the others, but couldn't be a direct copy – the militaries involved would not have gone along with it! So – I went to Russia for the ranks, the four flag ranks ranging down from 'Admiral' to 'Commodore', with 'Counter-Admiral' replacing 'Rear-Admiral'. 'Lieutenant-Captain' was my alternative to Commander, if only because...I liked the sound of it! The idea was that it was the lowest rank of independent ship command, and that 'Captain' should be in it somewhere; the enlisted ranks were fairly conventionally drawn, because I wanted that to be more familiar. (Passing from Cadet to Midshipman happens at the end of an officer's Academy training; a successful tour-of-duty as a Midshipman is required prior to commissioning.)
Triplanetary Espatier Corps
Brigadier, Colonel, Major, Lieutenant-Major, Lieutenant, Ensign, Cadet
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