Times Square Studios
Standard Earth Date April 4 3488
“Hello, I’m Don Derringer, and this is Straight Shot!
“Tonight, we were scheduled to have Senator Sandy MacAlister, the primary challenger to President Clark Campbell, in our sights for an exclusive interview. Unfortunately, as you have just heard here, the Senator’s oldest son, Commodore Jack MacAlister, and his wife, Commander Kesa MacAlister, died while fighting the Battle with the Bugs. In addition, the Senator’s husband, Admiral Jock MacAlister, lost his leg, and their daughter, Corrine Halsey, lost an arm in the same battle. As soon as she was told this heartbreaking news, the Senator’s office contacted us and asked that we reschedule.
“Our sympathies to the Senator and her family for the losses they suffered while attacking the Bug delegation. We will reschedule our interview with the Senator as soon as she is emotionally able to handle it. Whenever that may be.
“Now, we do have tonight another in our series of brief biographies of President Clark Campbell, aptly entitled “Cool Under Fire: When Destiny Calls”…
***
Lunar Command Station
Admiral’s Conference Room
Tsiolkovskiy Crater
Standard Earth Date April 8 3488
“Analyzing a battle can be a difficult and painful task. This is the best we have come up with.” Jericho Bucktooth stood frowning in front of his senior officers. He wore his best ‘shuddup-and-listen’ look. “It is imperative that we get this right, gentlemen and ladies. We have orders for imminent action.”
Jeri waited until the buzz died down a bit.
“Our plan was as good as we could make it, but it could not deal with the Bugs splitting off such a large portion of their force to attack 1437. Even so, we had inflicted huge losses on their fleet, and would have prevailed, even with the addition of the second Bug fleet, which would have produced significant casualties, had we not been called back to Earth.
“As it was, Jack and his Jeremiah Wadsworth saved our bacon. The loss of so many Superships hurt them badly, and disrupted anything they had planned. They had to fight the rest of the battle looking over their shoulders for that weapon.
“Commodore Rhodes’ actions, both in her initial attack, and in her final action, won the day. Thanks to her quick planning and decisive actions, our casualties were one quarter what we project they should have been.
“I have recommended several decorations above what you have forwarded to me. For Jack and Rhonda, I have requested the Medal of Honor, Hero of Earth decoration. In my book, all of our Sailors and Marines were heroes that day.”
“Now, to the battle! Are there any questions, comments? Admiral Gordon.”
“The Bugs did some kind of warp thing where they appeared to ‘jump’ from one place to another. What was that, and why did they use it only once?”
“The best guess we have is they used some type of dimensional shift technology to move into a different dimension, and return to our dimension in a different place. We theorize that this takes enormous energies, and that it takes a significant time to ‘recover’. That’s the good news. The bad news is, given enough energy, it could be used for FTL travel. Next?”
“Why did the Bugs go after Turret 1437, and why were we withdrawn? It looks like someone was out to get…”
“A cynical man would say that the Bug actions, combined with the recall of the ships, could only mean one thing, that the Bugs were after that turret, and they had help. I am not a cynical man, but a practical and loyal man. We will not begin speculating on the motives of politicians, alien or otherwise, in my command. Next?” Jericho looked over the faces, good men and women. They knew exactly what he did. Now, to the real reason they were here.
“I have been directed to draw up plans for an invasion of the Bug home system, and the total annihilation of every Bug outpost, station, and inhabited planet there. This invasion is to begin in ten months. You each have an assignment in this planning that is on your datatabs now. Are there any questions?”
“Sir, do we just FTL in there, drop a few hundred rocks on their homeworld, and leave? Don’t we give them a chance to surrender?” Jock stood to speak, still wobbling slightly on his interim prosthesis.
“The idea of offering surrender has neither been included nor has it been excluded in the directive I received. Are there any other questions? Good. Dismissed.
“Jock, hang around please.”
***
United News Network
Times Square Studios
Standard Earth Date May 12 3488
“Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Tonight we have a special treat in our sights. Rear Admiral Jock MacAlister himself. I’m Don Derringer. Welcome to this special, live broadcast of Straight Shot!
“Admiral, thank you for taking the time to be on our show. What brings you here?”
“Thank you for having me, Don. I’m here for two reasons. First, I have resigned my commission in the United Space Force effective as of nine A.M. this morning. Second, there is some information that I think your viewers need to know.”
“Well, ah, Admiral, why have you resigned? What caused this? Was it the deaths and injuries to yourself and your family?”
“Don, I resigned because I can no longer fulfill my duties to the USF. Losing my leg means I cannot operate in space combat effectively. And to create a desk job for me would simply be wasting the taxpayer’s monies.”
“So, the deaths of your oldest son and his wife, and your daughter’s loss of her arm had nothing to do with your resignation?”
“No, they did not. My children are all adults now. Those who have entered USF did so as adults, knowing the risks involved. I am proud of all of my children, Mr. Derringer, as each and every one has chosen a career which serves society.”
“I see. Well, what is the information that you feel my viewers need to know?”
“Don, your show has taken some rather curious paths the past several months. So, being a curious fellow…”
“Now, hold on, Admiral, you told my producers this ‘information’ had to do with government corruption and corporate graft, not this show. Were you dishonest?”
“Not at all. You will see as I go on. And please do not interrupt me again. It only degrades your image.
“As I was saying, a search of public records has revealed certain things that seem to make sense out of otherwise puzzling developments. First, I have found that you have recently purchased a vacation home, paid for in cash, valued at two hundred times your annual income. Second, that you have paid zero taxes over the past year, despite an eight figure income. Third, that you have donated huge amounts to the campaign of Clark Campbell. And fourth, that you have suddenly acquired a large amount of General Aerospace Developments stock.
“Now, viewers, Mr. Derringer claims an unbiased and even viewpoint on his show, but is that really the case? Viewers, what do you say?”
***
United Earth Senate
Montreal
Standard Earth Date May 13 3488
Mary MacAlister fumed as she walked down the hallway to her mother’s office. People just didn’t DO things like this! Not in the world she grew up in…
Mary walked into the office and headed straight into the inner suite.
“Mom. We need to talk.” Mary snapped as she kept walking into the private area of the suite.
Sandy MacAlister looked up from the speech she had been revising with her campaign staff. Her left eyebrow shot up as her eyes followed her oldest daughter’s stomping march into her private rooms.
“Excuse me, Dave. I’ve got to see what this is about.” She stood and followed her daughter, not hearing her campaign consultant’s reply.
“Okay, Mary. Why all the drama?” Sandy stood in front of the closed door, right foot tapping a beat of impatience upon the floor.
“Goddamn Charlene. Everything was a set up. Damn, damn, DAMN IT ALL! How could I be so foolish!” Mary sat
down hard on the edge of the bed, looked at her feet for several moments. Then the floodgates opened.
“Mom!”
Sandy was at her daughter’s side, arm over her shoulders pulling her injured child close.
“Oh, baby… tell me what happened.”
“She, she, MOM! She went to…” Mary dove into the shelter of her mother’s embrace, sniffing and sobbing before she could continue, “she went to the press, about US! She did it to hurt you, Mom, everything was just to hurt you, and I fell for it! She never cared for me at all! I let her hurt you!” Mary broke into a continuous sobbing state, emotions piling upon emotions and overwhelming her senses.
“Oh, baby! I’m so sorry. She didn’t deserve you. It hurts, now, I know, but you will survive this!”
“But, MOM! She’s hurting YOU!” Mary fell into that most comfortable place of sanctuary, her mother’s love.
“Darling, anyone she could convince to vote against me, well, I don’t want their vote anyway. I don’t need their vote! I do need you to keep being my campaign manager, my moral beacon, to keep me on course. I’ll be fine. Mary honey, right now, I’m most worried about you.”
Mary buried her head into her mother’s bosom and let her broken heart pour out, as one can only do in the arms of their mom.
***
United Space Force Academy
United Space Force Academy Hilton
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Standard Earth Date June 21 3488
The two men walked down the paved path towards the chapel, one wearing a black suit and walking with a noticeable limp, the other in a spotless dress white uniform glowing in the moonlight. Each carried a bouquet of flowers with a note attached. When they reached the plaza before the chapel entrance, the Captain knelt and placed his flowers. He remained there for several minutes, his proud demeanor broken now by escaping sobs. When he seemed near to being overcome, the man in the suit placed a hand on his shoulder, bent near him, and spoke into his ear. Soon after the Captain rose and walked into the chapel, leaving the man in the suit to repeat the ritual as he had so many times before.
Nearby, over two hundred freshly graduated officers knelt with bowed heads, the buzz of their whispered conversations barely audible over the crickets’ love calls. They had heard of this moment for three years, but most had not experienced it before this graduation night. Could it really have been going on for over forty years? Many couples huddled closer in honor of the moment and their mutual feelings.
As the man in the suit stood and entered the chapel, the graduates moved out onto each side of the pathway. The honor guard was never formalized. Each year’s class seemed to form it spontaneously as tribute to those who had passed before them, as well as those they had struggled, grown and triumphed with these past four years.
The two men exited the chapel as one, in step and eyes front they stepped smartly through the honor guard, greatly moved by the experience.
Captain Gridley spoke quietly to Jock Macalister, “Is it always this way, Admiral?”
“Ever since you and Rhonda watched me that first time, yes. I don’t know any more if I do this for me, for Sharon, or for them,”
“Jock, I think you do it for us all.”
Sometime after they had left the campus, the line outside Star’s The Limit Body Art still stretched around the block. An old woman wearing a waitress uniform, stood patiently among those waiting for the “Starclan” tattoo, politely refusing all offers to move ahead in the line. Her well-worn nametag read “Wanda”.
***
United News Network
Times Square Studios
Standard Earth Date October 14 3488
“My esteemed opponent would muddy the waters here a bit. You, as voters, have a clear choice, to vote for the reluctant incumbent whose decisive action in time of crisis preserved our race, or to vote for the ‘sensitive’ candidate who shriveled at the first sign of difficult times, who’s own family can’t live up to the false bravado and sham morality they would impose upon us all.” Campbell sat smugly back in his chair after the poll-proven optimal amount of applause time had passed.
“My reclusive opponent neglects to include certain details in his impotent attempt to revise recent history. Such as the disaster his order to withdraw our ships was, or how General Aerospace sent directives along with campaign cash to him moments before his ill-timed order, or how the brave men and women of the United Space Force saved all of our asses from the certain extinction his incompetence, cronyism and graft would have doomed us to.
“As for my family, Mr. Campbell, do you want to try and hurt ME by attacking my children here on World Wide Vid? What problem, exactly, do you have with my children, sir?” Sandy glared at her opponent, challenging, demanding him his response.
“Well, the, eh, um…hrumpf!”
“Yes, I thought as much. You, Clark Campbell, you are so slimy I’m amazed that you haven’t slid out of that chair! Even being on the same ballot as you is degrading to every decent, patriotic, thoughtful citizen of this world.
“Ladies and gentlemen, your choice is clear. You may vote for the nepatalistic, corrupt, and incompetent Campbell, who owes his power to General Aerospace, or you may vote for a moral, ethical, and common sense alternative. I know which choice I will make, for the sake of my children and yours. Ladies and gentlemen, what do you say?”
***
Chrysler Building
55th Floor
New York City
Standard Earth Date September 3 3488
“This is not going well at all, Abernathy.” The young man knew trouble when he saw it, and he knew this election was crucial to the objectives assigned to him. Hell, it was crucial to his SURVIVAL!
“We have all the polling place ‘interventions’ active that we can have, Sir. We can only wait now.” Abernathy shook slightly with apprehension as he considered the likely outcome, even with the best efforts available.
“Abernathy, I want you to understand that “close” is not good enough. Should our side not prevail, there will certainly be a cleansing. Need I point out to you that such a “cleansing” will be one extremely long and tortuous affair?”
“I understand, sir. Everything that can be done is in motion as we speak, sir. Along with some, well, plans for way to incentivize a certain individual, sir.” Abernathy was now visibly shaking. As if to punctuate the situation, a bloodcurdling howl echoed throughout the huge room.
“Be sure your efforts are successful, for if they are not, I will take a small satisfaction in seeing your penance before serving mine!” The young man spat the words at Abernathy as he turned towards the windows.
“That is all. Go away now.”
***
Grand Ballroom
New Hotel Syracuse
Standard Earth Date November 8 3488
“And now I see that Julie Saam has managed to get near the Senator’s campaign manager, Mary MacAlister. Julie, take it away!”
“Thanks, Don. I’m here at the MacAlister election night headquarters, talking with Mary MacAlister, Senator Sandy MacAlister’s daughter and campaign manager. Mary, what do you see happening tonight?”
“My mother’s challenger has tried mudslinging, distortion, and outright lies to win this election. It simply will not work.” Mary MacAlister said into the overly auspicious microphone. “There is simply nothing that will distract from his horrendous record of gross incompetence.”
“But, what about the revelations of your ‘affair’…”
“So he planted a trollop with instructions to woo me for the purpose of embarrassing my mother, and I fell for it. Well, I can tell you that that will NOT happen a second time! You are asking, what does this say about my mother? I ask you, what does it say about her opponent? And, what does it say about you, as a reporter, so eager to be complicit in such dealings that you’re practically frothing at the mouth? Well?”
The reporter stood dumbfounded on the ballroom floor, unable
to speak for several seconds.
“Right. That’s what I thought. Voters, what do YOU say!” Mary emphasized her statement by pointing into the camera, and then she smiled and walked away.
***
Fleet Assembly Station
L-2 Lagrangian Point
Standard Earth Date February 26 3489
“We should be coming into view in a moment, Ambassador. It’s just beyond the lunar horizon.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant…”
“Lieutenant Kowalski, Admir…eh, Ambassador. Sorry, Sir.”
“No apology necessary, Lieutenant. There it is!” Jock MacAlister’s voice carried just a hint of the awesome sight before him. Four hundred and sixty heavy ships. Battleships, battle cruisers, light and heavy cruisers in a globe formation around four huge vessels: the Monitors!
“They’re quite a sight, aren’t they Sir! Streamlined dumbbell shapes with two drive units, each of three Gravitic Drives. They can aim one hundred percent of their thrust in any direction. And the UHRGs, Sir. The crews call them ‘Uglies’. Ultra Heavy Rail Guns. Each of the Monitor class carries two hundred SPAD fighters each as well, each one armed with two Plasma cannon and two GravTorps or six Shrikes.” The pride and confidence in the Lieutenant’s voice stirred Jock considerably, but years of training kept his outward demeanor calm.
“SPADs?”
“Space Pursuit and Area Defense, Ambassador.”
The shuttle moved quickly and silently towards the closest Monitor. The huge vessel filled the viewport as they neared it. At two and a half kilometers long, these were the largest ships ever built by far. Begun three years previously, the four had not yet been fitted with weapons when the Bugs invaded.
The Turret: Starclan Foundation Page 24