“Daddy, it’s amazing!” she gave in and whispered to her father. Dear Lord, please help me understand all of this. What is the role you’ve chosen for me here?
Jock leaned over and whispered into her ear, “This is nearly as wondrous as I felt the day you were born.”
“Well, Ambassador, what do you think?” Admiral Bucktooth beamed.
“I think I could stand and watch this for three days!”
“It usually takes twelve minutes to become ‘uninteresting’. Come on, let’s have some breakfast. My treat.”
***
USF Essex
Achird 12 System
Standard Earth Date March 2 3489
“Sensor report, Lieutenant?” Captain Tracy Singh rubbed her chin as she studied her CHUD. The bright yellow star with an orange dwarf mate made for some interesting gravity fields in the system.
“Just getting readings now, Captain. There are approximately twenty thousand ships moving around the system, mostly in what look to be holding or patrol patterns. There are twelve large stations orbiting the only planet in the habitable zone. Everything seems centered there. I’ve got Bug comm traffic, but just background level.”
“Okay, good work, Alex. Comm: general.”
“Open.”
“Here we are, boys and girls. Full stealth mode, FTL in, stop for twenty seconds, scan like mad, and FTL out. Our assigned scanning location has the closest proximity to the Bug homeworld. Piece of cake. On my mark, in three. Two. One. Mark!”
The USF light cruiser Essex flew into the star system at twenty times the speed of light with full stealth generators on, and stopped ten thousand kilometers from the Bug homeworld.
“Scanning, full spectrum.”
Tracy Singh studied her CHUD as several ships passed close by. A collision would just wreck my day!
“FTL engage on my mark in ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark!”
The heavy cruiser vanished at twenty times light speed, on a course following the one she came in on, away from the fleet.
“Coming up on ten light-minute mark, Captain.”
“Helm, accelerate to one hundred light speed, then ready course 166.23.220 on my command. Bring us back to the fleet.”
“Ready, Captain.”
“Ten light-minute mark in three. Two. One. Now.”
“Helm, execute.”
“Aye-aye, Captain!”
***
USF Monitor
UHRG Loading Room Six
Achird 12 System
Standard Earth Date March 2 3489
“Is it ready?” The officer asked from the shadows.
“I’ve got the stuff here. On every recording in the fleet it will look like the Bugs begged for peace, and we still squashed ‘em. But, what if they do ask for peace?”
“They won’t.” The officer ducked through the hatchway and strode down the dark corridor.
***
USF Dreadnought
Bridge
Achird 12 System
Standard Earth Date March 2 3489
“Comm, Admiral Bucktooth.”
“Open.”
“Admiral, Task Force Alpha is ready.”
“Prepare for execution of Hornets Nest on my command.”
“Roger.”
***
USF Monitor
Bridge
Achird 12 System
Standard Earth Date March 2 3489
“Ambassador, we’ve got our targets plotted. Once their heavy installations are down, we’ll broadcast the surrender terms. After that, everything is upon your orders.”
“Understood, Admiral.”
“Comm, Taclink up. General Fleet.”
“Taclink up. General Fleet open.”
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to remove the threat the military might of the Bugs poses to us. After that, we will act upon the judgment of Ambassador Jock MacAlister. He alone will determine if we exterminate the Bugs, or live peacefully alongside them.
“Remember the Lexington! Execute the Hornets Nest.”
A slight rumble went through the Monitor as her main Ultra Heavy Railguns opened fire. Huge projectiles sped silently through space at nearly the speed of light, targeted to meet the Bug orbital fortresses in four hours.
The firing lasted only a few minutes, as the fleet waited three and a half hours before it moved at maximum FTL speed to a point outside the opposite edge of the Bug star system. Any Bug ship noticing the firing of the railguns would be looking at where the fleet used to be.
“OK, Ambassador, the battle has begun. It’s time for you to take your position in my ready room.” Jeri pointed to the small office just off the bridge where the Bug communication feeds would be sent to Jock.
“Good hunting, Jeri.” Jock said as he and Mary moved into the room and disappeared as the doors sealed them in.
“Some SOB once said something about war being intense boredom interrupted by unspeakable horror. Smart SOB.” Gridley commented.
Around the bridge, crewmembers killed the waiting time by eating an energy snack or sipping a stim-drink. They also checked, rechecked, and re-rechecked their equipment. Finally the clock ticked down.
“Comm, Fleet general.”
“Open.”
“FTL: Task Force Alpha to Firebase Alpha. Task Force Beta to Firebase Beta. Execute on my mark. Mark!”
The fleet moved at maximum FTL to a point near the Bug homeworld yet with the orange dwarf star behind them, making them difficult to see.
“Impact in three. Two. One. Now.”
Jericho Bucktooth watched his CHUD as the Bug orbital fortresses all vanished in a cloud of plasma. Nearly immediately thousands of Bug ships swarmed to the planet from their patrol routes. Only seconds later did hundreds of Bug Superships rise from the planet in an angry mass.
“Task Force Alpha, weapons free, target ships only. Task Force Beta, weapons free, target ships only. Good hunting!” Jeri took a big breath. Here was his big show.
Firebase Alpha and Firebase Beta were Lagrangian points opposite the Bug homeworld. The USF ships all had stealth systems this time, and even when firing the Bugs could not target them. Minute after minute the Bug ships died by the hundreds. A few random Bug beams found USF ships by chance, destroying six ships.
Then the firing stopped. There were no more targets.
“Comm, Fleet.”
“Open.”
“Cease fire, defensive mode only. Cease fire. Well done. Bucktooth out. Jock, it’s your turn now.”
“Roger that, Admiral. Comm, frequency broadcast, translate.”
“Open and ready.”
“We have destroyed your military. We can destroy you. We would rather live in peace. Will you discuss this?”
“NO!”
The volume of the response almost knocked Jock out of his chair. It was as if millions of voices each had a loudspeaker and screamed at once. To punctuate the refusal, hundreds of powerful beams reached out from the planet, searching for targets to destroy.
“Target those beams. I want them out now.” Jeri ordered.
USF railguns pounded the surface, steadily silencing one Bug weapon after another.
Again Jock pleaded for surrender, and again the Bugs refused. This time, the planet seemed to split open as a gigantic ship began moving slowly out of a deep underground lair.
“How big is that thing?”
“Two thousand kilometers. It’s going to split the planet with the thrust!”
The giant Bug ship seemed to be moving in slow motion, then it suddenly shot up into orbit. The huge gaping hole in the planet began swallowing up oceans even as the rest of the planet started cracking under the strain.
The giant Bug ship began firing huge beams near the wreckage of destroyed USF ships, killing ten more ships in a heartbeat.
“All ships, fire at will!” Jeri shouted.
Dozens of GravTorps plowed into the alien monster ship. The gigantic vessel
began shaking slowly, then started falling into itself. Faster and faster it collapsed until there was nothing left but a glowing super dense ball of matter.
“Bucktooth to Fleet, let’s go home.” The words dripped off of the Admiral’s tongue like sweat off of a spent racehorse.
***
USF Monitor
Admiral’s Quarters
Between Achird 12 And Earth
Standard Earth Date March 4 3489
Ding-DING!
“Come in.” Jericho Bucktooth was tired. Exhausted, as if every exertion from his entire life had happened just twenty seconds ago. Yet he still had one more task he had to do. He lifted his eyes up to see Gridley, Jock and Mary standing there.
“Why, Jeri?” Jock asked quietly.
Jeri couldn’t tell if Jock was angry or sad. Likely he was both, from what he knew of the man. He had every right to be. He swept his gaze across the trio. He owed them.
“My granddaughter. They have her. She’s only ten. I had to.” Then Jeri finished his last task, biting down hard on the hollow tooth. He tasted something bitter, and then he felt a slight tingle all over as everything became dark…
***
United News Network
Times Square Studios
Standard Earth Date March 5 3489
“Good evening. I’m Don Derringer. Tonight Straight Shot sets our sights on some good news. Adsila Bucktooth, the Granddaughter of the late USF Fleet Admiral Jericho Bucktooth, was found alive and well today in a forested area of the Onondaga Indian Nation in Central New York State. The ten-year-old girl was frightened, cold, and a little confused, but medical staff expects her to make a full and rapid recovery.
“Admiral Bucktooth, the girl’s grandfather, was killed during the attack on the Bugs’ homeworld.
“In what authorities are calling an unrelated incident, the body of a tall man wearing black pants, a charcoal grey sweater, sunglasses and a black panama hat was found only two hundred meters from the spot where Adsila Bucktooth was found. Sources say that documents on the man identified him only as ‘Elathan’, and that the man had died from numerous slicing wounds, consistent with those seen in black bear attacks...”
***
West Lake Road
Skaneateles, NY
Standard Earth Date October 4 3489
“This is very good wine.”
“Shut up and kiss me again.” The dream! All this had to happen, to get here.
“Yes, Sir! Madame President!”
“Not any more. I think my resigning the day you left stymied all of them. And that phony “we surrender” tape didn’t fool anyone once that Bug “Queen” ship came out. Jock, our plan worked beautifully!”
“I don’t like to lose. I am sad about Jeri, though. He didn’t deserve that. At least they found his granddaughter, lost in the woods, cold, frightened, and confused, but safe. Poor kid.”
“Things will be messy for a while, but we won’t have a society that sees itself as immoral, or that sees immorality as the accepted norm. And, just maybe we’ve sown the seeds of something better for those yet to come. Do you think Mary has found her peace?”
“She’s opened up an orphanage in Syracuse, in a refurbished ancient building that was an orphanage centuries ago. She’s found her peace, Jock. She’s found her purpose. Now, Oh Mighty Star Clan Chief, come here and tend to your wife…”
***
United Space Force Academy
MacAlister Chapel
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Standard Earth Date June 18 3524
The new graduates parted as they watched the old man walk slowly up to the entrance to the chapel. Many found the old, wrinkled face familiar, but could not place it with the younger version adorning the Academy walls. Those who did simply smiled and moved aside out of respect. Rumor had it that each year, for a hundred years, he came to leave the flowers. Such exaggerated stories facilitated the promises made between desperate lovers about to embark along divergent paths.
Each slow step seemed to pain the old man, yet his face carried a contented smile. He carried a small collection of blossoms, along with a small card. These he placed near the entrance. He glanced up at the words engraved above the portal just before he entered the place of worship. After a few minutes inside, he left with a tear on his cheek. Although he had come each year for some time, he never returned after this visit.
The flowers eventually faded, the card as well. It was simple, and said only, “Sharon, my love. Forever.” One image was upon the card, an armored fist thrusting a dirk up through a circle with the word “FORTITER” inscribed upon the circle.
The fall after the old man came for the last time, an older woman came, accompanied by several men in black suits. She oversaw the placement of a stone pedestal onto the same spot where the old man had placed the flowers. The Clan Crest from the faded card was reproduced on the stone, with one word below it.
“STARCLAN”.
Each year, each new graduate begins the first day of service on the first midnight after graduation by touching the word “FORTITER” and leaving a single flower on the pedestal. The top four in the next year’s graduating class are brought along, so the story and tradition live on.
Almost three centuries later, a young commander would oversee the construction of a new Academy. Placed outside the chapel was a stone pedestal. The top of the pedestal was engraved with an armored fist thrusting a dirk up through the center of a circle, the circle was inscribed with “FORTITER.” Below the fist was inscribed “STARCLAN.”
Every graduating class from this academy continued the tradition of each graduate leaving a single flower on the pedestal on the first midnight after graduation.
Epilogue
House Of Providence
Syracuse
Standard Earth Date June 22 3761
“Do you understand what happened?” Jock MacAlister sat next to the young boy, the stars twinkling brightly all about them.
“I think so. The Bugs, were they bad, I mean, they did bad things, but were they evil?”
“They were tools, used by Evil.”
“You were a tool, too weren’t you? A tool used by Good?”
“Ah, you’re learning, my boy. You are the next great tool, lad. Always do what you think is good and right, and your life will be the most powerful tool for Good.”
“Where is the Evil really? Why is it hiding?”
“That is your task, young one. To find it. To confront it. To defeat it, by bringing goodness with you. By bringing the Evil into the light. It will not be easy, you must be persistent. You are the tool for that.”
The boy thought he heard a deep, baritone voice, with a Scottish accent, calling off in the distance, but he could see only the stars. Jock looked off to his left in response. “Coming, Father,” a young boy’s voice answered from Jock’s lips. Jock turned back to the boy and smiled, “I must go now,” his grown-up voice told the boy.
“Thank you, great-great-great-great-great-grandpa Jock.” The young boy counted the ‘greats’ on his fingers as he recited them. “I’ll remember everything you told me, and I’ll remember to tell her for you. I promise! Will I get to see you again?” The boy called after him as Jock and the stars faded into the morning’s light.
“One day, yes! Yes you will!” came the reply from a great distance…
Mary was sitting by his bed as he woke up, his hair wet and face red from this warm summer night’s dreams. He smiled at her when he noticed her kind face welcoming him. He lifted his shoulders up, leaning on his elbows as he spoke.
“Mother Mary, what do dreams mean? Can they really tell you things? True-to-life things?”
“They may mean many things, young Angus MacAlister. What did your dream tell you?”
“It told me I must live my life as a tool for good. And, it told me, well, great-great-great-great-great-grandpa Jock told me, to tell you that he loves you, Mother Mary, and he will see you very soon.” Angus tilted
his head a little, “Mother Mary, he’s your father, isn’t he?”
“Oh, Angus!” The old woman hugged her great-great-great-great nephew and wept. Lord, you always answer my prayers! He is the one. Now I may rest. She smiled as she went to sleep for the last time later that afternoon. It was a very contented and peaceful smile.
I founded Fortiter Publishing LLC in November 2013 as a vehicle to get all these great Science Fiction and Fantasy stories out of my head.
“FORTITER” is inscribed on the MacAlister Clan Crest. The word means “to go forward, boldly.” I am grateful for the Clan Chief’s permission to use the Crest and Tartan in my company’s logo, and to use “FORTITER” in my company’s name.
My name is James Warren McAllister. I am a Registered Respiratory Therapist living near Syracuse in Central New York State. Currently I am employed in Healthcare Accreditation. I have extensive experience in both the hospital and the home care aspects of Respiratory Care, including management in both settings.
I have been interested in science fiction since reading the Lensmen Series of books by E. E. "Doc" Smith in Junior High School. TV shows like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, and movies such as Robinson Crusoe on Mars and Star Wars further peaked my interest in the genre.
My first novel, THE BEST LAID PLANS, has been selected as a Runner-Up in the 2013 MARSocial Author of the Year Competition.
The Turret: Starclan Foundation Page 26