by S. E. Smith
She felt the thrusters kick in as she started to return the same way she had come, and was almost to the open panel doors leading out into space when a voice came on over her audio com. She listened as it gave a command for her ship to return to the docking port.
Gracie punched in a command to override the auto-command when the operator tried to take over her controls. She listened as the voice came over again.
“Supply ship 100982 return to docking port 2-225.”
Gracie smiled as she saw her programs kick in. She had an ace up her sleeve if she needed it, but she needed to be far enough away when she dealt it not to get caught in it.
Gracie flipped the audio and gave her announcement to the millions of resistance fighters on the Earth far below. Gracie’s eyes gleamed with tears as she gave the command that would hopefully bring this war to an end.
“Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. This is Gracie reaching out to touch you with love and hope. Today the people of Earth are ending the siege of the Alluthans. Rise up and fight, for freedom is ours. This is Gracie’s Touch saying, Freedom for all!” Gracie’s husky voice called out to all the millions on the beautiful blue-and-white ball below her.
She watched as lights flared all over the globe as the united governments and rebel forces joined together and made a decisive assault against the aliens who thought them too weak to win.
Gracie was about to hit the button that would speed her way home when the supply ship shuddered violently, throwing her to the side. Gracie’s eyes frantically flew to find the cause. She punched in the command to silence the alarms as she fought for control.
No fighters followed her as they were unresponsive due to the command to shut everything down. Gracie could see multiple failures occurring on the mother ship, but it would take longer for each system to completely shut down. The mother ship was turning to follow her. It sent out several bursts from its pulse cannons.
Her shields immediately came online, but the bursts took a toll on them, and they read eighty-five percent. Gracie felt dread seep through her. If the mother ship followed her and the self-destruct program activated, Earth would be in peril from the fallout. The only way to ensure the mother ship did not endanger the Earth was to lead them away.
Gracie quickly programmed a new route into the navigation system. Tears blurred her vision as she sent the command and felt the supply ship turning. She increased her speed, knowing it would not be long before the mother ship lost all power and the self-destruct initiated.
She braced her palms against the front console as another jarring jolt hit the supply ship. She was moving as fast as the supply ship could go without sending it into hyperdrive. The navigation panel said they were nearing Mars.
She didn’t know if the signal she sent would make it to Earth or not, but she had to try to send one last message. She had to tell them she was sorry and say good-bye. Gracie opened the communications program and typed in the password for one of the satellites she used to send her transmissions.
“This… this is Gracie,” Gracie waited a moment. She trembled as she continued. “Chance, this is Gracie saying I’m so sorry. I won’t be coming home after all.” Gracie drew in a shaky breath and forced herself to continue.
“I hope you get this message. I wanted to tell you I love you. I want… need… to thank all of you for saving me so long ago. Chance, you and Adam, Adrian, and Mark will always be with me. Please keep up the fight for freedom, knowing I’ll always be with you every time you think of me. Th-this is Gracie, saying goodnight and good-bye, my love,” Gracie ended the transmission as tears choked her and her vision blurred so badly she couldn’t see anything.
Impatiently, she brushed the tears away. If she was going to die, she was going to take those pissant aliens with her. Gracie programmed the supply ship to enter hyperdrive and set the mother ship’s navigation system to follow. She also set the self-destruct to half the time. Both ships would explode during the light jump making sure nothing else was damaged.
Gracie watched out of the front view as the stars seemed to blur together. Within seconds, she was pushed back against her seat. She closed her eyes and waited for the end. Everything seemed to slow as she felt the push from the mother ship as it exploded. The shockwave threw the ship forward with such force, the shoulder strap on the harness broke, throwing her forward. As darkness descended, Gracie drew a picture in her mind of Chance holding her in his arms and smiled.
Grand Admiral Kordon Jefe strode into the conference room in a dark mood, but his grim thoughts didn’t show on his face. He’d just finished reading the report sent in on the latest attack by a new alien species on one of their remote mining planets. Everyone was dead and the planet stripped of most of its resources.
The last message received from the mining colony was sent two weeks before. Some imbecile captain on the remote station of Atphlon didn’t think it important enough to investigate the emergency signals being sent out until two days ago. That captain was now washing floors on Atphlon as a private. Kordon didn’t tolerate idiots under his command.
He didn’t bother to nod to the other officers standing around the table waiting for him to sit first. He moved to the chair at the head of the conference table and sat, pulling the data grid closer to review the information the frigate sent to the site looking for survivors. He already knew every detail in the report; now he wanted answers.
“What have you to report?” Kordon looked at his head of security.
Chief Bran Markus cleared his throat before answering calmly. “Two hundred and fifty-eight colonists dead or missing, any resource worth having gone, the colony destroyed. The source appears to be the same as before. We were able to get a brief glimpse of some of the attackers and one of their vehicles before communications were terminated.” Bran nodded to a center screen displaying the mining foreman as he sent the distress signal.
“We are under attack by an unknown force. They… they have captured most of the men as they came out of the mines. All women and children have been killed.” The man wiped his face as sweat dripped down it. “Those bastards have some type of shield we can’t get through. We need immediate assistance.” A loud explosion could be heard in the background. “Th-they’ve breached the complex headquarters. Th—” The transmission ended as screams filled the air.
Captain Leila Toolas, his chief medical officer, responded. “From the details I’ve been able to retrieve from the bodies left, whoever was there killed any female not able to reproduce and the young children immediately. From the list there were fifteen females within a breeding range unaccounted for. The men…” Captain Toolas paled as she continued. “The remains of the men show body parts missing. Limbs and internal organs were removed with surgical precision.”
Kordon kept his expression blank as he took each report. He finally came to his communications officer, a Ta’nee. The Ta’nee were known for their language and communication skills. The rich red hair down the center of Lieutenant Mohan’s head flared with different colors as she spoke.
“I have never encountered the language or signals recorded by the mining foreman. It was very perceptive of him to record the communications being transmitted. It will take time to decipher it as there is no known database to compare it to,” Mohan said. The fur along her cheeks changing to a slightly darker color as all eyes turned toward her.
Kordon nodded, ignoring the changes. He knew the Ta’nee were very shy and did not like being the center of attention. He looked at each officer intently so they would understand what he was about to say. He had worked with all of them for the past twenty years with the exception of Mohan, whom he brought on board almost a year ago.
“I want answers. Find out if there are any signature marks from their ship. I want to know every ripple in space that has occurred in that region within the past month. Mohan, monitor all frequencies. Let me know if you hear anything out the ordinary.
“Toolas, get me a detailed report on the
bodies. I want to know exactly what you know and what you think in the report. Bran, get me a report on the types of weapons that could have been used to cause that amount of destruction. I also want information on what types of shields they could have used. Report back in four hours.”
Everyone stood immediately as Kordon stood and strode back out of the conference room. He walked over to the commander’s chair on the bridge and gave the order to the helmsmen to proceed to the mining colony. He wanted to look at the destruction first hand.
Three years after crash landing
Gracie moved quietly, stalking her prey. It was a small creature not much bigger than a squirrel. She didn’t know the names of any of the creatures on the moon she had crashed on—in truth, she didn’t care… at least, not at first.
Gracie had woken up three years ago to the alarms sounding and a terrible headache. She finally managed to shut off the alarms resounding through the supply ship. She was amazed she was still alive.
When the computer indicated the supply ship had crashed on the surface of an unknown moon it took Gracie a minute to realize that something strange—besides not being dead—had occurred. It didn’t matter how hard she tried, the response from the computer system came up the same—unknown. Gracie shut everything down except life support, even though the system verified the atmosphere was suitable for her life form.
A week after she landed she was finally so sick of being confined to the small supply ship she would have fought a bear to get out of it. Her first step onto an alien world should have been filled with trepidation, but Gracie was beyond that.
She was alone. She no longer feared death, but welcomed the possibility. A part of her knew she was grieving the loss of Chance. It took almost six months for her to finally talk herself into moving forward, and to begin stretching out of her comfort zone.
The first six months she stayed close to the supply ship. She focused on finding enough food to supplement the MREs Crocker had stowed aboard the ship. It was strange, but it was almost like he’d expected her to need them. Gracie didn’t need much. She had gotten used to living on very little during the years they’d lived in the subway system.
As the months turned to years, she’d learned to hunt, gather, and forage for most of her food supplies. She often wondered if this was what early humans must have done and felt when they fought for survival. The moon had a few predators, but Gracie learned to avoid them. For the most part, they were primarily just small mammal-type creatures like the one she was hunting now. She made sure to only seek them out a couple of times a month so she would not reduce the population, although they seemed to be plentiful.
Gracie aimed the bow she’d made and let the arrow fly. It had taken her over a year to get any good with one. Gracie grimaced as she approached the dead creature. She still got queasy when it came time to kill and clean them though. It was only because she had no other choice that she did it. It was that or starve to death, which she’d come very close to doing.
She swung the bow over her shoulder and walked over to pick up the dead ‘squirrel’. She would have protein tonight. Working her way back to the supply ship, she marveled at how fast the plants on the moon grew.
In the three years she had been on it, there’d never really been a winter. The coldest it seemed to get was in the thirties, if she had to guess. Not near as cold as a New York winter, Gracie thought before she could stop herself. She fought against the wave of sadness that flooded her. This is why you shouldn’t think about it, she scolded herself.
Quickly, she pulled away some of the vines that threatened to cover the platform door before she walked down to a nearby stream. The water was good as long as she boiled it for at least five minutes first. She neatly and efficiently cleaned her supper and set it in a large container she used as a pot, to cook over the open coals of the fire she kept burning. Laser guns were good for starting fires, she’d discovered after several failed attempts to do it the Girl Scout way and in a fit of temper.
Several hours and one full stomach later, Gracie turned the supply ship’s power on. She did a systems check at least twice a month to make sure the fuel cells were not leaking and to check for any communications in the area.
She felt comfortable that the moon was uninhabited except for her and the few creatures she saw. In three years, not a single space ship nor communication had been seen or heard. She figured she must have traveled at least a fifty-mile radius from the ship, and there was also no sign of additional life.
Turning on the power, Gracie set a random pattern for the computer to scan for any type of signal. She leaned back and carefully pulled the last picture of her with the guys out of the protective sleeve she kept it in. Gracie smiled and gently touched the tip of her finger to Chance’s cheek. She wondered if they were all okay. She liked to dream Chance had found her parents and sister and moved on.
Perhaps the Earth was now free, and Chance had married someone else. He could have a child by now … one that looked like him. She imagined sitting with the guys, her and Chance’s son or daughter on her lap, while the other guys cooked barbeque and drank beer. She remembered her parents having friends over and she and her sister playing with the other kids. Gracie was so focused on her daydream it took a moment for the sounds coming through the communication systems to register.
Gracie sat up straight in shock as the voices came over the system again. She didn’t understand them, but she might be able to figure it out eventually. It sounded just like the chatter she used to listen to between the ham-radio operators. Her fingers trembled as she set the computer to record.
Gracie listened to the traffic for almost an hour before she made a decision. She could hear the different cadences and even laughter. Laughter was good, she kept telling herself. Looking around the small supply ship, she figured she had two choices—die alone on this small moon or try to find a way off it and back home. Either way, she would eventually end up dead.
Pushing the transmission button before she could talk herself out of it, Gracie leaned forward and began talking softly, hesitantly at first. “This is Gracie’s Touch reaching out to anyone who can hear this. I am currently stranded on an unknown planet or moon. If you can understand this, please respond. I repeat… this is Gracie reaching out to touch any friendly ship who could offer assistance. If you receive this message and can respond, I need assistance.”
Gracie repeated the message over and over before she felt she needed to power down for a while. The solar cells could power the supply ship’s systems for a short period, and she wanted to conserve the power as much as possible. She would listen and try again tomorrow once the sun was up.
“This is Gracie’s Touch saying goodnight,” Gracie said before she shut down the system.
Her heart was pounding as she realized she had either done the smartest thing she would ever do or the dumbest. Only time would tell. Looking out through the front view screen at the dark forests slowly devouring her little home, she knew there was no going back.
Gracie’s Touch
Capture of the Defiance
Makayla Summerlin is excited to join her grandfather, Henry, in Hong Kong during a college break. She plans to help him sail the next leg of his journey around the world on the Defiance, but events take a frightening turn when her grandfather is kidnapped and the Defiance disappears! Unsure of what to do, Makayla reaches out to an old friend for help.
Brian Jacobs’ work at the Consulate General in Hong Kong is just a stepping-stone for his political career. His life for the foreseeable future is carefully optimized for success, but everything is turned upside down when he receives a frantic call for help from a friend. Their meeting quickly turns into a race for survival when Makayla is almost kidnapped in front of him. Seeing Makayla again awakens old feelings inside Brian and he knows he will do everything he can to help her, no matter the cost.
When the situation turns deadly, both Brian and Makayla find unexpected help from another old frien
d and a Hong Kong detective. Together, the four race to find Henry and protect Makayla. Their efforts to unravel the mystery of why a wealthy crime lord would target Henry and Makayla; and to find the Defiance will take them further than they ever expected to go, but will they be able to discover the truth before time runs out for Henry?
Chapter 1
Hong Kong
The figure of a man pushed through the crowds gathered along the Graham Street Market, uncaring of the curses he was drawing. Sweat beaded on his brow despite the cool breeze and temperate weather. His gaze swept the collage of faces. Almost immediately, his eyes locked with the intense, dark gaze of a man searching the crowd – for him.
Gabriel Harrington swallowed and backed away. He stumbled when he ran into an older woman who turned and began admonishing him. Pushing past her, he ignored her tirade when she continued to yell after him. His frantic flight that had started earlier that morning was now one that meant life or death.
Turning sharply, he cut between two of the merchants’ booths, pushing the colorful material hanging down on display out of his field of vision as he rushed through. He had already passed the irritated merchants before the men could say anything. He made another sharp turn along the sidewalk toward the busy intersection, urgently glancing behind him. If he could just get across it, he could lose himself in the crowd of pedestrians.
The skin on the back of his neck tingled and he could feel the sweat sliding down between his shoulder blades under his shirt. He slipped his hand into his pocket for the small box. It was still there.
He breathed a sigh of relief and glanced over his shoulder again. Slowing to a fast walk, he relaxed a little. He didn’t see the man who had been following him. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed the number he had memorized.