by PP Corcoran
#
Rebecca sat in a comfortable chair in her private living room, it was lit by a solitary table lamp and the flickering flames from the wood fire burning in the hearth. Her shoes lay where she’d kicked them off and she sat with tucked legs underneath her. She savoured the smell of the brandy in the glass Aaron handed her.
“Aaron, did you know what Bezled was going to propose tonight?”
He sat in the chair opposite Rebecca and contemplated the flames for a moment before answering. “No, Madam President. It came as much of a surprise to me as to you.”
Rebecca chuckled “Aaron, I’ve known you over twenty years, so when we’re in here and alone, please call me Rebecca.”
Aaron felt his cheeks redden slightly. “Yes, Madam… Rebecca.”
Another chuckle escaped Rebecca’s lips. “That’s better. Now what about this proposal from Bezled?”
Aaron closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he thought through his answer. “To be honest with you, Rebecca, I still don’t know what to think of it.” Aaron shook his head slowly. “As it stands, Garunda is broken into a number of nation states, each with their own military forces. But the threat of ‘The Others’ has made them realize that for all their differences they are all Garundans.”
“You mean in the same way our own near self-destruction made us realize that we couldn’t go on killing each other?”
“Exactly. Prime Minister Bezled is offering as many Garundan military and scientific personnel as we can train, each will give up their individual national identity and swear allegiance to a pannational Garundan authority.” Aaron felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. “I think we have just witnessed the birth of a planetary government.”
Rebecca Coston raised her glass with a smile. “Then let’s be the first to wet the baby’s head. Cheers!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Friend or Foe?
31 Aquilae
High above the elliptical plane, the stealthy surveillance platform finished downloading its data to the ship keeping station alongside. On entering normal space, Capt. Verus had been shocked to find the whole system, especially the area around Planet IV, teeming with energy signatures that were unmistakably space craft.
That could not be right! The population of Planet IV could not possibly have developed space travel in the three years since the last ship had downloaded the surveillance platform’s memories. The fact that Capt. Verus could not establish contact with the other platform closer in system was also disconcerting.
To add to his confusion, the energy signatures did not match anything held in his ship’s database, so unless the old enemy had developed a completely new form of space drive then it could not be them. Who were these people?
Scratching the short fur behind his right ear, in a motion his crew knew displayed his puzzlement, he called to the navigator, “Plot a course for home and we’ll let the Council decide what to do about what we have found here.” The navigator started the calculations as the captain sat back in his chair and wondered if he had discovered a new enemy or a new ally.
“Course plotted, Captain.”
Capt. Verus had one more look at the mass of energy signatures moving about the system while again stroking the fur behind his right ear. We’d best be on our way, he thought.
“Execute!”
The navigator’s index finger, in a hand comprising five fingers, pressed down on the control panel in front of him, and the ship entered fold space.
#
The lieutenant at Tactical on the Flag Bridge of TDF Mishima, in orbit around Garunda, stiffened as the console he was operating let out an urgent beep. “There it is again, Admiral!”
Rear Adm. Analisa Chavez, commanding officer BatFor Three, Second Fleet stood up from her command chair and crossed her flag bridge to stand behind the lieutenant at Tactical. Chavez’s one meter thirty centimetre height, slight frame and long black hair had lulled many a recruit at the naval academy, who didn’t know her, into believing that she was a little girl playing at being a naval officer. That was until she beat them hands down at nearly everything on the syllabus, graduating top of her class. Behind those soft brown eyes, there was a mind as sharp as a razor and as cunning as a fox – the reason she was still on her flag bridge at half past three in the morning
It followed a report from Tactical, just after midnight, that they had the merest sniff from a Sherlock platform of an unknown energy signature, well above the elliptical plane. The signature, put through their database, was too weak for the computer to identify. If it had been ‘The Others’, then surely the Sherlock platform would have detected it further out and not as a stationary point above the elliptic.
Chavez chose to wait, rather than send her force to battle stations and possibly scare off her quarry. It looked like her gamble had paid off.
“Well, Lieutenant. Has the computer got a better reading this time?” asked Analisa patiently.
The lieutenant did not answer immediately; Analisa allowed a little impatience to enter her tone. “Lieutenant?”
The lieutenant spun in his chair to face her and she could see the confusion evident on his face. “Ma’am, I’ve run the energy signature through the computer twice.” The lieutenant swallowed. “We don’t have an exact match in the database but the computer is giving an eighty per cent probability match.”
“Spit it out, Lieutenant.”
“Ma’am, the closest match is a Saiph star drive.”
Planet Pars - Perseus Arm - 6,400 LY from Earth
The room fell into silence as the Chairman of the Council of Twelve called for order. Chairman Tarrov was the longest serving chairman in the 242 years of the council’s existence. He was also the oldest serving member of the council at 163 years of age. His fur may have lost the moonlight black of his youth, replaced steadily by fine silver, but his mind was still as sharp as in his youth, even if it was now tempered with the experience that his fellow younger council members still had to learn.
“My fellow councillors. By now, we have all had a chance to review the data that Captain Verus recovered from our surveillance platform. I think the time that we all knew would come eventually is now upon us.”
Tarrov looked slowly around the table at the other council members. Some signalled their agreement, others stayed perfectly still, not committing themselves; but not one disagreed with him.
“When our forefathers left the original planet Pars, in the first wave of three colony ships, and headed out amongst the stars for a new home, they had no idea what they would find. Not all the probes deployed to the nearest stars had returned when the decision was taken to deploy the first of the colony ships. How impatient we were.”
Tarrov went on retelling the history that every living Persai knew by heart. “Our forefathers made planet fall here. Ten years after leaving home. As planned, the colony ships were broken into pieces to form the basis of the new colony, knowing all the time that the following ships would bring the parts and personnel required to expand the fledgling colony.” Tarrov’s tone became bitter. “But the ships never arrived. Two years after landing, we found out why.”
The images of the ships appearing in orbit around the home planet, the frantic attempts to establish contact and finally the nuclear death that rained down, all transmitted to the stranded colonists with a final message. Save yourselves, for we are lost. You are all that remain!
“Between them, the three colony ships carried twelve thousand colonists along with everything needed to establish a viable colony. That is what we did. We named the colony Pars so we would never forget our home world.” Tarrov looked around at the rough-cut stone walls of the council chambers. “But the threat from this unknown enemy still exists, so we decided to hide all signs of us on this world, moved everything underground. That was when we discovered the true nature of our enemy.”
Unbidden, all eyes in the room were drawn to the dais on which stood the raised lectern in the corner of
the room.
“Our miners, looking for minerals stumbled on the cavern containing the Saiph library. Although it took us years, we decoded the information contained in them. We learned the truth. That we are the descendants of some long-lost Saiph experiment, which means nothing to us for we are our own people. Our only true link to the Saiph is that we now have a common enemy. The Enemy!
“As they have hunted down and exterminated the Saiph, so they might hunt us. The last of our people. We would simply cease to exist. A footnote in history.” Tarrov’s voice became hard edged “But we survived!” Around the table, the council members’ heads rose proudly and they each had a glint of defiance in their eyes.
The entire room reverberated to the banging of fists on the council table, and the feeling of intense hatred that filled the room for those who had destroyed their home was a living, breathing thing.
Tarrov allowed the cacophony to go on for a moment longer before raising his hand for quiet. “We learned from the library and, although we didn’t have the resources to replicate exactly the ships from the library, we improvised and we overcame the technical challenges. The only thing we could never overcome was our need to husband our resources. For years now, we have kept our population artificially low, for any sign on the surface of organized farming could lead The Enemy to us. We looked beyond this star system. For the past twenty years, we have placed surveillance platforms in systems listed in the Saiph library, avoiding those which give off any form of electromagnetic signals, for fear they could be The Enemy. But now…… now, my fellow councillors, we have seen The Enemy defeated.”
Tarrov touched a control and an image of Radford’s ship, TDF Cartagena, firing into ‘The Others’ ship during the battle for Garunda appeared.
“Whoever these people are, the data clearly shows that they have placed some sort of warning buoys around the system and detected the approach of The Enemy. But not until it became obvious that The Enemy intended to close with the populated planet did they intervene and destroy The Enemy ships.”
Tarrov rested his hands on top of the table. “The important thing is what happened next.”
One of the junior councillors spoke up. “But Chairman, nothing happened next. The unknown ships made no approach to the planet.”
Tarrov’s lips curled back, exposing a vicious set of canine fangs. “Exactly, my young friend. Exactly.”
The same junior councillor looked confused. “I’m sorry, Chairman. I admit to not understanding your point.”
Tarrov touched another control, and the data ran forward until it showed the formation of the ships of BatFor One following the battle. “If these people had planned to take the planet following their defeat of The Enemy, then why are they forming a defensive shell around the planet?”
Understanding slowly spread through the room and Tarrov gave it a moment to fully sink in. “Until Capt. Verus downloaded the data from the surveillance platform, it had recorded only the comings and goings of one small shuttle to and from the planet. Even after the original ships that had taken part in the battle departed and were immediately replaced by a force of similar makeup, no hostile move was made to either fire on the planet or invade.”
Tarrov saw on the faces surrounding him the moment of comprehension. “Fellow councillors. For years, we slowly built a small but powerful fleet in the uncertain hope that one day we could have our vengeance on The Enemy. In our heart of hearts, we knew our fleet would be too small to take on the might of The Enemy.” Tarrov pointed at the human ships “But these people stood up to The Enemy and defeated them.”
Every Councillor in the room was looking at the image of the human ships. “I propose that we return to the system in which the battle with The Enemy took place and offer an alliance with this unknown race.”
There, Tarrov committed himself.
The gathered leaders of the Persai spent a long moment looking from Tarrov and then back to the image of the human ships. One councillor began banging the table in a slow, methodical manner. One by one, the remaining councillors joined in until the entire room reverberated to a slow, methodical drumming.
Office of the Secretary of Defence - Geneva - Earth
The weekly planning and coordination meeting with Gen. Joyce was drawing to a close. With the rapid expansion that the Terran Defence Force had overseen over the past few years, Secretary Helset had found that to stop himself getting bogged down in all the minutia, it was easier for him to have Joyce brief him on a weekly basis. This allowed both men to raise any issues.
This week it was the planning of a timetable for the training and equipping of the Garundans. As Joyce had pointed out, although you could not fault their enthusiasm, it would simply take time to bring their basic understanding of the advanced human technology to a level where they could progress to and employ that same technology.
“So give me a ballpark figure then, Keyton.”
Joyce leaned back in his chair. His face blanked for a moment as he ran numbers in his head. “Well, Mr Secretary. If, for the sake of argument, we write off the current Garundan industrial base, start from scratch as we did for Janus, I would say that we are looking at maybe two years before we have established sufficient in-system resources to begin constructing hulls. As far as training goes, the proposal is that we introduce a tailored course at the Academy for Garundan officers, with an expanded syllabus to bring them up to the same level as our own officer corps. Other ranks will be treated in a similar fashion with extra classes added to basic training. We would look at moving them to the training fleet. It’s felt, and I must agree, that hands-on practical experience is more important than theory.”
Haslet felt himself nodding in agreement. “It appears that the Office of the Joint Chiefs has this pretty well in hand.”
“Thank you, Mr Secretary”
“Moving on. I read the proposal for the deployment of a permanent force to be based in the Garundan system.”
“Yes, Mr Secretary. Admiral Jing and the Strategy Board feel that since we are now committed to the defence of Garunda, for at least the next two years, that rather than rotate a BatFor every three months, our first order of business is to establish a fleet base under a Vice Admiral. He or she would oversee the build-up of our forces and the integration of Garundan units as they come on line.”
“Sounds like a wise move; do you have anyone in mind for the post?”
Before Joyce could answer, the urgent beeping of his wrist Comm demanded his attention. Both men knew that only something of the utmost priority permitted interruption to this meeting. With a look to the Secretary for go-ahead, the General accepted the call.
“General, Commodore Riesling, Duty Watch Officer. A courier drone just arrived in system with a priority message from Rear Adm. Chavez in the Garundan system.”
The General and the Secretary exchanged a worried look. Had ‘The Others’ returned in force to finish what they had originally intended for Garunda?
“I’m in the Secretary of Defence’s office, please patch the message through.”
There was a brief pause before Helset’s Holo Cube sprang to life and the face of Rear Adm. Chavez appeared. Helset touched the playback control and the message played,
“Central Command this is Adm. Chavez. At fourteen twelve hours, Terran Standard Time, an unidentified ship arrived in the Garundan system. The ship has made no attempt to progress any further in system as of this time. It is my intention to dispatch a flotilla of destroyers to investigate and report to me before any further action is taken. It should be noted, however, that the energy signature is a match for the one which we detected three weeks ago in the same general area as this ship. I must remind you that at that time the ship was tentatively identified as Saiph. I will report to you when I know more. Chavez out.”
TDF Mishima - 31 Aquilae
Analisa Chavez forced herself to relax as she contemplated the tactical plot displayed in the Holo Cube in her private briefing room. The plot showed
the positions of all the ships that constituted BatFor Three, but Chavez only had eyes for the three blue icons representing the destroyer flotilla she had dispatched to investigate the lone red icon which remained stationary some 39.4 AUs above the elliptical plane.
Those three blue icons were now stationary and spread out in a line some fifty thousand km from the unknown ship. Not for the first time, Chavez found herself cursing the huge distances involved in trying to retain command and control throughout an entire star system. For a radio message to reach her from the destroyers it took nearly five and a half hours; for them to receive her reply, another five and a half –– eleven hours in total. A lot could happen in eleven hours. To combat this, courier drones were employed to make micro-folds. But there was still a time delay as a message was downloaded, a reply composed and uploaded to the drone and sent on its way back to Chavez. Yes, it dramatically reduced the communications lag but, and not for the first time, Chavez wished that it was she who was out there. But she knew her place was here, in overall command of BatFor Three, not gallivanting all over the star system.
Analisa’s Comm beeped. She touched a control and the Holo Cube split to show Lt. Kyle at Communications. “Ma’am, a courier drone from Rhin has arrived and the message downloaded.”
At last! Thought Analisa. TDF Rhin was the lead destroyer of the formation she had sent to investigate the unknown ship. Louis Chesneau, formerly her own Tactical officer before getting his own well-deserved command, captained Rhin. Analisa knew Chesneau to be cool and level headed under pressure, and Analisa had the utmost confidence in him. “Pipe it down to my briefing room, please.”
The face of Chesneau replaced Kyle’s and Analisa touched a control to allow the message to play. “Admiral, the flotilla is currently holding station fifty thousand km from the unknown vessel. As per your instructions, we are not using any active systems to scan the vessel in case they are misinterpreted as hostile. Our passive systems confirm your original analysis. The energy signature is an eighty per cent match for a Saiph star drive. Now that we are close enough for the passive systems to get a good look at the vessel, the computers are telling us that, although not a perfect match for the Saiph designs in the database, many of the vessel’s features are similar. In my opinion, they are too similar to be a coincidence.”