The Long Road Home (A Learning Experience Book 4)

by Christopher Nuttall

  “We don’t have a few weeks,” Rebecca snapped.

  “I know,” Jayne said.

  “Your government lured us to Harmony,” the captain said, addressing the alien. “Why?”

  “This treatment is in contravention of Galactic Law,” the alien droned. It recited a long string of provisions from memory. “I am not required to answer questions.”

  “Galactic Law demands that those who claim the protections of the conventions have to uphold them,” the captain countered. “Your race attempted to capture or destroy a ship flying a diplomatic flag. You have put yourself outside the conventions.”

  The alien showed no visible reaction. “Your race does not have the authority to override the conventions,” the alien stated. “You should take any complaints to the courts.”

  “Interesting,” Jayne said. “No visible reaction, but a lot of agitation in the alien’s brain.”

  Rebecca frowned. “Are you monitoring his thoughts?”

  “His reactions,” Jayne said. “We don’t know enough to configure a mind-ripper to read his thoughts.”

  “The courts do not have to rule,” the captain stated. “You put yourselves outside the protections by firing on our ship.”

  He leaned forward. “I have a number of questions that need answered,” he said. “If you answer them, you will either be dropped off on a neutral world or granted asylum in the Solar Union, if you don't want to go back home. If you refuse to answer, we will take whatever steps are necessary to get answers out of you.”

  “This is an abuse of the conventions,” the alien protested. He jerked his cuffed hands, rattling the chains. “Your race will pay!”

  “Our race is already under attack,” the captain said. “Now tell me ... just what is going on?”

  The alien made an odd face. “And if I refuse?”

  “We’ll calibrate a mind-ripper, probably by experimenting on one of your crewmen, then turn it on you and your officers,” the captain said. “You will talk, whatever you do.”

  Rebecca felt sick. Mind-rippers had been banned, with good reason, ever since the technology had been discovered in captured alien databases. They might extract information from their victim - they were very effective, when properly calibrated - but they tended to leave the subject a drooling wreck afterwards. Torture would be kinder. The idea of using one ... technically, it was a war crime.

  But they can be used in extremis, she thought, checking the regulations. And if it gets the ship home ...

  The alien seemed to grow more agitated. “I don’t know everything!”

  “Then tell me what you do know,” the captain said. “And we will listen.”

  There was a long pause. Rebecca silently prayed the alien would talk. The thought of using a mind-ripper ...

  Slowly, the alien began to talk.

  ***

  “Well,” Elton said, three hours later. “Do we have confirmation?”

  “We have been monitoring the captives and using them for a baseline,” Jayne said, as she keyed her console. “Overall, Captain, I’m ninety percent certain we would spot a lie, particularly if we went over it several times. The captive has not, I believe, tried to lie to us directly, but I think he did evade a number of questions. Luckily, we can rotate interrogators and keep asking questions.”

  Elton nodded. Once the alien had started to talk, he'd turned the interrogation over to the marines. He’d only wanted to start the ball rolling because he, Odyssey’s commander, bore final responsibility for his ship and crew. If someone had to give the order to use a mind-ripper, that person had to be him. He’d take the blame if the post-mission court-martial decided he’d exceeded his authority and made an example of him.

  Of course, when we get home, they’re going to have some trouble deciding which offense needs to be put on the docket, he thought, wryly. There would be an inquest when they returned home, if not a full court-martial. And which one they’re going to hang me for, if they find me guilty.

  “Very good,” he said. “What do we have?”

  “There never was a coup, as we surmised,” Jayne said. “Instead, the Kingdom of Harmonious Order is collaborating with its long-term allies, the Tokomak. The first objective was to capture Odyssey, which failed; the secondary objective is to re-secure Hudson and gain control of the gravity point chains leading towards Sol. In the long term, they intend to crush the Solar Union and scatter the Grand Alliance before it can become a real threat.”

  Elton felt cold. “So they know about the Grand Alliance?”

  “Yes, Captain,” Jayne said. “The captain didn't know many details, but apparently his superiors know more. They see it as an upstart alliance of younger races that don’t know how to shut up, sit down and wait their turn.”

  “Which will never come,” Rebecca said.

  Jayne acknowledged her point with a nod. “I believe that the Harmonies have largely given up on capturing Odyssey,” she said. “That explains the lack of pursuit after our last daring escape. They think that they can keep us from reaching Hudson until it is far too late for us to do anything. Right now, they’re massing their forces for a drive on Hudson, with the overall goal of capturing or destroying Hudson Base.”

  “Commodore Longlegs would never surrender,” Biscoe said. “And her squadron isn't the only armed force at Hudson.”

  “The Harmonies believe they have enough firepower to overawe the others, particularly when they are clearly allied to the Tokomak,” Jayne said. “And they might well be right.”

  Elton closed his eyes for a long moment. “And so we have to reach Hudson Base before it’s too late,” he said. “And we don’t even know when it will be too late.”

  Rebecca coughed. “We have messengers going there, don’t we?”

  “There’s no guarantee they will actually make it,” Elton warned. “Besides, they don’t know the Harmonies intend to attack the base itself. All they have are our speculations ...”

  He leaned forward. “Right now,” he added, “the survival of this ship is a secondary priority. Getting to Hudson before the enemy is our goal.”

  Marie cleared her throat. “Captain,” she said. “I understand your point, but ... how are we to get to Hudson Base? The shortest route from here to Daladier, let alone Hudson, involves passing through a pair of gravity points that are sure to be heavily guarded.”

  “We could take the captured cruiser,” Major Rhodan suggested. “They’d let her through without a search, wouldn't they?”

  “One would hope so,” Elton said.

  “I don’t think we could fit Odyssey inside her hull, like we did earlier,” Wolf put in. “She may be bigger than us, but she doesn't have the room for anything bigger than a light cruiser.”

  “She does have their command and authorisation codes,” Elton said.

  He leaned forward. “Right now, they’re massing their fleet in the Parana System,” he said, adjusting the starchart to focus on the Harmonies Chain. “You’ll notice that it’s one of the systems we passed through, one of the places they’ve been fortifying. Our friend out there” - he nodded towards the bulkhead - “had orders to return to Daladier and then link up with the fleet once they’d completed their mission.”

  “She’s big enough to tow us,” Wolf said.

  “But not through a gravity point,” Callaway countered. “Yeah, I suppose it could be done ... but they’d see us. Wouldn't they?”

  “They also have a cloaking device,” Elton said. “Mr. Wolf. Can that cloaking device be transferred to Odyssey?”

  Wolf nodded. “I believe so, Captain,” he said. “It’s not as advanced as our cloaks, but we can get it to work. We can even do a few modifications to improve it, once we have a solid look at their sensor tech.”

  “They’ve definitely improved their counter-missile programs,” Callaway added. “We knew they’d made some improvements, Captain, but we underestimated just how far they’d managed to progress. They’ve not quite cracked our ECM, but they a
re well on the way.”

  “Then we definitely have to get to Hudson Base before them,” Elton said. “Mr. Biscoe?”

  “We also damaged the enemy ship,” Biscoe pointed out, sharply. He jabbed a finger at the display. “Can we repair her well enough to pass muster?”

  “Probably not,” Wolf said. “But her hull is largely intact and her drive can be repaired ... thankfully, the safeties blew before any irreparable damage was done. I think we can get her going again, Commander, and we can rig ECM to deceive anything short of a naked-eye inspection.”

  He shrugged. “Of course, if they do want to board King ... Whatever ... we’re going to be screwed anyway.”

  “King Hakim XIII,” Jayne said.

  Elton held up a hand. “How long do you think you’ll need?”

  Wolf hesitated. “Ideally, three days,” he said. He didn't sound confident. “We might be able to get it down to two, if we work double shifts. I’ll have the cloak removed and installed here first, then try to get the battlecruiser back into working order.”

  He paused. “The one problem, Captain, is that we will need a crew on her bridge,” he added. “We can run some of her systems remotely, but she’s not set up for slave operations. I don’t see any way to fix that in less than a few weeks.”

  “Understood,” Elton said. He glanced at Biscoe. “You have a command.”

  Biscoe nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

  Elton concealed his tired amusement. Biscoe didn't seem too happy, but the appointment was something of a poisoned chalice. King Hakim XIII wasn't that badly damaged, yet ... she would attract a great deal of trouble if the Harmonies realised she wasn’t under friendly control. Biscoe’s first true command might end badly.

  “I’ll continue the interrogations,” Jayne said. “There may be command codes that we’ll need to get through the defences.”

  “Good thinking,” Elton said.

  “Another question,” Major Rhodan said. “What do we do with the prisoners?”

  Elton hesitated. Odyssey didn't have the space for the POWs. And he didn't want to leave them on King Hakim XIII when the ship was going into action. A breakout at the wrong moment could be disastrous ...

  “Put the crew - not the officers - in life support balls,” he said, finally. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best idea he could think of. “Make sure they have enough life support and supplies to last them a month. We’ll tell the Harmonies where to pick them up when we slip through the gravity point.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Rhodan said. “We’re keeping the officers?”

  “They might be useful,” Elton said. “And besides, they’re the ones most likely to cause trouble.”

  “If they know anything,” Jayne said. “I’m starting to think that most of them don’t know anything beyond the basics. I honestly don’t know how the Harmonies managed to invent the wheel, let alone spacecraft. They’re so ... conservative.”

  “Keep trying,” Elton said. “Some of them might be spying on their fellows.”

  “A spy would be better placed amongst the crew,” Major Rhodan pointed out.

  “Perhaps,” Elton said. He could see the logic. “But a crewman wouldn't be invited to any tactical planning sessions.”

  He felt a flicker of sympathy for the alien crewmen. They’d gone from being treated like serfs to a set of life support bubbles that were, in effect, a prison. But he couldn't see any alternative. Killing them out of hand would be legal, but he was damned if he was committing mass slaughter because the POWs were inconvenient. The life support bubbles would keep them alive long enough to be rescued.

  Or so we hope, he told himself. We might not last long enough to tell the Harmonies where to look.

  Elton pushed the thought aside. “Well,” he said. “Shall we begin? Dismissed.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  And yet, working with forces on Earth involves compromises and distasteful decisions - even when we were working with American or British troops. Let us not forget that most of the original Solarians came from America, Britain or the remainder of the Anglo-Saxon world - we had much in common with them, from a shared language to a largely shared outlook.

  And yet, if we had problems with them, what might we have with aliens?

  -Solar Datanet, Political Forum (Grand Alliance Thoughts).

  “They’re clearing us through the gravity point,” the captain said. He opened his mouth, revealing sharp teeth. “Welcome to Daladier.”

  Levi nodded, curtly. The freighter’s sensors were crappy, compared to the systems she was used to using, but it was clear that the Harmonies hadn't fortified the system. There were no fortresses orbiting any of the gravity points, although she knew - all too well - that there might well be an entire fleet lurking in cloak. And, given time, the Harmonies would probably be able to move modular fortresses down the Harmonies Chain to block any access from Hudson.

  “There was more traffic, last time we were passing through,” Tyler commented. “It’s dropped, sharply.”

  “Ouch,” Levi said. “Are you sure?”

  “I modelled the local economy based on our readings here,” Tyler told her. “There were nearly five times as many starships passing through the system. Now ... the system is almost empty.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Levi said. There were hundreds of freighters heading to and from the gravity points, or moving out into interstellar space. It didn't look as though there had been any substantial drop. But then, she hadn't paid close attention to the system when Odyssey had made her way through the gravity points and up the Harmonies Chain. “How quickly can we get to Hudson?”

  “Nineteen hours,” the captain said. “Twenty-seven to actually dock at the transit port.”

  Levi groaned. Another twenty-seven hours? Anything could happen in twenty-seven hours! She told herself, firmly, to be patient. There was nothing to be gained by risking detection now, when they were so close. And besides, she needed a shower, a nap and a change of clothes. Her body was still sweaty as hell.

  “We’ll go back to the cabin,” she said. “Inform us when we reach our destination.”

  “Of course,” the captain said.

  Levi hoped, silently, that the captain was being paid more than enough to keep him cooperative. Having his ship searched so thoroughly had to feel like a violation, particularly as he knew just how close they’d come to utter disaster. But he wouldn't want to surrender anyone to the Harmonies, she hoped. They’d have a few questions for anyone who hadn't betrayed his passengers at the first opportunity.

  She led the way back to the cabin, showered and took a quick nap, trusting Tyler to keep watch. He woke her, seven hours later, to take a nap himself. She took her chair and waited, silently monitoring the ship’s progress through the datanet. The captain had forgotten, deliberately or otherwise, to lock her out of the datanet once the search was over. She kept watching, closely, as the ship reached the gravity point and popped through into the Hudson System. They were nearly there.

  It was tempting, very tempting, to send a signal directly to Hudson Base and request a pick up. But there were too many alien warships, including a number of starships from Harmony, in the system for her to take the risk. Better to reach Hudson and then call for teleport. She had no doubt Hudson Base could snatch them both up before it was too late.

  “We made it,” Tyler said, when he woke. “We’re home!”

  “Not quite,” Levi said. “Start monitoring the local news channels. See what’s going on.”

  She worked her way through a flood of data, ranging from sober news broadcasts to ranting posts that wouldn't have been out of place on the Solar Datanet. Everyone knew that something had happened, although they didn't know what. Rumours were flying everywhere, with hundreds of wild stories that she would have found unbelievable whatever the circumstances. About the only detail everyone agreed on, somehow, was that shipping up the Harmonies Chain was being blocked.

  “They don’t know what’s
going on,” Tyler said. “Do they?”

  “I doubt it,” Levi agreed. “Anyone who does know is keeping their mouth firmly closed.”

  She expected trouble, all the way until the freighter entered orbit and docked at one of the orbital shipping facilities. Levi paid the bill without complaint, added a bonus and then led Tyler off the ship and deep into the station. It was designed to allow teleportation, according to the files, but she checked it carefully before calling for pick-up. There was a long pause, long enough to make her wonder if her contact codes were out of date, before the world went away in a haze of golden light ...

  ... And they rematerialised in a prison cell.

  “We’re human,” Levi said. She should have expected it. Beaming an unknown person into a prison cell was standard procedure, even though they’d had the correct codes. “We need to speak to Commodore Longlegs immediately.”