The day they’d selected to leave for Earth turned out to be gray and drizzling. Ted and his companions woke early in the morning and made their way back to where it all started, the airfield in the jungle. The lone human stood on the landing pad, shivering in an “alien space poncho,” as he’d dubbed it, as true rain started to come down, permeating the ground.
There was quite a procession seeing them off. Behind the December, sleek and reflecting the overcast sky, sat fifty ships. Ted had been told over two hundred others waited on airfields across the planet or in orbit. All normal air traffic that morning was being delayed or routed through other locations, so there was an absence of ship noise, but the deafening roar of soldiers, equipment, supplies, and commanders on the move and the mass of media reporters jockeying for position more than made up for it. Alana and Trell stood beside him, looking just as ridiculous as he did, though apparently the “poncho” had been developed by ancient Koleans and had always been in fashion as practical rain gear. Millika stood with Macedr a little ways off, watching as the crews and soldiers boarded the ships.
A man Ted had never seen before trotted up to Millika and Macedr and quickly apologized for being late. He was in the uniform of the Kolean armed forces—a rather cool-looking steel blue uniform with a red sash and silver buttons. Though according to Ted’s research Koleans hadn’t had much need for an institutionalized military before the Drevi invasion. That had obviously changed.
“That’s quite all right,” Millika was saying. “General Toka, this is my daughter, Alana Teinn, her To-Be, Trell Sirrin, and of course, Ted Anderson.”
Ted exchanged the proper greetings with the general. “As you may or may not be aware,” Toka said, Millika translating, “as the highest-ranking general on the planet I will be in charge of our military force during this mission.”
“And I’m in charge of intelligence matters,” Alana elaborated. “Ted will be working mostly with me, but he should should stay in touch with you as well. It is crucial that communication is efficient and encoded.” General Toka bobbed his head in agreement.
Makes perfect sense to me, Ted thought. “I do have a question though.”
“Go ahead.” Toka seemed impressed with Ted’s new language skill.
“Where will I be staying? On the December, or on one of your ships?”
“I’d rather have you on the December,” Toka said. “Your job is to help us coordinate and assist in making executive decisions. It will be better if you are on a vessel that is not in the middle of the fighting.”
“All right, thank you.” Ted was actually pretty happy to hear that. He would much rather stay on the ship he knew.
They were then approached by three guards escorting Vandoraa onto the premises. Ted could tell it was him, but the Drevi’s face was hidden, more for his own safety than anything else. Without any fanfare, they ushered him onto the December via the boarding ramp, though the Kolean soldiers who did get a good view threw dirty looks his way.
“I think it’s time we left,” Alana said. Part of her eagerness was her crowd anxiety, but part of it was the fact that she just wanted to go. She was ready for this challenge, and Ted sincerely wished he felt the same. But, as it always seemed to be, fear was holding back any enthusiasm he might have had.
“Good luck, Ted,” Millika said, giving him a hug. Alana had told him after the interview that an embrace was one of the strongest forms of affection a Kolean could show, but it wasn’t necessarily romantic. It just wasn’t something people did in public very often unless their emotions were overflowing. Ted was honored that Millika felt close enough to him to do something like that in front of all those people. It made him feel a little more at home on that alien world.
A cheer rose from the troops and media crowd as Ted strode up the boarding ramp onto the December. Tension rising in his chest, he turned and gave a little wave and a hesitant smile. He hoped they didn’t want him to make a speech. But Alana thrust her elbow painfully into the middle of his back to keep him walking, and he was more than happy to oblige.
The cheers of encouragement from the crowd died as the ramp shut behind them, cutting off the sound.
“Thank the universe itself that’s over with,” Alana said. “I’d take a life-or-death mission over that any day.” Trell laughed at her words.
“It’s not funny,” she growled at her To-Be.
“Sorry,” Trell said. “You’re just adorable when you’re angry.”
Alana let out a low, irritated peep as Ted said, “Let’s just get to the bridge.”
The three of them made their way to the bridge, where a big Kolean man stood, almost as tall as Ted. Vandoraa stood next to him. “I’ll send twenty soldiers from my division to guard the Drevi and to defend the December in case you are boarded,” the man said, before adding, “Where do you want the prisoner?” Alana, taken off guard, paused before relaying what he had said, but to Ted’s joy he’d actually understood the words.
“Yes, please. Over there would be fine until your people arrive.” Ted pointed to a section of the bridge to his right, where the Drevi would be away from any of the computer consoles and Ted could easily see him. The Kolean complied and sat the Drevi down in a seat near a dark computer on the right side of the bridge. Vandoraa was bound in both handcuffs and leg cuffs, so it didn’t look like he would be going anywhere anytime soon.
“Is there anything else you require of me?”
“I don’t think so. Thank you for your help,” Trell said. The large man bowed his head and left the bridge.
“That man’s name is Tyer Hoguh,” Alana said. “He’s General Akui Toka’s Second.”
“Toka’s a good man,” Trell said in English and so softly only Ted could hear. “But I’d be careful when dealing with Hoguh. I’ve heard rumors about him. He lost most of his family during the war, and he might have it in for the Drevi in general because of it. And that can be dangerous.”
“I’m sure there are going to be plenty of humans who feel the same way,” Ted said in a downtrodden voice. He understood the reaction, but it saddened him all the same. He knew not all Drevi were cruel, and he was sure not all Drevi agreed with the militaristic scientific exploration of their Queen. Maybe someday, much as the Americans had eventually forgiven the Japanese for attacking them during World War II, his fellow man could forgive the Drevi. Only time would tell.
“Yes. That is going to be an obstacle to overcome,” Trell said slowly.
It wouldn’t be easy, but it was something that would have to be done.
“Might as well sit in the captain’s chair,” Alana said, turning to look at him briefly as she started the ship’s engines.
Ted was about to protest when he realized that, for the moment, he actually owned this ship, so why the hell shouldn’t he sit in the big chair?
“The other ships are signaling. They’re standing by for departure,” Trell’s soft voice said from behind Ted.
Ted took a deep breath, loosing himself in the moment. “Let’s take her out.”
The December lurched forward and although Ted couldn’t see them, he assumed the other ships would follow.
It wasn’t as eventful or “epic” as Ted thought leading an army into space would be. He wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but his feelings didn’t surge up within his throat and tears didn’t come to his eyes. He didn’t feel like he was flying. He gripped the armrests almost instinctively, but he had taken off in spacecraft enough times by then not to panic. Everything went smoothly and soon the December was sailing past the Kolean system’s sun with over two hundred Kolean vessels behind her.
Vandoraa was sitting on the floor off to Ted’s right, a dull cast to his eyes, and Ted couldn’t particularly blame him. For Ted, this voyage was full of hope and strength. For Vandoraa, it was nothing but fear and helplessness.
Trell’s voice broke through Ted’s thoughts. “Utair and his team checked the ship thoroughly in the past three weeks. All systems appear to be working as they sho
uld. He also ‘filled the thing up with gas,’ I think is the human expression?”
“Well, that was polite of him,” Ted said with a small smile.
“He also thinks the ship can be run by as few as six people.”
Ted was shocked. “How is that possible?”
“It surprised me too, but your people seem to have made a lot of advancements in automation. Most of the systems work the way they’ve been programmed to until someone enters a command to change them. The only things that need to be constantly monitored are the helm, because obviously someone has to fly the ship, and the General Operations panel which takes care of pretty much everything else. An engineer is needed, which we don’t really have at this point, whose job would also be to monitor and fix the onboard computer system when needed.”
“Huh,” Ted said, still surprised. He knew automation had developed significantly on Earth over the last two centuries, but only six people? He had thought plenty of Koleans, perhaps some from Utair’s team, would need to be on board to help them man the ship.
“This is so cool,” said a nearly giddy Trell. Ted had to turn and look. Trell was playing with the General Operations console and found he could project three dimensional images on the screen like a miniature model. He’d pulled up what looked like a map of the eastern seaboard of the North American half of the American States. He zoomed in and out of different places by touch, and looked up facts about the places he was seeing with the wave of a hand.
Cracking a smile, Ted got up to go check it out.
The voyage was surprisingly dull for a mission going out to save a planet and an entire race of sentient people, but there was an unignorible and unsurprising tension in the air on the ship. Alana was constantly meeting with the small group of esters, or agents, that had come along with her from the KIS, meetings Trell and Ted were not allowed to attend. Trell, on the other hand, was like a small child with a new toy. He was having the time of his life using the December’s advanced technology to chart the stars and various celestial phenomena along the way. It amused Ted, but also didn’t make Trell much of a conversation partner either. And since he couldn’t speak their language fluently yet, not to mention they scared the shit out of him, the military officers who had been transferred over soon after launch were off limits as well. It made the trip a little lonely.
On the third day, Ted found Alana in the dining room, nursing a beverage and munching on some seeds. From a resources standpoint, this voyage was much smoother than the last one. They had food and backup pilots. The twenty soldiers that Hoguh had sent over were all excellent pilots and operations managers, and they had been taught enough of the language to at least understand what the controls were. They had given Trell and Alana much needed relief.
“I am so glad we have supplies this time,” Alana commented. “It’s only been a few days and I feel like I haven’t had real Kolean food in forever.”
“What are you drinking?”
“It’s haka juice,” Alana said. “I always have a cup after those KIS meetings; they just take so much out of me. Would you like some?”
“Sure, I’ll try it.” Ted lifted the silver bag containing the liquid to his lips and took a sip. It was odd; it tasted like tea mixed with orange juice. Interesting, but probably not something he would be drinking on a daily basis.
“Are you nervous, Ted?”
“I think we all are,” he said, taking a water packet from a dispenser in the wall.
Alana opened her beak to say something, but was interrupted by the words, “Mr. Anderson?” One of the female Kolean soldier’s voices came in over the intercom.
“Yes?” Ted answered, reaching over and pressing the button on the wall that would allow the call to come through. Outside the ship, they would have to come up with a different method of communication. Inside, the ship had a built-in communications system that ran throughout every room in the form of panels on the walls and a wireless network that connected them all together. One only needed to state which room you wanted to call before being heard on the other end.
“We’re entering your solar system, sir. Just thought you’d like to know,” she said.
Ted’s eyes visibly brightened. “I’ll be right there.”
Alana couldn’t resist a smile at his enthusiasm.
Ted was on the bridge in a matter of minutes. He strode towards his chair while Alana went to the helm, relieving the male Kolean army officer who had been there.
“We’re just passing Neptune Station,” Trell said, which caused Ted to look in his direction.
“Can we pull up a visual?” Ted asked. This time, even though he knew there was no one aboard, he wanted to go over and have a look if at all possible. For all he knew, there could be valuable information or supplies there.
With a movement of Trell’s finger, a three dimensional image of a station adrift in space filled the area above the General Operations table. It was huge, at least four times the size of the December. The section where people lived and worked looked vaguely like a disc, and pointed extensions on the top and the bottom of that core were the docking areas for ships. But all lights were off.
“Ted, you’re not going to believe this,” Trell whispered, “but there are people on that station.”
Ted whirled around. “What?” His voice was aghast. “The last time we flew by you said there weren’t any.”
“Utair made some tweaks to the scanners so now they’re able to give better results,” Trell responded.
Ted leaned back, his mind racing. What should they do?
“I scanned it again. They’re faint, like someone’s masking them, but they’re definitely there,” Trell said in final confirmation.
“It looks like they’re trying to hide themselves from Drevi scanners,” Alana commented. “The December’s scanners are more advanced and can now see though the barrier they’re projecting, but a Drevi ship wouldn’t be able to pick them up.”
“One thing we’re more advanced in, huh?” Ted said humorlessly as he thought it over. “You don’t see any Drevi ships in the area, do you?”
Trell shook his head. “No. There’s no Drevi activity any further out from... Mars, I think you call it?”
“Well, start recording a message, I guess.”
With the flick of a finger, Trell silently began recording his captain’s words.
“Neptune Station? This is the Earth starship December. Repeat, December. Please respond.”
The message was sent, but no response came. “Alana, we’re close enough for them to get our transmission within a few seconds, right?”
“Yes,” she said.
Maybe the scanners were wrong, but Ted could tell in Alana’s eyes that she didn’t think so, and neither did he. He was about to try again when a reply came.
“December, this is Neptune Station,” A very hesitant female voice finally came from the other end of the line, speaking Hispanic-accented English. “Identify yourselves.”
Ted’s face visibly brightened. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Humans? Still on Neptune Station? “I am Ted Anderson, acting captain of the December,” Ted said, not wanting to declare himself captain yet. It just didn’t feel right. “To whom am I speaking?”
“You’re human?” The woman sounded astonished. It was more a rhetorical statement than a true question.
“Last I checked,” he said, letting out a nervous laugh. He hadn’t been expecting this. “My name’s Ted Anderson, and I brought help. May we dock?”
There was muffled arguing in the background before, “Yes, you may dock,” came through. “B Port.”
“Signal the other Kolean ships to wait,” Ted told Trell. “Alana, bring us in for docking.”
She flicked her eyes towards him, as if silently questioning his decision, before maneuvering the December in. The ship docked with a slight bump.
“Trell and I will go,” Ted said. “Alana, stay here. If anything happens, get the ship out of here.”
&nb
sp; “All right,” she said, her concern and uneasiness evident in her voice.
Ted stood up and stepped off the bridge, Trell at his heels. The walk down the corridors seemed to take forever, but when they got to the docking tube it was already open to the station.
Trell and Ted exchanged glances before stepping into the tube. On the other side was a huge grand entrance with an upper balcony and a color scheme similar to the December’s. A Latina woman stood before them, a Chinese man beside her. About ten weary-looking armed guards stood behind them.
“Ted Anderson?” the Latina woman asked, looking as though she were seeing an apparition instead of a real person. She was a petite, pretty thing with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail. There were large purple bags under her eyes.
“Yes,” he said calmly, shaking her hand politely. “This is Trell from the planet Kolea. And you are?”
“I’m Rosa Soto. I was second in command of the station under Nathaniel Shepherd.”
That name rang a bell. “What happened here? How come no one on Earth knew you were still out here?”
“The Drevi think the station’s abandoned. When we saw them coming we erred on the side of caution and made it look like we were abandoned and adrift. Best call I’ve ever made. One ship got too curious and was about to expose us, but Nate stopped it from getting too close.” She held her head high, almost choking on a sob. “We’ve been out here alone, cut off from anything. Our supplies are dwindling fast. He hoped a resistance cell would come, but so far they haven’t.”
Because they don’t have access to the Twelve, Ted thought. “I admit, it was a shock when our scanners detected you.”
“I guess our interference isn’t as strong as we thought it was,” Rosa said. “Oh well,” she continued with a shrug, “as long as it fools the Drevi.”
“When they first arrived the Drevi told us they’d already taken Neptune Station, murdered everyone on it, and stripped it bare,” Ted said. He was trying to figure out why they’d told such a major lie.
“Probably to instill fear in the populace,” Rosa said, her tone darkening. “Think about it. When they show up and say, ‘By the way, we totally destroyed your technologically advanced space station,’ it’s going to scare the shit out of Earth’s governments, militaries, and people alike.”
“You’re right,” Ted responded. He couldn’t explain why, but he was already taking a liking to this woman. If at all possible, he wanted her as an ally, and a plan was already forming in his mind. “I was in the labs,” he explained. “But I was rescued by Trell and another Kolean agent. Koleans had to fight off the Drevi too. I’ve spent three weeks among them. They are a good people, a trustworthy people, and our allies in this.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Trell said, reaching out to shake hands, which Rosa did.
“You obviously shared some of our customs.”
“I did. Koleans greet each other by bowing their heads,” Ted explained, before he realized he was off topic. “I was wondering if the Kolean squadron we brought with us could use this station as a base. We’re going to storm Earth. In return, we can give you supplies and any assistance you might need.”
Rosa’s eyes hardened. “If it will get those Drevi bastards off our world, I’d give you everything this station’s got.”
Ted smirked. “Glad to hear it.”
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