by D. J. Holmes
“Good,” James said with a nod. “I hope we won’t need them but the more we have the merrier. I feel bad taking them away from Lightfoot though.”
“I don’t think you need to worry Vice Admiral,” Lieutenant Yue said. “According to the updated supply rosters almost all the multistage missiles we have, have been sent to the front. It seems the Military Subcommittee is at least somewhat concerned about protecting our outpost here.”
“Very well. I believe it is time. If I wait any longer in sending my report to Lightfoot, he will grow suspicious. And if he does, it won’t take him long to figure out what is happening. Send the prearranged message.”
As soon as the ships within the Outer Defense Fleet received the COM message, they all sounded their alarms, sending their crews to battle stations. Their Captains were already on their bridges waiting for the signal. In a matter of seconds every warship had opened its missile ports and powered up its energy weapons. Then they all powered up their engines and followed Golden Hind out of orbit.
It took Lightfoot less than a minute to open a COM channel to Golden Hind. James received the call from his command chair. “What the devil are you playing at Somerville?” Lightfoot demanded; his voice was so high he was almost screeching. “This is mutiny. Turn your ships around at once and I will forget you have done this.”
“That is impossible,” James replied calmly. “I’ve just transmitted you a full debrief of what I learnt on the Varanni Dreadnaught. “Dural has asked that I and my fleet accompany Ya’sia and her fleet back to his homeworld. The Varanni and their allies are meeting to decide what to do about the threat I informed you of. In return for our help, Dural has already promised technological advances. The threat of these Invaders and the promise of assistance from the Varanni is too great to pass up. The Military Subcommittee knew nothing of these developments when they relieved me of command. The situation has changed, I can no longer follow their orders.”
“Your excuses are meaningless,” Lightfoot spat. “You are a naval officer. You made vows to the UN. How can you abandon your posts? Our colonies are relying on your ships for protection. I order you and your ships to return to orbit. If you do not I will be forced to prevent you from leaving.”
“I am fulfilling my vows to the UN,” James replied. “I don’t expect you to understand that, but I am. And let me make myself very clear. This is not a decision I’m taking lightly. I’m prepared to face the consequences of whatever the Military Subcommittee decides. However, I am leaving. Of that you can be sure. If any UN ship tries to power up its weapons, we will open fire upon them. On that I give you my word.”
“You would not dare!” Lightfoot shouted.
“You don’t want to try me. I have left you plenty of ships to defend X-32. If you open fire you may stop my fleet from leaving, but you will be seriously reducing your own forces. The Flex-aor and these new enemies are who we should be fighting. Not each other.”
“You’re leaving me no choice,” Lightfoot replied.
“The choice is yours Vice Admiral. I am prepared to spill the blood of my comrades. That is the importance I place on going to Varanni Prime. It is up to you to decide if you are prepared to fire on your own people. I have nothing more to say. I suggest you read the report I sent to you.” With a nod to Emilie, James ordered the COM channel shut down. Though he sat back in his chair, both fists were tightly grasping its armrests. He had just lied to Lightfoot again. If it came to it, he had given express orders to all his Captains not to open fire. If need be he would take a shuttle and go to Ya’sia’s flagship alone. He wasn’t going to fire on his friends. Golden Hind could shield him from any attempts to arrest him. Lightfoot wasn’t to know that however, and James hoped he had put on good enough a show.
As everyone waited to see what Lightfoot would do, time seemed to drag. The first minute was excruciating. Everyone was staring at the sensor readouts, looking for any sign that Lightfoot’s forces were powering up their weapons. As one minute turned to two, and then three, time slowly started to speed up. It wasn’t until Golden Hind and her consorts had been accelerating away from X-32 for ten minutes that James allowed himself to relax.
“Multiple shuttle launches coming from the orbital defenses,” Miyamoto reported.
“They’ll be crammed with Marines,” Becket guessed, “and headed for Sato’s ships. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.”
“I imagine he’s thinking the same thing of us,” James responded. “He’ll be fine. You did a good job making sure there was nothing connecting his forces with our plans. The shuttles are a good sign. If Lightfoot is securing Sato’s ships, he is clearly not thinking of coming after us.”
Just to be sure, James waited another twenty minutes for Golden Hind to get out of conventional missile range of X-32’s orbital defenses. “Open a COM channel to our ships.”
A few seconds later Emilie gave him a nod to let him know the COM channel was open. “Men and women of the Outer Defense Fleet,” James began. “I am sure many of you are confused about what is going on. As you may be aware, a communications blackout has been placed on all your ships. The reason for this is because I have ordered your commanders to carry out actions that go against orders sent to us by the UN Military Subcommittee on Earth. Those orders were out of date by the time they reached us. However, Vice Admiral Lightfoot and others at X-32 do not necessarily agree. Therefore, I have decided to break our ships away from Lightfoot’s forces.
“We have been invited by Ya’sia to visit her species’ benefactors’ homeworld. They call themselves the Varanni. It may be that they need our help. Certainly, we need their assistance. That is where we are headed now. I’m sorry you will not be able to send or receive any more messages back to Earth. However, the communications blackout is for your own good. I have no doubt that I and some of our other senior officers will be charged with mutiny because of our actions. The rest of you can claim ignorance and should not face any repercussions for my actions. I do not know how long we will be gone for, but I want all of you to have heard it from me. I have not taken this decision lightly. I believe the future of our species may be determined by this journey. I hope you will continue to serve under my command with the same courage and commitment that you have shown to date. Vice Admiral Somerville out.”
As he spoke, James had been staring at the holo display of his fleet. Arrayed around Golden Hind were the other seven battleships of first battleship squadron. With them were the eight battlecruisers of Gupta’s first battlecruiser squadron, sixteen heavy cruisers from two other squadrons and another sixty smaller warships. James had insisted that they leave almost half of the Outer Defense Fleet with Sato. If the Flex-aor did find a way to launch a quick strike against X-32, Lightfoot would have a powerful force under his command. James just hoped Sato and the other commanders he had left behind wouldn’t suffer as a result of his decision.
“I’m detecting shuttle launches from Handmaiden and several other Crian warships, they are coming our way,” Miyamoto reported.
“They’ll be coming to look at our shift drives I imagine,” James informed him. Mentally he turned away from Lightfoot, Sato and X-32. He had a new mission to focus on now. “Contact them and see which ships they wish to work on first.”
Chapter 27
Famously Sarah Villanueva was the first scientist to discover the Sun Gate in the Sol System. To this day we do not know who built them, how to replicate them or what their existence means for our history as a species. Villanueva did figure out how to operate the Sol gate and her discovery turned the tide of the First Antarian War.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
UNS Golden Hind, X-37 system, 14th October 2478 AD.
James coughed to clear his throat, brushed some dust off his dress uniform and then rolled his shoulders to ease some of the tension he had been carrying since leaving X-32. Straightening his back, he made sure he was as presentable as possible. Moments later the Varanni shuttle flew throug
h the open hanger bay door. He kept his face impassive as he watched it gracefully touch down on Golden Hind’s hanger deck. As soon as one of the shuttle’s access ramps descended, the musicians of the welcoming party James had organized began to play. The shrills of the whistles and beat of the drums filled the hanger bay.
James remained stationary until Dural and the three other Varanni stopped in front of him. He then raised his hand to his forehead in a short salute. His movement was the signal for the welcoming party to cease playing. Before speaking, he bowed low to Dural.
“Welcome to Golden Hind,” he said after Dural returned his bow. “It is a great honor to host you on my flagship.” As he spoke, he did his best to keep his voice level. Staring into Dural’s eyes still gave him a chill. Even though he had spent some time communicating with the Varanni Captain over the last few days and had spent some time with the engineers Dural had sent to his flagship, James still found the Varanni intimidating. That’s the point of this meal, he reminded himself. He wanted to get to know the Varanni and, in turn, let them learn more about Humanity. He hoped that would put himself and his crew at ease.
“I was happy to receive your invitation Vice Admiral. I look forward to getting to know you and your crew. Admiral Ya’sia thinks highly of you and I’m keen to see what she has been talking about,” Dural replied.
“Let me introduce my second in command, Flag Captain and Chief of Staff,” James said as he turned and introduced Gupta, Becket and Scott.
“This is my second officer, Alma,” Dural responded as he turned and introduced the Varanni at his side and the other two as more junior officers from his ship.
“Well, now that introductions are complete, if you would follow me I will lead you to our dining area. Ya’sia has briefed my cook on the kinds of foods your species eat. I hope we have found something that is to your liking.”
“I have been on a couple of diplomatic missions during my service in the fleet,” Dural replied. “I have some experience of eating other species’ cuisine. I am sure it will be an interesting experience for us to try the kinds of foods your species eats.”
“I hope we don’t disappoint you then,” James said as he turned and led Dural and the other Varanni towards one of the hatches that led out of the hanger.
“You do not stage your fighters from this bay?” Dural asked as he looked around.
James gave a small shake of his head. “They have their own specialized hangers designed to rearm and launch them as efficiently as possible. We only house one squadron of fighters on Golden Hind so this and one of our other hangers are just for shuttles. Our two carriers carry five squadrons each.”
“I would find it interesting to view these fighters. My species dismissed the use of such small piloted craft centuries ago as impractical. Yet from Ya’sia’s report, you have found a way to make them useful.”
“After our meal we could give you a short tour of the fighter squadron based on Golden Hind,” James replied. “In turn, perhaps I could be so bold as to request a tour of your ship at some point on our journey? I was impressed by what I saw when I accompanied Ya’sia to meet you.”
“We won’t have time as we travel through this system, but in a later system that could be arranged,” Dural responded. “I hope you understand though, there would be some things we could not show you.”
“I understand completely,” James replied as he nodded. “I do not wish to pry into secrets your species wishes to keep.” And, he thought, even the things you do show us will be more than advanced enough for us to learn a great deal.
As they continued to walk, James pointed out different features of his flagship and Dural asked a couple of questions. “I want to thank you for the help your engineers have been already,” James said just before they came to Golden Hind’s main dining area. “I know they have only suggested some minor changes, but they are having a significant impact on our technology.”
“Once again, you have Ya’sia to thank for that. She is well respected within our fleet and her word goes a long way.”
“Then I will make sure I thank her as well. I only hope we can repay the trust you are placing in us.”
“That is my hope as well Vice Admiral. Time will tell whether our hopes come to fruition.”
When they got to the dining room, James showed the Varanni to their seats, or at least the wooden boxes Ya’sia had told him Varanni used as seats. He went around the table and introduced the rest of his staff officers to Dural and Dural introduced his officers to James’ people and to Ya’sia and Maleck whom James had also invited. Then he reached over and lifted the glass of wine that had already been set out for him. In front of the Varanni and the Crians were drinks Ya’sia had promised James they could drink. As he raised his glass he addressed the gathered naval officers, “It is a Human tradition to toast guests at an important meal. Let me thank you Captain for allowing us to join the Crians in this journey to your homeworld and let me thank you for your presence here. May we drink to a prosperous relationship between our two species.” Touching his glass with Gupta’s and then Becket’s, James motioned for Dural to do the same. Hesitantly Dural picked up his own glass and James slowly moved his over to touch Dural’s. “This is a Human tradition. We do this before drinking a toast.”
“Does your species have many such traditions?” Alma asked after touching his glass with Miyamoto’s and then taking a sip.
James turned to Scott and raised an eyebrow to let her answer. She took a moment before speaking as she gathered her thoughts. “From an outsider’s perspective, I suppose one might come to such a conclusion. Earth is home to many different nations and people groups. We all have different traditions that date back thousands of years. Some of our cultures have adapted and incorporated other traditions, whilst others have resisted any change. Most of the officers around us are from Western nations. If you were being hosted by a different Admiral from our Navy, with a different staff, you might get to experience a completely different set of traditions.”
“That is interesting,” Alma responded. Then looked at Ya’sia, “How have you found interacting with Vice Admiral Somerville’s officers? We and the Crians are used to interacting with species that have one culture, not many,” he added by way of explanation.
“It’s not as hard as you might think,” Ya’sia answered. “Yes, there are differences, but there are more similarities than it might initially appear. All the Humans I have interacted with have been honest and honorable. We have fought well together because of this. It has been easy to look past our differences when we have such things in common.”
“That is good to know,” Dural said as he made a gesture with his hand James didn’t understand. “You will have to tell us about some of these different cultures Vice Admiral and the different groups that make them up. It is very interesting to meet a species that is not united under one form of government. I can easily imagine how such a fractured political system has led to the many wars Ya’sia has told me about.”
James held himself back from answering when he saw his steward poke his head through one of the doors. “I’m sure my officers would be delighted to tell you about the history of their countries and cultures. But first, the food is ready. My steward is going to have it brought out now and then we can talk as we eat.”
Five minutes later both the Crians and the Varanni had meals in front of them that they seemed to be happy to consume. The Crians actually turned out to be the pickiest, mainly preferring the fruit and vegetable dishes James’ cook had prepared. The Varanni seemed able to consume almost anything out in front of them. When they were sorted, James returned to their conversation. “I’m curious about your own history Captain, how long ago did your species first venture into space? Was your species already united under one government by then?”
“It was just over three millennia ago,” Dural answered nonchalantly. If he noticed the look of surprise and shock on many of James’ officers’ faces, he did not acknowledge
it. “In fact, just two years ago we celebrated the third millennia of our species’ interstellar civilization. As you may imagine, back then our technologies were very primitive and it took us centuries to develop the means to travel between star systems.”
“Even so, your civilization must be vast after thousands of years of expansion?” Becket asked.
“Vast is a relative term Captain,” Dural responded as he turned to face Becket. Knowing Becket so well, James could see her trying and failing to keep her emotions under control as Dural’s black lifeless eyes rested on her. “Compared to the size of your civilization, you may deem it vast, but compared to the size of the galaxy, we occupy a very small portion. Indeed, we haven’t expanded our borders for more than five hundred years. Our civilization is surrounded on all sides by other members of the Varanni Alliance. That’s not to say that we are not continuing to colonize new worlds. Our terraforming technologies are more than capable of allowing us to reshape new worlds for inhabitation if they are needed.”