by Ryk Brown
It is for the good of Earth, she had told them. For the good of all humanity. She had believed it at the time. Her father had been right all along. The jump drive had changed everything. Worlds that once were years distant were now only an hour’s flight. One could literally live on Earth and commute to the Tau Ceti system, eleven and a half light years away, every day for work. She could send a message to a colleague on the other side of the sector and have a response within minutes. All because of the jump drive. Her father’s jump drive. Her jump drive. Goods were imported and exported; technologies, arts and culture, and philosophies and religion were all shared throughout the core worlds of earth. All the worlds of the Alliance thrived because of the increased interconnectivity provided by the jump drive.
Yes, things had changed. But had they changed for the better?
Abby entered her bedroom and plopped down on her bed. She could hear her husband in the bathroom, music playing and water running. The man made noise wherever he went, no matter what he was doing.
Just as she was about to drift off, the bathroom door opened. “When did you get home?” he asked, carrying his dirty clothing to the closet.
Abby opened her eyes, gently stretching. “Ten minutes ago, maybe.”
“I wasn’t sure how late you were planning on working. There’s leftovers in the fridge, if you’re hungry.”
“I ate at work.” Abby sat up. “I have tomorrow off.”
“Really?” her husband replied in disbelief. “How did you manage that?”
“Long story.”
“Maybe we should go somewhere?” he suggested, coming over to sit next to her on the bed.
“I think I just want to sleep in and then spend the day doing nothing, for once.”
“I can do nothing,” he assured her. “I’m actually pretty good at that.” He reached over and took her hand. “You know, this would end if you just gave them what they want.”
“You know I can’t do that.”
“What others do with your inventions is not your responsibility, Abby,” he insisted. “You know that.”
“Or so we tell ourselves, to appease our guilt.”
“Your guilt is self-generated.”
“Perhaps, but can you honestly tell me that no one would blame me if I gave Galiardi a stealth jump drive and he used it to completely annihilate the Jung?”
“It isn’t Galiardi’s decision,” he reminded her. “At least not his alone.”
“Are you certain of that?”
“No one can be certain of anything,” he replied. “That’s the way it has always been, and that is the way it will always be. Look, I know how much you worry about this, but what if the Jung get their own jump drives? If that happens, a stealth jump drive may very well be the only thing that keeps us alive.”
“Until they develop one.” Abby looked at her husband. “Don’t you see? It never stops with these people. It’s a constant struggle to gain an advantage over the enemy, and exploit that advantage while you still have it. Galiardi won’t be satisfied until the Jung are annihilated.”
“Again, you’re making assumptions…”
“The man fired a slew of KKVs at them!” Abby exclaimed, rising from the bed in frustration. “He killed hundreds of thousands of them, if not millions.”
“After they attacked us!” her husband argued.
“They didn’t attack us,” she countered, “they entered Alliance space without permission.”
“Given their past transgressions, do you really think you should be splitting hairs?”
“Yes, I do! I really do!”
“Abby,” her husband began, lowering his voice in hopes of defusing a commonly occurring argument in their household, before it got out of control. “If you don’t give it to them, Suda will.”
“At least then I could live with myself,” she insisted.
“And if Suda’s stealth jump drive has a fatal flaw?” he wondered. “One that isn’t discovered until it is too late? What then? What if that flaw is what the Jung exploit to get their revenge? You said it yourself, Abby, it never ends. We keep one-upping one another, into eternity. That’s just the way it is. It’s not your responsibility to decide what should and should not be created, nor how what you create should be used. You are a scientist. Your job is to discover truths. Others decide what to do with those truths.”
She looked at him for a moment, gazing deeply into his eyes. “Maybe that’s the problem.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“How many ships are we talking about?” Nathan asked Cameron as they stepped out of the elevator and onto the Aurora’s command deck.
“Six so far,” Cameron replied, “two battleships, a cruiser, and three frigates. But that’s not all. Two of the ships are the same ones that we engaged in the Sol sector three weeks ago.”
Nathan stopped in his tracks. “Are you sure?”
“Reasonably sure,” Cameron admitted. “Emission patterns, reactor signatures, hull composition; everything matches. There are a few variations in the hull profiles and some of the comms tech is different. But one of them had damage to one of their engine fins. Damage from a plasma cannon blast.”
“Didn’t you take out a chunk of a Jung cruiser’s engine fin?” Nathan realized.
“We did. How did you know?”
“I read your combat logs. Nice moves, by the way.”
“Then it is a false-flag op,” Jessica commented as they continued walking toward the command briefing room.
“I knew something wasn’t right about all this,” Cameron said.
“No insult intended, Cam, but if you could figure it out, then so could Galiardi,” Nathan pointed out.
“You don’t really think Galiardi wants a war with the Jung, do you?” Jessica said.
“It is kind of hard to believe,” Nathan replied.
“You wouldn’t say that if you’d spent the last seven years in the Alliance,” Cameron insisted. “Galiardi has been beating his drum and scaring the hell out of everyone for years now. After all the suffering the Jung caused on Earth, and throughout the core, he’s virtually preaching to the choir. Although many won’t admit it, most would love to see the Jung destroyed.”
“But, you’re talking trillions of lives,” Nathan said.
“Galiardi is crazy, not stupid,” Jessica said. “I doubt that he would target civilians.”
“No, but he has no problem if they die as a result of attacks against legitimate military targets,” Cameron pointed out.
“You really believe he knows it’s a false-flag operation?” Nathan wondered as they entered the command briefing room.
“It is a reasonable assumption,” General Telles said. “Welcome back. I hear you had an interesting visit to Palee.”
“Indeed,” Nathan replied, taking a seat at the conference table.
“It would explain why Galiardi was so quick to recommend a missile launch,” General Telles said, continuing with the original topic. “He wanted to provoke a Jung response before the leaders of the Alliance worlds learned the truth. That would give him plausible deniability, and an excuse to respond to the Jung’s counterattack with even greater force.”
“We may not have started this war, but we are damn well going to finish it,” Nathan mumbled.
Everyone in the room looked at him.
“A quote from Earth’s past. I don’t remember who said it exactly.”
“Do you think he knew all along?” Jessica wondered.
“It is possible,” General Telles admitted. “Unlikely, but possible.”
“You don’t think he was working with the Dusahn, do you?” Cameron suggested.
“We have no evidence to support such a claim, but we also cannot rule it out.”
Nathan sigh
ed. “That’s a very dangerous accusation, Cameron,” he warned. “I know we’re just speculating, but I would strongly suggest that such statements never leave this room. We have enough problems as it is.”
“Captain Scott is correct,” General Telles agreed. “We need facts, not speculation.”
“Are we one hundred percent certain the ships that just arrived in the Pentaurus sector were part of a false-flag operation in the Sol sector?” Jessica asked.
“What?” Vladimir exclaimed as he entered the room. “Did I miss something?”
“We will need further readings to be certain,” Cameron admitted. “But as of now, both my chief sensor officer and my head of security and intelligence agree on a ninety-percent probability that at least three of the six ships are the same ones we encountered in the Sol sector three weeks ago.”
“Bozhe moi,” Vladimir said under his breath, sitting down next to Nathan and Jessica.
“Furthermore,” Cameron continued, “the ships in question have changed their appearance. They no longer carry Jung markings.”
“Then, assuming they are the same ships, that confirms they were trying to convince the Sol Alliance that Jung ships were invading their space,” Jessica said. “The Dusahn were trying to start a war between the Alliance and the Jung.”
“Undoubtedly to ensure the Sol Alliance would not come to the aid of the Pentaurus cluster,” General Telles added.
“We have to do something,” Vladimir insisted. “We have to let the people of Earth know the truth.”
“Most of the people on Earth would love to see Galiardi erase the Jung from the galactic map,” Cameron said. “They’re not going to believe you, not without proof.”
“Then we must get proof,” Vladimir replied.
“It may not be necessary,” General Telles said. “At least, not yet. The Jung have yet to retaliate for the missile strike, correct?”
“As of ten days ago, no they have not,” Cameron admitted. “But don’t forget, they don’t have jump drives. Just because they haven’t retaliated yet doesn’t mean they aren’t on their way to do precisely that.”
“I’m with Vlad on this one, General,” Nathan agreed. “We have to tell someone back in the Sol sector.”
“We could tell Robert,” Jessica suggested.
Cameron looked at General Telles. “He is expecting an update from us in a couple days.”
“He would believe us,” Jessica insisted. “Not that he could do anything about it, though.”
General Telles noticed that Nathan was staring at the center of the conference table, deep in thought. “What is it, Captain Scott?”
Nathan looked up at the general. “We need to tell my father. And I’m the one who should do it.”
The room became quiet.
“If the Jung discover that you are alive,” Cameron began.
“That’s a foregone conclusion at this point,” Nathan reminded her. “Hell, we announced it to all of Corinair, remember? Sooner or later, word is going to get back to the Jung. And considering that the Alliance just attacked them, it’s not like they need another reason to retaliate.”
General Telles thought for a moment. “It will carry more impact coming from you,” he agreed. “However, it would be better for you to keep a low profile. A very low profile.”
“Understood.”
“How the hell are we going to get Nathan back to Earth without being noticed?” Vladimir wondered. “The Sol system is locked up tight these days.”
“In the Mirai,” Deliza suggested, speaking up for the first time since the meeting had begun.
“You mean, the Seiiki,” Nathan corrected.
“No, I mean the Mirai,” Deliza insisted. “Change her registration back for the trip to Earth. Pretend it’s still my ship and that I’m coming to Earth to make a personal plea for help.”
“But, the Seiiki is armed,” Vladimir reminded her.
“I don’t think it will surprise anyone on Earth that we added a few guns for protection,” Deliza assured him, “considering what’s going on here.”
“She’s right,” Nathan agreed. “We can send a message ahead of time, via jump comm-drone, requesting an audience with the Alliance council.”
“They’ll ignore her request for help,” Cameron insisted. “They’ll apologize and swear that if there was something they could do, that they’d do it…”
“Agreed,” Nathan said, “but they will hear her. That’s all we need.”
“How will you get past Earth security?” Cameron asked.
“We’ll jump,” Jessica replied. “With wingsuits, just like we did on Corinair.”
“No good,” Cameron insisted. “You’ll have a fighter escort all the way down. They’d spot you.”
“What about a HALO jump?” Jessica wondered.
“They’ll follow you from space, down through atmospheric interface, and down to the surface,” Cameron explained.
“We can mask their exit,” Vladimir suggested.
“How?” Nathan asked.
“Coat the bottom of the hull with something that will melt away in bunches, then pretend to have a thermal shield malfunction on the way down. Make a big plasma trail behind us that will force the fighters to keep their distance, and hide your exit from the Seiiki…I mean, the Mirai.”
“You want us to jump out into the middle of a plasma wake?” Nathan asked in disbelief.
“Actually, our jump suits can handle the temps. They’re made of the same stuff the space-jump rigs are made of,” Jessica told him. She looked at Vladimir and smiled. “That just might work, big guy.”
“General, is this really necessary?” Cameron asked. “I mean, you yourself said it may not even be necessary to tell the people of Earth the truth right now. And, we could still try passing the information along using Captain Nash. That’s got to be a lot safer than sending Nathan and Jessica back to Earth.”
“All good points,” the general replied. “But there are even more compelling reasons to send Lieutenant Nash and Captain Scott back to Earth.”
Cameron’s eyebrows rose, as did everyone else’s as they looked at the general.
“We are currently looking at a significant imbalance of power in the Pentaurus sector,” the general began. “The arrival of additional Dusahn ships exacerbates this problem. The longer the imbalance remains, the more emboldened the Dusahn will become. Once they are confident in their dominance over the cluster, they will expand their sphere of influence to cover the entire sector. If they control the entire Pentaurus sector, they will have the resources, infrastructure, and population needed to become an unstoppable force.”
“We can’t even stop them now,” Jessica commented. “Not with one warship and a handful of fighters.”
“No, we cannot,” General Telles agreed. “But we can harass them. We can make them uncertain of their dominance, at least for a while.”
“And when they realize that we can do nothing more than harass them?” Cameron wondered.
“We need an edge,” Nathan realized. “That’s what you’re getting at, isn’t it, General?”
“Indeed.”
“What edge?” Jessica wondered.
“A stealth jump drive for the Aurora,” Nathan replied. He looked at Vladimir, who smiled.
“Do you think you can convince her to come?” Vladimir wondered.
“I can try,” Nathan replied.
“Abby?” Jessica surmised. “Why would she want to leave the safety of Earth? Especially to come here. She’s got a family, remember?”
“Actually, she just might,” Cameron said. “I saw Abby at the Founders’ day celebration in Winnipeg last year. She didn’t look happy. Especially when Galiardi and Teagle came by to say hello. She tried to hide it, but I coul
d see the distrust in her eyes. I tried to get her to talk about it after they moved on, but she wouldn’t. The most I could get from her was that she didn’t get to spend much time with her family these days. I got the impression that Special Projects is working them pretty hard.”
“Are you sure about that?” Nathan asked.
“No,” Cameron admitted. “Like I said, it was just an impression.”
“Another reason I should return to Earth,” Nathan said to General Telles.
“Even if she agrees to come back with you, and even if she knows how to make the stealth jump drive work on the Aurora, that’s not going to get you a balance of power,” Cameron warned. “Not for months, if ever.”
“If we can steal enough Cobra gunships, we can harass the Dusahn quite a bit,” Nathan told her. “That might buy us the time we need to get the Aurora her stealth jump drive.”
“We don’t even know if we can steal some gunships,” Cameron reminded him.
“We don’t know that we can’t either,” Nathan countered. “General, all of this—stealing the gunships, telling my father the truth, convincing Abby to come back with us—we’re only going to get one shot at all of it, so it all needs to be done on the same trip; at the same time, if possible.”
“Agreed,” General Telles said.
“How are we going to get Abby and her family away from the Alliance?” Cameron wondered.
“We’ll figure something out on the fly,” Jessica insisted. “I’m good at that.”