The Invasion Begins

by Thomas DePrima

  “Eliza, go into my office and contact Major Endicott. Have him assign three full platoons of Marines, for a total complement of at least one hundred twenty, to each of six CPS-16s for immediate deployment to six of the new space stations. Then have our navigator plot a course to the seventh station, the one where Christa was assigned. As soon as the six CPS-16s are ready to deploy, halt the ship and allow them to depart. Then I want to proceed to the new base where Christa is stationed with all possible speed. Send an announcement to all other ships to remain here and continue to guard the Denubbewa wreckage until the reclamation vessels have removed all of it and departed for Lorense-Four or until they receive new orders.”

  “Armament and special equipment for the Marine deployment, sir?”

  “Personal armor and standard-issue weapons. The Scout-Destroyer posted to each base will have whatever extra they might need.”

  “Aye, Captain. Are there any special orders for Endicott or the CPS-16 captains?”

  “The CPS-16s are each to proceed to their designated base with all possible haste. I’ll fill you in when I know more, Eliza.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Gavin out.”

  Captain Gavin leaned back in his office chair while staring at the Priority-One logo that was still displayed on the vid monitor. The only thing he could imagine was that Christa had learned of a plot by the Denubbewa to recover the seven motherships. But how had she learned of it before a recovery mission had been attempted? Or had it already been attempted? No, she would have reported that. He reached out and tapped the contact point on the keyboard that would allow him to record a response to her Priority-One message.

  “Priority-One message to Commander Christa Marie Carver, Captain of the GSC Koshi.

  “I’ve given orders that six CPS-16s, each carrying several full platoons of Marines with armor and light weapons, deploy as soon as possible to each of the other new space stations. The Ares will be underway to your location within the hour.

  “Lawrence Frederick Gavin, Captain, Captain of the GSC Battleship Ares. End of message.”

  The new space station currently under command of Commander Christa Carver was roughly one hundred fifty light-years from the present position of the Ares. Gavin estimated that the communication would take about forty-eight hours to reach the Koshi. Travel time to the station at Marc-One would be about three days and seventeen hours. Without more information, there was nothing else to be done after ordering the com chief to transmit the recorded message, so Gavin shrugged, stood up, and left the office in his quarters. Dinner was still waiting so he walked to his dining room and took his customary seat at the table. His steward saw him enter the dining room via the small closed-circuit monitor in the kitchen and immediately brought out the appetizer and a cup of steaming coffee. The message from Christa would weigh heavily on Gavin’s mind throughout dinner and afterwards.

  ~ ~ ~

  “Any word about that missing engineering noncom, Loretta?” Jenetta asked Admiral Plimley during a closed session of the Admiralty Board. They were meeting in Jenetta’s office, and only the Admirals and the Jumakas were present.

  “Not a whisper, Jen,” Plimley said. “We don’t know if he went AWOL, got caught up in trash being moved, or— perhaps something else happened.”

  “It’s the ‘something else’ that bothers me most. You said he was preparing a condition report on one of the Gate booths, and they found the unit powered up when they went looking for him at the end of the watch. If he somehow activated it, he could be anywhere in the galaxy. He might even be in another galaxy. I’ve been thinking about having one of our cyborgs come take a look at it to see if he can determine where our CPO might be.”

  “We haven’t moved that Personnel CJ Gate yet because of the ongoing investigation, so if we do as you suggest, the genie will be out of the bottle. Someone is bound to see the cyborg at Lorense-Four. But— perhaps it is time to let staff with a Top Secret clearance or above know about their presence at Lorense-Three. We don’t have to tell them what the booth does. Someone is bound to spread that secret soon anyway. We’ve managed to keep all this somewhat secret so far with threats of long imprisonment, but I don’t know how much longer we can keep it bottled up, even with that threat.”

  “Somewhat secret?”

  “Someone has to have talked about seeing cyborgs at Lorense-Three by now. And there was the cyborg that Roger’s people reprogrammed to perform as an SCI undercover agent for us. I heard he was allowed to roam around the halls of the SCI complex on Quesann at will. Hundreds of people had to have seen him.”

  “Everyone at SCI was ordered to never talk about it,” Admiral Bradlee said.

  “But we know that eventually someone will talk unless we keep them all sequestered and isolated,” Admiral Woo said. “Imagine how many top secrets have been revealed during pillow talk between service members down through the ages.”

  “You’re right, Lon,” Jenetta said. “And sooner or later someone is bound to mention it where someone without the proper security clearance can overhear. Loretta, if we can’t bring a cyborg in, how about having some of your students examine the Personnel CJ Gate to see what they can learn.”

  “Students? Are you referring to those highly-trained Space Command scientists who are working with Sywasock?”

  “Yes. You’ve said they’ve been learning everything possible about the Denubbewa booths so they can design a new Personnel CJ Gate booth for Space Command use. This might be a good exercise for them. Let’s put them to the test and see if they can figure out where our engineering noncom went, or was sent. We’ll get to see how well they understand the technology and the processes they’ve been studying, and they’ll get a little hands-on experience.”

  “They already have hands-on experience. All of the recovered CJ Gate booths have been brought to Lorense-Three for them to evaluate, with the exception of the one being evaluated by the missing noncom. So far, we’ve been able to rebuild more than a dozen using parts from damaged units that are beyond repair.”

  “Is that safe, Loretta?” Admiral Burke asked.

  “Yes, Raymond. For testing, we’re using an extremely weak power supply that Sywasock says should barely be adequate to send someone a billion kilometers. That’s less than the distance from Earth to Saturn at their closest conjunction.”

  “That’s still a considerable distance,” Admiral Ahmed said.

  “It’s enough for very limited travel within this solar system, but no farther. When we’re ready to test the first Gate, I want to send some biological material to this base from Lorense-Three. Once we can do that without any problems, we’ll be ready to experiment with live specimens.”

  “Live specimens?” Admiral Yuthkotl echoed.

  “Not sentient beings, Lesbolh,” Admiral Plimley said. “Initially, it will be laboratory creatures, such as single-cell organisms only visible under a microscope, then insects, and then small rodents once the initial tests prove successful. We’re going to make sure the transfer process is perfected before we attempt to send a sentient lifeform.”

  “Do you have any projected date for the first Gate attempts, Loretta?” Jenetta asked.

  “We’re hoping to have several of the repaired Gates ready for transfer testing within thirty days. The first of the newly designed Gates might be ready for testing in as soon as— six months. They’ll be powered by a redesigned power unit.”

  “What benefit is there to redesigning a proven product?” Admiral Bradlee asked.

  “We believe the power unit used by the Denubbewa is far larger than necessary— not in terms of power but in size. We can produce the same level of stable power with a unit that’s a tenth the size of the Locculo-designed unit. Sywasock was impressed when he saw the engineering stats. He says it represents a tremendous step forward over the one used by the original builders of the CJ Gates. Our new booth, with all of its support apparatus, will still accommodate three travelers at once, but it will be one-third
the size of the Denubbewa booths overall. Rigorous testing will be required before we attempt to actually send a person in the newly designed Gates. One mistake and that person might be lost to us forever, without us even knowing what happened to him— or her.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Admiral,” Jenetta heard her aide say excitedly via the intercom channel on her desk viewpad the next day, “a Level-Five alert has just been broadcast on all secure military information channels. It warns that Lorense-Four has been invaded by hostile forces.”

  Usually, her aide just paged her with a single beep on the viewpad when she wanted to get Jenetta’s attention. But Jenetta was alone in her office and this announcement certainly had the desired effect of getting her immediate attention.

  Jenetta tapped the contact spot that would initiate two-way communication capability and said, “Has this been confirmed by Quesann Central Command?”

  “The announcement message was made by Admiral Holt, personally. He was connected with all other broadcast channels to ensure the emergency warning about the invasion went out to all Space Command personnel.”

  * * *

  Chapter Two

  ~ April 1st, 2292 ~

  “Lt. Commander Mollago calling,” Christa heard via her CT. Currently working in her office, she paused to touch her Space Command ring and listen. “The Ares is requesting permission to enter the base,” she heard her XO say. It was second watch so naturally he was in the command chair on the bridge.

  After glancing up at the chronometer on the wall of her office Christa said, “They’re a little early, aren’t they?”

  “They’re not here yet, ma’am. They expect to arrive right on time, which should be about twenty minutes from now. They assumed the port doors would be closed and they’re giving us time to open them in preparation for their arrival.”

  “Permission granted. Notify them that the port doors will be open when they arrive and that they may enter the port immediately. Instruct them to dock on the larboard side of the pier where the Koshi is docked. Open the doors, XO.”

  “Aye, Captain. I’ll order Port Operations to open the doors and then notify the Ares that they have permission to enter as soon as they arrive. Their docking assignment will be Pier A-7. Mollago out.”

  “Carver out,” Christa said as she stood, straightened her tunic, and checked her overall appearance.

  ~

  Twenty-one minutes later, Christa received a message that the Ares had entered the port and was presently docking at the designated pier. “Captain Gavin requests your immediate presence aboard the Ares, ma’am” Mollago said.

  Christa touched her ring and said, “Inform the Ares I’m on my way. Carver out.”

  ~

  An escort was waiting when Christa entered the Ares through a starboard airlock near the bow of the battleship. Naturally, the port had no atmosphere, but the docking platform and piers were all enclosed and airtight. When a ship had completed its docking procedure and the docking clamps had been engaged to hold the ship motionless, an enclosed ramp was extended out to the ship. Once the ramp tunnel was securely affixed against the ship using vacuum seals, pressurized, and declared airtight by the dockmaster, the airlock doors on the pier and the ship were opened.

  The young ensign assigned escort duty saluted Christa as she entered the ship, identified herself, and gave her reason for entering the ship. The ensign then identified himself and welcomed her aboard before turning to lead the way to the captain’s quarters. Christa had spent enough time in Ares-class battleships that she could have found her way to the captain’s quarters while blindfolded, but an escort was common practice with visiting officers. The Marine at the captain’s door braced to attention and held it while Christa knocked once, then entered Captain Gavin’s quarters when the two doors slid open. The ensign waited outside until the doors had closed, then returned to his regular duties.

  As Christa entered the quarters, she saw Gavin and her sister Eliza relaxing on overstuffed chairs in the living room, so she walked over and braced to attention.

  “At ease, Christa,” Gavin said before she had even given the standard identification address. “Have a seat. Coffee?”

  “No thank you, sir. I just finished a cup in my office.”

  “Then let’s get right down to business. What’s so critical that you couldn’t state it in a Priority-One message and which prompted you to suggest that I send several additional platoons of Marines to every one of the new SC stations?”

  “Are we alone here, sir?”

  “It’s just the three of us. I sent my steward out to have a walk around the ship until I summon him to return.”

  “Okay, sir, here it is. We have a visitor aboard the Koshi. He arrived via one of the Cosmic Jump Gate booths that are scattered about this station.”

  “A visitor?” Gavin said loudly as he sat up straight in his chair.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “A Denubbewa?”

  “No, sir. An engineering chief from the reclamation operation around Lorense-Four.”

  “One of our people?” Gavin remarked in complete surprise.

  “Yes, sir. He was examining one of the booths from a wrecked warship in preparation for filing a report on its condition, and he wound up— here.”

  “How in God’s name did he accomplish that?”

  “You do know about the booths, don’t you, sir?”

  “Admiral Holt briefed me on the wormhole capability the Denubbewa acquired from a civilization they conquered. Isn’t that what you’re referring to?”

  “Yes, sir. The civilization was known as the Locculo. They’re credited with developing the technology used in the Cosmic Jump Gate booths we’ve found in all Denubbewa warships and motherships. Unfortunately for the Denubbewa, the minds of the Locculo scientists assigned to the massive project had already been wiped clean of memories by cyborg drones before a cyborg supervisor learned of the Gates. However, the Denubbewa were able to learn enough from the scientific records and production schematics and reports to expand the system throughout their conquered space. The Denubbewa later tasked a group of scientists from a different world to study and learn the technology, then construct a Jump Gate large enough to transfer a mothership. The catch is that there must be an operational Gate at each end, and the only way to accomplish that initially is to send a CJ Gate booth to the new location using normal space travel.

  “Eons ago, the Denubbewa allegedly deployed warships in every direction from their established territories. Each ship reportedly contained one or more of the small CJ Gates we now refer to as Personnel CJ Gates. According to the scientists we’ve recovered, the plan was to have those ships waiting everywhere when the proposed Armada Jump Gate technology was finally ready for dissemination. Scientists could then, in the blink of an eye, be sent to each CJ Gate location to begin assembly of the equipment that would create the Armada Gate. When the new Gates were tested and ready, Denubbewa Command could send an entire armada of ships across the galaxy, or even the universe, in minutes. Since every ship has at least one Personnel CJ Gate, Denubbewa officers still return to their command structure to report directly whenever they’ve learned something of importance in their travels. When we initially confronted the small warship force that had arrived here after possibly centuries of space travel, and defeated them handily, we allegedly became the number one target for the home world rulers. In their command structure, it’s probably imperative that they immediately destroy anyone capable of putting up significant resistance to their domination of the galaxy.

  “A decision was apparently made by Denubbewa Command that the first Gate large enough for an invasion force should be assembled here in Region Three. As you can imagine, the new Gate system requires enormous power if it’s to send motherships across virtually unlimited space, so construction of special ships that would anchor the wormholes at each end were also necessary. The scientists arrived here via a Personnel CJ Gate and began work on the Armada Gate in th
e new ship intended solely for that purpose. But— upon completing their assignment and successfully testing the new Gate with a small fleet of motherships, the scientists rebelled and escaped from their Denubbewa overlords, taking the special ship and new Armada Gate generating equipment with them. My taskforce of CPS-16s just happened across them, and we immediately took them and their ship into custody. Now they’re working for us in exchange for freedom and transportation to a new, unpopulated planet suitable to their corporeal needs where they can reestablish their original race when the developmental project is complete.”

  “Then it’s not possible for a full Denubbewa invasion fleet to arrive right now?”

  “That’s the situation as I understand it, sir. It can’t happen until they have a ship capable of supplying the power needs for the wormhole. They would also need to send replacement scientists trained in the construction of an Armada Gate who can supervise construction of the special equipment necessary to create a Gate large enough to accommodate motherships.”

  “So then, what’s the emergency? We’ve destroyed all their ships in Region Three, and they can’t start building the new Gate equipment until they get new ships into this part of space.”

  “That’s just it, sir. They have ships here already.”

  “What? I thought we destroyed all of them.”

  “We believed we did, sir. All but— seven.”

  “You mean…”

  “Yes, sir. Exactly.”

  “And you believe the Denubbewa can take over this base?”

  “Sir, I was always perplexed by the apparent abandonment of seven enormous motherships in pristine condition. It just didn’t make sense. We know that every Denubbewa ship has self-destruct capability. That was confirmed by one of the cyborg scientists we captured. But our attention was so focused on the thousands of warships that were still in Region Three, I never put two and two together until the CPO from Lorense-Four stepped out of the Personnel CJ Gate right in front of my eyes. Even then, the realization didn’t hit me for a few minutes because I was so surprised by his appearance.