“Except fear. Once I got away, that was all that was left. We were doomed. Thank you for finding me!”
She said, more brightly, “Well, we are not defenseless. Still, we are not up to speed, either. But Resolute, oh, boy, can she dance! I love this new ship!”
Death and destruction have always been the dark clouds in the Navy, even in sea faring days. People die all the time, out there in dangerous areas, hunted by people or things that would kill them. You wished them well, you mourned in moments, and you moved on. It was only way to stay sane.
For a moment, there, he was worried she might be more in love with her ship, than in love with her failed Captain. He must have shown it.
“Hey, you were a hero in your own right. We have the records, and you took out a lot of Zephroan. They just have superior fire power and a hell of a lot more experience. But, if it is all gone… if … if Renewal is… destroyed, no place to go home… I could use a good Captain on the bridge to back me. What do you think?”
He gazed into her eyes. He saw sympathy, but determination, too. He agreed, “Temporarily, yes, that would be… good. Thank you, honey. But let’s first do everything we can to save any survivors!”
To the cry of “Captain on deck!” Angela and Jack burst into the bridge, both answering at the same time, “As you were!” Angela followed it with, Radar, report!”
BOOK V
Recovery
CHAPTER 1
“There are several clusters of life forms on the surface, not far from the towns, Captain. One big one near the foot of a mountain. At least several hundred, ma’am,” Radar said.
Soon, the teleportation unit was working hard, recycling energy to rescue those hapless people into the ship’s population.
Jack’s mother and two sisters, all three suffering mild injuries from the falls and jostling in the mad scramble to escape, came up in a batch.
Governor Calmone-Morgan immediately identified herself and asked if her son was alive.
Imagine the joy filling Jack as he hurried to the teleportation hold, where he quickly embraced all three, weathering frantic hugs and tears, then gently led them out to the elevator, and from there to his own spacious guest quarters, those assigned by the Navy to Captain and above ranks…
After hours of hunting the surface, Resolute had managed to round up about three thousand souls from Capitol City, those who had gone underground at the first volley. This from a population of just over three hundred sixty thousand.
-----
For two more days, Angela and Jack, in Resolute, hunted the surface of Renewal for survivors. It was often a few hours of searching, a quick squirt to the next city, and another few hours, repeated two hundred and fifty times. Each city still held a few thousand survivors and were quickly teleported up to join Resolute’s population.
The damned Zephroan had been very efficient, very cold blooded. It was just short of an extermination. Oddly, they seemed to have left the center of each continent, those the savages held, alone. Other than lifeforms, there were no metals in that area.
From almost two million people, counting the recent transfers from Resolute, there were left alive, at best, a couple of hundred thousand, scattered all over the place, now fully secured in Resolute’s extra cabins.
Angela was amazed at the resilience of the human race. Several thousand, outliers, mostly, raising animals and produce, hardy types, wanted to stay, believing themselves beneath the notice of such a massive alien civilization. Besides, they would not leave their helpless animals to starve. Somehow, in razing the cities, the Zephroan had overlooked much of the farms and ranches, but not all.
Meeting just those people in one of the auditoriums, Angela countered, “We can bring them aboard, and you can continue to tend them. Please, it is not safe on Renewal. The Zephroan know where you are.”
“We will not use metals of any kind, again. We can build natural, where they have taken our homes. They will not see us, they will have no need of us,” a crusty, solid man with a wife and two kids hovering, stated, standing up, unafraid of Angela or anyone at all.
No amount of reasoning would overcome their rationalizations. And those people were reluctantly returned to the surface to carry on their lives. But there was no power, no water stations, no amenities at all. It was to be a harsh life, taking mankind back to the eighteenth century, a hell of a long ways back. There were no power stations, no power lines, no poles, no vehicles. Anything of metal had simply disappeared. It was going to be tough. But mankind had persevered in worse conditions. It would be up to them to survive, and Angela made it clear.
She wished them well, but told them, “We cannot protect you. Resolute will be all over this part of the galaxy, sometimes hundreds of light years away, and we will call on you when passing through. I suggest you stay away from electrical lighting, for now, live a simple life. We believe that the Zephroan found every city by the light it put out at night.”
Which was proven by the farms and ranches taken at night, while the ones in the sunlight were missed.
As to their questions of, “Why, now?” Angela did not give the answer she feared. She had been made a friend of the Tal’Ken, and that alien unit had pointed Resolute to a known planet. The Zephroan, aggressive killers, hungry for their food, metal and lifeforms, had apparently followed that bearing.
After all, think of the millions upon millions of tons that Resolute, alone represented. Discovering an established civilization, they immediately did what they always did, they tried to kill it. They had nearly succeeded.
-----
In the new city of Washington, Angela had pulled up twenty-three thousand, out of all those hundreds of thousands who had chosen land over the ship.
Again, most of the brave farmer and rancher types wanted to stay planet-side. No power, no help, nothing but grit. Most of them with little experience.
Shades of the hardy pioneer spirit that moved west in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on earth, setting up homes and fields in the face of a Native American resistance. Again, Angela returned them to the surface.
And so, the final score was more than ninety-five percent of the population killed, the cities turned to dust, ugly bare dirt and rocky flats where many industrious people had lived, loved, and rode out their happy lives.
Killed by what, in anyone’s thinking, would surely be a species of robotic killers.
Damn the irony!
-----
Jack had immediately summoned medical staff and ordered his family checked thoroughly. Mostly scrapes and bruises.
Not long after, he called supplies and asked for a basic refitting of his room. The guest quarters below the Captain’s was built on the same wall supports, and though it was only six hundred square feet, it was easily adapted to four people, using the sitting room as an extra bedroom. For now, until they were assigned housing, it would do.
For the immediate future, having his loved ones near was better than the crowding. He had come so close to losing them all that having them closer was a comfort. Maybe later… later they could spread out in the big ship.
Governor Calmone-Morgan told him, “It was a nightmare evacuation, we simply did not have time to get anything coordinated. We saw the initial bolt at the north edge of the city, thank Chips, and anyone who could move, did so, headed to the blast shelters under the buildings. Thankfully concrete and not metalwork. We had no idea if it was going to help, but we had to do something. Everyone for themselves, and we sort of got trampled a few times.”
Jack knew how that could happen. They’d had, at best, a minute’s warning, seeing the big blue lasers arriving blast after blast, thirty seconds apart as it moved closer from north to south.
They had been fortunate to reach safety, but even more important, they had provided for any eventuality. Building huge underground bunkers, with twenty feet of rock and dirt between the roof and the buildings above, was simply another indicator of the determination of the human spirit. A
nd it had helped tremendously…
CHAPTER 2
Eventually, the leading body in the Resolute had to decide what to do next. They still had the mission: Find a habitable planet and seed humanity. Well, Renewal was seeded, but she might never succeed. They needed to do more.
Another meeting was called, seeking attendance from Captain Washington, Captain Calmone, the Governor of Renewal, and of course, the whole council.
High Council Rollander, operating under rather forceful instructions, introduced all of those present, then presented the one point on the agenda he was not pleased to do.
“Governor Calmone-Morgan, in light of your station on the failed planet…”
The council room erupted in loud boos and jeers until Rollander, having been caught out in his one attempt to downplay her importance, reworded it. “In light of your station on the planet Renewal, along the amount of work you have done to establish a wide foundation on the planet, the council has requested…” and here he paused, unable to mask his displeasure. He shook it off, and continued, “requested that you hold the position of High Council in Resolute.”
Governor Calmone-Morgan understood people very well. And she could read Rollander’s resistance quite easily. If she took the seat, she would always have an enemy. She replied, “I must decline the … council’s generous offer. Your positions are for life. Mine was for six years a term, and elected. I was looking forward to a simple second term of six years and out, so I could enjoy my grandchildren.”
Here, in this last, she looked meaningfully at Jack and Angela, sitting close together, hands gently clasped under the table. As if no one noticed.
“So, thank you, but no thanks!”
Rollander looked immediately relieved, while a few of the council looked disappointed, especially those who had thought to find a way to oust the cocky High Councilman who, in their estimation, had literally stolen the seat.
The only two council members to go planet-side were among the first back into the relative safety of the big ship. The council was complete. So, there would be no changes.
-----
At dinner, probably the only bright spot in an otherwise desultory day, as they finally gave up finding any more willing returnees, Jack and Angela talked over the future. Their future. Meanwhile, the navigators were working on a plan to get them the hell out of this system…
Angela began with, “If we are on another quest to a new star system, we are here for a long, long time. I saw you showing your fighter specs to the engineers. Are you planning on running off to protect Renewal… maybe all by yourself?” The look in her eyes was almost fear of the answer.
He took her hand in his big mitts and lovingly kissed her palm, watching her shiver. “No, baby. I am with you. But you have two manufacturing decks that need reworking. Make that three. We are seriously under-crowded, and we can afford a third deck. I can build two fighters on each deck at a record pace, and have six out in a year. We can develop plug in power systems, build distant communication satellites as forward sentries.”
He suddenly lost that perfect confidence, but he gamely struggled on, “I mean, I want to, if you will have me… that is… I mean… I want… to stay here with you… a pairing. Officially….” When she did not leap for joy, his smile faltered, an uncertainty in his eyes as he added, “When… you are ready, of course.”
Angela wanted to smile, but she governed it to be sweet and open, for the little boy was lost with the big questions. He could take on myriad Zephroan, kill them all, survive a massacre, and when faced with her bright blue eyes, he crumpled. It would be funny, if the question was not so serious.
“So, are we finding it crowded in your quarters, sharing with three other women?”
He looked hurt. Her humor did kind of touch a nerve, but he had already settled that. “No, not at all, baby. Sierra and Jolene are moving into a big townhouse mid ships. Mother is taking over a vacant pair of council apartments. A little remodeling and she will feel right at home. No, I am only asking you to consider my offer. I mean it. I love you. I want to stay with you. It is that easy… for me. Isn’t it… that easy for… for you? Isn’t it?”
He had not let go of her hand. She made up her mind about part of it, right there. “Yes, my sweet Jack!” Standing, turning her hand to clasp his, she said, evenly, “Come with me. It is time.”
Silently, he followed her, his hopes rising as she took him up two flights of stairs to her quarters. She opened the door, pulled him inside and then turned into his embrace.
He kicked the door shut with a near practiced flair. As her lips closed on his, and she was offering it all, he prayed silently that the damned system would just stay quiet.
Of course, not even in the dim future, there are few virgins even in their middle teens. Nature gave us hormones that take over at an awkward time, when none of us seems to have control, and then man’s rules try to enforce abstinence.
Angela’d had her trials, too, and though they never amounted to anything exciting, she was already seeing one hell of a difference. This man could KISS! And distracted, he had her mostly unfastened and his hand on bare skin before she could react. It was too late. Far too late. Her hands went to his body, undressing him, too, and in moments she was naked in front of a naked man, for the first time in nearly fifteen years!
He was gentle, but insistent, barely able to keep himself under control as he pursued those things, some of them quite, well… alien, that brought her such pleasure. Then, it was game on, and all she could do was hang on with taloned nails and legs holding him tight to her. And she LOVED it. Loved it all! But then, the same could be said for him.
The system stayed quiet, even if neither of them, both finding ecstatic joy in their coupling, did not…
-----
A month later, the dust settled, the repairs finished, they began anew. Under Angela’s insistence, the Council created a Captain’s position for Situational Defense of Resolute. Angela would handle onboard defense, while Jack would design, build, test and command any and all flight wings.
The Council wanted to bitch about the salary of such a position, but Angela, looking them right in the eyes, one on one, each in turn, suggested that a vacancy on the Council would alleviate that concern. They must have figured it out, for they approved the proposal unanimously.
Jack’s planes were to be half the length, smaller by far than their original planes, and missing the proven useless .50 cal machine guns. The one time they were used on an enemy, the bullets had simply laid out sparks, but apparently no penetration. In any case, they would have everything they needed to be faster, stronger and deadly.
This worked out beautifully for the new lovers. Keeping universe time on their wrists, both worked long hours, but made certain that their off duty time matched perfectly.
In their physical workouts, which they shared, Jack surpassed his lover, big time, and the little lady soon found herself having to work extra hard to keep up. What goes around…
“You must get the right incentive, somewhere,” Angela said, chuckling while trying to get her breath back, as the squirrel cage came slowly to a stop.
On the other side of the light pole, while waiting with her, he was breathing just as hard. “Yes, I have incentive. I need lots and lots of stamina, it seems.”
That would have been good for a hearty laugh, but neither had the air, so they settled for another quiet chuckle.
-----
There was no other gravity in the Resolute other than the squirrel cages. Magnets implanted in deck shoes and boots kept people from flying around unless they chose to do so, but it had turned out to be a rather tricky maneuver in bed. One that neither of them had thought about. And Angela, being a bit shy about such things, had not thought to check with one of the other pairings within her much smaller onboard circle on the bridge.
Every bed of any size had straps, across the thighs and waist, Velcro, which kept the body held gently in the bed. A simple twist and they w
ere free, allowing the occupant to be up an on their way as soon as required. But straps were awkward in the heated moment of love and lust.
It was Nance who knew what Angela was going through. Now a Lieutenant Commander, she and Commander Willits were a pairing, too. And they found the answer fairly quickly in the enlisted Navy below them.
One day, simply out of the blue, she made a present out of it, and handed it to Angela, saying, only, “A congratulations present for your pairing. Late, but not forgotten, We had to have it made for you. I am so happy for you. Please find a good use for it!” and she turned away and took her Radar position at the bridge. She was bright pink, a giveaway to Angela who was watching her, quite surprised.
Okay, so it was… sensitive. Probably had to do with… sex.
Angela opened it, carefully peeling the pretty wrapping off the one foot square package, nearly two inches thick. Inside was a single sheet, king sized. “What? My bed is…”
Nance, still a bit pink, smiled softly and said, “Like your queen sheets and cover, it has magnets on the sides and bottom. You throw it over you, and the edges lock to your frame. It has to be king sized to work with, ummm, two people in your… ummm, bed. Try it out!”
Now, it was Angela’s turn to flame. She nervously tried to recover, which set Nance off, and the two burst out laughing.
Well, it was damned funny.
Finally, Angela had to retreat with her ‘gift,’ just to get a semblance of proper decorum on the bridge. Later, neither mentioned it, and the situation stabilized.
-----
Jack and Angela were very pleased, indeed, with the new sheet. No more grasping for handholds and such to stay in the game. In space, as in anywhere, every force has an equal and opposite force, Newton’s laws. Now, they could get into it… and they did.
Angela was a new woman. She smiled more, she walked lightly, and the sense of dread that seemed to precede her into the bridge went away. Oh, she still called the shots, and people still jumped to obey, but she had lost that chip on her shoulder. She had found what was missing.
The Resolute Page 34