by Ryk Brown
“Which one of us?” Nathan wondered.
“All three of you, I guess.” Jessica looked at the admiral, remembered the memo on protocol, and saluted. “Admiral, sir.”
“A pleasure to see you again, Lieutenant Commander,” the admiral replied as he returned her salute.
Jessica turned next to Commander Telles, saluting him as well. “Commander.”
“I trust preparations for your upcoming mission are going well?” the admiral asked.
“That’s what I wanted to speak with you about,” Jessica told them as she led them into the security office. “Give us the room for a minute,” she ordered her staff as they entered. Jessica waited a moment for the three security officers to leave the compartment and close the door behind them before she continued. “I may need more time to prepare.”
“What seems to be the problem?” Admiral Dumar asked.
“Jung is a pain in the ass to pick up. The rules don’t make sense, it has strange, varying patterns of verb conjugation, and some of the consonant pairings are really difficult to pronounce.”
“We don’t really have more time,” Nathan reminded her. “We’ve only got six weeks before that comm-probe reaches Tau Ceti. We need intel well before then.”
“With three inhabited worlds, the Tau Ceti system will be difficult to liberate,” Commander Telles added. “The fact that the Jung have been there for several decades will present additional challenges. If any EDF operatives are still alive on those worlds, we will need any intelligence they may have gathered.”
“Yeah, I know all that,” Jessica replied.
“Surely, there are plenty of people within the Tau Ceti system who do not speak perfect Jung,” Admiral Dumar pointed out.
“Yes, that is true. The people still speak their original languages in addition to Jung. However, improperly spoken Jung at an inopportune moment could seriously jeopardize the mission, if not the Alliance itself,” Jessica explained.
“Good point,” Nathan agreed. “So, the lessons aren’t going as well as expected?”
“Don’t get me wrong, Captain,” Jessica said. “Naralena speaks Jung like a native, but remember, she’s genetically skewed for languages. I’m not.”
“I thought you spoke three languages?” Nathan said.
“Four, actually, but none of them are like Jung. It makes some of the old Earth Middle Eastern languages look easy. It’s like a mixture of every difficult language that ever existed. I don’t know how the hell Naralena picked it up so quickly, even with her good genes.”
“Perhaps you should take her with you?” Admiral Dumar said.
“Naralena?” Nathan said, surprised by the admiral’s suggestion.
“You’re kidding, right?” Jessica added. “She’s a comm officer… One who never even went through basic training.”
“Volon is not a timid world,” Admiral Dumar stated. “If she grew up there, she has seen her fair share of violence.”
“Seeing violence, and actually committing acts of violence are not the same thing,” Jessica insisted.
“Volonese culture teaches basic self-defense from an early age,” Commander Telles said. “Much of the Ghatazhak hand-to-hand combat techniques derive from traditional Volonese martial arts.”
“I’d prefer that it didn’t come down to hand-to-hand,” Jessica said. “I’d be happier if she knew how to shoot a gun.”
“Perhaps she does?” Admiral Dumar said. “Being from Volon, it would not be a surprise.”
“Even if she’s a crack shot and can kick ass like a ninja, she knows nothing about covert operations,” Jessica reminded them.
“However, you do,” the admiral stated. “I assume that you will at least be able to understand spoken Jung by the time you depart?”
“I expect so, yes.”
“Then simply let Naralena do the talking,” Admiral Dumar suggested. “I imagine, given that not everyone in the Tau Ceti system speaks Jung, that it would not appear suspicious if only one of you spoke it fluently.”
Jessica sighed, obviously not comfortable with the idea. “If I have to babysit Naralena, that increases the risk.”
“Or decreases, depending on how you look at it,” the admiral said. “After all, her Jung would be far less likely to raise suspicion. You said so yourself.”
“Perhaps you should take a third operative with you?” Commander Telles suggested. “Someone that you know has the skills to defend your party… A Ghatazhak, perhaps?”
“No offense, Commander, but you guys are not exactly covert,” Jessica replied. “More like shock troops, if you know what I mean. Besides, although I know I can trust a Ghatazhak to kick ass, I’m not sure I trust them to follow my orders.”
“Then take someone you know,” Nathan suggested. “Someone who has the skills and good judgment, and can follow orders.”
“Like who?”
“Dozens of spec-ops have reported in to the volunteer centers on Earth,” Nathan reminded her. “Surely one of them would be a good choice.”
“Just because they’re spec-ops doesn’t mean I trust them,” Jessica insisted.
“Perhaps you should start by asking Miss Avakian how she feels about the idea?” Commander Telles suggested. “If she does not feel up to the assignment, the selection of the third person is moot.”
“She’s an ensign now,” Jessica pointed out.
“Pardon?”
“Naralena. The Alliance? Everyone has a rank now. She’s Ensign Avakian now.”
“I stand corrected,” Commander Telles replied.
“Talk to her about it,” Nathan said. “Get her reaction. If she’s up for it, get her back to Porto Santo for some basic training. If you still feel you need a third, find someone you trust that has the training to back you up if things go south.” Nathan looked at Commander Telles, “If that’s alright with you, Commander.”
“It should not be a problem, Captain,” Commander Telles replied.
“Okay,” Jessica acquiesced. “Why not?”
“If there is nothing else?” Admiral Dumar said.
“No, sirs. Thank you, sirs,” Jessica responded.
Commander Telles opened the door and allowed the admiral to depart, following behind him.
“Not exactly the way I expected that conversation to go,” Jessica said as Nathan also turned to leave.
Nathan turned back toward her as he left. “Make it work.”
“Right,” Jessica replied, “You know, there’s not much room in that jump sub,” she called out as Nathan left the room.
* * *
Josh gazed down at Copora as it passed quickly under their Falcon, cruising along only a few thousand meters above the surface. Rolling farmlands, punctuated by the gray and black outcroppings of rock that dotted the Coporan landscape stretched out to the far horizon. The moon was unlike any world he had visited before. Its colors, its patterns of day and night, even the massive gas giant and the two neighboring moons that seemed to make continual loops around their sky. It was definitely the most alien-feeling world he had ever seen. He wondered if people had felt the same about Haven, the moon on which he had been raised, upon their first visit.
“What do you think they grow down there?” Loki wondered aloud from the back seat of the Falcon’s cockpit.
“I dunno. Doesn’t look much like food… I know that. Nothing down there looks edible to me.”
“Farmers don’t only grow things for human consumption,” Loki pointed out. “Sometimes they grow things to feed livestock.”
“Have you seen any animals since we’ve been here?” Josh asked.
“Not really,” Loki admitted. “At least not anything I’d want to eat, that’s for sure.” Loki checked his sensor displays. “Nothing abnormal in this sector.”
“Heading for sector two five four,” Josh announced as he initiated a gentle turn.
“I wonder what they eat here,” Loki said as he adjusted his sensors to begin the sweep of the next sector.
/> “Not like we’re ever going to get a chance to find out,” Josh said, “Not with all the patrols we’re flying. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Like I said, nothing down there looks edible to me.” Josh leaned forward, noticing something on the landscape ahead of them. “What the hell is that?”
“A hole.”
“I know it’s a hole,” Josh replied. “What was it, before it was a hole?”
“A Jung outpost. Troops, a few patrol shuttles, munitions storage. There’s at least a few dozen of them spread all over this moon.”
“Not very big, was it?” Josh commented as they flew over the top of the blast crater.
“Not really. Most of these were taken out from orbit by the Aurora. I believe this one, being so remote, was taken out by Scout Three’s plasma torpedo cannons.”
“That would explain all the scorched ground around the blast crater,” Josh said. “Not exactly precision weapons, you know.”
“This sector shows clear as well,” Loki announced. “Take us to two five six.”
“Man, how long is this going to take?” Josh groaned. “We’ve been at this for two days now.”
“Until command is convinced that Copora is Jung free,” Loki replied.
“You mean ‘organized Jung forces’,” Josh corrected. “There could be a hundred Jung hiding out directly below us, and we wouldn’t know it.”
“You know what I mean,” Loki insisted. “‘Free of significant threat to the people of Copora,’” he added, quoting Major Prechitt from the mission briefing.
“I still don’t know why we didn’t just blast the Jung ships and call it a day,” Josh said. “It’s not like the troops on the ground are a threat to Earth… Not from eleven light years away.”
“Eleven point four,” Loki corrected, knowing it would irritate his friend. A mild groan confirmed it. “It was a show of force, meant to send a message to not only the Jung, but also to the Coporans… That the Alliance means business. At least, when dealing with the Jung. If you’re trying to sell a product, it’s best to make an impressive demonstration.”
“One that kills a few thousand civilians?”
Loki’s eyebrows furrowed. “Since when do you care about civilian casualties?”
“I don’t,” Josh admitted. “I’m just trying to understand the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of everything. Isn’t that what Major Prechitt wanted me to learn?”
“I stand corrected.” Loki examined his sensor display again, finding nothing of interest in his scans. “Two five seven, please.”
Josh groaned again.
* * *
Nathan entered the command briefing room only a few steps behind Commander Telles and Admiral Dumar. Minister Abrahms was seated at the conference table, already appearing impatient.
“Minister Abrahms,” the admiral began, “I apologize for any inconvenience we have caused you…”
“Inconvenience?” the minister laughed. “There are nearly four thousand dead, and thousands more injured…”
“As well as many of my men,” Commander Telles added.
Minister Abrahms looked at Commander Telles, already accustomed to the commander’s steely gaze from the ride up from the surface. “Not to appear callous, Commander, but the Coporan people did not ask you and your men to invade our world. You took it upon yourself to…”
“Liberate your people?” Commander Telles offered.
“Are you saying your people liked living under Jung rule?” Admiral Dumar asked.
Minister Abrahms looked at the admiral. “I don’t even know who you people are. ‘The Alliance.’ What Alliance? From where? Your very name implies some sort of interstellar coalition, but a coalition of what worlds? And why did you invade our world?”
“We did not ‘invade’ your world,” Admiral Dumar insisted. “We did, however, neutralize the Jung forces that have been holding your world since it was captured three years ago.”
“Neutralize?” the minister replied, obviously irritated by the admiral’s choice of words. “Rather weak word, don’t you think? Obliterate would be more like it, along with thousands of Coporans. None of whom, I am quite sure, have ever done anything to you.”
“Minister…” the admiral began.
“What exactly did the Jung do to warrant your rather vicious attack?”
“They nearly destroyed my world,” Nathan interrupted, anger spilling into his tone, “killing millions, I might add, not thousands.”
“Really?” the minister replied, as if challenging the young captain’s assertion. “And what world would that be?”
“Earth.”
The minister was silent for a moment. “You cannot be from Earth,” he finally said. “The Earth was the hardest hit of all the core worlds. We didn’t even begin picking up simple radio emissions from it until about fifty years ago. Our last long-range scans showed that the people of Earth had not even gotten back into orbit yet.”
“Things have changed,” Nathan told him. “This ship was built by the people of Earth.”
“Preposterous!” the minister exclaimed. “There is no way that the people of Earth went from pre-orbit to interstellar travel in only a few decades. Hell, it would take longer than that for even the most advanced sub-light ship to travel from Earth to Copora.”
“Actually, it only takes us about a minute or two,” Nathan told him. “Actually, more like a split second, but with the calculations and such… And you know how Ensign Riley loves to count down to the jump for dramatic effect,” he added, looking at the admiral.
“Yes, I’ve noticed that,” Admiral Dumar replied.
“You people believe this situation to be humorous?” Minister Abrahms exclaimed. “Is this a joke to you?”
“This is most decidedly not a joke,” Commander Telles assured the minister. “Captain Scott, and the Aurora, are indeed from Earth.”
“And you are not, I take it?”
“No, sir, I am not,” Commander Telles replied. “I am from the Takar system, as is Admiral Dumar.”
“Takar?” The minister looked puzzled. “I never heard of it.”
“I would think not,” Commander Telles said. “It is over nine hundred light years distant.”
“Nine hundred light years?” Minister Abrahms replied. “Now I know that you are joking. I’m actually quite surprised at you, Commander. You didn’t seem the type.” The minister began to stand. “Gentlemen, I believe you’ve wasted enough of my time…”
“Minister Abrahms,” Admiral Dumar began, “No one at this table has been anything but truthful with you. If you choose not to believe us, that is certainly your right. But perhaps you should hear us out, nonetheless.”
The minister looked at the admiral, then exchanged glances with Captain Scott and Commander Telles as well. “Very well,” he agreed, sitting back down.
“Through an unforeseen accident,” the admiral began, “Captain Scott and the Aurora ended up in our sector of space—an area we call the Pentaurus cluster—nearly one thousand light years away from Sol. They were damaged, and unable to return home. They received help from our people, inadvertently got involved in a rebellion of sorts, and by forming an alliance, they helped us gain our independence from a rather tyrannical dictator. Unfortunately, by the time the Aurora returned to Sol, the Jung had already invaded and seized control of Earth. Captain Scott, along with the help of Commander Telles and his men, managed to drive the Jung from his world. Unfortunately, the Earth suffered considerable damage and loss of life in the process.”
“An impressive, if somewhat difficult to believe, story, Admiral. However, I fail to understand what that has to do with Copora.”
“In the months that followed,” the admiral continued, “the Jung attempted to retake the Earth—more than once, I might add. Those attacks have left the Earth teetering on the edge of complete collapse. They cannot withstand another attack, hence, under my orders, the forces of the Alliance are attempting to clear a twenty light year sphere around Sol�
� A ‘safe’ zone, if you will. This will give the Earth at least a full solar year, perhaps longer, to recover.”
“You plan on eliminating every Jung ship, every surface base, and every soldier, within twenty light years of Sol?” the minister asked, just to be sure he was understanding the admiral correctly.
“That is correct.”
The minister laughed. “I hope you have plenty of ships, admiral, because the Jung surely do.”
“We have enough.”
“And how many do you believe are enough?” the minister taunted.
“Two ships of this size, and three more a tenth this size.”
“More like a twentieth,” Nathan mumbled.
Minister Abrahms scanned their faces again, unsure what to believe. “Assume for one moment that you speak the truth. What is it you wish from the people of Copora?”
“Join the Alliance,” Admiral Dumar stated plainly.
“We have no ships to offer you, Admiral. What few we had were destroyed long ago.”
“You have people. You have resources. Both are items the Earth sorely lacks at present.”
“Why not bring them from your world?” the minister wondered. “Takar, was it?”
“We have been,” the admiral assured him. “But we do not yet have the necessary transportation infrastructure to move the amount of resources needed, at least not in a timely fashion.”
“If this ship can travel between Earth and Sol in the blink of an eye, then surely it can travel one hundred times that distance in say, one hundred blinks of an eye.”
“The jump drive technology, as amazing as it is, does have its limitations, Minister,” Admiral Dumar admitted. “Which is why we seek alliances with worlds in closer proximity… Ones that share our dislike for the Jung.”
“And how do you know that we dislike the Jung?” the minister challenged. “You never even asked.”
“We have had covert operatives on your world for some time now,” Nathan told the minister.
“I see.” Minister Abrahms took a deep breath and sighed. “Gentlemen, as entertaining as this has all been, I have absolutely no evidence that any of this is anything but a fanciful web of lies.”
“To what end, Minister?” Admiral Dumar wondered.