Earth Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series 1)

by T. Jackson King

  The young man disappeared, to be replaced by an Asian man who resembled the few Japanese people Jack had met in the Belt. The man’s Unity Naval uniform showed several golden stars on his left chest, a strip of colorful service bars, and a Siamese cat that rested in the man’s left elbow. The elderly Asian squinted at Jack.

  “You are Jack Munroe of the Asteroid Belt? In command of the pirate ship Uhuru?”

  “Yes. I am in command of the Belter Rebellion fleet ship Uhuru, which just cut off your Drive module, slagged your lasers, particle beamer and torp ejector portals. Tell me, Admiral Yamagata, why did you violate the Concord of Mars, Fourth Protocol that prohibits use of thermonuclear weapons against Sol citizens?”

  The man’s thin black eyebrows showed creases as he frowned. “Orders. And your ship Uhuru is surely the source of thermonuclear explosions near the Scattered Disk comet Sedna. So you violated the protocol first. We are sent to restore order, make First Contact with friendly Aliens, and to recover or destroy any gravity-pull ship drives which you and your fellow pirates have obtained through attacks on various Alien ships.”

  Jack did not spit at the man. Though he wanted to. “Denise, transmit to this admiral the full AV record of our vest vidcams from the Gathering Hall at Sedna.”

  Maureen waved at him. “Jack, I have this idiot’s Bridge on Target Lock. Shall we ventilate him and his pomposity?”

  On the screen, the admiral had heard Maureen’s comment and was now turning pink. “Pirate! If you dare to further damage this Unity vessel you will—”

  “What?” Jack interrupted. “Be subject to the pleasing silence of your stupid political statements that have no relationship to reality? Admiral, take a moment to scan the AV record I just transmitted to you. In sum, there are zero peaceful Aliens out here in the Kuiper Belt and the Scattered Disk zone of Sol. Our ships have been repeatedly attacked by Aliens. These Aliens seek to claim Sol and Earth as part of their predator territory, while placing a colony somewhere on Earth. A colony that will demand humans to dine on.”

  The admiral, whose expression now moved from pink outrage to dark anger, waved one hand dismissively. “Geneva has reviewed your fabricated AV broadcasts that you previously sent to the inner worlds. Causing much public upset and agitation, in violation of the Communitarian ethos. I have no doubt this broadcast is equally fraudulent.”

  Before Jack could reply, the image of Júlia enlarged. “Captain Jack! Modulated neutrino emissions are coming toward us! From somewhere toward Sedna.”

  The front screen now split into three panels. The center panel showed the disabled Unity cruiser. The left panel showed its admiral. And the right panel showed Menoma the Manager.

  “Admiral Yamagata,” said Menoma in suave English. “You are correct that prior AV broadcasts by this pirate human have been fabricated to show the efforts by several Alien species to contact you humans as being violent. But it is this Jack Munroe who is violent! He destroyed our base on the comet Sedna, has killed hundreds of my Alien friends, and has stolen our technology to facilitate his murderous rampage.”

  Yamagata looked surprised, then fascinated by his first view of a HikHikSot cheetah-leopard. “You, you, who are you?”

  “Menoma the Manager, of the HikHikSot species. We traveled to your star system in 2076, made our base at Sedna, and set about studying your species so we could each benefit from contact. Which is how I speak your English. And why I seek your help in stopping the lies of this Munroe human.”

  “Admiral!” yelled Jack. “Menoma is lying! He wants to claim Sol and Earth as part of his home territory! Look at the AV I sent you! He admits his scheme!”

  Yamagata grimaced at Jack’s words. “Menoma of the HikHikSot, I hear your words. We of Earth seek your friendship and that of any Aliens visiting our system. As you can see my ship is disabled by the actions of this Asteroid Belt pirate. But I and my ship represent the people in charge of Earth. We call it our Unity government. How may I help you?”

  Menoma gave the admiral a wide, toothy grin. “Allow my ship to approach yours. Since you lack motive power, I offer you and your staff the opportunity to return to Earth aboard my craft. Perhaps then your Unity government will make alliance with us against outlaws such as this Munroe human.”

  “Jack!” called Elaine. “Gravitomagnetic emission off our north ecliptic side, five hundred kilometers out. It’s an Alien ship!”

  Jack focused on the ship that had appeared suddenly. It resembled a ball embedded in a flat rectangle. The ball showed the snarling face of a cheetah-leopard, with two claw-paws flanking it on the rectangle hull. Its inertial vector was inward, toward the Unity cruiser, at a speed of fifty kps.

  “Admiral!” Jack interjected. “This Menoma is lying to you! The alliance it offers will put Earth in its Hunt territory. Humans will become slaves to this Alien!”

  Yamagata glanced at him. “Pirate Jack Munroe, your demands are illegal, irrelevant and no doubt based on more lies. My orders are to establish order in the outer Sol system and to seek friendly relations with any peaceful Aliens. Such as this Menoma person. Who has not done anything violent. Unlike you and your fellow ships.” The Asian looked aside. “Manager Menoma, please approach my ship. Our primary airlock is located—”

  He could delay no longer. “Maureen, slice open the Mao Tse-tung from nose to stern. Let them breath vacuum.”

  The Belter grandma eyed him intently, then nodded sharply. “The Battle Module is mag-rolling to make Target Lock. Neutral particle beamer Locked-On! Firing.”

  “Oh!” whispered Denise as, on the central screen where both Menoma’s ship and the Unity ship hung in black space, their blue whiptail beam struck down fast as light. It pierced through the Bridge of the Mao Tse-Tung, then swiftly arced back along the ship’s spine until it exited at the cut-off tail. White clouds of air burst from the multiple decks of the ship as its halves fell apart like a banana cut down the middle.

  “Maureen, do a second pass through the ship halves. No one is to survive,” Jack said, his attention fixed on Menoma’s ship even as his peripheral vision showed the ecliptic plan view of his fleet ship locations.

  “Firing. Twice.” Maureen looked up from her Combat controls, ready for new orders.

  On the front screen Menoma’s ship showed a blurring about its edges as its grav-pull drive activated. Jack spoke.

  “Captains! Fire all lasers at Menoma’s ship! Disable it.”

  Fifteen green laser beams arced out from his fleet ships, fast as the eye could blink.

  But they did not impact.

  Three separate gravitational lenses suddenly appeared around Menoma’s ship. The laser beams shifted away from the Alien’s ship and sputtered off into empty space.

  The blurred image of Menoma’s ship blinked out of sight. Then it reappeared on the opposite side of the Unity cruiser’s four sections, with the ship debris between it and Jack’s fleet. The front screen added an image panel of Menoma. Whose yellow snout whiskers were moving rapidly.

  “Human! Killing your fellow humans was not needed!”

  Jack sat back in his cushioned seat and folded his hands atop his accel-belted stomach. “It was needed. I could not allow this admiral to link you with the Unity government on Earth.”

  Menoma purr-growled. “Did you not understand the grav pulses that happened during your competitor combats before Sedna? My monitoring probes are everywhere in your system! Including one in Moon orbit. My neutrino comlink has already sent my offer and the admiral’s reply directly to his Geneva headquarters. Once I arrive above your Earth, your system will become part of the HikHikSot home territory! As I warned you at the Gathering Hall!”

  Jack tapped silent his AV audio pickup. “Maureen, fire on Menoma’s ship with your beamer. We need to stop this guy now!”

  “Firing!” she said as the Uhuru trembled with the movement of the Battle Module.

  Jack tapped back on the audio pickup. “Menoma you—”

  On the front screen the
blue whiptail of the Uhuru’s neutral particle beam flared through the cruiser debris, then continued to Menoma’s ship.

  Which blurred out of its location.

  On the front screen Menoma’s AV image reappeared. “Human! Not only does my ship have gravity probes able to deflect incoming laser fire, but any activation of a neutral particle beam in my vicinity causes my ship to automatically jump to a new location! We HikHikSot have defeated many subject species in the past. As we will defeat your efforts to shelter your Earth from our embrace!”

  “Menoma,” Jack said as the Alien’s ship reappeared in a third image panel, but on a vector inbound toward Earth. “You may get an agreement with the Unity people. But that means my ship and my allied ships will just have to replace the Unity as humanity’s governing group. The Second Belter Rebellion begins the moment you arrive in Earth orbit.”

  The lean, slimly muscled body of Menoma leaned forward. The black spots on tan fur rippled. His triangular ears tilted toward Jack. Golden yellow eyes blinked quickly. “Human Jack Munroe, once your Unity government accepts my offer to join the HikHikSot dominion, I will send a stardrive probe back to Delta Boötis B. My people will send more ships to take over your system. Resistance is useless.”

  In the holo in front of him, Maureen waved for his attention. He tapped off the audio pickup. “Yes? Quickly!”

  “We can ram him! Using our grav-pull drive!”

  Above the front screen, his fellow ship captains spoke quickly.

  “My shogun!” cried Akemi. “Allow me to kamikaze this Alien! That will prevent his ships from coming here!”

  “No, my Wolverine can do that!” yelled Minna.

  “The Mongoose will jump now!” said Aashman, turning to give the order.

  “No!” Jack yelled to them all. “No Earth ship dies by ramming Menoma’s ship. Anyway, you may get deflected by one of his gravity probes. Even if you’re fast enough to blip to his position before he blips away, my answer is better. And I command!”

  He tapped the audio pickup back on and faced the image of Menoma, whose white-tufted tail flipped back and forth. “Resistance is never useless. And human society has outgrown the rigidity of the Unity’s Communitarian doctrine. By the time your other ships arrive, my Belter Rebellion will control this system. And we will have ships with the Alcubierre drive shell! We will go star to star chasing you HikHikSot, until you surrender to humans!”

  Menoma’s lithe body fell back from its forward lean, as if in shock. “No subject people can travel star to star! That is against the rules!”

  Jack grinned toothily. “We humans are a predator people. Never subjects. Anyway, humans break rules! And Menoma, the next time I see your ship, we will have the means to destroy you!”

  The Alien’s predatory stance receded further in the control chamber where it stood. “Many have tried to kill us. All have failed. This Engagement is ended and we are the victorious predator! I leave now to speak with your Unity rulers. Surely they will choose life as subjects over death in defeat!”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Jack stared at the front screen as Menoma’s ship blurred, blurred again, then vanished on its blip jumping inward to Earth. Only the four cruiser fragments remained in local space. He looked up to his fellow ship captains. “My allies, the Moon is controlled by Brazil. And Mars is controlled by China. While they are official members of the Unity, both peoples are realists. Let us head for Mars and the Deimos Yards. I wish to talk to a certain retired admiral. And to the People’s Minister Ying Lo-pak at Syria Planum Central. It is time for the Second Belter Rebellion to begin.”

  None of his captains objected. Akemi folded palms in respect to him. “My shogun, shall the Orca make laser link time-lock with our respective grav-pull drives? So we arrive at Deimos as a fleet?”

  “Yes, Captain Akemi. Lead us inward to Mars as if your katana were leading the way!”

  She smiled, her short black hair sweat-matted to her forehead. On screen, she bowed deeply. “As you command, my shogun. All ships, time-lock commences now! Blip jump in two minutes.”

  He looked back to Denise. “ComChief, send four AV broadcasts out, three of them encrypted. First, send Captain Ignacio an AV copy of this entire engagement. Tell him to rendezvous with us near the moon Deimos, at orbital position Delta Forty-Two, Alpha Twelve and Omega Six. Second, send a digitext message to my sister Cassandra at Ceres Central. Tell her she needs to travel to Deimos Yards with or without her lieutenant boyfriend. I have need of her spy help. Third, send the same AV record of our battle here and Menoma’s statements, along with our Sedna battles, to my Mom at 253 Mathilde, with a request that she show it to everyone on the asteroid. And tell her we have six new grav-pull drives available to outfit more ships who volunteer to join our fleet. Finally, broadcast the full Sedna AV record, leading with Menoma’s threat to take over Sol system, to the inner worlds. Let’s see what kind of social disruption we can commit on the Communitarian Unity!”

  Denise nodded sharply. “Yes, Captain Jack. I’m setting up all four AV signals now!”

  Elaine looked his way, concern clear in her amber gaze. “Jack, my brother, the rest of the Belt may not follow your lead. Even with our AV records of Sedna and what Menoma says he intends to do.”

  “There is no other choice. Either we resist, or it is slavery for humanity.” He looked to Maureen’s holo image. “Combat Commander, will some of your fellow veterans join me and our ships in fighting the Unity?”

  “Damn yes they will!” Her gray eyes blazed with emotion. “And if I have to bed some of them to join us, I will! As for 253 Mathilde, I’m sure its entire population will support you. Jack, sending your Mom that AV vidrecord from our time on Sedna, along with our NavTrack records of the Alien ships in orbit about Sedna, will make them understand. And your gal Nikola will spread the word among the science folk, in the Belt and beyond.”

  He missed Nikola. Had missed her ever since leaving Mathilde. Now, he would likely be away longer, if his plans for Mars and the Deimos Yards bore fruit. “Grandma, come up here and I’ll let you in on my Grandpa’s other Rebellion secrets that he shared with me.” Jack looked to Elaine, Denise and Max. “My people, I promise you I will do my best to keep us all alive. But there will be hard fighting in the days and weeks ahead.”

  Max grinned and pointed at the front screen. “So what else is new? Look! We’re on our way!”

  Jack grinned, then turned back to watch as the gravitational lensing of the gravity-pull drive blurred the external starlight until it became a white haze. Elaine shut off the scope feed. He settled back in his seat, thinking about the future. He had ten hours before they arrived above Mars, near its outermost moon Deimos and the Unity Naval shipyards it hosted. What to do first?

  Deimos hung above Mars like a gray egg with pale brown streaks. Several craters pockmarked its regolith surface. The entrance to the moon’s internal shipyard showed as a black circle in the center of Crater Swift. In common orbit above the six kilometer wide rocky moon were fifteen spaceships of various sizes and designations. Thanks to Elaine’s cursor highlights on the front screen, he saw that three tiny corvettes, six were small frigates, five were medium-sized destroyers and one was heavy cruiser class, possibly the Bismarck. The moon’s constant IFF signal told any ship approaching within a Mars diameter to identify itself and its intentions. He looked up to the top of the front screen where the faces of his five fellow captains had joined him just after they ended their gravity-pull transit.

  “Anyone show any detection of us? Any lidar or maser ranging of us?”

  “None,” said Akemi, whose Orca was always the fastest to respond to any change in circumstances. “Perhaps arriving with the Sun behind us helped mask our gravitomagnetic pulses.”

  He hoped so. It was the reason he had specified a specific Mars orbital location. Plus it allowed him to see the daytime side of Mars, including the Tharsis highlands and its Syria Planum plateau where the Chinese had built their mostly under
ground capital. Other habitat domes and tunnels spotted the Valles Marineris canyons to the east of Syria Planum, and the Nili Fossae graben valleys on the far side of Mars, near the Isidis Basin. These two equatorial locations were where most people lived on Mars. Which put them directly below Deimos’ high noon daytime position.

  “Good. Captains, we need to convert the Deimos fleet ships to either allies or neutral in our fight with the Unity politicos in Geneva. To do that, I need to visit retired Fleet Admiral Minamoto at the fleet retirement habitat in the western Valles Marineris, then People’s Minister Ying Lo-pak at Syria Planum Central.” He paused for the shock to recede among his captains, who clearly expected an attack on the Deimos Yards. “If I fail to gain their support, we can still attack Deimos. But those ships below outnumber us, they are trained military and frankly, I prefer to have them on our side whenever any HikHikSot ships come here on Menoma’s invite.”

  “Captain Jack,” called Minna, her blue gaze intense. “Going down to Mars risks you, our leader, and your ship, which is the most heavily armed ship in our fleet. If you . . . are lost on Mars, this new rebellion may become stillborn.”

  “Exactly, Captain Minna. Which is why I wish to visit these Mars locations aboard your ship, the Wolverine. My crew will remain here, in control of the Uhuru, and ready to welcome Ignacio when the Badger shows up after its Sedna scavenging. Are you willing to be a planetary taxi?”

  “But . . . I . . . we lack any fusion drive and—”

  “And all you need to land on Mars is the grav-pull drive and attitude thrusters,” Jack said calmly. “The atmosphere is minimal. And blipping down to the Valles Marineris avoids showing up on Syria Planum’s Aerospatial Traffic Control radars. Once near ground level, we can land, locate the admiral, then blip over to the minister’s private home for a similar visit. All without showing up on traffic control. You know that while the Chinese are very efficient, no one wastes resources on building radars to track Hopper traffic between settlements. That is what emergency beacons are for. To speak with GPS satellites in orbit when necessary. So?”