Earth Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series 1)

by T. Jackson King

  “Yes, I will welcome you aboard the Wolverine.” Minna paused, looked aside at her two remaining crewmen of Alaric and Elie, then nodded slowly. “There is room for you here in our Pilot cabin. And we have a spare stateroom.”

  Jack appreciated how Minna did not mention their dead crew-woman Anneli Korhonen in relation to the empty seat and stateroom. “Thank you, my Suomen princess! Please send—”

  “Jack, I’m going with you!” called Maureen from her holo. “Period. No debate. Tell her to set up two seats in the Pilot cabin!”

  Minna had heard Maureen’s insubordinate statement. The Finn managed to avoid smiling. She knew as well as Jack that no one in the fleet dared argue with their only veteran of the first Belter Rebellion. Especially not if she sat at her Weapons Controls in the Battle Module. Instead, she picked up where he had left off.

  “I will send our Lander Kalevala to pick up you and Ms. O’Dowd within ten minutes. Will that allow you the time needed to gather your EVA suit and other belongings?”

  “Yes!” yelled Maureen. She fixed her gray eyes on him. “And Captain Jack, we will travel fully armed. Like we did at Sedna. This time with laser handguns! If someone wants to take you captive, they will find me in the way!”

  He blinked several times. No member of the fleet had ever said quite so simply how they were willing to sacrifice their life in order to preserve his. Anyway, it likely made sense to have a security guard along during his two visits. He had planned on invisible transport and swift movement to preserve his security. Well, Maureen now provided a third guarantee.

  “Captain Minna, yes, ten minutes is plenty of time for Maureen and I to gather our things.” He switched his attention to the other ships. “Captains, maintain a rotating combat alert in my absence. We are three planetary diameters out, with the sun behind us and obscuring any EMF emissions we make. And Menoma’s ship is likely at or near the Moon, already talking with Geneva. Still, the Unity Naval people are good at stealth maneuvers. Stay alert for moving neutrino sources that could be shipboard reactors. And please monitor the Deimos arrival and departure traffic. I wish to know if there is a sudden return of vacationing crews to their ships at Deimos.”

  “Yes, my shogun,” said Akemi, bowing deeply.

  “You have our good wishes,” called Júlia.

  “May Shiva guard you!” yelled Aashman.

  “And may the Lord Buddha bring wisdom to the men you meet,” murmured Kasun.

  He turned to Denise. “ComChief, send a message to my sister Cassandra. Ask if she is on her way to Mars. Also ask what she knows about the crew status aboard Bismarck. Are they the same crew as when Minamoto commanded? Or has there been a major crew change?” He focused on Max. “My friend, coordinate with Júlia over the use of that modulated neutrino comlink that she has working. See if that gives you any insights into Alien tech and how this Alcubierre drive shell might be generated.” Next came Elaine. “Sister, I love you. This trip must be done. Admiral Minamoto will only respond to me, the man who let his crew live when we could have killed them all. And if I can get Minamoto on my side, I think the People’s Minister will seriously consider withdrawing from the Unity. Understand?”

  His sister, just eight years younger than he, stood up, walked over, waited for him to stand, then gave him a tight hug. “I understand, brother Jack. You scheme a lot, but you always insist on putting yourself first in line when danger approaches. You did it when Cassie and I were small. You did it for Cassie when that rockrat tried to grab her during our move to a new asteroid hab. And you are doing it now. Thank you.” She kissed him on the cheek, then turned and headed back to her Pilot station.

  Leaving him standing amidst the best friends he had known since he’d left his family to attend Tech school on Vesta. He turned and headed through the hatch and down the Spine hallway.

  “Maureen!” he called to the voice-activated ship intercom. “I’m coming! I’ll meet you at the Lander hold.”

  The ghost of his grandfather Ephraim followed along with him, whispering friendly words, talking about domino games they had played together, and sharing jokes that only guys understood. Or so it felt to Jack as he walked the quiet Spine hallway.

  The Wolverine hovered just beside the green garden dome that lay above the underground tunnels and rooms of Gibraltar Residence, the Unity Naval Command’s retirement community on Mars for its retired veterans. Thrusters flaring, Minna looked to Jack from her seat at the Drive controls.

  “My captain, what next? How do we contact this Minamoto?”

  “Land in the shadow of the cliff that overlooks the dome. Atop that rocky outcrop so the surface powder does not clog our thrusters. While there is no one walking the garden pathways, it is best to be out of easy sight.” Jack glanced at Alaric Virtanen, the ship’s ComChief as Elie Hämälänen, their Pilot and Astro person, handled the ship’s spatial orientation controls. Then he looked back to Maureen, who bristled with her javelin, sword and two laser guns in place of her revolvers. “You tell him.”

  Maureen nodded. “ComChief, tune into the habitat’s internal intercom on Channel 83.1. Scan its Directory for the admiral’s personal quarters. Once you have that code entry, set up an AV link to Minamoto’s home communicator.”

  Alaric, a tall Swede with a taste for ribald humor, lifted his blond eyebrows. “Ah. Thank you.” He looked down to his Comlink panel, tapped several sequences, then sighed. “There it is. One Hideyoshi Minamoto. No spouse listed. Signaling.”

  “Thank you. Put the man’s AV reply on the front screen where the motion-eye can see us all.”

  On the screen appeared a sleepy looking Asian whose thin black eyebrows rose sharply as he recognized his callers. “You! Don’t you know the arrest and seizure order is still—”

  “Fleet Admiral Hideyoshi Minamoto, the heavy cruiser Mao Tse-tung is dead, at my hand. In order to save humanity from Alien slavery.” Jack paused, gesturing to Alaric. “Will you look at this AV excerpt from just before a major battle that happened on the comet Sedna? The Alien you will see, who calls himself Menoma the Manager, is behind all of the violent attacks on my ships.”

  Brushing back his receding hairline, Minamoto frowned, looked to either side out of habit, then focused on Jack. “Is this signal encrypted?”

  “It can be. You can make everything you say to us from henceforth encrypted by activating the recognition algorithm Omega 1432.”

  “Good.” The man’s image looked down as he manipulated an out of sight companel.

  “He’s encrypted now,” Alaric said softly as Minna, Elie and Maureen watched.

  “Send me this AV excerpt,” the pudgy Japanese said, his tone one of command used to obedience.

  “Transmitting,” said Alaric.

  Jack sat patiently in a cushioned seat, restraint straps over his Kevlar vest. His fannypack lay next to his seat, filled with Old Roy, his revolver gun belt and a few other items. Behind him Maureen had stood up in the ship’s one gee grav-pull, clearly eager to debark, enter the dome, get the admiral, and then get the Hades away from being a sitting target.

  Minamoto looked up from watching the AV excerpt. His black eyes bored into Jack. “Why did you kill the Mao Tse-tung? And why are you here, somewhere near Mars, talking to me?”

  Jack told him, making clear Menoma’s duplicity and the Alien’s effort to talk the Geneva world congress into a supposed alliance with the HikHikSot. “When Admiral Yamagata agreed to board Menoma’s ship for a trip to Earth in order to cement this supposed alliance, I had to act. Regrettably, Menoma had already transmitted the entire negotiation chat by FTL comlink to his stealthed probe in Moon orbit. Our fleet could not destroy him. So I am here, to seek your help in . . . replacing the Unity with a human structure that will choose to resist these Alien predators.”

  The man lifted a sip-tube of green tea. Then he pulled tight the cotton belt of his black and white checkered yukata robe He sniffed. “You want me to violate my oath of allegiance. Even if this AV record is
not fabricated, I have lived my whole life—”

  “Trying to protect human society from those who would harm humanity,” Jack interrupted. “I understand, Admiral Minamoto. That dedication to your cause is exactly why I am here, in a ship, next to your garden dome. My objective, now that my fleet has destroyed or chased away the dozen Alien species that sought to claim Sol system through their Rules of Engagement, which required a new species to assert its right of survival through personal combat, is simple. I aim to prevent the conquest of Sol system by this HikHikSot group of Aliens under the pretense of a friendly alliance. Will you come up to the garden dome? I will meet you there, in person.”

  “You’re near the dome?” The man’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You will meet me alone? At the risk of capture?”

  Jack grinned. “Sorry. My personal bodyguard has insisted she accompany me anywhere I go on Mars. Meet Maureen O’Dowd, a veteran of the first Belter Rebellion. And someone who spoke up on your behalf after we defeated your ship at 5145 Pholus.”

  Minamoto looked beyond Jack to the guarding stance of Maureen, pondered a moment, then looked back to him. “I recall her comments at Pholus. They were accurate. The Rules of War regarding POWs are very explicit. I chose to follow them, rather than space every captive as Brussels desired.”

  “For which choice I and other residents of the Asteroid Belt honor you. But Brussels had more extreme plans than killing our POWs. Maureen, tell him my grandpa Ephraim’s secret.”

  She did. Everyone in the Pilot cabin gasped, then turned angry and hot. He gestured calmness to them, his focus still on the man who had been removed from command of the Bismarck due to his following of Geneva’s thermonuke order. The Asian stood up abruptly, then he bowed slightly.

  “Captain Jack Munroe of the ship Uhuru, Madame Maureen O’Dowd, and all Belters beside your ship, my sincere apologies for that incredible threat made by Geneva in 2072. I had no knowledge of it. Nor did any of my academy mates. But in view of the secretive ears-only way in which Geneva ordered me to violate the Fourth Protocol of the Mars Concord, I believe you.” He paused, resting his hands on the belt of his yukata robe. “What do you want of me?”

  Jack released his seat’s restraint locks and stood up. “Admiral Hideyoshi Minamoto, I wish you to resume your command of the heavy cruiser Prince Otto von Bismarck, now in orbit beside Deimos. It is time for honorable humans like yourself to join with Belters like me and this ship’s crew so we can protect Sol system from becoming an Alien cattle farm. And worse!”

  Minamoto stood formal at Jack’s words. “I see that it is indeed time for me to resume command of my old ship. I am willing. But how do you plan to approach Deimos without a major battle? There are fifteen ships up there now, and Deimos HQ is filled with low quality academy graduates who—”

  “Have you met People’s Minister Ying Lo-pak at Syria Planum Central?” Jack interjected. “I plan next to talk to him. In person. To show him the AV vidrecord you just saw. And to tell him about Geneva’s secret threat to thermonuke Ceres unless all Belters surrendered to Unity control. With his help, we can get you aboard a ground-to-space shuttle and inside Deimos before Earth knows of our intentions.”

  Minamoto gave him a restrained smile, then slowly shook his head. “You remind me of your Belter Rebellion ancestors, who were so good at phantom maneuvers. Yes, I have met People’s Minister Ying at several rice harvest parties. I will lend my endorsement to your efforts. But I worry that Geneva will soon order the fleet to Combat Mobilization. As part of an alliance with this Menoma alien.”

  “Thank you,” Jack said, his heart thudding as his first gamble now paid off. “And I share your same worry. Which is why we must move quickly. Please meet me at the Blue Pathway airlock, just inside the garden dome. Wear your EVA suit. Bring any personal items you may need for an extended stay away from home. But please, do not leave any personal messages on your home comlink. If needed, you can transmit them using the Bismarck’s comlink once you are aboard the ship.”

  “Logical,” Minamoto said. “I will meet you at the Blue Pathway airlock in ten minutes. Until then.”

  The man’s image on the front screen of the Wolverine disappeared, to be replaced by the red-brown of Mars’ surface rocks and regolith. Minna, sitting in her Drive controls seat, fixed her deep blue gaze on him.

  “My captain, I wish I could have met your grandfather. He sounds like a man who understood what we Finns so value. The principle of Everyman’s Right that is embedded in our culture.” She paused, glanced aside at Alaric and Elie, then back to Jack. “Our ship Wolverine is honored to play this role in the creation of a new system order. One that will be more just, with more personal rights, than the Communitarian Unity!”

  “Jack,” called Maureen. “Time to get our EVA suits on and go meet this admiral. While it is early morning here, and earlier at the minister’s home at Syria Planum, this ship’s over the horizon radar sensors are registering plenty of Hopper traffic.”

  He slapped his chest in respect of Minna’s words, then turned and followed Maureen to the ship’s midbody airlock. He looked forward to more scheme talk with Minamoto. But first they had to see People’s Minister Ying, bring him to their side, then get the heck off of Mars and into space before Earth ordered Combat Mobilization for all its space navy forces.

  People’s Minister Ying Lo-pak looked up from his breakfast table as Jack, Maureen and Minamoto walked in from his garden dome. Putting down his chopsticks atop a half-empty rice bowl, the young-looking minister nodded briefly to Minamoto, then focused on Jack.

  “You are the pirate Jack Munroe, for whom Geneva has issued an Order of Arrest. Are you here to surrender?”

  “Hardly, minister,” Maureen said as she moved toward the wall hatch that led down to the minister’s subsurface home tunnels. She held a boxy laser mining cutter in each hand, her behavior one of someone used to using such devices for people targeting.

  Jack folded his hands before the minister. “Minister Ying Lo-pak of the Chinese People’s Republic on Mars, I am here with Fleet Admiral Hideyoshi Minamoto to ask that you and your Mars colony reverse its allegiance to the Communitarian Unity and join my efforts to fight Alien predators who seek to claim Sol system for their Hunt territory.”

  The tall, lanky Chinese sat back on his floor cushion, folded long-fingered hands in his lap and fixed a neutral look on Jack. “Explain to me why anything you say has validity? While I and my council have reviewed your AV broadcasts to the inner system, including your recent battle out near comet 1999 DG8, Geneva says the Alien violence you depict is fabricated.”

  “Not so, minister,” Jack said calmly as he knelt in his EVA suit before the man who controlled the ten million humans living on Mars. “Do you think the Alien bodyforms are a result of fancy CGI imagery? There are no six-legged humans we could use to imitate the Rizen aliens. Nor is the Gathering Hall on Sedna a place we could fabricate digitally. More pertinently, Admiral Minamoto has shared with me just how often Geneva has lied to you regarding delays in shipment of fusor replacement parts for your Compact Fusion Reactor power plants. Could they not be lying about me and my AV imagery?”

  “They could be.” Ying looked to the admiral who now knelt beside Jack. “Fleet Admiral, your naval service for the Communitarian Unity is illustrious. And your control of visiting ship crews while on Mars has been . . . appreciated by my merchants. Why are you here with this . . . Asteroid Belt citizen?”

  “Because of my oath.”

  “Your oath?” Ying said, looking puzzled.

  “My oath to protect humanity from the violence of criminal elements. Which the Belter Rebellion, with respect to veteran Maureen O’Dowd who guards your hatchway, became. In the view of Geneva. However, my oath also includes an allegiance to the Fourth Protocol of the Concord of Mars. Which Geneva recently ordered me to violate when I encountered Captain Munroe’s ship near comet 5145 Pholus.”

  The minister blinked, crossed arms over his morning robe
, and looked intent. “So. That allegation by this Munroe person was correct?”

  “It was,” Minamoto said. “Of greater importance was a Geneva secret I just learned from citizen O’Dowd. And from Captain Munroe.”

  “Which was?” Ying said, looking impatient.

  “The threat to thermonuke Ceres asteroid in 2072 unless the Belter Rebellion fighters surrendered unconditionally to Unity naval forces. While both sides used thermonukes in space battles, no one had used them against human population centers. As the Unity threatened to do.”

  “That is indeed worrisome. But ancient history,” Ying said. “How does it relate to citizen Munroe and his new Belter rebellion that claims Alien predators are attacking Sol system?”

  Minamoto grimaced. “Because Sol system is being attacked by predatory Aliens. It sounds crazy, but I have seen other AV records of Munroe and his people. Especially the record of this Manager Menoma who said interstellar society is arranged into predatory, star traveling peoples who claim ownership of systems occupied by herbivore peoples.” Minamoto sighed as behind them, the moon Phobos rose, adding its illumination to early morning on Mars. “Either humanity shows it is a predator people able to defend our home territory of Sol system, or we will come under the control of these HikHikSot aliens. And believe me, in this case the predatory ‘look’ of these Aliens who resemble Earth’s keystone predators is no accident. These Aliens betray the result of natural selection operating on interstellar scales.”

  “Most disturbing,” Ying said, looking to Jack. “Citizen Munroe, you have a small fleet, compared to the Unity naval forces. While you have won your space battles, the future has no guarantees. Why should Mars reject the direction of Geneva and the rules of Brussels in favor of joining your . . . Second Belter Revolution?”