His mouth had fallen open. And I could see him eyeing my medal ribbons. At the top were the Victoria Cross, and the Medal of Honour. Those eyes held recognition, and there was no way he could know what they were unless he'd been around humans a lot later than he'd suggested.
"Who are you?" he asked me.
I grinned at him.
"Just someone who's been reading and watching sci-fi going back to when it began in the twentieth century."
"You must be older than you look."
"No, younger. The last two years have aged me more than I like to think about."
It was probably my beard. It did make me look older.
Jeeves appeared with drinks for both of us, and I held my glass up. He clinked it, and we both drank. He followed me back to my lounge chair, and found an extra one waiting for him. We both sank into them. I could see most of his people still with most of my team. That figured since most of his were men, and most of mine were women. I wasn’t sure his knew what they were getting into.
Jane stepped up onto the podium.
Eighteen
A hollo screen came on behind her, showing the arm of the galaxy which used to be ours.
People started taking notice, and the buzz after Arthur had stopped speaking slowly fell to nothing. I could see Hobbes in one corner of the room, and Roo in another, both now paying attention.
Jane began with the launching of the three great Explorer ships, Galactica, Enterprise, and Prometheus, back in the middle twenty first century. I saw Arthur nod, as if he'd been there at the time.
The map behind her showed the path the three ships had taken, and went fast forward through the years. Systems coloured as colonies formed, spreading out in both directions from Earth. Sectors formed. Systems changed colours as disputes changed their ownership. The last war one hundred years before swept through the Earth sector, and was met just outside the American sector, and slowly pushed back.
Pirates began to take systems, and the map showed them marauding up and down the spine, ending up mainly at the extreme ends.
Jane stopped the image, and let everyone have a good look.
"This was the map of human space, only two short years ago. The day Jon Hunter left his home, and almost lost his life to a pirate in the Sydney system."
One system now pulsed.
"This is Midgard. So named because the colonists took their Nordic mythology seriously. What they also took seriously was a prophecy of the coming of Darkness. The prophecy was first written on Earth, and left on Galactica, carried forward six hundred years, and held in trust by a group of Jon's people. Within a few months, Midgard began a war."
The map changed to show the systems which changed ownership. I shuddered thinking about that time.
"Jon Hunter was a minor officer in the Australian militia at the time, and on Pompeii," and another system pulsed for a moment, "ending a civil war. By the time he reached the jump point into Midgard, the war had started, and the Americans where holding a blockade there. Having lost a cruiser and a squadron of fighters already, they were casting around for what to do next, when it was casually suggested they send in the hero."
There was a titter of laughter. And true enough, it had been said.
"The war was fought over the lower part of the Sci-Fi sector, and held back by a combination of Jon's personal forces and the remains of the Australian forces, and at the jump into the Sci-Fi capital system, by a combined force of Sci-Fi, British, and once again, Jon's personal forces. You ask how can Jon have amassed what was really his own space navy in a few short months, and it was because he salvaged everything he could, and put them back into service upgraded and more lethal than before, forming the core of the forces which then prosecuted the war to completion."
She looked around the silent room, and directly at the cams, so each of the other groups could see her looking at them.
"This station, and the one called Redoubt, were spoils of war. Jon Hunter started as a lowly Lieutenant Commander, and finished the war as a Vice Admiral. He fought the promotions the whole way, but those who judged him, found him not only worthy, but better able to fight a war no-one was prepared for, than they themselves could. He was awarded many medals for his acts and deeds, including the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Honour. And while he would have us believe he has no civilian rank anymore, he was named a Duke of the British Sector," Arthur looked startled, "and a Knight of the British Sector. In spite of events, you don’t lose these unless they have been taken from you, and they have not."
There was some spirited applause, and I tried to hide in my chair. Those around me laughed.
"His other award of note was ownership of these three systems, joining the Sci-Fi and Australian sectors." Midnight, Bad Wolf, and Nexus systems lit up. "Outback joined the new duchy, which some media wag had called 'Hunter's Run' at an earlier date, when the media caught up with how fast he'd gone through the systems on his way to Pompeii."
"Over the next months, the duchy was built, this station was completely rebuilt internally, and Jon and his team retrieved first the hulk of Enterprise, and later the remains of Prometheus, which was found in a system now called Death, being as it contains a lethal pulsar. In the process, the last of the major pirate groups were removed."
"One year after leaving home, Jon Hunter returned there. A cyclical jump point in the Outback system opened once a year, for a five day period. And for the first time in three hundred years, it was revealed to some the secret of Gaia, which is a system in another galaxy, containing a paradise planet and three Earth type planets. While there he learned the truth about the Darkness prophecy. I don’t think I've ever seen someone spit the dummy so fast and so majorly before."
Laughter started up from everyone who was Australian in origin, and it quickly spread to everyone else, as someone explained what a dummy spit was. I didn’t actually think I’d reacted that badly, but I certainly hadn't been happy, and had made that plain. Jane waited for the laughter to calm down.
"When the door to Gaia closed, we knew we had less than a year to prepare for a war most of human space refused to listen to. We told everyone, very few paid any attention. We did what we could to make our existing ships ready, and with our allies, we were waiting here." The War system pulsed. "But one ship was here in the aptly named Pestilence system," she pulsed that one, "shielded to the best of our ability, ready and waiting for what jumped in. This did."
The image which flashed up was massive, and no-one but those of us who had been there could make any sense of it. The image changed, to thousands of small ships heading away from it.
"Under all those small ships, we found this," an image of an asteroid flashed up, "and this."
The last was a battleship embedded in the asteroid.
"The aliens had captured a pirate battleship, and used it as a shield generator for the asteroid covered in layers of fighters."
"Son of a bitch!" came from the other side of the room, and heads turned to see a very angry tiger.
"You would care to elaborate Master Hobbes?"
Jane was being egg shell polite.
Hobbes looked around the room, and his eyes settled on Tanith, who nodded.
"Tanith's people came to our attention after they escaped from their planet before the Darkness ate everything on it. We used their seers to find out where this alien menace came from. We knew from them humans had set the Darkness free, but we never knew how."
His eyes sought mine.
"We made a mistake," I said, Jane making sure I was heard. "We thought the ship was destroyed, but it wasn’t."
"You should have made sure!"
"In hindsight yes. At the time, no-one knew it was important. This was before I found out the true nature of the prophecy. We paid the price for it."
An image flashed up on the screen, silencing the muttering which had begun. BigMother, her topside buried in the asteroid.
"And we took that asteroid from them," I added.
Thirteen appeared next to Jane, causing a mutter of alarm to start up.
"Jon and his team did the impossible that day. They took the asteroid from the Darkness, and because the other ships they had were small ones, it slowed them down getting their ships to both human space, and to the entrance to the inner galaxy."
"Jon Hunter and his team went on a suicide mission, which had a profound impact on how the war was fought on both sides of the Darkness system."
Clapping began, and I was amazed to see Hobbes started it, Roo added to it, and Arthur changed the speed up.
Once again, I tried to disappear into my chair.
Nineteen
A new image appeared.
I recognized it from the Last Hope system. The entire allied fleet, including Redoubt as it now was, arrayed around the jump point in, with thousands of enemy fighters already through and more coming every second.
"Holy shit!" said one of Arthur's people.
"Death by a thousand cuts?" asked Arthur quietly.
I nodded to him. Thirteen was now standing behind us, and Arthur shot him an annoyed glance.
"That was the scene at one of the jump points we defended," said Jane. "After narrowly avoiding serious losses by pulling out almost too late several times, Admiral Hunter changed tactics, and we fell back up the spine, system by system, evacuating everyone we could. In some sectors, this was very few, but as the nature of the disaster unfolding hit home further up the spine, we were able to save more and more."
Images of long lines of connected stations being moved by giant tugs flashed up, and then a shot of Borgcubia, which made many people gasp, when they saw what was obviously a battleship next to it. Arthur shot me a glance which contained awe.
"But we had a big problem," went on Jane, the map showing again now, as systems winked out as the Darkness took them.
She highlighted Midgard again.
"During the rearguard through over two hundred systems," I saw all of our alien friends jerk slightly as they finally became aware of the scope of our withdrawal, "one thing mattered. We had to get all of our people to the Outback system in time for the door to Gaia to open, and we had to move them all through within the five days the jump point was active, and complete this without the Darkness finding the jump point. To do this, we had to slow them down."
The map stopped losing systems. The first bright system was now Hawaii.
An image flashed up.
"Good God!" exclaimed Arthur, and there were a lot of similar exclamations.
There were two main things showing, which was different from previous images. The number of alien ships was dramatically bigger, and all three of my Titan class ships were shown in full battle configuration. Most of my military had been there, and even so, most of them had not seen the battle from this perspective.
"Now I understand this morning," said Arthur quietly to me. "The galaxy has no idea what a threat you truly are to them. Even more so when your tech catches up."
"Threat? Hell no. I'm no threat to anyone."
"Just those who jump in with the wrong attitude showing," added my father.
The map started moving again, as we retreated through American space, and divided as one fleet continued along the spine, while a second took the route through Midgard. They joined again at Midnight.
"By now," went on Jane, "the door to Gaia was open. We held a couple of days more, and fell back to Outback. Once the door closed, we'd saved twenty five billion people."
Whistles stopped her for a few moments.
"We lost an estimated hundred billion people to save twenty five."
"But the projection was only ten billion," put in Bigglesworth.
I saw the four stars sitting in a group.
"Such a thing is beyond all understanding," said Roo. "In the retreat on the inner galaxy end, few planets managed to save all their people, and they tended to be smaller populations. I've never seen tactics like these used, with such an outcome in terms of people saved. One day I hope my people learn of this impossibility, and it stops any conflict we may currently have."
"With the prime objective achieved," went on Jane, "Jon Hunter and I had made plans in case any ships didn’t make it through. This station was moved outside the Outback system to provide a base for anyone left behind. As far as we knew at the time, no-one was. Jon did this."
A vid started playing, showing the Outback sun, which began to expand, until it had become a red giant. There was no sound, just shocked expressions.
"Why?" asked one of Arthur's people.
"We needed to make sure the Darkness would never find the jump point to Gaia," answered Jane. "They didn’t have the shielding to allow them to enter a sun, and the jump point was now within the sun. The plan was, when they arrived in the Outback system, they would find a red giant star, with little left in the outer system, and simply think it was a cul-de-sac system with nothing in it, and leave again. Gaia would be safe, and on the other end, nothing would ever be allowed to come through again."
"Where were you?" asked Arthur, looking at me, but he said it loud enough to carry to everyone.
I looked at Jane.
"Inside the star," she responded. "We survived because our new friends rescued us. While Arthur and his people are accustomed to magic, we are not, so magic moving our ship beyond the limits of the expansion was unexpected, and very timely."
"One day you'll tell me how you did that," Arthur said to me quietly. "Doesn’t explain last week though."
"Effectively the war was over," went on Jane. "But it actually wasn’t. From our new friends we learned the Darkness was loose in the main part of the galaxy, but they had a plan."
She paused.
"We didn’t use it."
"What did you do?" asked Arthur.
"Jon was the one who put it together. The skills of two magicians and a higher being. They went back in time and sealed the jump points so the Darkness could never get out, and nothing else could ever get in."
"Oh."
The single word from Arthur dropped into the stunned silence. All eyes turned to him.
"You did this knowing the consequences?"
"Yes," answered Jane. "Those who were in on the decision all chose to cease to exist."
Twenty
The silence dragged on.
"What went wrong then?" said a voice from somewhere in the crowd.
"Nothing," answered Jane. "It all worked perfectly. The time lines all reverted to before a lot of higher beings had started meddling in the affairs of the whole galaxy, in their attempt to stop the Darkness. Everything has changed from key points in history, for each species.
"Which is why the Keerah and the Ralnor are once again at war with each other," said Hobbes. "One of the only good things coming out of the Darkness War was the settling of old scores, and becoming reluctant comrades in the fight. All gone now."
"So why are we here?" asked someone else.
Jane looked at me, and I nodded again.
"We think a higher being saved us. We sacrificed everything to save the galaxy, and this must have impressed a higher enough to move us here, where we could continue to play a role in this new time line."
"What of the ones who went through to Gaia?"
The man looked shaken, and worried.
"A few of us had a strange experience a few days ago. A higher sent us on missions into what we think are some sort of alternate universes, and in one of them, we met someone who went to Gaia, and who was apparently about six months into the future as well."
Jane wasn’t mentioning it had been an alternate version of her.
"From her, we learned everyone there had been saved as well, and while there were problems for a while, they built an empire which now trades freely with the species of that galaxy. That is still in the future for us, but if anyone had family or friends who went to Gaia, be assured they are safe and well."
The noise level went up significantly as people took in the news and everyone sta
rted celebrating properly. Jane turned off the displays, stepped down from the rostrum, and quietly left.
"You okay?" I asked her, sub-vocalizing.
"Yes," she said through my PC. "Just need some alone time."
"We're here if you need us."
"I know."
The party went on, now changed into a true celebration.
"Jon."
"Yes Janice?"
"Can you go to your office please?"
"On my way."
I rose, made noises about being back soon, and headed towards the door into my personal space. I caught a glance from Arthur, and had the feeling he was following me, but didn’t look back.
I found Hobbes and Roo by the door, which I opened and walked through. My office was the first room on the left, and I walked to my desk and sat down behind it. Arthur took a seat on the other side, but the two large aliens chose to stand.
Janice walked in a few seconds later, with Jane behind her.
One of the wall screens came on, and a tactical plot of the disputed system came up. Janice pointed to the Keerah jump point, where a ship was showing. Specs for it popped up, revealing it to be destroyer sized.
"This jumped in a few minutes ago," said Janice.
"Scout," said Hobbes. "Probably deploying scanner drones which were destroyed in the last battle."
"I assume your people can send telemetry through a jump point?" I asked.
"Of course. But nothing like this resolution. I wasn’t aware you left anything behind when we were there. Did you?"
"It's standard practice," said Jane. "We don’t even mention it anymore. Even though we can see all three other jump points from our own, we always leave one at each jump point we find. If nothing else, it allows us to see in all directions from it."
I noticed she was being sparing with details. Standard practice in exploration mode was to drop them when we got there. Standard practice in a warzone was to use a cloaked Lightning to drop two at either point, one high and the other low, based on the system plane. Lightnings were the fastest ship we had, normally used for courier jobs, but Jane had perfected the cloak for them using a ship belt, at the cost of a lot of speed.
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