Sullivan Saga 3: Sullivan's Watch

by Michael K. Rose

  Half the alien fighters broke off toward another squadron, and the other half went in pursuit of Pickett’s. Over the next several minutes, Pickett saw three of the F-66s in his squadron destroyed, but not before they took out the same number of enemy fighters. Pickett himself brought down three more, and the rest of his squadron mopped up the rest.

  During the dogfight, Pickett was aware, at the periphery of his attention, that the front of the alien mothership had opened up. He also heard Admiral Long urging him to attack, but he was too busy engaging the enemy fighters to do so.

  As the other alien ship had, this one launched a ring of missiles from its nose. The missiles banked as soon as they were clear of the ship and sped toward the Oberon.

  The dogfight ended just in time for Commander Pickett to see the missiles strike the Oberon. The small ship only had limited offensive and defensive capabilities, and her crew was not able to shoot down enough of the missiles to save themselves.

  The Oberon exploded, sending debris down toward the Earth where it broke up further as it struck the atmosphere. The debris streaked earthward, and Pickett watched one of the larger pieces until it disappeared beneath the cloud cover. It looked like it was on course to land somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

  His attention was soon brought back to his immediate surroundings as two more alien fighters found him and his squadron, but they were defeated without any further loss. Pickett checked his instruments.

  “Admiral, this is Commander Pickett. We need to refuel and reload. Request permission to return to the Vigilant.”

  “Permission granted, Commander. We have two more squadrons launching now.”

  Pickett glanced back at the alien mothership before turning back toward the Vigilant. The damage their missiles had caused seemed superficial, but the enemy wasn’t sending nearly as many fighters out as they had during the last battle. Pickett guessed that they felt confident that they were safe as long as their shield was up and were only sending out fighters or missiles when they knew nothing else could get in.

  If that was the case, it was going to be a long battle. The humans hadn’t been the only ones to learn from the first engagement; the aliens were being careful now. They’d sent a bigger ship and seemed willing to bide their time. Perhaps they were stalling on purpose, waiting for another of their ships to arrive. If that happened, Pickett knew that Earth’s defenses would fall.

  23

  RICK SULLIVAN WATCHED the battle from afar. If the aliens sent a ship after his freighter, he’d have plenty of time to jump into hyperspace before they reached him. He knew he might have to deal with the entities once there, but it was his only option; the freighter was completely defenseless.

  He’d been alone since he’d left Ives behind on Earth and was beginning to worry that something had happened to Frank Allen. He didn’t know what Allen had planned. What if he never returned? Sullivan supposed he could go back to Earth and help fight the aliens on the ground, but for the time being he felt helpless.

  A massive explosion caught his attention, and he guessed that one of the larger ships had been destroyed. He closed his eyes and lowered his head but jerked it back up. There’d been a sound behind him.

  Sullivan spun around and came face to face with Frank Allen, looking tired but determined.

  “Frank! Where the hell have you been?”

  “I’m sorry, Rick. I couldn’t get away until now. Liz and the other entities… I’ve been fighting them almost constantly since the last time I saw you. But now they’re busy trying to influence the aliens in this battle.”

  “I need more information, Frank. What’s going on?”

  Allen moved closer and looked at the monitor in front of Sullivan. “These aliens,” he said, pointing, “are desperate. Their battle with the other species in their part of the galaxy isn’t going well. They were using their wormhole technology to investigate other planets, even other parallel universes, trying to find a place to relocate, a place where their enemies couldn’t follow.

  “Earth—our Earth, not the parallel Earth where we met Captain Quinn—is a horrible choice for them. They could have easily found an uninhabited planet somewhere that would have supported them.”

  “But the hyperspace entities had other plans,” Sullivan said.

  “Exactly. These aliens are a lot more susceptible to psychic manipulation. In fact, Liz and the other entities found that they could almost control them like puppets. The reason we were sent to the parallel Earth wasn’t to close the wormhole and save it. It was to give the aliens a trail to follow us back here. The hyperspace entities convinced them that humans were as big a threat to them as their other enemies, that we could easily destroy them. So they came here to hit us before we could hit them. They want to take the Earth for themselves. The environment is almost perfect for them, and we have a lot of infrastructure they can use. That’s why they haven’t just carpet-bombed the planet.”

  “So what do we do, Frank? What’s our play?”

  He pointed to the screen again. “That’s the alien mothership. Onboard are all the highest-ranking members of their society. Their planet is about to fall, so they made their escape while they still could. The rest of their ships stayed behind to fight their enemies to the death.”

  “So this is literally an all-or-nothing proposition for them.”

  “Yes. I have to give Liz credit… the way she’s manipulated them, made them think this was the only option… it’s masterful. But there’s one thing Liz didn’t count on. She didn’t think I’d find out about the aliens’ little toy.”

  Sullivan arched an eyebrow.

  “There was only one way the aliens knew they’d be safe,” Allen said. “They had to leave their home planet but also make sure no one could follow. Their home planet is on the other side of the galaxy, so they had to see to it that their enemies couldn’t use the wormhole technology. The ones left behind have orders to destroy the technology and all information related to it, but there’s a chance that might not get done.”

  “So what do they have planned?”

  “They’ve discovered a way to collapse hyperspace.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I, honestly, but they’re convinced their device will work, and Liz seems to think so, too. She’s tried everything to hide it from me.”

  “So if hyperspace collapses… what will this mean, Frank? No one can travel via hyperspace again?”

  “I… I don’t know, Rick. But I think so.”

  “Back on Faris… you were trying to tell me to bring Kate with me, weren’t you?”

  Allen nodded. “I’m sorry, Rick. Liz pulled me away. By the time I could get back, you had already left. I know what it means, asking you to do this. But if you don’t do it, Earth will fall, and so will all the other inhabited planets. Billions will die, Rick. I’m sorry that this is the choice you have to make.”

  Sullivan sat in silence, staring at the battle playing out on his monitor. “All this happened on my watch. I’m responsible. I suppose I’m going to have to live with the consequences of that.”

  “You’re not responsible.”

  “I am, Frank. I was so focused on getting to Edaline to overthrow the government that I used Benjamin Alexander’s hyper-hyperspace technology. He’d abandoned his testing and even warned me about the entities. They might never have bothered humans again if I hadn’t used those ships.”

  “They would have, Rick. Mr. Alexander himself said someone else was likely to develop the same technology before long. You always did what you felt you needed to do. You always did what was right. You knew long before the rest of us what was right and what was wrong, and I can tell that you know what the right thing is now. You have to activate that device.”

  Sullivan shook his head. “Get aboard the alien mothership? How do you suggest I do that?”

  “I’m essentially an entity like Liz and the others. I can blind them to your presence. You can get on and off without th
em ever knowing you were there.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  Allen shook his head. “Liz convinced them to fight this unnecessary war. Their entire leadership is aboard that ship right now. You think that happened with just a few subtle suggestions? They’re highly advanced in a lot of ways, but something about the structure of their brains left them wide open to the entities.”

  Sullivan sighed. “So you sneak me aboard. I get the device. Then what?”

  “You have to take it into hyperspace and activate it. If it works the way it’s supposed to, hyperspace will collapse. All their wormholes will close, and they won’t be able to send any more troops through.”

  “But if there’s no hyperspace, what happens to you, Frank?”

  Allen looked away. “I don’t know. I think I’ll die. Again. Only this time there will be nowhere for my energy to go. But that doesn’t matter, Rick. The entities will be gone, too. Earth will be safe.”

  “And what happens to everyone traveling in hyperspace right now?”

  “Based on what I’ve gleaned, there are two possibilities. Either they’ll simply drop out of hyperspace or… they’ll die when it collapses.”

  “There must be thousands in hyperspace right now. If they don’t die, if they just drop out of hyperspace, they’ll be stranded between star systems. They’ll die anyway.”

  “I know. And… you can’t set a timer on this thing. When you activate it, it’ll do whatever it does immediately. You’ll be in hyperspace when it happens. I’d do it, but as soon as I’m back in hyperspace, Liz will be on top of me. I’ll have to focus all my energy on fighting her.”

  Sullivan nodded. “Okay. I understand that there’s no other option. I’m ready.”

  Allen looked back at the screen. “We have to wait for the right opportunity to get you aboard that ship. The shield needs to be down, and there can’t be too many of those fighters flying around; I might not be able to control that many of them at one time.”

  “So I just wait?”

  “Just wait, Rick. I’m going to go start putting ideas in their heads. I’ll let you know when everything’s ready.”

  Allen faded away, and Sullivan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Whatever happened now, he knew would never see Kate again. It didn’t matter if he failed or if he succeeded. She was lost to him. He tried to keep this thought at bay so he could focus on the mission. The old Richard Sullivan would have been able to do that without effort, but he couldn’t. He was too close to Kate. She was already a part of him.

  24

  COMMANDER DAVID PICKETT leaned back in his seat and waited for his F-66 fighter to launch back out into battle. So far, the Vigilant had not taken any damage, and the alien ship was still being cautious. This meant that Earth’s defenses were easily handling the few enemy fighters that did launch, but it also meant that they hadn’t yet had another opportunity to hit the alien ship directly.

  Pickett and what was left of his squadron engaged a handful of fighters on their way to the alien ship. When the immediate area was cleared of the enemy, they came to a stop in front of the mothership and waited. Unless something unexpected happened, the aliens would not be able to launch more fighters without Pickett’s squadron getting another chance to hit their ship.

  “Are you standing by?” Admiral Long said in the headset.

  “Yes, sir. No hostiles in our vicinity. We should be able to give them everything we have when their shield comes down.”

  “That’s great news, Commander. Stay sharp. They’re not giving us very many opportunities like this.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Pickett checked his instruments. He didn’t see how the enemy could avoid getting hit again, and they had definitely gone on the defensive. It seemed like there was something worth protecting on this ship. Why they’d sent it into battle if they weren’t willing to commit, Pickett could only guess.

  After a few minutes, Pickett’s chance came. The nose of the alien ship began to open up. A quick check of his instruments told him that it was aimed directly at the Vigilant. The large weapon housed in the nose was going to fire.

  Pickett spoke quickly into his headset, making sure everyone knew the plan of attack.

  “We see it, Commander Pickett,” Admiral Long said. “Just make sure you take that thing out before they have a chance to fire.”

  “Aye-aye, sir.”

  Pickett fired his thrusters and sped toward the front of the alien ship, his squadron following behind. Activity along the side of the alien ship caught his attention. They were sending out more fighters. The enemy fighters arranged themselves into arrow formations in front of the mothership. Immediately, Pickett knew what they had planned.

  “Admiral,” he said, “move the Vigilant out of position. We’re going to get tied up by enemy fighters as soon as they lower their shield and might not have a chance to hit their main weapon.”

  Back on the bridge of the Vigilant, Admiral Long had seen what was happening and had already begun emergency maneuvers when Pickett’s warning came through.

  “Understood, Commander,” he said.

  The Vigilant slowly began moving forward and to her starboard, but it’d be fifteen more seconds before the ship was completely clear of the alien’s weapon. On his screen, he saw the alien fighters dart forward and intercept Pickett’s F-66s.

  “Brace for impact!” he yelled.

  The view screen lit up as a beam of electric blue light shot out from the nose of the alien ship. Long was thrown to the right as the beam hit the midsection of the Vigilant and cleaved it in half, sending the stern spinning off to the right and the bow, where the bridge was housed, flying in the opposite direction.

  Admiral Long pushed off from the wall as the artificial gravity generators failed. He grabbed onto the main console at the front of the bridge and tried to read the ship’s vitals.

  The screen blinked out, and the bridge was enveloped in darkness. Red emergency lights flashed on, illuminating the way to the escape pods.

  “Abandon ship!” he yelled to the bridge crew.

  In the dim lighting, he could see three or four of his crew moving, trying to make their way toward the bridge’s two escape pods.

  One man—he couldn’t tell who—was floating in the middle of the bridge, unable to reach the walls or anything else to push himself off of.

  Long pushed off from the console and grabbed the man’s leg as he went. He pushed him toward one of the escape pods before slamming into the wall opposite. He grabbed for something but his hand came up empty, and he bounced back toward the other side of the bridge. At the same instant, the narrow window at the front of the bridge lit up.

  “Admiral!” someone yelled from the escape pod.

  Admiral Long grabbed onto the front console again. It was shaking violently. He looked up and saw that the front half of the Vigilant was entering Earth’s atmosphere.

  He looked back at the escape pods. Everyone who was still alive on the bridge had reached the same pod. “Go!” he yelled. “I’ll take the other one!”

  The door to the pod slid shut. There was too much noise and vibration to tell if it had disengaged from the ship, but he saw the green light above the pod door switch from green to red.

  Admiral Long pushed off again toward the remaining escape pod. Once again, he missed the handrail along the wall and went bouncing through the bridge. As he was about to make another attempt, the door to the pod slid shut, and the light switched to red. The pod had been breached, and the ship had automatically sealed it off.

  Long found something to hold onto and pulled his body tight against the wall of his ship. He heard a cracking sound and looked up to see the glass in the window begin to craze.

  Admiral Ryan Long took a deep breath, closed his eyes and held on to his ship for as long as he was able.

  COMMANDER PICKETT SCREAMED into his headset. He didn’t have time to mourn the loss of the Vigilant, though, as an alien fighter swooped in behind
him and fired a pair of missiles. Pickett nosed his F-66 up and rolled it nose to tail. He fired his main thrusters and sped toward the oncoming missiles. He dove at the last second, and the missiles passed above his head. He opened up with his machine cannons and destroyed the alien fighter as it attempted to climb out of his sights.

  He saw a squadron of enemy fighters turn and head toward the Izumo. The Oberon and the Izumo had always been there mainly as a distraction, and while the Izumo could launch a single squadron of fighters, Pickett knew they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves for long.

  “Izumo, do you read me?” he said into his headset.

  “Loud and clear.”

  “This is Commander Pickett. Recommend you disengage and jump into hyperspace.”

  “Negative, Commander. We’re not leaving.”

  Pickett gritted his teeth. “All available fighters, with me.”

  He was joined by the remnants of the other F-66 squadrons as well as a few of the slower but more heavily armed F-88s.

  “Take out those fighters before they reach the Izumo,” he said.

  A chorus of affirmative responses chimed in his headset. Pickett set his jaw. The Vigilant was gone, and they all knew there was only one thing left to do: fight to the last man.

  25

  SULLIVAN JUMPED AS Frank Allen’s voice echoed in his ear. He turned to see his friend standing beside him.

  “Now, Rick! Go now!”

  Sullivan fired the freighter’s thrusters and aimed the craft at the alien mothership. “How will I know their shield is down?”

  “Just trust me; I’ll take care of it. But I need quiet right now, Rick. I’m battling Liz for control of the alien commander’s mind.”

  Sullivan nodded and focused on piloting the ship. The freighter automatically weaved in and out between the debris littering the site of the battle, but Sullivan kept his hands on the controls in case something flew into their path and the automated system didn’t have time to correct.