by John Walker
“Thanks …” Warren examined it but it didn’t look like anything he’d seen before. Just a perfect black box. “We’ll have to figure out how to access this data. But for now, how the hell do we get out of this thing?”
“Leave that to me,” Avania replied. She moved over to the wall they entered from and pressed her hands against two different sections. It began to lower. “I recommend we make haste to speak with whoever is in charge, however. If you want to retaliate, we’re going to need to be swift.”
“Why?” Dex asked.
“Because it’s very likely they will send the shuttles to collect more specimens. And when that happens, we’re going to need to be ready to stop them.” Avania clasped her hands behind her back. “And after that, the real war begins.”
“What’s that mean?” Dex looked at Warren. “Do you have any idea what she’s talking about?”
Warren nodded. “If we blow that thing up, someone’s coming for us. If we let it go, then we’re easy pickings and will invite another one. Regardless of how we respond, we’re entering a long-term engagement … one I’m not entirely sure we’re ready for. That’s what I was talking about earlier when I made my recruitment call.”
“I get it, but you guys are making it sound like this will happen fast.”
“Fast is relative,” Avania said. “These fools planned a long cruise. They will not be missed for a while. That gives us time. I hope your people are not the kind to waste such a precious commodity because we will need every minute if we’re to prepare. Now … shall we disembark? Medical attention and what I hope will be nourishment await.”
Warren looked outside at the field that surrounded the Agency base. The golden grass swayed in the wind. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and let it out. He’d never been so happy to see a place in his entire life and that said a lot considering some of the wars he’d fought in.
The sound of motors reached them as multiple trucks pulled up to the craft. Men disembarked, taking cover behind their vehicles while aiming their rifles up at the opening. “Attention!” A man’s voice crackled over a loud speaker. “All inhabitants of this object must raise their hands and depart in an orderly fashion! Now!”
Warren lifted his hands and stepped forward into the light. “Lower your weapons, please! I’m Captain Warren Miller and these are our people.”
“Slow down!” The voice shouted back. “Identify yourself again!”
“Captain Warren Miller! I’m one of the leads on the Leviathan project! Now please tell me you brought some medics with you! We’ve got a lot of wounded who need some attention and no time to screw around with this nonsense!” He stepped fully out onto the grass and several of the men lifted their weapons. “That’s a good start.”
“Stand down!” Colonel Jacks stepped out of a jeep, rushing over to Warren. He pulled him into a hug. “We thought we lost you, man! We thought you were gone!”
“No sir,” Warren returned the embrace, “some of us made it … but not all. God, I’ve got a horror story to tell you but we don’t have time. If we want to take care of that ship, we need to act fast. I’ve got us the best help possible and a few ideas. Let’s get back to base and figure this out. We’ve got a bit of a score to settle.”
***
Jacks sat through the briefing with wide eyes, unable to hide his revulsion and shock. Warren kept it quick and to the point with Lieutenant Dexter Pollard backing him up. The two men had been through a great deal, saw a lot of their own people die and lived to talk about it. He admired the fact they were up for more without some downtime.
What choice do they have? The grim thought made him consider the difficulty of their situation. They needed to disable or destroy the enemy ship. If they escaped, they’d report back what happened and cause more trouble. Once it was gone, Earth would have some time but it would be short.
Conflict, regardless of their decision, was inevitable.
Once Jacks found out they had an alien in their midst, he had her locked up on the Leviathan. The private quarters were put under guard. Warren didn’t protest and that seemed to cause some friction between the two. Dex, on the other hand, advocated for her. He made it quite clear they were only alive because she helped.
Chief Delgado and Doctor Morgan Tillinghast sat in on the meeting as well. The former was there to hear about the new technology while the latter planned to give a briefing on the medical needs of those they rescued. Her report showed promise for all of them but her evaluation of the wounds inflicted by the weapons did not sound good.
With the story of their activities on the ship concluded, Jacks turned his attention to Avania and her fate.
“Dex has said you owe your lives to this alien. Tell me more about her. Why was she locked up?”
“She says she’s part of a royal family,” Warren explained. “Her side doesn’t believe in this … collection process and they were deposed. She was in hiding when these bastards showed up at the planet she was on and took her captive, hoping to take advantage of a bounty. If she returns, they’ll execute her.”
“Truth,” Dex said. “At least, that’s what she told us and none of the other aliens really talked after the first one. After that, there was a lot of shooting and very little conversation. But hey, we wouldn’t have been able to pilot that ship or stop it from just going right back even if we did.”
“She wanted out as much as we did,” Warren added, “but I should point out that she didn’t help us because she was feeling altruistic. She did it to survive.”
“There’s always more than one reason to do a thing,” Victoria pointed out. “I think you told me that once.”
Warren scowled at her and she shrugged.
“Okay, so we know she’s at least partially on our side,” Jacks said. “And she might be able to help us with the next part of our dilemma. Doctor Meyers can attest to you all that taking this ship out isn’t going to be easy. We’ve been looking at the data we gathered and it’s tough. The shields alone … we can’t penetrate them.”
“Something can,” Warren said. “That shuttle we stole … I’m sure it could get back on board. If so, we could send it up with enough explosives to put a hole in the world. Once it docks, we detonate and boom. No more enemy ship. It’s not exactly subtle, but I’m pretty sure it’ll work.”
“Maybe,” Doctor Meyers replied. “The shield interferes with scans and com signals. If we go with your plan, we may have to use a timed detonation. However, I’d like to protest this idea. If we reverse engineer that craft out there, we can learn a great deal about this culture and their technology. Destroying it would be a waste.”
Jacks nodded. “He has a point there. That’s an invaluable asset you brought to us.”
“I’m sure you’ll learn a great deal from the weapons,” Warren said. “You’ll have some time while we pull things together. Scan the hell out of it, take hull samples, do whatever you need to but we need to use that thing as a Trojan horse. Unless our weapons can bring those shields down, this is our best bet.”
“We’re fairly certain the weapons will work on the hull,” Jacks replied, “but the shields are tough. They’re also how they attacked our ship up there and shut it down … along with several bases and a few cities. To be honest, I’m shocked they haven’t retaliated for your little escape. If you were worth so much to them, that is.”
Dex lifted his hand, “begging your pardon, but I really think Avania should be in on this conversation. She understands these people far better than we do and can offer insights we’ll need for any tactical engagement. If you consider what’s at stake, we should be using every resource at our disposal.”
Jacks turned to Warren. “Do you agree with that?”
Warren hesitated for a long moment and finally nodded. “Yes, he’s right.” He turned to one of the guards at the door. “Bring our guest in here right away.”
Dex smirked as the man left. “She’s not going to be happy about being locked away again.”
“No, I imagine not,” Warren said. “I’m sure she’ll understand. At least it was a suite instead of a jail cell.”
“Gilded cages and all that?” Dex offered.
Warren waved his hand at him. “That’s enough. Just … let’s focus.”
A moment later, the guard opened the door and Avania stepped inside. She held her head high, hands clasped behind her back as she scrutinized the people sitting around the table. Jacks stood up and offered his hand to her as he approached, putting on a smile in hopes that he might sway her from his earlier command of isolating her.
“My name is Colonel Wyman Jacks of the Space Agency. I apologize for having to lock you up but I’m sure you understand the situation is tense right now. We didn’t have time to vet you properly.”
“But you need my help now,” Avania replied. She regarded his hand for a moment before looking him in the eyes. “And so I’m suddenly vetted … or at least deemed safe enough to have a conversation with. Is that basically the story?”
“Basically.” Jacks gestured to a chair. “Please, sit down. We have a lot of questions.”
“I’m sure you do.” Avania sat but remained on the edge of the seat, her posture ramrod straight.
“Are you concerned about the germs here?” Doctor Tillinghast asked. “Disease? Any of that?”
Avania’s brows went up. “No, we have a sort of inoculation for interstellar travel. Before we dive into fundamentals of that nature, I’m assuming the immediate threat of the collector ship is far more important. Is that correct?”
“It is,” Warren said. “We were thinking about putting a bunch of bombs in the shuttle we stole and sending it back up there.”
“An admirable idea,” Avania replied, “but not entirely practical, based on your earlier proclivities and qualms.”
“What do you mean?” Dex asked. “What’re you talking about? You said the people we left behind were … were dead.”
“They are,” Avania confirmed. “But there will be more. Soon. I’m surprised you haven’t already detected the shuttles descending on this planet again. They’ll collect quite a few more because they have time now. When I caused that little disruption in their power relays on our way out, I bought you the opportunity to destroy them but now they have no excuse not to collect more resources.”
“Damn it!” Warren clenched his fist. “We can’t let that happen. We have to save those people. Believe me, I’ve seen what happened to them and there’s no way they should be left to that fate.”
“Agreed,” Jacks said. “But how? What do we do?”
“I can muster a force,” Dex replied. “If you have some marines on hand, I can get them ready and we can go up there with our own weapons. Save the people and get out.”
“How’s that going to work?” Delgado asked. “We can’t penetrate the shields without their shuttle. And if you guys get up there with one of our own shuttles, it’ll be turned off like our other ships.”
“We go back in the orb thing,” Dex said. “Load it with the explosives Warren talked about. We’ll put them inside the large ship, get our people and escape the way we came in if we have to. Bombs will detonate after we’re out and boom. We’ve saved the planet and all their prisoners. It’ll have to be quick though because we’ll want to get aboard sneakily.”
“Will they know which shuttle is which?” Warren asked. “Will they realize the one we stole is on its way back?”
Avania frowned, looking away. “I believe I can do something with the computer to scramble that part. If you’re willing to take some shots at the ones that are going back to the ship, they may chalk up a computer malfunction to damage. Plus, I think you could distract them with this battlecruiser.”
“Get up there and attack,” Victoria said. “They’ll be intimidated at first, or at least focus on us for a time. That could give them a chance to get on board and do their work.”
“I like it.” Jacks tapped the table. “It has a lot of risk but I think it’s reasonable. Anyone have any problems with what we’re talking about so far?”
Doctor Meyers lifted his hand. “We don’t want to take out those shuttles. How likely is it that our weapons will cause severe damage? Those are our people inside and if they get hurt or killed trying to make this ruse work … I don’t think anyone wants that.”
“That is a possibility,” Avania said. “I don’t know how potent your weapons are. Ours would knock them out of the sky easily. Do you use beams?”
“Projectiles,” Warren replied.
“Then we are fine. Concussion will nudge them but the shields should deflect the majority of the damage.” Avania shrugged. “You’ll have to take the chance, regardless. They have technical superiority but they’re not military men. Listening to Dex there, I think that gives you the advantage.”
“That’s good to hear.” Jacks hummed, staring at the table with narrow eyes. “We need to time this well. Get the ship launched, attack those pods … when they come … and have the team ready. How much time do you think we have?”
Avania looked around. “Assuming they have not sent the shuttles yet, we need to muster ourselves now. Get your boarding team, find the air craft to attack and ignite the engines on this ship. You must be prepared to counter their move, the one we know they’re about to make.”
Jacks said, “I’ll organize the air attack. Dex, we have plenty of solid marines available to call upon for this. I’m thinking environmental suits should offset the potential lack of oxygen in that shuttle. Pick your roster quickly. Meyers, talk to Madison to procure the explosives we need to take that thing down.”
Warren added, “we’ll get the Leviathan up and ready. When the small shuttles are on their way down, we’ll head up and meet the mothership. I hope that EMP thing you talked about works, Meyers. But even if it doesn’t, I want all crew members to have their environmental suits on and ready.”
“I’ll make sure that happens,” Victoria said. “I would like to point out that we’re ready for launch now. The countdown was delayed a couple of times but we can ignite the engines right away. Once we have the word, we’ll open the hangar and leave. Nicolas has been fidgeting at his station all morning waiting for this.”
Avania stood. “I would like to stay aboard this vessel and assist with the attack. I assume we will be coordinating events from your bridge. If we need to be nimble and make a change, you’ll want me on hand. As an advisor, of course.”
Jacks nodded. “Totally agree. Warren, get cleaned up and throw on a uniform. I think you’ve got the ten minutes for that. Everyone else, we’ve got our work cut out for us. I’ll be in the control room the whole time. Keep the tactical com net open and we’ll take down this invading bastard. Good luck, people. Get to it.”
***
Victoria followed Warren as he left the room, catching up when he was halfway down the hall. “Hey, stranger,” she said. “I’m glad you made it back. This thing would’ve been hell to fly without you and I’m not sure I could’ve handled talking to Jacks all the time. It’s nice to have a buffer.”
Warren chuckled. “I’m sure. Thanks for everything you did. Jacks told me about it on the way back into the base … that you were a real pistol about ensuring we were ready to launch. I was going to push for it if I would’ve made it in. I’m glad we were on the same page but then …”
“When we’ve got a minute, and you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll be here,” Victoria said. “I can’t really imagine what that place was like.”
“What they were doing was far worse than being there.” Warren shook his head. “Believe me, if that’s what we have to look forward to, then war’s the only option. They basically think we’re just harvestable material … they had no empathy, despite the fact we speak their language and even look like they do.”
“So what’s the deal with the woman?”
“Avania?” Warren shook his head. “She’s complicated. Don’t get me started. Her name alone. Something l
ike Avania Nika Dilanth … House of Keth. I don’t know. It was a mouthful when we first met her and I haven’t had a chance to learn more about the ‘royal’ thing yet. I can tell you this, it isn’t England style figurehead nonsense.”
“I’m sure you remember what it was like fighting monarchy run countries,” Victoria pointed out. “The soldiers weren’t exactly committed to the cause. Couldn’t wait to surrender when we put it to them hard.”
“That’s because our opponents were starving. They didn’t have our luxuries, our conveniences and much as their leaders wanted to keep it from them, they knew what they were missing.” Warren patted her on the shoulder. “No, this won’t be the same. These people have plenty and I’m worried about their zeal.”
“What do you mean?”
“The people we faced on that ship threw their lives away to keep us,” Warren said. “Zeal for money, zeal for country … I have a bad feeling that’s what we’re about to encounter. If that’s the case, we’ll have quite the force to reckon with. Worse … I don’t know that we’re going to be able to handle this alone.”
“Who’s going to help us?”
Warren shrugged. “I don’t know but look at it this way. We know the collectors had a route. That means other planets, other people have been kidnapped and stolen. You think they liked it? No, those people are potential allies out there. But … we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We need to contend with our own problem before moving on.”
“Agreed.” They stopped before his quarters. Victoria shook his hand. “I’ll see you on the bridge, Captain.”
“Hope the water’s hot,” Warren replied. “Be up there soon.”
***
Jacks got Ted on the line, bringing him swiftly up to speed. The politician had a hundred questions, but he held his tongue. He seemed particularly interested in Avania, though they didn’t dive into what specifically she was nor her involvement in the upcoming operation. Only that they had a plan to deal with the alien vessel.