Admiral Lee thanked me and turned back to Captain Han, “Captain, the sixth fleet has been scouting very energetically and your fighters will be tasked with intercepting and destroying any fighters who stray too close. We cannot allow them to find and pin us down while they send in seven hundred fighters.”
Something the admiral said stopped me in my tracks. He continued to speak to Captain Han, but then stopped mid sentence, looking quizzically at me. He asked, “Commander?”
I said, “Sir, you said that the bugs were scouting energetically.” Admiral Lee looked at me with his usual intense focus and said, “Yes....?” I said, thinking as I spoke, “Sir, this sixth fleet, it wasn’t designed to establish a colony, it was, still is, a war fleet, designed to seek out and destroy. Sir they’re looking for the remains of those colony ships. I think we need to help them find what they’re looking for.”
Everyone was silent, looking at me, so I continued still thinking rapidly, “Sir, we believe that four of the five remaining colony fleets gathered together in an effort to destroy the pursuing home world fleets. We believe that they hoped to be able to destroy or incapacitate their enemy, allowing their one remaining colony to escape and establish itself on a new world. We don’t know how that would have worked out, but the most probable outcome would have been the total destruction of the species. Our intervention, sir, has given them a second chance.”
Admiral Lee asked, “How, second chance?” I thought furiously for another moment, then looked around the room, “Sir, we need to help them find the remains of the colony fleets. That is what they are looking for, we need to help them.”
Admiral Lee slowly nodded his head and said slowly, “Their job is finished.” I nodded, “Yes sir, their job is finished. The question now is, what are they going to do? I think...I think sir that they are going to want to go home, unless we screw it up by allowing them to find us first.”
Captain Han asked, “If that is so, won’t that still leave a terribly dangerous species in close proximity to us?” I looked at the captain and asked, “Sir, when the bug colony went to war with its home world, humans were living in city states, using bronze tools and riding on horseback. Where will we be two thousand years from now?”
Admiral Lee was beginning to smile, and said, “While they’ve been in space, their level of technology has been frozen in time, and humanity went out to the stars. Commander, what if they can’t make it back, or choose to colonize locally?” I said, “Sir, we help them. I think we owe them that. Hell, if they can build mother ships, so can we. Let’s help them get home.”
Admiral Lee was by now positively beaming. He asked, “Commander, what if they know about that system, and decide they don’t want to travel for another two thousand years?” I shrugged, “I have a hunch they won’t want to do that, but if they do, we’ll discourage them. I mean, sir, look at it from their viewpoint. All they are going to find are the remains of their own ships. In fact, we need to ensure that. We need to sanitize the remains of the Essex and the five – no, I’m sorry, six – destroyers, so that they only find bug remains.”
Elian said, “They won’t know that all we have is this tiny fleet, all they’ll know is that we destroyed five colonies with little or no losses of our own. We could perhaps leave something for them. A floating translator. We have several months to build something that would tell them that it’s time to go home. They’ll have to spend at least a year or so in a local solar system, refueling and repairing their ships, we could point them at a nearby solar system – not that one – and we could offer to help them get home.”
Admiral Lee looked at a chrono on the bulkhead and turned to Lt. Graziano, “Lieutenant, cancel all my appointments for the rest of the evening, except for Captain Speer, which is now just fifteen minutes away. I want you three”, he was looking at Elian, WO Kana and myself, “to remain here. Captain Han, please stand by in my quarters until I’ve finished speaking to Captain Speer. Lieutenant, please ensure that these three have enough coffee and doughnuts to last them for several hours. They are going to be spending that time working out a rough outline of what we’ve just discussed. Additionally, I want you to send out a message to all ships to prepare for a possible departure. If we don’t want the bug fleet discovering just how ineffective our fleet actually is, save for the Dresdens, the best way to ensure that is for us to get the hell out of here. Have a courier ship standing by. I’ll draft a message to earthgov, bringing it up to speed. I’m simply going to tell it that we believe that this fleet is preparing to leave for home. I think our politicians may well decide not to go to war, but if not, if I’m wrong, I’m going to stonewall it while you miscreants make nice with our new friends. Oh, Lt. Graziano I need our former ambassador, Mr. or Professor Leung? I need him her yesterday. Don’t send that courier until I’ve made certain I’ve got all my ducks in a row.”
We thee spent the next two hours setting up a rough draft of what we hoped to accomplish. The admiral looked in briefly, and when he opened the hatch, we could hear Captain Speer, angrily saying something. The admiral ignored his guest and asked us if we needed anything, looking pointedly at the greatly diminished plate of doughnuts. We shook our heads, trying to understand what Captain Speer was saying, but the admiral smiled at us and closed the hatch behind him.
Late that evening he sat down with us again, along with the ever-present aide. We talked about the tentative plan and at one point he said, “You know, you have made my life much easier this evening. Up to that working dinner, I was looking at an either-or situation, and you’ve given us something that not only falls in between, it promises to eliminate a war instead of a species. The longer this thing dragged on, the more convinced I have become that we have been making a fatal mistake. By ‘we’, I mean, earthgov. I am going to do the following things: I am going to give the ambassador another opportunity for fame and glory, I’m going to scour the debris field and remove anything that smacks of the remains of an earth ship, and I’m going to appoint you two to overseeing the operation. I’m taking the fleet home. It isn’t doing us any good here, no matter what happens. We’ve got time to go home and come back, if need be, but if we stay here, we’re taking a huge chance that these beings will blunder into us and attack. I don’t want to lose any more human lives, and I don’t want to take any more of theirs either. I’m going to tell my superior that our fleet simply could not remain in space any longer, it had to come home, and I’m going to do whatever possible to tie Congress up in knots so that it doesn’t force us into another war. We’ll either die, or our souls will, and I much prefer not having to live with the knowledge that I’ve killed needlessly.”
Two days later, our fleet slowly and carefully accelerated away from the bug fleet. It was going home. Unfortunately, we were not. No matter what, we needed to maintain a close watch on the sixth fleet’s movements, and we also needed to be able to fight, should that become necessary. As a parting gift, Admiral Lee sent a shuttle to the Grant and the Lee, dropping off a large crate on each ship. When we opened them we found galley equipment. It took just a few moments to realize that we now had the ability to make our own doughnuts.
Over the next three months our Dresdens remained on station. The Brezhnev returned after an absence of only three weeks, and served as backup for our ships. Captain Han seemed to be getting much more out of her ship and crew than the former captain, who was currently manning a desk on Jupiter base, very close to Admiral Lee, and with no access to an ‘outside line’.
Well prior to the discovery by the bug fleet of the debris field we sent in several FFC’s which located and thoroughly destroyed the pitiful remains of the Essex and her escorts. The huge explosions served a double purpose: they eliminated any trace of our technology and assisted the bugs in locating the immense amount of debris.
Admiral Lee appointed me in command of the Dresdens, not so that I would have to ‘be bothered with all that administrative crap’ as he put it, but to keep Elian and I out from under
the feet of Captain Han, who was a good officer, but one who considered The Book to be holy writ, and not one who would appreciate our own particular way of getting things done. As Admiral Lee put it, she didn’t have a sense of humor, none at all.
Finally, a flight of bug fighters discovered their first solid physical evidence of the destruction of the colony ships. Within days we observed their fleet accelerate directly towards the region. It took them two weeks to transit.
Over the next few weeks they combed through the wreckage of the hundreds of dead ships and four immense mother ships, none of which told them anything at all about us, other than the fact that we used nuclear weapons, and we were close by, possibly even observing them. I know I would have been spooked, looking at all that destruction, and not seeing anything that told me about who or what had done it.
During this period we received a small shipment which turned out to be a large black box. It was actually black, and a box, to the amusement of Elian. We were ordered to emplace it in the midst of the debris field of the fifth fleet, which the bugs had not reached yet. Fleet had figured out the new communications protocol and the box was supposed to be able to communicate to the bugs, and in addition to giving them the nucleus of our own language it provided the location of a solar system where they could refuel and repair, and it included an offer of assistance.
Apparently, Fleet included a video feed showing them their own home world. That bit of information was designed to cause them to believe we were relatively far advanced, and therefore, invulnerable to their weapons. We hoped it would convince them their mission was truly over, and it was time to go home.
Along with the black box we received a small package from the admiral. On the outside it said that it could only be opened in the presence of Elian, WO Kana and I. I commed the Lee and they shuttled over to the Grant.
Elian and I looked on as WO Kana opened the package. He had won the paper/scissors/rock contest. Inside, he found three small boxes. Each had a name on it. We opened them and found a piece of paper with a hand written message that read, “IOU one medal.” Nothing more. We all grinned at each other and Elian said, “WO Kana, where the hell will you put another medal? There’s no more room, even on your chest.” WO Kana said, “I could wear it as an ear ring. Sir.”
There were three more packages, each again with a name. These contained three of only a handful of the remaining coffee cups from CV-65, the Enterprise.
Finally, we found a paper envelope. Elian opened it and read:
Gentlemen,
I hope you understand that I’m going out on a limb by calling you three that. If we are very, very lucky, we – Fleet that is - are going to have to maintain a close watch over the bugs for a very long time, perhaps two thousand years. Fate, or God has handed into our hands the responsibility for these beings, and I do not wish to fail in my duty. I am appointing you, Robert, as commander of a brand new command, whose responsibility it will be to ensure that our new friends get home safely. I’ll be forced to pretend that I’m your boss, but you are going to be spending a lot of time away from anyone’s control, much less mine, so please behave, if at all possible, like the fine, upstanding officer you may one day, far in the future, turn out to actually be. WO Kana, you still have permission to kick butt.
Elian, just because I’m putting Robert in overall command doesn’t mean you can’t call him an ‘idjit’ from time to time. I know and trust that you two, hell, you three, will work out whatever arrangements you want, no matter what I say, but I have to put someone’s name at the top.
I apologize to you three and your wives for the strain this is going to place on your marriages, but I feel certain you will find some way around the constraints a few lousy light years may place on your personal lives. It won’t be forever, and it is my understanding that your wives have your futures already planned, including, apparently, the color scheme for your corporate offices. May God save the world!
You have never failed Fleet, never failed me, and I hope and trust that you will now undertake this new responsibility with the same zeal and intelligence that you have shown in the past. These beings screwed up badly, but they now have a second chance. Let’s be good neighbors.
Admiral Ho Shin Lee
April 14, 2439
Assad Military Cemetery
Acre, Federal District
Earth
I listened to the final echoing notes of the French horn, my mind coming back to the present, to this hallowed place where so many of my comrades now resided. With the last note I stiffened in anticipation for the quiet command that had followed too many times to count. Three times the seven sailors raised their ancient rifles and fired in perfect unison, the sharp reports oddly muted by the overcast sky that threatened to turn into a drizzly rain.
I watched, my hand held tightly by Nastya, my wife of over a quarter century, as the flag that had draped his casket was folded into a tight triangle, then handed to the eldest grandson of Admiral of the Fleet, Ho Shin Lee (ret.). His wife had died the preceding year, and his only son was buried just a few steps away, his death a service accident that nonetheless deeply saddened Admiral Lee.
My best friend in all the world stood next to me, his arm around Carolyn, who sobbed quietly into his chest. Behind us stood a veritable crowd of family members. Two of my brothers and one sister had managed to come to the Holy Land, and my parents had sent their respects. Elian and Carolyn’s three children attended, two of them in uniform, one of them holding twin baby girls.
Nastya and I had found time to bring four children into the world of existence, two of which were present, also in uniform. A daughter was eight months pregnant and had stayed home in the family complex on Lubya. Our fourth and youngest served on board a brand new Fleet Carrier that was at that very moment ferrying much needed equipment and supplies to the struggling X’Leem colony that was slowly bringing life back to the destroyed planet that had been empty of intelligent life for over two thousand years.
Finally, standing close to our family, stood another, very different family, four members of the X’leem. We had no exact translation of their position in that species’ hierarchy, but they had been given or appointed or whatever, the responsibility for negotiating treaties with humans.
When we had initially turned on our black box, so many years ago, we had no idea what the outcome would be. It broadcast for several hours before we saw a reaction. Unlike the first time, however, one solitary destroyer approached to within a few kilometers and simply sat, presumably recording or listening to our transmission.
We included enough information to allow them to understand our communication protocols and our language, and we gave them video footage, showing them their devastated worlds. They were already sitting in the middle of the remains of their ancient enemy, their brothers and sisters.
It took them six days to come to a decision, but finally, we received a short communication, on the frequency specified, and the first inter-species dialogue in our entire history began. We all breathed an intense sigh of relief. We didn’t want to die in a needless war, and we didn’t want to kill in that needless war.
This time around Ambassador Leung proved to be magnificent. He consulted with us, kept us included in the dialogue and talked to us every evening about the events of the day.
It took us nearly a month to arrive at the point where we learned that their ships were in no condition to undertake another journey of two thousand years. We had anticipated that and we offered to assist them to get home ‘another way’, as Admiral Lee put it. He authorized Ambassador Leung, without prior approval by his superiors, to inform the X’Leem that we would either construct new ships or otherwise provide them with the transportation necessary to get them home. Even more significantly, Admiral Lee authorized our ambassador to tell them the return journey would not take even one year. Finally, he committed earthgov to further assist the X’Leem in their colonization efforts ‘for as long as necessary’. These steps p
roved to be critical in our negotiations with the X’Leem, and highly controversial inside earthgov.
The events between that moment when we turned on our new black box and the formal signing of a treaty were mostly unknown to all but a few people. This ignorance we fully intended to maintain.
That coming together of our two species had failed to turn into another inferno of death and destruction due to what some referred to as luck, others as divine intervention. Nastya, my beloved soul mate, knew in her heart that God had intervened on our behalf, but I could only wonder if perhaps it was the work of one man of integrity.
Now, years later, standing off to one side, pathetically alone stood WO Kana (ret.), his once mighty frame now shrunken a little by the passage of nearly one hundred very strenuous years. Chief, as we all still called him, had buried his wife four years earlier, but not before she gave him a child, who stood three paces behind him.
His son and namesake had followed him into the Fleet, but to nearly everyone’s intense amusement had entered the academy and was now a newly minted Lieutenant JG. Unfailingly, and at every possible opportunity, both Elian and I referred to his son as ‘Lieutenant Kana’. He never retaliated, partly because we named our second son after him.
Hawk Seven (Flight of the Hawk) Page 80