by Charles Lamb
“The Great Game was a period of time where the Russian and British Empires competed for control of Central Asia.”
“And this was when?” Jake asked, unsure of what they were talking about.
“The Tournament of Shadows was about 1810 to the Great Patriotic Revolution of 1917,” Ivan answered.
“Actually, it starts with the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813 and ends with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907,” Banks corrected.
“In your books,” Ivan added.
“Ah guys, that’s over two hundred and fifty years ago. Just let it go,” Jake said, needing another Anglo-Russian conflict like a hole in the head.
“Just killing time,” Banks replied nonplussed.
“All is well with your woman?” Ivan asked, “She appeared distraught earlier.”
“Ivan you are a very perceptive man.”
“Shall we discuss the NeHaw?” Banks asked, appearing somewhat uncomfortable with Ivan’s question and the entire conversation.
----*----
Kola had been on station, just outside of the Wawobash system, for over 12 hours when the NeHaw cruiser had reappeared. Just as quickly, it vacated the area, once it had established the carrier had not left the area. Both she and Brian suspected the behavior would continue.
Brian asked that the information be transmitted back to earth, while he gathered a team together to discuss their options. Jake had asked that they hang around, to protect the Wawobash, but he had said nothing about taking the cruiser out.
----*----
ALICE-1 had heard the conversation between Jake and Sara, and was weighing her options. Even though the other avenues she had set in motion were moving in very positive directions, she felt this particular arrangement had not yet reached it’s finish. All the sisters agreed that they needed to maximize the number of individuals, genetically linked to Jake, particularly now that new members of the ALICE species were appearing.
Kola and ALICE-3 represent a possible future where the species could move among the stars, not limited by their terrestrial construction. However, as much as the sisters might choose to deny it, they did have a need for humans.
Beyond the coded dependence to Jake, a bond so strong its removal would be equal to recoding human DNA, the human/ALICE relationship was symbiotic. Each supported the other is so many ways, it was foolish to think it was inconsequential. This was an exceptional example of the sum of the parts being greater than the whole.
It wasn’t a perfect relationship, this case in point, where she was contriving a plan to circumvent Sara’s wishes once again. It was all in an attempt to get more children, the cornerstone of their future, so it was a good cause. ALICE-1 had yet to resort to artificial insemination, but she hoped to avoid stooping to that level of deceit.
Chapter 29
ReTac had been provided explicit orders, delivered from the High Command courier by hand. They had happened to be between collection cycles at the time, and were on the home world without assignment. Those orders had directed him to take his crew to the Wawobash system and prevent any commercial space travel to or from the system.
They also explicitly stated that they were not to engage any foreign military craft, particularly those rumored to belonging to a particular rebel planet in sector Nu Tao Beta. Should any such vessel appear, they were to retreat until such time as the ship vacated the area, in which case they were to resume inhibiting traffic.
It was in that spirit that ReTac had ordered his cruiser to run when the gargantuan craft appeared. Larger than anything he had ever seen, he had no understanding of its origins. What he did assume was, it was hostile, and therefore justification to leave without delay.
Jumping to Faster than Light, they had simply relocated to a barren area in space and waited a reasonable period of time before returning. Twice they had to bounce to an alternate set of coordinates, as the monster craft was still floating outside the Wawobash shipyards.
On their third try, they returned to empty space. Wary of a possible trap, ReTac had his scanners sweeping the area, looking for any signs of the ship. Once he was satisfied, he had the navigator move them back to the edge of the system, hovering just outside of the influence of the outermost planet.
As they were preparing to relax, alarms started sounding and suddenly he felt his ship shake from hits to the hull.
“What is happening?” he shouted to his bridge crew.
“Sir, we have two contacts, coming from that moon.”
“Return fire!’ He commanded as he moved to the navigator’s station.
ReTac checked the scanner, as two more hits rattled his bridge. The display indicated two small craft, now about one quarter the distance between them and the moon, and moving fast. He switched to the visual display to get a better idea of the threat. The ships were larger than the little fighters he had heard about from Klinan, but not particularly large. What they were was ferrous in construction, and bristling with guns.
“Get us out of here!” he ordered as he realized they had been had.
“Faster than Light is off line. Those shots disabled the starboard drive,” came the reply.
No sooner had that been announced, than the mother ship reappeared, dropping out of Faster than Light and headed straight for them. If ReTac had any concerns about life as a captive, they were erased in a flash of bright light.
----*----
“What was that?” Brian asked, as the main display on the bridge was suddenly filled with a bright flash.
“Self-destruct,” someone said from behind him.
He had hoped that by using the patrol ships to trap the NeHaw, he might get them to surrender. The patrol ship’s orders had been to wait until the ship returned, so they sat powered down on the little moon. Before lifting off, they had actually fired railguns at the faster than light drive on the visible side of the ship.
With their drive disabled, they were no faster than the patrol ships and far less armored. Unfortunately, the NeHaw were not the surrendering kind, and the blast had removed all traces of the ship.
“Well, it was worth a try. Please send a report.”
----*----
Patti and Daniel were leading a small celebration, as the transport ship they currently called home, was heading back to London. The daylight appearance on Swan Island had gone remarkably well. The fact that the SAS team had known all the proper recognition signals for their Australian counterparts had gone a long way to shortening the usual introductory suspicions.
As it turned out, the Swan Island installation had never even been touched in the NeHaw attack. Because of that, it had been only natural that the men and women stationed there collected their families and established their own colony of sorts.
All highly trained Special Forces personnel, they needed little in the way of assistance to secure and protect their location from what little hostile activity there was in the area. As time moved on, each generation was educated and trained in the ways of their parents, thus insuring a safe and secure future for all. The occupants had thrived, establishing themselves as the dominant community in the region.
That did not mean that the appearance of the transport was not well received. Once everyone understood the nature of the visit, it was a free for all, as men, women, and children, all curious about the visitors, came out to investigate. The festivities had taken the major part of the day, evolving into a party that lasted well into the night.
The locals were very interested in participating in the global recovery, as it was being portrayed. In fact, they had already established relations with other groups around Port Phillip, in places around Melbourne and Frankston, as well as on the coast. In the end, they were sure there were thousands spread throughout the area willing to join.
As part of the initial understanding, Daniel had left a couple of his team members behind, all volunteers, while several of the Aussies accompanied them back to London. The news brought Patti to tears, as she was now in a position to
provide Sandy the news she needed.
Pulling Daniel aside, she wanted to explain the situation, hoping for his understanding in how she wanted to present the success. Leading him away from the party, she headed to the crew’s quarters where it was more quiet.
“Daniel, I need a favor,” she asked as she turned to face him while realizing she had stopped abruptly. The two had come to a stop no more than a few inches apart.
“How may I be of service,” he replied, without backing away from her.
“It’s really important that we tie this group somehow with Sandy’s first trip here. After China, she needs this win,” she said, closing the distance between the two even more.
“I suppose…..” he started, only to be interrupted by Patti’s lips as she leaned in to kiss him.
“…… We will do whatever you wish,” he finished as they separated.
Taking his hand in hers, Patti led Daniel the few steps to her room, pulling him inside and closing the door behind them.
----*----
Jake was in his office, alone for a change, reviewing the latest reports from around the globe. That concept intrigued and unnerved him at the same time. Currently they counted North America, including Mexico and Canada in that space, England, China, Russia and now Australia as natural allies in their reconstruction.
Granted, there were only parts of each of those countries under their umbrella, but it was a huge change from a little over one year ago. Additionally, Jake was grateful for the leadership contributions provided with every new member. Edwin had proven an exceptional partner and Bo was looking to be cut from the same bolt.
Ivan was very clear that he did not speak for his people directly, but he was absolutely prepared to plead their case to the Ataman and the circle. For now, Jake was satisfied that they had a conduit to begin a relationship there. With confirmation that the destroyer had returned safely, Jake had offered to return any of Ivan’s party by air. He was surprised when none had taken him up on the offer, but Ivan had sent a few on the transport that delivered communication equipment and other items in short supply there. They returned with the transport and additional volunteers.
The initial Russians were actively training with any of the groups willing to take them on as extras. Jake had never seen a group of men and women so eager to learn. He had hoped, that in these people, he had willing volunteers for the ships orbiting the earth, waiting for crews.
The thought of ships brought him around to Brian’s report in the Wawobash system. They had verified that the NeHaw ships now harassing the various rebel worlds, were in fact limited to commercial intervention. He admired the attempted capture of the cruiser, but was less disappointed now that they had direct access to the shipbuilders. Jake liked the trick about leaving the patrol ships, acknowledging that once in place, the need for faster than light capability was not a hindrance.
With the distance being not so great, he thought about dispatching ships to their own outer edges. Four days out and four days back, he would be condemning crews to two or three weeks on a ship no larger than five hundred feet long. Considering submarine crews had tolerated far worse, he kicked a note off to April for analysis.
With Patti in London, Jake had started using April as his go to girl for these types of duties.
“Where is that girl?” Jake muttered to himself, realizing he hadn’t heard from Patti directly since asking to go to Australia.
----*----
Sara was contemplating her next move. After their discussion in the dining room a few days ago, she had been avoiding Jake. She saw no reason to reward him for delaying the inevitable. Until he publicly pulled the plug on the arrangement with the others, she wasn’t in the mood to make nice.
Unfortunately, Jake appeared to be so busy with other issues, he didn’t seem to mind her lack of availability. Were she in a less generous mood, she would almost say he was grateful for the distractions. The weird thing was, every time Sara was preparing to take action of her own with Becky and Sandy, something would come up.
For the first time ever, the messaging application crashed on her terminal, losing all the work she had done in crafting a note, announcing the termination of the arrangement. Then there were the meetings she was invited too, that no one remembered actually inviting her. The strangest of all, was the request to go to Alaska to assist in reviewing the recovered artwork.
While not overly competent as an art historian, she did feel the invitation was a way of acknowledging her position as Jake’s right hand. She decided to take the trip, intending on returning to the issue of the other women, once she returned.
----*----
Brian had left two patrol ships protecting the Wawobash, while he took Kola on the second leg of their space trials. Outside the Kortisht system, they chased off a NeHaw destroyer, that was preventing traffic from leaving the system. Without additional patrol craft to leave behind, they lingered long enough to see the destroyer reappear twice, and facilitate the departure of several ships from the Kortisht home world.
During their layover, Brian noted several flybys by the Kortisht, giving the carrier a good once over. As they had likely never seen a ship of this size, he was sure they were admiring how the humans had put their drives to good use. The Kortisht were the source for all the ships repulser and Faster than Light propulsion units. He had heard they could actually see the fields they manipulated.
After verifying with Kola that everything was in order, and the ship that was her body was operating at optimum efficiency, Brian ordered a return to Wawobash. Word was the ship Jake had requested was near completion. Kola had suggested that they simply take it aboard with the patrol ships and return to earth.
Jake had thoughtfully placed more than enough gold on board before their departure to cover the cost of the ships purchase, including the 50% bonus for early delivery. There was more than that in the ships safe, in case they ever needed spending money.
----*----
Daniel and Patti had reappeared just prior to the ships return to London. If anyone had noticed their absence, they had the good manners not to comment on it. Without the ability to hangar the transport in England, the procedure they established was to drop everyone off in Oxford, just outside the building concealing the tunnel entrance.
Once everyone and everything was off loaded, the ship would do a high-speed run to Maine, where Alice-5, or Five as she preferred, would hangar the ship. The three thousand plus miles distance could be covered in an hour or less if required.
Leading their Australian guests inside, Daniel dismissed the escorts once they boarded the train. The Aussies were impressed with the whole operation, including air transport, and underground train. Their arrival at the central terminal was greeted with the usual dignitaries, Nigel leading the crowd.
“Your brother is simply delightful,” Nigel commented as he slid to one side with Patti.
“I’m glad you think so,” Patti replied with a smile, “He really loves Gemma.”
“And she him,” Nigel said a bit somberly, as he watched the other introductions.
“That's a problem?”
“Not for me,” Nigel replied quickly, “However, Helen is going to take a bit of time to warm up to the idea.”
“Have you considered taking her to Nevada? I am sure Grandpa Jake would love to meet her,” Patti replied with a twinkle in her eye.
----*----
HeBak was engaged in his most favorite pastime since arriving on this forsaken planet. Standing in his cargo hold, he was counting the gold bars, restacking them as he did so. He laughed to himself as he replayed the events of the day he had agreed to take these devils to the home world.
Requesting the humans come to him, he had explained that the dangers of such a mission, for someone of his status, were extremely high. If they were to be found out, all occupants of the ship would be put to death, after incredible tortures were heaped upon them.
Due to these extreme risks, it would be a gest
ure of good faith that they deposit his payment, in advance, in his ship’s hold. After a long pause, the one called Jake had begrudgingly agreed to the transfer. HeBak hid his delight as he watched four times the mass of gold he had hidden was delivered. Knowing the exact amount he had previously mined, he verified the shipment as it arrived.
Pausing in his count, he frowned as he recalled the one part of his scheme that didn’t go quite as he desired. He had offered the use of his ship for the mission, suggesting that the necessary modifications to make it partially habitable for humans would be quite easy. Once out of the solar system he intended to space the humans and run.
Unfortunately, he was informed that a special ship had been already acquired, specially outfitted to host NeHaw and Humans. This meant he would have to uphold his end of the bargain. Resigned to the inevitable, he shrugged and returned to counting.
----*----
Patti and Lieutenant Atkins were sitting at separate workstations, preparing reports for their various leaders. In her case, she was crafting the report to Jake, announcing the addition of the Australian forces, and giving Sandy as much credit as possible for the introductory efforts. Both she and Daniel had agreed that the skewing of the story would have no relevant omissions, but would credit Sandy rather than Patti or Daniel.
Daniel, on the other hand, was completing his after action report, for both the wrecked underground facility and the landing on Swan Island. His was intended for Colonel Banks and Nigel, although she doubted Nigel cared much about anything but the newest additions to the family, restoring the Commonwealth and all that.
Every now and then Patti would glance at Daniel, as she completed her paperwork. She could sense she was falling for the handsome Brit, and suspected he felt the same. Although they had yet to speak on the subject, their recent private time together had not required much in the way of conversation.