by Charles Lamb
Confused, Jake started to ask need what, when he realized the answer. He had been away for a while, as had she.
“Oh, that need,” he replied as he stood, taking her hand in his.
“Let’s see if I can help with that,” he replied as he led her away from his desk.
----*----
“Linda, we are getting alerts that ships are dropping out of FTL,” one of the command center staff announced.
Linda was never big on the whole military command structure thing, particularly with the people in this room. The command center team had to be close, in her opinion, to be the best they could be.
“How many,” she replied.
“Seven, no eight. They read as destroyers. Incoming message now. It’s the Wawobash; these are the ships we ordered.”
Linda signed a breath of relief. They were not prepared to take on one hundred and sixty plus ships.
“Let Brian and Jessie know. We are going to need a quick turnaround on refitting these.”
----*----
Brian was already aware of the destroyers’ arrival when the call came in. He had also come up with a plan to get them a two-day jump on refits. With Jake’s approval, he had Kola already en route to intercept the ships. They would meet in the middle, two days hence, where he would take them on board and start working in the hangars.
As the destroyers were actually half the size of the Lanai patrol ships, he could get all eight on-board easily, split between the two hangars for plenty of workspace. With Kola’s army of bots, he was sure they could knock out a good portion of the to do list in getting them ready for battle.
----*----
Ivan was feeling a bit awkward as he tracked the fleet of destroyers behind them and the massive carrier approaching from earth. It was like sitting in a small boat with cargo ships all around. One wrong move and you would be crushed.
As he had expected, the NeHaw had not emerged from his portion of the ship since returning; and he was only replying to queries electronically. Colonel Thomas’ granddaughter had pressed him several times, attempting to verify the specific details of their observations. As usual, the alien replied to the question, nothing more and nothing less.
The alien bothered him, but he wasn’t sure why. He was untrustworthy, that was obvious. Ivan suspected an undercurrent of hostility that remained buried. On a whim, he sent a quick message to Jake, suggesting a course of action once they had returned to earth.
----*----
Sara lay snuggled up with Jake, enjoying the warmth of his body next to hers. It had been a long time since the two of them had been able to spend some private time together, but that wasn’t what was really driving her need to be close.
Since her visit with Jessie, she had been guilt ridden over the ultimatum she had delivered to Jake earlier. While incapable of rescinding the edict, as she just couldn’t bring herself to raise the subject, she hoped the show of affection might dilute its effect.
“How is Sandy,” she finally asked, her head laying on his chest.
“Much better with Padma and Jon to look after. I had breakfast with them before leaving. That poor little girl had better enjoy dressing up,” he added with a laugh.
Sara laughed at that, as they both knew Sandy had a very well known preference for girly clothes and shoes. She was aware of special deliveries from Chris in LA, containing discoveries from the old garment district. Sandy’s dress and shoe size were registered with every team he sent scrounging.
She lay there enjoying the moment. Unfortunately their quiet time was not to last.
“Jake I hate to interrupt, but your presence is requested in the command center,” ALICE-1 announced.
Sara felt Jake kiss her head as he replied, “Ok, on my way.”
----*----
Entering the command center, Jake found Jacob, Nigel, Gemma and several others all in conversation.
“What’s up?” he asked as he approached the group.
“It’s your little speech earlier,” Nigel began.
“We now have a flood of volunteers, and not enough ships to assign them too,” Jacob added.
“And politically we shouldn’t turn anyone away, specifically the Cossacks,” Gemma finished.
“The Cossacks are offering to join us?” Jake asked, surprised at the revelation.
“Now that we have a specific enemy threat, they are all about helping, and on our terms,” Nigel replied with a smile.
“Wow, ok, let’s get the numbers and feed the data to Patti.”
----*----
While everyone was scrambling to compile and assess the data around the NeHaw threat, Jake did something he had hoped he would never have to do. Climbing into his fighter, he shot over to Georgia and landed in ALICE-9’s hangar.
Much more active than during his first visits, he arrived unannounced and quickly disappeared into the offices before he could attract attention. Unlike the other locations, Jake kept the occupancy here down to a minimum. As it was, it had taken a considerable amount of convincing from Jessie and ALICE-9, before he allowed the art restoration work to go on here.
The basis for Jake’s concerns was in the lower levels of the facility. Currently, he was the only human allowed in those areas of this base. Down in the bowels of Georgia was the WMD storage. Here, weapons of mass destruction had been designed and built, most so dangerous they had never been tested.
Jake had only gone below once before, on his first visit, and that had been enough to scare the crap out of him. Now he needed to return to review the inventory. The systems containing that information had been isolated so that none of the ALICE’s could access it.
Sitting down at the main console, he began reviewing the items in storage, cataloging this as his go-to-hell option. With each item on the list, the feeling he had gained the first time he visited here began to return.
Chapter 36
Edwin and Ivan were on hand in the cockpit, as they passed Kola on her way to intercept the destroyers following behind them. They had discussed going on board, but chafed at the delay in returning to earth it represented.
Over the past several days, the men had grown to respect each other, beyond the trials of their joint internment. Although the ship had been provided with many distractions, they had both enjoyed the others company most of all.
Even through the most heated of discussions, each found the other equal to the challenges they endured.
----*----
Jake returned to Nevada, not entirely satisfied with his research. He had resolved his go-to-hell plan, should things go badly, and spent a significant amount of time with ALICE-9. She was very happy for the visit, but he felt he was somehow failing everyone. Having to resort to the demons contained in that hole was equivalent to dealing with the devil, in Jake’s mind.
Resolving to find another option, he headed straight to Patti’s Pit as he had heard it referred to.
“Problem solved?’ he asked as he entered the very crowded room. With his entrance, the room fell silent, and Patti crossed over to greet him.
“Well, we have an idea, but we don’t think you are going to like it.”
“Not a great way to start this conversation,” he replied with a wince.
“We all expect that the NeHaw will drop the armada at our doorstep and then enter the solar system en masse. We want to send Kola and ALICE-3 away, but close enough to return while the aliens are under the effects of the gravity well. There, they can hit them from behind. Meanwhile, we can stage patrol ships at about the half way point, say somewhere between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus, and these ships can hit it from this side.”
“So, the worst part is with all our assets in space, we have nothing to actually protect the earth?” Jake asked.
“Only if the destroyers aren’t ready in time,” she replied.
----*----
Brian had already initiated the turning maneuver that would allow them to come alongside the eight destroyers at speed and bring t
hem inside. Kola had actually wanted to do a more aggressive turn, but Brian had to remind her she wasn’t a fighter and there were over one hundred people on board.
While the inertial dampeners should have negated any sensation of movement, he needed her to start thinking more like a large ship and less like a stationary facility. In many ways, she was learning to walk all over again, so to speak.
Matching course and speed once they had overtaken them, she assumed control of all eight. As she was able to guide each destroyer onto the hangar deck, they were parked and shut down. That is when the fun began, as an army of bots and technicians swarmed on each ship, installing the upgrades that would make them special.
----*----
In the midst of all the confusion over the armada, April had been quietly managing the convoys, as they went about their duties of ferrying transport and cargo ships to and from the various partner planets. As she did so, she collected the reports from the convoy commanders, listing what NeHaw combat vessels were guarding which planets.
With the data, she began an analysis to determine the commitment of resources the NeHaw had placed on the effort. The pattern that she found was both exciting and revealing. Gathering all her information, she put a proposal together for Jake and Patti’s eyes only.
----*----
Jake found himself in the hangar in Texas, watching the spy ship as it settled on its landing gear. As he watched it land, Jake had to admit it was a sleek little ship, semi delta shaped, but with rounded nose and edges. Once things settled down in the universe, he was thinking about getting one for himself. At four gold bars, it was far cheaper than a destroyer was.
He watched as the ramp dropped on one side and three figures emerged.
“Colonel!” Jake heard as the Russian led the group. With four strides, he swept Jake up in his arms and gave him a bear hug.
“Ivan, so glad you are back, safe and sound,” he wheezed.
“I presume you are satisfied with the results of our mission?” Jake heard from the NeHaw.
Before entering the hangar, one of Dallas’s bots had presented Jake with a headset.
“This is the same unit that will allow you to receive the NeHaw transmissions, without discomfort,” she had said. He recognized it as the one he had used before.
“I am satisfied. An additional one hundred gold bars have been added to your payment. You will find them already in your ship’s hold.”
If the NeHaw was surprised at the exchange, he never stayed long enough to allow anyone to see. With Jake’s declaration, he immediately turned and at a near run, headed to the hangar holding his ship. As his headset had external audio, all the others had heard both sides of the exchange.
“Colonel, did you receive my message?’ Ivan asked cautiously.
“Yes, thank you. Our friend will find he is not leaving anytime soon. I share your concerns and could easily imagine him selling us out to the High Command as soon as he was off world.”
Having been left behind the others, Colonel Banks stepped forward at the NeHaw’s departure, hand extended.
“Edwin, happy to have you back!” Jake said as he took the offered hand in a warm handshake.
“Not half as bloody happy as I. That wretched creature reminds me of Jabba the Hutt on a diet.”
“You found the Star Wars video’s I left for you!” Jake said with a laugh.
“I was desperate one night, with Ivan snoring and not even the stars available,” he replied, referencing the lack of visible light in FTL. Looking out the bridge windows had shown only a dull glow in all directions.
“Let’s get everyone inside and discuss your findings,” Jake said as he attempted to direct everyone inside.
----*----
HeBak was sitting in his cargo bay; counting his gold to be sure there were no deceptions on the part of the humans. All appeared to be as it was when he left with the exception of the additional bars. He had no intention of leaving until he was absolutely sure he had all his payments in full.
He was also debating if he should attempt to extract one more payment from the humans. His contacts had delivered him one additional piece of information he had withheld from the two humans with him. While it didn’t have relevance to the current crisis, it held significant importance should they successfully defeat the coming armada.
----*----
Jake, Ivan, and Edwin found themselves sitting alone in Jake’s makeshift office in Texas. After a grueling debrief, Jake had turned everyone loose and treated his fellows to a drink. The open bar had the finest vodka, scotch, and other such sprits to satisfy the most discerning connoisseur.
“I would have thought the NeHaw would be screaming to leave about now?” Jake commented.
“I expect he is too busy counting his gold!” Banks offered in reply.
That brought a short laugh from all three.
“I fear he is not finished with us yet,” Ivan added somberly.
“Yeah, like you, I don’t trust him. If he isn’t pushing to go, he has ulterior motives in staying. He strikes me as someone who stays as far away from the fighting as possible.”
Both Banks and Ivan agreed with the assessment.
“What are we going to do?” Ivan asked after a shot of vodka.
“Let’s worry about that tomorrow,” Jake replied as he downed his own shot.
----*----
In a rare event, Jake woke late the following morning, unable to recall how he got to his room that night. It did take a moment to ensure it actually was his room, as his head was where his feet should have been.
Peering through the doorway with one eye without actually raising his head, he could see Becky in the other room, sipping coffee as she read. The fact that she was in her robe indicated that she had spent the night, although Jake had no recollection of it.
“Would you like some coffee?” she asked as she noticed his head moving.
“Ah….. sure,” Jake replied as he slowly rolled out of bed and slowly moved to the other room. While steady on his feet, his head was pounding and his mouth tasted like he had been eating sand.
It had been a very long time since Jake had gone out drinking with the boys, and now he remembered why. Not much of a drinker, he always seemed to end up far worse than the others did.
As he dropped into a chair, Becky handed him a cup. From the expression on her face, Jake assumed he looked even worse than he felt.
“I realize I have only actually known you for the last few years, but, you don’t drink,” she said with sympathy.
“Now you see why,” Jake answered slowly.
“You were here last night?” Jake asked slowly, unsure if he should even be asking the question.
“Ah, yeah,” Becky replied, looking as if she was going to be insulted at the question.
“But I am not surprised you don’t remember. Ivan dropped you off on his way to his room. Then I watched you crawl into bed. You claimed you were going to slide off of the floor,” she finished with a laugh.
“What part of “I don’t drink” did you not understand,” Jake replied as a form of explanation.
“Well thank god. It’s 9 now and you need to go see Patti at 12:30 Nevada time, so go shower and I’ll order you breakfast.”
As Jake slowly made his way to the bathroom, using the doorframe as a brace along the way, he vowed to never drink with a Brit and a Russian ever again.
----*----
After a long hot shower and a light breakfast, Jake met Banks and Ivan in the hangar. All three were headed to Nevada, and a war council. With the armada potentially at their doorstep, they needed to get their assets in order and in position.
Jake might have felt a bit reckless with their binge last night, but the four day buffer between earth and the edge of the solar system justified blowing off a little steam. He was gratified to see Edwin looked as bad as he felt, while Ivan wisely kept his apparent lack of a hangover to himself.
The trip to Nevada was quiet and unevent
ful, each man nursing his misery in his own fashion. It wasn’t until they exited the transport in Nevada, that Jake was treated to a second round of humiliation.
“Oh My God, Jake is that really you?” he heard from Sara as he slowly followed Ivan out of the transport. Standing next to her was Linda and Kathy, all apparently there to witness his distress.
“Did Becky call you?”
“Last night. She actually wanted to record you crawling to bed, but I threatened her with death,” Sara replied in all seriousness.
“We will leave you two to talk,” Banks said as he passed Jake, patting him on the back in recognition of his understanding and sympathy.
“What kind of father figure are you?” Linda added, struggling to keep a straight face.
“You aren’t helping….” Jake replied.
“Look, I’ll tell you what I told Becky. “I do not drink” and this is why. We were toasting the success of the mission and things got out of hand.”
“Ah, male bonding,” Kathy added with a smile, “You have to let it go Sara, it’s about time Jake made friends.”
“Funny. Look, I need to go see Patti, so I will talk to you all later,” Jake said, planting a kiss on Sara’s cheek and moving as quickly away from the three, as he could muster.
From there, Jake made his way directly to Patti’s Pit, passing unfamiliar faces, relieved he wasn’t delayed.
“About time you showed up,” Patti teased as he entered the room.
“Et tu Granddaughter?” Jake replied.
“You must be better than I heard if you can make classical jokes.”
“Can we begin?” he asked as he found the first available seat.
“Gladly. Ok, now that we are all here,” Patti started, triggering a holograph image of the solar system as a visual aid.
“We are here,” she stated, with a red dot illuminating earth, “And we expect the armada to appear here.”
“We all know it takes four days to travel the distance in-between,” she finished while lighting up the line between the two points.