Yates entered the room to find Lieutenant Clark sitting across from the captive and questioning him. It was clearly a one-sided conversation.
“Any luck with our friend?” Yates asked.
“He hasn’t tried to utter a word, sir,” Clark said. “He figures he’s going to be John Wayne right up ‘til he dies in an American prison.”
“He’s not going to say a thing. Not to us, anyway.”
“Sir, I can see from his face that you tried getting rough with him before…”
“It didn’t work.”
“Yes, sir, but we could be flying home to a war zone. This prick might have some important information in that ugly head. We should try to get it out of him while we have a little time.”
“Don’t bother, Tom. There isn’t enough time unless we tear him to pieces. I know you could handle it, but we just can’t do that.”
“Yes, sir.”
Yates turned to Dogan. “You. Your comrades are all dead, and we’re heading back to Earth. Once back we’re going to transmit biometric data on you to our intelligence community. Facial recognition, a DNA sample, the works. They’ll know within minutes exactly who you are and who you work for. And then we’ll start bombing the bejesus out of your country if that hasn’t happened already. So if you’ve got any reason why you should speak to us before that happens, now’s the time.”
Dogan stared straight ahead, silent and empty.
“Suit yourself. Lieutenant Clark, walk with me. We need to discuss a few possibilities. There may be a choice we have to make.” The two officers walked to the armory, discussing the inevitability of war.
* **
In C2C, Pierce sat with Waters and Yamada, the three of them speaking in quiet voices.
“I know it will mean war, he said. I can’t get that comment out of my head. He said that to me after he killed at least two of his own people, maybe more. Do you think destroying the station was what they had in mind the whole time?”
“What they had in mind? I don’t, ma’am,” Waters said. “What ended up happening surprised me as well. After all the effort they put into taking the accelerator, and then forcing people to work on trying to repair it? If their only plan had been to destroy Dirac, they would’ve gone straight to engineering after they docked.”
“Right. And they were there pretty quick. The guy they captured in there can attest to that.”
“He can also attest that this one character they had, the saboteur…”
“Demirci.”
“Yes, ma’am. Demirci’s also the one that set that Dirac engineer free, just before he gave us the warning to get underway.”
“That’s been gnawing at me since it happened. By the way, Yamada, it’s also why I wasn’t specific about who they were during my message home. Looks like they were all Turkish, but they weren’t all following the same plan.”
“Not with them shooting each other, no,” Waters added.
“Captain, I wasn’t inside with you,” Yamada said, “but it sounds like this guy you’re talking about was just using the others. They expected to steal some antimatter and go home using hostages as shields. Isn’t that what they said?”
“More or less. It’s what we deduced.”
“Maybe that was their plan going in. But when this guy realized that it couldn’t happen he went to a backup plan, and then the others were in the way. So he wasn’t really working for them, it was the other way around. He just needed some hired guns.”
The other two nodded to each other. “I think you hit the nail on the head,” the captain said.
“Jesus, that’s it!” Waters exclaimed. “He wasn’t on a mission for his government. He did all that so we would declare war against it. The DA, I mean. The guy was a rebel!”
“Either that, or there’s another possibility,” Pierce said, pondering. “That Demirci was an agent. An MGT guy even more fanatical than the others. How else would he get the others to work for him? All the rest sure as hell seemed like military. Maybe they expected to go home, but once the original mission went south he made sure that the station went down with it.” Pierce paused. “Except then he allows us to escape? I don’t see how that makes sense.”
“It’s a judgement call for now, Captain,” Yamada said. “What do you believe about him? Maybe once we’re home someone can shed more light on this guy.”
Pierce sat back and looked at the estimated time of arrival on the main display screen: 4.7 hours until Earth orbit and maneuvering thrusters.
“We may not have enough time for that once we’re home,” Pierce said, shaking her head. She leaned in close and spoke even quieter. “I may need one or both of you to do something for me after we get back. It’s a risk, and it may not be necessary, but for the time being I need to ask for complete discretion.”
“Go ahead, Captain,” Waters said. Yamada echoed him.
Pierce explained her thoughts, then stood to leave.
“Cheng, walk with me to the armory.”
Earth
The coordination involved in getting leaders of over thirty nations organized on secure conference lines was messy even under military procedures, but after an hour of frustration the other leaders of the Democratic Alliance had all agreed with Loughlin on DEFCON Two. Most still wanted irrefutable proof of Turkish government involvement before they would agree to DEFCON One –Poland and Russia being notable exceptions among the alliance’s major powers– but Loughlin insisted to the rest that proof was coming.
None of their militaries delayed preparations. The DA’s orbital warships stayed in the geostationary ring, standing by to move into low Earth orbit strike positions. HM nations grounded air traffic within or near their borders, and fighters established patrol zones over cities and military bases near the borders. Scramjet bombers circled in slow holding patterns hundreds of miles from HM airspace while waiting for orders, with command-and-control aircraft circling further back. Hypersonic missile batteries from Corsica to Crete to Crimea were primed and ready to fire thousands of salvos at pre-selected targets. The intelligence agencies who developed the target packages worked nonstop to maintain track on HM assets, and several agencies were standing by with cyberattack options. Naval bases emptied as submarines took up guard duty near chokepoints and along the HM littoral while destroyers scanned the sea surface and the skies. Five airborne divisions completed their mobilizations, and now the troops waited aboard stealth transports on the tarmacs of air bases. Embassies inside the HM countries, already evacuated to minimal staff, prepared to destroy their communications gear and wipe their databases clean. Leadership went either underground or airborne, including the MILCOM staff. In the U.S., most of the National Security Council split between the Situation Room and the Pentagon, while President Loughlin and a handful of advisors circled above the Appalachians on Air Force One.
The HM leadership followed a similar practice, though instead of going airborne under the watchful eyes of DA satellites and warships, most of the key players went into underground facilities. The DA couldn’t reliably target them unless they attacked all the facilities at once, and most of the bunkers were underneath downtown areas in cities. Air defense forces reached their highest alert as every aircraft over the HM was either grounded or diverted elsewhere. Anti-air batteries operated with launch-on-warning orders. Anti-space facilities stood by to launch against DA satellites, but for the time being the prime targets, the warships, remained out of range in the geostationary orbit ring. Naval and ground forces began dispersal maneuvers, spreading themselves thin for the DA targeteers. The United Caliphate closed the Suez Canal to foreign traffic, and rival forces literally stared each other down across the strait of Gibraltar. Thirty groups of sleeper intelligence cells hid in foreign countries, all waiting for orders to sabotage or attack key infrastructure. Turkey and the United Caliphate declared martial law.
The military moves proceeded as if insulated from public concern. But despite assurances across the media from government s
pokespeople, the hysteria and mass flight from cities continued. News feeds covered the mobilization nonstop, interspersing scenes of aircraft sortieing and ships leaving port with stock footage of astral warships maneuvering in space. In between these scenes was further coverage of traffic jams, all while the network pundits reached a frantic level of commentary.
The conventional wisdom set well over a hundred years earlier told people that a third world war would mean a rain of nuclear bombs. Few understood otherwise. Conventional wisdom from the past few hours told them it was about to happen.
USS Abraham Lincoln
2314Z, 24 December 2065
Pierce didn’t wait until after the big flip, the ship’s closest point of approach with the Sun when Lincoln turned its heading around and began decelerating. It was a delicate maneuver which always put everyone on edge, and current circumstances didn’t help. But it was also the late hours, and if her own fatigue was any indication, then much of the crew were exhausted from their hours on Dirac. Sitting in the C2C, she switched her headset to the ship’s public address system and gave the speech she had to give.
“Onboard Lincoln, this is the captain. I want to begin by speaking to our passengers. You’ve all been through a horrendous ordeal, surely the worst day most of you have ever experienced. Four members of Dirac Station lost their lives today, and more have suffered serious physical injuries. The loss of the station itself represents a setback to human progress that is incalculable. We may take some consolation from the fact that so many of its most valuable assets, you, are alive and returning to Earth. Indeed, we have many of you to thank for making that possible. Acting director Hunter Lynch, specialists and engineers Lina Schaube, Will Groves, Mike Trevino, Jakub Lisowski, Markus Fuller, and many others provided us with vital assistance, oftentimes at risk to their own lives. Thank them and thank each other that you were able to escape. Your work can be reconstructed. You cannot.
“The same sentiments go to the crew of the Kostroma, who have also lost one of their own. Know this: your captain, Pavel Vorontsov, died a hero. It was through his ingenuity and sacrifice that this ship had enough time to find safety before the station detonated. We are all in his debt.
“I now address the crew of the Lincoln. Shipmates, yesterday there were fifty-six of us. There are forty-five of us left alive now. Every one of you performed tasks that none of us ever trained for, and you performed them to the highest values of our service, putting duty and mission above personal safety. We faced incomplete information and improvised equipment in an unfamiliar environment, against an unexpected enemy whose actions we are still trying to understand, and you came through as well as one could hope. The loss of our comrades grieves us terribly, and we will grieve and give them all the honors they deserve. But we cannot do this yet.
“The loss of Dirac Station at the hand of foreign fighters is almost guaranteed to provoke a war. It’s likely that our alliance will retaliate against the coalition of Hras al-M’umnyn nations who may have been behind the attack. More details on these attackers and their motives will be forthcoming. A war may already be underway as I speak, and we will find out more once we emerge from deceleration and regain our communications, but one thing is always certain: the Space Command will be the vanguard of the entire alliance. Even short-handed and weary, USS Lincoln must be ready to do its duty. In anticipation of the combat conditions that likely await us, we will return to full battlestations twenty minutes before we arrive. For now, use the intervening time to figure out how to fill the gaps left by the loss of our shipmates. Also use the time to rest, eat, seek medical attention if you need it, and otherwise prepare yourselves. I expect the utmost levels of duty and professionalism from each of you. Always remember that our country and our families are counting on us, and that history is watching us. We will not let any of them down. Captain out.”
CHAPTER 26
USS Abraham Lincoln
0317Z, 25 December 2065
Lincoln’s communication gear regained connectivity even before the thrusters ended their torrent of deceleration exhaust. As Abe maneuvered the ship towards CS-Kenya, the screens in C2C lit up with status information broadcast from the DA’s Military Committee. It only took a glance for Pierce’s heart to sink.
All DA commands were operating at DEFCON Two. MILCOM was in an emergency session. All strike-capable units, including all military spacecraft, were standing by to receive strike package orders and a designated time for A-Hour: DEFCON One and the initiation of war. The United Caliphate, Turkey, Pakistan, and the rest of the HM countries were five hours into an Orange-level alert. India, Iran, Israel, and the northern Kinshasa Pact nations had all stood up their own air defenses in response to the HM, and all were mobilizing their ground and naval forces. The first two were evacuating cities while Israel issued a shelter underground order for civilians in Tel Aviv and Haifa. USS Abraham Lincoln received direct tasking from the U.S. National Security Council.
Pierce didn’t even have time to read the details of the last item before the comms circuit beeped with a call from CS-Kenya.
“Warship six-six, this is Command Station One. Lincoln, come in!”
The captain put the watch officer’s face on the main screen in the C2C. Yellow lights pulsed in the background of CS-Kenya’s operations center. Sooner than she could say a word, Admiral McKenna ran into view.
“Pierce! Thank God you’re back. All hell is breaking loose down there. We’re expecting DEFCON One any time now. I’m redirecting Lincoln to control point nine. You’ll serve as redundancy to Roosevelt and Berlin. But on your way, transmit whatever biometric data you have on your prisoner straight to MILCOM. This is a direct order from the National Security Council. They want it immediately.”
“It’s ready to go, Admiral. We’ve got bio data on him and contact lens photo data on most of the others for facial recognition. But sir, about the nature of the attack there, I don’t believe Ankara was behind it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have reason to believe this whole affair is a ruse. One of the raiders on Dirac was some kind of engineer, not a soldier. The others were there to steal antimatter, but he killed them to make sure the station was destroyed instead.”
“What in the world does that prove? Are you saying one of those bastards blew up the station because he was on our side?
Pierce shook her head. “I’m not saying on our side, Admiral, but he definitely wasn’t in line with the others. An enemy of an enemy. Furthermore, he then helped us get away in time before the station blew. He was actually concerned about the body count.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph! What kind of mess were you in out there? Do you have any concrete proof that this is all some put-up job?”
“Proof? No, sir, but–”
“But you do have some information on this guy? His face, at least?”
“His face, the name he gave us, and two recorded conversations with him.”
“OK, then send all that along with the bio data on the others. Do it right now. I get the impression the president herself is waiting for this intel.”
“Aye, sir. I also wrote a quick summary report on the attack during the transit home. Transmitting now.” McKenna switched off the comms link while Pierce forwarded the data on the raiders. The files, which included Pierce’s written report as a supplementary text, went to a MILCOM receiver via laser comms suite. Within seconds, intelligence analysts across the alliance, human and AI alike, began reviewing the information.
In the XO’s cabin, Yates’s personal comms screen chirped with an incoming call from Admiral McKenna.
Pierce examined the tactical plot on C2C’s main viewscreen. Lincoln was en route to a position three thousand kilometers above the Nile delta. Berlin and Theodore Roosevelt were holding at the same altitude above the Arabian peninsula and Turkey, standing by to move in to sixteen hundred once the strike orders came through. The distance had less to do with safety than allowing for a broader geographi
c range of targets. Positions below that would improve strike accuracy, but below six hundred was no-man’s-land: the zone within range of HM railguns.
“Ma’am, what do you think they’ll do with it?” Yamada asked.
“The intel community should have identities on most if not all those guys in minutes. I’m betting they’ll have something on Demirci as well. With any luck, this can all simmer down before the shooting starts.”
“Are you sure that he really was a rebel, Captain? And not a government agent?”
Pierce stared ahead at the screen, and paused.
“Yes.”
Air Force One
10:42 pm, 24 December (0342Z, 25 December) 2065
The aircraft flew in racetrack patterns above the gentle mountains west of the Shenandoah Valley. Unlike most flights on Air Force One, this one was devoid of reporters, nonessential staff, and minor officials tagging along for a coveted few minutes to meet with the president. Besides the flight crew and secret service team, Loughlin and a handful of senior staff members sat with a partial National Security Council in the aircraft’s conference room. The rest of the NSC was nevertheless present, connected via their own offices, their faces live on the wall screens which ringed the cabin.
“The Lincoln’s prisoner is Master Sergeant Ozak Ali Dogan,” Drennan said, reading data off a screen linked to his headquarters. “Medical specialist, National Security Command – the MAKs. Goddamn gray berets, I should’ve guessed. We have a hundred percent confirmation from CIA. Also ninety-six to ninety-nine percent on most of the others being gray berets, including the man in charge being Lieutenant Colonel Cemil Terzi. He was one of the guys at the Tabriz raid three years ago. These are some of the best of Turkey’s special forces.”
“We’re getting confirmation from agencies all over the DA,” Drennan’s deputy added from a display screen. “Army Intelligence, British GCHQ, German BND, Polish, Greek, and Russian military intel services, et cetera. There’s no conjecture at all.”
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