by Jay Allan
“I hope so,” Beth replied. “But we’ve been gone a long time; who knows what might have changed back home.”
Wade looked up at one of the large viewscreens in the assault ship Command Center at all the assembled spacecraft. He had kept his promise to both Beth and Captain Jenkins about returning home. The only question on Wade’s mind was what would they find when they finally got there?
Marken gave the order and the entire fleet activated their Space Fold drives. Moments later, they had left the space station far behind as they set their course for the planet Earth.
CHAPTER 15
Mason had been summoned to the Control Center by Pamela. She had said it was urgent, so he had rushed as quickly as he could. From the tone of her voice, he was worried that another disaster had befallen Earth, as if enough hadn’t happened already. Upon entering the busy room, he could sense an air of urgency from the people who sat in front of their consoles and viewscreens.
“What is it, Pamela?” he asked as he strolled up to the main control console where she was sitting talking frantically to several individuals.
“We may have a problem,” Pamela replied nervously as she gestured toward one of the large sensor screens.
Over the past few months, the Phoenix and her fleet had been placing new scanning satellites all over the solar system. They currently could scan in real time almost all the way out to the orbit of Neptune. The satellites had been built in several of the large electronics labs in Smithfield.
Wade looked at the indicated screen and drew in a sharp breath. At the far edge was a large cloud of red threat icons. “What are those?”
“We’re not sure,” replied Pamela, uneasily. “They showed up about twenty minutes ago and have just been sitting there.”
“Where are the Phoenix and her battle group?”
“Out close to Mars escorting some passenger ships to Mars Central.”
“Contact Commander Sanders and order him to return to Holbrook Station as quickly as possible,” Mason ordered, fearful of what the red icons might mean. If the aliens were returning, he wanted to be ready for them. “Then get me Darren on Holbrook; I need to talk to him.”
A few moments later, Pamela indicated she had Darren on the com.
“What’s up?” Darren asked.
“Check your long-range scanners,” Mason said in an even voice. “Our friends may be back.”
Darren was silent for a long moment and then his voice returned. “We see them. What do you want to do?”
Mason studied the sensor screen for another moment noticing that the icons were still not moving. “I have ordered Commander Sanders to return to Holbrook with his fleet. How are you situated if you have to defend the station?”
Over the past few months, numerous railgun emplacements had been placed on the outer hull of the space station. They had also put an additional layer of armor around the hull for protection. It had been a dangerous job, but in the end Holbrook station now had the firepower of Commander Sander’s entire fleet.
“We have a lot of civilians on the station waiting for transportation to the Moon,” Darren replied with concern in his voice. “Do you want me to contact Jornada and tell them to hold off on any more launches for the time being?”
“I think that would be wise,” Mason replied as he saw Drake come rushing into the Control Center. “Initiate a communications blackout until further notice and let’s wait and see what these aliens do. At the moment, we don’t know if these are the same aliens that attacked us before or someone new.”
“They’re back,” muttered Drake, staring with apprehension at the red icons on the screen. “What are we going to do?”
“What’s the current status of the Armageddon?” Mason asked. He knew the work crews had been working around the clock for months trying to finish the new battlecruiser as quickly as possible.
“She’s ready,” replied Drake, glancing over at Mason. “But I wouldn’t recommend launching her yet. We don’t have all the crew on board, and we still have a lot of systems tests to run.”
“We may not have any choice,” replied Mason, knowing that as soon as word got out about these new aliens there would be widespread panic. They might need every ship they had to protect the system. “We need to be ready to launch her in case we need the extra firepower.”
“I’ll go speak to Ethan and Sean about the Armageddon,” Drake responded with one last look at the sensor screen. “Michael and the command crew are on board and I’ll let them know what’s going on.”
Mason nodded; if the aliens attacked again, it would be a disaster. Luna City had been dramatically expanded, and many of the new domes and tunnels were highly vulnerable, the same with Mars Central. Only Vesta was relatively safe from attack. There were a number of railgun batteries on the surface as well as several inside the kilometers long tunnel that led to the spacedock. If anything attempted to come down the tunnel, they could blow it away. Mason just hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
-o0o-
In the outer part of the solar system, Wade stared with deep concern at the tactical display showing Earth. Marken had only told them the previous day what the Kleese had done to the planet. It had been a shock as word quickly spread throughout the fleet.
“Are we detecting anything?” whispered Wade, praying that some people had survived. He was deeply concerned for his family.
“Yes,” Marken replied as reports began coming in from the assault ship’s powerful sensors. “The large space station above your planet is still operating. We are detecting active power sources on it as well as on your planet’s moon. There are also a number of spacecraft in operation.”
“So there are survivors,” Beth spoke in a dull voice. One of the screens was showing a view of the Earth, and it looked disheartening. The planet was covered in a dark cloud layer. She knew the odds of her mother and fiancée having survived what the Kleese had done to the planet were slim. She had never felt so alone.
“Vesta had a large colony on it,” Wade commented as he looked at more of the tactical screens showing other sections of the solar system. “It obviously survived intact as well as Holbrook Station and Luna City. I imagine Mars Central survived also.”
“I would guess they have been performing rescue operations,” suggested Marken, hoping that meant a sizable Human population had survived.
“We have a fleet of fifteen ships out near the orbit of the fourth planet that have suddenly begun accelerating rapidly toward Earth,” Taalon reported as more data continued to come in. “If I had to make a guess, they are probably some type of warships.”
“Impossible,” uttered Wade, doubtfully. “Earth has no armed ships.”
“You may have them now,” replied Marken, softly. “Could Vesta have built or modified some existing ships into warships to defend themselves with?”
“Possibly,” Wade conceded as he thought it over. “Vesta reportedly has a large spacedock capable of building ships. They didn’t have any weapons, though. If those are indeed warships, the weapons would have to have come from Earth.”
“Can we contact Vesta?” asked Marken, focusing his attention on Wade.
He had no desire to come into range of any weapons the Humans might have placed on their ships since the Kleese disk ship had been here. After seeing the ferocity of how the Human military had fought in the battle suits, there was no doubt in his mind that the Humans by now might possess weapons that could be dangerous to the fleet.
“Possibly,” Wade replied as he thought the question over. “I would suggest we let General Mitchell attempt communications; there may be someone there that knows him.”
Marken nodded, sending orders to have General Mitchell flown over from his ship. That way Marken would be well aware of what was said between the general and the Human survivors. While he didn’t think the general would betray them, the Kleese had destroyed their world and Kiveans had been aboard the disk ship when it happened.
-o0o-
/> “Pamela, I’m picking up a broadcast from one of the alien ships,” Jessica Lang spoke with shock upon her face. “A General Mitchell is asking to speak with Mr. Randle.”
Pamela looked over at Mason, “What the hell is going on? Who is General Mitchell?”
“I don’t know,” replied Mason, feeling confused. “Contact General Wainright at Jornada and see if he has any idea.” This whole thing had just gotten even stranger. How could an army general be on one of the alien ships?
Pamela quickly sent the message and a few minutes later, she had General Wainright on the com.
“General Wainright, this is Mason Randle. As you may know, our long-range scanners have picked up a fleet of what appear to be alien ships on the perimeter of the solar system. We are receiving a message from one of the ships from someone claiming to be a General Mitchell.”
“Alan Mitchell,” Wainright’s voice came back in shock. “He was one of the officers abducted by the aliens.”
Mason looked over at Pamela as he considered Wainright’s words. “How well do you trust the man?”
“He’s a good officer,” Wainright replied. “But if this is General Mitchell he has been with the aliens for close to a year. Who knows what they may have done to him? I would be very cautious, Mason.”
“Thanks, General,” Mason replied as he reached a decision. “If you will stay on the line, I’m going to speak to this General Mitchell and see just what’s going on.”
Mason nodded to Jessica and she transferred the alien ship’s message frequency over to the main com channel. “This is Mason Randle,” he spoke, waiting tensely for a response.
“Mr. Randle, it’s good to hear your voice,” Mitchell replied. “I know this is going to be hard to believe, but we just escaped from the Kleese. They are the aliens that abducted us about a year ago.”
“How did you escape?” asked Mason, finding it hard to believe what Mitchell had just said. He wondered if this was some type of ruse to finish abducting the rest of the survivors in the solar system. That might explain why they had brought so many ships.
“We had help,” Mitchell replied over the com. “With your permission we would like to approach Vesta with just one ship and explain everything in person. You will need to see this in order to believe it.”
Mason hesitated for a moment. He didn’t like the idea of one of the alien ships approaching Vesta. “Do you have a shuttle you could come in instead? I would prefer to know what we’re getting into before we allow one of the larger ships to approach.”
“A wise precaution,” General Mitchell replied with approval in his voice. “With your permission, we will approach to ten thousand kilometers off Vesta in one of our larger ships and then take what we call a drop ship to come the rest of the way. Will that be acceptable?”
Mason thought about it and then nodded. “Give us two hours to make our preparations and then you can come,” he replied.
“Excellent,” General Mitchell answered in a pleased voice. “We are looking forward to meeting with you.”
The communications ended and then Mason activated the other com line where General Wainright had been listening. “What do you think, General?”
“It sure sounded like General Mitchell,” Wainright responded, still sounding concerned. “Just be careful Mason; we still don’t know what or who we’re dealing with. Mitchell could have been brainwashed and may be entirely under the control of the aliens. Don’t take anything for granted.”
“We won’t,” Mason promised, fully in agreement. “I have a plan that will ensure this first meeting will go as scheduled.”
Mason ended the communication and smiled to himself. The Armageddon might not be ready to fully deploy, but it could still be stationed just outside the tunnel that led to the spacedock. With its large railguns, it should be able to handle one alien ship if need be.
-o0o-
Wade breathed an excited sigh of relief as the assault ship dropped back into normal space ten thousand kilometers from Vesta. If the asteroid colony still survived that meant a sizable Human population did also. He knew from former media reports that the city of Smithfield inside the asteroid had a large number of inhabitants and Wade hoped that number had grown considerably since the destruction of Earth. It was a logical place to bring survivors.
“We may have a problem,” Marken commented as he gestured toward the main viewscreen. His eyes looked concerned.
Wade looked up and saw a large ship hovering just above the asteroid. As the viewscreen enlarged the picture, he was surprised to see the ship was covered with weapons turrets and what looked like four very large cannons mounted on the bow.
“It’s a warship!” Beth uttered in amazement. “They’ve built a warship to protect themselves from future attacks.”
“What type of weapons are those?” General Mitchell asked with interest. It made him feel relieved to know that Vesta was not as defenseless as they had thought.
“Railguns,” Marken replied nervously as several of his people spoke to him over the com system. “The four large ones on the bow could probably destroy this assault vessel. There are also a number deployed elsewhere on the asteroid.” It didn’t really surprise him that the Humans had armed themselves. He knew he should have expected it after being around Major Nelson and his marines.
“I’m impressed,” General Mitchell spoke with a pleased nod. “I knew Vesta had the ability to construct ships in their spacedock, but I didn’t expect anything like this. Just how large is that ship?”
“Five hundred meters in length, fifty meters high, and ninety meters wide,” Marken reported as he thought about the possibilities. “If our engineers could equip that ship with modern space drives, an energy shield, and our new particle weapons, it could possibly take on one of the Kleese disk ships on its own and win.”
“Let’s concentrate on the matter at hand,” General Mitchell cautioned. “We’ll go down to the drop ship and take a little trip. It’s time we find out just what’s happened since we were taken and who is actually in charge.”
Beth looked over at Wade with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “If they have been rescuing survivors, do you think there’s any chance my family survived?” It had been weighing heavily on her mind that she might now be all alone.
“I don’t know,” replied Wade, feeling her pain. Everyone had freaked out when they had learned about Earth. There had even been a few suicides. It had been bad enough being captives of the Kleese, but then to learn that their families might also be dead had been a devastating blow. Wade couldn’t help wondering about his own family.
-o0o—
Mason was standing in the spacedock watching the small alien ship set down in the designated berth. A full company of heavily armed marines were on hand to form a greeting party in case anything threatening occurred. General Wainright had sent nearly twenty five hundred troops to Vesta to help Mason keep control of the growing civilian population as well as to protect the valuable asteroid from attack.
With growing apprehension, Mason waited for a hatch to open on the side of the vessel, expecting to see aliens. Instead, a large hatch in the back of the alien ship opened and a ramp quickly extended until it touched the floor of the bay. Then out walked three people in marine uniforms as well as what obviously was an alien.
Mason took in a sharp breath and watched as a squad of marines approached the four. He could sense an air of anxiety from the other troops in the spacedock. No one was sure what to expect.
The sergeant in charge of the squad stopped, saluted the general, and then began speaking to him. Mason saw the general reply and then the sergeant gestured toward Mason. After some discussion, the general nodded and the marines took up escorting positions around the four and began walking toward where Mason was waiting.
As they approached, Mason noticed that the marine general was an older man, but the other two Humans looked to be much younger. One wore the rank of major and the woman was a lieutenant. The alien
was a different story entirely. He was well over six feet tall and his skin had an unhealthy red tinge to it. His face was humanoid with narrow eyes with no eyebrows, a wide nose, and small ears. The top of his head was bald and his arms were longer than a Human’s with long, narrow fingers.
“I’m General Mitchell,” spoke the general, extending his hand toward Mason.
“I’m Mason Randle,” responded Mason, reaching out and firmly shaking the general’s hand.
“The people with me are Major Nelson, Lieutenant Williams, and Marken of the Kivean race.”
Mason nodded at the others, doing his best not to stare at the alien. “I have a conference room set up nearby for us to meet in. Several of my key people will be there also.”
“Excellent,” General Mitchell replied. “We have a lot to talk about.”
The group made their way across the spacedock and passed through a hatch into a long corridor. Along the corridor were several doors, with only one standing open. Reaching it, Mason gestured for the others to enter. Then, turning to the marine sergeant, “I want you and two more of your marines inside with us; the rest are to stand guard in this corridor and make sure we are not bothered.
“Yes, Sir,” the sergeant replied.
Mason went on inside and was soon joined by the sergeant and two of his marines. The marines took up positions on each side of the now closed door holding their assault rifles at the ready. The sergeant followed Mason.
Sean Miller, Pamela Cairns, and Lori Wright were already seated at the long conference table. All were looking in astonishment at Marken, realizing they were seeing their first true alien.
“Have a seat,” spoke Mason, pointing toward a number of empty chairs at the table. Mason sat down with the marine sergeant standing several feet behind him where he could keep a watchful eye on the four newcomers.
General Mitchell sat down and looked over appraisingly at Mason. It was obvious this man was in control and was very confident about his ability to run things. He had expected to see a member of the Earth government in charge of Vesta; he wondered why that had not happened.