by M. R. Forbes
There was another pause as the Admiral must have been doing what she suggested. At least he hadn't said anything about her being MIA.
"Captain North, I have to admit, I'm very confused. I can believe you might have spoofed the codes, but I can see you heading our way. At least, I assume that's you? I've never seen a ship like yours before."
"That's us, sir," Ella agreed. She had heard the Admiral had unbelievable eyesight, and he had proven it. "Your confusion is the reason we're here. It's the same confusion I had when Colonel Williams picked me up on Liberty."
"Colonel Williams?"
"It's a long story, sir, but one you need to hear. Permission to come aboard, Admiral?"
"Send me a video feed first, Captain. I need to see that you are who you say you are, and that this isn't some kind of elaborate ruse by the Federation."
"Teegin?" Ella said.
"Opening video feed," Teegin said.
The viewscreen in front of her changed, showing her part of the bridge of the Carver. Admiral Williams was front and center, sitting stiffly in his command chair. He smiled when he saw her.
"Unless the Federation has figured out how to make exact replicas of people, I'm pretty sure you are who you say. My daughter has a poster of you on her wall back home. You're her hero."
Ella smiled. "Thank you, sir. I'm proud to be a role model to girls like her."
"Permission granted. I'll have my XO waiting to greet you when you arrive."
"Sir," Ella said. "I'd like to bring a second with me. Major Katherine Asher, United Earth Alliance." She motioned for Katherine, who moved to stand beside her.
"Sir," Katherine said, saluting before remembering the change of decorum. She bowed, her face flushing slightly.
"United Earth Alliance? And here I thought this was going to be a boring trip to the middle of nowhere. I'll see you both soon, Captain."
"Yes, sir," Ella said. "Captain North, out."
The Carver's stream vanished, the channel closed.
"I wasn't expecting you to bring me with you," Katherine said. "Why not Admiral Yousefi? He's the ranking officer."
"Because you know Mitchell, and you know this war. Better than I do, anyway."
"Knowing Mitchell isn't going to help us. He's dead in this timeline. He's a ghost to the Admiral."
"Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how much of our story he decides to believe. I saw what the Tetron can do. We need the fleet preparing for them yesterday. I'll do whatever it takes to get Admiral Williams on our side. The chance to see his dead brother as an adult may actually work out in our favor."
"Maybe you're right," Katherine said.
"I know I am. Let's go."
22
Ella guided the S-17 into the hangar of the Carver, following the blinking lights toward a spot that had been specced for a transport, leaving them with a much larger berth than they required. She could see the faces of the technicians in the hangar as the hybrid starfighter crossed the deck, and she laughed when she untucked the arms and legs, causing them all to turn slack-jawed at the sight. Then she swung the S-17 through the berth in a tight loop, coming to land on the feet and dunking the cockpit forward to bring it closer to the ground. The canopy swung open, and she and Katherine climbed out, walking down the repulsor steps that spread from below.
"Interesting fighter."
Ella turned toward the voice. A stocky man in a dress uniform was waiting there, hands tucked together at his waist in a relatively casual posture.
"Captain John Rock," he said, stepping toward them. "It's an honor to meet you, Captain North. Your reputation, well, you know your reputation." He smiled and turned to Katherine. "And a pleasure to meet you, Major Asher." He bowed to them. "Custom, I assume?" He pointed at the fighter.
Ella returned the bow, laughing as she did. "You can say that."
"The Admiral asked me to escort you to his office. He's very eager to hear about why you traveled all the way from Liberty just to talk to him."
"And I'm very eager to tell him," Ella replied. "I'm grateful for the opportunity." She was also grateful there hadn't been MPs waiting to arrest her. At least the Alliance wasn't guessing she had gone AWOL just yet. Maybe they thought she was dead?
"I've never been on a starship like this before," Katherine said, her eyes wandering around the hangar. "It's very impressive."
"Yeah, the Carver is one of the newest ships in the fleet. She's top of the line, and carrying more firepower than three of the previous generation battleships combined. I'll make sure you get a tour if we have the time. This way."
Captain Rock led them from the hangar, out into corridors that felt like open air to Ella after spending the last week on the Goliath. For as large as the ship was, between the thick plating of the superstructure and Teegin's dendritic tendrils, there wasn't much room left to maneuver.
"You're lucky you showed up when you did," Rock said. "We were due to ship out in the next week or so. We haven't received our orders yet. Hopefully a couple of weeks of recreation back on Earth."
Ella smiled at the remark, but didn't say anything. Mitchell had briefed her on what he knew of the Carver's endeavors at the start of the Tetron war and the mission to Federation space that cost Admiral Williams most of his battle group. It was as far away from recreation as you could get.
Captain Rock continued making small talk as they made the trip through the starship, reaching a lift and taking it up a dozen decks, walking another long corridor, and finally coming to a stop in front of an actual wood door. It was a stark contrast to the smooth metal of the rest of the Carver, making its importance obvious.
"Right in here," Rock said, taking the door by the handle and pushing it open. Ella and Katherine walked through it, coming to a stop in the middle of a thick white carpet, right in front of an ornate wood desk. "Steven, your guests are here."
"Thank you, John," Steven said, standing up from his chair and bowing to them. Ella didn't think he was as handsome as his brother, but he had a stoic confidence that made up for his lack of physical appeal. "Captain North. A real honor to have the Hero of the Battle of Liberty on the Carver. And Major Asher. I'm more than a little intrigued by your story."
"Admiral," they both said, bowing.
"Please, let's have a seat at the conference table. I don't like barriers."
He motioned to a table for ten to the left of the desk. Ella walked over to it, taking a seat beside the Admiral. Captain Rock sat a few chairs away.
"Well, you said you needed to speak to me, Captain," he said. "What can I help you with?"
"What have you heard about Liberty, Admiral?" Ella asked. "You said you knew it was attacked."
"That's about all I've heard, Captain. I was hoping maybe you could fill me in. The streams have been surprisingly bare on details."
"That's because they don't know what happened," Ella said. "And they don't know because they were under the control of a malevolent third party."
"Pirates from the Rim?"
"No. A non-human third party, sir. A race of artificial intelligences known as the Tetron."
Steven looked past her, to Captain Rock. She could tell he didn't believe her. Why would he?
"These artificial intelligences," Steven said, measuring his words. "Who made them? Where did they come from?"
"Major Asher," Ella said. "In what year were you born?"
"Twenty twenty-five," Katherine said. "March nineteenth."
Steven paused, staring at them. "Captain, is this some kind of joke?"
"No, sir. Have you checked the id of the starship we came over from?"
Steven looked at Captain Rock. "John?"
"We were still querying," he replied. "Hold on." His eyes twitched as he accessed the files. Then went wide as he scanned the result. "That can't be."
"It is, Captain," Ella said.
"John?" Steven asked.
"Sir, the identification matches the United Earth Alliance Starship Goliath, launched October 21, 2
055. The Goliath vanished after going into hyperspace. It was never seen again." His eyes refocused on Steven. His face was pale.
"It was hiding, Captain," Katherine said. "Waiting to fight a war that we knew was going to come. A war that is coming, and soon."
"Four hundred years?" Steven said. "How is that possible?"
"Time travel," Ella said. "I know it sounds crazy, and I didn't believe it either. But I'm here because I saw it myself. I know the threat is real. The details about Liberty, Admiral? They killed hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of hours, and that was only the beginning. They can access your interface remotely. They can make you do whatever they want you to do."
"You mean the Tetron?" Steven said.
"Yes."
Steven stood up, pacing around the table. "How do you expect me to believe this, Captain?"
"Because I believe it," Ella said. "And I'm hoping that you'll believe in me. You know me. You know who I am. The Hero of the Battle for Liberty. A decorated soldier. I saw what happened to Liberty, Admiral. Trust me when I say you don't want the same thing to happen to Earth, or to any other planets in the Alliance. They're coming, and we have to stop them. The Alliance has to stop them."
Steven shook his head. "Even if I said I believed in you, Captain. Why did you come to me? Why not go to Earth and tell all of this to Command."
"Command may be compromised," Ella said. "The Tetron have agents planted all over the Federation and the Alliance. They've been preparing for this, just like we have. We came to you first because we know we can trust you. With your position and reputation and mine we can convince whoever we need to convince, and nobody will be able to discredit it."
"I see," Steven said, quiet for a moment as he considered. "And what makes you think you can trust me, out of all of the Admirals in the fleet?"
"Because your brother trusts you," Katherine said.
"My brother?"
"Colonel Williams," Ella said. "Colonel Mitchell Williams."
Steven stared at her, an expression of anger and hope crossing his face. "My brother is dead, Captain. He was murdered when he was five years old, from some psychotic asshole that the police never found."
"A Tetron configuration killed your brother in this timeline," Katherine said. "To prevent him from joining the war. But your brother from the previous recursion is still alive, and he wanted us to find you, to reach out to you. We need your help."
Steven's mouth hung open. His eyes kept darting from Ella to Katherine to Captain Rock. He was silent for a good sixty seconds.
"This is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard," he said.
Then he was silent for another minute.
Then he sat back down.
"Tell me everything."
23
"Captain on deck," Shank bellowed, bringing the talking in the briefing room to an immediate stop.
Millie entered a moment later, with Mitchell trailing behind her. He had managed to get a quick shower and a change of clothes, and was now dressed in standard issue combat fatigues with light exo attachments, leading the gathered soldiers to snap to a little bit crisper attention.
She reached the podium, standing behind it and looking out at the Riggers. "All right," she said. "Here's the deal. We got screwed on the Calypso mission, and we've got about eighty-six hours before command finds out what happened here. Or rather, what didn't happen here. You all know what that means. The good news is, we have another option. An important option. I assume you all got a look at the ship that stopped the attack on the space station?"
She paused while they grumbled affirmation.
"Good. This is Colonel Mitchell Williams. That was his ship out there. He saved the Federation's precious station, and they repaid him by forcing him to exchange the ship for our lives."
"Idiot," someone in the group said. The others laughed.
"The Colonel says he can fix our little conundrum. The only thing we need to do is help him get his ship back."
"Why would you save us, mate?" Cormac said from the front row. "Don't you know who we are?"
Mitchell nodded. "I know who you are, Firedog. I know who all of you are. Soldiers. The best of the worst. You're exactly what I need in the days to come."
"What's he talking about, Captain?" Cormac said.
"It doesn't matter," Millie replied. "You're Riggers. You do what you're told."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Colonel, do you want to take it from here?"
Mitchell stepped up to the podium as Millie moved away. He looked out into the group. As his eyes fell on the soldiers he had known, he forced himself to remember them the way they were now, alive, instead of the way he had last seen them.
"The Federation is going to send a standard crew over to the Dove. The problem for them is that the Dove isn't a standard ship. Not only will they have to figure out how she works, but they'll have to try to convince the AI to let them fly her."
"Did you say, AI?" Ilanka said.
"Yes," Mitchell replied. "I also expect that Chancellor Ken will be cautious with his new prize. It's reasonable to assume he'll send some soldiers along with the crew as a show of force, and to defend it from, well, us." He smiled. "Once he realizes he can't just FTL the Dove out of the area, unless he's a fool he'll know I'm coming back for it. I pretty much told him I was going to."
"How are we going to get on board then?" Shank said. "They'll be shields up and surrounded by escorts."
"They can't control the shields. The hangar will be open. The hard part will be getting past the escorts, but I have a plan for that. The other hard part will be disabling the Federation soldiers inside."
"What's hard about that?" Cormac said. "A bullet here, a grenade there. No more soldiers."
"I said disabling, Firedog," Mitchell said. "No bullets. No deaths."
"We have to take the ship from them without killing them?" Shank said.
"Yes. No serious injuries, no broken bones. I still need to get the Federation on our side, and I can't do that if we start killing their people."
"Wait," Cormac said. "They frigged you over, and you want to be friends?"
"Not want. Need. That thing that you saw attack the station? It isn't the only one. There are dozens of them, and when they combine their firepower even the Dove can't stand up to them alone. We're trying to enlist the Federation to join the Alliance in the fight against them before our planets start to fall."
"I don't know, mate," Cormac said.
"You don't get paid to question," Millie snapped. "That's the mission, and you're going to do it to the best of your ability."
"I don't get paid at all," Cormac replied.
"You get to live. You get to keep being a soldier. That is your payment. That's all of our payments."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Shank, you and Cormac will be point on this mission," Millie said. "Ilanka, we're going to need you, too. As for the rest of you grunts, that's all I've got. I wanted you to know what I'm doing to fix this situation, and what you all have to look forward to. Riiiggg-ahhh!"
"Riiiggg-ahhh," the crew replied.
"If you aren't Shank, Firedog, or Rain, you're dismissed."
Millie stepped back while the Riggers got to their feet, most of them filing out of the briefing room, talking and joking with one another as soon as they were clear.
"They don't sound too worried about this," Mitchell said.
"All in a day's work for the Riggers, Colonel," Millie replied. "But you should already know that."
The final few soldiers cleared the room. Shank, Cormac, and Ilanka switched seats, grouping at the front.
"So, Colonel," Shank said. "How do you want to play this?"
24
"Thirty seconds to drop," Millie said.
Mitchell looked to his left, through the transparent polycarbonate of his piranha's canopy, catching a glimpse of Ilanka across from him, also seated in the cockpit of a starfighter. She turned her head as if she had felt his gaze.
She gave him a thumbs up, and he returned it, smiling behind his flight helmet.
It had been a long time since he had been behind the stick of a piranha, and the comfort of the gel seats and the sparseness of the nearly absent manual controls was a huge contrast to the seemingly less advanced S-17. He kept reminding himself that he was in a different craft now, one that while fairly recently designed, was still nowhere near as powerful or maneuverable as his custom bird. It was going to keep things interesting.
"How are you holding up back there?" Mitchell asked through the team channel. He was fortunate his implant had already been rebuilt and re-encrypted, since that was a task Watson used to fulfill on the Schism, and he wasn't sure if Singh knew how to do it.
"Just fine, Colonel," Cormac replied.
Mitchell turned his head, trying to get a glimpse of the soldier. He was currently decked out in a light exoskeleton with a starsuit over it, laying flat on the back of the piranha with his hands and feet splayed across it, their electromagnetic locks turned on to hold him fast to the starfighter. He couldn't see Firedog that well from his position, but looking over at Ilanka's ship, he could easily make out Shank in the same pose on the back of her fighter.
He wanted to say the idea was original, but he had gotten it from Teegin, from when the intelligence had ridden on the back of the S-17. It seemed like an efficient way to transport a grunt to a target at high velocity, and after coming to understand the parameters of their mission it seemed to be a logical approach.
Not that Shank and Cormac hadn't tried to argue about the sanity of being strapped to a starfighter while it worked to thread the needle past three Federation cruisers and their complement of fighter squadrons. They had tried to convince Mitchell that the plan was crazy, but Millie had quickly and decisively put them both in their place. Now that the mission was at hand, Mitchell knew the soldiers would be all business.
"I'm ready to go, Colonel," Shank said.
"You know plan," Ilanka said. "The second we drop from FTL, we go hard and fast as we can. When we hit hangar, it is up to you to cover."