Aspirations: A Near Future Sci-Fi Thriller

by Randal Sloan

  Tim could only stare at her. Julie knew that if he hadn’t had that helmet on hiding his features, she probably would have seen tears in his eyes. She certainly had her own. She turned to the group. “I’m declaring the competition between the teams over. It was a tie. Because Tim won the second bet, I will let his team choose. But know that I hold you all in the highest esteem.”

  As she exited the area, Julie’s mind was on what had happened to distract her. Something to do with Zeke. Something unexpected that had caused a hint of it to reach her. Something that he had now hidden from her so deep that she knew she had no chance of picking it out of his head. She was going to have to work on improving her abilities. He was so much better than her at it.

  #

  The event that had distracted Julie that afternoon was a VR call that Zeke received from the First Lady. He was surprised to hear from her, but before he could say anything she explained. “I have to warn you about a vision I’ve seen. It’s about Julie and the attack she is leading on the Organization Space Station.”

  That got Zeke’s attention. No one knew that fact except a very few at Space Tech. Not that he ever doubted it, but once more, that was strong proof that she saw visions of the future.

  She went on, “Zeke, I need to warn you about a couple of things. There is something not right about the station control system. Can you replace it with one of your AI systems quickly?”

  Zeke answered easily. “Sure. If we pre-configure it with the information matrix used by the Space Tech Station, it should only take a few minutes. We probably would have done that anyway, just not right away.”

  The First Lady pushed on. “It is very important. And one other thing. You are not to leave Julie’s side once she boards the station.”

  Zeke nodded. “I could send a tech to do the installation once I have the pre-configuration done. I would probably stay with her anyway after that, but I will make absolutely sure I do the whole time now.”

  The First Lady gave him a look that he didn’t comprehend. It was as if she was trying to decide if she should tell him something. Finally she said, “It is best if you don’t tell any of this to Julie. I’m sure you know why.”

  Zeke nodded again, which seemed to satisfy her. She went on, “Thanks for doing this. Julie is very important to both of us. I will talk to you and explain more the next time I see you.” She closed the call, a little too quickly for Zeke, who would have liked to ask her more questions.

  Zeke gave a big sigh. He knew absolutely that she hadn’t told him everything, but It didn’t matter. He would follow her advice no matter what. Whatever she wasn’t telling him, he would just have to deal with it. Julie’s safety was all that mattered to him.

  As she had alluded, he knew why she didn’t want him to tell Julie. Julie would refuse to let him go with her if she thought there was a risk for him. He wished he could just stop her from going, but there wasn’t any way to do that. So he vowed to do whatever it took to protect her.

  Minutes later, Julie came in from her training with the two teams still wearing her armor. Her excitement was obvious. Zeke was worried that meant she was planning to lead the assault. That would make things much more difficult.

  However, Julie saw his look and quickly put him at ease. “No, Zeke, as much fun as the simulations were, I’m not going in with them. I’ll be flying the corvette and making sure no pirates try to sneak up on us during the operation. I won’t even be wearing my armor. As great as it is, I need to be able to be completely unencumbered while piloting my ship. I won’t enter the station until it is completely secure.”

  Zeke decided to tell her later about his plan with the AI. That one would be easy. Instead he started on the second task the First Lady had stipulated. “That’s good. Otherwise, I would have to get me a set made too. Remember, I’m the one in charge of watching your behind. I mean back…”

  Julie laughed. “I heard the slip there, Zeke. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to watch my back. But, you can watch my behind too.” She smiled and then went on, “Let me go slip into something more comfortable. Then we can continue this conversation.”

  Zeke remained thoughtful as she went to change. He was glad that she wouldn’t be there in time for the assault, and that she would ditch the armor. But he felt two ways on that one. If she didn’t have on the armor, she wouldn’t be tempted to join them even at the end of the assault. But on the other hand, she wouldn’t have the added protection of the armor.

  Later he would wish they both had on armor.

  #

  Uncle Ted got confirmation from their mole in the Organization that everything was happening as planned. The Organization leaders were meeting the next day, and he would be prepared to assist if they were able to pull off the assault.

  Ted called Julie to tell her the news. “It’s a go,” he told her. “I just heard from Jon and all their plans are in place as we expected.” He couldn’t help but let a little excitement slip into his voice. Although not as deep in the struggle against the Organization as his brother and now his niece, he felt very strongly about this too.

  “Good,” Julie answered. “Our teams are ready and the ship is ready.” She looked intently at her uncle. “Be sure to let everyone know that we are still having our little get together up here tonight. And that I’m not taking no for an answer. That means you and Carla too. I need all of you here. I think it is very important. Especially since tomorrow I expect I will be seeing the ones responsible for the attack that killed my mother. This way, I will be with the ones that I love and remember why I am doing this.”

  Ted nodded. He would have backed out on the little celebration if she hadn’t told him that. “I will tell them. I will make sure we all catch the shuttle coming up this evening.”

  Julie knew that she had two reasons she wanted them up on the station. She really meant it about needing to feel their love. At times, she still saw the monster she could be, and that scared her. So spending the time with them was the right thing to do. With all her friends and family close to her tonight, she knew that would help keep her centered. She would be able to dwell on her love for them and not on her hate of the ones who killed her mother. She would need that for sure the next day.

  It would have to be enough for her, enough that she would be able to keep it under control and not do what she wanted to do. Like rip the heart out of the leader of the Organization. It would have only been fitting, since he had ripped her heart out, killing her mother. Yes, she needed all her family and friends tonight.

  But it would work out good for the other reason she hadn’t told them. She would need them up on the station for a couple of days so that she could take care of the second phase of her plans against the Organization. That way they would be safe. Only Zeke knew what she had planned.

  Ted looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. It was obvious to Julie that he knew something was up with her, just not what she had in mind. “You and I need to talk about what’s next once this is done. I’m concerned about how this is all affecting you.”

  Julie nodded. “I’ll do that. I’ll see you this evening,” she said with a smile, closing the call. She would talk to him. After all, she needed him on her side. But she wasn’t going to tell him all of it. Not until it was done.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Cutting Off the Head

  Julie awoke early the next morning, feeling very refreshed from her time with family and friends, something she knew she needed with the job she had to do. Sipping her coffee in the Space Tech control room, she began the process to determine if the mission to capture the Organization leaders was going to be a go.

  Space Tech had clandestinely planted a spy satellite close enough to watch the Organization Space Station. The satellite had detected several shuttles arriving in the last few minutes. That was just what they would expect if a number of VIPs were coming up to the station. She updated the status of the mission to a probable and tentatively set the launch time to one hour.
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br />   As she was sitting there watching the feeds, Zeke came in carrying his own cup of coffee plus a refill for hers. Smiling, she accepted the cup. “I saw your status update,” Zeke told her. “I have an idea that I have been toying with, and I think we need to do it. I am a little concerned about the stability of our opponent’s station. If they manage to lock us out of the control system, it could be a problem. So, I have configured an AI to take with us that we can put in place to take over for their control system, basing it on our AI here at Space Tech Station.”

  Julie looked up in surprise. “That’s a brilliant idea,” she said. “Even if they didn’t lock us out, we still would be trying to figure out how to use their backward systems, which probably are terrible.” Then she looked closely at Zeke. He didn’t have his usual smirk, the one he always wore when he had a good idea. She tried to get a mental read from him, but she got nothing. This wasn’t the time, but one of these days when everything slowed down, she was going to pin some of this stuff down with him. “I know you are up to something. I don’t have time to worry about it right now, but whatever it is, that’s a good idea. Go for it.”

  Zeke did have his smirk this time. “Good thing. I’ve already sent several techs onboard the boarding ship to do that as soon as we take the station. They will start their task as soon as the station is under our control. Remember, I have the most envious task of watching your behind.” Zeke knew she wouldn’t argue with that one.

  Julie smiled back at him, but she still knew he was hiding something. Zeke sure knew the buttons to push on her. She definitely was going to have to bring the inquisition when this thing was over. But for now, it was time to get down to business.

  It was Julie’s job to defeat any defenses the Organization had in place, including the pirate ships. Immediately behind her would be one of the anti-pirate ships of Space Tech carrying the special forces team and mercenary team involved in the attack as well as the support personnel and techs that would immediately come aboard as soon as the station was secure. An additional Space Tech ship would be kept on ready, its mission to bring back the prisoners if the attack was successful.

  Julie had studied the defenses of the space station in infinite detail. She knew exactly what defenses they had, even to the type missiles they were using. They had a few rail guns and two missile installations. Even though the missiles were considerably smaller than the newest Space Tech missiles, they were still big enough to cause damage to her ship if she took a direct hit, even with the armor. The rail guns shouldn’t be big enough to bother her ship, but even so, she wouldn’t sit around to let them pound her. Eventually the ship’s armor, which she actually considered to be only light armor, would fail. Plus they might get a lucky hit. She didn’t actually intend to let them get a single hit.

  Pointing to the view from the spy satellite, she told Zeke, “Do you see the two pirate ships? I know that I can handle two, but I’m still just a little worried about them. I don’t want anything to happen to our ship that’s carrying the assault teams and support personnel. As you know, anything can happen in battle. There is a risk that a stray missile could catch them. For that reason, I am waiting to see what they will do before we launch.”

  Zeke nodded. “Especially since we don’t know if they have upgraded their missiles on the pirate ships.” He moved closer to her. “Guess we will have to just sit here and watch for a while.” That got him a smile from Julie. Good. He was going to be staying very close to her.

  As they sipped their coffee and watched, one of the pirate ships left the station, flying to some unknown destination. They continued to watch it, switching to a passive sensor view that made use of all the excess radio signals flying through the area to work as a sort of radar. Once it had traveled far enough away that Julie knew it couldn’t get back in time to prevent the attack on the station, or more importantly, affect her assault team, she moved the mission up to a go.

  “Let’s go,” she told Zeke, a nervous smile on her face. She quickly headed for the docking area, Zeke right behind her. He was nervous too, but for a different reason. But he knew it would be over soon. All he knew was that he would do whatever it took to protect Julie. Whatever it took.

  #

  The two of them quickly boarded her attack corvette. Julie strapped into the pilot’s seat while Zeke settled into a backup station. She deftly brought her systems up and queried the status of the other ships. The assault and support teams were already in place aboard the ship that would be following along behind her, and the pilot had his systems prepped and ready. The third ship was on standby, and it also showed ready on her status board.

  Everything was ready, so Julie queued the coms. It was time to begin. “This is Attack Craft Alpha. Preparing to launch. May God be with you all today.”

  Using her attack ship, Julie led the way out of the station, flying by her backup propulsion systems. She was not yet ready to show the Organization what her little ship was capable of doing. They had worked out a course that would appear to the other space station to be two ships headed out for a mining operation. The pirates would see two blips they would assume was a mining ship being accompanied by an anti-pirate ship. They continued along that course for several minutes, seeing absolutely zero reaction from the Organization.

  As they passed the closest point to the station, Julie switched on the new drive and began her approach, immediately running it up to one hundred percent. The anti-pirate ship followed at its fastest acceleration, but it quickly began to drop behind, her ship easily outdistancing it. Julie did not think her little ship while moving at full-speed would even be detected by the Organization Station’s equipment until she was right on top of them. At least they wouldn’t know what they saw was a ship. Too bad for them that they didn’t have an AI. It might have figured it out somehow. Not that it would really have mattered when Julie got there.

  One minute out, Julie sent the Organization Station a message. “This is Space Tech Attack Ship Aspirations. We are looking for members of the Organization and have evidence they are onboard your station. Our intent is to take them into custody per our international agreements. If you offer any resistance, you will be fired upon. This is your only warning." She made a quick flyby, noting their weapons systems were coming online, albeit a little slowly. A single rail gun got a shot off, but it was nowhere near her. So be it. She knew all along that they would never come peacefully.

  Julie switched all her weapons systems to live and started her attack run. The first pass, she concentrated on the missile systems, which were still not online. To her it was almost too easy. In that first pass, she was able to take out all of the missile launchers, just using her rail guns. That had been her plan all along, so as to minimize the destruction to the station. It would have been too easy to just fire away with missiles and destroy them. She knew she could have done it. There were only two reasons she didn’t. The mole, who had done a lot to help them, was aboard the station, and she didn’t want to kill him with the rest. More importantly to her at the moment, she wanted to look the man in the eye who had killed her mother. She knew she would have to wait for the courts to try him, but she wanted him to see her and know she was the one who had taken him. She still wanted to rip his heart out and show him.

  Zeke, sitting at the backup station, knew her thoughts. He sent Julie a strong message, concentrating on his love for her. It seemed to work, because he felt her slowly letting go of her anger.

  Julie made a second and finally a third pass. With those passes, she concentrated on the rail guns around the station. She was so psyched about her task, she didn’t realize she was taking each one out by firing a single rail gun round. Each targeted station rail gun was neatly sliced in half. Zeke, who knew his reflexes would have allowed him to do a lot at those controls, still stared at her in disbelief. She was flying so fast, instinctively varying her speed between one hundred and her max one twenty, that none of the rail gun rounds fired by the station ever even came close to
them. She didn’t even have to use any of her special defensive tactics to keep them from tracking her.

  The third pass finished, Julie sat for a moment with a finger above the fire button for the missile systems. Just one press, that was all it would take. Once more, she pulled back from the brink as Zeke sent her his love. She would see this through to the end.

  The pirate ship that had been docked at the station was so unprepared that they had barely managed to get undocked before Julie started her attacks. They wisely realized that they were too close to the station to launch their missiles at her and so watched aghast as Julie made her three passes on the station. But they also hung around the area, making it impossible for Julie to bring her troops in. Unluckily for them, Julie now realized that she had a target she could take her frustration out on. She knew they would never surrender, and she felt no obligation to pull her claws in against them.

  Julie called the Space Tech ship with all their personnel. It was still on approach, but she knew they would have to halt their flight soon if the pirate stayed where it was located. Major Gonzalez was nominally in charge due to his team being the lead on this mission, so he answered her call.

  “Major,” Julie told him. “I’m going to try to draw the pirate away so your ship can start your run. Be ready as soon as he is out of range. Don’t worry. He won’t be back.”

  She darted in front of the pirate ship, daring them to chase her. They couldn’t resist taking the bait. A soon as they were out of range of the station, she hailed it, “Pirate Ship. This is Aspirations. Surrender, or you'll be destroyed.” At the same time she fired a rail gun round that passed inches from their bow. As she expected, they responded by launching a full spread of their missiles at her.