Amanda glared first at Ryan, then at her father. She still felt let down, but she wasn’t about to let her feelings toward either of them get in the way. She swallowed and thrust her shoulders back.
“I’m in,” she said. Then she looked at Ryan to see what he would do.
Ryan stared directly at the admiral. “I’m in, sir. May I be dismissed, sir?”
“Dismissed, Thompson. Get some rest. We all have a lot of work to do to get these ships into combat-ready shape.”
Ryan turned to leave, then hesitated and turned to face Amanda. “Well, I’ll see you at 0600 hours then,” he said. He saluted the admiral and spun around to leave the room.
“Sure,” she said, not looking at him. As Ryan left, she noticed her father smiling. If this was his idea of a joke, she wasn’t getting the humor.
“May I be dismissed . . . sir?” she said.
“Absolutely,” he replied.
She exited his office, making sure to slam the door.
Chapter 8
Mobilization
Fleet Admiral Thompson looked at the view from the monitor. It was a sight to behold. Fifty-five battleships from all of the major countries, flying in formation in deep space. With the earth as a backdrop, it almost resembled a work of art.
Earth Defense Fleet was running through their final checklists as they prepared to meet the alien fleet. The flagship was the UEDF Constitution, and Thompson was commanding her. She was the newest and largest ship in the fleet.
Sitting in the center of the bridge, Thompson looked around at his crew. All of them were immersed in their duties. They were highly experienced, a truly elite team, and most of them had been with him for years.
At the helm was Lieutenant Vinnie Romano. Romano had been Thompson’s helmsman for the last five years.
His weapons officer, Lieutenant Carson Diego, had come on board along with Romano. The two were close friends.
The chief engineer, Captain Reggie Fowler, a Brit, had served with Thompson on and off over the last twenty years. He was one of the original members of the light-speed engine design team.
Another longtime friend and Englishman, Niles Thames, was Thompson’s executive officer. Thames had gone to the academy with Thompson and had served alongside him for nearly three decades.
Last was the newest member of the bridge crew, Thompson’s communications officer, Lieutenant Kyra Barnes. With her long dark hair and bronze skin, and standing around six feet tall, she looked like she could have been an Amazon warrior.
It was time to address the fleet.
“Lieutenant Barnes, open communications, fleet-wide,” said the admiral.
Barnes’s long bony hands flew across her console. “Fleet-wide communications open, Admiral.”
Thompson leaned back in his chair. “I want to take a minute to personally thank each and every one of you for your service. Today we embark on a journey like never before. What happens over the course of the next few days will be a new experience for all of us. Hopefully, we’ll engage in peaceful and groundbreaking communication with a new species. But, if this is an attack on our home and our families, then we must not fail. I am proud to lead this fleet, and I know there’s not a crew in the world I’d rather be heading into the great unknown with.”
He turned to Romano. “Full thrusters ahead. Take the lead.”
Facing Barnes, he ordered, “Have all ships set up in a wing formation. Let’s move out. One-tenth sub-light speed. Once we clear the moon, have the fleet increase to one-quarter light speed.”
“Understood, Admiral,” said Barnes. “Sending message to the fleet now, sir.”
The ship moved smoothly to the head of the fleet. Watching the rest of the ships on the video monitor, Thompson could see them falling into formation.
“Barnes, contact Headquarters. Have them inform the president we’re en route.”
“Sending message now, Admiral,” said Barnes. “Receiving confirmation. Sir, all ships fully operational and in position.”
“Very well, Miss Barnes.”
Romano called out, “Admiral, we’ll be coming up on the moon in twenty minutes.”
“Thank you, Mr. Romano,” replied Thompson. “Miss Barnes, direct the fleet to adjust speed to one-quarter sub-light. Have all ships engage on our mark. Inform them we will rendezvous at Sector 57. Once we get there, we’ll wait for the unknown fleet to move into communication range.”
“Aye, sir,” said Barnes. “Sending the message now.”
Looking over to the weapons station, Thompson said, “Diego, run full-scale diagnostics on all the weapons systems.”
“Will do, Admiral. Starting full-scale diagnostics now.”
Thompson sat back in his chair. His thoughts drifted to his son Ryan. It had been three years since their relationship had gone south. He wondered if he would ever have the chance to repair the rift between them.
As he resumed checking the data from the outpost on Pluto, he noticed the projected flight path of the oncoming fleet. Triangulating the position they were coming from, he saw that they would have passed the two devastated planets that had been discovered all those years ago. Now he was even more concerned that they might be about to meet the aliens responsible for that devastation.
Chapter 9
Personal Message
Ryan was sitting alone in his dorm room. Tanner and Paul were busy at the library going over the specs for the Nimitz. He was still annoyed about Williamson’s decision, but he had much more important things to worry about—things like completely overhauling the Nimitz.
What bothered him even more was what was going to happen next. Or more precisely, what wasn’t going to happen. Getting the ships back in battle condition was his objective, but what would the outcome be? He knew that if things didn’t go well, they would send seasoned officers to get the ships. Or maybe the cadets would even fly the ships to the outpost on Pluto to meet up with the officers. But what if things went really badly? What if the UEDF was somehow defeated and then the aliens discovered the cadet location? How would he handle an actual battle with an unknown alien fleet? All these possibilities made Ryan feel like he was standing on the edge of a cliff. Well, he thought, whatever was going to happen, he’d know soon enough.
Just as he was getting ready to head over to the gym and work out, he received a priority message from Admiral Williamson. Trying to figure out who he’d pissed off this time, he answered the call. “Cadet Thompson reporting, Admiral. What can I do for you, sir?”
“Thompson, I told you yesterday about the message from your father. You still haven’t opened it. As you know, he outranks all of us. It’s for your eyes only. It will only play once, and then it will automatically erase. I . . . suggest you view it.”
Ryan wasn’t in the mood to listen to more lecturing, but he took a few deep breaths to remain calm, something his shrink had taught him after his mother’s death.
“Listen, Ryan,” said the admiral, no doubt sensing his hesitation, “I know you and your father haven’t quite gotten along for the last few years. And I’m not here to tell you what to do in your personal life. What I do know is that I would die for my children, and so would he. This isn’t some damn drill, Ryan. This is the real thing. Life and death. It’s not a good time for grudges, son. Anyway, my orders were for you to read this message. See to it that you do.”
“Is that all, sir?” Ryan asked.
The admiral sighed on the other end of the call. “That’s all, Thompson.” The line disconnected.
Ryan sat there for a few minutes trying to prepare himself for the sound of his father’s voice. His older brothers were both members of the fleet so he thought maybe he should listen to the message after all. Reluctantly, he opened it. It was a video of his father.
“Ryan, I know we only talk when it has to do with the fleet or your schooling at the academy. Maybe one day you’ll forgive me and we can both move forward with our lives, maybe not. Regardless of that, the fleet is heading ou
t on what could very well be a dangerous mission. I just wanted you to know that if something should happen to me, not a day goes by that I don’t think of you and that I love you, son.”
The video went dark and the program deleted itself. A million thoughts were floating in Ryan’s head. Why now? Why was his dad trying to sound like a real father now? Where was he before? He thought of that horrible day and slammed his monitor shut so hard he was surprised the screen didn’t break into pieces.
He needed to take a walk and get some fresh air. He had a ship to get ready and needed a clear head to make it happen.
Grabbing his jacket, he headed out the door and made his way to the one place where he felt at home and could be at peace: the observatory. He always found looking at the stars comforting. Gazing up into the heavens and talking to his mother was what he needed now to calm himself and find inner strength. After all, soon there would be no time for contemplation. The whole world would be different, because they would have met an advanced alien intelligence. And they’d have either learned from it, or been destroyed by it.
Chapter 10
Encounter
Admiral Thompson checked the time on the ship’s chronometer. It had been two hours and fourteen minutes since the fleet had stopped. The waiting was grinding on the admiral’s nerves. “Barnes, how much longer until they’re in communications range?”
Barnes turned to face him. “Five minutes, sir.”
“Contact the fleet. Have all ships bring engines back on line. Inform them to go to alert status one. Place all weapons on standby and activate all outer cameras.”
“Aye, sir. Sending message fleet-wide.”
Diego called out from the weapons console. “All forward torpedo bays are fully loaded. Missile launchers are on standby. Lasers are online and at optimum power.”
“Very good, Mr. Diego.”
Thames stepped beside Thompson and put a hand on his shoulder. “I sure hope whoever these guys are, they aren’t heading for Earth. That many ships wouldn’t be coming just to drop by and say hello.”
“Damn right, Niles. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and our weapons ready.”
Thames looked down at his hand. Thompson forgot Thames had lost two of his fingers in a warehouse explosion. “Sorry,” said Thompson. “Bad choice of words.”
Thames smiled and crossed the fingers of his other hand. “Not to worry, sir. And let’s hope Earth isn’t their final destination.”
Barnes piped up. “Admiral, the unknown fleet will be in communication range in thirty seconds.”
Thompson looked at the monitor. “Begin transmitting standard greetings on all bandwidths using all known languages.”
“Aye, sir.” The lieutenant activated the standard broadcast system, which automatically began transmitting greetings. “Communication initiated,” she said.
They watched and waited. Would these beings recognize any of the languages? Or would they suddenly sense a foreign presence and launch an attack?
After only a minute or so, Diego shouted, “Admiral, they appear to have stopped.”
“It seems they have picked up our transmission, Admiral,” said Thames.
“Yes, it does,” said Thompson. “The question is, do they have any understanding of what we are transmitting?”
Almost as if in response to his question, Barnes shouted, “Admiral, we are receiving an incoming transmission.”
“Put it on the speakers, Lieutenant.”
The bridge went silent. This would be the first time mankind would hear the voice of another species.
At first there was nothing. Then there was a loud noise that sounded like a crowd at a football field. Apparently, a message was coming back in many languages simultaneously.
“Set the incoming channels to English only,” said Thompson.
“On it, Admiral,” said Barnes.
As soon as she made the switch, a message could clearly be heard.
“I repeat. This is Supreme Commander Granthaxe of Altarra,” said the deep, blaring voice. With whom is it I speak?”
“English?” said Thames. “They speak English?”
Thompson picked up the transmission mic. “This is Admiral Thompson of Earth,” he said. “May I ex—”
“Earth!” The alien commander’s voice dripped with venom. “If you think you can deter my forces, you are severely mistaken, Admiral Thompson. I will ask you once and only once. What did you do with our envoys?”
Thompson looked around at the crew. Everyone was shrugging their shoulders and looked as confused as he did.
“Forgive me, Commander Granthaxe,” he said, speaking slowly and clearly. “I do not know what envoys you speak of. Perhaps you can give me more details.”
“So. You take me for a fool, Admiral Thompson. Do you think we would travel all this distance to confront those who captured our envoys and believe you know nothing of this? We are not so easily deceived. I ask you again. Where are they? What did you do with them? For the sake of your species they had better be alive!”
Thompson glanced over at Thames and didn’t have to say a word. It was clear. These beings were headed for Earth. He redirected his attention to the strange visitor as he picked up the mic again.
“I can assure you, Commander, I know nothing of your missing envoys. Maybe they never made it to Earth.”
“Do not insult me, Admiral Thompson! We have proof that they not only made it to your world, they were attacked. Their ship was hit with some type of weapon that rendered their systems inoperative. They managed to survive a crash landing and spoke with those of your kind. Then they were taken prisoner. We have the audio of the entire encounter, that is, until your people confiscated our envoys’ communication devices.”
Thompson was pacing back and forth listening to what the alien commander was saying. The commander must have been mistaken. Maybe he could reason with him.
“Commander,” said Thompson, “I have been a member of this fleet for over twenty-seven years. I can assure you that I have never heard of anyone outside our solar system contacting Earth, or for that matter landing there. In fact, throughout our history, there has never been any concrete proof of any other life forms, let alone yours, visiting Earth.”
“Your kind thinks the universe exists to serve Earth,” said Granthaxe. “I assure you it does not. The event I speak of happened in the days of the past. Our envoys traveled over thirty of your years to make that trip.”
The past? How far back, Thompson wondered.
“Unless you are more specific with a time and place, Commander, it will be hard for us to track down any useful information. We don’t even know if any of your envoys—if they did make it to Earth—are even alive on our planet. Or if any of our people that knew about it are still alive. Especially if this happened many years ago.”
“Useless banter!” said Granthaxe. “Do you think me fooled? It is obvious that you are either lying, or were deceived by those who lead you. We are coming to find and reclaim our missing comrades, Admiral. In capturing our envoys, you have committed an act of war. One of ours who was on that ship was our future queen. If you cannot assist us, I’d advise you to stand clear. You have five of your minutes to do so, Admiral Thompson. There shall be no other warnings.”
The transmission went dead.
Thompson couldn’t imagine what all this was about, but he was going to find out one way or another. Could the commander have been right? He only hoped he could get some answers from the executive branch, or perhaps some of the more clandestine areas of the government. He looked to Lieutenant Barnes at the communications station.
“Barnes, send that entire conversation to Command Headquarters,” he said. “Priority one, obviously.”
“Yes, sir,” said Barnes. “Sending now.”
He made his way over to Thames. “Thoughts, Niles? Seems we’re in new territory here.”
“It’s a hell of a lot of information to try and digest, that’s for sure. Of course we know
about all those UFO reports in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and all the conspiracy speculation. But we don’t even know what time frame this is from, or what country.”
“Agreed. We have to get an investigation started on Earth. And we also need to notify the Global Committee. Should be interesting trying to get anyone to reveal classified information.”
Thompson tried to put all of the facts together. Obviously the Altarran commander believed their government was holding his people prisoner. But why? If only he was able to provide a little more information. What language did the alleged capturers speak? What time frame was this? If the commander wanted his people so badly, he should be willing to cooperate.
“Barnes,” he said. “Try to raise the commander again.”
Suddenly the weapons officer, Diego, interrupted them. “Admiral, I’m picking up multiple signatures on radar. They’re firing at us!”
“Evasive maneuvers,” shouted Thompson. “Barnes, have all ships break formation. As soon as you send the order to the fleet, inform Headquarters we are under attack.”
“Aye, sir,” replied Barnes. “Sending now.”
Thompson watched the video feed and nodded approval as all of the ships from his fleet managed to evade the incoming missiles. Either the opposing commander had underestimated the speed of Earth’s fleet, or he was very crafty and this was a tactic to find out how fast and maneuverable they were. Either way, Thompson wasn’t going to sit still and wait for the next move.
“Barnes! Have the fleet go to attack pattern three-V, as in Victor. Commence attack dead ahead. Speed one-half sub-light.”
While Barnes was transmitting the order, Thompson shouted instructions to his helmsman. “Mr. Romano, take the lead.”
“Aye, sir,” replied Romano.
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