The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy)

by Sweeney, Stephen

  “Everything?” Turner asked in surprise.

  “Everything,” Parks repeated. He didn’t need to clarify, he knew that Turner was aware that he meant the cloaks, the armaments and the accelerator cannons. It was all working exactly as had been expected. Maybe even better, what with Taylor’s head-on collision.

  What a pity, he thought.

  “If that is the case, then we have all the information we need,” Turner said, moving to the window and looking down at the celebration that continued below. “I think we now have only one hurdle left to overcome.”

  Parks nodded his understanding and together the two men left the observation room.

  *

  A man took back a bottle of tequila that he had previously thrust into Dodds’ hand, whooping and waving it around in the air, before noticing that the flight deck had fallen quiet.

  Dodds and Enrique saw the crowds parting, Commodore Parks and Fleet Admiral Turner moving towards them. Personnel stood to attention and saluted the two men that walked between them, the admiral’s expression one of slight irritation at the rowdy behaviour.

  “At ease,” Turner muttered, stopping in front of Estelle. “Lieutenant de Winter, you and your team have had quite a day from what I’ve been told.”

  “S … sir, yes, sir,” Estelle answered, swallowing hard, her eyes straying over to Dodds and Kelly.

  “Answering the call to stand in defence of not only your comrades, your carrier and your squadron, but also an entire allied force, against overwhelming and uncertain odds; risking your lives to go well above and beyond the call of duty, at a moment’s notice …”

  Turner reached into a small box that Parks held, removing a medal from within it. He fastened it carefully to Estelle’s flight suit.

  “… whilst all the while acting in the full interest of the Helios Confederation and her Navy.” He shook Estelle by the hand. “Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander.”

  Kelly gasped. Dodds’ jaw dropped. He met Enrique’s eye, seeing him mouth Turner’s last two words back to him. It seemed to take Estelle a moment for the realisation of her promotion to sink in.

  “Th … thank you, sir,” she managed.

  “The paperwork will be officially dealt with on Spirit,” Turner said, with a theatrical wink and a smile. He then stood back and began clapping, starting applause that ran the length of the deck. Turner then shifted his attention to Dodds and Enrique, presenting each of them with a medal of their own, before shaking their hands and applauding them, too. As with Estelle, they too were promoted a rank, moving from second to first lieutenant, the rank Estelle had previous held. Kelly followed suit, and not long thereafter, the two men came to Chaz.

  “Congratulations, Mr Koonan,” Turner said as he affixed the medal to the big man’s suit. The applause and cheers grew louder now that the final member of the team had been presented with their promotion. Chaz, however, was not smiling, and as Parks took his hand to shake it, Chaz leaned forward.

  “I thought you said you had the situation under control, Commodore,” he growled under his breath to Parks. Parks met his eyes as each of their grips tightened.

  “We do, Lieutenant,” Parks answered him in the same tone.

  “I want to see her, Parks,” Chaz said. “Tonight.”

  Parks said nothing. Grips tightened. “I’ll see what I can do,” Parks said, after a long pause.

  The two men then released their handshake and, putting on his best poker face, Parks applauded Chaz along with everybody else. The promotions done, Turner and Parks stepped aside, allowing the White Knights to be hoisted up onto the shoulders of their admiring service mates.

  Dodds was elated. To have played a part in this day, fighting with the ATAFs, the mission to Arlos, standing against Dragon, and everything that had encompassed it. To have saved the day on no less than three counts. What a privilege it had been.

  No, not a privilege. It was greater than that.

  It had been an honour.

  He saw that the bottle of tequila was once again doing the rounds, the merry troop beginning to make their way from the flight deck to the station’s bar. It was handed to Kelly, who passed it on without drinking. Dodds noticed that, though she was smiling and appeared rather jubilant, she looked as though something was on her mind. Either the concussion was preparing to fully set in, or she was thinking back over the events of the day. Chaz, too, didn’t look happy. He was glaring at Parks once more. Parks was applauding, but there was a detectable scowl on his face. Dodds had seen an exchange between the two men as Parks had presented Chaz with his medal. There was a history there, he was certain of it. Not that it mattered to Dodds; he would find out in due course what that was all about.

  He swigged from the bottle Kelly had given him, before passing it over to Enrique, high-fiving him as he did so. He met Estelle’s smile, the shock of her sudden promotion now all but gone. At least for the three of them, there was nothing that could bring them down, the thought of a celebratory drink very welcoming indeed. He detected an excitable, mischievous look in Estelle’s eyes. This was surely the day she had dreamed about for years. You deserve it, Estelle. Go lap it up. She winked at him. He winked back.

  “First Lieutenant Dodds,” Turner called, his voice projecting itself above the din of song, applause and chanting. Those carrying the freshly promoted pilot stopped and turned him around to face the man.

  “Admiral?” Dodds said.

  “You did a good job today,” Turner said, with a small smile.

  Dodds grinned back at him. “Thank you, sir.”

  Book Two : The Third Side

  I

  — A Daughter’s Promise —

  An excerpt from A GIFT FROM THE GODS by Kelly Taylor

  Tuesday, 9th December 2617

  I would speak to my family often whilst I was in the service of the Confederation Stellar Navy; at least once a fortnight, circumstances allowing. It wasn’t only because I wanted to keep in touch (I was always quite the family girl at heart), but because one could never be sure of whether or not this would be the last time. I was in the service of the military and accidents could still happen even during training exercises, as well as when on active duty. The encounters with the Pandoran army made me only increase the frequency of my calls home.

  After Operation Menelaus and the events of Aster and Phylent, I found it harder to keep in direct communication with them. The most I was able to achieve in those months were recorded messages that we would send back and forth. The ATAF training kept both myself and the other White Knights fully occupied around the clock. The CSN were also keen to keep our location and activities as secret as possible. I never found out whether it was because of this, or whether the connections in the various places that we were posted were bad, but I was often never able to establish a live connection to home. I can’t begin to count the hours that I spent sitting alone in comms rooms, watching three little cogs turning round and round, the word ‘Connecting…’ floating just above them. It began to become almost as burned into my mind as it was the screen. It was very frustrating – not only because I wanted to speak to my family directly, but because I had questions for my father. Although I had asked them of him during my recorded communications, he had always been evasive, leaving them totally unanswered. It was that that made me grow suspicious that he was in some way working for the CSN and its allies.

  After a few months of this, I finally managed to make direct contact. I was stationed aboard Alexandria Orbital, within the Granada system, tucked away in a little corner of the station with nothing other than the low hum of working machinery and computer systems for company. I had been waiting there for the best part of half an hour, and had just moved to comply with the familiar and inviting Cancel prompt, when the console finally jingled its connection success. It was wonderful to see my father’s face again. I can see it as clearly now as I did back then; perhaps better, given the granularity of the connections sometimes. I’m grateful for the memor
ies.

  *

  ‘Connected. Waiting for Answer…’

  Not before time, Kelly thought. The words came as a welcome change to the single one she had been staring at. She had waited for this moment for a good twenty or thirty minutes now. She sat back in her chair, her confidence in the system restored, and waited for her contact to answer the request.

  Presently, a middle-aged man appeared on the screen. His hair and the goatee-style beard that he kept trimmed short were bright white, complementing his fair skin. Behind him, lavish paintings, with equally splendid frames, hung on cream coloured walls, whilst ornaments and a number of fine-looking vases, filled with fresh cut, colourful flowers sat on a table. The man’s surroundings were beautifully decorated, as could be expected of the family home of a wealthy, successful business man.

  “Aaron Tay-” the man began. “Oh! Hello, Kelly!” The initial business-like expression disappeared from his face, replaced by one of surprise and joy.

  “Hello, Dad,” Kelly smiled warmly at her father. It was nice to see him again. It had been months since she had spoken to him face-to-face, the only prior communication between the two having been recorded video messages. It was a shame then that, on this rare occasion that they could converse real-time with one another, the picture and audio quality wasn’t the best. The video was choppy and somewhat pixelated, like a badly animated movie, and the audio was distinctly lacking in clarity. Still, it mattered little to her.

  “How are you?” she asked.

  “I’m very well, thank you, Kelly,” her father beamed. “How are you?”

  “Fine, fine. Mum keeping you busy?” Kelly noted that her father held a dishcloth in one hand. No doubt he was helping her mother make preparations for a dinner party of some kind. Despite having access to a multitude of live-in staff, there were still things that her mother preferred to do herself, just for the personal touch. And whether he liked it or not, her father would often find himself helping out, in one capacity or another.

  Aaron chuckled. “You know your mother, always making sure that I’m being kept busy.” He squinted at the screen. “This line’s a bit bad.”

  “I know, sorry. It was being a pain. I had to try about twenty times before it would actually connect.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Alexandria Orbital Station, Granada.”

  “Central Provinces?” Aaron said, sounding a little surprised.

  “Uh-huh.”

  The man’s face brightened for a moment. “Are … are you on your way home?” he asked hopefully, although by the tone in his voice, it sounded like he already had a good idea of what the answer was going to be.

  Kelly shook her head, knowing she was about to disappoint him. “Not yet. I don’t get shore leave for another six weeks or so.”

  “Oh, well that’s not too far away then.”

  “No, it’s not. But we’re heading off again in the next day or so. I’m glad this thing finally connected and we’re actually able to talk for a change, otherwise it would have been a video message again.”

  “You’re going away again?”

  Kelly nodded.

  “That’s a long tour they’ve got you on.”

  Kelly noted that her father’s face had fallen and that he now looked sad, distant and a touch distressed. “You okay, Dad?”

  “Let me get your mother,” he said suddenly, before Kelly could ask any more questions. “Barbara!” he called, to no response.

  For the first time, Kelly became aware of the loud music that was emanating from somewhere in the background and guessed that her mother was playing some of her favourite music, whilst she busied herself in the kitchen.

  “Barbara!” her father called out again, to no avail. His calls were being drowned out by what sounded like the warbling voice of an opera singer. “Just a moment, darling,” he said, before he disappeared off the screen and moved in the direction of the kitchen.

  Kelly fished a small data card out of her trouser pocket and inserted it into one of the available slots of the console in front of her. The card contained a copy of her latest journal entries, detailing the events of and musings on her life whilst in the service of the Confederation Stellar Navy. These she would often post to her family, both so that they could be kept up to date with what was happening in her world, and for safekeeping. She was mindful of keeping sensitive information out of her diary, ensuring that her notes and entries were kept somewhat generic. An entire journal filled with such information, with her name plastered all over it, would without doubt lead to a court martial and an instant dismissal from service. It could also land her behind bars if she wasn’t too careful. Maintaining her journal had become increasingly difficult in recent months, as more of her time had been consumed by her involvement in so-called Special Operations, leading to her entries becoming ever more cryptic. It had reached a point where she had to think hard about what she had been referring to whenever she re-read her own writings.

  The console acknowledged its acceptance of the card and Kelly began to work through the options to prepare to send over her journal data. She was momentarily distracted by the sound of two excited voices, coming from somewhere within the family home. They were speaking quickly and drawing closer.

  A few moments later, two similar-looking young women sauntered into the frame, one turning her head towards the display. “Kelly! Oh my God!” she squeaked.

  Gemma and Susan, her two younger twin sisters.

  “Hi … Gemma, Susan,” Kelly said, unsure of the identity of which sister had spoken. There had been a time before when she had been easily able to tell the difference between her younger identical twin sisters, just by their mannerisms. She now found herself flummoxed as to which was which. And now, by the look of things, the two girls’ wardrobes had finally merged together, both dressed the same as one another – short-sleeved white t-shirts, featuring the logo of some sports team or another, blue jeans, with a brown leather belt. They sported near-identical hair styles, blonde curly locks bobbing gently around the sides of their heads.

  “How are you? Where are you?” the same twin asked.

  “Is that your uniform?” the other interrupted, peering rather critically at the dark-blue shirt Kelly wore.

  “Part of it,” Kelly answered, glancing down at her shirt. The top three buttons were undone, allowing part of the white vest she wore beneath to show through.

  “Are you still enjoying being a soldier?” the other girl said.

  “I’m a pilot, Susan.” Kelly took a stab at which sister she was speaking to. Susan had always feigned ignorance of her profession, though she was apparently secretly quite proud of what her sister did. “I fly starfighters.”

  “Same thing,” Susan said dismissively. “Wouldn’t get me into one of those things in a million years. I don’t see why you still do it, babe.”

  “I’m doing an important job, Susan.”

  “As well as crawling through mud, being shouted at, getting up at stupid o’clock, eating crappy food …”

  Kelly knew not to rise to such comments. Her sisters were only joking; playing towards age-old stereotypes and exaggerations of what life in the military entailed.

  Well, maybe not total exaggerations.

  “Oh, tell Kelly about what happened last week,” Gemma said to her sister.

  Susan laughed. “Kelly, you really should’ve been here! It was the funniest thing …”

  Kelly smiled, and chuckled along as her two sisters began to regale her with tales of their latest exploits, though she paid little attention to the details, happy for the opportunity to speak to her sisters. Despite what some people thought, she didn’t dislike her younger siblings, though she did find them quite tiresome, the two girls seemly not interested in escaping the stereotypical imagery that had dogged them for years. She thought it a shame that her journals had obviously failed to make an impression on either of them. Then again, perhaps if they had bothered to pick them up and read them
, it might have been a different story.

  “Are you coming home for Christmas?” Gemma suddenly wanted to know.

  “Christmas? That’s not for a while yet,” Kelly said, returning to her journal transfer preparation.

  “Er … No! Four weeks!”

  “Closer to three,” Susan corrected.

  Kelly stopped her preparation. “It’s December?”

  Her sisters gave her a quizzical look. “Yes?” they said in unison.

  It was the end of the year already? How had she lost track of so much time recently? Although she had been writing in her journal and had been making a note of the date along with each entry, the significance of it had seemingly been lost on her. They had become letters and numbers. Had it really already been six months since the ATAF training project, the failed operation to recover Dragon, and the incident at Arlos starport? She had been so busy lately that the time seemed to have just slipped right past her.

  “I haven’t even thought about presents,” she thought out loud.

  “No? Well, not that I care,” Susan said, holding her left hand up to the screen, as Kelly attempted to collect her thoughts. “Jake gave me my present already!”

  Kelly couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful band that adorned her sister’s ring finger – platinum, carrying three diamonds that sparkled brightly in the light as she turned her hand on the screen.

  “Well? What do you think?” Susan said.

  Though she had never openly admitted it, on the few occasions she had met him, Kelly had found Susan’s now husband-to-be repulsive. In her opinion, Jake Brookes was ugly, arrogant, ignorant and downright sexist. All of these things seemed to have been lost on Susan, however, who seemed to find all his undignified habits, “charming” and “cute”. She could only imagine how her mother and father might have reacted to the news. She was certain Jake had hit Susan on more than one occasion, too.

  Stupid girl! Of all the people! Even so, Kelly couldn’t help but feel a small twinge of envy within her. “It’s gorgeous, Susan. Congratulations,” she said, with as much sincerity as she could muster. It was a nice ring, she’d give Jake that.