Frontiers Saga 12: Rise of the Alliance

by Ryk Brown

  “You’re assuming the Jung homeworld is an Earth-like world,” Nathan argued. “It might very well be. If so, then your job will be relatively easy as there are only twenty-three Earth-like worlds within fifty light years of Sol. However, if you add in the worlds that could have been terraformed, that number triples. And that doesn’t even include the worlds, and moons for that matter, on which the Jung could be living in surface domes or underground. If you include bodies that have sufficient water to support a large-scale civilization, or even ones that lie in a system that has enough water nearby… Well, now we’re talking hundreds of worlds. And you’re not going to be able to just jump in and take a look around. You’re going to have to cold-coast through them, monitoring them from afar. And if the Jung are trying to keep their location a secret, they’re going to be trying to hide their emissions. Hell, they might even be planting decoys for all we know. So you see, the task might not be as easy as you think.”

  Captain Poc, the most senior officer in the room, cleared his throat before speaking. He was obviously older than the others, with a dark complexion and a full head of jet-black hair that grayed slightly at his temples. “Captain Scott,” the captain began in perfect English, “as we have not yet had adequate time to fully digest your ship’s logs and analyze the current situation, I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we need a bit more time before we are able to commit our ships, and our crews, to this ‘Alliance’ of yours.”

  “Captain,” Nathan began, “I assure you…”

  “I understand your assertion that the EDF no longer legally exists,” Captain Poc continued, ignoring Nathan’s attempt to defend his position. “However, the mere fact that a fallback plan had been established and properly activated raises the question as to whether or not the Earth Defense Force did, in fact, cease to legally exist.”

  Nathan’s eyes squinted. “I’m not sure I’m following your logic, Captain.”

  “Buckeye was conceived and put together after the Aurora’s reported demise,” Captain Poc explained. “Might it not be possible that an amendment was added to the charter in order to provide the ability for the EDF to continue to legally function, even without the United Earth Republic’s existence?”

  Nathan glanced at Cameron out of the corner of his eye. She continued to look straight forward at Captain Poc, her usual ice-cold expression on her face. “I suppose that would make sense,” Nathan agreed. “However, none of the remaining EDF forces that we have made contact with on Earth have mentioned such an amendment, nor have any leaders of the surviving governments on Earth, including the president of the NAU, who, at the time when such an amendment would have been added, would have been one of the signatories of such an amendment.”

  “That would be Dayton Scott, your father,” Captain Roselle interjected.

  Nathan felt a surge of anger inside in response to the captain’s accusatory tone.

  Captain Poc placed his right hand in the air in front of Captain Roselle, who was sitting to his right, as if to hold him from speaking further. “No one is accusing you of doing anything wrong, Captain Scott. We are simply asking for additional time to ensure that the decisions we are about to make—decisions that I think you would agree are quite important ones—are wise and well considered.”

  Nathan paused and took a breath in silence. “Of course, sir.” Nathan swallowed again. “And I will be more than happy to provide you with access to any information you require.”

  “Thank you, Captain Scott,” Captain Poc replied.

  “Are there any other questions, gentlemen?” Nathan asked politely.

  “Yes” Captain Roselle said. “Where are we going to do these drive refits?”

  “You should be able to do much of your prep work in orbit via your crawl spaces. We also have crawlers that you can use for exterior work. However, at some point we’ll have to bring you into our main hangar bays in order for you to do the jump drive installations.”

  “You want us to land in your hangar bay? We don’t have landing gear, Captain,” Captain Roselle told him.

  “We’ll turn off our artificial gravity and float you down onto blocks positioned under your hard points,” Nathan explained.

  “Will we even fit in your hangar bay?”

  “If we switch the bays into combat mode and lower the aft bulkheads to let you in, yes.” Nathan looked at them again. Nathan scanned their faces again, looking for any signs of additional questions. As much as he wanted to get off the podium and out of their crosshairs, he also knew that he desperately needed these men on his side. “If there is nothing further, gentlemen, then I have ship’s business to attend to. If you have additional questions, feel free to contact myself, or my executive officer, Commander Willard.” Nathan scanned their faces one last time. “Thank you, gentlemen. I look forward to working with each of you.”

  Nathan stepped down from the podium and moved toward the exit. He could feel the eyes of the men, especially the commanding officers of the Scout ships, on him as he headed for the hatchway.

  Cameron stepped up next to Nathan causing him to pause, as the crews of the Scout ships began to leave. “The XO of Scout Three,” she said under her breath. “Did you notice his last name?”

  “Yeah, I did,” Nathan said. “Do you think…”

  “She had five brothers, didn’t she? All of them older.”

  Nathan turned to look at the three COs, talking among themselves near the other exit. “Commander Nash,” Nathan called out, “a word?”

  Commander Nash turned back toward the captain, making his way forward. “Captain,” he said as he approached.

  “I assume you’ll be taking command of Scout Three?”

  “Per protocol, yes.”

  “Good. You might as well consider yourself captain from this point forward. We’ll try to find you a good copilot to take over as your XO.”

  “Thank you,” the commander said.

  “If I may ask, Captain Nash, are you from Florida?”

  “Yes, I am,” Captain Nash answered, his brow furrowing somewhat.

  “From a family of five brothers, and a tomboy of a little sister?”

  “Uh, yes.” Captain Nash now appeared more curious than before. “Why do you ask?” he wondered, becoming worried.

  Nathan looked at the doorway. “Sergeant, get a team and a shuttle. We’re going to Porto Santo.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sergeant Weatherly answered.

  “Captain, what’s this about?” Captain Nash wondered.

  “I’ll explain on the way down, Captain,” Nathan said. “I think you need to speak with my chief of security,” he added as they headed for the door. Nathan looked back at Cameron, smiling. “Tell Willard he has command.”

  Cameron smiled back. “Yes, sir.”

  * * *

  “I knew she was attending the Academy,” Captain Nash said, “I just figured she would have ended up stationed planet-side. I mean, less than thirty percent of the EDF ends up in space.”

  “When was the last time you spoke with her?” Nathan asked as he removed one of his rank insignia pins.

  Commander Nash looked at the window of the shuttle as it approached Porto Santo. “It’s been a few years,” he admitted, “even before the Jung attacked. Hell, I didn’t even know she was on the Aurora.”

  “I imagine none of your family knew,” Nathan said. “Here, put this on,” he added, handing the captain’s insignia pin to Captain Nash. “We’ll get you some full pairs when we get back.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Captain Nash said as he removed the commander insignia pins from his collar.

  “She’s spec-ops, you know.”

  “Jess? Little Jess is spec-ops?” Captain Nash laughed. “Well, she always was a feisty one, that’s for sure.”

  “Yeah, that sounds like our Jessica,” Nathan agreed. “Were you two close?”

  “Not really. I’m the oldest, Jessica is the youngest. When I was commissioned, I think she was about five or six years o
ld. I really only saw her when I came home on leave. Once I got assigned to the deep space Scout program, that wasn’t too often. Most of our original assignments were long-duration sleeper missions.”

  “How old are you?” Nathan wondered.

  “Technically, I’m thirty-eight,” he explained, “but when you factor in all the time I’ve spent in stasis, well, let’s just say that your Doctor Chen set my cellular age at thirty-two.”

  Nathan chuckled.

  “So, all those things in your logs, the ones done by Lieutenant Commander Nash… Those were all Jess?”

  “Yup.”

  “Damn.” He laughed again.

  “Yup, that girl is hard to kill.”

  “We all are,” Captain Nash said. “We get it from our mother. She’s a pretty tough lady as well. Not as tough as Jess, apparently, but just as stubborn.”

  “To be honest, I doubt any of us would still be here if it wasn’t for her,” Nathan admitted. “Myself, especially. Her sarcasm and rebellious nature have helped me on more than one occasion.”

  Captain Nash looked at Nathan. “You got a soft spot for my little sister, Captain?” he joked.

  “Nothing like that,” Nathan insisted, remembering the last Founders’ Day celebration at his parents’ estate. “Jess, Commander Taylor, Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy, and myself… We’ve been through a lot together. We’ve become like family, in a sense.”

  “That happens when you work closely with people,” Captain Nash said. “Trust me, I know.”

  “I imagine you would.” Nathan replied. “Captain, may I ask you something?”

  “Of course.”

  “I got the impression during the briefing that Captain Roselle and Captain Poc seem somewhat distrustful of me.”

  Captain Nash looked at Nathan. “Can you blame them?”

  “You too, huh?”

  “Look, Scott, I don’t know you from Adam, so don’t take offense. But try to look at it from our point of view. The Aurora disappears, then shows up five months later with the son of the NAU President in command. Now the Earth is in ruins, and your father is leading a new world order, all while you back him with an army of super-soldiers.”

  “That’s a bit of a simplification of the events, isn’t it?”

  “Probably, but that’s the impression one gets at first glance,” Captain Nash told him.

  Nathan sighed. “I noticed you used the word ‘our’. I take it you have your reservations as well?”

  “It would be irresponsible of me not to, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, I see your point,” Nathan admitted.

  “Look, Scott, none of us are looking to take your command from you. Well, maybe Roselle. He was on the short list for command of the Celestia, you know.”

  “It’s not my command I’m worried about,” Nathan assured him.

  “Just give us time to figure this all out for ourselves,” Captain Nash said. “We are all on the same side, after all.”

  “Captain, I have Lieutenant Telles on comms for you,” the shuttle’s copilot called over Nathan’s comm-set.

  “Put him through,” Nathan ordered.

  “Scott, Telles,” the lieutenant called over the comms.

  “Lieutenant, I need to speak with Lieutenant Commander Nash, ASAP, and she’s not on comms. Any idea where I might find her?”

  “She and her team of insurgents are attempting to sneak through our defensive perimeter as we speak, Captain. So yes, I can tell you exactly where you can find her.”

  The moon was blocked by clouds, leaving the hills of Porto Santo Island shrouded in darkness. Waves crashing on the distant shores of the tiny island hid the sound of the insurgents as they slowly crawled on their bellies through the brush toward the distant watchtower.

  Jessica paused, belly down in the brush, and tilted her head slightly upward. In the distance, she could barely make out the Ghatazhak guard in the tower as he scanned the hillsides with his helmet visor lowered. “He’s probably using thermals,” she whispered to the man next to her.

  “They will spot us, yes?”

  “That’s why we went immediately after sundown,” she reminded him, “while the ground is still warm.”

  Jessica continued crawling along on her belly, moving ever so slowly toward the tower. She heard a screeching noise in the distance, and froze. She glanced upward and noticed the lights of an incoming shuttle.

  “A ship is coming,” the man next to her whispered in warning.

  “It’s probably just a supply shuttle or something,” she whispered back. “Don’t worry about it. With any luck, it will distract the tower guard.”

  She continued forward again, crawling just a little faster than before. The shuttle continued toward them, its lights becoming brighter as it grew closer. Finally, she realized the shuttle was not headed for the base. “Fuck,” she exclaimed. “Everyone freeze.”

  The shuttle came straight in, its engines screaming as it descended, landing only a few meters in front of them.

  “Nobody move until I do,” Jessica tried to tell them above the noise of the shuttle’s engines. The thrust wash sent dust and debris flying in all directions, including directly in their faces. “Son of a bitch,” she cursed under her breath.

  The shuttle finally touched down, smashing the low-lying brush beneath its hull. As its engines begin to wind down, the side hatch opened and the debarkation steps extended from the hull.

  “What the hell?” Jessica cursed as she saw Sergeant Weatherly and three of his men come jumping down out of the shuttle, their weapons held ready across their chests. Flood lights on the side of the shuttle came to life, illuminating the area.

  “Lieutenant Commander Nash!” Sergeant Weatherly yelled. “The captain needs to speak with you!”

  Jessica rose from the bushes, climbing to her feet as she slung her weapon across her back. She could see Nathan climbing down the steps from the shuttle. “This better be fucking good,” she mumbled as she headed for the shuttle.

  “Sorry to crash the party this way, Lieutenant Commander,” Nathan began, “but I need you to verify the identity of one of the Scout ship crewmembers.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Jessica demanded as she continued toward Nathan, anger in her eyes. “You couldn’t find someone else to…”

  “You always talk to your CO that way?” Captain Nash said as he came down the steps from the shuttle.

  Jessica was silent for several seconds. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn’t see his face due to the glare from the shuttle’s floodlights. The man moved closer, and his features became clearer. “Bobert?”

  “I always hated that nickname,” the captain said. “How are you doing, little sister?”

  “Oh, my God,” she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. “I thought you were dead,” she said, her face buried in his chest.

  “Nope, just sleeping. You know how hard it is to kill a Nash.”

  “Good enough reason to interrupt your drill?” Nathan asked.

  Jessica pulled her face away from her brother’s chest, wiping a tear from her eye. “You’re forgiven,” she said, “this time.” She sniffled again. “Just for the record, though, we were about twenty minutes from breaching their perimeter.”

  “No, you weren’t,” Nathan insisted.

  “How do you know?”

  “Telles has been tracking you for the past hour,” Nathan told her. “How do you think we knew right where to find you?”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “Jump complete,” Mister Riley announced.

  “Position verified,” Mister Navashee reported.

  “Maneuvering to the first deployment point,” Mister Chiles announced from the helm.

  “Captain,” Captain Poc, the CO of the third Scout ship began, “I’m curious how your people were able to put together antimatter mines on such short notice?”

  “We’ve managed to harvest over twenty antimatter cores from the Jung ships that have been destroyed
within the Sol system.”

  “Why do you think so many of them survived?” Captain Poc wondered.

  “According to my chief engineer, the Jung antimatter cores are similar in design to our own,” Nathan explained. “Fully self-contained units, complete with their own power source for maintaining their antimatter containment fields even when separated from the reactor itself. When their ships come apart, the cores eject automatically, just like ours. We do it because antimatter is not an easy thing to create. The Jung take it one step further. They rig theirs with miniature sensor suites and detonators. If they sense a ship that is not transmitting a Jung ID code, they wait until the ship comes close enough, then deactivate their containment fields.”

  “They become mines,” Captain Poc said. “How did you manage to avoid setting them off?”

  “We retrieved the deactivation codes from the Jar-Keurog before she was lost.”

  “Coming up on the first deployment point,” Mister Chiles announced.

  “The first two mines are on the topside launch pads and ready for deployment,” Lieutenant Eckert reported.

  “Very well,” Nathan said. “Deploy as planned, Lieutenant.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  “Topside cameras?” Nathan added. The image on the main view screen switched from the standard forward view to a camera on the forward section of the main drive, facing forward. The image zoomed in, centering on the starboard dorsal launch pad. On it sat a large, rectangular cargo container, with a thruster pack attached to each end, and transceiver array fixed to its middle.

  “We put the cores into small cargo containers, connected everything up, then packed the containers with debris from the destroyed Jung ships in order to provide the correct amount of matter for the antimatter to react with.”

  “A simple, effective solution,” Captain Poc admitted.

  “And one that uses the Jung’s own detonators,” Nathan added. “Gotta love the irony in that one. Truth is, we’ve had a lot of experience with makeshift engineering over the past eleven months.”

  “Launching the first mine,” Lieutenant Eckert announced.