Kendall snorted. “Telos Archive.” He tossed the tablet onto the desk and stood up. 339 was almost fifty years before he’d been born on Coloran. So the man Halloran seemed to be telling some truth; no one lived that long, even if the photo had been faked back at that time.
He stepped to his favorite spot in front of the clearsteel window facing the red vista of Mars. So Halloran had slipped through the capable fingers of none other than Captain Heres and the Valor, a top-of-the-line warcruiser. Either this mythical man was incredibly good or incredibly blessed… The Admiral’s jaw stiffened in memory of his daughter. Kendra. Missing in action, presumed dead, even by her own sister. But he had his doubts. Something like a father’s intuition. But where was she? He hardly dared to hope that she’d ended up with this Halloran fellow.
His door chime sounded. “Enter.”
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
He turned to face his daughter. “No, not really.”
Her already-pale face lightened somewhat. “I came anyway. You ordered a review of my department—.”
He held up a hand to silence her as he returned to his desk. Once seated he looked up, seeing Kaela through tired eyes. “I need to understand why this miraculous error took place at the exact time needed to fail us in monitoring the planetside explosion.”
Kaela began to protest but his hand went up again. “Commander, you and I both know that an egregious mistake in either the tech or the monitoring thereof occurred. This matter is closed for discussion until my adjutant completes his investigation. His eyes narrowed. “For the record, I’m disappointed with this turn of events.” His eye said the rest. You’ve failed me.
Knowing better to respond, she moved to the window and faced away from him. “Father, you grieve over Kendra.”
“Your point?”
She turned to him. “May I speak freely?”
“You may.”
“You are blaming me for her death. May I remind you that you ordered her onto that shuttle to Coloran, not me?”
“I fail to see your point.”
She smoothed her uniform and clasped her hands behind her back, looking over his right shoulder. “I would prefer to be treated as a Fleet officer on my own merits, not as a scapegoat for your grief.”
His eyes were hard. This was not a view of Kaela that he enjoyed. Part of him wanted to reprimand her; the other desired to go to her and hold her close. He had always chosen the former—all her career—in an effort to toughen her up for command. Perhaps I have neglected her. Both of them. He noticed something else, too; her stance, her defiance, it lacked the accustomed deference that she always showed him as a senior officer.
Something was wrong.
Finally, he spoke. “The matter at hand is far more important to the safety of our people than your or my pain of loss. There are clear initial indications that your department failed in its duty—and this is not my personal assessment.” He glanced at the tablet on his desk, then back up to her. She was still rigid, not meeting his eyes. “Commander, thank you for coming. My advice to you is to get your house in order, ASAP. There will be scrutiny. And,” he added, “get a crew out to the Moon to check those sensor arrays and find out what happened.”
After a moment she saluted. “Yes, sir. Am I dismissed?”
Kendall sat back in his chair, suddenly feeling his age. “Yes, Commander.”
She had her hand on the latch when his voice stopped her. “Kaela.”
She dropped her head and listened without turning. “Yes, Admiral?”
“Get Kendra out of your head. Wherever she is, dead or alive, we can’t help her. We’ve got to help ourselves now.”
When she was gone he leaned forward and steepled his fingers, elbows on the desk and thinking. After a minute or so he pinged Satra in.
“Sir?” She asked from the door.
He waved her in and motioned for her to shut the door. It closed softly behind her as he waited for it to seal. Then he crossed his arms on the desk and said, “Use my authorization to inquire into Commander Kaela’s most recent med evals.”
Her eyebrows went up fractionally. “What am I looking for?”
He pursed his lips. “Any signs of stressors or aberrant readings—even if the medical tech noted it as within tolerances.”
Satra made a note. He knew she’d keep everything out of the record that directly pertained to his family. She’d done a whole lot more than this in helping Kendra avoid the brig over the years. “Anything else?”
“I want you to use your connections in intelligence to ask around. Probe for unusual conversations, issues with decorum or security that stand out. You know everybody on this red ball.”
Satra nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out, sir.”
Alone again, he wondered what he was missing. He didn’t have much time, though; his comm channel buzzed with an incoming call from Commander Tarsa of the flotilla. “Tarsa,” Kendall answered. “Your analysis?”
His most loyal man’s voice was tight. “My analysis, Kendall, is that your intelligence group botched the job.”
“Tarsa—.”
“Anyway,” Tarsa continued, “The picket ships got a half-decent scan of the atmosphere at least. The weapon obliterated a two-hundred kilometer section of the western ocean. Untold billions of tons of water evaporated into the atmosphere. The techs say the blast wave and water wall probably devastated the island nations.”
“Any estimate of the power factor? Its been a long time since we dealt with nukes.”
He could hear Tarsa on the line, breathing. “Kendall, it’s much more than a nuclear weapon. It literally scorched the planet with its power. If the Prax have more of these, we need to radically alter our plans for Mars defense. If just one got through to you…”
Kendall was truly feeling his age now. “Agreed, Commander. Set your flotilla on high alert. Get your top people back for a conference in my office.”
“And Kendall.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve got a problem closer to you.”
“I know. I’m taking steps.”
“Remember, we’re all your responsibility.”
Kendall knew what his old friend was saying without saying it. “Just get back and let’s regroup.”
“Tarsa out.”
Kendall put his head in his hands, wishing his wife were there to talk with him. But she was far off in the Tau Ceti system and he was here, trying to reclaim the Sol system before it was lost to the Prax invaders. On his own.
He stood and walked around his desk a few times, thinking. If the Prax had indeed reclaimed ancient United States weaponry, there would be better data available somewhere in the galaxy about it.
Telos Archive.
Kendal groaned at the prospect. But his old comrade was his best option to find out if anything could be learned. He walked to his door and into the atrium. Satra looked up from her workstation with a quizzical eye.
“Prepare a courier drone to receive an informational request from archival human data.”
“Oh? Which archive?” Her half-grin indicated she had an inkling; if Kendall really wanted ancient intel, there was only one archive to go to.
He sighed. “Telos.”
“As you wish, sir. Check your tablet for the message input screen.”
“I’ll do that. And Satra?”
She looked back up. “Yes, Sir?”
“Thank you for keeping things low-key. Sometimes I wonder who really runs this star system.”
She smiled sweetly. “You do, Admiral. And I like it just that way.”
“Thank you.”
Back in his office he picked up the tablet and looked at the blinking message option. Telos. He wondered if the old man was dead by now. No matter. Kendall began tapping out the message rather than dictating it as would be his norm. After a minute he recognized his own growing paranoia and shook it off. “Telos, we need your help. Any info you can dig up in your maze on either this Captain Halloran,
his service record and most importantly the weapon in question, please return ASAP within this drone. Signed Kendall.”
He sent the message and put the tablet down. Now we wait.
Part Two - Arrivals
Chapter 8
USS Serapis
Entering Struve System
The ship shuddered, and Halloran gripped the rest beneath his arm to steady himself. He looked around the bridge, scanning each person present quickly for anything unusual. Seeing nothing, he consciously loosened his grip and exhaled. “We there?” He asked to Djembe.
The pilot was hunched over his instrument panel, his gray-haired head swiveling as he took in the information the ship was showing him. Halloran wondered how old he really was; in 2029 he’d have looked all of seventy.
Djembe glanced over his shoulder. “Successful exit from jumpspace.”
“Excellent. Up ‘scope.”
“Captain?”
Halloran got up, feeling the hardness of the seat edge in the back of his thighs; he’d been clenching. “A joke, pilot. Can we see what is out there at least?”
Carruthers spoke up from her station. “Captain, sensors are picking up…ships! Lots of them!”
Halloran stepped to her. “Show me what you’re seeing.”
The Lieutenant looked up at him. “I…can’t, sir. It’s a neural interface.”
“A what?”
She tapped a block of controls on her station. “It’s fed by the sensors through some sort of AI into my head through a set of plugs.” She tapped her ear. “I can interpret the readouts with the aid of the ship’s computer. It’s pretty freakin’ cool, sir—.”
He leaned over her and put a hand on the station, looking down. “Lieutenant. The ship readings.”
She pointed past him at the same time that several gasps sounded around the bridge. Halloran turned to see, and the breath left his body in a rush.
The space in front of them, stretching from edge to edge of the huge monitor, was a mass of broken ships.
“Report, Carruthers.” Halloran couldn’t tear his eyes from the scene. “Pilot, increase magnification. Prepare for general quarters!”
“Sir.” The objects leapt into clearer focus. Immediately Halloran saw the situation; dozens—hundreds—of ship fragments littered the black void ahead of them.
“Belay that last order. Slow to one third, Pilot.”
Djembe had worked out what Halloran meant when he asked for these arcane expressions of velocity. Apparently the ancient sea vessels used measurements such as “full ahead, half ahead” and so forth. He translated the Captain’s request into the propulsion controls and hoped it was close to what Halloran needed. “One third, sir.”
“Halloran stepped to the middle of the bridge, in front of the command station. “They look like hulks.” He looked over at Carruthers. “Is your head telling you anything different, Lieutenant?”
She shook her head in response. “Sensors are not picking up any energy output from that graveyard.”
He shook his head. “And that planet in the background?”
“Struve Six. Sixth planet in the star system. We emerged precisely where we planned to.” Djembe looked over his shoulder. “I’d forgotten about the battle here.”
“Battle?”
Djembe looked past Halloran, then nodded. “I think she knows more than I do.”
Halloran felt the presence at the rear of the bridge. It was Kendra. He glanced at her, motioning with his head in the direction of the monitor. “You know about this?” As he asked, Axxa entered the bridge and made his way across to his station.
Kendra stepped forward and nodded slowly. “I was in this battle. Many years ago.”
Halloran said, “Can we navigate around that mess?”
“Executing at one-third, Captain.”
“Thank you.” He turned and reseated himself at the command chair. When she glanced his way, Halloran turned a palm up in her direction. “Go on.”
With a sharp eye movement in Axxa’s direction, Kendra began. “I was a First Officer in the Merchant Arm. We were part of the crew of a good-sized intersystem freighter.” She sighed. “It was the biggest thing with engines back then.”
“Goliath,” breathed Djembe. “I begin to understand.”
“Okay.” Halloran’s raised eyebrow posed the question.
She looked tense. “We were jumped near here by a Prax assault force. Their goal was to hit Tavar as it is a major source of raw materials for the Fleet.” Another flick of the dark eyes toward the alien who sat quietly in the back of the bridge.
Halloran appraised the cloud of debris as they crept past it on the starboard side. “That’s a lot of blown-up derelicts, Captain.”
Her eyes were a thousand kilometers away. “Goliath did a lot of that.”
“I thought it was a cargo ship?”
She looked evenly at him. “It was, until the Prax killed my Captain and the bridge crew. I detonated its reactor system in the middle of the red murderer’s fleet.”
Djembe had turned and was staring at her. “So it was you.”
Kendra shrugged. “I did what needed to be done.”
Carruthers cut in. “Passing the derelicts now, sir.”
Halloran looked at the blackened hulks, each spinning in a different rotation, creating a sensation of movement while the mass of ships held their relative positions. “What about anything we could use for repairs?”
“Haulers would have picked this place over a long time ago,” said Djembe. “Anything worth salvaging is gone.”
“It was indeed a significant battle, Captain.” Axxa spoke up carefully from where he was seated. “The humans defended their territory with great resolve. Although I was not present for this, the stories were told of the great ship exploding and turning the tide against our forces.” Even he was looking at Kendra differently.
Halloran caught the quiet guffaw that fell from her lips.
Djembe spoke into the sudden stillness on the bridge. “Past the derelict fleet, sir. Course laid in for Tavar. Transit at two-thirds speed is eight point five hours.”
Halloran looked away from Kendra’s vacant stare toward the front of the bridge. He wanted to hear more of this battle at Struve Six…clearly she had been significantly impacted by it. “Any readings of warships there?”
Djembe glanced at Carruthers, who took her cue. “Too far out for sensor readings, Captain. Tavar is the third planet from their star and we’ll need to halve the distance first.”
Halloran assented with a nod. “Proceed at two-thirds.”
“Two-thirds.”
“There will be a defensive force at Tavar,” said Kendra at length.
Petty Officer Gerry Wilson was standing on the other side of the command station. He’d been so quiet in the last minutes that Halloran had forgotten about him. “Sir, recommend a weapons test? And perhaps a test of the Hidden Claw?”
Halloran stared at the man, considering the request. They were in what looked like dead space near Struve Six, but the danger of detection by others would rise dramatically as they penetrated into the inner system. It was now. “Proceed with weapons test.”
“Aye, sir.” Wilson nodded and walked over to his security station on the rear half opposite of where Axxa sat. He tapped a comm unit there. “Weapons, bridge.”
“Bridge, weapons, aye.” It was Frank DeBartelo on the other end.
“Fire starboard plasma batteries. Target the nearest derelict for effect.”
“Sir, which one? Sensors show a lot of targets.”
“Choose the nearest sizeable hulk.”
“Firing now.”
Djembe had just shifted the monitor to a view off the starboard drop of the hull. In the next moment a bright yellow-blue beam emanated from four points along the ship, two in plain sight on the rear quarter and two from out of view ahead of the camera. The beams intersected on a large chunk of ship in the near distance as they slowly pulled away. The resulting blast of li
ght, silent but brilliant, burned into the bridge crew’s eyes. Then it faded away and the black returned.
“Starboard batteries operational, sir. The computer targeting is amazing. Imagine what we could have done with this tech back home, sir?”
“Keep the commentary to a minimum, thank you.” But Wilson grinned slightly as he looked over at Halloran. “Projectiles, sir?”
Halloran shook his head. “Let’s not waste the ammo, Wilson.”
“Aye, sir.” He hit the comm switch. “Weapons, bridge. Secure the main plasma batteries. Good shooting.”
Halloran motioned to Carruthers. “Hit the magic button again, Lieutenant. Engage the Hidden Claw device.”
She smiled slightly and reached for her panel. “Engaging the Hidden Claw, sir.”
Moments later Halloran felt a ripple of energy pass through his body, as though he’d received a mild shock that lingered too long. “That was interesting. I don’t remember that from the battle.”
“We were distracted, sir.” She didn’t glance up at him.
“Are we, er, cloaked?” It felt like a cheap science fiction term, but it was descriptive.
“The device appears to be functioning. The ship’s computer is telling me that the energy being pulled from the reactor is stable. Significant usage, however.”
“Well, that sounds somewhat promising.”
“We have no way of know what we look like to everyone around us, however.” Carruthers examined her readouts again. “I’m still getting used to this, sir.”
“Stow the Hidden Claw. Lieutenant, I want you go over the system until you’re comfortable with it.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Stepping out for a minute. You have the conn, Lieutenant.” Halloran motioned to Kendra to follow him.
“Captain leaving the bridge!”
A moment later, in the outer passage, he turned to her with hands behind his back. “You’re having trouble with all this.”
Resolve of Steel (Halloran's War Book 2) Page 6