by James Rosone
“Thank you, Admiral,” Bailey replied. “A lot has happened while you’ve been gone. And congratulations on a successful mission. I briefly heard about the Zodark incident on your own ship. I’m glad you’re OK. It would have been a great loss had you been killed.”
Halsey grimaced at the memory of that fateful day. She still wasn’t entirely over it. Her heart raced each time she thought of what had transpired.
Bailey continued, “I know the loss of any crew member is tough. I just wanted to say you did a good job of minimizing casualties and protecting your fleet. Your ploy to hide in a nearby asteroid belt was genius. A lesser admiral would have either turned tail and run or charged in there and attacked that Zodark ship when it came into the system. In either case, we would have lost out on the immense amount of intelligence and data you’ve been able to collect for us. I dare say you may have saved not just our nation but the world with what you’ve done on this mission, Abigail.”
She blushed at the gushing praise from her mentor and the head of Space Command. “I did what you and many other leaders have taught me to do. To be fair, though, it was Captain Hunt who suggested we hide in the asteroid belt. He was a big help during this mission.”
She drummed her fingers on the desk. “When our ship reaches the station, what would you like us to do next, sir?”
Bailey smiled at her bluntness. “All business—I like that about you, Abigail. OK, so first things first. Any of your folks who did not go planetside are to be debriefed for forty-eight hours on what transpired during the mission. Then they’ll be given a couple of weeks of R&R before reporting back to the ship to resume their daily duties. Next, the individuals who went down to Rhea Ab or have interacted extensively with the Zodarks or the Sumerians are going to have a five-day debrief before they can go on R&R. We need to collect as much information as possible from them.”
She nodded.
Bailey continued, “We’re going to hold the Sumerians on the John Glenn for the time being until we can get them medically cleared to be on Earth. We don’t want them to suddenly get sick because they’re exposed to something on our planet they have no natural immunity to. Then they’ll be brought planetside and split up. Half of them are going to the Republic; the other half are going to the Tri-Parte Alliance, where they will be further debriefed. If you have any Sumerians you want us to keep, you need to identify them to Space Command before they end their quarantine period.”
“Um. Tri-Parte Alliance? What happened while we were gone?” Halsey asked, confused.
Smiling, Admiral Bailey simply replied, “Abigail, we have a lot to catch up on. When you arrive at the station, delegate your responsibilities to your XO and head to Space Command HQ immediately. You and I have a lot to discuss.”
They spent another twenty minutes going over some other issues before the call ended. Halsey looked at the nav chart and saw she had about eight hours before her ship would be fully docked at the orbital station and her crew would be ready to disembark. She planned on spending a few hours of that time going through the intelligence summaries she’d just received from Space Command and getting caught up on everything that had gone on while she was away.
*******
John Glenn Orbital Station
Docking Berth 5
Walking off the docking tube, Captain Miles Hunt smiled when he saw his wife waiting for him at the other end. She was standing there with a homemade welcome home sign, wearing a formfitting dress that was driving him wild. After not seeing his wife in person now for fourteen months, he was more than ready to get reacquainted.
“Hey, sailor…you looking for a fun time?” Lilly joked as she tossed the sign aside and wrapped her arms around him tightly. They shared a long passionate kiss.
Holding her tight felt great. All the stress of the last fourteen months washed away, and he felt safe at that moment. Pulling away from her, he grabbed his small bag and guided them toward the temporary quarters he’d be staying in for the next couple of days. He still had about five days’ worth of work and reports that needed to be taken care of before he could start his own leave.
The two of them walked and talked for a bit. He regaled her with the stories of what they had discovered, at least what he could share. He promised to show her some images and videos they’d taken on their many stopovers to recharge the FTL drive.
When they reached his quarters, they quickly locked the doors and got down to the immediate business at hand. One hour later, Miles was lying in bed next to Lilly as he shared with her many of the pictures and videos the ship had taken along the way to the Rhea system. She was thrilled to see them, and he was excited to finally be able to share these incredible moments with her. She was an astronomy nerd herself—it was one of many reasons why she’d joined Space Command. She wanted to explore the stars with him; it just hadn’t happened yet.
When they had finished looking through his videos and pictures, they got dressed and headed out for dinner. There was a fantastic restaurant down on the promenade that had seats with window views overlooking the Earth below. When they walked in, the place was packed. With all the passengers starting to show up to board the Arks and the return of Admiral Halsey’s fleet, there was a long line to get a table.
One of Hunt’s officers spotted him and his wife as they stood in line. A moment later, the officer was talking with the maître d’. He must have mentioned who Hunt was, because twenty minutes later, he and Lilly had one of the coveted tables right in front of the windows.
After placing their orders and getting a glass of wine, Hunt asked, “So what’s the mood of things going on back home? I’ve been gone a while, and it looks like a lot has happened in that time.”
“Um, yeah. Like everything has changed in your absence, honey,” she said, sounding like one of their kids.
“No, be serious. What’s going on? Everything seems different.”
Shrugging, she reached for her glass of wine. “Space Command has been putting out some of the information you guys sent back—information about you guys finding humans on other planets and this terrible new alien race, the Zo-something-or-another. Then there was the announcement of this new treaty with the Tri-Parte Alliance, and suddenly we’re all best friends. No more talk of possible hostilities, just best buddies. They’re even letting us set up a colony on Alpha Centauri.” She finished her glass of wine in a couple of gulps before she added, “It’s as if they’re hiding some terrible news from us. Do you know what it is?”
Miles wasn’t sure what he could tell her yet, so he feigned ignorance for the time being. “I don’t know, Lilly. I just got back in Sol. I’m still trying to play catch-up right now. I’ll probably be able to tell you more in a few days or weeks. For right now, let’s not worry about what might be wrong. Let’s focus on the here and now and having ourselves a perfect dinner with a spectacular view of Earth.”
The rest of the dinner was spent talking about their two kids and what they were up to. Both of them were at the Space Academy right now. They wanted to be spacers like their dad and mom.
*******
Space Command HQ
Kennedy Space Center
Captain Miles Hunt sat at the table with Admiral Halsey as the senior leadership of both Space Command and the Tri-Parte Alliance questioned them for the third straight day about the Zodark ships. It had been four weeks since they had returned from the Rhea system—more than enough time for the data they had collected to be analyzed and gone over by both groups, AI computers, and thousands of analysts. They had looked at every speck of electronic information, imagery, interview notes from the Sumerians, you name it, to try and understand the threat.
“Captain Hunt,” said one of the TPA admirals, “if your ship had fought the Zodarks with your current capabilities, do you believe you would have won?”
It was a question Hunt had asked himself a million times—and one he didn’t have the answer to. Looking at the foreign admiral, he simply replied, “I would like
to think so, but I honestly can’t say. During our transit back to Sol, I had some time to study the energy output of those ships. I have to imagine their pulse beam lasers are pretty strong, given the power outputs. I don’t know if our current armor would have held up against it. Not knowing the exact power of their lasers, they could have sniped at us from a great distance while we tried to close the distance for our own weapons.”
Many of the military leaders around the table nodded at that assessment. They couldn’t fault him for his logic, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try if they thought they could.
“Admiral, if you were unsure of the enemy’s military capabilities, why didn’t you try and engage them, or at least test your weapons?” asked another military leader, again from the TPA.
Admiral Halsey leaned forward in her chair as she answered, “I was responsible for more than just my own ship. I had the Rook. Our initial intelligence of the system indicated that this system and planet were not populated. We saw signs of possible life, but no cities, no electronic activity in orbit, in the system, or on the planet. As such, we didn’t arrive with a fleet of warships to do battle. I couldn’t risk our ships being destroyed and not bringing back to Earth the information we had just discovered.”
“You didn’t hesitate to attack one of the mining colonies and liberate a few hundred of these Sumerians. You killed more than a hundred Zodark guards in the process,” snapped a TPA general, pouncing.
He looked Russian if Halsey had to guess. Yeah, he’s Russian…
“General, when the Zodarks abducted our ambassador and her assistant, it didn’t leave us much choice. We couldn’t just leave them,” she said with as neutral a face as she could.
Admiral Bailey then cleared his throat. “Admiral Halsey, do you believe the Zodarks would be open to a dialogue with us if we tried to speak with them again?”
“No,” Halsey replied, perhaps too quickly. “I believe the Zodarks have viewed our race as slaves or even food for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. They are not going to take us seriously until we make them take us seriously.”
Several of the generals and admirals broke out in conversations amongst themselves before Admiral Bailey brought the room back to order. “Admiral, if that’s how you feel, then how do you propose we make them take us seriously?”
All eyes turned to her. She calmly looked everyone in the eye before she spoke. “We punch them in the face. We go back to the Rhea system and take New Eden from them. We turn the system into a fortress. That’s how we make them take us seriously.”
One of the TPA generals—the same Russian from earlier—snorted at the blunt approach. “And if that doesn’t work, Admiral, then what do you propose?” he asked snarkily.
“If that doesn’t work, General, then we take the fight to them. We make a move to liberate Sumer, the Sumerian home world. They’re an advanced race and, if brought into our fold, would be an incredible ally,” Halsey countered.
Holding a hand out to keep everyone from bursting out in chatter again, Admiral Bailey said, “While I appreciate your aggressiveness, Admiral, I do not believe we are in a position to do that right now.”
Halsey blurted out, “Then we conduct a rapid buildup using the new technology and information we’ve learned from the Sumerians, and we hit them with it. I believe this race has become lulled into a sense of false security. From the nearly one hundred hours I’ve spent talking with the Zodark prisoners and Sumerians, I am confident we would catch them completely by surprise. Their only interaction with humans has been as slaves. The moment the humans they controlled looked like they might become dangerous, they knocked them down. They’ve never fought against a human foe that knows how to fight. If there’s one thing we Earthers know how to do and do well, it’s kill each other. We can bring that same skill to bear on the Zodarks.”
*******
Four Hours Later
“That was a hell of a suggestion you made in that meeting,” Admiral Bailey said, eying Halsey.
She shrugged. “You asked what I would do if I was in charge. That’s what I would do.”
Bailey liked Halsey. She was cool as a cucumber under pressure, and blunt and direct when needed. He needed military commanders like that. He also required commanders who understood that sometimes, the better part of valor is knowing when not to kick a hornet’s nest—something he’d had to learn over the years.
Sitting back in his chair, he blew out some air through his lips. “I don’t disagree with your assessment, Abigail. But things have been changing a lot in your absence. The discovery of the Zodarks and the Sumerians may have actually prevented another war. We all suddenly realized there are bigger threats in this galaxy than each other.”
Bailey watched her analyze what he said but didn’t add anything to it. She waited silently for him to make the next move.
“Level with me, Abigail. If we were to pursue your punch-in-the-face approach, how large a force do you believe we should bring, and more importantly, is our current technology able to win?” he asked pointedly. “The Rhea system is a long way from Earth.”
Abigail nodded. “I believe our magrails should be more than powerful enough to hurt them,” she replied optimistically. “I’m not so confident about our pulse beams, though. Not with our current power outputs. However, if we convert our ships’ fusion reactors to these new Trimarian reactors, I think the increase in power to the pulse beams might have a chance. We’ll also be able to reduce our travel time to the system considerably.”
She paused for a moment before adding, “Admiral, I think our ace in the hole against the Zodarks is going to be our magrail systems. We’re going to punch holes right through their ships.”
Bailey lifted an eyebrow at that. “Really? You believe our magrails would blow through their ships’ armor?” He was curious why she had come to that conclusion and the analyst up to this point hadn’t.
Abigail smiled coyly. “When I was speaking with one of the Sumerians, he said he was a slave to what the Zodarks call a NOS. It’s their version of an admiral. He told me he was on board his master’s ship during a battle with another alien race and that the aliens’ lasers couldn’t hurt the Zodark ships because they weren’t strong enough to make it through their ships’ armor.
“So I asked him about the armor, what it was made of. He said the armor was coated in some organic mixture that could absorb a large amount of energy from a laser burst. He wasn’t sure how the technology worked, and I frankly don’t understand how it could work either, but that got me thinking. If they’ve put all their stock in either deflecting or absorbing an enemy’s laser energy, then chances are they aren’t going to be prepared to handle a direct kinetic hit like our magrails will be able to provide.”
Bailey nodded as he bit his lower lip, deep in thought. “That’s a decent theory, Abby. But we don’t know that for sure. Plus, we don’t know the effective range of their lasers—they could end up sniping at us before our magrail slugs ever hit their ship. And then, you’d have to fire a lot of shells at them to compensate for any adjustments in their trajectory.”
“I agree, but with our fabricators, producing enough slugs to keep firing at them isn’t going to be a problem. Our gun systems can maintain a pretty high rate of fire,” Halsey explained. “What we need to do, Admiral, is send a ship back and attempt to test this theory. If it pans out, then we can configure our fleet operations appropriately. If it fails, then we know to try a new approach before we take a fleet back there and risk everything.”
Bailey snorted at the proposal. “That’s a big risk, Abby. We’d first need to reconfigure one of our ships with this Trimarian reactor. Then we’d need to reconfigure the weapon systems for the new power source. Then we’d need to be willing to lose the ship to test your theory. I don’t suppose you have a ship and crew you’d be willing to risk?”
Lifting her chin up, she said, “I could take the Voyager back, minus our troop contingent, of course.”
Shaking his head, Bailey waved the suggestion off. “Not a chance. You’re my most experienced fleet commander at this point. I couldn’t risk you, Abigail, not for a test like that.”
“The Rook, then. They could test the Zodarks. Attempt to make contact with them first, and then engage them if that doesn’t work. I could use the Voyager to watch from a distance and monitor the battle and then report back what we learned,” she offered as a compromise.
“Did Captain Hunt do something to piss you off on the trip?”
She blushed briefly, realizing she had just offered up her former XO and friend—Bailey’s former chief of staff as well. “No, sir, I think the Rook is probably the best ship for the job, and he just so happens to be the captain of her.”
Taking a deep breath in and holding it for a moment, he finally let it out as he nodded. “OK, Abby, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to prioritize getting the Rook and the Voyager fitted out with this new reactor and upgrading their weapon systems. Your two ships will head back and attempt your test. If it fails, you have to return and report back what happened. That information will be vital to our survival and success in defending Sol. Is that understood?”
She nodded. “Yes, sir. You can count on me.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Fire in the Hole
Sol
Jupiter Test Range
Captain Miles Hunt watched the asteroid some five hundred kilometers away with bated breath, as was everyone else on the bridge, as they test-fired their new, enhanced pulse beam laser.
The nine months since they’d returned from Rhea had been busy. His ship, the Rook, had been nearly taken apart in the shipyard as they’d gutted her engineering, propulsion, and weapon sections to upgrade them with the new Sumerian and Zodark technology.