by Ryk Brown
“What is true?” Nathan wondered.
“That the attack by the Jung was a false-flag operation,” Aleksi explained. “Executed by a long-exiled Jung caste, to prevent the Sol Alliance from interfering with their conquest of the Pentaurus sector.”
Nathan suddenly became suspicious. “How exactly did you come to know this?” he asked, his brow furrowed.
Aleksi nodded to the man by the door, who immediately departed.
“Where is he going?” Jessica inquired, suspicious of the subordinate’s sudden departure.
“Your captain wishes to know how we acquired this information, does he not? I am merely going to show you.”
Jessica exchanged a look with Kit, who immediately changed positions, allowing him to see out the door.
Aleksi began pacing again. “Bringing down Admiral Galiardi is a difficult task. Not only does he command all Sol Alliance forces, but he also has control of the media. He fills it with an endless stream of propaganda designed to inspire support for his cause, and it is quite effective. Even the people of Klyuchi, most of whom, like myself, do not believe in a global government, are becoming brainwashed by the constant onslaught. I did not believe it was possible to defeat this man and reverse the damage he has done. Even if I had equal access to the media, I would be branded a fanatical conspiracy theorist like so many others.” Aleksi stopped pacing, turning to look at Nathan. “Until now.”
“Why until now?” Nathan wondered.
“Now we have an heir-to-office,” Aleksi said, pointing at Nathan. “One that Galiardi cannot refuse.”
“And if they do not believe that I am Nathan Scott?” Nathan asked.
Aleksi nodded agreement. “You have a good point,” he said with a sigh. “Perhaps you have evidence that will prove the Jung Empire is not to blame and that Galiardi already knew this but continued attacking them anyway.”
A suspicious look crossed Jessica’s face. She glanced at Kit, who also looked curious. “You have frighteningly good intel, Mister Rusayev,” she said. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist on knowing how you obtained it.”
Aleksi smiled. “We have our sources.”
Jessica stepped forward, facing off with Aleksi. “What…sources?”
Aleksi smiled, then pointed toward the door.
Jessica turned around, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping in disbelief. “Loki!” she exclaimed, running over to him and throwing her arms around his neck.
* * *
Ensign Lassen was operating in fully automatic mode. Plot the jump, execute the jump, and when Riko said ‘no contacts’, repeat. So it had been for over three hundred jumps.
Lieutenant Teison was fully reclined in his pilot’s seat, eyes closed and mouth open, snoring.
“How the hell does the LT sleep so easily?” Sergeant Nama wondered as he studied the sensor screen.
“I’ve heard you sawing logs back there yourself,” the ensign reminded his sensor officer as he plotted the next jump. “Anything?”
“Listen, Tomi, if I see something, I’ll let you know, trust me. Otherwise, just keep plotting and jumping.”
Ensign Lassen glanced at the ship’s clock. “In another hour, it’s going to be my turn to snore.”
“You don’t snore,” Riko laughed, adjusting his sensors. “You make little chirping noises, like one of those annoying little birds in the morning.”
“Very funny,” Tomi said. “Executing jump three forty-seven.”
“You do!” Riko teased, making chirping noises himself. “It’s just weird.”
“At least I don’t drool, like some people,” Tomi countered. He let out a long sigh as he calculated the next jump.
“You’re just jealous because you wish you could sleep that deeply,” the sergeant replied as he began his next sensor sweep.
“I sleep fine, thanks,” the ensign replied as he transferred the jump plot to the sequencer. “I also don’t wander around like I’m in a drunken stupor for the first hour after I wake.”
The sergeant did not respond, choosing to concentrate on his displays.
“Jump three forty-eight plotted and locked. Jumping in five.”
Sergeant Nama’s brow furrowed, and he reached for his sensor controls. “Wait…”
“What?”
“I said wait,” the sergeant quickly followed. “I may have something.”
Tomi reacted automatically, canceling the jump and starting a recalculation at the same time. “Holding jump.” He turned to look at his friend. “Please tell me you found it.”
Sergeant Nama smiled. “Better wake up the LT.”
* * *
“Josh is going to be so happy to see you,” Nathan said as he hugged his friend.
“I’ll be happy to see him, too,” Loki replied. “I didn’t think I’d see any of you again.”
“Come here,” Vladimir insisted, his arms wide.
Loki complied, receiving a massive hug from his big, Russian friend.
“Good to see you alive, Sheehan,” Kit said, shaking Loki’s hand.
Nathan looked at Aleksi, dumbfounded. “I don’t know what to say,” he said, shaking his head, still in disbelief. “I don’t even know how this is possible.”
“The man who delivered him to us said he had crashed in the northern Japanese islands ten days ago,” Aleksi explained. “He was rescued by two farmers who hid him from the EDF.”
“Why would they take such a risk?” Jessica wondered, suspicious as usual.
“Not everyone likes the EDF.”
“Japan?” Nathan said, surprised.
“My jump drive was damaged, but I managed to jump anyway,” Loki explained. “It was either that or get blown out of the air. I think I clipped the top of the mountain on the way out. I came out of the jump on the edge of space, somewhere out over the ocean. I was losing pressure, and I was pretty much out of control. Thrusters were firing randomly…I was lucky just to get my ship headed back toward the surface, so I took another chance and jumped again, just to get back down into the atmosphere. From that point, I had about zero control. Next thing I know, I’m in a bed in a barn loft over a bunch of cows, with two brothers taking care of me.”
“How long were you down before they found you?” Nathan wondered.
“From what Udo told me, they found me less than an hour after I crashed.”
“You must’ve been out for nearly a week, then,” Nathan surmised.
“Actually, I’m pretty sure I woke up about a day and a half after I crashed,” Loki corrected. “It’s a good thing you made us take those nanite boosters,” he said to Kit. “Otherwise, I’d probably be dead.”
Jessica noticed Nathan’s expression. “What is it?”
“It doesn’t add up,” Nathan explained.
“What doesn’t add up?” Vladimir wondered.
“The incident in Monterey was fifteen days ago, not ten.” Nathan turned to Aleksi. “Maybe your intel is bad?”
“The incident in Monterey was your people?” Aleksi asked.
“Yes, unfortunately.”
Aleksi laughed. “We were blamed for that.”
“Sorry.”
“I thought the leader of our Monterey cell was lying to me. I owe him an apology.”
“Is it possible that…” Jessica looked at Loki, “what did you call him?”
“Udo?”
“Yeah. Is it possible that Udo just lost track of time?”
“Doubtful,” Loki insisted. “He seemed very smart, and I have been keeping track of the days since I first awakened. By my estimates, it has been nine or ten days. I could be off a day, but not by five days.”
“We have his wreckage,” Aleksi told them. “But we could not figure out how to access its systems. The technology is foreign to us.”
“Dylan s
hould be able to,” Vladimir suggested.
“Then perhaps you can solve this riddle?”
“Is the wreckage here?” Nathan asked.
“It is,” Aleksi replied. “Sasha will take you to it if you wish.”
“See what you can find,” Nathan told Vladimir.
Vladimir nodded, following Sasha and the pilot out of the room.
“So, Aleksi,” Nathan began. “As I said before, we were hoping you might have some plan, or at least some ideas, about how to bring down Galiardi. Preferably without having to kill any more of our own people.”
“When something as great as the fate of an entire world is at stake, one cannot worry about killing their own,” Aleksi said. “I would expect you of all people to understand this.”
“I do,” Nathan assured him. “However, the more of our own that we kill, the more opposition we will be creating going forward.”
“A week ago, I would not have agreed with you,” Aleksi told him. “A week ago, I would not have had a plan, either. But now, you are standing here, and what once seemed impossible is no longer.”
* * *
“Captain, Comms,” Ensign Keller called over the intercom. “Flash traffic from the Falcon.”
Cameron reached for the intercom panel on her desk. “Go ahead.”
“The Falcon reports they have found the drones, and they are definitely headed for SilTek. They are maintaining their track and have transmitted a suggested intercept point.”
“Distance from target?” Cameron asked.
“Falcon reports two hours, based on current jump patterns.”
“Understood. Set general quarters,” she ordered, rising to exit the ready room. Before she had even passed her desk, the trim lighting had changed to red, and the alert klaxons were sounding. Much to her surprise, it was not Naralena’s voice calling the Aurora’s crew to action stations, it was Ensign Keller’s.
Cameron exited the captain’s ready room, pausing at the comm-station at the aft end of the bridge. “Ensign Keller, flash traffic to Rogen Command. Notify them of the situation and request that they put all alliance worlds on alert. Also, request that they prepare a strike package, Orochi and Gunyoki, targeting all surface-based jump missile launchers, and await word.”
“Aye, sir.”
Cameron continued forward to her command chair.
“All weapons are charged and ready,” Lieutenant Yuati reported from the tactical station as she passed.
“Very well,” Cameron replied. “Helm, prepare to break orbit for SilTek. I want a single jump to destination ready ASAP.”
“Single jump to SilTek, aye,” Ensign Tala acknowledged from the helm.
“Question, captain?” Lieutenant Yuati asked.
“Yes, Lieutenant?” Cameron replied, turning back toward him as she stood next to her command chair.
“Are we not going to intercept the drones?”
“We are, but we can get word to SilTek much faster than our comm-drones can,” she explained, “and the more time they have to prepare, the better.”
“Understood,” the lieutenant replied. “My apologies for questioning your orders.”
“No apology necessary, Lieutenant,” Cameron assured him as she took her seat. “I shudder to think about the things Captain Scott might have done had I not questioned his decisions on occasion.”
“Thank you, sir,” the lieutenant replied.
“All departments report general quarters,” Ensign Keller announced. “Chief of the boat is in damage control.”
“Very well.”
“Jump to SilTek is plotted and ready,” the Aurora’s navigator reported from the helm.
“Break orbit and jump us to SilTek,” Cameron ordered. “Ensign Keller, make sure that transponder is squawking. We’re jumping in unannounced, and I don’t want another mistake by their automated defenses.”
“Transponder is squawking at full power,” the comms officer assured her.
“On course for SilTek. Jump point in ten seconds,” Ensign Tala reported.
“Execute when ready,” Cameron instructed.
“Jumping in five…”
“Comms, I’m going to want a connection to SilTek Security the moment we come out of the jump.”
“Three…”
“Aye, sir,” the comms officer replied.
“Two……one……jumping.”
The blue-white light of the jump briefly illuminated the interior, transmitted through the wrap-around spherical view screen surrounding the forward half of the Aurora’s bridge. What was once a blinding flash had been reduced to a mere signal that a jump had occurred.
“Jump complete,” the navigator reported. “We’re entering high orbit over SilTek.”
“I have SilTek Security, General Pellot on the line, Captain,” the comms officer announced.
Cameron tapped her comm-set, activating the link to the comm-channel. “General Pellot, Captain Taylor of the Aurora. The Falcon has located the drones. All four are on course for SilTek. If they maintain their current rate and range of jump, they should arrive in approximately six hours.”
“Have you confirmed that they are indeed weapons?” the general asked.
“Not yet,” Cameron admitted. “However, I doubt they would send four comm-drones to the same target.”
“Agreed,” General Pellot replied. “We shall put all defense systems on active alert.”
“We are about to attempt an intercept,” Cameron told him. “I just wanted to give you as much lead time as possible. I’ll update you once we have more information.”
“Understood.”
Cameron tapped her comm-set again, ending the connection. “Helm, set course for the intercept point suggested by the Falcon and jump when ready.”
“Setting course for intercept point,” Ensign Tala acknowledged.
General Telles entered the bridge, heading to the command chair at its center as the image of the planet on the wrap-around view screen fell away. “SilTek?”
“I figured it would be faster if we warned them personally,” Cameron explained. “We’re headed for the intercept point now.”
“Good thinking,” the general agreed.
“On course for intercept,” the helmsman announced. “Jumping in three…”
* * *
Aleksi pulled out a chair from one of the nearby tables and sat down. “There has been an ongoing debate among my lieutenants about seizing control of the net long enough to get a message out to the people. To inform them that all is not as it seems. Unfortunately, the cost in lives would be high, and the effectiveness of the message itself would be questionable.”
“That’s an understatement,” Jessica quipped. “You’d have to strike all of them at precisely the same moment. If just one of those installations went on alert before the others, they’d all go on alert, and your people wouldn’t get anywhere near them. Even if you managed to capture most of them, unless you get them all, your message wouldn’t reach everyone. At best, you’d only reach half of the people on Earth.”
“Actually, we only need to control one of the hubs. The others would be attacked at the same time so that net-control wouldn’t know which hub was transmitting.”
“One hub?” Jessica challenged. “How does one hub get you access to the entire population?”
“The hubs automatically synchronize at zero hundred hours, Earth Mean Time,” Aleksi explained. “Our people have devised a hack that will slave all the hubs to the one that transmits the hack.”
“Local controllers will pull their hubs off the main grid,” Jessica insisted. “Your message still won’t get out.”
“That was the second reason to attack every hub,” Aleksi explained. “We would only need to maintain control of them for a few minutes. Once the message spreads through all the seco
ndary nodes, it will be too late for net-control to block or censor the message. But as I said, the cost in lives would be high, and the effectiveness of the message would be questionable.”
“It was my understanding that the people were pretty much split on Galiardi and the war with the Jung,” Nathan commented.
“This is true.”
“Then we’re halfway home,” Jessica decided.
“I wish it were that easy,” Aleksi said. “The nets are full of conspiracy theories, many of them quite creative. Their sheer number decreases the credibility of them all. Yet another reason that I have thus far chosen not to pursue this idea. However, if we can prove to the people that Galiardi knew the Jung had not violated the ceasefire agreement, the balance of opinion would shift in our favor.” Aleksi pointed at Nathan. “And now that you are here…”
“I’m a clone,” Nathan told him, knowing what he would suggest next.
“Nathan!” Jessica snapped, shocked at his sudden admission to a man they had just met.
“Bozhe moi,” Aleksi exclaimed.
“He just gave us Loki,” Nathan reminded Jessica. “Right now, he’s probably the only man on this planet we can trust.”
“Then you are not Nathan Scott?” Aleksi wondered.
“I am Nathan Scott,” Nathan assured him. “My consciousness was copied into a device before my execution and then transferred into this body.”
“Like the Nifelmians?”
“Precisely. So my claim for the right to assume my father’s position might be legally challenged. Unless there has been some clarification as to the rights of clones passed in my absence.”
Aleksi sighed, realizing that matters had just become more complicated. “Not to my knowledge, no.” After a moment, Aleksi continued. “If I may ask, where have you been all these years?”
“That’s a long story,” Nathan told him. “The short version is that it took several generations of cloning me to create a version that could accept my consciousness without severe memory loss. That took a few years.”
Aleksi looked confused. “Then you have only just been revived?”
“About seven months ago, so to speak,” Nathan told him, not wanting to go into the details.