A Line in the Sand

by Ryk Brown

  “Commander Denton sent a second wave of QRTs, as well as squadrons of Super Eagles to each hub. They should be on scene in a minute or two.”

  Admiral Galiardi glanced at the clock on the wall. “Why now?”

  “Cover of darkness?” the aide suggested.

  “That is only true on half the world,” the admiral pointed out.

  “You are wanted in the command center,” his aide insisted.

  Admiral Galiardi rose from his desk. “Tell Commander Denton to dispatch a full platoon of marines to each net-hub for crowd control,” he instructed as he headed for the door. “We need to reestablish control over those hubs, pronto.”

  “Tell me something good, Corporal,” Lieutenant Brons urged as he looked over the unconscious control room staff, ensuring that all of them had been adequately stunned.

  “I’m running the hack now,” Corporal Moskol reported as he typed away at the keyboard.

  “We’ve got twenty seconds until the auto-synch,” the lieutenant reminded him.

  “I’ll make it,” he assured him.

  “You had better,” the lieutenant warned.

  “What is it about you officers?” the corporal wondered as he typed.

  “What do you mean?” the lieutenant asked as he checked the time display on his helmet visor again.

  The corporal stopped typing, leaning back in his chair and looking at the lieutenant. “Always reminding us of the obvious, as if that would motivate us more so than we already are.”

  “Shouldn’t you be typing?” the lieutenant wondered.

  “Why?” the corporal replied, smiling. “The hack was uploaded fifteen seconds ago.”

  “You suck, Moskol,” the lieutenant stated as the mission clock on his visor reached the plus four-minute mark.

  “I try.”

  Twenty-nine flashes of blue-white light decorated the night sky as a collection of ships both great and small, led by the Aurora, arrived in high orbit above the Earth.

  “Admiral on deck!” the EDF guard at the entrance to the capitol complex command center barked as Admiral Galiardi and his aide entered.

  “Status report!” the admiral barked.

  “We just lost control of all the net-hubs,” the duty officer reported.

  The admiral glanced at the row of time displays across the top of the room’s far wall, each showing a different time zone on Earth. Oddly enough, it was less than a minute after zero hour, Earth Mean Time. “At what time did we lose control?”

  “Zero hundred and three seconds, Earth Mean Time,” the duty officer reported. “We believe that one of the strike teams uploaded a program that spread to the other hubs during the auto-synchronization process that takes place at zero hundred EMT.”

  “And the program severed our control of the network, transferring it to the distributing hub,” the admiral surmised.

  “We believe so, yes.”

  “I don’t suppose there is a way to tell from which hub the network is now being controlled?”

  “We’re working on it, sir,” the duty officer reported.

  “Sir!” the communications officer barked. “Flash traffic from Fleet Command! Twenty-nine ships have just jumped into high orbit above us! One of them is the Aurora!”

  “Signal Fleet Command,” the admiral replied. “Set condition one. Immediate recall of all combat-ready vessels.”

  “Admiral,” the duty officer interjected. “If the Aurora is with them…”

  “The Aurora has been AWOL for months,” Admiral Galiardi revealed, shocking the duty officer. “For all we know, she was captured and has been under the control of the Jung the entire time.”

  “Shouldn’t we attempt to contact her?”

  “She’ll contact us,” the admiral insisted. “Trust me.”

  “Are you ready back there?” Nathan asked over the Voss’s active intercom system.

  “We’re ready,” Dylan assured him.

  “Miri?” Nathan asked.

  “I’m ready,” she replied.

  “It’s showtime, Josh,” Nathan stated.

  “Time to have some fun,” Josh replied, pitching down and pulling away from the fleet formation. “Decelerating,” he added, pushing two of his four engine throttles forward.

  The Voss lurched slightly, its inertial dampening fields not able to fully compensate for the abnormally abrupt change in their forward momentum.

  “This will be two jumps,” Josh announced. “One into the upper atmo to slow down further and the second to take us to direct contact range with the hub.”

  “I know the plan, Josh,” Nathan reminded his pilot.

  “I was explaining it to everyone else,” Josh defended. “Ready, Lok?”

  “Both jumps are plotted and ready,” Loki replied.

  “Okay,” Josh stated. “Jumping in three……two…”

  “Shut up,” Loki complained, realizing that Josh was mocking him.

  “Jumping,” Josh announced, smiling.

  The jump flash washed over them, and the ship began to buffet violently, suddenly finding itself in the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

  “Twenty seconds to final jump,” Loki reported. “Grav-lift is operating, speed is falling fast.”

  “How does the Winnipeg hub look?” Nathan asked.

  “Four Reapers buzzing around,” Loki replied. “No fighters as of yet.”

  “There will be,” Nathan commented.

  “Final jump down in three……two……”

  “You have no sense of humor,” Josh stated, knowing that his friend was only counting down to irritate him.

  “One.”

  Josh pressed the jump button, and the Voss’s forward windows suddenly filled with the view of the city of Winnipeg coming up at them rather quickly. “Net-hub, dead ahead.”

  “Initiate the link, Dylan,” Nathan instructed.

  Dylan entered commands into the makeshift console set up on the table in the middle of the common room, connecting the three-dimensional broadcast vid-cam setup in front of the curtain that separated the med bay from the rest of the compartment to the encrypted receiving unit set up by the Ghatazhak at the Winnipeg net-hub. “I’ve got it!” he exclaimed, receiving the confirmation signal from the ground unit.

  General Telles activated the camera, then looked at Miri, nodding.

  “People of Earth,” Miri began. “This is Miranda Scott-Thornton, daughter of the late President Dayton Scott. I have survived the attempted assassination of the entire Scott family and am here to claim my rights under the heir-to-office clause of the United Earth Constitution. I am transmitting my DNA to the entire world to prove my identity. I call upon Admiral Michael Galiardi to stand down all EDF forces and relinquish power to myself as my father’s sole heir. Together, we will finish what my father started and return our world, and all the worlds of the core, to peace. Admiral Galiardi, I await your response.”

  General Telles pressed the stop button on the camera. “We are off.” He looked at Dylan next.

  “I’m looping the broadcast,” Dylan announced. “It will keep repeating as long as we remain within contact range of the hub.”

  “What do we do now?” Miri asked the general.

  “We transmit your DNA and await the admiral’s response,” General Telles replied. “And we pray that he is an honorable man.”

  “Together, we will finish what my father started and return our world, and all the worlds of the core, to peace. Admiral Galiardi, I await your response.”

  Admiral Galiardi looked away from the view screen, doing his best to hide his anger. “Shut down the net.”

  “Sir?” the duty officer replied, confused.

  Admiral Galiardi looked at the officer, reading his name plate. “Commander Hetchin, shut down the global network.”

  “Ad
miral, with all due respect, doing so is a violation of Earth law.”

  “The net can be shut down in times of global emergency,” the admiral insisted.

  “Not without support from Congress,” the commander reminded the admiral.

  “I gave you a direct order, Commander.”

  “And I’d love to follow it, sir, but my oath is to the constitution of our world, as is yours, Admiral. Besides, the primary hubs cannot be shut down remotely. They can only be shut down on site.”

  “Then order the QRTs to retake control of the primary hubs at any cost,” the admiral instructed.

  “Admiral, it is also illegal for us to use military force against our own people. If the protesters stand their ground…”

  “Then they will become a direct threat to the security of Earth…” the admiral insisted.

  “Admiral, I must protest…”

  Admiral Galiardi raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, causing two armed guards to step forward. “You are relieved of duty, Commander Hetchin.”

  “Admiral…”

  Admiral Galiardi looked at the commander. “Would you like to be placed under arrest as well?”

  Commander Hetchin stood fast, his eyes locked with the admiral’s. His leader was wrong, he was certain of it. But he was also certain that opposing him further would accomplish nothing and likely render him unable to do anything in the immediate future if things worsened, which he suspected they might. “I stand relieved, Admiral,” he acquiesced, saluting before departing the command center.

  “Second officer of the watch,” the admiral barked.

  Another officer stepped forward. “Lieutenant Commander Perrin, sir.

  “Lieutenant Commander Perrin, order the QRTs to retake control of the primary net-hubs.”

  “They will need rules of engagement, sir.”

  “Weapons free, deadly force against armed persons is authorized, civilians included,” the admiral replied.

  “And unarmed citizens?” the lieutenant commander asked, forcing his leader to clarify his instructions. “And before you answer, I respectfully remind you that a knowing violation of the Earth’s constitution is a violation of an EDF officer’s oath and is grounds for immediate arrest, under both the constitution and EDF procedures.”

  Admiral Galiardi cast a sidelong glare at the lieutenant commander. “Are all duty officers so bold as you and the commander?”

  “Duty at this particular level requires more intestinal fortitude than most assignments,” the lieutenant commander replied confidently, not allowing the admiral’s glare to cower him. “As our leader, I doubt you would want it any other way.”

  Admiral Galiardi took a breath, rethinking his position. “If the civilian protesters attempt to stand in the way of our QRTs, our troops are authorized to use non-deadly force as needed to control the situation and achieve their objectives.”

  “And if the protesters are armed?” the lieutenant commander inquired, making sure there was no ambiguity.

  “Deadly force is authorized against armed civilians as needed to maintain the safety of our troops,” the admiral explained. “Will that suffice, Lieutenant Commander?”

  “Perfectly, sir,” the lieutenant commander replied, turning to issue his leader’s commands.

  “And one more thing, Lieutenant Commander,” the admiral said. “If you’d be so kind as to determine where that transmission is coming from, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Captain,” Ensign Keller called from the Aurora’s comm-station. “I’m receiving calls from all the net-hub strike teams. They are under attack from EDF quick-response teams. They are holding for now but anticipate the EDF will increase their forces.”

  “What about the civilian protesters?” Cameron asked.

  “The Ghatazhak report that the EDF are avoiding engagements with the protesters, but they are using non-lethal force to get through the civilians when needed.”

  “Kaylah, how long will we have sensors on Winnipeg?” Cameron asked her sensor office.

  “Five minutes and twenty-eight seconds,” Kaylah reported. “Thus far, QRTs at the Winnipeg hub don’t have any air cover, but Super Eagles are being scrambled from the Merida spaceport. They should be airborne and jumping to station in about a minute.”

  “Perhaps it is time?” Lieutenant Yuati suggested.

  “He hasn’t violated any laws yet,” Cameron pointed out. “He’s playing it right to the line.”

  “They did go to condition one,” Ensign Keller reminded her.

  “Only because twenty-nine armed ships jumped into orbit unannounced,” Cameron explained. “Again, he’s following protocols.”

  “Attacking the Ghatazhak is evidence that he is attempting to retake control of the net-hubs for the purpose of sequestering Miss Scott-Thornton’s assertions from public knowledge,” Lieutenant Yuati stated. “Isn’t that an illegal act?”

  “He is attempting to regain control over an asset that he is tasked with protecting,” Cameron argued. “Against an armed force, I might add. Until he either publicly refuses Miri’s claims or does so by overt action, he has not crossed the line, and my hands are tied.”

  “Then why are we here?” her helmsman wondered.

  “To remind Galiardi that there is a line and that we are standing on the other side of it.”

  “Admiral,” the lieutenant commander called, “four of the QRTs report an armed ship circling their respective net-hubs. Each is transmitting a data-com carrier signal. The design of the ships matches the one that was engaged over Carmel Valley a few weeks ago.”

  “Which hubs?” the admiral wondered.

  “Moscow, Beijing, Brasilia, and Winnipeg,” the lieutenant commander replied. “Fleet command has routed a squadron of Eagles to each of those hubs. Coincidentally, those are also the hubs with the greatest numbers of protesters, and their numbers are growing.”

  “Then one of those four ships is the source of the transmission,” the admiral concluded. “Figure out which one.”

  Ensign Soboleski ran frantically through the corridors of the capitol complex’s medical division, data pad in hand. “Where is Doctor Hellinger?” he asked a passerby in the hall. The frightened woman pointed down the corridor but said nothing.

  The ensign continued running down the corridor, yelling the doctor’s name, until he came to the end of the hall, stopping suddenly when he spotted the doctor standing in the cafeteria, watching the looped broadcast from Miranda Scott-Thornton. “Doctor Hellinger!” he yelled, running inside.

  Doctor Hellinger looked puzzled, not recognizing the man at first. Ensign…”

  “Soboleski, from communications.”

  “Ah yes…”

  “It’s her!” the ensign exclaimed, handing his data pad to the doctor. “I mean, this is her DNA. We just received it. You can compare it to her DNA on record, right?”

  “I can,” Doctor Hellinger confirmed, tapping some instructions into the data pad. “Oh my God,” he exclaimed, his eyes becoming as wide as the ensign’s. “It is her.”

  “I knew it!”

  “I have to get this to Admiral Galiardi,” the doctor declared, heading out.

  Commander Verbeek’s Lightning came out of its jump just above the treetops of Winnipeg, only a few kilometers from the net-hub. Although he had spent hours in the simulator, it was his first actual flight in the tiny Tekan fighter. The first thing he noticed was that it did not slice through the thicker atmosphere of Earth as smoothly as the Eagles did. The P-Seventy-Twos used grav-lift instead of aerodynamic lift and had a lot of drag to overcome. That drag made for a bumpy ride.

  The second thing he noticed was that the Lightning’s inertial dampeners were weak at best. You felt every bit of turbulence, and the force of turns, banks, and acceleration was brutal, to say the lea
st. It reminded him of the jet trainers used by the EDF academy twenty years ago.

  He dialed in the EDF comm-channels used by the QRT Reapers and started his broadcast. “EDF Reapers, this is Commander Verbeek. We do not wish to engage you, but your presence threatens our mission to see the rightful heir take the office of president of the United Earth Alliance. Disengage and withdraw, and we will not pursue. Continue your attack, and we will be forced to disable your ships. This is your only warning.”

  “You think that will convince them?” his wingman wondered.

  “Would it convince you?”

  “Not likely.”

  “I’ll take the one to the north, you take the one to the east,” the commander instructed.

  “I was afraid you’d say that.”

  “Try for one of their engine pods,” the commander suggested. “They can safely land with three.”

  Flashes of blue-white light lit up the Voss’s cockpit, and a second later, her shields flashed from incoming weapons fire.

  “Eagles!” Loki warned. “A lot of them!”

  “Evasive,” Nathan ordered.

  “No shit,” Josh replied, already twisting and turning with wild abandon.

  “Hang on, everyone!” Nathan called over the intercom. “We’ve got Eagles on our ass. Gunners, do your best to keep them off us, but try not to kill anyone.”

  The ship rocked violently as more energy bolts slammed into their shields.

  “Maybe you should tell them that!” Josh exclaimed.

  Nathan reached up to the overhead comm-panel, switching to the Aurora’s comm-channel. “Aurora, Voss! We’re getting pounded by Eagles down here. We need more air cover!”

  “All four XKs report they are being attacked by EDF Super Eagles!” Ensign Keller reported from the Aurora’s comm-station.

  “Well that didn’t take long,” Cameron said. “Dispatch Nighthawks and Gunyoki to provide air cover, and prepare to broadcast on all EDF command channels, including those used by UEA command in Winnipeg. I want to make sure Galiardi can hear me.”