by Ken Lozito
“There are references in the data we received that talk about a massive war fought between Earth and the colonies. The virus altered human beings, making them into something else. There was more from Wilkinson. He was adamant about an unstoppable fleet,” Tobias said.
Connor wanted to hit something, anything, to distract him from what he was hearing.
“Connor,” Lenora called out to him.
Connor looked at her, not knowing what to say. Noah and the others had somber and pale expressions.
“This is a lot to take in. We’ll make all the data available for you to look at,” Ashley said.
“What was that about a fleet? Is this why they changed where the Ark was going?” Connor asked.
“That’s what we think. Now we have a decision to make. This is something those of us in the room have been struggling with ever since we arrived on this planet,” Tobias said.
Connor’s hands came to rest on his hips.
“We have to decide whether to abandon this world,” Tobias said.
Leave! Where could they go?
“Are you crazy?” Lenora said and looked at Ashley. “Please tell me this isn’t true.”
“Why would we have to leave?” Noah asked.
Tobias cleared his throat. “We think there’s a fleet of these things heading here right now.”
Connor’s hands dropped to his sides.
“We didn’t have credible evidence of it until recently,” Tobias said.
“Help me understand something,” Connor said. “The Ark program took the combined resources of the solar system to build and equip the ship for an interstellar journey. It was the only one of its kind. So how could a fleet of ships that aren’t even designed for interstellar travel be coming here?” Connor asked.
Tobias shrugged. “I have no idea how, but the technology is there and we have evidence of something coming.”
Connor sucked in a deep breath and looked at the others in the room. “What have you found?”
“Dr. Zabat, if you please,” Tobias said.
“The buoys in the deep space buoy network can operate with a bit of autonomy, but they only keep track of the nearest buoys. They report the locations of each buoy in the chain to be sure it remains intact,” Zabat said and began updating the image on the holoscreen. “Based on the reports from the Galileo, there were thousands of buoys deposited on our way here from Earth. Are you with me?” Dr. Zabat asked.
Connor and the others nodded.
“We would expect to find a number close to the number of buoys deployed when the nearest one checks in, but the number of buoys remaining is less than a few hundred,” Zabat said.
Connor frowned in thought. “You think something is using the buoys to find out where we are?”
Tobias regarded him for a moment. “You have good instincts for gauging a situation. Given the evidence, what do you think?”
Connor looked away as he searched for some reasonable explanation that could account for what Tobias and the others were saying.
“You know what? Take a few minutes to consider it,” Tobias said.
The governor got up and left the conference room with Mallory and the two scientists. Ashley stayed behind and went over to her son.
“You knew about this?” Sean asked.
Ashley nodded. “We didn’t know how to tell you.”
Connor glanced at Noah, who looked extremely pale.
Noah noticed him watching. “I’d hoped it had all been a mistake, some misunderstanding. What do you think?”
“I don’t know what to think,” Connor said.
“We look at the evidence,” Lenora said. “We look at the data they have and validate the claim.”
“What if they’re right? Let’s assume for a moment that it’s just as they say and we are the last . . .” Noah’s voice trailed off.
Connor’s shoulders slumped and he used the chair to hold himself up. “Damn it!” he cried and pulled the chair away from the table, flinging it into the wall. He began pacing and shaking his head, then looked at Ashley for a moment and turned back around.
Lenora stood up and looked at him with concern.
Connor spun around. “You know, when you first pulled me out of that stasis pod and I got down here, I told myself that he’d had a good life. Wilkinson was a man of his word and would look after him.” Sorrow closed Connor’s throat and he swallowed hard. “It was the only saving grace for coming to terms with the fact that I would never see my son again, and now that’s been taken away.”
“Oh, Connor, I’m so sorry,” Lenora said.
All the assumptions he’d had about his son having a good life melted away and the inside of his eyelids felt hot. Instead, he was filled with the certainty that his son had died a horrible death along with everyone else he’d ever known. He took several deep breaths to steady himself and something cold took over inside him—that part of him that showed up when he’d fought battles with his old platoon. It swept the pain to the side so he could think and function. He had no other choice. To give in to everything he felt would unravel him, and that was something he couldn’t do. Not now.
Tobias and the others returned to the conference room. Damon Mills looked at Connor and gave him an understanding nod.
Lenora came over to him and placed her hand on his arm. Her touch was soothing. “Are you alright?” she asked softly.
Connor shook his head. “No, but I’d rather know the truth than believe a lie.”
He bent over and righted the overturned chair, bringing it back to the table. Tobias sat down and waited.
“We’ll want to see the data, but given the loss of so many buoys . . . In any other circumstance, I’d say it was a hostile force following a trail of breadcrumbs right to our door,” Connor said.
“You mentioned before that you were considering whether we should leave?” Lenora asked.
“This isn’t my decision to make,” Tobias said. “But it might be our best option.”
Connor shook his head. “No, it’s not.”
“We’ve deployed a few telescopes and have them mapping the nearby stars for habitable worlds. We could pack everyone here back on the Ark and head to one of those worlds,” Tobias said.
“That’s a terrible idea,” Connor said.
Tobias frowned. “We’ve had months to consider this and you’ve only just found out. You should know that there are more than a few of us who think this might be the best option.”
“Well then, I’d tell them the same thing I’m telling you. Leaving is the last thing we should do,” Connor said.
“Why don’t you tell us what you’re thinking?” Ashley interjected before her husband could reply.
“You’ve worked hard to build a colony here. There are things in this world we simply didn’t have back home,” Connor said.
“You mean the alien civilization that died out here?” Tobias said.
“For one. Lenora says there’s a lot we can learn from them. Perhaps there’s something we can use. If we pack everything up and try to run to some other star, there’s no way to know what we’ll encounter once we get there. And there’s also no guarantee that whatever is on its way here wouldn’t find us wherever we go,” Connor said.
“Statistically, we have a much better chance of survival if we were to move the colony to another place without leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for those things to follow,” Zabat said.
“Oh, really? Tell me, how fast are they coming? Do you know when they’ll get here?” Connor asked.
“It’s hard to say. We don’t have an accurate date for the last transmission from Earth. It could be ten months from now or ten years,” Zabat said.
“Do we really want to risk our lives on another few hundred years’ journey on a ship that’s already out of design specifications and hope for the best?” Connor asked.
“When you put it in those terms, no, but we’ve been checking the Ark, system by system,” Tobias said.
“We c
an dig in right here. Make this place our home. We’ve already expended a tremendous amount of resources to set up what we have here,” Connor said.
“How can we succeed where billions of people have failed?” Tobias said.
“I don’t know,” Connor said.
“We know hardly anything about them. We don’t know how many there are, whether it’s one big ship or a fleet, not to mention the specifics of the virus,” Tobias said.
“We know they’re coming, which is more than the people of Earth knew. That’s what this Dr. Stone gave us: a warning. Not to mention three hundred thousand of humanity’s best who are still asleep on the Ark. We have intelligence and a new world. Let’s leverage our assets. I, for one, would rather spend the next few years preparing to face an enemy I know is coming than take my chances on another journey where I have no control over my own fate,” Connor said.
Tobias leaned back in his chair and breathed deeply.
“I agree with him,” Mills said, speaking up for the first time.
“Really? You agree with him. I think you’re feeling appreciative that he saved your life,” Tobias said.
“Maybe, but Connor has demonstrated skill sets we’re lacking,” Mills said.
“Tobias,” Connor said, “I know you and the others conceived this whole idea of a colony with the intention of distancing yourself from people like me—the military, that is. Your instincts are telling you to run. Mine are telling me that we stay and fight. Most of you left Earth for your own reasons—the sense of adventure, pioneering to the unknown, a fresh start. I bet not one of you expected to be the last humans in the universe. But we may have to accept the fact that everyone and everything we left behind is gone, killed by an enemy we can’t even begin to understand. The mission was altered for a purpose, and that purpose was to give us a fighting chance.
“Someone back home kept sending us messages about the enemy because they thought we would need it, that we’d be here to receive them. We owe it to those brave souls to make a stand here. You said we couldn’t make this decision on our own. Then let’s wake everyone else up and decide. Perhaps there’s someone who’ll have some key piece of knowledge we’ll need.”
Tobias rubbed his forehead in thought.
“I agree with Connor,” Franklin Mallory said.
Lenora did the same.
“I do as well,” Ashley said.
Tobias glanced at his wife with his mouth open wide.
“You’re the smartest man I know and you’ve done a great job getting this colony started, but in this, Connor’s right,” Ashley said.
“Once we wake everyone up, there’s no going back onto the Ark,” Tobias said.
Ashley nodded. “I know,” she said.
Tobias sighed and swung his gaze to Connor. “You know, when you first showed up I didn’t know what to expect from you, but it definitely wasn’t something like this. Even if I was against waking everyone up, I’d be outnumbered by the votes of those already awake.”
Connor nodded, not feeling the slightest bit satisfied. He’d already moved on to the next task. A small part of him demanded that the grief he was locking up inside must have its due, but he wouldn’t let it. He’d spent more years as a soldier than not, and those instincts drove him onward. This colony was only just beginning, and he would see to it that they had a fighting chance to survive.
29
Several days after learning about the fate of Earth, Connor found himself on the Ark once again. He hadn’t even thought of returning to the behemoth-sized ship that had carried all the colonists to this planet, but Ashley Quinn had been insistent that he come at once. He’d brought Sean with him on the shuttle.
“Your mother can be . . .” Connor said.
“You have no idea,” Sean said.
They docked the shuttle and left the hangar bay. Ashley had given them instructions to come straight to the medical wing. It was a bit strange for Connor to be back there. The last time he was there, he’d thought he’d been taken prisoner by the Syndicate and this was some elaborate way to test out their interrogation techniques. Boy, was he way off the mark on that one.
Sean knew the interior of the ship better than Connor, so he led the way. They went to the medical wing where he remembered first coming awake. They passed Dr. Baker, who did a double take when he saw Connor and then scowled. Connor ignored the doctor and headed to the administration area. A duty nurse was sitting at the desk. She looked up and smiled, recognizing Sean.
“Oh good, you’re here. She’s been expecting you. She’s down the hall in room twenty-three,” the nurse said.
Sean thanked her and led Connor down the hall. They reached room twenty-three and knocked on the door.
Ashley Quinn opened the door and smiled at both of them. “You brought my son with you. What a nice surprise.”
“I had a mother once, too. I know what you guys like,” Connor replied.
Ashley gave her son a quick hug and then beckoned them inside the room.
There were two stasis pods across the room and Connor glanced at Ashley. “What’s this about?”
Ashley walked over and stood between the two pods. “Remember when you wanted to know if there was anyone else here we weren’t expecting? Well, take a look for yourself.”
Connor walked over and peered inside the pods. A wide grin escaped his lips and his eyes gleamed.
Sean walked over and looked inside. “Who are they?”
Connor put his hand on one of the pods. “This is Major Kasey Douglass and that is Wil Reisman. They were part of the Ghosts.”
Sean’s eyes widened. After hearing Connor talk so much about his old platoon, they’d become legends among Search and Rescue.
“We’re not finished going through everyone yet, but if this Admiral Wilkinson got the three of you on board the Ark, there’s a good chance he got the rest of you on as well,” Ashley said.
Connor laughed and couldn’t keep the smile from his face. Finding the Ghosts would help immeasurably with training more troops. He narrowed his gaze at Ashley playfully. “You brought me here to help wake them up.”
“Of course. Can’t have another one of you military types running around the ship, acting crazy. Sit tight. This is where things get interesting,” Ashley said.
Connor kept looking at the stasis pods as if he wasn’t quite sure whether this was a dream. He’d wondered what the admiral had done with the other Ghosts. It would be tough on them, but at least they would have their unit to support them. It was a cold comfort, but sometimes the men and women who served with you were what got you through the day.
Nemesis
First Colony - Book 2
1
General Connor Gates leaned against the railing on the observation deck of the Montgomery III construction platform and watched the spectacle unfolding before him with flinty eyes. Clutched within the platform’s massive robotic arms was the last major section of the Ark, the interstellar ship that brought the three hundred thousand colonists living on New Earth to this star system. Bright flashes of light ignited along the partially finished hull of the Colonial Defense Force’s first battleship carrier.
“Glaring won’t make them work any faster,” Reisman said.
Connor arched an eyebrow at Wil Reisman. The man was part of the original Ghost Platoon that Connor had commanded before being “volunteered” into the Ark program. At Connor’s age, being drugged, stuck in a stasis pod, and then snuck aboard Earth’s first interstellar colony ship couldn’t exactly be called a kidnapping; “shanghaied” was the nautical term for what happened to Connor and the surviving members of Ghost Platoon. Though it had been seven years since he’d come out of stasis only to learn that he was now part of the colony, it was still sometimes a bitter pill to swallow. But the actions of Admiral Mitch Wilkinson had ultimately been for their benefit. If he hadn’t done what he’d done, it was likely that he and his old platoon would have rotted in a military prison—that is, until they perishe
d when all the people back home mysteriously died.
“We’re a year behind schedule for this ship,” Connor said.
“Priorities,” Reisman said. “Titan Space Station came first and is our first line of defense against an attack force.”
Connor speared a look at his friend.
“Kasey advised that I was to remind you of the obvious things from time to time,” Reisman said.
Connor remembered when Reisman had been just a fresh-faced intelligence officer. His talent for intelligence gathering had made him a valuable asset back then, and now, with the Colonial Defense Force being so small, former Ghosts were nearly irreplaceable. They were among the few who had actual combat experience in the new colony.
A chime sounded from the nearby speakers. “General Gates, please report to the hangar bay for immediate departure,” the monotone voice of the computer systems said.
“That’s our cue to leave,” Connor said.
They left the observation deck and started making their way to the hangar bay, where Connor’s shuttle waited for him.
“You wouldn’t think it would take a congressional hearing to get resources for the defense of the colony,” Connor said.
Reisman shrugged. “Gone are the days of big budgets and a unified effort for a common purpose.”
Connor snorted. “Budgets—as if money had anything to do with it.”
“Allocation of resources then. There’s only so much to go around.”
“I guess I should feel lucky that Titan Space Station is at least mostly completed. Now, if we only had enough power stations to operate all the weapons systems at the same time,” Connor said dryly.
Reisman pressed his lips together and shrugged, unable to think up a reply.
Connor nodded. “Exactly.”
The new governor, Stanton Parish, wasn’t their staunchest supporter these days. When they’d first put the CDF together, Connor had the backing of most colonists, but as more people were brought out of stasis over the years, support had begun to wane. Now it was an almost endless debate to get the resources they needed to finish the defense initiatives they’d already begun.