by Doug Farren
“What the hell just happened?” General Shen yelled at his staff. “I want answers and I want them now!”
The operations center had gone silent, the only sound to be heard was a rapid clicking of fingers on keyboards. One of the console operators, perhaps feeling a bit bolder than the others, finally spoke up and said, “I think the AOH detonated the modified missiles.”
It was a well-known fact among the staff that not all the ships had found the time to check their entire inventory of weapons. Some of the weapon bays were so densely packed with missiles that servicing the entire arsenal would require a visit to a shipyard. The unverified missiles had been locked out and the auto-loader would ignore them when selecting a weapon to fire.
“Impossible!” the General fired back. Scanning his tactical summary screens he was shocked to discover just how few forces he had left. Sweat was running down his forehead as he struggled to find a way to defend Earth. How could he fend off almost 1,900 enemy destroyers with a handful of ships and a hair over a dozen defense stations that were too far out of range to do any damage?
“General,” an operator manning a communications station announced. “The Commander of the Purist fleet would like to speak to you.”
“Tell him to go to hell!” the General yelled. “As soon as you’ve done that, get the President on the line.” Pointing his finger at another operator, he continued, “You! Recall all operational ships to Earth orbit then contact the army. I want every available main battle tank out in the open and primed for aerial defense.” Spinning around so he could address one of the other consoles, he said, “Charge up what surface installations we have. They are to fire on any AOH vessel that comes within range. We are not going to let these bastards win!”
* * * * *
“Their forces are retreating your Excellency,” the Fleet Commander said.
The man looking back at the Commander on the screen was wearing an ornate turban and a high-collared, gold embroidered shirt. His face was long and thin with close-set eyes. The smile on his face was barely discernible through his thick, black beard. “That is excellent news Commander. Proceed as planned to Earth.”
The Commander glanced at another console before replying, “They have not yet responded to our attempt to communicate.”
“I am aware of this. It is an expected response. We will see if they continue to ignore us after we transmit our demands to the entire population.”
* * * * *
“I thought you said the missiles were inactive until launched,” Sorbith said.
Tom had a hard time looking him in the eye. He felt responsible for the death of every member of every crew of every ship that had been destroyed by the AOH tampered missiles. Right now, he wanted to crawl into a deep dark hole in the ground. “I’m not a weapon’s expert,” he admitted. “I guess they not only modified the software, but the hardware as well. I didn’t think about that.”
“Don’t take all the blame,” Sorbith replied. “Nobody else thought about it either.”
“What the hell are we going to do? Earth is virtually defenseless.”
Sorbith shook his head. “We can do nothing. The Grand Council has barred us from interfering in this conflict.”
“I just can’t sit by while the AOH tries to take over Earth!” Tom exploded. “I may be a Peacekeeper, but I’m also Terran. I—”
“You gave up being Terran the moment you became a Peacekeeper!” Sorbith interrupted. “I know how you’re feeling right now but you cannot interfere. Your ship will not allow it and you know that.”
Tom balled his fist; he wanted to hit something. Forcing himself to calm down, he asked, “What do you think will happen now?”
“All possible defense forces are being activated,” Sorbith replied. “The Purists may be in control of Earth space but they will still have to contend with the surface-based defense systems. Based upon what I know of them, I would guess they plan on issuing some sort of ultimatum demanding the surrender of the Earth or they will start firing on your cities.”
“That will just turn the people against them,” Tom said.
“It might. It might also cause widespread panic and riots that will force the government to bow to their demands. Remember, the Purists have people on the ground and if they can get a mob all worked up they just might be able to pull this off. It’s very hard to predict what will happen when mass hysteria begins to set in.”
After terminating the link with Sorbith, Tom put in a call to his sister. “Hey booger breath,” she nervously answered.
“Hey sis. Have you been listening to the news?”
“I’m worried,” Cassandra replied, nodding her head. “It’s dark here and I’ve seen a lot of very bright flashes in the sky. They say Earth is under attack by the Purists. Is it true?”
“It’s true. Is John around?”
“He’s in the living room watching the news.”
“Go get him.”
The look on her face told Tom that he had upset her. Turning her head slightly, she raised her voice a bit and said, “John, my brother wants to talk to us.”
A moment later her husband appeared. Wrapping an arm around his wife, he looked into the camera but said nothing. Tom had spoken to him a few times and found him to be a pleasant, easy-going individual. He was a software developer at a small internet company located in Detroit. Because he could do his work from home, they were able to buy a house in a small rural town several hundred kilometers away from the home office.
“Hi John,” Tom began. “I’m not sure what the news feeds are saying but it’s probably a good idea to stay away from large population centers for awhile.”
“Don’t worry,” John said, looking at his wife. “We’re not planning on going anywhere until this crisis is resolved. They were just saying that the Purist fleet has defeated our space defense forces. How is that possible?”
“They’ve been infiltrating our military for decades,” Tom explained. “They managed to sabotage a lot of our ships and defense stations.”
“What the hell is the Alliance going to do about this? Why haven’t they sent us any help?”
“It’s because the Purists are Terran. Alliance law does not allow the other races to become involved in an internal conflict. They’re treating this as if it’s a civil war.”
“That’s bull and you know it!” John said, becoming angry.
“I agree with you, but that’s the way it is. Earth will have to deal with the Purists without any assistance from the Alliance. Fact is, I’m barred from taking part in the war as well because I’m a Peacekeeper. I just wanted to make sure you kept my sister safe—she’s all I have left.”
John looked as if he was going to say something else but changed his mind. “We’ll be safe.”
“Thank you. I’ll come see you when this is all over.”
“I’m holding you to that promise,” John said.
“See you soon,” Cassandra added.
Tom terminated the connection, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. A few minutes later, the Purists began transmitting their demands. Their operatives on the ground broke into the operations center of several of the planet’s major news feeds, forcing the staff to interrupt all other broadcasts in order to spread the Purist propaganda to as many people as possible. The Orion put the broadcast up on the main screen so Tom could watch.
The Purist leader called upon the people of Earth to rise up against the government in order to preserve the purity of humanity. They pointed out that the Alliance had abandoned Earth, proving they were not interested in our safety. The message rambled on for 10 minutes before the threats began. If the World government failed to yield and turn over control of Earth to the Purists, then the AOH would have no choice but to begin bombarding the government offices from space. “We have no desire to inflict any punishment or harm upon the innocent populations of our home planet,” the message concluded. “But we will do whatever is necessary to force the World governm
ent to bow to our demands. If you value your humanity, and you wish to live in a world free from alien influence, then rise up against the government before it is too late.”
The face of the Purist leader was replaced by a clock counting down the time until they would begin their bombardment. They had given the Earth 24 hours to respond. Five minutes later, the clock shrunk to a corner of the screen as the broadcast was repeated.
Frustrated and infuriated, Tom left the control room. He needed some air.
Chapter 46
A loud knocking on the door abruptly woke General Shen Shyu from a deep sleep. Following the defeat of Earth’s space defenses, he had nearly collapsed from fatigue before finally admitting he needed to get some rest. Not wanting to be far from the command center, he had ordered a cot to be set up in one of the small conference rooms just down the hall. He had been asleep for only six hours before the knocking began.
It took the General nearly a minute before he could think clearly enough to yell, “Come in!”
The door flew open admitting the light from the hallway. The General shielded his eyes against the sudden glare as the enlisted man at the door excitedly said, “We’ve picked up a large fleet heading into the system. Most of the ships are Tholtaran.”
Adrenaline rushed into his veins, quickly abolishing the last vestiges of sleep. Swinging his legs over the bed, he reached down and grabbed a shoe. “An Alliance fleet? How many? What’s their ETA?”
“At least 700. Over half of them are Tholtaran battleships. They just passed by one of our deep-space tracking stations and should be within firing range in just over nine hours.”
“Son of a bitch!” the General said, standing up.
The operations center was a confusion of activity as the General took his place on the platform in the center of the room. Nobody seemed to notice or care that his uniform was wrinkled and his shirt was not fully tucked into his pants. Shen’s practiced eye quickly scanned the bank of displays and in less than 30 seconds he had a clear view of the situation.
“Incoming message!” a communications operator yelled out. Before Shen could request it, the face of a Tholtaran appeared on one of his monitors.
“I am Group Commander Gauth,” the Tholtaran said, as soon as his face appeared on the screen. “The Grand Council has authorized us to assist in your defense. Request permission to enter Earth space with weapons active.”
“This is General Shen Shyu, Supreme Commander of Earth defense. Permission granted. Be advised the AOH may be able to remotely detonate your missiles even though they are still inactive. We lost a large number of ships because of this.”
“There is no need to worry General. All of the ships in the fleet have been verified as having only Tholtaran-supplied missiles in their arsenal. I can assure you they have not been tampered with. How would you like us to proceed?”
“There are over 1,800 Purist warships in Earth space. Even with the addition of the remaining 109 ships I have available, your fleet will still be out-numbered. Are you sure you wish to engage?”
A smile appeared on the Group Commander’s face. “The Rin’Bak is en-route as well as another fleet from Shandarian space. By this time tomorrow we will have numerical as well as firepower superiority.”
“A juggernaut!” the General exclaimed.
His excitement was not without warrant. Tholtaran juggernauts were the largest and most feared vessel in the Alliance. Shaped like a stellated dodecahedron, the Rin’Bak was a vessel of truly massive proportions. Measuring nearly 20 kilometers across, it was easily the largest ship ever built. At the tip of each of the 12 spires was a massive energy cannon backed by the full power output of six dedicated four gigawatt fusion reactors. Two super-sledgehammers and two secondary antimatter-enhanced 1.5 gigawatt proton particle beam cannons were mounted a short distance from each tip.
“My command ship is capable of directing the entire defense operation,” Gauth said. “May I suggest that I be allowed to act independently.”
“By all means!” the General enthusiastically agreed. “Would you like me to assign my ships to your fleet?”
“That will not be necessary.”
“Why did the Council change their mind?” the General asked.
“I am not sure,” Gauth replied. “With your permission, I would like to be the one to inform the Purists of our intentions.”
“As long as you let me listen in on that conversation.”
“I will keep you linked in. Standby.”
The Commander’s face was replaced by the symbol of the Tholtaran space force. Two minutes later, the symbol was replaced by a split-screen image showing both the Tholtaran Commander and the commander of the Purist fleet.
“This is Group Commander Gauth. The Alliance Grand Council has authorized us to take all necessary actions to defend Earth. We—”
The Purist commander started to interrupt but was silenced as Gauth raised his voice and simply talked over him. “We have been authorized to either destroy or render harmless the vessels of your fleet. You will withdraw from Earth space and surrender your vessels or face destruction. If any of your ships engage in hostile action, you will forfeit any chance of surrender. This is the only warning you will receive.”
The Purist commander opened his mouth to reply then closed it without uttering a single word. A second later, the transmission was interrupted. General Shen stared at the screen for a moment before muttering, “That was interesting.”
“I agree,” Gauth said, startling Shen, who had forgotten he was still connected with the Commander.
* * * * *
“I am aware of the situation!” the High Sultan shouted in anger. “Gather your ships and leave the system.”
The Fleet Commander straightened his shoulders and looked the Purist leader in the eye. “We have dedicated our lives to freeing Earth from the bonds of aliens,” he said. “You said the Alliance would not interfere. We are so close to achieving our goal and you want us to withdraw! Our ground forces are no doubt working to overthrow the government as we speak. To have come so far only to turn back—”
“Is the sensible thing to do,” the Sultan interrupted. “We were not sufficiently prepared for this,” he continued, in a more civil tone. “We were forced to accelerate our plans by many years. I do not know why the Grand Council changed their position. Abandon the attack. Your men will be needed for another day.”
“But…”
“You heard me,” the Sultan’s tone became serious. “We are not abandoning our goal Fleet Commander. We have the patience of a spider. We will regroup, we will rebuild and, when we are truly ready, we will return to free Earth.”
“Where shall we go?” the Commander replied. “Our shipyard has been discovered, we have abandoned our Mowry slaves and Safa cannot support the fleet.”
“We will find a new home, a new place to rebuild.”
“NO!” the Fleet Commander lost control. “We are here, now. We have—”
“How dare—”
“I have not worked my entire life for this moment only to be turned away!” the Fleet Commander yelled back. He had suddenly lost all respect for the man he had served for the last 18 years. His Excellency, the High Sultan Jamiel Ghannam, had no idea how dedicated he was to the cause. The Sultan was lounging comfortably in his elaborately furnished ship far from any danger while he was fighting for the purity of humanity on the front lines.
“We have severely weakened Earth’s defenses,” Shafir argued. “Our ground forces have revealed themselves and are working to bring down the existing government. If we leave now it will be decades before we can try again. We’ll never have another chance like this—our time is now!”
The Fleet Commander reached out and terminated the connection. Shouldering the stunned communications operator aside, he keyed in a command, opening up a link to the entire fleet. “This is Fleet Commander Shafir, all of us have devoted our lives to one goal, to free Earth from the grips of alien influence an
d to restore humanity to the pure form it was meant to be. Hundreds of your brothers are at this very moment risking their lives to help us free the Earth. If we abandon them now, they will have revealed themselves for nothing.. Unless you want to be branded as a coward for the remainder of your life, I am ordering all units to join me in completing our mission.”
The Fleet Commander terminated the link and turned around to find his tactical/weapons operator standing beside him. “What do you think you are doing?” the officer asked.
“Completing our mission,” Shafir said, dismissing the tactical officer with a wave of his hand. He then turned to the communications operator and said, “Move the fleet closer to Earth. Power all weapons and—”
“Belay that order!” the tactical officer yelled. “The High Sultan has—”
The distinctive sound of a fist coming into contact with flesh caused everyone on the command bridge to turn around as Shafir’s blow knocked the tactical officer to the deck.
“Coward!” Shafir yelled. “Get off my bridge!” Shafir glared at the others, daring them to defy him. “Carry out my orders!”
Throughout the entire Purist fleet, arguments broke out among the command staff. Some were committed to their supreme leader and determined to follow his orders to retreat. Others couldn’t stomach abandoning what they had been working towards all their lives and wanted to follow their military commander. Fights broke out on many of the ships.
* * * * *
“Priority message from Sorbith!” the Orion announced. Without waiting for an acknowledgment, the ship put the call through.
Sorbith’s image appeared, floating above the sagebrush of the desert. “A Tholtaran fleet is approaching Earth,” he said, without preamble. “It has relayed a message from the Grand Council—the non-interference order has been rescinded.”
“That’s fantastic news!” Tom replied. He was headed back to the ship as he spoke. Sorbith’s semi-transparent head floated in front of him like an ever-present ghost. “What changed their mind?”
