by Taylor Smith
“You have the entirety of Sol Fleet and Clew’s merged recognition databases to draw from,” she began, and then tilted her head. “Not full files, mind you, but enough to know who’s who. I have something else for you, by the way.”
A flashing icon caught his attention. He focused on it and found that he’d received a file. It took a moment to get the file open, but when he did, he took a quick breath. “Criss? She’s ok?”
Adrianna placed her hand back on Cade’s shoulder and said, “Read the file, Dorian.”
He activated the file, which was immediately processed by his brain as if he’d read it a hundred times already. “Not ok,” he whispered, and closed the file.
“She’ll live, but she has a rough road ahead of her,” Dr. Hunter replied.
“Starting out with your implant,” Adrianna continued, “the best piece of advice I can give you is: Left is you, right is remote systems. Now connect to the ship and access medical.”
Cade looked back to the doctor, and then focused on the markers on his right to find several titles that indicated the names of ships: The Memory of Earth, The Vengeance and the Hammer. He focused on the ship he was now on, the Memory of Earth, and a plethora of systems such as navigation, weapons, shipboard comms and logistics became available. He found the medical section and accessed it. Several names, including his own, were on the list but he focused on Criss Hulbert. Her status was ‘Green/Conscious.’
“She’s awake,” he said with a start, and looked back to the Doctor, who glanced at Adrianna and nodded.
“Go,” Adrianna whispered.
With his implant guiding the way through the battleship’s medical bays, it wasn’t hard to find Criss’ room. Cade found her sitting up in bed, holding a datapad. There were shiny plastic pads attached to her head in various places, and she sported a slightly black left eye that was plainly visible as she looked up at him.
“Hey,” he said from the doorway, suddenly unsure of himself and how this scenario would work out. Her file had mentioned unrecoverable memory loss from traumatic brain damage, but he couldn’t help but hope that she’d remember him.
“Hey,” she replied and looked back to the pad.
Cade took that as a good sign and entered the room. He sat in the chair next to her bed and leaned back. “Nice ship, huh? It’s crazy. The tech they have on board will knock your socks off,” he said trying to get a response.
“You’re one of the people I’m supposed to remember,” she said quietly.
Cade felt his shoulders drop. “Yeah.”
She turned the datapad around to show him a picture of her, Cade and Andy.
“I remember that,” he said leaning forward. “That was on the bridge just after we caught that Maloran freighter headed for Torj.” He smiled at the memory. “It had a case of that wine you like so much.”
Criss narrowed her eyes. “Casteele Vineyards?”
“Yes! You remember?”
“No,” she said quickly. “But that’s my favorite wine. The doctor said everything would be murky up until seven years ago… and from then there would be nothing.”
Cade felt himself lean back again. “Seven years…” He couldn’t imagine losing that much time from his life. He looked back to Criss to find tears making their way down her cheeks. “Hey,” he said and leaned forward to take her hand.
She shied quickly away from him, and he realized that the Criss he knew was gone. He wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t comfort her as he wanted. She didn’t even know him. He took a deep breath and nodded. He was beginning to sense that a ‘I’d like to be alone’ moment was coming.
“We were friends,” he said gently. “I’m here if you need someone to talk to.”
She didn’t look at him, but nodded. He left the med bay with the intense need to scream his frustrations, but somehow he managed to walk quietly off the ship and back to Clew Station.
***
“This is The Valkyrie,” Adrianna announced with all the air of an Admiral in complete command, and gestured to the floating wireframe hologram of a large, rectangular vessel in the middle of the conference room table. The eyes of the gathered Clew and Sol Fleet leadership glanced only momentarily at the hologram before the presentation packet was sent to each person’s implant. “It will arrive in three days.”
Cade tried not to flinch as his implant received a burst of information that included a smaller, rotating image of the ship, along with detailed information of its construction. “Nine hundred meters?” he asked in surprise as he scrolled his way through the data, and then leaned toward Andy at his right. “That’s almost as big as Clew Station. It’s larger than a battleship, for sure.”
“It is,” Captain Pierce replied from across the table. “The entire population of Clew will be moved to the Valkyrie. It’s capable of long-term deployment, for years at a time, with a full complement of crew, and it will only be at approximately seventy percent capacity.” He paused and directed them to the hologram in the middle of the table. It suddenly zoomed into different areas as he continued. “Capable of docking a mixture of light to heavy cruisers and six frigates, the Valkyrie offers every amenity that Clew Station currently has, and more. Specifically military grade armor, shields and light armaments.”
Cade had perked up at first hearing of the Sol Fleet’s energy shielding systems. It sounded farfetched to him, but according to Captain Pierce, it was in the prototype phase before the Divinity Wars. They’ve had five hundred years to perfect the technology, and they had done just that.
“The design is based on an old Sol Fleet Battle Carrier and logistics vessel that never saw commission,” Adrianna said. “Its purpose was to render fighter support, field-repairing and rearming to sub capital ships, as well as a mobile hospital and replacement crew. It was thought that during a lengthy engagement, we could double the effectiveness of our fighting force.” She shook her head and continued, “The numbers never added up, though, as Combat Fighters became more and more obsolete and our ammunition expenditure dropped with the advent of more powerful energy based weapons. The modifications to –“
“Clew can be repaired,” Andy interjected angrily. “This…” he shook his head and waved at the floating ship. “…monstrosity… only serves to enslave my people to Sol Fleet. We’d be trading our freedom from the Alliance for servitude to you,” he said glaring at his mother. “It goes against everything we stand for.”
Adrianna lifted her hand to calm the bristling Captain Pierce at her side, and turned to face her son. “Andrew,” she began with a soft tone. “Clew is dying. I’ve had my people working the structural problem since the moment we arrived and they found micro fractures throughout the entire station. There’s only one way to save Clew: replace thirty percent of its substructure. And that’s just so you don’t fall apart from normal operational strain such as docking ships. It will never survive the stresses of the course changes needed to keep the station hidden.”
“She’s right, Andy,” Ron Borden chimed in. “I’ve seen the reports, and it’s terrifying to think that our home won’t survive another two years without constant reinforcement.”
“The structural damage spread deep enough to compromise the main thoroughfare,” Kyle Wade added. “If it weren’t for the work of the Admiral’s team, we would have had explosive decompressions throughout the station within a week.” He held his hands up and said, “We don’t have a choice. Our mission is over.”
Andy rolled his eyes and sighed. “Our mission is over... You’re already sounding like her.”
Cade looked to Andy and saw the anguish in his friend. Andy had grown up being groomed for command of Clew Station. Although Cade had a feeling that Andy had known the station’s true purpose, being a forward platform for Sol Fleet intelligence, it didn’t make it any easier to admit the fact that life as they knew it was over.
“If that ship,” Cade said as he pointed at the floating hologram, “is big enough to support the entire civilian popul
ation of Clew, what exactly will its role be in Sol Fleet?” The Valkyrie didn’t look like a warship, and having families and children aboard didn’t sound like a combat vessel to him.
“Not you too, Cade,” Andy said with a glare at him.
Cade raised both hands and said, “We need options, Andy. Valkyrie is one.”
“Your duties to Sol Fleet won’t change,” Adrianna replied. “We understand that your crews and Captains aren’t fleet-oriented. You’ll keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing: hitting Alliance shipping and causing chaos in systems that are thinking of joining the Alliance. You’ve done quite well so far.”
“So we’re free to go,” Andy said quickly, with a touch of sarcasm. “You’re going to give us a monster-ship and let us do what we want with it?”
Adrianna paused, and then glanced at Captain Pierce before she responded. “You’ll continue to do what you do so well… with direction from Sol Fleet Command, of course…”
Andy leaned back with a grimace. “There it is… under your direction.”
“…and you’ll be providing a mobile deep space platform for intelligence, logistics and objective readiness,” she finished.
“I’ve heard enough,” Andy said and stood from his seat at the table. “We’re not going to become your waiters and goons.” He slammed his fist into the table and shouted, “My father would never have allowed this!”
“Your father designed the Valkyrie!” Adrianna shouted back as she rose from her chair to match Andy.
Andy’s eyes widened at the same time as Cade’s.
“He designed everything,” she continued in a quiet tone, “everything… including the role the Valkyrie would play during the war.”
As Adrianna sat down, Cade thought he caught a slight shake of adrenaline in her hands. “I think we need time to absorb all this,” he said in an attempt to defuse the situation between mother and son. “Can we turn to how we get Saundi back?”
Andy and Adrianna were still glaring at each other when Captain Pierce seemed to agree with Cade, and said, “The Alliance craft we engaged was a later-class reconnaissance vessel. It was agile enough to avoid capture before we could disable it, but we did land a number of timed deterioration trackers on its hull. Enough should survive the subspace jump to track the trail that the T.D.T.’s leave. We’ve installed the tracking software into the Reaper’s sensor suite.”
“Deterioration trackers? I’m guessing this is like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs?” Cade asked.
“Food isn’t involved,” Pierce replied with a serious look. “Before launch, the T.D.T.’s are irradiated slightly. When they attach to an enemies hull, they emit a standard tracking signal, and then initiate sleep mode when subspace ingress is detected. Once the jump is complete, a chemical is released into its housing that begins to slowly break the device down at a molecular level.”
“And you track the trail of irradiated particles,” Cade said with a nod, but then looked back to Pierce questionably. “Why didn’t you just grapple the recon ship?” Cade asked. “Your ships had the time.”
“Our analysis indicated that a grapple system would have torn it apart,” Pierce replied. “Also making that difficult is the fact that our cruisers aren’t fitted with grapple systems.”
“That would be a problem, too,” Cade admitted, though it was hard to imagine not having a grapple system aboard.
Pierce grinned at him. “My ships favor destruction of enemies over capture.”
Cade opened his arms to the Captain mockingly. “Not as profitable.”
Pierce waved off Cade’s response. “The updates to your ship have been completed, and you can leave as soon as this briefing is over. We’ve also completed similar upgrades to the cruisers No Quarter, Tyrant, Jackknife, and one frigate: the Dark Tide.” Pierce said, as he reviewed the data from his implant. “Your cruiser Black Saber has major damage to its drives from lack of maintenance, and won’t be ready on time. We’ll begin updates on the remaining five frigates tomorrow morning, but they won’t be ready for several days.”
Cade’s eyes widened. “Four cruisers and a frigate…” he muttered. “That’s not a lot of firepower to go barreling into Alliance territory with, but it’s more than I thought we’d have. I for one will be glad to see the fleet with some updated tech. I don’t think we’ve ever had the option to upgrade a fraction of our ships, let alone all of them.”
“Poor funding. And as far as funds go, you won’t have to worry about that from now on.” Adrianna had seemed to recover and chimed in. “All your needs will be furnished by Earth.”
Cade tilted his head at that. “Earth,” he repeated. “That’s the first time I’ve heard that name in our conversations. I’m assuming that’s your final objective? To restore Earth?”
“That’s our primary objective,” Adrianna answered. “And after today, the timetable has been moved up considerably.”
“How so?” Cade asked, and looked to Andy who still stood beside him. He could tell that his brother was still stewing, but at least he’d calmed enough to listen.
Captain Pierce leaned forward and said, “Our original timetable was to have Clew integrated into Sol Fleet, and begin the campaign to take back control of the colonies in fifteen years. If that ship reports what it saw here today, the Alliance will begin war preparations.”
“We estimate seven years,” Adrianna continued, “until the Alliance is strong enough to fully resist our efforts. We can’t let that happen.”
Cade interlocked his fingers on the table before him in thought. Aside from the Deshi attack three years ago, he’d never faced full-scale combat, and he knew from his history lessons that in a war between two powers as strong as the Alliance and Sol, the Deshi attack would seem like nothing more than a fist-fight between two friends. “How long?” he asked.
“Three years,” Adrianna said pointedly. “It will take that long to complete the warships currently under construction, and train crews for them. It will also take several years to get everything into position for the initial strike.”
Cade took a deep breath and knew the thought of open war hadn’t sunk in yet. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to be a part of it, regardless of what Clew had truly been designed for. “Do those extra warships even matter?” he asked. “You definitely have the technological advantage. Why don’t you just attack them now with what you have?”
“Our ships are far superior to anything the Alliance can offer,” Captain Pierce responded. “But they simply have more. At this time, the Alliance outnumbers us five to one.”
“Not good odds, no matter the size of the gun,” Cade said with a nod.
“That’s it, then,” Andy said after several moments of silence. He stood behind his chair with a killer grip on the seatback. “We’re leaving, Cade. We have to find Saundi.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Andrew,” Adrianna said quickly.
Andy stopped mid-stride, and turned to stare at her with exasperation. “I’m going to get my little sister.”
“You’re the leader of these people now. Your place is here.”
Andy shook his head and let loose a sharp huff. “Unbelievable. I’m going. Thanks for the drive upgrades, mother,” he muttered, and left the room.
Cade glanced from Andy to Adrianna.
She adamantly shook her head at him and whispered, “No.”
***
“Signal control that we’re about to depart,” Andy said as he and Cade entered the Reaper’s bridge. “And make sure the others are ready.”
Cade paused to see Terry Beck at the helm, and Steven Wards at tactical staring back at Andy with confused expressions. He shook his head at the empty communications station and asked, “Is Criss joining us, or did you get a replacement for comms?”
Andy whirled on Cade and shouted, “She doesn’t remember the last quarter of her life, Cade! Didn’t you sign someone up?”
Cade stared at Andy a few moments before clamping down on his frustrat
ions and said, “Clear the bridge.”
It took no more than a few seconds for the two other crewmates to practically run out of the bridge and secure the hatch.
Cade took Andy by the shoulders and looked him in his bloodshot eyes. His best friend was falling apart. Everything he’d known had been upended by the Leviathan tragedy and the mysterious Alliance spy that had been hunting them. No matter the berating and attitude that Andy now exhibited, Cade realized at once that he’d been in the same place himself, only three years ago.
Andy seemed to make the same connection, and grabbed Cade in a fierce hug. “Yeah…” he muttered and released his friend. “So this is what it feels like.”
Cade nodded and rapped Andy on the chest with a prosthetic fist. “At lease you’re whole. And you have over seven hundred people that desperately need you.”
“Why are you siding with her?” Andy asked with a shake of his head. “I really could have used the backup in there.”
That stung Cade to think that his friend felt betrayed by him. “Andy, I’m on your side. But we don’t have a choice right now,” he said as firmly as he could. “Clew is not going to support our people, and until we can figure out an alternative…” he paused and found himself staring back sadly as the full realization became apparent. “The Valkyrie is our only lifeboat. You heard them. It’s either evacuate, or wait for a hull breach that will kill every man, woman, and child aboard Clew Station.”
Andy thought about that for a moment and nodded reluctantly. “You’re right, but there may be another option. I just haven’t had the time to explore it yet.”
Cade studied his friend for a moment and said, “You got a message from Mallian, didn’t you?”
Andy’s eyes shot Cade’s way. “You got the other message? Do you know what it is?”
Cade shrugged and said, “Coordinates outside of the Kosta System, is all I know. I figured it was a cache pickup of some sort.”
