by Shawn Jones
“Fuck. That soon?”
“Yeah, but like I say, you can stay on a ship for awhile. Lots of Admirals float. You should keep Book at Phobos. He’s passionate about it. Make him an admiral, but keep him in the shipyards.”
“Yes, sir. Say, do you have any scotch on board with you?”
--
“I feel like I let the general down, sir," Book and Jones were in the wardroom having coffee when he made the confession to her.
“No, you did not. He hoped you would turn down the ship. You are too valuable building the Navy. Captains are easier to train than shipbuilders are. Your background makes you perfect for the job. The fact that your wife is an Addison helps too. He has no doubt of your commitment to this cause.”
“I married into the family before college. Chris was pregnant with our first. Once I was family, I found out the trust would pay for my education. But my wife and I both discounted the family legend. When he became public knowledge, we were shocked. A legend becoming reality inspires a lot of loyalty. That’s why I had to turn him down. I would not be able to forgive myself if I let that man down.”
“Keep building ships like the Taurus, and you will be just fine.”
“Yes, sir.”
AFS Taurus
“Transition complete, passives coming online. Oh my gods!” On the main viewer, at zero magnification, was a massive ship. An angular barrel nearly a kilometer long and half that at its widest point, the giant cask was right in front of them.
Addison said, “Charge the point-defense railguns, but do not run them out.”
Five seconds later the tactical officer reported the weapons armed and charged. Cort turned to the sensor and communications officer and said, “Anything?”
“No sir. Passive sensors are clear, but I am recording everything. Wait. I am getting a signal from the target planet. I cannot decode it, but maybe the admiralty can do something with it. I do not think they know we are here. It appears Admiral Book did right by us, sir.”
“I want to blow the ship and transition to another part of the system at the same time. Suggestions?”
Navigation spoke. “It would take timing, but it can be done with the Gauss cannon, sir. I can program the ship to transition just as the plasma leaves the drive field. Where do you want to go?”
“Just inside the debris field. The one from the planet, not the ship.”
“Yes, sir. We will actually arrive before the slug impacts.”
“Do it, then.”
“Weapons and transition drive synchronized. Firing.”
The viewscreen changed to an image of the planet, then black space. The sensor officer said, “Twenty seconds until we have visual.”
“What?” Cort asked.
“Time delay sir. It has already happened, but the light from the explosion isn’t here yet. Ten seconds . . . Five. Four. Three. Two. One.” The screen lit up and immediately went dark again. “I am picking up multiple signals from the planet. I think they are launching ships.”
Cort said, “That was a quick response.”
Tactical responded to the General. “If they are the same species that diverted the crystal, we believe they utilize a tachyon detection system. If so, they knew the moment the explosion happened.
“It’s still damned fast. They had to have ships on standby.” Who the hell are you bastards, and what do you want? “Keep sensors going, and move us to the dark side of the planet. I want to get in close and get all the data we can. Then pull back to the planetary debris field,” Cort ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
An hour later the enemy formation returned to the planet and Cort ordered the Taurus back to the ship’s debris field. “I want to know everything we can without letting them know we are here.”
“We can drift around the debris and passively scan it, General. That should keep us black.”
“Do it. Then we will head back to the planet and you can drop my team.” Cort was impressed with the navigator who had taken temporary command of the ship just before the mission. The Taurus’s original captain had been killed when he opened the Jonah Drive System housing just hours before departure. A great tactician according to his record, he wasn’t a physicist and didn’t realize that once dark energy began generating the drive field, you could not open the chamber without being vaporized. After the ship was repaired, Admiral Cook ordered additional safety measures. Unfortunately, there was not a qualified captain available for the mission and General Addison made the decision to ship without one.
Three hours after returning to the wreckage of the alien ship, the Taurus had a complete image of the debris and was able to use the data to virtually reconstruct the ship like a child’s model. The navigator-turned-captain commed Cort and said, “General, this data needs to go back to the Federation. That puts us in a bind, because as much I would like to continue our stated mission, I think we need to go home, sir.”
“You got that much, Captain?” Cort asked as came fully awake.
“Yes, sir. We gathered so much data, I could sell these people spare parts. The only thing we are missing is what was in the path of the plasma slug, and we can extrapolate a lot of that. Admiral Cook and the weapons people really need this data sir. I could transmit it, but to do so could expose us to detection.”
“Alright, Neil. take us home. Drop me at Solitude on the way.”
“Yes, sir.”
Solitude Orbit
After the shuttle carrying Addison and his strike team left the bay, Neil Platt took a walk around the ship. He had already ordered the transmission of data to the Admiralty and was told to remain at General Addison’s disposal until further notice. He didn’t know how long he had to enjoy the command, but anything that kept him from Phobos also kept him from being replaced. Finally he made his way back to his quarters and began working on his log. The comm signal from Phobos shook him from a nap three hours later. “Taurus, Platt here.”
“Lieutenant Platt, this is Admiral Book. I apologize for contacting you at this hour, but you are needed at Argyre on Mars. Speral has agreed to transport you immediately.”
Here it comes. Goodbye, Taurus. “Yes, sir. Who should I turn the ship over to?”
“For now, your weapons officer will take command. A temporary bridge crew will return to the Taurus with Speral.”
“Yes, sir,” Neil was confused. “A temporary crew, sir?”
“Yes, Neil. General Addison has requested that you be permanently assigned as his bridge captain. You will need an abbreviated command course that will commence at 0700 Argyre. That is four hours from now. You will be dirtside for fourteen days. The General has delayed his next mission until you are back aboard your ship. After you leave here, you will continue your command course remotely, with exams given as you are available.”
Platt didn’t know what to say, so Book told him to pack a bag and signed off.
--
On the surface, Cort woke up from a deep, exhausted sleep that he always seemed to find in Kimberly’s embrace, whether or not she had caused it. Slipping from their bed, he led the wolves out of the room and took them for a run, returning an hour later to Kim and a quarters filled with the smells of frying bacon, buttermilk biscuits, and coffee. After greeting her and giving the wolves a treat, he poured himself some coffee and sat down at the table in their kitchen. He had just bitten into his first slice of bacon when the comm in his ear chimed.
“Addison.”
“General, it is Admiral Book. I hope I am not disturbing you, sir.”
“Actually, you are, Admiral. I was just sitting down to breakfast. But if you don’t mind listening to me chew, I can spare you some time.”
“Thank you, sir. I do not want to jump to conclusions, but we may have a major problem. Our engineers have gone over the data from the enemy ship. The ship itself is interesting, but more so is what was in the ship. We found bodies, or rather bodies and body parts. The ship was a transport of some sort, either military or civilia
n, and was filled with over one thousand beings. I suspect it was civilian because we did not detect enough weapons to arm a military force that size.”
“Military or civilian, they are still our enemies, Admiral.”
“Yes, sir. I agree. My concern is the bodies. They appear to be Blatterians, sir.”
“Blatterians? You mean Lap’s people? Oh fuck.”
“Yes,sir.”
“How sure are you Admiral?”
“Physically, they appear to be identical in anatomy. Spectral analysis shows them to be much darker in tone and somewhat larger in stature, but they are almost definitely related. I spoke with our medical people and they believe the two probably evolved from the same species. We cannot speculate further without a specimen.”
“Send Captain Platt back to me. We’re going to get you that sample. He will be back in class tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
Disconnecting from Book, Cort said, “Kimberly, is Bazal still here?”
“No, he’s gone back to Government World. Why?”
“Ask him to join you here as soon as possible. Once he gets here, send him to Argyre. But tell him to be discreet about it. I don’t want anyone else knowing. Have Speral ship him there. Don’t tell anyone else about it.”
“Okay, why?”
“Once he is on Mars, I will share the details with you. Trust me, okay?”
Kim realized she was not going to get anymore from Cort, so she said, “You better not be taking him to a strip club.”
“What do you know about strip clubs? You saw them in one of my movies, right? Do they even have those these days?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
AFS Taurus
Cort pushed the last of the corpses into the airlock. He had spent most of the last half hour floating through the remains of the ship they had destroyed the day before, and was thankful that the debris hadn’t spread further. In addition to the bodies, he also grabbed a few pieces of equipment that looked interesting, and as soon as the airlock was closed behind him, ordered Platt to jump back to Ares space.
Argyre Military Headquarter, Mars
Bazal arrived on Mars before the Taurus had collected the samples and delivered them to the Ares Federation labs. After biologists had analyzed the bodies and delivered their findings, Cort and Bazal met privately to discuss them in the Proving Ground. As they moved around the park-like area where Cort’s elite teams once trained in their FALCONs and CONDORs, Zandra explored the area she was seeing for the first time. The training had since moved to Earth, but the area still served as an exercise area for Argyre’s security people and wolves. On this occasion, a dozen heavily armed fighters were stationed outside and on the transparent Formvar roof of the facility. What Cort had to discuss was not meant for anyone else to hear.
Tell me about the history of Lap’s species, Bazal. Cort thought to the telepath.
Mizur was correct, then? Bazal responded.
It appears to be worse than that. We collected samples of the species recolonizing the crystallized planets. They are closely related to Lap’s species. So closely in fact, that they could breed. Frankly, the only reason Lap is still alive is because Mizur could not read the invaders, but you say you can read Lap’s people.
I do not believe Lap is more than he appears. In my sight, he is more dedicated to the Collaboration than he is to his own kind. What will you do, Cortland?
What I always do. I will kill my enemies. But if they look that much like Lap, they may have spies within his people. That means they may have agents within his government. And that puts me in a bind. I cannot share information with him unless I know that information is secure. Do you have any suggestions?
Just one, Cortland: Talk to him. Bring him here.
Cort considered what Bazal had said. No. I will go to him, but I want you to go with me. If his government is compromised, bringing him here could expose our preparations for war.
Government World, then?
Yes, but we will go heavily armed. Bazal, this brings us to another issue. You are too important to risk your safety. I am assigning a security team to you, and you cannot commune with them. Do you understand? You cannot influence their ability to defend you.
I understand, Cortland.
Good. We have also designed a new tank for you. It will protect you much more effectively than your current one. I will inform the team that you have the ability to communicate telepathically, but I want you to use the ability with them only when necessary. Do not under any circumstance, influence my people. Are we clear?
Sadly, yes.
Don’t say it that way. If I lose you, there will only be war. Until balance is achieved, neither of us can be lost.
Agreed.
They fell silent as they both contemplated what they had agreed to. Peace would submit to War and War would protect Peace.
--
“General, we have done more than improve Ambassador Bazal’s tank, sir.”
“What do you mean, Dale?” Cort asked.
Dale Frame was the head of Weapons and Armor Research for the Ares Federation. Known as the WAR department, Dale and his team of scientists and engineers built the machines of war, to be used by Addison and his warriors.
“We have made upgrades to the FALCONs and HAWC suits, with additional software enhancements for the CONDORs. Specifically for the Atlas versions, sir.”
The Atlas interface was Cort’s method of controlling his powered armor. Developed in the late twenty-first century, the system got its name from the location of the harness. The port was on the outside of the Atlas vertebrae in Cort’s neck. By monitoring nerve impulses, the harness synchronized the power suits’ movements to Cort’s movements. In the case of the ten meter tall HAWC suit, Cort was paralyzed and restrained in a fitted recliner inside the torso of the armor. The suit then responded to the his nerves as if it were his body.
“Oh? How did you change it?”
Frame said, “Most of the changes are related to power efficiency, but we have greatly improved weapons control. Especially for the HAWC. Your railgun will track in nearly real time, and acquire targets nearly sixty milliseconds faster across one-hundred and twenty degrees. In conventional mode, it will also cycle faster. The weapon could have already fired faster, but the projectile fabricator was not able to keep up. Now it can, you can print slugs as fast as you can fire them. With the cargo pack, you can fire five rounds per second for up to five minutes straight. That is fifteen-hundred rounds without a reload. You have one round per second for the plasma. That is nearly a half hour of non-stop firing. Your capacitors are more efficient as well. Your cycle in fractional mode is now two seconds.”
“Nice work.”
“That’s not all, sir. We also increased your armor efficiency. The new capacitors will take twenty percent more energy before your armor goes ablative. That’s for both the CONDOR and the HAWC.”
“Wait,” Cort said. “Dale, you mentioned a cargo pack. What is that?”
Frame smiled and said, “I was wondering if you caught that, sir. It is a multi-purpose backpack. Its mounting rails do not interfere with the railgun or your sword. In addition, it can be used to mount the suit to the outside of a vehicle or ship.”
“Okay, I will play around with them. Thanks, Dale.”
“Yes, sir. All the suits utilize active pass-through camouflage now, and you can switch it on and off. Medical was complaining that people were getting headaches from the ‘always-on’ cloaking effect when they were around each other. This shuts them up.”
Cort laughed, “Until they find something else to bitch about.”
Unknown System
“Sir, Lap has returned to Government World. Bazal traveled with him but has not been seen since arrival there.”
“I am sure he knows about Mizur by now. After Ofzoy was crystallized, both Mizur and Bazal were secluded for some time. It is probably a state a grief. In any case, we have other issues. A colony ship was
destroyed en route to their target world. Our first concern was interference by the humans, but no alien ships were in the system.”
“A transition event, perhaps? They are uncommon, but have been known to happen using their jump system, sir.”
“There was no tachyon event recorded, therefore it could not have been a transition. We are investigating whether or not a ship may have drifted into the system. The odds are against it, but we must consider every possibility. Each of the thousand queens we lost carried mature casings. That’s over fifty thousand young perished. We cannot discount an enemy attack.”
“How could the enemy have known it was a colony ship?”
