Resolute Uprising (The War for Terra)

by James Prosser

  “Sir, they are powering up Mars to pursue.” Goldstein said.

  Lee changed screens again to spot the Alliance heavy assault cruiser. She was a newer model than Resolute with a broad bow and fattened pods that contained her battle platforms. Although more powerful than Resolute, Mars was slower since the Elves had made their changes. She was, however, in the way for their course and would close the distance when they passed by.

  “Resolute,” ordered the voice of Commodore Ronald Chang. “Stand down now. Lee, if you are in charge of that ship, I order you to power down and prepare to be boarded. If it’s anybody else, I will blow you out of the sky for stealing that ship.”

  “Commodore, this is Captain Pearce.” Lee said, keying in the communications panel. “I am in command, but I will not be standing down.”

  “Lee, what the hell are you doing?” Chang asked. “Where do you think you are going?”

  “Ron, this is something I need to do.” Lee said. “I know where to go to find her now. Just let me go and I will be back soon.”

  “I can’t do that, Lee.” Chang replied. “I can’t have captains stealing their ships and running off on some fool’s errand. We all miss her, but it’s time to let go. Power down and I can come aboard and talk.”

  “I’m done talking, Commodore.” Lee said. “I’ll be back before you know I’m gone; I promise.”

  “Captain, Mars is closing.” Goldstein said. “They’ll catch us before we can get out of range and extend the jump block.”

  “Power up the navigational laser, Ensign” Lee ordered to the new tactical officer. “Let’s target the projector as we pass.”

  “Captain?” asked the man. “You want me to fire on an Alliance ship?”

  Lee shot from his chair and pushed the young officer aside. He pressed the key on the console that powered the cutting lasers used for clearing asteroids. He brought up a targeting reticule and the display and moved it to a precise location on the hull of the destroyer. As they passed by the ship, Lee pressed the key and the laser fired a narrow cutting beam at the other ship. A small flash of light indicated that the blocker system had been destroyed with minimal damage to the rest of the ship. Lee pulled back from the tactical station and looked at the young man.

  “I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t be willing to do myself, kid.” Lee said, settling back into his chair.

  “Lee, are you insane?” yelled Chang from the speakers. “I will order Mars to open fire if you don’t stand down. Lee, don’t do this. I need you here.”

  “How long until we are clear?” Lee asked.

  “Twenty seconds, Captain.” Artzen replied.

  “Mars is powering weapons, sir.” Goldstein said. “I am trying an evasive pattern, but they are anticipating the moves.”

  “Try something else, then!” Lee ordered. “We just need a few more seconds.”

  Lee watched the younger man’s hands move across the controls. As a pilot, he wanted to step in and fly the ship, but as a captain, he needed to trust his people. He watched the progress of the ship on his holographic monitor and saw Resolute corkscrew through space.

  A shudder ran through the ship as a bolt of plasma struck the aft section. Lee hung onto the armrests of his chair as the rattling jolt shuddered through the deck. He checked the damage indicator on his monitor and saw only superficial injuries to his ship. He had counted on Chang not really wanting to destroy the ship and his gamble was paying off. The destroyer fired again, but Goldstein had slid the ship sharply downwards.

  “Three seconds!” Artzen announced. “Powering up the jump drive.”

  The familiar blue-brown glow of pinched space blossomed in the front viewpoint. It looked as if someone had pulled the fabric of space open painted fingertips and then spread the hole wide. The swirling vortex hinted at the fluid-like membrane beyond as Resolute sped into the vortex.

  Lee turned one of his monitor views to aft of the ship. He saw the last image of Perigee station and the cruiser Mars. As the thick area known as M-space enveloped the ship, Lee saw the portal close behind them. He knew that what he had done was probably treason to the new Alliance, but he would be willing to accept the charges if it meant getting Alice back.

  “We’re away, Captain.” Goldstein said. “What’s our course?”

  “Steady on, Lieutenant.” Lee ordered, transmitting the coordinates to the navigation console. Jakes had sent them while he and Henry had been arguing in the lift under the heading ‘Happy Birthday’. “We’ve got a long voyage ahead and we don’t want to get too excited too quickly, now would we?”

  4

  Commodore Ronald Chang stared at the vortex as it closed over the fleeing form of the battleship Resolute. Lee Pearce had grown increasingly unstable over the last few months, but watching him steal the Alliance ship was something else entirely. It would only be moments before he knew that the communications system would light up and he would have to answer for the theft. For now, he tried to calm himself enough to rationalize his former friend’s actions.

  When Alice had been killed in the line of duty, Chang had tried to reach out to Lee and relate his own story of loss. Unfortunately, the battleship captain had immersed himself in refitting the aging ship and test piloting his modified Silver Eagle. Ronald had thought that if the man were given time and a little space, he would work things out. It seemed that the plan had not worked out as expected.

  “Commodore, rescue crews are retrieving Sergeant Moore,” said the station’s communications officer, Kama Yu. “They report that he is unhurt, but might need to cool off before you talk to him.”

  “I’ll bet he does, Kama,” Chang replied. “Tell the rescue team to send him up anyway as soon as he is aboard.”

  “Aye, sir,” Yu replied. “I’ve also got Captain Jakes requesting a meeting as soon as you can see him.”

  “Captain Jakes,” said Chang, thinking. “Tell him to come and see me ten minutes after Minister Rao arrives.”

  “Minister Rao?” Kama asked. “But he…”

  “Commodore Chang!” A voice bellowed from the command center entrance. “Did you see what just happened? Did someone just take the Resolute?”

  “Minister Rao,” said the commodore, turning to look at the bureaucrat. “How lovely to see you today. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Commodore Chang, did you not just see the Resolute jump to M-space?” Rao asked, brushing off the commodore’s question. “I read the daily flight reports and that ship was not supposed to leave the station today.”

  “I am aware of Resolute’s unscheduled departure, Minister,” said Chang. “It is a military matter that I will investigate.”

  “I insist that you do more than investigate, Commodore. Why are you not sending out one of the only ships to pursue?” Rao asked; poking Chang’s uniformed chest with a thin finger.

  “Mars is still under repair,” Chang explained. “Her jump engines are not fully tuned and I will not send Baal out and leave this station undefended. Now if you will excuse me, I have to try to figure out what the loss of that ship means to our readiness.”

  “Commodore, are you forgetting that the Resolute was supposed to be put under civilian command in three weeks as a test vehicle for new technologies,” said Rao, looking back out of the window towards the space outside. “If you are not going to pursue that ship, than I need to know which ship the Alliance is to be assigned.”

  “Chang swatted away the finger that was still pointed at his chest. Rao looked back at the man, surprised at the anger that Chang was displaying. Although the Alliance was basically a civilian organization, the military that protected it outnumbered the civilians almost two to one. Banu Rao had always had a distrust of the military, but this was the first time that Chang had seen him outright disrespectful of the chain of command.

  “Minister Rao,” said Chang, bringing all of his years of authority to bear on the larger man. “The apparent theft of Resolute has left this station and its de
fense weakened. The handover of that ship was always contingent on the return of at least part of the fleet and the establishment of the communications network. So far, neither of those things has happened and you are now interrupting me in starting the investigation.”

  The two men stared at each other. Kama Yu and the two other officers in the control center had turned away from their panels for a moment to watch the exchange, but she now turned back in the awkward silence. It seemed that the power struggle had electrified the command center and no one wanted to interfere.

  “Commodore Chang,” said Rao, breaking the silence. “I will convene a meeting of the Alliance Ministry at twenty-one hundred this evening. I suggest you be there with a full report on this loss and what you intend to do to recover the Resolute.”

  “I’ll be there, Minister,” replied Chang. “I’ll bring whatever I have to report, but…”

  “Commodore!” Henry Moore shouted from the open door of the command center. “I think Captain Pearce has lost his mind, sir. He just stole the Resolute.”

  “Sergeant Moore,” said Chang, acknowledging the stocky soldier. “I’m glad to see that you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, but Lee has gone nuts,” said Henry, advancing past Banu Rao to the commodore. “He’s gone off to look for Alice, sir. The whole crew must be in on it because he called down to Booth before they left. I think he has been planning this for a while.”

  “I’m aware of the Resolute’s status, Sergeant, but thank you for confirming Captain Pearce’s mental state,” replied Chang, raising his hands to hold off Henry’s advance. “If you two gentlemen will follow me into my office, I think this is a matter best left away from the rest of the crew.”

  The two men looked around, apparently having forgotten that they were surrounded by the stations command crew. Banu Rao tilted his chin up as if to show his authority, but Henry Moore looked sheepish. Chang held up his right arm and motioned to the doorway leading to his office. The three men walked into the room and Chang palmed the door closed.

  “Now gentlemen, let’s discuss what’s happened and see if we can start making some sense of it,” Chang said to the two men.

  “Commodore Chang,” Moore started. “Lee asked me to join him after he talked to Jakes and…”

  “Jakes!” Rao interjected. “What does that pirate have to do with this? Was he on the Resolute when it was stolen?”

  “Minister, please calm down,” Chang responded. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions without hearing all of the facts.”

  “I told you not to trust him, nearly a year ago, but you would not listen to me,” Rao said, becoming excited. “I will have an arrest warrant put out on him immediately!”

  “Banu, would you please stop!” Henry shouted, trying to interrupt the other man. “Jakes wasn’t even on the ship when Lee took it. He had already undocked. Before that, Lee and Jakes talked alone for a few minutes. Jakes gave him a piece of Alice’s hull plating.”

  Rao looked to Henry, shocked. Although he had not been present at the battle of Karisia, he had heard about Alice Bennett’s death and had even watched the holographic feeds from the other ships. He knew that there was no debris found, but the idea of a piece of the hull still intact was a shock. He and Alice had once held Henry Moore hostage in an attempt to contact Earth after the invasion. She was no friend, but he respected her.

  “You saw the debris?” Chang asked. “Was it real?”

  “I don’t know if it was real or not, Commodore,” said Henry. “It was shiny and had the Demon emblem on it. In any case, Jakes brought it to him and when Jakes left, Lee set this whole thing in motion.”

  “I knew that man was involved,” Rao grumbled. “I am still requesting his arrest.”

  “On what charges, Minister?” Chang replied. “He was on an errand for the captain. What Lee did appears to have been done without Jakes.”

  “Where did that pirate get this debris, anyway?” Rao asked. “He stole anything he found from Karisia. That is grave robbing as far as I am concerned.”

  “Karisia was searched thoroughly for any sign of that ship. If Jakes brought that chunk of metal, he didn’t get it from there.” Chang turned on Rao, stopping the man’s rant. “Besides that, Captain Dalton is patrolling that system. If Jakes stole anything, Dalton would have discovered it and stopped it.”

  “Space is a very big place, Commodore,” Rao replied. “Dalton cannot be everywhere and Jakes has experience with sneaking around.”

  “Be that as it may, Minister Rao, the Karisia site is a military battleground and if any warrant is issued, it will be by me and my command. Is that clear?” Chang challenged the politician.

  “What is clear is that you have no respect for the civil authority, just like most military men.” Rao stood closer to Chang, challenging him directly. Chang stepped closer, not allowing the other man to intimidate him.

  “Minister Rao,” Henry Moore interjected, stepping between the two men. “Jakes just brought the shard to Lee, he hasn’t been anywhere near the Resolute in months, I swear. Lee has been acting weird ever since he took command. He flies out, leaving Commander Farthing in charge during battles. There doesn’t seem to be any respect for the chain of command anymore. I think we lived on that cruise ship too long.”

  “Commodore Chang,” the voice of Kama Yu chirped from the desk intercom. “Captain Jakes is here and wants to speak with you.”

  “You see!” Rao said. “The thief always returns to the scene of the crime.”

  Chang threw an angry look at the minister. He stepped around his desk and pressed the button for the intercom.

  “Tell the captain to come right in, Kama,” Chang said. “Minister Rao would like to ask him some questions.”

  Rao’s skin darkened as he waited for Captain Jakes to arrive. Of the three men in the room, only Chang had ever expressed any kind of admiration for the privateer. Henry had spent time on Jakes’ ship and Rao seemed to have a pathological dislike of the man. When the door opened, Moore took an involuntary step to hide the commodore. Chang stepped from around the desk and extended his hand to Jakes.

  “Captain, welcome back,” Chang said. “We have been waiting for you. Minister Rao was just telling me about how much he was looking forward to your company.”

  “Bunny!” exclaimed Jakes, turning to the minister. “You missed me!”

  “You will address me as Minister Rao, mister Jakes,” replied Rao. “I am the First Minister of the Alliance and you are nothing more than a common thief.”

  “Oh well we aren’t goin’ to have this conversation again, are we?” Jakes said. “It’ll just end in Ronnie here tellin’ us to shut up. I’ll tell you what, let’s skip that part and you just start now, okay?”

  “Captain Jakes,” Chang said, stopping Rao from responding. “I understand you visited the Resolute and spoke to Captain Pearce just before his departure. I don’t suppose you can tell us what you two talked about?”

  “You mean before he stole the ship, right?” responded Jakes with a grin. “If ya don’t mind, I’ll keep most of that to myself, but he asked me to look for somethin’, and I found it.”

  “The hull debris from Alice’s ship?” Chang asked. “Sergeant Moore has already told us about the discovery. I don’t suppose you would tell us where you got that piece of metal from?”

  “Well, Ronnie, that’s why I’m here and I would rather not talk about it in front of these two.” Jakes said, looking at Moore and Rao.

  “You stole that from Karisia, didn’t you?” Rao asked, trying to get a word in to the conversation.

  “Now, Bunny, don’t start throwin’ accusations around like that,” Jakes said. “I didn’t steal anything, but I did find a whole bunch of stuff that the commodore and I need to talk about in private.”

  “Commodore, you don’t intend to exclude me from hearing what this thief has to say, do you?” Rao asked. “I must insist that…”

  “Thank you gentlemen, that will be all for now.�
�� Chang said, cutting Rao off. “I will see you this evening, Minister, Henry. I will debrief you in one hour. You are dismissed for now.”

  Banu Rao stared at Chang with an open mouth. Although he had been trying to push his way into the conversation, he hadn’t expected to be sent away so suddenly. Henry Moore paused for only a moment before turning on his heel and leaving the office. When Rao turned to leave, he threw a long look at Connor Jakes. Jakes smiled back at the man with his familiar grin. The two remaining men watched as the door closed behind Rao.

  “So, Commodore,” Jakes said, turning back to Chang. “Do you think they fell for it?”

  5

  Five Years ago

  Earth - Singapore

  Banking hard to the left, Eddie Chang brought his patrol ship around to face the South China Sea and the former island nation of Singapore. Rising from the blue-green water, the broken spires painted a portrait of destruction. Having survived the rising of the oceans, the city had finally fallen prey to the Earth itself. Eddie nosed the small craft down to skim the water around the destroyed city. Just before he would have entered the entrance to an artificial bay, he pulled up hard on the control stick and angled vertically for the sky.

  Although he had qualified for space service, Eddie had chosen to fly the patrol routes of the south Pacific rather than follow his older brother into the fleet. The Terran Defense Force had fulfilled his need to fly without taking him away from his parents for extended periods. He twisted the ship upwards into an overhead loop that pushed him back into his restraints. The ship dropped to the water and then quickly pulled away as the land rose from the sea.

  Most of Singapore had retreated back into the ocean after the massive quake ten years ago. Chang’s father and mother had been north in peninsular Malaysia when the tremor had struck. Waves of water hundreds of feet high had slammed into the reclaimed city, killing millions. Most of the southern Pacific Rim had been devastated by the quake and the resulting tsunami but none had suffered the complete loss of a nation like Singapore.