by D. J. Holmes
Keying the ship wide COM he addressed his crew. “Attention everyone. Before we enter orbit around Earth I wanted to pass on my congratulations to you all. It has been a pleasure to be your Commander over the last two years. Your excellence has never been in doubt but your actions and efficiency in the Void served to confirm what I already knew. What’s more I’m glad to report that we have officially made the quickest journey from Cambridge to Earth, we’ll be going into the Admiralty’s record books!”
He paused to let the crew enjoy the moment before going on, “I’m afraid I have one more request of you. It’s one you’re not going to like. We can’t let the Chinese know that we’ve found out about the Void – at least until the Admiralty decides to let them know. To that end, I’m going to have to postpone any leave until I get permission from higher up. For appearance’s sake we’ll be carrying out a complete systems check before any of you can take some shore leave.”
James felt as if he could hear the crew’s groans through the ship’s nano-carbon bulkheads. Yet he knew they would take it in their stride. Everyone knew the Void would be a game changer. It was essential they not mess up at this stage. They had already succeeded in their first goal, a swift return to Earth.
After briefly stopping to pick up the recon drones from V31 and V48 James had red lined Drake’s shift drive and impulse engines. He had received angry threats from the system commanders in Cambridge, Britannia and Cook but he had faked collision damage to his COMS array. As Drake passed through each system on full military power, she had been broadcasting a repeating message informing the system pickets and admirals that she had suffered a collision with an asteroid and was on her way home to Earth for repairs. James wasn’t sure anyone had bought it but Drake had been going too fast for any of the system pickets to intercept as she skirted the edge of each system.
“Communications, open up a link to Vulcan,” James requested. As well as the RSN’s main shipyard Vulcan also served as its headquarters. “Contact them on a civilian channel, this isn’t a military matter. Put me in contact with the First Space Lord.”
Admiral of the Red Jonathan Hugh Somerville was James’ uncle and the First Space Lord of the Admiralty. As such, he was in overall command of the operational functions of the RSN fleet. No doubt the family connection was another barb that constantly pricked Gupta’s barely checked resentment over James’ promotion.
As Sub Lieutenant Graham opened the channel James recorded the message he wished to send. “Uncle, it will be good to see you tomorrow at Jack’s birthday party. I presume now that I have made it home in time I’ll be getting an invite? Oh and could you let me know if His Highness is going to be attending. I am very much looking forward to rekindling our acquaintance.”
After replaying the message to ensure he had convincingly portrayed his warmth for the King, James sent the message over the channel Graham had opened for him.
“Commander, should I send a situation report to Vulcan through a military channel?” Graham asked after his personal message had been sent.
“No need Lieutenant my message will suffice.”
“Sir,” Gupta began. “You may be the first Space Lord’s nephew but I hardly think a personal message to him will suffice. Protocol calls for us to send a situation report before we approach Earth.”
Looking at his Second Lieutenant James explained himself, “my cousin’s birthday isn’t tomorrow. It was yesterday. We were best of friends growing up. My uncle will know that I would never get his birthday wrong. And besides, do you remember our discussion in the Void of my little problem?” James asked.
As Gupta nodded her head he continued, “Well the King was the one who personally requested my assignment to a survey ship. Hell will freeze over before either of us will be warmly embracing. My uncle will get the message.”
Gupta’s face broke out into a confused stare but she quickly got it under control. The King was behind Somerville’s banishment? She was beginning to realize that she had severely misjudged James’ posting to Drake. Yet if the King wanted rid of James he must have done something awful. Gupta was aware of the disgrace James’ father had brought onto his family and the nobility in general. But that certainly hadn’t affected the First Space Lord’s career so how could it be the reason behind James’ banishment?
Still, she thought it would look strange if Drake didn’t send any situation report upon their return to Earth. That might draw attention in and of itself.
“Hanson,” Gupta called out. “Bring up the navigational data on the shift passage to the Void.” As the view of the main holo-display shifted Gupta considered it for a moment. “I want you to create a new navigational file on the passage. Make it look like the passage is a dead end after the minor passage we labeled X37.”
She turned around to look at her Commander who was staring at her searchingly. “Sir, if we don’t send a situation report we’ll look suspicious, especially to any Chinese spies. If we send all our survey data bar the Void no one will want to take a second look.”
“I take your point Gupta,” James began, “but we’ll be sending a deliberately falsified report to the Admiralty, are you ok with that?”
When Gupta nodded James smiled. His uncle would most probably be mad at him anyway so what was one more log on the fire?
“Very well, Graham, make it so.”
*
Even before Drake had docked with Vulcan James found himself summoned to the First Space Lord’s office. Clearly his uncle had guessed he carried some sensitive information. His request to bring Drake into an isolated section of Vulcan had been permitted.
Now he was standing outside his uncle’s office awaiting permission to enter. As the doors whooshed open, James walked in noting the various paintings his uncle had hung around his office. They all depicted some form of naval vessel in the midst of battle. There were ancient wooden ships from the days of Nelson, battleships from World War II and then three modern spaceships. James knew that each was one his uncle had commanded. The last was a medium cruiser, small by today’s standards. In the painting it was swooping in on a Russian Behemoth, firing missiles and plasma bolts at the Behemoth’s engines.
His uncle did not stand to greet him. Instead he waved James into a seat opposite him before giving his nephew a cold stare.
“I hope you have a very good reason for all the inconsistencies in the report you sent to Vulcan. Your personal message made me go over your report with a fine tooth comb as Drake decelerated into orbit. According to your survey logs you are missing three days from your collision through to your arrival at Earth. I also had my flag Lieutenant have a look over your ship as she was docking. There is no sign of any collision damage.”
“You are quite right of course,” James said as he handed over the datapad he had brought with him, trying to look calm and composed. “Here is our real survey report. I felt that given the circumstances secrecy was the best approach.”
“You did?” Somerville asked with more than a hint of sarcasm. He had always thought there was a glimmer of potential in James but he feared he had too much of his father in him. After the incident with the royal family he had decided James’ future in the RSN would go no further than command of a survey ship.
After eying the datapad Somerville instead looked back at his nephew, “you give me an overview of what I’m going to find in here.”
After clearing his throat he proceeded with the report he had been practicing all the way from the Void. “Well sir. Drake was surveying a shift passage that lead away from Cambridge when we discovered a pocket of space devoid of any dark matter. After a brief survey of the border of the pocket we concluded that it was indeed a dark matter bubble.”
Inwardly James smiled, he could see his uncle had already slightly shifted forward in his seat. After clearing his throat again he went on. “The dark matter bubble is approximately twelve light years in diameter and contains fifty-six systems. Our astronomical data from Earth identified five of the
systems as having planets in the goldilocks range so we proceeded to survey them before coming back to Earth with the news. Four turned out to be able to sustain human life. Two of them fall within our own borders, the other two are in open space. Out of all the systems only eight actually fall within Chinese space. More important is the system we designated V2. It is one of the systems with a habitable planet in our space. Our survey found significant amounts of valstronium ore on the planet and one of the system’s gas giants has the highest concentration of He3 discovered outside of the Utah system. Our initial projections indicate that if we can develop this one planet alone it will be able to fund our expansion program for the next half century.”
Before going on James again paused to take in his uncle’s reaction. If anything he looked sterner than when James had begun. Clearly he was trying to control his feelings.
“But that is not all. When we entered the first system we did so under stealth. I thought that the wisest course of action as we didn’t know anything about the Void or its planets. By chance one of our recon drones managed to pick up a Chinese destroyer lying in stealth in the system. It was patrolling a direct route from the Cambridge shift passage to the habitable planet. What’s more, when we surveyed the habitable system closest to Chinese space, we encountered a light cruiser, three more destroyers and a number of freighters that were constructing a repair and resupply base. On our way out, we then detected another Chinese fleet jumping in. There were over thirty ships and my sensor officer is convinced that one of them was the new Chinese battleship. It is my assessment that the Chinese fully intend to keep the Void a secret and claim it all for themselves. If they do, they will get an advantage over us we may never be able to pull back.”
James had found himself staring at the closet painting on the wall as he had finished his last couple of sentences. As he looked back to his uncle, his head was bowed deep in thought. The implications of their find were potentially colossal. Ever since the Russian attack on New France, the expansion race had increased three fold. The nuclear detonation on Earth had reminded everyone that it was foolish to have all their assets on one planet. Further, each space faring nation knew that if it was left behind the military and economic might of their rivals would curtail any further expansion. If any one space faring power could ring in another with colonies and military bases, there would be no more room for expansion. The UN Interplanetary Committee sought to limit this threat somewhat and give lesser nations an opportunity to found their own colonies. However, the threat still remained. Naval intelligence estimated that China had eighty percent of its survey ships operating around the British border trying to accomplish just that. And if China was willing to ignore the UN, all the success Britain had had over the last two centuries could come to a sharp end.
Without looking up, Somerville keyed his COMS unit and spoke to his secretary. “Janet, I want you to contact Admiral Russell and get him to meet me in my office immediately.”
As he reached for the datapad, Somerville glanced at James. “You can go out and wait in the receiving room. I need to read this before Russell gets here. I will say this though, it appears you have done a very good job, excellent in fact, but this is over your head now.”
Nodding, James got up to leave. Admiral Russell was head of the Royal Space Navy Intelligence and had served with Somerville during the New France campaign. James knew Russell was his uncle’s closest friend and rumors around the fleet were always talking about them being as thick as thieves. Together they had successfully steered the RSN’s and Britain’s expansion over the last thirty years.
*
An hour after Russell had entered his uncle’s office James was called back in. Russell then spent twenty minutes grilling James, ferreting out every scrap of information he hadn’t included in his report. Finally, he sat back in his chair and relaxed, clearly satisfied that there was nothing more he could learn.
His uncle spoke for the first time since James had re-entered the office, “your move with the Chinese destroyer was brilliant – an extreme long shot to be sure but brilliant none the less. Clearly you’ve got more potential in the navy than your father ever intended you to have when he made you apply to the academy.”
“Thank you sir, but you are as much to thank for that maneuver as me. I got the idea from one of your sea faring novels. A Captain in one of them played a similar trick back in the days of sail and cannons.”
Russell did not even try to hide a chuckle, “you made the boy read those awful things, they have almost no bearing on historical reality.”
Ignoring Russell’s comment, Somerville smiled with satisfaction, “well, I guess those books came in handy after all then. My esteemed colleague and I feel that as you made the discovery you have the right to know what we’re planning. Plus, we’re going to be making extensive use of you in the coming weeks. I have already dispatched a corvette to Britannia warning Rear Admiral Jensen to prepare her fleet for departure.
We are going to have to form a larger task force from the defenses at Cook and New Edinburgh but that will take time. If our plan is approved, Jensen is going to have to move into the Void first and secure V2 with what she has got.
As you can guess we don’t plan to just roll over and let the Chinese take what they want. Russell has an idea that might just win us some time. We’re going to have to get you before the UN Committee on Interplanetary Affairs though. They have a session tomorrow so if I can pull a few strings expect to be summoned.”
The COMS unit on Somerville’s desk chirped for attention. Reaching over he spoke into it. “Yes Janet, what is it?”
“Sir, your guests have arrived, shall I show them in?”
“By all means don’t keep them waiting.” Somerville replied. Looking up he caught James’ eye with a piercing stare. At that exact moment Russell appeared to have grown a sudden interest in one of the wall paintings. “We are about to entertain some distinguished guests. I want you to be on your best behavior. Is that clear Commander?” His uncle asked him.
Being caught off guard by the sudden shift, James could only nod. As the doors opened realization dawned on him. In walked the Prime Minister of Great Britain, closely followed by the King, His Royal Highness King Edward XI
James had to fight to keep down the anger that welled up inside him. The King was the source of all his problems. If it would not have earned him a court marshal and a prison sentence his uncle would already be pulling him off the King. Grinding his teeth, James tried to calm down.
Noticing James’ difficulty, his uncle stepped in front of him to greet the Prime Minister. “Prime Minister Fairfax,” Somerville said as they shook hands, “it is a pleasure to host you in my private office. “My King, it is good to have you here as well. You all know Admiral Russell and this is my nephew, Commander James Somerville.”
The Prime Minister offered his hand to James but King Edward didn’t move. Before the tension got any higher Somerville showed his two guests to their seats. “As you know this is a highly unorthodox meeting but matters have arisen that I think need to be dealt with swiftly and in secrecy - at least for now. Commander, can you give us a summary of your discoveries out beyond Cambridge?”
James had been wondering why he was still here and so he had to shake himself as he turned to his audience. As he was recounting his discoveries one more time he made a point of only addressing the Prime Minister. Finally, after a couple of questions he was allowed to take his seat.
Somerville then stood and took over. “I think it goes without saying what the Chinese are planning and that we can’t let them control the Void. Russell’s office has managed to identify the large ship Commander Somerville picked up among the fleet he observed entering V17. It is their colony ship, Henna. Officially, it left Earth orbit two months ago to carry out some extended space trials. We thought nothing of it, as the Chinese had no colonies to establish. However, it now appears they were already putting in motion plans to claim the entire Void for
themselves. To prevent this Russell and I have a plan. The Politburo has made a mistake in not going public with this and it gives us a chance. With your permission here’s what I plan to do.”
Twenty minutes later their conversation was interrupted by Somerville’s COM beeping again. In frustration he answered, “What is it?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you sir but the frigate Surprise has just been sighted approaching Earth. She appears to have significant battle damage and has already sent us a full report. I’ve transferred it to your console.”
