New Canaan: A Military Science Fiction Space Opera Epic: Aeon 14 (The Orion War Book 2)
Page 35
TRUTH
STELLAR DATE: 02.23.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS Hellespont
REGION: Stellar Space near Roma, 6th Planet in the New Canaan System
“Your daughters are lovely,” Elena said after the meal was done and the two girls had left for a shift on the bridge.
“They’re the best thing we made here at New Canaan,” Joe said with a warm smile.
“And Saanvi…I remember you inquiring about her when you found her ship,” Elena said. “I’m glad you gave her a good home.”
“You heard about that, did you?” Tanis asked. “I didn’t think that would be such big news in the Transcend.”
Elena looked down at her glass of wine and frowned. “Well, I run operations for The Hand now—it came across my desk.”
Joe chuckled. “Probably a bit more like ran now, wouldn’t you say?”
Elena looked up and gave a wan smile. “I suppose you’re right. Makes this little jaunt worth it, then. I hated that job.”
There was a brief lull in conversation, and Tanis leaned forward. She was having trouble finding the right words for the question she had. She almost feared the answer too much to ask.
Elena’s face grew clouded. “I’m afraid I don’t have good news there.”
The blood rushed from Tanis’s face and she reached for Joe’s hand. “Tell it.”
“One of our agents—one that Sera and I trust implicitly—made contact with them about thirteen years ago. They were a bit hard to find, but we delivered New Canaan’s coordinates. They told the agent that they were still hunting their quarry,” Elena said in a somber tone.
“That doesn’t sound so bad—though thirteen years is a long time to hear nothing,” Joe said with a frown. “What happened next?”
“We think that they may have finally found Finaeus in the Ikoden System…there was a shoot-out—not the first one they were involved in, from what we’ve learned—except this one was with us.”
“With you?” Tanis leaned forward.
“What do you mean?” Joe asked at the same time.
Elena’s eyes darted between the pair and she raised her hands defensively. “Well, The Hand has been searching for Finaeus for some time…agents who were operating under the president’s direction. They discovered that Jessica was on Sabrina and that they had a good lead. They followed Sabrina to Ikoden, and when they found Finaeus, they attacked.”
“Go on,” Tanis said tonelessly.
“You can relax…no one from Sabrina was killed. Though they got all our agents, only two lived, but they ended up taking their own lives to avoid interrogation. The thing is…after they left Ikoden, they just disappeared. There hasn’t been a sighting of them in eleven years.”
Tanis covered her eyes with her forearm.
“Elena, that’s not as bad as you made it out to be, they’re probably just on their way here now,” Joe said.
“Ikoden’s not that far away—it should have been only four, maybe five years max,” Elena replied. “Sera’s really worried. She has agents scouring the Inner Stars for Sabrina.”
Tanis looked to Joe and saw both worry and compassion in his eyes. They both missed Jessica terribly, and Tanis had grown close to the crew of Sabrina during their months together.
Knowing that Jessica was out there somewhere, lost in the Inner Stars, and that she had this crisis with the Transcend bearing down on her, keeping her from going in search of her friend, hit her harder than she expected.
She had never balked at the mantle of responsibility she wore, not enough to truly resent it. But now, she wished she could throw it aside and go find her friend.
Elena’s eyes darted between the pair. “I’m really sorry. I wish I had better news. I mean…we haven’t found any evidence that they were attacked or taken either…”
“It’s OK,” Tanis said finally. “Whatever happened, it’s not your fault…”
“Either way, I’m still sorry,” Elena said softly. “I see on the net that there are quartets for me. I’ll head there…leave you two alone.”
Tanis nodded absently and Elena left the room.
She didn’t know if she wanted to scream or cry, and Joe wrapped his arms around her. Wordlessly, they held one another, and then she did cry for fear that she had lost Jessica forever.
NEGOTIATIONS
STELLAR DATE: 03.27.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: TSS Galadrial
REGION: Stellar Space near Roma, 6th Planet in the New Canaan System
The Galadrial exited the wormhole into normal space, and Sera stripped the data streams from the Transcend ships that had jumped ahead.
She didn’t need to, of course—there were officers running scan and comm—but she was looking for any information about Elena and whether or not she was OK.
“New Canaan,” her father announced at her side. “The Intrepid’s reward for their long struggle.”
She noted how he tried to sound magnanimous, but she could tell that he felt the reward was too great for what the Transcend had received—even though she had since learned that it was her father who ensured that the Intrepid was not required to give over their picotech or stasis shields.
“Also, what they were due, being a GSS ship,” Sera added.
Her father cast her a hard stare. “The Generation Ship Service is long gone. The Inner Stars gave up on peaceful colonization and look at what it has wrought. It is this system’s duty to ensure that we can preserve the Transcend and our mission.”
Sera didn’t respond. Getting into an argument with her father about the purpose of the Transcend on the bridge of his flagship would not be wise. Instead, she surveyed the Transcend fleet arrayed around them.
It consisted of over a thousand cruisers and several hundred more destroyers and support vessels. From what Admiral Isyra had observed, Tanis had no more than fifty warships, and they appeared to be spread across the system on patrols.
A pair were nearby, only two AU distant, though any response from those ships was still nearly an hour away.
“Send the message,” Sera’s father prompted. “Let their governor know that we need to talk about the state of the human sphere and her duty to help us protect it.”
“I’ve already sent it,” Sera replied. “We may have to wait a day for the response.”
President Tomlinson nodded. “Very well. Admiral Greer, as you’ve suggested, move the fleet to the seventh planet, Roma, I believe the locals have named it. I see that they have a small outpost on one of its moons. We’ll propose it as a meeting place.”
The world was just over six AU distant, and the fleet began a slow acceleration toward it, the newly constructed jump-gate boosting with them under its own power.
“Yes, President,” Greer replied and issued the command over the fleet net.
Sera saw Greer glance at the gate on the holotank and frown. She shared his sentiment. Assembling the gate the moment they entered the system put them at a tactical disadvantage. The gate was large, cumbersome, and would be difficult to protect. It also told the sailors and soldiers in the fleet that the president would not stay with them to the end—if it came to that. He would be on
the first ship jumping out.
That message was further re-enforced by the fact that Isyra had two gates beyond the heliosphere, in interstellar space. Exit routes already existed and were in secure locations. If it had been up to her—and she assumed Greer, as well—they wouldn’t have brought a jump-gate at all.
Her misgivings about the jump-gate aside, she was glad that Greer was with them. He had come to Airtha ready to be censured, or worse, for the outcome in Ascella, but instead, her father had promoted him to admiral of the 21st Fleet.
Greer had treated with Tanis fairly at Ascella, and she suspected that their existing relationship contributed to her father’s decision to bring him along.
Sera turned and took a seat at a console, back to scanning the local comm traffic for any word of Elena. It was going to be a long wait, and she needed to while away the time somehow.
* * * * *
Sera arrived on the Galadriel’s bridge with coffee in hand at just the moment that the ship’s captain, a woman named Viska, announced that they had reached the L1 point between Roma and its largest moon, a nearly featureless rock named Normandy.
Well, featureless except for the kilometer-high tower standing off its surface.
The structure sat on what would be the moon’s equator—if it were not tidally locked to Roma—and pointed directly at the jovian planet. It seemed to serve no purpose that the fleet’s analysts had yet discerned, but Sera knew that it would not be here without cause.
“How is it that Isyra didn’t spot this thing?” Admiral Greer muttered as he stared at the structure.
“I’ll admit, I’m not too excited about it pointing at us,” Sera added. “Though, it seems to have no significant energy output. The top appears to be some sort of observation deck.”
“It’s a good sign,” her father said. “That is a structure built by a people who are settling in. They will give us what we want to maintain their safety here.”
“I wish I shared your optimism,” Greer replied, and Sera saw him share a look with Viska.
Sera noted that her father saw the look, as well. “You mistake optimism for raw determination, Admiral. We will get what we need from these colonists because we must. Tanis Richards will give it to us because she will also see that we must have it.”
“Ship coming out of the jovian planet,” the scan officer announced, and she flipped the main holo to show a close-up view of Roma’s surface.
An object stirred beneath the surface, brushing the raging storms aside, unperturbed by their fury. Fleet analysis added data to the object, giving it a width of ten kilometers and at least thirty-five long.
“It’s the Intrepid,” Sera breathed. “So that’s where they hid it.”
A minute later, the ship crested the cloud cover and scan updated with readings from the unobstructed vessel. More than one person on the bridge audibly gasped at the firepower on display.
“Its beacon tags it as the I2 now. Where did they refit that vessel?” Greer asked. “Isyra’s data never showed it at any shipyard.”
“It would seem they have shipyards that Isyra didn’t find,” Sera said with a shake of her head. “Though, I have no idea where they put them—surely not within the jovian planets. That’s not especially practical.”
“Neither is that ship,” Captain Viska replied. “On its own like that, it’s just a massive target.”
“A massive target with a tenth the firepower of this fleet, and stasis shields, and don’t forget the picobombs,” Sera added.
Greer addressed the commanders and captains over the fleetnet.
Greer’s face reddened, but he sent the order to stand down.
“I’m counting on your friendship for something, Sera,” her father said.
“Me too,” Sera muttered.
“Inbound communication from the I2,” the comm officer announced.
“Put it up,” the president replied.
As Sera expected, it was Tanis who appeared before them. She was wearing her ISF uniform—interesting that they kept that name for their space force—with five stars now adorning her collar. General and Governor, it sent a message of control and power. If Sera didn’t know that Tanis craved neither—well, not the power, at least—she would have wondered if the woman before them had the makings of a dictator.
Sera sighed.
“Welcome to New Canaan,” Tanis said with a genuine smile.
Sera couldn’t help but notice that she appeared perfectly at ease. That didn’t mean she was; Tanis could hide her true intentions and feelings with the best of them.
“We’re going to have to establish a clear entry point for you,” Tanis continued. “A lot of Transcend ships seem to pop into our interdicted system.”
President Tomlinson frowned. “Other than that derelict trader, we’re the first—or we should be.”
“I was referring to the volume of ships you brought, not frequency,” Tanis said with a smile.
Sera secretly thanked her friend for the message. Elena had arrived and was safe. That was the best news she had received in weeks.
“Very well, then,” her father said with a frown, and Sera knew that he was not fully convinced by Tanis’s explanation.
“To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” Tanis asked. “I assume you did not come with all these ships just for a state visit.”
“I did not,” the president replied. “We need to speak, you and I. The human sphere is in turmoil and you are in a unique position to help preserve our future.”
Tanis raised a hand to her chin and appeared to ponder the president’s words. “Very well. I hope you understand, based on prior encounters, I’m unwilling to come to your ship, and you may not wish to come to mine. However, we are near a facility we recently completed on the moon, Normandy. Would you care to meet there?”
“It seems auspicious that it is there waiting for us,” the president said with a nod. “Very well. Shall we meet there in five of your local system hours?”
“That will work perfectly,” Tanis replied. “We’ll send docking instructions.”
The holo image disappeared and her father shook his head.
“She is far too calm—even with what we know of her, there should be some anger over our presence, or concern, at the very least,” he said.
“The I2 is a testament to her demeanor,” the Admiral said with a deep frown. “That is one hell of a ship.”
Secretary Adrienne—also along for the negotiations, though Sera wished he weren’t—nodded. “She has expected this and has been preparing. I urge you to reconsider meeting with her on her ground.”
The president dismissed their concerns with a wave of his hand, something she had seen her father do all too often. If she were in command, Sera knew she would listen to her advisors more than he did.
“We have no choice. We came here to meet with her, and so we shall meet. My hope has always been to strike a deal without conflict. Her level of preparation notwithstanding, that can still happen.”
Sera wasn’t certain if her father was overestimating his abilities as a negotiator, or underestimating Tanis’s. Still, she had to admit her father was right. The Transcend did need the stasis tech at if they were to weather the coming war. Already, the AST was drawing together its allies and forces to mount a major assault. On their own, they would not be a significant threat, but with Orion jump-gates, they could jump deep within the Transcend and wreak havoc.
> The AST would create opportunities that the Orion Guard would press to their advantage and total war would ensue.
* * * * *
At the allotted time, the Transcend pinnace slipped through the ES shielding and settled on a pad on the observation tower. Sera found it quaint that, although they had grav tech and stasis shielding, the colonists still used ES shields for atmospheric containment.
She walked down the ramp beside her father, with Adrienne and General Greer following behind. A dozen of her father’s security personnel accompanied them, along with several aides.
Sera didn’t bring her own security, as two of her father’s guards were Hand agents she had slipped into the Presidential Guard years ago. She was almost certain they would protect her life over her father’s.
At the entrance to the tower, Admiral Sanderson stood with several ISF Marines. Sera was glad to see that he was still actively serving. He had spoken about retiring on several occasions during the journey to Ascella, but the military was all he knew. She bet that Tanis only had to ask once for him to stay on.
“President Tomlinson,” Sanderson said as they approached and offered his hand, which her father shook. “Thank you for coming to meet with us here. I think you’ll enjoy the facility; it’s the first step in this moon’s restructuring.”
“Thank you for having us,” her father replied. “You’ve piqued my curiosity. What are you restructuring this moon into?”
“I’m not up on all the details,” Sanderson replied, “but I’m told it’s going to become some sort of space-sports facility. Planet diving into the jovian, racing in the canyons below; it has a molten core, so I believe there will also be some cavern racing beneath the crust—serious adrenaline stuff.”
Sera laughed. “And here I thought the observation platform was just for taking in the view of Roma up there.”
“Well,” Sanderson nodded conspiratorially, “if it were up to me, that’s all I’d want, too, but the younger generation…well, they hear all the tales of our journey and some think things are a bit boring here, so we’re keeping it interesting.”