The Arwen Book one: Defender

by Timothy Callahan

  “Why do you want to see him alone?” the Rulla asked.

  “I have some questions I need to ask and I think befriending him is the best way to get answers. You two can be very intimidating. If I don’t get the answers I want he’ll be all yours. Right now I want to give him a carrot and not a stick.”

  The Rulla looked at her, puzzled. Sometimes she forgot that Earth clichés don’t work well with other races. “Kel will explain it. Kel, I also want you to get the professor up to speed on the Earth situation.”

  “I will,” Kel said. “Good luck, Captain.”

  Marjorie walked into the room where they held Einstein. The Gyssyc was pacing, his long legs caused him to stride quickly from one side to the next before turning around and walking back again. They had given him a sparse room with only a bed and a door which seemed to lead to the bathroom. Glancing up, Marjorie saw the surveillance equipment watching their every move.

  He spotted her then stopped pacing. “Captain Cook, are you here to interrogate me?”

  She nodded in the negative. “I’m here to talk to you.”

  “And if I don’t talk you’ll then send someone in to get as much information from me as possible, is that correct?”

  “I can’t lie,” she replied sitting on the bed. “What has happened between our people can only be viewed as total war. We don’t know why your people are attacking us unprovoked. We did nothing to warrant the attack and yet here we are defending the Earth from your race.” She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. She pictured Payton, standing on the bridge of his ship giving orders as the Valentine broke apart around him. She thought of all the years they would miss together and all the years they had spent together. Captain Cook pushed Marjorie down as far as she would go, having her here would not help with this. “We all lost someone close to us. There are many dead on all sides.”

  An understanding crossed Einstein’s face. “Bonding seems to be one of the many things all intelligent races have in common. I was bonded to a female of my race once, a long time ago.”

  “What happened?”

  “She was killed in the final battle for Ulliam City. That was over two thousand years ago, but thanks to hibernation it was like it happened yesterday.”

  “Many more will die if we don’t stop them.”

  Einstein sat on the bed and stared at the floor. He closed his eyes then let out what sounded like a sigh. “When we made the choice to leave Ulliam, we were a divided race. We knew we had to leave but there was always some debate as to when to return. Some were convinced the Ulliam would destroy themselves and wanted to return after that happened. Others thought they would become more advanced and civilized and wanted to return then. Still others thought they would they always be a threat and wanted to return to destroy all that were left.”

  “Is that the group that is attacking us?”

  “It would seem likely. They would view Ulliam and anyone connected to Ulliam as a threat.”

  “Why are we finding out about this now? You had two years to tell us about them and to get us ready for this.”

  “We didn’t think they would attack!” he yelled. “When we arrived in the system and after the war with Merriam, we sent all the information we had back to the fleet. We never got a reply and thought they were going to wait like we recommended. In the meantime, we were working hard to get you caught up to our technology.”

  “If you had told us we could have been better prepared.”

  He nodded in an agreement. “Lincoln and the other leaders had an argument about that. Lincoln felt if you had known you wouldn’t have trusted us.”

  “Do you know where your ship is right now?”

  “No, I wish I could tell you.”

  “Why do you think they went to the Hellamites and the Ecollites? They seem powerful enough to take us on without their help.”

  “I can only speculate but it would make sense for them to make friends with those who are your enemy.”

  “But the Regals aren’t our enemy. At least they weren’t until now.”

  “From what I understand, the Regals will always side with the greatest strength. With the Gyssyc ships on their side, the Hellamites and the Ecollites would be considered stronger than Earth and Ulliam while you were rebuilding.”

  “Thank you,” Captain Cook said, “you’ve answered all my questions. I’ll see what I can do to get you better accommodations, but I’m afraid you’ll be under arrest until this war is over.” She turned and walked out of the room.

  Professor Ricter walked up and gave her a very awkward, and surprising, hug. It was a skill he never truly mastered. “Captain Lipton told me about Payton. I’m very sorry.”

  “Thank you, Theo. I appreciate the gesture.” Marjorie surfaced for a brief moment as she looked into the eyes of her friend. His eyes were soft and kind and she tried to meet them with the same sentiment. She held it for a moment before pushing Marjorie back down again and letting Captain Cook take over. “Captain Lipton, Rulla Plooma, get your ships ready to enter wormhole space. We’ll be leaving just as soon as we can.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Marjorie sat at her desk and stared into the darkness. Images swirled around the black as her eyes tried to make sense of the nothingness. Imagined images of Payton and herself swarmed, bringing a sense of melancholy to her heart. He was gone, killed defending a planet he hadn’t spend much time on since his youth.

  She wished they had spent more time together. She wished she didn’t have such a fixation on the Arwen. She wished he didn’t have such a fixation on his career. They had so many wonderful moments together. So many things to talk about. So many thoughts and feelings that only seemed to come out when they were together. It tore her up when they were apart and she knew it tore him up as well. She had always hoped they would have the time after they retired. She mourned the memories and experiences they wouldn’t share.

  “Lights on,” she said. The sudden brightness blinded her for a moment. From her desk a small screen slowly rose. She ordered the computer to play the last record from the Gyssyc attack on Earth. She had held off watching it for hours. Now she needed to watch. She needed to see how he died and what they were up against.

  The image was taken from the moon base. The ships seemed tiny compared to the massive Gyssyc ship they were fighting, like a swarm of gnats trying to kill an elephant. She saw the flairs from hundreds of engines as well as the intense blinking lights from energy cannons firing. The fleet circled like hunters cornering some prey. The Gyssyc ship slowly destroyed the fleet one ship at a time.

  In the end, there was only one ship left. Alone the Valentine continued to fight. She saw chunks of debris glint in the sun as the armor fell off. The sense of doom and wrongness filled her gut as she watched, anticipating what was going to happen next.

  She watched as the Gyssyc ship broke apart. Marjorie pictured what Payton was thinking. He would have felt a sense of relief, a sense of accomplishment, but also a sense that they would need to rebuild. There was a noticeable jump as the video forwarded half an hour. The destroyed Gyssyc ship had drifted off screen and all she could see was a long trail of glowing debris. Then, in the upper part of the screen, she saw the small amber like glow of a wormhole opening.

  The ship that came out fired without mercy on the Valentine, slicing it up, destroying it before it had a chance to react. It was a ruthless attack, an attack from an enemy that held no regard for human life.

  She had fought in many battles that she thought would be her last. This was the only one where it seemed certain to be true.

  Her communicator beeped. “Yes.”

  “Captain,” Commander Pippleton said, “we’re starting to get images back from Earth.”

  “On my way,” she replied, and walked out of her office.

  When she walked onto the bridge she felt the tension in the room. The crew looked back at her for guidance and leadership. It was a roll she used to love but now it felt hollow. These
brave men and woman were all going to perish in the upcoming battle. The only hope was to damage to Gyssyc ship enough to prevent them from fighting. There was no third fleet arriving to save them. There were no reserves to clean up what she couldn’t. They were on their own.

  She took the seat in her chair. Commander Pippleton said, “I’m sending you the feed now.”

  On her main screen the Gyssyc ship loomed large. Earth’s moon was clearly visible, the Earth was off screen but she could see the glow from the atmosphere. Hundreds of bright lights blinked in a random pattern, energy beams fired from the bases on the moon.

  The Gyssyc ship fought back with its devastating gamma laser blasting visible gashes across the moon’s ancient surface. Scorched valleys crisscrossed each other, slicing through sections of moon bases. The devastation was beyond imagination. Each base housed tens of thousands of beings, most of them civilian workers from several races.

  By the time they arrived it would be too late for the moon bases and only the Earth satellite defense system would stand in the way of the Gyssyc ship. She knew those systems well and knew they wouldn’t last long. “How much time before we enter the system?”

  “We’ll be there in less than ten hours,” the commander said. “Captain, if I may make a suggestion. I think the only way we can win this war is to use strangelets.”

  “What?” Marjorie snapped. “Don’t you remember what happened to your moon when Merriam used strangelets?”

  “Of course I do, but he was careless. We can do better, I’m sure . . .”

  “Commander, I will not use a strangelet weapon. There is at least one more Gyssyc ship unaccounted for. They also have the technology we do to create strangelets. What’s to prevent them from using that technology against us once we show we’re capable of using it against them? We all know the dangers of the strangelet, we all know it can destroy a planet, even a sun if done properly. I will not be the first Earth captain to use a strangelet in a war and there will be no further discussion on the topic, is that understood?”

  The commander nodded in agreement. “I’m sorry, Captain. I thought this might be the best time to use it them since it seems the Gyssyc will take no prisoners.”

  “Just because you have the means to destroy the enemy doesn’t mean you should use them. We’re still intelligent beings and as such there are lines we can never, ever cross. No one wins a strangelet war. We’re a hardy race, we still have plenty of people left on Ulliam and across the galaxy; destroying Earth won’t stop us. It’ll set us back, but it won’t stop us.”

  “I understand,” he said, his shoulders dipped a bit. Marjorie didn’t understand the gesture and wondered if he really truly understood it. She quickly changed the subject. “How are the repairs coming along?”

  “We’ll be up to eighty percent by the time we reach the system. We’ll have full weapons and about three quarters of the shields. Chief McFerren informed me it will be a balancing act to be sure the engines don’t explode but he thinks he can manage it.”

  “I’m sure he will. Have you heard from the Rulla?”

  “He’s been giving us reports every few hours on the progress of the training. He seems impressed at the fight skills of both the Ulliam and the humans.”

  “I’m glad he’s happy.” Marjorie leaned back in her seat and stared at the carnage continuing on her screen. “In ten hours we’ll be in the middle of that.”

  “The moon bases will not be able to hold them off for that long.”

  “I know,” she replied. “It’ll be up to us, won’t it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “We won’t fail,” Captain Cook replied, determined to convince the others of the confidence she wasn’t feeling. “We won’t fail because we can’t fail.”

  ~*~

  One hour before leaving wormhole space. One hour left for Marjorie to take one last look around.

  Marjorie’s first destination was the particle accelerator room. The Gyssyc had taught them much but even they didn’t know how to make the particle accelerator any smaller. The magnetic coils formed a large ring in the center of the room. This was the largest room on the entire ship; it was the one with the most personnel and, without a doubt, the loudest place on the Arwen. With an hour left, Chief McFerren was running around, barking orders and checking everything he could. When he saw Captain Cook, he saluted and gave her a nod. He knew her well enough to know she wasn’t here to talk, only to watch.

  When she was finished she walked out, the door closed behind her. There was a slight ringing in her ears as the loudness of the room was blocked by the sound absorbing door. The only thing she heard now was the hum of the engines, the heartbeat of her ship.

  She walked the hallways nodding at the crew she passed. They knew the stakes. Many of them had lost loved ones in this war, they all wanted revenge, they all wanted blood. She wanted it too, not just for Payton but for all the people who had died.

  She continued her walk toward the back of the ship, toward the engine room. The hum intensified. She placed her hand on the wall and felt the life of the Arwen. She imagined the miles of wiring and cable as the nervous system of her ship, the air that blew down from the vents as the respiratory system, and the thrumming of the engines as the cardiovascular system.

  She dragged her hand across the wall, feeling the cool surface. She remembered taking a tour like this when she was first assigned here. She made a promise she would never leave this ship because she knew it would always protect her. So many battles, so many adventures. The one constant through it all was her bond to the Arwen.

  Marjorie walked into the engine room. A large, metal catwalk extended around the room allowing her to look down onto the floor. People walked around, talking to each other, checking systems while writing things down. From the floor large tubes curved up, out, and into the back wall. She knew those tubes carried the fuel that ignited the engines which were on the other side of the wall.

  In the middle of the room was a large generator that provided power to every system. That was the heart she constantly heard.

  “Captain,” Commander Pippleton said, his voice coming from a communicator. “We’re ready.”

  “I’m on my way to the bridge.” She gave one last look to the generator then left.

  Marjorie Cook, the woman who was mourning the death of her husband, the woman who was scared to death of the upcoming battle, the woman who had the weight of the entire Corps on her shoulders, needed to go away. In her place was Captain Cook, the captain who took on an entire star base with no loss of life, the captain who first discovered the Gyssyc comet and protected it from the Plick, the captain who helped rescue thousands of lives on Ulliam during the brief Merriam war. She felt her posture improve, her eyes widen a bit more. She felt a cloud lifting from her mind as she pushed aside all the distractions. By the time she arrived on the bridge, she was focused on the job: destroy the enemy and save Earth no matter the cost.

  “Commander,” she barked, “get ready to enter real space.”

  “Yes, sir,” Commander Pippleton replied with a snap. “We’ll be entering real space in thirty seconds.”

  The particle accelerator purred as millions of particles collided, eventually forming a strangelet. “Strangelet count at optimum, opening front cone.”

  Motors whined as the front of the Arwen opened like a blossoming flower. Captain Cook watched her monitor as the glowing strangelets were thrown in front of the ship, opening a hole from wormhole space into real space. Captain Cook knew the Gyssyc had detected them. There would be very little in the way of a surprise.

  As the Arwen moved into real space, her view of the Gyssyc ship changed as the sun shined behind it. The gray ball had become dark black making it impossible to see any details of the surface.

  “All ships are in real space,” Commander Pippleton said. “The shuttles with Rulla Plooma’s men on it are launching now.”

  Captain Cook leaned forward, her computer showing her the green d
ots that represented the Rulla’s small shuttle force. “Charge all weapons and bring shields up to full strength. Take aim at that ship and get ready to fire.”

  The second battle to save Earth from the Gyssyc had begun.

  Chapter Forty

  Rulla Plooma, leader of the ground assault force, would never admit to anyone he was scared. He had done this once before and to him that would have been enough. He felt helpless drifting through space. He knew the odds of missing such a large ship were small, the gravity the ship created almost guaranteed he would land on the surface, but there was a chance and the idea of dying while floating through space did not sit well.

  Yet, he knew this was his duty and it would bring him and his planet great glory. His force field snapped with a small static discharge as he looked behind him. Ten thousand troops were under his control. Behind them were shuttles which had brought them here. Behind them was the combined Ulliam/Earth fleet of three hundred ships. The number seemed large but he knew, except for the Arwen and a carrier, the rest were smaller support ships which would do poorly in direct combat with the Gyssyc ship.

  It was up to him and his men to do as much damage as they could. He knew they didn’t have as many Star bombs as they needed, he didn’t think to save any of the ones he carried after the first attack, but they had more than enough men and bombs to cause much chaos and confusion. It would be an enjoyable battle and, if he survived the horrifying flight to the surface, the invasion, and somehow manage to escape, he would need another body to cover with tattoos.

  The smooth, gray surface of the Gyssyc ship seemed to have an odd shine to it. Light from the sun, which was still behind the ship, shimmered. It reminded Plooma of something, something he’d seen many times before. “Captain Cook, this is Rulla Plooma. I believe I am seeing a force field. Can you scan to confirm?”

  “Give me a second,” he heard her say. He had gotten to know the captain well enough to hear some edge in her voice. Perhaps she was annoyed he broke radio silence or she was afraid he might be correct.