Jason looked to the others—Dira, Ricket, Bristol, and his father. They were all ready to leave the scrapyard. His father gave Jason an impatient stare, raising his palms in a what the hell’s taking so long gesture.
Jason let the gravity of his statement sit for a moment, then continued, “Listen, Admiral, I could have stayed alongside you and the other Liberty Station officers, strategizing some futile kind of defense against what is coming. But let’s be realistic … there is no defense. You and I both know the math figures don’t lie. Tell me I’m wrong, Admiral; we simply don’t have the ships and manpower necessary … even including the Caldurian Star Watch fleet.”
An extended period of silence came across Jason’s NanoCom channel. Finally Admiral Portman said, his voice tone far quieter now, “Well then, we need to prepare for the inevitable. The president must be updated. Earth must prepare …”
“I didn’t say this was the end, only that we can’t beat them in a conventional toe-to-toe war. Not this time.”
Jason actually liked Portman. He’d strategically placed the officer into the highest-ranking Liberty Station position because he was a leader. He didn’t constantly complain and whine, like so many others he’d worked with over the last few years. Portman was a doer. He took action—made things happen. His only major fault was he lacked a big-picture vision. Jason knew one person only who shared the same strong leadership characteristics that he felt he himself had. And he was staring right at him—Admiral Perry Reynolds.
“Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on, Omni. You obviously have some kind of a plan in mind,” Portman urged.
“Not so much a plan … more like a general direction. There’s much I need to tell you. I believe we’ve been operating under false assumptions. But more on that later. First—and I’m sure this will come with a good bit of kickback—I’m officially transferring my Omni position to my father. Admiral Reynolds will take over the Omni command—effective immediately. I want you to get the paperwork started, then clear an appropriate workspace for him on the station when we’re finished talking.”
“The admiral, your father is …”
“Yes … please make him feel welcome. He’ll be on his way to you shortly.”
* * *
The five phase-shifted to the Parcical, positioned in high-orbit around Earth. Within the hour the Parcical first arrived at, then left, Liberty Station, leaving behind the new U.S. Fleet Omni—ready to take on the next phase of his life.
Taking a seat in the Parcical’s captain’s chair, Jason silently reminisced about what had transpired at the scrapyard. It seemed his father, coming to terms with the fact that he was going to command again once they arrived back in space, was not only on board with it—but excited as well.
Hearing the actual account of his father’s life—the events taking place two decades earlier—gave Jason a new perspective. The gruff, all-powerful officer-dad he knew as Admiral Perry Reynolds these last eight years was not the same man who’d commanded a frigate off the coast of Australia more than twenty years earlier, or captained an Iowa class battleship. Although Jason wouldn’t have called that officer meek, he certainly was more malleable, and far less confident than the man he’d become. Jason was fairly certain that watching the USS Montana being blown to smithereens before his eyes must have been a crossroads of sorts in his father’s life. One that he’d emerged from … transformed. After that, he’d become a far more resolute commanding officer. Perhaps finding The Lilly, and soon thereafter becoming her captain, he understood he was being given a second chance. Something not everyone gets in life.
Jason gave Sergeant Major Gail Stone orders to call up an interchange wormhole, with a final destination point within the Dacci system—one far off the beaten track, where hopefully their appearance would go unnoticed.
“Cap, did everything go all right with your father?” Orion asked, briefly looking over her shoulder at him from Tactical.
“It went fine. There’s a lot to tell you when we have some down-time. For now, I’d like you to do a little investigating for me … something I know you’re very good at.”
Orion turned fully around in her chair to face him. “I’m intrigued. What have you got?”
“Let’s talk about Craing hybrids …”
“Hybrids? Like the ones back on Earth? They were all eradicated, weren’t they?” she asked.
Jason shrugged. “I assumed so. That came under the purview of the United Nations, I think. It was determined to be an international issue, since virtually every major country on Earth was hybrid infiltrated.
“Where exactly did they come from? Was there some kind of laboratory, cranking- out genetically modified Craing beings somewhere? Like a factory?”
“I’ll have to check on that,” Orion said. “I never thought about it. I do know the hybrids all died off … self-destructed, somehow. Mostly when they were captured.”
Jason said, “That explains why there’s so little information on their origin. When facing no other means of escape, they offed themselves … I remember that now.”
“I can check with officials on Earth,” she said.
“Feel free to get my ex-wife involved. Since she was once the President, she still has substantial pull to get things done.”
“So where are you going with this?” she asked, her interest piqued.
“First, I have another question. What’s the current state of affairs with the Craing Empire?”
Orion pursed her lips, then made a nothing’s new expression. “All’s quiet. In the past five years, since the Craing War ended, they’ve been model citizens, complying with every post-war directive thrown at them. Their empire was dismantled; all ties to their earlier conquests over the centuries cut. Hundreds, if not thousands, of star systems were freed. There were some ensuing problems with that still going on today. Of course, their fleets of thousands of warships were mostly mothballed. Cap, as you likely know, we still have a small fleet of ships stationed within Craing space. We do monitor their communications … their movements.”
“After battling the Craing for so many years … getting to know them as we did, would you ever have thought it possible they would become model citizens?”
“Pssst … no … no way. Devious little fuckers. Sure, there were a few good ones, but as a race, they were conniving bastards. I know that sounds racist … bigoted … but I’ve lost too many friends, some ending up on their dinner plates,” Orion spat.
Jason nodded without comment. “What if … the Sahhrain and the Craing are in cahoots, and they have been for a long time? What if the Craing are behind today’s amazing buildup of warships? Behind the hundreds of thousands of crew personnel needed to man them?”
Orion leaned way back in her chair, as if she was trying to put some distance between her and such a crazy idea. “As I said, Cap, the Craing are still being monitored.”
“Easy enough to find out if my hunch is correct. Find out where, exactly, the Craing ships were mothballed. I know we absorbed some ships into our own fleets, but not nearly all of them. And the whole hybrid thing. Who do we know residing within those Craing worlds?”
Orion cut in, “Gaddy! I stayed in touch with her. At least I had until maybe a year ago. I’ll contact her.”
Years earlier, Gaddy, as part of an underground rebel group, had been instrumental in the eventual overthrow of the Craing Empire’s Emperor. More than once her rag-tag team had assisted Jason with infiltrating into Craing space. At the end of the Craing War, she had opted to stay and be involved in rebuilding a more democratic government. The last Jason had heard, she herself was on a fast track to becoming the Craing’s next Prime Minister.
Orion didn’t return to her board but continued to look steadily at Jason. “I already know your hunch is correct, Cap. I just know it. We’re not only going to war with the Sahhrain, we’re going to war with the whole Craing Empire … again! Craing 2.0.”
“Captain, we are now entering the inte
rchange wormhole,” Sergeant Major Gail Stone reported.
Chapter 42
Dacci Star System
Open Space
__________________________
The Parcical slipped into the Dacci star system in stealth mode. From what Jason knew of the Sahhrain’s level of technology, there would be no way their ship’s presence could be detected, especially here in the outer fringes of Dacci space.
Needing badly to grab several hours of sleep, Jason also wanted to give Orion sufficient time to gather more intel on the Craing hybrids, and to provide enough time for Ricket to make direct contact with Gaddy—receive from her the political state of affairs of the Craing. As friendly as Orion was with Gaddy, Ricket was far closer. Jason was somewhat aware of the past attraction between the two—though he had a feeling their emotional connection was somewhat one-sided. That Gaddy was perhaps more interested in Ricket than the other way around.
Three hours of restless sleep was not nearly enough but would have to do for now. Groggy, rubbing the sleep from his tired, burning eyes, Jason made his way from the sleeping compartment to the captain’s ready room. Sitting down at his desk, he brought the computer to life and took in the hovering 3D virtual display before him. More messages were showing than he could ever remember receiving at any one time. Another reason he had resented being the fleet Omni—too much administrative work. At least that one area of his life should now improve for the better, since his father had assumed the Omni position. Jason craved the day when he could actually get back to doing what he enjoyed most—commanding Star Watch and assisting the Alliance worlds in need. Over the years, he’d been compared to an Old West-type sheriff—where, in the late 1800s in America, law enforcement meant keeping a watchful eye on hundreds of miles of rough open territory. Now, it meant patrolling hundreds of light-years of equally rough territory, guarding against a far more dangerous kind of adversary.
One by one, Jason scanned his numerous SpaceMail messages. Smiling to himself, he took hidden satisfaction in forwarding on those messages pertaining to Omni-level administration duties. Admiral Portman immediately did what Jason asked, so there already was a SpaceMail account set up for Omni Perry Reynolds. Even so, Jason’s inbox was packed full. He scanned the numerous requests for Star Watch assistance, which normally prompted a visit by the Parcical, a Rogue Class warship, and eleven other mile-long Caldurian Master Class vessels—though three of them had recently been destroyed. Jason re-ordered the requests by importance—taking note that some were, obviously, dire emergencies. But with an impending attack by the Sahhrain to invade Allied space—he went ahead and replied, informing them all of their own current emergency state of affairs. That he would let them know if, and when, Star Watch was back in business and when the fleet could be dispatched to assist them. For the present, with the exception of the Parcical, Star Watch fleet was relegated to protecting only the Liberty Station, Earth, and Sol space in general.
Startled, Jason looked up to see Orion enter the compartment. “Gunny?”
“Cap … I’ve been pretty much working on my assignment nonstop. I think you’ll be interested in what I’ve come up with.”
Before Jason could reply, Ricket—looking equally excited—entered right behind her.
“Ricket?”
“Yes, Captain. Orion, I am sorry to interrupt.”
“No problem. How about we take both your findings into the conference room?” Jason said getting to his feet.
* * *
“So what do you have, Gunny? You look like you’re about to burst … so you go first.”
Orion nodded, sitting forward in her chair. She said, “You were right. Nan was a big help in getting me in touch with the right people at your Pentagon’s defense department. They sent me everything they had and I’ve been going through it. Did you know that Craing hybrids are not exclusively human-looking in appearance?”
Jason shook his head and raised a brow.
“Also, referring them to as Craing hybrids may be a misnomer.”
Jason and Ricket exchanged eye contact. By his expression, Ricket already knew this information. Apparently, he and Orion had already talked about it.
“The very first reports regarding beings with two hearts go back centuries. They exist on multiple planets within the Alliance, as well as other distant planetary systems. The Craing didn’t invent the hybrids’ existence … the Solex did.”
“Who, and where, are they?” Jason asked.
Ricket said, “They are approximately eighty-two light-years away from our current coordinates, Captain. They are a vapor-mass people.”
“Vapor-mass? What the hell is that?”
Orion smiled at the questions.
Ricket said, “They have no real body mass, unlike most organic beings we’ve come in contact with. They are an accumulation of vapor globules that adhere together, but can just as easily separate out when so desired. A very interesting race of people.”
“Ricket’s right, Cap. It was early on, when the Craing first began their empire’s expansion. Apparently, the Solex developed the science behind the hybrids as a means for them to interface better with other worlds. No one wanted to have anything to do with the hybrids at that early point. It was disconcerting … interacting with floating vapor globules. That’s why the Solex pretty much always kept to themselves … didn’t venture far … remained within their own star system.”
“So the Craing … doing what they’ve always done, invaded their planet, Solex,” Jason said.
“That’s right. And it was one of these new Solex hybrids that was sent out first to communicate with the Craing’s invading ground forces.”
“Were you aware of this technology, Ricket?” Jason asked.
“No, Captain. Remember, my memory was earlier scrubbed. I do not believe I was around then either, as I was still buried beneath the scrapyard at that time.”
“So what is this process the Solex came up with? Is it like cloning?” Jason asked.
“Absolutely not,” Orion said. “This is a one-time-only transformation process. It uses an organism’s own DNA and combines it with Solex DNA for the intended organism’s final DNA regimen. By the way, all Solex people, even those in the vapor-globule state, have two hearts. As well as various other anatomical differences to us.”
“Okay, that’s making more sense … I guess. So, back to those hybrids on Earth, they weren’t necessarily of Craing origin?”
“Right again,” Orion said. “Some of them definitely were … those hybrids in high-level or key positions were Craing … without a doubt. But they used other species too … maybe even more so. Just as they enslaved millions of aliens to fight their battles for them throughout the galaxy … often, but not always, crewing their thousands of warships, they found willing—or, more likely, unwilling—alien populace to provide for those transformations as well. I’m sure they either held those poor bastards’ families as ransom, or held some other cruel incentive over their heads.”
Both Ricket and Orion let Jason digest what he had heard.
“So, we’ve already established that the Craing and the Sahhrain have been associated for many years. Ricket, what have you found out? Were you able to reach Gaddy?”
Ricket shifted about in his chair and, in that moment, looked even smaller than his four-foot-high stature. His expression looked pained. “I am sorry, Captain … but Gaddy …”
“What is it?” Orion asked, looking impatient. Apparently Ricket hadn’t shared this information with her yet, either. “Is she dead? I’m so sorry—”
He slowly shook his head. “No, Orion … she is alive, but she has …”
“Oh for God’s sake, Ricket, spit it out!” Jason ordered.
“She is the Craing’s first female Emperor.”
Jason wasn’t expecting that. First of all, part of the Craing surrender conditions, dictated by the Alliance, stated no more empirical rule. The Craing had to switch to a fully democratic form of government. A p
rocess that Jason knew took place three years earlier. Second, the Gaddy he knew not only detested, but fought vehemently against that kind of ruthless regime. “I don’t believe it. Not Gaddy.”
“I had trouble believing it, as well, Captain,” Ricket said. “But once I learned Gaddy’s story … how immensely popular she was by the end of the war … she was indeed then elected Prime Minister. But soon, opposing governmental opposition factions arose. The Craing were plagued with horrific infighting. On eight separate occasions, Gaddy reached out to the Alliance for help. None came.”
“Wait, I never heard any requests …”
Ricket said, “You would not have. Your brother, General Brian Reynolds, had responsibility for all Craing / Alliance affairs at that time. Subsequently, as we all know, he was sent to prison, but during that time he elected to provide zero assistance to that fledgling Craing government.”
“So Gaddy risks her own life to help us … help me … take down the Craing Empire, and when she needs our help we turn our back on her?”
Ricket slowly nodded. “Gaddy did not give up, Captain. She next turned to the Sahhrain, who were more than willing to come to her aid.”
“It still doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t attack the Alliance … that would be like attacking you, Ricket,” Jason said.
“I am not so sure that eventual action was her doing, Captain. As discussed, and as you are more than aware … we monitor the Craing closely, checking their communications to see if there are any unauthorized military buildups. Officially, Gaddy is still their Prime Minister. The information pertaining to Gaddy reestablishing an imperial regime … that all comes from several underground sources. But I believe, we are being …” Ricket hesitated as if looking for the appropriate word.
Glory for Sea and Space (Star Watch Book 4) Page 23
