Conflict: Rise Of Mankind Book 4

by John Walker

  A knock at his door distracted him.

  “Sir?” One of the guards peeked in. “Lieutenant Keller is here.”

  “Thanks, send him in.” Adam observed the young man as he entered. The lieutenant sported a short hair cut, making him nearly bald but for the sprinkle of brown decorating the crown of his head. He had a wide jaw and blue eyes, almost a poster perfect infantryman. As he stepped closer, he snapped to attention and offered a crisp salute.

  “Lieutenant Joseph Keller reporting as ordered, sir!”

  “At ease,” Adam said. The man settled into a more comfortable stance. “I’d like to talk to you about some recent activity down in engineering. Someone tampered with the jump module and erased the camera footage of the area. What do you know about it?”

  Joseph’s military discipline gave way to surprise. “Sir?”

  “Do you need me to repeat the question.”

  “No, sir…but…I don’t know anything about it.”

  Adam checked the computer for Keller’s whereabouts during the time period. He was not in his room but it didn’t say where he was. “Can you tell me what you were doing at the end of second shift and the start of the third?”

  “I was on duty on second,” Keller replied. “And went to the rec room after things settled down and we were jumping home.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Watched a holovid with Corporal Vandon.”

  “Which one?”

  “Late Moon, sir.” Keller blushed. “It’s a horror movie, sir.”

  Adam checked the computer to see what played during the time he mentioned and it came back true. Corporal Vandon was also not in his room during that period. The rec room itself showed multiple people but they didn’t check into the area and didn’t need to use their IDs to open the door. Vandon would have to corroborate his story.

  “What did you do afterward?”

  “We chatted for a while about the vid…we thought it was stupid. We talked about going to the mess hall for chow when the jump happened and I woke up on the floor. I took Vandon to sick bay.”

  Adam checked with medical admittance and had to give them credit. Even during a catastrophe, they maintained strict discipline with their procedures. Vandon and Keller checked in at the same time. Vandon was treated for a minor head wound. Keller received the shot and got cleared for duty.

  I think this kid must be innocent.

  “I need you to submit your com device for inspection.” Adam held out his hand. “Now.”

  “Yes, sir.” Keller pulled it off his belt and handed it over. Adam downloaded his contacts and every message he sent and received for the past three days. He handed it back.

  “Thank you for your cooperation, Lieutenant. You may return to duty.”

  “Sir, permission to speak freely.”

  Adam considered the request for a moment before nodding. “Granted.”

  “Do you feel that I’m responsible for this?”

  “You fit the perfect profile, Lieutenant. I had to be thorough with my investigation. At this point, I’ll be reporting to the captain that I don’t believe you had anything to do with this.”

  “Will any of this go against my permanent record?”

  Adam lifted a brow. “No, this won’t be on your record at all. We need to find whoever did this, Lieutenant. They may have done more and we can’t afford that now. Any moment, a fleet of low tech ships is going to begin bombarding the Behemoth. While we can take it, the problem comes when we try to do anything about it.”

  “What do you mean, sir?”

  “Just this: what if they tampered with the weapons? Or the shields? Whoever messed with the jump module might’ve been subtle with other systems. And they had an accomplice. There’s no way they could erase the footage, turn off the alarms and perform the sabotage. We might have a whole group.”

  “Or one person with a firm understanding of automation.”

  Adam frowned. “Explain.”

  “If they planned well in advance, they may have written a program to initiate these various tasks when they needed them. They’d be bound pretty specifically to a time frame but anyone able to do what we’re talking about would know the schedules of all the people in Engineering. One highly skilled person could definitely pull this off, sir.”

  Fantastic, Adam thought. I’d figured Olly or Clea or a group. This kid picked apart the potential plan. Who? The roster doesn’t show anyone with the potential who wasn’t accounted for. It couldn’t have been a senior staff member. I just don’t believe it.

  But why not? The idea, reprehensible as it may’ve been, seemed perfectly possible and logical. Maury definitely could pull it off if he had to. But wait…couldn’t someone else have forged the computer to say they were in their room? Olly probably could. He looked up at Keller. “You’re dismissed, Lieutenant. Thank you for your cooperation.”

  “Yes, sir.” Keller saluted again and left the room.

  Adam patched into Paul’s com unit. “Ensign Baily, do you read?”

  “Loud and clear, sir,” Paul replied. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need to know something. Where did you find Lieutenant Darnell when you went to help him out?”

  “He was in his room, sir.”

  “In bed?”

  “Well, on the floor technically.”

  “How was he dressed?”

  “For rest period,” Paul replied.

  “State of the bed?”

  “The blankets were on the floor…” Paul started to sound worried, suspicious even but he didn’t ask.

  “Thank you, Paul. You can get back to your duties.”

  “Yes, sir…”

  Adam killed the connection and rubbed his eyes. He hated having to distrust their own people, to wonder who he could trust and who might be a traitor. They’d been through a lot together, these men and women, and to think any of them would betray the trust of the entire crew felt unthinkable.

  I can’t wait to ask this criminal why.

  He knew no answer would suffice. There were no good reasons to risk lives. Terrorism, perhaps, but even that just explained a motive. No, someone was behind this and he felt like it might be the alliance. Maybe he needed to go further back in his research to when the prisoners were aboard…

  But their cells never opened for the duration of the trip from the research facility back to Earth. He double checked the logs and did a quick deep dive to prove out no more tampering and it came back clean. What about during the prisoner exchange?

  He watched the video of them marching Clea’s sister off the ship and she never left the custody of the guards. It couldn’t have been her. Besides, someone had to physically tamper with the jump module and considering how they did it, it wouldn’t have worked to get them to the mining facility.

  So Adam found himself back to square one, thinking about what might’ve happened in the last twenty-four hours.

  The ship shook. Those idiots outside finally attacked. I hope these fools realize quickly they can’t take us. This is going to be a dark day if we have to destroy a fleet on our first contact and arrest one of our own. Can’t wait to hear what the council will have to say about all of this. Those prigs will probably…

  Adam sat up straight as a thought occurred to him. The Council. Some of them were downright ornery about the alliance. A few of them flat out hated the tentative relationship developing between humans and kielans. Could one of them have something to do with this? Talk about paranoia…but it’s another lead. One I need to follow. I need to check on Clea’s location too. Got distracted by Keller.

  Adam brought up the security footage of her floor just before the jump and for the hour prior. The logs had been deleted and the security footage was offline. That’s a little suspicious but she’s a great scapegoat if the people trying to do this want to raise suspicion about the alliance. And if you can delete one set of security logs, you can delete them all.

  He brought up personnel files and bega
n sifting through. Someone must have a connection to the council. Someone with the talent and skill to commit treason. He just had to find out who…why could come later when they ensured no other damage had been done. Then, if he proved to be right, they could deal with the real threat after returning home.

  ***

  The attack began suddenly, a barrage from every ship almost perfectly in sync. Gray had to admit the idea was sound. Hitting the shields at precise locations should’ve made a difference. Weaken one point and punch through, tear through the hull and find sensitive systems to destroy.

  Fortunately for the Behemoth, their shields were far too powerful. That didn’t stop his heart from racing when the first blasts struck them. Despite knowing the outcome, his heart didn’t necessarily believe his logic. He checked the readings and found the shields to be operating within perfectly acceptable limits.

  We’re fine for now.

  “Olly, weapons?”

  “They’re getting closer, sir.” Olly sounded just as frustrated as Gray felt. “I’m still trying to get into their computers but they’re so low tech, it’s harder than it should be.”

  “Permission to withdraw,” Redding said.

  “Denied,” Gray replied. “Running now will waste power and frankly, I believe we can win these people over.”

  “The weapons may not be the best way to make friends,” Clea said. “Speaking from a strictly diplomatic point of view.”

  Gray shook his head. “Sometimes you don’t have to shoot someone to prove you’re scary. Olly and Tim, find me a space body, something big.”

  “Like…a planet?” Olly asked. “A moon?”

  “Not that big.” Gray peered at the screen. “An asteroid…something like that.”

  “Okay.” Olly performed the scan and turned in his seat. “We’ve got one nearly sixty thousand kilometers away.”

  “It seems to be a stationary body,” Tim added. “Something that’s probably been in slow orbit for a long time.”

  “Redding, can you hit it from here?”

  “Not easily, sir…I’d like to get a little closer at least.”

  “Move us out then and get us within range. When we’ve got weapons, we’ll give them a little demonstration.” Gray stood up and looked over Olly’s shoulder. “If that doesn’t get their attention and give us a bargaining chip, then I guess we’ll have to make it more extreme. I want a count down for weapons, Olly. Put it up on the screen to the left.”

  “Yes, sir. Three minutes to minimum power, five to optimal.”

  “Sounds good.” Gray returned to his seat and took a deep breath. The ship began to rumble as the pulse drives propelled them on, moving starboard to avoid running into any of the attacking ships. Contact with a single one would obliterate the vessel and probably kill anyone on board. They didn’t have the structural integrity to handle a collision course.

  Clea was right that such a tactic would’ve ended the fight immediately but Gray couldn’t bring himself to do it, not yet. These people deserved one last chance to come around and be civil. If they chose not to, that would be their business. Earth history was already littered with situations where people were terrible to one another upon their first meeting.

  Gray hoped that space travel might change that. Just once, he’d like an exploration mission to end with positive results. If he had anything to do with it, they would not become murderers, even in self defense. As the invaders, they needed to continue to show good intentions and by not attacking, they’d definitely grant this new culture some perspective.

  I just hope it makes sense to them and they back down. They seem like quite the proud race of warriors. God knows how most of them like to finish a fight. Providing they don’t take the Spartan ideal of death is glory, we should have a good chance to come out of this as friends. Come on, Raeka. Read the intentions of my next move properly. I don’t want to be the instrument of your death.

  Chapter 5

  The two fleets could not maintain a constant state of fire, not all at once. Their first attack was everything at once, an attempt to overwhelm the defenses immediately. When that didn’t work, they took turns so the shields constantly took some damage. Gray admired the theory. If they didn’t let up, if they could keep it up, they might come out ahead.

  Redding moved them into position for their little demonstration. The motion put the attackers on alert and they started to scatter. Perhaps they feared the tactic Clea suggested. Surely their scientists figured out just how bad it would be if the Behemoth chose to ram them. Perhaps if this new culture put together that the Behemoth neither opened fire nor chose to crush them, they might become amiable to peace.

  “We’re in position now,” Redding announced. “I’ve targeted the asteroid and am waiting for full power to the weapons. It’s a big one, sir. I’m of the impression it might be better to cut it in half rather than obliterate it. The debris might cause some serious problems in the system…depending on how they defend their outposts, of course.”

  “Good idea,” Gray said. “Split the main body then one of the halves. That should be a sufficient show of strength.”

  Redding turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Sir, if that does not work, shall I input their ships into targeting? A few of the smaller ones.”

  “Only when the time comes,” Gray said. “If you do that and they detect the lock, it might undo the whole point of our demonstration.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Gray looked at Adam’s report flashing on his screen. He wanted to see what his first officer had come up with so far but he needed to remain focused. The attackers might not be able to hurt them per se but anything could happen. They might even turn to extreme tactics like the enemy, ramming them with a few vessels.

  Even atomic cores could do serious damage. That might be the only way their fleets could cause real damage to the Behemoth. Maybe if they had every ship their planets ever built, they would likely be able to to take them down. But out here, in the middle of a battle where they probably already lost a few ships, Gray felt mostly secure in this conflict.

  “Weapons are up!” Olly shouted. “Engineering is ninety-seven percent online!”

  Gray turned to Redding. “You heard the man. Open fire.”

  “Firing now, sir.”

  Olly put the asteroid up on the screen. Their pulse cannons fired, precise shots at key locations indicated by the computer. In an instant, the rock began to splinter then drift into two halves. Redding tapped her console and fired again, this time cutting a second piece into a large chunk. Only minor debris went flying off in various directions, nothing nearly as bad as if they had obliterated the asteroid completely.

  The display was nothing short of extraordinary. Though not nearly so large as a capital ship, the rock definitely had some density to it. Even a cursory scan would prove that out. Most importantly, it looked dramatic. As it separated, seeming in slow motion, Gray felt the immensity of the action, the sheer magnitude of it all.

  Now, they needed patience. The attackers would need a few moments to realize what they just witnessed and to fully embrace what it meant to them. If they didn’t respect the Behemoth’s restraint, then they really were lost. Gray needed to make a choice at that point: take them all out or flee.

  “They aren’t slowing down,” Olly said.

  Gray hummed. “I noticed. What the hell…” He turned to Clea. “Broadcast a message to them. Tell them that was just a demonstration of what we can do. Let them know the asteroid could have been one of their ships. Remind them of our peaceful intentions.”

  “On it, sir.” Clea returned to the com station and spoke quietly while Gray considered the situation further.

  These cultures must’ve come from a dark place to be so determined to destroy them. Their level of distrust and paranoia put them on par with the enemy, or so he believed. Not since some of the more zealous warrior races of human history had a group been so determined to waste their lives in a pointless display o
f courage and foolhardiness.

  Gray connected his com. “Engineering, update on the jump module. How’re we doing with repairs? We could really use a rapid extrication right now.”

  “Sir, this is Maury. We’ve established that there’s nothing preventing us from opening the device and fixing it now. We’re working on it now but it’ll take at least a few minutes. Getting those tuners aligned properly is the difference between getting home and being lost in space…again.”

  “Okay, give me frequent updates. I want to the minute status.” Gray turned to the others. “Jumping might be an option soon. Tim, do you have coordinates yet?”

  “Yes, sir. Sorry, it’s on your computer since we’ve been so busy with other things.”

  “No problem.” Gray leaned forward in his seat. Fatigue gnawed at the back of his neck. The shot must’ve been wearing off but he didn’t have time for it. Forcing back the feeling of discomfort, he remained focused on the task at hand. Whatever came in the next several minutes might make the difference between being friends or enemies.

  “Maybe that asteroid was sacred,” Redding offered. “We might’ve just blown up their version of the Egyptian pyramids.”

  “Not helpful, Lieutenant Commander,” Gray muttered. Privately, he knew she was right. If the asteroid had been there for a long time, and these people were particularly superstitious, they very easily could’ve annihilated something they held dear. He knew other cultural faux pas from Earth’s history that resulted in violent misunderstandings.

  Maury’s latest update stated they were almost done getting the tuners aligned but would need to run a couple diagnostic tests in order to ensure they were prepared properly. He estimated another ten to fifteen minutes of frantic work before they could leave. Gray nearly cursed aloud. They didn’t have that much time before these people got even more desperate.

  “Redding, get us turned around and start falling out,” Gray said. “Let’s put some distance between us and them until Maury gets the shields back up.”

  “Sir, we could still unleash fighters,” Clea announced. “They might be able to disable their ships without too much damage.”