“I understand you’re no longer cooperating with the debriefing staff,” a voice said from the open door to her temporary office a full day after she’d called off any further sessions. Since the Icarus was now fully under control of the repair crews she’d been assigned a temporary block of generic offices so she could handle the administrative duties that didn’t stop just because a ship was in port.
“Are we calling it a debrief, or an inquiry, sir?” Celesta asked, rising to her feet to greet Admiral Marcum.
“It was necessary, but I do apologize.” Marcum walked in, closing the door behind him. “The CIS people in particular seem to forget we’re all on the same side.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, still standing.
“Sit down, Captain,” Marcum said, taking a seat in front of the desk. “I’d like to commend you for your performance in the Tango system. Between you and Admiral Wilton, we managed to save the bulk of the taskforce from that trap the Darshik had set.”
“So what’s the next step, sir?” she asked.
“We bring you fully up to speed on everything we’ve learned so far on the Darshik and the Ushin while the Icarus is repaired,” Marcum said. “And there’s a lot. I wouldn’t be overstating things if I said we may have bumbled into a horrifically bad situation here. We’re still unravelling the relationship between the two, but it looks like the Ushin and Darshik have a link to each other that predates even the Phage. One of our outside intelligence projects uncovered that their ships, while different in appearance, are unmistakably from the same source of engineering and materials. The fact the Ushin led us into a Darshik ambush further confirms that.”
“Offshoots of the same species?” she asked.
“We don’t know that for sure yet,” Marcum said. “The organic remains from the battle in this system are still being analyzed by Fleet R&S, but they’re confident that having samples from both an Ushin and Darshik ship will give us a conclusive answer on that.”
“That’s something at least,” Celesta said. “So can we put these ridiculous questioning sessions to rest and get down to business, sir?”
“It’s why I came personally to see you.” Marcum stood up, prompting her to do the same. “Your presence is required down on the surface tomorrow at 0900; you can ride down in the shuttle with me. Have your crew stand down on the station here for R&R.” He shifted around uncomfortably for a moment before simply nodding and exiting the office.
Celesta just shook her head at the odd behavior and wondered what fresh horrors would be revealed at the upcoming briefing. Since it was on the surface, she had to assume members of the new civilian oversight would be in attendance.
****
The uncomfortable ride down to the surface in the Chief of Staff’s personal shuttle was soon forgotten when Celesta saw who was standing on the landing pad waiting for them. Like a ghost from the past, resplendent in his dress blacks, was Senior Captain Jackson Wolfe. She heard a chuckle as Admiral Marcum seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her shock.
“I was going to tell you yesterday but I didn’t want to ruin the surprise,” he said. “I went to Arcadia personally and reactivated him.”
“I bet that pissed him off … sir,” she said, looking at the scowl on her former mentor’s face.
“A safe bet,” Marcum nodded as the shuttle touched down with a bump. They waited until the atmospheric engines spooled down and then the six passengers climbed out and walked towards the greeting party.
“Sir, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Celesta said, saluting. It wasn’t a necessary courtesy as she was with two fleet admirals and she held the same rank as Wolfe, but she did it anyway as an overt sign of respect. Jackson returned her salute crisply and shook her hand.
“Likewise, Captain Wright,” he said, almost smiling. Any further conversation was interrupted as the flag officers accompanying Marcum wanted to crowd in and talk to the legendary starship captain and have an opportunity for a picture or two. Celesta was reminded of something that Wolfe had said to her as she watched the bizarre spectacle: All flag officers were politicians at heart and all had aspirations of higher office, and everything they said or did had to be viewed through that filter. At the time Celesta had just thought her boss was a world class cynic, now she understood what he’d meant.
They were ushered into a secure briefing room that more resembled an arena and, as she’d expected, a dozen Parliament members as well as the President and his staff all entered from the other side. Once they were all seated, Admiral Pitt took to the lectern and began a dry, detailed briefing of the Ushin operation that had ended in disaster.
Little was brought to light that Celesta didn’t know about save for the fact that Jackson Wolfe had been the chief administrator of something called Project Prometheus and that it was responsible for a good portion of the cultural data they had on the Ushin and the Darshik, including the fact that the Darshik likely deified the Phage after their own run-in with that species. It was that very fact she had used when destroying the inert Super Alpha in a warning as equally dramatic as the one they’d received in the Xi’an System. At the Jacobson’s sensor data showing her Shrikes blowing up the Phage unit more than a few high-ranking officials and officers nodded in her direction or gave thumbs up of approval. One thing she saw that she hadn’t been aware of was the fact the Ushin ships in the system were immediately attacked by Darshik cruisers after the Icarus had transitioned out. It was glossed over quickly, but Celesta intended to find out what the analysts thought about that interesting aftereffect.
Once Pitt concluded his overview there were a few other presenters, including Wolfe himself, to give a bit more detail as to the nature of the fight they found themselves in. Despite the matter-of-fact presentation, Celesta couldn’t help but feel like she was watching a performance. Something was … off … and she couldn’t put her finger on it. She made a mental note to speak to Wolfe about it after it was over if she could get him alone.
“That concludes the joint session of this briefing. We’ll now be dividing into subgroups based on areas of responsibility and specializations to begin further breaking down the Darshik problem,” Admiral Marcum said five long hours after the brief had started. Celesta saw someone walk quickly over to the President and whisper in his ear, and it took her a moment to realize that it was Pike, dressed as his alter ego Aston Lynch. The President’s eyes widened and he visibly paled, looking shaky as he rose from his seat.
“Mr. President?” Marcum interrupted his own comments as the Chief Executive walked slowly up to him and pulled him aside. The admiral’s reaction to whatever was said mirrored President Wellington’s and he nodded, stepping back.
“I’ve just received word that a com drone has entered the system with greatly disturbing news,” the President said, leaning heavily on the lectern. “A week ago the Darshik returned to Terran space. The Juwel System has been overrun and the enemy has landed ground troops on the planet. I’m now declaring a state of emergency … we are once again at war with an alien species.”
Prologue:
“Can you tell me what Project Prometheus is?” Celesta finally asked, swirling her drink around in her glass. After the immediate chaos created by the news that the Darshik had invaded Terran space and were landing assault troopers, she had finally pulled Captain Wolfe away for a private word. The two were sitting in the lounge of his well-appointed quarters on the New Sierra Platform splitting a bottle of very expensive bourbon from Earth.
“It’s an emergent AI project,” Jackson shrugged. “It didn’t really have much practical application until the Darshik dragged my old ship back from the outer regions and blew it up. I’m still pissed about that.”
“So how does a starship captain get involved in an emergent AI project?”
“It asked for me,” Jackson said, his words slurring ever so slightly between the ess and kay sounds of the second word. Other than that you couldn’t tell he’d polished off more than a third of a bottle
in less than an hour and a half.
“If you don’t want to tell me then just—”
“The principal was an object you carried aboard the Icarus for a time,” Jackson interrupted her. “It had been in storage and somehow … woke up. It asked for me.”
Celesta was about to snap back at him that his answer wasn’t any more helpful than it had been before when she realized what he was talking about.
“The Vruahn stasis pod?” she asked in shock. “It’s … emerged?” Her alcohol-addled mind couldn’t find a more appropriate term before she said it.
“Emerged and still able to remember a lot of what the Vruahn had programmed it with about local space,” Jackson said. “It also ran the analysis that discovered the link between the Ushin and the Darshik. That probably would have been useful before our new President and esteemed Chief of Staff rented the fleet out to the Ushin in return for a couple dozen planets.”
Pike had stopped by earlier, before the pair had really decided to drown their frustration, and quietly told them of the conversation he had “overheard” between Marcum and Wellington.
“About that—” Celesta said, not finishing her question.
“It’s not the flimsiest reason we’ve ever used to go to war as a species,” Jackson said. “In fact, most wars are started on false pretense. At least territorial expansion is an idea I can wrap my head around even if I don’t agree with it.”
“So you’re not going to try and expose the fact we’ve lost people and ships based on a lie?” she asked, surprised.
“Well, the Darshik did attack us first,” Jackson said. “We don’t know what the real motivation is for the Ushin right now. Given that they provided you with the coordinates for one of the Darshik’s main star systems, I would have to assume that anything else they’ve done was under duress. The Darshik did open fire on the Ushin ships after you destroyed that Super Alpha.”
“Maybe,” Celesta said doubtfully. “They are aliens, after all, so we have no frame of reference. Hell, we can barely talk to them.”
“We have to accept that we’ve entered a new age for our species,” Jackson said. “We’ve had close neighbors all this time and the further we expand the more we’re going to brush up against them. We’d better figure out exactly what our policy will be for first-contact scenarios from here on out, but in the meantime I don’t think there’s any avoiding an all-out war with the Darshik.”
“Changing subjects to something less depressing, somewhat, how is Jillian taking the fact Marcum conscripted you into this?” Celesta reached for the bottle again.
“About like you’d expect,” Jackson said. “She understands, but she’s pissed. With the twins she also realizes there’s zero chance that she can try and petition to be reinstated herself.”
“Do you think they’ll let me keep my current rank now that you’re back?” she asked, trying to make it sound like a joke. “I’ve gotten used to the pay bump.”
“Sorry, Senior Captain … you’re stuck where you’re at,” Jackson said with a smile. “I’m not coming back to Ninth Squadron. I’ve yet to get an assignment other than I know I’ll be attached to Black Fleet again. Admiral Pitt was adamant that you not be displaced. Hell, knowing Marcum I probably won’t even be commanding a warship. It’s equally likely I’ll be flying the resupply ship and ferrying munitions and propellant to your ships.”
Celesta just nodded, suppressing the shudder she felt at the legendary Captain Wolfe being relegated to flying a cargo hauler. It would be a criminal waste of a needed resource. She was also torn between being relieved that CENTCOM, or at least Admiral Pitt, thought enough of her to keep her in command and wishing to dump the mess into Wolfe’s lap.
“Well then, here’s to being back together again.” She raised her glass. “It’s too bad it had to be another bloody war to make it happen.”
“Together again,” Jackson toasted her before draining his glass.
****
“This is a fucking disaster,” Wellington said, swirling a very expensive scotch whiskey from Earth in his cut-crystal tumbler. Even though he was from Columbiana he preferred the real thing, damn the cost.
“It’s an unintended consequence, certainly,” Marcum said as he looked down into his own drink. The pair was sitting in the study at the President’s new official home, so recently built that it still smelled of fresh paint and new furniture.
“Shut up, Marcum,” Wellington said disgustedly. “I didn’t bring you here to commiserate or to sing me platitudes. We need to be on the same page about this. Ambassador Cole is presumed missing since the John Arden was destroyed in the Juwel System, and we have to figure out how to best present this to the public.”
“I’m not sure I understand, sir.” Marcum frowned.
“Let me spell it out for you,” Wellington said. “Noble intentions aside, the bottom line is we’ve gotten ourselves inextricably drawn into a war because we—I—was too stupid to tell the Ushin we would not act militarily until we had independent verification of their claims. Now I’ve already gotten Starfleet personnel killed and a Terran system invaded. What the fuck was I thinking, trusting some alien without question?
“My point being is that we need the public’s support on this while we figure out a way to end hostilities as quickly as possible. Wright’s stunt of blowing up that Super Alpha they were worshipping complicates things, but we need to see if there’s still a diplomatic solution on the table.”
“Sir, they still technically attacked us first,” Marcum said. “I don’t think even the opposition-friendly press will be able to pin this on you and make it stick.”
Wellington just looked at Marcum like he was dumber than the chair he was sitting on. “I’m not talking about my political career you dolt!” He had to keep from shouting. “People are dying. Details or not, best of intentions or not, that is largely on me. I would resign today if it wouldn’t cause more harm than good, and I will step down when this is over as it is obvious my judgement is compromised. What I want from you is a strategy to make sure Fleet’s morale and focus remains where they need to be to finish this ASAP. It’s why I told you to go drag Wolfe out of mothballs and stuff him back into a command chair.”
“I think I understand what you want, sir,” Marcum said, showing no indication he took offense at being called an idiot by his boss.
“Make sure you do,” Wellington said, reaching for the ornate crystal decanter.
****
Pike leaned back in his seat on the flight deck of the Broadhead II, having listened to the entire exchange between his boss and the CENTCOM Chief of Staff. After a moment’s hesitation, he reached over and deleted the message he’d been composing to be sent from an anonymous message account to a friendly source in the media he’d used before. He would give Wellington the benefit of the doubt that he meant what he’d just said … for now.
Thank you for reading New Frontiers,
Book One of the Expansion Wars Trilogy.
The story will continue with Book Two:
Iron & Blood
Due in winter of 2016
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From the author:
Thanks for reading the newest installment of what we’re loosely calling the “Black Fleet Universe.” For those starting with this book: welcome. As has been talked about after the last book in the original trilogy I had wanted to write a book centered on Celesta Wright. In fact, my original plan was to leave Jackson Wolfe out of this book altogether but I knew I wanted to bring him back in future books in
some capacity so I filled in a bit of his backstory to explain what he’s been doing since leaving the military.
The story was a bit of a challenge to flesh out from its original outline for a couple reasons. I wanted these books to become a bit more focused and on a smaller scale and by “Counterstrike” I was seeing things creep towards having too many moving parts to be able to deliver a novel with a concise plot. If every book deals with the absolute survival of the entire species I feel like it diminishes the drama of the series as a whole and takes away from all the individual storylines. So for this book I tried to zoom in on only a few key aspects of what might happen after something as traumatic as the Phage War if another group of aliens popped up.
At this point I see no harm in talking about a few things that will, or will not happen, in the second two books of this trilogy. First, the Phage will NOT be coming back other than as the tangential storyline introduced in this book. That particular entity was killed and I won’t be bringing it back to life in future books. Second, Wolfe will play a more pivotal role in the next two books, which was something I had planned already but my beta readers specifically asked. Thanks again for continuing on with this series. I plan on releasing “Iron & Blood” net before getting back to work on Omega Force 9.
Cheers!
Josh
New Frontiers (Expansion Wars Trilogy, Book 1) Page 25
