by John Walker
“I can only speculate,” Salina replied.“Their defenses are likely matched up to the energy field so when it bursts as it did, they absorb the attack and possibly even overpower their shields temporarily. Further analysis will be required and it looks like we’ll have plenty of debris to make the investigation easier.”
Desmond nodded.“How many are combat effective still?”
“Three, including the one we just hit.” Salina brought up a second image on the main view screen, a shot of a massive ordnance exchange. They watched as three Earth ships hammered one of the enemies, tearing through their shields and penetrating the hull. The ship went up a moment later.“Make that two.”
Zach tapped his controls and called out,“I’ve targeted the one who did that sphere thing. Firing now.”
The mass drivers popped off several rounds but the beams got there first, cutting into their shields. Each blow knocked them down just a little until the chunks of metal arrived to batter them like ancient rams in some castle siege. He immediately fired again and the second barrage tore through their shields.
They initiated their engines and tried to move off but it was too late to flee. Their engines were taken down a moment later and they began to drift. Desmond moved over to Salina’s station and checked the scans, noting a different kind of power surge building in the enemy’s hull. They weren’t about to attack. Something was blowing up.
“They’ve had a power failure,” Salina said.“Look…”
The ship burst like a balloon, pieces flying off in different directions. Some of the debris burned up in the atmosphere, the larger pieces glowing bright enough to be easily seen on screen.
Their last two ships tried to depart but the maneuverable Earth fleet gave chase. Desmond ordered Zach to follow as well though he knew full well they wouldn’t get far.“Open a channel and hail these guys. Maybe we can get them to stand down and surrender. Also, where are we at with our fighters?”
“Orbital defenses are secure,” Vincent said.“They engaged a small group of fighters en route to us a few minutes ago. They’re taking care of them right now.”
Salina spoke up.“No response on any channel, sir.”
“They don’t want to surrender,” Zach said.“Escape or die, they’re going for one or the other.”
“I’d like to know why they even thought they could take us with such a small contingency,” Vincent said.“Did they not know our military capabilities?”
“Technically speaking,” Salina said,“they would’ve overwhelmed our fleet in a few minutes without our support. And the report I’ve received from Gamma Alpha suggests the aliens were able to breach the station and nearly made it to the Orb. Though our ships and defenses worked admirably, without us this could’ve been a catastrophe.”
“And it still wasn’t good,” Desmond replied. He watched as they performed concentrated fire on the last two ships. Hitting them with everything they had, the first one was taken down almost instantly. The last one went up all on its own, a clear suicide rather than risk being caught.“Fantastic. No one to question about this senseless attack.”
“Untrue, sir,” Salina said.“Sentinel One reports they have a prisoner.”
“Seriously?” Vincent looked up.“That’s great news! Right?”
Desmond nodded.“Language barrier aside, that’s better than we had a few moments ago. How’re the fighters doing?”
“They’ve mopped up, sir,” Vincent said.“When the larger enemy ships started to make a break for it, the fighters tried to escape. Showing our guys their tailpipes wasn’t a good idea.”
“Good. Let’s get some search and rescue going.” Desmond returned to his seat, leaning forward.“Get us in orbit, Zach. I have a feeling we’ll be here for a while. Launch shuttle teams when ready.”
“Captain,” Salina said,“I’ve got high command on the com. They’d like to talk to you right away.”
“Is it private?”
“No, sir.”
“Put them on screen.”
Admiral Garlan Reach was an older man in his sixties, with thin and close-cropped gray hair. His blue eyes were nearly gray and the lines on his face were just as much a testament to his career as the ribbons on his chest or the medals he wore beside them. His grave expression shifted to a slightly more friendly visage, a thin smile touching his lips.
“I’m glad you got back in time, Desmond. Thanks for the rush.”
“The hyperspace trip back provided us an opportunity to test the system under stress,” Desmond said.“Much as I wish we didn’t have to find out, real combat for my people may not have been on the dance card but we at least know the systems work now. How’re things at Gamma Alpha? I guess our soldiers were able to get things in order.”
“Those aliens were able to tear through our defenses pretty well. Even when we were holding them, their technology… It seemed to be capable of negating some of our most advanced weapons. We’ve captured a great deal of it and will be analyzing it as quickly as possible. That’s why I’ve contacted you.”
Desmond’s brows lifted.“Okay… what do you need me to do, sir?”
“I’d like you to come down here as soon as possible. We’ve got a lot to talk about.” Garlancleared his throat.“An agent from the AIA just arrived a few moments ago to help with this situation. Apparently, the moment our defenses were breached, they were alerted.”
“How’s that?”
“I don’t know.” Garlanscowled.“However, I intend to find out. Just get down here as quickly as you can and we’ll get to the bottom of this situation. Admiral Reach out.”
The screen went back to space and Desmond leaned back in his chair with a deep breath. The AIA stood for Applied Intelligence Association, a group that didn’t really advertise precisely what they did. They rarely got involved in the affairs of the military, at least not overtly or to Desmond’s knowledge. Whatever caught their interest about this encounter must’ve been big.
The Gnosis performed well during the fight and with minimal damage, Engineer Nathaniel Webber would easily get them back to normal in a few hours. Their enemy’s weapons concerned Desmond far more. The strange sphere and even their beam weapons were particularly nasty. Concentrated, they might’ve caused real damage to the ship.
They came thinking they’d get an easy fight and they attacked while we were pretty far away. Were they just waiting for their chance? Did they know we might be capable of stopping them? And what were their motivations in the first place? Why even bother to attack a whole planet with so few ships?
The prisoner would be able to answer these questions if they could communicate with him. Perhaps that’s why the AIA was involved. They might have methods to talk to the guy regardless of what language he spoke. Rumors about that organization ranged from the extraordinary to the absurd.
Desmond stood and gestured at Vincent.“You have the bridge, Commander. Salina, contact Lieutenant Quinn and have him relieve you. I’d like you to join me on the surface. Keep the search and rescue going and contact me if you have any problems. We’ll be back soon.”
Hopefully with answers. No one’s going to feel safe if we don’t figure out the motivations of these invaders, and will this lead to something far worse than a skirmish? Lord knows we don’t need another war.
***
Dennis and the rest of Mustang Squadron remained in the field until search and rescue located Hal’s escape pod. They escorted the shuttle back to the Gnosis and landed at that point. When they disembarked, they found their squad mate took some bruises but otherwise made it out unscathed.
Thank God for small favors. They lingered around the medical bay, waiting for a debriefing order to come through. Shane leaned against the wall, hand pressed against his ear to listen to com traffic. He tilted his head and turned to the others.“I’ve got something interesting. Seems the captain is heading down to Gamma Alpha.”
“Did they get that mess cleaned up?” Kate asked.“Or did he have to go down there h
imself to get those jar heads in line?”
Shane smirked.“They stopped the force trying to bust in, if that’s what you’re asking. Raptor’s escorting his shuttle down to the surface now.”
“Glad we didn’t end up on milk run duty,” Flying Office Corey Parks said.“I didn’t sign up to follow around slow ass shuttles.”
Dennis rolled his eyes before replying,“You signed up to do as you’re told but off the record, I’m glad we didn’t pull that duty. Of course, it’s a necessary service. VIPs need protection.”
“Those aliens,” Shane said, shaking his head,“they were after the Orb. If they got it… imagine what they would do to our technological race.”
“We’ve got some backups,” Corey said.“From what I heard, we’ve been trying to copy data off the thing for a while.”
“Yeah, but it’s not exactly easy,” Kate replied.“They said the storage capacity of the Orb is impossibly large. Copying it has also proven to be a challenge so people have to transcribe it. That’s why it’s so valuable and why we couldn’t let it fall into enemy hands.”
“You get anything else on the com?” Dennis asked.“Or are we done?”
Shane shrugged.“Just that Admiral Reach will be meeting them down there. Must be serious to bring out a guy like that.”
“No doubt.” Corey paced away, rubbing his chin.“Think we’ll see some more action then?”
“Those guys weren’t alone,” Dennis said.“There’re more of them somewhere and we’ll have to be ready. I doubt they’re giving up because we bloodied their nose once.”
“War then,” Flying Officer Alicia Quinn added.“We’ll be at war again.”
The comment silenced the ground but Dennis nodded in response. All of them thought about it but she was the only one to voice the concern. Whatever happened in the next few hours might mean the difference between digging in for a defensive run or heading out into the unknown reaches of space for a hunting expedition.
One way or another, the Gnosis would see some action soon. Dennis felt he and his team were ready.
***
Cassandra Alexander hated wearing her intelligence uniform. The white jacket slacks combo made her feel like an uptight socialite and the heeled shoes didn’t suit her. She’d always been far more practical about her clothing and in that getup, she didn’t dare touch any food or drink other than water.
The thin blouse beneath didn't provide enough padding between her skin and coat, making her shoulders and back itch. Wearing her dark hair in a tight bun, she looked like a woman ten years older when she peered into the mirror. At thirty-two, she did not enjoy the maturity of the look.
At least the assignment appealed to her. Gamma Alpha tended to be off limits to everyone and she’d only visited the Orb three times in the last six years. Each time required special permission and a couple escorts. Even as one of the foremost intelligence researchers of the data inherent in the device, she was expected to remotely access it.
Which proved to be just as good in most cases.
The AIA helped with some of the systems on the experimental Gnosis vessel. Cassie provided the programming driving the computer systems and helped to direct how it interacted with the automatic repair and defense protocols. She hadn’t known she was doing it until they asked her to look over the work but that was the nature of working for intelligence.
Everything’s a secret until the very last possible moment.
Since finding out she worked on the Gnosis, she had been allowed to test the systems in simulation as well as deep dive better ways to do the programming next time. An update cycle was put into place and though she didn’t build those packages, she got to approve them after viewing the testing information and speak to the workers involved.
The work may not have been what she expected when she left the elite Design Information academy in Geneva but it proved rewarding enough. Someone of her skill and graduation position could’ve walked out making an enormous salary at any of the tech firms around the world but the AIA appealed to her sense of human patriotism.
“Where else will you be allowed to make a huge difference for everyone? Do you really want to spend your entire life making gadgets for the wealthy? You should be doing important things and we want to help you get there. The caveats are you won’t get as much money and you can’t talk about your work but think of the personal satisfaction.”
The rhetoric almost didn’t work until they told her she would be allowed to work with data straight from the Orb. Everyone on Earth knew about the device but so few people had access to it, even peripherally. The temptation became very real. At school, they were allowed to use the‘educational’ section put out by the Protectors and that was enough to pique her interest.
Full access to the Orb would’ve made her commit her first born and both kidneys to any project they wanted. The ability to develop and study that thing made her sign up and thus began a career she never dreamed possible. While Cassie had the mental fortitude and drive for technology, she wasn’t the most physically imposing figure and the AIA had to change that.
Their training program took the better part of a year and taught her a variety of skills she never considered necessary for her future. Unarmed combat, firearms, flying and insurgency all came with the package. Even after she finished the initial education, she had classes for the next two years and practice runs every week.
After three years, they made sure she kept up with her physical routine and that she practiced the others rigorously. It meant her days basically started with exercise, moved into technology advancements and study then more physical practice, a little more work and a few hours off at night.
By the time she hit thirty, she considered herself to be quite dangerous and certainly ready for whatever terrifying threat the AIA needed her to be prepared for. Considering the harmony on the planet, she didn’t know what they expected. Separatist movements rose and fell occasionally but they were put down by the military long before anyone else needed to worry.
When she got the call telling her to hop a shuttle to Gamma Alpha immediately and to wear the dress uniform, she thought she was being called in for a training exercise. On the way there, she learned about the attack through a standard briefing then watched a news video about the battle in orbit.
The Gnosis performed admirably as did the other technology coming off of it. Brilliant.
The various media outlets were hailing the Gnosis crew as heroes though they didn’t mention the attack on Gamma Alpha. AIA officials covered that part up but Cassie had the combat statistics from the soldiers who used the power armor. The data showed they took direct hits from beam weapons and the operators survived.
We knew the armor would make it but concussion was hard to judge. Looking at these figures, it appears they didn’t even get injured. Fantastic.
Their battle caused extensive damage to one of the hallways leading to the Orb but at least that would be easy to fix.
I assume I’m here to determine why the aliens came after the Orb but the why is less obvious. Did they want to destroy it? Stealing it would’ve required more tools and equipment, more people. It’s not exactly small. And there’s no way they could’ve downloaded every bit of information in the thing. There’s far too much.
The wonders of the Orb had yet to be fully exhausted so she admitted there was a good chance the aliens might have a way to scan through the thing in a more efficient manner than the interfaces setup by humanity. The fact they were dealing with a culture or species with knowledge of the device worried her more than the notion they were not alone in the universe.
The media will be playing up the angle of first contact for sure. They don’t know how scary this really is. Not yet.
Cassie’s com went off and she tapped it to answer without looking to see who it was.“Yes?”
“Miss Alexander,” Jordan Bell spoke into the com, using the honorific Cassie disliked most. Would Ms killhim? He acted as the director of her divis
ion, not her direct lead but two above her in the rank ladder.“I hope you’re en route to the facility already.”
“I am,” Cassie replied.“What can I do for you?”
“You’ll be meeting with Captain Desmond Bradford of the Gnosis and his chief science officer Lieutenant Salina Gold. I’ve done some digging on both of them and can send you their dossiers if you’d like.”
“Go ahead.”
“Take a look before you land. The AIA is lending you out to the military for the duration of this operation.”
Cassie’s eyes widened.“Whoa, what does that mean exactly? What do you mean lending out? Am I a library book now?”
“You’re one of the foremost experts not only on the Orb itself but much of the technology aboard their ship,” Jordan said.“You’re skills and talents are needed there. Furthermore, we need a representative in this situation and you’re well trained and ready for such an assignment. I expect you are ready for some time off planet.”
“With all due respect, I am not,” Cassie replied. It took some effort to keep her voice even.“I was led to believe this was an adviseand observe mission, not a full change of venue.”
“Most of our assignments carry need to know points.” Jordan smiled.“And you just now needed to know.”
“I don’t think it’s funny.”
“Just trying to soften the blow, Agent.” Jordan sighed.“You’ll have a chance to square your affairs at home before departing with the ship but I suspect you’ll be heading out in the next few days. Good luck and let Andrea know if you have any other questions. She can make arrangements to have your things packed and yourflat secured. Jordan out.”
Cassie stared at her screen as the news occupied it again, numbers and letters flashing by unheeded. Jordan’s news couldn’t have surprised her more if he would’ve told her she’d be sent to mop the floors in an Amsterdam brothel. She didn’t know if fear gripped her stomach or excitement. Despite the safety of a desk job, she did yearn to see something else.
