“Give us a projection of ships and the local star charts,” Chang ordered. “I want to know if anyone is close enough to intercept that ship.”
An overlay of local space snapped onto the main screen. The mass of the fleet was a bright green area of space in the center. The image focused out, shrinking the fleet and moving it to the bottom right of the projection. Lines crossed, showing the boundaries of Ch’Tauk space as well as others. Chang winced as he saw the Earth enclosed in the tip of the Ch’Tauk Empire’s claimed territory. He knew he was about to change that map, but it still hurt to see.
Far away, nearer to the original area claimed by the Empire, a single green dot glowed. There were no other ships nearby and it looked strange and alone in the alien wastes. The navigation lieutenant tapped keys and brought the ship in closer on the projection. Chang already suspected the ship’s identity. He was familiar enough with that area to know who might be there and why.
“It’s Resolute, sir,” announced the pilot. “She’s holding position near Terpsichore station.”
“Get me that ship, Ensign,” Chang ordered Lellda. “I want to speak to their captain.”
“Aye, sir,” Lellda responded, tapping keys and bringing up the signal relays. “It should be just a moment.”
Chang and Lira returned to the command chair. If Resolute was the only ship in the area, she would have to be the one to track down Rao and stop him. Chang hoped they had met with Captain Jakes at the station. The man was a fully capable agent and remarkably resourceful. Between the two captains, they might be able to keep Rao from doing something Chang could not undo.
“Admiral Chang?” Lee Pearce’s voice echoed from the speakers. “I was just going to call you. We’ve got trouble.”
Ronald Chang looked up at the face of his friend and smiled. The last time he had seen the man, he had been enclosed in a stasis pod and loaded into the back of a courier. The bridge crew let out a surprised sigh as the man’s image was projected on the big screen. Chang had kept word of Lee’s resurrection from the majority of the fleet to keep Rao from finding out. It seemed foolish to keep that secret now.
“I know, Lee,” Chang responded. “We just received word from Wellick on board Victory.”
“I think we received the same signal, Admiral,” Pearce said. “Melaina thinks she knows where he’s going. Do you have a fix on him?”
“According to the intel from your Wellick,” Lira interjected. “He is holding position and undergoing repairs. We can relay his coordinates to you.”
Melaina Petros’ voice interrupted the conversation. “He won’t be there. The power relays won’t take too long to repair. He’s going straight for the Ch’Tauk secondary home world for a full scale test of that weapon.”
“Secondary home world?” Chang replied. “Are we talking the place we thought was the home world six years ago.”
“Affirmative, sir,” Lee replied. “We think he’s going to finish the job Admiral Hathaway didn’t get to before the invasion.”
“You say the weapon isn’t fully tested?” Lira asked Melaina. “What are the chances it won’t work?”
Melaina’s face moved in closer on the screen. Lee leaned back to allow her to see the admiral better. Chang could see Connor Jakes standing behind the captain’s chair. It made him feel better about the mission that both of his top captains would be working together.
“Sir, the test on the black planet wasn’t a success, but it did the job,” Melaina said. “We estimate the weapon was fired at seventy to eighty percent. If they can get it up a little higher, there won’t even be dust left. If he tried to use it on an inhabited planet, the results would be catastrophic.”
Chang considered his net order carefully. A genocidal blow to the Ch’Tauk might end the war in one move. The planet contained mostly artisans and priests, but the message would be clear enough. The Ch’Tauk might see the weapon as the one thing they could not defeat and back off. It also might antagonize them into launching a massive strike on Earth and its remaining colony worlds. If Rao continued to the true Ch’Tauk home world, he could light a fire that would sweep across the galaxy. Humans would be the galactic terrorists, feared and hunted by other races.
“Captain Pearce,” Chang began. “I need you to find Banu Rao and the Victory. If you can stop them without destroying that ship or her crew, do it. If not … take whatever actions are necessary to stop him.”
“Aye, sir,” Lee responded, pursing his lips in thought. “Are we taking the Sweet Liberty with us?”
“I need Captain Jakes to go along with you,” Chang said. “He’s the closest thing to backup we have for you.”
“Alright, Ronny,” Jakes said from behind the chair. “I’ll go along. I just want to say, though, this’ll cost you extra after we’re all done.”
“Send me a bill after we take Earth back,” Chang replied with a grin. “I’ll be happy to send you a check.”
The captains exchanged a few last words and signed off. Chang and Lira stared at the star map on the screen, hoping the former first minister of the Alliance wasn’t really planning on attacking the enemy alone. Even with the weapon, Victory would be no match for the Ch’Tauk fleet. If Resolute could track her down and talk sense to the man, maybe they could resolve the standoff without any more deaths. The admiral looked around the bridge, seeing the faces of her crew hard at work. He would still need to give orders that might kill them all. At least this way they stood a chance of seeing Earth again. They just needed to hear from the advance teams.
“Why haven’t they called?”
17
Earth
Henry Moore had fought in wars all over the galaxy. He had protected people with his own life and seen his own family killed in front of his eyes. He had come to realize that fear was something that he just had to live with. It was an old friend of his who visited him at night or after a battle. The fear he felt now was different. It was a fear that came from the absolute darkness of the cavern, and sounded like the action of an old-fashioned chemical rifle being locked into place.
“That’s far enough,” a voice came from the darkness to either side of the team. “Keep your hand up and drop the packs.”
Henry looked to Emma to his right. She was already lowering her pack to the concrete floor. Around the team, darkness closed in. Ben was holding his flashlight out ahead, not wanting to swing it to the sides and startle the people holding the weapons. He slowly unshouldered his pack and lowered it to the ground.
“I’ll need to put my hands down to take off my pack.” Henry’s voice echoed from the slate gray walls. “You don’t mind?”
“Just move slowly. My finger is a bit twitchy these days,” the voice said.
Henry carefully pulled the straps of his backpack from his shoulders. The pack was large and heavy and he held it close to his body. With one hand, he unsnapped a small pocket holding a thin length of rope. As he knelt to place the pack on the ground, he heard the sound of a trigger being tightened.
“Take it easy,” Henry said to the darkness. “I’m not going to do anything…”
At the word, Henry spun. Emma and Ben dropped to the ground in one motion. The rope was attached to the pack from within. Henry held the end of the rope and swung the pack around like a hammer. An ear-splitting roar sounded from the darkness as the pack struck the weapon. The pack was thrown by the blast and Henry released the rope. In a swift movement, Emma leapt from the ground and aimed herself at the flash. There was a cry in the dark and the two people tumbled to the floor. Henry heard a metal clang as the rifle fell clattering to the ground.
“Emma?” Henry called. “What’s happening?”
“I got him!” Emma said from the darkness. “Shine the light over here.”
Ben had regained his feet and found the flashlight. White light revealed a side passage they had not seen on their way in, and Emma straddling a form on the ground. She looked almost comical with her knees planted to either side of the head of thei
r assailant. Henry stepped over to the woman and looked at their attacker.
The boy couldn’t have been more than sixteen, his face turning blue from the pressure on his throat. Henry reached down to pull Emma from the kid. He looked terrified of the woman, and was actually relieved when Henry pulled her off of him. Henry got a good look at the boy as Emma stood. Ben had retrieved the gun from the floor and was now pointing it at the young man’s head. Henry bent down to a knee and examined the boy.
“What are you doing here?’ Henry asked. “Are you alone?”
“Private first class Denny Brickner,” the boy replied in his toughest voice. “Colorado militia. Serial number one four seven nine … uh … Denny Brickner…”
“I heard you the first time, Denny,” Henry said, grinning at the boy’s formal tone. “I’m not here to capture you. I’m one of the good guys, see? No plates and five fingers.”
Henry held up a hand, removing the thick gloves to reveal his pale pink skin. Emma reached over and pulled back the hood that she still wore. Denny looked carefully in the dim light at Henry and then to Emma. Her skin seemed to give him pause for a moment, but he adjusted quickly. Henry tried to reach for the boy, but he pulled back. It took a moment for Henry to realize that the boy was terrified of the gun he had just dropped. He waved Ben to lower the rifle barrel and saw the boy relax.
“My name is Henry Moore,” Henry explained. “I’m with the Alliance military. Can you take me to whoever is in charge?”
“I’m in charge down here,” Denny said, his voice cracking slightly. “I run things. You can talk to me.”
“If you run things,” Emma asked. “Why aren’t you a general?”
Denny’s face paled at the lie. He looked back to the rifle and then back to Henry. He seemed to be inexperienced and afraid that he would be caught by superiors. Henry remembered his first guard duty years ago and felt for the youth.
“Listen, son,” Henry said. “We aren’t here to hurt you. We were sent to use the transmitter at this facility to send a signal to the Alliance fleet. We’re coming back to take the planet.”
The boy looked at Henry with uncomprehending eyes. Henry realized he was too young to understand life before the invasion. He would still have been playing with toys and studying basic grammar when the Ch’Tauk took it all away from him. He wondered if the boy’s parents were even still alive. Henry raised a hand and put it on the young man’s shoulder.
“There is a new Alliance out there,” Henry said, pointing up at the celling. “We are here to let them know that Earth is ready and waiting for them to return. We need to send that signal, son. Can you help us?”
“There is some old equipment down below,” Denny said, looking into Henry’s face. “I’ll take you to the colonel. He can talk to you about it.”
Emma stepped aside and let the boy pass. Henry looked to the young man with sadness. He could see the pain of the last six years in every move. At least the boy had indicated a chain of command in the facility. Emma stepped closer to Henry to whisper in his ear.
“You’re good with kids, Henry,” she said. “Gives me some ideas.”
A dark expression crossed Henry’s face at the mention of children. It had been so many years since he had allowed himself to think of his daughter, Priya, that the emotions nearly overwhelmed him. Emma was a fine woman, but he was not sure he was ready to talk about this yet. Not until the war was over.
“Yeah, with kids he’s fine,” Ben chimed over Emma’s shoulder. “It’s with adults he has problems.”
Ben’s snort of laughter was explosive in the confined space. Emma held the flashlight as the young man stepped into a dark alcove. A flicker of light and the alcove became a staircase leading downward. The steps were not steep and there was an old rail on the right side. Henry leaned a little as his arms ached from the climb and the fight. Emma seemed concerned, but he waved her off and straightened.
The end of the staircase revealed a wide hallway extending for a dozen meters in either direction. Denny turned right and stepped to the end. Another turn led to another staircase.
“We used to have an elevator,” he said over his shoulder. “There was a tremor a few years ago and the system burned out. I like the stairs anyway. It helps me stay in shape.”
Henry could see the boy’s shoulders poking through his thin jacket. He had obviously not seen a good meal in years, and Henry wondered what the boy’s definition of in shape actually was. They descended two more flights of stairs until coming out into a broad, circular plaza. There were tracks in the concrete where wheeled vehicles had driven long ago. A few people were standing around the edges of the plaza, staring at them.
“It’s okay!” Denny shouted across the room. “They’re from the Alliance! They’ve come to take Earth back!”
The few spectators began to disperse, whispering about the news. Denny seemed to be strutting along, proud of bringing the news to his home. Henry kept a wary eye on the surroundings while Emma walked just behind. Ben Hastings continuously scanned the passage behind them as they moved along. The whole situation seemed odd and it made the soldiers nervous.
“Denny,” Henry began. “Why don’t we call the others here? That way we can all be out here and meet each other in the open.”
Denny turned to look at Henry. He looked back, understanding the anxiousness of his guests, but still excited to be bringing them further into the complex.
“The colonel doesn’t come up here anymore,” the boy replied. “Besides, the coms have been turned off so the bugs don’t hear us. If there is a problem in the tunnels, we just run.”
“So you have no way to alert the others in case the Ch’Tauk gets in?” Emma said. “That sounds suicidal. You could at least have teams watching the entrances.”
“We tried that,” Denny replied, turning back towards another doorway. “It’s been so long, though, since the bugs got up this far. We just barricaded the lower entrances and kept single man teams on the less accessible areas. The colonel has it all figured out.”
“What can you tell us about the colonel?” Henry asked. “He sounds like he put all this together.”
“He’s great, but kind of old,” Denny replied, leading the group down another stairwell. “He got the whole place running after the invasion. Without him, we’d all be dead.”
Emma and Henry exchanged looks as they descended. It had passed the time on the trip down to theorize about other resistance camps. Cole had never mentioned any personnel at the installation, but it did not mean they didn’t exist. The colonel sounded like a military officer who was caught in the right place, like Cole. Henry’s expectations rose as they entered an anteroom at the foot of the stairs. Denny brought out a key card and swiped it along the ridge. A thick sound came from the wall and the door popped open.
“The colonel’s office is right inside,” the young man said. “He’ll be so glad to see someone from the outside.”
Entering the next area, Henry was struck was by the enormity of the room. Easily a kilometer deep and half again as wide, it dwarfed even the landing bays on a carrier. He could hear the intake of Emma’s breath as she stepped in close to him. Ben let out a whistle as he looked around. Parked in neat rows along painted lines were armored skimmers. Henry could see that each had been kept clean and seemed to be in good order. They were, like the rest of the facility, older model skimmers, but seemingly still capable of delivering plasma or projectile blasts to mobile targets.
Henry had never dreamed the underground communications bunker could hold a mobile artillery division. When Jack Cole had described the installation, he had said it was primarily a communications relay, but that he should look around to see if he could find anything useful. Henry realized Jack knew more about the station than he had let on. If this place was any indication, the other stations might also have resources they could use during the battle.
“So you’re the people sent to retake the planet?” a distinguished voice echoed from behin
d Henry. “I hope your fleet is more impressive than you are.”
Henry turned to see a man floating towards them on a mag-chair. He was hunched over with extreme age, but his eyes were as sharp as razors. He had neatly cropped white hair and a brushy mustache that twitched the closer he got to them. Denny ran to see the man, but he pushed the boy away. One of the people Henry recognized from the chamber above was standing outside a glass-walled office nearby.
“Colonel?” Henry said, stepping closer to the man. “My name is Henry Moore. I am an advance agent of the Alliance. We need to use your transmitter to send a signal to the fleet that Earth is ready.”
“What gave you the right to say we’re ready to die?” the man replied, looking at Henry with a withering stare. “You send that signal and every Ch’Tauk in North America will come down on our heads.”
“With all due respect, Colonel,” Henry replied, stepping closer again. “You’ve got plenty of weapons here to hold off the Ch’Tauk until the fleet arrives. Once they get here, ground troops will provide cover. Admiral Chang has the whole plan worked out.”
“Admiral, eh?” the colonel said, shaking his head. “I guess that trumps a colonel. Of course, I never heard of an Alliance. What happened to the Confederacy?”
“It’s gone, sir,” Ben Hasting said, stepping next to Henry. “It was all over in a matter of hours. The Ch’Tauk used massive numbers to overwhelm the Confederacy and take the colony worlds. Our fleet was nearly wiped off the galactic map.”
“A few ships survived,” Henry explained. “We’ve gathered strength and a few allies. We will take our planet back.”
“Well, hell,” the colonel replied. “I guess you have it all figured out, then, don’t you? Tell me this: how do you plan on sending this signal without the bugs finding out about your precious fleet?”
Emma stepped forward. “We’ve set up a relay network all across the galaxy. The Confederacy never had the technology in place, but we do. Once the signal is sent, the fleet will be here in hours.”
Resolute Victory (The War for Terra) Page 14
