by JS Rowan
O’Neil was watching the Space Dog get closer very rapidly. Just when O’Neil thought they were going to collide, Hiroshi put the drives on full. Hiroshi executed a pre-programmed maneuver that he had input previously. The Semper Fi swung around the Space Dog and that flung both ships in opposite directions. Hiroshi released control of the Space Dog, and continued to run the main drive unit of the Semper Fi on full to allow them to overtake the asteroid as soon as possible.
O’Neil realized he was not breathing, so he took a deep breath, just like the rest of the Command Deck crew. Except, that is, for Hiroshi, who had a big grin on his face.
“That’ll wake you up,” Thor said through the thought-amplifier. He turned toward Hiroshi. “What is the light transit time between here and Earth?” Thor asked him.
“Seven and a half minutes, depending on where you are transmitting.”
“Have we got a projected impact area?” asked O’Neil.
“It will impact the Gulf of Mexico just south of New Orleans,” said Oleg.
“O’Neil, can I call the president?” asked Thor.
“Ah, sure, no problem,” said O’Neil, raising an eyebrow.
Ashley sent a message to the shuttle that they had left on Earth with Gupta, and fifteen minutes later the shuttle pilot advised Ashley that the president of the United States was in the White House Situation Room. Ashley arranged to have Thor’s message sent directly there.
“Mr. President, an alien ship has launched an asteroid toward Earth. Forces of the Jupiter Fleet are pursuing the asteroid. If we are unable to stop it, it will impact the Earth near New Orleans in less than seven days. I am a werewolf now, but I used to be a citizen of the United States of America. I am going to do everything that I can to stop this destruction from happening. I also happen to be married to Leona Stevenson, who you are persecuting. I just want you to think about that as I save your worthless ass. Thor Stevenson, out.”
O’Neil looked at Thor, deadpan. “You know, I voted for him.”
“Would you do that again?”
O’Neil thought about it and made a face. “No.”
“OK, then, we seem to agree.”
“Yes, we do. I think I will up the ante. Ashley, please send that message to every news outlet on the planet,” said O’Neil. “Enough with hiding the bad news—we’re going to let people know what is going on,” O’Neil continued. “This is not going to be like the deadly surprise of the Big Dark back in 2022. Let’s give the people as much notice as possible. Maybe some of them will live through this.”
Ashley retransmitted Thor’s message, with O’Neil’s “enough with hiding the bad news” remarks added on.
Oleg had a peculiar look on his face. It looked like…pride.
“So what can we do to stop this thing?” asked Ashley.
Sarah cleared her throat, and everyone looked at her.
“Stopping it is going to depend to the composition of the asteroid. Is it solid, or is it a flying rock pile? What is it made of? Also”—Sarah grimaced—“unfortunately it’s not possible to stop it. All we can do is change its course slightly to maybe skip off the atmosphere and miss destroying Earth,” she said.
“You heard the lady, Hiroshi. Let’s get Semper Fi close enough to study that rock.”
“Sarah and I are going to the observation area to get a better look at this on the telescopes. Aim the radar systems at the asteroid and set them to full power. I will see if the radio telescope’s mass density sensors can give us some clues about its composition. If we shoot a laser at it, then the main telescope’s gas spectrometer will also be useful,” thought Thor.
“What will the gas spectrometer do?” asked O’Neil.
“When the laser hits the asteroid, it will turn the area that it hits into plasma gas for a moment. The spectrometer will then be able to detect what kind of elements are in the gas,” thought Thor.
Thor and Sarah hurried down to the observation area. Thor arranged the telescope and Sarah set up the spectrometer. It was difficult for her because it was telepathically controlled; she was still getting the hang of that. Sarah’s conception of the task was fuzzy because of the unfamiliar Supe equipment. Fortunately, the ship’s computer liked her human brain and followed her intention even though she didn’t know the proper commands.
When father and daughter were ready, they told the Command Deck to fire a one-second laser blast at full power. The laser fired and there was a large, unexpected explosion on the rear of the asteroid. After being blinded for a moment by looking at the screen, Thor had the telescope focus in as close as possible to inspect the asteroid.
“Command Deck, this is Thor.”
The console had a repeat function that played Thor’s thought-amplified message so that Sarah could hear it.
“Go, Thor, Semper Fi actual online.”
“That was impressive, O’Neil—you sounded just like a real navy guy in the movies.”
“You liked that, did you? What did you want?”
“That asteroid is covered in nuclear mines. If we get too close, it will blow up.”
“That sounds like a good thing.”
“Not really. While most of the smaller particles will burn up, the rest will become like a large shotgun blast. That would hit Earth with multiple impacts instead of just one. It would also make it impossible for us to change the course of the object to miss the Earth altogether. Of course, the part that would really suck for us is that we would probably be destroyed by those nukes going off.”
“Right, no blowing up the nukes, got it. So how are we going to change the course of the asteroid?”
“I don’t know yet. By the way, if we are successful this asteroid will be circling the solar system for centuries. We should name it.”
“Well, it’s threatening to blow up the planet and it could explode at any moment—let’s call it Leona,” said O’Neil.
“Ha! She’d kill me, but yeah, Leona it is,” thought Thor.
Sarah chortled, covered her mouth, and then silently gasped with laughter, looking with big eyes at her dad just like she used to when she was little.
“The asteroid Leona!” she laughed.
The real Leona was standing on the Battle Bridge of the Space Dog. The Battle Bridge was in the most heavily defended section at the center of the ship. The exact location was a secret known only to other clan ships. That kept other ships from doing what she had done to the Supe ship near the moon.
Darn that Supe, anyway, for blowing up his own ship! What a coward, couldn’t stand to be taken prisoner, Leona sneered. Of course, the Supe was judging the Jupiter Fleet by the Supes’ own customs about captives.
Leona was waiting for the new pilot and navigator to report for duty. They were late and it was not a good start. Before he had departed, she had asked Hiroshi to send the best student pilot and best student navigator to the Battle Bridge. They were supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago. Leona started pacing.
“What a crappy, crappy day!” she griped.
Leona had abandoned the Command Deck in favor of the Battle Bridge in case of any more surprises from the Supes. A noise made Leona look up, and she saw Gunny enter the Battle Bridge.
“Oh, good, you’re here. Please evacuate and lock down the Command Deck. I think that we could get attacked by the same ship that launched the asteroid. I’d like you to get set up in case they try to board us,” Leona said. “And we’re without any of our werewolves—except my three bodyguards.”
“Yes, Captain,” said the gunny.
He went over to the console and activated the comm system with both voice and telepathic functions.
“All personnel, all personnel, we are sounding general quarters, general quarters—prepare to repel boarders. Lock down and evacuate the Command Deck. All nonessential personnel should move to airtight quarters and arm themselves.”
Gunny turned to Leona, looking serious.
“Don’t forget to put someone in Observation to visually look for t
he enemy ship. I will get my teams together and in their suits.”
Gunny had modified some pressure suits that the Supes had used, changing them into combat/ EVA suits that humans could wear. He had the suits covered in a highly reflective metallic foil that deflected some of the energy from incoming laser beams. The rest of the energy that penetrated the reflective coating would be absorbed by the second layer as it boiled off. The trouble was that the suits could not withstand two strikes in the same area.
Leona contacted Isamu. “Isamu, Hiroshi probably didn’t have time to tell you, but he is now piloting the Semper Fi. I am on the Battle Bridge. Could you please go to Observation and try to find the ship that launched the asteroid at Earth?”
“Yes, Leona. I am on my way,” replied the sword-master.
As Gunny left, Leona’s son, Will, and his new friend, Brian, entered the Battle Bridge.
“Will, what are you doing here? I’m busy right now. I can’t talk much,” said Leona.
“Actually, Mom, I’m the pilot that Hiroshi sent. Brian here is the navigator. We have been scoring really high on the simulators.”
Leona was momentarily surprised. But of course, why wouldn’t Will do well on the piloting? He was, after all, his father’s son. There was nothing that Thor couldn’t pilot or drive.
“Sure, that’s great, son. Why are you late?”
“Well, first, I was trying to find out about the shuttle that was trashed by the asteroid. The dead crew was killed instantly and the cleanup is being managed by the auto-bots, which grabbed the wreckage and hauled it in. But second, once we were assigned to come here? I couldn’t find the Battle Bridge! The location isn’t accessible to anyone who hasn’t been given clearance. I had to mug a marine to show me where to find it.”
“OK, then—remind me to give you clearance after we survive the current emergency.”
Will’s friend, Brian, made a sound.
“Yes? Brian-the-Navigator?”
“It’s always good to think positively, ma’am, I mean, Captain,” said Brian, flushing slightly.
“I’ve learned over the years to expect the best and protect against the worst. Plenty of events will fall short of our hopes, no need to rush a disappointment,” drawled Leona. “Now, take your positions and show your captain what you can do.”
“Aye, aye, Captain Mom,” both of them replied in unison.
Leona got the feeling they had planned that line.
“Brian, bring up active radar and see if you can get a fix on that ship.” She turned to her son. “Will, send an encrypted laser message to Admiral to make sure there is nothing between us and the Victory that could intercept my next message to Frosty. Then, once knowing that is safe, send my log of what is happening with the Semper Fi and the asteroid to Frosty at Jupiter Station. Record now: ‘Admiral, the Earth is being attacked by an asteroid sent by the Supes. I have sent the Semper Fi in pursuit to deflect it away from the planet. We are very vulnerable. We have sent our wolves with the Semper Fi, and we have no main drive system. Please send help. An attack could be intended for the Station, so make sure that it is defended before you leave. Leona out.’”
Leona went to get some coffee while she awaited developments, brewing it in a drip-pot she had put beside the bulkhead farthest from the door. She had been glad to find a sizable quantity in the ship’s inventory—having remembered that she had “bought” some when they were first finding their way out of the conversion lab. There was enough for all the “coffee hounds” on board to get a small amount, maybe a cup or two a day.
The werewolves did not like the smell of the stuff. When she was drinking “bean,” her guards hung back at least forty feet. The two most likely places for her to wish for caffeine were the Battle Bridge and the Command Deck. In consideration for the wolves, both the unused and used coffee grounds were in closed containers. And the pots were tied down in case of null-gravity maneuvers.
Later, just as she was finishing her coffee, Will came up to her and half saluted. Leona raised her eyebrows at the scamp.
“Mom, Admiral has replied to you.”
She rinsed out her now-empty coffee cup and returned to the Command Deck to check the message. On the screen, from the Victory’s Command Deck, Admiral’s magnificent fangs were partly uncovered.
“Leona, I am coming to your aid. Mergnot and the Vengeance are staying here. I suspect that he is trying to send a message to the Masters. He has been training his crew at a frantic pace since you left. Back to the point, I have been scanning the region and the only good place to hide a ship is in the asteroid belt. Given the nature of the attack on Earth, that is probably where the enemy ship is. Stay sharp, as O’Neil says. We are coming at full burn. Admiral out.”
Another message came in while she was listening to the first one. It was from Thor aboard the Semper Fi.
“We have caught up to the asteroid. We are working on ideas for deflecting it. By the way, O’Neil decided to name it Leona. Something about fire and destruction—you’ll have to ask him. Thor out.”
Leona knew there was more to the naming story than Thor was saying. He had the mischief sound in his voice that meant he was bugging her. She pursed her lips ironically.
Maybe this was one of those male things, showing their respect of her. She smiled at a thought.
“A little fear of a woman in a captain’s chair is not a bad thing.”
Ambassador Gupta was in a shuttle approaching the wreckage orbiting the moon. Ah, Luna, Earth’s constant companion through the ages…
The wreckage of the Supe ship was more intact than he had thought. It was as the observers on-planet had said. The lower quarter of the ship was intact, in a decaying orbit around the moon. Most of the upper half of the ship was littering the surface of the moon, having been pulled down by gravitational forces. The drive section was completely intact and drifting away from the moon, barely above escape velocity.
Leona had been wrong about what had exploded. Gupta could see that it was the reactor section that been destroyed. The Supe that had detonated the explosion had not known that he was mainly killing the section of the ship that his own “superior” people lived in.
Mukesh Gupta thought that was karma, indeed.
“Pilot, get closer to the lower section. There may be people still alive on there.”
“After all this time, sir?”
“It’s only been a few weeks—the air and water is recycled and is self-contained on each deck. The food could be an issue, but there is a chance.”
Also on board the shuttle with the ambassador and the pilot was Kirk Warner. He was the reason they were up there. Kirk had a twin named Mike, who had been abducted by Supe werewolves several weeks ago.
Kirk Warner was an SAS officer who had been part of Ambassador Gupta’s protection detail for a state visit to Britain. The first night that he was on the detail, he had asked to talk with Gupta in private and then pled his case to the ambassador. Kirk was so earnest in his request that Gupta believed him.
“I think my brother is still alive on that ship. He is trapped but not alone. You have got to believe me,” Warner had said.
Fortunately for Kirk, Gupta did believe him, although he was the only one. But Mukesh Gupta wasn’t only an ambassador; he was a former COBRA/RAW telepathic adept, converted into a telepathic werewolf. So it was not hard for him to believe that a twin could know that his sibling was alive.
It took three long late-night phone calls to get permission for the SAS officer to accompany Gupta. However, two hours later they were in the shuttle bound for the moon. Gupta turned the internal comm system to the “thought-amplifier” setting so that he could talk with Kirk and the pilot.
“I see an emergency Docking Bay near the top of the structure. I am going to dock with it. Hold on,” said the pilot.
A few minutes later they had docked. Gupta tried to contact the ship with the comm system. He got nothing. He tried to interface with the ship’s computer. Again, nothing.<
br />
“Could we try another docking port closer to the bottom of the ship?” asked Kirk.
“Ambassador, I am picking up something from the drive section. Not on the radio, in my head!” said the pilot.
The drive section was visible to the pilot from his seat. Gupta climbed into the seat beside the pilot and looked at the drive section. He had read the report on the “distance telepathy” that Leona and Ashley had discovered, but had never tried it himself.
“Is someone there?” he thought as he looked at the drive section. To his surprise he got an immediate response.
“Yes, I am the Third of the wolf guard. We have one hundred twenty-two wolves and thirty-three Masters here. Will you help us?”
“Not with thirty-three Masters alive, I cannot take the chance. Do you have any humans with you?” thought Gupta.
“No, they were in the lower section of the ship. Wait—you’re a werewolf! How is a wolf in command?”
“With the humans, things are different.”
“I ORDER YOU TO COME TO OUR AID,” a Master’s thought boomed.
Gupta did not want to comply but he was helpless. He looked at the pilot, who was already obeying the command. The shuttle started to move toward the drive section where the Supes and their werewolves were stranded.
Gupta was struggling to get command of his body again when the butt of a pistol hit him in the back of the head. He was knocked out of his seat.
If Gupta had not been a wolf, the blow would have killed him. As it was, it just made him angry. He leaped into the back of the shuttle and was about to strike at Kirk when he got control of himself. He realised that he was no longer under the Master’s compulsion.
Gupta released Kirk, spun around, and pulled the pilot out of his chair. Kirk slapped the pilot hard. Gupta was glad that it was the SAS officer giving the blow. If he had slapped the human pilot with his werewolf strength, he might have broken the man’s neck. The pilot did not respond. Gupta decided to give him a mind-blast. He had never done that before either.
The blast worked. The pilot looked at Gupta and shook his head, hard. His eyes were rolling and he looked only half conscious.
