by T. R. Harris
Allen felt impotent. All he could do was record a bunch of suggestions and send them off to Earth, where thousands of other minds, just a brilliant as he, would be working on the same problem. Being stuck way out here on the other side of the galaxy meant that he would be unable to see real-time data or fully assess the situation, and he wouldn’t be able to witness the results of any plans that were implemented. Everything he would receive – data, sit reps, updates – would all come four hours late, if ever.
If these new aliens – the Kracori, whoever they are – were successful, then Allen would order the fleet back to Earth immediately, followed by nine months of worry, stress and anger which would take a heavy toll on him and his entire fleet.
The message they’d received from Cain had been audio-only, but in the rather disorganized and confused recording he’d heard the voices of both Lt. Andy Tobias and Chief Geoffrey Rutledge, two of the SEALs from ST6 that he’d known intimately for many years. That was really good news – if anything about the message could be considered good. He’d also heard the voice of Sherri Valentine, who Allen knew to be Adam Cain’s on-again, off-again companion. Of the group of Humans who had gone missing several months before, that only left petty officer John Tindal and the civilian Riyad Tarazi unaccounted for. Hopefully they were with Cain as well.
All further communication with Cain and his team would be video and RM1 Cobb had calculated the turn time for messages at around seventy-five minutes. That wasn’t bad, but it did mean they were still a couple of months out from a reunion, if one was even in the cards. If the Earth was successfully attacked then Cain would not have a fleet to rendezvous with. By then, Allen and his fleet would be well on their way back to Earth.
Chapter 29
Even with the dire mood that hung over all the Humans on the bridge, the sight of Admiral Allen’s face on the monitor gave them all just the slightest glimmer of hope.
“Captain Cain, it was such a relief to hear from you again. First off, a message has been dispatched to Earth warning of the attack. If you have any other intel regarding this situation, or can provide more details about the enemy, please send it as soon as possible. Anything could be helpful since you indicate this is a new set of frickin aliens out to harm us now.” Allen flashed a quick, yet sad smile at them through the monitor. Adam could see the lines of stress and concern on his face; they mirrored those on his own.
“I’m glad to hear the voices of Andy, Geoffrey and Ms. Valentine in your recording. What’s the status of John Tindal and Riyad Tarazi? I hope they’ve made it through with you as well.
“I have to be honest with you, Captain, I’m seriously contemplating turning for Earth right now, no matter what the results of our defense against this attack ends up being. Even if we’re able to stop this one, it doesn’t mean they won’t try again. More information about the Kracori would probably go a long way to helping me reach a decision.
“It looks like the fleet and your ship are still about a month and half apart, seeing that we’re both rapidly closing on one another. Unfortunately – according to your initial report – any success in stopping this attack, as well as the status of the fleet, will have been determined long before then.”
Allen left the unspoken consequences of his words linger for a moment before changing the subject. “Let’s keep a steady stream of reports going back and forth, even if they’re mundane ‘nothing new to report’ reports. It will help both of our moods knowing that the latest intel we have will be the most up-to-date possible.”
Then Allen leaned in a little closer to the screen. “Adam, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for your warning. Even though the news was shocking, it would have been infinitely worse to have received a message from the Earth describing the horror taking place there, and with no warning at all. You’ve given us hope – and a chance. Let’s keep our fingers, toes and whatever else crossed. Awaiting your next message – Allen out.”
There was a collective sigh of relief from all on the bridge. “So no attack yet, at least not as of four hours ago,” John Tindal said. “That’s encouraging.”
They all nodded and then Adam began to compose the first video message for the Fleet. All the Humans gathered around the camera, including Tindal and Riyad, showing their smiling faces for Allen and anyone else interested in their well-being.
The team was still intact, Adam noted – including Kaylor and Jym. It was a miracle that he could say that, considering all they’d been through over the past five months. They’d gone from the planet Hyben, to a Juirean Class-3 warship, and then to the Klin stronghold on Marishal … and now even to the planet Juir herself. They’d certainly been through a lot. Luck – and fate – had been with them so far. But now they faced the greatest threat mankind had ever encountered, and with only a few days – or even hours – to prevent it. Yes, Adam’s team had all survived this long, but now, after all they had been through, they wondered if they would have anything to return to after all their luck had been used up?
The answer to that question would depend on what happened on the far-distant world of Earth.
Chapter 30
Although no sirens sounded in the Pentagon, the sudden upsurge in activity within the south-facing section of the massive building was like fire alarms going off throughout the structure.
The moment the message from Admiral Nathanial Allen had been received, hundreds of people in the building – as well as thousands more around the world – had sprung into action. Initially, no one knew what to do, but the simple act of having their bodies in motion helped to maintain a sense of sanity and purpose.
Admiral Bill Keller was in his private quarters when the message came through. For the past three years, he had voluntarily sequestered himself within the section of the Pentagon called the Complex, the cluster of offices, conference rooms and intel centers that made up the nerve-center of the planet’s central military space command. Since the devastating attack by the Juireans, Keller had opted to live his life exclusively from the Complex. His responsibility was 24/7, so it only made sense for him to be at work 24/7.
The truth of the matter was he had nowhere else to go. His home in Fairfax, Virginia, had been destroyed by the raging inferno caused by the Juirean energy bombs, even though no bombs had struck close to his residence. Yet with all emergency services completely overwhelmed, his 1928-built, 4,800-square-foot Colonial had ended up being just so much additional fuel for the fires that spread out from the center of D.C., consuming the affluent suburbs of Fairfax, Falls Church and even as far north as Rockville, Maryland.
Just prior to the Juirean attack, Bill Keller had the foresight and opportunity to send his family away from the high-target zone that was Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, that still did not prevent their deaths from a rogue cluster of Juirean bombs that hit the tiny hamlet in western Pennsylvania where they’d sought refuge. They would have been safer to have come to the Pentagon, yet Keller had no way of knowing that at the time.
It was just after five in the afternoon when the message came through, and dozens, if not hundreds of staffers who had just left for the day, made wild U-turns and returned to work.
“What do we know?” Keller asked as he entered the main situation room for the Complex. Already present were seventeen other high ranking officers and intel types, including Air Force General Richard Blake, commander of all the Earth’s space-based forces. General Blake had been a big-wig at NORAD until the Juirean attack. Now his territory of responsibility had blossomed to comprise everything from the Earth all the way to an area of space called the Barrier, at the very beginning of what the Juireans called the Far Arm of the galaxy.
“Nothing more than what the initial report indicated, Admiral,” Blake said. “We’ve heightened all awareness and detection resources but haven’t found any abnormal activity.”
Keller was afraid of this. A small group of infiltrators, using the same type of ships as they had, would be almost impossible to detect within t
he organized chaos that was space travel these days. With literally hundreds of military, corporate and even some civilian spacecraft flitting around the planet at any given moment, Blake’s command was like that of an air traffic controller, trying to juggle all these disparate interests for the mutual satisfaction of all.
Keller grimaced as he surveyed the main status screen, which took up nearly the entire south wall of the situation room. It showed the planet Earth in the center with a literal haze of constantly-moving white contacts encircling the planet.
The shipbuilders were still cranking out over five new warcraft a day, all of which had to be flight-tested within the solar system and beyond. At the same time, civilian contractors were continually testing new prototypes and innovations with other spacecraft, also within the space around the planet. Even a few of the very-rich had managed to obtain private spacecraft of their own, usually through special arrangements with their host governments.
And all of these spacecraft carried with them one unifying – and terrifying – distinction: they all resembled the ubiquitous Klin flying saucers in appearance.
How, through all this mess, was Keller to find a few invaders carrying nuclear weapons and bent on the destruction of his world?
He wished he knew….
“We need to ground all corporate and civilian spaceships immediately,” General Blake was saying.
Keller nodded. “I concur. Then we need to set up a challenge-and-response code for our military craft.” He walked up to the large screen and motioned with his hand in a big circle. “We then need to form a shield around the planet, tighter than anything before.”
“Admiral, with the velocities we’re talking about, we’re going to have to establish the perimeter pretty far out,” said Carla Ferguson, the president’s senior science advisor. “Do we have enough ships to form an effective shield?”
“Sadly, no,” Keller said. “And you’re right, Carla, the further out we go, the larger the gaps between our ships. That’s why we need to monitor every contact approaching, and if the challenge isn’t answered properly in a millisecond, we blast the contact out of existence. There may be some collateral damage, but that’s just the price we’re going to have to pay for saving the planet.”
“These damn aliens probably already know our weaknesses and are ready to exploit them,” Blake said.
“Hopefully they won’t know we’re expecting them. That could be our ace-in-the-hole. General Blake, coordinate the deployment of the ships; I’ll get with intel and work on the challenge/response codes. We need to figure a secure way of delivering these to all of our warships. Right after I brief the President, I’ll also shoot a message back to Admiral Allen letting him know our plans. He might have some input – and I’m sure they’re worried sick out there, being that far from home and not being able to help. I know I would. Let’s get to work.”
Within minutes of informing the President of the situation, a dozen major governments around the world joined in a massive effort in grounding all non-military spacecraft and to place all their land-based defenses on full alert. They had no idea when the attack would occur, so no one knew how long the troops would have to stay on high alert. It would be nerve-racking on the military personnel attached to the defending units, both on the surface and in space, but they would have to stay vigilant.
The politicians and military brass decided not to tell the corporate and private ship owners why they were being grounded, just that it was vital that all non-military vessels clear the area. Not surprisingly, no one complained. After the Juirean attack on the Earth, they all knew that this action would not be called for unless there was a dire emergency of some kind – and the meaning of dire emergency these days had been elevated to the level of a planet-buster in the minds of most Humans on the planet Earth. No one bluffed about these things anymore.
Nine hours later, all non-military spaceships were on the ground, and General Blake’s shield was ballooning out from the planet. Carla Ferguson had been right; the number of available defenders was woefully inadequate. Blake’s four hundred sixty-six ships had to encompass the entire planet, since no one knew from what track the attackers would take. In fact, they may split up and come at the planet from all directions. All they could hope for was to detect the attackers early enough so as to concentrate enough firepower to repel them.
Some within the inner circle, those who knew the full story, began to plan for strike-contingencies, including shelters, radiation treatment centers and medical triage. After all, how bad could it be? There had been over twenty-one hundred nuclear tests conducted on the Earth over the years and still the planet survived. So what if a few attackers got through; there would be damage and considerable loss of life, but could it be any worse than the Juirean attack from a few years ago?
Carla Ferguson pointed out that the technology of the Klin was so far advanced compared to that of Earth that it only stood to reason that their nuclear technology would be just as advanced. Where the largest nuclear device ever detonated on the Earth was in the range of 50 megatons, this Kracori race – protégés of the Klin – could have devices at several multiples of this. They may only need a few to get through to cause unimaginable damage. Or, as she explained, these weapons may be more on the line of neutron bombs, cascading deadly amounts of radiation on the planet. If it was the Kracori’s goal to destroy the homeworld of the Humans for the long-term, then a neutron radiation attack would be the better choice, and if that were the case, then no amount of preparation could protect against a decades-long cloud of deadly radiation encircling the globe.
Keller had left the meeting feeling even more depressed than when he entered. So it all comes down to this: stop them in space, or perish. No other options seemed to be available.
Chapter 31
Thirty-four hours after receiving the warning from Admiral Allen, the Human shield was in place, forming a thin veil around the planet out to around a million kilometers. Nunif Juikil had watched the mad scramble of spaceships – either bolting to the planet’s surface or out to form the defensive line – with both a sense of amusement and confusion.
His confusion came from the question of how did the Humans learn of his attack? As far as he knew there had been no direct contact between the Kracori and the Humans, or any of their allies. Besides, those who knew of the plan were very few and exclusively Kracori. Even the nasty Klin had been vanquished and were no longer involved in any Kracori operations.
His amusement came from knowing that the Humans had learned too late of the Kracori plans; in fact, this latest maneuver had actually cleared the path even more for his small fleet of nine spaceships.
Originally there had been ten ships assigned to the mission, yet when Nunif saw the actions the Humans were taking, he had sent a coded burst-message to the tenth ship ordering them to break off their approach. The other nine ships were already on station and drifting in dark mode just outside the orbital distance of the planet’s moon. They had all arrived from different directions in order to strike at all areas of the planet at once. Number ten had taken the longest route to its station, and therefore had not arrived by the time the Humans had learned of the attack.
Nunif smiled. The fact that the Humans had sent their ships away from the planet meant that they did not know the details of the attack, just that one was imminent. And now there was not a single Human vessel in the space between Nunif’s forces and the planet. There was nothing they could do to stop him.
At the predetermined time, Nunif ordered that the nineteen high-energy neutron and twenty-four traditional hydrogen bombs he had aboard be armed. Even subtracting the weapons in ship number ten from the total, his small fleet still carried within it one-hundred seventy-one neutrons and two-hundred sixteen traditional devices. These were very special weapons, with the neutron devices being the most-powerful of their kind ever built. Coupled with the destructive power of the traditional bombs and the searing radiation from the others, the planet Ea
rth would be turned into a nuclear wasteland … beginning in approximately twenty minutes.
Nunif’s established a shallow well and headed for Earth. The original plan had called for his fleet to use gas jets to slowly drift to the planet’s atmosphere before revealing their presence. It even had an option for conversion to a suicide mission should they be detected prematurely.
But seeing that there were no forces available to oppose them, Nunif opted for revealing his presence now, especially seeing that the Humans were expecting him. Their detection devices on the planet would immediately pick up his gravity signature, along with those of his other eight ships. They would know immediately what was coming and they would be powerless to prevent it.
At precisely the moment Nunif activated the arming computers on his bombs, a small secondary timer – one hidden deep within the maze of electronics of one of the hydrogen weapons – was also brought to life. There was one just like it on each of Nunif’s other ships. The tiny device was very simple, just a timer attached to the bomb’s detonator mechanism. Once activated, the device was independent of all outside signals and power sources – and it would rundown in exactly five minutes….
Chapter 32
“Contacts, Admiral! In orbit!” The tech sergeant’s voice was pure panic; he was fully aware of the consequences of his statement.
Keller literally ran up to the station. There were nine very bright and blatant contacts on the screen – gravity signatures – and they appeared to be tracing a leisurely path toward the Earth. They had appeared out of nowhere and well within the planet’s defensive perimeter.
