by Libby, Seth
Sacrifice
The Shenkar War
By Seth P. Libby
Author’s Note:
I would like to dedicate this book to my family. Thanks to Mom, Stephie-poo, Shannon and Andi. To my wife and daughter, I love you both, you are my biggest inspiration. I would also like to give special thanks to George Lucas. He may never know it but his creation of the greatest trilogy of my time is what spurred my love of science fiction.
Prologue
May 15, 2012, 1:33 a.m. EST
Since man took his first steps, his gaze has wandered to the stars. Early humans of civilizations such as Greece, Egypt, China, and the Islamic world studied astronomy, mapping out positions of stars and planets. Always the question of what was out there continued.
As man grew, understanding grew, and with that came knowledge. Soon this knowledge created new technologies for man, technologies that helped man see farther into space. But just seeing farther wasn’t enough, for mankind is inherently a curious race. We would always want to see farther.
So soon, the designs to leave our planet and explore were sought after. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the earth. Then, on April 12, 1961, once again, the Soviet Union made history, launching Vostok 1, the first space flight to hold a human. Vostok 1 orbited the Earth for 108 minutes, and the space race was on between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Twenty-three days after the Vostok 1 flight, the United States launched their own suborbital flight of the Freedom 7. On February 20, 1962, the United States launched their own manned mission: the Friendship 7, which successfully completed three orbits around the Earth.
The nations of United States and the Soviet Union continued their determination to conquer space. In the end, however, the United States became the dominant country in the space race. Successful missions to the Earth’s Moon soon answered more questions, but the thirst for knowledge continued. Not even tragedies like that of the loss of Apollo 1 or the shuttles Challenger or Columbia would deter the United States.
Every day, someone dreams of space, what is out there and maybe even one day traveling to the stars. This dream of traveling to the stars, of investigating the mysteries of a nebula, quasars, or even the powerful black holes, is driven by an insatiable curiosity. What will we find when we land on Mars or travel beyond our own star system? The biggest question is: is there life out there?
However, tonight, the people of Earth will finally have that final question answered, for something has just entered the same system as Earth, and its flight path is set straight toward our planet.
May 17, 2012, 7:17 a.m. ESTSecluded Government Bunker in the Midwest of the United States
The President of the United States studied the two nervous men as one spoke.
“As far as we know, Mr. President, the only ones besides us who have knowledge of the spaceship are the United Kingdom, Russia, and Japan, sir,” said the young scientist nervously.
“Yes, it seems the ship came in from a vector that brought it in behind the Moon, shadowing it from everyone. The only reason Russia, Japan, and the UK know about it is they all currently have scientists on the space station and caught a glimpse of something. Yet they are still not sure what is there,” explained the second scientist. He then added rather hesitantly, “Also, we were contacted directly from the inhabitants of the ship wishing to meet.”
“What do you mean ‘they contacted us directly wishing to meet’?” demanded the President.
“Well, it seems that they--the aliens, I mean--sent a narrow beam transmission saying that they wish to meet with the leader of the most powerful nation of our world about a dire threat to the humans of Earth. Since the narrow beam transmission was only directed to our NASA facility in Maryland, we can only assume that you are the very leader they spoke of.” The nervous scientist mopped his brow as the sweat kept forming.
“Let me get this straight . . . so what you’re saying is, they speak English?” said the President, a bit skeptical.
The two scientists looked at each other; then the first scientist replied.
“Well, no, sir. It was a mechanical voice that came through the transmission.”
“So we don’t know what we are dealing with--because I can also safely assume that we don’t know what they look like either?” asked the President, sounding a little angrier than he meant to.
At this, the first scientist looked about ready to faint. It was plain that this young man didn’t get out much, never mind the fact that he probably never dreamed he would be in the presence of the President of the United States.
“Well . . . yes, sir, that would be correct.”
“Okay, never mind that we don’t even know what we are dealing with. Can you tell me anything about this dire threat they spoke of?”
“No, sir, they simply sent a transmission saying that they wished to meet with you as soon as possible about a dire threat.”
“And you don’t find that a little disconcerting?! My god, what use are you, people?!”
The President laid both hands on his desk and slowly took a few breaths to calm himself before he spoke again.
“When is this meeting to take place?”
“In just over two hours’ time, sir. They said they will meet at these coordinates with all the information we need.”
“Okay, we will reconvene in two hours for this meeting. On your way out, please send in General Kelvin.”
Both scientists hurriedly gathered up their notes and left. The President sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes as he thought to himself. My god, how can the people of the world handle another disaster?
It had only been two years since the world was devastated by the Avian influenza pandemic. In only a year, the world’s population went from nearly seven billion people to less than half that. Of the nations of the world, only the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Japan suffered the least amount of casualties due to their ability to contain the infected and their medical facilities’ ability to fight the virus. With the bird flu originating in China, they were the country who suffered the worst casualties, with a death toll of 1.2 billion, while the United Kingdom suffered the least casualties of 15 million. The United States had closed their borders at the beginning of the outbreak, but that almost failed when illegal aliens from Mexico crossed anyway, desperate to flee from the virus. The President had needed to recall all naval forces to stop any water incursions, and he deployed the full military might along the Mexican border with orders to kill anyone attempting to cross. It had been the hardest decision to make . . . tens of thousands had died from bullets.
“Jesus, Adam, you look like hell,” came a familiar voice.
The President looked up to see his friend standing just inside the door, looking at him with concern. For a man who stood six feet two, 210 pounds, General Frank Kelvin could be very quiet when he chose to be; he hadn’t even heard him enter the room and close the door. Then again, Frank was ex–Special Forces, so his ability to move with stealth came as second nature. The President managed a slight smile, stood up, and strode around his desk toward his friend, hand extended.
“Frank, it’s good to see you. Have you been briefed on the situation?” asked the President as he reached Frank and shook his hand.
“Yes, and I must say, I find it a little unsettling.”
“Tell me about it. I wake up this morning to be told that I need to come here to meet with some aliens from another world--all of which needs to be done in total secret, without the knowledge of my Cabinet!”
“Am I safe to assume you didn’t invite me here for my incredibly stunning looks?” Kelvin said while smiling br
oadly.
“Ha, you wish! No, I don’t care what they said about total secrecy. I want you in command of security when this meeting happens.”
“You can count on me, Adam; I won’t let you down,” Kelvin said seriously.
“Thanks, I knew I could.”
May 17, 2012, 9:30 a.m. ESTGovernment Bunker
Soldiers were stationed everywhere, all handpicked by Kelvin for exemplary service to their country. If this was some sort of trick, then he would be as ready for it as he possibly could be. Kelvin took one more look around, then made his way to the landing pad where the aliens would be arriving. After he met with them and made sure everything was on the level, he was then to escort them to the meeting room.
As he was going over the details in his head, he suddenly became aware of a humming noise from above. Kelvin looked up to see a silver craft that looked something like a futuristic plane slowly descending. As it came to a rest, its wings, which on approach were angled down, slowly angled up to prevent them from hitting the ground. The craft shimmered eerily in the light of the landing bay. Kelvin couldn’t see who the occupant or occupants were due to the darkened canopy.
After several minutes, the sound of a vacuum seal breaking echoed throughout the bay as a hatch on the side of the craft opened and two humanoids who could only be defined as “alien” descended the ramp and made their way over to the General. Kelvin had to stifle back a laugh; this had to be a joke. Both aliens fit the description you always heard when people talked of being abducted or seeing aliens, commonly labeled as Graylings.
Both creatures stood at around four feet ten inches tall. They had gray skin with big solid black eyes, a small opening in the face that Kelvin took to be a mouth, and four fingers on each hand. The only difference from the descriptions in the stories was that these two wore solid black uniforms, except for a white sunburst that covered the left breast. One carried what looked to be a handheld touch screen computer in its left hand.
They came to a stop in front of the General, and the one without the small computer extended a hand as if to shake his. Forcing a smile, Kelvin extended his and slowly shook the alien’s hand. The hand was icy cold with a slight clammy feeling to it. As he did this, he heard a mechanical voice that seemed to come out of nowhere, and he also realized the mouth wasn’t moving. It took him a second to realize that the voice, in fact, was coming from what looked like a small metal button on the collar of the alien’s uniform.
“Greetings, Terran. It is a pleasure to meet, although I wish the meeting of our two races were under better circumstances than what we come for. First, let us meet with the leader of your country so we can make proper introductions. To quote a line out of your movies . . . take me to your leader.”
Without so much as a word, Kelvin turned and strode off down the hall, not even looking to see if the aliens were following. After ten minutes of walking in silence, they came to a conference room guarded by two very heavily armed soldiers. As they reached the door, one of the soldiers reached over and opened it to allow entrance. Kelvin entered first and walked over to stand behind the desk at which the President was seated. The two aliens entered next and came to stand on the other side of the desk opposite the two men. For what seemed like several minutes, they both just stared at each other before one of the aliens spoke.
“Mr. President, I wish our races could have met under different circumstances, but unfortunately, this cannot be the case.”
And with that, the alien told him of what was coming. All the President could do was sit there and think, God, help us.
May 25, 2012, 1:32 p.m. ESTThe White House, Washington, DC
President Adam Sheehan looked in the mirror and fidgeted with his tie for the sixth time as he thought of how he would address the assembled world leaders or their representatives awaiting him in the oval office. He was so tired; the last week had been spent convincing each of them that it was imperative they meet in person--and that it had to do with something worse than the Avian influenza pandemic.
A female voice from behind him spoke. “Sir, they are all assembled and await you,” said his aide.
“Thank you, Jane. I will be there in a minute.”
The door clicked behind him, and she was gone. Adam Sheehan looked into the mirror to make sure everything was fine. A few minutes later, he entered the Oval Office and took a seat at his desk. Looking around the room, he studied the assembled leaders. The Prime Ministers from the UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan were in attendance, as well as the current Presidents of Russia, Germany, and France. Five years ago, this would be considered such a pitiful assembling of leaders, but since the bird flu, most of the world hadn’t had any real leadership in places with so many dead.
“Thank you for coming. I realize I didn’t give you many reasons to, except that we are about to face Earth’s darkest hour--”
Before he could finish, the President of France interrupted him in a voice that could only be considered rude and arrogant.
“Yes, please tell us what it is that’s so much of a threat that we had to drop everything and come here!”
“Oh, shut up, Jacque. Maybe if you gave him a chance to finish, he would do just that!” Prime Minister Denshire of the United Kingdom fired back.
France’s President looked like he wanted to say something further, but President Sheehan interrupted them.
“Perhaps it would be better if I just showed you.”
With that, he signaled to one of the guards to open a side door. When the door was opened, the two Graylings entered the room. Dead silence welcomed them as all the leaders and representatives stared dumbfounded, unable to speak.
“Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the Meshtrell. They can better explain to you what the situation is and what we must do to guarantee the survival of the human race.”
“Bloody hell, they are real, right? Not robots or anything?” demanded Denshire.
For an answer, one of the Meshtrell turned to the Prime Minister of the UK and spoke.
“Prime Minister Denshire, I assure you: we are what you humans refer to as ‘the real deal.’”
Silence gripped the room like a vise; no one seemed to know what to say. Each man looked from each other to the Meshtrell and back again, nervously picking at their pants or tugging at their ties. Finally, one of the Meshtrell spoke, its metallic voice carrying clear throughout the room.
“We, the Meshtrell, hail from our home world we call Gretle in a very distant solar system from here. Under your current technology, it would take you 583 of your years to travel there. We are a peace-loving race that devotes our lives to art and science, always striving to learn and better ourselves. However, with advancements in technology, one tends to attract the attentions of others who will take those things one holds so dear to oneself.
“Such attentions found our home planet forty-eight of your years ago in the form of the Shenkar Federation. The Shenkar are religious fanatics who believe their sole purpose in life is to seek out sentient beings and enslave or utterly destroy them. They send forth their warships into the stars, and when they discover a sentient race, they attack. They cannot be reasoned with, and nothing short of destroying them can stop the path of destruction they leave across the solar systems they pass through. Due to our higher technology, the Shenkar felt we would be better destroyed than enslaved; now there are only about a hundred of us left.
“However, our history isn’t why we asked for this meeting. Your planet Earth has about five months before one of their scout groups will pass close enough to your galaxy that your planet will draw their attention. Then it will take them another month to bring in their fleet to assault your planet. Unless we help you, your people will be enslaved or destroyed.”
All the men again looked at one another, unable to speak yet trying to find the words that so escaped them for the moment. The first to find his voice was the Russian President.
“What do you mean, unless you help us? If they all but destro
yed your race, then why wouldn’t you wish to help someone else who might suffer the same fate? Furthermore, if your technology is so much higher, how is it they were able to destroy your race?”
This time, it was the second alien who spoke.
“There isn’t a question regarding whether we would or wouldn’t help Earth. If you want our help, then you will have it. Our ship technology will be more than sufficient for what you will need to fight back. As to your second question, the Meshtrell are not a warrior race. We can make the means to fight but do not have the ability to use it. You humans have abilities inside you that you have yet to discover.”
“This is all very overwhelming to get used to. I mean, you’re telling us this Shenkar will soon be upon us? How big of a force are we speaking of?” demanded the German President.
“Our last estimates put the Shenkar Federation fleet at over one hundred capital ships with roughly four thousand fighters plus another hundred support ships. This is the normal complement of a Dread Fleet, which also carries shock troops numbering about ten million,” spoke the second Grayling.
“How can we possibly hope to stand against that? We don’t even have any spacecraft capable of combat,” spoke the Australian Prime Minister.
“When we fled the destruction of our planet, we fled with the means to create a fleet capable of facing the Shenkar. We can create shipyards that will produce the capital ships and fighters you need.”
Looks of skepticism crossed several faces, and this time the Japanese Prime Minister was the one to speak up.
“To create such a fleet, you would need hundreds of thousands to millions of tons of minerals. The Earth just doesn’t have those kinds of resources--where would we get such resources?”
“You forget, your solar system has an incredible source: the asteroid belt that separates the planets you call Mars and Jupiter. In a matter of little time, we can create processing plants to mine the asteroids for the materials needed,” spoke the first Grayling.
