by Charles Lamb
“We have a surprise,” one of the guides announced.
“Our first stop is the Mendenhall Ice Caves. Be sure to watch your step and please only go where we take you,” he finished.
Once they landed, Jacob had everyone follow the security team out onto the ice, insuring Gemma was warm in her gear. Unlike days gone by, they had modified repulser packs that allowed them to descend into the caves without ropes and climbing gear. Jacob got a laugh thinking of Gemma’s mom belaying down the ice wall. With Jacob assisting Gemma, two of the security team helped Nigel and Helen down.
The ice caves were incredible, breathtaking in their beauty. The party had spent quite a bit of time exploring the tunnels in the ice.
“Jacob, I’m getting cold,” Gemma whispered at one point.
“Ok, I’ll talk to the guide.”
“No, I don’t want to spoil mom’s fun, you can take me back.”
With that, Jacob let the guard know they were headed back and then he led Gemma to the point where they descended. Adjusting the repulser pack to ascend, he guided himself and Gemma up, cresting the edge of the crevasse and landing lightly on the ice. No sooner had he shut the packs down, when he heard a bellow behind him,
Both he and Gemma turned in time to see a group of bears charging around the rear of the transport and bearing down on the two. Without thinking, Jacob drew the gun he had brought along, dropping two of the bears before the others turned and ran away.
Lying to one side, was the body of the pilot, lying face down on the ice. Apparently, the bears must have come up behind him while everyone was below.
“Gemma!” Jacob heard, as he watched Helen rush to her daughter’s side. Jacob realized the others must have followed just behind the two of them.
Releasing Gemma, Helen crossed the space between them, placing a kiss on Jacob’s cheek.
“Thank you,” was all she said as she turned and embraced Gemma once more.
With an approving nod from Nigel, the three headed to the transport, while Jacob assisted in recovering the body of the unfortunate pilot.
----*----
MeHak terminated the communication with the minion she had dispatched to prepare her brilliant response to the instigators of the revolution. Once he had completed his tasks, she would be ready to unleash her vengeance.
The current blockade was fulfilling its function of distracting the humans and dispersing their forces throughout the rebel sectors. If all went as she expected, they would be far too late to address her deathblow. Once it succeeded, cleaning up the remnants would be an easy task left to others less important than herself.
----*----
According to the ship's navigation system, they were about to come out of FTL. For the occasion, HeBak had donned his breathing mask and joined the men on the bridge. Edwin wasn’t overly pleased at the decision, however, he couldn’t deny the alien access to the bridge without good reason.
There was suddenly an alert, announcing their arrival. With that, the ship dropped out of FTL and in an open area of space without a nearby solar system. According to the navigation system, this place was as close to nowhere as was available in NeHaw space.
Looking out the bridge window, Ivan suddenly pointed.
“There!”
“HeBak, I believe you have earned a considerable bonus,” Banks announced as he shook his head in disbelief.
In the empty space in the middle of nowhere, sat at least one hundred spaceships of differing shapes and sizes. As they looked out the bridge windows, Ivan triggered several scans, recording everything the scans returned.
“We cannot stay here long without attracting attention. We must cloak in the interim,” HeBak advised.
Ivan triggered the cloaking device before HeBak had even completed his sentence. As the three continued to watch, several more ships arrived, dropping out of FTL and then moving into a spot near the others. It was then that Edwin noticed that there were groups of similar ships, all of varying numbers and separated, each to their own spot.
“What is this?” he asked, looking at the alien for a reply.
“My contact indicated that there was an emissary of the Head of the High Council traveling to all the conquered worlds. He was not sure of the message being delivered, but he did note that the emissary only traveled to planets allowed to maintain a limited military space fleet. Most of what you see before you is antiquated technology, but in such a quantity, it would still pose a threat.”
----*----
Safely back at the Alaska facility, Jacob was seeing Nigel and Helen to the VIP quarters before taking Gemma to theirs. As the four stopped outside the door, Helen turned to Jacob.
“You did a brave thing today. Had you not interceded, Gemma would be dead.”
Jacob chose not to point out that he would have likely perished alongside her.
“Thank you,” he replied simply.
“Perhaps I underestimated the knightly virtue of your heritage,” she stated before turning and entering the room. Nigel gave him a wink and a smile as he followed his wife inside, leaving the younger couple to find their own way.
Jacob took Gemma’s hand and led her the short distance to their own quarters, showing her in and following her inside.
“I think you may have won my mother over after all,” she said as she turned and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Now we just need to work on daddy,” she finished after the kiss, still wrapped in his embrace.
“I don’t think that’s an issue,” Jacob replied as she released him. As he watched, she turned and headed into the bath, starting a shower as she undressed.
“Why do you say that?” she asked as she undressed.
“Because he gave me permission before I gave you that ring,” he replied with a grin.
Gemma stopped what she was doing and came back into the bedroom.
“You asked his permission?”
“Yes, isn’t that how it’s done?”
“Of course, but then he said yes?”
“He told me he couldn’t imagine a more perfect match for his beloved daughter,” Jacob replied, as he saw the tears in Gemma’s eyes.
----*----
It was a relief to Ivan when Colonel Banks announced their departure from the mustering point of the NeHaw vassal fleet. The data they had collected was sizeable and very detailed. They had lingered long enough to get an exact count of ships, a precise description, and an estimate of capabilities.
The NeHaw HeBak, had been less than forthcoming on many questions. Ivan suspected he just didn’t have the answers they were seeking. He continually referenced the ship's computer library in an effort to provide answers to their questions.
One question they were able to answer on their own was why this particular location had been selected to assemble the fleet. They soon discovered there wasn’t a NeHaw network access point in any of the adjacent solar systems. As such, they were unable to message earth of their findings.
Of greatest concern were the several large ships in the center of the mass of vessels. They were able to confirm that they once operated as battleships for whatever race the NeHaw had conquered. Even though they were not nearly as massive as ALICE-3, they supported enough firepower to be problematic to the lesser earth class vessels.
Once the return course was entered and executed, the alien returned to its quarters. Ivan very much doubted it would be seen again until they reached home.
Chapter 35
Jake got word of the bear incident in Alaska via Jessie’s daily report. While it didn’t affect the visit, as Helen was still waist deep in Jessie’s art recovery project, it did inspire Jake to instantly message Jacob. With things already edgy with Gemma and Helen, he worried that this might have driven the wedge deeper in some way.
Other items of interest in his morning’s reading was the ship order request from Brian. Approved by Patti, a task delegated by Jake, one he had been happy to make, those new ships combined wit
h those on hand would almost double their destroyer numbers. Unfortunately, the Wawobash were out of prebuilt cruisers, but five were ordered to begin construction anyway.
Under normal circumstances, Jake might have questioned the buildup, but with everything but the battleship and carrier out of the system, he let it slide as prudent planning. The addendum to that report was the Chinese contribution to crew training was sizeable. Jake was happy to see Chao engaged in things. Now, if he could just get the damn Cossacks to meet him half way.
That thought brought Ivan to mind. He hadn’t heard a word from the three since leaving the system, but that wasn’t unexpected. They still did not thoroughly understand the NeHaw communications network, and didn’t want to risk exposure of their activities via communiques.
The final electronic report was another positive piece, indicating that the one thousand plus Australian volunteers had started arriving for training. Most already tested well past the basic level in combat skills, so they were a welcome addition.
On the personal side of his life, Becky had come to him last night, to update him on Sandy’s progress. She and the kids had settled into new quarters in the family section, where the kids could have their own rooms and friends to play with. All three appeared happy with the arrangement, with Sandy now focused on the positive future and not the negative past.
Having completed her report, she stayed the night, if only to show her appreciation for Jake’s solution to her best friend’s woes. Apparently, she was very grateful.
----*----
With a sigh of relief, Edwin watched the ship drop out of FTL, into unoccupied space outside of earth’s solar system. A small part of him feared they would arrive too late with their information to prevent their home world from being overrun with alien spacecraft.
He immediately triggered the data dump, using an encryption that ALICE-1 had provided for this mission. Next, he triggered the preset for earth return, via replusers. Within minutes, the communication system came to life, and Jake was staring at him from the console display.
“Ah, the prodigal son returns,” Jake said with a smile.
“I definitely repent and ask to come home. I have seen great evil,” Banks replied sarcastically.
He could see Jake scanning something as he waited.
“Is this for real?” he finally asked.
“Unfortunately, Yes. Be prepared, the NeHaw expects a sizable bonus for this information.”
“He will get it. Be ready for some remote conferencing, we can’t wait for you to get here before taking action.”
“Understood,” Banks replied, as he watched the screen go dark.
----*----
Any notions that Patti had about returning to London were dashed with the morning’s emergency briefing. The raw data was still streaming in from Colonel Bank’s ship, but what she had seen so far was not encouraging.
She had risen with Jake’s meeting request, leaving Daniel to sleep while she headed to the analysis room. There she found April and all her team already busy with sorting the data dump. Jake had outlined the duties, giving Patti’s team point responsibilities. She had carte blanche to pull in whatever resources she needed.
For the moment, she just needed coffee and time, and she feared time was in short supply.
----*----
Alerted of the returning spy ship, Nigel, Gemma and Jacob caught a transport to Nevada, while Helen opted to remain in Alaska with Jessie. All three were pleased to see her enthusiasm and excitement in working with Jessie. Nigel was particularly thrilled, as his wife had relented in her private condemnation of the relationship her daughter had chosen.
They had just crested the edge of the crevasse in time to see the bears bearing down on the two young people, the bloodied body of the pilot lying face down on the ice behind them. If not for the quick actions of Jacob, they would have witnessed the death of their only daughter, helpless to prevent it.
After they had returned to their room later that night, Nigel had held his wife as she sobbed uncontrollably. Later, just before they had settled in for the night, he had confessed to her of Jacob’s request for Gemma’s hand, and his granting of the boy’s request.
Touching his lips with her fingertips to silence him, she then kissed him and said, “You are a wise man.”
With that, she climbed into their bed and had not touched on the subject since.
----*----
Jake scared himself as he sat in the cockpit of his fighter reading reports, heading to Nevada. Once he had finished his morning’s duties and sent Becky off to work, he met Sandy and the kids for a quick breakfast before heading out. As he climbed into the fighter, a thought passed through his mind that he needed to do some work on the way in.
What scared him was not asking ALICE to do the flying; it was the thought that a personal transport, with an office, might not be so bad. Quickly pushing the thought aside, he scanned the latest analysis Patti’s team had provided.
By the time he touched down in Nevada, he had gone over all the updates and speculation provided by the ALICEs and the analysts. As expected, it didn’t look good. From the preliminary analysis, the NeHaw had assembled a sizable force of ships capable of combat. Jake skimmed over the descriptions, expecting a more detailed review once he landed.
And that was exactly what he got. Once he landed in Nevada, the reception committee, including Sara and Linda, both of whom whisked him straight into Patti’s world. There he found Jacob, Gemma and Nigel already seated, conveniently out of the way, but within earshot.
“Ok, dazzle me,” Jake replied as he entered the room.
“Funny,” Patti replied without smiling. It was then Jake noticed Daniel was seated next to Nigel. Banks and Ivan were also on display, linked in from their inbound ship. Another monitor held the image of Colonel Chao. He recognized two of the Australians he had met briefly next to a Russian he didn’t know.
“We are still going ship by ship in the data, but so far we have consistent enough results to make some assumptions. First, these ships are all from NeHaw conquered races, not manned by NeHaw. Substantiated by HeBak, the NeHaw would allow certain planets to keep a limited number of ships for protection against neighboring worlds. The reason was, once someone was assimilated into the NeHaw community, they were assigned an annual tribute. All the NeHaw cared about was collecting the amount due. Should you get in a dispute with another race, it was up to you to deal with it, so long as it didn’t impact the tribute.”
Patti paused at this point, looking for questions before continuing.
“According to HeBak’s sources, the Head of the NeHaw High Council has someone collecting all these loose warships into one great armada. The perception that these ships are antiquated is a mistake. Although most have not been fought in a very long time, all have limited, but equal weapons capabilities to the NeHaw. What they lack in singular punch, they make up for in sheer numbers. The count we have from the data is one hundred and forty seven. Assuming they are still gathering, we can easily assume one fifty to one sixty when they hit earth.”
While she had been speaking, Patti had activated a holograph image of the collection of ships. The image had been recorded by Banks and Ivan just prior to leaving the system.
“As you can see here, there are several very large vessels in the center of the formation. These have been identified as capital ships from differing races. These should be the primary targets of Kola and ALICE-3, as they represent the greatest threat of the armada. Their combined firepower will have a greater effect than the smaller cruisers or destroyers.”
Jake was thoughtful before speaking, knowing he was now talking to more than just the Americans he led.
“As with the NeHaw, we have been gathering our own scattered forces. In the room here, we represent shattered nations and scattered peoples from all over the globe. We are not sending American ships into space with foreign crews; we are arming earth’s fleet filled with people from all over the world, in d
efense of this world. As of now, they have only seen a small sample of what we are singularly capable. With the resurrection of the earth, they are about to feel the wrath of a united people, and we are pissed!”
The response was deafening, as Jake hadn’t realized there were others linked into the session. He recognized voices from other locations around the globe. He stood waiting for the row to subside before adding, “We need a plan by tomorrow.”
With that, he turned and left.
“Does he do that often?” Daniel asked Patti, as she slipped next to him as Jake was speaking.
“Only when we are about to enter a world of shit,” she replied, her concern of what was to come dissolving any ladylike filters.
----*----
Any delusions Jake held that he was going to let others form the plan without him lasted as long as the walk to his quarters. Once there, he immediately dropped into his desk chair and began sorting through the data himself. He justified his actions as an independent second opinion.
He had no more than started his work, when the door chimed.
“Come in.”
Looking up, he watched as Sara entered his room and crossed over to give him a kiss.
“Why did I know you would be here working,” she asked with a smile as she drew up another chair to sit next to him.
“Because you know I hate my office?’ he replied with a laugh.
“No, because your delegation button is broken. Lord knows you try, but you just can’t let go sometimes. And then there are those things you just can’t delegate,” she said while staring intently at him.
Jake knew she was trying to tell him something, but he was completely at a loss as to the message.
Finally, she sighed and then spoke.
“I have discovered that I am one of those women who have a greater need when pregnant. You know, NEED!”
