by Ryk Brown
“Josh fed him a line about how we were part of a powerful alliance,” Loki explained, “that we were joining forces with the people of Earth to come save the core from the Jung. You know how Josh is.”
“And he believed him?” Nathan asked with surprise.
“The boy can be quite convincing,” Marcus said.
“He didn’t at first,” Loki said. “They believed the Earth was still infected. Garrett said it was off-limits, always had been.”
“That explains a lot,” Jessica mumbled.
“So they got rid of the fighters in the area,” Nathan said.
“Yes, sir. Then they took out the Jung at the crash site. Once they did, we got in the air, barely, and jumped out from within the canyon.”
“So they could see you?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, sir, the resistance, at least. Maybe a few people in the nearby towns and such as well. But the Jung were gone. As far as we know, they may still think we crashed in that valley. Garrett said they weren’t too bright, that they stole all their tech from others.”
Jessica’s eyebrows went up. She was obviously pleased with even that little bit of intelligence.
Nathan could tell that Jessica had a million more questions she wanted to ask, but he could also tell that Loki was tired and in discomfort. He remembered Cameron’s dislike for the way the nanites felt inside of her when they were making repairs to her tissues. He wondered if Loki was going through the same thing right now. “That’s enough for now, Loki,” he said, putting his hand on Jessica’s shoulder and stepping in front of her. “We figured out the rest from your flight recorder. You two did an amazing job.” Nathan put his hand on Loki’s shoulder. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more later.”
“Is Josh going to wake up soon?” Loki asked.
“He’s in worse shape than you, Loki,” Nathan admitted. “He was more exposed to the jump fields since he was sitting up front. The doctors are keeping him knocked out while the nanites work on his brain, so he doesn’t feel it.”
“I don’t feel it.”
“Count yourself lucky,” Marcus grumbled. “I’ve heard stories.”
“Get some rest,” Nathan insisted. “Let me know if you need anything.”
“Yes, sir,” Loki said, closing his eyes.
Nathan stepped back from the bed and turned toward Jessica who had an anxious look on her face. He motioned to her to wait until they were out of the room.
“Captain,” she started in hushed tones, unable to contain herself, “if there is an organized resistance, then that means that the people that the Jung rule over are not willing subjects. In fact, it takes a lot of hate to stir up a resistance.”
“We only know of one man at this point,” Nathan argued.
“Loki said ‘they,’ Nathan,” Jessica pointed out as they entered the corridor. “They did this. They did that. And Loki used the term cells which implies a larger, more organized structure.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Nathan said. “But how does that help the Earth?”
“If nothing else, it means the Jung occupation of at least one world is opposed by some. If there is resistance, that means some of the Jung resources have to be dedicated to suppressing that resistance. That draws resources away from other campaigns…”
“Like the invasion of Earth,” Nathan surmised.
“Exactly. And if there is a resistance on one Jung world, it stands to reason that there might be others on other Jung worlds.”
Nathan knew she was right. Nearly every government entity in human history had met with some form of organized resistance, both violent and nonviolent.
“Captain, maybe we should think about putting an asset on the ground back there,” Jessica urged.
“Someone?” Nathan asked, knowing full well who that someone was.
“Well, that is what I trained for back at the academy.”
“Who’s going to keep my ship secure?”
“We’re four light years from home, Nathan. We’re safer now than we’ve ever been.”
“We don’t have the propellant.”
“Use the jump shuttle to drop me off. They can drop me in orbit on the night side and jump right out again. I’ve space-jumped before.”
“It’s still being used to test the ZPEDs with the jump drive. Besides, the answer would still be no.”
“Nathan…”
“Taking a few hours to recon Alpha Centauri on the way home is one thing. Sending an asset behind enemy lines is completely different.”
“How is it different?” Jessica argued.
“Wars have started for less,” Nathan told her. Nathan could sense Jessica’s frustration. This kind of mission was exactly what she had trained for, and it was exactly what she wanted to do. Being this close to a perfect opportunity had to be difficult.
“Nathan…”
“I’m sorry, Jess. The answer is no. The best I can do is recommend it to Fleet when we get back, for all the good that will do.”
“Fine,” she pouted as she stopped in the corridor while Nathan continued on, “but don’t expect me to show up as a character witness at your court-martial.”
“Funny,” Nathan called back to her as he continued down the corridor.
* * *
“These are images of Kent,” Jessica explained, “the primary inhabited moon orbiting the gas-giant Larelias in the Alpha Centauri A system.”
Nathan sat at the conference table in the darkened briefing room, staring at the images as they flashed across the view screen on the far wall. He had seen pictures of the Earth-like moon before, from the Data Ark. “I remember this moon. It was the first extra-solar colony of Earth, late twenty-second century, I believe.”
“As you can see from these atmospheric readings, it is an industrialized world. You can also make out several orbital platforms as well.”
“How many people are living there?” Nathan wondered.
“On Kent, Fleet estimates were in the millions. Remember, they had their own space defense fleet before the Jung invaded.”
“What happened to them?” Cameron asked.
“They must have been destroyed. We were unable to find them in either the A or B systems,” Jessica surmised. “However, we did find several Jung warships still in the area.” Distant, fuzzy pictures of warships appeared on the view screen. “These appear to be cruiser-sized warships.”
“How many of them did you find?”
“Two in the primary system and two more in the secondary, orbiting the terraformed planet, Bretang.”
“So there are four warships in the system?” Major Prechitt counted. “Any idea about their fighter compliment?”
“We’ve never encountered such ships, so we really don’t know,” Jessica admitted. “However, they are twice the size of the Aurora, so it’s reasonable to assume that they carry at least as many fighters as we do, if not more.”
“Any way we can get more details on these ships?”
“We would need to loiter a lot longer in order to take longer exposure shots to compile,” Cameron stated. “That would burn up a lot of propellant. Either that or send in a recon ship, which we don’t have available at the moment.”
“One other thing,” Jessica said as the picture changed. “Another ship arrived in the B system during our last imaging. It was much larger than the others. I’m pretty sure it’s a Jung battle platform.”
“Battle platform?”
“Massive ships, lots of missiles, fighters, guns,” Jessica explained. “Fleet believes they are designed to sit in the middle of a system and pound the crap out of anything. Right after we built the first FTL recon ships, Fleet found three of them: one in the Tau Ceti system, one in 82 Eridani, and the last one in the Omicron 2 Eridani system.”
“All three of which are core worlds,” Nathan noted for the benefit of Major Prechitt, who was still unfamiliar with the history of human space exploration outside of the Pentaurus cluster.
“Fleet believes the Jung
park them in their most valuable systems in order to maintain control over those systems.”
“A show of dominance,” Nathan said.
“Precisely,” Jessica agreed with a nod.
“So now they are parking one in the Centauri system?” Cameron asked.
“I believe so,” Jessica said. “Either they will leave the battle platform in Centauri space and send one or more of the cruisers to invade Sol, or they will send the battle platform to Sol instead.”
“Either one would be difficult for our Defender class ships to defeat,” Nathan commented. “What would you do,” he asked Jessica, “if you were planning the invasion of Earth?”
“From what Loki told us, the Earth has been considered off-limits ever since the plague for fear of reinfection. That would explain why they never invaded us.”
“Perhaps we’re just the farthest system away from them,” Vladimir suggested.
“Possible,” Jessica admitted, “but unlikely. Think about it. The Earth would be the crown jewel in their empire. Not only is it the birthplace of humanity, but even now, it’s still the best place for humans to live. Everywhere else we either have to adapt to the planet or adapt the planet to us. We evolved on Earth, and it’s perfect for us. Even terraformed worlds have their problems. I believe they didn’t consider invading Earth until they realized that it was no longer infected.”
“How did they figure out it was safe?” Cameron asked.
“Recon flights? Spies?” Jessica said. “It could’ve been as simple as picking up media broadcasts once again. We’ve been beaming them out into space for two hundred years now.”
“Assuming you’re right, and they’re preparing to send either the battle platform or the cruisers to attack Sol, how long do we have?”
“We still don’t know their top speeds,” Jessica stated, “but a reasonable assumption would be about two months for the cruisers and about six months for the battle platform.”
“Then Fleet’s original estimates were not that far off,” Cameron said.
“Apparently not,” Nathan agreed. “We need to get this information back to Fleet. Once the public learns how real the Jung threat is, Fleet will have all the support it needs.”
Major Prechitt looked confused. “Support? Your defense forces are lacking support?”
“Political support,” Nathan explained. “Many people in the Earth’s various governments believe it would be in our best interests to seek a peaceful resolution through negotiations, and that in order to do so, we must ease up on our military growth, especially in space, as a sign of good intent.”
“Then this should change their minds,” Major Prechitt said.
“Let’s hope,” Nathan said. “How long until we’re ready to jump home?”
“We’re at fifty percent charge right now, so we can jump any time.”
“We’ll wait an hour before we jump to ensure we have a bit left over for an emergency jump, just in case.”
* * *
“Jump seventy-four plotted and locked in, sir,” Mister Riley announced. “Jump drive is at sixty-eight percent charge. With a jump distance of four point four light years, we’ll still have a few light years of jump distance available to us on arrival.”
Nathan looked at Cameron standing next to him on the bridge. “There was a time when I didn’t think we’d ever make it.”
“It does feel good,” Cameron said.
Nathan took a deep breath and exhaled. “Mister Riley, execute jump seventy-four.”
“Aye, sir,” the navigator answered. “Activating auto-nav. Jump seventy-four in ten seconds.”
Nathan watched as the auto-nav made tiny adjustments to the ship’s course and speed in order to increase the timing and accuracy of their jump.
“Five seconds,” Mister Riley reported.
Nathan turned and looked at Jessica. She stood by Mister Randeen at the tactical station, about to relieve him. She, too, had a smile on her face.
“Three……two……one……jump.”
The blue-white jump flash filled the bridge, disappearing a moment later.
“Jump seventy-four complete,” Mister Riley reported.
“Verifying position,” Mister Navashee announced from the sensor station.
“Threat board is clear,” Mister Randeen reported from tactical.
“Position verified,” Mister Navashee reported. “We are just outside the Sol system, sixteen point three light hours from Earth.”
Nathan stared at the forward view screen. In the center, directly ahead of them, was a small, slightly yellowish dot. It was only fractionally brighter than the stars around it, yet it shown like a beacon to Nathan. It was their sun, the sun that lit their very existence. They had been gone for only four months, but it felt like a lifetime.
“Captain?” Cameron said. “Orders?”
Nathan snapped out of his daydream. “Right.” He looked at Cameron, unsure of what to do next. They had discussed this at length during the last briefing, but it had all suddenly slipped his mind. “Scans,” Nathan remembered. “Mister Navashee, perform a full passive scan of the Sol system: radio, thermal, optical, the works.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tactical, anything in the optical scans that looks even remotely threatening?”
“No, sir,” Mister Randeen answered. “I see no evidence of any traffic whatsoever.”
Nathan’s brow furrowed somewhat. “None?”
“None, sir.”
“Odd.”
“We wouldn’t pick up any of the patrols on the fringe of the system with a low-power sweep,” Cameron reminded him.
“But there’s always one ship deep in the system,” Nathan said. “That’s standard operational policy, even if they’re just coming or going.”
“They could be transiting behind Jupiter, or Saturn, or any of the gas-giants, relative to us that is,” Cameron said.
“What are the odds?”
“For most people? A trillion to one,” Cameron stated. “For us, not so high.”
“Is that what I think it is?” Abby asked as she walked onto the bridge.
“That’s Sol,” Nathan confirmed. He could see tears in the physicist’s eyes.
“How long before we jump in?” Abby asked.
“Don’t worry, Abby,” Nathan answered. “We’ll be jumping in soon enough. We’re just checking things out first. We don’t want to have an accident on our last jump.”
Abby smiled briefly. “I’m sorry, Captain.”
“Don’t be. I know how you feel.” It was one of the most truthful statements he had ever made, and he was sure that every Terran aboard felt the same way. A simple shakedown flight four months ago had turned into an unannounced test of a top secret, experimental propulsion system, one that was believed to be the best hope for the defense of Earth against the Jung. That first test jump had turned into a battle, one that resulted in their being thrown across the galaxy, where they were forced to fight to survive and eventually return home. Now, they were back, flying through the same Oort cloud where their adventure had begun. One more jump and the adventure would be over. Nothing but endless reports, interviews, and investigations awaited them. Endless reports had never looked so good.
“Captain, I’m not picking up any transmissions on Fleet channels,” Naralena reported.
“What about civilian space traffic?” Nathan asked.
“No, sir. I’m picking up media broadcasts, but no comm traffic other than some low-power, civilian radio comm chatter. But that’s all local, planet-side stuff, not space traffic.”
“Jess, take a listen to those broadcasts, and tell me what you think,” Nathan instructed.
“I’m on it,” Jessica answered as she moved toward the comm stations at the back of the bridge.
“Not even from the mining operations in the belt?” Cameron wondered.
“No, sir.”
“What about the beacon from the orbital assembly platform?” Nathan asked.
> “No, sir, nothing.”
“Mister Navashee, concentrate opticals on Earth. I want to see the OAP.”
“Aye, sir,” Mister Navashee answered. “Locking optical telescopes on Earth.”
“Could they be purposefully reducing their transmissions?” Cameron asked. “To appear less prepared, less threatening?”
“We wouldn’t fall for that,” Jessica said, “so I doubt the Jung would.”
“That’s a lot of traffic to keep quiet,” Nathan commented. “How do you continue to operate without comms and navigational beacons?”
“Lasers?” Cameron suggested. “All ships have laser comm systems in order to broadcast and receive targeted comm beams instead of sending out omnidirectional broadcasts.”
“If the Earth were trying to keep a low profile, that would certainly help,” Jessica said, as she continued to listen to various media broadcasts from Earth through her comm-set.
“Perhaps,” Nathan said, pondering the idea. “That would make sense, especially if they already know about the buildup in the Alpha Centauri system.”
“Fleet still has the small FTL recon ships. After what happened to the Centauri, they’d probably be keeping a close watch on the system.”
“But how often could they receive updates?” Nathan wondered.
“The recon ships were only capable of eight times light,” Cameron said. “Unless they were upgraded while we were gone, the most they might have gotten was one, maybe two updates since Alpha Centauri was first attacked.”
“Captain,” Jessica called, “these are all just standard multimedia broadcasts: entertainment, music, news, sports, the usual stuff.”
“Any of it sound abnormal?”
“No, sir,” Jessica answered. “From what I can tell, it just sounds like a typical day on Earth. Maybe if we spent some time analyzing it, we might find out more.”
“Captain, I believe I’ve located the orbital assembly platform,” Mister Navashee reported. “I’m putting it up now.”
Nathan and Cameron watched as a still image of the OAP appeared on the main view screen. The image was slightly out of focus but appeared to be of similar size and shape. Nathan squinted his eyes slightly and cocked his head, examining the image. “Are you sure that’s the OAP? It looks different somehow.” He turned to Cameron. “Does it look different to you, or is it just because the image is fuzzy?”
