by Ivan Kal
“I want all of our warships recalled. They are to make top speed to the Moon,” he said. Laura nodded and opened a channel from the comms device in front of her. They had moved to one of the briefing rooms following the departure of Athena. Many other Olympus staff members were in the room, each doing their job, gathering information or relaying orders.
Elias was in the process of recalling army forces from Mars in case this got out of the control, but they couldn’t arrive to the Moon for weeks. Seo-yun was in contact with all of their research facilities on the Moon. Those facilities were in the process of being reinforced, in case Concordis also decided to strike somewhere else.
“How long until Athena arrives?” Tomas asked Laura.
“Another hour and thirty-two minutes,” she said. Tomas looked at his screens; the estimated time of arrival for the Concordis ships based on the information they got from Cloud prior to the comms blackout was an hour and twenty-nine minutes—Athena would arrive three minutes after the Concordis ships. The only good thing about this was that they would not be able to see her as she would be coming from around the planet.
Tomas looked around the room; he’d never felt as powerless as he did now. There was nothing he could do that would help other than believe in his people. He chose them, he gave them Olympus, and now it was time for them to give back.
***
“He isn’t going to change his mind, Mr. President,” said Turner, Concordis’s ambassador to Olympus.
“He can’t believe that his people on the station can take care of this,” the president said incredulously to no one in particular.
“He seems confident that they will have the situation under control. I don’t know how, but I have been working with the man for a long time. I know him; he has something up his sleeve. I would stake my life on it,” Ambassador Turner said.
“Do we have any idea what it could be?” President Von Holt asked his advisers. They were sitting in the same room they’d been in when they’d made the decision to go through with this plan.
“Our intelligence officers are confident that there is nothing Olympus can do,” Admiral Weiss said.
“This is very suspicious; the plan is already going wrong. We planned on Tomas Klein being relieved when we offered our help. Maybe we shouldn’t have put this into motion,” Councilman Petrov said.
“There is no going back now, we are committed. There is no way they will be able to stop us, and our press teams will spin it in our favor. They will not be able to contest our entering their territory,” Minister of Defense Ross said.
“He is right, gentlemen, there is nothing we can do now,” President Von Holt said. He prayed that they had made the right choice, and that whatever Tomas Klein had up his sleeve came too late to make a difference.
***
Tucker Dawson, captain of the Viking, kept his eyes locked on his display. The Admiralty had just confirmed that Olympus did not allow them to enter their territory, but his orders were to do so anyway. They already had scripted communications that would be sent to Bismarck when they entered Olympus territory. The communications were nothing more than a series of posturing and threats on their part, which would hopefully convince the public that Bismarck’s crew was intimidated and chose to leave the station alone should the communications ever go public. Though there was a catch that only he as the officer in charge of the mission was aware of. The plan was more complicated than it seemed.
The marine detachment on the station had a mission that most of the high brass wasn’t aware of—not even Admiral Weiss was aware of it. The one who gave the order was the Minister of Defense. They couldn’t leave anything that might implicate them. The loss of the server from the station would make it clear that they took it, but if there was no station, they wouldn’t be able to confirm that anything was missing. Dawson understood and agreed with the Minister completely. Olympus was a plague on humanity; they talked about equality, about unity, and yet they kept their technology out of the other nations’ hands. He hated them, and most of all that pompous jerk Klein.
Dawson’s wife had been working for a subsidiary of Olympus before they’d started expanding into space. She had held a high position and had a big salary—Olympus always paid well. But when they’d started transferring their business to space, they’d closed down, sold, or transferred most of the subsidiaries on Earth to space. He and his wife had declined Olympus’s offer to transfer to space, even though his wife had wanted to. But one of the conditions had been that Dawson resign from Concordis military and join Olympus security.
And he wasn’t willing to trade a life in the military for a security job. His wife had argued with him for days before finally relenting. She’d lost her job but had gotten a recommendation from Olympus. It had done her no good; the state of the economy in Concordis was such that, at the time, she just couldn’t get a job. From then on, everything had gone downhill. They’d struggled with money; his pay wasn’t enough to cover the lifestyle she was used to. And they’d argued all the time, until she had finally left him for a wealthier man. A man who could offer her her old lifestyle back. And Dawson knew that Olympus was the cause. He hated Tomas Klein with a deep, unyielding force; it was the only thing that kept him going. And now he had the chance to break Klein’s hold on Earth. Tomas Klein thought himself Earth’s protector; he treated them like children, keeping all the new toys out of their reach. I’ll show him, Dawson thought as he looked back to his screen. They were almost there; a few more minutes and they would enter Olympus space.
He looked to his first officer. “Contact Dauntless. They are to start transmitting to Bismarck as soon as we pass into Olympus territory.”
Dawson turned his eyes back to the screen that now showed the enhanced image of Cloud station. Yes, soon.
***
“We are receiving communications from Dauntless, Captain,” the comms officer said.
Captain Reginald Smith of Bismarck turned away from his study of the screen in front of him.
“Start sending them the prepared packages,” he said, and then turned to his first officer. “Are the marines safely aboard?”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Good. Disconnect us from the station and set a course away from our ships; we must appear as if we are trying to escape,” Captain Smith said. A minute later, they were disconnected from the station and heading away from Earth, Viking and Dauntless following. So far everything was going according to plan.
“Captain, we are detecting another ship on an intercept course!” the sensors officer yelled.
“What? Where is it coming from?” Captain Smith asked. The ship’s sensors looked for a heat signature that was given by a spaceship’s drives. It worked in tandem with their visual sensors to then detect the ship’s trajectory.
“It just came from around the planet, Captain. The sensor readings match that of an Olympus drive, but we can’t match the visual. And, Captain, it’s coming fast, a lot faster than anything we thought Olympus had,” the sensors officer said, his voice wavering slightly. Captain Smith checked the stats of the new ship and was amazed. The ship was traveling at least four times their max speed, and it was slowing down. They could go from the Earth to the moon in an hour or two if they wanted. Then it dawned on Captain Smith that they must have come from there. He asked for a visual of the ship, and a few moments later, the big screen on the front wall showed the new ship. At first it was blurry, but quickly the image focused and they could see the ship speed towards them. The ship had the same general shape as Bismarck, but it didn’t have any sharp angles. Its corners were all rounded, soft. There were things mounted on top of the ship, it took Smith a moment to realize what they were.
“Turrets?” Captain asked without noticing that he was talking out loud.
“Captain, we are getting a laser communication from that ship. Voice only,” the comms officer reported.
“Patch it through,” Captain Smith said.
“To Concordi
s vessel under the command of dissidents. This is Ship Master Adrian Farkas of Olympus warship Athena. Shut down your drives and prepare to be boarded. Any hostile action will result in the destruction of your vessel.”
Everyone on the bridge turned towards Captain Smith with their faces pale, and he looked back at them in the same manner. A warship? Olympus isn’t supposed to have warships! And yet, there one was, racing towards them at an unimaginable speed. He was just about to try and contact his sister ships when his comms officer yelled out.
“Captain! The station!” the comms officer yelled, his voice terrified.
***
Major Taylor was sitting back in the cargo hold of Bismarck, a part of their mission accomplished, as proved by the evidence in the palm of his hand.
“It’s really small,” he said.
“Olympus has superior technology. That little thing has the capacity to store the entirety of data created on Earth since the start of the internet age,” said Hughes, the man who’d extracted the core.
“Really? That’s impressive,” Taylor said. He turned the core in his hand one more time and then stored it away in a special container they’d brought with them. After securing the core, he turned to Novak. “Are we away enough from the station?” he asked.
“Yes, Major,” Novak said.
Taylor looked around his men and then sighed. “Do it.”
Novak took out a small device from his belt; there were two switches, and a red light. As he pressed one of the switches, the light turned blue. He then pressed the other switch; the light flashed twice and then turned green.
“It’s done,” Novak said.
Taylor nodded; there was no need for anything else. It was their job.
***
“We are receiving a voice-only communication from the new ship, Captain,” the Viking’s comms officer said.
Captain Tucker Dawson turned to his comms officer.
“Play it.”
A moment later, the speakers around the bridge came to life and a commanding voice boomed out.
“To Concordis vessels, this is Ship Master Adrian Farkas of Olympus warship Athena. You are in direct violation of international law. Turn your ships around and exit Olympus space; any other action will be treated as hostile and will be responded to as such.”
Dawson slammed his hand on the armrest. He looked at the video of the approaching ship provided by their visual sensors. Olympus had warships. How could have that gone unnoticed by everyone? Dawson wondered. The arrogance…they weren’t even a real country. He was convinced that it was all part of Tomas Klein’s plan. He might have even goaded the politicians to attempt this move, so that he could turn out a hero. He thought that his one ship was enough to turn them away from their goals. Well, he was mistaken. Dawson turned to his comms officer, intending to send a message to the other Concordis ships.
“Captain! The Cloud station just blew up!” the Viking’s sensors officer yelled out.
Dawson stopped. For a moment, he had forgotten about that part of the mission. He shook his head and forced himself to think clearly. His mission was to retrieve the server core. Slowly, he pushed his anger aside and tried to think clearly. He still had a mission to accomplish.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Adrian Farkas looked helplessly at the screen as the Cloud station blew up. There had been nothing to indicate that it was going to happen. One moment it was there, and the next it was in pieces. Pieces that would continue orbiting the Earth, until eventually some of them would drop down to the surface. Some would burn up in the atmosphere, but others, Adrian knew, would survive and crash into the planet. Everyone in the command center shared Adrian’s feelings at the moment. The heavy weight in their chests. The feeling of total helplessness. Adrian allowed himself and the others a second more of sorrow, and then he turned to his Comms Handler.
“Comms, inform Fleet of the situation,” he said coldly.
There would be time later for sorrow for the souls that had perished with the station; they had a job to do now.
“Bethany, I want trajectories on the movements of all three ships,” Adrian said. Bethany nodded and went to work. “Weapons, get me targeting solutions on all three ships,” Adrian told Noah. “Navigation, get us closer to the dissident ship. Put us between it and the Concordis ships.”
“Fleets Master Reiss is on the comms for you, Ship Master,” Estevez said.
Adrian accepted the call, and immediately Laura’s face filled his screen.
“Ship Master Farkas, from this moment on, you have authorization to open fire on Concordis ships. Try to avoid it, but if they keep ignoring your warnings, fire a warning shot. As for the dissident ship, disable them; it is now imperative that you take the ship and its crew prisoner. Do you understand?” she asked grimly.
“Yes, Fleets Master,” Adrian responded.
Laura nodded and ended the call.
“Comms, record a message for the Concordis ships,” Adrian said.
Estevez gave the go-ahead.
“Concordis vessels, turn your ships around and leave Olympus space. This is your last warning,” Adrian said.
He paused as another thought occurred to him.
“Comms, record another message to the fleeing ship,” Adrian said. “Power down your drives, surrender, and prepare to be boarded. You have—” Adrian looked at the estimated time it would take for the Concordis ships to intercept it. It showed 13 minutes. “—five minutes to acknowledge this message, or we will open fire.”
Estevez sent the message.
“I have the ships’ trajectories, Ship Master,” Bethany said. Rather than sending it to his screen, she turned on the holodesk. An image of Athena was shown in the middle, with its current course represented in a white line. The other ships were shown also, with their trajectories shown also, but with a blue line. A red orb signified where Cloud station used to be. Other information was shown; distances between the ships and their relative speeds were shown on a board that floated above the hologram, constantly updated. Adrian was amazed at the amount of the information showed there, much more than his screen could show. He knew that Bethany had been playing around with the holodesk since it had arrived, but wasn’t aware that she was this proficient with it. He looked at the fleeing ship; it was going a lot slower than Athena’s top speed. But they had slowed down in order to not overshoot the station, so the Concordis ships were closer. And even though they moved slower, they would reach the fleeing ship around the same time as Athena did.
“Did the Concordis ships respond?” Adrian asked.
“No, Ship Master,” Estevez said.
Adrian turned to Bethany. “Are there any signs that they are going to comply with our demands?”
“None, sir. They are still moving on an intercept course towards the fleeing vessel,” she said.
“Weapons, you have targeting solutions on both ships?” Adrian asked Noah.
“Yes, Ship Master,” he responded.
“Arm two missiles. Fire one at each of the Concordis ships, and set them to detonate five hundred meters before impact,” Adrian said.
“Yes, Ship Master,” Noah said.
A moment later, two new tracks appeared on the holodesk, moving on an intercept course towards the two ships. Adrian hoped that they would get the message.
***
“Power down your drives, surrender, and prepare to be boarded. You have…five minutes to acknowledge this message, or we will open fire,” the voice boomed out of the bridge speakers.
Captain Reginald Smith of Bismarck looked helplessly at his screen. The Olympus ship was gaining on them, and he knew that it would catch them. That it would arrive after their sister ships did not matter. This mission was a failure, they would not be able to surrender into Concordis custody with an Olympus warship there; it would not allow it, not after the station blew up. And if they opened fire on them, well, then one of them would be destroyed, which would start a war one way or another, if one h
adn’t started already.
Smith had talked to the marines, trying to figure out if they knew why the station blew up, and the marine major had confessed that he’d had orders to place an explosive device and to destroy the station after they accomplished their mission, he had assumed that Smith was aware of that part of the mission as well. He looked at his screen, trying to find a way for them to accomplish the rest of the mission without starting a fight with the Olympus ship, and couldn’t find it. The Olympus ship didn’t seem concerned with the other two Concordis ships, which suggested that they knew they could take them in a fight. Smith hoped that Captain Dawson was competent enough to back off. This just proved that they knew nothing about Olympus. God only knew how many more ships they had.
Captain Smith opened a channel to the Viking; a moment later, it was accepted.
“Captain Smith,” Captain Dawson said. His face held a terrible expression, a cross between hate and eagerness.
“Captain Dawson, you should retreat. The mission is a failure. Turn around. We will surrender to Olympus. The government back home can disavow us and try to salvage this.”
“No, you will follow the plan, Captain Smith. Turn your ship toward us; we will block the Olympus vessel,” Captain Dawson said.
“Dear God, man! We are in their territory; we have already broken international law. Let’s not bury ourselves any more than we already have,” Captain Smith said.
“You will follow your orders, Captain!” Captain Dawson yelled at him. There was something profoundly wrong with the captain of the Viking. Smith looked at his crew; he owed it to them to see to it that they got out of this alive.
“No, Captain Dawson, my ship will surrender to Olympus,” Captain Smith said, and closed off the channel. Just as he was to order a message sent to Olympus ship, his sensors officer yelled out.
“Weapons fire from Olympus ship!”
Before Smith had a chance to ask who was the target, his sensors officer added, “Two missiles, one on course towards the Viking and one at Dauntless.”
