by Charles Lamb
More importantly, GeSec was pleased at their own survival. The improved shields and hull plating had increased their survivability in confronting the human weapons. Now if they could just do the same for their offensive capabilities.
----*----
Brian double checked his tactical display to confirm his estimation that the NeHaw were, in fact, retreating. While ALICE-3 had managed to intercept and destroy some of the incoming missiles, far too many had found a target in the shipyard. He could hear his communications officer in an exchange with the Wawobash as she worked getting a damage report. He feared it was not going to be good.
“Sir, the commander of P5 reports the NeHaw are retreating. He wants to know if they should pursue?” the tactical officer asked.
“Negative, have them hold their positions until we are sure the NeHaw are leaving the system. I don’t want everyone drawn away from their positions, only to have to face a second wave of attacks,” Brian replied as they watched the P5 patrol craft take a stationary position, while P8 rejoined its wingman after chasing down a number of the missiles fired at the shipyard.
That thought had Brian turning his attention to the damage caused by the NeHaw. Although the Wawobash had a vast area of space around their home world converted to ship construction, only specific parts were dedicated to military applications. From the initial reports, those were the areas targeted by the missile strikes.
He suspected it would be some time before the total damage assessment was completed, but he was positive the damage was extensive.
Chapter 7
The remaining two days the Phantom spent on its return to Earth found its occupants tied up in after-action reviews of the attack on the Wawobash shipyard. The loss of one of the three space station modules was the least of Jake’s concerns from the early analysis. Since the remaining two were deemed space worthy, despite the pounding they took, they were released for delivery. The mystery NeHaw cruiser occupied most of their time and conversation.
By the time the Phantom had touched down on Earth, both surviving space station modules had arrived, with Kola acting as the assembly supervisor. She had taken up a position at the edge of the solar system, to act as a surrogate gate guard until the real space station could be made operational. The end goal was to create a fortress at the rim of the solar system, and this one had already shown its battle worth, hindered as it was without the human upgrades.
While the Phantom was normally housed in Texas, Jake had decided to set it down in Nevada first, allowing them to offload all the Intel they had gathered before having the ship returned to Texas for processing. In the care of Dallas, the ALICE system there, it would be repaired, refitted and readied for the next possible mission.
The Nevada desert was sunny and warm as it was now midsummer. Jake could see the heat waves shimmering across the barren landscape from the bridge window as they descended. As he guided the ship down, the massive hangar doors retracted, providing a sizeable opening for him to drop the ship through.
Once inside, it took him a moment to adjust to the relative darkness of the hangar, in comparison to the bright daylight above. He paused in his descent until he could see properly, moving to the displays on his console to verify a clear landing space below and to his right. Sliding the Phantom right, he finished his descent, resting softly on the ships landing struts.
“Home, sweet home,” he announced to the other occupants on the bridge.
Ivan and Edwin had joined him and Hannah on the bridge, as they prepared to land. Jake knew the two men had spent a considerable amount of time on the ship and were more than familiar with its operation. On more than one occasion he caught the Russian checking his piloting from the navigation chair, as Hannah had taken the copilots seat, at Jake’s request.
“Hannah, please go below and see to the transfer of the Intel take for analysis,” Jake asked the SAS trooper.
“Yes sir,” she replied as she rose from the copilot’s seat.
“And don’t let them give you or Sam any flack, she is in charge of that material until I say otherwise,” Jake said sternly.
He saw the smile cross Hannah’s face as she nodded in reply. The two women had worked tirelessly the last two days and Jake intended to see that they were properly recognized. Turning back to the bridge windows, he could see the expected reception committee standing nearby.
“Glad to be home old son?” Edwin asked as he started to rise.
“Maybe,” Jake replied as he pointed to the crowd outside. Edwin granted him a smile and a nod of understanding. While he was glad to be home, he had enjoyed the relative quiet of the last few days. From the crowd gathered outside, he expected that would be a distant memory all too soon.
----*----
With the space station modules delivered to Earth, Brian and ALICE-3 were doing their own damage assessments and defensive planning. Although they had offered to assist the Wawobash in repairing the significant amount of destruction caused by the NeHaw attack, they were politely refused. Brian felt like it was the apprentice asking to fix things for the master builder.
As he reviewed the shipyard repairs currently underway, he was amazed at how the Wawobash had attacked the problem. Rather than repairing the damaged areas, they simply removed the infrastructure and reorganized. The shipyard was evidently built in modular sections allowing the Wawobash to reconfigure their infrastructure based on the required workload.
Here the damaged modules were removed and the voids were filled with modules from other parts of the shipyard. ALICE-3 estimated that the military construction would be back to full production in less than two months.
The other good news was the space station modules still under construction had survived the attack, mostly unscathed. Two had been lightly damaged, requiring delivery delays as they rebuilt portions of the saucer skin. The module destroyed in the fighting would have to be completely rebuilt, and so would be the last for delivery.
Brian had been instructed to inform the Wawobash no penalties would be incurred due to late delivery and the replacement module would be paid for in full. While that seemed obvious to Brian, something hardly worth mentioning, the emissary he spoke with appeared visibly relieved to hear the news. It again reminded him why he was never going to be a diplomat.
“Brian, I have received word that all four patrol craft are in position,” ALICE-3 announced.
“Thanks,” Brian answered absently as he checked their own position just off the shipyards.
Once the NeHaw had retreated from the fight and eventually left the system, it had been suggested that they might have left some ships behind to harass shipping to and from Wawobash. Brian had ordered the four patrol craft to search the flight path common to normal space traffic, looking for any signs of ambush.
After a thorough sweep of the area and an all-clear declared, ALICE-3 had proposed placing the four ships at the midway point, replicating the position of the space station modules. While significantly smaller that the modules, their additional railgun firepower and stasis shields gave them similar abilities should another attack come.
Because the NeHaw were acting in an uncharacteristic manner, no one would dispute the possibility of a return visit so soon. As he scanned the status logs, Brian let out a sigh. He had the feeling they were going to be here for a very long time.
----*----
Jacob was standing above Assembly Bay Two, watching the latest batch of combat patrol craft being constructed. By now they had released more than enough transport models to meet the needs here on Earth and had cut over to the combat model almost exclusively.
He was gratified with all the reports he was receiving of the successes of the ships they produced here. Even though they were not FTL capable, their firepower and toughness made them a hit with their crews. As he stood there, he referred to the touchpad he was carrying several times, comparing its status to what he was observing.
To any casual onlooker, it would be clear the man was agitate
d. Jacob was concerned that the materials he needed to complete these ships wouldn’t arrive in time. Things were on such a tight schedule that any material shipment delays would halt the assembly process and tie up all the assembly bays.
“How is it looking luv?” Jacob heard in a British accent, as a redheaded woman took his arm and gave him a squeeze.
Gemma had become his right arm since first arriving from London. The daughter of the head of a British facility outside of London, she had chosen to come to Hawaii as part of an exchange program. She and Jacob had fallen for each other almost immediately, without the knowledge of who each was back home.
Their coming out had been a surprise to each other as much as their families. She had thought him nothing more than the head of manufacturing and he thought she just another engineer, escaping the English weather. While Jake was elated at the union, Gemma’s mother had other opinions on the subject.
“I am afraid that our entire operation here might be brought to a standstill if Robert doesn’t get that plate steel here in time,” Jacob replied while returning the squeeze.
“Let me see that,” she replied affectionately, while taking the pad from Jacobs’s hands and scanning through the displays.
“How about we stop work in Bay Three and just concentrate on the builds in One and Two. That way we can clear them and insure we don’t stall in all three?” Gemma asked as she continued to flip through the screens. Satisfied at her assessment, she offered the pad back to Jacob.
Taking the offered pad, Jacob moved through several screens until he found what he was looking for. Tapping out a few instructions, he handed Gemma the pad back for her review.
“Consider it done!” he said with a smile.
“Excellent, now come with me,” she replied with a dazzling smile of her own.
Jacob found himself being led back into the facility and down into the family area of the crew’s quarters. He was surprised to discover a number of children playing in one of the recreation rooms there. The entire area had been built with long term family occupancy in mind, and as such, it was well equipped with a number of entertainment and recreation zones.
Lanai itself was one of the lesser populated ALICE facilities, if for no other reason than its primary function, ship building, didn’t require a lot of on hand personnel. It was, however, a very popular R&R destination, one of the few places that allowed staff to go outside, unencumbered with combat suits. Jacob assumed that many of these families were here just to enjoy time outside in safety.
As Gemma led him down the halls, his hand firmly in her grasp, he realized he had never even visited the recreational facilities here. With his constant workload and the ever increasing demands, his life was one of continuous work. He was considering this as Gemma stopped in front of one of the personnel quarter’s doors on this level. With a flourish, she waved it open and led him inside.
Standing in the main room, they had passed one bathroom located on their right as they entered. The main room itself consisted of a lounging area with a pair of couches and two overstuffed chairs on one side. The other side had a large dining room table with eight chairs, all of a dark wood.
Farther back behind the table and chairs was a small kitchen. As he crossed the room, Jacob could see it had everything one would need to cook their own meals, should you choose that option over Lanai’s automated kitchens. He could see that the automated option was available as well, with one of the walls holding the familiar door in the wall where the automated deliveries arrived.
“Come see,” Gemma said as she led him further into the quarters. On the back wall was an opening to a hall that led into three bedrooms, and a bathroom accessed from the hall. The master bedroom was at the end, and included a spacious sitting area, king size bed and included an ensuite bathroom. All in all, Jacob counted a 3 bedroom, 3 bath family unit.
“Now, I have saved the best for last,” Gemma said with a smile as she led Jacob back into the hall and into one of the smaller bedrooms. Here, he found a completely furnished nursery, with everything one might need to care for a newborn.
“Gemma, what is all this?” Jacob asked, confused by the tour.
“I asked Lanai where the Commanding Officer’s family lived. She said that this was one of several officer’s quarters that served that purpose. She was able to send some bots out shopping for me on the other islands and gathered everything I needed to decorate it properly,” she replied, obviously quite proud of her accomplishment.
“Well, it’s beautiful, but the wedding isn’t for a few months yet. You know how your mother has been procrastinating. Besides, my place is plenty big enough for the two of us,” Jacob replied as he took her hands in his.
“Jacob, this room isn’t for show,” Gemma replied softly.
As it hit Jacob that they were standing in the nursery, his heart leaped and he swept Gemma up. His kiss was gentle but firm. Suddenly, he stopped and he held her out at arm’s length.
“Your mom is going to shit.”
----*----
Jake was sitting in his quarters, tablet in hand, as he scanned the backlog of reports that had stacked up in his absence. As he expected, everyone was more than holding up their areas of responsibility, so he was just trying to catch up. While he read, Sara sat on the couch, looking particularly miserable as she shifted around, trying to find a comfortable position.
“Can I get you anything?” he asked as she finally settled in place.
“A new body!” she replied, before yielding him a weak smile.
Jake wisely chose not to remind her that this was something she had wanted. Granted, the twins were not in the equation at the time, but he firmly believed you had to be careful what you wished for. He provided the most sympathetic smile he could and went back to his reading.
The Phantom had set down midday local time and from the moment he exited the ship until now he had been in continuous debriefings. Between providing all the intimate details of their own mission, to reviewing the events at Wawobash, Jake and the others had attempted to cover weeks of activity in seven hours.
During that time, he had both Hannah and Sam come in and report their own observations. He would have liked to have Sergeant Carson there as well, but the sergeant was currently working with Kola, who was getting the space station sections assembled.
The sergeant and the men and women with him were training in the combat patrol ships at the edge of the solar system. As fighting vessels, the Lanai built craft had proven the most popular with the troops. Jake suspected it had something to do with the overabundance of weaponry, a compensation for their lack of FTL capabilities. If they couldn’t run they needed to fight like hell.
While the Earth had a significant number of ships, mostly destroyers, acting as convoy protection for the allied planets, the Lanai ships were 100% combat vessels, made to engage and destroy enemy ships, period. Their success in that capacity had freed up the rest of the fleet for interstellar use, while they remained behind to protect Earth.
“Oh god, I need to pee again,” Sara suddenly announced. Jake quickly rose to help her up and then watched as she headed into the bedroom.
“I think I am going to lay down after,” she added, giving him the briefest smile and a quick kiss before she disappeared.
“I’ll be there shortly,” Jake answered sympathetically as he returned to his seat. He had noticed that since his return, Sara had not left his side. She had attended every debrief of the day, sitting quietly at his side. While he wasn’t tired, he knew better than to leave her alone just yet, and so intended to go join her soon.
With a nod of understanding, he went back to his reports, just happy to be home.
----*----
Colonel Bo Chao was not quite sure what to make of the American sitting across from him. While he had never met the man before, he was well aware of his reputation as Colonel Thomas’s logistics officer. Technically a Major, the Americans didn’t stand on ceremony when it came to non-combat
assignments.
“As you can see, I have a significant number of moderately armed transport ships at my disposal,” Robert Jacobson stated as he indicated the paperwork in front of Bo.
“And you wish to train with my men for combat?” Bo asked skeptically.
“Yes. I have the prime resource for moving large quantities anywhere on the planet. You have the largest concentrated force on the planet. It seems logical that we should plan for such a need?’ Robert replied.
“Does Colonel Thomas know of this?” Bo asked.
“No, he has been unavailable as you may have heard. However, I have discussed the subject with my wife and she thinks it’s a great idea,” Robert answered with a smile.
“Your wife?” Bo asked flatly, his composure slipping for a second.
“Yes. We talked it over and she sees great value in the idea. By the way, I should mention she is the commander of the ALICE facility in Texas and Lt Colonel Sullivan’s sister,” Robert replied with a broad smile.
Bo realized he had been played by underestimating the connections Robert had, then answered with a smile of his own. Americans had very strange ideas of humor.
“So where exactly were you thinking we would be practicing these assault landings?” Bo asked after a moment.
“The moon,” Robert replied, turning quite serious.
After a moment, Bo nodded with a much more genuine smile.
“Your wife was right, that is an excellent idea.”
Chapter 8
Jake awoke in the stillness of his personal quarters deep in the Alice-1 facility. He was immediately aware of the warmth of his beloved Sara, still snuggled up close to his bare back. A smile crossed his face as he also felt her rather large baby bump against his spine. More than anything he wanted to gently wake her, embrace her tenderly, and spend the day with her.
The time away from her, the difficulties in returning home, and the fighting yet to come, all had him basking in the moment. Her slow, steady breathing was like a siren’s call, beckoning him to stay in bed with her.
