Charles knelt by the bed and looked at the admiral who was tranquilized and asleep. He felt sorry for him. This great man thought so highly by everyone now reduced to the mentality of a child.
“He’s become extremely combative so it’s easier to keep him sedated. Probably easier on him as well,” said the doctor.
Charles stood up. “The president wants you to explore every possibility of helping him. Whatever it takes, whatever resources you need. He’s the only one who can tell us about the EXODUS.”
As Charles consulted with the doctors on Earth TERRA’s head of security was walking alone down the cold looking corridor of the security wing of TERRA headquarters on Luna. Admiral Vespia was heading to her office after meeting with the command council. She did not want to attend; however, she knew it was prudent to be present for all command meetings if for nothing else to keep her eye on Admiral Donalds. The situation with the EXODUS was precarious and Vespia wanted to keep tabs on the entire council in the event one or more of them tried to make her the scapegoat if things went sour.
The admiral passed through the reception area and went straight to her office. Her assistant had left for the day, which suited her as she wanted to be alone. Once inside she quickly punched a passcode in the door terminal and locked herself in her office.
“Computer, bring up all outgoing transmissions from Luna,” she said as she poured herself some tea.
“Working,” replied the computer. A computer monitored popped up from the top of the admiral’s desk, ready for her to use.
“Any messages for me?”
“Three messages. One message flagged as VDC-1 priority.”
That caught the admiral’s attention. She went and sat down at her large maple desk and looked at the message. It was verbal only.
“Verify authenticity of message.”
“Verifying. Authentication of message verified.”
“Download message to this station. Then terminate all data streams coming in and out of this building. Authorization Vespia 2-9-1-7-Alpha-6-9.”
“Working.” The admiral sat back in her black leather chair, the plush cushion cooling the back of her neck. She wasn’t sure if she would ever receive a message from her operative. It had been years since she heard from the individual.
“Message downloaded,” said the computer. “All data transmissions to and from the facility has ceased.”
“Play the message.”
“Admiral Vespia.” The message was scratchy and distorted.”
“Run the message through the filters,” ordered Vespia. “Clean up any background noise and enhance vocal patterns.”
There was a momentary pause as the computer ran the message through some algorithms. A few seconds later the message replayed.
“Admiral Vespia.” The voice sounded clear, but still distorted. The admiral recognized that a voice modulator had been used to prevent identification of the speaker. She trained her operatives well.
“As of this message being recorded I am on board EXODUS which is now in the outer solar system. As you may already have concluded the technologies on this ship have worked successfully under full operation. Admiral Oliver Johnson vacated the ship prior to his launch and you should be able to locate him somewhere on Earth. He has placed the command of this ship to cadets John Roberts and Julie Olson who intend to carry out Admiral Johnson’s orders to learn more about the Screen.”
Vespia knew Johnson was an idealist and admired him for it, but she thought he never be foolish enough to launch the EXODUS.
“I never expected this ship would survive to get to the outer solar system. The planetary cannon on Mars should have disabled or destroyed this vessel, but as you already know that’s been proven wrong. Since I have not had any contact with you since the vessel’s launch I assume you will want me to take whatever means necessary to prevent the ship from completing its mission. Unless I bring the ship under my control this will be the last communication you’ll receive. I suggest any intelligence you have on EXODUS be discarded immediately.”
“End of message,” announced the computer. Vespia pounded her fist on the transparent desk. She wanted to contact her operative to give him new orders, but she couldn’t risk it as she knew Donalds was keeping a close eye on her. Her agent was going to do something she didn’t want, destroy EXODUS. It was apparent now the ship was leaving the system and she wanted it to complete its mission.
“Computer, erase all traces of this message. Then access all files regarding EXODUS and destroy them as well.”
“Working,” said the computer. The information she had about EXODUS was valuable, but if it was ever discovered that Vespia had been conducting intelligence gathering on the EXODUS Project Admiral Donalds would certainly use it to brand her a traitor for not coming forward to assist in stopping the ship. No, it was better that the information was destroyed so that she could never be traced back to the EXODUS Project.
“Files erased,” announced the computer.
“Good,” replied Vespia as she opened a desk drawer and pulled a paper file. The file contained information on the agent Vespia had deployed to the project. She took the precaution and never kept information about this agent on the computer server. As far as anyone knew the agent never existed.
She quickly flipped through the file. Tonight it would be going in the fireplace at the admiral’s home. Her only goal now was to locate Admiral Johnson and bring him in without Donalds knowledge. Her plans for Johnson were quite different from what TERRA wanted.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
John was sitting in his office reading various reports filed by EXODUS personnel over the past twenty years during the ship’s construction. John wanted to get a sense of the individuals who made up his crew and he was amazed how much he was learning from these reports. If John could sum up one word about this crew it was that they were passionate. Each person was dedicated to the mission and what their expertise could contribute to help make this journey a success. They all had pledged to support Admiral Johnson during his tenure as project leader. With him gone they had now pledged to follow and support John as he led them through uncharted space.
“Captain Roberts, please report to the command deck,” said Julie over the ship’s speakers. It was time. The ship was now repaired and the hyper-drive was primed and ready to go. John stood up and headed out to the command deck, the captain bars now resting on his shoulders. He quickly turned around and looked at the platinum picture frame on his desk. The frame with no picture, only the words “Dearest Duchess Samantha and Selva” printed on the plain white background.
“I did it you guys. I did it,” he said as he looked at the frame and quickly reminisced of time’s past. He thought about X for a moment. He wished he could have seen his house bot one last time, to say he was sorry. He realized the last few years at home he had taken the bot for granted, grown distant from it as John focused on his preparations to enter the Academy. Hopefully, X would still be there when he got back. He turned and left the office, stepping out on the catwalk and heading down into the pit. His senior staff was waiting down there including the doctor and chief of security.
“We’re ready captain,” said Julie from the tactical table. John looked around; everyone had their attention on him.
“Open speakers,” he instructed his executive officer. Julie activated the ship wide speakers so that the entire crew would hear what John had to say. She nodded to him that the channel was ready to transmit his words. At first, John couldn’t think of a thing to say. He wanted to have some speech ready to give to the crew. But as hard as he tried he couldn’t come up with anything. He relented and decided to simply speak from his heart.
“Attention crew. This is the captain,” he started. “In just a few moments we will begin a remarkable journey, a journey that humanity tried to start long ago with the HORIZON. Each of you understands the dangers facing us. We have no support from home and face an enemy we know little about. But despite that,
we have already prevailed. Some of you are wondering if we are ready for this. I knew we were the moment I watched this crew work together in the face of adversity. You all have been working for years to get to this moment. That preparedness is what will allow us to succeed.”
John took a breath before continuing. Julie could not help but admire her former roommate and how much he had grown up these past few days. When Admiral Johnson told them that John would lead this ship Julie thought it was a mistake that would only lead to disaster. Now that thought seemed nothing more than a distant memory.
“Admiral Johnson made it clear what the ship’s mission objective should be. To seek out the Screen, learn what their true intent towards humanity is and find a means to eliminate them as a threat. But that will not be our only mission. The existence of the Screen proves there is life out there and a chance that other advanced alien races exist. We will seek them out. They may have information about the Screen that we need and we may be able to forge alliances with them. Our journey will be difficult, but there are millions of people back home depending on us, even if they don’t know it yet.” John looked at his command deck crew. Alex’sis, Julie, Bret, Joseph, and Kevin all looked at John with full confidence. Satisfied with his speech, John headed to his command chair.
“All decks, prepare for jump,” he ordered.
“Aye captain,” replied Julie. “All decks prepare for jump.”
“Navigation ready,” reported Kevin. “We’re ready to jump to Alpha Centauri at your command.”
Julie looked up to John. “All decks report ready.” John looked up at the stars through the windows on the upper command deck. He would never get tired of that view. What was waiting for them out there? It was a thought that excited John back at the Academy and a dream that had finally come true for him.
“Navigation, engage the hyper-drive. Take us to Alpha Centauri.”
Outside the ship headed away from the solar system and out towards space. On the hull where the words EXODUS once was displayed had been blacked out by the repair crews during the ship’s repairs. Instead a new name was displayed prominently in red. What was once called EXODUS was now called PHOENIX. The ship that originally meant escape for humanity was now a symbol of rebirth for humanity’s journey into the stars.
The hum of the engines grew louder as the energy build up increased. Then, in an instant, the newly born PHOENIX flew out of the solar system and disappeared into deep space.
THE GALAXY AWAITS…
The adventures of the TXS PHOENIX and her crew continues in Phoenix Among The Stars
Novels By Robert Stadnik
EXODUS SERIES
Exodus Of The Phoenix
Phoenix Among The Stars
Phoenix In Chaos
HEROES & CONSEQUENCES SERIES
Tales Of A Former Child Superhero
Learn more about the author at
www.goodreads.com
Exodus Of The Phoenix Page 26
