He felt surprise, then deep appreciation for their willingness to put their lives at risk. Especially Long Walker, whose culture had never been violent toward other Zipziptoes. “Thank you all! Learned Escape and Long Walker were both helpful and daring in our attack on the Buyer compound.” He fixed on Bright’s green eyes, the better to avoid the distraction of her bare breasts. “Extra eyes and extra weapons are always welcome!”
She grinned, a behavior common to both humans and Megun. “Daring I am, as you may recall,” her speaker/vidcam said as it translated the chromatophoric speech of her color-banded skin.
He did recall just how daring in love-making she had been not long after her release from her cell. That had been before he and Jane had found each other. “I do recall. A happy memory.” He looked over the three of them. “In the chamber, speak to Star Traveler. It will provide you with a hover bot or two for laser practice. But first, try shooting with your tasers. The hover bots can withstand the coherent electrical beam well enough to survive for several rounds of shooting.”
“We will follow your guidance,” moaned Long Walker, its two beady black eyes looking up at Bill and the others.
He respected the ten-foot long giant worm. Its dagger-filled circular mouth could munch through most anything that was organic, while the claws on its feet were tough enough to leave scars on the gray metal of the ship floors. The claws on its front pair of leg-hands were retractable, which allowed it fine control of its Collector Pods control pillar. During the Buyer compound raid, it had gripped its laser tube rifle with an easy assurance. And Learned Escape had shown himself to be a marksman nearly as talented at shooting as Stefano. He gave them a thumbs-up, one of the many human hand gestures all the ship’s crew now understood.
“Good fortune with your shooting, then,” he said, standing to one side of the hallway so the three could cross the hall to the Collector Pods Chamber.
Bright Sparkle and Long Walker passed by him. Learned Escape followed them, but stopped as he came up to Bill. The man fixed green eyes on him. “Weapons Chief, by now it is possible my people have constructed a duplicate of this ship. Possibly more. If after you warn Earth this ship can travel to our home system, Earth might gain additional combat ships for the defense of your Sol system.”
Bill nodded to the black-haired man. While resembling an ancient Greek god in his muscular physique, Learned had shown himself to be an excellent scout with a nose for danger during the Buyer raid. He thought the man was middle-aged, though it was hard to tell with the Megun people. While they were near duplicates of humanity, their species did not show age, beyond a few streaks of gray in the hair of their elders. His honeymoon visit to their world of Harken had been a joy, and a sobering exploration of how people could survive the attacks of giant dino-like creatures who attacked any creature that made a noise. While those creatures were now restricted to wild reserves, they still played a role in the coming of age ceremonies of young Megun. Learned was a teacher of the skills needed to survive in its jungles. Bill suspected the man could be a fine special operations recruit, if given the chance.
“Thank you, Learned. I will pass your thoughts on to Captain Jane. Your home star is located in the same direction as the enemy fleet star, just a bit farther distant. And I will include you in any planning for special operations in the future.”
“Thank you,” the Megun said as he stored his red cube door opener in a pocket of his cargo pants. Rainbow bands of color flowed over his skin. “I enjoyed visiting your world of Earth. It is as special as our world of Harken. I will do all in my power to preserve your world and its people.”
Bill’s pulse sped up as the impact of the man’s words hit him. Sharon’s evening bridge games had brought out the amiable side of Bright Sparkle’s life partner. Now, he was seeing again the dedicated and deadly side of a man who knew much about survival against long odds. “Thank you! I look forward to formally adding your people to our NATO of the Stars. And to visiting again your world of Harken. Jane and I enjoyed our honeymoon trip to your northern resort. And we loved the marriage ceremony Bright Sparkle arranged on your orbital station.” Bill realized he was sounding officious in front of a man who’d long ago proved his loyalty to the ship. “Hey, come by our place tonight and maybe we four can enjoy some cabernet sauvignon red wine and a game of cribbage. You up for that?”
“I am most up for it,” Learned said, his speaker/vidcam unit speaking in a low bass rumble that fit the man’s stature and bearing. “Until tonight.”
Bill watched as the man who was chief pilot for their transport Talking Skin walked over to the Collector Pods entry door, pointed his red cube at it and then entered when the oval door slid open. Once more he gave thanks for his and Jane’s decision to allow every crew member access to all parts of the Blue Sky. Trust shown had resulted in loyalty enlarged. He resumed his walk toward the ship’s Engine Chamber. Checking out the alternate Command Bridge controls in that room was one of his To Do chores that he had put off for too long. Time to do the routine. Soon enough they would all face danger and death-giving Aliens.
CHAPTER FOUR
They exited Alcubierre space-time not far from Pluto and its moons. Bill had always been fascinated by the reddish-brown planet and its cluster of five moons, which ran from tidally-locked Charon to outermost Hydra. The debate years ago about whether it was a dwarf planet or a ‘real’ planet had seemed unreal to him when he’d read about it on the internet, during his few free moments from team deployments. Now, the planet and its moons were centered in the true space holo to Bill’s upper right of his Weapons station. To everyone’s surprise, they were hailed by someone signaling from the small world’s surface.
“Incoming neutrino signal from Pluto,” announced Star Traveler to everyone on the Command Bridge.
Jane sat forward in her captain’s seat atop the command pedestal that occupied the middle of their circular bridge. “Hold on accepting it. What neutrino emitting ships are now present in Sol system?”
Bill looked to his left at the system graphic holo that automatically updated to show any system’s star, planets, asteroid belts, local spaceships and Collector starships. He spotted a purple dot next to Jupiter and two close to Earth. One red dot local ship was in transit to the Moon. Their five ships showed as green dots next to Pluto. He felt relief that no enemy Collector ships were present.
“Only the three Collector ships captured by you Humans are now present in your home system,” the AI hummed. “As everyone can see on their system graphic, two ships are near Earth and one is next to your world of Jupiter. The local spaceship moving toward your Moon is the Magfield spacedrive-fitted submarine USS Minnesota. There are no other spacecraft active within Sol system.”
“Thank you,” Jane said hurriedly. “Accept the signal. Put it into the common comlink holo.”
Jane’s image disappeared from the comlink holo on Bill’s right and was replaced by that of a man dressed in an Air Force blue jumpsuit. The man’s shoulders carried the eagle pin of a colonel. His brown hair was crewcut with sidewalls. His eyes widened as he saw Jane in the return signal.
“Captain Yamaguchi! Glad to see you back in Sol system.” The man frowned. “Last we heard you were expected to be gone for months, recruiting star peoples into this NATO of the Stars. Anything wrong? Uh, I’m James Minetowa. Colonel, that is.”
Jane relaxed her tense posture. She smiled at the man’s confused greeting. “Colonel Minetowa, nice to see you. Looks like DOD decided to set up a base on Pluto. Yes?”
The middle-aged man looked back as two Navy ensigns peered in through an open pressure hatch door. “Tell everyone it’s the Blue Sky. She’s back home.” He turned and faced Jane. “Captain, yes, we just got here three days ago. The Tangi Valley brought us out here and set up a prefab dome like the one you folks put down on Mars. It’s headed back home. It left us with this neutrino FTL comlink, in addition to the basic radio, radar, neutrino sensor, electro-optical scope and such stuf
f. Our brief here is to be the early lookout for the arrival of any enemy Collector ship, or ships.”
Bill felt pleased that someone at DOD had shown enough initiative to set up the early warning station on Pluto. While the Space Command headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base had neutrino sensors able to detect the arrival of enemy ships, still, it made sense to have an early lookout posted on the edge of the Solar system. He hoped they had some kind of defense laser or anti-ship missile battery for protection. Though a single Collector ship’s armament was enough to take out any normal human base. As they’d discovered during the enemy bombardment of Earth’s space launch sites, before their spec ops boarding teams had taken over the six enemy ships.
Jane gave the man a wave. “Good to hear we have a lookout base this far out. Makes sense. And to answer your question, something is wrong. You’ll hear the news when I tell it to General Poindexter. We’ll keep you in our neutrino signal feed. Now, I’ve got to call our local Collector ships.” She glanced up at the ceiling. “Star Traveler, send a neutrino signal to the ships Tangi Valley, Rolling Thunder and Takur Ghar. Add their images to the comlink holo.”
“Complying,” the ship mind hummed low. “Signals sent. Responses arriving. Images and voice transferred to comlink holo.”
Bill watched as the images of fellow SEALs Jake Slowzenski, Mack Hodson and Janice Watanabe took form in the man-high holo that hovered to the right of his Ship Weapons work station. They each looked healthy. While no crew stations showed in the close-up holo image, he thought the three would like hearing about the six new Slinkeroo recruits. They could add a walking snake to their crew, in addition to any volunteers they’d gained from the 93 Captives they all had rescued in the Market world raid. He left behind memories as the images of the three captains took form in the comlink holo, joining the image of Colonel Minetowa.
“Captain!” called Jake from the Tangi Valley, looking briefly startled. “Glad to see you. Something happen out there?”
“Same here,” muttered Mack from the Rolling Thunder. “Same question. Though it’s great to see you. And everyone else, I assume.”
Janice Watanabe of the Takur Ghar had always been good at reading people. Now, she saw Jane’s face and winced. “Bad news it seems. Glad to see you, Captain Jane.”
Bill looked back over his shoulder. His wife did indeed look both tense and worried. She gave a wave to the three folks who’d led ship boarding teams, then stayed behind to serve as a protection force for the Solar system. “All too right. Bad news it is. Stay in link while I contact General Poindexter. She and the JCS need to hear the news first. You three and Colonel Minetowa will hear what I’ve already shared with my fleet captains.” She paused, licked her lips, then rested her slim arms on the armrests of her command seat, striving for the relaxed but attentive look of a commander in charge. She put on her serious face. “Star Traveler, signal General Poindexter at Building One at Peterson. Use the encrypted neutrino frequency. Mark the signal for her personal attention.”
“Complying. Signal annotated.” A brief delay happened even though every neutrino comlink signal traveled FTL thanks to passing through other dimensions. “Response incoming from Peterson.”
The comlink holo filled with the image of the four star general who was the Air Force chief of staff. The woman’s black face showed concern. “Captain Yamaguchi, you are back early. Something wrong?” The woman sat at the same video display table where previously she and the other chiefs had talked with Jane during the battle against the invading starships. Behind and to either side of her, Bill saw the moving forms of staff airmen. Four of the other JCS chiefs sat nearby at other display tables. Poindexter gestured aside. “Chairman McAuley is in Geneva meeting with the military chiefs of China, Russia and NATO. What’s happened?”
Jane gave the woman a quick salute. “General, this conversation is being shared with the captains of the three ships left behind here, so they can be alerted to what I will be sharing. Colonel Minetowa on Pluto is also listening in. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Acceptable,” the black woman said quickly, her tone impatient. “To repeat, what’s happened that brings you home early?”
“General, let me share the good news first. Okay?”
“Proceed,” the middle-aged woman said calmly, ignoring the rise in chatter as people recognized Jane in the flat screen display that filled the top of the Air Force chief’s tactical display table.
“We disabled the offensive weapons of the Traffic Control station in orbit above the Market world of HD 128311, destroyed one Collector ship, captured a second and then destroyed 97 Buyer compounds on the surface of that Market world. We also rescued nearly a hundred Captives from the Buyer compounds we raided,” Jane said hurriedly. “Our fleet then traveled to HD 10647, the home system for the Slinkeroo snake folks. It lies just 56 light years from Earth. Their Council of Seven and their Prime Elder have agreed to join the president’s NATO of the Stars. That’s the good news,” Jane said.
“Out with the rest of it,” Poindexter said bluntly, her tone tough but courteous.
Jane gave a quick nod. “On our arrival near the outermost planet of the Slinkeroo system, we immediately detected the presence of an enemy Collector ship in orbit above the world of Notter,” she said, her mezzo-soprano voice sounding firm. “My attempt to impersonate the cockroach former commander of the Blue Sky failed. The enemy ship’s AI, unlike most ship AIs, alerted the Alien ship captain to the reality of our arrival. In talking to the enemy captain we discovered the news of our raid on the Market world has spread across the stars of the Buyer society. Worse, the captain said a new attack fleet is being gathered at star Kepler 62. That star is 1,200 light years distant from Earth.” Jane paused, bit her lower lip, then continued. “As your neutrino sensors may report, I came back here with our original four fleet ships plus one. The fifth ship is the one we captured during our battles at HD 128311. Its captain is Joe Batigula. He chose to name his ship Manila Bay. We had some casualties but no deaths. I concluded we should all return here to alert you and the JCS to the fact another attack on Earth is likely to happen, though it could take two or three months for the enemy to gather a fleet larger than the six ships led by Diligent Taskmaster.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Star Traveler, neutrino transmit the AV record of my conversations with the enemy captain and yours with the enemy ship mind to Peterson. Also include the vidcam records of our Market world battle and our encounters with the Slinkeroo people. Do it now.”
“Transmitting those vidcam datafiles,” the AI hummed.
Nearest to Poindexter was the four star general who was chief of the Army. Like Jane he was of Japanese ethnic ancestry. The man grimaced. “Crap! We need to alert General McAuley to this. Maybe he can form a joint command with the folks he is meeting.”
Poindexter looked to her right, gave the man a look that could freeze a snowball, then fixed back on Jane. “Captain of the fleet Yamaguchi, you did just right to return here. Thank you for sending your contact records. And congratulations on the capture of another Collector ship. It is good to hear you liberated many Captives from their cells.” The woman paused, gave a nod to the other chiefs of the JCS as the four of them gathered at her table, then fixed back on his wife. “Captain Poindexter, I gather Earth has at least 48 days before any enemy fleet arrives here, since that is the FTL travel time to this enemy star base. Correct?”
“Correct,” Jane said, her slim fingers gripping the armrests tightly even as her face stayed calm and collected. “However, based on our past encounters with the enemy and the distances we have traveled star to star, I estimate it will be at least two months or longer before a new enemy fleet leaves for Earth. That travel time will take another month and a half. We have some time to prepare.”
Poindexter folded her hands on the display table and peered intently at Bill’s captain. “Informal now. Jane, you would not have returned here without spending the last few days coming up with some kind of plan f
or dealing with this new threat. What is your plan? I need something to convey to General McAuley and to President Hartman. You know them. They always want solutions whenever anyone reports a problem to them.”
“Harriet, I do have some thoughts,” Jane said, leaning forward a bit.
Bill tensed. This was the crux point. His wife had shared with him last night the outlines of her plan to deal with the new attack threat, while they lay next to each other in the dark, holding each other close. Neither had felt like love making. Both had needed closeness.
Poindexter lifted an eyebrow. “Share with us.”
“My plan has four stages,” Jane said quickly. “First stage is to leave four of our Collector starships here, with you, to form a basic defense fleet. That gives humanity seven very deadly starships. Second stage is for me to take the Blue Sky, along with the nine reactivated vets who now crew those ships, to Kepler 62. On arrival there I will imitate a former captain of another Collector ship, a captain who lived far in the past. That fake holo image will be matched by a fake ship ID. My ship AI is very adept at pretending to be other than what we truly are. We will act as an intelligence asset, picking up data on the enemy fleet and its preparations.” She licked her lips, likely feeling as dry as Bill’s mouth now felt. “Third stage is for our nine vet boarding team to attempt a capture of three or four enemy ships by way of collector pods. Whatever happens during the capture attempt, we will continue to pretend to be a member of the enemy fleet. Hopefully that will allow us to accompany the enemy when it departs for Sol.” She paused, shaking black bangs out of her eyes. “Fourth stage is after we arrive beyond Pluto. While the enemy fleet is reorganizing after the long transit to our Solar system, the Blue Sky and our captured ships will strike the rear flank of the enemy fleet with antimatter beams. Hopefully we can disable part of that fleet. We will then follow the enemy as it heads in-system, harrying it as possible. I suggest the seven ships left at home should rendezvous with us at Jupiter for an all-out battle. We cannot allow any enemy ship to get within nuke warhead strike distance of Earth. That is my best action plan.”
Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens Page 5
