Leaving the images of Maureen, Minna, Hideyoshi, Gareth and the other captains, Jack focused on the central image of death and destruction being visited upon 30,000 Alien beings who slept in Cold Sleep. They had chosen to come to Sol system with the aim of adding Earth and its people to the Hunt territory of the HikHikSot species. A bad choice.
Two black beams moved from the middle of the colony ship toward its distant stern. At the ship’s nose, two dozen neutral particle beams struck the giant ship’s nose, vaporizing it in a blue-white blast and leaving the ship with a decapitated hull. Briefly Jack saw inner decks, hallways, air shafts and large halls filled with hundreds of white Cold Sleep capsules, all of it partly obscured by the white spray of outrushing air and water. Then those decks and their contents flashed into nothingness as the fleet’s blue beams marched into the innards of the colony ship even as HF lasers raked the exterior hull, ventilating it with dozens of hull penetrations. A cloud of white gas and water now enveloped the western end of the giant ship.
The upper spine of the ship had split apart as the two antimatter beams vaporized everything solid they encountered, briefly unveiling inner cargo holds filled with thousands of Cold Sleep capsules. The yellow-white light of total matter-to-energy conversion became a tiny sun globe that devoured as it moved toward the eastern stern of the ship.
Three blue-white blasts struck the ship remnants as fusion reactors lost containment in the front, middle and rear of the ship.
“Keep firing until every piece of that Alien ship is gone!” Jack yelled to Hideyoshi, Minna and Maureen.
It took five minutes to totally vaporize every metal fragment that had tumbled away from the central blasts. But it was done. On the front screen, the image of reddish-brown Sedna filled the left side of the screen while the right half showed diamond-white sparkles as the two antimatter beams and the twenty-four neutral particle beams completed their work.
Across the top of the screen came the images of Hideyoshi, Minna, Ignacio, Akemi, Júlia, Aashman, Kasun, Gareth and eighteen other ship captains from all three fleets. Five of the images showed whisps of black smoke in the Pilot Cabins. One of them was Ignacio’s ship.
“Ignacio!” cried Elaine in a trembling voice. “Are you hurt? Anyone else hurt? Are you safe? What happened to—”
“I am intact,” his Basque brother said, interrupting his sister’s trembling voice. “As are all my cousins. Got hit by two HF lasers as our fire ball rolled through their formation. Be at peace.”
Jack looked to Hideyoshi. The older Asian man looked fatigued but showed resolute determination in his expression. “Five of our ships were hit by laser fire, none by particle beams,” he reported calmly. “Onboard fires are out, mechbots are repairing hull ruptures, and all of my captains have asked me how soon we will all join Captain Jack in smoking his cigars, drinking his bourbon and enjoying his steaks!”
Everyone in the Pilot Cabin laughed, including Jack. His hands felt shaky from the stress of a two front battle, which was why he now kept them below his Tech panel and out of sight of the other ship captains. “Fleet Admiral Minamoto, thank you for your service! And the service of every captain in our three fleets! As for booze, cigars and steaks, well, I think I stocked enough of them in our cargo hold to satisfy the appetites of twenty-seven ship captains. Though if you include ship crews, well, we may run short.”
Hideyoshi smiled, as did Minna of the yellow braids, Gareth of the full beard, Ignacio of the black mustache and everyone else. Jack looked back at his friend and fellow survivor Max. The man’s gray eyes seemed to be twinkling. “Hey pal, think it’s time for a party?”
“Damn straight it is!” Max said, sounding happy.
Warm hands touched his shoulders. “I love you,” murmured Nikola from behind him.
Denise grinned, then rolled her jade green eyes. “You two are such sickly sweet lovebirds!” she teased.
Elaine fixed him with a determined look. “Ignacio and I need some private time. After the party meal. Understand?”
Jack understood and felt sharp joy that his sister had now found love. She had given up command of her own Belter cargo ship to join his crusade against invading Aliens. It was love later in life, like he and Nikola, but it was love nonetheless, judging by the infatuated look on Ignacio’s face as the man watched his sister rather than Jack.
“Understood. Agreed. And congratulations,” he said, turning his attention to Hideyoshi. “Fleet Admiral, are you willing to host my crew and all the captains on board your ship? I think only a cruiser is large enough for the party we plan to have!”
“Of course!” said the man who had changed his allegiance from Unity naval blues to Mars reds, and the service of keeping humanity safe from being turned into a subject people under the control of social carnivores from the stars. “But what about the three ships which blipped away? Do you think they left the system? Or could they be planning attacks on the inner system?”
Jack had not forgotten that of the twenty-two HikHikSot ships that had entered Sol system in the second Alien invasion, three ships acting as guardians for the colony ship had blipped away before any beams could destroy them. That meant there could be future attacks on Charon Base, Titan, Enceladus, Ganymede, Europa, Mars or even the Moon. A danger that now complicated his plans for the future.
“Your fleet and Gareth’s fleet are large enough to protect both the inner and outer parts of Sol system,” Jack said. “As for the future beyond Sol, we can discuss that after we recover from our hangovers!”
Nikola laughed happily, her breath warm against his neck. The rest of his crew stood up as Maureen entered from the Spine corridor, her look one of approval on seeing happy people. Everyone embraced. Jack liked hugs. From Nikola. From Elaine. From everyone who had risked their lives so that humanity could be free to chart its own future.
Tomorrow would be soon enough to discuss Alcubierre FTL star drives and his plans for star roaming!
CHAPTER FOUR
O’Neill’s Café occupied the lowest part of the Mathilde habitat torus that spun inside the asteroid’s Dock Cavern. It was a week since they had returned from the Sedna battle and it was time to plan for the next stage of humanity’s future. Jack grinned at himself. Humanity’s future? Well, it was true. But not something he was used to seeing himself as the leader of. Which of course he wasn’t, completely. Gathered around the oblong table that occupied a back section of the café were a few people who remembered the Belter Hopper kid who’d gone from asteroid to asteroid, re-selling oxy-nitro gas, self-warming food packets, music plug-ins and water bottles filled with bootleg booze. Or hooch, he recalled from an ancient vidtext about illegal alcohol sales in the Tennessee part of the former United States of America. The place his Grandpa Ephraim had come from.
A rap on the plastic table drew his attention from old memories. “Jack? You gonna drink that bourbon? Or do I have to finish it for you?” asked grandma Maureen, her gray eyes looking him over.
He managed not to blush. After all, he was a grown-up, 38 years young and his lifemate Nikola sat on his left, always eager to hear stories about his early life. Which Maureen would gladly share with the universe if plied with enough booze. Jack grabbed the shot glass of brown liquid and lifted it in a salute to his sisters, friends and allies.
“Nope! This is all mine,” he said, looking around the table at the 16 people gathered there. “But I offer a salute to each of you who has worked their butts off this last week. Including you, Archibald, the guy who figured out how to kill gravity! And you, Matthias, for putting together those Alcubierre drives for our ships!”
Everyone cheered, lifted their glasses of booze, or the ice tea chosen by his South Asian captains, and drank.
Across the table his sister Cassandra put down her bourbon and fixed hazel eyes on him. “Brother, the death of Dictat Ludwig Maathias and Earth’s building of a grav-pull drive ship makes my trip to Geneva even more compelling. I leave tomorrow.”
Jack swal
lowed hard, his heart thumping. Cold sweat popped out on his bare neck despite the warmth of a café where loud Country and Western music, wild dancing, and dozens of people coming and going were normal. Their back table location was quiet enough for them to hear each other. He just wished he hadn’t heard Cassie repeat what she’d told him before the fleets left for Sedna. He set down his half-full glass and folded his hands together. The better to hide any stress tremors. Jack looked over his tense, determined sister, a woman with long black hair who, at just 22, had earlier infiltrated the Ceres Central base of the former Unity Naval Command and become the girlfriend of Hideyoshi’s Bridge Lieutenant.
“Why Earth? Why now?” he asked.
She gave him a grin he remembered from when they had played magnetic chess together, in vacsuits while their parents worked a mining claim on an airless asteroid. “Nine billion people. A Unity Congress that lacks an Assembly Leader. And they have the specs for these grav-pull drives. Wouldn’t you like to have those specs, rather than be forced to scavenge battle debris for intact units?” she asked, her tone serious. “Well, my boyfriend Howard Goldin plans a pretend defection from Hideyoshi’s Mars fleet. For certain Howard will be accepted by Earth with open arms. And likely assigned to the Unity Naval Command base where they are building the grav-pull drives. Due to his experience in grav-pull fleet maneuvers. I’m his Belter girlfriend who supports Earth cause she loves him.”
“Do you?” Jack asked. “Love him?”
“Nope,” Cassie said as she pulled at the rainbow-colored neck scarf she had brought with her from Ceres Central. The scarf matched the colors of her eyes. “But he is fun to hang with. And he proved his loyalty to us by helping Hideyoshi take over the Bismarck while it was in Deimos orbit. Right after you converted the admiral to be an ally. And no one knows I’m your sister cause I never registered as taxable with Ceres Central.”
His sister had always been able to out-think and out-play him. Jack sighed. “Of course I would love to get the grav-pull specs. While Max and Matthias have done wonders with recreating the Alcubierre star drive that we pulled from the Rizen hulk, no one yet knows how to create Thorne Exotic Matter.” That was the heart of the gravity-pull drive, exotic stuff that filled a globe surrounded by a triangle of tubes. “But the Unity Security Services are still intact and deadly, despite the death of the Dictat. And the riots we encouraged with our broadcast of the Dictat’s confab with Duotat of the HikHikSot are popping up all over. You . . . you might not be able to leave as easily as you will arrive.”
Cassie blinked dark eyelashes, her triangular face rad-tanned like every Belter kid who’d grown up wearing a clear helmet and a vacsuit. Dressed in a black leotard like most people on Mathilde, she looked slim, eager and too young to be so serious. “You risked your life out at the Kuiper comets. So did everyone else at this table. There is no age limit on loyalty to humanity.”
Jack could say no more. Nodding, he showed her his love for her, a love that took in their older sister Elaine, who sat beside Cassie. Elaine reached over and gripped Cassie’s left hand. Elaine’s own left hand was already holding the swarthy hand of Ignacio, a stocky man with a waxed black mustache who wore his boina beret the same way Jack wore his own boina. The Basque gave Jack a sympathetic look. “Family is like that, yes? You love them. You hurt with them. And they go their own way, like the true people they are.”
Jack felt Nikola’s arm around his waist. She pulled him close to her, then laid her head on his left shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he looked around the table, noting the understanding looks from Max, Kasun, Matthias, Archibald, Gareth, Maureen who now held hands with Gareth, Cassie, Elaine, Ignacio, Júlia, Akemi, Denise, Aashman, Minna and finally Hideyoshi, the man whose military training seemed to include gatherings of people devoted to each other, to their joint cause and to feeling their feelings openly.
“Hideyoshi, can this Bridge Lieutenant of yours pull off this deception? And keep my sister alive on Earth?”
The Japanese admiral gave Jack a crisp nod. “Yes, he can. He’s served ten years with me and has always been reliable. With smart initiative. As he is showing with this defection scheme. I will miss having him aboard the Bismarck.”
“Good.” Jack looked around the table again, then sat back in the plastic chair. Nikola grumbled at the loss of his shoulder, then pulled back to her own chair, able to tell from his posture that he was in serious mode. “My allies, we have two duties to Sol system and humanity. First duty is to protect Mars, Earth, the Moon and our outer settlements from any attack by the three surviving HikHikSot ships. That will require regular patrols of the inner system and checks on the larger comets in the Kuiper Belt. And at least one of the ships patrolling the system must have one of Archibald’s Higgs Disruptor beamers, to combat any gravity probes those ships might use.” He paused, catching the brown eyes of black-bearded Gareth, the leader of the other Belter fleet. “Our second duty is to go interstellar roaming, to the two nearest Alien-inhabited star systems with subject peoples. I plan to spread insurrection and disorder in this ‘predators rule the starways’ system!”
“Yes!” yelled Ignacio with a hearty growl.
Minna reached up and pulled on one of her yellow braids. “Excellent diversion tactic, Captain Jack. And I look forward to using our Alcubierre drive shell to fly faster-than-light. But is there another purpose beyond disruption?”
He smiled at the commerce raider sneakiness of their Finn. “Of course there is, good Minna. I plan to also visit the home star system of the Nasen aliens, who chose not to fight us at Sedna. They live at the star Zeta Serpentis, about seventy-five light years out. They were willing to Trade. Maybe we can gain some intelligence on the HikHikSot and the extent of Alien-ruled star systems from the Nasen. They seem to like elk steaks!”
Aashman Dasgupta, their Hindu from India, nodded slowly, his look intent. “Intelligence on this interstellar society of star-roaming predators is greatly needed. But to what purpose?”
Jack folded his hands over his belly, enjoying his dinner time role of interstellar chess master. “The purpose of building an alliance with these nearby subject peoples, who are perhaps tired of being dinner snacks for the social carnivores of whatever species rules these two systems. An alliance of several peoples could perhaps disrupt the smooth operation of this system where only predators travel star-to-star. Plus, eventually, I plan to visit the HikHikSot home system of Delta Boötis B.”
“To do what?” asked Júlia Araujo of the Caiman, her Afro-Hispanic darkness shining brightly under the café lights.
“To cause pain,” Jack said, looking to his redhead ComChief and Animal Ethologist. “As Denise said earlier, before the First Sedna Battle, we humans have to increase the costs of any attempt to take over Sol system beyond the assets an Alien predator species expects to gain from conquering us.”
“Seems we have already done that,” murmured his sister Elaine, her amber eyes fixing on him with uplifted eyebrows. “Brother, why can’t we just stay here, at home? Why go looking for trouble?”
Jack saw the same question in the eyes of other captains at the table. They had spent months risking their lives in multiple space battles in order to protect humanity from Alien conquest. The final Sedna battle had seemed to guarantee humanity’s safety from HikHikSot takeover. If only it were that simple. “My sisters, my friends, one thing certain about social predators who are also carnivores is that they always keep trying to expand their Hunt territory. Which is why we battled a dozen Alien species at the First Sedna Battle. While many Aliens will take our success there and against the HikHikSot as proof that we humans are a predator species deserving to control our home star system, other Aliens may not. The HikHikSot tried a second time, despite the Sedna orbital battle debris and destruction of Menoma’s base there. Others may try a second time too. Which leads me to some hard choices in order to fulfill our two duties to humanity.” He paused, then focused on his Japanese admiral. “Fleet Admiral Hideyoshi Minam
oto, I ask for you and your ship Bismarck to join my Belter fleet as we go star-roaming. You have more space battle experience than I do, than most of us despite these recent battles. I need that experience when we go roaming star-to-star.” Jack shifted left to fix on Gareth. “Captain Gareth Davies, I need you, your crewman Archibald, and the Higgs Disruptor beamer on the Dragon to help us in case other Aliens have gravity probes like those deployed by the HikHikSot.” Jack sighed. “The ships remaining in the Mars fleet and in the second Belter fleet must stay in Sol system, to protect humanity from further Alien attack while the rest of us go out to explore and to disrupt this interstellar predator society.”
Most everyone at the table looked relieved by his inclusion of them and their ships in the star-roaming fleet of nine ships. But Technologist Matthias looked puzzled. “Captain Jack, what fleet do I work with? Max and I have installed Alcubierre drive shell star drives on all nine ships you have mentioned. Plus I’ve provided the specs to your Belter engineers here on 253 Mathilde. And each of your ships possesses an antineutron antimatter beamer parallel with each ship’s neutral particle beamer. I think Archibald and I can install a few more Higgs Disruptor beamers and antimatter beamers on the ships that stay behind. Do I go with you or stay here?”
“You go with us, good Matthias,” Jack answered. “You and Archibald have to go with us. We need both our topsuck physicists with us, along with Max, who could turn a screwdriver into a laser!”
Everyone laughed at that and Jack felt the tension caused by his layout of their two duties now easing. Except for their admiral, who looked thoughtful. “So I and the Bismarck join you, Captain Jack, but the rest of the Mars fleet stays here. Yes?”
“Yes,” Jack said calmly. “I know my sister Cassie has stolen Bridge Lieutenant Goldin from you. But surely someone senior on the Bismarck can be delegated to lead the remaining ships of the Mars fleet?”
Humans Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 2) Page 4
