“There will be a supply ship arriving the day after tomorrow with ammunition to replenish what we have been using in our weapon tests,” commented Amanda, turning her gaze toward the viewscreen. She wondered herself what the result would be in using one of the new missiles against the AIs. For now, it was the only weapon they had that had any possibility of knocking down those powerful energy screens. “After we are finished with our weapon tests, I would like to give my crew some leave time on New Tellus for a few days before we set out on our mission. Would that be possible?”
“I think it can be arranged,” Admiral Barnes replied. She knew that if she were setting off on a mission that would mean months cooped up in a ship with the same people, a few days leave would sound great. “I will make arrangements for one of the seaside resorts as well as one of the mountain ones to be made available.”
Later that day, the WarStorm was once more docked at the shipyard above New Tellus. Amanda and Richard were in their quarters discussing the upcoming mission.
“I’m looking forward to going to one of the resorts,” Richard commented from his position on the sofa where he was relaxing. “It will be good for us to get away from the ship for a few days before the mission starts.”
“I talked to Admiral Anlon earlier and told him how the weapon tests had gone,” Amanda said as she came over and sat down next to Richard. She reached out, took his hand, and let out a deep breath. “He was extremely pleased with the report on the Devastator missile.”
“That’s one hell of a weapon,” commented Richard, nodding his head. “If we had those when the Hocklyns attacked New Providence, we might just have managed to hold the planet.”
“But we still don’t know how effective the new missile would be against the AIs,” Amanda reminded him as she laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. Sometimes all she wanted to do was forget that there was a war waiting in their future if they decided to return to cryosleep.
“I know,” replied Richard, taking his hand and placing it upon hers. “I just worry that if we use bigger and more powerful weapons how the AIs will respond. They have the knowledge and power from thousands of worlds. Who knows what kind of weapons they may have at their disposal?”
Amanda opened her eyes and looked across the room. Hanging on the wall was a picture of her parents standing on the porch of their house on Krall Island. She felt her eyes moisten. She missed her parents so much. The not knowing what happened to them after the Hocklyn attack still haunted her dreams. Perhaps on this mission, if things worked out right, she would have the opportunity to find out the answer to that distressing question. If the Hocklyns no longer occupied the home worlds of the Federation, their orders were to scan each one for possible survivors, particularly New Providence.
Amanda knew that General Allister had made plans to survive underground if necessary. She wondered if it were possible for them to have survived in their underground bases after all of these years. Then she thought about Ceres and the world the Federation survivors had built in the asteroid’s heart. There was air, plants, animals, lakes, and even moving streams in the new larger cavern that had been built. It was like its own little world. If the people on Ceres could build something like that, what would have stopped General Allister and his people from doing the same thing? Scanning New Providence and trying to make contact with any possible survivors was an extremely high priority on their mission list.
“I wonder what we will find back on the Federation worlds?” asked Amanda, turning her head to look at her husband. “Do you think anyone could have survived?”
Richard hesitated for a moment. He knew that all six worlds had been heavily nuked, but by all indications the half-lives of the radioactive isotopes were very short lived. Almost as if the Hocklyns wanted to wipe out the inhabitants but not seriously damage the ecospheres of the planets.
“I don’t know,” replied Richard, his eyes narrowing. “We know from what we observed on New Providence, Tellus, and Maken that there were large numbers of survivors fighting against the Hocklyn protectors. On New Providence, all the survivors went underground after we wiped out the Hocklyn forces. I suspect the Hocklyns returned in force, but who knows what might have happened after that.”
“General Allister planned on not engaging anymore of the Hocklyn protectors in the hope the Hocklyns would assume the human population had been wiped out,” Amanda reminded Richard.
“It might have worked,” admitted Richard, recalling those last conversations with the general. “But we won’t know until we go there. On Tellus and Maken, the marines were still fighting savagely against the Hocklyns when we left the system. They were still using nukes against each other. After all the fighting, it might have been difficult for anyone to survive as badly damaged as the two planet’s ecospheres would have been in the months following. Once again, we won’t know until we get there.”
Amanda stood up and walked over to the wall, gazing at the picture of her parents. “Richard, do you ever regret our decision to go into cryosleep and not start a family of our own?”
Richard stood up and walked over to Amanda, putting his arm around her. “If we don’t win this war, there is no future for humanity. We both decided we didn’t want our descendants fighting a war we had fled from. With our medical science, we have years ahead of us yet to raise a family. When we return from this mission, we can talk about returning to cryosleep. I still think it’s the wise thing to do. Before we start a family of our own, I want to be sure that humanity will survive. Our experience against the Hocklyns might play an important role in that happening.”
Amanda sighed and turned to face Richard. “You’re right of course,” she spoke, her eyes meeting his. “It’s just that sometimes I really want a family. I feel as if I owe it to my parents.”
“Don’t worry, Amanda,” spoke Richard, leaning forward and gently kissing her on the lips. “Someday we will have that family; it might just be a few centuries yet.”
-
Jason was in the Command Center of the Avenger talking to Commander Tellson over the com system. “From all the reports, I gather that the New Horizon is ready to go on her mission.”
“Yes, sir,” Commander Tellson replied with confidence in his voice. “We have adjusted our FTL equations to give us pinpoint accuracy. I think we can hit our destination coordinates dead on. All the systems in the ship check out, and we can depart whenever you give the word.”
“Have all the scientists and their assistants reported on board?”
“Yes, sir,” Tellson replied. “They have been on board for several days and seem quite satisfied with their research labs. If we find a habitable world, we can use the shuttles to explore it.”
“Just be careful with those shuttles,” Jason reminded the commander. “You only have two.”
“We will, sir,” Tellson responded. “The pilots have been very well trained.”
Jason was silent for a moment as he thought about what all needed to be done to get the ship ready for departure. “Let's set a mission start date of four days from today. Departure time will be 1400 on Wednesday.”
“That sounds great, sir,” replied Tellson, allowing some excitement to enter his voice. “I will tell the crew and begin getting everything ready.”
“Keep in mind there will be some dignitaries from Earth coming up to watch the launch from the spacedock,” Jason reminded the commander. “We want everything to go smoothly.”
“It will, Admiral,” Tellson promised confidently. “We will make you proud.”
Jason leaned back in his command chair after he finished speaking to Tellson, thinking about all that had been done to reach this point. The careful introduction of Federation technology, the placing of key Federation people in Earth companies to spur research along specific lines, and the slow release of technology supposedly reverse engineered from the Avenger.
Less than fifty people on Earth knew the full secret behind the Avenger Project. Most of
those were in the highest government levels of Earth’s most powerful countries. There were another one hundred or so that were aware of the Federation survivors on Ceres but didn’t know about the Hocklyns. These numbers didn’t include people teaching at the academy or working on the Avenger. It also didn’t include a handful of graduates from the academy that had been let in on the full secret and assigned to Federation facilities or ships. There were also a few more in the military as several elite military units had been assigned to work with the Federation survivors. Jason knew that nearly two hundred marines had been chosen to provide security on some of the Federation ships.
“Are we ready to launch the New Horizon?” Lisa asked.
Jason turned around. He hadn’t noticed that Lisa had entered the Command Center. There were two marine guards constantly on duty, but certain individuals were allowed in the Command Center without question. Lisa was one of them.
“On Wednesday,” replied Jason, letting out a deep breath. He knew this would be a major step for Earth.
“What do you think the reaction will be on Earth when the New Horizon returns and announces that they have discovered two habitable worlds in the Tau Ceti system?”
“Excitement,” replied Jason, trying to imagine the effect it would have on the people of Earth. “I suspect there will be an instant demand to begin colonization.”
“We will have to build some colony ships,” Lisa pointed out. “Technically the only FTL capable ship the Earth has is the New Horizon.”
“We already have the designs for the first colony ship loaded into the computers in the spacedock,” Jason replied with a smile. “Working around the clock, we can have the first ship ready in four months. It will be an exact duplicate of the New Horizon, without the labs. It will be able to handle four hundred colonists on each trip. The second ship will be a supply ship capable of carrying needed materials to the first colony. Then later, when the second construction bay is completed, we will start building larger colony ships capable of carrying over one thousand colonists on each trip. With luck, the new ships should be able to make a trip back and forth between Earth and Tau Ceti once each week. In a few years, we will have an entire fleet of colony and supply ships.”
“What about the destroyers you plan on building to protect the new colonies?” Lisa asked. She knew that shortly things would start moving extremely rapidly. They had waited for years for this moment to arrive. It felt strange to realize that it was nearly here.
“Once the new construction bay is built, we will build two destroyers a year at first,” replied Jason, recalling all of the careful plans they had made. “In time, we will add a third and fourth construction bay to the spacedock.”
Lisa stepped over next to Jason and placed her hand on his shoulder. “We have worked so hard to reach this point, Jason,” commented Lisa, gently squeezing his shoulder. “When are we going to tell Jeremy the rest of the truth? He deserves to know.”
Ariel was listening, and her avatar was visible on the main viewscreen. If Jason and Lisa told Jeremy the truth, then she would finally be able to speak to him. It sounded too good to be true. She would be able to talk to all three of the special children. She waited curious to hear what Jason would say.
“After he returns from the mission, I will tell him,” Jason said, wondering how Jeremy would take the news. He would undoubtedly be aggravated about all the secrets that had been kept from him. Jason knew that he would be if he were in Jeremy’s shoes.
“Are Greg and Elizabeth coming up for the launch?” asked Lisa, wondering if she should get the guest quarters on the Avenger ready.
It would be good to see Elizabeth again, and she knew Elizabeth really wanted to see Katie. Lisa made it a point each evening to talk to Elizabeth and give her a report on Katie’s progress and activities. She also knew that Katie called home at least once per week.
“No,” replied Jason, sounding disappointed. “Greg will be with a number of people at Houston watching the launch from the ground. There will be quite a few important people in the group. Part of this group’s from companies that will be highly interested if we find worlds that can be colonized. It will also give us an excuse to introduce even more Federation technology.”
Lisa was quiet for a moment, then her eyes turned to look seriously at her husband. “Jason, when this is all over we need to take a nice long vacation. You need to see if you can talk Greg and Elizabeth into going to New Tellus with us. I understand the new resorts they have built are fabulous.”
“Greg won’t be a problem,” Jason smiled completely in agreement about going on a vacation. He would also like to visit New Tellus again just to see all the changes since he had visited that world with Admiral Streth years ago. “Elizabeth is another matter. You may have to work your charms on her. You know she doesn’t like space travel. It’s all that Greg can do to get her up here to the Moon.”
Lisa was silent for a moment. She was well aware of Elizabeth’s fear of space travel. “Leave it to me, Jason. I think I know how to talk her into it.”
“Then do it and I will set up the trip for sometime after the New Horizon returns. You’re right; a week or two away from this job will be good for both of us.”
-
Katie was finally finished with the intricate computer program she had been working on. She had a series of programs loaded onto her handheld computer that should allow her to get on board the New Horizon and safely hide until the ship reached Tau Ceti. Once at Tau Ceti, it wouldn’t be practical for them to turn around and bring her back.
“What have you been working on?” Ariel asked curiously. She spent a lot of time watching the spirited teenager. It amazed her to see all of the energy possessed by young people. They never seemed to get tired.
“I’m writing a paper on the New Horizon mission,” Katie answered nonchalantly. She actually had started a paper so she could show it to Ariel. “This is what I have so far.” She touched an icon on her computer screen, and the half-complete paper was transmitted to Ariel. “I just need some additional information on the shuttles they will be using to explore those two planets with.”
Ariel quickly read over Katie’s paper and finding several errors she had made pointed them out to Katie. “The New Horizon is equipped with two shuttles capable of landing upon either of the two habitable planets in the system,” began Ariel, wanting Katie to do well on her report.
Katie smiled as she listened to the AI. While Ariel was extremely smart and human in many ways, the AI was way too trusting. The entire key to Katie sneaking on board the New Horizon and staying undetected until they reached Tau Ceti lay in the two small shuttles. Now Aerial was giving her the last bit of information that she needed to make her plan work. It made Katie feel guilty at using Ariel this way, but she had to have the information on the shuttles. She just hoped that later, Ariel would forgive her.
-
Jeremy and Kelsey were in the officer’s mess eating a snack before reporting to duty. Jeremy was polishing off his last bite of watermelon while Kelsey was savoring the sweet cantaloupe she was slowly eating.
“We leave on Wednesday,” spoke Jeremy, enjoying the alone time with Kelsey. Normally, Angela or Kevin were with them. They had become a close foursome since their arrival on the New Horizon. Kevin had fit right in with the small group.
Kelsey nodded and grinned widely. “Just think, Jeremy. By this time next week we will be at Tau Ceti and exploring the system for new worlds for Earth to colonize.”
“I hope we find one,” Jeremy replied but knew the odds were not great. “More than likely the planets will not be capable of supporting life.”
“But we know from astronomical scans of the system that there are at least five planets there,” Kelsey responded, her blue eyes focusing on Jeremy.
She reached up and brushed her blonde hair back unconsciously before recalling that it was cut short in regulation fleet style. She missed her shoulder length hair. The short hair had taken some gett
ing used to.
“I guess it’s possible,” Jeremy admitted. Looking around, Jeremy spotted Ensign Trace Rafferty watching them from a table across the room.
“I notice one of Barr’s friends is in here,” commented Jeremy, turning his head back toward Kelsey.
It was hard to take his eyes off of Kelsey sometimes. She was so beautiful, and at times Jeremy regretted not pursuing their relationship further while they were at the academy. However, they had both agreed to put things on hold until after graduation and now until the New Horizon mission was over. Sometimes Jeremy had the strange feeling that there was something mysterious about Kelsey. There was something about her that didn’t quite fit. It was as if she were keeping a secret from him. It was the same feeling he got around his parents sometimes when they talked about the Avenger.
“I almost feel as if they are keeping an eye on us,” responded Kelsey, using her fork to stab the last bite of her cantaloupe. “It seems so spooky at times. What do you think they could be up to? I’ve noticed several other members of the ship’s crew that sit with them at times.”
“I don’t think they are up to anything except harassing us,” Jeremy responded with a sigh. He too had noticed the company that Barr and Rafferty had been keeping. “We just need to remember not to respond to their barbs or comments, and there is nothing they can do.”
Kelsey was silent for a long moment as she finished eating her last piece of cantaloupe before speaking. “Jeremy, what are your plans after we return from the mission?”
“I hope to stay on the New Horizon,” Jeremy replied, his hazel eyes taking on a thoughtful look. “Once we get back, the ship will probably be sent out on further exploratory missions. I would like to be a part of that. What about you, don’t you want the same?”
“Of course,” Kelsey replied with a smile. “I just wonder if they will allow us to since we’re cadets.”
Moon Wreck: Fleet Academy (The Slaver Wars) Page 15
