“How long till they can jump?” Lee called to Kama.
“Ten seconds,” Yu replied, a fingernail tapping time on her console. “Three … two … one … now!”
A blue-brown vortex opened up in front of Resolute. Josh halted their progress but kept the ship orbiting in space. Kongo pulled away, trailing debris but intact from her pounding. Lee turned to see Farthing’s eyes wide. The man who had served with him for years looked almost ready to cry at the sight of his ship pulling itself into the blue-brown nothing of M-space.
“She’s away,” Lee said to his friend. “She’s a tough ship.”
Farthing nodded as Lee turned back to the screen. He watched the last sight of the frigate fade from view as the vortex swallowed it up and then closed. The view was still rotating and it had begun to make Lee queasy. He slapped the back of Josh’s seat and made him stop the barrel roll.
“Now … where is he?” Lee said, looking at the tactical screen. “He’s never late.”
“Which ship are you looking for,” Na’Tora said, stepping to the sensor station. “I will locate it.”
“He should be here,” Lee said. “I need him to cover our escape.”
“Who?” Josh asked. “There are lots of ships out here, sir. “
“There!” Lee said, pointing to a vortex opening in space. “That’s him. I told you he wouldn’t be late. It’s almost dinnertime, too.”
The vortex opened wide, wider than a single ship could project. From the mouth of the maw came a long, double-hulled carrier with yellow lightning bolts painted on the nose. Following the big carrier was a host of other ships, Alliance and Ch’Tauk. Gizzeen ships, caught off guard by their sudden appearance, turned and started towards the fleet. Lee turned to Kama Yu.
“Signal Captain Dalton what I’ve already sent and tell him thanks,” Lee said. “Josh, get us out of here while they’re still occupied.”
“We’re leaving?” Goldstein replied. “While there’s still fighting? What’s up?”
“We’ve got a mission, Josh,” Lee replied. “I want all senior staff in the conference room in exactly twenty minutes after Kongo makes the rendezvous for a briefing. Na’Tora, you have the bridge.”
“Where are you going?” Kama asked her captain.
“I need to take a shower,” Lee said. “The mission stinks enough without my help.”
“Lee…” Farthing stopped forward before Lee could move for the door. “Thank you for saving my ship. I’m not sure I could have thought of that maneuver. You still have a lot to teach me.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Lee replied. “Someday I’ll probably need you to do something stupid for me too.”
“Indeed,” Farthing replied. “I will endeavor to be as creative.”
“While I’m gone, I need you to do me a favor, though,” Lee asked, pulling Farthing closer to the door and away from his first officer. “Keep an eye on him.”
“Has he done something to make you suspicious?” Farthing asked, his crest rising slightly. “I can detain him if you desire.”
“No,” Lee said. “I don’t want him to suspect anything.”
“Than what is it?”
“During the battle, did you notice something off?” Lee asked, nodding at the screen as Josh opened one of the strange blue-yellow-brown vortices. “About the fighting?”
“I didn’t really see too much of it. Why?”
“It’s just…” Lee said, lowering his voice again.” Where were the Ch’Tauk?”
16
A hot shower and a short nap made all the difference in the world. Resolute had come through the speed vortex with little damage save for that inflicted before their trip, and the crew was busy repairing her systems. They were parked by a rogue star they had encountered years ago on the Terran Princess. It was a place not many would know about and fewer would think to look for them.
It would still be a few hours until Kongo emerged from their own trip through M-space and Lee wanted to get a jump on the briefing. The coming mission would be hard enough on his crew without him seeming to ignore them by staying out of sight. He toured the ship, checking on the systems under repair, and checked in with sickbay to reassure those with minor injuries, and finally made it to the briefing room just as a simulation was winding down.
“Captain,” the Octopod said as the holographic image of their previous battle faded. “I was not expecting you so soon.”
“It’s okay. Don’t stop on my behalf,” Lee said, waving at the simulated Gizzeen ships just beyond his head. “What’s all this?”
“The Gizzeen strategy was sound, but I wanted to examine their tactics closer,” the invertebrate weapons officer replied. “They seem to have misjudged their own weapons effectiveness. I have to admit, I did as well. In other engagements, they have been much more difficult to defeat.”
“I noticed that too,” Lee said, stepping closer to the podium where Resolute was escaping into an M-space vortex. “Any ideas about that?”
“Several,” the creature replied, its vocoder crackling as the speech changed timbre. “I believe they were testing Alliance defenses but are not yet fully acclimated to our universe.”
“I figured out the test part, but how do you know they weren’t ready?” Lee asked, surveying the outer hull of his own ship from the rare vantage. “They seemed to have done plenty of damage to us.”
“Not really,” the Octopod replied, waving a tentacle at the holographic controls. “Observe a former engagement in which the enemy exceeded shield capacity of an Alliance frigate in a single shot.”
Lee watched as the frigate, one of the newer class of vessels with a similar shield configuration as Resolute, tried to outflank one of the larger Gizzeen vessels. Guessing its size to be comparable to an Alliance assault cruiser like Mars, the frigate’s captain must have been trying to draw attention away from another vessel. It was the only explanation for the maneuver against a larger opponent.
The frigate swept in from starboard, firing plasma bolts directly into the Gizzeen flank with no effect. Lee could not even make out scorch marks where the red-orange bolts were impacting the armor. It seemed unreal that the aliens could have defensive armor that powerful, but he had no choice but to accept what his eyes showed him. There was a flash of blue energy as the invader seemed to gather energy from along its hull and throw the deadly blast towards the frigate.
Lee had expected to see the pale blue of the frigate’s shields for a moment before the alien energy spread along her hull. Instead, the impact seemed to split along a jagged line from the port to starboard side. There was a moment where he could almost make out bodies being flung out into space by the explosive decompression before the entire ship blazed with blue-white light and disappeared. It was a sobering sight to see only blue space where there had once been a ship full of people. Lee said a small pilot’s prayer for the crew of the long destroyed ship even as the Octopod halted the simulation. Lee turned to look around the eerie view as the Gizzeen ship seemed to float placidly on a deadly sea.
“This scan was taken nearly a month ago in the Proxima system when the recon fleet commanded by Captain Jero engaged a small force of Gizzeen,” the weapons officer said. “The fleet was destroyed soon after the buoy was launched. As you can see, the Gizzeen possess more than enough firepower to destroy or disable us.”
“Perhaps they were just probing, not using full strength blasts,” Lee suggested. “It wouldn’t have been outside reason for them to want to see what our tactics would be.”
“A reasonable assumption, but I do not believe so,” the creature said again. “If you see on the projection, the Gizzeen used a cascade launcher for their offensive weaponry. I observed the same effect at Vadne, but the power was not collected as it was at Proxima.”
“So…”
“I do not believe the Gizzeen have the ability yet to attack with their full strength,” the creature said. “Just as they needed time to adapt their engines and hulls to our space
in the cataract, their weapons systems appear to need more adaptation to come to functionality.”
“It took months for them to adapt so they could leave the cataracts,” Lee said, stepping to the podium to shut off the projection. “Hopefully that means we have some time.”
“Unlikely,” the Octopod replied. “I monitored their firing patterns during the engagement and noticed an increase in power by a factor of two point one percent during the battle. They were modifying their weapons as they fired.”
A chill went through Lee as he thought about it. The Gizzeen must have known they wouldn’t be at full power when they attacked Vadne. It meant they were gathering intelligence while strengthening their own capabilities. The entire engagement at Vadne was more like a war game than the one they had been playing at the Enxy sea. If the Gizzeen were to come to full power before they could complete their mission, it would be disastrous. They needed to get moving before it was too late. Lee dropped his own data chip into the podium to activate his presentation. He keyed in the code and brought up a model frame of the galaxy.
“We’ve got a mission,” Lee said. “I can give you the details after the briefing, but suffice it to say we’re going into the heart of the beast to cut it out.”
“We’re going to Earth?” a voice asked from the open briefing room door. “We’re taking back our system, just like the old days, aren’t we?”
Henry Moore seemed to stagger into the room, staring at the wide holographic image of the Milky Way. He reached out to open the view of Sol’s outer arm. He still hadn’t changed his clothes, but he seemed more in control of his faculties. The smell of bourbon and other libations was strong, but Lee couldn’t smell it on his breath. He assumed the man had been taken to Demsiri in medical and given something to take the buzz off. His hands shook, though, from the withdrawal, and Lee bet he had one hell of a hangover.
“Henry,” Lee said to his friend. “Maybe you’d better get back to your room. You look about to fall down.”
“I’m fine. Just tell me the truth, Lee. Are we going home?”
Henry, I have a briefing in a few hours. Maybe you can come then and see what—”
“Are we going home?” Henry roared, charging Lee and pushing the man against the wall. “Dammit, you tell me now or I will put you through this bulkhead. Am I going to see my wife and son again?”
A pair of long tentacles wrapped themselves around Henry’s thick neck. The Octopod pulled the man back, nearly toppling him from the raised stage before Henry could wrestle away. Lee gasped in air as soon as Henry’s arm was pulled away, and recovered enough to brace himself. Henry twisted away from the weapons officer and stepped into Lee’s range. With his strong right arm, Lee swung at his friend, landing his punch on his chin and sending him flying backwards into the front row of seats. Instead of advancing, though, Lee moved back to the podium to tap a key.
“Security,” Lee ordered into the intercom. “I need a team to escort someone to the brig to sleep it off.”
“Aye.”
The intercom closed with a click and Lee stepped back around the stage. The Octopod had already wrapped himself around the former intelligence man and now held him fast to the floor. Henry roared as he struggled to stretch the creature and gain some slack. Instead, the Octopod wrapped himself tighter, his skin glistening. Lee knelt down to talk to his friend in a quiet tone.
“Henry,” Lee began, “I know you’re hurting and I know you want revenge, but this is not the time to lose it. I need you, I already told you that. They’ve put one of them on my bridge and I don’t trust him. This mission…”
Lee thought about his reservations of the briefing in the chancellor’s office on Vadne and paused. It didn’t make any sense, but with the knowledge of the Gizzeen’s growing strength and the Alliance losses, it seemed like the only choice. He took in a deep breath as Henry calmed and stared at Lee. Henry had lost his family twice. He couldn’t imagine how the man could still be fighting after losing two wives and children to an enemy he couldn’t even see.
“This mission isn’t one we’re likely to come back from, but it’s the best chance we’ve got,” Lee continued. “The admiral left instru—”
“Don’t trust him, Lee,” Henry said through clenched teeth. “That man lies every time he takes a breath.”
“I know,” Lee replied. “I know more than most how much that man cannot be trusted, but it’s all we’ve got. If you can handle it, I’ll take you with me. If not, this ship still has a few escape pods left.”
Henry struggled for a moment before looking back at Lee. He seemed to finally hear the words his friend had been saying, and a smile slowly spread across his face. Both men took a moment to grin at each other before Henry relaxed.
“Alright, ya damn calamari. Let me go.”
“Go ahead, Commander,” Lee ordered the weapons officer. “Let him up. I don’t think he’s going to do that again.”
The alien invertebrate slid from Henry like a wave pulling back from a rock. The Octopod had turned a strange color while holding Henry and Lee was suddenly worried about it. The creature, however, quickly returned to normal just as Gregor and one of his security men charged into the room. The big man grabbed Henry by the arm and commanded his subordinate to do the same. Lee held a hand up to stop the man from jerking Henry away. He stepped from the stage, closer to his friend, and patted the man on the shoulder.
“If she’s still alive,” Lee said to his friend. “She’d want you to take this chance, my friend.”
“She’d want me to take a shower first and then go kick some ass,” Henry replied with a grin. “Look, I’m sorry about—”
“Don’t worry about it. I probably deserved it for my driving back on Vadne. Now go get some sleep.”
Lee waved Gregor on and the security guards relaxed their grip on Henry. With a fragrant shooting of his cuffs, Henry tried to regain some composure as the two men escorted him from the room. Lee could only shake his head as the doors closed behind him. The Octopod, however, was making buzzing noises through his vocoder.
“What’s wrong?” Lee asked the officer.
“Calamari indeed,” the creature said, pushing itself up on the eight tentacles in a strange emulation of Henry’s prideful move. “My species bears no resemblance to an Earth squid.”
“I don’t think he meant it as an insult,” Lee said. “He really likes your … um … people.”
“I am sure … with garlic and basil,” the creature replied with an indignant buzz. “Do you know one thing my species does share with one of your Terran sea creatures?”
“What’s that?” Lee asked, the creature’s epicurean answer causing him a little distress.
“I have taste buds in my arms, and that man tasted terrible.”
17
Four Eagle class fighters streaked towards the projection screen. Beyond, a dark, irregular moon floated against the backdrop of blue-brown tendrils. The fighters came in closer and Lee could make out the markings along the side of their tan hulls. A small, stylized hornet appeared to have been painted along the side of their pilots canopy. He had already watched the briefing on the chancellor’s smaller projector; this viewing was for his crew. The senior officers were in awe of the projection. Twelve ships had gone in to investigate a stray, damaged Gizzeen ship and only these four returned. The display was recorded from the baby carrier dispatched for the mission, and had switched between the carrier and the fighter’s scanner feeds.
“Hive Leader to Nest,” a voice crackled over the speakers. “Requesting docking bay clearance for four.”
“Hive Leader, this is Nest,” a return voice called out in clipped but cultured tones. “Where is the swarm?”
“Gone. They jumped the gun and attacked,” replied the leader of the squadron. “The frigate tore through them like paper.”
“Status of enemy ship?”
“It’s gone too,” replied the squadron leader. “Took off like a shot towards Sol. We got out w
ithout further detection. Can you open the doors, Nest? It’s getting cold out here.”
“Negative, Hive. Hold position,” replied the cultured voice. “We need you to run interference for us while we launch a probe.”
“A probe?” the commander asked. “There’s nothing out there to probe. The Gizzeen took off.”
“Admiral’s orders, Hive,” the voice returned. “We’re not probing Sedna anymore. This one’s going to Earth. Something new command came up with.”
“Well, good for them,” the female voice returned. “Let’s launch the thing and get out of here. That blue stuff gives me the creeps.”
“Acknowledged, Hive, we are initiating countdown to launch in five … four…”
“Hold image,” Lee ordered, stopping the countdown and grabbing the attention of the officers in the briefing room. “What you just watched was captured nearly a month ago by a Vadne carrier and her fighter squad near the planetoid Sedna in the Sol system. The carrier launched an experimental probe towards the sun and captured vital data which initiated the orders we have been given. I’m going to jump ahead to some of the more relevant details, but here is something you will want to see.”
The image around them shimmered and reset. This time, the image was moving fast as the apparent probe sailed at near relativistic speeds towards Earth’s sun. Foremost in the image was a blue planet with a single moon silhouetted just behind. The crew gasped as they saw the human home planet. Gone was the gray haze that had covered the planet in the wake of the Ch’Tauk occupation. Instead, white clouds streaked a clear sky. The oceans, once nearly brown from an algae bloom caused by Ch’Tauk pollution, were blue and vibrant. Lee could almost make out streaks of green on the surface. The planet looked clean and new as if there had never been an invasion.
“I know what you are all thinking,” Lee said as the gasps subsided. “Earth appears to be undamaged, even improved, though the Gizzeen have controlled the space for months. Our information suggests they may have been working to terraform the planet back to a natural state. If the Gizzeen are in our universe for resources, they obviously want our world pristine for their own use. All of this is conjecture, however, and may just be temporal anomalies created by the probe’s experimental engines.”
Resolute Strike (The War for Terra Book 7) Page 14
