Jay looked up from his notes. “Is it really that big a problem? I mean, the Praetorians are just the latest version of the super soldier program; being a Praetorian shouldn’t be any different than Iaido being a Myrmidon.”
“Good point and as much as I would like to embrace these Praetorians as long lost cousins, I fear their programming might’ve been a bit biased considering the Major’s personal views.” Moving over to the screen, Iaido took a long look at the list. “As much as I would like to believe them to be innocent, I cannot believe that the Major took the time to place them in these positions for no reason.”
Jay made several notes in his PDA. “Valid point, I hadn’t considered that aspect.” He turned back to Athena. “What else did you find? The Major threatened to destroy New Atlanta, any hints as to how?”
Athena again pointed at the vid-screen as the image switched to a satellite view of New Atlanta; several spots were highlighted with a yellow dot and each dot was surrounded by a much larger red circle. “The yellow dots are the locations mentioned in the files and could be possible locations of bombs. The red circles depict the area of total devastation should that bomb detonate. This is of course hypothesizing that the bombs are similar to the one Eve was sitting on top of in the message.”
Iaido studied the locations; the UN building, the spaceport, two shopping centers and other buildings scattered throughout the city. “Even if the Major has been able to place bombs at all these locations, they wouldn’t do enough damage to tear New Atlanta apart, they just aren’t powerful enough.”
“Oh My God!” Jay yelled. “That’s it! Pax, bring up the vid of Talia and the bomb.”
The screen darkened for a moment before the image of Eve, bound and gagged, sitting on top of the bomb surrounded by barrels filled the screen.
Moving to the screen, Jay pointed at the barrels. “We have been fixated on the wrong part. We have been worried about the bomb, when we should be wondering what’s inside these barrels.”
“Huh?” DJ said, “They’re barrels, big deal. The bomb is the thing that goes boom. Of course, that’s what we should be worried about.”
“Iaido is right,” Jay said. “Even if there are multiple bombs, they aren’t powerful enough to do a lot of damage on their own, even if they were all set off in unison. Something would have to make them more powerful.” The retired Master Chief pointed at the barrels. “There are hundreds of chemicals that could be in those barrels that could multiply the explosions tenfold or more.”
“I think it’s worse than that,” Iaido said in a low voice.
“What is?”
“Something has been bothering me. Why would the Major return to Mars? He’s on the Coalition’s top ten Most Wanted list. So, why would he return here? There can be only one answer…the virus.”
DJ set down his beer. “You aren’t talking about the virus that destroyed the Mars colony are you?”
“Yes. Even now, ten years later, the colony is still a quarantine zone. I bet he has been using his Praetorians to search through the ruins of the colony for samples of the virus. Once he had them, given the Major’s background in biology, he duplicated the virus and shipped it in small quantities to Earth using his Galactic Marshal Praetorians.”
“That would make sense,” Jay said. “Galactic Marshals don’t have to go through customs or any sort of inspections. And if he has enough of the virus to fill those barrels, then an explosion would spread the virus all across New Atlanta and given the winds of the region, it could spread across the entire eastern seaboard in a matter of days.”
Iaido nodded. “The Major’s hatred has outweighed everything…logic, reason, emotion and patriotism. He is, I mean was, determined to have his revenge on the President and the Council for branding him a traitor.
“We have to stop them,” Talia said.
“Don’t worry, we will.”
* * * * *
Blasting off from Mars, the companions could see the Romulus still battling the remnants of the JDL fighter squadron. Even as they watched, two Raptors exploded under a hail storm of turbolasers but not before they blew a hole into the side of the battlecruiser.
Athena said, “Captain, we are receiving a may-day from the Romulus. Their reactor core is going critical and their captain has ordered all hands to abandon ship. Should we pull to and render aid?”
Iaido shook his head and continued to study the star charts. “Negative.”
Talia placed her hands on her hips and stared hard at the bounty hunter. “But interstellar law states that every available ship must render aid to any vessel in distress.”
“They are not our concern.”
“But they are dying,” Talia insisted.
Looking up from his charts, Iaido’s voice was cold and void of any emotions. “Better them than us.” Seeing Talia about to explode, he held up his hand to forestall any objections. “We have larger problems.”
“Such as?”
“Pax, at max burn how long will it take us to reach New Atlanta?”
“I calculate our arrival in Earth standard orbit to be at sixteen-hundred hours eastern standard time. That is with a margin of error of three minutes, plus or minus,” Athena stated. “Of course, that is not taking into consideration the planetary defense systems, customs or other shipping traffic that might be a factor. That is purely optimal flight time at max burn of one point nine light speed.”
“But that’s four hours past the deadline,” DJ said. “How can we make it to New Atlanta in time?”
“Simple,” Iaido said. “We are going to do a mini-jump through hyperspace.”
DJ shook his head. “But interplanetary jumps past Jupiter are impossible due to gravitational forces of the inner planets.”
Iaido raised an eyebrow. “Jay, you want to answer this one?”
Guiding his chair forward, Jay picked up the conversation. “Interplanetary jumps are not impossible, just highly dangerous. The first major problem is reliable data. If any navigational data is incorrect, the odds that you would travel too close to a planet and be pulled into their gravity well are too high to chance unless an absolute emergency.”
Pax said, “The odds are eight-hundred and twenty-three to one against a successful interplanetary jump.”
“Will our calculations be off Pax?” Iaido asked.
“No captain. They will not be.”
Athena added, “We can make the jump to the edge of Terran controlled space, emerging approximately ninety-three kilometers from Starbase Alpha, with a margin of error of five kilometers, plus or minus of course.”
“Okay. We can make it to Earth but what about the planetary defense systems?” DJ asked, “Won’t they start blasting the minute we emerge from hyperspace?”
Iaido rotated his command chair till he was facing his crew. “Jay, how long after we exit hyperspace will you be able to cloak the ship?”
“We have to let the residual energies from transit dissipate and our velocity drop below the threshold before I can engage the cloaking device.” Jay rubbed his chin. “I would say at least sixty seconds, give or take a few.”
“Less would be preferable,” Iaido said as he turned back to his console. “Pax when you have the course plotted engage jump engines.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
“Jay, download the IFF codes for the Romulus and modify ours to broadcast on their frequency.”
“Roger.”
“DJ, move all the scrap metal and bodies into the airlock; add a few barrels of oil and some sort of incendiary device.”
DJ rubbed his hands together and grinned, “You got it.”
“Athena, pull up the transmissions from the Romulus. Splice their may-day with a bit more static and be prepared to broadcast as soon as we emerge.”
“Aye captain.”
Iaido turned back to his friends. “Make no mistakes, this is risky. We are outnumbered and outgunned. If this becomes a shooting match we will lose. But if we can trick the Terran Planeta
ry Defense Systems into believing we are the Romulus then we have a chance, a slim chance but a chance none the less.”
Talia sheepishly raised her hand. “I don’t understand. How can we make the Nemesis seem to be the Romulus? It is at least twice our size.”
Iaido nodded his head. The rest of the crew had all served in the military and knew that it was an informal means of dismissal before he turned his attention back to Talia. “In combat it sometimes isn’t what is true or not but what you can make your opponent believe is true.”
Shaking her head, Talia frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“All nav-systems work on data. One of the easiest and most reliable data is gleaned from the electromagnetic field given off by a starship’s engines. This field can be identified and tracked by a device called the IFF or Identify Friend or Foe transponder. Traveling in space is more about collating and interpreting data than using your senses. For the most part, only fighter jocks use line of sight, while ships of the line and planetary defense systems rely on proper use of the IFF systems.”
Iaido could tell that she still didn’t understand, so he continued. “In the ancient days of Earth’s navies, when man sailed the seas in wooden ships, long before electricity and long range communication devices, all ships looked basically the same from a distance. Sure a sailor could tell the difference between a three-masted galleon and a two-masted schooner but was the approaching ship a friend or foe? No one could tell. So ships were identified by their country’s flags. Even then, there were a few men that understood that misdirection is a tool of war. These were the original pirates. They would fly a neutral or allied country’s flag until they closed within cannon range of their target before striking the false colors and running up their own flag, commonly known as the Jolly Rogers, thereby showing their true colors.”
“I see. We are going to disguise our IFF signature, in effect pretending to be the Romulus, which as a registered ship of the Galactic Marshals is an ally of the Terran military.”
“Yes.”
Talia asked, “But what about the rest of the stuff…the bombs, bodies and scrap metal?”
“Smoke and mirrors Talia, smoke and mirrors.”
Shaking her head, “I don’t understand.”
“Watch and see. A good magician doesn’t reveal his tricks.” With a grin Iaido turned back to his panel.
Chapter 27
Ensign Virginia Evans paced the small deck of the CIC which was located deep in the heart of the Terran Planetary Defense System. Moving around helped keep herself awake and to ensure the enlisted personnel assigned to the graveyard watch were also awake. Since it was nearly zero-three-thirty hours, there was very little traffic incoming or exiting the starbase and the night was dragging.
Being one of the few females serving at the TPDS and the senior ranking officer on duty that night was a huge responsibility for the young ensign and she was determined to make a good impression on her commanding officer.
Petty Officer Gilbert called out. “Ma’am! I’m getting a strange reading on the radar.”
Moving to the radar station, Ensign Evans looked over the Petty Officer’s shoulder. “What is it?”
Petty Officer Gilbert said, “If I didn’t know better, I would say it was the beginning of a hyperspace portal.”
“But that’s impossible this close to Earth.”
“That’s what I was taught also,” the Petty Officer added. “It could be a glitch.”
“Have you run your nightly diagnostic on your station?”
“Aye, aye ma’am. All systems were green.”
“If your system checks good, then there must be an anomaly.” Turning her attention back to the screen, they watched as the small fluctuations on the screen grew larger and larger.
Suddenly, proximity alarms all across the starbase began sounding.
Petty Officer Gilbert jabbed at the screen. “A large object has emerged from hyperspace ninety-one hundred meters off the port bow, bearing one-sixty degrees by negative zero-five-three.”
This was her worst nightmare. An unidentified object has somehow seemingly appeared right outside Starbase Alpha, well within attack range. Even though the beginning stages of fear ran through her body, Ensign Evans reacted out of years of training. Sprinting the ten meters to the command console she slammed her fist down on the ‘panic button.’ All throughout the Starbase alarms were blaring; all non-essential hatches were sliding shut to seal off certain areas of the base, while fighter jocks were being roused from their sleep as they scrambled to get to their Dragons and all aspects of the Planetary Defensive Systems began powering up.
At almost the same time, the comm panel lit up with a priority message from her Commanding Officer. Tapping the receive button, Ensign Evans began her report even before her superior could say a word.
“Captain, at approximately zero-three twenty-three hours radar registered a sub-space anomaly off our port bow. Thirty-five seconds later a large object was detected. I have signaled red alert.”
Captain Cline was pulling on his uniform even as he replied, “Good work Ensign. I’m on my…”
The captain’s response was interrupted by a call from the comm officer. “Incoming message from the UFO!”
“Put it on the squawk and patch it through to the captain,” commanded Ensign Evans.
“Aye, aye ma’am.”
With the tapping of a few buttons, the message sounded through the command deck and on the captain’s console.
Static…. “May-Day! May-Day!” Static…. “This is…” Static… “GMSS Romulus…” Static… “we are heavily damaged….” Static…
“Get them back!”
“Sorry ma’am, only static.”
Petty Officer Gilbert called out from his station. “Ma’am! I’m reading several large explosions from the area!”
Ensign Evans rushed to the radar console, totally ignoring her senior officer. “Scan the area! Any energy readings?”
Petty Officer Gilbert’s fingers flew across the panel. “Negative ma’am. No energy readings of any kind, just a scattering of debris and several bodies.”
“Ensign Evans! Report!” came the captain’s voice over the active command circuit on her console.
Crossing the few meters, Ensign Evans straightened her uniform and brushed a few stray locks of her shoulder length blonde hair behind her ears.
“Sir, radar reports several explosions in the area of the disturbance and they are not receiving echoes from any large objects.” She paused to glance at one of her monitors. “The IFF transponder signal matches a battlecruiser registered to the Galactic Marshals operating out of Mars.”
“Ensign Evans,” Captain Cline asked, “how could you walk away from me while in the middle of a report?”
Unconsciously fidgeting a bit, she chewed on her lip for a second before answering. “Sir, I am the Night Duty Officer on watch. My responsibility is to the safety of this entire station and her personnel. While a situation is underway, I don’t have the time or the luxury for pleasantries...sir.”
Captain Cline ran a hand through his graying hair and readjusted his horned-rimmed glasses before looking his subordinate up and down. “I see. And what would you recommend next?”
“Standard operating procedures would dictate that we recall all fighters, stand down from red alert and launch a salvage tug to investigate the area and recover any evidence.”
Nodding his agreement, Captain Cline sat back down. “Make sure you add a note in your log and good work lieutenant.”
“Its ensign sir.”
Shaking his head, Captain Cline grinned. “Not anymore, I expect a full report of this incident on my desk by zero-eight hundred hours and congratulations lieutenant.”
Snapping to attention, Lt.. Evans saluted her commanding officer. “Thank you sir. But I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention the staff on duty with me tonight. It was their skills which enabled our quick and timely response.”
Captain Cline nodded. “So noted. Forward their names with your report so letters of recommendation can be added to their files.”
“Aye, aye sir.” As her commanding officer disconnected, she punched up the station’s intercom system. “All hands stand down from Red Alert. Resume normal operations.” She turned to her staff and said, “Recall all fighters, power down all systems and launch a salvage tug to investigate.”
Maybe it was her imagination but the replies of ‘aye, aye ma’am’ seemed to carry a bit more respect than those of earlier in the shift.
* * * * *
Iaido studied the display panel on his console. “Did they buy it?”
“Scanning with passive systems only…” Pax answered. “All weapon systems are powering down and a recall order has been issued to all fighters.”
“It seems we are in the clear captain,” Athena added.
Talia, Jay and DJ all let out a heavy sigh of relief. Only Xerxes seemed unaffected by the stress of their possible destruction.
“How did you know to bring along those bodies and scrap metal?” asked Talia.
With a shrug Iaido replied, “I didn’t. They were just available and seemed to be an asset I might be able to exploit.”
“Captain,” Athena said, “we have a lone Dragon making his way slowly through the wreckage.”
“Damn Murphy!”
“Murphy?” Talia asked, “Who’s Murphy?”
It was Jay who answered. “Murphy’s Law states whatever can go wrong…will go wrong. It is the bane of soldiers everywhere.”
Talia shook her head. “I don’t understand. You Terrans have a law about something going wrong?”
Jay snickered. “It’s not a law placed on the books of any country in the Coalition or the Confederacy but nearly everyone has heard of it; call it a life lesson if you will. But when planning for a mission, a good commander has to take into account that Murphy will surface sometime during that operation.”
The Last Spartan 1: Different Paths Page 24
