The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy)

by Sweeney, Stephen

  “Admiral,” he heard Wyatt’s voice come from the Kyllini.

  “Here,” Parks said, “go ahead.” He braced himself. Nearly the full twenty minutes had elapsed since he’d made the request. Should he have given the man longer to negotiate? No, he couldn’t. As of now, he only had about twenty minutes himself before Jenkins would summon him back to that conference room.

  “It’s a yes,” Wyatt said.

  Thank God. Step two was done. Two to go.

  “Emilio Swann said to meet him in the north gallery in the next five minutes. He’ll run you through what needs to be done.” Wyatt’s voice was shaking. Parks could understand that. The security officer had broken almost every rule in the book and had agreed to help smuggle people aboard a security shuttle with the aim of stealing a battleship. He was now an accessory to a major crime.

  “Thank you, Omar. This won’t be forgotten.”

  “I sure hope you know what you’re doing, Elliott,” Wyatt said.

  “I’ve never felt so sure of anything in my entire life,” Parks said.

  He returned to the Knights, letting them know to prepare to act as soon as they were told. He returned Koonan’s Kyllini and then sent de Winter and Taylor to locate Meyers, telling them to have the man meet him by the same gallery he himself was making for. Parks then exhaled. The last major obstacle had been cleared; there was no fear of falling. He could now sprint down the path he needed to take. It was rather difficult not to do this on the way to the gallery.

  *

  Swann made his points quickly to Parks. A shuttle was scheduled for patrol, leaving the eastern docking bay at 19:13, in twelve minutes time. Parks and his six partners would be on it. It was a standard shuttle, with room for only two pilots and two additional passengers. To keep up appearances, the two pilots originally scheduled to fly the patrol would still helm the ship, so it would be a very tight squeeze for everyone else. Breathe in. The patrol would begin as normal, with a routine sweep, before being diverted to Cratos to investigate an anomaly. It would then call the incident in as a false alarm, but not before Parks and his team had been dropped off. After that, they were on their own.

  Swann didn’t repeat his instructions once he had delivered them, aware, as Parks was himself, of the level of monitoring that surrounded them. He also appeared fully aware that he would likely be court-martialled for the part he had just played in the heist of Cratos. Parks could only thank him silently.

  *

  As Parks returned from the gallery, he saw someone waiting for him. Sima. The look on her face was one of anguish. She came towards him, reaching out and cupping his face. She was crying.

  “Please,” she said, tears running down her cheeks, “please, don’t go.”

  How had she known? Was his plan that clear to everyone? Had Meyers said something to her? Or had Sima just guessed, knowing him so well?

  “Go?” he tried. “Go where?” It didn’t fool her. He tried to speak again, but suddenly found his voice quivering slightly. Why was that happening all of a sudden? Why had the strength he had found coming so easily in the past half-hour suddenly abandoned him?

  “I know what you’re planning,” Sima said, her own voice shaking. “Please don’t go. I don’t want you to go.”

  “I’m going to be okay,” Parks said.

  She shook her head, trying in vain to force back the tears. “No,” she cried urgently. “This time I’ve got a feeling that something terrible is going to happen. You have to stay here – I’ve only just got you back.” She seized the lapels of his jacket, clutching them tightly, as if she might keep him there.

  Parks felt tears starting to trickle as he looked down into Sima’s face; she was more distraught now than he had ever remembered seeing her. Normally she was strong, rarely allowing her emotions to surface. Only three times could he recall her letting them do so – the destruction of her ship, Grendel’s Mother; the fall of the Robis system and the planet Palmer, her homeworld and nation; and finally the confirmation of the deaths of her family. And she had come from a very big family.

  But the distress those events had caused her was nothing compared to what he was seeing right now. He dug deep, searching for the words to reassure her that he was going to be okay. “I’m not going to be long,” he said, trying to check his weeping and failing. “Eleven hours, twelve at most …”

  “Elliott …”

  “It’ll be far less dangerous than Kethlan,” he said. He kissed her for reassurance, and for an opportunity to not have to look into those pleading eyes for just a moment. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

  “Promise me you’ll be back,” Sima said.

  Parks hesitated.

  “Promise me, Elliott.”

  Parks found himself unable to do so.

  “Don’t do this, Elliott!” Sima suddenly cried, thumping a fist onto his chest, anger intermixing with her sadness. “You always do this! You never make a promise unless you know that you can fully commit to it. But this is something I want you to promise. Promise that you’ll come back to me, Elliott.”

  “I’ll come back to you,” Parks said. “We’ll be together again.”

  “Promise me you will be back here!”

  “We’ll see each other again.” It was all he could find to say.

  Sima seemed to accept this, cupped his face again and kissed him once more.

  “I have to go,” Parks said.

  Sima nodded, but said nothing, letting him go.

  He made his way quickly to the flight deck to round up the Knights, pausing for but a few precious moments to wipe his eyes and allow the puffiness to subside a little. He breathed deeply, standing quietly in the corridor. For a moment, a part of him didn’t want to go. He could stay here with Sima. What did it matter if the Pandorans won? At least he could spend his last remaining hours with the woman he loved. But then he composed himself and hurried to his team, knowing that a part of him would always be with Sima, whatever happened.

  *

  “Glad we’re all friends,” Todd quipped, as the group stood crammed together in the back of the shuttle.

  “Might not be for too much longer if you don’t move your boot off my foot,” Dodds said.

  “Is that what that is?”

  “Sure is.”

  “Sorry. Give me a moment.”

  Parks felt limbs pressing into him as the group rearranged themselves, feet moving and arms being tugged free.

  “It’s like a good old-fashioned game of Twister—”

  There was a gasp of breath from someone, sounding as though they had just been winded.

  “Enrique, you’re not helping,” Taylor said.

  “Hey,” de Winter added, “move your hand whoever that is! It doesn’t belong there!”

  “Sorry,” Grace said.

  More shoving and shuffling, grunts and complaining. Parks wasn’t so sure he could take much more of this. He had known that the shuttle was small, but this was beyond a joke. They could only have been in the craft for a little over ten minutes and he felt as if he could kill someone. It didn’t help either that an elbow was pressing down hard on his bladder. Those two pilots looked mighty comfortable up there in their seats.

  “How much longer before we can approach Cratos?” he asked them.

  “We’ve completed our initial sweep. Cookson should be broadcasting the request any moment.”

  A few more agonising minutes followed, before the console at the front of the shuttle jingled. The pilots called for silence from their passengers, before answering it. “1913 Theta.”

  “1913 Theta, this is Cookson. We’ve received word of a serious incident aboard UNF Cratos. Sounds like more than a scuffle going on over there. We’re granting you approach clearance. Please investigate immediately.”

  “Acknowledged,” the lead pilot said. “Anything else you can tell us?”

  “Reports are too ambiguous right now, so I’d like an independent evaluation. Get out of there if things turn
nasty.”

  “Acknowledged,” the pilot said once more, before closing the connection and looking to Parks. “We’ll be aboard in a few minutes. We’ll exit the shuttle as soon as we put down and go about our investigation. I suggest you wait for a few minutes before disembarking yourselves.”

  “Won’t make any difference,” Grace said. “There’ll be cameras everywhere. We’ll just have to work fast to assure the crew that we’re not there to hijack their ship.”

  “Which is precisely what we are planning to do,” Dodds said.

  “Grace, I want you to go ahead of us and do what you can,” Parks said. “Tell them it’s a surprise inspection – to check for battle readiness, crew fitness, or something along those lines. Just lie and make something up. You were always good at that in the past,” he added.

  Parks felt the group staring at him in that moment, clearly trying to work out what he meant. He said nothing further, watching out the front as the shuttle swung around and made towards Cratos. It was as they began moving around to the rear that another shuttle came into view, apparently also heading towards the warship’s cargo bay. Parks felt a twinge of concern.

  “Was the security request broadcast to all acting teams?” he said to the pilots.

  “No, sir,” the co-pilot said, tapping away at the shuttle’s instrument panel. “Just us.”

  Hell, Parks thought. Where was that other shuttle going and who was on it?

  “USID is EO1-SS184”, the co-pilot read out the identification of the second shuttle. “1846 Kappa. It’s another of the scheduled teams,” he added.

  “Doesn’t seem right,” Parks muttered. It was possible that Earth Orbital One’s security chief had sent across a second team, just to add a little more authenticity to the ruse. But then again, it could also be that Swann intended to have the seven men and women arrested the moment they landed on the dreadnought. He couldn’t be certain that Jenkins hadn’t anticipated he would attempt a move such as this.

  “Want me to verify with Swann?” the pilot said.

  “No,” Parks said. “Just give us some guns, instead.” One way or another, he was going to get them to HD 21563010, even if it meant using methods he would rather not. And if Jenkins wasn’t already aware of his impending departure, he was certain that she would be finding out about it any time now.

  Unless, for some reason, she’d been distracted.

  *

  “I’m very busy, Commodore,” Jenkins said, looking up from her desk with a weary expression. “Can’t this wait until after the strategy meeting?”

  “This will only take a few minutes, Admiral,” Meyers said. “I’ve been thinking that, with everyone on edge and tempers flaring, it might be a good idea if we do something to calm everyone’s nerves.”

  “I certainly agree,” Jenkins said, nodding and rubbing her eyes. “It’s like trying to deal with rabid caged animals at the moment.”

  “They just need some sort of entertaining and distraction, to take their minds off things for a bit – a pop quiz for teams, with a range of simple prizes; a movie night, where we can show some uplifting classics.”

  “Hmm,” Jenkins said. “If only we could spare the time and resources to organise that sort of thing. Have you seen Admiral Parks?”

  “I … er … I saw him talking to Commodore Mandeep earlier. I think he is on his way up with her now. About the entertainment, I was thinking that maybe I could also perform a poetry recital,” Meyers said.

  “Poetry?” Jenkins said, stopping rubbing at her eyes and looked quizzically at the man.

  “Yes, Admiral. I enjoy writing it whenever I have some downtime. Normally it’s only for my own enjoyment, but I’ve shared some in the past with your predecessor and Elliott Parks – they both seemed to enjoy it. Do you like poetry, Admiral?” he ventured.

  Jenkins stared at him hard for a moment and Meyers felt his composure slipping. It appeared she was seeing through his plan already. Not that he now admitted it had been a very good one.

  “I’ve got some here that I could read for you, if you like—” he started.

  “Commodore, what’s going on? What are you up to?”

  “This one is called ‘Daffodils’,” Meyers pressed on, starting to read the piece.

  “Commodore, stop,” Jenkins nearly growled. “What are you doing? You’re clearly trying to distract me from something. We have to get back to the tactical meeting in just a few minutes and you’re stalling for some reason. Where is Admiral Parks? Has he put you up to this?”

  This hadn’t worked out as he had first envisioned. He had hoped that he might be able to distract the fleet admiral with some of his verses, having heard she had a certain soft spot for poetry. Clearly, Jenkins wasn’t to be as easily swayed as he had hoped. Outside the window of Jenkins’ office, Meyers could see a number of security craft and TAFs moving rapidly in the distance. They were all heading in the same direction, towards a target that was beyond the view the window provided. He hoped that Parks had had time to get everything in place and get his task underway. Jenkins’ console jingled.

  “Jenkins,” she answered the call.

  “Admiral, we have a security breach here,” a voice responded.

  Ah, good, Meyers thought, they have.

  “What sort of breach?” Jenkins demanded.

  “It looks like someone is attempting to hijack UNF Cratos, Admiral.”

  Meyers tried to keep his face as innocent as possible, though by the way Jenkins was looking at him, he wasn’t sure he was doing a very good job of it.

  *

  “I did wonder who was on that other shuttle,” Parks said.

  “Good job we sent someone down to the cargo bay to meet you, then,” Weathers stated with a smile, her eyes flicking to the pistols that Parks and his entourage still clutched tightly.

  “Yes,” Parks said, finally stowing the gun securely in his jacket, indicating for the others to do likewise. “We were preparing ourselves for quite a firefight to get up here.”

  “Probably wouldn’t have made it up to the bridge, either,” Weathers smiled.

  “No,” Parks said. It had been an odd series of events. The shuttle had landed in the cargo bay, where Parks saw the second transport was already present and had been evacuated. He and the six other passengers had disembarked as soon as possible, arming themselves and preparing for the need to both resist arrest and take control of the dreadnought by force.

  The opposite had in fact happened. A single person had stood at the entrance to the hold, one whom Grace had recognised. It was Kim Song, Lovejoy’s second-in-command. It turned out that he and Ali Liu were cousins and had kept in touch during much of the war, up until the point where Cratos had been thought lost. It had also turned out that Koonan’s Kyllini wasn’t quite as secure as either he or Parks would’ve liked, the transmission having been intercepted by Weathers, who had monitored Parks’ entire exchange with Wyatt.

  So much for an undercover operation.

  “You know, I should really have you two sent back to Griffin,” Parks said. “Should the Enemy put in an appearance in our absence, it would be good for you two to be there.”

  “Sorry, Admiral,” Liu said, dismissing one of the crew he had been speaking with and looking around from the captain’s chair, “but I didn’t want you to have to do it alone.” His eyes strayed briefly to the six who stood behind Parks. “Well, you know what I mean,” he added.

  “We’ve been through so much together already,” Weathers said. “Neither of us wanted to stand idly by as you did this. I know it sounds corny, but we really wanted to be there for you.”

  “No, I know what you mean,” Parks said, waving away the apology. “I’m actually very glad to have you with us.”

  “Just one question,” Liu said. “What are we doing?”

  “We’re going in search of the only means with which we can win this war, a prototype of the original Tachyon Star Bomb,” Parks said, making his way over to the captain’s cha
ir. “Now, if you would be so kind, Captain?”

  Liu smiled, stood and saluted, before moving to the navigation console at the front of the bridge. “Your orders, sir?”

  “We’re jumping to a system named HD 21563010, Captain, and into the vicinity of its only planet, HD 21563010 Ab,” Parks informed him. Weathers moved to her own station, evicting the CCO who stood there, while the Knights and Grace moved into space. Parks studied his surroundings. The layout of the bridge was quite different to that of Griffin – far smaller and more circular, no long aisle with rows of operators leading up to the front. The frontal viewport must’ve been only about one third the size of the one he had grown accustomed to over the years.

  “Course set, Captain,” Liu soon said.

  Parks was about to speak, when Weathers’ console jingled.

  “Captain,” she said, “we have an incoming communication request from Earth Orbital One.”

  “Hardly surprising,” Parks said, before prompting Weathers to accept it. A holographic screen sprang up at the front of the bridge, displaying the interior of Jenkins’ office. Initially she appeared less than happy. But her thunderous expression slipped when she saw who it was in the captain’s seat.

  “Admiral Parks,” she said in a searching tone. “I thought you were joining us for our tactical meeting? Why are you aboard that ship? What is going on over there?”

  “What is going on over here is that I’m taking a small group of volunteers on a wild-goose chase,” Parks said, calmly. “Naturally, we couldn’t do it without first acquiring a ship.”