“White?” Dodds asked.
“Yes, please,” Natalia said, fumbling somewhat for the glass that Dodds handed her.
“How much can you actually see?” Meyers asked.
“Nothing out of the right,” Natalia said, a little gloomily. “And the left is mostly just a blur of colours.” She moved the glass nearer her face. “If I hold this here, I can just about see what it is.” She lowered the glass to drink, spilling a tiny amount as she did so. “As coordinated as always,” she chuckled. She groped about on the plate in front of her, finding the cocktail sausage she was after and popping it into her mouth.
Dodds smiled. Everyone was here. Almost. “Where do you think Chaz has gone?” he asked.
“Somewhere where no one can find him,” Enrique chuckled.
It seemed that the moment it had been accepted that the war had truly been won and the threat of the Pandoran army had been eliminated, Chaz had resigned from service. He had done so one morning, made his goodbyes to his fellow team-mates and was gone by mid-afternoon. Where to, no one knew. Other than seeing him during his farewell, they hadn’t even seen him leave. Dodds thought that it was possible that Chaz was still somewhere to be found about one of the orbital stations, movement to and from Earth still being heavily restricted. Then again, that wouldn’t have stopped a man like Chaz. He’d have found a way down.
“Well, wherever he’s gone, I hope he’s finally happy,” Estelle said.
“He’s with his family,” Kelly said, “so long as he’s with them, I think he’d be happy anywhere.” There was a small clatter on the table and Kelly quickly retrieved the object that had fallen onto it, slipping it back onto her finger. It was the engagement ring that Enrique had bought her. Too loose on her ring finger, she was keeping her hand slightly clenched as she walked around, to prevent it from falling off.
“We’ll get a nicer ring next week,” Enrique told Kelly.
“No, I like it,” Kelly said.
“Sure? I can get you something a lot prettier,” Enrique said. “A few more diamonds and stuff on it …”
“Darling, it’s fine,” Kelly said, kissing him. “I just need it tightened up a little.”
“Okay,” Enrique smiled.
Dodds knew that despite what he said, Enrique would seek out a more expensive ring in the weeks to come. If he couldn’t find any in the commerce sections of the orbital stations, he’d probably jump on the first shuttle to Earth that became available and see what he could find on the ground. He then saw everyone around the table suddenly straighten, and looked around to see Jenkins arriving at their table.
“Enjoying the party?” she asked.
The group responded that they were, those that were drinking it raising their glasses and accepting a top up of champagne from the bottle that the admiral was carrying with her.
“I hate to bring the up subject now,” Jenkins started, “but I figured that since you’re all right here together … We need volunteers to help us perform a mop-up of the remaining enemy forces. Now, this won’t be a difficult task, but it needs to be done even though it could be very slow and tedious,” she hastened to add, as the table shrank back.
Kelly shook her head almost immediately, taking Enrique’s hand and holding it tight. “I’m afraid not,” she said. “I’m sorry, but Enrique and I handed in our resignations this morning.”
“I see,” Jenkins said, making a poor attempt at disguising the disappointment on her face. “You wouldn’t consider just six more months of service to assist with the initial phase?”
Both Kelly and Enrique looked a little uncomfortable for a moment, almost squirming in their seats. It wasn’t an unreasonable request – to assist with the transition of knowledge and skills to others, who could help to secure continuity and begin the rebuilding process.
“We decided we want to get married and settle down and start a family,” Enrique supplied.
“Are you sure I can’t change your minds?” Jenkins tried once more. “If it’s money, I can arrange significant compensation for your participation.”
Kelly again looked uncomfortable. “We … don’t need any more money,” she said. “I sold Gloucester Enterprises’ remaining assets to a number of start-up firms, for a significant amount.”
“Really?” Dodds said, lowering his beer. “You’ve sold off GE?”
“I have no use for the company or any of its ships,” Kelly said, with a small shrug. “There are other people who could really use the assets and make a bigger difference with what’s there than I could. There are too many memories attached to the old firm, too.”
There were nods of understanding from all. Kelly then added, “I’ve also sold the publication rights of my journals to Whitmore-Price.”
“Really?” Estelle said.
Kelly nodded happily.
“How?”
“My mother helped to arrange it years ago,” Kelly said. “But because of the war they’ve only just been able to get everything sorted out. Don’t worry,” she added, looking around the table. “I’ll make sure everyone is painted in a positive light.”
“Well, I’m very sorry to hear you won’t be joining us,” Jenkins said. I wish you both all the happiness for the future.” She then turned her gaze to the others around the table.
In response to the admiral’s unspoken question, Dodds exchanged a look with Estelle, detecting the slight shrug and a nod from her. “I’m in,” he said. He felt a hand tighten on his and looked over to Natalia.
“Simon …” she began.
Dodds squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I’ll be okay,” he said. “And compared to everything we’ve been through, it won’t be all that dangerous. Besides,” he added, raising his beer and looking back to Jenkins. “I’ll be quite safe in the ATAF.”
“That’s the one caveat to the request,” Jenkins said. “The ATAFs are being withdrawn from service.”
Dodds once again lowered his bottle before drinking, in case he spat it everywhere. “You’re taking the ATAFs out of service? Why?”
“A number of reasons, mostly security and financial,” Jenkins said. “The government doesn’t want the burden of maintaining them any longer and wishes to redirect the funding into other projects.”
“But they’re still useful,” Kelly said. “Sure, there’ll only be two pilots now, but they’re still the most powerful weapon in our arsenal.”
“I know, I know,” Jenkins said, suppressing a sigh. “But you know what the government is like – now that the danger has passed, they want to start submitting budgets, sorting our time lines and trimming unnecessary expenses. The ATAFs may well be the most powerful weapon we have, but they’re also the most costly. They were created solely to eliminate the threat of the Pandoran army, and since that’s now gone they’re deemed surplus to requirement and constitute too much of a drain on available resources.”
Dodds glanced to the others about the table, the expressions on their faces all as incredulous as his own. Even Natalia looked utterly baffled by the revelation.
“And, as is always the way with such budget and deficit reduction measures, the public sectors and armed forces are the first to suffer,” Jenkins continued.
“So, what’s going to happen to them?” Dodds asked.
“They’ll be transferred to a secure location, stripped down and … well, then we’ll see what happens. We need to ensure that they don’t fall into the wrong hands. It may well be the case that once everything is said and done, there will be nothing left of them but the chassis.” Jenkins gave a slight shrug. Quite clearly she’d been keen to keep the five fighters in service for as long as she could, but was now reluctantly aware that it simply wouldn’t be possible.
Jenkins went on, “Although, to be honest I think their withdrawal might also have something to do with a long-running dispute over who they truly belong to. As you know, the Confederation wasn’t solely responsible for their design and construction, and they’re now considered too powerful
for any one nation to be in control of. Their continued existence could cause … problems.”
Dodds thought back to the strategy meeting involving the take down of Dragon and recalled the spat between the fleet admiral and the government ministers, as well as Parson’s comments. He admitted that the man had actually had a point.
“Politics,” Dodds nodded.
“As always,” Jenkins said.
No ATAFs. Dodds considered it carefully. He’d have to go back to flying a standard TAF or a Rook; perhaps even learn how to pilot a Firefly or one of the other Independent fighter craft on offer. It suddenly sounded extremely dangerous. Those fighters had nothing on the ATAF. The feeling then passed. The Pandorans were dying and wouldn’t even put up as much of a fight as the insurgents, terrorists, and pirates used to.
“What do you think?” he said, turning to Estelle. “Still up for it?”
Estelle shrugged. “Sure, why not?” She looked at Jenkins and said, “What would be involved?”
“Gradual expanding sweeps into star systems that were invaded by the Enemy, to take down any of their forces that may have either stayed there or have moved in since, for whatever reason. We’re not planning on going in hard. I want to make this a matter of attrition, and allow the malfunctioning nanites to do a lot of the work. We’re already satisfied that we won’t face anything near the level of opposition that we did during the latter parts of the war, what with the health issues they have all started suffering, and we suspect that by the time we get around to the more densely-packed systems many of the Pandorans may well have succumbed to the cellular degeneration.
“But we can go into the full details next week. Mr Meyers, Mr Liu, can I count on your participation and support?”
“Yes, Admiral,” Liu answered, almost immediately.
Meyers was quiet for a time, still appearing a little downtrodden. He looked a little odd to Dodds with his beard missing. Much of it had been burned away during the destruction of Leviathan, he had said, and so the man had shaved the rest off.
“I’d need a new ship,” Meyers said, eventually. Clearly, he was missing Leviathan. Odd that someone could get so attached to a carrier, but apparently Mandeep had felt the same way about Grendel’s Mother.
“I can offer you captaincy of CSN Griffin, if you will accept the charge,” Jenkins said, with a smile. “Former captains include one old lady, as well as one of the bravest men she ever had the fortune of serving alongside. It also comes with two of the most tenacious bridge crew the CSN ever saw,” she added, eyes flickering to Liu and Weathers.
Meyers brightened at that. “It would be my pleasure,” he said, raising his glass and clinking it off Jenkins’.
“Good. I will speak to you all tomorrow,” Jenkins said. “Enjoy the rest of your evening. Mr Todd, Ms Taylor, thank you for everything,” she nodded to the two, before leaving to continue gathering volunteers.
“The sun’s just coming up over Asia,” Kelly noted.
“When will it reach Ireland?” Estelle asked.
“In about nine or ten hours, or so.”
“Damn, I’m not sure I can keep drinking for that long,” Enrique said.
“Well, technically it’s been 2625 for about three hours already …” Kelly smiled.
Dodds chuckled, rising from the table and moving over to the window. Earth lay below them, turning very slowly. In the still-dark continents, he could see many bright yellow lights, appearing like small, dense fires; thin trails spidering out from each, connecting to others or fading off in other directions. Cities and towns, full of people celebrating. He couldn’t see Ireland from where he was, but was sure that his parents’ house was probably still and quiet at this hour. His father had never been that bothered about celebrating New Year’s Eve, even if it was as momentousness as this one. The thought made him smile.
Ahead of him, he could see craft flying around the planet and past the station. They were letting off what looked like fireworks, chemical explosions in space that glowed brightly with various different colours. Others were trailing things behind them, creating subtle patterns as they weaved about.
Dodds smiled as he looked out over the scene, recalling the dream he had had on the morning of the final battle, every detail still so fresh in his mind.
We forgive you, Poppy and Stefan had said.
Three little words. Three little words that held so much power, so much strength and so much truth. What had happened on Peri that day had only ever been an accident. He had never intended to kill Stefan Pitt or Poppy Castro. Their families knew it and so did he. It had just taken him a long time to realise it.
Zackaria had asked him whether or not he would be able to forgive him for everything he had done. Of course Dodds could, and so would many others once they knew the truth. Only the weak could never forgive – men such as Tyler-Brett and the other members of the Imperial Senate, who had started the whole war. No, he thought to himself, forgiveness wasn’t to be found in people such as that; forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. And now, before him, at the dawning of a new day, of a new year for the human race, were the strongest of them all – those that had endured and survived, and those that would rebuild. It would be hard, yes, but they would manage it.
On the day of that final battle, he had also learned something very important – people do not become heroes because they want to, but because they need to. Ever since he had enlisted with the CSN, he had wanted to be a hero. But it wasn’t until 26th December, 2624, over seventeen years later, that it had been required of him. Strangely, that humbled him.
“Are the fireworks beautiful?”
Dodds turned to Natalia, who had wandered over to join him by the window. “Yes,” he said, putting an arm around her. “Yes, they are.” He held her to him for a while, as they both stood watching the sun come up over Asia. “So very beautiful,” he said. He then felt Natalia’s fingers on his cheek, wiping away the tears that had trickled there. Evidently, despite her injury, there were some things she could see better than others.
“Are you okay, darling?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, kissing her. “I’ve never been happier.”
— Epilogue —
An excerpt from A GIFT FROM THE GODS by Kelly Taylor
How It All Ended
The mop-up operation lasted a little over two years, but was not nearly as frantic or as difficult a task as those that had preceded it. The final recorded live Pandoran was shot dead in Turl, a city on Hyanik, where a handful of the soldiers had retreated to.
The Pandoran War officially ended on 26th December 2624, at 5:26am GMT, in a final decisive battle fought by the allied forces to defend Earth from destruction. The bulk of the surviving Pandoran army was either eliminated or routed during the conflict, freeing Sol of the danger that they had posed. Total losses for both sides numbered around sixty-seven percent for the allied forces, and over ninety percent for the enemy. It was not a battle that was won easily, or one that I will now admit I was entirely certain we actually would.
I had watched as Dragon had prepared to fire, expecting the antimatter ball to strike Earth and destroy it, as it had done to so many planets before. Dragon’s destruction came at the very same moment, the Tachyon Star Bomb exploding and taking the battleship down with it. The explosion that followed was almost blinding, but oh so wonderful at the same time. Following the ship’s destruction, the explosive energies (as well as the antimatter that had been intended for Earth) was parcelled up and catapulted around the battleship’s immediate vicinity. This had been anticipated by the allied forces, but had worked far better than any had expected. In one stroke, we had eliminated not only Dragon, but also the bulk of the invading enemy forces. They had little option other than to pull back at that point, and even that proved far more difficult for them than we had originally envisioned.
The Advanced Tactical Assault Fighters were decommissioned after the end of the war, with all their systems, weaponry and component
s stripped clean. They now live in the Laines Museum, where each is little more than a shell. The plasma accelerators were the only known piece of technology that were offered up for future research and development. Everything else, including the cloaking system, power generators and predictive targeting system, is said to have been destroyed.
Aiden Meyers was found alive and well (though suffering from a broken arm and burns to the face) in a single-man escape pod, floating around the conflict zone after the Pandorans had departed. A black box recording recovered from CSN Leviathan suggested that the crew had placed him in the pod after he had lost consciousness when the carrier began to come apart. He was promoted to rear admiral a month later, and led the mission to mop up the surviving members of the Pandoran army, taking captaincy of CSN Griffin during that period. He retired from service in 2631, and began teaching English and general studies at a community college on Earth.
After concluding her role in the mop-up operation, Sima Mandeep adopted a boy and a girl, as had been intended by herself and Elliott Parks when they had married, choosing two from the raft of orphans that had been left in the wake of the Pandorans’ assault on the galaxy. She remained a part of the navy for a number of years, though she took a step back from active service, making the transition into training and taking an active role in helping to rebuild the United Naval Forces. She now travels annually to Elliott’s Rest, the star system formerly known as HD 21563010, around Christmas time, where she spends a day in honour of the memory of her husband.
Estelle de Winter participated in the mop-up operation for eighteen months, before she was forced off the field during a particularly fierce engagement in the former Imperial system, Hewate. She was recovered unconscious from the bottom of a river when her TAF was shot down and she ditched in the water. She now lives in the city of Limerick, Ireland, where she works in local law enforcement. She has one daughter and lives with her long-term partner, Marcus Willis. The two remained engaged for several years, but made no formal plans to marry.
The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy) Page 138
