by Ryk Brown
“Compared to the previous attacks, your world received only scratches this time around.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Nathan agreed. “How are things coming along with the Jung ground forces?”
“The last of them were either eliminated or captured a few days ago. We have had reports of small skirmishes, but we have yet to confirm that any of them were with actual Jung soldiers. As best we can tell, there are no more organized Jung forces on this world. Of course, we shall continue to operate as if there are.”
“Of course.”
“I have spoken with the leaders of Earth,” Telles continued. “We have agreed to provide training for their security forces, here on Porto Santo.”
“Yes, I heard,” Nathan replied. “Congratulations on your promotion, by the way. Lieutenant to full commander. A nice jump, and well deserved I might add.”
“Thank you, sir,” Commander Telles replied, “although I am not sure exactly how a commander fits within the Ghatazhak rank structure.”
“Does it bother you to be under the auspices of the Alliance?”
“Not at all,” Commander Telles assured him. “Admiral Dumar has had a long and distinguished career. He is well qualified for the position. However, we are still Ghatazhak just the same. The men stationed here now are still programmed to remain loyal to yourself above all others. I cannot speak to those Ghatazhak who shall join us in the coming months, as I assume that their programming shall favor the Alliance.”
Nathan stopped walking and looked at the commander. “Why can’t they just be loyal to the Ghatazhak?”
Commander Telles looked quizzical. “That is an interesting question, Captain.”
Nathan continued walking. “So, how long do you think it will take for the security forces of Earth to be able to take over the job of policing their own areas?”
“To a significant degree? Several months at least. To completely take over and free us from our responsibilities on this world?… Perhaps years. Much of your world is still contaminated, as you know.”
“Yes, but the Corinairans have promised a continuous stream of aid, as well as technology that can be used to clean up the contamination. Of course, it will take some time. Only a few of the Earth’s fabricators survived. It will take a few months to significantly grow their numbers to the point where they can keep pace with demand.”
“Yes, but their numbers will grow,” Commander Telles assured Nathan. “There is one thing I have learned about Terrans. They are tenacious.”
* * *
Jessica walked the streets of Terra, the first of several settlements built by refugees from Earth on Tanna. The city was rudimentary at best, with rows of small houses of simple yet sturdy construction. Much of the walkways were no more than trails worn down in the grassy meadow alongside one of Tanna’s many lakes. However, as simple a city as it was, it was a vast improvement over the camps that Jessica had rescued her family from more than a month ago.
The city had grown in recent weeks as more and more immigrants had come over from Earth. The city’s central shopping district and government offices had grown accordingly, and many of the buildings in the district had risen several stories in height. What had started as a collection of tents had become a city complete with infrastructure, roads, shops, and public services.
She walked past one of the transportation hubs where Tannan busses picked up refugees to work in the fields and factories that produced that which the Earth needed. Men and women were disembarking from one of the afternoon busses, fanning out in all directions as they headed down the various paths that led to their homes. The lives of these people were not glamorous, and they certainly lacked the creature comforts that they had been accustomed to during their lives on Earth. But that was all before the Jung. Now, they were just happy to have a roof over their heads and the basic necessities of life. Even more so, they were happy that they were helping their homeworld to recover, despite the fact that most of them would likely never return to that world. They would build new lives here on Tanna, the world that had welcomed them with open arms. They would help shape this world, and in the process help shape a new Earth.
Jessica paused a moment, checking a hand-carved wooden street sign.
“Don’t tell me we’re lost,” Josh said from behind her.
“We’re not lost, cadet,” Jessica replied with a sharp tone, “I’m simply determining our position so that we do not become lost.”
“Sorry, sir,” Josh said.
“Her place should be down this way,” Jessica said as she continued walking.
They continued down a long, curving path that made its way between houses. Eventually, they left what had once been a grassy meadow and entered a forest of trees tinged with green and blue leaves. The forest had a magical quality to it, with birds the likes of which neither of them had seen, as well as small creatures that stuck their heads out of holes in the ground, then disappeared as the strange creatures approached.
Jessica finally came to stop in front of one of the small houses tucked away between two large trees. “This is it,” she said, stepping up to the front door.
“I’ll just wait over there,” Josh said, pointing to a nearby stump. “Soak up a bit of nature, and all that.”
Jessica knocked on the door. A moment later it opened.
“Jess!” Synda cried out, immediately throwing her arms around Jessica. “Oh, my God! I’m so happy to see you!”
For the second time in just as many months, Jessica’s heart was warmed.
* * *
“You know, I fought for the funding for the Explorer-class ships,” Nathan’s father said as they entered the captain’s mess.
Nathan paused to look at his father. “I thought you were against the war effort?”
“I was, publicly,” he replied. “All part of the ruse. The original plan had been to build this exact same ship, but without the big four-barreled rail guns.”
“The quads?”
“Yes. Many were afraid that they could be considered as ‘orbital strike weapons’.”
“We have used them as such,” Nathan admitted. “More than once, I might add.”
“Well, the original ones were even bigger. They also had them on both the top and bottom. Same thing with the mini-rail guns.”
“Both top and bottom?” Nathan asked as he took his seat.
“Yes. We scaled down the design and instead reinforced the underside with additional armor under the guise of using it for aero-braking to save propellant while on long missions of diplomacy away from Sol.”
“I would have loved to have twice the number of rail guns, I can tell you that,” Nathan exclaimed.
“If you look at the designs, the spaces are still there.”
“That’s why we have those empty bays on either side of the main propulsion section, right? For future weapons?”
“Yes. Actually, the design had been to put energy weapons in those bays, but that was just a scam to hide the funds that were being diverted to the jump drive project.”
“You mean ‘projects’,” Nathan reminded him.
“Yeah, I still can’t believe that I didn’t know there was a shadow project,” his father admitted.
“One of the things you learn is to always have a backup plan,” Nathan said.
“They teach you that at the Academy?” his father wondered.
“School of hard knocks,” Nathan admitted.
The captain’s steward brought in their meal and placed it on the table in front of them.
“Molo, again?” his father asked.
“Sorry, but we have to conserve. You said so yourself.”
“I know,” his father agreed, “it’s just that we’re eating it at least three times per week now. The stuff grows like a weed in places a weed won’t grow.”
“That’s the beauty of molo,” Nathan said. “It grows where nothing else will.” He took his first bite. “Casimir said it would do well on Earth and help us get
through the lean times as our world recovered.”
“I just hope it isn’t a staple that sticks with us forever.”
“I don’t know, I rather like it,” Nathan said.
“You always had an odd palate, son,” his father said, “even as a child.”
“So, how are things going with the recovery?”
“The first of the decon plants went into operation yesterday,” his father said. “There will be at least a dozen more going online by the end of the month.”
“That sounds pretty good.”
“It will take hundreds of them,” his father pointed out.
“Maybe, but considering it’s only been a few weeks now…”
“Of course. Of course. I shouldn’t be complaining,” the president said. “It is hard to be patient when there is so much that needs to be done.”
“I know the feeling,” Nathan said. “You should see our repair lists.”
“Pretty bad, huh?”
“We’ve had worse,” Nathan said as he took another bite of molo. “Not as bad as the Celestia, though. She’ll be in port for months, maybe a year. It depends on how quickly the Karuzara repair parties can get their own facilities fixed up.”
“Have you heard from them recently?” his father wondered.
“We get daily updates by comm-jumpers,” Nathan explained. “They appear to be ahead of schedule, but it will take them weeks just to get to the same condition they were in when they had first arrived, let alone what they were planning on already having done by now.”
“You’re not worried about another Jung attack?” his father asked.
“Not really. We’ve established with reasonable certainty that there are no Jung assets within ten light years of Sol. The closest ones are at Tau Ceti. So we’re confident that we have at least six months of peace and quiet.”
“We can certainly use it,” his father said, holding up a piece of molo on his fork.
* * *
For the first time that he could remember, Nathan entered the flight briefing room not as the speaker, but as a member of the audience. No longer was everything on his shoulders, and it felt good.
It was also the first time that everyone in the room was wearing the same uniform, and a common patch on their right shoulder, that of the Alliance.
Nathan took a seat in the front row between Jessica and Vladimir. Behind them was Commander Willard, Nathan’s XO, and Commander Telles of the Ghatazhak.
“This is different,” Jessica whispered as Nathan took his seat.
“But nice,” Nathan whispered back. Nathan glanced about the room. Cameron and her XO, Commander Kovacic were sitting to the other side of Jessica. On the far side of the aisle were all three Scout ship captains, Poc, Roselle, and Nash, as well as their XOs, all of them having just returned from recon and patrol missions.
The last two to enter the room were Majors Prechitt and McCullum, the commanders of the Aurora’s two fighter wings, or what little was left of them.
“Attention on deck!” Sergeant Weatherly barked from the entrance as Admiral Dumar entered the room. All in attendance rose smartly to their feet and came to attention, eyes forward.
“As you were,” Admiral Dumar ordered as he took the podium.
It was the first time that Nathan had seen Dumar in the standard EDF duty uniform that had been adopted by the Alliance due to its availability.
“As this may be one of the few times that the command personnel of all ships will be in the same room together,” the admiral began, “I’d like to take the opportunity to have an open discussion about our future plans on how to deal with the Jung threat that looms over all the worlds of this Alliance. However, first, I think I should outline the facts as we know them. Fact one; the Jung likely have near one hundred warships of varying size and strength. Fact two; the Jung have numerous fully industrialized worlds, complete with massive populations with which to support their military might. Fact three; the Jung have made it quite obvious that they wish to take the Earth as their seat of power. Fact four; the Alliance does not have the ships, manpower, or industrial base to go toe-to-toe with the Jung. Fact five; we have the jump drive. Let us all understand this one thing… As much of an advantage as the jump drive has proven itself to be, it alone is not enough to win this war. Even if all five of our ships were repaired and retrofitted with the best armaments and shields, and fully loaded with fighters, shuttles, and interceptors, we would still be no match for the Jung. Our ships, our weapons, our jump drives, are all operated and maintained by people. People need food, people need water, people need health care, people need uniforms… And the list goes on. What we need are those fully industrialized and populated worlds that the Jung have.”
Admiral Dumar looked at the people in the room as he took a sip of water. “I have reviewed Captain Scott’s original idea to rid space of all Jung ships within twenty light years of Earth. While this plan would give the Earth, and by extension the Alliance, at least a full year without threat of Jung attack, it leaves out a critical factor. Once you destroy all Jung ships within a system, what happens to that system? Do the Jung know who attacked them? Or do they blame the inhabitants of that system? While I suspect that the Jung will know that it was an outside force that attacked them, and not the local inhabitants, if you destroy their ships in orbit, what will the troops on the ground do?”
Admiral Dumar cleared his throat. “If we are to destroy the ships that occupy their systems, we must also destroy the forces that control their worlds. In essence, we must liberate such worlds. Within that twenty light year sphere there are eight fully industrialized worlds. The six core worlds of Earth, and two of the secondary worlds. This has been confirmed by our Scout ships over the last few weeks. It is these worlds that we must liberate, and make our allies against the Jung.”
“If the Jung forces are so superior in number and support, how are we supposed to liberate those worlds?” Commander Kovacic asked. “If you’re talking about a ground war, you’re talking about a lot of logistics. Even if we had the supplies, we don’t have the ships to get them to the battlefield.”
“In answer to your question, Commander, those logistical problems can be mostly negated by creative use of jump drive technology.” Admiral Dumar looked at the faces in the room. “To all questions there are answers,” he said confidently, “it is just a matter of finding them. Now that we have some time to look, we shall find them.”
Thank you for reading this story.
(A review would be greatly appreciated!)
COMING SOON
Episode 13
of
The Frontiers Saga
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