by Ken Lozito
He started the video.
“I know the timing of this sucks, Nathan, but I have something to tell you. After we learned what had happened to Sierra and the other cities, I knew you would be neck deep in planning your assault.” Savannah’s voice cracked and she looked away from the camera. “Damn it, this is a lot harder than I expected, just like I didn’t expect you to come to mean so much to me. At first, I thought it was only because we’d both just survived the Vemus attack and were aboard the Vigilant together, but it’s more. It’s so much more,” Savannah said and reached toward the camera. Nathan felt as if she were reaching toward him and the breath caught in his throat. “I need you to come back to me. It’s so very important that you do because it’s not just you and me anymore . . .”
Nathan listened to the rest of Savannah’s message, unable to keep his mouth from hanging open. The message finished playing and he leaned back in his chair, blowing out a breath.
“Is something wrong, sir?” Major Shelton asked.
Nathan looked over at her and saw Sergeant Boers watching him too. His heart was racing, and for a few moments he thought of keeping what Savannah had just told him to himself. He smiled. “I’m going to be a father,” he said.
Major Shelton’s brows drew up in surprise, but then she jumped out of her chair and came over to give him a hug. The news spread like wildfire, and through all the good wishes and congratulations, there were several sympathetic looks from those around him. He understood those looks all too well, given what they were about to do. He was going to become a father. The more he thought about it, the more real it became, along with the looming certainty that he would never meet his child.
Nathan swallowed hard and clenched his teeth to keep himself focused. When he’d authorized distribution of the messages from home, he’d never thought he’d receive the news he had. And now his thoughts went from elation at the thought of becoming a father to a flash of anger at the thought that someone else would be raising his child. He’d authorized those final messages because he thought it would remind people of why they needed to fight. He never would have believed the message he’d receive would remind him of why he needed to live.
Chapter Thirty-One
Noah received a response from the comms drone he’d sent. The drone had needed to get within the vicinity of the lunar base receivers so the messages the people at Sanctuary recorded could be sent. It had taken a lot of convincing and assurances for Colonel Cross to allow him to send the drone. In the end, she’d sent a message of her own, which he hoped was a good thing. Recording his own message to Kara had been more difficult than he’d thought it would be. He knew what he wanted to say but felt that his message was woefully insignificant when compared with how he was really feeling. Despite his propensity for having long conversations, when it came to what he really wanted to say to his wife, he found that he wasn’t as articulate as he wanted to be. He wanted Kara here with him right now—safe, or as safe as either of them could be—and not on some damn moon. That was it, and Noah felt it wasn’t too much to ask.
He glanced over at Lenora. Grim lines of grief marred her pretty face. When she had finally awakened, she’d taken to a cold, brooding silence, but the comments she did make indicated she was acutely aware of what was going on around her. Noah hadn’t thought it was a good idea to leave her alone so he had insisted she come with him to the mobile Command Center. She drank from a canteen, which was thankfully filled with water. No doubt she was experiencing the mother of all hangovers, for which there was no miracle cure other than simply rehydrating. She hadn’t mentioned anything about her behavior the night before and made no apologies either. All night long Noah had sat outside that tent, his only companion the berwolf Lenora had named Bull. He’d finally put his feet up and gotten some sleep. When he’d woken up, Bull was nowhere to be found and Lenora was awake. They went to the mobile Command Center.
Lenora claimed a workstation off to the side and Noah started working from another station nearby. He reviewed the results of the latest simulations and stress tests of the power conversion system, and the changes they’d made had yielded a thirty percent increase in stability. This was a remarkable achievement since they were taking power from old alien technology and converting it into something they could use. The fact that they could do this at all was amazing, but was it enough? They could power the colossus cannon, which fired a powerful lance of electrons that was capable of reaching targets two kilometers away from Sanctuary. What they really needed to do was test-fire the weapon, but that also ran the risk of alerting the Vemus to Sanctuary’s location. They had the weapon and a few CDF soldiers, but fighting the Vemus here would be the stuff of nightmares. Sanctuary’s location had been picked because they could hide a lot of people, but it wasn’t the most defensible position. There were no mountains nearby or natural barriers that would make a ground assault difficult—just an unearthed alien city nestled amidst rolling hills with forests in the distance.
Occasionally the recon drones would find a large herd of runners, which were long-legged herbivores that averaged close to twenty feet in height and galloped the great plains on their migration trails. The migration drew packs of berwolves, but they left Sanctuary alone. At least there weren’t any ryklars in the area. Noah shivered. Ryklars were dangerous and cunning predators that many colonial scientists believed had been genetically altered to increase specific traits. Ryklars responded to certain frequencies and would protect alien sites such as Sanctuary. The ultrahigh frequency stimulated the ryklars’ predatory instincts and put them into a heightened state of agitation where they became hypersensitive to their surroundings. Instead of hunting and killing in order to survive, they would start killing far more than they could eat. Prolonged exposure to the ultrahigh frequency even got the ryklars to hunt the colonists. Berwolves, on the other hand, while highly lethal, behaved much more like the predators from Earth. But after being around Bull, Noah was convinced that the berwolves were much smarter than an average dog. Berwolves were stocky like a bear, but they had a strong pack instinct. Colonial scientists believed that even the berwolves had been genetically altered, but not to the extent that the ryklars had been.
Noah leaned back in his chair and looked at Lenora.
“Any idea where he goes?” Noah asked.
Lenora glanced over at him. She sat with her knees folded in front of her chest and had been reading so intently that she probably hadn’t heard what he’d asked.
“Bull. Do you know where he goes when he leaves you?” Noah asked.
Lenora shrugged. “He does what he wants and doesn’t bother anyone.”
She looked back at her screen, glaring at it. Noah had watched her off and on for the past hour and she seemed to go from rigid fury to just wanting to be alone. But being alone at Sanctuary was almost impossible now. Noah knew Lenora hadn’t been thrilled at the idea of the CDF designating the archaeological site as a safe haven for the colony, but she’d gone along with it and had worked tirelessly to make sure people were as safe as they could be. Now she looked at all of them as if they were intruding on her own personal space, as if she had claimed the ancient alien city for her own.
“Do you want to get some air?” Noah asked.
“The air out there is the same as in here,” Lenora replied without looking up from her screen.
“Alright then,” Noah said and stood up. He’d tried. “I’ll be outside if you change your mind.”
He left the mobile Command Center. The skies were clear and the sun was shining. Even the rings that surrounded the planet weren’t as visible as they normally were. By all evidence, contrary to this beautiful day, the cities they’d built had been destroyed over the span of twenty-four hours. Today was an awful, miserable day for the colony. Since the attack on their cities had begun, Colonel Cross had instituted a mandatory curfew, with only small groups of refugees allowed beyond the city ruins at any given time. Not ideal, but it did give the refugees a chance to st
retch their legs before returning to the lower levels of the alien city.
Noah glanced back at the brown, prefabricated walls of the mobile Command Center. Through the doorway, he saw Lenora shaking her head at something on her screen and frowned. There was only so much irritated, cold fury he could take from one person, even if that person was family to him. He turned around and walked away.
The mobile Command Center was near the entrance to the archaeological site where the ancient alien city had been discovered. His boots crunched along the well-worn path to the left toward the grassy plains beyond. A group of displaced colonists were heading back to the alien city, and some waved at him as he walked by. After they’d received news that Sierra had been destroyed, only one other communication from the CDF forces had made it to Sanctuary. Noah knew Sean had made it out, but the only thing in the message was that they should remain hidden because the fight with the Vemus wasn’t yet done. Of all the things Noah hated most, being in the dark about what was going on was near the top of his list.
He sucked in a breath of fresh air and blew it out. For the span of a single breath, he’d found a moment’s peace, and it felt good to stretch his legs. But suddenly, an ear-piercing siren began to wail, catching him so completely by surprise that he actually ducked at the sound of it.
The colonists nearby looked up at the sky in alarm. Noah heard several people shouting, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. A pair of CDF soldiers drove out in an ATV, using the vehicle’s PA system to order all of them to return to Sanctuary. The refugees were slow to respond and Noah began shouting for them as well. The nearby colonists looked at him, and upon seeing his uniform, started to head back into the alien city. They were slow to move at first but quickly increased their pace. Noah stayed out on the grassy plains to make sure the colonists were returning to the subterranean levels of the alien city.
The CDF soldiers driving the ATV headed toward him and stopped. “Can we give you a ride, Captain?” one of the soldiers asked.
Noah thanked them. The ATV only had two seats, so he had to hold on from the outside. He stepped onto the running boards and grabbed the handle. The driver pressed down hard on the accelerator and the ATV lurched forward. Noah held on as tightly as he could and they quickly made it back to the city entrance. The last of the refugees were already inside and Noah saw CDF soldiers retreating to the interior of the city. Everyone knew the drill. They had to minimize their presence on the surface to avoid detection by the Vemus. Colonel Cross wouldn’t have ordered the use of the siren unless there was a credible threat nearby. That meant there were Vemus ships in the area.
The CDF soldier slowed the ATV down near the mobile Command Center, and Noah stepped off the running board at a jog. They quickly drove away as Noah ran into the Command Center.
Colonel Cross glanced at him as he walked in. “Where’ve you been?” she asked.
“I went to get some air, Colonel,” Noah said and went back to his workstation. “Are they close?”
“Whatever it is, it’s at the edge of our scanning range,” Colonel Cross said.
A central holoscreen powered up and showed a simplified PRADIS output. There was one ship at the edge of the range, just like the colonel had said, but there was no identification code being broadcast, so they knew it wasn’t from the Colonial Defense Force. The unidentified ship wasn’t heading directly toward them, but it was going to fly close enough that if they weren’t careful, it might detect their presence.
A CDF soldier came into the Command Center. “Colonel, all colonists are inside the safe zones,” he said.
“Acknowledged,” Colonel Cross said and turned toward Sergeant Yates. “Ops, set Condition One. All CDF soldiers to action stations.”
Noah heard Sergeant Yates repeat the order and then send a broadcast to all soldiers stationed in Sanctuary.
“Colonel, should we bring the colossus cannon online?” Noah asked.
Colonel Cross pressed her lips together. “Not right now, Captain,” she said.
“When would be a good time?” Lenora asked.
Noah glanced over at her in surprise. She’d been so quiet that he’d forgotten she was there, and he wasn’t the only one.
Colonel Cross brought her steely-eyed gaze to Lenora. “Dr. Bishop, I don’t think your presence here is appropriate anymore. It would be better if you went to one of the safe zones,” Colonel Cross said.
Lenora snorted in disgust. “The Vemus aren’t far away. Why not use the cannon we’ve been working on so hard to shoot them out of the sky?”
The breath caught in Noah’s throat. Lenora was completely out of line. He stood up and went over to Lenora before Colonel Cross had her forcibly removed.
“Come on, you can’t be here anymore,” Noah said and moved to grab Lenora’s arm.
Lenore flinched away from him and stood up. She glared at him. “Fine,” she said and walked toward the exit.
Noah looked at Colonel Cross, who nodded for him to go after Lenora. He went outside and called out to her.
Lenora spun. “I’m fine. Go follow orders, soldier,” she said scathingly.
“That’s not fair, and you’re out of line,” Noah said.
Lenora looked away from him and sighed. “They’re coming. We’ve got to at least defend ourselves.”
“We will, and we’ll do it the right way, which doesn’t involve you questioning the orders of Colonel Cross,” Noah said.
Lenora rolled her eyes.
Noah heard Colonel Cross snap an order to someone inside and turned back to Lenora.
“What’s the matter with you?” Noah asked.
Lenora jabbed her finger toward the sky. “They’re what’s the matter!”
Her shouts drew concerned glances from the soldiers passing by. Noah stepped closer to her. “We can’t just start shooting at them. There’s more than one ship, and if we shoot one down, it’ll paint a giant target on us here.”
Lenora’s brows pulled close together. “I know,” she said through gritted teeth and then her gaze softened. “I know. Go back inside. You can’t stay out here and babysit me.”
“You’d do the same for me,” Noah said while backing toward the mobile Command Center doors.
There was a loud whirl of actuators moving something heavy, and Noah’s eyes widened. He turned toward the heart of Sanctuary. Jutting out from the ruins was the long barrel of the colossus cannon. It was powering up.
“Barker, get in here!” Colonel Cross shouted from inside the mobile Command Center.
Noah hastened inside.
“We’re locked out of the colossus cannon controls,” Colonel Cross said.
Noah brought up the command interface for the cannon’s weapons systems. He was completely locked out. He tried to take back control, but nothing worked, and he slammed his hands on the desk.
“I’m locked out, Colonel,” Noah said.
“Comms, are the soldiers guarding the colossus responding?” Colonel Cross asked.
“Negative, Colonel. They’re not responding,” Corporal Blanks replied.
“Sergeant Gray, get a team of CDF soldiers down there now—” Colonel Cross said and stopped.
There was a bright blue flash over the skies above them. Noah’s mouth hung open. Someone was firing the colossus cannon. He jumped out of his chair.
“I need to get down there to fix the lockout. I can’t do anything from here,” Noah said.
There was another bolt of blue-white lightning lancing overhead. If the Vemus hadn’t known Sanctuary was here before, they did now.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Lunar Base Command Center had become a cauldron of renewed vigor and determination. Nathan was infused by its energy and he also heard it in the voices of those nearest him. He looked at one of the status holoscreens for the base. The smaller satellite CDF locations were home to rail-cannons that were peppered across the lunar landscape. Separate from those were the missile pods that were home to the midrange HOR
NET class missiles.
“All stations report status green, Colonel,” Sergeant Martinez said.
Nathan glanced at the young officer. There was a slight catch to her voice, and she swallowed. “Acknowledged, Sergeant,” Nathan replied.
Major Shelton shifted in her seat next to him.
“Tactical, any change in the Vemus cruiser’s orbit?” Nathan asked.
“That’s a negative, Colonel,” Lieutenant LaCroix responded.
The three Vemus cruisers were orbiting the moon on different elliptical planes that were about to overlap. When his tactical officer alerted him to the possibility of the overlap occurring, Nathan had expected the Vemus to adjust their velocity because the targeting opportunity they were giving him was too good to pass up. They were essentially lining up for him to take them out.
“Let’s show them our teeth. Execute firing solution Knock Out,” Nathan ordered.
“Executing firing solution,” Lieutenant LaCroix said—three simple words that carried with them a huge spike in activity.
Scanners became fully active and fed targeting data to the HORNET missile salvos that were launching from their pods.
“HORNETS away,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.
The HORNET missiles were close-range weapons capable of bursts of speed that would crush a human, even with the inertia-dampening technology they had on their ships. Nathan watched as the missile marks on the main holoscreen showed them quickly closing the distance to their targets. The Vemus cruisers hadn’t altered course or launched countermeasures.
“Ops, give our guys in the hangar bays the green light for launch,” Nathan said.
They needed to get the assault teams away before the Vemus counterattacked.
“Confirm missile detonation, Colonel. Direct hit,” Lieutenant LaCroix said.
Nathan watched the main holoscreen as the missiles pelted the Vemus cruisers.
“Tactical, target bravo salvo and task all mag-cannon turrets to target the cruisers. Light them up,” Nathan said.
