All Our Tomorrows

by All Our Tomorrows (epub)

  “Do you want to help? I think we should help.”

  “I think that, Rift Bubble or no, they’re going to need all the help they can get for a while longer.”

  “Valkyrie, bring the Siyane down to the surface, wherever you can find a bare spot to land. We’ll join you, then go harass some Rasu.”

  ‘With pleasure. ETA six minutes.’

  She fisted her hands at her chin, rested against Caleb’s chest to watch the skirmishes tearing apart the city, and waited. So many Rasu had made it to the surface already. The enemy had learned from previous battles and had done whatever was necessary to get ships on the ground before a Rift Bubble was activated. Some had likely made it here before the first non-Khokteh Concord ship even arrived at the scene. They’d moved swiftly and decisively.

  She’d need to talk to her mother about it later, once the battle was won, but it felt as though the Rasu were adapting to Concord tactics distressingly quickly—

  4

  * * *

  IRELTSE

  Caleb blinked rapidly until his eyes consented to staying open, but his vision remained obscured by a spiderweb of…hair?

  Alex!

  She lay on top of him, unmoving. Panic seized his chest as he grasped her shoulders and eased her off to the side, rolling with her until he faced her on the floor of the Center. “Alex? Can you hear me?”

  Nothing. Dread joined the panic to choke off the air in his lungs. Two fingers went to her neck and felt for a pulse. Please, please, please.

  Strong and steady. She was merely unconscious—which wasn’t good, but far better than the alternative.

  You vanished from Akeso’s self for a single span of time. It caused me distress. What happened?

  He breathed in and let his crisis management training take over, assessing his own state while his hands roved over Alex’s body in search of wounds. His eVi was offline, and commands to restart it were met with silence, but his link to Akeso persisted. I’m not sure. Is Alex all right? Can you sense her?

  Yes. She is…diminished, but her physicality and life force are intact.

  That was actually very reassuring. Akeso’s connection to Alex had been stronger since Namino, if in inconsistent ways, and he took great comfort from the fact that it remained robust now. Which meant….

  He closed his eyes again and reached across Akeso for her. Felt her heart beating to send blood coursing through her veins. After a moment, he sensed her consciousness stirring to wakefulness, and what a miraculous sensation it was.

  “Mmm.”

  Alex shifted in his arms, and he gently brushed her hair out of her face. “Hey, baby. Are you here?”

  Her nose wrinkled up, and she opened one eye a slit. “Where is ‘here’? Are we…on Ireltse still? I don’t—” She struggled up to a sitting position. “Valkyrie? Valkyrie, answer me!” She stared at him in alarm. “She’s gone.”

  The déjà vu was overwhelming. Here in the Center, knocked unconscious without warning, waking to find fundamental systems inoperable….

  “Did they use an EMP?” He sat up with Alex and, for the first time since waking, took in the rest of the room. The Khokteh were all standing, though the tenor of the overlapping arguments had taken on a darker quality. There was no visible damage to the area.

  He raised his voice above the din. “Pinchu, did someone use an EMP?”

  Pinchu’s face appeared from between two huddling Khokteh to peer down at them. “You are hurt?”

  “We’re fine. But what happened?”

  “We did not use an EMP. Our communications system is unaccountably down, however. What do you know?”

  “Nothing, yet. We can’t talk to anyone, either.” He returned his attention to Alex. “Anything from Valkyrie?”

  “No. And it’s not that she isn’t responding or is focused on something else. She’s not there at all. Also, my eVi won’t restart.”

  “Mine, either.” The obvious answer hit him like a mental sledgehammer, and he inhaled sharply. “It wasn’t an EMP. It’s a quantum block.”

  “What?” She shook her head weakly. “You might be right. Nothing with quantum components is working. But how would the Rasu have managed it?”

  “I can’t say, but…” he clambered to his feet and lunged for the window “…what if it took out the Rift Bubble?”

  “Oh, fuck.” She stumbled up next to him. “The Rasu must have made sure they brought down the materials needed to construct some manner of block on the fly. Clever sons of bitches—” She grabbed him roughly by the shoulders. “Caleb, where is the Siyane?”

  “You don’t…right, because Valkyrie…okay, what was the last information about its position you remember?” Valkyrie’s thoughts and actions were always percolating around just beneath her conscious awareness, so she likely knew more than she realized.

  Alex’s eyes squinted shut. “Valkyrie had chosen a landing site about four kilometers to the southwest of here, where the fighting is still sporadic. She was twenty-two seconds from landing…” her eyes reopened, churning with fear teetering on the edge of terror “…then nothing. The quantum block would’ve disconnected her from the ship. It must have crashed.”

  “It’s going to be fine. Adiamene hull, remember?”

  “I know, I know. Hopefully the impact crater isn’t too hideous. Caleb, if we can get to it, I can fly it. We have to find where they’ve thrown together their makeshift quantum block and disable it, or this battle is lost.”

  This was only one of so many reasons why he loved her madly. There were hundreds of thousands of warships on the scene and tens of thousands of soldiers on the ground, but her mind had gone directly to how she could personally turn the tables on the enemy.

  “Let’s do it. Four kilometers to the southwest, you said?” He spun around and led her through the raucous crowd of military advisors until they reached Pinchu. “We think the Rasu managed to get a quantum block operational, which would have disabled the Rift Bubble.”

  “Damnable metal aliens! So we are now vulnerable to a new onslaught?”

  “Yes. Look, if we can reach our ship, we’ll try to locate the block and destroy it. It, um, landed a few kilometers to the southwest of here.”

  Pinchu’s lips pulled back, revealing more of his many teeth. “Why don’t you simply…?” He waved a hand in a circle.

  Alex’s chin dropped to her chest. “I can’t. There’s nothing more quantum than a Caeles Prism.”

  “Ah. If you say so. What do you need to accomplish your task?”

  An idea took hold in Caleb’s mind. “Are there any vehicles nearby we can borrow? We’ve driven one before.”

  “Yes, of course. On Sublevel 2. There will be a ramp from the parking area leading to the surface.” Pinchu clasped Caleb’s hand tightly, damn near crushing the bones. “Hurry, if you can.”

  “We will.”

  Then Alex was dragging him toward the door.

  5

  * * *

  CAF AURORA

  Ireltse Stellar System

  Fleet Admiral Jenner (AFS Denali)(Ireltse Command Channel): “I’ve just lost contact with Planetary Assault Regiments C2 and C3. Now with every ship operating on or near the surface. And…dammit, over a thousand additional vessels.”

  Jolted by the uncommon frustration in Malcolm’s voice, Miriam’s gaze darted to the tactical screens, then the viewport. Against the planet’s profile, hundreds of ships tumbled out of control. Worse, Rasu vessels everywhere had suddenly abandoned their current dogfights to descend freely into the atmosphere.

  Commandant Solovy (CAF Aurora)(Ireltse Command Channel): “The Rift Bubble is no longer operational. Standby.”

  But why?

  Fleet Admiral Jenner (AFS Denali)(Ireltse Command Channel): “Something else is going on, too. Multiple captains overseeing squadrons in-atmosphere are reporting a loss of functionality by ship Artificials, as well as communication and other failures. It’s sounding as if functionality returns after they retreat o
ne-to-two megameters from the planet, which they had to do in order to report in.”

  ‘Commandant, the evidence suggests a quantum block is now active on the surface. Such a device would likely disable a Rift Bubble.’

  Miriam couldn’t deny the Rasu a touch of respect. Shrewd aliens. Alex, are you there?

  No response arrived. She forcibly buried the concern that flared, as her daughter’s failure to answer was merely a technical side-effect of the quantum block. “Thomas, get me Mnemosyne.”

  Commandant Solovy (CAF Aurora)(Ireltse Command Channel): “Assume a quantum block extends to a circumference of two megameters around the planet and pull all ships back beyond that perimeter, then revert to TP-Blockade 2.”

  A swarm of lights moved against the over-bright illumination of the bridge to Miriam’s left. “Mnemosyne?”

  It is I. Is there a difficulty I can assist with?

  “Yes. The Rasu that were already on the ground when the Rift Bubble went active managed to construct a quantum block of sufficient power to take out the device. What can you do?”

  The lights vacillated in an agitated pattern. We, too, are vulnerable to a quantum block. I cannot penetrate it.

  “So there’s no way for you to help?”

  We are conferring, but no, not at present. Is Alex still on the surface?

  “She is, but I don’t know her status.”

  The lights calmed a bit. I believe she will be able to rectify the situation.

  “How?”

  I do not know.

  “You simply believe in her?”

  In point of fact, yes.

  “Good. So do I.” Assuming a building didn’t fall on her, or worse. She wanted to message David, but doing so would only prolong her fixation on something she could do nothing to change. Unless…perhaps she could do something. A tiny thing.

  ‘Commandant, additional formations of Rasu have arrived in the stellar system.’

  “Of course they have. They planned this all along.” She pivoted to the ethereal presence undulating nearby. “Mesme, send all Kat superdreadnoughts in the system to engage the new arrivals and keep them away from the planet.”

  As you wish. The lights faded and were gone.

  Next, she sent a private pulse to the Fleet Admiral.

  Malcolm, we need to buy Alex as much time as possible on the surface to disable the quantum block. What’s the status of the Parapet Gambit technology?

  Alex is on the surface? Damn. Um, the programming for it is installed on the 1st and 2nd Assault Divisions’ dreadnoughts, cruisers and heavy frigates. So far, the power requirements are far too massive for any smaller ships to be able to support it.

  But it works?

  It does appear to work in testing, which is all we’ve had time to explore. I see where you’re going with this, but it’s not installed on enough ships to protect the whole planet.

  I know. Build the web at the region above the capital city, since that’s where the Rasu are concentrating their incursion. And the ship captains will need to be ready to adapt and move when the Rasu respond to being rebuffed.

  You mean the ship Prevos will.

  I don’t care who’s maneuvering the ships, so long as they stay in front of the Rasu.

  Yes, ma’am. Give us thirty seconds.

  While she waited, she took every other step in her power to keep more Rasu off the surface and out here in the battlespace.

  Commandant Solovy (CAF Aurora)(Ireltse Command Channel): “All nuclear weapon-equipped vessels are ordered to report to KSS Sectors 6A-C immediately. Nuclear weapons use is authorized outside of Demarcation Line Charlie.

  “Navarchos Casmir, form an intercept gauntlet ten megameters in from the Kat formations to catch the Rasu that make it through the Kats’ firing squad. All fleet commanders, order every regiment capable of reaching the KSS in less than forty minutes to do so now.”

  So many risks. She despised using nuclear weapons, even as she recognized that their detonation twenty megameters or more from any planet was…not safe, but as safe as their use could ever be. And pulling patrols and planetary defense regiments off their duties left so many planets and people vulnerable, should the Rasu choose now to launch a multi-system attack.

  But everything Concord stood for meant she must defend this planet and people currently under attack with every single resource at her disposal.

  Outside the viewport, several organized wings of large AEGIS vessels began moving into position a scant 0.2 megameters beyond the barrier of the quantum block. Almost as one, they pivoted to face outward and, ship-by-ship, extended the reach of their formation until it spanned most of the continent directly below.

  Commandant Solovy (CAF Aurora)(Ireltse Mission Channel): “Everyone, give the AEGIS vessels near the planet some breathing room, and do not attempt to cross their threshold.”

  Navarchos Casmir (Imperium Alpha)(Ireltse Command Channel): “May I ask what they’re doing?”

  Fleet Admiral Jenner (AFS Denali)(Ireltse Command Channel): “Just a new tactic we’ve been working on. Your Imperiums inspired it, in fact.”

  Navarchos Casmir (Imperium Alpha)(Ireltse Command Channel): “What?”

  Fleet Admiral Jenner (AFS Denali)(Ireltse Command Channel): “You’ll see.”

  She’d daresay Malcolm was enjoying the prospect of showing up the Machim fleet. As well he should be.

  Fleet Admiral Jenner (AFS Denali)(Command Channel): “Parapet Gambit commencing.”

  At the apex of the formation, a prismatic shimmer exploded outward from the Denali’s hull to port and starboard. When the shimmer reached the adjacent ships, it renewed itself as those ships added their own power to it and sent it onward. In ten seconds, the field, faint and wavering but intact, stretched across the entire formation.

  A regiment of Rasu vessels accelerated toward the formation, headed for the planet beyond it, and the AEGIS warships opened fire, as per usual. Like in a traditional blockade, a number of the charging vessels were damaged or (temporarily) destroyed in the initial salvo.

  Some continued onward, however. Presumably not recognizing the trap that lay in plain sight, they barreled through the gaps between the AEGIS vessels—and ricocheted clean off the force field to tumble away from the planet.

  While the Rasu spun out of control, AEGIS and Novoloume fast attack craft still heavy with negative energy missiles swarmed in to dispose of them.

  Navarchos Casmir (Imperium Alpha)(Ireltse Command Channel): “You’ve modified the Imperium double-shielding tech to act as a force-field barrier, haven’t you? Technology you stole from us, I’ll add.”

  Technology Alex had stolen from them, and it was now buying her daughter the time she needed. Or so Miriam hoped.

  Fleet Admiral Jenner (AFS Denali)(Ireltse Command Channel): “We’re all on the same side, Navarchos. A side that uses every technological and creative advantage we can invent to protect our people.”

  Miriam’s hand flexed against the railing. It was working.

  Because Kennedy Rossi had never been one to rest on her laurels, once Connova Interstellar had successfully replicated the Imperiums’ double-shielding and begun manufacturing units for the fleet, she had turned her attention to other ways in which they might utilize the underlying concepts. In a matter of days, she and Vii, with a little help from Devon, had worked out the idea of an energy-based parapet system. The power requirements and stability pillars were distributed among the entire ship formation, though the anchor at the center did the heaviest lifting, giving the parapet both resiliency and flexibility.

  When another hundred thousand ships were equipped with the technology, the tactic stood to be nearly as effective as a Rift Bubble at keeping the enemy off the surface of a planet.

  As Miriam watched Rasu after Rasu bounce off the field, she made a note to pressure AEGIS into dedicating considerable resources to its continued installation.

  But the Rasu were far from idiots, and after a minute or so of falling victi
m to the field, they began shifting their trajectories toward the far edge of the AEGIS formation, intending to go around. Now came the tricky part.

  Any single section of the projection had limited reach, so the ships involved had to stay relatively close to one another to maintain it. And now they were all moving.

  The field rippled like a tied sheet billowing in the wind. A few ships here and there fell out of the formation briefly, leaving holes in the parapet, but in every case they quickly maneuvered back into position.

  Multiple Rasu collided with the outer edge of the field; it gave, but it didn’t break, and on the rebound the Rasu vessels sprung backward as if launched by a trampoline.

  But this exposed one reason (almost certainly not the only one) why the tactic remained in testing. Moving so many ships and a force field in unison was slow, and the Rasu vessels were fast.

  Commandant Solovy (CAF Aurora )(Ireltse Command Channel): “Fleet Admiral, do what you can to stay in front of the bulk of the Rasu. I want all newly arriving regiments to cover as much of the planet as possible. Our number one priority remains keeping as many Rasu as possible off the planet until the quantum block is disabled and the Rift Bubble is reactivated.”

  While Thomas ensured the Aurora did its part to waylay encroaching Rasu, Miriam watched the blockade and the clock.

  Come on, Alex. Do what you do, and hurry.

  6

  * * *

  IRELTSE

  Their harrowing trip across a city under siege in a Khokteh hover vehicle left Alex awash in memories, but she didn’t dare spare an ounce of mental bandwidth to reminisce. When she’d infiltrated Namino, she’d planned ahead for the limitations the quantum block was going to impose on her. But here, now, she didn’t have so much as one of those stupid walkie-talkies on her person, much less anyone to converse with on it if she did.

  Her heart thudded painfully in her chest. Valkyrie, please be okay. Siyane, please be okay.