As the captain spoke, Chase observed the reactions of the “Earth” side of the table with detached satisfaction. Their expressions were that of sheer wonder and sometimes utter stupefaction. To them, this marvel of health and technology was brand new, but for Chase and the Alliance, it had been the standard way of life for centuries. He was enjoying their varied faces, when his gaze suddenly fell on Commander Sarah Kepler.
It was as if he’d been zapped with a jolt of electricity. He sat up straight and pinned his eyes on her, transfixed. She was listening to the chief finish his briefing with a little smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. Her lips were red, and she wore more make-up near her deep and beautiful green eyes. Her straight, glossy hair was a shade of crimson and fell well beneath her shoulders. It framed her puffy cheeks in a way that gave her an almost childish look, but every angle and every detail was immensely appealing. Chase kept gazing at her, mesmerized, until she met his gaze.
Flustered and embarrassed beyond measure, his eyes flew around the room, looking for a place to land. He settled on the map, but occasionally checked back in with the commander who was smiling slightly, well aware that he was looking at her. Gritting his teeth, he forced his attention back to the chief.
He felt ridiculous, being caught in the act like a child. And he didn’t even know anything about her. That being said…maybe he could get to know her better in the coming weeks. Maybe there was something else on Earth besides its military defense that required his attention…
The chief concluded his report and it was Chase’s turn to speak. He had been tasked with evaluating Earth’s military technology to propose options as to how they could use or modify the human war machines to help with the defense against the next wave of Zarlacks.
Captain Saroudis gestured toward Chase, introduced him as the newly appointed technological and military liaison with Earth, explained his mandate, and gave him the floor.
Chase rose and quickly glanced at Commander Kepler. She was gazing at him with a completely different look now, a look of interest. Being a fighter pilot herself, she was clearly interested in what he had to say.
“It’s clear that Earth has a lot of weaponry at its disposal, but unfortunately, most of it is based on projectile-propelled technology, and all of it has been solely designed for either terrestrial or in-atmosphere use. There are very few weapons designed for space. There was the prototype satellite, but it was destroyed during the engagement with the enemy.”
He paused and showed an image of the satellite taken in action during the fight with the armada.
“However, the satellite was a good idea. We need to build a network of them around the planet and shield them so they can sustain more hits during our next engagement with enemy forces. Because we only have a handful of battleships ourselves, we absolutely need to find alternate means of defending Earth. I have no doubt that the next wave of ships will be much larger than the one we faced, and this time, we won’t have the element of surprise on our side.”
Commander Kepler raised her hand.
“Yes, Commander, would you like to add something?”
“Yes, thank you, Lieutenant Commander Athanatos. I just wanted to say that we should indeed try to prepare ourselves, but we should also devise a strategy to keep an element of surprise on our side. If anything, your brilliant move of flying a squadron of remote-controlled fighters was the very shock and surprise move that made it possible for Earth to survive the attack. That being said, and I don’t know in what shape or form just yet, I believe we should have the same sort of ace up our sleeve for the next battle.”
“I agree, Commander, and I hope we can find a solution together.”
As soon as Chase spoke, he was worried that it could be misinterpreted, but the people around the table didn’t seem to have reacted at all. Commander Kepler, however, looked straight into Chase’s eyes with a slightly different expression.
“I look forward to it, Lieutenant Commander.”
Chase gulped uneasily and resumed his part of the briefing. He went into further detail of the plan to build a network of satellites around Earth, maybe even repurposing the ones already in orbit and upgrading them to be weaponized and shielded. He then showed the progress of the orbital shipyard, which was almost complete, thanks to the manpower Earth had been able to provide. The shipyard was intended to create more battleships as well as an exploration class of starships. This part of the universe was not well known to the Alliance, and it seemed important to start charting it. They could find new allies and assess potential enemies as well.
He then proposed the construction of a second shipyard in orbit around Mars, suggesting they terraform the planet so it could sustain life. Workers could have quarters while constructing the shipyard. Apparently, it had been a dream for Earth to have a colony on Mars for a long time, and this plan was met with wild approval.
There were also going to be a few additional security measures for the upcoming battle. The first was to repurpose the thousands of tanks from various armies of various nations and retrofit them with particle weapons. They would then be stationed on the moon, where the construction of a small base of operations had been in process for the last week. Thanks to the human labor and the richness of the planet’s resources, the Alliance had created multiple bot factories on Earth, sometimes simply upgrading automated factories that were already building things like cars and planes. These bots were essential to quickly assembling a base on the moon or Mars as well as orbital shipyards.
And while putting modified tanks on the surface of the moon seemed preposterous, it had strategic value. Chase explained how he used the moon as a cover for part of his fleet during the first engagement and how well it worked. He explained that if they could lure some of the enemy forces to a range where the modified tanks could fire upon them, it could create a chokepoint where a large number of ships could be destroyed. Of course, the moon was rotating around the Earth and there was no way of knowing if it would be at the right place when needed, but Chase used the same expression—“ace up our sleeve”—as Kepler did earlier.
Then came the time to discuss the fighters and how the Alliance had lost a large number of ships during the last battle. Some of the factories on Earth could be converted to create new ships, but Earth lacked the necessary alloys. Chase proposed instead that they modify certain factories to retrofit existing airplanes used for in-atmosphere combat, giving them space flight capabilities as well as shielding, and upgrading their weapons from projectile based to particle based.
“I like the Tomcat F-14 particularly,” he said. “It’s a formidable-looking craft, and our analysis of many of Earth jet fighters shows that it would be the least difficult plane to adapt to our needs. We should have a modified prototype, renamed the Tomcat F-140 or, as Yanis has taken to calling it, the Thunderbolt, in the next few days. Maybe even as soon as tomorrow.”
“I would like to be allowed to test fly it, if I may?” Commander Kepler blurted without raising her hand. Her excitement was palpable. The prospect of piloting the first space-worthy fighter was irresistible.
Chase paused. “I intended to fly the craft myself, Commander but, as the F-140 is a two-seater airplane, maybe we can share her maiden voyage.”
“That would be fine, Lieutenant Commander. Thank you for the opportunity.”
A faint blush tinted his cheeks and Chase looked down. “Yes, very well.” This time, when he looked up, he was staring straight into the twinkling eyes of the captain. Mortified, he straightened up and presented a segue. “Now, on to the bad news.”
The entire table stiffened, clearly unwilling to receive anything but good news today.
“As you all know, our technologies are hundreds of years ahead of Earth. And while we’ve been adapting your technologies and upgrading them to serve short-term purposes, we are quickly running out of the resources we’ll need to make all of this work.”
“What kind of resources?” asked a scientist at the o
ther side of the table.
“Well, our engines and most of our shielding technology is hinged upon a crystal-based element known as quadrinium, a resource that is very abundant where we come from but that we haven’t been able to find in this solar system. This crystal is very dense; only a small amount can fuel a ship for weeks. We were lucky to have a significant stock of it on one of our cargo ships, but we estimate we’ll run out of it soon; we may already lack the necessary amount needed to power all the defense systems we need to build for the next attack.”
The news hit like a hammer and everyone in the conference room stayed silent for what felt like an eternity. Finally, General Adams spoke.
“What can we do then?”
“I propose we prepare a mission to nearby systems to try to find more. Maybe at the same time, we could find some more allies.”
“But can we afford to split our forces with the threat of an impending attack?”
“That’s the risk. We can’t afford it but, on the other hand, we still need to send a ship accompanied by some fighters to be able to defend it in case we’re attacked. We could even take some of the F-140s, should the test flight go well.”
“Alright, son, who will lead this mission?”
“I’d like to go myself if that’s alright. Perhaps General Adams could dispatch some of Earth’s ground troops to help on the planetary side of the mission if necessary.”
“Yes, that’s a good idea. You’ll get as many men as you require, Lieutenant Commander.”
“Thank you, General.”
The general nodded. He had been an invaluable ally ever since Chase had arrived in Earth’s orbit. Without his help and the satellite, Chase wouldn’t even be here. There had been an instant trust between the two of them, a reliance based on strong respect.
“That settles it then. In the next few days, I’ll lead a mission to find quadrinium and hopefully some new allies along the way.”
Chase was pensive the rest of the meeting. His thoughts wandered from the ongoing presentations about the financial shift and the paradigms used to get rid of the monetary system as Earth knew it, and what problems the global economy was facing ever since the first changes had been put in place. A temporary transition phase where time would become a currency until all the necessary infrastructure changes were put in place was being discussed. His thoughts wandered even more and he focused instead upon the coming attack. As of now, Earth was vastly unprepared and, if he wasn’t able to find any quadrinium, they would never reach the level of readiness they needed to survive. But the mission itself could take him away from the people he cared about exactly in their time of need.
If only he knew when the attack was going to happen. How much time did they have before the skies opened and rained down fire?
Ten days? Ten hours? Ten minutes…?
13
Today’s the day, Sarah thought as she got up.
The previous evening Chase had called to let her know that the F-140 was ready for its maiden test flight. He sounded very polite but also a little shy. She wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination or if he was genuinely interested in her, beyond the professional. She liked him. He was, after all, an attractive man. But the timing? She was still recovering from the attack on Earth, the death of her wingman, the knowledge that there was life on other worlds, the goddess intervention…not to mention the impending doom of her planet.
Needless to say, there was a lot on her mind.
But Sarah was a pilot at heart. And despite everything going on around her, she found herself completely preoccupied with the blissful reality that she was about to fly a modified Tomcat F-14 into outer space. The thought alone was intoxicating!
Intoxicating and impossible. Who would have thought that everything Earth had achieved in the last month was even conceivable. Sometimes it felt like she was living in a sci-fi movie, about to wake up and discover her life and her planet was exactly how it had always been. Fixed in its corrupt ways. Unable to change. Plotting its own destruction. If Chase and the Alliance hadn’t decided to intervene, perhaps they would never have changed.
That thought was interrupted when the doorbell rang. Sarah looked in the mirror, adjusted her uniform, and then quickly went to answer the door.
It was Lieutenant Commander Chase Athanatos, also in uniform. The Alliance uniform was striking—mostly black with hints of grey, and some blue and gold lining here and there. It commanded both class and authority; the fabric seemed soft yet solid. It also looked like it wouldn’t be easy to crease.
“Good morning! You look quite stunning in that uniform, if I may say, Lieutenant Commander Athanatos.”
Chase was caught off guard and blushed as he glanced at the ground. Sarah smiled to herself. Further proof that she had indeed sensed something between the two of them that went beyond work. But now was not the time for such things. She had a Thunderbolt to fly.
“Huh, thanks.” He gave her a small smile. “I’ll get you one if you like. After all, we’re all part of the same Alliance now.”
“Not really a priority these days, Lieutenant Commander, but yes, I would love to own one.”
“I’ll have one made for you soon. And please, call me Chase.”
“Very well, Chase. Only if you call me Sarah.”
“Sarah it is then. Ready for the test flight?”
“Impatiently so!”
Chase grinned. Her enthusiasm for flight matched his own. “Let’s go then; a shuttle is waiting to take us directly to the test site.”
After a twenty-minute ride, the shuttle landed somewhere that used to be Sweden. The doors opened in a military base of some kind, lined up with one hangar after another. They descended the steps at hangar seven, where not one, but two F-140s stood waiting.
Sarah’s mouth fell open, then she grinned. “You couldn’t just let me have the first flight could you, Chase?”
He smiled back. “Actually I was fine being your co-pilot but, when they told me that they had worked on two of them and that both were ready. So, I thought it would be more fun if we did a little dogfighting instead of just going out for a flyby.”
“I like the way you think.”
While getting outside of Earth’s gravity and atmosphere wouldn’t have just been a flyby by any means, the idea that they could actually test these babies in combat was even more appealing to Sarah. That being said, she found it more than a little intimidating to dogfight with the person who was almost single-handedly responsible for saving her planet.
To hide her uneasiness she added, “I’ll go easy on you.”
Chase answered with a broad smile. The more he got to know her, the better he liked her. They went into the hangar and put on flight suits.
A few minutes later, they emerged from the barracks, fully geared and ready to take the F-140s out for a little one-on-one. How romantic, Sarah smirked.
“I’ve taken the liberty to prepare a little shooting practice near Jupiter, then we’ll head out to Neptune to have a go at each other,” Chase told her. “We’ll be back in time for dinner.”
“Is that a date?” she challenged.
He paused. “…Only if you’d like it to be.”
She looked him directly in the eyes and smiled. He returned the smile, but was clearly not as at ease with flirting as she was. She found it endearing. This boyish charm.
“Shall we?” Chase gestured toward the planes.
They were magnificent. The Tomcat was already a vision on its own, but the modified F-140 was leaner and sleeker. With matte, dark-gray paint and light-blue hues, it looked like something from the future. The wings where inverted and pointing forward, which gave the craft a much meaner look. Sarah took a deep breath as she examined it. She couldn’t believe that in a matter of minutes, it would be taking her into space. But then she frowned. The plane had no wheels, only some sort of retractable foot that was holding it to the ground.
“What happened to the gears?”
“There’
s no need for them anymore; the F-140 can take off vertically.”
“Niiiiice!” She grinned. “Tell me more about it…”
“We reinforced its armor with some of our more durable alloys, and we completely removed the fossil fuel engine and retrofitted it with a quadrinium one. Now, it can go Mach twelve within atmosphere. In fact, it’s so big that we even managed to cram a little jump engine on board.”
“You mean it can jump? Like how you jumped here with your fleet?”
Chase smiled a little before catching himself. He found himself completely charmed by how new and wonderful all of this was for her.
“Yes, but it’s much more limited in terms of range. You can barely do three light years before the engine needs to recharge; that won’t get you very far.”
“Let’s agree to disagree on that one. Three light years almost instantaneously? That’s amazing! How long does it need to recharge?”
“About thirty minutes. But if the craft is damaged or if too much power is being used for other things, like combat, it could take longer or it could become disabled altogether. This is really just a prototype; it needs refinement. We didn’t have time to make every system with top-of-the-line components. It’s actually quite crude by our standards.”
Sarah ran her hand along the hull. “I bet. But still, this can be used tactically. We could have a few of these in reserve, not far, that could jump at a moment’s notice.”
Chase nodded. “That’s good thinking... I’ve been so occupied with supervising the craft and deciding what technology we could cram into it that I didn’t see the obvious advantage of having a jump engine aboard a starfighter. Our fighters are smaller. Usually, there would be very few tactics that would require them to jump. It was actually one of the problems we had to face to send me here in advance of the fleet.”
“Alright, I’m dying here,” she grinned. “Let’s test these bad boys.”
Universe in Flames – Ultimate 10 Book Box Set: An Epic Space Opera Adventure Page 19
