“Aye, sir.”
Alexander caught McAdams shaking her head. “We’re only fifty thousand klicks from them right now; it’s not going to take long to narrow that gap.”
“Frost, how long will those destroyers take to reach extended ELR with us given their two G advantage?”
The sensor officer took a moment to calculate, then said, “Forty-one minutes, sir.”
“Put it on the clock.”
“Aye, Admiral.”
Alexander rubbed his chin, watching the seconds tick away on the bright green timer that appeared counting down at the top of the main holo display.
“If we don’t find a way to disable them before that clock reaches zero, they’ll hit us with so many lasers that they could carve our ship in half,” McAdams said. “We could probably give as good as we get, but I assume that becoming a derelict ourselves is not an acceptable outcome. It’ll be months before we can safely join the League. I hate to say it, sir, but we may have to surrender.”
Alexander winced. “Maybe I didn’t think this through as well as I’d thought. Stone—how long can a fighter accelerate at maximum thrust before running out of fuel?”
“With the new fusion reactors, maybe a month, but you’d run out of oxygen long before then.”
“And what’s the maximum acceleration of a Mark III?”
“Sustained? Twenty-five Gs, but at those speeds even a G-tank isn’t enough to keep you from feeling it. You could pass out.”
“That’s fine. I actually only need to pull fifteen Gs.”
“You won’t be able to buy enough time to defect to the League,” McAdams pointed out.
“No, I won’t,” Alexander replied.
“Then what?”
Silence fell across the bridge as everyone waited to hear his new plan. “I’ll have to ask the Solarians for asylum.”
“That’s going to cast a lot of doubt on your testimony of the president’s lies.”
“Doesn’t matter. The Crimson Warrior’s alibi, Wayfinder, will be able to provide independent verification of the facts. I’ll explain my reasons for defecting before I cross into Solarian space. Once I’m gone, you can all surrender without worrying about the consequences. You’re my hostages, after all.”
“This is a bad idea, Alex. Those destroyers will just launch drones and use them to shoot you down. You might not be able to handle twenty-five Gs of sustained acceleration, but a drone can.”
“Then I’ll just have to grit my teeth and bear it. At least a Mark III and a drone have the same theoretical maximum acceleration.”
“You’ll pass out.”
“The life support will keep me breathing.”
“Alex…”
“Look, if they catch me, I’m dead anyway.”
McAdams blew out a breath. “You really are a crazy bastard.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Alexander said.
Chapter 29
“Reaching extended ELR in five minutes, Admiral,” McAdams announced.
“That’s my cue,” Alexander replied, nodding. “Bishop cut the engines. McAdams, prepare for the switch over from virtual to manual control mode.”
“Aye,” Bishop said.
McAdams turned to him with a worried frown. “Even if you make it, the Solarians won’t trust you, either. They’ll interrogate you.”
“Maybe, but I’ve got nothing to hide.”
“Really? We’re on the brink of war, and an Alliance admiral doesn’t know anything that the other side might find useful?”
“Good point. Guess I’ll have to sing like a canary, then.”
“You’d do that?”
“They’re not the enemy, McAdams. I guarantee it. Besides, if all goes according to plan, this won’t come to war.”
“And if you’re wrong, the intel you give them could get a lot of people killed.”
Alexander glanced at her and saw the hurt and disapproval in her eyes. He shook his head, about to argue, but McAdams cut him off.
“Admit it—you’re a lone wolf, Alex. You’re not just running from the Alliance. You don’t even know how to love someone. If you did, you’d insist I come with you.”
A few of the crew glanced back at them, but McAdams was obviously past caring. Alexander reached for her hand and squeezed. “You’re wrong. I’m not taking you with me because I don’t want to risk getting you killed or tortured.”
“And what if I want to risk it?”
“We’re drifting,” Bishop announced. “If you’re going to make a break for it, you’d better hurry.”
“Goodbye, Vivie. Come visit me on Mars when you get a chance. Stone—is my fighter ready?”
“Aye.”
“Hold up—I’ve got something on sensors… it’s a bit fuzzy. Give me a second to boost the power on the array,” Frost said.
“What is it, Lieutenant?”
“Looks like multiple contacts inbound at 560 million klicks. Six ships. Can’t tell much about them, they’re moving way too fast, but the hull types look like they might be Solarian.”
“What do you mean they’re moving too fast?” Alexander demanded.
“Relativistic speeds, sir. Two tenths the speed of light and accelerating at twenty Gs.”
“Twenty Gs? What are they, fighters?”
“No, sir. Too big for that. They’re about the right size to be destroyers, though, if I had to guess.”
“I thought fifteen Gs was pushing it for a ship that size.”
“Depends how they’re designed,” Rodriguez put in. “Manned ships aren’t designed to sustain greater accelerations because human crews can’t take it. Drone ships on the other hand…”
“So we have six Solarian drone destroyers incoming at almost the same speed those missiles were going when they hit the Moon and Earth.”
“Looks like you were wrong about them not being involved, sir,” McAdams said.
“That, or the Solarians decided they may as well do the crime if they’re going to be accused of it. Either way, they can’t claim innocence now. Who’s best positioned to intercept them?”
“We are, sir.”
“Figures. Commander, hail the destroyers chasing us and patch them through to my station.”
“Aye,” McAdams replied.
An unfamiliar face appeared in the air above Alexander’s control station. “This is Captain Powell of the Alliance destroyer Ulysses. Have you finally come to your senses, Alexander?”
“You’re assuming I had senses to begin with. No, I’m calling to ask for a cease fire.”
“We haven’t begun firing yet.”
“That’s beside the point. Check your sensors. We’ve got incoming at 560 million klicks.”
The captain looked down at his control station for a moment. Then his eyes widened and he looked up with a sarcastic smile. “Now do you see what a fool you’ve been?”
“I was still right to expose President Wallace. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. We need to stop chasing our tails and intercept those ships. Ideally we need to capture one of them and get some real proof that the Solarians were the ones who attacked us.”
Captain Powell’s dark eyebrows drooped over his eyes in an angry scowl. “Isn’t this proof enough for you? Or were you hoping to get a signed confession?”
“Ha ha. Let’s save our witty repartee for after we intercept the enemy. Will you agree to hold your fire until the engagement is over?”
“You’ll need your crew for this.”
“I’ll give them back control of their stations before we reach firing range.”
“How do I know you won’t try to sneak attack us along the way?”
“Stay out of laser range and let us intercept the enemy first.”
“What if you’re on their side and those are your reinforcements?”
“You’re going to have to trust me, Captain. I’m no fan of war. All you have to do is look up how The Last War ended to know that.”
“I know who you are
.”
“Then you know my reputation, and you know my intentions. Even if you don’t agree with my methods, you have to agree that we’re both ultimately trying to save lives.”
“We’ll hold off for now, but I’ll have to inform Fleet Command. If they disagree, I’ll have no choice but to engage you.”
“Give me some warning. I’ll talk to Anderson myself if I have to. You won’t regret this, Captain.”
“We’ll see.”
The hologram disappeared and McAdams shot him a grim look. “You can’t defect to the Solarians now.”
“I know,” Alexander said as he met her gaze. “This only ends one way for me now.” Turning to address the rest of his crew, he said, “As far as any of you are concerned, I held you all hostage until the last possible minute, at which point I gave you back control of the ship to give us the best possible chance of intercepting those ships. That’s the story, and I expect you all to stick to it. There’s no sense in anyone else going down with me. Is that understood?”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the room. “Good. Bishop, set an intercept course at regulation ten Gs.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Frost, get me ETA to extended ELR with those ships using Bishop’s nav data and put it on the clock.”
“Yes, sir…”
A few minutes later the clock flashed as Lieutenant Frost finished setting it. ETA to extended laser range was two hours and twenty-three minutes, but at the speed those Solarian ships were incoming the Adamantine would only have a fraction of a second to fire on them with lasers. Not nearly enough time.
“Stone get ready to launch fighters and drones.”
“Our pilots are still locked in their G-tanks, sir.”
“Not for long. Bishop kill thrust.”
“Aye.”
The sensation of acceleration eased, and Alexander said, “Scramble our pilots, Stone.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Cardinal, prep our hypervelocity cannons. Let’s see if we can score a few lucky hits.”
“At this range, that will be next to impossible. Not to mention the muzzle velocity of our cannons will be negligible compared to the relative velocity of the enemy ships. Our shots will arrive just a few seconds before we do—about eighteen seconds before.”
“Yes, but between now and then with one hundred cannons firing constantly you’ll be able to put a few million rounds into space.”
“Three quarters of a million, actually.”
“Close enough. That should improve your odds. And at the speed those ships are moving, it’s only going to take one round to take each of them out. Start firing, and launch our missiles, too.”
“Aye, sir.”
A few more minutes passed as Cardinal made his calculations; then Alexander heard the thump thump thumping of the ship’s cannons firing, and he saw golden lines of simulated tracer fire streaking out into space.
Given the ranges involved, the angles of convergence between the cannons were so slight that it looked as though each of them was firing dead ahead in an unvarying stream, but Cardinal knew his job well. Each shot would be displaced from the last by a tiny fraction of a degree in order to account for possible enemy maneuvers over the next one hundred and fifty minutes.
Odds were still very low that they’d score a hit, however. It was like lining up one hundred sharpshooters and trying to hit a fly on the side of a barn from a mile away. They’d have better luck with lasers and laser-armed missile fragments when the time came.
“Admiral! Enemy ships are launching missiles!”
“Track the trajectories!”
“Tracking… they’re headed for Earth, sir.”
“You accounted for Earth’s orbit around the sun over the next two hours?”
“Yes, sir. They’ll hit. Hard to say where or from what angle, though.”
“How many missiles are we talking about?”
“They’re still launching.”
“How many are out there right now?”
“Over a hundred—wait, now it’s more than two hundred.”
“They only fired twenty-one last time,” Alexander said, horror setting in.
“I guess there’s no point in playing coy anymore…” McAdams trailed off.
He turned to her, shocked speechless. His mouth felt dry. Scratchy. “One missile killed fifty million people, Commander. What do you think over two hundred will do?”
McAdams looked like she was staring past him, her blue eyes glazed. “It would be an extinction level event, sir.”
Alexander shook his head. “We can’t stop that many missiles moving at relativistic speeds. Not even half of them. Fleet Command has to know that.”
McAdams blinked, but her gaze remained distant, and she gave no sign that she’d heard him.
Alexander’s mind spun, racing to come up with a solution—some way out, anything. In the end he could only come up with one. “They’re going to have to surrender,” he said.
McAdams’ eyes had focused once more, but she looked baffled. “The Solarians have the upper hand. They’re not going to surrender.”
“Not the Solarians,” Alexander said. “Earth. The entire planet is going to have to surrender.”
Chapter 30
President Wallace leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling of his office with bleary eyes. He felt like he hadn’t slept in a decade. The political fallout had yet to fully settle, but he knew he would be forced to resign once it did. At the time that he’d lied he hadn’t thought he was doing something wrong. The Alliance needed to be focused and unified in order to face their enemies. Real proof of Solarian involvement was academic. They could all be dead by the time they got proof. Unfortunately, not everyone had seen it that way. Least of all that damned traitor. They should call him the Lion of Anarchy, not Liberty.
The holocomm on Wallace’s desk beeped and he waved a hand to answer it.
“Mr. President?”
His secretary’s voice. “What is it Miss Jones?”
“Fleet Admiral Anderson is here to see you. He says it’s urgent.”
“Let him in,” Wallace sighed.
The doors to his office swished open and the admiral breezed in. “They’re attacking again,” Anderson said.
Wallace sat up straight. “Who is?”
“The Solarians. And we have proof this time. You’re about to be vindicated, sir. Unfortunately, I don’t think that matters anymore.”
Wallace frowned. “Maybe you’d better show me what you mean.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once they were standing in the bunker’s Combat Information Center (CIC) and Wallace had a chance to look at what they were up against, his jaw actually dropped open. Cold fury boiled his blood. “Are they out of their minds? They’ll turn Earth into a barren rock!”
“I assume that must be their intent, sir.”
“Comm officer!” Wallace demanded, whirling around to look for the man at the comms.
A woman with short white hair looked up from her station. “Mr. President?” she asked.
“Get me the Solarian president on the comms.”
“I’ll try, sir.”
“Don’t try. Do it. If they don’t want us to fly to Mars and hit them with everything we’ve got, they’ll answer.”
“Yes, sir. It’ll take some time to get a reply. Do you want to send a preliminary message? Mars is over twelve light minutes away right now. Best case, you’ll get a reply in about half an hour.”
Wallace walked up to the woman’s station and nodded to her. “Start recording.”
“Going live in three, two, one…”
Wallace opened his message with a thin smile. “President Luther. Congratulations. You win. If you call off your missiles now, we’ll surrender. I’ll send you the remote command codes for our fleet as soon as I get confirmation that the missiles are breaking away. You timed your attack well. A few months earlier, before we refitted our fleet, and I wouldn’t have been
able to give you remote command of our fleet even if I’d wanted to. There would have been no way to surrender before your missiles hit. But I suppose you already knew that. Don’t keep us waiting. You won’t get a better offer, and I’m sure you know that, too. President Wallace Out.”
The comm officer stopped the recording and Wallace became aware that all eyes were on him.
“We’re surrendering, sir?” the comm officer asked quietly.
“We don’t have a choice,” Wallace replied. “Send the message.”
Wallace spent the next half an hour pacing the room, waiting for a reply from the Solarians.
“Message incoming!” the comm officer announced. “It’s from President Luther.”
“Put it on the main display.”
President Luther appeared on the room’s main holo display. His gaunt cheeks, ghostly white skin, black hair, and red eyes made him look thoroughly evil—an appropriate visage for the man threatening Earth with utter destruction. He wore a dark crimson suit with gold buttons and a red green and blue sash—the colors of the Solarian flag. “President Wallace, we did not attack you the first time, and we are not attacking you now. I would offer you our support, but there is no way we could reach those ships or the missiles they’ve fired in time to help you intercept them. May the Universal Architect be with you all.”
“That lying son of a bitch!” Wallace exclaimed as President Luther’s image faded away. “What the hell does he want?” Silence answered Wallace’s outburst. He stood glaring at main holo display, now showing the blurry blips of incoming enemy ships and their missiles. A glowing green clock at the top of the display showed the estimated time before those missiles would reach Earth. One hour and twenty seven minutes.
“Do you want to send a reply, sir?” the comm officer asked.
Wallace didn’t see the point, but there was still one more thing he could try. If the carrot doesn’t work, bring out the stick… he thought as he walked back over to the comm station. “Start recording, lieutenant.”
“Yes, sir…”
The red recording light winked on below the glaring black eye of the holo camera at her station. Wallace stared into the camera with as much loathing as he could muster. “Your denial is laughable, Luther. Who else could attack us with such force? Our surrender is now off the table. You might destroy Earth, but you won’t destroy our fleet. What will you do when that fleet comes for you? By that time we’ll have nothing left to lose, and we’ll answer your attacks in kind. When we’re done turning Mars into a radioactive dust cloud, we’ll wipe you off the outer planets as well. This won’t just be the end of Earth. It will be the end of the human race. Think about it, but don’t take long. The countdown to Armageddon has already begun.”
New Frontiers- The Complete Series Page 58
