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Click hereSOL-4/ Mars
Jena followed Kinkaid through the Holdfast at his side. Other occupants got out of their way. The corridor linking the control room with the cafeteria was lined with windows facing the rusty Elysium Plains expanding to the horizon in every direction.
âEven with this system-wide crisis our friends at TIL are utterly deaf when it comes to questions about their interactions with the Xenos, and theyâre mute about anything theyâve learned,â Kinkaid groused as he shuffled along slowly with his hands clasped behind his back. âIâve been pressing the TerraCom assembly to act but theyâre so busy writing and writing our new Terran Charter that nobody wants to notice. The situation is inexcusable.â
âThe solution is very simple, sir. We have to get some of our own people inside,â Jena said. âIf TIL wonât consider the complications that this lack of intelligence sharing creates, we donât have very many options.â
âI agree,â Kinkaid said but then heaved a disgusted sigh. âThe problem is access. SOLCorp would no sooner let one of us into their Triton fueling station as we would one of them here at the Holdfast. At first we could monitor their transmissions to and from Earth but all parties involved are using couriers now.â
âSo we use Home Fleet to put a cordon around Triton and we demand access. Iâm sure someone in the TerraCom assembly can find time to put their signature on a command request.â
âThen the Outworld Alliance would object,â Kinkaid retorted. âNeptune and its moons were ceded to their control after Martian independence. Despite our presence here, any heavy-handedness now would only make things worse, and these corporations! If we anger them, they suddenly stop work on things we need, or manufacture them improperly. Iâm not willing to risk a single ship when it comes to the people manufacturing our transit drives.â
âAnd refining our starship fuel,â Jena said as they rounded a curve and saw a cargo robot approaching with a load carried in its arms. It followed the wall so they altered course to move around it. âIâm surprised that SOLCorp has been as tolerant as we have. After all, it is their station.â
âWhich tells me that TIL is sharing what they know, just not with us,â Kinkaid said and muttered. âInexcusable. They have what we need and, just this once, theyâre not selling it to us. Damn them and their two-faced shenanigans.â
They stopped when they came to the lift. Jena pressed the down arrow and said, âThen one of two things is happening, admiral, either what they have is so good theyâre trying to find the right way to market it, or things are so bad they have to keep it under wraps.â
âIf things are good, weâve nothing to worry about,â Kinkaid said and stepped into the lift when it arrived and the doors opened. Except for her, the admiral had the lift to himself. âThat is not our business, commander.â
âYes, sir,â Jena said. âIf the latter is true then why havenât they attacked yet? We know theyâre here. They know weâre here.â
âYouâve seen the analysis of their ships. Between Home Fleet and the ground defenses weâve build into Earth and the colonies, theyâd never get close to any of our worlds, not with their fleet. In the worse case scenario, theyâre just stalling us for time until more of them arrive.â
âIâll have my report on what reserves we can draw on your desk before the end of the shift,â Jena said. âI spent weeks crawling around the old hulls in our depots. Iâd say one in three can be cleaned up and made serviceable again, thatâs an extra twenty ships for Home Fleet at most, thirty if we can find crews willing to deploy with a marginal reactor. Thatâs a whole different complication. These ships have been in storage for seventy years. Who still knows how to run them? Someone in a museum, I suppose, or a retirement enclave.â
âThatâs why we keep training archives, commander,â Kinkaid said as the lift doors parted and they stepped out onto the mess-deck. âThatâs assuming that the TerraCom assembly will vote us the credits to have them refitted,â He shook his head with disgust. âDid your trip to the Free Callisto shipyard yield results?â
âTheir work crews have been decimated by Serenity toxification,â Jena said. âAt best we can expect Bellapheron to be finished anytime soon. I threatened them with removing our unfinished projects to the United Space Alliance works but theyâre having the same troubles.â
Kinkaid shook his head. âWhy did they decide to wake me up this year?â
Jena smiled. âIâm beginning to think I shouldâve gone into business law.â
âAnd miss all the fun?â Kinkaid said wryly and altered their course toward the serving line. âIâd just like to know how they got here.â
âEither theyâve been traveling for a very long time or they have a system like ours,â Jena said and reached for a try. She pointed at a pan full of something labeled, âvegetable lasagna,â and a plateful of it was immediately delivered by a line cook. âIf theyâve been taking the slow route we wouldâve seen them coming. My vote is that have a tunneling drive or something similar.â
âThen why didnât we detect any jump flares when they arrived?â Kinkaid said and lifted a bowl of orange gelatin to his tray. âA fleet that size wouldâve made quite a scene. All the logs we reviewed reveal nothing but merchant traffic previously accounted for.â
âMaybe we werenât looking with the right sensors,â Jena said and picked a Martian fruit/puffed rice bar from the dessert table. âOf course, having our sensor nets taken down by solar-storms couldnât have happened at a worse possible moment. It was like being blind in one eye.â
âThank goodness the damage wasnât permanent,â Kinkaid agreed as he carried his tray to the dispensary past the serving line. âTracking the shipping in this system is difficult enough when the sensors are operating. Itâs worse after two Mega class storms.â
âWhat on Earth did we do to piss off the Sun God?â Jena wondered and took a plastic cup from a dispenser full of them. She filled it with water and said, âIf there is one. Not that Iâm saying there is.â
âQuite all right, commander,â Kinkaid said and filled his cup with the same. The other option was coffee. Ares Prime Lager was only available off-duty. âSometimes I ask myself that same question. The only true answer that ever comes to me is I-donât-know.â
âIâve always thought that it was a good enough place to start.â
âYour mother taught you that, didnât she?â
âYes,â Jena admitted. âHow did you know?â
Kinkaid smiled. âWho do you think told that one to your father?â
âVictor Borges?â Jena guessed. She laughed as Kinkaid muttered to himself and moved for the nearest table.
***
61 Virginis
The silence that greeted USS Rangerâs arrival set of instant alarms throughout the ship. Pax settlement was off the air. Pax orbital garrison was still transmitting, infrequently, and in a code Ranger had no cipher to. No merchantmen were sounding off. A system well known for its vibrancy was as empty as the first day it was discovered. Ranger and her group rigged for silent running and had not gone down for 76 hours straight.
âMaybe you can tell me what the hell is going on here, amigo.â A quiet voice came through Hurricaneâs helmet speaker. He took his eyes off the passive sensor display and pressed his helmet to the canopy so he could look rearward. There was another F/A-28 off his starboard side.
âI havenât heard anything you havenât heard,â Hurricane said. He could see Pancho in his cockpit, who waved back at him. âAsk Captain Groove if you want to know anything else. The S-3 gave them a brief before everyone was out of the freezers.â
âThe got us out here with anti-shipping packages for a reason, Hog. I think so serious smleck is going out here that they arenât telling us about. I think they got us out here as bait. Just so something might come after us, so they find out what it is. Were you up for the S-3 brief?â
Both fighters were configured with a long accelerator tube that jutted out from SCRAM intake in a line following the body of the fighter out to 3 meters past the nose.
âNegit. I came out of the icebox forty-eight hours ago,â Hurricane said. âIâve barely had time to piss as it is. The good news is that my first ration pack was Enchiladas with Rice.â
âI never get that. I was waiting in the chow line after I came out of the box and what do I get? Egg omlet. How the fek am I supposed to choke down Egg omlet. Man, that smleck glows under black light.â
âYou make friends with the one masochist around who likes it and trade as often as you can,â Hurricane said and Pancho laughed. âIt couldâve been worse. You couldâve gotten smleck.â
âPrepared properly itâs good stuff.â Pancho came back.
âFor about thirty seconds.â
Pancho chuckled. âThatâs why you have to eat it quick.â
The sensor display lit up with new contacts, a cluster of objects, IDâs by the computer as Nickel-Iron. When Hurricane looked out of the canopy, the holo-HUD pinpointed them in space with red arrows hanging in his vision. âThe pre-flight brief didnât mention how crowded this system is. Watch yourself. Iâm picking up some asteroids around.â
âConfirm that,â Pancho said. âThe main belt is a way back. I wonder how these ones escaped?â
âA comet is my guess,â Hurricane said. âIt mustâve taken a big one with some gravity of itâs own to drag them out of position like that.â
âI think Iâve got freezer lag,â Pancho said and Hurricane could hear him shifting in the cockpit of his fighter. âIâm so stiff and sore. Next time Iâm going to find a better position to sleep in.â
âHowâd the big nap treat you?â
âI had a picture of Pax settlement pasted onto my icebox cover,â Pancho replied. âI had nothing but pretty Pax girls keeping me company for almost the whole transit. It was ten times better then what I got from Sol to Lalande.â
âDonât remind me, amigo,â Hurricane said and dropped his eyes to the picture of Jena. âI hope you find her when we get there.â
âIf we get there.â Pancho added.
Someone transmitting on the Guard channel overrode their intercom banter. The signal was weak but discernable.
âRN Achilles to any monitoring station. Sos. Our engines are out. We are adrift and under attack. Any monitoring stations please reply. Sos. This is Achilles.â
âDid you get that, Hog?â
âI got it,â Hurricane said. The HUD bracketed the section of space where the signal had come from in yellow. He found the fuel level display. âI think we can reach it. Itâs gonna take us a while though.â
âTrailboss, this is Rodeo two,â Quickdraw called in. He and Wild Bill worked a similar box of space 200,000 kilometers away. âWeâre picking up a mayday. Request permission to haul ass over there.â
âAffirm that, Rodeo two. Weâll meet you there,â Hurricane said and reactivated the wireless link between the two fighters in his flight. âYouâre free to maneuver, amigo. In thrust we trust.â
âLetâs go get our dicks in it.â Pancho trawled as he accelerated past.
âDonât let âem get cut off.â Hurricane said to himself and pushed the engine throttle control forward. Gravity arrived.
***
SOL-4/ Mars
Tali wouldnât take negit for an answer. Every day there was a new message in Jenaâs v-mail about the upcoming Founderâs Day. Despite her attempts to maintain distance, Jena took a silent accounting of her friends on-planet and found a short list. Her friend Tali was near the top and communicated once a day. The message was usually the same. A face with pretty eyes and short cropped, dark hair framing her puckish grin.
Jena closed the door to her Holdfast hab-unit and squeezed past the shower module into the unit itself. âPlay V-mail.â
âHi, Jena. Itâs Tali. You said to remind you about Viking Carnival on fifth-day, so I am, again. If you canât get off let me know. Gabrielle says hello. She might meet us there. Call me back. Bye.â
Jena sat on her bed-slab and pulled off her padded boots. Next off was the service jacket, then her garrison trousers. Fleet issued âfemale utilities,â were kept folded to regulation standards inside garment lockers, non-regulation articles were worn instead. Her collection was filled with dainties and she fell back onto the bed-slab in a pair, simple, thin cotton patterned with daisies that rode low on her hips.
âCall Tali.â She said into the air. The multi-purpose video board on the wall came on and filled with a string of digits.
âHello?â Tali said and put the call through clad only in a short, green robe that flapped open as she settled into the viewer. âJena? Hi. I wasnât expecting you to call so early.â
âItâs late, Iâm sorry,â Jena said. Tali smiled and rubbed both hands through her spiky hair. âI guess I shouldâve thought for a minute about what time it is there.â
âItâs alright. Whatâs up?â
âI got your messages about the exhibition. Iâm taking a few vacation days in a row. This fifth-day is one of them. The Holdfast is shutting down for the first week of the festival so I thought âwhy not?â Iâm just going to throw so things into a bag once my shift ends and catch the air ferry. What do I need to bring?â
âJust your moon boots and some pay-cards.â
âTali, what are you getting me into? What kind of exhibition has a name like Viking Carnival?â Jena said and took down her hair. âI asked some people about it. One guy described it as a âbreathtaking experience. Whatâs that supposed to mean?â
âThe settlement puts the Viking one lander on display and it just sort of becomes the focal point of the party. I wonât lie to you, Jena, itâs not a cocktail party,â Tali hesitated to reconsider. âMaybe in some ways it is. Think of it this way, itâs a celebration of life. Thatâs the best way I can describe it.â
âHow much was my pass?â Jena said. Tali squinted at something out of sight and reached out of frame for it. She reappeared with a pink ticket in hand and pressed it against the viewer. A caricature of Norse Goddess Freya beckoned in ink above the silver-embossed name of the event.
âYou can make it up to me if you want to,â Tali said and took the ticket away, replacing it into storage. âYouâre our guest.â
A hand with long fingers appeared from behind Tali and waved at the vid-com, then dragged themselves down Taliâs neck and back. Tali twitched at a ticklish spot and switched vid-com off.
***
61 Virginis
âKeep sending that SOS until we get a reply,â The Captain-1st of RN Achilles had 20 years in service and knew when he was in trouble, big trouble. Achilles still had weapons, which had been effectively keeping the closing zapper rocks at a distance, but without engines it was only time before more zappers arrived for an attack en masse. âSensor, conn. Is there any sign of the ship that ejected the damned jump flare weâre out here looking for?â
âNothing yet, sir. Weâre scanning a maximum range. All weâre picking up are zapper clusters. They either destroyed what was out there or it went into hiding.â
âTo hell with them for sending us on this wild goose hunt.â Captain 1st said. The Pax orbital garrison was a protective shelter that he longed to steer his ship for.
âConn, sensor. I read eight more zappers moving toward us from the cluster.â
âSend the bearing to fire control,â Captain-1st said quickly. âI think their reinforcements just showed up.â
âConn, weapons control. I have new target solutions.â
âAccept new solutions. Weapons free.â Said Captain-1st and climbed into his battle chair. The holo-dome he lowered over his face let him follow the shots from his weapons in. My hepacs were taking too long to recycle, too long, he thought and swallowed his panic. âDivert all power to weapons recycle.â
âTurrets are over the rail. Commencing main battery fire.â
âGive me time.â Captain-1st said.
âEighty seconds to until main batteries are ready to fire.â
The full barrage from Achilles knocked the lead zapper out of formation but they continued to close. The Captain-1st watched the power meter on the hepacs climb and thought, too long, too long.
***
Even from 100,000 kilometers, the disabled cruiser was localized by the flash of the cruisers turret-mounted guns unloading. Pips of angry red battered targets that Thunderbirdâs computers IDâd as asteroids. Were they on a collision course? Hurricane wondered.
âRodeo four to Trailboss. Weâre getting a good look at the ship. The engine compartment has a big hole is the side where something burned through. It doesnât look like any laser damage Iâve ever seen, over.â
Trailboss to Rodeo four. Give us ten minutes to get into position and then commence attacking whatever it is that Achilles is targeting. Take as many runs as you can. Get back to the ship when youâre bingo fuel.â
Roger, Trailboss. Wild Bill and me will wait for your signal to start the fireworks, out.â
âHeat it up, Pancho. Set HUD for ship-to-ship and transfer reactor power to your accelerator,â Hurricane said. âItâll take four minutes to charge. Remember that for later.â
âPower transferred, accelerator charging,â Pancho radioed back. âI donât like the looks of this Cisco. I see way too many asteroids doing things asteroids donât do.â
âJust follow my lead, amigo,â Hurricane said and visually swept the target area. Achilles was hammering away at the closest object moving toward it. âWeâre gonna hit the cluster inbound to the ship. Weâll reassess the situation after the first pass.â
âIâm telling you, Pancho. This ainât right.â
âStand by for course-correction burn,â Hurricane said and entered a vector into his navigation system, a heading for the flank of the asteroid cluster and a 12 second engine burn. âGet wired tight, amigo. Donât worry about right or wrong now. Itâs time to go open up a can.â
âIâm with you, Cisco.â
***
Captain 1st of Achilles considered his options. He wouldnât order the ship abandoned until the zappers started burning it through or he received a reply to his SOS. The air in the life-pods would not last long. The shipâs executive officer handed him a printout listing all his damaged systems. Achilles would need an overhaul if they survived this.
âConn, sensor. Iâm picking up new signals, sir. Weâve got little friends around.â
âExplain yourself.â Captain 1st demanded.
âFighters, sir. Ours,â The sensor-tech said when the Captain 1st moved to look over his shoulder. âI donât know where they came from but I show four fighters attacking the nearest zapper cluster.â
âWe donât have any fighter carriers in this system,â Captain 1st said as confusion started a slow perfusion through his mental process. âCommo, conn. Try to make contact with those fighters out there.â
âConn, commo. Aye-aye, connecting now. We have a link on the Guard channel.â
âThis is RN Achilles. Friendly forces please identify yourself.â
After several tense moments a reply came back. âAchilles, this is Trailboss. We thought you could use some help with your situation. VF-two-two-one at your service, over.â
âAchilles to Trailboss. What ship are you from, over?â
The reply was broken by static as a zapper plasma weapon fired. âUSS Ranger, over.â
âConn, fire control. Hepacs have recycled.â
âFire control, conn. Lock on nearest target and open fire.â
âFire control, aye.â
âAchilles to Trailboss. Are you with Second Fleet, over?â
âAffirmative, Achilles,â Came the reply. âSecond Fleet.â
The bridge crew erupted into cheers that overwhelmed the addition of âOn detached dutyâ to the pilotâs statement. His XO embraced him and pounded his back.
âWeâre very, very glad to see you, Trailboss,â Captain 1st of RN Achilles sent out. Relief flooded his system making his knees wobble. âWeâve been waiting for you for a very long time.â
***
âWhat the hell is that supposed to mean?â Pancho said as they overflew the crippled cruiser. As they passed, the Achilles opened up on the drifting asteroid cluster again, asteroids that emitted powerful streams of plasma that reached out to scorch the side of the NorCom warship.