Rumors of Salvation (System States Rebellion Book 3) (25 page)

As
expected, the first question was a request to clarify the situation regarding
the threat posed by Majestic and how the current situation came about. Drake
decided to summarize the major events that led up to the deployment of the
Majestic technology and how it had gotten out of control, as best he understood
it. Some of the media people looked horrified when Drake described how the
implants were capable of exercising complete control over individuals. When he
finished, the next question was harder to answer.

“Given
your System States Union background and Midgard’s status during the war as a
Federation planet, how would you describe your political views now, Fleet
Commander Drake?”

After
a pause to organize his thoughts, he said, “The SSU is gone, as is the
Federation, now that Earth has been devastated by the bio-weapon. The Empire is
also an empty shell. Emperor…General Trojan told my people before he died that
he believed Majestic’s prediction of a complete collapse of human civilization
unless there was a strong, central government that could prevent planets from
building fleets and weapons of mass destruction. We on Excalibur actually built
our own version of Majestic, which we called M2, in order to try to anticipate
Majestic’s strategies, and we took advantage of that capability to ask M2 about
the future of human civilization. Our M2 told us that the real key to avoiding
the chaos and misery of centuries of collapse was to build a collaborative
political structure, one that gave its member planets plenty of local autonomy,
with a military structure that was made up of volunteers from all member
planets. If that sounds like the System States Union, then I would agree that
there are a lot of similarities, but it means that Midgardians would be able to
run their planet as they see fit so long as they don’t threaten anyone else. My
first priority is to end the threat that the continued existence of Majestic
poses to all humans everywhere. Once that threat has been eliminated, my
personal long term goal is to begin the process of building that kind of
decentralized, multi-planet political and military structure if for no other
reason than to fill the power vacuum that exists now. If we don’t fill the
vacuum, eventually someone else will, and their ideas of how to preserve
civilization might be a lot different from ours.”

Before
he could continue, the woman who had asked the question interjected. “Did you
just say that there’s another Majestic computer on Excalibur?”

Drake
smiled and shook his head. “There was, but there isn’t anymore. I ordered it
disabled before we left to come here. The people who elected to stay on
Excalibur were told of the potential danger of continuing to use that
technology. Without any external threat to their colony, there was no longer
any need for that capability. M2 no longer exists, and I can assure everyone
that nothing like that will be built on Midgard.” That seemed to satisfy the
questioner. The third question was the one he was afraid would be asked.

“How
do you feel about placing yourself and your ships under the authority of CEO
Ogawa?”

“With
regards to the question of my status vis a vis the Office of the CEO, the
answer to your question has to do with a clear understanding of the
expectations from both sides. CEO Ogawa has told me that when it comes to
military decisions, I have complete discretion to act as I see fit and that he
will back whatever decisions I make. I’ve told him that I will keep him
informed of all developments that could potentially impact the Midgard Colony.
That’s the kind of working relationship that I’ve found works best between a
civilian head of government and a military leader. CEO Ogawa also understands
that I wear two hats. I’m not only Fleet Commander, I’m also the Acting Colony
Leader of the new Colony of Avalon Island, and that makes me a civilian head of
government in my own right. The Colony Leader of Avalon Island is not in any
way subordinate to the CEO of Midgard Colony. One person wearing both a
civilian and a military hat at the same time is an unusual arrangement I would
agree, but I think CEO Ogawa and I can make it work.”

“Doesn’t
your long term goal of a decentralized, multi-planet government imply that
Midgard would have a single planetary government as well, and if that’s the
case, how can the much smaller Avalon Island colony justify its claim of equal
status with a Midgard Colony that’s over a hundred times larger?”

Drake
held up the data tablet with the signed document still showing. “This is how.
Legal ownership of the island has been transferred to the new Colony without
any conditions or restrictions. That by itself implies equality. If there was
some kind of subordinate relationship between the two colonies, it would be
spelled out in writing.”

The
questions after that were easier to answer and less potentially controversial.
When the whole event was over and the media people had left, Drake and Ogawa
shook hands one more time while exchanging the usual meaningless pleasantries.
One of Ogawa’s staff drove Drake back to his ship. The sub-orbital flight back
to Avalon Island was just long enough for Drake to catch a quick nap. He was
looking forward to resuming the task of building Avalon City now that the
island’s legal status was settled. As he drifted off to sleep, he wondered when
Majestic would attack.

Day
077/2557

Avalon
Island, Midgard

Drake
was floating face up on the surface of a calm, warm sea. The sky was blue, and
the water was a pleasant green color. The relaxing sound of the water lapping
up against his body was joined by a rhythmic buzzing sound that started out low
but quickly grew in volume. With a start, Drake realized that he had been
dreaming, and the buzzing sound was the sound of the communication device next
to his bed. As he turned to accept the call, he could tell that Lorelei was now
awake too. They were on board Europa in the comfortable quarters reserved for
the C.O. It was a temporary arrangement until their own house was finished
being built.

“Drake
here. What is it?”

“Lieutenant
Tully on the Bridge, Sir. Long range detection has just alerted us to the
arrival of a single ship at a distance of just under five light minutes.
Velocity is…SIR, that ship has just jumped away again!”

As
Drake tried to shake off the last vestiges of sleep and make sense of what he
had just heard, he felt Lorelei’s hand on his shoulder. “Sounds like a quick
recon, doesn’t it?” she asked in a low voice. He nodded. It did indeed sound
exactly like that now that she’d raised the possibility. If it was a
preliminary recon mission, the actual attack could happen at literally any
moment. The distance made sense too. It was at the extreme range for the
original Ether detection system that Majestic’s people had gotten their hands
on.

“Here’s
what I want you to do, Tully. Notify Ops that I’m declaring a Stage One alert.
All ship crews are to report to their ships. Vixen and Banshee are to go to
full alert, but are to remain in their current orbit. I’ll be on the Bridge
shortly. Drake clear.”

Lorelei
had gotten up and was already in the process of getting dressed. They had
planned for exactly this scenario, and they both knew what they needed to do.
As his Deputy Fleet Commander, she would transfer to one of the freighters. The
freighter crews would man their ships, but the ships would stay on the ground
in case the battle went badly. In that event, she would take charge of the
emergency evacuation of the colonists on the island. Drake would assume overall
command of the two cruisers in orbit, plus Europa and the two armed carriers,
Coral Sea and Gambier Bay, currently still on the ground. As soon as all three
were manned and ready, they would lift off and join Vixen and Banshee in orbit.
When Drake and Lorelei were both dressed, they quickly hugged and kissed.

“You
better make sure you come back alive and in one piece, Roland Drake, otherwise
I’m never going to forgive you,” said Lorelei with a trembling voice.

Drake
said nothing but hugged her tighter in response. He wasn’t going to make
promises he wasn’t sure he could keep. If Majestic’s ship was going to be part
of the attack that Drake was certain was imminent, it had to be destroyed at
all costs, and he was determined to make sure this war ended here and now.

“One
more for the road,” he said and then kissed her again. They reluctantly let go
of each other and walked quickly to the door. Out in the corridor, she blew him
a kiss and headed toward the elevator that would take her down to the boarding
ramp. He gave her a quick wave and ran in the opposite direction for the stairs
that would take him up one level to the Bridge.

As
he entered the Bridge, he saw that a couple of the personnel hadn’t arrived
yet. Tully saw him and got up from the Command Station. Drake checked the
tactical display as he walked over to the young officer. No other ships had
arrived yet.

Turning
back to Tully, Drake said, “I want you to retain command of Europa while I
exercise overall fleet command. Unfortunately that means that I need to use the
Command Station. You’ll have to take the Helm Station and con the ship from
there. Any questions?”

“No,
Sir.”

As
Drake strapped himself in, he couldn’t help remembering the emergency sortie of
the missile boat he commanded on the first day of the war. That 50,000 ton
missile boat had seemed like a lot of ship at the time. Yet here he was
commanding a 500,000 ton cruiser, plus four other ships of similar size. In
terms of a military career, he’d come a long way.

As
the minutes ticked by without any new sightings, Drake began to wonder if this
was a false alarm. It occurred to him that Majestic might be devious enough to
arrange for a series of one ship ‘recon’ missions in order to make the human
defenders of Midgard complacent and careless. It took almost ten minutes for
all ships to be fully manned and powered up. Drake made a mental note to
himself to figure out ways to get that time down. Now the question was should
he take Europa, Coral Sea and Gambier Bay up into orbit right away, or should
they wait until Majestic’s ships arrived. It would take several minutes to get
into orbit if he didn’t want to damage ship hulls from air friction. That
wasn’t enough time for enemy ships to penetrate any significant distance into
Midgard’s hyper-zone unless they emerged from hyper-space with tremendous
velocity. But that strategy had disadvantages, not the least of which was the
risk of being committed to a vector that might prove to be tactically unsound.
He also had to take into consideration which side of the planet Majestic’s
ships might emerge on. If they happened to show up on the opposite side, it
would take more time for him to maneuver his five ships to a spot where they
could get clear shots. He thanked the Gods of War that all his ships had
superluminal lasers that would allow them to fire and hit Majestic’s ships
while still deep within the hyper-zone. If Majestic was hoping to catch his
ships outside the hyper-zone with jump-capable missiles, it was going to be
disappointed.

Manipulating
his station’s controls, he caused the main display to show the relative
position of where the recon ship had appeared. It was at the one o’clock
position, while Vixen and Banshee were at the five o’clock position. Even
though they didn’t have a direct line-of-sight with the bogey, the Ether
detection system was still able to detect it and vice versa. Majestic’s
missiles could, in theory, engage in last minute maneuvers to curve around the
planet if they weren’t going too fast, but having open space between both sides
would give Majestic a lot more tactical flexibility.

A
ping from the display interrupted his train of thought. A red icon had appeared
at roughly the five light minute range again, but this time it did have a
direct line-of-sight with Vixen and Banshee. Drake waited for more ships to
emerge, but none did. After 30 seconds, the bogey jumped away again. What was
Majestic up to?

“Commander
Vixen on Tac Three, Sir,” said the Com Tech. Drake switched his headset over to
that channel.

“Go
ahead, Rachel,” said Drake.

“What
do you want to bet that Majestic is waiting for more ships to reach orbit
before it launches the attack?” asked Molitor.

Drake
smiled. Once again Rachel had demonstrated her shrewd grasp of strategy and
tactics. “I’m not going to bet against you on that one, but I don’t see how
having all our ships in orbit helps Majestic win the battle. Its missiles will
still take almost an hour to penetrate this far into the hyper-zone. That’s
plenty of time for us to maneuver and even leave orbit.”

“That’s
assuming a launch from just outside the zone. I somehow doubt that Majestic
will be that conventional.”

“Conventional
it may be, but launching from further away isn’t any better as far as I can
see.”

“Same
here. I just have this nagging feeling that we should resist taking the obvious
course of action when the attack does occur. We might be playing right into Majestic’s
hands otherwise.”

“I’ll
keep that recommendation in mind. Anything else you want to add?”

After
a pause she said, “No…nothing.”

“Okay,
let’s keep this channel open,” said Drake.

Five
minutes later, a single ship emerged from hyper-space not far from the last
position. Drake watched the icon for a few seconds before turning to the
Detection Station.

“Can
we tell how big that ship is?”

“The
mass is typical of an Empire cruiser, Commander. It’s definitely not
Leviathan.”

A
few seconds later, the icon disappeared again. Drake checked the time interval
between emergences. They were not the same, nor was the time interval until the
ship jumped away again. The display pinged again after only a few seconds, just
as he was about to ask Molitor if she had any new ideas. This time, two ships
emerged from hyper-space, and the sidebar data showed that one of them was much
more massive than the other.

“It’s
Leviathan,” said Drake in a louder than normal voice. “Okay, Rachel, I’m
bringing my ships up into orbit.”

“Can
I suggest sending up just one ship for now?” she said quickly.

“Why?”

“Well,
look where they are. They’re still five light minutes away. It could be that
they’re just trying to trigger some kind of response by us in order to gage how
strong we are. If that’s the case, I’d prefer to make them think we’re weaker
than we really are.”

“Okay,
but not just one ship. I’ll send up both carriers now because they have less
acceleration than Europa. If and when those two bogeys jump closer, I’ll order
Europa into orbit at max speed.” To his surprise, Molitor said nothing.

It
took Coral Sea and Gambier Bay almost six minutes to climb above Midgard’s
atmosphere. Vixen and Banshee were higher still in a geo-synchronous orbit that
kept them over Avalon Island at all times. There was no way that the mystery
ships wouldn’t have detected two more ships in orbit, but when another five
minutes went by with no change, Drake was beginning to get annoyed. Molitor
sounded more worried than angry.

“I
don’t like this, Roland. Majestic is sitting out there waiting for something,
and I feel stupid not being able to think of what that something might be.”

“I
know how you feel, Rachel.” Drake took a deep breath and went over the
situation again in his mind. At five light minutes distance, Leviathan and the
other ship were far beyond the hyper-zone boundary and therefore too far away
to try to hit them with the superluminal lasers. In theory the lasers could hit
them, but even though the detection system had given their approximate
location, trying to aim a laser at that precise spot would be virtually
impossible. With four ships in orbit, triangulation of ether ripples could
enable his ships to fire at something just beyond the hyper-zone boundary with
a reasonably good chance of hitting it. When Europa reached orbit, its
detection data would improve the chances of a hit by an additional 34%, but
until the two bogeys got closer than they were now, his ships couldn’t do
anything except wait.

“Roland,
I have an idea,” said Molitor. “I think we should—“

The
transmission cut off so quickly that Drake’s first thought was equipment
failure, but the double ping from the tactical display told him something else
was happening. As he watched in growing shock and horror, he saw all four icons
representing Vixen, Banshee, Coral Sea and Gambier Bay break up, indicating
that the four ships had been blown apart. For several seconds he was too
stunned to have a coherent thought, and then it hit him. Molitor was now dead,
as were Yeager, Foxman and Crusero, along with four full crews! He heard moans
from the rest of the Bridge crew. Somehow Majestic had just eliminated 80% of
his defensive force, but how?

The
display pinged again. Two ships had just emerged from hyper-space approximately
89,000 kilometers beyond the zone boundary. Almost immediately, a third ship
appeared followed two seconds later by a fourth ship. Drake realized he was
holding his breath and exhaled. The odds against him were now pretty awful, but
running away was not an option for him or Europa. If he didn’t stop Majestic
here and now, he might not get another chance at all.

“Helm,
get us into orbit asap,” he said in what he hoped was a normal tone of voice.
Regardless of how bad things were, he had to remain calm in order not to spook
the Bridge crew.

As
soon as the order was acknowledged, he heard the Com Tech say, “Commander
Corpus Christi on Tac two, Sir!”