Earth Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series 1) (34 page)

“You’re near the dome?” The man’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You will meet me alone? At the risk of capture?”

Jack grinned. “Sorry. My personal bodyguard has insisted she accompany me anywhere I go on Mars. Meet Maureen O’Dowd, a veteran of the first Belter Rebellion. And someone who spoke up on your behalf after we defeated your ship at 5145 Pholus.”

Minamoto looked beyond Jack to the guarding stance of Maureen, pondered a moment, then looked back to him. “I recall her comments at Pholus. They were accurate. The Rules of War regarding POWs are very explicit. I chose to follow them, rather than space every captive as Brussels desired.”

“For which choice I and other residents of the Asteroid Belt honor you. But Brussels had more extreme plans than killing our POWs. Maureen, tell him my grandpa Ephraim’s secret.”

She did. Everyone in the Pilot cabin gasped, then turned angry and hot. He gestured calmness to them, his focus still on the man who had been removed from command of the
Bismarck
due to his following of Geneva’s thermonuke order. The Asian stood up abruptly, then he bowed slightly.

“Captain Jack Munroe of the ship
Uhuru
, Madame Maureen O’Dowd, and all Belters beside your ship, my sincere apologies for that incredible threat made by Geneva in 2072. I had no knowledge of it. Nor did any of my academy mates. But in view of the secretive ears-only way in which Geneva ordered me to violate the Fourth Protocol of the Mars Concord, I believe you.” He paused, resting his hands on the belt of his
yukata
robe. “What do you want of me?”

Jack released his seat’s restraint locks and stood up. “Admiral Hideyoshi Minamoto, I wish you to resume your command of the heavy cruiser
Prince Otto von Bismarck
, now in orbit beside Deimos. It is time for honorable humans like yourself to join with Belters like me and this ship’s crew so we can protect Sol system from becoming an Alien cattle farm. And worse!”

Minamoto stood formal at Jack’s words. “I see that it is indeed time for me to resume command of my old ship. I am willing. But how do you plan to approach Deimos without a major battle? There are fifteen ships up there now, and Deimos HQ is filled with low quality academy graduates who—”

“Have you met People’s Minister Ying Lo-pak at Syria Planum Central?” Jack interjected. “I plan next to talk to him. In person. To show him the AV vidrecord you just saw. And to tell him about Geneva’s secret threat to thermonuke Ceres unless all Belters surrendered to Unity control. With his help, we can get you aboard a ground-to-space shuttle and inside Deimos before Earth knows of our intentions.”

Minamoto gave him a restrained smile, then slowly shook his head. “You remind me of your Belter Rebellion ancestors, who were so good at phantom maneuvers. Yes, I have met People’s Minister Ying at several rice harvest parties. I will lend my endorsement to your efforts. But I worry that Geneva will soon order the fleet to Combat Mobilization. As part of an alliance with this Menoma alien.”

“Thank you,” Jack said, his heart thudding as his first gamble now paid off. “And I share your same worry. Which is why we must move quickly. Please meet me at the Blue Pathway airlock, just inside the garden dome. Wear your EVA suit. Bring any personal items you may need for an extended stay away from home. But please, do not leave any personal messages on your home comlink. If needed, you can transmit them using the
Bismarck’s
comlink once you are aboard the ship.”

“Logical,” Minamoto said. “I will meet you at the Blue Pathway airlock in ten minutes. Until then.”

The man’s image on the front screen of the
Wolverine
disappeared, to be replaced by the red-brown of Mars’ surface rocks and regolith. Minna, sitting in her Drive controls seat, fixed her deep blue gaze on him.

“My captain, I wish I could have met your grandfather. He sounds like a man who understood what we Finns so value. The principle of Everyman’s Right that is embedded in our culture.” She paused, glanced aside at Alaric and Elie, then back to Jack. “Our ship
Wolverine
is honored to play this role in the creation of a new system order. One that will be more just, with more personal rights, than the Communitarian Unity!”

“Jack,” called Maureen. “Time to get our EVA suits on and go meet this admiral. While it is early morning here, and earlier at the minister’s home at Syria Planum, this ship’s over the horizon radar sensors are registering plenty of Hopper traffic.”

He slapped his chest in respect of Minna’s words, then turned and followed Maureen to the ship’s midbody airlock. He looked forward to more scheme talk with Minamoto. But first they had to see People’s Minister Ying, bring him to their side, then get the heck off of Mars and into space before Earth ordered Combat Mobilization for all its space navy forces.

People’s Minister Ying Lo-pak looked up from his breakfast table as Jack, Maureen and Minamoto walked in from his garden dome. Putting down his chopsticks atop a half-empty rice bowl, the young-looking minister nodded briefly to Minamoto, then focused on Jack.

“You are the pirate Jack Munroe, for whom Geneva has issued an Order of Arrest. Are you here to surrender?”

“Hardly, minister,” Maureen said as she moved toward the wall hatch that led down to the minister’s subsurface home tunnels. She held a boxy laser mining cutter in each hand, her behavior one of someone used to using such devices for people targeting.

Jack folded his hands before the minister. “Minister Ying Lo-pak of the Chinese People’s Republic on Mars, I am here with Fleet Admiral Hideyoshi Minamoto to ask that you and your Mars colony reverse its allegiance to the Communitarian Unity and join my efforts to fight Alien predators who seek to claim Sol system for their Hunt territory.”

The tall, lanky Chinese sat back on his floor cushion, folded long-fingered hands in his lap and fixed a neutral look on Jack. “Explain to me why anything you say has validity? While I and my council have reviewed your AV broadcasts to the inner system, including your recent battle out near comet 1999 DG8, Geneva says the Alien violence you depict is fabricated.”

“Not so, minister,” Jack said calmly as he knelt in his EVA suit before the man who controlled the ten million humans living on Mars. “Do you think the Alien bodyforms are a result of fancy CGI imagery? There are no six-legged humans we could use to imitate the Rizen aliens. Nor is the Gathering Hall on Sedna a place we could fabricate digitally. More pertinently, Admiral Minamoto has shared with me just how often Geneva has lied to you regarding delays in shipment of fusor replacement parts for your Compact Fusion Reactor power plants. Could they not be lying about me and my AV imagery?”

“They could be.” Ying looked to the admiral who now knelt beside Jack. “Fleet Admiral, your naval service for the Communitarian Unity is illustrious. And your control of visiting ship crews while on Mars has been . . . appreciated by my merchants. Why are you here with this . . . Asteroid Belt citizen?”

“Because of my oath.”

“Your oath?” Ying said, looking puzzled.

“My oath to protect humanity from the violence of criminal elements. Which the Belter Rebellion, with respect to veteran Maureen O’Dowd who guards your hatchway, became. In the view of Geneva. However, my oath also includes an allegiance to the Fourth Protocol of the Concord of Mars. Which Geneva recently ordered me to violate when I encountered Captain Munroe’s ship near comet 5145 Pholus.”

The minister blinked, crossed arms over his morning robe, and looked intent. “So. That allegation by this Munroe person was correct?”

“It was,” Minamoto said. “Of greater importance was a Geneva secret I just learned from citizen O’Dowd. And from Captain Munroe.”

“Which was?” Ying said, looking impatient.

“The threat to thermonuke Ceres asteroid in 2072 unless the Belter Rebellion fighters surrendered unconditionally to Unity naval forces. While both sides used thermonukes in space battles, no one had used them against human population centers. As the Unity threatened to do.”

“That is indeed worrisome. But ancient history,” Ying said. “How does it relate to citizen Munroe and his new Belter rebellion that claims Alien predators are attacking Sol system?”

Minamoto grimaced. “Because Sol system
is
being attacked by predatory Aliens. It sounds crazy, but I have seen other AV records of Munroe and his people. Especially the record of this Manager Menoma who said interstellar society is arranged into predatory, star traveling peoples who claim ownership of systems occupied by herbivore peoples.” Minamoto sighed as behind them, the moon Phobos rose, adding its illumination to early morning on Mars. “Either humanity shows it is a predator people able to defend our home territory of Sol system, or we will come under the control of these HikHikSot aliens. And believe me, in this case the predatory ‘look’ of these Aliens who resemble Earth’s keystone predators is no accident. These Aliens betray the result of natural selection operating on interstellar scales.”

“Most disturbing,” Ying said, looking to Jack. “Citizen Munroe, you have a small fleet, compared to the Unity naval forces. While you have won your space battles, the future has no guarantees. Why should Mars reject the direction of Geneva and the rules of Brussels in favor of joining your . . . Second Belter Revolution?”

Maureen gestured to him. “Captain Jack, five more minutes then we must leave. The minister’s morning guard complement will be arriving shortly to take him to his office.”

Ying looked back to Maureen. “You have excellent intelligence.” He looked back. “Well?”

“Because your Syria Planum Aerospatiale landing field controls all the shuttle launches to Deimos and Phobos. If you provide Admiral Minamoto with transport to Deimos, he can reclaim command of his heavy cruiser. And the Deimos Yards. And the fourteen other ships in orbit above Deimos.” Jack smiled as Minamoto looked at him with lifted eyebrows. “Once the admiral has control of the naval ships at Deimos, my fleet will gift him with six gravity-pull drives for installation on the
Bismarck
and other ships he chooses. That will make
your
Mars naval forces able to defeat any incoming forces from Earth. Mars will truly control its future fate.”

Ying licked pale lips, his expression intensely thoughtful. He looked to Minamoto. “Admiral, would you do this on behalf of our world?”

“Yes. And as a means of protecting all humanity from Alien slavers.”

Ying nodded abruptly. “Captain Munroe, your proposal is accepted. You may leave Admiral Minamoto with me. I will put him on a shuttle to Deimos within two hours. And if you need to talk directly with me, do so on AM frequency 114.8, encryption code Blue Heron 1345.” The man stood up slowly.

Jack and Minamoto also stood. Maureen walked swiftly toward them, her adjustment to Mars’ four-tenths gee gravity a thing of beauty.

“Out through the garden dome,” she said bluntly. “Minna is waiting for us. And it would be nice to blip jump away from here before the minister’s guards arrive and see our craft.”

“Exactly.” Jack bowed slightly to Ying. “People’s Minister Ying Lo-pak, you honor me and my family with your support. My family clan of Munroe will always welcome any member of clan Ying.”

The Asian looked briefly surprised by Jack’s use of Chinese social customs, then gestured dismissal. “Depart! Your O’Dowd guardian is correct. I prefer not to explain to my guards why a Belter commerce raider was parked next to my garden.”

Jack and Minamoto turned and left, with Maureen guarding their backs. While he pulled his revolver in case someone popped up from one of the subsurface transport tubes, he felt too elated by Ying’s choice to join his rebellion. And his defense of humanity. But the hardest work still lay ahead.

Minamoto had to arrive at Deimos, depose the Unity lacklings who controlled the Yards and Deimos’ surface laser installations, then take over his cruiser while convincing the other ship captains to join his rebellion against the Unity.

Jack smiled. His job of meeting his sister Cassandra’s arriving interplanetary transport with the
Uhuru
would be a small challenge compared to what Minamoto had to do. But the man had earned his fleet rank by smart action and clear thinking, versus the political linkages so common in the Unity. He gave thanks once more that he had let the man live, out at Pholus. Now, if only Brazil’s Moon base at Copernicus Crater would be as cooperative as Mars, the upcoming confrontation with Geneva and Brussels might be less bloody than he feared. And maybe Max could work on  his grandpa Ephraim’s third secret, a special weapon that just might penetrate Menoma’s ship defenses. He hoped so. Having the Alien running loose in Sol system while he tried to build alliances with other human groups would be more than dangerous. It might lead them to win the battle but lose the war for human independence!

CHAPTER TWENTY

Cassandra gave Jack a giant hug as she exited the
Uhuru’s
Lander
Anneli Korhonen
, which he had sent to take her off the transport that she was on. An interception that had happened at fifteen Mars diameters out from the planet and at an angle fifty degrees off from where his fleet still hid in sun-glow.