Freedom Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 3) (11 page)

The woman gave him a wry smile. “Independence of course. The Unity Congress and the Brussels bureaucrats have long treated our people as low class colonials. When in fact we were the fourth nation to orbit Mars and the fifth to land on the Moon. Our economy is as strong as that of the EU. We lead South America. And we believe in meritocracy, rather than the enforced cultural sameness of the Unity.” She looked aside as a slim man in a business suit brought a yellow datapad to her, then left. Looking down at it, she touched it, read something, said “good”, then looked up. “My Department of State has personally told all Unity people in Brazil to leave by this evening. All Unity naval ships, planes and the single spaceship undergoing upgrade work will also leave our national boundaries by tonight. Satisfied?”

Jack nodded. “Your launch sites at Alcântara and Barreira do Inferno will be left intact. Please see that no Unity personnel or space ships make use of those sites.”

“It will be done,” the woman said. She tilted her head, her look curious. “What are these other, peaceful Aliens like?”

Jack grinned. “Very similar to us humans. They have families. They prefer peace to conflict. They are tech smart and socially complex. They see in our vision range, hear in our acoustic frequency, communicate verbally and live on worlds similar to Earth. The two peoples we liberated, the Mikmang and the Nuuthot, are omnivores with an emphasis on plant foods. They welcomed our destruction of their Alien masters. Would you like copies of our AV records of meetings with them?”

“Yes!” The woman gave him an eager smile. “When I was a young girl I would lie outside at night and stare up at the Southern Cross in the constellation of Crux. Wishing I could visit those stars.”

“Me too. Only I looked at the stars from within an asteroid habitat occupied by my parents and my two sisters. Was a bit crowded. But wonderful. There was no haze to obscure the Milky Way.”

“Ahhh,” murmured the woman, again glancing at Jack’s crew people. “You and your crew are blessed with unique experiences. Experiences that I hope our scientists and astronauts can share with you and your fleet. We will be sending a diplomatic delegation to Ceres Central within a week.”

Perfect. “It will be welcomed. And you may enjoy knowing that one of our ship captains, Júlia Araujo of the
Caiman
, hails from Belo Horizonte. She was born there before her parents moved to the Asteroid Belt.”

“Excellent!” The woman looked aside as if being called, then fixed on him. “Fleet Captain Jack Munroe, the Autarchy of Brazil welcomes a future alliance with the Asteroid Belt. Good day.”

He waved at the woman, then looked back at Denise when the Autarch’s image disappeared. “What other national leaders are calling us?”

She pulled on one red braid, then looked down at her Comlink panel. “Leaders from Australia, Indonesia, Argentina, Israel, Iran, Russia, South Africa, Norway, Ukraine, Egypt, Algeria and Pakistan. And the Tennessee governor. No one else from Canada, America or Mexico. Or from the EU.”

Well, those nations plus the ones he’d spoken to equaled three-fifths of Earth’s population and half of its active space launch sites.

“Put through the governor.”

A middle-aged man with wavy brown hair, a handlebar mustache and the look of a lifelong politician peered at Jack.

“Fleet Captain Jack Munroe, thank you for taking my call so quickly,” the man said in English tinged with a Southern accent. “I am Governor Billy McDonough, of Memphis. The sovereign state of Tennessee has today declared its independence from the North American Cooperative. Our National Guard is taking control of all border crossings and I have personally imprisoned the Unity Governor General for Southern America.”

Jack nodded. “That is welcome news. But there are no spaceship launch sites in Tennessee. So why are you calling?”

The man, who sat behind a granite-covered executive desk in an official-looking office, gave him a Good Ole Boy smile. “True. But the Oak Ridge National Laboratory site produces plutonium pits for use in thermonuclear warheads. Today it was occupied by our National Guard. The Unity will no longer make thermonuke weapons using our resources.”

That was encouraging. Jack had not given thought to the multiple weapons making complexes under the control of the Unity. This made one less available to the Unity Naval Command. “Thank you. In view of the attack on my asteroid home, that means much to me and my people. Tell me, are there other governors moving to do as you did?”

Governor McDonough smiled as if greeting a new voter. “Yes! Governors in the states of the Midwest, South and Southwest, except for Texas, have agreed to withdraw from the North American Cooperative. We have reestablished July 4
th
as an official holiday, the
Star Spangled Banner
is now being played on our radio stations and at our schools, and our state legislatures are revising our state constitutions to include the Bill of Rights.” The man paused, looked down at a yellow datapad, then up. The man’s expression turned to a neighborly smile. “We are calling ourselves America. Will your people on Ceres send cargo transports to our airfield in Memphis? We have food, fiber optic devices and plenty of other tech to trade.”

If only his grandpa Ephraim could have heard these words. Jack smiled, did his best to not yell Righto! And instead nodded agreement. “Yes, for certain! There are many old America refugees among our Belter citizens. I am certain Ceres Central will send ships to you for barter trading.”

“Good. I hope your National Guard is effective in its defiance of the NAC land forces.”

“It will be.” The man’s expression turned darkly serious. “The governors of our member states have agreed to join our guard forces under one command. Plus we have an armored brigade of VTOL tanks south of Nashville. It has declared its allegiance to us. We will fight as we must.”

Jack had no doubt of that. “Send an AV signal to Ceres telling them all you have shared with me. They will send a cargo transport ship to you. Now, I must take other calls. Good-day.”

The man’s image vanished.

“Jack,” called Nikola from her Chief Astronomer seat behind him. “Do we have to do more fighting?”

He turned around. She looked worried by the unpredictability of taking on the Unity military forces. He reached out and touched her vacsuited hand. “Yes, more fighting lies ahead. But it will be over soon. Then we can head back to Mathilde for a steak, some bourbon and one of my Cuban cigars. Okay?”

She gave him a patient look, as if recognizing his effort to distract her. “My scope site on Mathilde is now a radioactive crater. And our next interstellar trip is not happening. When do we leave behind the problems of Earth?”

She gave voice to exactly the worries that had been plaguing him ever since the thermonuke attack. He had thought, upon returning from the decimation of the HikHikSot system and one of their home worlds, that they could spend the time needed to upgrade the left behind fleet ships to Alcubierre FTL drive ability, plus adding more Higgs Disruptor beamers to some of those ships. But the Unity had forced a detour in that happy route. He became aware that Blodwen, Archibald, Max, Cassie, Denise and Elaine were also waiting for his answers. And likely also Maureen, who was back in the Battle Module but heard everything up front thanks to the shipwide voice-activated speaker system.

“In two weeks.” He looked at his sister Cassie, whose long waterfall of curly black hair now shone bright after the first bath she had had in a week. But her hazel eyes were shadowed, as if the death of her boyfriend Howard still hung over her. “Hey! We beat the Alien predators! We’ve destroyed the Unity’s grav-pull ships. And we will head out to the stars real soon. You ready for another steak dinner at O’Neill’s Cafe? ”

His crew laughed, chuckled or looked amused. Even Cassie, who gave him a painful smile despite the bruises she’d taken during beatings by academy interrogators.

“Brother, will there be room for me on the
Uhuru
?” she said hopefully. “Don’t know if you will need an amateur spy on your star roaming. But I can clean floors, wash clothes, cook well enough that people don’t get sick and—”

“Yes!” he interrupted with a loving smile for his sister. The woman who had almost died at the hands of the Unity. “You can join us when we head out again. Maybe you can work with Denise on her SETI algorithms for deciphering Alien languages? And Nikola could use a helper in sorting through the Nasen holo data on juvenile and subject people Aliens in Orion Arm.”

Cassie looked happy. As did Elaine, who had been deeply concerned for her younger sister. He turned away and faced the fleet captains and admiral who had been watching his Earth leader talks and his promise of future star-faring.

“Admiral, captains, you heard the countries listed by Denise that are joining the national independence movement. Well, only half of Earth’s launch sites are covered. The other half need to be destroyed. Nikola, will you transmit those sites and their GPS locations to the rest of the fleet? I’ve got more talking to do.”

“Yes, be glad to,” she said from behind him, her voice sounding confident. He heard the sound of her fingers tapping on her Astro panel. “I’m transmitting the launch sites in Canada, America, Mexico, French Guiana, Italy, Morocco, Senegal, Spain, North Korea and the United Kingdom. Most are in remote locations, far from populated areas.”

Hideyoshi, Gareth, Minna, Ignacio and the other captains looked down at their own Tech panels. The admiral was the first to look up. His expression was grimly formal.

“The heavy cruiser
Prince Otto von Bismarck
will lead the Mars fleet against the North American launch sites and the French Guiana site,” he said.

Gareth gave him a determined look. “The
Dragon
and the Second Belter Fleet will take care of the sites in Europe and Africa.”

Minna pushed her two blond braids behind her ears. “The
Wolverine
will handle the North Korean site.”

Ignacio, his Basque brother who always sought to be first in any battle, showed him a sympathetic gaze. As if the man understood his doubts. “The
Badger
will take out the sites at El Arenosillo, El Hierro and Morón Air Base in Spain. We know the Spaniards well.”

Jack felt his mouth go dry once more. His heart hammered as he felt relief. His allies were following his lead with no objection voiced. How long could he keep making the right decisions? Keep acting like the leader these people needed? How long before he screwed up? He shook himself. And remembered a talk his Grandpa Ephraim had shared with him about hunting squirrels in the Tennessee woods. As a young kid, before moving to the Belt with his parents. His grandpa had said “Spot ‘em, take aim and don’t stop shooting until they’re all on the ground.” Well, he and the others had done that in Sol system and in interstellar space. Now came the time for finding allies among juvenile species who did not know other intelligent peoples existed, and for liberating subject peoples who had spent decades or centuries under predator domination. He welcomed the dual challenge. But he feared his ability to accomplish them.

“Admiral, Gareth, Minna and Ignacio, thank you!  I guarantee each of you first choice of whatever cigar you wish. Upon our return to Mathilde.”

“Captain Jack, they’re waiting,” called Denise.

He turned away from his fleet allies. There was still half an hour to go before his ships began vaporizing Unity launch sites. He looked at the motion-eye above the front screen and spoke.

“Hello. Who is calling?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

O’Neill’s Café occupied the lowest part of the habitat torus. The torus had spun inside the Mathilde Dock Cavern all his life. But now it lay still, still with one gee gravity thanks to the Unity grav-pull drive he had given the Mathilde Citizens Council. It was a week since they had returned from the battles above Earth and time to plan for the next two stages of humanity’s future. Which were making contact with juvenile Aliens who did not know other people existed, and liberating subject people Aliens who had been dominated for centuries by apex predator Aliens. Fortunately he had help. Gathered around the oblong table that occupied a back section of the café were thirty-two ship captains and one admiral, plus his crew folks. Jack swallowed hard, his heart thumping. Cold sweat popped out on his bare neck despite the warmth of a café where loud Country and Western music, wild dancing, and dozens of people coming and going were normal. Their back table location had been roped off with a black curtain to separate them from the rest of the café. It was quiet enough for them to hear each other. And unlike prior meetings, they had begun this one with grilled steaks, baked potatoes, green string beans and an ancient sauce called A-1. Whatever that meant.