Freedom Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 3) (35 page)

“How soon can Anonymous translate the local language?”

“Very soon,” Denise said. “It applies my SETI linguistic analysis very quickly. But it still takes a group of images associated with language sounds before it can generate a basic language matrix.”

“Explosions!” yelled Elaine from her Pilot station. “Thermonuke blasts! Three of them! One near the outermost sixth planet at 5.77 AU and two near the fourth planet at three-fourths AU. That world is a gas giant half the size of Saturn. The outer planet is three times the size of Jupiter.”

Damn
. His sister’s Sensor map of the system had documented the presence of nineteen grav-pull ships, most of them clustered near planets four and five in the habitable zone. Three orbited planet six. And three grav-pulls were placed far out, near the 40 AU outer edge of the system’s Kuiper Belt of comets. There were also twelve fusion drive ships running between planets four, five and six. “Are the blasts near any of the Boolean ships?”

“No . . . uh, yes!” Elaine said. She looked down at her Sensor panel, then up as she gestured at the front screen. “I’m putting the blasts up on the Sensor view of the system’s ecliptic plane. The yield of each blast is at least three megatons, based on the gamma ray and x-ray emission levels tracked by my sensors.”

Were the Booleans mining a moon in orbit about planet four? Or a moon around the super Jupiter? Or was somebody fighting someone else? He looked closely at the blast locations and the positions of the grav-pull ships. The two blasts at planet four were not near any grav-pull ship. Although they were very close to two fusion ships. The single blast at planet six was close to a grav-pull ship.

“Blodwen, you have any idea what is happening with these blasts?”

“A few,” she said, her tone cautious. “Could be asteroid or moon mining like we’ve seen earlier. Could be someone attacking the grav-pull ships at planet six. Or it could be a civil war between two groups of arthropods, judging by the blast that is near those two fusion drive ships at planet four.”

Too many possibilities. He looked up at the images of his fleet allies. “Admiral, captains, I suggest we hold station here before we go after those Boolean ships. While nine ships are next to the Earth-like world of planet five, with four in orbit about planet four and three orbiting planet six, it looks like someone is fighting someone else. Or several someones. Let’s have Denise scan the AV broadcasts for any news reports on this fighting.”

“Agreed,” Hideyoshi said from the
Bismarck
. The man’s receding hairline now reached halfway back from his forehead. “However, there could be gravitomagnetic sensors in this space just as there were at 54 Piscium. It will take five and a half hours for any radio signal to reach those Boolean ships. We should act before then.”

Jack knew that. But he had invited comments on his plan to keep the fleet in overlook mode. He scanned the other captains. “Other thoughts, anyone?”

Minna raised a slim, rad-tanned hand. Their Finn commerce raider looked thoughtful. “We need to analyze those AV broadcasts. Find out if any of these arthropod people are fighting the Boolean occupation.”

“Exactly,” growled Maureen from the holo above Jack’s lap. She was in the Battle Module, making ready for combat. “We don’t want to be the target of someone else’s Fire-and-Forget thermonuke torp!”

No other captain offered a comment. He looked over to Elaine. “Pilot, let us know if any of those grav-pull ships head our way. Denise, any luck on an AV news report?”

“Yes!” Tap-tapping sounded from her station. “Going up on the front screen. With rebroadcast to the fleet by way of our laser link.”

An image of a blue and green world shone against the cinder blackness of space. White clouds, blue oceans and land masses green and brown shone under the yellow light of 55 Cancri. In the foreground hung a cone ship of silvery color. It was thrusting on fusion flames, moving outward from the planet. Which Jack guessed was planet five, judging by the oceans and the sunlight levels. A raspy voice-over gave narration.

“The Imperator today dispatched a fighting ship to dislodge the misguided rebels who occupy the large moon Nootok that orbits the inner world of GikgikHok. Reports of a star blast explosion near a Boolean ship at our outermost world of Tootag were denied by the Imperator’s First Spouse. She also denied reports of fighting between Imperator troops and rebels on the southern continent of Warm Forest.” There was a pause as the image of the planet rapidly enlarged, with a triangle blinking on a continent in the southern hemisphere of the world. “The colonizing of the central massif on Warm Forest by our Boolean guides was accepted by prior Imperators. Our world of TiktikPok has greatly benefited from the overrule of our Boolean guides. Today is the annual celebration of their arrival ninety cycles ago.” The planet close-up changed to an image of a city filled with cone buildings that surrounded a large plaza filled with thousands of brown-skinned praying mantis arthropods. Who were chanting something not translated by Anonymous. “In other news, recent graduates of the Great Dark Academy on the northern continent of Blue Rivers are being assigned as crew for three resource mining ships now being built at the fabrication yards of the Clan Hiksoot. That clan is well known for its loyalty to our Boolean guides, despite rumors that a third of the academy’s students recently left to provide crews for rebel ships. Clan Leader Thikpo welcomed these news graduates with—”

“Enough,” Jack said. “Reverse that AV back to the image of the southern continent of Warm Forest. I want to see just where the Boolean colony is placed.”

“Returning to the earlier scene,” Denise said. “It’s up now.”

Jack peered at the continent. It was the size of Australia and Madagascar combined, nearly equal in size to North America. It was covered in a green carpet that could be dense forests. While two long mountain ranges ran along the eastern and western coasts of Warm Forest, its center was dominated by an uplifted massif that was as big as the Colorado Plateau of western America. Multiple rivers ran from its center to cascade over its rim into the green forests below. The silvery sparkle of two dozen cities showed, most scattered between the massif and the mountain ranges. A large silvery urbus occupied the center of the massif. Three yellow glows were lifting off from the central urbus, perhaps shuttles rising up to meet one of the orbiting grav-pull ships of the Booleans.

“Blodwen, why the hell would amphibian-evolved people like these Booleans choose to live inland, far from the oceans and beaches?”

“Many reasons,” she said. “While amphibian in look and body shape, these Boolean have adapted to spending their lives on dry land. On Earth the ancestors of whales and porpoises were once land animals who went back to the sea. The reverse happened several times in the vertebrate evolution of animals on Earth.” She paused. Jack heard the sound of her tapping on her Sociology station panel. “These Booleans not only returned to the land of their home world, they built an industrial complex capable of putting ships into space. Which these praying mantis arthropods also did, judging by their fusion ships.”

“Understood. Any idea how much of the arthropod populace supports these rebels?”

She laughed. But it was not scornful. “If a third of that space academy class really did defect to the rebels, that may mean a third of these arthropods are rebels. On this world of TiktikPok and on that colony on a moon that orbits planet four.”

Well, he could hope that was the case. “Denise, do we know what these praying mantis arthropods call themselves?”

“Yes. Their species name is Bizzdaw,” she said. “They appear to be dryland arthropods that evolved in dense forests, then spread out to the savannahs, deserts and mountains of the world we now see on the screen.”

“Maureen, what is your analysis of this three-cornered fight between two groups of Bizzdaw and the Booleans?”

The darkly tanned woman looked up from her Fire Control panel in the Battle Module. She frowned. “I read the two thermonuke blasts at planet four, or GikgikHok, as a rebel ship firing on an Imperator ship. Or vice versa. The single thermonuke blast above the gas giant Tootag, at the sixth orbital, could be an attack on a Boolean ship. There are two fusion ships near that world. One or both of them could be rebel ships.”

Jack nodded. “So how do we know which fusion ships are rebels and which are loyal to this Imperator boss?”

She fixed gray eyes on him. “Go to the moon that orbits planet four. Kill the four Boolean ships orbiting that world. Then call down to the moon and ask to talk to the rebels.” She grinned. “Maybe offer them a steak and a bottle of your Johnny Walker Black Label as a bribe.”

Jack gave his veteran a Belter finger-talk gesture that he was sure she had seen often. “Well, that’s one option. I like it.” He looked up at the images of his allies. “Admiral Hideyoshi, think we can FTL jump to that fourth world and englobe the Boolean ships fast enough to kill them?”

“Yes. If we use our Higgs Disruptor beams.” The man’s formal manner was there, but with a professional overlay.

Jack winced at the thought of losing four grav-pull drives. Then he recalled something Archibald had told him while they were at the orbital station of the Melagun people, just above their world of Home. “Good idea, my admiral. We have 18 grav-pulls already salvaged from the battles in the systems of the Niktoren and ChikHo. Plus Archibald has figured out how to create a globe of Thorne Exotic Matter so we can build our own grav-pulls. So. We play it safe. We vaporize every damn Boolean ship with our Higgs Disruptors!”

Relief showed on the faces of most captains, including Hideyoshi. While one reason for liberating ‘subject people’ star systems had been the chance to salvage grav-pull drives from Hunter ships they killed, that rationale had been superseded by Archibald’s research effort with that Melagun scientist. He sighed. Perhaps they should have just vaporized the Gyklang ships in the ChikHo system. That would have left alive Aashman’s Sikh crewman and avoided the kidney puncture to Matthias along with the leg injury of Ignacio. From which his brother still limped, albeit with his wild abandon still intact. A choice he perhaps should have made. Well, his allies had not said a word of this to Jack. They were loyal, brave and willing to risk death for the freedom of humanity and the liberty of Alien peoples who chose to join their Freedom Alliance. Time for him to re-earn that loyalty.

“Max, send a laser time-lock to the Alcubierre drive of every fleet ship. I want us to jump in system, to where those four Boolean ships are clustered. Looks like they are on the side of the gas world that is opposite the rebel moon.”

His buddy grinned, gave Jack a thumbs-up sign and tapped hurriedly on his Alcubierre drive pedestal that stood between his seat and Denise. “Drive link-up locked in. Ready to activate the Alcubierre space-time manifold.”

Jack caught the attention of six vital people. “Captain Vigdis of the
Hawk
, Captain Heloise of the
Ferocious
, Captain Gareth of the
Dragon
, Captain Forsyth of the
Zhukov
, Captain Amitar of the
MacArthur
and Admiral Hideyoshi of the
Bismarck
, you hold the fate of this final invasion in your hands. Fire your Higgs beams at full strength with a hundred kilometer footprint at the far end of your beam.”

“
D’accord
,” said Heloise, her manner French formal.

“Happy to do so,” Forsyth said, a grin on his Aussie face.

“Committed we are,” said Vigdis, her blond hair pulled into a ponytail.

“Ready to fire,” Amitar said, her manner as professional as Hideyoshi’s. Which made sense. Like him she was a graduate of the South Pole Naval Academy, someone with years at the helm of her destroyer.

Gareth grinned, his black beard spreading widely. “Delighted to kill those seal bastards!”

“As you command, my fleet captain,” said Hideyoshi, whose face showed resolute firmness under his helmet.

“Thank you. All ships, we leave now!”

The front screen went blurry, then jagged, then lost all imagery as Max moved the
Uhuru
into the Alcubierre space-time bubble that became a manifold within the larger space-time of their universe. They sped in-system at four light years per day. Which meant they would arrive above planet four in just minutes.

“Thank you, my brother,” Elaine said softly.

A hand touched his shoulder. “You lead. We support,” Nikola said, her tone upbeat.

Jack blinked fast. His heart beat rapidly. His neck felt wet. And his mouth was too dry. He grabbed the water bottle and put it against the intake tube of his helmet ring. He sucked hard. Icy cold water filled his mouth. Swallowing, he swore to himself that Nikola would become the Mom she had long hoped to be. A top astronomer and Dark Matter researcher she was. But she was also a woman who wanted a family. With him.

Silently he gave thanks to the Odd Gods of the universe for his lifemate, his sisters, his parents, his crew and his ship allies. Whatever happened from here on out, he knew he had become the man his grandpa Ephraim had raised him to be.

♦   ♦   ♦

A gas giant half the size of Saturn filled the front screen. Yellow, orange and red bands crossed its massive face. Between it and his fleet lay four Boolean ships. Each ship was a golden yellow globe. Laser mounts showed in an equatorial ring. Jack noticed a particle beam emitter at the globe’s north pole. It looked fixed in place. Between the north pole and the equator was painted the image of a white-fanged seal with two eyes. It matched the AV image of the beater Alien. And the corpse recovered from a wrecked ship in an earlier system. Distance to the four Boolean ships was nine thousand kilometers, according to Elaine’s Sensor display at one side of the screen.