Frontiers Saga 12: Rise of the Alliance (17 page)

“I already did that as well. It’s just news and stuff. You know, they actually had some interesting stuff on there the last time we coasted through here. Not any more, though. Now the only thing people are talking about is how the Jung got their asses handed to them by a couple of unknown ships.”

“Nothing about the two Jung ships that are still there?” Loki wondered.

“Nope.”

“Kind of odd, don’t you think?”

“Well, I mean, there’s some talk about them. People are wondering what they’re doing, why there hasn’t been a single shuttle going between the Jung ships and Kent. Some people think the Jung are getting ready to leave, while others think they’re just taking care of the damaged battleship, and they’ll start sending shuttles back down to Kent sometime soon.”

“They still got forces on the surface of Kent though, don’t they?”

“Yeah, but nowhere near as many as before. Apparently, the Jung used to censor the media broadcasts pretty tightly. Now they aren’t censoring anything. That’s why a lot of people think the Jung are getting ready to pull out.”

“Then they should be happy,” Loki observed.

“You’d think, but they aren’t,” Josh explained. “I mean, they are. Most of them, anyway. But a lot of them are scared. They talk about how the Jung don’t leave worlds behind. When they finish with them, they destroy them.”

“How do they know this?”

“I don’t know. They argue about that as well. They accuse the people predicting that the Jung will destroy them all before they leave of spreading fear for their own purposes.”

“I don’t know,” Loki said, “it sounds pretty interesting to me.”

“It was, for about the first two hours. Now it’s all the same arguments, over and over.”

“You can always watch the sensor displays,” Loki suggested. “There’s an endless stream of shuttles going back and forth between the battle platform and the battleship.”

“Yeah, I saw that. Not too surprising, either. My guess is that they’re trying to repair her… Get her under way again.”

“Not a chance,” Loki disagreed. “Her main propulsion is shot. She has damage all over her hull, including several breaches, and at least seventy percent of her emitters are down. She’s not going anywhere. If anything, they’re stripping her so that they don’t leave anything of use behind.”

“How long have they been doing that?” Josh wondered.

“According to the logs from Falcons Two and Three, more than thirty hours now,” Loki explained.

“Well, it is a big ship,” Josh decided. “There’s got to be a lot of useful stuff on board, right?”

“Sure, but some of those cargo shuttles are pretty big, maybe three times the size of our cargo shuttles.”

“Like I said, a lot of stuff.” Josh stretched slightly, then shifted in his seat. “Maybe I’ll take a nap. You’re wide awake, right? You’ve got all that fascinating sensor data to keep your eyes open, right?”

“Uh…”

“I’ll set my suit alarm for four hours, then you can take a nap.”

“Josh…”

“Come on, Loki. It’s not like I’m going anywhere. You can buzz me if you need me. You like that, buzzing me.”

“Josh, the platform is moving.”

“What?”

“It’s moving. It’s moving away from Kent and Rigel.”

“Where’s it going?” Josh wondered, sitting up straight and looking at his own sensor displays. “Sol?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think so. The trajectory is wrong. I mean, it’s close, but it’s wrong.”

“Maybe they’re going to turn before they go to FTL.”

“A ship that size doesn’t turn unless it has to, Josh, and it doesn’t have to. It would just start its departure burn at the right moment to put it on the course it wanted. It takes a ton of energy to…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember. Energy, momentum, blah, blah, blah. Should we jump back and tell the Aurora?”

“We can’t leave until she goes to FTL,” Loki reminded him, “otherwise we’ll have no idea what direction she’s headed.”

“That could take hours.” Josh continued looking at the sensor displays. “There’s still shuttles going back and forth, though.”

“There are some coming up from the surface as well,” Loki added, “but they’re not going to the battleship. They’re headed for the platform.”

“But she’s leaving.”

“Those shuttles will still be able to reach her for a while. Probably right up until she goes into FTL.”

“But they’re not headed for Sol, right?” Josh asked.

“No, at least not directly.”

“What do you mean, not directly?”

“They’re headed in that general direction, but not actually toward Sol. More like halfway between Eta Cassiopeiae and Mu Cassiopeiae.”

“Eta Cassiopeiae is sixteen light years away, Loki. Why the hell would they be going there?”

“How am I supposed to know? It doesn’t matter anyway. Either way, we have to sit here and track that thing until they go to FTL.
Then
we jump back to Sol and report in.”

* * *

“Lieutenant,” Jessica greeted as she strolled up to the group of Ghatazhak assembled in the Aurora’s main hangar deck.

Lieutenant Telles looked the lieutenant commander up and down, taking note of the fact that she was dr
essed in her standard combat gear, and was armed. “Going somewhere, sir?”

“With you,” Jessica answered. “Thought I could use some fresh sea air, maybe a walk on the beach.”

“In full combat gear?”

“Yeah, well, a bikini didn’t seem appropriate, what with half the planet being in ruins and all.”

“I am assuming that Captain Scott knows that you are coming along,” the lieutenant said.

“His idea, actually,” she told him as she checked her weapons. “I guess he’s afraid you and your boys will scare the locals. Friendly face, and all that.”

“And he chose you?”

“Hey, I can do friendly,” she exclaimed as she brushed past the lieutenant to board the waiting shuttle.

“This should be interesting,” Master Sergeant Jahal stated as he followed the lieutenant commander past Telles and headed up the ramp as well.

“Indeed.”

Ten minutes later, the shuttle was descending through the clouds over the Atlantic, making its way down to its destination from orbit.

“Why the Azores?” Jessica asked.

“Location, climate, size, defensibility,” the lieutenant answered. “Most of the chaos is in the Americas, southern Europe, and Africa. Once we get more combat jumpers, we should be able to respond to those areas with ease from that location.”

Jessica looked out the porthole as the shuttle broke through the clouds, revealing the small island below. “Why Porto Santo Island?”

“Big enough to support our operations without crowding out the locals, yet not too big to defend. It also has several smaller barren islands around it on which we can place automated long-range defenses.”

“Against what?” Jessica wondered. “Orbital bombardment? Seriously?”

“It is not attack by the Jung that we are concerned about.”

“Our own people?”

“The Ghatazhak will be enforcing martial law across your world. There will be many who will oppose the idea, and many of
them
will be armed.”

“The whole thing seems like a bad idea, doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps,” the lieutenant agreed, “but a necessary one.”

“
Lieutenant,
” the copilot’s voice called over Lieutenant Telles’s helmet comms. “
We’re two minutes from touchdown. We’ll be putting down in the city center, just as you asked.
”

“Understood,” the lieutenant answered. “Once we disembark, lift off and hold position at a safe distance until we secure the area.”

“
Yes, sir.
”

“Trying to attract a crowd?” Jessica wondered.

“A bit direct, I grant you,” Telles admitted, “but the leaders of the community and local law enforcement will be less likely to engage out of fear than those on the outskirts of the city.”

“What outskirts,” Jessica wondered as she gazed out the window at the tiny coastal city below. “I’ve seen college campuses bigger than that.”

“
One minute.
”

The city center was quiet, with only a few people on the streets when the shuttle came swooping in from offshore. Its engines screaming, it came to hover directly over the intersection of the small city’s two main streets, right in front of the local city services complex. Those few people that were in the area immediately took shelter, ducking into the few local businesses that were still open, as well as the city services building itself.

Two policemen, each carrying a shotgun and sidearm, came running out of the main building as the shuttle touched down and dropped its rear loading ramp. Eight Ghatazhak soldiers, four on each side, came running down the ramp. They spread out to either side, taking up positions surrounding the shuttle as Lieutenant Telles, Master Sergeant Jahal, and Lieutenant Commander Nash came down the ramp after them. The two policemen ducked back inside, after quickly lowering their shotguns to more non-threatening positions.

The shuttle’s engines roared again as it lifted off and climbed out to safety. Lieutenant Telles led the way toward the city services building, with Jessica and the master sergeant in tow. A slight gesture by the lieutenant, and two of the Ghatazhak closest to the building ran up the steps and slipped inside the front doors.

The lieutenant heard no gunfire from the building as he approached, only the shouts of his own men inside. “
Clear inside
,” the call came over the lieutenant’s helmet comms.

Lieutenant Telles stepped confidently into the building as two more Ghatazhak came in from behind. He looked about at the faces of the locals inside. The two policemen, a clerk, and three older men. Two of the older men were wearing uniforms, although they were not the same. “We require the use of your island,” he stated with authority.

“Jesus,” Jessica mumbled as she entered from behind the lieutenant. “Is that how you ask nicely?”

Lieutenant Telles looked at Jessica. “The Ghatazhak do not ‘ask nicely’.”

“Apparently,” she said as she continued past him. “Who is in charge here?” she asked the three older gentlemen.

“He is,” one of the policemen said, pointing to the only senior gentleman that wasn’t wearing a uniform.

“Relax,” Jessica whispered to the officer as she passed, noticing the frightened look in his eyes. “They’re not going to hurt you.”

“As long as you don’t touch your weapons,” Master Sergeant Jahal added for both officers’ benefit.

Jessica removed her helmet, smiling as she walked up to the three senior men standing in the middle of the office. “You guys must be the ones in charge,” she said, looking them over.

One of the locals in the room said something to Jessica in an unfamiliar language.

“He does not speak Angla,” Lieutenant Telles stated.

“No kidding,” Jessica answered. “It’s not Spanish, I know that.”

“I believe the primary language here is Portuguese,” the lieutenant stated.

“Someone around here has got to speak English,” Jessica said.

“I speak English,” the man in civilian clothing said, his voice broken and unsure.

“Great,” Jessica exclaimed. She looked at Telles. “See, this guy speaks English.” She turned back to the gentlemen. “Are you the mayor?”

“Yes, I am. I am Eduardo Borges. I am the Mayor of Porto Santo.”

“Nice to meet you, Mayor Borges,” Jessica said in as sincere a fashion as possible. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Nash, chief of security for the UES Aurora. Have you heard of the Aurora?”

“Yes, yes,” the mayor assured her. “Who among us has not?”

“Great. This is Lieutenant Telles of the Ghatazhak,” she added, gesturing toward the lieutenant. “You’ve probably heard of the Ghatazhak as well, I imagine.”

“Yes,” the mayor replied, his expression becoming far less enthusiastic.

“Don’t worry,” she told the mayor, “they’re not as bad as everyone thinks. They’re actually pretty good guys.” Jessica turned toward Telles again. “Right, Lieutenant?” She made a face at him to go along. “Smile,” she told him under her breath.

A pained look came across the lieutenant’s face.

Jessica was slightly taken aback. “Seriously? That’s the best you can do?” She turned back to the mayor again. “You’re just going to have to trust me on that one.”

“What did he mean when he said he required use of our island?” the mayor asked.

“Well,” Jessica began, “what he means is that we would like to make a base of operations for the Ghatazhak on your little island here, and we were sort of hoping that you would be, you know, supportive of the idea?”

“Here? Why here?” the mayor wondered.

“Location, size, layout, nice sandy beaches, good weather, you know, the usual stuff,” Jessica answered.

The mayor leaned closer to Jessica, as if he did not want the others to hear his words. “But, they are killers.”

“Yeah, technically,” Jessica admitted, trying to play it off, “but they’re
our
killers. They work for us.”

“But they killed all those people,” the mayor reminded her. “I saw this on the net. It is true, yes?”

“Well, yes, but they were acting under orders…”

“Who would give such and order?”

“That’s not important right now,” Jessica told him, trying to change the subject. “What’s important is that they would like to use your island for their base.”

The mayor looked at the Ghatazhak again. They were dressed in their standard, flat black combat armor, most of them with their visors down. “Do we have a choice?”

Jessica’s head bobbed back and forth, not really indicating a clear yes or no. “Yes and no,” she said sheepishly. “Yes, as in you can agree to cooperate, but no, as in, if you refuse we’ll just round you all up and move you somewhere else, and still take your island.”

The mayor looked at Jessica. “This hardly seems like a choice.”

Jessica’s head hung down. “Can we talk alone for a moment?” she asked, leading him away from the others. They moved to the far edge of the room, out of earshot of the rest of the people in the office. “Look, Mayor Borges, I know it seems unfair and all. I get that. But you’ve got to understand that things are pretty bad right now. The Earth is messed up. We’re out there,” she continued, pointing upward, “in space, fighting the Jung, day in and day out. We can’t do that without help. Help from the Earth. We need the Earth’s support. Her infrastructure, her industrial assets, we need all of that stuff, if we are going to continue fighting.”