Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance (18 page)

The banner headline on the
New York Rag
read, “Aliens Fast Approaching.” The accompanying story was uncharacteristically free from the wild speculations of its rivals. It even sported an accurate picture of the spacecraft that had passed close by the convoy heading out to Jupiter.

Richard was relying more and more on “The Insider” blog as his lead, and it was paying off handsomely. He was feeling a connection with the editors from the early twentieth century when newspapers actually reported the news.

To Richard’s surprise, sales of the
Rag
had quadrupled in the last two weeks. He was having a hard time getting enough copies printed to keep up with demand from the newsstands. He also had new advertisers coming to his office looking to place ads in the paper. If this kept up, he would have to expand his staff and find some additional office space. Whoever thought that the resurgence of the newspaper was possible?

AlvaResh had been very satisfied with progress until the last 100 million years. Life on the planet had seemed to be progressing into ever more complex and aggressive species. The entire Nu team was extremely happy with the aggressiveness of the microbial life. However, the evolution of a species that could take on and defeat the Esss had now become sidetracked. The current dominant species on the planet seemed to have reached a plateau, and there was no sign of real intelligence developing. The large animals were powerful, fast, aggressive, and, unfortunately, stable. They did not need intelligence to survive, and there was little chance they would ever evolve into something that could escape the planet’s surface.

Reports had been received that the Esss had now arrived in the galaxy and were starting their march from the rim to the center. Something had to be done to accelerate progress in finding a species that would have a chance of defeating the Esss once they arrived.

The solution to the problem was obvious but dangerous. Another major extinction event was necessary to topple the dominant species and allow some of the smaller, more agile species a chance to develop.

AlvaResh consulted with several of the local caretakers, and it was decided to send a comet crashing into the planet that would kill off most, if not all of the larger land animals. The key was selecting the right-sized comet to get the result that was needed without completely wiping out all life.

The scout leader directed the team to stream around the large moon on its way to the planet, recording everything they found on the moon. The leader took the path that would allow it to record the area where the local population was most concentrated. Any intelligence gathered here might assist with the larger assignment of mapping the planet.

As the three scouts approached the moon, they were bombarded with low-level laser beams of the type used by the team for point-to-point communications. There did not appear to be any threat to the trio, so the scout leader reminded the others to ignore this as well as the radio frequency communications.

As the leader approached the lunar base, it noted the many types of spacecraft both on the moon’s surface and in orbit. All of these ships were recorded, as was all of the activity around the base. So far, there appeared to be no hostile activity toward any of the scouts.

Upon completion of the maneuver around the moon, the leader gathered all of the recorded data and beamed it back to the base ship still orbiting the large gas giant. Protocol called for updates to be sent after each encounter so that no data would be lost should the scout ships be compromised by the local population.

“Bunting,” the vice admiral said as he accepted the call from Lunar Control. It was from said Lieutenant Commander Bridgeman.

“Sir, we have a change in course for the three approaching ships. It appears they are going to put the moon between themselves and Earth. We estimate they will reach the moon in approximately twenty minutes.”

“Thank you, commander. Have you seen any response to our radio or laser communication attempts?”

“No, sir.”

“Okay, I’ll be right up to monitor this encounter firsthand,” Bunting replied. Then he cut the connection.

Being ignored was not a good sign. The discussions over the past two weeks between the Space Navy, the Council of Eight, and the major powers Earth-side had been heated and contentious. The Navy’s proposal to attempt point-to-point laser communications was opposed by the civilian leaders at first as being potentially threatening. The last thing the governments on Earth wanted was an angry alien wreaking havoc on their countries. When the Navy pointed out how harmless the low-energy light waves were and that they would simply be used to “flash” the alien ships with the reverse pattern of “3-2-1,” the C8 approved the approach over the objections of the French, Germans, and the NAU business leaders.

The Navy’s suggestion to send its one squadron of battleships to intercept the aliens had been firmly denied by the C8. Instead, most of the Navy’s vessels were ordered into Earth orbit as a defensive shield, should it be needed. The politicians considered the lunar base  expendable compared to protecting themselves.

Bunting’s musings were put aside as he entered Lunar Control. “Report,” was all he said as the doors closed behind him.

“Still no response, sir,” Bridgeman replied. “The three ships are beginning to separate as they approach. If I had to guess, sir, I would say they are going pass over the moon on equidistant paths. One of the paths will go directly over the base.”

“Consolidate the real time video feeds from the tugs we put into orbit yesterday. I want that data pushed directly to the governor’s office where Governor Winton and Admiral Holcroft can see what is happening and report that back to Earth. I want to remind everyone here again that we are under orders to take no hostile action. We are in ‘record and forward’ mode only, so let’s do that job to the best of our ability. Give me a time check, commander.”

“Three minutes to overpass. It appears they will be passing at about a thousand kilometers above the lunar surface, which will allow each ship to remain in line of sight with the other ships. Their speed is now down to thirty-two thousand kilometers per hour. Tug number four will get the best view of the vessel that will overpass the base. Tugs twelve and seventeen will get the best views of the other two vessels.”

He turned to his communications officer. “Somers, get those three feeds included in the stream to the governor’s office.”

“Yes sir,” Communications Officer Lieutenant James Somers replied. “We now have eight feeds in the stream. We have reached our max on that line. We continue to record all two-hundred-and-twelve feeds and can change the mix to the governor’s office as required.”

“Let’s have the feeds from the three primary tugs put on the main screen,” Bunting said. “Also, I want to know immediately of any activity detected from any of the three ships as they pass. This could be a reconnaissance run, and I’d like to know what they’re using. Check for any active electromagnetic mapping techniques like radar or laser mapping.”

Everyone in Lunar Control was on edge watching either the main screen or their other monitoring consoles as the ships closed the gap.

“We have active laser mapping on the base, Rear Admiral!” Lieutenant Shirley Bascombe said. “Each camera is showing a consistent bright red flash of light as the vessel passes over its location. I hope nobody was looking directly into that light through a telescope as it passed over. That laser would be strong enough to blind them permanently!”

“Pass a warning through the governor’s office,” Bunting said. “Ask Admiral Holcroft and Governor Winton to get the word out to the fleet and all civilian monitoring facilities right away.”

“Yes sir.” Lieutenant Somers opened a voice channel to the governor’s office.

“They have passed directly overhead, sir,” Bridgeman said. “Other than that laser bath we just received, we have no communications from the visitors. Orders, sir?”

“Get everything we have down to intel for analysis. Keep monitoring their positions and flight directions and characteristics. If they’re going directly to the planet from here, I want estimates of their arrival time sent to the fleet currently in orbit.”

After sending the recordings back to base, the scout leader took time to reflect on the last encounter. It was impressed by the locals’ level of technology. The added communications attempts using low-level point-to-point lasers mirrored their own, including using the near infrared bands. Also, there were many small craft orbiting the moon in a pattern that generated complete coverage of every approach. It still had little concern about the safety of the team though. The locals showed no sign of aggression and were still trying to establish some kind of communication.

After full consideration of all it had learned so far, the leader gave orders establishing overlapping orbits around the planet to map the entire surface. When mapping was complete, the leader would stay in orbit to monitor the other two members of the team. It would also capture one of the many communication satellites orbiting the planet to bring back to the base ship

For the last four weeks, Sted had been working almost two full shifts per day. The demo part had been easy for the shipyard. The reconstruction was another matter. Once the new interior plans were complete, engineering went to work designing specifications for all of the new parts to be fit into the relatively small interior space.

Sted was just emerging from the hatch of the
Mantis
after his second shift of the day and was looking forward to some quiet time with Jessica when Rear Admiral Cunningham approached him.

“Hello, Captain. I would like you to give me a quick tour of the
Mantis
to see how close we are to squeezing everything in that we need. I’m getting some pressure from the Admiralty to get a final set of plans down to Luna so that AMC can begin working with us on the design of the Epsilon escort class.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Sted replied as he dropped back into the
Mantis
, signaling for her to follow him inside.

Once they were situated on the bridge, Sted began his tour. Since he had been involved in every phase of the new installation, he didn’t need any time to organize his thoughts. “As you can see, we have almost completed the bridge refit. I know you wanted to fly this fighter with a crew of two, but your decision to allow a third crewmember has made the bridge design much easier. We were able to retain the main laser console in its original form. We had some trouble adapting the newly-designed missile console into the same operational area, so we had to take it apart and then rebuild it on the spot. I’m sure Lenny has taken his onsite corrections back to engineering to have the plans corrected to match what he had to do to make it fit properly into the space.

“Also, our double hull design has given the crew a few headaches, because they are not used to the restrictions imposed by having to maintain as much independence between the two hulls as possible. Every time the crew wants to run a wiring conduit or bolt down a new piece of equipment, they have to be reminded not to just forge ahead and drill holes wherever they need. We have to make absolutely sure that a breach of the outer hull does not find a weak point on the inner hull. Appropriate reinforcing has to be considered for even the most minor changes.”

Rear Admiral Cunningham nodded. “We have to make thorough notes for the refit of the other four Deltas so that we can get it right the first time and cut down on the total refit time. However, I don’t see how this will impact the Epsilon design. What are your thoughts?”

“I was thinking very seriously of a different approach for the Epsilons,” Sted admitted. “I think the new plans should take a radically different approach to the double hull design. I think the interior hull should be designed just like a normal exterior hull to allow for standard construction processes. Then the exterior hull could be manufactured and installed after the fact and configured by the Navy depending on the mission of the ship.

“One exterior hull could be manufactured with stealth capabilities. A second exterior hull could be manufactured with multiple offensive and defensive laser clusters for combat. This would also accommodate any future needs by just reconfiguring the outer hull. Once the mission has been decided, we can slap on the correct outer hull configuration prior to launch and then pump the shock-absorbing gel between the hulls. If we design the hull attachments properly, this should allow a hull reconfiguration in about the same time it takes to restock the ship.”

“I really like that approach, Captain,” Cunningham said. “I want to apologize for my earlier skepticism regarding your design capabilities. You obviously spent a great deal of time with the original design back at the AMC factory. Let me get our design team to work on the details. I’ll have them contact you with any questions. How much longer do you estimate it will take to get
Mantis
ready for its first trial run?”

“Three, maybe four days until we are ready to pump in the gel and test inner hull integrity. I would say we need a week after that to get everything in the interior cleaned up and ready for the crew.”

“Okay, Captain, I’ll let you go get some rest while I stay here and do a personal inspection of the ship over the next several hours. I will have a list of questions for you to review tomorrow. Thanks for staying a little longer to accommodate me. I must have a report ready to send in-system by the end of the week.”

“No problem, ma’am,” Sted replied as he headed for the hatch.