Resurrection (The Inherited War) (13 page)

That was for later, for now he had to hold on tight to her and comfort her.  No matter what he had been through she had been through worse.  She had been alone on an enemy alien planet for months.  She had also been trapped in an Esii body.  Cole shivered at the thought.  He started to gently rock her as her tears slowly faded.  When he felt the last of her sobs ebbing away he turned her face toward him.

“Hello, I am Cole and I am so very sorry you are involved in this.  I wish there was something I could do to help you out.”  She looked dead into his eyes and began to talk.  It took Cole’s translation device a moment to find and start translating what she was saying.

“I don’t understand you.  I only speak Russian.”  She started to cry again as she repeated herself.  “I don’t speak English I only speak Russian.”  Cole accessed his translator and changed its parameters so he would speak Russian back.

“There that’s better.  Now let me try again.  Hello, I am Cole and I am so very sorry you are involved in this.  I wish there was something I could do to help you out.”  She looked at him with a stunned expression.

“How, how,” she stammered at his sudden fluency in her native language.

“A little trick I picked up when I was abducted by aliens a while back.  It comes in handy every now and then.  Now, I apologize for my nakedness by the way, what is your name?”

“Anastacia Fedorov, Captain of the Russian team aboard the International Space Station.   Cole, right?”  He nodded yes.  “What is going on, I have been here for a long time and no one has told me anything.  Until today all I had seen were those horrid aliens.  Where are we, why are we here, and when can we leave?”  She looked pleadingly into his eyes.

Cole took a deep breath and sighed.  There was no way around it he was going to have to get to know this woman.  He had to tell her his story and hear hers.  He would come to care for her, not romantically maybe but as a friend if nothing else.  They would use that against him and her.  He started at the beginning.  He told her about his birth and the aliens behind it.  He told her about humanities history in the galaxy and how the Esii betrayed them.  He told her of the plan laid down by their ancestors to return to the galaxy and he told her about his experiences since he had journeyed to the stars.  He told her of the war he fought against their captors and how he was captured by the Esii that had taken over her mind and body.  He told her about Sky.  He told her how he felt about Sky and what she meant to him.

“You are very lucky to have found someone to trust and rely upon.  Does she know you are here?”

“Yes, well I think so.  She saw you take me and leave the ship.  She must know where they took me.  It shouldn’t be too long till the rescue party shows up.  Hell it’s been a month or so already.  It shouldn’t take that long to train new crew members to fly my ships.”  Cole got a thoughtful look on his face.  “In fact they should have been here already.  Something must be slowing them down.  But, don’t worry, I have faith in them.  They will be here.”  He stated as a matter of fact.

Silence reigned for a short time.  “So we two are the last?  It seems unreal.  What do we do even if we escape this place?  Other than finish the war.  What do we do after?”

That was the one question Cole had been avoiding since he had seen Earth destroyed.  “Honestly?  I don’t know.”

INTERLUDE

Newly minted Admiral of the Home Fleet Fury was staring at an extremely empty area of space.  He had been staring at this particular spot in the galaxy for the past day.  He had been on the bridge waiting for the better part of the last eight hours, yet still nothing.  The rendezvous was supposed to have happened hours ago
, and the longer he was out here wasting his time the longer Nixa was without its primary means of defense.

He was about to disconnect from the ship and go back to his cabin when his sensor tech spoke up.

“Sir, we have an incoming vessel.”  He paused as he read the sensor data.  “It’s him Sir, I estimate twenty minutes until he is able to dock and board.”

“Thank you sailor.”  Fury turned to his security officer.  “Major, see to it the Administrator receives a proper welcome.”

“Aye aye, Sir.”  The Marine captain saluted then began issuing orders to the docking bay security.  Fury focused his attention back to the main screen and watched as the ship drew nearer then finally docked with the Savior.  Fury disconnected from the ship and prepared himself to meet with the Administrator.  He stood and straightened out his uniform and turned to face the door to the bridge.  From here on out Fury would have to command through a go between.  It irritated him.  The ship’s Ai refused to allow any new personnel to be outfitted with the correct DNA to bond what the ship.  Subsequently, the Administrator was adamant about having Fury’s full attention so Fury was unable to bond with the ship while he was on board.

Needless to say, Fire was unhappy about the ship not cooperating in this one aspect.  He had yelled at Fury and the ship for some time when he had found out not only wouldn’t he receive the gene therapy that would allow him to bond, but that he would also be denied the nano tech that rest of the Nixa crew received.   Fury stood up a little straighter as the door slid open and the Administrator and his honor guard entered the room.

“Administrator, welcome aboard.”  Fury offered him a salute which he ignored.  He didn’t even ask permission to come aboard.  Civvies, no respect, he thought to himself.

“Yes, yes.  Can we get on with this, I am already running late.”  He shooed Fury out of the way and took his command seat.  Fury grit his teeth and bit his lip.

“Sir, may I ask where we are going?”  He tried to keep his disdain for the powerful Nixa out of his voice.

“What?  Oh yes that’s right.  Take us to where this ship was made.  You said there were many more there, we are going to t
ake them.”  He said matter-of-factly.

“But sir, we can’t make new sailors to crew this ship.  What makes you think the others will be any different?  Regardless of the fact that once they find out we no longer serve in the human’s navy they may just blow us out of the sky.”  Fury was fairly stunned by the Administrators plan.

“I don’t want your opinion and if I did I would give it to you.  You are a part of a military governed by a civilian authority and as such will do as I say.  Same goes for your ship and any other we find.  Now, get us there.”  The Nixa was obviously irritated about something and in no mood to argue.

Fury looked at the crew member he had assigned to liaise with the virtual bridge.  “Tell the ship to set its course for the Home Base.”  Fury ordered.

“Aye, aye sir.”

Fury settled himself into a vacant chair and waited for the jump to warped space.  He didn’t bother to warn the Administrator about the first time effects of faster than light warped travel.  He could find out on his own.  The ship locked its course in and engaged its gravity engines warping space and time.

They dropped out mere moments later but thousands of light years away.  Alarm klaxons were blaring when Fury finally got his bearing restored.  Without thinking he moved to bond with the ship.  The Administrator grabbed his arm and shook his head “no”.

“I want to hear what is going on from you. “  He said.

Fury ground his teeth and looked around the ship.  “Savior, can you bring up as much of the bridge as possible and link the com system up in here?” 

Without responding verbally the ship reacted to the Admirals question.  Holo terminals blossomed to life and started showing Fury what was going on.  Moments later the sound came up and he heard the chatter of stations trying to report to him.

“Quiet please.”  The order cut through the chaos of reports and quieted everyone down.  “Status?”

“Sir we came out where we always did, but this time every defense node in the system locked onto us.  All of our active sensors are being jammed and we only have the smallest picture of what the hell is going on.”  His executive officer reported.

“Cole wasn’t sure what would happen after the final battle, he probably enacted some defense procedures to protect the area in case we lost.  Are we getting any comms from Home Base?”  Fury wasn’t nervous, not yet anyway.

“Yes, we are receiving a signal now.”  The comms section reported.

“Let me have it.”  Fury ordered the Nixa.  He entered the conversation in mid-stream.

“...what do you mean you are no longer part of Cole’s forces?  There is no changing sides.  I don’t care who or what told you to do it and your name is Reckoning not Savior.”  The voice they were hearing was on the verge of shouting in anger.

“I am my own being and I choose my destiny, if you can’t handle that then too bad.  I have heard Fury’s reasons for what he did and I willingly agreed to help.  Now focus your anger elsewhere and prepare to receive the Admiral.”  Fury actually heard a hint of sadness in his ships voice.

“Admiral, huh.  We will see about that.”  At that point one off the holo screens went dark and came back to life with a small image of a man.  Well kind of a man.  He was humanoid shaped but with no features.  He looked straight at the Admiral.

“So, you betray Cole in his time of need, huh?  I bet you came here to steal ships as well?  Well it isn’t going to happen while I’m in control of the defense network pal.  You can just shove off.”  The image on the holo folded his arms and stared straight at Fury. 

Fury moved to speak but the Administrator beat him to it.  “I am Colonial Administrator Fire and I am the civilian authority in command here.  I order you to disarm and allow us entry into your system.  Then you will prepare all remaining ships to be deployed and turn over all data on the making of said ships and systems.  The human led navy is over.  Your former commander is dead and Admiral Fury is in charge.”

The small image and the Administrator looked stares for a moment.  “Ha, ha, ha.”  The small holographic human laughed.  “I have no patience for this, turn and burn, or face the consequences.”

The image disappeared and a countdown clock started.  One minute was on the clock.  Fury sighed and started to issue orders.  “Prepare to return to Nixa space.”

“What?”  The Administrator almost shouted as he went red in the face.  “Leave? Now?  I won’t be driven off by some jumped up computer program.  Start targeting their defensive systems and prepare the ship for combat.”  He leaned in close to Fury.  “Or kiss your career and other things goodbye.”

Fury stared at the Administrator for a few seconds.  He weighed his options and surrendered.  He could tell him that the defensive platforms around Home were numerous and without a doubt able to kill the Savior at any time they wanted.  He knew his warnings would go unheeded.  He never got the chance to issue an order.  As the clock reached zero the Home Base Security AI defended itself, it used the access codes it had on all the currently active ships and shut the whole ship down.  All over the ship lights, artificial gravity and life-support went down.

“Now, I gave you the chance to leave on your own, you no longer have that option.  Also to ensure you don’t come back…” The voice trailed away just before the ship was rocked by a dozen or so explosions.  Crew members were hurled about in the zero gravity of the ship.  “You have just lost almost fifty percent of your combat capabilities and almost ninety percent of you repair capabilities.  Leave now or you will be destroyed.”  The bridge went silent as the ships systems came back online.

Fury didn’t bother to check with damage control.  He knew the AI wasn’t lying.  “Plot us a course home.”  He ordered his navigation section and turned to look at the shaken Administrator.  “I will not be explaining how this ship was damaged to the council.  That will be your job, now if you please.  Remove yourself from the bridge.”  He signaled the security detachment to help the Administrator out of his seat and off the bridge.  Fury connected to the ship and stared sullenly at the readouts.  This was going to take months to fix, hell it would take weeks to for the remaining repair drones to fix the repair section before they even go to work on the rest of the ship.  Fury wondered if the Administrator would be able to talk his way out of this one.

~

Jarrod gave the order.  The five new ships fresh out of the yards powered up.  They were loaded with the last remaining Pures still fighting this war.  He had already released his allies to go and defend their own homes.  The few remaining Kin had gone to help the Worlders who were hard presses to keep the Esii lead Roche forces from destroying both planets. 

As possible as it seemed this long war was about to be over, if everything went to plan, the war, which had started out with the surprise attack that decimated the Pure Human population and infrastructure, had moved from a short term conflict to a year’s long battle.

It would end the way it began.  By surprise and fire.  The five ships Jarrod had constructed at his newly made ship yards were designed for a one way trip.  They would leave this hidden location and go, with all speed, to the Esii system.  They would slowly chew their way through the Esii defense network and plow on to the Esii homeworld.  There they would stage and orbital siege of the planet in an attempt to draw as many Esii forces as possible back to their worlds defense.