Star Watch (6 page)

“Why have I been left here?”

“What do you mean? This is the land you personally selected for your people. From what I’ve heard they are happy here.”

“They are happy. I am not. I thought you understood that I was to return to my own home within HAB 17?”

“You don’t want to stay here … among your own kind … to lead your people?”

Traveler gazed in the direction of his tribe. “I relinquished my role as leader one week after arriving here. In the anticipation that you would come for me … take me back to my home on HAB 17.”

“I’m sorry, Traveler. I didn’t realize that’s what you wanted. You know that
The Lilly
’s been destroyed?”

Traveler’s shoulders visibly slumped.

“But hey … that’s okay … Habitat 17 still exists; we can access it from the
Minian
. On the
Minian
it’s called HAB 170.”

Jason recognized Traveler’s happiness with that news. “Listen, I will gladly relocate you to the habitat … but I’m here to ask if you will still … um—”

“Yes, Captain Reynolds, I will fight at your side. Together, warriors again!”

Chapter 7

Sol System

The
Perilous
, Planet Earth, Paegam region in Ryanggang province, North Korea
_________________

As it turned out, Traveler wasn’t the only one leaving. Two hundred and fifty or so other rhinos also wished to return to HAB 17. Traveler wanted to leave right then, with Jason; the others would be picked up, via numerous shuttles, sometime later in the day.

Jason had one more, the most important, stop to make. Grimes entered the restricted airspace above Washington, D.C., and got clearance to land on the White House’s east lawn. To say Washington was hit hard by the infestation would be a profound understatement. Millions of people along the Eastern Seaboard had succumbed to the molt weevils. The large, multi-legged creatures moved like lightning and had their victims in their clutches within seconds of any encounter. After that, it was mere minutes before a man, woman, or child was enshrouded in a cocoon of web-like material. Within a matter of days, Washington, D.C. was reduced to a ghost town. Even now, most streets and sidewalks were deserted of traffic. Government offices, for the most part, were still unoccupied. Earlier inhabitants of the White House, Capitol Building, and other federal buildings, had all been taken. With that in mind, it wasn’t far-fetched that Nan, Jason’s ex-wife, had risen from her entry-level cabinet position, secretary of inter-stellar relations, to become the acting president of the United States. The public, as it turned out, loved her … wanted no one else to lead the country, or even the world, out of its most desperate situation.

“Hang loose, I need an hour,” Jason said, getting to his feet.

“We’re fine … go … spend time with your family,” Grimes said.

Jason was met at the bottom of the gangway by an armed contingent of five U.S. Marines. In the distance, no less than fifty heavily armed Marines surrounded the outer perimeter of the presidential property. Jason fell in stride with the small escort team and was ushered toward the nearby white residence.

Left by the Marines at the rear entrance, he entered the White House through a back doorway. The very first sound he heard was that of a baby crying. Jason smiled.
Kid’s got some lungs on him
.

Compared to the nation’s capital in general, the White House was bustling. Jason had visited six times over the past few months, since the birth of his son, and it was good to see so many people back in the business of running the country.

Jason found his way to the West Wing and the Oval Office. He walked over to the large redwood desk and looked about the empty room. A middle-aged woman peeked her head in from around the corner. “Good morning, Captain Reynolds … She’s upstairs … nursing.”

“Thank you, Ms. Pollard.”

Jason followed the slender woman down several hallways until he found the stairway leading to the family residences above. Gone now were the sounds of a baby crying … replaced, instead, with the voices of two young girls arguing about something. Nan, seated in an armchair, his son in her arms, was adjusting the top of her blouse, tugging it back into place.

“He won’t eat. Maybe he knew you were coming.” She stood and handed him the light-blue bundle. A small pinkish head peeked out one end of the blanket. Small eyes widened when they locked on to Jason and the infant made soft, happy cooing sounds. Nan leaned in and kissed the top of young Michael’s head, then kissed Jason’s cheek. “It’s good to see you again … we’ve missed you. You doing okay? Heard you’re heading back into space.”

“Yes and yes. Doing fine and yes, decided it was time to get back into the mix of things. Seems my father’s found something for me to do. Some kind of space marshal position.”

“I heard,” she said with a smile. “Wyatt Earp of the final frontier …”

“How are the kids?”

“Go see for yourself; they both were excited when they heard you were coming by today.”

“In a moment,” he said, unable to take his eyes off his son. He was beautiful. Amazing. Jason wondered what the future held for the little guy. Would he follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, venturing out into the far reaches of space? Or, perhaps, follow his mother’s path and become a future world leader?

“Dad!”

It was Mollie, running into the presidential master suite. She wore a yellow dress and had her long hair parted neatly down the middle. Jason quickly handed Michael off to Nan and prepared for the incoming hug. Mollie, her arms wrapping around him, asked, “Where have you been? Why do you always stay away so long?”

“I was just here last week, kiddo. Before that, you spent two weeks with me in California … aren’t you sick of me yet?”

“No! I want you to come live with us … here in the White House.”

“Yeah … that’s going to happen,” Nan said sarcastically.

Just then Jason noticed Boomer standing in the doorway. She was dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt—her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Jason and Nan exchanged a quick glance.

“She hates it here. She’s also mad at you for making her live here,” Nan said.

“She’s also mean to the help … she plays tricks on people. She’s not very nice, Dad,” Mollie added, making a scowly face in the direction of Boomer.

Jason continued to stare at his obviously unhappy little girl. He knew it when he first sent her away to stay here with her mother. Mollie and Boomer shared the same DNA and were actually the very same person. But, over the past year, since a bizarre time realm mishap that resulted in there being two identical Mollies, their individual personality traits produced two entirely different young girls. While Mollie was much like her mother, Boomer (who’d renamed herself) was … well … hard to describe. It was as though she was meant to travel in space. Even at ten, she was an adrenalin junkie … not so unlike her father. She didn’t particularly get along well with kids her own age, and was fascinated by martial arts. Taken under the wing of close-combat instructors aboard
The Lilly
, she’d become scarily competent throwing knives, among other things.

“Are you going to just stand there making mean faces at me, or can I get a hug?”

Boomer squinted her eyes at him, attempting to make as hateful a glare as possible.

“Knock it off, Boomer,” Nan said, irritated. “You were just saying this morning how much you missed your father.”

With that Boomer spun on her heels and left the doorway. Nan rolled her eyes. “Kids … everything has to be so dramatic.”

“I’ll talk to her.”

“Good … she’s driving us all a little crazy.”

Jason found Boomer in her bedroom. It was a fairly stark room, compared to Mollie’s. There was no sense of permanence. She’d never really settled in. Boomer sat on her bed and pretended to read a book.

Jason sat down next to her. She didn’t look up. “What are you reading there?”

“A book; what does it look like?”

He continued to gaze down at her. He let her smart mouth go … for now. “I wanted to tell you, I’m heading back into space for a while.”

“Good. I hope you stay away a long time. Maybe you and Dira can build a house on another planet and have lots of little kids and—”

“That’s enough of that!”

She continued scowling, her face mean. She continued to pretend to read.

“I’m now captain of the
Minian
… you know?”

That got a reaction. She was doing everything she could to keep a smile from her lips.

“Seems Ricket is excited about bringing new habitats into the Zoo … He mentioned something … I’m trying to remember what he said.”

Boomer’s eyes were now the size of small dinner plates. “What? Tell me what he said!”

“Just something about needing help in the Zoo … it’s really quite large, you know … huge, in fact. I told him I’d help him find an assistant.”

Her arms wrapped around his neck before he’d even finished the words. Her muffled voice rose up, her face buried in his chest. “I’m going with you? I can come with you, Dad?”

He looked down at her upturned, hopeful face. “Of course you can. I’ve already talked to your mom. If you want, you can live with me on the
Minian
.”

She wiped away several tears and became all business. “Okay … I’ll need to bring Dewdrop … That’s not even an option.”

“It’s your droid … that’s not a problem. But understand, you’ll be attending school. You’ll also have—”

“I know, a new nanny … someone like Petty Officer Miller. I miss her, Dad.”

“I know you do. She cared about you and Mollie. We’ll find the perfect person. Now let’s get your things packed up together. It’s time to go.”

Chapter 8

Sol System

The
Minian
, Open Space
–
Nearing Jefferson Station

_________________

Jason reviewed his virtual notebook on the trip back to the
Minian
. The admiral, it seemed, had been busy since he’d left for Earth—he’d already sent out Jason’s marching orders for the following week.

“So, any idea where we’re off to first, Cap?” Orion asked, filling the narrow space between the cockpit and the cabin behind it.

Jason, sitting in the copilot’s chair, shifted to face her. “There are pockets of instability, including planetary infighting, piracy, and even several imminent world invasions. Obviously, the most egregious acts are apt to bring the greatest instability to the Alliance, and they are flagged as high priority and will be our top destinations.”

Orion looked over at Jason’s virtual notepad and he expanded the hovering holographic image so she too could see the report.

Jason continued, “There are two worlds in jeopardy. Trom, typically a peaceful world, with much in the way of natural resources, is being invaded by the Pharloms, who sound more like local thugs or bullies, out to flex their muscles now that the Craing are no longer a threat. The Pharloms have a small fleet of warships and are poised to land on Trom … or have already.”

“And the other one?”

“The other planet in jeopardy is the Dacci Commonwealth. They’re in the path of an approaching fleet of ships from something called the Sahhrain.”

“Oh … I’ve definitely heard of the Sahhrain,” Orion said, her expression serious. “Dark is the word that comes to mind. Their spiritual beliefs require them to live their lives in a solitary way. They don’t have much commerce with outside star systems and they’re said to possess powerful supernatural abilities.”

“Well, it looks like they’ve kept to themselves for the last twenty years. There’s not much we know about them, other than they have a fleet of no less than fifty warships … their home star system is desolate.” He read on, noting that the Sahhrain system had five planets circling a burnt-out sun.

“But why are the Sahhrain interested in the Dacci Commonwealth?” Orion asked.

“Greater access to the far reaches of the universe. Look here,” Jason said, pointing to a familiar spiral symbol. There, within the Dacci Commonwealth’s star system, was a Loop wormhole. Both Jason and Orion knew from past experiences these fixed location wormholes, interspersed throughout the universe, were the Craing’s primary means of far-reaching interstellar travel. One reason they’d maintained such a profound advantage and influence over their enemies for so long.

“If the Sahhrain get access to that wormhole,” Jason said, “they’ll be far more difficult to rein in. We don’t want another Craing Empire-type escalation.”

* * *

Jason eyed Earth’s distant white moon and the shimmering cluster of lights beyond it. As they approached, details of the sprawling space base became more apparent. There were four sprawling military platforms for Allied combined fleets; dozens of moored warships were in maintenance there, for one thing or another. But the real attention-grabber was the newly-constructed
Jefferson Station
. As the recognized seat of the Alliance, all big decision-making policy took place there among the Allied worlds. Grimes slowed the
Perilous
as
Jefferson Station
filled the forward observation window. The station went against all preconceived, conventional, design principles. With that said, it was beautiful and inspiring, yet immense and intimidating at the same time. Jason had visited the station on several occasions and still found it captivating. There was the center hub disk, or saucer, spanning a thirty-mile radius, where the primary station’s populace conducted business and also resided. Encircling the hub, almost twenty miles out, was a thick outer ring, which had its own ten, constantly rotating, encircling, round rings spaced evenly along the structure. Jason thought the smaller, perpendicular rings looked somewhat like little Ferris wheels.

Both the
Minian
and the significantly smaller
Assailant
, now the admiral’s command ship, were parked several miles off in space. In the distance beyond was the bulk of the fleet—including several meganaughts, ten or more dreadnaughts, and hundreds of both heavy and light former Craing cruisers.