Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection (161 page)

“I don’t…it doesn’t matter. We can’t do anything about it.”

“But we can. For starters, we can get a message out alerting others Krysk is the next target, so at least they’ll have a chance to prepare or evacuate.”

“We’re under a blackout. How are we going to get a message out?”

She brandished a smile equal parts warm and calculating. “I don’t know, Comm Specialist. How are we?”

Kone set up watch outside the door to the comm hardware room while she followed Vinsk in. He gave the equipment a once-over before activating the access panel below the Evanec hub and entering several commands.

“The thing about the blackout is, it’s self-imposed. There’s no technical impediment to communications beyond the blocking field itself. I’m betting I can tunnel a direct message through and hide it in interference noise. As long as no data is attached to it, it should be so small a blip the Comm Officer on the bridge won’t notice it. Hopefully.”

He finished typing and looked back at her. “All right, give me the address and message. I’ll slip it out as soon as I can.”

“When’s that?”

“That’s as soon as I can. Anywhere from five minutes to five hours.”

She leaned in close until her face was centimeters from his and dropped her voice to a low growl. “Let’s aim for the sooner end of the scale, why don’t we?”

He nodded quickly, and she rewarded him with a smile, one a touch warmer than before. “Terrific. Here’s the message. Thank you, Vinsk.”

Colonel Jenner,

General O’Connell’s next target is Krysk, after aborting planned Elathan attack due to alien presence. Anticipated arrival 22-28 hours. Intervention requested if feasible.

Brooklyn crept into the armament room. Kone followed less than a meter behind her. Their personal cloaking shields were set to maximum strength, but in the close quarters they offered minimal protection. Shift change was in progress, though, so hopefully the low-grade chaos accompanying it would provide an extra measure of cover.

As soon as the door slid shut she crouched beside the first device. Not wanting to risk any unnecessary sound, she pulsed him.

Work fast—but don’t blow us up.

Yes, because otherwise I was absolutely going to blow us up.

Fine, she was being bossy; she didn’t care. Kone was a good Marine and possibly a good person, but he was a follower, not a leader. Like everyone who graduated from Marine Recon, he knew how to disarm most explosives; in fact he’d probably practiced on warheads similar to those the devices contained. So with her to lead him, he should be good.

It all came down to one simple fact: she was not going to let O’Connell poison another planetary atmosphere. She may—or may not—be able to stop him from slaughtering another civilian population, but she definitely could stop him from committing what she viewed as an insidious, dirty tactic beneath modern civilized practices. Once this was accomplished she would worry about stopping him in a more permanent manner.

The trick here wasn’t so much disarming all the warheads as it was obscuring their tracks afterward so no one was the wiser. Until the nuke-enhanced mines were deployed anyway. When triggered they would generate but a tiny little conventional explosion, and everyone would be the wiser.

And when that happened, O’Connell was going to be
so
pissed.

32

EARTH

EASC
H
EADQUARTERS

M
IRIAM STEELED HERSELF
before entering the War Room with Alexis at her side. She didn’t know if Alexis was ready for this. It had been a supremely difficult day, and here she was throwing her daughter straight to the wolves.

But they were out of time. Also, Alexis insisted, an act which was exceptionally difficult to refuse.

As the holos materialized she leaned in and murmured quietly. “This is Field Marshal Gianno, and here is Federation Chairman Vranas—”

“I know who they are.”

Alexis gave her a quick, cryptic look, and she willed herself not to be unnerved. “My mistake.”

The meeting of the informally-named Metigen War Council began without anyone calling it to order, given no one was sufficiently in charge to do so. She gestured to her left. “I’m pleased to introduce my daughter, Alexis Solovy. Her recent engagements with and insights into the Metigens are already known to you all.”

“And the Artificial?”

Vranas’ tone wasn’t challenging exactly, but it was forceful. Her chin dipped in confirmation. “Yes. The experimental procedure underlying Project Noetica was a success. As such, the Druyan Institute Artificial known as ‘Valkyrie’ is also present, in a sense.”

“What about the others?”

“Mr. Reynolds is undergoing the procedure as we speak. If it goes well, Commander Lekkas will do so shortly. The participation of Ms. Requelme has yet to be decided.”

Prime Minister Brennon bestowed a politician’s smile upon Alexis. “If I may ask, Ms. Solovy, how do you feel?”

Alexis huffed a laugh. “Busy, sir.”

That garnered several chuckles, and the tension eased somewhat. Miriam stepped in before it faded to awkward silence. “We’re not here solely to report on the initial success of this new initiative. Based on their joint analysis of the data regarding the Metigens’ recent behavior and other factors, Alexis and Valkyrie feel the aliens are bypassing the next colonies in line and preparing to make a concerted move on Seneca and Romane next.”

“Next?” Gianno appeared skeptical. “They’re attacking Elathan and Scythia in considerable strength, but we are giving them quite the fight at both locations and expect to hold them there for some time. We should see smaller contingents arriving at Aesti, Pillei, Minskei and Kangxi any minute now, and a larger force at Radavi soon to follow.”

Alexis shook her head. “No, ma’am—pardon me, Marshal.”

Gianno’s jaw twitched. She would have no way to know Alexis was actually being far more respectful than usual. “No?”

“Yes, of course they are attacking Elathan and Scythia. But they’re stalling you as much as you’re stalling them. Ships are not going to arrive at Aesti or any of those other colonies.”

“Ms. Solovy, the Metigens have been nothing if not methodical. All our intel and analysis of their patterns indicate they will do precisely that.”

“I understand your point, but I’m telling you they won’t. See—” Alexis glanced over at her in exasperation “—can you get me an access point to the table?”

She nodded and entered a code in the control panel. This was normally where Alexis would launch into a disgusted tirade, but she seemed to be keeping the urge under control, for now. Or was it Valkyrie keeping it under control for her?

Alexis touched a fingertip to the panel and instantly a high-detail map of their sector of the galaxy sprung to life, complete with historical migration of the Metigens, Alliance and Federation force locations and conflict points. Though similar in most respects, it was not the map they had been using in the War Room.

“The Metigens abandoned Sagan 23.4 hours ago. Based on previously extrapolated speeds they should’ve arrived at Minskei a maximum of 9.1 hours ago, but they have not. Metigen ships began departing Xanadu before their defeat was assured, leaving behind already damaged ships to take the hits. Why aren’t they at Aesti yet? They should have reached it yesterday.”

Her hands sped across the map, spinning it to add new markers and zoom in on various locations. “Their force at Scythia isn’t as large as it should be—in the wake of our recent victories they should have sent more ships to a colony of Scythia’s patent strategic importance. Right now we can only account for the whereabouts of sixty-eight superdreadnoughts, while we know with certainty they can deploy a minimum of 102 and have every reason to believe they have more than double this number at their disposal.”

The pause was not long enough for anyone to interject. “All the ships formerly in the southeast—the ones at Sagan and Xanadu and the ones we assumed were heading for those little colonies or preparing to mass on New Cornwall—are moving north toward Romane. Expect the ships at Scythia to pull off and join them once they arrive if not sooner.

“All the ships in the northeast not at Elathan are waiting, somewhere. As soon as the ships from the south reach Romane, they will strike Seneca. It will be a massive and coordinated attack on the two largest centers of human civilization, save one. And when they win at Seneca and Romane, they will come for Earth.”

Miriam stared at the map. Everyone stared at the map as a ponderous silence descended over the room.

Gianno finally broke the silence. “I admit the large number of superdreadnoughts unaccounted for is troubling.”

Miriam notched her shoulders higher; Alexis was her daughter, but this was her dominion. “Alexis—Valkyrie, to whomever I’m speaking—up to this point the aliens have meticulously eliminated every colony as they came to it, no matter how small. Their progression has been a comprehensive sweep diagonally across settled space, and nothing behind that line is left untouched. This behavior has been consistent across thirty-five colonies. Why would they modify it now?”

Alexis regarded her with a…twinkle in her eye? It was difficult to be sure what with the eerie luminescence, but it resembled a twinkle. Was Alexis saying it was
okay
Miriam had challenged her publicly? She had no idea what to make of it.

“Because it is what their programming instructs them to do. We were to be subdued—cowered to the point we were no longer a threat—if it was possible to do so, and this directive is what informed their strategy until very recently. Ask yourself: is anything so frightening as watching that imposing line advance inexorably closer like some unstoppable force?

“If subduing us proved impossible, however, we were to be exterminated. Only now that we’ve cut off their resupply lines, the options for carrying out an extermination are limited. We’ve proven we can and will fight back, and damn hard. Given their and our dwindling resources, they need to take us out where we are strongest while they are strongest.

“If Seneca falls, if Romane falls, if
Earth
falls, they’ll be able to clean up the remaining worlds at their leisure without opposition. It is the only logical choice for a logical foe who finds its opponent unexpectedly resilient.”

Brennon’s pulse caught Miriam by surprise, though her expression gave nothing away.

She’s correct.

Yes, I believe she is.

Vranas dragged a hand down his mouth. “All right. How many superdreadnoughts are we talking about? How many can we anticipate seeing at Seneca and Romane together?”

Gianno answered him. “Maximum? 180-200.”

Alexis shook her head again. “245-263, and possibly as many as 304. The ships we can account for are hardly more than were here when the aliens began their offensive. At least eighty new superdreadnoughts traversed the portal before we shut down the factory, but depending on when they started sending reinforcements, there could be up to a hundred ships you haven’t yet seen.”

This time she reached out to Brennon.

Sir, even if we send the entire NE Command to assist, that is too many for our forces in the field—combined—to fight.

And what of our forces not in the field?

“Bloody Hell. If they were spread out perhaps we’d stand a chance, but concentrated in those numbers….”

The western fleets have arrived at their designated locations to form a barricade on the eastern border of the Central Quadrant. As we discussed, their mission is to protect the First Wave worlds.

Miriam contemplated her daughter, risking everything these last two months and now transformed in ways none of them could fully comprehend, when she had never wanted to fight. Miriam thought of David, sacrificing his life so 4,817 others might live, while knowing full well the cost.