Ep.#14 - "The Weak and the Innocent" (The Frontiers Saga) (25 page)

“I apologize that we cannot stay and visit,” Nathan said, rescuing his fumbling chief engineer, “but we must catch a shuttle back to the Aurora as we have an enormous amount of work to do.”

“Yes,” Vladimir agreed readily. “An enormous amount of work.”

“Admiral, Deliza,” Nathan said, pushing Vladimir toward the exit.

“Gentlemen.”

“Bye,” Deliza said.

Admiral Dumar sighed. “He is right, you do look wonderful.”

“Thank you.”

“Where is Mister Hiller? I half expected him to be escorting you arm in arm.”

“Abby sent word ahead, didn’t she?” Deliza pouted.

“Not at all,” Dumar insisted. “Your father noticed your affection for one another months ago.”

“Really?” Deliza said, surprised. “Yanni is checking on the data cores. He does so quite often, actually. We were told that they would have to be loaded onto one of your shuttles. Apparently the Mirai is a bit too large for the landing pad at the Data Ark.”

“Yes, I am aware.”

“He insists on escorting the cores all the way back to the Ark.”

“I can certainly understand his devotion to his task. It is an admirable quality. Would you like me to show you to your quarters?”

“Am I staying here on the Karuzara?” she asked.

“I just assumed so,” the admiral replied. “Of course, you may stay wherever you wish.”

“No, here will be fine, I’m sure. Besides, I was hoping to convince you to let me do a little experiment,” she explained as she took his arm and they headed for the exit.

“What
kind
of experiment?”

“To put it bluntly, I’d like to fix your Falcons,” Deliza told him as they walked across the deck and approached the main exit.

“You wish to work as a flight mechanic?”

“No, I want to
fix
them, as in
improve
them.”

“I wasn’t aware there was anything wrong with them,” the admiral said as they entered the corridor.

“They are wonderful old spacecraft, to be sure, but they were ill-conceived to begin with, on top of which you’re not using them effectively.”

“I thought we
were
using them quite effectively,” Dumar argued.

“Then why have you lost so many of them?” she asked.

“Deliza, this is a war, you know.”

“Half your losses were in the atmosphere, Admiral. That’s because the 402s were never meant for atmospheric combat. They’re too big and they have terrible aerodynamic properties. Quite frankly, they’re just not that maneuverable in the atmosphere.”

“Ensign Hayes seems to have no trouble maneuvering his Falcon in the atmosphere.”

“Only because he is using the brute force of her engines and her lift fans to compensate—at the cost of tremendous amounts of propellant, I might add. You see, Admiral, the 402s were built as deep space interceptors. The only reason they even
have
atmospheric capabilities is because the Paleans couldn’t afford to build spaceships big enough for the 402s to operate from. And the only reason they have lift fans are because Palee is rocky and has very little flat land, and their aerodynamics
are
terrible.”

“Then what is it you propose, Deliza?”

“A major overhaul,” she said, stopping in the middle of the corridor. “Pull out the lift fans and remove her atmospheric drives. She needs neither,
if
you stop using her in the atmosphere and keep her in space where she belongs.”

“And what if the ship from which they operate is unavailable? Where will they land? You know, until recently, we
were
operating them from the airbase at Porto Santo.”

“They would still be able to jump in near the airfield and land, but on conventional runways—preferably long ones, considering the amount of airspeed they need just to keep from falling out of the sky.”

“Something tells me you’ve had this argument with someone before… Someone my age, perhaps?”

Deliza rolled her eyes. “He would never listen to me, either.”

“I
am
listening, Deliza.”

“Think of how much additional space you would have! You’d be dropping nearly half of her dry weight as well. Think of all the additional weapons she could carry. You could combine the weapons bays into one huge bay into which any number of specialized payload pods could be used. You’d have all that space where the atmospheric engines were. You could install more reactors, bigger plasma cannons… More plasma cannons. You could make additional room behind the flight deck for a cabin of sorts. My father used to complain about long patrols during which you’d both be stuck in your seats, urinating in relief tubes and eating meal bars. That cockpit is so wide, we could probably even change it to a traditional side-by-side configuration. Admiral, the possibilities are endless.”

Her voice had turned to pleading and personnel walking by were starting to stare as they passed.

“Deliza…”

“I spent years working on my father’s 402. I know everything about that ship. I’ve even got preliminary designs and everything. If you’d just take a look at them…”

“I’ll take a look at them.”

“When?”

“I…”

“How about now? Over lunch? I’m hungry, are you?”

“Fine, we’ll have lunch and I’ll look over your designs,” the admiral relented.

“Great!” She exclaimed, hugging him.

“Very well. We’ll go to my quarters and I’ll have the cook send something over,” he promised as they started walking again.

“I have some ideas on how to improve the EDF Eagle fighters as well,” Deliza told him.

“One ship at a time, young lady.”

* * *

“This is unbelievable,” Josh exclaimed as he peered out the window at the Swiss Alps below. “I thought we had seen most of what this planet had to offer as far as vie
ws were concerned, but…damn!”

“Awfully impressive, I have to admit,” Loki agreed.

“And before the Jung invasion, you had never traveled outside of your home country?” Kata asked Yanni, as they both peered over the shoulders of Josh and Loki to see out the forward windows of the shuttle.

“No, never.” Yanni leaned to his right, looking out the side window as they flew over Mettelhorn.

“Must have been quite a shock for you,” Kata commented.

“Yes. They did not even tell me where they were planning to take the cores. They just told me to stay with them, wherever they went, to take care of them.” Yanni turned to face Kata, glancing at the camera in the center passageway. “So I did.”

“What was it like, the first time you were in space? How did you feel when you first saw your planet from orbit?”

“I didn’t,” he replied as he turned to look out the window again. “I was in the back, with the cores. There were no windows. I could look forward and see the sky through the cockpit windows, and then space, and the orbital assembly platform, but that was all. I spent the next three-and-a-half months in the back half of the Celestia, mostly cooped up in a separate, secured area, being guarded by several overzealous, EDF marines. No windows, not even a view screen to look outside.”

“I thought all the view screens could connect to external cameras?”

“The Celestia was not completely built,” Yanni explained. “She could fly and she had life support, but not much more than that. The aft section didn’t even have a pressurized connection to the front half of the ship at the time. Half the crew was stuck up front, and the other half in the back.”

“And then the Aurora found you.”

“Yes. Not long after Captain Scott sent the cores and myself back to Takara, for safe keeping. That was ten months ago.”

“Then I’ll bet you’re looking forward to getting home again?”

“Yes.” Yanni looked down for a moment, smiling.

“What is it?” Kata asked, noticing the look of amusement on his face.

“It’s silly, really.” He looked at her. “I had a little dog, Inga, in my apartment in Grindelwald.”

“That’s a city?” Kata asked.

“More like a village,” Yanni corrected. “Well, maybe a city, I suppose. There were a lot of people, but it still felt like a village to me. It was mostly people who worked at the Data Ark.”

“And that was built inside a mountain?”

“Yes, Mattenberg. It was a short ride to work, maybe fifteen, twenty minutes, by shuttle.”

“You speak of it fondly,” Kata observed.

Yanni smiled again. “It was a good job, a good life. I had friends. There was skiing. On the weekends, I could go to Interlaken, sometimes even Bern or Zurich, if I wanted to visit the big cities. In summer, we would visit the lakes and relax on the water.” He looked out the window again. “Yes, I do miss it. I miss Inga.”

Josh glanced at Loki, a concerned look on his face.

Loki turned half around in his seat, straining to look Yanni in the eye. “Uh, Mister Hiller, they did warn you… I mean, they told you that the Jung bombed the hell out of Earth on their way out, right?”

“Yes. It is obvious, even from this altitude. I can see the devastation myself. It is terrible.”

“Yeah, but, they specifically targeted the Data Ark,” Loki added.

“Surely they sealed it up after I left?” Yanni asked.

“Yes, they did. To make the Jung think that the cores were still inside. In fact, the Jung were never able to breach the facility. They even tried tunneling in from other directions.”

“That would never work,” Yanni insisted. “It took the original builders of the Ark years to dig into the mountain, and they were at least as advanced as the Jung are now, perhaps more so.”

“Yeah, I know, but…”

“We’re coming up on Mattenberg now,” Josh warned.

“Just…” Loki sighed, realizing it was too late.

Yanni looked confused for a moment.

“Mattenberg passing to starboard,” Josh reported. “Starting our final descent.”

Yanni turned to his right to look out at the mountains below. “That’s not Mattenberg…” His voice trailed off as his expression turned crestfallen. His face moved closer to the window, his hands touching the glass to steady himself. “Oh my God,” he whispered.

Below him was a scarred, misshapen mountain range, its peaks no longer pointed and majestic. Instead, they were now smoothed over, their tips gone, rounded, as if someone had struck them with a gigantic hammer and smashed their tips away, then polished them clean.

The mountains passed under them and slid aft, out of Yanni’s sightline.

“I’m gonna spiral us down,” Josh muttered as he started a wide right turn on his way down to the Ark facility’s landing pad.

Yanni continued staring out the window at the scorched landscape below. The entire northwest side of the mountain range, the one that had provided him with such spectacular views on his way to work each day, was now barren. The surface had been blasted clean, leaving nothing but dirt, rock, and the occasional blackened stump of trees that refused to let go of their roots. Gone were the farm houses, the fences, the barns. Gone were the ski-lifts, trails, and forests. The only sign of civilization he could see was the road that led up to the entrance to the Data Ark, as it had recently been restored.

The shuttle continued its turning descent, bringing what had once been the town of Grindelwald into view. It too was desolate and barren. Cement slabs with the remnants of chimneys here and there. Rubble-strewn roads littered with the rusting shells of half destroyed vehicles, most of them on their sides or completely turned over. Everything was scorched as if a massive wave of fire had simply swept through the entire valley, destroying everything in its path.

“I don’t understand,” Yanni said in nearly inaudible tones. He turned to look at Kata, tears streaming down his face. “Why would they do this? If they knew they couldn’t get in… Why?”

Kata felt herself tearing up as well as she exchanged glances with her porta-cam operator, Karahl, hunched down in the center passageway holding the porta-cam.

“They probably did it out of spite,” Loki said in a sympathetic tone, “just like they did to the rest of Earth. No logic to their targeting, really. They just wanted to punish everyone for forcing them out.”

Yanni could no longer look outside. Instead, he slid slowly down the side wall and sat on the deck behind Loki’s seat, his arms wrapped around his drawn up knees, face down in his arms, sobbing.

Josh and Loki said nothing, staring at their instruments as they continued their descent.

Kata Mun was also silent as she signaled to Karahl to turn off the camera.

They completed their descent in silence, with only the sounds of the shuttle’s engines, Loki’s voice speaking with Ark Control, and Yanni’s muffled sobs.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Captain Roselle looked out the shuttle’s cockpit windows as they approached the Jar-Benakh. “Holy shit,” he muttered. “Scott really tore her up, didn’t he? Where the f
uck are we suppo
sed to land?”

“We’re still going in via one of the breach boxes near command and control, sir,” the copilot explained. “They’re working on clearing the opening to one of the shuttle bays, but it’s tough going. Their hulls don’t have the grappling points for our crawlers, so they have to use mag-lock feet… Makes for slow going.”

“Then we need to get some more fucking crawlers, don’t we,” Roselle complained. “You got that?” he asked his executive officer next to him.

“I got it, Captain,” Commander Ellison replied. “A
lot
more fucking crawlers, by the looks of it.”

“Damn straight. And remind me to exchange a few angry words with the Aurora’s T.O… What’s his name? Dela-v-a-hole, or something?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Boy needs to work on his aim.”

“We’re turning to final now, sir,” the copilot announced. “You and the commander should take your seats and buckle-in. It’s a bit of a pain to dock with a breach box, and it can get a bit bouncy. We don’t want either of you bouncing around and hitting your heads on something.”

“Very well,” the captain agreed. He had just come from a six-day stay in the hospital that had been five days more than he felt he needed, and six days longer than he’d liked. The last thing he wanted was to return to that disease infested hellhole.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us, Gil,” Commander Ellison said as they moved aft.

“Yeah, but at least we’ve got a ship,” Roselle replied, “and a big bitch at that.” He sat down and fastened his restraints. “Just imagine how much Jung ass we could whup once we get her working and get a jump drive in her. Makes the Aurora look like a fishing boat, doesn’t it?” he added with a wink.

“Yes, sir, it sure as hell does.”

Roselle nodded. “Exactly the way it should be. It was hard enough jumping around in that little pea shooter of a scout ship, while Scott was in command of all that firepower. Christ, I would’ve had a stroke if I’d had to watch him play captain with no ship of my own to command.”

“Come on, Gil, don’t you think you’re being a little hard on the kid?” Commander Ellison suggested.

“Someone’s got to. Goddamn admiral loves that kid, thinks he walks on water.”

“Dumar’s a good leader, Gil. You know it.”

“I got no qualms with his quals, Marty, but you gotta admit, he’s a little blind when it comes to Scott’s lack thereof.”

“The kid has done well without much guidance at all, Gill.”

“I’m not arguing that, Marty, but the stakes are higher now…much higher. He’s not fighting spoiled rich boys in fancy uniforms who likely never took live fire before. He’s taking on seasoned combat veterans. Ruthless sons-of-bitches who
enjoy
killing. Hell of a difference.”

“Perhaps, but I still think he’s doing okay, and will
continue
to do okay. I think
you
waste too much time worrying about it.”

“Yeah, well, you’re probably right about that one. Hell, we can’t do anything about it anyway, right? But we
can
do something about this girl, and we
will
.”

“Damn right we will,” the commander agreed.

The cargo shuttle rocked abruptly as it made contact with the breach box, shaking its passengers despite the restraints.

“
Positive contact!
” the copilots voice called over the loudspeakers in the aft cargo hold. “
Equalizing pressure. Standby to disembark.
”

Captain Roselle released his restraints, then reached up and rubbed his shoulder after the rough docking. “First thing is that damned shuttle bay.”

They rose from their seats and followed the Tannan volunteers, that had come along with them, toward the aft hatch that had been fitted over the back of the cargo hold instead of the usual cargo ramp. The crewman opened the hatch, revealing a three-meter cubicle on the other side that was the interior of the Corinari breach box. The crewman looked aft at Captain Roselle and Commander Ellison. “Sirs?” he said, inviting them to lead the first group in the transfer process.

Roselle rose and headed aft, followed by his XO. “Sergeant,” he said as he passed, stepping into the breach box.

“Next ten!” the crewman ordered.

Captain Roselle and Commander Ellison entered the breach box, floating as they stepped across the threshold and left the influence of the shuttle’s artificial gravity. They pulled themselves along using the handrails that were located along every surface of the small compartment, until finally reaching the far side. Roselle rotated himself ninety degrees, bringing his feet to rest just above the hatch on the other side.

One by one, the first ten Tannan volunteers entered the breach box as well, floating into position, adjusting their physical attitudes in relation to the shuttle’s deck in the same manner as the captain. Once they were all inside, the crewman on the shuttle began to close the hatch.

“Wait for the green light on this hatch, then the green light on the next hatch before you open it, sir.”

Roselle put his thumb up to signal that he understood as the crewman slammed the shuttle’s hatch. The inner hatch of the breach box slid closed and automatically sealed itself.

“Green light!” the Tannan next to the hatch announced, his pronunciation tinged by his thick Tannan accent.

Roselle waited for his light to turn green then squatted down and activated his hatch mechanism as well. The inner hatch slid away, revealing a long tunnel with a ladder directly below. “Alright, gents, the gravity’s gonna grab you as you descend, so be prepared. It’s one point three Gs in there, and we haven’t figured out how to change that yet.” He looked up at one of the Tannans nearby. “I forgot… What’s the gravity on Tanna?”

“Normal,” the Tannan said, smiling. “But I believe you refer to it as zero point seven.”

“Then you boys are gonna get tuckered out rather quickly, so I suggest you pace yourselves,” he advised as he put his hands on the edges of the hatch and lowered his feet into the tunnel, placing them on the ladder a few rungs down.

“We thought we would lower the gravity first thing,” the Tannan replied. “We know where the controls are located.”

“Even better,” Roselle said as he headed down the ladder. As he descended, he heard the hatch at the bottom of the tunnel open. He glanced downward as he descended, noting the helmet of a Ghatazhak, along with the stern expression on the face of the soldier wearing it.

The captain exited the hatch, dropping the last meter to the deck. He landed a bit harder than expected. “Damn, that extra thirty percent packs more of a wallop than you’d expect, doesn’t it,” he said to the Ghatazhak soldier standing nearby.

“I wouldn’t know, sir,” the soldier replied.

“Think I can borrow one of your ‘motion-assist undergarments’?” the captain asked.

“I don’t believe we have them in your size, Captain,” the soldier replied.

“Oh yeah,” the captain said as he moved aside. “I forgot all you boys are the same size. Must make life a lot easier for your quartermaster, huh?”

Commander Ellison was the next to drop down with a heavy thud. “Man, you weren’t kidding.”

“Yeah. You’d think we’d both be smart enough not to test it out that way, wouldn’t you?” the captain chuckled as the first Tannan made his way down the ladder and stepped carefully onto the deck. “Well, at least those boys aren’t as dumb as us. That’s a good start.”

“Welcome aboard, Captain,” Vladimir greeted as he entered the compartment. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy. I am your temporary Chief Engineer.”

“Lieutenant Commander,” Captain Roselle greeted, returning Vladimir’s salute and then reaching out to shake his hand. “Gil Roselle. This is my XO, Commander Ellison.”

“Marty,” the commander introduced himself, shaking Vladimir’s hand.

“Vladimir, or Cheng… Whatever you wish, sirs. My team and I, with the help of the Tannan engineers you have brought with you, will be conducting a thorough inspection of the ship to help determine what needs to be repaired so that you may get her underway again.”

“And into action, I hope,” Roselle added.

“Of course, sir.”

“That fella there had a good idea,” Roselle said, pointing to the Tannan engineer who had spoken earlier. “Says he knows where the controls for the gravity are located. What say we get this thing dialed down a bit before these boys start complaining?”

“Yes,” Vladimir acknowledged. “We have located the gravity controls. However, we did not want to make any adjustments until the Tannans had arrived, in case there were any significant differences between this ship’s gravity systems and those of the Jar-Keurog. I would hate to adjust the gravity in the wrong direction and squash everyone like bugs.”

“Yeah, that’d suck,” the captain replied dryly. “Which way to command and control?”

“Down five decks and forward twenty-seven sections. The Ghatazhak soldier in the next compartment will guide you,” Vladimir replied.

“How many Ghatazhak are on board?” Roselle asked.

“Three hundred and seven,” Vladimir replied. “No one is allowed to move about the ship without an escort, for security reasons.”

“Got no problem with that,” the captain agreed as he headed for the exit. “Get those boys on that gravity, Lieutenant Commander. We’ll be in command and control.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Captain Roselle stepped through the hatch and found a Ghatazhak soldier standing on the other side. “You my escort?”

“Yes, sir,” the Ghatazhak soldier replied smartly. “Sergeant Ayers, Captain… Commander. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to command and control.”

“He did say down five and
twenty-seven forward?
” the commander asked.

“Yup,” the captain replied as he followed the sergeant down the corridor.

“I thought we entered at a point
near
C and C.”

“Like I said, Marty, she’s a big bitch,” Roselle said. He looked back at his XO, a wry smile on his face. “Guess you’re going to burn a few off that fat ass of yours, huh?”

* * *

“A lot better than five year-old potted meat,” Gerard exclaimed as he cleared the table.

“That meat was five years old?” Naralena said, concern on her face.

“Give or take.”

“Glad I didn’t know that at the time.” Naralena turned to the other t
wo men at the table. “Thank you gentlemen,” she told them in Koharan. “I know it took you most of the day to stalk that animal. It was delicious.”

“Your Koharan is very good,” Gerard replied in the same language. “I’m amazed that you only studied it for…”

The kitchen lights began to flicker. Three times, a pause, then twice more followed by another pause, then they went out for a full two seconds before coming back on and remaining that way. Gerard immediately dropped the dishes on the table and headed toward the bathroom. The other two men got up as well, heading for the exit.

“What is it?” Naralena asked. “What’s wrong?”

“We’ve got an incoming message,” he replied as he made his way across the living room. “You coming?”

“Of course,” Naralena declared as she quickly rose to follow him.

Gerard went into the bathroom, pausing long enough to let her enter as well before closing the door. He then lifted the center shelf in the towel cabinet behind the door causing the latch to release, then pulled the cabinet away from the wall to reveal the steep, narrow, dimly lit staircase hidden behind it.

He moved quickly down the stairs, flipping on the cellar lights as he reached the bottom. He immediately headed for the transceiver and began making adjustments, entering numbers on the keypad. He wrote down the numbers that appeared on the display screen on a piece of paper, then started making calculations. Once he finished, he entered a new string of numbers into the keypad. The process repeated four times, until finally, a human voice was heard, but they were speaking a language that Gerard did not recognize. He looked at Naralena, confused.

“He’s speaking Corinairan,” she told him as she picked up the microphone and replied in the same language.

“Who is it?” Gerard asked. “What are they saying?”

Naralena gestured for him to be quiet while she communicated with the man on the comms. “It’s one of our Falcons. They are in orbit. They want to know if we are in a good position for extraction.”

“If they can do so immediately, yes,” Gerard said. “Otherwise, we should wait at least twenty-four hours to make sure the Jung did not pick up the transmission and pinpoint the source.”

Naralena continued talking over the comms in Corinairan.

“Keep it brief,” Gerard warned.

“They cannot extract for at least two hours,” she told him.

“Ask if they can extract tomorrow, same time.”

Naralena repeated Gerard’s request over the comms. “They can. They are leaving a comm-buoy in orbit, since the Jung have no way to take it out. If we need to send a message to them and no one is there, it will record the message. They can also leave messages for us, in case they call and we do not answer.”

“That’s great,” Gerard replied.

There was another brief exchange, after which Naralena asked, “They would like to know what a safe comm-interval would be, so as not to risk alerting the Jung to our location.”

“Tell them staggered five one two, same as encrypt delta minus two,” Gerard instructed. “That will result in random comm windows varying between three and five hours. If the Jung have not come for us within that time, it’s likely they have not intercepted the comm-beam and are not aware of our existence.” Gerard looked at his watch, noting the time as Naralena relayed the information over the comms in Corinairan.

“Anything else?” she asked.

“Not that I can think of.”

Naralena signed off and handed him the microphone, a look of relief washing over her face.

Gerard noticed the change in her demeanor. “You must be happy to be going home.”

“No, I’m going back to the Aurora. I’m still a long way from home.”

“That’s true.”

“You’re the one who’s finally going home,” she told him.

Gerard leaned back, contemplating the possibility for the first time in decades. “It doesn’t seem real.”

“Well, it’s not…not yet. But at least now it’s a possibility.”

Gerard sighed. “What am I to do there?” he wondered. “This world, these people, they are all I’ve known for more than twenty years. To be honest, this feels as much my home as Earth ever did. Perhaps even more so.”

“Surely there is something you miss about Earth?”

Gerard thought for a moment. “Ice cream. They do not have ice cream here. They don’t even have cows.”

* * *