Resolute Uprising (The War for Terra) Read online

  Melaina Petros had been one of the scientists who had been at Harpy station with Jakes. She and her fellow prisoners had been transferred to Earth and had broken free en route. Now she had fallen in with the crew of the Sweet Liberty and her captain and travelled with them when she could. She had been a brilliant propulsion specialist before the fall of the Confederacy and it seemed that she had not lost her skills.

  “Tracking ships in M-space has never been practical,” Lee said, trying to understand. “The energies of the membrane are too unpredictable and strong for our scanners to follow. When we tracked the Baal, it was because Farthing had been dropping buoys with encrypted coordinates. We never found any energy readings that led us there.”

  “I know,” replied jakes. “And that is why I keep that little lady around. She’s really brilliant. You know she managed to coax another few k.p.s. out of the Liberty’s engines? I thought that hunk of junk would fly apart when we tested her, but she is almost as fast as one of your fighters now.”

  “I doubt it,” Lee said with a slight grin. “In any case, how did you manage to track the Ch’Tauk?”

  “Well, Melaina and I were watchin’ the holo of the battle, tryin’ to see if we could spot Alice’s ship comin’ out the other side of the battle or anything,” Jakes began. “We noticed that a few of them little insect ships started to fly into the jump point while still trailin’ plasma.”

  “Plasma can’t stay cohesive in M-space,” Lee said. “That is why we don’t fight there. The energy just disburses before it can get anywhere.”

  “Well, that’s what they taught at the Academy, anyway,” replied Jakes. “Melaina never went there and ain’t never been told that she can’t do that.”

  “Wait, you went to the Academy?” Lee asked, picking up on the slip.

  “That’s hardly the point, Lee,” replied Jakes, suddenly uncomfortable. “Melaina started tryin’ to figure out what she could about the Ch’Tauk energy drive system. It seems that them little fellas, the Elves, gave them bugs technology that ain’t too far away from ours. The plasma relay system is almost identical, but the plasma signature is totally different. She thinks it has something to do with why their fighters can make it through the jump points and ours can’t.”

  “We have been wondering about that,” said Lee. “The Elves have been quiet on that piece of technology so far. I don’t think they want us to have that yet.”

  “Yeah, Melaina says that they are a little tight with some of that stuff,” Jakes said. “In any case, after hangin’ out with Dalton’s boys for a while, we hunted down the spot where that big Ch’Tauk ship opened a jump portal. It took a while and a few false starts, but we managed to find the spot usin’ some kind of triangulation software that Tuxor came up with. It was a ways out from the planet and it took us a bit to get out there. It wasn’t just the planet that moves, but the whole system that moved away. If we had stayed near the planet for just a few more days, the jump point would have moved out of range and we never would have found it.”

  Lee nodded at the mention of Melaina’s amphibian partner. Although they had found out that the mysterious creatures known as the Elves were responsible for many of the advances in technology that the fleet used, the Karisien was still a highly skilled mathematician and physicist. He had refused to stay behind when Melaina joined the Sweet Liberty.

  “When we opened the vortex, Melaina scanned using the new protocol,” Jakes said. “It turns out that the Ch’Tauk ships were leakin’ energy from their M-space drives. She thinks that because their engines work different, the drive plasma was vibrating at the energy level of the ships and remained at least partially together. It was a trail of breadcrumbs and the birds had gotten there first, but it was still a trail.”

  “So you were able to track the ships?” Lee asked. “Didn’t they just go back to the Ch’Tauk home world?”

  “Apparently not, Lee,” replied Jakes. “They stopped to cut their losses first. We found another boneyard of Ch’Tauk ships. It looked like they just blew up their own damaged ships. We checked and some of them ships hadn’t been evacuated either. There were bugs floatin’ all over the place out there.”

  “Did you get the coordinates, Connor?” Lee asked. “We’ve been trying to collect Ch’Tauk tech for study. Chang will want to send someone out there to salvage.”

  “Yeah, I figured as much so I got it all down,” replied Jakes. “But I don’t think that stuff will be there for long. Before we left, the scavengers had started to arrive. The leftovers were bein’ carved up by the thieves and pirates that live out there. Nothing travels as fast as bad news and I think the bugs let them folks know about their scraps.”

  “That explains why we have never run across a lot of Ch’Tauk tech out there,” Lee said. “They must call out the dogs after every battle.”

  “Yeah, and with the Zeus patrollin’ the Karisia sector, the scavengers have kept away. In any case, it took us a little while to scan all the debris, but we finally found somethin’.”

  “Did you find Alice’s ship?” Lee asked. Or did you find…”

  “Did we find her body?” Jakes finished. “No, Lee, we didn’t find her body. In fact, we didn’t find her ship either; at least, not much of it.”

  “Jakes please stop evading the question and tell me just what the hell you found out there!” Lee exclaimed. “I haven’t got time for your crap right now!”

  “Calm down Cap’n,” replied Jakes, grinning in the face of Lee’s fury. “I collected a little present for you. Why don’t you take a look?”

  Lee stood and walked around the table to the case. He pressed the latches that held the two pieces of the lid together. He lifted the flaps and pushed the two sides of the case apart. He stared at the contents as they lay exposed on the table. He could not speak for a long moment as he looked at the present that Jakes had brought him.

  “I had to wrestle that away from one of the scavengers,” Jakes said. “I think they must have gotten the rest of it.”

  Lee broke away from the case and walked back to the projected window. He stared out at the asteroid field that circled the nearby sun. His mind was whirling with the possibilities of what the pirate captain had given him. He slowly turned back to Captain Jakes.

  “Do you know who might have salvaged the rest?” Lee asked.

  “I think so, Lee,” replied Jakes, standing and walking to his friend. “I got a pretty good idea, anyway. I can give you the contact on the guy. He’s a real scumbag even by my standards, but if he has the rest, he’ll deal.”

  “Thank you, Connor,” said Jakes, laying his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “You should probably get to the station and report to Chang.”

  “Yeah, I need to be goin’ anyway,” Jakes said. “Bonnie’s cookin’ squash tonight and I don’t wanna miss it. She adds somethin’ like cinnamon!”

  Jakes turned away from the battleship captain and went to the door. He glanced one more time at the case on the table and its contents. He looked back to Lee, but the other man had already returned to the window. Jakes pressed the keypad. He was not surprised when the guards outside the door raised their rifles at his appearance.

  “Now that’s just rude, boys,” Jakes said as he stepped into the corridor. “Now if ya’ll can just show me the way to the bridge, Captain Pearce just put me in command.”

  “Take him back to the airlock,” Henry said, stepping past Jakes and into the room. “If he gives you any trouble, disconnect the umbilical when he’s half way across.”

  Lee could hear Jakes trying to banter with the guards as he was escorted away. Henry had stepped further into the room and now stared at the case on the table. He walked closer to get a better look. He reached into the case and pulled the shard of metal out further into the light. It was silver and smooth, but had apparently been torn from a larger piece.

  “Lee is that what Jakes brought?” Henry asked, looking at the metal closely. “Where did he get this?”

  “H
e managed to follow the Ch’Tauk trail into the jump point, Henry,” Lee said, turning to face the other man. “He found a Ch’Tauk burial ground and that was floating in space along with the remains of the Ch’Tauk fleet.”

  “Is it what it looks like?” Henry asked.

  In response, Lee took the metal shard from Henry’s hands and held it up. Although the edges were badly bent, the center area was flat and still unmarked by damage. There was an image stenciled on the metal. A grinning devil looked back from the gleaming metal. It was the symbol of the fighter squadron assigned to the Resolute. Although the design had been taken from the ship’s original home on the carrier Baal, Lee and his pilots had adopted it as the symbol for the Demon squadron.

  “It’s from Alice’s ship, Henry,” said Lee. “She wasn’t destroyed at Karisia.”

  “Lee, don’t jump to conclusions,” Henry replied, looking at his friend’s face. “This could have just been dragged in the magnetic wake of the bug fleet.”

  “No,” Lee replied. “The metal would have been torn apart in M-space. This ship was taken by the Ch’Tauk and dumped when they captured her, Henry.”

  “Lee, don’t take the word of that pirate,” Henry said. “I don’t know what his game is with you, but he’s working an angle and I’m going to stop it.”

  “No, Henry,” Lee said, snapping at his friend. “You will do nothing to Jakes. I am making that an order. He has been loyal to me and I won’t start doubting his motives now.”

  “If you really think you can trust him,” Henry said. “I’ll go along, but I am still going to keep an eye on him.”

  “Fine, do what you need to feel better about Jakes, but we will be leaving soon anyway.”

  “Did we get new orders?” Henry asked. “I didn’t hear anything from Chang. We don’t even have a full crew, Lee.”

  “I know and I wish they were here,” Lee said. “I am running out of time fast and I need to move now.”

  “Where are we going?” Henry asked.

  “We’re going after Alice.”

  3

  “Are you out of your damn mind?”

  Lee Pearce turned on the master sergeant, slamming his hand into the control pad for the lift. He had just explained his plans to the other man and was shocked to find that Henry would not support him. Although Lee was physically much smaller than the old soldier, he had an air of authority that caused the other man to retreat against the wall of the small lift.

  “Don’t take that tone with me, Henry,” said Lee. “You don’t have the right to talk to me that way.”

  “Well someone has to talk some sense into you, Lee,” said Henry. “This is a crazy idea. She’s gone and that bastard Jakes is waving bits of metal under your eyes to get you to go off chasing ghosts.”

  “She’s not dead!” Lee exclaimed. “There was no debris until now and no body either. I have to believe that she’s still out there and she needs me.”

  “This ship and the whole Alliance needs you, Lee,” replied Henry, seeing the pain in his friends face. “At least get hold of Chang and let him give you a few more ships. You can’t just run off, Lee, you’ve got responsibilities.”

  “I know,” said Lee. “I understand, but I have a responsibility to myself and to Alice as well.”

  Lee turned back to the lift control and keyed the resume button. The lift started back upwards as Henry continued to stare at his friend. Lee stared at the bulkhead wall and tried to control his anger. Of all the things he had counted on in his life, he never expected to lose the loyalty of Henry Moore.

  “I need to go, Henry,” said Lee quietly. “I need to see if she is still out there waiting for me somewhere. Wouldn’t you do the same for Priya?”

  At the mention of Henry’s dead wife, the man turned a deep red. His wife had been part of a plot by an insane security chief to commit mass murder years ago. Henry had watched as his wife and daughter were blown into the vacuum of space as an airlock door released. The soldier balled his hands into fists and stepped closer to his captain.

  “Priya understood duty,” Henry said through clenched teeth. “She wouldn’t have supported this plan and neither do I.”

  “I don’t need your support, old friend.” Lee replied. “I would prefer to have it, but it isn’t really necessary.”

  The lift stopped and Lee stepped into the corridor leading to the command bridge. His quarters were ahead on the left and Henry expected him to enter the room. Instead, the captain continued past the door and towards the bridge. Henry rushed from the lift to catch up with his friend.

  “Lee, you don’t intend to do this right now, do you?” Henry asked.

  In response, Lee kept walking to the bridge door. He pressed his palm to the pad and the door to the command center of the battleship Resolute opened. Henry had to hurry to get into the bridge before the door closed again. He entered the circular command center and looked at the empty stations.

  “Lee, we don’t even have a full crew,” said Henry. “At least wait until Farthing comes back. He can practically run this place without us.”

  Lee stepped to the center of the bridge and sat in the central command chair. The chair was raised slightly from the floor. It gave him a good view of all of the activity on his ship through holographic interface screens that projected around him. He pressed a key on the arm of his chair and called up the communications board. A few taps of the keys later, he dropped the screen back out of existence. Lee turned to face Henry, still standing at the entrance to the bridge.

  “I need to know if you are with us or not, Henry.” Lee said.

  “Us?” Henry asked. “Do you mean that the rest of this ship is going along with this plan?”

  “Almost all of them are loyal to their captain.” Lee said with a steel edge to his voice. “Care to make it all of them?”

  Henry stood at the door and looked at the bridge crew again. The primary pilot, Goldstein, he turned to face the former security guard. His counterpart, Lieutenant Stowe, continued to monitor the shared control panel in front of the big projection screen. There was a new crewman manning the tactical console and Artzen was at his engineering station. The communications station, usually staffed by the felinoid first officer Farthing, was empty and looked dark and abandoned.

  “I can’t do this, Lee.” Henry said. “I have to let Chang know about this.”

  The bridge doors opened and a pair of soldiers stepped onto the bridge behind Henry. Although head of tactical security on the ship, Henry did not recognize the two hulking humans. They each carried pistols at their hip and looked down at their sergeant impassively.

  “I’m sorry, Henry.” Lee said to his friend. “I am going to have to ask you to leave now.”

  The two soldiers grabbed Henry by the arms and began to lift him from the deck. He struggled to free himself, but the guards were like pythons holding him fast. He tried to kick out at the man to his left, but the impact had no effect. The men were wearing light armor under their black tactical uniforms and were impervious to the blows.

  “Lee, don’t do this!” Henry screamed. “Don’t throw it all away!”

  “Take him to an escape pod and aim him at the station.” Lee ordered the guards. “I am truly sorry, my friend. I would have loved to do this with you.”

  Lee turned back to the screen and looked at the image of the outside space. He heard Henry being dragged out of the command center before the door closed. His eyes closed for a moment as he said a pilot’s prayer of forgiveness for what he had just done. His nerves were on edge and the sound of the old soldier’s protests refused to leave him. As he exhaled, he opened his eyes and looked to his pilot.

  “Goldstein, set course for the edge of the system,” the captain ordered. “You might want to start evasive maneuvers now.”

  “Aye, sir,” replied the young man. “Taking the long way home.”

  “Booth!” Lee called, pressing the communications key again. “Initiate Operation Over-the-Cliff, Chief.”
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br />   “Aye sair,” the reply came from the engine room. “Puttin’ the kettle on now. She’ll be ready in a few seconds.”

  Lee looked around his bridge with pride. His crew had been through a lot in the last few years with him and had become a family. When he had broached the subject of the plan with Booth, the man had practically jumped at the chance to try it. Over the last three months, he had quietly gathered allies in his plan and transferred crew from the Resolute that he knew would not follow along. With the ship undergoing repairs there were many people on the nearby station and more than two-third back on their home worlds, the time was ripe for his plan to get into action.

  “Battleship Resolute this is Perigee Station.” The voice of Kama Yu, the station’s operations and communications officer echoed from the bridge speakers. “You are moving out of formation and into restricted space. Please shut down your engines and submit a flight plan.”

  “Ignore them and keep going.” Lee said, calling up a tactical plan of the area. “When will we be out of range of the station’s jump blocker?”

  “At least two minutes on our present course and speed, Captain.” Artzen, the bridge engineering specialist, replied.

  “Resolute, this is Perigee control. Please respond,” demanded Kama Yu. “Stand down and return to formation immediately or we will disable your systems.”

  “Captain,” announced Artzen. “They are attempting to access our control codes.”

  Lee tapped a key on his chair and initiated a scrambler to his control codes. Perigee would be able to defeat the virus, but he only needed two minutes. He called up a projection of their course and saw that they would be passing close to the control tower in just a few seconds. He changed one of his screens to a close-up of the control spire windows and tried to spot any of the staff on the station. He had the strangest feeling of déjà vu as they sped past the station.

  A small indicator flashed in the bottom corner of the screen, indicating that the escape pod had been launched and was holding its position behind them. Regret colored his vision for a moment as he looked at the signal from the pod. He had known Henry Moore for a long time and still could not bring himself to believe what he had just done. The image of Alice, though, brought him back to reality.