Resolute Strike (The War for Terra Book 7) Read online

  “Uh … Alice?” Booth stammered, trying to block Lee from coming closer to the M-space sphere. “I haven’t seen her … lately.”

  “One of the reasons I like you, Booth, is that you don’t lie for a damn. I know she’s down here, Commander. Where is she?”

  “Well, sir, I … sir, you shouldna be down here without a radiation suit,” Booth said, again blocking Lee’s entry. “Engineering regulations require radiation suits whenever you enter the—”

  “Lee?” a voice came from under the sphere. “Lee you have to come see this. It’s incredible what they’ve done here.”

  “Commander Bennett,” Lee called, pressing Booth aside and walking straight to where his fiancée was crawling from under the sphere. “You are AWOL from your assigned duty station. Please explain yourself.”

  “Lee, it’s incredible,” Alice replied, wiping her hands on her repair jumpsuit and ignoring his order completely. “When they replaced the M-space generator, they added things to it. I’ve never seen a design quite like this before. The transfer manifolds are connected directly to the Heisenberg repressor. The thermal fins extend all the way into the—”

  “Commander!” Lee shouted. An ominous silence fell over the immense room as engineers and workers stopped what they were doing and avoided looking straight at the exchange. “You will report to the flight deck immediately and ready yourself for engagement.”

  “Don’t be silly, we’re already engaged,” Alice replied with a smile, stepping over and taking Lee by the hand. “You have to see this. I know Melaina had a hand in this design but—”

  “Commander!”

  Lee’s tone stopped his fiancée cold. She turned to him with her half grin already fading from her lips. He was shorter than she was by a couple centimeters, but in that moment he had straightened and appeared taller. She blinked into his eyes without comprehending his anger.

  “Alice,” Lee said in a quieter tone. “I don’t know what’s happening to you, but you need to see Doctor Demsiri right now and I need to get back to the bridge. We have war games to finish and I will not give Dalton a reason to gloat over this ship.”

  “But, Lee,” Alice said in a voice he barely recognized. “The engines still need to be calibrated for the new data, and I think I see a way to route the manifold through the wave guide compensator in … to…”

  Alice’s collapse to the deck was as swift as it was unexpected. Lee was looking at her speaking one moment, then empty space the next. He moved only as he realized she was already on the floor. Two nearby engineers moved as well. The captain quickly took her in his arms and checked her pulse. He was gratified to feel the flutter at her neck and her breath against his cheek. He could hear her speaking very quietly as he held her close. He leaned in and tried to listen, but her voice was too soft to understand.

  “Call a medic!” Lee cried, trying to hold Alice close. “Someone call a medic!”

  “There already on the way, sir,” Booth said, stepping in to clear away the other engineers. “Now give her some space, lads. The captain can take care of her better than you can. Finish the recalibration on those baffles and stop standin’ around.”

  “Roy, how long was she under the generator?” Lee asked, remembering her work from before. “Was she exposed to anything?”

  “Nah, sir,” Booth replied, scratching his thinning hair. “The generator is dry now. She wasn’t under there for more than twenty minutes before you came in anyway. She’s been crawlin’ all over these engines for the last day or so. Didn’t want to stop her since she’s been doin’ mosta my work for me.”

  “Doing what?”

  “She’s been rewirin’ this ship since the day we left space-dock, sir,” Booth replied, looking back at Alice’s face. “She knows these systems better’n I do at this point. I’d think she knows them better than the bastards that designed them.”

  Lee looked into the eyes of his fiancée. Since her return from Ch’Tauk captivity she had been having episodes where her thoughts raced faster than her mind could keep up. So far, he had been able to keep these events private and away from the other officers, but now it was out. She had always been a good mechanic, working on fighters and small projects, but now she was something else. Access to the latest tech had caused her interest in the M-space geometry of the ship to explode. She was still talking softly as the medical team, led by Doctor Demsiri, entered the engineering bay.

  “Report,” the doctor ordered. “Get back, Captain, and let us handle this.”

  “She was standing here talking and then she collapsed.”

  “How long has she been here?”

  Lee laid Alice’s head down as the medics moved in. Booth and the doctor began to talk quickly, Booth reiterating what he had already told Lee. The whole thing made no sense. She had received no formal training in M-space physics or advanced quantum mechanics, but as Booth told the story it became obvious she had learned. He could make out sounds coming from the medical team and finally heard Alice’s voice rise above the din.

  “Lee!”

  Lee raced to her side, pushing one of the med-techs away as he felt her hand reaching for his. Her hand was cold but he could feel the strength from inside of her. She pulled him to her side and reached out with the other hand. He fumbled with her fingers for a moment before she locked her hand in his.

  “It’s the wave, Lee,” she said, her voice strong but breathy. “The waves…”

  “Alice, don’t…”

  “Lee, listen to me,” she said, pulling him even closer. “We are in the sea, right?”

  “Alice, the Enxy Sea is in space. We aren’t in the actual sea.”

  “It’s the same thing, though. The Enxy is a special anomaly filled with particles and energies which make this whole exercise like submarine warfare in the old days, right?”

  “I don’t really—”

  “If you look at the particles like water and sediment, and the radiation spikes like tides and ocean currents, then it’s exactly like that.”

  “Captain,” Demsiri said, stepping in, trying to take Lee’s hands away from his fiancée. “I think maybe we better let her rest for now.”

  “No!” Alice screamed. It was a prolonged sound like someone dying in pain. “You let me finish! Lee, the surge from our M-space engines radiated outward like ripples in a pond. It was in three dimensions but it was still just ripples of energy, right?”

  “Alice we need to get you back to—”

  “Shut up and listen. Turn it on,” Alice said, her eyes growing large as she clutched at his hands. “Turn it all on again. Not only that, turn it on and turn it on high. Open up a vortex, or at least try to. We need a storm. I don’t think it’ll work, but if the hyper-converter can be adjusted to reach the maximum quantification by—”

  “Alice,” Lee said, shaking her slightly to bring her back. “Alice, I don’t understand. Why would we try to be found?”

  “Lee?” Alice replied, looking at him as if she hadn’t noticed him before. “We won’t be found by who?”

  “Captain,” Demsiri said, now pulling Lee’s hands away from hers. “I think Alice needs to get some rest.”

  “Alice?” Lee said, not wanting to leave her but hearing Demsiri’s words through the pain. “Alice I think you need to go with the doctor. You’ve had a fall and you bumped your head.”

  “Lee?” Alice repeated, this time with a note of concern. “Why am I in engineering?”

  “You were just checking up on the redesign,” Lee replied, picking her up and setting her on her feet. “You fell. Doctor Demsiri is going to take you up to sickbay and check you out, make sure you’re okay.”

  “Alright,” Alice replied. “I guess so … if you think so.”

  “I do,” Lee said. “Now get up there and I will come up later to see how you’re doing.”

  “I think I need to work on the Eagle,” Alice said as the medics took her shoulders and helped her to the door. “I need to work on the inertial relay system
s. I think I can improve response time.”

  Lee watched as the doctor followed his medical team from the engine room. The strong odor of tobacco swept over him as Roy Booth stepped up close. The man had never seemed particularly interested in Lee’s personal life, nor in anything that didn’t have plasma running through it, but he had shown remarkable tact during the whole episode, which Lee was grateful for.

  Both men stood quietly for a few moments before Booth said, “Sir … what she was sayin’ just now, about the M-space generators, I think I understand what she was tryin’ ta say.”

  “What?” Lee asked, turning to look at the shorter man. “What do you mean?”

  “Well…”

  “Lo’Pearce,” the voice of Na’Tora echoed across the room. “Captain, we have reached coordinates Gamma. You need to return to the bridge and resume your command.”

  Instead of replying, Lee stepped away from his engineer and towards the Ch’Tauk. His expression stayed neutral, but the tension in the room suddenly seemed unbearable. Lee grasped the armored upper arm of the Ch’Tauk, turning the alien and moving him around towards an isolation room. Na’Tora was practically dragged into the cramped room by the smaller man but he did not resist. As the door cycled closed, Roy booth let out a long whistle before returning to his work.

  “What did your people do to my fiancée?” Lee asked, pressing the Ch’Tauk as the door closed.

  “I do not understand, Lo’Pearce,” Na’Tora replied, a slight whine entering the vocoder speech. “Are you speaking of the transference pattern?”

  “You know damn well what I’m talking about,” Lee replied, stepping closer. “When they took her, they tortured her and took away her skills and knowledge. What else did they do?”

  “I am not familiar with the transference, Lo’Pearce. My training is in—”

  Before the Ch’Tauk could finish the sentence, Lee shot forward and crossed one arm over the creature’s neck and pressed him back against the wall. His other hand held one of Na’Tora’s hands against his armored abdomen. There was a muted sound of surprise from the vocoder but the clicking which came from the alien’s throat was far more satisfying. Lee pressed himself close to the glossy black chest, putting his face as close as he could stand to the gaping jaws of the alien.

  “Don’t do it. Don’t play dumb with me, Na’Tora. Your people took Alice and did things to her. You took her from me for almost a year and gave her back damaged. What is this transference and how can I undo whatever it is you did to her?”

  After a long moment the vocoder buzzed. “Captain, you misunderstand my words. I do not know about the transference. The Conduits are not of Ch’Tauk. They are a subjugated race like your people … uh … were. I have had no dealings with them. I do not know.”

  “Listen to me very carefully,” Lee began, spittle running from the edges of his mouth as he pressed even closer. “If you cannot tell me what I need to know or tell me how to find out, I have no use for you whatsoever. The admiralty tells me I had to take you with me, but space is a very dangerous place. Accidents happen every day. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Captain Lo’Pearce, if you are—”

  “My name is Pearce. I am the son of Everett Pearce and I am asking you nicely not to call me by whatever unholy title your people use.”

  “Yes, Captain, and I would ask you call me by my rank as well. I am a Quartero in the Imperial Fleet and not one of your human crew. We conquered your people and you conquered ours. I ask for the respect you are asking for. I am no lowly Centurion with no name. I am Na’Tora, Tercero of Resolute and I remind you respectfully,” Na’Tora said, his vocoder voice wavering slightly, “accidents happen in space to both our peoples. You wish to discover what happened and why it happened to your mate and pilot Bennett. I will utilize whatever skill I have to discover this, but I must say again to you as a servant to his captain: accidents happen to everyone.”

  “And just what does that mean?” Lee said, pressing his elbow into the Ch’Tauk’s soft neck flesh.

  In response, Na’Tora bobbed his head downward. Lee didn’t want to pull away, didn’t want to give the creature a chance to squirm away, but the motion insisted. He kept his arm tight against Na’Tora’s throat and leaned back away from the alien and the strong pheromones he was emitting. As he looked down, he saw the alien’s other hand had curled under his body. The long claws at the tips of the Ch’Tauk’s four-fingered hand had extended and were pressed into Lee’s own abdomen. He had been so intent on attacking that he hadn’t even noticed the attack which would have gutted him.

  “Na’Tora,” Lee said in a raspy whisper. “I think we both understand what’s at stake here. I’ll be up to the bridge in a few minutes.”

  “And I will prepare the way for you,” replied the Ch’Tauk. “And I will remember this moment in time, sir, and the promises made here.”

  “As will I, Tercero,” Lee said, releasing the man and stepping back. “You can bet on that.”

  Na’Tora straightened his sash and stepped away from the wall. Both men kept an eye out for the other as the Ch’Tauk stepped to the door. A quick tap on the control and the door opened. Na’Tora turned his back finally and stepped into the engine room. Lee followed at a discreet pace, stopping and watching the alien leave the room. When the Ch’Tauk had gone, Lee waved for Roy Booth to join him.

  “Commander Booth,” Lee said, “if you see that creature in this room ever again … kill it.”

  “Aye, sir,” Booth replied. “I’m glad you made it an order. I was plannin’ on doin’ it anyway.”

  “I’m glad we understand each other. Now, tell me about what Alice was saying again?”

  “Oh, that,” Booth said with a twinkle in his eye. “I think I got that. It’s a mite technical, but I think we can do it.”

  “Do what?”

  9

  Alliance Carrier Zeus

  Franklin Dalton had grown up as poor as any human in the old Confederacy on the streets of one of the ancient cities. Detroit had seen wealthy times and times when the prosperity of the Confederacy and the advancements of space travel seemed to leave the city behind. Franklin would dream of the day when he could fly away from the squalor and join his father in space. His mother would tell him not to speak of Omar Hathaway in her presence, but young Dalton had still dreamed of commanding the pride of the Confederate fleet. He would read the stories on the news nets and imagine he was standing by the great admiral’s side. When things got tough, he would be called up to help and save the day. It was the best dream he had while trying to eke out a living with his mother in government housing in the decrepit city.

  The first time he set foot on a Confederate ship as an officer, he felt sure he would set the universe on fire with his brilliance and tactical knowledge. He would be at least as good as his father, if not better. Sadly, his talents lay elsewhere. Sometimes he found himself heatedly arguing tactics with fighter pilots. The first time he was beaten down by one of the pilots being ferried to the carrier Tlaloc, he realized his knowledge of military procedure would not propel him as far as he wanted to go. Like on Earth, he would need to work and scrape by to make it in the fleet, and for that he turned to computers. Even with his tenuous connection to the famed Admiral Omar Hathaway, he was still held back by his superiors for minor errors.

  Franklin acquired operational knowledge of the Confederate computer systems on the big carriers, and used it to get promoted to second operations officer on his father’s carrier, Baal. When the day finally arrived and he was ushered into the presence of his father, Franklin knew the resemblance would make his father hold open his arms and embrace him. It was the dream of a child who had struggled his whole life to impress someone who had never heard of him. Instead of an open embrace, Hathaway walked past without looking in his direction. The disappointment almost crushed Dalton, but he tried his best to gain his father’s attention. Omar Hathaway was a hard man to impress though. A glitch in the starboard sensor relays br
ought down the wrath of the admiral and prompted Dalton’s transfer to Zeus. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Franklin doubled his efforts to impress his father from afar. The Ch’Tauk invasion of Terra put an end to his quest and finally made him the equal of his father in command as he was left the only command ranking officer on board the ship.

  “Report, Mister Tambor,” Dalton ordered his ops officer. “We’ve been waiting far too long to tag that ship.”

  “Yes, sir,” replied Tambor. “Sensors report no activity from the Resolute fleet since last night. Their attempt to draw us out with the Ch’Tauk ships is apparently over.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on it. Pearce may be an arrogant bastard but he’s no fool. He knows we’ll chase him if he sticks his head up. What we need to watch for is the feint where he sends us off one way and he attacks from the other.”

  “So we should stop chasing the Ch’Tauk ships?”

  Dalton shook his head. Tambor had proven to be a good ops officer, but not particularly inventive. After the formation of the alliance with the Ch’Tauk, Dalton had accepted several Ch’Tauk officers on board, mainly in the fighter squadrons and below decks, and kept his bridge crew human or Vadne. Tambor was the best of what they had available after the Gizzeen cut off the Sol system.

  “That would be pointless and exactly what he wants. No, we will continue to send the fighters and wait here for them to come to us.”

  “I see, sir,” Tambor replied, turning to go. “I will keep CAG on alert and send reports every half hour as you requested.”

  Dalton watched the man go. But for an accident of birth he might have ended up just like that man. His mother was an extraordinary woman to raise him in poverty, but it was the genetics of his father which had allowed him to rise above. His skill with the computer systems of the carriers made him important, and his attitude had taken him all the way to the captain’s chair. Now he had the opportunity to teach Lee Pearce a lesson in humility, and prove that pilot so long ago wrong.

  “Sir, I’ve got a signal,” rang out the voice of one of the sensor officers. “Zero mark ninety to our current position.”