Astra: Synchronicity (33 page)

For the first time since they'd left Vopa
three hours ago, she had a moment to herself. She finished a
detailed report of their final hours on Xur for her log and
spearheaded efforts to determine who was missing. A number of
passengers on board had not been assigned to the
Schenectady
, and she imagined a number of their people were
on the wrong ship as well. While her senior crew was accounted for,
her sister was not.

All she could do was sit and wait for
Commander Mundammi to finish his part of the work.
What in Astra
is taking him so long
, she wondered.
Is the man really that
inept?
Ardri herself could've gone room to room on the
Kearsarge
and been done an hour ago.

"Commander Ford," she called, "I'd like to
have a word with you."

The commander turned away from his station
and moved toward her. "Yes, Captain. Reporting as ordered."

To rise to the rank of commander, most
officers had to break the backs of their underlings, but Commander
Anthony Ford relied on his ruthless charm. Crewmen enjoyed working
for him out of appreciation and pride. To the surprise of everyone,
he proposed to Faeun this past Valentine's Day, but Ardri doubted
their relationship would last: her neediness and his
flirtatiousness were a match made in hell.

"What's the status of the ship's weapons and
defensive systems?" she asked.

"Fully operational and standing by, sir. I'm
glad we ran combat drills last month. They do get tedious after a
few rotations, but it's exactly what we need to keep our skills
sharp."

She furrowed her brow and glanced toward the
front of the bridge where the Maxia sat studiously at the pilot's
station. Lieutenant Baca was the ship's primary pilot, but his
watch finished an hour ago. Ardri would've gone to bed too if she
thought she'd get any actual sleep.

"I wish I knew what the hell happened down
there," she said.

"You and me both. But I have a good feeling
we're not going to like it."

"I'd like you to review emergency protocols
with the crew, just to be safe."

Ford nodded, wiping his sniffling nose with a
handkerchief. "Yes, sir."

After he left, the captain panned her eyes
across the bridge. Lieutenant Faeun approached quietly. The two had
been sitting next to each other when the palace exploded and were
among the first to arrive back at the ship. Her tear-stained face
remained a sordid reminder of the haunting memory that occurred
with no warning.

"Commander Mundammi has sent over his current
passenger manifest." Faeun handed her a comtab with the numbers.
"Twenty-eight people are unaccounted for, which includes the PAU
ships."

Ardri poured through the names to see which
vessel her sister had gotten on. If Lyneea didn't know what the
Schenectady
looked like by now, there was no hope for her at
all. But her sister's name was not there. She thrust the comtab
back into Faeun's hands. "This can't be right. Check it again."

She lowered her eyes. "Yes sir."

"Actually, get me Commander Mundammi. It
shouldn't have taken him so long to bungle such a simple task."

As Faeun headed to the communication station,
Ardri marched to her office. She fumed while she rounded her desk
and glowered at the screen. She cursed her luck that the
Kearsarge
had been assigned as an escort vessel…a ship that
was about as out of date as they come.

Moments later, the display lit up with
Rashad's stern face. She knew he didn't like her because she was
one of the few people gutsy enough to call him out on his bullshit.
"Commander Mundammi, I'd like you to recount every person currently
aboard your ship. The account you gave me is inaccurate."

"How do you know it's inaccurate? I'd rather
not waste time when I supervised the task myself. Every one of
those people has proper identification."

"You missed Lyneea Zoleki."

"What makes you think I missed her? There are
other ships accompanying us."

"Check your ship again," she ordered. "I'll
ask the others to do the same. You'd better hope you didn't miss
her or I'll be sure to let the admiral know of your negligence,
Commander
."

He frowned. "Fine.
Kearsarge
out."

After his image disappeared, she dropped her
head into her hands…as if Mundammi's utter incompetence wasn't
enough. Her sister was one of the twenty-eight presumed missing.
The captain chastised herself for allowing Lyneea to set foot on
Xur's surface. She should've put her foot down despite all the
begging. At least her sister would only be unhappy with her now
instead of missing or dead.

Within the hour, their companion ships
reported back unable to locate Lyneea Zoleki. The captain forced
herself to be optimistic about the situation since anything less
would turn her heart to ice.

The convoy remained out of touch with the
rest of Astra for the next two days while their engines worked at a
hundred percent capacity. The flaw in their communications network
had never been more glaring. Outside Astra no communication nodes
had been built, which discouraged ships from leaving the known
galactic neighborhood.

As details unfolded about the incident, a
peaceful resolution began to appear less and less possible. The
missing transport belonged to the
Kearsarge
. Her crew
checked the background of the twenty-eight missing and found
nothing to indicate the sabotage. Every ship poured over the
belongings of those missing for any kind of clue. Did someone have
a reason to commit such a blatant act of violence against the
Xuranians or had it been an accident? They could only find more
questions.

Once the ships passed Zion, Captain Lothian
contacted Admiral McKirin and explained what had happened on Xur.
He ordered her to maintain a course to Chara. None of his words
gave her any semblance of confidence regarding their current
predicament.

Ardri had been sitting wearily in her command
chair on the bridge when the
Schenectady
received a response
many hours later. It was Vice President Taylor aboard the
Kearsarge
. She adjourned to her office to respond. His brown
hair framed his square face in long layers, and a short beard
covered his strong jaw line. Because he was rugged yet refined,
most women melted at the sight of him. Ardri wasn't one of those
women.

"The council is in a panic," he told her.
"Everyone is blaming everyone else. It's complete chaos right now.
People found out on ANN almost as soon as our convoy was back in
Astra. Chairman Dodd is playing it cool, but there's no way we're
going to be able to keep a lid on things."

"Have you had a chance to speak with
President Scheidecker?"

"Yes." He paused for a moment. "The man just
cannot be fazed. It seems like he has a plan for everything. He is
going to address the people of UE within the hour. I'm not sure
words will be enough to keep anyone calm in the wake of this, but
he's a strong leader and a respected man. I don't expect any major
problems there. The American Federation, on the other hand, is
anyone's guess. People might decide to take the law into their own
hands. How is your crew holding up?"

She sighed at his attempt to make
conversation. "We've been better. But we'll get through this.
Everyone will."

He offered her a weak smile. "I applaud your
bravery. You really are the finest captain in the fleet."

"Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I do my
best."

His striking image faded away and she rubbed
her brow. Hearing someone like the Vice President of Chara stroking
her ego never got old, but she rapidly forgot his compliment. The
next several months would be trying times for the AC. Who knew what
sort of reparation the Xuranians would require or if negotiation
would even be possible. Would she ever see her sister again? It was
impossible to know.

She punched several buttons on her desk
console and contacted Ensign Vandenburg, the
Kearsarge's
communications officer, who patched her through to the ship's
captain. His image looked the same as it had days ago, as though he
was a wax figurine.

"Commander Mundammi, I'd like to apologize
for earlier. My comments were out of line. It's just…Lyneea is my
sister and it was easier to blame you for a mistake than accept
she'd been left on Xur. I won't let it happen again."

Rashad scratched his bearded chin. "Apology
accepted, Captain. These past few days have been difficult for all
of us. But it's only the beginning, I fear."

***

Nadine Taylor sat at the far end of the
Council Chamber watching her husband pace across the aisles and
crack his knuckles every minute. He acted the same way she felt
inside: confused, scared, and worried. Similar emotions ran high
across all of Astra, as fear of retaliation by the Xuranians struck
terror into the heart of humanity.

They'd only been back on New England for two
days, but damage control had already kicked into high gear. Strict
curfews kept people inside after dark. The police presence on the
streets was tighter than citizens ever recalled seeing it and with
good reason. Isolated bouts of anarchy sprung up when various
groups of people tried to blame one another for the act. Their
investigation on the matter remained ongoing; few clues pinpointed
the cause of the atrocity.

The second lady couldn't help but wonder on
the return flight if Aliane had somehow smuggled herself or one of
her cohorts on board to provoke such an attack. To her dismay,
Aliane had invited a crew from ANN to Superbia for a profile of the
planet's living conditions so all of them had solid alibis. A lot
of people grumbled about peace with the Xuranians, but few of them
seemed brazen enough to start a war. Nadine felt certain at some
point in human history it had been done before…

All of a sudden, President Scheidecker ran by
her toward his VP. He breathed so hoarsely she thought he might
faint. She'd never seen the 350-pound man move that fast. "Chairman
Dodd just received a message from Xur," he panted. "One-way
transmission, voice only. He's authorized me to play it."

She worried she wasn't privy to the
classified information, but when she turned to leave, the President
gestured for her to approach the podium. Even though she wasn't
technically part of his inner circle, the President had a weak spot
for her because she reminded him of his first love. Nadine did her
best not to dishearten him and treated him with respect like the
father she never had.

President Scheidecker punched several buttons
on a console beside him and activated the voice transmission.

"People of Astra…you disappoint us. We
offered you a hand in friendship, and we can now see how grave an
error we made. Humanity is still too childlike for honesty and
reason. Your civilization needs order if it has any hope of
survival, and the risk you currently pose to the galaxy must be
dealt with swiftly and firmly.

"Eleven humans survived the incident and are
in our custody on Xur. We do not wish to cause them injury but will
if you do not comply with our terms. The attack on our people
resulted in the death of our High Queen, Luxina, who was in the
palace when the assault occurred. We demand that you lay down your
arms and surrender peacefully. No harm will befall you unless you
resist. We will institute new laws across Astra and bring stability
to your chaotic nature. Non-compliance is not acceptable. Failure
to comply within one week will be met with force and deemed an act
of war. We hope you will choose prudence in this matter and not
allow foolish pride to cloud your judgment. One week. Decide
wisely."

When the transmission stopped, the three of
them stared at each other dumbfounded. No negotiations—humanity had
to surrender or else.

Nadine watched her husband's blank expression
while he sank into a chair beside him. All the color had left his
face and his skin was taut with goosebumps.

An active communication lit up the screen
behind them. Chairman Dodd's face filled almost the entire wall.
"Unsettling, wasn't it…"

Vice President Taylor scratched his head.
"Has anyone tried to communicate with them? To negotiate?"

"Negotiate," the chairman scoffed. "They've
demanded our unconditional surrender. The time for words is over.
We have to do what some argued we should've done at the
beginning—destroy them."

The second lady's jaw dropped in horror.

"Chairman," President Scheidecker said,
"we're overlooking the fact this might have been nothing more than
an accident. If we could offer some sort of proof, we can still
reach a compromise. Volunteer aid and assistance. Allow them to
colonize Gamma Pavonis. I agree we should consider a worst-case
scenario but not force one."

"You think we should let them dictate the
terms? All they want is permission to occupy Astra without a fight.
Well, I'm calling their bluff on that. I don't think it's worth
enough to them to bother with a war against us when their sun is
dying. A sensible race would value their own lives and ignore the
urge for petty vengeance. And if they come? We'll meet the threat
head-on, not hide under the covers until they lead us away in
chains."

Nadine stopped listening to his mindless
federalist propaganda. The spring prophecies had been made public
last week. Since the day she read it, she'd experienced foreboding
visions on a regular basis. Death. Darkness. Pandemonium. Dear
friends. Deadly enemies. None of it made any sense but the visions
made her hair stand on end with fright. They were about to get in
way over their heads, and there wasn't a thing she could do to stop
it. Chairman Dodd would get the votes he needed to declare war
against the Xuranians. After all, they tried peace and it failed.
And people would rather fight a hopeless cause than surrender their
freedom.