Ep.#9 - "Resistance" (35 page)
Read Ep.#9 - "Resistance" Online
Authors: Ryk Brown
“
We’ve got lots of screens back here and more people. Patch all the cameras back to us as well, and we’ll help out. Meanwhile, you watch the passive sensors for anything out of the ordinary. I doubt they’ll be back soon. It takes several hours just to go around the back side of Jupiter.
”
“Yes, sir.” Luis switched off his comm-set, leaned back in his chair, and sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.
“So you really don’t think she was telling the truth?” Devyn asked.
“Devyn, I want Nathan to be alive, too. He was my best friend for four really long years. I even took him back to spend a couple weeks with my family. He was like a brother to me. But captain of the Aurora? No way. The guy barely passed basic flight.”
“I always thought he was pretty smart.”
“Smart, yes,” Luis agreed. “Just irresponsible. He didn’t start taking things seriously until his third year. There’s just no way he would be in command of the Aurora, even if she did survive.”
Luis leaned forward and pressed a button on his console. The main view screen switched cameras.
“Which view is this?” Devyn asked.
“Primary view,” Luis explained as he rose from his seat at the tactical station and moved to the command chair in the middle of the bridge. “It’s pretty much the same as if we were standing on the hull directly above us.” He sat down in the command chair, slowly rotating from side to side as he looked over the massive, spherical view screen. “It’s as good a place to watch as any right now. At least I can see everything easily from here.”
“It is a pretty nice view,” Devyn said, looking out at Jupiter as it filled most of the view beyond the surface of Metis.
A brilliant blue-white flash suddenly filled the screen, washing the entire bridge with its blinding light. Both Luis and Devyn instinctively raised their hands, palms forward, to shield their eyes from the flash.
“What the…” Luis exclaimed, nearly falling out of the command chair.
The flash subsided as quickly as it had come. Luis lowered his arms and looked at the view screen. Directly in front of them was the Aurora, upside down and hovering only a few hundred meters above them, her forward section directly above them.
“Oh, my God,” Devyn whispered, her voice taken from her by the shock of what she was seeing.
“
Bridge! Kovacic! Are you seeing what we’re seeing?!
” the lieutenant commander called over the comm-set.
Luis ignored the lieutenant commander’s hails, transfixed by the impossible image he was seeing before him.
“
Delaveaga!
” the lieutenant commander repeated. “
Can you hear me?! Is that what I think it is?
”
Something beeped. Devyn turned away from the view screen toward the comm station behind her, moving up onto the platform and behind the primary comm console. “We’re being hailed,” she said in disbelief.
Luis turned around. “From…” he couldn’t say the words.
“I think so,” Devyn answered. She looked at Luis, who stood there staring at her, his faced covered with indecision. “Shouldn’t we answer?”
Luis’s eyes were wide. “Yeah,” he whispered, still in a state of shock.
“
Luis!
” the lieutenant commander called over the comm-set. “
Answer me, damn it!
”
Luis continued to stare at Devyn as she accepted the hail. “They’re asking for video.”
“Put it up,” Luis answered meekly as he began to turn around.
“
Mister Delaveaga,
” Nathan said over the comms.
Luis spun around, not believing his ears. There, on the view screen in front of him, was the image of his friend, Nathan Scott, his image filling the entire screen. He was on the bridge of the Aurora, sitting in a rather relaxed position in the command chair with staff working busily about him. He was smiling from ear to ear. “Nathan?”
“
Glad to see you survived, Luis,”
Nathan answered, sitting up straighter in the command chair.
“Is it really you?” Luis asked, still in disbelief.
“
Yeah, it’s really me.
”
“But, how…”
“
Listen, buddy, we’re kind of in a hurry here. So if you’d be so kind as to disarm your charges and prepare to be boarded, I’d really appreciate it.
”
Luis just stared.
“
I can make it an order, if you’d like,
” Nathan said jokingly, tugging at his collar to show his captain’s rank insignia.
“Sure,” Luis finally answered. “I mean… Yes, sir?”
* * *
Eli Scott stood in front of the big, picture window that looked out from his office across the sea of lights in the city below. He had looked out this window many times, staring at the city of Geneva that served as his seat of power as the Jung-appointed Governor of Earth. All his adult life, he had dreamed of such power, and now he had it.
The massive double doors at the far end of his lavish office split in two, opening just enough to allow one man, his chief of intelligence, to enter. The chief’s boots clicked on the marble floors as he approached, each tap echoing through the room.
“Have you captured the Celestia?” Eli asked as he turned from the window to address his subordinate.
“Not exactly,” the man answered. His English was perfect, although some of his Jung accent had begun to creep back in since the invasion. “There has been a complication.”
“General,” Eli said, disappointment in his voice, “don’t tell me the admiral led us on another wild goose chase.”
“I’m afraid it’s worse than that, sir,” the general answered. “This time, he led us into a trap.”
Eli sat down and put his elbows on his desk, covering his face with his hands in exasperation. “How bad?”
“I’m afraid one of our cruisers has been badly damaged.”
“And how did this occur?” Eli asked.
“When the cruiser approached the asteroid named by Admiral Galiardi as the hiding place for the Celestia, the asteroid exploded. Several hundred men were killed. The ship is now limping her way back to Earth orbit and will require extensive repairs.”
“That leaves us with what?”
“One battleship, three cruisers, four frigates, and two gunboats, sir.”
“That doesn’t seem like enough to me,” Eli said, his eyes narrowing with anger, “not after seeing how easily the Aurora destroyed two of our cruisers with… whatever that weapon was.” Eli looked up at the general. “I don’t suppose you’ve determined where the Aurora got such weaponry.”
“No, sir, we have not.”
“So the good admiral has tricked us again, has he?” Eli exclaimed, almost delighting in his subordinate’s string of failures.
“It appears that this has been his intent all along,” the general said, “feed us false information mixed in with legitimate, yet low value, targets in order to keep us believing the information he provides. I suspect that there are more traps waiting for us and that it is the admiral’s job to lead us to them.”
“Most clever, that man. Always has been.”
“He has been seriously punished for his deception. Unfortunately, we assess an eighty-seven percent chance of his continued survival, and only a twelve percent chance he will provide us with any more useful information. May I suggest we stop wasting our time interrogating Admiral Galiardi and proceed with reconditioning?”
“Very, well. If he survives, you may proceed with reconditioning.” Eli took a deep breath, looking at the general. “Have you any other bad news to report?”
“No, sir,” the general answered. “Actually, I have some rather good news to report as well.”
“Do tell, General,” Eli said, his face becoming more optimistic.
“Various other intelligence sources have yielded an interesting prize: a man with a surprising amount of information, especially considering his lack of training in interrogation resistance.”
“Really? Who is this man?” Eli wondered.
The general smiled. “Your father.”
Thank you for reading this story.
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COMING SOON
“LIBERATION”
Episode 10
of
The Frontiers Saga
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