Ep.#9 - "Resistance" (4 page)

Abby smiled, this time more genuinely than before. “Thank you, Captain.” She began to turn toward the hatch, then paused. “I suspect your father will be equally proud of his son.”

Nathan watched as she turned and opened the hatch to exit, wondering if she was correct.
Would my father be proud?
he wondered.
Assuming he is still alive.

* * *

Jessica looked at the city skyline approaching from ahead of her as she rolled along in the old truck. She figured she was no more than a kilometer or two from the edge of the city proper. Farm houses were increasingly common on the back road she had been following. Up ahead, the road curved to the left again, taking it farther away from the river on her right.

Jessica looked at her watch. It was almost noon. The old man had mentioned that the Jung patrolled this road around this time. Of course, there was no reason to believe him. There was also no reason
not
to believe him. Just the same, she was beginning to feel like she had followed this road about as far as was safe. She doubted she could simply drive into the city. The transmissions the Aurora had monitored during her recon cruise toward Earth had shown that there was an active underground resistance cell in the greater Winnipeg area. That meant the Jung would have roadblocks and checkpoints. They would be checking IDs and searching vehicles, both of which were complications she wanted to avoid. If she was going to get inside the city unnoticed by the Jung, more discreet tactics would be in order.

Jessica scanned the area as she slowed the old truck and pulled as far onto the shoulder as possible. She continued scanning the area long after she came to a complete stop, waiting for the dust kicked up by her tires to settle. Satisfied that no one was watching her, she shut the vehicle off and removed the keys. She grabbed her jacket from the seat next to her and vigorously wiped down the steering wheel, control surfaces, door handles, and the dashboard. She looked at the inside of the vehicle, thinking about the places she might have touched, then reached up and wiped the handle above the passenger door as well.

Jessica got out of the old truck, pulling her knapsack and jacket out with her. She closed the door and wiped off the handle, then went around to the passenger door and wiped down that handle as well. She paused once more, carefully looking around for anyone that might be looking her way, but there was no one in sight. She resisted the temptation to look upward, wondering if the Jung might be using satellites to monitor ground activity.

She walked around the back end of the truck and squatted down to look underneath. After finding no spare tire, she moved around to the rear driver’s side tire and pulled out the knife she had liberated from the owner of the truck. Using the tip of the knife, she depressed the valve stem and let all the air out of the tire.

After one last look around, she moved quickly into the forest along the side of the road and headed toward the river. This particular section of the forest was only ten or fifteen meters wide. Minutes later, she reached the river’s edge. She looked up and down the river, again checking for onlookers. There was a small bit of smoke wafting up from what appeared to be a small encampment along the opposite bank far to her right, but she could not see anyone nearby. She pulled the keys from her pocket and tossed them into the river with a sweeping underhand motion. She then turned to her left and headed toward the city, moving back under the cover of the forest canopy as she considered the possibility of overhead surveillance once more.

* * *

“Captain,” Commander Taylor said as she entered the captain’s ready room and closed the hatch behind her.

“Yes, Commander?”

“We’ll be fully charged and ready for the last jump in about an hour.”

“You came in to tell me that?” Nathan asked, knowing full well that there was more on the commander’s mind.

Cameron moved closer to Nathan’s desk. “I was wondering if you’d given any thought as to what we’re going to do.”

“I thought we were going to 72 Herculis.”

“I didn’t mean right now. I meant over the next few months.”

“It’s difficult to plan that far ahead,” Nathan said, “especially since we have so little information. Perhaps after we’ve figured out how to replenish our propellant reserves and have established contact with Earth’s resistance, we’ll be in a better position to make such plans. As for now, I’m taking it one day at a time.”

“Surely you’ve considered various strategies to liberate Earth.”

“Actually, I have not.” Nathan leaned back in his chair.

“Nathan, don’t you think that…”

“No, I don’t, Cam,” Nathan interrupted. “Planning ahead and working out a solution for every possible contingency is
your
way of doing things, not mine.”

“I still think it would be best to have at least some sort of long-term plan in mind.”

“Eventually, yes.
That
much I
would
agree with. For the time being, however, I think it best we concentrate on the acquisition of usable propellant, the establishment of communications with the resistance on Earth, and a rendezvous with the Celestia. Honestly, Cameron, can you think of a long-term scenario that
doesn’t
require us to first accomplish those three goals?”

“Of course not, Nathan,” Cameron said. “But it wouldn’t hurt to give it some thought. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I understand. I just believe it’s better to concentrate on the tasks at hand for now. By the time we accomplish them, we’ll not only have a better understanding of the situation, but we’ll also be better prepared to take whatever actions we deem necessary. Right now, without propellant, there is very little we actually
can
do. Until that problem is solved, everything else is just daydreaming.”

“Daydreaming?” Cameron asked, frowning slightly. “Without an end goal, how are you going to recognize opportunities as they present themselves along the way?”

“The end goal is an Earth that is free of the Jung and is safe from reinvasion. That much is obvious. It’s the idea of preparing a strategy without first understanding the broader picture that I object to. Honestly, Cameron, I suspect this is going to be one of those situations where we’ll just have to agree to disagree.”

“No, it’s not. You are the captain, Nathan, and I’ll follow your orders. You already know that. You also know that, as your executive officer, I’ll tell you when I think you’re full of it.”

“Is this one of those times?”

“Close. Very close, but not yet. Don’t worry; I’ll let you know.”

“I’m sure you will.”

“Meanwhile, I assume you have no objections if I continue to plan ahead and work out a solution for every possible contingency.”

Nathan chuckled. “Do I have a choice?”

“Not really.”

“Have at it, then, Commander.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

“Is there anything else?”

“The cheng reports the jump shuttle is finally operational again. However, he is requesting a few test jumps before it goes back into regular service.”

“Not a moment too soon,” Nathan said. “Tell Vlad he gets one test jump, then we have missions for that shuttle. After that, have him divide up the men that had been working on the jump shuttle, half to the Falcon’s repair team and half to Lieutenant Montgomery’s improved jump shuttle project.”

“He’s already planning on doing just that, sir.”

“Very well,” Nathan said. “Make sure our last jump is at least three light years shy of 72 Herculis. That place was a hornet’s nest last time we were here, and Josh and Loki stirred it up a bit. We’ll send the jump shuttle to the outer edge of the system and let them collect old light data for a few hours before we send Loki and the major to Tanna.”

“Yes, sir. Is there anything else, sir?”

“No, Commander. You’re dismissed.”

Cameron turned to exit.

“Commander,” Nathan said before she reached the hatch, “join me in the captain’s mess at nineteen hundred. You can tell me about your long-term strategies then.” A small smile crept back onto his face.

“You may regret that invitation,” she said as she turned to exit.

* * *

“Ensign Delaveaga,” Lieutenant Commander Kovacic greeted.

“Evening, sir,” Luis answered as he made his way to the tactical station on the Celestia’s bridge. Although they had no weapons, the tactical station had been configured by the two civilian technicians stranded on board to display most of the critical systems on the bridge.

“Actually, it’s early morning, at least by Earth Mean Time.”

“Guess I’ve lost track of the time of day, what with all the shift swapping going on.” With only six members of the fleet on the Celestia’s command deck, they had to work in pairs to man the bridge twenty-four hours a day.

“Ensign Goba should be back on his feet in a few days. Until then, we’ll just have to keep juggling things around.”

“Couldn’t we just have one guy monitoring this station and the other guy sleeping in the ready room?” Luis said.

“Isn’t that what you guys are doing already?”

“Not me, sir,” Luis said, feigning innocence.

“Of course not,” the lieutenant commander said. “What was I thinking?”

“Anything new happen while I was gone?”

“Jupiter keeps getting bigger on the screen,” the lieutenant commander said, pointing at the image of the big, orange gas-giant on the tactical display screen. “Other than that, nada.” The lieutenant commander stepped out of Luis’s way. “We are going to miss it, right?”

“I run the numbers every shift at the beginning, middle, and end, sir. They’re always the same. We’re just going to cruise on by. The planet’s gravity will slow us slightly and change our course a full degree, but we’ll miss her for sure.”

“Just checking,” the lieutenant commander said as he patted Luis on the back. “I know you’re pulling back-to-backs, so I’ll be in to relieve you in four.”

“That won’t be necessary, sir. I’ll be fine. We’ve still got plenty of coffee, and I still have more than half the flight manual left to read.”

“As you wish, Ensign.”

Luis settled into his seat behind the tactical console as the lieutenant commander departed. “How’s your back doing, Gus?” he called out to Ensign Schenker at the sensor station.

“Still hurts.”

“Anything interesting on sensors?”

“Nothing but swirls of gas on Jupiter.”

“Still can’t see anything around Earth?”

“Nope. I can’t pick up squat on the short-range passive array, at least not at this distance. You’d think they would have installed the long-range stuff, knowing they were going to send us on a one-way trip into deep space and all.”

“You’d think,” Luis said. After so many shifts together, Luis had learned that it was better to just agree with the ensign than to argue with him. It made for an easier shift.

“It just sucks not knowing how many Jung ships are out there,” Ensign Schenker said. “I don’t mind the tedium so much, and I am seeing a lot of cool stuff on Jupiter’s moons. I just wish I could see what’s going on farther away. Short-range sucks.”

“I hear ya, my friend,” Luis said. “So, what will it be tonight? Another old movie from the database, or more Jung propaganda broadcasts from Earth?”

“Neither,” Gus said. “I’m sick of movies, and I can’t stand to listen to more ramblings about the glory of the empire and about how our political leaders had been enslaving us for all those decades. I’m probably just going to go crash in the ready room like usual. I think that couch helps my back.”

“I guess it’s back to the flight manual for me, then,” Luis said. He opened up the digital flight manual on one of his displays and began reading where he had left off.

* * *

“Mister Sheehan and I will land in this valley,” Major Waddell said, pointing at the holographic rendering of the canyons on the command briefing room’s conference table. “It is just north of the same waterfall that he and Mister Hayes flew through. That should put us close enough to the cave to reach it before sunrise.”

“You’re going to space jump into a narrow canyon at night and land near a massive waterfall?” Nathan asked, finding it hard to believe that anyone would choose to attempt such a thing on purpose.

“The auto-navigation systems on the Corinari space-jump rigs are precise enough for this jump,” Lieutenant Montgomery said. “However, the Ghatazhak rigs would be better suited to the task.”

“That may be so,” Major Waddell said with a nod, “but I’d feel more comfortable using equipment that I am familiar with.”

“How much better suited?” Loki asked nervously. “I have no preferences, other than personal safety, that is.”

“The Corinari rigs will be fine,” Major Waddell insisted. “The mist from the falls blows south through the canyon. According to Mister Sheehan, it is quite heavy and should serve to obscure the view of our descent from anyone in the valley south of the falls. The section of the canyon north of the falls is unsettled. Therefore, our risk of detection should be minimal.”

“Why is it unsettled?” Cameron said.

“Probably because you’d have to be a mountain goat to want to live there,” Lieutenant Yosef said. “It’s pretty rugged terrain, for the most part.”

“Using the logs from the terrain-following sensors on the Falcon,” Major Waddell said, “we were able to find a suitable landing site. It is a small plateau approximately thirty by eighty meters.”

“That’s a small target,” Major Prechitt pointed out.

“And if you miss your target?” Nathan asked.

“We will not miss,” Major Waddell proclaimed with confidence.

Nathan looked at Lieutenant Montgomery for a second opinion.

“Without weather data from this world, one cannot factor in the numerous variables involved. Assuming the weather at the time of their descent is similar to that during which the Falcon was flying, I see nothing that might significantly diminish their chance of an accurate landing.”

“Don’t you mean ‘safe’ landing?”” Loki wondered aloud.

“You should be in politics, Lieutenant,” Nathan mumbled. He looked at Cameron.

“There are five moons orbiting Tanna,” Cameron began. “The fifth moon, the smallest of the five, is the moon that has the Jung fighter base on the surface. The orbits of the five moons are somewhat dissimilar, but the fifth moon’s orbit is even more dissimilar. It is lower and faster than the other four. We were able to calculate windows during which it will be safe for the shuttle to jump into nearby space in order to communicate with the landing party. I have prepared a communications schedule that will provide comm opportunities at intervals of approximately every six and a half hours, give or take an hour. The window will last five minutes, no longer. The shuttle must jump in and out during that time in order to use the positions of the other moons to avoid detection by the asteroid base. This is all based on shipboard time, of course. I have no idea how the people of Tanna track their time of day.”