Out of the Black (Odyssey One, Book 4) (75 page)

“Captain . . .”

Eric looked to where Admiral Gracen was standing. “Yes Admiral?”

“Should we not call for reinforcements? The other Heroics could respond . . .,” she offered.

“I will if you wish, but Admiral, if they light off their drives beyond Earth’s gravity, the enemy is sure to detect them . . .” Eric said slowly. “If that happens . . . they don’t need us anymore.”

Gracen sighed, but nodded. “A fair point, Captain.”

Eric nodded, looking to the rest as he raised his voice. “We have two mission objectives from this point forward. First, we have to delay the enemy as long as possible using any means we can. Every
minute
they’re not in Earth’s orbit is another minute longer the Earth can build munitions to destroy these things wherever they may be. Second, we have to savage the swarm as much as humanly possible. They cannot be allowed to return to Earth’s orbit in anything even vaguely resembling their current strength.”

He looked around. “Am I quite clear?”

No one spoke, but the nods and looks of determination were enough for him.

“Very well,” he said, smiling peacefully. “Miss Lamont, if you would be so kind as to sound general quarters?”

“Sir?” Susan blinked, distracted and unfocused for a moment.

“Beat the drums, Susan,” Eric said. “Call us to war.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

There was no confusion in her voice this time.

“Sir?”

On the
Achilles’
bridge there was enough noise that Roberts missed the call initially.

“Sir.”

Roberts turned around as his comms officer caught his attention. “What is it, Janice?”

“Flash traffic on the high-priority channels, all across the Confederacy, sir,” she answered.

That wrenched his attention from the deep-space track and back to the present location. “I didn’t know we were patched into that.”

“Officially?” She had the decency to blush.

Roberts shook his head, holding a hand up. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

“Do you not want to know what it’s all about either?”

“Let’s not go that far.” He smiled, white teeth flashing briefly as he walked over. “I assume it’s Drasin connected?”

“Yes sir, but more than that . . . Sir . . .” She hesitated. “Are you aware of Operation Shiva?”

Roberts grimaced, but nodded, “Yes. I was flashed into that before they dropped the first bomb. The President didn’t want anyone panicking.”

Susan nodded. “This is related. They’re shifting stance. People are a little panicked now.”

“Why?”

“Apparently the drone population in the cities was a decoy,” she said. “They’ve located over a dozen mass nests, all in mines rich in rare earth minerals.”

Roberts was quiet for a moment, eyes flicking to the space track. He wanted nothing more than to be dealing with the aliens out there, but it seemed that the ones here on Earth were more immediately dangerous after all. Slowly he nodded. “Give me a dispatch comm to all Heroics.”

Janice just had to tap a single key to make that happen. “You’re on, Captain.”

“This is Roberts,” he said simply. “I want all Heroics to shift to ground support and intel gathering as of this moment. Flash traffic from the surface indicates that the alien drones have created multiple large nests in areas rich in rare earth materials. Scan those areas, find the enemy, and destroy them where they sit. Roberts out.”

Janice closed the comm as he glanced back at her. “I want a private comm to Confederacy Command and Control. I’ll take it in my office.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

Sun looked over the intelligence feed, eyes narrowing as he read the reports from the other Heroics. The Confederacy
was a few steps ahead of the Block on this matter, he realized quickly. Someone over there had to have gotten lucky to spot the enemy movements.

He walked over to his communications officer. “I require a link to the ground forces. I understand that Colonel Reed is on the ground?”

“Yes Captain. He is liaising between our, I mean, Block forces,” communications officer Yeing Tao answered. She tapped a few commands. “The colonel is standing by, Captain.”

“Thank you, Yeing,” Sun said, walking back to his station. “Colonel, this is Captain Sun.”

“I hear you, Captain. What’s going on?”

“We have new intel from your SOCOM division in the Confederacy,” Sun said. “They seem to believe that the city forces are a distraction. They are reporting massive enemy forces in mines containing large concentrations of rare earth elements. China has significant deposits in the northern sections. Still, I believe we may have . . . as you say, a problem.”

“Shit,” Reed swore. “I’ll let the locals know. You have a plan?”

“I’m going to shift the
Bellerophon
to examine those regions,” Sun said. “In the meantime I am detaching all of our assault shuttles to your command. If we find what I believe we will find, I will authorize laser strikes immediately. You may be required to put boots on the ground, as you say, to confirm that we’ve eliminated the enemy forces.”

“Roger that,” Reed answered. “Good hunting.”

“And to you, Colonel. I fear we both will have our fill of the hunt before this is over.”

“Speak for yourself, Captain. I just got in on this game,” Reed answered with a feral tone in his voice. “This is what I live for.”

“You need a better reason to live, Colonel,” Sun answered dryly. “Sun out.”

He settled back, sighing, then nodded to his helmsman. “Take us north, over the Gobi toward the resource mines.”

“Yes Captain.”

“What is happening, Colonel?”

Reed glanced over to the Block commander who had been assigned to him. “The
Bellerophon
is heading north to investigate something that might be happening.”

The colonel looked up, and indeed the huge bulk of the alien warship was smoothly moving out from where it had been holding position over the city. He knew that it was a Block captain in charge, but honestly he felt better with the massive object moving away.

He just couldn’t shake the feeling that it was going to fall on him.

“Shiva One Two, we have a new tasking.”

“Well it’s about time,” Captain Hiller grumbled, glancing over at his copilot. “You’d think everyone was on a coffee break down there.”

He sighed, thumbing open the comm channel. “We’re standing by, Control. New coordinates.”