The Commander (12 page)

“Miss Carlson. I was just saying that Mr. Blackburn needs to come with me.”

“Really? Governor Norris said that? How odd. Oh, look. This must be Annie and Luke’s legal team from Seattle.”

A second shuttle was descending rapidly and touched down next to the first one. Annie and half a dozen business suits got out and headed toward Luke. All of the suits were carrying bulky briefcases.

Amanda moved away from Luke and wrapped herself around one of the Major’s arms. “Let’s give these guys a chance to catch up for a second. Is that your airplane?” She looked past the major at the two Ospreys down the ramp. “Those are such cool, helicopter kind of things. I love that whop-whop sound that they make, don’t you, with those great big propellers? One of these days you have to let me take a ride in one, okay?”

“Ma’am,” The major tried to take a step back but Amanda had him in her grip.

“Did you know that Luke has other kinds of aircraft?” She turned her face toward Luke, away from the major, and gave him a frantic wide-eyed glance, nodding her head toward the open flight line. “I would love it if you would let me show you what those are like inside,” she finished, turning back to the Major.

Luke gave her a quick nod.
Get down here,
he told George.
Just one.
A loud thunderclap split the sky, and hovering over the flight line was one of the warships. Slowly it descended, settling in the open space between Sheppard’s C-130 and the Guard’s Ospreys.

The huge disc made everything else on the flight line look minuscule by comparison. The twin cannons on the shoulders indicated its deadly capability. For the first time, Luke appreciated the design work that the engineers had put into it. It was unquestionably clear to everyone on the tarmac that this was a warship from outer space and had more power under the hood than anyone could possibly dream.

Amanda pressed her advantage with the Major. “Did you know that Luke’s team rescued those people from the space station? Don’t you think the governor would like it if the Nevada Guard were the first ones in the country to be seen on television working hand-in-hand with all those nice people from the moon?” She twisted the major around so they were both facing her camera team. One of her assistants stepped forward and held out a cell phone. “Or do you want to call the governor first?”

Luke watched Major Key take a deep breath. The odds were high that the Nevada governor was watching this in real time. The major had been outmaneuvered and was now outnumbered. In the space of five minutes, his initial advantage had slipped away.

Luke suspected that the major’s boss had told him to fly up here and bring this
Luke
guy
in quietly. It was a dumb idea. One of those ideas that middle managers come up with to impress bosses with their initiative. The kind of ideas that don’t do well in the limelight.

In this case, the entire nation had watched the space station rescue on TV. Luke had been floating around in space without a helmet. Carrie and her ponytail was cuter than a bug, riding that scooter and lassoing the ruined station.

When they broadcast the reunion of the ISS crew on the moon talking to mission control, Luke told the entire world that NASA could pick up their people at the Baggs Spaceport in Nevada. A month ago, even a week ago, everyone would have laughed at the “spaceport” designation on the airport’s name. Just like they did all the other airports around the country that had tried it. Except it wasn’t a joke now.

Luke relaxed when he saw the officer sigh.

“Mandy,” Major Key said, smiling, “I’d love to see the inside of that spaceship.”

# # #

After a quick discussion, Major Key and his two NCOs, along with Sheppard and two of his security team, accompanied Amanda and Luke to the warship. And of course, the Seattle news crew and Amanda’s cameraman tagged along to record the event. The warship’s captain, Joe Brady, waited for them at the bottom of the boarding ramp.

“Good to see you again, Commander,” Brady said.

“Thanks, Joe. We have quite a few visitors. Can you give us a quick tour?”

“Of course, Commander.” Brady then looked at the military escorts. “No weapons aboard, however.”

There was a tense moment while Major Key mentally struggled with the restriction. Then he shrugged. “FAA regulations I guess.”

No one corrected his statement, but the idea gave everyone an excuse to comply without losing face. Major Key waved toward the Ospreys for one of his troops to come over. It took several minutes for everyone to divest themselves of all armaments.

Brady gave everyone a big smile. “Please come aboard.” He gestured toward the ship’s interior. “Commander.”

Luke suspected that Brady’s repeated use of the
Commander
title would eventually prompt the Seattle newswoman to question why that was so. Fortunately, Brady gave a running commentary as they walked through the ship. There was surprisingly little to see. Lots of corridors, a gymnasium, galley, break room. He spoke in general terms about the warship’s firepower but there was nothing to really show.

Finally, they stopped before a set of double doors. He explained the doors led to the bridge and asked them not to touch anything while inside. Brady looked at the group for acknowledgement. It was the opening that the news woman was waiting for.

She turned to Luke and in an innocent voice asked, “Why does Captain Brady keep calling you Commander? I’m Leslie Boyle, by the way, Channel 5 News.”

# # #

It was an answer that Luke was well prepared for. It was also one that he didn’t want to give personally and yet had insisted that it not be glossed over. After many long discussions between Luke, Roth, and Amanda, Luke was adamant. They would be open and honest about the alien threat.

His argument was, “If we hold back anything, someone will say that we lied. And that’s a break of trust we can never get back.”

Roth contended that all governments lied. It was expected; Luke had no obligation to spill everything. Amanda tended to agree with Roth.

“The threat affects everyone on the planet,” Luke countered. “That gives them an inherent right to know what’s going on in this solar system.

Just as important, in Luke’s mind, it also gave Moonbase an effective recruiting tool. “Everyone wants to be a hero in their hometown. History proves that nationalism is a powerful force. Don’t you think that applies on a planetary level?”

Roth didn’t think so at all. “Politicians around the world will use that same nationalism to incite resistance to you and what you’re trying to do. They’ll use fear of aliens. You ever see a politician who didn’t use racism and bigotry to instill fear? That xenophobic panic will be aimed right at you.”

“And what if the aliens never show?” Amanda chimed in. “Don’t you think people will see that as a betrayal? They’ll say you used the bogeyman to keep all this wonderful technology to yourself. Luke the Czar. That will be your title then.”

“If that day comes, Amanda, it will be the happiest day of my life. If that happens, Annie and I will move to Kepler-22, change our name to Farmer and Mrs. Jones, and grow little green sheep with splotchy fur.”

In the end Luke laid down the law. When the time came, they would be honest about the encroaching threat. It wasn’t as if anyone on Earth could do anything about it.

“What are we going to call ourselves?” Amanda wanted to know. “We need a name that sounds big. I like PDEF, but that sounds too corporate.”

“How big?” Luke asked.

“As big as the Milky Way?” Roth suggested.

“Yes, exactly.” Amanda said. “We need a name for this alliance that you want to create that’s just that big.”

# # #

Amanda stepped smoothly between Luke and Boyle’s news camera. “Let me answer that, Commander. You’re too shy about your accomplishments. Leslie, Commander Blackburn is the Supreme Commander of the Milky Way Alliance. He protects our solar system from the invaders which threaten us.”

Boyle took a step back in the warship’s corridor. “Invaders?”

“Oh, yes,” Amanda confirmed. “But let’s wait until we’re back on the planet and I can give you a proper briefing. We’ve got handouts.”

“Back on the planet?” Boyle squeaked.

“That’s correct. Didn’t we say? I think we’re already in orbit. Isn’t that right, Captain Brady?”

Brady picked up on his cue and opened the doors to the bridge. A few of his crew members were sitting at their stations. But the only thing everyone saw was the thirty-foot-wide window at the front of the bridge. Few people on Earth ever had a view like this one: The deep black nothingness of space and the blue marble of Earth shining brilliantly below.

# # #

Luke waited patiently for fifteen minutes while the visitors stared out into space. One by one they moved up to the glass where they clustered together in silence. Luke appreciated how they felt. It was less than a year ago when he got his first surprise trip off planet.

When they finally started murmuring to each other, he gave a discreet nod to Brady.

“Okay, everyone,” Brady said aloud. “We’re going to start back. Would all of you please grab hold of that railing? It gets a little disorienting.” He waited while the visitors took a firm, if worried, grip on the long grab bar. “
Ching Shih
, can you take us back to Baggs, please, and set us down where we were before?”

“Course set, Captain,” the ship answered.

The planet below filled the window’s view as
Ching Shih
dipped her nose down. She established a needle-nose force field that spread out thousands of feet in front of her hull so she would penetrate the atmosphere with little effect. No fiery trail would herald her passage; just a sonic boom that no one on the ground would ever hear. The massive gravity drives at the back of her truncated hull pushed her gently toward the surface. She entered the atmosphere headed almost straight down at a mere seventeen thousand miles an hour.

Descending
through sixty thousand feet
Ching Shih
spun effortlessly around her vertical axis and those same drives pulsed again at a fraction of their power, braking softly, reducing her speed from Mach 30 to a few hundred miles per hour. She lowered the nose so she was in a level flight with respect to the surface and used the main gravity plates under her hull to slow for landing, ultimately setting down once again in the exact spot she had lifted from less than half an hour ago. Ninety seconds had elapsed since her captain gave the command to return to the planet.

“
Arriving
at destination, Captain,”
Ching Shih
announced in her quiet, musical voice. Inside her command bridge, the cup of coffee resting on the console in front of one crewman had not budged. Her crew sat relaxed in their seats.

The visitors, by contrast, maintained a death grip on the grab bar, their expressions reflecting a mixture of terror, shock, and disbelief.

“Thank you,
Shih
,” Captain Brady said graciously. “Commander, let me walk you out. Everyone, please follow me.”

# # #

On the flight line, Hubert’s team had set up a large pavilion tent next to the two space shuttles. Annie had the hotel send over two of their airport vans, which were parked near the tent. A couple of the attorneys were loading their bags into the back of the vans.

Luke shook hands with Major Key and invited him to stay around if he wished. “We wouldn’t want it on a regular basis,” Luke said. “But if you want to delay departure, just to get an idea of what’s going on, then by all means feel free. But tomorrow, this ramp area is going to get crowded.”

The major accepted the invitation provisionally, depending on guidance from headquarters; all hostility gone from his attitude. He turned away to head back to his two Ospreys.

“Hubert?” Luke said, turning to find the man.

“Right here, sir. I mean Commander.”

Luke took Sheppard by the elbow and pointed toward the terminal building. “There’s a Mrs. Linda Cummings in there.”

“Right. I saw her.”

“Think of her as my mom. She’s not, but that gives you an idea of what she means to me. I’d like you to put a security detail around her. Keep it unobtrusive. Let her do whatever she wants, but stop anyone from hassling her. That means government, cops, and especially media or sightseers.”

“Got it.” Sheppard turned away to bark orders at his men.

Luke saw Annie talking to Leslie Boyle and Amanda. He walked over to join them.

“Hey, babe,” Annie said. “I was telling them about our recruiting flight tonight. I thought it might be a good thing to put on the news. It will let people know that it’s us who's recruiting. May as well get some free advertising.”

“Great idea,” Luke agreed.

“We’ve got some media checking into the hotel. They’re starting to show up from Reno. If you can keep an eye on Leslie here, Amanda and I will go round them up.”

“Sure. What about your big media briefing?”

“We don’t have enough time before our recruits show up. I thought we’d bring back some of the media, let them film, then go back to the hotel for the brief. There will be a lot of Q&A afterward.”