The Legacy of Earth (Mandate Book 2) (29 page)

“Advanced training. Part of boot camp. UNSC recruits spend some time on a surface ship before getting shipped up here.”

We sat and ate for a few minutes. The silence was uncomfortable, so I said, “What are your plans next? Going back home?”

Jazdie smiled. “I’m going to hitch a ride back to
my
ship, that’s what!”

“
Your
ship?”

“Hell, yes! Captain Reilly is dead. Salvage rules apply. I was the last crew member left alive.”

“I don’t mean to argue, Jazdie, but
someone
attacked the Lexington after leaving you behind.”

“Why the hell would anyone
do that
?” Jazdie said forcefully. “Who would be stupid enough to take on a Navy ship? And,
why
would they need to? Just a cargo ship, minding our own business, thank you very much. . . .”

Dallas stared at the table, then looked up at her, “Jazdie, you know what? That’s a damned good point. Why the hell, indeed. It only antagonizes the military. Puts you on their search & destroy list.”

She nodded. “That’s what I told your boss, the admiral. Then two men escorted me out, and I heard them talking about that on my way out.”

Chapter 29
Reunion

“GENERAL QUARTERS!”

Jazdie jumped out of her chair, startled. I stood and looked around at the other spacers. They also looked surprised. An alert sound filled the room.

“This is not a drill! Battle stations! All crew to your assigned ships and stations, on the double!”

“Wow,” Jazdie said.

“I gotta go!” I said over my shoulder while trotting toward the door after several other spacers.

The station’s corridors were flooded with people, making it difficult for crews to get to their ships. I made my way toward the docking bay, cringing every time the announcer repeated, “This is not a drill. All personnel to their assigned battle stations!”

I made my way through the docking bay corridor from the center of the station. It was not a huge station, but large by human standards, dwarfing the 20-year old European science station. Leave it to the military. If they do anything, right or wrong, it will be large. You don’t notice how big the place is until you have to be somewhere in a hurry.

“What the hell is that?” Adm. Reynolds shouted uncharacteristically as he strode onto the Skydock bridge, which was set up like the bridge of a ship with additional consoles to manage the docks as well.

“Admiral on the bridge!” an officer announced. The bridge crew was trained to remain at their posts but the few officers who were already standing saluted.

“As you were,” Adm. Reynolds said dismissively. Then he turned to the officer on the deck, looked at him carefully, and said, “Senior Lieutenant . . . Bridges?”

“Yes, admiral. Orders, sir?”

“Where’s Commander Beckett?”

“The commander was off duty, admiral. He’s on his way, sir,” Bridges said.

Adm. Reynolds looked again at the central screen. “Alright, lieutenant. Contact the Illustrious and the Lexington. Bring them up on the other two screens.”

“Aye, sir,” Bridges said. He quickly motioned to the comm officer to carry out the order. The screen on the left came up first, showing the face of Captain Hugo Stevens.

“Admiral, we’re tracking the ship,” he said.

“Captain, I need you to get out there and engage that ship. Get us some intel. Find out who they are. That’s not your typical T3 freighter.”

“Yes, admiral! We’ll depart momentarily.”

“Very good,” Adm. Reynolds said. “Keep me apprised. Skydock out.”

The second screen came up, showing the face of an officer. “Lexington here. Senior Petty Officer Anton Devlin, sir.”

“Petty officer, keep this line open until Captain Long arrives.”

“Yes, admiral.”

Commander Beckett entered the Skydock bridge at a quick trot and said, “Report!”

“Sir, we’re—”

“Ah, Admiral Reynolds,” he said, interrupting the officer on deck. “Thank you, Lt. Bridges.”

“Aye, sir,” Bridges acknowledged, then assumed the executive officer’s post.

“Commander,” the admiral said.

“Admiral,” the commander said. “That’s a strange configuration.”

Captain Dandere Long appeared on the right bridge screen. “Admiral Reynolds. Commander Beckett.”

“Captain,” they both said in greeting.

“What do we know?” Long asked.

“The ship is two and a half million miles away. Thirteen light seconds. Which means our RADAR pings are delayed. Heading this way at extremely high velocity,” Cmdr. Beckett said.

“Extremely high?” the admiral said. “How fast are we talking about here?”

Beckett nodded to Bridges. The center screen showed a telescopic view of the unknown ship with sensor data now visible.

“You getting this, captain?” Admiral Reynolds asked.

Captain Long whistled. “Yes, we are. That can’t be one of ours! I mean, human—T3 or some rival corporation. No one has anything like that.”

“Commander, please get Captain Stevens back on the line,” the admiral said.

Beckett nodded to the comm officer. A moment later, the left screen showed the bridge of the Illustrious.

“We’re underway, admiral,” Captain Stevens said.

“Captain, what do you think of this data?” the admiral said.

“One second. . . .” he said and glanced at another screen. “Surely
not
!”

“It’s confirmed,” Captain Long said. “Two-sixty.”

“
Two-sixty?
Two
hundred
and sixty?” Stevens said, as if sounding it out would illustrate some flaw in the data. “Surely that’s a sensor error.”

Reynolds said, “No, Hugo. The number is correct. We’re most likely going to make history today, gentlemen.”

“My god! Are you saying—” Stevens said.

“Yes, quite,” the admiral said. “Not human. Mere speculation at this point, however.”

“We’re underway now, admiral,” Long said.

“Gentlemen, best speed to intercept, and we’ll see what they do.”

“At their speed, they’re calling the shots here, admiral,” Stevens said.

“Of course, but going out to greet them sends a message. First, that we’re capable of meeting them out there, on
our terms
. Second, that our world is off limits without an invitation. Just guarding our shores, folks.”

Captains Stevens and Long nodded simultaneously on the two screens. Although they took orders from the admiral, as captain, each man was the master of his ship and would carry out the admiral’s orders in his own way, bringing his own experience to the task.

The comm channels winked out. The two screens switched to an exterior camera view from the aft of each ship looking forward, peering between two of the bulky reactors. The admiral hit a button on the command console, causing the left screen to switch to the station’s telescope feed and brought up a tactical display on the right, showing Earth, Moon, Skydock, the Illustrious, the Lexington, and the incoming mystery ship. The navy ships were slowly accelerating, but in contrast, the bogey’s icon was visibly moving.

“ETA on the bogey?” the admiral asked.

“At present speed, assuming it doesn’t slow down, it will reach us in two hours and ten minutes,” Bridges said.

“My god, but that’s fast!” Beckett said with a tone of awe. “Our cruisers can’t even make a tenth of that velocity.”

“Even with constant acceleration?” Bridges said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

“Touché,” Beckett said, “given about two months of acceleration. I’ll venture a guess: our bogey out there doesn’t need that much time.”

“Impossible to speculate until we know more,” Bridges said.

“Admiral, the bogey is at five hundred thousand and has not shown any signs of slowing yet.”

“Open a channel to both ships, audio only,” Reynolds ordered.

“Channels open,” the comm officer said.

“Illustrious, Lexington, slow and hold at ten thousand miles. I don’t want you too far from the station if this situation goes sideways. Our bogey is a half-hour out.”

Both captains acknowledged the order.

“Oh, sir! We’re being hailed . . . by the unknown ship!” the comm officer said.

Reynolds shared a surprised glance with Beckett, who then nodded to the comm officer.

“. . . —port ship Arianne calling Earth. Anybody home? Dammit, why don’t those people ever pick up the phone? I’m gonna put this on auto transmit. . . .”

Stevens’ jaw dropped.

Adm. Reynolds cleared his throat. “This is Admiral Reynolds of the UNSC Skydock Station. Identify yourself, please.”

“Oh, shit! Someone’s there!”

Reynolds shared an amused look with Beckett while scuffling sounds were heard over the channel.

“Ha, ha, ha! The UNSC! I’ll be damned!”

“Excuse me, sir,” Reynolds said, “but would you
please
identify yourself and explain how in the
hell
you are piloting that ship. . . .”

More laughter. “Sorry, sir. It’s just damned good to hear the voice of another human for a change. I’m tired of these boring old bastards!”

More scuffling sounds could be heard.

“Sorry, sir. We’re kind of fighting over the mike. We let the kids man the comm station for the past few days and . . . maybe that wasn’t such a great idea.”

“Sir,” Reynolds said forcefully, “who
the hell
are you?”

“Oh, that. I’m Captain Grant. Andy Grant. Of the . . . I suppose her official name is . . . HCS Arianne.”

“Captain Grant, what, pray tell, does HCS stand for? I do not recognize any such government.”

“Ha-ha! Of course not. We’re from Harmony Colony, sir. This is our ship. And, if you don’t mind, we’ve come back to Earth to check up on things. Update you all on a few problems brewing. Sorry, sir, but in the mix-up, I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name.”

“Admiral Reynolds on board the UNSC Skydock Station,” he recited.”

“Admiral? Ah, and I see you’ve sent us an escort. That’s friendly.”

“Captain Grant, is it? Please enter a standard geostationary orbit and rendezvous with Skydock Station. Illustrious and Lexington will escort you in.”

“I guess we should slow this tug down, then,” Andy said to Jolene and the others who had crammed into the bridge which was surprisingly small compared to the rest of the ship. “Anyone know how to reach Dee?”

“Sir? Captain Grant?”

“
Yes
, admiral?”

“May I ask how you came into possession of such a remarkable ship?”

“Ha-ha! Inquisitor designed and constructed her. Hell of a job, too.”

Captain Long said, “This is Captain Long of the UNS Lexington. Are you all just . . .
humans
? What the admiral and the rest of us would like to know is, where did you come from, and in such an advanced ship?”

More background noise came over the line. They heard Captain Grant’s muffled voice say, “Well, go get him!”

“One moment, admiral,” Andy said.

The moment stretched to five minutes.

“Here he is, admiral. Sorry for the wait.”

“Hello,” an elder man said, and then cleared his throat. “My name is Jack Seerva. I can answer your questions although Captain Grant was doing a fine job.”

“Seerva!”

* * * *

“Mr. Seerva, this ship is extraordinary. The scale is so enormous I’m at a loss for words,” Captain Long said.

“Welcome aboard, gentlemen. We’re honored,” Jack said, with Andy, Megumi, Chase, Daniel, Emma, and Jolene standing with him, and the others behind them.

“Indeed,” Admiral Reynolds said. “I admit to feeling overwhelmed by the scale myself.”

“How do you manage the power distribution with systems spread out so far from engineering?” Captain Stevens asked.

“Gentlemen, please!” Jack said. “I’ll try to answer your questions, but you’re going to have to put them on hold for the time being. For one, I don’t have the technical expertise to answer them; and two, we have to impart some crucial information first. Earth is in danger.”

“Danger? What kind of danger?” Reynolds asked.

“This way, please,” Jolene said, directing them down a hall from the airlock.

“Admiral, I still think this was an unnecessary risk!” Stevens whispered intensely into Reynolds’ ear.

Reynolds glared and gestured with his hand in a downward motion for Stevens to calm down.

“But, all three of us here, they could—”

“Hugo, we’re in no danger. Do you know who Seerva is?”

“Y—yes, of course, but—”

“No buts. Just relax. You don’t know the man like I do.”

“This way, gentlemen,” Jolene said, guiding them into what appeared to be a mess hall. Huge windows afforded a view of Skydock and Earth.

“Marvelous!” Reynolds gasped as he fast-walked to the first ceiling-high window. “Simply marvelous. I’m awestruck.”

Skydock looked absurdly small next to the HCS Arianne. The admiral glanced down at the Illustrious and Lexington, docked nearby. “They’re not even a
tenth
the size! And that’s the best we can build at present. Why such a scale? And how did you build it?”

Jack gestured for the three officers to sit at a large conference table as others brought refreshments.

“Strictly speaking, admiral, we didn’t build this ship. That is, those of us here, in this room.”

Reynolds looked around. “You have an engineering crew elsewhere?”

“In a manner of speaking, yes, a crew.”

“What’s the catch, Mr. Seerva?”

Jack looked at Chase and smiled. “The catch, admiral? Well, we had some help. No, let me be more specific: we didn’t build this ship. It was a gift.”

The admiral nodded to his two companions as if confirming his suspicions. But then, he appeared to reach the next logical conclusion.