Future in the Stars Read online

  Sitting on his chaise lounge, looking out over the cliffs at the glistening ocean, Weiskoff sipped his morning latte and bemoaned his loneliness. Close to a year had passed since the Cencore fleet had fled to Old Earth and the Sol system. He missed his wife. He missed his two sons.

  That loneliness and his never-ending hatred towards Marston fueled his slow-burning rage. With a slam of the armrest, Weiskoff shot to his feet and marched to his office. Once there, he activated his secure, military communicator.

  “Vengeance, Vice-Admiral Weiskoff calling. Repeat, Vice-Admiral Weiskoff calling.”

  “Vengeance, here, Admiral.”

  “Get Captain Brewer.”

  “Captain Brewer is not onboard, Admiral.”

  Spaceman Connors cringed as he delivered the news.

  “Where is he?”

  “Planet side, with his family, sir.”

  This last statement raised Weiskoff’s emotional turmoil another notch.

  “Contact him. And contact the other three captains. Set up a video conference within the next hour.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.”

  Without any recognition, Weiskoff broke the connection. Then he spoke at the quant-com sitting on his desk.

  “Get me Marston.”

  “Hello, Vice-Admiral. What may I do for you?”

  “You can get me my destroyers. All twelve of them.”

  “Three have just finished being modified and are currently being prepared for their test runs.”

  “You are intentionally dragging your feet, Marston. You know that I am the defensive line between the Mortek and Humanity. You need to get me my ships.”

  “I assure you, Vice-Admiral, Preceptor Igaklay is modifying the ships as fast as possible. But, even he has limits. We are also tasked with upgrading the ships we found in in the Atlantius system. With the influx of immigrants from Elonia and the human planets, we are limited in the number of construction robots we can commit to the upgrades of your fleet.”

  “What about the frigates?”

  “We haven’t started on them, sir. We decided to focus our attention on the destroyers.”

  “This is not acceptable! I need those ships!”

  “I understand, Vice-Admiral. I assure you, we are running day and night, but our workload is overwhelming.”

  “Get those destroyers to me as soon as possible! The Cencore flotilla should be arriving in the Sol system sometime this month. I plan on taking my fleet there to meet them and apprise the Fleet-Admiral of the situation.”

  “I will convene the board and review your request, sir.”

  “This is not a request, Marston. I am just apprising you of my plans.”

  “Understood.”

  Weiskoff again broke the connection without any acknowledgement.

  Weiskoff refocused on the military communicator.

  “Conners, pick up.”

  “Vengeance, here, sir.”

  “Have you contacted the captains?”

  “Yes, sir. I was just getting ready to connect with you, sir.”

  “Link them up.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.”

  Four windows popped onto Weiskoff’s monitor. Captain Brewer’s displayed a pastoral background.

  “Captains, reassemble your crews. You have two weeks to prepare for action.”

  Captain Bennett of Retribution sharpened his focus. “Action, Admiral?”

  “Yes. We are jumping to Old Earth.”

  “My navigator and I have talked about that. By his calculations that will entail four jumps.”

  “That is correct, Captain. Get your ships ready. All of you.”

  “What about the defense of Cencore?”

  This question came from Captain Ressler, the captain of Requital.

  “Marston is currently testing three destroyers. That should be enough. The Mortek are quiet, probably scheming for a counterthrust. Get Started, now!”

  All four captains responded affirmatively.

  Aboard Griffin - Atlantius Space

  “Our dear Vice-Admiral Weiskoff is his usual, snippy self.”

  “Be nice, Ambassador. It behooves you to practice decorum even with those that are diplomatically challenged.”

  “That’s easy for you to say, oh Commander, my commander. You’ve had more than twenty years to get used to that pompous ass.”

  “And, from those twenty-plus years, I can assure you that he will never change.”

  “He’s still a twit. I wonder how Mack and Sue are coming with their new home.”

  “Igaklay?”

  “My construction robots are almost finished with the main house, Commander. Mack and Sue are currently designing their kitchen and master bedroom. So, they should be able to move their belongings in at any time now. Also, Mz. Sue indicated that she wanted to handle the landscaping.”

  “What color did you paint the nursery?”

  “Beige, Ambassador. Mack and Mz. Sue want the child’s gender to be a surprise.”

  “You know, though. Right?”

  “Of course. I know that they are going to have a healthy girl. Would you like me to present a visual of her attributes and growth rate?”

  “No, Igaklay. Let’s just watch nature take its course.”

  “With the help of my nanites.”

  “Of course. Speaking of settling down, Keiko, where do you want to settle down?”

  “I would prefer Ballison, Krag. But I need to talk with my parents. Where would you want to build a home?”

  “I had thought about Tolimar. Even looked into buying some land. But that was before the Mortek invasion. Other than that, I’ve been homeless and rootless since I was a teenager. So, any place with you is good for me. Which brings us back to your parents. Since we’re making a trip to Yeni Persia, a stop-off at Nyu-Nippon wouldn’t put us out of our way. It would be a good time to talk to them about us getting married.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up, Big Guy. Like I keep saying, my parents are traditional. They will frown on their only child marrying a hakujin.”

  “Don’t try, can’t succeed, Half-pint. Sue. Damn. Lieutenant Carter, how are you doing with the sensors?”

  “I’m getting the hang of them, Commander.”

  “Have you located the next jump drive yet?”

  “Not yet, sir.”

  “You resigned your commission, correct?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then, let’s drop the formality. Since you are going to be Mz. Benton’s, oops, Mrs. Benton-McCauley’s replacement let’s go casual. Just call me ‘captain’ or ‘cap’. What do you like to go by?”

  “Isaac, sir.”

  “And, when we’re not in a formal setting, drop the ‘sir’. OK?”

  “Yes, sir. I mean, OK Cap.”

  “Good. Igaklay, where is your jump drive and the robots?”

  “They just jumped to the outer edge, Captain. Do you want me to give Isaac the coordinates?”

  “No, let him find them. Isaac, this will give you some good practice.”

  “Aye, um, on it, Cap.”

  “Engineer Cansina, how are you coming with learning the workings of Griffin?”

  “She is quite the marvel, Commander. With the mix of Human, Elonian and Ballisonian technology, I would bet that there isn’t another ship like this one in the galaxy.”

  “Not to mention all the toys and goodies Doctor McCauley added. And you get to learn all about her. Are you going to have a complete repair list by tomorrow morning?”

  “I think so, Commander.”

  “In informal settings, just go with ‘captain’ or ‘cap’. OK?”

  “At your command, sir.”

  “And drop the ‘sir’. I’m going to drop your title of ‘Engineer’ and just call you Cansina. Is that alright with you?”

  “Yes, sir. A more personal relationship, would be more preferable.”

  “Good. Now, let’s get another ship ready to jump back to Ballison. Igaklay, would you please contact Gazel
le?”

  “Gazelle Actual here, Commander.”

  “How’d your run go?”

  “All five ships are parked in orbit. I and my crew just landed on Ballison. We’re heading over to HEBA HQ. Taking some R and R.”

  “Enjoy. You deserve it. We’ll have five more ships arriving in a couple of days be on the lookout for them.”

  “Will do, Hawk.”

  “Oy, Cap,” Everyone heard over the coms.

  “That you, Mack?”

  “Ya, Cap.”

  “Are you and the Missis getting settled in?”

  “Ya, we’re coming right along.”

  “Miss you guys,” Sue said from the background.

  “Same here, Sue. Krag keeps calling Mr. Carter ‘Sue’.”

  “So, Mack, what can I do for you?”

  “Well, Cap, we have a wee problem. Me and Sweet Sue went out to Bachama and gave it a look. We found a dome covering a whole Ballisonian community.”

  “Is anyone living there?”

  “Not that we could see.”

  “What did you find?”

  “Not much, Cap. Iggy has been trying to get a peek ever since he woke up. Anything he sent in never came back. And I took a walk in. but, some A.I. killed my nanite suit. I ended up in my all-together.”

  “That had to have been a sight.”

  “You should have seen him, Keiko. He ran out of there like a scalded cat. A shaved, scalded cat.”

  “Now, Love, don’t make fun of my traumatic experience.”

  That is an image I wish to unimagine.”

  Everyone laughed as Keiko said this.

  “You’re telling me that something inside that dome on Bachama kills nanites.”

  “Actually, Cap, anything that has to do with Iggy. It would have done me in, what with my being loaded up with nanites, too. But it gave me a chance to get out.”

  “The solution’s easy. Make Bachama a no-fly zone.”

  “That would be the solution, except for one teeny wrench in the works. While I was in there, I think I saw a Ballisonian spaceship.”

  “We don’t need it. Igaklay can build us one, if we do.”

  “Ya, but, you see, Cap, after I described it to Iggy, he said that he has nothing in his data banks that sound like it. And, for another point, that ship might have the charts that lead us to Iggy’s people.”

  “That’s a new wrinkle. You want me to get the ship.”

  “Well, you can’t do that, Cap. You’ve got the same problem as me. Iggy tech.”

  “Then, you want someone without Ballisonian tech to get the ship.”

  “Iggy tech, Cap. We need someone stripped of their nanites and with only non-Igaklay tech to go in there and fly it out.”

  “It’s not going to be Mack,” Sue flatly stated.”

  “I get it. You want me to find you a non-Igaklay crew to go in there and fly it out.”

  “Ya, Cap. That’s the ask.”

  “We’ll figure something out.”

  Ballison Space Port

  Captain Forsythe, Pilot Mandy Adams and Sergeant Jesse Brown left Gazelle and casually strolled towards the mammoth, silver pyramid as the Captain finished her remote conversation with Krag. Reaching the slanted wall, the three waited for an iris to open. When it did, they entered and vectored towards the casual area.

  As they approached, they saw Addy and Marie, owners of Fairstar and parents of Mandy, lounging on a loveseat. At the sight of their daughter, they jumped up and raced to meet her. The three-person hug lasted long moments.

  Pulling back, Mandy’s father grabbed her shoulders and looked her up and down.

  “Looking good, girl. I like the uniform.”

  “Thanks, Daddy.”

  Marie moved in for another hug and a kiss on her daughter’s cheek.

  “I am glad that you are safe.”

  After being released, Mandy rubbed the kissed cheek.

  “Captain Forsythe saw to that, Mom. She’s really good.”

  “How long are you here for?”

  “I’m not sure. Cap?”

  “We’re shuttling ships from Atlantius. Five at a time. Jack’s Flash is chaperoning the next five. We’ll return for the next batch. Probably around a week.”

  “Oh good. You are all invited to stay at Pa Lucas and Momma Pam’s place. That’s where were staying. It’s big enough for all of us.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. It’s on a lake. You can sail, swim, just crash.”

  “That sounds good, Mr. Adams. Jesse?”

  “I’m in, Captain.”

  “Sounds perfect. We’re in. we’ll get our gear from Gazelle.”

  “There’s one thing, though.”

  “What?”

  “Well, while Mistress Analyn and Sir Mahajani took us out to drop us off, we were attacked.”

  “What?”

  “Just as we arrived, assassins tried to kill Analyn.”

  “Oh, no. is she hurt?”

  “A pretty good cut on her arm. Other than that, no. The same can’t be said for Sir Mahajani. That big cat is in a bad way.”

  “Will he make it?”

  “Yes, Captain Forsythe.”

  Everyone heard Igaklay join the conversation.

  “What kind of shape is he in, Preceptor?”

  “He lost part of his right arm. His small intestines sustained severe damage. As did the quadriceps in his left leg.”

  “Can you heal him?”

  “Sir Mahajani’s arm was too badly damaged for reattachment. And, Ballison doesn’t have the technology to regrow organs, muscles or limbs. But we do have the technology to replace them.”

  “Replace them?”

  “Like growing my avatar. Using the same synthetic paste. Using the proper molecular configurations, I can artificially duplicate the lost materials. Then it is simply a matter of installing the replacements and tuning them to match the activities of the originally lost limb, small intestine section or the quadriceps muscle.”

  “You make it sound so simple, Igaklay.”

  “It is, really. We’ve had this technology for thousands of years. I just need to reconfigure the design parameters to match the Elonian physiology.”

  “That’s good to know. Could you do the same for Human physiology?”

  “I anticipated that need. So, I am building the Human data base at the same time as the Elonian one, Captain.”

  “You are always ahead of us, Igaklay.”

  “That is why I am the Den Griffin Protector, Sergeant Brown.”

  “And smug.”

  “Just stating the facts, ma’am. Just the facts.”

  “And sarcastic. Where did you learn that?”

  “From Mack and Buster.”

  “Of course, you did.”

  Mandy and Jesse just sat, enjoying the banter.

  “Addy, does Commander Marston or Ambassador Suzume know about the assassination attempt?”

  “No, Captain. Mistress Analyn thought that, since it is an Elonian matter, she didn’t want them bothered. You are the first out here to know.”

  “We should tell them,” Jesse stated.

  “Maybe. If we don’t, those two will keep slicing off pieces of hide until there is none left.”

  “Well, I’m not going to bring them the news,” Addy said. “Mistress Analyn told us to keep our traps shut. So, that’s what I’m going to do.”

  While deep in conversation concerning the assassination attempt, Gazelle’s crew and Fairstar’s owners took the short journey to a week of relaxation and recovery.

  Federacy Scientific Research Center

  Communications Specialist Berger climbed the stairs in the large warehouse to the catwalk which passed the second-floor offices and ended at a heavy, high-security door. Since Marson’s and Suzume’s break-in of the Calius Research Center, access had become more restricted, and security had been beefed up.

  The Corporal first pressed his hand to a reader. A small screen displayed
the word ‘accepted’. He then opened his right eye and stared into a small aperture. Again, the small screen displayed as accepted. Finally, he keyed in his personal access code. Heavy bolts withdrew. Corporal Berger pulled the door open. Then he descended another set of stairs, approaching the newly constructed metal box standing in the middle of the research laboratory.

  Within the metal box, in actuality, a Faraday room, Doctors Wellington and Ramsey currently stood, basking in their accomplishment. Within the newly built Faraday cage, without any tools other than battery-powered tools, they had succeeded in stripping down their project. The jump drive which Vice-Admiral Weiskoff had succeeded in recovering from the destroyed Reprisal sat in the same cradle from which Marston had stolen the original one. The two scientists just stared at the naked alien artifact, without its acid cylinder shell and dark matter collector.

  “The bands are still glowing, Professor.”

  “There must be an energy source within the cylinder. Or some sort of capacitor. There’s no telling how long it will last, Mr. Ramsey.”

  “I finished configuring connections on the nuclear battery to match the connections on the dark matter collector.”

  “Did you check the polarity?”

  “Yes, I did. And the voltage. There’s almost five hundred amps at a thousand volts.”

  “We’re going to need a daisy chain of batteries to keep the jump drive running. We’ll work on the design this evening. In the meantime, reconnect the dark matter power source.”

  “Will do, doctor.”

  Just then, the two heard a rap on the heavy security door of the Faraday cage.

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve just received a communique from Vengeance, Professor. She has attained orbit. Vice-Admiral Weiskoff is shuttling down. He will arrive within thirty minutes.”

  “Thank you, Corporal. When the Admiral arrives, take him to the conference room. We will arrive shortly.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Wellington turned to his assistant.

  “Dog and pony time. Make sure you have the video of our progress secured on a data crystal. We’ll transfer it to the main computer system when we get to the conference room.”