Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance Page 21

  Chapter 91 – The Newsies

  Richard Collins was still in business, but his readership had been slipping steadily since the alien ships had headed back toward Jupiter. He had been lucky not to be shut down after publishing the details of the Lake Victoria debacle. With over 4,000 readers camping out around his office during the weeks following his plea for help, he had been spared from being raided by the FBI.

  However, with the lack of new information on the aliens for the past couple of months, his readership had dwindled to less than half of its peak circulation. The other bloggers with whom he had contracted were still supplying some great stories about what was going on around the NAU and what the NAU was hearing from other countries. Stories about potential responses to the aliens ranged from complete appeasement to declaring all-out war.

  In between these extremes were proposals to build hidden enclaves of individuals to carry on the race. Many locations were proposed for such enclaves. Some governments wanted to begin building colonies under the sea. Others proposed building the enclaves deep under mountain ranges. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out which countries supported undersea vs. under-mountain enclaves. However, all of these ideas were still in the proposal stages, and no country had yet to disclose that any actual construction had begun.

  Now, however, a feed from “The Insider” indicated that the scout ships were almost back to the mother ship and that the USpN convoy would be in orbit around Jupiter in time to monitor the return of the scouts. Richard was hoping the information provided would be enough to regain the interest of his New York City readers.

  Chapter 92 – Cabin Fever at HG Rickover

  Sted was starting to feel a bit confined after staying on Rickover for over ten months. Life with Jessica was challenging but always fun and exciting. It was just that staying in any one place for very long was not in Sted’s DNA. Jessica could sense that Sted was becoming a little unsettled and decided it was time to tackle the problem head on.

  “So, Sted, I can sense that something is not quite right with you lately. Care to share?”

  Sted felt like a deer caught in the headlights. Not knowing what to say because he was afraid of hurting Jessica’s feelings, he squeaked out a non-responsive “I love you.”

  “That may be the case, Sted, but you’re avoiding the question! If something isn’t right between us, I need to know about it. If it’s something else altogether, I need to know about that, too. I know you love me, and I hope you know that I love you, but we have to communicate our feelings in order to maintain a healthy relationship. So, face the music, Mr. Richardson. Just spit it out, and we’ll deal with the consequences!”

  “I guess I’m feeling a bit trapped. Not with our relationship, just trapped on this shipyard. I don’t feel I’m contributing to this problem with our ‘visitors’ in a meaningful way. There has got to be more I can do to help, but I just don’t know what it is!”

  Jessica smiled. “Now, was that really so hard? I knew you were getting fidgety for the last several weeks, but you never really let me know how you’re feeling. Do you think you can hide things like this from me?”

  “I guess I really didn’t know what the problem was myself until the last couple of days,” Sted replied. “I’m trained to handle long missions in space, and this is certainly not the longest post I’ve endured. The problem is that I have done all that I can working on the Deltas and making suggestions for the new Epsilon class fighters, and now I’m just sort of hanging out with no real purpose.”

  “Okay,” Jessica said, “what do you say we ask Cam for some advice on how you can be more helpful? Perhaps he can request that the Navy reassign you to the AMC shipyard and get you dispatched back to Luna, with me tagging along, of course!”

  “How can that happen with the restrictions the Navy has placed on activity in the belt?”

  “Perhaps those restrictions are not as necessary as they were,” Jessica said. “The three alien vessels are almost back to Jupiter by now. I would think it’s about time to restart the asteroid mining missions and get the shuttles moving back and forth to Luna on a restricted basis. We’re running out of key materials here at Rickover anyway, and soon construction on Voyager III will grind to a halt. How are they going to deploy your new fighters if there’s no carrier ship?”

  “Thank you, ‘Fleet Admiral Browning’,” Sted replied as he stuck his tongue out at her. “I’m glad they left someone reasonable in charge of this operation!”

  Jessica looked at him in feigned surprise. “You mock me? Wait and see, Mr. Smarty-pants. I’m going back to AMC headquarters tomorrow to record a request for Cam. He has quite a bit of pull with the Admiralty, and if he says he needs you on Luna, they might just listen to some common sense.”

  Chapter 93 – Intelligence Summit

  The intelligence summit was being held onboard the Navy’s orbital headquarters platform in high Earth orbit. Vice Admiral Bunting, in his capacity as the chief intelligence officer on Luna, had been ordered to attend by Admiral Holcroft, and he welcomed the opportunity.

  As he exited the Navy’s lunar shuttle through the boarding tube, he was met by Lieutenant Manzelli, Admiral Brooks’ flag aide.

  “Good morning, Lieutenant,” Bunting said as he snapped off a crisp salute. “Admiral Brooks must be in one big hurry to see me if he’s sending his aide to pick me up.”

  “Yes sir,” Manzelli replied as he returned the salute. “The Admiral and Secretary Miller request your immediate attendance in the conference center. We are about to receive our first report from Discovery after the arrival of those three alien ships back in Jupiter orbit, and they would like your input. Please follow me, sir. Your travel gear will be delivered directly to your cabin.”

  Bunting gestured with a sweep of his arm. “Lead the way.”

  The trip up the spoke of the station was uneventful. The slow increase in gravity in the elevator as they reached the outer rim of the station was a welcome change. Bunting’s many tours from midshipman to captain had been a couple of decades in the past, and he was just as glad to get back to the pseudo lunar gravity of the spinning headquarters platform.

  It was only a short walk from the elevator exit to the conference room. Manzelli scanned his badge to gain immediate access for the two of them.

  “Vice Admiral Bunting!” Secretary Miller said as the door opened. “We are so glad to have you onboard. Brooks and I have been tearing our hair out for the past three weeks trying to plan for all of the possible contingencies from this alien incursion. We really need a fresh set of eyes.”

  “I’ll do my best, ma’am,” Bunting replied as he shook her hand. Then he offered a crisp salute to Admiral Brooks and accepted another firm handshake.

  “Secretary Miller is spot on,” Brooks said. “I’m afraid we’ve dug ourselves into a rut by spinning our wheels on the same few scenarios. Let’s put that aside for now, however, as we anticipate receiving Captain Vasquez’s report in the next few minutes with the situation out in Jupiter orbit. Can we get you anything while we are settling into this briefing?”

  “Sir, I wouldn’t mind a small snack and a bottle of water while we listen to the report. It has been five or six hours since my last meal and my stomach has been growling at me for the last couple of hours.”

  “Certainly.” Brooks turned to Manzelli. “Lieutenant, see what the steward can scare up from the mess.”

  Manzelli left the conference room as the three of them sat down around the conference table. Brooks slid a small document across the table to Bunting. “Here’s a brief summary of contingencies that our intelligence team has come up with so far with regard to these aliens. Hold onto it and review it when you get a chance. We’ll be going over these scenarios later today, so this should get you up to speed before those discussions. Now, let’s see if that report has arrived.” He pressed his hand onto the surface of the table monitor. After a brief acceptance chirp, a list of recent communications to Admiral Holcroft came
up on the monitor, including an entry just received from Discovery. “Here it is. Let’s see what they have for us.”

  Brooks touched the icon for the Discovery report, and Captain Vasquez appeared. He began his report, which he had dictated and sent more than thirty minutes earlier.

  “This is Captain Julian Vasquez, commanding officer on the shuttle Discovery currently in orbit around the planet Jupiter. This is our second report of alien activity since establishing our orbit approximately five thousand kilometers behind the alien vessel. Our first report was brief. It basically noted that we arrived on station with no interference. We have now been on station for two days and have been monitoring all alien activity, including the return of the three smaller alien ships from in-system.

  “First of all, the three ships arrived back in orbit by diving in front of the alien base ship and then coming back up into orbit on the opposite side from us, blocking our view of the rendezvous. I have attached a video of the actual arrival and an analysis of the three ships’ paths.

  “Prior to this arrival, we observed unusual activity with several smaller vessels being disgorged from the large alien ship and dropping down into a low Jupiter orbit. The small vessels returned almost immediately, towing a large apparatus back to the main ship. I have attached a video of the entire operation for your analysis. Our initial thoughts are that the aliens are wrapping up some kind of refueling operation, but that is only a preliminary conclusion. We would appreciate any insights your intelligence staff might have.

  “We also have a better estimate of the size of the main alien vessel by comparing the known length of the three smaller vessels as they passed through the orbit of the main one. Our best estimate is that the main vessel is over seven kilometers long and one kilometer in diameter. Very soon, we should have many more details about the main vessel, as you will see from the next item in this report.

  “With regard to your previous orders to attempt to determine the frequency of the alien lasers, we are assembling two rockets for a closer flyby of the large alien vessel. The first will fly by at a range of one hundred kilometers. It will contain a camera for close inspection of the vessel. The second will stay at least five thousand kilometers from the alien vessel and will keep the first rocket between the alien ship and itself. This rocket will contain a laser beam profiler to measure the wavelength of the alien laser if it fires on the first rocket.

  “Finally, I had our supply officer take a complete inventory of ship provisions, and we have determined we have enough provisions to remain in orbit around Jupiter for no longer than thirty days without some kind of resupply during the return trip. I have included the inventory and calculations from the supply officer along with his recommendation for a resupply capsule that we can pick up on the way home.

  “I will await further orders. My next report will be after the alien ship flyby, regardless of the results. You can anticipate this report in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Vasquez out.”

  During the report, Manzelli had returned to the conference room with a hot snack for Vice Admiral Bunting along with a fresh urn of coffee and a few pastries.

  While the lieutenant was arranging the refreshments, Brooks passed him a note that he should acknowledge receipt of Captain Vasquez’s report and pass the report, along with the attached files, to the naval intelligence division offices right away and ask for a preliminary analysis within two hours. Then he turned to Bunting.

  “Okay, I know you’ve been in flight to us for almost thirty hours. That being said, do you think you can finish your meal, get back to your cabin for a short nap, and be ready for the main conference this afternoon at 1400? “

  Bunting looked at his watch, which synced automatically to local ship time, and saw that he had four and a half hours until their next meeting. “I think I can handle that, sir. While I’m snacking, and before I go through the report you handed me, can we have a quick discussion of this report?”

  “Certainly. Where would you like to start?”

  “Let’s start with the implications of the size of the main alien ship in Jupiter orbit. Seven plus kilometers long and a kilometer in diameter, if it were a perfect cylinder, would contain a volume of almost six cubic kilometers. I think it’s fair to say that these aliens work on a grand scale. Even if their ship contains four cubic kilometers of interior space and they use seventy-five percent of that volume for fuel storage, it still leaves an entire cubic kilometer of storage space to house whatever else they brought along with them.

  “Now, we know they brought along at least three smaller ships, and each ship is about one hundred and fifty meters long and fifty meters in diameter. Let’s assume a docking bay that can hold at least six of these vehicles. That would hardly make a dent in the available space. I think before this afternoon’s conference, you might ask your intelligence analysts what we might bring on an interstellar trip if we were trying to establish a beachhead colony, because that is exactly what I think they are doing.”

  As Bunting dug into his meal, he observed Brooks and Miller looking at each other in way that told him he had touched a sensitive nerve. He decided to keep his mouth busy with his food for a few minutes to see what developed.

  “Vice Admiral Bunting,” Miller said finally, “I think you are already up to speed without even glancing at that report we gave you to read. We think humanity is in really big trouble right now, and your observations only confirm our worst-case scenario. By God, I hope we’re wrong!”

  Chapter 94 – The Esss React to Missiles

  The warning system on the Esss interstellar scout craft did not use sound waves like on a human naval vessel, but the spectrum of the light pulses used throughout the personnel areas of the ship were just as jarring to the nerves of the Esss onboard. The violet flashes reached right down into the core of their brains and demanded an immediate response.

  The master chronicler dropped the task of preparing the water samples to be returned in the courier vessel back to the forward operating base and hurried to the bridge to take charge of whatever emergency the scout ship had detected.

  Upon arrival, it saw that the master projection tank showed two diverging missiles coming from one of the locals’ ships, and one of those missiles was headed very close to their projected position in orbit when the missile overtook them. What was so unusual was the missile’s speed. The distance between them and the locals was not that far to travel in space, and many of their own missiles could travel that distance with little time to spare for defense. In this case, the local missile was closing on their position so slowly that they could shoot it out of space with their lasers when it got close enough and not worry about engaging it with defensive missiles.

  The master chronicler raised its three-fingered hand indicating that everyone on the bridge should stop what they were doing and await further orders. Then it did a quick calculation in its head and found that with the amount of time available, it might be better to spend that time analyzing the capabilities of these missiles before destroying them.

  With several quick thrumming commands, it indicated that the laser defense was to be used when the missile closed to within twelve ship lengths, at which point it was to be destroyed. In the meantime, all resources were to be spent analyzing everything they could find out about this missile. It wanted to know the means of propulsion, the actual size of the missile, whether its path would actually impact them or just fly by harmlessly if left alone, and whether the missile was emitting signals to them or back to the local ships on any electromagnetic frequency.

  Since all bridge activity was recorded, the master chronicler did not even think about recording any of this for his report back to their forward operating base. Its focus was on the two missiles. Why two of them? What was the second missile doing at such a distance from the first? Was there any threat from the more distant missile?

  Observation! That’s what these missiles must be about. The locals wanted to know more about them, and that could
not be allowed.

  It thrummed new orders. The closer missile had to be destroyed when it reached effective laser range. It changed the laser defense orders to fire when the missile reached twelve times twelve ship lengths and the more distant missile was to be destroyed by missile fire at the same time. Keeping the locals as ignorant of their plans and capabilities was of primary importance, and they already knew about the laser capability of the Esss from the incident on the surface of the planet. The only new information it would be giving up would be their anti-missile capability and what the range of their laser system was.

  Again, it changed its orders with a few quick thrumming commands. Let them think the Esss lasers could only reach six times twelve ship lengths. That was still far enough away that they could not gain much intelligence about the ship’s features. It also cancelled the order to destroy the more distant missile. There was no need to give the locals any information about their anti-missile capabilities.

  Satisfied with its decisions, it sat in the command chair and watched the altered response scenario develop in real time. It entered several notes about its decisions and the reasoning behind them into the ship’s logs to supplement the actual bridge recordings. Nothing could be left unrecorded when interacting with another sentient race. All of this would be returned to the forward operating base on the courier ship.