Dark Space Universe (Book 3): The Last Stand Read online

  “The lack of unnatural EM radiation is further confirmation that there’s no advanced civilization in the system,” Wheeler said.

  “Abaddon may have instructed all nearby systems to impose black-out protocols,” Drask said.

  “And he also got them to ground or cloak all of their ships?” Wheeler looked skeptical. “This is our best bet, and you know it.”

  “I agree,” Tyra put in. “But, I also agree with Drask. At this point, even safe systems may be compromised in ways we can’t detect. Let’s calculate jumps to all twelve of the systems we scouted.”

  “Five of those were inhabited by Faros, or by some other potentially hostile force. The probes never returned.”

  Tyra frowned. “Exclude those five and pick another five at random.”

  “We don’t have time to send more scouts,” Drask pointed out.

  “Then let’s hope we never have to jump to the systems we haven’t scouted yet. Organize the systems from most safe to least. At the first sign of the Faros we’ll jump to the next safest system on the list.”

  Colonel Drask nodded. “Comms—” He gave the order, but Tyra couldn’t hear it over the suddenly insistent trilling inside her head. The comms icon on her Augmented Reality Contacts (ARCs) flashed, and identified the caller as Lucien Ortane. Tyra took a few steps away from the holo table to answer the call.

  “Do you have the test results?”

  “We do.” There was no concealing the relief in Lucien’s voice. “She’s clear, Tyra! Our little girl is back!”

  Tyra’s gaze blurred with heat and her lips formed a trembling smile. She held a hand to her mouth to stifle any sound that might escape.

  “Tyra? Did you hear me?” Lucien asked.

  She nodded and wiped her eyes. “I did.” She tried to say more, but her throat had shut in a painful knot as all of her bottled-up emotions suddenly burst free.

  “I’m still waiting to hear about the others,” Lucien added.

  Another trilling sound started up inside Tyra’s head, and the comms icon began flashing on her ARCs again. Doctor Fushiwa was calling. “I think I’m about to find out,” she said, finally managing to speak. “Hold on,” she said as she took the other call. “What are the results, Doctor?”

  “They’re all clear, ma’am—in varying states of shock and emotional distress, but they’re clear, and they appear to be back to normal.”

  “So Abaddon kept his word,” Tyra said slowly.

  “It would appear so...” the doctor trailed off uncertainly. If he had any data to back up his reservations, he didn’t share it.

  “I don’t know if I believe it either,” Tyra said. “But I want to.”

  “At this point we’re right to be suspicious,” the doctor replied, “but our suspicions would appear to be baseless.”

  “Then it’s time to formalize our treaty with the Faros. Thank you, Doctor.”

  “Of course.”

  Tyra ended the comms connection and shared the news with Lucien. Then she signed off with him as well and turned to address the others. “It’s official: our people have been released. The Faros kept their word. Now it’s time for us to keep ours. We are going to officially declare peace with the Farosien Empire.”

  A cheer went up from the crew. People applauded and whistled. Tyra couldn’t help smiling. She understood their enthusiasm: theirs was a mission of science and exploration. None of these people wanted to fight a war.

  “Admiral Wheeler,” Tyra said before the commotion had fully subsided.

  “Councilor?”

  “Have a platoon of Marines escort the Faro prisoners onto Abaddon’s shuttle in hangar bay one twenty—but do not wake any of them from stasis. Make sure they stay in their tanks. Have Abaddon escorted back to his shuttle as well.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Colonel—you heard the councilor,” Wheeler said.

  “Aye,” Drask nodded and began snapping orders to his Marines over the comms.

  Wheeler went on, “Garrison Command, have all ships return to our hangars.”

  “Aye, Admiral.”

  Tyra rolled her shoulders to get some of the tension out of them, and then said, “Comms, patch me through to Hangar sixty-six so I can speak with Abaddon.”

  “Yes, ma’am... you’re now live in hangar sixty-six.”

  Tyra took a deep breath and then said, “It would seem you kept your word to release our people.”

  Abaddon’s voice rippled back over the Bridge speakers. “You sound surprised.”

  “I am, but pleasantly so. We accept your terms for peace. Our ships are going to begin withdrawing now, all except for the ten Etherian ships that we are handing over to you. The Faro prisoners are being escorted aboard your shuttle as we speak, and you will be taken to join them soon. Make sure your fleet does not fire on us as we withdraw.”

  “Very well,” Abaddon replied. “Is that all?”

  Tyra ignored his sarcasm. “Yes. Astralis out.” Tyra killed the connection and turned to Admiral Wheeler. “Begin the the withdrawal.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Wheeler replied, turning to her crew, she began snapping orders. “Helm! Take us out of range of the enemy’s jamming.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” the helm replied.

  “Comms, have the rest of the fleet form on us, but make sure the Gideon leaves Abaddon’s ten ships behind.”

  “Aye, Admiral,” the comms officer replied.

  “Garrison Command, find me a grounded fighter or shuttle and send a pilot over to the Gideon with the jump data for the list of systems we’ve scouted. We won’t want to risk sending it over comms.”

  “Copy that, Admiral,” the garrison commander replied.

  Tyra waited by the holo table, watching as Astralis and the Etherian fleet withdrew. Ten Etherian ships stayed where they were, quickly falling behind the rest, and the Faros’ ships remained where they were, too.

  “Abaddon’s shuttle is away!” the comms announced.

  A moment later, Astralis and the lost fleet reached the crimson line that marked the edge of the Faros’ quantum jamming field. As soon as they were across it, Wheeler called out: “Have we boarded the Gideon with the coordinates of the scouted systems yet?”

  “Aye, our shuttle landed just a few minutes ago, ma’am.”

  “Good. Comms—have the Etherian Fleet inform us as soon as they’re ready to jump out.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Another few minutes passed before the comms officer spoke again. “The Gideon is standing by to jump!”

  “Tell them to execute their jump right after us, and inform them that we’re going to be jamming all outbound comms from now on.”

  “Jamming, ma’am?”

  “We don’t know that there aren’t more Faro agents on board, and we can’t be sure that there aren’t any tracking devices, either.”

  “What about the Etherian fleet?”

  “They were never boarded, and if there were any tracking devices aboard their ships, the Faros wouldn’t have needed to use Astralis as bait to find them.”

  “Aye, Admiral,” the comms officer replied. “Message away. Comms jamming is now in effect.”

  “Helm, execute our jump,” Wheeler said.

  “Jumping in three... two...”

  Tyra looked up from the holo table just as stars vanished from the bridge’s ten-meter-high viewscreens in a bright flash of light. When the displays and Tyra’s vision cleared, the stars had all shifted to new positions, and a bright blue planet with fluffy white clouds and a solitary green island lay before them.

  A split second later, more than a thousand bursts of light peppered their view of that planet. Tyra found herself blinking against the glare. As soon as it faded, she saw a shining sea of silvery hulls appear—some hovering against the deep blue ocean of the planet, others competing with the stars. The Etherian Fleet had arrived.

  “Sensors—report!” Wheeler said.

  Chapter 6

  The Lost Etherian Fleet

  “I don’t
see any sign of the Faros on sensors,” Garek reported.

  “Why would there be?” Lucien demanded from where he sat on one side of the Gideon’s bridge, under guard by Lieutenant Sevris, the fighter pilot who’d come aboard to give them their jump coordinates.

  Lucien’s exosuit lay on the opposite side of the bridge from him, too far away to help him reverse this mutiny. Not that it mattered now. “The Faros have what they want,” he said. “Why would they bother chasing us now?”

  Garek shrugged. “They might not have to chase us if they’re already here.”

  Lucien frowned. “You checked the system with sensors before we jumped, and we already know that Etherian sensors are like an all-seeing eye. Wherever they look, they see, regardless of the range. You should have told Astralis that.”

  “And give them an excuse to rethink their negotiations with the Faros?”

  “You’re a damned skriff, Garek,” Lucien replied. “All of this just to save your daughter.”

  “And the rest of Astralis,” he replied. “If we didn’t negotiate, the Faros’ next move would have been to threaten to kill them all if we didn’t give them what they wanted. At that point we’d have been forced to negotiate, anyway. I just cut out all of the back and forth in-between.”

  “I wouldn’t have negotiated,” Lucien replied.

  “You’d have let three hundred million people die for the sake of getting this fleet back to Etheria?”

  “If it meant saving trillions of other lives—yes.”

  The pilot guarding Lucien snorted. “Frekking easy for you to say.”

  “Only easy because he doesn’t have any loved ones on board,” Garek added.

  “Which allows me to be objective in this situation. You clearly can’t be. And anyway, you really think Abaddon will honor his promise to give us all citizenship in his empire?” Lucien asked. “You’ve only delayed this war.”

  “Why would he go back on that deal? I’m sure we’d make a valuable part of his empire.”

  “Ignoring the fact that it’s an empire of evil...” Lucien said.

  “Evil is subjective.”

  “They’re slavers!” Lucien replied.

  “So were humans for a good chunk of history. Maybe the Faros just need time to grow out of their bad habits.”

  “They’ve had billions of years. How much longer do they need? And what about Etherus? And the Etherians? We all have relatives that decided to go to Etheria. You’ve sealed their fate.”

  “We don’t know that. Etherus has the technological advantage. He could win the war.”

  “And if he does, what do you think he’ll do to us as citizens of the Farosien Empire that sold him and his people out?” Lucien demanded.

  “You’re suggesting Etherus would punish us out of spite after he defeats Abaddon?”

  “Why not?” Lucien challenged. “We punish people for war crimes all the time.”

  “Enough! You guys are giving me a headache,” Addy said. “For better or worse, we’ve already made our choice. There’s no point agonizing over it anymore. Let’s just focus on what we need to do next.”

  “Agreed,” Garek said.

  Lucien held his tongue.

  “With Astralis jamming all of their outbound comms, how are we supposed to coordinate with them from now on?” Addy asked.

  Garek nodded to his displays. “They’re sending out more shuttles. I’m going to try hailing them.”

  He did so, and a moment later, they replied.

  “Admiral Wheeler here. We’re on our way over to take possession of the fleet and evaluate its capabilities.”

  “Understood, Admiral,” Garek replied. “We’ll be waiting. I suggest you land in the same hangar that your shuttle pilot chose. It’s close to the bridge. I’ll have him waiting to escort you up here.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Admiral Wheeler said. “You made the right choice,” she added after a brief pause.

  Lucien saw Garek’s gaze flick to him, then back to his displays. “Not all of us would agree, ma’am.”

  “Yes, I heard there was some confusion about the chain of command.”

  Garek nodded. “Aye, there was.”

  “Astralis thanks you for your timely actions. We’ll be aboard soon.”

  “See you then, Admiral,” Garek replied.

  * * *

  The Lost Etherian Fleet

  “This is incredible...” Admiral Wheeler breathed, while gazing at the Gideon’s sensor display. “Are you sure this data is all accurate?”

  Garek nodded. “We had plenty of opportunity to test the fleet’s sensors in the time it took for us to reach Astralis.”

  Tyra blinked. The scientist in her took over and she shook her head in disbelief. “How is this even possible? Quantum signals aren’t instant, and as for the range... nothing can see clear across the universe in real time.”

  “Apparently that’s not the case,” Garek replied. “Maybe it’s some kind of trans-dimensional technology. Our entire universe might actually occupy a relatively small space within the higher spatial dimensions around us.”

  “Maybe...” Tyra replied. “I guess this means the Faros definitely can find Etheria with the ships we gave them.”

  Garek nodded. “Easily.”

  Tyra glanced at Lucien, where he sat to one side of the control stations on the Gideon’s bridge. Lieutenant Sevris and an entire squad of Marines were pointing their guns in his face, while another squad stood guarding the stairs leading down to the entrance of the bridge.

  Lucien looked different without any hair. All of her former crew did, Tyra though, her eyes flicking between them. She barely recognized Addy. Tyra felt a flash of smug satisfaction at the sight of Lucien’s girlfriend without any hair.

  She turned back to Admiral Wheeler. The admiral’s green eyes were narrowed, and her brow was deeply furrowed.

  “It’s too late to regret negotiating with the Faros now,” Tyra pointed out.

  “Who says I regret it? We secured the future of humanity against an unbeatable enemy. We’re just lucky we had something to offer them in exchange for peace.”

  “Then what are you worried about?” Tyra asked.

  “If the Etherians’ sensors are instantaneous, then their comms must be, too,” Wheeler mused.

  “They are,” Garek confirmed.

  “Which means we can warn Etherus,” Wheeler concluded. “The question is, should we?”

  “We’d risk breaking our treaty with the Faros,” Garek said.

  Wheeler glanced at him. “They never said anything about not communicating with the Etherians.”

  “It’s implied. We can’t take their enemy’s side. Warning the Etherians would be the same as a declaration of war.”

  “Perhaps there’s another way.”

  “Contacting Etherus could give away our position,” Garek added. “We don’t know how Etherian comms work, so we don’t know that they can’t be intercepted.”

  “All good points, Lieutenant,” Admiral Wheeler replied. “How long did you say it took you to reach Astralis?”

  “Two months.”

  “And you traveled how far in that time?” Wheeler asked.

  “About thirty billion light years.”

  “So for us to physically travel back to New Earth won’t take us another eight years. It should take about... ten weeks,” Wheeler said.

  “Sounds about right,” Garek replied.

  “Astralis won’t be able to keep up with that pace,” Tyra pointed out. “It would have to stay here.”

  Wheeler turned to her. “We need to get back to safety as soon as we can. Until we know for sure whether the Faros are planning to honor their peace treaty with us, we’d do well to consolidate our defenses with New Earth and prepare for a possible attack.”

  Tyra nodded along with that. “And warn Etherus in the process.”

  Wheeler shrugged and spread her hands. “We’re entitled to reunite with our people and tell them everything that hap
pened while we were away. If the ruler of New Earth and Etheria just happens to hear about it in the process, the Faros can’t exactly blame us.”

  “They might decide to blame us, anyway,” Tyra said.

  “Then they’re looking for an excuse to break their treaty with us, and sooner or later they’d have found one,” Wheeler replied.

  “Agreed,” Tyra said. “It’ll be a tight squeeze to get all of our people packed aboard these ships with enough supplies to last them ten weeks.”

  “Yes,” Wheeler replied. “It will be. Fortunately, the Etherians built big ships. This vessel is what... ten kilometers from bow to stern?”

  “Fourteen,” Garek corrected. “And there are at least a dozen other ships of similar size.”

  “Good. We’re going to need all the space we can get,” Wheeler replied. “We’d better get started.”

  “What about...” Tyra’s gaze drifted back to Lucien. She hesitated to call him by name, since he didn’t look like her husband without any hair, and he technically wasn’t her husband. He was her husband’s clone. Or no... wasn’t it the other way around? This Lucien was the original. She frowned and shook her head to dispel her confusion. “What about him?” Tyra finished.

  “He was in an impossible situation,” Addy said, standing up from her control station.

  Both Tyra and Wheeler glanced at Addy, but Wheeler spoke first. “He refused to surrender the Etherian fleet when called upon to do so, and he refused to obey his orders. He’ll be tried for insubordination.”

  “Does that mean he won’t be integrated with my husband?” Tyra asked hopefully, suddenly worried that her husband would be held accountable for this Lucien’s actions.

  “That’s a decision for the judiciary department to rule on, but personally I think it would be unfair to integrate them under the circumstances. I’ll be sure to make that assertion during his hearing.”

  “Thank you,” Tyra replied, nodding.

  “Meanwhile, you’d better call another emergency session of council to approve the course of action we’ve suggested here. If they come out against us returning to New Earth, then we’re going to need to come up with a new plan, and fast.”