A Deep Sleep (Valhalla Book 1) (32 page)

“Nor should they be.” Qiang responded, surprising Mondragon again though this time he hid it.

“I guess this is as good a start to peace as any then.” Mondragon said heavily but with relief evident. “A cease-fire is well within my power, though getting word across the systems will take time. I cannot guarantee that our allies will abide by the cease-fire universally.”

“Yes, but we both know that the major ones will.” Qiang said thoughtfully. “And those who may not like it will likely comply since they have little left with which to fight without you. Plus I imagine we will both have to deal with the Russians.”

“I imagine we will. We will work out anything beyond that as we go. You will be the one dealing with my government, that or your compatriots. You will be in a position to see how they react.” Mondragon offered.

“Fair enough. Until next time?” Admiral Chen stood and offered his hand. Mondragon took it.

“Next time then.” Mondragon picked up his helmet and made his way to the ladder.

“I assume you will be leaving with some passengers?” Qiang asked with a slight grin.

Mondragon gave a short laugh. “Yes I think I will be. Marines can be so clingy at times. What did you have?”

“The shuttle’s reactor is rigged to my heartbeat.” Qiang shrugged. “I figured I wasn’t in danger of a heart attack anytime soon.”

“I suppose not.” Mondragon laughed. “We really are getting too old for this though.”

“All the better to end it now.” Qiang said simply.

Sol System: Ceres Orbit

DSF-1: USS
Tripoli

“Sir!” Lt. Daniels’ tone drew Athena’s head around sharply. Her communications officer was generally a rock.

“What is it, Lieutenant?” Athena tried her best to keep the dread she felt from seeping into her tone.

“Priority message from Admiral Mondragon. Your eyes only sir.” Daniels turned to face her. “It’s being sent fleet-wide and its marked for immediate implementation.”

Athena’s stomach flipped again as she hurriedly entered her command code into the computer to finish decrypting the message. The text was short but shocking.

After taking a moment to compose herself, Athena turned to the expectant Daniels. “Connect me with the fleet.”

“Yes sir.” Daniels had clearly already set-up the link and indicated for Athena to speak almost immediately.

“DSF-1, this is Admiral Harper.” She paused a moment for to ensure everyone was paying attention. “I have just received an order from Admiral Mondragon himself that you all need to hear. It reads; A cease-fire has been negotiated between PRC forces and Allied forces. All commands are to take actions consistent with the preservation of their commands and are to be prepared for further actions against Russian forces as they become necessary. Message ends. People, this may be the beginning of the end. Let’s stay sharp, but take heart, the end is finally in sight.” Athena saw the shocked faces around the bridge and imagined that they were emulated across the fleet, indeed across all forces system-wide.

“Sir, that’s…” Masters began, not knowing what to say.

“It’s a start, but a great start.” Daniels interjected.

“Let’s just hope it holds.” Athena said grimly.

Sol System: Earth

Chinese Military HQ, Hong Kong

Grand Admiral Chen Qiang, acting leader of the People’s Republic of China, was a tired man. In the two weeks since the cease-fire with American Admiral Mondragon, he had been pressed on multiple fronts. The rebellions in Russian territories had been exasperated by several assassinations of high ranking Russian officials and a general break-up of their political system. The Russian Federation had ceased to exist as a functioning government and her former planets and holdings were in a state of chaos. Some had formed smaller nations and declared their independence while more still suffered from infighting and riots. The war-torn economy lay broken and prostrate, unable to maintain vital services. Some of this had spilled into Chinese systems along the border, with rouge Russian naval forces acting on behalf of the break-away systems or simply becoming privateers.

Qiang himself had survived two assassination attempts and one of them had come with a counter-coup from some surviving members of the political class. Qiang had been forced to jail anyone he suspected of harboring further rebellious ideas for fear of losing control of the government. After seeing what had happened to the Russians, Qiang had no intention of letting China suffer the same fate.

His biggest headache, not surprisingly, had come from the peace negotiations. There were some who wished for him to sign a surrender, something Qiang flatly refused. He had pointed out to the diplomat in question that the PRC still possessed the capability to fight on and that his desire for peace was not at the cost of his nation’s future. He would not become a post-WWI Germany, with his country deeply indebted and prostrate to the world powers. That only sowed the seeds for more conflict, not less.

The American’s had been surprisingly, no shockingly, accommodating. Qiang suspected they may be seeing some writing on the wall with their economic might faltering. They had weathered the storm better than many, but still felt the effects of the Battle of Sol directly.

Despite his weariness, bringing about a peace was a challenge he was willing to work himself as hard as required.

“I intend to see this through.” He declared to his empty office. “Whatever it takes.”

Sol System: Ceres

Aegis Defense

Admiral Logan Martin strode down the wide main passageway of the Aegis Defense headquarters, probably the most secure structure in known-space. Today, Logan walked alone with no aides. He had left them all behind since none of them were cleared for the meeting he was going to. His father had called the meeting himself and only those with top level, full-spectrum clearances would be in attendance. Once he reached the first checkpoint, it took nearly five minutes to clear them all and make it to the inner secure space that was the true beating heart of Aegis. Here, intelligence was collected and processed. He strode past the plate glass windows that looked down into several situation rooms, though since their privacy setting was not activated, he knew that nothing of note was happening. As he reached the end of the hallway, he passed through the final security check and entered the conference room that was reserved for such meetings. Inside he found his father was already waiting, along with the Aegis Intelligence Chief Alan Sky and the current head of the AGEMA and his sister, Colonel Zoe Martin. He nodded to each in turn before taking a seat beside his sister.

“You’re the last one, punctual as always.” Zoe joked.

“Hey, I’m a minute early.” He countered with a shocked look on his face.

“Indeed you are. Regardless of the arrival order, I believe we are set to begin.” Their father, Brandon Martin, broke in before the good-natured sibling rivalry could proceed further. Both nodded their ascent. “I called you all here to discuss matters of great importance. You are all familiar with the events since the end of the war, so I won’t waste our time with a recap. Our discussion here today is focused on whether we feel that this alters our plans for the Valhalla Project. Work has only just begun, now that resources do not need to be directed towards the war effort.”

“The previous location was compromised during the war anyhow, so moving it is preferred.” Admiral Martin interjected. His father nodded his agreement.

“How is locating a new site progressing?” Zoe inquired, not having been in the loop recently. The AGEMA had been utilized repeatedly by the American government to destabilize the various despots controlling the still-rebellious Russian systems. Most Russian systems had stabilized and come were part of the new international order willingly, but there were still four that held out. Three of those were controlled by former governors or bureaucrats of those systems, while the third was in absolute anarchy and had descended into a planet-wide civil war. In space, rogue Russian Navy ships turned to piracy and raided their neighbors. The American Navy had put a dent in their operations, but it was still proving to be a nuisance. Getting additional support was its own challenge.

“We have located three new locations that are proving to be promising. I have prepared briefing packets on all of them that are available for viewing inside this building only. I will make them available for the next twenty-four hours before they are removed. After that, they’ll only be available on the black-drive.” Alan Sky reported. The black drive was a special computer mainframe, disconnected from all other systems and located deep in the core of Ceres itself. Access was sharply limited. The system even had its own power source so as to protect it from tampering.

“What about scouting personnel?” Logan asked.

“Zoe and Alan have been working on separate but related lists of candidates. I think they are best suited to lay out what they have found.” Brandon gestured to them both. Alan nodded to Zoe, indicating that she could begin.

“My focus has been on recruiting Marines and other ground personnel for the project. At this stage, nobody has been approached, but we are developing an extensive list of potential candidates. Thus far we have compiled a list of Navy personnel as well, but we would like Logan’s input on that before we make any further down-selects.” Zoe nodded back at Alan.

“Thank you, Zoe.” Alan cleared his throat before continuing. “I have been creating the support personnel lists, as well as the intelligence component. I think it is somewhat obvious that the intelligence section is quite difficult to create due to the difficulty in compiling accurate files.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Logan snorted. “Intelligence personnel files are by default classified and their missions are hazy at best.”

“Indeed. As a result that has been taking the vast majority of my focus when I am available to work on the project.” Alan concluded.

“What about engineering and technical staff?”

“I was hoping to pass that off to you, Logan. If you could assist in finalizing the naval personnel list and compile an initial engineering list, I would be most appreciative.” Alan responded.

“I should be able to do that. The Chinese aren’t stirring much, Admiral Chen still has them following his tune. The Russians have caused some trouble, but the Americans don’t seem too intent on utilizing us again. Not at the moment at least.”

“And the Indians?” Zoe asked. Aegis had been running extra patrols for them along their border with the PRC.

“That is slacking off as well. While they were willing to pay for our services initially, they have now built a sizable fleet of gunboats, as well as a new cruiser. They seem content to focus their investment now on rebuilding their Navy and industry. As a result, their contracts with us are tapering off. We have less than a dozen ships now under contract in their systems.”

“Very well. Any other notes on this matter?” Brandon asked, taking charge of the meeting once again. “Seeing none, let’s move on to our second agenda item.”

Sol System: Mars orbit

Sword of Ares

Athena sank into the plush conference room chair while she waited for the meeting to begin. It was a small group present, with her aide Captain Daniels, and Captain Kim present. They only waited for Admiral Mondragon to begin. Athena had just poured herself a cup of coffee when he entered the room at a brisk pace, waving them to their seats almost as quickly as they could stand. Almost, with Captain Kim standing up in an impressively short window of time, being at a full salute before Athena was even upright. Mondragon looked at her briefly with a gentle smile, amused by the maneuver, but said nothing. He nodded to Athena as she returned to her seat.

“Welcome, and thank you for coming.” He said quickly as he manipulated the touchscreen surface at the head of the table. “I have a mission for you and it’s a bit of a priority.”

“We’re ready sir.” Athena said quickly. They’d been practically sitting on their hands since shortly after the cease fire and Athena knew she and her crews were itching to go.

“Easy now, you haven’t heard what I want yet.” Mondragon laughed as he delivered the mock admonishment.

“He’s right, sir. Never volunteer.” Offered Ava in jest.

“Marines giving an admiral advice, what has this universe come to.” Athena threw her hands up in exasperation. She managed not to smile, at least for a moment. Everyone relaxed a bit and Mondragon gave them the moment before continuing. His tone was not humorous.

“There’s been trouble in DP Draconis, again.” Mondragon said and everyone groaned a little. The rebellious Russian system had been nothing but trouble, one incident after another for the last year since the cease-fire. Even with the official peace-treaty, they were still causing trouble. “That’s right, and we’ve finally been green lit to do something about it.”

“Not another patrol, sir?” Daniels spoke up, clearly surprised.

“No, not another patrol.”

“I’d venture a guess and say direct action?” Athena offered, making a point of gesturing at Captain Kim.

Mondragon nodded. “You venture correctly. Your crews have been well rested, doing minimal patrols and you haven’t seen any real combat since the end of the war. You’ve done a fine job of keeping them repaired and I want you to handle this mission.”