Earth Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series 1) (17 page)

“Nope.” Nikola floated over to him and took hold of his ungloved hands. Her warm hands felt great. “No robot probe ever visited it. But its size makes the internal layers showing on the vidscreen a high likelihood. Jack, why is this place important?”

“The two surviving Nasen javelin ships hightailed off in its direction,” he said, torn between her soft blue eyes and the Sedna cross-section image. “Soooo, either it’s the home base for the Nasen, or it may be the Watering Hole hangout for other Aliens that the Nasen ship commander mentioned.” He paused, realizing he needed to get back to the Dock Cavern to meet up with his four new ship captains. “Thank you! Uh, any other large planetoids like Sedna lying out that way? That we might pass on our trip out to Sedna?”

Nikola tilted her head, her sandy brown eyebrows lifted in curiosity. “Yeah. There’s plenty of large icy objects lying beyond the outer limits of the classical Kuiper Belt. SDOs like 2000 CR105, 2004 VN112 and 2012 VP113 have perihelions ranging from 44 to 80 AU. Why?” She let go holding him.

“Cause we need more grav-pull drives and I plan to check out those places for Alien bases,” Jack said as he pulled on his suit gloves and reached up to pull his helmet into secure lockdown. “Will you join me, Cassandra and Elaine for dinner tonight? At O’Neill’s Café?”

She leaned forward and kissed him before his helmet came down. Nikola then shook a brown finger at him. “Hey, all work, little play and too much planning makes Jack a dull boy! Take time for life and living, before you and your fleet head off to Hunt Aliens. Okay?”

Time. Did he have the time to enjoy life at Mathilde when any day another Alien predator ship might Challenge a Unity ship to a fight to the death, with Earth and humanity as the prize? He grinned big. “We lived a bit last night! And I gotta get some thermonuke torpedoes from that Rebellion stash my grandpa told me about. I’ll be good.”

Nikola’s expression was scientist skeptical. She turned away from him, tapping her compad and bringing up new objects on the three vidscreens. “Sure. I believe you. And I’m sending your compad the astro data on those three SDOs I just mentioned. In case you need the vector data.”

“Thanks Miss Wonderful!” He turned and kicked toward the airlock, hoping she would understand his early departure. Nikola had cut into her research time seeking out neutron stars and Dark Matter clusters in order to help him. She deserved some quiet time without his interference in her life’s work. He even believed it. Mostly.

O’Neill’s Café occupied the lowest part of the Mathilde habitat torus that spun inside the asteroid’s Dock Cavern, which meant its spin-gee gravity was half that of Earth’s. Higher levels inside the torus had lessee spin-gee. They were good for growing small meat animals like chickens and pigs, but not good for people. The top level of the torus was greener than green. All the parks, creeks, ponds and natural rain happened there. He recalled how tall the sunflowers grew there. A rap on the plastic table drew his attention from old memories.

“Jack? You gonna listen to what Cassie has to say, or just stare off into vacuum?” asked his sister Elaine, her amber eyes looking him over.

His cheeks felt warm as he blushed. It had been his idea for them all to meet here. The crowd included his four new ship captains, Minna, Ignacio, Max, Denise, Maureen, Nikola and his sisters Elaine and Cassandra. Whose curly black hair had grown long and radiant during her months on Ceres Central. Though just twenty-two, her rad-tanned face had the look of an adult with grown-up worries. She smiled at him.

“You always did look cute when you blush, big brother!”

Everyone at the table laughed, even the South Asia captains from where family relations were more formalized than in Belter families. The two new women captains, Akemi of the
Orca
and Júlia of the
Caiman
, showed wide smiles, while the male captains from India and Sri Lanka had relaxed expressions. Aashman of the
Mongoose
and Kasun of the
Leopard
lifted glasses of ice tea and sipped calmly, clearly able to cope with Western informality. Jack focused on Cassie.

“So you became the girlfriend of the Bridge Lieutenant for Fleet Admiral Minamoto. What news? And does the boyfriend know you are vacationing on 253 Mathilde?”

“Jack!” Cassie exclaimed, her expression moving from amusement to an irritable frown. “Give me some credit. No, Bridge Lieutenant Howard Goldin has no clue where I traveled to on my ‘family vacation’, which is the recording I left on my smart-talker. And I used Dad’s roundabout routine to get here, eventually, on a commerce raider like the one run by your Captain Kekkonen!”

Noticing Nikola’s speculative look, Elaine’s watchfulness and the patience of Ignacio, Minna, Max, Denise, Maureen and the new ship captains, he gave full attention to his duty. “Good. Never thought otherwise. So what’s the news from the boyfriend?”

“Serious stuff,” Cassie said as she pulled at the rainbow-colored neck scarf she had brought with her from Ceres Central. It matched the colors of her hazel eyes. She glanced around the eleven people gathered at the table, looked up at the blaring audio speaker that pumped out hundred year-old Country and Western tunes, then held up her right index finger. “First, Fleet Admiral Minamoto was forcibly retired. To a Mars fleet retirement dome. Officially due to the damage suffered by the
Bismarck
, but actually due to the public awareness of his use of thermonuke torps against your ship.” She lifted a slim black eyebrow. “Course you had nothing to do with that data getting out, right?”

He shrugged. “Go on. There’s more?”

“Much more.” Cassie’s tone had sharpened to one of high anxiety. She raised a second finger. “Two, he’s been replaced by some Russian from Murmansk. From an old naval family there. And the covert orders from the Unity are still the same—to nuke you and any other ship with a grav-pull drive.”

Jack folded his hands together atop the table, leaving his shot glass of bourbon untouched. Others at the table turned equally serious. “Not good. Cassie, any chance of gaining a laserfax copy of the Unity order that says the Unity Space Force is to nuke us? Would love to spread that among the Chinese and Brazilians.”

She shook her head, blue-black curls flying easily in the low gee. “Doesn’t exist. Howard told me the order is given verbally to each admiral, by way of a secure laser-link from the Geneva office of Dictat Maathias. Nothing on the ship NavTrack computer, ship Library, net-posted ship orders, nothing. And as you saw with Minamoto, the only time the rest of the crew finds out about it is when he gives the order to launch torpedoes.”

Jack looked at each of his six ship captains. “Allies, we have our own thermonuke torps. From a Rebellion stash my Grandpa told me about. So we can defend ourselves that way. If necessary.”

Minna leaned forward, looking first to Cassie then to him. “Captain Jack, how many torps will we acquire? How soon? And what are your orders for using them?”

Elaine and Denise, who’d recently signed on as the newest members of
Uhuru’s
crew, also looked intensely curious. Max and Maureen, of course, knew all about his plans. “Four per ship. You can use your spysat launchers. They’ll fit. We get them just after we depart Mathilde. At an asteroid you’ll know about when we get there. And our use of them will be up to each ship captain . . . though my personal policy is to use them only when an Alien ship is about to capture one of our ships, or a Unity Space Force ship is about to nuke us.”

Elaine, at 30 years an experienced Hopper and cargo ship pilot, rested her narrow chin on her left fist and stared at him. “Brother of mine, it seems you do know how to keep secrets. That’s twenty-eight thermonuke torps which were supposed to be surrendered when the Rebellion ended in 2076. Are there more to be had? I’m sure Mathilde’s Citizen Council would like to have a few in case this giant dump is ever discovered by the Unity.”

Jack unfolded his hands, lifted his bourbon with his right, sipped it and fixed an unwavering gaze on his tough, slim and tall sister. The woman who had chosen, on her own, to volunteer as the new Pilot and Medoc for the
Uhuru
. Even after seeing all the vidrecords of their encounters with Aliens and with the
Bismarck
. She was the essence of family loyalty. “Yes, there are more torps. Grandpa trusted me with the deep space locations of two more stockpiles. They’re known only to me . . . and to Dad. In case I perish out there, he can act to protect our home. This place that’s home to everyone else.”

Elaine blinked quickly. No wetness showed in her amber eyes. But he knew that he’d surprised her with the news that their father, an easy-going prospector who never yelled at them nor got into a drunken fight with other prospectors, that father had the key to the deadliest weapons yet developed by humanity. “Thank you, my brother.” She looked aside to her sister, who seemed equally shocked by Jack’s revelations. “Cassie? Any more fingers to raise?”

“Uh . . . yes.” Cassie scanned the crowd of men and women who had chosen to join Jack’s crusade to protect humanity from social predator Aliens who aimed to claim Sol system as their new Hunt territory. She raised a third finger. “There is a laserfax order that instructs every Unity ship captain to detain any person known to have had contact with these Aliens. That includes most of us here. And your crew folks too.”

“
Geldi!
” yelled Ignacio, his black mustache quivering with anger. “This must stop! The Unity does not rule every human. Not me. Not my cousins on
Badger
. Jack, when do we attack Geneva and get rid of these pigs masquerading as humans?”

He’d been expecting the man to blow as the bad news about the Unity accumulated. “My ally,
zure laguntza behar dut
.”

Ignacio blinked, pushed back his
boina
from his thinning hair, and nodded. “You have my help. Have had it. Will always have it. For you are a man of honor.”

“Thank you.” Jack looked around the table, including Akemi,
Júlia
, Aashman and Kasun in particular. “My allies, our first priority must be to drive these Aliens out of Sol system. Including both the Kuiper Belt and even distant planetoids like this Sedna place. Once that is done, and we know more about this interstellar predator culture, then we will turn our attention inward. A second Belter Rebellion will happen! And the Unity Space Force will either join us, avoid us, or die! Agreed?”

“
D’accord
,” said Denise, her youthful look uncertain..

“
Hai
,” spoke Akemi, her pale oval face intensely serious.

“
Bai
,” muttered Ignacio, his expression deadly firm.

“
Kyllä
,” said Minna in a sing-song voice.

“
Ótimo
!” yelled Júlia in slangy Portugese.

“
Haan
,” whispered Aashman, his look thoughtful.

“Ow,” firmly spoke Kasun.

“
Není
,” said Nikola softly, sharing with him a Czech word he always loved to hear her say.

“Damn it, of course I agree,” Max said as he lifted a local Mathilde beer.

“Brother, yes from me too,” said Elaine, her eyes now wet.

“Yes, endlessly yes,” said Cassie as she sat back in her plastic chair, crossed arms over her gut, and looked around like a cat ready to pounce. “Time to eat, yes?”

“Yes!” Ignacio said loudly. “
Gizon honek guztia ordainduko du!
”

Jack grinned at the man. “You’ll pay for everything? Sorry. But the topsuck captain always pays. Right folks?”

Everyone laughed, even super serious Aashman.

Jack sat back, feeling relieved. His allies and his crew were smart, tough, independent thinking people. Getting them to act together, as a fleet of deadly predator ships, was vital to their future survival in the Kuiper and beyond. They would practice fleet maneuvers after picking up the thermonuke torps at 21 Lutetia. And on the way out to Sedna, they would travel slightly out of the ecliptic to avoid running into Unity ships. After all, the Scattered Disk Objects that Nikola had found for him orbited Sol at angles small to large from the ecliptic. Anyway, the one fact about the Aliens that held true was that none of them had appeared inside of Pluto’s semi-major orbit, or inside 40 AU. Beyond that . . . well, they were out there. And he was going to find them, defeat them, steal their tech and then tough-guy walk into whatever hangout place existed on this Sedna planetoid. Armed to the teeth.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Jack sat in his cushioned Tech station chair in the front row of seats in the rearmed and refitted
Uhuru
, liking the feel of the four crew folks who filled its roomy Pilot cabin with him. Outbound for the Kuiper they were, but regular watches by live people were a rule he had borrowed from the combat tales of his grandpa, before the man died when he was twelve. To his right sat Maureen at her Combat station, fully strapped in despite the luxury of one gee internal gravity maintained by their grav-pull drive. Beyond the Belfast granny sat his sister Elaine, their new Pilot, whose gaze was fixed on the front screen that showed soot-black space relieved only by the rainbow sparkle of distant stars. Her hands, though, were busy as they danced over her NavTrack touchpanel, feeding in the vectors of their fleet allies for possible future vector changes. Behind Elaine sat stocky, rad-tanned Max, his gray eyes uplifted to the readouts showing from the Main Drive control module that had lowered from the ceiling. To Max’s left, and just behind Jack’s right shoulder, sat the youngest crew person. Denise the impulsive redhead had jumped back to their ship after one tour aboard Minna’s ship
Wolverine
. She had not shared her reason, nor had Minna said anything to Jack as the topsuck captain of their seven ship fleet. Imperturbable Minna the Finn never showed any discomfort, worry or unease. Course she had years as a commerce raider of Unity shipping under her wide leather belt. A raider’s life was either very short, or longer and profitable. Denise looked up from her Comlink lap panel, catching his look.