The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #1, Inception (25 page)

The Admiral, Cat, Ken and the entire bridge crew watched as the last few D'lralu shuttles careened into the Martian surface. They had managed to stop the bulk of the fleet. They had even managed to stop the last capital ship, but not before that ship had launched over a dozen escape pods. At the relativistic speeds involved even these innocuous ships became weapons of mass destruction.

The valiant crew of the Yorktown and the rest of the Alpha battle group had managed to intercept most of the craft, which were unmanned, but a few got through and in the unforgiving math of this battle that was all it took. The humans had to win every time... And they had not.

The ejecta from the first strike traveled several kilometers straight up. An expanding ring of superheated material flew around the planet at unbelievable speeds. Nothing on the surface could or would survive. By forcing the D'lralu to jump as far out as they did, the fleet had bought precious time for evacuations to begin, but there were not enough seats on space worthy craft to save even a fraction of one percent of the population. Cat knew this was the single greatest loss of human life in the history of humanity... And it occurred on her watch.

"Ziggy... Put me on fleet wide." the Admiral said.

"Aye, Admiral" she said in a somber tone.

"Attention Fleet... It is my sad duty to inform you, that approximately five minutes ago Mars in its entirety was lost. Our ships fought well, and many of our comrades gave their last breath that we might win this war. The harsh reality is, we are fighting for our right to exist. Our enemy has the capability and desire to deprive our entire species of its home world."

Looking directly at Cat when he spoke, he continued... "Many of you will second guess yourselves. You'll ask yourself 'Could I have done more?'  Now is not the time for second guessing. I know first-hand the incredible professionalism and risks taken by this fleet. We lost this battle, but the wars is ours to win, and the biggest fight is yet to come.

I need you... Earth needs you... All of humanity needs you to continue to give your very best. I want all captains to quickly draft and submit an after action report. I want to know how we can become more effective.

People, our friends died. We can't change that, but we can keep more of our friends from dying. Let Mars be our final call to action... That is all... Admiral Faragon out."

The Admiral stepped to the front of the bridge and faced the crew. He made eye contact with each and every person present. The pain in his face was plain for all to see. Cat knew several of his children were raising families on Mars.

"I can only imagine what each of you is feeling... I know what I am feeling. As painful as it is... These are not the thoughts we need to be focusing on. I cannot speak for each of you. I will take the time to shed my tears... But I will take that time after Earth is safe. Right now we have a mission. I need each of you to focus on that mission. Am I clear?"

"Yes Sir!" the bridge echoed in unison.

"Senior staff... Captain's Ready room in five minutes."

***

Ben sat in the command couch of the D'lralu light cruiser, Defiance. He was manually entering jump coordinates calculated by his internal Heshe encounter unit, which was a mirror of the one in his human friend Catherine Kimbridge. By entering the coordinates manually he could jump the D'lralu ship far faster than the Defiance's native AI.

The ship's First Officer was an officer called Mirdan. He was the Third of the Seventh and so was the highest ranking of the survivors. Only the fact that Ben could recite the First of the First Creed, which the computer's AI authenticated, allowed Ben to take command.

The crew of this ship, as well as almost five hundred others, had been treated with the Human reengineered Heshe medical nanites. The results were nothing less than spectacular. The survivors assumed control of the four biggest and most capable ships to survive the human attack.

Ben carefully assessed the survivors. He met with the leaders, and explained who he was, and how he came to be amongst the human. More important, he explained why continuing on the course set by the Masters would spell certain doom for their people. The humans represented an opportunity for a multiracial alliance, that might finally overcome their maniacal overlords. The very fact that the humans showed mercy to an enemy, which had demonstrated none of their own spoke volumes.

Understandably there was, at first a keen sense of skepticism. The D'lralu had been blindly following the course set by the Masters for many generations. Ben challenged them to check the historical records. Who were the Hoppers...? What was their fate? When the D'lralu defeated the Hoppers, that race was destroyed by their overlords. The D'lralu had been told that only the fittest race had the right to coexist with the Masters.

The review of the ship's historical archives had an unexpected benefit for Ben. He now knew who he had been. Legend had it, that one D'lralu had risen in their people's hour of need and forged the alliance with the Masters. He was the legendary First of the First named Leba. As the archives recorded history, when Leba was murdered on the eve of the treaty signing, by some unknown faction, his brother, Niac assumed control and completed his slain brother's legacy.

Ben knew the history and the legend to be a work of fiction. He was what was left of Leba. His goal had not be to forge an alliance with the Masters. Niac had argued passionately for the treaty, but as First of the First Leba's word was final... Or at least, it should have been.

A drugged beverage had incapacitated him. When he awoke, he was halfway through the process used to convert convicted criminals into the cybernetic artificial intelligences used on shipboard systems. He was powerless to stop his brother from taking his people down a path he was absolutely sure would result in their eventual destruction.       

In some strange way Ben owed his brother thanks. As a cyborg his lifespan was essentially unlimited. He was alive today, and in a position to forge an alliance that might yet save his people... But only if he could stop the genocide his people planned.

***

Cat sat in a chair just to the left of Admiral Faragon. Six other admirals sat around the table. The only other 'non-Admiral' in the room was Cat's friend and Captain of the Avenger, Jason Ruck.

Admiral McMullen, who was the oldest on the Admiralty Board, but not the most senior based on rank, was speaking. Cat was having an extremely hard time paying attention to him, because his focus seemed increasing bent on assigning blame for the loss of Mars, rather than on the prevention of the loss of Earth. Cat's mind, on the other hand, was focused on more fully leveraging the scant handful of technological advantages the humans had over their adversaries.

Admiral Pike, a woman cut from the same cloth as Admiral Faragon, as far as Cat was concerned, countered McMullen's comment directed at the Alpha Battle Group. Cat's mind went back to the problem at hand. Humanity had faster computers. They had access to superior nanite technology. They had access to the prohibitively destructive power of SJ rounds. They did not have the advantage of raw firepower or strength of numbers. It appeared that both sides had access to instantaneous quantum entangled communication. The enemy was coming from all sides. The math was simply not on their side.  It appeared to Cat that the only possible solution was to change the equation... But to do so would be to violate everything she believed the creator desired for humanity. There had to be a way...

"Are we boring you, Captain Kimbridge?" Admiral McMullen asked in a falsely sincere voice.

"Absolutely not Admiral... I'm finding the discussion stimulating -- if, begging the Admiral's pardon, somewhat misdirected."

Admiral Faragon face twitched in a hastily hidden smile that only Admirals Pike, Chu and Forrest saw.

"Really, Captain? And how would you say a discussion of saving Earth from utter destruction is misdirected?" McMullen spat.

"That is actually the crux of my point, Sir. If we focus on saving Earth the math is all against us. We almost certainly can't win. We barely took on one hundred of their ships... Those most damaged and poorly manned... and it cost us dearly. We are facing almost five thousand that will be in much better fighting form."

"So we should just walk away from Earth and let these bastards destroy our home and people... Because the math is inconvenient?" Admiral Cartwright said in angry disbelief.

"No, Sir, of course not..." Cat began.

"Captain, I know you well enough to know, you would not have started us down the path of this discussion without some planned destination. Why don't you cut to the chase and tell us what you are thinking." Admiral Faragon interjected.

"Yes, Sir. As I was saying... The math is simply not in our favor if we continue to play a defensive game. We need to change the equation, as it were."

Intrigued, Admiral Pike said, "Continue."

"Ma'am, my thought was simply this. We know where the D'lralu home worlds are, based on intel provided by our D'lralu cyborg, Ben. We also know, that they have committed a significant, if not total, chunk of their armada to this invasion. If we were to present an imminent and substantial threat to those worlds they would be forced to, at a minimum, divide their forces."

"So you would propose genocide to prevent genocide?" Admiral Chu asked.

"No, Sir... I think there is a more ethical approach."

***

The USC Hope, one of the first of the Enterprise class exploration ships came out of hyper drive near a sun slightly smaller than Sol. It had sixteen planetary bodies orbiting it.

The Hope's Captain was a man named James Thomas 'JT' Kirk... Given the fictional fame of a similar name, in conjunction with a television series also featuring a ship called the 'Enterprise', he had taken no small amount of kidding from friends and family over his promotion to Captain of the Hope.

"Lieutenant, are you still detecting hyper field activity?"

"Yes, Sir... But it's most unusual. The signature is definitely something local... I have readings coming from an earth sized moon orbiting planet three, as well as numerous smaller signals from all over the system... But, Sir... They don't seem to be drive or shield signatures."

"Thoughts?" Kirk asked the bridge in general.

"The signals seem to be modulating..." it was Kirk's science officer, a physicist named Choo. ”It's a radial modulation along 92 axis, transmitting six petabytes per second... Whoever these people are, they have some serious technology."

"Watson, any luck translating?" Watson was the Hope's Heshe inspired AI encounter unit. This particular AI had adopted a thick British accent to augment his 'Watson' persona.

"
Indubitably, Sar! Which of the approximately three trillion messages would you like to listen to?
"

Kirk shook his head. On his last ship the AI had taken a female persona and insisted on calling him dear... He supposed this was an improvement. "None...  Let's try sending a message... Try to identify an open unused channel... Then broadcast on as many channels as possible, 'We need your help' then include the open channel."

"
Done, Sar!
"

"How many channels were we able to broadcast that on?"

"
Why, Sar... All of them!
"

***

The Earth Defense Force, in conjunction with the USC, further ramped up Earths war footing. All civilian production ceased. Based on computer models developed by Cat and Cal, a massive array of satellites were placed in geosynchronous orbits around Earth, its moon and the planet Venus, which had a nascent human colony.