Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone (4 page)

As the ship reentered the Ross 154 system, a
loud ‘
crack
’ was heard from the back of the bridge. None of the crew turned to look; they already knew what had happened.

“Set course for Drakon,” said Captain
Bullig, looking up from the body of his former XO. Commander Chark’s head hung at an odd angle, facing straight behind him. Blood spurted from two puncture wounds in his neck. Captain Bullig added, “Maximum speed,” and then went back to feeding. Combat always made him hungry.

“Two missiles remaining!” called the DSO. “Now one. No! N
O!
NO!
”

Everyone braced for impact. There was a flash on the screens, but no impact.

“What happened?” asked Captain Sheppard.

“The last missile acquired one of the fighters launching from the ship,” said the DSO. “It hit
Asp 03
before the lasers could get it. They’re gone.”

Calvin got the word from the squadron at the same time. “That was
my new XO, Lieutenant Commander Mike Fuller and his pilot Lieutenant Jean Baker,” he said. He shook his head. “I knew them both from flight school...they just checked in last week.”

* * * * *

“
The Drakuls came through stern-first, with very little forward velocity,” said the intelligence officer, who had viewed all of the data, “and they never quite made it into the minefield. By the time that Skywatch could get the mines moving to intercept them, the Drakuls were already gone.”

“Well, they obviously got a good look at us,” said
Captain Sheppard.

“Yes,
they did,” said the intel officer. “Although the Drakuls’ systems wouldn’t have had time to lock onto us and get precise measurements, the Drakuls will have almost a full minute of video of us to look at. They may very well be able to identify the ship.”

“What good will that do them?” asked Calvin. “
The Drakuls are from another universe. Even if they captured some sort of identification database, the
Vella Gulf
is 3,000 years old. It is unlikely that we’ll be in it.”

“I
t’s impossible to know,” said the intel officer with a shrug. “Based on our analysis of the Drakuls’ attack, their cruiser has one more missile tube in its broadside than we do. That will be something to consider if we ever go up against them again.”

“You mean
when
we go up against them,” replied Calvin. He looked at Captain Sheppard. “Has Fleet Command given us permission to go through the stargate after them?”

“Actually, we just got our orders,” replied
Captain Sheppard. “We are supposed to go back to Earth for a strategy conference and then on to Domus. Fleet Command wants the
Terra
back here ASAP.”

Calvin was amazed at the progress th
at had been made on the new governmental headquarters. It had only been six months since his last visit, but in that time the entire headquarters building had been completed, as well as several of the ministerial buildings. He especially appreciated the shuttle landing pad that had been built next to the headquarters. All he had to do was fly in, land and walk over to the meeting. No pesky rental cars or baggage claims. The only thing better would be once they got the transporters working. He had heard that all of the airline and car companies were already fighting the implementation of transporters...and there wasn’t even a single person who could use them yet. It figured.

Sitting down in the president’s conference room, he checked his watch.
He was 10 minutes early, which was right on time as far as he was concerned. You definitely did
not
want to be late to meet the president of the new world government. Looking around, he saw that he was one of the most junior people in the room. There were plenty of ‘stars’ denoting admirals and generals, and even a few captains walking around carrying coffee for them, but he didn’t see anyone else below the rank of captain. He shrugged. The former Chief of Naval Operations for the United States, Admiral Wright, had asked him to attend, so here he was. When the head of the Terran Fleet Command tells you to jump, you ask how high. But only once you’re already on the way up.

He looked at
his watch. Five minutes to go. He began amusing himself by trying to figure out who else was attending the meeting. He knew who Terran President Katrina Nehru was as he had seen her on the news many times. Previously a member of India’s Parliament, she had risen to take control of the world-wide government that had been formed when the aliens had announced their presence. He didn’t see her here yet. That wasn’t a surprise; Calvin was pretty sure her schedule was even busier than his. He only had to worry about trying to save the planet; he didn’t have to figure out how to get all of the former nations to cooperate. He shuddered. That was a job he did
not
want.

He saw a dark skinned man he didn’t recognize
standing by the table, and he did a facial web search via implant on him. Got it. Masood Khalil from Pakistan, the secretary of state.

Before he could move on to the tall exotic woman standing next to him, a window opened up in his mind, indicating an incoming call
. It was from Steropes, one of the three aliens who had made first contact with the Terrans two years previously. Calvin’s experience with him had been mixed. Although Steropes had proven himself as someone to be reckoned with in combat, he had also lied and withheld information that might have been helpful to the Terrans. The three aliens, or ‘Psiclopes’ as they called themselves, had been found to be playing both sides for their own advantage. This included putting Calvin into bad situations to see how he would react, all in the name of some research project they were conducting. To say that their relationship was ‘strained’ was an understatement. A big understatement.

Still, Steropes’ last conversation with Calvin had been
to give him what appeared to be a sincere apology for everything he had done. Calvin decided to accept his call.

“
Hi Steropes,
” he said, as the window changed to show a picture of Steropes. “
I’m kind of busy right now. What’s up?
”

“
I know you are,
” said Steropes. “
I heard that the Terran president is holding a meeting to determine the diplomatic and military way forward. There are two things that
must
be decided today. The first is that you must accompany the
Vella Gulf
in its mission to the Archons. You
must
.
”

“
Huh,
” said Calvin. “
I didn’t know that a mission had even been agreed to yet. I think the military command is trying to pull back all of our ships to defend the Earth. It’s obvious that the Drakuls have found us.
”

“
It hasn’t been agreed to yet,
” said Steropes, “
but it will be. There is no way that you can hold off the Drakuls by yourself. Ask Solomon. I asked the artificial intelligence to run some simulations, based on all of the information we have. It’s all about ships; you don’t have enough, nor do you have the capability to make enough of them before you are overrun. I am hopeful that someone will see this, as your civilization will be destroyed if you do not seek additional aid.
”

“
I don’t know,
” said Calvin. “
I haven’t been included in the planning, but I heard that the president is going to ask the Mrowry for aid.
”

“
I talked to Captain Yerrow,
” replied Steropes. Captain Yerrow was the commanding officer of the
Emperor’s Paw
, the ship that had returned to Earth with the
Vella Gulf
on its last mission. He was also the crown prince of the Mrowry. “
He reiterated they wouldn’t be able to send aid. He plans to tell the president that at the meeting.
”

“
I’m surprised he even spoke to you,
” replied Calvin. “
They don’t like you guys at all.
”

“
No, they don’t,
” admitted Steropes. “
However, they do like their empire, and having you take some of the burden of defending it from them would be beneficial. I told him about the simulations I had run, hoping to get him to provide assistance to the Earth. He was greatly disturbed...but still did not believe that they would be able to do anything for you.
”

“
OK,
” said Calvin, “
I got it. Convince the president of the world, who doesn’t even know me, to release one of only three ships we have available to defend our planet. We’re supposed to go on a journey to a star system that we have never been to, talk to a race that we have never met, and get them to provide aid against our common foe. Have I got all of that right?
”

“
Yes,
” said Steropes, “
that is correct.
” Calvin shook his head, for a culture that had made so many tremendous advances, sarcasm usually went right over their heads.

Calvin laughed
. “
There shouldn’t be any problem, then. What’s the second thing? Get the Chinese to come along?
” To date, the only major nation that hadn’t joined the Terran World Government was China, who was holding out for a number of reasons.

“
No,
” said Steropes, “
it is much easier than that. You must take me along with you when you go.
”

“
WHAT?” asked Calvin. From the number of heads that turned to look at him, he realized that he had spoken out loud in his surprise. He made sure that he only spoke over the implant as he continued. “
You guys screwed us. Why in the world would we take you along with us? So that you could find out more of our secrets to use against us? You’ve got to be out of your fucking mind if you think I’m going to put you into that kind of position of trust again. Besides, aren’t you building up your media empire? Can you afford to leave that?
”

Calvin had seen that the Psiclopes were working to start the first implant shopping and entertainment network. When Calvin had
first turned on his implant, there had been selections for Shopping, Entertainment, News, Sports, Education, Military, Search and Tools, but Shopping, Entertainment, News and Sports had been grayed out. When he had asked why that was, he had been told that they weren’t at a ‘civilized’ planet that had access to all of those networks. All of the grayed out selections had become active a couple of weeks ago. When Calvin had asked someone about them, he had been told that the Psiclopes had started a new entertainment network.

“
You have me confused with Arges,
” said Steropes. “
With more and more of the Terrans getting implants, and no one in the government or military ever going to trust him again, Arges decided to start an information and shopping implant network. He sold a bunch of his heirlooms to build up some capital and bought a run on the Class 2 replicator on the moon. He used his time to make several artificial intelligences that he is using to run the networks. He has both an internet and an implant marketplace that already have more traffic than the Terran Shopping Network. He is hoping to be outselling Amazon by the end of the year.
”

“
And people are actually coming to him to get the news?
” asked Calvin.

“
You’d be surprised,
” said Steropes. “
People want to hear what he has to say, regardless of what the topic is. Not only is his news network outperforming CNN, he has people calling all of the time to give him secret information about various programs, both legal and illegal. If he wanted, he could leak more secrets than Wikileaks and Edward Snowden combined.
”

“
That’s not good,
” said Calvin, who knew that the Psiclopes lived to collect information they could use later. To them, information was the best currency. Calvin would have to say something to whoever ran the world government’s version of the FBI...or maybe the senate...or someone. Arges obviously needed to be reined in. “
Why are you telling me this?
” Calvin finally asked.

“
I’m telling you because I am not a part of it,
” said Steropes. “
As you know, my wife Parvati believed in doing the right thing. Over the last several months, I have had a lot of time to contemplate the meaning of life, and I believe that she was the one on the right track. I have rededicated my life to following in her footsteps. I want to go because I want to help you. It is the only way to make up for what I have done. If you will let me go, I will give you the benefit of my 5,000 years of galactic experience. I will not hold anything back, nor try to slant things to make you choose one path or another. I give you my word that I will only tell you the truth from now on.
”

“
The truth, huh?
” asked Calvin. “
That would be pretty refreshing...maybe even enough to let you come with us if we end up going to meet with the Archons. There’s only one problem.
”

“
How can you trust me?
” asked Steropes.

“
That’s the one I was thinking of,
” agreed Calvin. “
You’ve lied and skated around the truth so many times, it’s second nature to you. How can I know you will only tell the truth? I’d ask you to swear on it, but I have no idea what is important enough to make it a meaningful vow.
”

“
I will swear on the soul of Parvati,
” said Steropes. “
Someday I hope to meet her again; the only way I will ever do so is to make all of the wrong things I’ve done right again.
”

“
OK,
” said Calvin, “
Let’s try this once. Tell me about the Archons.
”

“
What would you like to know?
” asked Steropes. “
I have been to their home planet once and have interacted with them on several occasions, including twice here on Earth.
”

“
WHAT?” For the second time, heads turned. Calvin waved them off with another apology. Steropes must really be serious, he thought. He’s never been this forthright before. “
When were the Archons here?
”

“
They were here around 1500 B.C. and then again around 800 B.C.,
” said Steropes. “
We asked them to come and help with different invaders that had come to your planet.
”

“
Would I have heard of either of these?
” Calvin asked.

“
Yes,
” Steropes replied.
The rakshasas were so horrific they still exist within Indian lore.
”

Calvin ran a quick internet search and found that
the rakshasas were creatures from Hindu mythology. They were reputed to be insatiable cannibals who liked drinking blood from human skulls. Yuck. Some were thought to have the ability to fly or to change their shapes at will.

“
Geez,
” said Calvin. “
Another creature that wants to eat us?
”

“
That is correct,
” said Steropes. “
They are nasty, disgusting creatures. Unfortunately, one of their powers is the ability to charm individuals. We asked the Archons to come and help us get rid of them, because they are not easily influenced.
”

“
Wait a minute,
” said Calvin. “
The race that we’re going to go ask for aid isn’t easily influenced?
”