Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone (9 page)

The stargate loomed in front of the ship, a giant mass of nothingness. Made from two black holes that had
been linked together by an ancient civilization, it transferred a ship from one place to another instantly...or as close to instantly as anyone had ever been able to prove. No one knew how they worked, and only one person had ever been close to figuring them out. He wasn’t telling; he had died when Drakuls came through the semi-functioning gate that he had created.

Captain Sheppard looked at the gate on the view screen. Terra stood alone against a tide of Drakuls
, and its only hope was for him to find and bring back aid. No pressure there.

Captain Sheppard
was first and foremost a naval officer, and the U.S. Navy had a long tradition of getting the mission done...somehow. It wasn’t always pretty, but naval officers always figured out a way in the end. From everything he had heard as mission prep, though, it looked like this mission had more riding on it than any other mission in naval history...as well as the smallest chance for success. Terra needed aid from the Mrowry, but even their crown prince thought it unlikely they would get any. They might get aid from the Archons...but they were an unknown race that owed them nothing. That seemed like a long shot, too. According to both the Mrowry and Steropes, there wasn’t anyone else close by to ask. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. They’d find a way. They had to.

Time to get the show on the road.
“Sound General Quarters!” he ordered. Also called “battle stations,” the General Quarters announcement was made to signal that battle or the threat of damage was imminent. When the call was made, the crew would report to their combat stations and would close the ship’s airtight and fireproof doors to keep any potential damage from spreading. Since the first stargate transit the
Vella Gulf
made under Captain Deutch, it had become standard practice to set General Quarters prior to transit, as well as to man up all of the space fighters. You never knew what was waiting for you on the other side of the gate.

“Aye aye, sir!” said the duty engineer,
seated next to the helmsman at the front console. He was responsible for all of the damage control systems. He turned on the General Quarters alarm.
Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!
sounded the bell. It was followed by the engineer’s call of “General Quarters, General Quarters, all hands man your battle stations!”

“Helmsman, full speed ahead!”
Captain Sheppard ordered. “Contact the
Emperor’s Paw
,” he said, turning to the communications officer. “Let them know we’re making the jump. We’ll see them on the other side.”

* * * * *

Captain
Bullig walked down the empty stone chamber, hoping that neither his knees nor his bowels betrayed him. To bring the Overlord bad news was usually a death sentence. The Overlord didn’t just shoot the messenger; he usually ate him...piece by piece while what was left of the messenger was forced to watch.

As Captain
Bullig had narrowly escaped a similar fate his last time here, bringing bad news a second time was
not
what he wanted to do. That was why he had violated the Overlord’s orders and had gone into the Solar System; he had been hoping to find
some
good news that he could use to save his life. Violating the Overlord’s orders was similarly fatal, though, so it was a desperate gamble. He had known the deck was stacked against him, but it was his only chance.

And it was the slimmest of chances.

Only one thing scared Captain Bullig, and that was the Overlord. Fully 14 feet tall, with fangs that stuck out over four inches, he was covered in scars from all of his battles and fights to achieve supremacy. A veteran of over 200 duels, he had won every fight he had ever been in. He had also killed every opponent he had ever faced, usually by dismemberment; surrender was not an option.

The greeting hall was empty, so the Overlord had obviously heard that
Bullig was bringing bad news. It did no good for minions to hear bad news, so the Overlord cleared the hall when he knew it was coming. Bullig’s meter-long boots made slapping sounds that echoed loudly in the empty hall. Bullig had to cross 200 feet from the entryway to the platform that the Overlord’s throne sat on. He could feel the Overlord’s eyes on him the whole way. He knew not to look at the Overlord, as the Overlord had a habit of licking his lips as people approached with bad news. If he saw that, he would...he didn’t know what he’d do. Run? Cower? Beg? Wet himself? None of the options were particularly helpful. He very carefully looked at the Overlord’s feet, which wasn’t hard as the platform that held the Overlord’s throne was nine feet high. The better to overawe his subjects...as if that was needed.

He marched up to within 20 feet, then got down on his knees for the next
10 feet, and then on his stomach the last 10 feet. Without looking up, he played his one card. “I have come from the Ross 154 system, and I bring you good news, your honorable majestic graciousness!”

“Good news?” the Overlord asked in a booming voice that echoed in the hall. “I was told that you brought bad news. I heard that our fleet
there was destroyed, and that
you
violated my orders.”

Bullig
wasn’t surprised that someone from his crew had sold him out. When one of the Overlord’s enforcers pulled you aside to ‘ask you a few questions,’ you told them everything you knew. Bullig was dead if his plan didn’t work.

“As far as the fleet being destroyed,” he said in as strong a voice as he could muster while lying on his stomach, “that much is true. The exploration force went through the stargate
, and only half of the battleship
Slayer
came back through. It appears nearly all of them were killed.”

“And you consider the loss of one of
my
battle groups to be good news?” asked the Overlord.

“I do not consider their loss to be good news,” replied
Bullig; “however, I do consider the fact that we have found a worthy enemy to be good news. That is why I left the system where I was stationed.” He definitely did
not
say that he violated orders. “I wanted to take a look inside the system and see if they were worthy of your majestic attention. I figured that the battle group would have cleared out any mines that might be near the stargate, and I was right. The system is inhabited by a species of soft and tasty-looking bipeds. We collected enough of their transmissions in the short time we were there to find out that they call themselves, ‘humans.’ They appear to be quite warlike in nature. Although the only ship we saw was a cruiser, they also had fighters, so there may be at least one spacecraft carrier nearby. We were not there long enough to see any other ships. Even though the battle group had cleared out many mines, there were still a lot of them remaining.”

“What is the state of their technology?” asked the Overlord.

“They will be a challenge to defeat, but not too difficult, oh honorable majestic graciousness,” said Bullig. “They should provide our fleet a little fun. Their technology is fairly old, and it is not of a caliber that should cause us to lose too many ships. In fact, their cruiser was much like what the ancient Eldive had in our old home world before we conquered and ate them. The main planet in this ‘Solar System’ is called ‘Dirt.’ It must be good dirt, because there appears to be about seven billion people on their planet.”

“
Well done,” said the Overlord. “You know...I think I may just let you live, after all.”

Bullig
’s ear holes twitched. His plan had worked!

“In fact,” mused the Overlord, “I think I will have you lead the attack into this ‘Solar System.’”

Bullig’s ear holes twitched even more. His plan had worked even better than he had thought possible! He was going to get promoted to admiral and would direct the attack! He’d send in the cruisers to absorb the mines and then go in with the heavy forces to kill the humans. Life was great!

“Yes,” continued the Overlord. “You know the system; you should lead.”

Bullig would get his pick of the spoils! He could retire in comfort!

“You know the way,” said the Overlord, making up his mind. “Therefore, you will lead the attack. You will command the first ship
that goes through the stargate.”

Bullig
sighed. His life was over.

“Good luck,” Captain Peotr Barishov said
from the front view screen, “and Godspeed. We will hold the system until you return. Just don’t take too long, da?” The Russian captain commanded the TSS
Septar
, the battlecruiser acquired on the
Vella Gulf’s
second mission. Formerly a Ssselipsssiss warship, its crew had surrendered to the Terrans after the battleship
Terra
put a four-meter hole through its bridge, vaporizing its commanding officer.

The
Vella Gulf
had rendezvoused with the
Septar
in Lacaille 8760, and Captain Sheppard had relayed Fleet Command’s instructions for the
Septar
to return to Earth at its best speed. It would be almost a week in transit, having to pass through both the Vulpecula 452 and Kapteyn’s Star systems. Until its return, there would not be any ships in the Solar System to defend Earth, a fact that had many politicians (and admirals) more than a little nervous. Not that the battlecruiser would do much to stop a battleship or dreadnought if one of them showed up.

“Thanks,” replied Captain Sheppard, “and good luck to you as well. We’ll go as fast as we can.
Vella Gulf
out.” The view screen went black.

T
he
Septar
was in many ways symbolic of what was both good and bad about the Republic of Terra, Captain Sheppard realized. When the Terrans brought the ship back to Earth, the nations had been unable to agree on a name for it; every politician wanted to name the battlecruiser after some aspect of their nation-state. The Terran government had finally decided to name the class of battlecruisers after oceans, but then couldn’t agree on which ocean to start with.

Finally,
the kuji representative from Domus said in frustration (after the third hour of argument), “Well if you can’t agree on one of your oceans, name it after ours. The
Septar
.” Her outburst caught everyone by surprise. Before anyone could say anything else, the humanoid princess from Domus called out, “I second that!” Recognizing a break in the impasse, everyone else agreed, and the ship was christened the TSS
Septar
. Although that took care of the problem at hand, it did nothing to solve the problem of what to call the next one.

Many people left the meeting
almost hoping that the Earth never built another one.

The Republic of Terra was similar. While on the surface all of
the nations appeared to go along with each other, that was just a thin veneer. The alliance was so new that trust had yet to form between the nations; it wouldn’t take much to pull them apart again. A nation born in war, the states of the Republic of Terra didn’t trust one another yet, and people still thought of themselves as members of their former nations first. Those that thought of themselves as Terrans usually only did so as a distant second. The new nation needed time for everyone to grow together.

He wondered if they would
get that time.

* * * * *

“
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh!” Calvin sang loudly, if not particularly well; the other 200 voices drowned him out so no one knew or cared whether he was on key or not. Being away from home on Christmas was always hard for military members, even if they
were
on a mission to save the planet. If it was the last Christmas that humanity was to experience, the men and women of the
Vella Gulf
would have liked to have spent it with their families.

Recognizing that,
Captain Sheppard had commissioned a sing-along to take everyone’s minds off of being away from home, and nearly all of the off duty personnel came to sing. Even the men and women from religions that didn’t celebrate Christmas seemed to enjoy the camaraderie.

An outgrowth of
the U.S. Navy, the Terran Space Fleet had kept most of the customs and traditions of that service, including the tradition of being ‘dry.’ No alcohol was allowed on board, except for a small amount kept under lock and key for ‘medicinal’ purposes. For Christmas, Captain Sheppard had decided morale needed a boost, and he had made an alcohol ration available; each member of the ship’s crew received two beers.

Looking around the mess, Calvin decided that
the (admittedly bad) singing and the (too few) beers had worked their magic; at least for a little while it looked like morale had improved. As he walked out of the mess, he saw that someone had made a Drakul doll and had hung it by a noose from the ceiling next to the door. Pinned to it was the note, ‘Merry Christmas, Drakul scum. Now die!’ That wasn’t really the kind of Christmas spirit that Calvin had grown up with, but he could appreciate the sentiment nonetheless.

* * * * *