“I will inquire into his location,” Julien replied. “If he is journeying aboard the explorer ship, we can visit the observatory and inquire of the senior astronomer.”
“Who has the post?” Alex asked.
“A SADE by the name of Jupiter.”
“Jupiter, as in the name of the colorful planet orbiting Sol?”
“The same, Alex. When Theodosius discovered Trixie dropped her original ID of Lenora to adopt a new name, he decided to do likewise.”
“Jupiter … good choice,” Alex replied, grinning.
“Haraken first or Omnia, Alex?” Julien asked.
“The Liberator’s crew needs a rest. We’ll head for Omnia and pick up —” Alex was halted in mid-sentence by Julien’s head-on stare. He revised what he was going to say, which would have been to name the Rêveur and ended the sentence with, “a different Trident for the trip to Haraken.”
Julien nodded his approval, and Alex stood up and yawned. He lightly tapped Julien on the shoulder, as he said, “Good night to both of you,” and ambled off to bed.
Oliver was aching to ask questions of Julien, but the data parameters on the conversation restricted him from doing so. That the human had envisioned the existence of scenarios that suggested the Nua’ll weren’t the greatest threat to this portion of the galaxy made him realize how much he hadn’t been open to greater possibilities. He too spent a considerable amount of time reordering his kernel, shifting hierarchy, rewriting algorithms, and calculating new probabilities. Oliver was determined to expand his thought processes to be the best assistant to the new Minister of Defense that he could possibly be.
-26-
The Freedom
Alex spent the following day in conference with Maria, discussing New Terra’s warship construction progress, the number of ships that could be added to the Omnians’ fleet, and many more details.
Oliver noted that Alex shared with Maria his intention to use the Haraken observation platform to review the extensive telemetry data collected during the past two decades. Alex appeared to be determined to see if the data yielded insight into the Nua’ll probes placements and, by extension, the location of the race. Of note to the SADE was that Alex didn’t share how he had come by the concept. It confirmed to Oliver that the information was reserved for the human’s partner and his SADE friend, and Oliver felt privileged to possess the knowledge.
By late evening, the Omnians said their goodbyes to Maria and Oliver and returned to the Liberator. Tatia and Alain said farewell to her parents. Crew members kissed and hugged family and friends, as the ship’s travelers scooped them up. In the morning’s early hours, the third duty shift was sailing the Trident out of the system, headed for Omnia.
When the Liberator transited into Omnian space, there were palpable sighs of relief from the humans, starting with Tatia and continuing to the youngest crew member. It was a year since the warship had left Omnia in search of the Nua’ll sphere. Although they hadn’t fired a shot, the chase and final encounter were no less frightening.
The Judgment, Lucia Bellardo’s Trident, had conducted star services for the two pilots lost at FYM-552, while Alex was at New Terra. With no remains to recover, small crystal cases were prepared, which enclosed their uniforms and personal items. Reiko had performed the remembrance ceremony and the cases were launched at Celus.
Omnian comm systems were overloaded with the exchange of communications between the Liberator’s crew and a host of other individuals. Julien and Cordelia occupied much of the Liberator’s extensive capabilities, and the SADEs frequently curtailed their exchanges to return more bandwidth to others in need.
Alex did receive a curious comm from Mickey.
<Congratulations, Alex, on your successful hunt of the second sphere,> Mickey sent via the Freedom’s comm. <Blew itself up, did it? Kind of tells us a lot about the Nua’ll. But, I have to say, Alex, I had no idea I was being left behind for a year … a whole year,> Mickey complained.
<Mickey, you wouldn’t have enjoyed it,> Renée replied, joining the conversation, when Alex mouthed “Mickey” to her. The return to Omnia had given the couple some respite from the daily pressures, and they had been enjoying some peace and quiet in their cramped cabin. <For certain, Pia wouldn’t have enjoyed the time, Mickey. This is a warship. Alex and I can hardly fit on this cabin’s bed.>
<I’m happy to hear you say that, Renée,> Mickey replied, which caused the couple to frown at each other. <It’s common knowledge that the forces our partner worlds are building are as much for offense as they are for defense, which means the combined fleet might be gone from Omnia, next time, for longer than a year.>
<And?> Alex prompted.
<Well, I’ve taken it upon myself to consider your and Renée’s well-being, your creature comforts, so to speak. People such as you need space, a place to operate, a place to think, a place where —>
<Mickey, the point,> Alex prompted.
<I’m saying that you have all that aboard the Freedom,> Mickey replied.
<The city-ship can’t protect itself, Mickey, and we can’t devote six or eight Tridents to covering a ship that huge,> Alex argued.
<What have you been doing, Mickey?> Renée asked, her question suffused with humor.
<I had the senior captain’s permission,> Mickey said defensively. <Tell you what, Alex, this is better as a demonstration than a conversation. Here are the coordinates where, if you position the Liberator, I can show you.>
<Mickey, this crew needs downtime,> Alex replied.
<It won’t take long, Alex, and I’d like the feedback of your senior officers.>
The mention of Tatia and Reiko had Alex considering that Mickey’s idea wasn’t cursory, so he agreed to give the engineer the time he requested.
Three days later, the Liberator was positioned where Mickey requested, and Alex and company were crowded around the warship’s bridge holo-vid.
Mickey signaled Julien, and the SADE narrowed the warship’s holo-vid view of the city-ship to a single bay.
“That’s not an engineering bay,” Alex commented, reviewing the enormous ship’s plans in his implant, which he’d spooled from the Trident’s controller.
“Indeed, not,” Julien agreed.
<Ready?> Mickey sent.
<Proceed, Mickey,> Alex replied.
The holo-vid displayed the opening of one of the city-ship’s pair of bay doors, and the group saw the focusing lenses of two beam weapons.
<These weapons are independently mounted. They have their own controllers and receive priority direction from the ship’s controller, but they can target and fire without oversight, if necessary,> Mickey announced proudly.
<Okay, Mickey, give us the full presentation. I’ll reserve my questions for now,> Alex replied.
<First, you and your fine commanders will want to know about the power. Isn’t that right, Svetlana?> Mickey asked.
<You know me well, engineer,> Svetlana replied.
<Together, a pair of beams have 82 percent of the capacity of a Trident’s twin outrigger hulls.>
<Wait, Mickey, I know I said I’d hold my questions, but how is that possible?> Alex asked.
<Oh, how foolish of me, Alex, I forgot to tell you about the new discovery created in our engineering lab. After all, you were gone for an entire year.>
The senior commanders chuckled at Mickey’s characterization of being deserted by Alex.
<My congratulations on your new invention, Mickey,> Alex sent to mollify the engineer. <What was created?>
<When we designed these beauties to fit in a bay, Alex, the SADEs determined the power output was insufficient to provide protection in a battle scenario. Naturally, we had to design a more compact, power-crystal package.>
<You what?> Tatia interjected.
<Yes, Admiral, the specifications for the charge required —>
<Stop, Mickey, repeat in my language the part where you say your c
rystals are more compact,> Tatia sent.
<Admiral, our new, crystal-growth process compacts the layers, making them denser. It enables us to get about a 60 percent increase in power charge per kilo. They also charge a bit faster.>
<Black space, Mickey,> Alex muttered.
<Amazing isn’t it, Alex? See, you need me and my team,> Mickey added, underlining his message about not being left behind again.
<Mickey, can these new crystals be retroactively installed in our Tridents?> Reiko asked.
<Assuredly, Commodore. Trixie has already created facilities to produce the new crystals. She’s been turning some out for the squadron, and we can add this information to the agreements with the other worlds.>
<Back up, Mickey,> Alex said. <I need to understand the who behind these machinations.>
<Well, Alex, the discovery was made in the engineering lab with Edmas, Jodlyne, and a few SADEs. Every individual was employed by me. That makes the invention an Omnia Ships property,> Mickey sent.
<The facility to manufacture the new crystals and the subsequent production was done with my funds,> Cordelia sent. <If Omnia Ships decides to endorse this, you would need to reimburse me, Alex.>
<Consider yourself reimbursed, Captain Cordelia. Smart decision on your part. Where are we in the production cycle?> Alex asked.
<Ready to upgrade all Tridents, Alex,> Mickey sent in reply.
<Have your engineering team start with the Redemption, Mickey,> Alex ordered.
Tatia glanced at Alex, wondering about his choice of Ellie’s ship.
<Well, now that we have the subject of crystals out of the way, let me continue with my demonstration,> Mickey sent, feeling in his element. <Jodlyne, if you would, please. Display our armament.>
The beam weapons slid from the bay on rails, extending their barrel lengths outside the ship. While the audience watched, the barrels moved independently, covering significant arcs, left, right, down, and up.
<Alex, with beam placements in every other bay on the ship’s circumference, I can give the Freedom a 15-degree overlap along this central line. There is limited coverage directly above and below, but this isn’t a sitting orbital station. The vessel can be underway, and Captain Cordelia can rotate the ship to allow coverage where needed, especially from something as large as a sphere or some bullet ships.>
<If my calculations are correct, Mickey,> Z sent, <in your scenario, you’ll have the firepower equivalent of fourteen Tridents.>
<Close enough, Z,> Mickey replied, entirely enthused.
<Suddenly, my ship feels inadequate,> Svetlana sent, gazing at the twin beam weapons twisting in space in the holo-vid display.
<Alex,> Cordelia sent, <the concept of outfitting the Freedom with weapons was given a great deal of thought by humans and SADEs. You’ll pardon my directness, Alex, but it’s shortsighted of you to travel as a passenger on a warship. This applies to other critical individuals, whose safety should be paramount. Julien has shared with me your thoughts about whom we face, and it’s obvious that alternate long-term considerations must be made.>
<I agree with Cordelia,> Tatia added. <Nothing personal, Alex, but I don’t want the five of you on this ship,> she added, pointing to Alex, Renée, Julien, Z, and Miranda. <This is a warship, not a spectator platform.>
<And here I thought we were friends, dear,> Miranda said, pursing her lips in discontent.
<Stop it, you flirt,> Tatia laughed. <You know what I mean. I would dearly like the critical personnel off this flagship.>
<Careful, Admiral,> Alex said, <you might find yourself aboard the Freedom.>
<I would be content with that decision,> Alain sent privately to Tatia.
<Alex, the fleet will need supplies and possibly repairs,> Mickey added. <The Tridents aren’t designed to carry what they need for an extended trip, especially if it involves one or more significant fights. The fleet lost a Trident and struggled to reacquire the spare travelers. Think of the tremendous number of empty bays available to us that encircle the Freedom.>
<I’ve heard all of you,> Alex said, ending the discussion. <Mickey, take care of the Tridents. Julien, update our partners with the data on the new crystals. Remind them that this technology is exclusive to the parameters we’ve laid out. Captain Cordelia, I’ll review the engineering proposal for the Freedom with the senior commanders, and we’ll have an answer for you soon. Mickey, thank you for an enlightening presentation,> Alex said, closing his comm.
Within hours, Alex convened a meeting aboard the Freedom. Crew had transferred Renée and his meager belongings from the Liberator to the couple’s suite of rooms in the city-ship, and Renée was rejoicing. Her greatest gripe about the warship’s tiny cabin was that Alex and she couldn’t fit in the refresher at the same time.
Alex’s eleven guests, Tatia, Reiko, Julien, Cordelia, Z, Miranda, and the five Trident captains, were scattered around the main salon, having been called to discuss the arming of the Freedom and whether the city-ship should accompany the fleet.
“Thoughts?” Alex asked, when the humans were comfortably settled with cups of thé.
“The longer the hunt for the second sphere lasted, the more the senior commanders and I discussed the concept of a long-range expedition, Alex,” Tatia replied. “Mickey’s absolutely right that the fleet needs ongoing support.”
“It was a standard operating procedure for a fleet headed by a capital ship to be accompanied by freighters,” Reiko said. “Unfortunately, we can’t protect a group of freighters, not knowing what we’ll be facing. But an armed city-ship could be an excellent support.”
“Alex, consider extrapolating this discussion from supplying our five Tridents to those who will join us,” Z said. “We might number fifty warships in our expeditionary force.”
“We’ve been discussing supplies,” Julien added, “but there is an argument to be made for ancillary personnel, not least of whom are the engineering team, who are proving to be indispensable.”
“On that note, Alex,” Cordelia said, “you might not be aware that Mickey employs 216 humans and SADEs, who work in three of this ship’s bays. The list of projects that are underway are staggering. If we wish to have access to what they create, then they’ll need to be near the fleet. In addition, they’ll require supplies and raw material to continue their work.”
“Dear man, I have a thought for your consideration,” Miranda said. “What if we don’t engage the Nua’ll in a single, massive battle? What if this race, faced with an extensive display of military might and an enormous city-ship, chooses a protracted engagement or, perhaps, to negotiate? And consider this: These alternative actions will most probably take place an incredibly long distance from Omnia, our support base.”
Renée, who had been keeping cups filled, poured one more for Alex, and sat beside him on the couch. “And here’s my thought,” she said. “We lost a ship and its crew due to the actions of one man. Through a conversation I had with Captain Jagielski at New Terra, I learned that he felt the admiral slowly became fixated on the idea that we, Omnians, were set on preventing him from achieving his goal of proving he could make a valuable contribution to New Terra’s defense.”
“That’s interesting,” Alex said, glancing toward Tatia, whose narrowed eyes indicated it was news to her.
“If we had the Freedom,” Renée continued, “there’d be a place for officers and crew to relax. More important, our admiral would have the opportunity to have face-to-face time with her senior commanders. I’m sure that Tatia would have been able to detect Admiral Tripping’s growing eccentricity.”
Alex drained his cup of thé and regarded the group, who stared expectantly at him. The Trident captains had been silent, but he imagined Tatia and Reiko had expressed their opinions. The only key adviser who had said nothing was Julien. Alex lifted a single eyebrow in the SADE’s direction.
<No matter the decision, Alex,> Julien sent, <it will create risk. Either we’ll imperil the warships without support, or we’ll endanger
a city-ship full of noncombatants. However, one of these scenarios will assume a greater element of risk.>
<It’s back to asking noncombatants to place themselves in harm’s ways,> Alex sent in reply.
<And when have they ever failed to volunteer?> Julien riposted.
“It appears that you have a new project, Admiral,” Alex said. “Have your senior people ensure that Mickey’s efforts give the city-ship the most coverage possible. Mickey does elegant work, but I’m thinking robust is better.”
“That’s our preference too,” Tatia replied.
“My crystal friends,” Alex said, “you have your work cut out for you. Take note of Z’s statements. What do five warships need in an extended period of engagement? What about twenty-five? Fifty? Cordelia, it’s your ship. Handle the processes for recruitment and supplies, as we scale up.”
“What’s our timeline, Alex?” Cordelia asked.
“New Terra is close to sending two or three Tridents in another two months. Haraken should double or triple that number, in the same amount of time. They have the proper construction capabilities and the trained naval people. I don’t know what to expect from the Confederation. They have the greater capacity to build ships, but they don’t have a clue how to obtain trained personnel. My hope is that they sent their personnel to the Haraken naval academy.
“What about fighters and pilots for the Freedom, Alex?” Reiko asked. She twisted slightly in her seat and met Alex’s stare.
“The arguments were clear and persuasive to turn the Freedom into an armed supply ship, Reiko,” Alex said. “If we think of the city-ship in this manner, we’ll probably fail all those aboard. As of this moment, you should think of the Freedom as a warship, and make your decisions on that basis.”
“Understood, Alex,” Reiko replied, nodding her head in agreement.
The group, except for Julien, Cordelia, and Tatia, who Alex invited to remain, exited the suite.
“Tatia, I need to send a clear message about the change in the Freedom’s status,” Alex said.
“Agreed,” Tatia replied. She stared thoughtfully at Cordelia, who peered back at her with interest.