Tag was snatched out of his reverie and said, “Uh oh, does she know what happened?”
“When you took the escape pod down and ordered me not to go after you, I called the Director to ask for instructions. Your wife was there at the time, and they both demanded a video feed on what was taking place groundside. They also ordered me to disregard your instructions and to send whatever force was necessary to withdraw you from danger. You, however, handled it before I could organize any kind of response. But to answer your question, they saw everything you did during that final battle.”
The button was flashing on Kosiev’s com and Tag only stared at it. “Admiral, could you please tell my wife I’m indisposed, that I’ll call her later?”
“You forget, Tag. She can see the truth,” Kosiev said, smiling at Tag’s discomfort. Here was a man who took on an Alliance regiment without flinching, and now he was frightened to face his wife. Kosiev transferred the call to Tag’s com and smiled.
Tag picked up the com and said, “Hello, dear.” He then moved the com a foot away from his ear, and even Kosiev could hear Danielle yelling at him.
“Ahh, there is always payment for the risks we take,” Kosiev thought. He then laughed out loud at the expression on Tag’s face. The voice on the other end of the com doubled in volume, and Tag said, “That wasn’t me! No, I don’t think this is funny.” Kosiev left whistling, leaving Tag to the chewing-out he so richly deserved.
Richard Wiseman was asleep in a hospital bed onboard the Saint Theresa hospital ship. He had lost a lot of blood and was developing an infection in his leg. He and his wounded marines were being jumped back to Earth for emergency care. Doctor Chen had tried to treat some of the marines, but none of them would accept it until their commander was taken care of. Doctor Chen finally had to beam a video to their beds showing Richard asleep. “He’s being kept asleep until we arrive at Central Medical,” Doctor Chen said. “There’s nothing we can do now but keep him stable. Now you soldiers lie still and let us help those we can.” When he tried to turn off the video, the marines threatened to show the doctor what hand-to-hand was really like. So Chen left it on. “What did this man do to get such loyalty?” he asked one of the marines.
“He kept the faith, he kept his word, he fought for us, and he kept the civilians safe. He showed us the meaning of semper fi, doctor. Don’t let him die.”
Chen looked at the marine and said, “He won’t, not on my watch.”
General Dorg sat on the human transport and thought about the week’s events. He along with all the sailors watched as the dreadnought self-destructed as the lifeboat was leaving. It was a sight he couldn’t get out of his mind. He didn’t know the Cainth war ships were programmed to self-destruct and take the crew with them. He wondered if his transports were programmed the same way. The humans had addressed him and his men once they were onboard and told them what was going to happen. “You are going to be transported to a moon circling one of our planets called Jupiter. The moon is named Europa. We have carved a cavern and have put environmental systems in place to maintain its atmosphere and temperature. We have stocked it with enough provisions to clothe and feed you. There are living facilities for you also. We will not be guarding you. You will set up your own form of government and rule yourselves. If this conflict between us and the Alliance ends peacefully, we will transport you home. Obviously, we can’t do that now. We’ll be fired on even if we tell them you’re on board. There will be a com set up for you to contact us if you have any needs. Are there any questions?”
“What are you going to do with the ones that executed the prisoners?” one of the soldiers asked.
“If one of our commanders ordered that, he would be summarily shot. However, you come from a different culture that places no value on any race but your own. We understand that orders given you are inviolate. You carry them out or you’re killed. Our anger is directed to the leaders that gave the order. Not the ones that carried it out. We do not kill our captives nor do we cause them unnecessary discomfort. Settle in, gentlemen. We’ll have you at your new home shortly.”
General Dorg didn’t want to like these humans, but he could not help but respect them. “This race is not a danger to us,” he thought. “We’re the danger to them.” He knew that this conflict between his race and the humans was stupid. His brother was paranoid about these humans and he had bought into his fears until this defeat. “We would have killed all the survivors instead of treating them fairly,” he realized. The wounded would have been killed first, but the humans actually were treating them in their medical ships and sending the severely wounded to Earth to receive more extensive treatment. “How could we have gotten so paranoid that we don’t even look to see if a danger really exists?” he wondered. He had a lot to think about, and it looked like he was going to have all the time he needed. He looked at his troops surrounding him in the freighter’s hold and saw the anger they felt over the self-destruction of the dreadnought. He shared the same feelings and felt their fear of possibly never seeing their world or families again. Well. “Maybe we can hope this madness ends peacefully,” he thought. In his heart he knew that the only way it could would be for the humans to win the conflict. “They may have a lot more prisoners to join us before this is over,” he decided. He stood up to talk with his men. “It’s time I take responsibility,” he thought.
Kosiev spoke into his com and asked, “Has all the wreckage been destroyed?”
“Yes, sir,” Captain Mikado answered. “The bigger derelicts were pulled and sent into the sun. All the others were hit with beams and disintegrated.”
“What about the Alliance transports on the ground? “
“They are basically unharmed, sir. We left them there.”
“Okay, have all our ships form-up on Washington and set coordinates to jump back to Earth. We’ll be joining you shortly from the surface. Have the Cleveland jump in system and relieve the Saratoga. I want to see what happens when the main Alliance fleet arrives, and I also want to see the number and type of ships in their fleet. Prepare to have the fleet execute the jump upon our arrival back on board, Lieutenant Kelley.” Thirty minutes later the Earth fleet moved toward the jump limit and six hours later disappeared from the Ross system, leaving only the evidence of a failed Alliance attack on the planet below.
“Admiral Dorg. We have been unable to contact the fleet at the human colony planet. They are not answering our communications.”
Admiral Dorg felt a sick feeling and suddenly felt fear for his brother. He said, “How long until we can jump?”
“All of our ships have just now arrived from the extermination and have to rearm their stores.”
“How long, I said?”
“Two rotations, minimum, sir.”
“Get on it. Send a dreadnought and escorts from Cainth to go look and see what’s happening at the human colony. Have them report to me when they find out. My brother was the leader of the ground forces and I want to know how he is. If there’s trouble when they enter the system, have them record what they can and jump out.”
“Yes sir.”
Admiral Dorg was worried. There were too many unknowns. It could be that the comet disrupted communications and everything was fine. Somehow, he really didn’t think so.
Tag sat in his quarters aboard the Washington facing his view screen, where five men and two women were sitting in a comfortable room back on Earth. The Special Forces team had commed him right after Danielle. Thank the creator he was able to get off the com with her. Even she understood the importance of their call. Her last words were, “Don’t think this is over!”
“Good day, gentlemen. How may I be of service?” Tag asked.
“Mr. Gardner, the Director has sent us some video footage of your run in with an Alliance ground force. We thought we would ask how you were able to accomplish what you did. No shield small enough for a single human would have been able to handle the weapons fired at you. Further, analysis of the weapon you used has come up empty. We as a group think that what you used was of Alfont origin. Nothing else would explain what we saw.”
Tag thought, “Atlas, are you there?”
“Yes, I am,” Atlas replied.
“Do I tell them about you?”
“What are your thoughts?”
“I don’t want anyone to know about you, but these men can be trusted.”
“Then try to avoid answering first and then use your best judgment.”
“By the way, I didn’t know if the screen you gave me would hold up under attack like it did, but thanks for
