The Gabriel, orbiting Dasos, Prasinos system
Bache Loftt and another officer were escorted up to the blister on the top deck of the Gabriel by Linda. He’d requested the face-to-face meeting after being informed that Rayl might possibly know of Menka’s destination.
There, they were greeted by Ed, Andy and Rayl. As this was a formal meeting the greetings were more sombre than usual and they quickly sat in a semicircle on the large round sofa. With the magnificence of Dasos turning slowly above them through the thick diamond glass, they were introduced to Marine Colonel Hallich, whom Bache had tasked with pursuing and eliminating Menka.
‘I understand that you have some way of detecting the queen’s whereabouts?’ Hallich asked Rayl.
‘I wouldn’t call it detecting,’ she said. ‘But I can still hear echos of the collective and make sense of some of it.’
‘She can have influence over the bugs too,’ said Andy.
‘Where do you think she is?’ the admiral asked.
‘I overheard her instructing the flight deck on the liner as she boarded,’ said Rayl. ‘The numbers didn’t mean anything to me as I’ve never been a navigator, but when I got back here I still remembered them and plugged them into the computer. They were the co-ordinates for a system jumping-in zone.’
‘What system?’ Hallich asked, bringing out his tablet.
‘Somewhere called Gaia in the Helios system,’ she said.
‘WHAT?’ exclaimed Ed, getting a concerned glance from Bache.
‘Oh, shit,’ said Andy, standing and staring at Rayl. ‘You didn’t tell me that.’
‘Is it somewhere you know?’ she asked, recoiling slightly at their reaction. ‘I’d never heard of it.’
Bache stared incredulously at Andy.
‘Her memories are still coming back,’ he explained. ‘Although, come to think of it, I don’t believe she was on the scene before the name change.’
‘It’s Earth, our home planet,’ Linda said putting her arm around Rayl’s shoulder. ‘It’s not your fault. Before we made first contact, the GDA knew of our planet as Gaia in the Helios system.’
‘We need to get under way right now,’ said Ed. ‘We have to stop her and that ship.’
‘How fast is that liner?’ Linda asked.
‘It’s a commercial carrier,’ said Bache. ‘So nowhere near as fast as this thing. Can the colonel park his assault ships in one of your hangars? otherwise he’ll be late to the party,’ he asked, looking expectantly at Ed.
‘Of course, let’s get it done and be on our way,’ Ed replied, nodding and standing too.
‘I understand the queen is human and is actually an outcast of the Ancients,’ said Hallich, as they made their way to the tube lift.
‘Yeah,’ said Andy. ‘A pretty disagreeable one.’
‘Does that mean she has the same abilities as that one called Neferuptah?’ Bache asked.
‘Thankfully, no,’ said Ed. ‘It seems she hasn’t evolved into anything anywhere near as powerful. Neferuptah is unique and very much pro human race.’
‘I’ll be on the bridge plotting the fastest possible route back to Earth,’ said Linda and disappeared off in that direction.
‘Can’t you persuade her to deal with Menka?’ asked Bache. ‘She could sort the situation with just a wave of a finger from what I hear.’
‘Harming each other is against their accords written in the early days,’ said Andy.
‘It’s down to us then,’ said Hallich, as they reached the starboard hangar. ‘I’ll be back with the teams as quickly as I can.’
‘Good luck, guys,’ said Bache, shaking hands with all three of them. ‘I hope your memory continues to return,’ he said nodding to Rayl and disappeared inside the sleek black shuttle.’
Ed and Andy glanced at each other and walked off in opposite directions without saying a word. Rayl sighed and strode quickly to catch up with Andy.
‘This has got to stop,’ she said, firmly. ‘It’s like living with two six-year-olds.’
Andy turned and enveloped Rayl in a hug.
‘He can be such a twat at times,’ he mumbled.
‘And you can’t?’ she whispered back.
The Gabriel winked into the Sol system some fourteen hours later. Deliberately avoiding the recognised jump zones, Phil who was piloting at the time had let the starship stretch its legs and cut every corner he safely could. Choosing a spot behind Neptune, he immediately cloaked the ship and brought it up to point nine five light. Pol initiated a system-wide scan as everyone else stared up at the holomap.
‘Anything?’ Ed asked, as they cleared the huge bulk of the planet.
‘Hang on,’ said Pol. ‘There’s a lot of traffic.’
The holomap image of Earth grew bigger and better as they ripped across the Sol system, careful to give the abundance of traffic a wide birth.
‘Shit, it’s busy these days,’ said Andy.
‘Jim Rucker told me the space traffic has increased four-fold every year since our first flight,’ said Linda.
Everyone on the bridge turned to her with raised eyebrows.
‘You and the president on speed dial now?’ Andy asked, smirking.
‘I had lunch with him and Rebecca a few months ago…you know? Like you do,’ she chuckled.
‘It’s here,’ said Pol, bringing the conversation back to the job in hand. ‘It’s just arrived in the jump zone.’
She pointed up at the holomap as she panned it in on the passenger liner.
‘Are you sure it’s the same one?’ asked Ed. ‘It’s very late. It should’ve been here many hours ago and a lot of the galactic cruise lines use similar vessels.’
‘Oh yes,’ she said. ‘But what’s strange about it is it appears deserted. There are no life signs at all on the ship.’
‘Who’s flying it then?’ Callon asked, as they watched it move towards Earth.
‘Autopilot,’ said Andy. ‘Must be.’
‘Or remotely,’ said Callon.
‘I have a bad feeling about that ship,’ said Phil.
‘They could’ve all jumped off as it arrived, using those jackets they have,’ said Linda.
‘They’re quite noisy though,’ said Pol. ‘I’d have detected the signatures if they had.’
‘It’s speeding up,’ said Linda. ‘It should be slowing to achieve an orbital velocity.’
‘Shit,’ said Phil. ‘It’s revenge for what we’ve done. It’s going to impact the planet.’
‘Get us there, Phil,’ said Ed. ‘All weapons online, we have to destroy that ship.’
‘We can’t,’ said Phil. ‘We’re too far away and already flat out.’
‘Jump us there.’
‘We’re too big. It’s already flying through busy space lanes, the odds of jumping into other traffic are almost guaranteed.’
‘How long till impact?’ Ed asked.
‘Thirty-one minutes if it continues to accelerate similarly,’ said Pol.
‘Ah, crap,’ said Linda. ‘I’ve vectored in its entry point to the rotation of Earth, it’s going to impact around Rio de Janeiro.’
While everyone had their noses in their screens, Ed slid out of his seat and disappeared on the tube lift. He ran into the hangar and signalled Hallich as he climbed into his mini-me.
‘Saddle up, guys…work to do,’ he called.
On the bridge, Pol looked up from her screen.
‘Hey, where’s Ed?’ she asked.
They all looked at each other.
‘I didn’t see him leave, did you?’ said Linda, glancing round.
‘Cleo, where’s Ed?’ Phil asked.
‘Ed’s in the starboard hangar,’ she replied.
Almost as she spoke, Ed’s mini-me streaked out into space and jumped within seconds, closely followed by the marine ships.
‘Oh, fuck,’ said Andy. ‘What’re they going to be able to do with those?’
‘If he shoots at the liner, it’ll break into several pieces and that’ll make the situation even worse,’ said Phil.
‘Where is he?’ asked Linda.
‘There,’ said Pol, pointing. ‘He jumped into the same jump zone and he’s playing catch-up now.’
‘Ed, d’you copy?’ Linda transmitted and got no reply.
‘I’ll use my DOVI,’ said Andy. ‘He can’t ignore that.’
‘His isn’t working,’ said Pol. ‘He took a stun shot in the back and it frazzled it.’
‘Then he’d better have a plan,’ said Andy. ‘Cuz we can’t be of any help from here.’
‘Ed wouldn’t have left without a plan,’ said Pol.