Travel in normal space seemed unbearably slow after the speed of TacDrive, Captain Absen thought. He remembered buying his first car in San Diego as a teenager, and how walking or even riding his bike had suddenly seemed plodding and boring. That’s how he felt now. Getting spoiled, he chuckled to himself, shifting in the Chair.
Eventually Conquest arrived to hover on its jets high above the captured Io base and the smoking hole where the Weapon had been. Reports had flooded in as the gargantuan boat had neared the swift-moving moon of Jupiter. As the comm lag diminished, pinnaces descended full of Michelle’s telefactors, which quickly began to clear the rubble.
“How long until the base will be usable?” Absen asked the AI.
“Less than a day to reconnect systems to the armored command sections. A few more to make it permanently livable, as long as I stay near enough to coordinate all my bots. May I remind you that we still have the armed orbital bases to deal with?”
“That’s my first concern. Is Bannum down there yet?”
“She was on the first pinnace, and should be at the command section soon. In fact...” The comm crackled, and then a picture of the Sekoi female popped onto the main screen. Absen could see several figures in yellow behind her, and the elbow of a battlesuit at the edge of the display.
“Bannum, have you verified Leslie Denham’s identity?” Absen asked.
“I have, Captain. I am certain she is who she claims.”
“Thank you. Johnstone, I assume you and Michelle have control of the base computer systems?”
“Piece of cake, sir,” Rick replied. “Doesn’t look like there has been much advancement in cybernetics since the Meme took over.”
“Meme like stability and order, not progress,” Bannum replied. “Here.” She gestured for a yellow-clad human woman, who stepped forward. “Your Blend.”
“Leslie Denham, I presume?” Absen asked.
“In the flesh, Captain Absen. You can’t imagine how good it is to see you.”
Absen could see the woman’s eyes fill with tears and emotion. She reminded him of her mother. “You’re right, I can’t imagine, and it’s good to be back, but we have a lot of work ahead of us,” he said. “First on the list is getting those orbitals to defect. Do you think you can do that?”
“I think we can do it together. Can your people synthesize and transmit a view that makes us appear to sit side by side?”
Johnstone nodded as Absen glanced at him.
“Then run the signal through this base and its encryption protocols, please. I will broadcast it throughout the solar system.”
Absen waited while the transmission was readied, discussing with Leslie what they would say. When Johnstone gave him the high sign, the admiral spoke.
“Greetings, Jupiter facilities. On behalf of EarthFleet, the true human authority here, I’m asking you to give up your mistaken allegiance to an alien empire and serve humanity again. As you have seen, I have the military power to destroy you, but I’d much rather you take your rightful places alongside us, to restore your freedom and your honor.” Absen turned to his right, where he’d been assured the synthesized picture of Leslie Denham would appear, as if they sat together.
Then the yellow-clad woman spoke. “I’m Leslie Denham, a Command Level One Blend you knew until recently as Llewella. Unlike the rest of your overlords, I was not enslaved by the Pure Race. My mother freely decided to blend with Raphael, the one Meme who chose to defect and aid humanity four thousand years ago. Raphaela then married my father, Alan Christopher Denham, a warrior of great renown before the Empire conquered Earth. My siblings and I have worked for decades among you to keep the stories of the earlier days alive. EarthFleet has returned, and with it, liberation. Now is the time to rise up and join your brothers and sisters against the Empire. Strike the oppressors in any way you can. You have nothing to lose but your chains.”
“...and we’re off,” Johnstone said. “Nice speech, sir.”
“I think Leslie’s will be the more effective.”
“Sir,” Scoggins interrupted, “We have activity.” In the holotank, icons throughout the Jupiter system blazed with energy. “The orbitals are firing at each other!”
“Can we tell who is who?” Absen asked, standing up to gaze intently at the display.
“We’re trying to sort that out,” Michelle said. “One declared for EarthFleet almost immediately and seems to be trying to convince the others, but as for the rest...”
“Sir, one orbital has destroyed a shipyard.”
“Put me on broadcast,” Absen snapped. “Orbital platforms, this is Captain Absen. Declare your loyalty to EarthFleet immediately and cease all offensive fire or I will be forced to destroy you. Okuda, get ready to move. Ford, begin hitting noncompliant targets with a minimum particle beam strike starting with the one that fired on the shipyard. Knock them out, but don’t burn them to slag. I want prisoners.”
“Aye aye, sir,” the weapons officer muttered. “Firing.”
At half charge, a single energy cannon from Conquest reached across a million miles and slammed masses of charged particles into the offending orbital fortress. Wreathed in electrical discharges, it fell silent. “One down...”
Thrice more, great beams flashed across light-seconds, easy shots against nonmaneuvering targets, incapacitating the orbitals that refused to submit. Absen watched as ten icons turned green in the holotank, holding their fire. Soon, more green blossomed as most of the other installations – the three remaining shipyards, the dozens of mining stations, and the manned PVNs on Ceres – defected and declared themselves loyal to EarthFleet.
“What do you want to do about the mining stations and PVNs that haven’t acknowledged?” Ford asked, clearly eager to get in some more gunnery.
“If they have weapons that can threaten anyone else, and you can pinpoint those weapons, take out the threats. If not, let them sit there for the moment. They may change their minds. Hell, some of them may have internal factions fighting for control. Johnstone, tell Bull to leave a squad at Io base and get all the rest of the survivors back to Conquest. I may have more work for him to do.”