Hammerhead Resurrection Page 22

  “So am I,” Stacy said.

  “As am I,” Holloway said.

  Samantha also nodded.

  Jeffrey looked up beyond the antenna. Clouds had risen in the morning’s heat, stark white against the blue sky. “Okay, send it off.”

  The officer tapped his keyboard. “It’s away, sir.”

  They waited.

  A breeze, heavy with the scent of rubber trees and rain, rustled through the leaves above as branches all around them swayed. Jeffrey worried the antenna might be thrown off target by the movement.

  The officer kept his eyes on his display.

  “Anything?” Donovan asked.

  “Nothing yet.”

  They waited for almost thirty minutes. Jeffrey was about to direct the O.S. to inform him of any changes when the console squawked, and the screen scrolled with black bars. The scrolling slowed, stopped, and the center bar expanded to reveal a woman’s face lit by a dim lamp. She had short, gray hair, which floated slightly. The zero-G effect on her face, gave her a slightly humored look. Crow’s feet framed her brown eyes.

  “Do we have you?” She asked.

  “Yes,” the O.S. said.

  She smiled sincerely, “A handsome man to talk with, I’m so pleased. It’s funny when you know you’re going to die what matters.”

  “You aren’t dead yet.”

  “Son, you aren’t seeing what we’re seeing.”

  “And what’s that?”

  She looked to her side, saying, “I’m going to send you some details—images, maps… documented locations of attacking ships.”

  “So the ships have touched down?” Jeffrey asked.

  The woman had kept talking, not having heard Jeffrey, “…had several updates from broadcast military recon satellites before they were destroyed. A ship simply entered the low earth belt and flew through them all. There’s a band of garbage that’s going to be raining down on you folks for many years. They came up here to geosynch orbit as well. We completely shut down as they passed through the Clarke belt. They had several fighters attacking targets. Apparently we shut down in time. If this station hadn’t been placed in such a unique orbit, we wouldn’t be talking now.”

  Jeffrey crouched down beside the communications officer and asked into the screen. “Have the Sthenos ships touched down?”

  “Sthenos?” The woman gave a humorless laugh, “I suppose that’s as good a name as any. Yes, all but one has touched down. They land, stern down and appear to root themselves to the ground. They’ve landed in the largest population centers.” She looked for a moment as though she might cry but pursed her lips, smiled, and said, “You men and women down there need to be careful. Stay sharp and stay safe.”

  Jeffrey said, “We’ll do what we can, ma’am.” He felt obligated to say something more. “We might be able to get a transport up to you.”

  “Don’t you dare waste military hardware on us,” she said. “We knew responding would mark us. We delayed to come to a unanimous decision. We hope you’ll understand.”

  “Of course,” Jeffrey said.

  She looked to her right. “We’ve had alien fighters enroute since the beginning of this communication. They’re only a few moments away now.” She looked back to the O.S. with a resignedly peaceful expression. “Young man, there’s nothing left to say, and I have a death sentence on my head. Give me some hope. Tell me, do you have a girlfriend?”

  “A wife. We’ve been married six months now.”

  That brought a sincere smile to her face. “Beautiful?”

  The communications officer smiled. “Yes. Really pretty…” his voice faltered, “…dark hair… wonderful smile. She has a great sense of humor.”

  The woman pursed her lips before saying, “Tell her you love her. We have no idea how much time we have left. Ironically we never did, but our fate is clearly more immediate now.”

  The O.S. said in a quiet tone, “Yes, ma’am.”

  When the screen flashed to static, he clicked the keyboard, killing the feed. He remained with his head down too long.

  Jeffrey put his hand on the young man’s back. “Youre wife?”

  “Was on the Oestres, sir.”

  “I’m sorry,” was all Jeffrey could say.

  “I’m fine,” the young man said with a dishonest smile. He typed for a moment on his keyboard before handing Jeffrey a pocket sized tablet. “That has the files she sent over.”

  Jeffrey tapped a document icon, skimmed it, and said, “The remaining Sthenos destroyers returned to Earth twelve hours after destroying the fleet… just as we predicted. Twenty-two have touched down in major cities. Only one remains in a ten-hour transit Earth orbit.”

  “Why are they orbiting that high?” Commander Holloway asked.

  “Probably,” Donovan said, “so they can respond quickly to threats high and low as they just did with the space station.”

  “That’s true, and it gives us an advantage,” Jeffrey said, “a longer window without observation.”

  “Observation?” Donovan asked. “What are you planning?”

  “We need different aircraft… namely not spacecraft. The Wraiths won’t serve us well in atmosphere. We need to get our hands on different hardware to give ourselves a fighting chance.”

  “You’re hoping,” Commander Holloway said, her voice showing some of the mettle she had before the first battle, “that the Sthenos fighters have similar limitations in atmosphere.”

  “Yes, absolutely. Look at their design.” He tapped on the tablet and brought up a schematic on the Sthenos fighters and held it out. “They have massive directional thrusters for zero G, vacuum based dog fighting, but there are only cursory control surfaces. Directional thrusters can only help a ship so much at speed in atmosphere. Nothing takes the place of excellent, old-fashioned control surfaces—big wings and tail fins.”

  He tapped the stumpy shape of the Sthenos fighter. “I’m hoping these things will be as big a pig in atmo as our Wraiths are. If they are, and we can get our hands on good, dedicated aircraft, our pilots will eat them alive.”

  Captain Donovan shook his head. “What about the destroyers? We can’t stand for long against those. The moment we begin attacks, they’ll come right here, wipe us out.”

  “That’s why we have to lay low and do it all at once.”

  Samantha asked, “Do what all at once?”

  He turned to Stacy. “Commander Zack has that all worked out.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Stepping forward, Stacy said, “I’ve been considering a grounded Sthenos scenario for some time. Now we have confirmation of Sthenos destroyers planted at the center of twenty-two major cities. The good news is, we’ve been able to recover the special warfare equipment, including active-camo suits.”

  Jeffrey asked, “You found enough suits?”

  “Yes. The suits are such an important tactical weapon we generally carry a backup for each team member. I had fourteen, and found another ten on the Lacedaemon, which were slated for Saturn Base. If, and this is a big if, those suits are as good at avoiding Sthenos sensors as they are ours, then we should be able to move right up to those ships.”

  “That’s a significant if,” Captain Donovan said. “The Sthenos have already proven to have different sensory capabilities. They, for one, do not appear to have heart rhythm sensors.” Something appeared to have caught his mind. He scowled. “Are you telling me your team was bringing armaments out? You’d been ordered to bring out food stores.”

  Stacy’s eyes darkened. “Captain, if you want my respect you’re going to have to stop saying stupid things right out in the open, okay?”

  Donovan’s face flushed red and his mouth opened, but Stacy beat him to the punch, saying, “We’re not bakers, sir. We’re special warfare, and we have, are, and will be at all times focused on that job. You should expect no less.”

  Donovan’s eyes narrowed with anger as he said, “You little b—”

  “All right you two,” Jeffrey said
, his booming voice overriding all other words. Quieter, he said, “Please relax… Commander Zack is correct to stay focused on tasks related to special warfare. She should also be reminded that insubordination will not be tolerated from a Navy officer.”

  Donovan crossed his arms, and Stacy’s jaw muscles tightened.

  “And you Captain,” Holt said, pointing at Donovan, “Should remember that leaders lead because people follow, not because they have more stripes. Understood?”

  Donovan’s expression sealed off behind a cold stare as he turned to Stacy, showing that he was ready for her to continue.

  Stacy said, “To address your first statement, yes it’s a big if, but I think that we have some good hardware here.” She looked to Jeffrey and a slight smile drew over her face. “They’ve even solved the CO2 fault.”

  Jeffrey laughed as he said, “Glad they waited until now to do that.”

  “I don’t think they even realized it was a fault until you exposed it. At any rate, we have thirty singularity warheads able to be carried. I suggest we send a single operative into each location—”

  “A single operative?” Donovan asked as though he considered the suggestion ridiculous. “Why only one? A pair would have better odds.”

  “Agreed.” Her tone now came slow and steady, and Jeffrey knew she was doing her best to respect his wishes. “However, we have only twenty-five active-camo suits. This destroyer was not equipped for guerilla warfare, so we have only the stealth gear my team brings with them.”

  Donovan stared at her, as if waiting for his next opportunity to object. Jeffrey saw Stacy’s ire rising again.

  “As I was saying.” She stared at Donovan, who motioned with his hand dismissively for her to continue speaking. Drawing a slow breath, she said, “We should send one operative in with a singularity warhead in a back pack. We should position and detonate them at one time.” She looked directly at Donovan, as if already taking down another complaint, “We could do half the job with two person teams, but if one warhead is discovered, the rest might be discovered. We would then lose our advantage of surprise.”

  At this Donovan pursed his lips and nodded as if her point was obvious.

  Stacy continued, “We plant a singularity warhead near the base of each ship. The half-mile radius of the weapon should destroy a significant percentage of each. Each destroyer was what…” she looked to Jeffrey.

  He shrugged.

  Donovan said, “Each Sthenos ship is 6,543 feet in length. That means a singularity warhead at its aft will destroy over a third of the ship. More importantly, their entire drive section and landing base will be gone. One would hope the rest of the ship would be useless at that point.”

  “Madam President,” Jeffrey said, “I want one agreement from you right now.”

  Samantha shrugged, “I’m not in the position to offer much.”

  “If we succeed, I don’t want any of these men and women,” he pointed to those standing around him, “to have to live through the fifty years of political bullshit I did.”

  She flushed.

  “If we succeed I want those destroyers left where they crash. I want a monument in each of those population centers, not a memorial, but a gutted out alien destroyer to remind us all they were and continue to be real.”

  “Okay,” Samantha said. Her tone suggested she considered him a bit off for wanting such a thing.

  “The first step is to get aircraft with better atmospheric qualities.” He looked to Stacy. “Please prepare your team.”

  Stacy saluted and walked away.

  “Stacy,” Jeffrey called after her, “send Marco Fields to me. I need him and your Warthog to move pilots.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jeffrey said to Holloway, “Inform your pilots to assemble tomorrow at 1600 hours for a briefing.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Jeffrey looked back to the others. “The pilots who go on the run for aircraft will need to be modified. We’ll try to avoid engagement with Sthenos fighters but can’t guarantee it.”

  Samantha said, “You mentioned once that the procedure is hazardous. Do we still need to take that risk?”

  “Without question. We need Hammerheads to effectively face the Sthenos. They have one destroyer left in orbit, and thousands of fighters. At some point we’ll have to dance with them in zero G. We can’t do that effectively without modified pilots. The pilots who fly in atmosphere will be that much more deadly as well. We need every advantage we can get.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  As evening came on, heavy clouds rose in the west and covered over the sky, bringing early darkness. Under his tarp, which formed a comfortable space for a mattress propped up on containers and an area to sit where he’d laid out a section of fabric-like sheeting to keep the dirt down, Jeffrey sat on his mattress with his elbows on his knees, deep in thought. Rain began to fall in heavy drops on the tarp. A few moments later, it increased to a torrent. Someone ran up to his makeshift tent. The boots were smaller, a woman’s.

  Samantha called from outside, “Jeffrey, can I come in? I’m getting soaked.”

  “Yes, please,” Jeffrey said as he stood and lifted the tarp and makeshift mosquito netting.

  “Thank goodness,” she said, ducking under the flap. Her hair and shoulders were wet, but the rain had yet to fully soak her. “I’m so glad I was near your tent.”

  Jeffrey motioned for her to sit on his mattress. He sat on a container.

  “I wouldn’t want to—”

  “Please,” Jeffrey said, “The rain might not last long, but you might as well be comfortable while you wait.”

  Smiling, she sat. Neither seemed to know what to say as the remaining light faded.

  “Are you thinking about what I’m thinking about?” She asked finally.

  “If you mean obsessing over what has to happen over the next few days, then yes.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Any good thoughts?”

  “No,” she said, pushing her hair from her eyes. “To be honest, I don’t really want to think about it anymore tonight. I’m tired of it.”

  “Okay.” Again, Jeffrey found himself with nothing to say.

  “Tell me something.”

  “Something?”

  “Anything… something about you, your past.”

  “I don’t tend to spend too much time talking or even thinking about my past.”

  “Something about Leif then,” she said. “Something about his childhood… a good memory.”

  Jeffrey let out his breath. That was something he was willing to think about. His life had been a series of tragedies, save his son.

  He said, “Leif was an interesting kid. He was an only child, and we had a different relationship with him. We were parents surely, but we tried to be open and honest. Even in grade school, he’d call us guys as if we were roomates.” Jeffrey laughed. “Hey guys, come here and look at this, he’d say.” Jeffrey fell silent for a moment. “He had a really sensitive soul.” Jeffrey laughed aloud. “Any… I mean any heartfelt moment in a movie would make him cry. I’d know it was happening because he’d snuggle up next to me in the theater.”

  “That’s very cute.”

  “Once, in a restaurant, he started sobbing. I think he was about five. We asked him what was—” Jeffrey had to stop as the memory choked his words.

  “I’m sorry Jeffrey, we don’t have to talk about it.”

  “No, no, I’m sorry. It’s not a bad memory. Just one that fills my heart up a bit too much. We asked him what was wrong, and he said the music’s just so sad. Only then did I hear the piano music playing the background. It was Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique, and it had brought him to tears. He was only five.”

  “That’s beautiful.”

  Jeffrey wiped his eyes. “He’s always had this monstrously big heart, since the day he was born. God, I struggled so much in being a good father to him. It was so easy to yell, so easy to lose my temper, and with a boy like Leif it felt like a s
in every time I did. Kids can be so frustrating though. Every other day I felt like a failure, but he made it through, turned out okay. Not screwing him up has been the greatest triumph of my life, but he gets the lion’s share of the credit in my opinion.”

  Silence fell between them. Darkness had come on so fully that Samantha was nothing more than an outline against the less-dark tarp hanging behind her. The rain’s heavy spatter continued to muffle all other sounds. Water rushed down the sides of the tarp, pouring into the trench Jeffrey had dug around its perimeter.

  He asked, “What about you?”

  She laughed in an uncomfortable tone. “I never had kids.”

  “There must surely have been someone in your life.”

  “Yes… there was…” Her words faded off, and in that silence Jeffrey sensed something she didn’t care to speak about. He had so many scars he didn’t want touched, he fully respected those of others.

  “Tell me something happy then,” Jeffrey said. “What was your best memory as a child?”

  “What? A child?” She laughed as though embarrassed. “That’s asking me to go a long way back.”

  “Not nearly as long as I’d have to go.”

  He could just make out a smile crossing her face in the darkness.

  “Childhood…” she said before falling quiet. “You know the memories that are strongest for me are of the Northern California coast. I grew up in a small town, well… spent a few years there. We moved a lot when I was young. When we lived on the ocean, we’d go down to the beach every chance we could. We didn’t have a lot of money, and it was free. My favorite times came with the fog. A lighthouse near the bay had the most beautiful fog horn. It was an easy sound, as if it came from a huge conch shell. Those were peaceful times.”

  “It sounds wonderful. I have some very good memories of the ocean as well.” He told her of his crash landing in the Tongan islands, being a cast away for a few weeks during the war.

  When he finished, she said, “I thought the war didn’t come near Earth.”

  “One engagement occurred right up on us, but didn’t make it through. The powers that be didn’t want people to panic, so they covered it up.”