Chapter 28

"You will be judged in years to come by how you responded to genocide on your watch."

~ Nicholas D. Kristof

The sight was breathtaking! Young Bethany Carr observed Earth for the first time from space. Ensign Charlene Carr’s youngest niece, now fourteen years old, finally had her chance to explore the stars like her aunt. It was her birthday today, and Charlene managed to arrange a tour of the solar system as a gift for her niece and her sister, adding to the ever-growing list of Carrs to finally leave the confines of the planet and escape the chains of gravity. Bethany always admired her aunt. At slightly more than ten years apart in age, Beth always had Charlene at her side, and quickly took an affinity for space the moment Char signed up for the Navy!

The Carr women got a special treat as they finally left the grip of the third planet’s gravity field. Three of the five Juggernaughts were in far Earth orbit, a rare sight as the Navy rarely has more than one in the Sol System at any given time. The Carr women were ignorant of the military build-up in the system over the last few weeks, as a response to the failed recon mission by the WarpStar. The press was taking note, with an increase in media traffic in orbit to capture the three megalithic beasts before they jump away into the void.

The Sol Hopper had just made the final steps to start the journey to Pluto, a two-day trip at constant 15g acceleration, with a break of a few hours to flip the hopper for a two-day 15g deceleration burn. The tour of the system would start in the far reaches of Pluto, then hit every planet in line until they hit the Sol itself. The trip would continue to reach the other planets on the other side of the system, and end with a burn back to Earth orbit. In total, the trip was estimated to take almost a month in length.

“All hands, prepare for hard burn,” the loudspeaker squawked, telling the passengers to strap in. Civilian hoppers do not have the advanced inertia dampener system that military ships do, and it takes time for the system to adjust appropriately to negate a 15g burn. As Bethany strapped in, she grabbed ahold of her mother's arm, pointing to a sight just outside the port viewport. A colossal energy wave hit the area surrounding the hyperbouy, and a gigantic brown alien ship appeared at the entry point. The ship wasn’t that massive, but to a fourteen-year-old girl, it was ginormous. The vessel had two huge engines, was approximately thirteen kilometers in length and twenty-five kilometers in height.

“All ships, Set Condition 1. All civilian traffic is ordered to proceed to the nearest access port and dock immediately!” squawked the loudspeaker as the Earth Orbit Traffic Control (E.O.T.C.) broadcasted to every ship in the system, overriding all communications. A loud “Aww” and a few profanities could be heard from the passengers of the Cruise Hopper as the flight staff had to proceed to the nearest docking access per military orders. The closest orbital facility with civilian docking access was New York Mercy Orbital Medical Center, strategically placed closest to the Hyperbuoy in case of emergencies.

“Report!” Admiral Briggs shouted as he walked into the bridge on board the Independence.

“Sir, we have an unknown alien vessel bearing zero-three-nine. Zero degree drift. Just popped in at the Hyper-buoy exit point, assume it came in via hyperspace,” a young petty officer reported.

“Open a channel to the fleet,” Briggs ordered.

“Sir, they are hailing us!” the Independence comms officer chimed in.

“Open the channel, ensign,” Briggs replied as he sat down in the command chair, sipping his morning coffee.

Instead of the routine communications over a master circuit, a short male alien figure appeared directly in front of the admiral. Not knowing the type of technology this was, security guards stormed the bridge, pointing their weapons at the alien figure.

“Please,” said the alien standing on the bridge. “I am just a holographic projection. I am not here.”

Admiral Briggs stood up and waved his hands, signaling the guards to stand down. “I am Admiral Marcus Briggs, Fleet Commander of the Navy for the United Federation of Nations. You are in Federation space, state your intentions.”

“I detect a hostile tone, please, we mean you no harm. I am Ambassador Ezekiel of the Sumerian Empire. One of our representatives was meeting with your government some time ago, and we have not heard from him in quite some time. We are just hoping to find out what has happened.”

The communication was short. After realizing the Sumerians came in peace, Briggs opened an invitation for them to go aboard the Independence. The meeting was delayed for several hours; unfortunately, as the President of the Federation himself wanted to personally talk to the aliens, the first meeting with an actual diplomat of the alien empire known as the Sumerians.

Bethany Carr had a magnificent view to her side, looking out one of the portholes while the cruise hopper made its way to dock safely. She had taken notice that the military traffic was dense surrounding the alien ship, including a view of two of the Juggernauts. “Mom, is Char on one of those ships?”

“No, honey, she’s out exploring the stars!” she comforted her daughter, but she couldn’t help noticing a feeling of dread deep down inside of her. Something in the deepest pits of her mind was screaming at her. Charlene was in danger. But there was nothing she could do about it. She had no evidence to act on the feeling, no confirmed course of action. All she could do was sit and wait while the military sorted out the situation, to wait for the all-clear for her cruise hopper to proceed with the vacation she so desperately needed.

“Mom, look at those! That’s the Presidential hopper!” Young Bethany noticed the exclusive escort of ships heading to the Independence. The press also noticed, as a significant influx of media ships started to flock over the area to find out what was going on. It was quite unusual for the president to leave his office on Earth. Something was important enough to warrant a personal visit from the president himself!

Navy commanders were thrown off by the president’s visit; they wanted to negotiate with full military control. The WarpStar had gone missing, and had missed the scheduled check-in by over a week. The Sumerians had every right to be upset and concerned, as one of their top admirals was onboard the recon mission. Now the Navy had to debate what to do. Send another recon to recon the recon? No word had been heard from the planet, any naval ship assigned to the system, or the recon mission that was sent out to investigate. The president was indeed worried over the situation, and the Navy had thrown words around like “war” and “attack by the Russians.” The reason for the president to join the meeting was so he could ask the Sumerian Navy to send ships of their own to investigate since they were boasting of an absolute technological superiority over the humans.

“This is unacceptable. How could you send one of our leaders into a dangerous situation? Then demand we send one of our ships for a rescue? You were supposed to protect him!” Ezekial shouted out as calmly as he could.

“Ambassador, I do apologize; however, it was his wish that he tagged along. He believed he could help shed insight on what had happened,” the president began to say, but was interrupted by the 1 M.C.

“All hands, set alert condition one, all hands battlestations.” The O.O.D chimed in over the 1 M.C. as all the lights dimmed, and red light bars all over the bulkheads began to flash.

“What is this?” Ezekial said as the trio walked out of the conference room into the bridge of the Independence.

“I’m not sure, let's find out,” replied Admiral Briggs. “The Admiral has the conn, Sitrep!”

“Sir, we have activity at the Hyper-buoy, it’s charging and acting like something is coming through, but so far nothing has appeared on our scopes,” replied the junior ensign.

President Hammond looked to Ezekiel, irritation glowing on his face, hoping for no more surprises today. “Expecting company?”

“No,” Ezekiel replied, not looking back to President Hammond, showing just as much of confusion and irritation as everyone else in the room.

As quick as it all started, the Hyper-buoy let out an immense energy wave and spit out a tiny ship just as it died down. The vessel was no bigger than a fighter, but she came out of the fold in space, spiraling out of control.

“Sir,” the senior sensor officer spoke up with noticeable confusion. “Scopes are reporting a fighter coming in. It appears to be a modified X-401 and is attempting to hail.”

Information came directly to the bridge via the ship’s Sensor Communications suit. All information is routed to the bridge on a Juggernaught. These megalithic ships do not have a C.I.C. like most other ships in the Navy simply because of their sheer size. The bridge on a Command Cruiser is the single largest Tactical Room ever constructed. It is able to house every piece of informational and tactical team on the ship with direct lines of communication to their respected departments all over the ship.

“Fighter?” asked the admiral, getting more confused by the second. “We do not have a fighter capable of a hyperspace jump?”

“(Static) …………Ori…….. F………H..P” is all they could hear coming out of the transmission. “Sir, the fighter just went dead. I’m not reading any E.M. signatures coming from the ship. She appears to be badly damaged, and is venting oxygen from the cockpit. However, I did get an F.O.F. tag before she went dark; it appears to be called ‘Betsy,’” a junior sensor technician reported.

“‘Betsy’? What registry did it come up as?”

“Fighter nickname ‘Betsy Ross’ Modified X-401 assigned to S.D.D.E. 01.”

“No!” Admiral Briggs couldn’t hold in his fear. “Get medical on that fighter A.S.A.P! Highest priority!”

“Aye, sir!” the O.O.D replied, already on the task.

“Marcus, what is it?” asked the president softly, so no one else could hear.

Ignoring the tone of the president, the admiral replied so everyone around him could hear. “S.D.D.E. 01. That’s the WarpStar. That fighter came from the WarpStar. Our answers are on that ship. The fates of Orion, Enki, and the WarpStar herself are on that ship!”

The president made no effort to dispute the claim, nor did he have anything to say directly back. Grabbing his mobile comm unit, he sent a few pings to his staff and almost ran to the docking back where his hopper lay idle. The admiral and Ezekial were not far in tow; all three of them craved answers. Answers only the pilot of that fighter could provide.

“This is boring!” Bethany cried out as she left the ramp of the airlock of her passenger hopper. Tiffany knew she was upset. No one could blame her. She was given a chance of a lifetime to tour the solar system and the various stations along the way, only to have her journey to be halted so abruptly by an alien force invading Earth space.

“Beth, settle down now. Just be patient, we have a long trip ahead of us. We don’t want to have any issues yet, now do we?” Tiffany gave her daughter a chance to act maturely before she would lose her cool. She never got a chance to hear Beth’s reply, as an Emergency Hopper entered the dock at almost impossible speeds, flooding the hangar with a rush of air and ear-shattering noise from the engines.

“Clear the area, miss!” Tiff could barely hear over the security guards trying to get the young mother and her daughter to safety. “We have more coming in.” Beth grabbed her mother's hand without protest as they headed towards a safe area when a group of nurses and a female doctor busted through the corridor hatch, all rushing towards the Emergency Hopper.

Tiffany could finally hear the nurses and E.M.T.’s since the engines of the hopper shut down. “Young woman, mid-twenties, malnutrition, dehydration, hypothermia, and oxygen deprivation.”

“Ori……Or…..ion………..lost…….” The woman attempted to force the words out of her lips with every breath she could muster.

“What is that, ma’am?”

As the carts got closer to where Tiffany and Beth were standing, they could hear the woman clearer and louder, and something drew Tiffany in to pay close attention.

“They—” the woman erupted into a coughing attack, unable to catch her breath.

“Don’t talk, ma’am,” the doctor said repeatedly, attempting to calm the young woman down.

“Or…..i…..dead…….noooo….they……..dead……”

“Let's get her to trauma!” the doctor yelled out as they started to rush her out of the area.

“Noooo……..John!.....Or…ion,” she continued to force air from her lungs to attempt to warn anyone who would be listening, unaware of her surroundings.

As the med lift rode by, the voice struck Tiffany in a very familiar way, but it was not until she saw the patient that she screamed into a fit of fear.

“Charlene!!!!!!!”

Bethany snapped to her mother, confused, tears forming in her eyes, unable to process what her mother just shouted. “Moomm?” Scared, she looked over to the med lift, confirming what her mother cried. Charlene Carr was on the lift, drifting in and out of consciousness, muttering what appeared to be nonsense to the young women.

“Ma’am, do you know this woman?” The female doctor stayed behind as the nurses took Charlene beyond the hatch, into the heart of the station.

“Y,…Y..Yes… She's my sister!” Tiffany couldn’t believe what she saw or heard. “What's happening?”

“Ma’am, your sister suffered a long time without food, water or heat, she needs to be treated right away.”

Tiffany wanted to scream at the doctor, refusing to believe her. Her sister was tough, a fighter. She could not be this badly hurt. Then she saw her nametag. Dr. Emily Henderson, MD. Director of Medicine, New York Mercy. She was legendary in the medical world, one of the most gifted doctors the private sector had produced. Tiffany couldn’t doubt her; no one could. She knew what she was talking about.

“Mmoooooommm!!” Beth gripped her mother tighter, almost crying, not knowing what was happening.

“I want to go with her!”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, you can’t right now. She needs to be isolated for possible contaminants, and you can wait in the patient waiting room until she is clear.”

“Moooooooooommmm!!!!” Bethany was shouting, unable to control her fear for her aunt.

Lieutenant Carr survived a harsh journey, but barely. Even with advanced medical science, her body still struggled to recover from such a long period of lack of nutrients and heat. She was in a coma for several days before showing signs of recovery. Everyone was anxiously waiting for her to fight back. The president, Ezekial, and Admiral Briggs regularly checked up on her every chance they could send an aid. She held the most crucial piece of information anyone could imagine. More than her knowledge, Bethany just wanted her aunt back. She didn’t care about Orion, or the WarpStar. To her and her mother, the health of Charlene was the only thing that mattered.

Tiffany and Beth got a slight bit of relief when the Federation Corps of Engineers were finally able to restore life to the X-401 fighter nicknamed ‘Betsy.’ The information stored on the flight recorder took a lot of pressure off of everyone in hopes for Lieutenant Carr to get better. They now had recorded concrete proof of what transpired, and the young pilot could be left to heal. The flight recorder only recorded from the time the fighter was activated until the time it lost all power in Earth orbit. The data they received horrified everyone, including the Sumerian. It confirmed their worst fears. An unknown alien military force, named by Ezekial as “The Alliance,” had launched a surprise attack on the Federation colony Orion, and completely, without mercy, obliterated the entire system. But how she escaped is what truly shocked everyone.

There was a then-unknown disruption field being generated that blocked Hyperdrive signals to and from a Hyper-buoy, which Charlene was able to escape just barely and establish a lock on the Earth Hyper-buoy. But to make a successful jump, a ship must be as still as possible, which prohibited Charlene from performing any crazy maneuverers to evade the enemy fire. She got the lock, and Betsy chimed in reporting Hyperdrive was ready. Charlene got into position, and pressed the button the second she stopped maneuvers. Hyperdrive spooled up and created the hole in space-time, but right in the middle of the transition between Orion and Earth, a lucky shot hit the main engines of the fighter, pushing the craft through the vortex and dumping them off in an unknown region of space. Betsy was severely damaged. Propulsion was gone, main power generators were damaged and were barely able to produce power and, worse yet, the Hyperdrive needed to cool down before the next jump.

As small as the Hyperdrive was, it had the longest cooldown of any Hyperdrive. With minimal power and no food, Charlene had to rely on the meager survival gear on the fighter for as long as she could. Since the power generator was damaged, it couldn’t produce enough power to spool up the Hyperdrive for an emergency burn. Temperatures decreased rapidly, and Charlene only had three days’ worth of emergency rations, but she somehow managed to make it last. Merely taking a few bites here and there to extend her dry rations and facing dangerously close to dehydration, she spooled up the power systems to make an attempt at a Hyperspace Jump. She was not successful.

Several systems shorted out from condensation building up behind the panels, and a small fire broke out. She was lucky that Betsy was able to activate the emergency fire suppression system. Still, the fire had consumed all of the remaining oxygen, and to add more issues, the main power systems completely shorted out. Betsy was dead in the water. Life support was down, antigrav units were down, everything. Betsy was a derelict piece of space junk. Charlene’s sarcophagus was floating around in the empty, black, cold graveyard.

Before the systems shorted out, the A.I. Betsy was able to enable a few subroutines, allowing the solar collection systems to start recharging the batteries. Unfortunately, it took almost a week and a half to collect enough power from the star that lay over 57 A.U.s away. Charlene barely survived, nibbling on her rations as little as possible but slipping into a coma just a day before Betsy powered up. Finally collecting just enough power for one last attempt at a hyperspace jump, Betsy assessed Charlene’s condition. The A.I. calculated the only option that remained. Consume the remaining power left in the system and blow all relays to attempt another hyperspace jump. Either they would succeed and return to Earth, and Betsy would have sacrificed herself to save Charlene’s life, or the attempt would fail, and Betsy would die anyway, leaving Charlene no hope. Betsy took the risk. She spooled up the Hyperdrive, diverting all remaining power to the nav computer and the Hyperdrive. Connection established. Hyperdrive powered up. Jump!

After several days Charlene finally woke up, her sister and niece were there to hold her hand and provide comfort while a strange alien with an elongated skull, an admiral of the Navy, and the presidential aides were also there asking her questions. Charlene was more than happy to provide answers, even eager, but she felt overwhelmed to warrant such a high-level response from the most influential people in the government. She confirmed everything the flight recorders captured, and even more. Orion was lost. Genocide committed by some unknown aliens. Enki claimed they were ‘The Alliance,’ and Ezekial let out a very noticeable sigh when she reported this. Charlene ended the debrief with tears in her eyes, unable to control her sadness as she reported the heroic sacrifice Captain John Henderson and the crew of the WarpStar committed, by sacrificing themselves to save the location of Earth from these monsters!

“I had feared this day would come!” Ezekial let out a sigh.

“Who are these people?” Admiral Briggs asked.

“They are the current self-proclaimed rulers of the Galaxy. They came in power tens of millions of your years ago. They believe they have a birthright to rule the Galaxy. The Alliance is composed of several groups of Governments. The Mordechai, the Minori, The Alamarian, and the Sumerians, to name the biggest powers. Unfortunately, they have plagued the Galaxy since they took power,” Ezekial explained.

“So, your race is part of this ‘Alliance’?”

“Yes, but only out of necessity for peace. We have no desire to rule the Galaxy, just our territories. We are a peaceful species, and desire no war. If we refused Alliance membership, they surely would wage war with us until they or we were extinct. They have forced their rule upon helpless species for millennia, but they have never acted on such genocidal force as they have today.” Ezekial lied, but no one noticed.

Charlene could not keep her eyes open any longer, and she drifted into a peaceful sleep. Tiffany and Bethany were not so lucky. As soon as everyone left, the two could see Dr. Henderson on the floor, screaming and crying loudly. Dr. Emily Henderson was devastated. First she lost her husband and now her son. She had lost everyone in her life.

Charlene’s recovery went well. In only a matter of a few days, she was fully conscious and eating full meals. She even enjoyed the constant company of her sister and niece, who knew no boundaries. Bethany loved to sleep in Charlene’s bed with her and snuggle with her aunt. Charlene never complained, even after yelling at them for giving up their vacation to spend time with her. One day the television caught everyone’s eyes. The president was talking over the broadcast of every channel across the net; Emergency Broadcast System was being displayed for a significant announcement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the Federation of Nations,” the press secretary introduced the president in the standard fashion.

“Citizens of the Federation, today is a grave day for us all,” the president began his speech over the Media Networks. “We have lost contact with the Orion colony. And today, we have learned of their terrible fate. A group of aliens who call themselves ‘The Alliance’ have committed genocide. They launched a full-out assault on the colony, and there are no reported survivors. Seven point three trillion lives were lost today. We cannot accept this loss. This is the worst tragedy in human history! I vow we will do everything in our power to bring this atrocity to justice. Today I hereby ask, deplore, the Senate to declare a state of war against the group known as ‘The Alliance.’”

War. Another conflict the people cannot afford. But this one was justified. The people needed to know the citizens of Orion would be avenged. The Federation was directly attacked, resulting in a mass loss of life, no one could let that go. But the current war, the conflict with the Russian Republic desperately needed to end. After hundreds of years of fighting, no one remembered why it started. The president went on for almost an hour, laying out a partial attack plan and introducing the Sumerian Empire as a new potential ally. The Sumerian government did not agree to join the war officially, but vowed to keep Earth safe and help provide intelligence on The Alliance, and aid when they could.

The entire Carr family was present when the president made his speech. For the first time in almost a decade, Carlene felt truly at home. She felt ashamed, however, that it took a tragedy to bring them all together. As she watched the president honor the WarpStar, praising how they sacrificed their lives to deliver the news and warning of Orion home, Charlene burst into tears.

“Honey!” her mom said as she hugged her daughter the best she could in the hospital bed.

“I can’t believe he’s gone!” she tried to muster out of her craze.

“It’s too bad,” her dad held her hand and said. “I liked him; you should have seen the way he fought for you.”

Char burst into more tears as she looked at her dad.

“Who’s this guy?” Tiffany said with a confused look on her face.

“Her commanding officer.”

Charlene refused to look at her father, or anyone for that matter. She didn’t know whether to feel, anger, embarrassment, or sadness. She mostly felt confusion, as the last time she was home, her father had done everything he could to discredit John as anyone but a guy trying to get in the pants of his daughter. Now he was sitting here praising the man that had sacrificed himself to save her.

“They’re giving you the purple heart!” Sensing the tension in the room, Tiffany changed the subject and was rewarded with her sister looking back.