Counterstrike (Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 3) (27 page)

The room darkened, and when the lighting came back up Setsi was gone and Jackson was looking at the drab, steel interior of what the designers assumed humans liked in their ship interiors.

Jackson rolled back onto the bunk and stared up at the ceiling, sleep a futile goal after the strange conversation. He knew he really had no authority to negotiate on behalf of all humanity like he had, but he felt like they were on shaky ground with the Vruahn. They’d just wiped out an entire species, albeit a species of one intelligence, based on the loss of less than a percent of their entire population. While from a human perspective that seemed completely justified, it must have bewildered and terrified the Vruahn that their response was so immediate and violent. He just couldn’t see anything good coming from direct interaction with a powerful, ancient species that looked at them with utter distrust and revulsion.

Given the list of charges he was likely facing when they got home, he figured he’d just keep this last little interaction to himself.

After the return to Earth there was the expected litany of demands for explanations; later there were accusations, and the memorials for fallen members of his crew. Jackson attended each and every one of them personally, each one like a stab in his heart. Daya Singh’s service was especially difficult as he finally had to come to terms with the loss of one of the most important people in his life.

Earth had become a bustling hub of political activity as the enclaves seemed to derive some sense of security by coming back to humanity’s birthplace and reconnecting with their origins. After the second debriefing in which Jackson explained his actions and the results, complete with all the recordings compiled from the
Ares
, their EVA suits, and even some sensor recordings taken from Blake’s ship before it departed, the Council of Nations as well as CENTCOM were having trouble making the more serious charges stick to him. The public outcry put pressure on the politicians who then leaned on CENTCOM brass to give him a symbolic slap on the wrist, maybe even convince him to retire early, but Wolfe was not to be seriously punished for what he’d done.

Given everything that had happened up to that point, Jackson was more or less numb to the entire thing. He’d never had very lofty career aspirations once he’d been given a ship, and he felt that his days of command were now firmly behind him. He was very thankful when com drones began filtering into the system with news that the main body of the fleet had begun arriving in the DeLonges System. He had to smile at the thought of Marcum coming back, ready to drop the hammer on him only to find out the politicians had beat him to it and given him little more than a stern talking to.

“So you’re really going to walk away?” Davis asked him as they walked along the lake shore, now back in Geneva.

“In spite of what’s been put out in the public, I’m not really being given a choice,” Jackson said. “It’s better this way. I’ll never be promoted to admiral given my record, and they sure as hell aren’t giving me another ship after losing the
Blue Jacket
and the
Ares
. No … I think all things considered it would be best for everyone if I simply requested early retirement. Hopefully it will all end with me, and the rest of you won’t have any marks on your records.”

“Will you stay on Earth?” she asked. Jackson knew what she was getting at, and he was purposefully avoiding it. While he wasn’t sure of what they had together, there was part of him that feared it might be no more than an infatuation based on something that was culturally taboo while he was her commanding officer. He would never insult her by suggesting that, however, so for now he was prepared to just let things progress as they would.

“I’m not certain yet,” he said evasively. “There have been some interesting offers from Tsuyo, and Earth’s government is interested in possibly having me as a liaison as the individual enclaves are indicating they’re not sure they want to reform the Confederacy.”

“I wonder what that will mean for CENTCOM and Fleet,” Davis said. “With Haven gone and Marcum commanding most of the military power that’s now above New Sierra there could be a serious shift in the works that would favor New America.”

“Above my paygrade,” Jackson laughed. “It’s actually the bigger picture I’m more worried about. The Vruahn are still an unknown, and I can’t imagine after the elimination of a species as powerful as the Phage that someone else won’t step in to fill the void.”

“That’s a terrifying thought.” She shuddered and moved closer to him.

“It is,” he agreed. “But I think we have to accept the fact that we’ve been violently shoved into the next great age of humanity. The centuries of isolation have ended and the Vruahn won’t be the only ones that we’ll brush up against in the coming years. Blake hinted that there were many others out there, some a lot closer than we might be comfortable with.”

“And yet you still think it’s a good idea to step down?”

“I do,” Jackson nodded. “My time is over. It will be the next generation of officers coming up that will have to face these challenges, hopefully in a much more thoughtful manner than I have.”

She didn’t answer, but just gave a small, sad smile before looking back out over the still waters of the lake. He took that as a hopeful sign that she realized her place was back on a starship and not worrying about some broken-down captain at the end of his career.

His smile mirrored hers in its sadness, not only for the short time they would likely have together, but for the realization that it was really over. Never again would he walk onto the bridge of a starship as the CO. He would miss it, but he knew in his heart that this was the right decision, not only for him but for Fleet. His greatest hope for the next generation was that they begin positive relationships with their stellar neighbors. The nature of the Phage aside, having the man that was directly responsible for the extermination of an entire species still on a starship bridge might send the wrong message.

****

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Celesta said, making an effort to keep her face neutral.

“He didn’t suffer,” Jackson said. “From what we pieced together afterwards we triggered an automated defense system. Apparently our kinetic weapons had left quite an impression and the Phage copied us.”

“You didn’t scuttle the
Ares
?” she said quietly, changing the subject. They were on the New Sierra Shipyards and Jackson felt like crap for having to tell Celesta about Singh when they were supposed to be celebrating the
Icarus
’s stunning victory over the Phage swarm.

“No,” Jackson said. “And that was probably a mistake. We purged all the servers and navigation data, but the powerplant had been shut down while we were on that moon and the Vruahn ship wasn’t going to wait around for us to rig her to blow.”

“You should have seen Marcum’s face when we docked and he found out that you’d already been exonerated by CENTCOM and they’d accepted your retirement,” she laughed shortly. “He had some rather unpleasant plans for you.”

“None of that is going to splatter over on you, is it?” Jackson asked.

“Not likely,” she said. “Had we not been able to pull off such a high kill rate then it would have probably been a different story, but thanks to political pressure we’re more or less untouchable right now.”

“That’s something at least.” Jackson looked out over the crowd. He was still wearing his uniform as his retirement wasn’t official for another two weeks, but he already felt the separation from the community starting. “Not to mention your reckless charge into the system was what caused the flurry of communication from the core that allowed us to pinpoint it.”

“So it’s really over,” she said after a moment, turning the opposite way from Jackson to look out the large window at the
Icarus
, now docked.

“It is,” Jackson said. “There are still some Phage units sitting out there, but without the core they’re just idle lumps of material, no will or motivation of their own. They’ll die off fairly quick and no more will be produced. I can’t believe I was around long enough to see it through.”

“It’s not going to be the same without you, sir.” She turned to him.

“That’s not a bad thing, Captain Wright,” Jackson said. “You’re the future here. If you’ve learned from my mistakes then it will have not been for nothing.”

He reached out and squeezed her shoulder before setting his drink down on a table and walking out of the crowded room. Aimlessly, he walked along a large, sweeping promenade, stopping at a large porthole to watch as no less than a dozen tugs pulled one of the
Dreadnought
-class battleships stern-first into the dock. Beyond that he could see three more hulls already being laid for more new generation warships.

As he continued on and felt the thrum of activity break around him like water, the gloom he’d been carrying since returning to Earth began to lift. Singh was dead. His career was over. But regardless of that, thousands of people carried on, building new ships, prepping for new missions. He actually smiled as he thought about all those that would come after him, long after he was dead and gone, each adding to the history and legacy that he’d been a part of for such a short time. He had been struggling to know where he fit in for most of his life. It took talking to an alien intelligence in its dying moments, but he'd finally realized, maybe for the first time, what it truly meant to be human.

Thank you for reading
Counterstrike,

the conclusion of the Black Fleet Trilogy.

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From the author

   And there we have it … the conclusion of the Black Fleet Trilogy. This is a story that, from my perspective, was many, many years in the making since I penned the first rough draft in 1998. It has evolved and taken some unexpected turns in this new, final iteration, but I’m overall quite pleased with the end result … maybe more so this third book than anything else I’ve published thus far.

   After sending this book to the editor I sat and really thought hard on what I wanted to do with this universe. Putting it aside as just a trilogy seems to leave a lot of potential stories untold but dragging it out without clear direction just for the hell of it also seems like a mistake. All I’ll say is that as of right now I do plan on continuing to write in the Black Fleet universe. In fact, I changed the original ending and kept Jackson alive just for that reason. That being said, Jackson Wolfe’s story is concluded and the Phage War is over. I have no intention of trying to figure out some way to string the same story arc along and any future books in this series will likely center around Celesta Wright with the exception of a possible Agent Pike spinoff book.

   It’s bittersweet to finally have this story complete and out in the world. I’ve carried this around for a long time and have tweaked and adjusted it over and over while almost never believing that it would actually ever be published. Now I’ll need to find some other project to continually fret over.

   As always, I can’t thank the readers enough. As the number of people who reach out to me grows I find it difficult to keep up and reply to everyone, but I do read all the feedback sent on social media and greatly appreciate it. There are only so many hours of free time we get and the fact that you’ve chosen to share some of that with me and invest the hours to read one of my books is something I do not take for granted.

Cheers!

Josh