Homeworld (Odyssey One) (41 page)

“Singularity damn it all,” she swore. “Make our course for the Terran system, all speed!”

“All speed, yes Captain!”

The sneaks will have to wait. We owe the Terrans a couple interventions of our own.

N.A.C.S.
ODYSSEY

“WHOA!”

“What is it, Michelle?” Eric asked, one eye on the screens as they continued to scan for any fighters they might have missed.

“Inbound bowshock signals,” she answered. “A lot of them, Captain. We’ve got company coming, and they’re coming in loud and noisy.”

Eric redirected his attention with an alacrity he reserved for truly bad news, glaring at the new signals for a moment before he visibly relaxed and even smiled.

“Captain?” Roberts asked hesitantly. He really didn’t like that look much.

“Looks like the rest of the
Weifang
’s pursuit group,” Eric said mildly. “They don’t appear happy to see us.”

“I wonder why,” Roberts snorted.

“Captain,” Waters spoke up, “armor stands ready to shift to stealth….”

“No,” Eric said. “No, I don’t think so. Time to put on a show, I think.”

He walked over to Waters’s station and reached across the younger man’s shoulder to tap in some command. When he
was done, Eric stepped back. “Run those armor equations, if you will.”

“Uh…yes, sir,” Waters said, confused but certainly not going to disobey an order.

The new equations were put into the computer and chroma-shifting coating on the
Odyssey
’s hull went into action immediately. In a few seconds, the normal, somewhat drab Navy colors of the ship were replaced with blazing white and mirrored hull segments, her running lights lit up to full power.

“Stand by to record and broadcast a message, in the clear,” Eric ordered. “All channels, all frequencies,
especially
Priminae encodings and translations. I’ll bet my last dollar that whoever is out there has broken those, probably a long time past.”

“Aye sir, standing by.”

Eric took a breath, considering what he was about to say, then nodded once.

“This is the
Terran
Starship
Odyssey
. You are in violation of the sovereign rights of this star system. This is your only warning. Continue into our territory and you will be met with lethal force. Eric Stanton Weston, Commanding,
Odyssey
out.”

He took a slow breath, then nodded pensively. “Encode, translate, and loop that.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

Roberts stepped closer. “Terran Starship? The NAC isn’t going to be fond of that, sir.”

“Respectfully,” Eric hissed softly in reply, “
fuck
the NAC. It’s time to stand together, or hang separately.”

Roberts’ expression was etched in stone as he moved away. He wasn’t sure this was the way to do things, but at the same time he sure as hell wasn’t certain that it was the wrong way either.

No matter what else, no matter what may come, it was clear that the N.A.C.S.
Odyssey
stood on station, a gleaming white knight in the black, challenging anyone to cross her.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

NAC Station Liberty, Earth Orbit

“THAT MAN HAS to be one of the most arrogant bastards….”

Admiral Gracen pinched the bridge of her nose, wishing she could refute the words.
He just had to broadcast that in the clear. Good god. Every radio receiver in the damned system picked that up, including the civilian ones.

“There’s not a lot left to it, I’m afraid,” she said tiredly. “We were going to call in the Chinese anyway, as they had a pretty damned good idea of what was coming down. May as well bring in the UN while we’re at it.”

“Can we really afford that distraction at this point?”

“I don’t think we can afford not to,” Gracen countered. “This battle is out of our hands. Aside from the transition cannons on the Liberty, it’s going to be in the hands of Carrow and Weston. They’re our only assets in the entire solar system at the moment.”

She scowled, not at anyone in particular, but just at the situation.

“We need international cooperation if we’re going to put together a credible fighting force, and you all know it,” she said. “At the very least, we have to be sure that we’re not going
to be shot in the back by the Block while we’re fighting these
Drasin
.”

“The President is not going to like this.”

“Has anyone talked to him since the transmission was received?” Gracen asked, a spreading chill running through her blood.

The others looked around, equally horrified as the thought dawned on them all.

Oh crap.

“Alright. I’ll get on the line Earth-side and see what’s going on in the minds of the politicians,” Gracen sighed. “In the meantime, I think we should take Weston’s lead on this subject and bring the Block ships into the loop.”

“Admiral Gracen, with all due respect, are you out of your mind?”

She pinned her colleague with a glare. “Would you prefer them to fire their missiles without bothering to let us know? Because if you think that they’re sitting this one out, you’re the one that’s out of your mind.”

The room quieted for a moment as everyone parsed that bit of information and quickly realized that she was right, no matter how little anyone wanted to admit it.

“We can’t clear that,” a vice admiral finally said, voicing what just about everyone was thinking. “That’ll have to come from the civilian authority.”

Gracen twisted her lip, but nodded.

“Right. Well, I better make that call then, shouldn’t I?” she asked rhetorically.

No one was silly enough to try answering.