Kaiju Apocalypse (10 page)

Unfortunately, even the best-laid plans have a tendency to go wrong.

Upon reaching Alpha Centauri, Nathan and a select few from the crew awoke to discover the sole planet close enough to Earth standards for a colony was already inhabited by a primitive race of bestial bipeds. These creatures were similar in appearance and behavior to the Sasquatch and yeti legends of Earth. Despite the firepower the
Argo
carried, it would have been impossible to wipe the monsters out completely and as long as they lived, there would be no peace on the new world.

Reluctantly, Nathan made the difficult call to return home to Earth. There was nothing for mankind in the Alpha Centauri system, and he felt the resources aboard the
Argo
could be better spent helping the whole of humanity fight the war with the Kaiju, than wasted randomly searching for a new home somewhere out in the stars.

Now, the
Argo
was home.
But what, if anything, had she come home to
, he wondered.

The visual images and recordings Medea had made of Pacifica Base flooded the screen in front of him, confirming that the city was gone. Thousands upon thousands of the lesser, smaller Dog Kaiju prowled its ruins and the shores surrounding the base. Nathan slumped back in his seat, stunned. So many lives lost. He had to wonder if anyone from Atlantica had survived down there when the Kaiju took the walls. He could only speculate on just how long it had taken the Kaiju to kill every last soul in the doomed city.

“Captain,” Medea interrupted his musings. “Lemura Base will be within visual range in two minutes. Also, internal diagnostics are complete. Our communications relays are working at full capabilities. The problem, it seems, is on Earth.”

“Thank you, Medea,” Nathan grunted.

“And sir? I am sorry.”

Nathan shook his head. He hadn’t flown over 25 trillion miles to give up now. He pushed himself forward to sit up straighter. “Give me a wider scan, Medea. Someone has to be down there, and it’s our job to find them. I want a search of
all
the bases, even the smaller ones.”

*****

April “Kitty” Voecks rolled out of her cryo-bed, happy to be awake and for the pain to be gone. She rushed to don her uniform and get ready for action. The other members of the Argo's crew in her section were doing the same. They were all home now, and she was glad to be back, Kaiju war or no. Sure, she was disappointed about the mission's failure to find a habitable, safe world in the Alpha Centauri system. However, she had gotten to see the stars and travel among them. That had been her dream since she had been a child, a dream which she had lived at last.

She spotted Lieutenant Dale Fletcher staring at her as she zipped up her coveralls. She offered him an impish grin, which in turn caused him to blush fiercely. His brown hair was wild and hung down over to cover his forehead, though it did nothing for his current predicament. Officer or not, it was his trademark look, one that he was willing to skirt the regulations in order to keep. Despite his rough appearance, Fletcher was a very attractive man. Like her, he was in his mid-twenties, his body lean and hard from the training that came with being a part of the
Argo's
crew.

“Long trip for nothing, eh?” he managed to ask without stammering, brushing his hair up and out of his eyes.

“I wouldn't say that,” Kitty laughed. “We've learned a lot about long-range space travel, and the
Argo
proved she's trustworthy. Plus, the astrophysics department learned more about the curvature of space-time around a binary star system.”

“You have some crazy friends,” Fletcher muttered.

“What? They showed me how light can be used to create energy,” Kitty gushed. “Not just like solar energy, but how to actually
do
it! That was awesome!”

Fletcher shook his head. “You always look at the bright side of things.”

“Did you mean to do that?” Kitty tittered. “I find it's better than the alternative.” Kitty flashed him another smile. “Got to get to my station, but I'll catch you later, okay?”

“You better,” Fletcher said and dashed away in the opposite direction that she was heading. Kitty was a civilian sensor specialist, while Fletcher was part of the ship’s engineering staff and thus, military. She would be needed on the ship's primary bridge as quickly as she could manage.

Kitty darted into a nearby lift and held its door for two more bridge crewmembers to enter. She found it more than a little strange that they did not have orders yet. When the
Argo
had dropped into normal space around Alpha Centauri, everything had been so rehearsed and planned out.  Of course, she figured, no one had ever counted on them coming home.  Things had not quite devolved into chaos, not yet.  The
Argo's
crew was well trained at their jobs, but the air was filled with more than a little uncertainty. It seemed no one knew
exactly
what they should be doing. Everyone was just treating this as Alpha Centauri all over again, though the doubt of their actions showed in their expressions and movements. Steps were hesitant, and voices carried just a hint of unease in them. Earth was a known world, and likely Alantica or Pacifica had already checked in with the Captain to advise them on what came next.  The
Argo
herself was too large and unwieldy to enter the Earth's atmosphere proper. There was always the threat they she'd break apart if she tried. That did not mean that people and supplies wouldn't start being shipped down as soon as possible. 

The Captain of the
Argo
sat in the Argo's main control chair as she and the other two crew members accompanying her stepped off the lift and onto the bridge. Several others were already at their stations, waiting on the Captain's orders. Kitty hurried to her own and began to run the standard, post-voyage diagnostics on the sensor arrays as she had been trained to do. She glanced at the readings and blinked at the numbers. Something was not right here.

Commander Tiffanie Gray, the ship’s communications officer, shot her a nervous glance.  It was enough to let Kitty know that something was definitely up and whatever it was, it wasn't good. For the first time since she had been chosen for her job, she wished she hadn’t been tasked to the bridge.

“Sensors online and operational, Captain,” Kitty reported. She knew that the ship's AI would have had the sensors up and running long before she reached her post, but it was her job to verify that they were in working order. Even Medea could mess up, Kitty knew from training. After a few minutes of silence on the otherwise bustling bridge, Captain Whitmire stood. He tugged at his blouse and straightened out the wrinkles.

“Open a ship-wide channel,” he ordered Commander Gray. Kitty felt her heart skip a beat. The ship's AI could have done it for the Captain, but Medea’s primary job was to guide the ship during the long journey across the stars when everyone was in cryo-sleep. Besides, Kitty knew from the last time she had been on the bridge, as advanced as Medea’s programming was, the Captain always preferred a human being more. “This is Captain Nathan Alexander Whitmire speaking. At approximately, 0513 Zulu time, we achieved a stable orbit around Earth. Ladies and gentlemen, we are home.”

Whitmire's words seemed to echo through out the corridors and various sections of the giant ship as Kitty listened to them, first hand, her station only a few yards from where he stood. She watched the Captain pause as Governor Jocker Trion came onto the bridge. Kitty’s earlier sense of unease tripled on seeing the governor. She had only seen the woman one other time before, and that had been at the commissioning ceremony of the
Argo
. The governor exchanged a tense look with Captain Whitmire before he continued.  “At this time, we have been unable to establish communications with the city of Alantica, or
any
of the other great city-states for that matter. It is with profound sadness that I must inform you that it has been confirmed that Alantica has fallen to the Kaiju, as have Pacifica and Lemura.”

The following silence that spread across the bridge was deafening.  The utter shock of the captain's words was nearly too much for Kitty to take in. Alantica... gone? It was like something out of a nightmare. She had grown up there, protected by the tall, massive walls and the loyal soldiers who patrolled the shores around it. She remembered the small candy shop around the corner from her parent’s apartment and felt a small tear form in the corner of her eye as another positive memory of her childhood was ripped away from her. She sniffed slightly and rubbed her face. She had to put on a brave face for the rest of the crew. That was how everyone knew her to be – the perky, happy, cheerful civilian sensor technician. It was a role, everyone knew on the intellectual level, but Kitty knew that the facade helped.

“Unfortunately, the news I have to share with you gets no better,” Whitmire went on. “During the time we were away, it appears the Kaiju won the war. Not a single city-state has answered our hails, small or large. Those Medea has been able to get detailed scans of thus far appear to have suffered the same fate as Alantica. Almost every land mass we've scanned so far is teeming with lesser Kaiju, except for Lemura. While that city-state remains silent as well, Nathan has detected power readings there that can only be of human origin. If there are survivors trapped within the fallen walls of Lemura, I feel it is our duty to take them in before we leave Earth once more. It's clear there is nothing for us here. Not anymore. Our home, our planet, is lost. End general transmission.”

“So... that’s it?” Ensign Hiro Iwakuma asked from the helm after a moment of absolute silence. “We’re just going to leave, like that? Where will we go? What will we do?”

Kitty understood his concern and near panic. She felt something very similar threatening to well up from deep inside her. The calm emanating from Captain Whitmire, however, prevented the fear from overwhelming everyone on the bridge.

“That is our long-term plan, yes,” Whitmire explained. “And Hiro? Remember your military bearing, son.”

“Yes, sir!” Hiro snapped, his eyes locking back onto his duty station.

“But while we're here, we also need to resupply the ship and try to take aboard anyone left alive,” Captain Whitmire continued. “It's our duty. All security and expeditionary personnel will be getting their orders shortly. As for the rest of us, we'll continue to learn what we can about what has happened here from orbit, as well as see if any of the orbital platforms remain functioning... though that seems unlikely at this time. Those platforms were built exclusively to support the ISS in the construction of the
Argo
, and were likely abandoned some time ago. Still, they're our best bet for refueling without endangering more of our personnel than need be.”

*****

Lieutenant Jim McCoy sat in the aisle between the rows of lockers as the rest of his platoon was gearing up. Like most everyone else, he supposed he was in shock. Sure, it sucked that the mission had failed. But to come home to find the great cities of Earth gone? It simply was too much. So far, he was holding it together, if only by reminding himself that he was still alive. He guessed that this counted for something, especially when so many others were dead.

Corporal Steven Kirby slammed a fist into the door of his locker.  Bright red blood smeared on the metal facing as he hit it again and again. “Damn it, Lieutenant, sir!  What the crap are we supposed to do now?”

“Denting that locker isn't going to change anything,” McCoy said without looking up from where he gazed at the
Argo's
cold metal floor.  “You heard the Old Man’s plan, like everyone else. We’re Marines. Still are, despite the
security personnel
moniker they’ve hung on us to make the civvies more comfortable. But some things never change, and us doing our jobs is one of those things.”

“Yeah, we bust in, save some civvies, load up, and bug out,” Kirby growled.  “Not much of a plan if you ask me.”

“No one did, Kirby,” McCoy pointed out.

“Even if we load back up to max,” Private First Class Doug Grimes chimed in from a nearby locker, “the Argo can only hold so much. I mean, this ship has what, the storage space for maybe six months food and water? A bit longer maybe on the air with the scrubbers burning at maximum function and no breakdowns.”

“You're right and you're wrong.” McCoy stood.  “That's six months for the entire population of the
Argo
.  The Old Man’s
not
going to wake the civvies or non-essential personnel we already got onboard. You can count on that. The newcomers will grab some of the reserve beds and we’ll put them into cryo as well. Simple. It'll stretch things out by bunches, and give us more time.”