The Last Hero (5 page)

The unit formed ranks.

Trent knelt down where Anna could throw her arms around his neck. She pulled against him tight and started crying again. Tears rolled down his face as he whispered, “I love you more than you can understand. I’m sorry.”

Her cries downed out his soft words.                            

After a minute, Trent summoned all of his strength to break free of her hold. Standing, he shared a look with Madison. She wrapped him in a loving, warm hug.  

This time she did the whispering, “Remember what I told you. Make them pay.”

He pulled away, nodding as he placed his hand on Anna’s sobbing head.

“I’ll see you both again someday. I promise.” The words bound him to a promise he wasn’t sure he could keep.

Trent took his place at the head of the phalanx and led his unit out into the unknown.

On the way out of the hanger, he caught a brief look of the Kitright Ambassador, mingling with the human political elite. From the moment he saw one as a child when they first arrived, he thought they looked like common house cats on hind legs. Their tan colored fur, amber eyes, and tail left little else for a terrestrial comparison.

For a fraction of a second, they locked eyes. Trent felt a cold shiver run up his spine.

Chapter 7: The Voyage

T
he orbital shuttle performed a slow flyover of the
Commerce
. It was an aptly named cargo ship designed to facilitate trade between Earth and her coming colonies. Now she was re-purposed to serve as the tip of the spear in humanity’s first counter-strike.

Soon the sky surrounding Earth would fill with warships of varying types. For now a clumsy cargo vessel was the best anyone could do.

Since any trip in space was long, the
Commerce
was built huge to maximize its carrying capacity. Compared to ocean going vessels on Earth, she was classified as a behemoth.

Bow to stern, the flying brick measured three-fourths of a kilometer long, four hundred meters across, and one hundred and fifty meters high. Trent thought it looked like a giant black rectangle with the corners rounded off.

How the hell are we supposed to sneak up on anybody in that thing?

***

“Captain Chen, permission to come aboard?” Trent saluted the tall Chinese officer who replied in perfect American English.

“Permission granted, Major. Might I say it’s an honor for the
Commerce
and her crew to assist you in your mission. All of your gear has already been loaded. My crewmen will show your people to their quarters.”

Trent walked to the side of the corridor next to Chen, to make way for the others to board.

“The pleasure is all ours, Captain. We did a flyover on approach. She looks like a fine ship.”

“Thank you, Major. Would you care to join me in the captain’s mess this evening for dinner?”

“I would be delighted. When should I be ready?”

“Dinner is at 1900 hours. Which I am afraid is in two hours. We are on ship time here, Earth standard to be specific.”

“Not a problem, I look forward to it.”

“May I personally show you to your quarters?”

“Yes, lead the way. Oh, one moment. Captain Jones?”

The captain displayed her fine British Army training by instantly springing to attention at the sound of her commanding officer’s voice.

“Yes, sir.”

The look of horror on Captain Chen’s face indicated that he hoped the major wasn’t about to invite the hearty woman to join them for dinner.

“Captain, I would like an officers meeting in my stateroom at 2200 hours...ship time. Can you please see to it?”

“Consider it done, sir.”

“Thank you, Captain. Carry on.”

Chen gestured which direction to walk.
             

Their boots clanked as they stepped on the metal grates covering the walkway.

Once a safe distance, Chen commented, “So your XO...is that a he or a she?”

Trent lightly chuckled and said, “I’m not sure. Just damn glad it’s on our side.”

***

A double beep chimed at his door.

“Enter,” Trent commanded.

He looked at his watch, exactly 2200 hours.

“Please come in. Have a seat in the wardroom.”

“So this is one of the staterooms. I must say...I’m little a disappointed.” The comment came from Lt. Walter Simms, a former U.S. Marine who took part in the beach assault component during the South Africa operation. Dark haired with a youthful appearance, he was a few centimeters shorter than Trent but made up for it with a thick chest and cocky attitude. Born and raised in the snowy peaks of the Colorado Rockies, he developed a taste for extreme sports early on, becoming a full-fledged adrenaline junky. He also happened to be extremely intelligent, holding advanced degrees in engineering and mathematics.

Trent said, “I hear you, Lieutenant. I guess they wanted to maximize their space for cargo.”

“What are you complaining about, Simms? This place is twice the size of the sardine can where they put you and me,” said the feisty and attractive Lt. Jane Thomas, the unit’s solo recruit from the Air Force. The olive skinned brunette took great pleasure in busting Simms’ balls. Being the only girl in a Texas ranch family of five children tended to make a woman grow up tough. Trent always found it odd that she didn’t have an accent.

Captain Jones, never one for small talk, simply sat down at the small round table in the corner. Simms and Thomas joined her, taking the last of the seats.

Trent walked over to his bag and dug around for a few moments before pulling out a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label and four crystal rocks glasses.

“We are going to be stuck together for a long time in a small space. I thought it would be a nice idea to start our little adventure in a proper manner,” Trent said as he handed out glasses and filled them. “I believe, Captain, that Black Label is your favorite.”

Befuddled, she said, “Yes, thank you. How did you know, sir?”

“I have my sources.”

Simms asked, “Any ice, sir?”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, man up and drink it straight Simms,” Thomas said.

Jones squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. The casual demeanor of her American counterparts conflicted with her British discipline.

“Sir, when will we receive the mission briefing? I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that we’re anxious to know our mission objectives.”

“In a couple days, Captain. I want us to be a way down the road before we release that information. It won’t be long. Right now, the
Commerce
is finishing final checks on the anti-mat drive, deflector array, and inertia dampeners. Then we’ll start accelerating to the Alpha Gate.”

Simms commented, “The fun begins. I honestly can’t wait to get out there. No humans have gone as far as we’re about to.”

“Soon enough, but I can tell you that we’re going to be confined for a while. People are going to start getting on each other’s nerves.”

“Maintaining discipline will be key.” Jones refilled her glass.

“Agreed, but I also want them to have fun. The cargo hold has been converted into a training and rec area. We’ll train every day, but I want folks to relax and have some fun after that.”

Thomas said, “I’ve heard some in the unit ask if it is allowed for them to...date members of the
Commerce’s
crew. If you approve, I a....”

Simms butted in, “That’s one way to let everyone blow off some steam. These civilian vessels have a far better male to female ratio.”

The annoyed look Thomas shot at Simms was quickly replaced with shock and amusement when Jones blurted out, “You have my vote. There are a couple of bloody hot men on this ship.”

Three sets of eyes stared at her. She turned bright red and sat up tall. For her, this represented a serious breach of protocol. For Trent, it humanized the stuffy Brit, bringing a smile to his face. He hadn’t expected her to be interested in men.

“I...I’m sorry, sir. I don’t usually drink. I think you can guess why, I tend to run off at the mouth. It won’t happen again.”

“No harm, Captain, no foul. I’ll talk with Captain Chen. After all, as one of my favorite generals once said, “A soldier who won’t fuck won’t fight” Now drink up. I find this,” Trent lifted his glass, “helps get the ideas flowing. Someone refill Jones. I’m really interested in what she has to say.”

Jones asked, “Who said that, sir?”

“Patton, and that won’t be the last time I channel him.”

***

In the time leading up to the surprise encounter with the Kitright, physicists discovered stable wormholes could be opened by bombarding points of space containing extremely dense levels of dark matter with intense particle beams.

These “gates” in turn allowed spacecraft to pass through them, instantaneously travelling to any point in the universe. Or more exactly, any other point in the universe that possessed a high enough density of dark matter.

Frustratingly, travel between gates, and everywhere else, was held hostage by the law of relativity, shackling space flight to a tedious .999 speed of light. It took the
Commerce
a year in Earth time to accelerate and decelerate to the Alpha Gate. For the crew, only six weeks passed.

Any gate could be targeted from any other gate by varying the intensity of the particle beam, as well as the speed and angle of the spacecraft’s entry through the starting gate. However, in order to make the necessary calculations for specific point to point travel, the exact location of the target gate must be known. Adjusting any one of the variables by the smallest of margins changed the re-entry point.

While in theory, the gates could be used to travel outside the Milky Way Galaxy, limits to the power of existing particle beams restricted their range to the home galaxy.

A re-entry gate could still be used without its specific coordinates. A trip under those circumstances was a complete crapshoot. A ship taking a blind jump through a gate might find itself next to a beautiful Earth like planet or, and far more likely, pulled into the heart of a black hole the second it came through.

Needless to say, the job of making blind jumps to map gates to target from Alpha Prime fell to unmanned probes.

The
Commerce’s
jump through the gate seemed anti-climactic. Trent watched with great anticipation on the bridge, the only area with a view port. The event started with great drama as the navigation officer checked and rechecked the variables with the ship’s quantum computer. The smallest error could put them countless light years off course. When ready, the
Commerce
fired its particle beam, treating all those who watched to a magnificent light show.

Passing through the gate itself offered no more enjoyment than stepping through a doorway in one’s home. The only thing that let you know something happened were the stars changing.

“That’s it?” Trent complained.

Chen said, “You sound disappointed for just having leaped across a great track of space in a blink of an eye.”

“Well...honestly I thought moving through the gate would be...I thought we would feel or see something.”

“I’ll see what we can do for the next trip. Maybe add some special effects,” Chen said.

Taking that as his cue to retreat from the bridge, Trent thanked the crew for the opportunity to witness the jump and exited.

“Begin check list for acceleration,” Chen ordered as the door slid shut.

Trent slipped into deep thought on the nature of space travel.

Weird, we travel a whole Earth year, which only seemed like a few weeks, to get to a point where we can travel to just about anywhere in a couple of seconds. Have I really been gone a year! Anna is nine now. Nine! A whole year of her childhood without her father, and I barely noticed. God I...

BANG.

“Oooch!”

CLANK.

“
Sir
, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t try walking and reading the e-paper. I didn’t see you come around the corner.”

“Not entirely your fault, Corporal. I was lost in my own thoughts.” Trent bent down to pick up the scattered documents off the metal floor. As he handed them to the woman, he realized it was Corporal Amanda Roth.

Corporal Roth was a beautiful woman by any measure. Even with her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and tucked under a cap, he could tell how great it would look set free. Lovely, yet powerful, brown eyes dominated her feminine facial features. Her body was in one word, perfect. Fit, firm, and curvy with the breasts just the right size for her body type.

“You on your way to the mess hall?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. I’ll walk with you.”

Roth kept a rigid demeanor as they strolled along the walkway. Trent, wanting to build a rapport with the enlisted woman, though he couldn’t deny he found her attractive, sought to break the ice.

“What’s your story, Corporal?”

“I imagine you know it almost as well as I do, sir. I reckon you have just about memorized everyone’s personnel file.”

“True, but I’d like to hear it straight from the source. After all, personnel files are just words. People tend to be more complicated than mere words can relay.”

As Trent stopped speaking, they clearly heard playful giggling coming from the room just ahead of them. A few steps later, the door slid open and a male ensign from the ship’s crew stumbled out entangled with Corporal Jane Bitter. The flushed skinned, lip locked couple smelling of sex struggled to get their shirts fully on. They didn’t notice the major or Roth until Trent announced their presence.

“Good morning, Corporal. I trust you’re finding the ship’s hospitality satisfactory.”

Their skin grew even redder, and they snapped to attention to offer hasty salutes.

“Yes...I mean the ensign and I were just review...”

Trent returned the salute.

“It’s all right, Corporal. Carry on to breakfast. Try to be more discrete from now on.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

He glanced at Roth, to see her face bright ruby red.

Ain’t that cute. She’s embarrassed.