Titan Encounter (16 page)

“They told me. I’m
sorry I missed you.”

A tiny red light
flashed on the wheelchair. For the first time Justin noticed a tube from the
chair to Mara’s arm.  The medic came up and made adjustments and the light
went out.

Naomi moved closer
and with a tilt of her head directed his attention back to the display. 
In a low voice she said, “The bulk of the Titan fleet is in the Lepanto system
Kuiper belt.”

Wondering why that
was significant, he whispered agreement.

“But, see those two
red dots?  Those are unidentified ships.”

As she spoke, the
display zoomed in on the area around the frozen planet of Lepanto. 
Leonidas gestured toward two trajectory lines arching from the jump gate.
Justin nodded. Apparently, two ships entered the system using the gate.
Immediately upon exiting, the two vessels veered away from the debris field and
were now on an arching course toward the yellow star at the center of the
system. He fixed his gaze on Naomi.
I guess we caused similar excitement
when we arrived.

Naomi smiled.

Justin’s eyes
drifted to his left past a dozen men and women staring at consoles until they
settled upon an older man standing alone at the far end of the compartment.
Mr.
Green.
He fought to contain the thoughts and the emotions the erupted with
seeing one of his interrogators from a couple of days ago.

Green nodded to
Justin, and then turned to the Admiral. “The captain of the lead vessel has
ordered a search of the system.”

Leonidas kept his
eyes on the holographic display. “What are they looking for?”

Green’s eyes closed
and his head drifted down. Seconds passed then, with eyes still closed, he
spoke. “His orders are to retrieve three fugitives. Two are wanted as Titans.”

It felt to Justin
like every eye fixed on him and his companions.

Admiral Leonidas
turned from the display and for the first time acknowledged the presence of
Justin and the others.  With a motion of his arm, he invited them to
approach the
holo
display.  “Our ship database
is four centuries out of date. Can you tell us anything about these vessels?”
The admiral nodded to a technician and the detailed image of two ships appeared
  before
them.

Instantly Justin
recognized one of the vessels. “The smaller one is the Acheron, a pirate ship.”

“Pirate
ship?”
Leonidas repeated with surprise in his voice. 

Mara leaned forward
for a better look and then groaned.
“
Ferren
?
He’s still following us?”

“It is worse than
that,” Naomi added, “The larger ship is an imperial reconnaissance vessel.”

Leonidas sighed.
“What weapons do they have?”

Justin described the
Acheron missile launchers and lasers. “I don’t know what the imperial ship
has.” Everyone in the group turned to Naomi.

“I hate the
Nephilim
, but I am a loyal citizen of the Empire, a
soldier. I will not tell you how to destroy an imperial ship.”

Leonidas frowned.
“You’re a Titan and the
Nephilim
are hunting for you.
I strongly suspect they will kill you if you fall into their hands.”

“I am not a Titan. I
am a clone. I was created to….”  Her voice trailed off into silence.

The admiral looked
at her incredulously. Then the word came slowly from his mouth, “Clone?” He
shot a questioning glance at the medic who shook his head. “Talk to him about the
details. You’re not a clone,” he waved his hand between Naomi and Mara, “but
you two
are
sisters.”

Naomi backed away.
“Sisters?”

Justin shook his
head in disbelief.  From Mara came a wave of surprise. He turned to her,
but she stared at Naomi.  

“We don’t have time
for your misplaced loyalties,” the admiral said flatly.

Justin needed no
telepathic abilities to see the anger of Leonidas, as the Admiral stared at
Naomi with cold eyes.  

“The recon ship will
soon discover us,” he continued. “Will you help us?”

Naomi shook her
head.

The admiral’s eyes
shot to Mr. Green.  Justin followed his gaze in time to see Green’s brow
rise slightly.  Apparently, the two officers were communicating
telepathically. 

With a shake of his
head, the admiral seemed to reject whatever they were discussing. He turned to
a technician. “Get Admiral Cottrell on the command ship.”

A holographic image
appeared in an open space near the center of the compartment.  A
gray-haired man, perhaps a little younger than Leonidas, appeared. Seated, the
man swiveled to the side. “What can I do for you, Leo?”

“I have some
intel
for you Admiral.” Leonidas approached the projected
image and described the weapons of the pirate ship and his lack of knowledge
regarding the recon vessel, but without mentioning Naomi or her refusal to
help. 

Cottrell leaned back
in his chair. “We can destroy them both, but when they don’t return others will
follow.”  He rubbed his chin.  “Any chance of getting the Exodus FTL
engines online?”

“Not before we’re
discovered. The engines we pulled from the debris field need a human interface.
We’re still trying to reverse engineer it.” 

Cottrell nodded.
“I’ll have the Excalibur battle group move to your flank and release weapons.
When they fire on us, we fire on them.” 

Leonidas nodded as
the image dissolved. 

Justin noticed
lights turn red on a nearby console. A technician announced, “Weapons free.”

Naomi moved up
against the bulkhead and seemed to try to blend in. Justin ambled in her
general direction. He wanted to talk to her, maybe comfort her, but he didn’t
know if he’d be welcomed so he stopped several meters away.  Together with
the fleet, they waited.

Sometime later
Leonidas approached. “Have you ever been in battle?”

“No,” Justin said to
the older man, “but I’ve been shot at.”

 The admiral
smiled, nodded,
then
turned his attention to the
holo
display a few meters away. 

All of his life,
Justin had quickly been able to determine the nature of the person before him.
He studied the admiral’s face. History labeled him a mass murderer, but all he
had seen was a thoughtful, caring person. Was this all a mask covering a darker
side that he was unable to see? He wondered if he would ever know the truth of
the man. They watched the display for several moments. “How come you know where
the two ships are, but they don’t know where you are?”

Concern spread
across the admiral’s face. “They don’t know where we are
yet
.” He
breathed deeply. “We watched the jump gate, so when they came through, we saw
them.  Also, they’re doing sensor sweeps that we can easily plot.” He
rubbed his chin. “And, I suspect they’re looking for you, not us.” Leonidas
stepped closer to the display and Justin followed. Pointing to the planet he
said, “Your small vessel was last seen near Lepanto, so that is where they
started looking.” He gestured to a group of three blue dots nearby. “We pulled
back the few ships we had in that area. The bulk of our fleet is on the edge of
the system and in
emcon
, not radiating anything
except excess heat. However, those two ships,” he pointed toward the two red
dots, “will eventually find us.”

 “But Exodus
can stop them, right?”

“No. All this ship
has are a few missile launchers and anti-missile defense guns we installed
after capturing it.”

“Oh.” In an instant
Justin’s mind raced through possible options, none of them good.

“But, if we are
forced into a fight, the other ships in the battle group will destroy them.”

“Forced into a
fight?”

Both men turned at
the sound of Naomi’s voice.

“You are not going
to be forced to fight. The recon ship will jump away at the first hint of
trouble. That class of ships always has their FTL engines spun up, ready to
jump.”

Leonidas bit his lip
and stared at her. “I doubt the pirates will fight the Titan fleet.”

Justin shook his
head.
Ferren
fight a fleet?
“Not a
chance.”

The admiral nodded.
“If they won’t attack us, all we need is time to get away from here.” He turned
to one of the nearby technicians. “Contact Admiral Cottrell.” As soon as he
appeared, Leonidas conveyed the new information. 

The merest hint of a
smile broached the other admiral’s face. “If we destroy the jump gate, it will
slow down the arrival of reinforcements.”

Leonidas agreed.

“I’ll have it done
the moment we’re discovered.”

Nearly an hour
later, the two intruders were on an arcing course toward the fleet when a
technician announced, “Target ships are approaching scanning range.”

Leonidas gave a
slight nod and ordered all heat exchangers turned off.

We have been
scanned.
Initiating scan counter measures.”

Justin expected
alarms, shouts, frantic action and commands, but nothing like that happened.

“Lock on, but hold
your fire,” Leonidas said calmly. “Maintain
emcon
and
jam any transmissions.”

Mr. Green smiled
broadly. “They certainly weren’t expecting us. There’s near panic on the pirate
ship.”

Leonidas grinned
then shot a glance from Naomi back to Green. “What’s the situation on the recon
ship?”

A red flash from the
holo
display caught Justin’s eye.

“The jump gate has
been destroyed,” a technician advised.

Before Mr. Green
could answer, another man said, “Both ships have jumped sir.”

Moments later the
two ships appeared where the gate had been seconds before. The recon ship
immediately jumped again. Just as the Titan fleet had done, it was now hiding
somewhere nearby.
Ferren’s
ship was less swift. Under
the guns of a Titan battleship, the Acheron took minutes to spin up their FTL
drive and flee. Justin delighted in imagining the sweat pouring down the fat
pirate’s face as his crew madly worked to jump away.

Leonidas smiled.
Relief spread across his face. “Secure from general quarters and set condition
two, throughout the ship.  Remember people,” he said raising his voice and
looking up and down the compartment, “those ships are either hiding nearby or
fleeing as best they can.  They will probably return—with help. Stay
alert.” Then he turned to Naomi and said, “Thank you for your assistance.”

Crewmembers opened
some hatches. Justin and Naomi wheeled Mara back to the clinic with the medic
and Thor not far behind. 

Because of the
closed hatches, they followed a different path out of the superstructure. 
As they wound their way back, they crossed paths with a squad of Marines and
dogs. Thor locked eyes with the officer just as he seemed about to question
them.

The marine looked at
them with a mixture of surprise and amazement. “You’re the ones they found on
Lepanto?”

Justin nodded,
amazed that the dog had evidently conveyed that message.

“I thought it just
rumors, stories.”  After a brief discussion, the marines escorted them,
opening hatches along the way.

Arriving at the
clinic the medic checked in. 
Becca
greeted them
on the ward then did a quick check of her patient. “After my shift I’ll bring
Mara to my quarters.” Her bright eyes glancing between Naomi and Justin she
said, “I’ll see you both there for dinner, okay?”

They all agreed, but
no one moved.
Becca
looked from person to person with
a confused expression.

“So, are we really
sisters?” Mara finally asked with a gesture toward Naomi.

“Yes,”
Becca
said with a surprised look. “You didn’t know?”

Mara shook her head.
“Did everyone know—except us?”

“Everyone who read
the med or
intel
reports.”
Becca
called up their medical records on a nearby screen.
“When you were brought in the Lepanto medical team did routine workups on all
of you. That included DNA swabs. The information was uploaded to the med
computer for more detailed analysis.” For several moments, she examined the two
records. “See,” she said pointing to the DNA profiles, “you share the same
parents—you’re sisters.”

The two looked at
each other, but neither smiled.

“That’s good isn’t
it?”
Becca
asked.

“Yes.” Naomi said
without emotion.

Mara shrugged. “How
could we be sisters?”

Justin thought for
several moments then, looking at Naomi, said, “The story you were told about
the Titan ship that was attacked, the crew venting the atmosphere, and being
cloned from DNA found on the ship….”