Vertigo: Aurora Rising Book Two (60 page)

Our forces currently in your territory are but a fraction of those we are capable of wielding. Of those we will not hesitate to wield. Understand you are to us as a bug upon the ground. To flatten you requires but a thought and a step. Whether—

Chairman Vranas actually interrupted the alien. “Whoever you are, we have done nothing to you. We have not threatened or approached or offended you. We don’t know—”

Do not interrupt us again.

Miriam supposed the ‘or’ didn’t need to be stated.

Vranas fell silent but didn’t appear chagrined. Instead he and Brennon exchanged a ponderous look. She’d gotten the sense they had taken a liking to one another at the Summit and was grateful for it now.

Whether we choose to extinguish the human species is up to you. Your choice is this: cease all expansion along the Scutum-Crux Arm in the Fourth Galactic Quadrant. Abandon all colonies beyond the parallel 48° 2.9kpcs distance from Earth. You may if you deem it worthwhile continue to explore your galaxy along the Sagittarius and Perseus Arms within the prescribed boundary.

You are granted seven days’ time to withdraw all presence from the region east of the designated parallel. After such time, any excursion beyond this line will be viewed as an act of war. Any attempt to approach the Metis Nebula from the north will be treated likewise.

Brennon waited until the break was clear before speaking up. “For how long? We can’t make promises for those a millennium in the future.”

For all time.

“And if we agree to your terms?”

We will recall our ships.

“That’s it? Do we have your commitment you won’t return at a later point? What if you simply change your mind?”

That will not occur.

Brennon and Vranas exchanged another glance before Vranas responded. “We need time to discuss your offer. Can we—”

You have eighteen minutes.

Silence fell for several beats, then everyone was speaking at once.

“We can’t possibly tell them—”

“Why the Hell are they—”

“A week isn’t enough time to evacuate—”

“They ask us to leave behind too much.”

Miriam stared at the map. Brennon was correct. On the other side of the demarcation line were twenty-eight colonized planets, a quarter of the worlds humanity had settled in the last three hundred years. A number had now been leveled by the aliens but a core framework remained; they could be rebuilt.

Some hundred fifty million people lived in the region, or had before the offensive began. It included Messium, Karelia, Requi, Elathan and all but ran through the middle of Seneca. An errant ship departing the planet could accidentally drift over the line and violate the aliens’ terms.

Secretary Mori directed his attention her way. “Admiral Solovy, is vacating the region in a week’s time feasible?”

“The people? Yes, but only because so many have already been killed or fled. The entire infrastructure will need to be left behind. Beyond what people carry with them and the ships which carry them away, everything will be lost.”

Rychen dragged a hand through his hair. “What reason do we have to take these Metigens at their word? Are we supposed to live in fear from this day forward that they will return at any time? Or that one ship of criminals or imbeciles crossing the demarcation line will mean the death of us all?”

A man who had been identified as the Federation Parliament Minority Leader fidgeted in his chair. “Isn’t the alternative exactly what they claimed? Extinction? We don’t have a choice.”

Gianno cut her eyes at the man in a manner suggesting she didn’t think much of him. “We always have a choice, Senator.”

“A choice to live or die!”

“A choice to fight or submit.”

Vranas twirled a disk in his hand and let out a long sigh. “Personally, I’m a bit pissed off. I didn’t appreciate being called a bug.”

Ragged laughter rippled around the room. As it faded away Vranas straightened up in his chair. “You military types seem to be favoring telling these aliens to go screw themselves. Truthfully, what are the odds of us matching them on the field? Of, say, battling them to a stalemate or close enough they reconsider? And now is not the time for sugar-coating or kissing ass. We need the undistorted truth.”

Miriam spoke first. “Low.”

The others didn’t protest, and she continued. “Our capabilities get stronger by the hour. We expect in another day eighty percent of full communications capabilities will be restored, though it will take longer to roll out the modifications to every ship in both militaries. Several combat strategies showed promise at Messium and both sides continue to pour over the data from the battle. We’ve discovered additional weaknesses we think can be exploited.”

She paused. “All that being said, the answer is still ‘low.’ Their ships are larger, more powerful and more numerous. In a head-to-head battle, if we send enough ships we can match them but in a war of attrition we will lose. We’re down too many ships from the war—” she motioned Mori silent “—but regardless we’d still be at a numbers disadvantage.”

“So there’s no hope. We must bow to their demands.” It was the Federation Minority Leader again and it came out muffled because his head had dropped into his hands.

“I said the odds were low, not zero. We can target specific locations with concentrated firepower. We can throw everything we have at them in coordinated strikes. It will mean sacrificing some worlds in favor of defending others.

“But if we do this, we have a chance—at the very least a chance of inflicting real losses on the enemy. Whether we have a chance of achieving anything greater? I can’t say with any degree of confidence.”

Her gaze went to Rychen, then Gianno. “Do either of you disagree with my assessment?”

Rychen blew out a breath. “Speaking as someone who has been shot at by these aliens, I will only say they are fallible. They’re not gods. I’ve seen us destroy their ships. They are massive and terrifying and powerful, but they are not invincible. So I agree. We have a chance. A small one.”

Gianno arched an eyebrow. “I’d personally welcome the opportunity to be shot at by them. I didn’t rise to this position to not be shot at by a formidable foe. Also, I’m working on a couple of new ideas.”

Secretary Mori stood and leaned in until his face took up the entirety of his holo. “Are you people insane? You can’t seriously be suggesting we refuse this ultimatum! Do you all understand you are likely sentencing the human race to virtual if not total extinction?”

Miriam closed her eyes. She had made many decisions over the years which cost lives in order to save other lives. Every military leader had. This decision was guaranteed to cost lives, while the lives it might save were nebulous and unknowable. Yet the urge to fight, to resist, was a strong one….

Her eVi blinked an alert for an incoming message, highest priority. She frowned but opened it.

“Of course we don’t intend to sentence the human race to extinction. If that is our sole option then—”

Alexis was alive.

The Federation Minority Leader muttered something about accountability and not being qualified to make this decision.

Alive.

She cleared her throat above the growing discord. “If I can interject? I’ve received information which alters the equation.”

Brennon shifted his attention to her. “Admiral?”

“I possess solid intel that the Metigens’ primary manufacturing facility—the location used to build their superdreadnoughts—has been completely eradicated. At a minimum we can expect they will not be receiving reinforcements or backfilling their lines for some time. The alien was bluffing—the ships in the field are, for all intents and purposes, the only ships they have.”

Mori had been working up a good head of steam and blustered in her direction. “This sounds most improbable. From whom did you receive this intel, Admiral?”

It was all she could do not to laugh in a kind of reckless joy. “From my daughter.”

“What reason do we have to trust—”

Brennon leveled a scathing glare at Mori to silence him. “Admiral Solovy’s daughter discovered the aliens weeks before they attacked and our dismissal of her information cost many lives. I have no intention of dismissing it a second time.”

Within her holo, Gianno appeared to be adjusting calculations and projections. “Admiral, where was this facility located? We’ve been unable to find any evidence of an alien base or stronghold.”

Miriam’s pulse pounded in her ears, and she was having to work not to be utterly overwhelmed by any one of a cascade of emotions. “It was through the aliens’ portal in the Metis Nebula.”

“Really? My most recent intel says the portal has vanished.”

“Well, Alexis is…” she smiled, recalling Malcolm’s words “…extraordinarily resourceful.”

Vranas looked to the military leaders. “And taking into account this new information, what are our odds?”

Gianno gave the tiniest shrug. “Improved.”

Rychen was practically beaming; he badly wanted another shot at the enemy. “Improved.”

Everyone was staring at her, for she had not yet given her formal opinion. “Still low—but most decidedly improved.”

Vranas drummed fingertips on the desk, then stood and turned his back on the group to stare out his window. “We—humanity—didn’t come this far by being afraid. Explorers and visionaries have willingly headed off to certain death for thousands of years and by doing so brought us to where we are today. No one has ever told us ‘no’ and succeeded in making it stick for long.”

He faced them once more. “We accede to these aliens’ demands and we’ll wither away. It may take centuries or even millennia, but we’ll be so busy cowering in fear we’ll forget to move forward. I say we fight.”

Brennon chuckled wryly, almost to himself. “I agree.”

No further dissent followed. Brennon straightened his shoulders and notched his chin upward. “So there it is. We’ll want to—

We require your answer.

Brennon and Vranas shared a last, solemn look and nodded to one another. Vranas cleared his throat so his response would project strength and conviction.

“And you shall have it.”

He gestured to Gianno and across to Miriam in a manner which said,
it’s your show
.

Miriam stood. “Field Marshal Gianno, are your forces in place above Brython?”

“They are indeed, Fleet Admiral.”

“Excellent. Open fire.”

DON’T MISS THE CONCLUSION TO THE

AURORA RISING TRILOGY

TRANSCENDENCE

A
URORA
R
ISING:
B
OOK
T
HREE

COMING SOON

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VERTIGO
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