Rebel Escape

Rebel Escape

By Karl Thorn

Published by Karl Thorn at Smashwords

Copywrite 2014 Karl Thorn

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

* * *

REBEL ESCAPE

CHAPTER ONE

Load tubes with solid projectiles. Captain Hensley of the Stealth Explorer Epsilon ordered. He was working on a clandestine mission under direct orders from Prime Minister Lynch himself. If all went well, his crew would never know of it. To facilitate the mission, custom software had been installed on the stealth explorer to fool the crew. With the shutters on the bridge windows closed, they had no external source to verify their instruments.

Target locked. The first officer said in a heavy South African accent while watching the alien ship on her display. From the beginning of this cruise Tracy Bainer wondered how an exploration ship such as the Epsilon was put on picket duty. Now it was in the middle of a military operation. The Epsilon was designed to stealthily explore other solar system. They should have been out trying to find the home system of the Grats and learn a way to communicate with them other than firing shots at each other! Destroyers and frigates were designed for this kind of duty.

At the captain’s console, Hensley secretly overrode the lock, putting in his own targeting coordinates. The ship would never show or record the true target. The crew thought they were shooting at a Gratsby ship, though none was even within the system. As far as the crew knew they have been dogging a Gratsby ship for hours and had just been fired upon.

Open tube doors. Hensley ordered.

Tube doors open.

Fire tube one.

Tube one fired. The ship made a thumping hum sound as the magnetic rail shot the projectile out the tube.

Fire tube two.

Tube two fired. Again the thumping hum.

Captain Hensley ordered two more projectiles loaded, then fired them as well. Prepare for a jump. He ordered after the last shot. I want to leave as soon as we confirm a hit. We’ll need to report this attack back to Earth as soon as possible.

Thirty-five seconds passed before the first officer confirmed on her screen a hit on the Gratsby ship. The Gratsby ship has been destroyed. Tracy reluctantly said. She would have preferred to talk to them. They did have a translation program that they could have tried to use, though it was reported not to have worked very well. Captain Hensley didn’t even attempt to communicate. Perhaps that’s why the aliens were quick to fire. Silence to the Grats may be a sign of aggression. No human knew the Grats well enough to know.

Hensley smiled, knowing this was still bogus data. The target had been something else. He knew some people would die on this mission, a price that was needed to be paid, but it would serve the greater good. Soon real information would show on his crew’s screens.

Captain! The sensory tech announced. I’ve just detected four mass driver impacts on the surface of New London!

These were real sensor readings that Hensley knew would show. Though the distances would still show incorrectly on their screens. The moment the fake Gratsby ship showed destroyed he knew the program would start returning the ship’s consoles to normal operation and delete itself from the ship’s computer. The last thing that will be cleared up would be the navigational systems such as distances and their true position within the system, and that won’t happen until they completed a jump.

The Grats must have gotten some shots off before we could destroy it. The first officer said. Tracy didn’t know of a single Grat design that could fire that quickly. Then again they knew so little about the Grats. She took spectral readings of the bombardment to collect as much data as she could. She looked up from her screen and glanced at the captain. She was about to report the signature of those strikes were identical to sixteen inch projectiles the Epsilon used. The smug and unconcerned look on the captain’s face stopped her.

Let see it. Captain Hensley said. The planet appeared on his screen, four fire balls were still blossoming. He checked the coordinates. One was a direct hit on the capital city. Another hit was within fifty miles outside the next largest city. It would be close enough for the citizens to see, but far enough away not to cause any major destruction. The others were far out in the native wilderness. All were right on target.

The only other UNF ship in the system was a corvette. It too had custom programming that would record the fake hostilities of a Gratsby ship. The rest were civilian craft that the corvette was assisting to escape the supposed threat.

Inform the Trinity to return to the planet and offer any assistance. Hensley ordered his linguist. Trinity was the UNF corvette. We will immediately report back to Earth the situation here.

Yes sir. The comm officer hesitantly said and gave him an odd look.

Tracy continued to study the four strikes. The timing for them to have come from the Epsilon was wrong, but the intervals between each hit and the first to the last closely matched the times of it took to launch Epsilon’s projectiles. She didn’t like that coincidence. Something was amiss, she just didn’t know what. With this event and all the changes that were going on back home, she decided to save the data and keep her mouth shut, at least until she could learn more.

Hensley didn’t care what the crew thought as long as they obeyed his orders. If any of the crew noticed that the number of shots they fired were the same as those that hit the planet, they were smart enough not to say anything. Nor could he tell by their expressions. He knew the timing of the hits would throw any thoughts astray. They were much closer to the planet then the program had indicated on crew’s consoles. This would help divert suspicion too. They had jumped into the system much closer to the star then the program had relayed to his crew. The corvette would not know their exact location either as the Epsilon was still running under stealth mode. Go to resonance mode! He ordered. We need to get back to Earth as quickly as possible.

* * *

The stealth exploration vessel, Tristar, jumped to another unexplored solar system. The Tristar was named after the first interstellar spaceship and was living up to its legacy. They were making their way around a large nebula. Not even an explorer would dare to venture into or jump through large celestial bodies. No way to know what anomalies may lie within; magnetic, gravimetric or electromagnetic.

Jump complete. Bill O’Brian announced from Engineering with a strong accent from his home country of Ireland.

Thank you O’Brain. Captain Toby DeLuna answered in a commanding, but gentle voice. Toby was from America and had short dark hair, blue eyes and a square hansom face. He had started his space service on a United States Space Force vessel before the charter was enacted that formed the UN Prime Minister’s position and the UN fleet. His ship along with all other military vessels in space had merged to form the consolidated fleet. The merger helped him to quickly move up in rank as those that did not like the new order resigned.

The new UN Charter had been created to end disputes in space. Up to that time there had been several space battles between various countries over colonization rights and they had been getting more frequent. The charter had resolved that issue and created a new UN Prime Minister’s office. The charter gave the Prime Minister power to oversee human expansion into the galaxy. In theory the new central government would be more efficient. Duties, such as protection for the colonies, would be run by one branch of the world government and not have to be duplicated in the various countries.

Secure from resonance mode and begin recertification. Toby added. Regulations required the engines to be recertified after every jump. This was to insure no component failures and to help prevent accidents.

Toby did not need the confirmation from Engineering nor from his own console that the jump had been completed. He could tell by the hum of the magnetic rollers, how the pitch had slowly lowered an octave. Go to stealth mode as soon as possible. The bridge windows were already closed. If the shutters had been open, he would have seen a green haze dissipate from around the ship as the jump completed.

The magnetic rollers slowed further to idle speed. The integrity of the magnet vortex that enveloped the ship would still be maintained. As long as the field stayed up the gravity gradient within the magnetic vortex would remain too. Manipulating the vortex also controlled movement of the ship.

Jump coordinates are confirmed. Sue Lin Sun announced a few moments later. We are fourteen point two light hours from the star, twenty-eight degrees above the plain. Sue was the linguist and chief sensory tech on the stealth exploration vessel, Tristar. She spoke perfect English and was half Asian, half French American. She inherited the best qualities of both races; long silky black hair, brown almond eyes, and a smooth oval face. The blue pullover shirt and black pants hugged her form well and accentuated her highly curved body.

The stealth explorer was a relatively small ship with a crew compliment of twenty. During normal operations, Toby acted as the helmsman and navigator when on duty. His first officer, Tim Richards, did the same during his shift.

Picking up transmissions! Sue Lin Sun exclaimed within minutes of jumping to this unexplored system. Hundreds of separate transmission detected. She added. This system has to have an advanced civilization.

Captain Toby DeLuna turned in Tristar’s pilot seat to view Sue’s beauty. She sat at the console behind him. Let me hear some of it. He kept his voice neutral. How he wished the Prime Minister hadn’t given the order of no contact with alien races! The Stealth Explorer was designed for first contact and her crew had been trained for the event. Now, after his decree, they could only collect data and report back, especially if the system was thought to be Gratsby!

This was Toby’s sixth exploration mission. He had never found any habitable planet before this mission. They had already found one habitable planet on this cruise suitable for colonization. It had no sentient lifeforms. They were on their return leg to Earth when they came across this system. To find two habitable planets in one mission was unheard of. If this second system turned out to have an advanced civilization it would only be the second Earth has ever come across.

This was one of the first exploration missions that had ventured beyond three thousand light years from Earth. Most had been within that radius with only one alien race found. Those aliens appeared to be aggressive and not to hospitable to humans. This was just one of the reasons Prime Minister Lynch had enacted the no contact rule.

Some of the transmissions seem to have a video component to it. Sue explained. Here’s an isolated FM transmission.

A strange flat sounding voice filled the bridge. It definitely was not the Grats’ language.

Toby recognized it as speech of some sort. Record everything you can. He calmly said, knowing he didn’t need to give the order. Let me know when you think you can start building a translation table. She nodded and Toby turned back to his console. He flipped open the intercom to engineering. Mr O’Brian, We’ve hit the jackpot this trip. Looks like we’ll be staying under full stealth, for good reason this time. Toby didn’t need to explain. The Irish engineer would know what he meant.

Yes sir. O’Brian answered in his heavy Irish accent. No problems are anticipated.

Only a few ships of the United Nations Fleet had the dark skin that absorbed all wave lengths on the outer hull of the ship. Most ships were made from austenitic stainless steel or other non-magnetic metals such as aluminum or titanium. The materials on a stealth explorer were expensive and hard to work with. Except for fighters, only exploration craft like Toby’s ship, Tristar, were made with complete stealth in mind. When jumping into unexplored space, one never knew when they may stumble into hostile territory. Stealth was their first line of defense.

Give us maximum acceleration until eight light hours out. Toby ordered. Then we coast.

Prime Minister Lynch had issued the new no contact policy to all exploration vessels shortly before this cruise embarked. The Stealth Explorers were ordered only to collect data then report back to Earth. A specialized first contact team would then be sent. This order aggravated Toby. His team was trained in first contact. How more specialized could one get?

When in range, begin passive scans. Toby knew it wasn’t necessary for him to enter the system to collect enough data to satisfy Lynch’s standing order, but he was curious and hated Lynch’s no contact policy. He wanted to know more. Was this a space faring civilization or were they simply hearing TV and radio broadcasts of a planet bound society? Besides, he knew his ship could remain undetected while in full stealth mode. One would have to know what to look for just to find Tristar. To Toby, the delay in returning to Earth would be worth it. The more he could learn of this civilization the better prepared the first contact team would be. At least that would be his justification when making his report.

They were already a week behind schedule from the first planetary expedition. A week longer wouldn’t hurt. Tristar had enough perishables to last a month past the scheduled mission timeframe.

When shift change came he filled in Tim Richards, his first officer, of the situation. Tim was a remote descendent of the Royal Family in England. He was a tall wiry man with black hair, brown eyes and a dominate thin nose.

The whole crew knew all the procedures and drills, but this was the first live situation of an alien civilization that Tristar’s crew had experienced.

They would continue to head in bound, running silent, and collecting data. Toby wanted a complete map of the system to give Prime Minister Lynch when he arrived back at Earth. He suspected Lynch would want to talk directly to him.

* * *

Prime Minister Fagan Lynch looked out his office suite in the penthouse of the UN tower in New York. The city view hadn’t changed much in two hundred years, only the types of vehicles that flew the skies did. Only wingless vehicles with the magnetic vortex engines now soared the skies.

Lynch was in his early fifties with a thin athletic build. He had a full head of red hair with freckles on his cheeks that medication has lightened to near invisibility. The hair was the result of a medical cure too that kept him from balding and losing the natural color.

Lynch was the third person to serve as Prime Minister. Creating the Prime Minister’s position in the UN Government had solved many problems. Lynch though, was planning to take advantage of certain aspects of his position that those before him had not. He was in the first year of his last term of service. Legally he could only serve two consecutive four year terms.

He had plans to change that and was growing impatient. He had already set the stage in his first term and primed the public through the media, but his plans were not proceeding as fast as he liked. So he had set in motion things that would speed them along. The media would go wild, scaring the public into a position he wanted them in.

Even his trusted fleet admiral, Sashwan Malik would not know the full scope of things either. Malik was not the brightest of the admirals at hand, but the most loyal. He had dutifully assembled a loyal armada for Earth and sent off, or more precisely, scattered, all possible trouble makers or dissidents out to the colonies. The most powerful of those, but not the loudest was Admiral Izarra. He was the largest unknown. He had been assigned a fleet at Yeltson, the largest of all the colonies, and the furthest from Earth. He was to protect Yeltson against the Grats or any other unknown invader.

Admiral Malik insured him that Izarra or any of his vocal adversaries were too far away. Their voices would never be heard on Earth again to influence the public. And when the time came Malik promised that Izarra would submit to his authority. He argued that Izarra was a military man first. He would recognize and submit to Malik’s higher rank. If Izarra refused, Malik had promised Lynch that he would be dealt with appropriately.

Lynch stared out the tower’s windows with his hands behind his back. He smiled as he watched the traffic fly by. He controlled all human kind. He could even alter the traffic flow if chose to do so. His smile broadened, showing his perfect teeth.

The last few months he had planted several stories in the media. They have now taken hold, bringing fear and doubt into the hearts of the citizen of Earth and the solar system. They were primed for the announcement he would soon give at the UN Assembly. The Stealth Explorer, Epsilon, would soon be returning with the last bit of fuel that would fan that fire in the direction he wanted it to go. In fact, people were so fearful, he may call the assembly before its return. He didn’t want that to die down. He knew he needed to time the story from New London at just the right time. A twisted smile appeared on his face. It would tighten his control even further.

CHAPTER TWO

I'm ready to reproduce a picture, Sue said to Toby. Though all in coming signals from the system was being recorded, only the audio was being processed and added to the translations programs database. Sue has had some success working with that program. They had also mapped most of the planets of the system and started categorizing all the ships they have seen.

Soon, Toby knew, she should have a large enough working vocabulary that could be used in communicating with the aliens, though with standing orders, he knew they wouldn’t get to do that. This was just one of the things he did not like about Lynch. He didn’t like the way he had reorganized the fleet either. From some perspectives Toby was surprised that he was able to retain the command of Tristar not to mention getting sent on this mission. He was surprised this mission was actually approved. At least the no contact policy had a logical reason, though it did demonstrate that Lynch lacked trust in the crew of his exploration vessels. Perhaps it was that lack of trust that killed so many proposed missions.

At least he could present their detailed findings to Prime Minister Lynch. It would at least demonstrate how good and efficient his linguist officer was. He hoped it would get her promoted to a first contact team. Sue deserved it, Toby knew, though he personally didn’t want to lose her. He considered her a good friend, but a good captain or friend would not block any opportunity of advancement.

Toby knew Sue was one of the best linguists. The speed at which she was getting the translator program working proved it. He grimaced to himself. His team could do the job if it was given the chance!

Deciphering the visual signals proved more difficult, though. They were more complex then what the human's used. They learned the aliens used a three dimensional picture using a complex raster-grid matrix. After understanding that format, it was just a matter of translating it to fit a standard human monitor.

Sue started the recording when Toby gave the nod. She had purposely picked one that contained a voice, hoping to get a picture of one of the beings talking. The audio was automatically fed through the translator computer.

The screen came to life. Only the center square section of the screen was used. Either side was blank. The colors were all wrong, but the image of a hairless head appeared on the screen. It looked as if they viewed a negative. Sue stopped the recording. I took an arbitrary guess on which band represented which color. I expected this She pulled up the program the systems tech had written and with the new visual information, she quickly made the appropriate parameter changes. She restarted the recording.

This time the picture was crisp with perfect coloration with a dimensional depth as if looking through a window. The being's head was longer then it was high and was hairless. Its skin had a rough texture similar to reptiles and had a gray/green pattern. Its mouth was large, but had very thin lips. It had no nose to speak of, but had two nostrils above the mouth like a typical lizard. It had small cat-like eyes with a large patch behind each eye. The patches seemed to change color as it spoke.

Toby listened to the computers output. Only about half the words were being translated at this time. It sounded as if it could have been an ordinary phone conversation.

They’re beautiful. Sue said.

I hope they turn out to be as friendly. Toby remarked, knowing it would be sometime before a first contact team would be sent to find out.

* * *

During Epsilon’s return trip to Earth, Tracy covertly probed the ship’s systems while the captain was off duty. The first officer had found the main computer’s cpu usage was running near full capacity during their stay in the New London system. This should never happen even under full stealth mode. She could never find a cause for it. In fact all the bridge systems had been running higher than normal, during that timeframe, as well. Just looking at the numbers, it would have appeared the entire ship’s systems had been infested with a virus.

Tracy knew something was up when they finally reached Earth and learned a ‘State of Emergency’ had been declared. Captain Hensley allowed only communications to HQ, and only to his private quarters. He said because of the crisis they were confined to the ship and not allowed to land. The entire fleet was being organized for defensive purposes and they were waiting further orders.

Tracy monitored public channels, anyway, when the captain wasn’t on the bridge. She learned the public had already known of the attack at New London. How could they have known so quickly, when they just arrived bringing the news? She now was glad she didn’t show any objections or questions during this mission. Something was really wrong. Lies were being told. She was sure of that. She just didn’t know how to separate the truth from the lies. She didn’t want any part of it and yet she was. She kept getting the nagging feeling that she had been part of the killing of innocent lives on New London. She realized she needed to resign and get away from Earth as soon as possible. Perhaps the colonies would know something that wasn’t being told here.

* * *

The solar system is now secure. Admiral Sashwan Malik said to Prime Minister Lynch over the secured comm. channel. Admiral Malik was originally an officer in the Russian space fleet before the creation of the UNF. He wore a custom tailored uniform. The black pants and royal blue shirt conformed to his athletic