The Commander Read online

  Each level had a wide promenade around the edge. Those circular plazas became the community center for that level, often filled with an array of restaurants and cozy gathering areas.

  The first time Luke approached the edge, it took an enormous leap of faith, both literally and figuratively, to step off into a four-hundred-foot drop. It didn’t take long, however, for him, like all the other residents, to become adept at judging direction and floating to desired level of destination.

  “We’re going to level twelve,” Annie said, adjusting their side movement. Once they landed on the twelfth level’s promenade, Annie pulled Luke toward a wide passage away from the central area. The corridor’s high arch gave it a feeling of spaciousness. Art galleries and eateries along the way made their evening excursion a companionable exercise. The corridor ended with a broad plaza under one side of an enormous dome the size of a football stadium.

  “Whoa!” Luke exclaimed. “When did this happen?”

  “I guess it’s been here for a couple of months now. Kathy Lyons told me about it.” Annie punched his shoulder. “Not everyone eats in the hangar food court, you know.”

  Luke was amazed at the breathtaking view. The dome’s ceiling was a smoky blue-gray, like an evening sunset. Along the far wall, the chamber was a sculpted into a mountainous cliff. The dome arched behind the top of the cliff, making the landscape appear almost infinite. A waterfall poured from the clifftop and cascaded into a large decorative lake. It was a nature-filled wonderland hidden beneath the moon’s surface.

  Annie pulled Luke along the plaza. Different restaurants, tucked away from the open dome, shared the wide arcade filled with small round tables and bistro chairs. Annie selected one of the tables under a large umbrella that sported a Starbucks logo.

  “Starbucks?” Luke blurted, amazed yet again.

  “I know,” Annie said nonchalantly. “You can find a Starbucks anywhere these days. Go get me a skinny mocha. With caramel. And a sandwich. And get me a pastry too. One of those cake pops. Or just surprise me.”

  Luke grinned at her shopping list and made his way around several barrels of overflowing greenery, illuminated by lamps buried in the foliage. At the back, under a vine-covered awning, was another surprise. There were no replicators. Instead, real baristas provided the full range of a Starbucks normal menu.

  With his hands full, Luke returned to Annie. “This is an amazing place. They even have baristas; did you notice that? I can’t believe what Ambrose had done.”

  “This is what you’ve done,” she said, her eyes filled with pride. “You’ve created a world where creativity is set free. Imagine what Moonbase will look like a year from now. Ambrose and his architects are little miracle workers if you ask me.”

  “I have to agree,” Luke said wholeheartedly.

  Together they shared the evening meal. Luke treasured the stolen moments; they came far too seldom these days. The constant threat of what they had discovered from the drones, and worries about the unending problems that remained planetside, consumed his day-to-day thoughts. He made a mental promise to spend more time with Annie. It was wrong that she had to seek help just to have dinner with her lover.

  Commander Blackburn, we have a situation. George intruded into his thoughts.

  Luke saw that Annie had caught the same notification. A brief look of disappointment crossed her face but she shook it off quickly.

  “Go on,” she said. “Sometimes you and I have to take a backseat to the universe.”

  “What is it, George?”

  The Chinese Navy attacked Alliance vessels near Fiery Cross Reef. Captain McGee is requesting your presence on his warship.

  “Tell him I’m on the way.” Luke pulled Annie to her feet and into his embrace. “Sorry,” he whispered.

  “It’s okay,” she said, taking his face in both of her hands and planting a kiss on his lips. “Do what you need to. I’ll be at home when you get back.”

  Luke left in a rush. He didn’t notice that several nearby diners offered Annie looks of sympathy. He had no idea that everyone on the moon knew Annie was the commander’s woman, and that meant loneliness.

  # # #

  Sadie was ready for Luke in the Moonbase hangar. “Captain McGee is waiting in lunar orbit aboard the Abe Masakatsu,” she announced.

  “Thanks, Sadie. Let’s go.”

  In seconds, McGee’s warship came into view. A lighted rectangle opened along the side of the vessel. Adding a hangar bay for shuttles was one of the many recent design changes. Sadie entered smoothly and touched down.

  A young officer waiting in the hangar escorted Luke to the command bridge.

  “Welcome aboard, Commander,” McGee greeted him.

  “Thanks, Jared. What’s up?”

  McGee nodded to a viewscreen of Amanda’s face. “She’s on-site,” he said. “Amanda, can you fill us in?”

  Amanda nodded. “Commander, I’m in shuttle Duffy, over the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands. Two separate groups of fishermen, from both the Philippines and Viet Nam, were sailing to the west of the reef. A Chinese destroyer decided they were infringing on Chinese territorial waters and sank them.”

  Luke understood. The reef in the South China Sea was near equidistant from both Vietnam and the Philippines but nowhere close to China, who had claimed the waters some time ago. Although the Chinese government said they had legitimate sovereignty over the disputed territory, the international courts disagreed. It appeared that China was making a statement.

  “Was it intentional?” Luke asked.

  “Absolutely. I was on-site while the shooting was still going on. Duffy confirmed the transmitted orders were between the Chinese destroyer and its senior command. It was a deliberate attack by the Chinese, no doubt at all. Duffy recorded the authorization and the attack.”

  “Are you safe?”

  “Oh, yes. They don’t even know we’re here.”

  “This is it, then. Don’t you think? The big test?” Luke asked.

  “It is, Commander. You made promises and the entire world is going to watch how you handle this. This is make-or-break time.”

  This sucks, is what it does, Luke thought. His response would mean loss of life but it would establish the Alliance’s credibility and keep the flow of people coming in.

  The one thing he could not lose was the pipeline that supplied his workforce. At the moment, their inbound flights were full. Kathy Lyons was ready to expand the number of newcomers. The recruiting engine Annie started building a year ago was working, and this was not the time to throw a wrench into the machinery. He looked at McGee.

  “You were right, Jared. It had to be the Spratlys. I don’t know what the Chinese leadership are using for brains. What were they thinking?”

  “That you wouldn’t take any action,” McGee replied. “They think because you’re American you’ll act like an American politician. They’re wrong about that. You’re the Commander of the Milky Way Alliance and you don’t have time for this kind of piddly shit.”

  Luke laughed sourly at McGee’s choice of words, accurate though they were. “Okay, then. Are the lifeboats on the way?”

  McGee nodded grimly. “They’re overhead.”

  “Proceed, Captain,” Luke ordered. He took one of the seats next to the captain’s command chair to observe the plan they had developed during the previous days.

  “Masakatsu,” McGee said aloud. “Take us to the north end of Fiery Cross Reef.”

  “Course set, Captain,” the warship replied.

  The spacecraft dove toward the earth. The ocean was a blur as the warship crossed the Pacific. The designated spot of land appeared in the distance, a simple white dot in an unsettled sea. As they zoomed toward it, the narrow rectangular island grew in size until Luke could discern the new runway on the reclaimed land. The warship floated just above the water at the northern tip of the island.

  “Establish the force fields as we discussed, please, Masakatsu,” McGee ordered. “I’d like
the bottom of the field to extend fifty feet below the surface of the ocean. Set the width to five thousand feet and angle it back from the center at thirty degrees.”

  “The force field is in place, Captain.”

  From the ground, the force field would be invisible. Only if someone was looking very closely would they see the wave tops splashing against an unyielding surface.

  “Move forward at one knot,” McGee ordered. “Have the lifeboats land on the south end of the island with their doors open.”

  “Course set, Captain. Landing boats arriving now.”

  Luke walked over to the full height window at the front of the command bridge to watch what was happening. The tip of the force field reached the edge of the land. Like farmland in front of a giant plowshare, a broad strip of land curled up and was pushed aside, completely off the island. The depth of the South China Sea around the reef was over six thousand feet. The earth that had been so painstakingly reclaimed from the ocean floor was being shoved back into the sea in one inexorable push.

  The island workers ran from the oncoming avalanche of mud and sand. A dozen space shuttles, colored brilliant white with large red crosses on their sides, landed at the southern tip.

  For a brief moment, dozens of military soldiers stood their ground and fired weapons at the approaching warship. The impact of their bullets could not be seen; the projectiles simply bounced off the force field. Seeing the futility of their efforts, they broke and ran toward the waiting shuttles, along with the island workers.

  As each shuttle became loaded with desperate Chinese islanders, it rose slowly into the sky, away from the doomed island. By the time the Abe Masakatsu was halfway down the runway, Fiery Cross Reef was completely deserted.

  McGee updated his command. “Instruct half of the shuttles to drop off their survivors at the airport in Manila and the rest to do the same in Ho Chi Minh City. Increase speed to five knots.”

  Luke had originally considered repatriating the civilians from the reef to Hong Kong, but Roth pushed for sending them to the allied capitals. “Let the injured parties decide what to do,” Roth had said.

  “Mission complete,” Masakatsu announced. “Fiery Cross Reef no longer exists.”

  “Understood,” McGee replied. “Do you have the location of the destroyer that sank the fishing boats?”

  “Affirmative, Captain. The vessel is now twenty miles northwest of our position.”

  “Take us there, please, Masakatsu.”

  A moment later Luke saw the Chinese destroyer. The large numerals on the bow, 173, identified it as the Changsha, one of China’s newest warships. It was a sleek, modern-looking vessel, over five hundred feet in length. Luke spotted the main gun near the bow. It was armed with surface-to-air missiles as well.

  “Confirm this is the ship that sank the fishing boats,” McGee instructed.

  “Confirmed, Captain,” Masakatsu replied.

  “Put one round amidships, below the water line. One percent firing charge.” McGee looked at Luke. “Don’t want to cause too much collateral damage to the sea floor.”

  Luke felt a minor thump in his feet, and the bow and stern of the Chinese destroyer lifted out of the water, a gaping tear in the middle of its hull. The spacecraft’s huge projectile had shattered the backbone of the enemy vessel, twisting the hull into an unnatural V-shape. The ends of the vessel settled again into the ocean, leaving the ship torn into two large sections.

  “As soon as our lifeboats are empty have them return here to pick up survivors. Are there any other Chinese warships in this area, Masakatsu?” McGee asked.

  “There are two similar class destroyers approximately one hundred miles to the north of our current position and the Liaoning Carrier Group another two hundred miles to the northwest of the destroyers, Captain.”

  “Same treatment please, Masakatsu,” McGee ordered. “Fire when ready.”

  The scene outside rushed by almost faster than Luke could follow. A moment later Masakatsu announced, “Mission complete, Captain.”

  “Thank you, Masakatsu. Continue to have our lifeboats retrieve survivors. Please take us to Tiananmen Square in Beijing.”

  A moment later the warship hovered over the famous landmark.

  “You still a go with this, Commander?” McGee asked.

  Luke was not okay with it at all. But he smothered the pain that sprang from human decency. “Proceed, Captain.”

  The captain nodded once and said, “Masakatsu, target the large building to the west of the square known as the Great Hall of the People. One round at one percent. Confirm this will not result in a nuclear yield.”

  “Confirmed, Captain.”

  “Fire.”

  Thump.

  “Mission complete, Captain.”

  The smoking wreckage, which used to be a symbol of the Chinese government, filled the viewing window. The resulting shockwave, although small, spread out across the city. A few other buildings collapsed until the force of the blast subsided near the inner ring road.

  “Take us home, please, Masakatsu.”

  The warship turned about, pointing to the sky, hiding the terrible view of devastation and replaced it with the darkness of outer space.

  Luke’s thoughts remained with the ruins. Was it too harsh a gesture? Would the world condemn his actions and the loss of life? Or would they realize that he was serious and that extreme measures were necessary when compared to planetary destruction?

  The old proverb came to mind: None are so blind as those who will not see. Wasn’t that Confucius? Patrick Henry? It didn’t matter. How myopic would the Chinese officials insist on staying rather than face the unforgiving realities of the planet’s peril?

  If history was a guide, Luke would face a long period of condemnation. He would be burned in effigy for years to come and used by the Chinese government as an excuse to extract much more pain from China’s citizens than he had caused this day.

  Luke wanted none of it. Right now he just wanted to grab Annie and take her back to their house in Baggs. He wanted to watch a football game with her and drink beer while shouting support for the home team. But he knew those days were gone. Several governments on Earth, one more after today, and many non-governmental organizations had put a price on his head. For better or worse, Luke accepted that he could no longer think of his birth planet as home.

  Day 404—Isaac Newton Gateway

  “This is one big ship,” Luke commented to no one in particular. He was staring at the Christopher Columbus, their first-generation colony transport. The giant half sphere sat on the port-landing pad of the Isaac Newton Gateway space station. Spotlights illuminated the ship, although that was just for dramatic impact. The launching today was a milestone, and Amanda had pulled together a talented team to make it a memorable event.

  Hundreds of chairs were arranged in neat rows in front of the outdoor stage. Adelia had arranged for a crowd protection field to be established around the festivities. Like its smaller but ever-present counterpart, that hung from the tool belt of every Moonbase employee, the crowd protection field maintained a breathable atmosphere for the visitors and kept the temperature reasonable.

  Luke was glad they had made the decision to launch the ship from the Gateway rather than from the moon as they had originally planned. So far, the most memorable experience for the dignitaries was to walk out, seemingly unprotected, onto the landing pad. The view for many was overpowering. The glistening stars and the beautiful white swirls covering the blue globe below had brought more than one unprepared visitor to tears.

  The Earth VIPs were overwhelmed with more than the beautiful location. The importance of the mission behind the pageantry could not be overstated. Considering his own lack of ability in diplomatic situations, Luke attended the ceremony on the condition he would not have to speak. Amanda readily agreed and seated him behind the main podium next to Annie. Amanda promised that when she gave him the sign, he would only have to stand and wave.

  Amanda and
Roth would make comments on behalf of the moon. The ship’s captain would make a few remarks promising to care for and protect all the colonists, and the secretary general of the United Nations would also give his blessing.

  The UN’s participation was essential for Luke. He wanted to emphasize the world body’s importance. Luke explained over and over to the people planetside that until there was a single, unified world government, he would not provide replicators to the planet. He was convinced that it didn’t matter how many benefits such advanced technology promised. Only a world government could insure that the planet’s entire population, rather than an elite few, would reap the bounty.

  Luke had gone through George’s archives and found dozens of studies where planets had suddenly received replicators. All of them had ended with the near extinction of their populations. He would not let that happen on Earth and believed the UN was the only world body that might start a movement to unification.

  To help in that undertaking, Luke made sure every nation that joined the alliance had at least one representative colonist onboard the Christopher Columbus. The sponsoring nations also sent dignitaries to witness the launch. Most were senior officials, if not the actual heads of state. Luke encouraged their participation because he wanted them to see the new space station for themselves. According to Amanda, being in with the newly independent moon was the new in thing.

  The Isaac Newton Gateway was certainly impressive when you stood on the landing pad in jeans and sneakers. The media described it as the largest manmade object in existence and that it could be seen from Earth with the naked eye. To Luke, the most important thing was that it launched the colony ships.

  “It’s only half again the diameter of the Mars colony ship,” Annie observed, breaking into Luke’s musings. “That’s what Roth told me.”

  “The Gateway?” Luke asked, confused by her statement.

  “No, the colony ship. Hello? That’s why we’re here.”