CHAPTER 8 – A SPREADING FIRE
10:10 (Universal Time)
Thursday, December 30, 2320
Chief designer’s office, Avalon Space Yards
Low Earth orbit, Solar System
Gustav Shomberg grinned the moment the image of Tina Forster, sitting in her ship’s command chair, appeared on his work computer.
‘’Hello, Tina! How are you these days?’’
‘’It could be worse. Have you received my request for a space in your Number One Dry Dock?’’
‘’Of course I did! You can come in any time now. What is it for? More design twitching? Extra ship features?’’
Tina made a pinched smile in answer.
‘’More like repairing some minor battle damage, Gustav. My ship has not been truly affected by these damages, but my KOSTROMA definitely needs your loving touch.’’
The grin on Gustav’s face instantly disappeared, to be replaced by a concerned look.
‘’Battle damage? I hope that you didn’t suffer casualties.’’
‘’None, thank God!’’
‘’May I ask how you got those battle damages, Tina? Have you knocked head with some of those tin-pot would-be dictators down in Africa? The situation there is said to be becoming worse by the day.’’
‘’It wasn’t Africa, Gustav. Remember the race from which I obtained those new disintegrator weapons and directed gravity drive, the Drazt from the Ross 128 System?’’
‘’How could I not remember them? My shipyard is presently busy designing for the Spacers League a new type of space cruiser based on Drazt technologies, while you already took delivery of 36 fighters of the new MAMBA-Class, based on the same technologies.’’
‘’Well, acting on behalf of the Spacers League, I went back to the Ross 128 System to try some diplomacy and attempt to avoid a possible future war with the Drazt. Unfortunately, it did not exactly go as I wished. The first part went well and the Drazt officials I met were mostly polite, but they then tried to set a trap for my KOSTROMA, with the obvious goal of capturing it and thus obtain a working copy of our Koomak Drive. While completely inexperienced at war and using a failed tactic, those Drazt still showed a lot of bravery in battle and one of their assault barges even managed to enter my ship and deliver a whole platoon of troopers. Thankfully, my new internal defense systems worked perfectly and neutralized half of those troopers before the rest had to surrender. As for the fleet of 42 Drazt cruisers that attacked the KOSTROMA, it got completely wiped out, mostly thanks to our missiles with anti-matter warheads and to our laser batteries. In exchange, I received some damage from disintegrator fire, but that damage was thankfully limited mostly to my bow shield, which soaked up disintegrator beams quite nicely.’’
‘’And…what happened after that battle, Tina?’’
‘’I told a surviving, rearguard Drazt cruiser that it was free to search for survivors in the debris field. I also told that cruiser captain to tell her government that we will now put the Ross 128 System under quarantine and that any Drazt ship approaching the Solar System in the future, if they ever manage to produce an interstellar drive of their own that is, would be shot at without warning. I have already briefed Governor Robeson and the Spacers League’s High Council about what happened during my diplomatic mission and they have endorsed my recommendation to quarantine the Ross 128 System. You may be happy to learn that, as a result of my little misadventure over there, the Spacers League’s High Council finally shook off its indecision and dancing around and decided to boost substantially its space defense budget. You can thus expect large future orders once your new cruiser design will be ready.’’
‘’That definitely does make me happy, Tina.’’ replied Gustav, a smile reappearing on his face. ‘’About your ship, while you are free to enter my Number One Dry Dock, most of my staff and workers have already left for the New Year leave period. Apart from examining and listing the damage to be repaired, we won’t be able to begin the serious repair work until January 10, after the end of the New Year vacation period.’’
‘’That is alright with me, Gustav, as I intend to give my own crew some well-deserved time off. By the way, the work needed includes refilling my missile magazines: I fired away 150 of them during the Battle of Ross 128.’’
‘’One hundred and fifty missiles? Hell, that’s a humongous amount of firepower, Tina!’’
‘’I know, but they saved the day for me then: the Drazt’ force shield generators were unable to soak up the power of our missiles, which had been set to maximum anti-matter yield. If my missiles would have proved ineffective, then my poor KOSTROMA would have been cut to ribbons, boarded and seized by the Drazt, with my crew ending up either dead or as prisoners. While I don’t hate individual Drazt and actually had a good rapport with some of them, I am now convinced that their government can’t be trusted and that they will now try to find a way to avenge their defeat. I was very plain about that with the Spacers League’s High Council and I believe that they now understand how serious the potential Drazt threat is.’’
‘’Well, the main thing is that you didn’t suffer casualties in that adventure, Tina. I will stay here in my shipyard, so that I could greet your ship and start myself the damage evaluation work.’’
‘’Thanks, Gustav. Oh, I nearly forgot! Be prepared to receive in the next few days a work order from Koorivar Administrator Sheraz, for the fitting of disintegrator cannons and missile launchers on his flotilla of three starships.’’
That left Gustav nearly stunned from surprise, with his mouth half opening under the shock.
‘’The Koorivars want to arm their ships? But I thought that they were complete pacifists.’’
‘’They still mostly are, but Administrator Sheraz, along with a Hoshi observer, happened to be aboard the KOSTROMA when the Drazt launched their treacherous attack on my ship. The Koorivars may be pacifists, but they are also realists. While their ship crews may not have the stomach to fire at other ships, their ships’ central computers will control that new armament and will ensure the defense of their ships against unprovoked attacks. My own Spirit already infused its not inconsiderable tactical knowledge and combat experience to the central computers of the three Koorivar spaceships. Thus, the VEON SHOURIA, SHUNDAR and SHANIZAR won’t be simple sitting ducks once armed. Of course, as you already know from your experience at dealing with them, the Koorivars don’t have a cash flow problem, thanks to their huge gold and precious metals reserves, so your work will be paid quickly and in full. By the way, you will be able to charge the Spacers League for the repair work and rearming of my KOSTROMA: since I was fulfilling a mission for them, they are picking up the tab.’’
‘’Any money is welcomed, as long as it is not dirty money, Tina. I will be waiting for your ship. See you at Number One Dry Dock.’’
Gustav Shomberg then closed the link, shaking his head and smiling in amusement: Tina Forster was definitely not what you would call an average woman. He then opened an inventory list on his computer and started checking what he still had in stock in terms of the spare parts and extra missiles that he would need for the KOSTROMA.
15:09 (Universal Time) / 18:09 (Nairobi Time)
Monday, February 14, 2321
Cockpit of interstellar shuttle ANDROMEDA
Flying over the Indian Ocean towards Kenya
‘’We are now some 500 kilometers from the African East Coast. Time to call the Nairobi Air Traffic Control Center and announce ourselves, Roger.’’ said Valentina Suvarova after a quick look at her navigation display screen.
‘’On it!’’ replied the copilot of the ANDROMEDA, 24-years-old Roger Cummings, before activating his radio microphone. ‘’Nairobi Air Traffic Control, this is New Haven Shuttle ANDROMEDA, on approach from the East to Kenyan airspace, over.’’
‘’This is Nairobi Control. Go ahead, ANDROMEDA.’’
‘’From ANDROMEDA: we are heading for the Todonyang Refugee Camp, near your Northwest border, to pick up passengers. Request permission to enter your airspace, over.’’
‘’Permission granted, ANDROMEDA. Be advised that the border regions around the Congo Republic and its neighboring states are presently deemed unsafe because of the present state of civil war inside the African Union. Please exercise caution.’’
‘’Will do, Nairobi Control! Thank you for the warning. ANDROMEDA out!’’
Roger then exchanged a frustrated look with Valentina.
‘’Still more wars and violence, as if Africa needed more of those.’’
‘’Well, our job today is to come pick up some of the ones who lost everything to those wars, to bring them to a place where they will be able to have decent lives at last.’’
The two of them then fell mostly silent, concentrating on their descent from orbit and on following their authorized flight plan.
Some nine minutes later, having entered Kenyan airspace at subsonic speed and being only a few minutes away from landing at the Todonyang Refugee Camp, Roger noticed something on the display screen of their search radar.
‘’Hey, I have eight fast contacts heading approximately our way while flying within Ethiopian airspace. These can’t be commercial aircraft.’’
‘’You’re right!’’ said Valentina after a glance at their radar screen. ‘’Signal them to Nairobi Control and ask what is the story about those.’’
Roger Cummings nodded once and activated his microphone again, not liking those unknown contacts.
‘’Nairobi Control, this is New Haven shuttle Andromeda. We are picking on our radar eight fast contacts approaching your Northwest border. They don’t radiate radar identification signals. Do you know their identity, over?’’
‘’Uh, one moment, please. I will contact our Kenyan Air Force liaison officer. Standby!’’
‘’I don’t like this one bit, Valentina. Maybe we should slow down and wait for the word from Nairobi Control before continuing on.’’
‘’I agree! I’m reducing speed to 600 kilometers per hour.’’
Only a few seconds after doing that, the Nairobi air control operator came back on the air, her voice now tainted with urgency.
‘’ANDROMEDA, from Nairobi Control: abort your approach to Todonyang and turn around at high speed. Those fast contacts are possibly Somali rebel strike craft heading towards the Congo. Our Air Force is scrambling interceptors right now. Acknowledge, over!’’
‘’ANDROMEDA, we acknowledge and are turning away, out!’’
Valentina took action before Roger could respond to the Nairobi air controller and brutally turned around her shuttle, to then accelerate at the rate of 21 Gs eastward. The ANDROMEDA was one of the new models of shuttles using Drazt technologies, which were now the standard ones aboard the KOSTROMA and in the New Haven commercial fleet. She then heard Roger swear to himself.
‘’Shit! Four of those contacts actually veered off course, apparently to try intercepting us. A pair of interceptors from Nairobi are now speeding towards those four contacts.’’
‘’I hope that the Todonyang Refugee Camp will not suffer some damage in that coming air-to-air exchange.’’
‘’I hope so too. Maybe we should alert the KOSTROMA about this: it is still in Earth orbit.’’
‘’A good idea: do that, Roger!’’
Some forty seconds later, after the KOSTROMA had been alerted by Roger, Valentina saw on her radar screen two of the presumed Somali contacts disappear from the display, with the remaining six then turning back towards the Northeast.
‘’Yeah! The Kenyan interceptors shot down two of those attack craft and the rest is turning away. Maybe we will still be able to go pick up our planned passengers for New Haven this afternoon.’’
Valentina’s hope was realized some two minutes later, as she was performing large, slow circles over the Indian Ocean off the Kenyan coast.
‘’Shuttle ANDROMEDA, this is Nairobi Control. Our Northwest border region has just been declared secured by our air force. You may resume your trip to the Todonyang camp, over.’’
‘’That is great news, Nairobi Control. Pass our thanks and congratulations to your air force pilots for a job well done. ANDROMEDA out!’’
Valentina made a bitter smirk as she turned her shuttle towards the West and accelerated.
‘’Something tells me that Tina won’t like this incident one bit.’’
That prediction later turned out to be a monumental understatement.
10:08 (Paris Time)
Friday, February 25, 2321
Ministerial conference room, palace of the Élysée
Paris, France, Northern Alliance
‘’…and our two extra patrol ships should join the blockade line off the North African coast tomorrow. More ships are…’’
The French foreign minister, hosting with his president, Roland Genest, this meeting of the Northern Alliance, was suddenly interrupted when a presidential aide quickly entered the conference room and went to President Genest to whisper something in his ear. Genest straightened up at once in his chair, surprise on his face.
‘’A delegation from the Spacers League is here?’’ he asked his aide, who nodded his head.
‘’Yes, Mister President! It is led by Governor Robeson and demands to speak at once at this conference.’’
‘’She demands? This is most undiplomatic! Tell Governor Robeson that we will meet with her delegation once we break out for lunch.’’
‘’Yes, Mister President!’’ said the aide before leaving the room at a quick pace. Foreign Minister Lemire however did not have time to resume his interrupted sentence before the main entrance doors of the room were pushed open, letting in a large group of at least a dozen men and women which marched in resolutely despite the protestations of Genest’s aide. Genest recognized at once Governor Janet Robeson, who was leading the group.
‘’Governor Robeson, I find this intrusion in an official meeting of the Northern Alliance to be most undiplomatic.’’ said Genest in an indignant tone while shooting up from his chair. Janet Robeson gave him in return an icy stare.
‘’That’s because I don’t intend to be diplomatic in the least bit in what I want to tell you and the other leaders of your Northern Alliance, President Genest. Your repeated refusals to answer properly my messages and receive my envoys gave me no choice but to come in person to forcefully speak to you.’’
As Robeson stopped near the conference table, Genest then realized with a shock that part of her entourage was composed of the chairman of the ASEAN3, Pham Min Wa, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Nomura, Chinese Premier Wei Jin Tao and Korean Prime Minister Kim Keon Nam. The German chancellor, Karl Beck, was next to get up from his chair, clearly pissed.
‘’What are you trying to accomplish with such a political stunt, Governor Robeson?’’
‘’Pound some common sense and decency into your collective heads, Chancellor Beck, that’s what!’’ replied Janet Robeson, not backing down one bit. ‘’I have been trying to tell you for more than two months that your policies towards Africa were both cowardly and ineffective, but you refused to listen to me and to other state leaders on that subject. So, I decided that I and the Spacers League, along with a few Earth allies, needed to take care properly of the civil war presently ravaging the African continent. You better sit down now, Chancellor Beck, because it’s going to get rough.’’
The German politician reluctantly obeyed, following which Janet eyed in turn the men and women sitting around the table.
‘’The countries of Europe alone have a total GDP equal to over nine times the GDP of the whole African continent. Yet, you have refused to support or help in any way the progressive leaders who put an end to the corrupt and despotic rule of President Makambo. Instead, you unilaterally cut a substantial part of the budget we had previously mutually agreed on and which was destined to support our joint space program, then used that money to blockade the coasts of Africa and turn away any would-be immigrants trying to flee the civil war there. Because of your political cowardice and selfishness, the progressive forces of General Lumumba are now on the verge of defeat, with General Seko within grasp of seizing power in Africa and resurrecting the dreaded and despised Southern Federation. Also because of your selfishness, tens of thousands of innocent people who could have found a safe refuge in Europe died needlessly, either drowning at sea or getting killed after having to return to countries ravaged by war and ethnic strife. In that, you repeated the same kind of head-in-the-sand policies that you followed in 2315, when you refused to preempt attacks by the forces of President Zembelo and Marshall Khan, using the pretext that you didn’t want to provoke them. Then, when the Southern Federation forces attacked Europe and North America, your prior refusal to switch enough money from your every-day living to the reinforcing of your military capabilities resulted in your countries being invaded in record time and then being looted by Khan’s thugs. What did you do then? You screamed to the Spacers League for help. Well, we did help you then. Our ships pounded Khan’s forces from the air and destroyed their bases and combat vehicles. We lost good people in retaking Mars from Zembelo and lost more people when helping on the ground and in the air to chase Southern Federation soldiers from North America. Now, you refuse again to get involved directly in Africa in order to screen your precious Europe from that conflict, thus leaving the initiative to General Seko, while reneging on your accord with us concerning the defense of the Solar System against potential space threats. Well, enough with your selfish cowardice, ladies and gentlemen of the Northern Alliance. The Spacers League High Council has decided that it will not anymore support Europe, either militarily or commercially. Instead, we enlisted the help and support of more responsible countries, countries which had stayed neutral until now but have decided that the time for inaction was well passed. China, Japan, Indonesia and the whole of Southeast Asia have now concluded a pact with the Spacers League, a pact in which we will unite our efforts and assets to help Africa out of its civil war.’’
‘’And how are you planning to do that, Governor Robeson?’’ asked Chancellor Beck. ‘’Your Spacers League has at most a few thousand ground combatants, while General Seko controls forces numbering over a million soldiers.’’
It was the ASEAN chairman, Pham Min Wa, who answered Beck while looking severely at the German politician.
‘’The countries of the ASEAN, along with China, Indonesia and Japan, have agreed to form a multi-national peace enforcement force which will be sent very soon to Africa. That force will in turn help protect the borders of the countries in Africa which are still governed democratically by moderate and progressive governments, countries that have asked for our help. On its part, the Spacers League will provide both air support and air cover to our allied ground forces and will destroy the bases used by General Seko. The first African countries we will thus help to protect will be Kenya, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and the Ivory Coast, which are presently the most threatened by the forces of General Seko. Kenya in particular will get our help on a high priority basis, as it is nearly surrounded by hostile countries allied with Seko and is acting as a shelter for hundreds of thousands of African refugees, refugees whom Europe has refused to help up to now. We are ready to do that because we have understood that the fate of this whole planet is our collective responsibility and that we needed to act if we didn’t want to see more wars and misery in the years to come.’’
Before some leaders of the Northern Alliance could raise more objections, Janet Robeson spoke right after Pham Min Wa.
‘’We came to tell you about our decisions, not to seek your advice or opinions, ladies and gentlemen. You chose to ignore our advice and counsels and to unilaterally cut our mutual space defense program so that you could isolate Europe from the conflict in Africa as if that conflict did not concern you one bit. Well, since you chose to ignore the Spacers League, we have chosen to ignore you from now on and to rely instead on more dependable and responsible partners on Earth. Consider all of the industrial contracts we signed between us, particularly concerning space ships and installations, as now null and void. The Spacers League will instead transfer those contracts to countries in Asia that are now allied with us.’’
‘’But this represents a minimum of 700 billion credits in annual business!’’ objected the French foreign minister, horrified.
‘’That is correct, Mister Lemire. Don’t even bother going to some ‘international’ court to attempt to rule those contract cancellations as illegal: we will simply ignore whatever that court will say.’’
Janet then looked severely around the table, raising a bit more her voice to mark the seriousness of her words.
‘’Understand this, ladies and gentlemen, and understand it well: the days of Europe acting like the center of the Universe are over. Humanity has started to expand among the stars and to populate other star systems. The Spacers League will lead and control that expansion in the name of Humanity as a whole, not you or any other particular group of nations or political entities on Earth. Yes, you will be free to do commerce and practice tourism with those new worlds, but you will have to abide by our rules while off Earth. We in the Spacers League respect and cherish everybody on an equal footing, irrespective of race, gender, sexual preferences or ethnicity. We will thus expect the same from your citizens visiting Spacers worlds. That is all that we wanted to say here. Goodbye, ladies and gentlemen!’’
The whole Spacer and Asian delegation then turned around as one and walked out of the conference room, leaving behind European leaders who were now either shocked, furious or both.