Star Force: Mettle (SF9) Read online

  1

  January 5, 2060

  “Here you are, sir,” the dark blue uniformed Star Force attendant said, gesturing to the short staircase that led up into Davis’s office. “He’s waiting for you inside.”

  “Thank you,” the Chinese ambassador said, hitting the stairs with even paced steps and circling his way up into the impressive panoramic tower office, giving him as good a view as any of the surface of Atlantis, stretching off into the horizon in every direction.

  Directly opposite the top stair was Davis, waiting behind his desk along with a trim individual standing nonchalantly off to the side, leaning against the crystal clear window that stretched around the entire perimeter of the office.

  “Ambassador,” Davis greeted him from his chair, then pointed to the one across the desk from him, “have a seat.”

  “I thought you had a press conference scheduled,” the slightly shorter man commented, sensing a sternness to the Director’s mood that typically wasn’t part of his demeanor. “I was headed there myself before your attendant intercepted me.”

  “This won’t take long,” Davis assured him, “and you won’t be attending the press conference.”

  The Chinese man raised an eyebrow. “May I ask why?”

  “Because you will be the subject of said press conference…and because you’ll be busy relaying the bad news back home, I imagine. You see, we,” Davis said, gesturing to Paul on his right, “know who is responsible for the pirate attacks. We’re about to reveal the facts to the rest of the planet…here’s your copy.”

  Davis threw a data chip into the ambassador’s lap in a symbolically undiplomatic fashion.

  “If you’re inferring that we had anything to do with…”

  “I’m not inferring anything,” Davis said, his voice rising slightly. “The proof is there. While your warships were of an unrecognizable design and equipped with self-destruct devices so we couldn’t capture and interrogate the crews, the same can’t be said for your cargo ships, of which we now have several in our possession. Same goes for your illicit shipyard, which we captured intact, both the station, the crew…and your computer records for the entire operation.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the ambassador protested, “and until we can review this so called evidence I can’t offer you anything more in way of a response.”

  “I don’t think they told him,” Paul said, studying the man closely.

  “I think you’re right,” Davis agreed. “If that’s the case I think we’ll have to postpone the beating.”

  “Ah shucks,” Paul said, sounding genuinely disappointed as he cradled his left fist in his right hand and rubbed his knuckles distractedly.

  The man’s eyes widened a hair. “You wouldn’t dare. I’m a representative of the People’s Republic of China.”

  “You’re a representative from a country of murderers,” Paul growled.

  “As I’m about to explain in the aforementioned press conference,” Davis continued, “China is responsible for the attacks, and therefore will suffer a number of nonnegotiable penalties.”

  “This is absurd!” the ambassador said, standing up in protest, subsequently dropping the data chip on the floor. “I will not sit here and be insulted. We had nothing to do with those pirates, and any attempt to pin this on the People’s Republic of China will be met with the sternest response.”

  “Sit down,” Davis said, with Paul stepping forward a moment later when the ambassador didn’t budge. He grabbed the man by the shoulders and dragged him back into his seat with alarming strength.

  “Stay put or I’ll knock you back down,” Paul warned.

  “You will regret this. Mark my words, you will regret this.”

  “Your penalties,” Davis said, ignoring his threats. “China is hereby banned from all Star Force services for a period of 50 years. Your leases are hereby nullified and you have 90 days to remove yourselves and all equipment from our facilities, including the Lunar zones. Anything remaining after that time period becomes our property. Furthermore, your ambassadorial credentials here are also revoked for the 50 year period. You have 48 hours to clean out your embassy and leave Atlantis, after which time the city will no longer accept Chinese governmental traffic.”

  “We will not stand for this!” he said, standing again only to have Paul gently knock the wind out of him with a punch to his ample gut, whereupon he pushed the man back down in his seat.

  “Our spaceport in China is also hereby closed. We’ve already evacuated our equipment and personnel, you’re welcome to what’s left. Your citizens will have to travel into space through one of Star Force’s other spaceports, the nearest being in Japan, India, or Kazakhstan…assuming those countries will allow it.”

  “We’re not banning travel for anyone carrying a Chinese passport, but your bad behavior will cost them the convenience of launching from your own country, which will induce a sizeable economic drain. Travel permits for your government officials will be denied, of course. We appreciate the difference between the Chinese government and its citizenry…but the citizenry will bear part of the penalty, for putting up with corrupt leaders.”

  “You physically assault me, now you insult our integrity,” the ambassador said, spitting on the floor to his right. “You are foolish to make an enemy of the People’s Republic of China.”

  “No, Ambassador. We’d be foolish to let this incident pass, else it might encourage more. We are not denying you access to space, though we’re militarily equipped to do so if we chose. Though you may not believe this now, or perhaps ever, what we are doing is a matter of justice, not vengeance. Furthermore, we will not permit any other nation to engage in military action against China in space in retaliation for your pirate attacks, just as we won’t tolerate you doing the same. Star Force’s imperative is to keep space from becoming a war zone, and that’s what we’re going to do. How the other nations deal with you on the surface of the planet…is not our concern.”

  “We hold veto power on the Security Council, the UN will not move against the People’s Republic of China. You are the only ones stupid enough to do so.”

  “You might think otherwise when you look at that data chip,” Paul said, standing behind the man. “We included a bit of information concerning our fleet, just so you don’t do something stupid out of ignorance. As far as we can tell your pirate ships didn’t transmit back anything when we either took them out or they self-destructed, so you may really not know how badly we kicked your ass. I made sure to include enough footage and analysis to alleviate that problem.”

  “Move against our fleet if you want a swift death,” the ambassador warned. “We have more military assets in space than any other nation.”

  “Wow, he is ignorant,” Paul commented to Davis.

  “You may have more than any other nation,” Davis clarified, “but while Star Force is independent, we don’t technically count as a nation, and I can assure you that our fleet is far stronger than you can imagine, which the records on that chip will confirm. We’re giving the same data to all the countries present at the press conference so that everyone knows what we’re capable of, and that we’re serious about maintaining the peace in space.”

  “Peace!” he objected. “You assault me and you have the gall to speak of peace.”

  Paul leaned down next to his ear and whispered, but still loud enough for Davis to hear. “Believe me when I say, if I thought you were complicit in these attacks, you’d be leaving Atlantis via the hospital. China is responsible for the murder of 103 people. With that in mind, we’re being generously civil.”

  The ambassador didn’t say anything, sensing the truth behind Paul’s threat. He thought for a moment, choosing
his next words carefully.

  “And when you realize the truth that you’ve falsely accused us?”

  “When you review that data,” Davis said, leaning forward on his elbows, “you’ll see otherwise.”

  “And if my government doesn’t?”

  “The penalties stand regardless of your response. This is a notification, not a discussion. The ban is in effect as of now, will all current orders summarily cancelled and payments returned. Now…get out of my city,” Davis said, swiftly ending the conversation.

  The ambassador glanced up at Paul to see if he was going to let him up. When it appeared that was the case he reached down and picked up the data chip then hesitantly stood, straightened his jacket, and glared down at Davis. “This won’t be forgotten,” he promised before turning about and hurrying off down the stairs.

  “Strong enough?” Paul asked after he was gone.

  “Yes, your performance was just what I wanted,” Davis confirmed. “Thank you.”

  “Do you need me for the press conference?”

  “No, I don’t think we need any of them beat up just yet,” the Director said, cracking a smile.

  “How do you think they’re going to respond?”

  “I don’t know. Depends how much international pressure they receive in addition to our penalties. This is the first military loss for them since the Korean War, and admittedly that was a draw. They’re not used to having people stand up to them other than with meaningless rhetoric, so it makes it difficult to predict their reaction,” he said, standing up and abandoning his desk.

  “If there’s nothing else…” Paul asked.

  “Go back to your training,” Davis said congenially as they walked down the stairs together and headed for a nearby elevator, “I can handle the others on my own.”

  “Call me if you need anything,” Paul said, throwing him a quick two fingered salute before he walked off to find the nearby hidden entrance to the secure transport network that would take him down through the city and out underneath the seafloor back to the Archon sanctum.

  Davis stepped into one of the waiting elevators and keyed for the terminal nearest the press conference location, held in the main amphitheatre that he used for nearly all such occasions. It was private yet large enough to accommodate all the invitees, which in this case included every spacefaring nation on the planet along with a hoard of media, all of which were begging/demanding to know what was going on with the pirate attacks and Star Force’s sudden revelation that it had a military branch, seemingly in contravention with the organization’s policy of an automatic decline to all requests for military orders.

  When he exited the elevator it was a short walk to the entrance where his security personnel had to physically make a wedge through the crowd outside the meeting place to get him inside. For all the media passes he’d allowed, fifty times that number of requests had been declined, but it didn’t keep their reporters from camping out as close by as they could, hoping to grab an interview with him or the dignitaries present, with some heads of state or ministers replacing their ambassadors for the occasion.

  After squeezing through the crowd and into the chamber, the doors were sealed behind Davis with a loud thunk of the locking mechanism as he strode down between the seated delegates and took the podium amidst a whirlwind of hushed conversation.

  “I apologize for the delay,” he began, looking out at the eager, and mostly hostile, crowd, “but there were certain logistical matters that we had to attend to first. Among them was the compilation of a data package that will be distributed to each of you at the conclusion of this meeting. The subject matter of which concerns the pirate attacks, Star Force’s roll in eliminating the threat, and the subsequent penalties that we are handing down to those responsible.”

  “Let me make one thing clear before we begin…and that being that Star Force is committed to ensuring the peaceful colonization of space, and that we will not tolerate any nation turning space into a war zone. Our fleet is now in place, as you have all witnessed, as a visible deterrent to maintain that peace.”

  “We have held our military capability back from public knowledge because up until now it wasn’t needed, and had these pirate attacks not occurred we would have continued to keep it a secret, but the reckless destruction we’ve recently witnessed confirms the fact that Star Force must have the capability to defend both itself and the innocent against the aggression of others. Unfortunately, at this time our planet has shown once again that it isn’t capable of playing well with others.”

  “History has taught us as much, but Star Force contends that dishonor is not inherent to Human nature and that we can be better than our ancestors…and we expect as much from you. For those nations, corporations, and individuals willing to walk the path of honor, you can breathe a sigh of relief when one of our warships is present, for you know it will protect you if you are in the right.”

  “The reverse is also true, and those of you with plans of continual murder and conquest can and should fear any sign of our war fleet, because we will not stand for any misbehavior. When I say that our fleet serves as a deterrent, do not mistake that word for an empty threat. We will take military action when it is necessary, as we have done with the pirates, the footage of which you will see shortly.”

  A murmur swept the crowd, but Davis didn’t pause for it to die down.

  “We are defenders, not conquerors, and our record to date supports that, as do our current actions. For those of you counting countries, you will note that one has no representative at this meeting…and that is because their embassy staff are currently cleaning out their offices. As you are about to see the evidence of, this country is responsible for the so called ‘pirate’ attacks and the murder of 103 people.”

  The murmur accelerated, with apparently some of those present already having taken a nose count.

  “That nation is hereby struck with a 50 year penalty during which they shall conduct no business with Star Force. All their current leases are hereby cancelled, along with any current orders. For the next half century they are on Star Force’s black list, and will be denied any and all services save for search and rescue, which we continue to extend to anyone and everyone in need.”

  “This penalty will not be renegotiated or mitigated. It is firm and done. Let this stand as both a warning and as an example of Star Force’s commitment to maintaining the peace, for any of you that should conduct yourselves in a manner similar to the Chinese will reap the same penalties.”

  As soon as he mentioned their name the entire assembly erupted in various forms of outrage, some directed at Star Force and some at the Chinese, but most of it was an incoherent babble that did not abate for several long minutes, during which Davis waited patiently for them to vent as he brought up the first image of the Chinese ‘pirate’ ships on the large screen behind him.

  The response was much as he had expected, and now came the delicate matter of dealing with the politics of the situation, which he’d just shattered…but that had been necessary in order to begin establishing a new standard, one of accountability and honor, in space-bound relations at least, for an international community stagnant with inaction and corruption.

  Change was hard, he knew, but one way or another the status quo was going to change…it had to, if Earth was ever to stand a chance of survival against the V’kit’no’sat, pathetic as that notion seemed now.

  2

  March 14, 2060

  “Packing crew finally get here?” Harry asked.

  “I hope so,” Mike said, watching the security cameras as a Chinese dropship began offloading containers on a small auxiliary landing pad at mining site 7 inside the Chinese-leased Lunar zone 217, “but it looks like more cargo containers.”

  “Yeah, but never this many. My money says they’re finally pulling out,” the Star Force security guard said, leaning back in his chair in the control room of the mining facility. Star Force had built the entire complex with the purpose of
leasing it out, meaning that the top levels of the sprawling central residential section were separate from the lower levels, affording the Star Force overseers and the lease owners a bit of space from one another while the staff remotely monitored and maintained the facility from their perch atop the partially buried structure, as well as ran the transit hub that sat between the two levels and connected site 7 to site 8, site 9, and site 17 in addition to the central spaceport via buried monorail tracks.

  “Maybe they’re trying to take as much ore with them as they can,” Mike speculated as they watched spacesuited crews driving treaded surface haulers lift and carry the rectangular crates from the dropship’s bays over to the specialized docking ports into the mining facility. The haulers gently lowered the transport ‘bricks’ into fitted tracks, then pushed them up tight against the facility where they interfaced with automated docking systems that connected their pressurized interiors directly to the station where the cargo loading could take place in a shirtsleeve environment.

  “You might be right,” Harry admitted. “I just hope they go with it so we don’t have to kick them out when the deadline passes.”

  “You and me both,” Mike agreed as he walked around the control room, glancing at the empty stations to monitor for activity. The other two security staff, both technicians, were temporarily absent…one heading down a level to check on a mainframe glitch while the other was taking a restroom break down the hall.

  A muffled scream turned both men’s heads around to the open doorway behind them. Mike immediately walked over to the entrance, his long strides looking odd from his haste in the 1/6th gravity. He reached down out of reflex and flipped the charge button on his holstered pistol as he stepped outside and looked to the right, the direction that the scream had seemed to come from.

  Down at the end of the long corridor he saw the female technician being held aloft with a hand held across her mouth belonging to a man standing behind her. When he dropped the woman she fell slowly, twisting around enough to reveal a black spot on the back of her dark green uniform…along with the knife in the man’s hand that had created the blood spot. Behind him were two more men, one of which fired a pistol at Mike.