Second Earth Read online

  Melissa nodded slowly, but her expression disclosed she was far from convinced.

  “Any leads yet on who the real spy could be?” he asked.

  She shook her head as she stared at her half-empty glass. “No, none. I’m still looking into it. Sylvia’s Delight was completely clean of fingerprints, hair or fiber samples. Even the most basic DNA fragments, save for ours and Lieutenant Garcia’s, are proving to be quite elusive.”

  “You think it was him?”

  She shrugged noncommittally. “In the absence of any other evidence, I’m not sure what else I can do. He’s still under tight lock and key, and what little I could glean from our conversations hasn’t convinced me he’s completely innocent.”

  Shawn nodded and then allowed a moment of silence to fall between them. “We’ll be arriving at Second Earth in the next day or so.”

  She inclined her head toward the wall of view ports at the front of the compartment and the blue-white pearl-like planet far off in the distance. “So I’ve noticed.”

  “I assume you’ve cleared our journey to Second Earth with the OSI Director?”

  Again, she nodded. “I contacted him last week, just before we went through the second jump gate. Apparently we ‘have the full backing of both the OSI and the Unified council,’” she droned.

  “You don’t seem to be too happy about it.”

  “What’s there to be happy about, Shawn?” she asked as she turned sad eyes to him.

  “It’s just that I thought…that if we cleared up the disappearance of the Valley Forge and the missing fleet, it would put you back in good standing with the Director and the OSI.”

  She downed the rest of her drink in one swoop.

  “I hope that wasn’t anything too strong,” Shawn said in surprise.

  Melissa narrowed her eyes and pointed an accusatory finger squarely at him. “I’ll have you know, Shawn Kestrel, that my life is more than the sum of my occupational accolades.”

  “I wasn’t suggesting—”

  “Oh, but you were!” she exclaimed, as if the words had suddenly sprung from some inner revelation.

  “I was not!” he retorted, leaning back for fear of her striking him in her obviously angered state. After all, he wouldn’t put it past her. “I was simply wondering why you seemed so upset about this.”

  “Upset! Who said I was upset about anything?”

  He shook his head in confusion. “Your tone, for starters.”

  She dismissed him with a wave of her hand as she turned to look out the view ports once more.

  “It’s not about the fleet, is it?” he asked. “This is about your father. Tell me I’m wrong.”

  She rolled her eyes, then lowered her voice as she slumped in her chair. “It’s nice to know how utterly transparent I’ve become.” Her tone carried the irritation she felt. She looked to her hands, then slapped them lightly onto the illuminated tabletop. “Honestly, I don’t even know how I can function as an OSI agent anymore. This thing…it has me turned inside out.”

  “The Director must have thought otherwise. Why else would he have put you in charge?”

  Melissa shrugged with feigned interest. “Who knows? I’m sure he has his reasons.”

  “Look, I’m sure everything will start to come together once we reach Second Earth.”

  Her eyes turned to him, appearing to search for deeper truth behind his words. “Do you really think so? Be honest with me.”

  The lieutenant commander offered his best, most dashing smile. “I’m sure something positive will come from it.”

  She sighed, then turned her gaze back to the view ports. “Do you have any idea what the captain is planning on doing once we get there?”

  Shawn straightened in his chair. “I do. He’ll be sending down an exploration party.”

  This piqued her interest. She turned fully toward him, leaning her arm against the back of the chair and propping her head against her hand. “What type of exploration party?”

  “A small one.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t get smart with me, Commander.”

  Shawn feigned shock. “I’m serious. A very small team is going to the surface. Dick wants to minimize exposure to anything we might find down there.”

  “We?”

  “I meant the team.” Shawn was caught, and he knew there was no way out of this.

  “No, you distinctly said ‘we,’ as in you and…?”

  Suddenly feeling exceedingly parched, it was Shawn’s turn to take a large gulp from his drink. Unfortunately, he remembered too late that it had only been water, and it did nothing to abate the scorn he was sure was soon to follow. “Me and…a few others.”

  “Who? Not Trent.”

  “No, not Trent,” Shawn chuckled nervously. “There’s no way Krif is letting him off the ship.”

  “Then who?”

  “Well…me…and a small squad of Marines.” There. That wasn’t so hard, was it? Anyway, it was close enough to the truth.

  “Why you?” Melissa inquired with skepticism.

  “They need a pilot.”

  “Plenty of those around here, Commander,” she said as she waved a hand toward a table that was occupied by no less than five of the Rhea’s fighter wing. “We’re on a carrier, after all. Stop being evasive and just tell me, Shawn. We’re supposed to be building trust, remember? Not…erecting insurmountable barriers between one another.”

  He leaned back in toward her, trying to keep the conversation from escalating. “Fine. Just tone it down a little, will you?”

  She did so, to barely above a whisper. “Only if you stop lying to me.”

  “I’m not lying to you. They needed a pilot, so I volunteered.”

  She smiled deviously, but Shawn could tell she was still upset. “I see. So what you’re saying then is that they were going to take down the Mark-IV, and you conveniently made yourself available. Is that right?”

  He shrugged. “Something like that.”

  “Why a civilian cargo ship? Why not a logistics craft? They’re more equipped to handle whatever’s down there, and they can certainly haul more materials.”

  “My guess is that Krif wants to be as under the radar as possible on this landing. A non-military transport wouldn’t be an overt signal to anyone below that a military presence had returned—if in fact someone is down there watching at all.”

  Melissa snickered. “What you really mean is that Krif thought your ship was more expendable than anything he had in his own inventory.”

  Shawn shook his head. “You know, I’m really rethinking that whole bit about women not being able to read minds. You’re pretty good at it.”

  Melissa’s head rolled off her hand, and her arm slipped down to her side. As the last remnant of her drink began to affect her motor skills, she began to subtly slur her words as she spoke. “And, if I may ask, mister Shawn Kestrel Lieutenant Commander sir, who else besides you will be going?”

  Shawn was beginning to tire of this game. “Why don’t you just ask me what you really want to know?”

  “Because I like prying the information from you,” she said as she pointed a wavering finger at him. “It’s one of the few joys I’ve gotten out of this mission.”

  Trying not to let her current state affect him, Shawn folded his arms across his chest and glared at her. “Well, since you’ve ticked me off, I’m going to answer it anyway. You won’t be going down there with us.”

  Her eyes went wide and she bolted upright in her chair. “And why not?” she yelled, dropping the whispered tone the two had been sharing for the last few minutes. “I’m the only one qualified to make an investigation of the surface.”

  “Krif’s got a few specialists on board who can—”

  “Specialists,” she scoffed, then finished her drink. “They’re pushbutton officers who don’t have the…the…ce cadeau spécial to do what I do.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Did you just speak to me in French?”

  She contin
ued to point an accusatory finger across the table at him. “Don’t change the subject, mister.”

  “Krif thinks it might be too dangerous for you. He wants to make sure the area is secured before he brings anyone else down.”

  “Too dangerous?” she spat. “Too dangerous?”

  “You’re repeating yourself.”

  “I know what I said, Mister Kestrel.”

  Shawn flagged down the waiter and ordered two more waters. “We’re back to Mister Kestrel, are we?” he asked as the young man disappeared.

  “Yes, we are. And I’ll have you know I can handle myself just fine down there.”

  “Like you did on the Icarus?” The words were out of his mouth before he could catch them. Shawn closed his eyes, putting up a completely useless shield against the verbal onslaught he was sure she was about to release. Here it comes.

  In a moment of realization, Melissa Graves’ expression turned from frustration to pure anger. She scowled menacingly at him, and he knew that once again he had once again been caught. He wasn’t sure how much farther he could shove his foot into his mouth, but he was positive that Melissa Graves would be more than happy to help.

  “You did this,” she sneered.

  “What?”

  “Don’t play stupid with me, Kestrel, regardless of how well you pull it off! You told Krif not to let me go down there! This was your idea!”

  He slapped his hands into his lap. There was probably no way to salvage the conversation at this point, so he decided to throw all his cards down and see what Melissa was getting at. “And what if it was?”

  “And I’ll bet Raven is going with you.” Melissa had all but sounded out the syllables of his executive officer’s call sign.

  “And just what is that supposed to mean?”

  Melissa leaned back in her chair as the waiter reappeared with the two ice waters. She took her drink hastily, causing some of the liquid to spill on the tabletop. “I think you know perfectly well what I mean.”

  “Honestly, I haven’t the foggiest idea. And yes, she’ll be acting as my copilot and liaison back to the Rhea.”

  “How convenient. You know, it’s nice to know that my…my extensive intelligence training will be completely superfluous on an actual intelligence-gathering mission!”

  “In my own defense—which, by the way, I don’t know why I even need to defend myself—I didn’t say you can’t come down. All I’m saying is that I don’t want you down there until the area is cleared by the Marines.”

  “You? You don’t want?” she wailed bitterly.

  “That’s right. I don’t want. I’ve been appointed the expedition commander for the landing team. So for a change, what I say goes, not you.”

  “Well, I’ve got news for you, Mister Kestrel. I don’t really care right now about what you do or don’t want. I outrank you, and I can do whatever I want on this mission. For heaven’s sake, I’m in operational command of this entire carrier!”

  “Yeah, you look it,” he said under his breath as he brought his glass to his lips.

  “What did you just say?” she all but slurred.

  “I said that is precisely the reason why you should remain safe until I can ensure that you won’t be coming into a hostile zone.”

  Like the flip of a switch, her mood instantly changed from anger to self-satisfaction. “Well, Mister Kestrel, you and I are in a hostile zone right now. And having said that, I’m not sure I want to continue this conversation with you any longer.” She brushed her hair back in an overly exaggerated fashion, as if she were actively trying to cover up the fact that she’d had too much to drink.

  Shawn leaned back in his chair and turned his gaze back to the large view ports. “Fine.”

  “Fine.”

  “Fine!” he snapped. “I have a mission to prep for.” He stood from the table, ready to bolt from the space. A sudden flash of insight crept over him and he turned around to regard the intoxicated, yet still alarmingly attractive woman. “You know something? I really do care about you. I don’t think I’ve truly been able to say that about anyone in a very long time. I just…I just hope someday you can talk to me like a normal, non-crazy person. Maybe then we’ll both be better off.”

  Her mouth fell open and before she could say anything that might have marginally repaired their conversation, Shawn turned briskly on his heel and strode out of the observation deck. She watched as the doors sealed behind him, then she gently closed her eyes before letting her forehead free fall onto the backs of her hands.

  Damn it!

  * * *

  The enormous Unified Sector Command supercarrier Rhea slowed gracefully in her approach as she neared the small blue-green world. This was Second Earth: a name coined by the first settlers to venture out this far due to her uncanny resemblance to their native home planet. Two hundred years ago, when Old Earth had become too overpopulated and her natural riches almost entirely depleted, it was decided that it was mankind’s opportunity to travel deep into the heavens and seek out a new world to cultivate and grow. By that time, Old Earth had already been visited by a small number of alien races, and when the trade routes between their worlds became firmly established, so too were the seeds planted that would eventually blossom into the Unified Collaboration of Systems in the year 2253.

  A short time before that, in 2248, a planet had been discovered by pioneering free traders beyond the outer rim of the then-explored systems. It was a place said to be a mirror image of their home planet, nearly the same diameter, with slightly more land mass and a much cleaner oxygen level than the used-and-abused world they were departing. The planet—by then dubbed UNGC 3329—also had the added bonus of being entirely uninhabited.

  Using primitive jump drives and fission engines, four colonization ships—each containing a thousand volunteers, scientists, teachers, doctors, and military personnel—departed for the new world after two years of preparation in November of 2250. Joining them was a small flotilla of warships from the newly created Unified Sector Command Fleet, and together they set forth into the unknown.

  Approximately one year later, a maintenance oversight in the engineering plant of one of the colonial vessels had gone unchecked, and the resulting explosion cost the intrepid explorers the colony ship Thimbron and the destroyer Lagrong. Undeterred in their quest, the fleet continued on for another eighteen months before they came to their new home. It was exactly as it had been described to them, and exactly as they had dreamed it would be.

  Officially claiming the planet as Second Earth, and after deploying a jump gate to the new world, each colony ship was allowed to set down on a landmass of its choosing. They began erecting settlements of their own, cultivating farmland and setting up irrigation channels from the rich blue oceans of the planet. However, of the three cities that had been built—Aberdeen, Mendahar, and Crystal—only Crystal City was chosen by Sector Command for their primary staging grounds.

  Beyond the west borders of the thirty-two-square-mile city, Sector Command established a military base which was fully equipped with research facilities to rival that of any system in Beta Sector. They were the first scientists to have reached that far into space, and they took the abundant opportunities that were afforded them to further the sciences of the entire quadrant. In 2257, it was decided that Second Earth would form the furthest edge of the Unified Collaboration’s outer sphere of influence, itself containing all the member worlds of the fledgling Unified Collaboration of Systems. Peace reigned on the planet for over a hundred years as the wealth of knowledge inside the Unified Collaboration grew immensely.

  That was until the Kafarans had come. No one could really say why they invaded Unified space. Some said it was because we entered theirs first, while most thought of them as nothing more than a warlike culture with twisted concepts of right and wrong. Most agreed they were monsters who destroyed everything and everyone in their path. When they massacred the entire colony at Beta Five, the inhabitants of Second Earth began to get nerv
ous. They knew—as did everyone in the UCS—that the planet was simply too close to Kafaran space.

  As the war raged on, and as the Kafaran war machine inched ever closer to the planet, the city of Mendahar—on the southern continent of Imash—was completely evacuated. The mayor had tried to convince the remaining colonists in Aberdeen and Crystal that they would soon face death at the hands of the Kafarans, but her words were met with only deafening silence. After two hundred years of peaceful existence, and with the aid of Unified Colonial Operations, Mendahar packed up every last man, woman, child, and pet and set back out into the heavens to try and start again.

  Years later, their departure would be remembered as providential.

  Less than six months after Mendahar was abandoned, every living thing on Second Earth was wiped clean from the planet. The Sector Command Fourth Fleet was immediately dispatched from Concordia, and when they arrived three months later, it was said they were greeted with a lifeless world, completely incapable of supporting life in any form in the known universe. The surface was said to be littered with craters from an orbital bombardment, the air was completely saturated with toxins, the oceans had been boiled away, and the radiation levels were off the charts. A fleet of Kafaran warships was located nearby, and it was understood that the Fourth Fleet wasted little time in dispatching the justice the enemy richly deserved.

  Once the threat was over, Second Earth was sealed off from the rest of the UCS. A series of automated defense and communications satellites was placed in high orbit, used to transmit warning messages to any approaching vessel and—should it become necessary—open fire on any ship attempting to gain access to the planet.

  Not long after, the Kafarans retreated back into their space, and the war abruptly ended.