Her grip tightened around the newly manufactured Ka-Bar style knife. There’d been no time to learn how to use it; there hadn’t even been time to make a sheath. They were literally running for their lives and it was amazing that Major Reynolds had been able to keep them together, doing what needed to be done, and focused only on the immediate next step.
Julie knew she’d use the knife if she had to. She’d never been hunting, she’d never killed anything, but she didn’t need to psychoanalyze herself to know that she’d seen enough. Somehow deep down she just knew that she’d defend herself and her people no matter what - even if it meant a hopeless charge with a knife against a heavily armored enemy host.
The ship settled to the ground just outside the tree-line and like many around her she rose to her knees. Breathing heavy and with pulse pounding the ‘fight or flight’ reflex set in dumping massive amounts of hormones into her system, preparing her body for its best chance of survival. Time slowed and her vision narrowed, focused only on the opening door in the side of the ship.
As the first person stepped out of the hatch Julie felt her knees go weak. Her vision suddenly became blurry and sobs started welling from deep within her chest. All she could focus on was the sight of Major Mathew Reagan.
Julie was rubbing her sleeve across her checks and trying to figure out how to wash up; as soon as she had seen some of the other female scientists (and a couple of the men) it reminded her that tears leave streaks on a grimy face.
Intellectually and psychologically she knew that women’s brains were wired to more easily show emotion and that crying had no correlation whatsoever with bravery, determination, or strength but she also knew intellectually and psychologically that not many people really understood this—and something inside her was determined that Major Reagan not think her weak.
Mark found her first; at the spot behind the tree where their meager supplies had been dumped, washing her face with some water and the bottom half of her khaki t-shirt. The fact that this exposed the still perfectly flat abdomen that had driven her college classmates wild was lost on her and Mark’s gentlemanly but obvious appreciation was lost as well. For the moment Julie was caught up in putting her world back together and all of her carefully built defenses were a part of who she was—or so she honestly believed.
She wasn’t exactly rude to Mark but there was a lot happening and no time for personal moments. She left him somewhat confused after he’d attempted to hug her and sought out the new arrivals. Somewhere along the way she had realized that she wanted a voice in the outcome of this mission and the Noridians were going to find out just what we were made of. They might have their technological advantages and they could play their silly poligalactic games if they wanted, but there were no people better at political intrigue than Earthers and if they really wanted a fight; so be it.
“How do we win?”
“What do you mean Julie?” said Major Reagan.
They were sitting in the forward section of the same Coridian craft that they had used to shuttle back and forth from Semi’s retreat but this time the craft itself was actually inside the cargo bay of the Noridian ship.
After reuniting the group they had returned to the city and quickly decided on an immediate plan of action. Semi had suggested that they travel to a world that was a Coridian protectorate, and though it would take some time to get there they should be safe from any overt Noridian attack. The problem was that while the Coridian shuttle had sufficient seating and life support systems it didn’t have the speed and shielding to travel interstellar distances; and while the Noridian ship had the speed and shielding it was apparently more of a cargo ship with very limited personnel accommodations.
It was Anzio that came up with the solution. So most of them now sat in the Coridian shuttle which sat in the pressurized cargo bay of the Noridian ship as it sped to the Coridian planet Larga.
One very frustrating downside to their situation was that they still couldn’t contact anyone, or at least anyone they wanted to talk to. It turns out that superluminal communication (sending messages faster than the speed of light) was actually possible as long as the sending and receiving ship were traveling slower than the speed of light and, most importantly, it required a sending unit and a receiving unit that were specifically paired. The two units could be spread across the galaxy but could only send and receive from each other; so if one of the units were damaged the other was worthless. Anzio had gotten very excited about the physics that must be involved—something about paired quarks but once Julie realized there really was no chance of immediate communication she lost interest.
On a mainstream world like Larga there would be a large number of these units with connections all across the galaxy, but on a parochial world like Stiger there had been only one; the one that had been destroyed at the Coridian compound. The Noridian ship did have a superluminal communications unit and a message could be routed through it to Noridian interests, who could theoretically link it to Coridian interests, who could then link it to the unit on Earth, but no one believed that would actually happen and from a security standpoint it would be foolish to try. So they spent their travel time trying to figure out what to do and what to say once they did get to (relatively) secure communications.
They’d been in route for over a week now and no one could seem to get past the idea that Earth had limited choices; become a protectorate of Coridia or become a protectorate of Noridia. Presumably there were other dynasties out there to choose from also but there was really no time to get to know them. Noridia had taken the gloves off and was going to press the point.
The question no one had the answer to was just how much time did they have left? Had Jaki taken the rest of the Earth mission to another staged planetfall or had she headed directly back to Earth? Once they reached Earth how long would the Noridians give the planet to decide upon accepting their protection? What would they do if they grew impatient? What if the powers that be on Earth accepted before we had a chance to warn them?
Semi and her two Coridian companions were now accompanying the group. This made for five total Coridians, 26 Earthers, and 2 Noridian prisoners. Semi was willing to answer endless questions and seemed genuinely trying to help while being transparent in her desire to have Earth align with Coridia.
Tomorrow they’d arrive at Larga and no one seemed any closer to having a course of action…
“How do we win?”
“What do you mean Julie?” said Major Reagan.
She’d been sitting off by herself across the seating area at the front of the shuttle. Now that she was speaking loud enough to get the major’s attention everyone in the shuttle paused to hear what she had to say.
“I mean just what I said,” she stated in a calm but strong voice. “I want to know how we beat this. I don’t want Earth to just survive and I don’t want us to settle for picking the best jailors; I want to know how we beat Noridia at its own game. I want to destroy their ambitions with us. I want to hit them so hard they won’t even think about coming after us again.”
Slowly shaking her head she said, “I’ve been sitting here for the past week going back and forth with all of you trying to figure out what Earth’s best course is… and you know what? There is no best course. We’re screwed no matter what we do. So if all the outcomes are bad then let’s roll the dice. I don’t care how long the odds are I’m not going to hand over the future of my planet to other people. Whatever it takes, whatever we have to do; if the only way we can keep our freedom is to take over the whole damn galaxy I don’t care. I’m not going down without a fight.”