The Mars Company Anthology
Chapter 24
82 Geminorum System
GNSS Robert Crippen
02/27/42 NR 1130 Hours
Admiral Aaron Peters stood at the back of the repair ship’s bridge and watched the main plot as they approached the wormhole leading to the last star system on the alien starmap. Luisa stood with him, and he reflected over the events of the past two days.
The Geneva Naval Service had ceased to exist. Every warship had been destroyed, with the loss of most of their crews. Barely a hundred survivors had been rescued by the Crippen’s shuttles, who’d come boldly into the battle area. If a single Terran warship had transited, they would have been helpless targets.
The Terran corvette and one of its escorting scouts had survived the encounter with the remaining Genevan scouts, and had swooped down on the repair ships. The fabrication crews had been busy, and a salvo of thirty missiles had erupted from the supposedly defenseless vessels as the Terran warships came close. Their point defenses had been savaged in the battle, and both ships were destroyed with all hands before they could fire a shot.
Ku-aya stood beside Luisa, listening closely as Luisa spoke with her in halting Sumerian. The two women had been practically inseparable, and Ku-aya seemed to be adjusting well to her new circumstances. She was no stranger to spaceflight, and her knowledge of both ancient Earth and their mysterious benefactors was treasure beyond price.
Adam Thomas had secreted Ku-aya away in an apparent attempt to conceal her knowledge of the map. The investigation into his conduct was ongoing, but he had apparently been contacted by Michael Ozawa when the Terrans first invaded New Geneva. The defense minister wanted to plea bargain with the Terrans, while hiding the existence of the starmap. When Adam saw that Luisa was no longer a reliable conduit of information, he arranged to have her killed, again at Michael’s contingent orders. At some point, Adam had decided to pass the map to the Terrans, but he’d never gotten the opportunity. Kayla’s assassination attempt was a last ditch effort to conceal his own involvement in the plot.