The Eden War - Book 3 of Re-Forge

Ultimate Power

Matt was woken gently by the SP2 avatar, and he rose out of bed carefully, so as not to disturb Sharon. When he reached his lounge area of his apartment, SP2 stopped and said: "There might be trouble, Admiral. The enemy has become active since this fleet left the sun for Jupiter. The SPs believe they may be excited to see that Eden has become bigger than most of their mother ships."

"Again, this is something they would not be able to comprehend from their history of Eden. She is the eternal ship, and she has never changed in her entire history. They know that something amazing and unpredictable is happening in this system, and our advice is that they will not wait too much longer to act."

Matt asked: "How many motherships are out there now, SP2?"

SP2 replied: "More than thirty thousand. Sir, when we take into consideration the sheer power of weaponry being deployed; the inner system will become uninhabitable in the event of all-out war. The probability of destruction is more than ninety-nine per cent. Our own destructive force will be potent enough to destroy the system with hundreds of thousands of asteroids and battle debris spinning off in all directions. The possible result will be extinction level events for all inner planets.

Matt said: "We are lucky that we have our homes on our backs. We just need a little more time. We already agreed that there will be no more running for humankind. How long until Lunar is ready to launch?"

SP2 said: "The forecast is less than five months, Admiral."

Matt considered this alongside his ever-changing long-term strategy then said: "Well, the lunar colony faces toward Earth, so the chance of it being hit by a wayward asteroid within five months is pretty slim. The Earth will absorb most of the damage and that won't change anything for us. I believe most of the asteroids are further away than a five-month trip anyway. I'm still okay with it, SP2. Proceed unchanged to Jupiter. Our future lies before us, not behind."

SP2 said: "Yes, Sir." It dipped as it hovered and then left Matt's apartment.

Matt thought: "SP2 really loves the personal approach as it hardly ever uses its ship voice. It truly behaves like a bio-human since becoming a mobile entity. I think maybe all our SPs that interact with bio-humans, are becoming like us in their everyday behaviour. I don't even think in terms of them and us. It's just us. What an amazing revelation; I guess this thinking was destined to happen." Matt looked at his watch and headed back to bed and dropped off to sleep immediately.

Three weeks later, the lunar fleet arrived in Jupiter orbit. Matt and Sharon were in Matt's duty office preparing for a busy day. Sharon noticed that Matt was on edge all morning. Finally, he said: "Sharon, I'm sorry, but I'm feeling a bit off this morning, and I have a rather uncomfortable feeling of Déjà vu. I'm not sure what to do with it. I can't believe the enemy hasn't attacked yet."

"What the hell could they be doing out there? They have increased their number to almost forty thousand ships in the last three weeks, we are totally hemmed in. I hate to admit it, but it's affecting me, and I'm busting blood vessels in my mind wondering if we can do extra to be ready when they attack. I don't feel my usual self. I'm actually worried."

Sharon was amazed that the 'unflappable' Matt Black was admitting worry to her. She thought: "He was always too self-assured and worried about upsetting me to share things he thinks will upset me. This has become the most important day for me in, ...Well, just forever. My man finally wants to confide in me."

"It's taken him a century, and I was beginning to think he would never open-up to me." For a moment, Sharon floundered but then thought: "If I don't give him support now, he will most likely never show that side of himself to me again."