Christopher Nuttall - Ark Royal

James had to smile, remembering the notation in Ark Royal’s logbook. The engineers had noted, afterwards, that the population seemed to have deliberately sabotaged their own asteroid, although no one had been able to figure out why. Some asteroids held settlements with really strange principles, including a handful who enjoyed taking risks with the life support. The discovery of the Puller Drive had sent thousands of such settlements expanding out of the solar system to places where they could enjoy true privacy.

“My grandfather ended up becoming a British citizen,” Midshipwomen Lopez added. “He also willed his remaining funds to the preservation trust for Ark Royal . When I graduated, keeping the Old Lady going seemed a worthwhile use of my time.”

“I see,” James said. It was odd, but hardly a major problem. “I trust that you enjoy serving on the ship?”

“It’s quite fascinating,” Midshipwomen Lopez assured him. “We can’t just insert components into the ship’s computers and expect them to work. We often have to rewrite the computer codes or insert bridges between two separate systems that were never intended to work together. Understanding all the different links is tricky, but…”

She shrugged, her face lighting up. “I dare say I've learned more than anyone outside engineering or computer support,” she added. “And we have kept the Old Lady ready for action.”

“Or close to it,” James agreed. He looked down at the reports on his desk. It would be another week before Ark Royal was truly ready for deployment — or as close to it as he expected they would ever become — but the crew had done an excellent job. “Thank you for coming. I have no doubt I will have more tasks for you in a few hours.”

Midshipwomen Lopez rose to her feet. “Thank you, sir,” she said. “I’m due in Engineering in twenty minutes.”

“Go grab a mug of coffee,” James said, absently. He paused as a thought occurred to him. “Was your grandfather the driving force behind the preservation society?”

“No, just one of them,” Midshipwomen Lopez assured him.

James smiled as she left the compartment, remembering what he’d been told when he’d first realised that Ark Royal might be reactivated. There was a pressure group dedicated to keeping the Old Lady in service, even if she was just in the reserves. Why not? She was hardly the only starship to merit being kept alive. And besides, with the sudden desperate need for hulls, the Royal Navy might have good cause to be relieved they’d kept her.

Shaking his head, he picked up the terminal and went back to work.

Ted had to smile when he walked into Briefing Room A, followed closely by Commander Fitzwilliam. The boxes of spare parts had been removed from the compartment and stowed away in disused cabins, allowing his senior officers to take their seats without having to worry about being careful where they sat. Midshipwomen Lopez had even managed to scrounge up some replacement chairs, although they weren't marked with Ark Royal’s crest.

“Be seated,” he ordered, shortly. “We seem to have met our deadline.”

His senior crew exchanged nods. They’d worked frantically for over a month to get Ark Royal ready for service, a month during which there had been no further alien contact. Ted had heard that the unified defence command was talking about sending scoutships back to the attacked systems, just to see what was happening there, but as far as he knew nothing had actually come of the proposals. All he could really do was wait to see what happened, just like the civilians on Earth. Thankfully, the panic had slowly faded away as further attacks failed to materialise.

“We could still do with additional training,” Wing Commander Schneider said. The CAG leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “The fighter wings have a very inconsistent level of practice, I’m afraid.”

“Keep working on it,” Ted ordered, dryly. He understood Schneider’s problem, but they needed to start thinking about deployment. “We may be asked to leave at any moment.”

“Which leads to an important question,” Farley said. “Where are they?”

Ted scowled. The aliens had hit their first target over six weeks ago. By now, they should have been reaching Earth… or at least feeling their way into the heart of human space. But instead they seemed to be doing nothing, nothing at all. It made no sense. What sort of mindset would start a war, a war that had come as a complete surprise to its target, and then hold off long enough for the target to get over its shock and mobilise? Even the endless political debate over command and control was drawing to an end.

He looked up at the holographic starchart, thinking hard. The unified defence command had concluded that New Russia was the next target for the alien invaders. Fortunately, it had a growing industrial base, as well as a deeply nationalistic population that would resist when — if — the aliens tried to land. By now, twelve carriers and over a hundred smaller ships — the largest fleet humanity had ever deployed outside the Sol System — were based there, ready to meet the aliens when they arrived. But so far the aliens hadn't shown their hand.

“They may not agree with our thoughts on how to fight a war,” Ted observed, finally. Who knew how aliens thought? For all they knew, the aliens hadn't realised they were facing an interstellar power. And yet… surely they would have known from studying the remains of the destroyed colonies. “Or maybe their drive systems are inferior to our own.”

The starchart shimmered at his command, showing the known gravitational tramlines running between the targeted worlds and New Russia. Unless the alien systems were far inferior to humanity’s systems, they should have been at New Russia within a week, hard on the heels of news of their arrival. It just didn't make sense.

“Or maybe they think they’ve bit off more than they can chew,” Fitzwilliam offered. “The massed might of humanity is hard to bet against, isn't it?”

Ted shrugged. Interstellar carriers were an expensive investment, but once the industrial base for building them had been completed the costs tended to fall. There was no reason why the aliens couldn’t have ten carriers for every one of humanity’s — or far more. He gritted his teeth, wishing — yet again — that they knew something about their foe. All they really knew for sure was that the aliens were hostile.

“That isn't our concern,” he said, finally. “Unless anyone has any strong objections, I intend to inform the Admiralty that Ark Royal will be ready for deployment at the end of the week.”

No one objected, although he saw a handful of concerned expressions. He couldn't really blame them. Ark Royal had been sitting in the reserves for so long that she might well have problems that wouldn't become apparent until she was fully powered up. But the sooner they found out, the sooner such problems could be overcome.

Farley smiled. “Has there been any word on deployments?”

“Nothing so far,” Ted said. “We may be assigned to the unified defence fleet — or we may find ourselves assigned to serve as an independent raider and head behind enemy lines.”

“That would be interesting,” Fitzwilliam observed. “But we don’t know where to go.”

“We’ll find out,” Ted assured him. “The scouts are already searching for enemy territory.”

He looked back at the starchart. Assuming that humanity’s sphere of expansion had brushed against alien territory — and assuming that the aliens had similar requirements to humanity — there were several dozen G2 stars that might possess alien-settled worlds. The scouts would still take months to sort through them, hunting for potential targets. And some of them might not come back.