“You think Petty’s people will assemble the fourth one in time?” Livia asked.

  “Our telescopes say yes. I believe a crew is already trained for it. The key to this is that Petty or his commander will take the four Orion ships to engage the aliens staying behind the Moon.”

  “How does that help the World Government?” Livia asked.

  “If Petty takes four or even five Orion ships and whatever else he can assemble to engage the aliens, he will incur losses. Likely, the aliens will take losses. That means both forces are diminished. Given past battles, I estimate that one alien ship will remain intact while a second will be severely damaged. Likely, the Orion ships will be annihilated. In such a situation, the aliens will control the far side of the Moon, edging their ground forces around to the near side, conquering it within a month.”

  “Let me ask again,” Livia said. “How does any of that help the World Government? So far, I see no great chance in that.”

  Bain nodded. “During all this, we will be manufacturing and constructing our ad-hoc fleet. This is a fleet meant to reach and fight at the Moon.”

  “Suppose your calculations are flawed?” Livia asked. “What if the aliens have two fully intact Enforcers left?”

  “Then we will have to wait and build an even greater armada,” Bain said.

  Livia shook her head, indicating that she didn’t understand.

  “Director, this is a golden opportunity for us to build a space fleet, one that launches directly from Earth’s surface. That means most of the energy and mass will be used escaping our deep gravity well.”

  “These won’t be Orion ships?”

  Bain shook his head.

  “Aren’t Orion ships the best spaceships Earth has built so far?” Livia asked.

  “Of course,” Bain said.

  “Then why aren’t we building Orion ships?” Livia demanded. “Why do you want to give our lone Orion ship away?”

  Bain stared at her.

  That made Livia angry so she began to fume.

  Bain must have understood his danger. “Ma’am, if you would allow me, I could explain this further, but it might get technical.”

  “Are you saying I won’t be able to understand technical?”

  “Of course not,” Bain said hastily, showing the first hint of fear.

  “Then explain it,” Livia said. “And it had better be good.” She did not need to add, “because your life is hanging on it.” As the threat was implied so openly that all four in the room understood it.

  -13-

  “Firstly,” Bain said, “Orion ships have several flaws for the World Government, given the present predicament. One, it would be difficult to hide the surface construction of several Orion ships. Two, the nuclear bomb fuel would do grave damage to our atmosphere if we launched very many of them. Third and finally, our industries cannot mass-produce Orion ships as we can the Phoenix spaceships.

  “However,” Bain continued, “even if we do not have the largest spaceships, if each of our ships has one railgun, or a supply of missiles, and if we put up enough of them, we can out-build everyone in and around Earth and the Moon. I also suggest we start building this fleet now, before any alien Moon projectiles take out our missile factories.”

  “You think the aliens will do this?” Livia asked.

  “That is a worst-case scenario, and as a military man…”

  Livia was glowering at him.

  Bain cleared his throat, understanding his error. “As a military officer, I take steps to contain a worst-case scenario.”

  “I understand,” Livia said, seemingly mollified.

  Bain paused before taking out another paper, unfolding it, and placing it over the other. The new blueprint showed the Guardian III missile compared to a Phoenix rocket ship approximately three times as large. The Guardian III missile was similar in size and tonnage to the fabled Saturn V rocket that sent Americans to the Moon in the 1960s.

  As Bain pointed to the blueprint, he said, “The Phoenix rocket ship stands 333 meters tall and weighs 8,400 metric tons. Its propulsion system will be a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen for its first and second stages. This choice of fuel provides the necessary thrust and efficiency to propel such a massive payload out of Earth’s gravity well and toward the Moon.

  “The core is the mobile spaceship housed within the Phoenix launch system.” Bain pointed to a much smaller craft that looked like the giant rocket’s nosecone. “The actual Phoenix will weigh 144 metric tons. It will be equipped with a high-powered railgun or six ballistic missiles. The railgun will need an onboard nuclear reactor, ensuring sustained operational capacity. The ballistic missiles provide a formidable offensive capability until they are expended.

  “In terms of personnel, the mobile spaceship will accommodate a crew of up to twelve individuals. These will be specialists trained for extended operations. The living quarters will be designed for functionality and endurance, supporting a deployment duration of up to three months. This includes all necessary life-support systems, supplies, and equipment to maintain high operational readiness throughout the mission.”

  Livia waved a hand. “Why are those dinky spaceships better than an Orion ship? The Phoenix strikes me as extremely limited.”

  “That’s true,” Bain said, “but they will allow you to wrest control of near and lunar space for the World Government.”

  “You still haven’t said why they’re better than Orion ships?”

  “For one thing,” Bain said, “our factories already mass-produce Guardian III missiles. With modifications, the factories can begin churning out the Phoenix rocket ships. Will they be the best spaceships we can make? No. But they will give us a large space force fast. If we continue to build secretly, in a year or two, we will have an armada. With auxiliary tanks pre-positioned in space, we could even extend their range.”

  Livia stared at the paper and their designs and then stared at Bain.

  “Perhaps if I ran a thought experiment,” Bain told her.

  “If you must,” Livia said, beginning to lose interest,

  “Suppose Petty loses all his Orion ships, or maybe keeps one, but it is badly damaged. Then suppose he has the one we sent him as they continue to assemble it in the space yard. That gives Petty two Orion ships. After a certain point of our massed production, we will have much greater mass.”

  “Two Orion ships are two hundred thousand tons of mass,” Livia said, frowning. “We would need over a thousand of the Phoenix spaceships to match that.”

  “We would need one thousand, three hundred and eighty-eight to be exact,” Bain said.

  “You expect to launch that many Phoenix rockets?” Livia asked, amazed.

  “Maybe not that many in the near term,” Bain said.

  “Not half that many,” Livia said.

  “Maybe three or four hundred,” Bain said. “That number would approach sixty thousand tons.”

  Livia sneered. “Then your idea is futile. Sixty thousand tons is not two hundred thousand by any stretch of the imagination.”

  “You’re right,” Bain said. “But it’s good to remember that an Orion ship is built for endurance, for battling across the Solar System. The Phoenix is built to last several weeks at most, to reach the Moon at best. That means kilogram for kilogram, the Phoenix brings much more firepower. This firepower is also spread out among many ships.”

  “I suspect destroying a Phoenix would be easy compared to destroying an Orion ship.”

  “No doubt true,” Bain said, “but also beside the point.”

  Livia eyed him, trying to decide if he was being cheeky. “Continue with your thought experiment,” she finally said.

  Bain nodded. “Given Petty has two Orion ships near Earth, we would have to create an emergency on one side of the planet so we could launch from the other. When the Orion ships maneuver onto that side, our massed Phoenix rockets will lift off into space. By the time the Orion ships return, we would have four hundred mobile spaceships firing their railguns and ballistic missiles. After a sharp space battle, the World Government would destroy the Orion ships and gain control of orbital space. We would do so by landing soldiers onto some orbital stations while obliterating the others.”

  “What if the aliens controlled the Moon?” Livia asked.

  “We would use the mobile spaceships to attack their surviving warships,” Bain said, “and annihilate them. By that time, you see, we would have produced many of the new and improved Guardian IV missiles. They will possess extended range and carry countermeasures to survive battle conditions long enough to reach their lunar objectives.”

  “The New World Conglomerate does nothing all this time?” Livia asked.

  Bain shrugged. “They’re banking on Petty supplying the needed space force. Once Petty’s Orion ships are gone, as the World Government controls near space, it will be a simple matter maneuvering rocks to drop on North and South America. In that way, you won’t have to rely upon the weak sisters of your army or submarine forces to recapture the NWC territories.”

  “You say they are weak?” Livia asked sharply.

  “I am just reiterating what you yourself have said, Director.”

  Livia frowned. “Do you think your missile force is better?”

  “I do,” Bain said. “I suggest you believe the same, Director. I would not speak to you in this manner unless you and I both knew my house was in order.”

  “You are too arrogant,” Livia said.

  Bain hunched just a little. “I hope that is not the case, Director. I am practicing humility, as I am by far the inferior person in the room.”

  Livia narrowed her gaze as she studied the obviously scheming Senior General. Still, this was the best plan she had heard in a long time. Bain had never shown any disloyalty. He had never tried to thwart any of her political schemes. He did not object to anything she had done, in private or in writing. Her intelligence services had studied him in detail because he was her best commander. It was wise not to squander someone so useful.

  “Have you started constructing these Phoenix rocket ships yet?”

  “On no account, Director. That would take an order from you. I merely outlined this in anticipation that you desire a different strategic approach than the one you’re practicing.”

  “Explain that.”

  “It appears you hope to hold onto your last islands like Greenland and Taiwan. Given the way things are moving, however, the possibility is high you will lose them.”

  “What would you do differently?”

  Bain inclined his head. “I suggest you move your best and most loyal units onto Eurasia and Africa to hold your strong points. Once you control orbital space…” Bain smiled and raised a palm upward, “then you can do as you wish because you have the high ground. I suspect many of Maria Chavez’s allies will find themselves with cold feet until she stands alone. Then, Director, you may do with her as you please.”

  Livia actually laughed, as Bain painted a rosy picture. Did he know she lusted for a space force? Now, the aliens were either going to wrest orbital space from Petty or gravely weaken him. That would allow her to surprise him. This was delicious. This was wonderful.

  “Senior General, your idea…” Livia paused and tempered her praise, “is good. How soon can you implement it?”

  “We can begin building the first Phoenix rockets in a month. It will take longer to retool some of the factories with different specifics. Once the process moves into high gear, you will soon have an expanding force. It will be a matter of secretly training pilots to fly in space, and the personnel to board the orbital stations and take them over.”

  “You think yourself capable of creating such a space force?”

  “I’m not an expert in secrecy,” Bain said. “I suspect your secret services should take control of that part of it.”

  Livia pursed her lips. It did not seem Bain was attempting to create his own power base to usurp her. That was one of the problems with her position. She always needed to beware of the competent, as they might try to undermine her and take over themselves.

  Could she have found a truly loyal servant in Senior General Bain? That was an intriguing idea. She would double the intelligence scrutiny of him and his immediate friends. If this were a plot—Bain would die in a gruesome manner. Then she would use his plan…

  “Your idea is intriguing,” Livia said. “I will explore it and give my answer in the next few days.”

  Bain dipped his head and then came to attention.

  “You have saved the rest of the senior military from decimation,” Livia said. “Go in there and give them the good news.”

  “Ma’am,” Bain said, “I will, of course, obey your order to the letter. But I think they would be much more at ease if they heard that from you.”

  That was when Livia knew she could trust Senior General Bain. However, about that, she was dead wrong.

  -14-

  John Steele tousled the towhead of his boy Cody, a sturdy three-year-old with an excess of energy. His son had been riding his back like a horsey, his little baby girl Bonnie watching with delight from the lap of her mother Dawnstar. John smiled at Dawnstar. She smiled back with troubled eyes.

  He had been home a week. In another week, he would ship out to the Daniel Boone Orion ship. The alien vessels had begun their first braking maneuvers as they passed Mars on their way to Earth. The enemy fleet was in the Inner Planets and still coming fast for Earth.

  It seemed like a lifetime ago that John had courted Dawnstar, even longer since they had been opponents in the Persian Gulf. What a time that had been. What a time it had been when he walked the outer corridors of O.S. Aphrodite hand-in-hand with Dawnstar.

  John played with his children for another few hours. He twirled ‘Ring Around the Rosie’ with Cody, who particularly loved falling down. He threw a hula hoop down the hall of their quarters, spinning the hoop. When it landed, the hoop spun in place for a moment and then came rolling back to them. Cody laughed with glee catching the hula hoop as it passed. The best was when John pretended to be a T-Rex chasing his son as he roared. He had taught Cody to turn at bay and roar back at him. Then John turned as if with fright and fled from his chasing, roaring three-year-old.

  They both loved that.

  John also walked around holding little Bonnie, rocking her in his arms. His daughter looked so much like her mother. It made John’s heart ache to think the aliens might murder his little girl. Then a huge “Hell no!” roared in his heart. John would literally do anything to keep his children safe.

  Later, when the baby and Cody were asleep with a neighbor as babysitter, John and Dawnstar walked the outer corridors of O.S. Apollo hand-in-hand.

  Dawnstar no longer looked quite so gaunt. Having two pregnancies had changed her. She was still slender, but not in the same way. The changes seemed to have surprised her the most.

  “You would think I’d miss the old life,” Dawnstar said. “You would think I’d miss all the excitement. Then I realize there isn’t a more critical job than raising these two the right way. Damn if I ever let the government get their paws on my children.”

  John loved hearing that, and he squeezed his wife’s hand.

  Dawnstar smiled at him. “Our children,” she whispered. “They’re our children. We formed them from our love. Can we protect them?”

  “Yes,” John said.

  “Have you stopped taking stupid chances all the time?” Dawnstar asked.

  John looked his wife in the eye. “No,” he said.

  Dawnstar smiled sadly. “I know. You wouldn’t be you if you did it differently. John, you must come home from this. Promise me.”

  “I promise to fight as hard as I can to protect my children and my wife—my precious family. This is all about family, love. A man isn’t a man if he doesn’t give everything he can to provide for and protect his family.”

  “That’s old-fashioned thinking,” Dawnstar said.

  “Yep,” John said. “It sure is, and you know what?”

  Dawnstar grinned at him.

  “I make absolutely no apology for it,” John said. “The old way is the best way. I’ll fight with everything in me to keep it that way.”

  “I know.”

  They continued to walk together, enjoying each other’s company. It appeared that they had each found their soulmate in each other. They loved and they protected and raised their children so the next generation could have what they had—and more.

  “If you don’t come back…” Dawnstar said later in bed. “I don’t want to live if you’re gone.”

  That hit John hard. He didn’t want to hear that. If the aliens, or if anyone, took out his family… He knew he’d go jihad against whatever had slain them. That would never bring them back. It would be best then if he died during the jihad, but not before he killed the slayers.

  The problem was that life didn’t make any promises, except maybe that there would always be problems. Had his dad felt like this when he went off in the stealth ships?

  John would be just another space marine aboard the Daniel Boone. A few cargo ships had headed for the Moon. They were building missile bases on the far side as fast as they could. There wasn’t much time left, though.

  The battle against the alien warships would soon take place. What would happen? No one knew…

  John sighed. Then he rolled over and held his wife tight. No one had promised him tomorrow. He had today and tonight, so he had better live life to the fullest and with gratitude while he could.

  John snuggled closer to his dear wife, a gift from God. It was time to enjoy Dawnstar while he could, before he went off to grim interplanetary war against the freaking aliens.

  Part IV

  The Moon Assault

  -1-

  ORBITAL EARTH

  JUNE 2074

  CEO James Petty sat in his office stinking drunk. In a little more than a month, the alien fleet was expected to reach the Earth system. The fourth Orion ship might be ready by then. Until such time, he dared not order the fleet to go to the Moon. There were a few cargo vessels flying to the Moon trying to strengthen the defenses, but it was damn little. Meanwhile, despite sending up the parts to the fifth Orion ship, Director Drusus continued her embargo against orbital space and the New World Conglomerate.