The Star Gazer moved above the Ra’a’zani base in the asteroid belt, on the dwarf planet Ceres. Jacob felt the tears on his cheeks, but did nothing to stop them. The had won, the Earth was free, the asteroid belt was free, and there were no more Ra’a’zani warships in the Solar system. The Ra’a’zani cargo ships were on their way out of the system, going back to the Ra’a’zani space. He felt a touch of fear for the way that the single Ra’a’zani warship fought against the Olympus fleet, but his happiness and relief were too much for it to worry him now. The rest of his bridge crew were jumping around, hugging and kissing. Finally, they were free. Glancing at the screen in front of him, Jacob saw the two Olympus ships almost reach the belt. Getting his elation under control, he contacted the Earth.
Anissa Novak sat in the CIC of the submarine Lord, crying. Her crew too was displaying their happiness in various ways. Some cried like she did, other were screaming at the top of their lungs, but all were elated. She got herself under control just as the FTL comm officer approached her, telling her that there was a communication for her. She walked over, sat at the comm station and accepted the communication. The first thing she heard was, “We did it.” Jacob said. And Anissa, her voice shaking responded, “Yes, we did.”
The mood on the dreadnought Monarch was somber, Johanna was in torment. She had lost most of her command. Her remaining ships were wrecks, Sovereign was spinning slowly, its drives were blown off, it would never again move under its own power. The light cruiser Ajax had its entire front section disfigured, but it could move. The rest were all lost, with their entire crews. The light cruisers – Viper, Independence and Rogue, heavy cruisers – Sword, Tempest and Unity, battleship Claymore. All lost, under her command. She was in shock, the Ra’a’zani ship had almost destroyed them all. Not knowing what else to do, she ordered the rescue operations for the Sovereign, its crew would need to be transferred to the Monarch.
Chapter Thirty
Aileen was woken by the light of dawn, getting up from the small cot she slept on. The room around her was filled with people, some were sleeping on many cots placed in the room, other were talking softly. Aileen exited the room, and then the building. Outside people in armored suits stood around hugging and slapping each other on the shoulders, they were clearly celebrating. Aileen spotted the Father standing amongst them, she made her way to him. He noticed her and pulled her into a hug.
“We won, oh thank God we won.” He was saying.
“What happened?” She asked.
“We’ve won child. The Olympus fleet had defeated the Ra’a’zani warship, and our people had taken the ground. We are free.” He said. Aileen looked at him blankly, she didn’t know what being free meant. She was about to ask him, what that meant, when she felt the ground shake. It was not like the shaking last night, when the Resistance destroyed the base. No, this seemed to be somehow deeper, primal.
“Father?” Aileen asked hesitantly.
He looked at her, and she saw fear in his eyes. Then a roaring sound blast reached them, and there in the distance to the south, Aileen saw a huge mushroom of gray/black smoke rising from the earth.
“I am detecting a lot of seismic activity from the ocean bed.” Anissa heard her sensor officer say.
“An earthquake?” Anissa asked.
“It looks like it, but it is rising in intensity steadily.”
Anissa looked at her crew and said, “Get us to the surface.”
“Jacob! We are getting distress calls from the Earth!” Tamara yelled out, cutting in the celebration.
“Where from? Did some of the assaults fail?” Jacob asked.
“No, there are reports of… Earthquakes and volcanoes erupting.” She said, and slowly fear started to seep into her face.
“Where?” Jacob asked.
“All over the planet.” Tamara said.
“Contact Olympus.”
Monarch’s shuttles have just returned carrying the last survivors from the Sovereign, when they got a communication from the Resistance. Johanna listened to the message, and felt paralyzing fear. She immediately ordered both her remaining ships to Earth. In a couple of minutes they reached the visual range of Earth. Johanna ordered the viewer turned on. The first thing she noticed was the visual state of the Monarch, the missing right axe-head gave the ship a lopsided look, and the rest of the ship was filled with scars, mangled, twisted. But what truly chilled her blood was the sight past her ship. All across the Earth’s surface she saw enormous globes of smoke and ash, volcanos were preparing to erupt everywhere, some already did, she saw the southern hemisphere of the planet glowing red.
“What is happening?” Johanna asked.
“I’m detecting massive tectonic shifts, Fleet Master. And volcanic activity across the planet.” The Sensor Handler said.
“Why now? What happened?” Johanna demanded. The Sensor Officer worked furiously,
“I-I don’t know, Fleet Commander.”
Remembering Johanna, reached with her imp to the record of the battle, she found the trajectory of the object that exited the Ra’a’zani ship during battle. She saw it had been on the way to Earth.
“Fleet Commander! We need to warn the people on the ground, there are massive tsunamis headed for the land!” The Sensor Officer called out.
“Where are they headed?” Johanna asked.
“Everywhere! They’ll hit in a few hours.”
Johanna felt her face drain of blood.
“Contact the Resistance warn them to get to the higher ground.” Johanna said to the Comm Handler, then turned back to the Sensor Handler, “What will be the impact of this? I need to know everything.”
Sensor Handler swallowed hard, she looked down at her screen then back up, she opened her mouth and then closed it, she tried again but still no sound came out. Then Turiel’s voice sounded in the CC.
“Fleet Commander, I have studied the data that your ship collected, and coupled with the communications that the Star Gazer got from the first hand reports, I believe that I can answer your question.” Turiel said.
“Go ahead.”
“All of the currently active volcanoes on Earth had erupted at nearly the same time, and most of the dormant ones are preparing to erupt. According to the Star Gazer, the super volcano Yellowstone had erupted on the North American continent, it is on the other side of the Earth, further confirming that this calamity is global. The Earth’s tectonic plates are shifting, causing massive earthquakes below the oceans, which in turn caused massive tsunamis. Every coast on the planet will be hit within hours. And this will not stop soon, according to my calculations, whatever has happened will continue for decades, if not more. The smoke and ash from the volcanic eruptions will block out the sun within weeks. And by the end of the one month period, super storms will wreak havoc across the planet, and Earth will stop being able to support life. Fleet Commander, I am afraid that this was intentional. The most likely answer is that it was the Ra’a’zani that caused this. People on Earth will not survive.”