Gerard Mouille took off his dress uniform and hung it loosely in the wardrobe. The 224th memorial was no different to the last twenty five he had attended but it always brought back the realisation of what it was they were doing. Defending Earth. Mind you who on earth planned this exercise right on the 26th of November, Memorial Day? He shook his head. What had his colonel said? The Mecoid may very well return on memorial day, why not have an exercise on this day?

  They were just over a hundred light years from earth and one million kilometres from the wormhole. A wormhole that despite the trillions of euros invested in the project, no one could open. In all fairness after the cataclysmic events of November the 26th 2250, the human race had come a long way. There was no doubt in Gerard’s mind that mankind had looked death in the face and walked away.

  Over a billion dead in the three-week occupation and by all accounts another billion in the ensuring years after the aliens had simply left. A further half a billion were taken away in giant ships to some unknown part of the galaxy. But they had survived, more then that the human race had thrived. The alien ships that had been abandoned had been stripped down and reversed engineered, the very few aliens that had been captured alive had even proved accommodating with their technology.

  Gerard’s great, great, grandfather had been on one of the first galaxy cruisers, the ship imploded when it’s hyper drive ignited. It took thirty years to get that one right and then they had reached the Hole. The wormhole the aliens had erupted from. Even now Gerard’s mind reeled as he tried to comprehend the physics behind the concept. To date none of the world’s greatest minds could not find a way to open it. Not that he was in the camp that thought opening it was a good idea. But if they could open it then they might be able to close it also.

  So here the greatest armada the human race had ever created sat one million kilometres away just waiting on the off chance the aliens came back. He ran his fingers through his slightly greying hair, if they did come back, would earth’s technology jump be enough to hold them back? As Commander of the line that was his job to find out if the event ever presented itself. Its what made this exercises important.

  Gerard was keen to get back to the Mission Room and see how his fleet was going against R&D’s latest creation, the Resolute. He would love to get one over R&D, he always had the feeling that they never played fairly. This one was also different, the cost of the Karajini project was rumoured to be the most expensive development of any ship ever produced. Ever. He felt the cost of development of the ship was simply too high, regardless of how successful these trials would be. Particularly with the recession and the restive colonial planets. The Mecoids were not coming any time soon, the real enemies today were far too human.

  Beep, beep. The sound seemed to echo through his head. The military spec internal coms tended to have some nasty side effects.

  “Mouille.” Gerard answered.

  “Admiral Sir, you had better come the command centre, it appears we have activity at the hole.”

  “One minute.” Gerard sighed and stepped out of his cabin and walked the relative short distance the nerve centre of his command. “What do we have lieutenant.” This was not an uncommon event. The hole would often spike a probe, murmurs of low gravity, background radio noise or flashes of radioactivity. Each one of these events was taken as the highest priority on the off chance they could shed some light on how the hole functioned.

  “We just lost a probe.” Lieutenant Yursenko looked around. Then he indicated up at the huge laser screen above them. That grabbed Gerard’s interest, they had only ever lost one probe before and that was long before his time.

  The command centre extended thirty metres out in a hexagonal shape over two levels, a huge 3D laser hologram took up the centre of the room with virtual screens surrounding the walls. At least twenty people inhabited the CC at all times. From here he could view every vessel within five million kilometres, it was the most advanced of its type outside Earth’s Solar system. Each wall was covered in high detail graphics that could pulled down, moulded and filtered within a second.

  “This one’s different though Sir.” It was Colonel Wu, the shift XO.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “How so?” Gerard pushed his lips together.

  “We have just received an alert.” Wu answered. “No, a distress call!”

  “Oh hell, we have lost a sub.” The call came from the front.

  “Main screen.” Wu called up as she quickly turned to face the hologram, her face almost blank in surprise. The silence was absorbing in the CC as they watched the Karajini class sub folded up upon itself as it tried to fire its hot fusion engines and then simply disappear into nothingness.

  “Alert one, get me the New York, Beijing, Sparta and Intrepid on the main and order a ten thousand kilometre parameter and order five shadows to recon the area. I also want five helix probes shot into that area now!” Wu did not hesitate as she reacted to years of training. The CC came alive.

  “Tell me that was not the Resolute.” Gerard griped the rail.

  “Sorry sir.” Wu nodded. “Looks like the Sparta is going to pull clear though.”

  “Get George on line now.” Gerard simply said coolly. “I also want the New York and her ready fleet to turn towards the hole at full speed.”

  “Patching now.”

  “Admiral, good to see you, we were in a spot of trouble but coming through.” There was a slight delay and the link was static. George was a salt of the earth kind of man, he had been the grainiest captain in the fleet before taking up his appointment at UNFSA, a man who actually remembered how to run a ship. As senior training officer of the fleet, he had evaluated half of the commands in Gerard’s fleet. Most of all, he was a personal friend. None of this made Gerard’s next order any easier.

  “Understood George, the Resolute has gone in, we can not afford that sub to fall into Mecoid hands, enter the hole, if it is damaged, destroy it and then if you can get home, do so, good luck old friend.” Gerard knew as he spoke he was sending them to their deaths, it was the hardest order he had ever given his life.

  “Copy that admiral, see you soon.” Came the static response.

  George looked around his bridge, they all heard the order and knew what it meant. This was a one-way mission and so after 224 years, humans were finally entering the wormhole.

  “Sorry people, Tommy, cut the engines and brace for impact.” George slumped back into his seat. “My God protect us in hell.” The old sea dog was going out to sea one last time. He could imagine the old boys and girls back at HQ saying this is how he would want to go out. That wouldn’t be too far from the truth, but he had his family, his precious wife back home to consider. For now he had this young inexperienced crew and a training ship. He could see the ship start to turn on the main screen and although they physically couldn’t see the hole, they could feel it. He fastened his belt and took a deep breath. “Ah hell it wouldn’t be much fun it was going to be easy.” George said to himself just as much to anyone else.

  “No response from the Sparta, lost her as well.” There was another pause. “The New York is now turning.”

  “No activity at the hole now.” Yursenko reported, as he looked up shrugged his shoulders in almost despair.

  “Get me Dr Karl please.” Gerard now tapped his lip.

  “Sir, shall we go and look for them?” Wu as at a loss, Gerard could see the sweat running down her neck, the whole CC had taken on an eerie silence. Was this the beginning or the end?

  “Hold,” Gerard struggled to comprehend the loss. A multi trillion euro, 32,000 tonne sub with 112 lives and 250 billion euro frigate with 130 lives. Gerard breathed out. It had taken only moments and thirty years of preparing had come down to nothing. How was he going to explain the loss of the experimental sub? It was the kind of loss you explained with your resignation.

  “Send hyper-report to Earth. Significant wormhole event, loss of one Karajini class vessel Resolute and one classical class frigate Sparta. Presumed lost with all hands, chance of recovery, unlikely. Sparta ordered to follow into wormhole and given further orders to destroy the Resolute. Both vessels moved to long term loss register.” Gerard rubbed his forehead, it was going to be a long day after all. It would be weeks before he would receive a reply.

  “Someone get me Zhou up here now.” Gerard slammed his palm into the rail. “Raise the fleet awareness to high active, cancel the exercise. Have the New York ready positioned at the hole and send a fleet wide com, I want every group commander in my ready room by twelve hundred hours today. Dam it, have patched me into the New York!?”

  “On now.”

  “Moving into position now sir.” Commodore Charles Flintoff came through.

  “If that hole opens Charles, you take your fleet through it, you here me. Find that sub and destroy it. Stay there and do not move.” Gerard ordered, the frustration clearly in his voice.

  “I understand sir.” Flintoff looked back, find the sub? What the hell did the admiral think he had been doing for the last twenty hours? Did he think the Mecoids were going to have a better of job of it?