The Clone Redemption

CHAPTER TWELVE

Because of their synchronous orbits around A-361-D, the two moons always remained on opposite sides of the planet. The sun shone on the far side of the planet, its glow illuminating the back of the planet and both of its moons. The sides facing the Fleet were bathed in shadow.

Three of the Japanese Fleet’s four battleships had flown into position one hundred thousand miles from the moons. The Yamato and the Onoda hovered nearer to A-361-D/Satellite 1, the larger of the two moons, the one with the flat plain that looked like a landing field. The Kyoto patrolled A-361-D/ Satellite 2, the smaller moon.

The Sakura remained another hundred thousand miles back, far enough away for Admiral Yamashiro to watch both moons from a viewport. He sat on the observation deck with Captain Takahashi. Takahashi looked through the viewport, then returned to his computer to oversee the operation through the eyes of satellites. He was too far away to see the battleships or the transports unassisted.

“How do you think they will they react when we destroy their moons?” asked Captain Takahashi. With the other captains away, Takahashi became less formal around the admiral. Yamashiro was, after all, Takahashi’s father-in-law.

“They would have attacked us already if they had the ability,” said Yamashiro. “They must not have a navy. It’s as if they have spent so much time conquering other planets that they have forgotten how to defend their own.”

Takahashi walked to the viewport and leaned against the rail that ran beneath the glass. He stared out at A-361-D. The gas giant was a muddle of yellow and brown and orange.

Far in the background, A-361, the star from which the solar system took its name, burned like an electrified ember. Earth’s future generations, assuming Earth would have future generations, might know this as the “Avatari System,” thought Takahashi. In another hundred years, children might be required to memorize the names of the four battleships in the Japanese Fleet, the Sakura, the Onoda, the Kyoto, and the Yamato.

“What will we do if they shoot back at us?” he asked.

Yamashiro dismissed the idea. “We’ve analyzed the moons,” he said. “They pose no threat.”

The video feed from one of the satellites shadowed the Onoda. Another showed a view of seemingly empty space, that was, in fact, occupied by a stealth transport. That same satellite also had a telescopic sight on the moon, which included a very clear view of the flat area that Yamashiro’s officers now called, “the deck.” Everyone agreed that it looked like a landing field, but it could also have been the roof of a huge subterranean city or a missile-defense system. Because he did not know what lurked under that flat top, Yamashiro had sent the Yamato to back up the Onoda. On his computer screen, a satellite tracked the Yamato as it approached the larger moon, lagging twenty thousand miles behind her sister ship.

Yamashiro didn’t care about the moon or what it housed. Gathering scientific data did not interest him.

Back in his office, Yamashiro had a photograph that he had not yet shared with Takahashi or the other captains, one that made the deck on A-361-D/Satellite 1 and the little ring of buildings on A-361-D/Satellite 2 look insignificant. It was a photographic image of planet A-361-B taken by a scout satellite, and it showed a city.