Our Darkest Hour

For our homes, family country and our God, for freedom, honor and glory, these things sound good on a recruitment poster or a commercial, but in the end, none of these things matter very much. You may put the uniform on for any of these or a thousand other reasons, but in the end, where metal meets the meat, what it boils down to is survival. Armies mobilize for many reasons, but when to opposing soldiers meet in battle, they do not think of all the political ideals and propaganda that brought them to this confrontation, the only thing on their minds is, “how do I kill him, before he kills me?” Like a ton of bricks this realization came to Major James Davenport. As a small boy growing up in a small cow town in central Arizona, he played war because that was what all children do at one time or another. One Saturday morning he stormed the beaches of Normandy, by Noon the same day, he was in a desperate fight for survival, holding the Alamo. Killed or wounded more times than he could remember, he always managed to fight on against unthinkable odds to ultimate victory, because that is how little boys think. As a young man of 18, fresh out of high school, he enlisted in the military, because that was expected of him. Every man in his family is either former military, or currently serving in the armed forces. So there was just absolutely never any doubt where his destiny lay. By his 20th birthday, he was on the fast track up the chain of command, and given special appointment to Officer Candidate School, flight school, and astronaut training. By 23 he was considered to be worthy to be counted among the top 2% of all aviators. Assigned to N.A.S.A., it was only a question of experience before he would be granted his own command.

By the time young Davenport actually made it to the Star Fleet, the war between Earth and it’s nearest inter galactic neighbor Alpha-Centari had been raging for nearly five years. A closely guarded secret, so closely guarded was this war, that very few Americans, including the sitting President, even knew about it or that the United States Government had more than two space shuttles, and even fewer knew that these unclaimed shuttles were in fact warships, with faster than light capabilities. In fact, in cooperation with other countries, NASA had managed to build over one hundred armed Columbia class cruisers, which were of the approximate size of the well known space shuttles of the 1980’s. Five thousand single and dual seat fighter/interceptor class ships, which were equipped for both inner and outer atmospheric flight capabilities. And fifty base ships, each base ship capable of being totally independent of Earth for 20 years. Because of the level of  secrecy surrounding the Star Fleet, it was no surprise that many families of the brightest and best pilots the United States had to offer received official notice that their loved ones were killed in training miss-haps, or missing in action. Because of the political extremism in the United States, and that the United states space program was second to none, The fact that yet someone else, from another world wanted to kill Americans, and that we somehow managed to make an enemy light years away, while terrorists ran ramped on our own planet, had to be kept secret. If just one unconfirmed story got out about what was actually going on, NASA’s wings would be clipped, and Earth would be totally defenseless. But, none of that really mattered, since the level of technology needed to subdue this new enemy was not even in the developmental stages yet, and for the most part, we were depending on conventional and nuclear weapons to wage a war, in which we were outmanned and out gunned. Not to mention the fact the weapons and supplies were in limited supply, it was only a matter of time before the fleet bearing the insignia of Alpha-Centari would show up in orbit of the Earth. Once this happened, all hope would be lost. All civilizations of Earth would be destroyed.

Alpha-Centari was a dying planet and they knew it, and they had nothing to loose. This realization also hit the now 30 year old Major, who was frantically trying to repair his battle damaged fighter/interceptor. He knew he had been to close to ground zero when he triggered the launch of his final nuke, but the enemy ship had to be stopped before reaching his own base ship. His mother ship was crippled in the battle, and the nearest support was at least 2 weeks away. His mother ship had to escape to fight another day, even though it meant his own life. All he wanted to do now was to take as many enemies with him to the grave as possible. He got his chance. The enemy commander saw his crippled fighter on the scanner. Immediately he ordered an intercept course, and radioed the young pilot to surrender. All Major Davenport could do in response was to fire his maneuvering thrusters, and angle toward the behemoth battle cruiser. The Captain, on his first command himself, made the fatal mistake of misunderstanding this for compliance, and ordered his defenses lowered. Totally flabbergasted, young Davenport poured everything he had into his engines, and headed directly for the enemy bridge. Alpha-Centari may be advanced by our standards, but no one said they were smart. Directly under the bridge were the ship’s fuel stores. To late the enemy captain realized his mistake, as the resulting fire ball engulfed his bridge, and ignited the fuel stored one deck down. Just like that, a battle which lasted hours was over, and the Earth ship limped off for much needed repairs.

For many years Alpha-Centari had tried to make contact with humans and even tried to co-exist with out detection. In every instance fear prevailed over reasoning, and when discovered the visitors from another planet were killed, or worse by governments who wanted nothing more than to think that humans were the most technologically advanced society in the universe. The many alien abduction cases around the world, so rapidly dismissed by the World’s media and Governments were in fact two fold. At first it started in retaliation to the ruthless way humans treated the Alpha-Centarians. By the end of the 1990’s, it was to rescue those citizens of Earth who were deemed necessary to Alpha-Centari’s conquest of Earth, and those who would live in peace beside the invaders. The Aplha-Centarians, a peace loving being, turned to war, after every effort failed to make peace, and be allowed to colonize a small corner of earth. In fact, the part of Earth they wanted to colonize was the Polar Ice Caps, since those territories were basically left untamed by the current residences, and closely resembled there own habitat. But, they new that they would have to interact with the rest of Earth, if it was going to go well for them.

100 days had passed since, Alpha-Centari’s moon, which was threatening the doomed planet for close to a century, finally broke free of its orbit, and proceeded on a collision course for Alpha-Centari. The moon’s deteriorating orbit had prompted Alpha-Centari to seek a new home. The killing of its citizens prompted military actions. The moon finally braking away from its orbit prompted Alpha-Centari’s forces to act with such furry and ruthlessness that Earth’s only hope of defense was effectively neutralized in a matter of about 4 months. Now they were a desperate people, and forced to act. In less than 5 years, Alpha-Centari would cease to exist, and all life remaining on the doomed planet would die. Earth would become the new home for those residents of Alpha-Centari. In order for that to happen, the current powers had to be neutralized. There was just no other way. The human Star Fleet put up a valiant effort, but in the end, it would fall before the vastly superior ships of the larger fleet, and Earth would be colonized, according to Alpha-Centari’s leaders. In the 5 years of war, Alpha-Centarian forces have dealt crippling blows to the humans. Earth’s remaining forces were reduced to two base ships, one now crippled. 10 Columbia class cruiser, and just over 500 fighter/interceptors. Earth was doomed!

Meanwhile, aboard the international Space Station, and the current head quarters of the Star fleet, the commanding General of the Star Fleet prepared a brief. It had not been his desire to go to war with Alpha-Centari. In fact just the opposite, he had tried to avoid the conflict, almost costing him his own life. Now it was time, the American president had to be briefed. He had never quit reaching for the peaceful solution, but until now, he would have been counted a mad man. If Earth was going to survive, two things had to happen, and happen fast. First weapons and ships had to be created, and forces trained. Weapons so powerful to call them weapons of mass destruction would be a gross understatement. One single weapon had to be able to totally destroy a moon or a small planet. Secondly, diplomatic relations had to be established, if peace was going to be given a chance. Faced with the certain gravity of the situation, the President would have no other option but to approve his plan of destroying the moon of Alpha-Centari. A plan which would have been rejected by both sides only a few months before. Closing his brief case, he called his executive officer to his personal quarters. “Mac, I never approved of the way we handled things. Although we did follow orders, we are now all ultimately responsible, and face the consequences for our actions. Should any of us survive this, we will most likely face life in prison at best, or worse. For myself, and the rest of the senior staff involved, it will most assuredly be the death penalty, especially considering we never went all the way up the chain with this. None of that matters now. If we can not put a diplomatic mission together, and reach a peaceful solution, everything we have been fighting to protect is lost. It does no matter if the Earth is or is not ready to admit what is really going on out here, they will be just as dead.” That being said, he went to the launch deck, boarded his personal shuttle to reveal the truth to a nation and a world that was not prepared or willing to accept what was happening. He left his command never to return, to warn a public that would chastise and punish him, have him declared mentally incompetent and committed to a facility for the criminally insane for the rest of his natural life. His career was effectively terminated, as were the careers of all who served with or under him. It would spark an investigation and a scandal the scope of which would make Water Gate look like a school boy’s prank…..but in the end, they would listen, they would be forced to listen, because Earth’s satellites and orbital telescopes would soon record the advance of a heavily armed Space Armada, bent on its destruction. But, by then would it really matter? He wondered to himself, as his shuttle made its way to the entry window, to set down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida



To the reader,

I grew up reading short stories from Isaac Asimov. The stories I remember most were those he left unfinished, and open to the reader’s mind to draw what ever conclusion the reader wanted. This left hours of imagination and play, trying to discover what happened next, why and how. It is because of this, I decided to leave this story unconcluded, and open. Certainly there is doom facing the Earth, can it recover in time to save itself? At this late venture in the game would a diplomatic mission finally bring a peaceful solution to a desperate people on the verge of destruction itself? Or is the human race with out hope and facing total genocide? I leave it to you, to decide the outcome of our darkest hour, and what events actually transpire from here. I hope you enjoy this story, and it stimulates your imagination.

Ralph Barnhart, Jr.