Free Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens by T. Jackson King

She blinked black eyes. “Looks like we’re going to have a good three months before the enemy arrives. We should have more space-going subs up and ready to fight by then.”
    Bill turned away from his Weapons holo graphic to focus on the three homebound captains. Janice’s news surprised him. When the Blue Sky and its original fleet prepared to leave Earth, his wife had reclaimed one of the two Magfield spacedrive engines they’d given the Navy so it could put two battle subs in space. The USS Louisiana had lost her space-going ability as a result. He doubted American industry had been able to gear up and begin producing Magfield engines from the specs Jane had shared with the JCS. It had been only a week since they’d left the Solar system.
    “Oh,” said Jane, her tone puzzled. “Where are the Magfield engines coming from?”
    Janice looked like the cat who had caught all the mice. She smiled, even surprising Bill, who had never seen the woman SEAL smile at anything. “From the transports of our three ships. There are three per ship. That makes nine Magfield spacedrives we’ve delivered to Norfolk. They’re in the process of being mounted inside nine of America’s Trident subs. Those subs are also getting topside railguns and the mounting of transport ship nose lasers. They’ll be ready before the enemy fleet arrives.”
    Bill liked the innovative action taken by the three ship captains they’d left behind. “Janice,” he called. “Those subs will be more powerful than a transport outfitted with a single nose laser and belly missile launcher. I assume the subs will be carrying their full load of Trident II D5 ICBMs?”
    Jane glanced his way, looking irritated by his interruption of her consultation with the three local Collector ships. She frowned. “Janice, will the Tridents have a full ICBM loadout?”
    “They will,” the stocky, muscular woman said.
    “Good to hear,” Jane said. “We will have you captains over for dinner on the Blue Sky after we arrive in orbit. Sharon Richardson, wife of our former CNO, has become our social hostess and a fine chef.” His wife’s posture looked relaxed now, after the stress of being on stage before the Air Force general appointed by the president to command all spaceborne activities. “We also have some exotic Slinkeroo wine that packs a nice wallop. Until we arrive. Blue Sky signing off.”
    The holo images of the three captains vanished, leaving only the thoughtful image of Colonel Minetowa. He smiled. “Captain Yamaguchi, any chance you can drop off a bottle of that Alien booze, before you head in-system?”
    Jane chuckled. “Of course we can. We traded for fifty bottles of the stuff. Our new alliance members were happy to trade, once they got a taste of our Tuborg and Heineken beer. One bottle of beer for one bottle of mejian wine.” She looked over at Bill, a twinkle in her eyes. “My XO handles miscellaneous duties. He’ll deliver the bottle of wine in person.”
    Minetowa looked surprised, then happy. “Of course! We are happy to welcome any visitor to our little base.”
    “Good,” Jane said, her tone going formal. “ Blue Sky out.”
    The comlink holo lost the image of the Pluto commander. In its place came the image of Jane. Who looked ahead.
    “Engines Chief, make one-tenth lightspeed for Pluto. I wish to get there quickly, then head inward to Earth. I suspect we are all eager to see a living world, before we again head out into the Great Beyond.”
    “Magfield engines moving to full power,” hissed Time Marker.
    Bill sat back in his seat, his peripheral vision taking in the system graphic data on his left and his weapons status indicators on the holo in front of him. On his left Chester kept busy with something on his Negotiator’s control pillar. Perhaps the man was reviewing the text of the diplo-talk that made up the written mutual defense agreement the man had signed with the Prime Elder. No doubt the text had swiped large sections