Free Alicia Jones 3: New Frontier by D. L. Harrison Page A

ground on Earth and waiting for
word to take off.  Apparently they were waiting with baited breath. 
Even worse, nationalism was resurging, rather than coming together when there
was an alien threat, the old competition to beat out and become the front
leading country was resurging.  Kind of like the race to the moon,
everyone wanted to be the first to start a colony.
    I’d say it was a human thing, but hadn’t I just raced out
here to take my own look?
    There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with that,
competition is the reason we advance so quickly, as opposed to the more sedate
races of humanoid live out in the galaxy.  However, it could be a problem
at this stage, we should be working together to reach out, and defend from
other races, even if those other enemies were a little shadowy right now.
    I wasn’t worried war would break out on Earth or anything,
but I was worried the USFS could lose their mandate, if enough people demanded
change things may break down again.  The last thing Earth needed to do is
have seven plus space navies roaming the stars, anything they did would be
reflected back on Earth.  It was the one place we had to present a
united front, and I hoped I was worrying about nothing. 
Overreacting.  I guess I’d find out.
     
    The planet checked out.  I also read the report I was
about to submit, with Sergei’s report appended.  It not only described the
planet, it also had the information the VP had asked for.  It turned out
to be more than one person.  At least three hundred people had called
someone, family, friends, etc …  None of them had
called the press directly, so I didn’t append any of the names or arrest
anyone.  After having time to think about it, I realized it wasn’t their
fault.
    There was nothing from the board to say the scanning data
was top secret, but then it probably should have been, which means it was down
to a failure of communication, from the top.  I couldn’t tell them it was
their fault, and I would only admit to partial fault.  I should have
thought about it myself, but in truth, it never occurred to me.  I did
make some recommendations now, for them to send out official orders that discoveries
through the stealth sensor net be classified until they could be reviewed.
    I’d have been happy to do it myself, to my vice admirals on
down, but it really needed to come from them.  However, thanks to the VPs
call, I did send out orders to classify any information gathered on the planet
until it could be reviewed and disseminated by the board.  Sure, it was
closing the airlock after the air was gone, but it would prevent it from
getting worse.
    I sighed, wondering if I’d have a job this time tomorrow,
because I was sure the board would never admit they’d messed up to the various
world leaders, and that meant they needed a scapegoat.  I ordered Al to
send it anyway, what else could I do?  The one thing I wouldn’t do is
order any of my people locked up for violating orders that didn’t exist outside
of the vice president’s imagination.
    Strangely, the idea of upgrading shields popped into my
mind.  Maybe the board would say no to that one, or for all I knew all the
upgrades Kristi and I had come up with would be shot down.  But in a weird
way, advancing science was what I lived for, and for me it was a lot like
comfort food would be.  Sure, I was a beautiful young woman, but I was
undoubtedly a huge geek.
    “Al, access the double shields file and implement two more
levels on the test lab ship.  I want to see what the gains are in shield
strength with double and triple shielding.”
    I shrugged to myself, even if the board wouldn’t buy it,
that doesn’t mean I couldn’t put it on my personal ships.  It might even
improve things with the old fusion reactors powering it, although it would
almost double the cost of each missile, even I flinched at that.  Still,
the ships that held actual people, it was hard to put a price tag on