by S. H. Jucha
“Sensible,” Olawale said. “I’ll make the arrangements. I imagine we’ll be headed for the dome?”
Jess nodded, but he didn’t look excited. No one did.
-29-
The Way In
Jess retired to his cabin, and Lucia joined him. This time, they enjoyed a refresher together, tucked under the bedclothes, and fell fast asleep.
Many hours later, they met with other diners. Esteban informed them that the Trident and travelers Jess requested had been dispatched to the planet.
“Are the troops on the ground?” Lucia inquired.
“Yes, Commodore,” Esteban replied. “Planetary Defense made accommodations available for the two brassards half a planet apart, but Menous gave them orders to search instead of wait.”
“Search where?” Jess asked.
“The Commander had an idea, which we believe to be credible,” Esteban replied. “We’d estimated the presence of insectoids by species in the hot zones. This information was obtained from analyses of the citizen reports. Later hunts by the commands confirmed kill numbers of each species in those zones. In most cases, our estimates of expected reds and grays neared the number eliminated. However, in other cases, the estimates of expected reds fell statistically short of the number destroyed.”
“So, the brassards will search those areas where the commands failed to contact the estimated number of reds,” Jess supposed.
“Precisely,” Esteban replied. Then he added, “You don’t appear pleased by the concept, Captain.”
“The idea has merits, but it also has dangers,” Jess explained. “If troopers respond to a report of an attack, they can be fairly certain they will be able to overwhelm the expected number. But if they go searching for reds, they might find more than they can handle.”
“We did enumerate the weaknesses to the commander,” Esteban said. “In one example, we described a scene in which twenty troopers encountered an ambush of thirty or more Colony reds. If surprise was on the side of the insectoids, it would result in an annihilation of our forces.”
“But the commander chose to ignore those possibilities,” Lucia surmised.
“He did,” Esteban said. “Juliette and I believe the commander is angry with himself. He perceived his brassards as invincible and capable of vanquishing the enemy.”
“Now, he wants to take out his anger on the Colony,” Jess finished.
“Just so,” Esteban agreed.
“He’s not planetside though, is he?” Lucia asked.
“No. He sails with us,” Esteban said.
“Good,” Jess murmured. When Lucia regarded him in surprise, he added. “I think the squad leaders have become seasoned veterans. I don’t expect them to blunder into ambushes regardless of any orders they might have been given.”
When the humans finished their meals, the threesome made for the bridge to join the others.
Lucia linked with the controller, as they walked a corridor. “Jess, we’re overtop the dome,” she reported.
Jess shook his head in amazement, a smile on his face. “I do love the way you travel,” he commented.
“Think it’s something you’d always like to do?” Lucia ventured.
“Possibly,” Jess replied carefully. “Do you think this technology can be shared with the alliance?”
“That’s a decision for Alex,” Lucia replied.
“Why him?” Jess asked.
“Renée and he are the majority partners in Omnia Ships, the company which owns the technology to fabricate these ships’ shells and other aspects of them,” Lucia replied.
Jess stopped dead in the corridor and stared at Lucia. “Omnia Ships sells these vessels? The company has to be wealthy beyond belief.”
“In actual fact, Omnia Ships leases the technology,” Lucia replied. “The races build their own ships and pay a one-time fee for every vessel that comes online.”
“If Omnia Ships is prepared to lease the rights, why would Alex —” Jess halted in mid-sentence. He waggled a finger in the air, as the answer occurred to him, and he said, “Alex has to believe the race will be a good galactic participant.”
“Exactly,” Lucia replied, as they walked on.
On the bridge, Jess, Lucia, and Esteban watched Juliette manipulate the holo-vid. She was examining telemetry collected by the SE Trident that had been assigned overwatch.
“Every tube is still occupied by a shuttle,” Jess noted. “I expected that.”
“You can imagine how quickly the Colony spread the word about our destruction of the shuttles and our entry into the Sylian dome,” Kasie said.
“Now, when the visitors’ ships appear, there’ll be no more open tubes,” Bortoth lamented.
“We’ll simply need another entry technique,” Tacnock said. “If we allow our fearless assault commander a moment or two to think, I’m sure he’ll formulate a brilliant strategy.” The Jatouche flashed his teeth broadly at his friend.
“It might take more than a moment or two,” Jess said glumly, choosing not to respond to Tacnock’s antics. He stared at the holo-vid imagery that continually displayed details of the dome, the tunnels, and the tubes.
“I see only two ways into the dome,” Jess finally said. “Through a tube or through a tunnel.” Eyeing the SADEs, he asked, “What would happen if one of the travelers torched a shuttle while it was in the tube?”
Juliette, Esteban, and Orbit ran calculations based on the captured shuttle they’d studied at the Sylian station.
“These are crude work shuttles, Captain,” Juliette replied. “Our supposition is that shuttles will be fully fueled. Igniting them with a beam would have disastrous results. We would expect the tube to collapse. If the blast door and airlock hatches were open to allow the Colony to gain fast access to the shuttles via the gangways, the burning fuels could flood the tunnels. There would be the remote possibility of damaging the dome, in which case it would probably shut down.”
“Okay, bad idea,” Jess said. “What about a temporary airlock over one of the tunnels?”
“Jess, we can’t push troopers through an airlock and into a tunnel fast enough to put up an effective resistance against the Colony,” Lucia argued.
“I haven’t gotten to that part. Right now, I’m exploring possibilities,” Jess replied.
“Engineering has the capability of constructing such a structure,” Esteban replied. “It would require an external air supply, pumps, and power. It would take days to build and must be erected onsite.”
“Could they build more than one? Say five or six?” Jess asked.
After Esteban queried the controller’s supply list, he said, “We’ll need additional materials from the station or planet.”
“Give me a list, and I’ll ask the station director,” Menous said. “Shuttles have been sailing to the station from our home world since you eliminated the transports. Operating crews are populating it.”
“One or four access points, Jess, it doesn’t matter,” Lucia persisted. “The Colony will know where we’re planning to enter, and they’ll be waiting in force.”
“I don’t doubt that, but maybe it’s something we can use against them,” Jess pushed back.
“In the north and south plateaus of Norsitchia, there is a powerful herbivore called a radistor,” Menous said.
“An herbivore?” Bortoth scoffed, “What good would a plant eater do us?”
“It’s armored, it’s big, and it has a nasty temper,” Menous said. “The males and females mate annually. Then they separate. They can’t abide each other after the mating period is finished,” he added, chuckling.
“How do you see this working?” Tacnock asked, intrigued by the notion.
“We capture as many as the captain wants,” Menous replied. “We transport them to the airlocks, and we drop them into the tunnels.”
“It sounds easier said than done,” Sam commented.
“Admittedly, it will be a monumental task,” Menous said. “But the primary object
ion to the captain’s plan to recapture the dome has been the waiting Colony forces. Radistors released into the midst of the insectoids will create confusion. Many of the enemy will be stabbed by the horns or crushed under foot before the insectoids manage to take down just one radistor. It will give us an opportunity to enter without serious resistance.”
“Then we’d be dropping into tunnels with radistors loose,” Aputi pointed out.
“Not to worry, my large friend,” Menous said laughing. “We’d capture males. They’re the larger of the species, and we’d wear the essences of females.”
“I’m not looking to have a giant, armored herbivore trying to mate with me,” Aputi grumbled.
“It’s not the mating season for a while yet,” Menous replied. “I must admit, the female scents are unpleasant. I can assure you that neither the male radistor nor any other individual will be seeking to mate with you.”
After the laughter died down, Jess suggested they think on the plan.
The SADEs and Menous checked on the availability of materials in the station that engineering would require.
Jess lay on his bunk, thinking of the proffered plan. Something Jessie Cinders used to tell others came back to him. He’d say, “Never underestimate the brilliance and single-minded focus of the Colony, and remember that one of those attributes can be used against them.”
Jess dozed for a while, but rest wouldn’t come. He rose quickly, dressed, and sought out Tacnock, who he found chatting with Juliette.
“Jess, have you seen the imagery of the radistors?” Tacnock asked.
“Not yet,” Jess replied.
Juliette produced a portable holo-vid and projected imagery that Orbit had purloined.
“That’s quite a beast,” Jess marveled. “What’s the scale?”
Juliette added Jess’s image directly facing the enormous male radistor. As it rambled forward, she animated Jess to show him stumbling backward.
Jess laughed, and it grew in intensity, as his image stumbled, tripped, and flailed to stay ahead of the plodding herbivore.
At first, Tacnock had flashed his teeth in humor, but he regarded his friend with concern, when the laughter seemed uncontrolled.
When Jess stopped laughing, he sobered quickly. He eyed Tacnock, and said, “Good thing we won’t be using those creatures.” Then to the SADE, he added, “Juliette, I need the team and our top two engineers.”
“This way, Captains,” Juliette said, indicating the nearest grav lift.
“First of all, no radistors,” Jess said to the assembled team, “but thank you for your suggestion, Menous. I was reminded of something Captain Jessie Cinders always said, and it gave me an idea. The plan carries a great deal of risk, but I think we can count on the Colony’s unilateral thinking.”
“What’s first?” Lucia asked.
“I’ve started a list,” Jess said, tapping his temple to indicate it was a virtual one. “The SADEs will dictate the timing of the attack. We need a period of about three hours when the shuttle tubes and tunnels are in dark. Then we need to outfit every Norsitchian trooper with an environment suit.”
“The station should have the quantity we need,” Menous offered.
“Good. Procure those, please,” Jess responded. “Next, Edmas and Jodlyne, we need to build one temporary airlock over the connecting ring. It should hold half a brassard in their environment suits and with weapons.”
Lucia drew breath to object, but the look in Jess’s eyes stopped her. They had a glint that she recognized.
“We’ll also need a powerful bank of lights,” Jess continued. “It’s critical the lights are on continually.”
“We could power the lights from a traveler, if that would fit the plan, Captain,” Edmas volunteered.
“That would be perfect, Edmas,” Jess said. “Now, these details are critical. You’ll assemble the temporary airlock over the center of the connecting ring. I don’t know what it’s made of, but that’s not my concern. That’s for you to discover. The lights must be set up on the far side of the site from the dome, and they must shine on the worksite toward the dome.”
“Then the traveler lands beyond where the lights will be placed,” Jodlyne supplied.
“Precisely,” Jess said, echoing the SADEs’ preferred term.
“So, we make the Colony think we’re going to enter via the airlock,” Aputi said, “but that’s not our intention.”
Ophelia prevented a frown from crossing her face. She didn’t want to appear critical of her lieutenant.
“We will be entering via the airlock, Aputi, just not when the Colony thinks we will,” Jess corrected. “We’re going in through the tubes first.”
Jess’s remarks caused consternation, and he let the animated questions and comments roll over him. It was Olawale who called the group to order.
Olawale, Patrice, Lucia, and Ophelia hadn’t entered the fracas. As senior individuals, they tried to remain above the boisterous discussions, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have concerns.
“You’re betting on the Colony keeping their sensory organs glued on the efforts taking place overtop the connecting ring,” Olawale offered, “but that focus will shift the moment travelers hover overtop the tubes.”
“Which is why that’s not the manner by which we’ll make the first entry into the tubes,” Jess said, sitting back in his chair and smiling like a predator.
Now, Jess had the group’s attention. They were intrigued by the disparate pieces of the plan. The temporary airlock was a ruse, and it wasn’t. They’d make entry via the tubes, but they wouldn’t use the shuttles and the drop lines, at least, not at first.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense, Assault Commander,” Lucia said, in a quiet but firm tone.
“Okay, but let me finish before this group jumps in again,” Jess said. He described his idea in detail, laying out how it would unfold during the narrow period of darkness.
True to form, there were serious objections, but the group did wait until Jess had finished.
-30-
The Assault
With Planetary Defense authorization, Menous, a few troopers, and an Omnian crew collected one hundred vac suits from the station. The suits, with tanks and accessories, filled the cargo traveler.
Edmas and Jodlyne directed engineering teams to fabricate the parts they needed to construct a large temporary airlock. When the sections were created, a rear-loading shuttle was loaded with them. It landed
just beyond the ring, and crew made a show of testing the ring’s composition. It took a tech only a moment to determine the material’s makeup, but they spent an hour pretending to apply different tests.
The SADEs determined the cycle and the time when the shuttles tubes would be in the dark. The window of time was narrower than Jess wanted, but he judged his plan doable.
Four cycles before the scheduled assault, Jess requested engineering to start their construction project on the moon.
On the assigned date, Edmas, Jodlyne, and the engineering techs returned in their cargo shuttle. The pilot set the traveler down in the same place as before. It was positioned, presenting its profile to the dome.
Lights that could operate in vacuum had to be fabricated. A simple solution was to use power cells in sealed and directed canisters. When the rear ramp was dropped, Jodlyne hooked power lines to an augmented panel affixed to the interior bulkhead. Edmas and techs ran the lines over the ramp and around to the lights that sat on makeshift tripods.
When the pilot received the word, he signaled the controller to connect the circuits. Harsh beams of light stabbed the construction site. Then the lights were carefully positioned to ensure the beams flooded the dome.
Over the course of the next few Norsitchian cycles, Jodlyne and Edmas worked with engineering crews to assemble a huge airlock structure.
Edmas replied,
The temporary airlock grew over the course of the remaining cycles. It required an air storage tank, dual pumps, hatches with operating mechanisms, and securing the base to the ring’s surface. The team could have constructed it in a single cycle.
“How will you cut through the connecting ring’s material?” Jess had asked Edmas, during the planning stage.
