S’Cinf nodded. “They’d save years of research and development. Not to mention the costs associated with all that research.”
“I can see that,” S’Tap replied. “That might work.”
“It’s so good you approve,” the Run Point said in droll tones. The programmer blanched and shrunk down on his perch. With the interruption taken care of S’Cinf nodded at the admiral. “Continue,” he ordered.
“After we’ve completed repairs and rearmed then we can determine if it’s possible to conquer this system. During the repair stage we’ll also have the opportunity to gather intelligence about targets and capabilities. Once that’s done and we’ve determined that we can win we complete our preparations. Then we attack and take their planets. Otherwise we leave this system fully armed and repaired. Our task now will be to persuade them to assist us while keeping our true intentions from them.”
S’Cinf nodded his understanding and bared his sharp teeth. “This idea has a certain appeal,” he said. “The humans used guile to destroy our civilization and wrest Fairen from us. This time we could use it to gain a planet for ourselves.” He glared at the Kthpok around the table and snarled. “I want their planets and I want them dead.”
Chapter 2
S’Cinf sat on his perch in the Colony ship’s Center Room and watched the Command Pack perform their assigned duties. Kthpok monitored systems and worked their consoles. Muttered conversations could be heard coming from several places throughout the room. From time to time a rating would leave his station to walk over and confer with another in quiet whispers. The Run Point took a deep breath and let it out in a soft, bored whistle. It seemed everyone had something to do except him.
On its course to the inner planets the fleet was passing another gas giant with a large complement of moons. A group of scientists had been revived and were now huddled near the science suite. These Kthpok appeared to be enjoying themselves taking readings, examining the magnetosphere of the planet, the elements in its atmosphere, wind speed, and whatever data that could be collected. Images of the gas giant interspersed with pictures and data about the orbiting moons flashed on an auxiliary screen above the scientists.
Acting on an impulse to do something S’Cinf worked his keyboard and called up the picture of the gas giant to his screen. He took a moment to study the bands of vibrant color that covered the planet. “I wonder if there’s something in there we can exploit?” he said in a soft whisper. Before he could open a communications link with the science station a Lieutenant posted in the Scanning suite called for the ship’s Captain, J’Nes. The movement caught the Run Point’s notice and he watched as the captain walked over.
An image of still another moon was projected on a screen. Excited chatter coming from the science suite brought the Run Points attention back to what the scientists were doing. It was easy to see why they were so excited. The formations on that moon were contorted and twisted while covered with brilliant and unusual colors. A moment later the Kthpok leader glanced back at the scan station to see that Fleet Admiral P’Mar had joined the Scan Officer and Captain J’Nes.
That’s interesting, thought S’Cinf. Shifting his tail out of the way he left his perch and headed for the suite where the three Kthpok were conferring. As he neared the scanning suite the Run Point was able to overhear what was being said.
“…unable to know the count for sure,” reported Lieutenant D’Pan, the Scan Officer. “They’re too far away.”
“If the distance prevents a count, how can you be sure of what’s coming?” asked J’Nes.
“I’m the best scanner you’ve got, Captain,” replied the officer in an offended tone and gestured at his equipment. “I can work this equipment to show the warts on a female’s tail on a dark night.” The captain didn’t seem as impressed as he should have been but the Lieutenant continued. “We’ve been scanning the inner planets since entering the orbit of the outer planets. We also have the record generated by the computers as this system was being evaluated. What I see is a large metallic mass heading away from the inner planets. I checked the computer before calling it to your attention and this mass wasn’t observed moving around the system during the initial evaluation.”
“That is unusual,” commented the Fleet Admiral, “but not unknown.”
“In addition to the sighting there’s the electronic emissions we’ve detected coming from that mass, the location of the mass, its speed, and destination. There’s also the fact that it’s accelerating,” said the officer with an emphatic swing of his tail. “It all points to one conclusion.”
“What?” asked S’Cinf as he entered the conversation. “What conclusion are you talking about?” The three Kthpok fell silent when they realized that the Run Point had joined them. “Well?” he prompted.
At a gesture from Admiral P’Mar the scan officer responded. He ducked his head in respect as he spoke, “I’ve been monitoring the inner system, Run Point.”
“That much I heard. What did you find? Lieutenant…?” he let the question trail off.
“D’Pan, sir,” the officer replied. “There’s a force of ships heading out system on an intercept course with us. The distance prevents us from getting an accurate determination of class and number. That will come as they close.”
“If you can’t determine the count,” asked S’Cinf, “how can you tell they’re ships?”
“The sunlight reflecting from the hulls,” was the immediate reply.
“Sunlight?” S’Cinf questioned. “How…?”
“That technique’s been used for many years by astronomers to determine the elements in a planets atmosphere, your Eminence,” volunteered Captain J’Nes.
The Run Point bobbed his head in understanding. “I see. What else?” he asked.
“This new fleet originated from the fourth planet,” said D’Pan.
“That’s the main native planet,” supplied P’Mar.
S’Cinf sent a quelling look at the admiral. “I know that’s the main native planet,” the Run Point said.
“The force’s course intersects ours well outside the orbit of the fifth planet which, as you know, is also inhabited,” said D’Pan cutting through the budding dispute. “That’ll occur within six days.”
S’Cinf’s tail began a slow twitch as he pondered the news. “That seems to indicate the natives do have a military force,” he commented. “They wouldn’t send freighters to investigate something coming from outside their system. In addition, their scanners are capable enough to’ve picked up our mass.
“So, they’ve dispatched a force to meet us before we reach their inhabited planets. That’s what I’d do.” The Run Point looked over at the admiral. “What’s your recommendation, admiral?”
“I want to revive enough of the crews to have people at all defensive stations before the native force reaches us,” P’Mar replied.
S’Cinf’s tail stiffened in surprise. “I thought you said we couldn’t survive, let alone win, a fight.”
P’Mar bobbed his head. “We won’t,” he replied. “But I still want the crews revived.
“I understand that our original intentions were to keep the crews in suspension until a viable colony had been established or at least discovered,” he replied and gave a shrug of his tail. “But the drive problems on the Deliberate changed that. The arrival of or impending interception by an enemy force requires our ship weapons stations be posted.” The admiral paused for a moment to let the Run Point consider his request. “We’ll have an early test of our ability to convince the natives we’re peaceful. But if it doesn’t work and they attack I refuse to die without a fight.”
“Very well,” said S’Cinf with an approving sweep of his tail, “you can have your people. The revival’s been approved.”
He glared at Captain J’Nes and Admiral P’Mar standing before him. “And our plans had better, must succeed. It’s not just our lives that are at stake. It’s our entire people. The extinction of the Kthpok as a species is what we�
�re facing.”
The admiral bobbed his head. “We understand what we have to lose, Run Point,” he said, “and we will not fail. We will time the revival of the additional packs to keep the drain on our supplies to a minimum yet allow sufficient time for recovery. Our vessels will be defended.”
“There’s another factor, your Eminence,” added J’Nes. “If we’re successful in deceiving the natives we’ll have all the supplies we need.”
P’Mar gave a snort then added. “And if we’re not successful we won’t need what we have. We’ll be dead.”
“There is that,” replied S’Cinf.
With a twitch from his tail that signified dismissal the Run Point turned and moved back to his perch. Once there he resumed watching the images received from the probes sent to the gas giant. At this point he wasn’t going to inject himself into the preparations to meet the oncoming natives-. Preparing for a fight was the admiral’s responsibility.
Two days before the fleet was scheduled to intercept the native force S’Cinf stalked into the Center Room. As the door slid shut behind him he paused on the landing to survey the activity at the various consoles. Before he could move further into the room the officer-on-duty hurried over, saluted and adopted the proper pose.
“Your Eminence, how may I assist you?” asked the OOD.
S’Cinf considered for a moment before answering. A quick glance at the badge on the Lieutenant’s harness gave him the officer’s name. “I would see the Fleet Admiral, Lieutenant M’Ton. Have him called to the Center Room immediately.”
The OOD dipped his head in acknowledgement. “At once, my Lord. If I may?”
At a twitch from the Run Point’s tail the Lieutenant hurried over to the communications suite to summon the admiral. Unsure of how long it would take for P’Mar to arrive S’Cinf moved over to his perch and logged onto the system.
A few short moments later the admiral arrived in the Center Room and hurried over to where the Run Point waited. After adopting the same respectful pose as Lieutenant M’Ton but with an adjustment for his higher rank P’Mar spoke. “What is the Run Points wish?”
The Kthpok leader looked up from the screen he’d been watching. “I’ve realized that we have no way to communicate with the force that’s coming to greet us. At least with the beast humans they’d learned our language so they could understand their instructions. It’s obvious these creatures won’t be able to speak our language nor we theirs.” He gave a questioning twitch of his tail. “How’re we going to convince them we’re peaceful and that they should assist us?”
Admiral P’Mar bobbed his head to show he understood the question. “We’ve prepared a short documentary of how we came to be here for an introduction,” P’Mar replied without preamble. “It’s based on a visual record of the battles we endured with the humans. I gave the techs a general idea of what I wanted and had them use their imagination. It’s taken them several days to complete to my satisfaction.” He gave a brief bob of his head in wry humor. “I think it gets our message across without requiring them to understand our language.” The admiral paused for a moment then spoke again. “Would you like to see it, your Eminence?”
There was no hesitation in S’Cinf’s response. “Show me what you’ve prepared!” he replied with a definite bob of his head.
The admiral gestured compliance with his tail. “Communications!” he called loud enough to carry over the muted noise of the Center Room. “Have Intro One opened and displayed to this terminal.”
The communications officer, Lieutenant L’Art, swung his head around to verify where the admiral was then made some entries on his keyboard, consulted the list that appeared on his screen, selected an item and then turned back to his commander. “It’s coming up now, admiral” he announced.
S’Cinf craned his neck to watch as the specified monitor flickered. A moment later a transmission header appeared then the message began. In rapid sequence the Run Point saw various pictures of cities, factories, farms and recreation areas. All were showing Kthpok going about their normal routines. The Run Point’s tail began a slow, methodic swing as he considered what he was seeing. It was obvious to one who knew about Kthpok society that care had been taken to erase any sign of human property.
The Kthpok leader watched the presentation unfold and a sense of nostalgia for what they’d lost came over him. The next images showed a beautiful blue-green and white planet in a black field. A picture of a Kthpok was superimposed on the planet with a blinking violet dot off to one side. The Run Point bobbed his head. Anyone watching would understand from that sequence that the Kthpok came from the planet shown. The orb shrank and dropped into a schematic that S’Cinf recognized as the solar system they’d fled. The pulsing violet dot indicated the position in the system of the Kthpok home planet.
After a few seconds the schematic disappeared and a new image appeared: that of a human matched with a blinking blue dot. The solar system schematic returned and a blinking blue dot came from out system on a course straight for the Kthpok planet.
Next came a sequence of images showing Kthpok ships leaving their home planet and being attacked. S’Cinf saw pictures of Kthpok ships exploding, Damage Suppression Packs struggling to repair damage, missiles being fired and pulsers trying to stop incoming missiles. The schematic of the solar system was superimposed over the images of fighting to show the location of the battle by using the blinking dots. The dot representing the Kthpok force shattered and disappeared. The blue dot representing the humans continued towards Fairen.
Once again the Kthpok home planet was shown but this time the human fleet was in orbit. Explosions appeared in space as the enemy attacked defenses based on the moon and those in orbit. Then another sequence was presented which showed images of humans running through the corridors of the Lunar Defense Complexes blasting every Kthpok in sight. A moment later a nuclear explosion on the moon was shown.
Images of cities and Kthpok were shown once again. This time the buildings, vehicles and people were destroyed by nuclear fireballs. A Kthpok family huddled in their home disappeared in a blinding flash. Entire cities and forests were shown inundated in flames. The planet reappeared only this time its surface was marred by dark blotches of smoke and bright flares of explosions.
The scene shifted to show a small force of ships with battle damage prominent accompanied by the purple dot. The Run Point recognized the Colony Ships and knew he was seeing the remnant of the Kthpok fleet. A schematic was shown with a blinking purple dot leaving the system. The blue dot representing the humans was in pursuit. Then the screen blanked.
There was a brief pause and S’Cinf swiveled his head back to look at P’Mar. “That was very well done, Admiral,” he said. “It should explain to the natives where we came from and why,” he said. “But what asks for help?”
P’Mar didn’t answer the Run Point’s question instead called out, “Communications! Activate Intro Two.”
Moments later the screen flickered again. This time pictures of wounded or ill Kthpok were shown. Medical technicians were shown moving from patient to patient administering what aid and comfort they could. Occasionally a tech would dip his head and cover the patient with a blanket. Last came a funeral procession and ejection of a number of bodies into space.
“I’m impressed,” said S’Cinf when the transmission ended. “That ejection into space was a good touch. Commend the Kthpok who developed that sequence.”
“Thank you, Run Point,” said P’Mar, dipping his tail in gratitude. “When he was young one of the communication techs had attended a similar event for a human pet. He modeled the whole thing on what he’d witnessed then.
“As you can see our pictures explain why we’re here and that we have injured among us but it can’t ask for help. When the presentations are completed I’ll speak to them, request assistance and hope they get the message.”
The Kthpok leader bobbed his understanding. “What you’ve planned is satisfactory but I want one change. As
the Run Point I will speak for the Kthpok.”
Admiral P’Mar went to object but was stopped by an adamant sweep from the Run Point’s tail. S’Cinf continued, “I have not made a practice of explaining my intentions or decisions, Admiral. But in this instance you need to know why we’re going to do it this way.
“If the natives accept that our intentions are peaceful and then learn about our command structure there may be questions about why the Kthpok Run Point didn’t address them at the initial meeting. I know it’s a small issue but it raises a question.” He stared at P’Mar. “And questions are best kept unraised and unasked if we want our deception to work.”
The admiral dipped his head in submission. “I bow to your wisdom and wishes, your Eminence. If you so order my staff will be instructed to assist you on possible tones and wording.”
“It is so ordered,” said S’Cinf. “Now, how large is the force the natives are sending to meet us? We should be close enough to know that.”
P’Mar paused to consult an electronic pad before replying. “Scans show a decent sized task force coming our way, your Eminence. It consists of four dreadnoughts, eight battleships and appropriate numbers of cruisers, destroyers, and escorts.”
He gestured still holding the pad. “The interesting thing is that it appears they’re following doctrines employed by our Space Navy. Apparently, we and the natives have discovered universal principals regarding space warfare.” P’Mar shrugged. “This force isn’t as large as what we’d’ve sent but it’s more than sufficient to handle our depleted and damaged ships.”
“Since we can’t fight and win,” the Run Point said, “we’ll have to make sure there isn’t a battle.”
The admiral bobbed his head in agreement. Then, at a dismissive sweep from the Run Points tail, P’Mar moved over to his station where he could continue the task of readying his force to intercept the enemy. And he had just two days to make sure they were ready.
Betrayal Page 3
