by Dane Bagley
***
“Well that settles that,” Commander Wiston said aloud as he turned to his assistant. “Jackson, get Carryman on with me, pronto.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Jenners is too close to the alien. His mindset is all wrong. I wanted to give him the chance, but it’s no use. I thought maybe the news about his brother would get him back to earth, so to speak, but no…”
“Yes, sir, I’ve got Captain Carryman, sir.”
“Put him on.”
“Commander Wiston, Carryman here, sir.”
“Captain Carryman, I’m splitting the mission into two, and you are leading the attack.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What is the status with the choreography?” asked Commander Wiston.
“It’s done. It is very impressive. I’ll get you the computer models ASAP. I’ll be honest; I thought that the idea was crazy at first, but now that I see it, it’s brilliant, sir.”
“Good. Here is how it is going to work: we are keeping Captain Jenners in the dark throughout the attack. He’ll be informed immediately afterword and given instructions on completing the mission. He’ll still be given the credit for overall operations, but you will have the credit for the attack itself. I believe that it is too risky to have the ship, with the alien onboard, aware of the attack at all. Who knows what could happen, with her on board while the crew is involved in the attack? So, we are going to time it such that they are on the other side of the planet during the attack. The mission must be completed before Captain Jenners comes back around. Will that be a problem?”
“No, sir; that should be very easy. The choreography, as you call it, calls for the attack to begin near dusk. We want to have plenty of light, so that we can video the destruction of several structures. It will be very impressive. We just need to make sure that their orbit is far enough away when it is dusk. We don’t want to spend any significant time in 3D orbit. We’d rather arrive, get into position and begin. They will have too much to worry about, once it begins, to count our ships in orbit,” Captain Carryman said with obvious enthusiasm. He was thrilled to be given the command of this operation.
“Tell me how it will come off; what will be the view back home?” asked Commander Wiston. He, too, was feeling an adrenaline rush. This would be the first combat operation of the Space Force.
“Two ships will come into 3D. They will be in position to each video the same scene, for stereoscopic viewing back home. Once they have the shot that we are looking for, the third ship comes into 3D from the other side and releases the missile. We should have fantastic views of the destruction at dusk for several of the identified structures. Then, as it gets darker, we pan the video out, and show that the entire electrical structure of the city is going out. We’ll show the city lights go out section by section with a full screen view of the entire city. We could take out the central power quickly, but that would defeat the purpose of the attack. We want the tight shots to be impressive. So, instead, we will take out the substations one by one. I do think that it will be impressive to see the up-close destruction first, and then the overall city going dark. I think that we can meet all of our objectives in impressive style—without actually causing too much harm to the alien race.”
“How much collateral damage will there be?” asked the commander in a serious tone. “Will many of the aliens be killed or injured?”
“The most deaths will come at the administration center, and at the science center. It will be at dusk, so they will not be completely full, according to intelligence, but we need to hit them first. They will be the largest structures that we take out, and it will need to be light enough for the visual effect that we want. Other hits may kill some, but not many. Still, we should be able to level their technology and power grid, put on a great show for the viewing public, and still not kill too many of them. They will be able to continue on. They have not been living with electrical technology for long, according to Captain Jenner’s reports, so I don’t think it will disrupt their lives too much. If they are as intelligent as we think they are, they are not likely to try and rebuild the technology any time soon. I think that we can pacify the public’s fears, while not causing too much harm to this world. After this show, I think everyone back home will feel empowered, and not feel so threatened anymore.” Captain Carryman was more calmed and subdued now.
“So you will keep the producer on board with you, Captain?”
“Yes, we will stay in high 3D orbit. We will run the attack, and produce the show all from the deck. He is very impressive, for a civilian. I never expected to command an attack alongside a Hollywood producer, but I think that the video will present just what we are looking for. He is helping us to produce the effect, while keeping the damage to a minimum. Sir, I think that you will be very pleased with the results.” Once again Captain Carryman was feeling proud and excited.
“It will be on a one hour delay, for earth viewing. Do you think that we should go a little longer on delay, to account for any problems?”
“Sir, I don’t. I don’t think that we want to give anyone the idea that we are feeding the public doctored images. Let’s send it live. I think that the pre-production will be enough; post-production or editing will only cause suspicion.”
“Good,” said Commander Wiston. “I quite agree. How soon can we have everyone in position?”
“I’ll look at Captain Jenners orbit, and let you know. It is a matter of days, sir.”
“Good. Let’s get this PR nightmare past us and start looking for other worlds—ones that might actually pose a threat.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
“Jackson,” snapped Commander Wiston as the connection ended.
“Yes, sir.”
“I hope the President knows what he is doing. We may be taking a world—a race that we could get along with—and turn them into our enemies, just to appease the fearful masses.”
