Galactic Defenders- Endurance

by Michael Mishoe

  ​“Would the Ribiyar vessel be part of the force dealing with the defenses on the stronghold?” Jack asked, in an attempt to answer Captain Conner’s question. Jack had briefed the captains about the commandeered Ribiyar ship, and they had been enthusiastic to have its massive array of weapons at their disposal during the assault.

  ​“Not at first,” Admiral Tinel said from the head of the table. “We need to keep the Ribiyar vessel on reserve for when the fighters and other starships retaliate against us. When they commence their attack, then we will launch the ship into battle. In addition to the alien ship, I also want the Thunderfox to wait until the fighters and starships attack before they join the battle.”

  ​“What about the attack on the stronghold itself, Admiral?” Captain Lace, a woman with white skin and chocolate-brown hair, asked. “If the mission is to capture the base, won’t we need to send invading parties to breach the perimeter?”

  ​“That is a good point, Captain Lace,” Admiral Tinel responded. “We will need to send in a lot of officers to secure the facility, but I believe that we should send in an elite team to take command of the strongholds control center.”

  ​“How should we decide who is assigned to this elite team?” Captain Whitefield asked.

  ​Admiral Tinel thought a moment, and replied, “I believe that the captains of the fleet should each choose the best fighter from their ship. That should give the team enough strength and experience to seize the control center. Mr. Vade, do you know if the schematics of the stronghold in the alien ship’s database? We only have a short aerial visual, taken by a small surveillance drone right before it was shot down.”

  ​Jack nodded. “The schematics are indeed on the Ribiyar vessel’s computer, and I have them with me now, Admiral. With your permission, I will display the information on the projector.”

  ​Admiral Tinel nodded. “Permission granted, Mr. Vade. Let’s see what we’re going to be up against.” Jack promptly left the table and walked to the computer interface on the wall. Jack pressed his hand on the interface and connected to the Ironclad’s computer to speed up preparations. “The mission’s likelihood of success will increase if we know the layout of the stronghold. Using the schematics of the stronghold, we may learn the best points of entry, weak points in the security perimeter, and the best route for the assault team to take in order to reach the control center.”

  ​Jack accessed the controls for the equipment in the mess hall, and activated the projector, which was positioned on the ceiling above the tables the officers occupied. As the projector powered up, Jack lowered the blast screens, metal plates that shield the glass during combat, over the windows in the mess hall, and lowered the lighting in the room to create a better resolution for the projectors image. As the blast screens closed, the projector activated, projecting an image that covered a large portion of the wall.

  ​When the officers saw the stronghold, or the Holding Facility, as it was officially called by the Ribiyar, many of them were shocked to see how huge its size was, even the ones who had seen visual footage from the drone. The installation was somewhat similar to a medieval castle; a large wall surrounded the outer complex, with large turret towers along the wall that contained formidable-looking energy cannons on the top of them. The cannons were shaped like a triangle, with the point facing outward containing three antennas that appeared to project the energy from the weapon at a target.

  ​Within the wall, large twelve-story tall dome-like buildings were placed close together throughout the large area within the wall. According to the data contained in the schematic file, the domed buildings were where the prisoners were being held, and being experimented on to aid the Ribiyar in their quest to purge the organic life on Earth. But the most formidable looking-structure of the stronghold was the tower positioned in the middle of the stronghold. A huge sixty-story tall building stood tall over the rest of the instillation, with a multitude of passageways and access tunnels connecting the tower with the domed buildings surrounding it, and the wall containing them. The tower itself had different shapes contributing to its make-up; a pyramid-like base supporting the foundation, with several elevator tubes visible running up from the base to higher up the tower. The upper part of the tower was cylindrically shaped, with various outcroppings protruding from the tower, and they appeared to be extensions of workrooms, landing pads for fighters, or various type of antennas or energy cannons dotting the outside of the tower.

  ​“How in the world are we supposed to attack this thing, much less take control of it?” Captain Gold, a woman with long, gold color hair, exclaimed.

  ​“We need to examine the facility’s layout more closely,” Admiral Tinel observed, “to see if this thing has any structural weaknesses we can exploit.” Tinel turned toward Jack, who was still near the computer interface and connected to the Ironclad’s computer system. “Mr. Vade, can you analyze the design for any flaws in its construction?”

  ​Jack nodded. “I can indeed, Admiral. Commencing analysis now.” The officers observed as the projector image zoomed in on various parts of the holding facility, and then zooming back as it focused on others as it rapidly moved around the Holding Facility. After several minutes of near nauseating motion sickness, the image zoomed out and reverted to its original viewpoint, once again giving an outlook of the whole facility.

  ​“Admiral, I am afraid there are no major design flaws in the Holding Facility’s construction,” Jack responded. “There are a few points I could recommend for attack, but it would by no means cripple the Facility.”

  ​The officers were silent as they waited to find a new course of action. After a few moments of silence, Captain River, a muscular man with a handle bar mustache, asked, “Mr. Vade, do you have any information about their troop deployments throughout the holding facility? Specifically, the tower in the middle of complex?”

  ​Jack cocked his head to the side as he searched the data file for any information related to the troops on the station. The image on the projector zoomed in on the tower, and the image was immediately covered with red dots throughout the corridors in the interior. “I am afraid I do not have specific intel on their troop placements, as this is simply the layout of the Facility, and not an actual display of the current status of the installation. But the locations highlighted would appear to be, at the least, standard or suggested postings for the troops.” Jack pointed to the image. “The small dots represent Ribiyar troops, and those larger dots appear to represent…,” Jack paused as he accessed the datafile to find more information. Finding his information, Jack continued, “The larger dots represent vehicles known as Enforcer Pods.”

  ​Several of the commanders let out a collective gasp/groan, for some of them had heard rumors of the destructiveness of those vehicles, rumors that were difficult to confirm as few had survived an encounter with them. Enforcer Pods were sphere-shaped vehicles that a Ribiyar officer would occupy and control. The Enforcer’s roll at high speeds towards their targets, and when they reached their destination, it releases four claw-spear legs to walk upon. Once the Pod has deployed its legs, the Enforcer could release its deadly arsenal, six large, high-powered energy cannons that could rain continuous fire-power upon their targets. In addition to those cannons, the Enforcer Pods possessed a large amount of spherical devices, the same type equipped on the Ribiyar fighters, that form into sleek missiles, which are unleashed on large groups of hostile targets.

  ​After the officers settled down, Jack continued with his report. “It would appear that the Enforcer Pods are posted near the entrances of all the shuttle docking pads on the tower, which will obviously add difficulty for any attempt to breach these locations. The Pods are also positioned near the command center of the Holding Facility, which is located near the top of the tower, guarding it from anyone who would attempt to commandeer it.”

  ​“Mr. Vade, can you determine why the Control Center is so important?” Captain Syvon asked, hoping they had found the Ho
lding Facility’s Achilles’ Heel.

  ​Jack again cocked his head to the side as he searched the datafile. “The Control Center is where the commanders of the facility give the other Ribiyar officers of the station their orders. But it seems the control center is more important than that. It appears that the control center is the only place in the complex that allows direct access to the stations computer cores.”

  ​“Why is that so important to the station?” Captain Picket, a woman with crew cut black hair, asked. “Are their computer files that important?”

  ​Jack was surprised the captains didn’t recognize the important of the computer system. “Captain Picket, in one form or another, many of the systems of the station are controlled by the computer. And, one of those systems in particular is the Holding Facility’s weapon systems.”

  ​Captain Picket immediately straightened in her chair. “Do you mean that if we can take their Control Center, and then their computer core, we can deactivate the station’s attack against our forces?” The other officers were also charged with excitement with the discovery of their possible winning strategy.

  ​“Affirmative, Captain Picket. But I need to caution you not to get too excited. It will be extremely difficult to break through the computer’s firewall and take control of the computer core.”

  ​“Mr. Vade,” Admiral Tinel began, “is there any way you can take control of that computer, if we can get you to the Control Center?”

  ​Jack hesitated, and then replied, “There is a way, admiral. It is the same way we were able to take control of the alien ship’s computer system. The Omega Virus.” The officers did not ask what the Omega Virus was, so he assumed they had already heard of it. “But it was extremely difficult to take control of, and it very nearly resulted in failure, which would have likely lead to the destabilization of my neural circuits, essentially killing me. In addition to the difficulty we faced, the Holding Facility has a much greater firewall protected computer core. Doing it by myself, the possibility of overcoming the computer’s encryption is unlikely, at best.”

  ​The officers were silent as Admiral Tinel asked, “Is there any way we can improve our odds, and make the computer takeover more likely to succeed?”

  ​“It is possible we can use the Ribiyar vessel’s computer to administer the Omega Virus. The ship’s computer is by far more advanced than my own processors, and would have a much better chance of overpowering the Holding Facility’s computer, in theory. If we are able to grant the Ribiyar vessel access to the computer core, which can only be done from the Holding Facility’s Control Center, we would be free to release the Omega Virus into the computer. If we can do that, I believe that would increase the odds of overpowering the Holding Facility’s computer immensely. However, it will be very difficult to reach the Control Center, I cannot compute any other successful plans of assault on the Holding Facility. As low as the odds of success are, this is likely the best course of action available to us.”

  ​Admiral Tinel lowered his head and stroked his chin with his hand, concentrating on the matter at hand. After a minute of thought, Admiral Tinel had his response. “Mr. Vade, will you be able to make whatever adjustments needed to the Ribiyar ship’s computer, and prepare it to take control of the Holding Centers computer?”

  ​“I believe I can, Admiral Tinel,” Jack announced. “I calculate an eighty-nine percent chance that the computer can be configured for this purpose.”

  ​“In that case,” Admiral Tinel responded, looking to the other captain’s in the room, “Do the rest of you agree that raiding the stronghold and taking command of the Control Center, and using the Ribiyar vessel to gain access to the computer, is a workable plan?”

  ​After the captains thought, Captain Syvon was the first to reply. “Sir, I don’t know if I speak for the rest of these officers, but I think that even if this plan is unsuccessful, it will do well to bring down as many Ribiyar as possible. Let us light a fire that will scar the Ribiyar for years to come!” The other captains cheered their agreement of opinion.

  ​Admiral Tinel agreeing with that statement, he agreed to use the proposed attack, and began to fine-tune the strategy and actions to be used for the rest of the assault. For the next two hours, the officers and Jack worked to iron out the best attack strategy, what to do when the Ribiyar ships respond, and how the boarding squad would infiltrate the tower and arrive at the control center.

  ​At the end of the two hours, the captains made their way to their ship’s as their vessels momentarily stopped to allow the captains to board.

  ​And then the vessels resumed their course; determined to enact vengeance upon the Ribiyar invaders.

  Location: Onboard the Ribiyar Warship Ji’Co, in orbit of Earth.

  ​With the meeting nearing its end, Tactical Analysist Cha’Hawk was about to connect himself to his podium, ready to commence his plan that would lead to the end of High Order Ki’Ra, when his assistant Tel’Con Zan’Tar, rushed into the Battle Coordination Hall and hurried to High Order Ki’Ra, who was positioned in his podium on the upper level. Cha’Hawk glanced at Stealth Combatant Mi’Kel, who stood watch behind him, and returned his attention to Zan’Tar, who had reached Ki’Ra by his podium.

  ​Zan’Tar kneeled before Ki’Ra. “High Order Ki’Ra, I have an urgent report to deliver. With your permission, may I connect with the display and show the report?”

  ​“Do so, and be quick with your task.” Zan’Tar stood in front of the podium, and lifted his right arm above the podium. Zan’Tar’s data module snaked its way into the port on the podium, linking him to the equipment in the Hall. Zan’Tar projected a holographic display in the gap on the middle of the second level, allowing all the gathered officers to see what he needed to show them. The image magnified, and showed a clear image of several of the organic’s battleships traveling through one of the large liquid surfaces scattered around their planet.

  ​“High Order, this image shows several of the organics sea vessels traveling toward Holding Facility Tri’La, positioned deep in the Atlantic Ocean, and it is reasonable to assume that they mean to assault the facility. I recommend that we send a taskforce to intercept the attack force, before they reach their destination.”

  ​Ki’Ra computed the data, and then replied, “I do not believe that will be necessary, Tel’Con Zan’Tar. The troops at Tri’La are well armed and trained, are they not?”

  ​“They have been trained to repel any invaders that attack them, High Order,” Zan’Tar responded.

  ​“Then it will serve no purpose to waste the time and effort to intercept them, when they already travel toward their destruction. There forces are of no concern to us. We shall await the report from Tri’La once the battle has concluded, and-”

  ​“ENOUGH!” Cha’Hawk thundered. The entire hall quieted from Cha’Hawk’s unexpected outburst. Nearly all the officers were stunned by his interruption. All but Ki’Ra, who seemed to grow more infuriated by the second.

  ​“YOU DARE INTERUPT ME!?”

  ​“I do, ‘High Order’.”

  ​“I have had enough of your insubordination, Tactical Analysist Cha’Hawk.”

  ​“And I, have had enough of your incompetence as our leader, Ki’Ra.” The officers were so stunned that few moved, and the ones who did move where slowly reaching for their weapons, if the need for them arouse. “We could have conquered this planet in a matter of Vels after our arrival, but you have insisted that we instead enslave the survivors of our assault and imprison them in our installations that take hundreds of our warriors away from combat so the Holding Facilities can be constructed and maintained.” Cha’Hawk looked at the other commanders in the room, many of which he had fought beside in numerous past battles. “It is time that we make a change in our leadership, and crush the inhabitants beneath us until they are no more. Who stands with me?”

  ​None of the officers voiced their agreement, and even more continued to draw their weapons from their holsters
. Even Mi’Kel stood silently behind him, not voicing any support for Cha’Hawk’s leadership.

  ​After a minute of silence, Ki’Ra let loose a short laugh. “Did you really think that these warriors would turn upon me? They know who leads this invasion, and they also know when a misguided fool would lead them down the path of destruction.” Ki’Ra pointed at Cha’Hawk and ordered, “Apprehend this fool at once, and bring him to me!”

  ​With his options exhausted, Cha’Hawk reached to his back to grab his battle staff, when Mi’Kel swiftly moved toward him and slammed him down to the ground. Grabbing one of Cha’Hawk’s legs, Mi’Kel began to drag him toward a flight of stairs that led to the upper level. Though he tried to resist Mi’Kel, two other officers rushed to Mi’Kel’s aid and restrained him, leaving him unable to resist against his oppression.

  ​“Mi’Kel,” Cha’Hawk hastily shouted as he was dragged up to the third level, “What are you doing!? This is not part of our plan!”