Alcantaran 1: Alien Abduction

by Terry Compton

  Kota and Zibo walked in and the trio saw that the paperwork wasn't the only thing they were bringing. From the looks on their faces, they had some really bad news.

  Kota acted like he didn't know how to break the news and he finally just blurted out, "We just received word that there are several Nodac-Liujia warships on the way here. The Bugs have evidently put a lot of pressure on them to capture Auntie, or destroy her, if they can't have her. They are willing to risk a war with Europaische to accomplish this. I'm afraid our friends here would be the losers of such a conflict. The Charter Navy is on the other side of Nodac-Liujia, so they would be two to four days behind the warships. By then the Nodac-Liujians would have this planet subdued and have evidence planted that said they were attacked first. The Nodac-Liujians and Bugs would move in and our friends here would become their slaves, just like we were on the mother ship. If any Europaische statesmen escaped, they could take their case to the Charter Alliance but it would take years to get a decision. By the time the Navy could come back in here and move those sewer crawlers out, they would have plundered the planet."

  "If we were off the planet, would the Nodac-Liujian warships still attack?" Ron asked.

  "I don't know. They may want to attack anyway to make an example out of them. They would like to tell everyone NOT to help you. Word of a planet conquest would definitely limit the number of planets that would trade or help you in any way," Kota said.

  "How many warships are coming? Do you have any idea of what kind of armament they carry?" Tik asked gravely.

  "If you can direct Auntie to communicate with our ship's computer, I can show you pictures and more details," Zibo said.

  Tik directed Auntie and soon they had pictures of three warships up on the view screens. Kota and Zibo liked what they were seeing and decided they were going to retrofit the freighter with the same viewing equipment. Auntie put a list of armament and shield capacities on view screens next to the pictures of each warship. The biggest warship in the middle carried 50 small fighters. They could be used for space-to-planet fighting also. The fighters were very lightly armored because they depended on their speed for protection. The warships were another matter. They had the weapons and the shields to give a lot of punishment without taking it themselves.

  "If you are attacked by someone like the Nodac-Liujian ships, do you have the right to retaliate?" Ron asked, as an idea started to germinate.

  "Yes, we have every right but there is no way we could do any damage to those ships with all their shields," Zibo protested.

  "What about the fighters? How would your space ship fare against them?" Ron asked.

  "They wouldn't stand a chance. As long as all 50 didn't attack at once, we would definitely spank them," Zibo stated with conviction.

  "Where is the weak spot on those warships? If you had a ship that could fight them, where would you try to hit them?" Ron asked.

  "I guess it would be somewhere near the rear, where the power plant is located. Then you try for the engines. If they can't move, they become a sitting duck. Why do you ask? Have you got a warship up your sleeve?" Zibo asked with a growing curiosity.

  "Auntie, what do you see as their greatest weakness?" Ron asked.

  Auntie studied the plans for a few seconds and then said, "Like Zibo said, the power plants. When they are in battle, the shields are heaviest around this area. These ships have several layers of shields in this area to keep them safe."

  "Do they keep this shield up during a hyper-space jump?" Ron continued to question.

  "No, they take too much power to operate in hyper-space. They would activate the shield shortly after they dropped out of hyper-space. If they are not in battle mode, they may only have minimal shields, just to protect from meteorites or asteroids," Auntie said.

  Tik, Gus, Kota and Zibo were all looking at one another. They were wondering what in the world Ron was up to. It would be suicide to try to attack one of those warships, let alone three.

  "Kota, can your sources tell us about where the Nodac-Liujian entered hyper-space and where they will be coming out? See if they know when they will get here," Ron asked.

  Kota used his communicator to relay to their ship. He broadcast his request and they waited. In the meantime, Ron started asking Auntie some questions by ESP.

  "Auntie, what would be the optimum range to destroy those power plants and engines?"

  "If I was 200 miles away; coming in from the rear, I could destroy the power plant and the engines. The solid projectiles would rip through about half of the ship before they were spent. The warships would detect me before I could get anywhere close to 200 miles though."

  "What if you popped out of hyper-space right behind them? How close could you come out of hyper-space behind them safely?"

  "If I knew their position before I jumped, I could be less than 200 miles."

  "How long would it take you to fire your weapons after you came out of hyper-space?"

  "It would take only a few microseconds and the projectiles would be on their way. I would need to be on target for almost two minutes to be the most effective. If we did attack like that, I would suggest that I jump right back to hyper-space before they could get shields up or bring their weapons to bear. I assume you want me to fire on all three warships."

  "Yes. I don't know what kind of formation they fly in but I would hope they would be close together."

  Ron turned back to Kota and Zibo. He asked, "If you were attacked by the ship sitting in orbit, would that mean you could legally attack those warships coming in here?"

  "It would depend. If we saw them preparing to attack and we demanded an explanation, their answer could justify such an action. All they would have to do would be to indicate that this was a planet-wide action," Kota explained.

  "What if one of the thugs from last night confessed to a conspiracy with the Bugs?" Ron asked.

  "If we had that confession, we wouldn't have to wait for that ship in orbit to make any hostile moves. That basically would be a declaration of war," Kota stated firmly with fire in his voice.

  "If we were affiliated with you, that would include us, too, wouldn't it?" Ron asked.

  "Most definitely."

  "Well, in that case; if my partners agree, we need to affiliate," Ron asserted. He looked at Gus and Tik and they both nodded yes. All of the trio could feel the exultant 'Yes' in Kota's mind. They could almost feel him pumping his arm in victory.

  "Do you know where any of your attackers are? Do you think they will confess?" Kota asked anxiously. "What do you have in mind with those warships? I've seen you studying and I think you have a battle plan."

  "I do have a plan but it has to be approved by all of my partners first. We would need your help, too, and there is an element of danger for you," Ron stated.

  "If there's danger for us, how much danger will you be in?" Kota asked in a very concerned voice. They had just agreed to an affiliation and he didn't want to lose them right away.

  Ron continued, "I don't have all the details worked out, but Auntie says it is doable. Basically, we need to disable that ship in orbit and get into space. When we know where the warships are going to pop out of hyper-space, we need you hidden somewhere close to give us an exact coordinate of where they are. We will be out of the area and will make a hyper-space jump back here. We will come out within 200 miles behind the warships. Auntie will be ready with her rail guns and will pepper the back end of those bad boys. She says it will destroy their power plants and engines. You would have to help us take care of the fighters but the warships will be out of commission without power," Ron outlined his plan.

  "I've never heard of anything like that. All ships have special overrides to keep you from coming out of hyper-space too close to other bodies. What if you came out of hyper-spacer with another space ship or asteroid coming right at you? You might not have time to react before a crash," Zibo declared.

  "That's part of the help we need. You would have to tell us everything is clear
where we would be jumping. As for overrides, Tik can work around the one on Auntie. That is, if she agrees to the plan. I, for one, would like to stick it to these Nodac-Liujian warships. It would send a pretty strong signal to everybody that it's not nice to mess with an Alcantaran space ship and her oddball crew! Those Bugs better beware or we will start hunting them and they could come to the same end!" Ron declared angrily.

  Tik immediately and vehemently affirmed, "I'll be glad to bypass the override. If we can stick it to the Bugs or their allies, I'm all for it -- no matter how dangerous. I owe them for two years of hell."

  Gus joined in with equal vehemence, "Count me in, too. I owe them for three years. It sounds like we have a good chance to cut the Nodac-Liujians down to size. If conquering a planet sends such a strong signal, what will one old trading ship destroying three warships send?"

  Kota and Zibo stared in amazement at the trio. They were used to defending themselves and the annals of the Traders had many stories of the exploits of other Traders defending themselves but there had never been anything close to the scale these three were talking about. Kota and Zibo both were glad they were friends with the trio and not being hunted by them. They didn't know if the whole Charter Navy could keep them safe if this trio was after them.

  Kota had a message come through. It said his sources would get the information he needed. His source expected the warships to arrive in about five days. He also said that the Nodac-Liujians were loading troop ships. It looked like they planned to occupy Europaische. He didn't know if more warships were going to move toward them or not, but he would keep them updated.

  Ron asked innocently, "Does the Charter Navy ever make 'Calls of State'? Do they visit other planets just as a courtesy and to kind of show off their newest warships?"

  "Yes, they do. I can remember a couple of times, I was on a planet they visited. It was very impressive and the whole planet talked of nothing else for weeks afterward," Kota exclaimed.

  "Since they won't be able to get here to help us in time, I think now would be a really great time to show off a bunch of their warships at Nodac-Liujia. Do you have a way to make that suggestion?" Ron asked.

  "Both of us have a few connections that could make some strong recommendations," Kota responded. "If we had a confession, it would make the recommendations even stronger. The Charter Navy doesn't like galactic wars that disrupt Charter Alliance trade."

  "Maybe this crisis could end the planetary war here. If they knew they were about to be attacked from space, maybe they would stop fighting amongst themselves and concentrate on their real enemies," Gus mused.

  Zibo looked at the trio amazement and exclaimed, "You all are natural born traders. You have come up with trades and solutions that even trained and experienced Traders wouldn't have figured out. Here you are being threatened, yet you think of solutions for your trading partners. I hope you have made up your minds to stay with the trading and become full-fledged members of the Charter Alliance."

  "Well, it's these super heroes here who are doing all the saving. I'm just along to tend the computers," Tik said slyly, as she blinked her eyes like a damsel in distress.

  "Who was it that rushed right into the face of danger to warn our friends, the Traders?" Gus retorted with a laugh. The whole group joined in and that helped relieve some of the tension.

  "Well, as the trusty side-kicks to all you super heroes, what do we need to do now to make this happen?" Kota asked.

  This brought another chuckle from everyone and Ron stated, "Auntie, could you put this up on a view screen so we don't miss anything? Tik, you need to check how many solid projectiles we have and see if we can substitute something from here if we don't have enough. Gus and I need to find at least one of the attackers. Kota, we need all of the Intel on these warships you can get us. Keep us apprised about the troop ships too. Zibo, we need you to find a place to hide your ship close to the entry point for those warships. We need you there for our eyes and ears. What else?"

  Kota added, "I've got to get my groceries loaded and we need to warn the local officials about the danger."

  Gus jumped in, "Maybe the local officials could get word to the national level which could quickly stop their war. Kota, do you have some official report on the Nodac-Liujia warships that you could show Fu and maybe the police captain? Speaking of which, they will want us to sign the report pretty soon."

  "I need to plot some hyper-space jumps for us. As soon as I know about where the warships will come out, I can have something started. All I would need then would be the final position," Tik said.

  "Kota and Zibo, if you could work with some of the locals to warn the national officials, it would be a big help. Gus and I will start right away to find our attackers. We need at least one of them alive to confess, so we'd better leave Tik behind," Ron said with a grin.

  Tik gave him the raspberry as she started checking the loads that Auntie had for the rail guns.

  Kota said, "Now, if we just had some help from space to take care of our friend out there. Even if someone could keep them busy for a few minutes, we could get into space and keep them from firing into the planet."

  Tik quipped, "You mean something like another Nodac-Liujian trader ship crashing into them?"

  "That would work but wasn't exactly what I had in mind. A Charter Navy ship would be more along the lines of what I was thinking. Where would you get a Nodac-Liujian trader ship and how would you get it to crash into that one in orbit?"

  Ron and Gus looked at one another with a big grin. They had another answer to their dilemma. Gus responded, "Tik always has something up her sleeve. Do you remember those two ships that were sitting here last night? What do you think happened to them?"

  "I thought some of the remaining crew got word of what happened and rabbited away before they could get caught," Zibo answered.

  "They were empty. Everybody came into town to ambush us. Tik had a hand in flying them out of here and hiding them on some asteroids a little farther out," Ron said.

  "How in the world did she do that? None of you left the police station before we did and we all went to supper. When did she have time to get out here? And besides, how did she get back if she flew them out to the asteroids?" Kota said in a puzzled voice.

  "They didn't say I flew them out there. They just said I had a hand in flying them out of here," Tik replied with a chuckle.

  Kota stammered as he said, "But, but I just don't understand. How did you do it? Did you have help from the locals?"

  "I'm afraid those are trade secrets. Maybe one day you will be in the 'need to know' loop and we can tell you. For now just say the Alcantaran ghosts had something to do with it," Tik proclaimed with a sly grin.

  Kota received a message just then and announced that their groceries were on the way, so he and Zibo hurried out to start loading them into their space ship. Ron and Gus went to the armory to pick up two stingerray guns. They needed something that would incapacitate rather then kill. Ron felt like a walking arsenal. He had his concealed weapon, the regular weapon in the shoulder holster and now the stingerray. They contacted Auntie by ESP and asked her to check radio traffic between the ship and the planet. She said there had been a few encrypted messages back and forth. Ron asked her to launch several of the remote detectors and to pinpoint the location of those messages here on the planet. Auntie immediately launched the sensors and started searching for the attackers.

  Ron and Gus then headed into the terminal to talk to Fu. When they walked up to him, Fu immediately noticed the extra weapons they were carrying. He saw that two of the weapons were stingerrays. Ron and Gus both could see the disapproval written on his face.

  "Hello, friend. I'm glad to see you disapprove of these weapons. We do, too, but right now we have to have them. We need to take some of our attackers from last night captive and these do work for that -- as both of us can attest," Ron explained.

  "Oh, I didn't mean to be so rude and obvious," Fu said.

  "That's al
l right. We have some bad news and we are going to need your help in a big way. Kota will fill you in on all the details as soon as he finishes loading his groceries, but we have just learned that three Nodac-Liujia warships are headed this way and they intend to subdue your planet and enslave the population. We have a plan to stop it but we need at least one of our attackers alive. Do you think you could get your police chief out here pretty quickly? We need to discuss some things with him and Kota needs his and your help to notify national authorities but we need to stay here at our space ship to keep checking some things," Ron quickly broke the news.

  Fu turned very pale and was visibly shaken. He shakily asked, "What do you need me to do? How can one old space trader and one pleasure craft stop three warships?"

  "We'd rather not say right now. Sometimes walls have ears, if you know what I mean. We just need you to get the police chief here as soon as possible. Those warships could be here in five or six days, so we don't have much time to get ready," Ron proclaimed.

  "One way or another, I'll have him here in less than an hour," Fu declared.

  "The less time the better. When he arrives, bring him to our ship and we will meet there. It's easier to show some of the things we know on our view screens. If we get permission, Gus and I will be leaving to round up our attackers. Kota and Zibo can use our ship to explain in detail what you will be facing," Ron emphasized.

  "I'll start right now," Fu said as he returned to his office.

  Ron and Gus went to Kota's ship to tell him the news. Kota was scurrying to get the groceries inside so Ron and Gus helped him. In just a short time they had everything inside. Kota said his new robot would store everything from there. He and Zibo followed Ron and Gus to Auntie. They were just headed up the steps when Fu and the police chief came out the terminal door. Gus led Kota and Zibo down to the situation room while Ron waited for the two locals. He led them up to the upper galley and then they took the secret elevator down to the situation room. Ron wanted to keep the two from seeing any more of the ship than they had to.