*
In the Officers Quarters, General Likasif and her aide were going over the cleanup plan and working out the logistics of dumping millions of creatures into the oceans.The aide commented, “So far only a few percentage of the slaves have died in cold sleep. The fresh ones are due in on the troop ships and will be arriving later today.”
“Good. They will go in first while this lot wakes up properly. There should be about 770,000 of the fresh ones. Thirty-five percent of those awakening from cold sleep, on average, will be very unfit but might be able to work after a few days. The strongest ones will do the dumping and the weakest ones the looting and packing up. About ten percent will be of no use at all and will have to be dumped. Your job to see the trash is taken out.”
“Yes, General. Faced with the threat of death it is truly amazing how many suddenly recover. Nothing like a good incentive.” The two grinned at each other.
General Likasif carried on, “I calculate if each slave can dump an average of 225 bodies in total, the cities should be done and empty in twenty-five to twenty-nine days. Our spies have surveyed the deepest areas of the oceans closest to each city to find the deepest places to dump the bodies. We need to bury the trash deep. Population estimates are no more than ninety to a hundred million which is an easily achievable target. Should be days left over for clearing out the loot as well. Of course that’s average. Some of the bodies will take several slaves to lift them. It is regrettable that some of the professionals in the cities will be Keulfyd, especially medical staff. Oh well, can’t be helped. Silly fools for coming here.”
She continued to go over her plan. “While the bodies are being dumped the mercenaries guarding them will be cataloguing booty. The slaves will next be used to remove the valuable bigger items, then dumped. There are a large number of buildings here that have already been designated as having valuable contents, especially the huge numbers of Translators. Next, any survivors or resistance will be dealt with. Our force of 3600 will do that nicely given that this planet has no military organization according to Intel. As a last resort, any serious resistance can simply be gunned down by the planes or blasted from the starships. Not that I really anticipate any effective resistance from the cities but it has happened before. That would be a pity. We lose a bonus for every city we have to destroy. I anticipate finishing within thirty to forty days. We will leave as soon as the planet is cleared.”
She was interrupted with a message and heard from Slirtmif: “Your mercs can have a sleep in. The main population of this world is fish.”
“What?”
“The owners are fish.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“No. The owners are fish. It’s a marine planet. Sixty percent of this planet is water and the owners are fish. The 90 or so million extras are real but the indigenous population are fish and there is no mention of how many. The Ridianit just developed the planet.”
“Don’t like those bastards. Serve them right. This will be a walkover!”
“Yeah. Thought you’d be pleased.”
Likasif realised that the fish would see the bodies being dumped. Could this be a problem? Could these fish be in the cities in water containers? She had seen such things. If so, they could indeed be witnesses. Normally, all the indigenous population would be wiped out in the main but she hadn’t anticipated fish that could communicate. She hadn’t anticipated fish!
“No one told me that! Idiots! I needed to know that! Blast these security imbeciles. Paranoid fools. The gas doesn’t work under water or where someone breathes bottled air or air in a ship or plane. I anticipated those in ships. I’d planned the satellites to take care of them if they try to escape off the planet. But these fish could really be a problem. We have no way to wipe out fish and leave the planet habitable.”
“Who will they tell? And how will they identify us?”
“I don’t like loose ends.” Likasif went to the computers and checked through the now unlocked data to see if fish could be in the cities. With relief, she read that they travelled in heavy containers on trolleys and were not self-propelled. Someone would have to transport them and there would be no one left alive to do so. Well, that was all right then. They would just die in their containers so it didn’t matter what they saw. Because the ones on land would indeed see who was in charge. Most of the senior staff would be Keulfyd.
Slirtmif hadn’t thought of fish being on land so tried to reassure her, “The Force’s ships and planes have no identification on them so even if the fish in the oceans do see them they cannot identify them. And many races have Flying Fortresses. The majority of the Keulfyd stay on the ships and won’t be seen and a polyglot of races will be seen on the ground. There will even be some Keulfyd dumped with those killed in the cities—unhappily, there is always some collateral damage. Some of the Keulfyd among the attack force will be dumped at the end too, among the others that will have outlived their usefulness, are considered disposable or who have upset someone. Most of these will be unaware of this little change to their retirement plans. If their bodies are seen, that will throw suspicion off us,” he reasoned.
Amused and somewhat relieved, mostly by what she had just read, General Likasif continued her plans and dismissed the fish. She had anticipated some opposition apart from the cities. She had been told there was also an indigenous population, numbers unknown, “wont be much of a problem.” Now she understood the grin on the face of the spy that had told her that. So now there wouldn’t be any problem. She forced her concentration back to the job but remained uneasy. She had expected to wipe out the indigenous population with the gas and was disconcerted that she couldn’t. Why hadn’t they told her? She went back to her plan.
“All incoming supply ships are about to be warned off. The satellites will deal with that. Most of the further out incoming ships will shut up and scram. Even if they do try to give an alert, which they will be very aware could be very risky to their health and well-being, given that the satellites will promptly detect the message and chase them, it will take too long for any force to organise and get here. But the jammers on the satellites will fix most of that. It should be almost impossible for a signal to get through and if it does, they will almost certainly send any signal to the Patrol. What did you do about them?”
“Their communication officers have been very well paid to ignore and delete any message. This being the low season, and the planet being not fully operational yet, there should be enough satellites to deal with the estimated five to ten thousand planes and ships in the air ferrying people and supplies around, into and off the planet. The next security patrol ship is not due for forty-five, maybe sixty days. It will regretfully report the planet as abandoned.”
“Yes, and the buyer is ready with finance, partners and security all waiting and will tender an offer to take over the planet.” They both chuckled. She went on, “This helpful, philanthropic buyer is all ready to rescue the planet and its poor defeated original owners. Not to mention its creditors and investors who will be screaming. Paying all of them off with a healthy profit, instead of the loss they would be anticipating after this, paying any Priskya debt and a huge deposit to the Galactic Bank’s representative should do the trick. It will look like a nice rescue of a poor pirated planet. Our race will get another planet. We will get our booty and the booty of most of the very unfortunate pilots, mercenaries and support staff that will mysteriously disappear. Dead mouths don’t talk. We have buyers waiting for the plunder too.”
Likasif loved the planning. Her ungainly bulk shivered in anticipation. “Our twenty-sixth planet. Nice climate, low gravity, rich in minerals, developed a bit, if a bit remote. Nothing else in this area of space.”
Slirtmif was enthusiastic: “This planet has been well set up. The infrastructure will support two hundred million of us just as it is now. And its infrastructure is modular, built to expand.”
“That’s typical of the Ridianit,” said Likasif. “They are good planners, we
ll organised, logical and sound builders. Credit where it’s due. Nice of them,” she added.
Alien Alliance Page 18
