The admiral gave a command into his comm. Seconds later, an escort appeared in the doorway.
“Mr. Hardy, please follow Citizen Bamre to the shuttle bay. He will see to it that you are away whenever you like.”
Mace turned and then stopped. “I do have one last question, Admiral. The Mawga and the Kaachi, they’re enemies, and yet they both answer to you. Why do you have them fight? I would think they would be of more benefit if they both worked together for you.”
The admiral sat forward. “That is part of what it means to be in the Union, Mr. Hardy. As founders, we may control the species under our command to a certain extent, but we may never allow them to join forces. Hence the rules we have laid out for each of them to abide by. Skirmishes are kept to a minimum, even if they believe they are at all out war. Losses on either side are also minimized, and for us, we only need show favor to one or the other to bring things back into balance. The result is that the five species who report directly to us are always looking to best each other. It keeps them competitive, and motivated to achieve. Provided they accomplish their goals, each species lives a rather peaceful and rewarding life.”
Mace nodded. “And in the meantime the founders get fatter and happier off their work?”
The admiral smiled. “I believe you have a full understanding of the Galactic Union, Mr. Hardy. I do look forward to working with you.”
The nine Humans boarded the shuttle taking them back to the Rogers.
After a twenty minute flight, Mace walked toward the bridge. “The rest of you head into the conference room. I’ll be back in a few minutes. We’ll do a debrief and then get on with any discussions we need to have. I don’t want a word of this going out to anyone until I say it’s clear to do so. I don’t want Gnaga or the Mawga to know anything about this until we’ve all determined that the time is right.”
Gnaga came around a corner. “The time is right for what, Mr. Hardy? You are back. What happened? Were we successful?”
Mace stopped, placing his hand on Gnaga’s shoulder. “We were successful. I can’t tell you any details at the moment, but I promise to fill you in later. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have matters to tend to.”
Mace entered the bridge, picking out all those he considered his senior people. The consoles were staffed with replacements with strict orders to take flight if anything unusual were to happen, giving the others time to return to their stations.
The fourteen senior personnel were talking among themselves when Mace walked into the room. He closed the door behind him. “Ladies, gentlemen, we have a lot to discuss and some big decisions to make. First, just let me say that our assault of the Petunia was somewhat successful.”
Liam raised his hand. “Petunia?”
“Yes. The Dellus warship is named the Petunia. And if you’ll allow me to proceed we can discuss that later.”
Liam bowed his head in approval.
“The Petunia has been given over to us, along with her crew and her admiral, the latter for at least the time being. We also have two cargo ships that will be joining us. One has hydrogen refiners, enough so we will no longer want for fuel. The other carries nutrient bars.
“I’m told there are enough bars to feed a much larger organization than ourselves for a couple years. I’m not yet sure what that means, but it’s more than enough to keep us fed for much longer than we had. And if we have a trust issue with those bars being drugged we can always test them first.
“Now, it also seems we have new information about the Galactic Union and its makeup. And a better understanding of why the rules are what they are. Those same rules do not apply to the founders, though they are bound by their agreements with each other. Anyway, we’ll talk about that more later.
“What I’d like to discuss here today is what the Dellus admiral wants to offer us. You see, get this … he says he’s looking for an alliance with us. And you might ask, why would a founder species that has access to technology like that ship out there— which by the way has its own wormhole generator—why would they want an alliance with a scruffy ragtag bunch of Humans like us? Well, that in itself is a good story.”
Mace sat down in a chair. For nearly half an hour he talked about the Mawga and the Kaachi and their relations to each other. He talked about their subjugation to the Dellus species and their overarching relationship to the Union. And filled them in about Malcolm Stark and the deal he was trying to make with the Union, and what that would mean for all of mankind.
His extended speech ended with a single question: “Do we want to join with the Dellus in an alliance? Yes or no? This alliance would remain secret from the Union for some time. I think the admiral has big plans for us, and I’d like to know what those plans are before committing to this one way or the other. We don’t need to answer that question today, but it is one we will have to answer eventually, and I believe that answer will have to come soon.
“The longer we wait, the bigger Stark gets, possibly making him unstoppable. I’m betting he’ll want to know the full game plan from the Union before committing to anything. And once he knows, he’ll negotiate until the Union is on their last nerve with him. However, at some point he will accept their deal. We need to act before then.”
Discussions raged for hours, with points made for and against an alliance. When discussions reached the point where no new thoughts or proposals came forward, Mace called for a break. They were each to go about their daily tasks with the goal of meeting again the following day. Johnny, Jane, and Jasper followed Mace into the dining hall. They gathered a supply of nutrient bars and beverages and took positions at their favorite table.
Johnny started the conversation. “I would really like to get my hands on that ship to see what that wormhole generator is capable of. How much fuel does it take and how hard is it to come by? If they have a detector of some kind I’d like to scour the whole solar system with it.”
Jasper said, “Well, why don’t we get you a little pail and a shovel and you can go down there on the surface and dig for it?”
Johnny half smiled. “Har, har.”
Jane took a bite of her nutrient bar. “I have to wonder what the admiral’s plans are for that crew. Anyone else notice they didn’t exactly look like him? He’s kind of brown and yellow. They were a definite green. And their eyes were different.”
Mace nodded. “I noticed that as well. I know it was only by an inch or two in height, but the admiral seemed big in comparison. I have to wonder if that crew is an entirely different species.”
Jane asked, “If… no, let me restate that… when we take possession of the Petunia, are we going to crew it? I think we need to have a discussion with the admiral as to how many personnel it takes. If it’s all of us, do we mothball the Rogers for the time being?”
Mace tapped the comm on his arm pad. An image of the admiral floated just above.
“Admiral, how many people are required to crew that ship?”
The admiral replied, “The systems are highly automated. If simply moving from one place to another for a delivery of persons or property, one could get by with as few as five. If going into a fight, that number increases significantly. There are eighteen cannon turrets with each requiring two crewmen. There would be a minimum of five maintenance personnel on duty for damage control and another three for medical needs in the case of damage being taken.
“Add to that a half dozen support personnel and then multiply the lot by three to cover your shifts. That would be a crew of a hundred fifty, minimum. Personally, I wouldn’t dream of going into battle with fewer than four hundred. One hundred of those would be Marines to defend the ship should an incursion happen, such as what we just experienced.”
“Thanks, Admiral. I have a couple more questions for you. The crew that is with you now, what happens when we take over?”
The admiral replied, “They stay with you, you send them home, you dump them all down on the planet—whatever you prefer. This crew
is now yours to command, Mr. Hardy. Do with them as you will.”
Mace nodded. “OK. One final question: the crew you have with you, are they a different species?”
The admiral nodded. “The Fleck. They have been with us for centuries. Dependable. Hard working. And willing to do almost anything we ask. They aren’t good soldiers though. I don’t know if you notice, but they are very skittish. If you look at them wrong they will back away. With you Humans and your size, they run in terror.”
Mace held up a finger. “One last item. The wormhole generator, it takes that special fuel. How much does it use, and where would we get more? Is there a substantial supply aboard?”
The admiral brought up a small chart, passing it to the comm display. “This will give you the information you seek. It’s basically a combination of time, aperture, and distance. The bigger an aperture, the longer a time you want it open or the farther you want to go, the more it costs. As to the amount of fuel we have aboard, we are capable of two modest jumps. The first would take us to the rift, the second from the other end of the rift to our nearest colony on Zendia.”
Mace glanced around the table. “Anyone have anything else while we have him?”
Jasper said, “Yeah, I have a few.”
Mace passed the comm to Jasper’s arm pad before pointing. “Keep it clean.”
Jasper scowled. “This is a question about the Galactic Union and her military. From what we understand, the founders, such as yourself, have the big ships. We were told the Petunia is the third largest of your ships. I would like to ask how many of each of the three sizes does the Union and her founders have. And how much more capable is each of the next larger ships?”
The admiral smiled. “An astute and wholly expected question, Mr. Collins. The Petunia is a Dauntless-class vessel. She has twenty-four reactors powering eighteen battle cannons. I believe there are approximately sixteen hundred of this vessel class divided evenly among the founders.
“The ship above her is the Callista-class. Callista have forty-eight reactors, a fast charge well, and thirty-six battle cannons. She has the ability to fire two cannons simultaneously with a one second recharge time. For comparison, the Dauntless-class dreadnought, as you have seen, has a two second recharge. Each of the founders has fifteen Callista-class ships.
“Finally, the largest of the vessels, the Muhatha-class, is our capital ship. She has eighty-four reactors, can fire six battle cannons at once with a half second recharge. And she has a wormhole generator capable of transferring a fleet of a thousand ships a quarter of the way across the galaxy. Each founder has three such ships.”
Jasper nodded. “OK. How about defenses? What kind of damage can they take? The hull of that Dauntless seems a bit weak.”
The admiral pulled up another chart, passing it to Jasper’s comm. “This chart will give you the data you seek. As far as armor goes, we’ve found it to be far less valuable than one would think. The majority of our defenses come from the dampener fields. I believe you have already come to this conclusion since you were willing to come at us with no weapons. I would like to commend you on your achievement, by the way. That type of initiative is precisely why we are interested in your species.
“Now, as to your request for information on our defenses. As you can see, the Dauntless has a dampening field that is approximately eight times the strength of a normal Kaachi cruiser. We term the field strength as Lida. The cruiser offers twelve Lida. A shuttle? Two Lida. The Petunia, ninety-two Lida. A Callista, one hundred forty-four Lida. And the Muhatha, two hundred twelve. A single battle cannon can overcome a twenty-six Lida field.”
Jasper nodded. “Interesting. So your Muhatha ships can’t take each other out?”
The admiral smiled. “They were constructed as a deterrent, Mr. Collins. They can resist and destroy any other ship in the Union fleet. Those defenses and their equal distribution serve as points of stability. While they cannot kill each other, they are far more powerful than other warships and they can be devastating to a colony when used from orbit.”
Jasper asked, “What’s the limitation on your battle cannons? Can’t you just make more that are ever more powerful?”
The admiral shook his head. “I’m afraid, even as advanced as we are, we still do not have the knowledge we would like. The laws of physics as we know them cannot support a more powerful cannon. Studies into this very subject have been conducted for hundreds of your years. Our most brilliant minds have not been able to overcome those physical barriers. Perhaps one day a Human will have that honor.”
Mace thanked the admiral and closed the comm.
Jane said, “Every time I feel like I’m getting a handle on all this, I find out something new. We’re like babes in the woods out here. And I’m bewildered that the admiral would share such vital information with us. The Dellus must be desperate for us to join them.”
Mace added, “Desperate and highly motivated. I would have to guess that’s because of what they’ve seen in both us and Stark. Imagine us assaulting a world full of those little beings. That would be like a race of twelve-foot giants attacking Earth.”
Jasper asked, “So what’s our preferred plan going forward?”
Johnny leaned in. “I say we take possession of that ship. If more transducers are all that stand between that ship having the same defenses as a Muhatha, then I say we take it and ask for more transducers.”
“Adding more would be against the Union rules,” said Jane.
Johnny nodded. “It would. And I have to think that’s precisely what the Dellus are counting on with us. They want an off-the-books henchman to come in to do what they can’t as members. Personally, I’d like to take that ship and obliterate Stark’s fleet with it. A setback like that and his little kingdom would begin to splinter.”
Jane grabbed Mace’s arm. “Wait! Why did we not ask about the Australians? If the Kaachi report to the Dellus, the admiral would know where they are.”
A comm was opened again to Hatuk Gar. “Admiral, one more question. Our Australian friends that went through to the Kaachi, where are they?”
The admiral shook his head. “Your associates have been sent forward to the Union. It was the discovery of their existence through spies that brought the Union to seek an alliance with King Stark. The potential for millions of Human soldiers has them all aflutter. It is for that reason alone that I was sent to seek you out. The Dellus would prefer to see the Humans remain somewhat independent. If you are brought into the Union, you will never be allowed to leave. And you would no longer control your own destiny. As an ally to the Dellus Empire, you would have the possibility of ruling the galaxy alongside us as our equals.”
The admiral took a long breath. “Your Australian friends are being treated well, but their fates are no longer their own to determine. Our best hope is for them to be transferred back to Earth. Though I fear that is not likely to happen. Our liaisons at court tell us they will be divided equally among the founders. I’ve heard they may be used as enforcers to keep the lower tier species in line. The Union does well at that already. However, any amount of extra intimidation that can be applied from time to time is welcome.”
Chapter 26
*
Over the week that followed, possession was taken of the two cargo vessels, and hydrogen refiners were brought aboard the Rogers. Fully half the nutrient bars from the second ship were taken out to the storage site on Proteus. A request was made for more transducers and a shipment brought through a wormhole.
Mace sat in the conference room with his senior staff. “That’s it, then. We outfit the Petunia with double the transducers it currently has. According to the admiral, that will bring it up to the defense capability of a Muhatha ship. From there, we decide whether or not we want to transfer our command. I’d like to have some time on that boat before we decide to fully take it over.”
Jeff raised a hand. “With the supply of transducers we now have, why not load up the Rogers with a few more? Worst
case, we park it at Proteus and just make use of the Petunia.”
Mace nodded. “Excellent idea. The admiral indicated we can make full use of the Fleck to add the transducers to the Petunia. He says they could have that entire ship done in a day. All we have to do is ask.”
Jasper said, “I’d rather not allow them on the Rogers, if it’s all the same. Don’t trust ‘em.”
Johnny chuckled. “Well, you’re the DSO. I would think that entitles you to say who can or cannot come on this ship. We should bring your rocker aboard and you can set it up in the docking bay to keep watch.”
Jasper frowned. “I do miss my rocker.”
Mace stood. “Jeff, you want to handle the transducers for this ship while we head over to the Petunia?”
Jasper said, “I’ll stay here. I want to give those transducers a thorough scan before they’re brought aboard. All we need is for them to slap a beacon in one and they could follow us wherever we go.”
Mace smiled. “Mr. Collins, I know some people don’t take you seriously, and some find you hard-headed and annoying, but I’d like to say I’ve been thrilled with how seriously you take our security. We have enemies—we’re dealing with enemies right now. And they’ll likely remain our enemies for quite some time. Keep up the suspicions. They might just be the thing that saves us all one day.”
Jasper nodded. “Seeing as how my life is included in any bad scenario we might face, I’m more than happy to make a full effort.”
Johnny held out his hand with a set of car keys dangling from his fingers. “Great. Now how about bringing my shuttle around. We have business down on the surface.”
Jasper laughed. “Why on Earth are you carrying those with you still?”
Johnny shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it reminds me of home. You didn’t bring anything with you as a keepsake?”
Jasper grinned. “I brought myself. I think that’s more than enough. You probably keep a family photo in your wallet, too, I bet.”
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