by Jeff Sims
Jack found the correct store and wandered until he found the men’s pants section. He verified with a store clerk that the advertisement was valid, and browsed for a pair of pants that mildly suited his taste.
A few minutes later he found an acceptable pair and went into the nearby dressing room to try them on for size. As he was removing them, he heard a voice say, “Hello Jack, I see you got my message.”
“Yes,” Jack replied. “I knew that we needed to talk. I was hesitant about trying to contact the embassy a second time though. I was afraid that someone would notice.”
Ambassador Bline was standing in the next stall. He had activated a personal privacy screen that surrounded both of them. Bline said, “Your caution was well advised. Do you have a copy of the reports?”
Jack slid a datacube holding both reports under the stall walls. Ambassador Bline read them while Jack finished trying on the pants. Jack looked at himself in the holoviewer and turned around a few times. He decided that he would never wear the Advranki pants. He put back on his old pants and patiently waited for Bline.
Bline yelled, “What is this? I sent you on one simple mission! You were supposed to go there and determine that it was a simple civilian space station; nothing more. You weren’t supposed to find the secret military facility.”
Jack said, “You said that you would show us exactly what you wanted us to see. I figured that you wanted the Alliance to know about the military presence.”
Bline calmed a little and said, “You are technically correct. Those were the parameters of your mission. You are forgiven. However, I think our business is now at an end. You will be given a buyout of half pay for your remaining two cargo missions.
“No.”
Bline responded, “You failed. I don’t reward failure.”
Jack said, “I have new information. Better information. To obtain this information, you will keep the existing contract in place and double the price for the remaining two trips.”
Jack walked out of his stall and walked into Bline’s stall. He offered his communication pad and said, “Sign.”
Bline considered it for a few moments. It was a bold move by the Solarian. Bline wondered exactly what Jack could have learned that would be worth that much money. Eventually, Bline realized that he simply had to know what the being knew. He grabbed Jack’s pad and signed the contract. Once done he said, “Okay, what do you know.”
Jack answered, “The Alliance knows that you are using Netos as fighter pilots. They searched the wreckage from the battle at Opron and found a Neto’s remains.”
Bline was stunned. He had been convinced that the Alliance didn’t know of Hiricula’s secret plan to recruit Netos for their military. He tried to cover his facial emotions as best as he could. Bline responded, “Nicely done Jack. That information is certainly worth double the price for the remaining two trips. Well done.”
Jack turned to leave. Bline asked, “Were you able to ascertain the true identity of the Solarian agent?”
Jack replied, “No. Obviously, the name given was false. I am still researching though.” Jack decided save that piece of information until he truly needed it.
Bline said, “Thank you, now go. I doubt we will speak again until after your trips have been completed.”
Bline had been planning on firing Jack after reading the report. However, after receiving the new information he decided that he may be a valuable asset. Besides, the shipping contract may now be a little high, but the construction crew really did need those materials on Solaria.
Bline walked back to the safety and security of his office and composed a message to the Hiriculan High Council. He used maximum encryption. He doubted that anyone could crack the encryption, but he left it vague just in case. The message simply said:
They know all about our friends. Everything was found at the station. B
……………………
The Ceremonial Master entered the formal Senate chamber and said, “All rise, the Senators are entering and the session is starting.”
The Alliance Senate consisted of eight members, one for each of the seven inhabited planets in the Alliance and one additional at large member. The at large member was always Advranki due to the simple fact that the Advranki were the most populous race. This meant the Senate was comprised of 4 Advranki, 3 Altians, and 1 Solarian.
Several accommodations had been made to the voting to ensure that no single race could pass a bill. The voting rules were such: (1) simple majority, bill passes, (2) Four members vote for the bill, including one member from each race, the bill passes, and (3) Four members vote for the bill, including at least one Advranki and one Altian, the bill is placed in temporary review / pass. The third outcome rarely occurs, but when it does it generally means that the Senate will adopt the bill as a pilot program or perhaps in a small area. This outcome requires a Senate member to take full responsibility for the pilot project.
Frank knew that Senator Amanda would vote against military action. Of the 3 Altian senators, only Korno would vote for the bill. Both Frank and Figur were going to vote yes. This means that the Senate was tied 3 to 3. Those six senators were entrenched in their positions and were not considering changing their vote. This left two Advranki Senators undecided.
Frank and the other 7 senators entered the chamber and took their respective seats. Frank gave everyone his favorite smile, but focused on the two undecided Senators. He has spent the last 2 days talking with them to ensure that the vote would go the way that he wanted it to go.
The Ceremonial Master said, “We are here today with an urgent request to discuss and debate bill 189.88.77, giving the military authority to make a preemptive strike against the illegal presence of a Hiriculan military base located on Spindle Station in the neutral system of Influenla.”
The Ceremonial Master continued, “This will be a straight yes/no vote. If the vote is yes then Admiral Dolen will have full authority to plan and execute the mission as he sees fit. Is this understood?”
He looked at each senator long enough to get a nod or a verbal okay. When everyone had given an affirmation, the Ceremonial Master concluded, “Admiral Dolen is here to today to present his plan. Admiral.”
Admiral Dolen walked to the podium and said, “Respects gentle beings.” He waited for the obligatory nods in response before beginning his speech.
Senator Figur stood and looked directly at Frank. It was clear that this time he was going to give a welcoming speech. Figur interrupted, or more precisely started talking the moment Dolen finished saying the words gentle beings.
Figur said, “Esteemed Admiral, thank you for coming today. I am positive that your task the last two days has not been an easy one. Preparing for battle never is. I want you to know that if military action is chosen, that I fully support you and our Navy.”
Dolen nodded at the comments and the polite applause that accompanied it. Dolen continued, “Thanks to our agents’ secret work, we have concrete information that the Hiriculans are breaking the treaty. Influenla is a neutral system. The Hiriculans are not allowed to have a military base in that system.”
Figur asked, “Have there been any requests from the Hiriculans to change the treaty and allow a base there?”
“No,” Senator Frank answered curtly.
Dolen said, “The plan is very simple. We are going to take a sizeable fleet to Influenla and demand that the Hiriculan military surrender their vessels.”
Senator Frank was a little surprised at the simplicity of Dolen’s initial statement after having two days to create a plan. He said, “Can you enlighten us with a few of the operational details?”
Dolen said, “Their main military force is inside the station. It consists of 7 total ships: 4 cruisers, 1 frigate, 1 destroyer, and one battleship. There is a second frigate on constant, active patrol. Our best case plan is that we appear, force the frigate to surrender, and surround the base before the Hiriculan fleet can launch. The worst case assumes that we are fa
cing 8 enemy ships in one cohesive battle force.”
Dolen paused and waited for an interruption or question. There were none, so he continued, “Therefore, we are going to take 2 full flotillas…”
Senator Figur interrupted, “Can you remind us what a flotilla is?”
Dolen continued without pausing, “The smallest naval designation without a battleship is a squadron and the smallest designation with a battleship is a flotilla. Specifically, a squadron consists of a minimum of 2 ships and a maximum of 6 and, again, doesn’t contain a battleship. One battleship acting in concert with at least one other ship is considered a flotilla.”
“Okay, so a full flotilla is?” Figur asked.
Dolen continued, “A full flotilla is 1 battleship, 2 destroyers, and 4 cruisers. Two or more battleships combined with any number of smaller ships can legitimately be considered a fleet.”
Figur concluded, “So therefore you are planning on sending a fleet of 2 flotillas, or 14 ships total.”
Dolen said, “Correct. We will overwhelm the lone frigate guarding the station as soon as we appear in Influenla. We will then possess a 2 to 1 advantage in tonnage should the Hiriculan fleet decide to engage us.”
Figur interrupted, “You mean a Hiriculan flotilla?”
Dolen continued, “Yes, the word fleet can technically apply to any group of two or more ships. The words are interchangeable.”
Frank asked, “Then what is an armada?”
Dolen sighed. He wondered if Frank was toying with him. They were going to send the number of ships that they were going to send. What they were called was irrelevant. However, Dolen answered, “A fleet can be used to describe any configuration of vessels, such as transports or freighters, but an armada can only be used to describe a fleet of warships.
Frank replied, “Thank you. Is that the entire plan?”
Dolen said, “Well, we have a secret in store for them, but I don’t want to tell more. Suffice to say that the key to this engagement is to overwhelm them initially and get them to surrender without fighting. I think my plan can accomplish that.”
Frank answered, “Well, please share with us any significant advancements. We are spending a fortune on weapons research. I understand that stronger ion cannons and matter generating defensive missiles are decades away, but hopefully we can dramatically improve the performance of our standard defensive missiles.”
Dolen: “Yes Senator. Work is progressing on that front. We have prototypes, but they won’t be ready in time to take with us to Influenla. However, we do have a full test planned when I return. I can invite you or any interested Senator that would like to witness the test.”
Figur asked, “You said a secret. Can you be more precise?”
Dolen: “We are going to bring two additional cruisers. One will guard our rear flank in Opron and the other will go to Trilon.”
Figur asked, “Trilon?”
Dolen continued, “Trilon would be a perfect place for the Hiriculans to hide a fleet. After we pass through Opron on our way to Influenla, they could move ships from Trilon to Opron and spring a trap that would effectively block our ability to resupply or potentially even leave. We do not want to become trapped in Influenla.”
“Why wouldn’t the Hiriculans simply hide the ships in Netron?” Korno asked.
Dolen answered, “Good question. They certainly could. However, we are constantly monitoring the Netron – Opron hyperspace lane. Therefore, we would have plenty of advance notification if they left from Netron.”
Korno conceded, “I suppose that makes sense.”
Dolen continued, “Trilon isn’t monitored. Plus, it is only a 2 hour jump from Opron. If a Hiriculan fleet was hiding there, they could be in the Opron system in less than a day.”
Frank asked, “So, what happens if the cruiser detects a fleet in Trilon?”
Dolen replied, “Simple, they would jump back to Opron and warn the other cruiser. That cruiser would then jump back to Conron and gather enough warships to break any blockade.”
Figur said, “The first half of the plan seems solid. Do we really need the Trilon piece?”
Dolen responded, “No. Not really. The odds of Trilon containing anything more than space dust are astronomical, but it is only one ship and it adds a layer of protection that we wouldn’t otherwise possess.”
Frank responded, “Admiral Dolen, I suggest that you send the Sunflower on the mission to Trilon. Captain Solear has proven to be adept at lone ship operations.”
There was a lengthy pause after Frank’s response, so the Ceremonial Master dismissed Admiral Dolen from the podium and said, “Esteemed senators, it is now time to vote.”
The voting went very quickly. Each senator pressed a button on their communication pad. The Ceremonial Master quickly reviewed the results and said, “The bill stands at 4 – 4 and has at least one Advranki and at least one Altian vote. Therefore, it will pass provided someone sponsors it.”
Frank was thrilled. His plan had worked perfectly thus far. Now, for the final piece. Frank stood, smiled politely at the other senators and said, “I propose that Senator Figur sponsor the bill. Figur has been an ardent supporter of the military and is, I believe, the perfect person to sponsor this bill.”
Everyone applauded Frank’s speech. Figur announced that he would sponsor the bill. Perfect. Now, if the military failed, Figur would be held accountable and if the military succeeded, Frank smiled wickedly to himself.
If the military succeeded, then Frank would make certain that Senator Figur would get all the credit he deserves. Who knows, a lone Hiriculan gunman might want revenge for their second straight military defeat.
Chapter 11
The Sunflower successfully completed the 11 hour jump from Earth to Waylon. They exited at the 14 minute mark from the system to avoid detection from Waylon’s automated traffic control system.
Since they had entered false coordinates into Sunflower’s transponder when they left for Earth, it was critical that they re-appear in Waylon at the exact location indicated by these false coordinates.
They executed two micro jumps to get back to the hyperspace charting platform, perfectly retracing their path from a month earlier. Once docked at the station, the humans loaded the final set of 2,000 hyperspace charting missiles aboard.
The first set of missiles had been fired missiles from Waylon toward Dunron and Hepitila. These missiles had found a system exactly where Old Solaria was supposed to be. Lorano assumed that he had already found Old Solaria. He was waiting for Captain Solear and Lexxi to return to confirm it.
The second set of missiles had been fired from Waylon toward Solaria. This set was intended to find and chart the gravity anomaly that Lorano had encountered when he had traveled from Conron to Earth using the original Conron – Earth hyperspace lane.
Lorano decided to essentially waste the third and final set of missiles. He programmed courses that would send the missiles in a broad arc away from all known systems. This area of space to his knowledge had never been explored. Lorano doubted they would find anything, but thought it would be fun to try.
He set the self-destruction timer on the missiles for 50 hours. After 50 hours, the signal would be so faint that the equipment would have severe difficulty tracking the missiles. Further, 50 hours was well beyond the range of a ship’s jump engine.
They repeated the process of micro jumping to a point just outside the gravity well, loading the fighters with missiles, and launching them through a hyper field directly in front of the cruiser. Lorano had been informed that the new pilots were flying this mission. Lorano didn’t particularly care who was flying as long as they could follow simple firing instructions.
The Sunflower again docked with station. Carank performed a status check, saw a completely green board and announced, “We have a problem.”
Clowy said, “What.”
Carank accepted the ‘what’ as a legitimate response to his question, so he continued, “We need to go to the co
ntrol room in the space station to review the reports from the last batch of missiles.”
Lorano asked, “Why is that a problem?”
Carank responded, “First, we have to walk through a ship filled with 70 humans and second, we have to do it in such a way that the humans still think we are on the bridge.”
“What?” Clowy somewhat legitimately asked.
Carank said, “If the humans realize we aren’t on the bridge and monitoring them, then they could steal the ship.”
Lorano responded, “Oh. Excellent point. We definitely don’t want to let a ship full of humans loose on the galaxy.” He paused for a moment and said, “I have an idea. Clowy, you can stay on the bridge by yourself.”
Clowy answered, “No. I would rather the humans steal the ship than be all alone with them.”
Lorano said, “I have another idea then.” He worked at his officer station for a few minutes, then said, “Computer, please patch me through to the entire crew.”
…Communication established…
Lorano announced, “Crew, this is a drill. I want to see how quickly everyone can get to their battle stations. I expect both sets of pilots to don their flight gear. One set must get in the fighters and the other set must report to the armory. Marines, get into your…human armored battle suits. The simulation ends when everyone is in place and presses their communication pads. The simulation starts now. Go!”
Lorano had almost said AAU’s, but caught himself in time. He couldn’t immediately remember the name of the new human armored suit. Fortunately, Carank reminded him, “It is called a Mobile Powered Suit or MPS for short.”
Lorano answered “Thank you” in a tone that clearly implied the opposite. Lorano said, “Let’s go. We have about 6 minutes.”
They waited about 1 minute for the humans to clear the caribou corridor and then they exited the bridge. They reset the force field and strolled down the corridor. Clowy smiled as a caribou followed her. She pointed to one in particular and said, “That one is my favorite, I painted it.”
