The Final Act: Book III: The Settlement Chronicals

by W. J. Rydrych

Commander Geer added, "the cost is high, but so are the potential payoffs. I think we should go ahead."

  Faud nodded again, "I see that. It might also make it easier to involve the Alpha 2 Gath leaders in negotiations if that ever appears possible.."

  After a moment Faud nodded, "do it," then got up to leave.

  Below the surface at Beta 3 . . . .

  Gath-1 scrolled through the pages of the display, reading the pilot's reports from the last probing action against the blockading fleet. Since the initial battle they had limited their attacks to these small probes with a few ships aimed at trying to analyze the alien’s weapons and tactics. It was apparent it would be a long, drawn out conflict before they could seriously hope to break the alien blockade. Keeping their hangers operational had been a major struggle, with the aliens immediately concentrating their fire as soon as a hanger door opened.

  Switching the display, Gath-1 began examining the production and supply records, and comparing them with the damage assessment records of the battle of several months before. There were clear shortages which must be corrected before production could replace their material losses, which had been heavy. The first steps to conserve resources and expand supplies had been agreed to and orders to begin implementation given. Even now some of the residential areas were being cannibalized for the metals sheathing the walls and ceilings; but space for the population had always been limited.

  Yesterday, at the council meeting, a reduction in population from the current eleven billion Gath to under five billion by the end of the year was approved, and implementation would start as soon as that decision filtered down. With the restrictions on new births, and the selection criteria for the reduction decided, the population would stabilize at well under five billion by the end of the year.

  Fuel for the ships was a more difficult problem. Formerly fuel was obtained from asteroid belt material, but now it could only be obtained from increased tunneling into the planet itself. Stepped up boring down to the planet's core to tap the planet's internal heat would provide for heating the underground warrens for the residence sections and the hydroponic gardens, allowing diversion of other fuel sources to military use.

  As soon as they could replace their losses they would again try to break the blockade, which they were sure they could do. But it had become clear it would take more than they presently had, and their expenditure of resources on weapons might have to be reduced eventually. That, or further population reductions would be required. The predictions of their experts indicated that, with the additional energy from the planet core and the salvaged materials from the abandoned living quarters they could sustain the population of five billion for at least ten of their years, each of which was over double an Alpha 2 year, and still continue the present diversion of resources to weapons. And if that weren’t long enough? They could just reduce the population further.

  In time, they were sure, even if the blockade couldn't be broken, the aliens would tire and leave. They had forever, the aliens did not.

  Flipping the screen to his private file, Gath-1 slowly went through some of his displays of Tuk, which he missed. It was only after the loss of Tuk’s moonbase that he had been recalled from his former assignment at Tuk, where he had led the conquest and ruled the planet under the name of Gath-Tuk-1. Once on Gath he had been first promoted to the advisory council, and later promoted to replace the former leader, who had been blamed for much of the mismanagement that had led to the loss of Tuk, and given his new name of Gath-1.

  Gath-1's rise in the Gath hierarchy had been meteoric by Gath standards. His family had not been one of the ruling elite, and his advancement had been based on merit. As the leader of the military assault on Tuk, and then its ruler, he was the only Gath with experience both in warfare and in dealing with the aliens. While he had accepted his promotion as a duty, he missed Tuk. In his years there he had grown fond of the surface with its warmth and varied vegetation, so different from the cold, barren Gath.

  CHAPTER 12: Clouded Future

  (Dec 15, Alpha Year 55): The last two years had seen many changes on Alpha 2. The colony was thriving, and larger than it had ever been. New Athens was largely rebuilt, although much of the construction was temporary housing for the new colonists. New wharves were under construction for the new vessels beginning to come from the ship yard. Long hours and primitive living conditions were the norm, not the exception; it had been hard on everyone.

  But still, even with the evident progress clouds were on the horizon. A big development had been the change in relations with the Kraa. With the death of Kraa-Ki central control had begun to erode, with Kraa-Kuk unable to hold the widely dispersed Kraa together. Gradually the stronger of her sisters or progeny, especially those in the more remote areas, had asserted their independence. Sage continued to work with Kraa-Kuk, who still controlled the southern and central Kraa packs, but the northern packs had begun to revert to the anarchy that had reigned prior to the unification of Kraa-Ki; some even venturing west.

  These northern packs were all 'pure' Kraa packs. The mixed Kraa-Torgai packs that had been in those regions had either been killed or had fled to the area controlled by Kraa-Kuk. Quanah, as well as Jeff, had spent much of his time in recent months with the military expeditions sent to control these northern packs.

  Kraa-Kuk and her packs were still following the treaty originally set by Kraa-Ki, which included peaceful coexistence with the Torgai and colonists. Even now they were, with the help of the colonists and their Torgai pack members, beginning to engage in limited agriculture and livestock herding. While agricultural pursuits of necessity were the domain of the Torgai pack members, the Kraa proved themselves in the area of livestock raising and herding.

  Perhaps some day the Kraa could become as much a part of the Alpha 2 economy as the rapidly progressing Torgai. And as the number of Torgai included in the packs increased, those Kraa under Kraa-Kuk were developing a unique blended culture of their own.

  While Sage had attempted to gain the support of Kraa-Kuk in moving against the northern packs, it was of no avail. Kraa-Kuk had all she could do to keep her own packs disciplined. And, Sage admitted, Kraa-Kuk was probably right; having her packs in close proximity to the northern packs could lead to more defections.

  But while progress within the colony itself had been rapid, all was not well. With most of the colony newcomers, friction was natural between the old and the new. Kevin Murphy was increasingly unable to cope with some of the new colonists, many of whom were demanding free elections, and had appealed to Admiral Collins for his intervention.

  On the Halsey . . . .

  Kevin sat in Admiral Collins' quarters, along with Admiral Sixkiller, discussing the problem of melding the new and old colonists. Kevin had proposed a solution to Tom, who had agreed to accompany him to discuss it with Admiral Collins.

  "It may be too soon to go to an election process for the colony government, but if we don't take some steps soon it'll only become worse," Kevin said. "We've had people refusing assignments, and some physical violence between the factions. It's reaching a critical point."

  "You haven't said what you think, Tom," Admiral Collins said, turning his head to look at Sixkiller.

  Tom glanced over at Collins, "Kevin's described the situation accurately, but I don't know if my assignment can make it change. If you think it would, fine. That's if you think I can be spared from my fleet assignments."

  Admiral Collins thought for a moment, "well, you'd be a big loss, but the situation below may be more critical."

  Turning to Kevin, "how exactly would he be used?"

  "Well, as a first step," Kevin responded, "Tom had a big role in moving the new manufacturing facilities down, and those are the areas heavily staffed by the new colonists. I'd like to make Tom my Minister of Industry, responsible for factory and laboratory operations. He's one of their own, and I think would be well accepted. Long term? Right now our colonial leaders are getting old. I'm almost 70, and Tom Fo
rd is the only reasonable current replacement; but frankly he's not interested, and also one of the 'minority' old colonists. Other than him no one stands out."

  Looking at Tom, "I think Tom is the man to replace me, but needs to be looked at as a 'colonist' first; right now he's viewed as 'fleet'. When we move to an elected leader he can’t simply be ‘ordained’ as I was."

  On the Stockholm . . . .

  Faud sat around a coffee-table in the lounge with 'Gert' Foley and Rocco Petri enjoying a late night drink before retiring. Rocco Petri was in one of his usual low moods, having little to occupy his time. His role had always been civilian administration after the wartime footing ended and the flight to Sirius started, but it looked now like before the Gath problem was solved he would be too old to be of any use. He was already in his late 60s, and by the look of it the war could continue until he was well into his 80s. For him taking this mission assignment had been a mistake.

  Even calling the Beta 3 blockade a war was almost a misnomer. The situation had stabilized, with the Gath launching periodic minor attacks, some appearing more as probing actions and others to wear away the defenses, rather than a serious attempt to break the blockade. It was becoming a war of attrition on the part of the Gath who appeared willing to sacrifice several of their own ships for each blockading weapons platform or attack ship destroyed, while they themselves hunkered down in their underground facilities. Now instead of large hangers with hundreds of ships, the Gath used hundreds of small hangers with just a few ships each from which they could launch ships and again secure the doors before the hanger-killing missiles could reach them. And when those ships and hangers were destroyed they just built more.

  Even now, with the shortage of material for nuclear warheads, conventional explosive heads were used for the smaller hangers. The ‘hit and run’ Gath tactic was like wearing a bolder away with wave action; the Gath could keep at it for hundreds of years while the blockading fleet could not.

  Except for placing weapons platforms in orbit the fleet had also limited its offensive actions, seeing little point. The hangers were the only targets available, and damage to them was usually repaired in weeks, if not days. Even when they could stop more than a limited number of Gath ships from leaving a hanger, they could always find another hanger in which to land. As long as the Gath stayed underground there was little the fleet could do.

  Now, over two years after the initial battle, the war for Beta 3 had developed into a waiting and watching game.

  Faud was concerned. He had expected frantic attempts by the Gath to break the blockade, allowing the fleet to decimate their ships, but instead they had just hunkered down. This is exactly what his Gath Strategy Team had said would happen; that the Gath would hold back until they had developed what they thought was overwhelming strength before launching any serious attack. With each month Gath strength would increase, while his stayed the same or was weakened through the erosion caused by the low-level Gath assaults.

  The Gath certainly realized the fleet couldn't stay forever, and in their underground world the existence of the blockade might seem more an annoyance than a serious threat. That was the real issue Faud had been wrestling with. If the Gath didn't come out and fight, what could they do to disengage? What was the 'end game'? And disengage they must, or abandon the Sirius mission completely.

  They had promised the colonists a minimum of ten years free of Gath attack, and that meant the blockade must stay in place for seven to eight more years; until Alpha Year 62 at least. But it was now clear that wasn't enough, even if the fleet was moved back to Alpha 2 for its defense. The only option might be Gert's secret project, but that was still many months, and possibly years, from fruition.

  Below, on Beta 3 . . . .

  Gath-1 walked slowly through the hanger area filled with newly built attack ships as the Gath pilots stood at attention. The ship numbers were higher and the weapons better than they had ever been. The only limitation now was production of fuel for the ships, which was at a fraction of what was needed, and lack of some critical metals for the ships themselves. It would be at least a year before they would have enough stockpiled to make a really meaningful assault on the blockade.

  However Gath scientists were finally making progress with a new propulsion system that, while not as efficient, could operate with available materials. Only the final kinks had to be worked out of the process. Today would be the first actual test, when several hundred ships fitted with prototypes of the new system would launch what was intended to appear as a major attack on the alien weapons platforms now circling the planet.

  The orders to the pilots had been specific. Test the characteristics of the propulsion systems and, at the same time, determine exactly how the alien fleet responded to what they would see as a major attack, an attack much larger than the limiting probing actions of the preceding year. To this end the ships had been re-fitted with the type of weapons systems used during the earlier battles, not the new, improved systems installed in the rest of the fleet. They were learning from the aliens; keep your true strength secret.

  Gath-1 fully expected to lose most of the ships, but the information collected made it well worth the sacrifice. If everything proved out, they could go into full production and begin retrofit of their existing fleet, plus add thousands more. Then, within a few years they could consider an overwhelming attack on the blockading fleet itself.

  And if a single attack didn’t succeed? No matter; as long as they could destroy at least one or two of the blockading motherships with each attack he would be satisfied. They had the capacity to replace the loss of several thousand ships every year, and soon would have the capacity to provide all the necessary fuel to keep it up year after year.

  CHAPTER 13: Armageddon

  (Mid July, Alpha Year 60): No one would recognize Alpha 2 for what it once was, and no one could mistake the evolving culture for that of Earth or the original Alpha 2. While a few pure Torgai bands continued to roam the highlands, most had moved nearer the colonist areas and incorporated themselves into both the economy and culture. They were proving indispensible in many of the farming and livestock raising areas, and while they stayed clear of the human communities they had become common in the border areas.

  The Kraa to the east had changed as well, hardly recognizable in a semi-settled life with several Torgai the norm in each pack. Only in the northern forests and in northern areas on the eastern side of the mountains did Kraa bands continue to run wild, but they had learned to avoid excursions beyond their borders; it became a live and let live situation, with the Kraa-Torgai bands taking on the role of policing against incursions.

  In effect, the Human-Torgai and Kraa-Torgai were becoming two compatible cultures developing in parallel.

  Tom and Wren Sixkiller leaned back against a pair of trees in the wooded grove watching their children, Sage and Quanah and their families busy playing a game of 'tag' football in the clearing. The older children, ranging in age from three to five years, attempted to join in, with their parents 'playing' their parts of allowing themselves to be tagged. Wren held Quanah's youngest daughter, barely six months old.

  All their children and their families lived year-round in the colonist neighborhood of the former village of Suth, but at least four times a year returned for a reunion. While their home was at the Torgai center, all were often called away by their duties for short periods.

  It was nearly six years since Tom had gone to work for the Kevin Murphy colonial government, and nearly three years since he had been elected president following Kevin's retirement. During those years he had succeeded in melding the old-colonists and the new arrivals into a thriving society, and the old boundaries between 'old timers' and 'newcomers' had faded. While the early years had been difficult, requiring long hours and extensive travel, now, at age 62, he was finding more time to pursue his own interests. The young members of his cabinet were gaining experience and able to take over more of the load.

  New Ath
ens had grown into a busy seaport city of over 12,000 people, the largest city on Alpha 2. A modern city of well-spaced buildings, paved streets, parks, and with a business and commercial core surrounded by well maintained residential areas. Little sign of the ruined buildings of the earlier colonial era remained except a few areas conserved for historical purposes. A distance outside the city enclaves of light industrial buildings were connected to the city by road, walkway, and bicycle paths. Further distant the former Gath underground city called 'the Burrow', connected to the city-center by rail air-cars, housed laboratories, warehouses, factories, and hanger and repair facilities for the adjacent airport. Outside the city proper and its nearby industrial areas scattered farms or small agricultural communities, surrounded by fields or fenced-in enclosures containing cattle, showed the strong agricultural base that supported the population.

  While New Athens and its environs was the largest population center, others had also grown up over the years. Atlantia had re-established itself as a village with several hundred citizens, while other colonists were scattered over the larger islands engaged in fishing or agricultural pursuits. Of the other two cities that existed during the 'second colonial era', only New Orleans had been re-established, with a population nearly matching that of New Athens. As the entry to the resources of the river valley, and the rich fisheries off the delta, it was gaining increasing importance.

  No other concentration of any size existed, but thousands of other colonists resided in small agricultural villages to the east of New Athens, with some adjacent to Torgai villages in the foothills further east. In this eighth year of the third colonial era the human population of Alpha 2 had reached nearly 29,000 with the Torgai population over 15,000, supplemented from time to time by temporary visits from the several thousand persons remaining on the orbiting ship or those manning the military installations on the moons.