That reminded me of history I had learned in high school. When Hernan Cortes invaded Mexico, he scuttled his ships behind him, so his men would have no alternative but to conquer the Aztec Empire. When I read that in history class, I thought that Cortes was a reckless fool. Now I considered that scuttling his ships may have been an act of desperation. If the Kristang on Paradise faced a similar situation, they would be very dangerous.
“This is bad news,” I said with a sigh. “Do you have anything worse?”
“Nope, Joe,” he said with clueless cheeriness in his voice. “That’s all the bad news for now.”
“Great. To avoid rumors flying around,” I looked at the people in the galley, “send your data to the entire crew. I need to talk with Chotek and Chang right away.”
As I was leaving the cafeteria, I passed by Sergeant Adams, who was gulping her hot coffee and getting ready to bolt out the door.
“Adams?”
“Yes sir?”
“Your aunt. How is she?”
“Fine. She has been in remission for seven years now. But she went through a lot of pain alone, and she didn’t need to. We’re family. We support each other.”
I got her message. By ‘family’ she meant the Merry Band of Pirates, and UNEF. “Let’s hope there is something useful we can do to support UNEF. To avoid exposure, we can’t even send them a sympathy card,” I added bitterly.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I quickly called together the senior military staff, plus Dr. Friedlander of the science team, to meet with me and Chotek. And, of course, Skippy. Chotek had already heard the bad news from Skippy before I was able to talk with him. I had anticipated an argument with the UN bureaucrat. Instead, to my relief, he agreed we needed to discuss the situation, and see if there was anything we could do to assist UNEF. “Everyone has heard that a Kristang battlegroup currently has space superiority above Paradise?” Everyone around the briefing table nodded. “The Kristang being back in control there poses an unacceptable risk to UNEF on Paradise, and we need to determine whether there is something we can do about the situation. Something we can do,” I glanced over at Chotek, “without exposing our presence. Skippy, let’s start with you. I want a way for us to assist UNEF on Paradise.”
“Ugh,” Skippy groaned. “Half the time when you’re talking, Joe, I have to guess what you are truly trying to say through a jumble of blah blah blah while you ramble around the point. It would help if you were more specific, Joe. Not only would it help me, it would help your own murky thinking process if you could define exactly what you want to accomplish.”
“What I want,” I said very slowly to give me time to think, “is-” What did I want? I wanted Skippy to magically beam every human on Paradise back to Earth, but he couldn’t do that. I knew that, because I had already asked and he told me no. He also said he hoped I had been joking about that. I was, sort of. Mostly. So, what did I want?
I wanted UNEF to be safe. Safer. Relatively safe. That meant, unfortunately, making sure the Ruhar kept control of Paradise. The fragile cease-fire on Paradise was the only thing keeping the Kristang from taking revenge on humans they considered traitors. If the Kristang had unchallenged control of the planet, they could slaughter and enslave humans with complete impunity. None of The Rules that governed combat between the Maxolhx and Rindhalu factions protected client species from being abused by their patrons.
Great. All I needed to do was to somehow arrange events so that a powerful starfaring species maintained control of a planet they didn’t want, in order for them to protect humans who the Ruhar wished would just go away. And arrange events without the Kristang, Ruhar or UNEF ever knowing we were ever there.
Easy.
Hey, we’d already saved Earth twice, how difficult could this be?
Think, Joe, think, I told myself.
Break the problem down into manageable pieces, then solve each piece. Think of the problem as an enemy, and defeat them in detail. The situation had been much more favorable to us having a chance to influence events, before the Kristang battlegroup arrived and established space superiority around Paradise. With the battlegroup in firm control, the default situation was the Kristang merely needing to hang on, until the Ruhar eventually grew tired, negotiated a settlement and evacuated the planet. Before the Kristang battlegroup surprisingly jumped into orbit, the Ruhar could have kept the planet or not, it was their choice. We needed to make continued possession of Paradise the Ruhar’s choice again.
We needed to eliminate that Kristang battlegroup.
“Here’s what I want; a way to take out that Kristang battlegroup, in a way that the Kristang and the Ruhar don’t know we are involved. Without that battlegroup, the Kristang will not be in such a strong position to negotiate to get Paradise back. Without that battlegroup, the Ruhar can drive a hard bargain on Paradise, and maybe the Kristang won’t be able to offer a sweet enough deal. Maybe the Ruhar won’t be tempted by the Kristang’s offer, and they keep the planet. Maybe there is even something we can do behind the scenes to make the Ruhar decide to keep Paradise. Without that battlegroup, UNEF isn’t in immediate danger of being wiped out. As long as that battlegroup is in orbit, the Kristang have the upper hand in negotiations, and the Ruhar are much more likely to surrender the planet permanently. That’s, that is the simplest way to state the problem, Skippy. No magical beaming UNEF back to Earth, just a simple military problem; find a way to deal with that battlegroup.”
“Simple?” Skippy was incredulous. “You think that is simple? Unbelievable. Over twenty Kristang warships, not counting their support ships. Opposing them are a handful of Ruhar warships and our pirate ship. We can’t really count the Flying Dutchman as a combat asset, because we can’t openly engage in combat. Also, you need to remember that our pirate ship is pretty beat up; we would have difficulty directly engaging those Kristang cruisers, or even a pair of destroyers.”
“I didn’t say it would be simple. We understand that we are facing a substantial combat force, and we need to take them out of the equation-”
“When you say ‘deal with’ or ‘take out’ that battlegroup,” Skippy interrupted, “you really mean destroy those ships, right? Is that what you want? It would be super helpful if you got straight to the point, Colonel Joe.”
“Yes,” I suppressed a sigh. Skippy was being extra difficult today. “I want to destroy all or a substantial part of that battlegroup’s combat power. That means destroying those ships, or at least knocking out their weapons. If we can reduce the battlegroup’s combat power, if we can even the odds, then the Ruhar may decide it is worth sending reinforcements. Right now, the Ruhar fleet doesn’t want to commit the number of ships that would be required to take on the Kristang. The Ruhar aren’t willing to commit that many ships to reestablish control of a planet they are trying to negotiate away. If we can somehow even the odds so it is tempting for the Ruhar to retake the planet, then they may come back, even if it is only so they will have greater bargaining power in giving away the planet.”
“Then we’ll be right back to the problem of the Ruhar selling the planet out from under UNEF,” Chang reminded me.
“Yes, but that is not the immediate problem. We need to first deal with the Kristang having unchallenged control over the planet; bring the situation back to equilibrium,” I surprised myself for using that word. Where had I learned that? “If the odds are back to even between the Ruhar and the Kristang, there might be something we can do to influence the negotiations for transferring control of the planet. Right now we don’t have that option.”
“Well then, Joe,” Skippy mused, “you have finally framed the actual objective; destroying the Kristang battlegroup. Now I can start thinking about how to do that.”
“Great. Is this where you go silent, and your little beer can gets warm while you crunch like a trillion variables?”
“Please, Joe, way more than a trillion,” he snorted derisively.
“Understood. Can I assume you can’t do
something simple like use the Thuranin nanovirus to seize control of those Kristang ships?”
“Duh? No, Joe, I would have mentioned that right away. Nope, I can’t do that this time. Even my awesome powers are only able to activate the nanovirus on three ships at one time, because of the distances involved in space combat. Also, the Kristang task force is wisely dispersed far around Paradise; I could only get a maximum of four ships within range from any particular point in space. So using the nanovirus is impractical. The reason that trick worked when we first arrived at Earth is those two Kristang ships were relatively close to where we jumped in. Here, if we jumped into low orbit, I could only activate the nanovirus on three ships. The other seventeen warships would see what happened, and we would never be able to use that trick again. The Thuranin would also lose the secrecy of the nanovirus being embedded aboard Kristang ships, although I don’t think any of us will be weeping for those little green pinheads. Remember, Joe, the Thuranin designed the nanovirus for the purpose of taking control of Kristang ships at the time they are attached to a Thuranin star carrier; it is a short range technology. And in case you’re thinking we can jump in far away from Paradise and sneak up on the Kristang in normal space, forget about it. When I rebuilt the Dutchman, I wasn’t able to bring our stealth capability back to full effectiveness, due to lack of the proper raw materials. Even the Kristang’s crappy sensors would eventually detect this large ship sneaking around in Paradise orbit.”
“Understood, Skippy,” I said with a frown. The truth was, I had been hoping he could use the nanovirus trick in some way. “And, again, thank you. You did a remarkable job rebuilding the ship out of moon dust, the Merry Band of Pirates does appreciate it more than we can say. All right, Mr. Chotek, at this point I think we let Skippy consider our options, while my staff also tries to think of a strategy to destroy all or most of the Kristang battlegroup around Paradise.”
Chotek nodded agreement. “These military matters are your area of expertise, Colonel Bishop. Mr. Skippy, I am sure your incredible brain power will develop a range of innovative solutions for us to consider.”
“Working on it right now,” Skippy acknowledged. “Although I don’t know why you can’t simply use the projectors. That’s why I have difficulty understanding your concepts of military strategy, you don’t take advantage of the easiest-”
“What projectors?” Chang asked before I could open my mouth.
“The terawatt maser cannon projectors buried beneath the surface of Paradise, duh,” Skippy explained. “Damn, you monkeys are especially dense sometimes. Like a neutron star, only not as smart. And more smelly.”
Chang and I shared a dumfounded look. I was the first to speak. “There are giant maser cannons on Paradise? Why haven’t the Ruhar used them against the Kristang?”
“Yes there are maser cannons, big ones,” Skippy’s voice carried a mocking tone. “Cannons capable of delivering over ten terawatts in a single shot. Cannons like that can burn right through a starship’s shields, especially if the ship is close, like in orbit. To answer your moronic question, the Ruhar can’t use the projectors because they don’t know about them, duh. Man, do you even listen to yourself talk sometimes? Hmm, maybe hearing your own stupidity is too painful for-”
“Skippy!” I shouted in frustration. “I did not know about any projectors. Are these projectors something UNEF built?”
“Huh? Wow. This is truly a breakthrough. Joe, that may be the dumbest thing you ever said. We should have a cake to celebrate the occasion. A banana cake. UNEF constructing maser cannons? Ha! Out of what, mud and sticks? No, UNEF was not involved, they also have no idea there are powerful planetary defense cannons beneath their feet. The Kristang installed those projectors, Joe. And what do you mean you didn’t know about them? I told you all about it like a long time- Hmm. I’m sure I did. Did I? Oh, boy,” his voice trailed off. “I’m sure that I told somebody. Or maybe not. Anyway, you know about it now. So, we’re good. Yup. Goodness all around.”
While Chang buried his head in his hands, I mimed choking something. “Skippy, if you had a neck, I’d choke you. How can you forget to tell us something that important?”
“Hey, there is a ginormous amount of data rattling around in my brain, Joe, I can’t keep track of everything you monkeys don’t know,” he grumbled. “Everything you don’t know wouldn’t fit inside the freakin’ galaxy.”
Chotek took a deep breath. “Colonel Bishop, I am beginning to see the difficulties you have in working with our super-smart alien friend.”
“Oh, shut up, Count Chocula,” Skippy said defensively. “Anywho, Joe, you know now.”
“Details, Skippy,” I said quietly, “we could use some details. What you said doesn’t make sense. If the Kristang installed those projectors, how are we supposed to use them? Any why didn’t the Kristang used them against the Ruhar ships in orbit?”
“And I would like to know,” Chang asked, “how could the Ruhar not know about these weapons? The Ruhar have occupied this planet for-”
“Ugh!” Skippy groaned. “Damn it! If you will stop pestering me with ignorant questions, I will attempt to smack some knowledge on you. I’m not confident that will be successful, but I am willing to give it my best shot.”
“We would appreciate being smacked down upon, Oh Great One,” I said sarcastically.
“Assuming that was not an attempt at sarcasm, Joe, here is the story. The Kristang clan that originally settled this planet installed the projectors, to protect their assets, mostly from other Kristang clans. When that original Black Tree clan lost the planet to the Ruhar, they put the projectors into a dormant mode, and did not tell any other clans about the projectors in case the Black Tree clan has an opportunity to come back. They didn’t want their own maser cannons being used against them.”
I had to shake my head to make sure I wasn’t having a bad dream. “These projectors have been buried beneath the surface all this time? Why didn’t the Black Tree use their maser cannons to stop the Ruhar from taking Paradise away from them in the first place?”
“Again with the stupid questions, Joe,” Skippy chided me. “The reason the Black Tree lost Paradise was because the Kristang and Thuranin were defeated in a major fleet engagement elsewhere in the sector. By the time a Ruhar task force first jumped into the skies above Paradise, the fighting was over. The Black Tree clan handing over Paradise was a mere formality at that point; there was no space combat near the Paradise system. So, they gave up the planet meekly, while keeping their aces in the hole concealed. The Black Trees originally came to Paradise in order to excavate the remains of a crashed Elder ship, and by the time the Ruhar arrived, the Black Trees were fairly certain they had already taken away all the valuable artifacts. Ha! They didn’t know anything about me! Stupid lizards. Serves them right.”
He paused. “Wow. I’m not going to be interrupted with moronic questions? Amazing. So, to respond to your other inquiries, neither the current Kristang Swift Arrow clan nor the Ruhar know anything about the projectors. Neither of them even suspect. At the time that the Ruhar first arrived there, the Kristang population was less than ten thousand, and the Black Tree’s presence there was already in the process of winding down. The Ruhar never thought the Black Trees would go through the expense of constructing antiship defenses on such an unimportant planet.”
“Why did they?” Chotek asked.
“Because,” Skippy explained without pausing for an insult, “almost the first item the Black Tree found here was a functional Elder power tap; that is one of the most valuable items in the entire galaxy. As soon as they found that, they hoped they would find others, so they installed projectors to protect their investment. Of course, they never told the Swift Arrows or any other clans. The projectors are buried deeply, roughly one hundred meters, and each is surrounded by a special type of stealth field. Any sensor scans by the Kristang or Ruhar would find only rock or whatever material surrounds the projectors. The projectors are also located in ar
eas that are unsuited to agriculture; the Black Trees thought ahead far enough to consider another group may someday build farms and villages on Paradise. They didn’t want someone to accidently discover a projector by digging a foundation or a well.”
For a minute, you could have heard a pin drop around the conference room, while we all considered the enormity of what Skippy had revealed. Sergeant Adams, ever focused on practical issues, broke the silence. “Skippster,” she addressed him by the nickname only she could get away with, “you said we could use the projectors. Is this something simple that you can hook up remotely, from the Dutchman?”
“Aha! Finally, an intelligent question” Skippy sounded pleased. “You could learn from Sergeant Adams, Joe. You have grown substantially dumber since putting those Colonel’s eagles on your uniform. No, Sarge Marge,” Skippy said teasingly, using the nickname that only he could get away with. “Before the Black Trees left the planet, they put the projectors into dormancy, anticipating it might be hundreds or even a thousand years before the Black Trees might return. They disconnected each projector from its power source, and from the control module, specifically so an enemy could not remotely activate a projector. Restoring projectors to function will require someone to physically reestablish connections. Once the connections are established, I can program their targeting sensors through something as simple as a zPhone network.”
“We will need to go down to the surface,” Adams concluded.
Chotek held up a hand. “Sergeant, sending a party to the surface of Paradise, presumably to excavate these projectors, would pose a substantial risk of exposure to us. That is something I cannot authorize,” he shook his head, but he didn’t look us in the eyes when he said that.
“Sir,” I said with a warning look at Adams, whose jaw was already clenching. “I believe there is an alternative that does not pose a risk of exposure to us. Or, it poses a minimal, very manageable risk. We do not need to send a party to the surface; UNEF is already there. They can reactivate the projectors for us. All we need to do is determine a method for informing them about the projectors, and provide instructions for bringing them back online.”
Paradise (Expeditionary Force Book 3) Page 25
