by R J Murray
“Alright. Time for the planet. Courageous, confirm ships are dead before joining any action. Use whatever means necessary to insure your safety. We want ships, but not at too high a cost. All other ships begin delta five assault.” Eric relayed to the fleet.
Astangii jumped back in to ten thousand kilometers and began scanning the base. The other three ships closed in and did the same. It took a few seconds before the base began launching missiles.
“We have multiple launches, at least ten nukes. Firing counter measures. Goblins away.” Chuck said.
“Jump to second attack point.” Eric ordered.
The Astangii did a micro jump of only five thousand kilometers, so quick the human eye didn’t have a chance to register the FTL effects. The other ships did the same after firing goblins. From the new positions they all fired at least one small nuke at the base and half a dozen torpedoes at surface installations.
The goblins began tossing out the globes and maneuvering toward the base, accelerating as they went. The globes began registering as twenty-megaton nukes and dodging counter fire while the real weapons impacted the planet. As soon as the weapons were away the ships did another micro jump further out and reloaded the tubes.
“We hit anything important?” Eric asked.
“Atmosphere venting in one area ten kilometers from the launch bays. Minor damage to surface installations. We are registering four nuke hits and ten of the torpedoes. They are sending out a lot of firepower and they took out the goblins. Torpedoes did take out six or seven weapon emplacements on the surface. It looks like this was a major base and we may not be able to do more than scratch the surface. I never attacked a planet before so I’m not sure what constitutes major damage.”
“Make another pass and hit them with phase two.” Eric ordered.
Five ships now appeared near the planet and spent the next fifteen minutes unloading every tube and weapon at the base. Ten large and ten small nukes, four goblins and twelve torpedoes headed for the base. Only five nukes hit the surface. They jumped back out and conferred.
“We may be out matched here. Look, we are getting two new ships out of this. If we stay we may lose that many ships to their fire.” Phil said. “We need to hit harder.”
“We have the big boy. We should launch goblins and as many torpedoes as we can then send in the big one. Launch the small stuff too, anything to draw fire away from the nukes.” Horace suggested. “I don’t like losing.”
“I don’t either, but I won’t risk losing any of us in a hopeless battle. If we can win, good, otherwise we go home. Any other suggestions along the lines of how to win? Use the big boy?” Eric asked.
“Use it. We don’t take prisoners anyway, not of these people.”
“Use it. Launch as much firepower as we can to draw fire and drop the big boy.”
“What he said.”
“I agree. One more heavy pass at least. If we see progress then we keep going. If not then we leave and try again later.”
“Fine. I’ll let you four go in first and unleash everything you have. I’ll jump in as close as I can safely with big boy, set the FTL jump to end a few kilometers inside the planet and jump out to rendezvous at escape coordinates. You all do remember the escape coordinates, don’t you?”
“I’ll drop a satellite to watch what happens before I jump out.” Phil offered.
“That’s fine. Just be careful. Astangii out.”
The five ships reloaded and jumped in unloading all tubes the moment they dropped out of FTL. The Astangii came in at ten thousand kilometers and fired the big boy. The missile jumped into FTL as fast as the Astangii did.
“On screen.” Eric called once they were at the escape coordinates.
They watched as the missiles either impacted and added to the orbiting debris field or were shot down by the defenses.
“Should be hitting by now. You think something went wrong?” Lee asked.
The planet’s surface suddenly ruptured at the Catroph base. It started small, a dim glow a few hundred meters wide and a section of rock lifted, then burst into a circle a hundred kilometers wide and spread out rapidly to ten times that size. The screens dimmed to keep the light within safe limits.
“Something most definitely went wrong. That is huge, too much for a hundred megatons.” Horace said.
“Looks like a Hell Bomb to me.” Reed suggested quietly. “I’m pretty sure we won though.”
~~~~~~
“You added an additional force field projector in front of the converter.” Martha said looking at the specs on the big boy.
“Yes. We were getting interference from the converter to the nav system since they were so close together. Did that do it?” Eric asked.
“That was one reason. The force field allowed the converter to survive the initial detonation for a small portion of time. The converter took in part of the energy and it set up a feedback and an incredibly unstable loop where the converter tried to convert energy into energy. The FTL drive we made as small as possible and as cheaply as possible since it was a one-use item. Once the primary shielding was gone it reacted with the planetary mass and added more energy. Finally, about one millionth of a second after detonation, everything blew and you got a reaction along the lines of a matter-anti-matter collision. I am surprised the planet survived.”
“Most of it survived. We will have to wait for a few months for the quakes to stop before we can land at the other bases and see what they have left. Can we do it again not by accident?” Eric asked.
“I believe so. Asi and I will work on it. It shouldn’t be too difficult, now that you have given us a base line to work from.” She grinned at the thought of more work in unexplored science. “How far above the surface did it detonate?”
“Three kilometers underground.”
“Underground? That is not possible. The FTL drive cannot interact with planetary mass and still function.”
“It did for a nanosecond. That’s all we needed to get it down that far. Once underground the FTL didn’t have to work anymore.”
From the look on Martha’s face, Eric had erased a goodly portion of what she considered possible and rewrote the laws of physics.
“Now I am very surprised the planet survived. Very. You have no idea of the magnitude of energy you released here, do you?”
“Once you get past big and very big, it all sort of lumps together for me.” Eric said.
Martha shrugged as she could not think of a suitable response. “Professor Querinto, could you take a look at this for a moment. I think we have a violation of the laws of physics as we understand them.”
“Really? So exciting! I am very glad I was invited to join the colony. So much to learn.”
~~~~~~
“You really do have Hell Bombs. I am not sure how to respond to that. Please do not use them on Earth or anywhere near this planet. There are a few people around I have some fondness for, even on Earth.” Juan continued reading the report of materials needed for more weapons.
“It was an accident, more or less. We tinkered with the big boy and got something unexpected.” Eric explained.
“You tinkered with a one hundred megaton bomb. Tinkered. You use such droll language to describe these events. Tinkered. Now let me read.”
Juan read through the list once more before he sighed and sat the tablet on his desk.
“Earth will never give you this. It is weapons electronics and control circuits and they will not agree. You have too many already in their opinion, I’m sure. The FTL drives are also out of the question. It is not that they would not give them to you; it is a question of resources. Earth has built its last starship. The three warships they have will remain inside the solar system to protect Earth in case the Catroph actually find them. They could not even build another mule or shuttle any more than a starship. Resources are all going to fight climate change and gain clean water and more agricultural land. What we are doing may give them a chance to survive but we cannot ask fo
r too much from them.”
“So we get leftovers, antiques and excess population. In another two or three years we can make these ourselves but now we are short on material and manufacturing. We need this equipment now to fight the Catroph. What if we traded them something they could use?”
“Such as? Food we have promised along with many other resources. What could we offer in exchange for materials to build more Hell Bombs?”
“I don’t know. We have enough materials to build six of these and no more. For attacking a planet or a moon, these make it easy. Otherwise we need hundreds of nukes and we can’t build hundreds without electronics. The other material is to rebuild freighters so they will last longer. We have three done now, and one more underway so we can keep sending material back, but many of the others should be upgraded soon.”
“The nanobots cannot help? I thought they maintained ships and bases for thousands of years?” Jose asked.
Eric stopped, struck by a random thought on the impossible life span of nanobots and energy. “Sorry, I had a moment. Repairs, yes. Not without raw materials to work with. Even a nano must have some material to make repairs and do maintenance and they need an energy source along with guidance. You need raw material so the nanobots can propagate themselves, much less maintain a ship. They do not act instinctively either, something many people seem to believe. They must be programmed with the work needed, the specs and materials to use for each process. It took months to program the freighters to the new configuration and several weeks to gather the raw materials.” Eric explained for what seemed to be the millionth time. “Not all materials needed have been located yet either. The mines have iron and copper but we need gold and silver for circuits and zinc, chromium, lead and on and on.”
“So even the Astangii needed you in order to become active?” Juan asked.
“Yes, he did.” Eric added that to his list of oddities. Eventually he would wake up in the middle of the night and it would all mean something. For now it was just one more thing added to his pile of interesting oddities. “I activated the converter and fed it with soil from the surface of the ship. Dirt and dust had accumulated to a depth of several meters in the centuries she drifted. Made it handy to have a fuel source at least. I inadvertently gave them raw materials when I planted relays and sensors inside the ship. The nanobots ate them up and used them to repair electronics in the bridge. The dirt inside the ship was carried to the converter and fed the process. Even the dead nanobots were recycled and when they found my ship, they took bits and pieces off and used them for repairs. Nothing I needed, fortunately. When I did an inventory of the holds, fifteen of my satellites were missing, used for repairs.”
“I understand. It is frustrating but you must understand that things can only be done at a certain speed. We cannot make something out of nothing any more than the nanobots can. Tell me what happened to your original ships? The Pathfinder and the others.” Juan asked.
“Well crap. I forgot all about them. We left them on Fox Base One rebuilding the base as a repair station and with instructions to mine the asteroids when possible.”
“Perhaps you should pay Fox Base a visit?” Juan said, lifting an eyebrow.
~~~~~~
“Betty, you there?”
“Hello Eric. I am here.”
“Great. How are you?” Eric grinned as the crew looked at each other.
“I am operating within normal parameters. Would you like a sitrep?”
“Yes, please.”
“The bases are fully functional as requested. We are mining the asteroids and have several tons of material in stock. In addition, all weapons systems are functional and the stock of nukes have been increased. An inventory list has been sent to the Astangii. The base engines are on line and ready should you wish this base to relocate.”
Eric scanned the list of materials and let out a low whistle.
“Engines? What range do you have?” Eric asked.
“Unknown. Most probably we have the same range as the Astangii.” Betty answered.
“Wait. The base has FTL?” Reed asked.
“Affirmative, Mr. Reed.”
“Why would they put FTL in a base?” Eric asked.
“The lines were moving constantly in the war. Records indicate that they suffered heavy losses and had difficulty locating materials close enough to the areas needed. Base stations such as this would be located in areas where raw materials were available and when stocked, the base would move to the front lines where the ships would be repaired or replaced. If not, ships would be gone from the war for months or years before replacements could be procured. A war spread across even a small part of the galaxy is still an enormous affair. If a system was depleted of resources, then the base would move to the next system and continue mining operations.”
“You said bases, plural. There were three bases in this system, correct? Have you done any work on them?” Reed asked.
“The inventory is marked with the base number where it is stocked. All bases are ready in all respects. The other two ships, the Asgard and the Ryu are each located within a base. The Courageous remained here.”
“Betty, have you ever considered marriage?” Eric asked.
“Well, if you asked me nicely. Hu-mor!”
“Well then, if you would kindly inform the other ships that these bases are to head for Acadia with us and take up orbit there, I would appreciate it.” Eric said.
“Affirmative.”
~~~~~~
“FTL emergence detected, four ships. Astangii and three others. Earth ships Pathfinder, Asgard One, Ryu One and Courageous One identified.”
“Only four signatures and five ships? Astangii, this is control. Welcome back.” Derrick said over the com.
“Thank you control. Glad to be home. We have three Fox Bases with us who will be taking up orbits. They are not small, one hundred and twenty by eighty five kilometers on average. Lay them in for me, will you.”
“Bases? Roger that. Base stations, please respond.”
“FB One here.”
“FB Two here.”
“FB Three here.”
“We are sending you data on objects currently in orbit, so please avoid them. Please take up standard equatorial orbits at one thousand, two thousand and three thousand kilometers.”
“Roger that. Complying.”
“Astangii to control, we are sending you the inventory listing aboard base stations. Send it to our base and Juan please.”
“Affirmative.”
Chapter 15 Consolidation
“Oils and Biofuels.”
“One million seven hundred thousand cubic meters.”
“Grains.”
“Seven hundred and ninety thousand cubic meters each. Wheat, oats, barley, corn and rice.”
“Other foods.”
“Potatoes, one million three hundred and ninety thousand cubic meters, Carrots, Seven hundred and twenty thousand cubic meters, beans, pinto, one million and ninety thousand cubic meters. . .”
Hazer listened as the clerks continued to check in the latest shipments. He had demanded returns from Earth investment and they were getting it, far more than he had ever dreamed possible. He lost track of what beans were being called out there were so many different varieties. Each shipment was bigger than the last, each with more variety, each with new resources, metals, gasses and rare elements he never thought to see. Firing on that ship had been a mistake, could have been a disaster.
He sat up and pushed the com button on his desk. “Repeat last.”
“Compost, one million three hundred and ninety thousand cubic meters.”
“What is compost?” He asked.
“The description says organic soil nutrients.”
“I see. Please continue.”
The clerks droned on. After about twenty minutes, Hazer’s com buzzed and he answered it.
“Hazer.” The face in the screen said.
“Bofur. What can I do for you?” Bofur was respo
nsible for distribution of the shipments on Earths western hemisphere.
“The ships that arrived, one went to Mars first. Why? Do you know?”
“They said they were supplying the colony with soil nutrients needed to sustain the food supply.”
“Well what of our food supply? Why would they help Mars anyway?”
“We have received soil nutrients as well, one million three hundred and ninety thousand cubic meters of them.” Hazer said.
“So much? Was it at the cost of some other needed resource? We need every drop of food we can get.” Bofur responded.
“I’ll send you a copy as soon as my department has finished verifying the load. So far it seems that we have received nearly double of the last shipment.” Hazer answered. Something the clerk said drew Hazer’s attention. “Just a moment Bofur. Repeat last three.”
“Acadian Wine, assorted varieties, eight thousand one liter bottles, Acadian Apple Brandy, three thousand one liter bottles, Acadian cigars, three thousand boxes, each with fifty cigars.”
“Thank you. Please continue. Send five bottles of each and five boxes to my office for assessment prior to shipment to Earth.”
“Yes Sir.”
The clerk continued to read the inventory.
“Double? Thank the Maker. You made a wise choice with our ‘colony’, even though I opposed it at the time. Seems I was incorrect in my assessment.”
“Thank you for saying so. I was not sure at the time myself, but with Hell Bombs and those other things hanging over our heads, I felt I had little choice.”
“Do they really have them?” Bofur asked.
“Yes. They sent a vid of an attack on a Catroph planet. I’ll send you a copy. They used one Hell Bomb on a base. Maker help us if they used one here because we would be dead.”
“Yet they supply us in exchange for junk. I don’t understand.”
“I think they wanted to help. The junk to us is resources to them and an excuse to continue to help. Why else would they aid Mars colony after we abandoned them? They rebuilt the freighters we sent to carry three times as much each load and made them faster. The original five and a half months has been reduced to three months travel. The alien technology has made them superior to ourselves. We are the poor stepchild in this case. We should continue to be so fortunate.”
