by R J Murray
“No brains, just brawn.”
“Pardon Sir?”
“Sit, relax, take the rank off for a few.”
“Yes Sir. Sorry. Not all that easy. Brains?”
“The Beaks were the brains, the ship builders, The Furrys the soldiers, the muscle. No brains left so the ships fall out of repair, the cities turn to mud huts and the enemy stagnates. We just nuked a bunch of cave dwellers. Nasty murderous cave dwellers to be sure. Suppose for a moment that this species has two sides to it. One has intelligence and over the eons, they take control over the less advanced side. They build a civilization based on predatory habits since they are both carnivores. They develop space travel, possibly because they ate everything on their planet and needed more food. Somewhere along the line they find those cattle we call Astangii cattle. They are not by the way, they are just cattle. The carnivores did not have them, because if they did, they would have stayed home and ate all they wanted. You follow me so far?”
“Somewhat. I never realized they were not Astangii cattle. Otstrand. Sorry. So hard to keep track.”
“Me too. Otstrand are vegetarians. No meat of any kind. The occasional piece of crustacean. Nonviolent. Antiwar. So much so, that they ran away to another galaxy rather than continue the fight.
“Now let us suppose that these ships in this quadrant were left behind because the Beaks that actually flew the ships and repaired the ships were killed in action. The crews stayed here because they just wanted to feed and they had plenty of cattle who drop triplets each year and repopulated like mad. The Beaks continued the war until the enemy, Otstrand by name, ran away and left their colonies and ships and bases behind. This is not over, not complete. I am still missing parts of this puzzle but most of what I said makes perfect sense and matches the known facts.”
“Colonies too? You think they abandoned their own people to be eaten by the Catroph?”
“Yes I do. I think the war continues further out on the spiral arm because the Otstrand said that was where the modern Catroph were located. We are fighting the second string, the leftovers. The ones with Beaks in command are out there waiting for us to go lax, before they attack. Maybe. Maybe they don’t know we are here. Maybe they don’t care if we are here. We need to be ready in any case because Earth knows we are here and they want Acadia back.”
“Wow. You have got a lot on your plate. So what do we do? What do we do about the Catroph we have here?” Phyllis asked.
“We find new ways to kill them. No more nukes to mess up prime real estate. Biological weapons just for the Catroph. That is what we do. If they can’t use a single planet because the air will kill them then they will not attack us for food. They will just attack us for fun.” Eric said with a grimace. “Not that I have anything to brag about. I just nuked a hundred thousand helpless life forms that couldn’t defend themselves if their life depended on it. I think I just made a funny. Hilarious, huh?”
Phyllis paused, not sure how to react. “Acadia called. They are sending another ship out. We are requested to return. I think they are upset that you didn’t sterilize the planet.”
“Good. I need to talk to our biologists and suggest a few more horrible ways to die than just nukes. Also, did they check the ships on the moon for nanobot factories in the energy levels?”
Chapter 21 Invasion
The ship closed the distance and docked. An officer Eric had not met before approached and saluted. He had never been saluted but he returned it anyway.
“Sir, the Pur Dank will take over the watch on this system. Your presence is requested on Acadia for a conference.”
“Will I be unencumbered by rank on my return?”
“Sir?”
“We were wondering what the reaction was for our allowing a few hundred of the Catroph to survive.” Phyllis answered.
“Oh. Well, at first there were some unpleasant remarks made, but it took about three hours to turn that around. Most of the science teams thought it was about time someone used their heads and came up with some way to learn more about the Catroph. The chance to study them on this planet without being eaten is very well accepted on Acadia now. We have a full team of researchers, biologists and anthropologists to learn as much as possible about the enemy.”
“See if you can figure out how to communicate with them while you’re at it.” Eric suggested.
“Communicate? Yes Sir.” She seemed to be confused.
“If we can talk to them, perhaps we can find out what started this war and make an end to it.” Eric said.
“Oh. That makes sense. I will suggest it to the teams. If you will excuse me, I need to return to the Pur Dank. I just wanted to meet you Sir.”
“I see. Well, toddle along then.” Eric answered.
“Ensign Jayden, see her to the air lock.” Phyllis said, taking the woman by the arm and leading her away from Eric.
“I think you scare her Sir.” She said after they were alone.
“I think I scare myself sometimes. Do you ever see things suddenly, an idea that blossoms out of seemingly thin air and realize just how wrong you were to think otherwise? Facts that materialize from things seen and heard over a lifetime that were unconnected when you first learned about them. Am I making any sense?”
“Not that I can understand. Do you need a doctor?”
“No. Forgiveness maybe. I need to get back to Acadia if you please Captain. Did you check the ships for nanobot production units?”
“Yes Sir. They were removed a long time ago.”
~~~~~~
“What do you want me to do?” Martha asked. Eric’s call pleased her at first, but he looked terrible and now she was worried about this strange request.
“We brought back a few mummified Catroph from our first encounter. I want an autopsy. Not to find out how they died, but how they lived. Look for chemicals, a device, something that would control them. Things just don’t add up to me and I have . . .Betty called it a gut feeling.”
“My actual words were ‘You analyze intuitively and on a level far below the conscious mind, something called a gut reaction’ if you will recall.” Betty spoke. “You had just asked why Earth would pick you for the mission.”
“I would like a copy of the full conversation Betty.” Martha asked.
“On your terminal.”
Eric sighed and smiled.
“That is much better. You are so cute when you smile like that.” Martha giggled.
“Yeah well, I still have to face this meeting, whatever it is about. We never found any remains of the Otstrand. Asi, do you have their medical records, and DNA profiles? If so, I need you to give them to Martha so she can run a comparative analysis between the three species.”
“I have no data on medical for the Otstrand.” Asi said.
“We have data and will send it to Martha.” Betty’s voice interjected.
“It is forbidden . . .”
“Data is avail . . .
“Negati . . . .”The voices grew garbled and more rapid. Suddenly the ship dropped out of FTL and went dark. The emergency lighting kicked in and Eric headed for the bridge.
“Everyone alright? Any injuries?” He called out.
A babble of voices answered, everyone talking at once.
“Attention on the bridge. SILENCE!” Eric raised his voice. The bridge crew went quiet.
“Captain, are there any injuries?”
“No Sir, not that we know of. Do you know what happened?” Phyllis asked.
“Yes. Betty and Asi are fighting for control. Open a channel to the Anqurashi. We need shorter names for these ships, Earth names.”
“Systems are not functioning Admiral.” The com officer answered.
“Use manual, nothing auto works. You do remember manual, yes?”
“Uh . . Sir. . .”
“They don’t show you manual controls at the Academy? Move over kid.” Eric sat and punched in the manual codes. “Amos, you there?”
“Eric! What happened?”
“Asi is trying to delete Betty. I gave her a few things to fight back. We just need to assume manual control and keep going. You need to go back and cover for that ship in orbit. I doubt they have much in the way of seat of the pants flying these things. I asked for the Otstrand medical records and Asi went nuts trying to deny they existed. Betty has them so when she wins, we will be back under full control again.”
“Well shit. You planted a package in the systems just in case, didn’t you. Nice move junior space cadet. We are . . . wait one. What do you mean you can’t fly without a computer? Damn kids. Gotta wipe their noses for them. I need to fly this thing. Carnivore out.”
“Hell Bringer out.” Eric stood up and the com officer, somewhat embarrassed took her seat.
“Captain, can you fly on manual?” Eric asked.
“I actually like manual Sir. Much more fun than letting the computer handle it for me.”
“Set course for Acadia. No doubt they are just as confused there.”
“Eric, did you forget me?” Martha’s voice came over the com.
“Sorry hon., got a little busy.”
“So I heard. Betty is winning here but it will be at least an hour before she can gain full control. I’m scanning the package you added to stupid orders file and it is very neat. How did you know about the need?”
“My gut told me.”
“Well, your gut has a bigger IQ than your head it seems. I’d say genius level from that tapeworm you wrote. Talk to you when you get here.”
~~~~~~
There was confusion below decks but no injuries. Once Eric toured the ship and showed the crew the manual settings, things went much smoother. Eric determined to speak with the people in charge of the Academy in tones appropriate to the situation at his earliest convenience.
“Just keep monitoring these panels. You know what to look for and what to do if it goes out of sync and that is our biggest worry with the FTL drive. Anything else, just fiddle with it until you get it back in the green.” Eric said.
The engineer looked at the panel and the control boards. “Fiddle with it, Sir?”
“Sure. Adjust the controls to correct the situation. Think on your feet man, improvise, overcome, win. If you can’t do this tell me now.”
“No Sir, I can handle it. We can handle it. I have a good crew Sir.”
“I know you do. Yell if you need anything. I am starving. I’m going to the mess and get a fried egg sandwich, with ham. Maybe bacon. Or both. Catch you later.” Eric left and the crew gathered around the engineer in charge.
“That sounds good, doesn’t it. Maybe I’ll get one later with sausage, sage sausage. For now you heard the Admiral. Check your systems and monitor the sections of the FTL, shields, converters and so on, depending on your department. Maintain an open channel. These systems as you all know, are interconnected and interdependent. If one goes, they all go offline. We are the computer. We can do this.”
Yes Sirs were the response as the engineering crew headed to stations.
~~~~~~
“What is the situation below decks?” Phyllis asked as Eric returned to the bridge.
“Little shaky when I got there, but you have good people down there. They will be fine. Engineering has the biggest headaches with the engines and power systems, but we went over everything and they have it under control.”
“You know it all don’t you. The ship systems I mean.”
“Well, two and a half years alone meant I was the engineer, mechanic and janitor. I did repairs and maintenance on every system on the ship. Man told me once that given the needs for a system, the design and form would follow no matter who built it. Function requires engineering and engineering is tied to something or other. I don’t remember the exact words, but you get my meaning.”
“The ships are close enough to each other in design, so that makes it easier?”
“Yup. Never thought I would be happy about being exiled alone for so long.”
“Hell Raiser please respond.” Com static almost drowned out the voice.
“Can we clean that up?” Eric asked.
“Not yet. I think it’s on their end.” The com officer answered.
“This is Hell Raiser. You are two by nothing. Can you clean up your transmission?”
“How’s this?”
“Better. This is Hell Raiser. Go ahead.”
“This is Phil on the Demon. Martha has been burning our ears off. All ships and defenses are on manual operation. Our watch net is at twenty percent efficiency. We have recalled all ships but a few are not responding. We are on red alert.”
“Why red alert?” Eric asked.
“Horace and Lee ran into a group of Catroph with more advanced ships. They took them all out, but it was a tough fight, six on two. Both our ships took damage and are underway, heading home. The Catroph ships were manned by Beaks only, no Furrys.”
“Can we fold space? Captain?”
“Yes Sir. Maybe I won’t get right next to the planet, but I can drop us at fifty thousand kilometers. Will that be sufficient?” Phyllis grinned.
“It will have to do, I suppose.” Eric grinned back. This was a good ship.
~~~~~~
Hell Raiser came back into existence just short of fifty thousand kilometers from Acadia.
“Well poop. Missed it by this much.” Phyllis held up a thumb and finger almost touching.
“You watch old vids too?” Eric asked.
“Yes Sir. Horace got me hooked on them. Make my millennium pornk. I still don’t know what a pornk is though. Heading in for standard equatorial orbit, Control.”
“Roger that. Welcome home Hell Raiser.”
“Seems the idea about Earth Common for names is taking off.” Eric said. “Martha must have heard me or maybe Betty told them.”
“I have control of the computer now.” Betty answered. “It is possible that the tape worm program you wrote will have encapsulated a few extra data bits but I seem to have all data at my disposal. Medical data on Otstrand downloaded to all computers in the Empire. All ships are now under our control. Tapeworm and virus still active on the base in the Latonia system, eighty-seven percent completed. Estimated time to complete control, three hours twenty minutes.”
“Sound like a winning situation to me.” Eric said. Any idea where the conference is being held?”
“On com Sir. We can’t afford to get all you captains in one place, just in case.”
“At your convenience. I’ll be here.”
~~~~~~
“The situation is as follows. We made contact with the Beaks almost five hundred light years further out along this arm. We laid out our detectors and autonomous probes and immediately picked up an FTL passage.” Horace paused. “You know the outcome of that. Six Beak ships dead and damage to our two ships, almost lost the Dragon to a new weapon they have. I’ve sent a record of the fight to all ships and science, see if someone can figure out what it is.”
Lee took up the narrative. “We finished, lost all power when the computers started fighting and made our way back on manual. If it had happened a half hour earlier we would be dead. We were on the outer marker near the ice belt when everything came back on. That’s when we picked up the Earth fleet. We counted seventy signatures in FTL. They are a week away, headed here.”
“That is a lot of ships. Are they all warships or are some troop transports?” Eric asked.
“Twenty are smaller signatures, possibly troops. The rest are standard Earth globes, one kilometer in diameter.” Lee answered.
“Pity they could not spare enough parts to build a single shuttle. Lying Earth scum.” Juan interjected.
“We knew this day was coming. We hoped it would be further down the road but it is here so we need to handle it. We have nine ships, better ships but still only nine. Will you two be in battle ready shape by the time they get here?”
“Not quite fully repaired, but we can fight now if need be.” Horace answered. “We will be at ninety
percent by the time they arrive. We can concentrate on shields and weapons first.”
“We’ll be ready, one way or another.” Lee said.
“Let’s get Reed on his ship and get the training ships in here as an inner line of defense. Even the older Earth ships we have are ten times better than they were when we first came out here. I suggest we intercept ten light years out, at this position.” Eric put a dot on the plotter and sent it to all ships and bases. “We initiate contact first by com and ask their intentions. If they do not drop out of FTL to respond, we fight at FTL first. Match and rake a few ships with rail guns as a warning. If they do drop out, we give them a chance to surrender.”
~~~~~~
“How far to Acadia?” Hazer asked again.
“Ten light years Sir. Another two days at best.”
“We are being hailed.”
“This is Admiral Maddwell of the Imperial Starship Hell Raiser. What are your intentions?”
“Pretentious. An Admiral yet. I will speak with him.”
“Here Sir.”
“Eric, how nice to hear from you. We decided that Acadia was a nice place and decided to move the Earth government. I suggest you get in line with our new fleet and surrender yourselves and the other rebels.”
“I suggest you grab something and hang on for dear life.” Eric said.
“What?”
The ship clanged and everyone staggered.
“We are under attack! A ship has matched course and speed. They are firing at us!”
Impacts could be heard hitting the hull even on the bridge.
“How? All ships drop out of FTL and open fire on the enemy!”
The screen cleared and showed a line of ships in front of the fleet perhaps ten thousand kilometers away.
“Nine ships. Only nine and you challenge us. Are you stupid?” Hazer asked.
“Nope. Just big and scary.”
“Fire all tubes!” Hazer ordered.
“Sir the range is extreme, please . . .”
“Fire now!”
