Mace asked, “And you’re OK with no Humans being in there? If it’s a gender thing, we do have other women on this ship. Seven to be exact.”
Tres frowned. “She’s happy with the three that are in there. Believe me, I tried to talk her into exactly what you’re suggesting and she wanted nothing to do with it.”
Tres stopped, tapping on a door.
Maala Heeb answered. “She’s crowning on infant number two.”
Tres replied, “Wait, what? It’s already happening?”
Maala nodded as he cracked open the door. “Mother and first child are doing well.”
Mace placed his hand on a nervous Tres’ shoulder. “Tell me you’re not going to name her Uno.”
Tres shook his head. “No. Wouldn’t do that to her. Vanessa picked the names. Rachel, Matilda, and Robin.”
Jane came up behind them. “I just heard. This is exciting. And why aren’t you in there?”
Tres replied, “She didn’t want me in there.”
Jane walked up to the door, twisting the handle. “Nonsense. Come see your children.”
Maala was pushed back as Jane entered. “Child number two has been delivered.”
Jane replied, “I see. Vanny! I’m so excited!”
The door closed in Mace’s face. He looked down at a Dachshund staring up at him.
“Well, Derwood. Looks like we’re the outsiders. Come on, I’ll give you a treat in the dining hall.”
Two hours later a tired Tres Dowda walked into the dining room, plopping down in a chair beside Mace. “That was exhausting, Mr. Hardy. But I’m glad Jane dragged me in there.”
Mace asked, “How they all doing?”
Tres replied, “They’re doing great. All full of energy, even Vanessa. The three girls look just like her. Thank goodness.”
Mace held out his hand. “Well, congratulations on being the father of the first Humans born in space. The Dowda triplets have come before all others.”
Tres said, “I just hope we can get back to Earth. I’d like them to have a childhood with other kids around. Out here, the closest thing they would have to friends is Derwood and Molly. That’s not the life I’ve envisioned for them.”
Mace drew a deep breath. “We’re gonna do all we can to make that happen. Not only for them, but for all of us. I’d personally like to feel the sun beating down on me from a pure blue sky. I could go for a hike up along a mountain stream or lay out on a sandy beach. Funny the things you don’t miss until they’re no longer available.”
Mace took a sip from a beverage. “I take it the four of them are sleeping now?”
Tres nodded. “Yep. Mr. Klept and Mr. Heeb are cleaning up while Hooba watches over them. Strange. Those three seem almost more excited by all this than I do.”
Mace laughed. “Their excitement is probably over the whole process. They themselves weren’t born. They were detached from a contraption they call a pseudo-uterus.”
Tres frowned. “I heard. Mr. Klept was saying he doesn’t even know if a Kaachi female could carry a fetus to full term.”
Mace shook his head. “It’s only been a few hundred years for them. I’m sure they could pick right up where they left off. Their bodies haven’t changed during that amount of time.”
Tres nodded. “I think he was referring to the mental side of it. There hasn’t been a pregnant Mawga or Kaachi female for centuries. I guess they wouldn’t know what to do.”
Liam came over the comm. “Mr. Hardy. We’re picking up a ship. You might want to come up here.”
Mace replied as he stood. “Slow down and keep us at maximum sensor range, Mr. Hobbs. I’ll be right there. Get some rest, Tres. You’re gonna need it.”
Mace walked onto the bridge. “What do we see, Mr. Mallot?”
“Ship is unknown. Best guess is it’s an ore hauler. Don’t think they’ve seen us. Mr. Moskowitz’s latest additions might just be working.”
Mace asked, “Additions?”
Humphrey replied, “We have an non-reflective coating on the front facing surfaces and a signal emitter that should lower our signature by about 75 percent. If it all works it should make us much harder to sense from maximum range. The hauler hasn’t changed course, so I’m guessing they haven’t seen us.”
Liam said, “I mapped the trajectory going out. It’s coming from a small planet, about the size of our Mercury. Could be from a mining operation.”
Mace sat in his chair. “How far back to that planet?”
Liam replied, “Three hours maybe?”
“Who here thinks we should investigate before moving in closer? How far is that planet from the Gertrude?”
Liam pushed a starmap up on the wall display. “Five hours four minutes. I don’t see anything toward the Gerty that would send a ship from that planet in their direction.”
Johnny chuckled. “The Gerty. Didn’t take long for that name to take hold.”
Mace said, “Well, if no one has an objection, Mr. Hobbs, take us to within range of that planet. I’d like to know what’s there before moving in towards the food storage planets. Not interested in having a Mawga ship coming up behind us.”
Fatso Geerok turned from a console he had been placed in front of. “I can confirm Mr. Mallot’s analysis. That vessel is a class IV ore hauler. From what I know, the class IV is for hauling dense minerals, such as gatrellium ore. If they discovered a source out here, the Union is not aware of it.”
Mace said, “This ore the gatrellium comes from, I’m assuming it has to be heavily processed before it’s usable?”
Fatso nodded. “It does, but I believe our scientists to be capable of putting the necessary machinery together to accomplish that.”
Mace returned a half smile. “If we had a source of that stuff we could jump all over this galaxy.”
Fatso shook his head. “There have been many minor deposits of gatrellium found, Mr. Hardy. Most require extensive processing and yield only a tiny fraction of the material needed for a comm portal. It is a very rare substance, especially in quantity.”
Mace said, “Well, if we just happened to stumble on a hauler full of ore, I would say it’s probably more than a small find. Of course, it might not even be gatrellium. There are plenty of dense materials out there.”
Fatso nodded. “It could very well be uranium. However, I cannot see a mine for uranium being constructed out this far. It is far too common for the expense. Use of uranium or other fissionable materials has also been outlawed by the Galactic Union.”
The two-hour flight passed quickly.
Humphrey Mallot conducted several scans of the planet and its surroundings. “Mr. Hardy, there is no sign of anything in orbit around her. I do have the signature of an… unnatural activity. I wanted to say man-made, but they aren’t really man, are they?”
Mace asked, “What do you see?”
Humphrey pushed the data to the wall display. “I have light flashes coming up from two distinct points. They aren’t reflections either, as we are too far from that star to get anything that bright.”
Mace nodded. “Take us in closer.”
Several minutes passed before new data was ready. “We have visual of what looks like a strip mine. I’d say that’s in and around a large crater.”
Mace took a deep breath. “Take us within comm range, Mr. Hobbs. Johnny, I want translations of anything being broadcast.”
Humphrey said, “Depending on the gear they have down there, Mr. Hardy, they have a good chance of detecting us.”
Mace replied, “I’m willing to risk it. Who are they going to call and what would they say? Even if they identify the ship, who’s gonna think a Kaachi ship was all the way out here snooping in one of their systems? That would be a Union violation, would it not, Mr. Geerok?”
Geerok nodded. “It would.”
Humphrey locked in on a comm.
“Bola. They won’t be back for two months. You should have had that order in before they left. The director will be upset with you for causi
ng a delay. This mineral is far too valuable to be left exposed like it is for another two years. Given the turnaround time for supplies, we must stay on top of all our needs.”
“It will not happen again, sir.”
Geerok said, “A typical gatrellium deposit could be fully mined in a few weeks. If they are talking months, this could be one of the largest deposits ever found!”
Humphrey tapped away on his console. “Looks like the comm was closed, Mr. Hardy. No other channels are open.”
Johnny turned. “You know what I think?”
Mace replied, “Go ahead.”
Johnny gestured at the image on the display. “I think we leave this planet. Catch the ore hauler. And then send it back to Earth space. If that is a load of gatrellium, that would be like a huge gift to us. And the Mawga would never know what happened to it. We could even dump the ore and then bring the ship back, setting off one of its reactors and destroying it. Leave a small amount of the ore on there so they have something to detect when they come looking for it.”
Mace looked around the bridge. “Anyone else think that’s a good idea?”
Hans Mueller said, “I think it’s a great idea, Mr. Hardy. Especially if we find we need to make multiple jumps to move that food.”
“Mr. Hobbs? Want to set the waypoints for that hauler?”
Liam replied, “Already on it.”
The Rogers reversed course and slipped quietly away from the mining planet. The ore hauler was caught six hours later.
Johnny opened a general hail. “Pull that bucket over to the curb please.”
Mace rolled his eyes.
Johnny tried again. “Ore hauling vessel. Bring yourself to a halt and prepare to be boarded. You are now under command of the… uh… the Rift.”
Johnny turned to face Mace. “That really is a lame name. Earth Alliance was much better.”
A reply came back. “This is the Mawga Mining vessel Trapeez. You are in violation of Mawga space. I would advise you leave immediately. This incident will be reported.”
Hans said, “I have the drive targeted, Mr. Hardy.”
Mace replied, “Make it a low power round, Mr. Mueller. We don’t want to damage the ship.”
Fatso Geerok raised his voice. “I would advise against that, Mr. Hardy. You could set off that ore.”
Mace said, “I thought you said gatrellium was stable.”
Geerok nodded. “It is when refined. The elements it is naturally found with tend to be volatile when ignited. I would advise against the use of your cannons.”
Mace turned to face Hans Mueller. “Mr. Mueller, set the energy level back to full and fire off a warning shot one degree to port.”
A powerful plasma round skidded just past the ore hauler.
Mace took control of the comm. “Captain, the next round will be directed at your drive. Either bring that vessel to a halt or we will cripple you. Stop now and I can promise no one will be harmed.”
The hauler slowed. The Rogers pulled alongside and the grapple was extended.
Humphrey said, “Scan data says there are a dozen meter-tall bios on there.”
Mace turned. “Johnny? How about you and Jane pay them a visit.”
Johnny nodded as he stood. “Will do. Any specific instructions?”
Mace shook his head. “No. Just surrender. We’ll be pulling it back out to the Gerty for a jump home.”
Johnny said, “Too bad we couldn’t just open a portal in front of them here. I have to wonder if we wouldn’t have been better off just keeping that Dauntless intact.”
Mace replied, “We didn’t have the crew to man it or the gatrellium to spare.”
The crew of the hauler were compliant when the giant Humans boarded. A seven hour flight had the ore hauler and the Rogers pulling alongside the Gerty. A portal was opened and the three ships moved through.
After three days of evaluation, the gatrellium ore was taken to Proteus where 90 percent was dumped. The twelve-man crew was taken aboard the Rogers and placed under the care of Bontu Montak. The fraction of the gatrellium cargo that remained would be taken back to the Barika system where the ore hauler would be placed back on its original path and completely destroyed.
As the ships jumped, Jeff stood on the bridge. “If I had the necessary equipment I could have started the processing of that ore.”
Mace said, “We’ll get it. Right now we need to focus on getting that food. By the way, do we have an estimate on the amount of gatrellium that ship was carrying?”
Jeff nodded. “Refined, in the neighborhood of thirty tons.”
Mace turned. “Thirty tons? Aren’t we only using about ten pounds of that stuff for a jump?”
Jeff replied, “The jump to Barika consumed sixty-six kilograms, about one hundred thirty pounds.”
Mace sat back in his chair. “Wow. That’s a lot of jumps. If the Mawga have a mine with that much gatrellium, they could move their ships around as much as they wanted.”
Jeff pushed an image of the ore hauler to the display wall. “The manifest on that ship says it was being loaded for nearly a year. And from the size of that mine, my guess is that was the first full shipment they had sent.”
Johnny asked, “If that cargo was so precious, why wouldn’t they have a heavy escort protecting it?”
Mace replied, “Who knows? Maybe they didn’t want to attract attention to it. You put a couple warships with it and the spies will pass that info along. If you were hauling regular mining ore in your own system, you wouldn’t send it with an escort. Might have been part of covering it up. Whatever the reason, it works out for us.”
Johnny typed on his console. “Sixty tons divided by a hundred thirty, that’s nine hundred twenty-three jumps we can make out to Barika.”
Mace nodded. “We have enough for another three going out and back. When we return from this jump, we’ll see about setting up the gear Jeff needs to process it. You have all the leftover sections of that Dauntless; maybe we could set up a processing lab or something.”
Jeff replied, “I was thinking along those same lines. Mr. Geerok? If you’d care to join me in the conference room, we can mull over a design for that.”
Geerok replied, “I don’t know what help I could be, Mr. Moskowitz. My knowledge of ore processing is extremely limited.”
Jeff smiled. “Mine too. So we’ll figure it out together.”
Jeff opened a comm. “Mr. Klept, bring Heeb and Hooba to conference room C please.”
Gnaga replied, “We will be there in a few minutes, Mr. Moskowitz.”
Johnny said, “You’ve got quite the science team going there, Jeff.”
Jeff nodded. “A good mix of skill sets.”
Jeff and Fatso left the bridge. Seconds later, the jump to the Barika system was complete.
Mace said, “Mr. Crawford, same plan as before. You wait here. We’re heading back to where we spotted that ore hauler. From there we’ll head in to check on the food storage.”
The hauler was placed back along its prior path, accelerated to speed and ripped apart by the powerful forward cannons of the Rogers. A new path to the Barika planets was taken. Eight hours later, the Rogers slowed as it came within sensor range of Barika VI.
After several hours of observation, Humphrey offered a summary. “We have a single cruiser in this system. The structure we see in orbit looks to be a storage facility, just as Geerok implied. There’s a massive framework that looks to be holding thousands and thousands of huge cargo containers. Each container is a hundred thirty-two meters square by six hundred twenty meters long. Over on the left, those short ships appear to be tugs they use to move those containers to and from the surface.”
Johnny said, “Looks like an easy smash-and-grab to me.”
Mace nodded. “Could be. I think we observe for a day and then move to the other planet. If all we have to deal with is a few cruisers, it might just be an in and out like you say.”
Chapter 11
*
A
fter six hours of observation, Johnny turned in his chair. “They must really be sloppy at their jobs if they haven’t spotted us by now. We both have the same sensors.”
Humphrey Mallot replied, “I brought us in on a trajectory from Barika VI. We should be perfectly aligned with that planet. That might have been enough to throw them off.”
Johnny shook his head. “I’m not buying it. Either their incompetent or���”
Humphrey yelled. “We have a wormhole opening to port!”
Mace said, “Mr. Mueller? All charge wells ready?”
Mueller replied, “We’re set, Mr. Hardy.”
Mace turned toward Liam. “Mr. Hobbs, be ready to move us out of here.”
Humphrey said, “Portal is going wide, Mr. Hardy. I believe we have a Dauntless coming through.”
Mace said, “Hold us where we are, Mr. Hobbs. They can’t hurt us.”
The Dauntless class warship moved through the portal and into view, followed by eighty-six cruisers.
Johnny shook his head. “Looks like they brought half the fleet. You sure you want to just sit here?”
Mace nodded. “I’m sure. They can’t hurt us.”
A hail came over the comm.
Mace said, “Accept it and pass it to the wall display.”
An image of a Dellus admiral appeared. “Mr. Hardy. Surrender immediately, and I can promise you will all be safely returned to Earth.”
Mace replied, “I don’t think so, Admiral. We’ve come to put an end to the Dellus and Union control of our planet. You will withdraw all forces from Earth. And we’ll be taking this food back with us to feed our people until our own farming can support us.”
The admiral scowled. “Preposterous! Fire all cannons!”
Mace yelled, “Mr. Hobbs! Get our ass moving! Mr. Mueller, target cannons only. Start with that Dauntless!”
The hull of the Rogers reverberated as the plasma rounds impacted and spread out. Mace pulled his belt tight.
Hans yelled, “We have penetration with the first rounds! Two cannons are offline and on fire! Targeting a third! Mr. Hardy, we are doing severe damage!”
HADRON Revelation Page 10
