“Is this your planet? Your system?”
The captain replied, “Our research lab on the surface says it is. What claim do you have to these planets?”
Mace held up a hand. “We’re just explorers. Our scans didn’t reveal any signals, so we thought it was all uninhabited. Why did you fire upon our ship and destroy our shuttle?”
The captain scowled. “It was you that made the aggressive move. We only sought to protect ourselves.”
Mace looked at the legless Kohamian sitting in a chair. “What happened to your legs?”
Frado returned a half frown. “They were aboard the shuttle, charging.”
The captain banged a fist. “You will pay for this intrusion!”
Mace replied, “OK, first off, you have no broadcasts showing this as Korvan territory. That’s something that is universally done elsewhere. Second, it was your ships that fired first. We were only defending ourselves. And, as you can see from your sensors, we didn’t kill all your people. They are still there. Now, I’ll apologize for killing your people here, but that was only done because you wouldn’t respond to a comm. Had you done so, we could have resolved this peacefully.”
Humphrey came over the comm. “Mr. Hardy, I did a scan of that planet. I find no sign of a research lab.”
Mace asked, “Mr. Knuttin, where’d these ships attack you from?”
Frado replied, “They emerged from a deep hole in the planet. We had no indication of their presence until we were almost directly above them. We attempted to run. They caught us here.”
Mace got back on his comm. “Mr. Mallot, there’s supposedly a hole in that planet big enough to house these three ships. Find it, scan it, and tell us what you find.”
Humphrey replied only seconds later. “I have the location. However, we’ll need to go down there for a scan.”
Mace turned to face the captain. “You have anything to add before our ship goes to investigate? Such as, why are there three warships guarding a research lab?”
The captain replied with an angry tone. “This system has been a target of Quathan rebels. Twice they have attempted to establish a base here. This Is Korvan territory. They have no right.”
“So that’s a military base down there? Not that I care, I just don’t want any more violence. We aren’t an aggressive species. We seek peace. I’m hoping this is all an unfortunate misunderstanding and that we can part ways amicably.”
Mace crossed his arms. “Mr. Knuttin, I think we have to agree that this system is occupied and claimed.”
Frado nodded. “We agree.”
Mace said, “Good. Then we’ll be leaving. Captain, we apologize for the intrusion. I know it doesn’t bring back your dead or repair your ships, but it does mean we are leaving and are not likely to return for other than diplomatic relations.”
Humphrey said, “Mr. Hardy. I have five new ships just showed on the sensors. They are different than the three we have here.”
The captain said, “Quathan rebels! And you’ve left us defenseless!”
Mace sighed. “Mr. Hobbs, intercept the incoming ships. Captain, please tell me you have a language translator for them.”
The captain scowled. “They speak Korvan.”
The Rogers rushed to stop the new threat. A hail was answered with a different story. The Quathan ruled the Korvan Empire and had done so for decades. The three ships being guarded by the Rogers were the rebels.
Mace turned to the captain. “Is this true?”
“The Quathan invaded the palace and overthrew our king. We fight for Queen Meliene. She is the only true and rightful ruler of the Korvan Empire. The Quathan council are ruthless thugs.”
Mace winced. “So we stumbled upon your base and crippled your ships. And now your enemy is here to put an end to you. That sound about right?”
The captain looked up. “And to the queen. She’s down below. With her death, the true kingdom will never return.”
“We stepped right into this one,” said Jenny.
Johnny followed. “We can’t just turn them over. Who knows who’s right here?”
Mace nodded. “Captain, do you have another system you could move to?”
The captain nodded. “Much less secure than this was, but yes.”
Mace looked at Johnny. “Jasper’s gonna hate us, but we need to leave this situation as close to the way we found it as we can. The Quathan don’t know the queen is here. All they see are these rebel ships.”
Johnny asked, “What do you propose?”
Mace stroked his goatee. “Captain, can you provide the coordinates to that other site? If so, and if your queen has another ship, we can safely transport her there.”
The captain frowned. “How do we know we can trust you?”
“You don’t. As I can see it, you don’t have much of a choice in the matter. Accept our help or let the Quathan capture her.”
The captain gave the coordinates. A comm was opened to Jasper and after a short run by the queen’s shuttle, a wormhole was opened and the queen passed through.
Mace turned his attention to the five ships, opening a comm. “This is Mace Hardy. This territory is claimed by the Knuttin Corporation in the name of the United Front. You are in violation of our borders. Withdraw your ships or face retribution.”
A hail returned: “You have rebel ships. You must turn them over to us immediately.”
Mace shook his head. “They invaded our space. They are being dealt with accordingly. You will leave now or risk the same fate. This system is property of the United Front. Are you looking to start a war, Captain?”
Several seconds of silence passed. “We will withdraw. However, if it is found that the United Front is harboring Korvan rebels, it will be you that has started a war.”
Mace nodded. “Noted. Now, leave immediately.”
The captain bowed before giving a command to his ships. They sped away in the direction they had come from.
Mace turned to the captain. “Can your ships be repaired?”
The captain replied, “It will take a full rotation of that planet.”
Jenny checked on her arm pad. “Nineteen hours.”
Mace began to pace. “Here’s what we’ll do. You’ll repair your ship’s drives, and when ready, we’ll transport you to the same location as your queen. And as for this system, Mr. Knuttin, it is now officially claimed. We’ll take you back to Canto, where another shuttle can be brought out to do the scans and plant the markers. The queen lives, you get your system, and we all go home.”
Frado said, “You would make a fine diplomat, Mr. Hardy.”
Mace laughed. “Diplomat, doormat, so long as the job gets done, you can call me whatever you want.”
A jump was made to Canto, where another shuttle was brought forward. Frado Knuttin remained behind. His thoughts of a thrilling exploration and laying claim to the first new system in the UF Empire had proven to be just that, thoughts. Henceforth he would be more than satisfied with hearing about the results.
The following day, the Korvan rebel ships were ready for transport. The captain and his crew marveled at the Human technology as their ships passed through to their new home base. The next day, jumps were made to collect the shuttles. All were returned without further incident. The UF Empire had grown by another twenty star systems.
Upon return to Canto, the crew of the Rogers was inundated with pleas to continue, and with offers from other corporations for their services. The Knuttin Corporation was not the only entity with stores of gatrellium.
Mace sat in his chair on the bridge. “Do we run everything through Frado or do we strike our own deals? We’ve already had enough offers to fully cover the gatrellium needs for a few thousand jumps.”
Johnny replied, “As you’ve repeatedly said, they aren’t making any more of it. Whatever we can stockpile would be to our advantage.”
“I think we stay with Mr. Knuttin,” said Jenny. “He’s always treated us fairly. And we own almost a quarter of his co
mpany. Let him broker the deals and delve out potential colonies as leases. I would think that would leave us in the driver’s seat for the foreseeable future.”
Mace nodded. “Agreed. I’ll have a talk with him about the importance of getting as much of the gatrellium as we can. The more we have, the less anyone else could have. If Stark or one of the Union members got wind our endeavor here, they would strike out to make deals of their own. And we don’t want them getting more of this stuff. The less they have, the more confined they stay.”
Johnny replied, “I think we have our decision.”
A comm came in from Jasper: “We have major problems.”
Mace asked, “What happened?”
Jasper shook his head. “The scouts I left at the Karthian rift are reporting activity. They say the portal just opened slightly. Not enough to fit a ship through yet, but it definitely got wider.”
“Crap. That puts our trade deal here on hold. Let me have a conversation with Mr. Knuttin, then we’ll be back.”
“You might want to hurry. The rift could be pushed wide open if they’ve figured out how.”
Mace nodded. “Be there as soon as possible.”
A comm was opened to Frado Knuttin and a meeting hastily scheduled. Frado arrived on a shuttle in docking bay one of the Rogers.
Mace walked up the ramp to meet him. “We have trouble. Remember me telling you about the Karthians and the rift? Well, they figured out how to open it up again. They’re working on it right now. We need to go so we can try to counter whatever they are doing. I can’t say how long we’ll be, so our efforts for further exploration here have to be put on hold.”
“Unfortunate. However, this may give a bit of breathing room so leases can be set up in the optimum manner. I’ll circulate the word that these twenty systems will be it for the time being. Most will take at least a decade for anyone to get a ship out to. This may give us a chance to get the process right before continuing.”
Mace took a deep breath. “Thanks for the understanding. Now, we have to leave. I’ll check back as soon as I can.”
The shuttle departed for Canto as the Rogers jumped to Divinia.
Jasper, waiting with his fleet, opened a comm. “Let’s go see if we can put a stop to this.”
Mace asked, “How many ships do we have ready?”
“One hundred forty-two.”
“Have you contacted Stark?”
Jasper scowled. “I didn’t, and he has no interest in my hails anyway, unless I’m calling to turn the Targarians over to him.”
“Give me a minute. He’s gonna want to be out here.”
A comm was opened and the current status of the rift delivered to Malcom Stark. A representative of the Union fleet would be there shortly.
The Rogers followed the Organ Cave to the rift.
“Can’t say this is a good development,” said Mace.
Jasper replied, “Nope. Got word about five minutes ago that it widened again. Their smaller ships can now fit through.”
“We could go in and try to shrink it.”
Jasper nodded. “That’s why I invited you out here. You have the one weapon that will do that.”
“Mr. Hobbs, take us in. Mr. Mueller, hit the two sides of that rift with the wormhole weapon.”
As the Rogers approached, a green wave of energy blasted through the opening, blistering the skin of the Rogers and knocking half her transducers offline.
“Jump us out!” Mace yelled.
Liam replied, “Wormhole generator is down!”
“Well, back us out then!”
Liam calmly turned. “Already moving in that direction. We’ll be clear in fifty seconds.”
A series of wormholes opened, and a dozen of Stark’s radica ships came through.
A comm opened. “I sent these along in case you needed them.”
“A little late. They just fried half our systems with that green wave.”
Stark shook his head. “Completely preventable with only a modest level of planning.”
Mace scowled. “What’s done is done.”
Humphrey yelled, “Another wave coming through!”
Mace looked into the comm. “Any way you could divert a couple of those ships our way?”
Stark’s silhouette typed away on a keypad on his arm. Three of the radica ships powered up their domes and headed for the Rogers.
Humphrey yelled, “Fifteen seconds to impact!”
The radica ships sped past the Rogers’ position. A minimal amount of the green wave made it through, though another three transducers fell when they hit.
Jasper said, “I’m alerting the repair dock at Divinia.”
“We aren’t heading that way. Mr. Hobbs, turn us around. We’re following those radica in. They can keep that wave off us while we shrink that rift.”
Johnny smiled. “And that’s why you’re the captain.”
The ships moved into position. A double shot from the wormhole weapon saw the rift again shrunk to only a ball of light.
Humphrey said, “Parameters are stable, Mr. Hardy. That did it.”
Mace let out a long breath. “Mr. Hobbs, take us back to the Organ Cave. Mr. Collins, we would appreciate a wormhole open to Divinia.”
Humphrey said, “Before we go, have Mr. Collins scan our hull for breaches in the gatrellium.”
Mace turned to Johnny. “And that’s why every good captain has an ace crew.”
Two potential weak points were identified and corrected. The Rogers once again slipped into the repair dock for a week’s worth of rehab.
Chapter 12
*
With the rift crisis averted, the ships of the former Targarian Empire returned to Divinia. Malcom Stark left three of the radica ships parked at the rift for use if the Karthians again attempted enlargement. The crew of the Rogers received a needed rest.
Mace walked into the resort lounge, where Johnny was sitting at a bar with a smile.
Johnny held up a beer. “Check it out. Tres was able to reverse-engineer one of my Mangrove Darks. I can now have as many of them as I want.”
Mace laughed. “Here comes three hundred pound Johnny.”
Johnny frowned. “Truth is, I’ve felt a lot better of late. Those nutrient bars aren’t the tastiest, but dropping forty pounds was worth it.”
Johnny stared at his bottle. “Maybe I can have Tres work on the calorie count of these things.”
Tres entered the lounge then. “So, a Mangrove Light?”
Johnny returned a half-hearted smile. “Sounds a little too frilly for me. Guess I’ll just have to limit my consumption.” He turned back to Mace. “How go the repairs?”
“The gatrellium skin was in bad shape. They’ve replaced almost half of it. At least in that form it’s 100 percent recyclable. Doc says they have another two days.”
“And what’s our new adventure after that?”
“We always need more gatrellium. That means we go back on our own or pay another visit to Canto.”
Tres asked, “When do we expect to have the Targarian fleet up to strength where nobody will bother us?”
Mace shrugged. “Could be six months, could be a year. We certainly aren’t there yet. What bothers me most is Stark and his crew are building ships much faster than we are. A year from now they are still likely to be more powerful. And with the spies they have running around, I don’t know how really secure our technologies are. I wish we could make more of this UF relationship. They would be an ally that would easily keep Stark away.”
“I’m still not sold on the UF,” said Johnny. “Who wouldn’t trade five hundred tons of gatrellium for twenty star systems?”
“Yeah, I’m not overly fond of them either. I like Frado, but the feeling I’ve gotten from the rest of them seems very one-sided.”
The next two days passed without incident. The Rogers emerged from the repair docks, good as new once again. Mace gathered a crew and made the jump to Canto. Frado Knuttin was eager to move on to the next tw
enty star systems on their list.
This time, the UF government wanted thorough scans. The shuttles would be in the systems for almost a week.
This time, no interactions with other sentient species were reported.
The Rogers waited in one of the star systems for the first shuttle to return. Once aboard, they jumped to pick up a second. Upon return to Canto, an urgent message from Jasper was waiting.
Johnny opened a comm. “What’s the problem, old man?”
Jasper returned a serious look. “Where have you been? The Karthians are coming through the rift!”
“What? Why didn’t you try to notify us?”
Jasper scowled. “I did. Your UF friends refused to give your location. Kept saying it was none of my business. That you were under contract and would be done in a week.”
Mace asked, “What’s the status? Where am I needed?”
“You’re needed here! Now! As I said, they’re coming through the rift. Close to two thousand ships so far, with more right behind. And of worse note, they keep widening that rift. A couple more pushes and that monstrous station will fit through. There’s two of them now, and they’ve figured out how to marginalize Stark’s radica ships. You should get back here now. This is the big invasion we feared.”
The comm was closed. “Mace opened another to Frado Knuttin. “I have bad news.”
Frado smiled. “Something go wrong with our shuttles?”
Mace nodded. “Yes. Eighteen of them. They’re stuck out in those systems.”
“You can’t go get them?”
Mace shook his head. “We’re heading home. The Karthians have invaded with more than two thousand ships. We have to leave now.”
Frado returned an uneasy look. “We have crews on those ships. We can’t just leave them.”
“I wish I could help. This is much bigger than your current problem. I can send each a comm telling them to find a way to survive, but I don’t have time to go get them. I’m sorry.”
The comm was closed as the Rogers jumped back to Divinia. The full crew was brought aboard, with family members left behind at the resort complex.
Mace opened a comm to all sections of the ship. “As most of you know, the Karthians have come through the rift. A large force is heading toward Harkoza as we speak. We intend to make our best stand there. If we fall below 50 percent of our ships, we pull back here to Divinia. If our defenses here fail, we fall back to Earth. For any who want to return to Earth, the time has passed. We have to make our stand. You are all like family to me, and I will do my best to protect that family. For all of you who are believers, may God bless us all and get us through this day.”
HADRON Chaos Page 11
