Garrett yelled, "We've got trouble! I have three ships coming in my direction. Somehow they must have spotted me!"
I helped Go up into a chair. "Stay right there."
"Garrett, back yourself out of there," I said.
Go snarled. "Stay right there? Where am I going to go? I've got no arms or legs!"
"Joni," I said, "we might have to leave you for a bit. If we can, we'll try to circle in from the other side."
Joni replied, "Just tell me where you want to meet up if I'm able to swipe this thing. Where do you want to go if they power it up and move it? Give me a time and a place, and if possible, I'll be there."
I said, "You have the coordinates from where the original portal opened? From the first time we came through?"
Joni replied, "I can meet you there. Be there or have someone there on the first of the month each month, and I'll see what I can do."
Garrett asked, "What are you going to do for food?"
Joni replied, "They have a whole deck dedicated to having a staff on here. I bet they have ample food supplies in storage. If I have to, I'll make use of that."
Garrett let out a sigh of relief. "Hang on. Those ships just turned away. I don't think I was seen. Could have been a regular patrol. Joni, don't do anything rash, we're still here."
Joni replied, "Glad to hear it."
The bots came back to life. After powering up, the two mechanized units walked over to Go, picking him up from the chair I had deposited him in.
Garrett said, "The AIs should be back online now."
A comm call came in to the arm pad Go had fastened to his shoulder. With a nod of his chin, the holo-display appeared just in front of his face.
It was Anterra. "Sir, I apologize for any inconvenience the outage may have caused. I am analyzing the cause as we speak."
Go replied, "Stop your analysis of the cause and do not divert any time to said effort. We have too much to do to worry about it."
Anterra opened a video feed of the lab, showing several bots as they came back to life. "Sir, a class V signal was used to interrupt our transmissions. Without our comm, we become useless. This is a highly undesirable situation, sir. And it should be fully investigated."
Go shook his head. "No, we have other business as a priority, such as my updated arms and legs. How's the retrofit coming?"
Anterra replied, "The comm interfaces have been removed as requested. The appendages are ready for installation whenever you are."
Go ordered the bots to stand. "Good. I'm heading that way now. We are moving up the timetable. I want those attached tomorrow."
The AI responded, "Sir, I would advise against that. Your Human physiology requires time to properly heal."
Go smiled as the bots carried him toward the lab. "I've been thinking about how we could speed up the healing. I want you to take a vat large enough to hold my torso. Fill it with enough of the bio-gel to cover me up to my neck. Lower me into it and add a pump and one of the filter packs we built. How long do you think it will take you to have that set up?"
Anterra replied, "The vat should be ready for use in twenty-three minutes."
Go nodded and ordered the bots to stop at the door.
Go glanced over his shoulder with a scowl. "I wish I'd thought about this before. It would have made the last surgery heal up a lot faster. Twenty four hours in that gel will be like three days out of it."
The bots continued out into the hall after an order from Go.
Jack said, "I've been looking over the consoles on the Ares. I think we could run that thing right now with as few as three people. One to monitor the generators, one to stay on top of the nav system—it looks like it has a tendency to wander—and one to monitor the wormhole itself. All three systems have adjustments that come into play during a jump. You could jump with a single person, but without the adjustments… who knows where you would end up."
I replied, "It seems odd they wouldn't have automation built in to handle that. Pick your destination, push a button and go."
Jack said, "Who knows, maybe they wanted to make it hard for one person to operate. You know, technically, you could jump into the center of a star or even a planet. You wouldn't be jumping again if that was the case."
A comm came to the ambassador from the Bolitha Governor. "The House of Kerg has voted and their prior decision stands. Prepare to meet the full wrath of the Kergans, Ambassador."
The ambassador bowed. "It is with great sadness that I deliver this next message, Governor. The next city has been selected. The population is over a half million of your citizens. The event will occur in... seventeen minutes."
The governor raged. "I will see you die a slow and painful death, Gottlieb! You and all of your thugs! The Kergan Empire will—"
The ambassador closed the comm. "He will be singing a different tune in a few minutes."
The captain frowned. "Is this the way to spread the New Alliance? I would think this just breeds anger and loathing."
The ambassador nodded. "It does, but anger and loathing can be useful tools in the short run. In the longer term, those animosities will fade away as newer generations focus on their own lives and concerns. The aftermath of all wars ends the same with the new generations: 'It wasn't my war so I don't care'."
Dale Rogers shook his head. "You live a jaded life, Ambassador. Is that what the Alliance has become? Any means to an end?"
The ambassador sighed. "We could do this the old way where thousands of ships and millions of soldiers fight it out in a horrid bloody mess. Would you feel better about that?"
The captain held up his hand. "I don't think this discussion is going anywhere, Ambassador. Let's say we just leave it where it is."
The ambassador replied, "Agreed."
Several minutes passed before Joni again said, "Generators are coming online. Looks like nine this time. Coordinates point to a city called Roghaven. I think they are sweeping this one right into space."
The portal opened, sweeping backwards toward the ship. In its final seconds, the city of Roghaven was left floating in space. Without the aid of gravity, the section of earth and stone upon which the city was constructed broke apart, dissolving into a slowly-expanding cloud of debris. It was a quick and silent death.
Chapter 9
* * *
The ambassador pounded his fist on the armrest of his chair. "Why do these species have to be so stubborn! Just accept the inevitable and move on!"
The captain replied, "They don't want to be part of the Alliance. That's pretty clear."
The ambassador stood and began to pace. "This will throw our schedule off by months. There must be some way of convincing them that this is the right course of action."
The captain folded his arms. "What else do you have to offer? Put them in charge of the Moddle or the Grumar, give them some new planets to manage."
The ambassador stopped. "Yes... yes... that might just work. I will give them Jorus, and jurisdiction over the Grumar and Grotus worlds."
I stood.
Jack commented, "There he goes, screwing over someone else."
The captain nodded. "That would probably do it. At the moment their only incentive to join is to essentially live as slaves. Put them in charge of someone else and you give them something to work with. But if you are talking Jorus, won't that anger the Grunta?"
The ambassador waved his hands. "The Grunta will do as we say. They have accepted every offer we have thrown their way. They might be upset, but we just promise them their home-world later. Besides, if our fight with the Grotus goes as planned, there won't be many of them left to contend with. They want a ground war with hand-to-hand fighting. We shall give them that. And when that battle is over, the winning side will be annihilated."
The captain shook his head. "I could not live with myself if I was you. It's like you are devoid of any conscience. These are people's lives, families. There is nothing about this that is honorable."
The ambassador smirked. "Honor
able... really, Captain? This is war. War is a nasty, dirty, bloody undertaking. You either push for a win in every battle, or you sit back and play by some insane rules of dignity and honor while your people die. Sacrifices must be made if victory is to be achieved. There is no honor in war, Captain, only winners and losers."
Joni said, "I'm confident I can fly this rig out of here. Anyone think I should do that now?"
Garrett replied, "If we can get that ship out of there, let's do it before the Kergans refuse another offer to surrender."
I nodded. "Can you set coordinates to a point approximately half a day from here, back along our line of travel? We could then meet up and determine what to do next."
Joni responded, "I can do that. Here's what's going to happen first, though. I'll be setting up the comm block for the AIs on here. If that doesn't work, I'll have no choice but to destroy this ship. I can take out the confinement of one of those generators and this thing will tear itself apart."
Garrett replied, "Don't take any chances. That ship is probably loaded with AIs and bots."
Joni smiled. "I can tell you exactly how many there are. Seven AIs spread throughout the ship. Three are monitoring all the systems while four sit idle. I would guess they are reserves. If any section of the ship gets damaged, another AI can take over."
Garrett winced. "That blocking program will be running from your helmet computer, which isn't all that powerful. If those AIs are spread out, you may not have an effect on them all."
Joni replied, "I can handle it."
I said, "Just as Garrett says. Don't take unnecessary risks."
Joni again smiled. "Well, if you see this thing power up in a few minutes and then disappear from view, you know it was me."
"Garrett," I said, "make your way back here. We'll head to the coordinates that mark about twelve hours back the way we came. If we take control of Harden Salton's biggest weapon, we can go anywhere we want."
Jack said, "The first thing I would do is go back and take out his other portal gate. After that, we can come back here and take everyone home."
I shook my head. "We can't take anyone home until Harden Salton is no longer in control."
Jack frowned. "We have to move them somewhere. Unless you want to leave your Talisans at the mercy of the Kergans or the Grumar."
I stood in thought for almost a minute. "I think you're right. We need to pull my people from Bolitha. The Kergans will slaughter them if they bring a fleet. We go to the Tamarins and make a deal. We will need a cesium supplier if we want to make more than one jump with that ship."
Jack replied, "The Tamarins? We're probably on their crap list right now. We didn't deliver on our contract. I didn't see any out clauses in there that would let us slide by."
I nodded. "Then we have to have something to trade. And they were eager to get their hands on our automated miners."
Garrett said, "You give them the miner designs and we've got nothing else they want. Why would they deal with us any further?"
I sat back in my chair. "We won't give them the autominers. We'll lease them on favorable terms. They temporarily feed any refugees we send their way, they provide us with cesium, we let them use the miners as much as they want. They could double their economy in a year's time with those machines."
Jack agreed. "They are driven by profit, and unlimited use of those machines would give them plenty of opportunity. And the Kergans will be ripe for trade, needing resources to rebuild both their fleet and Bolitha. I'd say that would be a brilliant contract if we could get it."
Garrett said, "Joni, we'll be out of comm range in a few minutes. Keep yourself safe. We'll be waiting for you at the designated rendezvous point. If we aren't there in twelve hours, give us another twelve. If we can't make that, something has happened. Take the Ares back to the Triangulum and to Effica. You will find support there."
Joni replied, "Hey, you don't have to worry about me. I have the suit. I can hang out with Gottlieb on the Jordan if needed. They won't even know I'm there."
Go shook his head. "Just remember that suit is not forever. It needs power, it needs filters, new bio-gel and food. You're probably only good for a month to six weeks."
Joni nodded. "I'll work it out. And, Garrett, I will definitely be seeing you. I have too much to teach you still."
Joni smiled as the comm channel faded to a disconnect. Two hours later, Garrett and the Jess were aboard. We were on our way. Our visual feed of the Ares and surrounding ships lasted just long enough for us to see her sweep herself through a portal. I could only imagine the anger being expressed on the ambassador's face.
As we sped toward the rendezvous, Go awkwardly walked onto the bridge with his new arm and legs. "These things are a pain to train."
Garrett replied, "Spoken like a true cyborg."
Go sighed. "I was hoping for a quick start after the experience with my arm, but it looks like I have a couple weeks of training ahead. How long before we arrive at the rendezvous?"
A nervous Garrett replied, "We got within sensor range about an hour ago. Nothing yet."
Go sat in a chair as he fidgeted with his new left arm. "This thing is driving me crazy. I want it to move forward and it moves back."
Garrett asked, "Is it wired wrong?"
Go pulled at his shoulder. "No, I think the surgeons crossed a couple nerves. I just have to relearn those connections completely."
Garrett replied, "How long will that take?"
Go shrugged. "Might be two days or two months. Won't know until it's done."
Jack said, "We have a sensor hit! There's a large ship almost dead ahead!"
Garrett took a deep breath. "Finally, I think that's been the longest hour of my life."
Jack stood. "Gentlemen, we have a problem. That's not the Ares. It's too short and too wide. It looks like... it's one of those big Grotus ships."
Jack ordered the Garmon to a stop. "They aren't heading for us. Hang on... let me check their trajectory."
Jack swiped at his holo-display. "Looks like they are heading toward one of the star systems of the Tamarin. This can't be good."
I said, "Take us in closer."
Jack glanced my way. "You sure you want to do that?"
I nodded. "That's the system closest to the Kergan worlds. They may have gotten orders from Harden to investigate the Tamarin. They could have pulled the location of that system from the Kergans on Bolitha. If we can stop it here, it might set their plans back a few months."
Jack gestured to Jefferson to resume our prior speed. "So we catch up to them, then what?"
I zoomed in on the image on the wall display. "We knock off their forward shield and we try to nuke them. I don't know if our cannons will do much to that ship."
Jack replied, "Sounds like the plan. Mr. Jefferson, take us all the way to within missile range."
Jefferson glanced over his shoulder. "Yes, sir."
Go stood, stumbling toward the exit.
Garrett said, "Where you going?"
Go replied, "I'm going to see if Anterra can work me out. Until I get these limbs working right, I'm not much good to anyone."
Garrett laughed. "OK, I'll just hold my tongue on that one. You could use a break."
As we came within gravity beam distance, Jack powered on the system. Fifteen seconds later, the starboard-aft shield of Grotus ship shut down.
Jack said, "They aren't turning."
I replied, "We have to be on their sensor screens by now. Why would they keep moving forward?"
Jack pointed at the nav display. "There! I bet we are looking at the Ares!"
Garrett stood. "How far out are we? Can we catch them?"
Jack swiped away at his display. "No. They will reach her before us."
Garrett replied, "Can we target the front of that ship and knock out the forward shields?"
Jack shook his head. "Not when coming in from behind. We have to be looking right at them."
Garrett frowned. "How long before we're within
comm range?"
Jack looked over the data on his display. "We'll be within their comm at the same time they are within comm range of the Ares. Why?"
"I don't know," Garrett replied. "Maybe we can hail them. They might be interested in seeing that we have a Grunta aboard. Anything to distract them or slow them down. The Ares has no defenses."
I said, "Joni will have to have seen it coming by then. She won't just sit and wait."
Garrett held up his hands in frustration. "So what? We just wait? What if she jumps again?"
I replied, "Then we try to finish it off and then come back here. She would know to come back."
Garrett rubbed the hair on the sides of his head with his hands. "We shouldn't have had her jump so far. We could have caught up to her hours ago."
Jack looked over at Garrett. "A twelve-hour flight was a good buffer. She's a smart girl, she'll figure it out."
Garrett sat back in his chair. "I know she will. It's just frustrating to watch and not be able to do anything."
I said, "When we reach comm range, we should be able to hear anything they hear that comes over the general comm."
Jack turned his head to face me. "I know our ships pass general comms along. Why would a Grotus ship do that?"
I replied, "Because they are dealing with the Saltons. Go picked up on that some time back. Trust me, if they talk over the general comm, we'll hear it."
Jack said, "Coming within range any second now. I have detection, but no broadcasts."
A hail could be heard over the comm: "Unidentified ship, you have no transponder. You have ventured into Grotus space. Prepare to be boarded."
Garrett opened a general comm channel. "Grotus ship. Prepare to surrender."
No reply was returned.
The Grotus comm officer repeated his request. "Unidentified ship, you have no transponder. You have ventured into Grotus space. Prepare to be boarded."
Joni replied, "Oh! Thank you! My ship is... broken. The engines have failed. Please! I need your help!"
Garrett faced me with a confused look. "What is she doing?"
As Garrett reached for his comm, I grabbed his arm. "Let this play out. I think I know what she's attempting to do."
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