by Jeff Sims
He paused for a breath and continued, “Next I allowed two spies to discover that there was a secret military base on the station. Then the Alliance sent an entire fleet to investigate. They were so focused on the station that they flew right past the asteroid. They were defeated at that point and didn’t even know it.”
Fruid’la: “I summoned my two hidden squadrons and we successfully delayed the Alliance fleet until they arrived. The squadrons followed my battle plan exactly and we were able to maneuver the enemy fleet into the range of the ion cannons. Then I sprung my trap. It was perfect. The entire Alliance fleet was completely boxed in between my two squadrons and the ion cannon. They were forced to surrender.”
“Yes Admiral, well done. Perhaps I should have been more specific with my question. How did the prisoners escape?”
Admiral Fruid’la responded, “They were rescued.”
“Please tell us the complete story of exactly what happened.”
Okay, Fruid’la thought, play time is over. His strategy was going well so far. He had taken credit for what went well, now it was time to deflect the blame for what had not.
Fruid’la lowered his ear stalks in an apparent sign of humility and said, “We tried to reassemble the events as best as possible. However, there are still some gaps. What we know for certain is that one lone Alliance cruiser, the Sunflower, viciously attacked the system. They had no regard for life, property, or civilized behavior. It was the most ruthless and underhanded attack ever. It was in a word unimaginable.”
“Agreed. This ship’s attack demonstrated a level of cruelty and viciousness that we did not think the Alliance possessed.”
Excellent, Fruid’la had already managed to place much of the blame on the Advranki ship’s harsh behavior. Surely he couldn’t be held accountable for not being able to predict the motivation and sheer callousness of an unpredictable enemy.
He continued, “Clearly, the cruiser Sunflower is a rogue ship and its crew is without basic dignity. The captain and crew need to be brought to justice. I am sorry that I was not able to provide that justice.”
“Where do you think this behavior is from, Advranki, Altian, Solarian?”
Fruid’la responded, “I don’t think this behavior represents any race from the Alliance. I personally believe that the ship was acting alone and without authorization. However, I want to refocus the discussion for the moment on the battle.”
“Yes. Please proceed.”
Fruid’la said, “The cruiser somehow managed to capture a meteoroid and accelerate it to well above .11 light and launch it through hyperspace on an exact trajectory.” He paused to allow interruptions.
None came, so he continued, “The gravity of our defensive asteroid forced it to return to real space. The meteoroid traveled for only one second and struck and destroyed our asteroid, killing all 100 beings stationed there.”
“That was a horrendous action. The tactic gave those people no chance to surrender or even escape. That was cold, calculated murder.”
Fruid’la noted that the light and dais was having an effect. Not being able to determine whether he was talking to one council member or all of them was making him uncomfortable. He continued, “Then the Sunflower appeared in the system and launched 2 squadrons of fighters in less time than a normal ship takes to launch one.”
“How did they accomplish that?”
Fruid’la: “Admiral Plev’la and his research team still don’t know how the Alliance cruiser carried 40 fighters let alone launched them. Further, he cannot even envision a method to duplicate the feat.”
Fruid’la smiled inwardly as he managed to deflect the blame for the failure to the research and development department.
“Did you learn anything from the captured ships?”
Fortunately, Fruid’la had ordered a cursory inspection of every captured ship. The inspection had been little more than a search for the ship’s name and recent jump locations, but hey, it counted. It was again time to blame someone else.
Fruid’la said, “I was short of personnel because my people had to guard the prisoners, so I asked station commander Plot’ko to search all of the captured Alliance ships, including the 9 cruisers. None of them were modified in any way to either store or launch more than their standard complement of fighters.”
“What about your hand-picked captain Clap’la. His frigate was destroyed without a fight.”
Fruid’la had been worried about this question. His normal response would be to throw Clap’la under the proverbial personnel hauler, but he knew that since he had personally selected him for a promotion, he couldn’t do that.
Fruid’la responded, “Clap’la had less than twenty seconds from the time the first missile hit until the ship was destroyed. Again, the fighter attack was brief and brutal. The Alliance fighters did not give the frigate a chance to surrender.”
He paused for effect and continued, “After the asteroid exploded, Clap’la and the valiant crew of the frigate Bloodlust set a course for the asteroid to try to rescue any survivors. The Alliance fighters used the confusion from the blast and the limited sensor range from the corresponding dust cloud to sneak up and obliterate him.” Fruid’la pretended to sniffle and wiped a fake tear from his eye.
“Tell us about the fighter battle.”
Fruid’la: “The first 160 pilots that launched were Netos. They were largely undisciplined and scattered instead of following my directions to attack in a formation. That was the reason they were able to be defeated so easily. I believe that Admiral Doak’la needs to review his training regimen for the Neto pilots. Their performance was unsatisfactory.”
Scored another point, Fruid’la thought. There were only 10 tier-1 admirals in the entire Hiriculan Navy and he had just successfully blamed two of them for failures. The interview was going better than expected.
He paused for a breath and continued, “The final 80 pilots were Hiriculans. They attacked using the standard over/under formation. They would have destroyed an entire Alliance squadron in one pass, but the second Alliance squadron snuck up and destroyed the formation from behind.” He emphasized the word behind to show his clear displeasure with the Alliance’s dishonorable strategy.
“Let’s discuss the command carrier Retribution.”
Time for the next scheduled personnel hauler, Fruid’la thought. He responded, “As the council knows, the Retribution was a prototype. There was only one level; the rest of the ship between the hulls was just empty space.”
He let the words sit in silence for a moment and continued, “Therefore, when the first missile hit it, entire hull sections started falling off of it. Once the damage was spotted, the Alliance offensive missiles did a remarkable job of avoiding our defensive measures and hitting the ship.”
Fruid’la continued, “Further, because it was a prototype, it wasn’t fully manned. This lack of a proper staff was the reason that it performed so poorly during the battle.”
Unlike his counterparts in both the Alliance and the Hiriculan Navy, Fruid’la felt it was unnecessary to have a duplicate command staff aboard his ship. Therefore, he served the role of both captain of the Retribution and fleet admiral. His bridge officers therefore were also his command staff officers. Further, he believed that the concept of a first officer was pointless.
Overall, the concept worked okay for him because Fruid’la was a tireless leader that could grasp the big picture and focus on a small detail at the same time. Therefore, he could operate the same size fleet as his enemies with significantly fewer people.
Although the personnel savings was nice, Fruid’la liked the structure for another reason. The streamlined structure ensured that there was no one aboard highly ranked enough to challenge his authority.
Unfortunately, just before the attack Admiral Fruid’la left the Retribution so that he could personally oversee the transfer of the Alliance prisoners from the Spindle Station to the return fleet. To further compound the situation, he had taken all of the
HAS soldiers and a large portion of the crewmembers from the ship to guard the Alliance prisoners.
As a result, when the battle occurred, the command carrier was significantly understaffed and there was a sizeable power vacuum in the command structure. The weapons officer was technically in charge, but he had no experience with actual command. The Retribution had underperformed and underwhelmed.
“So the next command carrier will have a proper command staff?”
Fruid’la knew that the council member wasn’t really asking. He was in essence telling the admiral that from this point forward his command carrier must be properly staffed. Oh well, this was expected, he thought. He was certain that he could find some way to diminish the authority and influence of this new captain.
He responded, “Yes. The finished product will have a proper staff.”
“What was your final opinion of the new ship?”
Fruid’la: “There were several plusses. I liked was the semi-independent sections. When the missiles struck, the heavy hull plating between the sections directed the blast out the side of the ship instead of laterally throughout it. This dramatically lessened the internal damage. I have created a modification to the new design that will build upon this concept and make the production ship even better.”
“Good. Tell me about the attack on the station?”
Fruid’la: “The station attack was in many ways more ruthless than the space battle. The Alliance Armored Units (AAU’s) killed everyone in their path, rather horribly. In some cases we had to perform DNA tests to piece the dead bodies back together.”
“Please explain.”
Fruid’la: “The AAU’s destroyed the control room and unfortunately the station commander did not have an off-site backup. As a result the video record of the battle was lost. My team tried to reconstruct the battle as best they could.”
Fruid’la: “They were able to determine that the Alliance utilized at least two new weapons. The first was simply a long length of steel. The AAU’s weakened the Hiriculan Armored Suits (HAS) shields. Then they shoved the length of steel through the armor and killed the occupant inside.”
“If the shields were down, why not just ask the HAS surrender?”
Fruid’la: “We just don’t know. This attack was vicious and far more deadly than it needed to be. The second weapon was some type of incendiary device. It blew both a door and 5 unarmed and unarmored workers to little pieces.”
“Why didn’t they just electronically override the door using the passkey from the fallen HAS soldiers guarding the door?”
Fruid’la: “Again, we simply don’t know. Once again, the battle broke with all traditional doctrine. It was far, far deadlier and more gruesome than normal convention would dictate.”
“What happened to the 6 Netos that survived the destruction of the frigate Bloodlust?”
Fruid’la: “Unfortunately, we were never able to question them. Apparently, some AAU’s entered the hangar and killed them. Their bodies were thrown out into space when the hangar bay exploded.”
“How did they land 3 full squadrons of AAU’s on the station? For that matter, how could one tiny cruiser accommodate that many troops?”
Fruid’la imagined a personnel hauler driving over yet another being. He said, “The log clearly shows that Alliance cruiser did not land any troops on the station. My analysis indicates that the soldiers must have hidden on the captured ships. Clearly, Station Commander Plot’ko missed them when he performed the inspection of the ships.”
He continued, “We detected a signal that the Sunflower sent to the docked ships. We weren’t able to read it, but the attack began shortly thereafter. I believe this message instructed the AAU’s to come out of their hiding places and begin the attack.”
“Why do you think that the Alliance blew up their destroyed fighters just before jumping out of the system?”
Fruid’la wasn’t expecting this question. He honestly hadn’t given it any consideration. Fruid’la responded, “You are correct. Just before jumping, the Sunflower sent a self-destruct signal to the 4 Alliance fighters remaining in the system.”
He continued, “Three of the fighters had been destroyed in battle and the fourth was sitting intact inside the space station. The pilot surrendered in exchange for medical aid.”
“Was the pilot taken to the medical unit?”
Fruid’la knew the council person really meant was whether the pilot was still on the station. Fruid’la responded, “Unfortunately, no. The AAU’s that killed the Netos in the transport hangar bay apparently rescued the pilot.”
“Again, why do you think the Alliance blew up the fighters?”
Fruid’la thought about the battle of Opron when the High Council ordered him to basically field test the Neto pilots. He was forced to explode several downed fighters in an attempt to conceal that they contained Neto pilots. He now wondered what the Alliance may have been trying to hide.
Fruid’la responded, “We may never know for certain. My theory is that the Alliance pilot didn’t need medical aid. He lied for the sole purpose of landing his fighter on the station. Then, they blew up the fighter in order to slow down our pursuit. The captain of the Sunflower may not have known exactly which fighter landed on the station, so he exploded all of the remaining ones.”
“That seems particularly cruel.”
Fruid’la continued, “It is possible though that they were hiding something and exploded all of the downed fighters to keep us from discovering a new technology or something.”
“Continuing that theory; was there anything special about the other 200 odd fighters we temporarily captured?”
Fruid’la detected a bit of derision in the word temporarily. He responded, “No, there was nothing special. The fighters were the same design and model that has been produced for the last 100 or so years.”
“So it is extremely unlikely that they were hiding something. This means that the Alliance intentionally blew up a section of a space station potentially filled with civilians just to cover their own escape.”
Fruid’la: “Yes. That action seems uncharacteristic of typical Alliance credo, but it fits with the brutally gory theme of the rest of the battle. The captain and crew of that ship have no decorum or even basic empathy. It disgusts me. They need to be brought to justice for their actions.”
Fruid’la had now said justice twice. He hoped that by repeating the saying the High Council would hold the Sunflower responsible for the carnage and not hold him responsible for the abject failure during the battle.
“What are your final thoughts?”
Fruid’la imagined the personnel hauler with room for one more. He said, “Again, my plan was excellent. Unfortunately, Admiral Lopeq’la, in charge of the prisoner transfer force, was behind my schedule. If his taskforce had been timelier the prisoners would have been transferred without issue and the whole battle could have been avoided.”
Admiral Lopeq’la and his fleet hadn’t been late. In fact, they had been exactly on schedule. Fruid’la intentionally inserted the word ‘my’ just before schedule and carefully avoided saying the word late. However, his wording almost ensured that Admiral Lopeq’la would now receive some blame and probably have to face this council and explain his timing.
Technically, Lopeq’la hadn’t done anything incorrectly; Fruid’la just didn’t like him very much. He recalled the conversation they had had on the Spindle Station just after the prisoners escaped. His command carrier had been destroyed and the rest of his fleet had already jumped out of the system. Therefore, he and his crew needed transportation back to Hiricula.
Fruid’la had to stoop to asking Lopeq’la if they could ride back with him.
Lopeq’la responded something along the lines of, “But of course Admiral. We have plenty of room since you have no prisoners awaiting transfer. In fact, you and the few crewmembers that are still alive can have an entire passenger liner to yourselves.”
Fruid’la imagined where he would rea
ssign Admiral Lopeq’la when he rose to ultimate power. He could think of several prime spots including Neto over watch, Neto training, and Neto facilitation. Or, perhaps we would assign him to guard the navigational beacon in Dunron.
“Thank you…”
Fruid’la had been waiting all meeting for the right moment to ask, but figured that he was now out of time. He said, “Clearly this was a setback, but not a dire one. In fact, we might even be able to use it to our advantage. Am I allowed to proceed to the next phase of the plan?”
There was a considerable pause. Finally, the council responded in unison, “Yes, you can proceed to Phase 2.” After a momentary pause, one council member said, “Thank you, you are dismissed.”
Not too bad, Fruid’la self-summarized. The meeting went better than he expected.
Fruid’la performed the traditional Hiriculan goodbye and left the High Council chamber. It was a beautiful day in Hiricula’s capital, but he barely noticed. He entered the ground car waiting for him and instructed the driver to take him back to the spaceport.
Chapter 7
The Conron system contains only gas giant planets. Further, it does not have any habitable moons or even any moons that are candidates for terraforming. So, while the Conron terrestrial bodies cannot support life, they are rich in trace minerals. As a result, the system has developed a thriving mining operation.
The Alliance Navy has a significant presence in the system. There is a fleet of 18 warships stationed near the Conron – Opron hyperspace lane. The Navy has a relatively large space station located here that is primarily used for ship repair and as a supply depot. The Navy also has two huge forts guarding the Conron – Earth hyperspace lane.
Not counting the military, the system boasts a population of 4 million Advranki – the overwhelming majority are situated on 6 large commercial space stations. Three of the stations are drilling platforms, two are environment spheres used for growing food, and the sixth is a huge space station.
