by Jeff Sims
Bline concluded the event by thanking everyone and promising that if Ponwe’s construction company gets the bid, Solaria will get the best building possible.
The next day Bline was sitting in his temporary office. His original plan had been to stay on Solaria for three days or at least until the winning bid was announced. The extra time hadn’t been necessary though as the Solarian council surprised everyone by meeting last night and announcing the winning bid this morning.
Bline smiled inwardly, the event and the corresponding business win went better than planned and entered the realm of better than hoped. Bline had accomplished all of his goals, save one, and that one was walking into his office at that exact moment.
Bline noted that the Solarian was well above average height and was blue. He said, “I thought you were white.”
The Solarian replied, “I painted my hands and face blue to fit in better and look less conspicuous.”
Bline asked, “Were you followed?” He immediately regretted the question. If he had been followed, he wouldn’t be here. If he was followed and didn’t know it, then he wouldn’t know it. No one was going to say, yes I was followed, but I came anyway.
He reasoned further that this was probably a good spot for a clandestine meeting. After this morning’s announcement, what place would seem more logical for a freighter captain to meet a Hiriculan ambassador then in his office? He can easily and legitimately use the excuse that he heard the news and came to the embassy to offer his services transporting cargo to and from Hiricula. It would be a perfect cover because it made so much sense.
The Solarian stepped close to Bline’s desk, performed an approximation of a standard Hiriculan greeting; and then said, “No. I don’t think I was followed. I am Jack Dogbarks, the captain of the mini-freighter the Jackal. It is a pleasure to meet you Ambassador Bline.”
They discussed shipping for a few minutes. Bline even offered him a lucrative contract for his services. After that was concluded, they discussed the remaining subject. Bline asked, “So, I understand you were part of an on-going monitoring service on Earth.”
Jack replied, “Yes. It was pretty boring. I just sat there in high orbit and watched the news. I tried to keep track of who was fighting whom. It sounded like a neat job in the beginning, but in reality it was monotonous.”
Bline asked, “Did you ever go to the actual planet?”
Jack answered, “Yes. I went a couple of times. I landed in this large hanger that the humans had built to store dirigibles.”
Bline asked, “Where did you go?”
Jack answered, “I went to this really large shopping area that was within walking distance of the hangar. The humans call it a mall.” Jack paused for a moment, and then continued, “The first store I walked into was crazy. They sold everything there, clothes, food, even weapons.”
Bline was starting to reassess his opinion of the story that Victor and Crista had told him. One account could be discounted. However, a second, independent verification could not. Bline asked him, “What are the humans like?”
Jack answered, “They are big and mean and scary. There is a wide range of heights and weights. A handful of humans are about as tall as me, but most are this high.” Jack stood up and put his hand about 20 cm (8”) above his head.
Bline was doubtful about that. He was certain that Jack was exaggerating. He asked, “How big and strong are they?”
Jack replied, “A full-sized human could crush my skull if he hit me.”
Bline asked, “How do the humans feel about aliens?”
Jack replied, “They would kill any alien they met as soon as they saw them.”
Bline said, “Really?” His tone implied that he didn’t believe that either. He said, “Switching subjects, tell me about your interaction with the scientist Lorano.”
Jack replied, “Not much there really. Victor and Crista went to Earth on their mini-freighter, the Vista. Lorano and Carank came later on an Alliance Navy corvette.”
Bline asked, “Were you able to confirm this?” Bline doubted that he could, but it didn’t hurt to ask.
Jack said, “Yes. I scanned the Vista when it first appeared on Earth. Carank and Lorano were not on board. Also, I checked the records from the Advranki traffic control. Shortly after the Vista left, an unmarked corvette left for Conron carrying two passengers. It did not return.”
Bline was impressed. Perhaps Jack would be worth something after all. He asked a final question. He said, “How were they able to get home. I heard that Lorano found a way to bend time or something.”
Jack replied, “That was a complete fabrication designed only to make Lorano sound smarter than he actually is. The correct story is that they flew a corvette on autopilot in front of them and had it constantly send back gravity readings. When it was destroyed, they knew to move out of the way.”
Bline asked, “So the published route is correct then?”
Jack replied, “Not entirely. Lorano made a small, but interesting change. He transposed the last two numbers in the last two jumps to keep the actual route a secret.”
After Jack left, Ambassador Bline said farewell to Ambassador Lone and the office staff and took a ground car back to the spaceport. His corvette should be arriving shortly. He had instructed his pilot to leave Advranki Prime at the exact same time as the Vista, but take a less advantageous route to Solaria avoid suspicion.
Bline composed a message to the Hiriculan high council. He encrypted it with the highest possible security and marked it ‘do not read, this means you’. In addition, he made it intentionally vague. He really didn’t know why the high council wanted to publicize to the galaxy that they could mine iron ore and process it into a large steel plate. He had several ideas and at least one hypothesis, but nothing firm yet.
He wrote: The E-C published route is correct for steps 1-11. No hidden coordinates. Steps 12 and 13 need the 10th and 11th digits transposed. We won the bid. They know about the plate.
Bline received a message that his corvette had arrived. He grabbed his single suitcase and overnight bag and headed to the correct landing pad. The remaining 5 suitcases remained sitting in Lone’s office.
Chapter 19
Ella announced, “We have reached the far outskirts of Netron. Exiting hyperspace now.” Ella quickly programmed in the next set of coordinates and hit the hyperspace launch button. The Sunflower was in Netron for exactly 42 seconds.
Arean said, “Wow, you completed the jump in only 42 seconds. Now that’s the answer.”
Clowy asked, “Sorry, what was the question?”
The Sunflower exited hyperspace a few minutes later at the 7 minute mark in the Netron – Opron hyperspace lane. The shortcut had worked exactly as Solear had predicted. Ella ran a passive scan and reported that there were no ships in the immediate vicinity.
Solear responded, “Thanks. Set course for Opron. Execute when ready.”
Ella took her time with this jump. She programmed the coordinates, double checked, ran the simulation, and verified that it was okay. She then hit the launch button and the Sunflower began its 6 hour journey back from Netron to Opron.
The Sunflower exited hyperspace without issue exactly 4 hours later in the Opron system. “Ella announced, “Running passive scan.” A moment later she said, “Scan of Opron is clean. The only other ship in the system is the corvette Informer.”
Solear said, “The Informer is due to leave in another week.”
Arean said, “We will probably be the highlight of its watch, especially if the Hiriculans decide to chase us.”
Solear hadn’t thought about it. In every other incident the winning and losing side went their separate ways without further incident. This time though was vastly different. The Hiriculans knew that the Sunflower had destroyed two of their ships. They may want to exact a measure of revenge.
Solear said, “Ella, can we micro jump in the system and cut some time off of our crossing of Opron?”
Ella made several c
alculations and performed a couple of simulations. Finally, she brought an image of the Opron system on the monitor and pointed to it. She responded, “It doesn’t appear so. Well, we could make a series of micro jumps around the outskirts of the system here, but it doesn’t appear that we will gain any significant time.”
Solear went to the monitor and looked at the two paths. The first showed a straight line path leading directly from the Netron – Opron hyperpace lane to the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane. The second showed a series of 5 jumps taking the ship in a wide semi-circle (or more precisely a semi-decagon) around the top half of the system. If they maintained a speed of .15 light, the straight line path would take 2.9 days. The circuitous path would take 2.84 days, assuming that they made each calculation quickly.
Solear did some quick math. The difference between the two routes was 86 minutes. He said, “Commander, could the battleship do any better than us?”
Arean said, “I don’t know. Computer, assume that the Hiriculan battleship began pursuing us immediately after detecting our presence in Netron. Calculate a least time path for the battleship. When could it get to the Conron hyperspace lane?”
…Calculating. There are too many variables to give a reliable result…
Solear asked, “Can you give an unreliable estimation?”
…If the battleship was at the exit to the Hepitila – Netron hyperspace lane and it did not move until it detected your presence at the Netron – Opron gate, then it cannot catch you…
Solear said, “And if they correctly guessed our destination after our first appearance and immediately jumped in pursuit?”
…Then you would have somewhere between a 7 and an 8 hour head start…
Solear then said, “What is the least time route a battleship could take through Opron?”
…Its superior mass would let it make a much smaller arc around the system. If it made a perfect series of jumps it could cross the system in 2.6 days…
Solear again did some quick math. Solear said, “48 minutes. If we have an 8 hour head start, we will beat the battleship to the Opron hyperspace lane by 48 minutes.”
Arean played along. He said, “And if we only have a 7 hour head start?”
Solear answered, “Then the battleship will beat us there by 12 minutes.”
Solear made his decision. He said, “Ella, we are going the ionic power route. Set a direct course for Conron hyperspace lane, increase speed to .15 light and maintain it.”
Ella responded, “Course and speed set. Executing now. Just out of curiosity, why did you pick that route?”
Solear said, “By staying in real-time we can continuously scan the exit to the Netron hyperspace lane. We will know exactly how far they are behind us.”
Solear neglected to mention that the opposite was also true. By staying in real time, the enemy would be able to pinpoint their location the moment they exited hyperspace by using passive scans. However, he believed the benefits far outweighed the risks.
Ella didn’t consider herself very good at reading Advranki expressions. However, it seemed to her like the Captain’s answer was less than forthright. She said, “That isn’t the only reason, is it?”
Solear said, “No. We have been jumping quite a bit lately. I just wanted to give the drives a rest and go straight through. Plus, the speed gives us options when we get closer to the hyperspace lane. We can always increase speed. They cannot jump faster.”
The bridge crew spent the rest of the day compiling all of the data from the battle. They downloaded every fighter’s navigational path and firing pattern. They noted the cruiser’s movements and missile launches. They then created a simulation of the battle.
The bridge crew watched the simulation in silence in the Captain’s conference room. During the battle, too much had been happening at once and everything was obscured by either a dust cloud or a time lag. Each member had been performing their own duties and were only dimly aware of what the others were doing. Now though, they had the opportunity to watch the entire battle in a calm, detached manner. After the simulation concluded, Lexxi, Ella, and Clowy returned the bridge proper.
Solear and Arean watched the entire battle a second time, this time pausing to discuss each sequence. First came the rapid launch of the fighters. Next came the seemingly useless firing of the missiles. Then the fighter battle. The humans performed a slick, last minute maneuver to separate their fighters and create a killing zone. The first pass resulted in 37 enemy killed and 3 damaged.
Arean stopped the simulation and said, “Look here. This fighter fired what appears to be a random missile that hit this Hiriculan fighter in the upper row. I don’t understand how he would have had time to locate, aim, and fire a missile at that particular target.”
Solear said, “Computer, run an analysis. Is there any pattern to the missiles?”
…Analyzing. Yes. There is a pattern. Removing everything but the missiles and rerunning the simulation. Showing the missiles fired by the leading wing in red and the trailing wing in green…
This time only the 20 missiles that targeted the upper row of enemy fighters were shown. Now, Arean could clearly see what had occurred. Each individual shot appeared random, but the red and green missile streaks made a crisscross pattern that targeted each enemy fighter with exactly two missiles – one on their current vector and a second directly above. It was stunningly clear that the humans had anticipated where the enemy was going to be and fired to that location.
When it finished Solear said, “We can’t show this to anyone. How can the humans predict the enemy’s movements to such a high degree of confidence?”
Arean thought for a moment and had no answer. He was about to say that when he had an epiphany. Instead he said, “Let’s show it to the human and ask him.”
Solear smiled and nodded affirmatively, but remained sitting at his desk. Arean realized that his comment meant that he had inadvertently volunteered to go to the pilots’ quarters and get the human.
Arean checked the force fields and noted that maintenance personnel were still in the hangar and the pilots were in their quarters. Arean sent Jim Donovan a message asking him to come to the entryway alone. Arean did not want the humans running toward him. It was scary.
Arean collected Jim and they walked back to the bridge together in silence. Arean looked at Jim. The human seemed nervous. His mouth moved several times as if to form a word, but nothing was vocalized. Finally, Arean said, “Do you have a question?”
Jim said, “Yes. You never told me. What is the passing score on fighter test and what is the baseline score for your comparison?”
Arean saw little point in withholding the information. He knew that Jim would find out eventually. He said, “The answer isn’t as straightforward as it seems. The goal of the test is to pass, not to win. You found a way to win and your score was much higher as a result.”
Jim did not respond, so Arean looked up at him and saw that he had stopped, momentarily stopping a caribou in mid leap. Arean watched as Jim took a small shuffle step forward, apparently to allow the caribou to safely land on its feet.
Arean turned back to him and said, “The minimum passing score is 1,000. The baseline average for all Alliance pilots is 1,250. The highest recorded score in Alliance history is 1,440.”
Jim remained standing there, this time with his mouth agape. Arean assumed it was some human expression, but didn’t know the meaning. He briefly tried to remember if he had ever seen Ella with that particular expression.
He couldn’t recall, so he said, “Let me ask you a question. If you reran the simulation and weren’t allowed to switch missiles or pilot in manual, what score would you achieve?”
They began walking again and Jim said, “Let me think. I would crash at the 90 degree turn, I would kill the single fighter, I would avoid the 3 fighters, and I would die twice on the approach to the enemy cruiser. If I was lucky and I was able to score a glancing blow with my ship buster missile, I would score 2,000 ma
ximum.”
Arean walked through the bridge proper and directly to the electro lift, but noted that Jim stopped and greeted each of the three females. When that was concluded, they rode the electro lift up to the Captain’s conference room. Solear motioned for them to sit and played the simulation.
When it completed, Solear looked at Jim and said, “Comments?”
Jim said, “Cool technology. It looks just like a movie. You guys should edit it and include close-ups of people’s faces.”
The comment was met with silence, so Jim continued, “See, you should show the missiles leaving the ship, then switch to Lexxi pressing the firing button. When the cruiser makes the hard turn, you should show Ella piloting the ship, maybe sweating hard to turn. She could say something ominous like – I don’t know if we can maintain the turn, the stress is tearing the hull apart. Oh, and play up the communications between you and Hiriculan commander. Can we release it on Earth?”
Solear took a deep breath and reminded himself that he had asked for comments. Perhaps his question had been a little too open ended. Solear said, “Those are interesting comments to say the least. However, the problem we have is that you and the other humans performed a little too well?”
Jim said, “Too well sir?”
Solear hadn’t heard the term sir before. He assumed that it meant captain, but made a mental note to ask the computer later. He said, “Again, you humans performed extraordinarily well; so well in fact that it might raise some unnecessary attention from some beings with questionable motivations.”
Arean was watching Jim (from safely across the table). He noted that Jim clearly didn’t understand. Arean said, “Let me say it a little more bluntly. You performed too well. If we show this video as it is, the Alliance Senate will more than likely move to immediately put Earth in Alliance and replace all fighter pilots with humans.”
Jim said, “Is that a bad thing?”
Arean thought for a moment and said, “Well, yes and no. Yes, it will be nice for Earth to join the Alliance, but when the Hiriculans find out how good the human pilots are, they will launch a preemptive strike to keep the Alliance from securing them.”
