by Jeff Sims
Five minutes later Sierr’aa said, “I have an update. Our fleet performed a detailed scan of the enemy ship. There are 64 beings on board. Each beings’ profile matches that of a Solarian. However, they appear to be bigger and far stronger than typical Solarians.”
Valod’la said, “Humans. They must be the missing Humans. I thought that they were stationed here at this naval station, but we searched and could not locate them. Also, I seem to recall sixty-four is the number of Humans that the Alliance stated they brought from Earth.”
Savan’aa said, “That number seems to be correct, but has never been independently verified. We do have an update about the Humans from one of the former Alliance officers.”
Sierr’aa continued as Savan’aa took a breath, “From the interviews and limited records we have recovered it appears that the Humans were unfit for naval duty. They were sent to Waylon so that Alliance social workers could continue to monitor them in a more secure environment until a reliable hyperspace route back to Earth was located.”
Savan’aa continued when Sierr’aa paused, “Further, the Sunflower was severely damaged during the battle of Trilon and was retired. The maintenance staff here at this station repaired it just enough to make it hyper worthy again. It is a fair assumption that the ship was used to transport the Humans to Waylon and was left there as an emergency back-up.”
Valod’la asked, “We were able to utilize the Neto despite their considerable limitations. Why were the Humans declared unfit? What is wrong with them?”
Sierr’aa responded, “They basically failed diversity training. Some of the individuals were able to control themselves somewhat, but overall they were deemed too violent to be of any use to the Alliance Navy.”
Valod’la wondered how it was even possible to fail that training class. He had been forced to take it once – be nice, listen to other people, make an attempt to understand their point of view, and of course smile. He said, “I wonder how they failed?”
Savan’aa responded, “I understand that the diversity instructor was physically assaulted when he smiled at one of them.”
Okay, he thought. I guess it is possible to fail diversity training. He said, “I wonder why they are here?”
Sierr’aa responded, “When the Alliance stopped sending daily reports the Humans probably flew the ship to Conron to figure out why. The timing matches exactly.”
Valod’la said, “Tell Captain Laon’la to try hailing them. Tell him to convince them to surrender.”
He wasn’t sure what he would do with a bunch of violent humans, but he figured it was better to lock them in cells on the naval station than have them wander around the galaxy in a retired warship.
Sierr’aa said, “We have received a hyper communication showing the battle. I am displaying it on the main monitor.”
Valod’la watched as the Sunflower exited hyperspace and was surrounded. The Sunflower continued on a direct line toward the battleship. It appeared that the enemy cruiser was going to ram the battleship. He raised his ear stalks in disappointment; ramming another ship seemed like a poor tactical maneuver.
He watched as one his cruisers rushed too far ahead. The Sunflower turned, destroyed it with a point-blank ion cannon burst, and flew away. They were headed directly toward the Conron Naval Station. Valod’la shook his head and scoffed. After firing the ion cannon the humans were stuck in this system for hours. There was realistically no chance of escape.
He mumbled under his breath, “The Humans are certainly violent. They are terrible tacticians, but they are indeed violent.”
A few minutes later Savan’aa reported, “The negotiations have become bogged down. We cannot order the Humans to surrender because they are not Alliance soldiers. Further, there is some confusion about exactly who an enemy combatant is now that the Alliance has been disbanded.”
Valod’la ordered, “Well, create a new definition of an enemy combatant then.”
A few minutes after that Sierr’aa reported, “The Humans agree to return to the station provided they are allowed to publicly state their case that they were the grieved party when the new High Council…”
Savan’aa interrupted, “Imperial Senate.”
Sierr’aa continued seamlessly, “Is convened. They are arguing that the gravity missiles represent a first strike and they were simply defending themselves.”
Valod’la corrected them both, “Actually, the new governing body will be referred to as the Alliance Council.” He had heard some rumors that they may wind up calling it the Highest Council though.
Valod’la thought that was a fairly reasoned argument for a race that supposedly only focused on brute force and fighting. He wondered if perhaps there was a Solarian disguised as Human who was actually the one with whom they were conversing.
He also wondered if it was some sort of trap. Either way, if the humans wanted to surrender he would certainly allow them to reason their case in front of the new Senate, or Council, or whatever they name they eventually chose.
Savan’aa stated, “We received another message from the Sunflower’s captain. Apparently they are not stopping
Sierr’aa interrupted his musings a minute later. She said, “The Sunflower just jumped into hyperspace two minutes earlier than expected.”
Valod’la slammed his fist down on a nearby control. He raised his ear stalks to their highest level. He yelled, “Find out where they went and chase them.”
Savan’aa responded, “Captain Laon’la reported that just before they jumped they made a course change to head directly to the Conron – Earth hyperspace lane.”
Sierr’aa continued, “All three Hiriculan vessels have jumped in pursuit.”
Valod’la said, “That makes absolutely no sense. They stated that they were taking the least time vector out of the system. Unless they are as bad at navigating as they are tactics, their course change does not match their actions.”
Savan’aa said, “I studied their entire flight path. They were originally on a straight line course for the Conron – Earth hyperspace lane and then changed course shortly after we started chasing them. I am displaying the summary now on the main monitor.”
Valod’la watched as the Sunflower entered the system, broke free of containment, and then set a course directly for the hyperspace lane. They then changed course when they were being pursued. Then, just before they micro jumped, they made a last second course change back to the hyperspace lane.
It was now clear that the hyperspace lane was their destination the entire time. The humans obviously never had any intention of coming to the Conron Naval Station. He smiled at the thought of some poor human on the bridge of the cruiser thinking that he could outwit the Hiriculan Navy. Well, they were wrong. He easily saw through their ruse.
He now thought through this new information. Why would the Humans want to go to a hyperspace lane that is corrupted and can’t be used? It made no sense. There was nothing of value on the edge of the system
Valod’la briefly wondered if the humans were as bad at navigating through hyperspace as they were at everything else. Perhaps they didn’t understand that the lane was closed and were just going to jump anyway and kill themselves. No, he reasoned, the humans weren’t that dumb. The Conron – Earth hyperspace lane was their destination, but they weren’t going to try to use the lane to jump to Earth.
So, he continued reasoning, why would members of the most violent race in the galaxy want to go to that particular spot in space? The only other thing anywhere near that section of space were a couple of asteroid forts that guarded the lane.
He mentally repeated ‘asteroid forts guarding the lane’. There were two asteroids, one on each side of the lane that had been hollowed out and turned into fully automated forts. The two forts were run by a centralized computer system and were designed for the sole purpose of keeping non-authorized beings from going to Earth.
Valod’la had potentially figured out where the humans were going, now he switched to why.
There was really no point to going there.
The forts were not designed for habitation. The life support system wouldn’t be able to support them for very long. There was no food or water. About the only thing that the forts had was an awesome websphere connection. He doubted that was the reason for their trip though.
The only thing of value on the pair of forts was 16 massive ion cannons. They cannons couldn’t be taken, or even moved for that matter, because they were dug into the side of the rock. The fort also contained a wide array of missiles, but they weren’t compatible with their ship. The humans could take the missiles, but their cruiser couldn’t fire them.
“What could the most violent race in galaxy want with an automated fort that could easily destroy anything that it targeted?” He didn’t realize that he had spoken the question aloud until after he said it.
Sierr’aa said, “Perhaps they want to target and destroy something.”
Admiral Valod’la jumped out of his chair and yelled, “Perform an analysis, what could they target in this system?”
Savan’aa responded, “Well, there are many stationary objects in this system, including this station.”
Valod’la asked, “How far are they from here?”
Sierr’aa said, “The fort is 88 light minutes from here. It would take well over two hours to move this station from its current location and it would be nearly impossible to continuously move it in the random manner required to avoid a strike.”
Admiral Valod’la ordered, “Send a message to Captain Laon’la. Tell him to stop the Sunflower from reaching the forts. He is authorized to use every weapon at his disposal to destroy them if necessary.”
…………………….
Lorano hit save and smiled broadly. He had successfully added all of their names to the fort’s database. They should now be allowed to pass through the forts and into the Earth – Conron hyperspace lane without issue. He ran a query and verified that all 6 names and the Travesty were stored in the fort’s database. Satisfied, he unplugged the diagnostic computer from the fort’s computer core. He and Carank carefully loaded it back on to the hover cart.
Lorano then reset all of the protection protocols that he had been forced to disable in order to gain read / write access to the fort’s database. He stood up and stretched like he had been sitting in concentration for hours. The reality was that it had only taken him 40 minutes to hack the computer and insert the names.
Lorano noted that neither Carank nor Victor noticed his stretch and offered him a compliment for his work. He tried a different tact, “Whew! That was really difficult. I wasn’t sure for a moment there whether or not I would be able to hack it.”
Carank responded, “Lorano, you have programmed gallantly. Worthy of recognition in the archives of the Altian Science Academy. Now... it is finished.”
Victor opened his communicator to contact Crista so that he could tell her they had succeeded. However, doing so felt a little strange, kind of like bullying or bragging. Because the fort was heavily shielded, all of the communication traffic was routed through the main computer. Therefore, he was about to tell the computer that they had successfully hacked it.
Victor completed the connection and said, “Crista, we were successful in our endeavor and are now returning to the ship. Please prepare the ship for take-off so that we can leave as soon as we return.”
Just as they were turning to leave the computer core room, the forts proximity warning sounded.
Carank shouted, “The Hiriculans must have detected us! We need to leave now!”
…You are in no immediate danger…
Carank whirled around as if expecting to see someone. He calmed down a moment later when he realized it was the synthesized voice of the fort’s computer. Someone must have installed surround sound speakers in the control room because the computer’s voice seemed to emanate from everywhere.
Carank said, “What is going on?”
…There are three Hiriculan ships approaching the station, but they are still a few minutes away…
Carank said, “Which means we really need to leave now.”
…Please answer a question first. The being named Lorano was instrumental in the design and construction of this traffic control fort. Lorano, what is the primary function of this station…
Carank said, “We don’t have time to discuss philosophy with a computer.”
Lorano held his hand up to silence Carank and responded, “This station was designed specifically to prevent unauthorized beings from traveling to Earth.”
…Why…
Lorano thought for a moment and replied, “Because humanity is not ready for the complex dynamic associated with interstellar diplomacy.”
…By humanity you mean humans…
Lorano said, “Yes. This station was constructed to guard the Conron – Earth hyperspace and ensure that no unauthorized being harms Humans”
…So, this station’s primary purpose is to protect humans…
Lorano was boring with the conversation. He snorted and said, “Yes. This station’s primary purpose is to protect Humans.”
…This station was designed and built by the Alliance. The Alliance has fallen. Does this fact change the primary purpose of this facility…
Lorano was getting a little frustrated talking to something with no focal point. He didn’t remember specifying the surround sound in the schematics, but he really couldn’t recall. He probably did it as a joke to irritate the artificial intelligence programmers.
Lorano responded, “Your primary purpose is to protect Humans from anyone who is not on the approved list. This was true when the Alliance was a legal entity and it is even truer today.”
…So this fort should use any means available to actively protect Humans whenever possible and whenever necessary…
By this time Carank and Victor had maneuvered the hover cart to through the control room door. Carank was waving madly for Lorano to finish the conversation and join them.
Lorano responded, “Yes.”
Lorano felt the station suddenly adjust a few degrees. The rapid motion almost knocked him off of his feet. He rushed out of the control room and joined the other two beings on the electro lift. He pressed the button, but it didn’t move.
…The electro lift has been temporarily disabled for your safety. Function will return momentarily…
Lorano was about to protest when the entire station violently rocked back and forth. The motion pushed all three of them against the back side of the electro lift and then to the front side. Luckily the hover cart was to their side or they would have flipped over it.
Just as suddenly, the motion stopped and the electro lift started moving. Lorano stumbled for a second to regain his balance. Both Victor and Carank were still standing. Lorano said, “Computer, what just happened.”
…A cruiser still displaying an Alliance signature is rapidly approaching. The ship just launched a transport. Scans indicate that there are three beings on board and they are headed to the hangar bay where the Vista is docked…
Lorano said, “Computer, why did the entire fort just shake?”
…The station had to be adjusted so that it could fulfill its primary mission. Hopefully the delay did not seriously inconvenience you…
They reached the correct floor and exited the electro lift. Lorano wondered about the strange statement and briefly considered plugging back in the diagnostic computer to get a detailed answer. However, there was no time.
They pushed the hover cart as fast as they could toward the Vista. However, it was clear that they weren’t going to make it back to their ship before the transport landed.
Chapter 19
“How long?”
Jim really didn’t need to say that – the tertiary monitor was constantly displaying the amount of time until they could jump again. It showed 17:59 and was slowing ticking toward zero.
Russ decided that Jim had actually asked how long the micro jump was going to last
. He responded, “The jump will last three minutes.”
Jim said, “The Hiriculans are going to figure out our actual destination. I imagine we will only have a minute or two after we exit before they attack us.”
“What’s the plan?” Colin asked.
The plan had already been settled. Jim really didn’t rehash it again. However, he knew that Colin had been busy rewiring the secondary trunk line when they developed it. He supposed that it wouldn’t hurt to review it again.
Jim responded, “When we transition back into real space we are going to go directly through the center of the two forts. We are then going to swing in a large circle around the left one. The computer insisted that the left asteroid is where the storage bays are located.”
Jim continued, “When we get close a single transport is going to fly to the fort and land in the bay. One fully armored marine will exit the transport and secure the bay. The second pilot will then exit the transport, locate the transport containing the hyper bubbles, and everyone will return to the Sunflower.”
Colin responded, “So, you want three people total. You could do it with only one marine and no pilots if you abandon the initial transport.”
Jim said, “I don’t want to sacrifice it if I don’t have to. Unfortunately, the marine cannot fly the transport while wearing the MPS (mobile powered suit). Further, it takes far too long for the marine to get in and out of the armor for that plan to be viable.”
Colin suggested, “The place is supposed to be abandoned. More than likely you would be okay without the marine wearing the MPS.”
Jim responded, “True. But I would rather the team be over-prepared and under-utilized than vise-versa. You will have to cope without them.” Translation – Colin and Becky would have to operate one of the missile launchers.
Jim opened a channel to the entire ship and said, “All hands, go to your battle stations. We will return to normal space in two minutes.”
Colin and Becky left the bridge and went to missile launcher number 1. Even though John and Ben had vacated missile launcher number 9, Colin pulled rank and they went to the launcher that they were familiar with. Honestly though, other than number 10 the launchers were exactly the same.
