In another few days they would have to face Captain Anderson and his fleet. These days flew by, like a few moments. They were totally immersed in preparations up until their arrival. Before they knew it, the invading fleet had arrived and they were numerous.
* * *
Captain Daniel Anderson smiled when he looked at the reports of the scans they had taken of the small moon base. He thought Victor would have accomplished more than this in seven years. He then scolded himself for thinking this way. Looks could be deceiving. Seven years ago, he had greatly underestimated Victor Marcus. That would not happen again. What was Victor hiding here? Everything looked almost the same as when they had left it. Some of the living modules had been moved around, and that was all that was visibly apparent. Infrared scans showed that only four hundred and six people were living on the base. Where were all the rest? Victor Marcus would pay for all the crimes he had committed against Homeworld. He would make sure of that.
While the moon was turned the other way with the base on the other side, Captain Anderson had sent a small portion of his fleet to the far side of the planet. They would begin an attack on some of the villages there. They were on standby and they would begin this attack, as soon as he ordered them to proceed. First though, the necessary negotiations had to be attempted with the people of the planet. He knew that this would be a useless exercise of futility. A pointless formality. The people here would not cooperate with the plans of Homeworld. He would go through the motions of endeavoring to persuade the so called grand council and its ambassadors. He would do so for the benefit of the record. To prove that these primitive people are not willing to listen to logical reasoning. Then he would act with force. A demonstration to the people here that they are to be in subjection to the government of the Kastat people. If they would not even cooperate at that point, who could save them from the mighty hand of Homeworld’s forces?
He knew that Victor Marcus and Ambassador Taerg Esidarap would likely be among those he would try to convince. This made him nervous. Victor Marcus he had to admit, was a formidable opponent. Victor, would be very prepared for these negotiations. He decided he would make them as brief as possible.
He turned to his communications officer and said, “Mister Richards, open a channel to the moon base and hail them.”
“Yes sir.”
In a moment, he saw three individuals staring back at him. Two were familiar and one was not. He immediately recognized Victor Marcus and Ambassador Esidarap. He did not recognize the female. She was young, beautiful and had a pleasant smile on her face. She was obviously, one of the natives from the planet. The color of her skin, indicated this. She was also sitting beside Victor Marcus, in a room with various electronic equipment surrounding them. Ambassador Esidarap on the other hand was on the bridge of the Luminous. Captain Anderson absorbed all of this in a fraction of a second, but before he could speak, Victor Marcus beat him to it.
“Captain Anderson, I would say, what a pleasant surprise, but that is not true.” Victor leaned forward, smiled, raised an eyebrow and continued, “We have been expecting you.”
“Hello Mister Marcus. Our scans indicate that there are only four hundred and six people now on the base. Where are the rest of my people?”
“I am sorry, but I am afraid that most of them are unavailable at the moment.”
“That does not answer my question. Where are they?”
“Some are here, but most of them are on the planet living among the peaceful villages. Do not worry, I would like to assure you that no harm has come to any of them.”
“Mister Marcus, because of your actions seven years ago, our colonization efforts have been set back by more than that amount of time. However, let me assure you, that your betrayal has not permanently prevented us from colonizing this moon. Eventually, all the habitable places in this solar system will be under our protection.”
“We shall see, Captain.”
“You will answer for your crimes, when we cast you before the authorities on Homeworld.”
“Captain, you know I will not be returning to Homeworld. This is not your intention at all. Your aims shall be thwarted today.”
“You are powerless to stop this Mister Marcus,” he said angrily, “you will submit.”
“As I said, we shall see.”
Calming himself Captain Anderson said, “Let us put this argument aside for the moment. We would like to negotiate with the government that exists below, on the planet. The Grand Council, I believe they are called.”
“I am afraid that will not be possible, as well. You see, they have no communication equipment at hand and you cannot take your ships down there to meet them, because it will disrupt the lives of the villagers. Nevertheless, my friend ambassador Taerg Esidarap has been granted the authority, to speak for them. I suggest that you negotiate with him.”
“This is completely unacceptable,” he said with a frustrated tone, while shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
“I am afraid it is your only choice.”
“Nonsense, it is not my only choice, but in the interests of solving this dilemma, I will address the Ambassador.” Looking at Taerg he said, “Ambassador Esidarap, is there any possible way, that we can offer our services and allow your people to come under the shelter of the Kastat people? We certainly can offer you many advancements in technology that will make the village life of your people more productive.”
Taerg smiled and said, “Thank you very much for your generous offer Captain. In return for this generosity, what would you expect?”
“Our desire has not changed, Ambassador. We would like to colonize the habitable moon that orbits your lovely paradise world.”
“I am sorry, but the position of the grand council on that matter, has likewise not changed.”
“Surely there must be a way. Would you say Ambassador Esidarap, that there is any way at all their position on this matter would change?”
“Nothing comes to mind. In fact, I would say that there is no way for their position to change concerning this.”
Captain Anderson’s facial expression turned into an ice cold stare. “That is very unfortunate. Have you seen the fleet that accompanies this mothership?”
Taerg kept smiling and said, “You will have to address Victor Marcus about such concerns.”
“Excellent,” Victor thought. Taerg handled that very well. They had been practicing just such possible exchanges for the last two weeks. They wanted to keep him off balance, by being very swift in answering all of his questions. Effectively doing so in a fully optimal way.
Captain Anderson turned to Victor and said, “Mister Marcus, surely you have informed these people of the capabilities of this fleet.”
“Yes I have captain, and we have been well aware of your approach to this system. The arrival of your fleet in this sector was not a surprise. I would like to advise you not to take any aggressive action, against the villages on the planet or against this base. It would be in your best interests, to go back to your home world. Then you should discuss other options for colonization elsewhere, outside of this solar system. To take action against the friendly people here, would be an intractable mistake. It most definitely would leave you stranded in this sector, with no way to return.”
Captain Anderson replied with a slight chuckle, “Did you say, stranded? Do you think that we will be stranded? How preposterous, Mister Marcus. Have you not deliberated the probability of advancements and changes to our technology since we last met?”
“You have been mostly sleeping for the last six years. Homeworld would not have known anything about the situation here, until four years ago. Then they would have only a year to prepare the fleet and send you off on another escapade. Any so called advancements, would only be minor at best. Think about this Captain. We have been working hard for the last seven years, while you were sleeping away. Please believe me Captain, when I say that you have no chance of succeeding here today. If you take action against us, then
your presumed power will be neutralized. Thereafter, the grand council will not allow you and the officers of your command crew to even live among the villagers here. You would be viewed as a palpable threat to our people. Without any way to return to Homeworld, where would you go? Please consider these facts, act logically and responsibly.”
“What could you have possibly achieved with almost no resources and only four hundred six people? You think that you can neutralize all of this? Besides this massive Mothership with over twenty four thousand people ready to begin colonization efforts, there are more than five hundred battleships at our disposal. All of them have the capability of returning home, without this mothership. How could you possibly neutralize all of this?”
“Captain, it does not matter how many ships you have. It will only take us a little longer, to accomplish what I have already explained to you.”
“How exactly will you achieve what you claim to be able to do?”
“Of course we cannot divulge such information, Captain. With all your tactical training, you should know that.”
“I can see, that it is useless trying to convince you to cooperate. So, I only have one more question for you. Who is the woman sitting beside you? Is she another ambassador?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I should apologize to the both of you, for not introducing her at the outset. Captain Anderson, let me introduce you to my wife, Ylil.”
Ylil smiled and said, “I am pleased to meet you.”
Captain Anderson, looked at her with a blank expression for several seconds. Then his expression changed into a smile and he laughed. It was a laugh that was obviously meant to humiliate them. He was laughing at them. Then he slowly shook his head and said, “My, you have been very busy for the last seven years, Mister Marcus.” Then he walked up behind his communications officer, reached over his shoulder and switched off the communication channel.
Taerg sighed, looked at them both and said, “Okay, I guess we should all take off and assemble into our battle formations. Squadrons two and three, let’s take off and keep alert.”
As they watched their three small squadrons leaving the base, Victor said, “I imagine Captain Anderson is watching them take off and continuing that miserable laugh he left us with. He probably imagines that he will crush them like little insects. Such arrogance has made him foolish.”
“Yes, arrogance will cause even the most intelligent men to do foolish things.”
“Is that another one of your wise sayings?”
“No, I just made it up.”
“Well, I think you are correct and if I ever get arrogant like that, please slap my face.”
Ylil chuckled and said, “You could never become that arrogant, but I can live with a little bit of it. You are the most intelligent man I have ever met. It is okay to know you are more intelligent than most of the people. However, you also need to always remember that this does not make you superior to them. People have other qualities or gifts that make them just as valuable as we are.”
Victor winked at her and said, “Did you just say that I am the most intelligent man you ever met? Don’t ever say that again. What are you trying to do, lead me down the path to arrogance?”
Ylil smiled and raised her hand pretending that she was going to slap him.
Chapter Fourteen: The Battle
As he watched the thirty two ships leave the moon base captain Anderson snorted and said, “Is that the extent of their forces? This may not take as long as we thought.”
He turned to Commander Robertson and said, “Inform the four squadrons on the far side of the planet that they may begin their mission. Advise them that the relay station for communication purposes has already been set up. Emphasize that we need to receive their report immediately, upon completion of their mission. Reiterate their mission to them. When they arrive at the designated quadrant of the planet they are to select village targets, one village per ship. They are not to target the villagers for now. The target is to be the well, near the center of each village. Destroy their water supply. Perhaps this will convince their grand council, to cooperate.”
“Yes, sir.”
He then turned to the weapons officer Mister Lewis and said, “Lieutenant, have one of our battleships target the hangar on the moon base and fire only one homing missile immediately. We will ignore their pitifully thin forces for now.”
“Yes sir.” It took the Lieutenant only about twenty seconds to have the missile sent off to its target.
As they watched its descent toward the hangar, Captain Anderson thought, “Now this will change their arrogant attitude.” He believed Victor would be surprised at the upgraded fire power of just one homing missile. There was the chance that some people would die in the hangar, but a strong lesson needed to be learned.
On the forward view screen they watched the missile from its own point of view as it approached the hangar. It was as if they were zooming in on it. However, when it was about five thousand meters away it suddenly exploded long before reaching its intended target.
“What just happened?”
“The missile detonated before reaching the target, sir.” Replied the Commander.
“I know that. Why did it detonate?”
“They must have some sort of shielding.”
“Really? I suppose that would be something we should expect, given the fact that one of the greatest scientists of our time is working against us. Very good Mister Marcus, let’s test the limits of your shielding. Mister Lewis, this time it will be three missiles and two laser turrets with sustained three second bursts, for a one minute’s duration.”
After a two minutes had passed by, Mister Lewis turned to the Captain and said, “Sorry sir, but our weapons seem to have no effect on them. Something else has happened as well. The missiles did not even detonate this time. They simply deflected off their shields and fell to the moon’s surface.”
“How is that possible?”
“Well, we were receiving data from the missiles right up until a few seconds before they hit the shields. Maybe, they have some sort of pulse that renders them inoperable.”
“How are they activating this pulse, when their shields are up? Such a pulse, would affect their own devices and weapons, would it not?”
“From what I understand about such technology, yes it would.”
“Why are they not crippling themselves then?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
“The three missiles we sent at them all came from one battleship. Perhaps, it was easy to aim their pulse, when the missiles are coming from the same direction at the same time. It should be more difficult, when the missiles are coming at different times and from different trajectories. Mister Lewis, have three of our battleships make a run for the moon base from three different directions. Have them stagger their arrival time by fifteen seconds. Once they arrive at a distance of twelve thousand meters, they are to deploy three missiles each. Then upon approach, they are to fire their lasers with sustained three second bursts as they fly over, at an altitude of seven thousand meters.”
While the weapons officer was organizing all of this, the communications officer said, “Sir, we are being hailed by the moon base.”
“Put them on.”
Victor Marcus and his lovely bride stared back at him. Victor said, “Captain Anderson, if you are thinking about using your battleships to fly by our moon base while shooting at us, I would advise against it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“For the reason that if they are approaching us from different vectors then our pulses could also render their ships inoperable. With them flying at such low altitudes, if this happens, then they could crash causing the possible loss of life of some of your men.”
“Not to worry about that Mister Marcus. These officers have been trained for such dangerous missions. They are aware that they could get shot down. It is their duty to comply with such orders.” He then indicated for his communications officer to cut communication
s with the base. “Continue on, my orders still stand.”
Seven minutes later the weapons officer said, “Captain, the battleships are nearing the target. The first one will start firing their weapons in a moment.”
Captain Anderson turned his attention to the various views on the main view screen. The first ship fired their weapons and they were all neutralized before hitting the shields. That was disappointing. However, the next ships’ missiles were not neutralized and they detonated against the shields. The third ship also fired its weapons with the same result as that of the second ship. However, this ship also flew through the pulse beam. It continued on its last trajectory right into the side of a steep hill. The ship exploded in a large fireball of fury. No chance of survivors. There was silence on the bridge.
Commander Joseph Robertson decided to get more involved at this point, so he said, “Sir I recommend that we stop firing on this moon base. The squadrons on the far side of the planet are presently hitting them where their weak spot is. The primitive villages. We could move our battleships away from the base, out of the possible range of their pulse device. Then, we wait for the report of the four squadrons firing on the villages. After they see what is really at stake concerning the villages they may acquiesce and cooperate with our colonization efforts.”
“Commander, we already are waiting on this mission report.” Then he turned to his communication officer and said, “Please have them report immediately, Mister Richards. We need that information.”
“Yes sir.”
Then turning back to face the commander he said, “I agree that we need to move our battleships to make sure they are out of the range of the pulse devices for now, so please recall them. Also tell the fleet to adjust their current position to ten thousand kilometers from the base, one hundred kilometers may be too close. We do not know the range of their pulse devices. We don’t know what other traps there are and with Victor Marcus, there are bound to be more.”
Tomorrow's Paradise World: Colonize Page 13
