by S A Pavli
“The future for all of us is difficult to predict,” he said philosophically. “But I hope that for us Dansai, it will be better than the past.”
“I am sure it will be,” said Manera, and I knew that she was not just being diplomatic. We would indeed do all we could to help the unfortunate Dansai. And the Saraya, if they let us.
We spent a little more time with the formidable Solan before circulating with the other delegates. There was no doubt that all the delegates from the Dansai planets were trying hard, if not to ingratiate themselves to us, to get noticed. I got the impression that the competition between the Dansai worlds caused division and weakness against the Saraya. They needed to be united against the common enemy.
Proceedings were coming to an end when we were suddenly shocked by the sound of an alarm. We looked enquiringly at our hosts; Tara was consulting with a couple of military types while the others were busy with their comms devices.
Ironically, it was our intel which came up with the answer first. Alfred’s voice came over the common channel.
“We have deciphered some transmissions from the Saraya ships. There is an attack under way, we believe centred on the capital city and the palace.”
Chapter 13
Commra repeated the information to the Dansai.
“But they cannot possibly get through,” said Tara. “This is the most heavily defended part of the planet.”
There was agitation amongst the delegates and some started to leave. I repeated what she had said to Alfred and asked if they had any more specific info about the attack.
“Three starships have made a high speed pass and dropped a number of fighters. The mother ships are heading away from the planet at high speed. The fighters are making a high speed entry into the atmosphere and the calculated trajectory is the Capital.”
“Thanks Alfred. Are the fighters likely to be fully automated?”
“I believe Sarayan technology has not achieved the required level of cybernetic control,” he replied.
“It looks like some kind of suicide mission to take out the palace,” I mused. I turned to Tara. “Could they know that there is a major meeting there today?” Her face dropped in shock.
“It’s been in the news,” she said.
“Have they done this before?” I asked.
“No. They have just attacked our Space defences,” she replied.
“Alfred informs me that a number of fighters are making a high speed atmospheric entry and heading for the capital. The mother ships have abandoned them so it could be a suicide mission. They could be carrying nuclear weapons so we need to take them out before they get anywhere near any populated areas.” I was impressed with her calmness. Her face tightened with determination.
“Get me General Contay immediately,” she snapped at her comm. She started shouting orders at the military attaches next to her and then into her comm. I left her to it and turned to my colleagues. They had gathered together, worried looks on their faces. I put my arm around Manera’s waist and gave her a reassuring hug. The thought of an indeterminate number of suicide fighter bombers heading our way carrying nuclear weapons was horrifying. I decided the time had arrived to take sides.
“Alfred, can the Settang provide any help?” I knew the answer but I had to ask Alfred to make sure. There was a pause while my trusty AI considered the options.
“We can intercept some of the mother ships but not the fighters.” It was the answer I expected.
“We have to use the Peacekeeper fighter,” I said. Commra and Commander Pariso looked at each other and then at me.
“We cannot abandon our non-aligned status,” said Commra. But there was doubt in his voice. “Can we?” he added, turning to the commander.
“I think we have no choice,” said the commander, shaking his head. “We have to defend ourselves, but more importantly, if Captain Constantine is correct then the loss of life would be … well… I don’t have to say.”
“If any of the enemy get past the Dansai defences, our fighter can take them out. Last line of defence. If the Dansai defences are good, our fighter will not have to do anything.”
“Excuse me.”
“Yes Cora?” I turned to the android.
“I am receiving real time information from Alfred and also monitoring the Dansai military comms. If we are to use our fighter we must get it into the air immediately.”
“Thank you Cora.” I turned to my colleagues. “Are we decided?” Manera said yes immediately and the Commander followed. Commra paused, a pained expression on his face.
“We should consult Hamolatonen and Lanatra….” he began.
“No time Guardian,” I said. “We need a decision now.”
“Right, right,” he said impatiently. “I suppose we have no choice.” He scowled at me angrily. I knew that I had pre-empted his authority but our lives, and the lives of thousands, was more important than his pride.
I nodded to Cora.
“Unload the robots from the fighter before it takes off. Get them here, we may need them. Do you have a fix on the incoming bombers?”
“The three groups are converging on the capital. They are about five hundred miles away coming in over the sea. They will be intercepted by Dansai fighters in seconds. There are also anti aircraft defences around the city. But if they are carrying nuclear weapons, they must be intercepted at least one hundred miles from the city.”
“It only needs one to get through,” I said. “That’s our job Cora. We must destroy any that get past the Dansai defences.”
“It will be difficult to cover such a large area with only one ship,” she said.
“Well, I guess at all cost, defend the palace. Not just to save us. Most of the Dansai leadership is here.”
“Understood,” she said.
Tara came over to us with a couple of military individuals in tow.
“We should take refuge in the bomb shelters,” she said.
“Are they nuclear proof?” I asked. She looked alarmed.
“Why do you think they will use nuclear weapons?”
“I don’t want to alarm you, it is just a guess. It seems to be a suicide mission for the pilots because their mother ships have abandoned them. I am guessing that they do not just want to shoot up a few buildings. If I am right it is crucial that we intercept and destroy all their bombers before they get within range of the capital.”
She looked devastated and muttered something that the translate program failed to pick up. But she pulled herself together and looked me straight in the eyes.
“You must help us,” she said. It was more of a plea than an order.
“There is not too much we can do,” I said. “Our mother ship is not within range to help. But we have launched our single fighter with instructions to provide a rear guard. If any enemy ships get through your defence, it must take them out before they can release their bombs.”
“Thank you,” she said. “We have an operations room in the basement of the palace. Would you care to join us there? I would very much like to have Cora‘s input as well as whatever information we can get from your mother ship.”
“We will do what we can to help,” said Commra. We all trouped after Cora and her military escorts. We entered a lift which took us down to the basement. All the delegates and civilians were herded off to their own area while we followed Tara to the military Ops room. I noticed Solan and a number of other senior delegates were also in the Ops room. Cora got into a huddle with the senior delegates, and the military. We received a running commentary from a secondary channel, either from Cora or Alfred.
Action was under way against the incoming bombers with the vanguard of our fighters converging on them. They were not yet within range of the missile defences. Our Peacekeeper fighter was in the air and taking up station above and behind the second wave of Dansai fighters.
It started to come home to me that we may be under nuclear attack. Could it all finish here on this remote planet thousands of light
years from home? Perhaps we should all have jumped into our Peacekeeper fighter and legged it out of here. Killing myself was one thing, but my heroism could be the death of Manera and my colleagues. But, damn it, how could we face ourselves afterwards knowing we may have condemned thousands of Dansai to death?
Manera must have sensed my agonising. I felt her hand slide into mine and give me a reassuring squeeze.
“It will be alright,” she whispered. “Our Peacekeeper will destroy anything that gets through the Dansai defences. The Saraya stand no chance.”
“I hope you are right love. I don’t want to be responsible for our deaths.”
“We are not children Paul. You are not responsible. We have taken the decision to stand by the Dansai together, because it is the right thing to do.” I nodded soberly. She was right of course. Now, we just needed to make it work.
We waited while battle was joined. The Ops room was a babble of voices with military staff poised over their computers and officers dashing from station to station. After ten minutes or so the reports were that it was going well. With Cora’s and Alfred’s tactical help the Dansai were deploying their forces effectively and the attacking Saraya bombers were taking heavy casualties. Attacking the capital may not have been a wise move on the part of the Sarayans because it was easily the most heavily defended.
But they were attacking in numbers and in three separate waves, stretching the Dansai fighters. Elements of the second and third wave broke through and away from the Dansai fighters. The anti-aircraft defences decimated them but they were flying low and fast and some were getting through.
It was time for the Peacekeeper to do it’s stuff. We were getting video feed from it and it was put up on one of the big wall screens. It intercepted a trio of bombers still over the sea. It swooped down on them, it’s fantastic speed and acceleration leaving them standing. It’s heavy canons crippled two of the bombers and they fell out of the sky, smoke and flames pouring from shattered wings and fuselage. The Peacekeeper banked and came around in a tight turn behind the remaining bomber and released a missile. The bomber attempted to take evasive action but it had neither the speed nor the time. The missile hit and the bomber disappeared in a gout of smoke and flames. There was a loud cheer across the room and much clapping and stamping, which seemed to be what the Dansai did to show approval.
The Peacekeeper climbed rapidly and headed up the coast. Another two bombers were intercepted and dealt with in short order. I could see that the military operations staff were utterly awed by the performance of the Peacekeeper, and I had to concede that they were fully justified.
But we were in trouble because another two bombers had broken through and were heading over land. The Peacekeeper was a couple of hundred miles from them and it was touch and go whether it could intercept them before they arrived over a populated area. They were flying almost at rooftop level and the city’s anti-aircraft missiles were useless. Dansai fighters were being diverted but their chances of interception were no better than the Peacekeeper.
We waited with bated breath as the Peacekeeper accelerated in an interception course. In a couple of minutes, with the two bombers still not visible to us but detected on the radar, the Peacekeeper released two long range missiles. We watched their hot exhausts disappear into the distance. After a few seconds the Peacekeeper’s cameras showed the two explosions and there were cries of triumph from everyone in the room. But our triumph was short lived. Cora’s voice cut through the babble of voices in the room.
“One of the Saraya bombers released a bomb before it was destroyed.” It was as if someone had turned off the sound in the room. The silence was broken after a second with cries of despair and anger.
“Cora, can we intercept the bomb before it explodes?” I asked quickly. There was a couple of seconds delay before Cora answered.
“No, the bomber was too low. The bomb has already exploded.”
I groaned with disappointment.
“Cora, how far is it from the city?”
“It is one hundred and fifty miles away, in a relatively unpopulated area. The prevailing winds will blow much of the radioactive cloud back out to sea. But the southern regions of the city should be evacuated immediately.”
The video feed from the Peacekeeper fighter was showing the growing mushroom cloud and we all looked on with horror. My interchange with Cora had been on the common channel. Tara was talking agitatedly with her aides and the other delegates.
All remaining Saraya bombers had been destroyed and the battle was over. It was clear that they had a huge amount of work to do to evacuate the city and inoculate people against the radiation. It seemed a good idea for us to take ourselves away from the situation for now until the authorities had assessed the damage and danger and coped with it.
As we were escorted back to our apartments I mused that this was indeed war in the raw, in a way we had not seen on Earth for hundreds of years. Where was this fabled 2 million year old civilisation that we had come to find?
Chapter 14
Returning to the Settang Despass seemed to be an abandonment of our friends when they needed us most. But we also needed time to meet and talk with our colleagues and discuss seriously what help we could offer the Dansai.
The Saraya forces appeared confused after the failure of their attack to do any significant damage. There was a great deal of traffic on their comms network. From what we could decipher, it seemed that they had not discovered the part played by the Peacekeeper fighter in stopping their attack. It was therefore a shock to them that the Dansai forces appeared to be so effective.
We boarded the Peacekeeper fighter after bidding goodbye to our new friends and assuring them that we would return, once their affairs were back to normal. The Settang carried out another high speed pass of the planet. This time it had to slow it’s approach in order to pick us up, but we were not detected by the Saraya ships.
Boarding the Settang again, I had rather mixed feelings. It was of course a pleasure to get together with our colleagues and friends on the Settang. But the artificial environment of the ship reminded me of how much I missed fresh air and natural surroundings. Was I getting too old for this job? I asked myself.
That evening we enjoyed a convivial get together with our friends and colleagues. There was however a slightly sober air about proceedings, as if it was somehow inappropriate for us to be celebrating or getting inebriated given the tragic circumstances that we had just witnessed. But it was also evident that everyone was becoming impatient with being cooped up on the starship. Despite our troubles on the planet they were all itching to get some on planet leave.
A couple of the guys were ribbing Commander Pariso.
“Did you check out the girls Jansso?” asked one of Colrania’s techies. “I mean, biologically, how Hianja are they?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively towards his mates who supported him with lewd chuckles.
“We were kind of busy,” said the Commander mildly. “You know, being kidnapped, threatened with death and then having atom bombs dropped on us. Not much time to check out the …er… talent.”
“Excuses. You have to get your priorities right,” was the amused retort.
The Commander smirked.
“Dansai maidens not quite my type. Although that Tara was okay.”
“Very impressive lady,” I agreed.
“She looked very talented,” remarked the Commander with a knowing look.
“Really,” said Colrania with a disgusted expression on her face. “Here we are travelling the stars and you lot may have just come down from the trees. Expected better from you Commander.”
“I’m being led astray by your engineers,” said the Commander to ribald laughter.
The conversation turned to the nature of the Dansai and we, Manera and me, Commra and the Commander, and even Cora, were questioned about our impressions of the Dansai and how close they were biologically, psychologically and socially from both Hianja and Humans.
But it was difficult not to ‘talk shop‘, and the discussion inevitably turned to the conflict between the Saraya and the Dansai and what we could do about it. The general feeling was that, whatever had happened in the past, the Saraya were the aggressors now and we did have a duty to help the Dansai.
The party wound up and we all drifted off to our beds. Lying in bed waiting for Manera to join me, I thought about how it must have been for the Dansai, confronted by an apparently vicious and irrational enemy for thousands of years. How would that shape their psychology and their society? That was a question for the experts I thought. For now, it seemed a good idea for us to interfere as little as possible in this cauldron of conflict.
I was woken up by the buzzing of the comm. Manera had beaten me to it and activated the device. Cora’s face appeared.
“We have received a message from the Earth fleet. They have arrived. Captain Hamolatonen has called a meeting in one hour.”
“Thank you Cora. We will be there.” Manera closed the link and turned to me. “We have company.”
I yawned.
“Good. But they could have chosen a better time.”
“You don’t need any more beauty sleep,” she said.
“That can be interpreted two ways,” I said. “One, I am beautiful enough and cannot be improved on, or, two, no amount of sleep will make any difference to my ugly mug.”
She flashed me a smile
“If you want your ego massaged, we can share the shower.” She gave me a backward glance as she headed for the shower.
“My ego you say? Wait for me….”
An hour later, suitably refreshed, ‘ego’ massaged and nursing a hot coffee I took my seat in our common room with the others. Captain Hamo stood up front conversing with Commander Pariso and Colrania, and waved me over.
“Admiral Shan Deshi of the battleship Kuàisù Niao, wishes to speak with you privately. Use console three.” Hamolatonen nodded towards one of the ship’s consoles which was currently occupied by one of the crew. I went over to the console and the crew member clicked a button and left. The screen showed a view of the ship’s bridge, manned by a dozen or so individuals, mostly Chinese but with a couple of Europeans or Americans. In the front, the burly figure of the middle aged Admiral gazed impassively at me. I saluted smartly and he responded casually.
