by Dale Musser
“By the stars, I hope so. I don’t know that I could go through that again. That is the worst pain I have ever endured.”
“Well, stop getting shot and you won’t have to go through it anymore,” Kala admonished.
Kala managed to get me back to our suite via our usual route in the maintenance tunnels. Once there, I showered several times to rid myself of the chemical smell that always followed the treatments. Once the last traces of odor were washed away to my satisfaction, I laid down on the bed and slept another hour. When I woke again I could smell food and suddenly realized I was famished. As was always the case after some post-treatment sleep, I found myself feeling refreshed and alert. I discovered that I had only a small amount of stiffness as I put on my uniform jacket. I felt almost like a new man.
I walked into the dining area to be greeted by Kala’s beautiful smile. “Tib, you look like a totally different person today. If I didn’t know better, I would think nothing happened to you at all.”
“Well, I don’t feel quite that good, but I can tell you I feel better than I have in a week. What have you prepared there? I’m starving!”
“A’Lappe said you might be, so I had Piesew fixed up a variety of foods for you.”
As always, Piesew had come up with something exquisite. This time he prepared a large platter of hors d'oeuvres and each one that I sampled only made me want more. Before I knew it, I had eaten the entire trayful.
“Well, your appetite certainly has recovered,” said Kala.
“Honestly, Kala, I’m not sure if I ate yesterday, now that I think about it.”
Kala gave at me a scowl and shook her head.
“What time do you meet with the Admiralty this morning?”
“In about two hours. I’ll have just enough time for a briefing with Marranalis and Wabussie beforehand,” I replied as I wiped my mouth on a napkin and rose from my chair.
“Tib, I know I’m repeating myself, but you really are looking very good this morning. It’s difficult to believe just a few days ago you were so severely injured.”
“I do feel good. Just a small bit of soreness in my left shoulder. Otherwise I feel fit again.”
“Just don’t go trying to stop any more enemy projectiles using your body,” she said.
“I won’t.” I gave her a quick kiss before heading toward the door. Her kiss was so warm and sweet that I needed a second, and I felt a rush as we kissed yet again. I was heading out the door before I asked myself whether it was the effect of the treatment or something more. I would need to ponder it later. Right then I needed to get to the GLOMAR ROSA and back into action.
“Good morning, Admiral,” said Marranalis as soon as I entered the War Room. “You’re looking well.”
“I’m feeling well, thank you,” I replied. “Get in touch with Wabussie and tell him I want a briefing in an hour and then come to my office and fill me in on everything that’s happened since Ming’s attack in Sector Three.” I headed for my office and got myself a cup of foccee from the dispenser and sat down behind my desk. Marranalis entered a moment later with his vid pad and began relating intelligence that had been gathered and analyzed since the assaults in the Malpy Solar System.
“Do we have any idea of their origin or where they went after the raid?” I asked.
“No, sir, but we could see stars and a piece of a nebula through their Cantolla Gate before they closed it. I sent the images to A’Lappe in hopes that he might be able to identify a location from those details. It’s a long shot at best, but A’Lappe is pretty good at pulling off miracles.”
“Indeed he is,” I said, as I flexed my shoulder a little to see whether there was any pain remaining in the rib cage.
“What are the casualties and death statistics at the Malpy worlds?” I asked, trying to get back on the topic.
“Billions, sir,” said Marranalis. “It’ll probably be weeks before we know the full extent of the casualties, but I think it’s safe to say nearly half the populations of both worlds were destroyed. The Leaders have used the War Powers Act to bypass the Senate in order to expedite aid to both worlds. Food, medical supplies and disaster response teams are already pouring through temporary Cantolla Gates from thousands of volunteer groups as well as our Federation organizations.”
“Good, good! What about the final damages caused by the God’s Sweat addicts?”
“Well, we certainly had a Federation-wide mess. Not as bad as we feared, but still bad. And Halfredies’ analysis was correct. The greater concentration of drug distribution and abuse was witnessed on the larger and wealthier worlds and the smaller and more remote worlds experienced only contained outbreaks of drug-related violence. Because of the addicts’ intense cravings, their actions were random and disorganized, so no single, large-scale events occurred. However, there were thousands, if not millions of drug abusers going out of their minds all at once, culminating in two days filled with suicides, physical attacks, arsons, vandalism, you name it. Most of the addicts either committed suicide or simply died, but enforcement teams were unfortunately forced to shoot and kill a few of the more violent ones that couldn’t be subdued. You know, Admiral, Ming hurt himself as much as he did us when his drug production facilities became contaminated and he cut off the remaining supply of God’s Sweat from the Federation. When he manages to start distributing again, he won’t have any customers. They’re all gone.”
“I don’t think Ming cares at this point. He’s running out of time and he knows it now. Krossden made it clear to Ming that he’s dying and that he doesn’t have long to live. Ming wants to capture the entire galaxy before he dies – or in his mind, the entire universe – if for no other reason than to prove himself to be the greatest. Once he’s gone, he doesn’t care what happens. He just wants to die the Supreme Ruler over all.”
“Do you really think so?”
“It was his goal on Earth – to conquer the entire world and become Emperor. Learning of the existence of the Federation only made his narcissistic ambitions grow stronger; but the goal has always been the same – to conquer and dominate everyone and everything around him.
“Have you discovered anything from the data cube Krossden gave me?”
“Yes, we’ve pinpointed the location where Krossden met Ming at the asteroid field. The field isn’t large in comparison to most we find, but the asteroids there are larger and consist of much more stable material than average and there are certainly more than enough to meet the Brotherhood’s needs.”
“How close is our nearest Cantolla Gate to this field?”
“About five days’ travel, sir, at max GW speeds.”
“Order five ships from the nearest sector that are equipped to set up stellar Cantolla Gates to set up a perimeter about a half day’s travel from the location. Each ship is to set up a stellar gate that we can pair with gates in sectors that we’ll determine later. I want to be able to send ships through from all sides to attack in about a week.”
We were interrupted by a signal from my comlink.
“Tibby here.”
“Sir, Admiral Wabussie is here to see you.”
“Send him in.”
“You’re looking much improved, Admiral,” said Wabussie as he entered the room.
“Thank you,” I responded. “I’m feeling much improved. I hope you have news that will make me feel even better.”
“Well, I’m sorry, but that’s not the case, sir. The news I have isn’t very good, I’m afraid. The sniper who survived the attack at the graduation ceremony wasn’t able to give us much information before he died.”
“He’s dead? What happened?”
“He came out of his coma a couple of days after the incident. Soon after, we were able interrogate him and did so for nearly a day, after which we put him in a cell under heavy guard. He’d been thoroughly searched, stripped and given new clothing, so we were confident that he didn’t have anything on his person when he was placed in his cell. What we didn’t anticipate was that he
had a poison capsule embedded in flesh on the inside of his thigh. When the guards brought him his meal, he used the blunt end of his utensil to strike and break the capsule, which killed him instantly.”
“By the stars, how does Ming get such loyalty from his men?” I asked rhetorically.
“I don’t think he does. These men fear Ming beyond belief. They’re convinced that he always finds those who betray him and they’ve witnessed firsthand how Ming uses the most sadistic and painful means conceivable to torture and kill those who fail him. They would rather die quickly from poisoning than allow Ming to vent his displeasure on them,” replied Wabussie.
“Did you find out anything about how these snipers and bombers got on to the base to begin with?” I asked.
“Yes. We managed to get the sniper to confirm that he and his cohorts came in cloaked through the Cantolla Gates with the arriving visitors before the commencement of the ceremony. We believe we have a solution to prevent this kind of cloaked entrance in the future.”
“Well, let’s hear it,” I said.
“The gate security areas will be modified to include an enclosed booth immediately preceding the Cantolla Gate. A door on one end allows a single traveler to step into the booth and a door at the far end opens directly into the Cantolla Gate. The two doors can never be open at the same time. The traveler steps into the booth, after which the door closes and a light fog is introduced into the chamber to reveal the presence of any cloaked items or individuals. Once cleared, the door attached to the gate is opened and the individual is allowed passage into the security post on the opposite side. The gate door closes behind them and the booth door is opened to security to accept the next traveler for fog screening.”
“That might work. How long before the idea can be implemented?”
“The scope of the project is enormous, but once we have your approval, we can begin to prepare plans for individual gates and planetary hubs and identify any design modifications that might be required for the Cantolla Gate Stations.”
“Good, as soon as we’re finished with our meetings, see to it that the project is put into action. What were you able to find out about the snipers that attacked us at Tombosem?”
“Nothing so far. No one seems to know how or when they arrived on the planet. We've had no luck determining how they learned of your plans to go there.”
“Do we have any other new intelligence?” I asked.
“We’ve acquired some late data about unidentified ships that were detected in the region near the Malpy System before the attacks, but the ships never came close enough to warrant alarm and were never formally reported or investigated. This was about three days prior to the assault. The ships were kept under observation, but they remained more or less at the same coordinates. They never advanced any closer to the inhabited worlds, so they were otherwise ignored.”
“So they were close enough for detection, but no one checked them out?! By the stars, how are we supposed to protect people and ward off destruction if they withhold information?!” I had to turn away from Wabussie and Marranalis to regain my composure. The poor follow-through by the GLOMAR ROSA’s supply officer and now the Malpy patrol team was trying my patience. “My guess is the ships hung around because they were having difficulty getting all the sympathetic particles aligned properly for the Cantolla Gate they assembled. A’Lappe told me some time ago that this step is critical. At this point our people have determined how to automate the task to achieve quick results, but I’m guessing the Brotherhood hasn’t gotten that far with their understanding of the technology yet. So is their gate still located at those coordinates in the Malpy System?”
“Uh, I don’t know, Admiral,” said Marranalis, who turned to Wabussie. I looked at Wabussie, who acknowledged sheepishly that he didn’t know either.
“Damn! So we don’t know whether the gate is still there or if the Brotherhood might reopen it at any minute and come pouring through?! Marranalis, I want a crew dispatched to that area right now, as if lives depend on it. Locate that gate and get it dismantled, if it’s still there. If so, bring it and the particles directly back to A’Lappe. He may be able to learn something from them that could help us.
“Alright. Let’s get this meeting with the admirals over with.”
The military had grown to such a great size that it was no longer practical or expedient for the Admiralty to assemble in one location, so I had implemented a program whereby assemblies occurred by way of vid links in the War Rooms of every admiral’s ship. This connected setting created a three-dimensional holographic space that placed everyone together in a virtual meeting room. Once everyone was in attendance and the meeting was called to order, I related the latest data that Wabussie and Marranalis had gathered, digital copies of which were transmitted to each admiral as I spoke. When I finished, I asked whether any unusual activity had been noted in the admirals’ respective territories and was shocked when seventeen different questionable incidents were reported. I quickly realized that these incidents probably represented only a fraction of what was actually going on and that we would need to restructure the fleet to be able to detect, investigate and defend against future suspicious activity that was likely associated with Ming’s plans for future attacks.
Over the years, the fleet and Federation territories had been divided into a varying number of sectors. By the time Kala and I crashed on Desolation, the coalition of worlds had largely consolidated from randomly named areas into three distinct sectors. The expansion of aligned worlds and concentration of populations soon necessitated an increase from three to five, then within a few years to ten. By the time Ming gained access to the Cantolla Gate technology, the division had reached twenty-five sectors and I could see that even more subdivisions would be required. Unparalleled efficiency would be needed in order to detect when and where the Brotherhood was setting up stellar Cantolla Gates, so they could be stopped before they launched yet more attacks. We needed to develop an early-warning system and response protocols, so teams would be ready to intercept and block the Brotherhood in the event they succeeded in opening more gates, which was the more likely scenario. It was an enormous problem that needed a brilliant solution and I knew I couldn’t solve it on my own. I asked each admiral to confer with his teams and develop at least one plan that they thought would work to accomplish the task. They were given five days to put their ideas together and submit them to me. In the meantime, their patrols were to be maximized, especially in broad regions surrounding occupied worlds. I hoped that one of the proposals might be something exceptional that would thwart most of Ming’s efforts.
It seemed that the military was perpetually scrambling to keep up not only with the growth of the Federation, but also with the scope of Ming’s assaults each time he retaliated. The mandatory draft of young people had helped to solve our manpower issues, but we were still short of ships, even though we had more at this point in time than at any time in the Federation’s history. At this point I wasn’t even sure that resources were the issue. Clearly Ming was bent on dominating the Federation, even if it meant obliterating every world in its coalition. A surge of doom momentarily replaced my newly regained sense of well-being.
As the meeting continued, I was particularly disturbed when Admiral Dranda Gandrop reported that the Cantolla Gate Station security forces had detected several ships of unknown origin in the region near the station just prior to the scheduled relocation. Just to be safe, I ordered the station to be relocated again to a region that was to be scanned and cleared ahead of time, even though it wasn’t scheduled to be moved for another two months. The vast growth in the coalition of worlds had correspondingly resulted in the exponential growth in the number of Cantolla Gates; hence, it had become necessary to add two stations to the gate system in recent years. The three stations were known simply as CGS-1, CGS-2 and CGS-3. The admiral in command of CGS-3 also reported strange ship sightings in their sector starting about a week earlier. I ordered him to relocate his
station immediately as well. The emerging pattern made it clear that the Brotherhood was somehow receiving information as to the approximate locations of the stations. Fortunately, CGS-2 hadn’t noticed any signs of activity in their region, but I also ordered them to relocate as a precautionary measure. The last thing the Federation needed was to inadvertently let one of those stations fall into the hands of the Brotherhood.
The meeting lasted late into the day. Not a topic was discussed without most of the admirals complaining about the inability to maintain normal operations or carry out new orders, due to the loss of resources to surface patrol duties related to the God’s Sweat crisis. Since the riots had resolved and the curfew had been lifted, actions were underway to return troopers to their normal posts and restore JAC cadets to training programs at their corresponding military bases.
I was about to break up the meeting when one of Marranalis’s aides approached me to say that Leader Pheosa was standing by on the War Room broadcast vid screen, as he wished to say a few words to the Admiralty.
I announced to the assembly to turn their attention to their respective vid screens for an address from Leader Pheosa. As always, the admirals and I stood before the Leader as the vid screen opened with his image.
“Greetings, Admirals. I wish to express the gratitude of the Leaders to all of you for the superb conduct of the past few days, during which you and your teams have dealt with events unlike anything the Federation has ever seen. The countless lives that were lost due to the addiction to God’s Sweat were handled with as much dignity as possible, but even more impressively, billions of civilian lives and entire communities of commercial structures and property were saved by your thorough planning, expedient deployment of resources and swift action. I must also add that the aid of the JAC cadets was not only a brilliant means of mitigating the crippling resource constraints, but reports have shown that the performance of the cadets was exceptional and served as a key element to the success of the operation. Their participation will not be forgotten.
