I pulled hard and then rolled up under the belly of a battleship. Frig fired our cannon repeatedly, but the damage it caused was minimal. The Milgari ships had new armor. I yelled out, “Well that���s just friggin great! Now we can���t touch the spots that were easy targets before.” Frig replied, “Did you just say friggin Sir?”
I thought back as I pulled up on the stick, “I believe I friggin did! Ho! Look out! We have some type of a small fighter on our tail! That battleship just opened the bay doors on its side!” I again rolled left and threw the Swift into a flat spin. Frig fired the ion cannon and the Milgari fighter turned to vapor. “Woo! That���s what I���m talking about! Friggin beautiful!”
The battle raged for nearly an hour before the Colonel gave the order to retreat. We had lost nearly half of our Hawks to only 300 of the Milgari ships, we were losing. It was time to abandon the mission.
As we pulled away I noticed the Humphrey was in trouble. Two Milgari cruisers and a frigate were on his tail and blasting away. I had the urge to turn to assist when Frig grabbed my arm, “Don���t do it Sir. The Humphrey is lost.” Seconds later the ion generators exploded, shattering the Humphrey into a million tiny pieces. Captain Rachel Blood and her crew were now only a part of history.
Four additional Raiders and 26 Hawks were lost in the retreat. The remaining missions were canceled and we headed for home. The hit and run strategy had been nullified. The Milgari ships were now on par with, if not slightly better than our own. It had been another hard day.
When we arrived back at the base I called Gy and Rita to my office. When they arrived and sat down I offered them a cup of coffee, “Is there anything we can do to beef up our armor or our cannon. We just got our asses kicked by the latest Milgari hardware. Their hulls had high resistance to our negative cannons as well as the regulars.”
“And for our hulls, they have something that shatters the outer layer with the first shot. And each shot after takes out five layers. Look over the battle data from the sensors and see if there is anything we can do to counter their new capabilities. If we have to go up against more forces like that we will lose and lose badly. If they go after the Dakar or the Prassi our little alliance is going to be in trouble.”
Gy and Rita left to do their best to better our fleet as I made my way to the Colonel���s office. Zimmerman was there waiting, “OK, we got our hats handed to us there. Do either of you have any alternate strategies that you have been holding back?” Both men answered no.
I continued, “Well, we need to come up with something or this whole strategy falls apart. And if it falls before we get a chance to clean up the Grid we run the risk of a jump never happening. All it would take is a single rogue operator to dump hydrogen fuel and to detonate it. That would do major damage to the Grid’s exterior, maybe so much so that a jump would be impossible.”
The Colonel looked at me with his brows low, “Where did you hear that? Is that rumor or did that come from a valid source?” I replied, “It came from my father���s files. It was something he worried about. I didn’t mention it because I thought we were covering everyone on his list.”
The Colonel sat back in his chair, “That list may not be complete. If they managed to get someone on the drive team we might be gone before we ever got started.” I replied, “Sorry Colonel. At the time I was an emotional mess so that didn’t register with me to forward that along. It was the only instance where anything like that was mentioned. It was the last transmission he made before it all happened.”
The Admiral was immediately on the comm to one of his commanders, “Take a Hawk to the Grid and get a team working on possible infiltration of the drive personnel… No. You don’t have to land, just broadcast the message when you are within range…”
The following week was spent repairing our damaged fleet. We had lost another 400 pilots; the Colonel was worried about both morale and recruiting. While everyone who had joined up was willing to risk their lives, no one wanted to be a martyr.
As I paced around my office, trying to come up with something we could do to give us an edge, Gy entered with news, “Chief, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is I think we can add another set of layers to our armor. The bad news is that it will be a slow and painstaking process. We still have an impressive stockpile of Tantric, but this will take a significant cut of that.”
“What we would have to do is strip the ship back down to its hull, then add the pure Aquamarine layer back on, and we follow that up with 35 layers of our standard Tantric / Aqua combo. That will give you more hits versus a Milgari cannon while preserving that pure layer in case you get in front of a Durian.”
“I realize it is not a significant improvement Chief, but it is about the best I can do.” I replied, “Has Rita said anything about our weapons?” Gy responded, “Well, I do know she has been in her lab all week working on something, but she will have to fill you in on that.”
I sat on the end of my desk and rubbed my chin, “Can I assume that the automated docks can be changed over so there is no real cost for doing this to our new ships?” Gy responded, “We can do that.” I continued, “Setup the automated docks first and then begin with the Raiders. We will do these ships as we can. And when you get back down there have Rita give me a call.”
I returned to my pacing as Gy left the room. Twenty minutes passed before Rita knocked on the office door. “You wanted to see me Sir?” I again sat on the end of my desk, this time scratching my arm, “Was just looking for status. Have you come up with any ideas?”
Rita moved up and plopped down in a chair, “I have been beating my brains out for a week Sir. I’ve managed about 2% increase in output power, but that was an expensive and complex upgrade, would hardly be worth doing. Sorry Sir, wish I had better news.”
After Rita left I found myself in George’s office, “Tell me something good George. We are running out of ideas and whatever advantage we once had is now gone. I’m in need of some good news.”
George walked over to a counter in his office. He poured a hot steaming cup of coffee and walked back over to me, “A cup of good news is all I’ve got for you Don. We haven’t made any progress with the Milgari drug since the last time we discussed it. I wish there was something else I had to offer but I’m all zeros.”
George gestured towards a chair and I took a seat and began to sip at the only good news given to me all day. An aide then came running in the door breathing heavily, “Sir, you need to come to Frig’s lab. He has something important he wants to show you, something to do with your father���s data.”
I promised George I would return his cup as I hurried off towards the lab. When we arrived Frig was sitting at a monitor, “Sir, one of my techs found this file buried within three other files. He just happened on it by chance and we were able to extract the following document from it. Sir, I just sent this over to George. It appears to be a complete breakdown of the Torrian drug being used on the Milgari.”
I replied, “Well why didn’t you just tell me it was over there. I just ran all the way here spilling hot coffee on my hand.” Frig replied, “I would say that is too friggin bad Sir, but then I would sound like you. George has the data now Sir, see him for an interpretation.”
I got up and hustled back to George’s office, “OK, this is wearing me out. What do we have?” George was looking over the data, “It looks like the breakdown of what the drug affects and how to create it. I believe, just from this initial view, that we may be able to create a cure for the Milgari. If we can do that we can then work on a delivery system. This is it Don, this is what my team has been trying to figure out for the past year.”
Finally, it was the good news that I had been looking for. I got the Council together to discuss what we could do with a cure once we had it. Gy was the first to speak, “You are going to have to get through that armor first. I know it���s not popular, but we might need something that’s kinetic.”
I spoke, “Frig and I used to have a coil gun on the Swift. Could something like that be used?” Rita replied, “In order to make a hole in one of those ships you would need a gun about twice the length of one of those cruisers. I don’t think that is feasible.”
I replied, “Well what about some type of missile, something with a warhead?” The Colonel chimed in, “The Grid military experimented with those for years. They are slow and easily knocked out before they arrive at their target. Of course the Prassi seemingly solved the slow issue, but with a warhead you are destroying the vessel, not delivering your cure.”
Frig then spoke, “Sir, I may have a way, but it would mean ramping up the wormhole experiments. If my theories are correct, I may be able to open a microscopic wormhole. If we can control its location, we may be able to push an aerosol version of the cure onto their ship. I don’t know how much we would be able to push through, but that could be determined by experimentation.”
I pointed towards the lab and replied to Frig, “Go make that happen. We will continue to hash things out here.” Frig rose and headed for his lab. More ideas were brought to the table, but each one was incomplete or proven to not be viable.
After five hours of discussions I adjourned the meeting. Everyone had orders to go back to the daily tasks and to think further about what we might do. I stood in my office looking out the window at the planet down below. If we could somehow pull this off we would again have the upper hand.
The Colonel came into my office for a word, “You know Don, if the cure for this drug the Milgari are on works out, we might just see an end to hostilities. The Torrians without their army will soon wither up and die. These sectors could finally be at peace.”
I looked back at the Colonel, “That would be a welcome thing Colonel. Imagine waking up every day and your worry is about what you are going to accomplish and not about are you going to die. I look forward to that day Colonel, but I wonder if it will ever come.”
Chapter 19
Three weeks after the discovery of the data on the Milgari drug George had his cure. In the week following he had a formulation of the cure in an aerosol spray. We were only in need of a method of delivery to bring our new weapon to the war front.
I walked into Frig���s lab to check on his progress, “Anything new today?” Frig replied, “Sir, you have asked me that every day for the past two weeks.” I sat in a chair and raised my arms, “I ask a question and I get some nonsensical fact shoved down my throat. Let���s try this again. Has there been any new progress?”
Frig replied, “Yes.” I sat silent for several seconds, “Well?” Frig turned from his console, “I have run repeated simulations that have opened a wormhole as predicted. Also as predicted it is extremely small and only open for a short period of time. George will have to tell us if it is long enough to deliver what is needed.”
I stood from my chair, “So we now have a delivery system. When can we make use of this?” Frig raised his hand, “Sir, you are getting ahead of yourself. I have simulated the wormhole. At this moment it would appear that we will require one of those cruisers out there to be packed full of generators to connect to the antenna array I have created.”
I sat back down, “A cruiser full of generators? I thought we powered the one on that derelict with a single generator? What gives?” Frig replied, ���Sir, the derelict ship was one big antenna. The array itself and how the energy was delivered to it are the two pieces missing at this time, the two most important pieces. If this works, we may be able to improve it through experimentation. As of this time however, we will need a cruiser full of generators.”
I called in Gy to get the process started. When he left I returned to my conversation with Frig, “Do we have any idea of how close we have to get to open the wormhole?” Frig replied, “Theoretically we could open it from here, but the reality is that we do not have a precise location for the other end.”
“The hole has to be opened inside the ship and at a point where the air would be circulated. I would think the optimum target would be the landing bay. We need to target a large space so that there is room for error. Both ships, ours and theirs, will need to be in a stationary position. As far as a distance goes we will need to be within our sensor range and at a point where the resolution of those sensors will allow us to precisely define the target space.”
I replied, “Well, that all sounds doable. Make sure Gy has everything he needs to build out that cruiser. I���ll get with George and see what amount of this stuff we will need to deliver.” I left the lab and headed for George���s office.
George was sitting at his desk, typing on his keyboard. I went straight to the carafe of hot coffee on his counter. After pouring a cup I sat in the chair in front of his desk, “So, how much of this cure do we have to deliver for let���s say��� a battleship?”
George had the answer ready, “We will need two liters of aerosol, but that can be highly compressed, so I think we can deliver it in the doses needed. My team is crafting both a delivery container and a feed tank. We start as a liquid so I am asking for a 30,000 liter tank to be added to the cruiser Gy will be working on. The wormhole will have to be opened directly in front of the nozzle, but Frig doesn���t see that as a problem.”
I waited until the afternoon for Gy to get his plans defined before I paid him a visit. I asked for a status, “How long do you think it will take to retrofit one of those cruisers?” Gy responded, “At the moment it looks like about a month Chief. We have the generators in our production line already so those are not an issue. And the automated docks can be programmed to strip out the interiors of a cruiser, everything is already mapped. I think the long lead time will be constructing Frig���s antenna array and getting it installed.”
The news was exciting. It was possible that we were only 30 days away from a solution to a war that had dragged on for a thousand years. The following day I was making my rounds and stopped in to see George. I had questions about the Milgari cure, “So, you tested this out on the Milgari captives and it worked? What are they like now without the effects of the drug?”
George replied, “I would guess they have reverted to what they would normally be like. I have had conversations with a number of them and they are mostly confused over what has been happening. They don���t understand the rage they were feeling and they certainly don���t feel any allegiance to the Torrians. They might actually be one of the peace loving species in this galaxy.”
“I have one in particular who seems to be more intellectual than the others. He was basically the ships janitor. He was asking pertinent questions such as what happens now and how do I get back to my people. The others seem to be waiting to be told what to do. This lad, his name is Glemak, could easily be a leader for his people.”
“We might want to start training him to be their leader because if this works we will have millions of confused Milgari on our hands. It���s funny, but I almost feel sorry for them��� almost.” I replied, “Can I see him, talk to him?”
George pointed towards the lab, “He���s in the holding cell. Just tell Frank I sent you over. And don���t get close enough to the cell where he can grab you through the bars, keep a safe distance until we know for sure that he has been cured.”
I walked to George���s lab and pulled a chair up in front of Glemak���s cell. He sat on his bunk with his face down, looking at the floor in front of him. There was no rage, no seething breath, no ill will towards anyone or anything, only a hollow stare.
I spoke, “So, you are Glemak? George tells me you have been asking questions. He says that is a good thing.” Glemak slowly raised his eyes, “Is it a good thing? I don���t know, it is like I just came out of a fog that has been my whole existence. I���m not sure where I am going or where I have been. Your doctor did not answer any of those questions. So here I sit, wondering what my life is about.”
I then began to tell Glemak of his
beginnings at the birthing center and of the Milgari drug that was used to enslave him. I told of what his people were bred and raised for, of their barbaric acts and undying loyalty to the Torrians. I then told of the Grid and how we had been running from his species for a thousand years.
Glemak sat silent as the information was absorbed. After several minutes of silence I began to stand. Glemak sat up on his bunk, “Where are you going and what is to become of me?” I stopped, “Well, at the moment I was going to go to get lunch and for you, we are not yet sure of what to do with you. The Doc seems to think we can train you to lead your people home or something.”
Glemak stood and gripped the bars of his cell, “Home? Do we have a home? Have you seen it?” I sat back down and raised my hand, “OK, hold on. I can���t say that you do or don���t. From our records, which are sketchy from that far back, there is mention of you having a home planet before the Torrians took control of you. We didn’t know the Torrians were in charge. We just thought you were some crazy species out to do us in.”
“We may be able to give you star maps to the area, but from what I understand, your world was destroyed by the Torrians when they took over. Sorry that I mentioned home as I don���t think that place exists any more, depending on what happened, perhaps it could be terraformed. We are attempting to do that here as we have no home either. You might be better off just searching for a habitable planet and settling there. Of course your people have not been set free yet so it doesn���t really matter at this time.”
Glemak���s hands fell back to his side as he sat back on his bunk. It matters to me Don Grange��� it matters to me.” I stood to ask how it was that he knew my name, but I realized the explanation was as simple as the name-tag pinned to my shirt. I tuned back as I began to walk away. “I���ll see what I can do for you Glemak. If it is deemed helpful to our cause I might be able to push it through the Council. Given our history with you, that might be a difficult task.”
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