“Thanks,” said Randolph as he walked into the small enclosure. He turned around. “Do me a favor, would you?” he asked. “Go save the world?”
“We will,” replied Master Chief as the door slid shut. “We will, indeed.”
* * * * *
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Bridge, Drakul Dreadnought, 54 Piscium, February 24, 2021
“There was nothing else we could do,” replied Master Chief. “We let him go out the airlock, and he jetted a couple of miles away from the ship where he blew up. We saw the flash; he’s gone.”
Calvin sighed. He had called all of the senior officers and enlisted together on the bridge of the dreadnought to take stock of their situation, prior to reporting back to the Vella Gulf. He turned to Night. “Who did we lose taking the replicator?” he asked, dreading the answer. He didn’t see Master Gunnery Sergeant Kinkead, who should have been in attendance. He knew they had taken casualties, too.
“We lost Master Gunnery Sergeant Kinkead to a surprise Drakul attack during the initial assault,” Night said. “We also lost Father Zuhsldorf during mop-up operations afterward. The Drakuls tried to blow up the replicator and set a trap.”
Calvin shook his head. “Damn,” he said with a sigh. “I should never have asked him to come.”
“You said it yourself,” Night said. “We didn’t have enough people. He came willingly, wanting to do his part.”
“He had a message for you,” Lieutenant Rrower added.
“He did?” asked Calvin.
“Yes,” Lieutenant Rrower said. “I was with him at the end. His last words were, ‘Tell Calvin to go to confession.’”
“That sounds like him,” Calvin said, feeling a little better. He turned to Steropes. “I heard that you fought a Drakul in hand-to-hand combat,” he said. “Feeling better?”
“I am ashamed to say I thought it would help,” Steropes replied; “however, it did not. I remember Francis Bacon saying that, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; in passing it over, he is superior. I am better than the Drakuls, so I have decided to let go of my feelings of revenge. I need to be the person I was before the Drakuls came into my life. I need to be me. It will be better that way.”
“It always is,” agreed Calvin.
“I am sorry for your losses,” interrupted Smetlurge, “but we need to figure out what we are going to do. We, the remnants of the Hooolong society, along with various other allies, would like to take this ship as our new capital. We have no home world; we have no other members of our civilization that we are aware of. We do have over 350 Hooolongs onboard this ship, along with another 175 members of the Depsips civilization, the Xanth society, the Clrank Confederation and the Quugeert nation. If you will allow us to, we will fight this ship in the upcoming battle.”
“How are you going to do that?” asked Night. “This thing must take a crew of 3,000 or so.”
“3,500, actually,” Smetlurge corrected. “We do, however, have some outstanding computer programmers among the Depsips. They are already modifying the computer to allow more functions to operate autonomously. The Psiclops may have put aside his feelings of revenge; we have not. When the Archons attack, it is our intention to aid them. We have a plan.”
“You have a plan?” Calvin asked.
“Indeed,” Smetlurge said. “I used to design weapons systems before I became president, remember? I have a plan. We just need you to let us have this ship. You need to hurry, too. There are a large number of Drakul ships coming.”
“What?” Calvin asked. “Why?”
“Apparently you Terrans do understand revenge,” Smetlurge said, nodding his agreement.
“What do you mean?” asked Calvin.
“You unleashed a black hole on the Psiclopes’ home world,” Smetlurge replied, “despite saying that you would not. Olympos is no more. The ships are coming to find out where it went. The Drakuls are not happy.”
Bridge, Vella Gulf, 54 Piscium, February 24, 2021
“So, all we need to do is let the Hooolongs have the ship, and they’ll use it to fight the Drakuls?” asked Captain Sheppard.
“Yes sir,” replied Calvin. “They also have a plan to deal with all of the ships that are headed this way after you guys wiped out Olympos.”
“I don’t know why they did that,” said Captain Sheppard. “I specifically ordered them not to use the black hole generator on Olympos. Please pass on my sympathies to Steropes.”
“Steropes is fine with it,” Calvin informed him. “In fact, I think that was his preferred option all along. The Hooolongs are also impressed with our resolve. Azrael said that his people will think more highly of us because we ‘did what we had to do.’ The Xanth and Depsips are scared of us and think we’re too warlike. That doesn’t change much, since they were already scared of us and thought we were too warlike. Only Lieutenant Rrower is unhappy. He says that there may be problems with the Mrowry.”
“Well, we’re not going to have problems with anyone unless we get aid back to Earth,” replied Captain Sheppard, “and the only way we’re going to do that is by helping the Archons. We don’t have enough manpower to operate both the Vella Gulf and the dreadnought, and we don’t know how to run it in any event. Tell Smetlurge the ship is theirs and to please kill a lot of Drakuls with it.”
“Will do, sir,” Calvin said. “I don’t think they’ll have a problem with that.”
Bridge, Hooolong’s Revenge, 54 Piscium, February 24, 2021
Calvin watched the conversation between the Drakul captain and the Drakul admiral on a side monitor.
“Yes, admiral,” answered Captain Vlad. “When I saw the planet eaten by the black hole, I knew there were enemies in the system, probably with some sort of stealth ship, so I took charge of the new dreadnought and launched it. I did not want it to be destroyed or to fall into the hands of the enemy to be used against us.”
“That was good thinking,” replied Admiral Kralg. “How is your manning? Should we send you additional crew?”
“That will not be necessary,” replied the captain. “Just before the planet was destroyed, we received two shuttle loads of crewmembers. We have enough crew to operate it until we can get the rest of the crew from Drakon.”
“Good,” the admiral said. “Bring the ship to the stargate for integration with the fleet. I cannot believe that the destruction of Olympos is anything other than a precursor for an Archon invasion. We need to be ready. The fleet is at its highest alert status. We could use your firepower at the stargate, especially since we had to send the battle group to assist in the pacification of the new food source.”
“We are on our way,” noted the captain.
Calvin smiled as the conversation terminated, and Smetlurge ceased being a Drakul captain; the Drakuls had fallen for it. As Smetlurge had said, the Depsips had proven to be excellent programmers, and the hologram program they had designed for him had worked to perfection.
Now they just needed to get close enough to give the Drakuls a little surprise.
Bridge, Vella Gulf, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“How much longer until we’re within weapons range?” Captain Sheppard asked.
The OSO consulted his display. “About two more hours at this speed.”
Captain Sheppard nodded. “And how long until the attack commences?”
“Four hours,” said Ensign Sara Sommers, “according to the schedule that the Archons...wait! I’ve got stargate emergence!”
“Talk to me, Sara. What have you got?”
“The ships are small,” she replied, “and there are quite a few of them that just entered.” The Drakuls began firing on them, confirming her guess. “They’re the mine clearance vessels,” she said. “They’ve started the attack.”
“I thought that they weren’t supposed to attack for four more hours,” said Captain Sheppard.
“They weren’t,” agreed Sara. “They’re early.”
“Well, we’re not going to let them
start the party without us,” Captain Sheppard said. “Flank speed!”
Bridge, Hooolong’s Revenge, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“The attack has commenced,” noted Steropes from the science station. “The robot mine clearance vessels just transited into the system.”
“We’re getting a message from the fleet admiral,” advised the communications officer. “He’s telling us that there is an incursion by the Archons and is asking us to come to flank speed to get there as quickly as possible.”
“We wouldn’t want to keep the good admiral waiting, now, would we?” asked Smetlurge from the captain’s chair. “All ahead flank,” he said to the helmsman. Captain Smetlurge turned back to the communications officer. “Please tell the admiral that we are on our way.”
Bridge, Drakul Ship Destruction of Depsi, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“The super dreadnought’s captain confirms that his ship has come to flank speed,” said the communicator.
The admiral looked at the plot and did some mental calculations. If the Archons attacked as normal, the new super dreadnought would arrive just after battle was joined. Its arrival would be a nice surprise for the Archons, he was sure...if their minefield didn’t kill all of the Archons first.
Bridge, Vella Gulf, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“Sir, do you want me to send the fighters ahead to attack?” the OSO asked, “or would you rather I hold them back until we’re in range?”
“Hold them back for now,” Captain Sheppard said. “Their biggest advantage will be their surprise. We’ve only got one shot with them; I don’t want to waste it before the fighters are needed.”
“Captain,” Ensign Sommers called. “The attack has begun. The Holy Word just entered the system. There are three dreadnoughts and several battleships already firing.”
“That’s not what’s going to kill it,” said the DSO. “There are still far too many mines that didn’t get cleared by the robot vessels. The Holy Word is about to go into the field, and it’s going to get annihilated!”
“Not today,” replied Captain Sheppard. “Not while they’ve got friends here. Tell the Revenge to pass on the good news.”
“Yes, sir,” said the communications officer. “It would be my pleasure.”
Bridge, Hooolong’s Revenge, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“We just got the word,” announced the communications officer. “The Vella Gulf says to shut them down.”
Smetlurge nodded to the Xanth officer seated at the ship’s defender position. “Turn them off, if you would, please.”
The Xanth bobbed its head and reached forward with a wing claw to turn a dial on its panel, and then its primary digit pushed the button that the Depsip technician had circled in blue an hour earlier. “It is done,” said the Xanth, continuing to bob its head in obedience.
“And here’s where the ship begins to earn its name,” said Smetlurge.
* * * * *
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Bridge, Drakul Ship Destruction of Depsi, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“Why aren’t the mines destroying the invaders?” asked the admiral. The ship shuddered as the first super dreadnought through the stargate hit it with another volley of missiles. “That ship will be the end of us! Take it out now!”
“Sir, I’m unable,” replied the defender. “All of the mines just went into maintenance mode for some reason. I won’t be able to bring them back online least an hour.”
“Who did that?” screamed the admiral. “What imbecile is responsible for this?”
“I think the order came from the new super dreadnought,” the defender said.
“Get them on screen!” shouted the admiral. “Now!”
The ship rocked again, harder this time. “Shields down,” the defender called.
The front screen changed to the captain from the new ship. “You idiot!” the admiral yelled. “You just put the mines in maintenance mode. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry, but the person at the defender position is brand new to the job,” the captain said. “In fact, we’re all pretty new to the job.”
“My attacker says that you are in range,” noted the admiral. “Fire your weapons and help us salvage this battle!”
“You would like us to fire our weapons?” asked the captain. He made a motion off screen, and his appearance transformed into a member of the tasty worm race. “It would be my pleasure.” He looked off screen. “All weapons, FIRE!”
Bridge, Vella Gulf, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“That’s our signal,” said Captain Sheppard as the Revenge launched a full broadside of missiles at the command dreadnought. “Launch the fighters. Fire!”
Bridge, Holy Word, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“Sir, the super dreadnought that is joining the battle just fired upon the command dreadnought,” said the OSO. “Fighters! Fighters just came out of stealth and are launching at the command dreadnought! It must be the Vella Gulf, sir.” He paused, watching the missiles track inbound on the Drakuls’ command dreadnought. “The Vella Gulf’s fighters just destroyed the dreadnought’s engines!”
“Good,” said Grand Admiral Michael. “Let’s put another volley of missiles into them and send them to hell!”
“Admiral!” interrupted the communications officer. “The super dreadnought that just joined the battle is trying to raise us. The ship says that its captain is Hooolong President Smetlurge, sir.”
“On screen,” replied Grand Admiral Michael.
“Welcome to 54 Piscium,” said the figure on the screen. Grand Admiral Michael couldn’t tell if it was President Smetlurge or not, but it was definitely a Hooolong. “I am Smetlurge onboard the Hooolong’s Revenge. We’ve turned off the minefield for the moment, but it will come back on shortly. I recommend moving the fleet clear of the minefield while you destroy the rest of their ships.”
Bridge, Hooolong’s Revenge, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“This won’t take much longer,” noted Smetlurge as another battleship came apart under the missiles and lasers of the Revenge. He bobbed his head in satisfaction.
After the Alliance ships destroyed the Drakul command dreadnought, the cohesive Drakul defense fell apart. Instead of concentrating their fire on high value targets, they began firing at the ships closest to them. With the Drakul fire spread out, most of the Archon ships were able to keep their shields up, and the combined might of the Archon dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts, along with the Hooolong’s Revenge, was applied to ship after ship of the Drakul fleet.
It was a slaughter.
Bridge, Vella Gulf, 54 Piscium, February 25, 2021
“Contact the Holy Word, please,” ordered Captain Sheppard.
Within moments, the flowing locks of Grand Admiral Michael appeared on screen. “We could not have won this battle without thee,” said Michael. “I can’t wait to hear how thou captured a Drakul dreadnought. I will tell thee, the battle would have been substantially different if the minefield hadn’t been turned off. We were down to 3% on our shields when the Hooolong’s Revenge fired on the command dreadnought. If any of the mines had hit us, the entire battle might have been lost.”
“It was our pleasure, and I look forward to discussing it over drinks sometime,” said Captain Sheppard; “now, however, isn’t that time. We need to leave immediately for Earth.”
“If ye must leave,” replied Grand Admiral Michael, “then leave with my blessing, as ye were instrumental in our victory today.”
“You are missing the point,” said Captain Sheppard. “We did what you asked of us. Now you need to honor your part of the bargain and come help us.”
“Aye, we will,” agreed Michael, “but it is a far wiser choice to pursue the Drakuls to their home world and eradicate them first.”
“Perhaps for your society, and from your viewpoint, it may be,” argued Captain Sheppard, “but in the time that it takes to do so, our civilization may be wiped out.
While we were fulfilling our end of the deal, we saw a battle group transit through the next system over. It was either going to Drakon or to Earth. If it was to Earth, it was large enough to defeat the fleet units we have and destroy our planet. Do you want that blood on your hands? Do you want to be known as oath breakers?”
“It would not be breaking our oath if we stopped to attack Drakon on the way to Earth,” disagreed Michael. “We would just be pursuing the logical course of action, which has the greatest chances for long-term success.”
“Perhaps,” Captain Sheppard agreed again, “although it could be catastrophic for our society if you did.” He paused, thinking furiously. “I think you’re missing a key strategic point that makes it extremely important to go to Earth. If you go to Earth first, and you destroy any forces that are attacking there, you will have trapped all of the Drakul forces on Drakon. If you go to Drakon first, some of their forces could escape down Earth’s chain of stargates. If they get out that way, you may not find them again until they are strong enough to overwhelm you. Next time, you won’t have us around to help you, either. It makes strategic sense to honor your agreement. We need your help, and we need it now.”
* * * * *
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Bridge, Drakul Ship Spurting Blood, Ross 154 System, March 03, 2021
It was time to begin the glorious conquest. If Admiral Bullig waited any longer, he risked someone else trying to take over. He was sure that at least one of the captains had orders to kill him if he showed any sign of cowardice. His eyes scanned the bridge and stopped on the one sign of movement, his new executive officer, whose fingers were unconsciously toying with the butt of his laser pistol. He probably had orders from the Overlord to kill Bullig if he refused to lead the assault; it’s certainly what Bullig would have done in the Overlord’s place.
Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone Page 30
