by Don Koch
Chapter 36: Reaction on Arber
Office of General Brondin on Arber –
March 30 – C Day 212
General Brondin said to his aide, "Well Colonel Forrom, what do you have to report about our visitor. I can't believe that these upstarts have foiled a plan that has been underway for more than five hundred years. I can't believe that that they did so without even a hint of how they accomplished it. All those planets that were part of our plan, Gar, Linan, Glarin, Fullus, Cler and Antor all out of reach with the snap of a finger. What do we know of them?"
"I am afraid that the answer to that is very little. Their General Montoya noted they were a part of the Antoran Fleet and they were from a planet called Earth some 4,460 light years from here. That is roughly the distance of the human world we had directed the Gar High Ruler to attack. That does not seem possible since our probes from that time indicated that Earth was barely into its iron age. None of this seems plausible. Antoran technology was not advanced sufficiently to account for any of this. Yet clearly this General Montoya identified himself as being from Earth and was speaking Antoran. The vessel he hailed from was larger than anything any of the staff have even imagined. The vessel was fully invisible until it lowered its cloak and even then our scans could only confirm dimensions. We could see nothing inside. We found no trace of its means of propulsions. No trace. The shielding necessary to accomplish that is difficult to imagine. For all we know they could still be sitting up there and we would not know it. We do not know what kind of arms it has, however there are numerous features on the surface of the craft that appear to be energy projectors. Our analysts calculate there are somewhere near 36,000 of them. It is hard to imagine how they must power this thing but their appearing and disappearing act on so large a vessel requires immense amounts of power on its own."
"That is not much to go on Colonel."
"No sir, it is not and I have a team of 20 analyzing every bit of information we were able to gather or surmise. We have to see where that takes us. Meanwhile, we are close to outfitting the fleet with the new drive that will enable us to increase our FTL to about 5000xSL. We should be able to install that on the fleet and be operational in about a year. One more disturbing thought is that one of the team did some computations considering the time of disappearance of the last Gar ship in that invasion force heading here and the time that Montoya's ship appeared and it appears that their FTL drive is significantly faster than ours. He figures that that ship can probably travel at more than 100,000xSL."
General Brondin responded, "That is not possible."
"I'm afraid that his estimate may be overly conservative. There are indications that the vessels speed may be twice that. It was so striking that I have added some additional specialists to this project alone to consider these calculations and how we might further increase the capabilities of our own drives. Knowing that something is possible is often all it takes to accomplish that something."
"Good thinking Colonel, we may salvage something yet from this situation. How is the weapons development proceeding?"
"We are substantially ahead of schedule and in fact all systems are ready to go. We have tested the weapon and it works fine. We tested it on an asteroid out at about six AU's out. All that is left is dust and nothing larger than a pebble."
"Does our visitor know of this?"
"I do not see how. They did not scan when the came in so I can't imagine that they suspect anything."
Brondin said, "Ok continue with the plan and consider contingencies in view of this development."
Chapter 37: A New Development
Station 1 in Earth Orbit –
April 14 – C Day 227
After the efforts and stress of the three or so months, Hank and Sam were taking a short holiday at the lodge in Juneau with Josh and Rose and Hardrock and Fudgenickle. They had been at the lodge since their return four days previously. Joe and June were due to join them the next day. They had their gear in the car for a bit of late cross country skiing since the snow conditions were still favorable. He was just putting the key to his vehicle into the ignition when Barana asked,
"Anytime Barana, what is up ?"
"I am available right now and you are making this sound intriguing."
"Got it, is everyone available and where do we go?"
"Give us all fifteen minutes to change out of this cold weather gear and then we can transport up. Lets do this."
When Hank arrived, all invited were already at the table and waiting. Hank said, "I hope I did not keep you waiting too long, we were just on our way to do some skiing. Your Majesty Lord Dranz and General Tanaka, thank you for joining us" He went over to General Montoya and said, "Carlos, I am glad to see you. Barana tells me that you have something for us and that it is important. I also want you to know that I appreciate officers who take the initiative when the situation calls for it. So the floor is yours. I think you know everyone here." With that Hank went and took his seat at the table. "Is Sequoia able to join us here?"
General Montoya said, "Thank you for hearing me out on such short notice. As you know, Division 10 with Stations 10, 110, 130, 150 and 170 were part of the operation to stop Gar Fleet 4. When that was done we then proceeded to Arber to let them know that the impending Gar invasion had been averted. As we entered the system Sequoia noticed some unusual anomalies and I advised the other Stations that I wanted full but surreptitious scans of the entire system. The T Raptor teams were alerted and put to work. When we were within 50,000 miles of the planet above their busiest city, Station 10, waited for 4 hours before we uncloaked. I wanted to give the rest of the Division an opportunity to complete their scans. Within seconds of uncloaking we were hailed in a language unfamiliar to us, presumably Arber. They did not know we were there until that point. We first responded in English and as expected, they did not understand. We again responded, this time in Antoran and that was understood immediately and fluently. Their grasp of that language was flawless and that raised some flags. I decided at that point that they would not be invited aboard. They were actively scanning us the whole time but I had the shields up and I believe that they were unable to read us."
"I told their General Artus Brondin that this was a courtesy call to let them know that the Gar Fleet had been captured and that Gar was now under quarantine and was not to be approached. General Brondin did not show much but I had the impression that he was disappointed. I then cloaked and slowly left. We continued intelligence gathering until we left the system. For the last few weeks, Sequoia and her sister AI's in Division 10, Purnima, Alaia, Aria and Dafna have been analyzing the data gathered by scan and the T Raptor teams and the results, to say the least, are surprising and disturbing. We downloaded every computer file we could find. Some of the data took a while to digest particularly the archived material. Finally Sequoia was able to fit the data into a whole picture. This was all concluded late last night. To supplement what we learned at Arber, I instructed Sequoia to attempt to secure some brain cell and blood samples from the deposed Gar Monarch Sadex. We did this at the time of his execution by teleportation transfer so it was not detected. We also took similar samples from around the planet t
o use as a control. Sequoia, would you please relate your findings."
Shortly before our arrival at Arber, a weapon was tested on an asteroid at about 6 AU's. Nothing larger than 3 inches in diameter was left. The significance of this test is that the residue indicates that the test object was originally about 55 miles in diameter. The weapon appears to be an energy weapon.
In the Arber System we detected at least 10,314 warships. The ships are each about a mile in length and appear to be heavily armed, many with the energy weapon tested. These ships also have the capacitor weaknesses we noted in the Glarin and Linan constructions.
A scan of one of warships indicate a drive that is capable of 5,000xSL to 6,000xSL.
On the planet we noted at least 3 facilities for making four kinds of symbiotes. We took samples and isolated and tested them. Testing of this material was completed yesterday and until then we were not certain that these were indeed symbiotes. The subjects for the material are Human, Glarin, Linan, and Gar. The Gar symbiotes leave the subject highly receptive to coded suggestion.
The symbiotes have the same destruction code as that with which we are already familiar, except that the Gar version has an additional sequence that I am sending to Gloriana as we speak.
We ran tests on the brain cells for High Ruler Sadex and he was clearly under the influence of Arber generated symbiotes. Others tested indicated that about a quarter of the Gar population was similarly infected. All of those infected were at least 500 years of age suggesting that the symbiote distribution occurred about 500 years ago.
The Gar targeted symbiotes appear to lose potency over time but appear to leave the infected individual mentally impaired or insane.
The conclusions that my sister AI’s and I share are
The true villains in this case are not the Gar but are rather the Arberites.
The next target of the Arberites is the Gar.
The Gar symbiote destruct signal should immediately be broadcast.
Nanite protection should be provided to all of the Gar population as soon as possible.
The Arberites goal appears to be a massive land grab of the Gar, Linan, Glarin, Cler, Fullus and Antor systems.
The job is not yet done.>
The shock around the table was palpable. Hank spoke, "By heaven that all fits, Your Majesty Lord Dranz, it appears that your people have been substantially exonerated. We will get you back into space and soon. Meanwhile we must do something about these Arberites. We need to get the fleet out there and dispose of this mess before they have a chance to act. Everybody, please keep a lid on this so we do not lose the element of surprise. Barana please link in General O'Connor and bring him up to speed."
"I want Divisions 1, 2, 7, 17, and 20 ready to embark at 6 am tomorrow morning. General Tanaka, I want three of your Type 2 stations ready to embark when General Sean O'Connor with Station 16 arrives from Linan in about 12 hours with three of his Type 2's. Your ships will be temporarily attached to Division 16. They are to immediately proceed to Arber, locate all of those Warships. If they attempt to leave destroy them. We will want to destroy all their capacitors and spares and reprogram their self-destruct mechanisms. Do not uncloak. Do not let them know you are there. Their weapons are stronger than anything we have encountered short of a planet buster. It is our belief that they cannot hit you if you remain cloaked and keep your shields up at full strength, so lets not take unnecessary chances. Division 16 will arrive 5 days before we do, so save us some of the action if you can. In 7 days I want these findings that have been noted today released to all our worlds so they will know the Gar have been made to look like the bad guys in much the same way as the Glarin before them. Provide full documentation and support. I want everyone to know what a prize these people are and what they have been up to. That will comport with the time of our arrival at Arber. You all have been well trained and can resolve this. Does anyone have any questions or comments."
"General Hank, this is Dranz. As you know, I cannot leave my people to satisfy my own whims and desires so as much as I itch to be part of this expedition I cannot in good conscience leave Gar at this time. However, you also know that I have many good warriors here who would feel dishonored if they were not able to participate in some way. My request to you is that you allow at least some of those troops to represent Gar with your Fleet. Is that possible?"
"Indeed it is Lord Dranz, forgive me for shortening the honorifics, but, yes there is a role that your people can play. We will want to board as many of those Arberite warships as is possible and take them without destroying the ships. Do you have troops willing to be part of boarding parties but are disciplined enough to show restraint as necessary?"
"You mean like your troops did when you took our ships. Yes we can do that. My people and I hold you in high regard and would be honored to be under your command. They will act honorably. They remember your impromptu oath on the Taju. I can have 100,000 ready in two to three hours and ready for transport up to your ships."
"In that case, get them ready and armored. General Tanaka will make the necessary arrangements for housing and transportation. After your troops are on board the stations. I would like to have a chat with you, would that be convenient?"
"Yes and I look forward to it."
Four hours later the fleet units assigned were underway. Hank gathered his T Raptor team together and told them he was going to contact Lord Dranz. He told them that he might have a surprise for them if things worked out as he hoped. They then entered into rapport and appeared in the antechambers to the throne room. The startled aide was Trilx. Hank said, "Greetings to you General Trilx and congratulations on your promotion. We are here for a meeting with His Majesty Lord Dranz."
Trilx responded with a smile and said, "I was not expecting to see you in person since I was told you were on Station 1 just leaving Earth."
"That is accurate. Those you see before you are telepathic projections but I can explain that later."
"Come this way, the High Ruler is expecting your call. He will be very pleased to see you, um, 'in person.'"
Dranz was startled but recovered quickly. "Ah, it is good to see you friend Hank and you have brought other visitors as well, Sam I know but the other humans and the Glarin I do not."
"This is Gambel and his mate Hanser. And the humans are Captain Benjamin Pine and his mate Mary. Lord Dranz, would it be possible to have General Trilx remain. We have things to say he should hear."
Dranz nodded agreement and said, "I also have a guest to introduce, this is Lady Meri and she is my betrothed."
"My friend, you have our very best wishes for a long, prosperous and joyful life. You have most certainly earned it. I think it would be good if Lady Meri were to hear what else we have to say."
"We six are mental projections of ourselves and we can take on a variety of forms in this state. This ranges from invisibility to our actual form. We can appear as a ball of light or a ghost like form. All of our top command positions have this are telepathic ability. We six are among the most adept of our species. The six of us are in rapport and have been 'boosted' by our AI, Barana. Our range is quite extensive. Our particular team can project about 5,000 light years. In this form we are able to manipulate objects at the site to which we have been projected. Most of our T Raptor teams have a practical range of about 1,000 light years. As you might imagine and have in fact experienced, this gives us a substantial tacti
cal advantage. The intelligence gathering capability alone is awesome."
"Gloriana recently advised me that you are a latent telepath as is your Lady Meri. For some reason telepaths and latent telepaths seem to find each other. If you are willing to spend some time on Station 5 this talent can be triggered and trained. You will want guidance for about a day and Gloriana is quite adept at providing that. Once you have followed her instructions we would like to suggest that you enter in rapport with this team and you can actually be involved in dealing with the Arberites while still being on Gar. Interestingly, General Trilx and his lady are also latent telepaths. We would like to offer the same to them. What do you both think?"
Meri spoke, "General Hank, Lord Dranz has told me in great detail of your visits to him while he was in command of his fleet and of the events following his capitulation. He has spoken of the many positive things you have done for him and our people. Never have I heard him speak of negative things concerning your dealings with him. You could easily have destroyed him and our people yet due to your restraint none of our blood was spilled at your hands. How did this come to be? How do you act thus?"
"Lady Meri, you are kind to say so. My telepathic abilities have generated insights to which I have learned to listen. When we were having our little visits with Lord Dranz that I am certain were discomfiting to him at the time, we were also gathering as much information about your people as we could. At this we are fairly effective. I noticed during that time that there were unexplained conflicts with the intent of that fleet and the honor code that is prevalent in your society. I felt that destruction of such an honor system would be a tremendous loss to the galaxy so I determined how to best protect my people and avoid destroying yours. Your people deserved the opportunity to become more in accord with that honor system and due to the technology we had available we were able to advance that notion. I am very glad that we did because now we believe we have the true picture and intend to resolve this very soon. I believe that not only are we fortunate to have so many disparate species in our galaxy, but each has attributes and talents that complement the others. I would like to advance that opportunity. You see before you an example of that. The Glarin people are certainly different from us but more steadfast friends are difficult to find. I see that also happening with our races."
