by Jason Bourn
This was the third time that Kadar had tried to get additional information on Heather’s disappearance, but to no avail.
Kadar sat back and thought. He was doing everything he could. He had closed down the space port and had everyone searched trying to get into or out of the city. There wasn’t anything else he could think of to do.
Finally, a message came in, claiming to be from those who had Heather. First, the video that Heather had just made was shown. This was followed up with a synthesized voice demanding that the money be deposited at a specific location in the city, instead. In addition, the voice said that Kadar should bring the money in person.
Kadar instantly sent members of his personal guard, the most elite of all the security personnel, to the designated location. They burst in, ready to kill the kidnappers and free Heather, but all they found was a video camera and a large display with text saying for Kadar to bring the money in person.
Kadar had the entire building searched, but they could find nothing else. Finally, Kadar decided to go to the designated location with the money.
“Well, well, well,” said the synthetic voice as Kadar walked into the room with a large brief case. “I guess you do care somewhat about what happens to your lovely bride. Did you bring the 100000 credits?”
Grimacing Kadar said, “Who is this? Where is my wife? I demand her safe return immediately.”
“Now, now,” said the synthesized voice. “I’ll show you your wife first, then we can talk.”
With that, the screen showed a sleeping Heather, lying on a bed.
“I gave her a bit of a sedative to help her relax. She should stay asleep for a while.”
Kadar immediately bristled, “I demand you release her immediately. I have your credits you asked for. Let’s be done with this and we can each go our separate ways.”
Kadar wasn’t sure that he would be able to find the person responsible for this, but if he did, he would see to it that he would pay for it.
“Actually,” the voice said, “I don’t care about the credits.”
This immediately got Kadar’s attention. He knew in anyone’s book that 100000 credits was an enormous sum. Maybe he needed to reassess who he was dealing with. “Just exactly who are you?” he asked.
“I thought you would never ask.” Garth allowed the synthesized voice to track closer and closer to his actual voice as he spoke. “We have had dealings in the past, you and I. It seems that I have had the better of you, and I think that will be the case again today.”
As the synthesized voice became close to Garth’s actual voice, finally comprehension dawned on Kadar’s face.
“Garth! How did you get your hands on my wife? I swear that if you hurt one hair on her head you will regret it for the rest of your life. I will never stop until you are dead.”
Unexpectedly, all Garth did was laugh.
This infuriated Kadar even more. “Haven’t you considered what is going to happen when word gets out about what you have done? When Torval 2 hears about this there will be so many battle ships swarming around your worlds that you will never be allowed back in. I will see to that. I do love my wife and would move heaven and Earth to get her back, but I will not give you anything while you still have her.”
Garth lazily smiled and said, “Yes, I figured that you wouldn’t give up everything even for her. But there is one more thing that I do have that you will undoubtedly find even more precious.”
Garth paused to let Kadar think on that.
Kadar couldn’t imagine what Garth might have that he would value more than his wife, so he decided to call Garth’s bluff. “OK, tell me what could possibly be of such value to me.”
Garth’s image replaced the sleeping image of Heather on the display. Garth looked directly at Kadar and said, “The only thing that I can think of, off-hand, that is more important to you than your wife is,” he paused then said, “you.”
Kadar tensed, but before he could move Garth said, “Every building surrounding the one you are in is rigged with high explosives. If you so much as try to leave, they will be set off and you will most assuredly be killed. Have one of your minions go into the building next to you to verify this. Tell him not to touch anything, or it will detonate. Also, tell him to pick up the folder off the floor and bring it to you. It has the details of a trade agreement that I’d like you to sign. The terms are very similar to what you signed before, but this time I believe that I will choose a better administrator for you. The last one was useful, but she was somewhat flawed. Let me know if you would like to sign it or not. If you do, I give you my word that your wife will be returned safe and sound. If you don’t sign it, then it really won’t matter what happens to her, now does it?”
Kadar thought about his options. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any good options. Garth was in the driver’s seat. Kadar could either sign or die, it was that simple.
He sent his first-in-command to verify the munitions were, indeed, in place, but he really didn’t doubt that they were.
Bringing back the folder, his loyal aid nodded and handed the aforementioned folder to Kadar.
Kadar then did the only thing he could do, and that was to sign. An electronic version, fully enforceable in the court of law, was then sent to Garth – who, in turn, signed his copy.
With the formalities completed, Garth smiled broadly and said, “If you would be so good as to contact your fleet of battle ships and inform them of our trade agreement. Make sure that they understand that they are to open up the ships to our personnel. Similarly, do the same for your personal security forces. Once we are in control of both the ships and your security forces, then you will be allowed to leave. Your lovely wife will be sent to you by dinner time. As always, it has been a pleasure doing business with you.”
With that Garth’s image disappeared from the screen, replaced with Heather’s sleeping form.
Kadar knew that he had been beat again. Unfortunately, there was nothing that he could do about it. Almost in a state of shock, he sat down and sent the two messages that Garth had requested. After that, he just sat there thinking how unfair life sometimes was.
CHAPTER 28 – PERIPHERY
When Nadia’s persa informed her of the new trade agreement between Garth and Kadar, she literally couldn’t believe it. She immediately contacted Admiral Badstubner, “How did Garth get Kadar’s old Kingdom back as well as their battle ships?” This time Nadia didn’t feel bad about her aggressiveness – she felt that she had had an almost identical conversation with the admiral on the other Kingdoms not so long ago.
The admiral, who had just learned of this himself, was fuming as well. “We had the full sensor network in place and there were no foreign battle ships anywhere near Garth’s world. I know they didn’t use force to make this happen. I’m not sure how he did it – Garth is craftier than we gave him credit for. Again, I’ve just verified that Kadar voluntarily signed the trade agreement with Garth and it appears to be legitimate and it has been corroborated with advanced AI-assisted lie detection equipment. So, again it is legally binding. Kadar is not talking about why he agreed to it, so we’re all left with the result, but no real information on how it happened.”
Nadia’s irritation flared, saying, “I have all the evidence that shows that Garth’s battle ships never left his home world. I’m not sure how he did it! The bottom line is that now Garth has forty-six battle ships, which is about on par with the number of battle ships that we have around his worlds. Where we used to have a clear majority, with plenty of firepower to overwhelm him, now we are basically even.”
The admiral agreed, “Yes, given that we no longer have clear superiority, I recommend we move those ships back to Torval 2. Those ships will probably not help in any way where they are now – by moving them to Torval 2, that ensures that we will always have a clear majority there.
Reluctantly Nadia said, “Yes, I suppose so. What I’m worried about it that it will send the wrong message to Garth – but I suppos
e that this has already happened.” Pausing, she finally said, “OK, let’s do it. But we need to make sure that we take a hard line any time Garth tries to do anything out in the Periphery. I’m afraid that there isn’t much of a buffer any more between what Garth wants and us here at Torval 2. If he gets those Periphery worlds, then he will only have one target left to have complete sector domination – and that is us.
– – –
Garth was sitting in his favorite form-fitting smart-chair. It knew every contour of his body and was attuned to every subtle movement his body made, firming up or softening at just the right time and lightly massaging his sore muscles – all based upon thousands of observations of his body’s relaxation level, without any outward commands – just the way he liked it.
But he wasn’t going to let a comfortable chair stand in the way of making progress on his Periphery acquisition plan, so he said to the leader of his battle ship fleet, over the communications link, “Darian, the fleet has moved all of their battle ships back to Torval 2. That doesn’t change our plans much – they weren’t all that effective here, but that may make our job harder in the long run – since they’ll have more ships guarding Torval 2. I think it is time to acquire the rest of the Periphery worlds, what do you think?”
Darian smiled and said, “I definitely agree. The fleet has installed sensory networks on the five largest Periphery worlds, which will send a warning to Torval 2 if any battle ships are detected, but all the rest of the Periphery worlds should be easy pickings. They have five battle ships near Saul’s world, Volante, and two each at the other four strategic worlds with the sensory networks. That leaves just seven battle ships scattered among the rest of the Periphery worlds, one each at the three Paloma worlds, at the two Annar planets and at Clovis and Alois. I recommend we attack in force and re-acquire back into your Kingdom those seven worlds and their battle ships first. Let’s work on the plan …
– – –
Two days later they were set. Forty-nine of Garth’s ships jumped simultaneously to the seven Periphery worlds with fleet battle ships, seven ships to each. That meant that Garth had a seven-to-one ship advantage at every location. Garth rather liked those odds, so he was looking forward to monitoring the activities at all of the seven planets.
Garth’s ships sent messages to each of the seven worlds, “requesting” that they sign trade agreements and agree to join Garth’s Kingdom. Simultaneously, Garth’s ships sent messages to each of the seven fleet battle ships, requesting their surrender to him – since they were thoroughly overwhelmed.
Darian had said that he didn’t think any of the three Paloma worlds were going to give them any trouble, so Garth decided to concentrate on them first and foremost to ensure everything went as planned.
Garth thought quickly on what he knew about the Paloma worlds: Paloma 1 was founded by a very peace-loving sect that believed in free love and universal harmony. This concept was extremely successful, a popular destination for the young and the young at heart, reaping the windfalls of a healthy tourist industry. The initial venture had been so successful that the other two Paloma planets had been quickly established and were doing equally as well. The marketing was top notch for all three worlds, always showing an abundant supply of young, nubile girls sporting little or no clothing.
There was no response for several seconds from any of the three worlds, so Darian took the opportunity to interject, “These free lovers would not know how to fight if you put weapons in their hands. I’ll would give you three-to-one odds that they are so docile that they won’t even put up a fight.”
Looking at the tactical situation, Darian smiled and said to Garth, “Look! The battle ships are in orbit around each of the three planets. They have disobeyed standing orders to remain at jump distance from the planet.” Grinning even more he said, “I bet all the officers and crew wanted to get shore leave with those beautiful women with their loose morals and they couldn’t do it if they were at the required three-days travel from the planet. There is no way the ships can get back to jump positions without going through our ships – they can’t even use their quantum communications to talk to the rest of the fleet. We have them totally outnumbered, so I’d be willing to bet they won’t put up much of a fight.”
Sure enough, a message came through from each of the three planets that they would be willing to sign the trade agreements.
Garth personally sent a message indicating that each of the three battle ships surrender and prepare to be boarded.
Within ten minutes, all three had agreed. Darian quickly sent personnel to each ship to ensure they didn’t change their minds.
Garth smiled and said to Darian, “That could not have gone better – three battle ships and three worlds back in the fold, it doesn’t get any better than this. Now I think we should focus on the Annar worlds.”
Whereas the Paloma planets were free-spirited, the two Annar planets were instead based upon the concept of inclusiveness. Anything that didn’t hurt another being was acceptable. All planetary laws were based upon tolerance being supreme. This concept proved to be so popular that the two Annar planets had among the highest immigration rates in the sector.
Garth checked to see if they had sent any kind of response to the initial trade agreement signing request. As expected, nothing had been received so far.
After waiting for many long minutes, finally the head of Annar 1, Russell Timmons, sent a message to Garth, “I have been authorized to speak for Annar 2 as well as for Annar 1. We have always thought that the fleet would protect us, but we were mistaken.”
Garth responded keeping his smile at bay for the moment, “Russell, I have always told you that you would be back as part of my Kingdom. Did you really think that a few battle ships would stand in my way?”
Russell replied, “We requested that the fleet’s two battle ships defend us, but they say they are hopelessly outnumbered so they will jump. They have basically thrown us to the wolves.”
Garth couldn’t hold back a smile at this point saying, “You’re going to have to start being nicer to me now that you’re going to be back in my Kingdom. That needs to start right now.”
As the two fleet battle ships jumped away from the Annar worlds, Russell grimaced and said, though with somewhat clenched teeth, “Garth, we would be happy to sign the trade agreements.”
Garth felt that he could be somewhat indulgent since he was the clear winner of the situation, so he said “Your graciousness will be remembered. Thank you.”
He let Darian take care of the details as he turned his attention to the last two worlds with battle ships.
Clovis and Alois were the furthest, ideologically, from the Paloma triad of planets that there could be. Clovis and Alois were closely related, as each cherished their military prowess and every person on both planets was a proud gun-toting individualist. Clovis’ motto was “If you want peace, prepare for war,” whereas Alois’ motto was “The right to buy and keep weapons is the right to be free.”
Neither had responded to the surrender instruction, but Garth knew that of the seven, these two planets were the most likely to refuse to sign, even if it meant war. Garth, tired of waiting, decided to send another message to each of these two worlds, trying to speed up the inevitable. “Clovis and Alois, you are well-known for your military history. However, you must know that you are overwhelmed. I will give you a half an hour to sign the trade agreements, or we will destroy you.”
Garth knew that this would push them faster than they were prepared to go. It was good to get them away from their comfort level. Maybe he could avoid a war, which in the end wasn’t good for anybody.
Suddenly, the fleet battle ship near Clovis accelerated at full power towards Garth’s seven battle ships, initiating both laser and nuclear missile fire.
Both Garth and Darian yelled “Fire” at the same time, as Garth’s seven ships moved to avoid the weapons’ fire. All seven of them opened fire on the fleet battle ship. It avoided the
nuclear weapons from three of the ships, but four of them detonated in near proximity, totally disabling it.
Garth shook his head, looking at the twisted metal and the ever-expanding debris field, knowing that it had been a waste of a good ship, but also knowing that it really couldn’t have been avoided. It might be repairable, but it would take months, if not years. As the seven ships set their weapons sites on Clovis itself, Garth sent one final message. “The fleet battle ship has been destroyed. If you do not surrender immediately and sign the trade agreement, I will order them to open fire and destroy your entire planet. I implore you to do so – it would be a waste of good men, women and children and the waste of a good planet. You have thirty seconds in which to respond.”
As the seconds ticked off, Garth didn’t know whether they would die just to spite him or continue in the hopes of being able to live on and fight another day.
As the last seconds ticked away, finally a message was received. “We will sign your cursed trade agreement, but only if we are allowed to keep our weapons.”
With a sigh of relief, Garth knew that he had won. He hadn’t wanted to destroy anything – his goal was to build, not to destroy. He responded, “I acknowledge that you can keep your personal weapons. I will send down a representative that will take control of all the larger weapons after you have signed the trade agreement. In addition, I guarantee your safety as long as you refrain from using your weapons on any of my representatives, now or in the future.”
Garth knew that he needed to be careful with this planet, but felt that as long as he was prepared for it, everything would be all right. Again, he let Darian take care of the details – it felt good to have competent people he could trust to get the job done. This allowed him to shift his focus towards Alois.
– – –
The fleet battle ship, near Alois, was in urgent communications with Torval 2. Captain Ulysses Okawa, a portly man with nerves of steel was saying to Nadia, Giliad and Admiral Badstubner, “They have seven battle ships and are asking for our surrender. If we meet them with force, I am sure they will run. We can stop them here and keep them from challenging any of the larger Periphery worlds. I need at least ten ships and preferably a lot more to project overwhelming firepower. If I can get fourteen battle ships, then I will have a two-to-one advantage, where I am sure he will back down.”
