“I’m sorry but what you see is an Alteran defense grid. One hundred and twelve of those orbital platforms are of Alteran design.”
As she said that they could all notice the similarity between the defense platforms on the hologram and the ones that were at the moment being built around Earth and around every colony.
Jennings looked at the image and then turned towards Aria. ” Are they the same as the ones we are building around Earth?”
“They are similar Admiral. But considering the technological gap these ones are far more powerful. But don’t be alarmed they are not active. It is strange that they kept them after they took the planet.”
“It is strange that they are still here even after all this time. Your creators really built things to last Aria.”
The AI turned towards Lt. Edwards. He was the ships engineer and was well educated in what was needed to build something like the platforms they were seeing now.
“Yes Lt. they were. But I doubt that those platforms would still be here if they weren’t constantly maintained. I don’t know the reason why they are still here but if we can find out and activate them, your mission for taking and keeping this world will be much easier.”
“What is the power of those things Aria?”
The AI seemed to be thinking for a moment before answering. “They have Coil guns very similar to your MAC guns but far more powerful for long range engagement. A powerful plasma beam is also placed for long range engagement. Rail guns and lasers are used for close range defense. The Coil guns fire a twenty ton slug with a speed of one third of light speed. They fire one shot every ten seconds. The plasma beam is similar and is capable of penetrating the armor of a Dacarian dreadnought with a single shot at a distance of 300000 km. The Rail guns are also capable of destroying anything that enters their field of fire. The lasers are mostly used for point defense. This is the main defense platform there are forty four of those placed around the planet. The smaller ones are for a close range engagements and they fire a five ton slug with a speed of twenty percent of light speed. They have rail guns and laser platforms for point defense as well.”
“That sure is a lot of firepower. If we can activate those systems we can wipe out anything that they can through against us.”
Jennings looked at his second in command. Thomson’s words caused a stir among the others. It was something they all wished and hoped for. They all knew they had been lucky and the victories that they had in the first battles were owed to the Alteran technology and the refugee fleet they found orbiting Sedna. The platforms might not be ships but they were still powerful weapons. They were designed and built by the same people that built the Argus and the two cruisers that helped in the battle of Earth. And considering the fire power that Aria described they were far more powerful than the ships. They might be stationary but they could literally blast anything sent against them to tiny pieces. He hoped that they weren’t active. He turned towards Aria.
“Aria, are you sure that the Dacarians have no command over those stations?”
“Yes Sir. There are no readings that would show that they are active. And I highly doubt that the Dacarians would have needed the other orbital stations if they had control over them.”
“What makes you so sure Aria? I’m sorry for doubting you but we all know how advanced the Dacarians are. And why leave them in place if they can’t control them?”-the question came from Roberts.
The AI stood silent for a second. Then a holographic projection appeared showing the planet and zooming on the defense grid covering it.
“If you look at the placements of the stations…”- as she said that a digital projection appeared showing intersecting lines of fire from the stations- “They are placed to cover the entire planet. We have five stations missing on these points”-five dots appeared on the empty places and they all noticed several of the Dacarian defense stations standing there and they also noticed that many of the Dacarian stations were placed in front of the Alteran platforms. They were smaller, looking as ants compared with the large stations behind them.-“and they were replaced with dozens of Dacarian satellites. My guess is that they were destroyed in the initial battle when the Dacarians conquered this world.”
As she finished Jennings looked at her.
“Aria what can you tell us about the original inhabitants of this world? The ones you were trying to protect?”
“They called themselves Ksand. They were a young race. Some members of their race were taken and developed far from here by the Icarians about twenty five thousand of your years. By the time the final war started they managed to contact their home which at that point was at the level you were during your second world war. Before the war we found out that they were threatened by several of the other races. This defense grid was built in order to protect them. By the time your ancestors were defeated the Ksand had a powerful republic in the sector where they were placed. They suffered terrible loses in trying to protect your ancestors. Some of their survivors, and a large fleet retreated to this system before the end.”
She stayed quiet for a second and then she turned towards Rivers. As she did an image of a strange looking avian creature appeared on the screen. It was smaller than a human about five feet tall. Its head looked strange. It had a small beak, a retracted nose, almost too small to be recognized, there were no visible ears, and it had two small dark eyes. The two hands were also wings showing a retractable membrane. There were no noticeable feathers instead they were covered with a cream colored small fur that covered strong muscles all over the body. They might look weak and small but they were strong, probably stronger than an ordinary human would be. And even with all those features the creature looked peaceful and gentle. As Rivers watched the creature he wished that his people would find some living Ksand on the planet.
“They risked everything for your ancestors. I hope that you won’t forget that when you go down there…As others have debt towards you, you have it towards them.”
“We won’t forget Aria…If we find them you can be sure of that.”
She didn’t respond but he knew that she was happy with the answer. In the months that passed, thanks to the talks with her both here and on the Demetrion before he got to know her well. She might be an AI but she was just as alive as any other living human being. She was just a little bit different.
Jennings turned towards Rivers. As he did the major just nodded.
“Aria do you know how can we activate that defense grid?”
“Yes I do. The control center for the defense stations is located here…”-an image of a mountain appeared.-“It is located on the largest continent and it is a location that houses a large Dacarian base. The mountain was actually a large military base with multiple defense systems twelve thousand years ago. I can’t say in what condition it is today, but considering the placement of the enemy base it is safe to say that they know about it.”
“How do we activate it?”
“The system needs an AI in order to be able to operate. If you manage to take control you will need an AI to activate it. I will make a copy of myself for you major Rivers. It won’t be as good as me but it will help you if the system is actually operational.”
“It seems that our mission will have to suffer some changes.”- Rivers looked at the admiral.
“Do I have your permeation to make the necessary changes to the plan Sir?”
“Yes Major. I won’t meddle with your mission and plan. You know how to plan it best and what is needed for your mission to succeed. Will you be able to make those alterations in the next eight hours?”
“Yes Sir. We won’t miss our launching period. The alterations won’t be big. It is just one more place to investigate and gather information’s about.”
Jennings nodded. He knew that Rivers was more than capable of planning and executing the mission. He and the rest of the SF teams onboard the Excelsior were among the best in their branch. They were involved in the boarding parties after the battle in Sol and k
new their enemy well.
“Ok than that will be all. I will expect your mission plan in the next couple of hours Major.”
“Yes sir.”
After this everyone started leaving the room. As was usual Aria was the first one gone, her holographic projection disappearing immediately. Jennings turned and went on the bridge. There was a lot of work in front of them. He could see the tension on everyone’s faces and he knew that his face showed the same. He felt the tension inside him as well. He felt it even more being the commander of this mission, a mission that was probably more important than anything else he ever had. Yes, he was the first commander of the first ever built space ship, the Daedalus, he was the commander of the first ship to travel to another star or land a mission to another world, a smile appeared on his face as he remembered those days the moment when the results of the sensor readings showed that there are habitable worlds in Proxima Centaury, and his face then turned serious again as he remembered the battle for Proxima and all the people that died that day. But all those missions were nothing compared with this one, a mission that had enormous value considering that the information that the SF teams and the Excelsior would gather could mean the success of the battle that was coming, a battle that would give Humanity a chance to prepare and then take the battle to its nemesis, and yes the Dacarians were that. Humanity once roamed the stars, protected the young races and had a flourishing culture but the Dacarians took all that away and murdered untold billions and enslaved trillions. The time for them to pay for their atrocities was coming and deep inside him he could feel that if this mission is successful humanity would be the civilization that would collect that debt.
As he entered the bridge he noticed everyone was working. Thomson saluted and he saluted back. He nodded and went to his seat. As he sat down Thomson took his own position on his left side. He didn’t get any salute from the rest of the bridge crew and officers but he didn’t care. In the past months he managed to make them relax in his presence. He knew that they all had important jobs and needed to concentrate on them.
The bridge of the Excelsior was very much like the bridges of the other human ships, much smaller than the main bridge of the Alteran Battleships. The bridge was different in another way as well. It was placed deep in the ship protected and fortified against any kind of strikes. The CIC was the same. They were all deep inside the ship’s hull in the most armored section. Humanity was far behind the Alterans in regards of technology. Yes he knew that they could understand almost every piece of technology (well not all but most) that Aria and Anaya had mentioned, most of it was still in the area of Science Fiction. Before the discovery of the refugees fleet humanity tested and created lasers, plasma and Rail Guns but they were weak compared with the weapons systems that the Alteran Battleship and Cruisers had. The Rail guns were fairly advanced and with the help from the AI’s they became the most advanced weapons systems together with the coil guns that humanity had. The shield tech was especially important in this kind of warfare and it was the technology in which humanity was far behind any space faring race especially the Dacarians and the Alterans. It was a piece of technology that although understood, was really difficult to reverse engineer, so instead of trying to create advance shields they created advanced armor, it was something that was a known quality and a fairly advanced technology. The battles in Proxima and Sol proved that human armor was capable of withstanding enemy fire, and the new generation of ships had even more advanced and far ticker armor compared with the old Essex class. The Excelsior was the first ship of that generation but hundreds more were already in production when Excelsior left on its mission. As he thought of those ships he looked at the screen that showed the system and the second planet, the world they knew as Arcadia. It was a beautiful world and he felt a shiver as he thought about the destruction that those ships will cause on it and on the system. He knew that in order for the secret to remain hidden this world and the Dacarians on it will have to die. He knew that millions of the slaves they had with them, innocent races will die as well. He looked once again at the young faces of his crew. They were still young most of them were new recruits considering that most of the old navy people were dead after the battle in Sol. And after this mission, this operation he knew that their souls would be tainted with a death toll that will number in the millions. And with the information that Anaya gave them about the Dacarians he knew that many of them would not be soldiers but ordinary people. Aliens, but civilians as well, people who had no fault except that they lived in a society that taught them that they were the master race. And the worst part of it all is that every human knew that it was not their fault but the fault of another alien race that long ago enslaved them and made them what they were. They became what they are thanks to that fear and hatred towards that race, towards the Farsians.
He noticed the small hologram of Aria on the middle console.
“Aria I want all the information we have about this system that you’ve managed to gather so far to be forwarded to my station. And send them to the insertion teams as well. They will need them, especially the scans of the planet.”
“Yes Sir.”
A minute later all the information’s were on his console and he knew that Major Rivers has them as well. He nodded towards the AI and started reading them.
CHAPTER TWO
Rivers looked at the information that Aria sent him. Most of it was information he already knew and the new parts were about the original race that inhabited this world and about their settlements and the base that had the control system for the orbital platforms. He already knew that he would have to make some small alterations to the original plan so the inclusion of the old Alteran defense base came easy. He looked at the image of the alien creatures that Aria said inhabited this world.
“They risked everything for your ancestors”… Aria’s words came to his thoughts as he looked at the Ksand. A part of him wanted to know the strange creature’s name. It was a silly thought but he asked Aria to give him the data for the Ksand language. He knew that it was farfetched but considering that every member had to learn several old earth languages for the past year and they were all fluent now in ancient Latin and pretty good in ancient Greek there might be a chance to learn this language as well. Aria mentioned that in ancient times translators were used but those machines were still far away. Several were discovered on the refugee ships. Four were on this ship just in case but his teams won’t be taking any on the surface. The risk of the Dacarians getting their hands on one of those things was too great and the danger from it was enormous. Armed humans might pass as nothing more than escaped slaves, but humans with Alteran equipment…he shuddered at the thought. He uploaded the latest information’s to his data pad and then sent them to every member of his teams. Sixty soldiers were under his command. Twelve of them were form the British contingent of SAS and he was glad to have them. The rest were Seals. Humanity’s best soldiers were now here. He knew that not all of the men he wanted on this mission were here but he knew that he had a band of heroes…men who fought in all types of environments around the globe before the first contact and who each and every one had firsthand experience with the enemy they would be facing. He was the commander of the small unit comprised of three SAS teams and twelve SEAL teams. That was the starting designation back on Earth but for this mission each seal team will have double the number of bodies. The twelve SEAL teams were combined in to six eight men strong teams. The plan was to land teams on each of the five continents establish bases and then start infiltrating and gathering information about the enemy numbers, troop movements and base locations everything that was going to be vital for the day when the fleet and the invasion force would arrive in the system. The plan seemed crazy considering that his seven teams, under the command of Major Davis operating as one team would need to research an entire planet. The Dacarian cities were not that numerous, consisting of several cities on each continent, the biggest ones placed on the largest. They still h
adn’t named the continents but he knew that each one already had a designation among the soldiers. Seven teams that on need could become three times that were more than enough to gather enough data about the Dacarian troops in the system and on the planet. And considering the number of slave camps he was sure that there would be a chance for rescuing some prisoners and even for some escaped slaves. The scans of the planet showed a lot of small communities hidden in the vast deep jungles far from the Dacarian cities and bases. He had a plan to investigate those settlements and try and see if he could organize a local resistance.
The planet was a little larger than Earth but it had a smaller land mass. The largest continent was the size of Asia, a little bit larger with a land mass of twenty three million square miles with another one comprising of sixteen million square miles. The other three were ranging from seven to ten million. The two largest continents were connected with land bridges similar to the way Asia and Africa used to be in the past. A third one was also connected but the scans showed that the land bridge was destroyed not long ago so that the inland ocean could be connected with the other far larger one. He noticed that Aria pointed to the destruction as a possible orbital bombardment and even an accidental hit during the taking of the world. It was certainly possible considering that it was lying beneath the destroyed orbital platforms. He shuddered at the thought of the power released during the hit and the devastation it would have brought.
The three smallest continents each had one team assigned to them. They had far less enemy settlements. The smallest one had just one and the other had three. The third one would have the SAS while the other two would each have two SEAL teams. Alpha and Bravo will have one, delta and Gamma two, Sigma (SAS) will have three, Epsilon will have four, and Theta will have five. The insertion process was going to happen with the meteor shower they noticed going towards the planet. The retrofitted insertion capsules were designed to look like meteors, their hull compromising of all the common materials that a meteor would hold. The outer shell of each pod was designed to explode outward at a specially designated height so not to arouse suspicion. The insertion was to be done in water close to the shore. Each team had enough supplies for the next year. The Excelsior was supposed to send supplies regularly but he knew that that was a long shot considering the enemy presence in the system, so he planned accordingly. Better safe than sorry. According to Aria the local flora and fauna was eatable by humans so he hoped that they won’t have to stay on emergency rations all the time.
The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) Page 44
