Theogony 1: Janissaries

by Chris Kennedy

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  Chapter Twenty-Four

  CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

  “What’s our status?” asked Captain Deutch. He had called his staff to his conference room in order to work out a plan of action. All of the department heads sat at the table, while their assistants sat in a ring behind them.

  “We have put ourselves between the moon and the gate,” said the operations officer. “If they try to get another message out, we will shoot it down. We are also jamming all of the communications frequencies as well. The base shot a couple of missiles at us, but they were easily destroyed by our counter-missiles. It appears that the base only has six launchers, which will not be enough to breach our defenses, unless they get really lucky.”

  “Keep our defenses up and don’t get cocky,” ordered the commanding officer. He looked to Steropes. “What can you tell me about the base on the moon?”

  “Based on an analysis of the missiles,” said Steropes, “I believe that the moon harbors a Ssselipsssiss base, probably one of their secret research bases.” The sudden onset of hostilities had been more than Arges could deal with, and he had retired to his room to meditate. Steropes had taken over as science officer.

  “What the hell’s a Ssselipsssiss?” asked the operations officer.

  “The Ssselipsssiss is a race of bipedal lizards,” replied Steropes. “They are extremely aggressive in nature and are omnivorous. Not omnivorous as in, ‘they eat both plants and animals,’ but omnivorous in that they can eat nearly any sort of flesh bearing animal, regardless of species or indigenous planet. Most creatures can only digest matter from their home planet. The Ssselipsssiss are from a very hostile planet. Their digestive systems can handle almost anything.”

  “Including us?” asked the communications officer.

  “Yes,” confirmed Steropes, “including both your race and mine.”

  “Another race that wants to eat us?” asked Captain Deutch. “Is there a race in this universe that doesn’t want to eat us?”

  “There are a few,” said Steropes taking the question literally, “but not that many. The good news is, if they do indeed have a base here, they will be relying on stealth, not an overwhelming military presence. That is the Sselipsssiss way; they build a base in a star system with only one entry point and guard it from the other side so that no one else knows about it. The gate we came through is so far from this system’s star, I’d bet that they don’t know about it. They probably think that this is a pocket star system, and the only way into it is through the gate that they sent the missile through.”

  “OK,” said Captain Deutch, “so even though there aren’t a lot of troops and ships on the fourth planet’s moon, the odds are that there is a military presence in the next system, and we will probably have company soon.”

  “That is an accurate assessment of the situation,” said Steropes.

  As Steropes was speaking, the door to the conference room opened, and the assistant intelligence officer came in. He seemed excited as he crossed to the intel officer and began talking to him in hushed tones.

  “Is there something that we should all know?” asked Captain Deutch. “Would you care to share?”

  The intel officer nodded. “They just finished analyzing the data from Viper 03, and it appears that we have a great opportunity.” He looked at his assistant. “Tell them!”

  The assistant, Lieutenant Marlon Adams, cleared his throat. “There’s a replicator there!” He was nearly jumping up and down in excitement.

  “Calm down,” ordered the CO. “Tell me what you’ve found.”

  Lieutenant Adams took a breath. “We analyzed the sensor data from Viper 03, and there is a return that is consistent with a Class 2 replicator. We have a Class 1 replicator onboard the Vella Gulf; the Class 2 is bigger and will allow the replication of anything up to about a fighter-sized vessel.”

  “That would be helpful,” remarked the CO. “Unfortunately, I doubt they’re going to just give it to us. We also have to remember that we are probably going to have company from the next system soon.” He looked at Steropes. “What are the odds that we can take it from them?”

  Steropes looked up from the sensor data that he had taken from Lieutenant Adams. “The odds are very good that we could take it,” he said. “I doubt that they will have many troops at a secret research base...probably just a handful to operate the defensive systems. Their main defense is stealth. If we hadn’t entered the system through a gate they didn’t know about, we probably wouldn’t have been in a position to catch the power surges from the base. I don’t know what they were testing, but it was something that must have used a lot of energy.”

  “Do you have any ideas on what they were testing?” the CO asked the intel officer.

  “No,” the intel officer replied. “All we know is there is some kind of warehouse or hangar with a Class 2 replicator and a bunch of blast doors that hide the entrance to their subterranean base and defensive systems.” He paused, leafing through the photos that Viper 03 had taken before it was forced to turn away. “There’s also this thing, but we don’t know what it is.” He showed them a picture of a tall, shiny, metallic-looking object. “This artifact is located about 100 miles away from the base.” He showed a close-up picture of the monolith. “There is a lot of scoring on it, as well as a few holes that go all the way through. We’re still trying to figure it out.”

  “Can I see the photos?” asked Calvin. He took the two photos and consulted briefly with Bullseye, who was sitting behind him. Rejoining the group at the table, he said, “I know what that object it. It’s a space fighter target. The scoring that you see is from laser hits. Some were more powerful and went all the way through.”

  “Hmmm...” said Steropes, “I think I know what this facility is. The Ssselipsssiss have always had good laser technology for their fighters and warships. This must be the research facility where they develop it. That would be consistent with the data. The replicator they have there would be to produce fighters to mount the new weapons they’re developing there. This is a serendipitous discovery. If we could capture the replicator, it would probably have the patterns not only for their developmental weapons, but their newest fighters as well.”

  “There’s no doubt that it would be great to have the database,” said the CO, “but they obviously sent that missile through the gate for a reason, and that was probably to summon help. I doubt we have much time to go down and pick up the replicator before that help arrives.”

  “We won’t be able to land a shuttle next to the base,” said Steropes. “The Ssselipsssiss have turned on a disruptor field at the base. The troops would have to land about ten miles away and walk to the facility. They wouldn’t have a problem getting through the field; it only exists to disrupt the electronics of spacecraft, causing them to crash.”

  “This is too good an opportunity to pass up, Skipper,” said Calvin. “The technology we have is pretty outdated. Getting the database would give us information on both new weapons and new fighter-type spacecraft.”

  “We can’t get caught here,” replied the CO. “If a force comes through the gate that we can’t beat, we will have to flee and leave your men on the surface of the moon. Are you prepared for that?”

  “I hope they don’t get left behind,” said Calvin, “because I will be down there with them; however, it’s worth the risk and we need to make the effort. Besides, if we don’t eliminate the base, they’ll be able to tell which direction we go when we leave. They may not be able to find the gate immediately, but they’ll have a pretty good idea in which direction to look.” He paused, thinking. “We have a bunch of space mines we can use at the gate the missile went out. That might at least slow down whatever response is coming.”

  “I agree with Calvin,” said Steropes. Most of the other heads around the table were nodding too. “It is indeed hazardous, but the potential rewards outweigh the risks. My recommendation would be to tr
y to assault the base.”

  “OK,” said Captain Deutch, “We’ll do it. Let’s get the troops down there as quickly as possible. Mine the gate and give me any other defensive ideas you can come up with.”

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  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Platoon Briefing Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

  “All right, I’ll make this quick,” said Calvin, addressing all of the troops of the platoon. Steropes was also present to answer any questions that the soldiers might have. Calvin smiled. “That’ll be easy because we don’t have a lot of information to brief, and we need to take care of this quickly before reinforcements arrive.” He pointed to a large picture of the base that he had hung on the board. “There is a base on the moon of the fourth planet. It appears to be a secret research base for a race of lizards that walk on two legs.”

  “Another race of lizards, dude?” asked a voice from the back of the room in a stage whisper. It sounded like Bad Twin. “Sheesh! How about a cat some time? I could kill some kitties!”

  “Although Steropes does not expect there to be many soldiers at the base,” Calvin continued, ignoring the interruption, “he did say that this is a much different race than the one we met before. While those looked like mini-dinosaurs, this race is seven feet tall and extremely aggressive. If you see any of them, they probably will attack you on sight. We expect them to have at least light hand weapons. Even unarmed, they have very sharp teeth and claws, as well as a tail with a sharp spike.”

  “Our primary mission is to assault the base and capture the Class 2 replicator that is in the hangar there. Once we eliminate any resistance, one of our shuttles will fly in, hook up to it, and take it back to the Gulf. As soon as it is airborne, we destroy the facility, shuttle back to the ship and ‘strategically withdraw’ back to Earth as quickly as we can. Hopefully, we get out of here before anyone else comes to see which direction we went. The replicator will give the Earth the ability to make advanced fighters quickly and, it is hoped, give us access to some new laser technology.”

  “Lieutenant Train and Master Chief O’Leary will lead the Space Force, which will attack from the east. This is a diversion, so I want you to be seen and to have the lizards’ attention looking your way. Master Sergeant Smith and I will lead the Ground Force. We will attack from the west and come in cloaked. The goal is to take and defend the replicator and then infiltrate the base to destroy the defensive systems. Once this is accomplished, the shuttles fly in, the replicator flies out and we’re all done. We come back to the ship and watch the mushroom cloud.”

  Master Chief O’Leary raised his hand. “What are the conditions on the moon?”

  Calvin looked at Steropes, who answered, “The moon is nearly as big as the Earth and has a gravity that is approximately three quarters of Earth normal. There is an atmosphere, but it is thin, and there is not enough oxygen in it to make it breathable. Inside the base, there will probably be pressurization, depending on how many doors you blow off, but their atmosphere is not breathable by humans. You’ll need your suits throughout the mission.”

  “We will be coming down about 10.5 miles from the base,” Calvin continued, “because the facility has a shield that disrupts ships’ electronics. As the gravity is a little less, we will have about a 45 minute run/jump to get there.” He looked around. “Any other questions?” Seeing none, he said, “OK, let’s get to it then. Before you go, I need to see Mr. Jones and Ms. Rozhkov for a couple of minutes.”

  The two specialists came over to where Steropes and Calvin waited. “I’ve asked Steropes for some assistance,” Calvin said, “and he has decided to break the rules slightly. As you are both no doubt aware, the Psiclopes have not transferred a lot of their computer technology to us yet. Steropes has authorized a download of some of it for you, because your mission is going to be to try to hack into the lizards’ computer systems and download any new technology you can find. He has some additional tools that he is going to give you to help with it.” He indicated a small bag that Steropes was holding.

  Mr. Jones looked at the Russian spy inquisitively and raised an eyebrow. Calvin sighed. “In a perfect world, I wouldn’t want to have to use her for this mission, but she is one of the two best hackers we have. Hopefully, between the two of you, you’ll be able to break into their systems. If this is a research base, they ought to have a lot of information that we could use. I don’t trust her, but I trust you to watch her.” Mr. Jones shrugged, giving his assent.

  Calvin turned to Steropes. “I’ll let you take it from here. I have to go make sure Bullseye is all set with the mining operation.”

  Gate #1, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

  The two shuttles orbited the gate, deploying their proximity mines in as solid a pattern as they were able. The Terrans knew generally the direction the missile had used to go through it, so they were able to guess in which direction the aliens would emerge, and they mined it accordingly. The density of the pattern wasn’t great, but any ship transiting the minefield ought to be hit by at least a few of them. They hoped.

  The proximity mines the shuttles were laying would explode once a ship entered within a predetermined range, triggering five kilograms of antimatter. The resulting detonation of the antimatter core as it came into contact with the material surrounding it would result in a 215 megaton blast. If it blew up close aboard, it should overwhelm the shields of any craft unlucky enough to be caught by it.

  The best part of the space mines was their size. Tremendously small in the vastness of space, the asymmetric nature of the threat made them extremely difficult to counter once they were in place. “That’s it,” radioed Captain Jennifer ‘Sweet Jen’ Chapman, who was operating the load system for one of the shuttles. The Royal Australian Air Force officer looked at her screen with an evil grin. Just let them try to get through that. “All of the mines are in place,” she continued. “Put the shrimp on the barbie. We’re on our way back.”

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  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Bridge, Wanton Killer, Gliese 832 System, May 25, 2019

  “Of course they took the honor of going first,” hissed Captain Sssseth, the battlecruiser Wanton Killer’s commanding officer. “Anything to relieve the boredom of being here.” He looked at the monitor, which showed the planet they were currently orbiting. It was so shitty that the Ssselipsssiss hadn’t even bothered naming it; it just had its ephemeris designation, Gliese 832 ‘b’. The crappy planet was a gas giant about two-thirds the size of Jupiter, orbiting around a small red dwarf sun at a distance of about 320 million miles. It was a long way from a lousy star and a miserable place to be.

  He would have loved to be in almost any star system in the galaxy. All that Gliese 832 had going for it was a small picket station that the three battlecruisers were assigned to. He alone on his crew knew that they were guarding a secret research station on the other side of the nearby stargate. Knowing that there was at least a reason for having the outpost there didn’t help to relieve the boredom and misery of being on the ass-end of civilization. Not even a little. There was no glory to be gained in battle, the news and 4D videos were hopelessly out of date, and they hadn’t seen fresh meat in months. All because he had sex with a stupid female...How was he supposed to know she was the Grand Admiral’s daughter?

  Two cycles ago, a missile had come through the gate from the research station screaming about Eldive fighters. He had to wonder what they were testing at the research station, because something had obviously scrambled whatever passed for brains in the scientists’ heads.

  First, Eldive fighters could not be attacking because there hadn’t been Eldive fighters in over 3,000 years, ever since the race’s mass suicide against the Drakuls. He’d had to look it up when the scientists said that they were being attacked by the Eldive; he’d never even heard of them. Second, there was no other way into the neighboring system besides the gate that the battlecruisers were guarding, and he was sure that nothing had gone past h
is ship. All of his crew knew that he would happily cut them up and serve them for dinner if they were delinquent in their duties. He may be bored out of his mind, but that didn’t mean that he’d let his crew be sloppy! They would have reported a gate activation to him as soon as it happened. Finally, even if his crew had missed it, there was no way the automatic systems onboard the outpost would have failed to notice the gate activation. The scientists had to be delusional.

  Obviously, there was a meteor shower, or something like that, and the stupid scientists had panicked. He didn’t care what the reason; it gave him a chance to do something other than sit on his tail at Gliese 832 ‘b’. He did care that the senior officer of the three battlecruisers, Rear Admiral Ssseellee, had exercised his prerogative to proceed through the gate first. The only thing more pathetic than that worthless excuse for an officer was the state of his ship and crew. It was now two cycles later, and the Emperor’s Sword was just starting to move away from the outpost. Half the crew was probably intoxicated too. Although each of the three ships should have spent an equal amount of time docked at the outpost, the admiral always had an excuse for why he needed additional time docked there. The real excuse was that it was the only place to get fermented goat’s milk in this whole system.

  “Make sure you give the Emperor’s Sword additional room to get by us,” he said. “They might be a bit...unsteady...in their helmsmanship.”

  “Yes, Captain Sssseth!” answered the helmsman. The CO didn’t have to tell him why the Admiral’s ship needed extra space; the state of discipline, or lack thereof, onboard the Sword was common knowledge.

  Space Force, Shuttle 1, Tau Ceti ‘d1’, May 25, 2019

  The shuttle screamed into a combat landing, hitting hard on its struts in spite of the lower than normal gravity. The inertial compensators absorbed most, but not all, of the impact.