CHAPTER 30
Wolf Plume locked his body tank. Air swooshed in and out of the suit as it pressurized. With no power in the outrider ship every tribal had less than six minutes to get suited up in a pressure suit or body tank. No life support was running. Wolf Plume’s comp set, drawing power from the body tanks individual power source, was already squawking with orders from the ship’s pack alphas. Wolf Plume cut into the line. “All wrench monkeys scramble to power up positions, tech-jacks assist as needed. We have got to get the shields back up or we're scrapped. Hustle, Hustle.”
Wolf Plume felt the ship. It was a skill he had learned over decades of piloting. All power was down, no server fed ship status data to his comp set, and yet Wolf Plume knew no lasers played across the hull. He knew the hangars were quiet; no fighters darted in or out. He could feel it. Wolf Plume commanded silence on the communications line, “This is Wolf Plume. Turquoise Dragon Pack, leave post and take the repair chutes to the outer hull. I need a visual report ASAP.”
Tribals around him moved. Wolf Plume stood silent listening only for the report. He had a suspicion of what was going on but he needed confirmation. “Wolf Plume, this is Crystal Branch, Turquoise Dragon Alpha. Visual report. No ships visible. It appears everything is power down. Every lodge ship, prime ship, outrider ship, fighter, UDA and Confederacy. All powered down. Black as night.”
Wolf Plume subconsciously put his hand up to stroke his beard. The plastic of his glove touched artificially to the glasteel of his helmet. He shook his head in slight frustration. “It's a race, drooks, whoever gets power up first gets to carve their opponent. Load the solar sail ship up with body tank warriors and launch her by manual push out from the lower bay. Once under way target the Delta grade UDA prime ships. Go. Go. Go. I want launch in three minutes.”
A palpable tension fell. Wolf Plume could tell many, perhaps most, of the tribals on his outrider ship were frightened. Why were the Nagaspheres powered down? Why had the Ghost Dance hit the AmerIndian Confederacy ships as well as the UDA ships? Did the Ghost Dance do nothing more than set the tribals up for defeat? Were they on cusp of a second White Earth Massacre?
Able to traverse the two hundred and twenty kilometers between Wolf Plume's outrider ship and the closest UDA prime ship in less than an hour and a half, the solar ship made good time. It used no other fuel than the starlight shining on its sails. Autumn Sky, an experienced body tank warrior, stood poised before the solar ship’s open airlock. The airlock of the UDA prime ship they were connecting to was wide open.
Autumn Sky sensed something was terribly wrong. The airlock being open was wrong. The solar ship reaching the UDA prime ship without conflict was wrong. There should have been some response from the UDA soldiers by now. She leveled her Sledge Violator toward the airlock. The two body tank troops strained their mobile armor.
Autumn Sky opened fire into the dark hole. Her pack took her lead and rained laser fire in as well. The pack continued firing until Autumn Sky heard the beep signaling a quarter of her e-clip had been emptied and ordered cease-fire.
Laser fire died and the body tank pack moved forward. Autumn Sky was surprised her pack had not been pummeled by return enemy fire. She wasted no time feeling foolish for the wasted ammunition and e-clip charges pocking the far wall. Fortunately, the hull of the UDA ship had not been breached. Autumn Sky circled her hand above her head and pointed forward signaling the pack to follow her into the dark halls of the UDA prime ship. Autumn Sky pushed off into the zero-g of the UDA prime ship and led her pack down a hall until they approached open heavy blast doors.
Autumn Sky's Second, Clipper, broke silence. “By standard UDA ship blueprints this next room should be level headquarters. Right turn here will lead us to small weapon holds.” Autumn Sky pushed off a nearby wall and entered the level headquarters. The pack moved in unison to the side of the door and waited for fire that did not come. The room was dark and only the starlight optics on her comp set allowed her to see. The room was full of UDA soldiers. Their corpses floated silently.
Clipper answered Autumn Sky's question before she asked it. “Clear line, sapphire spread, Alpha. Sensors confirm all UDA soldiers in this room are dead.”
Further investigation showed that every airlock on the ship had been opened simultaneously. The Ghost Dance had killed every UDA soldier on the ship. Autumn Sky used a shotgun communications unit on the solar ship to beam the information back to a temporary receiver bolted to the exterior of Wolf Plume's outrider ship.
Reports came in from the other AmerIndian Confederacy solar ships. Wolf Plume felt a relief and sadness wash over him. Over one hundred thousand UDA soldiers were killed by the Ghost Dance. Every soldier on each of the fourteen hundred prime ships was sacrificed on the UDA’s alter of aggression. It was the greatest military victory ever achieved by the AmerIndian Confederacy. Naanac was now and forever the Homelands. The blood price paid in full.
Wolf Plume sat. He felt weak, the enormity of what had just occurred weighing on him. More people died here today than lived on some outposts. It was a considerable loss of life and though they were his enemies, Wolf Plume felt sorrow for the loss to their families.
Nothing any of the Nez Perce engineers and techs tried would restore power. Brand new Nagaspheres yielded no power. The blackness lasted for exactly sixty-seven minutes when power surged back into all of the ships. With power restored Wolf Plume got to work organizing skeleton crews to pilot the UDA prime ships to Naanac’s orbit where they could be emptied of the thousands of corpses. Wolf Plume dispatched a single shuttle to Naanac to inform the Elders of the developments in orbit.
Elder John looked unusual wearing a thin long rain slicker and heavy boots. While these items would have normally caused him discomfort, he was willing to wear them to live on this wet, glorious land. Diegueño tribals had built a roaring fire and the overhead trees kept the damp drizzle off the fire.
John was amazed at how it felt to walk on the damp ground of Naanac. He relished the soft squish of the soil under his boot. Just a few meters away the Apache were already erecting a handsome wooden lodge for the Elder Council. Seated on logs surrounding the fire were Stormseeker, Morgan Weaver, Keokuk, Wolf Plume and Wovoka.
John considered where the other key players were now. Kugan was away working with the Kichai to take full economic advantage of the chaos that would sweep through when the Intergalactic Stock Exchange was reopened. Assets to defend and opportunities to harvest. On all nine of the UDA colonies Kugan had top-notch Kichai broker packs ready to trade. Celetain was in critical condition and the best Haida healers were attending her. Her body and mind had been ravaged by the ordeal of the Ghost Dance.
John spoke evenly, “The Ghost Dance was effective. One hundred and sixty thousand UDA soldiers died in Naanac’s orbit. Investigation shows that each UDA prime ship received AmerIndian Confederacy code before they decompressed. Also each UDA prime ship fired its Kellion Cannon but it is unclear what was transmitted. The seven UDA fleets that were sent, all fourteen hundred prime ships, are ours. It appears that the airlocks on every ship were simultaneously opened and all power on the ships was cut off. Death was quick for those aboard. All of the UDA colonies and outposts lost power for sixty-seven minutes. The death toll on those UDA colonies and outposts will take months to determine. Hospital patients who lost power to their medical equipment, outpost inhabitants that did not have non-electrical air-supply source and other situations abound. We need to communicate with the UDA again as soon as possible.”
Stormseeker tossed a small damp branch onto the blazing fire. “It's what the Zuni live for, politics and intelligence handling. Give it over to Chief Koqua. Leave it to her discretion.”
Morgan Weaver nodded and Elder John went on to the next issue. “They would be fools to try, but if the UDA sends another wave of ships, what is our response?”
Keokuk answered. “Sliver told me the Acolytes could not repeat the Ghost Dance without Celetain. Tsimshian tech-
packs are working with skeleton crews put together by the Nez Perce. They should be able to get ten to twenty empty prime ships to mirror the actions of one fully crewed prime ship. So we can use the fleet we just gained. It will be unwieldy though.”
John shook his head hoping such a scenario would not play out. “Weaver, what is the state of the tribes? How are they reacting to the effects of the dance?”
Weaver warmed his hands near the fire and spoke while staring at the back of his hands. “They are ecstatic. They feel powerful and in their minds, Naanac is theirs. Many saw the pillars fall and they believe that they were prophesied ‘blood payment’ for our Homeland. The Apache and the Brule are riled, wanting a bigger fight. They think there will be another wave of ships. The Diegueño and the Tsimshian on the other hand are too relaxed, thinking the UDA will not possibly respond. I want to meet with the chiefs and balance the field, get everyone pointed in the same direction.”
It was a good suggestion, sensible and helpful. John and Stormseeker were surprised to hear it come from Morgan Weaver. John smiled at Weaver and Stormseeker agreed that a meeting was in order. The group gave the matter a few more ruminations. It was a waiting game at this point. The Elders stopped rolling hypotheticals and decided it was better to help with the work of turning this swamp into a home.
Keokuk and Elder John went to the World Building meeting. Black Crow, the AmerIndian Confederacy's best geologist and something of a legend in the field of terraforming, was now going over options the tribes had. He laid out ways to bring about climate changes to benefit the various animals the AmerIndian Confederacy wished to introduce to Naanac. Discussion, suggestions, questions, curses and jokes continued throughout the day. Many tribals argued the changes Black Crow suggested were invasive and unnatural. Black Crow answered that it was man's nature to change his environment, irrigation as an example, so there was nothing unnatural about these suggestions. He also pointed out that all of his plans were tempered with a respect and reverence for the land.
Every tribe was holding talk circles, meetings where a dozen issues affecting the settlement of Naanac would be decided. Other tribals, however, thought the time for talk was over. Shuttles of various size were still landing on the open fields of mossy grey-green grass a few hundred meters from base camp and the main throng of AmerIndian. Diegueño tribals joyfully unloaded stallions, colts, ponies, wolves, bears and mountain lions. The animals were rounded into large laser fenced area as the Diegueño leaders carefully considered how the animals should be released.
Keokuk and Wovoka walked together taking in the madness. They laughed as they saw Great Stone's boys all riding bare back on stallions. The crowed parted before them. Dallen, a thin whip of a boy, galloped close to Keokuk. He strained to stay on his beautiful horse. With a short abrupt hop the horse threw the boy, depositing him as a flailing bunch of arms and legs. Keokuk and Wovoka rushed over to find the boy laughing harder than his brothers as they galloped off.
Keokuk grabbed cider and pemmican and shared with his brother as they made their way to help with the Tee Pee cluster the clones were erecting. The scene was disorganized, a hundred celebrations going on at once. Keokuk and Wovoka enjoyed the chaos of their new home together as brothers.
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