Sades

by S. H. Jucha

  Alex stood in the manner of a commander addressing troops, a stance he’d copied from Tatia, and he waited.

  Jarmonin saw his comms panel light, and he noticed that Alex’s companion stared directly at him. He took the pair of signals as a cue to speak.

  “Leader Racine, a few questions if I might,” Jarmonin requested. When Alex nodded toward him, he asked, “Will the Packeoes accept Quall?”

  “They have a choice of accepting the planet or fighting my fleet,” Alex replied, which produced an enormous amount of murmuring among the assembly. It sounded like the hum of a huge nest of flying insects.

  “Then you intend them to perish on Quall,” Jarmonin surmised.

  “That would be as barbaric as letting them starve to death,” Alex retorted. “No, we’ll support and train them to defeat the Colony. They’ll have a long fight, but I expect them to regain complete control of the planet.”

  “What will happen to the battleships?” Jarmonin inquired.

  “We’ll safely dispose of the ships and the armament,” Alex said. “I’ll leave the method to the SADEs.”

  “What about the Quall’s dome?” Jarmonin asked.

  “Captain Cinders has yet to retake that,” Alex replied. “Before you ask, we’ll not provide transport to the Packeoes to lift from the planet. They’ll have to develop that industry from scratch, and we won’t train them on the dome’s console. That’s something they’ll have to learn.”

  “Then you’re isolating them,” Jarmonin said.

  “Effectively, yes, for now. In time, I expect them to become good alliance citizens,” Alex said. “Senior Captain Gregich is someone I hope will be a good leader to the officers and crews who we strand on Quall.”

  There was quiet from the audience, except for whispers between representatives and staff.

  “Leader Racine, while you don’t seem to be requesting our permission, I’d like to take this opportunity to understand how the membership considers your intentions,” Jarmonin said respectfully. He’d been totally unprepared for the Omnian’s maneuvers. In retrospect, he saw the error of failing to meet with the leader. It occurred to him that it would have been smart to have visited with the human soon after he arrived.

  Jarmonin hurriedly formed a motion, sent it to the representatives, and waited for their responses. In this instance, there wouldn’t be time for the usual cycles of debate.

  To the council’s relief, the vast majority supported Alex’s plan. They knew the dissenting minority votes were cast by the eldest races. They were led by the likes of the Usaanans and the Veklocks.

  “Leader Racine, I’m pleased to report that the assembly favors your ... your intention,” Jarmonin announced. When the Omnian leader focused on him with a single raised eyebrow, he found he was without words.

  Alex turned to the audience. He said, “I thank the assembly for their time.” Then he left the stage, with Julien behind him.

  Miranda abandoned the comms control room, and Olawale gathered the others. Everyone headed for the shuttle terminal arm. Miranda had messaged Fistonia to wait for them there. He would lead them to the appropriate gate.

  After catching a station shuttle and reaching the Hyronzy dome, Ophelia requested of the console operators the platform that would journey toward the race that Julien had given her.

  Many journeys later, they arrived at the final dome, traveled through its tunnels, caught a shuttle, and sailed toward the local station.

  Communicating with the station director through the ear wig, Alex requested and received permission to land a traveler. Soon, the group was aboard the Omnian Trident and sailing for Quall.

  38: A New Start

  Jess, Lucia, Sam, and Tacnock spent the entire trip to Quall meeting frequently with Renée, Tatia, her admirals, the SADEs, and senior engineers.

  By the time the fleets arrived at Quall and completed the short transit to approach the planet from below the ecliptic, Jess felt assured of what the Omnians could accomplish for the landing. What he hadn’t worked out was how he was going to convert three thousand fleet crew members into experienced fighters against the Colony, without losing half of them.

  While the Packeoes studied the planet’s telemetry scans, Tatia ordered the removal of the Colony’s transports that cluttered Quall’s orbit.

  In accordance with the nature of Tatia’s directive, Reiko, Deirdre, Darius, and Franz planned to maximize the effect for the benefit of the battleship crews. They waited until the federacy fleet took up station high above the planet.

  The travelers’ launch and the Tridents’ attack were coordinated by the SADEs. The travelers spilled en masse from Trident bays, and the warships accelerated in a unified strike.

  Tridents decimated the transports, and chunks of ships flew in all directions. Then the fighters swept into the expanding debris and turned it to space dust and gases.

  “Any questions about what we face?” Gregich asked on the conference call with the fleet’s captains. The fleet had witnessed the Omnians eliminate hundreds of transports, turning them into nothingness with two swift passes of warships and fighters.

  “It’s good that telemetry is proving this planet to be pleasing,” a captain said.

  “I agree,” another captain added.

  “As impressive as the demonstration was, our missile defense and gun support could obliterate their warships,” a captain argued.

  “At what cost?” a fourth captain asked. “How many of us must perish for no reason? We’d fight the Omnians only to die of starvation soon afterward. At least the planet represents an opportunity for life, especially with the Omnians’ help.”

  “I’d remind you of two points,” Gregich said. “First, to the question of a potential battle’s outcome, the Omnian leader made it clear to me that the great ship, the Freedom, is a powerful warship equivalent to squadrons of their warships. The leader’s word has been proven true with Quall. There’s no reason to think the Freedom isn’t a terrible threat to our fleet. My second point is a reminder. Every captain must agree to the Omnian leader’s offer. If not, then all of us must fight for our lives.”

  Gregich ended the call with a request for their decisions before the cycle ended. Then he returned to surveying the telemetry scans. He was pleased with the views too. His officers crowded the bridge, and they constantly asked to see details of the waterways that covered the planet. Gregich was comforted by the officers’ reactions.

  The telemetry viewings were replicated across the fleet, and officers paid close attention to their captains’ words. They’d been party to more than one of the captains’ conference calls, and the officers of two ships had concerns about their captains’ attitudes.

  Over the course of the next few hours, Gregich received approvals from six captains that they and their crews had chosen to adopt the planet. They reported the crews were inventorying what they wanted to take from the ships.

  Gregich warned each captain that the ships must remain viable to sail. That was a prime condition of the Omnian leader.

  Hours more passed, and Gregich began to worry. The other two captains hadn’t called, and he debated contacting them. He sat in a command chair on the bridge and paid careful attention to the scans of the fleet. In particular, he watched to see if the battleships of the suspect captains flared their engines in pre-ignition routines.

  Gregich’s patience had worn thin, when he received one of the calls that he’d expected. Although, it wasn’t from a captain.

  “With regret, Senior Captain Gregich, I’m First Officer Ptorvich,” the caller said. “The captain has spoken determinedly about abandoning the offer. He sought allies among the officers. We, the officers and the crew, rejected this course of action. We found it necessary to place the captain under arrest for imperiling the fleet. I accept complete responsibility for this action, and I’m at your disposal for punishment.”

  “First Officer Ptorvich, we’ll discuss your actions later,” Gregich replied, breathing a sigh o
f relief. “As of this moment, I’m appointing you acting ship’s captain and will record this temporary promotion. Under no circumstances are you to release your captain. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Perfectly, Captain Gregich,” Ptorvich replied. His relief was as palpable as Gregich’s.

  Soon afterward, Gregich received his second expected call, and it was eerily similar to the first, with two exceptions. The second officer led the crew in arresting the captain and the first officer.

  “The fleet has accepted your offer,” Gregich told Renée. He was curious as to why the Omnian male wasn’t available, but he knew the partner operated in concert with him.

  “That’s welcome news, Captain,” Renée replied. “Captain Cinders will scout the best site for your landing. After it’s selected, preparation work will begin, and then you’ll transfer to the planet.”

  “Time is running short,” Gregich reminded Renée.

  “Don’t limit your consumption of food and water, Captain,” Renée replied sternly. “Your crews need to be healthy. If supplies run out before you’re planetside, we’ll host the crews on the Freedom.”

  For the third time in a short period, Gregich felt like he’d skirted one disaster after another. When speaking to Renée de Guirnon, whose emotions flowed through her words, his hopes had risen that he might save the members of his fleet.

  “Leader Renée de Guirnon, we have suggestions for the first landing site,” Gregich offered.

  “Mark them in your telemetry scans, Captain. The SADEs will transfer the suggestions to the ground team,” Renée replied. With Cordelia and Z in the comm loop, no further action was necessary on her part. Jess would receive the information.

  Gregich ended the comm and gazed around at the expectant faces that crowded the bridge. “Comms officer, send word to the fleet to prepare for landing,” he said, and the bridge audience erupted in raucous celebration.

  * * * * *

  Jess had never felt so thoroughly protected. Lucia, the veterans, and he had landed on Quall with a fleet of travelers. Omnian security and SADEs poured off the cargo shuttles’ rear ramps. Plasma rifles were evident everywhere.

  Lucia and Sam eyed Jess dubiously.

  Tacnock sent to Jess.

  Tatia had ordered the veterans’ escort, and Jess felt he couldn’t object, despite the urge to do so.

  The travelers’ landing site was near Captain Gregich’s most desirable location.

  Much to the security teams’ disappointment, Jess chose to approach the population center with his veterans.

  The Dischnya warriors surrounded Jess, Lucia, Sam, Tacnock, and Homsaff, as they wove through the usual snarl of abandoned transports and piles of Qualls’ bones.

  This particular center hadn’t erected a single barrier fence, which seemed odd to Jess. He presumed the population hadn’t sufficient warning, and he linked to Sharon to review telemetry taken prior to landing.

  Jess asked.

  Sharon replied after a few moments of study.

  When the shuttles had landed, they’d burned vegetation and scorched rock, making the site scars easily visible from above.

  Jess sent.

  Not moments later, the distinct explosion resulting from a plasma beam igniting trees and blasting rock was heard by the veterans.

  Jess sent urgently to the entire survey force.

  The veterans ran from the population center. When they reached the roadway, they found a traveler with its rear ramp extended and floating above a line of transports. The team jumped two-by-two onto a vehicle to gain the ship’s ramp.

  Sharon reported to the veterans, as she lifted.

  Lucia ordered on the pilots’ conference link, and the responses flooded into her.

  “Everyone’s safe,” Lucia shared verbally with the veterans. “From the comments I’m getting, the teams were shocked by the insectoids’ sudden appearance. A plasma rifle was discharged, and security and SADEs deserted the field. Ships lifted, while SADEs tossed people on the ramps.”

  Sam and Tacnock chuckled, and the Dischnya chortled.

  “It’s a good thing we weren’t between the rifle bearer and the insectoids,” Jess remarked, a thought that immediately sobered the others.

  The travelers floated above the landing site, and the pilots waited for orders. Jess chose to send the other ships back to the fleet. He left it to Lucia to explain his decision to Tatia. Then he directed Sharon to investigate Gregich’s next choice for a landing site.

  By starlight’s setting, Jess had crossed off the second site and pronounced the third one viable. The final site nestled in the confluence of two broad, slow-moving rivers. It was accessible by two bridges that spanned each river branch. At the center’s rear, a cliff wall rose high into the air. The outcrop was wider than it was high, which made it extremely difficult for the insectoids to cross.

  To Jess, the site offered maximum natural defenses. He’d never seen the insectoids swim across open water.

  The following day, a single traveler landed on one of the roadways. It led to a bridge that crossed the river to the population center. Engineers and SADEs exited the shuttle, and they were quickly surrounded by the veterans.

  Several transports were examined by the new arrivals, and within an hour, they’d adapted a power cell to feed a transport. Despite the vehicle sitting abandoned for annuals, it activated. A SADE ran through multiple sequences before discovering the method of operation. Then the vehicle was moved to the side of the roadway.

  The technique was repeated over and over until all the vehicles were driven to the side of the roadway. Now, the thoroughfare was clear to operate as a landing site.

  SADEs handled the collection of Quall remains and prepared them for star services. Engineering teams searched the ground for ear wigs, and they collected thousands of them. The Packeoes would need them to communicate with the veterans.

  Following those operations, Jess assigned Omnian security to guard the bridges, while the veterans canvassed every building. He posted a traveler atop the rocky uplift at the population center’s rear. The pilot monitored the flat expanse of barren rock for any sign of the insectoids.

  In this particular center, the veterans did find fenced buildings, and they yielded more bodies for the SADEs to recover. The team discovered that the insectoids had long abandoned the center to forage on the planet’s plentiful supply of fauna.

  Before the Packeoes’ training began, Jess directed Franz to eliminate the Colony’s comm system. He detailed the use of cargo travelers, beam weapons, and clipping the top of the shuttles. He felt strange handing out an assignment to an admiral, but there was too much to do to stand on ceremony.

  It appeared to Jess that the SADEs were the ones who made so much possible. They erected clever barriers on both sides of a bridge that prevented the insectoids from using the bridge’s structure to cross over or under without accessing the roadways, which were guarded.

  With the site secured, engineering moved food services into three buildings. The SADEs investigated Quall utilities, learned their operations, and prepared to train the battleship engineers.

  Jess, Lucia, Renée, and Julien shared a long conversation. With the SADEs’ added suggestions, the landing preparations were checked off.

  Finally, the federacy fleet’s exodus began. Travelers initiated the transfer of the crews from the battleships to the new site. On these trips, the crews were allowed to bring only their personal gear.

  Across the fleets, Packeo and human crews met. The usual bad impressions were made. Taller, pink-skinned, hairless individuals stared at shorter, dark-furred individuals. Neither side found the view appealing, but this was the way of galactic bio
logy.

  When the battleships were emptied of crew, SADEs and Packeo engineers returned to empty the vessels of anything desirable. Packeo muzzles fell open in amazement at the sight of a SADE picking up a heavy piece of machinery that six engineers would struggle to lift.

  Twelve Omnian cycles after the fleets reached Quall, the Packeoes were ensconced in their new enclave. They had food, water, power, facilities, and huge stacks of equipment and material from their ships.

  In turn, the Omnians took possession of battleships full of deadly armament to dispose of safely. It was the SADEs’ consideration that the ships should be sailed to a black hole. There they would feed the massive gravitational force one ship at a time.

  Alex, who had recently arrived, sent a squadron of Tridents to escort the SADEs, who would sail the battleships. That mixed fleet would be gone for more than a year.

  * * * * *

  Gregich sought a private moment with Jess and some of his veterans. Lucia, Jess, Sam, and Tacnock sat in one of the rooms that Gregich had taken for himself. His ship’s crew occupied much of the same building. By design, it was one of the food locations.

  “Captain, I’ve a group of individuals who I’m not sure how to handle,” Gregich said.

  “Who are they?” Lucia asked.

  “The leader, two captains, a first officer, a small group of junior officers, and twenty-seven crew members,” Gregich replied, mistaking the point of Lucia’s question.

  “And why is it important that we should know about these individuals?” Tacnock asked, rephrasing Lucia’s question.

  “Perhaps, it’s inconsequential to you,” Gregich allowed, “but, sooner or later, I must deal with them. They’re the individuals who tried to subvert the fleet’s decision to occupy this planet.”

  “What are you asking of us?” Jess inquired.

  “I’m not sure,” Gregich replied, raising his hands palms up in the universal gesture. “These individuals will be a hindrance to our unity. I’d thought to banish them to another site, but that would be death sentences, and it would only frighten many others.”