by Ken Pence
“..and?” Andrew asked.
“My God. This was the repository for their wealth. They will be back. The history for this place goes back 1,500 years. These parasites have been at it for at least that long. I have access to their star maps. I can see the interdicted areas where they ran into the Ylee – that is the reason I called you two – Lee and Rett,” said Steve as he pulled up a map.
The map displayed a huge empire 2,000 light years across with a far area marked ‘Interdicted’ in red. “This is the area where the Allung met the Ylee,” Steve indicated. “They ran into something they still can’t handle.”
“Staiph,” Steve pointed at this system on the map. “Here is the central repository for their wealth. The other three systems we identified are important. They also have a major base on the other side of this sector that we missed. They could have an additional fleet there and looking at these records, it looks like they had a lot more ships and resources than we assumed. I’ve also found that they launched a stealth attack on Bellatrix – they call it Gralon 3. It ought to be getting there in another two months. The problem is the base we missed could have a force here is three weeks.”
“We should have 47 captured ships retrofitted and in-service in two more weeks. We will also have the eight repaired ERF ships and the troop carrier – the York,” said Andrew.
“Wait – wait, Captain – I wanted you to see this too,” Steve said and pulled up another screen. It showed another map. When Steve zoomed out, they could see that this area was close to where they were.
“What is it?” Andrew asked.
“It has similar symbols as here. I think it's a similar structure that is unexplored. I think it contains something else…I think it is confiscated technology. The Brotherhood call it harvested technology that may or may not be useful to them – or us,” Steve said.
Rett spoke. “Captainandrewwilliams. I was not able to see where they took me – it could have been to this location. I only saw two small rooms. Those rooms had information we could use.”
“Very well, Rett. Get Captain Darby and some of the progeny,” as the Lee Post clones were being called now. “Clean out that site and let us know what is there.” Clones, the word and beings, had gotten a bad reputation and everyone was impressed how well Lee Post and his minions had adapted. The humans had wanted the clones to have a good nickname and the progeny seemed proud of it. They had not had any names before and they seemed to be developing different personalities according to the humans they were exposed to a lot. It had led to some colorful language being used by the ones who worked with the engineers on the ships and the ones who worked handling cargo. There was some diversity in their knowledge from their previous experience too.
Shiv was put in charge of the ground Enclosure to see if she could improve production of the slicers or improve their performance – somehow. She managed to nearly double production from confiscated parts and lamlee but the most amazing thing she did was in programming. She had Lee Post duplicate MemDexs with lamlee and then she had the slicers set up so they could be left unattended in a system. They would passively or actively scan for intruders and attack them on their own. They would identify friend or foe and treat them accordingly. They were programmed not to let Allung ships align with them and they would jump and re-jump through their targets.
Shiv demonstrated a simulation to Andrew. Andrew was stunned at the implications.
“We could leave these new slicers here – with us or we could go somewhere else and they could protect this place after we are gone. We could carry a lot to another system and just drop a bunch off and let them work on their own. Is there any way we could add the collar release device?” Andrew asked.
“Yes. I will do that on all the next models and I will have some progeny make modifications on all the previous models. They will only transmit a release signal when not moving however. I could make that part of the programming – to jump close and transmit, then jump again. I can do that,” she said and turned to start work on the modifications.
Intellectual Property
Captain Darby led the troops to the coordinates on the map. It took a while to find, as the readings were different at this location. They forced the same type of entrance but there was no field protecting the final wall this time. The layout and dimensions were essentially the same but what they found was totally different. There were no live Allung – in fact, there were no live anything – they had to seal suits to even enter because of the decomposing bodies.
All the slaves had had their collars detonated even though there was no apparent rebellion going on – they were just dead at their tasks of serving, repairing or experimenting. The Allung however, were crazy…literally. They appeared to have run amok and killed everything around them in a frenzy of destruction. This entire facility appeared to be where they had kept their stolen tech. Rooms were divided into different technological themes. The troops encountered two areas where active experimentation was going on.
The first was a device attached to one of the Allung Brotherhood. He must have been a guinea pig because he was manacled and had electrodes attached to his head. His body was different from all the other Allung bodies. He appeared to have died from dehydration. He had lacerations where he was manacled from trying to escape his chains but he did not have the twisted look of all the others. The device was switched off but was the size of toaster and had no knobs. It was a rich opaque blue color and was made out of some material that was either a hybrid ceramic or plastic.
The second area was where Toi slaves had been working but had all been killed. They were gathered around a weapon that projected a beam or ray of some kind because it had been fired before their death. There was a hole that stretched from the weapon through another large device across the room and through the adjacent walls into the bowels of the complex. Captain Darby sent a couple of the progeny to see how far the damage went. Darby called Andrew a bit later to say the facility was secure. Rett and Shiv arrived with several other crewmembers.
Rett traced the power leads and then walked to the other device across the room. He spoke after a few seconds of inspection.
“This weapon projects a beam that went through a strong field. It penetrated and vaporized the device across the room and then continued on. The edges of the beam are extremely precise. I have no idea of its function or power but there is very little,” Rett stated.
The progeny sent to examine the extent of the beam’s damage reported in a few minutes later showing layer on layer of penetration from their MemDex cameras. It took them a div to get to the reason for the weapon’s failure. They called again and transmitted the video.
“The beam is the same width as it exits the structure as it was initially. We cannot discern any difference in diameter when we measured. The reason the weapon stopped was because it pierced the field generator for the complex and the main power generator. We have not found how far it penetrated after the beam passed out of the complex,” said the trooper.
Darby ordered them back as Rett and Shiv examined the projector.
“The details of this device may be on the files the slaves were accessing here. I notice the supervisor of these slaves was affected by the other effect. Whatever it was – it seemed to only affect the Allung and no other races.” There were some clicking noises from Shiv’s translator, as whatever it was saying had no corollary in Trade.
Rett turned to Andrew. “This is not the room where I worked on the stealth information but it was just like this room.”
Andrew started to respond but was interrupted with a priority message from the shuttle. “Sir, we appear to have company from that other Allung base. Sensors show a large number of ships headed our way. “
“How many and how long?” Andrew asked.
“Not sure how many but best estimate to arrive in system is around six hours. Some big ones, sir,” said the tactical officer.
“Have everyone eat and set up response pattern Delta. Yel
low alert. We’ll be up directly,” Andrew said.
“Confirm pattern Delta. Yellow alert. We will be ready sir,” said the tact officer.
“Know you will, Tompkins,” Andrew said remembering the tactical officer’s name with a prompt from his MemDex – Tomkins did sound a bit nervous. “Williams out.”
“Okay folks,” Andrew said. “We aren’t going to get to study this tech at our leisure like we thought. Definitely, pack up this projector weapon, the blue toaster and any supporting information you can find.” Andrew heard Darby laugh at his description of the Allung weapon in the other room. “Take these and any interesting looking technology to my battleship. We are renaming it the Junior after the Odin Junior that got destroyed. I want anything we can carry taken there as well as the lamlee vault emptied. I want the last kilotons transported to the Junior and the York. Shiv,” Andrew said as the large green praying mantis-like creature turned to him. “We are going to try to rely on your slicers before I risk any of my troops. Can you deploy one hundred of the slicers at different points on their route?”
Shiv’s translator released an odd shrill noise that must have been indicative of laughter. “This will be a pleasure. I will set them to transmit the slave collar frequencies too. The MemDex like devices controlling them are sophisticated and will take into account if the ships stop defending. They will then stop jumping through those ships and concentrate on disabling the ones that are still fighting.”
“Excellent,” he said and turned to the infantry Captain. “Captain Darby. You have your boarding teams ready. I want to capture as many ships as we can,” Andrew ordered.
“They are prepped and ready sir. We have been adjusting our training so we will be ready for them. We have been training for boarding operations in all the different classes of Allung ships. They’re ready sir. Just turn us loose,” he said with pride of his new troops spilling out of his expression.
“Let’s strip this place. Disintegrate what you don’t take,” he ordered. “I don’t want to leave a morsel for these scum.”
***
“Senior,” said the scan tech as they approached the system. “I can see forty ships in system. I do not see any of the reported ES or Earth ships. They all appear of Brotherhood design. They have answered our calls with current codes.”
“Keep scanning,” Senior Coercer Beloin responded. There should be more ships and they are not in the normal positions. “Have you received any transmissions from the ground or had the usual requests of us?”
“No, Senior,” said the Allung tech.
“Tell me if you notice anything unusual…anything,” said Beloin.
“Senior, I did notice an odd transmission when we dropped our field to call in our approach,” said the tech.
“Where did it come from?”
“From starboard Senior,” said the tech.
“Can you pinpoint where it is from or what it was?” questioned the Senior.
“No. It was from a point source of unknown origin. It was a burst transmission with some type of code,” said the tech.
“Advise me if you get it again. Stay here. Send forward the planetoid and the five battleships. We stay here,” said the Senior.
***
“Captain Williams, they have a planetoid and five battleship class ships moving forward slow. The sixth battleship and the rest of their force is staying behind,” said Seaman Tompkins.
“Very well, Tompkins. Turn the slicers loose at three hundred thousand kilometers. I don’t want that big boy to get away. All field neutralizers ready to fire on my command…ready – ready – ready – ready – fire. All away,” ordered Andrew.
***
“Senior, the in-system ships have fired on our ships,” said the scan tech.
“Return fire!” he yelled as their ship rocked from explosions and penetrations.
***
Andrew turned to Shiv. “Your new slicer programming is working great.” Andrew watched the newly designed missiles making holes jumping through the Allung attacking ships. The Allung would try to fire at the attacking missiles but only destroyed a few with lucky hits. Their ships were rapidly disabled. The Planetoid and battleships took longer but the outcome was never in doubt. Now began the difficult task of boarding and takeover. There was no paltry two hundred Earth troops anymore.
After the training and the reconstitution of 2,500 Lee Post progeny, the boarding capabilities became much enhanced. Adding the newly trained former slaves gave them a large, dedicated force specifically trained in boarding Allung ships. They had developed a methodology where the progeny flew to the ships when they lost their shields. They would force an entrance through the hull but had double layer memory polymer that would stand up to the internal atmospheric pressure. Others could enter behind them and the progeny were not encumbered by needs to breathe. Their uniforms, also made of lamlee, could become the same color and texture of the background. They could become invisible just as the human ERF. It was shocking to the Brotherhood who had their way for fifteen centuries of expansion.
***
“Senior Beloin,” said the frightened voice over the static filled comm channel. “We have lost the planetoid. We cannot see what is attacking us. Most of the crew is dead. We are in the hidden area and will try to contact you if not discovered. The…”
The voice had cut off abruptly and Beloin had never heard any Brotherhood members who were frightened. He was experiencing his first loss as a Senior Coercer and it was shocking. He looked up and saw his hidden compartment door disintegrate and then he saw no more.
***
Captain Darby was in the large conference room on board the York along with many of the other ships captains, Lee Post, Xilatoi and many of the original crew of the Junior.
“Let’s sum up this after-action briefing. Some of you have had some sleep – some of you look like you are running on the ragged edge of exhaustion. We have time acceleration people – get your people food and rest. Let’s make this quick and let team leaders or me know about any gothchas we have to be worried about. I am still concerned about more Allung ships but not as much as I was. Shiv – that new design is wonderful. Go ahead. Darby. You’ve got the final capture tally. What did we get and who did we lose?” Andrew said.
“The slicers did most of the work for us. Some ships were more easily captured than others because of the way the slicers disabled them. Shiv. I have recorded what worked best. Can you reprogram to try to achieve that effect?” he asked and Shiv moved her whole body up and down in her way of saying yes. He continued. “We captured forty eight ships. We captured the planetoid and all six battleships. We might be able to make close to forty of them space worthy…plus we freed another three hundred slaves. We will have Xilatoi make them the same offer of training we made the others. We lost fifty-seven in a mixed crew when the ERF Destroyer Meteor was lost. The Allung ship that was able to destroy the Meteor was not one of the ones we captured intact. It was destroyed completely.”
“We lost no others. Approximately three thousand Allung were lost. We took no prisoners. No Allung Brotherhood have ever broken under interrogation or ever given us information,” Darby stated.
Desiree spoke up, “Sorry to interrupt, Captain, but we have recently been able to get complete cooperation from two of the high ranking Allung we captured in the pyramid. We have some intelligence to bring to the table about that also. It has taken us a month,” she said and smiled hugely. “Shiv, Fran and I figured it out with the help of Xilatoi.”
“I had forgotten your seven Allung prisoners. A month is a long time,” Andrew said.
“Let me clarify that a bit…a month in real time. We housed them in the surface Enclosure,” she said with a straight face.
“The Enclosure. You had them there five years in accelerated time!” exclaimed Tod.
Desiree turned to her husband, Tod, with a dear me look. “Yes. We didn’t ask them any questions for the first year but kept them isolated and played loud
music much of that time. Then we’d cut it off to build the suspense and then Shiv would visit.”
“What did Shiv ask?” Tod asked worried what he would hear.
Desiree looked at her husband with a sad expression. “Shiv didn’t ask anything dear…she didn’t eat much.”
“My God!” Tod exclaimed. “She didn’t…”
“Yes…she did,” said Desiree. “One found some piece of metal and killed himself early on…two died from something…some fungal infection…one went crazy and would defecate on everything and himself and another attacked us whenever we entered. We started asking simple questions and started getting answers from the last two. They were soon more at ease with us and their treatment got better the more they told us. We explained that their plans would have already run their course no matter what delays and could they explain what they had intended. By year three – their subjective time – they were talking freely and explained a great deal about the Allung. We have made summarized training about their politics, beliefs, history and aspirations. We know a great deal about their psychology. The prepared training disks have been copied and we are ready to begin distribution across the ES and ERF,” Desiree finished and there was stunned silence around the room.
The room suddenly broke out in cheering and whistling. Tod looked at his wife somewhat in shock at her brutality but intellectually realizing what the females had accomplished.
Tod looked at his wife, “Are you okay after all that? I realize we’ve been pulled in different directions for a while but I had no idea.”
Desiree came up to Tod and put her arms around his neck. “You men are just too gentle for this type of thing,” she said and kissed him passionately. Tod felt a chill run up his spine as he thought what Ling, Fran, Shiv and his Desiree had done to the prisoners.
