by Ken Pence
***
The aging Master Arbitrator of the Allung Fleet was very pleased with Master Cetosme. He knew the young Allung brother was inspiring but almost destroying fifty powerful vessels without a loss was incredible. Now if I can just trick these Earthers into coming toward my line. Maybe if I slow a bit they will come forward, he thought. He gave orders for the fleet to slow to 750 lights.
***
“Sir,” said the tactical officer to Admiral Kyger. “Their fleet has slowed but the 200 ships on our flank are still moving forward toward us.”
“We need to delay them until Shiv can get the missiles reprogrammed – another few minutes to reach them all,” said the Admiral behind his paper thin veneer of calm. The minutes crept by until he got a call saying the reprogramming had reached all they could reach. “Turn them loose,” he ordered. The slicers dove toward their prey.
***
“Master, their weapons are attacking us and their ships will not line up in front of us,” the scan tech said.
“Have the front ships do a short jump. Change your vector a bit each micro-jump and then have the next layer do the same. We can’t be hit when jumping and we are hard to target while moving. Have all acknowledge. Let us hope that Cetosme can attack their rear. Commence,” he ordered. The waves of Allung ships began a series of mini-jumps but the order was easier said than accomplished and the clean formations began to break up from multiple slicer hits, collisions and poor execution of commands. They began cutting the numbers of slicers with their jumps but the hits were taking a terrible toll on their fleet. They were getting decimated and hadn’t had a chance to even attack an ERF ship.
***
Admiral Kyger ordered his ships to spread out in formations of five ships with one of his specially coated beam ships in the center. They jumped to where the two hundred jump capable ships were located. Kyger had ten of the phased array coated ships with beamers and those ten cut swaths though the Allung ships. The ERF swept the beams back and forth and anything within their considerable range just vanished. The Allung were down to one hundred – now fifty – now the rest jumped.
***
Cetosme was appalled. What were these weapons? His ships were totally ineffectual against them. Now their short speeding missiles were attacking them. He was down to less than fifty of his ships and he ordered them to jump back to the area with his one hundred jump-capable reserves. He knew the main fleet was being destroyed in detail but he had only used them as a distraction.
He could see the location of the many of the captured Allung vessels standing off to the side. Cetosme was incensed that these Earthers would dare steal their ships. It was intolerable that they would use these ships against their masters. How could they have taken our ships in working condition and put them in service? He would, at least strike a blow for the Brotherhood and teach them a lesson. He would have all his remaining jump ships target the area to the rear of those ships. They would land there for a few seconds out of laser range and then burst right through them. They would pay.
***
Andrew had his formations ready. He knew the jump-capable Allung would try to flank them so his ships were on a hair trigger waiting to cover everywhere around them on six axis. He had three beam ships at each axis and two floaters. He didn’t have long to wait.
“Commodore…they jumped primarily toward the Earth side of the fleet,” the tactical officer said but his declaration became moot when the beamers began to shred the Allung. The Allung ships didn’t have time to jump through the Commodore’s ships. Those ships had micro-jumped away. The beamer ships cut through Allung ships and the moment any Allung ship lost its shield, the unlocking codes for the slave collars were transmitted. The situation got more complicated once the slave collars were unlocked if they lost their shields.
The slicer missiles had been programmed to avoid the bow of Allung vessels and not to attack if the enemy ships quit attacking. Those were the signs that freed slaves were fighting internally and they were consistent.
***
“Master, their weapons are cutting us to Toi bait. They are jumping away from us and their missiles are like intelligent predators – pouncing on us. Our slaves have somehow been freed and they are attacking us among many of our ships,” said the Junior Coercer to Master Cetosme.
“Kill all the slaves now. Send that to all ships,” said Cetosme. “Jump to the fleet,” he said as his ships shuddered.
***
“Commodore, there are dozens of the enemy jump ships left. The ones that could, have jumped back to the enemy fleet,” said the tactical officer. “Admiral Kyger has requested that we aid him.”
“Very well. Acknowledge and tell him we will jump to the far side of their fleet. Leave two squadrons of five here with a beamer and cut up any who fight,” said Andrew.
“Acknowledgment to the Admiral and two squadrons left here. Yes sir.”
***
“Master,” said the Senior Coercer to the aging fleet commander. “We have ERF ships that have jumped behind us. We have one hundred ships still able to fight. Master Cetosme has stopped communicating and twelve of his ships have jumped to aid us. What are your orders? Master Arbitrator Cetosme told his crews to kill all the slaves so they could not turn against us. Should we order all the slaves killed?”
To have his crews hide behind us is more like it, the fleet commander thought. “No. Do not order all the slaves killed. They may be our only way away from this place alive. Order all ships to cease fire and open communications with the Earthers.”
“Master, cease fire. The Allung Brotherhood has never lost a battle. We never give up,” said the Senior Coercer.
“Do not believe everything you hear – especially if it comes from the Council. We have lost battles in my lifetime but we have been able to cover it up – until now. Tell them to cease fire – now!” he yelled as the younger Allung turned to carry out his orders.
***
“Sir, the enemy has contacted us but some of their ships continue to fight,” said the communications officer.
“Destroy any ship that points a weapon at us. Beamers – cut them up,” Kyger commanded and his order was relayed throughout the Earth fleet.
The Allung ships that fought were quickly destroyed.
“Sir, they say they will release all the slaves if we will let them go.”
“How generous of them,” Kyger said at the thought of 30,000 murderous aliens being turned loose. Could they change their ways? Hate begets hate…violence begets violence. He decided to call in higher authorities.
“Tell them we have to get approval from higher authorities but the release of one large ship’s slaves might help. Turn a ship over to some slaves and have them bring it between us with fields down. We will seek guidance,” stated Admiral Kyger.
“Whom do you want me to contact?” said the communications officer. “Do you wish to contact ERF Command or the World Government Council? I can get them sir,” said the comm tech.
“No. Send for my wife and the senior crew of the Junior. I want them here in a half hour,” ordered the Admiral.
***
Fran and the senior crew of the Junior arrived in 25 minutes. No one dallied – no one made excuses. They dropped everything and came. They gathered in the large conference room and Admiral Kyger had them all sit and started right in.
“The Allung said they will let all the slaves go and will leave with no more hostilities if we let them leave. I don’t want any more thousands of our people to die, thousands of slaves, ships destroyed. What do you recommend? We know them better than anyone in the universe does. No one on Earth knows the Allung and Earth dwellers are not qualified to make a decision. What do you think?”
Fran said, “They will not change. They will just try to outdo us on weapons the next time.”
Desiree said, “They will always be a threat.”
Shiv said, “It will be worth the deaths of our forces.”
LeiLei
said, “They will always plague us – they have been the parasites of the universe for hundreds of years.”
Susan looked at her husband and said, “None should be left alive.”
Ling said, “Psychologically speaking – they would rationalize their defeat and come back whether it took a day or a century.”
Tod, Andrew, Steve, and Joel looked at the women and then at Xilatoi, Rett, Lee Post and Shiv.
Shiv said, “They are delicious.”
Lee Post just nodded.
Xilatoi said, “The women are correct.”
Rett looked around the room and said, “There were times that they treated me well. They sometimes showed great intelligence. They created beautiful art. They collected information that would have been lost. They are a great species and should be released,” he said in the longest diatribe they had ever heard him say. Everyone was in shock. He was taking their side?
Rett looked around the room. “I am telling a joke,” he said. “They should all be killed wherever you find them.”
The room was silent for a few seconds and then they all burst into laughter so hard that they cried and had trouble breathing.
Admiral Kyger turned to them. “I had the same gut reaction and wanted folks I could trust. I’ll give you fifteen minutes to get back and get settled. We’ll cut loose with everything we have,” he said and the meeting quickly broke up. Brad grabbed Fran as she was walking by and kissed her thoroughly. It was reciprocated and they had a moment. “You can stay aboard you know.”
“I know,” she said. “They need me on the Junior. It’s coated.” She looked at him a moment longer. “It’s the right decision for them. Their species is psychotic by our standards and their whole society breeds to reinforce those traits.”
He looked at her, squeezed her one more time in a hug and watched her walk rapidly back to the shuttle.
***
“Master Arbitrator, we released a frigate but the slaves had almost taken it over except for two crew members. The humans still have not fired. They are too weak – we will make them all slaves soon,” the Senior Coercer said to the aging commander.
I would not bet on that, thought the commander. “Shields on maximum…prepare to try to trap them against our shields on my command.”
***
“All ships fire,” commanded Admiral Kyger and they began jumping and firing slicers, beamers, lasers, and field neutralizers at the remainder of the enemy fleet. Shiv had all the slicers target the remaining Allung planetoid and their battleships. The beams cut up the rest of the Allung ships — some were trying to jump. The rest were trying to flee.
Andrew considered the last couple of days. Admiral Kyger had Shiv reprogram the remaining drones within range to follow retreating Allung ships. They were to follow and destroy them if they could. Most of the jump capable enemy ships had already jumped away but some still remained and fought. We lost ERF and Auxillary ships as well as three of the four ES ships that had stayed with us. We were mighty proud of those guys.
We cut them up. The slave rebellions overtook a lot of the Allung ships. The York started disgorging progeny for boarding operations. Those operations were going to be grueling so the progeny earned their keep. Humans who went along with them developed some profound respect for those fellas. The Toi Auxillary performed a few of the boardings. They did well also. Funny thing…the World Government granted political asylum to any freed slaves.
Even the conservatives who had protested immigration, felt political asylum was just fine. Besides, they realized the Allung had already culled the dull and weak. We were able to free 12,000 slaves though we lost 5,723 people, at last count, when doing so. These freed slaves would do just fine and it was worth it to break the back of the Allung Brotherhood.
We never did find Cetosme’s ship so it escaped or was destroyed.
Rotten to the Core
Senior Coercer Bork from the Sesstra was an expert in survival. He had scored higher on every survival training exercise than any of his cohorts. He had hibernated when he had escaped from his captured ship, as was doctrine. He had then scouted the area and began gathering intelligence on the Earthers. He had discovered their secret Enclosure that must cause some kind of time acceleration. His observations had showed damaged ships and raw materials going into the facility in a steady stream. They had magically come out a day or so later, completely refurbished. He had seen how they might accomplish this deed and he would amaze his Allung brothers explaining how it is done.
He had learned to live off Earth animals that were numerous. There were aquatic creatures in the ponds and streams. He had developed a real taste for one animal and it was ridiculously easy to catch and eat. These animals were ubiquitous. They scurried along slowly, were brown and had a hard shell that was easy to strip. They had pointed snouts, little ears and pointy tails. They lived on little insects. He also liked the furry, long eared animals but they were much harder to catch. The reptiles were scarce but they were a delicacy. He had so much to report to his cohorts about the habits of these weaklings. They rode vehicles rather than walk except for short distances and rarely got out of their air conditioned habitats.
Bork enjoyed the warm weather of this region of the planet but the blue sky and little sun was disconcerting. This planet had but one moon but it was large and bright. He liked to move and hunt at night. The humans were rarely out and he could roam freely. His night vision goggles were ones the Allung had acquired and copied hundreds of years ago. The design had become standard for every survival kit. He was armed with a molecular disruptor that had a particularly long lived power cell. He also had a needle beam, laser pistol that he used for hunting. It produced a narrow hot beam and was easily recharged from a larger power pack.
He had set up his survival transceiver that could reach any Allung Brotherhood ship in orbit. He had started receiving faint Allung broadcasts in the middle of the night. Those broadcasts had been getting stronger. He knew a portion of the fleet would be schooling the Earthers on the demands of the Brotherhood. Senior Coercer Bork was startled when a spotlight hit him in the face. He could just make out the outline of a human. He reacted instantly, drew his laser and fired. The figure fell backward.
He went over toward the fallen figure when he heard a crack – crack - crack and felt sharp pains in his chest. Then there was a boom and he felt nothing more.
***
Jesus Martinez was out spotlighting jackrabbits with his two sons when his youngest had spotted something up ahead. Raphael had put his spotlight on some figure up ahead and that figure had shot him. His older son Philippe, had reacted even faster than he and had fired three times with his little .22 semi-auto rifle. Jesus had whipped his old, Russian VEPR .308 to his shoulder without thinking and fired twice. Old habits die hard he thought. He rushed over to Raphael who was getting up. He was holding the base of his neck on the right side.
“How bad are you hurt?” Jesus asked.
“Not too bad, Papa. Did you get him?” he asked.
“What did he shoot me with?” Raphael asked as Philippe rushed up.
“Good job son,” he said to Philippe. “I’m proud of you.” He patted his son on the shoulder. “Let’s see this bastard.”
They walked over to where the body was and shined a light.
“Dios,” said the senior Martinez. “It’s one of those aliens our boys are fighting. It’s a big frog. Look at the teeth in that thing. We better report it. Philippe, you call the sheriff and I’ll scout around. There may be others around. Get him out here quick.”
***
The sheriff called the nearby ERF base and twenty minutes later a big ass ship landed without making any noise. Jesus Martinez had heard all the news broadcasts about these things but seeing is believing. A ramp came down and nothing came out – he thought – until a soldier materialized next to him in a shiny suit. He thought he’d lose his bowels but the fellow was really polite.
This guy then zooms up in the air a
nd Martinez knew they were scanning the area thoroughly. This soldier shows up again and explains that they would get a large reward for capping this creature. The soldier brought Jesus the laser pistol and recharging unit.
“Here’s a souvenir for you. When you tell people what happened – pull this puppy out and pop a tree in the yard. This bastard was tough and dangerous. He was trying to contact his buddies in orbit – we are currently kicking their slimy green ass but we’ve lost a lot good people.”
“What’s going to happen next…?” asked Mister Martinez.
“Staff Sergeant Goins, sir. We’re gonna track them to the end of the galaxy and kill them all. They say we’ve freed over 10,000 slaves…we can’t kill ‘em fast enough for me…those folks are rotten to the core,” said the sergeant.
Jesus Martinez looked at his youngest and couldn’t help agreeing with the sergeant.
***
Andrew had the crew stand down in shifts and get ten hours of accelerated sleep. They came together later on in the day in the large conference room.
Shiv, LeiLei, Rett, Xilatoi, and Lee Post were there along with the original crew of the Junior except Fran. She had gone back to the Admiral’s ship.
“We have to decide what we’re going to do next. I promised to take Shiv back to her region and take Lee Post to look for the Ylee. We have the Allung maps and there have to be groups of those scum out there. Rett. You need a ship and a load of lamlee and grape juice. Any of you are welcome to stay with us. We have to decide where we are going and how much force to take with us. I will not go anywhere with one little ship again though. We need some vulnerability so we’ll be cautious. Too many ships and we’ll be too arrogant. What do you folks think?”
