by S. H. Jucha
“Looks like the Colony hasn’t gotten around to nuclear armament,” Reiko commented.
“Yet,” Jess murmured.
“Yet,” Reiko agreed.
Z and Miranda continued moving the Freedom around the planet and launching metal alloy clusters at the transports.
As fortune would have it, the final transport was the sixth armed one.
Jess and Lucia had been right to be suspicious. Six of the thirty-two transports had been traps, and they’d contained much more explosive power than previously encountered.
Tatia had ordered the Tridents to demolish the intact transports, as the city-ship orbited the planet. The travelers acted as cleanup, burning the smaller debris to ash.
The celebration on the Freedom’s bridge slowed and ground to a halt. The holo-vid had changed, and Jess was staring quietly at the dome.
Tatia sent to Alex and Renée.
Tatia’s grand strategy, which Alex had requested, needed the right mix of individuals at the top to get it started in alliance space. For that purpose, she was constantly evaluating potential candidates.
“That’s a lot of insectoids,” Reiko commented.
A traveler was stationed near the moon, and it provided a close view of the dome. Reds and grays were milling around on the upper deck after the transports’ detonations.
“Every red has an energy weapon,” Lucia noted. “They’re probably expecting an assault on the dome.”
* * * * *
Lucia rolled over toward Jess. Even though barely awake, she noticed he stared intently at the overhead. “Any great epiphanies yet?” she murmured.
“Not yet,” Jess replied.
“Then try closing your eyes. Maybe they’ll come to you in your sleep,” Lucia suggested.
Jess did close his eyes. Sleep did come, but the answers didn’t.
At morning meal, the table was well aware of a sullen captain and a quiet admiral — never good signs.
“You’ve a sufficient number of shadows to flood the tunnels, Jess,” Renée said, to prompt a dialog.
“For this dome,” Jess quietly replied. “How many shadows are you prepared to manufacture if we need a hundred or more to take each dome?”
Knowing the number of domes the Colony occupied, the others realized it would require the production of tens of thousands of shadows. While costs weren’t a predominant issue, the manufacturing of power crystals and controller circuitry would require extensive lead times. On top of that, enormous amounts of time would be expended transporting the shadows from Sol or Pimbor to their destinations.
“It’s the tunnels’ constricted approaches,” Alex said. “They force a defined conflict zone, which the insectoids control.”
“Yes,” Jess replied. His frustration was evident.
“How can that be negated?” Reiko asked the table.
“There had been the subterfuge to enter the tunnel over the ring via the surface,” Renée noted, having recalled the vids of the event.
“The insectoids aren’t going to fall for that twice,” Lucia replied. “And if we tried it for real, we’d draw fire from two or more directions, when we dropped into a tunnel or a connecting ring.”
“So, where does an entry point negate the Colony’s advantage?” Renée pressed.
“Just before the dome’s airlock,” Jess replied. “Under normal operation, the Messinants restrict both hatches being open at the same time. That’s not saying that the Colony might have found a way to override the safety protocols.”
“Jess, how long does a dome’s food supply and water last?” Tatia asked.
“I’ve never heard of a dome running out,” Jess replied. “It’s thought there are grow tanks and vast water reservoirs beneath a moon’s surface, but no one knows. The dome serves only three flavors of paste ... nutritious but boring. Most races reserve the paste for temporary visitors, and they transport food for their citizens from the nearby stations.”
“Jess, who says you have to assault this dome now?” Tatia asked. “Why not come back later, when you’ve developed a strategy that you’re confident of executing?”
Lucia glanced at Jess. She liked the idea, but from his expression, she could tell he didn’t.
“Captain,” Z said, standing behind Renée. “I’d offer you an alternative to a full assault. Make entry with a limited number of shadows. Learn the capabilities of the reds’ weapons. Then you’d be in a better position to develop your tactics.”
“Now, that’s an idea I like,” Jess said, perking up.
The table was pleased to see Jess’s appetite return. Earlier, he’d pushed the food around on his plate.
Jess didn’t waste any time. After the meal, he asked Z and Miranda to accompany Lucia, him, and five shadows to the dome.
Within six hours, Sharon hovered over the moon’s surface, several kilometers from the dome.
Sharon slid the traveler across the dusty surface, selected a launch tube, and hovered over it.
As the ramp dropped, Z set up the hoist and line, and Miranda edged the traveler into position.
Jess didn’t bother to respond. He’d had this discussion many times, and, having decided to go, Lucia insisted on accompanying him. His explanation had never wavered. “The shadows are fixed observation points,” he’d said. “They won’t be looking anywhere but at their targets.”
“What makes you certain the Colony won’t fire the shuttle engines?” Tatia had asked.
“Two things,” Jess had replied. “The first is that the Colony won’t have anyone in the shuttle.”
“Because of the second reason,” Jess replied. “The insectoids are seeking the same thing we are ... an encounter between our shadows and their weapons.”
“How will the information help the Colony?” Reiko asked. “The insectoids are isolated.”
“We’ve come to believe the Colony can transmit messages directly via the console,” Lucia replied. “These adults will inform every other Colony-held dome of the fight’s outcome.”
“Are you certain of your logic?” was the only question Alex had asked.
Jess locked eyes with Alex. He nodded slowly, and Alex had relented.
Z signaled the line was ready. Jess promptly hooked his harness to it and rode it to the blast door’s lip. He looked at the shuttle in the helmet’s lights and was relieved to see it was cold. There was no evidence of preignition sequences.
Lucia dropped over the traveler’s ramp, and Jess pulled her to the lip. She took a moment to observe the shuttle too.
The look Jess received from Lucia told it all. Whether she’d doubted his reasoning and his confidence, she’d backed his decision to accompany the shadows. Her expression relayed both her relief and an opinion, which was that he shouldn’t test his fortune.
Sharon set the traveler on the surface, and Z signaled the five shadows. They scurried from the ship, hurried to the tube’s lip, rotated feet, and climbed swiftly down the tube wall.
Jess stationed shadow five hanging over the top of the blast door. It would serve as the comm relay to the traveler for Lucia, him, and the other four shadows.
The shadows and the humans were networked. What one observed, they would all see.
Lucia regarded Jess. Her hand hovered over the blast door’s panel. He nodded, and she touched it. The door responded, sliding aside.
Jess replied.
A tense argument between Jess and Lucia had ended with him promising they wouldn’t risk exposure to the insectoids. Only the shadows would be directly involved in the fights, and he’d agreed.
Of course, the definition of exposure was vague, and they both knew it.
The short tunnel to the airlock was clear, as Jess expected. So was the airlock itself.
Lucia and Jess occupied the corners, slipping off their launchers and checking the breeches.
Jess positioned the shadows on the overhead, limiting their exposure. He glanced at Lucia. Her jaw tightened, and she tipped her head. Then Jess touched the access plate.
When the dome-side hatch slid aside, the airlock filled with the crackle of energy. Tendrils of blue-white light licked the far hatch, and ozone filled the air.
The shadows fired continuously, often sending the reds’ energy weapons awry, as the insectoids dropped to the deck.
Jess and Lucia pulled mirrors on ceramic rods, which wouldn’t conduct energy. They slid the mirrors into the hatch opening to watch the fight.
As opposed to the shadows, which were focused on the reds’ heads, Jess searched the fallen. He wanted imagery of the energy packs.
Lucia tilted her mirror to observe a red stationed on the periphery of the firing line. She was able to record the recharge rate of the weapon.
A shadow dropped from overhead, which startled Jess and Lucia and made them crowd deeper into the corners. Jess struck the access panel with his elbow, and as the hatch slid closed, the crackle of energy faded.
Jess looked at the shadow on the deck. It lay on its back, with its legs curled inward. The controller circuitry was fried.
They cycled through the blast-side hatch, with Jess dragging the defunct shadow. It was lighter than he expected. He knew that part of that was the moon’s lighter gravity, but he had to acknowledge that the other reason had to be superior Omnian tech.
With the blast door open, Jess sent the four operational shadows to the surface, while Lucia rode the line upward.
Jess was tying the line’s free end around the shadow’s body when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. The airlock door was opening.
Slipping the launcher from his shoulder, Jess sent dart after dart into the airlock’s interior. Soon the hatch reversed direction, and Jess hurried to finish tying the line to the shadow. Then he clipped his harness onto the line above the shadow and rode it upward. He kept his Loopah weapon trained on the blast door’s lip.
As Jess rode the line, two fervent wishes flitted through his mind. The first was that he hoped not to be fried by the Colony’s new disruptor weapon, and the second was that he didn’t want a shadow to fall into the insectoids’ pincers.
When Jess and the dangling cleared the tube and were swung aside from the opening, his heavy sigh of relief was audible to Sharon and the SADEs.
26: Tatia’s Plan
Several SADEs had remained on Pimbor with the Crocians, who numbered nearly two hundred. The manufacturing site continued to expand. Its primary purpose was assembly. Most of the heavy metal refining and parts fabrication were accomplished at the mining sites within Pimbor’s system.
One freighter always remained overhead and provided the means to deliver Pimbor production. Pimbor’s output was headed to Pyre for the station being constructed off Triton.
Juliette and Esteban were on Pimbor. While he focused on the planet’s growing infrastructure, Juliette continued her work with the Pims’ education and social organization.
One of the strangest sights on the planet was to see Bortoth and Daktora waddling between buildings, carrying Pims in the crooks of their powerful arms. The Crocians found it advantageous to keep Oforum and Phette separated, while they engaged in animated, if not fierce, conversations.
The Pims had become entrepreneurs, and their discussions were often about clients, contracts, pricing, and profits. The Crocians acted as advisors and sometimes referees.
Travelers transferred the completed products to a waiting freighter. Omnian crews used loaders to ferry the crates from the travelers to the freighter’s cargo bays.
Before one freighter was completely loaded, the other would arrive from Pyre and wait to be filled.
Much of the Omnian fleet was in the Pyrean system. The admirals regularly spelled the crews with rotations to the planet, while the station’s basic preparations were completed.
Mickey and his engineering teams began simultaneously on two sites. One project was to build a landing bay on Triton’s surface. A central structure would connect a cluster of bays to the tunnels’ central ring. The second project would also be a collection of enclosed bays. They would occupy a ring around the first level of the future station.
Due to the expected size of the new station, it was placed a good distance from Triton, lest the gravitational attraction of the two bodies needed to be continuously overcome. In addition to the necessity to accommodate many individuals for long periods of time, it would have long terminal arms to dock the Sol carriers and numerous bays to host the travelers from the Trident commands.
The SADEs handled the start of both projects. They worked quickly, efficiently, and around the chronometer. When the bays became operational, the enclosed structures could be quickly expanded with the aid of larger crews.
Within thirty days, the first Triton bay was completed, and Omnian pilots were put to work.
Alliance citizens continued to arrive via Triton’s dome. Most of them were destined for the Jatouche medical center. The majority could make their way under their own power. The critical were transported by medical techs, floating in Jatouche tanks.
Regardless of how they arrived, there came a day when those who were conscious were surprised to be interrupted by med techs, who directed them to a lift in the center of the tunnels’ connecting ring. They rode a lift to the surface and took
controller-operated grav vehicles to the shuttle dome.
Travelers transferred the new arrivals to their destinations. The medical station was always the priority, even if there was only a single passenger headed there.
Cargo was also moved in the same manner, but the traveler dome’s primary purpose was to accommodate the alliance citizenry.
The traveler transfer process was a bit of marketing on the Omnians’ part. It was in Tatia’s plan and had been offered by Julien.
For alliance members, there was no comparison to riding in a traveler versus enduring a shuttle’s launch, acceleration, and deceleration.
Non-Pyrean citizens left the medical center and headed for their home worlds. When they arrived, they shared stories of the Omnian ships. It forced alliance governments and companies to take notice.
When the Omnians completed the dome on Triton, which contained four traveler bays, all efforts shifted to the station.
The dorm rooms of the Triton dome had completely filled with alliance members anxious to work with the Omnians. Yes, they were present to help in the long-term plan to remove the insectoids. But it was no secret that they were there to learn Omnian tech and its applications. However, they’d also come to know that without the base means to generate the advanced tech, they wouldn’t be able to produce the final products.
Miriam and Luther governed the station’s work teams, and they paired the alliance engineers, techs, and skilled loaders with Omnians.
Omnian freighters and the YIPS, the Pyrean manufacturing platform, provided loading skiffs to transfer material from the freighters. Lightweight metal had been used to form sections of girders, and they were assembled to provide the means to create each level’s skeletal framework.
The alliance individuals were fascinated by the use of nanites to adhere the beams. Hoods injected with warm air provided the environment for the nanites reactions, which melded the metal alloy seamlessly together.
Observing the nanites tech, the alliance members thought of myriad applications for their home worlds. Construction techniques of all kinds — ships, buildings, vehicles, and products — could be simplified, allowing items to be produced quicker.