Stone and the Ravens (Guardian Stone Book 3)
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Stone and the Ravens
By Don Piatt Koch
Books by Don Piatt Koch
Guardian Stone Series
Stone Genesis (Book 1)
Stone and the T-Raptors (Book 2)
Stone and the Ravens (Book 3)
Cover: Background photo is in the public domain by STScl under contract to NASA utilizing the Hubble telescope. The scene is called the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula, a vast star-forming region 6,500 light years from Earth. The pillars are 5 light years tall. The pillars are bathed in blistering ultraviolet light from a grouping of young, massive stars located off the top of the image. Streamers of gas can be seen bleeding off the pillars as the intense radiation heats and evaporates it into space. Denser regions of the pillars are shadowing material beneath them from the powerful radiation. Stars are being born deep inside the pillars, which are made of cold hydrogen gas laced with dust.
Copyright © 2016 by Don Piatt Koch
All rights reserved.
ISBN
Printed in the United States of America
Stone and the
Ravens
A novel by Don Piatt Koch
Table of Contents
Forward
Chapter 1: Planning Ahead
Chapter 2: A little Surprise
Chapter 3: A Little Dip in the Ocean
Chapter 4: Expanding the Talent
Chapter 5: Don't Mess with a Raven
Chapter 6: Mind-to-Mind
Chapter 7: Preparing for Rotagilla
Chapter 8: Fabricators
Chapter 9: One Down
Chapter 10: Trouble for Rotagilla
Chapter 11: A Precaution
Chapter 12: Attack
Chapter 13: Meeting Miss Wells
Chapter 14: BBL, Again
Chapter 15: What a Mess
Chapter 16: Another Brondin to Visit
Chapter 17: Interview
Chapter 18: Assessing the Damage
Chapter 19: Rema's Fancy Toy
Chapter 20: The Plot Thickens
Chapter 21: Sitler
Chapter 22: Clean Up on Malone
Chapter 23: Transfer
Chapter 24: Gathering Intelligence
Chapter 25: The Grout Twins Arrive
Chapter 26: What's Going On
Chapter 27: Recruits
Chapter 28: Replacing Malone’s Destiny
Chapter 29: The Kids and the Gorth
Chapter 30: Moving In
Chapter 31: Gnuxet
Chapter 32: Destiny
Chapter 33: Return Home
Chapter 34: Expanding the Fleet
Chapter 35: Pared’s Surprise
Chapter 36: Back to Gnuxet
Chapter 37: Decommissioned
Chapter 38: Turnabout
Chapter 39: Integration
Chapter 40: State of the Fleet
Chapter 41: Special Delivery
Appendix: Systems Protected by Fleet
Forward
The Antoran Fleet had been very busy since Henry Patrick Stone, Hank, had assumed command 17 months earlier. The invasion of Earth and other planets in the region engineered by General Artus Brondin of Arber, some 4460 light years distant, had been thwarted. It was later discovered that General Brondin was originally from the Yannar System about 8835 light years from Earth. In the process the Fleet had gained allies from the Glarin, Gar and Linan species. This alone increased the systems with planets protected by the Antoran Fleet to 24. There were 16 in the Sol region and 8 in the Gar region. Later, a new species, the Sabans, and the humans from the Yannar Hegemony increased the total to 58 with 22 systems in the Yannar region and 12 in the Saba region. This meant that more Stations would be required to maintain the security promised by the Fleet.
The Stations/starships comprising the Fleet were each capable of sustaining a very large population. The Type 1A with a normal population capacity of 438 millions can be operated at full military capability with about 660,000 persons. Similarly the Type 1B with a normal capacity of 292 millions can be operated militarily with about 648,000 persons. Full military capability means that there are sufficient personnel to man all 20,000 warships on the Station and all projector weapons. The smaller Type 2A Station with a capacity of 92 millions and the Type 2B with 23.1 millions can be operated at full military capability with about 628,000 persons. Adding in dependents and civil operations, each Station could effectively operate as a viable worldlet with just under 2 million persons.
As with any venture, unanticipated lessons are learned during operation and often the best lessons are learned under conditions wrought with strife. The most surprising lesson was how the various species interaction had enhanced the capabilities of all. They were much better as a multi-species group than they were individually. The T-Raptor teams used by the Stations were all multi-species and in fact did not work nearly as well when operated by a single species.
Hank's principal concern was that the fleet did not overextend itself. There seemed to be no shortage of persons wanting to live and work on a Station. The opportunity to see new and wondrous places was certainly an attraction. The shifting roles a Station might play, System Defense, Battle Fleet, Reconstruction, Exploration, Colony Preparation and more, assured that life on a Station would never be boring. It seemed like everyone wanted an exploration assignment. Meeting and interacting with the variety of people of the many species they had encountered was also a bonus.
Following the overthrow of the Brondin Family in the Yannar region, the Fleet had to contend with the Sabans, yet another species. This time they had to save an entire world from the machinations of its own insane ruler. An insanity caused by the misuse of a Brondin symbiote.
Meanwhile, the Fleet was growing at the rate of one new Type 2B Station per month. These new Stations would be manned by personnel from most of the systems under the Antoran Fleet sphere of influence. The first 30 of the new Type B would have their initial assignments in the Yannar Hegemony and the systems near Saba. There was still a considerable amount of work to be done in both regions. Curtis Walters would be in command of the guardian Stations in the Yannar Hegemony with Pell Cassern as his second. General Raxs would be commanding the Saba region with Captain Jess, now a Brigadier General commanding the Station at Saba. Sixty of the new Type B Stations were authorized and these would be added to the existing 20 Divisions, thus increasing Division size from 5 Stations each to 8 Stations each. Each Station carried 20,000 warships but had the bay capacity to carry considerably more.
Most Station assignments were for a one or two-year period at the end of which there was usually a dramatic change in scenery. The favorite of these was an exploration tour of duty. There were currently 4 divisions (each with one - Type 1 Station and four - Type 2 Stations) on an exploration tour. Divisions 4 and 20, that had a principle role in the Yannar and Saba events, had recently continued their exploration of the area past Arber and Yannar moving away from Earth.
Divisions 10 and 17 were exploring in the opposite direction from Earth and were currently in surveillance mode about 6,020 light years from Earth. They were observing a space conflict in progress. It appeared that the conflict was initiated by a species of beings called the Rota from Rotagilla with no apparent reason other than a severe case of fanatical xenophobia. The planet Malone with a system-wide constitutional democratic form of governance appeared to be holding its own but the Rotans do have a planet buster weapon and it would only take one of those to cause irreparable harm. It seemed that intervention would be unavoidable.
Chapter 1: Planning Ahead
On Station One, In Orbit at Vast –
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br /> February 24 – C Day 543
Hank was having a breakfast chat with Sam, Josh, Rose, Joe, June and Fador at Josh and Rose's apartment. Joe had been describing his initial meeting with Hank and the seemingly magical appearance of Josh and Sergeant Bill Wall. He thought at the time, "Oh crap, I have finally flipped my top. Now I am seeing people appear right in front of me." He went on, "It did not take me too long before I realized that I really was not going crazy, but there were a few exciting moments there. I was more worried about what June would think if I started reported men suddenly appearing in our living room. Fortunately, I kept my cool."
"He has that right. He never even flinched or showed surprise. I was impressed with his composure. He kept on with the conversation as though it was an everyday occurrence. I often wondered what June must have thought about the sudden appearance of Joe and Bill, she already knew I was there with Joe."
June responded, "I have always enjoyed watching magic performers doing their sleight of hand because I could usually figure out when the switch was made or how it was done. This time however, I could not figure out how the other two had come into the living room, so I was baffled. It just got more interesting from there. Everything was like a pleasant dream."
Sam added, "June, you have that right! Look at the adventures we have experienced in the past 17 months and the countless number of people we have helped. It has been amazing. Hank, why are you looking so glum?"
"Unh! Oh, sorry, daydreaming I guess."
"Out with it, something is bothering you and maybe we can help."
"Well, I guess it will not hurt to air my concern. You folks and Barana have come up with the answers before, so here goes. Any military commander worries about sending his or her people into harms way. All of these people are our responsibility. The people on these Stations are our brothers and sisters; they are our friends. It is the scale of the potential loss that is disturbing. We all understand the role we have accepted is going to take us in harms way and sooner or later, we will suffer losses. We are not talking a potential loss of a few or a few hundreds or even a few thousands. Our stations carry millions and that causes one to really think about the potential. Included in that are families and their children. It is a bit overwhelming."
"It has had me thinking about how to reduce that exposure. The thing I keep coming up with is that we need auxiliaries that are as potent as the stations and do not expose so many lives to harm. So far the warships and our technology has been sufficient to meet the threats we have encountered, but the Saba incident is still hot in my mind with 'what ifs'. Could we have sustained a hit from one of those orbital primaries? What happens when we meet someone with more portable versions of those orbital cannons with aggressive intent? What happens when we meet weapons equal to ours? What happens when our warships are not sufficient to the task? We were fortunate we did not have to find out but things may not stay that way. We need to stay ahead of the curve. No commander would ever want to say, gee folks, sorry about losing that Station with 150 million people on board."
"If at some point, we go to auxiliaries, how do we move them about. One thought is to rethink the use of the core or another is to redesign the ships bays to handle larger ships. Right now we are limited to a length not to exceed 8 miles and a diameter of about 4,800 to 5,000 feet. If we go to use of the core, we could park 8 vessels at either end of a Stations core that could be 10,000 feet in diameter and 8 to 10 miles in length. Such a vessel could be pretty much self-sustaining for a crew of 5,000 to 10,000 and be a formidable warship as well. At that size, they could carry a complement of warships of their own and be sufficient to take on anything we have encountered to date with far less exposure to a catastrophic event. That is about as far as my pondering has taken me."
Now Fador had an expression that had a touch of grin to it. "Well Barana, you were right again. I said he would take three years to reach this line of thinking and here he has done it in half the time. I should know better than to wager with you. Not only that, he has just described our primary suggestion right down to the dimensions."
Fador chuckled and went on, "Hank, don't look so shocked. We have been aware of our potential exposure for some time. We knew that our catastrophe exposure was bothering you and it was evident in your approaches to the various situations we have encountered. One of the roles that the rest of us assume, is to provide you with the best support network that we can. This falls securely into that role. Sass approached Barana to ask about it almost a month ago and he has been working with us on a possible redesign. The idea would be to put about 16 of these auxiliaries on every station. That would reduce the number of standard warships that we currently maintain in our individual Station inventory. The diameter of the new ship allows us to use larger and more efficient power plants. It also allows us to have a decent sized computer core for the ship to have its own AI. We have been waiting for you to say what you have just said because it is a shared concern. Eventually we will face a catastrophe. It just makes good sense to plan in a way that will limit the impact of such an event. I would suggest that you might want to have a meeting with us pretty soon so we can get this project going. I suspect that this is an approach we should have started sooner but we did not really consider this eventuality. We are very close to having several options ready for you to consider. Implementation of whatever plan you approve will not take very long."
"We also have looked at evacuation possibilities. Using stasis technology, we can provide some high speed, highly shielded vessels that could remove the entire population of a Station including the AI in a very short time. We can key the stasis unit to do the transporting so evacuation could be done in minutes. The Station in such event would be lost and would explode with the force of a nova, since all the singularities would be rigged to simultaneously go unstable if the AI is evacuated. This would leave nothing of the Station since it would essentially be evaporated."
"My hope is that we never reach the point where that becomes necessary, nevertheless, it would be prudent to have that in our toolkit should we need it. Fador, lets get together in about a week to see where we are with these ideas."
"That works for me."
Chapter 2: A Little Surprise
On Station One, In Orbit at Vast –
February 24 – C Day 543
Since both Station 1 and Station 141 were in orbit around Vast, Hank decided that it was time for another chat with the Walters kids, the Orpan kids and their parents. Their progress in the T-Raptor training was surprising. They were now 45 days into advanced training and they were substantially ahead of their adult trainees in progress. In some cases they were exhibiting talents that were not matched by other trainees or their trainers. Sam suggested a picnic like setting in the hills below Mt Denali II similar to the conditions that existed when the talents of the kids were first observed. Hank agreed that the location and setting was a good idea. They all arrived mid-morning and were comfortably seated by a small lake. After the usual greetings were completed, Hank started the session with some comments. "Gust, Jane, Chris and Anya, you youngsters have probably learned as much as your instructors can give you in the T-Raptor classes, so I am detaching you for independent study. You will graduate with your class next month but I want you to stretch your talents with some pretty special people. They include Ben Pine, his wife Mary, Sass, his wife Kaxas, Gambel, his wife Hanser, Trilix and his wife Gara, Prince Kar and his wife Loriella, Sam and I will sit in on your sessions when we can."
Gust could no longer contain himself and said, "Smoking Snarfs, that's the A team!"
Hank chuckled and replied, "I guess it is at that, but first I want you four to put on your thinking caps and be the instructors for once." Seeing puzzled expressions from all around, he went on, "When the four of you discovered your talents you did something that none of the rest of us have done or quite understand and would very much like to learn. Your approach to rapport
is different than what the rest of us use and we would like to learn if that is an alternative for all of us. Barana and Kazia will be watching and buffering for you as needed so that we do not overtax your abilities. They have the final word concerning when enough is enough. We are hoping that you can teach us how you maintain control of your physical bodies and how you use the forms of projection that you use. Your form of projection appears to allow you to maintain awareness of your physical bodies while your projections are elsewhere. When we enter into rapport, we are able to project to another location but our bodies remain where we entered that state in a trance like condition. Our bodies are vulnerable in that state and have little or no awareness of our physical location while in that state unless our projections are present. Kazia tells me that when you are in that mode you are just as invulnerable as we are when we project as a T-Raptor Team. This is a talent that has some features we would like to see in a broader application. There are applications for both conditions and we would like to have both available. Essentially, we want to explore the potential that your method has and then train others. Would you like to give that a try?"
Jane was the first to react, "Can we start now, this is a nice setting and it is comfortable". Gust, Chris and Anya smiled agreement. "You will have to invite the others here so we can all be on the same page."
"That is great, and there is no time like the present. Barana, would you please invite the full group."
A few minutes later they were all together. Hank explained what they had in mind. He noted that with the talent gathered there, they ought to be able to find something.
Sass noted that it might be helpful if they were to see the mapping of the difference that Kazia had noted in the rapport nodes. The differences might be a point of focus. Only Barana and Kazia had reviewed the mappings so this was the first time that they had considered this approach. The two maps were displayed as a holograph and the differences were apparent. Barana suggested that the entire group enter into rapport and then she and Kazia would highlight where the pertinent nodes were located so they could jointly explore those areas specifically. She indicated that she could offer a continuous map so that each could see where they were in the grouping in real time both in pre-projection mode and projection mode. She would also show which nodes were active as the rapport session progressed. The mapping was an instant feedback mechanism to show them how their telepathic nodes were reacting to their activities. Sam noted, "Wow, these node maps look like a star chart. Barana, this is really cool and the way the node map is illuminated to show active nodes is interesting but, is it possible for you to show who specifically is generating the energy in the nodes we are seeing and then label the nodes for what they are?"