by Dean Sault
They rushed to the waiting grav glider that lifted off even before the passengers strapped into their seats. The doctor leaned into the cockpit and instructed the pilot to make maximum speed.
“I don’t know the whole story, but somehow Heptari soldiers got on board their ship. Shilgar and Kerl-Ga fought them and were injured. Kelly is applying first aid but their injuries require professional care.”
“Can we communicate with the ship?”
“I don’t know.” Dr. Hadje leaned into the aisle. “Pilot. Activate my seat comm on all science directorate frequencies.”
“Sir, do you want the comm encrypted?” The pilot asked through the open cockpit door.
“No. Open all channels.”
“Sir, we can only broadcast on six channels at a time. You’re on the first six-channel grouping now. Begin transmissions when ready.”
Dr. Hadje broadcast his request for contact with Simon and waited. No reply. The pilot switched to the next six-channel grouping. Again, there was only static and some bleed-through voices from adjacent radio bands. On the fourth set of channels, he spoke to Simon and began fumbling with switches on a panel in front of his seat.
“I never was very good with these damn comm electronics.” He muttered. “There you go, Benjamin.”
A speaker directly above activated in the middle of Simon’s comments.
“Kerl-Ga’s in bad shape. She’s slipping in and out of consciousness. Kelly’s doing all she can. I’ve got to go, Dr. Hadje. We’re coming in now. I’ve got to run the landing sequence.”
“Wait Simon, can I talk to Shilgar?” Benjamin hurried his question before losing the connection.
“I hear you,” Shilgar’s familiar voice answered. “I’ll be okay, but I’m worried about Kerl-Ga. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
“Dr. Hadje has the best animal doctor on Tanarac coming to take care of her. She couldn’t be in better hands. We’ll see you shortly, my friend.”
The comm channel closed.
“Pilot, what is our flight time?”
“We’re on final approach, sir. Just waiting for some big ship to settle on pad. Never seen anything like it. Do you know what kind of ship that is?”
Dr. Hadje stepped up to a point where he could see through the pilot’s view screen.
“I believe that is a human space ship. Take a good look. Someday you’ll tell your grandchildren about this.” He smiled and winked back at Benjamin.
“Wow! I’ve never seen a live human. Saw pictures of them once in history class. That’s one ugly race, if you ask me,” the pilot commented while maneuvering to land on the pad next to the human ship.
As passengers rose to exit the science glider, Benjamin slipped into the cockpit entrance where the unseen pilot had been performing his tasks. He patted the young Tanarac on the shoulder and thanked him for the ride.
The shocked pilot jumped to his feet. He did not understand human dialect and was at a loss how to respond. The doctor laughed at the startled pilot who staggered into the passenger cabin. He cut off the pilot by stepping into the aisle just as Benjamin passed.
“I told you, son,” Dr. Hadje winked. “This will indeed be a day you’ll tell your children and grandkids about.”
The human ship sat on several landing booms. Static electricity arced angrily into the air from the top of the silver sphere. A long ramp extended up to the midsection of the ship, where half a dozen soldiers kneeled on an elevated platform, facing the opening with weapons drawn.
At the base of the ramp, medical staff worked on patients on two gurneys. Surgical garb of several hospital workers was splattered in blood, the red blood of a human, or perhaps a hicay.
Medics attending the nearest gurney rushed their patient through emergency room doors before Benjamin could tell who it was. Medics surrounding the second gurney did not seem in such a hurry.
Dr. Hadje disappeared into the crowd of medical workers while Benjamin stopped short and listened.
“I’m fine. Back off! Where’d you take Kerl-Ga?” Shilgar’s concerned voice carried above the din of medical team discussions.
Benjamin could hear the staff as they attempted to treat their uncooperative patient.
“Lie down, human! We need to examine you.”
“Doctor, he’s human. He can’t understand you.”
“I understand just fine,” Shilgar shouted. “Get your hands off me!”
“Hold him still. If he resists, sedate him.”
“Get your damn hands off me!” Shilgar pushed at medics while they tried to examine him.
“He’s too strong, Doctor. I can’t hold him.”
Dr. Hadje bulled his way through the medical staff. “Put that syringe down. I’m in charge now. There’ll be no sedatives.”
The medical team did not respond to this stranger’s commands.
“Did you hear me?” Dr. Hadje raised his voice. “I said back away from the patient!”
A few lesser staff complied, but the emergency room physician in charge, challenged the doctor’s authority.
“Who do you think you are? This human is under my care!”
Dr. Hadje displayed his ministerial identification. The rest of the medical team backed away, leaving the doctor toe to toe with the head emergency room physician.
“I am Dr. Rosh Hadje. I manage human affairs on this planet. Doctor, I mean you no disrespect, but you WILL follow my instructions. Is that clear?”
The ER doctor looked closely at Dr. Hadje’s identification card before reluctantly obeying.
“Man, I am glad to see you,” Shilgar said. “Where’d they take Kerl-Ga?”
Shilgar sat up on his gurney, tossing aside rolls of gauze in the process. A sterile blanket, draped across his upper body, fell away revealing torn flesh, dried blood and a small trickle of fresh blood running out from the shoulder wound.
“She’s in good hands. I have the top specialist on Tanarac caring for her.”
Dr. Hadje looked back for Benjamin and motioned for him to approach. The medical team parted, as the tall human slipped politely between them. Benjamin saw Shilgar’s injuries and hesitated to offer the traditional scout arm clasp for fear of hurting him.
Hadje wasted no time bringing the situation under control. “Shilgar, this doctor needs to examine you. You will cooperate, right?”
Extracting a translator ear bud from his pocket, he turned to the Tanarac physician.
“This is my last one, doctor. I need it back when you’re done with this patient.”
Moments later, the ER medic was amazed by the clear understanding of Shilgar’s responses to medical questions.
“Benjamin, I’ll be right back. I’m going to check on Kerl-Ga.”
Dr. Hadje worked his way past the curious crowd of hospital workers. Word spread quickly about the presence of real, live humans, so he detoured from his objective to find the hospital security. After giving orders to thin out the crowds and tighten security around the humans, the scientist disappeared into the building.
By the time Dr. Hadje returned, Shilgar was resting in a hospital bed.
“How are you feeling?”
“Great. Pain’s gone, thanks to doc, here.”
He pulled his hospital gown open, revealing a bright red scar where, only a little while before, there was a dirt and blood-covered raw wound.
“How’s Kerl-Ga?” Shilgar favored his damaged shoulder as he rotated his legs off the bed and came to a full sitting position.
“She will recover, but Doctor Shoa says her hunting days may be over.”
“Can I see her?”
“Not now. She’s heavily sedated and suspended in a tissue regeneration tank. I’ll be happy to arrange for you to see her as soon as she is removed from the treatment.”
An orderly forced his way through the crowd at the room’s entrance.
“Dr. Hadje! Humans are threatening to blow up their ship!”
Benjamin and Dr. Hadje ran out of the room, closely follo
wing the orderly. When they arrived at the space pad, a dozen military men at the top of the ramp aimed weapons inside the open entrance to the human ship.
The doctor started up the ramp but a young officer ordered him to stop.
“Halt! This is a military operation. Get off this ramp.”
He ignored the command and continued up the incline.
Nearby soldiers seized Benjamin, as he attempted to follow.
The politician-scientist made it almost to the top of the ramp before two soldiers caught up with him, and pinned him against the railing of the ramp.
The officer in charge barked out commands to his men, who then physically dragged the Tanarac scientist back down to the foot of the ramp, ignoring his claims of diplomatic authority.
Once again, the doctor presented his government identity card, only this time, the result was not what he expected.
“I don’t much care who you are,” replied to Dr. Hadje. “Minister Hadje, you have no jurisdiction here. This is a military action during a time of war. I have orders to seize this ship, and that is exactly what I’m going to do. If you get in the way, you’ll be placed in restraints. Sir, stay off my ramp.”
Chapter 64
Strange quiet fell over the War Room. Three huge Heptari starships settled into stationary positions near the asteroid belt. Despite the great distance, each royal vessel filled an entire view screen by itself.
General Tragge studied every movement of the Heptari fleet. They appeared in no hurry as their forces organized into well-documented, traditional Heptari attack formations.
“Any response to my hails?”
“No, sir. We’re broadcasting on all their know frequencies.”
“Ludic, did you re-tier the shields?”
“Yes, sir. Full power, standard elevations on all three shields.”
The general crossed the room to stand in front of a monitor showing Tanarac’s binary suns. He seemed to be preoccupied. A technician sitting below the screen offered an unsolicited report to his commander.
“No Heps in this field, sir.”
“Good.” General Tragge replied, but continued to study the sun-filled display.
“Ludic, how many of those shield enhancement units do we have left?”
“I believe fourteen, sir. I wasn’t sure how many ships we had coming in, so I had them build enough for three full combat wings.”
The general did not elaborate.
His technician was first to notice a small black dot moving across the sun’s surface. He quickly pointed it out.
Within seconds, a second dot followed the first, and the alarmed technician kept a running tally of the number as more dots appeared.
“Nine. Ten. There’s two more, sir! That’s twelve.” His count stopped growing.
Everyone watched as a set of twelve dots moved across the face of the sun.
“Sir, unknown vessels heading our way on a direct planetary attack course.” The technician checked some instruments below the screen and entered a command into his console. “They’re coming in hot, sir. Full throttle. They’re all star-class ships, but they don’t have ID beacons. They can’t be ours, sir.”
Tension in the War Room rose, but General Tragge did not show outward concern.
“Ludic, prepare shield enhancements for Kyomes.”
“Kyomes, sir? All our Kyomes were decommissioned last year.”
“They were, Ludic. They have no deep space engines but those old girls still have full near-space propulsion. General Frox has been rearming them and initializing their shield grids at the graveyard. Our odds just got better.”
“Sir, Heps are sending an attack group to intercept those Kyomes.”
“Where are the Royal ships?”
“Dead in space, sir. They’re sending light cruisers and a couple medium heavies.”
“Good.”
“Good, sir?”
“Yes, the Heptaris are following traditional strategy to the letter. I was counting on that. Admiral Raccos is monitoring the situation. He knows what to do.”
The approaching Tanarac starships remained on a direct course for the home planet, despite the rising threat of intercepting enemy ships.
“Comm, put the CAP program on monitor seven. Link all data control to my command station.”
General Tragge returned to his personal console. A large screen directly across from him flickered for an instant. Its panoramic view of the Heptari fleet vanished, and in its place, a graphic image of local space appeared. The screen was labeled Combat Analysis Projections (CAP). It showed two sets of converging spacecraft as white dots against a dark blue background.
The Kyomes were labeled “Inbound.” A faint dashed line extended between them and the topmost planetary shield, marking their current path to the planet.
A second set of dots, labeled “Aggressors”, moved along a similar dashed line, only this one intersected the inbound Kyomes, about a third of the way from the safety of the top planetary shield.
“Sir, they’re not going to make it, are they?” Ludic knew the significance of the intercept point between the two lines.
The general ignored Ludic’s question as he entered information at his console. Everyone watched as the two fleets crept toward the intercept point.
When Heptari cruisers crossed Tanarac’s orbital path, a third line flashed onto the screen. This one was brighter than the first two and was solid red. It extended from the surface of the planet, all the way to the distant sun, crossing the Heptari flight path a little before the Kyome-Heptari intercept point.
“What’s that, sir?”
General Tragge continued working quickly at his console without taking a moment to reply.
Anxiety in the War Room grew as the two fleets closed on the point of intercept.
“Sir, why aren’t our ships taking evasive action? Don’t they know about those new Hep cannons?”
Enemy ships accelerated toward the vulnerable Kyomes.
Just as the lead Heptari ship reached the bright red line, the top planetary shield on the display fragmented. Tiny eruptions appeared all along its surface as the entire Tanarac fleet surged up through the shield on course to protect the incoming Kyomes.
The general increased the magnification on the CAP screen until the red plot line crossed only a single dot . . . the lead Heptari warship. The red line locked onto that ship and began tracking it.
“Ludic, drop all planetary shields.”
“But, sir, isn’t that what those command ships want?”
“Now, Ludic!”
“Fire Base Command, are you monitoring?” General Tragge spoke into a microphone that extended up from his console. There was an instant response.
Yes, sir. Targets are out of range. We can’t get a lock at this distance.”
“Don’t worry about targeting. Target acquisition will be handled from my command station. Just give me your maximum recharge rate on command. Comm, link my CAP data stream to the firebase targeting computer. Transfer ground-canon fire control to this console.”
General Tragge watched closely as the Heptari warships closed the final gap between them and the Kyomes.
As the first Heptari interceptor neared the Tanarac intercept line, the general acted.
“Fire.”
The general uttered the command verbally, despite actually initiating the volley himself from his own console.
Tactical screens lit up as two bright lines of energy extended up from the ground cannons, exactly following the general’s red target line.
“You got her, sir!” Ludic shouted.
The lead Heptari ship vanished from the tactical screen and another nearby enemy ship veered off course, arcing toward the sun, apparently out of control. The Kyomes stayed true to their course.
General Tragge continued firing ground cannons with lethal accuracy using his improvised targeting system. He damaged or destroyed several more Heptari cruisers before the lead enemy ships got too close to his i
ncoming fleet for safe ground fire. The general then adjusted his targeting to attack the trailing vessels that were still a safe distance from his own Kyomes.
“Comm, do we have satellite visual yet?” He did not take his eyes off the red targeting line or the enemy dots as he continued thinning their numbers.
“Yes, sir. Do you want it at your console?”
“No, put it on main screen.”
A satellite image came up on the big central monitor. It showed a clear view of three sets of converging space ships. Periodic blasts from the general’s ground cannons knifed perilously close to the rising Tanarac fleet, as he destroyed a few more enemy ships.
“Magnify. Center the visual on Heptari forces and split screen with tactical.”
The general’s targeting imagery superimposed in the lower corner of the visual battle.
“Sir, the Heptari main fleet is headed our way!”
This warning came from the other side of the War Room. General Tragge glanced at the display monitoring the main Heptari fleet. All vessels except the three big royal ships were now headed straight for Tanarac with her shields down.
“Fire Base command, stand down. Do you read?” General Tragge’s sequence of orders came at a fast pace.
“Yes, sir. We’re holding full charges in ready mode.”
“Ludic, energize all shields.”
“Shields up, sir. Standard deployment, maximum density.”
“Comm, open the general staff channel, full encryption. Get me Admiral Raccos.”
The Heptari interception fleet swung in behind the line of Kyomes. Two of the old starships lagged considerably behind the rest and were first to be attacked. The last Tanarac vessel in line turned abruptly and headed straight into the lead group of enemy ships, firing all its weapons in a wild display of defiance.
“Sir, she doesn’t stand a chance against those Hep cannons.”
General Tragge smiled and sat back in his chair.
“Don’t think so, Ludic?”
The second trailing Kyome also turned back, joining the first in a display of weaponry and reckless navigation, defying Heptari ships with collision-course attack runs.