by Shawn Jones
“How are you, General?” Bazal asked.
“I’ve been better. We have a problem. It seems your influence, even just residually, is affecting my men. I have to protect you, but I have to protect them as well. They need to be able to fight. Jeff Pence told me today that he cannot. My fear is that every human fighter on this planet has been compromised.”
“Is this why you are wearing your heavy armor?”
“Yes, and all security teams assigned to you from now on will be shielded from you at all times. I will also be rotating them out regularly. In addition, they will get new quarters that will be shielded from you.”
“I will miss communing with you, Cortland.”
“Bazal, if we can find a way to do that safely, I would like to do so again. But frankly, my base violence is the only hope the Collaborative has. So I cannot risk it.”
“I understand, General. Perhaps you could simply shield me.”
“We are designing a tank with that in mind, but your knowledge of the mental state of others is too valuable to me, so it will only be used when you visit human worlds. Is that acceptable?”
“It is sad, but it is acceptable, Cortland.”
“Thank you for understanding,” Cort said as they approached the detention facility. “I also intend to tell Admiral Jones my reason for the change. But it will not go beyond her. Now, if you will excuse me, Bazal, I am going to visit our prisoners. I hope to see you before I leave, my friend.”
“I understand your need to tell the Admiral of my abilities. If you are able to see me before you leave, I will make time for you. Good day, General.”
--
“Heroc, it is time to contact your people again,” Addison said as he entered her cell. “I’m sure they would like to speak to you.”
“I trust your negotiations with them have gone well, General,” Heroc clicked.
“There have been no negotiations, Heroc. Nor will there be. I have stated my terms.”
Heroc stopped short and looked at the General. “You have made no attempt at communication? But you have had my transmitter all this time. Has it not activated?”
“It has activated several times. I have not bothered to answer it.”
“When will you continue your attacks, sir?”
“Heroc, I have never stopped them. In the past six months, we have destroyed over seventeen hundred of your planets. I have an entire fleet of ships working on it full time. This war will be over by the next solstice. All that remains is to know whether or not it will end peacefully, or with your extinction.”
The sound Heroc made was something of a mournful chirp. “Seventeen hundred worlds?”
“Something like that, yes. We will destroy the rest of them unless you get your Supreme to agree to my terms.”
“Perhaps that is why they tried to communicate. To discuss options.”
“There is only one option, Heroc. I’ve been clear about that. I don’t know how to make that more clear to you. I will stop destroying your worlds when you have only one left,” Cort said. With grim finality, he added, “The one I assign to you.”
“System 641,” Heroc added.
“Yes. We have already started preparing it for your arrival.”
“How so?”
“It has been seeded with plants that are high in sucrose and xylose, and your native microbes have been added to the ecosystem as well. We have also planted many plants used by Blatterians on the planet.”
“I see. And should we finally capitulate, how will you keep us there?”
“We have installed a security system that will prevent you from leaving the planet without our permission.”
“You seem to have thought this through, General. You are an interesting species. You plot our demise, but plan for our future.”
“I don’t want to destroy your people, Heroc. I just want to stop you.”
They arrived in the office of the facility, where Cort handed Heroc the communicator and said, “There will be a guard outside. When you are finished, you can ask him to contact me.”
--
Two hours later, the pair were walking again, this time to the landing field, where Speral’s ship was waiting. Heroc asked why they were boarding the ship.
“I am taking you to your new world, Heroc. We found a few more of your compatriots, by the way. We are delivering you all to System 641.”
“But we have not surrendered.”
“Either way, your species is going to end up there, so I decided to get started with you.”
“Do you wish to hear the Supreme’s message, General?”
“Is he surrendering?”
“No, sir. In fact…”
“Then it doesn’t matter, Heroc.”
“I see.”
System 641
Speral transitioned within sight of a satellite. In fact, the satellite filled most of the viewing plane. Cort and Heroc were on the observation deck, and only a small portion of the planet was visible behind the satellite.
“Heroc, the planet is yours. You may do as you see fit with it. The space around the planet is mine. You may not enter my space. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“This is one of over a hundred satellites orbiting the planet. They are all armed, and they are programmed both to monitor the planet, and to respond if you attempt any kind of launch. Not even an high-altitude aircraft, Heroc. And I believe you will trust me when I tell you, it will not be a measured response.” Cort gave Speral a signal and she backed the ship away from the satellite while turning toward the planet below. He said, “As you can see, it is a lovely planet. I won’t pretend it’s not a prison, but it is as much freedom as you will be allowed.”
Several minutes later, the ship touched down. Cort and Heroc stepped off first, while the security team stayed with the ship and prisoners. After Cort showed the facility to Heroc, she asked, “So there will be no guards?”
“You will be the only noble creatures in the entire system.”
“May we communicate with our people?”
“No. In every way, you are limited to this world. You will be given a method to contact the Ares Federation, but that will be your only outside contact.” Indicating the buildings around them, he added, “As you can see, we have planned this facility well. It is based on data retrieved from the planets your species used to occupy. Any future structures are yours to design and build. You have everything you need for the first six months. You are responsible for yourselves beyond that time.”
“I see. What if our people capitulate?”
“We will allow ten billion to be transplanted here. Any of your people we capture will also be sent here. Should that happen, we will add supplies to help offset their first six months on the planet.”
“That is generous of you, General.”
“It’s certainly more than you have offered your victims.”
“I am not in a position to argue with you about that.”
“No you are not. Heroc, before we introduce the others to the planet, you have some decisions to make. Specifically, who will be your Supreme?”
“Only a queen can determine that.”
“So who do you determine to be your Supreme, Queen Heroc?”
Heroc considered playing dumb, but realized General Addison knew much more than he was letting on, so she only said, “I will be in my chambers. Please send me H’uum.”
“Okay. How long do you need to be with him?”
Heroc laughed shrilly. “H’uum has never been allowed to assert. He will be Supreme within minutes.”
Cort smiled and said, “Yes, ma’am. Heroc, I won’t see you for some time because I have war to conduct, but good luck.”
“Thank you, General. Sincerely. I will not wish you good luck, for that would be traitorous, but I do not wish you harm.”
“Thank you, Heroc.”
Phobos Shipyards, Ares Federation
“Welcome to the station, General," Admiral Jones said as Cort stepped throug
h the airlock.
“Thank you, JJ. Where’s Book?”
“He’s at Solitude right now, sir. Touring the academies. Had this meeting been scheduled, I would have delayed him.”
“Please don’t ever do that, JJ. You have jobs to do, and I don’t want to interrupt them unless it’s absolutely necessary.” Cort looked down the corridor in front of them and said, “We don’t have enough people for us to enjoy the luxuries of command yet.”
“And if we lose the good ones to farming, it is even worse.”
“Ah. Jeff Pence. Yes, I will miss him, but I’m glad he figured it out before he got in too deep. I don’t think it was a crisis of conscience as much as mitigating factors. Perhaps with time, we will get him back.”
“Do you care to explain that, sir?”
“I wish I could. For one thing, he got too close to his prisoners.”
“You solved that problem, so why the new regulations on Government World?” Admiral Jones asked as they stepped into her office on the station.
“Between you and me, JJ. This doesn’t even go to Keith. You know Bazal is telepathic. That’s not the extent of it, though. He has the ability to calm most species. I don’t know the full extent of it, but I think he was instrumental in keeping the Solitude conference under control. I do know that anyone who is around him for any length of time becomes very passive. So the new programming for the CONDORs recognizes his presence and shields against him. I have the weaps people at Argyre working on another new tank for him, as well. The problem we have is that his attributes can be useful to us. He can read minds across the galactic arm, JJ! That’s huge, strategically. But that calming effect makes it a double-edged sword.”
“Do we need to worry about him reading us, sir?”
“No." Cort shook his head. “He’s on my side, JJ. And he recognizes the damage his species has done to the Collaborative. But he can be useful as well. Think to him.”
“Pardon me?”
“Think to him.”
“Okay,” Jones said hesitantly. Uh...Hello Bazal.
Hello, Admiral. May I assume the General has talked to you then?
Didn’t you hear it?
Admiral, once a being becomes aware of my abilities, I do not commune without permission. Now if you will excuse me, I am needed elsewhere, and you have many things to discuss with the General.
Of course. Thank you, Bazal.
It is a good idea, Admiral.
Pardon me, Bazal?
Using me as a relay for communication in emergencies. It is a very good idea.
Uh…Thank you.
Goodbye, Admiral.
“Holy fuck!” JJ said to Cort.
“Indeed, Admiral. Now what did you learn listening to Heroc?”
“Once we had her passcode, we had their entire commo net. I’ve got a team setting up now to monitor them full time. The problem is the way their signals propagate. They are somewhat directional. The portable transmitters are omni, but they are short range and comparatively slow. Their planetary base units seem to transmit directionally with an apex angle of anywhere from thirty to one-hundred and twenty degrees, depending on need.”
“JJ, I asked what you learned, not how you learned it. I leave all that crap to you guys. Most of the time, I just want to know which way to shoot.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I am used to my people. We need to know the how as well as the what. They are trying to find a way to disrupt our transitions. If they do so, our big ships will be virtually dead in the water.”
“Can we put the Jonah Constructs in the coach guns?”
“Not yet, sir. We cannot control the mass of the black holes well enough. The mass change every time we fire is too great for our systems to compensate for.”
“What about just putting an Alcubierre drive in them?”
“There is still a mass problem. It’s closer, but we aren’t there yet.”
“Then we have to keep them from messing with the system.”
“That could be more difficult. The transition core is on hallowed ground on Speral’s homeworld. We would have to violate religious and civil law to put a company of Marines there for security.”
“I was hoping Speral would get us that permission. What are your other options?”
“A satellite network, which is what we are negotiating now. Until then, we are keeping a few ships on duty there all the time. It isn’t much, but it is all we have.”
“Throw some of the black ships in. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”
“I was going to ask you about that. It would give our crews good stealth training.”
“I want that core protected. If we lose it before the pseudos capitulate, it will make things much harder.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you get anything else?”
“Informationally, their newer colonies are pressing for protection. They don’t get that there isn’t a defense against us. Several planetary supremes think the core planets have developed a defensive system that prevents us from attacking them.”
“Dividing them is a good thing. Figure out which planets are the least liked, and avoid them altogether. Also, find me a few unhappy target planets and I will raid them.”
“What if we play mind games with them, sir?”
‘What do you have in mind, JJ?”
Nine
Planet 328-2
It was a scene that played out simultaneously on fifteen different planets along the galactic arm: Eight FALCON-clad spectres moving silently across a compound on a darkened planet. It would play out again in a matter of hours on twelve more planets, once those orbs had rotated into their night cycles. The only difference between the teams was, on this planet, the team had an eighty kilogram stalker moving silently beside its alpha. The wolf companions of the other teams were all of the gray wolf variety and smaller than Cort’s prehistoric example of the canine family.
“No survivors. Quick and quiet.” Cort received acknowledgement from the entire team and added, “Keep alert for any intel, Bravo team, I want a full scan of any equipment you see.”
After entering the building, the Bravo team found an office area near the entrance and began studying computers as the rest of the group began their work. In every room, there were five to ten insectoids sleeping. Six Marines with knives in their hands spread through the room and took position over their prey. In one synchronized motion, they plunged their knives into the supraoesophageal ganglion of the sleeping enemy. Death was nearly instantaneous and nearly silent. The building had five sleeping areas, and in each of them, the process was much the same. It was as Cort joined the Bravo team in the office area that Bane finally took action.
The rest of the team was searching the building for intelligence. Cort and the wolf turned a corner in the front of the building as a large bug emerged in front of them. Before Cort could react, Bane leapt at the surprised insect, knocking it to the ground and tearing one upper limb from its body. When his victim began to chirp, Bane crushed its skull and ripped it from the prothorax. He only stopped attacking when Cort called him off.
Cort wiped the wolf’s muzzle and praised him as they stepped into the office to find Bravo team at work on the equipment. “What have you got?”
“Quite a bit, sir. I would like to take the equipment with us, but I understand your reasons not to. As it is, I will be able to recreate the software and data once we copy the machines, but it will take time.”
“Good. How much more time do you need?”
“Two minutes.”
AFS Taurus
After all twenty-seven planets were raided, the other one-hundred and twelve Marines transferred to his ship, while the other ships took station to monitor transmissions to and from the planets. On the Taurus, the tech teams compared their data, while the assault teams swapped stories, insulting and making light of the enemy’s lack of defense and preparedness. Cort knew this was an important time for the men and women who carried out the assault,
so he didn’t interrupt or speak except when he was asked direct questions. Most of those were related to Bane’s actions, so Cort played the video for everyone to see. Three other wolves also saw action during the series of attacks, but none were as vicious as Bane had been; they left their victims’ heads intact.
“Now that we’ve all swapped lies and tactics,” Cort began after the techs rejoined them, “Remember something. They weren’t expecting us. You will never take part in an action again that goes this easily. We attacked a sleeping, unarmed enemy. A human baby would have put up more of a fight. Don’t get me wrong, we executed flawlessly tonight, and I’m proud of each and every one of you. Not a single person in this room did any less than what was expected of them, and some of you went beyond those expectations.”