The ambassador bowed in submission. "I must apologize for the temporary delay, Your Highness. Our ships were delayed due to last-minute modifications to defend against the Grumar and Grotus weapons. In addition, I have been instructed to let you know that our numbers will have increased by four hundred additional ships, almost equaling your commitment to this war.
"Together, we will crush the Grumar and Grotus, opening up this section of the galaxy for both of our empires to control as brothers-in-arms! This is exciting news, Your Highness. The delay is untimely, but since we are yet to be under attack, it is only a minor inconvenience for us, one which we shall one day look back upon as insignificant."
The Emperor's expression remained unchanged. "In every regard this is a troubling development, Ambassador. I will take this information under consideration before determining a course of action."
The ambassador bowed as the comm channel closed.
The ambassador turned toward the captain. "We will soon enough be rid of that fool. Captain, please invite your counterpart over. I would like to discuss with him what other information he might have. I do not like being surprised like this."
The captain turned to his comm officer. "Please invite the captain of the Jordan over to meet with the ambassador."
Dale Rogers moved closer to the ambassador. "So there was never an alliance planned?"
The ambassador scowled. "It would seem not. I don't enjoy being used as a pawn for such negotiations, even if the end result is that which is desired."
The captain nodded. "Do you think you would have been more effective in the process had you known all this up front?"
The ambassador turned. "You have been quiet throughout these negotiations, Captain. Why the sudden interest?"
The captain pointed toward the holo-display that covered most of the wall in front of him. "It's of interest to me now because we are once again the enemy of the Moddle, even though they don't realize it yet. I'm the captain of this ship and responsible for this crew. This change of events concerns me."
The ambassador smirked. "As it should. But not to worry, Mr. Rogers. We will be out of harm’s way soon enough."
Jack leaned back, shaking his head. "That certainly puts a new twist on this whole thing. If he is using the portal to go elsewhere, what are the chances he's sent an ambassador through to Modus? I mean, if I was him, I would be looking to stick it to both the Moddle and the Grumar and Grotus. Heck, open the portal at Modus and fire a thousand fission missiles through it. He could wipe it out with the expense of one load of cesium and they would never know what hit 'em."
I replied, "I believe we should send word back to Odenta to bring the transports forward. If the Gruntas do end up here, we may only have a small window of opportunity to bring them out, if any at all."
Jack thought for a moment. "That's probably a good strategy. We wouldn't want to miss an opportunity because of a twenty- or forty-day delay in getting those ships here."
"I should have made that determination before coming out here."
The five days of delay passed without any new word. On the sixth day the portal opened and again a single ship came through. The ambassador was livid.
When the new ship was within comm range, the ambassador got down to business. "Captain, what is happening? Where are my ships?"
The captain of the new ship offered a friendly nod. "Ambassador, I have new instruction for you, and additional news. There will be an additional three-day delay. The Moddle assembly of nobles who were left in charge are currently accepting terms of a complete and unconditional surrender. The additional time was needed for them to gather. You will explain that the ship updates were taking longer than expected and that the new date is firm. You are instructed to offer command of one quarter of the ships coming through for the Moddle to command as they see fit."
The ambassador scowled. "And the additional news?"
The captain replied, "We have been instructed to remain here with the Jordan. Once you have delivered this message to the Moddle, you will confer your diplomatic status here to the Mavantis and appear to transfer ships. Command has seen to it that you should be moved from danger should a negative reaction come from the Emperor when he learns of his empire's surrender. Call it a gesture of gratitude on the part of Harden Salton."
The ambassador perked up and took a deep breath. "Please open a comm channel to the Emperor."
An extremely unhappy face appeared. "The Emperor will not be speaking with you today, Ambassador. What excuse do you have this time?"
The ambassador smiled. "Again, my apologies on the continued delay. It seems the upgrades took longer than expected. The fleet should arrive in three days. And that is a firm date this time, Duke Pashna. I would also add, that as a conciliatory measure, I have been instructed to turn over command of one quarter of our fleet to your staff should the Grumar and Grotus arrive. Those ships would be yours to position and command. We of course would hope you would use them in the spirit in which they are being offered."
The duke gave a stern look. "I will relay that message to the Emperor, Ambassador. I cannot say how swiftly you will receive a reply. Neither the Emperor nor I is in the best of moods at the moment."
The ambassador bowed. "I fully understand, Duke. And I must once again beg your forgiveness. I can assure you that our diplomatic commitments are always honored with the highest level of certitude. Our fleet will arrive."
The duke huffed and closed the comm.
The ambassador turned to face Dale Rogers. "Captain, see to it that my station is transferred to the Jordan and the Moddle are notified of such. I want to be as far away from those ships as possible. I believe their initial reaction to the news of their empire's surrender will be one of rage. Those two ships are not likely to last more than a few minutes."
The captain replied, "So that's it? We're just going to leave them here?"
The ambassador turned. "What would you have me do, Captain? We have been given orders. I cannot force those ships to move back, the Moddle would not accept that and we would all be dead before the fleet arrives. I'm certain both captains know the risks that come with being in the military. We have put our lives on the line for the past few weeks. Consider this their turn."
A message went out to the Moddle fleet that the flag had been transferred and the Sutherlin was moving back toward the fleet to undertake minor repairs. Before long, the ambassador was out of weapons range of the Moddle and would soon again be falling from their sensors.
The following day, as the two new Odenta ships in the rotation came into comm range, an urgent message was being broadcast. "Mr. Beutcher! The Grotus attacked Odenta!"
The image of the Odenta captain was disheveled. He was visibly shaking with tears coming from his eyes. "They are all dead!"
I replied, "Who's dead, Captain?"
The captain took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Mr. Beutcher. This is difficult even to say. The Grotus attacked with thousands of ships. We only had a few minutes of warning before their ships hit our atmosphere and began to ravage our cities. Our cruisers pushed back as many as we could, but they just kept coming. We did everything possible to try to stop it, but Chancellor Marun panicked and pulled the trigger on our arsenal of fermium missiles. The explosions managed to take out several hundred of the Grotus ships, but our... the surface of our planet... everyone is dead."
I slowly stood. "Are you saying no one escaped? Were any prisoners taken? My Talisan?"
The captain collapsed back into his chair as he slowly shook his head. "More than half of the population was dead before the chancellor made his move. Only a handful of loaded transports made it out. No one else escaped the torrent of fire that scorched every square kilometer of the land. The cruisers survived, the sixteen carriers with their grunts, and all but eight of the new transports managed to move away safely using their gravity beams. We managed to mostly fill two of the new transports with our people, and I believe five of your Talisan transports made
it out. I expect they will all be arriving shortly... we have nowhere else to go."
Garrett ran his fingers back through his hair. "Wow. That... this is bad... very bad."
Jack said, "Captain, I'm sending a set of coordinates to you. I need you to go back, catch the fleet and guide them all to these coordinates. You will all have to wait there for further instruction while we figure this out."
The captain nodded as he turned toward his staff. "Lieutenant, make this happen."
I looked solemnly at the comm camera. "Captain, what is done is done. We can't turn back time. We can only move forward. When the fleet arrives, get me a roster of the ships and the crews we have. We will figure out our next move from there."
The captain nodded as the comm closed.
Garrett frowned. "Looks like we are back to just us. Who else wishes we could just go back through and leave this hostile place behind?"
I replied, "We can't leave until my people have all gone back through that portal."
Garrett said, "If they're at the Moddle worlds, we could do our best to keep them in the Triangulum by shutting down that portal after their next transfer. If they are bringing them here, they have to take them home first. I say we follow the ambassador back through and wait for them there."
I replied, "We can't go anywhere until we pick up Go. After that, we deal with the issue of the Odentas. We brought this upon them. They were a quiet, happy civilization until we brought the Grotus there. They are our responsibility now and we need to see that they are taken care of."
Garrett half laughed. "It seems we just keep going around picking up strays. And what good has it done them? The Talisan are dead and now the Odenta. I'm starting to think they would be better off without our help."
Jack weighed in. "I'm with Knog. We can't just leave them. We need to at least do something to get them set up for survival."
Garrett held up his hands. "I'm not saying we abandon them, just that we don't drag them around with us everywhere we go. Maybe we see if we can get them set up on Jorus. We can leave an AI and an autobot there with them to get started. We could set up the AI so it couldn't be replicated. From that, they would be able to construct whatever shelter they needed and could then set up farming for food."
I thought for a moment. "That might be a good solution given our current situation, but it would have to be voluntary on their part."
Garrett nodded. "Hey, they just lost their whole planet. I'm not looking to force them into anything. I just don't know what else we can do for them."
The following day the Odenta ship returned. "Mr. Beutcher, the ships are assembled at the location you gave. We have thirty-two of the mega transports, two of which have our civilians aboard. Three hundred eighty thousand was all we could save. Two other transports were lost as they lifted off. Five of your Talisan ships escaped with just over a hundred thousand lives. We have twenty-six of the cruisers. Each has a crew of one hundred thirty, two AIs, and eight to ten thousand autobots. All sixteen grunt carriers made it out as well. Each of those has a crew of one hundred eighty and a complement of eight hundred grunt pilots."
Garrett remarked. "Looks like they're loaded up with AIs."
Jack nodded. "At least they were able to get a few of their people out of there."
"Thank you, Captain," I said. "We are trying to determine a good course of action for you. We believe the planet Jorus might be a good place to establish a temporary colony. You have civilians with you. I am certain you want to get them to a safe place."
The captain replied, "We have discussed this for almost three weeks, Mr. Beutcher. We want to send the occupied transports to a safe place as you suggest, accompanied by several cruisers of course. The rest of us would prefer to stay and fight. Between us, we have more than four hundred of the fermium missiles. We would like to deliver those to Modus and Mayanis."
Garrett cut in. "I changed my mind. I want them to stay with us. We should head for Modus and Mayanis as they suggest and light both of those places up!"
Jack looked over at me. "I can't say I was in favor of that before, but I am now. We could escort the transports halfway to Jorus and then continue on to Modus. I believe we could use the gravity beams to push any resistance out of the way when we get there, launching those missiles from in close. We might get our asses kicked trying to get out afterward, but we could knock out the Grotus threat, probably permanently."
"Captain?" I said. "Send a ship back along the way to Odenta. I want to know if they are heading this way. If the Grotus show on the sensors, have the ship turn and come back here immediately."
The captain barked commands to his crew. The Odenta cruiser headed toward the rally point with their new orders. I sat, staring at the wall in front of me.
Jack leaned back in his chair. "What are you thinking?"
I replied, "If we get confirmation the Grumar and Grotus fleet is coming this way, and if my people come through that portal, we stay and fight. Otherwise we'll set a course for Jorus and then Modus."
Garrett asked, "You know, we haven't seen a single scout ship out here. Are the Moddle not concerned with their perimeter?"
Jack took the question. "The size of their fleet says it doesn't matter. We are an anomaly. Nobody in their right mind would be out here watching with that fleet sitting there. We should count it as a blessing that they are lax. Even if they saw Grotus ships out here, they wouldn't be doing anything different. With the sensors everyone has, you know they are coming before they can fire on you."
Garrett half frowned. "Still, if it was me, I'd have patrols running. I'd want to know."
I said, "How long before we can pick up Go?"
Garrett glanced at a counter on his display. "He'll be here in seventy-four hours. We could go in, grab him, and run in forty-two."
Jack said, "What if we brought in the Odenta ships and knocked off their shields? We have enough ships to stop their progress."
I replied, "I don't want to risk having them offline if the Grumar and Grotus show up. Any ships without that deflector would easily be eliminated. As painful as it is. I think we have to wait."
Garrett frowned. "I'm just worried about Go being eight days without food."
I nodded. "He has hydration through the suit. The lack of food will only be the equivalent of about four days. The filter will recycle some level of nutrients from the bio-gel."
Garrett held up his hand. "I know he should be OK, but still. I know it's hard for me to go a day without eating. I'm just worried."
Chapter 8
* * *
Two days passed before the Odenta ship tasked with checking on the Grumar and Grotus fleet returned.
Captain Alestra said, "We tracked two Grotus ships for a half hour before we returned. They are headed this way, but we don't have any information on the rest of their ships."
I nodded. "Thank you, Captain. Please return to the rest of your fleet."
Jack pulled up a display of an image the captain had transferred. "Those aren't much bigger than the teardrop ships. I would say we are looking at scouts."
I sighed. "This freezes us in place. Since we don't know if the rest of their fleet is coming or not, we have to stay here."
Garrett said, "Why don't we go out and see for ourselves? Go won't reach here for another day."
I shook my head. "They'll be here within a few hours. We don't gain anything by finding out any sooner. With Go out there floating in space, I'd rather wait right where we are supposed to be."
Go popped into existence on the Jess. "Surprise!"
Garrett jumped out of his chair. "What the... how did you get here?"
Go shrugged. "I got bored and pushed my speed up to six SOL from four. I had a couple minor debris strikes, but nothing the suit couldn't handle. You have anything to eat on here? I'm starved!"
Garrett pointed, "Galley has plenty. Take your pick."
Garrett took a deep breath and sat back in his chair. "I guess you heard that. Go is here with m
e. He's fine except for being hungry."
Jack asked, "Why didn't he signal us when he got within range?"
Garrett huffed. "Because he wanted to scare the crap out of me, that's why."
Jack half laughed. "From what we saw, I would have to say he succeeded."
Go returned with a handful of nutrient bars, cramming them one at a time into his mouth. "Ah, these are so good."
Garrett shook his head as he turned the Jess back toward the Garmon. "Hope you don't choke on them."
I said, "Garrett, fill him in on the happenings since his last comm with us. Those Grotus ships should be here in about three hours."
Go replied, "Wait. Grotus ships? They’re here?"
Garrett left the comm open. "The Grumar and Grotus attacked Odenta. Everyone there is dead. The Odentas escaped with two of the transports loaded with people, plus most of their fleet. Five of our Talisan transports managed to get out as well. The Grotus were killing everyone, so the chancellor pulled the trigger on all their nukes. The rest of the planet is dead, but he managed to take out several hundred attacking ships."
Go sat. "Wow. That's horrible. Why would he nuke his own planet?"
Garrett frowned. "I don't think he had a choice. They were annihilating everyone anyway. I would guess he thought it was the only way he could make the Grumar and Grotus pay a price. In all, they escaped with about four hundred thousand Odentas and about a hundred thousand of our Talisans. Other than that, you probably saw the Sutherlin heading back to wait at the portal with the ambassador. We're expecting the Gruntas to come through that portal any time now with news to make the Moddle submit and join forces with them."
After docking the Jess, Garrett and Go walked onto the Garmon's bridge.
"You know," said Garrett, "I just realized that we lost Gasau Monte. Unless he's on one of the transports."
I replied, "He didn't make it. I checked the rosters they sent over. He would have been a good asset should we have to talk with the Grumar. And, Go, how are you feeling?"
Go nodded. "I feel fine. Other than boredom, this suit kept me in good shape. I need to change out the filter and the bio-gel again. Other than that it's been perfect. Oh, and when I get back down to the engineering lab, I'll have the AI see if it can build new power and food cells. I had the thought of seeing if it could also analyze the suit material and possibly make some of that for us."
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