HADRON Incursion

by Stephen Arseneault

  Jane came over the comm. “We have control panel parts from those other reactors we just salvaged. Give me twenty minutes and I think I can have number eight back online.”

  Mace returned a pursed smile. “Take whatever’s required, Jane. We could use that extra speed.”

  Chapter 21

  *

  Once the Rogers was well out of sensor range, her course was altered to a heading that took her past Jupiter. From there, a straight line was followed out to Proteus. Hours later, the former Kaachi cruiser settled on the hard rocky surface.

  Mace stood looking at the reactors. “Nice job on getting that back online.”

  Jane grimaced. “I sure could have used Gnaga. Have you had a chance to talk to him?”

  Mace shook his head. “Not sure we’ll get him back. His people kind of abandoned him when they called in the Union. He was pretty distraught over that display by his people. I don’t think he’s ever had real dealings with the founders. Sending out those shuttles was forced suicide.”

  Jane frowned. “Give him a little time. If this war is now with the Galactic Union and not the Kaachi, I would bet his attitude will change.”

  Mace stood with his hands to his sides. “What’s one ship going to do against the Galactic Union? Really, we barely squeaked out of there with our asses intact. And not really intact given we lost fifteen crewmen.”

  Jane sighed. “And yet we’re still here. Jeff says that hole should be patched within the day. And Jordan has his team replacing those transducers. How many new ones do we have to add?”

  “We have forty-eight, minus the seven that were damaged or destroyed. And seven reactors we can add.”

  Jane winced. “We’ll definitely need Gnaga back for that. He’s the only one who knows how to align those containment fields properly. We leave that to anyone else and we might burn this ship down.”

  Mace nodded. “I guess I’ll go have a talk then.”

  As Mace turned to leave, Jenny Taub walked into the room. “Miss Taub, I wouldn’t have expected you to be up and about.”

  “Doc said I could move around, but to just take it easy. I figure there are things that need doing and I’d like to help where I can.”

  Mace gestured toward her bandaged midsection. “Still in pain?”

  Jenny nodded. “Oh yeah. But nothing I can’t push through. Mrs. Tretcher, anything I can help you with in here?”

  Jane looked around. “Well, we do want to clean out that area. We have new reactors we want to install. Maybe put on your exosuit and you could manage that for me.”

  Jenny smiled. “Thank you. I’ve been going stir crazy in there with nothing to do. Not like this ship has an entertainment system to help occupy your spare hours.”

  Mace returned a smile as he turned to leave the room.

  Jane said, “Miss Taub, hold right there. I’ll be right back.”

  Jane followed Mace into the hall with a grin. “So? Anything you want to tell me about?”

  Mace replied, “What?”

  Jane smacked him on the arm. “Oh, come on, I saw the look you two gave each other. That had attraction written all over it.”

  Mace turned slightly red. “I really just talked to her for the first time the other day, after the drive room took that hit.”

  Jane sighed. “Look, if you like her you should let her know. You need someone to lean on. And I’m sure she does, too.”

  Mace offered a half smile. “While the thought of that is appealing, we have too much to do out here. I’ve got zero time for a romance. And besides, what happens if it doesn’t work out? Not like we can go our separate ways.”

  Jane laughed. “No, I suppose not. But you’re both adults. If it doesn’t work out, you could part ways amicably. You know, that’s how most people do it. And I’ve talked to her a few times. Both of you have easygoing, practical personalities. I could easily see you hitting it off.”

  Mace held up a hand. “Jane, I love you as a friend, but please don’t try to push this. I have way too much stress and responsibility right now to get involved with anyone. I like her, but we’ll have to leave it at that.”

  Jane crossed her arms. “Fine. I won’t push it.”

  Mace replied, “Thank you. Now, if you want Gnaga’s help, I need to go have a talk with him.”

  Jasper was sitting in a chair in the hallway adjacent to conference room C.

  Mace asked, “Where you keeping Gnaga?”

  Jasper pointed. “Third door. It’s open.”

  Mace tilted his head. “Open? You trust him?”

  Jasper shrugged. “He hasn’t attacked us. The Mawga did. Hence the door to the conference room is locked.”

  Mace entered the room to see a moping Gnaga Klept. “Abandoned by your people. Not a good feeling, is it?”

  Gnaga slowly shook his head. “My whole life I have been proud to be a member of the Galactic Union. That back there, it goes against everything I have ever been told. They are benevolent, and kind, and fair. That’s not what I just witnessed.”

  Mace sat. “It’s a hard thing when the things you admire fall from grace. Look, I’m an American. Had pride in my country. Still do. I’ve had some misgivings about my devotion to its concept from time to time due to various laws passed by our government, but I keep coming back to the same conclusion, that it was a good thing. I would be quite happy with that form of government again.

  “In the end, it wasn’t the concepts, or the institution that failed me, it was the handful of people in charge at a critical moment in time. Instead of doing what you’d expect, to try to pull everyone together, to make plans and to take action for the common good, they scurried into the shadows to protect themselves.

  “I was angry for a while. But you take out those individual people and I would be all for supporting that government once again. I suspect your Galactic Union, and maybe your own Kaachi leadership, is much the same. Bad eggs—greedy eggs—are running it at the moment.

  “They don’t care about the common people, only themselves and their grasp on power. Same thing has happened to just about every government man has ever known. Looks great on paper, but it’s all dependent on the people in charge.”

  Gnaga looked up. “What am I to do, Mr. Hardy? I can’t go back. They would certainly kill me.”

  Mace sat back. “Kill you? You did nothing wrong. I think your problem now is that you don’t have a way back. We don’t have the means to take you anywhere.”

  Gnaga let out a deep breath. “I haven’t been honest with you, Mr. Hardy.”

  Mace chuckled. “How so?”

  Gnaga stood and began to pace. “I am an agent for the Kaachi government. I was purposefully left on that remnant to gather intel on this system. The sensors were all fully functional. I was told to stay and ordered to gather information. A ship would return in six months to pick me up. Your happening across me was unplanned. But I saw it as an opportunity to gather far more information than would have been possible while staying on that remnant. That message you passed through to the Kaachi Military Council, I embedded a special message into it. When we met and sent through the Australians, I had numerous contacts with my people. I was told to stay, to get myself in a position where I could take action if needed.”

  “And why didn’t you… take action?”

  “You were not at war with my people. If anything, you sought an alliance. I believed in our leadership, Mr. Hardy. Only I just now discovered that we are nothing more than puppets for the Union. It turns out your cause is much more just than mine.”

  Mace shook his head. “I tried to tell the Mawga the same thing. We should all join together to kick the crap out of the Union. They’re nothing more than greedy thugs using your people to do their dirty work while they reap the rewards.

  “I wish I had a better alternative to offer you than to just stay on this ship and to help us survive, but that’s all I’ve got. We need your help getting those new reactors installed. The only way we’
re gonna survive an encounter with those Union ships is for us to make ours even more powerful.

  “I’m told we can do that with more reactors and more transducers. We have both. And I’d like to get even more if that’s what it takes.

  “Our other problem at the moment is we really have no offense. Our cannons are weak. Sure, we can take on your ships, or Mawga ships, but we can’t take on those behemoths the Union has. What I need is to have crewmen who are willing and eager to make that happen.”

  Gnaga shook his head. “You already have your offensive weapon, Mr. Hardy.”

  “How do you figure?”

  Gnaga sat. “It’s you, Mr. Hardy. Humans. My people fear you. The Mawga fear you. And now that the Union is here, I can only conclude they fear you as well. You’re large, strong, intelligent, resourceful, and highly adaptable. If you want to take out a Union ship, all you need to do is get a handful of your people aboard it.”

  Mace looked up at the ceiling with his mouth gaped open. “Huh … I guess I never considered that. I doubt we can get our hands on a more powerful cannon. Maybe we can instead try to figure out a way to board a ship.”

  Gnaga nodded. “Get your warriors onto one of their ships and you would have their entire crew in terror.”

  Mace asked, “Would you have any interest in helping us to achieve that, Mr. Klept?”

  Gnaga stood. “You would place your trust in me after what I just told you?”

  Mace stroked his beard. “You’ve shown yourself to be a man of reason, Mr. Klept, not a loyalist ideologue. As things stand now, you survive if we survive. I see that as incentive enough to once again ask for your help.”

  Gnaga held out his small, thin hand. As I offer this customary Earth shake, I pledge my support.”

  Mace laughed as he took Gnaga’s hand for a firm handshake. “Earth shake? We just call it a handshake. Come with me. We need to add a few reactors to this boat.”

  Jasper stood as they entered the hall. “Mr. Collins, Gnaga is returning to our crew. He’ll be assisting Jane with the reactors. Please walk him down there while I have a word with the Mawga.”

  Jasper nodded. “I could use the walk. Come on, Klept. Let’s get your puny ass back to work.”

  Mace shook his head as he walked through the door into the conference room. The Mawga were spread throughout the room, lounging in a way that would be expected from a group with nothing to do.

  Mace took a seat at the table. “Tell me your thoughts, Mr. Montak.”

  Bontu replied, “I feel I have gravely wronged you by not controlling my people.”

  Mace glanced over at the injured Mawga lying in the corner. “He doing any better?”

  “He’s dead.”

  Mace sat forward. “What? I didn’t think he was hurt that bad.”

  Bontu shook his head. “He wasn’t. We questioned him. Both of them had motives of greed. They felt if they brought us to our knees, they would be rewarded by the Union. For some strange reason, they forgot the Galactic Union does not forgive, and rarely rewards. You either comply or you are done away with.”

  Mace asked, “Well, how’d he die?”

  Bontu gestured toward the others in the room. “They beat him to death. We Mawga are very unforgiving when it comes to betrayal. Which is why we can never go home.”

  Mace crossed his arms. “Wow. I wouldn’t have expected that kind of justice out of you.”

  “He did try to kill us. I can assure you the death we would have experienced by being turned over to the Dellus would have been much more unpleasant.”

  Mace sat forward. “So, tell me, are there any more betrayers among you?”

  Mace glanced around the room to angry stares.

  “I believe this to have been an isolated incident,” said Bontu. “The others here see and believe that there would be no reward for turning any of us in. The Union does not reward. You comply or you die. That rule at least is simple to understand.”

  Mace set his hands on the table. “So, Mr. Montak, are you and your people now ready to be members of the Confederate Alliance?”

  “Confederate Alliance?”

  Mace nodded. “I thought we might want to change our name after Stark’s people made fun of it last time. The Federation was taken, as was the Rebel Alliance. Your people have the Empire and the Kaachi have their Domain. Your inclusion would give us three member species.”

  Bontu stood holding out his hand. “I would be proud to join your Confederation, Mr. Hardy.”

  Mace stood and smiled. “Good, we’ll seal it with an Earth shake.”

  Bontu tilted his head. “Earth shake?”

  Mace laughed. “Sorry, it’s kind of an inside joke.”

  Mace led the group of Mawga to the hallway outside bay one. “Mr. Crawford, I brought you more volunteers. Assign tasks as you see fit.”

  Jordan called down the hall. “Jeff! I’ve got more workers for you. Where you want them?”

  Jeff pointed at the blast door. “See if that door will open. If not, send them through the pass-through. Have them start on debris cleanup in the main bay.”

  Mace returned to the bridge with a half smile on his face.

  Johnny was waiting. “Gonna need you for a few words down in bay three in about an hour.”

  “The funeral?”

  Johnny nodded. “For the bodies we have. We’re gonna release them in high orbit over Neptune. Again, should take about two years for the bodies to fall into the planet and burn up. And what are you all smiley about?”

  “I have Gnaga working with Jane on the new reactors. And Bontu and his crew are down in bay one helping clean up.”

  “Yeah, so what are you smiling about? Is it what Jane was telling me about?”

  Mace shook his head. “She doesn’t waste any time, does she? And no. Can’t I just be in a good mood? We did manage to escape that Dauntless behemoth. That forward cannon may be the most powerful weapon they have. If we can defend against that, we have nothing to fear.”

  Johnny frowned. “I don’t know what you’ve been drinking, but I want some of it. Please tell me why we have nothing to fear.”

  Mace sat in the captain’s chair. “We have nothing to fear because according to both Gnaga and the Mawga, it’s us that is to be feared. Humans. According to them, we could take control of any Union ship out there… if we can get aboard. They seemed very confident about that. And if you think about it, this ties directly into why we think the Mawga came to Earth in the first place. They wanted us in their armies. Now the fact that Union ships have shown up tells me they want control. Not sure how well that will sit with Stark.”

  Johnny replied, “Lord help us if they start giving Stark those Dauntless ships.”

  Johnny leaned in on the armrest of Mace’s chair. “So, if we’re this weapon of terror, how exactly do we get aboard those ships?”

  Mace stroked his beard. “We keep adding reactors and transducers until their cannons can’t break through our dampening field. After that, we only need pull alongside with our grappling and cut our way inside.”

  Johnny smirked. “And what happens if they decide to turn and race away. No grappling is gonna keep hold of one of those massive ships. The arms would just snap right off.”

  Mace continued with his stroking. “I wonder if we could outfit a shuttle? It’s small. We could easily beef up the grappling for that to keep it bound to that ship. I’ll have Jeff and David do the calculations. There should be adequate room to stuff a couple of those full reactors aboard. Pack a bunch of transducers on her hull and voila! We have our raiding vessel.”

  Johnny shook his head. “You pack two reactors on there, just how many soldiers you think it could carry?”

  Mace replied, “According to Gnaga and Bontu, we would only need a couple.”

  Johnny laughed. “A couple? It would take a couple of us two weeks just to walk and check every room on that ship. That thing was huge.”

  Mace smiled. “I kind of agree with you. Two is not
enough. I was thinking more like a team of four. You could split into two pairs of two if you needed to work your way around an obstacle.”

  Johnny rubbed his forehead. “Sounds like you’re serious about this.”

  Mace nodded. “I am. Imagine us having that dreadnought as a resource.”

  “You do realize that would be all-out war with the Union. They might have thousands of those ships. Or even bigger ones.”

  Mace said, “They do have bigger ones, we know that much. The question is, do they have bigger guns?”

  “So when do we start on this grand venture?”

  “I think we just did. Oh, and I have a new name for us. I didn’t care for Stark’s people laughing because of our acronym. So we are no longer the EAFF. We’re the Confederate Alliance.”

  Johnny began to laugh hysterically.

  Mace asked, “What? What’s so funny about that?”

  Johnny settled himself down. “So you thought it good to make us the Confederacy?”

  Mace shrugged. “Sure. Why not? It’s not like we’re for slavery or anything. And I thought the tie in to the cave was kind of fitting.”

  “So you made us the Confederacy… and we’re fighting the Union. If I recall, the Union won last time.”

  Mace shook his head. “Yeah, crap. I didn’t even think of that. Well what would you suggest?”

  Johnny laughed. “Well, not the Galactic Confederacy.”

  Mace chuckled. “When I picked that I was thinking the Federation and the Rebel Alliance had already been taken.”

  Johnny replied, “OK, how about Mace’s Raiders?”

  “This isn’t about me.”

  “The Minglers, Cohabitators, the Blend?”

  “Now you’re just making fun of me.”

  Jasper walked up. “How about the Free Faction?”

  Johnny thought for a moment. “That’s not bad.”

  Jasper took a breath. “The Rift?”

  Mace slowly nodded. “I like that one. A serious break in friendly relations—not that we were friendly with any of them before—but it does make a statement.”