“Very good,” Jack said.
Later on, after meetings with the Doomat leaders, he and the other captains would have a fleet battle conference. Likely in the Admiral’s Mess of the Bismarck, since he wanted his entire crew there with him. There was much to discuss. Such as how to defeat the Isolation Globe that surrounded the Megurk system. The nature of the Megurk Hunters themselves, which he bet would be shared by the Doomat using data from their archives. The next step in their exploration of the threat posed by the Arbitors had to be decided on. Jack did not know all the answers he needed to know. Perhaps his fleet comrades could help him find them. Or some of them. Whatever happened in the conference, he was certain of one thing. There would be charbroiled steaks, great booze and fine cigars to smoke at the end of it!
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jack followed Maureen into the Admiral’s Mess on the Bismarck, a room big enough for 30 people. Eight ship captains plus all of his crew sat at the oval table in the middle of the room. At the far end was the large wallscreen, which currently showed the true-light image of Green Grass. To their left, standing beside an AutoChef device, stood Warrant Officer Menami in Mars red. She gave them a quick nod and amiable smile. Hideyoshi was seated at the far end of the table. Jack walked to its near end, where two seats were open between Nikola and Max. He and Maureen sat. The two days since their arrival at Mother’s Eye station had been busy. They had seen each other only upon their return to the Uhuru to collapse on their waterbed. She gave him a tender smile, then winked at Maureen. Who lifted her eyebrows, then nodded warmly to Gareth who sat across from her. A glance told him the rest of his crew was already here, leaving his ship uncrewed for once. A choice he thought safe given the fact the other eight ships of the fleet had combat commanders monitoring Sensor feeds.
“Admiral Hideyoshi, please advise me on the status of yours and Maureen’s talks with the Doomat Herd Defenders. Have you armed their ships and are they able and willing to mount a defense of this system?” he said, locking his hands together to stop the shakes that he always felt before a big gathering of people.
The man with the most combat experience of any of them pursed his lips. “Fleet Captain Jack, with the help of Ship Guider, Combat Commander Maureen and I have had six meetings with the senior males of the six ships now at this station.” He nodded to the rear wallscreen, which showed the world Green Grass, the giant red globe of the station plus the nine fleet ships and six bumblebee-shaped Doomat ships. “Your Max and my Mech Shop engineers have helped them mount neutral particle beam accelerators and HF gas lasers. Their ships are larger than an Earth frigate but smaller than your Uhuru. They had enough room for the second fusion reactor needed to power these weapons.”
“Good news! Thank you for your efforts.” Jack fixed on Blodwen, who sat to his right. She was holding hands with Max. Who seemed both very happy and eager to spill something. “Blodwen, were you and Denise able to get data on the Megurk Hunters? Any data on what the Megurk did for them to be put under an Isolation Globe?”
The woman looked down at a yellow datapad, similar to the ones brought to the table by most of the folks in attendance. She looked up and gave him a nod. “Yes.” She tapped her datapad. “I’m putting up a holo image of a Megurk in the middle of this table.”
A person-high holo swirled and then solidified above the table.
“Shit!” cried Max. “The Smok Wawelski!”
“That reminds me of our Hindu demon Vritra,” Aashman said from the far end of the table where he sat next to Hideyoshi.
Slim, petite Akemi winced. “Or a Himalayan Buddhist demon,” she murmured. “Our Ryū is very different.”
Júlia looked fascinated. “That resembles our Coca.”
“A wyvern,” Archibald grunted, his expression bothered.
Ignacio, wearing his black boina, was wide-eyed. “Our Herensurge!”
“That resembles Neak,” Kasun said, sounding surprised.
“A lohikäärme!” Minna gasped, looking shocked.
Gareth frowned. “A black Y Ddraig Goch!”
A dragon stood before them. At least Jack thought it resembled the antique images he had seen of such creatures from Nordic, Welsh, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Japanese and Hindu mythology. It was black-scaled, reptilian long, had two black wings, and stood on two giant legs with two smaller front legs that had talon-tipped fingers. Its long head was filled with knife-like teeth that resembled those of a crocodile. From its head to the end of it long tail there ran a line of triangular plates the size of Jack’s hand. Which made this creature easily as large as the T-rex dino of the Arbitor culture. Two shiny black eyes were fixed on him. He wondered if these Megurk dragons breathed fire, as the Western dragon motif claimed they did.
“Well, it sure looks like an apex carnivore!” he muttered. Pulling his gaze away he fixed on Denise, who sat next to Blodwen. “ComChief, guess there is no textbook on the Animal Ethology of dragons?”
She grinned, then put her elbows on the table and leaned forward, as if she now enjoyed being the center of group attention. “True. But this is a real creature, a thinking Tech-capable species that had FTL stardrive, ship weapons and a Hunt territory that included twelve subject people star systems. Until the Arbitors shut them down.” She paused, glanced down at her own datapad, then up. “As reptiles, one can assume a society in which most adult Megurk were solitary in their social behavior, but clearly they cooperated to build a deadly Tech civilization. If the Megurk had clans, then perhaps each subject people system was the domain of a separate clan.” She looked to their Sociologist. “But I’m guessing about that. Blodwen, what did the Doomat archives say about Megurk culture?”
Their Welsh lass crossed bony arms atop the table. Her behavior, which earlier had been affectionate with Max, now showed her trademark no-nonsense manner. She scanned the people around the table. “Denise’s guess is accurate, based on the Doomat records. This system was controlled by the Hakmodo clan of the Megurk Imperiate. They dominated the Doomat for 900 years. Then they vanished within a few days. Shortly thereafter the Rizen lion-rhinos arrived, defeated a Doomat ship crew in Challenge to Combat, and took control of this system.” She glanced down at her datapad, then up. She pointed at the holo. “Megurk dragons like that one first appeared as a Hunter of the Great Dark 1,500 years ago. According to Doomat records, the Megurk did share some Tech with the Doomat, and while they too ate young calves on an annual offering basis, their colony in this system was small. Just a million Megurk. Who lived on an island in the southern ocean, in its tropical zone.”
Jack nodded. “That’s a start. What did the Megurk do to get themselves Isolated?”
Blodwen’s look turned sour. “They ate the young of two fellow Hunter cultures. Whom they defeated in the process of gaining their Hunt territory subject peoples.”
Jack frowned. “I don’t understand. That is something only done with subject peoples.”
“True.” Blodwen nodded at the holo. “Here’s a clearer example. What would you call it if the Nasen conquered our seven Freedom Alliance systems, came to Sol, beat our fleets, and landed on Earth, then proceeded to eat human offerings?”
“An abomination.”
She tapped her datapad. The dragon holo vanished to be replaced by the Isolated system data given them by Nalik. The holo was focused on the Megurk system, its twelve subject systems and how those systems were now controlled by the Rizen, Yiplak and Gyklang Hunters. “So thought an Arbitor 300 years ago. In short, the Megurk violated a prime rule of the Hunters system. You do not treat other Hunters as if they are subject peoples to be munched on.”
Well, that explained why things now existed the way they did. And how the Doomat system passed from Megurk to Rizen control. “Well, myself, I’m kinda glad these Megurk are Isolated!”
“Just so,” Hideyoshi said from the opposite end of the table. His thinning black hair had receded even further since the last time Jack had seen him in person. Why didn’t the man make use
of gene therapy to replace the lost hair? Or was there some Japanese cultural reason for going bald on top? “So. We have answered two issues. The Doomat now have weaponed ships and their senior male captains are ready to defend this system. And we know why the Megurk Hunters were Isolated.” The man paused, then held up a hand, one finger raised. “However, I am more interested in Doomat Tech knowledge. So far, humanity has gained the X-ray Petal Shield from the BooMak, the MagPulse Bomb from the Niktoren and the ability to create Dark Matter from the Melagun. Chief Astronomer Nikola, have your research talks with the Doomat Sky Watch sisters produced any science of interest?”
Nikola rested both brown arms on the table as she leaned forward. She gave them all an easy smile. “Yes, Admiral Hideyoshi, the Sky Watch sisters and their allied researchers have developed stuff we can use. Their engineers have a memory alloy that is more flexible and has greater ability to return to shape than the nickel, titanium and copper alloy developed early this century by Professor Manfred Wuttig. Their memory alloy will surely replace the alloys we now use in our high and low temp pumps, and in the medical devices we implant.” She paused, looked around the table, then gestured at the rear wallscreen. “Second, they have outstanding virus fabricators. Similar to the kind America developed early this century that everyone now uses in their Mech Shops to construct repair parts from a soup of minerals. Only the Doomat fabricators can operate in vacuum. That red station was entirely built by virus fabricators. All the Doomat had to do was to feed them a steady diet of steel, titanium, copper, molybdenum, rare earths and similar stuff.” She frowned. “Which makes the Rizen insistence on dangerous vacsuit mining in the Rock Fields asteroid belt an even greater stupidity.”
Jack held up a hand. “Nikola, thank you for your science research efforts with the Sky Watch sisters. Were they able to share neutron star and black hole info with you? Those are your lifelong research interests.”
His lifemate gave him her Woman Superior look. Though her pale blue eyes sparkled with humor. “Of course they did. I shared my work with them, along with the research work of Nalik of the Nasen. As Admiral Hideyoshi has noted, combining the sciences of multiple civilizations does result in advances for humanity.”
“Quite so.” Jack looked around the table. Everyone was attentive but relaxed. Many were enjoying Europa Light Ale beers brought to them by the AutoChef attendant. Ignacio was holding hands with Elaine, while Júlia and Kasun seemed quite amiable in how they sat next to each other. Akemi and Minna, the two deadliest women next to Maureen, both resembled hawks ready to swoop down on prey. Meanwhile, Gareth was showing Aashman something on his datapad. “People! As Hideyoshi noted we have solved two issues. But the biggest issue remains. How the fuck do we collapse an Isolation Globe? Or penetrate the Alcubierre shield of the Arbitor ship?” He sat back and grinned. “Well, I think I’ve figured out a solution to both.”
“What!” cried Archibald, his rad-tanned face looking shocked. The man peered at him intently. “Captain Jack, explain! Uh, please.”
Once a professor, always a professor. He forgave the man for being so abrupt. “Well, the explosion of our Lander when it hit the Megurk system Isolation Globe shell made me wonder. What if we take a really big ship, like one of the Mars destroyers, automate it to go Alcubierre FTL with suitable programming, and aim it at the Isolation Globe? Better yet, why not aim it at the Arbitor ship the next time we encounter it? Since the collision of two Alcubierre space-time bubbles causes one of them to explode, perhaps by engine overload, maybe we can overload the shield of the Arbitor ship. Or even the Isolation Globe itself!”
Archibald’s expression went from surprise to thoughtfulness. The ruddy-haired man glanced to Max. “You want to explain?”
What the? Jack had thought Max had something he was eager to share, but had assumed it related to his and Blodwen’s romance. Not so, apparently. “Buddy, explain what?”
Max crossed muscular arms over his flat belly. He hummed low, then gave Jack an eager smile. “Boss, your idea is something Archibald and I discussed during our trip from Megurk to here. As you noted, it seems like an obvious answer. An answer nobody ever knew about cause most folks do not go around crashing FTL ships into each other. But.” His stocky, black-haired buddy gave a nod to Archibald, then fixed back on Jack. “ But the problem is power. Power to the Alcubierre space-time globe is what matters. The Megurk Isolation Globe is likely powered by Dark Energy passing through the Isolation Globe device put next to its sun by the Arbitor ship some 300 years ago. No amount of fusion reactors can equal the power going into that globe. Which means your automated destroyer would blow up just like the Lander.”
He liked his idea and was not about to give up. “Well, what if somehow we built a solar system size Alcubierre space-time globe and aimed it at the Megurk globe. Wouldn’t that collapse it?”
Max looked to Archibald. “Your turn.”
The Brit professor gave a nod to Max, then fixed on Jack. “Captain, you would need access to Dark Energy to power such a giant FTL ship globe. But even if you did, and such a giant ship globe hit the Megurk Isolation Globe and collapsed it, that would be a disaster.” The man gave a sigh. He gestured at the rear wall image of Green Grass. “Every planet in the Megurk system, perhaps everything solid, would likely blow up from the massive energies directed inward by such a collapse. There’s a chance the Megurk star itself would go nova. So. Even if you could collapse the Isolation Globe this way, you would have only flaming embers left to visit. If that.”
Shit! Jack wanted badly to find a way to defeat this Isolation Globe. But not at the cost of species genocide. While he had killed two billion HikHikSot by pushing moon fragments onto one of the two inhabited planets of their system, he’d left the second world alone. Even that gesture of restraint had left him feeling bad as he watched HikHikSot rescue ships trying madly to evacuate their people from the doomed world to their other home world. He frowned at Archibald, then turned to Max. “So there is no way to defeat such a globe? But couldn’t an automated destroyer in FTL zap the shield around the Arbitor ship?”
His buddy nodded yes slowly. “That might be possible. Though if the Arbitor ship’s protection field is also powered by Dark Energy, then your destroyer might just blow up. If it was strong enough to overpower the protective shield, then the Arbitor ship would blow up.”
Jack grimaced. “You two seem to have anticipated my Big Answer. Which now has fatal holes in it. Do you folks have a better answer?”
Max smiled widely. “We do! That’s why Archie and I were looking forward to this meeting. We think we have an answer.”
The man did not continue. This was frustrating. “Yes? Who the fuck is going to tell me about this mystery answer of yours!”
Max gestured to Archibald. Who seemed to be enjoying Jack’s frustration. “Captain Jack, of course you are tops at space combat and Alien negotiations. But Max and I, we’ve spent our lives studying subatomic physics, quantum mechanics and high-energy particle collisions. Max of course did it on the applied level.”
Jack thumped the stone table with his knuckles. “Understood. Somebody come out with it!”
Briefly Archibald looked hurt. Then his love of particle physics overwhelmed him. “It’s simple, really. Like the universe itself. In short, if the Isolation Globe is really powered by Dark Energy as we think it has to be in order to last for millennia, then we just need to produce our own Dark Energy. Which we then aim at the center of the globe so we can, hopefully, overload the Isolation Globe device that is sucking on the DE that is constantly filling the universe and causing it to expand. If we can overload the device, it dies, the Isolation Globe collapses, no planet is harmed and access to the system is restored.”
Amazement hit him. There was a wild kind of logic to Archie’s solution. “So how do we produce our own Dark Energy. Or the DE as you called it.”
Archie nodded to Max. Who now seemed to glow under the admiring eyes of Blodwen. “Jack, well, we need to hea
d back to Sol system. Then we go to Vesta and convince Archie’s lady friend Agnes to let us dismantle her particle accelerator. Recall it has been modified to produce Dark Matter for the creation of our own grav-pull drives, through making our own Thorne Exotic Matter globes?” Across the table Archibald had flushed red at the mention of Agnes Cumberland of the New Physics Research Institute on Vesta. Max winked at the Brit. “Well, you see, Archie and I figure that if we can disassemble the Vesta accelerator, then wrap it around the hull of one of Hideyoshi’s destroyers, and power it with the third fusion reactor on the destroyer, well, we could accelerate Dark Matter to near lightspeed and thereby produce Dark Energy. You know, it’s an updated version of the old E=MC² of Professor Einstein.”
Jack felt amazed again. There was a masterful logic to the solution proposed by his two physics geniuses. If they really could accelerate Dark Matter to near the speed of light, then it should convert to Dark Energy. “Great. But how do we avoid blowing up the destroyer? Recall last century’s first efforts with hydrogen fusion? We now call them thermonukes. You want us to somehow fuse Dark Matter so it puts out Dark Energy. Nice idea. But it sounds really dangerous to me.”
Max waved a hand nonchalantly. “Details, details. Our theory and equations say it will work. Making it happen is just engineering. Hey, Archie and I, we figured out how to replicate the Alcubierre FTL pedestal we salvaged off the Rizen hulk, didn’t we? We can figure out this Dark Energy projector.”
Jack hoped so. He really really wanted to defy the absolute rules of the Arbitors. While he accepted that all cultures needed basic rules for those societies to operate, he had always admired his Grandpa’s Can-Do attitude. Something the man said most Americans of the past had accepted as a natural part of old America. Before the Communitarians took over and insisted on everyone being the same, despite obvious differences in ability among some people. Those folks who defied the Cooperative Consensus of the Communitarian Unity had fled out to the Asteroid Belt to build there a new American commonwealth. Which now included allies from the Moon and Mars. He looked to the man whose help would be vital to achieving the vision of Max and Archie. “Admiral Hideyoshi, think you could find a destroyer for these guys to play with? And crew willing to serve alongside two math lunatics?”
Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) Page 17