by Saxon Andrew
“But I thought there were thousands of civilizations that moved around this space.”
“Actually, they’re scattered around in several galaxies and the members do have codes that them allow to move freely. But you do not. All the planets have defenses. They had them before they were accepted into the Guild and they kept them afterwards. Move inside that distance and you will be attacked by those planets’ warships or ships from the Mercenary Guild from planets that hired them to defend them. By the way, what happened to those two Mercenary White Ships?”
“We destroyed them,” Ed answered.
Ayet’s head tilted, “That is not a good thing.”
“Why?”
“Because they will be looking for those ships and will punish anyone that harms a member of their guild.”
“They were bombing Earth!”
Ayet looked at Jillian, “Won’t make a difference. The Mercenaries are by law entitled to attack any planet they’re contracted to attack. If there are any issues around that, the harmed party will take it up in the Law Center with the one who did the contracting. The Mercenaries were just fulfilling their contract. Their Guild will go to find out what happened to their ships and pilots.”
“We don’t have that option.”
Ayet looked at Ed, “No, you don’t. You are not a recognized member of the Guild.” The cabin was silent and Ayet said, “The Urrik is the species that fly the mercenary ships and they have the intelligence of a large rock. However, no species can match their ability to fly a warship.”
“Their planet must be a heavy-gravity world.”
“It is. That’s why they’re so good.”
“Ed killed both of them.”
Ayet looked at Ed and saw him nod. “I’m impressed. Did you take them both on at the same time?”
“No, and if I had, I would have lost.”
“What are we up against, Ayet?”
Ayet looked at Jillian and sighed, “The Mercenary Guild is one of the largest in the Guild Civilization.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“They’ll probably send a few transports to investigate and if you manage to survive, by some miracle, they’ll send a full fleet.”
“Is there any way around this?”
Ayet shrugged, “I suppose if the Gread that took out their contract comes and accepts responsibility for their deaths, that might get you out of their crosshairs, but that’s a reach.”
“How many white ships are on their transports? Ed asked.
“About a thousand or so on the typical transports. That’s probably what they’ll send the first time.”
Ed blew out a breath and said, “Thank you for answering our questions.”
“Sorry about the gun to the head and all that at the beginning. I didn’t know you were human.”
Jillian shrugged, “Forget it.”
Ayet sighed and said, “Will you deliver a message for me.”
Jillian looked at him and said, “Sure.”
“Tell Jimmy’s mother that I’m truly sorry for forcing myself on her. I’ve always felt huge guilt for doing that.”
“I’ve talked to his mother a few times and she believes that Jimmy was a gift from the Gods. She says it was his birth that saved her. I don’t think you should have any guilt and I’m sure she’d agree.”
Ayet’s eyes brightened, “You just removed a heavy weight from me. If I can help you, come back and let me know.”
“Do you have an advanced warship we can rent?” Ed asked.
“Sorry, that’s one thing I’d never do. Renting the Gread that ship capable of moving asteroids still troubles me today but I had no options but to do it.”
Ed looked at Jillian in the mirror, “I think we have what we came here for.” Jillian nodded and Ayet said, “I’m going to give you my clearance code. If you do come back, you won’t be challenged.”
“Won’t that cause you some issues?”
“No, most will just assume I rented you your ship. If I’m questioned, I’ll just say it was stolen from a ship I rented to someone else.”
Ayet told Ed how to enter the code into the stardrive’s databank and Ed said, “Thank you.”
Ayet smiled, “Don’t mention it,” and immediately disappeared.
• • •
Ed sat in his chair in silence and Jillian allowed him space without interruption. Finally, he said, “We need to go home.” Jillian nodded and Ed entered Earth’s coordinates in the stardrive. He pressed the orange button and the grey-field surrounded the Striker. The ship turned and headed away from the brown and green planet below them.
Jillian waited until the Striker was close to the outer edge of Andromeda before saying, “What are we going to do?”
“Change one of the Rail-Guns.”
“Say what?”
Ed’s smile was little more than a grimace, “We’re going to add a Rail-Shotgun.”
“What is that?”
“The White Ship’s worst nightmare.”
“How is that possible, Ed.”
“The way to beat someone is to use their strength against them.”
Ed explained his idea before they left the outer edge of Andromeda and Jillian knew he was right. Ed pressed the blue button and stared out at the black void between the galaxies. Jillian released her belts, walked around Ed’s chair, and sat in his lap. “The view is so much better up here.”
“There’s nothing to see but a dark empty void, Jillian.”
“Even darkness can be beautiful.” He felt uncomfortable but after a while, he put his arms around her and she leaned back on his chest. They fell asleep and for the first time, in such a very long time, Ed felt at peace.
• • •
The Urrik Guild Master looked at his apprentice and said angrily, “I ANSWERED THEIR QUESTIONS!!”
“The Enforcer states that the contract you made with the Gread had page one on the top corner. He wants to see page two.”
“THERE IS NO PAGE TWO. CAN’T THE IDIOT SEE THE SIGNATURES ON THE BOTTOM?!”
“We’re going to have to get an official declaration of facts from that Female Gread Assistant stating that it was only one page.”
The Guild Master lowered his eyes, “You already know what she is going to say, I trust.”
The apprentice shrugged, “She’ll say she does not have the authority to sign official documents.”
The Guild Master shook his head and sneered, “Get that Big-Head to get what’s needed.”
“He’s going to charge us.”
“WE’RE TOO DEEP INTO THIS NOW!”
The apprentice bowed, “I’ll contact him.”
The Guild Master knew dealing with the Enforcers could be lengthy and costly but this was getting out of hand. He sent a message to the Big-Head to appear and bring an accounting of what he had charged the guild. The next day, the affidavit magically appeared. The Guild Master smiled when it arrived and knew what he had to do to end this utter nonsense.
Chapter Ten
Ed and Jillian sat in the Director’s conference room and replayed the conversation they had with Ayet. As soon as he appeared, Jillian pressed the record button on her console. She was reasonably certain Ayet knew he was being recorded but he didn’t appear to care. Rachel smiled, “He doesn’t appear to have aged a day.” Jimmy nodded.
His father looked very much like an oriental human, except for his pale white skin and blue hair. Ed had stared at Jimmy surreptitiously when he wasn’t watching and saw that Jimmy’s deep set eyes were more narrow than normal. So were Rachel’s and his other children. He looked for something to prove the Alien had not told the whole truth…but the more he looked…he sighed. When Jimmy didn’t denounce Ayet being his father, he had all the proof he needed to know he was being honest.
Jimmy’s mother was invited to the meeting and after the recording ended, Candice turned to Jillian, “You were absolutely right about my feelings. Thank you.” Jillian nodded and Candice stood up, “I’m g
oing to leave you to your meeting.” She looked at Jimmy and leaned down to kiss him on the cheek, “Thank you for inviting me.”
“I thought you should see it, Mom.” Candice smiled and left the room. Jimmy looked around the table and said, “What are we going to do about this?”
The attendees were silent and after a long moment, Ed said, “I have a few questions.” Everyone turned to him and Ed looked at Suzette, “Why did you choose to use round balls in the Rail-Weapons?” Suzette’s head tilted and Ed quickly said, “I mean, most of the rounds we’ve used in the past were pointed and cylindrical in shape.”
Patrick said from the end of the table, “That was my idea. We fired that metal ball out of Earth’s orbit and the round-shape moved freely through the Rail’s magnets.”
“Why do you ask?” Jimmy responded.
“I was just wondering if the Rails could only fire ball shaped rounds.”
Jimmy looked at Patrick and he shrugged, “We’ve never tried any other shapes, Jimmy.” Patrick looked at Ed, “Why do you ask?”
Ed held up his hands, “I intend no disrespect; you’ve invented a powerful weapon.”
Suzette said, “But…”
Ed shrugged, “I thought about some of the old warplanes used in our past and I kept coming back to the Warthog.”
“Warthog?” Rachel asked.
Ed looked around the table and only Juan seemed to know what he was talking about, “You’re talking about the A-70?”
“I am.”
Jimmy looked at Juan, “What is the A-70?”
Ed said, “If you look in the Community’s database, there are recordings of it in action.” Jimmy looked at Rachel and nodded.
The wall monitor came on and they watched a weird looking plane, with two jet engines attached to the top of its airframe, attacking a tank convoy. Ed said, “It was nicknamed the Warthog because it flew missions so close to the ground. It was used against heavily armored vehicles.” The view changed and they watched a Warthog attacking an armored column in the Iraqi War. The devastation of the column was incredible.”
Jimmy raised an arm and Rachel paused the video, “What are saying, Ed.”
Ed looked at Rachel, “Scroll down to the file titled General Electric Gatling Gun.” Rachel nodded and they saw a huge gun mounted in a huge mount. A voice said, “Fire in three, two, one...” The front of the gun disappeared in a cloud of smoke and gas. The armored tank three-hundred yards away blew apart. They continued to watch and the gun was shown from the front in slow motion. The barrels were rotating and rounds were coming out at a rate that had the attendees shaking their heads.
Ed smiled, “The Warthog was built for the sole purpose of carrying that gun and it fired rounds almost as fast as our Rail-Guns.” Everyone turned to Ed and he said, “The reason those barrels were rotating so fast was to prevent them from overheating. The powder charges in the rounds were hot!” Ed paused, “However, the Rail-Guns don’t use gunpowder to operate. They could fire every barrel simultaneously.”
Juan looked at Ed, “There’s another reason you asked about the shape of the rounds the Rail-Weapons use?”
Ed looked at Rachel, “Pull up the file on the rounds used in the Gatling?”
An image of a huge round appeared and Ed said, “Notice how the body of the shell is much larger than the round it fires; it tapers down to the projectile.”
Ed waited and then said in the silence, “General, the balls did blow a large hole in the back piece of the white metal those White Ships used for their hulls. I don’t think it would do that if it had some space between the metal walls.” Juan shrugged and Ed continued, “I want a round that creates a large hole when it hits.”
“What are you suggesting, Commodore?”
Ed pointed at the round on the monitor, “What if you had a hardened magnetic band at the front edge of that round just before it tapers. Maybe even have an edge of it slightly in front of the taper. When it hits, the pointed front of the round would continue through the White Ship and the front edge of the hardened band would be forced up…”
Juan smiled, “Blowing a large hole in the polymer hull.”
Ed nodded. “If you use the hardened magnetic band to hold the point and body of the round together, you’d get a small hole puncture along with a high-velocity metal band widening the hole behind it.”
Jimmy looked at Suzette, “Is this a possibility?”
“We can make a few rounds and see.” She turned to Ed, “Why did you focus on the multi-barrels. There’s no way a gun that large can be put in the strikers!”
“It doesn’t have to be that large. Remember, the Rails don’t use powder charges, you don’t need to liquid cool them, and the rounds don’t have to be that big. The rounds could actually be about the same mass as the balls; they’ll just have a different effect on what they hit.”
“But why do we need multiple-barrels?” Suzette asked again.
Ed saw everyone looking at him. He glanced at Jillian and saw her nod. He turned back to the group and said, “I want you to imagine you’re a pilot on one of those White Ships and you’ve just moved up behind one of our Strikers. You’re preparing to open fire and a wall of those pointed rounds are fired out of the rear of the ship you’re chasing. They’re coming at you in a funnel shape at a speed that is impossible to avoid. How would you survive that?”
Patrick shook his head, “There’s no room in the rear of a Striker to put that gun.”
Ed looked at him, “I measured the distance between the drive units on my striker and came up with eight-feet. That’s larger than the space the Rail-Cannon takes in the bow.”
“How would you feed the rounds?” Suzette asked.
“Pretty much the same way you do it now. You use an opposite magnetic charge from the magnetized metal bands to pull them into the barrel opening where a spring would push them into the like charged barrel repelling them out of the barrel.”
“Aren’t you worried about the rounds not spinning?” Colonel Carter asked.
Ed tilted his head, “What causes a round to tumble? It’s caused by the round’s movement through air that starts them tumbling, if they’re not weighted right or if the charge is uneven. There is no air to contend with in a space battle. The rounds will leave the barrels and without a force to operate on them, they’ll hold their course.”
“What about the Drive-Units affecting them?”
Ed waved a hand, “The Drive-Unit’s nozzles can be shaped such that they’re wider and not as high. That’s just a detail.”
Suzette shook her head, “Your little detail is a huge problem for us.”
Ed asked, “Why.”
“Commodore, you need to remember that we are in the middle of modifying all the Strikers to the Rail-Weapons. We’re not half-way through that process and to make the changes you’re suggesting is…just not possible. Unless you want to risk not having all of them ready when the mercenary Transports arrive. Remember that all the machine shops and tools to make this happen are only located in this valley.”
Ed stared at Suzette and Jimmy said, “We don’t have a long time, Ed.”
Ed sighed and said, “Then these changes will have to be done after all the Strikers have been modified. If the Mercenaries arrive before we can start making the rear-gun changes, then we’ll do it afterwards, if we manage to win that fight.” Ed looked at Suzette, “You can start building the rear-guns after the Strikers are done?”
Suzette shrugged, “We’ll do the best we can.”
“One other thing.” Everyone looked at Ed. “Is it possible to put a powerful magnetic band around our Striker’s hull?”
“Why would you want that?” Suzette asked.
“If that band can be a like charge to the balls being fired, they would be repelled from our ships if the magnetic field is strong enough.”
Suzette smiled, “That’s easy enough. We’ll use the Striker’s reactors to keep it powered.”
“Can our pilots stand up
to them?” Summer asked.
“We’re going to have to have them chase us out over the Pacific Ocean before we start fighting.”
“Why?” Rachel inquired.
“I don’t think I would want to be on Earth below one of our ships that fires at a White Ship and misses.”
Juan shook his head, “You make an excellent point, Boyer! Neither would I.”
Jimmy looked around the table and asked, “Is there anything else we need to think about.”
“There is!” Jillian answered.
“What is that, Captain Grant?”
“We need a Striker with a stardrive at the edge of our galaxy to give us warning they are on the way. We’ve determined that our Striker is faster than the freighter and I suspect that because of their small size they will be considerably faster than the large transports used by the Mercenary Guild. Once they’re detected, all of our Strikers will leave the Community and fly out to countries that border the Pacific Ocean and power down. At that point, the Community and the three-cities will shut down all power and keep it shut down until this fight is over. If we lose, they’ll stay hidden.”
“How will we get air to them if the power is shut off?”
Suzette looked at Kellie Carter, “We’ll install battery operated fans at all the surface hatches to blow it in from the surface; even our best scanner can’t detect those batteries.”
Jimmy’s eyes narrowed and he looked at Ed and Jillian, “We should have thought of this. Where did you come up with these ideas?”
Jillian shrugged, “One has a lot of time to think when traveling between galaxies.”
Jimmy smiled, “From this moment forward, the two of you are members of our Leadership Team. You will be present at all our future meetings. Congratulations.”
Ed’s face turned red and Jillian smiled.
Rachel nodded and sent a message to Hope, “We need to practice this afternoon.”
“I’ll tell the others.”
• • •
A week later, Suzette found Ed and Jillian in the cafeteria and sat down with them, “I was hoping you would be here.”
“What’s up?” Jillian asked.
“We took a Striker and installed the magnetic band on its hull. We fired a Rail-Gun at it from fifty-feet and the balls were deflected away; none of them hit.”