Changing of the Guard (A Galaxy Unknown - Book 11)

by Thomas DePrima

"But you've said the Denubbewa reduce these cyborgs to mindless drones."

  "That was always our belief, based on the available intelligence. Normally, they do turn the conquered into mindless drones, but now we know that's not always the case. They still need a small number of intelligent individuals to further their goals when science, medicine, and complex technology are involved. The cyborg who wants to defect, along with his fellow scientists who were also turned into cyborgs, were sent here to construct special equipment that would aid in the invasion. He's defected with the equipment they built so now the Denubbewa will have to send replacements to build the equipment they require. That buys us a little time to prepare— perhaps as much as two years."

  "What do you require from us?"

  "We must substantially boost our fleet strength. We need more ships and people. This threat is a thousand times greater than the one we faced from the Raiders, the Milori, the Tsgardi, and the Uthlaro put together."

  "I figured that's where you were heading."

  "Funding is, after all, the one thing only you can provide. With adequate resources, we can protect the G.A. from almost anything. Without the resources, all we can hope for is to slow the eventual takeover by the Denubbewa."

  "And if you get the funding, what will you do with it?"

  "My goal is to strike a blow to the enemy that will reverberate throughout their entire nation and show them that further attacks on us will lead to their doom."

  "And how do you propose to do that?"

  "I want to use their own Cosmic Jump Gate technology against them. I want to open a Cosmic Jump Gate to their home planet and send as large a force of our ships as we can muster to show them that coming here was the dumbest thing they've ever done."

  ~ ~ ~

  "Loretta, what would you do if you learned your budget was suddenly doubled?" Jenetta asked the next day in an executive meeting of the A.B. held in her office.

  "Doubled? Well, after I picked myself up off the floor, I'd start making calls and spending money. First, I'd arrange to double the size of the Lorense-Three shipyard. I'd arrange for new enclosed docks, with at least two being twice the size of the largest dock we have at present in case we have to house any more Denubbewa warships. It also appears we may need a few Ship Transports which are even larger than the Edison. Then I'd start contacting firms we have contracts with and telling them to immediately double all outstanding orders for CPS-16 materials and equipment."

  "Okay," Jenetta said. "Do it."

  "What? Are you serious?"

  "Perfectly. The Senate Council has authorized doubling our appropriation for the next five years."

  "I can't believe it. How did you manage that?"

  "All I did was tell them the Denubbewa plan to invade this part of space with thousands of motherships and hundreds of thousands of warships, turning everyone they capture into cyborgs."

  "And they bought that?" Admiral Burke said.

  "We have proof of the invasion beginning, and I reinforced that by playing a partial recording of what Sywasock told me. It took a little time, but they finally believed we're facing the greatest threat they could imagine. And I guess they can imagine pretty good. The CPS-16s have worked out really well for us. I proposed we expand that program significantly."

  "I agree," Admiral Holt said. "We already have enough Scout-Destroyers to function as command vessels for fifty more squadrons. So we need twelve hundred more CPS-16s and the required habitant containers for ordnance to complete that function."

  "So in doubling the shipyard size, most of the new docks will be devoted to CPS-16s and habitat container construction," Jenetta said. "Do we have a consensus on it? Or does anyone have a different point of view?"

  One by one the admirals all acknowledged that construction of CPS-16s should be the primary focus of the expansion.

  "Loretta," Jenetta said, "where do we stand on the Cosmic Jump Gate education? Are your people picking it up? I mean, are we going to have a cadre of people capable of guiding the new discipline through the development stages?"

  "The people I assigned to the program are the best we have. I would have to answer yes to that question. When Sywasock is finished, they should all understand it as well as he does, and he was the lead for the Denubbewa Cosmic Jump Gate expansion effort."

  "Good. And how much longer do you expect that to take?"

  "It's difficult to say. The science is so new and so foreign when compared to everything we've accepted for so long. But I would say that within ninety days our people will be able to begin putting together a new Cosmic Jump Gate emitter. They might even have ideas for improving the one we have now."

  "I think we should have a backup and a backup to the backup before we start improvising," Admiral Hillaire said.

  "I agree," Admiral Yuthkotl said. "We should learn to crawl effectively before we attempt to walk and run."

  "I've been hoping we could do both," Admiral Plimley said. "That's why I assigned everyone I could spare to this effort. We're not only going to do this, we're going to do it better."

  "How are we going to explain the sudden increase in our annual budget to the media?" Admiral Ressler asked.

  "With an honest and forthright reply that's a bit light on specifics," Jenetta said. "I don't think we should initiate a conversation about the budget increase, but someone is sure to notice the increased appropriation at some point and ask. So we tell them that the first priority of the G.A. Senate, Space Command, and the Space Marines is the safety and security of all G.A. citizens and the planets on which they reside. The increased appropriation will enable the military to greatly improve the security situation in Region Three, which has been only marginally protected since the Uthlaro ceded the region to us following the war they declared against the G.A."

  "I like it," Admiral Burke said. "It's the truth, and yet we don't mention the predicted invasion. If people hear a massive invasion by the Denubbewa is imminent and we're all going to be turned into drones, there'll be riots in the streets of every planet and people will be boarding ships headed out of G.A. space."

  "If we can develop a Cosmic Jump Gate emitter and we can use it to send a fleet of our CPS-16s to Denubbewa space, we should never have to worry about invasion again," Admiral Woo said. "We simply swoop in and trash their infrastructure so badly that they'll have to spend the next ten thousand years rebuilding."

  "But will that stop them for good?" Admiral Ahmed asked.

  "It didn't stop the Milori," Jenetta said. "As soon as they got over the shock of their first defeat, they came at us again."

  "But after you laid waste to their home world, they called it a day," Admiral Burke said.

  "They only stopped because the people rose up and killed Maxxiloth," Jenetta said. "If he had lived, he would have come at us again and again and again. But the Denubbewa might not have a group that can take down their supreme leader or leaders. Our biggest problem is a lack of intelligence. We don't really know who the Denubbewa are or where they come from. We don't know who's in charge or even the form of their command structure. We don't even know if the Cosmic Jump Gate used to support the first invasion experiment is in this galaxy. We're flying totally blind here, and it's damned uncomfortable."

  "Somebody has to know," Admiral Hillaire said.

  "Yes, but who? You've all heard the recordings Christa made and the ones I made. We both tried to get that information, but the cyborgs who will talk to us say they don't know."

  "There was one conversation you had where the cyborg talked of a supervisor having a blue dot on his forehead instead of a red one."

  "Yes, that was with Sywasock. He said the first level supervisor cyborgs have one blue dot on their foreheads, a ship's captain might have three, and the highest level supervisor cyborgs he knew of have five blue dots. So the more dots, the more responsibility and the more knowledge the supervisor has. We'd love to get our hands on one with five blue dots, but how do we find him— or it? We usually can't even get cl
ose to cyborgs. They open fire as soon as they see us and we're forced to return fire and destroy them."

  "We need an inside drone," Admiral Bradlee said.

  "An agent drone."

  "How do we find one who'll cooperate?" Admiral Woo asked.

  "We don't," Admiral Bradlee said. "We make one. If the Denubbewa can program a drone, why can't we? We have a number of drones in those packing containers. Sywasock said some were there so they'd have spare parts. We just take one of the drones to be used for spare parts and reprogram it to work for us."

  "And just how do we reprogram a drone?" Admiral Burke asked.

  "And how do we insert it into a Denubbewa ship without them being aware of our presence?" Admiral Woo asked.

  "Well, I don't know—yet." Admiral Bradlee said. "Hey, I never said it was going to be easy. Does anyone else have a better idea how we can locate and then retrieve one of those top-level supervisors with five blue dots on its head?"

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  ~ November 21th, 2291 ~

  "Christa's here," Jake said excitedly as Christa and Annette entered the nursery. "Hi, Christa."

  Celona stood up and smiled as Ruby rolled over and said, "Hi, Christa."

  "Hi, Jake. Hi, Ruby. Wow, you guys have gotten so big since the last time I was here. You're as big as your parents now."

  "Kyle and Kaycee are getting bigger too— but not as fast," Jake said. "Momma keeps reminding us we must be very careful around them, as if we didn't know."

  "They're still babies, Jake."

  "We know. And we're always careful. We know it will be several more years before we can really play, but we'll wait. They're able to walk a little now, so we're patient."

  "I don't mind a bit that they're still babies," Ruby said. "I just like being with them all day. And I'm teaching Kaycee to talk."

  Christa smiled at her surprise. She never expected the children would learn to talk from the two Jumakas, but it made perfect sense since they were together most of the day.

  "The babies are doing wonderfully," Annette said. "They can stand without falling over and even walk a little, even though they're a bit unsteady on their feet. That'll improve quickly as their leg muscles strengthen with use."

  Christa walked over and picked up Kaycee. "Hi, Kaycee. Do you have a smile for your Auntie Christa?"

  As if she understood every word, Kaycee's face lit up with a big smile. Christa smiled back and then hugged the baby.

  "Oops, someone's a little wet," Christa said as she held the baby in her arms.

  Celona was by her side almost immediately. She took Kaycee and carried her to the changing table.

  Meanwhile, Christa moved over to where Kyle was playing and picked him up.

  "Hi, Kyle," Christa said as she held him out in front of her. "Do you have a smile for your Auntie Christa?"

  Kyle's smile was as wide as Kaycee's. Christa wondered if the babies understood that she wasn't their mommy or if they thought she was Jenetta.

  As Celona finished changing Kaycee, she brought her back to where Annette and Christa were standing.

  Annette took the child and said, "Why don't you take a break, Celona. Christa and I will be in here for a while with the children."

  "Okay, Missus. I'd like to freshen up a bit."

  As Celona left the room, Christa and Annette sat down in two of the overstuffed chairs. Ruby and Jake came over and sat at their feet.

  "Christa, have you heard?" Ruby said. "The resolution to declare us sentient has been sent to the Senate for a vote."

  "No, I hadn't heard, Ruby. I just got in today. I've been far away in Region Three."

  "Yes, we know. Jenetta has shown us maps of where you've been. It doesn't look so far away on the maps, but then she explained how long it takes for light to travel from there to here. It's a very long way from here."

  "Yes, it's very far away. Uh, Ruby, have you ever considered going to a school?"

  "Yes. Jake and I would love to go, but Jenetta says that has to wait until we're recognized as sentient. Jenetta says if that doesn't happen soon, she's going to hire a tutor for us. The tutor can also work with Kyle and Kaycee when they get a little older."

  "Yes, they're still a little too young to understand. Terran babies don't usually start school until they're about five."

  "That's a long time."

  "Yes, but every species is different."

  "We know. But it's difficult to wait."

  "That's what most children say. They can't wait to grow up. Jenetta, Eliza, and I were the same."

  "Did I just hear my name?" Jenetta said from the doorway.

  "Hi, sis. I was just telling Jake that all children are anxious to grow up and be treated as adults."

  "Yes, and once you're an adult you have days when you'd love to be a child again without a care in the universe."

  "Yes, Jake honey," Cayla said. "Don't be too anxious to grow up. Enjoy your carefree days while you have them."

  "Hi, Momma," Jenetta said to Annette.

  "Hello, dear. You're home early."

  "I heard Christa was in port."

  "Uh oh," Christa said.

  "What?"

  "Whenever you hurry home to talk with me, I know I'm going to be saddled with a mission that will make me wonder if I should have taken my time getting here."

  "Well, now that you mention it…"

  "I knew it."

  "Let's go have dinner and we can talk later."

  ~ ~ ~

  "How long will it take us to travel to all of those eighteen possible locations?" Christa asked after learning of the RPs where the Denubbewa might have gone.

  She and Jenetta were sitting in Jenetta's study.

  "We, meaning you and the other squadron commanders, must visit all of them, but you all don't have to visit every one of them. Knowing, as we do now, that the Denubbewa summoned all ships to come have their outer skin replaced with Dakinium, this is our best opportunity to clean house, so to speak. It's imperative that we destroy every single Denubbewa warship. Plus— we need to take one of the senior Denubbewa supervisors prisoner. One with all five, or more, blue dots would be best."

  "What? And how are we supposed to find a Denubbewa with five blue dots on its head among the millions of cyborgs that are either trying to escape from us or kill us?"

  "We're still working on that one."

  "I can't wait to see what you come up with."

  "Roger Bradlee took one of the cyborgs designated as replacements parts by Sywasock and his countrymen and turned it over to his electronics experts. They've downloaded its instruction set and are now trying to replace it with a new set of operating instructions."

  "And?"

  "No success yet, but they continue to work on it."

  "What does Sywasock think?"

  "He says he doesn't know if it's possible but that it might be."

  "But even if it is, how are you going to embed your cyborg into the infrastructure of the Denubbewa in such a way that they'll never realize it's a spy?"

  "As I said, we're still working on that one."

  "Why not just drop it into one of the warships like we do with the WOLaR bombs? We stuff it into a bomb tube and then hit the eject button while we're inside the ship. As it leaves the double envelope, it's immediately back in normal space/time and at a complete rest."

  "Christa, that's brilliant. I'm surprised I didn't think of that."

  "Okay, can the sarcasm."

  "I'm serious. It's brilliant."

  "Enough already."

  "I'm really serious, sis. We've been discussing ways of putting it onto a maintenance sled just outside their scanning range and letting it fly into the Denubbewa fleet area where it would then climb into a ship when maintenance crews returned from outside. But it would take forever to reach the fleet on a sled if it started outside their scan distance. They might see it and question what it was doing so far away, or it might be noticed that there were too many c
yborgs returning in the work party. Then we talked about moving one of the wrecked warships into an area where an emergency signal could be picked up by the Denubbewa ships at the RP and having our cyborg as the only one aboard. But we sort of dismissed that because having a wrecked warship even within a light-year of the RP might cause the RP ships to immediately vacate. But your suggestion is brilliant. The cyborg would already be aboard the ship so no one would question its presence there."

  "Sis, I was joking," Christa said. "We can't drop a cyborg into a Denubbewa ship. Traveling at the speeds our ships attain while in a double envelope means we can't place the cyborg properly. It might come out of the double envelope and be inside a bulkhead. Or it might rematerialize in the overhead of a large storage hold. Or when the envelope dissolves, it could fall a hundred meters and be smashed. Should I go on?"

  "Let me respond to those two. The first one will require some thought, but the second one isn't a problem. We put the cyborg into a Dakinium container like an eggshell to protect it. When the shell stops moving, the cyborg opens it and steps out."

  "Okay but emerging inside a bulkhead is a very real possibility."

  "Yes, it is, but then— maybe not."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Our goal has always been to travel as fast as we could."

  "Of course. Go on," Christa said.

  "Why do we need to travel as fast as we can?"

  "We don't. We can travel at normal light speeds within a single envelope."

  "But in a double envelope, it's always been a choice between Light-9793.48 or Marc-One at Light-14,685.7. However, we can build our double envelope and simply sit there without engaging the drive."

  "Are you saying we should stop while we're inside the Denubbewa warship and then expel the cyborg?"

  "Why not?"

  Christa started laughing uncontrollably, and Jenetta joined her.

  When they started to get their laughing under control, Christa said, "I think we just redefined the entire procedure. We've been traveling at full speed because that's the normal reaction to a WOLaR bomb that's about to detonate. But they can't harm us while we're in the double envelope, unless…"