The Colonel walked with his two aides down the hall behind the robot. When he entered the room with the portal he at first had a strange look on his face.
The Colonel spoke, “Is that what I think it is?”
I took control of the comm from Frig. “Colonel, we have MREs stacked up and waiting to send through this portal. We need you to coordinate an effort on your end to receive and distribute them. We can send through as many as you can handle. I would suggest putting together a team to stockpile the meals and while that is happening figure out how to distribute them without drawing attention of the Dakar and Prassi.”
The Colonel replied, “What about blasters? We could use a few hundred thousand of those right now. Get us armed and we will go get what food we need.”
I responded, “I’m sure you would Colonel, but let’s concentrate of getting everyone fed for now. We can then begin planning what’s next. We have a few ideas we want to run past you and your team.”
The Colonel replied, “I’m just blowing steam Grange. We have a long way to go before we are ready to strike out. I look forward to planning things out.”
The Colonel assembled a team and the MREs were soon pouring through the portal. After a few initial hiccups, we had 20,000 MREs an hour moving. The Colonel’s men began to organize groups for dispersing the meals in as quiet a manner as possible.
On the second day a Prassi guard decided to stray from his normal routine. Several of the Marines were caught with meals in hand.
The Prassi guard aimed his weapon and spoke, “Where did you get that?”
The Marines were silent.
The Prassi raised his weapon. “Answer me now or I will scatter your particles all over that far wall!”
One of the Marines raised his hand in a calming manner. “We found them in a closet. These are the last of them. Please don’t tell anyone outside this room. We were starving and horded them to ourselves.”
The Prassi gestured for the Marine to slide the remaining portion of the MRE across the floor to him. The Prassi picked up the MRE package a sniffed.
The Prassi winced and spoke, “That is disgusting. You are not allowed Human food. I will have to report this.”
The Marine replied, “Before you go tell your commander, think about this. The meals have already been eaten. If you report them now you only risk punishment for not closely watching your prisoners. There won’t be any reward for alerting them to something that happened on your watch. The meals are gone. Just let things be and it might save you a lot of trouble.”
The Prassi hesitated as he thought about the logic of the Human captive. The Marine was right. It was trouble he did not need.
The Prassi spoke as he waved the end of his blaster rifle at the Marines, “I will be watching. If you are found with food I will be here to pull this trigger. Movements in the hallways will be restricted on my watch. I hope you have enjoyed you last meal Human. Your time is limited anyway.”
After leaving the room the Prassi guard began to bark commands at the Human captives who moved about the hallways. On his watch, there would be no travel between rooms, only confinement to the one you were in when his shift began. If other guards wanted to allow the Humans to move about, that was their business.
From that point forward the Colonel’s men were vigilant about keeping track of the Prassi guards when meals were being eaten. A series of hand signals was used to pass guard locations about. It was only the beginning of the rebellion that was to come, a rebellion to free all men.
Several days later the Grid military personnel were located in section Vega-19. A similar setup was arranged and MREs were soon being delivered at a breakneck pace. The Dakar were in charge of the Grid prisoners in Vega, but just as with the Prassi, they were bored and cared less about anything the prisoners did so long as they stayed put in their places and remained quiet.
A lack of vigilance and poor training had been the catalyst for many an uprising as told of in the archives. The Dakar and Prassi guards were regular soldiers, trained in combat. Their only orders were to shoot prisoners if they caused any problems. After weeks of quiet behavior the Dakar and Prassi had fallen into routines that were predictable and offered the minimum of security. Under those conditions, our focus was quickly turned towards the coming rebellion. We would fight to regain control of our home, the great station we called Grid-4!
Chapter 10
Permanent comm connections had been established to the Grid military, the Colonel and our Intel teams on the Grid. Strategies for a potential battle on the Grid were taking shape.
The Colonel spoke, “We have to get control of the gravity drive or we are doomed. Take the drive, jump and then work on the remaining Dakar and Prassi forces. So long as they control that drive they can resupply themselves at-will.”
Admiral Chaulk, the leading commander of the Grid military captives replied, “I disagree, we need our ships. With our ships we can control the space around the Grid and our own resupply. I say we have one team taking Beta bay while a second team takes control of the Grid perimeter guns. Control the space around us and we control our own destiny!”
Admiral Zimmerman offered another alternative. “If we can get a few dozen Raiders we can assault those Dakar ships parked out there and take control in that manner. Most of those ships will only have a single pilot as their occupant. With a few dozen raiders and assault teams we could take control of our space using their fleet. We then transfer our people back to their ships, that includes the Defiant force as well as Grid regulars.”
I stepped into the conversation as I paced around a table on the Suppressor. “Gentlemen, I believe I am going to have to side with the Colonel. We need to get the Grid out of reach of the Durians. The Prassi and Dakar are just pawns. We are going to have to jump.”
Chaulk responded, “We have thousands of people out there right now, trapped on other planets, waiting to come home. If we jump we are abandoning them. Many of those people are our diplomats and their families. How is it that you can abandon them so quickly?”
I replied, “Admiral. We all share your concerns, but those few thousand lives are not in immediate danger. The 600 million here on the Grid are. No one wants to jump. It’s just that we can’t defend against the Durians. Trying to bring up our fleets first will only doom this rebellion and all on this station. The gravity drive must be taken first.”
The discussion continued for a short time. Tempers began to flare as opinions dominated the conversation. An argument was broken when I raised my voice. “Enough! We all value every opinion at this table, they all have merit. But the final decision is mine. I am the commander of this operation and the decision gets made here and now. We take the gravity drive and jump!”
The comm went silent. I continued, “Look. No one wants to stay in this sector more than I do. And if we manage to get control of that drive and to jump, guess who gets left behind.”
“Admiral Chaulk, I understand your concern for our citizens who are not on the Grid. If a jump were to happen, I would do my best to see that every Human in this sector is given the opportunity to join me on this ship as we pursue the Grid. It may take us ten years to catch up, but I would make it my mission in life to do so.”
I continued, “And Zimmerman. You have seen the Durian ships and know what they are capable of. Even if we take control of our space and bring those Grid defenses online, how long do you think we could hold off an assault? If the Durians intervene it is very likely that they will assault the Grid itself, putting millions of lives at stake. I don’t think we can risk that type of an outcome. We take the gravity drive and we jump.”
As the comm went silent I again began to pace the room.
Frig offered his opinion, “Sir. I have to say, that is the most ‘in command’ I think I have ever seen you. Listen to that comm. The silence you are hearing back is due to the respect that you command. I believe you can start planning
the repatriation of the Grid Sir. Let the Colonel and Admirals drive the strategy. Step in only to keep them focused. Making war is what they do. Keep them focused on that and they will do their best.”
I looked at Frig. “Thanks for that Frig. I know I look calm and collected on the outside, but inside I am running in ten different directions. Your confidence in me really helps.”
Frig chuckled, “I would hardly call it confidence Sir. You Humans are a walking mess with your emotional displays. I was merely commenting on your one statement Sir. You made a solid command decision; it was refreshing, that’s all.”
I gave Frig a dirty stare. It did not take long before the corner of his mouth began to quiver as he held back a smile. He had indeed boosted my confidence, but at the same time he had seen to it that my Human emotions had stabilized. I was now ready to lead the others in building a strategy for our freedom. I sat down at the table and again clicked on my comm.
I spoke, “Gentlemen. We have an opportunity to plan an assault that will remove us from the most dangerous situation the Grid and her citizens have ever faced. Occupation of our home is untenable. We need strategies thrown out that will allow us to move this station to safety. Once that plan is in place we can work on the liberation of everyone else.”
“I suspect that both the Prassi and Dakar soldiers on this station can be negotiated with if they don’t have the support of their fleets nearby. The Prassi will fight for their queen, but not if she is many light years away and not in immediate danger. And the Dakar are pragmatists. If they can be convinced that it is in the best interest of their people to give up, they will do so with no regrets.”
I continued, “So, let’s put our first efforts towards taking control of the drive. I’m showing four sections and 152 levels between Zeta-9 and the gravity drive on Lima-22. From Vega-19 we have six sections and 97 levels. We have NIBs and conventional weapons at our disposal as well as standard hand blasters. We took some measurements on the blaster rifles we have and found they won’t fit through the portal. Gy thinks they can be reconfigured, but not without a lot of manpower and time.”
The Colonel spoke, “I would offer this as a first scenario for evaluation: Our Defiant team will take the NIBs and the conventionals and fight our way to the drive. Once we have control Chaulk’s team can start the task of retaking the station while we set the drive to jump.”
Admiral Zimmerman replied, “We should map our path to the drive with way-points as goals. Place our planning focus on achieving each goal before moving to the next.”
Admiral Chaulk commented, “Instead of waiting, we could fight our way to the perimeter guns. If those can be taken we can hold any resupply at bay while the Colonel’s men move on the drive.”
The discussions continued for several minutes before I added my thoughts. “I realize that you three are the war-fighting experts, but I feel I must add in the innocent Human element. Any raging battle on the station puts everyone there at risk. If we are fighting hall to hall there are going to be residual casualties. That is an outcome I want to avoid if at all possible.”
“I would propose an augment to the Colonel’s plan. I believe we need all resources available to take and hold that drive. The Colonel’s team can blaze the trail and Admiral Chaulk’s team will follow up and secure the surrounding area. We will need time to fire up the drive system and set it off. If I recall, that process takes several hours.”
The Colonel spoke, “It takes 93 minutes to come online. After that point it is all acceleration until half of the fuel has been expended. Deceleration uses the other half. It takes about four hours to reach maximum speed. Until that is achieved we will have to defend the control room and the energy feeds. That’s six hours that we are going to have to hold them back before we are safely away.”
Admiral Chaulk replied, “That brings up another issue. There are four different control rooms that have access to the hydrogen store. We need to take control of those rooms. So long as the invaders have one of those rooms they can purge this station of its hydrogen store. Without the hydrogen, we don’t jump.”
Zimmerman spoke, “Chaulk has a good point. We need to secure the drives and everything that feeds into them. The store controls, the feeds to the drive itself, and the power systems that allow those functions to… well, function. We need to broaden our plans to cover these areas.”
As our military experts planned out their strategies I sat back in my chair. I turned to Frig and spoke, “What are the chances that we are able to pull this off?”
Frig replied, “There are too many variables for me to make a meaningful assessment Sir. Can a capture of the gravity drive be achieved? I believe so. Can it be achieved without casualty? Not likely. The physical path on foot from Zeta-9 to Lima-22 is a 92 minute jaunt. From Vega-19 to Lima-22 is a 39 minute ordeal. If combining the path of the Colonel and then that of Admiral Chaulk we have an optimized trek of 107 minutes. That’s 68 minutes from here to the Admiral.”
I replied, “Send those numbers and paths through to the others. You know, I’m really surprised the systems in Zeta and Vega are operational. I would have thought the Durians would have those shut down.”
Frig enabled his comm. “Colonel, this is Frig. Can we assume you are using the computers in Zeta to map out strategies?”
The Colonel replied, “We are only making use of them for reference. And we are adding in a variety of random searches just in case our friends are watching. One of our techs brought that idea up after we first gained access. We thought they might be allowing access so that they could snoop on any plans we might come up with. We have several systems that have been disconnected from the Grid’s network that we are making use of.”
Frig replied, “That is great news Colonel. The thought had only now occurred to me that Grid access might be watched. If the Durians got wind of an impending attack it would surely be doomed.”
Admiral Chaulk replied, “We came to a similar conclusion shortly after the systems came to life. We downloaded the entire Grid schematics to a contour table in the maintenance room and then removed its connection from the network. We have a multitude of points of interest entered into the diagrams. Should the Dakar come into this room and gain access of their own they would see that we were planning to attack an armory in Tau-5. I have no doubt they have beefed up their security surrounding it.”
Frig turned his gaze towards me. “It appears these gentlemen have done this before Sir, but I fear our broadcast of data to them may have put the operation in jeopardy.”
I pressed my comm. “Colonel… Admiral, are the computers setup to accept our data feeds when sent?”
Admiral Chaulk responded first. “Data collection has been turned off on our online systems. We have a single offline system that accepts incoming messages. Once they have been read they are removed and the storage system scrubbed and overwritten. If the Dakar come in here, we don’t want them nosing around into what we have been looking at.”
The Colonel spoke, “We have a similar system in place. If they want any info of what we are planning they will have to pull it out of our heads.”
The initial planning for a raid on the gravity drive went through the night and into the next morning. The plan that emerged was vetted and re-vetted. Once a solid plan had been decided upon, our efforts moved on to that of retaking the populated areas. Troop positions had been mapped by the Colonel’s Intel team, forwarded to us, and then passed to both assault teams on the Grid.
The Colonel spoke, “It looks like the majority of their troops are stationed around military facilities. That is good news as the farther away from the population they are the easier they will be to fight. The populated areas have limited patrols moving through them.”
Admiral Chaulk responded, “If we can take the fight to them we stand a good chance of pulling those patrols away from the people. If we can pin large portions of their troo
ps in the Delta and Omega bases I think Grange’s negotiating tactic might just work. Those sections can be well defended, but they are not so good for launching counter attacks.”
The Colonel replied, “Agreed, the locations and layouts of those bases have always been a point of concern. Politics has kept them where they are. Maybe something those pencil necks have pushed back on for decades can finally be used to our advantage.”
The Colonel continued, “Grange! I need a favor. My men have been without Omega root since being pinned up. Can you have some supplies of it passed through the portal? It may not seem like a priority, but most are used to having a chaw while in combat. If it gives them an edge it gives us an advantage.”
I replied, “I’ll have George see what he can round up. If we have supplies of it we can send them through.”
Two additional days were spent on planning the retaking of the station. Focus was then returned to the plans for the assault on the gravity drive. After a further day of deliberations a final plan was voted upon, blessed and put into its initial stages.
The portal to Zeta-9 had been open non-stop since providing an adequate supply of food to Admiral Chaulk’s troops. AK-47s and the ammo for them had been moving through to the Colonel’s men as fast as they could be pushed.
The Colonel had requested 1,000 rounds of ammo per person be stockpiled before any hostilities were to begin. Store rooms along the assault routes were selected as ammo caches. As the teams progressed they would be resupplied as they achieved goals. The portal would be opened into the storerooms and cases of ammo pushed through until a minimum cache was attained or no more could be shoved through.
As the buildup to our attempt to retake the station continued, Gy came into my office.
Gy spoke, “Sir, I managed to get a NIB down to a throw-able hand grenade size. I call it a TIG, a Throw-able Ion Grenade. Just pull the pin and toss it.”
I replied, “Outstanding Gy! What about a delay? Is it similar to that of the standard grenade?”
AMP Rebellion Page 9