“Unlike Humans, however, they are committed to their tasks. And their queen, from what I’ve been able to gather, is of much higher intelligence than the standard human. The colony at Rumanta consists of multiple minor queens and a single major queen. Their warriors and workers follow orders exactly as given.”
“Why didn’t you tell us any of this before?”
“My programming enables me to answer questions or take on specific tasks. I was not programmed to inform or alert based on external events. If you would like, I can do so. I will however need very specific instruction for that mission to be effective.”
Harris sighed. “Fine. And since you already know about the Denzee, do you have an understanding of their language?”
“I do.”
“And do you know what they are planning?”
“I do.”
Harris shook his head. “Can you… wait… just tell us what they’re planning.”
“Orders from the major queen are to conquer this section of the galaxy and to subdue and exterminate all Humans.”
Tawn rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s just great. We’re moving from one disaster to another. You wouldn’t happen to have an image of what they look like, would you?”
“Yes.”
“Please show it to us.”
The hologram floating above Farker’s back turned to an image of a small, brown, furry animal that stood upright on two legs. Its hands and feet consisted of two long, taloned fingers and opposable thumbs. A ridged, bald skull-plate ran from their forehead around to the back of their neck. Despite their small stature, they appeared to be both sturdy and muscular. A pair of beaver-like incisors highlighted an otherwise flat and featureless face.
Trish said, “Other than the talons and the teeth, they’re actually kinda cute.”
Harris asked, “Do you have an image of one of their queens? And if so, please show us.”
The image changed. The Denzee queen, other than the ridged skull-plate, looked nothing like her minions. Her body was devoid of fur, covered instead by a pale blue skin. She was also taller by a third and appeared to be obese.
Harris said, “She’s a big girl.”
Tawn chuckled. “If we painted you blue, you’d be a perfect match.”
Harris sighed. “I’m not much bigger than you. And certainly nothing like that. Alex, what else can you tell us about their queens?”
“They are continuously pregnant. From what I have been able to gather, they have multiple uteri that are generally at different stages of gestation. At birth, broods commonly consist of eighteen to twenty-two offspring. A single uteri pregnancy takes approximately ten weeks.”
“What do we know about the others?”
“The warriors are fiercely protective of their queen, as would be expected. The workers perform the tasks given, regardless of the complexity or danger. If the queen orders work to be done, they are compelled to do exactly as she asks.”
Gandy asked, “What about their ships?”
“They refer to the standard ships as Dulons. The workers move about by use of the Dulons. The ship itself consists of two spheres of differing size, and a long tube connecting those spheres.”
Harris nodded. “The baby rattles.”
“Yes. That would be a fitting description of their external shape.”
“You said the worker ships. Are there others? Those rattles were all we saw at Rumanta.”
“Yes. The warrior ships.”
A new image was displayed.
Harris said, “Looks like the head of a claw-hammer.”
“The Ratoon is four hundred and twenty meters in length. Each Ratoon holds at least one queen and as many as a hundred thousand warriors.”
Harris smiled. “Given the size of their warriors, we should be able the kick the crap out of them on the battlefield. What kind of weapons do they carry?”
“The translated language refers to them as shock weapons. Pistols and rifles, not unlike our own. A ball of energy, similar in nature to our plasma rounds, is emitted by these weapons. The rounds are slightly less powerful and move more slowly, but they appear to be guided, making them highly accurate.”
“Ours are accurate enough.”
“The Denzee hand weapons, once a target is selected, may be fired up in the air if so desired. The guided round will arc and seek out the target, making it difficult to hide behind obstructions if looking for cover. There do appear to be limits to that arc, so they are not 100 percent effective in that manner.”
Tawn asked, “What about the weapons on the Ratoon? On the rattle we could see turrets and what looked like missile launch tubes.”
“The armaments on the Dulons consist of a maser cannon, and missiles as you suggested. The masers have a range equivalent to our plasma cannons. The destructive power is also similar. The missiles provide defense for close combat. Raider ships attempting to board either the Dulon or the Ratoon would find that feat difficult.”
“Those look like turrets on the Ratoon. What are we up against there?”
“Again we have a maser, only an order of magnitude more powerful.”
Sharvie asked, “Where are you getting this information?”
“From their conversations and data. One can construct an accurate image of many of their systems from listening to not only their conversations, but also by analyzing their data transfers. I can provide a somewhat complete layout of a Ratoon, although it fully lacks information on the ship’s power systems.”
Tawn frowned. “So they’re coming to wipe us out. Do we know anything about their history? Where they’re from? How many of them are there?”
“I can only interpolate numbers for you with regards to the number of known or suspected queens. I have one communiqué that refers to the ‘Council of Queens,’ with an attendance number being close to a hundred thousand. Each of the queens at Rumanta has approximately a hundred thousand workers and fifty thousand warriors.”
Gandy did the math. “That would be fifteen billion. They outnumber us, but not by a huge amount.”
Alex’s image returned, replacing the Ratoon. “Also in that communiqué was the mention of the council being only one of many such councils. We may be vastly outnumbered. I will add that I have been unable to gather any reliable information on the number of planets or ships they may have. We don’t know if this is an advance fleet, one of many, or their entire garrison.”
“What about their drive systems?” asked Trish.
“From the information I’ve gathered, their ships are capable of reaching 62 percent light-speed by conventional means. I do not believe they have the ability to travel through wormholes. Although I suspect they may have already acquired that technology from the dozen Earther ships they have captured.
Harris winced. “Captured?”
“Given the fact they were likely the culprits at Jebwa, they may have already perfected or adapted the wormhole systems.”
Harris crossed his arms. “If they can do 60 percent light-speed, they will run circles around us in battle.”
“I don’t believe that to be applicable in a wartime situation,” Alex’s image replied. “Indications are this speed can only be obtained over several hours at full throttle. Their combat speed capabilities are similar to ours, limited by their inertial dampening fields.”
Tawn asked, “You said their queen is constantly spitting out pups. What about their workers and warriors?”
“There are worker spawners as well as warrior spawners. The queens themselves give birth to spawns and elites. Within a queen’s realm of a hundred fifty thousand subjects, several thousand births and deaths happen every day. A worker will be fully mature in fifteen weeks and live for approximately seven years. A warrior for twelve.
“The elites are specialized workers such as engineers, scientists, even mathematicians. The elites are highly educated and are tasked with overseeing much of the daily activities, ranging from farming to shipbuilding.”
“How
about the queens and spawners, or elites as you called them? What life expectancy do they have?”
“A spawner becomes fertile at twelve weeks and will continue to be impregnated and give birth for the remainder of her life, approximately seventeen years. Elites have a similar longevity. A queen, on average, may live for seventy years.”
Harris asked, “What does their colony look like? Buildings? Businesses?”
“The hive is one contiguous building. Contained within are the birthing rooms, care facilities, housing for all, manufacturing—virtually everything except food growth. Their food consists of a smaller species that is not dissimilar in appearance to themselves. They call them bogwem.”
Tawn said, “So they’re carnivores, like Harris.”
Harris chuckled. “I eat bogler. They’re big and ferocious. Not some helpless little rat.”
Tawn shrugged. “Bogler, bogwem, whatever.”
“As I said, the hive is a contiguous building. The breeding houses for the bogwem are separate.”
“What are these buildings made of? We didn’t get close enough to see out at Rumanta.”
“Dirt, laced with secretions from the workers. The resulting substance hardens to equal the strength of concrete. Their buildings are a maze of tunnels and rooms. Interestingly enough, they construct the ships within the hive. When complete, the hive is destroyed, allowing the ship to leave. Construction of a new hive is begun immediately thereafter.”
The conversation about the Denzee continued for several hours before a slew of questions had been asked and answered.
“Wow,” said Tawn. “Wasn’t expecting any of this. I know we’re trained to avoid such thoughts, but this is almost back to overwhelming.”
Harris nodded. “Not what I was expecting out of today either. Our mission has definitely changed. I think it’s time we called the colonel.”
“He won’t be happy with this news. They were just starting to get settled there at the Retreat. I wouldn’t doubt they’ll all get called back to active duty, maybe even in the next few days.”
“That would include us too. If they don’t lock us up.”
Tawn sighed. “Yeah, I guess it would. At this point though, I’d have to think we could do far more from here than stomping around in some Biomarine unit again. We have a lot more to offer than quick reflexes and muscle.”
Tawn chuckled. “Especially you. You’ve probably got an extra forty kilos to offer.”
Harris shook his head. “You just keep digging in with the digs. One day you’ll be sorry.”
Tawn nodded. “Maybe, but the rest of those days I’ll be happy.”
Gandy said, “I hope the two of you can stop joking long enough to get serious about this. This is big. We can’t afford to let them get a foothold on our worlds.”
“We have no intention of letting that happen,” said Harris. “We’ll talk to the colonel and get a strategy going of what we might do. Between him, Bannis Morgan, and the DDI, we’ll figure something out.”
Tawn asked, “We tell the colonel or Mr. Morgan first?”
“This is war. That goes to the colonel.”
Chapter 22
_______________________
“Gruberg. Tell me what happened. My contacts out there at Eden aren’t replying.”
“Things have changed on us again, Colonel. And not for the better. And that includes for the Earthers.”
“Something new?”
“Very new. And very big. Our little corner of the galaxy is being invaded by an alien species.”
The colonel chuckled. “Good one. I like the straight faces the two of you are putting on. Very convincing.”
Tawn said, “They’re convincing because they reflect reality, Colonel. A species called the Denzee have attacked and taken over Rumanta III. They already have a billion occupants setting up a colony there. And the Jebwa Atrocity… it was these Denzee and not the Earthers who are responsible.”
The colonel’s expression turned from a modest smile to a serious stare. “This is real?”
Harris nodded. “As real as it gets, Colonel. We’ve been out to Rumanta. It’s surrounded by hundreds of ships. Both of us hate to say this, but we need the Earthers to build as many ships as they can. The Denzee are coming for all of us.”
Tawn added. “And they don’t take prisoners. We’re talking complete extermination of all humanity.”
The colonel frowned. “What intel do we have on them?”
“I’m sending over a session we just did with our AI. We’ll dump in all the data we recorded. And if we could ask a favor, have your analysts scrub everything down to the raw intel, leaving us and our AI out of it, before they turn it over to the DDI. We’d also like all that initial data to be destroyed.”
The colonel replied, “That may be difficult, Mr. Gruberg. The DDI has agents here in-house now. We don’t get to have a meeting where they’re being excluded.”
Tawn held up a hand. “Fair enough, Colonel. We’ll handle the scrubbing on this end.”
Harris asked, “How we gonna do that?”
“We ask Alex to do it for us. This is the sort of thing he’s good at. We can send along the raw recordings Alex took from Rumanta as well. And the translations.”
“Colonel, we’ll comm you back when we have a package ready.”
“I’ll get to work on that with Alex.”
The colonel asked, “What happened with your raid at Eden?”
“We destroyed five Earther ships. Which reminds me. Trish, Gandy?”
“Yes?” Gandy replied.
“The Bangor took damage to her tail again. We’ll need the two of you to patch her up. Same thing that happened last time.”
Harris turned back to the image of the colonel. “The rail upgrades worked far better than expected. In fact, I almost killed myself when testing them out. We ended up installing a current limiter in-line that reduced the surge enough for us to take manual shots with it. Those pellets come out with far more energy than before.”
“So you were successful at destroying Fireburg?”
“Not exactly. We took out their ships and turned toward the mine. We saw Baxter Rumford exiting in the Fargo and broke off to take her out first. And it’s a good thing we did. Otherwise that dome and the mine would be in shambles right now. Instead, they’re still ramping up production.”
“These Denzee are that much of a threat?”
Harris nodded. “I believe so. The intel we have at the moment points to us being under-prepared and ill-equipped to deal with this. All the cutbacks going on with our military need to be fully reversed. And, Colonel, you’ll probably have to prepare everyone there for the possibility of a reenlistment. Our services will probably be needed.”
Tawn came back a few minutes later. “Alex sent a package to your comm. Contains everything we talked about and more. Should get the colonel rolling.”
Harris looked back to the image of Robert Thomas. “Sending you the data now, Colonel. You’ll want to act on this immediately. Not that I even need to say that. But please do.”
“Haven’t we come full-circle on this? Our greatest enemy is suddenly our friend.”
Harris nodded. “Yeah. Well, maybe we’ll get lucky and survive this and all Humans can finally be friends.”
“Big dreamer, Mr. Gruberg. We’ll just have to deal with that when this is over.”
“Have a look over the data, Colonel. I’ll comm you back this evening to see if I can answer any questions you might have. And If I don’t have the answers, I’ll try to get them.”
The comm closed. A second channel was opened to Domicile. Bannis Morgan popped into view above Farker’s back.
“Mr. Gruberg, wasn’t expecting you again so soon.”
“I have some big developments that I need you to pass on to the DDI, Mr. Morgan. Much bigger than the titanium at Eden. And it exonerates us from the Jebwa Atrocity.”
“That does sound big. What has happened?”
“We are no
longer alone in this galaxy. A new species has invaded the Earther outer colonies, and has come as far as the truce worlds at Jebwa. The Earther colony at Rumanta III has been completely wiped out and the planet overrun.”
Bannis was silent for several seconds. “A new species?”
“They call themselves the Denzee. Small brown furry things. Anyway, more than a billion of them are camped on Rumanta and they’re looking to spread through this entire section of the galaxy. I’m sending you a data package to forward to your DDI contacts. As I said, this is big. And it’s immediate.”
“If true, this is grave news.”
“It is. And it’s up to us now to convince our government they need to turn things around. We aren’t prepared for this threat. And we now need to assist the Earthers in any way we can to build ships. They are the first line of defense. If we can work together to stop them there, maybe we can all live on in peace.”
“Has contact been made with this species?”
“Supposedly the Earthers have tried and failed. These Denzee don’t take prisoners. They don’t appear to have any interest in ruling over anyone but their own. It’s not a good scenario, Mr. Morgan. And we aren’t prepared to fight it out right now.”
“I’ll have a look and pass it along, Mr. Gruberg.”
“Any progress on the gamma bomb? This might be where we need it.”
“Nothing new to report at the moment. Were you able to solve your power issue with the new rails?”
“Oh yeah. Wow. We installed a limiter that originally came with the ship when it was decommissioned. Knocked the power down just enough to allow manual firing. On auto it blew a breaker we installed almost instantly. The speed and energy of the pellet are way up though. If you can solve that power issue I would definitely recommend making those updates at the Retreat. Who knows, that might just be what saves us from the Denzee.”
“I will pass that information along to my designers and engineers.”
ARMS Jebwa Atrocity Page 20