by Sid Kar
For this plan to work, Nestorians required a little bit of luck. They needed for Mercurian spaceships’ computers to have Error Correction feature and for it to be turned on during the real time battle. Error Correction was a common algorithm installed on the scanner computers to weed out noise and false signals. Some algorithms were so programmed that if they noticed an exact repeat pattern they identified it as an error and deleted the second repeating pattern from the display.
This is what the Nestorians were counting on for their deception to work.
The nine Mercurian battleships that had stayed back were surprised but not concerned with the oncoming rockets. Three of them, including their flagship and a lab ship pulled back from the rest of the pack while the remaining six moved forward and launched sixteen hundred counter rockets from amongst them.
The counter rockets engaged the Nestorians’ ranger rockets but they only focused on the first wave. Most of the incoming ranger rockets were intercepted and destroyed in mid space collision by the counter rockets but then the Mercurians realized the deception. The second wave of eight hundred ranger rockets swarmed at the six Mercurian battleships unimpeded by the interceptors and rapidly closed distance. The Mercurians engaged their lasers in time and there was massive outpouring of blue laser beams from all six battleships but they could destroy no more than seven hundred ranger rockets.
The hundred remaining ranger rockets smashed into the six battleships in different numbers. There were multiple explosions on each of their hulls rocking them in space. Four battleships withstood the strikes and their structure held with varying degrees of damage. Two battleships, however, had penetrating strikes, and multiple rockets exploded in their interior ripping out a large number of compartments and parts and flinging them every which way in space.
“Two kills!” Tagg exclaimed with joy in the command room of Defender, “General, one of the enemy battleships is completely shattered to pieces; another one is split is half.”
But Vegus and Joules were not as enthused.
“We had simulated five or six battleships destroyed for Jak space forces,” Joules said, “Mercurians appear to have significantly better metallurgical capabilities to lose only two battleships even after a direct strike by hundred rockets.”
“But sir, we have also inflicted varying damage on the other four battleships,” Xanus protested, “That should degrade their capabilities in combat.”
“If so that would be good luck, but for General Bakus,” Vegus said, “We have done our job, it is his to finish the fight. Jovus, are we receiving communications from Bakus yet?”
“Just started sending us encrypted messages,” Jovus said, “Gen. Bakus is bringing in his battle fleet from behind the large, gas giant.”
“Visible on gravitron scanner now,” Tagg said, “They are leaving gas giant’s gravity field and beginning acceleration towards Mercurian fleet.”
“We are within full support range of Nestor’s laser and rocket batteries,” Joules said.
“Another good news,” Tagg said, “one of the Mercurian ships pursuing us has broken off and returning to their main fleet.”
“Bad news for Bakus though,” Vegus shrugged then he stood in attention and said, “Alright, it is time for a boxing match. Officers, turn us around to face our pursuers, switch full power to the laser system and order Capitan Gorky to launch and lead our first space fighter squadron against the enemy.”
Chapter 4: Escape
Nestorian spy Roofus Bolfus slowly came to his senses. First he could feel sensation in his arms and his back return and he felt that he was sleeping on a hard bed. Then his ears could hear the chirping sounds and beeps that only mechanical instruments make. Soon, his nose came on line and he could smell a strange odor. A few seconds later, when his nasal sense was more finely tuned, he realized there were multiple distinct odors, odors of chemicals in a lab. Finally his eyes opened and he looked straight up at the ceiling lit with blue lights.
He closed his eyes and opened again and blinked a few times.
“There you are,” an alien head poked over him and Roofus startled involuntary but it was then he realized that he was strapped down to the table with plastic harnesses. At least they felt like plastic but they must have been some strong alloy for he could not move them ever so slightly even with all of his strength.
“Don’t bother,” the alien remarked, “Anyways, you are not a prisoner and you will be set free after a few more tests. Tests for which I needed you fully awake and conscious.”
“Free to go back to my own people?” Roofus asked. He tried to remember how he got here.
“Umm…” the alien replied, “Sorry fellow, that is upto the military personnel. I am just a scientist. By the way, I am Tabulan Molan, chief scientist of this Mercurian Fleet.” The alien looked down on him and his face muscles twitched in what seemed like a grin.
Roofus stared at his face for a few seconds. Not that he had any choice in the matter, he could only look up straight or close his eyes and this Tabulan was leaning over him. Roofus had never seen this race of aliens before but they did not look much different, as far as their physiology was concerned, from many different aliens he had seen or even not too different from the Nestorians themselves. He had a round head, a bluish face, two eyes, one nose, one mouth and through the corner of his eyes he saw two hands.
“I am Roofus Bolfus, I am Nestorian…” Roofus hesitated for a few seconds then said, “a Nestorian Explorer. Why did you kidnap me?”
The alien scientist laughed.
“They told me you are a scout or a spy or something,” he said, “makes no difference to me. You are a subject for my experiments.”
“I am a guinea pig for your experiments?” Roofus was incredulous.
“Call it a guinea fish, we use those for experiments from where we come from,” Tabulan replied. Then he walked away and Roofus heard him fumbling with wires and instruments. Roofus only hoped there was no pain in the experiments. A thought suddenly occurred to him: how was he communicating with this alien.
“How are we talking?” Roofus called out.
“Ah I see what you mean,” Tabulan said while he attached a couple of wires to Roofus’ legs, “We modified the mini-translation boxes implanted in your ears. I am talking in Mercurians, you are hearing in Nestorian. We just added our language to the others your technicians had installed. It was an easy task because quite frankly your instruments are quite…primitive.”
Roofus did not like the way the Mercurian said the word ‘primitive’ but he could not deny that at least their spaceship technology was far in advance of Nestorians. The Mercurian scientist meanwhile was busy attaching wires and electrodes to various places on Roofus’ body.
“Just relax fellow,” the scientist said, “You won’t feel the pain.”
“That’s a saving grace,” Roofus commented wryly but either the Mercurian did not understand his sarcasm or just ignored it. He was now finished with his task of attaching wires and had gone back to a nearby desk and was twisting some knobs.
A few seconds later, Roofus heard beeping and he also felt electricity run across his body. Few years ago he would have yelled in pain but as a spy he had been trained to withstand pain if caught and interrogated. Suddenly the electric voltage spiked and Roofus shrieked in pain. The scientist turned his head in surprise and shut off the current the next second.
“I apologize for that,” Tabulan said walking over and leaning over Roofus, “I really do. But your body chemistry is really different and we have not fully understood it yet. But that test is done.”
“Why didn’t you do the tests on the earlier Nestorians whom you kidnapped? Why Me?” Roofus asked.
“We have, but unfortunately most of them perished during the testing,” Tabulan said and Roofus’ eyes swelled with anger. Tabulan saw the fury and quickly added, “I assure you it was not very painful for them. Our knowledge of chemistry is superb and unparalleled in the entire galaxy, though ev
en we make some errors when dealing with a completely new chemical structure.”
“Chemical structure? Hell!” Roofus nearly yelled, “Living creatures. We are living creatures.”
“True, but all creatures are a chemical structure,” Tabulan said, “You are lucky that you are one of the latter ones. We know a lot about you Nestorians now, that is why you are very little affected by our experiments and after a few more minor ones, my experimentation regimen upon you will be finished.”
“By what right do you claim to do these experiments?” Roofus said, “No volunteering, nothing. Just grab whoever and start doing your tests.”
“We are the most advanced empire in the entire galaxy,” Tabulan said, “What we do is for the best of all, even if primitive nations do not understand it yet.”
Roofus was furious and wanted to yell insults. But then he remembered he was a spy, he was sent to collect information on the enemy. That’s what he should do first. Now he knew why the abductions were happening, but he needed to know why they were doing these experiments.”
“Suppose I give you that,” Roofus said calmly. It took him great willpower to restrain his anger and the Mercurian was a bit surprised by his cool voice, “but why are you doing these experiments?”
“We need to understand how your body will react to our chemicals…” Mercurian Tabulan had begun speaking when he was cut off by the sound of footsteps approaching his lab.
“Better close your eyes and pretend that you are asleep,” Tabulan changed the topic, “Military men will not be courteous with you.”
Roofus followed his suggestion and then he heard someone walk in.
“Chief Tabulan,” a voice said, “I need those results now. We are preparing for the ground invasion.”
Ground Invasion. What was this newcomer babbling about, Roofus thought. Then he remembered that he had been tracking a Mercurian invasion force and by now they must have reached one of the planets of Nestorian Republic. He felt a certain degree of relief knowing that he was back in his own country’s space but also felt a shiver at the prospect of Mercurians capturing one of their planets. He just hoped that General Bakus had received the signal he had beamed before being captured and was coming to meet them with full force.
“I am not done yet,” meanwhile the scientist replied, “Why can’t you use that di-tri-methoquadrofenylbutline…”
“Speak Mercurian not Chemistry with me,” the man said irritated.
“The Hollutan Gas, Admiral” the scientist said.
“Can’t,” Admiral said, “Hollutan Gas is dark blue and their soldiers will see it. Besides, we don’t have sufficient quantities of it because it only works in high concentrations. You had promised a colorless, odorless gas that works in low concentrations and that can knock the Nestorian soldiers unconscious fast.”
“Admiral, you can’t just order the chemical compounds to do what you want, like you would one of your subordinates,” Tabulan replied.
That was it, Roofus thought. This Hollutan Gas, that was dark blue, he had encountered it and that’s how he had ended up unconscious. Now he remembered what had happened after his spaceship had been pulled in by a Mercurian battleship. He had taken out his laser gun and vowed to fight till there was any charge left in his gun battery. He had walked around in the bay ready to fire his laser at anything that came in and then he had smelled a strange odor from above. When he had looked up he had seen the ceiling pumping in a dark blue gas and then he didn’t remember anything after that.
The admiral and the scientist seemed to be locked in an argument as they were raising the volume of their voice.
“When then? When will it be ready?” Admiral asked.
The room and the equipment vibrated along with the whole spaceship before the scientist could reply. A screeching alarm rang out and blue lights started flickering above.
“Damn, looks like we took a hit,” Admiral said, “Chief Tabulan, come with me. I have a war to fight and I need to get you to the safest place abroad our battleship.”
“What about my subject?” Tabulan asked.
“Forget that primitive alien, he doesn’t matter,” Admiral said and walked out and Tabulan turned around to take one regretful look at Roofus and then followed him out. They had gone less than two minutes when there was another vibration and this was more intense than the one before.
Roofus despised the Admiral’s parting words but he was also gleeful that they had left him alone. Now he had a chance to escape but if they had taken him with them, he would have been stuck.
As a spy he was trained to escape tie-ups and confinements and Roofus tried to move and wiggle around to see if he could find any weakness in his harnesses, but to no avail. The Mercurians had done a thorough job of securing him and left no out.
Roofus hoped that General Bakus would come to his rescue and a few minutes later his wish came true. The entire battleship felt a massive shock from a rocket blast and the walls of Roofus’ room shook like building walls during a huge earthquake. Most of the instruments not tied down came over the tables and crashed to the floor and shattered to pieces. Roofus’ own table turned over to his left and its edge hit the floor. Fingers of his left hand felt a few sharp metallic pieces and he used one to cut away the strap on his left wrist. Then the rest of it was easy, picking up a knife like device that had fallen on the floor, he cut himself free, stood up and tiptoed his way to the door. He looked around the hallway and found it empty. Now all he had to do was find his way back to the bay where his spaceship lay. He just hoped they had not taken it apart for study.
Roofus stepped back into the room one more time and then took off his pants belt. He feared that the Mercurians had taken out what he was looking for but right under the buckle was a small transmitter and he took it out and activated it. Lucky for him, the Mercurians had not anticipated any situation where he would be able to escape. He activated the transmitter and it started flashing a small green light in front.
There was another transmitter in his spaceship and the two were synchronized. He just had to move his transmitter in a circle and the green light would start flashing whenever it was pointed in the direction of his spaceship. He slowly walked out in the hallway and using the flashing light as an indicator started searching for his spaceship. Mercurians had taken away his laser pistol, he was not that lucky, but he had picked up the sharp, knife like object that he had used to free himself.
He felt the sudden movements under his feet and he had enough experience from participating in the space battle training to know that the Mercurian spaceship was maneuvering to avoid incoming fire. This and the occasional explosion that was jolting the spaceship meant that General Bakus’ had brought their own forces to bear.
He did not come across any Mercurian crew as he made his way back to the bay guided by the small transmitter. This was not a surprise since these spaceships were so huge – miles long and wide – that a clever operator could travel avoiding contact. And in the middle of the battle, all the crews would be at their stations performing their predetermined duties.
Roofus walked into the bay and stopped just a second to catch his breath and take a sigh of relief when he saw that his spaceship was intact. Either the Mercurians didn’t care for such ‘primitive’ spaceships or they had examined Nestorian spacecrafts from earlier abductions to their hearts content.
Roofus jumped into his spaceship, fired up the engines and controls, hit the switch for ‘emergency’ controls that would allow him very rapid acceleration, and turned on the single laser cannon that his spaceship contained. He transferred as much energy to his laser cannon as it could handle, hoped dearly for his luck to help him one more time and fired.
The door of the bay was shattered into pieces and Roofus thanked his lucky stars. If that laser blast had not broken it open, he could not have escaped for he had utilized maximum power capacity of the laser battery. He flew his spaceship right out and accelerated at maximum safe rate.
His jaw dropped to the spaceship floor when he saw his scanners lit up with hundreds of objects and he saw out his front transparent shield a scene he had only seen in movies. Hundreds of space fighters were zapping around in space firing lasers at each other and there were huge battleships trading rockets. Roofus’ mind was spinning, his experience abroad the Mercurian vessel and his talk with the scientist had left him stunned and now being thrown in the middle of a large space battle left him aghast. He could think of nothing but to run as far out into the deep space as possible.
A few spacefighters that were painted with blue stripes tried to take laser shots at him and a couple even launched their rockets. But Roofus had been a spacefighter pilot before he was selected as a deep space spy – partly due to that very experience – and he dexterously maneuvered his way out of the battle and accelerated at top rate away from the melee’ of battleships and fighters.
After putting some safe distance behind him and ensuring that no one was on his tail, Roofus looked more closely at the scanners, curious to know where the battle was taking place and he received another shock to knock his jaw out of its socket.
The scanner identified planet Nestor! He looked out the windows and turned his head every which way and saw familiar planets. The scanners were right and he recognized the home solar system.
The bastards had attacked their home planet and the capital of their civilization.
Instantly he turned his spaceship around towards Nestor. Nestor’s immediate space was overflowing with combat spaceships large and small, a torrent of rockets flying every which way and a rain of lasers crisscrossing in every direction. But Roofus knew that Nestor’s planetary defenses possessed far more rockets and laser batteries than any Nestorian battleship including Bakus’ Republic. More importantly he had to get to the political leaders and tell them everything about his experience. The knowledge he had could be of significant value to Nestorian forces.