by Saxon Andrew
Sam asked what the question was and Leo smiled. “She asked me where we could possibly go and find another war worth fighting? I was forced to agree that we have not seen the last of the Tronan and that someone was going to have to go out and scout them.”
Sam chuckled and knew that Leonidas was the consummate warrior. He saw the shuttle spiraling down and he dusted off his kilt. It moved into the clearing a hundred yards away and he went to meet it. It landed and the entry port opened. He walked on board and heard Embree say, “Welcome aboard, Clan Warrior.”
Sam smiled and nodded, “I hope your trip was successful.”
Hardy looked at Sam and said, “Have a seat.” Sam sat down at the table in the center of the shuttle and Embree and Shelly joined him and Hardy. “We’ve found what we need, Commander,” Hardy succinctly said.
Sam’s eyes widened slightly, “Are you sure about that?”
“I am. We’ve actually found two possible suppliers of the needed items and forced them into a bidding war. We can purchase what we need at a fair price.”
Sam lifted his communicator, “Gregor, can you and Kaylee meet me on the shuttle that just landed?”
“We’re already close.”
“Good, just come in when you arrive.”
Gregor stuck his head into the port and smiled, “Taa Dah, how about now.”
Sam smiled as Gregor and Kaylee entered the port. Shelly looked at them and smiled, “It’s good to see you.”
Kaylee nodded, “I was wondering if you were coming back.”
Shelly rolled her eyes, “Blame it on Hardy. He forced the companies to accept low prices for what we need. We could have paid more and been back a week ago.”
Hardy shook his head, “We do not have an unlimited supply of Trillium and we will not waste what we have!”
Sam smiled. The Colony Ship was taken and placed at a planet in a star system without a filament. Keeping that much Trillium near Bellingham was just not a good thing. Heaven’s destruction proved how dangerous that metal could be. Shelly rolled her eyes, “We have more than we can use in a hundred lifetimes, Hardy!”
“Explain that to the descendants in the hundred and first.”
Sam interrupted them, “What did you find?”
Hardy looked at Sam and started to continue his argument but said, “We have to use our assets wisely. We’ve found the reactors and industrial lasers we need.”
Gregor looked at Sam, “What exactly are you planning?”
“Gregor, I’m not going to sit on my hands and not plan to meet the Tronan if they return.”
Gregor stared at Sam and said, “I’ll ask you again, what are you planning?”
“I know you have a prohibition against using the metal on Bellingham to coat any ships but your own. You made an exception with our three.” Gregor nodded. “It took nearly four months to coat the hulls on our three ships which means that the most you could coat would be twelve a year.”
Gregor’s eyes narrowed and Kaylee asked, “Are you planning to coat more ships?”
“I am.” Gregor’s mouth opened to protest but Sam said quickly, “I do not intend to coat any ships that do not belong to Bellingham.” Gregor closed his mouth and Sam continued, “All of the warships that we brought here now belong to Bellingham, right?”
Gregor looked at Kaylee and she shrugged as she said, “He is right, Gregor.”
Gregor turned to Sam and sighed, “Coating all of them would make no difference if those creatures showed up with one of their major fleets. Even the coated hulls could not stand up to their blasters for very long. There’s not enough of them to take the Tronan on and I’m still against coating any ships but our own.”
“I don’t know if I agree with your position on that but our ships could handle a major Tronan Fleet. I’m not really sure about more than one,” Sam replied.
“But you saw how the hulls on your ships threatened to melt during the attacks on the Tronan Fleet!” Kaylee said shaking her head.
Sam looked at Kaylee, “Yes, I did and we discovered something in the process.”
“What is that?” Gregor asked.
“We found out that as our hulls were heated, they were able to handle larger numbers of blaster hits,” Sam answered.
“What?”
Hardy spoke up, “The metal had too many impurities still in it.” Gregor looked at him and Hardy continued, “The process you use to coat a ship’s hull leaves too many impurities in the metal. The heat your craftsmen use initially removes almost ninety percent of the impurities and the metal becomes extraordinarily strong but it’s the remaining impurities that cause it to weaken with extremely high heat. The Tronan Blasters hitting the three ship’s hulls burned out impurities with each attack and made the metal even more impenetrable each time the hull’s temperature went up.”
Gregor stared at Hardy and Kaylee put her hand on his arm, “Honey, maybe we should sit back and allow them to tell us what they have in mind.”
Gregor looked at Kaylee and then turned to Sam, “By all means, educate us.”
Sam chuckled, “I sent the three sitting here with us out to see if they could find a means making the coating process faster as well as improving it.”
Gregor’s eyes suddenly went wide and he interrupted Sam, “Are you telling me that the metal in my sword also has impurities in it!”
Sam sighed, “Yes, Gregor. Was it not made in the same process used to coat the hulls.”
“GREGOR!” Kaylee said forcefully.
Gregor sighed, “Sorry, please continue.”
Sam looked at Hardy, “Why don’t you tell him what you came up with.”
Hardy nodded and looked at Gregor, “The problem your craftsmen have is that the metal’s initial melting point is rather low. It’s a benefit in making a fluid that can be used to coat items but it hardens quickly. It’s a very time consuming process to work with it and it also prevents all the impurities from being removed. They can only coat small sections of a ship’s hull at a time.”
Kaylee nodded, “What have you come up with to improve it?” Gregor snapped his head around to her as Hardy answered, “The holding containers you use need to be modified. Instead of coating one small section of a hull at a time, dipping the entire ship into a container where the temperature is closely controlled by a series of reactors would make the process more efficient and remove all the impurities.”
“Dipping them wouldn’t work,” Gregor stated.
Kaylee’s eyes narrowed and Hardy nodded, “You’re thinking about the blaster turrets, missile ports, antennae for the scanners and communicators and all the other devices on the hull that would be fused in the process?” Gregor nodded. “A barrier of high temperature alloy can be put around the edges of the blaster’s turrets and around the missile ports preventing the metal from entering them on the edges. Once the metal hardens initially, the alloy could be melted away with the higher temperatures used to burn out the next level of impurities. The metal would not melt into those crevasses after it initially hardens.”
Gregor’s eyes narrowed and Sam said, “We had some issues about how we could get the proper thickness of coating on the hull but Embree suggested using the ships climate control to freeze the ship’s hull from the inside causing a uniform coating to adhere to the hull. Once that coating has bonded to the hull, the heated metal outside the hull will be drained into a holding tank and kept warm for the next ship.”
Kaylee shook her head, “Getting enough metal to coat that many ships could take years. We do mine it but only enough for our needs.” Gregor looked at her and she shrugged, “I’m just saying.”
Gregor nodded, “She’s right.”
“Well, we think we’ve come up with a solution for that issue,” Sam answered. Both of them turned to him. “If I’m not mistaken, this community is the only one with a clearing large enough to land large starships, right?” Both of them nodded. “Why is that?”
Gregor tilted his head, “Have you even
tried to remove a full grown tree? It’s next to impossible.”
Sam smiled, “If you could remove some of them, would you?”
“Sam, we’ve tried countless times. The only way to control them is to cut them before they grow large enough for their roots to absorb the metal from the soil.”
Hardy looked at Gregor, “We can cut them.” Gregor jerked his head toward Hardy. “Not only can we cut them but we can extract the metal from them and leave the wood for any construction projects you might have.”
Kaylee shook her head, “That’s not possible.”
Hardy smiled, “Impossible is not in my vocabulary. It’s really easier than you think.”
Gregor lowered his eyes, “Do tell.”
“You’ve not been able to extract the metal because you couldn’t cut the trees. If you could, you would have learned that if you raise the temperature in the core of the tree, the metal would be sweated out of it starting at the outer edge. Maintain the temperature and shut it down when the core temperature starts to rise and the wood will be usable.”
Gregor looked at Sam, “Have you done this?”
Sam nodded, “I asked permission of the High Council to attempt to cut a tree in our new territory and they laughed at me. They agreed and I really think they didn’t believe it could be done.”
“Was it done?” Kaylee asked.
Hardy shrugged, “It’s a question of temperature. Industrial Lasers can be made hundreds of times hotter than our most powerful blasters. Truth be told, there are a lot of parasitic losses of energy in blaster beams. Anyway, I took one of our most powerful industrial lasers off the colony ship and cutting down a tree wasn’t all that difficult. Discovering that the tree releases the metal like sap when they’re heated was an accidental discovery.”
Gregor and Kaylee stared at Hardy and Sam said, “We found that the trees are saturated in the metal. We were shocked at how much of it came out of one large branch. Hardy and his team of engineers have calculated that it would only take a couple of hundred trees to coat every ship in our fleet.”
Hardy nodded, “And the good thing is that the metal released by the tree is in raw form and includes impurities. It’s ready for use as soon as the tree releases it.”
Gregor was shaking his head and Sam said, “Is cutting trees something that is forbidden and considered unholy by the Clans, Gregor.”
“Oh hell no, Sam. We’ve been struggling to remove trees to expand our clans living space for centuries. You can cut down five-hundred right here. We need the extra space to build a larger Clan Building.”
“What about coating the ships in our fleet?” Embree asked.
Gregor shrugged, “I don’t see why the Council would have a problem with it; your people are now part of us. How long will it take for you to build what’s needed to make it happen?”
Sam looked at Hardy, who answered, “That’s why we went out to search for possible suppliers. We can have the coating vats delivered in a month and the rest of the items will be delivered after they are put in place.”
“There’s one more thing, Gregor.” Gregor turned to Sam. “I have to confess that I have been really impressed with the computers on your ships. My team has also found a supplier of military computers like the ones in your two ships and they will start converting our ships to them as soon as we can start sending them to the supplier’s planet.”
Gregor smiled, “You’ve been a very busy boy, Sam.”
“There is a debt to be paid, Gregor.”
Gregor nodded and looked at Hardy, “Is there any way you could harden the hulls on our two ships.”
Hardy smiled, “Once the vats are in place, we’ll coat your ships in a new layer but before we do that, we need to get inside and install a plasma expansion chamber.”
Gregor smiled and Sam said, “There’s one more thing, Gregor.”
“What is that?”
Sam went to a cabinet and took out a sword and scabbard. He walked back to the table and held it out to Gregor, “Ana allowed me to borrow her sword.” Gregor’s eyes narrowed as Kaylee reached over him and pulled the sword out of its scabbard. The brilliance of the blade was almost blinding and both Gregor and Kaylee were shocked silent by what they saw. Sam smiled, “That’s what a Bellingham Sword looks like with all the impurities removed.”
Gregor started shaking his head as Hardy said, “If you are willing to allow me to take your swords for a few days, I can remove the impurities from them.”
Gregor and Kaylee’s swords were off their shoulders in an instant. Gregor laughed, “I never thought I’d be willing to not have it on my person. But this…this is what our swords dream of being.”
Sam smiled and stared at the brilliant blade reflecting the shuttles lights around the cabin. First the computers, then the vats. He knew there wasn’t much time before the tens of thousands of probes and that last Tronan Warship were to be faced. His mouth tightened and he forced himself to be calm. Rage was not a pretty thing to witness.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sam sat in his command chair with Elena on his lap. Angel was sitting in a chair that had been installed next to him and she appeared to be slightly nervous. Sam looked at her, “Do you need to stay here with the doctors?”
“No, the baby is still more than six weeks away. I just know what you intend and worry that you know what you’re doing.”
Sam reached over and took her hand, “If I had any doubts, neither of you would be here.”
Angel stared into his eyes and relaxed her grip on his hand. “You want us to bear witness on what’s coming.”
Sam smiled, “Both of you should see what happens to those that threaten those I love.” Sam looked over at Jek, “How many are able to answer the call?”
“We have a thousand ships having their computers installed. The crews are not happy about not being able to take part but they understand the larger picture.”
“Total ships?”
“Five-thousand.”
“What about the other three-hundred?”
“They’re in the coating process.”
Sam nodded. It was a good thing that the Council had no issues with cutting trees. More than two thousand trees had to be cut and moved for the enormous vats and heating buildings to be assembled in the clearing. It took a giant building to hold the Insectoid Warships along with the buildings to heat their hulls. The six buildings were more than six miles long and the cranes needed to lift the ships were also gigantic. But they were in place and the coating of ships began three weeks ago. Most of the ships going to meet the probes were not coated and Sam worried about stopping the mass of message probes they were going to encounter. But, they could only do what they were capable of doing.
Leonidas appeared on his panel’s monitor and he had a huge smile on his face. “Why are you so happy?” Sam asked.
“We’re going back into action! I’ve been so looking forward to this.”
Sam laughed, “Are you ready to start your scouting mission?”
“That’s why I’m so excited. Once this issue with the probes is handled, I can get on the filaments and go see what we’re up against.”
Gem appeared on the monitor with Ana and said, “Blakely was right, Leo is not a pirate.”
“What do you mean by that?” Leo asked.
“Pirates love lying back and enjoying leisure time. That is definitely not you!?
Desiree appeared on the monitor beside Leo, “You can say that again. By the way, Sam. This new computer is incredible.”
All six of them heard, “I am, aren’t I?”
All six burst out laughing and Desiree said, “Computer, what have I told you about modesty?”
“Oh yeah. I try to do my best with what little I have.”
Desiree tried not to laugh but couldn’t pull it off. They heard Carl in the back ground shout, “I liked it better with Embree here!”
Sam shook his head and Leo asked, “When is he due back?”
“The
Insectoid King has two hundred more ships that should be ready for delivery in two weeks. Embree will take them to have the new computers installed upon delivery. The Dragons have agreed to immediately start force field installations on the ships when they arrive and they should be here for coating with in another six weeks. His fleet will be ready for action within five weeks after that.”
Ana looked at Gregor, “What about Daniel?”
“He and the surviving Earth Crews will be the ones flying those ships. They requested to be the first ones sent out to implement the first line of defenders on the Death Filament.”
Ana nodded, “Daniel is alive again.”
Sam nodded, “All of them are. One of the young women in the Murdoc Clan has taken a fancy to Daniel and I’m reasonably certain he and others in his fleet will want to be relieved and come back home when possible.”
Ana smiled, “I worried that our promise to give him a home wouldn’t happen after Heaven died.”
“Thanks to Gregor and Kaylee, we were able to keep it,” Sam replied.
Suddenly Gregor and Kaylee appeared on Sam’s monitor, “Did I hear my name mentioned?”
Sam smiled, “We’re going to need you to provide a filament for us to get this show on the road.”
“Is everyone ready to go?”
“We still have a few stragglers.”
“Well, let me know when you’re ready and we’ll start moving.”
Sam nodded and his crowded monitor went dark. “Well! I guess everyone wasn’t as ready as they said.”
Angel smiled and Elena giggled. Sam hugged Elena and said, “Are you ready?”
“Daddy, I’ve been ready to go and see the stars as long as I’ve seen them in the sky.”
Angel’s eyes teared up and Sam smiled, “And they have been waiting for you to come see them.”
Elena turned around with her eyes wide and said, “REALLY?” Sam hugged her again and laughed out loud. Elena hit him on the arm, “You’re kidding me!” Sam reveled at the sense of wonder in his daughter’s eyes at seeing things for the very first time. It was that glow in her eyes that reminded him of so many things he took for granted.