by Don Koch
Sass replied, "I cannot imagine their getting past our orbital fortresses or the planetary cannons for that matter. I have reviewed your report and the vids of the encounter. I have no criticism of your actions however the ruler will not be happy. I am sending you out to Fleet One as an advisor to the fleet commander. You should leave as soon as possible. The same will also be true of your captains and bridge officers. I think you noted that most of the crew do not know what hit them. Keep it that way. They are not to discuss what happened under penalty of death. The same goes for your junior officers. Senior officers will need to be able to discuss if they are to advise appropriately. As to what these beings are, I can't guess. The one that appears in the vid appears to be human but the uniform is not one I have seen before. We have nothing from our intelligence units that mention them other than to note that something was happening with High Command that sounded like a coup. Then all of our operatives disappeared without a trace. The monitor ship sounded like they had gone insane but now I am not so sure. I will want to talk to them. I will keep you in the loop to the extent I can, but this may get difficult." As Jess was leaving, Sass surreptitiously slipped him a note. The note read: Sorry about the tone of the interview but I am sure the Ruler was recording it. I would suggest that you immediately go to Orbital Station 14 slip 47 and remove yourself, your family who is on board and those on board from the system. I report to the Ruler in one hour and I am convinced he will order your demise. I will arrange an "accident" on the gas giant Fumis to make it look like your ship crashed there. I have caused a blocking device to be placed on your ship that will prevent anything on board from responding to any kind of locator signal. The ruler's people will not be able to go there to check, so hopefully he will not be searching for you. You need to disappear. Go where your instincts tell you to go. Keep an open mind. Good luck old friend. This note will self-destruct ten seconds after it is read. When Jess had read the note, it quietly dissolved into dust.
Jess was very much concerned about what an all out encounter with this new group of humans would do to his people. He could not envision a scenario where his people could prevail against the weapons of these Antorans. His Admiral knew him well enough to know that he would take some kind of action and was probably counting on him to do something. From the sound of the note, the Admiral had already taken care of the first step. It seemed that he would have not only his own ruler gunning for him now but also these Antorans. When Jess went aboard, the vessel was already undocking and the registry system indicated that he had not boarded. He was surprised to see that the vessel waiting for him was his own auxiliary courier. This vessel had several advantages that other ships in the fleet did not have. The first of these was that it was about 60% faster than any of the warships in the fleet. It could carry about 200 persons yet be operated by 5 persons. The bosun reported that the courier was full to capacity.
He was met by his fellow Captain, Foss, when he boarded and was told who was on board. His family was there along with the families of the officers and crew on the ship. Foss indicated that there were a number of the senior crew from each of the three dreadnaughts on board with their families and the Admiral's family as well. His other Captains were aboard with family. Most were not registered as having boarded. They were cleared for a day trip tour of the Saban System, ostensibly a field trip for the children of the officers of the three dreadnaughts led by the Admiral's wife. They left immediately.
Foss described the "accident" they were going to have and how they expected to engage their FTL in a way that they would not be detected leaving the system. They would depart in a direction that was 90 degrees off a straight course to the line between Yannar and Saba. Foss had done the programing and they would hold that course for about 15 hours that put them about 200 light years from Saba. Foss said, "The Admiral suggested that you consider appealing to the humans to see if conflict and massive bloodshed could be avoided. He noted that the Antorans might have trouble with the orbital stations but those were easily avoided if the humans were half as clever as he thought they were. He said that they were bound to know of their existence. He said, to tell you that he expected you to find a way out of this mess. He pointed out that this ship was unarmed and that could well be an advantage. The Admiral believes that the humans will not fire on a ship that is not threatening. What are your orders sir?"
Jess said, "Admiral Sass is a cagey old snake. He has read me like a book. We will do as he suggests but I need to think this through. How soon before we fly by Fumis?"
Foss responded, "Fly by starts in 25 minutes, 'accident' in 28 and we hit FTL in 31 minutes. This was a pretty clever move by the Admiral. He will be grieving because the ruler will think the Admiral's wife and family have been killed while leading a school children's field trip. Even the ruler might be sympathetic to that. I believe this will work."
Jess said, "I think you are correct. Let us set a staff meeting 30 minutes after we hit FTL so we can plan.
### Aboard Station One, 400 light years from Saba ###
1 hour later
Josh said, "Boss, what do you make of this. We have been tracking traffic in the Saban system and noticed this bit of strangeness. This vessel here was approaching their gas giant Fumis, and as it was about to go out of sight of Saba there was a huge explosion in back of that ship and shortly after it appears at first look that the ship crashed on the gas giant Fumis but notice here the ship is still moving and has shifted its orbit. Now, . . . wait for it, . . . there. That ship just went FTL and is moving faster than anything else of theirs that has been observed. They are moving at about 120,000 xSL. Also curious is the fact that their course is about 90 degree off a direct line between Saba and Yannar. I suspect that the Sabans are not tracking outbound traffic and I think they are unlikely to spot this ship. If I had to guess, I would say it looks like someone wants away from Saba big time and went to some lengths to set up a diversion."
Hank said, "I admit to curiosity and I think you are correct. Lets move parallel to their course and see what they do. "
### About 230 light years from Saba ###
About three and a half hours later, Josh said, "Hank, they have stopped. Ah, they have started up again, same speed, moving directly toward Yannar. I kind of expected that."
"OK, set up an interception course for about two hours from now. That should allow us to have a conversation with that ship without being overheard by the rest of the Sabans. We can use T-Raptor tools and appear directly on the ship. Sam and I will be the only ones to appear but Barana can keep everyone else in the loop with a vid feed." Hank then explained what he planned to do. Two hours later they were running parallel to the auxiliary and Hank said, "OK troops, lets get a complete scan on this speedster to see what we have."
Shortly Josh said, "Interesting, It is definitely a non combatant and it appears to be loaded with family groups. The captain almost looks like he is expecting company. It looks like an attempt to trigger a visit in response to this incursion."
Hank said thoughtfully, "Hmm, that is my read as well. Time to go check it out." Hanks entered rapport and Hank appeared on the bridge of the auxiliary courier stating, "Captain, please halt this ship so we can talk. It appears that you have been expecting me."
Jess immediately ordered the ship to be halted, stating, "If you are the person who appeared with the Snarf on the monitor vessel, you would be correct."
"Interesting. I am indeed he and may I ask who you are and why your ship is heading where your people were not to go?"
"My apologies for the incursion. My name is Jess and I am Captain of this auxiliary courier. This is my compatriot Captain Foss. Also with me are some of my crew and their families. We attempted to fake our demise as we left but are not sure if we were successful or if the ruse worked. I was commander of the three dreadnaughts that were met by your warship yesterday. The third dreadnaught commander, Captain Muss is also on board. You picked apart our newest and best ships and that tells me much
. I also noted that your vessel used considerable restraint. For that I personally thank you."
"Captain, you are welcome and I am pleased to meet you. I must say that in view of your personal experience, your presence here is a brave and chancy move. Your ploy was indeed convincing. The planet of Saba appears to be satisfied that this vessel was destroyed in a tragic accident. It seems that you led them to believe that this was a school children's field trip that went badly awry. Apparently the trip was led by the Field Admiral's wife and he is now in mourning."
Jess breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I am surprised that you have been able to learn that much about the activities of this vessel. I am likewise thankful that the ploy worked. Thanks to the All-One."
Hank was startled so before he could go on, he interrupted saying, "What did you say?"
"I was thanking my deity that our deception worked. The Admiral is severely exposed with this escape plan and I am relieved that his ruse has been successful. Is it not then appropriate for me to then thank my deity?"
"Indeed it is, but in view of our experience to date with your people, I was startled to hear you express that sentiment. I was not expecting to hear a sentiment so similar to what our own would be in similar circumstances. Please go on."
"When your warship handled our most strenuous efforts to destroy your ship, I realized that we were in deep trouble. When the observing ships uncloaked and let us see them, I realized that you had not intended to destroy us but had to make sure the message was severe enough to be received. I certainly received it and apparently so did my admiral else I would not be here otherwise. I decided to take a chance on disregarding your interdict of approach to Yannar. None of us on this vessel can return to Saba for our ruler will have us executed. That is part of the reason why the Admiral set up this elaborate ruse. We believe our Ruler is either insane or is so deeply buried in his advisors that he would not know sound reasoning if it were to hit him in the face. The second reason is that I, and I think the Admiral shares this, believe we are heading down a path that will results in the deaths of many who have little choice but be fodder for the ambitions of our Ruler and his advisors. Such needless carnage is why I have decided to try to talk to you. After seeing what one of your ships could do to three of our most modern dreadnaughts, I shudder to think what 100 of them could do."
"Actually we have 300,000 of those in this sector. Take a look through your view screen. We have 20,000 of them right there, right now. Barana please uncloak for 30 seconds." When station One uncloaked, the alarms on the auxiliary went off. Jess hit a button to silence them. A speaker on the bridge announced that a vessel 260 miles in length had just appeared beside them 20 miles distant. Scanners could not determine mass but the weapons projectors could clearly be seen. Hank said, "We have eight that are 200 miles long and 32 more that are 90 miles long, all in the Yannar sector of space. We have an additional 60 elsewhere."
Jess stared at Station One and said, "I was right, we have stepped into a nest of Gris. I feared something like this but not on this scale. I suspected that we had overstepped but did not imagine. Is there a way we can avoid unnecessary carnage. All of the ships in the fleet by now have seen what you did to my ships. Many are ready to run. Your appearance with a pet Snarf has substantially destabilized the morale of our crews. Your ability to appear aboard one of our ships and be invulnerable when you do, has impacted many of our commanders. I would very much like to aid the avoidance of a slaughter. I know that we are not alike but surely there must be a way."
"Captain Jess, I want to conduct a test before I continue. This will sound strange but I want you to tell me an untruth. A flat out lie. I will explain later."
"You are correct and I am puzzled but very well. I shot my Admiral before I left Saba. Will that do?"
Hank thought,
Hank went on,
"You would invite us aboard in view of what I have told you and the fact that a state of war exists between us?
"Do you remember a few minutes ago, I asked you to tell me a lie?" Jess nodded agreement and Hank continued, "I am a telepath, a mind talker. One of the almost universal talents of the mind talker is the ability to detect an untruth. You can't lie to a mind talker without him or her knowing. I wanted to be sure the same was true when relating to the Saban species. It very clearly does work. With me, a lie from a Saban stands out just as clearly as a lie from a human does. You have been clearly telling me the truth. So, yes, based on that, I am willing to invite you aboard my ship. We call it a station. Oh, one other thing. We have about 150 million people living on that station just now. We have four species on board, you will be the fifth. Lets continue this in a more comfortable setting. If it makes you uncomfortable, let me know and we will try to remedy that. We will move your ship to our core. When you are ready, put your ship systems on idle or power them down. The ship will be there for when you want to use it again. I will return to my ship now. All you have to do when you are ready is to verbally announce it or communicate through the device that replaced the implant. Barana will teleport you to the station and we can continue there. Fair enough?"
"Yes, more than fair and I must say a bit overwhelming. I am looking forward to this." With that Hank broke rapport and disappeared. Fifteen minutes later, Hank met the group of Sabans at the large lodge near Mt. Denali II. Foss said, "This is difficult to accept. It is so large and the mountains, streams, lakes, make me want to run and play. This is too incredible."
"If you would like to relax for a while before we start talking about how to approach the information you have presented, you can take your families over there to that little park and our kids there will explain to yours how things work. Besides they want to practice their Saban. How soon before your sleep cycle begins? How often and what do you eat? We need to understand your requirements so you do not get ill or suffer."
"I think a thirty minute respite from the tensions of the past day would really be helpful. I am curious to know what are the two buildings I see. This first looks like it is constructed of an organic material."
Sam spoke up and said, "You are correct. It is made from wood. The source materi
al is the tree and there is an example of one over there. That is a common building material on our planet. This building is a meeting place. We call it a lodge. It can be used for meetings or it can be used as a vacationing place for leisure pursuits, such as running in the grass."
"It is strikingly attractive. And that building over there that looks like it is of mineral construction with the strange spire on top.
Sam said, "That is a church. It is the place where we worship and pay homage to our Deity, our God. I think you call him the All-One."
In a quiet voice, Jess said, "Then we are not so different from one another after all. Please excuse me while I assure that my family is alright."
Chapter 34: Strategy
On Station One, About 230 LY from Saba –
December 11 – C Day 468
30 minutes later
Jess and five of his senior Staff were sitting comfortably around a large table and Hank with a number of his senior staff there as well. In all about 20 persons sat around the table. Jess asked, "General Stone, may I ask some questions to confirm what I think of my experiences of the past few days."
"Certainly, but lets start with a little less formality. Call me Hank."
"Very well, Hank, when we met your warship yesterday, I had the distinct impression that it was trying to provoke some action by mine."
"That is exactly what we were doing. We were trying to provoke you to fire on our ship so we could measure how well our shields would hold up to your combined fire. Further that ship is identical in every respect to every other warship in our fleet except, that ship was remotely controlled. There was no one on board. The crew was a full light year distant. The object was that we wanted to see if your weapons could hurt us. It became clear that those on the dreadnaughts could not. Next we wanted to see how tightly our gunners could hold their shots and whether they would hold to the fire discipline we wanted. If we could not have precision, the exercise would be flawed. If we did not have fire discipline the message would be lost in the carnage. That too turned out to be no problem. The instructions were, do not destroy the ships. Take out only the weapons but do not breach the hull. That too was performed to the letter. After all weapons were destroyed the remaining ships were to uncloak in hope of encouraging the three dreadnaughts to go home. That also worked. The fact that your Ruler sent out three dreadnaughts to meet the monitor suggested he did not want that ship to get home."