The hull of the Saxon had been breached. Malcom Collins and Katie Burke were dead in an instant, their bodies sucked through a hole in the side of the Saxon that was only 30 centimeters wide. The Hammer turned hard away and then circled back towards its fellow team members. Once in the vicinity of the Saxon the remote self-destruct button was pressed.
The Saxon turned bright blue as the energy from the charge well was used to incinerate the damaged vessel. The Hammer then cut back hard towards its original destination, she still had a load of Tantric ore to deliver. The bodies of their former team members, their friends, were abandoned in the void of space to which they now belonged.
The ore was delivered along with a warning to the Prassi. The Milgari had developed a shield that would absorb a standard ion bolt. It was not good news. The Hammer departed after picking up its load and then headed back towards Bullwort. She would broadcast a message to the Defenders that she flew past on her way back, warning of the new Milgari shield.
When the Hammer touched down on Bullwort we were saddened by the news of the loss of Malcom, Katie and the Saxon. No attempt would be made to recover their bodies as they would no longer exist. They were flying at almost 320 times the speed of light. At that speed minute bits of space dust would disintegrate a human body in a short amount of time. Spacewalks while traveling above SOL were not done due to the risk involved.
The team was comprised largely of ordinary citizens. Death was imminent for us all, but it was not something that any of us hurried into. On the Grid, there were accidents, as we all lived in a physical universe. Most citizens however, would die from old age after a long if not somewhat boring life.
In the military the continuous war with the Milgari meant a continuous stream of new recruits was required, death was common. While our losses took their toll on us all, our former military members seemed to take it as a fact of life. While at war, death came as part of the job. After a short ceremony the ore runs to the Prassi system continued, the Prassi worked to replenish their fleet.
As the months passed, two new Defenders were brought online. The Spike and the Sword were commissioned with a small ceremony and given a first task of inspecting the Felgar system. Upon their return I was shocked to hear that the Milgari had not abandoned their base, they had instead expanded it.
All five of the monstrous Milgari ships were docked and under repair, a repair that would be completed in only a few short months. The more troubling news was that the main Milgari fleet now numbered close to 8,000 ships. It was a force that the Prassi would not be able to defend against.
I paced the deck of hangar four as I contemplated what we could possibly do. Our newest pilot, Reginald Hammond, we called him Ham, approached me with an idea. “Chief, I spent some time at Grid University studying up on tactics. I planned for a long and brilliant career in the Grid military. I was later told that this artificial foot disqualified me, but that’s a story for another time.”
“What I would like to suggest is this; I think we need to get a hold of one of those Milgari frigates. Find out what they did to their shields and look for any other vulnerability. It has been over a hundred years since we have captured one of their vessels. They are really good at clearing the battlefield of anything that would give anyone an advantage. And their ships never surrender.”
I directed Ham over to a table for us to sit down and discuss whatever it was that he had in mind. “Have a seat. I know you are new to the team, but I want you to know that I appreciate it when members come up with ideas. I myself was just a Messenger pilot and many of the decisions we have had to make are beyond my training. Flying by the seat of my pants makes many of those decisions seem even bigger. Tell me what you are thinking.”
Ham replied, “Well Sir, I was thinking that we need to get our hands on one of those frigates. Maybe hit it with a few negative bolts to shut down her systems, and then with a negative ion bomb to take out her weapons, more specifically, her hand weapons. I’m thinking we board her and clean her out before they have a chance to self-destruct.”
“You know, the negative ion bomb was a commonly used weapon only a short time ago. Ion shielding made it a nearly useless weapon against a ship as the charge needed became one that was beyond our ability to produce. But we don’t need to overcome those shields Sir. We can do that with our ion cannons where those beams are more than concentrated enough to overcome any standard shielding.”
“After taking the ship’s systems temporarily offline with a negative ion bolt or two we would use the ion bomb to disable all their hand weapons. I have a friend who manufactures kinetic weapons that are not susceptible to the negative ion pulse. They use a cartridge projectile that is packaged with a small explosive charge. He said the Grid archives call it gunpowder.”
Ham continued, “My friend has been building these weapons that make use of gunpowder for years now as a hobby. He let me fire one once and I have to say it was kind of a thrill. It gave recoil as the small explosion pushed a metallic projectile out of a barrel towards a target. You don’t have the near unlimited supply of shots like you have from a blaster; it is a weapon you have to keep reloading. But you can use it regardless of the power situation on a ship; all you need is an atmosphere for the explosion from the projectile cartridge to make use of.”
“So, the direction I am going with is this Sir, we isolate a frigate, hit it our negative cannons to disable it, pop an ion bomb to disable their blasters and then board her with these kinetic weapons. A frigate should have about 125 crewmen on her with 40 of those being Marines. If we can find and hit those Marines first the rest should be a gravy run. Marines tend to be a nasty lot when it comes to hand to hand while the rest of the crew will be soft. If we can get our hands on one of those frigates, we may be able to find vulnerabilities that will help the cause.”
I quizzed Ham further about his friend. The idea was sound and it gave me an excuse to once again visit the Grid. I could catch up with Dearest Kreed and of course check on the status of Ashley Elizabeth as well. I scheduled a ship for the following day.
When we arrived on the Grid I immediately made an effort to locate Ashley. She was off Grid on business. My second visit was to see Dearest Kreed. She had news. “Mr. Bumbalee, it looks like agents were able to break up the attempt at sabotaging the gravity drive. But there are other plans in the works that could prove easily as disruptive. There is talk of a toxic bomb to be used on the farming levels. It could make an entire crop inedible as well as making the soil toxic for future crops.”
Dearest continued, “It could also be related to the environmental systems. They have identified key systems that will be difficult to repair or replace in a timely manner. There has also been talk of corrupting the power grid so that many of the electronic devices would be rendered useless. Each of those could cause hardships for many of our residents.”
Dearest had been working hard to collect information for the Grid. She had names of other agents that were assigned the tasks of which she spoke, she had lockers identified where materials for use were hidden and she had credit routing numbers of funding accounts. It would have been a gold mine for SCore, but I was unsure of who could be trusted.
I next met up with Ham who was having a discussion with his friend. Jeb Carson had made a small career out of his hobby as a kinetic weapon enthusiast. After hand manufacturing several of the weapons found in the Grid archives he sought a place to put them to use. The only indoor gun range on the Grid was opened only a few months before our arrival.
I was introduced to Jeb and instantly saw why Ham had spoken so highly of him. “Ham tells me your name is Rex?” I shook his hand and responded, “Rex Bumbalee. Ham speaks highly of you and he thought I might be interested in learning about your weapons.”
Jeb flipped on a closed sign, locked the door and ushered us into his range. It was a re-creation of a range as described in the archives. “You see, our ancestors enjoyed shooting these weapons
for pleasure, kind of a sport. They had a whole variety of guns that were made for different purposes. It seems hunting wild animals, sometimes for food and sometimes for sport was something that many of them enjoyed.”
“Your basic bullet, as it’s called, is a lead or composite metal slug that gets pressed into the end of one of these brass cartridges. The cartridge has a blend of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate as a charge that when ignited pushes that slug down and out of the barrel of one of these guns. I tell you, the first time I fired one I almost pee’d myself; have been hooked ever since.”
“Now, they aren’t as accurate as a blaster, but I think that adds to their charm. I’ve read that some of the more primitive species we have encountered during our traveling times used similar weapons exclusively. You put me in combat and I’ll take a blaster over one of these every time, but for sport… they are a hoot!”
We spent the afternoon at the range firing different caliber pistols, rifles and shotguns. Jeb even had a muzzle loader, but he rarely fired it because he felt it was a bit too inaccurate and a lot of work. For Jeb, shooting was supposed to be fun.
As the day progressed he moved on to other weapons that made use of gunpowder or gunpowder like substances. He showed us drawings of fragmentation grenades, mortars and bazookas, none of which he had crafted as he had nowhere to fire them. The conversation changed when I asked if he would be interested in building a range on Bullwort.
Jeb replied, “Bullwort? Who named it that? No offense intended but I think there should have been some kind of committee setup to name some of these planets.”
After a brief hesitation Jeb continued, “I’m just joshing with you there Rex, just having a little fun at your expense.”
I nodded as I responded, “That’s OK Jeb, I live there, but the Grid is my home and I’ll have to say I sometimes wonder who named it the Grid. But to get back to my question, would you be interested in constructing one of these ranges back on Bullwort? Credits are not an issue and that would include funding for the other devices you mentioned there.”
“I’m looking for a whole slew of kinetic weapons for a special purpose. And if you are interested I can pay you a healthy consulting fee just for coming out there with us. Ham can vouch that it will be worth your time. I would like to leave in the next couple days though, if you can swing that.”
Jeb stood and looked around at his range. “Well, I’ve been bringing in about 1,500 credits a week here. I would guess that we are talking about at least a month. Add in a little bonus for inconveniencing my customers and… I’m thinking 8,000 credits might just get me out to Bullwort!”
I stood and held out my hand for a shake. “How about 20,000 and we leave tomorrow?”
Jeb grinned and then thrust his hand back into mine. “For 20Gs I can be ready in 20 minutes! I look forward to doing business with you Rex!”
Chapter 6
Jeb was blown away by the Swift as we left for Bullwort. I spoke, “Now that we are away from the Grid I have a few extra things to tell you.”
Jeb got a worried look on his face.
I continued, “First off, I want you to know that you are not in any danger and that you will be paid the consulting fee as was agreed upon. What I want to discuss is our intent for the weapons we would like you to build for us.”
“As you know Jeb, we are at war with the Milgari. And when I say we I am not only referencing the Grid. I am talking about our team back on Bullwort. We want to use your guns in an assault on the Milgari.”
Jeb got a puzzled look on his face. “You want to take these into battle against the Milgari? They have blasters you know and while these are fun to toy around with they are no match for a blaster, unless you haven’t told me everything yet. Please go on.”
I set the way-points back to Bullwort and then set the speed to go full once we were out of range of the Grid’s sensors. “We are only in the early stages of planning at the moment. But your friend here turned us on to an idea that I think might just work. We plan to knock out a Milgari frigate and then boarding her with these weapons.”
“And when I say knock out I mean taking everything that runs on ions offline, which would include blasters. Your guns, Jeb, do not require power and are therefore ideal for the assault we are planning. It would be us with guns versus the Milgari with their disgusting suction cupped hands. We want you to build us the weapons Jeb, and then the range for us to practice on.
“We have the credits for you to do just about whatever you want. And we aren’t asking you to fight, just to build us what we need to pull this off. That would include some of those gazookas and branades or whatever those other devices were called.”
Jeb let out a howl before Ham could respond. “I think you mean bazookas, but I kinda like gazookas better!”
The remainder of the flight back to Bullwort was spent discussing the gunpowder weapons and their strengths and pitfalls. Just before we landed Jeb asked a question. “I was just noticing your speed indicator there Rex. That is not in SOLs is it? I mean, there aren’t ships out there doing over 300 SOL are there? I’m a bit of an ion drive buff too, worked on them down in the Alpha yards before giving the range a shot.”
Ham placed his hand on my shoulder. “I’ll handle this one. This ship… has been over 600 SOL before. That’s right, the Swift, the ship you are riding in, has traveled faster than any ship in the galaxy, that is, other than the Grid when we are on the run!”
Jeb’s excited grin suddenly began to fade. “If you figured out how to hit 600 SOL then there is a fair chance that the Milgari are going to figure that out too. I’ve heard we hit over a 1,000 SOL when we fire up those Grid gravity drives. But that isn’t going to take us far enough if the Milgari can hit 600. We would have to jump every three years and there wouldn’t be enough fuel for a full jump. No, this here has me concerned… real concerned.”
Ham grabbed his friend on the shoulder and squeezed. “Hey… you and me both. That is why Rex formed up this outfit. If we can hit 600, they are not far behind. And the Milgari are much closer to attacking the Grid than any of those politicians let on. We could be hit in a month, by ships that are far more powerful, and more plentiful, than anything we have ever faced before.”
“And I tell you what really scares me, it’s the idiots we have in charge. Too many of them have vested interests in this sector with all the businesses they have set up. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for our free capitalist ways, but when those in the government get involved in business they tend to do things that they perceive are in their own best interest and not always what’s best for the rest of us.”
Our discussions continued as we landed on Bullwort. Jeb was eager to see our operation and to meet the patriots that had taken it upon themselves to fight the Milgari. Ham introduced him to the other team members and then gave him a quick tour of our mining operation.
Later that afternoon Jeb approached me with another question. “Mr. Bumbalee. What you have here… it’s beyond my imagination. The things that I have learned the last few days have me wanting to jump in and help in any way I can. If you need guns, I will build all the guns you need. Grenades… gazookas, whatever you need. I would consider it an honor to be a member of this team Sir… an honor.”
I congratulated Jeb on becoming our newest member. I set him down with George to make out a list of what he would need to build out our gunpowder arsenal. We would be going to war with the Milgari and we would be armed with conventional weapons.
A month after acquiring the equipment needed for our arsenal Jeb produced the first rifle. It was a design he found for an assault rifle designated as an AK-47. It was easily produced, rugged and forgiving in harsh environments. The following week his ammunition line was up and running, producing the 7.62 millimeter rounds that would be required.
When the second rifle came out of his manufacturing room the two guns were taken to our outdoor range. An afternoon of firing the guns quickly burned through more than
800 rounds. Barg finished firing a full clip and then turned back towards the others. “Man, I have to say I like the feel of that. The kick lets you know what is heading their way. I think I’m going to miss that when I get back to my blaster. Yeah, I like that recoil.”
Milly fired a clip next and had a similar response. “That was awesome! I’m so used to pulling the trigger on that blaster and then seeing something happen on the other end. This adds a whole new dimension of feel to it. I tell you what we should do. We should build a maze of halls like you would find on a ship, to work our way through. It’s one thing to just stand back and fire at a target, it’s another to assault one.”
Two days later we had a mock hallway setup for our practice. Ham had his hands full training the pilots who were not used to military style tactics, he had studied them extensively. We quickly determined that not everyone was cut out to go on a rampage through an alien ship carrying an assault rifle. Our manpower needs were changing.
Milly spoke. “Chief, all of us are exceptional pilots, but I think it’s safe to say that we might want to scout around for some folks who are trained at assault. I had some of that training during my tours, but I would not consider myself hard core and this type of an assault needs hard core. You don’t send fishermen out to do farming Sir. It’s not what they are good at and the results will show.”
Ham then stepped up with an idea. “I don’t know if this is doable or not, but Jeb’s business has been kept afloat mostly with retired Marines. These guys are the hard core deck assault troops that Milly was referring too. They are mostly sitting around on their pensions trying not to go crazy with nothing to do. I know 42 of his members are from one private military retirement org.”
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