“Well, tell them we’d be happy to do that,” Calvin said.
“How are you going to get them off the ship?” Farhome asked. “Better yet, how are you going to get us off? Max doesn’t like the ducts; they’re too small for him.”
“I don’t know,” Calvin replied. “Yet.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, 83 Leonis System, December 14, 2021
“Squadron maintenance just said that all the people from the Remurn are aboard, sir,” Lights reported.
“Understood,” Captain Sheppard said. “What did we end up with?”
“It looks like we got six troopers, four pilots and four weapon systems officers,” Lights replied. “Most of the troopers are Terrans; the aviators are split between Terrans and Kuji.” She paused, then added, “The shuttle has detached and is returning to the Remurn.”
“Thank you,” Captain Sheppard replied. He turned toward the front table. “Full speed to the stargate,” he ordered. “We’ve been gone too long.”
Ducts, Jotunn Ship, Sssellississ Orbit, December 14, 2021
Calvin took one last scan of the bridge before sliding away from the grate he had been watching the bridge crew through. He crawled along the passageway to the intersection where Farhome, the Ssselipsssiss and three of the bugs waited patiently. Their race had a name, but it was unpronounceable. Not only was it long and full of consonant-like sounds, it also involved stomping your fifth and sixth feet halfway through, which was problematic for a race that didn’t have them. They had finally settled on the abbreviation ‘S’nark.’
Communications with them had improved, although it still required Paxton’s interrogation box. The bugs had promised Calvin they wouldn’t eat his group, for the moment, if he would help get them to a planet. They had, however, made it clear the ductwork was their territory, and they would only suffer the presence of Calvin’s group for a short while before ‘something would have to be done with them.’ Calvin didn’t want to find out what the ‘something’ was; he had to come up with a plan…or at least enough of a plan to buy some more time.
“Did you learn anything?” Burkuri asked.
“No,” Calvin whispered, his voice grim. “I wasn’t able to find out much about the giants’ plans.”
“That’s unfortunate,” Burkuri said.
“I may not have come up with a way off the ship yet,” Calvin said, “but at least I know where we are now.”
“Where’s that?” Farhome replied.
“We’re on the Jotunn ship Falcon,” Calvin replied. “I recognized Oleif Magnusson, the captain.”
“We’re on a Jotunn ship?” Farhome asked. “Wow! I never would have guessed. What gave it away? The giants?”
“I don’t—” Calvin started, but then everything expanded into infinity…before going black…then sideways...then green...then salty...
CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, HD 40307 System, December 16, 2021
“I called this meeting to talk to everyone before we transit back into Ssselipsssiss space,” Captain Sheppard announced. “I wanted to make sure we’re as ready as we can be, given the nature of our voyage.”
“Are you expecting trouble from the Ssselipsssiss?” Night asked.
“Expecting trouble? No. But do I trust the Ssselipsssiss to honor their word? Also ‘no.’ In fact, I trust them to honor their word far less than most other races, so I want to be ready for anything, just in case.”
“You don’t think we need to go in with grasers blazing, do you?” the Vella Gulf’s executive officer, Commander Russ Clayton, asked.
“No, I don’t want to provoke a confrontation with the Ssselipsssiss, especially while they have one of our folks,” Captain Sheppard replied. “I do, however, want to be ready in case they start one. I want to make sure we have our stealth modules up, and we’re prepared to jump to the Jinn Universe at a moment’s notice if needed.”
“Do we need the stealth modules, sir?” the operations officer, Commander Dan Dacy, asked.“The Ssselipsssiss can’t follow us if we jump to the other universe. Having the stealth modules installed will take away a lot of our combat capability.”
“I’m aware of that,” Captain Sheppard said. “The problem is, I’m less worried about the Ssselipsssiss than I am our other enemies. If it were just a matter of fighting the Ssselipsssiss, we could jump back and forth between universes and take care of them. But what happens if we jump into the next system and find the Shaitans have arrived? I would hate to find us outnumbered and facing enemies we couldn’t get away from. Having the stealth modules installed gives us options…and I want options when facing the unknown.”
“Makes sense to me,” Night said. “I’ll have the platoon standing by in case they’re holding Lieutenant Commander Hobbs somewhere, and we need to go bring him back.”
“Thanks,” Captain Sheppard replied. “Hopefully, the Ssselipsssiss will be true to their word…but I’d like them standing by just in case.”
“Options,” Night noted.
“Exactly,” Captain Sheppard agreed. “How are the new troops fitting in?”
“They’re doing well, sir. Most are combat veterans and experts in their field, which is why they were selected to train the Doman forces. We’ve been running them through the simulators, and they’re adjusting to our platoon’s tactics.”
“The new pilots are doing equally well,” Lights added. “We’re seeing the same thing with them; they’re also experts.”
“Good,” Captain Sheppard replied. “I don’t think we’ll need them, but…”
“Options.”
“Right. Okay, that does it for now. I’d like everyone to make sure your departments are fully ready for combat. Even if it doesn’t happen when we make our jump into the Kepler-62 system, it will be hard to avoid as we press on toward the Dark Star. Meeting adjourned.”
The assembled staff began dispersing to attend to their tasks.
“Father Zuhlsdorf, would you stay a moment longer?” Captain Sheppard asked. Once the room had cleared, he continued. “Father, I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you to attend the staff meeting.”
“My presence was somewhat…out of the ordinary,” the priest replied. “Although it was interesting to find out some of the specifics of our mission, the details are, however, somewhat daunting. Going 10 systems up an unexplored stargate chain to find our enemy’s home planet is further than any missionary has ever gone, I believe.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk with you about,” Captain Sheppard said. “The enemy’s home planet.”
“I doubt you want my advice on military planning. Although I have a small amount of hand-to-hand combat experience, ship-to-ship warfare is certainly not my forte.”
“No, I wanted to talk about what we’re going to do once we get there. If we somehow make it to the Dark Star and find the Shaitans’ home world, the Ssselipsssiss have asked us to destroy it. I’ve given the situation a lot of thought, and I’m having a hard time convincing myself that destroying an entire world is the proper course of action.”
“Despite the fact you’ve already done it once?”
“I never intended to destroy the Psiclopes’ home world,” Captain Sheppard replied; “in fact, I specifically ordered the troops not to turn it into a black hole. This time is different, though. I’m actively contemplating the obliteration of a world and potentially billions of lives. Even though they’re aliens, they’re still conscious beings.”
“So, you are wondering about the morality of the action, not the strategic implications?”
“Exactly. I know the Ssselipsssiss will approve of annihilating the planet, and I expect even the Mrowry would turn a blind eye as it would help secure their borders. Fleet Command would also probably be okay with it, especially if I do it on my own, and they don’t have to take responsibility.” He sighed and shook his head. “The truth is, assuming we can do it, wiping out their home world, and any facilities there, is also probably our best opportunity to end this wa
r without any further loss of allied lives. But is obliterating an entire planet’s worth of sapient beings the right choice, even if they are all evil?”
“That is a good question,” Father Zuhlsdorf replied, “and I am reminded of how Abraham bargained with God in Genesis, Chapter 18: Then Abraham drew near, and said, ‘Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou then destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?’”
Father Zuhlsdorf smiled. “Abraham got God to reduce the number all the way down to 10 righteous men, but God destroyed Sodom anyway. He makes His own decisions.” Father Zuhlsdorf paused, then asked, “My question would be, how do you know they are all evil? I have faith that the Good Lord must have put the Shaitans here for a reason. For the life of me, I can’t think of what that might be except to test us, but it is not up to me to determine or judge.”
“What if our God, the God who I believe created our universe, doesn’t exist in their universe?” Captain Sheppard asked. “What if there is a separate god who rules it? What then? Maybe the reason the Shaitans are bent on exterminating us is they think that’s the reason their god created them?”
“That is an interesting premise,” Father Zuhlsdorf replied. He thought for a moment. “Here’s another quote from the Book of Genesis: God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. He set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.”
“Nowhere does it say He also created alternate universes,” Captain Sheppard noted.
“Nor would it,” Father Zuhlsdorf replied. “Alternate universes would have been as far beyond the people who originally wrote the Book of Genesis as stargate mechanics were to us before the Psiclopes arrived. The authors were struggling with the creation of our own universe; they would not have been able to even conceptualize the existence of another one.”
“And I’m guessing the Church doesn’t have any teaching on going to new universes and wiping out the creatures there?”
“While I’m sure the Church is working to understand the implications of the Jinn Universe, the Pope hasn’t shared his thoughts with me yet, so I’m afraid I am somewhat handicapped in my ability to advise you. What I do know for certain is that life, all life, is precious. I think you have to make your decision with that in mind.”
“Not only do I have to balance the lives of the Shaitans I may take, I also have to consider how many people they’re going to kill if this war continues. The dilemma is somewhat like the choice to use nuclear weapons on Japan at the end of World War II. Our leaders knew there would be horrific casualties if they used them, but they knew there would be even greater destruction if we were forced to invade Japan. The only difference is this war appears to be a war of extinction. If given the opportunity, I don’t believe the Shaitans would think twice about coming to Terra and destroying all of us. We’d all be dead as soon as they arrived.”
“Do you know that to be certain? That every single Shaitan would kill every single human if it were possible? Or are you merely guessing it to be true?”
“Well, I can’t say I’ve spoken with every Shaitan, so I guess it is within the realm of possibility that some Shaitans may exist who don’t want to kill all of us, but recent evidence seems to point in the other direction.”
“Although I do not discount that there are conditions where war may be the right choice, judging the actions of all, based on the actions of a few commanders already at war, is an unsatisfactory argument to me. I am mindful of ‘jus ad bellum’ or the ‘Just War Theory.’ While the Church teaches the use of deadly force can be justified in self-defense or when there are no other options, it cannot be used indiscriminately, such as in the case of genocide. The use of force must cease when the threat no longer exists.”
“How am I supposed to know when the threat is over?”
“Unfortunately, there is no ‘right’ answer for all cases. It is, and must be, situationally dependent. Say you are a trained carrier of a concealed handgun, and you are threatened with the loss of your life. If you cannot flee or deescalate the threat, you have the right to defend yourself and others, even with deadly force. So you shoot the attacker. He keeps coming, so you shoot him again. Still, he keeps coming, so you continue shooting…but only until he stops. You don’t keep shooting after the threat is over. You shoot to stop the threat; you don’t shoot to kill.”
“War is the same way,” Father Zuhlsdorf continued. “If, in righteous anger and with grave cause, we wear down the unjust aggressor to the point where he ceases to be an existential threat, then the use of deadly force has to stop. If we are unjustly attacked, we defend ourselves and stop the existential threat our opponent is manifesting, but we are required to stop when the threat is over. Right now, we don’t know enough to say the entire species is wholly evil or immoral, so we can’t simply destroy them. Just War requires us to stop the existential threat by reducing the Shaitans’ capacity to harm us, at which point we must stop using lethal force. Killing anyone is a last resort; killing all of them, just because you can, is reprehensible.”
“I was afraid you’d say something like that,” Captain Sheppard replied, “because I’m afraid I’ll only have two options. Either I wipe them out, or I run the risk they will somehow make it to our planet and wipe out all of us. I don’t like either of those choices.”
“Neither do I,” the chaplain replied. “I guess you’ll have to find another way.”
Chapter Twelve
Ducts, Jotunn Ship Falcon, Unknown System, December 14, 2021
“That’s funny,” Farhome said with a giggle. “You said you knew where we were, but now you don’t anymore.”
Calvin had been through enough stargate jumps he barely noticed anymore when they occurred…but he still was able to tell it had happened. “Okay, I know what ship we’re on,” he whispered. “And now, we’re either one system closer to home…or farther away.”
“Which do you think it is?” Farhome asked. Another giggle escaped. “Do you think there’s a supernova we can fall into here?”
“I don’t know what your fascination is with supernovas,” Calvin said, “but I wish you’d stop it.” He thought for a moment. “The ship hasn’t taken that much battle damage. I’m guessing we’ve moved one system closer to Terra. We’re going to assault the next system.”
Calvin looked down the duct to where the Ssselipsssiss had retreated after the jump. One system closer to home meant one system fewer the Ssselipsssiss had until their annihilation. He could tell from their agitation as they communicated in hand signals that they were aware of the fact too. If this system fell, they’d be down to only one. Even if the Vella Gulf showed up now, the Terrans still probably wouldn’t be able to stop the extinction of the Ssselipsssiss.
Now that he had come to know some of the saurian race, he found that he wasn’t ready for that to happen. A couple of months ago, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but now that he had a relationship with them…
The Jotunn/Shaitan alliance had to be stopped.
He just had no idea how.
He crawled along the duct to join the Ssselipsssiss, and found they were all bleeding from gashes down their arms.
“Crap!” Calvin exclaimed. “What happened?”
“We are mourning the loss of our world,” Burkuri said. “Soon, it will be the loss of our entire race. There is nothing we can do to stop it. Worse, we will be forced to endure watching it happen.”
“The gods hate us!” Reyl cried.
“The gods hate us!” the group chorused.
“So that’s it?” Calvin asked. “You’re giving up? What? Are you going to kill yourselves rather than fight to the end?”
“I would rather fight,” Karver replied, “but there is nothing we can do. We could wage a guerilla war from t
he ducts. We could probably kill a number of them before they killed us. If you and the pointy-eared giggler joined us, we might kill an additional two or three Jotunn before they killed us. But kill us they would, and we would only help end our race that much sooner.”
“Well, what if I were able to get the bugs to join us in the fight?” Calvin asked. “We might be able to overwhelm them if we attacked by surprise.”
“What good would that do?” asked Syrusss. “Even if all ten gods smiled on us at once, and we killed all the Jotunn on this ship, we couldn’t fly it or fight it. As soon as the other Jotunn saw we had killed the crew, they would destroy us. Even if Paxton or I were able to rewire the ship’s AI and get it to help us, the Shaitans would use their weapons to destroy us, and there would be nothing we could do about it. The gods hate us.”
“The gods hate us!” the group chorused.
“Okay, I can see that,” Calvin replied. “Still, there’s got to be a way…we need to do something to stop the Jotunn. If we could get them to leave, the Shaitans might call off their attack. The Vella Gulf will be back before too much longer, and the Gulf is able to fight the Shaitans in their own universe.”
“But that ship is just a cruiser, right?” Burkuri asked. “Assuming your ship kills the Shaitans, which is unlikely, what is it going to do against this ship and the others of the Jotunn fleet?”
“Well, the Gulf’s crew can launch and then jump to the Shaitans’ universe,” Calvin said. “The Jotunn won’t be able to target them. Perhaps the giants will get frustrated and call off the attack.” Calvin’s eyes swept the Ssselipsssiss. They were all staring at him, but he couldn’t tell if their looks were hope or disbelief. “Honestly, it happened once before. The Jotunn left when they weren’t able to attack the Vella Gulf.”
The Dark Star War (Codex Regius Book 3) Page 8