by Jeff Sims
Victor said, “Oh, well it worth consideration. Where is the core processor anyway?”
Lorano thought for a moment. He thought for another moment because he didn’t finish what he was thinking during the first moment. It probably would have been better if he had just thought for two complete moments so that he wouldn’t have broken his train of thought and been forced to think during a third moment.
Three moments later Lorano grabbed his communication pad and brought up an old schematic that he had never bothered to discard. Technically, it was in his recycle bin, but he had never bothered to clean it out. Lorano briefly scanned it and smiled brightly.
He responded, “The core is about 20 flights straight down. There is an electro lift about 200 meters (220 yards) from here.”
Victor said, “It doesn’t matter though unless we can actually hack it.”
Carank responded, “Yes we can. You may have forgotten, but we have a Model 345.22.14 diagnostic computer on board the Travesty.”
They informed the ladies of the revised plan and obtained the diagnostic computer. They put it on a hover cart and gently dragged it to the service electro lift. They rode the electro lift down exactly 19 stories and exited on the correct level.
Lorano attached the diagnostic computer to the fort’s core processor. He worked diligently for over an hour until he was finally able to gain access to the database. He added each of their names to the database of beings that were allowed to pass through the forts. He also added the Travesty to the ship register.
Lorano unplugged the diagnostic computer and reset all of the protections that he had disabled in order to gain write access to the database. They loaded the diagnostic computer back onto the electro lift.
Victor contacted the Vista and informed Crista that they had been successful and were on their way back to the ship. He also told her to prepare the ship as they were going to leave as soon as they returned.
Just as they were turning to leave the computer core room, the forts’ proximity warning sounded.
Carank shouted, “The Hiriculans must have detected us! We need to leave now!”
Chapter 14
Supreme Admiral Fruid’la nervously paced back and forth on his command bridge. There really wasn’t anything for him to be nervous about though. So far the High Council’s plan had gone tremendously well. In fact, to this point it had actually gone better than planned.
He knew, because he was keeping studious notes about exactly what had gone better than planned. He intended to publish the list at a later date with his memoirs to prove how great a military lead he actually was.
Fruid’la stopped near the end of the bridge and watched the numbers on the main monitor count down to zero. When the timer reached zero, the command carrier Retribution exited hyperspace exactly 2 hyper minutes from Advranki prime.
Fruid’la desperately wanted to contact the captain of the Retribution and tell him to jump to his assigned spot. He struggled internally with the decision for a moment and decided not call him. His patience was rewarded a moment later when the command carrier jumped again; this time to its pre-assigned location.
He said, “Computer, display the fleet on the main monitor.”
He waited a minute for the large screen to update. It showed 61 ships perfectly aligned side-by-side in a massive attack formation. Exactly 70 seconds later another ship appeared and took its place in the growing formation. Fruid’la was getting excited to begin the battle, but he still had another 2 hours until the rest of the fleet arrived.
He really wanted to hear the results of the battle in Conron. The battle occurred two days ago. Since there was an eight hour jump from Conron to Advranki Prime, the 10 to 1 time delay meant that they wouldn’t learn the results of the battle for at least another day.
Of course the Advranki would get a similar message at the exact same time. That is the reason that Fruid’la delayed the Conron attack. He needed to maintain the element of surprise for this attack. If the Advranki knew that the Hiriculans had invaded Conron, they may be able to bolster or even reposition their forces.
Supreme Admiral Fruid’la watched a few more ships appear. He was neither tired nor hungry, but he knew that he should do something other than watch the dots appear to stay mentally sharp and ready for the upcoming battle.
However, he didn’t do anything else. He just waited 70 seconds and watched a new dot appear on the large monitor. After about 10 minutes he started sending each ship a personalized message when it appeared. He then felt guilty and sent an individual message to the 67 ships that had already arrived.
Finally, the Barrister, last ship in the armada, arrived. Fruid’la eschewed a personalized message and this time actually contacted the cruise liner. The connection was established and Fruid’la found himself staring at 25 of the best Hiriculan lawyers in the galaxy.
He flawlessly performed the traditional Hiriculan greeting and said, “GBAGs, I am Supreme Admiral Fruid’la. I apologize for not being able to talk with you earlier and I again want to thank you for dedicating so much of your time and incredible talents to this endeavor. I trust your trip so far has been pleasant?”
Most of the lawyers nodded in approval and several muttered something along the lines of okay and livable.
Fruid’la responded, “Excellent. Please have the captain move your ship in the spot directly next to the command carrier. It is the safest place to be.” He mentally added, ‘And also the easiest to hit with missiles’.
When the Barrister got into position Supreme Admiral Fruid’la ordered every ship to make a final system check and report back. He had the large board change every ship from yellow to green when it reported its status. A few minutes later the entire board showed green.
It was time. It was finally time.
Fruid’la opened a channel to all ships and said, “GBAGs (Gentle Beings of All Genders), it has been a pleasure traveling with each and every one of you. In a few minutes we will arrive at our destination. Now is the time to go to your battle stations and prepare yourselves for what could be a difficult battle. I want each and every one of you to fight with dignity and respect. Fear not though, we will prevail. Good luck everyone.”
The entire armada simultaneously sped up to .02 light and made the two minute micro jump. They reentered normal space at the outskirts of Advranki Prime traveling at .015 light.
Supreme Admiral Fruid’la said to his analysts, “I need an updated scan as soon as possible. Get something up on the main monitor as soon as possible.”
He then said, “Computer, contact the Alliance battleship Guardian. Also, contact as many open channels as you possibly can, but make it look like an accident. Send the following ultimatum.”
He took a deep breath and said, “Admiral Dolen, you are surrounded and outnumbered 252 to 108. Even if you include the extra fighters and missile launchers on your naval space station you are still outnumbered better than 2 to 1.”
He continued, “If you surrender now, all of your soldiers will be allowed to resign and will be treated in accordance with civilian law.”
Fruid’la looked down and saw that he had an emergency communication from the Barrister. If the lawyers desperately wanted to tell him something then it was probably important. He paused his speech and read it.
He continued, “Specifically, I will grant you the terms specified in section 58.16.18, sub paragraph 4 of the Alliance - Hiricualan Treaty. Please understand that if any warship moves or appears like it is going to fire, we will consider the negotiations overs and open fire. You have 60 minutes to decide.”
He got another message from the lawyers, scanned it, and sighed loudly. He was stunned. As many times as he had practiced that speech, he couldn’t believe that he had left out a significant portion of it.
He reestablished contact and said, “In addition to your unconditional surrender, Advranki Prime must also immediately withdraw from the Alliance and join a new, far superior Alliance that includes Hiricula and
Neto.”
Fruid’la looked back at this analysts and asked, “Is anything moving or firing or anything?”
“No Supreme Admiral, nothing is moving.” They responded in chorus.
Fruid’la responded, “Keep looking. Find me something to fire at.”
…………………….
The mystery man was monitoring the communication system and heard all of the exchanges. He knew what was going to happen next and decided to make a huge profit and disappear. It probably wasn’t safe to know too much in the very near future.
He put on his voice changer and contacted Ambassador Bline. The ambassador seemed like he was in a bunker somewhere because the connection was very fuzzy. Despite this, they were able to establish a secure connection.
The mystery man said, “I know who killed Ambassador Figur, and for the right price I will tell you.”
…………………….
Senator Frank settled into his normal chair in the Alliance Senate. He was actually in the real senate chamber this time, not the fake, hidden one that the Senate used to conduct real business. The Senate was on recess for the next month, so Frank was holding a press conference in the large room. Later that afternoon he was scheduled to have a campaign rally.
Select members of the press entered the Senate floor and Frank began his impromptu news conference.
“What do you think of Senator Amanda’s use of a private email communicator?”
Frank responded, “I really don’t want to comment on another Senator’s personal business”- but he was going to do so anyway.
Frank continued unabated, “Senator Amanda needs to tell the public exactly what she was doing on her personal communication device and why she felt the need to destroy it. In the final analysis, she needs to answer whether or not she used her personal system to for Alliance business.”
Frank answered several other questions and smiled frequently. So far, the press conference had been a huge success. The reporters were sticking to the questions that he had prepared for them and his performance was exemplary.
Frank said, “Last question, who has a tough one?”
One reporter stepped forward and asked, “Are you still the Humans greatest supporter?”
Frank thought for a moment and gave his ‘that question wasn’t on my list’ smile. However, it was a relatively easy question that Frank had no trouble answering.
Frank said, “Absolutely. Even though our initial efforts on their behalf were not entirely successful, I am sure that the Humans will become solid allies and with some luck, eventually even become full members of the Alliance.”
That comment garnered a few good-natured chortles from the reporters.
Frank gave his ‘thank you for coming’ smile and ended the session. He walked back to his apartment and waited there for the rally later in the afternoon.
He sat down on his couch and grabbed his communication pad. He read the overwhelming majority of his unanswered emails. He scanned them one final time and mass deleted those that he had not read. It was relatively simple, if the emails in question weren’t worth reading today, then they certainly wouldn’t be worth reading tomorrow.
Frank looked at the time on his communicator. He still had several hours until his next planned activity. It felt strange to have time to relax and do nothing for a change. With his busy schedule he rarely got the chance to relax.
Frank chucked the pad lightly across the couch, just out of his easy reach. He rubbed his eyes. He considered taking a nap, but decided to soak in a nice Advranki sea moss bath instead. He hadn’t taken one in too long, he decided.
Frank went into the apartment’s well-apportioned bathroom, filled the tub with a combination of warm water, sea moss, and luxuriating oils. He disrobed, climbed in, and soaked in the bath for nearly an hour.
He could have soaked even longer, but he was rudely interrupted by his communication pad making a claxon sound. Frank recognized that it was a priority override signal and that someone desperately wanted to talk to him.
Frank extricated himself from his bath and carefully dried himself off. He then got dressed and checked himself in the mirror. Finally, he practiced his ‘Sorry I am little late, but I am certainly worth it’ smile. After all, there was some reason to hurry, but really no good reason to rush – after all they were calling him so it must therefore be their crisis, not his.
He entered the living area and said, “Computer, play the urgent message.”
…The Hiriculans have invaded. Repeat, the Hiriculans have invaded. They are demanding that the Alliance Navy surrender immediately and Advranki Prime secede from the Alliance...
Frank said, “Is there a conference call that I can attend? Also, display all of the other beings on the call.”
…Connecting. The connection has been established and the updated list is now showing on the main monitor…
Frank stated his name and was connected to the conference. He listened for a few moments to hear the tone of the conversation. It only took a few moments to hear how horribly they were stuck.
Voice 1: “We are outnumbered 2 to 1. Even with the added support of the space station and the fighter squadrons housed there our battle computers are projecting huge losses; devastating losses in fact.”
Voice2: “Their timeline of one hour to decide doesn’t give us enough time to rearrange our forces or get reinforcements. In summary, we cannot win this battle. We can certainly harm them, but we cannot win.”
Voice 3: “With the overwhelming odds we are facing, the battle won’t be one-for-one. The Hiriculans will be able to fire twice as many of everything as us, especially missiles. They can fire more offensive missiles than we can stop while still firing enough defensive missiles to keep themselves perfectly safe.”
Voice 4: “So if we start firing.”
Voice3: “Then we will lose all of our ships and they will lose about 20% of their fleet.”
Voice 4: “Can you run a simulation through the battle computer?”
Voice 3: “We are in the process now. However, the key problem is that the Hiriculan fleet is in perfect formation, already moving at battle speed, and can fire at us immediately if try to move one of our ships”
Voice 2: “Meanwhile, our ships are spread out halfway across the system, are not in formation, and for the most part are not moving.”
Voice 3: “The battle computer has completed 140 simulations. Our losses vary anywhere from 90 to 95 percent and their losses vary from 25 – 30 percent.”
Voice 5: “Is there any scenario where if we fight we win or at a minimum force them to retreat.”
Voice 3: “No. Wait, number 141 is just completing.”
Voice 1: “Well?”
Voice 3: “Simulation 141 was another disaster. It doesn’t appear like we can win.”
Voice 2: “They have probably already run the exact simulations as we are thousands of times. More than likely they already figured out how many ships they needed to bring in order to give us no chance to win this battle.”
Voice 4: “We cannot ask ninety percent of our military to sacrifice their lives without a single chance of stopping the enemy fleet.”
Voice 5 “And according to the treaty this is perfectly legal.”
Voice 6: “Yes, we just received a legal position paper from the Hiriculan lawyers. Apparently there is a sub-clause in the treaty that allows each individual world to back out of the Alliance if a better alternative is presented.”
Voice 5: “Doesn’t the Alliance Senate have to vote to disband?”
Voice 7: “Actually, the Alliance Senate does not have the legal authority to vote to disband. That right is preserved by the individual planets.”
Voice 5 (or possibly it was voice 4, it was really difficult for Frank to keep them straight during the rapid flow of the conversation): “So this invasion is technically legal according to the treaty?”
Long pause. Voice 3: “Yes, although at the moment it is technically a blockade,
not an invasion. And yes, according to all relevant legal input, it appears that based upon the language and the interpretation of the treaty, they have found a way to make to the blockade and a potential invasion legal.”
Frank: “So what are we going to do?”
Voice 8: “The Navy has to surrender. Then Advranki Prime will have to conduct a vote on whether or not to join the new confederation.”
Voice 9: “What do you think the results of the planetary wide vote will be?”
Voice 4: “I think we already know. The Hiriculans have a fleet in our orbit and the Alliance Navy will soon be forced to resign. No one will be able to stop the Hiriculans from doing anything they want like economic sanctions, travel restrictions, and who knows what else.”
Voice 6: “The citizenry will eventually decide that one Alliance is as good as any other.”
Voice 9: “Have you seen the specifications of their new proposed Alliance?”
Frank: “Summarize it.”
Voice 9: “Basically, they want all 5 races to join. There will be one Senator that represents each race. A simple majority will decide each vote. Everyone will be treated as equals and the new Alliance will no longer be dominated by any one race.”
Frank thought about the new alliance for a moment. It didn’t seem that terrible. Besides, he was already the Senator elected via popular vote. The odds were that he could easily win the election and become the sole representative and speaker for the entire Advranki race. That actually sounded fairly nice.
More than likely Korno would win the election for the Altians. They had always been political rivals in the past, but he supposed that they could join forces. That would be two votes. Senator Amanda would probably win the Solarian vote. Then, he and Korno simply had to sway her vote and they would own a simple, undefeatable majority. Quite honestly, Frank wondered why he had never thought of this particular idea before. It seemed almost too easy, almost too good to be true.