by James Edward
Back on Doust, the shuttles were dropping in and out as fast as they could load and unload their people. In all four camps, there was all-day, all-night activity preparing and rigging the sites so that the PRC wouldn’t know that most of the inmates were gone. The freighters were slowly filling up, too slow for Olaf but actually on schedule. Olaf sat for a long time musing about what to do with the political prisoners. Now that some of the Fleet people and their families had opted to remain, they had room for some of the political people. It was a hard decision, but Olaf finally decided to leave them. They were, after all, the reason the empire crumbled and allowed the PRC to take control. The other camps would help them out. He would make sure they got the needed supplies.
They were into the third day when Picket One relayed a message that there was a ship headed to Doust. Olaf ordered the shuttle to go to ground along with the Taipans, and all other ships moved away from Doust. They sat and watched as the ship arrived and took up orbit around Doust. Soon they saw ships dropping down into the atmosphere to unload their prisoners. As they weren’t dropped close to where the Fleet camps were, it was assumed that these were common criminals or dissidents from some captured planet. The ships spent most of the afternoon shuttling them down, and as evening started, the ship broke orbit and headed for Darnen. When they were safe enough out of range, the loading continued. For the next two days, they continued without incident, and finally they were finished with the rescue. Olaf had outfitted those who decided to stay with as much technology as they could afford without causing interest of the PRC. This included leather and warm-weather clothing, weapons, radios, medical supplies, and hydroponic and agricultural supplies. They also installed a satellite warning system that alarmed with enough time so that when ships made orbit, they had already hidden their illegal technology. They were told that a ship would pass by once a quarter to contact them. The code word would be “Frontier,” and the reply would be “Lincoln.” If the site was in distress, the reply would change to “Wanderer.” They moved all the inmates from the worst site, which was also the most remote. The inmates, before leaving, stripped all the improvements, and these were dispersed to the other three camps. Everyone in that hardship camp had opted to go to Conrad.
As a change in plans, they decided to put the 1200 PRC prisoners in the furthest away camp that was just barely making ends meet. They figured that the PRC would be able to exist there, as it was the same set up as the PRC had given to the POWs from the Fleet. Alfred Noble was in a fury when he realized that he was being incarcerated on the same planet that he had so smugly put those that he didn’t space. Most of the captains fought and kicked when they saw their fate. The crews were more resigned to their fate and marched into take up residence where the AGW POWs had been a few short days ago. Even while they marched in, there were some crew members and lower-ranked officers that had decided, after putting up with these snotty captains and executive officers for almost three months, that this was the end of the line for their superiors. It was going to be survival of the fittest, not the fattest anymore.
Olaf sent the fleet to the gate. He also launched four stealth satellites that would watch the area and the sites on Doust. These would send updates on an intermittent basis so it couldn’t be tracked to the stealth communication relay satellites. He was especially interested in what would happen in the camp where Noble and his crews were dropped off. Wishing good luck to the one that decided to stay behind, the Valkyrie broke orbit and headed after the fleet, making their way to the gate.
The tally from the four sites was 2,875 from camp Alpha; 125 had opted to remain behind. A total of 2,700 from camp Beta, with eighty-five opting to stay behind. From camp three, 2,800, with 110 staying behind. All of the survivors from camp four, which was 1800; an illness had devastated the rest of the camp, and they all wanted out. So a total of 10,175 Fleet survivors and families were recovered, and 1,200 prisoners were offloaded at camp four, and a total of 320 Fleet survivors and families remained. That was over 4,500 experienced officers and crew members. They had to consider this raid a booming success.
Olaf poured scotch into a couple glasses. He pushed one of the full glasses across the table to George Lincoln and sat back, fingering his glass. “You know, George, there are some old warhorses living in Conrad now.”
“Really! Who would they be?”
“Well I was thinking of surprising you, but you will have enough surprises when you arrive. But Lester Findlay is there and very active. Bev is there, and Bruce Duely, and of course Byron Weatherfew to name a few. Every day that I’m there I meet someone I worked with or came up through the ranks with or an old mentor. Conrad is like nothing you have ever seen before,” Olaf rumbled.
“Geez, Les is there and Weatherfew! Wow, I would love to see Bev again. What is she doing there?” George asked.
“They’re all working for the cause. Bev is actually a senior officer now. But it’s not the people per se. It’s what these people have done in four years. Do you know where Conrad system is?” Olaf asked.
“Not off the top of my head. Hadn’t given it much thought before now,” George admitted.
“Conrad is really Zn2091, a barren system with three gas giants and a weak white dwarf star. There are no atmospheric planets, just some planetoids and some moons orbiting the gas giants. What is amazing is that there are over 100,000 people living and working there. They have an R&D branch that is light years ahead of the AGW, and they have a working solar forge that is big enough to turn metals into new and exotic alloys. They have warships like this one that are harder, tougher, and stealthier. Every day that I’m there I’m surprised by a new development,” Olaf said.
“How is that all possible?” George asked. He was having a difficult time getting his head around what he was being told. He felt like he had fallen through the looking glass to a different dimension.
“It is one of the reasons we left the politicians on Doust. No one is interfering, deciding that they want a piece of the action, manipulating output to look better, demanding cutbacks to balance a budget. At Conrad, its go ahead and get it done. There is no monetary system; the whole system is designed to defend and protect. Its original mandate was to build a place that the AGW could retreat to. Unfortunately the AGW collapsed before that happened, but they were successful anyway.” Olaf smiled at George’s astonishment. “You will see for yourself, George. It is a remarkable system.”
“Have they ever had to come up against a PRC fleet? They are as well trained as we were. Hell, some I trained,” George said.
“While we picked you up, we were also dropping off the remnants of Alfred Noble’s eleven-ship fleet. Conrad took them out,” Olaf boasted. He laughed at George’s incredulous look and motioned for him to finish his drink. “Let me tell you that it was glorious. This ship is actually Noble’s battleship, the Iroquois, refitted and re-armored. He hit us with eleven ships in his task force—this battleship, two heavies, three cruisers, two lights, and three destroyers. We took them all with no losses. Our guard platform took heavy damage, and we lost some fighters and some marines. That was the second fight that Conrad has had. The first one, they annihilated a pirate fleet. I tell you, George, this is the place to be.”
George couldn’t stop laughing at the thought that he was sitting in Noble’s battleship. “Olaf, I am so interested in seeing this system and seeing old friends. I am curious as to who is running the whole show though.”
“A lot by committee, but the final say in everything is a man by the name of Ray Hunter. He was an ex-captain that Fuggoret drummed out.”
“Hell, I’ve heard of him!” George exclaimed “He was a good officer, but I didn’t know he was that good.”
“Wait until you get there and see what this guy has accomplished in just a short time.” Olaf Laughed. “Without him, you would be on that planet, and I would either be with you or drifting in space. He has brought about a new era i
n R&D, managed to unite the shattered remnants of the Fleet, beaten the PRC, and held them off a lot longer than the bastards anticipated.”
“An interesting CV, but I am surprised that everyone obeys a captain. Hell, Olaf, you are senior to him,” George mused.
“Ah you forget one thing, George,” Olaf said a little protectively. “This is not the Fleet and Fleet politics, and hierarchy doesn’t sit in Conrad. Conrad is owned by Ray Hunter under the guise of the Conrad Corp, but his name is on the ownership. We are unpaid employees because there is no monetary system in Conrad. Everyone works, or they get dropped off at one of the free worlds, and because of that, everyone is entitled to what they want. It is sort of utopian, but while we are under the hammer of the PRC, everyone is willing to pull their weight. You are judged by merit, skill, the willingness to be flexible, and being able to follow orders. Everyone is in on the plan and the execution of the same by the consent of Ray and a committee. You leave your egos at the gate. Hell, even Weatherfew takes orders from Ray.”
“Okay, no need to bristle. I’m just trying to get a feel for my new home and hopefully a job.” George held up his hands. “I just want to know if there are politics or factions and where the starting line is.”
“You needn’t fret about a job. Ray will be impressed as to what you and your groups on Doust have done and what they were developing. It shows initiative and the ability to take responsibility over a large group,” Olaf said. “We need people like you—administrators, planners, and fighters. You guys will be a big asset to the system.”
A week later, the task force arrived at the gate. Olaf and George stood on the bridge and watched as they crossed the gate into the system. The bridge was a hive of activity as they transitioned the gate. For the first time, George saw the massive guard platforms that stood out against the darkness. The guard platforms bristled with missile launch tubes, heavy laser mounts, huge particle beam cannons, rail guns, point defense, and counter weapons that were thick along the sides of the platform. As George watched, a squadron of Taipan fighters zoomed out of the darkness and streaked toward the task force. They flew in and around the ships before settling in as an escort to flank each ship as they headed toward the huge platform behind Guard One and Guard Two. Olaf explained that this was the clearing and indoctrination area. Everyone would be housed there, and all initial medical and processing would be done there. Then the people would be processed out to the various areas in system that required their help or expertise. As most of these were Fleet, they would be sent to Darcy and run through the orientation for assimilating into the present fleet.
George and his ten thousand-plus rescued people spent a week on the platform. All luxuriated in the plentiful water and food. They were eager to leave and take up accommodations and duties. Most were in awe of what they had learned about the system so far and were eager to get deeper in the system to see for themselves the developments. Eventually even George left the warehouse and headed in system. He had requested a ride in on a trainer Taipan, as they were two-seaters with a canopy so he could see everything. He marveled at the planetoids, the refinery and gas scoops, and the solar forge. This was bright flare down by Pandora that melted the ores into exotic metals and alloys. The three shipyards were going full blast, producing warships like the Taipan that they were riding in up to the huge Anaconda carrier and Mamba battleship. The repair ships were still processing the stolen ships that they took from Carver. These were usually stripped of armor and their structural skeleton reinforced before the new exotic armor was installed and the ceramic coating poured on. They also dealt with weapons and upgrades. Electronics were upgraded, and whatever juicy ideas the R&D boys came up with were installed as well.
He was surprised to know that there were three internally habital planetoids and one moon. He didn’t know that there were other sites and areas that were being developed as well. Suffice to say that George was duly impressed and eager to see some of the workings up close. The Taipan arrived at the Nerve Center and slipped into the loading bay. George was able to climb out under air and moderate gravity and was greeted by Ray and a small group of people that knew George. George spent some time going from handshake to handshake, meeting old friends, colleagues, and shipmates. He finally arrived in front of Hunter.
“Ray Hunter, it is a pure pleasure to meet my rescuer and my new boss,” George said as he pumped Ray’s hand. “It is an awesome system, probably one of the last jewels in the empire. I am very interested in it all and the history.”
“Good to meet you as well, George,” Ray countered. “But this isn’t a jewel in the empire, as we are an independent system with our own rules and security. But I do thank you for the compliments of what we collectively have achieved. It has been a long and arduous task that is only a third of the way to completion of my vision. Someone else will step up then to move it further with their vision, I expect.”
“I stand corrected,” George said. “It’s just remarkable what can be achieved if you have free reign to get the job done. Unfortunately, politics, egos, and intrigue seemed to stifle the efforts when the AGW was in power.”
“Well, you hit the nail on the head where one of the stumbling blocks is concerned,” Ray said as he eyed George for the first time. He had read his file and knew his history. He knew that George was going to find not being in charge difficult, as he had been in charge of a ship, task force, defensive fleet, and prison camp for the last forty or more years. “We work hard here with a goal of self-sufficiency and survival, to ensure that egos and agendas don’t become stumbling blocks. It is a fine line, but so far everyone has bought into the plan.
“I need someone with your combat abilities and logistics to become a member of my advisory team, if you are interested. We have enough crews with the people we rescued on Doust to man the ships. It had been decided that we no longer should sit in a defensive posture and should instead begin taking the game to the PRC. Eventually I would like to place you on one of our new ships that you saw being developed in the shipyards.
“But before that, let’s get you settled in here. Of course you will have an apartment in Darcy, but you will also have a small one here on the Nerve Center.”
“My pleasure, Ray.” George smiled. “I am at your service. This is a far cry from what I thought my future would be, and it will take a little time to switch gears. What I have seen here is what I would have liked to see forty years ago. I pray that we don’t become mired in our own self-importance here, like what happened on Cappa Tauri. It will take some time to get up to speed, but I am willing to help out.”
“Excellent. I will leave you to catch up with Byron here and your other fiends. When you are settled in, please drop by, and we can discuss some ideas and plans.” Ray shook his hand again and motioned to Lydia as he walked out the door. As they walked along the corridor, Ray raised an eyebrow toward Lydia.
“What do you think, XO? I think that he’s going to be a hard nut to crack, unfortunately. He has a lot of old school ingrained and is used to having people run to his bidding.” Ray sighed.
“Give him some adjustment time. It’s hard to change spots, but we all have; it just takes some longer than others. Weatherfew and a few others will keep him on track for a while, and we can hope that, like all of us, he will soon be too busy to think of egos and attitudes,” Lydia said. “You know that he and Bev used to be a thing? Maybe it would be good for him to reconnect with her.”
“Bev! No, I didn’t know that. Well anything that can help.” Ray laughed while shaking his head. “He is an encyclopedia of knowledge, and that knowledge will be great in the coming battles. That is the scariest time. If we lose a ship, and they capture it, they will be able to reverse engineer a lot of our progress. Even getting out missiles will be tough on us. They then can design countermeasures to nullify our advantage. So far there has been very little information leaked back to the PRC, but they didn’t get where they a
re by being careless or stupid. Sooner or later, they will get out ceramics, our alloys, and our nano technology. It only took us a year once we cracked the nano tech to have it everywhere building and working for us, so they could be where we are in as short as a couple of years.”
“We all know that, Ray, but as you also know, our R&D boys are busting their butts to become more innovative,” Lydia agreed. “We will stay ahead of the curve and will weaken them enough for the remnants of the AGW to break out of their strongholds and start taking it to the PRC.”
“Well, as soon as we lose one ship to the PRC, we will have to give the same technology to AGW so that they can equal the fight,” he said. “What is the latest report on that new hyper drive? The same problem of self-destructing upon emersion from hyper space?”
“No, they found that they were coming out too slow. Now they find that if they come out at hyper rate, the inertial dampeners fail, and everything organic is turned to mush. It’s a problem that’s driving Sergie crazy, but he says that it’s fixable,” Lydia reported.
“I should put on a dinner for Lincoln and some of our executive officers. Maybe you can arrange that or get Bev to do it. Make sure she is there too,” Ray said.
A week later, Ray’s dinner was a great success. Everyone enjoyed themselves and marveled at the diversity of the foods that were served. As they sat after dinner, they discussed what would be the next step in the process of taking the battle outside the Conrad system. They all knew that their corvettes were hiding in systems, reporting all PRC movements, and they were gathering intelligence from stealth satellites that were orbiting the planets that had been occupied by the PRC.