Jeff said, “The battlestation we just took you from, that doesn’t seem like something a peaceful people would have.”
Roge replied, “On the contrary, it is purely defensive. It would not be useful in an assault.”
Mace asked, “How many planets in your empire?”
“The Consortium consists of nine planets. Molingrad, the planet around which we orbit, is our capital. Most of the others are small colonies. Travel between them can take years. We have steadily been adding to our defenses both here and at those colonies.”
Jeff tapped Mace on the shoulder. “Can I talk to you in the other room?”
Mace followed. “What you got?”
Jeff said, “I think the Consortium is on the up and up. This guy doesn’t seem combative at all. We know the Karthians are hostile. Is there any way to help these people out without endangering our own?”
Mace shrugged. “If there is I’m not sure what. The Karthians control us. We either fight or we’re useless to them, in which case we get exterminated.”
Jeff sat in a chair. “We always seem to be stuck in a dilemma. We take control, our people starve. Now, we refuse to kill or we get killed. You know, there was a short time there where I thought we’d finally come out on top. Now we’re as bad off as ever. Too bad we can’t enlist a contingent of Targarians, give them our stealth suits, and then plant them on every Karthian warship. We could take down their whole fleet in twenty minutes.”
Mace shook his head. “They have more ships. And the resources to build even more after that. And then we run the risk of retribution. Even if we took out every ship that had come through the rift, we have no way to defend ourselves from the ones that will follow. With the wormhole technology, they can jump directly here. An hour after we took down all their ships here, they would be bombing our cities.”
Jeff sighed. “We have to do something.”
Twenty minutes later, the two men returned to the main room of the lab as Johnny Tretcher walked back through the door.
Mace said, “I think we should send our teams out one last time. If the Karthians are ready to move, plans will be more readily available. Maybe we can get that crucial bit of info that will give us an avenue out of this war. Johnny, gather the others back up. I’ll take care of Mr. 4147 here and meet you at the shuttle.”
As Johnny left, Mace turned to Jeff. “You have a room where we can secure him?”
Roge held up a hand. “I’ll be no trouble.”
Jeff replied, “We have the storeroom right over there with no windows and a locking door. It has a food stockpile in it at the moment, but there should be sufficient room for a cot. I’ll have to round up the keys for it.”
Mace turned. “Sir, if you’ll follow me. Sorry we have to lock you up for now. If you have any urgent needs, the doc here will see to them.”
“You and Gnaga give him whatever he needs, but be careful. His cooperation could all be a ruse. We should be back in a day or two.”
The shuttle lifted, soon settling in at one community center after another to drop a spy. Mace parked the shuttle at Boston, where Human troops were still being paraded across the commons.
Mace stood listening to the commanding officer.
“I don’t understand it, Lieutenant. We should be continuing our training. This marching around in a field does nothing to ready us further.”
The lieutenant replied, “We have our orders, sir. We cannot second-guess the admiral’s reasoning. I heard rumors of an attack on Terrex. Perhaps this is in reaction to that.”
The colonel replied, “There was an incident, but it has been taken care of. And it didn’t warrant a reaction such as this.”
The lieutenant said, “Perhaps you should address the admiral again, sir. We have been at this for hours, and the lack of any benefit is clear.”
The colonel slowly nodded. “Perhaps it is time. Mr. Garula, the brigade is yours for the moment. Keep them marching until you hear back from me.”
The colonel turned to walk toward the command shuttle.
As he stepped aboard, the admiral was scowling. “I know what you are here to ask, Colonel. My immediate answer is no. However, I can see the nonsensicality of our directives. I will relay my thoughts to the general. Return to your troops and continue the drills.”
The colonel bowed before turning back toward the shuttle ramp. Mace stayed where he was.
The admiral turned to his crew. “Take us to see General Flox. It’s time we settled this issue.”
The Karthian shuttle was soon docking with the general’s command ship, sitting in high orbit above the North American continent. The admiral walked into a conference room and took a seat. After ten minutes of scowling at the walls and swatting at his overly attentive aide, the general walked through the door.
“Admiral, I hope this visit has meaning.”
“I’m here to argue the case for continued assault drills.”
General Flox shook his head. “Denied. You will follow the orders given. And so you know, these are the orders I was given. I agree they do not make sense, but we are not here to question them. I believe the reasoning to be that they want the Humans occupied while we await the go-ahead for this campaign. They fear the Humans and what they might attempt to do if given the idle time.”
“Then why not allow the actual war games to continue?”
Flox frowned. “The war games come with a slight risk of injury to the participants, including commanders. The council feels that marching soldiers around a field, while frustrating, will leave the forces in the best condition for the assault. You and I disagree, but again it is not up to us to decide. We only follow.”
The admiral scowled. “Have the plans at least been finalized?”
An image was brought up on a holo-display. “You should be pleased. Your brigade will be assaulting the capital of Delee. We estimate the population to be twelve million, with more than forty thousand assigned to the military.”
The admiral’s scowl turned to one of concerned inquisition. “Tell me we are not the only brigade assaulting Delee.”
Flox half smiled. “I wish I could tell you what you want to hear. The council has determined that your brigade is sufficient. The Consortium forces are spread among five locations surrounding the city. You will only need assault one location at a time.”
Flox pulled up a detailed table of the city. “Let’s see, I believe the largest is seventy-seven hundred men. Of those, I would venture to say that only half are fighting troops, the remainder being support. You might even find you have an advantage. Certainly with the Humans that should be the case.”
“All I seek is victory, General. If the council feels that force is sufficient, I won’t dispute it. May I have the maps you presented here so that I might better prepare my forces?”
Flox scoffed. “Absolutely not. And if asked, you have yet to see these. The council wants no chance of a leak of our plans. They do not trust the Humans. There has been word of suspicious activities among some of their commanders. You will receive your directives only when we have arrived at Molingrad.”
The general stood, turning to his aide. “Mr. Cospe, see to it this display is shut down. Admiral, come, have an ale with me. We can celebrate the coming glory that we will share.”
The two Karthian officers left the room. As the aide stood and stepped toward the display console, Mace took the opportunity to see that he had an accident. The aide tripped over an invisible foot as his head was guided into the hard corner of the conference room table. The general’s aide fell silent as he slumped to the floor.
Using a data device that had been adapted to connect to Karthian equipment, Mace downloaded the complete plans for the coming battle. The display remained running as the aide lay unconscious on the floor. A short walk had the Human spy standing in a corner of the bridge as the general and admiral consumed their celebratory drinks. After a fifteen-minute discussion about personal matters, the admiral walked back to his shuttle.
Mace moved quickly when the Karthian shuttle hit the ground. The Royal Fortune was soon in the air, silently slipping over the horizon. Minutes later, it set down at the compound at Organ Cave. A copy of the data was given to Jeff and Gnaga. A trip up to space followed, where a wormhole was opened to the Alpha Centauri site and the data blasted through to Jasper Collins. Mace completed his run with a move back to Boston, where the Human commander was filled in on the plans. The following day, the other spies were collected and the return trip made to the cave.
Chapter 11
*
Johnny stood with his arms crossed. “So that’s it? We’re just going to let this happen?”
Mace took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “We’ve got nothing. We could warn the Consortium, but that would only endanger our people further.”
Jane said, “How about a trip to Terrex with a visit to the military council? We could wreak havoc, wiping them out without them knowing we were ever there.”
Jenny nodded. “I could get on board with that.”
Johnny looked at his friend. “Well?”
Mace replied, “Let’s go pay Jasper a visit. See what he thinks. If we do this, we’re gonna want his support. I want contingencies galore should something go wrong.”
Johnny grinned. “Finally… we get to take some of these clowns out.”
Mace shook his head. “We’re only going there to talk about it. If we do this, best case it just buys us more time while they figure things out. Worst case, the people left in charge decide to move on Molingrad immediately.”
Jane gestured toward the shuttle. “I think everyone here is ready. Let’s get the show on the road.”
After slipping through the gravity wall at the Alpha Centauri site, the shuttle settled on the deck and the ramp lowered.
A Targarian officer was there to greet the team. “We expect the king to arrive momentarily.”
Johnny asked, “He on another pirate run?”
The officer nodded. “Yes. A freighter heading away from one of their larger colonies. It is loaded with reactors for a new outpost. That outpost happens to be approaching Hoorka space. Still at a distance, but within forty light years.”
Mace said, “We’ll have to let Favia know they’re expanding her way.”
A second shuttle slipped through into the bay. The ramp lowered but no one came out.
Mace and the others stood staring.
Standing beside Mace, Jasper switched off his holo-projector as he looked back at his shuttle. “What is it? We waiting on someone?”
Johnny chuckled. “Nice. So you’ve moved on to projector jokes?”
“I’m old, I take ‘em where I can get ‘em. What are you out here for?”
Mace said, “We’re thinking about a raid on the Karthian capital���”
Jasper cut in. “I’m in.”
“I haven’t even told you what we’re contemplating.”
Jasper shrugged. “And I don’t care. If you’re hitting the Karthian scumbags, I want in.”
Jane asked, “How’s the pirate work going?”
Jasper smiled. “I have a freighter landing at Hardy right now with eighty-two hundred mini-sized reactors aboard. You need a reactor? We got ‘em. Now… tell me about this raid.”
Mace pulled up an archive image of Terrex. “This is their capital world.”
He zoomed in on the image. “We believe Blodula is the capital city.”
Jasper scowled. “Blodula? Who named it that? Sounds like the name of a B-movie vampire.”
Jasper swirled his hand in a small loop. “Anyway… go ahead.”
“We think the military council meets in this complex. It’s situated on a ridge that overlooks the city. We’re thinking we can set a shuttle down here and then move through these buildings one by one.”
Johnny added. “We kill everyone in sight.”
Jasper nodded. “I like that part, but why don’t we just go in with a ship and blast it? With the weapons on the Cave we could be in and out in five minutes.”
Mace replied, “We don’t want them to have any indication that it was us. I was actually thinking that Johnny would do all the dirty work with his glove. Any other weapons and they might tie the raid back to Earth.”
Johnny held up his gloved fist. “No fuss, no muss.”
Jasper asked. “So what did you want me for? Sounds like you don’t need me.”
“We may need your support if things go wrong. That could be for a pick-up or for keeping a ship off our tail because we were somehow exposed. This attack goes right at the heart of their empire. We’re hoping to buy our troops some time.”
Jasper tilted his head in thought for several seconds. “Sounds reasonable. And I have an idea to add. We’ve been making a point to have my projected monster image, the one with all the tentacles and skulls, we’ve been showing it at every raid to at least one crewman. I’m certain they think there’s some hideous pirate species out there harassing their shipping lanes. Why not make sure that creature is seen during this raid? That would throw them for a loop for sure.”
Jasper stepped back, flipping on the projected image.
Johnny chuckled. “That is definitely creepy. I notice you modified the skulls.”
Jasper nodded. “Don’t do us much good pretending to be pirates if we’re walking around with Human skulls embedded in our bodies. You like ‘em? I think they look a bit like a deformed Karthian. Figured that would get them worked up a bit more.”
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Mace replied as the projector switched off. “Now, what happens if we’re discovered? If the Royal Fortune, or any other ship of ours for that matter, what if they lose their stealth ability?”
Jasper said, “How about this: I’ll park all my warships in high orbit. Should you have any issue, I’ll send in a shuttle to collect you and we can pulverize your ship until there’s nothing left for them to piece together. As a cover, I’ll send two or three of my ships to the other side of the planet to cause a commotion. I mean, Let���s face it, we can’t cover every eventuality, but we can at least cover a few of the worst case ones.”
Mace looked around at the others. “Anyone else have issue with any of this?”
Jenny said, “I’d be happy with just dropping a nuke on them from space.”
Mace frowned. “I think we all would, but we don’t want the finger pointing back at Earth. They could pull the plug on the lot of us at any time if they wanted.”
Mace again polled the group. “No one? OK then, I guess we’re set. We jump to a position outside the Terrex system. We work our way in and then do our worst.”
The teams walked back aboard their shuttles. Once away from the planet, a wormhole opened and the small fleet of ships moved through. Jasper gave instructions to his captains as the Royal Fortune slowed while entering the Terrex atmosphere.
Jenny said, “Gonna take us fifteen minutes to get down there at this pace.”
“We can’t afford to leave a heat signature. We go in like a fireball and they’re gonna be all over us.”
Johnny asked, “I don’t suppose we have a layout of the inside of those buildings, do we?”
Mace shook his head. “Nope. All we know is what we have on this image. Four buildings sitting atop that cliff. We can see entries and exits. And this is a landing pad for some kind of flying craft. From the numbers, it looks like they may each have their own private vessel.
“When we hit the ground it’s gonna be take-it-as-we-see-it. And here’s what I’m thinking: Jordan, your team stays put here at the shuttle. If anyone approaches and is in danger of walking into it, take them out quietly. And do it in a manner that doesn’t leave evidence that we were here. Jenny, you remain here in the cockpit with the ship ready to go if there’s trouble.”
Jenny huffed. “The pilot always gets the shaft.”
“Johnny, you’ll be followed by Jane and then me. We’ll be holding onto your shoulders while you’re cloa
ked. When we’re ready to do the monster reveal, we’ll both release and head back to the ship. From that moment on, keep in mind that we may be in front of you, so be careful with your shots.”
Johnny said, “So why not wait here on the shuttle and just let me run wild in there?”
“Because we can’t afford a mishap where the Karthians get a hold of our tech. If any of us go down, the others have to get them out. Otherwise we’re left with Jasper having to come in and clean up the hard way.”
Mace zoomed in on the diagram. “Mr. Hobbs… you, Mallot, and Mueller will be positioned here. Should anything critical happen in this area that you feel needs taken care of… do it. And stick together until you get back to the shuttle. We can’t see each other so we don’t want to be shooting each other in the back. Everybody understand what they’re doing?”
All heads nodded.
“OK, I’ll deploy with Johnny and Jane first. Mr. Hobbs, you deploy second. Mr. Crawford, you third. And you around the shuttle, use your voices if needed so long as you aren’t within earshot of any Karthians. When the rest of us are coming back we’ll let you know verbally. Ladies and gentlemen, if we can pull this off, we may just buy our people weeks or possibly months of extra time. That’s time we can use to continue to figure a way out of all this.”
The shuttle slowed to a stop before it lightly touched the ground. The ramp opened and Johnny, Jane, and Mace dropped first into a field that edged the side of the northernmost building. The other teams followed.
Johnny said, “We hit that door and I start shooting anything that moves. You get separated, make sure you don’t get out in front of me.”
Mace said, “Jane, if you lose your grip on him, we head straight back to the shuttle, understood?”
Jane replied, “Got it.”
The first door was reached and a handle pulled. “Crap. It’s locked.”
Mace took charge. “Then we move to the next door. If that’s locked we keep going. If we get to the last building and we’re denied, we blow that door and work it from there coming back.”
Jane said, “There have to be people here. That landing lot over there is crowded with personal flyers.”
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