Mace replied, “That will be our first order. After that we discuss what we do with them. Could be we just fly them into a star and be done with it.”
“Or we turn them over to Doc and Mr. Klept to see if they can be improved upon. We are still at war and we do need weapons.”
The intruders took to checking out the rest of the ship. After nearly an hour of exploring they came upon the room that housed the weapon.
Johnny whispered, “That looks like nothing more than a wormhole generator. What the heck?”
Mace nodded. “I think you’re right. We need Doc and Gnaga on here to figure out exactly what they’re doing. This doesn’t make sense… unless…”
Johnny asked, “What you got cooking?”
Mace said, “What has been our most powerful weapon?”
“That would still be our plasma cannons. The microwave bursts are effective, barely. That green energy cannon Doc built just doesn’t have the power. Same with the wormhole weapon. We can punch a small hole in a ship if we’re lucky. Wait… are you talking nukes?”
Mace said, “You’re forgetting the solar flares. Those strikes have done more damage than anything else we have. They are difficult to use against a ship because it can move. But a planet… that’s a fairly stationary target. Maybe the EM waves sent to Earth were directed from some natural source, just like we did. They would open a wormhole where one end faces the source and the other faces Earth.”
“The problem with that scenario is the wormhole on this end would be facing this ship. I doubt they have the shielding to handle that much power coming through directly at them. And those waves covered the entire face of the Earth. That would have to be a huge aperture.”
Mace shrugged. “I don’t think you or I know enough to draw conclusions. Let’s say we go back and put together a plan to grab all four of these ships at once. We can store them elsewhere and bring Doc and his team aboard to study how they work.”
Johnny chuckled. “How did we get into this crazy situation? I mean, here we are… on an alien ship… planning to capture it for study. Meanwhile, our whole planet is being held captive and forced to fight… by an alien civilization we never knew existed.”
Mace shook his head. “So you’d rather be sitting on a barstool with some schmo like me serving you beers?”
“Hey, don’t know it ‘til you’ve tried it.”
The duo made their way back to the Royal Fortune, where a plan was laid out to take over the four ships. From there they would be taken to a neutral site and Jeff Moskowitz and his scientists and engineers would be brought aboard for study.
Half an hour later, the task was complete. An hour after, Jeff and his team were getting to work. The Royal Fortune made a jump to the Alpha site.
Jasper said, “I can’t stay long. I have four freighters I have to get stripped. Are you looking for something in particular?”
Mace said, “We found the EM ships that were used to bombard Earth.”
Jasper stopped and stared. “And?”
“We have them. And we know they were built by the Targarians.”
Jasper held up a finger. “They weren’t built by the Targarians. They could barely operate them. They were captured from some species decades ago during an expansion attempt by the Targarians. The ships were parked near a magnetar, siphoning off EM energy to some unknown location. The Targarians captured the ships from teams of scientists. They weren’t being used as weapons. Anyway, after an attempted escape, the Targarians killed the lot of them. Their king at the time thought they were smart enough to figure things out for themselves.”
Johnny said. “Huh. So they got the tech from somewhere else. You knew this. Why didn’t you tell us?”
Jasper frowned. “Wouldn’t have helped us at the time. I had just taken over. I figured that little detail would be best dealt with later. Later just never came… until now. The Targarians were planning to use the ships to take control of the GU. Then Earth was discovered. We were a game changer.
“The Targarians had no claim to us, so they decided it best that we were eliminated before being discovered by the entire GU. Had it not been for the intervention of the Mawga, things would have gotten a lot worse. They even had plans in place for an invasion to wipe us out. When we were revealed to the entire Union, everything changed. The EM ships were moved away, and after a bit of squabbling the GU took over. Or at least tried to. Stark saw to it they weren’t successful. I’ve been fighting to get control back from him ever since.”
Johnny shook his head. “I still can’t believe you knew all this and didn’t tell us.”
Jasper shrugged. “I didn’t see how it would help. At first I was unsure of my reign. Later, it just wasn’t convenient to mention it. What we do know about the weapon is that it uses two wormholes, one to pull the energy from the origination point, a second to aim it toward a target. All without endangering the ship itself. Anyway, now you know the whole story.”
Jane said, “Well, we have the ships now. Hopefully Doc and the others can figure out how to use them.”
Jasper replied, “We already know how to use them. What we need to know is are there more uses that we haven’t thought about.”
Jenny asked, “How’d the Karthians get a hold of them?”
Jasper frowned. “They had their spies everywhere. When the Targarians fell to me, the Karthians moved in and swiped them during the chaos. I didn’t actually learn of their existence until after they were gone. Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought the Karthians were invading Rhombia?”
“It’s a diversion. We think they’re going after the UF warstation. They bombarded the Mawga world with these ships to draw attention away from that station.”
Johnny said, “You know, I bet if you find the big Karthian stations you’ll find out where they’re staging their attack from. If that’s what they’re doing.”
Mace looked at Jasper. “Any idea where those Karthian stations are?”
Jasper shook his head. “Last we saw them was when they showed at Earth. They didn’t take them out for the Consortium raid. Now that we have our stealth ships, I could cut back on the pirate activity, send my ships out to look for them.”
Mace replied, “No. Just keep doing what you���re doing. If they manage to take down that warstation, maybe that takes a little UF pressure off us. They’ll be scrambling to defend their home worlds from an invasion. This whole war is starting to spiral out of control. Not that we had any control, but we’re certain to have less now.”
Jasper asked, “What’d you do with the crews from those ships?”
Jane said, “We stuck them on a shuttle and sent them home.”
Jasper scowled. “You people and your morals. They’re killers and we’re at war. Just shove them out into space and be done with it.”
Jane replied, “We needed witnesses. As far as they know the Harpoonians now have the ships.”
Chapter 15
*
Mace asked, “How are the reactors on Terrex coming? When do you think you’ll be done there?”
Jasper said, “We’re already done. I’m just waiting on your word before sending the code.”
“Have you figured out how the Harpoonians will reveal themselves to take credit for this?”
Jasper nodded. “I have. I’ll be broadcasting a signal that should be viewable by most if not all of their citizens. It will be a Harpoonian demanding a full and immediate surrender. If they refuse, which they will, the city will be destroyed. Afterwards, there’ll be another broadcast with the same request.”
Johnny asked, “And if they don’t comply?”
Jasper grinned. “I have a second, small city rigged to blow. Two should be enough to convince them we can do this at will.”
Johnny crossed his arms. “You think that’ll work?”
Jasper shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
One of Jasper’s aides walked up to him with status. “Sire, the Karthians are attacking the warsta
tion. I have a video feed if you desire to watch.”
Jasper looked up. “Guess we’re too late. Fighting between the UF and the Karthians is underway.”
A holo-stream of the battle was displayed just to the left of Jasper’s arm pad.
“Three Karthian stations are engaged, along with a thousand warships. Fourteen Karthian cruisers have already been destroyed.”
On the video stream, two of the Karthian stations fired at once. The bright green energy waves impacted the UF warstation, causing visible damage to its heavily shielded exterior. In response, a tight microwave beam penetrated the shield of a radica ship, striking the Karthian station behind it. The external walls of two decks collapsed and burned brightly as they melted under the intense energy of the UF beam. The Karthians returned the favor with another two green energy waves.
Following the strikes, five hundred Karthian cruisers rushed the warstation. Immediately after, a dozen UF external guns were taken offline and two hundred Human transports were sent in. Twenty were incinerated before reaching the hull. The remainder clamped onto the sides of the warstation; breach tubes emerged and Human Marines piled aboard.
As the assault continued, three hundred UF warships emerged from a wormhole portal. The Karthian cruisers that rushed to confront them took immediate heavy damage, forty knocked from the battle with a single burst. The Karthian stations countered with their energy weapon, taking out eighteen UF ships with the counterpunch.
The battle raged for almost an hour before the guns of the warstation ceased. A second surge of Karthian cruisers, six hundred strong, swept in from behind the larger UF dreadnoughts. This time, instead of trading blows with the more powerful dreadnoughts, hundreds of assault shuttles emerged. Within minutes, nearly half the remaining UF ships had Human Marines aboard. Shortly after, their guns began to go silent as well.
A second stage of a hundred fifty UF dreadnoughts was met with another six hundred Karthian cruisers. It was becoming apparent the UF defenses would not hold up to the onslaught.
Johnny said, “What a fantastic view of a battle. Everything is just so fluid.”
Jasper said, “Our transports are leaving the warstation.”
Johnny asked, “What do you think that means?”
Mace replied, “It means they accomplished what they were asked to do.”
Several brilliant flashes erupted from the warstation as nuclear explosions went off from within. Nearly a third of the station’s interior decks were left exposed. Less than a minute later, the remaining UF dreadnoughts turned from the battle space. While being chased by less powerful cruisers, the UF ships opened a portal and slipped through. The battle for Warstation 56 had come to a quick end.
Johnny raised an eyebrow. “Two hours ten minutes. I would not have thought it possible.”
Mace replied, “My guess is we’re likely to see Canto surrender and the Mawga capitulate. I have to wonder why the UF committed so few ships.”
Mace stood. “I think we should make a visit to Canto before they take it out. If Mr. Knuttin is there, perhaps we can again make contact with the UF.”
“Why would you want to?” Jane asked. “They turned their backs on us last time.”
Mace said, “Because they are now the enemies of our enemy. If we ever want to free our people from the Karthians, we’ll need allies. I have to believe the UF is far from defeat with regards to this single battle.”
A jump was made in the shuttle to Canto. The UF dreadnoughts that patrolled the Canto system this time stayed close to the planet. As the shuttle came within comm range, a warning was issued.
“Halt or prepare to be destroyed. You have entered a warzone.”
Mace replied, “We would like word with Frado Knuttin if possible. Convey to him that Mace Hardy would like to talk.”
The UF lieutenant on the display turned to face someone behind him.
Johnny said, “Friendly as always.”
The officer turned back. “Canto is being abandoned, Mr. Hardy. You’ll be on your own. I would suggest you leave the area immediately as we’re expecting hostiles to arrive at any time.”
Mace nodded. “Thank you for your concern, Lieutenant.”
The Royal Fortune was soon settling into a crowded spaceport. Hundreds of small ships were arriving for pick-up while a similar number departed, laden with all they could carry. A portal had been opened to allow all available transports or cargo vessels to attempt a one-time extraction of Canto citizens. A return portal was to be opened in less than half an hour. The shuttle settled on the deck as Mace placed a call to the one contact he still had… Derette Golese.
Derette answered the comm while scrambling to assemble her valuables with her few moments remaining. “Mr. Hardy! Sorry I don’t have time to talk. My shuttle is leaving in fifteen minutes. I have to be on it!”
“Is Mr. Knuttin on planet, or do you know how we can get in touch with him?”
“I can’t help you at the moment. Wait…”
A second comm was answered. Derette stood, yelling in silence at the comm camera as the audio was diverted to the other channel. The disheveled Kohamian stumbled back, plopping onto her couch. “They just left me.”
Mace said, “Come to the spaceport, we’ll give you a ride out.”
Jenny said, “Don’t think that’s gonna happen, Mr. Hardy. We have a storm of people heading that way. Most of the ships just lifted off.”
Mace turned back to the comm. “Your building… any open spaces outside? If so, send us the coordinates. If not, tell us the closest field or lot we can land in and we’ll pick you up.”
Derette sat forward. “You’d do that?”
Mace nodded. “We will. Give us coordinates.”
Derette stood, passing her location through the comm. “I doubt we can make the portal. They won’t keep it open.”
“We can take you into your space if needed.”
Derette grabbed at a handful of bags as her comm link transferred from the apartment comm to that of her stylish arm pad. “There’s an open space on the south side of the building. People walk their pets there. It should have room for a shuttle, although it may be tight.”
Jenny said, “We’ll make it fit.”
Mace added, “We’ll meet you there.”
The Royal Fortune lifted from the tarmac as hundreds of left-behind Kohamian citizens stood with dejected looks on their faces. Thousands were crowded around the exterior of the control tower. A small ship, landing for a pick-up, was soon overwhelmed by the growing, frantic mob. As it attempted to lift, a dozen citizens fell from one side while a dozen on the other side held fast. The small craft dipped to the left, plowing through the crowd before its gear impacted the concrete tarmac, flipping it over and sending bodies flying in the air. The disabled ship was again mobbed as the surrounding crowd pushed forward.
Jane scowled. “This is awful.”
Minutes later, the Fortune settled in the field beside the apartment building. As the ramp lowered, a half dozen Kohamians scrambled out into the field, following Derette Golese as she ran.
Johnny said, “We got trouble.”
As the refugees scrambled up the ramp, another half dozen emerged from the building, this time with children in arms.
Jane looked at Mace. “Don’t even think about leaving them.”
Mace took a deep breath. This is it, though. We can’t fit any more.”
As the stragglers reached the ramp, the door to the building again flipped open. Five more fleeing citizens emerged, including two who were elderly. Jane looked at Mace. No order to leave was given. The final guests were squeezed aboard, standing room only. The Royal Fortune lifted with a full load, but her gravity drive easily handled the weight of her living cargo.
Mace asked, “Miss Golese? Would you be able to contact Mr. Knuttin directly?”
“I can. Hold on. I’ll pass him through to your comm.”
An image of Frado Knuttin appeared on the main comm display. “Derette? Ple
ase tell me you made it out.”
“I’m on a shuttle with Mr. Hardy. I missed the main lift. He was kind enough to offer us a way out. He would like to speak with you.”
Mace squeezed in front of the comm. “We have Miss Golese and about a dozen of your citizens here. We can deliver them wherever you like if you give us coordinates.”
Frado replied, “I’m certain you know we are now in a state of war. No foreign ships will be allowed into our space. However, I have an alternative. I’m sending you the coordinates to one of our new colonies. There should be adequate room there to house and feed those who are with you until I can get a vessel out to pick them up. It may be a wait as things are hectic around here, but at least they will be back in our care.”
Mace nodded. “Send us the coordinates and we’ll make the drop. In the meantime, is there anything we can do to help? We can offer a starmap of the Karthian Empire if that would help.”
Frado’s eyes grew wide. “That would help tremendously! If we’re able to take the war to them, they will keep assets at home for needed defense.”
Johnny grabbed Mace by the arm. “I have an idea.”
“Go ahead.”
“We have our setup on Terrex all ready to go. What if we let Mr. Knuttin record a video demanding peace instead of our made-up Harpoonians. That might stop this war, at least temporarily. If the Karthians think the UF can punch them right in the face like that, they might be eager for peace.”
Jane added. “That is an awesome idea. And I have more. In return for this immediate strike, the UF will give up all claims to Canto and the Mawga. Both will be free from their rule and ‘protection.’”
Mace turned to the comm. “Mr. Knuttin. We have a strike in the works that will take out the capital city of the Karthian Empire. It’s already set to go. We could accredit it to your military if you want, with a demand for peace. I believe we can stop this war before it goes any further. In return we would ask your people to relinquish control of the Mawga and Canto.”
Frado replied, “I believe that request to be excessive, Mr. Hardy. I don’t think our rulers will accept.”
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