by Saxon Andrew
Randy exhaled softly and nodded, “I’ll do it, Sir. Emily can remain with you.”
Emily’s anger was instant, “Are you out of your Hillbilly mind! If you go. I go!”
Randy looked at her, “But there’s no reason for you to do it, Emily. It only takes one to pilot the ship.”
Emily lowered her eyes, “If you want to play that card, I’ll go you one better. You are our fleet commander, we cannot afford to lose you and I know how to pilot the ship. You can stay behind!”
“That’s not going to happen,” Randy said softly. “I’m not going to allow you to risk your life needlessly.”
“I WON’T HAVE A LIFE IF YOU’RE NOT IN IT!!”
Gregor said, “Ahem.” They turned and looked at him. “Both members of the crew will have responsibilities. It’s necessary for the First Officer to go so we can test to see if our system is functional.”
Randy saw Emily’s eyes were moist and he asked, “When are we going to do this?”
“I think if you have to wait, you may change your mind. I have the coordinates of the ships you’re going to ram and a copy of your orders to take with you.”
“Did you say ships?”
“Yes, you’re going to attack three Tronan Warships in succession.”
Randy shrugged, “Ok, let’s get this over with.”
They stood up and Kaylee hugged them, “I left your orders on the console. The coordinates are in the stardrive and you can open your orders when you arrive.”
Randy nodded and walked away toward the scout with Emily. Kaylee watched them go and said, “She loves him.”
Gregor nodded, “It’s not hard to see.”
“He doesn’t realize it.”
“He’s standing too close to the fire. He’ll eventually see it.”
“You should have told him we’ve already trialed it.”
“No. I need to know his heart. If he refused to do it, I would have promoted someone else. His warriors deserve more than a coward.”
“He’s demonstrated he’s not a coward, Gregor.”
“He has now.”
Kaylee shook her head, “There are times I just don’t understand you.”
Gregor smiled, “It’s what we decide at critical moments that dictate whether we’re suited for command. Our lad here has just passed his test.”
Chapter Twenty-six
Randy activated the thrusters and slowly backed the scout away from the swinging piece of metal. He pivoted the bow around and changed the angle of the air thrusters. The small ship went into the morning sky at an incredible speed. Emily said, “All of the systems I operated are now on your console.”
“What’s on yours?”
“A red and black button and a lever.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
The scout flew out of Bellingham’s atmosphere and Randy changed over to the dark matter systems. He activated the stardrive, entered other space, and flew at high speed into the Bellingham filament. He stared at the coordinates and then turned to Emily, “I think I recognize these coordinates.” Emily looked at him and he said, “I think it’s not far from where we attacked that Tronan Fleet at Bellingham’s intersection.”
Emily looked at the stardrive and said, “It’s not that close. I remember the coordinate we attacked and this one is at least two-thousand light years away from that.”
Randy turned back to his console, “I suspect that is where Admiral Oliver’s Fleet overtook the Tronan Survivors.”
Emily nodded, “You’re probably right.” They arrived at the intersection and made a hard right on the filament leading toward the Death Filament. Two hours later, they arrived at the target coordinates and entered normal space.
• • •
Sam and Jek were leaning against the log and saw Gregor walking toward them from the landing zone. “Well where have you been?”
“Doing some experiments, Sam. I need you to do something for me.”
“What is that?”
“I need you to call another conference of the Combined Planet’s Leaders.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed and Jek stared at Gregor. Gregor saw him and said, “You should keep this to yourself.”
“I’m bound not to reveal another’s thoughts, Gregor.”
Gregor stared at him and said, “Will you do it, Sam.”
“I have to tell them why.”
“Tell them I’ve come up with a plan that will help them survive.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll learn when they do, Sam. However,” Gregor reached and pulled a data-cube out of his pouch, “I’d like you to have this copied and sent out to them. Have them read the contents before they arrive at the meeting. When can you set it up?”
“Gregor, this is a little sudden.”
Gregor smiled, “I know. Just make it happen.”
Gregor walked away and Sam looked at Jek. Jek said, “I’d do it if I were you.”
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“Not completely but I know enough that I’ll be in attendance.”
Sam looked back toward Gregor and then raised his communicator. Thirty-minutes later, a shuttle arrived from orbit and he went on board. He had Lydia copy the contents of the data-cube and send them out along with the date of another conference. He took the cube and entered it into his console. He began reading it and wondered what in creation Gregor was doing. Had he gone insane. He hit his communicator and Kaylee took his call, “Kaylee, I need to speak with Gregor.”
“I’m so sorry, Sam. He’s left Bellingham and is out of communication range.”
“Kaylee, what’s going on?”
“What do you mean, Admiral?” Kaylee said with a smile.
“YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN!!”
“Then it boils down to whether or not you trust Gregor, doesn’t it?” Sam stared at her and nodded. Kaylee laughed, “See you at the conference, Admiral.”
Sam stared at the dark monitor and knew nothing was wrong with Gregor. He could do something crazy but Kaylee was as stable as a Bellingham Tree. What was he up to?
• • •
The Conference Room was full and was taking place on Romania. The final arrivals were being escorted into the room and Sam noticed some of the high-powered dignitaries from the last meeting weren’t present. The Insectoid King was conspicuously absent along with the Dragon Queen’s Monarch. However, the Insectoid Supreme Military Commander was present along with Kel, the Dragon Queen’s oldest child.
Sam sat at the front table in front of the room with Angel. Elena remained home to continue her training. He looked at Jek and saw him shrug. Gregor called this meeting, where was he? The room began growing restless and Jek said, “He’s here.” Sam looked at the back of the room and saw Gregor and Kaylee along with Randy and Emily enter the room. He stood up and said, “Gregor McGregor, the Bellingham Representative has requested this meeting. I’ll turn it over to him now.”
Gregor walked down the center aisle and up to the raised dais. “Thanks, Sam.” He looked out at the group and smiled.
The Insectoid Commander said loudly, “What was that ridiculous data-cube you sent us?”
Gregor continued to smile, “Did you go over it?”
“I did and it makes no sense.”
Gregor nodded, “Did the rest of you examine it?”
Kel nodded, “I did but I agree, it made no sense. Why would you send us a story about your home world’s ancient history?”
“Actually, it isn’t history. It was completely fiction.”
The room was silent and Gregory said, “I read that story a long time ago and though it was very entertaining, I don’t see the purpose of you sending it out.”
“Well, let’s see if I can enlighten you. That story was written at a time in Earth’s history when one of the most violent wars had recently ended. The war was named the civil war and hundreds of tho
usands of soldiers died during the five or so years it went on. The author of the book hated war and he wrote the story about someone who wanted to end all war.”
“What’s the point, Gregor?” Gem asked.
“The technology, Gem.”
“WHAT!? The story is about a time prior to technology!”
Gregor smiled, “There was technology but not electronically advanced technology. The hero of the story was named Captain Nemo and he was an avowed pacifist. He built a ship made of metal to go out and sink every warship he encountered. You should note here that his ship was powered by what many thought to be nuclear power, which was unheard of in the eighteen-seventies. Anyway, Jules Verne, the author, described Nemo’s ship to have a very long bow with a jagged edge. He would take his ship, named the Nautilus, and ram the wooden sailing ships of his time and rip out their keels causing them to sink thus killing the crews.”
Kel muttered, “He wasn’t much of a pacifist.”
“Actually, he was, Kel. Sometimes the only way to stop war is to remove those conducting it. The point is, the method he chose to remove his enemies is something we can learn from.”
“WHAT ARE YOU YAMMERING ABOUT!?”
Gregory looked at the Insectoid Commander, “I knew in advance that your species would have a difficult time understanding it due to your planet not having large bodies of water.”
“We have large lakes on my planet.”
“In your ancient history, did any of your species move across the lakes.”
“We had ships that moved on them.”
“Then just imagine a ship that would attack them from underwater and sink them by ramming into them.”
The Insectoid stared at Gregor and sat back.
Sam said, “What are you trying to get us to see.”
Gregor smiled, “I’ll show you.” Gregor inserted a data-cube into the table’s computer and lifted the remote. He pointed it at the giant wall monitor and it illuminated. The attendees stared at the images as Gregor increased the magnification. Three-Tronan Warships appeared. One of them was firing a massive blaster barrage and the other two were holding position twenty-miles away. Gregor looked at the gathering and said, “While I’m making this presentation, please hold your questions until the end.” He looked around the room and everyone nodded. “Good.”
The image moved in closer to the Tronan Vessel firing its blasters. The other two Tronan Vessels moved out of view as the image continued to grow larger and then a tiny speck was seen holding position just outside the blaster barrage. The speck grew larger until it resolved into a scout ship. Gregory said loudly, “That’s the scout I built for you.” Gregor jerked his head around and Gregory wilted, “That wasn’t a question,” he muttered.
Gregor laughed and nodded. He looked around the room and said, “I want you to keep your eyes on this scout.” Gregor pressed the remote and the small scout started moving. It flew directly into the blaster barrage and disappeared. Gregor said, “Sam, please keep a time on this.”
Sam pressed the chronometer on the console in front of him and the room stared at the video. Gregor looked at Sam, “How long?”
“Fifteen-minutes.”
Gregor nodded, “I’m going to fast forward another forty-five minutes.” The attendees saw the blaster barrage seem to pick up speed and move at high speed. It finally slowed and the room saw the small scout emerge from the barrage and move back to its former position.”
Sam looked at Gregor and said, “We already have warships that can withstand the Tronan Blaster Barrages.”
Gregor smiled, “I know. I’m going to show the rest of the video in slow-motion. I have twenty-vessels recording that are surrounding the three Tronan Warships. I will show the main recording first and the others later when you ask your questions.” Gregor looked at Sam, “Can your warships do this?” Gregor pressed the remote and the room saw the scout moving in slow motion at the Tronan Vessel. Gregor said, “It’s traveling about a thousand miles an hour.”
It entered the blaster barrage and then flew out of the other side of the barrage. The room was instantly silent. The small ship turned and flew toward the second Tronan Vessel and rammed into the side of it, punching a scout sized hole in the hull. It appeared to instantly flash out of the opposite side of the warship and turn toward the third Tronan Warship. It blew through it so fast it was hard to track. Gregor stopped the video and said, “I apologize for the speed of the last puncture. The crew was so excited that they went to full speed.” Gregor smiled, “Questions?”
Sam said, “It doesn’t appear the punctures do much damage.”
Gregor nodded, “Where we choose to go through those ships will make a huge difference. We did this demonstration to do the least possible damage to those targets. We will probably be using them again. However, if we go through their reactor lines, I suspect the ship will go up.”
“Gregor, did you come up with this idea from the log?”
Gregor beamed, “Indeed I did, Jek. You should have hung around.” Gregor looked at the gathering, “Here’s the important thing. I know what most of you are thinking right now. Flying at full speed and aiming at a small target on the Tronan Hulls will not be easy. However, we also did an experiment while this was taking place. One member of the crew that flew the scout had a lever on their panel and she was ordered to pull it the moment the scout punctured the Tronan hulls.”
“Why would she do that?” Kel asked.
“Because we are going to build in a tube on the scout that will eject a small trillium bomb as the scout passes through the hulls.”
“How did they do?” the Insectoid Commander inquired.
“She pulled it in the center of the first two ships but just before they blew out of the ship on the third. We’ll have to stay below maximum speed when doing this.”
The conference room was silent and Gregor sat down and said, “I know this is a lot to throw at you in a short time. But consider this; the reason we will lose when the Tronan invade again is because there’s no way to destroy their ships fast enough. This new scout can blow through them at an incredible speed and it is immune to their blasters.”
“But how are we going to build them fast enough?” Angel asked.
Gregor looked at Gregor and Heather, “Now it’s your turn, Gregory. You built that scout for me in two-days. If you changed the assembly line to only build this new model, how many could you turn out a day?”
“About eight to nine-hundred.”
Jek quickly thought to Gregor, “That’s 292,000 a year and 438,000 in a year and a half.”
Gregor thought, “Thanks, Jek.” He looked at the attendees and said, “That’s about 300,000 a year and close to half a million in a year and eight months, which is how long I think it will take them to return.” Gregor looked back at Gregory, “Will building in a bomb tube slow construction down.”
“Not at all. We will need to start manufacturing the trillium-bombs immediately.”
“Will that pose an issue?”
“We’re already manufacturing trillium warheads for the missiles. Converting them to go through the launch tube should be easy enough. We’ll use those and start another assembly line for additional bombs.”
“What about coating those ships and getting their hulls heat hardened?” Sam asked.
“I’ve already ordered the metal-workers on Bellingham to build three more dipping canals. The new scouts will arrive and move through the canals and immediately go into orbit to harden them. They will then go out to your fleet, Sam, and they will use their blasters to harden the hulls.” Gregor smiled, “As a side note, the new scouts will have a single blaster installed in the bow in the event we need them to support our landing forces.”
“What about the crews?”
Gregor looked at Gregory again and Heather said, “We already have the tutorials on Romania for the current model of scouts. We will build more and change all of them to the systems
used to operate the new scout model.”
Kel said, “You’re going to need more than a million crewmen to do this. And it’s pretty clear to me that my species will not fit in that ship.”
“That’s true, Kel. But we currently have more than a million sailors in our fleet that can be retrained. And there’s a hundred-million-warriors on Bellingham ready to answer the call.”
“But none of them have piloting experience.”
Gregor laughed, “Kel, the scout is nothing more than a civilian vehicle that the population on Romania use for their day-to-day transportation. They even fly it to other galaxies. I suspect our sailors and warriors are at least as bright as they are. It won’t take them long to get up to speed.”
Heather nodded, “Actually, it should only take a few days. The systems are pretty simple.”
Sam looked at her, “Then why did it take a couple of months for the first scouts to be trained?”
Heather smiled, “The original scout model used the front fins to avoid detection. The majority of their initial training was to avoid being seen by the enemy. That training is useless with this new model.”
Sam stared at her and then asked, “Why?”
“Well, the new fins are too small to be used to deflect scanning beams and the entire scout is coated in metal. It won’t be able to avoid being detected.”
Sam rolled his eyes, “You’re right. I didn’t consider that.”
“So, what will our future role be in this?” the Insectoid Commander asked.
“You and the Dragons have large transports that will be needed to move our fleets of scouts out to the battle sites and keep them provisioned. Their storage capacity is improved with the new interior layout but they will need to be rearmed and provisioned during a long drawn out fight,” Gregor answered. He looked at the Commanders of the Earth Transports and said, “I’ve done some calculations and I believe the transports that joined us recently can carry more than thirty-five-thousand of the new scouts along with all their provisions. Each transport will have a special force of scouts assigned to protect them from attack.”