by Wilson Harp
As Kyle bit into the doughnut, the door softly opened and Franklin Smith stepped into the room.
“General Martin, a pleasure to see you again,” Smith said as he sat in the chair across from Kyle.
Kyle finished swallowing and took a quick sip of coffee. “Mister Smith, thank you for agreeing to meet me again. Can I get you anything?”
“Thank you General, I’m fine. I just came from lunch. Thank you for the recommendation, that is quickly becoming my favorite Earth food.”
Kyle smiled and took another bite of his doughnut. It surprised him that Smith would become such a fan of Mexican food. He had become quickly enamored of Maria’s Mexican Café, their chicken enchiladas in particular.
“Tell me General, have you ever had the sopapillas? What a light, delicate food!” Smith said with a true look of pleasure on his face.
“I have, Mister Smith, did you have them drizzled with honey?”
“Honey. Interesting, I will have to request that next time.”
“I’m glad I could help your culinary exploration, Mister Smith. But I think we need to talk about the engines that Earth will need before too long.”
“Straight to business, I like that in a potential customer. Very well, what did your inspection of the schematics tell you?”
“They told me that we will definitely need to buy the first series of engines required for sustained space travel.”
“Very well. Do you understand the stress that it will cause to any vessel as the warp field is established?”
“Yes, we fully understand that we will need ships built of materials that will hold up to the stress of the engines.”
“And you understand that we cannot provide you with the alloy in the quantities needed to build ships?”
“I think we will be fine, Mr. Smith”
Kyle loved to watch Smith try to hold surprise from his face. He was disappointed this time as Smith’s jaw dropped open.
“Do you mean to tell me, General, that you have discovered how to make this alloy on Earth?”
“I don’t think I will reveal all the cards in my hand, Mr. Smith. But the engines are what we are most interested in.”
Smith leaned back and looked at Kyle for a long few seconds before he spoke.
“General Martin, before I make another step forward in this transaction, I must risk our business by asking a personal question.”
Kyle shifted uncomfortably. This was a new angle from Smith.
“I can’t guarantee that I will answer, but you are free to ask.”
Smith looked down at the table for a few seconds, and then began to slowly speak.
“I am not a big believer in wanting to know what my equipment is used for. The Otina never volunteer that information, for example, and I never ask. But since I have become more familiar, General Martin, I cannot help but wonder at the complexity of you. You are known by some as ‘The Butcher of Hyderabad’, but you have never seemed to me as the type of man who could order such a massacre. So I have to ask why you did.”
“Why did I order the massacre of over one million Indians?”
“Yes, General Martin. Why?”
“In order to save one billion Indians.”
Both men sat looking at each other.
“I’m sorry General Martin, is that an idiom or statement of folklore that I do not understand?”
“No, Mister Smith. It is the honest truth.” Kyle took a deep breath. “What I am going to tell you is a story that is protected by every level of security in our nation. By telling you this, I am revealing classified information that I will be forced to deny at every point. Do you understand what I am saying Mister Smith?”
“I do, General.”
“I was Special Operations Commander during the Indian war. We had besieged the city of Hyderabad and I was there with my command looking for ways of breaking the resolve of the Indian Command, looking for security information, etcetera.”
Kyle stood and walked over to the window and looked out.
“While I was there, I received an urgent communication from a former Danish operative that I had worked with several years earlier. He was a man I trusted with my life and I decided that if he was trying to reach me it must have been important. It was.”
There was a short pause as Kyle carefully chose what to say.
“He got me linked up with a General in the Indian Strategic Command. As part of my position, I was often in contact with officers from the other side as we maneuvered against each other and parlayed for different sources. He was frantic. The war was not going well for them. They had supply issues that were wearing them down and political pressure was mounting to win the war. They had lost any sense of how to do it at that point, and the Indian High Command had decided to gamble it all.”
“They had decided that since they had acquired some Chinese ICBMs in the first days of the war, that a mix of Indian and Chinese missiles might be able to defeat our missile defense system. The Strategic Command had advised against it, but they were overruled. The Indian government was going to launch a full scale nuclear strike against the U.S. mainland in less than twelve hours.”
Kyle looked back at Smith who was sitting in rapt attention at the edge of his chair.
“This particular General had been educated in the U.S. and had a much higher awareness of the nature of the U.S. population than those in the High Command. He was convinced, rightly I believe, that if India launched those missiles the American people would not rest until every Indian was killed.”
“The American people are difficult to rouse to a level of bloodlust, Mister Smith, but it is in them. I believe with absolute certainty that if India had launched those missiles without a good reason, that the nation of India would not exist today and one billion Indians would be missing from our planet.”
Kyle walked back over to his chair and sat down.
“There was no way that the launch was not to take place. For two hours we examined different scenarios to get them to stop the launch.”
Kyle leaned in across the table to look directly in Smith’s eyes.
“There was no stopping the launch. At 1434 on June 18th, the nation of India was going to launch 342 nuclear equipped warheads at every strategic military and urban center in the United States. There was no stopping it.”
“So at 0841, I ordered the destruction of Hyderabad. Phollux rockets covered the city in burning phosphorus. Over a million people died in a few minutes of burning, suffocating agony.”
“News of the destruction of the city was instant. Coverage worldwide brought in commentators asking why the U.S. would do this to a foe that was on their last legs; asking why we would kill so many innocents.”
“At 1434, 342 warheads left Indian soil and raced towards the U.S. At 1439, 342 warheads had been destroyed by our counter measures. Not a single warhead detonated on U.S. soil. Not a single American was killed by their strike.”
Kyle sighed and sat back in his chair.
“The news of their attack was muted. No one was killed. But a million had died in Hyderabad. No loss of lives against a million. That’s how they measure the news.”
“But if Hyderabad wasn’t destroyed, the news would have been about how India threatened the lives of 500 million Americans. The American people would have demanded blood. Hyderabad would have been just the beginning as the madness of bloodlust spread into the Command structure.”
“I have the blood of one million on my hands. I cannot ask for understanding. I cannot justify the loss of life. But I do not regret the decision I made.”
Smith slowly rose and simply said “I will draw up the contract, General.”
As Smith left the room, Kyle realized his hands were shaking. It had been several years since he had told the background of what happened and he remained as convinced as ever that he had done the right thing. It was an awful act that should never have happened. But it was the correct decision.
“War is an evil that destroys
those who survive it,” he muttered to the empty room. He had seen too many friends killed, too many innocents die, and too much blood on his own hands. And now he was preparing to bring death and destruction on another race of beings.
“General, Ramirez is on the line for you,” Colonel Kitch said as she came in the room. “Are you alright, sir?”
“I’m fine, Kitch, thanks. Just been a long day already,” Kyle said. “How much time do I have until the next briefing?”
“About twenty minutes, sir,” she said as she checked her watch. “Ramirez is on hold, I think he has some good news.”
“Thanks, Diane. Find a time for the team to have dinner this next week. Make it Tuesday if you can. Let’s go for a steakhouse. On me.”
“Will do, sir,” Kitch said as she left the room.
Kyle put Alex on speaker.
“This is General Martin.”
“Sir, Ramirez here. I have some good news for you.”
“The Chinese?”
“They are on board, sir. They also seem to think that the Russians will soon follow.”
Kyle let out a slow breath. With India, China and Russia supporting the Global Defense Initiative, there would be no serious resistance in the Security Council.
“Good to know, now get back to Alexandria as soon as you can. We need to set up our operational teams and I will be in the Congressional hearings starting next Thursday. I need you here to vet our team leaders.”
“I was hoping to charter out today, but it might be Saturday before I can get a flight.”
“Kitch will be setting up a steak dinner on me for Tuesday night. You don’t want to miss it Alex.”
Alex laughed, “No sir, I wouldn’t miss that. Kitch never scrimps when it’s your money.”
“Alright, see you in a couple of days then, Martin out.”
Kyle punched off the phone and readied himself for his next briefing.
Chapter 11
06 April 2043
Sergeant Major Williams scowled at General Martin. “This isn’t that hard, I mean conceptually. The math is pretty complex, but the concept should be understandable.”
“Carl, maybe if I had time to study it, but I don’t. Just bottom line it for me,” Kyle said with his head lying on the conference table. “How fast can the warp engines move our ships?”
Williams sighed and closed his eyes. “For the last time, it’s not a matter of how fast, it’s a matter of how stable the field is.”
Kyle looked over at Sergeant Ramirez reading a news report in the corner. “Can you help me here, Alex?”
Alex looked up at them as if suddenly hearing what was going on. “Can’t explain it any clearer than he did, sir. Doesn’t sound that hard to me.”
Kyle stared at the two Marines until both men shifted uncomfortably.
“Ok, man, here it is,” Alex said finally. “If we have fully stabilized warp fields, we can travel approximately 7 to the 14th klicks in an hour.”
“That sounds really fast,” Kyle said. “Can I get that in context?”
Williams grunted and turned away.
“In 5th grade terms, sir, it’s one and a half light years an hour,” Alex said. “We could cross the entire Milky Way in about seven and a half years if we could keep a stable field that long. And remember, it would take light about 100,000 years to pull the same trick.”
“So really, really fast,” Kyle said blankly looking at the closed folder in front of him.
Williams turned back around. “Really, really, really fast, sir. They will get us to where we need to go.”
“Ok, just wanting to make sure we get our money’s worth.”
Williams picked up his paperback and looked towards the door. “These engines will be worth it, sir. Even though they may cost us well beyond what the Council would like. We have to take the fight to the Iltia’cor, or we will find ourselves isolated.”
“He’s right, sir,” added Alex. “The Pelod will likely not offer us this deal again. If the Iltia’cor decide to punish any other planets… we’re alone. We have to gain allies, and that means standing up to the bully.”
Kyle looked at the document in his hand. Fourteen full member Nations had representatives on the Earth Council. Fourteen Nations that a mere year ago couldn’t have agreed on the color of the curtains or shape of a table at a Motel 6 meeting room.
“Hello General Martin.” Chancellor Thomas strode into the room followed by four of his aides. “Sergeant Ramirez, Sergeant Major Williams good to see you gentlemen again. I trust you are doing well?”
“Doing well, Chancellor, thanks,” Alex said.
Kyle stood and stepped over to Thomas. “Good morning, Chancellor. Anything new on the Kortit front?”
Thomas shook his head. “Sorry General, the Iltia’cor are still blocking all official news and we haven’t heard anything concerning Lon.”
“I’m needed back in the lab and I’m sure Alex will be able to make up a similar excuse, sir. So if you will pardon us, we need to get out of the way,” Williams said as he and Ramirez started to the door. “Chancellor, good to see you again and congratulations on your election.”
“Thank you Sergeant Major,” Thomas said with genuine gratitude.
Kyle waited a few moments after Williams and Ramirez left the room. “We are responsible for Kortit being targeted by the Iltia’cor. Me and Alex most directly, but Earth as a whole. If you think that is going to cloud my judgment or compromise my desire to get this deal done, you need to take me off of this duty right now.”
“General, Admiral Rider has full confidence in your ability. When he was selected by the Earth Council to be the Supreme Commander of Earth Forces, he was adamant that you be our military point man for all alien contact,” Thomas said while he and his aides started opening their folders and getting their tablets set up.
Kyle nodded slowly and sat back down at the conference table. He hoped he could remain focused and detached during the negotiations, but Lon was his friend. He was imprisoned by his own people for allowing Kyle and Alex and the rest of the Earth researchers off of the research station. But even while he was going through all of that, Lon was able to somehow convince one of the Junniji on the station to secure Emily Troy’s body and have it brought to Earth for burial. For that action alone, Kyle and Alex owed Lon deeply. It wasn’t a debt they were grudging about; it was one of those debts you were glad to own because it tied you together with bonds of friendship that could never be broken.
As horrible as Kyle felt when he heard Lon was imprisoned, he had an even greater sense of fear and guilt when he heard that the Iltia’cor had taken over Kortit a mere week after their failed assault on Earth. This was what the Hedali feared and blamed Lon for. No matter where he was on that planet, he was in tremendous peril from both the Iltia’cor and his fellow Hedali. Both races personally blamed him for what happened.
“Please God, let him be alive,” Kyle prayed as he steeled himself for the meeting that would start in just a few minutes.
Smith had sent over some preliminary schematics and some technical benchmarks for the Earth Security technical team to pore over. From the analysis of the data, it was conjectured that a small Scout vessel and a larger Cruiser would be able to be built with the titanium alloy that Dr. Willers had developed. Some fairly well developed rail guns, some solid-fueled missiles, and a few experimental laser systems would suit well for the weapon systems of the ships. Shield technology was just a pipe dream at this point, but without mosar in the building materials, the Iltia’cor heavy weapons would be rendered ineffective anyway.
Earth just needed engines; engines that would allow her ships to travel light-years in hours and days. That is what the Pelod could deliver.
“Good afternoon gentlemen,” Mister Franklin Smith said as he slipped almost unnoticed into the conference room. “I trust our business can go forward?”
“Mister Smith, welcome,” Thomas said as he rose from his chair and reached out to shake hands wi
th the Pelod.
Smith froze and looked around quickly. Kyle tensed.
“I’m sorry Chancellor Thomas, I have heard that humans sometimes confirm an agreement with a handshake and I just don’t want to make that mistake before we go through the contract,” Smith said with what Kyle chose to read as embarrassment and not irritation.
“I am very sorry, Mister Smith,” Thomas said, clearly chagrined. “I merely wished to greet you to the meeting and was in no way trying to use deception to enforce anything you would not want.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Chancellor Thomas,” Smith said as he smiled warmly and took a seat at the table.
Kyle realized he had tensed up during the brief exchange and forced his muscles to relax.
“My engineers have looked over the schematics of the two vessel designs you have given to us. Both are very good designs and will serve you well, in their estimations. We have calculated that you will need two engines for the smaller vessels and ten engines for the larger vessels in order to maintain a powerful enough warp field to travel.” Smith looked at his tablet.
“My superiors have also made clear that payment must either be upfront or in a highly controlled payment schedule.” Smith looked up again. “Unfortunately, you do not have the correct… monetary units for lack of a better term. So we will be making this deal with barter.”
“We’re still looking for a galactic bank with free checking,” Kyle said as he prepared himself for a bad day of negotiations.
“Mister Smith, could I ask a question at this point?”
Smith nodded. “Of course General Martin. That’s what these negotiations are for.”
“You mentioned your superiors. That was a little surprising to me, to be quite honest. I thought you were the leader of the Pelod.”
“No, General, I’m not. And I apologize if I gave that impression. I am one of the directors of the facility on Mars, but I answer to several levels of authority.”