by Saxon Andrew
The Prime Minister sat back and nodded slightly, “You make a good point, Captain. Please continue.”
Maranda pulled up the recording from when the Brer Rabbit was surrounded and ran the video showing them moving inexorably in on them. The attendee’s watched the Brer Rabbit’s escape and everyone turned to Maranda. She nodded toward the monitor, “The Fagan now knows that there was an invisible ship scouting them. They will be working hard to come up with a way to defeat our stealth systems. They have no idea where my ship came from, but they know it exists. I do know they can detect our gravity systems.”
“What are you suggesting, Captain Meadows?” The Prime Minister asked.
“I contacted someone I knew in the academy and asked him how many warships Melbourne now has in it’s fleets. He estimates there are around fifty-thousand.” The Prime Minister glanced at Admiral Mulvaney and he nodded. Maranda saw the exchange and continued, “The Fagan leader said there are six hundred thousand Fagan warships gathering at the edge of the spiral arm and that all of them have not arrived yet. That means our fleets are outnumbered twelve to one. However, we all know that the Fagan wouldn’t send all their warships out of their territory. I suspect there are a lot more than that remaining behind. But even if it were only an equal number remaining behind; that would mean we are outnumbered twenty-four to one at a minimum. The only way to keep them in their territory is to attack them there.” Maranda paused and then said, “That means we will kick off a war with the Fagan and it’s a certainty that we will lose warships. That means that building up our fleets to take on the eventual winner between Earth and the Britannia aliens will come to a stop. We’ll have to build ships to replace those we lose against the Fagan.”
The room was silent and after a very long moment the Prime Minister asked, “Is that all?”
Maranda lowered her chin slightly, “No, it’s not, Sir. If we go to war with them, the Fagan will eventually damage one of our warships and discover that humans are flying them. They will immediately, upon that discovery, kill every human on America.” Maranda looked around the room and said, “In none of your plans have any of you come up with a way to Save America.”
Louisa was staring at Maranda with tears in her eyes. The one she never suspected to speak up for her people had done it. Her feelings for Maranda immediately changed.
Maranda sat down, and the room was silent. Everyone knew she was right in her assessment but none of them knew what to do about it. The Prime Minister kept his eyes on Maranda and said, “Ok, you’ve told us what we can’t do, Captain. What do you suggest?”
Maranda sighed and shook her head, “Sir, I can see the problem clearly but I’m at a loss on how to handle the situation. You’re going to have to depend on the more experienced officers present. After all, I’m the least experienced one here.”
The entire room burst out with laughter, releasing the tension and Maranda’s face turned red. The Prime Minister turned to Grady, “You’ve not made any suggestions, Colonel Henricks. Do you have anything to add?”
Grady picked up a folder, opened it, glanced at Taffy and threw it over his shoulder. The papers in it flew across the room behind him. He looked around the room and turned to the Prime Minister, “One of my sailors is very goal oriented. Let’s try to determine what our goals are here. First, we need to stop the Fagan from moving to our spiral arm. Would anyone like to add another?”
Louisa said loudly, “We need to save America!”
Grady nodded and put the two items on the front monitor. Admiral Mulvaney added, “We need to stop them without losing any warships.”
His statement appeared on the monitor and another senior officer added, “And we need to do this without the Fagan finding out we did it.”
The statement appeared on the monitor and Grady looked around and asked, “Anyone else?”
The Prime Minister replied, “I think if we can do just those four, it would be considered a success.”
Grady looked at the monitor and then turned to the Prime Minister, “I see only one way to achieve those goals.”
“And what is that Colonel?”
“Britannia two.”
“What?”
“Hear me out, Sir. We move all the people on America to Melbourne…”
The Prime Minister leaned forward and interrupted him by saying, “But…”
Grady held up his hand, “Please allow me to finish.” The Prime Minister leaned back, and his expression showed his doubt. “We send enough ships to America to lift the inhabitants off the planet and take then to Melbourne. Once that’s done, we destroy the freighter coming to pick up the collected crops and allow it to send a distress call out.” Grady waited to be interrupted but no one did, and he continued, “When the Fagan warships arrive, three or four empty freighters and, however many of the old rabbits we have available, will flee from them and lead them to the Britannia alien’s territory.”
The room was silent and Admiral Mulvaney finally spoke up, “Colonel, this entire plan hinges on our ability to remove all the inhabitants from America without being detected. Do you have any idea how many humans are on America?”
Grady looked at Louisa, “Do you know how many people lived in your community?”
Louisa nodded, “Ten thousand or so.”
Grady turned back to the attendees, “We ran a scan of America and we found five hundred of the giant farming communities on the planet’s surface. If all of them have similar sized populations, then there are around five million people on America.”
The Prime Minister shook his head, “Colonel, moving the quarter of a million survivors from Britannia was extremely difficult. And many of the survivors chose not to leave. We have no means of moving that many; it would take months.”
Maranda spoke up, “Mr. Prime Minister.” He turned to Maranda and she said, “My friend told me that when the inhabitants were moved from Britannia, Melbourne only had a hundred freighters to move them.” The Prime Minister nodded. “He also told me that most of them weren’t filled to capacity.”
The Prime Minister shrugged, “That’s true as well but we don’t have near the number to move all of them.”
Maranda continued, “It’s my understanding that Melbourne now has three hundred military freighters and that their landing bays can hold ten thousand people sitting on the floor.”
The Prime Minister looked at Admiral Mulvaney and he replied, “We do have three hundred freighters, Mr. Prime Minister.”
“But that’s only three million; we need to move five.”
Maranda smiled, “I also understand that three carriers have been completed. I’ve calculated that a hundred-thousand people can fit in their landing bays.”
Admiral Mulvaney stood up and said loudly, “I will not put those ships in danger!!”
The Prime Minister turned to Admiral Mulvaney and said, “You will do as you’re ordered, Admiral.”
Mulvaney turned to the Prime Minister as he sat down and said, “Those ships are the heart of Melbourne’s defenses.”
“Are you saying they couldn’t stand up to the Fagan warships which we know aren’t as technologically advanced as ours?”
“No, Sir.”
The Prime Minister turned back to Grady, “Even using the carriers, you can only move three million three hundred thousand off America leaving one point seven million behind.”
Taffy raised her hand and the Prime Minister smiled, “Just speak up, Mrs. Henricks. You don’t need to raise your hand.”
“You’re leaving out a large number of ships that we can use.”
“Do tell?” the Prime Minister responded.”
“I know that the companies we own have more than a hundred large commercial freighters. I suspect there are more than a thousand being used by the large corporations on Melbourne. Each of them can hold at least five thousand people. You’d only need a little more than three hundred to lift the rest.”
“But those commercial freighters aren’t fast enoug
h to keep up with the military freighters,” A senior officer injected into the conversation.
Grady waved a hand, “Then we’ll send them far out away from the spiral arm and have our Super Rabbits escort them in to America and back to Melbourne. The point is, it is possible to move all the inhabitants at one time. If we start the lift immediately after the Fagan freighter leaves, we’ll have about three weeks to get it done.”
“You haven’t answered the issue with the collars,” Louisa said in the pause.
The Prime Minister turned to Grady, “Collars?”
Grady nodded, “Every inhabitant has one and the Fagan can kill them instantly by transmitting a signal.”
“Just how do you intend to handle that issue, Colonel?”
“We have the frequency that is used to remove the collar, Sir. We need to develop a powerful transmitter that will release them the moment before we destroy the five hundred collection centers on America.”
“Collection centers?” the Prime Minister asked.
The Fagan live in them and that’s where their communications are located. The Fagan have no warships around America and if we take out their communications, there’s no way they can warn the Fagan Leadership about what’s taking place.”
“You have another issue.”
Everyone turned to Desmond. “Just where are you going to land the carriers? And is it even possible for them to land on a planet?”
Grady stared at Des and he shrugged. Grady turned to Admiral Mulvaney and his eyes narrowed before stating, “The carriers’ gravity drives can hold the carriers a few feet above the ground but you’re going to have to have a clearing more than twenty miles across for it to land.”
Taffy waved a hand, “That’s no problem!” Everyone turned to her and she added, “Those farming communities have fields more than forty miles square. Just land them on top of the crops; they’re not going to need them.” Desmond smiled and sat down. Louisa squeezed his arm and Kendal kissed him on the cheek.
The Prime Minister turned to Mulvaney, “Do we have enough sailors to fly the carriers?”
“Yes, they’ve been training on simulators for eight months.” The Prime Minister turned to Abby and Rory, “The two of you will each be assigned a carrier to go on this mission.”
Abby’s frown was instant, and she quickly replied, “You promised that Rory and I would serve on the same ship, Sir.”
“That was then, and this is now. I’m not sending those carriers into Fagan space without the commander being familiar with what they’ll be facing. We’ll look at putting you together after this crisis is over!” Abby glanced at Rory and he nodded. The Prime Minister nodded and then turned to Grady, “I need the third carrier commander and they must be familiar with Fagan space.” Taffy leaned in and whispered in Grady’s ear. Grady turned to her and she nodded. Grady turned to the Prime Minister and said, “Captain Maranda Meadows should command the third carrier, Sir.”
The Prime Minister was surprised by the choice but said, “Effective immediately, Colonel Abby Dunhan is promoted to Admiral followed by Rory Dunhan and then Maranda Meadows to keep the seniority consistent. Congratulations and make sure you keep those ships safe!”
Maranda was shocked silent by the promotion. She couldn’t move, and she saw Desmond was possibly more shocked than her. She saw him get up and walk to Grady and start speaking animatedly into his ear. “How can you possibly promote her to command a ship!? You’ve seen her fear paralyze her! This is madness and…”
Taffy grabbed Desmond’s arm and pulled his face directly in front of her. “Shut up, Desmond and answer the following question honestly!” Desmond closed his mouth, but his anger was clear. “If you want the command, you can have it.”
“What?! Then why did you give it to her?”
“You have a choice, Desmond. You can command a carrier, or you can stay with Louisa on your rabbit. You can’t do both; now decide!”
Desmond instantly looked back at Louisa and saw her staring at him with a troubled expression. He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. Grady leaned in and said softly, “Career or love, Captain. Make up your mind.”
The Prime Minister was watching them and wondered what was going on. So was Maranda. Desmond stood up and said, “You’ve made an excellent choice, Sir.” He walked back to his chair and sat down beside Maranda. She looked at him and said, “It should have been you.”
Desmond shook his head, “That was my initial thought as well, but I was wrong. You are the perfect choice for the command. Just love your sailors and keep them safe, Maranda.”
Maranda looked at Taffy staring at her smiling and suddenly had a thought, “Mr. Prime Minister, I have a question.”
The room grew quiet and everyone turned to Maranda. “What is that, Admiral?”
Maranda flinched at her new rank and asked, “Is it possible to coat the carriers in the stealth coating before going to the Sagittarius Arm?”
One of the chief engineers spoke up, “There’s no way it can be done quickly. The carriers are huge and applying the coating is extremely difficult in the zero gravity of space. Keeping contact with the carriers’ hulls is very time consuming.”
“Can it be done on the ground?” Mulvaney asked.
“No, in order for it to go on smoothly, zero gravity is required for a ship that large.”
Taffy spoke up, “What if we programmed our robots to apply the coating. They have small thrusters in them that will keep them planted to the carriers’ hulls.”
The engineer thought for a moment and pulled out his calculator. After a moment he looked up, “How many robots are available for us to do this?”
“How many do you need?” Taffy replied.
“If we can have five hundred of them, it can be done in four months.”
The Prime Minister snorted, “That’s cutting it too close to the Fagan launching their invasion.”
“What if we give you two thousand to use?” Taffy asked.
The engineer’s eyes widened, “Are you serious?”
“We’ll start programming them today.”
The engineer started entering numbers in his calculator and looked up, “Six weeks, however, we don’t have enough to coat all three, but we should have enough made to do the third carrier in time.”
The room cheered, and the Prime Minister smiled, “It looks like Britannia two is a go. Grady, you are responsible for getting all the ships organized and assigned to their drop zones.”
Mulvaney walked over to Maranda and said, “That was an excellent suggestion to coat the carriers. I’m not as worried about using them in this operation.”
“We still have to be extremely careful, Sir. Those ships block out a lot of light behind them. We have to choose our route in to America very carefully,” Maranda replied.
Mulvaney smiled, “They’re in good hands, Admiral. That’s all I could hope for.”
Grady walked over to Mulvaney and said, “Admiral, I need as many of the original rabbits that haven’t been coated that you have available.”
Mulvaney lifted his communicator and entered a query, “Well, we have the ship you arrived in and about fifty others that haven’t been coated listed in the fleet registry. There may be others that are inactive that aren’t listed, and it will require a search to find them.”
“I need all of them, Admiral. Find as many as possible!”
“Why? You can take as many Super Rabbits as you need.”
“I’m leaving them to the carriers’ defense, Admiral. I need uncoated ships, so they will be seen and detected by the Fagan.” Mulvaney’s eyes narrowed and Grady added, “It’s hard to follow ships you can’t see Admiral. I also need at least three freighters assigned to me; we’ll replace them with commercial freighters.”
Mulvaney immediately understood, “You’re going to use them to lead the Fagan to alien territory.” Grady nodded. Mulvaney tilted his head, “Why are you leading them to the aliens instead of Earth; it’s much closer.”
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“Two reasons, Admiral. One, which of the three enemies we’re facing is the most dangerous?”
Mulvaney thought about it and answered, “The aliens that destroyed Britannia are the largest of the three.”
“Right! And if we lead them to Earth and the combination of the Fagan and aliens defeat Earth, both will be in the Orion Arm much closer to Melbourne. I believe leading them as far away as possible is our only choice.”
Mulvaney nodded, “You’re exactly right, Colonel. However, I do recommend you promote yourself to the Supreme Admiral over all Britannia Warships.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because three of your former subordinates now outrank you.”
Grady’s head went back, and Taffy said from behind Grady, “Please make the change in the military database, Admiral.”
Mulvaney smiled, “I still owe you for saving my carrier, Taffy.”
Taffy waved a hand, “Then make me a fleet admiral while you’re at it.”
Mulvaney laughed loudly and managed to say, “Done. I’ll inform the Prime Minister.”
Mulvaney walked away and Grady turned to Taffy, “Rank doesn’t really matter, Taffy.”
Taffy nodded toward Maranda, “It does to those that have a higher one, Grady.”
Gray looked at Maranda talking to several of the senior officers and sighed, “You have always been the smart one.”
“No, you’re smarter.” She smiled and added, “I just possess a little more wisdom.”
Grady hugged her and said, “We have a lot of work to do.”
“Get Joshua to do the organizing. He’s better suited to do it and it will give us more free time before we leave for America.” Grady smiled and then nodded.
• • •
Kendal ran up and hugged Maranda around her legs. Maranda excused herself from the officers she was conversing, picked up Kendal, and hugged her. Kendal kissed her on the cheek and shouted, “Thank you for saving my home!”