by Don Koch
"As I understand what I have seen in the minds of the Gar, it had something to do with suggesting that the Gar were an evolutionary dead-end."
Hank said, "Good heavens, I have been told worse than that on more than one occasion, but it did not cause me to go on a genocidal rampage. I firmly believe we can halt this invasion by might but these guys are incredibly persistent and they cannot be permitted to continue this course of action in perpetuity. They are too xenophobic to even be in space. I too have wondered about the inconsistencies I see in their actions with their Honor Code. Gambel, what is your impression of their ability to use logic."
"Generally, pretty good, but we are dealing here with their warrior class and they seem to focus on blind obedience. Might be worth a try with their command level. What do you have in mind?"
"Well, I was thinking that Sam and I are pretty strong telepaths and you and Hanser are among the strongest Glarin Telepaths. What if we four were to enter into rapport boosted by Barana. We could probably reach that commander of the force heading this way and have a little discussion. I could do the physical appearance and you four could support me and ride along so you hear everything and do some intelligence gathering while you are there. If something comes to mind, any one of you can prompt me. We would be untouchable by the Gar and we already know that unnerves them a bit. I would also be able to manipulate things and to them it would appear that I was physically handling things. You have been through a lot lately and if you start to tire, let me know and I can cut it short. What do you think?"
"I think this might be pleasurable. I would like to try this. I have not yet tried a two species rapport, excuse me Barana, I mean three species rapport and I think it would be interesting."
"Sam, Hanser, Barana, want to give this a try?" All agreed. "OK, here we go." They entered into rapport.
Gambel thought,
Hank said,
Dranz commanded, "Kill the human, now!"
One of the crew drew a large blade and tried to decapitate Hank but the blade passed harmlessly through Hank. Hank made a motion as though he were pushing something and the hapless crewmember flew 30 feet through the air and landed in a chair where the restraints all locked the crewmember in the seat. Others were not able to release the restraints. Hank said, "Tsk, tsk, Commander Dranz, that was not very hospitable. You might at least have said hello first. Where are your manners? Is this how you treat all visitors?"
Commander Dranz tried to stand up, but Hank motioned and Dranz was unable to rise. He said, "But you are human, how are you able to do this? How do you restrain me thus? How did you treat my crewmember so? What are you? How did you arrive here?"
"My, my, for someone who just tried to kill me, you certainly have a lot of questions. You have rightly identified me as human, why then do you ask me what I am? That is a bit inconsistent. I thought the Gar was a logical race. I treated your crewmember and you as I willed to do. If you were threatened with harm, would you not do the same? I have looked carefully at this fleet and it is certainly more capable than the one you sent earlier with your pitiful crews and such a large number of Glarin. Very interesting that you would have that people fight your battles for you. Are you that afraid of us? Where is your honor? Did not your leaders tell you of our capabilities? Why are you sending this fleet against us? What is the reason for sending the 600 warships against us, and then the missiles and now these 1,000 warships. Why are you doing this? Why are you wasting so many lives and so much material? This is not logical? What is your reason?"
"Human, you know quite well why we will eliminate your kind."
"If I did, I would not be asking you Commander. Are you going to answer me, or must we also eliminate this fleet as well?"
"You have eliminated the 600? How is that possible."
"Commander you are wasting my time with frivolous questions. Now answer my question. Why are you attacking us?"
"Human, we attack you because of the unpardonable insult you leveled on us 500 years ago when you visited my planet and because my monarch has so commanded."
Hank said, "Not possible."
"What?"
"I said, not possible. My people have only been in space for less than one year. Five hundred years ago we were still throwing spears at each other. No person from my planet has ever been to your planet. But we intend to visit it in a few months to return your people to you. We captured all of your people except for the five who died from the actions of your own people when we boarded that fleet. We have more than 12,000 Gar and we do not want them so we are going to give them back to you. By the way what was this unpardonable insult that has caused you to destroy at least three worlds and its people."
"You said that my people were an evolutionary dead end and for that insult, every human must die."
"Commander Dranz, as I have already told you, my people have never been to your planet and we resent the fact that you blame us for the words of another. If you are a logical being, and I have my doubts, how is what you are now doing not a self-fulfilling prophecy? The fact that you would destroy lives for mere words is not logical? By what right does this person kill for words said centuries ago? Where is your honor? I suggest you think carefully about your answer because we have the means to destroy your entire fleet and your home world with little effort. Since you are clearly a threat to life in this galaxy, you will not be permitted to continue this pogrom."
Dranz replied with some agitation, "It makes no difference. You are human and must die by order of our high ruler. What one of you speaks, binds the rest of your race. The others were merely a means to an end."
"I am surprised because from what I know of your honor code, your action is in conflict. But in any event, your words condemn your race. If you are so intent on killing humans, why am I not now dead? Here I stand before you on your own ship and still I live. What makes you even think that you can kill me. This is comical. I will return again to continue this discussion and maybe to play some more. You will not like my next visit. Goodbye for now Dranz." With that Hank returned to Station 1. "Well, Gambel, you were exactly right about the causation for this conflict. Lets do that again in a few days and see if we can rattle them some more. I kind of enjoyed that. At the very least we now know something of their layout. I could sense the lot of you looking in every nook and cranny. So lets see what we know about this fleet now that the four of you have had a chance to explore. Barana, would you please recap what we learned."
Hank said, "Wow, I could get real used to fighting a war this way. Good job everyone. We now know what we have to do. I am going to assign Division 4 to remain on station here to keep that Gar fleet under observation. The rest of will return to base and re-outfit with the drive upgrades. Division 5 will be first and when that is installed they will return here to relieve Division 4 so they can go in for the drive upgrade. Feed all this intelligence into Josh so he can start working on an operational plan. How soon do those other fleets reach their targets."
"Looks like we are going to be pretty busy. Ok Barana, pass the order to return home and work on the upgrade. We need to get this Gar business resolved. Also have another 600,000 stasis units installed on the ship we are using to transport the Gar home."
Chapter 31: What's Happening
Station 1 in Earth Orbit –
February 4 – C Day 158
Hank said, "Barana would you please post a meeting here for the leaders of Earth for three days hence. Purpose is an update. Also invite emissaries from the various planets we are guarding. Kar is already here for Frote, we will need representatives from Nimtam, Gella, Blint and Janice. Its time to bring home to them the idea, that this is not just an interplanetary issue, it is an interstellar issue. Seeing a Glarin at the table may shake a few trees. That new drive can bring folks in in less than 2 hours so lets go interstellar. Broadcast via ship to ship so they have real time news."
"I agree. Would you see if President Johnson is available for a short chat."
"Please ask Sam and Kar to join us. Please tell the President he is welcome to bring along his wife and son if he wishes. Barana would you also put in some light refreshments."
Shortly, they all arrived at the lodge deck. The President introduced his Secret Service Agent Curt Hendricks, who as it turned out had served with Hank in Afghanistan and they knew each other but were out of touch. Hank recognized him instantly and told the President that he had a good man there. Sam and Anne Johnson along with five-year old William Johnson went for a walk outside the lodge. Hank introduced Kar as an emissary from Frote and the President said, "Ah, royalty and from a distant planet."
Hank said with a grin, "We did not tell him, and if you ask him not to, he will keep your secret."
Kar with a puzzled look said, "But, how did you know?"
"Sorry son, I did not know you were keeping it a secret but there are body language nuances that speak to me like reading a book and I saw royalty. Some others will also see it and wonder why you are incognito, but most people will not notice. I can give you a few hints that might be helpful if you wish to remain unidentified. Not to worry though, I will not spill the beans."
Hank said, "I thought you might enjoy a break from the routine and an informal update as to what has been going on. This will be a bit more detailed than what everyone else will see in three days. Some of this I would ask that you keep under your hat. For example, the 'discussion' I had with Commander Dranz was unusual because at the time I was physically 1,200 light years away from him. We will let people wonder how I was not harmed but we are clearly not going to include that as part of the explanation. Some will connect some of the dots but I am not sure many will pursue it." Hank then proceeded to brief the president on each of the operations that had been conducted. He showed the unedited recordings that would be edited and used at the leaders meeting and pointed out those items that would be omitted from the general meeting and broadcast.
"The public already knows we use teleportation as a means of transport. The meeting with Dranz goes way beyond that but we will not reveal that capability at this point. Besides as you know, we do not answer the questions we do not want to answer and are not troubled by public speculation. I was clearly trying to provoke Dranz and was successful in getting answers to my questions by doing that. These folks are a nasty piece of work. There will be those who want us to destroy them outright but we would have to live with that deed. While genocide may be on the Gar's list of things they are willing to do it is not on mine. We do intend to confine them to their planet. We will try to destroy that part of their infrastructure that generates this extreme xenophobia. We have a plan coming together but it is not quite there yet. One thing that is not part of this upcoming meeting is the fact that the Gar has three more invasion fleets underway. Those are going away from Gar in the opposite direction from Earth. We will also be dealing with that issue as well. The human who made the unfortunate comment that the Gar were an evolutionary dead end was likely correct. He died for uttering the observation. Generally, where we think we are going with this is to return them all to their home planet and then quarantine it. We will probably use a six-month rotation to guard the planet from outsiders and make sure they do not get back into space. How long that will last is anyone's guess. It is not a role that I relish but someone has to do it."
"It looks like our progress on this whole thing is substantially ahead of schedule. We expect to resolve this whole Gar thing in the next three months. We have a particularly good ally in the Glarin. Ah excuse me, Barana, is Vassim available." Vassim appeared. Hank went on, "Vassim, I would like you to meet the President of the United States, one of the countries on Earth and the one in which I was born. Mr. President, this is Vassim, he was the leader of the seven Glarin ships met initially. Vassim and his troops have joined our Marines and it is a joy to watch them work."
The President and Vassim shook hands and exchanged courtesies. "Hank, Curt and I have to get back, but if it is ok, can Anne and William stay a bit longer. They can use the break." Hank nodded agreement. The President continued, "Kar, if you will walk with me to find my wi
fe, I will share those nuances I mentioned to help you do a better incognito." Kar grinned and nodded agreement. "See you in a couple of days Hank."
### February 7 – C Day 161 ###
Three days later, the leaders from Earth and emissaries from the other planets arrived. Fador did the usual opening greeting and then Hank took the stage and started his briefing. He described events leading to the rescue of the seven Glarin ships, Operation Buster and Operation Sweep with its rescue of the Glarin people. He then noted the discovery of the new Gar fleet and the discussion with Dranz. He noted that his approach was antagonistic in hopes of discovering why the Gar is prosecuting their invasion with such persistence, a ploy that was obviously successful. He said that they intended to neutralize the new fleet and return the Gar to their planet. He noted that the casualty rate for the Antoran fleet was zero and that the Gar casualties were due to friendly fire.