“We knew.” the Alien said haltingly, speaking at Mercer’s prodding, “.we could not defeat your technology, and we did not wish to chance a full scale attack. Having used the Tattalias horde before on interlopers through the other Gate as you call it, we knew it to be a perfect way to open up resource valuable planets. They had never failed before.”
“Things are going to get awful bad, Binky,” Jake said softly, the menace on his face making the Alien lower his head. “Your people could have contacted us, and we would have dealt with you in open trade. Now, the way we will deal with you will only happen after the unconditional surrender of your planet.”
“But…but this is not fair,” the Alien protested, its face registering the shock of such a punishment. “Many will die in such a war. We can open a dialogue…my people will negotiate.”
“Forget it,” Jake cut him off. “Negotiations are what a race of people do before they try to wipe out another race. Do you control these Tattalias Queens, or do you just drop them off wherever you need them?”
“We can imitate some of the Queen’s more basic commands, but we cannot control them safely. We should never have revealed our presence to you. My leaders became impatient to take over those fuel rich planets. They believed you would never come back if we caused more infestations, and would abandon that quadrant.”
Jake nodded. “So, what do you use our people for on your planet?”
“We have worked on trying to duplicate more of your technology,” the Alien answered, “but we have only been able to capture small commercial ships, rather than warships. Our fuel cell technology has been greatly enhanced, but weapons advancement has been poor at best. How is it we cannot detect the presence of your ships?”
“The same reason we were able to solve your shielding,” Jake replied. “We’re pretty good at peace, but we’re even better at War. You must have gotten our particle beam technology from one of our ships if you were able to figure out how it would dissipate on the Queen’s chamber shield.”
“One of the ships we captured was transporting particle beam weaponry,” the Alien admitted. “We monitored your difficulty with the Tattalias Queen’s shielding, during our first infestation of your mining colony.”
“We hit that bitch with everything short of a MAG50 round, which would have blown us up too,” Mercer agreed. “If Jake here hadn’t climbed on her from above, we wouldn’t be talking now, and we might have withdrawn in spite of the fuel resources. It fits.”
“You two fought during the first Tattalias infestation?” The Alien asked in some surprise.
“Actually, all three of us were there right to the end,” Jake replied. “We learned a few things from that, and now we’ve learned a few more tricks. It’s too bad your people will have to learn the hard way. I.”
“Five minutes, Jake,” Colonel Peters said over the com unit. ‘You’re going fine, Tim. Stay on present course. I’ll let you know when we’re in position for an orbit.”
“Aye, aye, Sir,” Dougherty answered immediately.
“Anyhow,” Jake resumed, “by the time we get done orbiting your planet, we’ll know everything about your people, down to what you eat for breakfast. The only thing we’ll want from you is where the majority of our people are being held, and what kind of fortifications you have keeping them captive. We’ll take it from there.”
“In my place, would you sell out your own people, even under torture,” the Alien asked hesitantly.
“I don’t know,” Jake answered truthfully. “What I can endure, or not endure, has nothing to do with you. Only you know whether you can meet Mr. Snappy again, and keep silent. It would be easier for you, if you realize we will get the information one way or another.”
At the mention of the device, Mercer had pulled his interrogation tool out, to the great horror of their captive. The Alien gestured wildly in supplication, as he leaned away from Mercer. “Please. do not touch me with that again.”
“What’s it going to be, Binky?” Jake asked.
“I will show you where the humans are kept,” the Alien succumbed to the inevitable. “They are kept within a complex of dwellings, inside a walled off section of one of our more barren territories. Very few guards are needed, because there is no place for them to go.”
“What do you keep them for?” Dougherty asked.
“As I said,” the Alien answered, “we strip their ships of weapons and technology, and then we learn from them any details we need concerning your colonies and home planet. We know of the Tarawa Jump Gate, as you call it, from them, which explained how your species reached the contested resource planets. We did not find the Jump Gate, you came through to get here, until just before your people had inhabited the place you call Omaha.”
“Okay, that explains a few things, but you still haven’t told us how you use our people, you still have in captivity, once you break down their knowledge,” Dougherty persisted.
“We have them manufacturing what we find as useful, according to their expertise. Most only work menial, repetitious work, but they are not ill treated.”
Jake nodded. “It would be a good thing if we do not find any ill treatment, Binky. If we do, you will find out what the term ‘Payback’s a Bitch’ really means.”
Two hours later, Colonel Peters had gathered reliable data on the Alien home world, they would have to decipher later in detail, including the whereabouts of their captured people. Although the planet was heavily populated, and numerous off world ships were in temporary dock, orbiting the planet, the Earth ships remained undetected. The Alien pointed out the warships they had on constant patrol, and noted the departure of another task force probably setting out after the first.
“I have just about everything we can get without actually landing, Jake,” Colonel Peters announced.
“I know this will not be popular with you guys,” Jake acknowledged, “but I think we ought to head back and make some plans. If we attacked, we could endanger the people being held. We’ve had a good test of just how well our.”
“Jake,” Peters interrupted. “I’m getting an encoded com burst from the Intrepid. The task force they sent to find out about the first group took a peek, and vanished back through the Gate before they could be engaged.”
Jake looked around at his comrades. “You guys feel like seeing if we can take these boys on their way back?”
“It would really shake them up,” Mercer agreed.
“We’ll have to fire at them while linked together, and then Colonel Peters will have to hustle us back into the Gate before we get caught up in the blast zone,” Dougherty added.
“Tim,” Peters cut in. “I know the safe distance for my weapons. After all, I won’t be using the planet killer size charge I used on that other ship. Why don’t we ambush them half way to the Gate, and get them all before they get home?”
“I like it,” Mercer smiled.
“You’ll have to relay target information for me, Colonel,” Dougherty replied. “The Drop Ship weapons array does not have the distance for that kind of firing solution.”
“I’ll patch us together,” Peters offered. “What do you think, General?”
“I think I’ll get Binky back to his cell, and then we’ll get ready for a little action,” Jake said. “I wonder if we can test out our shielding without getting ourselves killed.”
“I don’t know how safe it’ll be,” Peters cautioned, “but you could materialize in front of them from close up, and take one out. After you take a couple of retaliatory hits, you could then cloak up, and we’ll finish them off together. I can be in a position to really blast them if something goes wrong, but I don’t know what kind of damage you could sustain in the meantime.”
“I’m in,” Mercer stated. “No use heading back without everything we came for.”
“Ditto,” Dougherty added. “I’ll take Binky back, and get into the turret. You’ll have to pilot Jake.”
“What’ll I do,” Mercer asked, “go watch Tim da
nce?”
“You’ll have to stay up here with me as damage control, in case things go wrong,” Jake instructed. “I’ll start you on the basics of piloting this thing in an emergency.”
“The emergency will be if I have to take over,” Mercer muttered.
Four of the smaller Alien battleships, much like the one they had boarded, appeared on Dougherty’s firing solution screen, and Jake’s monitor in the cockpit.
‘You’ve positioned us perfectly, Jas,” Jake told the Command Wing Pilot. “What do you think, Tim?”
“Disengage the cloak, and I’ll start dancin’,” Dougherty announced.
“Give them another twenty seconds, Tim,” Peters advised. “It will make you guys a closer target, but they’re making a rookie error. Check your screen, guys. They’re flying too close together. The blast may damage more than one.”
“Jas is right, Tim,” Jake agreed. “Nice call, Colonel.”
“Oh man, my mouth’s watering,” Dougherty echoed. “What a bunch of boot camps.”
“It also means they can get a more concentrated burst off at us too,” Mercer cautioned as he looked at the screen.
“Guess we’ll find out,” Jake acknowledged, “five…four…three…two…one, we are visible, Tim.”
The Drop Ship shuddered as Dougherty fired the special load MAG50. One of the Alien ships in the center of the formation disintegrated, showering the two ships next to it with debris. The three remaining ships opened fire with particle beam blasts. Although the new shielding dissipated the retaliatory shots, they found out quickly where the blasts dissipated to.
“Uh oh,” Mercer said, as the monitor and control panel smoked and went black.
“My panels are dead, Jake,” Dougherty announced. “I’m coming up with you guys.”
“We’re sitting ducks, Jas,” Jake called out, as the fire control nozzles sprayed the overheating circuitry.
“On it,” Peters called out.
The Command Wing Fighter powered into life. Peters’ fired a spread of three encased loads from his front tubes, vaporizing the remaining Alien ships. He positioned over the drifting Drop Ship, and locked on. When they were on their way at full speed towards the Alien Jump Gate, Peters generated power into the life support systems of the disabled Drop Ship.
“How you guys doing?” Peters asked.
“As well as can be expected,” Jake replied happily, “thanks to you. It’s a good thing communications are not channeled through the main system.”
“God Bless Nick, and the idea to power the shields on a separate fuel cell,” Mercer sighed.
“Everything else worked perfectly,” Dougherty said. “I guess we’ll have to use some kind of a layer of conductor for the shields to dissipate the power into. Maybe we could use some form of power storage, on the principle of a simple capacitor.”
“It depends on what the particle beam energy becomes as it’s absorbed,” Peters mused.
“Anyhow, I think we’ve caused enough trouble around here for now,” Jake announced, leaning back. “It’s all yours, Jas. We’re just passengers now.”
“I’ll have us back in no time,” Peters remarked. “We sure gave them something to talk about.”
“Not to mention we survived a rather big technical glitch,” Mercer added. “I would not have been too fond of floating around there much longer as Alien target practice.”
“It was worth the risk,” Jake offered. “I’m sure glad we didn’t screw around with a test over the planet. We would have crashed.”
“On the bright side, I doubt the Alien ships we destroyed managed to get much back to their planet in the way of useful information,” Dougherty added. “They won’t want to risk any more ships until they figure out what happened.”
“What if they come to the logical conclusion we came through the Gate, and kicked their butts?” Mercer asked. “They may move the prisoners, or put them out in space on a ship as hostages against an attack.”
“I can’t fault your logic, Charlie,” Jake replied. “All the more reason for us to move quickly. Remember, they’ll still be guessing, and they won’t know about the shielding.”
“You don’t want to go back through before we make some shielding alterations though, do you?” Mercer asked.
“No way,” Jake answered forcefully. “We’re not taking a chance on sacrificing thousands of crew, and vital war ships, to save people we don’t even know are in one piece. Think about what would have happened if Earth Command would have had particle beam weapons with the range to hit us back on Earth.”
“That’s right,” Dougherty exclaimed. “Maybe we should take a moment in all this. We’re getting too cocky. Nick tested the shielding with particle beam fire, but he probably didn’t count on the concentration and size of it making a difference.”
“As you say,” Jake admitted. “We may be getting overconfident, but we can’t let those folks rot down on the Alien home world without some kind of response. Maybe we should come back through with the Intrepid, and enough Drop Ships to go down and get the prisoners. The Intrepid can stay cloaked the whole time, and keep powered down to the point where she doesn’t generate a power signature much larger than we did when we towed
Jas to the planet. We can conduct the rescue mission, and shoot on back through before they know it.”
“If we pull that off, Jake,” Peters added, “maybe we should leave some Aliens, who know what we can do, with our terms for their surrender.”
“That is, of course, if we plan on making friends, Colonel,” Mercer opinioned.
“I kind of see it Charlie’s way, Jas,” Jake mused. “If we extracted our people, what’s stopping us from using a planet killer on them, and be done?”
“That’s cold, General,” Peters laughed. “I wouldn’t think you’d want to do it for the same reason you didn’t just vaporize all members of Earth Command. A majority of this Alien race probably don’t give a damn about annexing resource planets, or planting Bug hordes to eat other races to accomplish the task.”
“Meaning, we should try and make friends like we told Binky we would consider doing, Colonel?” Dougherty asked.
“I know it sounds a little more touchy-feely than what we’ve been doing,” Peters admitted, “but they even know of another Jump Gate. This could work out well, if we can waste the leaders who are behind the Bug infestations, and set up some Aliens we can work with. Hell, they can’t see us coming anyway. We can always wipe them out.”
“Okay, I see your point, Colonel,” Mercer agreed. “Jake, your Chief of Staff advises a friendly approach to these sweet, misunderstood creatures too. So, what do you say, General?”
Jake smiled, coldly considering the ease in which they could end this whole episode, as he considered the alternative proposed. “What about some payback?”
“I don’t think the Colonel meant we wouldn’t use the Intrepid, after we rescue the prisoners, to wreak havoc on where ever we think these scum are that ordered the infestations, did you, Colonel?” Dougherty asked.
“Oh, hell no,” Peters stated without hesitation. “I am afraid even this friendly approach will require an object lesson with many Alien casualties.”
“And it will mean possible products to sell back on Earth, and in the Colonies,” Mercer reminded them. “They must make something down there.”
“You guys have convinced me,” Jake said. “I didn’t really want to blow up the whole planet anyway. I was just kidding a little.”
“Liar,” Mercer accused him.
“Liar, Sir,” Dougherty added immediately.
“Ditto for me, General,” Peters laughed.
“Maybe I ought to just head back to Casserine with Adrian, and make little blockheads, so I won’t hurt anyone else,” Jake offered.
“Don’t take it so hard, Jake,” Mercer laughed. “We still have a hands on rescue mission, we can still use a cold-blooded monster for.”
“Why you no good hypocrite,” Jake retorted. “Oh, if o
nly I would have filmed our information gathering meeting with Binky and Stinky.”
“I didn’t want to use Mr. Snappy, and you know it,” Mercer said in feigned disgust. “It was you who kept saying, ‘hit him with it again, Charlie, I.”
Jake went for him, growling deep in his throat, as Dougherty ended up in the middle of it, too busy laughing to get out of the way. Colonel Peters leaned back in the cockpit of the Command Wing Fighter, increasing power as he entered the Alien Jump Gate, sighing contentedly as he listenedto the melee on the Drop Ship. If only, Peters thought, the Aliens knew just what the survival of their species hinged on.
Chapter 31
Alien Politics
Jake, Mercer, and Dougherty stood in front of the holding cell, where the two Aliens had been confined. The one they called Binky sat on the pull out bunk with his head in his hands. The other Alien, they called Stinky, lay dead on the floor, with his head at an impossible angle. Binky looked up wearily at his captors.
“Give us the short version, Bink,” Jake told the Alien.
“He would not consider the gravity of our situation,” the Alien replied. “He thought I was a traitor for wanting to spare as many of our people as I can, and decided I should die.”
“I’m glad things turned out the right way, because we have a deal for you, which will only involve light casualties for your world,” Jake explained, as he released the locked door. “Come along with us, and we’ll go over some of the details.”
“Very well,” the Alien agreed, and stood up.
Mercer made a twirling motion with his finger. The Alien walked to the unlocked entrance, turned, and put his hands behind his back to allow Mercer to put the energy cuffs on him. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Bink, but we have to play this by the book. What’s your name anyway?”
“You could not pronounce my name. I do not mind the name you have been calling me. Is it a derogatory term?”
“Naaaahhh,” Mercer replied. “You killed the one with the derogatory name.”
“Tim here will be taking you to private quarters,” Jake said, indicating Dougherty. “We will allow you to join with your other people we’ve captured after we have a chance to figure out a course of action.”
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