Theogony 1: Janissaries

by Chris Kennedy

  “While you may not have advanced technology or weapons,” answered the ambassador, “you have a planet that is both rich and fertile. There are areas on both of your continents that are rich in mineral deposits that are hard to mine on our planet. We would like to propose an alliance with you; we would provide our advanced technology and aid to you in exchange for access to your mineral deposits.”

  “And if we refuse?” asked Queen Risst.

  “Then we will leave you and continue our search for aid elsewhere,” replied the ambassador. “We would like to have you as allies in the coming troubled times, but if you choose to reject our offer, we will let you continue on as you were, free of our interference.”

  “How do we know that you aren’t one of these ‘aggressive races’ that you are describing?” asked Queen Glina. “Perhaps you just helped us to get into our confidence and will turn on us when the time is right for you.”

  Before the ambassador could answer, Calvin interrupted. “You can’t know that, of course,” he said. “Although I think that if we’d wanted to conquer you, it would have been very easy to do. It still would be, too, of course. Certainly, we were able to defeat the redcoats without any loss of life on our part, but you are right, maybe we were just waiting for the time to be right to take advantage of you.” One of the ambassador’s eyebrows twitched. This was not how he had intended the negotiations to go.

  Calvin continued, “Although it is not my place to suggest it, I will tell you what we have done previously. When my kingdom was first contacted by the aliens, we got together with our friends and invited them to participate in this mission with us, so that they could see the truth of our words to them. We gave them access to all of the technology that we had received, holding nothing back in secret. We even invited one of our worst enemies to come along.”

  Calvin looked at Risst. “You know the woman that I am talking about. Her name is Irina Rozhkov. She is the woman that saved your future son-in-law’s life by diving in front of a crossbow bolt that would have killed him. I am glad that we brought her; not only did she help save his life, but also I expect that she will go back and tell her country everything that she has seen and done with us, so that they will join us in the future.” He leaned forward. “There are many evil races among the stars that want nothing more than to control our planets, at best. At worst, we are a convenient food source to them. I do not want to be a food source to anyone and, to keep that from happening, I am willing to make friends with my worst enemies if that’s what it takes to become strong enough to fight them.”

  He leaned back and smiled. “Like I said, it is not my place to suggest it, but I’m going to do so anyway. Sorry, Mr. Ambassador. If you are truly worried about our intentions, I will take one or two of your best soldiers and allow them to join my unit. They can see everything we do and learn everything we know. If that is what helps you to trust in us, I’d be happy to have them with us.”

  “I cannot speak for Queen Glina,” said the therapod queen, “but I am willing to agree to those terms. In fact, I would like to do even more. You have proposed several avenues of trade; I would like to propose one more. We will send you two of our best soldiers if you will leave one of yours here. My daughter spoke very highly of one of your men, a Cristobal Contreras, if I am not mistaken. We would be very appreciative if he could remain with us to help train our soldiers in this new way of war and help us to adapt to the new technology that you will give us. Would you agree to that?”

  “I would have to talk to Cabo Contreras,” Calvin answered, “but if he is willing, I would allow him to stay. We would have to confirm it with his country when we return to our planet, but even if they want him back, they would have to wait until we came back here the next time.” He thought about it for a moment and then said, “Yes, I think that would work.”

  “Our kingdom would like to do something similar,” stated Queen Glina, not wanting to be left out.

  “I’m sure something can be worked out,” replied the ambassador, nodding happily. “I’m sure that it can.”

  Sick Bay, Vella Gulf, Epsilon Eridani ‘a’ Orbit, May 8, 2019

  “So, what exactly makes you think that you can just dive in front of crossbow bolts?” asked Calvin.

  The Russian spy just smiled a wan smile. It had been a close thing, and she had nearly died a couple of times on the way back up from the planet. Captain Duncan Hughes had used every ounce of power that he could safely put into the shuttle to get her back as quickly as he could, and then had used a little bit more. That extra bit had probably saved her life.

  She still looked like shit, though.

  “The medibot says that she should be back up to full duty status in three days,” said Mr. Jones, who had been in her room most of the last day and a half.

  “Good,” Calvin replied. He looked at Night, who had come in with him. “When she’s back out of bed, make sure she gets fitted for a suit. Not having mission essential protection would be a stupid reason to lose someone. I wouldn’t want to explain why she didn’t have it to the KGB...would you?”

  Rozhkov smiled again as she faded back to sleep. Her mission was accomplished; she was part of the group.

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Epsilon Eridani, May 10, 2019

  “Yes sir,” answered Calvin. “When we come back through here, we’ll drop off the ambassador, Cabo Contreras, and three others to assist the indigenous populations. We’ll also leave a shuttle and crew to take the ambassador between the two civilizations. For now, all of the platoon and the squadron are back aboard.”

  “I think we’re finally done here then,” noted Captain Deutch from his command chair. “Helmsman, third star to the right and straight on ‘til morning!”

  “Uh, sir, I thought you wanted our course set to go to the other black hole exit gate,” replied the helmsman. “Give me a second, and I’ll set it up...where did you say you wanted to go?”

  “Never mind,” said the CO with a sigh. Kids these days, he thought. No literary education unless they got it from a video game. “Just take us to the exit gate. Full speed ahead.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, WASP-18, May 15, 2019

  “This is an interesting system,” said Arges. “From a cosmic standpoint, we are here just moments before the death of the closest planet to the star. The planet is a big one, with a mass of about ten Jupiters, almost big enough to be a brown dwarf star. The planet has an orbit of less than one Earth day, and it will eventually spiral in and join with its star.”

  “That sounds cool,” said the helmsman. “Can we stick around and watch?”

  “It is unlikely that you will be able to watch it,” replied Arges. “I was talking about it happening soon from a cosmic standpoint. It still has about one million years of life left before it merges with the star.”

  “OK,” said Captain Deutch, “that’s interesting, but I’ve got better things to do than stay here and watch it. Can I infer from its orbital distance that the climate is too hot for life and that we can move on?”

  “Yes sir,” said Arges. “This system has three gates, in addition the one we came through. The gates are grouped fairly close together, with the one that we came through on the other side of the star system. Which one would you like to go through?”

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Ross 248 System, May 21, 2019

  “We are approximately ten light-years from Earth. The star you see is Ross 248. This star is a small red dwarf that is only about 1/8 the size and mass of the Sun, and it has less than 1% of its luminosity. In fact, even though it is very close to Earth, it is so dim that a telescope is needed to see it. My scans have not found any planets, although they have found three gates in this system. One gate is nearby; the other two stargates are on the other side of the system.”

  “Moving on!” said Captain Deutch. “Head for the one close by and let’s go. And could someone please send down to the galley for a pitcher of milk!�
��

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 22, 2019

  “System entry,” noted Arges, somewhat unnecessarily.

  The stargate transition was a sweet one, the first one of those they had experienced in a long time. “Mmmm,” said the helmsman, “I love the sweet ones!”

  “I do not see any radio or other non-natural emissions,” noted Arges. “The gate that we entered through is a long way out from the star, though; in fact, this is the furthest out I have ever seen a gate.”

  “The star of this system is a solitary G-class star,” he continued after a few moments. “Readings indicate that this system is Tau Ceti, which is about 11.9 light-years from Earth. Tau Ceti only has about 78% of the Sun's mass, and just over half of the Sun’s luminosity, so a planet would need to orbit it at about 70% of the distance of the Earth to the sun in order to match the amount of radiation that the Earth receives. So far, the star appears stable, with little stellar variation.”

  “Very well,” replied Captain Deutch. “Begin scanning and let me know what you find.”

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 24, 2019

  “It appears that there are five planets orbiting Tau Ceti,” explained Arges. “One of these is in the habitable zone. All of the planets in this system are rocky, with masses between two and seven times the Earth’s mass. Three of the planets are too close to the star to be habitable. The fifth planet is big, with a mass of almost seven Earths, but it is on the opposite end of the spectrum. It is at the outside edge of the habitable zone, receiving about as much radiation as Mars; it is probably too cold to be habitable.”

  “The fourth planet is about four times as big as Earth,” he continued, “and orbits at less than half of Earth’s distance from the Sun. As Tau Ceti’s luminosity is just a little more than half of the Sun’s, the planet would receive about 1.7 times as much radiation as the Earth.”

  “While the planet is probably habitable,” he concluded, “it is unlikely that it is actually inhabited, as our sensors indicate that there is about ten times as much dust in this system as there is in the Solar System. Because this system has so much material flying around, the planets here have an increased rate of comet and asteroid impacts. Extinction events here are probably very common.”

  “Extinction events?” asked the helmsman turning around.

  “Yes,” replied Arges, “extinction events are where all or nearly all of the life on the planet is killed off at the same time. The Earth had one of these impacts nearly 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period. A large meteor about six miles in diameter struck the present-day Yucatan Peninsula near the town of Chicxulub, making a crater over one hundred miles in diameter. This impact triggered the mass extinction of all of the non-avian dinosaurs and a majority of the other plant and animal life on the Earth. The asteroid struck with a force of about 120 Teratons of TNT, or about 120 million megatons. This type of impact would happen frequently in this system.”

  “Sucks to be them,” muttered the helmsman, turning back to his console.

  “So, the planets are not inhabited?” asked the commanding officer.

  “I don’t know,” said Arges, sounding confused. “While I do not expect them to be inhabited, we are getting some type of intermittent energy reading from the vicinity of the fourth planet, which is currently on the other side of Tau Ceti.”

  “Do you know what is causing it?” asked Captain Deutch.

  “I do not,” replied Arges, “and it is most perplexing...”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

  “Vipers are approaching the fourth planet, and systems are online,” said the operations officer. The sporadic power spikes had continued for several hours, but due to the random nature of the source, Arges hadn’t been able to triangulate it. It was coming from the direction of the fourth planet or its small moon, but he was unable to determine which. He had asked Captain Deutch to launch a couple of Vipers with sensor gear. That way, the next time the power source activated, he would be able to triangulate the source of the emission.

  “Very well,” said Captain Deutch. Looking at the helmsman, he asked, “Our position?”

  “We are holding at 125 million miles from Planet Four, as ordered,” replied the helmsman. “Engines are online and being used to stay in the same relative position.”

  “Vella Gulf, this is Viper 02,” radioed Lieutenant Steve ‘Gecko’ Smith, the Weapons System Officer for the flight. “We are approaching the planet, but do not see anything abnormal yet. We are not picking up any energy readings at this time.” At that distance, radio waves would have taken over 11 minutes to make the journey from the Viper to the Vella Gulf. With the Psiclopes’ faster-than-light communications system, it was almost instantaneous.

  “I’m starting to pick up readings of large concentrations of metal on the other side of the moon. The metal appears to be processed. We’re coming over the horizon where we ought to be able to see it. There is enough...I’ve got radars tracking us...VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE, MISSILES INBOUND!” Gecko screamed.

  “Their links show missile launches from the moon of the fourth planet!” called the defensive systems officer from the Security position. “Six missiles launched...five are tracking on Viper 02, and one appears to be targeted on Viper 03...”

  Onboard Viper 02, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

  “Break right!” yelled Gecko as he released two decoys. He looked at his display. “What the fuck did we do to you?” he muttered as five of the six missiles turned to guide on him. He smiled as one of them attacked the thermal flare that he had released. The missile detonated, and the blast destroyed the flare...and one of the other missiles that were tracking them.

  The pilot of Viper 02, Flight Lieutenant Ken ‘MOSA’ Smith, had the throttles of the little ship at maximum and was flying as straight away from the missiles as possible. Any maneuvering only let them catch up with him more quickly and shortened the time that Gecko had to defeat them. He jettisoned the four missiles the ship was carrying to get rid of the unnecessary mass and saw that he was now accelerating at 655 G’s, which was 5 G’s higher than what the fighter was rated for. MOSA hoped that the missiles tracking him would run into the ones that he dumped, but that wish went unanswered. Space was just too big.

  “Three missiles still tracking us,” said Gecko with tension in his voice. Even though the fighter was accelerating at over 650 G’s, the missiles were accelerating at over 100,000 G’s, and they were catching up fast. He put the defensive laser on automatic, and it began trying to target the missiles that were rapidly overhauling them. “Break left!” Gecko yelled as he fired out another round of decoys.

  MOSA turned the ship hard left and was rewarded with one of the remaining missiles changing its targeting to the decoy. The other two kept coming.

  “Fifteen seconds to impact!” cried Gecko as MOSA rolled the craft back level, and the laser began firing again. “Ten seconds!”

  “Nine!”

  Before Gecko could say “Eight!” the fighter’s laser hit the missile that was closest to them, and the missile exploded. The fighter’s sensors were unable to track the remaining missile, and Gecko momentarily hoped that it had been caught in the explosion.

  But it hadn’t, and as the sensors cleared, Gecko saw that it was almost on them. The laser began firing again.

  “Three seconds!”

  “Two!”

  “One!”

  “GLUCK AB!” Gecko transmitted as the missile closed on them.

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

  “Viper 02 has been destroyed,” said Steropes as the sensors on Viper 03 detected the 25 megaton nuclear explosion. He had taken over for Arges, who had become very pale at the beginning of hostilities. “I do not think there will be any survivors.”

  Viper 03, Tau Ceti System, May 25, 2019

  “We’ve got a missi
le headed toward us,” said Bullseye, the WSO of Viper 03. He launched a spread of decoys. “Break right!” he called, and Viper 03’s pilot, LT Carl ‘Guns’ Simpson, turned the fighter hard to the right.

  The missile neither followed them, nor did it attack the decoys. It continued in the direction that it had originally been heading, away from where the Vella Gulf lay waiting, as it continued to accelerate at over 120,000 G’s. “Where the hell is it going?” asked Guns.

  “No freakin’ clue,” replied Bullseye, “but wherever it’s going, it’s getting there fast.” He watched the missile’s trajectory for a second. “Hey Guns,” he said, “let’s go follow it and see where it’s going.”

  Guns turned the fighter onto the vector of the outbound missile. After about 30 seconds more, Bullseye was unable to track it any longer as its motor went out. Guns started calculating the amount of fuel that he had left. “Umm...how much longer do you want to follow it? We’re getting kind of low on fuel...”

  “Not much further...” he stopped as his sensor registered a gate activating. As fast as the missile was going when it hit the gate, the activation was significant, and Bullseye was easily able to pinpoint the position of the gate. “OK, we’re good,” he continued. “I figured it was headed for a gate, and I wanted to get the position of it. Let’s get back to the ranch before something ugly comes through it.”

  “You don’t have to tell me twice!” agreed Guns as he turned the fighter back toward the Vella Gulf.