Trade World Saga

by Ken Pence

  “Ah – an Earth time unit,” Shuma said. “We should wait.”

  Oakley agreed. He had seen too many movies where the impatient soldier died a horrible death. Not happening…he thought.

  Backup took two hours to get there. It took another fifteen minutes to set up perimeter sensors and assign search teams. It was Oakley’s idea to map the interior like they had done on the Queen – the slave ship they had captured earlier in his tour. The MemDex’s integrated all teams’ information on the fly. The interior view and possible estimates for room use was rapidly building. The search culminated in two hours with several areas near the bow and engine room conspicuously blank.

  “What are these areas?” Shuma asked.

  “I do not know,” Oakley said, “but we’ll see if they are occupied.” Oakley took small sensor cubes and used their magnetic bases to attach to the walls near the blank areas. “Let us back out now.”

  “What are those?” Shuma asked.

  “Just some old Earth tech. They are heartbeat detectors,” Oakley said as Shuma gave him a look he interpreted as incredulous. “No…really…the sensors detect the shockwave from any person…being…because the heart beating transfers that shock to any surface. We use these searching vehicles.”

  “Will this take long?” Shuma asked.

  “Nope…Bingo,” Oakley said.

  “Bingo? It means?” Shuma asked.

  “It means we have found our Captain – I bet,” Oakley said and notified the perimeter teams and the master sergeant. They froze everything and placed cover teams on all six walls around the, occupied, blank area.

  The master sergeant set it up so they would disintegrate one wall from cover. All the teams prepared. “On three,” the sergeant broadcast. “One, two, three,” he counted and the wall before them dissolved.

  Captain Blahma saw the lighting change, jerked around with his disruptor and sprayed the corridor. He disintegrated sections of walls near the soldiers but it did nothing to them in their silver suits. Suddenly he was paralyzed with a strong electric shock. He dropped to the deck and lay there jerking spasmodically until the sergeant reluctantly signaled his man to quit.

  The sergeant looked over the prone figure and realized that handcuffs or flexcuffs wouldn’t work. He unceremoniously flipped the creature onto its front and pulled the creature’s arms behind it. He reached into his utility pocket and pulled out two 5 cm flexible disks. He took one, stripped off the covering, pressed the creature’s hands together and held them there for two seconds. He then did the same thing to the area that passed for ankles.

  The sergeant then passed his MemDex over the creature and it beeped over several locations. The sergeant motioned to a cover officer who took a terahertz scanner and again, searched the subject finding pockets and pouches all over its body. They pulled out item after item from the creature’s body pouches. The cursory, first search turned into a laborious centimeter by centimeter examination of the creature’s body. No area was skipped and the skimpy clothing like a toga over shorts was removed. The prisoner began moving about and they put him in a restraint chair that had been brought to the scene.

  They rolled the prisoner to a transport, drove to the embassy, and presented him to the commander and the head of mission, Donald Beasley.

  “What is your name?” Beasley asked. “I am Diplomat Beasley and this is Commander Castellano. What is your name?”

  The prisoner was silent and stared at their faces.

  “I don’t think he’s going to say shit Donald,” Castellano said.

  “Ask him again,” Castellano said.

  “What is your name?” Beasley asked.

  “I am Senior Coercer Blahma of the Allung Brotherhood,” the prisoner said. “I thank you for giving me your names. Now I will be able to single you out when my brothers come to harvest this planet and your home world. You think you have won,” the creature said and made a sort of whistling sound that could only be laughter. “Our task force was just an intelligence mission. We will return with a hundred ships and erase any memory of what happened here. No being will ever hear of this accidental occurrence.”

  “So…you wish to call your total defeat as an accidental occurrence,” Castellano said angrily. Castellano thought of Rousseau who said, generally speaking, the people who know little, speak a lot and the people who know a lot speak little. Sure, fit the bill with this guy who kept talking and talking. Now he wished he’d just shut up.

  “I have something important to say,” the prisoner said amidst its stream of arrogant boasts. “Come here Diplomat Beasley.”

  Beasley walked over and when the prisoner didn’t say anything, he leaned forward.

  The prisoner opened its mouth, sprayed Beasley directly in the face with something out of its mouth and turned toward Castellano. Beasley was screaming, writhing on the floor and the prisoner secreted fluid on its hands. Its hands came apart. Castellano drew his sidearm and pumped two rounds through the head of the being and it dropped straight down like an empty cloth sack. Beasley had stopped screaming. His body was unmoving and locked in a position of agony. Castellano walked over and put two more through the body of the prisoner as the door flew open and security swept into the room. They scanned the room and froze in position.

  “Record this,” Castellano said to the responding master sergeant and his team. “Have the doctor dissect this thing, record it all with all the body pouch locations. Investigate everything that came out of this…thing. Don’t move it yet. Call a decon team here to clean us up and this room first. Then assign teams to completely scan that transport ship. I want everything on it logged and analyzed. I then want that ship retrofitted with any tech we have and back into the air under our control. Get it over to the dry dock as soon as you can. We’ll use it against these bastards.” He paused. “Get with Phillips, see who he thinks might join us and have talents we can use. Might as well, and get some locals to join us. Broadcast clips of the battle and who these beings are and how we kicked their ass. I want as many locals on this planet to know what happened here so someone may survive and damage the Allung reputation.”

  “Sir…think…I’ve got all that – do you want me to repeat it back?”

  “No, Sergeant – query your MemDex to prioritize the list and get on it. Report back to the Lieutenant. Transfer this recording to Lieutenant Hawkins,” Castellano said as he stood waiting for a decontamination team and thought how he was going to ruin the day for some Allung before they took this little group down.

  A Short Hop

  The crew of the Osprey was primed for the jump to Bellatrix. Personnel were anxious because they had not been in touch with anyone there in months. Everything was a bit scary with the Allung around.

  “Steve, my MemDex says that 934 lights will jump us about 251 lightyears. How close can we get without hitting something? I want to be able to jump right back here if we run into anything hostile. Let’s not land us in the star itself – okay?” Andrew said and turned on an all MemDex broadcast. “This is historic. We are doing this at 934 lights. Hang on to your hats – button up the suits and buckle down everyone.” Andrew said and chuckled to himself – like a suit would do any good if this screwed up.

  “Steve – give the three count and let her rip.”

  “On three, everyone. One – two – three,” Steve said and there was a louder thump-thump sound like hitting a little pothole in a vehicle with wheels.

  The Odin transmission shut off. Andrew had Steve try the one Bellatrix communications set and called the embassy. There was a near instant reply. They appeared to be a bit over 2 light years from the planet and they could get there in a short hop at 1425 lights.

  “Captain, I just got a strange transmission from Lieutenant Commander Will Castellano,” Steve said.

  “Well?” Andrew queried.

  “He said – lot’s to talk about – the pardon arrives after the man was hung. Welcome back.”

  “Wonder what that means? Mister Cutcher
– take us in the 2 light years at 1425 lights please,” Captain Andrew Williams said. “Engage when you’re ready.”

  “1,425 lights…acknowledged…engage,” he said and there was the lightest of bumps.

  ***

  Will Castellano was distraught over Donald Beasley’s death. He respected the Allung in a lopsided way. They were ruthless assholes – real survivors. He was distraught over their detection system. The Junior had somehow gotten close before they could react. They would have been toast if the Brotherhood ships had gotten so close so fast. He knew the Bellatrix base stood no chance against a force of any size. He couldn’t even turn over the base to a higher authority since Captain Williams was essentially a civilian. Hell. I’m the highest ranking member of the Earth delegation – still alive – he qualified his thoughts.

  ***

  Captain Andrew Williams noticed some debris in orbit and he noted a cruiser in the Earth dry dock just outside of town. He had Xilatoi, Shiv, Joel, LeiLei, Tod, and Susan accompany him to the embassy compound when they landed the shuttle. They were met by the Lieutenant Commander – Will Castellano, Master Sergeant Watanabe, Tech Seaman Oakley, and the Bellatrix scientist, Shumatralla.

  “Commander, where is Beasley? What the hell happened here?” Williams asked.

  “Beasley is recently dead,” Castellano said. “Have you heard of the Allung Brotherhood?”

  A chill ran through Andrew. “Unfortunately – yes. What happened?”

  Castellano began to recite the happenings of the last weeks. Williams and his entourage sat enthralled.

  “I’m sorry about your losses. How many did you lose?” Williams asked.

  “We lost Beasley here, two crewmen on the Osprey when the Allung lasers penetrated our hull. Phillips’ Posse lost twenty-five to the ground assault,” Castellano answered.

  “Phillip’s Posse? How does he fit in?” Williams asked.

  “He was great. He set up a security force with improvised explosives and RPGs that cut the ground troops to ribbons. It wasn’t until they set their missile frigate on it that we took any casualties. How did you get past our sensors? We upgraded ours to the Allung standard plus a bit.”

  “We have some info for you and it seems – you have some new ideas for us,” Williams said.

  “Shuma here came up for a defense for ground installations that is nothing short of brilliant. His duplication process is much improved too. We have this manual from the Exploration Service too,” Castellano said.

  “My god, Castellano. This shows the location of the Exploration Service bases, codes, tonnage and descriptions of their ships and enemy configurations. How on Earth did you get this?” Andrew asked.

  “We made good friends with Captain Umma of the Exploration Service. He should get to the nearest base in about five days. I just don’t know how long we have until the Allung Brotherhood shows up to eliminate us,” Castellano said.

  “Why would they come back here? You soundly defeated them,” Andrew said.

  “You don’t understand how they work then. Here it is…they have never been defeated in hundreds of years. Wonder why that is? They have been defeated – I suspect many times but they cover it up,” Castellano said.

  “What do you mean by cover up? How could they cover up a defeat?” Andrew asked.

  “They come back in whatever strength is needed and destroy any traces – any witnesses to their defeat. They come back in whatever strength it takes to erase their defeat from memory – any strength. They came with six ships and they got their ass kicked by an Earth-ES alliance. They will be back with hundreds of ships – whatever it takes to erase memory of their defeat here. What do we do next?” Castellano asked.

  “We have to get your information back to Earth and let everyone know that the Ylee drive works – works like a champ. We have to upgrade your ships here using time differential enclosures,” Andrew said.

  “Doesn’t that violate our policy?” Castellano asked.

  Shiv stepped forward. “Despite your idioms and contractions – I understand your conversation. Leave LeiLei, and me, to set up a large time differential coverage here. We will upgrade the Allung troop transport and the other Bellatrix transport. We will produce a small fleet in a few weeks. Bring back crew as I would have trouble doing it myself again so soon.”

  Castellano nudged Andrew and whispered the questions, “Again? What’s the story behind that statement?”

  “Later…” Andrew said.

  LeiLei stepped forward and pulled Joel with her. “I require Joel. We work better – together.”

  “I will go back to Earth and give them your designs for duplication,” he nodded toward Shuma. “I will also start upgrading our fleet. You understand the hidden technology on Allung ships?”

  “We do now… as long as you understand that these creatures can secret toxic poisons and other substances,” Castellano said.

  “Noted,” Williams said. “What do we do about the Exploration Service?”

  “That is the question isn’t it?” Castellano asked. “What should we do? They are the only reason we survived here. They suffered heavy losses and fought bravely.”

  “…to protect themselves…” Andrew stated.

  “Look. They were friggin’ brave…fought like hell and covered our backs. I’d trust them – Umma – at least, in any battle anywhere. I say we give them everything we’ve got…in for a penny in for a pound,” Castellano said.

  “You like sayings don’t you,” Andrew said.

  Castellano got angry. “Tell me it isn’t right then. We are in this for our friggin’ survival and from what I’ve learned of the Brotherhood – they are gonna come loaded for bear.”

  “Loaded for bear?” LeiLei questioned.

  “Sorry…another idiom. It means they will be heavily armed and reinforced,” Castellano said and realized that the feline had asked the question to diffuse the tension – smart cat person, Castellano thought.

  “Okay,” Andrew said, “here are the details of all the improvements we have. Send us all your upgrades and data you have. LeiLei, you, Shiv and Joel set this place on fire.”

  Shiv leaned forward, “Place on fire? Another idiom I presume?” she asked.

  “Let us get to work. We are going back to Earth. Commander Castellano. I am leaving these troops with you plus all my supplies. Use them well. I will get back as soon as I can.”

  “Godspeed Captain,” Castellano said as Captain Andrew Williams reboarded his shuttle to begin transferring supplies and personnel.

  It took another 24 hours to transfer personnel and supplies to the Bellatrix base. The jump back to Earth was an anticlimax.

  ***

  The Junior popped into the Earth system with the comm system maxed out. They demanded to see Admiral Kyger and transferred as much information as possible with the entangled comm until they could send the remainder of the information by normal transmission methods.

  Admiral Kyger had conflicting emotions about Andrew’s report. He was ecstatic about the success of the Ylee drive and appalled by the Allung attack on Bellatrix. The obsession of the Allung Brotherhood that they should be undefeated and that their method of achieving this goal by genocide and slavery was rattling. He knew it was not something the Earth could ignore – or even tolerate. They would have to upgrade all their ships and go on a total war footing. They only had a chance if they went to full production using enclosures. He leaned over and put together a request to be heard today before the World Government council. He could not tolerate politics with this – no delays – no debate. He decided to call council members he could count on for support. He would do whatever it took to pass this through the council and that meant some council members would have to disappear. He did not mind dissenting opinions but there was no time – none. He talked to his aide and the aide hurried off. No electronic communications for this one. He might have to do this alone – at least he had access to elite troops.

  ***

  The c
ouncil voted overwhelmingly for the emergency, though temporary measures. Enclosures were hastily erected across the US and ship upgrades and construction starts blossomed. A large portion of the construction fell to Desiree’s family business. Their conglomerate was huge and had a hand in all ten, trade centers across the globe. Huge areas were covered with fields and used the new fabrication process Shuma had developed. Fran had helped him get a patent and sold licenses dirt cheap – he still became wealthy.

  The Odin and the Kitty Hawk had already been upgraded but they got the Bellatrix software upgrades for their defense from Shuma. The missiles used at Bellatrix were upgraded also. The shuttle drives were miniaturized and fitted with the Allung weapon and turned out by the thousands in Enclosures that had sprung up across the US.

  Fran came into Brad Kyger’s office. “What’s up babe? You look like you’re in a huff.” He turned toward her. “I’m really busy.”

  “This is really important numbnuts…really,” she said at him – angry for his attitude.

  “Sorry…what is it?”

  “I think we’re going about this all wrong,” she said. “I’ve been talking with Ling – she’s outside. I wanted to talk with you first.”

  “What is this that we are doing wrong?” Brad asked – puzzled.

  “Let me bring in Ling – she understands the psychological part better,” Fran said.

  No sooner, then he said, “Okay,” then Fran rushed out of the room and drug Ling in by the arm.

  “No. Tell him what you told me,” Fran said to Ling.

  “I was talking to Xilatoi,” she started.

  Brad was starting to get angry himself. “No one else… Tell me what is on your mind.”

  “These Phlemm – the Brotherhood are tough and live on their reputation. They strike fear into anyone. I am amazed the ES Captain stood up to them at Bellatrix,” Ling said. “We need to stop them.”