A New Day (3 page)

"Just make sure it gets known to all your buddies that any ideas they have while learning all of this new stuff has to be shared with the Rangers as well as the original inventor of the technology, is that understood?" Ben said.

"Yes Sir, I'll make sure everyone knows. That is really the only fair way to handle it," the tech replied and moved off. The Ranger remained a moment.

"Commander, I also had the techs install power and data ports in our quarters here. We can now recharge our suits if we need as well as have access to data while in our quarters," T'Gree explained. "I didn't know how long we would be remaining here, so I took the initiative."

Jance nodded. "Good work. How close are you to having this finished?"

"We're mostly finished now. There are only a few minor tweaks to be done, but you can begin to use it whenever you wish," T'Gree replied. "I've already been using it to gather data and evidence to support my investigations. This should be a very easy case for the court to rule on."

Terran Marine Base Alpha

26 Apr. 10266 CE (AD)

Sector 34871 - Great Inland Sea

Earth, Sol system

Just as Ranger T'Gree was walking away, Gail entered wearing a flight suit. She saluted and Ben returned it before offering her a chair. As she sat down, she said. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

Ben nodded. "Yeah, we have a problem. There is a very good chance this planet is going to be invaded by starving lizards in the next few days. Do you have any ideas about how we can protect it?"

"You’re talking about those lizard marines young Addson was so scared of, right?" Gail asked.

Ben nodded. "We believe the Duke is planning on luring the local Ranger garrison to the surface and then dropping his 'marines' on them. Is there anything we can do about it?"

"Prime Council, I may have some information on this subject," Mother said, surprising everyone.

"Please, any suggestions would help at this point, Mother," Ben replied.

"During The Fall, before the planet was evacuated, the Lizards were attacking on a very regular basis. My former commanders were aided in their efforts by the fact that being cold blooded, the Lizards could not fight effectively on most of the planet due to the dropping temperatures.

"However, there still existed climes warm enough for them to operate in, and this tactic was tried there. An entire battalion of our soldiers were wiped out in a few minutes. Our remaining soldiers retreated to protected and fortified bases and shelters to hold off the mob while our scientists worked on the problem. The solution was a remote controlled drone with a high powered omni-directional laser turret capable of sustained fire in multiple directions at once. Five of them were quickly assembled and sent out from the largest base.

"The targeting computers had been set to target only cold blooded targets in the event that the mob might have missed anyone. It took almost a week for the small drones to clear the area and two of them were destroyed in the process, but they killed every lizard they detected in very short order.

"The design was improved and expanded on as new technology became available. I currently have a dozen of the new drones available in my ground vehicle armory," she explained.

"Mother, could you please bring one up to the main hanger so we can take a look at it? In the meantime, please run diagnostics and self-tests on the remaining drones and get them ready for deployment," Gail asked.

"What destroyed the two prototypes?" Janet asked.

"Orders received and in process, General. Councilor Carlyle, one of the drones overheated and exploded. The resultant explosion had the force of a five kiloton device, but was non-nuclear as the power core was hydrogen based. The second drone was forced over a cliff and was destroyed when it hit the ground. Both of those incidents can no longer happen with the current version," Mother explained. "The drone now has improved heat dissipation capacity as well as having replaced the old tracked drive frame with an anti-gravity drive frame, which also gave the device the ability to cross bodies of water and soft ground."

"What are the weaknesses?" Jance asked.

"It has virtually no armor and only a weak shield capable of stopping physical attacks by personnel. The device could be easily defeated by an enemy carrying energy based weapons or by the use of land mines that the craft would pass over," Mother finished. "At the time, the power systems of the drones were not capable of allowing the addition of armor or stronger shields. Stronger power systems did exist, but were deemed not feasible for this application based on size and weight. The laser drone will arrive from the armory in three minutes."

Ben stood and helped the ladies to stand as well. "Let's go get a look at it; maybe we can use these to help the people up there, but if we do, we better be ready to come out from hiding, because people are going to want to know where these came from."

"I think I need to take another look at that inventory sheet Mother gave me," Gail said. "I don't remember seeing these."

"They were listed as 'Ground Combat Drone four-C', General. Perhaps I should have included an image of each of the items listed so if you did not understand the name, you could simply look at the image," Mother suggested.

"That would have be very helpful, Mother, thank you," Gail replied.

They arrived out in the main hanger just as several men came jogging around the corner ahead of a floating object that looked more like something out of an old science fiction movie than anything else. Looking like a flying disk, it was thicker in the middle, but on the top in the middle of the disk, was a shiny cylinder that stood up about two feet. As the group watched, the device floated over to the VIPs, lowered landing struts, and gently settled to the ground. The whole thing was about the size of a small car.

"Relax everyone! It's on our side!" Gail yelled to the men and women that had surrounded the device in defensive positions.

"Very good reactive deployment, General. Your troops are very well trained," Jance replied softly.

"Most of them are veterans of special operations teams before the fall. They've had a lot more training than a normal soldier would," Gail replied. "I am very proud of them though."

As the small group of VIP's approached the drone, Gail spoke to her troops. "Guys, this is a ground combat drone developed before the fall to deal with the Lizard mob forces that they had. We didn't know we even had these until a few minutes ago, and we wanted to see what they looked like. I'll give the team leaders a briefing later, but for now, let's get back to work."

The soldiers nodded to her and, talking among themselves about the drone, broke up and headed back to whatever tasks had been interrupted by the appearance of the drone.

"It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be," Ben said. "I mean, it's supposed to be a tank, right?"

"No. The term 'tank' implies a vehicle or person that can absorb a lot of damage while still maintaining functionality. This device can deal a massive amount of damage, but cannot absorb much damage at all. However, based on information I have been able to retrieve off of the DataNet, it is now possible to turn this vehicle into a 'tank' in the classic sense of the word," Mother explained.

"How so Mother?" Gail asked as she examined the machine closely.

"Advances in power generation, miniaturization, and physics, made by the Consortium will allow the upgrading of this unit. A modern power unit of the same size as the current one can supply sufficient power to support stronger anti-grav units and shield generators. Advances in the areas of anti-gravity as well as shield technologies have also improved output performance while reducing size. It is now possible to modify this unit with additional armor, more powerful shields, and drive systems, as well as upgrading the weapons and targeting systems," Mother explained. "There are several other systems that could be upgraded also. However, I need to inform you that by Consortium Law, royalties would have to be paid to the companies that 'own' this technology."

"We can't do that yet. We don't officially exist," Ben replied.

"I am not certain, Prime Council, but I believe a settlement could be reached after the fact based on the field test rule. Said technologies can be used on an experimental basis provided the designs and specifications of their use be shared with the original patent holders. Although this would be actual combat, the craft in question could be considered experimental based on these definitions," Mother replied.

Jance nodded. "That is true, however, because of this situation and the number of drones you would need to modify, the courts could easily rule that you skipped the trial phase and went straight into production. There is a legal gray area here because this is military technology. You would be using this technology to defend the Consortium, and the courts would also have to take that into consideration. If it were just a few units, I could authorize this use. However, since we are talking about potentially hundreds of drones, it would greatly exceed my authority to authorize."

Ben was thoughtful for a moment. "This is a life or death situation. The lives of all the people on the surface, as well as our lives, are at stake here. So, I'm going to fall back on an old adage from before the fall; it's easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Pending Council approval; I'll authorize the upgrades of the drones in accordance with the Consortium Laws dealing with experimental military applications. Ranger Commander Halst, can you bear witness to this fact?"

Jance grinned at him and stood more erect. "One moment Prime," she called Ranger T'Gree out to the main hanger. "We should have not only a second witness, but also a non-human one. Just to be safe."

In only moments, Ranger T'Gree trotted out into the main hanger to his superior. She quickly explained the situation to the Ranger and Ben's proposed action. "The Prime Council would like us to bear witness to the fact that he intends to comply with the patent laws and special rules regarding experimental military applications."

T'Gree was thoughtful for a moment. "There is precedent for this, although not on this scale. Imperial Defense Technologies v. T'harness Research: Technology owned by IDT was used to enhance a new type of power armor. The armor itself was used to defend the research colony against a raid by a rival Corporation. After the raiders had been driven off, T'harness research sent the armor design as well as all the data gathered on it back to IDT.

"IDT in turn claimed that T'harness had no prior authorization rights to the technology in question and therefore should be fined, and the resultant patent for the new armor given to IDT in its entirety."

Ben shook his head. "No matter how far in the future we go, there is still greed in the Galaxy!"

Both rangers chuckled. "The courts ruled that since T'harness immediately shared the data gleaned from the use of the technology, it was evident that they had no intention of stealing that technology for their own use. The patent was awarded to T'harness with a ten percent royalty per unit awarded to IDT based on their 'contribution' to the design. So, yes, Prime Council, I will bear witness that this is your intention in this situation."

Ben nodded. "Thank you, Rangers. I better go see if I can convince the Council to agree with us, so we can get this project moving. If Janet is correct, we're going to need them as soon as the Rangers get here."

"I will begin replicating the parts needed to upgrade our current fleet of these units, Prime Council. However, I will be sure to inform the techs to not begin the modification work until the Council has ruled on it." Mother said.

"That would be perfect, Mother, thank you," Ben said. "Janet, I think you should join me; I might need your help to convince them."

"I doubt that, Ben, but as I am still a member of the Council, I should be there anyway," Janet replied and both excused themselves from the Rangers and headed for Ben's residence.

Grand Council Chamber

Command Pod Alpha One

26 Apr. 10266 CE (AD)

Sector 34871 - Great Inland Sea

Earth, Sol system

By the time Ben and Janet got to the Council Chamber, the rest of the Council had arrived. In fact, most of them had been monitoring the events taking place since the Rangers arrived. Ben got himself a cappuccino and a tea for Janet before they both went to the main podium in the center.

As Mother set their status to 'green', Ben noticed that all but two of the Councilors were already available. The last two were 'yellow', indicating they would be available shortly.

"Good morning, Brothers and Sisters, We'll wait for our missing members before making any decisions, but do any of you have any questions for either myself or Councilor Carlyle?"

"Councilor Cormier has a question," Mother intoned.

Ben nodded and smiled at the man. "Please proceed, Councilor."

Cormier smiled and bobbed his head at Ben. "Good Morning to you and Councilor Carlyle, Prime. Councilor Carlyle, how certain are you of the Dukes intentions to use those shock troops against this planet?"

"'Tis nothing written in stone when dealing with a situation of this kind. Aye, even more so when dealing with a being that is not human nor thinks like a human. So instead, I looked more at the results of potential action he could make and gave advice based on that. Based on the information given us by Miss Addson Dee, corroborated both by Captain Elrond as well as the Rangers now visiting us, the use of those troops pretty much destroys all other beings on the planet. Now, what use would Tammerain have for a world that could not resume function until he could bring in his own people to administer it? Nay, he, himself could not even land for at least a week after taking the planet or risk falling prey to his own weapon.

"Tammerain needs be on a functioning Hyclarion as quickly as possible in order to use the might of the Empire to control his own people as well as the rest of the Consortium. I believe Tammerain has secured the assistance of the other Dukes based on a fictional plan of restoring the Lizard royal line on Hyclarion. However, based on his actions to date, as well as his personality, he is planning to double-cross them and take the throne himself. Such a tactic is common in the Lizard culture and would be greatly admired if he can pull it off.