Mike's War: Sequel to Jesse's Starship (26 page)

“Have you been taking a look at Fippen recently?”

“No, I didn’t want to give them any clues that we were coming back. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t really know. I just have to believe that the Gracken have come up with some means of countering our advantage. I hope I’m wrong.”

Mike shook his head and hoped she was as well. She seldom was. He lifted his communicator and said, “We will jump to our assigned locations in orbit in five seconds. Mike watched the second hand on his panel and said, “Jump!”

• • •

The huge fleet broke into normal space and Mike was stunned by what he saw. There were hundreds of giant Gracken transports in low orbit above, Fippen. “WHAT THE…” The next moment, they were gone. I’ve just scanned the ships that were coming up from the planet to those transports and it appears they were in the process of moving large deposits of metal ores.”

“I was hoping they were moving their forces.”

“They were not and there is something unusual taking place in the cities.”

“Show me, Hot Shot.” Mike’s display came on with a view of the planet below and it quickly moved in on the large city below. He saw tens of thousands of the local inhabitants rushing out of their buildings into the streets. “It appears the Gracken forces are driving the locals out of the buildings and into the streets.”

Mike looked up at Tilly as he said, “Is this only happening in this city?”

“No, every city on the planet has the same thing taking place. I’ve also determined that there is a Beamship on the tallest structure in the cities that has a clear field of fire above the city and into the streets below.”

Mike lifted his communicator and said, “The countdown to drop is on hold! No one will start dropping until I order it.”

• • •

Josh Adams sat in his Warthog and looked over at Pricilla sitting in her plane next to his, “What’s going on?” Pricilla shrugged and Josh pressed his controls and pulled up the feed showing the city below. He shook his head and sent the feed to Pricilla. She looked at it and slowly shook her head, “Oh my God!”

• • •

Mike pressed a frequency and said, “General Hail, where are your troops designated drop areas in the city below?”

Brandon shook his head, “Most of them are in the streets and parks, Sir.”

“Is that true for all our forces?”

“It is, Sir.”

Mike stared at the streets packed with civilians and slowly blew out a breath, “Hot Shot, do you have the frequency the Gracken Commander is using.”

“I do.”

“Put it on my panel.” Mike saw a green bulb illuminate and he pressed it.

T
he Assembly was watching the feed from the invasion fleet and one of the Senior Members said, “What are they waiting for?”

Hetzel stared at the view of the city and looked at Bowen, “Why is he waiting, Colonel?”

Bowen was angry that he wasn’t participating in the invasion but the Assembly was in session. Mike insisted he had to remain. “If he drops our troops into those cities, what do you think will happen?” No one spoke and Bowen said, “Our forces will have to land on the streets. They will arrive in the middle of a mass of Fippen civilians and will have no room to maneuver. The Gracken are in the buildings and will fire at them from above and I’m reasonably certain they won’t really care how many of the locals are killed taking out our forces.”

Another Councilor said, “Then why don’t they fire on the buildings?”

“What do you think will happen when high explosive rounds hit those buildings? They’ll come crashing down on the citizens below killing them just as effectively as a blaster beam. The Gracken inside the buildings will go at their fastest speed to another building before it falls.”

Hetzel looked at Bowen, “What do you think the Commandant is going to do?”

Bowen took a deep breath, held it, and then slowly blew it out, “I really don’t know.”

• • •

Mike said, “I thought your civilization prided itself on the courage of your warriors? All I see here are cowards hiding behind defenseless civilians. Perhaps your warriors should change into a Pacifiers uniform.”

The PC had to force himself not to release his hormones at the insult. To make matters worse, every Gracken warrior on the planet heard what he said. Every Gracken in the room was close to rage at the comment. The PC steadied himself and said, “I don’t know how you know so much about my civilization; quite frankly, I don’t really care how you learned. I will not allow you to goad me into acting stupid nor will I make a wager with you. We’re ready for you; why don’t you drop in.” The Gracken warriors began regaining control. They liked what their new Commander said to the being in orbit.

“I knew I should have killed you when you ran away like a coward when I killed the warriors in your unit the first time we met. This is in keeping with your fear of facing a real warrior. You’ll hide behind buildings and innocent beings to avoid facing a real warrior. You are truly a great example of a Chumal.”

The PC gripped the arms of his command chair and crushed them. He stood up and his Support Officer rushed forward and put her hand on his arm. He jerked it away and she said, “This isn’t about you!!! It’s about our warriors!!!”

The PC was shaking but he heard what she said. He closed his eyes and, after a moment, sat back down in his chair. He took a breath and said, “Honestly, I agree with you on most of what you’ve said. My shame is something I will have to live with. I don’t like doing this but my first duty is to protect those in my command. If that takes killing every being on this planet, I will do it. Our conversation is over.”

Mike closed his eyes and Tilly came over and put her arm on his shoulders, “That one is one smart Gracken.”

Mike shook his head and could see the fear on the faces of hundreds of thousands of Fippen civilians sitting in the streets. He took a breath and said, “The invasion is called off. All ships return to their point of departure and stand by for further instructions.”

Those on board the ships in the fleet were stunned at the withdrawal. But they were well trained and they followed orders.

• • •

A member of the Council yelled, “Why are they leaving?”

Hetzel looked at Bowen, who said, “We went there to save the population, not watch it be murdered.”

Another Council Member said, “Why do you think they have only invaded four planets?”

Bowen shrugged, “I suspect that’s the extent of their forces or they would have invaded more.” Bowen looked at the grey colored being sitting beside him and saw he was starting. Bowen wondered what it was thinking but turned back to the meeting.

A Senor Councilor said, “If the civilians are going to die, why don’t we just destroy those four planets and eliminate their forces.”

Hetzel shook his head, “You would also kill every civilian on those planets.”

“But it would save the rest of us.” There was a moment of silence while the room digested the idea and then more members stood and yelled their agreement with the idea.

Bowen watched the proceedings and couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The grey colored being sitting next to him said, “What are you going to do about this?”

Bowen stared at the short creature and shook his head. He stood up and yelled, “WE WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS AS AN ALTERNATIVE!!”

The room heard him and grew silent. Hetzel looked at Bowen, “What do you mean?”

Bowen looked around the room and said, “Before we would allow you to kill everyone on those planets, we will drop and try to save as many as we can. We’ll lose hundreds of thousands of our warriors but we cannot live with the murder of millions of innocent beings. We can’t stop you from doing this but I humbly ask for the opportunity to try and save as many as we can.”

Hetzel looked at Bowen, “You’d be dropping into a hopeless position. Most of the local population would still be killed.”

Bowen nodded, “But not all of them; the survivors could rebuild their world. If you do it your way, their world will be dead. Besides, you’d only be delaying the inevitable. The Gracken will eventually rebuild their forces and invade again. Do any of you want your world blasted if they show up on your planet?” Hetzel stared at Bowen. Bowen looked around the room and said, “I know my leaders could not live with watching a planet die while we stood by and watched it happen. This is an honorable quest and I want you to allow us to try before you burn those planets.”

The small Councilor sitting next to Bowen said, “It’s not as hopeless as you think.”

The silence in the room was deafening. The Celean representative never spoke…never.

Bowen looked at him and said, “Oh?”

Hetzel said in a quiet voice, “It was his planet that developed the chemicals used in the slivers your guns fire.”

Bowen smiled, “Good job on that.”

“Thank you.”

Hetzel said, “What are you talking about?”

The Celean turned and looked at the Assembly, “I will not speak with you beyond what I have to say now. We joined your civilization because of your desire for peace. However, we’ve never agreed with your killing planets. You’ve shown us that you have the capacity to destroy entire civilizations because of your fear. To our way of thinking, you are deplorable.” The small Celean looked at Bowen, “But you have shown that you are not like them. You’re willing to give your lives to save beings that are not related to you in any way and, quite frankly, are not worthy of your sacrifice.”

Bowen shook his head, “Every being has the right to live, reproduce, and love their families. They are worthy of our best effort. It doesn’t matter that they are not my species.”

The Celean smiled, “That is all the proof I needed to give you what you need to possibly survive.”

“What do you have that could do that?”

“We developed the sliver and you may remember that the original round had fins that deployed.” Bowen nodded. “Didn’t it strike you as odd that a round that small would have fins on it?”

“We were told that the chemicals had to be spun to activate and firing them at full auto wouldn’t spin them enough.”

“That was a good answer…but not the real one. We told you that to prevent you from giving real thought as to why a round that small had fins.”

Bowen thought a moment and his eyes widened, “The fins were there to steer the round.”

The Celean clapped his hands and laughed, “See, you would have come to it if we hadn’t distracted you with that fabricated explanation. That round has a micro-guidance unit that will track whatever target you’ve illuminated with a laser.”

Bowen shook his head, “Hitting a Gracken with a laser is impossible; they’re too fast.”

“Not if the laser beam is wide enough.”

Bowen’s eyes narrowed, “I don’t understand.”

“If you take a target laser and increase the width of the beam to, let’s say twenty feet, it should illuminate all the Gracken inside a designated area. That residual energy will last on the Gracken’s warriors’ force fields for up to two minutes. The guidance element will lock on anything with that residual energy and track into it.”

“What’s to prevent every round tracking in on the same Gracken?”

“You sweep the gun and they’ll go after the closest Gracken on their line of flight.”

Bowen was stunned at the idea. Then he had a second thought, “What if civilians are in the target laser’s beam?”

The Celean shook his head, “Come on; you’re smarter than that question would indicate.”

Bowen stared at the Celean and then hit his forehead with his hand, “The civilians won’t have force fields. The laser’s energy won’t stick with them.”

“Very good.”

Bowen thought a moment and said, “What if the Gracken turn off their personal force fields?”

“They’ll also have to take off their armor.”

Bowen nodded, “You’re right. The residual radiation would remain for a short period on any large metallic substance.”

“It would last long enough for the guided sliver to arrive.”

Bowen stared at the Celean and said, “You’re serious about this?”

“I am.”

“We can’t accept it.”

Everyone in the room was stunned by Bowen’s response. Hetzel said, “What do you mean, ‘you can’t accept it’?”

“That projectile is too dangerous to be allowed out into the world.” Bowen shook his head, “It just is.”

The Celean smiled hugely and said, “You will be the warriors we will accept into our society and we will do all we can to ensure your safety. You must accept this technology; you’re already using the front end of it in the slivers. Your world is not the only one in danger. You must do this!”

Bowen stared at the Celean and saw he was adamant. He thought for a moment and said, “Does this projectile come in a magazine?”

“It uses the same magazine as the slivers you’re currently using.”

“Could you produce a magazine that is tamper proof?”

The Celean thought a moment and shook his head, “I’m not sure what you mean?”

“Could you put them in a magazine that if anyone tried to open it and remove a round to examine the guidance system, it would explode.”

The Celean stared at Bowen for a moment and then said, “Yes.”

“Then we will accept your offer under the following conditions; if we are able to win this conflict, all unused magazines will be returned to you for safe keeping. That also includes any partially used magazines.” The Celean nodded, “I also want the magazines to have a lead to the data cable going to the soldier’s combat helmet. They should self-destruct if the soldier is killed.”

“The current magazines you’re using are already connected. The new ones will also be connected as well.”

Bowen thought a moment, “Will it require a special weapon to fire it?”

“No. All you need is to mount a target laser to the barrel of your current weapons that activates just before the trigger is pulled completely back.”

The corner of Bowen’s lip moved to the left and he bit it slightly. After a moment he looked at Hetzel, “Would it be possible for the Alliance to manufacture the lasers and mounts needed to attach them to the handguns and rifles?”

Hetzel looked at the Celean and said, “If you’ll give me the specs for the laser and the mounting rings, we’ll start production immediately.”