Space Chronicles: The Last Human War (9 page)

General Tragge burst out of the Council chambers with assistants scampering behind him, taking careful notes of his orders.

“Recall the outer fleet to Wallow Minor. Order capital ships of the 9
th
Battle Group to return to Tanarac . . . flank speed. Support ships can catch up later. We need the firepower of those deep space heavies.”

A junior officer stepped away from the fast walking group and began relaying the general’s instructions on his communicator.

The general’s antigrav sled lifted off for the short flight to the Empire’s Central Defense Center while he continued a steady stream of commands.

“Energize all three planetary shields to 50%. Load primaries so we can jump to 100%, if needed. Extend the top shield beyond the local defense fleet. Call up Air Reserves and assign them to low
-atmospheric patrols. I want our experienced pilots transferred to Tang and Obol trans-atmospheric fighters. Put our Extended-Reserves on a six-hour recall clock.”

Minutes after the
general’s transport landed, he and his staff entered the War Room.

“Captain Ludic
, have we blocked those scans yet?” The general’s voice boomed over the noise in the bustling room.

A young officer sitting in front of a dozen monitors replied without taking his eyes off his screens.

“No, sir. Can’t block their scans, so I’ve been hitting them with false feedback. It’ll take months to sort out all that electronic crap. They’re bracketing the planet with twenty-three picket ships, but all scans are coming from their command cruiser. General, I got a lock on that mother ship’s scanning array. You want me to give em a Vaal-al surprise?”

The old general smiled. He liked soldiers who spoiled for a fight.

“What do you mean by Vaal-al surprise, Captain?”

“I can match their scannin
g frequency and focus the entire power of our upper planetary shield onto their primary sensor array. It ought to fry the whole thing. Should take em at least two days to repair that much damage. How bout it, General? Can I fry some lizard arrays?”

In considering Ludic’s offer, the
general turned to his radio operator. “Are they responding to our hails?”

“N
egative, sir. We’ve been sending the standard request for a comm link since they entered orbit. No reply.”

The radio operator’s report made the
general’s decision easy.

“Well, maybe this will get their attention.” General Tragge nodded to his electronics officer as he spoke. “Go ahead.”

The bustling room became quiet as all eyes turned to the monitors above the electronic warfare wizard. A large monitor displayed an image of Tanarac with three layers of shields, each represented as a different color band, in concentric spheres, surrounding the planet.

Outside the last shield, white dots showed the location and size of every vessel in the aggressor fleet
where they hovered in geo-synchronous orbit. One dot was noticeably larger than the rest.

As the
EW officer worked rapidly at his console, data displays on several screens changed with each keystroke. The outermost shield on the big planetary display began to flicker, and then, without warning, it dissolved.

Lo
ud buzzing of a shield failure alarm filled the War Room. Captain Ludic began talking.

“Okay lizards, I got your frequency. Yeah, that’s right
. . . you’re still wondering what happened to my top shield, aren’t you?” Ludic laughed, a wicked satisfaction in his tone. He narrated as he sprung his trap.

“Shield projectors sw
itched to asynchronous control. Phase frequency singularized. Redirecting surplus power to grid one. Capacitance at maximum.”

Ludic sat back in his chair and poised his index finger above the enter key.

“Here ya go, sir. Three . . . two . . . one. GOTCHA!”

All the display screens blinked, as a
bright white line on the big screen marked an instantaneous burst of energy between the second planetary shield and the large ship orbiting above. The missing third shield then re-materialized on the main planetary display and shield failure alarms turned off.

The jubilant weapons officer directed the
general’s attention to one of his monitors that had previously shown a steady stream of data. Those graphs were now almost flat, with only a few random spikes rising and falling in irregular sequence.

“I killed their array
, sir. That ought to get their attention.”

“Good work,
Ludic.”

General Tragge positioned himself in front of the War Room’s holographic transmitter and spoke to the comm system operator.

“Hail the Heptari flag ship. See if they’ll talk to us now.”

After a few tense moments, the reptilian head of the Heptari commander formed into a three dimensional image.
The electronic translator crackled for a second before deciphering and translating the alien language.

“I am First Skah, commander of the Heptari battle cruiser, Dehseku. Identify yourself.”

“I am General Tragge, commander of the Military Council of the Tanarac Empire. You are not authorized to scan our planet. You will cease your actions and withdraw your warships beyond the outer Syntic region of our quadrant.”

The Heptari officer
disregarded the general’s instructions.

“You attacked a command vessel of the Heptari Empire. Your aggression is an act of war. Until I receive instructions from my Central Directorate, Tanarac is under blockade. We will destroy any ship attempting to enter or leave.”

“I repeat.” General Tragge purposely ignored the Heptari threat. “You will leave our system immediately, or your fleet will be destroyed.”

He knew Heptari leaders
only respect strength.

The reptilian image suddenly vanished, the comm link severed by the space ship. Seconds later, it reconnected
. This time, the Heptari officer sounded almost conciliatory.

“General, we came in peace. I am willing to overlook your aggression, if you cooperate. Our mission is simply to scan your planet for surviving humans. We have information that
they are living in secret colonies on your home world. If you voluntarily surrender them, your planet will be spared. We have no quarrel with the Tanarac people.”

The general
replied without hesitation. “There are no humans on our planet. Even if there were, it would not give the Heptari’s military the right to enter our sovereign space without our permission. You will leave our space immediately, or we will destroy your fleet.”

He
made a throat-cutting gesture to his radioman as the Heptari commander began a heated response.

The radioman followed the general’s instruction but questioned it.

“Sir, he was not done responding.”

“I know,” the general replied. “
It’s a win when a Heptari counterpart loses his composure. When he raised his voice, he betrayed a lack of confidence. We won this first engagement.”

General Tragge changed his focus.

“What’s the travel time for our deep space heavies?”

He knew his
small attack fighters could not defeat the large Heptari cruiser.

“Eight hours,
sir, for the capital ships of the 9th. Their flagship is the DS Starship Folvic commanded by Admiral Paad. The 9th has sixteen medium-heavy and heavy star-class cruisers plus a couple dozen fast attack cutters. Other groups are routed to Wallow Minor, as ordered.”

“Good. The 9
th
has plenty of firepower to deal with these Heptaris. Order the fighters to remain under our shields. No sense in taking unnecessary casualties. Activate ground-based, heavy cannons and maintain a direct open channel from my command to their fire control.”

“U
h . . . sir, last month you approved retrofits for all three ground based batteries,” Captain Ludic responded. “Upgrades won’t be complete for six months.”

General Tragge looked over tactical positions of the Heptari fleet and turned to his adjunct.

“Suspend the retrofits. How long will it take to get those systems back on line?”

Satisfied with the answers to his question, the
general left the War Room, confident that the planet was secure under triple redundant shields. In addition, he had an entire deep space battle group on the way, and his ground-based cannons would be back on line within a couple days. The situation was under control.

The general
returned to the government Council Chambers. His fellow politicians were abuzz with nervous energy. He strode to the podium, bypassing normal protocol, to address rumors that were already spreading through the governing body. Everyone was anxious to hear his report and gladly overlooked his disregard for time-wasting formality.

“My fellow Councilors, please forgive my departure from traditional protocol. Under the circumstances, brevity demands my actions. As you probably heard, a small Heptari attack group has surrounded our planet. All three shields are in place
, and the Heptaris have been ordered to vacate our sphere of influence. They claim to be here peacefully scanning for human colonies. Of course, I denied the existence of humans, and we neutralized their scans. They pose no real threat to us with our shields up.”

The general-politician took a sip of water.

“Our 9
th
Deep Space Battle Group has been recalled to local space and should arrive within eight hours. They have more than enough firepower to remove the Heptaris from our space, if that even becomes necessary. The situation is under control.”

General Tragge paused as an undercurrent of discussion broke out among his peers.

In addition to being the leader of Tanarac’s military, he was also a politician. Like all politicians, he was not above using the present crisis to promote his agenda.

“For three hundred years, we lived with this human risk. Our motivation in protecting the humans was noble, and we spared no cost in our scientific efforts to rehabilitate this race
. We failed. Just last week, this legislative body made the courageous decision to terminate the human experiment. We chose an ethical closure, consistent with our Tanarac values. I submit to you,” the wily old politician knew when to allow pauses for effect, “it is no longer in our best interest to keep our human secret.”

General Tragge allowed time for his words to sink in
. Politicians argued among themselves, rehashing tired old debates. He gauged the reaction of his peers before selecting the ideal time to proceed.

“My fellow governors, I ask permission to inform the Heptari government of our resolution to end
the human problem. This will assure them that their goal of complete human eradication will occur. With everything in the open, they have no further interest in our space, and we can resolve this crisis peacefully.”

One of the junior politicians asked the obvious question.

“General, what if they are unwilling to wait for the natural life span of humans to pass?”

The
general anticipated this question.

“Heptaris are powerless to do anything about our decision. Our military is certainly their equal. The
y will complain about our approach, but they have no other choice than to wait. I see no reason to fear Heptari threats.”

A member of the chamber requested, and was granted, permission to speak.

“Honorable members of this Council, as you all know, I am Chairman Uleb of the Offworld Intelligence Committee. I disagree with Councilman Tragge. We have been monitoring Heptari military activity for the past fifty-two years. During that time, they absorbed over one hundred small star systems on the periphery of their empire. While I support our military, I—”

General Tragge interrupted his colleague.

“Thank you for your military support, Chairman Uleb, but, right now, we must resolve the present crisis. Humans are at the center of the immediate dispute. I move for a resolution to acknowledge the existence of our humans and to notify the Heptari Empire of our Human Solution Act. Will anyone second my motion?”

The second came swiftly
, and the Council’s Assembly-General called for immediate debate.

Like politicians of every race, the Tanarac chamber quickly filled with rancorous argument as political agendas clashed.
The general watched for an opening in the unruly debate. Under Tanarac legislative rules, he knew it would require three votes to ratify his motion. He wanted to get the first vote out of the way as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the whole building shook with a violent jolt. Plaster dropped from the ceiling, papers burst into the air, and politicians dove for cover under desks and chairs. A young military
liaison officer ran to the podium where the general stood, surveying the chaos. The officer relayed information as quickly as he was receiving it in his radio earpiece.

“General, the Heptari flagship knocked out two of our shield generators and fired on the Council Chamber before the last shield could be raised to one hundred percent. The shield is holding for now,
sir. Your sled is ready.”