The Earth Conundrum: Book 1 of the Alliance Conflict (44 page)

Admiral Fruid’la replied, “Is there anything we can do to gain more time?”

Loid’la said, “Not really Admiral. The
Sunflower
is only going .15 light. They are tracking our progress as well. If they notice that we are gaining on them, they will accelerate to .16 light and beat us by several hours.”

Admiral Fruid’la said dejectedly, “Well, continue the present course. Perhaps we can at least engage them in conversation before they jump to Conron.”

……………………………….

Ella checked the scans for the Hiriculan battleship. She finally obtained an answer and returned to the Captain’s conference room. Fortunately, Arean and Solear were still there.

Ella said, “Sorry to interrupt, but I have confirmation that the battleship is indeed chasing us. They took a route just slightly faster than the one the computer predicted. Their estimated time of arrival has not changed. It appears at this point that we will still beat them by 7 minutes.”

Solear said, “Thank you. Please keep me informed, especially if they gain any more time. Tell engineering to be prepared to go to .16 light.”

If they increased their speed from .15 light to .16 light they could cut well over 4 hours off of their trip. However, this speed would put undue pressure on the power generator and the ion drives. Solear did not want to risk having a drive failure if he could help it.

Ella said, “The
Informer
has received our message. It just turned and jumped to Conron.”

Solear asked, “How much of a head start does it have.”

Ella responded, “The
Informer
will arrive in Conron 62 hours before us, or just over 2 ½ days.”

Solear mentally reviewed the defensive situation at Conron. There was a small fleet consisting of 1 battleship, 2 destroyers, and 4 cruisers stationed just outside the hyper limit roughly at the mid-point between the mining station and the Conron – Advraki hyperspace lane.

Solear said, “Good. That means there will be an Alliance fleet waiting for us when we exit Conron.”

When Ella left Arean said, “We have discussed it thoroughly. I don’t understand why the human gave us the information and seemed to think it solved everything.”

Solear said, “I have an idea. Computer, run the simulation of the battle, but place the destroyers in the location that the human indicated.”

…Analyzing. Showing enhanced video now…

They watched the simulation. This time the destroyers didn’t launch their fighters immediately because they were too far away. Instead they charged their ion cannons.

Arean said, “Input the items that we cannot change, for instance the launch of the missiles and the launch of the fighters. Then continue the simulation.”

They watched the simulation continue. This time though it appeared as if the
Sunflower
fired the missiles at the mysterious object and the destroyers flew directly into their path. Arean suddenly realized that they could significantly change the look of the battle.

He said, “Captain, let me work on this.” Arean continued to input variables and make minor modifications. He tried several things including having the Alliance fighters attack the destroyers, having the fighters withdraw before attacking, and having them both attack and withdraw.

He tried many other combinations over the course of the next two days. Eventually, he created a more plausible (or perhaps palatable) version of the battle. He even took a portion of Jim’s advice and added a few close-ups of the bridge crew. Lexxi proved to be the best actress. She was able to look shocked and horrified. Obviously, Clowy was able to cry on demand.

He stored each iteration on a flashdrive cube. By the time he had finished there were nearly three dozen littered across the table. Arean watched the whole simulation one final time and was convinced it would fool anyone. It was perfect, he thought.

Arean invited the bridge crew to the conference room to watch the corrected simulation. He even fetched Jim to participate in the screening. The conference table had 8 chairs, 3 on each side and 1 on each end.

Captain Solear was sitting in the chair on one end and the chair on the other end could not be used because it blocked the monitor. Jim was sitting to the immediate right of the Captain and Arean was sitting to the immediate left of the Captain on the other side of the table. Arean’s side of the table was closest to the electro lift.

The seating became complicated when Clowy, Ella, and Lexxi entered the conference room and caused a spontaneous game of musical chairs. All three raced for the two chairs beside Arean. Lexxi, younger and faster than the other two, secured the spot beside Arean. Clowy then grabbed the final chair on that side of the table.

This left Ella with a decision. She could take the chair farthest from the human, but she knew that they would tease her for avoiding the human. She could take the chair beside the human, but then they would tease her for liking the human. She inwardly sighed and finally sat down in the chair beside Jim. If she was going to be teased either way, she may as well not appear rude.

At this point Jim began struggling with his chair. It was far too low and put his knees in an awkward position. He reached under both sides looking, finally stood up and looked underneath it. He flopped back down in the chair and said, “How do you raise or lower the chairs?”

Ella pointed to a control under the right arm. Jim found it and raised it up as high as it would go. Jim then lowered it back down a little. However, he realized that he had lowered it too much, so he raised it back up a little.

Solear said, “Now that we are all seated and comfortable, let’s watch the simulation.”

The team watched the new simulation. Solear said, “From now on, this version is what really happened. Are there any questions or final modifications?” The question was met with silence, so Solear said, “Let’s go around the room starting with Arean?”

Arean, “No further comments. Jim, thanks for your help.”

Clowy, “What happened to the first fighter battle?”

Solear said, “Nothing, it never occurred.”

Lexxi, “Wow! I thought my father liked to stretch the truth.”

Solear said, “We aren’t stretching or enhancing the truth. We are substituting one complete reality for a new reality. We aren’t lying, we are just changing reality as we know it.”

It wasn’t her turn, but Clowy said, “What?”

Solear ignored the question and pointed at Ella. Ella said, “No comments.”

Jim stood up, placed his hands on the table, and leaned over toward Arean. He asked, “Commander, did you get the right number of kills assigned to each fighter?”

Arean was taken aback by the human’s sudden movement. He resisted the urge to roll backward in his chair and said, “Yes. The number of kills for each fighter is assigned correctly. This squadron is now the most highly decorated in Alliance history with 18 pilots having multiple kills.”

Jim sat back down. He said, “Thank you. I have one request. May I show the original version to the other pilots before it is deleted? I think they will appreciate it.”

Solear said, “Yes you may.”

Solear concluded, “Everyone, from now on, this is what happened. Understood?” Solear waited until each person at the table gave verbal agreement.

Solear then said, “Computer place the original version on my personal com pad. Leave a copy in memory until Jim shows it to his crew. Modify all communications, weapons, and fighter logs to match. Effective immediately, this alternate version is now the master.”

Jim was returned to the hangar. Maintenance had completed all tasks on the fighters and had returned them back to the pilots. Everyone else returned to the bridge.

Ella said, “The Hiriculan battleship has made its final jump. I am now estimating only a 4 minute lead.”

Solear said, “Increase speed to .16 light for the final 4 hours of our journey. That should add 15 minutes to our window.”

Ella made the speed adjustment and said, “Confirmed, we are now 19 minutes ahead of the battleship.”

……………………………….

Jim Donovan walked back to the crew quarters and gathered everyone. They sat and watched the simulation, whooping and hollering at each spectacular move or explosion.

After the original simulation ended, Jim said, “I have a few updates. First, the Alliance has a naming convention for fighter kills. One kill is accomplished, two kills is adroit, and three kills is master.”

Someone said, “Maybe we should suggest new names for them. Those seem lousy.” Everyone chuckled at the comment.

Jim went around the room and officially announced each person’s name and number of kills. Ace and Blaze were teased mercilessly when it was confirmed that they didn’t get credit for the destroyer; meaning that the top two pilots only had one kill each.

When the good-natured teasing subsided, Jim continued, “As some of you may have already guessed, our performance was far better than theirs.”

Ace quickly asked, “How much?”

Jim responded, “Double, maybe triple. The other Alliance pilots do not have the ability the fly in manual mode. This appears to be a uniquely human ability.”

Blaze must have added something to something else and arrived at a summation, for he said, “Does that mean that humans are the only pilots to have destroyed the Hiriculan cruiser in the simulation?”

Jim answered, “Yes. In fact, those two destroyers that we … um… destroyed were the first two Hiriculan ships … um … destroyed by the Alliance.” Jim realized that he needed to think of new words to describe destroy. He thought of slay, but quickly rejected it.

Blaze responded, “I guess that makes sense. I mean the two sides are not technically in a shooting war.”

Jim recounted his conversation with Solear and Arean about their adroit performance potentially starting the war and its impact on Earth. He then showed them the updated version of the simulation.

After watching the new version, Russ said, “I don’t think it matters. If there is going to be a war, the Hiriculans or the Advranki will just find a different reason.”

After the group separated, Russ walked up to Jim and said, “Any updates on your plan?”

Jim said, “Actually, yes.” He handed Russ the three flashdrive cubes that he had palmed from the Captain’s conference room table.”

Russ turned them over in his hands. He said, “These three should be all we need for the first phase.”

……………………………….

Ella said, “Four minutes to the hyperspace lane.”

Clowy said, “Receiving hyperspace coordinates from traffic control now.”

Ella plugged in the coordinates, double checked, ran the simulation, and said, “We are clear to jump in 3 minutes.”

Clowy and Ella spoke at the same time. Ella said, “The Hiriculan battleship just dropped out of hyperspace early” and Clowy said, “We are being hailed.”

Solear said, “Have the computer translate it to Alliance basic and play the message.”

…Alliance cruiser
Sunflower
, you are in violation of section 44.3.22, sub-paragraph 16 of the Alliance – Hiricula treaty. I demand that you fulfill your obligation…

Arean said, “Sub-paragraph 16. That’s my favorite section.”

Solear said, “Computer, remind us what this particular section states.”

…If there is any live-fire conflict between ships on opposite sides, both sides are required to submit their logs and a statement of what occurred. The issue can then be independently reviewed by both sides…

Arean asked, “What are you going to do?”

Solear said, “We may as well tell them what happened.” He paused for a moment and then said, “Clowy open channel to the Hiriculan battleship.”

Solear sent the simulation to Admiral Fruid’la. He finished sending the recap just as the
Sunflower
jumped to Conron and more importantly to safety.

Solear spent the hours of their final jump completing his logs and other administrative duties. He even wrote a personal account of each crew member’s heroics under fire and included a request for a commendation.

……………………………….

Admiral Fruid’la and his bridge crew watched the simulation and listened to the recap. All of them knew Alliance basic so they hadn’t even bothered to have it translated. He said, “Gentlemen, comments.”

Navigations officer Loid’la spoke first. He said, “This makes much more sense than what Clap’la had theorized about new ion cannons. I just knew that was incorrect.” He looked at weapons officer Clap’la and made a rude hand gesture under the panel. He noted that Clap’la was already doing the same thing to him.

Clap’la said through gritted teeth, “Well, technically, I am correct. Our two ships were ultimately disintegrated by ion weapons.” He continued, “However, I suppose that I am happier to see that our defeat was caused by a navigational blunder and blind luck than by a new super weapon.”

Admiral Fruid’la nodded in agreement. He said, “Set course for Hiricula.”

It was foolish to try to chase them further. There would be an Alliance fleet waiting on the other side of the hyperspace lane.

Chapter 20

It takes 68 hours for a hyper communication message sent from Altian-1 to reach Advranki Prime. Lorano was thrilled to find that 137 hours after he sent his message to Alliance Senator Korno that he received a reply and a summons to Advranki Prime. Based on the response time, Korno had spent less than an hour arranging a new project for him.

Lorano packed his belongings and took a final look around the apartment. There was very little to check; he had been in the place less than a month. Lorano took the underground transport to the space port. The message indicated there would be a ship waiting for him there.

Lorano smiled when he saw the mini-freighter sitting on his assigned pad. Somehow, he thought he should have known who they would send for him. Lorano saw Jack Dogbarks sitting at the bottom of the entryway and waved. Jack stood when he saw Lorano and motioned for him to approach.

Lorano entered the
Jackal
a few steps behind and stowed his belongings in the first cabin. He sat down in the control room beside Jack. Lorano suddenly got back up and moved his belongings to the middle cabin. He decided that there was nothing wrong with an established routine. It was, in his humble opinion, the best room.