The Solarian Celebration: Book 3 of the Alliance Conflict (31 page)

He ended the meeting and thought about all of the secrets.  The High Council sent him on not one, but two secret missions.  He had heard rumors about the secret mining of steel, presumably for the construction of new office buildings.  But if the steel was for public consumption, then why was the mining of it a secret.

Further, he had heard rumors about some strange activities at all of the ship repair facilities.  The Navy would send a perfectly good ship into dry dock for 8 months for a complete overhaul and the ship would exit looking brand new.  Completely brand new. 

Finally, something strange was happening on Solaria.  He didn’t know what, but he was certain that there was something amiss there.

Oh well, he thought.  If the High Council wants me to know something then I suppose they will tell me.

The newly configured fleet jumped to Opron.  Captain Floop’la ordered his crew to rest during the jump.  He wanted everyone fresh when they arrived since there were so few people aboard.

He recommended that Lopeq’la also try to get some rest.  Lopeq’la took the captain’s advice and went to his quarters on the top level of the bridge.  He laid down and tried to rest, but couldn’t.  His mind kept returning to the object in the hangar bay and the mysterious officer.

Finally, he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep until he confronted the mystery officer.  He got up out of bed, readjusted his smart suit, and asked the computer where the other officer was located.

…The officer is located in the secondary hangar bay…

Lopeq’la took the electro lift to the bridge proper and exited the bridge into the main hallway.  He walked down the corridor and took yet another electro lift down several floors to the correct level.  He then walked the rest of the way down the corridor and entered the secondary hangar.

He didn’t see anyone when he entered the hangar, but this wasn’t surprising since both the primary and secondary hangars were very large. The hangars were about the same width as a mini-freighters main hold, but much higher.

The primary hangar bay was called the primary hangar bay simply because it was closer to the bridge.  A better naming convention would have been to name one of them hangar bay 1 and the other hangar bay 2, but hey, that wasn’t what they were named.

He walked toward the nearest object.  This object, however, was no mystery. 

It was a tug.  He looked around his immediate area and saw three more.  Clearly, when they reached wherever they were going, they were going to use the tugs to pull the thing-a-ma-bob out of the main hold and position it wherever it needed to be positioned.

He examined the general area for a few minutes.  There was really nothing else in the hangar bay except for those four tugs.  He walked to the far end of the hangar bay and saw what appeared to be an older woman sitting in a makeshift chair right beside the end of the hangar bay.  He couldn’t tell for sure though since she had her back to him.

She was completely alone; there was nothing anywhere near her.  Because she was facing away from him, Lopeq’la easily snuck up on her.  He supposed that perhaps she was asleep or in a trance or staring off at some object that only she could see. 

He watched her for a moment before speaking. 

She was facing the hangar bay opening.  All that she could see was a steel wall.  He supposed that if they weren’t in hyperspace, she could look out through the hangar bay opening into space.  There still wouldn’t be much to see though.  If she wanted to see the stars, it would be a lot easier to simply watch them on her communication pad or an overhead monitor.

He loudly faked a cough and walked into her field of vision.  He looked at her.  She was indeed old.  Very old in fact.  She didn’t look like an officer to him.  It wasn’t that he was sexist or ageist; there were plenty of females in the military and also plenty of older persons.  It was just that she didn’t look like an officer.

He said, “Hello, my name is Admiral Lopeq’la.  To whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?”

She replied, “Ceod’be.”

‘Be’, Lopeq’la thought to himself.  That ending is reserved for factory workers or electricians or possibly plumbers.  A more general interpretation could be craftsman.  However, they were not members of the military.  Okay, so his suspicions were confirmed.  She was merely an old woman.

He asked, “What can you tell me about the object in the main hold or your secret mission?”

She said, “Unfortunately, very little.”  She saw the pained look in the admiral’s face and continued, “Not because I don’t want to or that I was forced to secrecy, I simply don’t know.”

Lopeq’la couldn’t believe it.  She didn’t know either.  He said, “What can you tell me?  Does the object at least have a name?”

She replied, “Not that I was told.  All that I know is that when we get to the correct location, I have to get into the thing.  There is a cryostasis chamber inside.  I get inside the chamber and activate it.  At some point in the future, the system will unthaw me.  Then I have to press the button.”

“And then,” Lopeq’la asked.

“And then nothing,” Ceod’be responded.

Lopeq’la said, “Do you go back into the stasis pod and wait to be retrieved?”

Ceod’be shook her head no and said, “I have had a good life, but my body is failing me.  The doctors only gave me a few more months to live.  There is little point in going back into stasis after I complete the mission.”

Strange choice for a secret officer he thought.  Lopeq’la returned to his quarters and managed to relax for the rest of the journey to Opron.  The computer informed him that they had exited hyperspace and were now in Opron.

Lopeq’la entered his conference room and had the computer connect him to the 7 captains.  While he was waiting, he looked around the room.  He felt a little silly sitting there all by himself in the big room.  Fortunately, his loneliness was relieved a moment later when Captain Floop’la joined him in the conference room.

Lopeq’la said, “We know where the
Sunflower
is going to arrive and we know when it is going to arrive.  I would like your input before I create the final plan.”

Lopeq’la received a few strange looks in return.  Further, the silence stretched on for a few seconds.  He knew that most Hiriculan admirals considered it a sign of weakness to ask for help, especially with strategy.  Apparently, the captains considered the query too strange to answer.

Lopeq’la continued, “Okay, I will tell you my strategy.  If any of you can think of any enhancements to my plan, please feel free to speak up and suggest them.”

He looked at every captain and received a nod or an okay in return.  Satisfied, he continued, “First, we are going to jump to the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane and demand that the corvette guarding the entrance leave or be destroyed.”

He paused, but no one spoke.  He continued, “Next we will configure our fleet in a circle or arc surrounding the entryway.  When the enemy cruiser transitions to real time, the
Reckoning
will fire its ion cannon and kill it.  Any questions?”

One captain finally asked, “What if the battleship misses?”

Lopeq’la smiled.  Finally a dialogue.  He responded, “Excellent point.  Can you suggest an improvement to the plan?”

The captain thought for a moment and said, “If the shot misses, then the cruiser will want to turn around and jump back into hyperspace.  We need to prevent that from happening.”

Lopeq’la couldn’t argue with that comment.  That captain was certainly on point with that particular witticism.

Lopeq’la was about to speak when a different captain said, “We could fire gravity missiles throughout the entire field of engagement.  That way they would be stuck in real space.”

Lopeq’la considered the option.  On the plus side, the enemy ship couldn’t jump.  On the negative side, neither could his fleet.  However, with a 7 to 1 ship advantage, there was little risk of that being an issue. 

He responded, “Excellent, I will amend the plan to include bombarding the area with gravity missiles.  Anything else?”

Another captain said, “I don’t think that we should contact the Alliance corvette.  Instead, when we reach the hyperspace lane, let’s just line up in a single file line.  The corvette will think that we are jumping to Conron and will jump back to warn them.”

Lopeq’la responded, “Excellent.  Tell your navigators that we are going to micro jump around the outskirts of this system.  I will send the coordinates for our jump path.  Our first jump will be to the Opron – Neto hyperspace lane.  The Alliance corvette will simply think that we are going to Neto.  Then it will be surprised when we show up on their doorstep.” 

He paused for comments.  He didn’t receive any so he concluded, “We will talk again when we get there.”

The fleet exited hyperspace and reduced speed to .02 light.  They slowly lined up in a single file line.  Admiral Lopeq’la had the fleet fly in a wide corkscrew arc that would eventually deposit them directly in front of the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane. 

The maneuver took them well out of the way, but he did it on purpose.  He wanted to give the Alliance corvette plenty of time to see them and react before they actually reached the hyperspace lane.

It worked.  The enemy corvette sent a distress signal and jumped to Conron.

Lopeq’la had another conference and assigned the ships to their locations.  He put the ships in a rough circle with 2 cruisers on each side and 2 destroyers in front.  If the enemy cruiser should survive the initial ion blast, they would try to turn around or stop.  This configuration prevented them from doing either.

Admiral Lopeq’la reread the orders.  The object had to be placed exactly 8 light minutes or 144 million kilometers (90 million miles) away from the system.  The Alliance would never think to scan that particular region of space because it was well outside the defined area of the system. 

However, it was clearly on a straight line path with the location that the enemy corvette had just occupied.  The indicated location was not random.  Clearly, the object was meant to somehow track or monitor the Alliance corvette.

The
Reckoning
left the rest of the fleet to get into position and micro jumped a few seconds to the indicated location.  Lopeq’la returned to the secondary hangar bay and found that the old woman was still sitting where he left her.  He approached and said, “It is time to go.”

He noticed that her chair was actually a hovercart and realized that she probably had difficulty walking.  He gently guided her chair from the secondary hangar by to the main hangar bay.  Once there he led her half-way around the bay to the object’s door.

Ceod’be pressed her palm on the door and it opened.  Lopeq’la guided her into the object. He was surprised when he saw the interior.  He had anticipated seeing a complex control room or monitoring station.  Instead, there was only a horizontal cryostasis chamber on one side of the tiny room and a single panel on the other.

The panel contained only one button.  It was a huge button, roughly three times the size of his hand.  There were instructions printed beside it.  They read – when the button turns orange, press it.

There was enough food and water for one day, maybe two at the most.  It was clear that the designers of the object didn’t intend for her to live long after she pressed the button.  It seemed odd to him, why did they need anyone to press the button?  Why not just have the computer do whatever it needed to do?

Since there was no one around to answer the question, the question was left unanswered.

Lopeq’la gently lifted the old woman out of the chair and placed her in the tube.  She pressed the activation button and the lid sealed and froze her.  He then stepped out of the control room.  The door sealed behind him.  He pressed the palm pad.  It didn’t open.

The 4 tugs left the secondary hangar and attached to the object.  They slowly pulled it out of the primary hangar and towed it to the correct location and positioned it in exactly the correct orientation. 

Then 3 of the pilots performed a space-walk to get to one of tugs.  Once all 4 pilots were inside, the lone tug returned to the battleship.  The other 3 tugs began moving the object to a new location.

“So,” Lopeq’la mused aloud.  “The High Council doesn’t even trust us with the final location of the object.”

They jumped back and took their place in the formation.  Now came the boring part.  They had to wait 18.3 hours for the
Sunflower
to arrive.  ‘Hurry up and wait’ he thought.  It seemed to summarize this mission very accurately.

Eighteen hours and 12 minutes passed.  Lopeq’la was sitting in the admiral’s chair on the admiralty bridge.  He felt silly sitting there all by himself.  He really wanted to be with other people.  Finally, he gave in and took the electro lift down two levels to the battleship’s bridge proper.

If Floop’la was angry with his appearance, he didn’t show it.  He said, “Welcome Admiral, the weapons officer is preparing to fire the ion cannon in just a bit.”

Lopeq’la feigned interest and walked over to the weapons console.  “What do you have to do?” he asked.

The weapons officer replied, “I already initiated the firing sequence and set the timer for the exact moment the
Sunflower
is set to enter the system.  The ions are now collecting in the reaction chamber and should be ready to be fired in the next minute.”