The Solarian Celebration: Book 3 of the Alliance Conflict (4 page)

Solear waited for a moment for comments.  There were none.  He continued, “There was a third Hiriculan ship in the system, another cruiser.  This one was on the other side of the system when we arrived.  It saw the light of the battle and micro jumped to our location.  We had a 4 hour window between battles.”

Chief Olova asked, “Captain, your ship was basically dead.  Primary power was gone, secondary power was failing, no air, nothing.  Why did you keep fighting?”

Solear responded, “Just before we lost communications, I told the Humans that another enemy ship was approaching and asked if they wanted to surrender.”

“And,” Frank said.

Solear: “The Humans said ‘Give em hell’ and started cheering.”

Frank: “Computer what does that Earth colloquialism mean.”

…86.4% Kill your enemies and desecrate their bodies such that their souls cannot reach eternal salvation…

Figur replied, “That seems rather egregious.  Is that truly what the Humans meant?”

Solear: “Yes.  That is exactly what they meant.”

Dolen thought about the trail of blood and mangled bodies the marines left during the rescue mission.  He recalled how he couldn’t tell where one body started and another ended.  He responded a moment after Captain Solear with, “Yes it is.  That is exactly what they meant and during the battle that is exactly what they did.”

No one responded, so Solear took advantage of the sudden silence and continued the playback.  The enemy fighters flew directly to the
Sunflower
.  They were still far away from the ship when they prepared for an attack run on the Alliance cruiser.

Figur said, “They are flying toward the
Sunflower
like they don’t have a care in the galaxy.”

Frank looked at Solear and replied, “Which led you to make the assertion that the enemy knew you weren’t carrying a fighter wing.  How did you manage to survive this attack?”

Solear continued the simulation.  Ten fighters left the
Sunflower
and scattered the in-coming enemy fighters.  Now with a clear path, the
Sunflower
fired 9 missiles.  The missiles hit the enemy ship and broke it in half. 

He had carefully edited this part of the simulation to remove all evidence of the missiles being launched through hyperspace.  That was one trick he intended to keep to himself.  Plus, he would probably be court-martialed on the spot if he were to show it.

Figur asked, “Where did you manage to find 10 additional pilots, and fighters for that matter?”

Solear responded, “The fighters were spares.  There just happened to be 10 additional Humans on board that could fly a fighter.  As you can see, we lost 4 of 10, but the Humans killed all 20 enemy fighters.”

Figur said, “So, if I understand you correctly, even your random crew members are a significant magnitude better than Hiriculan pilots.”

Frank said, “So it appears.  Next question, how did you repair the ship?”

The simulation then showed a time elapsed sequence of the humans repairing the ship.  He skipped the part where the marines cleared the enemy ship.

Figur said, “That is…” and stopped.  He paused for a moment to collect himself and said, “Deep space welding is extremely dangerous.  Plus, I don’t recognize that particular welding technique.”

Solear responded, “It is called electron beam welding and is frequently used on Earth.  After the ship was repaired, we went to Opron, collected the two squadrons of Human fighters waiting for us there, and jumped to Influenla to rescue the Alliance prisoners.”

Frank: “You’re kidding.  You actually jumped in that.  Multiple times.”

Solear: “It is structurally sound despite its outward appearance.

Senator Korno must have been the only one listening.  He said, “Wait, you said rescue.  Are you telling us that you flew that ship into Influenla and attacked the Hiriculans?”

Solear said, “The Humans have a credo – no being left behind.  They refused to go back to Conron.  They said that they would rather die fighting to free the prisoners than live with the knowledge that they did nothing.”

Frank: “Seriously?”

Solear: “The Humans would not be deterred.  I doubt they would have followed an order to return to Conron.”

Solear played the second simulation.  This time the senators sat in stunned silence as a squadron of fighters was launched into hyperspace.  Then a meteoroid destroyed the Hiriculan’s defensive asteroid.  Next, the squadron exited hyperspace and destroyed a frigate in a single pass. 

This was followed by a massive fighter battle.  Then the
Sunflower
exchanged missiles with a command carrier at a frenetic pace and eventually destroyed it.  Finally, all of the Alliance ships left the station and jumped to hyperspace.

Solear said, “We sent 5 marines to the station.  They killed the Hiriculans guarding the station and rescued the prisoners.  Unfortunately, we do not have any video of that battle.” 

Even if he did, he wouldn’t show it.  That battle was a little too gory.  Correction, it was far beyond little.  Everyone was still silent, so Solear asked, “Are there any questions?”

Figur said, “Once again, the fighter battle seemed very one-sided.  What was the final result?”

Solear: “The human pilots were outnumbered 6 to 1.  Despite the odds, they killed 237 enemy fighters and lost only 4.  We believe that the first 160 enemy fighters were Netos.”

Frank asked, “I didn’t know that fighters could fly through hyperspace.”  He said it as a statement with an implied question.

Solear responded, “Technically, they can’t fly through hyperspace.  The
Sunflower
opened up a hyperspace window and the fighters flew through it.  The system’s gravity returned them to normal space.”

Korno: “What if they missed?  You basically would have sent them to their deaths.  How did you give that order?”

Solear: “It was their idea and they volunteered.  It was the only way that we could launch 40 fighters from a ship designed to launch 20.”

Senator Amanda had been silently stewing.  Finally, she said, “You, you destroyed everything in your path.  No communication, no warning, no chance for the enemy to surrender.  I don’t know what to say.”

Frank was thrilled to have the fleet back, but he certainly emphasized with Amanda.  The simulation had been horrific.  Frank asked, “Why?”  He paused and then asked, “Why did you take such a drastic measure?  We were going to negotiate the prisoners’ release.  There was no reason for this level of bloodshed.”

Solear thought the question was probably rhetorical, but answered anyway.  He said, “This Senate voted to include Humans in the military on a trial basis.  You then asked me to evaluate them.”

He pointed to the monitor and said, “There is my evaluation.  This battle is an accurate representation of how Humans think and act.  They fight no matter the odds or circumstances, even when it seems hopeless.  If they have to kill the enemy and destroy everything in their path to attain their goals, then they do so without hesitation.  To them, the end result justifies the means.”

Amanda stood and said, “Which is exactly why we have been keeping them out of the Alliance for the last 3 centuries.”

Frank said, “Captain, congratulations on your rescue mission.  Your crew fought bravely.  In the final analysis, you saved the Alliance a tremendous amount of resources; both in the cost of the equipment and the chore of replacing the personnel.”

Everyone in the room remained quiet and waited for the however.

Frank let the silence linger for a moment and continued, “However, the Alliance Senate cannot condone that type of warfare.”

Senator Amanda summarized, “Well, at a minimum I hope we can all agree that the Human experiment is over.”

Frank didn’t want the human evaluation to end just yet.  He felt that he could still achieve some political goals by using them.  However, he knew that he needed to act quickly if he was going to save the program.  He could tell that if the Senate voted on the subject now, the human experiment would be over.

Frank stalled by asking, “What do you propose we do with them?”

Amanda replied, “I think the obvious choice would be to send them back to Earth.”

Several other senators nodded in acknowledgement.  Frank responded, “I think it is premature to end the experiment.  We have seen that they can pilot fighters much better than every other race in the galaxy and they appear to be enthusiastic crew members.”

Amanda: “You have a better option?”

Frank: “Yes.  We recently voted to put a military base in Waylon.  Let’s send all of the Humans to Waylon with the orders to guard it.  The Humans will be out of the way, but we will still be able to use them if necessary.  Then, we can reevaluate the entire program after a year and then make a final decision.”

Frank smiled.  He loved solving two problems at once. 

Korno replied, “Actually, that is an excellent idea.  Waylon will be secure and we won’t have to divert any real Alliance forces to do so.  As an added bonus we will have a much better location to monitor the Humans than going all the way to Earth.”

Solear said, “They need to be reinforced.  You can’t ask 64 humans to run an entire space station.  Plus, they will need at least one warship.  More importantly, they will need some military officers and engineers to properly train them.”

Frank smiled again.  He just solved four problems at once.  Frank replied, “Captain, your service to the Alliance Navy the past five plus decades has been phenomenal.  I believe that you are the perfect candidate for teaching the Humans how to be proper Alliance military members.  Further, we can permanently station the
Sunflower
in Waylon.  That will easier than scrapping it.”

Korno replied, “Perfect.  The station was fully provisioned by the Altian government before it was shipped to Waylon. Please review the provisions and submit a list of all required equipment before you leave the system.”

Frank said, “Oh, Admiral Solear, one last item.”  Frank waited a moment for the words to be understood.  The Senate technically didn’t have the authority to promote someone to admiral, but he was certain that Admiral Dolen would accommodate his request.

Frank continued, “Please list the critical human personnel you need as well.”  He motioned to the other senators and said, “I think we can replace the six dead ones and increase the number of humans by another 10; giving us an even 80.”

The other senators nodded in agreement, signaling that the topic was closed and that Frank’s argument had won the day.  It was clear to Frank that the Senate’s distaste of manning the Waylon station outweighed their distaste for adding a few more humans to the Navy.

Frank had initially endorsed the humans purely as a political ploy.  If the humans succeeded, he planned to take all of the credit.  If they failed, he planned to place the blame squarely on Senator Korno.

The humans had proven to be better than average pilots, so Frank had maneuvered the senate to expand the program and have humans crew an entire ship.  Those results were mixed – the humans were competent crew members, but they were extremely violent.  The results simply weren’t decisive enough.  Frank needed them to succeed brilliantly or fail dramatically.

Korno said, “Admiral Solear.”  He waited until he had the other beings attention and said, “Please arrange for the Humans to attend diversity training as soon as possible.”

Solear responded, “I will.  However, 80 Humans aren’t nearly enough to crew a ship and a station.  The ship requires 50 and the station requires a minimum of 500.  A more realistic number would be 1,000.”

Amanda said, “You’re asking for 400 additional humans.  That is insane.”

The number was technically 436 or possibly 936, but Frank didn’t see the need to correct her.  Instead he said, “Admiral, leave the
Sunflower
docked at space station.  You should be able to run the station with a crew of skeletons.”

Solear realized that he had lost the argument.  They weren’t going to approve any additional resources.  He thanked the senate and turned to leave. 

Admiral Dolen said, “Wait, Olova and I will accompany you.”

As they were walking back to the main hangar, Admiral Dolen said, “This assignment should only last 6 months, a year at the most.  After that I think it would be good if you took some time away from the military and pursued other interests.” 

Dolen paused for a breath and continued, “And you are promoted to admiral, effective immediately.”

Solear said, “So, basically the promotion is a way to ease me into retirement.  You are benching me.”

Dolen replied, “It will be good for you to have a break.  You have been in the military for what, 60 years?”

Solear responded, “Fifty-eight.”

Dolen continued, “We will round up and give you the full 60 when you retire in a few months.  Besides, you will still be in the naval reserve, should we need you.”

Solear already knew the answer, but he asked “Why” anyway.

Chief Olova: “You probably already know, but these battles seem to have changed you.  On one appendage you are a decorated war hero, but on the other you are viewed as a ruthless killer.  After you were hit by an ion cannon, you should have surrendered.  The carnage that ensued is indefensible.”