Warrior Chronicles 2: Warrior's Blood (29 page)

The others were silent, but Verne felt like Cort had abdicated his throne as emperor. “What does this mean for our military?”

“That is up to you, Doctor. If you want my advice I will offer it. But I am not the man to lead this Federation. I will fight for it, but I won’t lead it.”

“What authority are you retaining?” Verne asked.

“I lead the military. Within the Ares Federation, that is my only role. And note that I said ‘lead’ the military. Not control it. I will execute the lawful orders of this Federation so long as they do not interfere with Solitude in any way. Solitude is independent of this federation. its safety is solely my responsibility.”

Verne was skeptical. “You said ‘within the Federation’. What does that mean?”

“It means that what I do outside the Federation is my business. You have no say in it.”

“What if ‘your business’ is contradictory to our goals?”

“Then, Doctor Verne, you need to change the Federation’s goals.”

“I cannot agree to those terms,” Verne replied tersely.

Cort was losing his cool. “God dammit! You are exasperating Doctor Verne! You seem to think I have some sort of ulterior motive here. You need to get past that in a hurry. Because if you don’t, I will leave this planet and take anyone who wants to go with me. And frankly, I can use to the labor to help me set up Kim’s planet and defend Speral’s.”

“Wait. What do you mean ‘Defend Speral’s’?” Rhodes asked.

“Mike, do you remember that day we blew her fleet out of the sky?”

“Yes,” Mike answered.

“Well, it turns out that was a bluff, and they had no intention of attacking us. The problem is that they didn’t have the money to back up their bet. With the exception of Speral’s the ships they sent were all they had.” Cort let his words sink in. “That’s right, I ordered the destruction of virtually their entire fleet. Now I get that it’s not my fault, and I get that I executed the only sound strategy that was available to us that day. But like it or not, I am now responsible for their safety as well as our own.”

“That wasn’t a sound strategy on their part. Why does that make you responsible for their safety?” Rand asked.

“Because I choose to be. You forget, Speral’s is a non-aggressive species, so poor strategy on their part is understandable. I’ve got enough blood on my hands, Rand. I don’t need more of it to be innocent.” Cort stood and paced his office. “So long as our Federation does not end up in direct conflict with Speral’s people, we will have no problem. And it may not be a problem for long, anyway.”
 

“What do you mean?” Kim raised her eyes from her monitor to look at Cort, but he didn’t immediately answer. “What do you mean, Cort?”

“I’ve been studying the crystal expansion. Speral’s planet is due to be infected within five years. I asked her about it this morning. They have begun the equivalent of a genetic lottery to determine who will be evacuated. And at this point, there isn’t a seedable planet for them.”

“My Gods,” Black said.

“So you see, even if I have to do it on my own, I will protect her people.”

--

Doctor Verne commed Cort the next morning. “Cort, I met with Chief, Rand, and Mike Rage last night. Then I sent a message to Dar Sike. There are some hurdles to overcome, but we would like to build several thousand domes in North America for Speral’s people.”

Cort remained cool, saying only “I appreciate that. More than I can express.”

“Cort, don’t think we are doing it because of your speech or because of your self-imposed obligation to Speral’s people,” Doctor Verne said. “The decision was made because it will serve two purposes to move them Earth. Number one, it will negate the possibility of losing you as part of our defensive capability. Number two, it will allow us greater access to their technology. The domes will allow them to control their environment so they will be able to breathe. Our gravity is significantly lower than theirs, but they will be able to survive. We will not force the decision on the two alliances, but Dar thinks they will happily agree in exchange for our efforts on behalf of the environment as well as future trade concessions and our defense of Earth.  If by chance, they do not cooperate, we will build domes here on Mars for them.”

“I’m surprised, Doc. Very surprised. But I don’t buy your reasons for a minute. More likely, your
Hippocratic Oath
kicked in.”

“I have studied history, Cort. Chief Rhodes is a pupil compared to my knowledge of it. I even knew some of your personal history before you appeared in our time. But the history books only tell so much of the story. They paint you to be a natural born killer. Someone with no sense of honor and no sense of remorse. I resist your influence because the military cannot be allowed to rule. In human history it has never turned out well.”

“History books paint many warrior’s that way, Doc. It doesn’t mean they are right, though. As far as military rule goes, I agree. But I also believe that when the time for military might arrives, civilians cannot be allowed to interfere. You have studied history you say. Do you know who Douglas MacArthur was?”

Verne had to search his memory for a moment. “Yes. World War Two, right?”

“And the Korean conflict. That is the relevant period right now. Mac was one of the greatest military minds in human history. An egotistical son of a bitch, but a military genius. He had the opportunity to end the conflict and put both China and the USSR on their heels. China specifically declared that if MacArthur crossed a line known as the 38th Parallel, they would become involved in the conflict. President Truman didn’t accept Mac’s arguments that the Chinese were already involved would not become more involved, so he ordered him not to cross China’s ‘line in the sand’. Long story short, Mac ignored Truman, crossed it a couple of times, then openly criticized Truman as being a pacifist. So Truman fired him. Mac was right, Doctor. And the US spent trillions of dollars over the next several decades paying a cold war that was a direct result of Truman’s mistake. If Truman had let MacArthur run the war instead of being diplomatic, we would have won and saved trillions to boot.”

“I don’t mean to be cruel Cort, but a little diplomacy would have save Speral’s fleet.”

“Doc, do you remember the day Glydnal came here?” Cort asked with a sigh. “Because I do remember it. I called the shots that day, and I gave him every chance to maintain peace, but he refused. He thought he was dealing with the same mentality and the same technology as he was when he faced Atlantica. That loss is his fault, as was the loss of his fleet. I am still responsible for it but I am not to blame, and diplomacy would have resulted in the deaths or capture of at least some of our people, including me.”

“At the expense of Speral’s people?”

“Every fucking day, Doc. A single one of my people will always be worth a thousand of theirs to me.  And that’s why it’s time for diplomacy to take over. My time as a military ruler has to give way to civilian leaders. And Doctor I think you are the person to lead us, but I have one admonition for you. Once you give me a military task, don’t turn into Truman. Tell me your goal, and I will make it happen.

“I am learning that slowly Cort and I admit that the history books are wrong about you, but I did not fully realize it until yesterday. Rand and Chief tried to tell me but I was smarter than they were, or so I thought. Why do you think I am the person to lead us?”

“Doc, I’m being commed by Speral, so I need to go, but thank you. May I pass along the news to her?”

“Of course. I will talk to you soon, Cort.” Verne disconnected and Cort opened the link to Speral.

“I’m sorry Speral, I was finishing up another conversation. How are you today?”

“Cort Addison, I regret that I must return to my planet for the foreseeable future. My ship and the few we have built since you destroyed our fleet are needed elsewhere.”

“How long does your planet have, Speral?”

“Cort Addison that is unknown. However we must begin looking for another planet to seed. Our needs limit the planets we may occupy to very few, and most of those known are already inhabited by higher species.”

“Speral, our government met yesterday to discuss your situation. While they are not ideal, we wish to make a region available to you on one of our planets. If the other two governments on Earth agree, we will cede most of the region that attacked you. If they do not agree, we will cede a significant portion of Mars to you.”

“Cort Addison, I am touched. However your environments are not similar enough to ours to make long term habitation possible.”

“We can build domes for your people. Then you can adjust the atmosphere to suit your needs. It would also allow you to bring some of your native flora and fauna species with you.”

“Cort Addison, I had not considered that possibility. I will communicate your offer to my people.”

Unknown Planet

“Okay Speral, stay close,” Cort said as he jumped from her ship. He set up the platform Doctor Black had designed for him. The legs of the platform were a rigid, porous material that was folded in a way that reminded Cort of a queen’s ‘ruff’ collar, except that the turns never quite touched. The crystal would have to travel over a hundred linear meters to travel a single decimeter to the bottom of the structure. Observation had shown Cort would have five minutes from the time the ground below him crystallized until his boots would be vulnerable.

“Fifteen seconds, Cort,” Kim said from Speral’s observation deck. She watched as Cort drew a sword from his back and kneeled on the edge of Doctor Black’s construct. It felt like just another second before she screamed, “NOW!”

Cort saw the crystal consume the strange orange grass below him and plunged the sword into the ground cutting a cone shaped piece of crystal from the surface. Stabbing into the cone, he lifted it from the ground and dropped it into a porous copper sphere. The top of the cone righted itself and Cort closed and sealed the sphere before placing it in the center of a stack of wire wrapped coils. He flipped a switch on the top coil and dropped the sword to the planet’s surface. A minute later the crystal consumed the copper sphere.

“Time?” Cort said.

“Two minutes and ten seconds,” Kim replied.

“Are you seeing this? It seems to be holding,” Cort said.

“Yeah, come on up.”

“No. We wait until the crystal growth rate would reach the coils. We cannot take the chance that we didn’t contain it.”

“Dammit. Two-thirty,” Kim said.

A minute and a half later Speral descended back to Cort and he jumped into the ship’s open airlock. Once he secured the magnetic levitation chamber he looked down, just in time to see the platform crystallize.
 

--

Mars, Ares Federation

“We have it,” Black said as Cort opened the comm. “We have the crystal’s resonant frequency. It destroyed three of the four samples you brought back. I’ve sent you the data.”

“What about the fourth?” Cort asked.

“We are still studying it,” Black responded. “We want to know more about it.”

“Who is ‘we’?”

“My team.”

“No. Stop now and destroy it, Doctor. We can’t keep a sample of that crystal in our system.”

“I’m sorry, Cort. Doctor Verne approved it,” Black said sheepishly.

“You aren’t a bit sorry Doc.” Cort closed the channel. Two minutes later he was talking to the Minister of Defense. “That last crystal needs to be destroyed, Chief. We can’t keep it in this system.”

“Cort, we need to know more about it. Doctor Black is confident that he can control it.”

“I will destroy Deimos, Chief. I just ordered it be tracked by all available fractionals, at all times.”