When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony (32 page)

“They finally caught on to the fact that we were delaying them,” continued Yerrow’s executive officer, “and attacked us in force. They must have thought that we were expecting reinforcements and wanted to finish us off before they came. We were able to get our
spacecraft carrier, several battlecruisers and a couple of cruisers free and to the stargate, but we lost our last two battleships, and our cruiser was wrecked beyond continuing. The remainder of the lizard force chased them into the next system.”

“What did the lizards still have operational?” asked Captain Griffin.

“That’s the problem, of course,” replied Captain Yerrow. “We can’t be entirely sure. Our cruiser’s systems were barely operational at that point, but we think that the lizards still had at least two battleships, a couple of battlecruisers and four cruisers. There is no telling what is left of both fleets. It is possible, although unlikely, that our fleet won. It is more likely that they lost, or are losing. Regardless, if we can get to the battleship and it’s functional, it is yours.”

CO’s Conference Room, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020

“What do you think, XO?” asked Captain Griffin. The Mrowry had gone back to their vessel to continue its repairs while the Terrans decided what they were going to do.

“The battleship represents a great opportunity,” replied Captain Barishov. “It also represents a great opportunity to get ourselves killed and lose the only warship that Terra has.”

“That is true,” agreed Captain Griffin. “Ambassador,
any thoughts?”

A
mbassador Ricketts-Smith shook her head. “I don’t know anything about military operations,” she said, “but it sounds like there are a lot more of ‘them’ than there are of ‘us.’ I can guess what a big upgrade to our fleet it would be to get the battleship and the replicator, but I can also guess how bad it would be to lose this ship, which is the only stargate-capable ship that we have.” She paused. “I am also weighing the potential diplomatic gains that we would get for continuing to help the Mrowry.” Captain Yerrow had told them that he was going into the next system once his ship was fixed, regardless of whether the Terrans came or not. “The
crown prince
is already in our debt. If we go with them to the end, he will be our friend forever.”

“The problem, of course,” said Captain Griffin, “is the ‘to the end’ part. If it is a successful end, things are great. We get a battleship and a replicator. If it is the final end for us, we have just lost Terra’s only warship. Not that it would matter to us; we’d be dead. Calvin, what do you think?”

“I think that this discussion could go round and round for days with no solution,” replied the squadron commander. “The only way we’ll know if we made the right decision is to go through the stargate, guns blazing. We could slink off back home, leaving our new allies the Mrowry to fight the lizards by themselves. We’d be safe...at least for a while, until the Drakuls show up at Earth. Maybe the lizards will get there first, who knows? Either way, at that time, the
Vella Gulf
will be overwhelmed, as will our fighters, no matter how many of them we build in the meantime.”

He took a deep breath. “The other option is to continue aiding the Mrowry and go with them into the next system
,” he continued. “If we do that, we might be destroyed. Like I said, we could argue this all day, because we don’t know what’s on the other side of the stargate. We do, however, know what is on
this
side of the stargate. Our new allies. Our mission was to find allies that could help defend Earth from the Drakuls. We found one here, the Mrowry. Are we going to let them take their busted up ship into the next system by themselves, or are we going to accompany
our new allies
into that system, greatly increasing their capabilities with a second cruiser and a full squadron of space fighters? Ma’am, we may go into that next system and get killed, but there is only one choice that fulfills our mission, and only one choice that makes me proud to be a Terran as we emerge onto the galactic stage. We fight. We go with our new allies into the next system and kick the living shit out of whatever fucking lizards are there. We keep killing them until they are all dead. Then we take our allies, our new battleship
and
our incredibly capable new Class 6 replicator and go home to Terra as heroes. Maybe someone even buys us a beer for our troubles.”

“If there is one thing I know for sure,” Calvin
concluded, “it’s that I don’t want to be seen as the nation that ran when its friends needed help. Mothers in ancient Sparta had a saying, ‘Come back with your shield - or on it;’ we can either do something that we will be proud of forever, or we go and hang our heads in shame, always wondering what might have happened if we’d done the right thing. In case you haven’t guessed, I vote for staying and kicking lizard ass. Ma’am.” He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

Captain Griffin smiled. “When you look at it that way,” she said, “I guess we really don’t have a choice,
do we? There’s the right choice, help your ally, and then all the other choices.” She nodded. “We stay and fight.”

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020

“I’m sorry that we took the time to discuss it,”
said Captain Griffin. “There really is only one choice when an ally goes into battle. You stay and help them.”

Whatever she was going to say next was cut off as Captain Yerrow roared in satisfaction. “It is good to have new allies such as you
. I wish we had met under other circumstances, but it is only in adversity that you find out who your friends are!” He might have looked at Steropes as he said the last, but Captain Griffin couldn’t be sure.

“What can we do to assist you?” asked Captain Griffin.

“The personnel and spare parts you sent have been very helpful,” replied Captain Yerrow. “We will be ready to go in
to the next system before too much longer. I would ask to keep an officer and about 10 of your enlisted to help man some of our critical systems. We had some critical fatalities during the fight with the lizards and are a little shorthanded.” The Mrowry had provided the specifications for needed parts, and the Terran replicator had been running non-stop ever since.

“That is fine,” said Captain Griffin. “Just let me know what you need
, and we’ll make sure you have it.”

“Thank you,” replied Captain Yerrow. “I am sending over some of my tactical officers to discuss strategy with you. If you would not mind allowing my pilots to fly a few of your fighters, I would like to borrow three of them for the upcoming battle.”

Captain Griffin looked over her shoulder to Calvin. He nodded. “We’d be happy to have their experience,” he said. “They are welcome to fly three of our fighters.”

“I heard his response,” said Captain Yerrow, “and I would have expected nothing less from such a warrior. It is a foolish
soldier that refuses aid or advice from a more experienced warrior. I am sending you three of my best.”

“Thank you,” replied Calvin.

Platoon Briefing Room, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020

“Lieutenant Train, might I have a word with you?” asked Havildar Rajesh ‘Mouse’ Patel.

“Sure, Mouse,” replied Night. “What’s up?”

“Are you familiar with the
Bhagavad Gita
, sir?” asked the Indian soldier.

“No,” replied Night, “I’m not. What is the
Bhagavad Gita
?”

“It was what you quoted when we went into battle with the lizards on the
Emperor’s Paw
. You said, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ That is chapter 11, verse 32 from the
Bhagavad Gita
, a 700-verse scripture that is part of the Hindu epic
Mahabharata
. It is an allegory for the ethical and moral struggles of human life.”

“Sorry,” said Night, “never heard of it.”

“Interesting,” remarked Mouse. “Jawaharlal Nehru, our first prime minister, said that the
Bhagavad Gita
deals with the spiritual foundation of human existence. He found it to be a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life, while keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe. It struck me that the way you used the verse was exactly as he intended it. Perhaps you should read it some time.”

“
That’s what the quote is from?” asked Night. “I didn’t know that. It was what Robert Oppenheimer said after watching the first nuclear bomb explosion in New Mexico. The
Gita
sounds interesting...I will have to check it out.” He walked out with a thoughtful expression on his face.

As Mouse turned to leave, he almost ran over Brontes, who had
appeared behind him.

“Did he really call himself ‘Death
’?” asked Brontes.

“Yes, he did,” replied Mouse. “As we were going into battle with the lizards on the
Emperor’s Paw,
he quoted the
Bhagavad Gita
. He said, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’”

“You’re right,” said Brontes. “That
is
interesting.”

* * * * *

Bridge, Mrowry Ship
Honor
, Kepler-78 System, August 26, 2020

It was over, thought Commander Brower. If they had only had another battleship or a couple more battlecruisers, or hadn’t let the lizards surprise them so badly. But they didn’t
, and they had, and now the lizards were going to finish them off. Commander Brower was proud of the way his squadron had fought; hell, he was proud of the way the entire battle group had fought. But it was over.

He shouldn’t even have to make this decision. He was too junior to command a
spacecraft carrier. He shouldn’t even be commanding the smallest cruiser in the fleet. He was a squadron commander in charge of one of the fighter squadrons on the
Honor
. He wasn’t even the most senior squadron commander onboard.

When they had entered the system, there had been an admiral in charge of the
battle group, and all of the major combatants were commanded by captains. They had been good leaders and had fought an excellent delaying action. The lizards hadn’t noticed the base on the moon, nor the battleship that was beginning to emerge from the replicator in orbit and had let themselves be led away from the planet. If the crew at the base hadn’t tried to send them a message, the lizards still probably wouldn’t have known that the base was there.

But they had.

Immediately, the lizards had turned away from the chase and had begun heading for the base. There wasn’t a big enough crew on the replicator to keep it from falling into the lizard’s hands. The newest type of battleship, it was far better than what the lizards currently had...and they were about to capture it.

He wished, hell, he prayed
that one of the dead bodies on the bridge would come back to life so that he wouldn’t be in command. The bridge had taken a direct hit, though, and all of them were dead. The two remaining cruisers were similarly mauled. One was just a hulk, dead in space. The other was maintaining formation on the
Honor
, but it also had taken a hit on its bridge and there was a commander in charge of it now; unfortunately, one that was junior to Brower. He was in charge, and the decision...the responsibility...everything...rested on him.

The lizards had a battleship and two battlecruisers left; he only had the cruiser, the carrier and its four remaining
fighters. Regardless of what else happened, he couldn’t let them get to the replicator. He. Could. Not.

With that as
the entering argument, there really was no other decision that could be made.

It was his decision
, and the time had come to make it. Not doing so would be shirking his duty and dishonoring the
Honor
, and all of the sacrifices that had already been made by the battle group’s crews. He could not do that. He
would
not do that.

“
Ramming speed!
” he transmitted.

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Ross 248 System, August 26, 2020

“
We are ready for transit,
” Captain Yerrow transmitted, as he watched the giant ball of plasma that had been the lizard battlecruiser. The
Vella Gulf
had hit it with two missiles, and the ship’s crew had caused it to self-destruct in response.

“
We are also ready for transit,
” replied Captain Griffin. “
Good hunting!
”

“
And to you, as well,
” answered Captain Yerrow. “
On my mark...3...2...1...Full speed ahead!
”

The ships had been lined up in front of the stargate. They made the transit within five minutes.

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Kepler-78 System, August 26, 2020

“System stabilizing,” said Steropes. “Launching probes.”

“Launch all fighters!” ordered Captain Griffin. “Battle updates ASAP!”

“There is evidence of battle across the system,” said Steropes. “Trying to localize the most recent.
..”

“
Vella Gulf, Emperor’s Paw,
” interrupted Captain Yerrow, appearing on the front screen. “I am going to tie you in with the spacecraft carrier
Honor
, Commander Brower, commanding.” Captain Griffin watched as the front screen cut in half. Captain Yerrow was visible on the right half; the left half showed the bridge of the carrier. It was a mess. Commander Brower stood proudly, blood running down his fur in several places. A number of dead and wounded sailors could be seen behind him. Most weren’t moving. She was unable to see the back of the bridge through the smoke. Electricity arced from panel to panel at one of the stations she
could
see. The Mrowry manning it was slumped on top of it. The electricity kept jumping to something on his helmet, but he was beyond caring.

“A commander is too junior to be commanding a
spacecraft carrier,” said Steropes. He looked up at the screen. “Sorry, never mind.”

“It is good to see
that you are still alive, Captain Yerrow,” Commander Brower said. “I thought you were dead.”

“Not yet,
” replied Captain Yerrow. “Not while there are still lizards to hunt. What is your status?”

“Our status?” asked Commander Brower. “We held our own until the lizards noticed
the replicator at our base, but as soon as they saw it, they stopped fighting us, turned around and started heading for it. It is my intention to stop them from getting there.”

“We just got the status of your forces,” Captain Yerrow replied. “How do you intend to stop them? Most of your systems are out
, and you only have four fighters left. The cruiser
Ranger
is similarly damaged.”

“We’re going to do what we can,” replied Commander Brower. “I intend to ram them.”

“I forbid it!” ordered Captain Yerrow. “Pull off and regroup with us!”

“Sorry sir,” replied Commander
Brower, “but like you said, our ships are smashed. You’re arrival does not change the balance of forces significantly, either. Our ships are not good for much else at this point. The squadron I used to command is gone. All of my ships and all of my pilots...gone. And unless the status you’re transmitting is in error, the
Emperor’s Paw
doesn’t seem to be in much better shape. I think we’ll just continue and see what we can do about evening up the odds. Face it, Your Highness, you’re not going to be able to take out the battleship with just two cruisers. We can do it.” He stood a little straighter. “We will do it. Brower out.” His side of the screen went black. The message, ‘Transmission ended’ flashed several times, and then Captain Yerrow’s picture spread back across the whole screen.

“As hard as it is to watch or condone, Commander Brower is correct,” said Captain Yerrow, shaking his head. “We cannot take on the battleship.
For that matter, the two battlecruisers are more than we can handle, even if he succeeds in destroying the battleship.” He looked at something offscreen. “We will, however, honor his sacrifice and put ourselves into a position where we can take advantage of it, should he be successful. We’re transmitting coordinates; follow us and prepare for battle. Yerrow out.” The screen went blank.

“What did he mean, should he be successful
?” asked Captain Griffin.

“I know what he meant, ma’am,” said Bullseye. “No offense, but you’re a ship driver at heart; you think in two dimensions. Space is more like what aviators fight in—three dimensions. Space is big and ships, even
really big ships, are small. Trying to get them to run into each other is really hard if one of the two doesn’t want to be hit.”

“The odds are that the carrier will miss the battleship,” added Steropes, looking at the tactical plot. “There is a slightly higher chance for the more nimble cruiser, and an even higher chance for
at least some of the fighters that were mentioned to hit one of the bigger ships if they are not destroyed before they can ram. It doesn’t look like they have launched yet.” He shook his head. “It is admirable for them to try to even the odds for us,” he concluded, “but it is most unlikely that they will succeed.”

Bridge, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Kepler-78 System, August 26, 2020

“
I’m getting awfully tired of fighting ships bigger than ours,” said Calvin with a sigh. “Is there anything in this system that we can use to our advantage?” he asked, looking over Sara’s shoulder. Sara had taken over the science station for Steropes, who had gone off duty.

“
I don’t know,” she replied. “This is the Kepler-78 system. The star in this system is a yellow star that is about 70% of the size of the Sun. There are two planets in this system. The ‘a’ planet is a super-Earth planet that is about 70% more massive than the Earth, with a radius about 20% larger. It isn’t much help as it is in a really tight orbit around the star.”

“How tight?” asked Calvin.

“It is about 40 times closer to the star than Mercury is to our Sun,” replied Sara. “In fact, it’s so close that it makes one complete orbit around the star in just over eight hours, and its surface temperature is over 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.”

“OK, that’s hot enough that I don’t want to go there,”
said Calvin. “What else have you got?”

“There’s only one other planet in the system,” replied Sara.
“The ‘b’ planet is a Saturn-like planet that is located about 460 million miles away from the star, or about as far away from the star as Jupiter is from our Sun. It is about double the size of Saturn and has eight moons, of which five are large enough to be planets in their own right. All of the moons have pretty high concentrations of heavy metals and relatively high concentrations of the rare Earth elements. This system is also a pocket system; the only way into or out of it is through the one stargate that we came through.”

“Hmm,” mused Calvin, “no ideas so far.
Can you show me the tactical display again?”

“Sure,” Sara said. She brought up the tactical display on the front viewer. “Here we are,” she said, using a laser pointer to point out their position on the left side of the display. “The stargate
through which we entered the system is behind us. We are headed toward the star and are going to pass within about 50 million miles of the ‘b’ planet. The other two fleets are on the other side of the star from us. If nothing changes the Mrowry battle group will intercept the enemy fleet at a distance of about 40 million miles from the star. The lizards are headed back toward us, but are slower than the Mrowry vessels chasing them.”

“How close did you say we’d be to the ‘b’ planet?” asked Calvin.

“About 50 million miles,” replied Sara. “Why?”

“I’ve got an idea,” Calvin said. “It will depend a lot on what happens when the two fleets meet, but it might be something that we can use. I need to talk to Captain Yerrow.”

CO’s Conference Room, TSS
Vella Gulf
, Kepler-78 System, August 26, 2020

“It will all depend on what happens with the ramming force,”
concluded Calvin. “If it is successful, then all we’ll have to do is sweep in on what remains of the lizard ships and pound them until they surrender or blow themselves up. If the ramming force
isn’t
successful, we at least have a backup plan.”

“I like it,” agreed Captain Griffin. “At least it gives us options.”

“I do too,” said Captain Yerrow. “You have a grasp of fighting in space that I would not have expected from someone so inexperienced. I do not mean that as an insult, but as a compliment. I have been doing this for many seasons, and I didn’t think of that.”

“Thank you,” replied Calvin. “I think that it is due to being a pilot of an air-breathing fighter before coming to space. I see things in three dimensions that others might not.”

“Now we’ll just have to wait and see what the ramming force is able to achieve,” said Captain Yerrow. “And hope their sacrifice is not in vain.”

Bridge,
Ssselipsssiss Ship
Avenger
, Kepler-78 System, August 26, 2020

“This prey seems to want to jam itself into our mouths,” laughed Captain Ssselthan, commanding officer of the
battleship
Avenger
. “Obviously, there is something on that planet that they do not want us to have.”

“But sir,” said the defensive systems
technician, “isn’t it obvious? They intend to ram us!”

“Of course they do,” replied Captain Ssselthan
. “It is the only thing they can do. They are out of missiles and fighters, and the carrier couldn’t last for a minute against us in a laser duel. It’s big enough that it
might
last two minutes against one of our battlecruisers. No, the only thing that they
can
do is to ram us.”