First Admiral 02 The Burning Sun (19 page)

The part of his mind that was the Garmaurian industrialist, Mallor Sharpal, understood Trion Theory, and that to stimulate Trions beyond a certain range of frequencies had catastrophically destructive consequences. John understood much of what his mind told him about Trion Theory, and for that reason he had kept the frequency range of his new weapon to very precise and limited parameters. In fact, the beauty of his new weapon, if any aspect of the destructive power of a weapon could be considered to be beautiful, was that it was self-regulating. When the pulsing beam of the weapon struck an object, whether organic or inorganic, the Trions at the point of contact would be agitated by the pulse effect. If the frequency range of the pulse was outside the Trionic frequency range of the object, then the object would remain largely unscathed.

If, however, the Trionic frequency of the object was within the parameters of the pulse, then the damage caused would be proportional to the intensity of the beam. In a low-intensity beam, the Trions within the object would become agitated, and start to rupture their Trionic Bonds as far as the intensity of the beam permitted. The lower the intensity of the beam, the easier it would be for the Trions of the target object to absorb the energy being expended towards them. Like a bullet hitting a stone wall, the energy would be absorbed by the structure. The rupturing of the Trionic Bonds would release its own destructive energy against the atomic structure of the target object, causing damage and destruction.

What John had to be careful of was setting the intensity of the weapon too high or the frequency range too broad. Setting the intensity too high would cause the pulse to pass through every solid object it came into contact with like a knife through butter. To set the frequency range too broad would create a chain-reaction through the Trionic structure of the object it struck, which would agitate and disrupt the Trions around it. That could be the air or water or whatever the object was in contact with, and, theoretically, the chain reaction would be too powerful to stop. What would, happen in that situation was anyone’s guess. It was a circumstance, John did not really want to consider.

The frequency ranges and the intensity of the discharged beam could be experimented with to make best use of the Trionic properties of the objects being targeted, but the biggest stumbling block was going to be a power source. To discharge the weapon once, John had drained four normal sized car batteries. He had considered using the mains supply, but rejected the idea. If this weapon was going to be effective, it would have to be portable and usable in a hand-held format, perhaps, a pistol or a rifle. To anchor it to one fixed point with a power supply would create something like an artillery gun. But, John knew that artillery with this kind of weapon was far too destructive for the human species to have access to.

As the water from the cooling and refreshing shower ran down his back and legs, John considered that he could perhaps adjust the settings of the weapon to allow it to be fired by a small battery like the ones in the portable music players that were coming onto the market. That then presented a problem of reloading the weapon after the initial discharge. When he had been at the police college, they had trained on the old Lee-Enfield bolt-action rifles. Perhaps he could design something along those lines, where the bolt action ejected a battery-like power source similar to the spent cartridge of the rifle. That would, of course, litter any battlefield with nasty acid-based batteries. Even with re-chargeable batteries, the weapon would most probably only fire once. What he needed was a reliable, high-powered, portable energy cell with the capacity of one of those new nuclear reactors; essentially a nuclear battery.

A nuclear battery, John mused, as the cooling soothing water seethed across his face and chest.

Where on Earth would I get a nuclear battery?

Chapter 25

The War Room, Star-Cruiser Aquarius

Ten minutes later, Billy Caudwell convened his Crisis Conference in the cavernous War Room. Around the massive War Table, Billy had hurriedly assembled the brightest and the best that were aboard the flagship Aquarius. Marrhus Lokkrien, Karap Sownus and Marilla Thapes were joined by specialists from the Fleet Engineers Corps, who all sat anxiously around the table.

The noise of communications traffic and the murmur of conversation amongst the hordes of Officers and Technicians that populated the banks of consoles around the War Table, only just managed to drown the suppressed anxiety that hung like a dark blanket over the Conference attendees. First Admiral Caudwell was fighting for his home-world, his family, and everything he held dear in this life. He was anxious and irritable, and no one around the War Table wished to feel the wrath of an angered Supreme Commander.

“So,” Billy opened the proceedings standing, arms forded, at the War Table, “what are our options?”

Having been challenged for suggestions, the conference fell disconcertingly silent.

“Come on!” Billy badgered, “I’ve got the finest brains in the Alliance here and no one has any ideas?”

Again, the conference fell into silence as eyes were averted from the agitated Supreme Commander. After what seemed like an eternity Marrhus Lokkrien spoke.

“Sir,” Lokkrien was always careful to begin with the honorific in front of subordinates, “I’m sorry, but there is just no way that we can put anything in place in the limited time that we have.”

“The best we can do, sir,” Karap Sownus continued the argument, “is to try to save what we can in the time available…”

“As I said before,” Billy barked angrily, “that is not an option!” he slammed his fist down on the edge of the War Table, “I will not play God as to who lives and who gets left behind. I want ideas as to how we protect that planet!”

Again the conference fell into an awkward silence.

“Any ideas!?” Billy pleaded with a long drawn out sigh of desperation while he ran his left hand through his hair as if it might draw some fresh inspiration from his brain.

After a few more moments of strained silence, Marilla Thapes piped up.

“Well, sir,” Marilla said nervously, “when I was very young, my mother used to take me out into the country,” she began and was aware of all eyes now being turned on her.

“Yes, go on,” Billy implored, prepared to grasp at anything.

“Well, sir,” she licked her lips nervously, “we used to sit underneath this waterfall, sir, but there was this huge rock that stuck out from the cliff face above us and split the falling water so we were perfectly dry even though we were underneath tons and tons of liquid.”

“Technician Thapes, please don’t be so…” Sownus started to scold the presumptuous subordinate.

“No, Karap,” Billy interrupted the Senior Intelligence Officer, “she might just have something there,” his mind sparked with an idea.

“So, you sat under this big waterfall?” Billy questioned, “and this large rock, you describe deflected the water away from you and your mother?”

“Yes, sir,” Marilla said nervously under the silent scowl of Karap Sownus.

“A breakwater, or something like a breakwater,” Billy began to postulate excitedly, “far enough away from the planet, could deflect the plasma out into space and not harm Earth?”

Again, the conference fell silent.

“Can we do it?” Billy asked the Senior Engineering Officer pointedly.

“I doubt it, sir,” the stocky Senior Engineer replied, “there are all sorts of variables to be considered…” he continued.

“What would we need to make it happen?” Billy questioned the Engineer excitedly, “Could our force-shielding concentrated in a small area deflect the plasma away?”

“Well, sir,” the Engineer thought, “theoretically, we’d need a very heavily strengthened force-shield focussed and concentrated to a very precise angle…”

“Right, the force-shielding on the Black Rose is pretty tough and it can be focussed to a needle point,” Billy jumped in, “what else?”

“We’d need a massive power source to bolster the shielding,” the Engineer said warily, “far more than we could generate from a Star-Destroyer.”

“What about if we linked the force-shielding of several Star-Destroyers together and fed power to the point of the force-shielding that way?” another Engineering Officer piped up, much to the annoyance of the Senior Engineer.

“Can it be done?” Billy probed his enthusiasm building.

“Well, yes, sir,” the Engineer had to concede, “we can feed power along the force-shielding to other vessels, but there are so many…”

“So, we can boost force-shields from more than one source?” Billy pressed home his enthusiastic questioning.

“Yes, sir,” the Engineer confirmed, “but there are so many other variables such as the angles of deflection and the distance so that plasma doesn’t creep round the shielding and strike the planet anyway,”

“That’s just a set of simple math problems,” Billy dismissed the concerns almost out of hand.

“Even with all the Star-Destroyers, they just won’t be able to provide a constant supply of power without blowing up, sir,” the Engineer continued almost pleadingly.

“I can split the shielding on the Black Rose and concentrate power on the incoming plasma waves, where it’s most needed, that’s simple enough,” Billy countered.

“But, that would require a control mechanism that can react quicker than anyone’s reflexes, sir,” the Engineer argued.

“Oh, I have a solution for that,” Billy responded realising he would have to use the thought-command function on his PES linked directly to the controls of the Black Rose.

“I think what the Senior Engineer is trying to say, sir, is that it’s never been done before,” Lokkrien interjected.

“Then, it’s high time we tried it Admiral Lokkrien,” Billy countered, “if the Bardomil have this weapon we’re going to need some kind of solution to it,” he added as a justification.

“But, sir…..” Lokkrien challenged again.

“No ‘buts’, Admiral,” Billy silenced the opposition, “we draw every resource we need here, bring in all five of the Star-Destroyers,” he ordered Lokkrien.

“Senior Engineer, get the force-shielding from those Star-Destroyers linked up as soon as possible, and get onto the computer models and work out the math,” Billy ordered the Senior Engineer, “any questions?”

The conference, brow-beaten by Billy’s enthusiasm and tenacity remained silent.

“Good,” Billy acknowledged, “get this solution sorted and meet back here in thirty minutes; dismissed.”

Silently, the conference personnel set off to their appointed tasks, all except Lokkrien.

“I take it you have some objections, Marrhus?” Billy dropped into a more informal tone with his friend when everyone had left.

“Oh, you better bet I do,” Lokkrien challenged, “are you seriously going to risk five Star-Destroyers and their crews for this planet?” he bridled.

“No, of course I’m not, don’t be stupid, Marrhus,” Billy replied, “I’m putting you in charge of the Star-Destroyers and if the force-shielding isn’t enough, you get the ships out of here and leave me.”

“LEAVE…you!” Lokkrien spoke the first word slightly too loudly for the acoustic tolerances of the War Room, “what do you mean, leave you!?” he hissed the question.

“Who did you think was going to pilot the Black Rose, Marrhus?” Billy said calmly, “it’s my shuttle and my home-world if anything goes wrong you get the Star-Destroyers out of here to safety.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Lokkrien began to protest.

“Actually, no,” Billy replied, “it’s the most logical and most pragmatic answer; I’m the best pilot for the Black Rose.”

“But, you could get yourself killed!” Lokkrien protested.

“Do you really think I could live with myself if I abandoned my family along with everyone and everything down on that planet to be fried?” Billy asked and walked away.

Lokkrien stood dumbstruck next to the War Table. The man who had left his wife and sons back on Bardan knew only too well the pain and anguish of that kind of loss.

“Sir!” one of the Technicians called out from the Communications section of the console.

“What is it?” Billy stopped and half-turned to face the direction of the calling Technician.

“Message from Admiral Chulling from Second Fleet, priority,” the Technician highlighted the urgency of the message.

“Put it on the View Screen,” Billy ordered, and one of the two-dimensional Screens was initiated, projecting up from the War Room floor.

The View Screen image crackled with static for a second, and then the face of a middle-aged Thexxian in a blue uniform appeared.

“Admiral Chulling, what seems to be the problem?” Billy asked, hoping that this interruption would soon pass.

“Sir,” the Thexxian began, “our Scanners are picking up a very large concentration of Bardomil vessels approaching the Nezadir frontier.”

“What kind of vessels?” Billy asked, his suspicions rising as he walked slowly back to the War Table and Marrhus Lokkrien.

“From our preliminary analysis, it looks like a very substantial military strike force of three, possibly four, full Imperial Fleets and a secondary, larger, supply flotilla,” Chulling responded.

“A large supply flotilla means that wherever they’re going they intend to stay a while,” Lokkrien commented quietly.

“Do you have a projected course and destination for this force?” Billy asked.

Secretly, Billy began to pray that it was just another round of exercises that the sabre-rattling Bardomil carried out close to frontiers to worry the defenders. But, in the back of his mind, the part of his consciousness that was Teg Portan was ringing alarm bells. A threat to Earth from a Bardomil secret weapon and then the appearance of a large military force was far from coincidental.

“Not as yet, sir,” Chulling replied, “we have them on an approach to the Colos sector.”

“It can’t be Colos they’re after, it’s far too heavily defended,” Lokkrien speculated quietly, “manoeuvres, maybe?”

“No, it won’t be Colos,” Billy said darkly, as a very nasty scenario started to play out in his mind.

“What then?” Lokkrien asked, sensing the sudden change in his commander’s mood.