Gray Panthers: Earths Revenge (28 page)

“Go ahead, Arizona Space Ship Nike.”

“This is Admiral Bad, I want all Peary Crater shuttles not involved in rescue operations engaged in salvage operations. Top priority is the recovery of shuttle AIs.”

Captain Kriss of the Mut was amazed. From his lunar orbit he had watched the entire battle from a perfect perch. He felt a true admiration for the humans fighting ability. As he had watched the battle, he saw it unfold as the Arizona Space Ship Beater put itself in the forefront of the battle when it positioned itself between the two cruisers as a distraction. The human's willingness to close with their enemy further amazed him as he watched the Bia trap its opponent from using its FTL drive and the apparent severe damage to both ships. He missed the other cruisers accidental materialization into the shuttle. He was convinced though that humans were to be watched carefully. The follow-up rescue operations and salvage runs impressed the Captain with the quality of mercy the humans possessed. He then remembered the earlier talk with the Captain who had asked him about disposing of captured enemy ships and wondered if the humans had second sight.

Gray Panther Headquarters, Arizona

8 Oct 2128

Dan sat in his office amazed at what he had just seen. From all the different satellites he had an excellent view of the battle. The casualty reports of thirty-two dead, none wounded, should have pleased him but it didn’t. The fact that they were all pilots of shuttles and that one hundred eighty shuttles were lost made an impression on him. Dan knew what he needed to do next. “Grub, connect me with the fleet. Attention all ships. I wanted to tell you what an outstanding job you just did. We have once again defeated a malevolent enemy set on our destruction. Soon we will take that battle to his back yard. Again, all my commendations to the ships and crews of the Gray Panther Fleet. Dan Daniels out.”

“Are you OK, Dan? You appear depressed when you should be rejoicing. The planet is safe, the fleet is safe,” Grub reminded Dan.

“But for how long? Soon we will be in a hotter war and there may be deaths in the thousands. I just don’t know if I’m the right man to send these people off to their deaths,” Dan answered.

“You do not delight in victory, and you worry about all your people. Could you really trust anyone else with their lives? That is your burden,” Grub replied.

“Grub I want you to slap together a documentary film of the battle we just fought. Make sure every news agency and web site that wants a copy has it. We need to remind our brothers that freedom is not free. Have notifications gone out to the next of kin?”

“Notifications have gone out. All the pilots were original Gray Panthers. None were married though many had adult children."

Gray Panther Headquarters, Arizona

9 October 2128

Dan had not slept and was in no mood for another meeting. His staff were quietly entering into his office and sitting at the conference table. Juanita bent over his shoulder and asked if he needed anything. He forced a smile that had no warmth as he rose and walked to the conference table.

“We had ourselves another great victory. We lost 30 of our people and 180 shuttles against two enemy cruisers that lost five hundred lives. I am informed we will be able to salvage both ships. I have decided that we will no longer use manned shuttles in battle with the exception of when shuttles are carrying troops. Our enemy's main tactic is to use their FTL drive to jump around the battlefield. Our new tactic will be to litter the battlefield with shuttles so that they can’t so easily jump. We have found from our last battle that the enemy ship's external armor is much thinner than those previously captured. We feel when we go into battle again we can go knowing we have an advantage in protection. At close range our phalanx batteries, rail guns, and 40mm cannon have a devastating effect on the armor. Admiral Bad will depart tomorrow to take the battle to the enemy as previously planned. The Arizona Space Ship Bia will stay behind until repairs are completed. Good job, everyone," Dan briefed those sitting at the table before he abruptly departed the meeting.

Arizona Space Ship Beater, Lunar Orbit

10 October 2128

Commander Johnson finished writing up the decoration for LCDR Poland. He had to admit that his brief command of the ship had been noteworthy. He just wished it could have been under other conditions. He was waiting to hear, “Commander Crapper,” whispered, yet it had not come about. The walk to the bridge was quiet as the entire crew was already at their stations in the event of another surprise attack. Entering the bridge all was silent as crew went about their duties.

“Navigator, put in the same heading we were going to follow the day before yesterday, Pilot, when you have that information you may depart. We are already cleared to depart the system. The fleet will follow a couple hours later after we have had a little while to sneak and peak. We will keep a low profile until the fleet arrives. We will then be able to give them vectors to attack enemy shipping. We have already decided where we will deploy shuttles to interfere with the enemy being able to jump around the battlefield. Pilot, you have the ship you may engage the FTL drive when we are in place." Johnson sat at his command chair and just stared at his crew as they went about their duties.

The hangar bay was a hive of activity as the entire Dart flight sat in their ships ready for the order to launch as they still smarted from missing the battle. The remaining crew of the Beater was still stowing away supplies that were out of place. Everything was calm as they doubted lightning would strike twice. The Beaters pilot announced the FTL was being engaged as the Dart pilots unplugged themselves from their flight decks. Anxious to go into stasis before the nausea and headaches started. Short Blade watched happy that he would soon get more flight deck time.

Arizona Space Ship Beater, Deep space

15 October 2128

Johnson had the ship at full alert as they dropped into normal space. He was not surprised to find it quiet. He was surprised though that he had no orders or even messages for Dixie. The orders were to stay away from the colony and deploy a FTL transmission relay station for communications with the Republic.

“Beater, what can you scan of Dixie from here?” Johnson asked.

“Other than natural occurring events there is nothing. The remains of the probes are no longer detectable.”

“Thank you, Beater. Let me know when we can use the FTL drive.”

“That will be in four hours, I will notify you then Captain.”

Matt sat with the rest of his flight as they pondered what their chances would be when they attacked the enemy anchorage. The constant thought of one hundred eighty shuttles being destroyed in less than twenty minutes was numbing. Then the number one Gray Panther ordering that manned shuttles will not be used in combat forced the fact home. They were dead men walking.

“When we attack the anchorage we have something no one else had. We have each other and thousands of hours together. We’re not only going to survive, we are kicking some ass. We are—” Matt was on a roll before his interruption.

“Attention, we are five minutes from FTL use. Good night, everyone. Captain out.”

Peary Crater Lunar Base

16 October 2128

Dan wanted a cigarette as he waited for the representatives from the Republic to show up. He hated aliens and he hated politicians so he would really not enjoy what was about to happen. The pounding on the door to announce the arrival of his guests was almost as loud as the pounding in his head. The hatch opened and what appeared to be a red six-foot grasshopper walked in wearing a sash with numerous items on it. Another similarly attired grasshopper followed close behind him. The last creature to enter looked like a green giant lizard wearing a vest bedecked with numerous medals and ribbons. He also wore a belt with a sword and side arm.

“Welcome to our neck of space. I am Dan Daniels. I am the commander in chief of all Gray Panther Forces. I am also the Chief Executive Officer of Gray Panther Enterprises. What may I do for such a distinguished group from the Republic?” Dan asked trying to sound somewhat sincere.

“I am First Officer Plat of the Republic Central Bank. This is my assistant, First Teller Copper also of the Republic Central Bank. That is Captain Kriss of the Republic Defense Forces; we arrived here on his warship.”

“Again, welcome to our space, congratulations Copper on the promotion to First Teller. I’m guessing your party is not here to open a new branch office of the bank, so what can I do for you?” Dan asked Jovially after seeing the look of surprise on both grasshopper faces.

“Um that is correct, er...”

“Please just call me, Dan, I do not stand on formality.”

“Um, we would like to open negotiations between our peoples. We would like to be partners in trade,” Plat finally sputtered.

“What does the Republic have to trade that we would need Plat? What could we possibly have that would interest the Republic? It seems the only thing we have done lately is scrap Libra warships.”

“We in the Republic have the most advanced ships in all of known space. We also have the most advanced heavy weapons that can be seen anywhere. We are always in the market for raw materials or even ships that can be refurbished,” Plat replied.

“I was under the impression that with the war going the way it was that the Republic would no longer sell top of the line ships and definitely not heavy weapons they needed for themselves,” Dan said cagily.

“Rumors are of course only rumors, we do have a slow down on manufacturing though—” Plat started to explain as Dan cut him off.

“Captain Kriss, officer to officer on your word, are you losing your war?” Dan asked. Plat tried to interrupt the Captain’s answer but was unsuccessful.

“I can’t tell you any military secrets. You can respect that I’m sure,” Kriss replied.

“I apologize for the embarrassment Captain. If I wanted to sell say 4 Bs of Gold back in the Republic how many credits could I expect to get?” Dan asked sizing up the Captain.

“If you avoid the banks you can easily get 150,000 credits per B,” Kriss replied innocently.

“Gentlemen, let's lay our cards on the table. We need protection for six months then our ship building program will be able to produce all the ships we need. The Republic is unable to help us. If we survive our war, come back in six months and we might be willing to buy the designs for your heavy weapons,” Dan offered.

“We will be willing to sell you the designs for our heavy weapons now if you are interested. We have a laser cannon that will go through any Libra ship like a sharp knife into an enemy’s belly,” Plat offered.

“Do you have the designs with you First Officer Plat?” Dan asked trying to hide his excitement.

“No those are state secrets. The Mut is armed with them if you would like a demonstration.”

“Excuse me one moment please I will be right back,” Dan said as he grabbed his stomach overly dramatically. Once outside he tried to remember the name for the AI that monitored all operations on the moon. “Selene, can you monitor the Republic ship and get the specifications of its armaments?” Dan queried the AI Selene.

“The ships systems are protected from me being able to scan from here. If personal scanners or faeries were brought aboard it they could record the information needed to reproduce the weapon.”

“Thank you, Selene, have you been monitoring our negotiations? If so what is your opinion?”

“Sir the entire entourage is scared. They must have results when they return to the Republic. How did you find out they were losing a war? I perceived nothing.”

“It’s called a hunch; everything is falling into place now,” Dan let Selene know. Returning through the hatch Dan apologized for the interruption.

“I would be interested in that demonstration. Unfortunately I do not have the time. Could I send a few junior officers to observe a test fire and have them give me their opinions Captain?”

“That would be acceptable sir.”

“I will have the Libra wreck towed into position and you can have a few shots at it at say 1200 hrs galactic time? That will give us time to set up some scanners at the target site and to find some officers to monitor the firing on your ship,” Dan suggested.

“That would be acceptable er, Dan,” Captain Kriss replied.

“What would the cost be for the designs if we were to buy them? Since we have no credits, what would the price be in gold?” Dan asked Plat.

“That is most irregular, but I would estimate the price at One trillion credits which would come out to Ten million Bs of gold.”

“You mean that would come out to, I’ll round it up Six million, Seven Hundred Thousand Bs. Now please forgive me but I do have a war to run,” Dan said as he rose and left the conference room. Plat just watched him depart in admiration that the alien before him had figured out the unofficial rate in his head then offered a slight bonus.

“The humans seem to have many talents. They would be an interesting addition to the Republic I think. Do you have any opinions on the humans yet Captain? Plat asked.

“I would not want to be their enemy; they are crazier than the Jacka.”

“They also know how to negotiate and haggle. We should return to our ship now and prepare for the demonstration. Will that be any problem?”

“My crew will be most happy to fire their weapons they felt cheated being so close to battle and not being part of it,” the Captain said wistfully.

“Really Captain? Who’s side did they wish to be on?”

“They were cheering the Libras for the first few moments then, to a sailor, they started to root for the humans. The humans showed courage, skill, and tenacity.”

“Looks like we have an admiration society forming,” the Gray Panther security specialist said to himself as he turned off the recording equipment after the delegation left. The delegation did not notice the dozen faeries that joined them on their return to the ship.