Neptune's Massif (16 page)

Ian could only nod in agreement. "If I may ask, Sir, how many ships do you still have, and can any of them be spared? Before they left, Councilor Noren entered into a mutual defense agreement with us. On top of that, I am certain many of those crews would like nothing better than to run straight back to New Talos and 'fix' the issue. Not that I would condone such a thing, but if I can work something up for them, maybe we can prevent a mutiny of sorts."

H’joles smiled sadly. "If it were my people, the ships would have already left. The Talosian ships still on station are proof that the Talosian people are as committed to this effort as anyone that is part of it. We have lost those six that I spoke of earlier, but they were really only guarding non-vital positions, as they were difficult to work with.

"We have fifteen more Talosian ships spread out over four separate fleets. In most cases, the ships are grouped together as two light cruisers and one heavy cruiser; we have five heavy cruisers and ten light cruisers. We can return to you two of the heavy cruisers with their escorts, but I would need to recall those ships I left to defend your system," H’joles replied.

"I would release them immediately of course. However, I hardly think it an even trade." Ian grinned at the confused look on H’joles' face. "If you could send crews back on one of those ships, I have been told the ships in our repair facility will be ready by the time they will arrive."

H’joles nodded his understanding of the joke and even smiled slightly.

"Ah! I understand! That is very good, Admiral. I have received a report from Admiral T'rir on his interaction with your people. He was very impressed with every aspect of the encounter. Even for a Croanian, he is at best difficult to deal with. I would say that you have certainly gotten the attention of all of us here.

"I will make arrangements for the crews to be sent back with the Talosian ships. You would like them returned to your sector, yes?" H’joles asked.

Ian bowed. "If at all possible, I would like them to report to Senior Captain Serena of the Talosian ship
Prometheus
. I will be departing the system in a few hours for a rapid strike mission. Did Admiral Goya have the time to forward a copy of my attack plan to retake the planet of Hyperion?"

"No, I did not receive such a report. You consider the retaking of a planet to be a rapid strike?" H’joles asked.

Ian hit the keys and forwarded a copy of the mission briefing and outline to the Fleet Admiral. "I do in this case, Admiral. However, I will have to make allowances in light of current events. I am sending you a copy of the mission brief. I am hoping for a 'milk-run' but planning for a full assault. Most of the equipment and materiel is already loaded and ready to go."

H’joles nodded and looked to his side. "I am receiving it. May I call you back if I have questions?"

"Of course Admiral. Your suggestions would be welcome, too," Ian replied grinning.

H’joles snorted. "I forgot you are not Talosian. Very well, Admiral, I will issue the orders and get the ships moving back to you. It is our hope that this matter be resolved quickly and as bloodlessly as possible. Civil War is always a bloody business that has no victors."

Ian again bowed. "Thank you Admiral. Good day to you."

"May Grolith guide you, Admiral," H’joles said and cut the call.

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A
scension Main Medical Complex

Ascension, Planet Atlas

Centauri System, Sol Sector

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T
he first sight that Jim saw when he opened his eyes was the beautiful, smiling face of Lara Belden. A firm grip on his right hand caused him to slowly turn his head and see his other friend, Luke.

“Is it done? Did it work?” Jim asked, softly.

Luke nodded as he smiled down at his friend, but Lara answered him. “The doctor will be in shortly to talk to you. However, he did tell us that the operation was a success.”

Jim looked thoughtful for a moment. “I can’t move or feel anything down there.”

“They haven’t finished with you yet. The doctors explained the whole thing to you if you remember. The first part was to rebuild your hips and pelvis area and now, they will begin to rebuild your genitals. To do that, you have to be immobilized. Do you remember?" Lara asked, because Jim had started to nod his head.

“Yeah, it’s just kinda weird not feeling much below my chest. Did the doctor say how much longer I’ll be in here?”

“I’d say about another three and a half or four days,” a new voice said from near the door. “Give or take.” Doctor Ashton smiled. “So far, everything looks really good, as far as the rebuild of your pelvic area. That should be totally healed up in about a week, but I imagine you’ll be stiff until your muscles get used to working correctly again. Now, before I start to explain what happens next, do you have any questions?”

“None that I would understand the answer to, Doc,” Jim said.

“Uh, Doctor, how long will Jim be in physical training after you let him up?” Lara asked.

Doctor Ashton smiled; “Actually, he’s already started the first part. We’ve been strengthening and reconditioning his muscles artificially since the end of the surgery. However, that stimulation will have to stop for a while. The technique used to rebuild the testes could be adversely affected by the electrical pulses we’re using on his muscles.”

“So, I’ll be finished in another three or four days?” Jim asked.

“The procedure will be started tonight and finish tomorrow evening. We’ll test its function, then begin to make sure you can walk. You’ll be in physical therapy for a couple more weeks, but we’ll be letting you out of here in about three or four days,” Doctor Ashton explained.

“Uh,” Jim hesitated, glanced at Lara before asking, “What exactly do you mean by ‘test its function’?”

“Well, from the sound of it, you’ve already figured out what I mean. We have to know if what we did works, and if your reproductive system is fully functional. It would be helpful to know if you are producing semen and viable sperm cells,” Doctor Ashton answered.

Jim looked embarrassed, “Okay, I don’t think I want to know exactly how you'll be testing it, but I guess I’ll find out.”

“So Jim, it looks like it’s time for you to decide what you want to do. Are you still interested in flying a fighter?” Luke asked.

Jim chuckled, “I don’t think so. I mean, I think I’m a little old to be jumping into the cockpit of a fighter; besides, I was a grunt in the Army. I’d probably get motion sickness if I tried to fly one of those things.”

Luke smiled at his friend. “Well, we need a lot of Marines, too. Not to mention needing a Training Officer, a Military Liaison, and a whole bunch of other stuff.”

“Uh huh, like the guy that runs this place will want to have an old hillbilly like me hangin’ around,” Jim teased.

“Well, we've put up with you so far, so I think you'll be alright." He chuckled with his friend. "But seriously, if you are interested in flying, you don't have to join the military to do it, we'll need civilian freighter pilots too,” Luke suggested.

Jim looked at his friend in awe, “That might be somethin' I'd be interested in, provided I could pass flight trainin'.”

Doctor Ashton smiled at the friends; “I’ll leave you all to talk, but please, try to keep it short. We want to get started on the rest of Jim’s treatment."

“Thank you, Doctor. You really have worked a miracle here,” Lara told him.

Doctor Ashton smiled and winked at her before turning and walking out the door.

Luke told Jim about all the different non-military jobs they needed filled in the sector and had mentioned that, since almost all of the new recruits seemed to be going to the military, some of the civilian positions were getting critical.

"We do have replicators, but as civilians, we shouldn't be relying on them like we are. We need to restrict their use and get busy building an economy," Luke said, sighing.

"Why would using replicators keep us from building an economy?" Jim asked.

"Human nature mostly. If you could get anything you wanted for free, why would you want to work?" Luke asked. "I'm not talking about you, I know you'd work no matter what, but I'm talking about the average person. If they had no motivation to, why would they?"

"I suppose most wouldn't, we'd all turn into a race of spoil't brats fightin' over who has the best gadgets," Jim replied.

Luke nodded. "Pretty much. We also would have nothing to trade to other planets and civilizations. Not that we would need the goods, but trade is very good for peaceful relations between nations. A lot of the other races out there don't care for replicated items for either philosophical or religious reasons. So, replicated goods are not considered trade items.

"Well, we do have a few farmers getting set up here, and even one adventurous soul whose going to try his luck at fishing. One family from Wyoming is setting up a huge ranch and next month their livestock will start to arrive. The entire herd will take over a month to get here because we can only get about fifty head in a shuttle at one time.

"We are getting people; colonists that want to try something new. That's a great thing and exactly what we need, but we are also in dire need of people in the infrastructure as well. That's the reason I suggested the freighter to you; if we had a crew, that rancher's herd could most likely make it in one trip," Luke finished. "That's only one example of why we need it. We have ten shuttles running cargo between here, Earth, the moon, Mars and the stations. They are running twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Hell even the passenger shuttles are getting over loaded. We need to expand our commercial transportation."

Jim nodded. "It sounds like it. Tell ya what, have someone bring me some readin' materiel on it so I have something ta do in here. If I like the sound of it, I'll sign up."

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A
dmiral's Office (Temp.)

Pleiades One Orbital Shipyard

High Orbit, Planet Atlas

Centauri System, Sol Sector

––––––––

"S
ir, ARC Fleet Admiral H’joles is on the comm for you. Routine priority," Mel called.

"Thanks Mel, put him through please," Ian replied.

H’joles once again appeared on Ian's big wall monitor. After the two of them exchanged greetings, said. "I read your proposed mission briefing. I am calling because I have some questions."

"I'd be happy to answer them if I can Fleet Admiral," Ian replied. "But I feel I should let you know that I have decided to postpone the mission until after the Talosian issue is settled."

H’joles nodded. "That was one of the questions I was going to ask you. You have no way to protect the planet after you retake it and New Talos cannot spare the forces. There was one other thing I wanted to ask to see if it had occurred to you; when they issued the Council Override commands to their ships, they destroyed two-thirds of their fleet. How are they going to replace those?"

That was a very good question and it was one that had not occurred to Ian. "You are correct Sir, It had not occurred to me. I would see if we could get started on rebuilding them, but without checking how recruiting has been going, I don't think have the manpower for a project of that scale. In a year of two, after our other planned stations get built, maybe. In all honesty, we could get started on it right now, but it would be a very slow process."

H’joles nodded his understanding. "I thought that might be a little too much for you to undertake. To that end, I am sending one of the Talosian Marine divisions back with the ships. These troops should be able to help as they have two battalions of engineers. You will also need the troops when you go to Hyperion or if you take a more direct hand with New Talos. The engineers should be able to assist you with some of your projects as well. Which leads me to another of my questions. In your briefing, you made reference to something called a defense network assembler. This device is unknown to us, could you explain it?"

"Certainly, Sir, it’s a simple concept, really. The device in itself is a small station that has automated ore mining drones and a large scale fabrication unit built into it. It does require a crew to man it, but it takes a preloaded design for a hypermissle launch platform, sends out its drones to gather material, and begins mass producing the hypermissle platforms. Once built, each platform is launched from the station to make its way out to a position assigned to it by the assembler."

"Is not the hypermissle the delivery platform for the gravimetric warheads?" H’joles asked.

"It is, but that isn't the only warhead those missiles can carry. For example, a standard anti-ship, anti-matter warhead can make life really interesting when it hits the shields while the ship is still in hyperspace. Even a momentary disruption of the shields can have a devastating effect on a ship."

"Blessed Grolith! You could destroy an entire fleet before it ever arrives to attack you!" H’joles said in shock.

Ian nodded. "That is the idea, but my scientists tell me that the targeting accuracy isn't that good because of the dimensional distortions in hyperspace. They estimate between twenty three and thirty-two percent accuracy at distances of more than two light years. The missiles are ineffective at distances less than two light years until the target returns to normal space. Once in normal space, accuracy is above ninety percent.

"Each launcher has its own small fabricator capable of replenishing the missiles, but does not have the ability to retrieve raw materials, so has to be restocked after a battle. It has two launch tubes that give the unit the ability to fire up to twelve missiles; two missiles every forty-five seconds. The design for the missile is preloaded into the fabricator, but there are options for the warhead: antimatter, quark effect, and standard nuclear. There is also the ability to upload sensor packs as a warhead for each of the missiles." Ian finished.

"That is an impressive sounding device. How long does it need before a system is considered 'protected'? In your briefing, you said two months for the Hyperion system," H’joles asked. "Also, what is the system's maximum range?"