SODIUM:5 Assault (14 page)

We were baffled as to why there was no sign of life on the Por Hollis world, only the millions of autonomous robots mining and running the factory. There were also no Transit Pulls in the system. We also wondered where the damaged matrix of Black Pearls had gone. Our long wave sensors had lost track of the autonomous alien ships shortly after we had given them the slip.

Our engineers reasoned that the orange shielding surrounding the matrix might have something to do with our sensors having trouble, possibly lessening the feedback the long wave sensors relied upon. Perhaps they had some other means of shielding that we were unaware of. Perhaps the damage we had done had led to the complete destruction of the alien ships. We had no way of knowing.

For several days our planners were poring over data from the events around the red planet. The Borten Transit pull had been aiming directly at the red planet before it had been shut down. And the Borten insisted that it was the location of their Sodium drops for the Por Hollis, but there was no corresponding Transit Pull. The only conclusion we could come to was that the next set of worlds in the Frekkin system must be the real Por Hollis home worlds. A destroyer was soon dispatched to the far system.

We were in need of intel on our next conquest. We also needed to know if there were more of the globe ships or Black Pearls being constructed. When the recon destroyer arrived there was no sign of activity. The ships that had once been moving back and forth between the twin worlds and the construction areas of the globe ships were no longer there.

A Driller probe was soon prepared with nothing but sensors and a QE comm and was sent towards the blue sun of the system. It would drift silently and then use the blue sun's gravity to slingshot back to the destroyer. The trip would take five days.

As we waited for new data from the sensor probe I was bombarded with questions about the new alliance. The Borten and the Kurtz were pushing for more influence in the new system. They were told that they were equals and that they had better get used to it.

They were reminded of the fact that the Frekkin were still out there and that they would very likely need the help of each other when it came down to defending or fighting for their worlds. The Borten had the bigger issue with the new hierarchies; in the old system they were superior to the Kurtz. As much as I found him distasteful and untrustworthy, I summoned the Borten leader for a conference.

He arrived with his usual trailing of fawners who praised his every word. To his dismay I had them wait outside the conference room when our talk began. I explained to him what we knew of the Black Pearl matrix and that if it was to come to the Borten system there would likely be no system left. The Kurtz were good fighters as their Marines had proven against the Borten. The revelation sent the Prime into a huff as he turned away from me with a scowl.

I then explained that the Kurtz Marines would be fighting to protect the Borten worlds should an attack come. And, it was not out of the question that it would be their contribution that kept the Borten worlds from complete destruction. There would be a time and a place for the members of the AMP to jockey for position. That time was not while we were at war.

When my babysitting conference with the Borten Prime was complete he returned to a hallway of praise. According to his posse, whatever it was that he had said in the conference must have been divine and without question. It was the puff of accolade that he was in need of to return the nasty grin to his face. He was soon on his way back to Trephin.

The reports of our fleet repairs had been coming in with everything ahead of schedule. Our prior fleets were back to 98% capability with 5 new fleets joining the force. The Borten upgrades had also been moving along ahead of schedule. As an empire, we were fast becoming a ship manufacturing dynamo.

Our drives were capable of 8,800 SOL and our newest gravity weapons were able to send out a pulse that would continue to travel outward on its own, no longer tied to the ships gravity generators. The weapon was able to reach out to much greater distances without using more power.

A newer version still was in the works that would send out a number of back to back pulses that were first a gravity pull and then a gravity push. When sent with a high enough frequency a target would be violently shaken to pieces... in theory. A new sensor masking technology was also in the works that would allow us to drift silently with no chance of detection. Each time a breakthrough had been made and the technology declared ready a new issue would inevitably be uncovered. But our scientists and engineers were hopeful.

After Zack's tour of duty I saw to it that he was sent back to Earth for some time with his family, his sons receiving leave at the same time. I had arranged the leave after feeling guilty over the amount of time I had been spending with him in conversation. While some of the old Zack had died many years before the core of the person was still there; the core which I had fallen in love with.

But I was not a home-wrecker and as such he had been sent back to his wife. With his absence I had been turning my conversational needs towards Hershen. Given his early background I was often surprised by the advice he offered. He attributed it to the years he had spent listening to me. He was a good listener and a true and devoted friend.

With our new military resources coming online I decided it was time for us to host a massive simulated battle. With what we knew about the Black Pearl matrix we created a simulation version that we felt rivaled the real thing. In the war game it would be attacking the Borten worlds.

If things went badly I thought it might give the Borten Prime the push he needed to get off his soapbox about the Kurtz. I called for the matrix to be as close to the original as possible, in a sense, stacking the deck against us.

When the war games began the Borten were not aware of the simulated Black Pearl matrix. The assault would instead begin with two dozen globe ships and several thousand ships of unknown origin. The Borten would be first into battle to give them a better feel for their fleet's new capabilities. If all went well they would be victorious before the Black Pearl matrix showed on their holo-screens. It was hoped that they would confuse the simulated version for the real one.

As the simulated battle began four globe ships showed on the holo-screens, they were surrounding a thousand egg shaped vessels with antennae protruding from the front. The first surprise was the jamming of all normal communications and sensor readings. It immediately threw the Borten fleet into a state of confusion. They were not familiar with the use of the QE comm for the routing of all communications.

They instead relied on a line-of-sight laser comm system and with it had soon restored order. But their sensor data was still largely offline. The egg ships next made a move directly against the Borten fleet. Half of the ships burst forth and began firing particle beam weapons that were very effective against the Borten shields. The Borten ships that had not received the new active Sodium skin technology were quickly being torn to shreds.

The Borten quickly changed tactics and soon had the battle at a standstill. It wasn't long before the Borten were beginning to overwhelm the attackers by sheer numbers. When the egg ships began to retreat the Borten commanders could be heard celebrating their "tremendous" victory over their comms, a celebration that was soon quieted.

A single 500 kilometer long vessel next appeared in the middle of the Borten fleet, seemingly out of nowhere. Intrusion alarms were quickly going off on nearly half of the Borten ships as hundreds of thousands of simulated soldiers were somehow boarding their vessels. The Borten Prime was immediately on the comm to me crying foul.

He felt that I was intentionally trying to belittle his people by simulating events that had occurred during the Borten's war with us. I assured the Prime that we would not be the only species that attempted such a maneuver and that they should be prepared for such an occurrence should it happen. He of course did his normal grumble before looking away to yell at his staff.

The next event was one that I had planned personally. The invading soldiers were making progress in their assault and as such the remaining egg ships joined the fight. It became apparent that the Borten were losing control. I gave the order for the Kurtz to commit 200,000 Marines to the fight by re-enforcing the Borten.

The Borten Prime again came on in protest, but his arguments were weak and he knew it. When the tide turned back in the Borten's favor his irritation with the situation soon changed. When the last of the invaders had been eliminated and their massive ship destroyed the Prime sent a personal "Thank You" to the Kurtz command. It was an action that I did not think would happen.

The Borten were a pig-headed political species, but I had hopes that they could learn. I hoped that they could be contributors to the AMP and would one day be a driving force behind it as more planetary systems joined. After their unforeseen gesture I almost felt bad about unleashing the Black Pearl matrix on them. It was a foe that they could not possibly defeat.

The Borten used our Starburst technology to penetrate the shields of the globe ships; just as we had done in our battle with them. When the orange glow of the globe ships shields fell the Borten deployed their entire fleet to destroying their enemy. While the Borten were prone to commonsense mistakes, they did not lack in commitment. The egg fleet was soon defeated.

As the Borten ships finished off the few remaining egg ships the Black Pearl matrix first appeared on their screens. They quickly re-formed their battle lines in an attempt to show that they were ready. But ready was far from the truth.

The matrix soon swept in on their position and within minutes had destroyed a third of their fleet. The Borten deployed hundreds of Starbursts with thousands of their own soldiers riding inside to do battle with the matrix. Their teams made it through the outer orange shield of the matrix, but soon found out how the strange fleet responded.

If their soldiers were lucky enough to make it inside a Black Pearl and were then lucky enough to overwhelm its defenses they soon found themselves ejected from the matrix followed by a quick self-destruction. It was quickly determined that a thousand Starbursts and five million soldiers would not make a difference to the matrix due to the millions of ships it contained.

The matrix made another sweep through the Borten fleet again culling its numbers by a third. It then maneuvered past the Borten and headed for their worlds. Pelvic was the first to be hit as the matrix spun past just grazing its surface. A 500 kilometer wide trough was cut through the cities on Pelvic taking out a sixteenth of their population in one sweep. The storms produced in its atmosphere would take out the rest.

The Borten pursued and called for all assistance from the other members of the AMP. The Kurtz immediately committed their four fleets, but were soon made aware of just how powerful a foe they were up against. Our commanders sent in our fleets along with the thousand Starbursts that we had at our disposal.

The matrix continued its assault of Pelvic until there was virtually nothing left of its cities. The Kurtz Marines, and our own, found that after a full committal only 3% of the Black Pearls had been ejected and destroyed. The Prime sat in his opulent command chair looking on as his planets and fleet were destroyed. The Kurtz had attempted several new and innovative tactics, but they were not enough to make a difference.

My own fleets had played a game of commitment yet survival in their strategies as they knew whatever we did would lead to a losing scenario. When the last of the Borten worlds had been destroyed the simulated matrix left the battlefield, heading for Toleda and eventually Earth.

The simulation had worked as designed to bring a little humiliation to the Borten in an attempt to humble their sometimes arrogant behavior. It was also a wake-up call for the Kurtz and for my own fleet with the outcome of such a defeat more easily contemplated. Such a loss equaled annihilation of not only our fleets, but an annihilation of our planets. There would be no rebuilding from a matrix attack.

Our recon destroyer had moved closer to the newly silent Por Hollis worlds. Their bustling cities and space factories had all gone quiet. Even the automated equipment had been shut down. There were no signs of life.

I ordered a fleet to land and investigate. We needed answers as to why our foe had disappeared. Were they in retreat? Was it some new Frekkin tactic? I hoped we were not being lured into a trap that would cost us dearly. It was a mystery that we needed to solve.

When the fleet arrived it moved into orbit around one of the twin worlds. The full contingent of Marines was sent to the planet's surface in transports. An hour after their landing the filtered reports were showing on my holo-screen.

I began reviewing the data which began with who the Por Hollis were. Their gravity was 9% stronger than Earth’s and as such they had evolved with a short but sturdy frame. The first comments about their appearance were to call them fire-plugs. Their stocky build and maroon colored skin had garnered the name.

Images of the Por Hollis were widely available in the abandoned cities. Their cities had the appearance of any other world with tall buildings, lots of glass, narrow streets between buildings and sidewalks for pedestrians. But everyone was gone and all power had been turned off.

A report soon came in that caught my interest. A Sodium warehouse near a fusion power station was completely empty. The rumblings amongst my staff were that they had shut down their Sodium system and had left everything as it was because they were out of the precious element that powered their existence. I was skeptical as to that being the reason for their departure.

Aside from the twin planets being devoid of a sentient species, there was also no Transit Pull aiming off towards the next planet. That planet was rumored to be the gateway to the Frekkin worlds. Upon inspection of the records that still remained in the cities it was determined that two Transit Pulls had at one time existed. A close inspection of the recorded area found nothing but a fine powder remained. The Transit Pulls had been destroyed.