The Santana Nexus (Junkyard Dogs Book 3) (32 page)

Chapter 47.

UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard Federation Auxiliary ship
Greyhound
, January 11, 2599.

It was shortly after lunch
time on the
Greyhound
and the two youngest members of the Junkyard Dogs, Amanda and Faiza, had indeed been interested in the news about the Prince of Jasmine that Carlisle had shared with them. They had spent perhaps a half hour discussing the importance of the old video logs before Carlisle excused herself, telling them truthfully that she needed to go and get some rest.

H
aving spent most of the morning working on their military studies, the two young women decided to dedicate a portion of the afternoon working on their literature assignments. Kresge hadn't told them what he wanted them to read, instead, he had provided them with an extensive list of authors and titles from all sorts of literary genres and the two apprentice cadets were being allowed to make their own choices. Amanda was looking at the genre that Kresge had suggested that they start with, a category of literature had flourished throughout the 1900's and continued to be popular in some form even in the present day: Science Fiction. What had caught her eye was a familiar name:
Asimov
, the same name as the destroyer that had just recently joined the Junkyard Dogs at the Scrapyard.

"Faiza," she said, "you should see this. Did you know there was a famous author named 'Asimov,' the same as the destroyer
outside. I wonder if that's where the name for the ship came from?"

"I'd say that was probably a pretty good bet," replied Faiza. "I think there's also a ship called the
H.G. Wells
and another one called the
Jules Verne
. After you build enough ships, you start running out of names for them. I can certainly think of a worse way to name a starship!"

"I wonder what else is in this database?" said Amanda as she scrolled down a list of
ancient science fiction stories. "War of the Worlds, From the Earth to the Moon, The Foundation Series...," her voice tapered off and she continued to read silently until finally..."Oh, look at this, it's Barsoom, just like the sheik of Barsoom."

"Really?" said Faiza. "That's
interesting. Show me."

"Right here, John Carter of Mars, which was called Barsoom by the
make-believe Martians who were the natives of the planet."

Faiza's face turned to a look of pure astonishment. Shaking her head in disbelief, she said, "My goodness...you don't suppose...no, even he wouldn't be so bold!"

"Whatever are you talking about Faiza?"

"The suspected to be long-dead Prince Merrikh of
Jasmine, the same one that Carlisle was just talking about! He was reported to be bold and reckless but who would have ever dreamed?"

"I'll ask again,
" said a now totally confused Amanda, "Whatever are you talking about,"

"It's been right under our noses the entire time.
The Sheik of Barsoom. It's that made-up word Barsoom, Amanda!"

"Barsoom?
Mars? Why are they so important?"

"Because
Merrikh
is the Arabic word for
Mars
!"

"Then that means...," said Amanda. She stopped with her mouth open as the implications struck home.

"...That the Sheik of Barsoom is almost certainly the long lost Prince Merrikh!" exclaimed Faiza,"This is some of the best evidence yet that he is still alive. We must tell my father and Commander Kresge at once. The Prince of Jasmine is trying to start the Succession War all over again!"

"And I thought we'd never get anything useful out of these reading assignments," said Amanda but she found she was talking to herself as her friend had already left the room in rush. She closed down her wrist computer display with a wave of her hand and got up to go after Faiza. If nothing else
, the conversation with Kresge should prove to be interesting!

***

Kresge called a napping Carlisle and told her come back to his office as soon as he had listened to and grasped the importance of the information that the two young women had stumbled upon.

"This may be the information we've been looking for, Ensign. With your videos suggest
ing that the Prince survived the war and our two cadets making the connection that Barsoom and Mars and Merrikh are all the same name, I'm ready to declare that the Sheik of Barsoom is the long lost Prince Merrikh!"

Ambassador Saladin was initially skeptical but when they showed him all of the evidence, he was forced to agree with them. One problem was that recent photographs or videos of the Sheik were difficult if not impossible to find. Merrikh was probably very wisely avoiding situations where he could be captured on any kind of video in order to protect his identity. The few
videos they had of the Sheik, when compared to images of the young Prince Merrikh, didn't rule out that he was the same man but they didn't do much to confirm his identity either. Though such devices were really no longer needed, it was a long-standing tradition among Islamic leaders to wear a type of darkened eyewear, called "starshades" or "sunglasses" when they appeared in public. All of the recent videos of the Sheik -- and there weren't many of them -- showed him wearing an elaborate pair of wrap-around starshades. His full beard and mustache didn't help the situation either.

"If Barsoom really is Merrikh then we have to conclude that all of this terrorist activity has really just been the prelimary action of something far bigger
," said Kresge, "What do you want to bet that he wants to rekindle the Succession War!"

"And he's having a big meeting at the Santana Nexus in a couple of days to kick it all off!"
added Carlisle.

"With the Quadrant cut off from the Federation,
" said Kresge, "he has a very good chance of pulling this off!"

"
It appears as though we have no choice, Commander," said the Ambassador, "Our attack on the Santana Nexus Station must go forward at once. These people must be stopped at all costs!"

Chapter
48.

UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard Federation Auxiliary ship
Greyhound
, January 12, 2599.

T
he two mining ships with delegations from Patagonia and Piedmont arrived in the middle of the following day. With them was the
City of Darwin
, also laden with supplies and the
Aladdin
, captured at Piedmont and now manned by a contingent of personnel from the mining station including Security Chief Chris Hartmann and Governor Fitzhugh. The
Aladdin
was also carrying all of the supplies she could hold.

Kresge
set up a meeting to plan strategy and decided to convene the meeting in the front hold of the
Greyhound
. It would be crowded with all of those who would be attending but none of them, even the Ambassador, was completely sure that they had ferreted out all of the informants on the
Istanbul
. The integrity of the next plan of action for the Junkyard Dogs was far too important to risk any possible compromise.

Kresge called the meeting to order.

"Thank you all for coming," he began, "As you know, the Santana Quadrant is currently being threatened by the Sheik of Barsoom and his allies. They have knocked out communications and terrorized a great many of the most remote colonies. They are occupying the Santana Nexus station and we have good evidence that they have also somehow acquired a device that stops any ships from coming in through the Sol-Terra hyperlink zone."

He paused briefly before changing the subject.

"Not all of the news is bad, though. You will all be pleased to know that the Sheik no longer has any influence in the Heard's World system nor in Catskill-Soroyan. The fact that these fools have destroyed so many of the long range communications consoles actually works to our advantage because now their own people are having a hard time keeping track of things out this far. This current situation is not likely to last, however, and we must make whatever move we're going to make while there is still a good chance of success."

Kresge looked around the crowded room, "Any questions up to this point?"

Everyone was looking back at him expectantly.

"What I am about to tell you all is still somewhat speculative but I think it is important enough that it must be shared with you."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "We have retrieved evidence from the abandoned opposition cruiser in the Heard's World system indicating that the ship was deliberately damaged in a desperate plan to smuggle an individual away from the final battle of the Succession War. This individual was referred to as a 'prince' by some of his handlers. It has also been brought to our attention that 'Barsoom,' 'Mars' and Merrikh are all the same word. With this in mind, we have come to the tentative conclusion that the Sheik of Barsoom is actually the long lost Prince Merrikh of Jasmine!"

There was a stunned silence in the room as the information sunk in.

"But that means...," someone had made the connection.

Kresge finished the thought for them.

"...Yes, it means that all this terrorist activity is probably just the opening shots in what could very well wind up being a rekindling of the Succession War! I think it goes without saying that we must do everything in our power to stop them at the Santana Nexus!"

Kresge, knowing that this new information would be both shocking and disruptive, allowed the interchange to play itself out for a while.
It was a good fifteen minutes before everyone had settled down enough after the stunning announcement for the planning session to go forward.

"
Okay everyone, time to get back to business. We will outline the plan that I have been discussing with my two tacticians..." he gave a nod towards Carlisle and Sukamoto who were sitting next to each other in the front row of chairs, "...regarding the liberation of the Nexus Station. First, we need to infiltrate the Station. To do that we have the
Nasr
, a Meridian Imperial Navy Destroyer that the enemy believes to be in his camp. We have also been able to capture an armed freighter, the
Aladdin
and another freighter, the
Pride of Persia
. These two ships were also considered to be part of the Sheik's forces as of just a few days ago. As far as we know, the enemy still believes that all three of these ships are his. With all of the forces that are supposed to be streaming into the Santana Nexus over the next few days, we propose to use these three ships to jump into the Nexus system, make it past the security screen and get to the station itself, hopefully without attracting too much attention."

"That's fine, Commander,
" said someone in the audience, "but what about the fleet of eight destroyers that the Sheik still has and that big Jasmine cruiser?"

"Excellent question," replied Kresge. "
I won't try to minimize the danger posed by all of those ships, but with the Sheik's big summit meeting scheduled over the next few days, we don't expect the crews on any of those ships to be particularly alert. With all of their strength concentrated in the Nexus System, the Sol-Terra hyperlink blocked and their belief that they have subdued all of the opposition in the Quadrant, they will not be expecting any kind of action on our part. In addition, the bulk of the leadership, including the command staffs of all of their ships, will be at the Sheik's big meeting. If we hit them by surprise, hard and fast, we should be able to even the odds considerably.

For offense we
have the
Asimov
, the
Nasr
, the newly repaired
Perseus
and the
Foul Beastie
, a formidable prototype cruiser. As far as we have been able to determine, their cruiser remains parked out near the hyperlink zone. Our best guess is that she is not only there to guard the zone but that she also has the so-called 'hyperlink damper' device onboard. All reports indicate that she is the only ship stationed near the hyperlink zone. If we successfully neutralize or destroy that ship, we open up the hyperlink zone and we can get reinforcements from Sol-Terra."

Here he stopped as the next phase of the plan was a bold one.

"To do that, I propose attacking that cruiser with all four of our warships at once. We approach her with the
Nasr
and the
Beastie
first and while they're in the process of trying to figure out who we are, we bring the
Perseus
and the
Asimov
in through the hyperlink zone. Our first shots will be aimed at the cruiser's communications dishes. Then we take her out. A surprise attack from four ships at point blank range should allow us to do enough damage to overcome her.
Nasr
and
Perseus
each have a few missiles left and the
Beastie
and the
Asimov
are both equipped with some very powerful pulse weapons.

"
What about all those destroyers?"

"That
may not be as bad as it looks at first glance. From our intel, we expect the destroyers to be posted near the Nexus station but no more than two or three of them will have been kept on alert. After we take out the cruiser we jump in system to take on the active destroyers, again with all four of our warships. With the cruiser out of the fight, they might have an advantage in ship numbers but we should be at least their equal in firepower. If we take them by surprise we should have a decisive advantage by the time they can get any of their remaining ships into the fight.

"That's a lot of 'ifs,' Commander," said someone from the back of the room.

"It will have to be a well-coordinated attack," replied Kresge, "We might even be able to take the destroyers on in a straight up fight but I don't intend to do it that way. My plan is to get up close to them and get as many shots into them as we can before any of them have a chance to raise shields or fire back. It's exactly the same tactic that they used to take control of the Nexus Station in the first place."

"This
plan could work but, as you say, it will have to be a very well-coordinated effort!"

"Of that there is no doubt," replied Kresge.

"So, once we've neutralized the Sheik's navy, what's next?"

As I was saying, b
efore we attack any of his ships, we will need to have infiltrated the station itself. Clancy Davis-Moore has been communicating with friends there who are members of the Resistance forces on the station. First, we use the ships that are believed to be part of the Sheik's forces to put as many of our people onto the station as we can. When the attack on the Sheik's navy is launched, we also launch our initial attack on his forces within the station itself. If we can secure the central spindle of the Station we can keep the enemy bottled up until we can get the rest of our manpower, those on the mining ships and the other two freighters, transferred onto the Station. At that point we should have the numbers to force the issue. We then cut power to the tenth ring and wait them out."

"So your
plan will be to use the
Nasr
and the two freighters to infiltrate the Nexus?"

"Yes," replied Kresge
, "We tell them that the
Nasr
is carrying wounded from an altercation out in the Oneida system and that should grant them easy access to the station."

"I thought you were going to jump the
Nasr
and the
Beastie
in to attack the Cruiser."

"
That's only partially correct, the
Nasr
will have to microjump back out to the hyperlink zone, on the pretext that she needs to head back with a load of repair parts and to pick up the remaining wounded survivors from the Oneida system. We intend to have the
Beastie
pose as a cargo ship carrying repair parts for
Nasr's
damaged companion ships.
Nasr's
arrival back in the hyperlink zone will be our signal to launch our attack. With the Sheik's navy neutralized, the
Donegal
and the
Glendaloch,
the
Dingo
and the
City of Darwin
will jump into the system loaded with the rest of the invasion forces that we'll need to take back the station."

"This
just might work."

"I won't try to minimize the danger," said Kresge, he looked around the room, "There is a
damned good chance that some of us will be wounded and that some of us will be killed. The price of Freedom has never been cheap. I don't expect that this situation will be any different. Remember this: If we can defeat this Sheik of Barsoom at the Santana Nexus station, we will have eliminated the threat he and his forces pose to the freedom of millions, if not billions, of people. Or we can cower out here, reasonably safe in the Scrapyard, while the Sheik does what he wants in the rest of the Quadrant."

"How soon do you want to start implementing this plan?"

"If we're going to have a chance of making it work, we need to start immediately. The Sheik's big meeting is scheduled for the day after tomorrow. We have to have everything in place by then."

"Looks like we'd better get started!"

"Amen!" said Kresge.