Tomorrow's Paradise World: Colonize (13 page)

He knew that Victor Marcus and Ambassador Taerg Esidarap would likely be among those he would try to convince. This made him nervous. Victor Marcus he had to admit, was a formidable opponent. Victor, would be very prepared for these negotiations. He decided he would make them as brief as possible.

He turned to his communications officer and said, “Mister Richards, open a channel to the moon base and hail them.”

“Yes sir.”

In a moment, he saw three individuals staring back at him. Two were familiar and one was not. He immediately recognized Victor Marcus and Ambassador Esidarap. He did not recognize the female. She was young, beautiful and had a pleasant smile on her face. She was obviously, one of the natives from the planet. The color of her skin, indicated this. She was also sitting beside Victor Marcus, in a room with various electronic equipment surrounding them. Ambassador Esidarap on the other hand was on the bridge of the
Luminous
. Captain Anderson absorbed all of this in a fraction of a second, but before he could speak, Victor Marcus beat him to it.

“Captain Anderson, I would say, what a pleasant surprise, but that is not true.” Victor leaned forward, smiled, raised an eyebrow and continued, “We have been expecting you.”

“Hello Mister Marcus. Our scans indicate that there are only four hundred and six people now on the base. Where are the rest of my people?”

“I am sorry, but I am afraid that most of them are unavailable at the moment.”

“That does not answer my question. Where are they?”

“Some are here, but most of them are on the planet living among the peaceful villages. Do not worry, I would like to assure you that no harm has come to any of them.”

“Mister Marcus, because of your actions seven years ago, our colonization efforts have been set back by more than that amount of time. However, let me assure you, that your betrayal has not permanently prevented us from colonizing this moon. Eventually, all the habitable places in this solar system will be under our protection.”

“We shall see, Captain.”

“You will answer for your crimes, when we cast you before the authorities on Homeworld.”

“Captain, you know I will not be returning to Homeworld. This is not your intention at all. Your aims shall be thwarted today.”

“You are powerless to stop this Mister Marcus,” he said angrily, “you will submit.”

“As I said, we shall see.”

Calming himself Captain Anderson said, “Let us put this argument aside for the moment. We would like to negotiate with the government that exists below, on the planet. The Grand Council, I believe they are called.”

“I am afraid that will not be possible, as well. You see, they have no communication equipment at hand and you cannot take your ships down there to meet them, because it will disrupt the lives of the villagers. Nevertheless, my friend ambassador Taerg Esidarap has been granted the authority, to speak for them. I suggest that you negotiate with him.”

“This is completely unacceptable,” he said with a frustrated tone, while shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

“I am afraid it is your only choice.”

“Nonsense, it is not my only choice, but in the interests of solving this dilemma, I will address the Ambassador.” Looking at Taerg he said, “Ambassador Esidarap, is there any possible way, that we can offer our services and allow your people to come under the shelter of the Kastat people? We certainly can offer you many advancements in technology that will make the village life of your people more productive.”

Taerg smiled and said, “Thank you very much for your generous offer Captain. In return for this generosity, what would you expect?”

“Our desire has not changed, Ambassador. We would like to colonize the habitable moon that orbits your lovely paradise world.”

“I am sorry, but the position of the grand council on that matter, has likewise not changed.”

“Surely there must be a way. Would you say Ambassador Esidarap, that there is any way at all their position on this matter would change?”

“Nothing comes to mind. In fact, I would say that there is no way for their position to change concerning this.”

Captain Anderson’s facial expression turned into an ice cold stare. “That is very unfortunate. Have you seen the fleet that accompanies this mothership?”

Taerg kept smiling and said, “You will have to address Victor Marcus about such concerns.”

“Excellent,” Victor thought. Taerg handled that very well. They had been practicing just such possible exchanges for the last two weeks. They wanted to keep him off balance, by being very swift in answering all of his questions. Effectively doing so in a fully optimal way.

Captain Anderson turned to Victor and said, “Mister Marcus, surely you have informed these people of the capabilities of this fleet.”

“Yes I have captain, and we have been well aware of your approach to this system. The arrival of your fleet in this sector was not a surprise. I would like to advise you not to take any aggressive action, against the villages on the planet or against this base. It would be in your best interests, to go back to your home world. Then you should discuss other options for colonization elsewhere, outside of this solar system. To take action against the friendly people here, would be an intractable mistake. It most definitely would leave you stranded in this sector, with no way to return.”

Captain Anderson replied with a slight chuckle, “Did you say, stranded? Do you think that we will be stranded? How preposterous, Mister Marcus. Have you not deliberated the probability of advancements and changes to our technology since we last met?”

“You have been mostly sleeping for the last six years. Homeworld would not have known anything about the situation here, until four years ago. Then they would have only a year to prepare the fleet and send you off on another escapade. Any so called advancements, would only be minor at best. Think about this Captain. We have been working hard for the last seven years, while you were sleeping away. Please believe me Captain, when I say that you have no chance of succeeding here today. If you take action against us, then your presumed power will be neutralized. Thereafter, the grand council will not allow you and the officers of your command crew to even live among the villagers here. You would be viewed as a palpable threat to our people. Without any way to return to Homeworld, where would you go? Please consider these facts, act logically and responsibly.”

“What could you have possibly achieved with almost no resources and only four hundred six people? You think that you can neutralize all of this? Besides this massive Mothership with over twenty four thousand people ready to begin colonization efforts, there are more than five hundred battleships at our disposal. All of them have the capability of returning home, without this mothership. How could you possibly neutralize all of this?”

“Captain, it does not matter how many ships you have. It will only take us a little longer, to accomplish what I have already explained to you.”

“How exactly will you achieve what you claim to be able to do?”

“Of course we cannot divulge such information, Captain. With all your tactical training, you should know that.”

“I can see, that it is useless trying to convince you to cooperate. So, I only have one more question for you. Who is the woman sitting beside you? Is she another ambassador?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I should apologize to the both of you, for not introducing her at the outset. Captain Anderson, let me introduce you to my wife, Ylil.”

Ylil smiled and said, “I am pleased to meet you.”

Captain Anderson, looked at her with a blank expression for several seconds. Then his expression changed into a smile and he laughed. It was a laugh that was obviously meant to humiliate them. He was laughing at them. Then he slowly shook his head and said, “My, you have been very busy for the last seven years, Mister Marcus.” Then he walked up behind his communications officer, reached over his shoulder and switched off the communication channel.

Taerg sighed, looked at them both and said, “Okay, I guess we should all take off and assemble into our battle formations. Squadrons two and three, let’s take off and keep alert.”

As they watched their three small squadrons leaving the base, Victor said, “I imagine Captain Anderson is watching them take off and continuing that miserable laugh he left us with. He probably imagines that he will crush them like little insects. Such arrogance has made him foolish.”

“Yes, arrogance will cause even the most intelligent men to do foolish things.”

“Is that another one of your wise sayings?”

“No, I just made it up.”

“Well, I think you are correct and if I ever get arrogant like that, please slap my face.”

Ylil chuckled and said, “You could never become that arrogant, but I can live with a little bit of it. You are the most intelligent man I have ever met. It is okay to know you are more intelligent than most of the people. However, you also need to always remember that this does not make you superior to them. People have other qualities or gifts that make them just as valuable as we are.”

Victor winked at her and said, “Did you just say that I am the most intelligent man you ever met? Don’t ever say that again. What are you trying to do, lead me down the path to arrogance?”

Ylil smiled and raised her hand pretending that she was going to slap him.

Chapter Fourteen: The Battle

As he watched the thirty two ships leave the moon base captain Anderson snorted and said, “Is that the extent of their forces? This may not take as long as we thought.”

He turned to Commander Robertson and said, “Inform the four squadrons on the far side of the planet that they may begin their mission. Advise them that the relay station for communication purposes has already been set up. Emphasize that we need to receive their report immediately, upon completion of their mission. Reiterate their mission to them. When they arrive at the designated quadrant of the planet they are to select village targets, one village per ship. They are not to target the villagers for now. The target is to be the well, near the center of each village. Destroy their water supply. Perhaps this will convince their grand council, to cooperate.”

“Yes, sir.”

He then turned to the weapons officer Mister Lewis and said, “Lieutenant, have one of our battleships target the hangar on the moon base and fire only one homing missile immediately. We will ignore their pitifully thin forces for now.”

“Yes sir.” It took the Lieutenant only about twenty seconds to have the missile sent off to its target.

As they watched its descent toward the hangar, Captain Anderson thought, “Now this will change their arrogant attitude.” He believed Victor would be surprised at the upgraded fire power of just one homing missile. There was the chance that some people would die in the hangar, but a strong lesson needed to be learned.

On the forward view screen they watched the missile from its own point of view as it approached the hangar. It was as if they were zooming in on it. However, when it was about five thousand meters away it suddenly exploded long before reaching its intended target.

“What just happened?”

“The missile detonated before reaching the target, sir.” Replied the Commander.

“I know that. Why did it detonate?”

“They must have some sort of shielding.”

“Really? I suppose that would be something we should expect, given the fact that one of the greatest scientists of our time is working against us. Very good Mister Marcus, let’s test the limits of your shielding. Mister Lewis, this time it will be three missiles and two laser turrets with sustained three second bursts, for a one minute’s duration.”

After a two minutes had passed by, Mister Lewis turned to the Captain and said, “Sorry sir, but our weapons seem to have no effect on them. Something else has happened as well. The missiles did not even detonate this time. They simply deflected off their shields and fell to the moon’s surface.”

“How is that possible?”

“Well, we were receiving data from the missiles right up until a few seconds before they hit the shields. Maybe, they have some sort of pulse that renders them inoperable.”

“How are they activating this pulse, when their shields are up? Such a pulse, would affect their own devices and weapons, would it not?”

“From what I understand about such technology, yes it would.”

“Why are they not crippling themselves then?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“The three missiles we sent at them all came from one battleship. Perhaps, it was easy to aim their pulse, when the missiles are coming from the same direction at the same time. It should be more difficult, when the missiles are coming at different times and from different trajectories. Mister Lewis, have three of our battleships make a run for the moon base from three different directions. Have them stagger their arrival time by fifteen seconds. Once they arrive at a distance of twelve thousand meters, they are to deploy three missiles each. Then upon approach, they are to fire their lasers with sustained three second bursts as they fly over, at an altitude of seven thousand meters.”

While the weapons officer was organizing all of this, the communications officer said, “Sir, we are being hailed by the moon base.”

“Put them on.”

Victor Marcus and his lovely bride stared back at him. Victor said, “Captain Anderson, if you are thinking about using your battleships to fly by our moon base while shooting at us, I would advise against it.”

“Why do you say that?”

“For the reason that if they are approaching us from different vectors then our pulses could also render their ships inoperable. With them flying at such low altitudes, if this happens, then they could crash causing the possible loss of life of some of your men.”

“Not to worry about that Mister Marcus. These officers have been trained for such dangerous missions. They are aware that they could get shot down. It is their duty to comply with such orders.” He then indicated for his communications officer to cut communications with the base. “Continue on, my orders still stand.”

Seven minutes later the weapons officer said, “Captain, the battleships are nearing the target. The first one will start firing their weapons in a moment.”

Captain Anderson turned his attention to the various views on the main view screen. The first ship fired their weapons and they were all neutralized before hitting the shields. That was disappointing. However, the next ships’ missiles were not neutralized and they detonated against the shields. The third ship also fired its weapons with the same result as that of the second ship. However, this ship also flew through the pulse beam. It continued on its last trajectory right into the side of a steep hill. The ship exploded in a large fireball of fury. No chance of survivors. There was silence on the bridge.

Commander Joseph Robertson decided to get more involved at this point, so he said, “Sir I recommend that we stop firing on this moon base. The squadrons on the far side of the planet are presently hitting them where their weak spot is. The primitive villages. We could move our battleships away from the base, out of the possible range of their pulse device. Then, we wait for the report of the four squadrons firing on the villages. After they see what is really at stake concerning the villages they may acquiesce and cooperate with our colonization efforts.”

“Commander, we already are waiting on this mission report.” Then he turned to his communication officer and said, “Please have them report immediately, Mister Richards. We need that information.”

“Yes sir.”

Then turning back to face the commander he said, “I agree that we need to move our battleships to make sure they are out of the range of the pulse devices for now, so please recall them. Also tell the fleet to adjust their current position to ten thousand kilometers from the base, one hundred kilometers may be too close. We do not know the range of their pulse devices. We don’t know what other traps there are and with Victor Marcus, there are bound to be more.”

He next addressed his helm officer, “Miss Stuart, please adjust our position too. Make sure you maintain our invisibility. In the meantime, while we are waiting for the squadrons to report on their activities on the far side of the planet, Commander Robertson and I will discuss a plan of action. Mister Robertson please join me in the tactical room.”

*              *              *

Victor was staring at the face of his friend Taerg on the view screen in front of him. He slowly shook his head and said, “I am sorry my friend, but he would not listen. He has caused three of his people to put themselves in harm’s way and they paid for it with their own lives. He did this even after being specifically warned about the exact consequences. Those battleships normally have a three person crew. They do have a manual ejection device, but there was no time for that.”

“Victor, I know you wanted to have no loss of life. We all wanted that. However, did you honestly expect that to happen? I think that even the grand council do not expect that. So far we have made all efforts possible to achieve that aim, but we cannot control every reckless action of these people. Especially when they unreasonably act against their own interests and safety. Your simulation program that we have been training on, has clearly shown us this. I think now is a good time to start neutralizing their battleships, so that they do not foolishly cause many others to dutifully kill themselves.”

“Yes, you’re right, they have moved farther away, out of the range of our pulse devices. They realize that intimidation, did not work. Now would be the right time when they are planning their next move. At least at their present location, they will not be on a crash course with anyone but possibly themselves or your shielded ships. Less risk for them, is a more desirable outcome. We will be watching, to advise you on anything that may help. I am afraid it’s all in your hands now my friend.”

As Victor turned off communication with Taerg, he felt Ylil hold his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. He smiled and squeezed hers back.

*              *              *

Taerg shook his head sadly as he thought about the people that had already died, in the battle that was only just beginning. He was determined to neutralize this entire fleet before his eyes hopefully without the loss of a single life. He would do his very best to achieve this, just as Victor had while realizing it was an unlikely prospect. He gazed at the enormous fleet. He realized that this battle, would be a long one. He wondered if what Victor said was true, concerning another part of the fleet separated from this one. If so, he hoped it was small. He focused his mind on the task at hand and on the battle, that he had spent years training for.

The battle formation was not exactly like the simulated battles, but it was remarkably similar. Victor sure was an intelligent man, a genius really. He was glad Victor was on his side of the battle and that he was his friend. He also realized that there were many individuals on the mothership that were innocent. Now they were caught up in a battle that probably, they did not know was going to happen. He did not want these people harmed. His three squadrons approached from three different directions as planned. They stayed out range of one another’s pulse devices. Taerg’s heart began to beat faster. He felt his muscles tense.

They were to maintain their positions and fire the beam on any ships that approached their individual squadrons. He knew that this first stage of the battle would take hours. They would all be completely exhausted, by the end of this day. He wished he had some of that malt drink that Victor introduced him to, seven years ago.

*              *              *

Captain Anderson was asking for the report of the four squadrons of battleships that he had sent to the far side of the planet to destroy the wells in each village, when the communication officer interrupted him. “Captain I am receiving the report from our relay station right now. Their mission goal, has not been achieved. The leaders of each squadron say the same thing. That their weapons have no effect on any of the villages they fire upon. They say the villages are all shielded. They have fired upon the wells of over five hundred villages with the same result.”

“How could all the villages have their own individual shields?”

“I do not know sir.”

“Perhaps these shields are not as powerful as the ones on the base. Tell them to pick a medium sized village and all four squadrons are to fire upon it simultaneously to destroy their shields. Then they must destroy their well. Tell them to report immediately once they have completed this task.”

“Yes sir.”

“Sir.”

“Yes, Mister Lewis. Please tell me you have some good news.”

“There are three squadrons approaching the fleet from different directions.”

“Put them on the view screen.”

“Yes, sir.” Almost immediately the three squadrons appeared at a distance.

“Magnify the views, so we can see the individual ships more clearly.”

Closer views of the three squadrons appeared before him. “It appears that they are not approaching, Mister Lewis. They seem to be just waiting there.”

“Yes sir, as you were speaking, they reversed their engines and stopped.”

“They are probably waiting for us to make the first move. It looks like each of their squadrons have ten ships except that one with the larger ship. It has twelve. Thirty two ships. Each squadron has a tight configuration. The odds are overwhelmingly against them. It is hard to believe that they would foolishly approach such a fleet as this. We will have to teach them an unforgettable lesson for taking this unwise action against us. Commander Robertson, send five squadrons against each of their squadrons. Order these fifteen squadrons to surround them and pummel them with weapons continually, until there are no active ships in their squadrons. Even though this is a very feeble threat, let’s be cautious and decisively neutralize it.”

“Yes, sir.”

*              *              *

Victor looked at the view screens in front of him and noticed movement among some of the battleships of the fleet. It appeared that three large sections of battleships were separating from the rest. He immediately communicated this to Taerg who thanked him for this valuable information. Taerg said they were ready. Victor knew they were all ready as they could be.

As each of the five squadrons surrounded them, the individual ships in Taerg’s three squadrons adjusted the position of their ships until they were all pointing outward. Defiantly facing the approaching battleships. Whenever a ship came within range, the computer on each ship indicated which ship should fire its pulse to neutralize the approaching ship. It worked very well. All the while, they were being subjected to continuous fire from the ships that had not been neutralized yet. Their shields absorbed all this with no problem.