Chapter 10

I have no idea how he did it, but AI kept a tag on the Earth fleet and popped us into hyperspace at Warp 4 just in time to put us just ahead of the leading spaceship of the fleet. We had a canned message ready to send to all of the ships of the fleet. The message said:

"We are representatives of the people currently living on Wolf-439 iv, and we demand that you halt your intent to destroy our civilization. If you do not stop immediately your advance on Wolf-439 iv, we will take action to stop you. Don't fool yourselves; we have the capacity to attack you in hyperspace and will destroy you if you continue on your current path.

"If any of you wish to join us on Wolf-439 iv, we would welcome you. However, you must know that doing so will make it physically impossible for you to return to Earth. Your bodies will change so that you cannot live anywhere but Wolf-439 iv. We can accept an unlimited number of people of both genders, and we would like to have you join us. Drop into normal space, and we will make arrangements to transfer you to your new home.

"Again, take heed. We will destroy any ship that does not stop advancing on Wolf-439 iv."

That was a long message, but it represented the minimum amount of information that we wanted the people of Earth to have. We did not think that it was fair to expect them to make a decision with any less information. Sure, the statement that anyone who joined us would be stuck on Wolf-439 iv was not really true, but we were using that to make the people who returned to Earth believe that all they had to do to exterminate us was to attack our current home.

As expected, the fleet did not make any course changes or do anything else to cause us to believe that they were aborting their mission. I said, "Okay, AI, line us up for the first shot." AI had complete remote control of the Gray Ghost, so there would be no errors in shooting caused by a Wolfian interface.

AI acknowledged my command and we could tell that the fighter made some tiny adjustments in its position and angle in reference to the fleet. Moments later, there was a slight jar as the first kinetic torpedo was launched. Of course, we could not see its flight or impact with the leading Earth spaceship, but we did see the results of the impact via our computer displays.

The whole front section of the target spaceship simply disappeared. We hoped that the automatic doors in the rest of the ship closed and sealed properly in order to preserve the lives of the rest of the crew. There was a secondary control center aboard the spaceship, so it could still be controlled to turn it around and head it back to Earth. We were waiting to see what would happen.

Another canned message was broadcast by FTL radio to the fleet. "You have seen what we can do, and we can do the same thing to the other ships in your fleet. Turn around now or drop into normal space. Anything else will result in your destruction. Next time, we will destroy the whole ship."

There were five ships left in the fleet. Two of them dropped into normal space and three others turned around. However, the sixth remaining ship did neither. We couldn't imagine what they thought might happen, but I used the mental communication device to say, "Okay, Ed, it's your turn."

Ed acknowledged my command and turned control of the Puddle Jumper over to AI. Moments later, that recalcitrant ship ceased to exist for all practical purposes. AI continued to follow the three retreating spaceships with a small part of his capabilities while we dropped into normal space to deal with the two spaceships that had surrendered.

One of these ships was simply a cargo vessel, the Thomas Hardy, filled with various logistical supplies, but the other ship was a full fledged war ship, the Ivan Smirnov, the size of a cruiser. Obviously, we had to deal with the fighting ship first, so the freighter was told to hold its relative position until we could get to it.

"AI, can you tell me what has been going on with the cruiser?"

"As nearly as I can tell, there has been a general mutiny led by a very junior officer. He must have been planning this for some time, because all of the senior officers are dead, and he seems to have a group of junior officers and enlisted men acting as a body guard."

"Okay, I get the general picture. Let's see if I can get some useful information from them."

I had Sue tune to the intership communication channel. I picked up the microphone and said, "Our sensors indicate that there has been a change in leadership on the Ivan Smirnov. If so, will the current leader please communicate with me? I am Andrew Higgins, commander of this attack unit."

The delay was short. "Captain Higgins, this is Acting Captain John Winters. We have most of the ship under our control, and we would like to defect to your side. Please tell us what we have to do to effect that."

"Okay, John, let's start out by getting rid of the formal bullshit. You can call me Andy like everybody else does, and I will call you John, unless you have another name you would prefer me to use. How many people of each sex do you have who want to join us?"

"That's fine with me, Andy. We have 731 men and 695 women who want to defect. Can you handle that many people?"

"Yeah, that is a lot to assimilate at one time, but we can handle you. Does everybody understand that there will be no going back once you commit to us? Your bodies will change so that you can no longer eat Earth food. That will be the first change, but there are others that are equally significant. By the way, we call ourselves Wolfians because we are no longer exactly human.

"If anybody wants to change his or her mind, they only have about 10 minutes to do it. Oops, no, they have longer because I have not yet talked to anybody aboard the freighter. The time limit is about 10 minutes after that. For practical purposes, once a person sets foot on Wolf, it is too late to change their mind. Please make sure that they all know what the choice is and when it can no longer be changed."

"Okay, Andy, but that may take a bit longer that I had estimated. Can we extend the time limit?"

"Oh, hell, yes. But don't string it out too long. Anybody who wants to return to Earth can be accommodated if they don't stall too long."

"All right, I will push for a quick answer. I'll get back to you as soon as I have a handle on things. Ivan Smirnov out."

That ended that conversation. Now it was time to talk to the other ship. I was pretty sure that they were smart enough to listen in on the previous conversation, so all I said was, "Thomas Hardy, are you on the line?"

"Yes we are, Captain Higgins. This is Commander Helen Sofler. May I call you Andy, also?"

"Sure, Helen, go ahead. We Wolfians tend to be very informal under most circumstances, and this is a good place for you to start. Do you and your people want to join us?"

"We sure do! You have no idea how screwed up Earth has become since the latest government took over. We are sick of it, and none of us have any ties to Earth that would make us want to return. What do you want us to do?"

"Just agree to go along with our customs which are much less formal and restricted than Earth has had for years. We are big on personal freedom, and the only requirement is that no one hurts anyone else. How many of you are there?"

"This ship is so automated that the human crew is very small. We have 37 men and 49 women, including me, who want to join you. That is the entire crew, and there are no doubters."