Chapter 11: Hunting for Nimrod Khong

Jason explained in some detail everything that he had learnt about locating the ancients.

“I think it’s now time to take over the planet. I would like to meet with the Jumo, to see if we have an agreement. I’m not going to say we are here in force. We need to be on the surface to search for Nimrod Khong,” said Jason

They met with Cephas and his group in an attempt to make an agreement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I think it’s time to decide what we do next. I will ask General Morgan James to summarize our usual arrangements with the Empire, and our proposal to you,” Jason said, waving General James forward.

“I’m very pleased that all of you are returned to us in good order. I will simply propose to you our usual arrangements that we make with the Empire, when we are commissioned to take a planet or to defend a planet,” said General Morgan James. “For example we expect to have salvage rights to the fleet around the planet and I would consider how the planet could remunerate us.

“Usually a planet pays us in Empire credits over an agreed time. We have no way of dealing with your currency, so we would have to consider other options for remuneration that could include a share of the planet. Alternatively, we could take payment in goods or services over time. Jason is not keen to take control of any of your assets. On the other hand, Jason tells me that we could make good use of the asteroid for shipbuilding, and could assist in an uplift of technology for you. That is something of potential mutual benefit.

“Our lawyers believe that you are best protected from the Empire if we have a small share of Yimza. If we have some interest, it will at least protect the planet from attack and revenge by the Empire. My Lord Kargo is very reluctant to have any control of your future or your destiny. He would prefer to pay a lease on the asteroid, rather than take the equivalent of the future assets and profit of the planet. He has said if you are determined to enjoy the protection of his house by giving him a share, he would guarantee that you would be able to buy back your share if the arrangement no longer suits either party on pre-agreed terms,” Morgan said. “He does not want you to feel that you are mortgaging your future and that of your children.”

Janus smiled at Cephas. Cephas leaned forward supporting his head on his right hand. He seemed about to speak, hesitated, then leaned forward before speaking earnestly.

“We have often speculated as to whether we would be better off under the rule of the Empire. The taxation rates, as we understand them, are a few percentage points lower than our current regime. However, we don’t know whether the Empire will exact any punishment upon us. We suspect that they will take our planets and we’ll become subjects of the Empire, whether we like it or not; and that goes for the entire set of planets that constitutes the Tentacles.

“On the other hand, we don’t know anything substantive about this fleet or about the people that you say can do the necessary in order for us to retake our planet. May we take measure of these forces so we may be able to more readily make the necessary decisions for the future of our people? I thank you, Jason, for helping us escape the vicious clutches of Nimrod Khong.”

“We are ready to start the planetary attack or to withdraw if you so wish. We have ample forces to take the planet. We can do the necessary, and if we fail you give us nothing,” Jason replied. “You have had ample opportunity to meet us and take our measure. This is the team that will do the necessary. This is the team that fought off The Mob, wherever required by the Empire. Any deal you make will be directly with me, Jason Kargo, and with no other. I have no interest in directly running anything. I don’t want power, nor do I want to tell you what to do.

“A planetary invasion is an expensive business and I want to be reimbursed for what our fleet and our people do for you.

“We would also like to meet your deposed Emperor, and we’ll be happy to make the same offer to him once you have freed the remainder of your own planets. Our offer is, at this stage, simply that we’ll help you retake Yimza.

“My hope, however, is to make use of space in the asteroid. We are also happy to facilitate your technological advancement and to work with you. I hope to work with you as allies and as friends.

“We’ll also offer you the opportunity to send scientists to Porquenta to work with us and we are happy to look at people wanting to settle on Porquenta and on Mars,” said Jason. “In fact I’m happy to take all of your troublesome people off your hands. Cephas, perhaps you will represent your group and let’s know your thoughts?” Jason asked.

“Jason, ladies and gentlemen, we have had extensive discussions amongst ourselves and believe,” said Cephas emphatically, “it is essential that we establish our agreement with you to move forward as quickly as possible. If in fact the secret police were able so quickly to capture us, it’s only a matter of time before they will mop up most of our colleagues.

“Thanks to your help, we have made our people aware of what happened to us and what your role has been. They are on full alert, and many have moved to secret locations where we have caches of weapons and equipment. They are mobilizing for action. We’ll agree to form an alliance with you as you proposed with one proviso. We would like you to become a shareholder in our planet, and subsequently in all the planets where the Jumo reside if you agree to assist us in retaking those planets.

“This would make you both allies and partners with us. We’ll agree ahead of time on the percentage of the planetary income your shareholding will encompass at the start of the agreement. These shares can be re-purchased at pre-agreed valuations if the arrangement is not to either one or other parties’ satisfaction at a later date. We envisage a long term relationship. We believe that this arrangement will be clearly to our mutual benefit.

“We have taken the liberty of asking the AI of the ship, with your legal department’s permission, together with Perdita, who also has a legal background; to prepare the document. We have had it ratified by your legal people and hope that we can sign this forthwith and proceed with a full planetary mobilization. This will also trigger actions on all the other planets.”

“We’ll need forces to support the other planets,” said Cephas. “We most urgently need to rescue the Emperor, who was placed on the planet that is now most distant to Yimza in the entire Tentacles. We would like to rescue him, before the invasion of any other planet occurs. The Emperor is the soul of our people. He prefers to call himself a king. At the time he was in power we were a small kingdom. Now he will find he has an Empire.

He and his whole group stood at attention as they declared, “To the Emperor, long may he live.”

“We’ll also accept your invitation to send scientists to Porquenta and we’ll be happy for you to set up recruiting centers throughout our future Empire. Our Emperor is very much a figurehead, but is beloved by the population and I’m very sure that he will be delighted with this arrangement. He has, for many years, wished to have a closer relationship with the Empire.”

“Both Morgan James and I have gone through the document in great detail and it’s impeccably fair,” said Admiral Peter Kane confidently, “and in many ways is a very clever move that suits both parties. Jason, your house acquires shares in an entire future empire now known as the Tentacles, and you acquire a great future ally. They gain an ally that changes their lives many years earlier than they could have expected, and gain access to superior technology. They’ll be immune to Empire encroachment, and can continue to control their own destiny.

“The more technology and assistance that we give them, the greater our mutual profit. This is a powerful win-win situation. The triggers for dissolving the partnership require mutual agreement and a clear divergence of purpose which is very unlikely to occur. I strongly support this agreement as does Morgan.”

Jason signed the document after confirmation was received from the legal team that the document was to their satisfaction. They confirmed that the document was the document that they had seen and agreed upon. Each person placed their identifiers upon the document consisting of thumbprint and retinal identification to confirm their signature.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I could not be happier that we have reached agreement and will be partners. We have worked well together, and have a common purpose. It will be our pleasure to ally with you, and return control to the Jumo of their planets,” said Jason smiling at Janus and his group, “Let’s celebrate our agreement, tonight.”

Janus and his group returned to their wardrooms.

“Matilda, I wonder if you could give us a summary of the information you have collected,” asked General Linda Andrews of General Matilda MacArthur.

“First of all I’m pleased to tell you that our troops are on the way back including Celia and Felicia. Porquenta sent us formidable fleets of reconditioned and refurbished ships to fetch them, as he had promised. He has gone right over the top, by refurbishing fifteen battleships, ten carriers, forty cruisers and seventy destroyers, and along with the six million troops that are returning, he has added three million of a new generation of Marine AI, that he says are slight improvement on the originals. He says it’s purely a software upgrade and he has also added in improvement to their power supplies and has built a miniature shield that they can use that increases the effectiveness of armor.

“He says it’s the best that he can do in the available time that he’s had. More importantly he says that aside from the weapons upgrade that he already talked to you about, he found that he had the specifications to be able to improve the sensors to readily see any ship that belongs to the ancients including the Ghouls.

“He said that he desperately wants our ships back to improve the weapons, but he has also sent the information to our sensor operators to upgrade their equipment. It is apparently purely a software upgrade. They tell me it will take a couple of hours to upgrade our fleet.

“The new ships have newer and faster engines. I would propose that we send them to get the Emperor. They can take Cephas and whoever else he wishes along with them. They can deal with the planet and then come back here, bringing the Emperor. Cephas and the Emperor of the Jumo may enjoy watching the demise of Nimrod Khong.

“Our refurbished fleet is literally an hour away. I will brief them, shortly,” said Andrea, “immediately after we finish here. Linda can handle the invasion, though I suspect the locals will do a lot themselves.

“We have inserted all the military assets of the enemy into the battle computer, while removing those that we have already targeted. Now that we have Nimrod Khong on the run, I would suggest that we capture the leadership in the same way as we have captured the ships. Most of the rank-and-file military are probably friendlies.

“We can interrogate them and send them to Porquenta if they are hostile, but if they are Jumo or salvageable we can send them back to the planet if Cephas agrees. Following Jason’s work in the palace, we have hacked into their system and can infiltrate most if not all of the military and governmental institutions. We can take out the security of the planet, most of the military organization, and the government.

“We are searching the palace to find the entry to the tunnel system, but we want to damage the palace as little as is possible. it’s improbable from the information that Porquenta has supplied us that Nimrod is in the palace.

“Porquenta is sending sensors that can detect very low levels of biological activity and we’ll use these to search the palace. Our own sensor operators have been trolling through different frequencies to try and find Nimrod Khong, so far without any success. I further suggest that we obliterate any ships attempting to escape from the planet.”

Andrea deployed the fleet around the planet. Linda called in the Demon Hounds who were delighted with their proposed tasks. Linda instructed them and their Marines to remove the entire leadership from the military, and to bring back all the most senior government officials and administrators along with all other ruling parties from the palace and other identified government buildings.

Linda commenced the landing of their forces as soon as Cephas was able to communicate directly to his people on the ground as to what would be happening, and had tied them all into the battle AI.

Rover remained close to Jason. The Hounds began arriving and as they arrived were entered into the battle computer and reunited with their Marines or Marine AIs. Rover indicated with a number of excited images that there were a considerable number of other dogs who would also like to participate. He also showed that a number of the dogs very much liked their Marine AIs and were keen to spend more time with them later if this was permissible.

Within the hour, waves of dogs, Marines and Marine AIs made their way throughout the entire planet’s military then governmental infrastructure. They met remarkably little resistance and very rapidly returned with their captives to the ships. The cyberwarfare people had keyed into the implants of the soldiers on the planet, and awaited the appropriate communication to the soldiers to occur.

Politicians and senior administrators were rapidly processed to find the most senior within the government, other than Nimrod Khong. Jason was interested to see if Nimrod had taken the leaders of the planet with him in an attempt to rule from the equivalent of a bunker. This had not occurred.

Cephas and his group identified the most senior group, including the head of the dreaded intelligence division. Each person was isolated from the others and most painted a picture of either being forced to do what was commanded or be terminated. The telepathic interrogators separated out the incorrigible and the obvious collaborators with the Mob, and sent them under guard to Porquenta who was delighted to receive them and undertake the necessary personality transformation.

Cephas broadcasted to the planet that it had been returned to the original owners, but vengeance was not to be tolerated. The most senior of the guilty had been sentenced and sent away for incarceration. Cephas set up a commission to lead a reconciliation of the Jumo and the refugees.

Cephas suggested that Mob collaborators should be arrested and confined in appropriate facilities until they were tried. A small amount of sporadic fighting occurred ... more so within the bases, rather than between Jason’s forces and the ground forces within Yimza. Many Mob collaborators were assassinated.

Cephas had a disciplined force throughout the planet that emerged to take control and maintain order.

The secret police building was attacked by Cephas’ forces along with troops and dogs from the ships. Many of the resistance leadership were incarcerated awaiting interrogation. Many of the prisoners, who were well-known to Cephas, were found in the cells and were joyfully released.

The palace was thoroughly searched. They found multiple tunnels that linked the palace to the garrison, and some of the other close by military facilities. Meanwhile, other tunnels were found to link to the Parliament and a number of other government offices. No downward leading tunnels were found and no elevators were located during the first search that went down beyond basement two. A second much more detailed search was similarly unsuccessful.

The intelligence group with Perdita’s assistance began to hack into companies that undertook contractual work for the government.

Jason suggested that they approach some of the companies that undertook tunneling and also those mining companies who had the capacity to do deep searches. He was sure that technology had progressed a long way past that of Earth and that the tunnels could be located. He was sure that the mining companies were also aware of what possible substances lay beneath the surface, and could locate the most likely prospects for them.

“Cephas, we have asked your people to meet with us to talk about the recovery of the Emperor. I will hand this meeting over to Andrea, who will discuss the current situation with you.” Jason said smiling at Cephas and Perdita. “Then we can go to the gym. It’s been a busy day and we missed the gym this morning and I recommend we all go after this.”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, our elite second fleet has arrived. They travel ten times faster than we do, and can reach the Emperor in a day,” said Andrea.

“We need a team to go with us to advise us. The fleet will be led by Admiral Felicia MacDonald and General Celia Ford, who are returning with some of our forces from Callisto and Virgil.” Andrea continued.

“I will also go. Janus can deputize for me along with Perdita. Congressionella, you and Linus had better come along. You both know Norda reasonably well,” said Cephas.

“The forces on the planet are few, but the Emperor is well guarded by a garrison. We estimate ten thousand personnel, total. Our people are mobilizing now. They will fight fanatically for the Emperor. They have no fighter cover but do have tanks and gunships. We attempted to take the planet once before but the Fleet above ruthlessly pounded our people and one of the Generals of Nimrod brought in boars that tore our people to shreds.

“Thank you, Jason, for taking that general apart for us. He was a ruthless bastard. He continued killing and torturing our people for days.

“My people say there are two aged cruisers, forty planet based fighters, and perhaps five thousand ground troops remain of the garrison. The others were used to attack the Empire.

“Thank you all for what you have done. Your dogs reduced the bloodshed to a minimum and that is a blessing. Thank you for taking the criminals. It makes life easier. I’m pleased Porquenta can help them become better people. I will see you all soon I hope with the Emperor who is a great friend of many years. We go way back,” said Cephas.

“We are all quite stiff and tired. Let’s head off to the gym to rejuvenate. Come with us Janus, Boris, and Perdita, we are now partners in the new Jumo Empire and friends in the gym,” said Linda.

Jason was concerned Perdita was so affectionate to him. Linda and Andrea had also come along for a workout and although they were excellent in combat they were not in the same league as Perdita.

“Perdita you are all over Jason like a rash,” said Linda in the sauna teasingly leading Perdita to blush deeply.

“He is very shy and I think you’re going to have to chase him a little harder before you catch him after dinner, don’t worry we are happy to share him and his Warhammer.”

“Linda what is this Warhammer that you are talking about?” Perdita asked smiling broadly.

This led to an extended exceedingly embarrassing discussion about Jason’s strengths and ‘shortcomings’ with much emphasis on his sexual function as they all dressed. They all were feeling more energized and relaxed before dinner, except for Jason who worried about another woman to please!

They were joined by Janus and the rest of his reduced team for dinner. Cephas had returned to the planet. Chefs Robert and Marie had gone all out to produce a spectacular meal, accompanied for a change, by some of the best wines from the Empire. Both sides told stories about interesting experiences.

Andrea decided to tell the story in great detail of Jason’s encounter with the Pirates and in particular his use of communications satellites. Jason had briefly told them about the pirate attack but had not gone into any detail. Andrea made sure to embarrass him as much as she could in her inimitable and playful manner clearly indicating at the same time how impressed she had been with his creative defense.

Linda could not resist telling the story of Jason’s attack using his Warhammer on Porquenta, at the same time casting meaningful glances at a blushing Perdita. At the end of the meal, Andrea and Linda dragged Perdita along with Jason to his wardroom.

Perdita was clearly champing at the bit to get going once they got there. Her clothing disappeared in seconds and before Jason managed to remove his shirt she clamped her lips to his, kissing him passionately. Jason felt himself become firmly erect and was very aroused. She tore off his clothing and dragged him on top of her as she fell backwards onto the bed, laughing as they bounced.

“I don’t need any foreplay; I just want you in me now.”

Jason very slowly slid his way into her. He felt her convulse as she arched her back as she came.

“Again, I want it hard and fast, come on Jason I can’t wait!”

Jason felt Linda and Andrea moving onto the bed, giggling loudly as they moved to fondle Perdita’s breasts and kiss her neck. Jason kissed Perdita gently as he began to move slowly while she humped up at him frantically, pulling at his shoulders. He very slowly increased his pace before feeling her convulse beneath him again and go limp, briefly, before smacking him on his bottom to hurry up.

Jason had little sleep as all three women were wound up and demanded to be satisfied and when they had him completely exhausted attacked each other passionately. Jason woke in the morning to find all three of them partially lying on him leading to pins and needles in his arms and a left leg that felt completely dead. He gently moved out from between them and made his way to the refresher before waking them for a short session in the gym.

After breakfast Jason returned to his stateroom to continue his almost daily deep meditation discussions with Porquenta. These discussions had been greatly augmented by the contribution and participation of Winston. Jason usually talked to Winston a few times a day as he regarded him as a friend and a fine mentor.

Porquenta reported to Jason much as a very senior trusted employee would report to the boss, while Jason always treated Porquenta as more than his equal.