Chapter 4: The Mollusks

Jason was restless. He had a premonition that they needed to urgently return to Earth. He decided to mobilize those ships in the fleet that had been upgraded, and could go to Earth along with them. He wanted everybody to be loaded and ready for trouble. He didn’t think that they needed all their troops. Most of the fleet was ready. He called to speak to Ouma Chatzke.

“Ouma Chatzke, I have had many premonitions about events to occur. I currently have a very strong premonition about something related to Earth. I sense a danger. So far, I have not had any false alarms, but I am disturbed by this one and I feel that I must bid you farewell long before I wanted to leave. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you and your bugs you have done for me.

“What is it that you feel this time Jason?” Ouma Chatzke asked.

“I feel very great danger heading to Earth.

“Ouma Chatzke, Jason’s premonitions have been frighteningly accurate in the past. I’m sure that he does not know how his calibration settings are following all of these upgrades, but if he feels something we always act on it exactly as he perceives it,” added Andrea.

“Jason I would like to send a fleet of warships along with you in case we are dealing with a more formidable enemy. These are dangerous times. I know that we are sending some cargo ships with you to earth and they deserve our protection as well on this important inaugural mission,” said Ouma Chatzke.

“My sense is that we will encounter advanced beings and your fleet will be incredibly valuable, I do greatly appreciate your support particularly after everything you have done for me,” said Jason thankfully.

“Jason, my boy, as Emperor Cassius says in his own inimitable style, it is a pleasure. I fear we are progressing into bleak times and as in the past there are also probably other hidden players who are yet to surface,” said Ouma Chatzke. “The puppet masters hide in the shadows.

“In every war there are hidden puppet masters who only emerge when the puppets are broken or the show ends.” Ouma Chatzke intoned.

“Both of our intelligence people established that there were clearly different beings of considerable power that spoke to the priests. The priests had a long history of playing one faction against another. The poison that they obtained was from the group who always wore their golden armored suits. I don’t know why they are dominating my thinking, but these premonitions have tended to be correct and I want you to have all the information that is passing through my mind in an unfiltered way,” said Jason pensively.

“I had already been thinking of sending a fleet as a precaution with the cargo ships, now I have a good reason to send a full war fleet.” Ouma Chatzke said.

She ordered a rapid mobilization that included millions of troops. She said that her ships would catch up with Jason’s within seven or eight hours and they had the technology to communicate with Jason’s ships while in flight.

“Jason do you have any idea where we should enter Earth’s solar system?” Andrea asked.

“Andrea I don’t have a clear vision of that yet. I suspect that things are not yet in place for our enemy. Closer to the time I’m sure that I will have a better idea,” said Jason thinking deeply. Matters are still evolving.

Jason continued to feel restless during the flight. The ships flying out of Porquenta and Mars were carrying twenty-million troops. Most of the ships had been through the docks and were equipped with shields engines and equipment that were at the level of bug or Porquenta’s equivalent technology. They had also undergone considerable training on Porquenta and Mars, though the training was a little less advanced than that obtained on Charassa. Jason began to have strong feelings that they needed to assemble outside of the solar system, engage sensors, send probes, and evaluate before moving towards earth.

Images of warriors in golden suits in ovoid ships battling insects flooded through his mind. He knew these warriors in golden suits were a species bent on conquest as were the cockroaches.

“I have convened this meeting before we reach the earth system in half an hour and I am broadcasting this simultaneously to the bugs, and to Ouma Chatzke. We are going to see a space battle between the cockroaches and those warriors who are responsible for poisoning the Empire. They also participated in the previous intergalactic war and they are as evil as the cockroaches.”

Fifty-seconds later the probes showed a massive battle occurring between two fleets between Saturn and Uranus.

Andrea and the bug Admiral Margula Srepta talked to each other as if they were both on the same bridge. They each could be simultaneously on each other’s bridge and every hologram they saw was doubled giving a dual perspective if they were in different locations. They rapidly agreed that the ships that they recognized from the one fleet were definitely cockroaches. Normally they would have assisted the second fleet assuming that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. In this case they agreed that it was more appropriate to let them fight it out.

Jason had a further suggestion.

“They appear to be reasonably well matched: the AI’s have indicated that they have lost similar numbers of ships. There are three of the golden ships hanging back behind one of the Moon’s. One of them looks battleship size and the other two very much smaller are large frigates or destroyers. I have called in the dogs. I would like us to attempt to capture them as I believe that the information that we will gather is going to be of paramount importance to the future.

“Looking at the probes, the progress is quite slow. Let us take advantage of them concentrating on the battle while we take them out and collect information. There may also be some value in doing the same with a large cockroach ship if they are in a suitable location. We need the information as to why both are here, and what their purposes are. My senses are picking up evil thoughts and malign intentions from both sides. The chances that we are in error, is less than nil.”

Both admirals conferred rapidly with their aides and agreed with Jason. Mixed bug and human teams agreed to work together and launched combined team attacks on both sets of ships. Rover nudged Jason and flooded his head with images. Jason indicated that he had strongly considered the dogs and still was keeping them in mind; however he had not had the opportunity of having them work with the bugs. He did say to Andrea and Linda that they should consider if things were not going well to use the dogs. Jason said he was inclined to send them through both ships with Marine AI’s just before the teams made their assaults. This was discussed with the bug Admiral who felt that there was little to lose. Rover and his troops were delighted to have some action. Jason warned him that the golden warriors might be energy beings who could harm the dogs. Rover indicated that he knew these golden warriors. They had encountered them during the wars in the past. They knew the strategies to kill them. He said that the dogs were not vulnerable in any way to the cockroaches, though they hated their foul flavor. He also indicated that for some reason cockroaches only used the boars on land not on ships.

A few minutes before the boarding ships were to impact on their targets Jason sent the hounds and marines to shatter all opposition and capture strategic senior people for incarceration. They were all taken to an agreed bug ship with high level capture, incarceration, and interrogation facilities.

The use of the dogs proved to be very important as was the level of incarceration. There were very highly trained troops on all the ships. By the time the boarding parties were on board their opposition was both terrified and many injured or dead. The dogs captured the senior leadership, which in both cases were the admirals in charge of the one of the roaches the other a golden, to the bug battleship where they were held in stasis facilities. For that reason alone, the presence of the bug’s fleet had been essential. The boarding parties were successfully able to gain control of functional ships with fully intact operating AI’s.

The remaining damaged ships were boarded with senior naval officers sent back for interrogation. Not a single ship escaped. Both fleets had blocked all emerging communication. Ouma Chatzke was informed of the conflict and a time was made to discuss issues further the next day when the results of interrogations would be known.