Chapter 14: Off to War

“No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.”

- Ronald Reagan

Jason left the meeting with Ixal, Lisirra and Corvus. He was joined by Julia, Perdita and Razza along with Kalalal and his team. They met with the excited Gromelix and went for a flight together for half an hour before they climbed into an assault frigate to fly to the updated Battleship waiting outside the asteroid.

“Your ship looks huge next to the other ships, except for the ships of the Parzool, Ghoul Titans and the Dhoom moon ships,” said Julia.

“It sure does,” said Jason. “Lisirra, I do think you created a good plan.”

“Jason, this changes nothing between us. Complimenting me will achieve nothing. I have been working on plans for a long time and this one was the culmination of many years of work. I hope we can cope with surprises along the way. My greatest fear is of spies in our ranks. The Grork hold their cards close to their chests,” said Lisirra. “They are clever sneaky bastards and manage to survive despite anything thrown at them.”

“You can’t blame me for trying, I don’t have a Zaos wife and I really need one badly. Perhaps you could recommend one of your sisters,” said Jason.

“Jason, you continue to say outrageous things. You have the most appalling morals and a profligate sexuality. How could I possibly recommend you to my sister?” said Lisirra. “I can’t even imagine how you could’ve said that. I don’t know what my father is going to make of you, but I would imagine he will be equally aghast when he hears about you and your behavior.”

“Yes, I can imagine what he will think. He might consider that you should join my harem. I wonder what a Zaos child of mine would look like. You’re not a bad looking woman, so I could imagine it would be a reasonable looking child. I assume your original body looked similar to how you look currently?” Jason asked.

“My original body was beautiful, and I was very happy with it. This chassis is an approximation of my size and appearance, but misses a substantial amount.

“It was difficult to move into such an ugly form to hide when we moved into that awful dimension. It is impossible to hide from one’s enemies forever. Our bodies are hidden in stasis vaults on the planets we came from in Albos.

“I am positive I will have beautiful children. I cannot wait to return to a proper biological body. Most of us chose not to procreate in that disgusting beast form, so our numbers barely increased,” said Lisirra. “Well here we are in the battleship. My cruiser will follow behind us.”

“Welcome Emperor,” said the Ship as they debarked from the shuttle. “I was fully briefed by the Collective admiral and by Porquenta. I am back to normal. Sheila found all the manufacturing facilities on the ship and was able to rebuild all the necessary parts, including a new generation of replicators. There was more than sufficient raw material to do what was needed and our supplies have been replaced from the asteroid belt. The original replicators have been rebuilt and everything is once again shipshape. I have several thousand-new cannon including those of Dhoom. They are amazing cannon.

“We have done a limited fit out of the interior. That was a lower priority.

“I have been thinking. The Safion are an impressive, intelligent, industrious people. They would not have been fooled by a Grork plot. I am sure not all of them have been killed!” Ship observed.

“Emperor, you and your team have an eight-hours stretch before you reach your target. We, the Uzliumbax knew the Ordreg in their earliest years. I will provide you with background information and the language as it was at the time. I will awake you one hour before you reach your target. Please make your way to the medical facility. All the medical pods have been repaired. I can both optimize you, educate and train you concurrently.”

“What are you going to do to my brain?” Lisirra asked suspiciously.

“Crown Princess, I was going to optimize your brain if that could be done, and I believe that I can increase your psychic powers. Both of you have potential by Uzliumbax standards, but you are both still beginners. The Grork are powerful, very old and experienced. I am sure you will not want to be vulnerable to another powerful psychic attack that may destroy you. Princess, if you prefer I will simply provide you with the education and training I have available in relation to your target. Your father’s intelligence service provided me with updated Ordreg language. It is not much different from how I knew it,” Ship told them.

“Ship, I am happy to hear that you can further increase my psychic powers and optimize my brain. If there is anything you can do to improve this current casing I would appreciate it as well.”

The team including Linda and Andrea the very short distance to medical and teleported into the pods. They emerged seven hours later. Lisirra walked into the room.

“I received an optimized new body. It looks pretty much the same as the previous one, but it is much stronger and the brain feels better. I have been in engineering to have a look at the facilities. I’ve never seen anything so magnificent in my entire life. This ship has an impressive manufacturing facility!” Said Lisirra.

“Thank you for your kind words. I replicated the entire facility for Porquenta and I provided him with the appropriate AIs to train his staff, maintain and operate it,” said Ship. I gave him the different replicators I have on board. I want you all to be able to move forward as quickly as is possible. All of you requested more information on the Uzliumbax and on the Safion. I have not provided detailed information as there is so much that I needed to give you and so much training relevant to your missions. As soon you have completed this segment of your mission, I will provide more information to you. I gave you a brief overview of both the Uzliumbax and the Safion.

“My visit unlocked more facilities and knowledge within Porquenta. Porquenta was blocked from his most advanced technologies until I arrived. As soon as I gave the replicators to him he unlocked more completely as did Mars and Venus.

We are in constant communication. For me it is a joyful time. I have the Emperor back and I can communicate with like-minded AIs. I will move you to the command and control facility. Andrea and Linda all your staff are in place.”

A second later they found themselves in the passageway adjacent to an open door where six sentries were standing on alert.

“Welcome to your new command and control facility. It looks better than it was when we first came on board,” said Sophie Stone, Jason’s head of personal security. “Lisirra, some of your guards have joined us, as have some of yours Ixal. They will take part in the defense of the room and the bridge if necessary.”

“How is our new fleet staffed, Andrea?” Jason asked.

“That is not a simple answer, let me provide some background. The size and firepower of this fleet is enormous, but it can be run by AIs alone if necessary. I understand there were equal numbers of people. A destroyer operates with a minimum of twenty thousand crew and battleships with a minimum of one hundred thousand.

“We thought we had three hundred ships. We began with forty battleships and miscellaneous cruisers, destroyers and frigates. That is what we saw leaving the planet. It is fortunate that we didn’t have the missiles to destroy the planet at the time we left. The big ships were buried on the other side of the planet. Ship didn’t know we didn’t know about them. We were followed by another three hundred capital ships, and when I say big they are enormous assault carriers, and dreadnoughts. They were carrying frigates, destroyers and endless fighters. Then a thousand cruisers followed. There were an additional five hundred Titan sized heavily armored cargo ships, big enough to carry cruisers and destroyers on board which they did and prodigious supplies. They were packed with ordinance, missiles, armor, gunships, shuttles and every industrial replicator you could imagine.

“This is the flagship. It is technically a dreadnaught. Ship tells me the others were more deeply buried. They arrived a day after the other ships. They stopped for repairs as ordered in Bekta Delta. They needed some Engineering help for one ship from the Una who kindly supplied it. Porquenta was in shock when they arrived even though ship alerted him. His repair facilities could not get many of them ready in time to join us and he told me he was going to surprise you when they are ready. He says you have more firepower than the entire combined forces of the allies at your disposal for the forthcoming battles and that excludes the rest of your fleet.

“He has another asteroid almost ready for shipbuilding, maintenance and repair. There was so much work he dispersed them to all the allies. He has sent ships for fit-out and refurbishment to the Jumo asteroid, some to the Collective and some to the other allies. They all get the opportunity to see the ships. The Orcs have excellent facilities Porquenta tells me. Cassius is wildly excited and went immediately to see the Dreadnaught and Carrier we sent to the Empire. One is going to your uncle’s dock, the other to the new asteroid facility Cassius has built. Ouma Chatzke and the Coven are taking most of the ships. They have the most suitable facilities and they have the people to help staff them. Porquenta says it is a public relations exercise, whatever that means. We left twenty from the original batch of ships behind that are not ready. The smaller ships were in better shape than the bigger ones and took much less work. All the interiors will need considerable work, but it wasn’t necessary to do it now.

“We decided to crew all the ships fully. Our crew are all learning and working with the Uzliumbax AIs. They are pleasant and helpful mentors and everyone is learning a considerable amount,” said Andrea.

“Andrea, I hope most of our women with babies decided to stay back home,” said Jason.

Linda and Andrea looked at Jason with hands on hips. “Jason most of them are here with us. We will continue to play our part. You know how the advanced societies work. We make sure our children have good care and we fight for what we believe,” said Linda angrily. “We are in the midst of a multiverse war. We can’t hold back our best resources. Sometimes I despair. You learn from the ancients about war and the necessary beliefs to succeed and then you revert. May we move on please?”

Jason slowly nodded.

“Porquenta is exploring all of the cargo ships which he is unloading to see what is in your new inventory. I have never seen him so excited. How he restrained himself when he spoke to you I don’t know, but he is desperate to surprise you. Every resource of all the allies was needed to prepare these ships. The Coven and Collective yards are very fast and effective, as are the Orcs. The refurbishment by the Warriors is lovely, but they work more slowly and concentrate more on aesthetics. They do superb interiors. Cassius and Felix are progressing well but they are slow as they are taking time to catch up with the others.

“There was no way we could keep our own people from staffing our ships. From the first day Porquenta communicated with your Butler on Gromelikine he began a program training our people. Most of them have had more formal education than we have in the newer technologies and in how to fly the ship,” said Andrea. “We are giving experience to our less senior personnel on the other ships, and we have taken on board crew and marines as from our allies. They have all been training and working together for the last few days. The allies were delighted to supply personnel to all of our ancient ships. They see the same benefits we do. All the simulators and educational machines are working well. It will take at least a week until everyone is well and truly familiar with their roles. That is the reason we don’t have the most challenging components of this coordinated attack,” said Andrea.

“Lisirra, I know our plan was to knock out the ships and then completely destroy the planet infrastructure. I have since our time in the pod had the opportunity to rethink the strategy. If my idea doesn’t work we will revert to what we had planned,” said Jason.

“Jason, you are an idiot. I worked on my plan for centuries and you want to change it at the last moment. Why, when you admitted it worked and the militaries and AIs agreed. What can you possibly do that would be better?” Lisirra asked flushing a dark red and glaring at Jason.

Jason explained.

“Jason, that is even by your weird standards a harebrained scheme. I think the chances of it succeeding are remote in the extreme, but I reluctantly agree there is little to lose,” said Linda. Andrea nodded.

“I think you should at least destroy the ships,” said Lisirra. “You need to buy the time to try your other futile strategy. I don’t know why you can’t stick to the plan.”

“Lisirra, I understand how angry you are with the Ordreg. I know you would like to destroy them all. I felt the same way about the Ghouls.

“I will ask a question of the ship which will determine whether we destroy the fleet or not.

“Ship, can we cloak ourselves so that we are not seen by the Ordreg?” Jason asked.

“I cannot reliably predict if our cloaking will work, I have not had the opportunity to evaluate the Ordreg level of technology. I would suggest we approach the core planet cloaked and find out if they respond to us. If they see us we will be forced to destroy the fleet. Your plan has a low chance of success, but it is very low risk. They were excellent allies of us in the past. They provide superb ground troops and marines. They were very loyal,” said the Ship.

“Emperor, ahead of us is a single Ordreg cruiser and two destroyers, probably on a scouting mission. I suggest you and Lisirra practice your strategy on these ships. I can link to both your minds at the same time. They cannot see us,” said the Ship. “We are slowing and moving with them, but we are in range. They are not responding to us, cloaked.”

“Lisirra, are you ready?” Jason asked.

“Of course, I am you idiot, what you think I am doing sitting here?” said Lisirra irritably. She concentrated for a few moments. “It is all done, I did all three. This is a great system Ship. Now Jason see if you can do your thing. There are some things I can’t do for you!”

“To the captain of the cruiser, are you receiving me? This is the Emperor, identify yourself,” Jason commanded.

The Ordreg captain formed on the hologram. Jason could see he was as Lisirra described, a mix between a pterosaur and some sort of multi-legged rhinoceros. The captain looked at Jason incredulously - “Emperor, it is truly you. We believed you were lost. Sire, I am Capt. Spletmocht Perstoch, I am amazed to see you look so young and well. What is your command, we the Ordreg are at your service?”

“I have come to save you from the predations of The Grork. I intend to free the fleet first and then the planet. What is your mission?” Jason asked.

“We are scouting the planets of the Una on behalf of the Grork. We will be relieved not to proceed. Emperor, you have no idea how happy we are to see you. We are stuck in this universe. The Grork put our bodies into stasis on their planets and are holding them and we cannot survive out of Bekta Delta. We are miserable here and fight a war of attrition for which we have no reason, millions have died on both sides. We were horrified to realize we set a trap for one of your ships. I apologize for what we did from all of us. We have no will of our own and we are oppressed. Every planet has Grork telepathic controls. What will you have us do?

“Do you have city maps and the locations of the controllers?” Jason asked.

“Indeed, I do. There is a trans-dimensional communications facility and a telepathic controller attached to the major power plant in each city. I have sent you the information,” Captain Spletmocht Perstoch said. “Emperor beware, there is a Grork Moon Dreadnaught near the planet Erdmord. They use it to destroy planets and it has horrifying firepower. They are providing us with equipment for the assault on the Una. The hanger doors of the Moon Dreadnaught are open on the planetary side and the shield is down. They only have a small accompanying fleet. I will be happy to assist!”

“Wait an hour and return to the planet,” said Jason. By then I would appreciate your help. We need time to assess the situation and plan our assault.”

“Andrea what you want to do?” Jason asked.

“I have sent scout units ahead of us,” said Andrea, “they will be in place and will send drones towards the planet. I have an idea! Ship do you have missiles that will target telepathic projectors? I would like to target all the projectors on the planet. If there is a projector on the moon dreadnought, let us aim for that area. It should be next to an essential power area. We should have enough doom cannon to knock out any ship. It is such a pity we cannot use our dogs and boars in Bekta Delta. I would very much like to capture that ship and I am sure Porquenta would love to add it to your collection of big ships,” said Linda.

“We can’t always rely on the dogs and boars. How many troops do we have?” Jason asked. “I too would love to capture the moon dreadnought?”

“Let us all evaluate the situation before we decide,” said Andrea. “I want that ship!”

Andrea provided instructions to Ship as to where to place the fleet in the solar system of the core planet Erdmord. Erdmord was a planet very slightly larger than Earth and the fifth planet from the sun. The sun was a large red-orange sun much older than the one Earth orbited.

“All right let us sit down and see what we can do,” said Lisirra looking intently at the forming hologram as sent by the scout drones. “There are one hundred psychic projectors on each side of the planet. I can only see ten, no eleven Ordreg ships. There are four cruisers and three destroyers belonging to the Grork. That Moon dreadnought is the biggest ship I have ever seen. There is a lot of traffic between the planet and the ship. The ship has a monster of a psychic projector. None of the ships have shields up. Andrea what do you propose?” Lisirra asked.

“I would like to arrange our ships with all our cannon targeted at the moon ship psychic projector. You guys knock out the psychic projectors on the Big one and on the Ordreg ships and, we do the same on the planet coordinated to happen simultaneously. Jason, you then do your thing on the moon ship.

If that fails Porquenta gave us two hundred Dhoom cannon to replace some less powerful cannon on the ship. We can use the heavy cannon to hit the projector and destroy it then knock out the moon ship power supply as it is close to the projector. I would like to send our assault frigates armed with anti-ship missiles towards the planet and towards the open doors.

“We fire at the projectors and into the ship as needed. If we knock out the power and it is safe to do so we board the moon ship. I will also launch the fighters. The moon ship is in stable geosynchronous orbit and it is not going to crash into the planet.

“We then wipe out their fleet. We have thirty million troops and fifty million AI Marines. I suggest we use the AI Marines on the dreadnought if they are able to use a telepathic projector,” said Andrea. “Any other suggestions?”

“I would suggest you also use Gromelix, along with the AI Marines on the moon ship,” said Corvus. We are also almost impervious to psychic attack since the ship upgraded us and we can move very quickly. You should check on your own troops. I suspect they have all been upgraded as well. We Gromelix carry more heavy weaponry than other troops and we can go first. The armor Jason’s people gave us is extraordinary and the weapons are very powerful.

“You need to get the feel of using us. We are also very good at telepathic assault. We have a large Collective tele-striker unit and two similar sized Coven units. I am sure that they would like to be deployed. Both of them have developed small assault mini tanks with Porquenta to take over bigger ships. I saw them loading a hell of a lot of those on several of the ships.”

“Excellent ideas, thank you Corvus,” said Linda.

“I would suggest that in addition to what you are proposing, Jason you concentrate your powers on the moon ship and I will knock out the psychic projectors on all the other ships,” said Lisirra. “You need to try and use the psychic knockout I described to you. It will also knock out the Schlogg. That will leave the Grork in a very bad place. It knocks out most creatures for half a day.

“I am tempted to try and knock out the projector as we did with the Ordreg and then knock out everyone on the ship. It is very tempting, but I agree Andrea, yours is a lower risk strategy and I am very nervous of the power of the moon ship. The temptation to capture it intact is strong, but I think the risk is unwarranted. The last thing we can afford to do is to let it get away,” Lisirra added.

“I have just one extra suggestion. We have seen the big ships have distributed power systems. We need to try and hit the central one immediately to try and damage the projector directly. The ships may well need to hit several other power generators that will come online. Ship, do you have trans-dim missiles?” Jason asked.

“We have trans-dim cannon and missiles. I will target the power systems as requested,” said Ship.

“I would like to suggest you first try your powers to do as you suggest then resort to the cannon and missiles. My amplifier is working at full power and you need to get a feel of what you can do. Then if you don’t succeed I will coordinate the strikes Andrea suggested.

Andrea looked at Jason and Lisirra. “How fast can you guys work?”

“The projector is very fast, must faster than cannon and missiles. We haven’t had enough time to find out how fast we can work,” said Lisirra. “We will work as fast as we can and if we complete our work we will let you know. Give us a minute and we will try and do as much as we can. If in doubt start shooting.”

“Andrea, do we have the specs for our own moon ship. I would not be surprised if the same design was given to the Dhoom by the Grork. Send the specs to the other ships in case it helps if you have it.

“It sure looks the same, but could be a bigger version,” said Linda. “I was in charge of the boarding in most cases. I’ll have a quick look and send the information, I’m positive I have it.

“I’ve been looking closely at that ship and I agree with Jason. I think it is a very similar design the Dhoom ship. My guess is the design was Grork. I wouldn’t be surprised if the weapons are similar to the ones we are used to. I would suggest you aim one or two cannons at that huge planet killer of theirs here on the hull,” said Linda pointing to a large indentation on the hull of the Moon ship. “I am preparing to deploy our boarding teams.”

“I will ensure we take it out,” said Andrea while manipulating her control hologram. “Our frigates are in position and have not been spotted. I arranged them so they are not in our line of fire. People get ready, we will be there in fifteen seconds. As they watched the countdown on the hologram Jason and Lisirra connected into the Trans-dim power augmentation projectors.

The fleet manifested in their predetermined positions and commenced firing on the planet projectors as planned.

“I have taken out the psychic projector on the dreadnought. I am starting to knock out the crew,” said Jason.

He felt a powerful mind attempt to attack him. It was strong but nothing like the Ghoul queen. He heard the ship tell him he was now at least ten times more powerful. The Grork admiral was very skilled and slipped past Jason’s defenses before Jason forcefully ejected him. They fought for some time, Jason desperately defending himself, but parrying the attacks and blocking the admiral. He progressively tried the techniques he learned in the Uzliumbax psychic battle education. He pushed back and entered the mind of the admiral and realized he was on the moon dreadnought. The admiral tried to resist him. Jason rapidly moved through his thoughts and memories and then crushed him. He caught his breath for a few moments and then knocked out the rest of the ship.

“Cease firing on the dreadnought, I have knocked out all the opposition on the ship. The admiral was the only one capable of resisting and he has been overcome. We are going to need to move quickly.

Lisirra you were right. They played an unexpected card. They are moving to attack Earth, they will be there within the hour. There is no way we can get there in time and the fleet there will be completely overwhelmed. Ship please connect me simultaneously to Porquenta, Ouma Chatzke, Queen Lynas Parayekt, Cassius, the Adm. of the Fleets near Earth and to Lauren my daughter. Send a copy of the conversation to the other allies. I don’t think we can be in time to prevent an invasion. All the fleets are committed. Ship, how long would it take us to get to Earth?” Jason asked.

“If the gates are in operation it will take us sixteen to twenty-three hours. By virtue of the nature of where we are, it was far faster to get here than it will be getting back. If we have problems with the ultimate gate you will need to add an extra six hours from Porquenta,” said Ship. “I am very sorry to hear about this Jason.”

“Andrea continue exactly as planned,” said Jason as he watched the hologram, “we need to finish our job here as we promised. We are clearly the worst placed of any fleet to intervene.”

Ship connected Jason to the leaders and Porquenta.

“Greetings to all of you, we are in the midst of an attack on the core Ordreg planet. We met unexpected opposition. I will send you pictures of the colossal Moon Dreadnought we found on-site. We are progressing well here. The reason I called is discovered a secondary plan of the Grork and Dhoom. As you know there is a trans-dim enhancement mechanism on this ship, as there is on all of the capital ships. I penetrated the mind of the Grork senior admiral before I killed him. I discovered they will be attacking Earth in fifty minutes. They are accompanied by a fleet from Dhoom. The fleet is twice the size of the defending fleet, but has much more firepower. They have many cargo ships along with the fleet. It is intended to be a hit and run exercise as they do not want to invest any effort to hold the planet. They want people and they want them now.

“They do not know of the gates. I am too far away to be able to do anything. It can take me a day to get back and by then it will be all over. I hope you have some assets you can spare to help fight them off.

“We are on a tight deadline on this set of missions, so I am going to have to rely on any help you guys can give us. Lauren, you and the close family may have time to escape, but I understand your responsibilities are to Earth.

“I will have to leave everything up to you guys. This leaves me with a heavy heart. I know I cannot do anymore from here and I hope there is something you can do,” said Jason sadly.

“Jason leave it to us,” said Cassius, “the sooner we get to mobilizing and planning the better, you go ahead and do what you need to do!”

The hologram faded. Jason sighed. Lisirra put her hand on his shoulder and then withdrew it as if she had been burnt.

“That is a disaster, I wonder why you did not pick up any sort of premonition,” said Linda.

“None of us did. Razza is also pretty good with premonitions. I wonder if we don’t pick up stuff across universes. I did have a vague sense of disquiet. It was nothing specific and it is no different to how I have felt previously going into battle ... I must get my mind back to what I can control and manage,” said Jason.

“I was able to stop every single one of the enemy ships. I knocked out the crew on all of the Grork ships,” said Lisirra.

“Jason, you are going to need to speak to the planet and to the ships. We have knocked out every single telepathic projector on the planet. I have established communication to the planet. Do you want to speak to the King first or do you want to broadcast?”

“I will broadcast to the planet first, it will only take a few minutes and then I will speak to the King,” said Jason.

“This is your Emperor who has returned to save you from tyranny. You are no longer under the influence of the Grork and you can resume your lives. I will not interfere in your lives. I will shortly speak directly to your King. I will insist the war with the Zaos will come to an end. I will not tolerate war between my allies. I wish you all the best for the future. I can only apologize for my absence for so long. We and the Safion attempted to bring the war to a close. As the threats once again began to rise here and elsewhere I have returned to deliver a lesson to our enemies,” said Jason and cut the broadcast.

“Put me through to the King please, do you know his name?”

“Emperor, is that you. This is your loyal subject Mechtogt Groffocht. I knew you when I was but a boy and my father was Emperor. You were very kind to me.