Chapter 598

Deep Space – The Alien Mother Ship

The Paladin Commander groggily came to his feet, cursing as the alarm for Battle Stations blared yet again.

“I will kill that son-of-a-bitch. (Interpreted). But griping would do little good for several reasons: (1) The First Officer was awake too, so there was no sympathy there, (2) The First Officer outranked him, and if they did manage to get back to Base, those complaints on him (the Commander) would be read, even if they were initiated by the First Officer who would soon be dead, and those charges would be investigated since the High Command always investigated. And (3), he, the Paladin Commander, couldn’t get to the First Officer, anyway. The bastard still has the mutiny defenses operative. But maybe – just maybe I will get my chance...

The Commander sprinted to the lead Paladin and clambered aboard. He was third. How can they have beaten me? I fucking ran all the way. Shortly, his crew had initiated their restraints and activated their guns, but he still had to wait until all the other Paladins were ready and his board had cleared.

“Better,” the First Officer’s voice came over the channel, “if ... you were racing my Grandfather.” (Interpreted) “We have all watched the recording of these Earthlings’ practice. Do you think you will be able to sleep – as you seem to be doing – while you engage them? According to our instruments, they were frequently traveling at up to one-half light speed and sometimes beyond. Their fighters have fewer guns and are smaller than our glorious Paladins, but you cannot shoot what you cannot catch up to, and probably sometimes will not even be able to see. If they attack our ship, where will our Paladins’ crews be? Oh, that is right. They will be in their bunks asleep, “ he snarled out sarcastically.

There was a long pause before the First continued, “The next drill will be a full launch. I have instructed the computer to set a random time that none of us will be able to anticipate. Dismissed.”

The Commander didn’t even bother to grumble. It didn’t do any good, anyway.

After a full rest shift when the Commander basically tried to sleep with one eye open, Battle Stations again blared throughout the ship. As he sprinted toward his lead Paladin, two of his crew passed him running full out just as the ship dropped out of warp. Also, he hit his head on the hatch as he dove through, but he was aboard and in the pilot’s seat before the last two of his crew were aboard. He had barely seated himself and activated his controls when the ship launched his fighter.

With little thought, he assumed his location relative to the ship, pleased as his Paladin pilots quickly took up the standard layered defensive pattern around their mother ship. Much of the monster ship’s size was dedicated to giant cargo holds which would contain captured loot and manufactured goods from conquered worlds.

According to the standard battle plans, six of the Paladins would remain to protect the ship while the rest would join the attack on the planet. In attacking other races, no reserve force was ever thought of, let alone held back should the main force need backup – simply because they never had, due mostly to their advanced technology. Every warrior wanted and demanded to be part of the attacking force. Those left to guard the ship were chosen at random by the computer, and once used in that capacity, they would be allowed to be in the fore of the next attack sortie.

Despite the enormous size of the ship, there was not a large crew, for much was automated. There were females aboard, but the crew was given sexual depressants and allowed only infrequent visits for relief. The officers were not limited nearly as strictly, of course.

The First Officer and the Chief Engineer continued to meet regularly, both worried because the Paladin Commander was too quiet and seemed to have capitulated to his virtual imprisonment in the Flight Deck/Paladin Area far too easily. But what could the Commander do since he had no way to access the bridge? At least the Paladins’ response time was beginning to get back in line.

“Something is going on,” the First worried yet again as he and the Chief Engineer sat in the Chief’s office and talked. “Oh, the Commander has bitched, but that suddenly stopped, and it has to be something other than the fact that I am making it difficult for him to contact me. He is not even asking to speak to the Captain any longer. And my Precog is screaming at me, but I do not know why,” he groused. “Fuck it. If I am to have Precog, why can I not be a real Precog? At least I would know what is about to happen instead of just having this nagging worry. Shit. Shit. Shit.” (Interpreted.)

The Chief just looked at him and laughed. “You will figure it out.”

“Yes. I am aware of that, but will it be too late?”

The Chief gave the alien’s equivalent of a shrug.

The Paladin Commander, sleep-deprived, stomped out of his office to stand staring at the flight deck. This mission has lasted far too long. This Earth better be worth it. My endeavors to take over the mission went amiss because of that idiot technician that swore he could disable the warp drive without causing a great deal of harm. I wound up listening to him for far too long. Well, he managed to get himself killed, but there is still a possibility that my plan will work out, just not the way I had hoped.

It seemed that we would never find a suitable planet, but this Earth shows considerable opportunity if the idiot First would follow our Standard Procedure guidelines upon discovering a new slave planet.

Why does the First Officer have to screw things up? Granted, the Captain is an idiot, but why should the First decide to change our basic tactics? It makes no sense. According to him, since the Captain says that the First has taken over, our attack plans will not be finalized until we are close enough to the planet to decide on targets – if his trade plans fall through. Surely, he will not wimp out and go through with that ridiculous trade idea. We are warriors; not traders, he raved to himself yet again.

At least the First finally allowed a meeting, even though it was via intercom. We are to sneak into the Earth system and observe, he groused. We might as well be children peeking in on the adults as they plan. Ridiculous. We do not sneak in. We boldly destroy a few cities and order the inhabitants to do as we say, or we will destroy their planet. We do not ask. We do not hide. “Trade,” he snarled half-aloud, which caused one of his subordinates to glance questioningly at him. “Nothing,” he groused.

Surely this idiot will not interfere with our attack. Kill a few million of the aliens, and the rest will capitulate and be eager to do whatever we demand. It has always worked. Why should we change our tactics now? If I were in overall command – as I will be, eventually – we would be loading freight in short order. Why not establish an orbit above one of their largest cities, and without warning, raze it to the ground. Then give them our ultimatum. Total surprise! By then, the surviving inhabitants would be terrorized to the point that they would do anything they were told. It has always worked; why change now? Irritated, he stomped on toward his Paladin. I will have my chance, and when I do, I will be in command and that idiot will be dead.

Even if they work, his preposterous ideas will result in far less profit than we would typically receive. Why would we trade when we can much more easily just take? Taking will result, as it always does, in a 100% profit. I will reestablish our Captain in his rightful command. Too bad he will fall victim to a disgruntled member of our crew, and I will take “temporary” command until we return to base with our ship bulging with the spoils of this Earth. Logic would dictate that I will be made Captain of my glorious ship. Ah, First Officer, your time is limited, so you might as well enjoy your stupid thoughts of trade while you can.

As the ship neared the Oort cloud – something like a giant bubble made of icy pieces of debris the size of mountains, and sometimes larger, that surrounds our solar system – the ship slowed and eventually dropped out of warp.

“What the hell (interpreted) is he doing?” the Paladin Commander snarled to his Second. “Why did he not continue at warp to suddenly appear near our target planet? Now, if this backward race has the necessary equipment, they will be aware of us long before we reach the planet.”

“Maybe he is going to ask about ‘trade,’” the Paladin Second suggested with a snarl of his own.

“Not if my plans work out,” the Commander returned with the equivalent of a grin.

“But how can your plans work out with us locked away from the Bridge?”

“You shall know shortly,” the Commander assured him. “I trust you, but a secret remains a secret only so long as just one being knows it. I shall wait until we are much closer to the planet – if my patience can withstand the strain. But, I have waited this long, and I shall wait a little while longer.”

The Earth Scout Craft

Cummings and Addison, now aboard the Earth Scout, were both in their seats and alert.

“They’re dropping out of warp. Watch your distance,” Addison cautioned the AI, unnecessarily.

“I am quite capable of maintaining the proper distance without assistance,” the AI returned huffily.”

“We should be close enough for a tight beam to Ship. The Colonel needs to know,” Cummings suggested.

“Computer, move aside another light second and set up for a tight beam to Ship.”

“I cannot be certain of a lock at this distance, especially if Ship has had to change positions.”

“I understand, but notify Colonel...” Addison began, only to be interrupted by his partner.

“We have a Wing Commander,” Cummings reminded. “She’ll report to the Colonel.”

“Point,” Addison agreed.

“Tight beam the Wing Commander that the aliens have dropped out of warp just short of the Oort cloud. Give our exact position and tell her that the aliens are still proceeding into our solar system, but are continuing to reduce speed. We are maintaining full stealth and will follow them in unless advised differently. Computer, put all the punch you have behind the transmission.”

“I have calculated Ship’s location according to her last projections and have used maximum power. Message away.”

“Shit, I wish we were in our interceptor instead of this little pimple of a ship with its popgun.”

“Well, our interceptor does have far stronger shields as well as guns, but the end result would still be the same if we went up against that monster with just one interceptor. That ship would swat us like a fly.”

“Yeah, I know, but that doesn’t mean that I have to like it. Do you think Ship can actually take that thing?”

“If she can’t, I suspect we’ll all be dead or speaking alien in the not-to-distant future. They didn’t put all those weapon pods on that monster for decoration.”

“Well, it looks as if we’re a lot closer to finding out what they want than we were a few weeks back.”

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

The Alien’s Ship’s Bridge

“Begin slowing to one half,” the First ordered.

“Starting to slow to one half impulse,” Helm returned.

“Cease all but necessary navigation scans. I want to go into the system as unobtrusively as possible.”

“Acknowledged, First,” the Navigator returned.

“Sir?” the Second Officer said, “I would advise staying well clear of the asteroid belt near the gas giant. That was where the Earth fighters were practicing.”

“Affirmative. Navigator, any suggestions for an observation point?”

“Yes, First. If you wish to observe the third planet for a time without being noticed, I recommend a course change to the sixth planet of the system. It has a wide belt of debris that forms giant rings about it that might well obscure our presence while we continue to observe the planet at our leisure.”