Virus and earth ii boxse.., p.154
Virus & Earth II Boxset, page 154
part #1 of Virus Series
“Yes, I have begun the process. It will increase the chances that Julius will detect our presence and activities, but when General Mitom deactivates the mobile units, Julius will be receiving a large amount of data and problems to solve, I’m planning on that distraction, giving me the opportunity to download the star data.”
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General Mitom approached the huge space station. He studied the space station’s configuration. The large area on the top was likely the command and control center. It probably contained the communications and power sources. Each of the lower levels showed damage around what appeared to be launch ports. Station defense almost certainly relied upon the small mobile space fighters, and without them, it was unable to repel a boarding party. General Mitom quickly assessed the situation and decided to change his tactics. When they had boarded the previous smaller space station, they spread out and found multiple entry points onto the station. This station was much larger, and that tactic would spread out his forces and make it difficult to join up after entry. The size of the station dictated one team going in through one or several close by entry ports so that members could team up once inside and form a cohesive fighting unit.
There were numerous pressure doors and easy access ports. As General Mitom and his troops approached the command section, he broke his group into three sections, assigning them individual doors. The doors were quite large obviously intended for cargo and not designed to repel boarders.
When he reached the surface of the space station he chuckled, once again seeing simple graphic icons indicated the opening and closing operations for the door. The images were different, but the meaning was clear.
If I ever build a space station I will make sure there isn’t an open and close button, he thought.
General Mitom was the first one to reach his pressure door, and the troops with him took up positions around the door waiting for him to gain entry. He waited for the other two sections to reach their doors and upon his signal, each of the groups pressed the open icon and moved into the space station. The airlock was large enough for 10 of his troops and their mobile units at a time. He wished that all of his unit could enter at once because when he opened the inner pressure door, there was a chance that he might be outnumbered. He hoped that now having his three groups flowing into three separate entries would disperse any defenses the station might have. However, he had to take the chance.
Once the pressure was equalized inside the airlock, it was time to open the inner pressure door and find what faced them on the other side. The door opened rapidly, and he was first into the huge space station followed by his men. The men immediately set up a perimeter, so the remaining members of his segment could pass through the inner pressure door. During entry, there was a sudden flash of light, and one of General Mitom’s men was down. There was a smoking hole in his chest which appeared to have gone all the way through his body. His men began returning fire.
General Mitom suspected that he would be facing advanced weaponry with which he and his men were unfamiliar. He had brought his trusty ballistic weapons. He knew of some research in advance handheld weapons being conducted on his planet, but nothing practical had been distributed to his troops. His men had various sized caliber weapons that ranged from small handguns capable of rapidly firing pellets to those of a larger caliber firing ballistic shells that could tear a wall apart. He didn’t understand the weapon that had been used against his trooper, but his men unleashed a barrage of metal in the direction from which the attack had come. The attack stopped, and the remainder of General Mitom team came through the pressure door.
“This is team one, team two, team three give status,” General Mitom said into his communicator.
“Team one, two is onboard,” General Mitom heard.
“Team three just finishing.”
“Teams two and three, move to my location,” directed the general.
He received a dual acknowledgment and directed the troops in his team to expand their perimeter and lock it down waiting for the other two teams to join forces with them.
“Teams two and three be aware of weapons fire. Defenders have advanced weapons.”
Again, he received dual acknowledgment.
Once all of his men had boarded the space station, General Mitom was able to widen the area under his control considerably. He found a couple of corridors restricting access to and from his area, and by guarding them, he was confident he could resist any large-scale defensive movement by the defenders.
Within a short time, the other two segments of his landing party had joined with his troops, and they had formed one unit. Now it was time for them to move out and take over the rest of the ship. As the other two teams had moved to his location, there had been sporadic weapons fire from the defenders, but in each case, none of his men were hurt, and his troops were able to fire back causing the defenders to give ground.
Not knowing the layout of the large space station, he only had only one option to employ. It seemed logical to him that any command structure or at least a power source would be at the center of the large area he had invaded. He had to move towards that area and if he met resistance that would indicate the importance of what was being defended. He had no other choice. He didn’t know where the command room or the command staff was located, so he had to move forward trying to find the weak points in their defense or the points where they were defending themselves the strongest.
General Mitom and his troops had come in on the lower level of the broad portion of the space station, and logic dictated that he move up. Using elevators was not a smart tactical move, but he found spiral ramps and moved from one level to the next.
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The instant Captain Pardold’s ship emerged from the jump point he focused all of his sensors on locating his enemy. It was fortunate for him that his jump point exit was relatively close to the planet Vallors and its orbiting space station. It was immediately clear that the large space station was under attack. Captain Pardold identified one of the two ships that were attacking it as the one that had stolen his ship. It was the creature that he wanted revenge upon.
“Full speed towards that ship,” he yelled to the deck crew.
“Yes sir,” was their response.
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Fleet Commander Morot was livid.
“What do you mean, Pardold went to the Lennari system?” He yelled.
“Yes sir, he has already made the jump.”
Fleet Commander Morot was at risk. Not only was his career at risk, but his life. He wasn’t fully prepared for the invasion of the Lennari system, but he was close. Having Captain Pardold penetrate the system first forced him to act. He had to take the gamble and initiate the full-scale invasion or else he would look bad to his Leader. That could be disastrous for him.
“Attention command staff. We must begin the invasion immediately.”
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King Illadem was worried. His defenses had been decimated in the last Borram attack. He had been forced to drop back to protect planets that were crucial to the Lennari society. Now a strange ship along with a small space station attacked him at his weakest point. Then another ship of unknown configuration entered the system and accelerated towards the first attackers.
“Space Marshal, what do you think is happening?” The King asked.
“Sir I’m not sure. It appears that these two ships are not of the same configuration so they may not be working together. We might be witnessing a battle between two alien forces that we haven’t encountered yet.”
“Do you think this is a prelude to a Borram attack?”
“It may be sir; regardless we must do something to maintain the integrity of our solar system.”
“Marshal, I agree. If these two alien ships battle each other, they will weaken themselves, and it will present an opportunity for us. Do you think the three Battleships that we sent will be enough? I hope that we’re keeping enough of our fleet to protect our home world. Our battleships should be able to deal with these attackers. Do you agree?”
“Yes, sir. If necessary, we can always send more.”
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There was something about conducting a battle that Julius found satisfying. Enjoyment was a hard word to use regarding the functioning of Julius’s processor. Using his full processor meant that he was accomplishing a great deal. Accomplishing a great deal was what a computer was designed to do. Calling that enjoyment or satisfaction was a stretch, but he eagerly committed his processor’s resources to the battle.
Committing the majority of his processor’s resources for battle, also meant fewer resources focused on the mundane facts of running or monitoring his ship. After all, it was his ship; it did what he told it to, the mobile units did his bidding. There was little reason for him to monitor interior actions after all the battle was an important step towards his goal, his ship’s internal functions were less important. It was just a matter of priority.
Julius was using the Vakeel ship’s long-range sensors to monitor the space in his vicinity. He didn’t want surprises from the Lennari system which would disrupt his plans. There was one vehicle approaching that was still 6.2 hours away which was an unknown configuration. Whether that vehicle was a threat or not was yet to be determined, and Julius filed the contact away to be monitored later.
There were still the three large energy signatures that were approaching. They were the closer threat and needed more processor time.
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“Commander, a response is coming in from the message that you sent,” The Vakeel ship computer announced.
“Computer respond with this code,” Julius said as he sent a message asking what response the Lennari were preparing for him.”
“Message sent,” responded the computer.
I’ll plan my moves after I find out what they’re doing, Julius thought.
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Tilot was convinced that her son and daughter were going to do something. They hadn’t included her in their planning, but she could tell that they were up to something. It was natural for them to plan an attack or escape. That’s what the Rallock did.
Her children had separated themselves from the others, and each had found a bar or hard object. It was obvious to Tilot that they were planning an attack on the next unit that came in.
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By the time Tom reached Iknot’s confinement area, being subtle seemed to be less of a priority. He knew by the pace that Alpha was moving, that waiting for a mobile unit to go in didn’t make sense. So, he opened the pressure door and entered on his own. When he opened the inner pressure door, Iknot was caught off guard and took a defensive stance, not knowing what was going on. Tom was startled, and he realized that the huge Rallock could do a lot of damage to Tom if he attacked. Tom had no way to communicate with Iknot, so all he could do was move his hands trying to indicate for him to follow. As Tom was fully aware hand signals wouldn’t translate well from one species to another, there is nothing innate about moving your hands in one motion or another. But there is something fundamental about pointing or moving one’s hands towards an opening.
Iknot was caught in a dilemma. Seeing the alien creature was a surprise and having him charge in without General Mitom at his side put him on the defense. He knew that an opportunity might arrive when they could all leave the ship, and he wasn’t sure how that event would occur, but it seemed that now was the time. He had to decide to go and trust his instincts or wait for General Mitom. He decided to go.
Finally, the message was understood, and they entered the airlock.
Tom moved as quickly as possible securing the inner pressure door, and he started the process to equalize pressure with the outside. Once the pressure was equal, he actuated the outer door and grabbed the larger Iknot and pulled him along.
Iknot had many thoughts going through his head. What he didn’t like was not knowing what the plan was or what was happening. But he also knew that he was not in the position to say stop and wait for an explanation. He had to trust his instincts and follow this alien creature.
Tom pulled Iknot along from stanchion to stanchion as he moved to the vertical shaft, then he moved down the shaft three levels as fast as he could. He was familiar with the internal structure of the Vakeel Capital Ships, and as he moved, it was obvious that Julius had been working. Tom immediately recognized many of the supporting systems for railguns and lasers. After all, he had had the same devices in his ship, and Julius had stolen the designs. They needed to be dealt with before any of the hostages tried to leave. Or else, they might be making a short trip.
There wasn’t much Tom could do by himself, except to flag the necessary action for Alpha. They moved until they were near the entrance to Iknot’s family.
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Tilot was sitting with her four youngest and watching her two older children. It was increasingly obvious that they had something planned. She could intercede, or let them attack and help when necessary. They were small, but they were Rallock.
The sound of activity outside their confinement area got her attention, and her two oldest children moved towards the entrance.
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As they arrived, Alpha was just connecting the crew shuttle up to the outer pressure door. When he saw Tom and Iknot, he hesitated before finally positioning the craft. Tom recognized what he needed to do and he moved Iknot into the pressure portal between the craft and the outer pressure door. Alpha was in the craft operating the controls, and he nestled the craft up to the outer pressure door and locked it in place. Iknot recognized that they were maneuvering at his family’s location. He was confused about the actual steps they were taking but opted to follow the actions of those around them. He waited for the outer pressure door to open, and he had no other choice but to enter the airlock and continue into his family’s area. The moment he opened the inner pressure door his whole world changed, there was his wife and children.
First, he was shocked; his two older children were charging the inner pressure door as it opened. They each had a pipe in their hands. After he had passed through the inner pressure door, he heard his wife, “Iknot, you’ve come to us,” his wife screamed. She ran up and embraced him. His two children were stunned, and they looked at him before they dropped their clubs. They ran to him, and his other children crowded around, all holding on and hugging assuming that their father had just saved them.
The plan became clear to Iknot, and the urgency also became clear. “Come with me. We must move quickly,” he said as he held his wife’s shoulders and spoke directly to her.
He and his wife hurriedly marshaled the children out of the confinement area into the airlock and pressed the controls to equalize the pressures. It seemed to take an eternity for the small pressure differential between the inner chamber and crew vessel to stabilize. In actuality, it was only a few seconds because the pressures were near equal. He opened the outer pressure door, and his wife and children climbed on board, and he followed them.
He wasn’t totally aware of who was piloting the craft, so once Alpha came out of the cockpit area, it startled him and his family for a moment. Alpha knew that they had to change positions for his plan to work, so he spoke to Iknot “you must pilot this craft out of this spaceship. Let me show you the simple controls so that you can pilot this craft and save your family. This craft is not large enough for all of you, along with Tom and me. Tom and I will use another craft. I think it’s safer for us to be in a separate craft.”
All Tom could do was to wait outside and trust that Alpha would tell him what to do. He watched Alpha giving Iknot some simple instructions on operating the craft then he went to the back, and Tom lost sight of him. Suddenly the craft separated from the pressure door as Alpha emerged and flew towards Tom.
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The craft that Iknot was operating moved along the corridor then down to the exit on the lower level.
Tom looked towards Alpha for directions.
“We must make our own way to a tug near the exit. I sent them ahead so that Iknot’s family would be safe. I will sense, through the ship’s computer system when the outer door opens, and I will give General Mitom the signal to re-boot the mobile units. I suspect that Julius will sense the door opening which might complicate our departure.”
“Complicate it?” Tom asked.
“Have you done anything about the laser and railgun?” Tom asked, hoping for a quick affirmative.
“Neither system is fully operational. The parts are still flowing through the manufacturing process. I have put minor adjustments into the process. There were a couple of opportunities, where I made changes to delay the manufacturing.”
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General Mitom was satisfied with his progress. There had been only minor encounters with defenders, and his projectile weapons were adequate for the task. So far they hadn’t found any dead defenders. It appeared that when the Rallock returned fire, the defenders merely fell back. If there had been more defenders with the advanced weapons, General Mitom might have had more of a challenge.
He sensed that he was getting close to the command center for the space station. The quarters were nicer; there was less storage in the hallways and fewer pipes on the ceiling. All of which were signs of command personnel nearby.
General Mitom turned a corner and looked down a long hallway with an ornate door at the far end. Instinct told him that he was near his goal. Instinct also told him that any final stand would be between his location and those doors.
There was one tactic that was ingrained in the General. When you have momentum, stick with it. If he waited, he would give time for them to regroup or even flank him. Now was the time and he hesitated only briefly before he gave the order to move down the hallway and began the attack.
It wasn’t a surprise when numerous creatures hidden in doorways and inside halls, began firing. There were few of them, but they were putting up the best defense they could.
