Virus and earth ii boxse.., p.159
Virus & Earth II Boxset, page 159
part #1 of Virus Series
Loran followed the General’s eyes then responded with the same down movement.
“Captain Pennor, follow that creature and check out the space. Then let me know.”
“Yes, sir,” was the curt response.
There wasn’t much to be said, while the inspection was going on. Iknot General Mitom and Iknot’s family just stayed in the crew-transport and waited. Finally, the Captain emerged and transmitted to Mitom.
“Sir, it will be a little cramped, but they have a heater, and they pointed to a stack of frozen meat. I think we’ll be ok here for a while.”
“Captain, take your unit and get settled in. Make sure that we maintain radio contact. You should be able to give your Mechanicals a standby command, and they’ll power down. Their power supply should last a long time.”
“Yes, sir.”
After a few moments to make sure everything was going to plan, Loran indicated to fly again by pointing up. They took off and went through the same procedure more times until all were sheltered except the last 20 troops.
When they took off, Loran pointed to the first position on the map where he had pointed, indicating where Iknot and his family were going.
Iknot maneuvered the craft as Loran directed and he could see where the snow was packed down. In front of the entrance were perhaps 100 of the huge beasts and towards one end of the herd, he could see a creature standing next to a pile of something.
“This must be where we’re landing,” Iknot said to his friend, as the guide stood behind him.
After Loran was confident that Iknot knew where to land, he turned to General Mitom and engaged his attention.
“Iknot he’s trying to tell me something,” General Mitom said to his leader.
Loran pointed to each of the occupants of the crew shuttle and pointed to the hatch then to the site they were landing at.
“I think that he’s telling us that’s where we’re going.”
Then Loran made a wide sweeping motion and used his fingers to indicate 20; then he pointed to the landing site again.
“Sire, I think he is saying that the last 20 of my men will stay with us,” said the General.
Iknot followed Lonart’s directions and in few moments marks in the ice indicated they were approaching the city boundary. For a few seconds, Iknot wondered why they weren’t being brought into the city, but he knew not to press too hard. After all, he, his family and his men had just been saved from certain death.
After the craft had landed, Iknot stood and faced Loran. He was unsure how to handle the children. They were already cold and stressed. They hadn’t complained, but they had been put through a lot.
He pointed to them, then wrapped his arms around his chest and shivered, hoping that the image was universal.
Memor was not a small female, and when Loran asked, she was able to pick up the pile of Falloot skins and carry them to the shuttle hatch. Iknot saw the movement and accepted the fact that they needed to get the furs onto the children then move them. There was nothing else to do, and when she reached the hatch, he opened it.
For the next few minutes, it was chaotic, trying to cover the children and his partner, get them out of the crew-transport and get them below the ice.
Iknot was uncomfortable with the whole arrangement. But, he had little choice. He, his family and his troops were dependent on the generosity of these creatures. All he could do was follow them and care for his family.
They were led down a ramp to a lower section that wasn’t well lit. It remained cold, and he knew that his children were scared and uncomfortable, but they were true Rallock and didn’t complain.
The creature that had met them on top pointed to a door, and when it was opened, they entered a single room that was well lit and had a heater in the middle. There were tables and platforms around the periphery of the room, that could be made into sleeping platforms, and animal hides were hanging from the walls. The temperature wasn’t comfortable yet, but it was warming up. The creature pointed around the room and pointed to the children; then she pointed to the floor as if to say, ‘Stay here.’
Iknot helped to get his family settled, and General Mitom asked to enter.
“General, are your troops settled?”
“Yes, sir. I know these creatures are saving us, but these skins smell horrible. I hope we’ll get used to it. My troops at the other sites are also getting settled. Sir, have you tasted any of this meat, yet?” the General asked.
“No, why?”
“Sire, from what I hear, it is … unusual?”
“That doesn’t sound good, what do you mean?”
“I’ve heard that it is tough, greasy and has a very funny odor. But aside from that…,” he said with some humor in his voice.
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“Space Marshal, 180 Borram ships have entered our system. How is the allocation of our forces coming?”
“The additional ships are on their way and will be able to intercept them before they reach Vallors. The three battleships have moved away and are hidden behind the debris field. They’re making good progress to Vallors. The other ships that we sent will join with them before they enter orbit over Vallors. We need to ensure that our forces are distributed properly before we engage them. If they are going to invade Vallors, I doubt that they came in with all of their forces. We have to hold enough back to protect our other planets. There is a chance this is a diversion, for a larger attack.”
“I agree with your plan; I’ll leave the details up to you. Please keep me updated.”
“Yes, sir,” the Space Marshal responded.
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“Fleet Commander Morot, the last of our fleet have exited the jump point. What are your orders?”
“Let’s form up and move out towards the planet and space station.”
“Yes, sir.”
Fleet Commander Morot, felt that his entry into the Lennari system had been successful. Even though they were caught by three of the Lennari Battleships, the damage was manageable. He was suspicious though. When he entered the system, he only had two battleships, and they had three. They could have pressed the advantage in the few moments before the rest of his fleet entered, but they didn’t. Why not? Did they have a warning from Captain Pardold? Perhaps they have figured out what my objective is, and they are setting a trap? were the worries forming in his mind.
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“Commander, the ships that have been entering the solar system are underway and accelerating towards our orbit. They should arrive in 8 hours and 4 minutes. The other three Lennari Battleships that arrived earlier have changed course and appear to be heading away from us, as your software indicated.”
All of that information fit into Julius’ plan. It was unlikely that the large force of ships would arrive in time to cause a problem and his software had taken care of the Lennari fleet. The single ship that had attacked earlier was also hiding opposite to his location and reluctant to engage him.
Julius’ first order of business was to finish moving the space fighter vehicles from the space station to his craft.
“Computer, what is the status of moving the space fighters to this ship?”
“That operation will be done, in 3 minutes when the last ship is secured onboard the Vakeel ship,” answered the Vakeel Ship Computer.
When that is complete, then the next objective will become top on my list. I’ll be able to deal with SIMPOC and at least one of those humans, Julius thought.
“Commander, the last captured ship has been secured. What is your next order?” the Vakeel ship computer asked.
“Send 1,000 mobile units to the location of the last radio transmissions from the stolen mobile units. I want them to deal with anything alive in the area and bring me, the human that I captured in the Earth’s solar system along with the computer unit with him. I don’t care about the other organic beings, just bring me those two.
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“Fleet Commander Morot, we are getting unusual indications from the planet Vallors.”
“Describe them.”
“Sir, there are two unidentified craft in orbit over Vallors. One is larger than this vessel, and the other appears to be a small space station. They are near to the Lennari station, and I should point out sir, there is a considerable amount of debris in the area as if there has been a battle.”
“Can you locate Captain Pardold’s ship?”
“No sir, it might be in synchronous orbit on the other side of the planet, waiting for us to arrive.”
“Perhaps,” the General said under his breath. “Scan as widely as possible.”
“Yes, sir. There is a lot of interference in this half of the solar system. Our scans are only effective between us and the planet. We are following a trajectory that is skirting a large amount of material. Due to the material, we aren’t able to scan much to the lateral on either side of our course.”
“Stay on this course.”
“Yes, sir.”
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Captain Pardold didn’t want to remain behind the planet; he wanted revenge. He had sustained some damage to his ship, but all his systems and weapons were functional. He also knew that the Borram attack was imminent and he deserved to be part of the victory and get his part of the glory. If he launched an attack as the Borram fleet was approaching, he would still be the leader of the attack.
“Drop to a lower orbit and move to a location where we can let our sensors see what’s happening on the other side.”
“Yes, Captain.”
By dropping to a lower orbit, his velocity would move him around the planet. When he reached the horizon and could use his sensors to see his target, he could see if the Borram attack force had entered the system. If he waited in synchronous orbit, it would be a long time before the large ice-planet would rotate and he could sense the jump entry point.
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“Commander, the mobile units are ready to follow your commands,” the Vakeel ship computer announced to Julius.
“Send them to the location of the radio transmissions and bring back that human and his robot companion.”
“Acknowledged.”
1,000 of Julius’ mobile units began their descent onto the ice planet. They were descending over the full area of where Julius sensed the communication traffic. It was a relatively large area because Julius didn’t know exactly where the human and computer companion had moved to since the last transmissions.
While they are retrieving Tom Herl and SIMPOC, I’ll test my connections to the space fighters. After all, there was a possible attack force approaching, and I need to exercise these resources, Julius thought.
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Falloot herders were a unique breed of Lennari. They were independent but relied on each other. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for another herder. The relationship they had with the support population on Vallors was different. Each knew that they needed the other, and were dependent on each other, but that was where the relationship ended. They didn’t socialize together, live near each other or share many of the common spaces on the planet; after all the Falloot herders smelled.
The inter-dependence on each other was accepted and understood. Without the support from the small settlement, the Falloot herders would perish. The climate on the surface was too harsh to survive without the support systems provided by the city. There was respect and some friendships between the groups, but they remained separate.
Because of the harsh environment that the herders dealt with on a daily basis and because they knew that they needed the support of the city, it was understood that defending the city would fall on the herders first. If the defense went beyond what they could provide, then they had to trust that the Lennari Government would eventually respond and defend the planet.
The Falloot herders knew that the Borram had attacked, and now they had taken in travelers that needed help. They also had some information about what happened in space above them, but all of that was secondary to helping creatures on the surface that would perish without them.
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King Illadem walked in his private garden outside the command center. It wasn’t strictly his private garden, but everyone knew that when he was using it, it was unavailable for anyone else. On rare occasions when the king wasn’t using it, the very senior staff of the government or military would use it, but for the common folk, they dared not trespass.
He didn’t like the position in which he found himself. If the Borram were able to occupy Vallors, then he would be the first Lennari ruler to lose part of their kingdom. He accepted the fact that Vallors wasn’t a key part of the kingdom, but it was never the less part of it.
It was almost 300 years since the Lennari people had set up an outpost on that distant planet he had enjoyed the meat of the Falloot like all of the other ‘upper crust’ of the Lennari population. The average workers couldn’t afford the expensive product, but he and his supporters could. In a curious way that formed a bond between him and the people of Vallors.
The planet Vallors was an outlier. Its orbit was on the outer edge of the habitable zone, and its orbit around the sun was much slower than the two other Lennari planets much nearer the sun. Their orbits were closer together and warmer, and because of the similarities in orbital periods, the two inner planets had developed a closer society. The greater distance to the far away icy world tended to separate those people from the rest of the Lennari society. They herded the Falloot, sold the products to the other planets and kept to themselves.
Regardless, letting the Borram establish a foothold in the Lennari system would make the inner planets vulnerable to attack, and that wasn’t acceptable.
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“Fleet Commander Morot, we just detected Captain Pardold’s ship. It is emerging from the other side of the planet. As we attack, he can support the attack plan.”
Fleet Commander Morot wasn’t happy to have Pardold part of the attack, after all, he had entered the Lennari system too early and given them a warning. But he would deal with him later, for now having him part of the attack force was a benefit.
“What else do you have?” the General asked his deck crew.
“Sir, the large ship has apparently attacked the space station. At the current time, there are very few emissions from the station, so it’s possible that the large ship won the attack. The smaller space station seems to be functional but heavily damaged. We have no data on the offensive capabilities of either. Neither the large ship nor the smaller space station matches anything in our records. We also just picked up evidence that the ship has sent a large number of robotic units to the surface.”
When the Fleet Commander was initiating an attack, he didn’t like surprises. The size of his attacking force was based on the intelligence he received. He had committed his career, and possibly his life, promising that he would be able to remove the damaged space station and set up an outpost on the planet. Now he was faced by a ship larger than his battleship, a smaller space station and a large number of mobile units.
He had promised success, and he had no other options than to attack. Failure was not in his plans, nor in the plans of his leadership.
“Attack the larger ship, and direct Captain Pardold to time his attack to match with ours.”
“Yes, sir.”
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As Julius’s mobile units descended, they used their sensors to locate the biological creatures and identify the human. The instruction-set they had received was to deal with the biological creatures, then retrieve the human and his computer companion.
The instructions weren’t specific and the lower the units got, the more their sensors picked up biologics. There were large ones scattered in large herds, smaller groups separated near some of the herds, and higher concentrations in the under-ice structure.
The instruction-set was clear, and the mobile units began to follow it.
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Vallors had no early warning system. The Space Station was supposed to provide that. When the mobile units fell out of the sky, the herders weren’t prepared for the attack and neither were the mobile units.
Computers follow code very accurately. Julius and SIMPOC were the only two intelligent computers that could alter their own code. The instructions that Julius’ mobile units were following were explicit; land, deal with the biological units, then retrieve Tom Herl and his computer. The problem occurred when the code said ‘to land,' it didn’t account for the deep snow. The mobile units landed, then tried to move towards their targets, but the deep snow made their movement very slow and for some impossible.
Some of the units landed near individual Falloot, and they engaged them. The smaller mobile units were facing creatures much larger than they were and their relatively low powered weapons weren’t effective against the heavy coats of the Falloot. At first, the Falloot ignored them, but the units were persistent and usually the longer they attacked, the greater the chance that they lost the encounter.
The units that landed near the openings to the under-ice city or the survival shelters found the snow was packed better and began to tear at the openings.
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Julius paid only perfunctory attention to the attack on the ground. The initial actions were of little interest to him until they were facing Tom Herl and the other computer.
“When will the attacking force of ships be able to attack?” he asked the Vakeel computer.
“Their offensive weapons are unknown; they will be within effective laser range in 52 minutes.”
“What is the status of the laser and railgun installation on this ship?”
“The ship’s defensive laser took longer than planned but repairs have been completed, and it is now operational,” the ship’s computer announced.
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“General Mitom,” was the frantic call on the General’s comm unit.
“What is it?” he responded.
“Sir, we have multiple Mechanicals that have landed. They are attacking the Falloot and the entrances to our survival sites.”
