Talosian Chronicles 2: Star Dancer (39 page)

“All the fighting positions are reinforced and shielded. A few of them even have medium lasers mounted in them, although we still have to show the Marines how to use them. We’ve also used the mass driver model to create a few mini-gun style man-portable heavy guns, as well as hard mounts in shielded positions. We are planning on adding an additional shield over the area. That will provide an additional layer of protection for the community while giving the Marines more protection as well.”

“Looks good to me, are you going to add to the heavy mount weapons topside to help cover the Marines?” Ian asked.

“We had a couple ideas for that. The guns we had installed for anti-aircraft, worked very well on the assault ships, but we had to be really careful about hitting their power cores,” Ty explained.

“Not much can be done about that, unfortunately. The crews would blow the cores anyway once they knew the battle is hopeless,” Ian replied.

“Well, at least the aliens didn’t take any intel away from here. None of them survived to report back,” Taylor said.

“Actually, that’s not true, Major Taylor. All the ships the Caldarians use, with the exception of the fighters, are continuously connected to the command ship via subspace link. The entire battle is available to their commanders for review. They know everything that happened down here just as well as we do.” Ian replied.

“Can you bring the ship in closer to help cover us?” Petrie asked.

“Ty save this, please. Then bring up the tactical feed from
Star Dancer
.” Ian said by way of an answer. When it was done, Ian used the controls to zoom in on the Caldarian Super Nova near Venus.

“This is the enemy Command ship. It’s the source of all the fighting. As you can see, it’s currently parked near the orbit of the Planet Venus. Right now, they are trying to figure out how we’ve done everything we’ve been able to do so far. They are also looking for any Talosian presence in this system, and if they find it, they will attack, and destroy it.”

He pulled the display back then zoomed in on his ship. “This is where I have the ship parked, and hidden. In a stand up fight between the Super Nova, and the
Star Dancer
,
Star Dancer
would be overwhelmed by sheer firepower in just under four minutes.” He typed and brought up a comparison display showing a side view of the Super Nova, and the
Star Dancer
in from of it. The
Star Dancer
wasn’t even a third the length of the much bigger ship.

“Now, to give you an idea of how big we are actually talking here...” Ian said, and zoomed in, to
Star Dancer
, then to the back end near the landing bay entrance, then into the entrance, and still further until they could see people working on fighters and shuttle sin the big landing bay.

“Ho-ly-fuck!” Petrie said. “I had no idea the ships were that damn big!” He glanced at Janet, and looked down. “Excuse me Ma’am.”

Ian nodded. “While
Star Dancer
could seriously mess up a planet, the Super Nova has the ability to not only destroy the planet, but they can trigger a nova condition in the Sun, destroying the entire system.” Ian let the display once again pull out to show the entire inner system theater. “I’m not hiding from them out of cowardice, but out of necessity. I believe we can defeat these assholes as long as we can stay alive long enough and do enough damage to them as possible, without them figuring out where it’s coming from. So far, we’ve been trying to keep their attention from focusing on the planet, and this community.” Ian explained. “Moving the ship would make it detectable. The Caldarians would then make it their primary target and destroy us as quickly as they could, then they would turn on the planet, and simply blow away cities from orbit until the survivors surrendered. Once that happens, they would all become slaves that serve the Caldarians as miners, forced labor, and craftsmen.”

“So it’s not expansionism that drives them, then?” Petrie asked.

“Not in the sense we think, no. They view all other races as inferior to them, and therefore subservient. Only Caldarian life matters, and it was the duty of the other races to serve them in every way, up to and including giving their lives at the whims of their masters. It’s a simple case of Dominance. Caldarians don’t think they are better than everyone else, they
know
they are. There is no other option for them. They view defeat by an inferior to be completely intolerable, and they will kill themselves to absolve the shame of defeat.”

“So, what have they been up to since we stomped they’re asses?” Taylor asked.

“That’s the strange part. They’ve been doing nothing. They recalled all of their patrol craft, and so far, have only been sitting there for the last couple of days,” Ian said. ”That is very unlike the Caldarians that we know of from our records. The defeat
should
have pissed them off to the point where they would launch an all-out attack to turn this whole section of the United States into glass. Just sitting there is really causing my intel people ulcers.”

“So what do we have for air and space support then?” Taylor asked.

“Well, there is the fighter wings here, plus the Centurions. We should also be able to get more fighters here from either the ship or the moon base if you need them. Under full burn, they can get here in about fifteen minutes. I know that sounds like a long time, but considering it would take the enemy over an hour to get an assault force here, we should know ahead of time what they’re throwing at you and be able to counter it,” Ian said.

“Do they have cloaking devices like you are using?” Petrie asked.

Ian nodded. “They do have cloaking devices, but we haven’t seen them on anything smaller than one of their freighters. I grant you that we cannot assume that they don’t have them on their other craft as well, but we simply don’t have the numbers to cover every contingency as well as we would like to.”

Taylor nodded. “I keep forgetting that you have a limited number of fighters and pilots.”

Ian gave him a half-grin. “Major, we have a limited number of
everything
.” 

“Which is a good place for me to jump in,” Janet said speaking for the first time. “Colonel Petrie, how would you feel about inviting your father-in-law here for a visit?”

The request threw the colonel for a moment. “How did you know about him?” he asked, finally.

“My job is personnel, Colonel. Part of my duties are to know at least the main people we speak to. I think the Admiral would be a good person to have on our side in this,” Janet explained.

“I don’t know if he would accept all of this without reporting it. He’s the Commander in Chief for Space for the United States. He was personally appointed by the President to his position,” Petrie said.

“He is just the person we need in order to make the overseas contacts we’re going to need to recruit a truly multi-national force. We do have a lot of people from other countries working with us as it is, but not that many of them are in the military branch,” Janet explained. “When it comes time for us to come out of the closet so to speak, having a diverse fighting force will go a long way to putting minds at ease in the UN and in the governments of the other countries, especially China and North Korea, although the North Koreans will be a problem no matter what.”

“The leader of North Korea was abused as a child.” Taylor replied, sarcastically. “Mrs. Laskar does have a point, Jim. If we can convince Admiral Hawkins of what they are doing here, he’d be willing to help as much as he could.”

“I can talk to him. We do have a pretty good relationship. But like I said, I think it’s a big risk. When do you want me to talk to him?” Petrie asked.

“Well, if you can get him out here, maybe we can convince him to keep the Air Force pilots back out of harm’s way so we don’t lose anymore. I know he’ll still have to look like he’s doing something, but at least he’ll know the truth about what’s really going on,” Ian said. “That alone might help save a few lives.”

Petrie nodded. “I’ll call him this evening when he gets home, the lines going into the mountain are all tapped recorded.”

“If you need transportation anywhere, feel free to ask. We might be able to give you a hand there,” Ty said, smiling.

“Say, where is Elias? I was hoping to say Hi to him before I had to head back.” Ian asked.

“He’s out front riding heard on the construction projects. I think the attack scared him a little more than he anticipated,” Luke said. “I know it sure as hell puckered my asshole!”

––––––––

T
he group took a tour of the construction going on outside of the front gate, and Ian did find Elias out there. Ian managed to get Elias off to one side, and he asked his friend how he was holding up.

“I don’t know, Ian. When the first bombs started going off, I froze, I didn’t know what to do. I knew, intellectually that we could be attacked. Hell, I helped Ty set up some of the defenses! But when it came right down to it, I almost wet myself,” Elias admitted.

“The night before the ship arrived, I couldn’t sleep, and I had a very hard time not throwing up. I was convinced that I was going to get everyone killed. I knew I had set everything up and the Caldarians would see right through it, and everyone that was depending on me would die. I didn’t know what to do, and the fear was all but shutting me down.”

“What did you do?” Elias asked.

“Beth came out and talked to me. She made me see that I hadn’t been the one to bring the Caldarians here, but I had been the one to tell people, and give them a fighting chance to defend themselves. Because of what I had done, and what I had set up, people had a chance to survive what was coming. She told me she was proud of me, and she was sure that my parents would have been as well. She also told me that I needed to get my fear under control because I was the one that people looked to for their strength to get through what was coming.

“The point she made was that to fear what might happen was only natural, but to let it overcome me would only ensure that the enemy won. Elias, you have done more than anyone else here to make sure that people are safe, comfortable, and protected. Because of you and what you’ve done, the people here look to you as a source of strength and support in times of trouble.” Ian saw he wasn’t really reaching his friend, so he took another tack.

“Look at it this way, these assholes are coming here to destroy all these beautiful houses you’ve spent the last year building. They are coming here to destroy your community, the one you and your people have built with your own hands and sweat. How does that make you feel?”

“That pisses me off.” Elias said. “This project has been the greatest thing I’ve ever done. It really pisses me off to see it being destroyed.”

Ian nodded to him. “There! When you start feeling fear again, fine, that’s natural, but when it starts getting to be too much again, just think what those pricks are doing to your beautiful town!”

“That does help!” Elias said as his whole demeanor changed. “Those fuckers better stay the hell away from my town!”

“So, you’re feeling better?” Ian asked.

“Yes I am, thank you, Ian!” Elias said.

“Great, now, what the hell is that?” Ian asked as he pointed to what looked like a sideways air vent for something underground, mounted in the side of one of the open air trenches.

Elias chuckled. “Combat access for floating litters. The litters are programmed to fly in there and deliver their patient to the medical unit back in the base. There are four different access points and all of them are shielded to only allow a litter to enter. It’s kinda neat really.”

“As long as the Marine riding it isn’t claustrophobic!” Ian said.

“Naw, medical said they’ll be sedated during the ride, But I did suggest we simply put naked pictures of the opposite sex on the ceilings of the tunnels! Diane said then we’d have troops getting hurt just to ride through there,” Elias said laughing.

The rest of the tour was uneventful, with Elias and Ty showing him all the different stuff they were doing, and how things should work if they were attacked again.

When it was time for Ian to leave, he looked at Ty. “Be sure to stress to these new people that the Caldarians have no problem tossing nukes and antimatter around. I would mention it to the eggheads also, and see if they can come up with something to limit the fall out if that happens.”

“I’ll do that Sir,” Ty said seriously. “I really appreciate you coming down here. I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to get away.”

“You needed it, and I could do it, no thanks are necessary. I understand Janet is going to stay down here to meet with the Admiral. I’ll have to see if I can get free to come back for it myself, but he might have to settle for a hologram. Take care of our people, Ty, and be safe,” Ian said as he picked up his helmet.

“Same to you Sir. Kick their asses out of our system up there,” Ty replied by way of farewell. With that, Ian put his helmet on and walked out to the landing area where Talena was waiting for him.

“Ready to go home, Talena?” Ian asked.

“Yes Sir, both shuttles will be returning with us; one is full of supplies, and the other is full of people. ESAR, Marines, a couple of extra pilots, and other crew members for the ship as I understand it,” Talena replied as she climbed into her seat in the fighter.

“Well, that’ll make a few of the department heads happy. Especially the SAR teams, I know the Bosun has been bitching about the lack of people he has,” Ian said.

Talena once again got her flight launched and on the way back to the ship. Ian said, “I need to talk to the ship for a bit, sweetheart, so forgive me if I don’t answer you right away.”

“No problem, Ian,” Talena said from the front cockpit.

When Ian called the ship, Jenny was happy to hear from him.

“You better not be calling to tell me your spending the night down there!” Jenny replied.

“No dear, I was actually calling to find out what happened to those other two hyperspace tracks we had?” Ian asked. “They should be here by now.”