The Invasion Begins Page 4

  “I suppose any Gates that haven’t been crushed or blown apart during the bombing runs are still usable. So far, we’ve brought an estimated one thousand wrecked Denubbewa warships to Lorense-Four, and we’ve recovered a significant number of Gates in good condition. Potentially, there still might be a significant number of intact CJ Gate booths in those floating mountains of scrap.”

  “What about the Gates that have already been taken to Lorense-Three, Jen? I haven’t heard any reports of Denubbewa there.”

  “The Gates are supposed to be powered down and partially dismantled before being moved to Lorense-Three. As soon as the yard people complete their initial evaluation of a Gate’s condition, the standing orders call for disconnection of the power supplies. Sywasock showed our engineers how to do that while causing only negligible damage that’s easily repairable afterward.”

  “Then once we clean up the situation here, we should be in the clear. Even so, I’m estimating we might lose as many as a hundred of our yard personnel who were caught by surprise as they went about their duties.”

  “Let’s hope your estimate is high, Brian. I’m going to contact Loretta now and tell her what we’ve hypothesized. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  “Of course. Holt out.”

  “Carver out.”

  ~

  “Loretta?” Jenetta said about thirty seconds later when she made contact with Admiral Plimley.

  “Yes, Jen. I just heard about the invasion.”

  “Brian thinks they’re coming from Personnel CJ Gates buried in the wreckage. Is there any danger there at the shipyard?”

  “The power supplies of all the Gates brought from Lorense-Four were disconnected before they arrived, so they’re not operational. The new Personnel CJ Gates our scientists are building are incomplete, so they can’t be accessed by the Denubbewa.”

  “What about the Armada CJ Gate intended for the invasion force of Denubbewa motherships and warships?”

  “We’ve witnessed no activity at all. One of the Elobian scientists and several of our people are monitoring the control panel in the engineering section. There hasn’t been any indication the Denubbewa have even tried accessing it.”

  “That’s strange. Their people designed it, and it was used for the initial test to bring in a number of motherships and thousands of warships.”

  “We’re looking into it. Sywasock says it doesn’t appear to be operational, but so far he has no idea why that is. He promises to let me know as soon as he learns or even suspects why it appears to be non-functional.”

  “I’d be interested to hear his evaluation as soon as he arrives at a determination. And I certainly don’t want him to make it operational during testing if it’s not presently accessible by the Denubbewa.”

  “No worries, Jen. If it appears that someone is trying to establish a Jump Gate using that new Gate technology, I’ll give the order to shut down the power. And we have charges rigged to remotely destroy the power couplings as a last resort if it’s the only way to stop it. How is Brian doing with the situation at Four?”

  “He seems to have a handle on things, but we’re all concerned about the possible loss of yard personnel caught in the crossfire. It could have been much, much worse. If the Denubbewa had emerged inside a usable ship instead of a pile of wreckage, we could be looking at major losses. Thank heaven they didn’t know the Gates were buried in wreckage. I’m sure the ones who arrived never expected to find themselves floating in orbit around Lorense-Four without a spaceship. Even if they don’t need oxygen, they need an artificial gravity to fight properly and a way to advance their position. They have neither.”

  “Yes, it would be a different situation entirely if they had emerged inside a functional ship— especially a functional warship.”

  “Okay, Loretta. I’ll let you get back to work. I have to send messages out to the reclamation ships still involved in bringing the wrecked ships to Four and everyone else involved with Denubbewa technology, warning them of the potential situation with CJ Gates. Most don’t even know about the Gates yet. The secrecy surrounding Cosmic Jump Gate technology is definitely going to be split wide open after this.”

  “Enormous secrets like the CJ Gates are very hard to keep hidden. I’m surprised we’ve been able to keep it under wraps until now.”

  “Once the public knows, the corporate suits will be lining up to take advantage of it— and make money from it. I have no doubt that major companies in the Galactic Alliance will be offering billions of credits in bribes to the politicians they have in their pockets so their companies get exclusive control of the capability. It could be worth tens of trillions of credits every year. I was really hoping we could find a way to protect it from being abused by the so-called captains of industry.”

  “Perhaps this invasion will make that possible, Jen. If we hadn’t been in control of the Gates, the situation could easily have gotten out of hand and the G.A. could now be just a memory. Only Space Command and the Space Marines are in a position to prevent such a tragedy, and prevention is only possible if we control all that technology.”

  “I guess only time will tell if we’ll continue to have full control over CJ Gate technology, Loretta. I’ll be as forceful as possible when I make the case to the Senate Council that the operation and security of all future Gate construction and activity must remain with us exclusively for the safety of the G.A. And it won’t hurt if I can convince the Senate that Space Command will one day be able to collect enormous fees for allowing private companies to send cargo and passengers through the Gates that we’ll be managing and safeguarding for the G.A.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Following our meeting yesterday to discuss the potential for danger here at this new base and the other six new bases,” Captain Gavin announced to his senior staff, “I sent messages to the other Scout-Destroyer captains who have temporary responsibility for the security of the former Denubbewa mothership presently designated as their home port.”

  Other than Captain Gavin, only XO Commander Eliza Carver and Commander Christa Carver were at the meeting.

  “I outlined what they had to do to constantly monitor activity in the CJ Gate rooms, using the system your people developed, Christa,” Captain Gavin said, “and that they must have at least four armed Marines on duty in every Gate room around the clock. I also ordered them to remotely monitor Gate room activity at all times and informed them that once every twelve hours, the Gate would flash very briefly, but that was normal. That’s all I can do for them at the present.

  “I also sent a message to Admiral Holt that an engineering CPO from Lorense-Four has arrived at this base via the Gate system and that he has no obvious health issues according to our doctors. I alerted Brian to the possibility that the Denubbewa might try to infiltrate Quesann using the CJ Gate system and sent him a copy of the messages I sent to all of the new Space Command bases in Region Three. I requested that he send information on ways to block Denubbewa access to our Gates, if such information is available.”

  Gavin paused to take a breath before asking Eliza, “Has Lt. Holloway had an opportunity to examine the equipment?”

  “Yes, sir. He’s fascinated by the complexity of the design and the components, and he’s been working on the problem of how to shut it down without damaging it. I understand he spends every minute of his watch time working on it, as well as every minute of his free time other than brief breaks to grab some chow at mealtime and, of course, sleep time.”

  “But no progress yet on how to disconnect the power without damaging the equipment?”

  “He hasn’t yet reported that he’s found a solution. I know he understands the urgency of shutting them down.”

  “I can’t sleep soundly knowing that at any minute Denubbewa soldiers could come pouring out of those booths. I’ll allow a little more time, but I’m getting ever closer to the point where I’ll just order engineering to rip out the connections to the power supply systems and the hel
l with trying to preserve the equipment.”

  “I understand your frustration, sir,” Eliza said, “but I think that would be a terrible loss to the G.A.”

  “I’m more concerned with the lives of the men and women aboard this vessel, and the others under my command.”

  “Yes, sir. Of course.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Good morning, Admiral Carver,” the G.A. Senate President said a bit brusquely as Jenetta was escorted to a seat at a table facing the center of the raised dais where the fifteen-member Senate Council held their sessions. The senators were only visible from their chests up, their lower bodies being hidden by the one-piece, enclosed bench that extended almost to the wall on either side of the room. Cayla and Tayna sat on the floor on either side of Jenetta.

  “Good morning, Mr. President,” she cordially replied as she sat down.

  “I requested your attendance here three days ago, but you declined. Explain your failure to appear.”

  “I’ve been rather busy, President Fluessa, attending to extremely urgent Space Command business.”

  “Business so urgent you felt you could ignore our order to appear here until now?”

  “Yes, Mr. President. I was unable to appear until now.”

  “Then enlighten us with the reasons for your absence.”

  “Of course, Mr. President. But first you must clear the room of everyone except the senators in attendance today.”

  “Not this again,” Senator Urhelect, the elected representative from the planet Sebastian, said. “I protest— again!”

  “Be quiet, Durnek. If the admiral needs the room cleared to discuss matters of a sensitive nature on par with her last request for clearing the room, it will be cleared. Is this matter as sensitive, Admiral?”

  “Even more so, Mr. President.”

  “Then clear the room,” Fluessa said loudly. “Everyone out except senators, Admiral Carver, and… uh, Admiral, do your uh… companions… know what you’re about to report?”

  “Yes, Mr. President, but that shouldn’t matter. According to the laws of the G.A. they present no danger in that regard because this body has not declared them to be sentient.”

  “Yes, uh, well, that may change.”

  When the room was cleared, Jenetta took a deep breath and said, “Mr. President, four days ago the Lorense system was invaded by Denubbewa soldier cyborgs.”

  “Invaded!” Fluessa practically screamed. “Why weren’t we told?”

  “I’m informing you now. This has been the earliest opportunity I’ve had to report to the Senate Council.”

  “What’s the status of the invasion?”

  “We’ve managed to contain them in the reclamation yard around Lorense-Four.”

  “You have them contained? Does that mean you’ve defeated them?”

  “No. It means that so far their movement is limited to that one area.”

  “Why weren’t we informed immediately?” the senator from Sebastian screamed.

  “Are you a military veteran, Senator?”

  “Uh, no.”

  “Then what advice could you have offered in the defense of the G.A that might have escaped us?”

  “Well— uh— I guess— Well, I couldn’t have helped you plan your defense, but I could possibly have negotiated with the Denubbewa.”

  “I thank you for your generous offer, Senator, but the Denubbewa aren’t interested in negotiating. I apologize for not being here sooner, but I felt the defense of this base and this august body took precedence over a Council discussion of the invasion.”

  “How did the Denubbewa accomplish this invasion?” Fluessa asked loudly. “I recall no advance warning.”

  “I warned some time ago of their intent to invade.”

  “You’re speaking of when we authorized an enormous increase in your annual budget appropriation for defense?”

  “Yes, sir. And I do thank the Council. We have already ordered the materials necessary to build the ships you authorized and begun recruitment efforts for the Space Command manpower required to man those ships and the Space Marine forces needed to help defend our populations and our planets.”

  “And the Denubbewa?” Fluessa asked. “What of them?”

  “So far we have them completely contained at Lorense-Four, but the fighting continues. That’s all I’m able to report at this time. The situation is still fluid.”

  “How large a force are you fighting?”

  “We’ve been told that the Denubbewa have sextillion cyborgs. Perhaps half of them are soldiers.”

  “You’re surely not saying you’re currently engaged in fighting trillions of cyborg soldiers.”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’m sure the Council remembers what I said about the Denubbewa having Cosmic Jump Gates that allow them to travel across almost limitless expanses of space in the blink of an eye. When we destroyed the enormous fleet of Denubbewa ships recently, we believed we had ended the threat of an invasion for at least a couple of years and that the increased budget appropriation the Council approved would help us prepare for their next thrust. We estimated that the fleet we crushed should have contained as many as one point one million cyborgs as crew. But the number of cyborg bodies we recovered from the destroyed ships was negligible. Our hypothesis is that when the Denubbewa discovered we had developed a method for locating their ships and destroying them, they began sending the soldiers home using their Personnel CJ Gates. We believe now that the hundreds of ships we destroyed were manned only by skeleton crews sufficiently adequate to move the ships but not fight. They lost those ships but saved their troops to fight another day.

  “Further, we believe they’ve developed a revised attack plan where they’re hoping to use their Cosmic Jump Gate technology to release hordes of cyborgs directly into our presence after we’ve dragged the wreckage back here. They knew we couldn’t simply leave the crushed ships where scavengers could get to them because there was so much Dakinium and so many weapons and ordnance in the wreckage. We couldn’t allow that to fall into the hands of anyone in the G.A. or outside the G.A.”

  “But I thought Dakinium had to be molded to a specific form during the manufacturing process. Isn’t it useless for any other purpose afterwards?”

  “Not useless. It still possesses all of the properties of the material. The Denubbewa have an acid that can cut through Dakinium as easily as a hot knife slices through butter. They used that acid when they attacked and destroyed our two Scout- Destroyers during our first contact with their species. Our chemical scientists here have learned how to replicate it, and we can now use it to cut scrap into pieces that can be repurposed for uses other than sheathing ships. The acid used to cut the Dakinium is receiving a lot of attention because a number of scientists believe a similar chemical reaction can be used to fuse Dakinium sections together through a sort of melting procedure. Other scientists have been testing new methods that might allow them to temporarily soften and then reform, or even remold, salvaged Dakinium, just as we do with other materials.”

  “Getting back to the Denubbewa situation, how many cyborg soldiers do you estimate have arrived at Lorense-Four?”

  “It appears they haven’t stopped sending them. Cyborgs continue to emerge from the depths of the rubble hourly. We slay them as fast as they emerge, but we have no way of stopping them unless we can gain access to the power units supplying their CJ Gates. Our worry now is that they might be trying to rebuild ships within the rubble to escape their— prison. If they manage to break out and reach a planet, they might be unstoppable. That’s always been the worst-case scenario. We have no way of stopping them without incredible loss of life if they make it down to an inhabited planet. The Marine Ground Force Initiative would give us ways to combat enemy troops that have landed on a planet, but that’s still an unsupported plan. It appears the Denubbewa have found an indefensible way to attack us without using ships.”

  “So you’re back asking for another appropriation increase?”


  “Basically, right now all I need is authorization to initiate the GFI operation. I absolutely will not do that unless you first approve. Eventually, we will need an increased appropriation in support of that initiative. At Lorense-Four, we’ve destroyed thousands of cyborgs that have emerged from the rubble in places where our gunners could target them. But they keep coming. I have no idea how long they’ll continue to emerge from the rubble piles. There are pieces of cyborgs— arms, legs, heads, torsos— floating everywhere. And, as I said, I’m worried about what must be happening down inside the mountains of rubble. We know there are broken ships in there. The cyborgs might be trying to cobble one or more of them together. If they do, they’ll no doubt head for an occupied planet. Quesann is the nearest.”

  “You think they’d come here?”

  “I have no way of knowing what their plans are.”

  “But we have a full brigade of Marines at Harrat Island Marine Base. They must be brought over here immediately to protect us— and, of course, the administrative employees.”

  “We had a full brigade at Harrat Island. We took every Marine that could be spared and sent them to Region Three to support the campaign against the Denubbewa invasion fleet. We also reduced the Marine forces on the ships here in the Fleet Harbor by half and sent them as well.”

  “So you’ve left us defenseless?” Council President Fluessa said nervously.

  The faces of the senators reflected the fear in their hearts.

  “Our ground forces are— limited. But then we’ve never had adequate ground forces because the Senate Council believed we didn’t need them.”

  “And we haven’t needed them.”

  “Being prepared is having adequate forces to meet almost any emergency before you actually need them. We in Space Command and the Space Marines do our best with what we have, but sometimes we find ourselves in a position like this one where we just don’t have the resources for the task that faces us. We try our best to anticipate our needs, but there’s nothing we can do when the funds aren’t there to acquire the manpower and equipment we need.”