The Earth Conundrum: Book 1 of the Alliance Conflict (42 page)

Bline answered, “Not a problem.”

He motioned to Ponwe to bring up an image on the monitor. Ponwe tapped a few keystrokes and brought up an image of an incredibly large steel plate that was welded at a 45 degree angle to another incredibly large steel plate.

Bline continued, “In an effort to employ people, the Hiriculan government began a project in the Hepitila system to mine and process enough steel to build several large buildings on Hiricula.”

The crowd oohed at the large steel plate. Bline wasn’t sure what reaction he had been hoping for, so he assumed that was as good as any. He continued, “I contacted our government about this project. I am happy to announce that our leaders have agreed to delay a project on Hiricula and divert enough steel from this plate to complete your building.”

Lone continued, “There would also be a Hiriculan mobile processing center about the size of a freighter placed in orbit to take the raw steel plate and convert into the required finished pieces.”

This announcement was greeted with a round of applause. Bline knew that they had addressed every one of the Solarian government’s concerns: manpower – covered, raw materials – covered, finished material – covered, engineering and design – covered, price – covered, bump to local economy - covered.

Bline concluded the event by thanking everyone and promising that if Ponwe’s construction company gets the bid, Solaria will get the best building possible.

The next day Bline was sitting in his temporary office. His original plan had been to stay on Solaria for three days or at least until the winning bid was announced. The extra time hadn’t been necessary though as the Solarian council surprised everyone by meeting last night and announcing the winning bid this morning.

Bline smiled inwardly, the event and the corresponding business win went better than planned and entered the realm of better than hoped. Bline had accomplished all of his goals, save one, and that one was walking into his office at that exact moment.

Bline noted that the Solarian was well above average height and was blue. He said, “I thought you were white.”

The Solarian replied, “I painted my hands and face blue to fit in better and look less conspicuous.”

Bline asked, “Were you followed?” He immediately regretted the question. If he had been followed, he wouldn’t be here. If he was followed and didn’t know it, then he wouldn’t know it. No one was going to say, yes I was followed, but I came anyway.

He reasoned further that this was probably a good spot for a clandestine meeting. After this morning’s announcement, what place would seem more logical for a freighter captain to meet a Hiriculan ambassador then in his office? He can easily and legitimately use the excuse that he heard the news and came to the embassy to offer his services transporting cargo to and from Hiricula. It would be a perfect cover because it made so much sense.

The Solarian stepped close to Bline’s desk, performed an approximation of a standard Hiriculan greeting; and then said, “No. I don’t think I was followed. I am Jack Dogbarks, the captain of the mini-freighter the
Jackal
. It is a pleasure to meet you Ambassador Bline.”

They discussed shipping for a few minutes. Bline even offered him a lucrative contract for his services. After that was concluded, they discussed the remaining subject. Bline asked, “So, I understand you were part of an on-going monitoring service on Earth.”

Jack replied, “Yes. It was pretty boring. I just sat there in high orbit and watched the news. I tried to keep track of who was fighting whom. It sounded like a neat job in the beginning, but in reality it was monotonous.”

Bline asked, “Did you ever go to the actual planet?”

Jack answered, “Yes. I went a couple of times. I landed in this large hanger that the humans had built to store dirigibles.”

Bline asked, “Where did you go?”

Jack answered, “I went to this really large shopping area that was within walking distance of the hangar. The humans call it a mall.” Jack paused for a moment, and then continued, “The first store I walked into was crazy. They sold everything there, clothes, food, even weapons.”

Bline was starting to reassess his opinion of the story that Victor and Crista had told him. One account could be discounted. However, a second, independent verification could not. Bline asked him, “What are the humans like?”

Jack answered, “They are big and mean and scary. There is a wide range of heights and weights. A handful of humans are about as tall as me, but most are this high.” Jack stood up and put his hand about 20 cm (8”) above his head.

Bline was doubtful about that. He was certain that Jack was exaggerating. He asked, “How big and strong are they?”

Jack replied, “A full-sized human could crush my skull if he hit me.”

Bline asked, “How do the humans feel about aliens?”

Jack replied, “They would kill any alien they met as soon as they saw them.”

Bline said, “Really?” His tone implied that he didn’t believe that either. He said, “Switching subjects, tell me about your interaction with the scientist Lorano.”

Jack replied, “Not much there really. Victor and Crista went to Earth on their mini-freighter, the
Vista
. Lorano and Carank came later on an Alliance Navy corvette.”

Bline asked, “Were you able to confirm this?” Bline doubted that he could, but it didn’t hurt to ask.

Jack said, “Yes. I scanned the
Vista
when it first appeared on Earth. Carank and Lorano were not on board. Also, I checked the records from the Advranki traffic control. Shortly after the
Vista
left, an unmarked corvette left for Conron carrying two passengers. It did not return.”

Bline was impressed. Perhaps Jack would be worth something after all. He asked a final question. He said, “How were they able to get home. I heard that Lorano found a way to bend time or something.”

Jack replied, “That was a complete fabrication designed only to make Lorano sound smarter than he actually is. The correct story is that they flew a corvette on autopilot in front of them and had it constantly send back gravity readings. When it was destroyed, they knew to move out of the way.”

Bline asked, “So the published route is correct then?”

Jack replied, “Not entirely. Lorano made a small, but interesting change. He transposed the last two numbers in the last two jumps to keep the actual route a secret.”

After Jack left, Ambassador Bline said farewell to Ambassador Lone and the office staff and took a ground car back to the spaceport. His corvette should be arriving shortly. He had instructed his pilot to leave Advranki Prime at the exact same time as the
Vista
, but take a less advantageous route to Solaria avoid suspicion.

Bline composed a message to the Hiriculan high council. He encrypted it with the highest possible security and marked it ‘do not read, this means you’. In addition, he made it intentionally vague. He really didn’t know why the high council wanted to publicize to the galaxy that they could mine iron ore and process it into a large steel plate. He had several ideas and at least one hypothesis, but nothing firm yet.

He wrote: The E-C published route is correct for steps 1-11. No hidden coordinates. Steps 12 and 13 need the 10
^th
and 11
^th
digits transposed. We won the bid. They know about the plate.

Bline received a message that his corvette had arrived. He grabbed his single suitcase and overnight bag and headed to the correct landing pad. The remaining 5 suitcases remained sitting in Lone’s office.

Chapter 19

Ella announced, “We have reached the far outskirts of Netron. Exiting hyperspace now.” Ella quickly programmed in the next set of coordinates and hit the hyperspace launch button. The
Sunflower
was in Netron for exactly 42 seconds.

Arean said, “Wow, you completed the jump in only 42 seconds. Now that’s the answer.”

Clowy asked, “Sorry, what was the question?”

The
Sunflower
exited hyperspace a few minutes later at the 7 minute mark in the Netron – Opron hyperspace lane. The shortcut had worked exactly as Solear had predicted. Ella ran a passive scan and reported that there were no ships in the immediate vicinity.

Solear responded, “Thanks. Set course for Opron. Execute when ready.”

Ella took her time with this jump. She programmed the coordinates, double checked, ran the simulation, and verified that it was okay. She then hit the launch button and the
Sunflower
began its 6 hour journey back from Netron to Opron.

The
Sunflower
exited hyperspace without issue exactly 4 hours later in the Opron system. “Ella announced, “Running passive scan.” A moment later she said, “Scan of Opron is clean. The only other ship in the system is the corvette
Informer
.”

Solear said, “The
Informe
r is due to leave in another week.”

Arean said, “We will probably be the highlight of its watch, especially if the Hiriculans decide to chase us.”

Solear hadn’t thought about it. In every other incident the winning and losing side went their separate ways without further incident. This time though was vastly different. The Hiriculans knew that the
Sunflower
had destroyed two of their ships. They may want to exact a measure of revenge.

Solear said, “Ella, can we micro jump in the system and cut some time off of our crossing of Opron?”

Ella made several calculations and performed a couple of simulations. Finally, she brought an image of the Opron system on the monitor and pointed to it. She responded, “It doesn’t appear so. Well, we could make a series of micro jumps around the outskirts of the system here, but it doesn’t appear that we will gain any significant time.”

Solear went to the monitor and looked at the two paths. The first showed a straight line path leading directly from the Netron – Opron hyperpace lane to the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane. The second showed a series of 5 jumps taking the ship in a wide semi-circle (or more precisely a semi-decagon) around the top half of the system. If they maintained a speed of .15 light, the straight line path would take 2.9 days. The circuitous path would take 2.84 days, assuming that they made each calculation quickly.

Solear did some quick math. The difference between the two routes was 86 minutes. He said, “Commander, could the battleship do any better than us?”

Arean said, “I don’t know. Computer, assume that the Hiriculan battleship began pursuing us immediately after detecting our presence in Netron. Calculate a least time path for the battleship. When could it get to the Conron hyperspace lane?”

…Calculating. There are too many variables to give a reliable result…

Solear asked, “Can you give an unreliable estimation?”

…If the battleship was at the exit to the Hepitila – Netron hyperspace lane and it did not move until it detected your presence at the Netron – Opron gate, then it cannot catch you…

Solear said, “And if they correctly guessed our destination after our first appearance and immediately jumped in pursuit?”

…Then you would have somewhere between a 7 and an 8 hour head start…

Solear then said, “What is the least time route a battleship could take through Opron?”

…Its superior mass would let it make a much smaller arc around the system. If it made a perfect series of jumps it could cross the system in 2.6 days…

Solear again did some quick math. Solear said, “48 minutes. If we have an 8 hour head start, we will beat the battleship to the Opron hyperspace lane by 48 minutes.”

Arean played along. He said, “And if we only have a 7 hour head start?”

Solear answered, “Then the battleship will beat us there by 12 minutes.”

Solear made his decision. He said, “Ella, we are going the ionic power route. Set a direct course for Conron hyperspace lane, increase speed to .15 light and maintain it.”

Ella responded, “Course and speed set. Executing now. Just out of curiosity, why did you pick that route?”

Solear said, “By staying in real-time we can continuously scan the exit to the Netron hyperspace lane. We will know exactly how far they are behind us.”

Solear neglected to mention that the opposite was also true. By staying in real time, the enemy would be able to pinpoint their location the moment they exited hyperspace by using passive scans. However, he believed the benefits far outweighed the risks.

Ella didn’t consider herself very good at reading Advranki expressions. However, it seemed to her like the Captain’s answer was less than forthright. She said, “That isn’t the only reason, is it?”

Solear said, “No. We have been jumping quite a bit lately. I just wanted to give the drives a rest and go straight through. Plus, the speed gives us options when we get closer to the hyperspace lane. We can always increase speed. They cannot jump faster.”

The bridge crew spent the rest of the day compiling all of the data from the battle. They downloaded every fighter’s navigational path and firing pattern. They noted the cruiser’s movements and missile launches. They then created a simulation of the battle.

The bridge crew watched the simulation in silence in the Captain’s conference room. During the battle, too much had been happening at once and everything was obscured by either a dust cloud or a time lag. Each member had been performing their own duties and were only dimly aware of what the others were doing. Now though, they had the opportunity to watch the entire battle in a calm, detached manner. After the simulation concluded, Lexxi, Ella, and Clowy returned the bridge proper.

Solear and Arean watched the entire battle a second time, this time pausing to discuss each sequence. First came the rapid launch of the fighters. Next came the seemingly useless firing of the missiles. Then the fighter battle. The humans performed a slick, last minute maneuver to separate their fighters and create a killing zone. The first pass resulted in 37 enemy killed and 3 damaged.

Arean stopped the simulation and said, “Look here. This fighter fired what appears to be a random missile that hit this Hiriculan fighter in the upper row. I don’t understand how he would have had time to locate, aim, and fire a missile at that particular target.”