Broken Soldier (Book One) (18 page)

Bambi spoke out loud. “Jonelle, I think the world of
you and would never do anything to harm you. I’m so sorry that you
had that fear of me. The good news is that now you know I probably
won’t kill you.”

In unison, both biologics said, “Probably?”

Yeah. I probably won’t kill you. You guys play
straight with me and I’ll play straight with you. Deal?”

Jo told her,
You must not be so casual about
taking a life. I know you are trying to keep the atmosphere light,
because you still fear the reaction of a biologic mind to your own.
I promise you, I am not like that and I believe that to be true for
Mike, as well. To quote one of America’s founders, ‘We must all
hang together, or we will surely hang separately’.

Mike added, “That’s a good way to put it, Jo. The
three of us are now officially a rebellion. Right here, right now,
begins the fight to free mankind, Thorians and any other sentient
beings who seek justice, equality and freedom.”

Jo told him, “That’s a wonderful thought, my
friend.”

Bambi complained,
That’s a little corny for my
taste. I think I’m more of a blue collar type of gal. You know,
praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

Mike shook his head and told her, “Oh, some of the
guys are going to love you. Bambi, please don’t watch any more
movies. You’re getting a skewed view of humans.”

I think you’ll have to admit that I grow on people;
at least I grew on you, didn’t I?

Yes you did.

In a more formal crewman’s tone, she said, “I’ve
been looking into the other secure spaces on board. There’s some
exciting stuff in a few of them. Most of them are empty. It seems
that transports occasionally carry supplies for warships to the
combat zones. Because they never know which ships will be utilized,
all of them have secure, unlisted storage areas on board.
Apparently, at one time, this ship was used to carry supplies to
the rear areas of a combat zone near the Januki frontier.

“We have a storage area for as many as one thousand
celestial mines. It’s almost empty right now, but there are sixteen
mines still in there. The files say that four aren’t working. In
another area, we have a pair of Small Dual Capacity Aggressor
Vehicles.

“I did a check of Earth equivalent vehicles. I think
you would call them fighters.”

Mike exploded. “We have fighters? Are you serious,
we have fighters? That’s great. Are they armed? Do they have any
way to shoot?”

“There is a separate area, which houses munitions
for the fighters and a good deal of replacement parts for them.
They are capable of faster than light flight, up to 1.2 times light
speed. But at that speed, you will burn a lot of fuel and be empty
in less than two days. If you keep it below .4 light speed, you can
fly for 28 days. Of course, the two Sauran crew would need to load
a lot of food and water.”

“Holy shit, they can fly for 28 days. That’s
amazing. I can’t wait to get in one and take it for a spin.”

Jo told him,
Mike, you need to calm down. They
are Sauran fighters and designed for Saurans. There will need to be
alterations made to them, before being acceptable for a human or a
Thorian pilot. And, we’ll both need to learn how to operate them.
They are space fighters and will handle nothing like the one’s you
have on Earth

Mike realized that Jo was correct.
Yeah, I guess
you’re right about that. Still, it’s looking better.

Captain, it’s better than you might think. Both of
you are now almost as big as a Sauran and your minds are quick
enough to handle the controls, which are primarily comm controlled.
I’ve accessed the manuals and can download them to your minds. It
would be possible to sit at your desk and practice, without leaving
the ship, before you attempt actual flight.

Mike could hardly contain himself. “Wow, things are
definitely looking up.”

Jo brought him back to reality. “Your mind is
advancing toward some marvelous possibilities, but you are ignoring
the need for the most fundamental resource…warriors. It is time for
us to plan for the return to Earth. I will need a few more days to
regain my strength and you must make specific plans for whom you
wish to kidnap and how to go about it.”

The Captain has already been working on those
plans.

“I’ll explain it, Bambi. I have noted in the Sauran
record of their first trip there that they were concerned about the
larger shuttle being discovered. Apparently, Earth has slightly
better close in sensors than they thought.

I did an analysis of their journey and saw that the
heat and radiation generated by the shuttle might be detectable,
although not easily. The Saurans, unknowingly, flew down a direct
line of sight path from Mars. At least twenty nations have
telescopes aimed in that direction. By the way, that demonstrates
an arrogant carelessness on the part of the Saurans.”

Jo interrupted. “That is no doubt true. But, don’t
be deceived into thinking they are foolish. The Saurans on this
ship were the laziest failures of their people and did not
represent the best of the warrior class. I can assure you that any
crew of a warship would not have made such a mistake.”

Mike admitted, “Yes, I thought of that. It was an
error made by a crew that had always seen victory for their people,
without ever having had to directly contribute to it
themselves.”

“I propose that we take two shuttles and use an
alternative route to the planet. We will park the larger one behind
a dead European satellite that never worked properly. Even if
someone detects movement or minor radiation, they will assume it is
just the malfunctioning satellite.

“Then we use the smaller, stealthier craft to land
and pursue our victims.”

Jo took exception to that term. “They are not
victims. They will be receiving the benefit of medical
improvements, which would not be available to them any other
way.”

Mike held up his hands and explained, “I felt like a
victim at first and most of them will too. We just don’t have the
time to go into a lengthy explanation for every man we go after. We
need to grab several, put them into a med unit and once they’ve
been repaired, we will make our pitch to the entire group at one
time. Anyone who doesn’t want to fight with us will be returned to
Earth.

“However, Bambi will have to do some re-programming
of their memories, before we dump them. They will be told about it,
before they are returned. I refuse to lie to them. Doing it that
way will maintain our integrity, yet keep the secret of our
existence.”

I’ll do the reprogramming, because I realize it is
the only way to avoid causing mass panic on your world. But, I will
insist on those humans who don’t wish to join us be given a means
of pursuing a better life.

Mike commed,
I worried about that for a while.
We’re going to need financial means on Earth. I have almost a
hundred forty thousand dollars in a retirement account; but it’s
not nearly enough. I’ll invest it a special fund that we’ll set
up.

Perhaps we can do some minor manipulation of the
stock market and quickly establish a successful portfolio of
investments. When we send a person back to Earth, their new younger
body will not be able to return to their families and former lives.
They will have new IDs and be recovering from an accident and loss
of memory. When they hit the streets, they won’t be rich, but they
will be well off. Also, if Bambi will agree to it, they will have
sub-programs in place that will help us by monitoring injured
warriors. Unknowingly, they will be helping wounded vets, while
they expand our search for warriors.

Bambi made a strange scratchy noise, and then
commed,
I’ll do it, but you will have to give me some guidance
on this and I won’t put anything in their heads that will do harm
to them or other people.

“Of course not. I wouldn’t want that either.”

He scrunched his face up and mumbled, “I wish I
could access the Internet from here. I could do an awful lot of
study, as we wait.”

Jo told him, “You can, but it’s a slow process for
the moment. When I picked you up…”

Mike interrupted, with a smile, “Kidnapped me.”

“Very well, yes, I kidnapped you. Anyway, I left a
beacon behind. It can access the Internet for you, and can send the
information here. The transmission from the beacon to the ship will
travel at truly amazing speeds. It will take about one hour. But,
we don’t want to risk sending a powerful radiation burst to the
beacon, because the over lapping ripples could be detected by
several devices on Earth. One of several countries might see it as
an electronic assault. Certainly, we don’t want to trigger a war on
your planet.”

Mike shook his head, agreeing and said, “No, we
don’t. So, what do we do?”

Jo held out his arms and explained, “You can still
communicate with the beacon and retrieve the information you wish.
Bambi can help you to write a program for finding the people you
think will best suit our needs. Then we send it to the beacon,
using high frequency tight beam radio waves. That will take
approximately two days. The beacon will do the research, collect
the data, and then send you the findings. That report will take
about one hour to return, because of the faster speed of
communication in multi-light speed.”

Mike pointed out, “We’re going to have to make
several trips, if we’re going to have enough recruits. Can’t we
tweak the beacon when we’re down there, so we are able to take
advantage of the multi-light speed comm?”

Jo gave a slow response, “I don’t think sooo.”

Bambi jumped in.
Yes we can, or at least, I can.
It requires a very precise beam setting. Once we’re there, I’ll
have the Mother Ship broadcast a nanosecond burst to us. Once I
have the proper alignment, I’ll be able to define the beacon for
the narrowest reception and transmission points. The Earth will
never even know the comm is happening. From that moment forward, we
can comm from the ship to Earth and back, in only two hours or so.
That’s quite an improvement, don’t you think.

Mike chuckled, “Yes it is. You are a very smart
girl, Bambi.”

I know.

“Smart girl and smart people; that reminds me I need
to do some research on Earth scientists. I think we’re going to
need some people with the ability to think outside of the
scientific box. I doubt we’re going to find some scientist who has
been badly injured and would welcome our help. That said; I could
be wrong. Some old scientist just might be happy to be young again
and have the opportunity to travel in space. I’ll have to adjust my
thinking and do research on that.”

Jo asked, “Do you really think they will be of any
help? Your Earth scientists are many generations behind what we
have already. I’m sure they would find it interesting, but could
they invent something new. I’m afraid I’m doubtful of that
happening, Mike.”

“You are right and wrong, my friend. Anyone from
Earth would be fascinated by everything they find out here, just as
I am. What I’m hoping for, is someone who might be able to improve
existing systems.

“Bambi, you’ve told me the Saurans don’t like
changes. They’ve lived in stagnation for centuries. If we can use
existing technology and upgrade it beyond their capabilities, we
would have a significant edge in combat.”

Captain, the Saurans don’t like change, but they are
very capable of making rapid adaptations, in the face of conflict.
Whatever your scientists expose the Saurans to, will be quickly
analyzed and adapted for their own use. They’ve done it before.

“That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Any advantage
we gain will make a difference at that time. Then, we continue to
make changes and we never stop. Humans have been adapting to the
enemy’s changes since the beginning of time. It’s that ability to
change on the fly that has won battles, even wars.”

With heavy doubt in his voice, Jo said, “Your words
always sound so positive and inspiring. But you and I know that an
overwhelming force can make up for clever sophistication. When in
doubt, the Saurans will charge into battle, regardless of losses.
They don’t care if they lose warriors. There are always more and
the ones that survive can be repaired and used again. They are
relentless.”

Mike quickly responded, “Therefore, we must be more
relentless. We won’t be in a position to suffer large defeats. So
we will withdraw, when we see disaster coming, and live to fight
another day.”

Captain, I don’t believe that strategy will work. I
overheard the Senior Pilot discussing war strategy with a visiting
Senior Pilot. Withdrawing is not consistent with the Sauran
military mindset. They will attack and not stop until the enemy has
been vanquished. Once their forces engage you, they will not allow
you to escape. They will follow you wherever you go. You will never
be able to break contact.

“Bambi, I’ve been studying about the Saurans,
combing through what there is in your files. Also, I’ve been
learning about space travel and maneuvering in a solar system. Our
enemy devotes an overwhelming number of ships, when they commit to
battle and they are able to surround their foe easily. We will
never have a large force and could fall prey to that tactic. But I
have some ideas about that. Believe me when I tell you, we will not
be like any enemy they have ever faced.”

Jo observed, “As always, Captain, you speak with
extreme confidence. I wonder how many great leaders have perished
due to over confidence?”

“Have no fear, Jo. I’ll never have that problem,
because I have you and Bambi to remind me just how impossible every
task is, before I attempt to do it. The two of you are a marvelous
counter balance to my confident ego. Also, don’t forget that the
two of us together defeated a Sauran and that was before we had
been upgraded to full combat status.”