Gray Panthers: Earths Revenge (23 page)

“No, I want him promoted and responsible for Earth accounts. He did not know what to expect when he met us, but he was sharp enough to make a profit where there was no profit to be made. For now let's go over what we will be needing. We would like the bank to coordinate setting up an embassy and acting on our behalf to get the Republic to accept our credentials so we can have diplomatic relations. Our first immediate business need is to coordinate a purchase and would like the help of the bank.”

“Sir, let me get you setup with an account and we can go from there,” Plat suggested.

“That will be fine. Shall we call the initial deposit 224,000,000 credits based on what Copper has set the exchange rate at?” Young asked.

“The official exchange rate is 100,000, but for our first transaction we will do that as a good will gesture to make up for your initial troubles. Welcome to being a Republic Central Bank customer.”

“Thank you again, First Officer Plat. I have an endeavor I need to head to now. I will be back in another month or another representative will be. I need to go to Zia to transact some business as soon as possible. Can you please coordinate the red tape for us?” Young asked.

“What does red tape have to do with the planet Zia?” Plat asked confused.

“On our planet when government makes rules or does dumb things that interfere with commerce, we call it red tape."

“I will have a letter of authorization for you transmitted to the scientists on the planet so they will not interfere with you, or assist you if you request it. This will also go to border patrols tentatively granting your ship diplomatic status so it will not be interfered with. We have the position of your home world, perhaps we will send a diplomatic party to continue the process of establishing relations with your planet.”

“That would be acceptable. We would just need adequate notification so the ship would not be mistaken for any of our attackers,” Young replied glad the game was over and he would soon be on his way to Zia.

“I do have just one more question, if you don’t mind?” Plat asked.

Real annoyance showing Young replied, “OK, one more question.”

“What are you going to do with the um, material you purchase on Zia?”

“First Officer Plat, my father always said, never ask a question if you do not expect an honest answer.”

“I think I would like your father, I will have to write that quote down for future reference. I will now need to present you with a bill for services rendered and for requested services. I expect the service charge to be 4,000,000 credits.”

“That is acceptable, but I do need to be going now. I know the documentation you are amassing for me will have it on there, but what is our interest rate?”

“As a diplomatic account it will naturally be free of taxes and accrue a rate of 17 percent. A most generous rate as I’m sure you will be bringing gold on your next trip as well.

“That’s correct, now if you could do me a personal favor of seeing that I can get to the spaceport and on my way as soon as possible I would appreciate it.”

Five minutes later the team was heading back to the shuttle in a huge comfortable vehicle with a clearance from spaceport to depart at will.

“Major Rogers, let's get out of here as soon as I arrive back at the shuttle. In the meantime, patch through to the local communications array. Short Blade wants to call his mom,” Young instructed pleased with the mission going as easily as it had.

As the transport neared the spaceport traffic immediately came to a standstill. Young started to feel his skin crawl as he ordered everyone to look alive until they were off the planet. Out of no where it seemed that two dozen rotes appeared and they were definitely not employed. One of the lizards threw something under the transport causing the engine to die. The others joined forces rocking the transport, nearly tipping it over as Young prepared to give the order to open fire.

Unseen from their vantage point, a pack of Baar leaving the Space Port saw what was going on as one broke from the pack hollering, “Friend” as he smashed into the crowd tearing away the lizards as other baars joined him.

The lizards outmatched by the Baars, turned and disappeared into the numerous alley ways and side streets. Young got out of the transport with his crew at high alert. A baar walked up to him and hugged him before he could do anything. “You friend to Mush make me money today. I walk with you back to your ship. Make you safe.”

Young just nodded seeing how quickly this peaceful planet had turned on him. He commed Major Rogers, “Why did we get attacked today?”

“It appears that someone heard about your transaction at the space port and rumors have been building that you were carrying a lot of gold. That and those attacking you were unemployed Rotes that wanted to beat some alien ass. I’ve monitored the Bank and First Officer Plat is raising hell with every agency on the planet to keep you safe and happy. The Arizona Space Ship Beater has received a special code to transmit if they find themselves in trouble as well as a new transponder code to identify the ship as a diplomatic vessel under the protection of the Republic.”

“We can’t be that important to the Republic. Try to access all records possible to see why they froze the price of gold and what else is affecting the Republic that make us so important.”

“Nothing can be found, but I have a hypothesis. The hypothesis is restricted to your access only. I will comm it to you. Sir, the Republic is financially stagnant. It appears a main part of that is lack of artificial intelligence units for their new ships and other applications. They are having to use more personnel and few are willing to buy something new that is not as good as the old unit. The Republic knows the material on Zia is used with creating artificial intelligence units, that’s why they are protecting the Zians. We just became the best game in town for them. I would not be surprised if they did not have a diplomatic mission en route to Earth by a week from now. If Earth was unified they would probably even offer entry into the Republic. We are receiving authorization to land from the Arizona Space Ship Beater. Commander Johnson wants you to report to him ASAP after landing.”

Twenty minutes later, Captain Young found himself debriefing the commander in the mess.

“Sir, I think we may have a viable option to fighting the Libra Alliance. I believe we might be able to get the Republic to put Earth under it protectorate the same way they did for the Zians. It’s in their interest since they need access to Flem AIs. They have gone to some big lengths to support our mission so far. I really will not have a final opinion though until after we see what the Zians think of being protected. The mission went easier than planned up to this point. I think if Roger's hypothesis is correct, we will have a trading partner. I just wonder why they did not save the Flem. I know the Flem traded with the Republic, but it seems the very minimalistic amounts possible. We should consider that a warning in itself.”

“That report was all over the map, Captain, but it did cover everything. We are three days away from Zia. We will cruise for the next 12 hours so everyone can rest, then we will use the FTL for twenty five minutes to cut the time to get there. I’m not going to worry about the borders since we are now a diplomatic vessel. I can’t wait until we get home and you get to explain how you have initiated diplomatic relations without any government on behalf of Earth. Imagine if they make you the ambassador at large for Earth ha ha ha. It would probably serve you right. I think you did everything right from our limited knowledge of the players so I will stand next to you for the firing squad.” The conversation was interrupted as Short Blade knocked at the hatchway to the mess.

Commander Johnson just looked at Young in surprise for a moment. “Enter,” he ordered.

“Sir Chief Petty Officer Short Blade reports.”

“Is this important Short Blade?” Johnson asked.

“I believe so sir.”

“Come on in sit down and let me know what you have.”

Short Blade hopped up into a human size seat then began. “Commander, I was in contact with my mother and she had news for me. The Republic has started to sell weapons that are almost on par with their own instead of only obsolete ones. They are also selling anything else they can get revenue from. They are accepting only precious metals or premium base materials for construction. They have also hired numerous mercenaries from the different clans on our planet. The Libra Alliance doesn’t appear to be worried and have used the opportunity to buy what weapons they can. The only things not for sale are ships. Obsolete ships or any other type of ship, even for scrap. It is rumored the Republic is getting ready for civil war.”

“Thank you for that information chief. The timing was excellent. Is everything else OK for your family?” Johnson asked.

“My mother is relieved my father is safe. She thinks I am safe too.”

“That’s good to hear. You can carry on now chief.”

“Aye Aye, sir”

“I wish we had more like him, he always seems to have what we need when we need it. Shame his own people look at him like a freak. He’s been doing pretty good learning bridge duties. I would not be surprised to see him take command of the Beater after we get more ships. I suggest you use the next twelve hours and be well rested. I think we will have a lot more variables when we get to Zia. There’s a good chance by now the Libras have heard one of their ships have returned and are looking for us. The Republic scientists on the planet might try to lean on us for artificial intelligence technology. We have to assume we have no friends. Do you have anything else for me, Captain Young?”

“Nothing sir. When we go landside tomorrow I plan to go with only Short Blade and Sgt. Jones. Hopefully we will need the space that frees up to load the material in the shuttle. Worst case scenario I’ll have Sgt. Polanski with the second shuttle as a reaction force if things go south. We can use the Dart flight for cover and make an impression. I don’t think we should do any damage to the Zians either way though, they are pawns, well paid pawns, but pawns when all is said and done. I don’t think the scientists are going to put up any big fight with us either.”

“OK Capt. Young, you will get all the support I can give you. If we get visited by the Libra in any strong numbers you stay on the ground and I’ll be back for you,” Commander Johnson said with a conviction he did not feel.

Gray Panther Head Quarters Arizona

16 September 2128

General Black and Abby were both on the same side of the conference table opposite Dan. The symbolism of it was not lost on Dan as the pair made their argument.

“Dan we can build ships and they can almost run themselves, but we are going to need warm bodies if the enemy fleet manages to get a foot hold on Earth. We need to find a way to work with the government to help field an Army. If it doesn’t come we will need them anyway when we counter attack,” Black started on his planned verbal offensive.

“You don't have to sell me! I agree let's make it happen. We just need to figure a way that 75 percent of all leadership positions are filled by Gray Panthers, that includes senior NCO slots.

We are going to sell the government everything they need to have a military equal to ours at fair market value, not our cost to manufacture it. We will sell them everything from boots to visors. Everything an infantryman needs we will sell. Heavy weapons will not, aww screw it we’ll sell heavy weapons too. Even though we have our *TO & E go ahead and get with the Army and Marines.

"Have a mixed team of six Gray Panthers, two Army and two Marines get together and review the TO&E. I know I have the deck stacked in my favor, I like it that way.

"See you gentlemen have sold me. We will now have Army and Marines in our Gray Panthers. Great job!” Dan smiled as he rose from the conference table.

*Table of Organization and Equipment, Spells out how units are manned and the equipment they have

Arizona Space Ship Beater League of Planets Space

16 September 2128

The Arizona Space Ship Beater dropped into normal space thirty minutes away from Zia. Scans showed there were no nearby ships. The system was a small one with a sun and Zia with its two moons. All aboard breathed a sigh of relief as the shuttle departed for the surface following the directions they had received for the planets spaceport. The shuttle picked up a transmission directed at them as they continued through the atmosphere. The scientists on the planet had not yet received word about their arrival and were sending them a warning message to abort entry to the planet and leave immediately. They had contacted the Libra for assistance since a Republic ship was not available.

“Son of a bitch!” Young shouted as he punched the console in front of him. “Attention, science station Zia. This is ambassador Young from planet Earth. I am transmitting you my authorization code to access Zia. If we are attacked through your incompetence I will strafe your station back into the stone age. Do you copy?”

“Ambassador Young, that is unacceptable language and I will not tolerate being talked to in that manner…”

“Unidentified caller have you verified my message? If so call off the Libras before they get here. Our species are at war with the Libras. If we are attacked your station will be the first thing destroyed I promise you. Now confirm you have cancelled the request for assistance from the Libra.” Young spat into the microphone.

“I repeat we will not be coerced by you. Message has been authenticated. I will not let you order me around…”

"Any delay on your part in calling off the Libra puts our lives in jeopardy. I would hope you can understand why we are a little unhappy at the moment with you not recalling the Libras before they get here! Fine asshole, we were going to share our advanced research with you on the Zians. We will now depart for fear for our safety. We will head directly to planet Dirt to lodge a formal complaint and let them know we will not be sharing our research with the Republic. Does the Republic have a good unemployment program? You will need it. Ambassador Young out!”

“Libra ships have been cancelled you are approved to land. We will meet you at the spaceport. Lead scientist Kros out.”

“OK we have to make this the fastest visit Zia has ever seen. I don’t want to meet the neighbors if they stop by to be inquisitive. Short Blade you will come with me as I meet with the Zians. Ignore the scientists if they get in the way. I’ll take care of them,” Young ordered as he unconsciously checked his side arm in its holster.

The spaceport was only a cleared patch of dirt with earthen dams surrounding it to deflect excess energy on takeoff. As the shuttle hatch opened the extremely strong stench of onions permeated everything. Young led the way trying to see through squinted watery eyes. He started to say something and decided it was unneeded as his taste buds were overwhelmed by the taste of onion. Stepping outside the earthen spaceport everything looked to be green. There was a field of crops that was quickly determined to be the source of the odor. A short distance down the road three creatures were heading quickly towards Young and Short Blade. The creatures were blue and three foot tall and strongly resembled cockroaches. Young began to reach for his sidearm as they got closer and he could see their mandibles rapidly opening and closing.

Short Blade was initially alarmed when Young reached for his weapon thinking there was a danger then remembered this was most likely his first encounter with a Zikk.

“Captain, those are the scientists. They lack common sense outside of a lab and can be unintentionally dangerous. When they are excited they might inadvertently spit poison or release a toxic gas. Pointing a weapon at them will probably get both poisons before they even realize it.” Short Blade cautioned. As the Zikk were almost to them the smell of sour milk overtook the smell from the fields. A loud clicking noise emitted from them was quickly turned into English thanks to the translator feature of the comm devices.

“Humans teach us now,” the leader of the Zikk ordered.

“You need some manners, my little friend. First we see the Zians. Then if we have time we might chat with you a little. Where do we find their negotiator or leader?” Young asked.

“You help us then we help you,” the Zikk replied.

Young looked at Short Blade and asked, “Any ideas or experience with these types? I’m just ready to stomp on the idiots.”

“I’m no help there sir. I guess I’ve always been lucky and never interacted with them before.”

“Captain Young, I located the leader of the Zians. They saw your ship land. I projected a message that you are here to buy a supply of their product. They are bringing wagons of it to us even as we speak.” Rogers announced.

“How will I know if it’s serviceable of if it’s been ruined by time?” Young asked.

“The Flem set them up with an outstanding manufacturing facility. Once the material is secreted into a one ounce receptacle it is sealed indefinitely,” Major Rogers briefed Young.

A convoy of wagons could be seen heading for the spaceport. Young looked on in amazement as tiny wood carts were being driven by foot long hamsters as small opossums pulled the carts in pairs. A dozen hamsters came up quickly riding their opossums. Ten of the hamsters were dressed in armor that looked like it had come from armadillos. The two in the center of the group were attired in bright red robes.

“Short Blade, you are not to snack on any of these guys, especially the royalty,” Young jovially commed as the procession neared.

“Welcome to Zia. I am Cheep, leader of the village. How much Flem milk do you want?” Cheep asked.

Young stood in shock until he heard the transmission from Rogers. “They named the rodent Flem after the Flem as an honor since it brought them such wealth."

“We will need 32,000 units. We are willing to pay the same that the Flem did. We have 32,000 units of gold to trade.”

The rodent quickly looked to see if the Zikk had heard. Relief showed on his face when they seemed to be in an argument amongst themselves ignoring the proceedings.

“That is satisfactory. The Zikk are not to know or I fear they would confiscate it from us. Do you have another form of conveyance so we can make the transaction quicker?” Cheep stated as he looked at the Zikk thirty feet away

“Your Highness I have a grav cart that I can load all the payment onto at one time. Then we can load your product on it and be gone hopefully soon. The Libras could show up at any time and we are at war with them. I do not want anybody here to get hurt because of us,” Young answered.

“Yes we will hurry, all these aliens on my planet makes me nervous as I do not trust any. The Libras look at us like a hunter at its prey. These idiot scientists keep stealing our Flem milk, but they keep the Libras away. The Flem treated us fairly and with respect. We like the gold we were paid but would have been happier to never have had any invaders on our planet.”

“I am sorry we are seen as invaders. I will talk with my leaders about leaving you alone. What we buy today should last a long time. Perhaps we will not need to come back. Is there something you would prefer instead of gold for payment?” Young asked.

The king narrowed his eyes, “What could you offer us?”

“We are a people that started out as farmers. We can provide you with equipment to improve your yield to have bigger crops and less work to harvest so you can have surplus for those times when things are not as good. Perhaps even introduce new crops that would grow here.”

“We need weapons to retain our sovereignty. We will continue to trade but when we wish to be left alone we would like to enforce that wish.”

“Sir, the only thing that has kept you safe is that you are not a threat to anyone. With all the different groups there are out there it would be easy to drop a rock from space and destroy you. I can talk with the Republic and try to make a deal with them to pull their scientists off your world and still protect you from invaders. Would that work for you?” Young asked.

“What would be in it for you?” Cheep asked suspicious of the offer.

“We would have proven we are your friends and can continue to trade freely as equals without fear or intimidation.”

“Captain, the grav cart is loaded and ready to go,” Sgt. Jones commed.

“Sir, our cart with payment is ready. Can we complete our transaction and speak again at a later date for what we can do to help you.”

“I understand. Let us make most haste. I will have the caravan return to where we started. That is where all you want waits.”

The king led them to a pair of warehouses surrounded by hundreds of tiny houses. The warehouses only came up to Young's chest. Each warehouse had a huge side door that was already opened. The king gestured for the payment to be moved through the open door. The opening of the other warehouse was a hive of activity as the king's subjects were busy bringing out the material in trade. Young looked at the cases as they disappeared behind the now closing door and tried to imagine them trying to open the cases that were bigger than most of their houses. An hour later the grav cart was completely loaded. As he got ready to return to the shuttle, he noticed the scientists had wandered off.

“Rogers, how are we looking? We have any word from the Beater? We seem to have lost our scientist friends. Let me know if they start any trouble,” Young commed.

“Sir, things have appeared quiet. We have not heard from the Beater which is strange. I just did a scan for her and found nothing and was going to do a deep scan to see if she left orb-- Sir we have two ships that have just entered the system. They both appear to be Libra patrol craft. They are both similar in size to the Beater. They also are heading for us so it looks like we have been discovered.”

“OK, Rogers, we should be ready to depart in twenty minutes. Do we have any information on Republic shuttles so that we can try to impersonate one?”

“I will configure the ships external avatar projector to make us appear to be a Zikk science shuttle. Hopefully they will ignore that.”

“We’ll soon find out. I don’t want to take a chance on the Libras opening fire on us and hitting the Zians.

With the last of the cargo stowed there was less space available than they expected. Sgt. Jones volunteered to stay in the back of the shuttle as Young and Short Blade climbed through the cargo to get to the flight deck. Capt. Young let the AI Major Rogers perform the preflight.

“Captain Young, with the ASS Beater gone, where will we head?” Short Blade asked concerned.

“Well since we will look like a Republic shuttle, we will head for Republic Space,” Young replied with a confidence he did not feel.

The shuttle departed the Zian Kingdom without any problems. As the shuttle began to leave the atmosphere both patrol ships were waiting to intercept them.

“Libra patrol craft, this is the Zikk science shuttle 978 identify your intentions,” Young radioed.

"Unidentified shuttle, prepare to be boarded for routine safety inspection,” the lead patrol ship replied.

“Libra patrol craft, we refuse to be boarded. We are under the protection of the Republic and have radioed our home world about your interference.”

The Libra Captain was now concerned. He had come to investigate the summons for assistance from the planet and now was confused. His second officer had warned him about the scientists being more trouble than they were worth.

“Scan the shuttle and put their image on the screen and magnify. Let me know if you find anything. I don’t want trouble with the Republic.”

“Captain, the science shuttle checks out—” The crewman’s report was cut short as he saw on his screen the image of the shuttle flicker as dozens of micro meteors rippled through it.

“Sir, please disregard what I said. The shuttle is projecting an image somehow. I just saw micro meteors pass through it and it rippled like a rock thrown into the water.”

“The fools! I will teach them to try to embarrass the Libra. Notify Patrol Ship 623 to lock on her weapons and in one minute we will open fire on the impertinent fools.”

“Captain Young, I intercepted a communication. Both ships plan to open fire in 55 seconds,” Rogers reported.

“Damn! Head directly in the middle of the two ships and keep moving. Send the distress message the Republic gave us. Keep firing at both targets,” Young ordered.

The Major Rogers entered into a tight figure 8 pattern continuously firing at both ships as they withheld fire for fear of hitting the other. The patrol Captain was getting ready to order the other patrol ship further away as he started to receive damage when a new message was received.

“Libra patrol leader, this is internal security ship Vengeance. Do not retreat from the enemy. I am sending a flight of ten fighters to assist you. Turn off all your monitoring equipment and recording equipment. There will be no record of our internal security units or of us destroying the enemy ship. Do you understand?” Was heard through the ships radio.

“The fool actually think they can…”

“Captain ten fighter ships just appeared on screen they are Libra.” The scanner crewman reported.

The patrol Captain nearly choked trying to send a new radio message. “All ships immediately turn off monitoring and recording sensors, if anything was accidentally recorded, delete it. Vengeance we have complied with your orders.”