Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis (24 page)

Station 1 Adjacent to the Gar Fleet –

January 26 – C Day 149

General David met Hank aboard Station 1 in the Command center. "Isaac, you have put us way ahead of schedule, definitely well done. How are we doing with the extraction of the awake Glarin."

Isaac responded, "We completed the extraction on all ships two days ago. Most of the extracted are fine, about a hundred of them were pretty severely traumatized but will recover. All in all, better than I would have expected. The Glarin are a pretty resilient people. I genuinely like them."

"And how is the intimidation program working."

"That has been amazing. The invaders are definitely spooked. I think they are ripe for the final push. By the way, all self destruct units have been deactivated."

"Well in that case, let us not disappoint them. Barana, please transfer the Glarin stasis units to the Glarin ship in our core and replace those units with Gar configured stasis units."

<
That is done boss.
>

"Good. Now please bump all of those ships to normal space and deactivate their weapons."

<
Done.
>

"Warships you each have your assigned vessel. There should be no incoming fire but if there is any, ignore it because they cannot penetrate your shields. Launch ships now. When all ships are in position, we will go to uncloaked mode, on my command."

Shortly thereafter, <
All warships are in position.
>

Hank said, "All warships, go to uncloaked mode, now. Troops, set your weapons to stun. Barana please activate incoming communications for all Gar Ships."

<
Done.
>

"Attention all Gar vessels. This is General Stone of the Antoran fleet, you have been surrounded and are now defenseless. Lay down your arms and surrender. You will be permitted to retain your Taju blade but it must be in its sheath and locked so it can not be drawn" Hank cut communication to the Gar ships and said, "All troops, prepare to board on my command. Sam, Boton, Fonta, en rapport now. I am going to image on the Flagship and appear solid but very bright and hard to look at. All troops, board now."

Hank appeared before the Gar Commander and said, "Commander we have come to play with you, are you ready to surrender?"

The Gar Commander rose and said "No" and Hank pushed him back in his command chair. The shocked commander said "but how can this be, you are only human, humans are weak."

"That is partially true, but perhaps you have underestimated what it means to be human." Hank then stunned the commander and asked Barana to put him in stasis. The same was done for the rest of the crew. Hank returned to Station 1 and requested an update. About 50 ships were attempting to resist but the crews were outnumbered and the resistance was ineffective. There were no injuries to Hanks troops by operations end.

The next step was to clear all of the ships of Gar. Every Gar on a Glarin ship was transported to the flagship and put in stasis. Each captured ship was then moved to the core area of Station 20. The stasis units were checked to assure that each was in working order for the trip to Janice. The ship transponders were also removed and destroyed. A random destruction pattern was selected to make it appear as though the ships had been destroyed in battle. The flagship transponder was left in place but deactivated and shielded. It took about a week to process all ships.

Hank then had a meeting of Division Commanders so that they all knew what the next step would be. He told his Commanders that the immediate pending threat had been met and interestingly there was no loss of life for the Antoran fleet. Five Gar had died all from 'friendly' fire. Hank then outlined the next steps. The first step was to assist the Glarin to waken its people and let them know what had happened and to discuss their options.

The next decision was made a bit easier by an announcement from Barana to the effect that some minor revisions to their drive would allow the stations to achieve a top speed of 250,000xSL. That rate of speed would allow them to reach the Gar home world in less than a week. Modifications to all of the Stations would be completed by the following week or sooner. Fuel consumption for the new drive was about 10% higher at maximum speed than the current drive.

Hank noted that the fleet would be returning the captured Gar to their home world and that the Gar leadership would be confronted. He said, "The idea is to see if they are willing to back off and whether that agreement is reliable. If it becomes clear that they do not intend to change their ways, then the Gar space travel capability will be destroyed as thoroughly as possible. The Gar ability to create symbiotes would be destroyed absolutely. We will damage their infrastructure to limit their ability to get anything off the planet. We will backtrack wherever else they have been and return them to their planet and then quarantine them. Lock them on their own planet. As to the places making the symbiotes, I am inclined to destroy without warning. That is the most horrific form of slavery I have yet to encounter. The rest, we spare life where we can but that will be up to them. We have to be sure that the Gar don't destroy the returning ship out of hand so we should probably shield it until we see how they intend to react."

"Before we leave this sector of space, I want all Divisions to spread out in a three light year long line, perpendicular to the Gar home-world. Then I want a scan of everything 45 degrees around Gar. Lets see what else Gar is sending this way if anything. Since space is now cleared of this Gar fleet, we want to assure there are no sleepers out there."

A day later the Division reports started coming in. There was another fleet of 1,000 ships at about 1,200 light years distant and coming in from about 10 degree above Gar. These appeared to be of a somewhat different design. They were also moving faster than the Glarin ships were known to travel. They were moving at 15xSL and heading in the direction of Earth.  Barana noted that the ships were crewed by Gar but because of the distance could not say definitively that there were other races on board or not. Additional intelligence would be needed to determine the capabilities of those vessels but for the time being they were labeled as hostile and would need early attention.

Hank decided it was time for he and Sam to meet with Gambel and his mate Hanser. He asked Barana to see if the couple were available and if so transport them to Hank and Sam's quarters. Sam started by welcoming the couple to Station 1. He also thanked him for the previous warnings and told him of the outcome of those warnings and messages. Gambel on the other hand thanked Hank for his freedom and that of his peoples. Hank said, "Unfortunately, it appears that we are not yet done with the Gar. They have an even larger fleet on its way here. From what we know, their home world is 3,280 light years from our planet. That means that the Gar on the ships from which we rescued your people were going to be in transit for 546 years just to pick a fight with our people. They have not even met us or know us. I understand that the average life span of the Gar is about 1,200 to 1,400 years. What would possess them to pick a fight when, as I understand it, they will be in their old age when they arrive. That kind of persistence over such a long time and over such a great distance is astonishing. Do you have any idea what is driving them to this course of action?"

Barana interjected, <
I too admit to great interest in the same vein. It is most puzzling.
>

Gambel replied, "I too had wondered about that but I was able to listen in on their thoughts for many years to discover the reason. They are not an active telepathic race though I did sense some latent talent and they do not shield their thoughts at all. It seems that about a five hundred years ago, they had human visitors who attempted to trade with the Gar but one of the humans made a comment that was taken to be extremely insulting to the Gar. I am convinced from looking at many minds that it was an offense that the humans could not have known would cause such a volatile reaction. In response to the perceived offense, the Gar attacked the humans on Gar and killed them all. The ship in orbit did not know of the cause of the attack but retaliated by destroying the port city and quite a number of Gar ships in orbit and left in the general direction of Earth. The Gar vowed to destroy all of the humans and all of their descendants, took headings on the departing human ship and focused their energies on pursuit and destruction. That has resulted in the destruction of Linan, Cler, Fullus and Glarin though thanks to your people, the Glarin people now survive. Nevertheless, the Gar reaction to the slight is so far out of proportion as to suggest to me that the Gar is an insane race. Further, it does not fit what is known of their honor code. It is inconsistent and it is very sad."

<
There is a weird kind of logic to it but this is so extreme that it is almost unbelievable. A people that would destroy four races to take revenge on one, is bizarre. But how can it be stopped? Do you happen to know what the nature of the offense was?
>

"As I understand what I have seen in the minds of the Gar, it had something to do with suggesting that the Gar were an evolutionary dead-end."

Hank said, "Good heavens, I have been told worse than that on more than one occasion, but it did not cause me to go on a genocidal rampage. I firmly believe we can halt this invasion by might but these guys are incredibly persistent and they cannot be permitted to continue this course of action in perpetuity. They are too xenophobic to even be in space. I too have wondered about the inconsistencies I see in their actions with their Honor Code. Gambel, what is your impression of their ability to use logic."

"Generally, pretty good, but we are dealing here with their warrior class and they seem to focus on blind obedience. Might be worth a try with their command level. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking that Sam and I are pretty strong telepaths and you and Hanser are among the strongest Glarin Telepaths. What if we four were to enter into rapport boosted by Barana. We could probably reach that commander of the force heading this way and have a little discussion. I could do the physical appearance and you four could support me and ride along so you hear everything and do some intelligence gathering while you are there. If something comes to mind, any one of you can prompt me. We would be untouchable by the Gar and we already know that unnerves them a bit. I would also be able to manipulate things and to them it would appear that I was physically handling things. You have been through a lot lately and if you start to tire, let me know and I can cut it short. What do you think?"

"I think this might be pleasurable. I would like to try this. I have not yet tried a two species rapport, excuse me Barana, I mean three species rapport and I think it would be interesting."

"Sam, Hanser, Barana, want to give this a try?" All agreed. "OK, here we go." They entered into rapport.

Gambel thought, <
This is amazing. The power of this is beyond anything I have experienced. I am ready when you wish to try contact.
>

Hank said, <
OK, I have located the Flag-ship and the commander is a person called Dranz. I will use a solid appearing image. Here we go.
> Hank appeared on the bridge and started looking around. To say that the bridge crew was startled was a gross understatement. 

Dranz commanded, "Kill the human, now!"

One of the crew drew a large blade and tried to decapitate Hank but the blade passed harmlessly through Hank. Hank made a motion as though he were pushing something and the hapless crewmember flew 30 feet through the air and landed in a chair where the restraints all locked the crewmember in the seat. Others were not able to release the restraints. Hank said, "Tsk, tsk, Commander Dranz, that was not very hospitable. You might at least have said hello first. Where are your manners? Is this how you treat all visitors?"

Commander Dranz tried to stand up, but Hank motioned and Dranz was unable to rise. He said, "But you are human, how are you able to do this? How do you restrain me thus? How did you treat my crewmember so? What are you? How did you arrive here?"

"My, my, for someone who just tried to kill me, you certainly have a lot of questions. You have rightly identified me as human, why then do you ask me what I am? That is a bit inconsistent. I thought the Gar was a logical race. I treated your crewmember and you as I willed to do. If you were threatened with harm, would you not do the same? I have looked carefully at this fleet and it is certainly more capable than the one you sent earlier with your pitiful crews and such a large number of Glarin. Very interesting that you would have that people fight your battles for you. Are you that afraid of us? Where is your honor? Did not your leaders tell you of our capabilities? Why are you sending this fleet against us? What is the reason for sending the 600 warships against us, and then the missiles and now these 1,000 warships. Why are you doing this? Why are you wasting so many lives and so much material? This is not logical? What is your reason?"

"Human, you know quite well why we will eliminate your kind."

"If I did, I would not be asking you Commander. Are you going to answer me, or must we also eliminate this fleet as well?"

"You have eliminated the 600? How is that possible."

"Commander you are wasting my time with frivolous questions. Now answer my question. Why are you attacking us?"