Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone (29 page)

“
I could nuke them from orbit,” said the OSO.

“
No,” said Lieutenant Finn. “We couldn’t be sure that would work. I analyzed the defensive systems surrounding the planet, and they are quite robust. Anything that we launch from orbit will most likely get shot down, in addition to giving away our presence to the forces in orbit and at the stargate.”

“We definitely don’t want that,” said Captain Sheppard
, “especially if we’re going to have to get through the forces at the gate. No. Let’s go with sending the bomb down to the surface in a stealthed shuttle.”

“I have completed the survey that you requested,”
interrupted Solomon; “however, before I give you the results, I have to note that they may be somewhat skewed.”

“Skewed?” asked Captain Sheppard. “How so?”

“Many of the individuals I had to contact were sleeping at the time of the survey,” said Solomon. “Some of them reacted quite poorly to being awakened.”

“Noted,” said Captain Sheppard. “What were the results?’

“There is a Hooolong that has engineering experience on super dreadnoughts including their design,” replied Solomon. “There are another 10 that have crewed starships at various times. As far as working on a Drakul replicator, there is only one, but he worked on the replicator that you are discussing assaulting.”

“Would it be convenient for
the engineer and replicator technician to come to the bridge?” asked Calvin.

“
They are already on their way,” replied Solomon. “I anticipated you would like to talk to them, so I asked them to come to the bridge. They will be here in approximately three seconds.”

The doors to the bridge slid open almost exactly three seconds later. The
first figure that walked onto the bridge looked like all of the Archons that had been rescued from the asteroid.

“Your wings!” said Sara.
“What happened to your wings?”

The Archon gave a sad smile. “I
was in the hands of the devils for some time,” he said. “They treated me somewhat less well than what I was used to as an officer in the Archon navy.”

Although he had lost his wings, it didn’t do anything to affect his projection aura, and all of the Terrans were hit with a wave of sadness and loss.
“I’m sorry for your treatment at their hands,” said the CO. “I am Captain Sheppard, the commanding officer of the
Vella Gulf
.”

“Stop that,” said the Hooolong that followed him onto the bridge. Calvin was somehow not surprised to see that it was Smetlurge. “We’re free now,”
Smetlurge continued. “You should be projecting happiness and confidence to help us, not boo-hooing. What’s done is done. Get over it.”

“Greetings, Mr. President,” said Steropes, who bowed to the Hooolong. He looked at Calvin with a raised eyebrow. “You didn’t tell me that you had rescued the Hooolong president. This will be very helpful.”

“Mr. President?” Captain Sheppard exclaimed, giving Calvin a less than favorable look. “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t aware that you were a dignitary. We would have tried to find better quarters for you. Maybe we could put you into a certain lieutenant commander’s quarters...”

“I didn’t know,” said Calvin. “Nobody told me.”

“He is telling the truth,” agreed Smetlurge, “I never told him who I was. Besides, if there is no Hooolong civilization left, am I really the president of anything?” His eyes looked at the Archon, Captain Sheppard, Steropes and Calvin simultaneously, daring them to contradict him. “Like I already said, what’s done is done. Our society was a technocracy; as the senior and most accomplished scientist on the planet, I was elected president, against my wishes. Now that the majority of my civilization has been destroyed, I am free to be a scientist again. I assume that is why you asked us to the bridge? You needed help with something?”

“Yes,” agreed Captain Sheppard, “we need your help.” He looked at the Archon.
“I understand that you worked on the replicator here in the 54 Piscium system?” he asked.

“
Yes, I worked on the replicator here,” said the Archon. “I worked there until the demons found out I was a laser expert and sent me to work on the asteroid’s defenses. My name is Azrael.”

“
We are considering assaulting the replicator,” Calvin said. “What can you tell us about it? How many Drakuls would be aboard? How many will be onboard the dreadnought that just came out?”

Azrael paused to consider. “If
the dreadnought just came out of the replicator, the ship will not be manned by its crew yet. Normally, there is a two or three day period where the crew of the replicator works with the artificial intelligence onboard the ship to run the initial diagnostics. When that is complete, the crew will transport up from the planet.” He looked at Calvin for a moment and then asked, “Why doth thou want to know?”

“We’re thinking of commandeering th
e dreadnought, as well,” Calvin replied. “How many Drakuls do you think will be onboard the replicator and the ship, total?”

“Hmmm...Somewhere
around 100, I would guess,” the Archon replied. “That’s just a guess. There will also be a variety of other races aboard, most of which will be friendly if you can separate them from the Drakuls.”

“Which ones are allied with the Drakuls?”
Captain Sheppard asked.

“
Allied with the Drakuls?” Azrael asked with a laugh. “Thou don’t know the Drakuls very well. No one is allied with them. Who would ally with them when they are just as likely to tear off parts of thy body and eat them as look at thee? Still, many of the races will be afraid of reprisals if they help you, so ye will have to make them believe that ye can win.”

“What about a way to get onto the replicator unnoticed?” Night asked. “Is there any way to get aboard the replicator or, even better, the dreadnought?”

“Thy best
chance of getting onboard unnoticed is to go through the replicator,” Azrael answered. “There may be an open hatch somewhere on the dreadnought, but that is a lot of area to cover. I can get you onto the replicator easily, unless the Drakuls have changed the codes.”

“You can?”
Calvin asked.

“Why, yes,”
Azrael said. “I used to have to go outside to work on the laser systems of new ships, so I used the hatches on numerous occasions. For all of their viciousness, most of the Drakuls are not extremely intelligent. Are they sly? Yes, most of them are quite cunning, but as a race they are not overly bright. The code on most of the hatches is 1-2-3-4.”

“No shit?” asked Night. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I am telling thee the truth,” Azrael replied, “The codes were never changed the whole time I was there. What would be the reason? They would never expect anyone to come here and try to steal a ship. It should be easy to get into the station, and I would be happy to show you the way. Once ye are in, though, things will get decidedly more difficult for you.”

“Why is that?” Calvin
asked.

“As I already said,” Azrael
repeated, “they are quite vicious, and ye will be fighting them at close quarters. They like to tear things off of the people they are fighting. I don’t know how many soldiers ye have, but there are probably a hundred of them. I wouldn’t think ye had enough troops to fight them on a ship this small.”

“We may not have enough to go toe-to-toe against them in an open area,” Calvin replied, “but if we can get in and out without raising an alarm, I think we can pull
it off. How many do you suppose will be on the station, and how many will be on the ship?”

“
There will probably be about half on the ship and half on the replicator,” Azrael answered. “If ye could capture the bridge on the ship and the control station on the replicator, ye could keep the alarm from being raised. No one would know ye had captured them. Ye could also use the controls to lock up some of the Drakuls in various rooms, where ye could deal with them separately. Maybe even pump out the atmosphere and let them die of their own accord.” He smiled at the thought.

“That wouldn’t bother me any,” Calvin said.

“More important to the success of the plan, you also have us,” added Smetlurge.

“No offense, but you didn’t seem too fond of combat on the asteroid,” Calvin replied.

“Me?” asked Smetlurge. “Of course not. I’m not going to fight any of the Drakuls, nor would any of the other Hooolongs. Some of the other races might fight, but we wouldn’t. You have seen what they do to Hooolongs; they pick us up and drain us dry. No thanks. We absolutely will not go into close combat with the Drakuls. However, if you can get us into the control room, we will run the computers for you and make our presence felt that way, as long as you provide security for us. Also, if you succeed in taking it from them, we will crew it for you. As we no longer have a planet, I would request the ship be given to us to serve as our home, along with any of the other prisoners of war that want to join us.”

“That is fine with me,” agre
ed Captain Sheppard. “If circumstances allow it, we would like to lay claim to the replicator, should we manage to capture it, but the ship is yours.”

“Solomon, how many of each type of alien do we currently have aboard?” Calvin asked.

“Currently onboard the
Vella Gulf
are 41 Hooolongs, 12 Depsips, three Xanths, three Quugeerts, two Clranks, three Archons, one Mrowry and one Psiclops,” Solomon noted.

“
Can any of them fight?” Night asked. “We’re down a few soldiers after the assault on the asteroid, and we could really use a hand if we’re going to try to take both the replicator and the ship.”

“The Depsips might fight,” said Smetlurge. “They have automatic crossbows that they use in combat that fire poison arrows.”

“The Depsips?” asked Calvin. “What race is that?”

“They are the
creatures with lots of legs and two heads,” said Smetlurge, “like Bzzzeedlezzzzz on the asteroid. They are also very good with computer network operations and computer network attack.”

“
Oh, the ones that looked like giant spiders,” Night said. “They didn’t impress me as being the most fierce...”

“Generally, they are not,” agreed Smetlurge, “unless they are defending their homes or
children.”

“
Which they wouldn’t be,” noted Calvin. “Maybe they’d be better running the replicator control room if we can get them there, rather than taking them into combat with the Drakuls. Any others?”

“The Xanths are quite warlike, although small,” added Smetlurge. “They can fly, but there won’t be enough room to use them as aviation units
where they would be at their best. Perhaps if they were given laser pistols, they might be of use. If nothing else, they would be hard for the Drakuls to catch.”

“I
, too, will fight on thy side,” said Azrael. “I believe that the Drakuls and I have some unfinished business over the removal of my wings.”

“You already know that you can count on me,” added Lieutenant Rrower.
“I’m in.”

“That still leaves us pretty short,” said Calvin
. “I just have the feeling that we’re going to need more troops...”

Calvin looked up at the sound of a knock. “You asked for me to come by?” Steropes asked.
“Am I to be allowed to go with the force that is going to the planet?” asked Steropes.

“I’m sorry,” said Calvin, “but no. The group that is going there is just going to the surface of the planet, dropping off the bomb and then coming back.
You’d just be in the way.” He paused, looking closely at Steropes. “We’re also getting ready to launch an assault on the dreadnought...”

“And you’re going
to tell me that I can’t come,” Steropes interrupted.

“Actually, no,” said Calvin, “I wanted to talk to you about coming
along.”

“Really?” Steropes asked, hope in his eyes.

“When I said that I didn’t want you to come with us on the asteroid assault, I wasn’t being entirely truthful,” Calvin replied. “Part of the reason
was
that I didn’t want you trying to get yourself killed, but that was only part of it.”

“Was it because we lied to you
, and you didn’t trust me?” Steropes asked.

“Maybe that was a little bit,
too, but once again, not the main point,” Calvin replied. Instead of interrupting again, Steropes waited for Calvin to explain.

“The main reason I didn’t let you go,” Calvin said after a short pause, “was
the matter of your redemption.”

“
My redemption?” Steropes asked.

“Yes,
your redemption,” Calvin agreed. “I have heard you say several times that you wanted to redeem yourself for the wrongs that you have committed, thereby hoping to reunite with your wife in your next lifetime.”

“I didn’t think that you believed in reincarnation,” Steropes said.

“I don’t,” agreed Calvin, “but that doesn’t mean that I can’t respect your belief in it. Who knows? Maybe you are right. I wouldn’t want to cheat you out of what you were working toward. The reason I didn’t take you is that it looked like you wanted to go and give your life for us, thereby acquiring some sort of kharma points that would let you move up the ladder in your next lifetime to be with Parvati.”

“That
is my hope, yes,” admitted Steropes.

“
Then you are going about it all wrong,” said Calvin. “A deity wouldn’t fall for that. You are trying to take the easy way out, just like your civilization did when it started this war. You didn’t want to be responsible for your actions then; you just wanted to blame all of the bad things on someone else. You’re doing the same thing now. Rather than actually helping us, you’re just hoping to go get killed. The thing you don’t see is that going out on a mission just to get killed isn’t going to earn you the points you want, because you’re not really helping us. If you want to earn the kharma points necessary to make up for the things you’ve done, you have to do that by
struggling
to do good, by staying alive and giving us the benefit of your thousands of years of experience. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, and salvation is one of the hardest things to achieve, no matter what your religion or belief system.”

“If you want to achieve your goals,
” Calvin continued, “you do that by staying alive and striving with every fiber of your being to do the right thing, not by taking the easy way out. You do that by going down to that dreadnought with us and kicking the shit out of every Drakul we see, without letting them kill you in return. You help us get back to the Archons with the support needed to beat the Drakuls on this front, so that they can come help us defend Earth. We need your help. You want redemption?
Then earn it
. Stop being a baby, stop whining about what might have been, get off your ass and come help us kill some Drakuls. We need you, but we need the tai chi master, not someone that’s just looking to die.”

Steropes looked up. There was a light in his eyes that Calvin hadn’t seen in a while. Steropes nodded. “You are correct,” he said. “It is often easier to see what is better for others than
to analyze yourself.” He nodded. “I agree. Take me on the assault. I will give you my all.”