Guardian Stone 2: Stone and the T-Raptors Read online

  At this the T-Rex image rumbled and said in a low loud voice, "Boss, me want food, me hungry, him look tasty."

  "Not yet big fellow. Darus, you don't know how painful that can be, he likes to play with his food. You have already tricked me once and now it looks like there were more layers to that than I realized. I notice that you were more than a bit nervous about the fact that you were to stay in that orbit until the day the weapon was to be deployed. You said the deployment was to be 10 days from date of launch, a number that I am now inclined to doubt. I know how fast your ships can travel and I know the distance from the Feron Base to Petra. That it would take 10 days to reach here suggests that the speed capability of that ship is only 5,000xSL. I happen to know that others in this class of ship can go much faster. So my first question is what is the top speed of the weapon ship." At this the T-Rex let out a low growling roar and Hank said "answer my question or my friend has a snack."

  Darus blanched and said, "Where did you find a Snarf?"

  Hank slammed the end of the half inch thick chain leash on the table and commanded, "Answer my question or you are Snarf food."

  Darus paled and said quickly, "The weapon ship can go 12,000xSL but on this run will average 10,000 SL due to variations in speed and course to avoid detection. Arrival here would be in five days."

  Hank recognized the truth of the answer and asked, "How close to the surface of the target does the device have to be to work as intended?" At this question the T-Rex made sounds like the rumbling of a large empty stomach

  Darus replied in a weak voice, "It has to be within 1000 miles of the surface. When the temperature in the nose of the ship reaches a certain point, a shield is deployed that allows the ship to get as close as 15 miles from the surface before it would fail." This too was truth.

  Hank said, "I am going to put you back on the shuttle until the weapon is due to arrive. I may have some more questions or I may just feed you to Harvey, we will see." With that Hank waved dismissal with his hand and Barana returned Darus to the shuttle. "Nice job with the T-Rex team, very nicely done. Ben thanks for standing by. Good work teams."

  Hank then called General Gomar and explained what he had done. "This tightens up our schedule but we can still do this. I am sending you a vid of the interview with High Councilor Darus that you might find interesting. I think this time he was too scared of being lunch for Harvey so he told us the truth. I understand that the stations are starting to bring up your people and other materials. I am still hopeful that this new information will aid our efforts to find this thing." He also sent the new information to the searching ships so they could amend their search patterns.

  Hank then had a thought that gave him shivers. He realized that his early warning system had kicked in again and he was not going to ignore it or even delay. So he called the teams back together and said he had another question for the High Councilor and that they were playing the same game. He again had transported the High Councilor back to the same location. He said, "Darus, one more clarification. How many weapons are aimed at this system?"

  At this question, Darus again paled and said, "I can see there is little use in lying to you. I am merely prolonging my own discomfort. So I will make these statements. There were 5 weapons prepared. Three were launched simultaneously from Feron Base with the Petran star as its target. Only one of that three had response capability. The other two had receive-only capability. There was a ten degree divergence of the path to target. The three weapons are designed to deploy simultaneously so the course variations were preprogramed including the change due to the false authentication. They are designed to attack the target from either side of the plane of the ecliptic plus one straight through the planetary plane, so they do not immediately approach on a direct line from the launch point. Each of the ships are like the Saba and Morn weapons except there is a yellow stripe that runs the length of the ship to warn other vessels off. That is everything I have not told you about the weapons. Feron is also the only location where they were built." Hank then asked, "Where is the backup database for the weapon?" Darus, still looking pale told Hank where the backup data was located and how to access it.

  Hank, looking as angry as he could then said, "Brondin, the next time I ask you a question and I find that you are less than 100% forthright with your response, you will be Snarf food. Are you absolutely clear on the concept?"

  Darus turned white as a sheet and responded "Yes, I understand."

  Hank signaled for Darus' return to the shuttle. Hank shared the new information with all and then instructed one of the warships to return the High Councilor's shuttle to Yannar into Pell Cassarn's custody.

  With the agreement of the Petrans, one of the stations focused on bringing up the sick and infirm. These were immediately placed in med units to stabilize them and to resolve the medical issue. The shut-ins were all identified and teams were dispatched to explain and bring them up. Scans were used to locate persons camping, or in remote areas and those were individually brought up. By the following day the planet was empty even pets were brought up and that resulted in a few unexpected complications that were resolved to the satisfaction of all. Everyone had been transported to a station. A number of the leaders were housed in living units and not put in stasis so that they could see firsthand the progress being made.

  ### Aboard Warship 1947 W6 Div 13 –

  79 LY from Petra ###

  "This is Captain Johns commanding Warship 1947 W6 Div 13. We are currently 79 light years from the Petra System. We are abreast of an unmanned destroyer class vessel of Yannarian manufacture with a yellow stripe running it length. The vessel matches the description provided for the Starkiller Weapon bound for Petra. We are prepared to destroy same but I note that it has just emitted an FTL signal so that would make this the one of the three with transmit capability. I would like to suggest that rather than destroy it at this time, we instead, disable its drive and see what effect this may have on the other two vessels. We of course will not know until we find them, but my thinking is that if they are trying for a simultaneous strike, the ship may signal the other ships to hold their positions while this ship attempts to resolve its drive problem. We can be precise enough with targeting to cause sufficient damage to knock out the drive but make it appear repairable to the onboard computer. If my assumption is correct we may then be able to find the other two ships somewhere near this distance from Petra and then destroy the lot out here without them getting nearer to their kill zone. Awaiting instructions. Johns out."

  Hank, heard the communication said, "Captain, make that Major Johns, excellent thinking. Do as you have suggested and monitor for FTL communication signals. Alert your Comm Chief to see if any signal sent is directional. It may give us a pointer to the other ships if it is directional. Keep an eye on the repairs so you can hit it again if necessary."

  A few minutes later, Johns reported that a signal had been sent by the weapons ship when its drive went out. The direction of the signal was reported and a second signal was sent a few degrees off the first but in the same general direction.

  A few minutes later a second warship checked in saying, "This is Captain Ted Savoy commanding Warship 1201 W6 Div 13. We are currently 79 light years from the Petra System. We have a second weapon ship sighted sitting idle on the second line reported by Major Johns. We are two light years from Major Johns position. The vessel is not manned. We have disabled its drive so this one is going no where anytime soon. We will standby and await further instructions. Savoy out."

  Thirty minutes later a third warship checked in saying "This is Captain Juan Gomez commanding Warship 0137 W6 Div 13. We are currently beside a third unmanned vessel sitting idle on the first line reported by Major Johns. We are four light years from Major Johns position. We have made a mess of their drive so it will not be moving. We will standby and await further instructions. Gomez out."

  "Major Johns, Captain Savoy, Captain Gomez, well done gentlemen. Please stay on station. I am cal
ling my T-Raptor team together to examine those ships and assure they are what they appear to be but I suspect you have done it. If they are the weapons, the T-Raptor teams will deconstruct the weapon components and move the components to your cargo holds. I want you to then take those components back to Feron Base for further deconstruction and reconstitution as something else. We will also be checking for self-destruct devices so keep your distance until advised. I will want to meet each of you. After you have each delivered the goodies to Feron. Please get some rest, then return your ships to Station 13 at Petra after which I want you and your crews report to me at Station One."

  Hank called his T-Raptor team together and said, "Ok, folks, lets make sure that we have it all. We are going to take those weapons apart and make them so they cannot be made again into a Starkiller weapon. We will then deliver those components to the warship on standby to be returned to Feron Base. When that is done we can help the Petrans get back to living." They then entered rapport and visited the first ship. They first disconnected the self-destruct mechanism and then removed the onboard database for review at Feron Base. Next they dismantled the weapon and moved the materials to Major Johns cargo hold. A beacon was placed on the ship for recovery by reserve Station 180. They then repeated the process with each of the other two ships where nothing of concern occurred and then returned to Station One.

  Hank then met with General Gomar, President Marti and Congressmen Smit and Hamil. He said, "Well gentlemen, good news, three of our warships have found and disabled the weapons. It appears that the crisis has been averted and you have your home back. I would suggest we start sending your people back home on November 29. I believe this is over but I don't trust the High Councilor even though I believe we finally got reliable information out of that buzzard. Those were definitely Starkiller weapons that were aimed at this system. The High Councilor is a good actor but since the last interview, he looked deflated. I just want to err on the side of safe when discussing 900,000,000 lives. We can be a bit slower about getting everybody down and ready to go back to living free. This time, without someone trying to tell you to follow their politics, their way. Having said that, I will sound a bit hypocritical when we say we will be patrolling the space lanes and will not allow one system to be an aggressor against another. However, what you do on your planet is your business as long as it is not enslaving your people. From what I can see that was your whole motivation from the beginning and we will assure that you retain that right. Now that there are 22 more systems that need external security, we intend to provide it. We will also need people with a vested interest in these systems willing to serve on our stations. We will be building more of them. Good candidates have proven to be military who have a reduced role on protected planets and like our agenda. We try to mix up their duties so that they have interesting things ahead. We can lay this all out for you but it is not something you have to address until all of your people are back in their homes."

  "We will provide you with a full history for the worlds where we have interacted as well as why we do what we do. I think this will give you some insight into how we think. I will also be bringing here the crews who were responsible for finding the weapons and how one persons suggestion resulted in having two of the weapons just sit there waiting where we could find them. You should know that ten of the stations up there were on exploration missions when this whole thing came to a head and will be returning to that mission when things settle down a bit here. I have 45 stations in reserve back home so I will be calling some of them in as replacements then our exploration units can continue on their exploration."

  "The next reason for advising a short delay is that some of your sick and elderly can use a bit of time in our med units. Many of these folks we can cure and ease the suffering. I am hoping to leave you in better shape than we found you. I come from a world that is constantly in conflict. That is unsettling, discomforting and frequently bloody. That has changed a bit even though some of the underlying root causes still exist. It is improving and still has quite a way to go. You have a single planet wide government, while we have 196 different governments, some good and some not so good. We now have 4 different species living in harmony aboard the stations. We are ready for more. We will be modifying the construction of subsequent Type 2 stations to reflect the need for our expanding role in the galaxy. These are things we would like to talk to you about. Are you interested?"

  General Gomar said, "Speaking for myself, I most emphatically am."

  President Marti said, "We would very much like to discuss these ideas. We are extremely grateful for your efforts of the past few days. Your willingness to help a people you do not know leads us to want to interact with you. It sounds like we have more in common than not. I would welcome further dialogue." The two congressmen nodded agreement.

  Chapter 28: Back to Petra

  On Station One in Petra Orbit –

  November 29 – C Day 453

  The first group of returnees was ready to return home with their personal effects. The returns were going a bit slower than the evacuation, but that was expected. Returns were made to the place of departure. Each was provided with a vid of the entire exercise including the capture of the weapon ships. A bit of information was also provided about the Antoran fleet and life aboard a station. This was done with the approval of General Gomar and President Marti.

  The cultural, historical, libraries and data-bases were meticulously restored so that there was no evidence that they had ever been moved. All of the sick and elderly were able to return to Petra and move about under their own power. For them the whole evacuation had been a blessing in disguise. The good will gained from that part of Petran society was immeasurable. The three warship crews that found the weapons were heroes to the planet and were each awarded the Petran Legion of Honor, the planet's third highest award. Hank also met with the crews and pinned on Major Johns' new rank tabs.

  Hank sent out a thank you to all the warships that participated in the search.

  When the last of the returnees were back home, Hank met one more time with General Gomar and President Marti and indicated that he would be back at some point and that one station would remain in orbit in stealth mode. He gave both the means for contacting that station and then it was time to leave. He wanted to get back to Yannar to resolve the structure of the Hegemony.

  Destruction of the Starkiller weapons and technology was announced to the entire Hegemony.

  ### On Station One in Yannar Orbit –

  November 30 – C Day 457 ###

  Barana said,

  "OK, Barana, would you pull all of my staff in and all station Commanders. After Briana's last surprise, It is difficult to imagine how she can top the last effort. I am ready."

  About a minute all invited were on the conference. "Briana, delighted to hear from you. About 900,000,000 people from the planet Petra owe their continued existence to your development of the 600,000xSL drive. I am looking forward to see what you have for us."

  sions needed for that take about two days to install on a station and about four hours on a warship and that can be done by its crew. Once there, it is usable for more than just navigation. It will also be able to detect artifacts as small as a one of our warships as far out as 10,000 light years away. This alone will be a boon to our exploration crews. It will make it very easy to locate damaged vessels or life pods. Something the size of one of our Type 2 stations will be detectable from 50,000 light years out. Planets and stars will be very easy. The device will also detect gravitational anomalies from more than 100,000 light years out. Black holes will stand out like a beacon. This represents a bigger leap in our ability to see than it does our ability to speed.>