The Battlestar Glory Ch. 04

(This is not a sexy story. It is a space war thriller.)

Chapter 4: Inspiration

From the Log of War Admiral Norman North, 6 months after Vitalics:

Things have been very quiet since our victory over the Insect fleet, three months ago. I imagine the Insects would be too busy consolidating their hold on our homeworlds to send more than a single fleet against us. Additionally, by the time this fleet attacked us and the news of their failure reached the Insect leadership, we would be months outside of known space and many months away from their nearest fleet. And as we continue to move away from our homeworlds, and away from the Insect fleets, it would take them a long time to catch up with us.

Admittedly, we are not always moving at our top speed. We can't go faster than our slowest merchant ship. We also periodically stop to investigate planets and gather supplies, and the Insects may catch up to us at some point. But it would take months, maybe even a year, just to catch up to us at our current speed, if they even managed to find us. So the military threat is thankfully reduced, for now.

This permits us to focus on our primary mission, to find artifacts of the Monumentals which will help us defeat the Insects. Our chances of success are small--finding unplundered Monumental artifacts will be difficult enough, but finding ones with direct military applications may be even more unlikely. Even if we do find new technology, there's no guarantee that we'll be able to figure out how to harness it. After all, the Monumentals were centuries, even millennia ahead of us technologically.

That's why we have Professor Stevenson and his staff aboard. They have been studying the known Monumental obelisks and artifacts for decades and may be able to point us in the right direction where to look. Right now I'm advised we should look for a binary system with four planets, one of them with an oxygen atmosphere. Based on examination of ancient Monumental maps, Stevenson believes they may have some sort of base on such a planet. Of course, with the enormous passage of time, even if there were such a base, it may be long gone now. And such a base could be hidden, or booby trapped, or worse.

We've checked out several binary systems in the area, but so far found nothing.

**********

"I'm telling you Obe, this is a complete waste of time," said Took. He and Obe were on patrol ahead, heading towards a binary system on the edge of sensors. "This is the third binary system this week. I'm all binaried out."

"The War Admiral says we have to look for planets orbiting binary stars, so that's what we're going to do."

"No," said Took. "Professor Stevenson says that. The War Admiral just repeats what he says."

"The difference being....?"

"We're not following one of the Admiral's hunches, we're following the whimsies of a scholarly greybeard who thinks nothing about spending 20 years studying pieces of an old ceramic pot. We could be at this for decades."

"Have you got anything better to do?"

"Well, I, ah..." Took was speechless, for a moment. "I was thinking of starting up a newsvid."

"A newsvid?"

"Sure! A fleetwide online newspaper."

"Iday, this isn't August."

"Ok, we're a fleet, I know that, but we're also a community, the last community of humans," said Took. "I was thinking of it as a morale thing, to keep our spirits up-"

"Hold it!" said Obe. "I'm getting something on sensors. Planets! One.... two... three... four.... And one of them has an oxygen atmosphere! Just like the Professor said he was looking for."

"Let's go into orbit for a close scan," said Took.

They moved closer and spent the next few minutes searching the planet surface. "Plants... animals... but no civilization," said Obe.

"You spoke too soon, Obe! I'm picking up a power source on the surface, contained in a metallic structure."

"A city?"

Took shook his head, checking the reading. "No, unless this city is forty feet wide and twenty feet tall. Let's call a team in." He raised his comm range. "Glory, this is Captain Took-"

********

A shuttle transported the research team to the surface, followed closely by a transport with a platoon of Major Fortran's men. The War Admiral himself had given the order, saying that the safety of the research team was of the highest priority. Everyone else, the pilots and the marines, were expendable.

They touched down on a grassy plain near the object.

The marines disembarked first, securing a perimeter. Finally Major Fortran himself emerged, and gave the go-ahead for the shuttle crew to open the hatch. Professor Stevenson and his researchers emerged, together with agricultural specialists who were seeing if there was anything of value they could take from the planet.

The power source was a monument, a tall black gleaming obelisk, of the type that Took had seen in museums back on August. Took's presence wasn't strictly required, but he had invited himself and Obe along, for "moral support."

The monument had symbols that were embedded on the sides of the thing. They stuck out and could be felt, by touch, much like the old-fashioned lettering for blind people. Stevenson eagerly pointed out one of the symbol chains to a colleague, and they started muttering to themselves.

"Nice to get some fresh air," said Took, turning away and looking at the grassy plain around them. This was the first time he, or anyone else, had been in a breathable atmosphere outside the ship since that little colony they stumbled on a few months ago, just after their flight from Orotis.

"Looks kind of spooky, doesn't it?" said Took, looking at the tall monument as it gleamed in the binary sunlight.

"Yeah, it does," said Obe. "To think that this was built by a race millions of years older than us. What's it all about? What's it for?"

"No one knows," said Took. "But I heard that some of those monuments have strange powers, or are boobytrapped." He took a few steps back. "We'd best keep our distance, pal."

But if the monument had any special powers, it didn't seem to effect the research team.

********

They ended up staying at the location for two days; the agricultural team determined that there were edible fruits and seeds that could be gathered in sufficient quantities to make it worthwhile, and Stevenson didn't mind the additional time studying the monument. When they returned to the Glory, Stevenson made his report in private to the War Admiral. Only the War Admiral's closest aides, Captain Dulin and Commander Wren, were in attendance; the rest of the fleet wasn't as optimistic about this "Monumental hunt" as the War Admiral was.

"It's very similar to the monument we found on Whenfor," said Stevenson excitedly. "Do you realize that this is only the third monument we've found which seems to use the exact same symbol language as other monuments we've discovered. Why, I can't begin to wonder just how-"

"Professor," said the War Admiral. "That's all very interesting. But what does it say?"

"What does it say? We don't know. It's covered with hundreds of symbols which will take months to fully decode," said Stevenson. "But one section we have clearly translated makes a clear reference to a planet, just ten light years away, in a neighboring system."

"What does it say about this planet?" the War Admiral asked.

"We're not sure," said Stevenson. "You have to understand, we've only deciphered a small part of this language. We've never had a large enough sample to-"

"And what about the power source you detected?"

"It's in the interior," said Stevenson. "We don't know what the power is for or what it does, we can't scan through-"

"Could we cut through it?" Dulin asked.

Stevenson looked horrified. "Blast a monument? Your puny laser guns wouldn't even scratch the alien metals. You'd have to use shipboard batteries-"

"We have shipboard batteries," said the War Admiral.

"You'd destroy such a priceless artifact? Never!' said Stevenson.

"Let me be clear, Professor," said the War Admiral. "This is not a dig, or an expedition to recover museum pieces. This is about getting technology, and about survival. If blasting that thing open will get us what we want, we'll blast it. Do you understand?"

Stevenson opened his mouth, then closed it, then nodded slowly.

"Good. For now, we'll try a moderate course," said North. "Provide the location of this solar system to navigation. We'll set a course, once we've retrieved the last recovery teams."

After Stevenson left, Captain Dulin looked at the War Admiral. "Blasting it open with the power of the ship's turbolasers?" he asked.

The War Admiral merely shrugged. "It probably wouldn't have worked, anyway" said North. "It would be like trying to cut a diamond with a hydrogen bomb. If our ship's turrets could blast into that thing, we'd probably destroy anything useful inside."

"Then why did you...."

"To make a point to our good professor where our priorities lay. We're here to get things done, and we'll do whatever it takes," said the War Admiral.

********

Took was on patrol again. This time his squadron was on temporary deployment to the Blue Luna, the fleet's pocket battleship. The fleet's engineers had tinkered with the Luna's engines to raise their output almost to battlecruiser speeds. With equal firepower and more armor and shields than any battlecruiser in the fleet, even the new Tiger class ships, the Blue Luna made an ideal advance scout.

Took liked the Captain of the Luna, an old veteran named Myster Harkness who was blunt and direct. The only reason that Harkness, and his ship, was alive was that he was one of those few captains who had refused to participate in the Vitalics armistice, where most of the League fleet was slaughtered. He had only been saved from a court-martial when North had agreed to have his ship transferred to his fleet, which was stationed on Hunt's Moon. The reason Took admired Harkness was because Harkness had been very vocal about telling the admirals what he thought of the peace deal. He was a straight-talking blast from the hip kind of guy--just like Idaho Took.

Took, Obe, and the Ken Pilot's fighters were on point, ahead of the Blue Luna, which itself was a full day ahead of rest of the fleet.

"... so the whole idea of scouting is that if there's anything dangerous out there, we get clobbered, because we're expendable," said Took.

"No, we're here to give the fleet advance warning," said Obe.

"If we manage to do so before we get clobbered. Face it, Obe, we're expendable; even the Blue Luna is expendable. It's like sending a pawn and a rook to check out what's on the other side of the board. The Luna's the rook, and we're a couple of pawns; if we get knocked off, the Queen will weep and then send one of her horses-"

"Do you ever stop talking?" said the Ken Pilot.

"Only when you start," Took immediately responded. "Is that what it takes to provoke you into a conversation?"

"Alert," said the Ken Pilot. "I'm picking up something on long range scanners, just on the edge of sensor detection range."

They turned to their scanners. At very extreme range they saw a few ships... and then, seconds later, more and more of them--a mass of ships. Even at this range, their identity was clear: Insects.

"Let's get out of here," said Took, turning his Wildcat 150-B into a sharp bank. He kept his eyes peeled on the rear scanner during the whole flight back. But if the Insects had spotted them, they weren't sending interceptors to challenge them. By the time they returned to the Luna, they were once again out of sensor range of the Insects.

They went directly to the bridge to report to Captain Harkness.

"There's a bug fleet out there, a big one," said Took.

"Size? Composition?"

"We didn't stop to take notes, sir," said Took. "We didn't want to risk detection."

"Risk further detection, you mean," grunted Harkness. "All right, let's set up a tightbeam to the Glory and see what command wants to do."

********

"Another fleet," said the War Admiral, looking very surprised.

Dulin was surprised by the Admiral's surprise. It so rarely happened that anything took the War Admiral by surprise.

"How can this be?" said the War Admiral. "There's no way another fleet could have caught up to us this quickly. We're moving away from occupied territory, so they would have to move much faster to catch up."

"Furthermore, the enemy is ahead of us," said Commander Wren. "They would have had to catch up to us without our noticing, and then made a very large circle around us at tremendous speeds to avoid our sensors."

"That's a possibility, but that doesn't seem very likely to me," said the War Admiral.

"What's the alternative?" asked one of the senior Captains.

"Perhaps the Insects have colonies out this far," said Captain Bennett. "We've never been able to locate their homeworlds, after all."

"If they have colonies here, then why haven't they attacked the Alliance from this part of space?" the War Admiral said. "If so, Orotis would've been the first battlefield. But in all our years of fighting them, they've never hit us from this region of space. We presumed that it was mutually unexplored."

"What do we have on the composition of the enemy force?" Bennett asked.

"Very little," said Dulin. "We've analyzed the sensor reports from Took, Obe, and the Ken Pilot, and identified perhaps thirty capital ships, but at the distance they scanned from, we couldn't get more specifics. There could be even more ships out there."

"I guess the logical thing to do would be to head into a different direction," said Bennett. "We should start navigation working on an evasive course-"

"Just a minute," said the War Admiral. "We can't change direction."

All eyes were on the War Admiral.

"The monument directed us to a system just two light years behind the location of the Insect fleet. If there's something there, we have to find it," said North.

Bennett cleared his throat diplomatically. "War Admiral, I understand your goals, but surely our immediate survival takes priority-"

"This search takes priority. We may be searching the rest of our lives for clues about the Monumentals, Captain," said the War Admiral. "How will you feel, ten years from now, when we're still searching, knowing we passed up this obvious lead?"

Bennett didn't seem to know how to respond. He obviously didn't have much faith in the War Admiral's obsession with the Monumentals, but didn't want to directly challenge the War Admiral.

"Do you really want to spend the rest of our lives wandering from system to system, without hope?" said North. "I admit what I propose is difficult, and it isn't without risk. But it's the only chance we have. We need something to hope for, however small the chances are." He paused. "I propose a compromise. We have the Insect fleet's projected course. I say we plot a course around theirs, to circle around them outside of their sensor range and come at the system from behind."

And with minimal discussion, North's plan was approved.

********

Now a journey that was supposed to take three more days was taking seven. But by avoiding a direct confrontation with the Insects, North hoped he could preserve his fighting force as long as possible. Each battle which resulted in the deaths of one human and ten Insects was a victory for the Insects. For the Insects could repopulate at will, but the fleet was limited to the fighters and soldiers who had escaped the disaster at Vitalics and the fall of the Alliance.

As luck would have it, the Insect fleet didn't stay in one, compact group, but fanned out over several systems, to widen the scope of their search.

And one of their scoutships found the fleet.

When he discovered that the Insects had been alerted, North ordered the fleet to full attack, figuring that with the enemy fleet dispersed that he could make short work of their individual elements, one by one.

But the Insect fleet wasn't really dispersed.

There were two main groups, a battlecruiser squadron escorted by a cruiser group, and a second group led by a half dozen sleek battleships. North's fleet was still working on the first group when the second one showed up.

********

How North managed to extricate the fleet without taking even heavier losses than it did, was a mystery to most. But the results were bad enough; one battlecruiser, two light cruisers, and three destroyers were totally wiped out. One deep space cruiser was so badly gutted that it had to be abandoned and scuttled; and a badly damaged destroyer was barely kept operational. Total casualties: 800 dead, and nearly 300 wounded, some seriously.

North only managed to eke out something of a victory by attacking what he thought was the Insects commander's ship, one of the late arriving battleships. He ordered his forces to concentrate on that one ship to the exclusion of all else; when it had been heavily damaged, the enemy pulled back.

The War Admiral frowned as he read the casualty reports. But it could have been worse, much worse. The Insects never got past their defense line of warships to their vulnerable merchant vessels, which were their prime suppliers of food and maintenance; and more ships could have been lost if the battle hadn't turned their way.

The War Admiral had destroyed the bulk of the first part of their fleet, but somewhere out there, not far away, was a still potent force of battleships and a mix of support ships. He had reduced their numbers, but there were still at least five battleships that were fully operational, and they wouldn't give up so easily.

Services were held for the dead, and North looked straight ahead, avoiding the gaze of his officers. Did they blame him? If the former League officers didn't, the Directorate officers certainly did. If only they had changed course entirely, and not attempted to flank the Insects, this wouldn't have happened.

They held a staff meeting right after the services where they discussed battle damage and repairs. A full third of the fleet had suffered varying degrees of damage.

"We'll lay over here for repairs," said the War Admiral, pointing to the neighboring solar system on the holo. No one needed to be told that this was the system that they had been heading for in the first place.

"Is that wise, sir?" said Captain Bennett. "There's still an enemy fleet out there, and if we stay in this area, they'll be sure to find us again."

"What do you suggest?" the War Admiral said.

"Let's put at least a few light years between us and this system before we stop," said Bennett. "That way, it will at least take them longer to find us."

The War Admiral reluctantly nodded. "Agreed." He created a flight path on the holographic display, one that would take them through the solar system he was interested in. "Any further comment?" There was silence. "You're all dismissed."

The senior captains filed out of the war room, looking grim. When they had filed out, leaving only Captain Dulin and Commander Wren, he simply continued to sit there silently, staring at the holographic display.

"They blame me, of course," said the War Admiral. "It's only natural. If we had tried to avoid the Insect fleet entirely, this wouldn't have happened."

"They're only thinking about their own short term survival," said Commander Wren.

"Eight hundred sailors and officers didn't survive in the short term," said the War Admiral.

"If we only looked out for our own survival, we would never have a chance to liberate our homeworlds," said Dulin. "You're doing the right thing, War Admiral."

The War Admiral didn't respond, not directly. He turned away from them and said, "Please summon Captain Took and Professor Stevenson to my quarters."

********

As the fleet moved through the system that Professor Stevenson was interested in, sensors detected a habitable planet in orbit. The Glory launched a shuttle with a starfighter escort to race ahead to the planet before the fleet got there. The fleet wouldn't be stopping at the planet; so the expedition would have to do its business and leave the planet before the fleet went too far away to catch up.

Orbital scans detected similar findings to their last outing; a breathable atmosphere, some plants and vegetation, but no intelligent life, nothing, that is, but a tell-tale monument on the northern continent.

Because of their hurry, they hadn't scrambled a marine detachment to accompany them, so it was up to Took, Obe, and the Ken Pilot to secure the area before the shuttle containing the research scientists could be allowed to land.

"Aren't the marines supposed to be doing this?" Obe asked, from the cockpit of his Wildcat.

"Don't be a weakling type 239 chicken," said Took, referring to an infamous kind of mutated chicken. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"My sense of adventure went on permanent vacation after our homeworlds were conquered and we were chased out," said Obe, angling his fighter to follow Took, who was looking for a clear spot to land. The Ken Pilot, silent as always, followed behind them.

"You're just depressed," said Took.

"We just lost eight hundred sailors and officers, we're fleeing for our lives, and you accuse me of being depressed," said Obe. "If I weren't depressed, I'd be delusional."

"Precisely my thought," said Took, meaning something different entirely. "We need a morale boost."

"If this is about the newscast-"

"I spoke with Colonel Dey about the newscast-"

"-and he said no," said Took.

"Good."

"But it wasn't a considered no, just a brusque one; he didn't even think about my proposal."

"Too bad," said Obe, feeling absolutely no sympathy for his friend. "What about landing in that open field, over there?"

Took eyed it. "Not enough space. Keep looking."

Took cleared his throat. "Where was I? Yes, the newscast. We need a fleetwide broadcast. It will help raise morale-"

"But Dey said no."

"-so after Colonel Dey said no, I went to Captain Dulin."

"You went over Dey's head? Are you insane?"

"Well, after the fact, I realize that Colonel Dey had been the wrong one to ask. After all, he's the starfighter commander, but he doesn't set fleetwide policy. Only the War Admiral does that."

"Iday, you didn't-"

"No, the War Admiral was unavailable when I went after him."

"So what did Dulin say?"

"He didn't say no," said Took. "There! That field, over there, we can land there."

"Where?"

"50 degrees to my left, follow me in."

"So Dulin gave his approval for your newscast?"

"Not exactly," said Took.

"What did he say?"

"He just said that he didn't think it was such a good idea," said Took. "But he didn't say no."

They put down their fighters in an open field, and emerged cautiously from their Wildcat 150-B's, their weapons drawn, slowly panning the area around them. But the area looked remarkably peaceful, much like the area of the first monument. They slowly started walking to this monument, which they could see was close to the edge of a wooded area.

"Two times lucky, eh?" said Took as they walked towards it. It was big and black much like the other monument, and when they got close they could see writing on the sides of it. But this time something different did happen when they approached; they heard a slight humming noise, like the sound of a powerful machine, and suddenly, all around them, they saw snowflakes--snowflakes of all different colors of the rainbow--blue, pink, red, violet, bright green, dark green yellow, orange, sparkly, and more. But the weather was much too warm for traditional snow; and they didn't feel cold, or even a breeze.

"Wow!" said Took, staring at the flakes around him. This was the most amazing thing he had seen in some time.

"Look at all those colors," said Obe. "Isn't it beautiful?"

The snow started to emit small sounds, making noises like a gentle harp.

"Isn't this beautiful?" Took said to the Ken Pilot, parroting Obe.

"Look down," said the Ken Pilot.

They looked down. The "snow" was disappearing once it hit the ground.

"Look around," said the Ken Pilot again.

It only seemed to be snowing in a small area around the monument.

"It must be generated by the monument," said Took, looking at the walls of it more closely. The monument, like the other, had smooth walls that showed no revealing entrances. "But what's it for?"

"Iday, we should call down the professor's team before we touch anything..."

But Took wasn't listening. He reached out to touch one of the symbols; but before his hand made contact, a smooth opening revealed itself on the side of the monument, showing a flight of stairs going down.

All three of them immediately raised their weapons in a gesture of alarm.

"What did I do? And how did I do it?" Took asked excitedly.

"I don't know," said Obe, looking into the blackness of the entrance. It wasn't reassuring.

Took made a tentative first step down.

"Do you think we should wait for the research team?" said Obe, not liking the looks of the dark interior of the Monument.

"We have to make sure it's safe, right?" said Took, taking a second step.

"What about calling for backup?" said Obe..

"We have K for that," said Took. "Don't we, K?" He paused for a moment, but the Ken Pilot said nothing. Took spoke in an artificially deep voice, imitating the Ken Pilot like a robot. "Yes, I will protect you." Then, switching back to his normal voice, he said, "Thanks, K."

The Ken Pilot, saying nothing, but continued to be expressionless.

They started walking down, and dim light panels in the ceiling came to life, showing a narrow, dark corridor ahead of them. Moving cautiously, they went forward. If Took had been thinking clearly, he would have called for backup; what if the entrance sealed behind them? No one would ever know where they had gone or what had happened to them.

But as they hit the bottom step and started down the corridor they could still see sunlight streaming in from the entrance behind them. If this was a trap, it wasn't being sprung yet.

They walked quietly down the corridor. Probably no one had walked down here in centuries, if not millennia. They saw a well lit room ahead. It was quite small. All it consisted of was a shelf built into a wall, a mirror along another wall, and a device pointing down from the ceiling that looked like some sort of laser weapon.

They walked quietly around the room, being careful to stay out of the aim of the laser device. The walls seemed solid.

"That's it?" said Took, looking into the mirror. "We came all this way for... a mirror?"

"Maybe it's not an ordinary mirror," said Obe.

"Look into it. What do you see?" said Took.

"Us," said Obe.

"Exactly," said Took. "If it weren't for that laser thing sticking from the ceiling, I'd say this is simply a bathroom. Without a toilet."

"We'd better get Professor Stevenson here to look at this."

And so they did.

Stevenson came down with a scientific team, and more soldiers to secure the perimeter around the Monument. Took escorted him inside the room they had found. "Watch out for that laser thing pointing down from the ceiling."

"I had noticed," said Stevenson dryly.

"I wouldn't advise you to go underneath it," said Took.

Stevenson and his men spent two days analyzing the room. But they didn't seem to discover much. Finally, the War Admiral himself came down in a shuttle, escorted by a score of soldiers.

"What have you discovered?" said the War Admiral.

"Not much," said Stevenson. "The mirror looks like a mirror. Perhaps there's a device there that can be activated to turn it into a display of some kind, but if so, none can be found."

"What about the laser-like device above it?"

"Unknown," said Stevenson. "I tried standing underneath it, but nothing happened."

The War Admiral raised his eyebrows. "Was that wise?"

"We tested it first," said Stevenson. "First we put inanimate objects underneath it, but it wasn't weight activated. Then we tried a test animal. Only when that did not work did I try it."

"What about the walls around this room?"

"They are constructed of the same material as the monument. Impenetrable."

"What about behind the mirror?"

"It's a solid wall, the same."

"I think I would like to see this mirror," said the War Admiral.

Stevenson escorted the War Admiral in. Took and some of the men followed.

They made their way to the little room down the corridor. The War Admiral saw his image reflected back at him. He frowned, stepping up to the shelf, and-

Suddenly a burst of light came out of the ceiling mounted laser device, striking the War Admiral. But instead of striking him like a beam, it created an outline all around him. Took grabbed the War Admiral, and the outline briefly engulfed him as well, but when he pulled North back, the beam device shut down.

"Are you all right?" Stevenson asked.

"I'm fine," said the War Admiral. He straightened his shirt, looking around at the concerned glances. "Really."

"The beam never activated when any of us were standing there," said Stevenson. "I myself and three of my technicians tried it."

"Maybe you weren't the right test animals," said Took. "Maybe this thing was looking for our leader."

"Preposterous," said Stevenson. "How would it know?"

"It would have to be a very advanced technology," said Took. "Maybe even Monumental," he said sarcastically.

"Everyone, I'm fine," said the War Admiral.

"I would like to have Doctor Farb look you over, sir," said Stevenson.

"Oh, very well," said the War Admiral.

"And you too, Took," said Stevenson.

"Me? Why?"

"You were in the beam for a moment when you pulled the War Admiral out."

"Believe me, I'm fine."

"He's just being cautious, Iday," said the War Admiral. "I would do the same. Continue examining this device, but be cautious."

When they returned to the ship, Doctor Farb examined them thoroughly for several hours, to the War Admiral's great annoyance.

"Do you think it turned us into mutants, War Admiral?" Took asked, sitting on an examining table right next to the War Admiral.

"Do we look like mutants, Iday?" said North.

"Well, no, but maybe the process has just begun," said Took. "Do you feel like you have any superhuman powers?"

North concentrated, looking at Took.

"Well?" said Took.

"It didn't work. You're still talking," said North.

"Ha, ha."

"Gentlemen, I have finished my tests," said Doctor Farb.

"And?" said Took anxiously.

"To the best of my knowledge, you are both perfectly fine."

"No sign of monsterisms of any kind?" said Took

"Not even a claw," said Doctor Farb. "But I would advise you to stay away from alien beam weapons."

"A good piece of advice at any time, Doctor Farb," said the War Admiral.

But Professor Stevenson's men did not take that advice. Several of them stepped up to the mirror in the monument to try to activate the beam weapon. Nothing happened. It was as if, as Took suggested, that it was an intelligent device only programmed to activate for certain kinds of people.

********

The next day the War Admiral called a meeting of senior staff.

All the senior fleet officers were gathered there. "Now that we're all assembled, we can begin," said the War Admiral, eyeing Dulin and Wren coming in last. They took the only remaining seats, next to the hologram of Captain Harkness of the Blue Luna. He always liked to sit near the end of the table, by the door, even when he only appeared in hologram form. Most of the fleet officers were present in hologram form from their own ships; obviously, this was not considered to be one of the more vital meetings.

They couldn't have been more wrong.

"Gentlemen," said the War Admiral. "The most vital repairs on our ships are complete. We can now get under way." A three dimensional star chart appeared on his screen. "The last known location of the Insect fleet was here," he said, indicating a flashing sector.

"So we should probably head in the opposite direction," said Captain Bennett of the Half Carrier Amory Til. His hologram flickered slightly due to momentary interference with his signal.

"Not the direct opposite," said Captain Harkness. "That's the first place they'll look."

"I propose we move here," said the War Admiral, pointing to the flashing sector where they had last seen the Insects.

"You want to move to their last known location?" Bennett said. "Why?"

"To attack," said the War Admiral.

"Seeing the losses they inflicted on us the last time, do you think it's a good idea-"

"Yes," said the War Admiral. "I realize that our goal is survival, not combat. Each time we engage in battle we sustain losses that cannot be replenished. Nevertheless, I'm convinced it's best that we seek them out, rather than wait for them to find us. If you'll recall, the core of their fleet are a number of super battleships that are capable of causing us a great damage if they get close. If they find us and take us by surprise again, we'll sustain heavy casualties, again."

The War Admiral turned to the map, and a number of fighter symbols appeared on the screen. "But we also have a significant advantage. We have fighters and they don't. My intention is to locate their battleships first, from a distance, and to send our fighters in to destroy them, without risking any of our capital ships. That way we can destroy them safely, from a distance, with a minimum of losses."

There was a murmuring around the room. They hadn't gone on the offensive in some time. Their primary goal had been escape, not combat. Their confidence, shattered by the loss of their home worlds, had reduced them to flight. This was a new mentality, a new way of thinking, and they had to adjust to that.

"What if in trying to locate them, they locate us first?" one of the captains asked.

"It's a risk, but seeing as we have fighters to engage in recon and they don't, again we have the advantage," said North. "We'll send out elements of two full squadrons in every direction to search, and have the other squadrons ready to launch on a moment's notice."

The captains looked around and nodded. The War Admiral's plan was risky, but it also made sense. North, seeing from their expressions that he had formed a consensus, nodded. "Captain Dulin and Colonel Dey will coordinate our efforts with the squadrons on the Amory Til and on the other capital ships. Dismissed."

The holograms shimmered out of existence, leaving North in a nearly empty room with Dulin, Wren, and Colonel Dey. Dey excused himself, saying he had to prepare the mission schedules.

North nodded, and turned to look out the windows at the stars. "Yes?" he said, to the two silent officers behind him.

"An attack is a very provocative gamble," said Wren.

"Yes, it is," said North.

"I have to wonder how much of it is your idea," said Wren.

"Commander!" said Dulin sharply.

"No," said North, raising a hand. "If I can't encourage my closest officers to speak freely, then we're in worse trouble than I thought." He turned away from the window and looked at Wren. "Continue, Commander."

"What happened when you were shot by that device inside the monument?" Wren asked.

North raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," North asked.

"I think it did the same thing to you," said Wren. "You're throwing caution to the wind and forcing us into an unnecessary encounter with the Insects."

"Hm," said the War Admiral. "And why do you think this thought didn't occur to me?"

Wren swallowed. "You're obviously been influenced by this beam." Her voice trailed off.

Instead of denying it, the War Admiral said, "Influenced? Perhaps. I notice that things are clearer to me now."

"Clearer in what way?"

"In our struggle to survive we have lost sense of who and what we are," said the War Admiral, turning away to look out the windows at the stars. "It is time to stop running, to take the battle to the enemy. It is time to win, for a change."

"And you think this is rational?" said Wren.

The War Admiral turned back to face her abruptly. "I know it is."

********

The following morning a fateful report came in from one of the scouts.

"Fighter 8 from the Til's Lancer D squadron reports a sighting," said Lieutenant Shishman, illuminating a section of the bridge's floating holographic map.

The War Admiral swiveled his command chair to face Shishman. "Specifics?" said the War Admiral sharply.

Shishman listened to the comm. "... five battleships... three battlecruisers... five heavy cruisers... ten lesser ships...."

The War Admiral turned to Colonel Dey. "Launch all fighters. Alert the squadrons on the other ships."

********

As Took climbed into his 150-B cockpit he felt a surge of elation. Finally, they were going to get to strike back. As he prepared to close the cockpit, a technician named Zetho poked his head in. "Hey, you know that problem you were having with your tactical display?"

"Yeah." It had been flickering for several months at odd times. Zetho never had the time or the resources to find out what was wrong with it.

"I figured it out, late last night; some of the circuitry from adjoining systems wasn't properly insulated. It's fixed now."

"Great!" said Took.

"Good luck," said Zetho, banging on the hull of the 150-B with his fist.

Took gave the thumbs up signal and launched.

********

Strictly speaking, only the Defenders and the four EC "Whales", large fighter dreadnought ships, were designated as bombers. But seeing that the Insect fleet had no fighter protection, the War Admiral had ordered nearly all Wildcat and fighter ships to be equipped with bottom mounted missile racks. These slowed the ships down and made them less maneuverable in combat, but would enable them to strike heavy blows against the Insect capital ships. Only a single squadron, Wildcat "A", was designated strictly for fighter escort.

"Just my luck," grumbled Took. "Everyone but me gets to blow up something."

Obe checked to make sure that he was on a private circuit with Took. "It makes sense; the War Admiral wants his best fighters available for escort."

"Escort? Escort against what?" Took said. "They don't have any fighters."

"Check your scopes!" said Obe suddenly. "We're in range."

The outer edges of the Insect fleet was appearing on their scopes. A wave of fighters was approaching them.

"Where are they coming from?" said Took. "One or two of those capital ships must have had a squadron tucked into their landing bays."

Then he counted the number of fighters approaching and knew he was wrong. A moment later, when a new ship showed up on extreme sensor range, he knew where the truth lay. "Glory, this is Captain Took! They have themselves a flat top!"

North took the news calmly on the bridge. One standard carrier. They were called flat tops because of the absence of heavy guns on the outer hull. Only a few carrier/battleship combinations like the Glory had heavy guns on their exteriors.

"Shall we order one or two additional squadrons to jettison their missile loads and revert to fighter escort mode?" Dulin asked.

North considered for a moment. The fewer the number of fighters they had on the attack, the less of a chance they would have to permanently destroy this pursuing fleet. North looked up.

"War Admiral?"

North looked back at Dulin. "No. Continue as planned."

********

"Well, that's just great," said Took. "Four of their squadrons against one of ours." He checked the sensors. They were close; in seconds they would be in battle.

"A minute ago you were complaining that you weren't going to see any action at all," said Obe.

"It never drizzles but it always pours," said Took. "Let's go get'm!"

********

Wildcat A engaged the lead fighters, two squadrons from the Insect flat top. There weren't enough Wildcats on combat air patrol to engage both squadrons; so some of the Insects got through to the Defenders and the converted Wildcats. But the Insect fighters couldn't get a clean shot at any of the opposing ships; they were weaving and bobbing crazily, despite their reduced maneuverability. Finally the Insects got a clean shot off at one of the Defender's, shredding a heavily armored wing, but by that time Wildcat A had finished clearing away the first squadron--and in record time too.

Took found himself flying better than he ever had before. He picked off one, two, three Insect ships in a row, in rapid succession single-fire shots. And he wasn't the only one. It was as if the whole squadron was flying with the proficiency of the Ken Pilot.

The third and fourth Insect squadrons closed, but not before the Wildcats reached weapons range. On Colonel Dey's orders half of them launched their missiles at extreme range, freeing them to take on the additional squadrons.

It was a slaughter. Not a single fighter was lost in the ensuing dogfight, and only two fighters were lost when they went in for close attack. Once the Defenders and the rest of the Wildcats got close they launched their missiles at the other capital ships, and then switched to lasers.

Insect battleships burst in a wave of explosions. Even their mightiest battleships were being blown to pieces. In moments, four of the five battleships were crippled and the fifth were heavily damaged. The fighters turned their attention to the supporting ships, who had been targeted with fewer missile salvos.

Meanwhile the Whales, giant heavily armored multicrew fighters, launched their first salvo at the middle of the Insect flat top. The missiles, all aimed at one precise point, exploded simultaneously and their combined force split the giant flat top into two pieces. The Whales next turned on the surviving battlecruisers and heavy cruisers.

********

"... all capital ships destroyed or crippled... all enemy fighters destroyed... only four fighters lost," said Lieutenant Shishman, reading the action reports aloud.

There was a deafening cheer on the bridge. The crew actually clapped as the War Admiral stood up from his chair. They all knew whose idea this battle was.

"Thank you, thank you," said the War Admiral. He looked genuinely pleased. "I appreciate it, thank you." He turned to Captain Dulin. "The bridge is yours." The War Admiral retired to his office.

********

Idaho Took visited the War Admiral when he returned to the ship.

"How did you know, sir?"

The War Admiral gave him a sharp glance. "You of all people shouldn't have to ask me that, Iday."

"Why?"

"You were caught in the beam too, however briefly. Didn't you feel it?"

"I.... yeah," said Took. "I was blasting away at them, it was like all my fatigue and doubts had washed away."

"A confidence building ray, for want of a better term. That's what hit us," said the War Admiral.

"A confidence building ray?" said Took. "Who would build such a thing? Why?"

The War Admiral gave a mysterious smile.