Confederation -- 10

Chapter 10

It took a couple of weeks to return to Earth orbit. We used the time to drill our Marines in Pug-bear fighting. They hadn't been ready for the all-out combat style of the aliens, and I didn't want to lose any more men.

Rudy, Joe, Liz, and I, along with Lieutenant Holmes, held lengthy discussions about space battle techniques. The new information about the anti-matter cannons proved very helpful since it forced us to plan out combat techniques more carefully. I realized that I'd been fortunate the first time I'd fought the Pug shuttle-craft. The entire engagement had taken place at close enough range and high enough speed that the shuttles couldn't dodge. They lacked the interior anti-gravity field of the spaceships, and the occupants were subject to inertia. Tough as the Pugs were, they couldn't survive the g-stress of a violent maneuver to dodge an incoming shot, even if they could see it.

Another thing was that you could see plasma bursts coming. Their speed was slow enough that I thought they could be dodged if seen far enough away. However, the anti-matter pulses were invisible unless there was dust or some matter in between the gun and its target. Anyway, the anti-matter traveled at nearly light speed, so it would be as challenging to duck away from it as dodging a laser beam. Nearly impossible, in fact.

When we got close enough, we inserted our ship into Earth orbit and adjusted our path until we passed over the front range of the Rockies about every hour. The first order of business was to take the shuttle down to visit Jake. We needed supplies and more personnel.

I knew that he'd want the newly captured spaceship for himself, but I didn't want to give it up as yet. I decided to promise him two spaceships, provided I could capture two more. Meanwhile, since we had four shuttle-craft, I thought I'd bribe him with the smaller shuttle, leaving just the large one for my ship.

As we descended into the Denver area, we could see columns of smoke rising at various locations on the high plains out to the east of the town. The sites were too distant to tell what was burning. All we could see was the dark smoke.

We were meeting with Jake at his headquarters in Mile High Stadium. We'd brought the larger shuttle down and landed on the fifty-yard line. Now, we were sitting in one of the private boxes looking out over the field.

As usual, Jake had been the perfect host and was doing his best to be charming, not only to Liz but also to the rest of my group. I'd brought Rudy, Kasm, Frazzle, and several of the newly rescued Sunnys. That left Joe, Holmes, and Whistle in charge of our fledgling fleet.

The enemy seemed to focus on the outer reaches of the solar system, and we agreed that it would be unlikely for an enemy FTL to show up in near-earth orbit. Nevertheless, the three ships were actively scanning the solar system. If a ship dropped out of FTL status anywhere on this side of the Oort cloud, we'd have plenty of time to reach orbit and prepare. I didn't expect any incursions from the Pug-bears, so I wasn't worried.

"Well, Dec, I understand that your raid on Oberon was successful," Jake started. "I hope that my men were an asset and acquitted themselves well." He paused and then added, "I trust that you haven't forgotten my requirement for helping you, either."

"No," I answered, "I haven't forgotten. Let me brief you on the situation as it now stands."

"That would be good. I want to be more involved. If only I could solve my immediate problems here, I might have time. Frankly, flying in space would be a big relief compared to my current difficulties," he said.

That was a little curious. "What kind of problems are you having?" I asked.

"No. Give me the status first. We'll talk about my issues afterward," he ordered.

"Okay. We took the two ships to Oberon and rescued the Sunnys held there. The resident Pugs and Pug-bears were all killed. Another spaceship showed up while we were there, and we captured it. The problem was that we had to shoot the drive out to prevent it from fleeing. We've got the thing mostly repaired now, but it will need some time at a real repair facility before it's space-worthy and combat-ready. We've done only enough so that my technical crew (I meant Frazzle) thinks that it will be able to make it to the closest repair dock at one of the Sunny planets."

Jake considered, "Won't there be a problem with the enemy there? How will you get the ship repaired?"

"We attacked that planet and disrupted the Pug-bears' rule pretty seriously," I smiled in remembrance. "We dropped a huge ball of ice on their nesting grounds and flooded them out."

Jake pushed his chair back on its rear legs. "Will they have recovered enough to keep you from getting repaired?"

"Well, we'll have to take all three ships," I started. He opened his mouth to interrupt, but I continued quickly. "We'll need the two undamaged ships to clear the system in case any of the enemy has shown up. If there are, we'll try to capture their ship, also. It'll be much easier with two ships. I know I promised you a ship, and I'm going to get one for you." I looked directly into his eyes for emphasis, "In fact, how about I deliver the next two I capture to you? Meanwhile, I can provide you with one of our spare shuttlecrafts, a Sunny pilot, and some maintenance personnel. Would that help?"

Jake was a shrewd negotiator, and I was prepared for a lengthy session. He thought for a moment and then asked, somewhat unexpectedly, "Can the shuttle be armed with one of those disintegrator ray things?"

I glanced at Frazzle and lifted an eyebrow in inquiry. He picked up on my unspoken question and answered mentally. "We can put one or two of de plasma shooters on it. We don't have any more of the big anti-matter shooters."

I turned back to Jake and asked, "What do you need that kind of weapon for?"

"Well, this leads into the 'afterward' phase of our discussion nicely. The remains of the US government, acting under the name of the Motherland Army, is threatening us. That sniper you caught was one of their men, just as you told me. We've caught a couple of others trying to infiltrate our lines while you've been gone. They have also been raiding a lot of the smaller towns to the east, and we're getting some refugees as a result. I sent out some scouts to try and find out what's going on. The results were mixed. We learned that there are a lot of them, and they're gradually heading this way. I pulled back my scouts when they caught a couple of my men and strung them up!"

He was angry. "I'm going to have to retaliate, and I'm not sure that I have enough force. I've got a fair-sized group of men, but they aren't anything like a trained army."

"I know your guys are good fighters, though," I inserted. "They made mincemeat out of the Pugs that came south out of Boulder. How big is this Motherland group, anyway?"

"That's just the problem. I don't know what kind of force they have. My scouts reported that there were a lot of them, but they're widely separated right now. They seem to be in a large number of small groups. The refugees we've interviewed have reported that they've been raiding farms and towns all along the Kansas-Colorado border. There may be more of them than there are of us," he concluded.

I smiled encouragingly. "That's where the shuttle will come in very handy. You can use it for reconnaissance, and if we arm it, you can really mess up their operations, provided you can catch them in a sizable force."

"That would be nice, but wouldn't a spaceship be a better weapon?" he asked, somewhat plaintively.

"It would be for a set conflict, similar to when we used it against the Pug-bears. It would hardly be worth using against small groups." I was deliberately omitting to mention KEWs. As far as I was aware, he hadn't thought of that as a viable weapon, and I wanted to convince him that the shuttle was better for smaller operations.

"Look, Jake, we'll be as fast as we can. If you can stop this gang or army or whatever it is with the shuttle and your men, then no problem. If they attack in force, you'll have to hold out until we get back. I think that will be in roughly a month. We can set them back then." I may have over-promised on the month time frame. I hoped not.

"I don't see them grouping to invade us very quickly. It has mostly been minor raids so far. They certainly wouldn't have the fuel and operational vehicles to mount a motorized campaign against us," he said, thinking aloud.

This was pure speculation. However, it was a good guess. The EMPs had taken out almost all of the world's vehicles. Some older cars with old-fashioned distributors were still working, but we knew of no remaining fuel. I supposed that some military vehicles were EMP-hardened and could have survived, as could a sizable supply of fuel, provided it was under close control of someone who could defend it.

The government had disintegrated, and this new group may have been composed of some of the survivors. Still, in my opinion, they had no more authority or right to invade us than any other group of outlaws. However, I realized that when it came to government, force was always the deciding factor that determined the right to dictate terms.

Something else hit my mind about then. I remembered that I needed to see if Jake knew of any biological scientist or doctor who would be able to help figure out what factor was interfering with the Pug-bears' symbiont's growth. If something in the Earth's environment was attacking or suppressing the things, I wanted to know about it.

When asked, Jake first drew a blank but then beckoned one of his men over and asked, "Fred, what was that professor's name? You know, the one from Colorado State? The guy with the weird hair."

Fred thought for a moment and then answered, "Boss, I don't remember his name, but he's living downtown in a place off East 23rd near the Natural History Museum. I think he's doing something with the museum specimens or … well, something like that." He shrugged apologetically.

Jake turned to me and said, "Don't worry about it. I'll have him picked up, and we'll talk to him tomorrow if he can be located. People have a way of disappearing these days."

I smiled at the comment. It was worse than that. Not only did people move unexpectedly, but the mortality rate was also far higher than before. People died unexpectedly also. Infections and disease were the leading causes, but accidents happened, and fights were also the cause of many deaths. Jake did a lot towards maintaining order, but I didn't think he was even aware of much of the disorder in his territory. It was too large, and his organization was too provisional as yet to suppress conflict uniformly.

We finished our meeting. I promised to deliver the shuttle I was going to give him after I'd had a weapon mounted on it. I figured that a plasma gun would be adequate. That should do everything he wanted and then some. The shuttle could be used to strafe troops and even motorized convoys if there were any such things. It wouldn't burn through heavy armor, but a direct hit would destroy an ordinary truck or car.

I shook his hand, and we returned to our shuttle for the short jump up to our ship.