COMMANDER

Eighteen Earth Fleet vessels popped out of Transition in the Torbor home-world system. Each Fleet ship was assigned a planet, other than the Rontar which was the command ship. Four of the seventeen planets were orbiting in the HZ, and two of those were Torbor habitation planets. The other two held enormous populations of humans, guarded by hordes of Torbor soldiers in multiple garrisons as slave planets.

The other thirteen planets were either being mined or were mined out, lifeless hulks of worthless mass supporting gigantic construction complexes for ships and other hardware items used by the inhabited planets. Every planet supported large populations of Torbor. In addition, there were eight large space stations of defensive nature and no less than two hundred twelve Torbor ships of various sizes. Approximately half of these were trade ships, and the rest were military vessels.

The moment we popped out of T-jump, our ships were broadcasting on every method and frequency utilized by the Torbor. Our message contained the number of ships and types of armaments we had and the certainty of total destruction if we were forced to use them. We hoped this message would frighten the Torbor enough to at least listen, and enter dialog with us.

We broadcast our hopes of dialog and discussion toward truce, and then peace between our races, and the hopes both races could profit from cooperation and trade rather than conflict and fighting. Our fleet held position without moving during the broadcasting to prevent any interpretation of danger by the Torbor.

We also transported small sensor packages to positions over the enemy garrisons controlling the human populations on the two slave planets identified.

Within seconds of our appearance, Torbor warships were orienting toward our fleet and beginning to move on intercept courses. Two minutes later, after the broadcasts had completed, several of their capital ships of a class even larger than dreadnoughts T-jumped to within fifty kilometers of our position and began maneuvering. Five minutes after that, they began firing missiles as even more of their warships T-jumped closer to our fleet. We continued broadcasting, and hoping for a response.

Missiles were now impacting our shields and exploding in brilliant flashes, yet I still held back, waiting, hoping, even praying for some response from Torbor leadership. Two minutes after this, Torbor ships were close enough to begin using beam weapons. We transported gas devices into them to eliminate the crews but salvage the ships.

Again, we broadcast and waited. Again their ships attacked. Again, we defended ourselves.

Torbor troops were seen mobilizing from the garrisons on the two slave planets of humans. They were going to use threats against those slaves to control our actions. We had anticipated this. Devices with knockout gas were delivered to each garrison, thousands on both planets, to knock out the Torbor without harming them or the humans. We broadcast this action to the Torbor, as well, to demonstrate our willingness to withhold killing actions in favor of peaceful intent.

Finally, after several hours of this back and forth activity, an answering broadcast came from the Torbor.

“Destroy us, if you can, Humans. Or we will destroy you. This is the only alternative. Either we win, or you win. For even if you do not destroy us now, our masters of the LCP will certainly destroy us, and then you.”

“If the Torbor will surrender, we will help defend the Torbor against other aggressors in the future,” I sent back to them. “By mutual cooperation and aid, we can combine strengths and defeat any who come against us.”

“Humans!” came the derogatory response, spoken with near disgust. “You have no idea who you fight, or what technologies may be brought against you, yet you proclaim your victory without hesitation. We die now, or we die later. Our choice is simple. We fight.”

The signal ceased.

I sighed in resignation, and said into our fleet comms, “Actions Alpha and Bravo are concluded. Initiate Action Charlie, Phase One.”

Within five seconds, each human vessel was pumping out gas devices to every military installation and ship in the system. We used the smallest devices we could calculate to limit collateral damage as much as possible on each site.

Our transporter devices, built with AC circuitry, superconductance, and AI control, could cycle a hundred devices at a time, only five seconds between cycles. Each device was fed onto the transporter pads by machinery and robots working at incredible speeds. One hundred devices at a time from twenty transporters per ship meant 36,000 devices every five seconds delivered to their targets at full capacity. Each device we delivered on each cycle had a specific target.

In thirty seconds, I had destroyed every living thing at every military installation on the two primary Torbor planets and most of the other targeted planets. Except the slave planets, of course. We would do nothing to further endanger any living humans. Every remaining manned Torbor warship in the system became a dead, lifeless hulk drifting in space. Suited troopers, technicians, and robots would be transported to each to bring them to a safe orbit.

At the sixty second mark, final sensor sweeps were performed to verify results. Only two Torbor military vessels and three space defense stations had been able to react, and only sixteen missiles had been launched. None had any effect on the human fleet. Their automated space defense stations were all destroyed by transported quantum devices and were left as tons of dead mass floating in space. Ships were assigned to utilize tractor beams to move these into safe orbits which would eventually drop them into the Torbor system star.

Sensor sweeps verified success. No living thing moved or breathed on any facility attacked.

I ordered Phase Two.

An automated message was sent to the leadership of Torbor informing them of what had just happened and requesting their official surrender. Of the roughly fifty thousand garrisons controlling the two slave planets, only two resisted. Small quantum devices were delivered to destroy the hardware infrastructure of each, and troops of Marines were transported to mop up. The same process was repeated for the mining planets, with the Torbor guards there ordered to cease all operations and to release any human slave-miners. There was little resistance, and what did occur was easily overcome with relatively few human losses.

With no official response from Torbor leadership, I transported with Major Donner and Team Zulu to their primary government buildings in their capital city. Armed security guards were easily picked off but soon ceased attacking us as we broadcast over our suit external speakers we would only respond to active threats. Any who laid down arms and left us alone would be allowed to go their way freely.

Once in the proper building, and in the large room containing the many representatives and leaders of the Torbor race, I spoke to the Torbor.

“Torbor surrender is now irrelevant. Humans have removed all space-based military capability. Your warships now belong to us. Your trading vessels we also claim as ours, along with all goods aboard. Crews who obey will be transported to the surface of this planet. Crews who resist will be destroyed.

“Humans have removed most of the military capability of Torbor with the destruction of personnel at all known and identifiable military installations. Humans have removed all space capable vehicles from Torbor use and will monitor all Torbor system space for any launches or Transition-jumps, and for any sign of mass-transference device transporting. Humans will respond to any signal of any use of any spaceship or transporting by any Torbor with instant destruction of the resource used and any nearby Torbor.

“Repeat . . . all military, all spaceship, and all transporting devices are now illegal for Torbor possession or use. Any such possession or usage will be punished immediately and severely.

“This planet, the entire Torbor home system, the entire Torbor race, is hereby declared under quarantine. All Torbor are confined to the four planets in your habitable zone . . . no others. All Torbor will have no further contact with any other planet or any other race or envoy other than human.

“When Torbor are ready to speak with us, we will respond.”

I let silence reign for several moments while the beings surrounding Team Zulu and I absorbed what was said to them before they exploded in a frenzy of wild gesticulations, jumping up down where they stood, and screaming in their squawking language at deafening levels.

After thirty seconds of this mania, making sure none of the bird-like beings were actually attacking us, I gave a signal with one gloved hand. Instantly, all of Team Zulu, Donner, and myself, leaned forward slightly and moved into an obvious fighting stance and formation while both mini-missile and plasma cannon snapped into position on our shoulders and tiny, visible red and green low-intensity lasers shined from each forearm in one millimeter solid streaks.

The Torbor got the hint and silenced themselves immediately. Fifteen seconds after they all calmed down and stood still and silent, staring at us, we disengaged all weapons and rotated our shoulder mounts back to their storage spaces.

Once again on external speakers, I spoke to the Torbor leadership, “All military computers and programs are hereby confiscated. We will send teams to collect them. All government computers are hereby ordered to be opened to sharing with and monitoring by humans. What technology you have you may keep, other than space-faring, military, or matter transference. Those technologies are now denied to the Torbor.

“Human military will remove all human slaves of the Torbor. Any Torbor resisting this removal will be considered an enemy combatant and either be confined or killed. Human military will oversee the relocation of all Torbor on all other planets in this system to one of the four in the HZ.

“Full rules and explanations are being sent to your leadership computer network now. Yes, we have the technology to break into your network and override your firewalls and security.

“Humans will leave now. Humans remind the Torbor. To send a ship into space is punishable by death with no warning. To possess or use a matter transference device is punishable by death with no warning. To attempt to communicate with any other race than Humans, or outside this solar system, is punishable by death with no warning. When Torbor are ready to speak, Humans will respond.”

“Rontar, transport Wolf group, please.”

Back on the Rontar, I ordered Phase Three.

Within seconds of the subspace message being delivered, huge transport ships of Shaquaree design converted for human use were T-jumped into the system to take up orbit around the slave planets and huge shuttles began the operation of collecting our people for transport back to the Hylea system.

It would take weeks to gather our brethren, who had been held as slaves for generations. Many would not want to leave. After all, this was their home, the only home they had ever known regardless of how horrible it may have been.

The Torbor had a very organized communications network on these planets used by the military garrisons and mining operations for control of the human slave population which helped us immensely. The incoming transport vessels, which we had designated Zeus-class transports, also brought numerous Hanosian troopers and volunteer civilians who had been psychologists and commune leaders, people who knew how to organize large groups and lead them effectively. Theirs would be the task of convincing the freed slaves to re-settle in our own galaxy.

I had not told anyone yet but, in the end, we would force them if necessary. There would be no humans left in this system when we were done.

We were continuing to investigate the remaining seventy or so colony sites for additional re-settlement opportunity, and would undertake the enormous task of relocating every single freed human.

During the next week, I ordered the plundering of all primary knowledge banks, historical and scientific, and of whatever else may be of use to us from the military and trader ships, and from the planet surfaces. I also called for more Navy vessels to remain in this system while the initial attack fleet went to the next phase. We confiscated thirteen more trade vessels and ten military vessels which T-jumped in-system from wherever they had been and took those ships and cargoes, too. Every single ship we took was manned by robots and AI. Crews were transported dirtside to Torbor planets, and the ships T-jumped back to Hanos via circuitous routes.

More troopers and volunteer Hanosians waited patiently for the Torbor to signal their willingness to dialog with the humans, whereupon they would begin the process of whatever aid or help they could provide to ensure the Torbor race continued on. But not as a threat to us.

While the transport vessels gathered and prepared the refugees for their journey to safety, and with the Torbor garrison soldiers transferred to one of the main Torbor home worlds, the attack fleet had yet another task. Preparations similar to the ones taken for the Torbor home system had already been accomplished.

We had found the location of this Torbor home system in the databanks on their capital ships. We had never found the location of the Shaquaree home world from their ships we had captured. Not surprising, that piece of data was never allowed onboard a Shaquaree ship just in case some enemy might find a way to capture one. The Torbor had been less careful, and overconfident.

We surmised, hoped, prayed to whatever gods we held, we might find the location in the Torbor databanks. Someone’s gods smiled on their prayers, and we did find what we had desperately hoped we would. The Shaquaree originated in the same galaxy. We had precise star charts now loaded to our fleet AIs, and a probe was sent.

The returning Wasp provided us with data showing only five planets, two habitable, and nearly six hundred ships of various sizes. When the attack fleet jumped in, it set in motion a completely different set of orders. There were no known human populations so there was no need to take any precautions.

Using our transported gas devices and targeting every single Shaquaree ship and planet, every living Shaquaree in the system died within thirty seconds.

I had no compunction whatsoever about genocide on this species. They, above even the Torbor, had delighted in their conquering and tortures of humans. They were a hive species, which meant the attitude of the queen and all leadership was passed down to every single living Shaquaree. We could not simply destroy the leadership to eradicate the animosity toward the humans. Without a queen and other intermediary leaders, the drones would all die anyway.

Ronin and I both suited up and transported with the SOG team to what appeared to be the buildings of the ruling class. Everywhere lay bodies. Team Zulu spread around us as we entered several different buildings before we found the one confirmed to be the dwelling of the ruling council and the queen. She was huge, monstrous in size, draped in layers of gaudy fabric of bright colors, and surrounded by hundreds of bodies of attendants.

Compounds of young Shaquaree were found. They were raised in large nursery-like facilities. Massive underground chambers were discovered containing millions of eggs. All we found were dead but that didn’t mean some did not survive somewhere. Eighteen more ships were captured as they re-entered their home world system, two massive slave transport vessels, eight dreadnoughts, and eight battleships.

Once we had plundered what we felt to be the main items of interest over a period of several days, I ordered Phase Two of the Shaquaree system attack.

The captured ships were gone, en route back to Hanos or in parking orbit in deep space. At the outer rim of the system, ten dreadnought-class ships popped in, each containing thousands of missiles of kinetic-kill sabots mounted with highly radioactive nuclear warheads. I gave the order and those missiles were released, targeted on every planetary body in the system. After firing every missile aboard, the dreadnoughts T-jumped out before the first of the missiles impacted.

Each missile would impact their targets at incredible velocities, with accompanying massive energy transfer. The nuclear warhead on each missile would be released fifteen seconds before impact. At the velocities of the inbound sabots, this meant the sabots would penetrate the planetary crust to a depth of five hundred meters minimum, regardless of materials. The energies of impact would create tsunamis of water or earth or stone which would spread at hundreds of km/sec and release energies equivalent to massive hydrogen bombs with each strike. Approximately ten seconds after release, each nuclear warhead would detonate, adding that energy to the strike energy.

Each impact would induce massive earthquakes or tsunamis to break apart continental skins and vaporize multiple billions of tons of now highly radioactive planetary mass and water and inject this debris into the atmosphere to create decades or centuries long nuclear winters. No building, no structure, nothing of the Shaquaree would be left intact.

The Shaquaree had chosen to destroy our human planets after kidnapping and enslaving the populations. There were no orders from other races in the LCP directing this destruction. The irradiation of our colony planets, and the total destruction and irradiation of the entire Sol system had been a direct and unilateral choice of the Shaquaree alone.

We would leave their home system exactly as they had left ours, ruined for millennia to come.

Phase Three was initiated. Ten of the seventeen attack ships of the original fleet group would be left behind in this system. Surely, there were many Shaquaree vessels out running around the universe performing who knows what kind of mayhem. The ten which would remain were re-stocked and the AIs completely blanked and wiped of any data whatsoever, then reprogrammed. Their job was simple, to destroy the crews of whatever Shaquaree or Torbor vessels re-entering this system, create new AIs and robots to man the captured vessels, and park them far out beyond the edge of the system to await our return to collect them. No information whatsoever was left in any of them which could possibly be traced back to Hanos. This would be their task, their only task, for millennia if necessary.

Should any alien vessels other than Torbor or Shaquaree appear in-system, they were to be thoroughly examined by remote sensors but left physically alone and untouched unless they initiated hostilities. The remainder of the attack fleet returned to the Torbor home system to aid with security in case of any other Torbor vessels returning from somewhere, or any other unknown alien visitors.

A new attack fleet was being created back at Hanos. Their job would be to visit the Shaquaree and Torbor home systems periodically, randomly, to check on things and to retrieve any captured ships and re-supply the fleets there. Then, they would analyze data on the captured ships and follow up any leads to either Shaquaree or Torbor controlled systems, for quarantine or destruction, or to any human systems, for investigation or rescue.

Yes, there were undoubtedly many, many human casualties—slaves on ships, slaves on planets—all destroyed by my hand, at my order, along with their Torbor or Shaquaree captors. No one knew the number. No one wanted to know. Call it collateral damage, call it murder, call it fortunes of war, call it unnecessary . . . call it anything you like. We all just gritted our teeth and did what we had to do. Did what I ordered done. It was my plan, at my order, my responsibility and burden.

We had a monumental task ahead. The resettling of the newly freed humans, the re-disposition of the plundered ships and items of interest we had taken, the mollifying of the Hanosian government, and the rebuilding of the human race.

I lay in my rack on board the Rontar in my original offices, reflecting on these things. I had finished showering and preparing for sleep after a heavy round of PT and a long run to work off the mental and emotional stress. It had only partially worked.

Carla appeared from the showers, naked and glistening. She smiled a soft smile and walked seductively toward the bed. I threw back the covers and she climbed in to lie beside me and snuggle close. She ran her hand up the thigh of my new right leg, causing the hairs to stand up. As she nibbled at my ear, her breasts pressed against the sides of my chest and my arm and her hips pressed closer against my side, the hairs were not all that were rising.

The rest of it all could wait. The message to the LCP had been delivered, loud and clear.

They were still out there, somewhere, at least three or four whole races, and one of them was sure to find the Torbor and Shaquaree home worlds. The Torbor were reduced to a planet-bound species with little to no military capability, nor access to any technology which could potentially threaten the human race. The Shaquaree home world now bore the same radiation brand as did the human worlds they had destroyed. Who knew or could predict what the reaction of the remaining LCP might be?

But that could all wait for another day, another time. I had much more important things at hand . . . and in my hands.

< End >