Temple of S.A.R.A.H. 5: Debug Mode
Read Temple of S.A.R.A.H. 5: Debug Mode Online
Authors: Ben Winston
Debug Mode – Episode V
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By Ben Winston
Copyright © 2015 Ben Winston
Published by Blue Space Publications, LLC.
Connect with the author or Blue Space Publications, LLC.
Books Published by Blue Space Publications, LLC.
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A
ll rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed by a newspaper, magazine, or journal.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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N
ew Council Chambers
Planet Galtar IV
Galtar System, Veranorian Directorate
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“W
hat is the status of ship refits?” a cowled figure asked.
“On schedule Proconsul,” another cowled figure replied. “Improved efficiency our programming has done. Far more agreeable the Shallans now are.”
“Troubled by freedom of thought they are no longer,” the Proconsul said, nodding slowly. “To focus more completely on duties they now can. What of the new Queen facility?”
“A good beginning is underway Proconsul,” another cowled figure replied. “New safeguards and new designs take much more time than original facility had. Adding the ability to ensure total destruction we have, as well as placement on airless moon. Surface to be installed with psionic disruption devices to inhibit Aracnise telepathic communion.”
“To what end?” another cowled figure asked. “Psionic communion designed to give queens undetectable long range communications.”
“Agreed,” the original being replied. “In the event of emergency only would disruptor network be used. To isolate main hive and prohibit main queen from calling ships to aide her if she gains autonomy.”
“A wise precaution,” the Proconsul spoke, ending the conversation. “To rebuild our fighting forces all must now focus our efforts. Attack and take control of Alliance Fleet Command we must. Only with entire fleet will Veranor once again be our home. In this place, the tools we have. To use them wisely we must decide. No dissension amongst us can we afford. United in this goal we must remain.”
“Agreed in this we are Proconsul. Wondering about the rogue Queen I am. Will she not strike this system first in order to gain control of the Queens here? Because of the Communion, she must know of their existence,” another figure asked. “Quickly overwhelmed current defenses would be when arrives the full might of the main hive.”
If anyone could have seen him, they would have seen the Proconsul smile under his hood. “All Aracnese ships built here at GMASS. Index codes for these ships have been retained. Control of ships we will have once main hive sends them here. Shut them down, order self-destruct, or vent to space we can. Fleets of Rogue Queen are not to these facilities.”
“Withheld this information from us you have Proconsul, to what ends?” another asked.
The Proconsul gestured negligently. “An over-sight, nothing more. So much has been happening the information was simply overlooked.”
“With respect Proconsul, that which has been overlooked on my own part has now been brought to the fore. I must report that there is a possibility that the rogue Queen has succeeded in seeding at least three colonies on the planet called Earth in the Sol Sector,” one of the figures reported. “Orders to seed Earth where issued prior to the Queen rebelling. She retained control of that mission and it is believed to have been successful. Two planets the rogue now has. Effectively unlimited breeding potential she now has. Cybernetically enhanced and highly intelligent the rogue must be considered. Capable of constructing elements of advanced technology including space ships capable of interstellar travel. Uncertain we are about the destruction of databases, detailed instructions of our technology they had. Assume we must that all information is now available to the rogue Queen.”
“Was not her access to data limited? Only genetic data relevant to her race was stored in the facility. Her broods destroyed all else once freed,” another member of the council replied.
“Genetic data was stored in the facility. Foolish it would be to assume destruction of all our data cores. Many remote copies existed to ensure redundancy in the event of a catastrophic computer event. Assume she found those we must. Most cities of the main continent have been destroyed in orbital bombardment. To us our Alliance spies reported. Cores were located all over the planet with daily updates for accuracy. Destruction of these cores was not ordered during the evacuation.”
“Under the most ideal of circumstances, it will take the Rogue years to build the facilities necessary of producing original ships and other war machines,” the Proconsul replied. “Yes we failed in ordering the destruction of the data. Correct this mistake at this point we cannot. Trouble us in the distant future it may. To the here and now we must pay heed!”
The members of the former Synod Council all bowed to him in acceptance of his order.
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O
ffice of the Base Commander
Alliance Apollo Base
Selene, Earth’s moon
Sol System
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I
had been invited to have lunch with Admiral Vance, but as I neared his office for the appointment, I couldn’t help but wonder what new event had transpired that would change our world this time. It really was too bad I couldn’t simply have lunch with my friend without something dire and Earth-shattering interrupting it.
When I entered his office and he saw my face, he must have figured out what I was thinking. He chuckled. “Relax Eric! This really is only a friendship lunch.”
I chuckled myself and nodded. “I guess the events of the last few weeks are starting to get to me, Admiral. It just seems like every time we turn around there is something about to bite us in the ass.”
“That’s true, it has been rather lively around here. Truth be told, that isn’t going to change either. Now that we know Earth has been seeded, we’re going to be doing everything we can to clear out the Arac hives before they can get established. My only problem with the whole mess is that we have to wait for the governments involved down there to allow it!” Vance said. “It’s ludicrous really. It’s like they think we are trying to overthrow them or something.”
“That’s probably exactly what they think Sir. Either that or you are trying to stage a large-scale invasion,” I replied. “If you think about it, the entertainment industry down there has made a lot of the population pretty skeptical about trusting ‘Aliens’. I’d bet my left arm that if you had only human Marines, there would be less of a problem.” I placed my order for food and waited for it to be delivered before taking a seat at the conference table.
“Lucky for you, I’m not a gambling man. Although they were told that multiple races were members of our ground forces, the leaders I’ve spoken to seem to be less worried about that than they are the numbers we’re going to need. If it were only a couple of hundred, it wouldn’t bother them, but they seem to think a battalion would be sufficient to take control of their government!” Vance replied.
“Ah, now I get it. You forget whom we’re talking about, Admiral. Earth has no advanced technology at all. All they have are projectile weapons that we can easily shield against. A battalion would be more than enough force to take over a government, hell you could probably take the whole planet with that force and not lose more than two or three soldiers doing it!”
Vance looked thoughtful as he took a bite of his General Tso’s Chicken. He swallowed. “You know, I think you might be onto something there. Honestly, none of our core worlds are any better equipped than Earth is, but the people are far more used to dealing with the idea of what would be considered advanced technology on Earth,” he took a sip of green tea. “You know, I should have thought of that.”
“I don’t see how you could have,” I said after swallowing a french fry. “You’ve never even been down to the planet as far as I know, and you’ve only had limited exposure to the recruits. The population in general probably fears us just as much if not more than the idea of being infested by giant spiders. They know we are there; they can only trust that we’re telling them the truth about the spiders.”
“Well, they’ll have proof enough in a very short time. The Aracs need food in order to reach maturity. While they can subsist on plants and such, they need proteins in order to actually grow. That means animals and people,” Vance said. “They’re going to see entire villages simply disappear.”
“I thought Aracs were more… uh,
messy
,” I said.
Vance nodded as he enjoyed another bite of his food. “Usually, they are, but when there is a young queen to feed the ‘food’ is brought to her in the hive. Usually, while it is still alive and kicking.”
I nodded as I took a bite of my bacon cheeseburger. When I was finished I said. “So, when we start to see the messy stuff, we know that the queen has matured and is breeding, right?”
“Pretty much. That is when it’s the most dangerous; one queen can drop hundreds of eggs. Since she is a seeding queen, you can bet hard money on there being more queens among the first hatching. The hive grows exponentially from that point. Within a year the Arac population will shoot over a billion. By then, the planet will have already been lost.”
“What do they eat once the kill off all the animals? I always wondered about that,” I said, curiously.
Vance shrugged. “No one knows. It’s usually too dangerous to get close enough to the planet to study them. Of course, in the past, most of those types of missions were controlled by the Council which was in turn controlled by the Synod.”
“You know, the recruiters found people to fill the seats of the Council. You should simply tell them you need to make the assault give them a time line and let them handle the other politicians,” I said.
Vance snorted and grinned. “You think I should just tell them this is happening on this day. If they get permission or not won’t matter?”
“It’s far easier to beg forgiveness than it is to ask for permission,” I said, quoting. “A pioneer in computer programming said that once. She was also a Rear Admiral in my former country’s navy named Grace Hopper.”
Vance laughed. “Now
that
I can believe! It sounds like something a sailor would come up with!”
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“Not to change the subject, but has anyone bothered to try to discover what the Aracs are up to?” I asked.
“Yeah, they’ve tried. The best we can get is a long-range scan of Veranor. It looks like the entire Arac fleet came home. They’ve tried to send probes into the system to get more information, but they are quickly intercepted. Whatever they’re up to, the Queen doesn’t want anyone else to know about it,” Vance replied. “The Intelligence folks still haven’t been able to settle on which system they’ll attack first. However, Fleet Command, GMASS and we are the top three. Honestly, I don’’t see them attacking here; after all, they succeeded in seeding Earth. Before now, that has always resulted in that planet falling to them. Why would they need to attack here?”
I nodded my understanding. “I can see that. I can also understand attacking Fleet Command, but why would they hit GMASS? I’ll grant you that it the closest main facility to Veranor, but what other reason would they have for it?” I asked.
“There are a several reasons. Strategically, it would be a smart target to hit since it would cripple ship production for the Alliance, provided the Shallans will still produce ships for us. Intel says that the Synod ran there and took over. If that’s true then we’re in much bigger trouble than most know. GMASS wasn’t just the largest shipyard; it was our only shipyard capable of building Capitol class ships. The Alliance doesn’t even have a repair dock big enough for our largest ships.
“Other reasons for the Aracs to hit GMASS are because it is the closest military target, also it is where all the Arac ships were built so the Queen might see it as a priority target in order to ensure her own repair and production capabilities. Finally, they know that is where the Synod fled to. Past dealings with Aracs have shown that they have a very high anger level. If the Queen is angry at the Synod for their control of her, there is little doubt that she will hunt them down and kill every last Veranorian she can find. Vengeance isn’t just a word to them, it’s almost genetic,” Vance finished.
I shrugged. “It might be genetic; we have no idea what the Veranorians programmed into them.”
“Good point,” Vance replied as he ate his fried rice. “However, with the massing of her fleets, Intel thinks she will strike at Alliance Command. If she threw everything she had at it right now, it would be a close fight. Both sides would suffer horrendous losses. It would be hard to say which side would ultimately win.”