Rogue One 03

"I was unconscious for a long time. By the time I woke back up, they had fixed me up and repaired my ship. They had also installed a translation matrix in my brain so I could understand them. They told me that four more colonies were gone, but with their help, I was going to stop the Brulaxians. My name had been partially burned off of my ship so all the bug people could read was the first part of Roger, the last part of Montague, and one of the I's. That's where the name Rogue One comes from. I couldn't get them to understand that Rogue One wasn't my name but I understood very well that they have a deep hatred for whatever those things are inside the marbles. They know exactly who the Brulaxians are but Archie said I wouldn't understand until I understood. He talks that way a lot. Anyway, they put all that extra power on Maggie and told me to come here. Archie was actually the pilot once we went to overlight, but he says that I will have to be the pilot when we attack the Brulaxian home spheres."

Rogue paused for a moment and then said, "It's all Archie's plan. He says that he and his brothers will take down the shields, then I need to use the laser canons to target the ships for your missiles. I trust him, and the fact that I was doing light eighteen on the way here says all you need to know about their technical skills."

Archie stood on the tabletop next to the black translation box. "There are many things I cannot tell you right now," he said slowly, "because our plan depends on absolute secrecy of our methods. I can tell you that the beings you call Brulaxians made their own home world uninhabitable, but rather than creating colonies, created world ships on which they live. They now exist by devouring the resources of other worlds. They are evil and must be destroyed."

He stopped as if pausing for breath and then continued, "Rogue One will bring his ship within fifteen light minutes of the Brulaxian world ships. The fleet of Star Cruisers will be an additional five light minutes behind that. My crew and I will defeat their shields making the world ships visible. They should be at almost point blank range to us by the time that happens. There are many weapons and defenses that the Brulaxians will still have available to them, but the megashields will be gone. Rogue will then use a targeting laser to illuminate each of the ships. The frequency of the laser, which you already have in your targeting computers, will be slightly different for each ship. As soon as the world ships are illuminated, fire all your hyperspeed missiles. Four ships firing simultaneously should destroy each world ship. The additional four Star Cruisers are reserve in case one of the attacking ships is damaged or destroyed."

Archie turned slowly on the tabletop to face each of the fleet admirals. Then he addressed Sylvia. "Fleet Commander Blackstone," he began, "that is all we can tell you for now. But once the Brulaxians are destroyed, I will tell you how such shields were possible and how it was possible to take Rogue One to eighteen light. By the way, a ship specifically designed for the technology should be capable of thirty light."

There was a collective gasp from the fleet admirals. Then Fleet Commander Blackstone said, "I think that tells us everything that we need to know. Rogue One will lift off at oh nine hundred tomorrow morning and lead the fleet to the Brulaxian... world ships. The four reserve ships will hold back five light minutes from the battle and be ready to accelerate to full light 3.21 in case they are needed. We will monitor your progress from here and relay it back to Earth Prime."

She looked around the table and said curtly, "Dismissed."

Rogue carried Archie back to his ship. They spent the day checking and double checking all of the launch controls for the fifty-seven small rockets in the tubes welded to the ship's exterior. Rogue went into the base for supper, which was steak, potatoes, a salad and simul-ale.

"I feel like a condemned man eating his last meal," Rogue said.

"We all have the same meal," the commander said softly. "We all live or die together. This plan is our last hope."

Somehow the steak didn't taste quite as good after that. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence. After everyone had eaten, Rogue got up to go back to the ship. Darlene stopped him and stood silently in front of him for what seemed like several minutes. Then she reached up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Come back to me," she said quietly. "I need you in my life."

He bent down and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth and said, "I'll try." He then walked the short distance to the air lock and out to his ship.

The next forty-eight hours were a grueling wait for everyone at Earth Base Two Omega. The fleet reported in regularly using short super-burst messages that traveled at faster than light. As communication tech, it was Darlene's responsibility to relay those messages to Earth Prime. When the message, "Approaching the marbles," arrived everyone stopped anything else they were doing and listened to the super-burst transmissions.

"Rogue One is firing all his missiles."

"No effect on shields."

"Well over half of Rogue's missiles did not explode."

"Many Rogue missiles returning from marbles."

"Shields are flickering."

"Nine world ships visible. Shields are down."

"SC 1107 hit by large projectile weapon."

"SC 2489 take its place."

"Rogue One now illuminating all nine world ships."

"Missiles away."

"Massive explosions. World ships destroyed."

"Rogue One badly damaged."

"Appears to be partially functional."

"Will tow it back to base."

It was another two days before the fleet returned to Earth Base Two Omega. As they got closer and regular communications were again possible without having to use super-burst, more details were reported. One Star Cruiser was badly damaged and under tow. Rogue One's ship was very badly damaged and under tow. No communication was possible with them so the status of the crew was unknown.

Finally the fleet appeared in the skies above Two Omega. One small ship detached from the fleet and slowly approached for a landing. It was Rogue One. One of the thruster nacelle pylons was torn from the ship. Many of the launch tubes for the small missiles were melted against the hull. It wobbled slowly down and landed on the three remaining nacelle structures. The hatch opened and a flood of Archie insects poured out and down the ladder. Floating on top of them was an unconscious... or dead... Rogue One.

As they approached the air lock, Jada said loudly over all of the speakers in the base, "Archie says that Rogue has received a massive dose of Zorloxion radiation and will need immediate treatment. I have already concocted the necessary leeching and neutralizing agents. Bring him into the kitchen area and lay him on the table."

"I can sit," Rogue said in a very slurred voice. "I'm just very weak."

All of the insects returned to the ship except Archie and one much smaller and much lighter-colored one which stayed by Archie's side. They followed Julie and Jennifer as they carried Rogue into the kitchen area.

A soft voice from Rogue's pocket said, "Put the translation cube on the tabletop."

Darlene reached into the side pocket that had been speaking and moved the little black box to the tabletop. Archie and the other insect jumped up onto the table. Archie faced Commander Blackstone and said, "Rogue will live. He needs to drink the neutralizing agent several times a day for the next week, but he will live." He turned to face Darlene. "A normal human would have died from the radiation blast, but when we rebuilt his body, we inserted some of our own DNA. It can't be passed on to your children, but Rogue is forever part Archie."

Turning back to the commander, he said, "Please assemble the fleet admirals and I will explain what we Archies... and Rogue... did to defeat the Brulaxians."

The next morning Fleet Commander Sylvia Blackstone; the four fleet admirals; Archie and his companion; Rogue One; and the crew of Earth Base Two Omega met in the kitchen area of the base. Rogue looked much better but was still obviously very weak.

Archie stood on his back legs in the middle of the table. "I promised," he began, "to show you the technology that enabled the Brulaxians to create their massive shields. I also promised to show you the technology that allowed Rogue to arrive here at eighteen light." His front legs waved slightly and he said, "Here it is!" He was pointing to the smaller, light brown bug which was standing next to him. "I introduce... Mrs Archie," he said with a flourish. Then he laughed slightly and said, "That is not really her name, but her real name, like mine does not translate into your consciousness."

"What is this?!?" one of the fleet admirals said angrily.

"You already have the technology," Archie said very firmly, "you just can't tune it properly."

"What?!" exclaimed one of the other fleet admirals.

"First let me explain how we destroyed the shields," said Archie turning slowly to face everyone at the table. "The Brulaxians had discovered a way to bring a Zorloxion reverberating drive into 100% phase alignment. That gives them a tremendous amount of power for thrust, or if they stay below light, for a megashield."

"That's impossible!" the first fleet admiral exclaimed.

"For you, yes," Archie said calmly, "Because you have to set up the alignment before you activate the reverberation cycle."

"You can't make adjustments to an active device," the third fleet admiral said quietly. "The radiation would be lethal. And besides, it is impossible to get to the adjustments once the reverberation tubes are assembled."

"But if you were immune to the radiation," Archie said calmly, "and were small enough to fit between the reverberation tubes...?"

A look of understanding slowly appeared on each of the fleet admirals and on the face of Fleet Commander Blackstone.

"But how did you destroy the shields?" the commander asked.

"Admiral," Archie said, addressing the most vocal of the fleet admirals, "what is the standard procedure if a Zorloxion drive drifts out of phase?"

"It must be shut down immediately," the admiral answered, "or it will explode. That is a standard safety device on every Zorloxion drive."

"And," Archie continued, "even a properly operating Zorloxion drive gives off small amounts of lethal radiation that must be vented to space, correct?" He looked around the table at heads that were slowly nodding yes. "That means," he continued, "even the most powerful shield, if you have it up continuously, has to have a hole in it to vent the Zorloxion radiation."

Fleet Commander Blackstone's eyes suddenly opened wide. "And you crawled in through the vents and detuned the reverberation tubes," she said.

"That's why only about one-fourth of the missiles from Rogue One exploded," Archie explained. "The others appeared to be duds which just lay on the surface of the shields. We got in, dephased the Zorloxion drives and flew back to Rogue's ship." He paused and said, "Not everyone got back, but when the shields failed, Rogue lit them up and then you lit them up."

Archie slowly turned on the table facing the commander and the admirals. "My species would like to form a union with Earth Prime and its colonies to produce Zorloxion drives with 100% phase alignment. The Brulaxians built such devices by enslaving my people. A female Archie was enslaved inside each of their engines and released only by death." The intense hatred in Archie's voice was readily apparent even through the translator.

"Before the arrival of the Brulaxians," Commander Blackstone said softly, "there were plans to form a tenth colony. That world has been terra-formed and was not destroyed by the Brulaxians. I think it would be compatible for both of our species."

Rogue looked over at Darlene and said, "Would you like to be one of the first inhabitants of Earth Colony Ten?... It wouldn't be boring."

Darlene held his hand and asked, "Would my name be Mrs Rogue or Mrs One?"

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

END OF STORY

Please remember to vote

by clicking on one of the stars at the end of the story.

If you really liked it, click 5.

If you really hated it, click 1, but please click something.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =