Star People

Chapter 37

Plots and Plans

Feb 13^th, 13 AE…

Third day of Operation Star Point, 0800 hours…

In a secret conference room at the capital city of Rikivak, over thirty officers of Zedan military were gathered to discuss the current status of the war. Needless to say, the outlook was not good.

General Himro took a deep breath as he sat the head of the conference table.

“Members of the Zedan Military Forces, we are faced with a crisis of gigantic proportions. Never since the founding of our country have we ever been pushed to such a desperate scenario.”

Almost immediately, the entire conference burst with shouting and exclamations as each high-ranking officer voiced out his or her concerns or reports.

“Those metal monsters are tearing through our tank battalions as if they were toys!”

“We can’t keep sending out our pilots! They keep on getting shot down!”

“But those pilots are raw recruits and rookies!”

“We don’t have a choice! We’ve lost nearly all of our most seasoned and veteran pilots during those failed invasions!”

“What good are those Zodera fighters if we only have raw pilots?!”

“The Axidar weapons aren’t doing any better!”

“At this point, we may as well be throwing pebbles at them!”

Himro slammed his fist onto the table, silencing everyone. He gave everyone a harsh glare before turning to one of his subordinates.

“Major Vero, has there been any change in the Supreme Leader’s commands?”

The major shook his head. “I fear that the Grand Leader has begun to sink further into madness. He has started to give virtually impossible orders to turn back the invaders. He has even authorized the use of the Ender Bombs, whether or not they are completed.”

“Has he gone insane?!” Colonel Haxin exclaimed. Normally, such a degrading remark against the Zedan Supreme Ruler would have meant the firing squad, but at this point, many of those gathered were in agreement with him.

“It is without a doubt that we are now being driven towards more desperate measures.” Himro concurred. “I hear that some of the towns and a few of the major cities have surrendered without firing a shot. Those that did fight back; didn’t fight back for very long before they were overwhelmed by Free Land’s unbelievable technology.”

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Beradi Town, 300 miles from Juno Beach…

“Please! Don’t shoot! We don’t want to fight! We surrender!”

Captain Johann Schmidt still kept his hand near the trigger of his Scrapper’s mini-guns as a group of people approached his platoon, waving a large, white flag. Schmidt had been leading the 82^nd Mech-Squad which was a Scrapper Unit of eight, along with 3 Atlans Justifier tanks and the 112^th Heavy Infantry Division. They had been ordered to take the town as it was strategically located near a hub of major roads. They had been expecting stiff resistance from defenders, but as soon as they came within visual range of the town’s outer limits, they were immediately greeted by surrendering troops and militia.

After using his Scrapper’s sensor arrays to scan the approaching group and determined that they carried no weapons or explosives, Schmidt signaled to his men and allies to stand down. Beradi Town had been taken without any loss of life. The Free Land forces were making rapid progress on all three fronts.

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After receiving reports of how easily the Zedan forces were being pushed back and destroyed with little to no casualties on the enemy’s side, many officers and enlisted men were realizing that continuing the war against the Star Alliance was futile. The navy had been virtually destroyed. The air forces had been devastated. And now the army was being destroyed at an alarming rate. Even though it was considered as treason and was punishable by death, that didn’t stop thousands of troops from deserting or surrendering to the invaders without resistance.

And this was only against the current Free Land technology. Who knew what new weapons they were developing?

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Polaris City, Mech Research and Development Facility #9…

“What’s that you’re working on?” Isylla asked. She was one of the senior members of the Catian Battle-Mech engineers. She was looked over the shoulder of her Terran co-worker, Miles Harkens.

Miles nodded as he showed her a set of blueprints on his holo-viewer. “These are the finalized plans for the Valiant-prototype that Facility #12 is going to be using next week. I was thinking that if a transforming Battle-Mech can be used for aerial and ground combat, then why not have one that can be used for land and water battlefields as well?”

“The Battle-Mechs are already amphibious. They can operate on land and underwater.”

“Yeah, but the humanoid form isn’t very streamlined. I was thinking of an alternate aquatic mode. It wouldn’t be too hard to swap out Starfighter engines for aqua-turbines. A layer of diffusion membranes would provide the pilot with an infinite air supply and hydro-pressure regulators will make certain that the pilot won’t suffer decompression sickness during high-speed maneuvers underwater.”

“It’s an interesting idea. I believe the techs over in Facility #12 were also considering making the Battle-Mechs with alternate vehicular modes besides aerial. Things like land vehicles and mobile bases. So where did you get this idea?”

“I was inspired after watching an old children’s vid-series from the late 20^th century. I think it was called the Transformers.”

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Energy Research Facility #5…

“Hey Joe, what’s that you’re working on?”

Researcher Joseph Randoll nodded as he showed some calculations to his colleague, a Velor named Asterik.

“Remember that Inter-dimensional Warp Field Generator that was proposed a few days ago?”

“Yes, the higher-ups believe that it might allow us to develop teleportation technology. What about it?”

“Yeah, well it got me to thinking. If we’re able to collapse subspace to make distances shorter, then why not do the opposite?”

“You want to make subspace bigger?”

“Well… why not? If we can make an area of subspace expand, then we can use it for things like storage. Remember, both real space and subspace occupy the same location, but on different vibration frequencies. So if we run out of room in real space, then we can simply shunt the mass in an expanded field of subspace.”

“So basically, what you’re saying is that you’ll be pulling giant hammers out of nowhere like one of those ancient ‘cartoon characters’ from those children vids?”

“I think it was called ‘hammerspace’ or the ‘magic satchel’ but that’s the idea. Think of what we can do if we’re able to carry more stuff than physically possible? Think of the applications!”

Asterik had to admit that such a capability would make transportation of objects even easier and would save on storage space. As he thought about it some more, he also remembered seeing magical items called ‘item boxes’ and wondered if they could be reproduced through scientific means.

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Zedan Capital Rikivak…

“Those metal giants are absolutely unbelievable!” Major General Strack exclaimed. “I threw an entire division of heavy tanks at a small group and the entire division was wiped out!”

“They didn’t cause any damage to the enemy?” Lieutenant Colonel Yardra asked.

“I saw them take several direct hits from 88mm guns at near-point blank range, and their armor was barely scratched! The shells either bounced off or shattered on impact!”

“What kind of metal alloy are they using?” Major Reykar wondered. “If we could get a hold of that formulation, we could armor up our tanks and ships with it!”

“There’s no point in entertaining fantasies!” General Himro stated. “We can’t even defeat one of those monsters with our strongest weapons. And I severely doubt that Free Land would just hand one of those metal giants to us.”

“It’s not just those giants.” Lieutenant Colonel Vargil pointed out. “Their fighters are leagues above even our Zoderas. We’ve been trying to shoot one down, but somehow, our anti-aircraft guns are destroyed far beyond visual range. Furthermore, fighter to fighter combat is not possible and our air forces are practically nonexistent at this point. The enemy fighters are too fast and carry weapons that can down a Zodera with a single shot. Even if we were to send up veteran pilots, I doubt they would have fared any better than the rookies.”

 “And their navy is no joke.” Admiral Xora said. “There’s virtually nothing left that we can put to sea that hasn’t already been surrendered, disabled or destroyed. I knew that once we lost Rommet, the war wasn’t going in our favor anymore.”

“So where does this all leave us?” Himro asked, though he already knew the answer. “The Grand Leader has already given the order that we are to use the Ender Bombs, whether they are complete or not.”

“Will they even work against Free Land?” Commander Seron of the Fifth Armored Battalion asked with concern.

Himro paused for a long moment as he considered the past reports of the failed invasions of Bisra and Merdov. The ships of Free Land were not only able to fly but had some kind of shield that deflected all enemy bullets, shells, bombs and torpedoes. He wasn’t all that confident that the Ender bomb would be enough to penetrate. Not to mention the devastation it would cause to the surrounding areas. He wasn’t that eager to utilize a weapon that could annihilate both sides, especially on home soil.

Unknown to Himro and the other Zedan officers; at full strength, the defense barrier of a Star Alliance destroyer could withstand more than 100 megatons. The highest yield that the Ender Bomb had was 20 kilotons. Not that it mattered, since the Free Land spies had secretly rendered all of the radioactive materials of the Ender Bomb project inert.

“We have lost so much in this war.” The general said with a heavy sigh. “And I think we are all in agreement that this war cannot be won, even if we were to resort to the Ender bombs.”

“So what are we to do? What can we do?” Major Reykar asked.

“For years, we have followed our Grand Leader’s ambitions.” Himro said in a diffused tone. “We have seen many victories and gained many spoils. However, it is also due to his ambitions that we are now facing an enemy that we know little about and cannot defeat.”

“So… is surrender our only option?”

“Surrender would be an option… if our Grand Leader was not completely against it.”

“He won’t allow us to surrender?” Commander Seron asked.

“You know very well of the penalty for surrender without the Grand Leader’s order. Not only will the offending officer lose his life but also the lives of his family. I can see now why General Rommet set the terms of that battleship duel with that Free Land vessel… the Missouri, I believe? He gave orders for all of his surviving fleet to surrender unconditionally, regardless of the victor. That way, the crews that surrendered could claim that they were only following his orders and he would shoulder all the blame.”

 “Are we going to do something similar, General?”

“No, I don’t believe that’s going to work again. Furthermore, with so many mass surrenders occurring already, the Grand Leader may just ignore them all and execute the officers and their families anyway. No, I think more drastic measures might be required.”

“What could be more drastic than mass surrender…?” Major Vero asked, and then realized what his superior was implying. “You don’t mean…?”

“If you have a much better option, then now is the time to tell us. Once we begin using the Ender bombs, there will be no turning back. It could mean the end of all of us.”

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SBX-1 Missouri, 1050 hours…

“Captain, I am pleased to report that all three landing operations have achieved their primary objectives, and have established a solid front.” Reelan announced as she read the latest intel.

“Very good, Commander.” Mark said as he nodded in approval. “We’re somewhat behind schedule, but at this point, it really doesn’t matter.”

“General Kurdo and Admiral Kajor have also stated that despite the delays, Operation Star Point will continue to its final objective. Whatever remaining forces the Zedan have left, will be pushed aside. They don’t expect this war to last more than a week.” Lieutenant Commander Harken added.

“Considering how many cities and towns have already surrendered without a fight, I’m not surprised they think that.”

“And when we achieve final victory and Zedan surrender, what then?” Mark’s wife asked.

“It’s up to the Council of Prime Directors and our allies, but I believe it will go the same way as it did with the Empire of Sath.”

“I hear that some of our allies may not agree with that idea. There have been demands for some of the Zedan territory as well as their technology. Spoils of war I suppose.” The Catian Second Officer remarked

Mark cocked his head to one side and thought about it for a few moments before speaking. “Most of Zedan technology is similar to what they had on mid-twentieth century Earth, so letting Atlans or Naran have it may not be much. What concerns me is if they were to get their hands on an atomic weapon or the Zedan files about atomic energy.”

“This is a valid concern.” Harken agreed. “Even though they are our allies and are generally friendly, they still have a tendency to resort to ‘gunboat diplomacy’ at the first opportunity. Of course, they are eager to attain new technology, even if it is obsolete by our standards. And they’re especially interested in military technology. I’ve lost track of how many requests they’ve made for Starfighter and Battle-Mech blueprints.”

“Remember that when we first came here, the nations were and still are in conflict with each other.” The Missouri’s captain pointed out. “This planet is far from united and it seems that a country isn’t taken seriously unless there’s some grand display of military might. Free Land was greatly misunderstood as they took our more conservative approach towards diplomacy as a sign of weakness. Of course, after we had decimated the Empire of Sath, and are now pushing back the Zedan with ease, the other nations know not to confront us directly.”

“That still hasn’t stopped the other nations, including our ‘allies’ from trying to bolster their militaries with any kind of technological advancement, to bring themselves closer to our level.” Harken surmised.

“So it’s best, as the Terrans say, that we keep the nuclear genie in its bottle?” The Missouri’s First Officer remarked.

“That is correct, Commander.” Mark nodded. “We have orders to confiscate all Zedan atomic weapons and research. We’ve been either collecting or destroying the wreckages of Zedan jets and those rocket weapons before the Atlans and Naran salvage teams could get to them. Furthermore, if we are to come across any other technology that could greatly advance the present military level of Atlans or Naran, we are to confiscate those as well. The last thing the Council wants is an arms race to start among nations.”

“Aye, Captain.” Both the First and Second Officers acknowledged.

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Derago City, 300 miles from Juno Beach, 1500 hours…

Major General Aroda Shanes could only shake her head in disbelief as she and the surviving soldiers under her command were being led off toward a transport that would take them to a POW camp. She looked over toward the smoldering wreckages of several Zedan heavy tanks and wondered just how the enemy was able to overwhelm such devastating firepower and armor?

The question was completely rhetorical as they passed by several Hunters and Scrappers. It took those metal monsters less than 10 minutes to completely devastate every tank, support vehicle and artillery piece in the area. Small arms were virtually useless against them and they weren’t able to stop Free Land’s heavy infantry and their armored battlesuits.

Derago had been one of the major cities that had fought back rather than surrender. For all the good it did for them as resisting only delayed the inevitable. With the city’s defeat, Free Land now had access to most of the major highways and transportation routes in the area. The defeat came so quickly that Shanes and her forces weren’t even given the chance to retreat and employ any scorched earth tactics. Not that the Star Alliance needed any of the resources of the Zedan continent.

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A secret, underground hanger near the Zedan Capital…

Emperor Vargil Zendara smiled as he watched the Ender Bomb being loaded onto the plane. Of the entire arsenal of Zedan, none could compare with the ultimate weapon, the Ender Bomb. And it would bring its destructive power to Zedan’s enemies by way of another new innovation.

The Barada Bomber.

The Zodera jet was not the only innovation in aviation that Zedan had come up with. After experimenting with new aerodynamic forms, the engineers and scientists had recently come up with a shape that not only gave astronomical lift and range, but also an enormous tactical advantage. Its radar signature was so reduced; it may as well be invisible. Free Land and its allies would never know what hit them!

The Barada was a flying wing. It was propelled by twin, air-compression thrust engines and had two slender vertical fins on either sides. Other than those fins, there were no other control surfaces jutting out from its body, which resembled a boomerang. Even the cockpit and canopy didn’t protrude very much. Every part of the bomber had smooth lines and was treated with a special, top-secret coating that absorbed radar signals.

Zedan had just entered the era of stealth technology.

To be continued…

Author’s Notes

The Barada is the Zedan equivalent to the Horton Ho 229, Nazi Germany’s first attempt at a flying wing and stealth bomber. It came far too late to make an impact during World War II but it later became the inspiration for the B-2 Bomber.