A Stranger Goes to War

[csyphrett]

Scott Bolo of Earth looked at the floating display in front of him. It had taken him two years of traveling, but he had finally gotten used to the casual display of high technology around him. Back home, they were still watching black and white televisions. He frowned at the numbers. He and his allies were losing the war. The Conglomerate was a juggernaut. They threw men away to hold any planet they landed on. They expanded from those choke points around any attempt to fence them in. Bolo’s allies didn’t have that kind of manpower. “What are you thinking, Bolo of Earth?†Nolgroth stood at his elbow. He leaned on a cane as he looked at the display also. His reputation as a weapons builder had helped put their fragile alliance together. “We’re going to lose.†Scott hated to admit it, but unless they came up with something quick, the galaxy would be absent of any life not approved by the expanding army. “We need something to turn things around.†“I concur.†Nolgroth nodded his green head. “What are your thoughts?†“We should strike at their homeworld, but we have no idea where it is.†Bolo pointed at part of the display of the war. “We think it’s there, but we don’t know for sure.†“We will have to send someone to look around.†The engineer touched the floating picture to bring that section closer to the surface. “We don’t have any data for that set of systems either.†“Let’s talk to the others.†Bolo snapped the display off. “Maybe they have a better idea than suicide.†“Of course, you couldn’t go.†Nolgroth tapped his cane on the floor. “You are too important.†“No, you’re too important.†Bolo shook his head. He strapped on his rocket pistol and closed the front of his green jacket. “The alliance would collapse without your weapons and innovations.†“They would collapse without your brain.†Nolgroth waited by the office door. “None of the species we have joined would work together if it weren’t for you. Helping them survive the initial rush of the Conglomerate has made you their champion at the moment.†“We’ll see how much of a champion I am.†Scott checked his work space one more time before they left. He would love even half of what the aliens had back home on Earth. They walked along to the conference center set aside for operations. The other members of their command staff were already waiting. They had different sections of the same display Scott had been looking at emphasized for what they were looking for as part of objectives for their fleets. Scott and Nolgroth looked over their shoulders, walking around the table. They had learned the most valuable lesson the Earthman could teach them in the last two years. Don’t stand and slug it out. The other guy was bigger and tougher than they were. “Thanks for coming.†Scott looked at each alien in turn. They nodded as they placed their work areas in stasis. “We’re losing.†The silence that greeted the statement indicated that his staff agreed with his assessment. Even the leaguer that had joined on to help coordinate efforts on the other side of the Conglomerate didn’t disagree. “Striking at their supply lines has slowed them down a little, but they are still taking territory from us.†He called up a full display of the globe that denoted the expansion. “We need to think of ways that we can collapse this back to the center. Any thoughts?†The aliens considered the globe. Most of them hadn’t fought a war in a long time, some of them never. Something extended like this had been almost impossible for them to get behind until the Conglomerate had arrived to turn their planets into supply dumps. “Biological weapons have been ineffective. Brute force and subterfuge has only slowed things.†Eosin was a walking rug in a breastplate. “What do you suggest?†“Someone has to locate their homeworld so we can attack it directly.†Bolo spun the display around. “Maybe we can cause them to fall back and defend it if we can apply enough pressure. It might make them give up what they have already gained, or at least quit reaching outward until our strike is dealt with to their satisfaction.†“Who would volunteer for such a thing other than myself?†Eosin looked around the room. One of the smaller aliens raised a secondary hand. “Really, Opale?†“None of you are coming with me.†Bolo smiled. “This is a one man mission, and I’m the man. After I go, I want you to come up with plans to keep them busy. Keep in mind our limited resources and the fact we will also have to protect civilians. Give your plans to Nolgroth and Quozaxx and let them figure out how to link them together so they look like the real deal.†“So you plan to invade the enemy’s home on your own.†Quozaxx’s voice buzzed inside his golden armor. “All of us are expendable.†Scott smiled. “I’m the most expendable. I want you to do your best. I’m counting on you to be the most annoying that you can be to the enemy. Don’t let me down.†“I assure you that we will be garn among vassis.†Eosin nodded his shaggy head. Scott nodded at the metaphor. “Remember to husband our resources.†He smiled. “The initial target area for the search is going to be here.†He pulled up the section that Nolgroth had pointed out earlier in his office. Nothing was there as far as the map was concerned. “Why there?†Ternaugh frowned. He checked the information archive at his station and came up with nothing. “Show them, Nolgroth.†Scott stepped aside for the elderly weaponsmaker. The short alien tapped to the display. He reached into the picture and made some hand movements. Lines in different colors appeared in the globe. He stepped back. “These are the lines of direction of the various forces we encountered before our resistence turned into this alliance.†He pointed at one line in particular. “This is the first fleet that Bolo of Earth temporarily halted. The stolen communications and data indicate that their home is in the direction of the blank spot. Naturally various other forts were named and located on the data. None of them are close to the blank.†“So the object will be for me to get inside that section of space, find out if anything is there, and then get out.†Bolo looked at the enemy held territory and considered sending someone else. “I plan to bug their communications along the way to give us more of an edge.†“How long should we wait until you are considered dead?†Ternaugh leaned forward. “When you recover my dead body from the enemy.†Scott frowned at his noseless face. “Until then, I expect you to function as if I am standing behind you with a gun in hand.†The others shook their head at the question. Either the Earthman came back, or he didn’t. Part of the planning process would have to take both options in effect. “Will the League continue to help us, Quozaxx?†Bolo had heard the description of the gold armor users as galactic policemen. How many wars had the League fought in before this? “The League will continue to lend support.†The alien gestured with a three fingered hand. “Some of our number are leading raiding forces along the lines as we speak.†Spots of deep purple marked the display. Some winked out while others shrank until they vanished completely. “Get us the after action reports, Quozaxx.†Bolo looked at his staff. “I have to get ready. Start working on your plans. I want to win the war before we are ground away like wheat.†Bolo took one last look at the blank section on the globe. He nodded at the aliens and walked toward the door. He had to get his gear together. He hoped his generals could keep things together. They were commanding the last efforts of their planets. If one of them broke, the rest might follow. Hopefully Nolgroth and Quozaxx could keep things moving forward until the war was won. Was this how Eisenhower felt during the war? Keep moving forward until the enemy has to give up. He would love to have someone else running things and making sure the galaxy wasn’t pillaged. He knew he wasn’t qualified for the job. He certainly wasn’t going to leave any authority to Ternaugh. “This is going to be too dangerous, Bolo of Earth.†Nolgroth tapped after him. “I agree, Scott Bolo.†Quozaxx floated in the hall with them. “We have a chain of command, guys.†Bolo waved for them to step into his office. “You’re it. If I don’t make it back, try to save the Earth for me.†“At least take someone with you.†Nolgroth considered the other members on the staff. “You might need help.†“I’ll be fine.†Scott checked his assault bag for equipment. His clothes could double as a spacesuit if he had a helmet. He made sure to put one with his bag. “You guys are going to have the problems trying to make any false operations look like the real deal.†“They will be real enough.†The weaponsmaker tapped his cane against the floor again. “I can assure you of that.â€

[TheQuestionMan]

More please, but separate into paragraphs please!

 

Thank you

 

QM

[csyphrett]

Apparently the board still erases hard returns from copy and paste. I forgot that would happen.

CES

[DusterBoy]

I would second the request for paragraphs... and wider margins, just to make it easier to read. Other than that, it looks really good.

[phydaux]

paragraphs. how do they work?

[csyphrett]

paragraphs. how do they work?

 

Got me.

CES

[csyphrett]

let's try again and see if the paragraphs are there this time.

Scott Bolo of Earth looked at the floating display in front of him. It had taken him two years of

traveling, but he had finally gotten used to the casual display of high technology around him. Back

home, they were still watching black and white televisions.

 

He frowned at the numbers. He and his allies were losing the war.

 

The Conglomerate was a juggernaut. They threw men away to hold any planet they landed on. They

expanded from those choke points around any attempt to fence them in.

 

Bolo’s allies didn’t have that kind of manpower.

 

“What are you thinking, Bolo of Earth?†Nolgroth stood at his elbow. He leaned on a cane as he

looked at the display also. His reputation as a weapons builder had helped put their fragile alliance

together.

 

“We’re going to lose.†Scott hated to admit it, but unless they came up with something quick, the

galaxy would be absent of any life not approved by the expanding army. “We need something to

turn things around.â€

 

“I concur.†Nolgroth nodded his green head. “What are your thoughts?â€

 

“We should strike at their homeworld, but we have no idea where it is.†Bolo pointed at part of

the display of the war. “We think it’s there, but we don’t know for sure.â€

 

“We will have to send someone to look around.†The engineer touched the floating picture to bring

that section closer to the surface. “We don’t have any data for that set of systems either.â€

 

“Let’s talk to the others.†Bolo snapped the display off. “Maybe they have a better idea than

suicide.â€

 

“Of course, you couldn’t go.†Nolgroth tapped his cane on the floor. “You are too important.â€

 

“No, you’re too important.†Bolo shook his head. He strapped on his rocket pistol and closed

the front of his green jacket. “The alliance would collapse without your weapons and innovations.â€

 

“They would collapse without your brain.†Nolgroth waited by the office door. “None of the species

we have joined would work together if it weren’t for you. Helping them survive the initial rush of

the Conglomerate has made you their champion at the moment.â€

 

“We’ll see how much of a champion I am.†Scott checked his work space one more time before

they left. He would love even half of what the aliens had back home on Earth.

 

They walked along to the conference center set aside for operations. The other members of their

command staff were already waiting. They had different sections of the same display Scott had

been looking at emphasized for what they were looking for as part of objectives for their fleets.

 

Scott and Nolgroth looked over their shoulders, walking around the table. They had learned the

most valuable lesson the Earthman could teach them in the last two years.

 

Don’t stand and slug it out. The other guy was bigger and tougher than they were.

 

“Thanks for coming.†Scott looked at each alien in turn. They nodded as they placed their work

areas in stasis. “We’re losing.â€

 

The silence that greeted the statement indicated that his staff agreed with his assessment. Even the

leaguer that had joined on to help coordinate efforts on the other side of the Conglomerate didn’t

disagree.

 

“Striking at their supply lines has slowed them down a little, but they are still taking territory from

us.†He called up a full display of the globe that denoted the expansion. “We need to think of ways

that we can collapse this back to the center. Any thoughts?â€

 

The aliens considered the globe. Most of them hadn’t fought a war in a long time, some of them

never. Something extended like this had been almost impossible for them to get behind until the

Conglomerate had arrived to turn their planets into supply dumps.

 

“Biological weapons have been ineffective. Brute force and subterfuge has only slowed things.â€

Eosin was a walking rug in a breastplate. “What do you suggest?â€

 

“Someone has to locate their homeworld so we can attack it directly.†Bolo spun the display around.

“Maybe we can cause them to fall back and defend it if we can apply enough pressure. It might

make them give up what they have already gained, or at least quit reaching outward until our strike

is dealt with to their satisfaction.â€

 

“Who would volunteer for such a thing other than myself?†Eosin looked around the room. One of

the smaller aliens raised a secondary hand. “Really, Opale?â€

 

“None of you are coming with me.†Bolo smiled. “This is a one man mission, and I’m the man.

After I go, I want you to come up with plans to keep them busy. Keep in mind our limited resources

and the fact we will also have to protect civilians. Give your plans to Nolgroth and Quozaxx and

let them figure out how to link them together so they look like the real deal.â€

 

“So you plan to invade the enemy’s home on your own.†Quozaxx’s voice buzzed inside his golden

armor.

 

“All of us are expendable.†Scott smiled. “I’m the most expendable. I want you to do your best. I’m

counting on you to be the most annoying that you can be to the enemy. Don’t let me down.â€

 

“I assure you that we will be garn among vassis.†Eosin nodded his shaggy head.

 

Scott nodded at the metaphor.

 

“Remember to husband our resources.†He smiled. “The initial target area for the search is going

to be here.â€

 

He pulled up the section that Nolgroth had pointed out earlier in his office. Nothing was there

as far as the map was concerned.

 

“Why there?†Ternaugh frowned. He checked the information archive at his station and came up

with nothing.

 

“Show them, Nolgroth.†Scott stepped aside for the elderly weaponsmaker.

 

The short alien tapped to the display. He reached into the picture and made some hand movements.

Lines in different colors appeared in the globe. He stepped back.

 

“These are the lines of direction of the various forces we encountered before our resistence turned

into this alliance.†He pointed at one line in particular. “This is the first fleet that Bolo of Earth

temporarily halted. The stolen communications and data indicate that their home is in the direction

of the blank spot. Naturally various other forts were named and located on the data. None of them

are close to the blank.â€

 

“So the object will be for me to get inside that section of space, find out if anything is there, and

then get out.†Bolo looked at the enemy held territory and considered sending someone else. “I plan

to bug their communications along the way to give us more of an edge.â€

 

“How long should we wait until you are considered dead?†Ternaugh leaned forward.

 

“When you recover my dead body from the enemy.†Scott frowned at his noseless face. “Until then,

I expect you to function as if I am standing behind you with a gun in hand.â€

 

The others shook their head at the question. Either the Earthman came back, or he didn’t. Part of

the planning process would have to take both options in effect.

 

“Will the League continue to help us, Quozaxx?†Bolo had heard the description of the gold armor

users as galactic policemen. How many wars had the League fought in before this?

 

“The League will continue to lend support.†The alien gestured with a three fingered hand. “Some

of our number are leading raiding forces along the lines as we speak.â€

 

Spots of deep purple marked the display. Some winked out while others shrank until they vanished

completely.

 

“Get us the after action reports, Quozaxx.†Bolo looked at his staff. “I have to get ready. Start

working on your plans. I want to win the war before we are ground away like wheat.â€

 

Bolo took one last look at the blank section on the globe. He nodded at the aliens and walked

toward the door. He had to get his gear together.

 

He hoped his generals could keep things together. They were commanding the last efforts of their

planets. If one of them broke, the rest might follow.

 

Hopefully Nolgroth and Quozaxx could keep things moving forward until the war was won.

 

Was this how Eisenhower felt during the war? Keep moving forward until the enemy has to give

up. He would love to have someone else running things and making sure the galaxy wasn’t pillaged.

He knew he wasn’t qualified for the job.

 

He certainly wasn’t going to leave any authority to Ternaugh.

 

“This is going to be too dangerous, Bolo of Earth.†Nolgroth tapped after him.

 

“I agree, Scott Bolo.†Quozaxx floated in the hall with them.

 

“We have a chain of command, guys.†Bolo waved for them to step into his office. “You’re it. If

I don’t make it back, try to save the Earth for me.â€

 

“At least take someone with you.†Nolgroth considered the other members on the staff. “You might

need help.â€

 

“I’ll be fine.†Scott checked his assault bag for equipment. His clothes could double as a spacesuit

if he had a helmet. He made sure to put one with his bag. “You guys are going to have the problems

trying to make any false operations look like the real deal.â€

 

“They will be real enough.†The weaponsmaker tapped his cane against the floor again. “I can

assure you of that.â€

 

[csyphrett]

2 Scott watched the readouts as his ship sailed into normal space. He didn’t see anything that would

give a warning that a new arrival had appeared. He cut power and coasted to a stop. He wanted to

look around before he started working.

 

He didn’t want to attract the attention of the local watchmen before he could get started. That would

mean his mission was a failure.

 

All the passive readings said he hadn’t been noticed yet.

 

He also didn’t see any Conglomerate facilities in the area either. Should he jump deeper into

unknown territory? He decided to fire the engines a little to give him a powerless glide deeper into

the blank area.

 

If he could coast, he might be able to pass for a comet of some kind.

 

He made sure that all systems were ready to go if he couldn’t coast to target. Any attack would

trigger the defenses. It would be a brief battle, but maybe something he could escape.

 

There was no way his ship could stand up to a good portion of the Conglomerate. The best he could

do was go down fighting. Any injury he could inflict on his enemy would still need to be repaired.

 

Scott watched the trajectory he was on. The systems mapped his progress as he drifted. It filled the

blank space on Nolgroth’s map with small bursts of noise.

 

He spotted a satellite ahead. He watched his systems as they analyzed the noise emitted by the

cylinder. It had spotted him but considered him worthless debris of some kind.

 

He decided that he might need to program the sentry to ignore him in case he needed to fire his

engines some time soon. He studied the trajectory of his own ship. He would pass close enough to

rope the other vehicle. If he did that, he would have to bypass its security in a hurry and reset it

before it gave the alarm.

 

How much time did he have to do all that?

 

Was it worth the risk? Would it give him a tactical advantage to offset the risk? What could he

gain from it?

 

He could use it to piggyback his signal if he was careful with the code.

 

Scott set everything up first before he executed his plan. He didn’t want the thing to give the alarm

before he was ready.

 

He pressed the button to place his ship at full power. A line leaped out from the bow to hook the

satellite. He pressed the second command button. Code wrote itself in the machinery in a matter of

seconds. The satellite started rebooting after the assault.

 

Scott dumped out what he could, moved away, cut power again. Now he had someone on his side.

He hoped Nolgroth was getting everything. It might be essential to any future planning.

 

The weapons master might be small in stature, but his brain could dissect any problem with

mathematical precision. He made Alex Arthur looked like a child by comparison.

 

A line of barges floated into sensor range. He would fly next to them if they didn’t change course.

He noted the lack of weapons. He had expected the Conglomerate to arm everything it put into

space.

 

He didn’t dare fire his jets. If he did, he would stick out like a firework. He watched and waited.

 

Maybe he could use this to his advantage somehow.

 

His ship closed on the barges until the tug pulling it became visible. He hoped no one was looking

out of a window. He didn’t want someone calling home to let them know he was on the way.

 

He listened to the free chatter. Nothing changed as he flew past. Maybe the lead craft was

automated.

 

He watched his screens and the live view. So far he hadn’t encountered anything that had wanted

to kill him. It made him a little antsy.

 

He was used to the Conglomerate shooting first and not worrying about questions.

 

He was suddenly glad of the change when he considered what would happen if a firefight did break

out. He would be at the end of a shooting gallery with everyone shooting at him.

 

Maybe he should have asked for volunteers for this suicide mission.

 

He hoped Nolgroth was getting everything he needed to break the invasion. If Earth was saved, that

was all that mattered.

 

He wondered if he could land on one of the barges and have the tug drag him into the central space

area. He dismissed that thought. It was too dangerous. He would be better off hiding on a comet

and using that for cover.

 

He looked around for some other way he could get closer without attracting attention.

 

He decided the best thing to do was land the ship on something stable and try to get closer in his

suit. It was the best idea he could come up with at the moment. His ship would attract too much

attention if he got really close to anyone with a brain.

 

Scott thought about his plan. Could he make it work? How would he get around if he did hide his

ship?

 

Maybe he could use the tug.

 

The first thing he needed was a landing pad. Cover was optional. Once he had that, then he had to

look around for something to get to the next phase of his mission.

 

He went over the scans of nearby space. He saw a small asteroid ahead. He could use that for

his staging area as long as he was careful not to be seen landing.

 

He altered his trajectory with a slight increase of power. He quickly dialed back when he was on

course for the rock. Passive scanning showed all green for landing.

 

He set down and watched the nearby area with his scanners. No one popped out of hyperspace to

rain death and destruction on him. No one seemed close, but he did see another line of barges flying

through the sky.

 

How many of them were there flying around?

 

It looked like he had an answer to what he could hitch a ride on to get to where he was going.

 

All he needed was one heading in the direction he wanted to go.

 

He checked the readings, and then made a sandwich. It had taken a while for him to find food that

wouldn’t have side-effects. The stuff some of the guys ate could make you wish you were back

home with your favorite diner close at hand.

 

Scott thought about phase two. It wasn’t something safe. There were a hundred different ways

things could go wrong from where he sat.

 

He made another sandwich. If this was going to be his last meal, he might as well enjoy it. He

loaded up his equipment, strapping on his jet pack last. He set the ship to run information back to

Nolgroth through the satellite he had compromised. Then he set it to come after him if he issued

a distress signal.

 

None of his people were this deep in enemy space. Everyone that wasn’t him was a target. His ship

had full discretion on what to shoot at when it came to get him.

 

And he knew Nolgroth had done everything he could to turn it into a flying weapons platform.

 

Scott checked the scanner. Another tug was coming in at the head of a line of barges. He wondered

what was in those things that the Conglomerate needed so many of them. It was going his way, so

he might have a chance to snoop around while he was hitchhiking.

 

He pulled on his helmet. He made sure the suit was sealed and ready to go. He tramped along to

the elevator as the air supply loaded. He needed it to be at the top of the gauge. He didn’t know how

long the tugs would take to get to where they were going.

 

He rode the elevator to the top deck and used the airlock to exit. He floated in space for a moment,

looking around. He would love to take some of this technology to Earth and show everyone the

wonderful place the galaxy could be if you wanted it.

 

First he had to make sure that it was a wonderful place for them to come out and join instead of

dealing with invaders that would suck the system dry to build warships and send those out to other

places to be looted.

 

They were like army ants.

 

Scott fired his jet pack and aimed for the tug. He cut the power and let momentum carry him the rest

of the way. He hoped the thing went in for a landing before his air ran out.

 

All the things that could go wrong were suddenly running through his mind. He took a breath and

let go. He had to get on board one of the barges, or the tug, without being seen. If he could do that,

then he could start worrying about what to do next.

 

He would call that phase three of his plan.

 

He wondered how long it would take for him to reach phase one hundred. He decided to wait

and see.

 

Scott gingerly corrected his flight line to run parallel to the barges. He didn’t see any activity.

Maybe robots manned the tugs. He shrugged. He needed to board and find some air. Then he could

worry about any crew that might take exception to his presence.

 

He pulled out a line from his equipment belt. It had a magnetic fastener at the end. He flung it at

the speeding barges. He hoped something on the craft was magnetic. He didn’t want to spend all

of his fuel on catching on to the ship and then trying to find a door. The fastener caught. He was

yanked after the vessels.

 

He decided that he should have matched up with his jet pack despite the risks of discovery. He

let the belt and harness take the strain as the line reeled him in. At least he didn’t have to worry

about being fried by the exhaust of an engine.

 

He pulled the fastener off when he was close enough that his glove would hold him place. He

examined the barge and found that it was closed like a clamshell with no doors at all. That meant

he would have to get in the tug somehow and evade the crew until landing.

 

It sounded a lot easier in his head than what he expected to have to do.

 

He scaled the line of barges as gently as he could. He noted couplings between them as he went.

Maybe he had latched onto a train. He smiled at the thought of the tug going chugga-chugga.

 

He used the visor of his helmet to look for entrances to the tug. That was where he needed to be

if he wanted to conserve his air supply. He found something that looked like a door on the top of

the vehicle. Maybe it was for the crew to go out and check on their payload.

 

He pulled his electronic key. He couldn’t kill anybody. He would have to get in, find some place

to hide, and wait for the tug to land, or at least stop. What did he do if it didn’t stop?

 

He decided to work on that when he had to.

 

The first thing was to open the door and get inside before someone found him hanging around.

 

[csyphrett]

Necroed from 2013. Bubba asked me to write more on this.

CES 

[csyphrett]

Looks like I have to repost while I am at it.

CES

[csyphrett]

1
Scott Bolo of Earth looked at the floating display in front of him. It had taken him two years of
traveling, but he had finally gotten used to the casual display of high technology around him. Back
home, they were still watching black and white televisions.

 

He frowned at the numbers. He and his allies were losing the war.

 

The Conglomerate was a juggernaut. They threw men away to hold any planet they landed on. They
expanded from those choke points around any attempt to fence them in.

 

Bolo’s allies didn’t have that kind of manpower.

 

“What are you thinking, Bolo of Earth?” Nolgroth stood at his elbow. He leaned on a cane as he
looked at the display also. His reputation as a weapons builder had helped put their fragile alliance
together.

 

“We’re going to lose.” Scott hated to admit it, but unless they came up with something quick, the
galaxy would be absent of any life not approved by the expanding army. “We need something to
turn things around.”

 

“I concur.” Nolgroth nodded his green head. “What are your thoughts?”

 

“We should strike at their homeworld, but we have no idea where it is.” Bolo pointed at part of the
display of the war. “We think it’s there, but we don’t know for sure.”

 

“We will have to send someone to look around.” The engineer touched the floating picture to bring
that section closer to the surface. “We don’t have any data for that set of systems either.”

 

“Let’s talk to the others.” Bolo snapped the display off. “Maybe they have a better idea than
suicide.”

 

“Of course, you couldn’t go.” Nolgroth tapped his cane on the floor. “You are too important.”

 

“No, you’re too important.” Bolo shook his head. He strapped on his rocket pistol and closed the
front of his green jacket. “The alliance would collapse without your weapons and innovations.”

 

“They would collapse without your brain.” Nolgroth waited by the office door. “None of the species
we have joined would work together if it weren’t for you. Helping them survive the initial rush of
the Conglomerate has made you their champion at the moment.”

 

“We’ll see how much of a champion I am.” Scott checked his work space one more time before they
left. He would love even half of what the aliens had back home on Earth.

 

They walked along to the conference center set aside for operations. The other members of their
command staff were already waiting. They had different sections of the same display Scott had been
looking at emphasized for what they were looking for as part of objectives for their fleets.

 

Scott and Nolgroth looked over their shoulders, walking around the table. They had learned the
most valuable lesson the Earthman could teach them in the last two years.

 

Don’t stand and slug it out. The other guy was bigger and tougher than they were.

 

“Thanks for coming.” Scott looked at each alien in turn. They nodded as they placed their work
areas in stasis. “We’re losing.”

 

The silence that greeted the statement indicated that his staff agreed with his assessment. Even the
leaguer that had joined on to help coordinate efforts on the other side of the Conglomerate didn’t
disagree.

 

“Striking at their supply lines has slowed them down a little, but they are still taking territory from
us.” He called up a full display of the globe that denoted the expansion. “We need to think of ways
that we can collapse this back to the center. Any thoughts?”

 

The aliens considered the globe. Most of them hadn’t fought a war in a long time, some of them
never. Something extended like this had been almost impossible for them to get behind until the
Conglomerate had arrived to turn their planets into supply dumps.

 

“Biological weapons have been ineffective. Brute force and subterfuge has only slowed things.”
Eosin was a walking rug in a breastplate. “What do you suggest?”

 

“Someone has to locate their homeworld so we can attack it directly.” Bolo spun the display around.
“Maybe we can cause them to fall back and defend it if we can apply enough pressure. It might
make them give up what they have already gained, or at least quit reaching outward until our strike
is dealt with to their satisfaction.”

 

“Who would volunteer for such a thing other than myself?” Eosin looked around the room. One of
the smaller aliens raised a secondary hand. “Really, Opale?”

 

“None of you are coming with me.” Bolo smiled. “This is a one man mission, and I’m the man.
After I go, I want you to come up with plans to keep them busy. Keep in mind our limited resources
and the fact we will also have to protect civilians. Give your plans to Nolgroth and Quozaxx and
let them figure out how to link them together so they look like the real deal.”

 

“So you plan to invade the enemy’s home on your own.” Quozaxx’s voice buzzed inside his golden
armor.

 

“All of us are expendable.” Scott smiled. “I’m the most expendable. I want you to do your best. I’m
counting on you to be the most annoying that you can be to the enemy. Don’t let me down.”

 

“I assure you that we will be garn among vassis.” Eosin nodded his shaggy head.

 

Scott nodded at the metaphor.

 

“Remember to husband our resources.” He smiled. “The initial target area for the search is going
to be here.”

 

He pulled up the section that Nolgroth had pointed out earlier in his office. Nothing was there as
far as the map was concerned.

 

“Why there?” Ternaugh frowned. He checked the information archive at his station and came up
with nothing.

 

“Show them, Nolgroth.” Scott stepped aside for the elderly weaponsmaker.

 

The short alien tapped to the display. He reached into the picture and made some hand movements.
Lines in different colors appeared in the globe. He stepped back.

 

“These are the lines of direction of the various forces we encountered before our resistence turned
into this alliance.” He pointed at one line in particular. “This is the first fleet that Bolo of Earth
temporarily halted. The stolen communications and data indicate that their home is in the direction
of the blank spot. Naturally various other forts were named and located on the data. None of them
are close to the blank.”

 

“So the object will be for me to get inside that section of space, find out if anything is there, and
then get out.” Bolo looked at the enemy held territory and considered sending someone else. “I plan
to bug their communications along the way to give us more of an edge.”

 

“How long should we wait until you are considered dead?” Ternaugh leaned forward.

 

“When you recover my dead body from the enemy.” Scott frowned at his noseless face. “Until then,
I expect you to function as if I am standing behind you with a gun in hand.”

 

The others shook their head at the question. Either the Earthman came back, or he didn’t. Part of
the planning process would have to take both options in effect.

 

“Will the League continue to help us, Quozaxx?” Bolo had heard the description of the gold armor
users as galactic policemen. How many wars had the League fought in before this?

 

“The League will continue to lend support.” The alien gestured with a three fingered hand. “Some
of our number are leading raiding forces along the lines as we speak.”

 

Spots of deep purple marked the display. Some winked out while others shrank until they vanished
completely.

 

“Get us the after action reports, Quozaxx.” Bolo looked at his staff. “I have to get ready. Start
working on your plans. I want to win the war before we are ground away like wheat.”

 

Bolo took one last look at the blank section on the globe. He nodded at the aliens and walked
toward the door. He had to get his gear together.

 

He hoped his generals could keep things together. They were commanding the last efforts of their
planets. If one of them broke, the rest might follow.

 

Hopefully Nolgroth and Quozaxx could keep things moving forward until the war was won.

 

Was this how Eisenhower felt during the war? Keep moving forward until the enemy has to give
up. He would love to have someone else running things and making sure the galaxy wasn’t pillaged.
He knew he wasn’t qualified for the job.

 

He certainly wasn’t going to leave any authority to Ternaugh.

 

“This is going to be too dangerous, Bolo of Earth.” Nolgroth tapped after him.

 

“I agree, Scott Bolo.” Quozaxx floated in the hall with them.

 

“We have a chain of command, guys.” Bolo waved for them to step into his office. “You’re it. If
I don’t make it back, try to save the Earth for me.”

 

“At least take someone with you.” Nolgroth considered the other members on the staff. “You might
need help.”

 

“I’ll be fine.” Scott checked his assault bag for equipment. His clothes could double as a spacesuit
if he had a helmet. He made sure to put one with his bag. “You guys are going to have the problems
trying to make any false operations look like the real deal.”

 

“They will be real enough.” The weaponsmaker tapped his cane against the floor again. “I can
assure you of that.”

 

2
Scott watched the readouts as his ship sailed into normal space. He didn’t see anything that would
give a warning that a new arrival had appeared. He cut power and coasted to a stop. He wanted to
look around before he started working.

 

He didn’t want to attract the attention of the local watchmen before he could get started. That would
mean his mission was a failure.

 

All the passive readings said he hadn’t been noticed yet.

 

He also didn’t see any Conglomerate facilities in the area either. Should he jump deeper into
unknown territory? He decided to fire the engines a little to give him a powerless glide deeper into
the blank area.

 

If he could coast, he might be able to pass for a comet of some kind.

 

He made sure that all systems were ready to go if he couldn’t coast to target. Any attack would
trigger the defenses. It would be a brief battle, but maybe something he could escape.

 

There was no way his ship could stand up to a good portion of the Conglomerate. The best he could
do was go down fighting. Any injury he could inflict on his enemy would still need to be repaired.

 

Scott watched the trajectory he was on. The systems mapped his progress as he drifted. It filled the
blank space on Nolgroth’s map with small bursts of noise.

 

He spotted a satellite ahead. He watched his systems as they analyzed the noise emitted by the
cylinder. It had spotted him but considered him worthless debris of some kind.

 

He decided that he might need to program the sentry to ignore him in case he needed to fire his
engines some time soon. He studied the trajectory of his own ship. He would pass close enough to
rope the other vehicle. If he did that, he would have to bypass its security in a hurry and reset it
before it gave the alarm.

 

How much time did he have to do all that?

 

Was it worth the risk? Would it give him a tactical advantage to offset the risk? What could he gain
from it?

 

He could use it to piggyback his signal if he was careful with the code.

 

Scott set everything up first before he executed his plan. He didn’t want the thing to give the alarm
before he was ready.

 

He pressed the button to place his ship at full power. A line leaped out from the bow to hook the
satellite. He pressed the second command button. Code wrote itself in the machinery in a matter of
seconds. The satellite started rebooting after the assault.

 

Scott dumped out what he could, moved away, cut power again. Now he had someone on his side.
He hoped Nolgroth was getting everything. It might be essential to any future planning.

 

The weapons master might be small in stature, but his brain could dissect any problem with
mathematical precision. He made Alex Arthur looked like a child by comparison.

 

A line of barges floated into sensor range. He would fly next to them if they didn’t change course.
He noted the lack of weapons. He had expected the Conglomerate to arm everything it put into
space.

 

He didn’t dare fire his jets. If he did, he would stick out like a firework. He watched and waited.

 

Maybe he could use this to his advantage somehow.

 

His ship closed on the barges until the tug pulling it became visible. He hoped no one was looking
out of a window. He didn’t want someone calling home to let them know he was on the way.

 

He listened to the free chatter. Nothing changed as he flew past. Maybe the lead craft was
automated.

 

He watched his screens and the live view. So far he hadn’t encountered anything that had wanted
to kill him. It made him a little antsy.

 

He was used to the Conglomerate shooting first and not worrying about questions.

 

He was suddenly glad of the change when he considered what would happen if a firefight did break
out. He would be at the end of a shooting gallery with everyone shooting at him.

 

Maybe he should have asked for volunteers for this suicide mission.

 

He hoped Nolgroth was getting everything he needed to break the invasion. If Earth was saved, that
was all that mattered.

 

He wondered if he could land on one of the barges and have the tug drag him into the central space
area. He dismissed that thought. It was too dangerous. He would be better off hiding on a comet and
using that for cover.

 

He looked around for some other way he could get closer without attracting attention.

 

He decided the best thing to do was land the ship on something stable and try to get closer in his
suit. It was the best idea he could come up with at the moment. His ship would attract too much
attention if he got really close to anyone with a brain.

 

Scott thought about his plan. Could he make it work? How would he get around if he did hide his
ship?

 

Maybe he could use the tug.

 

The first thing he needed was a landing pad. Cover was optional. Once he had that, then he had to
look around for something to get to the next phase of his mission.

 

He went over the scans of nearby space. He saw a small asteroid ahead. He could use that for his
staging area as long as he was careful not to be seen landing.

 

He altered his trajectory with a slight increase of power. He quickly dialed back when he was on
course for the rock. Passive scanning showed all green for landing.

 

He set down and watched the nearby area with his scanners. No one popped out of hyperspace to
rain death and destruction on him. No one seemed close, but he did see another line of barges flying
through the sky.

 

How many of them were there flying around?

 

It looked like he had an answer to what he could hitch a ride on to get to where he was going.

 

All he needed was one heading in the direction he wanted to go.

 

He checked the readings, and then made a sandwich. It had taken a while for him to find food that
wouldn’t have side-effects. The stuff some of the guys ate could make you wish you were back
home with your favorite diner close at hand.

 

Scott thought about phase two. It wasn’t something safe. There were a hundred different ways
things could go wrong from where he sat.

 

He made another sandwich. If this was going to be his last meal, he might as well enjoy it. He
loaded up his equipment, strapping on his jet pack last. He set the ship to run information back to
Nolgroth through the satellite he had compromised. Then he set it to come after him if he issued
a distress signal.

 

None of his people were this deep in enemy space. Everyone that wasn’t him was a target. His ship
had full discretion on what to shoot at when it came to get him.

 

And he knew Nolgroth had done everything he could to turn it into a flying weapons platform.

 

Scott checked the scanner. Another tug was coming in at the head of a line of barges. He wondered
what was in those things that the Conglomerate needed so many of them. It was going his way, so
he might have a chance to snoop around while he was hitchhiking.

 

He pulled on his helmet. He made sure the suit was sealed and ready to go. He tramped along to the
elevator as the air supply loaded. He needed it to be at the top of the gauge. He didn’t know how
long the tugs would take to get to where they were going.

 

He rode the elevator to the top deck and used the airlock to exit. He floated in space for a moment,
looking around. He would love to take some of this technology to Earth and show everyone the
wonderful place the galaxy could be if you wanted it.

 

First he had to make sure that it was a wonderful place for them to come out and join instead of
dealing with invaders that would suck the system dry to build warships and send those out to other
places to be looted.

 

They were like army ants.

 

Scott fired his jet pack and aimed for the tug. He cut the power and let momentum carry him the rest
of the way. He hoped the thing went in for a landing before his air ran out.

 

All the things that could go wrong were suddenly running through his mind. He took a breath and
let go. He had to get on board one of the barges, or the tug, without being seen. If he could do that,
then he could start worrying about what to do next.

 

He would call that phase three of his plan.

 

He wondered how long it would take for him to reach phase one hundred. He decided to wait and
see.

 

Scott gingerly corrected his flight line to run parallel to the barges. He didn’t see any activity.
Maybe robots manned the tugs. He shrugged. He needed to board and find some air. Then he could
worry about any crew that might take exception to his presence.

 

He pulled out a line from his equipment belt. It had a magnetic fastener at the end. He flung it at
the speeding barges. He hoped something on the craft was magnetic. He didn’t want to spend all
of his fuel on catching on to the ship and then trying to find a door. The fastener caught. He was
yanked after the vessels.

 

He decided that he should have matched up with his jet pack despite the risks of discovery. He let
the belt and harness take the strain as the line reeled him in. At least he didn’t have to worry about
being fried by the exhaust of an engine.

 

He pulled the fastener off when he was close enough that his glove would hold him in place. He
examined the barge and found that it was closed like a clamshell with no doors at all. That meant
he would have to get in the tug somehow and evade the crew until landing.

 

It sounded a lot easier in his head than what he expected to have to do.

 

He scaled the line of barges as gently as he could. He noted couplings between them as he went.
Maybe he had latched onto a train. He smiled at the thought of the tug going chugga-chugga.

 

He used the visor of his helmet to look for entrances to the tug. That was where he needed to be if
he wanted to conserve his air supply. He found something that looked like a door on the top of the
vehicle. Maybe it was for the crew to go out and check on their payload.

 

He pulled his electronic key. He couldn’t kill anybody. He would have to get in, find some place
to hide, and wait for the tug to land, or at least stop. What did he do if it didn’t stop?

 

He decided to work on that when he had to.

 

The first thing was to open the door and get inside before someone found him hanging around.

 

3
Bolo looked around after getting inside the tug. He didn’t see any crew. The corridors seemed made
for repairmen instead of passengers.

 

He wondered how often they had someone go over one of the tugs for maintenance. He could put
one of Nolgroth’s bugs in the system while he waited for the tug to reach where it had to go.

 

He doubted anything useful would come of it, but maybe they could use the tug as a relay. At the
very least, it would act as a locator for any port of call. That would mark targets for the Allies.

 

Scott pulled out a field guide. He used the mapping application to show him where the computer
systems and the radio would be. He found the brain in a box under several crash panels. He found
the connection between the controlling systems and the radio. He pulled an applicator and inserted
the first bug into the conduit.

 

He closed everything up and stepped back. He didn’t want them to think he was accessing their
computers. Then they would start looking for the bugs.

 

The Conglomerate seemed to eschew anything other than basic intelligence gathering. They
preferred to throw their forces at any visible target until the target had fallen. Their numbers
allowed them to do that.

 

So far it had worked. The Allies were slowly losing ground in the war of attrition. If they didn’t turn
it around, they would lose the galaxy. Running from the conquerors would mean fleeing to other
galaxies in the hopes of finding someone who could stop the expanding menace.

 

He put the field guide away after finding a vent he could use to hide in until the tug had dropped
its cargo. Then he could try to get out on the planet and find out some things.

 

He gave some thought to his next moves while he waited. He would have to evade security, find
a place to use as a home base, and set up a way to call home. It sounded simple in his mind. He
doubted things would go that well once he was on the ground.

 

The Conglomerate had no problem with shooting first and asking questions later. He had to make
sure they shot themselves before they shot him.

 

Scott dozed off while he was waiting. He woke up when the tug had gone silent. He paused to
listen. The machinery was idling, but the movement had stopped.

 

Scott waited, but no one came aboard. Everything must be handled from a base location. He
crawled out of his hiding place and went to the door. He opened the door with his key and looked
outside.

 

The tug had lined the barges of with a landing pad. The platforms were dropping into some kind
of cargo hub. People in suits were running around with individual parcels.

 

Scott looked for a place to jump from the tug. He didn’t want to land in the middle of a hornet’s
nest. He saw a ledge he could jump to from where he was with a small spray of his jets. He didn’t
like being surrounded by all the soldiers carrying out their duties.

 

If he had to shoot one of them, the mission was over before it began. Forget learning anything. He
would be too busy running for his life.

 

Scott moved to the tug’s roof nearest to the ledge. He jumped from the ship. He fired his jets briefly
to carry him to a soft landing.

 

No one seemed to notice him above them. He looked around as he moved away from the depot. He
needed a place to set up to start carrying out his mission.

 

Once he had a base, he could figure out how to start taking apart the command and control structure
of the empire.

 

Bolo found what looked like a roof door. He used the key on it to get inside. He still needed a place
to hide. His suit’s air supply reservoir filled as he made his way down the corridor.

 

He also needed a food supply and a way to get around without being questioned. He had some
limited supplies, but he wanted to be able find something to eat if he ran out before he could escape.

 

What did the Conglomerate soldiers eat?

 

Bolo wandered into a busy part of the building. Everywhere he looked there were orange uniformed
troops carrying out their tasks. Most of it seemed to be pencil pushing as far as he could tell.

 

He supposed it took a lot of bureaucrats to run a war as big as the one they were engaged in. How
could he take advantage and seize some of the information for his side?

 

At least none of the soldiers had decided he was some kind of threat. Maybe strangers walking
through their areas was a common thing.

 

He walked through, checking displays as he passed. He set a couple of bugs against the machinery
as stealthily as possible as he marched along.

 

He made it to the other side without being challenged and kept moving. He didn’t want to be
standing still when someone got wise and raised the alarm. He still needed a place, but anything
close by he could use for a shelter was too close in case of trouble.

 

He needed to get to another building. Where could he go?

 

He walked down to a bank of elevators and a set of steps. He decided to use the steps to walk down
to the bottom of the building. Maybe by the time he got there, he would have a plan.

 

He reached the lobby of the building. He checked what lay beyond the door. The room was a wide
circle with a checkpoint next to the front doors. He would have to go around them somehow.

 

He looked around for another way out. Nothing presented itself. Everybody who left had to show
their eyes to two guards with scanners. He supposed it was to make sure the right people were
coming in and out.

 

He decided he needed a distraction. He needed something that would draw the guards away from
the door.

 

He pulled out a smoke grenade from his utility belt. Maybe that was what he needed to cause a
small distraction with the hope that they wouldn’t realize an infiltrator was trying to cut through
the lines.

 

He didn’t highly rate his chances against a whole sector of planets.

 

He waited for the elevator to open for someone going up. He armed the grenade and tossed it
through the doors as they closed on the passengers. He counted off the seconds. The grenade filled
the shaft with smoke as the cab headed up. It snuck around the edges of the door on the bottom
floor.

 

Fire alarms went off. The guards called in a report as they left the checkpoint to approach the
elevator doors. They drew weapons as they looked for sabotage.

 

Scott walked away from the stairs and toward the door. He smiled when he saw they hadn’t locked
the checkpoint down to prevent people from leaving. He hoped it wasn’t because they had some
kind of booby trap on the door.

 

It would be pretty embarrassing to get caught within hours of arriving on enemy ground.

 

Bolo turned left and headed away from soldiers arriving on a transport. They could be doing
anything. He thought they were there because of the fire alarm. He decided that fleeing the area
would be better than answering questions.

 

Scott walked along, keeping to one side. He kept his eyes moving. Someone would start wondering
why he looked out of place eventually. He needed to be ready for that.

 

He needed to take someone else’s clothes and use them for cover.

 

He looked around for likely victims as he walked. He noted the most of the people around him were
shorter, wider, and more muscular than he was. They also seemed to walk in groups.

 

He thought about picking one of the herd out as he walked along. How would a lion do it?

 

He should have sent someone else for this. He had barely made it to leading their group. Being a
spy was out of his league.

 

He needed to get off the street. That should be his first priority. Then he could worry about clothes
and a food supply. As he walked along, he was a moving target as soon as someone realized he
didn’t belong.

 

He found an entry to places under the street. It seemed free of the orange population. He decided
to go down there and see if he could find a place to set up something.

 

He hoped the Conglomerate didn’t have their own versions of rats hanging out in the underground.

 

He pulled open the trap door and descended the ladder to a tunnel. He looked around with his visor.
Heat spots danced along pipes lining the walls. He started along, looking for something that might
be useful.

 

His visor translated some of the writing for him as he studied signs welded to the walls. He smiled
when he saw something that said communications hub.

 

Scott pulled out one of his bugs and injected that into the hub. His visor filled with dozens of notes
from the bug. He needed to set up a relay down the line and set it up so the information was shot
to his ship where it was waiting for him.

 

Maybe he could trace the line to an antenna and use that as his relay.

 

He found a sign that pointed him to another hub down the tunnel. Notes from his visor indicated
he had found traffic for space. This might be what he needed.

 

He decided to see if he could tamper with it.

 

This might be the one thing he needed to get an edge on his enemies.

 

He pulled out his pad and inserted a connector cord from it into the relay. Notes started filling the
screen as soon as he cut it on. He ran a program to find the routines for routing of messages. He
directed the router to copy messages and send it to the tug in space as a relay to his ship.

 

He hoped he wasn’t stranding himself in the sector with that.

 

He unplugged his pad and put it away. He needed to blend in a little better so he could keep
gathering information.

 

He doubted anything was useful in what he was sending back to the others, but it would allow them
to learn things about the Conglomerate they could use for their own advantage.

 

Maybe the Leaguers could use the information to target weak spots in the spreading menace.

 

At least they knew there was something in the black cluster to attack now. He just had to find a way
to map it out for the Allies.

 

This was the central hub of their enemy and this is where they had to bring the battle. As long as
the war was fought on the edges of the expanding army, the Conglomerate could push them back
system by system with their brute force tactics.

[csyphrett]

4

 

Scott Bolo shrugged on his stolen uniform. The orange color grated on his eyes, but it helped him
blend in. He pulled on his equipment belt and buckled it. Weapons seemed to be everywhere, so
he felt it was okay to have his slug thrower at hand in case he needed it.

 

He looked around his nest and made sure to pick up his bag and sling it over his shoulder. His suit
and helmet was inside the bag. He didn’t want to leave them behind in case he needed to flee the
planet. He didn’t think much of his odds if one of the Conglomerate stumbled over what he had
been doing since his arrival.

 

The least he could expect was to be shot. He doubted they would go for that when they realized he
had pierced their veil and was sending information to his allies.

 

Nolgroth and Quozaxx had put some of what he had learned to good use according to the message
traffic he was monitoring. He wondered what their next move would be. They had destroyed several
builder fleets before they could reach their targets.

 

Once the Conglomerate wiped out any resistance on a planet, they sent a fleet in to start changing
the resources of the planet into something they want and could use.

 

Destroying the fleets before they could start harvesting a system delayed the Conglomerate by some
unknown percentage. He was sure Nolgroth knew right down to the last dot of a report how much
he had hurt the enemy.

 

Bolo had been lucky to meet the squat weapons designer after the accident that had sent him
shooting across the galaxy. Enlisting his aid to fight the Conglomerate had been more luck on top
of that.

 

The Alliance had gotten together as the survivors of the spreading empire had found each other and
tried to stop the machine before it ate everything in its path. So far they had slowed it down. Now
they had to stop it before things got much worse.

 

What would Nolgroth do? What would he do with the intelligence coming in? What could they do?

 

Bolo walked out of his small room. He headed for the stairs. He had put the camera on his secret
room’s out so he didn’t have to worry about security tagging him.

 

The last thing he wanted was to be identified as a threat and stopped from gathering more
intelligence.

 

He paused at the closed door at the bottom of the steps. He pushed the door open a crack. No one
was outside. He had taken care to dismantle the camera in the hall so he could come and go without
attracting attention. He slid out in the hall and used his key to lock the door.

 

He started down the hall, heading for a busy pedestrian sidewalk. He had selected a target for his
next bug. Once that was online, he might have to extract himself from the situation. Eventually, his
luck would give out, and the populace would want to kill him.

 

If he could get one of his bugs into the target, that might be enough to tip the scales of the war to
his side. He hoped the others were doing their best to wear down the Conglomerate, but they also
could all be dead by now. He had no way of knowing.

 

Bolo paused while trying to decide which way to go. He decided on a train and boarded with
a bunch of assistants going to their offices. Ranks on sleeves marked where they should be and
what they should be doing. He made sure to stand with his back to a wall and as far away as
he could from the aliens. He didn’t want to have them questioning his presence and start trouble.

 

He pretended that he belonged as much as possible. His sleeve didn’t have any ranks in anything.
Theoretically, he wasn’t supposed to be on the train with his superior officers. If any of them
noticed, he would be in trouble.

 

He saw his stop ahead and got off when the train stopped. He moved away from the crowd trying
to get on the train. He got off the platform. He tried to avoid security as he moved to get on the next
train.

 

He boarded and moved to the back away from the stripes. He took a spot near the door and stood
there with his hand on the handle hanging from the ceiling. His target came into view as the train
slid along. All he had to do was get in there and plant his devices. Nolgroth would be able to take
the Conglomerate apart with the information gathered from that place.

 

Bolo slid out the door as soon as the train stopped. He walked away from the platform, heading
toward the target. He watched his reflection as he walked by. No one seemed to be taking an
interest in him.

 

He knew that he was being monitored everywhere he went. As long as he didn’t do anything
suspicious, they allowed him to wander around. The Conglomerate didn’t seem to understand
espionage in any meaningful way.

 

He put it down to everyone being geared to going to war. There was no crime either as far as he
could tell from his monitoring. There was nothing he saw as entertainment. The soldiers got up,
did their jobs, went to bed.

 

If the soldier couldn’t do their job, they were punished and sent to another section, or killed.

 

And justice was carried out immediately.

 

Bolo walked to the building. He looked up at the roof. A giant metal bowl sat on the roof, pointing
at the heavens.

 

He found a place to change where the cameras and pedestrians couldn’t see him. He pulled on his
helmet to hide his face from the surveillance. As soon as he was done, he would change clothes and
become another member of the masses.

 

He supposed that was why villains did the same thing back home. It was hard to stay on the run
if everyone knew what you looked like.

 

Bolo activated his jets to get to the roof. He landed gently and walked to base of the bowl. He
pulled out his kit and examined the wiring. He plugged in his bug. His monitor lit up with the traffic
flowing through it.

 

He closed the housing. He hoped that none of the drones discovered what he had done. The
Alliance needed the information to plan out their campaign.

 

The roof door slid open. Two technicians stepped out on the roof. They reached for weapons to deal
with him. He jumped off the roof.

 

Bolo activated his jets as he fell. He soared over the skyline with the intention of landing and
changing into his stolen clothes. Then he could hide out until the heat blew over.

 

A flying car came in from the right. A small rotating cannon sent red pulses at the smaller target.
The green flier dove for the ground to escape the blasts.

 

Bolo looked for a way to lose the car. He frowned at the thought that he was now on the radar and
everyone on the planet would be looking for him. He needed to go to ground. He couldn’t stay in
the air as a human target if he wanted to get away.

 

Citizens on the ground reached for their weapons as he soared over the pedestrians. They held off
firing as he raced by.

 

He supposed they didn’t want to shoot the flying car down by accident.

 

Bolo pulled his slug thrower. He would have to manufacture his own escape. He pointed the pistol
at a building. He frowned at the lack of windows. The Conglomerate seemed to only put them in
so they had places to shoot at people outside the edifice.

 

He fired the pistol at the building ahead of him until it was empty. He flew after the miniature
rockets as they broke apart into a cloud of tiny needles. The barrage hit the wall and exploded as
he approached. He reloaded in case he had to use more bullets on the wall. The cloud of dust
thrown up by the explosions cleared to show him a hole in the wall. He flew through and looked
for a way out that he could use to escape the flying car.

 

Workers reached for their sidearms as he flew through the offices. He didn’t have time to fight
all of them. He frowned at the thought he had made a mistake. He should have stayed out in the
open.

 

Now he was bottled in, down one magazine of ammunition, and running around like a chicken
with his head cut off.

 

He found a set of emergency steps and headed for the roof. He heard the door open on a floor above
him. He landed and took aim with the pistol. He thought he saw movement on the steps above.

 

Then he heard a door open under him.

 

He was sandwiched in. How could he handle this? The door on the landing he was on started
sliding open. He fired his jets and charged the door.

 

He bowled over a crew of four with his weight and velocity. A red pulse missed him as he powered
through. He turned and headed for another door. He found himself in a bathroom and groaned as
he landed.

 

How did he get out of this?

 

Did he want to rush the door and hope not to get shot? Did he want to try to make an exit to get out
of there?

 

The door exploded under concentrated fire. Pure luck had pulled him out of the way as he looked
for a way out of his predicament. He fired back through the door to keep their heads down.

 

He wondered what would happen if he shot the equivalent of urinals. The water had to go
somewhere so maybe there was space for maintenance men behind the walls. Maybe he could
punch a hole and get out of there before the building was flooded by regulars wanting to kill him.

 

Bolo raised his pistol and fired.

[csyphrett]

5

 

The slugs split apart in a cloud of munitions. They struck the wall in a wave of fireflies digging out
divots of material as they dove to their deaths. A hole appeared as the cloud of dust settled to the
ground.

 

Bolo listened to fire alarms triggering from his assault. He inspected the hole. He could get through,
but there was no way to go. The broken pipes were six inches wide. Humanoids of his stature were
not expected to get inside the wall to get to the pipes.

 

Water sprayed everywhere as he fired again. If he could dig his way out, he might be able to get out
of the trap he was in. Security would love to take him apart and find out what was going on. He had
to elude them, and get back to his ship.

 

The munitions blew a hole in the wall behind the water pipeline. He jumped through in a supply
closet. He eased pass the cleaning supplies, taking a disposable towel to wipe his front off as he
went. He dropped the towel by the door as he slid out in the corridor.

 

An uproar told him that he had been spotted by the security system. He ran down the hall. He had
to get clear of the building somehow. He kept an eye out for elevators and stairs. Anything going
up would be helpful.

 

He spotted a set of elevator doors before he reached the end of the corridor. The doors slid open to
reveal Conglomerate troopers in combat gear stepping out with weapons ready to fire. He shot from
the hip first.

 

The spreading miniature missiles struck at random. The explosions blew pieces out of the soldiers
as the next shot added to the carnage.

 

Bolo fired into the elevator as he used his jets to jump over the wounded and dead. No one was in
condition to stop him from blowing a hole in the support mechanism on the elevator to drop the
platform to the bottom floor before he got in the shaft.

 

He headed for the roof. They would be waiting for him at the bottom. He needed to head up. If he
could get in the sky, he might have a chance to get out of there despite the security net that was
being thrown for him.

 

He fired the last of his magazine at the top of the shaft. The roof came off in bits and pieces as he
pushed against it with his jets. He shoved a keystone out of the way and headed for the sky as it
headed for the bottom of the shaft.

 

He reloaded before Security tried to catch up to him. He frowned at the visible trail he was leaving
but it had to be done. When he got the chance, he would try to use his disguise to blend in.

 

He felt that was blown. They would know they were looking for him. His disguise might not hold
up at this point.

 

It looked like getting off the planet was the best choice for him at this point. The Conglomerate
would never give up looking for him if it thought he was still on the planet causing trouble.

 

He doubted he could plant another spy on the planet unless they were someone who looked like the
inhabitants better than he did.

 

He forced himself to concentrate on the readings his helmet gave him. The future was nice, but he
had to get away from the tenacious army trying to capture him first.

 

He needed to be picked up and head out of the system before the armed forces could catch him.
Time to call in the calvary.

 

Bolo sent a burst message with his helmet radio. The signal piggybacked on local messages being
sent offworld to invasion forces. The ship sent a reply as it started engines and pushed off to
retrieve him.

 

All he had to do was stay long enough for it to drift into the atmosphere, locate him, and pick him
up and head out of the system.

 

That didn’t sound that hard when he thought it but Conglomerate fighters appeared to disagree with
him.

 

Bolo wanted to use the traffic as cover, but air cars moved away from him to give his pursuit a clear
lane of fire at him. He would have to use the buildings and hope to shake them.

 

His own ship gave him a check-in. He pointed himself in that direction. He had to get to his pickup.

 

Pulses of light blasted at him as he swooped and swerved. Windows and parts of air cars melted
under the intense fire. He dove to blend in with traffic and to use ground cover to his advantage.
The pulses of light followed as he went.

 

The soldiers didn’t seem to care about anyone getting in their way as they followed Bolo.

 

He supposed that when your population is nothing but clones, everyone is disposable. That seemed
to be the rational for their brute force methods for their expansion. Throw bodies at the problem
until it was gone.

 

That worked as long as you had a way to make more bodies faster.

 

Bolo used the ground traffic as an obstacle course as he jetted across the city. Buses and trains
rolled on predetermined routes. Pedestrians sought cover instead of getting in the way of their
comrades in the air cars.

 

His helmet warned him more and more troopers were joining in on the chase, moving to cut him
off. He didn’t dare stay out in the open with so many troopers working against him. He had to
get out of the open with exits that couldn’t be covered.

 

He checked his ship. It was drifting down a few miles away. It was outside of the cordon so far. He
had to get to it.

 

It was time to cause a distraction.

 

Bolo turned, hovering in flight as his jets adjusted to the new direction of travel. He emptied his
magazine at the fleet of air cars behind him. He wasn’t trying to hit anything in particular, just
trying to cause the pilots to do something stupid.

 

The barrage of miniature munitions blew apart on the armored skins of the cars. Some hit the
cannon on the lead car. It exploded, setting fire to the gunner. That caused the pilot to head into
a building and crash land through office furniture and low level workers.

 

The second car lost part of a jet and the pilot had to fight to stabilize it as it headed down.

 

The rest of the pursuit came on. Few of the missiles had gotten through and the damage was
minimal.

 

Bolo reloaded as he charged them. He tried to zig-zag so they wouldn’t have a clean shot. Pulses
of light denoted hits on the buildings on either side of him. He fired at random to give himself
working room. The distance wasn’t enough for the missiles to separate from the slugs so they
flattened uselessly against the skins of the cars. Then he got lucky and one shell went into a jet and
that car headed for the ground.

 

Bolo swerved right and around a square office building. He checked the position of his ship and
turned right again on the other side of the building. He started climbing again. He listened to the
reports on his helmet. They seemed to have lost him for a minute there.

 

He had to make the most of his head start while he had it.

 

A sighting went out. He frowned. They were back on him like ticks on a hound dog. He kept
climbing. He loaded his last magazine as he listened to cars reporting they were approaching from
an angle ahead. He had to be ready so he could get by and be picked up before he was stopped. If
they caught him, or his ship, the war was as good as over.

 

He had no illusions that he could withstand torture for any amount of time. His ship would be
drained dry even faster.

 

He spotted the air cars roaring in to stop him. He fired as soon as his helmet said they were
in range of his pistol. He had to cause enough confusion to get through.

 

He activated the recall so his ship wouldn’t land and would instead head right for him. He told it
to fire at any threats as it came. He ignored the answering affirmative as he kept firing at the air
cars.

 

He slipped through the cloud of falling debris as his pistol ran out of ammunition. He put it away
as he roared into clear skies. He ignored the radio chatter. He only had eyes for the ship’s position
marker on the visor of his helmet. Then he saw it roaring at him faster than any air car.

 

The door of his ship opened to let him slip inside the airlock. He ordered it to go. He didn’t want
to be caught so close to an escape. The ship reversed course and headed for space.

 

Bolo cycled through the airlock. He headed for the helm, checking the holographic screens as his
ship blasted out of the gravity well. The faster than light was useless until he was clear of the planet.

 

The radio warned him that defensive ships in orbit were moving to stop him. Automatic guns spun
in orbit as the call went out. He told the ship to evade until it was at the outer limit of the jump,
then take them out of there as fast as possible.

 

The ship warned him that missiles had locked on. He fired the defensive flares as the ship headed
for the partition line. It looked like it was going to be close.

 

He fired missiles behind him. He needed to keep the offense dodging just enough to make it to
the line.

 

The faster than light spiraled up to full power as the ship crossed the line. The ship had programmed
random coordinates so when the threshold was reached, it blinked away from the combat.

 

Bolo searched space when the jump finished. It looked like he had escaped from the Conglomerate.
He sat back in his chair. He took a breath.

 

He needed to get back to Nolgroth’s world and hope the others had devised a better plan to beat
the Conglomerate before they ate up the galaxy.

 

He took a sighting and turned to sail toward his goal. He needed to get the ship checked out to make
sure there was no bugs on it first. The Conglomerate didn’t seem to believe in sneaky, but who
knew? Maybe someone in their command structure recognized he needed more intelligence to crush
the Alliance that struggled against him.

[csyphrett]

6

 

Scott Bolo brought his ship in for a landing on the Carrier KrcSTE after arranging a meeting. He
needed to have it inspected for any surveillance after so long in Conglomerate space. Everything
had checked out under its diagnostics, but he wanted to make sure.

 

He also wanted to know if there was anything wrong with his body after spending so much time in
Conglomerate space. He needed to be checked out himself. The carrier had a sick bay capable of
doing that.

 

He also needed to know how the war had gone since he had entered the black space. He hoped
Nolgroth and the others had devised things to keep the expanding empire in check.

 

The weapons master had a skill for strategy and striking at sensitive parts that he downplayed.

 

“General Bolo.” A squad of armored marines arrived with a sergeant with a disk and feather
marking his rank arrived to escort him off the hangar deck. “We’re here to take you to sick bay for
examination.”

 

“Thanks.” Scott kept his own helmet on. “I need to make sure I haven’t picked up anything that
could be contagious, or electronic.”

 

“That’s why we’re here.” The sergeant issued a command and the squad surrounded the Earthman.
They lifted up screens to form a bubble of non-communication around the group. “We have your
specs from Command, so this shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.”

 

“No problem.” The group used an elevator to enter the central decks of the ship. They maneuvered
down halls until they arrived at a medical lab. The marines cut off the shields when Scott stepped
behind a screen designed to block input/output from the rest of the ship.

 

“Greetings, Scott Bolo.” The doctor and the sergeant stood on the other side of the screen. “You
can remove your helmet and suit now so we can do scans on them.”

 

Scott carefully disrobed, placing his weapons on the pile of clothes. He passed them through a slot
in the screen. He regretted not keeping the pistol in case he needed to get out of the room in a hurry.

 

The sergeant ran a scanner over the suit and gear. He nodded when the equipment gave him a tone
to signal the belongings were clear of outside monitoring.

 

“It looks like your belongings are clean.” The sergeant placed the gear in a locker. “We’ll have
them cleaned and readied for use while you wait, sir.”

 

“All right.” The doctor smiled with his jagged teeth on display. “This is the last exam before you
left Command for your mission.”

 

A three dimensional model lit up the space between him and Scott. He rotated it with a move of his
taloned hand.

 

“Please remain motionless while we take a picture of your current condition.” A light went off.
Bolo closed his eyes against the glare. Some of it still came through his eyelids. Then the light
snapped off.

 

Another model floated beside the first. Several changes was noted by the model. The doctor made
a small hiss to himself.

 

“It looks like you have picked up some parasites.” The doctor checked the type with what he had
in his files. “I am going to have to flush them.”

 

“What kind of parasites are we talking about?” Bolo looked at the model. The indicated beasts were
in his lower intestines. “Are they common?”

 

“Only on Conglomerate worlds.” The doctor examined the beasties, placing them in a picture drive.
“Maybe they ride around inside the Connie drones.”

 

“Make a note that we might need to look out for those things.” Bolo hated the thought of something
riding along in his intestinal tract. “We might have to kill them when we kill the enemy.”

 

“We might have to kill them to kill the enemy.” The doctor examined the readings. “These things
seem engineered to kill any poison.”

 

“How do we get rid of them?” Bolo wondered if maybe he was looking at some sort of biological
booster.

 

“Precise radiation burst should do it.” The doctor pushed a few buttons. “Otherwise we might have
to perform surgery.”

 

The parasites in the model burned up under the precise beam. The doctor smiled. He made  a note
of the treatment. He might have to do a lot of it before the war was ended.

 

“I don’t feel so good.” Bolo looked around for a barf bag. He settled for an empty basin. He tried
not to look at the pieces that came up from his stomach.

 

“Put that next to the screen please.” The doctor indicated the basin. “We should examine it for
contaminants.”

 

Bolo did as instructed. The doctor ran a wand over the basin, shaking his head at the readings. He
put the readings on the floating model.

 

“It seems once a body is subjected to radiation, the unwelcome guests try to leave to get new
bodies.” The doctor flash fried the contents with a tool from his suit.

 

“So I’m clear.” Bolo sat on the bed. He held his head down to let the nausea pass.

 

“Yes.” The doctor ordered a scan of the ship for any similar beasts. He was rewarded with negative
readings. He ordered the crew working on the General’s personal ship to scan it for more of the
creatures as well as themselves before mixing with the rest of the crew.

 

“It looks like we have learned something new about our enemy.” The doctor made a human shrug.
“I don’t know what it means.”

 

“It might mean nothing, it might mean everything.” Bolo felt better. He doubted he would be
himself for a while. “Transmit it to the fleet command so they know that we might have to deal with
infiltrators after ground landings.”

 

“Understood.” The doctor packaged everything into a message and sent it out to his counterparts
on the other ships, then up the chain of command of his own species, and laterally to the Allied
chain of command.

 

Everyone fighting the Conglomerate would know about the parasites within a few days.

 

“I need some sleep, Doc.” Bolo laid down on the bed. “Then I have to figure out if we learned more
than our enemy has a bunch of worms in their guts.”

 

“Good night, General.” The doctor cut the lights, but made sure to leave the screen in place in case
they had missed something.

 

Bolo closed his eyes. He still had to get home from the carrier. He couldn’t expect the captain to
stop in the middle of a mission to escort him home. He wasn’t that important.

 

Nolgroth and Quozaxx probably had everything under control. They knew he wanted them to push
the Conglomerate back. He hoped the information he had stolen had been helpful.

 

He wanted to keep the clone army from finding the Earth. Everything would be destroyed when
they reached the Solar System. He had seen that devastation first hand.

 

Bolo wondered what kind of brilliance the rest of the council had come up with while he was gone.
He had left himself out of the loop while inside the Conglomerate. They should have come up with
some kind of solution to the problem.

 

He wondered what that was. Maybe they had decided to attack the home planet. That might start
a breakdown in the chain of command. The clones seemed to need it to keep advancing.

 

Such an attack would face a heavy defensive array. The Conglomerate homeworld was surrounded
by ships and automated stations. Bombers capable of burning the planet would have to fight their
way through a system of planets designed to keep fleets at bay.

 

It would require a fleet of super bombers, or something capable of making the sun go nova in that
system and wiping everything out in one blow.

 

Such a weapon would be just as dangerous to use as anything else they had come up with in the last
few years.

 

Would Nolgroth have such a weapon? Would he use it to save the galaxy? Would he be able to
keep it from general use by the fleet?

 

Bolo didn’t see how they were going to be able to do that once it was learned they blew out a sun
to stop their enemy.

 

Bolo fell asleep thinking about the ramifications of the plan, the logistics, and the responsibility of
everything. He couldn’t allow anyone else to pull the trigger.

 

Who could live with the guilt of executing billions of lives in a single murder? Maybe that was why
Nolgroth had retired in the first place.

 

Bolo’s world had already fought such a menace, and he knew the Conglomerate would not stop
until they had wiped out every system they could reach. You were with them, or you were dead.
They offered no quarter to anyone who happened to be in their way.

 

In a situation like that, stopping the aggressor with any means at their disposal had to be considered
even if it meant putting out a sun and dooming a solar system of combatants.

 

The Conglomerate would do the same or worse to them if they could.

[csyphrett]

7

 

Scott Bolo walked into the council chamber. He nodded at the generals and admirals in attendance. They represented hundreds of disenfranchised species and the faction of galactic policemen known as Leaguers. A net had been strung up to talk to the fleets in combat with the Conglomerate thanks to the Leaguers who were helping in the fire zones.

 

“What do we know?” Bolo looked around the room. He hoped someone here had a better idea than
blowing out their home sun and seeing what happened.

 

He didn’t.

 

“We have a central governmental center we can target for attack.” One of the admirals spoke up. “Using the decoded intercepted messages, we have located nodes that direct actions around them.”

 

A star map lit up with the relevant data. A web formed between the homeworld and the regional centers of power. Labels for various stars marked the location of each system.

 

“The enemy employs a building strategy.” Ternaugh indicated the edge of the spreading web. “A fleet moves into a system. It annihilates any life in the system. Then they begin using the material in the system to build factories, and dry docks, to build more ships. Once they have the operation flowing as smooth as an assembly line, another fleet is readied and sent to the next system in line.”

 

The floating diagram illustrated the operation for the crowd.

 

“Their clone factories allow them to put troops in action faster than we could hope to breed our own races.” One of the generals spoke up. He had a medic symbol of three bars meeting on the sleeve of his tunic. “This allows them to sustain more casualties than we could ever hope to match. A war of attrition like we are fighting now will end in our defeat.”

 

“It also means they don’t care about gathering intelligence.” Ternaugh spoke. “They flatten their enemies whenever possible. If they get held up, they pour troops into the field until their enemy is forced to retreat.”

 

“Except for the Thirteen Axis.” Nolgroth put on a system of thirteen planets orbiting two small stars. “Something happened there that forced the Conglomerate to sit on the edge of the system and go around. We’re not sure what.”

 

“An observer said that something attacked their fleet and ate some of the ships.” Quozaxx spoke from where he floated. “We lost the observer, so we can’t be sure what he was talking about in his reports.”

 

“So no one can get in the system without a problem.” Bolo didn’t like that, but it made sense that something was keeping the Conglomerate out of the region. “Any ideas on how to use that to our advantage?”

 

“We could lure ships into the barrier, but we couldn’t be sure they would take the bait.” One of the admirals spoke up. “It might hurt us more than help us.”

 

“Are we sure that the central system is directing the expansion from inside their sphere of influence?” Bolo looked around the room.

 

“Yes, sir.” A captain indicated the web display again. “Orders are going out, acknowledgments are going in.”

 

“What happens if we attack that system?” Bolo wondered how many knew he was proposing a suicide mission against the defenses set in place.

 

The admirals and generals began consulting aides for the answers. Quozaxx seemed to be fielding calls from Leaguers about the question. Nolgroth leaned on his cane, rubbing his chin in a human way as he considered the idea.

 

Bolo waited for the assembly to come to order, but after a few minutes was about to bang the gavel for their attention. His idea of striking at the center of the enemy operation seemed to be favored by the council and its advisors.

 

He wondered who would volunteer for such a dangerous job.

 

“The models think the Conglomerate will be forced to halt their advance until a government is in place to lead their expansion again.” Ternaugh broke through the noise first. “It might reduce the enemy to cells that can be eliminated one by one.”

 

“What happens if we can’t destroy the enemy’s planners in the first shot?” Bolo doubted the answer would be something he would like.

 

“They’ll try to counterattack against us.” Ternaugh shrugged. “They might go into a frenzy.”

 

“Do we have anything big enough to get through their homeworld defenses?” Bolo wanted to shut them down before they got a chance to try to send people after him and his colleagues.

 

“Maybe.” Nolgroth frowned as he stepped to center stage. “I have had the plans for a super battleship since before my retirement. I have just never needed to build one before now.”

 

“How long will it take to build it?” Bolo said nothing about his friend holding back. He knew that the alien had hated getting involved beyond solving the initial puzzle of where Earth was from his home.

 

“Not long at all.” Nolgroth nodded at the golden armor of Quozaxx. “The League is ready to field one whenever we give the word.”

 

“So if we attack and wipe out the Conglomerate’s homeworld, they will concentrate on securing their chain of command.” Bolo looked around the room again. “That’s our consensus?”

 

“We could attack planets close by to further disrupt the line.” The admiral pointed out several key planets inside the Conglomerate sphere. “I don’t know how much damage we could do, but it might be enough to start a collapse.”

 

“But not a full cascade.” Ternaugh disagreed. “These people are too centered to be panicked into flight by heavy attacks. They will try to hook together to rebuild the chains of command and supply.”

 

“We’ll worry about that when we assess the aftermath of our bombing run.” Bolo had to agree with Ternaugh. The Conglomerate threw their soldiers away. Destroying their leaders was a short range tactic. The people under them would assume the titles and keep things going.

 

“Is there anything else we need to look at before we move into the operation?” Bolo looked around at the officers. Most shook their heads, or made equivalent signs of negativity. “We’re going to need fighters as cover for this raid. Send us whomever you can spare. A carrier will be designated for the jump off of the mission. We’ll need volunteers who know they might not make it back.”

 

The meeting started breaking up. They weren’t as single minded as the Conglomerate, but they knew something about warfare now that their homes had been converted into factories and breeding vats.

 

Bolo held up his hand to signal Nolgroth and Quozaxx to stay behind. He wanted to talk to them about their battleship.

 

“What is your honest opinion of an attack on the Conglomerate’s homeworld?” Bolo put up the maps his bugs had sent with the other information across the communications line.

 

“If we can disrupt their command, it will help us.” Nolgroth tapped his cane on the floor. “I regret the necessity, but the enemy shows no mercy. Only a foolish sapient would think they would sue for peace if we ask them without a threat of violence.”

 

“I agree.” Quozaxx spoke through the filter of his golden armor. “The Leaguers have rarely put a standing army in the field before this event. This is the most genocidal race we have ever come across protecting the various systems that we do.”

 

“Let me see this ship of yours.” Bolo frowned. “Then we can see about crewing it.”

 

Nolgroth said something to the display. A ship bristling with guns snapped into existence on the air. Missile pods dotted the hull from bow to stern. Five big engines dominated the back. A small bump designated the visible part of the bridge.

 

“This is your baby?” Bolo turned the picture so he could look at it from all angles.

 

“We should be able to fight our way to the central system and bomb the homeworld, and then fight our way out.” Quozaxx made a gesture. “The power plants in the design will give us enough energy to punch through anything short of a planetary defense array.”

 

“How many crew members are needed?” Bolo already planned to captain the beast. He came up with the idea of the carpet bombing. He would have to carry it out.

 

“About a hundred.” Quozaxx made a buzzing noise. “I planned to do this alone when I heard what you were thinking.”

 

“I’m afraid not.” Bolo shook his head. “The both of you are way more valuable than me. I read the reports when I got home. The two of you handed the Conglomerate its only real defeats.”

 

“The staff help us.” Nolgroth noted the empty chairs with his cane. “Are you sure this is what you want? If you are killed, or captured, people will lose hope.”

 

“It has to be done.” The human smiled slightly. “And I am the most expendable of our operation. The Alliance will lose nothing if something happens to me. Nolgroth is the brains of this outfit, and Quozaxx is the link to the Leaguers, our only real ally outside of our organization. If we lost either one of you, I couldn’t do anything as effectively as the both of you.”

 

“We will get you the best crew that we can.” Nolgroth assured him.

 

“I have talked with my aide.” Quozaxx made another gesture. “It assures me that it can build what we need in a matter of days. It just needs the raw material.”

 

“Get with the engineers and have them round up what you need.” Bolo thought that would be the easy part. “Nolgroth and I will go over approach routes so we can do our bombing before they detect something is wrong.”

 

“I’ll get right on it.” Quozaxx floated out of the council chamber.

 

“This isn’t really a good plan.” Bolo frowned at the floating ship. “But it is the only one we got.”

 

“The design will take care of itself.” Nolgroth looked at the drawing with something like pride. “This is my best work ever.”

 

“It’s not the ship.” Bolo looked at him. “It’s me. We are planning on snuffing out a race of monsters and that will change us in ways we can’t see at this moment.”

 

“It’s the best we can do in this situation.” Nolgroth tapped his cane against the floor. “If we don’t do something, all of our allies will lose what little they have retained after being driven across the galaxy.”

 

Bolo nodded. He had seen enough of the enemy to know what they would do if they ever reached Earth. They would kill every man, woman, and child. They would turn the planet into a graveyard before they built more clone factories to keep expanding.

 

No one on Earth would be able to stand up to the onslaught to erase humans from the galaxy.

[csyphrett]

Scott Bolo read the latest reports on the war. He frowned at the assessments. His Alliance had been
forced to fight a holding action. That was a bad idea against the Conglomerate. Their forces were
a juggernaut that rolled over other civilizations and crushed them flat.

 

He hoped to change that around with this last ditch effort. What he was about to do was nothing
short of mass murder. He couldn’t see any other way to force the Conglomerate to stop expanding
and maybe collapse back into the original area of control that it had sprang from when things had
started.

 

“This is the Captain.” Bolo triggered the com in his chair. “Stow your gear, report to stations, load
supplies. I want to be ready to leave the dock in three zero clicks. Engineers, do last checks and
report in. That is all.”

 

“Bolo of Earth.” Nolgroth’s cracked voice broke in on the com. “The fleet is assembling at the
designated rally point. Quozaxx’s Leaguers are assembling with the fleet. They are providing point
defense.”

 

“Do they know this is going to be a rough ride?” Bolo put aside the reports for a moment.

 

“They know that the system is heavily defended.” Nolgroth frowned on the screen. “Quozaxx and
I have gone over the elements that you were able to record. They believe their armor is more than
a match for some of the fighters and robotic guns.”

 

“Who is the commander of the force?” Bolo had already expressed the desire for Quozaxx to stay
behind. So his name better not be the one he was about to hear.

 

“Dial Dorvan of Mycris.” Nolgroth tapped his cane against something. “He has reported himself
to be on the way to the fleet rally point.”

 

“I’ll try to bring your brainchild back, Nolgroth.” Bolo reached for the com disconnect. “It has been
a pleasure working with you.”

 

“Take care, my friend.” Nolgroth nodded as the screen vanished.

 

Bolo knew he was on the biggest target that would be present in the fleet. He would settle for
limping home with the mission successfully accomplished.

 

The bridge crew started arriving. They checked in their stations with precision. The construction
crews had kept everything as common as they could so flight training was minimal for the new
crew.

 

“Supplies are loaded.” Esme, the new executive officer reported over his com. His locator put him
down in the hold area. “Crew has all boarded according to the manifest.”

 

Bolo checked the flight list, and the engineer green lights. Everything looked ready to him. He
called up a view of the dock. The workers had done an incredible job. He hoped he was worthy of
their abilities.

 

“Green lights across the board.” The chief engineer called from his station.

 

“This is the Offender.” Bolo called the dock control room. “Release the clamps. Helm get ready to
apply power.”

 

“Clamps released.” The tower officer called back. “Good luck.”

 

The helmsman applied thrust, checking his scans for closeness with the dock’s walls. He steered
out of the hangar and held a course straight away from the floating shipyard.

 

“The dock reports everything looked good on exit.” The chief engineer reported. “Everything is
good on my side.”

 

“This is the captain speaking.” Bolo copied the feeds from the other stations to his chair. They
popped up on small screens in the air around him. “We’re going to test the jump drives for the first
time. Nonessential personnel is expected to strap down.”

 

“These are the coordinates, Helm.” Bolo sent over the numbers. “Take us there.”

 

The helmsman lined the Offender up on a course that would run them on a straight line to the
designated point. He gradually applied power to build up speed for the run.

 

“Jump engines are green.” The engineer reported from his station. If something was going to go
wrong with the engines, this was when it would happen.

 

“Maximum speed for breech.” The helmsman pushed down on the transit button. Everything
blinked out of existence. “Jump engaged.”

 

A feeling like being thrown through the air accompanied the switch to non-linear space. Bolo
checked the readings. Everything looked okay to him.

 

“We are on our way.” Bolo smiled. “We’re going to meet with the rest of the fleet, then by the next
day, we might be seeing combat. I want everyone to be ready to do their best.”

 

Bolo looked over the readouts. The ship flew true in the hyperspace its jump engines used to
connect one area of space with another. He figured at least two more jumps before they reached the
rallying point. He noted the helmsman was already running solutions depending on where they
exited into real space so he would be ready to adjust course.

 

He would meet with the Leaguer commander before ordering the assault, and see what the alien cop
could do for them.

 

He didn’t want to lead his fleet into a meat grinder with no way to get survivors out of system.

 

The Conglomerate killed anything that opposed it without fail.

 

He reviewed the crew manifest until he found names for gunners, master gunners, and gunner
mates. He asked for them to meet him in Conference Room A. Using that for a planning room
should be alright.

 

“Captain to Commander Esme.” Bolo stood. “I am on the way to Conference Room A. Please meet
me there when you are done.”

 

“Yes, Captain.” Esme reported back. “Inspecting the weapon loads now. Will be at Room A in ten
minutes barring problems.”

 

Bolo looked around the room. The engineer had the most rank on the bridge. He also seemed to
have the most experience, but it was hard to tell with aliens.

 

“Chief Engineer Shugio, keep us on course.” Bolo headed for the bridge door. “Note any problems
with the engines, or structural integrity. We’ll try to get anything fixed before the mission.”

 

“This weapon will serve us well.” Shugio nodded his horned head. “I have seen it.”

 

“Don’t let it break before we get to the real fight.” Bolo paused at the door to look at his bridge
crew. He didn’t know them. He didn’t know what they were capable of doing. He hoped he wasn’t
helping to kill them.

 

Bolo stepped out in the main deck. The bridge was set near the front center of the Offender. A back
up bridge was at the back near engineering. If anything happened to the engines, it was all over for
them. The second bridge was there in case the main bridge took a torpedo and was gutted out.

 

If that happened, most of the crew would be dead, or incapacitated.

 

He descended down a deck to where the conference rooms, mess, and food supplies should be. He
spotted an arrow pointing him toward his destination. The exec would have plenty of time to arrive
as slow as he walking around the ship.

 

He stepped in the conference room. The weapons officers stood when they noticed him. They all
had the same general look about them despite the separate species. These were humanoids that
would open fire on an enemy with the intent to kill him, then go home and have the local equivalent
of ice cream.

 

These were the men he needed in action.

 

“This is the target.” Bolo put up a model of the Conglomerate homeworld for them to look at and
make their own assessments. “We are being tasked with turning this into nothing. What do you
think?”

 

“Can’t be done, sir.” One of the older Chiefs spoke up. His name tab identified him as Dragun Grl.
“At least not with what we’re carrying. We could wreck a lot of the architecture, but the missiles
we’re carrying are listed with a light payload. They’ll barely knock a building down on their own,
much glass it into nothingness.”

 

“Recommendations.” Bolo was glad that he had taken the time to ask the experts. If anyone knew
how to kill a planet, it was them.

 

“To ruin the planet, we’d need a kinetic projectile like an asteroid.” The gunners conferred on the
technical terms. “Maybe more than one. It would take time for us to set up a firing solution, and
then to boost the rock toward the planet.”

 

“Can we do it with the Offender?” Bolo would have to confer with the other captains in the fleet
to set up a screen so the battleship could drag the rock into position.

 

“We have to consult with the engineers.” Grl scraped some scales off his neck. “I don’t think our
projectors have enough juice.”

 

“Shugio is on the bridge.” Bolo nodded at the appearance of Esme at the door. “I’ll send him down,
and you can work out the specifics. We want to reduce the target to nothing. Command and control
is redundant so we have to make sure to wreck the whole planet.”

 

“Leave it to us.” The gunner nodded. “We might be able to cobble something together to load into
a torpedo to cause some kind of chain effect with the atmosphere, or some other kind of outlandish
thing from a fairy tale, but most likely the reasonable course will be to drop one of these bigger
rocks the Connies have been mining out on their planet, and then repeat as much as necessary.”

[csyphrett]

9

Bolo met the other captains, and Leaguer Dorvan, aboard the Offender. He had joined

Conference Rooms B and C together by sliding a removable wall out of the way. The

rest of the Leaguers had been asked to listen in through Dorvan’s aide so everyone

could hear the plan. The captains would have to brief their juniors back on their own

ships.

 

“The plan is simple.” Bolo put up diagrams of the system, copying them over to the

other captains’ files as he went. “We need to wipe out the Conglomerate’s homeworld

completely. That should cause a break down in command. Then the hope is to

collapse their lines so we control their former holdings while we are pushing them

back. The gunners and engineers say we can’t do that with what we’re packing on our

ships. We need something bigger.”

 

He put up a picture of an asteroid. The others made various noises as they realized

what they were planning to do.

 

“The Offender, Silk Hand, and Robot Police will lead the offense, trying to shoot

down anyone who doesn’t give up.” The three ships were the heaviest and ready to

fight.

 

“A screen of fighters will come in after us as support. We want our pilots doing

whatever they can to attract attention until they are at the target.”

 

“Then we need three engines fitted on the biggest rocks in the system while this is

going on. These rocks are to be aimed at the homeworld and loosed.” Bolo placed the

selected target asteroids on the diagram. “The engineers are to get off their asteroids

before they hit. They will be picked up as soon as the battle is over.”

 

“Leaguers.” Bolo frowned. He didn’t know what the armored forces could do, so they

were a wild card in all of this. “You are going to have to do everything else.

Overflight, security, run and gun against enemy fighters will fall on you. Quozaxx

said you could handle this without any problems.”

 

“Master Bolo, my associates assure me that anything that you want to bomb will be

bombed on time, and in a timely manner.” Dorvan made an insectile clicking. “Point

us at the enemy and we will do what we have to do to stop this menace.”

 

“I hate to say it, but I am going to need you to use your best judgement.” Bolo crossed

his arms. “Your armors allow you to fit a variety of roles below a capital ship. Your

group is going to have fix any problems with the loose plan we came up with once the

enemy is engaged. Real time intelligence back to Central will be a must if you can

provide that while you are working with us.”

 

“Our aides will send status reports to Liaison Quozaxx once we are engaged with the

enemy.” Dorvan made the click again at the end of the statement.

 

“Is there anything we can use to our advantage here?” Bolo looked around the room.

“The Conglomerate uses steady state drives that keep them in the real universe while

boosting above light instead of jump drives like most of our fleet. Any ideas how to

hamper them so they can’t follow us once we’re finished?”

 

The group went over the flight paths, emergency status if the rocks failed, how to

shoot the rocks if the engineers were killed, who was going to draw the most fire

while the others worked on the actual bombing mission, quick and dirty plans for the

Leaguers, the most vital targets in the system, retreat points in case more of the

Conglomerate were there than they had thought in the first place.

 

“All right.” Bolo rubbed his eyes. They had been at it for hours. “Report back to your

ships, get some rest. Tomorrow, brief your Execs in case you get killed during the

mission. We’ll do final load ups. The day after that, we sail. I need at least one more

crew of rock launchers. I asked for volunteers from the Offender already. They’ll

need to know what to shoot for when they get started. I think that’s it.”

 

“Master Bolo.” Dorvan spoke up. “Leaguers will land your teams and provide

security during the attack run.”

 

“Thank you, Leaguer Dorvan.” Bolo nodded. The success of the mission might have

become more possible with that statement. “Get some rest, send over your volunteers

when we get ready to sail. We’ll sort out where they go when we know who will be

on the final team.”

 

“My colleagues will be ready to fight.” Dorvan clicked some more. He walked to the

door in the smooth golden armor of his profession and vanished with the rest of the

officers.

 

“What do you think, Esme?” Bolo sat in his chair at the conference table. His

executive officer stood in a corner, tentacles wrapped around his stalk-like body.

 

“It is a workable plan.” Esme blinked four of its five eyes. “The Conglomerate seems

not to account for workarounds to their plans. The only thing that seems to be in

doubt is how they will respond if we do succeed.”

 

“We’re hoping they collapse and we can take back the systems they overran.” Bolo

rubbed his eye again. “I doubt it will go that way.”

 

“It will be a war of extermination.” Esme’s tentacles flailed in the air. “It will take

years of effort to deal with the fragments of the Conglomerate that will be left over.”

 

“I think you are right about that.” Bolo stood. “Right now, we have to save the

remaining people that we can. Then we can figure out how we’re going to stop the

fighting from getting any worse if we can.”

 

“The Offender will be ready for the mission.” Esme made a sort of shrugging motion.

“I wish there was a better way, but I know there isn’t. Pacifism will only get us killed

by the Conglomerate.”

 

“I’m hoping that we can turn this around and settle things peacefully.” Bolo closed

everything down. “If we can’t, then we will have to exterminate the Conglomerate.

I don’t look forward to that, but if they continue, they’ll kill anyone they can reach

in the rest of the galaxy. I’m not ready to let them have my planet to chew up like they

have so many others.”

 

“I understand, sir.” Esme blinked again. “The Offender will be ready to stand beside

you when we start.”

 

“Tell the section chiefs to allow liberty once everything is ship shape.” Bolo walked

to the door, realizing he didn’t know many of his crew at all. “We might as well let

them enjoy the time they have left before we rush into the lion’s den.”

 

“I’ll pass the word around.” Esme nodded. “Watch?”

 

“I’ll stay on the ship.” Bolo frowned as he thought about how many of the crew

should be left onboard in case they had to lift off from the planet. “Leave me ten

members of the crew so we can take off if we need it.”

 

“Yes, Captain.” Esme waved his tentacles around. “I will get around to it.”

 

“Take some time off if you need it.” Bolo headed for the bridge. “I want the crew

sharp when we launch. That includes you.”

 

“I will be ready.” Esme stood tall on his spindly legs. “My tank has been naturalized

so that I can carry on my duties at any time, at any place.”

 

“Good job.” Bolo smiled. “Tell Shugio to relieve me in five hours. As soon as I have

a nap, I’ll start on tomorrow’s work.”

 

“Remember to refresh yourself before we start.” Esme went to the left. “We don’t

need an addled captain in command.”

 

Bolo smiled as he went the opposite way from his executive officer. He headed for

the bridge and his ready room. It made him feel good to be in a place where he could

command whatever crew was on board in a second to get started doing things that

would save their lives.

 

He wondered when he was going to be able to lay down his responsibilities.

 

It wasn’t going to be any time in the next few days.

 

Bolo went to his ready room as soon as he was on the bridge. He called up the plans

for the assault. He wanted to go over everything again.

 

He plotted out the mission on his board. He reviewed sections of the plans. He didn’t

see any way that he could get all of his people out without some of them dying.

 

He also didn’t see any way for a peaceful ending. The Conglomerate had wiped out

scores of species whether they were a threat, or not. Those that hadn’t been wiped out

lived in systems that repelled the invaders for one reason, or another.

 

They also repelled the Alliance, so he couldn’t use them for bases for his own forces

to wipe out his enemies.

 

He was still working on the solutions when Esme appeared at his door. He looked up

and tried to wave the executive off, but he could barely keep his eyes open. He

blinked and woke up on his couch in the ready room. He checked the time and

groaned.

 

He had slept too long.

 

He walked out on the bridge, smoothing his hair with his hand. He looked around.

The bridge crew was more alive than he was.

 

“Everything is in motion, and going as planned.” Esme didn’t sit in the captain’s

chair. He sat at a station put in for him on the right. “We should be able to lift off on

schedule.”

 

“Third team of volunteers?” Bolo crossed his arms. Cheery things first thing in the

morning put him on edge.

 

“Already selected and briefed. Leaguers have been assigned. Liberty is still ongoing.

The other captains should be briefing their crews.” Esme blinked at him. “Everything

is going well.”

 

“Let me clean up and we’ll go over anything we might have missed.” Bolo nodded

at the crew. “Carry on.”

 

He exited the bridge and headed for his quarters below decks. He had to get a clean

uniform and some breakfast before he did anything else.

 

One way, or the other, things were going to change as soon as they started their run.

He hoped the crew were up to where history was going to put them in the next few

days.

 

He knew he wasn’t.

 

He hoped that he could go home once he was sure the problem was dealt with in a

way that the Earth was no longer threatened.

 

He knew that what he had told Esme was more likely and neither would see peace in

their lifetimes.

 

                               10

Bolo had the chair, echoing the readouts from the bridge stations on his own screens.

He would rather be at the helm, but knew that wasn’t practical. He had to have his eye

on everything across the Offender, and he couldn’t do that and fly at the same time.

 

“Damage control teams are ready.” Lt. Otz relayed from the Engineering station.

Shugio had gone with one of the rock shooter teams. “Everything is green lit and

ready. Power supplies are 93%.”

 

“Two minutes from jump.” The helm checked plot considerations. “On course and

ready.”

 

“Gunners, everything will be concentrated on us as soon as we exit jump. You have

three zero miniclicks before the Silk Hand and Robot Police drop out of jump. Fire

at will for those thirty minis. Then pick and choose.” Bolo cut the com. He was short

two gunners for the asteroid teams. Their comrades would have to make up for their

absence.

 

The Offender would jump before the rest of the fleet. The reasoning was that its

appearance would cause the Conglomerate forces to turn every effort on wiping out

the threat, the other two capital ships would catch the defenders unaware when they

arrived. Then the smaller ships and fighters would drop and engage targets.

 

Bolo was a bit worried that the other captains would fire on his ship in the heat of the

moment. He planned to be well away from the drop point before they arrived.

 

The Leaguers under Dorvan had been asked to get rid of anything they could handle

that looked like a threat. Their golden armors should be able to handle the same

amount of fire as a fighter.

 

“Entering Jump in three, two, one.” The helmsman pushed the button. A simulated

course appeared on Bolo’s screen to show him where the computer thought they

would exit. He couldn’t have done better himself.

 

“Getting ready to exit.” The helmsman kept an eye on the simulator. “Three, two, one.

Exiting.”

 

The Offender dropped into real space, preprogrammed missiles rocked the ship as the

helm tried to keep on course. The point defense turrets sprayed anything that had been

in the drop zone as the machine brains cleared the area. Then the big guns lining the

back and sides of the ship lit up the empty black.

 

The defenders seemed stunned by the invasion. Maybe no one had attacked their

homeworld before. The Conglomerate seemed to work on a build as you go tactical

stream, brute forcing a solution. Someone showing up at their house and blowing it

up had went from so crazy it had to work to a dead certainty for Scott.

 

He just had to live through the next few minutes.

 

“Silk Hand has dropped.” The com officer reported from her station. “They are firing

at targets of opportunity.”

 

Bolo didn’t have time for that. He was busy marking out targets he wanted destroyed

as the helmsman held them steady. He wanted every message relay buoy holed to

keep distress calls down.

 

They had enough trouble with the small ships in the system forming up to try to stop

the Offender.

 

Robot Police dropped out of Jump. Missiles roared from its hull as the gunners went

to work with the gravity guns on each side of the prow.

 

The smaller components of the fleet arrived. They didn’t have much, so the plan was

for them to drop out, shoot as many targets as possible, then run up to jump.

 

If they happened to destroy an enemy ship in the barrage, that was an unexpected

bonus to the operation.

 

“We have shield generators located on the planet.” Someone from the gunnery

department shouted in the comm. “It’s stopping missiles and cannon fire.”

 

“Helm, take us in so we can strafe some of those installations.” Bolo marked

everything in their way that looked like a shield tower. The gunners probably thought

he was crazy, but he wanted to open a hole for the second wave of their plan.

 

“Projectile one is under way.” Dorvan clicked in the com. “Projectile two is getting

ready to fire.”

 

Bolo nodded his head. Projectile one was the biggest asteroid they could find that the

enemy hadn’t turned into a fighting station. Number two was the second biggest. If

both hit, it would be a major blow in the battle.

 

Did they have a number three? That was a question that he put aside. He had to worry

about clearing shields on the planet that might be able to deflect the asteroids off

course.

 

He had to make sure that his weapons did their jobs. The only way to do that was to

do his to the best of his ability.

 

The Offender cleared a path with its big guns. Anything smaller than a frigate blew

apart. The gunners seemed to be saving missiles for the targets he had designated.

 

The ship rocked as the missile racks emptied. The clanking of reloading vibrated the

hull as the weapons struck at the buildings designated as shield generators. One hit

the shield, then the next pushed through while the shield tried to put itself back

together. A hole in the screen appeared as the gunners turned their guns on buildings

to clear them out.

 

The fact that the planet was nothing but buildings would exaggerate the collateral

damage from the guns and missiles. Once a building fell, it was bound to take another

with it unless it fell straight down. And nothing was going to fall straight down with

the amount of damage his gunners were doing.

 

Bolo spotted projectile one on his scanner readings. It was coming in a little slower

than he liked. He supposed he expected it to be moving like a real missile instead of

the thrown rock that it resembled.

 

“Helm, make sure we’re away from the planet when the rock lands.” Bolo checked

the flight path of the thing as enemy ships moved to fire on the planet killer. They

were too small in his opinion.

 

Alliance fighters and Leaguers pushed them out of the way with laser and missile fire.

Then projectile one hit the atmosphere and started to burn on its way down to the

ground.

 

Bolo hoped he never had to use such a tactic again when the smoke cleared from the

sky below. They had killed millions, perhaps billions, of support staff with one blow.

 

That was before projectile two entered the system.

 

The second asteroid hit half a world away, smashing through buildings with a calm

disregard for their standing in its way. When it hit the true ground of Central, a crater

formed around the impact point as the surrounding buildings fell over like building

blocks scattered by a giant child.

 

The two strikes should have killed most of the people on the planet. Bolo had to make

sure if he wanted to build a peace and return to his Earth.

 

He couldn’t allow the Conglomerate to rebuild and counter attack with the tactics he

was using now.

 

“Projectile three is on the way.” Dorvan spoke over the secure channel. “The rock

teams need to be picked up.”

 

“Helm, swing us around.” Bolo marked a course back to the edge of the system.

“Gunners, clear a path for us. We’re coming to pick you up, Dorvan.”

 

“Helm, as soon as we jump out of the system to pick up the shooters, I want you to

turn us around and jump back into the central system.” Bolo doubted that three

asteroids would stop his enemies.

 

At least he had the benefit of surprise to launch a final attack after he moved out of

play.

 

The counter offensive should be on the way. His fleet had to be gone when that

happened.

 

The planet was wrecked from the scans the Offender grabbed but there might be

survivors trying to get things together. He wanted to make sure, but he didn’t know

how he was going to do that when the planet wide city had partially collapsed around

the two craters in its surface.

 

“Tell the fleet to jump to rally point b.” Bolo told his communications officer. “We’ll

jump to join them after making sure projectile three impacts.”

 

“Relaying the orders.” Otz nodded his fox head. “Confirming reception.”

 

“Readying to jump in three miniclicks.” Helm announced. “Jumping.”

 

Bolo checked his screens when they arrived. The space was clear. Dorvan held point.

His armor had sprouted a lot more weapons than it had held in their meeting earlier.

He acknowledged them with a click on the radio.

 

“Bring us around so we can pick up our people.” Bolo wondered how much damage

he would inflict with projectile three.

 

Golden auras flared from number three. Then it began moving forward to the target.

The glow flew to an airlock and was welcomed aboard.

 

“Helm, shadow projectile three.” Bolo checked his screens to make sure they were

still in the clear. “Gunners, ready weapons. We need to protect this rock until it hits.”

 

The Offender and projectile three drifted into the Conglomerate home system. The

big guns opened fire on anything that tried to get in the way of the rock. The ship

broke away as the third weapon struck at full speed.

 

Bolo frowned at the damage done. They might have wrecked a normal planet with

their tactic, but there was no telling what they had done with the city planet.

Survivors might put the planet back together after they were done with the bombing.

 

There was no way he could stay around and try to get rid of survivors. The enemy

would flock back to the system to get at him.

 

“Helm, get us out of here.” Bolo sighed. “We’ve done everything we can. We have

to rejoin the fleet and get ready for our next move.”

 

The Offender turned. Allied fighters and leaguers formed a cloud around the

battleship. It ran up to speed for the jump. Then it vanished from real space, heading

to the rally point used by the Alliance for this attack. One by one, its followers

vanished after it.

 

Intelligence would have to evaluate the blow struck by what they did. The same

tactics might not work again since he was sure the Offender had been recorded and

the film sent in distress calls before the rocks had hit.

 

Bolo sat through the snapback of arrival. The fleet needed to head for base and then

go through after action reports on what every sensor had picked up during the action.

 

Nolgroth and Quozaxx could handle that part of things. His first priority was to reload

the missile magazines and check fuel before heading on patrol. The Offender could

be the thing they needed to slow the advance of the Conglomerate.

 

They needed to follow up on other base worlds as fast as possible.

 

They had struck a blow that needed to be followed on before the enemy could rethink

their strategy.

 

How many more would he have to murder before they gave up? How many more

could he stand?

 

How many more could his allies take before they cracked.

 

He needed to think about how he was going to handle that.

 

                            Epilogue

Scott Bolo sat at his desk and watched the combat recordings. His attack had done

wonders, but he didn’t think it would be enough.

 

And he had lost part of his attacking force to the Conglomerate defenses when they

couldn’t spare the manpower, or materials.

 

The effect was undetermined at the moment. Two days after the massive attack was

not enough time to gauge the way the massive Conglomerate war machine would act.

 

The Offender had handled like a charm. It had suffered minimum damage, and

inflicted maximum casualties. Nolgroth was right to feel pride in her. He had not been

able to keep track of everything in the middle of the battle, but the recordings showed

that his crew had partially decimated the defenses before the other two capital ships

arrived.

 

The Silk Hand had suffered two holes during the assault. They had lost a quarter of

the crew to space.

 

The Robot Police had lost part of the engineering section and an engine when their

gravity guns had misfired. The ship had limped home to drydock, and might have to

be gutted and rebuilt.

 

More than half of the fighters had been hit and destroyed. Most of the rest had been

damaged. The pilots, the surviving pilots, were ready to get back in the field and do

it again.

 

They had lost three Leaguers during the assault. Their armors had blown up after

being overwhelmed by the Conglomerate’s defense. One had been protecting a fighter

who had been disabled during the raid. Both had been killed in the resulting

explosion.

 

Quozaxx noted that a service would be held at their central command. A portion of

his command would go with the bodies. The rest would stay to help with the remains

of the Conglomerate menace. He couldn’t begrudge them that much. They had

already gone above and beyond their duties to his new alliance.

 

Intelligence reported the Conglomerate trying to change tactics, and their expansion

had paused as they tried to figure out what had happened to Command. It looked like

that part of the plan had worked. Manpower had drained from the lines as ships had

been sent to figure out what had happened.

 

His commanders had done what they could to hole those ships to keep the

Conglomerate in the dark as much as possible.

 

If they could keep that edge, pushing the Conglomerates into traps might be easy.

 

They weren’t breaking down. Their machine had developed a problem. They were

trying to diagnose that problem without a thought that their homeworld had been

eliminated.

 

He had to add a lot more fractures to their machine until they were done for good.

 

He was still looking at decades of war as far as he could see unless they had some

kind of breakthrough where they could destroy planets in seconds. That was

something he hoped not to have to use while he was helping the Alliance defend

itself.

 

Bolo signed orders to commission more Offender battleships. The prototype had

performed beyond his expectations. The damage his ship had inflicted had saved

more lives on his side than anything else that had happened.

 

Separate cabinets inside the Alliance wanted their claims answered. He had

ambassadors trying to smooth things down. Some thought they were carrying the war

more than their brothers. He would have to do something to assuage those feelings

before they fractured the fighting spirit of the sailors he did have.

 

He decided that maybe they could use the Offender and several escort ships as a strike

force. That might fracture the lines enough for his people to take back some of what

they had lost. It might be enough to crack the Conglomerate presence so that they

would bunker down instead of trying to expand.

 

Nolgroth would be able to tell him what the timeline on new Offenders would be

while he was captaining the old one.

 

He doubted that he would be able to undertake those missions. The Alliance would

want him negotiating their day to day squabbles. That was something he might not

be good at doing.

 

His door opened and Nolgroth, Leaguer Dorvan, and Admiral Ternaugh entered. He

leaned back in his chair to inspect the solemn faces, and blank gold mask inspecting

him.

 

“What can I do for you, gentlemen?” Bolo saved everything and put it away so he

could devote his whole attention to his visitors.

 

“We would like to ask you what your plans are in the next few days.” Nolgroth

gestured with his cane.

 

“I have ordered more Offenders to be built, I have read the mails submitted by our

fleets that are in trouble and am trying to think of something to change things for

them, and I have a border dispute to handle in some way.” Bolo paused. “And I was

thinking of leading another sortie and seeing if I could create more pressure on the

enemy.”

 

“What will you do when the war is over?” Nolgroth asked.

 

“I plan to go home to my world and retire to a life of ease and luxury.” Bolo smiled

at his joke. Leavenworth was probably where he would land if he showed up with no

explanation where he had been after blowing up a piece of important equipment that

he had stolen from the government.

 

His life of ease would be stamping license plates and watching the world through bars

on the windows.

 

“We would like you to stay on here as our leader.” Ternaugh broke in. “You have

been incredibly successful against the Conglomerate when no one else has.”

 

“You know this could all be a run of luck.” Bolo waved his hand at his desk. “It could

still go bad for us if something changes.”

 

“Even so, you have rallied the local spacefaring races, have held the Conglomerate

to a stopping point, and have destroyed their homeworld.” Dorvan clicked after each

pause. “It’s a commendable run of good luck.”

 

“As an outsider, you have no ties to anyone, and no favoritism towards the races that

compose the Alliance.” Nolgroth shrugged.

 

“None of those people know me.” Bolo frowned at them. “I could be worse than the

Conglomerate. Maybe I am forging you into a threat to the galaxy and you don’t

know it.”

 

“Maybe you want to duck the responsibility like any sane sentient.” Ternaugh

dismissed his objections with a wave of a hand. “Maybe you are a hero that has

worked miracles. Maybe your brain can give us an edge where we need it.”

 

“And we need all the help we can get, Bolo of Earth.” Nolgroth gave him the look a

senior gives a younger man when he needs something.

 

It was the opposite of a kid’s puppy dog eyes, but used to the same effect.

 

“What about the Leaguers, Dorvan?” Scott glanced at the metal armor.

 

“This is the first standing army we have ever fielded. Most of us participating were

responsible for protecting the planets the Conglomerate razed. We are staying to

protect the Alliance to the best of our abilities.” Dorvan unfolded a second set of arms

as he talked. “The League is responsible for protecting the universe to the best of its

ability, and we have been asked to hold this one section to the best of ours.”

 

“So you’re bound to keep fighting the Conglomerate until enough Leaguers can be

sent here to help with the situation.” Bolo frowned at the thought that there was a

force that could crush any enemy if they had the time to gather their numbers.

 

“We might never be able to gather enough of us to do that.” Dorvan clicked. “We

help expedite space travel, alliances, defense of life, and helping those in need. There

is never enough of us to cover the universe as it is.”

 

“So we can’t count on reinforcements for your losses.” Bolo closed his eyes. “We

need to start using your troops as rangers instead of front line troopers.”

 

“Rangers?” Dorvan clicked at the new designation. “What are rangers?”

 

“They are fighters that operate behind enemy lines.” Bolo nodded. “Spread the word.

We want your guys ready to go after targets only they can handle.”

 

“I am sending word right now.” Dorvan nodded. “Our aides are sharing data.”

 

“I want you to get with Quozaxx’s assistant and mark every target you think your

guys can hit.” Bolo checked his memory. “His name is Tikal.”

 

“When do you want us to start on these raids?” Dorvan clicked.

 

“As soon as you break everything down into whatever you need to start working.”

Bolo liked the thought of that. “Tell your guys they aren’t to throw their lives away.

There are too few of them for us to sacrifice them for nothing.”

 

“I will tell them to be careful.” A series of clicks followed that. Dorvan headed out

of the office.

 

“All right.” Bolo hoped he hadn’t created a monster. “Nolgroth, I got more of the

Offender class ships on order. How fast can you build them?”

 

“A few months for each.” Nolgroth tapped his cane against the floor. “I would have

to consult with the engineer corps we developed.”

 

“Go ahead.” Bolo smiled. “We want them for strike forces. Think about what

elements should be joined with them so we can eliminate Con bases in a hurry.”

 

“I see the objective.” Nolgroth nodded. “Let’s see what we can do to get there.”

 

He walked out of the office, cane tapping on the floor as he went.

 

“So what incredibly hard task do I have to perform?” Ternaugh wore an almost

human scowl on his face.

 

“While Dorvan is looking for single targets to raid, I want you to select targets that

we can use to collapse the Conglomerate’s territory.” Bolo nodded. “We want to

bolster our people while taking their people out.”

 

“And we want to relieve hard pressed fleets at the same time with these attacks.”

Ternaugh looked up at the ceiling. “I want to use the Leaguers as probes for this.”

 

“Get with Dorvan and do what you got to do.” Bolo leaned forward. “Try to keep our

guys safe.”

 

“I understand.” Ternaugh nodded. “I will talk with Dorvan and the command staff to

see who we can help first.”

 

“Thanks, Ternaugh.” Bolo stood and bowed. “It is a pleasure to deal with you.”

 

“You are a great warrior, Bolo of Earth.” Ternaugh bowed back. “I hope you are as

great in peace.”

 

Bolo nodded. He wondered if he would be around when peace actually broke out.

 

At least he was seeing new places and meeting new people that he could shoot.