Serge’s whole world changed in that instant. His body shuddered as a chill ran down his spine. Mike stayed silent while Serge came to grips with this new reality. When he returned his focus to Mike, he breathed, “We have to do something about this. We have to get the word out to everyone.”
“It’s too late, Serge. The Chessori have infiltrated the fleets, and they’ve infiltrated government at the highest levels. We can’t invite them to leave – we have to force them to leave.”
“Is that possible?”
“Maybe. Actually, absolutely yes, but resources are an issue.”
“You have my attention, First Knight. Name your price. I will not be anyone’s slave, nor will my people.”
“I’m immune to the scree, Serge.”
“You’re joking, First Knight. You just said no one is immune.”
“It’s one of our most closely held secrets. And I’m not the only one. Everyone from my planet is immune. We are the only known beings in the Empire that are immune. That makes us the only ones in the Empire who can fight the Chessori.”
Serge stared at him. Mike gave him all the time he needed. When Serge next spoke, he said, “Do your people even have space travel?”
“Not yet. Just a few rockets with chemical boosters that barely make it into space. Why do you think we’re doing all this training here?”
“We’re training people from an emerging world?” Serge said in horror.
“We are, and I’m told they’re giving their instructors a real run for their money. We’re a creative people, Serge, and we’re serious warriors. But my world is essentially defenseless right now. Worse, we’re pretty certain that the Chessori know about our immunity to their scree, and they know where we are.”
Serge’s eyes narrowed, and this time he remained silent. He understood.
“We need to defend ourselves, and the Empire can’t do it for us at the moment.”
“Neither can I. Your best bet is probably to keep doing what you’ve been doing, restoring the Empire and keeping your heads down. Someday the Empire will have enough ships to protect your home world.”
“You’re jumping to the same conclusion as everyone else here. We’re referred to as an emerging world, which basically means we’re treated as children, not yet developed enough to enter the Empire. Our world is not a resource to the Empire, even if our people are. There’s nothing we can do but hope to be saved by the Empire.”
“Right. Just keep your heads down until the Queen gets her act together.”
“We can’t keep our heads down if we’re fighting the Chessori, Serge, and we’ll be fighting them hard. It won’t take them long to figure out who they’re fighting, and when they do they’re going to retaliate.”
“What can be done?”
“Maybe nothing, and maybe a lot. My people are, if nothing else, survivors. I’m asking you to help us help ourselves.”
“How?”
“Front us some engineering and manufacturing costs. If you do, and if we survive, I might be able to repay you some day, either with Empire funds or with funds of our own.”
“What do you want us to build?”
“I want to build ship modification centers on Earth, and maybe do some basic manufacturing. We have a bunch of squadrons that you don’t know about. None of them are modified yet, and the process takes too long for them to wait in line here to get the work done. We’re sending them to Earth immediately in case the Chessori attack. I want to modify them there. While modifications are going on, we’ll be training local recruits, each of them immune to the scree. I want you to send people that can train my people to do the modifications, and as soon as you can, I want to expand that program to include basic manufacturing. We can do our part, Serge. We’re fast learners. We just need someone to show us how to do it.”
“I can understand modifications plants, but what do you need basic manufacturing facilities for? You’re not going to build ships from scratch, and you won’t be able to build AI’s, not for quite a while. We’ll have to build them here and send them to you.”
“Well, there’s more to it. I don’t want to build big ships – we have access to a lot of them already. I want to build a new type of ship, Serge.”
Serge sat back. “You mean you want to start with a clean sheet of paper and design something completely new? We’re in the middle of a war, First Knight.”
“Trust me, I know,” Mike said drily. “I’m not talking about cruisers here, Serge. I want to build little space ships that are as small as you can make them, and I want a lot of them. They’d be all engine, shields, and guns, nothing more. Just room for a minimal crew, say three or four guys. And they wouldn’t need to stay in space for long periods of time, just a week or two. They could be carried in the bellies of larger ships if they have to go very far.”
Serge pondered Mike’s idea. “They’d need to be fast ships.”
“They would, but they don’t need to travel between the stars. In fact, it would be better if they couldn’t. The guys who fly them will be from my world, and some of them will be out for adventure. I don’t want them disappearing off on some personal jaunt across the galaxy.”
“Fast ships can go anywhere.”
“Not if they don’t have adequate life support.”
“Hmm. I see what you mean. That could help keep them small, too.” Serge considered the idea, and his eyes lit up. “Being small, they’d be easy to build and hard to hit.”
“Precisely. But they need to pack a heavy gun or two. I want them able to take on capital ships. I don’t want more fighters – they’re just designed to fight smaller ships. I want something that can take on a big ship. They’ll need guns equivalent to what we have on our cruisers. Keep everything as simple as you can – my people will be maintaining them, and if at all possible, building them. The first ships might have to come from Shipyard, but wherever they’re built, you’ll probably have to build a new plant. Why not just build it from scratch on my home planet? Someday we’ll pay you for each ship that you build, and we’ll pay you a royalty or something for each ship that we build with your plans.”
“You know, we’ve never had to fight on this scale before. What you describe makes a lot of sense, especially if we have to take on the Chessori.”
“We do have to take on the Chessori, Serge, and only my people can do it. Uh… there’s one more thing on my list.”
Serge leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his drink, thinking about all that Mike had said. “First Knight, it’s been a struggle to convince my people to support the Queen, and most still oppose the whole idea. You’ve just given me the tools to convince them. Parsons’ World and Shipyard are many things, but first and foremost, we value our freedom. We won’t be anyone’s slaves. You’ll have your fast ships, your manufacturing facilities, and your tiny little gunships. Whatever it takes, we will support you. But how are you going to do it?”
“What do you think all these people we’ve brought here are for?”
“A thousand? What good is a thousand?”
“It’s a start, Serge. The source of these warriors is not unlimited. Don’t forget, it’s an emerging world, and it has its own problems. We’ll get more, in fact we already have more, and it’s going to work. Very soon now we’re going to clear the Chessori from Centauri
III.”
“ One world?”
“One important world. While we’re at it, we’ll remove the Rebels, then we’ll spread out into the rest of the sectors and do the same.”
Serge leaned back with his eyes closed, clearly upset. “Gods!” he whispered to himself. Then he roused himself, peering hard into Mike’s eyes. “Do you comprehend the enormity of your task? There are 46 more sector headquarters and hundreds of districts in each sector.”
“I think it’s our task, yours and the Queen’s. Don’t you?”
Serge let out a long breath. “We’ll certainly have to play a part. The Rebel threat is bad enough all by itself. I hadn’t figured the Chessori into it properly. I’m glad you have.”