So he enlisted the aid of the Glod to make that determination. It really wasnt hard to get their help. The Glod were not part of the original invasion two hundred years ago because their planet was so far away, but they would have gladly taken part if asked. Among the Alliance members, the Glod were, like the Cainth, very warlike and took great pride in being feared. The only thing that kept them in line was the knowledge that the other 820 members of the Alliance would combine against them if they tried to exercise their warlike behaviors against other members. They had one of the largest fleets in the Alliance, and their ships were considered the best technologically. Dorg knew that his fleet could not match theirs. The Glod ships were larger and faster and had stronger screens and armaments. Their weapons were the best in the Alliance. When Dorg approached one of the Glods ambassadors and suggested the importance of finding out the capabilities of Earths warships, he had a very receptive audience. Dorg found himself to be physically quite a contrast when he was sitting across from the huge Glod. Dorg was tall for his race at five feet four, but the Glod ambassador stood seven feet six and weighed more than five hundred pounds of hard muscle. His long orange hair hung in a braid down his back and his eyes were vertical slits with green pupils in a light red face. Glods were bipeds and their bodies were hugely muscled. They each had a yellow ridge that ran along the edge of their hairline from ear to ear, and when it turned orange it warned of impending rage. Dorg knew he was no match for a Glod warrior; their history was replete with constant combat between their nations. They were also recognized as the fiercest drop troops of all the Alliance races. They were huge but also quick. When the Glods were armed with their traditional four-foot swords, which they handled almost faster than the eye could follow, most races gave a wide berth to avoid doing anything that might lead to a duel. The thing that brought the Cainth and the Glod together was their temperament. They respected each other for their warrior culture and the aggressive mentality of their races. A Glod would win a hand-to-hand fight but would not come away without injury when facing a Cainth warrior, armed with the three short swords and throwing knives that they deftly used with all four arms. The Cainth had evolved to be able to use all four arms independently. They were once tree dwellers and their arms made climbing and life in trees easy. One pair of arms would hold onto the tree even when they slept, while the other pair would hold their tools. They were deadly in hand-to-hand combat because of their deft use of their four weapons.
Dorg looked at the Glod and said, I appreciate your willingness to help me with this project, Ambassador.
The huge Glod waved his hand and said, Im more than happy to do it. We are a warrior culture, and if we dont find someone else to practice our skills on then we end up fighting each other. The Alliance prevents us from really practicing our fighting skills, so we look for any opportunity to use them. I think that we are a lot like your own race in this.
Youre right.
How big a ship would you need? the ambassador asked.
I think a heavy cruiser should be sufficient, Dorg responded.
Ive got just the ship for what youre planning. Ill give you the commanders link and you can set it up directly with him. Ill let him know that Ive approved the action.
Thank you. Its important that we not be tied to the event, Dorg said.
Dont worry about that; our ships are always having run-ins with other vessels, and this should be treated as just another minor skirmish to scream about. Do you want the Earth ship destroyed or just damaged?
If it can be destroyed then there will be less evidence to tie us or you to the attack.
How big is the ship youre planning to attack?
Its a destroyer class.
You probably dont need a heavy cruiser. Thats a little overkill, dont you think?
I dont want to run any risks. Ill show you the recording of their ship from a hundred years ago. The heavy cruiser will be fine.
Do you want our recording of the attack after its over?
No. Well have an unpowered ship present to record it ourselves.
The ambassador then gave Dorg the link to the Glod commanders com.
That conversation had been twenty rotations ago. The Glod ship had arrived on station and was waiting to be told when the Earth ship arrived. The Cainth Navy had determined that an Earth destroyer would pass through the sector planned for the attack every ten rotations. It was due to arrive today or tomorrow. Dorg thought, It should be a very interesting eighteen drags. It shouldnt take a full rotation.
The Directorate Destroyer Moscow came out of the silver-blue flash of its star drive breaking into normal space and began its three-million-mile patrol. The 250-foot-long Directorate ship moved smoothly through space with its hull glowing bright white from its clear armor coating and the discharge of its Coronado power cells. Most of the thirty-five crew members were asleep. Captain Alexander Kosiev slouched in his command chair and watched the sensor screens showing the space they were traveling through. He would often glance through the viewport to see more than a billion stars, some of which were billions of light-years distant, yet it was stark and lifeless where he was traveling, and the nearest star was four parsecs away. This patrol was mind-numbingly boring and there really wasnt much to do. His ship would jump half a light-year and read its sensors while it cruised for three million miles, then jump another half light-year. This process repeated itself throughout the entire patrol, and so far the Moscow had never found anything that warranted any attention, much less action. Captain Kosievs assigned duty was to patrol the twenty-light-year limit that bordered the Cainth Empire between Earth Base six and seven and make sure no one crossed it from either direction. So far no one had ever come close. Still, they couldnt take any chances. He glanced over at the electronics screen and it remained blank. The sheer emptiness of space where the Moscow was traveling made Kosiev wish he could see his home again. He took the bag of popcorn he had asked his quartermaster to bring to the bridge, opened it, and then took a few kernels and started munching on them. Its a wonder that I dont weigh four hundred pounds with all the popcorn I eat, he thought. The lights were low on the small bridge, and the various control boards that lined the walls provided most of the low-level light. The lights were almost like the stars that could be seen through the viewport. The sheer immensity of the universe he could see outside his ship humbled him; it made him feel small. The deep blackness of space made those distant stars shine like brilliant diamonds, and Kosiev recognized one of them and knew that humans were still in caves when the light of that star had left to arrive at his current location. Someday Im going to visit that star, he thought.
He would often discuss with Lieutenant Mikado, his sensor officer, the places he would travel were it not for the twenty-light-year limit the Alliance had imposed. Sir, I just dont understand how Adam Douglas discovered the principles of the star drive, Mikado said. Our technology was so primitive at that time and you have to admit that being able to jump around the universe with no loss of time was a major discovery.
Kosiev liked passing the long hours with this type of discussion; it helped keep the bridge crew alert. He chewed a few more kernels and said, It really wasnt a quantum leap in genius. He developed an instrument to measure the resonance of space around him. It was then a certainty that he would uncover the fact that no spot in the universe has the same resonance on the frequency reader he was using. He never got the same reading anywhere he went. Once he developed it so that he could measure the resonance and vibration of stars, then the hard part was over.
Mikado leaned back and asked, Why do you say that? Reading the resonance of stars or galaxies doesnt give you a star drive.