Kosiev looked at Danielle for a long moment and then said, I take it all back when you asked her about the self-destruct mechanisms. Her advice is invaluable. Ill ask Admiral Dorg now and get that range.
Danielle, Tag asked. Have the Cainth officers been assigned to their ships?
Yes they have. Admiral Dorg is down in weapons now looking at our hornet magazines. Do you think they will jump early?
No. The Alliance was angry at the Cainth for violating their instructions so they wont allow any deviation this time. We still have four days until they come.
Do you think we should ask their fleet to leave before the fighting starts?
What possessed you to ask that, Danielle?
I think that there will be members of the Alliance that will not look kindly on what they are doing to us. If we allow them to come in with no warning and then attack, then we risk losing that goodwill. You can have a ship meet them as they jump in and ask them politely to just leave; you just make sure its an unmanned ship.
Once again, another good idea I would have missed, Darling. Ill have the ship stationed in the extreme outer system and have it jump to the Alliances jump coordinates once they arrive. It may be at the back of their position if they start moving immediately, but the recording ships should see and hear our broadcast. Well also send a feed to our Cainth brothers and see if they cant distribute it around the Alliance. As I think about it, Oh Hi, Admiral Dorg, I see youre back from your tour of weapons.
Hello Mr. Tag and Mrs. Danielle. Yes, I can see why you kicked our grumps in the last battle. Those hornets are fabulous.
Admiral, Danielle and I were thinking, what if we send a feed of the upcoming battle to Clan Assembly; could you arrange for the Glod to also see the feed? You can always say you had a ship you left behind after the last battle powered down and hiding to send you information on anything that we were doing.
Ill try to arrange it. Are you going to destroy that imaginary ship of ours too?
Danielle and Tag looked at each other and Tag said, My, you are the clever one. Yes. The last video will be of one of our battleships approaching the Camera. Then we will shut off the feed. We hope you and the Glod will be the only two that will actually see the battle. We have a plan to kill the ships sent to record from the Alliance.
Now whos being clever? Tell me how youre going to do that. But first let me get some of this wonderful food you call popcorn. If no one else does, I want exclusive trade rights on this product. Well all get rich.
Tag and Danielle laughed and Danielle said, Let me show you what happens when we put an elixir called butter on it.
State Leader Sten sat with the Vgrig Warmaster and wanted to run from the room. The Vgrig looked like one of ancient earths gargoyles. He had wings and long fangs with long claws on his ten fingered hands. He was red in color and was over 8 feet tall with a silver plume of feathers on top of his head. Sten felt certain that he would represent a great trophy for this violent warrior but if he attacked me he would lose the opportunity to kill many others during the upcoming occupation of Earth. He had two armed soldiers in the room anyway; you cant be too safe; this was a very dangerous race. Most members of the Alliance totally voided the Vgrig. Warmaster, I cant pronounce your name so if you dont mind, Ill address you by your title.
That would be fine; I assume Im here to get my instructions.
Yes you are. You are to occupy the planet and take control of these Humans. Use whatever methods you choose. They destroyed one of our fleets and need to have a lesson taught but first I want you to capture one of their warships and send it back to us for study. I want that done before you do anything else.
I may have to occupy the planet and kill a few before they give one up. Dont limit my options.
Sten thought for a moment, Youre right. If they surrender they probably wont have one near the planet. Do whatever you think is necessary; just get me that ship.
The Warmaster smiled and Sten felt a chill go thru him. Oh, Im sure theyll give you anything you ask for State Leader by the time were done.
Yes, well good hunting, Warmaster.
State Leader, we dont hunt, we kill.
Admiral Dorg commed Tgon-Gee and the ambassador answered quickly. I did as you suggested and the Alliance released us from their invasion plans. They must really be upset with these humans; they replaced us with the Vgrig. Some day someone is going to have to exterminate that race. When they cant kill others; they kill themselves.
Thats good news about your release, Dorg said. I was wondering if you might want to do something that our Alliance friends might not approve.
Tgon-Gee looked at the Admiral, Here it comes again. Just what is that, Admiral?
We left one of our small ships behind after the last battle and were going to have it send us a feed on the next one. I was wondering if you might want to see it too.
I thought you said the Humans could detect your ships even unpowered, Tgon-Gee said suspiciously.
Youre right. But no ship is completely unpowered. You have to have environmental controls on. We parked the ship on an asteroid with a high metal content and turned off all power. The three man crew has lived in space suits for three weeks after the last battle until everything settled down. The power they use now is only for atmosphere and heat. So far they have not been discovered. Are you interested?
Absolutely, after hearing about the size of the fleet being sent this time, I think you were giving these Humans far too more credit than they deserve. I hate that were going to miss out on the spoils of occupation.
Dorg looked at the Crown Prince of the Glod and said, Ambassador. If Im wrong about your race being set up by the Alliance then Ill resign my position with the military. I went there with 2,000 ships and barely escaped with my life. I didnt want to see you as weakened as my world has become.
Tgon-Gee said, Admiral, you dont have to resign either way. I appreciate your concern for my people whether you are right or wrong. This should be good viewing, how do you intend to get it to me?
Give me a secure communicator channel designation you want to have it sent and as soon as it starts, Ill notify you and start transmitting.
Tgon-Gee pushed a lever and a link appeared on Dorgs screen. Use that one, Admiral. Ill be waiting for your call.
Kosiev was watching the Alliance fleet go thru its maneuvers and had become almost bored by it. He could see that those maneuvers wouldnt work with the speed of his ships. Then he saw something happening that caught his attention. The fleet was organizing into three groups. They were going to come in from three different jump points. He had to reorganize his ships quickly. Kelly, have the Gardners report to the briefing room immediately, please.
Aye, Aye, Sir.
Tag and Danielle entered the briefing room and Tag said, Whats up?
Kosiev pointed at the monitor and said, The Alliance fleet is dividing into three groups; two large ones and a smaller third.
Tag and Danielle watched the screen and Danielle said, Those larger ships are all in the smaller group. Do you think thats significant?
Tag looked at Kosiev and asked, Admiral, if you were going to plan an attack, how would you do it if the previous one lost 2,000 ships?
Kosiev thought a moment, and then said, I would send 2000 ships in to tie down the enemys fleet then jump a second group in to attack from a different direction. I suspect they think we will meet them just inside the star drive limit like before which would allow them to jump the second fleet almost on top of us.