“I don’t understand, sir.”
“What we want you to do, Captain, is take over command of a shadow fleet, one that will consist of artificial casualties from the subsequent battles to come, plus all the ships that are actually damaged yet can rejoin the battle. We want the Juireans to believe they are weakening our forces at a rapid pace, while at the same time building this shadow fleet behind their backs. When their trap gets sprung, you will then counterattack with your fleet, catching the J’s in a trap of our own. Does this make sense to you?”
Lee nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. “But I will be out of the fighting to come, except for the final battle. Sir, I’m a pilot not a-”
“Not a desk jockey?” Allen finished for him. “I understand that. But this fleet you’re going to build has to be done in complete secrecy and I trust you, Lee. We cannot have the Juireans detect it while you shadow the main fleet. And the Klin must not know about it either. We don’t trust the Klin to know of our plans, so all the 2G’s in your command, plus any Converts you find, must be one-hundred percent loyal — or be purged from the fleet.”
“Purged?”
“That’s right, Lee. We cannot risk word of our plans getting out to anyone, even the Klin. You are an excellent pilot, but right now we need you to take over this new role. It’s a crucial role. Can you do it for us?”
“Yes sir, of course.” And then he smiled. “But I was just getting use to killing aliens.”
“You’ll get your chance again. When we spring this trap, you’ll have ample opportunity to rack up more kills for your ace-rating. Since your ship is already undergoing repairs, we need you to assess the current strength of your fleet. We anticipate the next battle with the Juireans will come fairly soon, at which time we’ll pull out several dozen more ships — fully operational ships, I might add — to join your fleet. We don’t want to draw out this final battle any longer than need be, so we’ll attempt to call the Juirean’s hand by having greatly-inflated casualty figures. The sooner we get the main fleet drawn down to a faction of its current strength, the sooner the Juireans will feel confident enough to spring the trap. You need to be ready when that time comes.”
“Well, thanks a lot, Uncle Nate. Not much riding on this — except everything!”
“Now you understand, my boy. Just make sure you don’t screw it up.”
Chapter 15
General Owen Taggert watched the planet of Melfora Lum grow rapidly through the forward viewport of the Klin spaceship, the one that its Human crew had named the Semper Fi. It had been nearly five months since he had left the Earth, on a mission to defend her interests against the almost inconceivable threat posed by the Juirean race. And although he had cruised past other worlds within the Melfora Lum system and elsewhere, this would be the first inhabited alien planet he would actually step upon.
The planet itself was very picturesque, comfortingly similar to Earth. There were three large land masses visible during his approach, with vast blue oceans and wispy white clouds casting shadows upon the surface. Like most Humans of the modern age, General Taggert was somewhat acclimated to the idea and imagery of alien worlds. Countless movies and science programs had prepared him for this moment. Yet here was a real alien world, and in a few moments, he and his accompanying force of twenty-five Klin flying saucers would make a hostile landing at the planetary capital city of Hi’Jea, and assault the Juirean headquarters located there.
During the long journey to the Fringe, Owen Taggert had taken it upon himself to learn more about the nature of the enemy he faced and the organization that it led. What he found was fascinating.
Through all the studying he’d done and reports he’d read, Taggert was amazed to find that a vast majority of the beings inhabiting the galaxy all shared many of the same basic traits and societal structures. Anthropologists and astrobiologists — armed with actual real-life data provided by the Klin — could now theorize why this was so. Their conclusions pointed to the fact that every inhabited world, whether now or in the future, would eventually produce only one dominant species. The Juireans and the Klin called these top-of-the-food-chain creatures Primes, and they noticed that nearly all of them shared the same general physical and biological characteristics: Ninety-five percent of them were mammals. Most walked upright on two or four legs and had two or four arms. Many had binocular sight. The development of hands was extremely important and remarkably similar, comprised of a combination of fingers and thumbs that were capable of manipulating tools.
Taggert accepted these conclusions without question, chalking many of them up to just common sense. But what he really wanted to know was why did all the alien civilizations he studied appear to be so Human-like? Nowhere to be found were there gaseous creatures that floated through the air, or talking fish, or slugs that ran spaceships. The explanation he found changed his perspective on all alien life in the galaxy.
As he learned, once a Prime reached a certain point in its evolution, the creature developed the ability to imagine. It could imagine what would happen if an animal attacked. It could imagine a time when the weather grew colder or its food supply dwindled. Basically, the creature would become aware of its surroundings and could project into the future.
As time went by, these Primes would begin to build shelters against the elements and clothing against the cold, knowing from their memories and imagination what could best be developed to help guarantee their survival. The more proficient they became in this area, the more they became dependent upon these exterior improvements to their condition. Furs grew thinner, teeth shorter and muscles weaker. Soon these Primes survived primarily through brain-power rather than brawn.
With permanent structures now needed to sustain their well-being, the Primes developed communities that would further help guarantee their survival. As the population of these settlements grew, the inhabitants found it wasn’t feasible for the entire community to go hunting each day for sustenance, so specialists were developed. Some in the community grew the food, others domesticated livestock, while others provided protection or taught the children.
On millions of worlds throughout the galaxy, this same pattern was followed countless times as Primes advanced through the millennia. The settlements became larger, and as they did rules had to be laid down detailing the proper conduct within the society. Governments formed to enforce these rules, and soon a more-or-less homogeny of societal development became the rule rather than the exception. Every advanced race, on every habitable world, ended up having basically all the same wants, needs and desires, and followed nearly the same path to satisfy them. They all needed food, clothing and shelter. They all needed others within the society to help provide nearly everything the others needed to survive. Specializations became skills, skills became jobs and jobs became careers.
So, as Taggert learned, when you stripped away all the grime, the foul smells, and all the disgusting habits and mannerisms that were to be found in all the creatures of the galaxy, we are all basically the same.
And that was why General Owen Taggert and his Marines were about to land on an alien world, complete with cities and skyscrapers, streets and cars, and shopping centers and ball-fields.
Chapter 16
Taggert’s force of four hundred battle-hardened Marines were chomping at the bit for some action. All of them had served either in Iraq or Afghanistan — or both — and since the surprise bombardment of the Earth by the Juireans, they were all anxious to get into the fight. The surprisingly short space battle that had taken place eighteen hours before had not involved the Marines, yet the ground assault against any remaining Juirean forces on Melfora Lum was entirely up to them to carry out.