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Rebellion
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    “There have been at least two more KobalThi attacks in the
asteroid belts in the past four weeks.  It’s a wonder we survived
that surprise attack yesterday,” Captain Black said.

    “We fought some tough mothers out there,” Conrad reported.

    “The Spacer Marine Corps was never meant to handle this kind
of battle,” Black said.

    “Maybe not now, but we should have been able to handle it a
couple of weeks ago.  Except that the supplies the Union promised
us never arrived.”

    “That wasn’t your fault Lieutenant.”

    “Yeah,” Conrad said, “But that don’t make it any better, sir. 
We should have had those plasma cannons and the anti-K
ammunition a month ago and they never arrived.”

    “You still gave them the old heave-ho.”

    “Just barely, sir.  We almost lost three men when a KobalThi
ingested them.  Whole APE’s just went right down that thing’s
throat like cherries.”

    “It must not have been a pretty sight to see them go down there. 
And I’d suspect it was even worse for the people who experienced
it first hand.”

    “It would have been.  But getting them out of there was even a
worse sight.  My men dumped at least fifteen rounds of Vulcan
bullets into that monster before it finally croaked.  And that was
because we didn’t have any anti-K pulsar grenades.”

    “What kind of KobalThi structure was it, Lieutenant?”

    “The kind every Marine wishes would die and never come back. 
It was some kind of superstructure.  It had three bioplasm throwing
substructures, four leg substructures, and a mouth and stomach.  It
also had a superior transganglion running it.”

    “That’s one of the worst.  It’s called a hive-planting
superstructure,” Black said.  “They send ‘em out to feed and dig
tunnels in the asteroids.  Once they get in, they reorganize
themselves into a Queen superstructure and begin laying eggs.”

    “A couple of anti-K pulsar shells should’ve waxed her dome.”

    “Maybe,” Black said.  “But it might have just made her mad. 
The only thing that’s worse than a KobalThi is a mad, rampaging
KobalThi.  I’ve seen ships torn to pieces by KobalThi gone 
berserk.”  That had been an understatement.  Partly it was because
Captain Black had seen ships almost completely vaporized by
KobalThi attacks with what had been their newest adaptation:
anti-ship bioplasm.  That had been the way Black had lost his
eyesight.  KobalThi used their anti-ship bioplasm to cut open his
ship’s hull and, in just a couple seconds, they gained access to the
corridors of the ship.  Black led a Marine squad to kill those
attackers, but just as he thought the KobalThi had given up, the
KobalThi released anti-ship bioplasm right inside the corridor he
was defending.  The bioplasm had blown up with a blinding flash,
and caused so much damage to the ship that she had to be
abandoned.

    “I know where to lay the hits on, sir,” Conrad said.  “Once you
kill the transganglion, the rest of the body has to adapt.  While it’s
doing that, you pound it to pieces.”

    “Did that thing have any friends?”

    “You’d have to ask Lieutenant Radcliffe, sir.  She took a
battalion through the downward tunnel.”

    “All right then, Lieutenant Radcliffe, let’s hear your side of the
story,” Black said.  Radcliffe stepped forward, and Conrad stepped
back.

    “My batallion ran into a bunch of sub ganglionic structures.”

    “How well did you handle the Critters?”

    “We pretty much cleaned them out,” Radcliffe answered. 
“There wasn’t much action after that.  We worked for about two
hours doing mop-up and making sure all the tunnels were secured. 
There was a scare about a brood of fast-hatching eggs, but we
didn’t find any nests anywhere.”

    “How was your ammo after that battle?”

    “Not very good.  We were hitting them with our Vulcan guns,
but then we ran out of ammunition, sir.  We had to switch to
T.K.’s”

    “T.K.’s?” Black asked.

    “Tactical killings.  We got them to follow after a couple of our
APE’s, and then we had the rest of the battallion sneak around to
the back and attack from behind them.”

    “What did you do if you had no ammunition, Radcliffe?”

    “I called for a ‘mosh pit attack,’ and we thrashed and trashed
the rest of the KobalThi by stepping on them, punching them, or
crushing them between our APE’s parts.”

    “A little on the messy side, don’t you think?” Black asked.

    “Both Conrad and I agree it was unorthodox, but what does a
Marine do when they have no more ammunition?  If you’re
wondering sir, no I did not let them cycle through the base airlock
before undergoing bio-decontamination, and the standard anti-K
cycles.”

    “Good work, Marines,” Black said.  “I’ll make sure the Station
Admiral gets your reports.”

    The two Spacer Marines snapped off a salute.

    “Dismissed,” Captain Black said, and the Marines left his
office.  He sat back down at his desk and played back the other
reports each Marine division had brought in.  None of them were
pretty, and soon, they would start getting downright grisley if the
Union didn’t bring in more ammunition for the Marines.  That,
and his Marines were desperate for repair parts for their giant
Armored Personnel Extensions.  APE’s took a lot of maintainance
even if they did kick butt when it came to getting rid of KobalThi,
and no self-respecting Marine division ever returned to base
without at least some damage or wear and tear on their APE’s. 
KobalThi just didn’t have any respect for the machinery that was
used to exterminate them.

    Captain Black sighed in resignation at the fact that he would
probably spend the next hour talking to the Station Boss, and that,
compared with fighting KobalThi, was an even more grisley
thought.  He poured himself yet another mug of coffee and set to
work filing yet another complaint about the lack of crucial repairs
and supplies his Marine squads demanded.
 

    “Captain Black’s Marines were wiped out yesterday,” a news
reporter announced, “When KobalThi attacked their asteroid base
and tore through the APE storage areas.  Captain Black reports
that his Spacer Marine division will not be able to ward off
another attack until he gets a shipment of new APE mechanized
armor units.”

    Admiral T’san watched the report go on and on and on.  It was
not a pretty sight.  She may have switched the holographic viewer
off, but that news had already sunk in, and there would be no
getting it out of her mind until something was done about it.

    “There have been reports that Union ships are being held up on
their way into NeoTerra by space pirates.  Can you affirm that
report, Admiral Pon?”

    “No.  As of yet, I am not at a liberty to explain the--” Pon
paused, as if searching for a word to explain what he meant to say,
“--difficulties the Union is trying to overcome in order to bring in
ammunition and cargo to NeoTerra.”

    “Is it possible that the KobalThi are eliminating the shipments?”
    “It may be possible, but as the rumor said before, the space
pirates could be contributing to the disappearances of ships in that
sector.”

    “In the early stages of the First Intragalactic Conflict, most ships
were given orders to take different routes to reach NeoTerra. 
Could a change in the normal shipping or travel routes help to
alleviate this problem?”

    “I am not sure, Mister Brokal,” Pon answered the reporter, “It
may have worked for the Terran Alliance four hundred years ago,
but you’re asking for a massive number of ships to switch to
different routes.  Most of the main routes have been cleared and
charted.  Sending ships into uncharted or uncleared space could be
a hazard, especially when the ships come into hyperglide.  Some of
the Union’s larger ships wouldn’t be able to navigate an asteroid
field if it dropped out into realspace in such a region.  And the
smaller ships might not have enough shielding to deflect a
collision with an asteroid if they entered realspace in an asteroid
field.”

    “Admiral, there have been rumors of a new form of space travel
surfacing in parts of the Union.  Are you certain of this form of
propulsion, and if you are, is it being implemented in the Union?”

    “As of yet, only the most basic of information is available
concerning this new mode of propulsion.  I would like to say that
we have it ready now, but we do not.  However, we know a few
things about this new power source.  First, and by far the most
important news is that the KobalThi structures the Union have
encountered do not have any way to achieve what we are building. 
We are certain of a set of variables which govern acceleration with
the new engine prototypes, and we are certain that there has to be a
way to attach these engines to the hulls of ships, but we are very
aware of several severe drawbacks.”

    “What might those drawbacks be,” Brokal asked.

    “Well, the first one is that none of the prototype hulls withstood
initial testing.  However, engineers working at the K.O.R.O.N.I.S.
Shipworks have determined a way to work around that flaw.  But
this brings in new drawbacks.  First of all, the Union needs as
much barite neutronium as we can get.  It takes a lot of neutronium
to reinforce the hull of the ship ‘K’ shipworks is building.  As far
as we know, there is no way around this drawback.  The second
drawback is that the new propulsion engines need as much space
as possible to work their so-called ‘magic.’  We’re trying our best
to design a frame that can support these engines while keeping
them away from the ship.”

    “Are there any other drawbacks?”

    “Yes.  There are, Mister Brokal,” Pon said matter-of-factly.

    “What would those be?”

    “We need a hell of a lot more help from the outlying regions of
the Union to build this ship.  Owlasi ships have investigated the
Galactic East, where KobalThi have made the most nests.  We
have found something unsettling about each and every nest.  This
is that the nests are moving.  Each year, they relocate their
asteroids to a new area of space, maybe half a light year away from
something.  We know this because the Owlasi have been tracking
KobalThi for the past five years.  We also know that there is a
something that the KobalThi are fleeing from.”

    “Admiral Pon, what could be the thing that is driving the
KobalThi into the Union?”

    “We call it the Belts.  There is a massive energy phenomenon
heading due Galactic West toward the Union.  We have four
months until the Belts cut off the easternmost sectors from us.  As
far as we know, only ansibles work there, and our hyperdriven test
probes have reported that resistance to hyperfields jumps
asymptotically in the Belts.  This means that hyperdrives will not
work in the Belts unless a ship is heavily reinforced.  ‘K’
shipworks needs as much neutronium as it can get to do the job. 
And Terra does not have anywhere near enough.”

    “So, because the KobalThi are running from the Belts, they are
coming into contact with us in the Union?”

    “As far as we have seen, that is precisely correct,” Pon
answered.  Admiral T’san watched as the holographic display
changed to show a simulation of the Belts, driving the KobalThi
straight into the Union.

    “What will happen when the KobalThi get to the Union itself?”
the reporter asked.

    “When they reach the populated worlds, they will set up nests
there and begin to feed--on whatever comes their way.  We have
always been able to drive them back, but eventually, if they do not
want to enter the Belts, they will become desperate, and they will
attack us mercilessly until the Spacer Marine forces and the
military are blown away.”

    “Is your new ship a solution to this dilemma?”

    “She just might be,” a hint of hope entered Pon’s voice, “We
know that neutronium is tough enough to withstand heavy stresses
and prevent damage to a ship.  In fact, neutronium hull plates can
be set to resonate at a variety of frequencies, producing an
interference pattern in a ship’s shields.  This pattern happens to be
able to absorb bioplasmic assaults.  If ships can be fitted with just
a few plates--and we know that they do not need more than five
plates, each about one square meter in area--they can produce what
‘K’ shipworks calls the ‘interferometric’ effect.  Not only that, but
the interferometric effect can block the intense radiation that
comes from the Belts and phase band it so it can be put to work
inside the ship.”

    “Just a few minutes earlier,” Brokal said, “You said that the
Union needed a hell of a lot more help from its outlying regions. 
Could you please explain what form of help is most needed?”

    “Mainly,” Pon said, “We need the Union itself to stay together. 
I believe we can survive through the thick of this problem, and that
we can still have a single Union by the time the KobalThi and the
Belts have arrived.  But that means that each and every planet has
to carry its share of the burden.”

    “However, the beginning of my report was concerning the lack
of supplies reaching NeoTerrans to help them stop the KobalThi. 
Would that not mean that Terra is not carrying her fair share of
work?”

    “Not at all.  We have gotten many rumors that those ships are
gone.  But convoys have been sent for the past six months, Mister
Brokal.  And more are leaving Terra every day.  There can be no
mistake about this:  the Terrans are producing the required amount
of anti-K ammunition for the NeoTerrans, but there must be a
bottleneck between the two planets.”

    T’san shut off the holographic viewer.  A bottleneck indeed, she
thought.  Ha.  That wasn’t even the half of it.  She proceded to the
Bridge of her starship just in time to see the next convoy of
supplies from Terra come into view.

    “Lock onto their hyperdrives, Mister Ciran,” Admiral T’san
ordered.

    “We have a target lock.  Shall I fire?” A wolflike grin appeared
on Ciran’s face.

    “That won’t be necessary,” T’san said, “Instead, send them a
message that we can handle their cargo for them.”

    “They aren’t answering,” Ciran said.

    “Fire the decoy charges.”

    “Launching decoy ‘bioplasm’ charges,” Ciran said.

    A ‘bottleneck’ indeed, T’san thought again as fifteen Union
ships dropped out of hyperspace to avoid what they thought had
been a KobalThi attack.  They dropped into realspace right inside
what turned out to be a well placed tight ring of space pirate ships,
guns already loaded and pointed right at them.  Not one of the
fifteen ships had taken the time to arm their shields.  KobalThi or
Belts didn’t matter.  The only thing that mattered to T’san was the
hefty profit the cargo would turn when sold on the Union’s black
market.
 

    “Admiral Pon,” another Admiral said, “The convoy is under
attack.”

    “Is it Admiral T’san’s pirates again?”

    “Yes, it is.  You know what we agreed on when T’san first
began to pillage those supplies.”

    “I know precisely what we agreed on.  We agreed to push the
launch date forward as far as possible.  Start looking for alternate
sources of neutronium for KB’s hull and make sure Engineer
Keller doesn’t hear anything about NeoTerra’s rebellion against
the Union.  We need him as much as we need the rest of
K.O.R.O.N.I.S., and without him, I’m afraid that we would be
placing KB in a position where she could be destroyed.”

    “I understand that you are not about to let that happen. 
However, Pon,” the other Admiral said, “Have you looked into the
loyalty of the NeoTerrans assigned to the crew of KB?”

    “They all checked out.  I made sure that there were no disloyal
officers aboard that ship.  She may be covered with neutronium on
the outside, but KB is just as susceptible to sabotage from the
inside as any other ship is.  And with both the KobalThi and the
Belts breathing down our necks, that’s a risk I know to avoid at all
cost.”

    “Good.  I will see to it that you get whatever you need to bring
the launch to an earlier date.  KB will be ready to stamp out
T’san’s little band of ‘merry men’ before she makes herself into
any more of a threat.”

    The other Admiral signed off of the ansible channel, and Pon
shut down his terminal.  Then he sat down and prepared the
messages he would have to send to the new Captain, Edlyn Astrid,
telling her that the ship was to be launched two months earlier than
planned.  He was hoping that both ship and crew would be
spaceworthy before NeoTerra made its secession official.

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