Mike's War: Sequel to Jesse's Starship (31 page)

Hetzel screamed, “DON’T SEND IT TO HIM!!!”

Mike smiled, “Why? You don’t think he knows where he lives.” Mike looked at the Gracken and saw him looking at the map that was sent to his ship. He turned and looked at Mike and his fear and outrage were both clearly visible. Mike said, “Before you do something rash, you and all those listening to this conversation need to take a look at the Q ships above this planet. They could search those galaxies and find you in less than two weeks. Then your planets will be nothing more than a footnote in history. I suspect you know that you have no way to prevent them from destroying your planets.” Mike paused and said, “Of course you could recall all of your forces and try to prevent the destruction, but I suspect the enemy you’re currently facing would take advantage of the situation and come do it themselves.”

The Elder finally spoke, “If you knew this, why haven’t you just done it?”

“That’s the part you’ve missed.”

The Elder was confused, “What are you talking about!?”

Mike looked at Hetzel, “I need you to answer some questions.”

Hetzel was as tense as the Gracken and worried the Gracken would send all their forces against his civilization. “What questions?”

“If I wanted to purchase a hundred tons of high grade steel and another hundred tons of high grade aluminum, how much would it cost me?” Mike saw the Gracken’s eyes open wider.

“Mike, you don’t have any Alliance currency to make that large a purchase.”

“Ok, what metal could I use to make the purchase?”

Hetzel shook his head, “What does this have to do with what’s going on here?”

“Everything; answer my question.”

“It would take four hundred pounds of gold.”

The Gracken snorted, “That’s ridiculous!”

Hetzel looked at the Gracken, “No it’s not. I’m reducing the price because of his species fighting for our survival. Honestly, I would ordinarily charge five hundred pounds. But we have to ship it to his planet and pay for the labor to offload it.”

The Gracken stared at Hetzel and it was clear he thought the answer was crazy. He looked at Mike, who said, “Are you starting to feel stupid yet?” Mike turned back to Hetzel, “I’m a little short on gold; what if I paid with platinum?”

“Then the price would be three hundred pounds.”

Every being on all the ships above Fippen wondered what was going on and they looked at each other in silence as they listened.

Mike waited a moment and said, “Hetzel, if the Gracken removed all their forces from the planets they’ve invaded and promised to never harm the Alliance again, would you sell them those two hundred tons of steel and aluminum for six hundred pounds of gold?”

Even the Gracken could see the greed on Hetzel’s face, “Uhhhh…certainly, if the agreement could be verified. My planet could satisfy that order quite easily.”

The Celean interrupted, “Oh no you don’t. We get half of this order!”

Mike watched the Gracken and saw he finally understood. He looked at Mike and took a deep breath. Mike lowered his head and looked through his eyebrows at the Gracken and he blew the breath out and nodded. He finally realized they had been incredibly dumb. The Gracken looked at Hetzel and said, “Give me a moment to discuss this with my leaders.”

The Gracken disappeared from the display and Hetzel said, “Are you serious about this?”

“The Gracken are at war with another civilization and they need the metals to build up their forces. Since they are a warrior culture, they aren’t as good at mining and processing metallic ores as your planets. I hope you noticed that they made the populations on those four planets mine ores for them. If they could purchase the completed product, it would be much easier on them.”

“But do they have enough gold and platinum to purchase them?” Mike shrugged as the Elder reappeared on the display.

“My leaders are having difficulty believing that you could produce those metals and trade them to us for six hundred pounds of gold. I told them you should be given the opportunity to demonstrate you could. If you will transport two hundred tons of steel and aluminum to this planet, I will order a transport here to remove my forces and take the metals with us. I will, of course, give you six hundred pounds of pure gold in exchange.”

Hetzel looked at the Celean and said, “You bring the Steel; I’ll bring the aluminum.” Hetzel turned back to the display, “Where do you want them delivered?”

The Gracken looked at Mike and said, “Bring them to the place where our warriors fought and died. We will make the exchange there.” Mike closed his eyes and nodded.

• • •

The Support Officer looked at the PC, “What’s going on?”

“We’re going home.”

“I’m confused by this.”

“It appears this civilization we’ve attacked doesn’t have much gold or platinum on their worlds.”

“Are you serious?”

“You need look no further than the two beings fighting to make the trade.” The PC leaned back, “When greed bites you, she has jaws impossible to separate.”

She looked at the PC and said, “I haven’t noticed anyone embracing you.”

The PC looked at the beautiful Gracken Female and smiled, “Perhaps it’s time one did.”

She smiled with him and nodded. She went back to her station and her dark brown color turned light brown. The PC saw it and looked forward to going home.

• • •

Mike saw the Gracken transports arrive two hours later and the Elder appeared on his display, “Will you meet me on the planet?”

“I’ll be there momentarily.” Mike looked at Tilly, “Do you want to go?”

“I won’t let you go without me.”

Mike hugged her and looked up, “Hot Shot, take us down to the site of Derek’s and Halley’s deaths. Drop us off and wait close by.”

“I’ll have you covered by my force field.”

“That won’t be necessary. Just keep a close watch.”

“You’re the boss.”

Mike nodded and thought, “Hopefully, for not much longer.”

M
ike and Tilly stepped out of their ship and walked up the gently rising slope. The ground was blasted smooth by the battle that had taken place. Mike noticed that a few plants were starting to peek out of the ground. He shook his head; time would eventually heal this place. He looked up toward the top of the slope and saw the former Gracken Control Center with a huge Abrams Tank resting at an angle in it. He looked down the slope toward the blasted city and saw the Gracken Heavy Blasters standing in ruins. Tilly remained silent and watched Mike look at the place where the brave Regiment had died. She looked up and saw a flash high up in the atmosphere and knew the Gracken Leader was on the way down. She remained silent and watched Mike’s sorrow at the Spartan Warriors that had died.

Mike saw the Gracken shuttle coming in before he heard it. He put his arm on Tilly’s shoulders and waited. The shuttle landed and the port opened; the size of the Gracken that stepped out of the shuttle was shocking. He was at least nine and a half feet tall and dwarfed every Gracken Warrior he had ever seen. The Gracken saw his shock and smiled, “I look much smaller on camera.”

Mike managed to say, “Indeed you do.”

The Gracken looked at Tilly and said, “Are you his mate?”

“I am.”

“You are indeed fortunate to be with this great warrior.”

Tilly smiled, “I know.”

The Gracken looked at Mike, “How did you know we are at war?”

“The ships you sent here weren’t armored.”

“I’m not sure I understand how that would give it away?”

“Those ships aren’t really designed to hold up in a space battle. Neither were your heavy blasters. Even though you may not have iron and aluminum in much quantity on your planets, you would have enough to armor your ships. If these weren’t, then you were using the armored ones elsewhere.”

“Well, you’re right.”

Mike tilted his head and Tilly knew he was about to ask a question that carried a high significance. He always tilted his head when he did that. “What caused your war?”

The huge Gracken shrugged, “We’ve always been a warrior culture but we limited our fighting to each other.” Mike’s eyes narrowed and the Gracken shrugged, “I know; we were pretty stupid. The Weg taught us how stupid we were.”

Mike prompted the Gracken to continue, “The Weg?”

“A thousand years ago they invaded in waves of ships that overwhelmed our fleets that were protecting our home world. They landed millions of troops and took control of most of our major cities. Most of the nations on our home world had colony planets that fought against each other. The fleets from them united and managed to defeat the Weg fleet above our home world. It took us more than twenty years to eventually kill the last Weg soldier.”

“Why did it take you so long?”

The Gracken shook his head, “They reproduce at a rate that is unbelievable. We kick them back and before we can rebuild to go after their planets, they return in large numbers again. We have begun to run low in the metals needed to sustain the effort against them.” The Gracken looked at Mike and said, “Is it true they will take six hundred pounds of gold for the metals?”

Mike shrugged, “It is. I hope you’re careful with how much you trade with them. You could devalue your gold if you give them too much.”

The Elder smiled, “We’re dumb on occasion…but we’re not stupid. We do understand economics. We see gold as a nuisance. It’s good for building circuit boards but it’s everywhere. It’s too soft to use in weapons and we’re constantly hitting it every time we dig a hole.”

Mike smiled, “You might use platinum occasionally and tell them you’re working to mine more gold.”

“That’s exactly what I intend to do, if they’re being honest about this.” The Gracken turned and looked at the blasted slope. He stared at the aftermath of the battle that had taken place and blew out a breath, “I’m surprised you even considered this after the lives lost here.”

“It was your leader here that convinced me to do it.” The Elder turned and looked at Mike with a furrowed brow. “He had all the civilians removed from the other cities before we started dropping on them. That told me your civilization was worth making the effort for.”

The Elder slowly nodded, “He has demonstrated high intelligence. I’m sure he will be honored for his efforts here.”

They looked up as the sonic boom in high atmosphere reached them. They saw large carriers dropping toward them and Mike said, “You should have your answer momentarily.”

“How did you know about our huge quantities of gold and platinum?”

Mike nodded toward the burned out Gracken blasters outside the city, “Those blasters are loaded with them. There’s more than three tons of the metals in them.”

“Are you going to tell the others about this?”

“No, they don’t need to know.”

“Should we remove the blasters?”

Mike shook his head, “No, this site will remain as it is now. Once the government here restores order, I am going to tell them that you have gifted the gold and platinum in those blasters to help pay restitution for the damage and suffering you caused here.”

“Won’t they tell the others?”

Mike smiled, “And have the Central Government tax it? I don’t think they’ll be that stupid.”

The large carriers began landing and started off loading the huge rolls of steel and aluminum. The Elder watched the process and knew that it had to be true. He saw the two beings that were previously on the display walking toward them. Hetzel arrived with the Celean right behind him. Hetzel looked at Mike, “It’s good to see you again.” Mike nodded and Hetzel turned to the giant Gracken, “I think you’ll find the steel and aluminum you wanted are here.”

The Elder looked over his shoulder at his shuttle and nodded. Another huge Gracken walked out of the port carrying two huge blocks of yellow metal. The Gracken saw the expressions of the two Alliance Leaders. He said, “I used platinum to make the handles to lift the gold. The hooks weight fifty pounds each; is that satisfactory?”

The Celean said, “Oh yes, it is quite satisfactory.”

The Gracken looked at his subordinate, “If you will take the two blocks to the ships designated by our two friends here,” he looked at Hetzel and the Celean, “then I will order the transports in to remove our forces from their planets and take these metals to our ships.”

Hetzel pointed to his Q ship and the Celean pointed to a different looking ship parked beside Hetzel’s. Mike looked at the Celean’s ship and said, “May I assume that ship is somewhat stronger than the standard Q ship?” The Celean looked at him and smiled. “It’s time you joined the Alliance and quit trying to have the upper hand. If you don’t like what the Alliance is doing then become the leader and direct it. You can’t continue to live in fear of conquest.”

The Celean stared at Mike for a long moment and then lowered his head, “You’re right. I’ll discuss this with the other leaders. I think you have shown us that we’re moving in the right direction.”

Hetzel stared at the Celean and was surprised by the comments. Mike looked at the Gracken and said, “Now how are the two of you going to enter into an agreement that both of you can keep?”

Hetzel looked at Mike, “Agreements are made to be broken; at least that’s what history has shown.”

“Did you download the Gracken language?” Hetzel nodded. “Then don’t make an agreement; make a wager.”

The Gracken and Hetzel were both confused by Mike’s statement but Hetzel thought about it and after a moment he smiled. He looked at the Elder and said, “I wager that you will someday break your promise and attack my civilization.”

The Elder stared at Hetzel and then said, “What are you wagering?”

“If you do break your promise, you will return all the items that you have purchased from us.”

“And if we don’t?”

“We’ll continue to trade with you until you do.”

“How will I know if I win this wager?”

Mike looked at the Gracken, “It will probably take an infinite time to determine that.”

The Gracken started laughing. After a moment Hetzel and the Celean joined him. The Gracken looked at Mike, “I’ve never liked losing a wager. However, I am glad I lost the one I made with you. We probably wouldn’t be here now if I had won.” The Gracken looked at Hetzel, “I will accept your wager on behalf of my civilization.”