The Evolution of F.O.R.C.E.
Chapter 1 - Strategy

Whatsit, Colonel Doug Jenson and Major Becky Chang had departed on a scouting mission to learn the extent of the Asiddian menace. The expedition was supposed to be uncomplicated. Reconnaissance was vital and not as dangerous as a direct confrontation. It never occurred to them that treachery from within Earth’s military would leave them in peril, victims subject to enslavement or death at the hands of ruthless alien killers. Trapped on the planet Chrysalis, enemies all around, their Scout ship damaged beyond repair, Doug and his team could only wait and hope for rescue.

Their FORCE teammates back on Earth were determined to replace them, but with no clue to their current condition or location on Chrysalis, an expedition to recover them was perilous at best.

General Tom Blunt steeled himself for the mission. Defeating the Asiddian murderers who controlled Chrysalis wasn’t a personal preference, it was an unfortunate necessity. Now that the Asiddians knew of Human existence, they would inevitably search for the bipedal animals’ planet of origin. Better to stop the menace now than wait thirty years for the marauders’ arrival in the Sol system.

Finding volunteers for the expedition was easy. FORCE Commandos stood in lines waiting for the opportunity to rescue their fellows, and no earthbound Chrysallamans were going to ignore the chance to save their home planet, Chrysalis.

“Yes, volunteers are everywhere,” Tom thought. “Mutual cooperation and trust are the problems.”

The history of the relationship between Chrysallamans and Earthlings can be distilled from decades of preparation for invasion and tumultuous battles recounted in top secret historical texts.

Chrysallamans were a warrior race of beings best described as man-sized, tail-less iguanas. As a result of their vocal cords and tongues being unsuited for verbal interaction, evolution had compensated by developing their ability to communicate telepathically. Over several thousands of years, Chrysallamans had learned to telepathically control the brains of other living beings and used that ability to conquer the peoples of several planets. Superior technology coupled with unmatched mind control made victories extremely easy.

The Humans of Earth used a combination of reverse engineering of Chrysallaman technology, brilliant technological advances in power generation by Earth’s greatest scientist and genetic engineering to escape the planned genocide. Only one mother ship and five scout saucers survived the Human counterattack.

The Chriks, as they were referred to by Humans, were defeated. Dr. Heinbaum and his team dismantled the fast-as-light Chrysallaman mechanism and learned the aliens’ secret to lightspeed travel. Using what they learned from the HKG (the Heinbaum Kinetic Generator), Heinbaum and his team discovered FLIT, an instantaneous form of space travel. FLIT stood for Folded Link Instantaneous Travel, and it gave Humans a technological edge over the aliens.

The Chrysallaman home planet, Chrysalis, was attacked by an advanced war-like race called Asiddians. A bird-like culture, the Asiddians conquered and enslaved the Chrysallamans. Over a period of 31 years, they slowly exterminated them. The Chrysallaman Emperor was a coward. Fleeing from the onslaught, he went to Earth (Planet HG-281) where he hoped to replace his invasion fleet. Unknown to him, the Humans were on guard. They captured the Emperor and his flagship, and with the help of the civilian Chrysallamans, they toiled to make weapons strong enough to match those of the Asiddians.

In an effort to determine the fate of the surviving Chrysallamans, Whatsit and some of his friends journeyed to the Chrysalis system in the scout saucer, Salterr. After spying on the Asiddians, Whatsit and his crewmates were betrayed by a band of evil Humans, captured by the Asiddians and marked for death. Fortunately, the Chrik Resistance was alive and well. It rescued Whatsit and his friends from their ultimate demise and hid them in the secret passageways and chambers honeycombing the palace; however, Whatsit and his Human friends weren’t welcomed by some of the Chrysallamans in charge of the Resistance.

FORCE Command resolved to rescue Whatsit and his friends. Reconfiguring the Chrysallaman Emperor’s flagship, Destinnee, was a key to the scheme. Incorporating many improvements conceived by Dr. Heinbaum and his team into the starship had taken weeks, but at last it was time to return to Chrysalis. With Lloyd, their artificial intelligence computer controlling Destinnee, the Humans, along with Whatsit’s girlfriend Chellsee and their newfound Chrysallaman civilian allies, were as ready as they could be to face the Asiddian threat.

***

The day for departure of the mission to rescue the crew of the Salterr arrived. The time was long past for preparations and formulating strategies for rescuing their friends. From now on fate and luck would determine the outcome of the mission. Tom mused about the speed with which Dr. Heinbaum and his team had evaluated and improved upon the Chrysallaman tech as he boarded the Nevada Base elevator and ascended to the tarmac.

Recalling the conference with his staff, Tom smiled.

In addition to Stoneman, Kurstow and McPherson, he’d asked Dr. Heinbaum, MerrCrr Z. JnnWall and Chellsee Brookkss to attend the meeting. The Chrysallaman natives had firsthand knowledge of Chrysalis and its people. Tom intended to use every bit of information available to help rescue his friends.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have to be cautious,” Tom said as he stared around the conference table. “While the capabilities of the Destinnee have been tested in a virtual environment, actual combat hasn’t been possible. I don’t think it wise to engage the Asiddians in a full-scale battle without first testing our offensive and defensive capabilities against a live opponent.”

“I agree,” Heinbaum responded. “The only weapon the Asiddians have used so far is the laser beam. We know nothing about other weapons they may have, let alone their method of power generation or propulsion systems. Based upon the video of the second attack on the warship Winged Death by the Salterr, the Asiddian computer system reacts with lightning speed to any attack. Recall that it targeted and fired the instant the Salterr FLITed into range. I don’t believe we’ll be able to pull off a surprise attack. Their computer system reacts too swiftly.”

A calm, easy-going male voice said, “Without empirical data upon which to base a decision, I must have the opportunity to engage an Asiddian mainframe computer one-on-one in order to ascertain whether my reaction times are equal to or faster than its. Based upon my design and recommendations from Dr. Heinbaum, I’m confident I will strangle its processor into submission with my superior calculating speed and intellect.”

“Well said, Lloyd,” Heinbaum agreed.

“Heiny, it sounds to me like Lloyd is suffering from undue influence,” McPherson growled. “Have you been toying around with his language circuits?”

“Only where necessary. His vocabulary was far too polite and skewed toward military jargon. The few changes I programmed simply made him more personable.”

“Sounds to me like you copied your ego into the poor devil and cursed him forever.”

“I don’t expect a feeble mind such as yours to be able to fathom the richly nuanced personality traits Lloyd now enjoys as a result of my inputs.”

“Enough!” Tom ordered. “I want constructive comments and suggested solutions. Do your bickering elsewhere.”

Glaring at the pompous, greasy-haired scientist, McPherson said, “I’ve been worried ever since the Salterr was ambushed by Yuri-Milost and her thugs.”

Frowning, he continued, “During questioning, Leonard Trakutel told us he’d programmed the FLIT gens to self-destruct when the Salterr arrived at Chrysalis. I’m not comfortable with his claims. If something went wrong and the units didn’t self-destruct, the Asiddians may have reverse engineered our Kinetic Energy technology. If they got their hands on a working FLIT gen, we have a real problem. They may be able to duplicate it and at least match if not overwhelm our energy source.”

Silence filled the room as the implications of McPherson’s warning sent a chill down everyone’s spine.

“Since we need a warm-up to determine if our new systems can take on an Asiddian battleship, I have a candidate,” Amanda said. “According to the reports of the Salterr encounter with Winged Death, the Asiddian battleship Rock Smasher arrived in the Cuddlur System just as the Salterr FLITed away. The Rock Smasher crew is undoubtedly on highest alert after discovering the burned-out hulk of their sister ship. I propose we go say hello to Rocky and exchange some house-warming gifts.”

“The Rock Smasher is isolated by its distance from Chrysalis. Since it only has lightspeed capability, it won’t be able to radio for help or escape us by running,” JnnWall added.

“He’s right,” McPherson agreed. “Since it’s just the one ship, I say we let ’em see our approach and watch how they react. If their main laser weapons can’t harm the Destinnee, they just might unleash whatever other weapons they have in their arsenal to destroy us.”

Nodding toward Heinbaum, he continued, “Heiny can suggest some sensors for Lloyd to deploy for analysis of the energy signatures of any new weapons they throw at us. If we survive the encounter, the information we get should be invaluable.”

Pausing a moment, he added, “If we don’t survive the encounter then we sure as hell wouldn’t stand a chance against all the Asiddian battleships orbiting Chrysalis.”

“Based on our field trials, I believe Lloyd is fast enough to give us the advantage over Rock Smasher. I think Major Kurstow’s suggestion is the best way to proceed,” Jason said.

Chellsee declared, “I understand the wisdom of an encounter with the Rock Smasher, but we have the benefit of instantaneous travel and surprise on our side. I say we ghost as many Asiddian ships as possible and use the Scout ships to land infiltration units near the Royal Palace in Trissalic.”

“If Whatsit is still alive, Lass, he can take care of himself. We won’t do him any good by getting ourselves killed by going blindly into battle.”

Blinking to keep tears from visibly flowing down her cheeks, Chellsee nodded and looked away.

“That brings up the other topic we need to discuss,” Tom said. “If there are Chrysallamans alive on Chrysalis, then how would they have survived, and how can we contact them?”

Dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, Chellsee said, “The Palace walls are full of hidden passages designed to allow the Emperor to escape assassination attempts. I suspect survivors would use the tunnels to secretly leave the palace. Once outside, they would go underground. I’ve read of the catacombs under some of the larger cities on Earth like Rome and Paris. Trissalic is honeycombed with caves that penetrate hundreds of feet underground. If I was on Chrysalis, that’s where I’d be hiding.”

“I never knew there were secret passageways in the Palace,” JnnWall replied.

“You were never a slave to the Emperor either. There’re many things about Emperor Horcunt and the Palace the general public didn’t know.”

Turning her attention back to Tom she continued, “Once FORCE begins to destroy Asiddian ships, surviving Chrysallamans will know very quickly. They’ll see the flash of explosions high in the atmosphere as the ships fall prey to Destinnee. When the Asiddians become frightened and angry as their losses mount, their heightened emotions will be quite evident to my people.”

The nodding heads around the table showed the others agreed with her analysis.

“But here is the problem. The Chrysallamans will think the Emperor has returned to rescue them.”

“Why would they think that?” Heinbaum asked. “The coward abandoned them over 30 years ago. Why would they even consider him their rescuer?”

“Chrysallamans on Chrysalis have no idea Humans exist. So far as they know only the Chrysallaman Emperor has the ships, weapons and troops capable of rescuing them. They have no other point of reference. If the Emperor is not present when we arrive at Chrysalis in his flagship, then it’ll be next to impossible to rally survivors to join with Humans to defeat the Asiddians.”

“I agree with Chellsee,” JnnWall said. “I was in the first group to be awakened from stasis by Whatsit and the Humans, Jenson and Chang. I have firsthand knowledge of how Chrysallamans reacted in that meeting. They will instinctively reject cooperation with any non-Chrysallaman rescue.”

“Then the Emperor will have to go with us,” Tom replied. “We’ll bring along Hisspat Zeck as well. He can act as the Emperor’s bodyguard in the event any Chrysallaman tries to kill the old codger.”

Grinning wickedly, Tom said, “If we’re lucky, Zeck will die heroically trying in vain to save the Emperor from a successful assassination.”