The Guardian Directive: ... and the First Battle for Earth

Guardian

Directive

… and the First Battle for Earth

Collected from a Series of Lectures

Given at the War College on Paradise

Gene Baumgaertner

Translated from the Lectures of Gian Jonmoth Bath IX

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© Copyright 2013 Gene Baumgaertner.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-9449-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-9451-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-9450-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908510

Trafford rev. 05/17/2013

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CONTENTS

Prologue: The Earlier Visitors

Lecture 1: The Guardians

Lecture 2: Reviewing a Prime Directive

Lecture 3: Enter the Rhulle

Excursia 1: Early Xenological Notes

Lecture 4: The Rhulle Destroyer

Excursia 2: Excerpted and Abbreviated from The Encyclopedia Hasdradania

Lecture 5: The Delaying Action

Excursia 3: Excerpted and Abbreviated from The Hasdradania Militatum

Lecture 6: The First Battle for Earth—Day One

Excursia 4: Those That Bear Protecting

Lecture 7: Day Two—Repairs and Diversions

Lecture 8: Day Three—Another Surprise

Lecture 9: Day Three—Up’s and Down’s

Lecture 10: The Last Day—Desperate Situations…

Lecture 11: . . . Call for Desperate Measures

Lecture 12: Evacuation

Lecture 13: Inside Grumbolt

Lecture 14: Epilogue—A Time to Prepare

Appendix A: Key Characters

Appendix B: Technical and Historical Notes

Appendix C: The Oligarchy of Hasdrada

Dedication Page:

This work is dedicated to

two of my most loyal fans:

Randall Parker, the best fan that I’ve got;

and John Karnowski, my second-best fan.

Thanks, Guys, for reading almost

every book that I have written.

And this work is also dedicated to my uncle,

Eugene R. Baumgaertner,

who like my father Louis R. Baumgaertner,

helped provide me with both the desire and the tools to write.

Cover Photo: NGC 1232—The Grand Spiral Galaxy

Photo Credit: APOD/NASA and FORS VLT ESO

Astronomy Photo of the Day (APOD), a service of the National Aeronautical and Space Admionistration (NASA); and provided by the visual and near UV focal reducer and low dispersion spectrograph (FORS) for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO)

PROLOGUE

The Earlier Visitors

Evidence of the Iradani, more familiarly referred to as the Elders, has been found in almost every explored star system in the Iradani Spiral Arm. For anyone who is still unclear about exactly who the Elders were, the DNA record is irrefutable. The Elders were the original true humans, thought to be the immediate predecessors and progenitors of those humans presently occupying the spiral arm.

Yet, for still unexplained reasons, the Elders disappeared from the historic record about 50,000 years ago. Many hypotheses have been brought forward to explain their sudden disappearance, although an unlimited, genocidal/suicidal war seems the most likely explanation. There was indeed a war, the evidence of this in undeniable. However, who the exact participants were has never been clearly established, and why the war was fought has yet to be determined. None-the-less, the Elders disappeared at precisely that same moment in the historic record as the interstellar war, and thus is has been accepted that they were at least the victims, and possibly the initiators of that war.

Confirmation of an all-out, no holds barred war of catastrophic proportions has been found throughout the Iradani Spiral Arm. The evidence seems to suggest that it not only encompassed the entire spiral arm, but was so savage that no planet occupied by the Elders went untouched. And perhaps it’s a credit to how advanced their civilization was that they were able, within such a short period of time, to so completely obliterate themselves… despite the vast interstellar distances between their inhabited systems.

It is believed that in the current historical era or CHE, the earliest rising human civilizations on many of the planets within the Iradani Spiral Arm were the survivors of that war. It was a war in which true humans were blasted back into a virtual stone age—yet they managed to survive the nuclear winters, the decades-long darkened skies, the freezing temperatures, the lost infrastructures, the scarcity of food substances, and the dangerous radiation levels. They survived these hardships for tens of thousands of years… as cave-dwellers, and as hunter-gathers, eeking out a meager existence. But sadly, virtually all of those survivors lost their very identity—lost their memory of their own former greatness, of their magnificent technological achievements, of their vast cultural accomplishments, and of who they really were and where they’d come from.

Yet through all of that, some few survived… and these were able to re-build.

Most of the weapons used in that war must have been clean weapons, considering how low the ambient radiation levels presently are. But some of the weapons did produce long-term toxic levels of radiation. Radiation levels on the individual planets, depending upon how badly they were bombarded with such weapons, then helped spawn deviations and variations from the original true human form. At least that’s the current widely-accepted hypothesis put forward to explain the present diversity of true humans and quasi-humans. DNA is difficult to refute, and virtually all of the human and humanoid species in the Iradani Spiral Arm shown a marked DNA tangent occurring 50,000 years ago.

Many artifacts of the Elders have been found throughout the Iradani Spiral Arm, indicating a very advanced, very sophisticated civilization. It certainly was much more technologically advanced than any civilization that presently occupies the spiral arm. A few Elder body remains have also been found, and those that have been discovered have helped define what might be called the original true human form. But of course, no living Elder has ever been found.

Once the Sol System was discovered, and it and the Earth began to be investigated, it was not surprising that evidence of the Elders was also found here. There are a number of peculiarities about the Sol System, which I will not elaborate upon here, that may be explained by previous visitations of the Elders. For the record, we will simply list some of these here.

There are peculiarities on the planet Earth itself. There is evidence of DNA tampering with the indigenous Terran humans, occurring some 450,000 years ago. There is evidence of extensive heavy mining on at least three different continents, starting some 100,000 years ago. There are remnants of spaceports on at least two different continents. Then, of course, remnants of lesser Elder artifacts have been discovered on virtually every continent.

Then there is the Earth’s Moon. It has too many peculiarities to fully explore here. However, we should at least take note of some of these. First is its size—the Moon is massively out of scale for a planet the size of the Earth. How did the Earth capture such a large satellite without mutually destructive consequences?

The second peculiarity is the extreme differences in the geology of the near side and the far side of the Moon—differences that range from vastly dissimilar surface topographical features, to disparate magma densities, to non-uniform (distorted) gravitational contours.

These and other anomalies must be investigated further as time and resources permit. Are they natural? That is, are they naturally-occurring based upon accepted theories of astro-physics, celestial mechanics, and planetary / satellite formation? Or are they representative of some new but none-less-less natural process that we have here-to-fore not seen? Or has some external force or entity artificially induced changes upon and/or within the Earth’s Moon? Perhaps more difficult to ascertain, is the question of where did the Earth’s Moon come from, and did an un-natural force or outside entity gently move it into place?

Then there is Mars. Immediately notable is the massive scar (the Valles Marineris) and other anomalies upon the face of Mars. Many of the anomalies seem to be remnant artifacts of the Elders, while the massive scar appears to be the product of the war itself.

The list goes on. There are the remnants of Elder bases in the Oort Cloud. There are the remnants of their civilization even now still visible upon the planet Earth, its Moon, the planet Mars, and several of the moons of the Jovian planets. And not too surprisingly, there is the testimony of the Elders visitations even now still evident in the myths and legends of the indigenous, sapient species on the planet.

But to planetologists and xenologists alike, none of this is surprising. For the same types of evidence as have been discovered in the Sol System have been found in scores of other star systems. [Note: score is an Earth term of uncertain origin meaning twenty, while the plural form means either (1) multiples of twenty (as two score means forty), or (2) more usually just many. Sidenote: The author of these lectures readily admits to being enamored with the planet Earth. Thus, the reader will find Terran etymology scattered throughout these lectures.]

Still, before we move onward, one thing must be made clear. Although it has become almost universally accepted that most or all true human species are descended from the race of Elders, neither the Oligarchy nor the Grand Confederation operate, nor make policy decisions, based upon this assumption.

Each new race or species that is discovered is assumed to have evolved independently of all other true human and quasi-human species—even if this is proven otherwise later on. Each is approached with a fresh perspective, and each is assessed based upon its own individual merits.

And thus it has been for the planet Earth.

LECTURE 1

The Guardians

Roughly 6,335 years ago (or the Year 6414 CHE—of the Current Histrorical Era), the third historically important event occurred in the Terran System. The first, of course, was the Elder Visitation (and Settlement?). The second, from our perspective, was our discovery of Earth and its civilizations. The third follows, taken from a number of personal accounts available to this lecturer.

The corvette Ixtel Avan lay silently at her post, circling the planet Earth. She lay not too far distant from the newly positioned satellite fortress Grumbolt. Due to its positioning, Grumbolt was invisible to the inhabitants of Earth. On the other hand, the inhabitants of the planet could, under ideal conditions, actually see Ixtel Avan whisk across the night-time sky. Of course, even if they noticed the IA, they’d have no concept of what the rapidly moving light was.

Grumbolt was not in an Earth orbit. It had been towed from Paradise, and placed into a solar orbit only a year earlier. It was now stationed at the LaGrangian L1 point defined by the Sun-Earth system. Although Grumbolt had mobility, and could move about in the Sol System, it was very slow when compared to both merchantmen and war ships. It had no Faster-Than-Light (FTL) capabilities, and traveled rather inefficiently. So, unless it needed to move to some other location to better defend the planet Earth, it sat in relative stability at the Sun-Earth L1 LaGrangian point.

[See Appendix B for a discussion of LaGrangian Points, especially related to the Sun-Earth System]

The captain of the Ixtel Avan was a man named Gian Jonmoth Xiteroceph Bath. He was simply called Jon Bath by those who weren’t compelled to call him either by his military position, Captain (of the Ixtel Avan), or by his rank, Commander, or by his hereditary title, the Honorable Xiteroceph of Bathe.

Jon Bath sat at his command console, leisurely surveying the nine screens he had displayed before him. Ixtel Avan’s bridge was quiet. Six officers and spacers sat at other consoles, each monitoring a plethora of screens, displays, and devices, keeping tabs on all of the activities and movements of a dynamic stellar system.

Three maroons were also assigned to the IA’s bridge. One, Maroon Shield Sergeant Yosho Quinridge, stood directly behind Bath’s command chair. He was Bath’s aide, and in charge of Bath’s personal guard. In the short hallway between the bridge and the remainder of the ship were stationed Maroon Flag Corporal Tartis Korollian and Maroon Corporal Tollo Yertigas. They were there to guard the bridge, and as the remainder of Bath’s security detail.

Despite himself, Bath could not stifle a yawn. It was just another routine watch… on a boring day… above a barely inhabited planet… in a backwater star system.

Jon Bath was a man of his times, of his planet of birth, and of his breeding. He was born in year 6375 CHE (Current Historical Era), in Castle Rhising, on the Isle of Bathe. Bathe, of course, lies near the equator of the planet Annanabi, in the heart of the Hasdradan Home Worlds. Born to the Cephe of Bathe, Jon Bath was raised and educated as an aristocrat.

[See Appendix B for a clarification of Oligarch and Hasdradan, and Appendix C for a more detailed discussion of the Oligarchy of Hasdrada.]

As a young man, he had excelled through much of his education and training—a double major of Astro-Navigation and Exo-Planetary Engineering at the University of Trothbert, and post-graduate work in sub-atomic bonding at Deems. Then he took the mandatory tour in the military (something a Xiteroceph could easily have avoided if he chose to), where he did adequately well in ground-trooper training at the Warbanks Outpost. The next three years were spent first commanding a small ground unit in the Arfgot Conflict, and then acting as adjutant to a one-star admiral in the Higby system.

This latter was followed by a nomination to officer candidate school in the Higby system’s Space Navy Academy. The nomination was probably due to his boundless energy, his attention to detail, and his better than average intelligence, as well as his impeccable lineage, his hereditary title of Xiteroceph, and the admiral’s good will. At the Naval Academy he finally excelled, especially in his favorite subjects, those involving both the logistics and operations of space navies, and the fighting tactics of individual ships. These latter skills got both the attention of the Admiralty Staff, and admission to Oligarch Jane War College, located on Higby. Jon Bath graduated from the War College with honors, and showed a particularly brilliant flare for battle fleet maneuvers in the midst of a hot fight. He won most of the war games he participated in, ranging from ship against ship, all the way through task force versus task force. He was thereafter watched as potential admiral material, although his career was anything but assured.

Because of his credentials, his education and training, and especially his achievements at Oligarch Jane War College, Jon Bath soon found himself an officer (ensign, grade 1, progressing to lieutenant, grade 1) on the heavy frigate Rhajjah, under Captain Tehbe Codyth. After two years as the executive officer (lieutenant, grade 2) of the Rhajjah, he was given the command of a patrol sloop (lieutenant commander, grade 1). Command of the patrol sloop lasted a little over three years, and then he was promoted to command of a corvette (lieutenant commander, grade 2) for another year.

Then Jon Bath made a major career move. He jumped at the chance of commanding one of the corvettes in the escort fleet of the third colonial expedition to the Paradise Bubble, with the promise of a promotion to commander, grade 1, within five years. The corvette Ixtel Avan was his first command outside of the Hasdradan Home Worlds.

VT Ixtel Avan—(meaning of the ship name: in the ancient dialect, ixtel avan means oligarch’s revenge)—corvette, 7.3 kilotons in mass, and capable of reaching cruising speeds of 18.5 TSL in interstellar space, outside of gravity wells, with unsustainable short bursts of up to 21.5 TSL. The IA has a compliment of 72 personnel, a combination of officers, spacers, and maroons; with an additional complement of 12 warrior grint and an equal number of worker-grooms. Ixtel Avan carries two continuous energy beam weapons, two high energy particle beams, projectile guns (two large, four medium, and thirty-two small), and a significant compliment of missiles. It has twenty-eight missile launching tubes: two each in the bow and stern, and twenty-four along the hull, six each port, starboard, ceiling, and deck-side. Ixtel Avan also carries four fighter craft and two patrol-torpedo craft.

[See Appendix B for the definition of a corvette.]

Bath’s eyes flickered from one screen to another, lingering as he examined details, before moving on to the next. With just a strong thought (amplified by his command helmet), or with the bare movement of a finger tip, he changed screens at will, or zoomed in on an image, or changed from natural light to infrared or ultraviolet. At the moment, he had a variety of subjects displayed—including two exterior views and three revolving interior views of his own ship.

He also had a distant view of the fortress Grumbolt. He had chosen to also have two separate views of the Earth, one each from observation satellites circling the planet. As his final screen choice, he had a view of the Sun from the Earth’s solar orbit, transmitted from an Observation / Surveillance Drone (OSD) located in the Sun-Earth LaGrangian L4 point, sixty degrees ahead of and in the same orbit as the Earth. This latter view came from one of several score of OSD’s scattered about the star system.

[See Appendix B for a description of the operation and deployment of OSD’s in the Solar System.]

The quiet on the bridge of Ixtel Avan was unexpectedly broken.

Sir, said Lieutenant Commander (grade 1) Alue Cuksen, the ship’s Executive Officer, the north polar OSD (NP02) is reporting anomalous activity just within the inner edge of the Oort Cloud, located outward and marginally above the ecliptic.

Jon Bath immediately switched to OSD NP02’s data stream, and displayed a number of screen outputs from it. In the middle of all those screens (his screen 5 being a triple-sized screen), he displayed an optical view of the suspected anomaly. It was a blurry patch of darkness, with a barely perceptible tell-tale glow at its posterior end. It was barely visible in front of the star field behind it.

Bath immediately switched to another OSD, this one in the direction of the anomaly, and furthest to outward (outward in this case being outbound or outward from the Sun). This OSD was closer to the anomaly, but its view was blocked by Kuiper Belt material. He requested that it maneuver to get a better view of the anomaly.

Meanwhile, Bath inspected other data. The anomaly was easier to see in the infrared. It also was streaming neutrinos, had a magnetic signature, and was creating a gravitational disturbance. This latter phenomenon is probably what attracted the NP02 OSD to the anomaly, Bath thought.

Hasdradan ships, indeed most known ship-types, used gravitic waves as part of their interstellar propulsion systems. Such systems created easily detectable gravity disturbances, and gravity propulsion disturbances almost always preceded the arrival of a ship from interstellar space.

Sir, said Spacer Deanne Holhoth, the communications tech, "Grumbolt is confirming identification of the anomaly."

Sir, added Lt. Cdr. Cuksen, the executive officer, similar data is now streaming in from OA03, the OSD located furthest to outward. That was the OSD that Bath had asked to re-locate.

Sir, echoed Spacer Holhoth, "Grumbolt confirms the new data."

There was a minute of silence as everyone on the bridge in a command chair examined their screens and instruments. Bath compared the data from the two OSD’s with that from Grumbolt. He glanced at the blurry dark oblong shape on his main screen. In infrared it had an eerily recognizable shape.

Sir, observed Lieutenant Sude Phobett, the ship’s science officer, I’ve found something unusual. The neutrino—anti-neutrino path trailing from the anomaly would seem to indicate that the object is coming from the direction of the Dark Zone.

Bath pondered this for a moment. Then he called up background information on his screen eight: Dark Zone. Layman’s language. The screen read:

The Dark Zone is the void between the Iradani Spiral Arm and Rhullian Spiral Arm (the next spiral arm outward from the Iradani Spiral Arm, clockwise) in the Milky Way Galaxy. In this region of the galaxy, between the two spiral arms, there are extremely few star systems, and comparatively very little star forming material. The Dark Zone, ironically, also holds a dearth of both dark matter and dark energy. It is a very empty void in space. Most of that void makes the Empty Zone seem well-populated.

One of the interesting aspects of the Paradise Bubble is that it actually forms a bulge or bubble in the Iradani Spiral Arm, protruding into the Dark Zone. This bulge places the Paradise Bubble closer to the Rhullian Spiral Arm, creating the shortest distance between the Iradani and Rhullian Spiral Arms for ten thousand light years in either direction.

Closer is still a relative term. While it might take the average Hasdradan merchantman close to 4 years to cross the Empty Zone, at this point the space between the two spiral arms would take over 30 years to cross. No recorded attempts have yet been made by either the Oligarchy or the Grand Confederation to cross the Dark Zone.

Jon Bath sat back in his command chair. This was very unusual. Anything at all coming out of the Dark Zone was quite a surprise. More likely, he mused, something had approached the Terran System from a different direction, and had circled around to the east, where it was least likely that there would be observation devices.

Spacer Holhoth, Bath finally spoke, raise the ship to ALCON 4.

Yes, captain, raise to ALCON 4.

Klaxons echoed throughout the ship, announcing the upgrade in the ship’s Alert Condition, or battle readiness. This was followed by four quick, short whistles, and the announcement: ALCON 4. ALCON 4. Key personnel to duty stations.

ALCON 4 was a heightened state of readiness. All key personnel were to report to duty stations immediately; increased surveillance was immediately implemented; and initial steps were taken for preparing key weapons systems for battle. Although not technically required by Alcon 4, spacers and maroons raced to don their battle armor. The worker grint became agitated, while the warrior grint stared blankly at the ship’s walls, their large, horned and spiked pincers opened and closed involuntarily.

LC, Bath said to his XO, Lt. Cdr. Cuksen, "Where exactly is Defiant? Also, please pinpoint the location of Striker. Make sure both ships are aware of the anomaly. And with my respects to Captains Korvan and Jorss, ask when each might be able to rendezvous with the IA. Advise them that we will be heading outward towards the anomaly once we are certain it is more than a technical hiccup. Give them our present coordinates. Advise them we will be sending our projected trajectory to them within the next 15 minutes."

DR Defiant—destroyer, 22 kilotons in mass, and capable of reaching cruising speeds of 15.0 TSL in interstellar space, outside of gravity wells, with short bursts of up to 17.0 TSL. Defiant carries 280 personnel, a combination of officers, spacers, maroons, and support personnel, with an additional complement of 36 warrior grint and an equal number of worker-grooms. Defiant carries one mercury plasma gun, two heavy continuous energy beam and two high energy particle beam weapons, eighty projectile guns (eight large, twelve medium, and sixty small), and a variety of missiles. It has thirty-eight missile launching tubes: three each in the bow and stern, and thirty-two along the hull, eight each port, starboard, ceiling, and deck-side. Defiant also carries eight fighter craft and six patrol-torpedo craft.

SP Striker—patrol sloop; 3.3 kilotons in mass, capable of reaching cruising speeds of 20.0 TSL in interstellar space, outside of gravity wells, with short bursts of 23.0 TSL. It has 32 personnel (a combination of spacers and maroons). Striker carries two light continuous energy beam weapons, projectile guns (four medium and sixteen small), and a variety of missiles. She has eighteen missile launching tubes: one each in the bow and stern, and sixteen along the hull, four each port, starboard, ceiling, and deck-side. Striker also carries two patrol-torpedo boats, piggybacked on its hull.

Yes sir, answered the XO.

Ensign Kane, did you get that? asked Bath. Ensign Mikka Kane was the pilot of Ixtel Avan.

Yes, Captain, I am to immediately begin plotting an interception trajectory.

Thank you, ensign.

XO, added Bath, also send my respects to Commodore Fritzbain, and advise him of our intentions. I’m sure that if he has any advice, he’ll let us know.

Yes sir, echoed Cuksen.

Ensign Parkar, Bath next ordered, "assist Ensign Kane in making Ixtel Avan ready for high speed in-system travel."

Captain Jon Bath didn’t hear the response. His mind was already contemplating a high speed jaunt through something as crowded with debris as a stellar system. It was likely to be simultaneously exciting and nerve-wracking.

Striker, captained by Lieutenant Commander Gian Jorss, was a patrol sloop assigned guardian duties in the Terran System. Defiant was a destroyer, also assigned guardian duties. It’s commanding office, Captain Etmunt Korvan, was the second highest ranking naval officer in the system. The commander of Grumbolt, Commodore Hari Fritzbain, was the highest ranking officer in the system. Commander Gian Jonmoth Xiteroceph Bath of the IA was the third ranking officer in the system.

Within a few minutes, Grumbolt had responded. The message came as an official command transmittal from Commodore Fritzbain. Spacer Holhoth forwarded the message to Bath’s and the