Bright Horizons

Chapter 15

14 May 2044

Kyle was in a very irritated mood when he walked into Williams’ office.

“Sir, thanks for meeting in here,” said Williams as he closed the door behind him.

“Just had a meeting with Mister Smith. Seems the Pelod are at as much a loss to explain the new toy of the Iltia’cor as anyone else,” Kyle said throwing himself on the small sofa.

“Think they are lying?” asked Williams as he poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Kyle.

“I don’t think it’s their style to outright lie. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.”

“I have some news, sir, but I don’t think you will like it. I know I sure didn’t,” Williams said as he sat at his desk.

“About the weapon?”

“Yes sir. Seems that I found out who has been looking at gravitational weapons technology. The Hedali.”

“What? Are you sure?”

“Yes sir. Talked to some of their engineers and it’s something they were working on for a while. They really didn’t understand the concept that it could be used as a weapon like this. They were developing it to assist in their mining and engineering development, but yes, they were pretty far along when the Iltia’cor invaded.”

Kyle shook his head and stared into his coffee.

“It gets worse, sir. Seems that a few Hedali were granted access to some of our computer systems. It was to help with our engine redesigns, but someone in that facility accessed our logistics system without authorization.”

Kyle stood up and walked across the room to look out of the window. “If you are saying that one of the Hedali let the Iltia’cor know where we were going to strike, you had better be absolutely sure.”

“More than sure, sir. We know exactly who it was. He sent them the coordinates of our drop point and the time we would start the operation.”

“Do we have him in custody?”

“Ramirez thought it would be better not to let him know that we are aware of his activities,” Williams said

“Counter-intel?”

“Yes sir, we have an idea, and if it works, it will take care of their new toy.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“The Geneva,” Williams said.

“The Geneva?  What about it? They just started dismantling it.” Kyle was clearly confused.

“I know, and it’s the perfect choice.” Williams smiled a smug little smile and waited for Kyle.

“I’ll bite. Why is the Geneva the perfect choice?” Kyle asked. He was not in the mood to play these games.

“Two of the central support spars have cracks in them. If we tried to put the craft in service, there would be no knowing when the central gravity system would collapse the damaged spars.  And what would that do, sir?” Williams asked.

“It would cause an internal collapse and the ship would implode,” Kyle responded. He saw an idea forming at the edge of his mind.

“What if instead of a central gravity system there was a very strong sudden external gravitational force?” Williams was on his feet now and starting to speak quicker.

“It would fall apart, like a pile of sticks!” said Kyle, joining Williams in standing.

“So we load up a lot of debris, like say forty or fifty high energy fusion bombs…” Williams said, spreading his hands.