Gray Panthers: Dixie Read Free Page A

matter of time before the Alliance comes back and kicks our ass and we see even worse casualties. The only way we can get the Alliance off our ass is to find an ally. I don’t want Dixie involved. If they keep their fleet at home, they should be safe. I think it’s time we look at the League of Planets. That bunch aren’t fighters. They’ll all stay on their home planets praying the Libra don’t invade, hoping they don’t do anything to offend them. They have just the weapon, and they don’t even realize it.”
    “What weapon’s that?” Abby asked, realizing his old friend was putting a plan together.
    “We convince the League of Planets that they need to expel the Libra from their charter. They authorize the creation of a unified military and fleet under the charter of the League of Planets, then assign responsibilities to each planet. Some would pay taxes, and others would provide materials and manufacturing support. The Jacka would be assigned the responsibility of providing the manpower. Our people who have spoken with our Jacka prisoners all agree that the Jacka would be willing to stop being mercenaries if they could instead be their own military force.
    “We can work a trade deal, where we will supply them with ships and training for the fleet. We’ll have the ships equipped with level-one AIs to make the ships easier to manage and ensure that they can never attack us. The Jacka will get the respect they’ve wanted by becoming legitimate warriors.”
    “What happens if they decide they don’t want the Jacka to have that much power?” Abby asked. “It could be a hard sell.”
    “We explain that the alternative is we hire the entire Jacka home world and arm them with their own fleet, and then we destroy the Libra Alliance. After that, we go after every planet in the League of Planets. I think that would scare the royal hell out of them,” Dan said as he started jotting down notes.

Arizona Space Ship Beater, in League of Planets space
    25 October 2128
    Captain Kyle Johnson sat in the ship’s mess, savoring a cup of coffee. He had big plans and was looking for good input from Captain James Young, the detachment commander of the Gray Panther Marines, who sat across the table.
    “We need to find a good base of operations. I want to be able to give the Libra a good bloody nose before we head for home. Every suitable place is either in space that’s too congested with traffic or too far away from suitable targets. You’ve looked over the maps. Any ideas, Captain Young?”
    “Sir, I thought we would just hit the targets and then use the FTL to disappear. I don’t understand why we need a base.”
    “I want to capture as many ships as possible with their cargos, so the members of the Libra Alliance really feel the pain. When we destroy ships, they get mad. If we take the ships away from them, that’ll really piss them off. We’re going to operate as a commercial raider. I just need to figure out a place where we can take the captured ships. It would be nice to just operate along the border with the Republic and take the ships across the border, but that area is too built up on both sides.”
    “Captain Johnson, may I make a suggestion?” the ship’s AI asked, projecting itself into the mess. It appeared as a naval officer of the Confederate Navy from the ancient American War Between the States.
    “Go ahead, Beater. I’d like to hear your idea,” Johnson answered.
    “Sir, the old home world of the Flem has been thought to be picked clean, and no one has any interest in occupying it. There may be undamaged areas that are large enough to hide ships. With the Flem being underground dwellers, there is a good chance that some of the old entrances to their caverns still exist. Those would be perfect.”
    “That’s an excellent idea, Beater. Instruct Lieutenant Horton to plot a course, without assisting him. Then check his work and let me know when it has been done, please.”
    Ten minutes later,