“Now, the big question is to see where they go,” Adams said.
The others in the room had grim looks on their faces as they watched the screens that were linked to the sensor buoys that were relaying in real-time. Based off the distances they were seeing, the information coming to them was a few minutes old.
“We’ve got a portal activating in one of the Jukal systems we hit,” Suzy said. With a wave of her hand, another system appeared and they could see the portal through the sensors of the Pandora fleet that was in-system.
Everyone held their breath as more and more portals in the occupied systems started to activate.
It looked as if the Jukal were going to deal with the issues within their controlled systems before they attacked Emerilia. It was just as they had hoped and planned for. However, no one wanted to say anything, for fear of jinxing it and the Jukal ruining their plans.
The first portal activated, linking one system to another as a Jukal fleet of ten ships—two carriers, five destroyers, and three troop transports—appeared on the other side.
The ships were much larger than the Pandora or Deq’ual ships. They passed through the event horizon, entering the system that the Pandora fleet controlled.
Sato’s heart thumped in his chest as he looked at those behemoths. These same ships might have fought against humanity five hundred years ago. Now, once again, they moved in anger, ready to defeat humanity’s combined fleets.
Hangar bays could be seen, hundreds of crafts hidden behind thick armored doors, waiting to pounce on the human ships. Cannons shone with a dark light, ready to destroy all that stood in their path.
This was the unstoppable Jukal fleet, a fleet that had assured the Jukal’s rise to power and their continued dominance over uncountable people, dozens of races, and hundreds of systems. Only one word could truly encompass the feeling that those ships inspired: domination.
Adams and Forsyth talked to each other in low tones before they started to pass orders to their respective fleets. More and more of the sensor buoys showed Jukal fleets moving through portals, hundreds of ships that made up the entire Jukal fleet hunting down humanity’s ships.
Large Jukal fleets transitioned through portals, sometimes meeting up with other fleets on the other side, and some continuing on their own. Fleet after fleet continued to exit through the same portal. A remote system now saw the growing fleet combining together.
Sato and the rest of the people in the room were passing on information, listening to the orders and reports passed back and forth as the second part of their offensive began.
It took a number of hours but the fleet of five that had started off in the remote system had now ballooned to sixty, with more fleets coming through.
This remote system was the closest to the Emerilian system that contained a portal.
It was this remote star system that the Jukal had picked to have their rally point for their fleet that would strike out at Emerilia in an attempt to destroy it and all those who called it home.
Once the portion of the Jukal fleet assigned to destroy the Emerilian system reached one hundred and fifty ships strong, their propulsion drives fired. The ships started to gain momentum as they headed to a jump point that would take them closer to Emerilia.
With no portals this far out, they could only use their jump drive and their regular propulsion drives. If there were no stops, then they’d reach the Emerilian system in three months.
Some two hundred ships that had formed into fleets had now completed their transition into the key Jukal star systems that the Pandora and Deq’ual fleets had attacked.
Another hundred or so ships continued to hold position over the home world of the Jukal and the heart of their empire.
Sato looked at it all, not letting any of his emotions show.
Even if we defeat all of these ships, we won’t have the numbers to contend with the Jukal ships that are protecting the Jukal home world.
He opened his interface and looked at the new numbers that had come from Malsour and Edwards. A cold smile spread across his lips; slowly, a new hard edge appeared in his eyes.
“If we’re to lead them on a chase of the system for a week, then we will be able to bring up another forty ships to the battlefield.” Sato’s voice cut through the discussions around the table.
The others around the table had pensive looks on their faces as they heard his words.
“Well then, let’s try for two weeks, but as long as we have a week, we’ll be ready,” Suzy said.
“When we developed our ships, we did it with a good idea of the Jukal’s capabilities. We should be able to easily get away from them and lead them on a chase. However, we will probably need to lose a few ships here and there to keep up the ruse,” Adams said.
Suzy tapped on the table in thought. She opened her interface and talked to someone. The others in the room noticed this action and waited to see what she was doing.
“This is possible,” Suzy said after ending the call. “All of our ships have portals as well as teleportation arrays, like the one in the original Pandora’s Box workshops that can create a portal from one point to another that doesn’t have a drop pad, ono, or portal on the other end. They’ve also got onos and teleport pads. With this, we can connect to the rest of the fleet. We’ll gut ships from the inside, take everything useful from them, run them on automatic with all of the crew evacuated to the asteroid base, where they can get on a new ship and the materials from the old ships can be used to speed up the building process of the later ships.”
Sato and Adams couldn’t help but look to each other with shock.
It took them weeks to build the hull of a ship, months before they were even able to launch. That wasn’t including all the checks they had to perform and extras that they needed to include. However, Suzy made it seem as if making ships was no big thing. Sato sighed and then thought back to the production numbers that he had checked.
Maybe to them, building ships is that much easier.
Sato nodded his head. Being able to move all of their people from their ships, and gut them for the harder-to-make components, would definitely make it easier for them to build replacement craft. The thought of it was just audacious, efficient, and plain brilliant. It wasn’t a tactic that he would have thought of before because of how he was trained.
Adams suggested it but she hadn’t thought they would be able to save the systems from within the ships, only thinking of getting the crew off with the portals and teleportation magic that the Emerilians had created.
“Very well, then. We’ll strip down a number of ships to give the Jukal a good show while we use the time to build up our forces even more. Then, when they’re confident in their victory, we’ll turn the tables on them,” Sato said.
“Very well,” Suzy said.
***
Frank clenched and unclenched his hands as he stared at the screen that showed the portal in the same system as him. As he monitored the power fluctuation, the portal flashed with power as a new set of stars and system were shown on the other side of the portal.
Jukal ships forced their way into the system. As soon as they were clear of the portal, they turned and charged toward the Pandora fleet.
“Looks like they’ve come out to play,” Captain Xiao said. “How are our ground forces looking?”
“We’ve got a few thousand people who are under the overseers’ watch. They’ve been portaled back to the asteroid base. Our forces have cleared out any of the Jukal and the different Jukal Empire offices. The last of the ground units are returning to the destroyers, which will be lifting in a few hours,” the ground operations officer said.
“What is it like on the facilities front?” The captain looked to the engineering section of the command center.
“This planet deals mostly in small components for electronics. There is a lack of fuel for their various power systems, as well as no food. We’ve put in a number of greenhouse towers. A number of them are in use
, but so far people are just sneaking in, stealing stuff and running off. People are hesitant to take food out in the open.
“Our energy systems are hooked up and are charging but no one has connected their power to their power grid. This is understandable as they don’t know if our systems will mess with theirs. We believe they’re smart people and they’ve been studying the power systems to come to understand them.
“The biggest thing has been the Mirror of Communication schools. These people know Mirrors of Communication and a number of them have used them before. They’re in anonymous mode so we don’t know how many of them there are. So far, we can see that they’re learning about Mana, how to create different Jukal technologies, and how to apply it to their situation. It’s opening up a new line of thinking and giving them tools and knowledge to do so many things.”
“Good. I hope that it helps them out.” Xiao sounded relieved.
Frank could understand his emotions. These people had been used for unknown years by the Jukal Empire. They were nothing more than slaves to the Jukal. When they had become a part of the empire, they had to submit, or be wiped out.
Here, they were able to see new opportunities. They hadn’t made the leap to join with humanity against the Jukal just yet. At the same time, they seemed to be slowly coming to understand humanity and getting to know them.
“Nav, set a rally point for the fleet to meet up. Once we’re all together, we’ll lead the Jukal fleet on a nice little trip of the system.”
“Yes, Captain,” Nav said. Waypoints started to appear on the map of the system.
Frank looked at the Jukal fleet, a predatory look in his eyes as he rested his hands on his console, itching to activate the powerful weaponry of the BloodHawk.
***
From the Jukal emperor’s chambers, laughter could be heard shaking the very walls.
“Look, my beauties—see the might of the Jukal Empire!” the emperor cried out, clapping his hands together as he watched the Jukal fleets entering the different systems that the Emerilians had attacked. Now that they had come out of the portals, they seemed as if nothing could possibly stop them.
He laughed while joking and pointing to the different Emerilian ships and their mysterious ally as they started to move away from the planets that they had been fighting on for the last two weeks.
“Look at them, scared in the face of such mighty ships! No other race could do what we, the Jukal, have done!” The emperor didn’t care that none of the concubines in the room with him were Jukal, or the way in which they gritted their teeth in their minds while they continued to flatter him, pressing up against him and smiling as he looked down on their entire race, and all others that were not Jukal.
When they looked to the screens that showed the Jukal fleet and the human fleets, they didn’t feel the joy the emperor did. Instead, they felt the hopelessness of what the humans had done. They’d been backed in a corner and there was nothing that they could do, other than fight back with everything they had.
Now it looked like their run had come to an end.
Some hoped that they would be able to escape, while others wished that they would have a clean death instead of being the slaves of the Jukal once again.
They shuddered at the thoughts of what might happen to those who were captured by the Jukal.
The emperor made it a point of honor to watch the killings of those who were supposedly plotting against the Jukal Empire. As he watched them, so did all of them.
They knew the cruelty of the Jukal Empire, but they were powerless to do anything about it.
Chapter 5: Beware the Engineer
Dave opened his eyes as he pulled his hand away from the soul gem construct that had, over the space of just a few hours, filled the destroyer he was in.
“This one is good for service. Get her crew moved in,” Dave said.
“Understood,” Jeeves said from overhead.
Dave teleported out of the new destroyer and into his and Malsour’s office that lay within the walls of the shipyard. Through their windows, they could see the main thoroughfare that was filled with slips that had ships in various states of completion.
Four fleets had already been pushed out of the asteroid base and were now patrolling Emerilia. They watched over the system. All of the ships that were part of the Pandora Initiative were now leading the Jukal fleet ships on a merry chase throughout the Jukal systems. With every day, new ships were being completed, amassing a powerful force within the Emerilian system.
Dave felt an intense sense of satisfaction as he looked upon the slips and ships in them. The asteroid base was now massive and nearing completion. It wouldn’t be very long until it was finished and a second shipyard was under construction already.
Still, he knew that it wouldn’t be completed in time to help out with the ongoing battle. It wouldn’t be long until they needed to show some of their trump cards and start to not only lead the Jukal around their systems, but start to break their fleets.
An alert appeared in his vision. He looked to it, mentally opening the alert. A screen appeared in front of him. He watched as the Jukal fleet chased a Pandora fleet through a system. They were heading out toward the area that they could use their jump drives.
Dave grinned as he watched the Jukal continue to hit them with missiles and harass them. The Pandoran fleet seemed to be too slow to escape because they were still hiding their real capabilities to confuse the Jukal. As the Jukal and the Pandora fleet neared one another, the Pandora fleet turned around, apparently unable to take the battering anymore. They fired their cannons and missiles while at the same time their engines fired, arresting their motion and carrying them back toward the Jukal.
One of the destroyers pushed itself into the Jukal fleet’s path, taking most of the fire. It exploded; the Jukal and Pandora fleets intersected one another, with the Jukal continuing out of the system as the Pandora fleet fled in-system.
As the Pandora fleet used the explosion to go faster in-system, the Jukal had to turn around and try to fight the momentum that they had built up.
The chase continued, now with the Jukal racing in-system as the Emerilians moved to the planets, looking to hide among them.
Seeming to be pure happenstance, it also took them closer to the portal that was located deeper in-system.
The Pandoran and Deq’ual fleets had all evaded the Jukal fleets in their own ways: some hiding in gas planets, others running through asteroid belts—though all of them had been stopped from escaping the Jukal systems by the Jukal fleets. When looking at one of the systems, then it might be possible; however, there were over twenty different systems that the human fleets had attacked.
However, the Jukal did nothing but follow them, as they now started to move toward the portals in their different locations.
Dave’s eyes moved from the different alerts and images from the sensor buoys as he looked at the thoroughfare once again.
Shadows appeared behind Dave before resolving into Malsour.
“How go the new arks and missile boats?” Dave looked over his shoulder.
“Well, though the ark shipyards are a lot slower than the new slips that have been attached to Terra, I heard that there is a plan in place to add another five sections to Terra,” Malsour said.
“Yeah, it’s a back-up plan.”
Malsour nodded, understanding. “We finally got some more detailed images from the Jukal home world. There are several Deq’ual scout ships in-system, working to give us a better idea of what is going on with them. We’ve been able to pick up a lot of chatter about the different ways the Jukal Empire are playing up the fight. Seems that with Emerilia not being on the air anymore, this is the most watched event in the empire,” Malsour said.
“Well, soon it’ll be time for them to see a new program.” Dave’s eyes fell on the portal. “Have they been talking about the portals that we used at the moonbase at all?”
“Seems that Anna was able to mess up the images a
bit, make it look like the ships were all coming from the moonbase, and not from the asteroid base and through a portal,” Malsour said.
“I don’t like it. Still feels like we’re going to get found out.” Dave sighed.
“Well, after we crush their fleets and take over their portal network, I don’t think that there’s going to be a whole lot that they can do about it,” Malsour said.
Dave received a message that made him access his interface. He pulled it up as he stood taller. “Seems that some of those scout vessels you were talking about picked up some talk of people who were saying that everything seemed a bit weird with the different human fleets. Seems that it’s gaining traction. The military leaders have said that they want to move ahead with the plan,” Dave said. “Otherwise they think that we might lose the element of surprise.”
Dave pulled out a Mirror of Communication. Malsour did the same as the two of them connected to a conference room. It was laid out like a command center. Here all the various factions of the humans were grouped together.
Here, Forsyth and Adams ruled, Sato advised from Deq’ual, and Dave gave the final say.
“Well, they’re dense but it doesn’t seem like they’re as dense as we were hoping.” Sato looked to Dave and Malsour, who had entered the command center.
“What are we thinking?” Dave looked to the military commanders. He might be the man with his finger on the button, but he knew he was no master military strategist. That was the job of the people in front of him.
They looked to one another before Adams waved for Forsyth to talk.
“Sir, we think that it might be the time to strike. We have four fleets that are complete and we should have another two finished in just a few days. If the Jukal get wind of what’s going on, then they might be able to reverse the changes we make and then everything could come apart. We hit them now when it’s not in the back of their minds—we get the element of surprise and we can tear out the portal network from underneath them,” Forsyth said, not flinching away from Dave’s eyes in the slightest, even as he knew that this moment would determine a number of people’s fates.
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