The Brandenburger CEO had no more arguments left. In his heart he knew there was no other option, but his family had lived on the planet Brandenburg since before earth was lost and now that was all at an end. Besides dealing with the Saltic, he knew that there was no longer any way to keep his corporation together. His family had been hiding in the mountains since the Saltic came to his planet. This was done as a precaution, but now they were all dead, along with the entire population. Most of the animal life also went to feed those damnable worms. He wished he had never heard of the Saltic or been tempted to ally with them. He looked to his generals, who now knew their families were also dead. Their faces said it all; the situation was hopeless. Juergen Schardt looked across the table at Juan Lorenzo and his shoulders dropped into an attitude of submission and he said, in a quiet voice, “Sterilize the planet and I would be grateful if you would transport my surviving forces to the Munich system.”
Lorenzo nodded, “I will assign a ship to take you. You may all return to your stations now and prepare for departure. After Plan Zeta has been accomplished, I want Captain Christopher Slone to take the Tempestas along with the Avenging Talon and transport the Brandenburger forces to the Munich system.”
The meeting was adjourned and everyone returned to their ship. Shuttles brought over the remaining Brandenburger troops and they were billeted aboard the Tempestas. The CEO was given a guest suite on the officers’ deck. He was invited to the bridge to watch the operation, but respectfully declined. Slone could not blame him for not wanting to see his home world destroyed. An hour after the meeting, navigation received the orbital location that all battleships and dreadnoughts were assigned for the operation. Slone told Paul McMann to move the ship to their designated place. While the ships were encircling the planet, the cruisers and destroyers were ordered to destroy all of the derelict human and Saltic ships, aside from the three harvesters captured intact. These would be taken back to Romani space to allow scientists to examine the EMP weapons and discover a counter measure for all ships. Over the next hour, one by one, the battleships and dreadnoughts reported that they were in position. Slone sat on the bridge and waited.
“Captain, the battle channel has just been activated and fleet general quarters has been ordered,” Tom Gardner reported and the klaxon sounded and brought the ship to general quarters. This was necessary since the ship computers would only allow nuclear activation during a combat situation.
“Load city killer ordinance,” Consul Lorenzo’s voice came over the battle channel.
Slone called down to Diana Gardner who was in charge of the nuclear ordinance. “Diana, load four city killers into the forward missile tubes.”
“Loading now, captain.”
Slone then turned to his weapon tech, “Do we have our target coordinates?”
“Yes, Captain, they have been given to the missile control computer.”
Word then came up from Diana Gardner that the missiles were loaded and ready to arm. “Tom, set us as ready and transmit that to central command.”
“Done, Captain.”
Juan Lorenzo waited until all of the ships involved in the plan reported their ordinance was loaded. Two things were necessary to sterilize a planet like this. One was to make sure that all of the cities were destroyed. The second aspect is to put so much radiation into the atmosphere that all life on the planet is obliterated and the planet remains uninhabitable for the generations it takes to decontaminate it.
Consul Lorenzo’s voice again came over the battle channel, “Arm missiles.”
Slone took the key from around his neck and Diana Gardner, who had come up to the bridge did the same. They placed their keys into the panels in front of them and Slone did a three second countdown and they turned their keys simultaneously. The nuclear warheads were now armed. Throughout corporate space, this was the way nuclear missiles were armed. Humans had tried many ways to do it using computers, but in each case, hacking was a problem and an enemy could hack into your system and turn your own weapons against you. The safest way to arm a nuclear warhead turned out to be the one used back on Earth in the twentieth century. The double key system prevented a single person from arming them and it was also a closed system, so it could not be hacked.
“Tom, signal central command that we are armed.”
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, the order came over the battle channel, “Fire all missiles at designated coordinates.”
Including the Avenging Talon, there were eleven dreadnoughts and five battleships. This translated into 42 missiles aimed at the planet. This procedure would be repeated multiple times and that would end all life on the once beautiful planet of Brandenburg. On the ground there was a nuclear firestorm that removed most of the atmosphere from the planet. The missiles aimed at the cities penetrated into the ground and detonated turning the cities into deep craters and annihilating every Saltic, adult, juvenile and egg on the planet. From orbit, Slone could see the mushroom clouds extending from the ground to the stratosphere. “Raul, magnify the planet.”
The magnified view was projected onto the inside of the bridge bubble and it was horrific. All the nuclear nightmares Slone had ever read about were being played out in front of him. All of the forests and vegetation on the planet was ablaze. He was only grateful he could not see the suffering of any living creatures. Intellectually, he knew the destruction of the planet was necessary, but in his heart, he wished it could have been otherwise. Humans rarely used nuclear weapons before the Saltic arrived. Now it seemed humanity’s very existence depended on their use. Even if they managed to defeat the Saltic, and that was a big if, humans would never be the same. He could see the Romani slowly changing. Their old abhorrence of the corporations was being replaced by a desperate spirit of cooperation. Slone shook himself internally back to the task at hand. “Raul, what is the atmospheric reading on the planet?”
“Radiation is well beyond lethal levels and almost all of the oxygen in the atmosphere is consumed. As a result, the planetary fires are starting to go out. There are no life signs down to the size of a human infant. Below that we cannot read due to our height and radiation interference, Captain.”
Lorenzo came onto the battle channel and ordered the fleet into formation, except for the Tempestas and the Avenging Talon. They were ordered to proceed on their mission. They would all rendezvous in the uninhabited system one slipstream from Nova Romae where all wormhole travel was initiated and ended. The fleet would arrive first and later Slone and Captain Artok would arrive with their ships. Slone took the only surviving forces from Brandenburg and left them at the Munich system. CEO Juergen Schardt did not join them. When they arrived and he was called, he did not respond. When checked on, he was found dead from a cyanide capsule he bit into. Captain Neumann and his family along with the rescued Roberts family asked permission to stay with the Romani and this was granted by the Consul. The Roberts had nothing left on the home world and Captain Neumann held the corporation and its CEO responsible for the disaster that befell all of the Brandenburgers. The Tempestas and the Avenging Talon finished their mission without running into any Saltic. When the fleet was again all together, Juan Lorenzo called a meeting aboard the Tempestas and asked Captain Neumann and Captain Morel to attend. When all ships’ captains and primary centurions were seated, the Consul came in with the six Legati and no Lictors. He was back to being a fleet admiral and ship’s captain.
“I have called this meeting before returning to Nova Romae to discuss where we go from here. Our final dispositions will be up to the Senate, but for now I feel the bulk of the fleet should remain here while the Longinus and the Tempestas return to Nova Romae. The Saltic should have no idea where the Romani come from, since all of their information has come from dealing with the corporations, and they do not know where we are. I want to keep it that way. But just in case, I am going to suggest to the senate that we build a large station here with multiple missile platforms. That will protect our access system.�
�� There were nods of agreement around the table. “I also want to commend all of you and your commands for the courage you showed fighting the Saltic. Defeating an enemy by destroying a planet is in no way a victory. I would say we got our collective asses kicked by the Saltic and there is no shame in that, as long as we showed the courage expected of us. It is clear to me that we will need massive military might if we are going to defeat the enemy and we will have to take the war to them. I for one am tired or reacting to their moves. I want them to be off balance and have to react to our moves. I will discuss all of this with the senate, but wanted you to know in advance.”
Lorenzo now moved his gaze to Captain Melissa Bogarde. She and her crew acquitted themselves well in the fleet battle. Slone thought Juan liked Melissa because she dressed as colorful as he did. In many respects, she was as flamboyant as he was. “Captain Bogarde, I would like you to come back to Nova Romae with me to testify about the attacks on small colonies and what kind of ships they send. We will have to decide how best to defend our smaller bases.”
“I would be very happy to come along with you,” Melissa said, a bit more seductively than she planned. She was a captain in her own personal fleet and didn’t really stand on ceremony.
“Very well, those ships that are going to Nova Romae, we leave for the slipstream in one hour. Secure your weapons and be ready.”
“How should we secure our weapons?” Melissa Bogarde asked.
“No ship is allowed in Nova Romae space with loaded weapons. All cannons must be unloaded and all missile tubes must be empty and sealed.”
“You have that level of security yet you are not a corporation. I will be very anxious to learn how you do it.”
“And I will be happy to show you,” Lorenzo said, also a bit more intensely than he wanted.
The meeting was adjourned and the captains went back to their ships along with their primary centurions. An hour later the Longinus and her cruiser and destroyer screen, along with the Tempestas and the Avenging Talon, began the five hour trip to the outbound slipstream. The system was chosen because it was one of the two percent of systems that had outbound and inbound slipstreams to and from the same destination. That destination was Nova Romae. The primary crew was on the bridge, along with Alaya Slone and Captain Christopher Morel, who once carried the name of Slone and was considering changing back now that his mother and stepfather were dead. He had seen a lot in his time with the Romani and he liked what he saw. He was also impressed with the safety that they enjoyed in their home system, as no armed ships were allowed. That meant they did not expect anyone to attack them. They arrived in the Nova Romae system and the sheer volume of ship traffic was beyond anything Christopher Morel had ever seen in corporate space. There were also large numbers of the serpent vessels he had become accustomed to during the fleet and land battles in the Brandenburger system. They docked in the huge starport orbiting above the capital city of Roma. Again he was surprised when told he had to leave his side arms on the ship, as no personal weapons were allowed on the planet. After checking in, the Slones took their personal shuttle and flew to their lake house, along with the Gardners. Olivia and Allen Gardner were finally able to spend more time together, which suited both of them just fine. The Slones were proud of their daughter and how well she worked under pressure to repair the ship after battle damage and the crash. For her courage under fire, she was advanced to Scout First Class. Christopher Morel officially changed his name back to Christopher Slone, Jr. and became yet another member of the group living in the lake house. He also got to know his sister and enjoyed having a family back. He asked for and was granted resident status and was also allowed to enlist in the Romani navy. At his new stepmother’s request, he was assigned to the Mary Rose as a commander in charge of engineering. This took some of the pressure off of Olivia. Since he was in the scout service, he was also cross trained in the other ship functions. He had been an engineer before becoming the first officer of his destroyer in the Highline navy. This way Alaya and Olivia could get to know the new member of the family and he would be stationed on the Tempestas to reestablish relations with his father.
They were all given three months to rest up, and that they did. Alaya’s friend Ann Stout came over and was shocked to hear of the danger her friends had gone through. She was also glad that the Marshal children were back. She loved playing with the little ones. Her relationship with the young senator had gone nowhere. His family wanted him to marry the daughter of a family friend and in their system, arranged marriages were the norm. That was fine with her, since over time she realized they had little in common. By the second month, she and young Christopher had become an item. They had both been raised in corporate space and that meant they had a lot in common. The Slones were hoping they could find happiness together, since they had both lost their families. The battle wounds healed but the knowledge of the continuing danger was disturbing the sleep of those who survived from the commanders to the mess hall cooks. Consul Strabo came by as often as possible to see his family and very much liked Christopher Slone’s son. He intuitively knew he would be a good addition to his daughter’s crew. Chris Jr. was fascinated by the serpents that always made a point to drop by when Tavia Marshal visited. They treated the human as if she was the most important person in the universe to them and they also held her husband in high regard. When he heard the stories behind this relationship, he came to greatly admire the Marshals.
By the third month, Jack Dalton and his wife were back from their mission to the Lagarde Corporation and all breathed a sigh of relief that there had been no trouble in Lagarde space. The Lagarde CEO and her advisors were greatly distressed at what happened in Brandenburger space. At least the Lagarde Corporation was going to keep cruisers with nuclear missiles at all major systems.
By the third month, the Mountain of Remembrance ceremony was behind them and things were getting back to normal. There had been no word from the advance ships that Highline and Brandenburger Corporations had allowed to patrol their space to give an early warning. The Romani scientists were making headway on the EMP weapons captured from the Saltic. As the Slones stood on their veranda and looked out over the lake, they were happy just to be together and at peace. How long that would last, no one could predict. As Slone looked at the forested slope on the other side of the lake, his wife placed her head on his shoulder. The air was clear and the smell of the lake felt like home. Suddenly, Slone had a flash of memory and could see the forest on the slope in flames whipped by the winds of nuclear shockwaves and had to shake his head to clear the vision. Alaya noticed and asked what was wrong. He told her of his sudden vision and they both hoped their worst fears would never be realized. As they left the veranda and went back in, they knew they may all be living on borrowed time and only hoped the scientists would be able to find a solution. For now they both decided to put the future out of their minds and enjoy the present. They knew whatever happened, they would be in the thick of it and it would involve the Saltic.
Epilogue
Deep inside the Andromeda galaxy, a wormhole formed in a system consisting only of a single, blue white main sequence star of spectral class O. A large ship came out of the wormhole and moved towards a massive, elongated rectangular cuboid that was as large as a planetoid and was very old. This was the colony ship of the Saltic who first invaded the Andromeda galaxy from their star cluster just outside the great spiral. The colony ship housed three billion Saltic and had been orbiting the star for countless human millennia. The ship passed through one of the thousands of force fields covering the hangars located all over the vessel. This ship was so large and had been so modified over the millennia that no one knew what it originally looked like. All the crew of the cruiser knew, to them it was home.
It had taken the fleet captain several human weeks of repeatedly charging the wormhole drive to make it back to the colony ship. He had left the fleet he commanded behind and convinced himself it was not out of cowardice. The fleet was sup
posed to stay in orbit until relieved and that would not be for many more cycles. The fleet would be supplied from the food raised on the planet and soon there would be a large number of troops in a generation of growth and training. The Saltic always took the long view, whereas humans were always short sighted. It was a plus that the human in charge of the Brandenburger corporation actually thought he could control the Saltic and use them as allies. The Saltic had no need of allies since they were the most powerful sentient race in the universe. They would overwhelm the humans by colonizing them and then raising them to harvest their brains for the expanded fleet. The Saltic had conquered the entire Andromeda galaxy and enslaved the various sentient species there. Now those species did all of the menial tasks needed to maintain the Saltic’s hold and, if they were sufficiently pliable, their brains served lesser functions. But none had ever worked as well as the human’s brains and once they were conquered and enslaved, they could be systematically raised for harvest. It had also been discovered that human children’s brains worked the best, which was a plus since the children were easier to control and also did not take as long to grow.
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