by Ryk Brown
Until now, he had managed to avoid the media. The first week had been easy enough, since he had spent it in the Aurora’s medical department. A late night arrival back on Rakuen had helped, as well. But the time had come. Thanks to Captain Scott, Ito Yokimah was now a hero of Rakuen, and any political ambitions he might have were practically guaranteed to be successful. Unfortunately, it also meant he would be forever beholden to the young leader of the Karuzari, as the truth would surely ruin him, not just politically, but financially, as well. His companies were heavily leveraged and deeply in debt. Any interruption in his revenues would be catastrophic, to say the least.
So he found himself at this podium, in front of fifty reporters who would connect him with all the eyes on Rakuen. Captain Scott had handed him the presidency on a silver platter. All he had to do was take it and run with it.
One thing was sure, he had underestimated the young captain. He would not do so again.
“I would like to make a statement,” he said after clearing his throat. He waited a moment for the crowd of journalists to quiet down before speaking. “First, I would like to thank Lieutenant Commander Jessica Nash for her quick thinking and her calm under pressure. Her actions saved my life, and her apprehension of my assailant quite possibly saved Rakuen. I will be forever in her debt. Second, I would like to thank Captain Nathan Scott for his kind words on my behalf. However, his rendition of the events was far more flattering than I deserve. The truth is, I unknowingly allowed a Dusahn spy to move freely among us, simply because his presence offered an opportunity for financial gain. For that, I am truly sorry. It is sometimes too easy, in our day-to-day lives, to forget what is truly important. I shall not make that mistake again.”
Ito pulled himself closer to the podium, straightening up a bit more before continuing. “I now call upon the people of Rakuen to stand in opposition to the Dusahn and all they represent. We must all band together… Rakuens, Nerameseans, Karuzari… Humans. We must stand together against those who would impose their will upon us, through the use of force and intimidation. To that end, I call upon the leaders of Rakuen to sign the Karuzari Alliance charter. Thank you.”
Upon completion, Ito immediately turned and departed as gingerly as he had come, ignoring the questions being shouted at him. His lies had been small, no more than a few words bent, at most. But his intentions had been sincere. He truly felt that an alliance with the Karuzari was now the only way Rakuen might survive the conflict that was about to come their way.
* * *
General Hesson was not pleased. The last few days had been particularly difficult. Their defeat in the Rogen system had not been well received by Lord Dusahn, and their inability to backtrack the Aurora and learn the location of the Karuzari fleet had not helped matters. And now, he had more bad news to report.
Although their hold on the Pentaurus cluster was quite firm, the first seven and a half weeks of occupation had been challenging. The Takaran worlds had been cooperative for the most part, but the Corinairans had proven more difficult, due mostly to the Corinari, despite the fact that they had disbanded years ago. Only recently had the Dusahn’s elite Zen-Anor been able to determine the location of several Corinari resistance cells and had begun apprehending their members. But the network was turning out to be far more extensive than originally estimated. After decades of occupation by the Ta’Akar, the Corinairans were quite adept at underground resistance operations and still had much of their network in place, even after eight years of freedom from Takaran rule.
General Hesson held a begrudging admiration for the Corinairans. They were a strong people, unwilling to trade their freedoms for safety. Unlike the Takarans, who were more concerned with appearances than anything else, the Corinairans were people of action. They were fiercely loyal and did not tolerate dishonesty or deceit. They would make excellent additions to the Dusahn Empire, if they could find a way to get them under control, which the general doubted was possible.
General Hesson entered Lord Dusahn’s office, walking toward his leader’s desk at the far end of the room. “You asked to see me, my lord?”
Lord Dusahn did not look up from his view screen. “Still no sign of the Karuzari fleet, I take it?”
“I’m afraid not, my lord,” the general replied. “The Karuzari are going to great lengths to keep their fleet’s location a secret. They have developed sophisticated algorithms, varying their jump patterns to a great degree, to evade our tracking drones. The few times we have been able to track them through all of their jumps, they inevitably disappeared in the radiation fields of more massive stars, thus hiding their departure course from our drones.”
Lord Dusahn finally looked up from his view screen, obviously displeased. But he knew there was no way to guess their routes beyond the stars the Karuzari used to mask their escape. Space was vast, and the Karuzari fleet was likely far from any well-traveled jump routes, for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, that same vastness made it a fantastic place to hide.
“I would recommend that we keep our eyes on the Rogen system,” General Hesson said. “The Karuzari will attempt to form an alliance with the Rakuens, in order to bring their Gunyoki fighters into their fleet.”
“The Gunyoki are no match for our heavy fighters,” Lord Dusahn insisted.
“As currently configured, they are not,” General Hesson agreed. “But if equipped with jump drives, especially ones with series-jump capabilities, they could pose a threat to our security.”
“Perhaps, but they have no chance against our warships.”
“If used in sufficient numbers, they could be quite effective,” General Hesson warned. “And Rakuen has more than five hundred Gunyoki fighters, my lord.”
“And you think they could equip them all with jump drives?” Lord Dusahn challenged. “In short order?”
“I think they will try,” the general replied. “It will take time, of course. Once the Teyentah is operational, we should be able to shut them down, thus neutralizing the threat long before their numbers become a concern.”
“Then the Teyentah’s completion is ahead of schedule?” Lord Dusahn inquired.
“She should be ready for limited operations in a few weeks.”
“Limited operations?” Lord Dusahn wondered.
“She is already able to navigate, and her jump drive should be operational by week’s end. Once her shields and main gun batteries are complete, she will be more than capable of providing basic defenses for the Pentaurus cluster,” General Hesson explained. “This will make it possible for us to send one of our battleships to dispatch Rakuen and Neramese, if necessary.”
“I would prefer that both worlds are completely destroyed,” Lord Dusahn grumbled. “Better to make examples of them.”
“Neramese, I would agree with destroying,” the general agreed. “Her meager resources are not worth considering. Rakuen, on the other hand, has enough water to last us for centuries. Perhaps we should consider targeting her population centers with non-radiological weapons. Destroy her populations, but leave the world habitable for our purposes.”
Lord Dusahn cast a disproving gaze the general’s way. “I will consider it,” he agreed, returning his attention to his view screen. “Increase the frequency of our reconnaissance missions to Rakuen,” he instructed the general. “We must monitor the Rakuens closely.”
“As you wish, my lord.”
* * *
“The Teyentah is a large ship,” General Telles stated, “more than twice the size of the Aurora. She will require a large crew to achieve maximum effectiveness.”
“It will take time to put together a crew,” Cameron added, “let alone, train them.”
“And to learn all her systems,” Vladimir said. “Gospadee…that will take forever.”
Nathan looked around the conference table in the Aurora’s command brief
ing room. His senior officers had just started discussing the issue of the Teyentah, and they were already painting a rather grim picture. “It would help if we could get some of the Teyentah’s designers to join us.”
“That would be most difficult,” General Telles warned. “Such men are very well paid and respected. Convincing them to risk everything, even to free their own world, will be difficult. Takarans tend to protect what they have, even if it means putting up with a brutal dictator. The reign of Caius Ta’Akar demonstrated this. In fact, it depended on it. The nobles are prime examples. They will do anything to protect their individual little empires, including turning a blind eye to atrocities committed against other humans. The fact that nearly half of Captain Navarro’s crew remained on board when he denounced the new Takaran leadership was quite surprising.”
“We’re all talking about whether or not we could crew and operate the Teyentah,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda said. “Is stealing her even possible?”
“Anything is possible,” Nathan insisted.
“In this case, I would not be so sure,” General Telles admitted.
Nathan looked at him, surprised.
“I am basing my opinion on limited information,” General Telles admitted. “It may change as we get more intelligence from Captain Navarro.”
“Are we expecting more intel?” Cameron wondered.
“We sent a return message to Terig Espan through our Haven comm-relay,” Jessica explained. “We asked him to make direct contact with Captain Navarro.”
“Is that wise?” Cameron wondered. “How can we be sure it’s really him? Even if it is, he could be compromised. The Dusahn may have the same type of nanites that the Jung used to control Lieutenant Scalotti.”
“The nanites used by the Jung were obtained from a world called Estuason, which was conquered long after the Dusahn were exiled,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda told her.
“That doesn’t mean the Dusahn didn’t get them someplace else,” Cameron said. “The Corinairans have them, after all.”
“The Corinairan nanites do not control their hosts,” General Telles pointed out. “However, your point is well taken.”
“We can take appropriate steps to verify his identity,” Jessica insisted. “However, determining whether or not Navarro has been compromised will be difficult.” She looked at General Telles, then at Nathan. “This could be an elaborate plan, meant to draw us into an ambush, and on their terms.” She leaned back in her chair, sighing in frustration. “When it comes down to it, we’re going to be putting a lot of faith in Navarro, and we’re going to be asking a lot of Terig Espan. Just making contact with Navarro alone is going to be risky. If Navarro gets spooked, who knows what he’ll do to Terig.”
“Suvan Navarro never struck me as the type to get spooked,” Nathan insisted.
“He will most likely realize that his chances of success rise dramatically if we coordinate our efforts,” General Telles pointed out.
“I have a question,” Vladimir said, raising his hand from the far end of the table. “How do we take control of the ship? Surely they have command codes, just like we do.”
“I have the codes,” Deliza announced as she entered the room along with Abby.
“Our apologies, Captain,” Abby said.
“The Teyentah was designed and commissioned during my father’s short tenure,” Deliza explained as she and Abby took their seats at the conference table. “It was to be the first jump warship built by Takara from the ground up. It was to be a symbol of peace and cooperation between all the worlds of the Pentaurus cluster that were formerly ruled by Caius. Actually, Teyentah means togetherness, in old Takaran.”
“How does this help us?” Vladimir wondered.
“My father did not completely trust the houses who were contributing to the cost of the Teyentah’s construction,” Deliza continued. “He had command override codes built into the Teyentah’s core command and control computers. It is hardcoded, deep in the root directories of her security cores.”
“Surely the Dusahn have removed the codes,” Jessica insisted.
“Only four people knew of my father’s embedded override codes,” Deliza explained. “My father, myself, the technician who burned the codes into the core chips, and Yanni, of course.”
“Yanni?” Jessica asked.
“It was his idea to burn them into the security core chips,” Deliza explained. “That way, no one could see them unless they were directly connected to those chips, which would require climbing into the core itself to make the connection.”
“Are you saying we have to climb into the core of the Teyentah’s computer in order to take control of her?” Nathan wondered.
“Not at all,” Deliza replied. “When a command code is entered, the security system starts by checking command codes at the lowest security level. If a match is not found, it goes up to the next level, and so on, until it finds a match. If none are found, access is not granted, and control is not given to the user. That search includes the hard-coded chips in the security core.”
“Even though a user cannot see them without being directly connected to the chips,” Nathan said.
“Precisely,” Deliza replied.
“Then it is possible,” Vladimir said.
“To take control, yes,” General Telles agreed. “But we still have to figure out how to get inside the Teyentah. That will not be easy. The Takaran shipyards are very well protected. And if the ship is nearing completion, some of her crew will already be aboard, including security personnel.”
“And the shipyards are deep in the heart of a Dusahn held system,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda added.
“Any plan that we devise will be risky, to say the least,” General Telles warned. “The question will not be if it can be done. The question will be should we do it?”
“Is the risk worth the benefit,” Jessica said.
Nathan sighed. “We lost a lot of very good people just to secure six gunships. I can’t imagine how many the Teyentah might cost us.”
General Telles looked around the briefing room. No one was saying what they were all thinking. “A battleship would give us a fighting chance. If nothing else, it would give us the ability to protect our fleet and the Rogen system, while we engaged the Dusahn in the Pentaurus cluster.”
“Which we could also do after arming Rakuen and Neramese with a few thousand jump missiles,” Jessica surmised.
“And how long will that take?” Nathan wondered. “Months? Years? And how much more powerful will the Dusahn become in that time?”
“A difficult decision,” General Telles said.
Nathan sighed again. “We need more information,” he decided. “We need Terig Espan to put us in direct communication with Suvan Navarro, so we can determine if, one, he is Suvan Navarro, and two, whether or not he has been compromised.”
“Are you sure you want to risk our only asset on Takara?” Jessica wondered.
“Want? No. But I don’t see that we have a choice. We can’t turn our back on a battleship.”
“Then you intend to steal the Teyentah?” Cameron asked, shocked.
“I intend on gathering more information,” Nathan corrected. “Nothing more.” He turned to Jessica. “Get us in contact with Suvan Navarro…whatever it takes.”
“Aye, sir,” Jessica replied.
* * *
“In fourteen days, the Jung battle platforms in the Nor-Susuian, Nor-Kini, and Nor-Torisay systems will receive word of our initial retaliatory strikes on Jung military targets,” Admiral Galiardi explained to the representatives of the member-worlds of the Sol Alliance. “Five days after that, the battle platform in the Nor-Hensi system will be alerted, and three days after that, the one in the Nor-Benati system. That’s five Jung battle platforms. Assuming that they
are immediately ordered to head for Sol, and using their known maximum FTL speed, we can postulate it will take three years for them to reach us. During those three years, the Trinidad, the Charleston, and the Philadelphia will be completed, along with eight more destroyers and a few hundred more Cobra gunships.”
“Surely that will be enough to protect us,” the representative from the Tau Ceti system insisted.
“A single capital ship cannot defeat a Jung battle platform,” Admiral Galiardi warned. “By our estimates, it takes a minimum of two, perhaps, even three. So we would already be outnumbered, and that’s just the battle platforms themselves. They never travel alone. They carry numerous frigates and gunships and are usually accompanied by at least one, usually two, battleships. The platforms in Nor-Susuian and Nor-Hensi each have two battleships and one heavy cruiser with them.” Admiral Galiardi looked at the men and women in the room. “Quite frankly, we will not be able to repel such an attack. Even if, by some miracle, we do, it will be at great cost…a cost we may not be able to bear.”
“Perhaps we should not have launched that initial strike,” President Scott said from the opposite end of the table.
“That strike was retaliatory in nature, in response to Jung incursions into Alliance space,” Admiral Galiardi reminded them. “Had we not done so, the Jung would already be on their way.”
“What I do not understand is why they intruded into our space, to begin with,” the representative from 82 Eridani wondered. “Surely, they knew that we’d not take such transgressions lightly.”
“I cannot answer that,” Admiral Galiardi admitted. “I can only tell you how to best protect Alliance worlds. Destroying those battle platforms before they can receive marching orders is the best way to protect all of our worlds.”