by C. R. Daems
"Sixty seconds after Ready from Sheva." I cut the connection.
I clicked on Byer and Seng. Their faces appeared immediately.
"I assume you have been watching your feeds," I asked somewhat rhetorically—what else did they have to do? "In one hour, I will declare Battle Stations, stealth mode, and the actual fighting will start within an hour from then. They will undoubtedly release fighters, but the number will depend on the effectiveness of our initial attack and their current configuration."
"I understand. We'll be ready," Byer said.
"I don't know whether I'll release the Scorpions or not. There are the space platforms to consider."
"We'll be ready, Captain Reese," Seng said, and I cut the connection.
As I studied my assigned targets, I decided on a one-second skip that would position me only five kilometers from the Heavy and close enough for one-second shots at my four Lights. The tightness of the OS-2's formation was going to make for one fireworks display between Pavao and me.
I sat back and waited as we crept closer to squadron two. We would be sitting right in the middle of the explosions—within ten to a hundred kilometers—and normally I would have skipped away. But Pavao had half the OS-2 squadron, and I might have a good chance to finish the battle if I stayed. So, I decided to wait to see the results before making my next move.
I noticed only the two-second skip had changed. It was now one. I watched as the monitor crept toward zero.
I waited as the tubes were reloaded. Multiple explosions were occurring on OS-2H-2, and OS-2H-1. Hurt, but not dead, I noted abstractly.
The ready lite turned green just as OS-2L-4 and OS-2L-7 systems went active.
Caught napping, I mused.
The green lite on the Demons went green.
Fifteen agonizing seconds later,
We were so close that Fire and impact were almost simultaneous. Very dangerous, but effective since the enemy ships had only forty-five seconds to respond, and they had been caught totally unprepared—few fighters were being launched.
"Byer, prepare to launch ten fighters against OS-2H-2." I said, watching the VTH.
< OS-2L-7 lost power.>
"Byer, half your unit to clean up OS-2H-2 fighters, and the other half to investigate OS-2L-4 and OS-2L-8."
"Ghosts leaving bays G1 and G2."
"When you and Sheva are finished, return to OS-2 area, clean up, and pick up our fighters." I cut the connection, knowing he was busy, but timing was critical.
"As soon as you can, join me at OSP and HSP. Sheva and Zhang will clean up our area and pick up the fighters." I cut the connection
I noted a two-second skip.
I sat back and initiated a software program which would broadcast my message on several frequencies in a good but artificial-sounding voice. When we became solid again, I hit the activate button and the broadcast began.
"PEOPLE OF ORMAZD, THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE GODS HAS PLACED ORMAZD UNDER PERMANENT QUARANTINE. WE ARE HERE TO ENFORCE THEIR DECREE. YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TWELVE HOURS TO ABANDON YOUR SPACESHIPS AND EVACUATE YOUR SPACE PLATFORMS. AT THE END OF THAT TIME, THE SPACE STATION AND ALL SPACESHIPS WILL BE DESTROYED. FROM NOW ON, YOU ARE RESTRICTED TO THE SURFACE OF ORMAZD AND FORBIDDEN FROM FLYING ANY SPACECRAFT. VIOLATING THESE RESTRICTIONS WILL HAVE SEVERE CONSEQUENCES."
Fifteen minutes passed without a reaction, and I had the message repeated.
Several seconds later, the Mnemosyne shuddered twice. Ten seconds later, both ships were rocked with explosions, which caused a shock wave along the ring where the cruisers were attached.
Pavao appeared, looking tired. "Need help, Nadya?"
"What's your status, Nance?" I asked.
"Staying put worked extremely well; they didn't have time to respond. However, I'm not sure I'd like to try that again. If we hadn't caught them asleep at the switch, we would have been as vulnerable as ducks in a cage." She gave a wry grin. "The Eirene is undamaged, but I imagine the fighters may not have been so lucky with the few stray fighters that got launched and the couple of wounded cruisers we left."
"Couldn't be helped. I didn't want any of the cruisers at the stations to go active before we were in place to stop them leaving. You take OSP. Run the quarantine message every half hour and at the twelve hour mark, make sure the ships are destroyed, along with the platform."
* * *
It took two full days to destroy the ships—over seventy, including military cruisers, cruisers in production, merchants, and private ships.
"The residents of Ormazd will long remember this day," Sheva said, sitting back and taking a sip of her wine. "The debris from the destroyed platforms and ships will be raining on the planet for years."
"I don't imagine Admiral Neifeh's place in history is going to be what he envisioned." Pavao snorted.
"What about that private spacecraft that got away—with our permission," Zhang said, smiling as he sipped his tea.
"The ship had the Jahaba Supreme Council seal on its side. I'm hoping it had a message for Admiral Neifeh from the Council. I doubt there is little else that will distract him from his invasion of the SAS."
"Time to return to Freeland, or do you have other plans?" Pavao asked.
"I didn't expect quarantining Ormazd was going to be this easy. Either Neifeh has a great deal of influence with the Jahaban Supreme Council, or extreme arrogance is a natural JPU condition," I said, thinking out loud as I created a hologram of the Papak Sector from my SID. Everyone involuntarily leaned forward.
"Sivas," I said, sticking my finger into the hologram in the direction of the red dot between Ormazd and Mihr.
"Why Sivas?" Sheva asked. "And not Sarosh or Usak..."
"In case A
dmiral Neifeh deduces it was the Riss and not Aliens. Sivas will throw suspicion toward the Riss in Dunn and away from Freeland," Zhang said, nodding as if agreeing with himself. He took a sip of tea. "Neifeh would happily attack Freeland, but not Dunn. That might start a premature war with the UFN, which he has been trying to avoid for now."
"Yes, Sivas," I said. Zhang had solidified my unconscious reasoning.
* * *
We entered Sivas thirty-six hours later in stealth mode, but detected no sentries. That seemed strange, since Sivas was close to both the Chiyoko and Song sectors of the UFN.
"It appears Admiral Neifeh is following the Aliens' tactics and leaving a scout to watch selective systems. Clever if not original," I said, smiling at the luck.
"How did you find it?" Pavao asked.
"R-Galene did a general ping for stealth chips to locate you and found a JPU modified cruiser. It wouldn't surprise me if Neifeh has done that at each dark site, giving him immediate feedback on the SAS movements," I said.
"And in this case, giving him advance notice of a UFN invasion," Zhang said. "No wonder Ormazd was so complacent."
"What now?" Sheva asked.
"Continue as planned, seeing as Neifeh has conveniently provided us with a messenger. Let's see what's here, and then we can decide."
I left the ship in Standby, as it was a ten hour cruise to the planet of Sivas, and retired to my quarters with Terril and another Cobra following.
"Strange, you were in far more danger on Freeland with Neifeh than you were here in JPU space, battling cruisers," she said as she dropped into one of my padded chairs. She laughed. "And I wouldn't have sat while on duty, but with Ananke, I know I'll be five times faster than I would have been leaning against the wall before her."
"And you seem to be on duty night and day," I said, thinking about the new arrangement.
"Can't predict when you'll get in trouble." She laughed and took the cup of tea I handed her.
"This isn't going to last, Terril. Eventually, Neifeh is going to realize one or more of his assumptions were wrong. When he does—or the Jahaba Supreme Council replaces him with someone—the game will change. That, or I've made assumptions that will prove to be wrong, or we won't be able to get the UFN or SAS to help."
"Well, the Scorpions are rather bored."
* * *
Less than a light-second from the planet, we found four Heavies and sixteen Lights. Two of the Heavies and four Lights were parked on Sivas's small space station. Although the battle with the cruisers in space was quick, it had been more intense than at Ormazd, since the crew were more alert. We lost six fighters, and all four cruisers had some damage and loss of lives. I sent out the normal Alien message and had to destroy a merchant and a Heavy which tried to leave the station. Afterward, we destroyed the station. It took a day to make urgent repairs before we departed Sivas for Mihr, a three day trip.
* * *
Red lights flashed and SIDs lit with the change in status. I sat back wondering what surprises were in store for us at Mihr. We had been lucky so far. Neifeh had taken some calculated risks, and we had stumbled upon them. When I chose Ormazd, I'd felt they would generate the response I had intended. But I couldn't help worrying that one of my calculated risks would trip me up.
I watched the VTH slowly come to life as we entered Mihr space, and tags began appearing: JH1, JL1...until two Heavies and eight Lights had been identified within one light-second of the Wave exit, and a ping for stealth chips located a modified JPU cruiser. This close to the Wave, they would be alert. I wondered if they had heard about Ormazd or if their caution was because they were so close to the UFN. Several hours later, the VTH located another squadron; one Heavy and four Lights were in orbit around Mihr, with another Heavy and four Lights parked at the space station.
A couple of minutes later.
"Either through luck or arrogance or overconfidence, the JPU is making this easier than it should be. Neifeh seems to be willing to use his unmodified older cruisers as early warning pawns, intelligence gathering, and part of a war of attrition. If you discount lives lost, his greater number of cruisers makes that an effective strategy. Let's go for a quick kill of the outer Mihr squadron, MS1. Pavao, organize Sheva, Zhang, and yourself to take out MS1 while I take on MS2, since only half are in orbit. Let the scout leave. We can use the press coverage," I said.
"I'd imagine our little sojourn has gotten plenty of front page coverage. The bitch Ioana tours the JPU," Pavao said, provoking laughs from everyone. "I'll send Ready plus sixty when we are in place."
I sat studying the current placement of the MS2 cruisers, wondering whether to go for the Lights or the Heavy first.
Within ninety seconds, the MS2 squadron would receive thirty-six Demons. Even the most alert crew would have trouble responding within five minutes. I felt sorry for the hundreds of personnel on board, but a small navy outnumbered five-to-one couldn't afford to give warning.
The main monitor began displaying the countdown. Terril seemed relaxed, but I noticed my current Cobras' hands tighten slightly as they watched the monitor.
The Mnemosyne shook twice as the first load of Demons left the ship. With the short distances, the result was almost instant.
Forty-five seconds later.
Again, forty-five seconds later.
I'm impressed flashed through my mind as I awaited impact. Someone was on the ball.
They had fired blindly. Fortunately for us, the short distances didn't give their missile sensors time to find us before they were well past.
A few seconds lat
er, the ship shuddered.
"Commander Byer, launch ten. Target HS2-L4 and its fighters."
"Launching ten Ghosts." Byer's reply was immediate.
Seconds later, the broadcast began.
"PEOPLE OF MIHR, THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE GODS HAS PLACED MIHR UNDER PERMANENT QUARANTINE. WE ARE HERE TO ENFORCE THEIR DECREE. YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TWELVE HOURS TO ABANDON... "
I sat back, content to wait while hoping most would evacuate their ships and the station. In the end, the Heavy and three Lights tried to leave—heroes. Dead heroes.
* * *
"The scout got away," Sheva said, trying to sound disappointed. "Wait until Admiral Neifeh finds out those stealth cruisers are as invisible as an exploding star."
"What next, Nadya?" Pavao asked. "Someplace else you want to...quarantine, or go back to Freeland?"
"I thought maybe Zhang would like to tell his older brother how well the UFN invasion is going," I said. The Riss weren't going to win against the JPU alone. The other two empires were going to have to get involved. The JPU was now a wounded Kodiak Bear—angry and dangerous.
"Father would be interested, and I could build up my detached units to full strength," Zhang said.
"And get Admiral Wattson involved," Pavao said, echoing my previous thoughts.
"Admirals Zhu and Wattson are going to be easy. It's the Emperor and his Imperial Parliament and the Sadr United Council that I suspect are going to be tricky."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
UFN - Dunn: Unexpected visit
White lights flashed throughout the ship, and SIDs notified everyone of the upcoming transition. I didn't foresee any problems. Zhang had the latest codes, and Riss ships were common in the area, but...
As we exited the Wave, the VTH lit with a dozen blips less than two light-seconds from the exit, and their weapon system went online. I held my breath. But shortly afterward, they began going off-line, and I took a breath. One good thing about strong tradition was that discipline tended to be better. The bad thing was it tended to stifle creativity.