The Riss Enemies: Book VI (The Riss Series 6)
Page 13
"They expected you to fight," Gebauer said softly.
"They expected me to get stupid mad, so half the fleet could hold the Riss fleet's attention while the other half goes to destroy Freeland in revenge. The problem is that the Riss don't believe in revenge, and Master Wei would tell you it's an emotion which can get you killed in a fight. Those captains are going to make me destroy cruisers we need to defeat the Ecitoni."
"You believe we can defeat the Ecitoni?"
"I'm going to try, along with Admiral Zhu."
"What about the SAS?"
"They are no longer allies. If we survive the Ecitoni, I may quarantine the SAS. I'd rather leave this part of the galaxy, but that is impossible given the size of Freeland, so quarantine seems like the best way to live in peace."
"What about the UFN?"
"They don't hate the Riss or the Riss-humans or Freeland. I'll let them trade in the JPU and SAS—"
Wei gave a short snort. Gebauer looked to Wei. "Staying or going back?"
"I'll stay with you, Admiral, although my former student does seem to be the voice of reason. The irony is she seeks peace, even now, yet she's a master at war."
"I'm staying. Query those that accompanied us. Given Leader Reese has no objection, they can stay or return as they please."
"I have no objections, although Terril will want to talk to those who wish to stay." I looked to Terril, who left with Master Wei.
I clicked on the Comm channel on my SID, and r-Galene appeared. "Connect me to the Dynasty. I'd like to talk to Fleet Admiral Zhu."
He appeared a minute later, looking like he had expected the call.
"Good morning, Leader Reese. You appear to be having problems sleeping." He smiled.
"The captains of the SAS have murdered Admiral Plimson to make me mad."
"And did they?"
"They have made me want to leave them to their endless wars, hate, killing, and madness and find a place of peace with the Riss."
"But you won't."
"No, I'll stay, although it means I'll have to join the madness. They are sending half of what remains of their fleet to destroy Freeland."
"I'm available if you need help."
"No, they would need three fleets to breach Freeland, and they are sending half of one. And they are being led by fools. We will need to talk afterward. The Ecitoni aren't going away."
* * *
The four day trip back to Freeland seemed like months as I contemplated the upcoming war. Terril worked out with Wei several times and was in a good mood. Although I would also have loved to work out, I needed to be focused on the confrontation to come. It made me sick, thinking about destroying sixty-one cruisers and the men and women on those ships who were just following orders—illegal orders since the captains were mutineers. Sixty-one ships we needed against the Ecitoni. Yet, I knew I couldn't negotiate with whoever was in charge. He or she was crazy mad. All I could hope for was that at some point some of the captains would come to their senses and surrender.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Freeland - Déjà vu
When we arrived at Freeland, I called an emergency meeting—unsure how fast the SAS fleet would arrive—and invited Gebauer to attend.
"I would rather leave this galaxy than do what we must to stay, but that would mean deserting Freeland to certain genocide. The SAS fleet will soon arrive at Freeland on a mission of revenge against me. You could relieve me of command and negotiate with whoever is in charge. I'd gladly offer my life to avoid the war." I paused for comments.
"I personally wouldn't trust them as partners in a war. They're insane. They should be joining with the UFN and the Riss to fight the Ecitoni. Instead, they're attacking Freeland," Pavao said, her eyes as bloodshot as mine. "If we abandon you, we effectively abandon the Riss. I'm not willing to do either."
"I'll hate killing so many innocent men and women, but I'll hate it more if Riss have to die because of their…madness," Zhang said.
"Tell us how you want to engage them," Sheva said, her voice determined but sad.
"Can you win?" Gebauer asked, clearly concerned. "They have sixty one cruisers, which include eleven Heavies and ten Hunters."
Da'Maass laughed. "Admiral, we aren't debating whether we can win. We're debating how to keep from losing any Riss cruisers, since we have the Ecitoni to fight afterward."
"You, like whoever is in charge, assume it's sixty-one to eleven. On Hayjar that was true, but on Freeland it's not. We have forty Irises, which are each equivalent to one and one-half cruisers. Our cruisers are invisible to them. Their fighters aren't invisible to us. They are increasingly vulnerable when exiting the Wave, and they are stupid mad, which means they aren't thinking."
Gebauer nodded. "You're right. I know you, and even I forgot about the Irises…and the modifications the Riss made to our ships. Admiral Zhu is right. You do see the future."
"I would like to give them the option to leave, but I can't. Not after they killed their SAS designated representative and intended to hold us at Hayjar while they destroyed Freeland. The best we can do is to respect any ship which cuts its engines in surrender." I met each individual's eyes. "They will rely on us fighting the way we did when the JPU invaded Freeland. That is, stopping them as they exit the Wave. Consequently, they will skip immediately and then reform into an attack formation. I suspect the main target is Freeland."
"Why?" Sheva asked the question many had on their minds.
"For two reasons. One, revenge for what they believe will happen to Eden and the other SAS planets. Two, to draw us out of stealth mode. So, I suggest we place only five of the Irises close to the Wave. Use ones without red-Wraiths. Unless the cruiser captains are stupid, they should skip before they can be targeted. That will make it look like we are doing what they anticipated. We place the second line of twenty Irises at four light-seconds from the Wave, and the remaining fifteen at eight. One Riss cruiser at the Wave exit, four at four light-seconds, three at six, and the remaining three at eight."
"Why, Leader?" Ja'Sai asked after looking at Da'Maass, who was frowning in thought.
"Da'Maass, what would you do?" I asked, knowing he was a shrewd tactician.
He took a drink of his wine while staring back at me.
"Shrewd, dybbuk," he said. "They would need to jump past the Irises and our main line to reorganize and hopefully draw us out of stealth mode. Maybe even get us to use our skip capacities, since that is our strength. Four light-seconds is a safe skip since they will assume we have reinforced Freeland space, and it will give them a four second skip reserve to approach Freeland."
I looked around the table. "Any other thoughts?"
"I like it," Pavao said, followed by a short laugh. "Ironically, it's the strategy I would have used before I knew what you intended. Who goes where?"
"Jaelle, you are at the Wave exit directing the Irises. If you can, direct your fire at the Heavies. Save some missiles. You may get a chance if some decide to retreat."
"I thought…" Jaelle sat with her mouth open and looked confused.
"We don't fire if they surrender. Retreating is not surrendering. Da'Maass, Alena, Elissa, and Zhang: you are at the four light-second mark. Your first priority it to activate the Spiders, and your second is to use the Irises to take out the Heavies and Hunters. Ten of your Irises will have the red-Wraiths, and then use your judgment. Bradshaw, Ja'Sai, and Katlin, you are at six light-seconds and are a reserve. You are close enough to either jump toward the four light-second mark or back to the eight. Pavao, Sheva, and I will be at the eight light-second mark with the remaining fifteen Irises."
"Spiders?" Gebauer asked, frowning as his eyes darted around the room.
"Yes, creepy crawly things that infect the software. You call them bugs. We call them Spiders. But while bugs are annoying, spiders are poisonous." Elissa said with an evil smile.
I stood and raised my hand. "I say for the Riss: fight smart—no heroics." I waved to Gebauer. "Admiral, I'd understand
if you didn't want to participate in the upcoming confrontation. I could have you delivered to the space station or Freeland."
Gebauer shook his head and smiled. "You and I have come a long way since the Peregrine. Back then I felt like those captains think today. I wanted you and all the Riss-humans out of the navy. The problem then was me. You had done nothing wrong. The captains coming to punish you are wrong. Again, you have done nothing wrong. They are blaming you for Gleason and others’ actions. I probably can't help, but I'd like to stay and help if I can. And call me Karl."
* * *
Six hours later, the Irises had been moved to their new locations and the Riss cruisers were in their assigned positions.
"I'm surprised you aren't eating in your conference room, given the attack could come at any time," Gebauer said looking around the mess hall, which was moderately full.
"We are on Standby, which means the stations are manned one-third for all shifts. The idea is to relax while we can, so that we will be at our best when the dross hits the fan. And since I'm here eating, they know there is no reason to worry."
Gebauer shook his head in disbelief.
Halfway through our lunch, my SID buzzed and r-Galene's face appeared.
**Leader, Jaelle reports ten cruisers just exited the Wave and immediately skipped. Da'Maass reports they jumped four light-seconds.**
"R-Galene, declare Battle Stations, stealth mode, all systems passive." I had just finished saying it when red lights began flashing and my SID buzzed with the status change, but no klaxons sounded indicating stealth mode. "Time to go to work," I said, rising to leave.
When we arrived at the Bridge, four Cobras remained in the hallway and four entered with Terril, Karl, and me. I settled into the captain's chair and checked the VTH. Because of the imbedded chips, the VTH had a very detailed picture of the activity: eleven Heavies designated H1-H11, ten Hunters designated Hu1-Hu11, and forty Lights designated L1-L40, meaning Jaelle had disabled two at the Wave exit. Rj1 designated Jaelle, Rd2, Rz3, Ra4, and Re5 designated Da'Maass, Zhang, Alena, and Elissa, and Rb6, Rj7, and Rk8, Bradshaw, Ja'Sai, and Katlin, and finally Rp9, Rs10, and RL11 Pavao, Sheva, and me.
It was like watching a movie in fast forward as the SAS blue lights changed from blue to yellow or red—functional to marginally functional or destroyed. They hadn't been out of their four-second skip more than thirty seconds when the Heavies and Hunters began disappearing. I assumed Da'Maass was using the red-Wraiths—he had two on each of his ten Irises. After less than sixty seconds, two Heavies and two Hunters went yellow, and seven Heavies and six Hunters turned red. In addition, ten Lights went yellow and ten Red. It must have been frustrating for them, not having one Riss cruiser to target and having to target Irises.
Suddenly, twelve Lights and the two Heavies cut their engines.
The remaining eighteen Lights, two Heavies, and four Hunters skipped. Two seconds later, they appeared at the six light-second mark. As I watched, Da'Maass, Zhang, Alena, and Elissa released their fighters, presumably to guard the fourteen ships that had surrendered.
"Cerberuses, you are each to target a Light and fire a full load at it. Then skip to the four light-second mark when they return fire," I said into the open connection I was maintaining with all the Riss cruisers. "Sheva, take command of the remaining eight Irises at the four light-second mark. Those cruisers who appear to have surrendered are all fully functional. Destroy them when they come back online. Da'Maass—"
"We'll take out four Lights and join you." He laughed.
I’d thought the crafty old-salt would know what I wanted. He was an excellent tactician. Seconds later, the Cerberuses fired and one Light went from blue to red and the other two to yellow and shortly afterward to red. Thirty seconds passed and the SAS cruisers still hadn't fired, either they were slow at acquiring the Cerberuses’ positions, or they were expecting them to jump when they did. A tactical mistake, and the Cerberuses fired again, destroying three more Lights. Finally, the SAS cruisers all fired and the Cerberuses immediately jumped. They had no sooner arrived at the four light-second mark when Da'Maass, Zhang, Alena, and Elissa skipped to the six light-second mark and fired, destroying three more Lights. They waited, and when nothing happened thirty seconds later, fired again, destroying three more Lights. They skipped to the eight light-second mark when the SAS cruisers fired seconds later.
A minute later, the SAS cruisers at the four light-second mark came online, and seconds later the eight Irises fired. Although out of red-Wraiths, they still had more than half a load of their Demons and didn't require reloading, spewing a missile every two seconds. Before the twelve could skip, seven had gone red and another seven yellow.
The seven from the four light-second mark skipped and two seconds later the thirteen from the six light-second mark skipped. They arrived as one. Unfortunately for the SAS, it was twenty cruisers against twenty Irises, ten of which had two red-Wraths each. Pavao and I had split the ten Irises with red-Wraths between us and I had taken the Heavies while Pavao targeted the Hunters. Sheva with the remaining ten Irises targeted the Lights.
The SAS were at a severe disadvantage, because they couldn't see the Riss cruisers to target, yet the Irises could easily target the SAS cruisers which had their systems hot. To be safe, Pavao had agreed to use two red-Wraths on each Heavy and Hunter. They went red within twenty seconds of arriving and then the Irises would have been used to support Sheva's. It wasn't necessary. Between Sheva's Irises, Da'Maass, Zhang, Alena, and Elissa, and the fact that eight of the Lights had already sustained previous damage, they didn't have time to fire a single missile.
"My god," Gebauer choked out as the last of the blue dots disappeared. "Their...our prejudices lead us to the same old beliefs: the Riss aren't as smart as us humans, they are cowards, and they are disgusting animals that should be isolated from humans. And these beliefs force us to deny reality: the Riss were instrumental in finding the Raiders’ home planet, in defeating the Aliens, and in preventing the JPU from crushing the SAS." His fist slammed down on the arm of his chair. "And losing three fleets—seventy thousand men and women—and maybe the war to the Ecitoni."
"I'm sorry, Karl. I would have liked to talk with them first, but I couldn't risk losing Riss cruisers. We still have the war with the Ecitoni."
"My first reaction is to blame you, the Riss. But Gleason had no right to refuse Admiral Plimson's orders, and those captains had no right to blame you for Gleason's actions. Plimson agreed with you and Admiral Zhu. And…I do too. We needed more information before we committed our navies. Although these captains thought the data Captain Katlin brought back indicated our combined forces would have won, I'm not sure. Katlin wasn't sure, and she witnessed the battle. It's too easy to jump to the conclusion the Ecitoni are bugs and not as smart as us." Gebauer lapsed into silence.
"All ships," I said into my open connection. "We need to check the SAS ships for survivors. Those that surrendered need to be treated; however, take no chance with those that refuse." I clicked on Iglis's SID.
She appeared, looking tired.
"Yes, Leader?"
"Send the following message:"
To Admiral Zhu:
The SAS fleet at Hayjar attacked Freeland. The war with the Ecitoni is now our sole responsibility. If you are willing, I'd like to meet with you on Hayjar in two weeks to discuss our options.
Signed: Leader Reese.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Military Free Zones
"I need one Riss cruiser to stay on Freeland. Any volunteers?" I asked at a combined meeting of the Riss-humans, senior group leaders, and the Freeland Elders.
"Why?" Sheva asked.
"Two reasons. I want a Riss cruiser here to discourage one or more armed merchants from decidi
ng to punish the Freelanders, who had nothing to do with the destruction of the SAS Fleet. Equally important, we need someone on site to set the priorities for the factories. We are going to need missiles and parts and maybe people. Elder Ni'Shay, I'd like the merchants to be our pipeline to Hayjar or wherever they are needed."
Ni'Shay nodded. "We have three available…" He left several questions hanging: do you need more, can we build more, future trading, the future of Freeland.
"Yes, you are authorized to start building merchant ships, so long as it doesn't interfere with the Riss' needs. The security of Freeland is our military, so that must be our number one priority."
"I understand."
"I'll stay," Alena said a bit hesitantly. "But it would be nice if we could rotate."
"That's a good suggestion, although how often will depend on circumstances," I said, and Alena nodded understanding and a willingness to stay.
"Alena, our priorities are fighters, missiles, a standard Riss cruiser and a Cerberus…and about thirty Eirises in that order. On second thought, the Eirises are a higher priority than the cruisers. Jaelle, stop at Baraz and Alborz. Elissa, stop at Afyon. You are to collect the Eirises and deliver them to Hayjar."
"Why?" Pavao asked. "The quarantine?"
"The Ecitoni are a higher priority, and I may have a better use for them. We leave for Hayjar as soon as the survivors are ready to be sent home."
* * *
"Nadya, the survivors have been registered, and the wounded treated. There are two thousand six hundred and fifty-five. Per your instructions, I've collected the fourteen highest ranking officers: four captains, five XOs, and five commanders," Pavao said, and added almost to herself. "This should be interesting."
When I walked into the room, the five women and nine men rose, and I was bombarded with emotions: hate and fear in equal parts. The five Kraits' weapons rose as well as those of the four Cobras accompanying me. Terril looked relaxed but I'd wager she’d be the first one in action if necessary.