The Riss Enemies: Book VI (The Riss Series 6)

by C. R. Daems

  "I think it has a reasonably good chance of working on the mini-Mother ship on Sparrow’s Nest. It's the same size as the one on Earthol and whoever is in command would have the same experience or lack of. But I'm not sure about the older Mother ship on Port Lost. That ship has been on Port Lost for close to two months and may be getting ready to move. I don't think we can stop it, so we may want to wait. And, I would imagine the commanders on that ship have more experience."

  "Maybe they have never run into humans before, or if they have, maybe they weren't as advanced," Elissa said.

  "Or smart. Look at Admiral Gleason," Sheva said.

  "If they move, another planet will be infected with Ecitoni. Millions will die even if we destroy their shuttles," Zhang said.

  "I agree, Zhang. It sounds inhuman, like the Riss don't care. That's exactly what Admiral Gleason and the captains who attacked Freeland thought."

  "I didn't mean…"

  "We all agree with you, Zhang. We just don't know how to do it without potentially putting millions at risk," Pavao said. "Sometimes there are no good choices."

  "Yes. Vesta did point that out to me." he nodded and closed his eyes in meditation.

  "I'd suggest we send one UFN fleet to Sparrow’s Nest along with five Riss cruisers to destroy the Mother ship there, and I will go to Port Lost to assess the situation."

  * * *

  The next day, Yellow Fleet left for Sparrow’s Nest along with Pavao, Zhang, Jaelle, and Elissa. I left for Port Lost. Da'Maass stayed in Hayjar with Zhu and with his Green and Red fleets.

  "Iglis, what system do you think the Port Lost Mother ship will go to next?" I asked at my staff meeting the first day out. Iglis gave me a wild eyed look and her face lost of bit of color. Then she took a deep breath and looked at her SID for several minutes.

  "Lord’s Landing," she said in a whisper, then louder. "Lord’s Landing."

  "I wonder what would happen if Captain Katlin killed off its scout ship?" Byer said, looking to Iglis.

  "If I had to guess, I would say it would enter the Wave and probably exit at Lord’s Landing, although Saipha and Eden are possibilities."

  "So if we do kill the scout ship, it is unlikely the Mother ship is going to wait indefinitely and will move, probably in the direction of Lord’s Landing. Conversely, unless we have evidence of a scout ship visiting one of the systems, we will have no idea what system the scout found and whether we would be better off killing it." I paused for everyone to consider that. "The real question is how long the Mother ship will wait for a scout’s return."

  "You're saying we’re going to lose another system," Seng said.

  "I'm saying we can't stop the Mother ship from moving, nor direct its movement, unless we know what system the scout found."

  "Wouldn't that be playing God?" Byer asked.

  "No, my friend, it's the ugly truth about war. We're looking for an advantage that will allow us to win. If the system the Mother ship chooses has a small population, it may move again and again before we can starve it to death. The ideal system would be one large enough to keep it…satisfied long enough for us to destroy its shuttles. We might not get the chance to direct the Mother ship, but if we do, we have to consider our options." I paused to take a sip of kaffa. "People on one planet are as precious as people on any other. Our obligation is to stop the Ecitoni as quickly as possible, since I suspect they will grow stronger the longer they are in system. Therefore, our decisions must be tactical, not emotional. Our goal must be to save as much of our shared population as we can—not specific people."

  "You're right, and I'm glad you have to make those decisions not me," Byer said to nodding heads.

  * * *

  I sent after we had exited the Wave into Port Lost and were within three light-seconds of the Mother ship.

  Katlin's face appeared, smiling.

  "Captain Katlin, anything new?" I asked.

  "No. But I think they’re getting ready to leave."

  "Why? Has there been a scout ship recently?"

  "No. The Eiris hadn't detected any ships coming or going until you entered. The activity level has been decreasing for the past several days. When it did, I took several passes around Port Lost. The planet looks…dead, few heat signatures anywhere. And they’re cleaning up the debris from the old battle sites. They are getting ready to move," Katlin said with assurance. "How did it go on Earthol and Sparrow’s Nest?"

  "On Earthol, I believe we successfully destroyed the Mother ship's ability to sustain itself. And we've sent a task force to Sparrow’s Nest to duplicate our success on Earthol."

  "What about Port Lost?"

  "We need them to move before we can begin the process. The strategy is to destroy their shuttles, which are their only means of survival. Attacking their shuttles in transit is too dangerous. We won't win a war of attrition, so we need them near a resource-rich planet, where we can attack their shuttles on land." I looked at the VTH. "Katlin, I should be near you within a couple of hours. Why don't you and your staff join me for dinner tonight? Say seventeen hundred hours."

  "Thank you, Leader. I'd like that."

  * * *

  Before dinner, I had Iglis give a brief account of our activities in Earthol, which lasted almost two hours because of the questions. During dinner each member of Katlin's staff sought out his or her counterpart to question.

  "Captain Reese, have you decided who will be involved in destroying the Port Lost Mother ship?" Katlin asked as dessert was being served.

  "Anxious to see action?" I took a bite of my hot-berry pie, awaiting her response. She was new to war, so I was curious.

  "No, ma'am. It's exciting being a captain of a warship and more so a Riss cruiser, but I know war isn't exciting…in an exhilarating way. I just want to help to protect the Riss and end the war."

  "How many shuttles do you estimate they have?" I asked.

  "It's difficult to tell. Neither their Lights nor their shuttles broadcast identification numbers or symbols, and they all look alike. But conservatively they have at least fifteen hundred shuttles."

  "That means one hundred fifty lights. Best case, we will need one Riss cruiser for each two Ecitoni Lights, so seventy five Riss cruiser sorties. And right now we have eight tied up on Freeland, Earthol, and Sparrow’s Nest. That leaves you, me, and Da'Maass."

  "That's exciting," Katlin gave a snort.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Lord’s Landing

 

 

  Katlin appeared immediately, indicating she had also noted the movement.

  "Katlin, I'm going to follow the Mother ship into the Wave. You are to follow me five minutes later. We should know in a few hours whether they’re going westerly toward Lord’s Landing or northerly toward Ruchild and Lingwood."

  "Do you have a feeling which way?"

  "No. Iglis thinks toward Lord’s Landing. If it is Lord’s Landing, that will be a problem, because they won't be there long enough for us to destroy all their shuttles—not even if we had ten Riss cruisers available, and we don't. As soon as you see where I exit, I want you to head to the nearest system with a working Comrelay and notify Da'Maass that I want him to join us there and to tell Admiral Zhu I suggest he bring at least his two fleets."

  "Yes, ma'am." She cut the connection. Damn, I muttered.

  I sent, realizing the Wave to Lord’s Landing also went to Saipha…and Eden.

  Thalia sent a vid of Riss skiing in the mountains with party hats and noise makers. A Red Dwarf was in the background.

 

  Vid of ants struggling to climb and run in snow-covered mountains while the Riss sat on crags laughing at them.

  I sent. That was a good image to keep.

&nb
sp; Four hours later the Mother ship began breaking apart in two kilometer sections just before entering the Wave in the direction of Lord’s Landing. I had wondered how a ten kilometer cylinder had entered or exited the Wave without a massive disruption destroying the ship. The problem now was whether they were splitting up or would recombine when they reached wherever they settled. All I could do was follow the last section. Five minutes later, the Mnemosyne entered the Wave.

  "What do you think, Nadya?" Terril asked.

  "Although each section is independently capable of entering the Wave, I'm hoping they are not independent sections."

  "The two that broke off were, why not these?"

  "I'm hoping eight to ten kilometers are necessary for survival—a section to breed, a factory to build cruisers, a section for reclamation, a section for storage, etc. When it gets too crowded, they build a detachable section and load it with everything the new Queen needs to get started."

  "To avoid competition internally, or for food?"

  "Could be either or both or some cultural norm we may never discover. But it's probably a survival tactic."

  "Scary. Then the new Mother ships on Sparrow’s Nest and Earthol in a year or two would have grown into a twelve kilometer Mother ships."

  "If not stopped, they certainly had the food and raw materials in this sector to grow and prosper," I said, wondering if after they finished, they somehow split up, each going in a different way. The scavengers of the galaxy, cleaning up the mess intelligent life leaves in its wake. I wondered idly if the Council of the Gods knew of the Ecitoni, and if so, why they were content to quarantine us to our planets knowing the Ecitoni would eventually come and we would be defenseless—or was it to stop us from stopping the Ecitoni from doing their work?

  r-Kharis sent.

 

  We entered Lord’s Landing just behind the Mother ship and slowed. Over the next few hours, the five sections slowly reattached into a long cylinder. When they reached within two light-seconds, several Light cruisers left the Mother ship and raced toward Lord’s Landing as the ship began decelerating.

 

 

  "Leader, what do you want to do?" Katlin asked.

  "Wait and see what they do," I said.

  "Captain, we know what they are going to do."

  "True. They are going to kill everyone on Lord’s Landing, and because there are less than two million people, they will be gone in a week or two. Realistically, we cannot stop them from killing the two million or from moving on to the next system. They have well over a thousand shuttles. Therefore, even with Da'Maass, you and I are not going to destroy them before they leave Lord’s Landing. Maybe not even before they leave…Saipha, if that is their next stop."

  "What if it's Eden?" she asked, concern in her voice.

  "It doesn't change anything. We can't attack the Mother ship—Gleason proved that, and we can't destroy their shuttles until they put them on the ground. And even then, we are going to need more than three Riss cruisers." I paused, waiting for Katlin to acknowledge the reality. "If you have an alternative strategy, I’m interested."

  Katlin slowly shook her head. "No, Leader. It just feels like we should be doing something."

  "We are. We're pursuing a strategy developed on Earthol that works with the minimum loss of ships. And before you say what about people, there are more than fifty planets out there, of which Eden is only one. However, if we lose our military, we lose them all."

  Katlin and I circled the planet several times to see what the Ecitoni were doing. Once, we destroyed a group of three Lights and thirty shuttles, mostly to make Katlin feel like she was making a difference as we waited.

  * * *

  Da'Maass and to my surprise Admiral Zhu along with the Red and Green fleets arrived the next day. We met on the Dynasty.

  "What is the status here on Lord’s Landing?" Zhu asked after we had finished a leisurely dinner and had been served drinks.

  "I think they will be leaving in a week or so, the time it takes to clean up. They have invaded all twelve cities. Seven have been destroyed and five are in the active stage with shuttles coming and going to the Mother ship. The five active sites currently employ one hundred, one hundred forty, ninety, eighty, and sixty shuttles," I said.

  "And you don't recommend taking one on?" Zhu asked.

  "No, sir. Even taking on the smallest one, we would face six Lights, sixty shuttles, and an unknown number of fighters from the Mother ship. We could take out the Lights, but the sixty shuttles would be discharging around three hundred missiles a minute, not to mention their kamikaze fighters…unless." I stopped as an unanswered question surfaced. "It appears the same number of Lights always accompany the shuttles. They are most likely there to support the shuttles, but I wonder if they also direct and organize their activities." I looked to Katlin. "Katlin, didn't you say that the fighters attacking the SAS fleets broke off in groups with Lights accompanying each group?"

  Katlin look down in thought before answering. "That's true. They did."

  "I wonder how dependent the shuttles are on those Lights—worker ants versus supervisors," I said, thinking out loud. "Admiral Zhu, would you like to try an experiment?"

  "What do you have in mind, Leader Reese?"

  "Move your main force four light-seconds from the Mother ship, which will leave you four light-seconds from the Wave. Move three squadrons one light-second from the sixty-shuttle area. You have Riss on board, so if things go bad they can skip back to the fleet and the fleet can leave if necessary. When we destroy the Lights, have the squadrons fire two missiles at each shuttle."

  "You're hoping the absence of the Lights will somehow confuse the shuttles," Zhu said after a minute of silence.

  "That's what I'd like to determine. If the Lights are command ships, what happens when they’re destroyed? But we must destroy the Lights before the squadrons fire on the shuttles." It was a gamble, but a worthwhile one it if it helped to defeat the Ecitoni faster.

  Over the next two hours, Da'Maass, Katlin, and I maneuvered closer to the six Lights while four squadrons of Red fleet moved into position. The Ecitoni Lights were clustered within ten thousand kilometers of each other and didn't appear concerned with the Red squadrons’ approach even though this was now within one light-second of them—three hundred thousand kilometers.

  The VTH tagged the Lights E1-E6 and the Riss cruisers RL, RD, and RK: Leader, Da'Maass, and Katlin.

 

  Da'Maass and Katlin were both grinning when they appeared.

  "Kind of like Russian Roulette," Da'Maass said. "Either the chamber is empty and the shuttles ignore us, or sixty shuttles turn on us."

  "You forgot about the Mother ship's fighters," Katlin added, but didn't look concerned.

  "Correct. So preset a one second skip to vector nine zero point zero by four five point zero in case the chamber is loaded. In any event, that is our rendezvous point—away from the Blue squadrons and the Mother ship. Da'Maass, you take E1 and E3, Katlin, E2 and E5, and I'll be responsible for E4 and E6. Send Ready when your red-Wraiths are deployed and ready. We attack fifteen seconds after I send…Pull the trigger," I said, receiving smiles before they disconnected.

  "Byer," I said into my SID. "Release your fighters with two red-Wraiths. Remind the pilots the second red is to be used only if our assigned Lights, E4, or E6 aren’t destroyed with the first red or twelve missile salvo."

  "Understood, Captain."

  Over the next three minutes I received Ready signals from everyone including Byer.

 

  "Byer, release the red in fifteen seconds."

  Thalia sent as I unconsciously crossed my fingers.

  I quipped while staring at the VTH.

  <
Mother's mother.> Thalia sent a long line of Riss with fingers crossed. Seconds later, the barrage of missiles and Reds struck the Lights. Almost simultaneously all six Lights went Red.

  I sent with relief while I let out a deep breath I had been holding.

  "Byer?" I queried, and waited. Thirty seconds later, he responded.

  "Ghost are on board."

 

  Immediately the Mnemosyne's Bridge faded out and in like we had passed through a bank of fog. The shuttle-brigade to and from the Mother ship appeared not to have changed and seconds later shuttles began vanishing from the VTH as Red squadron missiles began arriving. The images were surreal. The shuttle-brigade kept moving as if they didn't know they were being attacked—or didn't care. Like the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War on old Earth, they had been given orders and would carry them out faithfully. A few made it back to the Mother ship and a few to the landing site, but eighty percent had been destroyed.

  "That was the strangest sight I've ever witnessed," Da'Maass said when we had established a tight-beam connection.

  "The worker ants are like organic robots," Katlin added.

  "Katlin, as soon as we know where the Mother ship is going next, you are to proceed to Earthol and collect Sheva and Ja'Sai. Da'Maass, you are to proceed to Sparrow’s Nest and collect Pavao, Zhang, Jaelle, Elissa, and Bradshaw. Explain to the UFN Admiral on station what we have discovered and let them know we will send replacements as soon as we destroy the Port Lost Mother ship. With ten Riss cruisers, it shouldn't take long."

  * * *

  I met with Admiral Zhu that evening on the Dynasty. I had brought Da'Maass and Katlin, and he had included admirals Kishi and Yang.

  "I thought you right, Leader Reese, but I thought the result would be confusion. I doubt anyone expected no reaction, except you." He gave me a small bow.