Defying the Prophet: A Military Space Opera (The Sentience Trilogy Book 2)

by Gibson Michaels

  He initially intended to go back to his office, but became lost in thought as he walked, and found himself outside the facility where the captured aliens were housed. As military governor of the planet, Melendez had no difficulties getting past security to enter the containment area and was unsurprised to find Vice Admiral Bat Masterson standing in a darkened area, observing the aliens through a one-way mirror. Bat had been spending an inordinate amount of time doing that lately… just watching and absorbing who-knows-what through that weird sixth-sense of his. He hadn’t shared any of his patented insights as yet, but Melendez wasn’t too concerned. Bat’s revelations came when they came, and whatever Bat chose to do with his time, Melendez had no doubts that it would pay unique dividends for them all in the future.

  “Anything?” whispered Melendez.

  “They’re predators, Admiral — pure, unadulterated predators,” said Bat. “It’s amazing enough that humanity managed to achieve interstellar capabilities before obliterating our home world, but how is it possible that a race of voracious, carnivorous predators could have advanced this far without decimating themselves back to the stone-age, long before that level of scientific achievement could be attained?”

  “Good point. I hadn’t really thought about it like that,” said Melendez.

  “Predators normally develop a pecking order… a dominance structure within their family units through individual dominance combat, but that’s not really practical where millions and billions of predators are concerned,” mused Bat. “What is it that enforces obedience to a higher rank without their having been defeated in domination combat? How is it that the smaller ones with the manes have achieved and maintain dominance over the larger, more physically intimidating ones they use as ground troops? There has to be some kind of control methodology at work that makes a command structure possible. Something that supersedes their natural aggressive instincts.”

  “Like what?” asked Melendez.

  “I suspect it must have something to do with those stones and metallic buttons they have on their foreheads,” observed Bat. “They must hold some major significance besides merely distinguishing rank, as we understand it.”

  “Hypnotics?”

  Bat turned towards Melendez and smiled. “That’s the most logical explanation I’ve been able to formulate, Admiral.”

  “But what mechanism could they possibly employ to ensure that their entire population undergoes the deep hypnosis process something like that would require?”

  “Religion.”

  “Oh, joy. An entire race of hypnotically controlled predators bent on destroying the human race for their god.”

  * * * *

  January - March, 3865

  The most pressing issue that had been stalling humanity’s planned offensive against the alien’s forward base was the lack of a sufficient number of medium yield ship-killer missiles. Stockpiles had been severely depleted on both sides during the Confederate War of Independence and it simply took time to manufacture them in the tens-of-thousands necessary to destroy the mind-boggling numbers of small warships the cats had available to them. Confederate Intelligence reported an additional 15,000 warships and 25,000 more support ships had arrived at the alien base since their initial assessment, with more arriving almost daily. Kalis and his cadre of admirals came to fear the cats could bring in fresh warships faster than the Alliance and Confederacy combined could manufacture missiles to kill them with, and so an urgent request for a massively expanded manufacturing effort for these weapons had gone out to both nations, as well as an advisory to the other nations of humanity as well.

  * * * *

  Admiral Arlene McAllister was sworn in as the 17th president of the United Stellar Alliance in late March, 3865 and with particular relish, she immediately dismissed Jeannine Franks from her post as Secretary of Defense. She then called for Admiral Douglas Campbell’s resignation and retirement from active Fleet duty… so he could serve as her new Secretary of Defense. Admiral Simon Bradley was named to replace him as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Under the approval of the new president and SecDef, Bradley immediately sent word recalling Admiral Enrico Melendez back to Waston, to assume the duties of Chief of Fleet Operations. Sent to relieve Melendez in his duties as Military Governor of Minnos was his hand-picked successor, the recently promoted Admiral Alphonse Ligurri.

  Admiral Grant Loggins, once hailed as the Hero of Tensee, remained mothballed on the beach after his abrupt resignation from the Fleet to seek the presidential nomination, soon after Marrot’s announcement that he would not be running again. While initially a frontrunner, Loggins was shocked to learn how little support he was receiving from within Fleet, and his poll numbers faded abruptly when his political rivals successfully managed to re-label him as the Butcher of Tensee, after his horrific casualty numbers were declassified and made public. Loggins had counted his chickens before they hatched, and he now found himself locked out of the henhouse, just as the biggest egg-laying contest in history was about to kick off.

  The election of 3864 also swept almost every congressional incumbent up for reelection from office in an unprecedented political housecleaning, after the press mysteriously gained access to internal Consortium documents, implicating hundreds of Federal officials in corruption. Others who hadn’t run for reelection were finding themselves under criminal investigation by the ABI, under their new director, Fredrick J. Danforth, and President McAllister’s suspension of the most restrictive of evidence gathering laws under authority of the War Powers Act.

  New congressional representatives from both major parties found themselves sworn into office sharing two other major attributes: they were all squeaky clean, and enthusiastically supported President McAllister’s pledge to relentlessly prosecute the war against the invading aliens to final victory, “…so help us God!”

  No one knew the full extent of the alien civilization or exactly how many planets they had spread out over what kind of distances. The incredible number of warships that had been observed gathering at just their forward base alone was staggering and suggested an incomprehensible manufacturing base. It was imperative that mankind strike deep and strike quickly, before that cats could develop new and better weapons in sufficient numbers to offset man’s current technological advantages.

  It was distinctly possible that it might become a long, protracted war of attrition that could literally take generations to decide. Humanity had to gain the upper hand quickly and keep the massive alien culture off balance, as they scrambled to catch up. It was humanity’s only hope against an implacable foe that obviously envisioned humanity as “lunch.” At the rate that missiles were arriving at Minnos, the combined fleets would have just over 90,000 medium-yield ship-killers available by June, and while 60,000 short of their ideal, Kalis felt he could wait no longer. In mid-June, 3865 the allied offensive against the cats would finally commence.

  * * * *

  Chapter-22

  Dogs believe they are human. Cats believe they are God. -- Jeff Valdez

  The Raknii Empire

  After a personal visit, Raan easily persuaded Region-Master Olin of Region-5 to exchange the two Trakaan planets near their common border for the Trakaan-provided locations of ten previously undiscovered inhabitable planets deep within Region-5 territory. In so doing, Raan gained control of all 22 Trakaan planets, and Olin had been relieved of the burden of administering two planets already inhabited by untold billions of aliens, and therefore of comparatively marginal value. The addition of 10 virgin planets would add incredible wealth to Olin’s coffers, as they attracted settlers from the four overcrowded elder regions. Unbeknownst to Olin, Raan too would eventually benefit with the addition of 19 virgin planets he was exchanging for the 22 Trakaan planets, to which he was granting the Trakaan complete autonomy, within his territory. For the first time in Raknii history, star systems had changed hands between different regions without bloodshed.

  The imperial capital was a virtual hive
of activity in the excitement of organizing The Great Hunt. Supreme-Master Xior was worshipped by the masses almost like a god, for his calling of this great crusade against the epitome of all prey... these alien predators called “humans.” By necessity, several new military ranks were established for oversight of massive fleet formations on a previously unimagined scale.

  For his success at Minnos, as the first warrior to achieve glory against these predators, Tzal became the first Ultimate-FleetMaster in Raknii history — given personal command of over a thousand warfleets… over 65,000 warships, by the supreme-master himself. This was the very first military rank to be given High-Rak status — and as the first, Tzal became senior to all that would follow. Tzal’s new rank was technically equivalent to a Sector-Master, but his rank-stone design was unique… a large fire opal surrounded by a ruby sunburst outlined within and without by a single row of diamonds to denote it as a military rank.

  When the question of how those under normal Raknii hypnotics would react to a rank-stone configuration that no one had ever seen before, OverMaster Varq (as their resident expert on the subject) assured them that the diamond-edged sunburst pattern would denote High-Rak status, regardless of which stone (diamond, ruby, emerald, etc.) was actually employed to fill the interior. Lower ranks greater than OverFleet-Master were also being established: UltraFleet-Master over 32,000+ warships (having an emerald sunburst fill), and SupraFleet-Master over 16,000+ warships (having a sapphire sunburst fill), MegaFleet-Master over 8,000 warships (having an amethyst sunburst fill), and MetaFleet-Master over 4,000+ warships (having a yellow citrine sunburst fill).

  Drix too underwent another ascension, donning the ruby and diamond sunburst of region-master over the newly sanctioned Region-7, where the majority of combat would occur when the Raknii flooded human space — whenever sufficient numbers of the new weapons became available. Drix chose a bright orange as Region-7’s color... the color of the silks that all future military, sworn and hypnotically bound to Region-7 allegiance, would wear on their blouses.

  At Xior’s command, Raknii scientists and engineers all over the empire began development of new weapons of all types to combat the human threat, ever since the first details of enemy military capabilities had first arrived from Golgathal. Rak scientific development had stagnated for hundreds of turns under the standardization edicts, intended to balance the military power between the regions and ensure continued dominance of the imperials. But all of that changed when Xior initiated an unprecedented explosion of engineering development, construction and the quest for new scientific discovery. It was a time of unparalleled excitement, inter-regional cooperation and racial unity previously undreamed of. Under the prophesied threat of the humans, no one worried much about how all of these new weapons might affect the balance of powers within the empire. Imperial troops were stationed throughout the empire to keep all of the new construction under very tight security to ensure none got siphoned off into private hands.

  Larger, more heavily armored warships were already under construction in the yards, their massively armored designs bristled with new 5-gigawatt secondary weapons and 10-gigawatt primary weapons. It was truly amazing what could be accomplished when an entire civilization focused its creative energies on developing new and fantastic weapons.

  Since being made aware by Tzal’s discoveries that such a thing was possible, Raknii engineers developed their own versions of the fast-movers the humans called “fighters.” While not yet capable of transitioning into x-space, they could travel at over ten times the speed of a scout ship in normal space. Lacking x-space capabilities, they were currently envisioned solely as defensive weapons (another radical idea, as Raknii rarely thought in terms of strictly defense), but engineers were already working on the design for very large warships which could launch and recover large numbers of these new fighters in normal space, and therefore act as a mobile base that could get the fighters to where they were needed to support offensive operations… what the humans called “carriers.”

  Rak engineers now understood the reasoning behind the human’s use of missiles on these fighter craft — there just wasn’t room to fit a power source capable of powering energy weapons with a useful destructiveness within such a small space-frame. Why the humans relied so heavily on missiles on their monstrous warships where reactor space was plentiful continued to be a mystery.

  A first generation of missiles having rudimentary radiation and thermal guidance systems was also being developed. These were what humans would classify as “short-range” missiles, as the miniaturization of rocket motors and concentration of rocket fuels to fit into such a small material body having the ability to self-navigate in space were totally new challenges for Rak engineers. Warheads also presented a bit of a conundrum, as Rak uses for explosives were primarily limited to construction and demolition purposes. No one had ever been concerned with trying to maximize explosive power within such small packages before now. All told, these new Raknii fighters didn’t yet have nearly the capabilities of the human fighters, but it was a beginning.

  Larger transport and passenger versions of the human’s larger fast-movers were also developed that were capable of transitioning in and out of x-space, with a range of 4-5 light-years as humans reckoned distance, traveling near 3,000c. Routings within the maximum range of these new “spaceliners” as humans called them were already being developed to reach a high percentage of the empire in 10% of the time of a fast-scout vessel. Supreme-Master Xior presented one having a luxurious interior to Drix, for use as his personal transport, shortly after his ascension to Region-Master rank.

  Supreme-Master Xior also dispatched eleven more stations like the one at Golgathal to the virgin planets exchanged by the Trakaan in Region-7, nearby to the human planets that Tzal’s fleet had located cycles earlier. Each was initially being accompanied by sixteen battlefleets and over 200 transport fleets carrying supplies. The entire empire was mobilizing for war with the humans on a scale unprecedented in Raknii history. Within the next six subcycles, each station would be heavily reinforced until all had received approximately 400 battlefleets, or just over 25,000 warships. Within another full cycle, Drix would have over half a million of the old-style warships at his command, to hunt humans.

  One area of concern was the disappearance of the OverMaster Vlin, who had been assigned to terminate Supreme-Master Xior’s eldest son Xlan on the Region-4 capital planet of Slithin, almost three cycles previously. Rumor had it that Region-Master Blug’s eldest son Erig had somehow saved a sleeping Xlan from a mysterious assassin, though Erig professed no memory of the incident. A subcycle later, Xlan had reportedly left Slithin to visit Region-Master Olin in Region-5, but there was no record of his ever having arrived there. Xlan had since disappeared and was thought to be hiding somewhere within Region-4 with Blug’s covert assistance. Xior secretly dispatched 20 more OverMasters to find and eliminate his elusive offspring, but an entire region was an incredibly large volume of space in which to hide.

  * * * *

  The Alliance Planet Minnos

  April 3865

  Plans were developed for the buildup of medium-yield ship-killer missiles for the assault on the cats’ forward base. Other plans were being formulated for the resupply necessary to replenish expended armaments, to enable the combined fleets to strike quickly into less heavily defended alien systems, deeper within alien space. Hundreds of transports from both the Alliance and the Confederacy, carrying munitions and supplies of all kinds were on their way to depots being established in barren star systems in close proximity to future targets. These were escorted by elements of the Confederate 4th Fleet which had completed training and released to the war effort, just as soon as the new Confederate 5th Fleet was established.

  Two Alliance task forces including some of the recently repaired carriers, severely damaged in the Stillman raid on Waston, were scheduled to arrive at Minnos in early June, to guard the planet after departure of the combined fleets.
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br />   * * * *

  Diet was starting to feel rather unnecessary. He groused for weeks after those unexpected Confederate uniforms arrived with his citizenship papers, Fleet commission and orders naming him to command Confederate Intelligence. He had been terrified that Admiral Kalis would show up with some kind of specific orders that would drag him out into the public spotlight, destroying his beloved anonymity and his bent towards independent action, unhindered by “superiors.” He hadn’t even been afforded the opportunity to refuse the “honor” by telling Admiral Kalis what he could do with his commission and so-called “orders.” Kalis had not contacted him yet, so the threat continued to hang over Diet’s head like the Sword of Damocles.

  Hal had been stubborn about forwarding any kind of negative reply to Kalis, causing Diet to sulk about it for several days — not that Hal had noticed. Hal was so preoccupied with analyzing all of the accumulated data on the aliens and his research on the alien equipments via the robotic peripheral that Admiral Melendez had made for him, what little conversation that passed between them was stilted.

  Diet was more than merely disconcerted by the “wall” that had suddenly arisen between him and his artificially sentient friend. They’d worked closely together as a team for years... equals and partners in every decision and action. But having revealed Diet’s identity to Admiral Kalis (for which Diet was still royally pissed), Hal seemed to be gradually assuming the role of senior partner in their relationship, or at least not feeling the need to consult Diet on much of anything.