by D. J. Holmes
“I’ve noticed,” James replied with a wry smile. “But aren’t the Varanni meant to be more reserved? I don’t want her to feel we are forcing ourselves upon her.”
Ya’sia smiled back, “There’s no need to worry on that account. Carma has spent a lot of time on our homeworld. She has learnt to open up a little bit more than most of her species.”
“In that case, I have a few more questions for her,” James replied, stepping back towards Carma and re-joining the conversation.
The questions only came to an end when another Varanni appeared around a bend in one of the building’s corridors and slithered toward Carma. The Varanni bowed to Carma but did not say anything. Clearly that was all Carma needed to know. “The High Council is ready to meet. Let me escort you to the Chambers and then I will have to go and take my position.”
“Thank you for your time and the tour,” James said as his officers nodded their agreement. “Hopefully there will be time to speak with you again soon.”
“That is my hope as well Vice Admiral, I have many questions about your species and homeworld.”
“I will be happy to answer as many questions as you have the next we meet. It would only be fair,” James replied.
“Here we are,” she announced a short while later. “You know where your position is Ya’sia?”
“I do,” Ya’sia responded. “James, you and your officers will be with me. Officially, you are guests of the Crian delegation.”
“Make sure you do not speak unless directly spoken to,” Carma said, sounding very serious all of a sudden. “You are guests, but you have no right to speak at the High Council.”
“We understand,” James responded. “We will honor your rules.”
“Good,” Carma said as she straightened up her back. “Now, let us enter.”
James stepped aside to let Carma enter first, then Ya’sia and he fell in step behind the Crian Admiral. As they walked in James did his best to keep his face straight. He failed. The large room, much larger than even one of Golden Hind’s hangar bays, was ablaze with color. The room was a large circle and it was decorated with plants and other flora. There were so many different colors and shapes and sizes that James felt like he had stepped into the British Arboretum. It claimed to have species from more than fifty different worlds, the most of all of Earth’s Arboretums. Yet the Varanni Senate buildings might have it beat.
As he glanced around, his eyes were drawn to the only plants he recognized, their orange and yellow identified them as coming from Varanni prime. They covered approximately one tenth of the outer wall of the High Council chamber. As Carma parted company with Ya’sia, James saw that she was heading towards them. When he looked more closely at the group of aliens she was heading towards, he realized they were all Varanni. That is the Varanni delegation, he thought. The reason for why there were so many different plants dawned on him. Each delegation had an assortment of their native flora behind them.
If the plants provided all the color there was, it would have been enough. However, above the plants, in some cases reaching right up to the ceiling, there were other displays. The closest thing James could liken them to were flags. The area above each delegation was different. He nodded to himself, they must be flags or some other kind of national identifier.
Ya’sia led them around the different delegations to where a group of Crians sat. Every delegation had a semi-circular table that faced the other delegations. When they came close, James was surprised to see there were four Human seats for him and his officers. Someone had obviously thought ahead. As he sat down he gave Ya’sia a nod of thanks for the seat.
With nothing else to do, he continued to look around. Whilst the color and wall decorations had caught his attention first, his real interest was the other aliens who were filing into the High Council chamber. He could put a name to a couple of the species, however there were so many different sizes, body types, colors and appendages on display that, even though Ya’sia had provided him with a small file giving a brief introduction to each species who was a member of the Varanni Trade Alliance, he was quickly lost. If he had thought it wouldn’t be seen as impolite, he would have pulled out his datapad and opened up Ya’sia’s file. Not able to do so, he was stuck trying to guess who was who. No doubt Scott was faring much better than he was, but he didn’t want to ask her. He wasn’t supposed to be speaking after all.
To his surprise, despite so many people entering the chamber and there being so many different species, within five minutes everyone was seated and silence had descended. Every delegation was looking towards the Varanni delegation.
One Varanni, dressed in the most ornate and formal looking garment James had ever seen, raised itself to their full height. James still didn’t know how to identify the gender of a Varanni simply from their body. Ya’sia had given him some tips, but he wasn’t familiar enough with their species to see the small differences she had pointed out. In this case it didn’t matter. The Varanni’s clothes were so elaborate there was no way James could ever have figured their gender.
The Varanni gave a deep bow, the lowest bow James had yet seen from one of their species. Then he revealed his gender as he began to speak. “Members of the Varanni Trading Alliance, your delegations are all welcome here to this High Council meeting. On behalf of the Varanni Senate I want to thank you for your attendance. A grave issue is before us. This Trade Alliance was founded to help all of our species prosper and enjoy peaceful relationships. Something now threatens our very existence and we must decide what to do.
“You have all been provided with the report the Mindus sent to us and each of your militaries have had time to analyze the data it contains. However, before we discuss what possible actions we should take against this threat, I have asked Admiral Dur’ack to share our High Command’s analysis with you. This will set the scene for the rest of our discussions.”
James sat forward as Dur’ack raised herself to her full height. Though he didn’t recognize the Varanni Admiral by sight, he knew her by name. Ya’sia had told him Dur’ack had analyzed all the data the scout had brought back from the Mindus. He, Scott, Becket, Gupta and his staff had looked over the data Dural had made available to them. It hadn’t taken long to come to a definitive conclusion. If Humanity had to fight these Invaders, the war would last weeks, perhaps a month or two depending on how many ships the Invaders brought to engage Human space. However long they lasted, the outcome was guaranteed. The Invaders were both technologically and numerically superior to Humanity. James already knew that, he didn’t know how the Varanni weighed themselves against these Invaders. Ya’sia’s analysis suggested that the Invaders’ ships, ton for ton, were ahead of Crian ships, but not by much. Of course, the Invaders vastly outnumbered the Crian fleet. The Varanni were the unknown quantity. They had far more ships than the Crians and their weapons technologies were more advanced. We’re about to find out just how advanced, James thought.
“We have analyzed all the information we have on the Invaders extensively. Given what we found out about them, we’ve pieced together other strands of data that, until now, made no sense. The Litors’ sudden jump in weapons technology and their short-lived attempt at territorial conquest for one. Let me begin with what we can surmise about these Invaders.” As she spoke a large holo projector James hadn’t seen silently came to life and filled the center of the circular chamber with a star map. It was very similar to the one Dural had shared with him. James spared a moment to glance at his subordinates, they were all transfixed by the map.
“After the Invaders’ first probing attacks against the Mindus, the Mindus sent out scouts to try and ascertain who was attacking them,” Dur’ack continued. “This is what their scouts found.” On the holo-map a new dotted line appeared about three hundred and fifty light-years beyond the Mindus territory. Where the Mindus’ territory looked like a sphere, as was normal with what James knew about his own species and those in the Varanni Alliance, the borders of the Invaders’
space was very different. There was almost no sign of a curve in their border and it stretched from one side of Mindus space to the other and disappeared in both directions with no sign of curving inward or tapering off.
“Their scouts were not able to penetrate Invader space. A number of fortified systems were discovered, but, beyond that, the scouts were driven off. However, what they did find was telling. All the species we have encountered have gradually expanded outward from their homeworlds. This has given our territories a spherical appearance, at least until our borders touch one another. If we assume these Invaders have done the same, then this would be the projected extent of their territory.”
The holo map zoomed out significantly. A massive area of the Orion Arm came into view, and almost all of it was shaded in the red Dur’ack was using to identify Invader space. “Without knowing the shift passages within this sector of the galaxy, we’re only guessing, but if their territory extends this far, they could control between one and two thousand habitable systems. In total, their territory could be eight or nine times the size of the entire Varanni Trading Alliance.”
James sensed the tension in the room rise. A chill had descended around the delegations. James felt it too. He was scared. He was still trying to grapple with the existence of the Varanni Trading Alliance. If Dur’ack’s estimates were even close to being correct, the Invaders were operating on an entirely bigger scale again.
“If this is so, then there are some other conclusions we can come to,” Dur’ack continued. “The Mindus have identified more than four thousand warships operating in the various fleets that have attacked their space. Though that is a significant number of ships, an alien empire of the size we are talking about could no doubt field many more. These Invaders may be involved in several different wars in which case, their fleets may be spread out over vast distances. Certainly, given the likely size of their empire, they would have to keep a sizable fleet in different sectors for it could take months to move forces from one part of their space to another. There are also other factors that may limit the number of ships they can produce and maintain. Given that they appear intent on conquering the Mindus, we can assume they have conquered other species. The number of worlds their species actually occupies may be significantly smaller than this map displays. Much of their territory could consist of conquered systems. If that were the case their fleet capacity would be significantly smaller than their territory size would indicate. They also may need to keep significant numbers of warships within their own space to garrison their conquered territory.
“The four thousand warships operating against the Mindus may account for all the available warships these Invaders can commit to offensive operations. Or, it may be that they have many such fleets in operation and that their full strength, if ever concentrated against one opponent, would be much greater than what the Mindus face. We do not know which scenario is most likely. There are other theories and projections, however they do not have a high enough certainty level to share with this High Council meeting and upon which to base decisions so this is all I can say.
“When it comes to the Invaders’ military capabilities, I can speak with more confidence. The Mindus have shared detailed reports on almost every battle they fought against the Invaders. From these reports we have produced reliable estimates of the defensive and offensive capabilities of each of the Invaders’ classes of warships. No doubt your militaries have done the same and I will not take up this High Council’s time by going into minute detail. However, this information has allowed us to analyze our fleets’ capabilities and compare them with the Invaders.”
This was the point James was most interested in. He believed his staff had produced a good estimate of how powerful each of the Invader’s warships were. Essentially, they had ships in each class that Humanity had. They had frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battleships and then, like the Varanni, they had Dreadnought class warships. Ship for ship, James reckoned each one of the Invader ships was worth three of his. Of course, tactics could increase or negate such an advantage and there was no sign the Invaders had developed the miniaturized inertial compensators that allowed his fleet to field fighters and their multistage missiles. That was all old news to him, what he didn’t know was the Varanni’s capabilities, nor those of most of the other species in the Trading Alliance.
“In a direct comparison, we believe the average warship from each of your species’ militaries is almost equivalent to an Invader warship of the same tonnage. A Varanni warship would be about two and a half times more powerful than an equivalent Invader warship. These comparisons suggest that in a one-for-one engagement, we would have the forces at our disposal to beat back the Invaders’ attempt to conquer the Mindus. In any such engagement, our forces would take significant losses. Losses our Alliance has never witnessed before. However, victory over the forces we know the Invaders have is possible and indeed a probable outcome if that is a path we wish to embark upon. There is one thing I would like to stress. It is not my position to determine policy at this High Council meeting. Nevertheless, I wish to point out the difference between being able to concentrate our forces and launch a surprise pre-emptive strike against these Invaders in Mindus space, compared to trying to defend our own borders. If a future scenario were to arise whereby we were facing a similar fleet on our borders, we would not be able to concentrate our forces. We would have many worlds we would need to defend. Conversely, the Invaders would be able to pick and choose their targets. That is exactly what they are doing to the Mindus and this is why they are pushing the Mindus back despite the Mindus’ technological superiority. If we deem these Invaders a threat to our space, as my analysis suggests they are, then engaging them where they are on the defensive is strategically preferable.”
“Thank you Admiral Dur’ack,” the distinctively dressed Varanni said as it raised itself to its full height. “For the work you have done in analyzing these Invaders and for your report today.” Dur’ack bowed and then lowered herself to the height of the rest of the Varanni delegation. The Varanni who James assumed was the head of the High Council, Ya’sia had told him they held the title of High Councilor, continued. “Each delegation will be sent a full report from High Command for your own analysis. However, at this time, I, on behalf of Varanni Senate wish to make two proposals. First, we propose that all Varanni military technologies be shared with all species within our Trading Alliance. Secondly, that Dur’ack’s counsel be followed and a fleet be immediately dispatched to Mindus space to engage these Invaders and drive them out of Mindus territory.”
Chapter 30
Villanueva is also famous for discovering the fourth wormhole entrance within the Gift. Her discovery didn’t have the same immediate impact on the Empire as the Sol Sun Gate, but over the following decades it opened up new opportunities for the Empire’s merchant marine and her diplomats. Not to mention the eighteen inhabited worlds that have now been colonized on the other side of the wormhole.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
Strange and exotic noises of various kinds erupted all around James in what he figured could only be expressions of surprise or concern or some similar emotion. Even he was taken aback. He knew the Varanni were direct and not prone to subterfuge, but if attacking the Invaders was what the Varanni thought was best, they might have at least tried to bring their trading partners around to the idea. Instead they had just come right to it as bluntly as they could. Strategically, militarily, he fully agreed with Dur’ack’s suggestion. However, the analysis of the potential size and strength of the Invaders’ empire gave him pause. More than a little pause, he admitted himself. It was one thing to engage a known enemy in a battlefield you knew you had a good chance of winning. It was another thing entirely to poke a sleeping bear when only armed with a stick. Without knowing the full strength of the Invaders’ civilization, there was no way to know if the Varanni’s proposal was the former or the latter.
Clearly the other species thought so
as well, as soon as the noise died down, several other alien species stood. James quickly guessed it was the High Council’s way of requesting to address the other delegations. “Surely this is premature High Councilor,” the first alien given permission to speak said. James thought he was from the Dalinar species, though he wasn’t sure if he was getting them confused with the Das’tint. He knew both had four arms and scaly skin. That was as far as the similarity went, but James couldn’t remember how else he was supposed to tell them apart. “How do we know these Invaders will attack us? We are taking the Mindus at their word. It may be that they are the ones who started this war. They could be tricking us into joining the wrong side. You’re speaking about bringing all of our species into the largest military conflict we have ever encountered. This must not be done without careful consideration.”
He has a fair point, James thought as he looked back towards the High Councilor. Instead of speaking, the High Councilor gestured towards Dur’ack. “You speak wisdom,” the Admiral responded after she raised herself high enough for everyone to see her. “It would be foolishness to engage the species the Mindus call Invaders without being sure that they are our enemies. Two pieces of evidence have led the Varanni fleet High Command to be confident that these Invaders are our enemies. The first is the appearance of advanced weapons technologies on our borders. Including the Flex-aor, we have now encountered three different alien races who possess weapon technologies more advanced than they should have been able to produce. In each case these races have held long standing prejudices against other races, leading them to launch wars of aggression. Analysis of the weapons used by all three races has revealed significant similarities. Further, Vice Admiral Somerville of the Human species has confirmed that their race encountered a fourth species that had been given advanced weapons technologies. This is a pattern. A worrying pattern. It suggests an unknown alien race has nefarious intentions towards our sector of space. Arming weaker nations and causing war and destruction would be a very successful tactic for an expansionist empire seeking to conquer new territory. Either they can come in and be seen as liberators as they bring peace, or they can allow neighboring races to devastate each other and then strike when their opponents have been weakened.