Enemies on All Sides (Maraukian War Book 4)

by Michael Chatfield

  “These ships, do you know what they are?” Strong looked to her.

  “Looks like some kind of junker ships with weapons on one side, while those have them on both sides.” Karain pointed to the ships at the Yard and those at the station.

  “They’re Earth Military Force carriers. Twenty of them, by my count. That’s nearly all of the EMFCs in service. These are the base models.” He looked at the Yard, then over to the station. “Those are upgraded versions with weapons on both sides.”

  “So? They’re just twenty ships and they are all using the old cannons of the EMF. Most of them are just holding in the Yard, being worked on. We can swing in and pound them at range.” Karain hadn’t been idle, spending her time trying to learn enough to get by in battle.

  “It’s the fact that they brought in twenty carriers with nearly two hundred thousand EMF personnel without us even knowing. That’s some two million combat-capable troopers. Then there’s the Hope and Novum that brought in the forces from Earth.” He pointed to the two freighters that were moving out of the system.

  Strong leaned on the command table heavily as alerts started popping up.

  He selected the notifications. The map moved to center on new ships.

  There were four new unknown ship types that were near where different groups of miners were. They had defensive weapon systems on them that had been tagged by the sensor operators.

  Looks like some kind of supply ship to me, but they’re using them as refineries. Maybe they aren’t as advanced as I feared.

  He moved to the other alert and his stomach dropped out.

  There was a patrol group of a battleship and a carrier moving next to each other, circling the system.

  The command table started to recognize other similar objects as he saw nine different patrols all circling the system. Four of them had a supply ship with them and in one patrol group, a tag appeared.

  VCF Moby.

  The ship was thirty percent larger than before and as the information started to resolve on it, it looked a hell of a lot meaner.

  Strong gritted his teeth.

  “What’s the plan, sir?” Karain asked.

  “So there are nineteen combat-capable ships in the system. None of them are more than half of our length and they’re about a fifth of our tonnage. They’re all spread out so if we engage them, we can hammer them one by one. Our goal is not the ships themselves but the Yard and the station. If we can hammer those enough, bang up the surface of the planet and get the hell out of here, then we’ll be fine,” Strong said, focused on the table and not turning to Karain.

  “We’ll keep our forces together, overpower the enemy with our strength and rush the system. We’ll set a heading to hit the Yard and then the station, from range if possible. I don’t want us getting tangled up in the forces there.”

  Karain looked at the table and nodded. She might be arrogant, but knowing that Strong held the true power, she removed her arrogance and did as she was told.

  “Are we going to land forces on the planet?” She looked to Strong.

  “Get General Tau on a conference call. We’ll need to discuss it with him. Even if we lose all of our ground forces, it matters little to us. We don’t want them turning on us or letting out secrets.” Strong gave Karain a deep look.

  “Understood.” She turned and went back to her command seat, not fazed in the slightest about stabbing her subordinates in the back.

  “Inform the fleet. We will be moving at best speed for the Yard.”

  Chapter Seventy

  ENS Homeland

  Oort Cloud, Emarl System

  10/3557

  While the Luyten Military Force was getting information six hours old, Hall was getting it nearly instantly as the sensor network that was sown around the system found the twenty-three ships entering the system.

  “Bring all forces to full readiness. Have all shipping move to their closest port of call. Have them ready to evacuate personnel if needed.” Hall’s voice was calm as he issued his orders.

  “Navigation, which rally point would be best to gather our forces together at?” Hall asked.

  “Rally point twenty-four,” Yeltsin reported without fail.

  “Relay through communications to all patrols to meet at rally point twenty-four.” Hall moved his hand as a hologram only seen to him through his NIAI appeared of the battlefield and system.

  When he had been looking over the system, he was betting that the Luyten Military Force would transit in well outside of the Oort Cloud. This would mean that their information was behind what was going on in the system. Using this, Hall wanted to use it to his advantage.

  He had all of his forces patrol the outside of the system. It was boring work, but they had plenty of training to keep them busy.

  It would also allow them to react a lot faster to threats.

  Once they were outside a system’s Oort Cloud, there was a lot less complications with activating one’s Alcubierre drive than when transiting inside the system.

  This added a whole new factor to the battlefield as he had created rally points with sensor platforms at their center.

  They would get up-to-the-second information on the rally point and what was there. The ships could then move through the nearly twelve hundred rally points, converging on one outside of the system and reducing the time to their enemy.

  “Minutes are everything here, people. We don’t have them to waste!” Hall’s voice echoed through the command center. The ship had a new course and was pushing away from the Oort Cloud. The battleship and support ship accompanied it and mirrored their actions. All of the ships on patrol received and carried out their orders.

  “The Yard is combat ready,” Guy reported. “And the station is online. Running systems check on the defensive systems around Tricticus. The troop transports are moving into the planet’s orbit.”

  Hall nodded. All of the forces were reacting quickly and without hiccups. It looked as though that extra training had paid off.

  “Weapons check, all good,” Celik reported.

  “Launchers and pilots are good,” Celiah, their newest member of the command crew in charge of the RSDs and seeder vessels of the carrier, reported.

  “Sensors are good,” Rasalov said.

  “Engines are good and we’re underway,” Yeltsin reported.

  “Good.” Hall cleared his hologram as he looked to the last member of the command crew. “Guy, I want all patrols at the rally point, in no more than ninety minutes. I want to catch these Luyten bastards with their pants down.”

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Crisidium

  Tricticus, Emarl System

  10/3557

  Hael stood on the balcony, looking up into the skies, when he heard his wife moving through the room behind him.

  She didn’t say anything, just hugged him from the side.

  He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. “Today we put our fate in the hands of others.” Hael’s voice was deep and filled with emotions.

  “We put it in the hands of our people. They’re not called the Emarl navy for nothing,” Thia reminded him.

  “I know.” Hael looked up, as if his eyes could see through the skies and into space beyond, to that battlefield. He pictured the Emarl Navy Ships they’d sent on their way with amazing clarity.

  Across Tricticus and Emarl, people were wondering what the outcome would be. If their dreams and future would be realized, or cut off.

  In that pressure, they weren’t from the EMF, the Legion, Crisidium or Fornau, Masoul or Osdal. They were from Emarl, hoping that they and their home was safe.

  Hael’s NIAI then showed him a hologram of the Emarl system as the nine patrol groups transported away from the Oort Cloud.

  The first moves had been made.

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  ENS Homeland

  Rally Point Twenty-Four, Emarl System

  10/3557

  “Patrol Three has transitioned and they
are moving into formation,” Guy reported.

  “Seen,” Hall said as he saw the sixth patrol moving to join the other five.

  The patrols were dotted all around the system, but as they were only transitioning a few light-hours instead of parsecs, they weren’t even draining the power of their batteries as their Alcubierre drives were used to make micro hops between the different rally points.

  With Patrol Three, the ENS Moby had attached itself.

  The Moby moved to the lead edge of the formation that was spread out in a large rectangle, facing forward.

  The Moby was not only the largest ship in the EN fleet; with its upgrades and new abilities, it was one of the deadliest. Having it at the front meant it could blunt the attacks of the enemy and deal out some true punishment.

  It wasn’t long until the other patrols started to show up and move into formation.

  Forty minutes later, Rasalov turned to Hall. “All forces are ready and in formation, Admiral.”

  “Very good, Rasalov. Mister Yeltsin, Guy, please link with the rest of the fleet and we will transition as one.”

  “Yes, Admiral,” they said together and worked on their screens.

  “Transition in twenty seconds,” Yeltsin said a few moments later.

  Hall let out a breath, hiding it from the others as he hoped his plan would work out.

  To the LMFCs, they were still patrolling as they saw four hours in the past. They wouldn’t be expecting anything as they had no indication that the enemy had even moved.

  It was only their opening move but if he could catch them off on the wrong foot and push them, then he could control the battlefield.

  The counter reached zero. The Alcubierre drives activated across the fleet, moving them from rally point twenty-four to a new location behind the enemy fleet.

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Senator Rimateus’s Estate

  Roma, Hellenic System

  10/3557

  The food and the drinks were flowing, as usual in his household. The dignitaries and people around him were settled into a party downstairs. Everyone was here. Most of the senate, surely. Rimateus wanted this night to be nothing but spectacular and as the food supply worries had eased off a little, it was paramount to keeping the royals and loyals around Roma happy.

  Upstairs and in a private suite, Rimateus sat with those he trusted, as well as his other friends. Tonight, these “others” would learn what it was like to be a true leader, to dominate everyone.

  He was feeling excited, the wine coursing through him, warming his mind as well as inebriating his tongue. But he knew after this, things would be very different. He could claim not only what was left of the mergers, but the throne if he needed to. As much as he was watching Emarl, he was also watching others around Roma. His operatives were in place and ready to take down those he needed. That included Cassius, Julio, and Fabius. Where Damus was, though, had him worried. There’d been no sign of him for a few days.

  Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, Rimateus glanced to the people around him, their excited chatter on taking over Emarl pulling him back in.

  “Then, as Rimateus said, we’ll be just cleaning up the rats and making sure they don’t get to intrude on our business ever again.”

  Kris eyed Rimateus while speaking.

  But he looked to the screen and the information coming in. They were waiting to see Emarl for what it was worth. It had been a long time since they visited. When Roma was here last, it was a very underdeveloped area of space. The people had barely any tech and as usual were fighting more among themselves than actually trying to do something worthy. So they moved on and left them to it, expecting to return when it was a more prosperous part of space. The fact that the Victor Corp had chosen it was more for its position in space, away from everyone else. Travel time to Emarl alone was a huge factor in the reasons to why it hadn’t been explored more.

  Rimateus checked the countdown. His forces would be there any second and they’d get full views of what was going on.

  As the screens before the room flickered, there was a small gasp. His eyes didn’t quite focus as much as they should. Everything looked vastly different than he thought.

  “What is that?” Edav said.

  Rimateus turned to his NIAI and pulled up all the scans they had of Emarl to compare it quickly to those he now saw.

  The wine that had made him feel happy moments before now turned his stomach.

  There were not only the refineries there from Osdal—he expected that they might be there—but to his surprise, they were up and running.

  The Yard was now twice the size it was when it left Earth. With ring upon ring, and then out-shoots for more sections, they were building... Then he saw it.

  “That’s not possible!” Kris said.

  Confusion started to spread through his guests. “They’re mining, building? Rimateus, what’s going on? How could they get all this there in time?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “How could they?”

  Rimateus could only stare. “No, it’s not possible. It’s impossible. They shouldn’t have any ships. They shouldn’t have...”

  But it stared him in the face. Emarl not only had ships, but warships.

  Rimateus put down his wine, clapped his hands together and tried to get the attention of everyone in the room. It couldn’t go down like this. They needed to win. They must win.

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Emperor’s Residence

  Roma, Hellenic System

  10/3557

  Zedra stood with Moretti. She had an air of confidence about her that he’d started to like. On the screens before them, and linked through Moretti’s NIAI, were almost a hundred different views, a hundred locations and their goings-on. This was their phase one push.

  Watching their operatives around the city, all their key points had one thing going for them. They’d had all the time in the world to plan this and now it was time to execute.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Zedra pour a drink into two tumblers, the amber liquid swirling in the glass as she brought it to him.

  “Not usually a drinker when I’m this deep.” Moretti smiled. “We’ve a few things to execute ourselves.”

  He then watched as she pulled a small vial from her hip, adding a few drops to them both. “This will help.”

  “Help what?” he asked as she passed it to him. Moretti took the tumbler and sniffed its contents. He could smell the alcohol. Its neat and yet sharp essence now contained the hint of something else.

  “It will help with the butterflies.”

  Moretti almost choked. “You of all people should know men of my standing don’t get butterflies.”

  Zedra smiled and sipped her drink. “M, what we’re about to do is not only the biggest operation that Roma has ever witnessed, but it’s coordinated across the galaxies. This is the biggest operation that anyone will ever complete. One that most likely no one will ever learn about. You’re honestly telling me that there’s not one tiny ounce of nerves in there?”

  Moretti held still as she lightly poked the hard muscles of his abdomen. He thought about it for one second, then he took a sip from the tumbler. “You’re right. I guess there may be a couple of butterflies...”

  When he turned back to the holo screens and the view of the most important part of their ploy, the science base, those butterflies still buzzed.

  “When there’s everything riding on but a few,” Moretti said, “there’s nothing left but to dive in as deep as you can and hope you can reach the surface.”

  Zedra looked to him as he spoke. “When that surface seems like a million miles away, do you know what you do?” Zedra turned back to the screens. “You kick like fuck and hope that you can hold your breath till you burst.”

  Moretti chuckled. “Exactly.”

  This time when he looked back, he watched the one operative he’d spent the most time with: Sertoria. She and Zedra were now
working together to not only surround the base, but to be on the inside. Being on the inside for them was their best bet; Sertoria was their best bet. The scientists were to go down first. Each key player in this had one job: watch the time.

  Zedra raised an eyebrow at him. “You like her?”

  Moretti looked away, to another screen. “Like who?”

  “Sertoria…”

  He tried to stop himself, but he was sure he blushed. “I’ve liked a lot of people over my time.”

  “Huh,” Zedra said. “All right then.”

  She tapped the clock face on the screen.

  At twenty-two hundred, they’d all have a job to do. The kill switch would be pulled. All they needed in their ear was the one command from Zedra and M. One word would end the lives of all the scum that was plaguing Roma and the Union. That word would never be used again in this context, never spoken about afterward.

  “We really truly ready for this?” Moretti asked.

  “Not quite.” Zedra moved to put on her armor and weaponry. Whereas M already had his hidden away. Zedra looked to him and he didn’t see anything but sheer determination. “The seven sins can be perceived as just that, sins. You don’t need to be a person of faith, or of Roma to know the truth when you see it. We are ready. I do not think Roma is ready for this change, but with the right people behind her, she will adapt. She will thrive again.”

  Moretti knew she was right. He wasn’t a man of faith, but he knew rot, evil, and destruction. They mostly came about because of two things: greed and power. Those two items alone made all the difference; with one usually came the other.

  Moretti looked to the Emarl system now. He’d had no idea as to what was going on there, just that it had been gathering. Now that he started to see the real-time images that Rimateus was, and that were probably broadcasting about his fellow senators, he knew that keeping this from him had been the right decision. Roma might have had the largest fleets, the most power resources, but now, no. It belonged most obviously to Emarl, and thus to the Victors.