by Rod Carstens
Anddan glanced at the video of the attack. It was all confusion and explosions. He had no time to worry about that. He only wanted to know if there were any casualties and who they were. There was a whole manned situation room staffed with representatives of all the Confederation members and services. It was down the hall and was beginning to feed the information they had to the secretary general's room.
"I want the military on red alert, both Confederation and private," Anddan snapped. "There’s every reason to think that this is the start of a much wider attack. They tried the same thing on Rift."
The other members in the room were immediately on their communicators and computers, notifying the appropriate commands. Anddan stood with his arms behind his back as he watched the video from the Senate on various news outlets. Status reports began to flood in from the military and infrastructure commands. He watched as they scrolled across the bottom of a general situation screen. Nothing. There were no reports of attacks. It was still early. Anddan wondered how long he could wait before he could feel comfortable that there would be no Xotoli military attacks on other planets. The minutes went by slowly. How could those hybrids have been in his security detail? They had been vetted by Von Fleet and the government, yet they had gone undetected. Something had failed or someone was helping them pass the vetting process, but how and who? As soon as things settled down, security had to be a priority. They had to figure out how to detect a hybrid, and they had to find out who might be helping the Xotoli, no matter how hard it was to believe. It was a brilliant move by the Xotoli. If their attempts at assassination had been successful, they would have created turmoil. With him and Raurk gone, they would have cut off the chain of command for both the military and the leadership of the civilian government. Luckily, they had failed, but the Confederation was going to have to spend a tremendous amount of resources on security until they found a way to detect and stop hybrid attacks. Either way, the Xotoli had won. Anddan had a nasty feeling this wasn’t the first war against a space faring civilization for the Xotoli. They were far too good at this for the Confederation to be their first target.
"Mr. Secretary, I have Admiral Raurk on a secure communication for you."
Anddan actually let out a sigh of relief just hearing that Raurk was on the line.
"Put her through."
Anddan was surprised by Raurk's appearance. Her uniform was covered in blood, and her hair was in disarray. It was the first time he could ever remember her hair not being flawlessly coiffed or her uniform not perfectly ironed and creased.
"Admiral, are you all right?"
"Yes, sir. Yes sir, I am, thanks to Istas. She took the rounds meant for me, and Senator Kago finished the hybrid off along with the Marines. Sir, are you all right?"
"Yes, I am, thanks to the Marines you assigned to me. The sleepers were in my protection detail."
"The SS?!"
"Yes, the Secret Service. I’m now being protected by the Marine guard you had assigned to me. You didn’t tell me they were also well-armed and trained as bodyguards."
"Sir, I just trust them a lot more than I do salary men, even if they were the Secret Service. Did you receive the warning we sent you? Istas said they would try to assassinate you, too."
"Yes, I did. The loyal SS and the Marines were waiting for them when the hybrids came for me. I’m fine. There were casualties among the SS and the marines, though. Who was injured in the attack there?"
Raurk hesitated. It was as if she had to gather herself to tell him.
"A number of staffers were either killed or injured. Senator Lia Katte and Senator Flint-Ibern were both killed. Senator Barish was badly wounded and has been taken to the hospital."
Anddan was stunned. He and Barish went way back. They had fought many political battles together. To lose his wisdom in such a manner was a real blow to the Confederation, and Lia was the only representative of Ceti left, but now she was gone. The attack had done more damage with the loss of those two legislators than Anddan wanted to admit.
"I’m sorry, sir. I know that you and Senator Barish were close," Admiral Raurk said.
"Admiral, I also know your history with him. We have both lost an irreplaceable ally."
He paused before he continued.
"I’ve placed both the private and Confederation military on the highest alert. I want you surrounded by Marines. I don’t trust the private military not to be filled with more sleepers. I need you here as soon as possible. If the Xotoli follow their pattern, then there’ll be another attack."
"I concur, sir," Admiral Raurk said.
"I want you over here as soon as possible, Admiral. The situation room can serve as your command center."
"Yes, sir. It’s securely linked with the one at naval headquarters. I could go over there."
"No, in fact, Admiral, I’ll meet you there. Is the situation room security provided by Marines?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then I’ll come to you with my Marine contingent. I can operate from there, and I would feel safer with military security rather than private contractors until things can be sorted out."
"Very well, sir. I’ll notify them you’re coming. I’ll also send some armored vehicles to provide protection for the transfer."
"Thank you, Admiral. I’ll see you there."
#
Ms. White slammed the phone down on the desk so hard that Carroll jumped.
"Fuck! We missed both the secretary general and the admiral."
They were standing in Carroll’s senate office. The senate building and all of the offices were on lockdown. Security personnel roamed the halls, challenging anyone who left an office or tried to enter the building. Ms. White stared at him for a long moment. He knew the look; it was one that he feared.
"To top it off, you fucked up your questioning of the admiral. After all of our careful planning and using some of our best embeds, we have nothing to show for it!"
"There’s no way I could’ve anticipated Kago defending her the way he did. He took our arguments right out from under us."
Ms. White said nothing. She just stood there behind his desk, staring at him and flexing her hands, causing her claws to slip in and out.
"Those were some of my best and most well-placed operatives, and I lost them because of that Anjin bitch. That whore has gotten in the way of our plans once again. I think it’s time that we dealt with her. In fact, I want to deal with her myself. I want her to beg me to let her die. If she hadn’t interfered on Rift, we would’ve taken out Raurk in the command center, and that would’ve been the difference in the outcome of the battle. Now she’s protected the admiral yet again and warned them of the attack on the secretary general just in time to prevent it."
Ms. White sat in Carroll's chair and stared at the ceiling. It was her habit when she was considering her next mover or a new order for Carroll.
"You don't know that yet. How could you?" Carroll asked, amazed at her knowledge of events so quickly after they had occurred.
Ms. White slowly turned those cold eyes on him.
"You’re not my only source of information, and there’re still other embeds in place."
She stared at him for a long moment.
"You’re not injured," she observed casually.
"No, I left as you directed."
Ms. White stood and slowly walked around the desk to stand in front of him. She smiled that cold smile that made him cringe.
"I think you need to suffer an injury. It’ll look better, and we’ll be able to go to the hospital and get out of this office."
"But my secretary and the other staff … they saw me come in."
"No, they didn't. You came in the private entrance, just as I instructed."
Ms. White put her right hand on his arm. She put her other hand over his mouth.
"Now, believe it or not, we practiced making wounds. I’ve used it for amusement since I've come to Earth, but not for my mission."
Ms. White slowly began to squeez
e his arm through is suit jacket. She didn't use all of her claws as she began to slowly tear and rip into his arm through his jacket. Carroll tried not to scream, but it wasn’t long before he began to scream into her hand. She just smiled and continued to work on his arm until he passed out.
Carroll was slumped over in a chair when he finally came to. His staff was standing around him with concerned looks on their faces. Ms. White was explaining "what happened."
"Yes, the senator was wounded in the attack. He managed to make his way back here. His arm is badly wounded, but he should be all right. Oh, here’s the medical team. Please make way for them."
The staff stepped aside as an EMS team rolled a stretcher into the room. They bandaged Carroll’s arm with a nano patch and gave him drugs for his pain. He could feel the nanos working on his arm as they rolled him out of the office. He heard Ms. White say, "Now, no one worry. He’ll be fine. We’ll be at the hospital."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Xotoli Outpost
Exoplanet 1123.567
Von Fleet Planet 703
Combat Patrol Four
Lieutenant Steiner and the rest of the patrol were pushing their ships as hard as they dared in order to get back on station around 703. If those Xotoli ships reached 703 before they could extract the Marines, it would be a blood bath. They were going to need all the help they could get and a fighter screen could slow them down and buy some time. With only seven more fighters, it was asking a lot, but maybe they could pull it off.
"Batman to Steiny Man."
Batman was the tail-end charlie for the patrol and kept his sensors pointing backward, covering their tails.
"Go, Batman."
"We gotta shitload of fighters suddenly showing up on my screen."
"Shit! Are they closing?"
"Yeah, and if I didn't know better, I’d say they’re the first strike of a landing force. The whole task force is lit up like a Christmas tree with offensive sensors. I swear they know we're here and are looking for us."
"How can that be?"
"Don't ask me, boss, but it sure looks like an offensive task force instead of some kind of supply or relief for the personnel on 703."
"How sure are you?"
"Sure."
Shit! Steiner thought. They shouldn't know we're here. This was a smash and grab raid. They hadn’t done any prep, just a quick run-in with the intelligence. According to their briefing, they hadn’t done any sensor fly-by’s. If they had, there would’ve been a chance of being detected. He knew Batman. He was the best electronics warfare man in the squadron. If he said they were back there and headed toward 703 looking for trouble, then they were. He needed to tell Grogen fast.
"Combat Four to Flight."
"This is Flight, Combat Four. Go."
"Patch me through to Captain Grogen."
"Look, Steiner, you can make your report to us. We’ll pass on the information."
"Do it goddammit! The captain doesn’t need to hear this through a middleman."
There was a long few moments of silence until Steiner heard, "This is the Tokyo, Steiner. What have you got?"
Steiner had been on the Cappella with Grogen as his captain. There was none better than her.
"Be advised we have an inbound Xotoli task force. They have every offensive sensor blasting and a fighter escort out front. They’re making their best speed directly for 703. If I had to guess, these guys know we're here."
There was another long silence before Captain Grogen replied. "Combat Four, can you determine their force composition?"
"Not precisely, but my ECW thinks there are two cruisers, at least two destroyers, and approximately five troop carriers. We decided to get back instead of waiting for a precise composition of the task force."
"Good. Combat Four, stay dark and monitor the contacts. Advise of any additional information you think important. If detected, do not engage. Return to task force. This the Tokyo out."
"Batman, keep a close watch on those fighters and keep me informed. Tokyo wants more details as we can confirm. She doesn't need any more guesses, so let’s be sure before we send them any info."
"Roger, Steiny Man."
"Ok, folks, we’re going to start a racetrack course parallel to their course and just out of range of the sensors. Tokyo wants us to shadow them for as long as possible."
Steiny Man changed his course to begin a racetrack course in front of the inbound task force. Suddenly, this mission wasn't so boring after all.
#
Captain Ririsa Grogen leaned forward in her command chair and pressed her comm button.
"Get me General Sand immediately."
"Aye, aye, ma'am."
Ririsa was counting the seconds while she waited for Sand to answer. Every second counted now.
General Sand appeared on the comm holo in front of Ririsa. He was in armor and appeared to have just been in combat. His hair was plastered to his head with sweat, and he looked tired. She didn’t have time to find out what that was all about right now.
"Captain," he said.
"General, we have an inbound Xotoli task force with troop carrying ships. It’s apparent that they knew of or have been notified of the raid. Currently their ETA is about four hours or less."
She saw the shocked look on his face.
"Is four hours all we have?" Sand snapped, the effect of the news evident in his voice. Ririsa knew what he was facing.
"I’m going to try and buy you some more time, General, but you have to begin to evacuate as soon as possible."
"We’ll need all the time we can get. We just committed our reserves, and we’re heavily engaged. The Intel on the expected defense was way off. We’re facing armored troops, not just security types."
"General, I’ll do the best I can, but get your people off that rock as soon as you can."
"I’ll start an emergency extraction immediately. Buy us some time, Captain, or we’re going to have a disaster on our hands."
"I will, General. Good luck."
"Good luck to the Navy," Sand replied. The holo snapped off.
Captain Ririsa Grogen leaned back in her command chair. It appeared the Xotoli knew about the raid and were going to try and catch them with troops on the ground. She wondered how in the hell they knew, but that would have to wait. Right now, she had to decide how to protect the Tarawa and the Marines while engaging the incoming task force. She only had the Tokyo with the two destroyers, Pollux and Castor. A single cruiser and two destroyers weren’t a very formidable fighting force. She did have one thing on her side: The Xotoli didn’t know they had been detected. At least, Grogen didn’t think they knew they had been detected. She could have an edge. He who had the best information always had the upper hand in a battle. She thought she held the ace on this one. This was not Rift, where they had been reacting to an unexpected attack. Instead, the attack was not only expected, but the target was also known. But that changed nothing of her tactical situation. She had none of the freedom of a task force versus task force naval battle because she and the rest of her ships were tied to the Tarawa and the Marines. They had to defend them and defeat a task force whose sole purpose was to destroy them both. If she held her ships in orbit around 703, she would be fighting with both hands tied behind her back. There had to be a compromise between deserting her responsibilities altogether and meeting the threat with some chance at surprise, which would give her the ability to do significant damage to the Xotoli.
If she could get a targeting solution on the Xotoli for an over-the-sensor-horizon attack, there was a chance to do real damage. She couldn’t throw both of the destroyers at the Xotoli task force in hopes of slowing it down. Without the Tokyo, they would be cut to pieces like the Capella had been at Rift. No, it meant leaving the Tarawa and taking both the Pollux and Castor with the Tokyo. That would give her enough firepower to do some damage, but the timing would be critical. She would have to determine when enough damage had been done to delay the strike force and sti
ll get back to 703 to defend the Tarawa and the Marines. This was going to be a balancing act to match the one on Rift.
"Comm, get me the Pollux and Castor for a command conference. I’ll be in the CIC for the conference."
Ririsa stood and hurried down the passage toward the Combat Information Center. She always did better when she could visualize a battle. The CIC holo was made for that purpose, but when the time came, she would be on the bridge for the fight. She kept glancing at the time. She felt every second as it ticked by. When Ririsa reached the CIC, both Lieutenant Commander Temesgen of the Pollux and Lieutenant Commander Poal were waiting on the holo. Ririsa strode over to the communication table.
"Gentlemen, it seems we have some company. Temesgen, your tech was right; there is a Xotoli task force headed this way, like they knew about the raid. According to Combat Four, they have fighters out and at least two cruisers and three destroyers."
Neither man said a word.
"I intend to sortie with you both and intercept the task force. We will leave immediately at the best speed possible. Our mission will be to inflict as much damage as we can, and then get back here without delay. I’ve already informed General Sand, and he has begun an immediate emergency extraction of his troops. The kicker is they’re heavily involved. Apparently the Intel was bad, and they’re facing armored troops. We all know that extracting troops from battle and then getting them off that rock is not going to be easy. So it’ll be up to us to buy them time. I’ve instructed Combat Four to stay on station, just over the Xotoli's sensor horizon. As the Xotoli come over Combat Four's sensor horizon and they calculate a solution, I intend for us to use that solution for an over the horizon shot. That means, of course, that we have to get within range of our Long Lances. So we have some space to eat to get there in time. Any questions?"
Temesgen spoke up.
"Captain, I talked to my chief earlier. He thinks he can re-program the Long Lances to be fired and then shutdown and take up stations before they run out of fuel. Then they’ll sit there with passive sensors on, waiting for the Xotoli. We could fire them long before we reached Long Lance range. When they detect the Xotoli, they will seek out the nearest targets. They might not do much damage, but it might slow them down."