“One more curious thing noted about the two enemy vessels, was that soon after the attack, they lit up their engines making no attempt to hide their trajectory. The direction of their thrust was not to slow down and either return back home to the Kalshuk system or turn back to attack once more. Instead the two enemy vessels turned in the direction of World #8! It speaks volumes about the endurance of their fuel supply, that after such a long journey from their home world in the Kalshuk system all the way to World #11, these vessels had enough fuel to go to World #8 without refueling! Our war vessels cannot match this kind of long range endurance.
“This has grave long term strategic implications for us. We took so many thousands of cycles to gather the grand coalition fleet from deep within our realm to deploy them at the periphery close to the Kalshuk system. Our entire strategic planning makes the implicit assumption that it would take the Ka-Baal a similar amount of time to move deep into our realm in case they decided to move to the heart of our realm and attack us here. We have assumed that we would get ample time to mobilize and construct new vessels by the time the Ka-Baal reached deep into our realm. Accordingly we have almost completely thinned out our defenses at the interiors and pushed everything we have got to World #11.
“With the speed at which the enemy can travel, if our fleet on World #11 is unable to stop a Ka-Baal invasion force, or if they proceed to attack the Kalshuk system and hence are unavailable to stop a counter attack force, or if the Ka-Baal simply bypass World #11, then the Ka-Baal invasion force will have a free run of all our worlds with very few war vessels to put up a resistance. Even if we recall our grand coalition force to defend upon being attacked, our vessels simply cannot match the speed of the Ka-Baal vessel and thus would never reach on time to save the worlds.
“We are strategically exposed! Even now, the two Ka-Baal war vessels that proceed towards World #8 may be able to overpower our single war vessel and three migration vessels standing in guard around that world. We have sent word to World #8 to scramble the assembly of the war vessels that are under construction, but there is no guarantee it would be finished by the time the Ka-Baal war vessels reach there. If the enemy is able to overwhelm the defenses and destroy the space based infrastructure around World #8, then the beings on that world would be trapped exactly the way the beings of World #12 were trapped. The Ka-Baal would then send waves after waves of their ground troops on to the world and exterminate World #8 just as they had done on World #12.
“That is not even the scariest part. If our suspicion about Ka-Baal spy vessels having infiltrated our worlds is correct, then the Ka-Baal would be aware that we have thinned out our defenses of each and every world other than World #11 where all our fleet has gathered. If I were the Ka-Baal Warmaster, then I would simply bypass World #11, given the superior strategic maneuvering capability my ships have, and ravage all other world of our beings, thus destroying the supply line at World #11. This would starve World #11 fleet and eventually destroy all the fleet of our beings. At that point the Ka-Baal can keep every world isolated and trapped with just a few warships over every world. Then they can exterminate one world after the other of ours at leisure. We are looking at an extinction level event out here.
“So here is the stark choice in front of this august council – do we go on the defensive? Do we recall some of the war vessels of the Grand Coalition fleet to protect our worlds, especially the ones closer to the Kalshuk system? Or do we stay the course and ask the Warmaster to make as many hasty repairs as possible and proceed towards the Kalshuk system for an all-out assault and the destruction of the Ka-Baal once and for all? I will not pretend for a moment that I or the warrior caste know the correct answer to that question.
“In fact the warrior subcommittee has refrained from recommending one course of action over the other. Instead we have simply laid down the pros and cons of both the course of action for the consideration of this council. The only recommendations that we forward are those of the warrior on the frontlines prosecuting the war – Warmaster and Seer Taste of Resolve. We the warriors here in this council cannot be sure that what Warmaster Resolve recommends is the best course of action, but as a warrior my instincts would be to trust the judgment of the being on the frontlines.
“Unfortunately, the last hard data we have on the defense capabilities of the Ka-Baal of their home system is very old, based on the last invasion of four war vessels and two migration vessels that happened many thousands of cycles ago. Based on the assessment of that invasion, we can say that the state of preparedness of the Ka-Baal was very minimal at that point of time. The Ka-Baal were barely able to thwart that invasion force. It is thought that if the invasion force had consisted of twice the number of war vessels, our beings would have prevailed.
“However a long time has passed since that last invasion. The kind of primitive war vessels that the Ka-Baal were using in that last encounter in their home system are no longer seen in their current counter-invasions. The current lot of Ka-Baal war vessels are a fair match for our war vessels, and actually have a long term speed advantage. It has been a huge matter of conjecture amongst our beings as to how they have progressed so fast. I know that there is a minority view, however implausible it might sound, that the Ka-Baal have neither been deceptive nor have been helped, but have developed the technology on their own in this short period of time. Whatever may be the truth, it matters not. What is certain is that the Ka-Baal have not been idle since our last invasion into their system.
“We can be fairly certain that they would have built many capable war vessels since the time of the last invasion for the defense of their home system. What we cannot be certain is the rate at which they have built, and hence what would be the total numbers we can expect to face if we were to invade. The home world of the Ka-Baal is rich and bountiful, far greater than any single world of ours, so I expect them to have produced at a rate greater than any single world of ours but less that all of our worlds put together.
“Based on those assumptions, we have estimated that the Ka-Baal home system at this very moment cannot be defended by more than 30 to 40 war vessels. Given the fact that they have been prosecuting an offensive war on World #12 and now have ventured into World #11, some of those war vessel would be busy elsewhere. By the time our Grand Coalition force reaches the Kalshuk system, the Ka-Baal realistically should not be able to add more than 20 more war vessels. So we can expect to face 50 to 60 of their war vessels.
“Our original strategy was to attack in overwhelming numbers with 161 war vessels that would have assembled on World #11 had the Grand Coalition fleet reached there unmolested. This would have given us a three to one numerical advantage over the Ka-Baal which we consider an ample safety margin even if the Ka-Baal throw up any surprising upgrade in their weapons and vessel capability, which they have a penchant of doing. Thus we had planned for an all-out final assault on this enemy and to wipe them out once and for all.
“After the incredible attack on our Grand Coalition fleet, these are the options in front of us… First the Warmaster can leave the damaged and crippled war vessels on World #11 to be repaired or cannibalized as appropriate, add the 33 war vessels already assembled on World #11 to the remaining intact and battle ready vessels of his fleet and proceed immediately for an assault on to the Kalshuk system.
“The reformed Grand Coalition fleet assaulting the Kalshuk system would consist of 109 war vessels. This would still give our fleet a two to one numerical advantage. If the Ka-Baal do not throw up any surprises in terms of new technologies, then our numerical advantage would almost certainly guarantee a win for us. Unless the Ka-Baal can throw up an extraordinary surprise and our Warmaster performs incredibly incompetently, it is unlikely that the Ka-Baal would be able to prevail.
“Thus in this first option, while our invasion fleet’s strength is reduced, it does not significantly reduce our chances of a victory. It however exposes our worlds and our beings to a high degree of risk. The extent t
o which we have thinned out our defense in the rest of the worlds, an expedition force of just four Ka-Baal war vessels like the ones they sent to World #12 would be enough to overwhelm any of our worlds’ defenses. It is not just World #11 and World #8 that are at risk. If it had been just those two worlds, we might still have recommended that we risk sacrificing those worlds temporarily to get rid of this threat of Ka once and for all.
“With the incredible speeds observed of the Ka-Baal war vessels, and frankly we don’t even know the upper limit of the speed those vessels can reach, it is possible for an expeditionary force of the Ka-Baal to reach here on World #2 and the Origin World even before our Grand Coalition fleet reaches their home world. The unthinkable is very much a possibility – the Ka-Baal destroying the heart of our civilization and the essence of our beings.
“Thus the first option gives us the most assured chance of destroying the Ka-Baal once and for all, but also exposes our beings and our worlds to the highest risk of extermination ourselves!
“The second option is for the Grand Coalition fleet to wait for an extended period of time on World #11 as they repair the war vessels worth repairing and then proceed to launch an attack on the Kalshuk system. The extra time can be used by all of our worlds to build war vessels and prepare a reasonable defense force for each of the worlds.
“We warriors do not recommend this option, because it may sound as a safe one but actually achieves nothing. The extra time that we take to add the 40 odd war vessels back to the Grand Coalition fleet will also give the Ka-Baal extra time to add war vessels of their own. Even if they are not able to add as many war vessels, it is hardly going to change the ratio between the two fleets, so it give us no great advantage.
“This give no added protection to our worlds other than World #11 either. We now know that refraining from attacking the Ka-Baal is not going to stop them from attacking us, if the Ka-Baal think they have the chance to attack us preemptively. So it is very likely that the Ka-Baal would not give enough time to other worlds like World #8 or even our Origin World to build up their defenses. Logic dictates that the Ka-Baal would attack these worlds soon, before we have a chance to build up our defenses.
“Why do we warriors think this is likely? It is because now we are fairly certain that they have spy vessels on at least World #11 and most likely also on World #8. Otherwise they would not have dared turn towards World #8 and try to launch an assault on world #8 with just two war vessels. They must know how thinly World #8 is guarded. Since their vessels can reach such incredible speeds, it is not too much of a stretch of imagination that their spy vessels have reached other worlds of ours.
“This is a bad option, and the only world that would be safe would be World #11 where the Grand Coalition fleet would be waiting. If the Ka-Baal warships had conventional capabilities, where they had to hop from one world to the other like our vessels, then this would not have been a problem. Unfortunately the Ka-Baal war vessels do not suffer from this limitation. They can, and would easily bypass World #11 and strike at the heart of our civilization.
“The third and the final option we have, is more of a balance between defense and aggression. We split the Grand Coalition fleet such that there are about 80 war vessels which proceed immediately towards the Kalshuk system for an assault on their home world. The chances of success are not as certain as in the first option, but we think that we will still have a three to two numerical superiority compared to the Ka-Baal. The warriors feel that this still gives us a fairly good chance of success.
“The remaining battle ready war vessels can form a splinter fleet that returns back towards the heart of our system via World #8, basically retracing the path it had taken to reach World #11. Since our vessels are constrained to hop from one world to another, we might as well make a virtue of this necessity. This splinter fleet of about 30 vessels would be able to take on and destroy any expeditionary force that the Ka-Baal might mount on our worlds further into our territory. It can start with the two vessels that have gone in the direction of World #8.
“This splinter defense fleet would not be able to outrun and reach in time to protect World #8 from the initial assault by the two Ka-Baal war vessels, but if those vessels decide to stay on in the system in case they defeat the thin defense force of the that world, our splinter defense fleet can come to the rescue of World #8 and ensure that it does not suffer the same fate as World #12.
“This splinter defense fleet can leave a small contingent on each of the four worlds on the way here to the core of our civilization, which along with whatever war vessels those four worlds already have, and new ones they can build, will provide enough protection to ensure that a small expeditionary Ka-Baal force will not be able to overwhelm them. A good part of the splinter defense fleet will eventually reach back here to the core system and ensure that this the holiest of holy system cannot be touched by the Ka-Baal.
“The four worlds on the way here to this system will also form a buffer slowing down any Ka-Baal force if they try a gradual advance towards the origin system. The worlds further away from the Kalshuk systems will remain thinly guarded going all the way to the other side of our domain to the triple star Kamar system ending with World #9, the original home of the Ka-let. We feel that these worlds being on the other side are relatively safe from an attack by the Ka-let. Even though the Ka-Baal can theoretically attack those worlds directly, it would be unlikely they would bypass the core system, the greatest prize, and go after these further off worlds.
“World #11 itself, the closest world to the Ka-Baal still in our control, would be fairly safe. There would be close to 40 war vessels which would be docked in orbit above this world. Although most if not all of them are currently damaged or disabled in some way, they would be repaired in haste and fairly soon World #11 would have a very strong force defending it.
“Those three options, members of this august council, are the option in front of us from which we need to choose one. I need not remind you that that choice we make here today would reverberate down the annals of our history for all times to come. So it is incumbent on us to make a wise choice…
“… and before I close my deposition, I would like to let this council know the recommendation of Warmaster Taste of Resolve. I would urge you all to give due consideration to his recommendation, irrespective of whatever option you may be leaning towards. Please remember that he is the warrior out there in the frontlines, and no one can know the situation better than him.
“The Warmaster recommends that we proceed with option one and despite the risks to our own worlds, take what he considers the best possible opportunity to destroy the Ka-Baal once and for all. In his recommendation he believes that the Ka-Baal will only grow stronger. If we do not destroy their home world now, it is possible that we may never be able to do it ever again.” With that seer Taste of Aggression simply yielded control back to Seer Taste of Water.
Despite etiquette demanding Taste of Water to yield control to the many other council members queued up on his tasting station who had signaled to ask a question, he could not help but butt in himself to ask a question. The last phrase uttered by Aggression had piqued his interest – ‘The Warmaster believes that the Ka-Baal would only grow stronger’! Why had the Warmaster said that? Was he also coming round to the minority view that the Ka-Baal were actually progressing in their technology at an incredible rate as Water himself believed? What evidence had led the Warmaster to come to that opinion? So he asked the elder warrior the question.
Taste of Water could almost taste a tinge of embarrassment in Seer Taste of Aggression’s reply. “The Warmaster has mentioned about this in his detailed report, but I am afraid it is more of a warrior’s intuition than a hard scientific evidence, that you curious caste are more comfortable with. We warriors give a lot more credence to a warriors’ intuition than perhaps the curious caste does, so you may not find the argument convincing, but here it goes.
“The Warmaster found the nature
of the munitions used in this high speed strike on his Grand Coalition fleet amazing and noteworthy. Not just because it was such an appropriate and effective munition for the nature of attack that the Ka-Baal made… that is a given. It was more noteworthy for the fact that this must have been the first time the Ka-Baal used such a system. Why does he think this is the first time the Ka-Baal were using such munition?
“I know that there are wild speculations that the Ka-Baal are a very advanced race, which has fought many other species in the void, and has a long history of void warfare with other species. These wild speculations posit the theory that the Ka-Baal are merely toying with us as a youngling learning to hunt, toys with its prey. Most of us do not believe in such speculations, and neither does the Warmaster. Thus we are the first advanced species that the Ka-Baal must be fighting, and since we have never been exposed to such an attack, this must be the first time the Ka-Baal have executed such a high speed attack.
“So if this is the first time the Ka-Baal executed such an attack and they designed a very appropriate munition for such an attack, what is so remarkable about it? The answer is speed – not the speed of attack, but the speed at which their civilization and their warriors decided, designed, moved and executed.
“Assuming that a spy vessel in the World #11 system alerted the Ka-Baal to the approach of the Grand Coalition fleet, it would have been possible only when the fleet lit up their engines to slow down and come to a stop at World #11. If one does the back calculation then one would realize that allowing for the delay in light signals reaching back to the Kalshuk system, and the time taken by their two attack ships to reach the point of attack from their home world, they had only between ten and thirty cycles of time to decide on a course of action, prepare an attack plan and dispatch the two war vessels to attack our Grand Coalition fleet.
Triumph & Defeat (Shaitan Wars Book 4) Page 11