by Sid Kar
“Then you believe me,” Roofus said.
“But our examination machines are not that precise,” Jarvyk said, “I have kept both the recorder and the pistol for thorough examination abroad Conquistador’s electronics section when it returns.”
“And you are going to let me stay here till then?” Roofus asked.
“I will,” Jarvyk sighed, “Chancellor Solus is angry but he is too cunning to order his troops to fire on Starfirian forces. Even if he does, we have enough firepower here to hold out for weeks.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I lied. I told him you refuse to talk to anyone except Commodore Raptor and General Bakus,” Jarvyk said, “I said I have no choice but to await the return of my Commodore. The later part is true. What to do with you is a political decision for the senior officer and I am not even amongst the top 10 officers abroad my starship’s command hierarchy.”
“But if they don’t return by the Election Day?” Roofus wondered.
“What do we care for your elections?” Jarvyk said.
“Solus!” Roofus said, “He knows I am onto him. He will try to steal the election. It’s not beyond pale given that he instigated a coup. You have to stop him.”
“I don’t think so,” Jarvyk laughed ruefully, “That’s direct political interference. I will get court martialed by my government.”
“But if Solus wins then even the evidence of his involvement in the coup won’t matter,” Roofus said, “He will have legitimacy and firm control of the government.”
“There is something I can do,’ Jarvyk paced the room, “Commodore Raptor had asked me to rearm and release the Republican Guard. I was dragging my feet. Now I will do it right away.”
“But how many of them are left?” Roofus asked.
“Seventy thousand odd,”
“That won’t be enough,” Roofus said, “Infantry Corps has more than three times that number of troops and heavy firepower, like armored laser cannons and all.”
“Then we will just have to arm the Republican Guard with some of our own heavy weapons, won’t we?” Jarvyk chuckled, “after they have Starfirian arms, they will be more than a match for the corps.”
Jarvyk ordered the two soldiers to escort Roofus to a guest room while he rushed to the command center of the base to begin preparations for their plan.
Chapter 4: Admiralstad
Megaship Maverick cut its speed and maneuvered into orbit around the gas giant. Grand Admiral Valorun Lynam was in his shuttle inside the bay waiting for the ship to enter the orbit. Then he ordered his pilots to launch out of the spaceship. He had temporarily handed over the command of the ship’s operations to Vice-Admiral Lewyn Mal and wanted to see how he handled the operations. The younger man was impatient and ambitious – always a dangerous combination – and orbital docking against the gravity of a gas giant required a steady hand at command. Lewyn had done well and he had felt no turbulence.
The shuttle cruised its way towards a large space structure that was also orbiting the gas giant. It was Imperial Space Fortress IX also known colloquially amongst the fleet as Fort Venom for the large scale production of chemical weapons undertaken in the factories located abroad. This space fortress looked as if two pyramids whose bases were glued to each other with vast open hangers on each level on both sides leading to sharp, pointy apexes on each end. It was painted light blue and gave off a shiny sparkle when contrasted against the reddish hue of the gas giant known as Catalycto.
Its large hangers were used for docking Mercurian Empire’s battleships and the distance between the two apex ends was hundreds of miles. Nevertheless, Maverick was too big even for the largest hanger abroad this space fortress or any other that Empire had constructed. Maverick was the largest spaceship ever built in Mercurian space history and Admiral Valorun always had to park it in orbit and take a shuttle when visiting bases and fortresses.
Sixty Mercurian battleships called Fort Venom their home base and the fortress itself had an awesome arsenal of rockets and laser cannons to equal the firepower of thirty battleships combined. Furthermore, on its either ends were mounted a SpaceCutter Ray cannon each. This was the only energy weapon capable of firing its ray at faster than light speed. It could fire across tens of light years of space thus forcing any enemy fleet to either try to battle the fortress before entering Mercurian space or risk getting its spaceships taken out like ducks by the space cutter energy rays.
The fuel output of the gas giant Catalycto was used to power the space fortress and the two energy guzzling ray weapons. This star system was located at a distance of 112 light years from the Whitefog planet’s system and officially marked the boundary between the frontier and the interior of Mercurian Empire for this part of the galaxy.
Admiral Valorun’s space shuttle was assigned the first priority for landing when it approached the fortress. When it docked in a hanger particular for smaller, transport vessels, a squadron of eight fortress guards approached the shuttle. Admiral gave his pilots and his personal troopers the rest of the day off and was then escorted by the guards through the labyrinth innards of the space station into a large room and then they left.
Four men sat behind a semi-circular table on the other end facing him. There was a large semi-circular window behind them with grand views of the gas giant and the mining operations. A table and a chair were arranged for him in front of them. The room floor was blanketed with a dark, blue carpet and dim lights were affixed atop the ceiling. The paucity of furniture elsewhere in the room and the open view made the room appear even more spacious.
All four of them rose when he walked towards them. They were all dressed in the dark blue uniform of Mercurian admirals with matching hats and shoes. These were the four High Admirals collectively making up the Admiralstad: the supreme military command of Mercurian Empire.
“Welcome, Grand Admiral Valorun,” Admiral Rolutan Nall spoke first, “I apologize that you had to retrace all the way back here to meet us. But you are aware of the imperial rule: the Admiralstad never travels outside of the space guarded by the space forts for fear of being ambushed and to prevent the head of our command being cut off by a surprise attack.”
“It is fine, after all I wanted this meeting,” Valorun walked to and sat down in the chair and arrayed his hands on the table. The four of them took their respective seats. “It has been two weeks since the first battle against these Nestorians. I could have come faster, but I wanted to give you all time to arrive. The entertainments of this station may appeal to our younger compatriots, but I am too old for the worldly pleasures.”
“Don’t say that Admiral, I am nearly as old as you and I do not fancy turning into a monk anytime soon,” Admiral Albone Xul, a rotund and round-cheeked man said to everyone’s laughter.”
“Well Albone, you were always the one for gaieties, I remember,” Valorun said, “Now what have you all thought of my proposal that I had beamed ahead?”
This caused them to squirm and they looked at each other as if entreating each other to respond. Finally, Rolutan nodded his head and leaned forward.
“Grand Admiral, it is a bold and daring plan, reflective of your glorious past. Something we all admired when we fought with you,” Rolutan said.
Fought under me, Valorun said to himself, once upon a time all of you had served under my command and taken my orders. It might do well for you to remember that, Valorun wanted to say but held his tongue.
“But we don’t see the need or necessity of such haste to finish off the war,” Rolutan said, “mind you; we haven’t rejected it yet because we wanted to hear your reasons.”
“But of course you haven’t, for you know well, I will go over your heads to the Emperor,” Valorun said and paused. He watched them twist nervously in their chairs, “The Emperor would grant me immediate audience.”
“We are not opposed to it,” Admiral Flybar Url said, “just that it seems too risky, too forward, too aggressive.”
“Now let�
�s be frank with each other,” Valorun pushed down at the table and stood up to grab and focus their attention upon himself, “I was a Grand Admiral and the head of Admiralstad for twelve years; the first chief this body has had in centuries. I knew all the state secrets then and I have not become untrustworthy now. You did not call me up two years after my retirement to fight skirmishes or conquer a minor spacefaring civilization like the Nestorians. You want me to fight these Starfirians, isn’t that right?”
“That’s right Admiral,” Rolutan said.
“And no formalities either,” Valorun said, “Rolutan you are my best friend in the fleet and we haven’t kept up the last two years only due to your responsibilities. You know what I taught you, taught you all, the best battle plans require the commanders to take the operational officers in confidence and relay them all the important data. Now I have read the reports from our battleships on that vast and vicious, whale of a Starfirian spaceship that devastated our fleet at the Battle of Nestor. Just what the hell are we up against?”
The three High Admirals turned to the fourth one who had been silent so far. Admiral Halan Ralt sighed deeply and then stood up to face Valorun.
“Alright Valorun, we had feared you would be curious,” Halan said.
“About time you spoke Halan, you know the most of anybody here or perhaps more than anybody in Mercurian Empire,” Valorun said.
“We became aware of the Starfire Empire a few decades ago,” Halan said.
“We did? I used to receive routine briefings on military strengths of all major galactic powers from your department. Did you hide something from me?” Valorun asked accusingly.
“I don’t mean ‘We’ in the Admiralstad or even the Fleet’s Spy Section, the FSS,” Halan said, “It is our civilian counterparts in Mercurian Spy Department, the MSD, those who work directly for the Emperor who knew of the Starfirians. They have their own fleet of superfast spy ships that they don’t always disclose to us. They had been attempting to estimate Starfire’s strength but to no avail. But they told us nothing because they believed it would have distracted us from our war against Arkarrsh Empire, the war you won for us.”
“That might be true,” Valorun said, “but only if we have reason to be wary of Starfirians. They are on the other side of the galaxy.”
“They have refused to allow us to sell our chemicals in their protectorates,” Halan said.
“The chemical business…I knew the chemical corporatex’s had a hand in this, as they had in getting us to force their chemicals in the territories of Arkarrsh.”
“Our chemical industry is our largest wealth producer and biggest exporter by a superlative margin,” Halan said, “Our trade surplus and our Empire’s standing depend on it. Our imperial fleet is financed by taxes on it. If something were to happen to it…”
“But so what?” Valorun asked, “a handful of other galactic powers refuse to allow sale of our chemicals and we sell little in the other half of the galaxy where Starfirians are located.”
“However only Starfirians have the machines that counter the effects of our chemicals and neutralize them thoroughly,” Halan said.
“They do?” Valorun said then slowly sat back down, “Now I see. We can’t have those machines spreading in the galaxy…” he shook his head.
“They have rejected our demands to ban the exports of such machines,” Halan said.
“How arrogant of them to claim such a right,” Valorun chuckled, “after all who do they think they are? The Mercurian Empire?”
Halan and the rest of the High Admirals looked at each other in consternation and Halan sat back down.
“But don’t worry my friends, I do my duty,” Valorun said, “I have never liked this chemical business of ours and I have raved about it to you plenty of times in the past. It is like our chemical industry has polluted our politics and military along with thousands of planets they operate on with impunity. But I still defeated the Arkarrsh Empire for our corporatexs and I will do the same to Starfirians.”
High Admirals felt better and smiled lightly. But were once again brought to worry by the next pronouncement of Grand Admiral.
“But I will do it my way, my plan, my strategy or I won’t do it at all,” Valorun exclaimed loudly.
They knew he was right and he knew it too. Theoretically, they could issue him a direct order. His title of Grand Admiral – which was the topmost rank in Admiralstad when bestowed – was now merely an honorary title that Emperor had extended to him for the rest of his life. His rank and privileges were that of an Admiral.
But he was the national hero of the late war against Arkarrsh. He had won that war. His fleet, his tactics, his strategy and his daring. All other admirals had eked out small wins here and there scattered amongst near equal losses and only the superior industrial strength of Mercurians was slowly pushing the war their way. But Admiral Valorun Lynam alone had won three bold and decisive victories that had brought the war to a forceful conclusion.
He was the most popular man in the Mercurian Empire and in the Imperial Fleet. He was the Emperor’s favorite and courted by every wealthy Corporatex. He could refuse their order. If they court martialed him, they would have a mutiny on their hands and would be lucky to not get fired themselves by their political leaders.
High Admirals knew this dilemma before calling upon him but there was no one else up to the magnitude of the task.
“But Valorun what is the need of launching a single massive attack?” Rolutan asked, “Halan forgot to mention that Starfirians haven’t yet started to export such machines yet. It appears they are wary of tangling with us. Why push them hard?” Rolutan knew he had to try persuasion in lieu of issuing an order with Valorun.
“I won’t fight a war of attrition; I have seen the toll it takes in lives and material costs,” Valorun said, “War against Arkarrsh was moving forward at a snail pace. Oh, we were gaining space and planets but paying a heavy price for it in soldiers and spaceships lost. Even when I was appointed Grand Admiral, there was still opposition to launching big, bold attacks but the fact that our imperial treasury, built up over two centuries of near continuous budget surplus and fiscal prudence, had been emptied by the war, forced the issue and they gave me the go ahead. Rest is history.”
“We can’t repeat that with Starfirians,” Flybar said, “We don’t know their strength and capability now do we, Halan?” Halan shook his head in negative.
Valorun burst out laughing to their surprise and chagrin.
“On the contrary, we can’t win a war of attrition against Starfirians,” Valorun said, “Our treasury is nearly empty; replacing spaceships, reactors and fuel supplies will be a slow and laborious process. Then also is the matter of distance. Their holdouts may be at least 500 light years from our spaceship launch and repair bases. It will take over a couple of months at barn burning rate of fuel drain for each new fleet to get to the battle. It will come down to this: we throw some spaceships, they respond with some of their own, we throw more, they throw more, we escalate, they escalate. War will go on and on with our mutual industrial capacities and long distances ensuring an endless conflict.”
“And your plan will bring the war to a rapid end?” Rolutan wondered.
“I might not be able to penetrate to their central space and force them to surrender, not if that spaceship they sent to aid Nestorians is any indication of their manufacturing capabilities,” Valorun took a deep breath, “But if I can inflict massive destruction on their fleet in our first strike, then I can bring them to the negotiation table like humble supplicants. It will be enough to get them to accept conditions of our chemical company lords.”
“It is a big risk, Valorun, what with us not knowing much if anything about Starfirian weapons and tactics,” Albone said, “With Arkarrsh you knew all about their battleships in advance.”
“Yes and similarly they know nothing of us,” Valorun said, “But as the war progresses, they too will learn. They will study us and our every ta
ctic and weapon. You don’t get to be a great power and a conquering empire without having a tradition of systematic study of war in all its aspects and facets. They will improve their weapons and they will modify their tactics. That is why I am a firm believer in the war theory of launching one, big decisive strike. Hit them hard when they don’t know how to respond. They will never be as in the dark as they are now. That is why I say our first strike must be our last strike.”
There was silence in the room for a few minutes while the High Admirals whispered amongst themselves for a moment and then Halan spoke.
“You want to take the majority of spaceships from each of our four fleets and create one grand invasion fleet, but we also have to keep significant numbers to protect our own space,” Halan said.
“Naturally Halan, I want to take only half from the fleet under your command and more from the other three,” Valorun said.
Admiral Halan was the commander of the Mercurian Home Fleet that protected the systems of the capital planet and planets with industrial centers of the Empire. It was rare for spaceships from the Home Fleet to be sent into the battle. That task was primarily the responsibility of Mercurian Expeditionary Fleet under the command of Admiral Rolutan. If needed it was bolstered by Mercurian Regional Fleet which patrolled and protected the space surrounding both the planets settled by Mercurians and those conquered planets with alien populations. Regional Fleet was also responsible for putting down rebellions by occupied nations and Admiral Albone was its senior officer. Finally, the Fortress Fleet currently under the command of Admiral Flybar was used for defending Mercurian space against surprise attacks.
“Valorun we will have to take your proposal to the Emperor and Corporatstad for approval,” Rolutan said, “It is too grand a plan to be put into operations merely by Admiralstad’s permission.”
“I would expect no less of you,” Valorun nodded his head in satisfaction, “Our people and corporatex bosses need to know the exact price that will have to be paid for our victory.”