“Then it’s agreed,” Handolly said matter-of-factly. “Your people will reform your government and accept our terms to officially become members of the Galactic Empire.”
The Republic and TPA leaders exchanged a quick look with each other and then nodded. “We both agree,” Chairman Hong Jinping said on behalf of the TPA.
Handolly looked at President Luca. “You are in agreement? Your country will accept these terms?”
For a moment, Luca hesitated. She knew she had to agree. If humanity was to survive, there really wasn’t much of a choice. They wouldn’t last very long on their own against the Zodarks. They’d been lucky up to this point, but that luck could only hold out for so long. What was causing her to pause was that she’d just realized that in a few seconds, she would officially become the last president. She was actually surprised she hadn’t thought about that until right this moment. How could she not have even considered that? Looking at Jinping, she realized he must have thought the same thing. He was essentially the last leader of China.
Steeling her nerves, she lifted her chin up a bit as she replied with conviction and confidence in her voice. “I am. The People of the Republic accept your offer. We welcome the Altairians and the opportunity to join the Galactic Empire.”
The Altairians’ facial expressions never changed; Luca wasn’t sure if they could. However, the two of them did seem pleased once both sides had agreed to the terms.
“Excellent, then it is official. You will now be known as the Human Republic within the Empire. We will work with you on establishing an embassy and permanent presence in the Senate. As a new member of the alliance, you will have full voting rights and representation in the Empire immediately,” Handolly explained with a bit more excitement and emotion than they had seen him show up to this point.
After they had congratulated the humans on joining the Empire, Pandolly announced, “We have a pair of Altairian battleships and four cruisers on their way to Sol. They will help shore up the human defenses against the Zodarks until the human shipyards can integrate the new technology we will be providing.
“We will give you eighteen months to have your first battlegroup ready for combat with an Empire fleet. You will now be responsible for fielding a battlegroup’s worth of ships and ground forces every five years for the foreseeable future in the Empire. This is your contribution to the alliance you have just joined.”
The humans were also being given dominion of thirty-two-star systems, which included the current three they occupied and one planet closer to the Altairian home world to colonize and establish as a conduit between humans and the many other species that comprised the Galactic Empire or GE as the Altairians called it. The remaining twenty-eight systems were under Zodark and Orbot control. If the humans wanted them, they’d have to fight for them.
Chapter Eighteen
Birth of the New Republic
Four Months Later
Jacksonville, Arkansas
The shuttle carrying Rear Admiral Miles Hunt to the surface made several slow arcs around Jacksonville and the Little Rock Spaceport. Hunt looked out the window in awe at how much the place had changed in such a short time.
Once Earth had allied with the Altairians, a new, unified human government had formed as part of the new pact. Not all the people of Earth had agreed with this proposal. A surprisingly large percentage of people had wanted to hang on to their national identities, even in the face of the pending Zodark threat. Many world leaders, including a lot of people in the Republic, and even the Tri-Parte Alliance, felt they were giving up the right to self-determination. There were some initial protests during the first few weeks of the transition, but as more technology and information was shared with the people of Earth, they died down.
The Altairians eventually showed themselves directly to the people of Earth. They gave the Earthers a simple choice: they could live as they once had without the new technologies provided to Earth, and risk annihilation by the Orbots and their proxies the Zodarks, or they could accept the alliance with the Galactic Empire. There was no middle ground, and eventually, everyone accepted the new reality, begrudgingly as that might have been.
It didn’t take the people of Earth long to start coming up with some new nicknames to call their Altairian allies. The more neutral terms were Alts, ETs, or Ghosts on account of their white skin. Less flattering was White Walkers, after an old fantasy book and TV series Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, popular eighty years ago. In that series, the all-white characters brought either death or assimilation wherever they went. More than a handful of Earthers felt that was what the Altairians had brought Earth: death, or assimilation.
Hunt only had pleasant interactions with their new allies. One of their military commanders and ship captains, Pandolly, took Hunt under his wing. The weapons and capabilities of their new ally astounded him. Hunt had thought the Zodarks were an advanced society, but they paled in comparison to the power of the Alts. What concerned Hunt was that, as powerful as the Alts were, they had been unable to defeat the Orbots after being at war with them for thousands of years. It unnerved him a bit that there were alien races out there that had as much power as the Alts, or even more.
Hunt returned his gaze to the city below. He liked how Jacksonville was shaping up. Although the Alts had more or less promised to allow humans to govern themselves, they had determined that this new unified human government should have a new capital city or governing seat of power, and there was no real arguing on that point. For reasons no one on Earth could understand, the Altairians had recommended the small city of Jacksonville, Arkansas. President Luca had agreed because it was the home to the former Little Rock Air Force Base. It had been converted decades ago into a Space Command spaceport, an alternate command post should something happen to the current HQ in Florida. This would make it easier to make link the capital to Space Command systems.
When the Alts had recommended Jacksonville become the de facto capital city for humanity on Earth, the entire place had transformed overnight. Anyone who owned a home, business, or land within a twenty-mile radius of the city suddenly became a millionaire as land prices went through the roof.
Hunt wasn’t sure how the new government had convinced so many people to sell their land, but the Human Republic had acquired nearly the entire town and everything around it for close to ten miles. In a herculean feat, the government had cleared the place in preparation to build some super-advanced new mega-city based on designs and suggestions from the Altairians.
Around the newly redesigned spaceport, Hunt saw a handful of transport craft had already landed. The others must have arrived already.
For Hunt, the last four months had been a busy time. His battlegroup had tagged along with an Altairian group during a major battle in a star system near Rhea. It was the first time Hunt had seen an Orbot ship and a Zodark star destroyer, and he could safely say that without the help of the Altairians, humanity would have been wiped out.
The Alts had lost both of their cruisers and Hunt three-quarters of his fleet in the engagement. In exchange, they had destroyed the Orbot ships and the entire Zodark fleet. The Alts said it would most likely be years before the Zodarks would try to attack the Earthers again. The Orbots would leave this lesser fight to their proxies after the bloody nose they’d just received, and now that they knew the Altairians were allies. The fact was, Earth wasn’t strategically important enough to expend more resources trying to defeat and occupy it—at least not yet.
The Altairians said humanity needed to use this period between battles to rapidly build up new warships—ships they would show their human allies how to build and operate. Hunt had been summoned dirtside for this very purpose. The Alts wanted his opinion on the new ships before they finalized their designs and handed them off to the human shipbuilders.
Hunt was a bit excited about this meeting. He was eager to see the new Altairian starship designs for their human allies and how their weapons and capabilities wo
uld differ from what they were currently using.
When the shuttle finally landed, the rear ramp opened, letting in the morning sun and a fresh breeze. Standing at the edge of the ramp, Hunt took in a deep breath of honest-to-goodness air and let it out slowly. For nearly eight years, he’d spent nearly all his time on either the John Glenn Station or a starship, so it was refreshing to breathe in the fresh air and feel the warmth of the sun on his skin.
A lieutenant and a captain walked up to greet him, snapping off a crisp salute, which he quickly returned.
“Do you have any bags you need us to take care of, sir?” asked the captain, his eyes looking behind him and into the rear of the shuttle.
Hunt shook his head. “No, I’m just down here for the day, then back up to the station.”
“Very well, sir. We’ll lead you to the briefing room. They have some fresh coffee and pastries inside if you’d like some fresh-cooked Earth food,” the captain said with a slight smile.
Walking off the ramp of the shuttle, Hunt said, “That’d be great, Captain. Food cooked on Earth always seems to taste a bit better than the stuff they make on the station or a starship.”
Three months ago, when the Earth’s militaries had been reformed, Hunt had been promoted from rear admiral lower half or a one-star to a full rear admiral or two-star. He was still getting used to some of the new protocols for being a senior flag officer in the new, unified human military.
As he walked toward the main building, Hunt got a good view of all the activity on the flight line. He spotted a couple of the new ground attack VTOLs the Army was going to start fielding. They were slick-looking flying death machines, but most importantly, they could deploy from an orbital assault ship—no more transporting them down to the surface in large cargo haulers and putting them back together so they could be used in combat. These little monsters would be able to get into the fight right from the get-go.
Hunt stopped walking for a moment, which caused his minders to practically crash into him. “What is the problem, sir?” the captain asked.
“Captain, I’d like to take a moment to look at that new bird and ask one of those mechanics a quick question.”
The captain tilted his head to the left, just like Hunt did every time he checked the time using his neurolink; then he grunted but nodded. “We can spare a few minutes, sir.”
The three of them walked over to a group of mechanics who looked to be doing some daily maintenance on the new bird. The group looked up, startled to see a two-star admiral appear out of nowhere.
“Atten-shun!” barked one of the sergeants to the surprised mechanics. They all stopped what they were doing and stood ramrod straight, hands at their sides, eyes front.
“At ease, soldiers. I haven’t seen one of these things in person yet and wanted to check it out. Can you tell me about it?” asked Hunt as his eyes looked over the machine.
One of the things Hunt liked about being an admiral was stopping and talking with the lower enlisted and junior officers. It helped him stay in tune with what was going on, and it also earned him a lot of respect and loyalty with his crew and those under his command.
Lifting an eyebrow at the question, the sergeant stammered, “Ah, sure thing, sir.
“This, Admiral, is the AS-100, an Army Assault Ship 100,” the sergeant continued. “We like to call them Reapers, on account of that they’re like the Grim Reaper when they arrive on the scene. They’re the latest in ground attack support ships to assist the Army in clearing out some tough targets. They’re a single-person ship that can be flown remotely if needed. They come equipped with four pulse beam lasers, two on either side of the cockpit. They also hold thirty of these new little bad boys the Alties told us how to build—they’re the latest in smart munitions. You can either fire them like unguided rockets or use them as smart missiles to loiter or target specific targets you tell them to.” The sergeant clearly had a sense of pride about working with these new beasts.
Hunt nodded his head in approval. “That’s truly incredible, Sergeant,” he remarked. “I think you picked a good name for them, Reapers. The title fits. OK, well, that answers my questions. I have a meeting I need to head off to, but thank you for talking with me,” Hunt said and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out one of his George Washington commander’s coins and shook the sergeant’s hand, passing him one of his coveted challenge coins.
The sergeant smiled widely, and then his troops went back to work.
The captain politely said, “If you’ll follow me, sir, we need to get going to the briefing. It’s supposed to start in a few minutes.”
Hunt smiled and followed their lead. As they walked, he asked, “Captain, when’s the last time you held a command?”
The captain turned slightly as he replied, “It’s been a few years, sir. I’m an administrative officer. Most of my military service time has been spent in one headquarters group or another. Why do you ask?”
“When the sergeant was explaining how that new ship worked, you seemed pretty interested, that’s all.”
The captain shrugged as they walked through the door and into the building. “I find it all very interesting, sir. It’s probably the closest I’ll get to any action in this new war.”
“Would you be interested in a combat posting?” Hunt asked, curious to see what the administrative officer would say.
The captain didn’t say anything for a moment. As they approached the briefing room door, he finally said, “If the opportunity were presented to me, sure.”
Hunt filed that away in his brain for the time being. As his command responsibilities grew, so did his administrative pain in the butt. He needed good officers who could handle some of these things for him. He made a note to look into the man’s service record and ask a few people about him when he got back to the GW.
When they entered the briefing room, Hunt saw everyone had finished getting their coffee and a pastry and taken their seats. He quickly found his own seat and whispered to the lieutenant to grab him a coffee and one of those lovely-looking apple danishes.
*******
Fleet Admiral Chester Bailey saw Hunt finally enter the room and head toward his seat.
Cutting it close, aren’t you, Miles? Chester said over their neurolink, so no one else heard them talk.
Sorry about that, sir. I got distracted by something on the flight line. Took a moment to talk with a couple of mechanics about those new Reaper VTOLs, Hunt replied as he sat down.
“It looks like everyone is here. Let’s get started,” Admiral Bailey said loud enough to get everyone’s attention.
Nodding toward Admiral Hunt, Bailey said, “It’s good to have Admiral Hunt here with us. He brings some fresh combat experience fighting against the Orbots and with our new allies. The Battle of Two Stars was our first joint battle. I don’t have to explain that this was, by far, the costliest battle in our war with the Zodarks and this Orbot-Zodark alien alliance, called the Shadow Dominion.
“We Earthers fought bravely for the Galactic Empire, and the Altairians told me and the Chancellor that despite our losses, we fought exceptionally well. Our allies were impressed with our ability to adapt to the changing dynamics of the battle and inflict serious damage on a superior force with our crude weapon systems.”
Many of the officers around the table chuckled at that. The Altairians found it hard to believe the Zodarks had suffered as many defeats against the Earthers as they had, given the human level of sophistication of space weapons. If the Earthers hadn’t liberated some of the Sumerians and integrated captured enemy technology, it probably would have been a different story.
Admiral Bailey continued, “Our Altairian allies have shared a vital piece of intelligence with us. The Shadow Dominion is launching a new offensive against another Altairian ally, a group called the Tully.” He held a hand up to stop them from asking questions. “I’ve only been informed about the Tully a few hours ago by our liaison officer, Pandolly. He will provide a briefing tomo
rrow morning, giving us a better understanding of the alliances in our galaxy—apparently, it’s rather complicated. I told him with our simple human brains, it’d be best to show us pictures and diagrams to explain everything.”
This last comment drew a few laughs. No one liked change, but so much change had happened these past eight years, especially these last four months. They all had to learn to roll with it and adapt, or it would drive them insane.
“OK, back to these Tully characters. The Orbots’ decision to attack them is both good and bad news for humans. While we’ve never encountered the Tully as of yet, their controlled space is essentially a buffer zone between our little sliver of the galaxy, the Prims’, and the Orbots’. With the Orbots’ new focus on the Tully, they’re ordering the Zodarks to leave us alone and assist them. That means we’re going to have a short reprieve to rebuild our navy, integrate the Altairian technology and then learn how to use it.”
Admiral Bailey heard several sighs of relief among the officers at the table. After this latest battle, the Earth fleet was in a bit of a shambles.
“It also means if the Tully lose their territory to the Orbots, it’ll place an even more dangerous enemy at our doorstep,” Bailey explained. “As such, we’re going to assist the Tully in their fight as much as we can, given our technological limits. That brings us to the crux of why we are here—in a moment, one of the Altairians will join us and go over the specs of the three new ships. Then the Altairians will go over the mission we’ve been assigned to help the Tully.”
The admiral had barely finished speaking when a transporter aura appeared not far from Admiral Bailey. A split second later, an Altairian materialized in their briefing room.
No matter how many times Bailey watched this happen, it still caught him off guard. The fact that a race of beings could transport a person from a starship in orbit down to the planet in seconds was truly incredible. If only they could do that for thousands of soldiers at a time—that would be truly incredible. As it was, even for the Altairians, it was a relatively new technology and not yet something they were willing to share, even with their closest allies.
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