Exodus: Empires at War: Book 9: Second Front

by Doug Dandridge

  It could work, it thought, looking at the image of the habitable moon they were heading for. There were a lot of humans on that world, which it should be able to gain access to. If not, there were many of the ones known as Klavarta as well, which would also do.

  The Yugalyth logged out of the database and heading for the hatch to its living quarters. It had time for a bite to eat, then report to its shift. It would not do to start acting out of sorts and be late for duty. Not when the end of the mission was in sight.

  * * *

  “We’ve received our final orbital insertion coordinates,” said the duty Helmsman.

  Sung nodded, then remembered that the Helmsman had her attention focused on the boost profile that would take them out of the half orbit of the gas giant and into the path around the moon.

  “Execute,” she told the Helmsman, who had to wait for her commander’s approval before following the instructions from the moon’s traffic control center.

  Nina boosted at the proper vector at a dozen gravities for a few seconds, then boosted once again for one correction. Her sisters were a couple of thousand kilometers behind, in line behind each other, and boosted in the exact same pattern when they reached the execution point.

  Sung studied the plot that was alive with objects in orbit around the moon, the other moons and the gas giant; as well as hundreds of vessels that were transiting from one place in the gas giant system to another, or in and out of the cluster. Thousands of objects. The Helmsman and Sensor Officer were constantly checking those objects, making sure that the path was clear. To their credit the traffic control system was moving everything out of the way, and the path was clear.

  “I’ve got some interesting things here, ma’am,” called out the Tactical Officer, who was also screening the sensor feed.

  “Send them back to my station,” she told Fujardo, then waited a few moments for a sextet of holo screens to materialize to either side of her chair.

  One of the holos showed a large station, one that had the massive armored look of a fortress. Fujardo had annotated the image, and the text appeared on her implant as she looked at the fort. It veritably bristled with what had to be beam domes, while something else must have been hidden behind the hundreds of hatches on its hull. There were over fifty fortresses of various sizes, from twenty tons up to a couple of monsters of over two hundred tons. Other forts were in orbit around the gas giant, lending depth to the overall system defense.

  “That’s more firepower than the entire Jewel system,” said Fujardo, looking back from his station. “I estimate five times the beam weaponry, and no telling what kind of missile or projectile weapons are hidden. And have you noticed the anomaly, ma’am?”

  “The hatches,” said Sung, zooming in on one of the forts. Almost all Imperial vessels and stations used nanomaterials that sealed the alloys of the door to the hull to the point where they became a single unitary object with no weak points. The Empire had been utilizing such tech for centuries, improving it over that time. “And the laser domes are similar to what the Cacas use.” That was not as big a surprise. A lot of species used such weapon ports, though the Empire had found the ring system much superior in putting maximum laser power on objects from any orientation to the firing ship.

  The next screen showed some different stations, all with numerous large hatches set on their hulls. Some of the hatches were open, showing small cruiser or destroyer sized vessels within. The military shipbuilding industry of this system, and hatches again showing the lack of nanomaterials that even the Cacas used.

  Space factories were the third type of construct shown, and there were a lot of them as well. Again, they really couldn’t tell what they were churning out, but from the number of ships transferring to and from the factories from materials processing plants and the docks, they were making a lot of it.

  The fourth holo was split into many smaller holos, showing a number of vessels in orbit. There were hundreds of warships, mostly in far orbits. None were larger than the small cruiser form, and most were about the size of frigates, which the exception of one ship that looked like some kind of small attack ship carrier. As she watched a small ship, with annotation from Fujardo that it was in the thirty thousand ton range, approached that vessel and a hatch opened in the side, allowing it access to the large hangar visible within.

  The fifth holo was showing what looked like satellites, from ten to a hundred thousand tons. They had one of more large laser domes, what looked like a particle beam nozzle, and more of the hatches like the ones they thought hid missile tubes on the warships. There were thousands of the satellites, all pointed out, and several hundred that were pointed in at the moon. And what’s that about, thought the Commodore. They added nothing to the defense of the system, and could only be meant to strike the surface of the moon. Which meant the governing body thought there was a threat from their own people, right?

  The last holo showed the surface of the moon. She could only see one hemisphere, the one facing her ship, but with a thought she changed the shape to an oblong that showed most of the surface of the moon. The statistics for the world came over her implant with a thought.

  The moon had a density of one point one relative to Earth, which meant it contained more metals. Its radius was only point nine three Earth’s, with a surface area of four hundred and forty six million square kilometers and a diameter of eleven thousand nine hundred kilometers. The gravity, due to the density, was slightly higher than Earth’s at one point zero three gees. Geosynch was thirty four thousand eight hundred and seventy kilometers from the surface. It orbited its brown dwarf primary every ninety-one hours, and since it was tidally locked to the gas giant, that was the length of its day.

  The surface of the moon was about fifty-four percent water, giving it more land surface than Earth. There were two supercontinents, one in each hemisphere straddling the equators up to the temperate zones, and three smaller island continents, the smallest about the size of Australia. That surface showed a lot of green, though there were some brown patches of extensive deserts on both of the supercontinents.

  “Looks like a generally pleasant place,” she said, looking over at Fujardo. “And a fucking fortress.”

  “That last part was what I am more concerned about, ma’am,” said the Tactical Officer. “If they decide to fire us up, we’re gone.”

  “We knew the risks coming here,” said Sung. “We’re here to make friends with these people, not to fight them.”

  “And if they turn out to be like the Emperor fears?” asked Laaksonen over the com.

  “Then we open up one of our wormholes as a gate and bail the hell out of here, Exec,” she told the Commander. “And we set our ships to self-destruct so they don’t get any of our tech.”

  “Com coming in from the moon, ma’am,” called out Picard.

  “Put it on the main viewer.”

  A head and upper body appeared on the holo, a wall behind her that showed a series of images. Globes that looked like the western hemisphere of this moon on it, a sword and ax crossed behind them.

  “Welcome to the Klavarta Empire, Commodore Sung,” said the woman with a smile. “Or should I say, the Oligarchy of New Earth.”

  “We have not heard that term before,” said Sung. “And you are?”

  “We do not allow that term to be used outside of this system,” said the woman. “We still believe it is to our advantage that the Monsters do not know who we really are, but only have contact with our surrogates. And I am the First Assistant Underdirector of, ah, Interspecies Relations, Thallia Thrann, and answer directly to Chairwoman Marion Pallion. The Chairwoman requests that you and your senior officers come down to the coordinates we are sending you. She would like to meet with you, face to face.”

  “Do you function as an ambassador, Underdirector Thrann?” asked the Exec over the com.

  “We, uh, don’t have any ambassadors,” said the woman.

  Careful, Exec, sent Sung to her ship’s second
in command. Let’s not get them to thinking we might have figured them out, whether we have or not.

  “I will be leaving my ship with my department heads in ten minutes,” said Sung to the woman on the holo. “Do you want the captains of my other ships as well?”

  “That is not necessary,” said Thrann, “at least for now. The Chairwoman just wants to actually meet you face to face, let you know something about us while we learn about you. We are very excited about meeting our brothers and sisters of Old Earth, to realize that we are not alone, not the only survivors. And we hope that we will come to an understanding that will benefit both of us in our war against the Monsters. We will see you down on the moon.”

  “And what do you call your moon?” asked Sung.

  “Why, New Earth, of course,” said the woman with a smile, just before the holo went black.

  * * *

  “They definitely appear to be human, Madame Chairwoman,” said Thallia Thrann, standing in front of the desk of Marion Pallion. The office was the largest and most ornate in the entire Council building, a befit the most powerful human in the star nation.

  “Appear to be,” said the Chairwomen in a tone that dripped doubt and suspicion. “And after thousands of years, they just happen to show up here, with a story about how they turned right when we turned left, and ended up on the other side of the Ca’cadasan Empire. How convenient.”

  “We will, of course, take samples when they arrive,” said Thrann, who really wanted these to be representatives of their long lost brethren. And they were said to have aliens among them. She did not like what her people had done to the nonhuman species in their region. She had studied history, unlike most of her people, and understood what genocide meant. If these humans could coexist with nonhumans, even make them a part of their own nation, didn’t that mean that the human species was not totally inimical to all alien life, unlike her branch? “The Klavarta vouch for their being Pure human.”

  Thrann was, of course, a Pure human, but she had yet to go through a cloning cycle. Having become intimate with the Council, and their lack of empathy for their subjects, she wasn’t sure she wanted to go through that. At only forty years old, she still had over a half century before she had to make that decision. She just hoped that impending death didn’t make up her mind for her, but she had seen how others had reacted when offered immortality. But she didn’t want to become such as the Council and most of their high ranking subordinates were.

  “And the Klavarta would have no idea how to spot a fake,” said Pallion, her hand grabbing an electronic pen and twirling it in her fingers. “I don’t want to take any chances. Those ships are to be watched closely. Any ships they launch without permission are to be captured, or, that not being possible, destroyed. I want weapons locked onto their vessels at all times. And any who come down to our world are to be escorted at all times, and the escorts are to be armed.”

  “You don’t think that will make them wonder about us?” asked Thrann. “They may leave here and tell their people to have nothing to do with us.”

  “If we are not satisfied that their intentions are positive toward us, they will not leave here,” said Pallion, her eyes narrowing.

  “And if word gets back to their Empire?”

  “How will word get back to their Empire?” asked Pallion with a laugh. “They are thirty thousand light years from their home. There is no way they can get a message back to their people. Even if they are just some kind of plant from the Monsters, they will not get back to their masters with any information about us.”

  Thrann nodded at that. It had been long rumored that the Ca’cadasans had kept some humans alive, so they could use them to spy on the humans who had escaped them, if that time ever came. Maybe that time had come.

  “What orbit did you put them in?”

  “Geosynch,” said Thrann, checking through her implant. “They are thirty-eight thousand kilometers from our surface. Even if they are big bombs, the damage to us should be minimal.”

  “And those ships are to get no closer. In fact, I might consider having them move out another couple of tens of thousands kilometers.”

  “If you wish, Madam Chairwoman.”

  “We will wait, for now, until we know more about them. But they must be scanned and disarmed before they meet with the Council. And they are to speak to no one without my permission.”

  “Yes, ma’am. As soon as we have checked them out, I will bring them to the Council building.”

  “Then get moving,” said the Chairwoman, waving the other woman away like she was a disruptive kitten.

  Thrann nodded and walked from the office, sending for her aircar as she headed for the rooftop landing pad. She didn’t like her boss, or her government. She didn’t like some of the things they had done in their long history. It had been in the name of survival. But it still was not something to be proud of, and she was sure that someday the community of intelligent species would punish them for it.

  * * *

  Sung sat in the copilot’s seat of the assault shuttle so she could see everything on the way in. Not that she couldn’t watch it from a cabin seat on a holo, or simply by closing her eyes and watching it on her own occipital lobes by implant feed. It just didn’t feel the same as sitting in the control center of the shuttle.

  Lt. JG Mohammed Samara was the pilot, probably the best aboard the Nina, and therefore the entire squadron. He was also a trained engineer, and was assigned to take a good look at any unusual technology they might come across. He was to be the eyes of Commander Ionesco, the Chief Engineer, who was also along, but would probably be busy with diplomatic tasks; just like Major Saul Briggs, Commander Saul Beoit, the chief biologist; and Commander Lee Song, the sociologist. Each also had an assistant with them, who would try to gather information.

  She had also brought two alien crewmen along. The Phlistaran Marine Platoon Sergeant Tia’lash, and a Gryphon Planetologist, Lt. Commander Hrrssai Lonlilo. She had thought for a moment before including them, but she wanted to see what the reaction would be to their presence.

  “We’re being locked on by a number of sensor platforms,” said Samara, as the small holo between them over the control board showed scans coming from a dozen satellites and another dozen based on the surface of the moon. “If I didn’t know better, I would think those are targeting systems.”

  “I do know better,” said the Commodore. “And those are targeting systems.” That thought sent a shiver down her spine, and she said a quick prayer, something she had not done in a long time. She was not all that afraid to die, but she did not want to come all this way just so some trigger happy idiot could blow them out of space.

  “We have three craft on intercept,” said Samara, switching the holo to show the shuttle’s own targeting system. “Com coming in.”

  “Alien craft,” came the voice over the com without a visual signal. “We will escort your craft to the landing site that was sent to you before you left your ship. Do not deviate from your course. Repeat, do not deviate from your programed course.”

  “Friendly bunch,” said Samara, glancing over at his Commodore and trying to keep a nonchalant expression on his face.

  He’s scared, she thought, her eyes moving automatically to a holo that was showing one of their escorts. Well, so am I. And I do believe our hosts are as well. They don’t know anything about us except what our Klavarta guides have told them.

  The craft she was looking at looked much like an Imperial orbit to atmosphere fighter craft. Such craft were much more maneuverable than the lump of a shuttle she was currently riding in. Her shuttle was probably more heavily armed than any single one of them, but they were a trio. And they had an entire world as backup.

  Moments later the shuttle started shaking a bit at it sliced into the outer atmosphere. Samara made some adjustments to the grabbers, allowing the ship’s computer more control, letting it adjust out the turbulence. The shuttle adjusted its profile, slowing, its grabbers converting iner
tia to heat, radiating it away from their red hot supermetal frames.

  Lower down it straightened out, attaining a level flight profile, curving slightly to head for the coordinates they had been ordered to. The escorts followed close, staying on the shuttle’s tail where they were in the best attack profile.

  The shuttle was looking around as it flew, its passive sensor suite sampling the entire electromagnetic spectrum and feeding it to the cockpit. Samara paid attention to making sure the shuttle stayed in the specified flight profile, something the pilot was not willing to trust to the computer alone. His Commodore studied the lay of the land, watching as the ground unrolled beneath them.

  It was a lovely world. Rolling forest over hills, great rivers transferring water from lakes and mountains to the oceans. The atmospheric analysis was showing clear air as close to Earth normal as was possible for a world that was not Earth.

  “Landing field ahead,” said Samara, breaking her out of her thoughts about the world they were flying over. “It looks to be out in the middle of nowhere.”

  Sung looked at the map holo that showed the blinking area. There were a number of small towns on that map, but none closer than a hundred kilometers to the field. The large city they thought was the capital was actually still around the horizon, several thousand kilometers away. They definitely aren’t taking any chances, she thought. I wonder why they even let us land, and didn’t just try and board our ships from a distance. She was glad they hadn’t decided on that, because she wasn’t sure what she would have done if they had. Resisting would have been a bad idea, but giving up their secrets would also have been. She would have had to resist long enough to get rid of data and some of her tech, including the wormholes. And that would cut them off from base. Unless she resisted long enough to get her people through the holes, which would also kill the mission.

  “You are cleared for landing at the designated field,” came the voice over the com. The field expanded on the central holo over the board. It looked like a standard airfield, the kind used to station a small air wing, or as a transport hub. Since it was in the middle nowhere, the latter possibility was remote.