by D. J. Holmes
“Again, that’s assuming they actually have weapons technology,” James said with a hint of exasperation. “Lieutenant Scott’s best scans of the satellite in orbit indicate that it doesn’t have any offensive or defensive weapons. Everything the Vestarians know about the Kulreans suggests they are committed pacifists. We can’t turn a blind eye to their situation. The Royal Navy has a tradition of honor and duty. We always protect the helpless; I don’t think that changes just because the helpless are a civilization of aliens we don’t even know. Our discoveries over the last few weeks suggest that there could be a whole host of alien civilizations out there. Don’t we want humans to be known as the race that will help the weak and bring freedom to the oppressed?”
“I don’t disagree with you Captain,” Ferguson said, “but I still don’t think we have the authority to make the Kulreans our problem. It must be up to the Admiralty to decide. We need to put our interests and safety first.”
“Ok,” James said in an effort to try another track. “Have you thought about what will happen when we go home? What will the Admiralty decide to do?”
“Well, I presume whatever the government will instruct them to do,” Ferguson answered.
“And how will the government decide?” James queried.
“They will likely debate it in parliament and take in public opinion,” Ferguson said.
“And the UN, will they not have their say? May they not ban individual nations from contacting the Vestarians and the Kulreans? Or maybe they will try to put together a multinational team to go and meet with the Overlord.
“How long do you think all that would take? Three months for us to get home. Another three months to debate the issues in parliament. Maybe another month or two to put together a fleet to come back to Vestar. In all it would take the Admiralty almost a year to get any ships back on station here. And if the UN got involved that could stretch to years.
“What do you think the Overlord will be doing in that time? He will conquer the Kulreans, repair his fleet and then set his sights on Haven. Even if we were to return home right now, it would take the Admiralty months to put together a fleet to protect Haven. By that time the Overlord’s fleet could be back to Vestar, repaired and well on its way to Haven.
“And don’t think he would stop there. We have more than a hundred systems that the Overlord’s fleet could attack and overwhelm with ease. His fleet could ravage our colonies before we managed to put together a fleet strong enough to counter it. And during that time he would be sitting back here in Vestar safe and sound, terrorizing his people and building another fleet.
“That is why we need to remove him from power now, while his fleet is away and we have the chance. We can then go to Kulthar and warn the Kulreans but if they don’t listen there isn’t much we can do. My plan is to return home whatever they decide. But we can’t return home with the Overlord in power commanding an operational battle fleet. If we can take out the Overlord then even if his fleet conquers Kulthar and returns to Vestar, they will find themselves without a leader.
“Don’t you see? I have no other choice. I don’t want to be the one who goes down in history as the first human to start an interstellar war. But I couldn’t live with myself if we tuck tail and run and allow the Overlord to wipe out the Kulreans or attack another human world.”
“I’m sorry Sir, but I can’t agree with this decision,” Ferguson said, not willing to look James in the eye. “I wanted to speak to you to change your mind but I see that is impossible. I therefore want to make an official record in the logbook that I do not see this plan of action as consistent with our orders from the Admiralty.”
“Very well,” James said, surprised and disappointed. He just couldn’t understand where Ferguson’s attitude was coming from. “Do I need to relieve you of your position as well Lieutenant?”
“No Sir,” Ferguson said quickly. “I still respect you and want to serve our crew. If you order me to help in this attack I will do my duty. I just want it on record that I think you are overstepping the authority your orders give you and are placing our ship in unnecessary risk.”
“You may enter your thoughts in the log then,” James said as he struggled to contain his anger. Up until his last comment James had been ok, but by implying that James’ brashness was at the expense of his crew, Ferguson had gone too far. Momentarily, he considered removing Ferguson from his position there and then. Yet the Lieutenant had a perfect record, and James was sure he could still trust the Lieutenant to do his duty, even if he disagreed. “Dismissed Lieutenant,” James said once he made up his mind.
*
Several hours later James was sitting in his command chair watching a holo display of Vestar, still considering if he had made the right decision about Ferguson.
“It’s time Sir,” Julius said, breaking into his thoughts.
“Contact the palace, request an audio link with the Overlord,” James said to the COMs officer after taking a moment to prepare himself.
“No response,” Sub Lieutenant King said.
“Tactical, target one of their satellites with the plasma cannons, destroy it,” James ordered.
“Target destroyed,” Sub Lieutenant Jackson reported.
“COMs, send the message again,” James said.
“They have responded Sir, it’s not pleasant, something about the heritage of your mother,” Sub Lieutenant King said.
“Ok Jackson, destroy them all,” James said with a feral smile.
“Engaging.”
“Captain, the Kulrean satellite is sending out a tachyon beam,” the sensors officer said.
“That’s ok Lieutenant, the more they see the better, maybe it will force them to consider defending themselves.”
“I have the Overlord on a COM channel,” King said.
“Cease firing,” James ordered, “put the Overlord on the main holo display.”
“You sniveling piece of alien vermin, how dare you attack one of my satellites. Do you not know who I am? I will destroy your ship and your entire world you puny human,” the Overlord boomed across the COM channel. Even though the aliens looked very different to humans James had no trouble telling the Overlord was extremely pissed off.
“Ah, your excellency,” James began in a pleasant tone. “I’m glad you have finally agreed to talk with me. Though I must confess, I don’t understand why you are so concerned about a few cheap satellites when my ship just destroyed two of your warships and infiltrated your secret construction yard on the edge of the system. I would have thought that was more upsetting to you. Here, let me send you the recordings of what we found hidden in the asteroid field.”
“No...” the Overlord began and then bit his tongue as he saw the information had already been transmitted.
“Sir, I’m picking up another tachyon beam from the satellite,” King informed him loud enough for the Overlord to hear over the open COM channel.
James smiled. “I think the Kulreans have been monitoring our conversation and have seen something that has caught their interest,” he said to the Overlord.
The Overlord had been looking at something off screen but when he looked back at James his eyes were smoldering with hatred. “You don’t realize what you have done. You will pay for this.”
“On the contrary, I know exactly what I have done. You and your secret fleet attacked and bombarded my people’s planet. You have now sent that same fleet to bombard and enslave the Kulreans. It is time you paid for your crimes,” James said with deadly intent.
The Overlord shocked James as he burst out laughing, “What are you going to do to me? I have the technology of the ancients protecting my palace. You can bombard my cities all you want. Those weak enough to get themselves killed can easily be replaced. They mean nothing to me. In two months my fleet will return with the technology of the Kulreans to add to that of the ancients and they will drive you from our planet. Then I will personally come and put an end to your world you puny human.”
“So be it, you threatened my world again. You leave me no other choice but to ensure you can hurt no one else. We will not see each other again but a new friend of mine will be coming to visit you real soon. You may know his name. Tak’ar.”
If the situation hadn’t been so grave James would have been tempted to burst out laughing at the change that come over the Overlord’s face. His rage was momentarily gone and in its place was a look of utter confusion. “How do you know...” the Overlord began before he cut himself off and the look of pure rage returned.
“Enough of this, do your worst you human vermin,” the Overlord shouted and cut the transmission.
James took a moment to compose himself and then opened a COM channel to Tak’ar’s base. “Did you get all you need?” he asked.
“Yes,” Jil’lal said excitedly, “Mul’li’la is recording a message to go out with the broadcast and we will also be sharing your images of the attack on Haven and the construction yard. It’s all being uploaded now and will go live in two minutes.”
“Very well, we will begin the second phase of the plan in eight hours as we arranged,” James said.
“We thank you for your help,” Jil’lal said.
“It is our pleasure. We wish to see our people protected from the threat of attack as much as you wish to see yours freed from tyranny,” James replied as he closed the COM channel.
Chapter 22 – The Omen
Today any orbital bombardment is strictly forbidden, but that wasn’t always the case.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising
2nd July, 2466 AD, HMS Endeavour, in orbit around Vestar
After returning to his quarters for a brief rest James made his way to the bridge an hour before things were meant to kick off. “Have we heard anything from Mul’li’la about how transmitting the Overlord’s conversation went?” he asked.
“Yes Sir,” Sub Lieutenant King responded. “She has reported that the Resistance is already seeing a surge in support. The Overlord’s lackeys have gone into over drive in an effort to put out their own propaganda but so far it doesn’t seem to be having any real effect.”
“Perfect,” James said taking his seat. “And Tak’ar is ready to go?”
“He is still getting his forces into position but they are on schedule,” Julius reported.
“Ok, one more hour then,” James said and brought up the operational plans to go over them again as he waited.
Exactly an hour later he looked up to see everyone on the bridge staring at him. “Julius,” he said to the Third Lieutenant who was manning the tactical station. “Begin operation Overlord.”
“Aye Sir,” Julius replied.
With a push of a button Julius powered up the flak cannons and locked them onto their targets. After the RSN had carried out a number of raids on Chinese worlds in the Void War it had become apparent that RSN ships needed a more refined weapon for bombarding planetary targets. Endeavour, like all RSN warships, was equipped with a limited supply of ground attack missiles. Almost identical to the ship killer missiles she carried, the only difference was that the nuclear warhead was replaced with a solid valstronium core. With the valstronium core added to the mass of the missile, it was capable of creating a five kiloton explosion when accelerated into a planet. The force of the explosion would destroy everything within a mile radius without the residual radiation of a nuclear missile.
The problem with the attacks on the Chinese worlds, as with many of their targets on Vestar, was that often civilian populations surrounded military targets. A valstronium tipped missile would therefore cause far too much damage.
The solution the RSN designers had come up with had been simple. A small modification to the flak cannons allowed them to fire much smaller tungsten spears at ground targets. The flak cannons were essentially electromagnetic cannons that fired explosive shells and the change in their design had only taken a few weeks to test and roll out.
Once they were powered up Julius fired the first two rounds from the flak cannons. On the ground Tak’ar was waiting near the military base that controlled the city of Zekath with a Vestarian camera recording the outcome. Everyone on the bridge saw the two rounds burst through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of fire, and impact right in the center of the military base. As soon as the rounds impacted the visual feed cut off as the light from the explosion overloaded the camera. When the feed came back up one giant fireball was slowly making its way up into the atmosphere. The camera feed was blurry and shaking as whoever was holding it was knocked about by the concussive force of the impacts. Even so, it was clear that the giant military structure that housed the garrison of Zekath was no more. Its two spires slowly toppled onto the ground and the explosions had already blown out the walls, letting the camera see into the compound. A number of the outer most buildings still stood but the vast majority of the compound had been turned to rubble.
As the initial fireball began to pull in on itself Tak’ar stood in front of the camera. “Now is the time to end the Overlord’s rule of oppression and murder,” he shouted over the din of the secondary explosions. “To freedom,” he bellowed as hefted his weapon in the air and charged towards the burning military compound.
Hundreds of resistance fighters jumped to their feet from where they had been hiding and followed Tak’ar. James knew that throughout the city other resistance cells would be carrying out simultaneous attacks on various military outposts and stations. If the majority of them proved successful, the Resistance would have liberated the first city from the Overlord’s control in two hundred years.
“They certainly know how to put on a good show,” Ferguson said from the command chair beside him.
“That they do,” James said, not sure if Ferguson was genuine or was just trying to show he was able to get on board with the operation despite his misgivings. Things had been more than a little frosty since their frank conversation a day ago.
“Alert our targets that they are next, then fire the ten ground attack missiles,” James ordered once he was satisfied they didn’t need to fire any more tungsten spears at their first target.
The ten valstronium missiles were aimed at important military facilities that were well away from civilian centers. Tak’ar had agents at two of the targets ready to record the missiles’ impacts. Everything was being sent back to Mul’li’la to be transmitted around the planet. James was going to give the ten military outposts they were targeting a chance to evacuate, if they heeded his warning they would have ten minutes to get clear.
As the missiles were fired from Endeavour’s missile tubes James looked over to Ferguson, “there is no going back now. Those missiles will crush the Overlord’s main military formations. If we do not see this through now the entire planet will collapse into a long and bloody civil war.”
“I understand Sir, I will execute my orders to the best of my ability,” Ferguson said though to James’s ears it sounded forced.
*
4th July, 2466 AD, forty kilometers from Amack, Vestar
Two days later Bell, Scott, Becket and Johnston were gathered beside one of Endeavour’s shuttles just outside one of the Resistance bases near the capital of Amack.
“Good luck ladies,” Johnston said to Bell and Scott, “I hope to see you two back here in a few hours, make sure you are both in one piece.”
“And may Lady Luck be with you,” Bell said, clapping the Major on his shoulder. “Make sure you bring back Becket to us in one piece. We both know she is good at getting herself into trouble,” she added, winking at Becket.
“It’s time to go,” Jil’lal called to Bell and Scott from where she was standing with Tak’ar.
Bell waved to acknowledge and then saluted Becket and Johnston, “Do us proud,” she said as she turned and jogged over to Jil’lal with Scott at her side.
“Happy hunting,” Bell said to Tak’ar as she passed him.
It seemed as if the Resistance leader had been everywhere over the last two days. After freeing Zekath almost
all of the main cities on the southern continent had risen up in rebellion against the Overlord. They had formed their own country before the Kulreans came and there was still a strong sense of national identity. Tak’ar had used it to his advantage. He had been tireless since he had liberated his home city. At Zekath they had captured a number of military transports intact and he had been making great use of them, transporting combatants to aid in the various uprisings. He had also personally taken over the job of directing Endeavour’s fire from the ground.
Bell was sure that whoever was commanding Endeavour’s weapons was getting worn out by Tak’ar’s constant fire orders. Their ship had been assisting almost all of the uprisings with orbital strikes from her flak cannons and even plasma cannon strikes against individual military formations. The Overlord’s military had quickly given up using their own military transports to bring in reinforcements for every time one tried to lift off plasma bolts rained down from the sky and destroyed it.