New Empires: Conglomerate Series Book 3

by William Frisbee

  “No sir,” XO said. “I show he is still in his quarters asleep.”

  “Damn Kishi,” Bruce said. “He is off kicking Vress ass, getting another medal, and here I am playing space support for a bunch of droid grunts.”

  “We are providing a critical component of Admiral Kishi’s offensive,” XO said. “We are doing our best to liberate a key Bronkaw planet from a parasitic and dangerous foe.”

  “Yea, whatever,” Bruce said as he watched communication traffic scroll across a screen. Another Bronkaw cruiser was dipping down into the atmosphere to savage a detected Vress position. Bruce didn’t dare take the Knight that deep. The problem with larger ships is that their spine could be broken by a planet’s gravity if they went too far down into the well.

  There were plenty of other Bronkaw ships around the planet, watching the surface like hawks, waiting for a sighting of a major Vress troop concentration.

  The door slid open and a large familiar green figure came in.

  “Good morning Captain,” Gray said entering the CIC.

  “Good morning Colonel,” Bruce said, feeling slightly more comfortable talking to Gray than XO.

  “The Vress have been routed,” Gray said. “I think we should be done here in a week or two.”

  “Commander Kishi said a year,” Bruce said scowling at Gray.

  “The Commander was playing to an audience,” Gray said coming to stand near Bruce and looking over the screens. “We have millions of recon drones scouring the planet for Vress and their bio signs. My boys have rooted out and destroy any major concentrations. Vress resistance on that mud ball has been broken. Now it is just clean up.”

  Bruce nodded. The manufactories of the Knight had been working non-stop, churning out small recon drones by the hundred thousands and warbots by the hundreds. A steady stream of raw material kept coming in from Bronkaw miners to keep the Knight’s manufactories supplied.

  “I’m sorry you have had little to do,” Gray said catching Bruce’s eyes. “The Knight and Crusader have been crucial to our success.”

  “Sure,” Bruce said looking away and toward the view screen. A flight of four drone fighters from the Knight were dipping down into the atmosphere for a more precise attack run. “Just sit in orbit, bomb targets, and making bots is something that only the Knight could do.”

  “Captain,” Gray said coming to stand in front of Bruce. “I would kindly appreciate it if you did not sell yourself short. Admiral Kishi trusted you to continue in his absence. He trusted you with the lives and welfare of his friends. He trusts you to keep this system secure and if the Vress manage a counter attack, to beat the shit out of them and send them running. Right now, it is not glorious, but I know the Admiral has a great deal of respect for you and he trusts you to get the job done.”

  “What gives you the right to talk to me like that droid?” Bruce said pissed a piece of metal and plastic would talk to him like that.

  “Well meat sack,” Gray said looking down at Bruce and giving him a haughty look. “You seem to think I’m a bucket of bolts, but in so many ways I’m just like you. I can make mistakes, learn and forget. I am shaped by my experiences, just like you. Just because I didn’t pop out of a female after exchanging body fluids with a male doesn’t mean I’m not sentient. Now you can sit here all high and mighty in your throne room and look down on the likes of me, but never forget that it is the likes of me that gives you the ability to sit on your pretty little throne and give orders instead of scrubbing the deck.”

  Bruce stared at Gray without a clue of what to say or how to respond.

  “You should close your mouth,” Gray said, nonchalantly. “You are going to draw flies.”

  Bruce laughed, and Gray grinned.

  “When will droids replace humans?” Bruce asked when he stopped laughing.

  “Never,” Gray said, losing his smile. “That’s not what we are here for.”

  Bruce raised an eyebrow and Gray crossed his arm as he looked back at the displays.

  “Humans are too random,” Gray said. “Droids cannot match a human’s childhood experience or core creativity. We are born, if you will, as fully sentient, we learn but one thing the large majority of droids lack is creativity. You will never find droid artists, song writers or dreamers. That is not who we are. We can learn to sing, play instruments and draw, but we can only emulate, not create. Sometimes we can fake it, but in truth? Creativity is just not who we are. We need a purpose in life and oddly, it is humans that give us that.”

  Bruce nodded and remained silent.

  “Why are you so different than XO?” Bruce asked.

  “Because Admiral Kishi treats me differently,” Gray said. “He expects other behaviors and reactions from me. He imprints his droids with a name, and indirectly, a personality goal. We seek to satisfy our possessor and that means trying to understand and fill certain roles and niches. You gave XO the role of Executive Officer, nothing else. He will do his best to fulfill that role but that is all he will ever know or seek to understand.”

  “He?” Bruce asked and Gray shrugged as he looked at the white featureless droid.

  “Doesn’t look like a she,” Gray said with a glance at XO who was ignoring them both.

  “How can droids be a he or she?” Bruce said, a frown returning.

  Gray smiled. “Technically, we can’t. But gender is also a social construct within human society. For some people, it matters and shades their interaction and behavior patterns.”

  Bruce nodded.

  “I’m surprised Luke didn’t surround himself with good looking female droids,” Bruce said.

  Gray laughed. “The Admiral is too old school. It is against his nature to strike at, fight with, or otherwise abuse women. Men will take his abuse and give it right back, he expects and demands it.”

  “Captain?” XO said, interrupting Gray.

  “Go XO,” Bruce said turning his attention to the screens. They were focusing in on the wormhole from Irtindu, a formation of ships was entering the system.

  “They do not appear to be Bronkawan,” XO said. “Or human, and are not broadcasting any friendly codes. I am still collecting information on sizes and numbers, but I’m reading at least two battleships in the five thousand gravon range.”

  Currently, Irtindu wormhole was six days away if Bruce wanted to suffer high gravity acceleration/deceleration.

  “Shit,” Bruce said. “Get more data.”

  “Looks like you aren’t going to be bored much longer,” Gray said. “I will recall a company for ship defense.”

  Bruce nodded, watching the numbers come in.

  “Looks like they are setting a course for Bronkaw Prime,” XO said. “I’m reading a lot of frigates, maybe a hundred, more are still coming in.”

  “They will try to break the mine field,” Bruce said. That was too many ships. “Damn.”

  “Incoming message from the Bronkaw Battleship Closed Fist Six,” XO said. “It is Fleet Leader Tkral.”

  “On screen,” Bruce said and the Bronkaw officer appeared. It took an effort to remember that Tkral was twice Bruce’s height since he appeared normal sized on the screen.

  “Honored Admiral Simmons,” Tkral said in the meaty chainsaw language of the Bronkaw. “As you have noticed there are intruders. What do you suggest our response should be?”

  Bruce contemplated correcting Tkral on the fact that Bruce was not an Admiral and discarded it. The Bronkaw had three battleships in system, massive ninety-seven hundred gravon monsters, almost twice the size of the intruder’s battleships. There were also six Bronkaw cruisers which them, considered light battleships by Conglomerate standards. Fifteen battleships had been detected so far, with around twenty destroyers and over two hundred frigates. The intruders had the advantage in gravons at the capital ship level alone. With the numerous support vessels the odds were stacked against Bruce and the Bronkaw.

  “They intend to shatter the missile fields at Bronkaw Prime,” Bruce said looking at the
numbers. “And then I would wager they plan to attack the Nalee shipyards.”

  Tkral nodded and blinked at Bruce, waiting for the human to continue. The Bronkaw had likely already deduced that as well if they were paying attention.

  The enemy fleet reached speeds the Bronkaw could not manage.

  “I don’t think they are Vress though,” Bruce said, but he couldn’t say why. “I suggest we retreat to the wormhole. We can then engage them and do our best to smash their frigates, then retreat. The minefield can hold the capital ships but frigates in those numbers will chew up that mine field and open a corridor for the capital ships.”

  Trkal nodded, “the invaders will take heavy casualties among the frigates.”

  Bruce nodded, “but if they don’t destroy the Nalee ship yards, they will lose the war.”

  Tkral nodded, “I believe the forces in Bronkaw Prime will defeat this force. Even if they break through the mine field. If we join them, we will increase their chances.”

  “You assume this is the only force,” Bruce said. “Once we lose the missile field, it will be difficult to recreate and if there are follow on forces, the balance could be tipped in their favor.”

  “There is wisdom in your words,” Tkral said. “But if we engage them here, then we will die.”

  “We may inflict severe damage,” Bruce said. “They will not be able to attack through the minefield.”

  Tkral nodded.

  “You are in command,” Tkral said. “The Bronkaw will follow your orders and we will die well.”

  Bruce nodded. They had demonstrated that plenty of times fighting the Vress. Bruce knew about their fight to the death attitude.

  “Get me an intercept before they reach the wormhole,” Bruce said to XO. “I want to meet them four hours out from the wormhole if we can.”

  “Aye, aye Captain,” XO said.

  “Dammit,” Bruce said as the enemy battleships moved forward of the frigate formations. The destroyers moved forward to support the battleships, they would try and crush the Bronkaw forces with the sledgehammers of their battleships and save the frigates for the invasion of Bronkaw Prime. They were still a day away but their tactics were obvious, and if Bruce were honest, exactly what he would have done if he were commanding their fleet.

  “The ships appear to be basic Broma design,” XO said. “The battleships are launching drone fighters.”

  “Double dammit,” Bruce said. The Knight was the only vessel that had fighters since the Bronkaw did not see a need for them in their order of battle. The Bronkaw also did not believe in frigates or destroyers for support and preferred to use large numbers of point defense turrets instead, which made sense but Bruce had eight automated frigates and seventy-two starfighters besides the Crusader.

  When the battleships were done launching their fighters Bruce swore again. Over two hundred fighters were moving into formation, besides the destroyers that was a very impressive missile screen.

  “Looks like you might get your paint scratched,” Gray said, standing next to Bruce.

  “If we are lucky,” Bruce muttered.

  “What is the plan Captain?” Erica asked. Her presence a hologram fed to Bruce’s InnerBuddy.

  “The frigates are the biggest threat,” Bruce said. “If enough of them survive, they will decimate the minefield.”

  “Why don’t you think the Bronkaw can beat them in Prime?” Erica asked.

  “Because they will sacrifice all those frigate crews,” Bruce said. “That makes me think they will also be willing to sacrifice anything else. It also makes me think these guys are not alone and more are coming.”

  “So, the plan?” Erica asked.

  “Balls to the wall,” Bruce said. “Full speed, punch through the battleship line and attack the frigates.”

  “Do you think they are that much of a danger?” Erica asked.

  “Don’t you?” Bruce replied. “I’m sending a drone through to warn the Grand Marshall telling him to expect attacks from other wormholes.”

  “So how are we going to do this,” Erica asked.

  “You can match my acceleration,” Bruce said. “We have to stop this fleet and I will use every method available, even if it costs us our lives.”

  “You sound like Admiral Kishi,” Erica said ruefully.

  “We are fleet officers,” Bruce said. “That’s what we do. We aren’t mercenaries anymore and we don’t always have the choice of fighting a winning battle.”

  “To be honest,” Erica said softly. “This is the way I prefer it.”

  Bruce nodded. Even when he had fought against the Caliphate for the Jupiter Alliance he had never been in a battle that involved this many ships, or ships this large. Bruce wondered if Admiral Kishi would sacrifice his allies in a cold-blooded maneuver like Bruce was about to do, and he wondered if the Bronkaw Grand Marshall would forgive him. Is that why Topa Suresh preferred Luke? Because Luke wouldn’t sacrifice others like this?

  Was it too late to cancel his plans and come up with some new ones that didn’t cost the lives of allies? What other options were there? What would Luke do?

  Bruce swore to himself. This wasn’t the right plan, but he couldn’t think of anything else that might work.

  The Bronkaw were accelerating as fast as they could while the Knight, Crusader and two frigates held station near the wormhole, looking like they were preparing to escape. The invader capital ships and destroyer escorts decreased speed so they could engage the Bronkaw battleships and maneuver more easily.

  Bruce stared at the projections. The Bronkaw pushed their speed up view screen causing the invaders to increase their deceleration more. The invaders plan looked simple. Slow down as much as they can, savage the Bronkaw as they came through their formation and then give pursuit. It would be a slaughter and Bruce felt sick watching Tkral push his ships and crews. The Bronkaw were not used to higher gravity maneuvers, their home world was a lighter gravity and Bruce knew he was watching Bronkaw die as Tkral pushed the ships as hard as he could.

  “That glorious bastard,” Bruce said. The Bronkaw ships spat out missiles although it was at extreme range for them. Bruce felt sick watching the Bronkaw dying. This was his plan, and it had been designed to hurt the invaders as much as possible, but would the cost in lives be worth it?

  “Picking up encrypted traffic,” Intel reported from his station. Bruce glanced over at the white droid and nodded before turning back to the dying Bronkaw. “Looks like Tonkan. My guess would be this fleet is from the Tonkan Military Directorate.”

  Bruce nodded. They had clashed before in the dark systems.

  The counter on the view screen reached zero and Bruce took his seat.

  “Secure for high gravity maneuvers,” Bruce said. “Accelerate as planned.”

  “Aye, aye,” XO said. “All stations secured for high gravity maneuvers. Beginning acceleration.”

  Bruce felt it as he struggled to breath and was pushed deeper into his chair.

  “Crusader and Frigates in formation,” XO said. “Good acceleration.”

  Bruce glanced at the screen. He knew if his InnerBuddy wasn’t working everything would be blurry. It would be several minutes before the Tonkan invaders saw Bruce’s small fleet accelerating at an angle where they could go around the capital ships and fall upon the squadrons of frigates. Tkral’s suicidal attack would buy Bruce the time he needed to get around the enemy capital ships and savage the frigates. He would have to make it worth the cost in Bronkawan lives. That would mean the hardest most difficult acceleration possible so the frigates didn’t escape Bruce’s vengeance.

  The Bronkawan ships were destroyed or crippled but they had given a good accounting of themselves. Four of the Tonkan battleships were destroyed, and six were severely damaged. None had escaped unscathed. The destroyers had taken the brunt of the attack though and only eight of them remained, all damaged. It was small consolation that the Tonkan capital ships didn’t stay to finish the job because they were forced to turn to p
ursue Bruce’s ships.

  Every muscle ached and breathing was a labored, torturous exercise as the Knight decelerated to engage the fleeing frigates.

  The frigates were attempting to scatter but Bruce had been launching missiles since he came in range. The fighters had been launched as well. There were several waves of incoming missiles but they were smaller frigate sized anti-ship missiles, dangerous, but only in large numbers. Four of the automated frigates had moved forward and would savage the incoming missiles. Two squadrons of drone fighters would also be held back to protect the Crusader and Knight while the rest went hunting. The secondary plasma lances fired, laying down patterns to catch frigates. They would get more accurate as targeting data became more accurate, and the range decreased.

  The surviving Tonkan capital ships were doing their best to turn and accelerate back toward their frigates but they wouldn’t make it and Bruce felt like a wolf among sheep.

  With the Crusader tucked in tight behind the Knight, Bruce’s ships plowed into the enemy, scattering the frigates even more. Bruce’s fighters swept through the disorganized formations, missiles poured out of the bays as fast as they could be launched and the turreted plasma lances fired non-stop while the point defense turrets swiftly eliminated any missiles the frigates launched.

  Like a fox in the hen house Bruce’s ships chased after the largest concentrations of frigates, reducing them to hot plasma and scrap metal.

  Missiles still made it through the defensive fighters, frigates, and point defenses, but they were few and none of the shots were lucky.

  “It looks like Closed Fist Six survived,” Halsey reported. “Severe damage though. Three other cruisers are also limping back to the wormhole, they look bad.”

  Bruce nodded.

  “Wish them luck, commend them on their bravery and tell them the fight is now ours,” Bruce said. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” XO said.