The Kaitian War

by Sami Salkosuo

  "Hmm." Jiao nodded. "What do you think is there?"

  "I doubt it's the enemy," said Jeffery.

  "I doubt it, too," said Jiao. "They wouldn't have bothered with anything that's down there. I checked our data on the system, but we have nothing that gives a clue. But since we are in Arash space, we might find Arash there. But tell the Marines to be very careful; even if it is the Arash, they might mistake us for the enemy."

  "Yes, ma'am" said Jeffery.

  ***

  "Nothing," said Karl, after they'd searched the lobby twice. "Absolutely nothing. The place is cleaner than our barracks."

  "Hah." Caleb laughed. "Then I know what your task is when we get back."

  "Ha ha." Karl smiled, but he wasn't sure if Caleb was joking or not.

  Smiles waned as Caleb turned serious. Silvio hadn't managed to get the bug in to the elevator car downstairs, so they had to go down blind and he didn't like it at all.

  "Thornton, Girard," he ordered, "you go down there and cut the elevator roof. Send the bug to survey the car and try to get it survey the surroundings."

  "Yes, sir," Karl said without hesitation, and started the descent with Ellen.

  When they landed on the elevator car roof, Ellen cut a small hole in the roof and sent the bug inside. After confirming it was empty, she cut a larger hole and they went in.

  "Let's pry open the door," said Karl, "just enough to get the bug in."

  Ellen nodded and together they started to open the door. It opened half a centimeter, but not yet enough for bug to get in.

  "A little more!" hissed Ellen.

  "Hey!" said Ellen when the door started to open, "don't open it!"

  "I'm not!" said Karl.

  The door opened and revealed only darkness. They realized they were expected and tried to retreat back to elevator roof, but stopped dead when several green dots marked their chests. Somebody was targeting them.

  "Uh-oh," whispered Ellen and froze.

  Karl tried to move arms toward his weapon, but was greeted with half a dozen more green dots; he quickly withdrew his arm from the weapon.

  It was silent for moment and Ellen imagined she saw movement there in the dark.

  Suddenly came a surprised yell, "Humans!" and the green dots disappeared. The darkness was lifted as the corridor outside the elevator was lit and revealed a dozen Arash soldiers. One of them approached Karl and Ellen.

  "Humans," he repeated. "This is an unexpected visit. But a welcome one. Colonel Horacio of the Auxiliary Support Regiment."

  Karl cleared his throat and saluted a superior officer. "Private Karl Thornton of the 9th Marine Brigade."

  "Private Ellen Girard of the 9th Marine Brigade." Ellen saluted.

  "Is your commanding officer there?" asked Horacio, nodding upward.

  "Yes, sir," said Karl. "Sergeant Caleb Simmons commands the squad sent here to investigate. We have a frigate in orbit, commanded by Admiral Jiao Bai."

  Horacio nodded. "Please ask your sergeant to come here. We want to come with you to your frigate," he said, and turned to say something to his people, who all left immediately.

  "We've been here ever since the attack," said Horacio. "We were coming back from a mission when we were attacked and many of my men were killed. A few managed to come back here and we've been hiding since. We know nothing about what's happened."

  "Well, sir," started Karl, "you were attacked by the Kaitians. They've invaded the Arash, Mehar, and Mopian Empires."

  Horacio's eyes widened; he hadn't expected anything like that.

  Ellen saw the surprise and said, "I'm certain the admiral will give you a full briefing of the situation."

  "Yes," said Horacio, understanding that these two soldiers couldn't know all he needed to know. "She can do that."

  They heard noise from the elevator roof as Caleb came down and saluted Horacio, "Sergeant Caleb Simmons of the 9th Marine Brigade." Horacio saluted back and introduced himself.

  "How many of you are here?" asked Caleb.

  "Thirty-four," said Horacio and added, "out of five hundred."

  Caleb nodded and contacted Silvio. "We have thirty-four Arash soldiers of the Auxiliary Support Regiment coming up and aboard. Inform the captain."

  "Yes, sir," acknowledged Silvio.

  "We can leave as soon as you're ready, sir," said Caleb. Horacio nodded and turned away to gather his own belongings before leaving the facility where he'd spent much of his career. The facility was the main base of operations and training facility of the Auxiliary Support Regiment, the elite soldiers of the Arash Empire.

  ***

  "Really?" said Jiao, after Jeffery had briefed her about what the Marines had found from the surface and that thirty-four Arash soldiers were on their way to the frigate.

  "Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery, wondering why Jiao smiled.

  "Have you not heard of the Arash Auxiliary Support Regiment?" she asked.

  Jeffery thought hard; he knew the Arash military organization, but he didn't recall anything named Auxiliary Support Regiment, a name that he was sure would've remembered.

  "No, ma'am." He shook his head. "Should I've heard?"

  "No, Jeffery," she said, "we've never even been sure if it existed before now. We've only heard rumors about it from other Coalition officers and from our own intelligence network; the Arash themselves have always been careful not to mention anything one way or another about them.

  "They are the elite of the elite, much like our Jaegers, operating in secret, doing all kinds of covert operations within their own space, in Coalition space, and beyond. Rumors say that they've been involved in more than one seemingly natural disaster in many Coalition worlds. Nothing proven, of course, but careful--and time-consuming, I might add--analysis has shown that the so-called natural disasters all had an unusually beneficial effect on Arash economy or politics, internal or external.

  "And now they're coming here." She smiled. "And did you say thirty-four out of five hundred?"

  "Yes, ma'am," answered Jeffery, "They said they were attacked on their way here. Looks like they were caught by surprise."

  "Or even ambushed by the Kaitians," she wondered.

  "But they are our allies and fighting against the common enemy, regardless of any rumors what they might've done. Arrange a barracks for them. Divide their soldiers to stay with Marines and Jaegers, but give the colonel private quarters."

  "Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery.

  "Lead the colonel here after you've shown him his quarters," she ordered. "Dismissed."

  ***

  "And here are your quarters, sir," said Jeffery, as he lead Colonel Horacio to one of the few free quarters in the ship.

  To Jeffery's surprise, the Arash had not complained at all when he showed them to barracks with the Marines and Jaegers. They had seemed almost delighted to be among the human soldiers.

  "Thank you, Commander," said Horacio, but since Jeffery didn't leave him, he asked, "Something else, Commander?"

  "Yes, sir," he said. "The Admiral wants to see you now."

  "Ah, of course," said Horacio.

  "Lead the way."

  Jeffery led him directly to Jiao's office.

  "Admiral." Horacio saluted when he entered her office.

  "Colonel." Jiao returned his salute. "Please, have a seat."

  Jeffery had hoped to hear what the colonel had to say, but Jiao dismissed him. Disappointed, he sighed.

  But then he shrugged. It was late already. He got himself a hot chocolate and walked around the ship for a while, passing several Marines and Jaegers who were showing the ship to their colleagues from the Arash Auxiliary Support Regiment.

  It was interesting name for a unit. From what Jiao had said, the soldiers there must be even more interesting. Jeffery made a note to interview some of them himself and ask the Marines and Jaegers for their comments as well. For some reason, he was certain that Jiao wouldn't tell him all that he wanted to hear.

  He had just finished his hot choc
olate as he stopped outside the observation deck. He realized that it has become his habit to visit the deck in the evenings, before going to sleep. There was something relaxing about watching the dark, empty space.

  Jeffery went in and his heart leaped. Ellen was there, too. Alone.

  She'd heard the door and turned. Her heart leaped, too.

  "Sir!" Ellen saluted.

  "At ease," said Jeffery and added without thinking, "d--Ellen"

  He coughed; he'd almost said "Dear."

  "At ease, Private," he said again, as if to compensate an error.

  The door closed behind him, but he didn't move. He looked directly at Ellen's blue eyes, drowning in them.

  Both thought that now was the time to say something, but still neither moved. Until both took a small step simultaneously, and then stopped, as if to assess the reaction of the opponent--but since the reaction appeared to be good they took further steps. After a few steps, they felt as their feet had come alive and firmly led them to their destinies.

  Jeffery and Ellen stopped at arm's reach and, without words, he kissed her. He took her hand. They went at the window to watch the dark and empty space, hand in hand.

  20

  William was standing in front of a wall in his office. The wall showed the galaxy map and the current status of the war.

  There was something happening at every moment and many unread reports blinked on the map, trying to get William's attention.

  One of the reports said that the Kaitians had pulled three of their cruisers from one of the Arash agriculture worlds and sent them in the direction of Mopian space.

  The Behemoths, the name given by the Kaitians to the Coalition super-cruisers and now adopted by the Coalition Command, had done successful raids within the Kaitian-occupied space and had slowed the Kaitian preparation of the next attack.

  "Show the major supply centers," said William to the computer, and bright dots appeared on the galaxy map.

  "Are those manufacturing worlds?" he asked.

  "Yes, Commander," said the computer. "The Kaitians have established their supply centers in the occupied manufacturing worlds."

  "Because they have the infrastructure in place already," commented William. "Which of those centers we have raided?"

  Nearly all bright dots started to blink.

  "Results?" asked William.

  "Several Kaitian ships destroyed, minor damage to manufacturing facilities," said the computer.

  "Show the nearest resource worlds to those facilities," said William, and new set of bright dots appeared on the map.

  "Draw a line between each manufacturing center and the nearest resource world. Assume that Kaitians have not built new facilities requiring new resources."

  Lines appeared on the map and William noticed that several of the resource worlds supplied more than one manufacturing world.

  "Interesting," said William. "Have we raided those resource worlds?"

  Only a few dots started to blink.

  "All right," said William, "send a note to Milton that we should increase the raids against the resource worlds. Attach this map to the message."

  "Yes, Commander," obeyed the computer.

  William stared at the map. He thought he began to see some kind of pattern on the map. "Show the borders of Kaitian-occupied space."

  "Hmm," thought William aloud. "Assume that Kaitian primary targets are manufacturing worlds, resource worlds, and home worlds. Draw a line from each potential target to nearest supply center."

  The targets within Coalition space and the lines appeared on the map. "They are too far away." William shook his head. "They are not going to launch attack from the supply centers."

  "As you say, Commander," said the computer.

  "Indeed." William smiled. "As I say. Show the most optimal systems where the Kaitians could muster before launching attacks to the shown targets."

  A number of star systems were highlighted on the map and William rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Several potential mustering systems were within Kaitian-occupied space, but one was within Miccvan space and it was the mustering point to attack nearly all the targets in the Miccvan Empire.

  "Show the most optimal mustering systems that are within Kaitian-occupied space," said William and some new systems became highlighted on the map.

  William shook his head at the new systems. "That doesn't look right. Would they really muster in the enemy-controlled space?"

  "Why not?" said a voice behind William. "That's something that you might do as well."

  William turned, startled, and yelled, "Nick! Louis! You're back!"

  Then, after a moment of disbelief, his eyes widened and started to shine. "And you're alive! You're alive!" he repeated and his eyes widened as he realized what it meant that Nick and Louis were standing in front of him.

  "We are very much alive," said Louis grinning.

  "The cloak works, William," said Nick. "It works like a dream."

  ***

  William was overwhelmed with joy. He had feared that he'd doomed Nick and Louis to their deaths, but the cloaking device had worked as expected.

  William asked about the encounter with the Strangers. As he listened Nick and Louis talking about the encounter, he was surprised to realize he himself never thought that the cloaking device would work against the Strangers. It was an uncomfortable thought, that he had willingly sent Nick and Louis to their deaths; he wondered why he had done so.

  He sighed, and shook away the thought. The undetectable cloaking device together with the cloak detector meant that William had something in his hands that no one else had. The potential was staggering and he had to keep a cool head with it.

  When Nick and Louis finished their tale, the men were silent for a long while. William mostly looked at the galaxy map on the wall showing the potential targets, potential mustering systems, and the Kaitian supply worlds. Nick and Louis also looked at the map.

  "You said," started William, "that they could do that? Use a Miccvan world as muster point?"

  "Yes," said Nick, "why not? It would be a bold move and we're watching the other potential muster points, aren't we?"

  "That's correct," answered the computer.

  "What about that one within Miccvan space? What's there?" asked Nick.

  "It's an old mining world," said the computer. "Mining was stopped 5,643 years ago. Currently, there's no known activity."

  "Send a message to Milton," ordered William. "Tell him of our suspicions that the Kaitians might use that world as a mustering point."

  "Yes, Commander," obeyed the computer.

  "Any other ideas?" asked William, and waved toward the map. "What do you see here?"

  "Probably nothing that's not already known," said Louis, "But still, to me it looks like the Kaitians are preparing for a major assault. Or, more likely, multiple major assaults. They've already conquered much of the Coalition space and they're using our resources to fuel their war engine." He walked to the map. "Look. With their attack against the Mopians, they've nearly cut the Coalition space in half. Without our battle at the Mopian home world, they might have succeeded and then the Coalition would've been cut in two with our major forces divided."

  "I wonder why they didn't attack the Ooktian Empire at the same time?" said Louis.

  "Good question," said William. "We've wondered that, too, and we think that they wanted to attack the Mopians first and use the same forces to attack the Ooktians immediately after they'd conquered the Mopians. But we surprised them at the Mopian home world, and so delayed their plans."

  "What about the Kaitian borders with Miccvan and Rg'Tkeen? Over here," said Nick, and pointed on the map.

  "Very little activity," said William. "There's only some frontier colonies there. Neither empire has expanded much there. We haven't heard of any attacks there."

  "But the colonies are still there?" asked Louis.

  "Yes," answered the computer. "The latest reports indicate no unusual activity."
<
br />   "What if the Kaitians attacked there?" Louis thought aloud. "They could advance deep inside both Miccvan and Rg'Tkeen space before any opposition."

  "And, at the same time, they could launch attacks to all the targets shown here on map," said Nick.

  "That would meant that we'd have to fight on at least four widely separated fronts," said William, “dividing our forces so that we can't sustain them. Computer, assume that it is the Kaitian plan. Assume that manufacturing is as efficient as ours and that the Kaitians are building forces to sustain attacks on four fronts. When would they be ready to launch the attacks?"

  "There are too many unknown variables to estimate," answered the computer.

  "Damn," said William. "Make a best guess and then give a report of the unknown variables. We must find out and solve the unknowns." The computer was silent for a surprisingly long while.

  "I guess the computer doesn't like to do best guesses." Louis smiled.

  "Correct," answered the computer, but gave the best guess nevertheless.

  "From weeks to years," said William and shook his head. It wasn't what he'd hoped, but the list of unknown variables was exactly what he needed.

  "Take a look at this." He showed the list to Nick and Louis.

  "That's quite a list," said Nick.

  "It is," said William, "but we must find the answers. Quickly. The more I think about it, the more I fear that this is exactly the Kaitian plan. I have a new mission for you. Find out what kind of Kaitian force is still within their own space. I'll share this list and our suspicions with the Coalition Command, but I won't tell them I sent you to Kaitian space. I will only say that I've sent scouts so they won't suspect anything when you bring me the information we need. Find out what you can but make sure you aren't seen."

  Nick and Louis nodded and went back to their corvette to start the journey back to Kaitian space. Again.

  ***

  "This sounds both unlikely and probable," said Milton when William told him his suspicions in a conference call with the Coalition Command.

  "There are too many unknowns to make any conclusions," said Laura.

  "That's why I've already have my people finding values for unknowns--I've sent scouts to find out what we can," said William.

  "We'll send them, too," said Milton. "The more we find out, the better."