Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering

by Gibson Michaels

  The new translator device had been an unqualified success. Raan ordered the engineering-masters on the planet’s surface to begin churning out more of them, while the engineering-masters on the station concentrated on development of a miniaturized version of the device. Drix and Raan had many extensive meetings about everything Drix discovered during his conversation with the former Trakaan chief planetary administrator. Raan was so intrigued by everything Drix learned from the old Trakaan, he personally accompanied Drix to the planet’s surface for a second interview with Fraznal.

  Tzal’s warfleet returned from its intelligence-gathering mission, which had also been a resounding success. Tzal’s fleet discovered the location of 12 more human planets, and verified the existence of what were believed to be fast-moving passenger and priority freight vessels. They did indeed travel at almost 25 times the speed of a Rak warship... over 16 times as fast as Rak scout-ships. Now that they knew for a fact such a thing was possible, Raan assigned most of those engineering-masters not working on the translator project to developing theories about how such a vessel might be built. He also dispatched a scout vessel with a complete report to Supreme-Master Xior, so that he could get the imperial engineering-masters working on these projects as well.

  Fraznal confirmed these additional twelve planets Tzal had discovered were indeed human colony worlds, but refused on ethical grounds to volunteer any additional information concerning other human worlds, not yet discovered by the Raknii on their own. Neither Drix nor Raan pressed the issue, as they needed to retain Fraznal’s goodwill and cooperation. They also noted his example of ethics, as they were both still struggling to fully understand such an alien concept.

  Fraznal agreed to accompany Drix on his peace mission to the Trakaan home world of Traka, where the great Raknii catastrophe known as Jarp’s Folly had occurred two cycles earlier. Tzal’s entire fleet would accompany them, approaching from 87.5° below the plane of the elliptic and emerging back into normal space approximately one light-hour out from the planet. Fraznal had also agreed to make initial contact with the Trakaan defenders, in order to make arrangements for a face-to-face “peace conference” before either side began hostilities. Communication apparatus was tested to ensure both Trakaan and Raknii vocal communication frequencies could be successfully sent and received from a considerable distance.

  Raan found himself wishing that there were ten of Fraznal, as there were many ideas he wished to try out that he believed might streamline planetary administration. There just might be something to this “cooperation” with prey thing, after all.

  Chapter-30

  Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. -- Abraham Lincoln

  January, 3861

  It came as no surprise to anyone in the South when Missip, Floda, Bama, Joja and Lusia all ratified Ordinances of Secession of their own, and followed Socar out of the Union. In spite of the previous precedent, the North reeled from each secession, like a hammer blow upside the head. It was odd how no one in the North seemed to be able to bring themselves to really believe such a thing could happen. Of course, the media had downplayed the growing crisis in the South for years, so it wasn’t any real wonder the average Northern citizen was stunned by each successive announcement. Congress tried to draw attention away from the secessions, by admitting the territorial planet Ansas to the Union, but there was little celebration of it, except on Ansas itself.

  One by one, the congressional delegations from all five of these Southern planets resigned from congress and returned home. Just as he had with Socar, President Buchwald stuck it in the Consortium’s eye, as he recognized the independence and sovereignty of each one in succession and withdrew the Alliance Fleet from their space, dispersing it to Ginia, Nocar, Tensee and Arka.

  Thousands of Fleet officers having roots on the seceded planets resigned their commissions and returned home. Tens of thousands of enlisted ratings mysteriously just disappeared.

  Over the course of January, the stock market never got a chance to recover from the previous shock before the next blow fell. In any other days, what happened to the market would have been called a crash, but the Consortium-controlled Northern media invented a plethora of less alarming invectives to describe the financial chaos which followed the loss of so much territory in so short a period of time.

  Naturally, Congress was in an uproar and repetitively threatened to impeach Buchwald, but with less than two months remaining in his term of office, everyone knew it was all just political rhetoric. There just wasn’t sufficient time remaining for impeachment hearings, so the North would just have to grin and bear it until the new administration took over when President-Elect Pierre Marrot was inaugurated as the 16th president in March.

  In all the commotion, no one noticed when Senator Lincoln Collier, of Ginia, left Waston for parts unknown.

  The Planet Bama, The City of Gomery

  February, 3861

  In February 3861, the former congressional representatives from the six seceded planets met in Gomery, Bama to form a constitutional convention, which announced the establishment of a new interstellar nation called the Confederate Stellar Accord and declared itself the provisional congress. They fervently hoped for a peaceful separation from the North, as they did not consider their secession to have been at all illegal. They sent a new constitution to the Confederate planets for ratification, which was remarkably similar to the Alliance Constitution, often a word-for-word duplication. Notable changes included an executive with a single six-year term, a presidential line-item veto, a role for cabinet officials in congressional debates and strengthened language clearly delineating the power and responsibilities of the national government, and those powers reserved for the individual sovereign planets that comprised the new Confederacy.

  Although Ginia had not yet seceded from the Alliance, Ginia Senator Lincoln Collier was unanimously proclaimed as president of the new Confederacy, who took both his oath of allegiance and his oath of office before the assembled congress. The constitutional convention also authorized the formation of a Confederate Fleet for defense of the infant nation. Little did they know just how well prepared their newly birthed “paper” Fleet really was.

  Representatives from the government of Sextus, who were present to witness the historical event, stunned the assembled Southern representatives when they announced Sextus had already minted and would soon be delivering an enormous amount of Confederate currency based on a gold standard, and that Sextus had provided the fledgling nation with a zero-interest, 250-year long-term loan totaling over 100,000 tons of gold… equivalent to $37.5 trillion Alliance dollars, or $2.5 trillion of the new Confederate dollars. Alliance dollars were to be converted to Confederate dollars at a rate of 15:1, and the former turned over to Sextus after collection. From birth, the Confederacy had one of the most valuable, and soon to be coveted currencies in human space.

  One of the first laws passed by the new Confederate Congress was the immediate nationalization of all corporate holdings owned by Northern interests and the deportation of all Northern citizens unwilling to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Their new president signed the bill into law, right there on the congressional floor.

  Alliance Press (AP): Waston – News Flash! (02/23/60)

  Alliance Recognizes the Confederate Stellar Accord! — President James Buchwald formally recognized the newly formed Confederacy as an independent, sovereign nation today.

  President-Elect Pierre Marrot denounced the recognition saying, “These six planets calling themselves the Confederacy are in a state of insurrection against the United Stellar Alliance. Any so-called ‘recognition’ extended by this lame-duck president is totally invalid.”

  Mystic Station Confederate Fleet Port Facility, Helix Nebula

  February, 3861

  Fleet transports continued to pour in, many now carrying officers an
d men recently with the Alliance Fleet who would now be assigned throughout the Confederate Fleet as new crews for the warships and support vessels berthed at Mystic. Thousands of the new gray and black uniforms of the Confederate Fleet were distributed. The internal storage bays at Mystic Port Facility bulged with consumables and spare parts, even after all of the ships had been fully loaded to their maximum capacity. Hundreds of sealed containers were anchored to external hard-points around the periphery of the station, full of missiles of all sizes, waiting to resupply the Fleet with expendable munitions, as necessary. There could be no doubt the Green Star was preparing for war.

  Rear Admiral Benjamin Stillman had been relieved as Commanding Officer of the Mystic Port Facility by new Confederate Rear Admiral Donald Brainard, who had undoubtedly been the best paper-shuffler in the Alliance Fleet. The man had a true gift for accounting, organization and asset management, and Stillman had been only too happy to relinquish command of the station into Don’s capable hands.

  Fleet Admiral Roger Kalis had recently arrived at the station as the senior ranking member of the Confederate Fleet, just as he had been in the Alliance Fleet. Kalis’ stars and wreath collar insignia of rank looked similar to all Confederate flag officers, except the center star was twice the size of two outer ones and when combined with the buttons on his double-breasted tunic arranged in groups of four, represented his old five-star rank in the Alliance Fleet.

  The warships brought in from Haven were divided up into two separate fleets, with Kalis assuming personal command of the Confederate 1st Fleet. Stillman’s friend and mentor, Christopher Rawley, was a full admiral now and had been placed in command of the Confederate 2nd Fleet, to which Stillman was assigned as the Commanding Officer of Task Force-21. Both 1st and 2nd Fleets were composed of three task forces, each containing one attack carrier, two light carriers, two battlecruisers, two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, five frigates and eight destroyers. It was heady stuff for Stillman to have gone from commanding a single antiquated old destroyer to suddenly find himself in command of an entire task force — a billet a vice admiral should be filling by rights. Stillman was the only rear admiral commanding a task force, but as his friend Chris had reminded him, as the first official flag officer in the Confederate Fleet, he was definitely the most senior rear admiral in the Fleet, even if it was only by a few months. Obviously, Chris had positioned him to obtain a vice admiralty, as early as possible. The concept made his head spin.

  As the first flag officer in the Fleet, Rawley had given Ben first choice of the attack carriers as his flagship and he’d chosen the oldest one without hesitation: the CSS Independence. Not only would the name be a constant reminder of what he’d re-upped to fight for, but he liked young Capt. Rich Bonhoeffer, who had been confirmed as permanent captain of the Independence a couple of months ago. The two light barriers CSS Wasp and CSS Hornet rounded out the carrier contingent of Task Force-21, providing it with a total of 230 state-of-the-art Raptor and Demon fighters.

  “Now hear this… now hear this…” came over the station’s loud speakers. “All flag officers from Fleets 1 and 2, please report to the station’s main briefing room. All flag officers from Fleets 1 and 2, please report to the station’s main briefing room.”

  Ben turned and headed toward the briefing room. I guess this is it. Deployment at last. Rumors had been rampant the last couple of days as last minute details of outfitting the fleets had become frantic in their pace. Within 20 minutes all five flag officers awaited Fleet-Admiral Kalis in the briefing room. Finally, 30 minutes after the announcement, Kalis entered the room and everyone jumped to attention.

  “At ease, gentlemen… and lady.” Kalis nodded, with a smile to Vice Admiral Eileen Thorn, commanding officer of Task Force-11. “As you may have guessed, we will be deploying in defense of all six planets of the Confederacy. Departures will commence beginning with Task Force-10, tomorrow at 0600. All task forces will depart hourly in task force order, assigned by distance to destination. The following is the list of task force destinations: Task Force-10: Lusia — Task Force-11: Bama — Task Force-12: Missip — Task Force-20: Joja — Task Force-21: Socar — Task Force-22: Floda.”

  Socar…YES! Looks like Chris will be going home to Joja, too. Wonder where Vice Admiral Kent is from? Too weird if he was from Floda.

  “Confederate Intelligence believes after Marrot’s inauguration, it’ll take the Yankees several weeks of appointing cabinet members and getting the foundation for an entirely new administration established, before they get around to worrying about dragging us back into the Union, kicking and screaming.” Kalis received a soft chuckle of appreciation from the assembled flag officers.

  Confederate Intelligence? I didn’t know we had an Intelligence wing yet. Somebody has really been on the ball getting all this set up ahead of time. Thank you God, for whoever they are.

  “Confederate Intelligence also believes when the Yankees finally do get around to ordering their Fleet to seize Confederate planets, their original attack orders will be issued to those units still deployed in Southern ports. Just as the Yankees are unaware of us, they are also unaware the vast majority of those ships are now manned by primarily Southern crews. Confederate Intelligence expects the vast majority will refuse to execute those attack orders. It is also believed many of those ships will mutiny and throw in their lot with the Confederacy, when push finally comes to shove.

  “This dispersal of our ships is to provide initial defense of Confederate planets, in the event developments do not play out as expected. If and when Confederate Intelligence receives word of an impending Unionist attack, you may expect to receive new orders to provide reinforcements to the units defending the target site. Our task forces are designed to provide each with sufficient firepower to mount an effective defense against whatever the Yankees throw at us, at least long enough for the cavalry to arrive.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, the Alliance Fleet is still very much larger than our own. At best, we’re going to be outnumbered 2:1 on a strategic level. We hope that good intelligence will enable us to fight at more even odds on a tactical level, but we can never forget we are outnumbered and outgunned. In a protracted war of attrition, we simply do not have the industrial base to replenish our losses to match that of the North. Therefore international public and political opinion and possibly even future military assistance from the international community is absolutely essential to the long-term survival of the Confederacy.

  “I cannot stress strongly enough — we cannot be seen as the aggressor here! Even if we have to willingly sustain military or even civilian casualties, it is absolutely essential the Yankees fire the first shot… a documented, first shot. We do not fire our weapons first, under any circumstance. If there’s to be a war, lets make damned sure they start it. Do I make myself perfectly clear on that point?” All around the room, heads nodded in acknowledgement of the admiral’s orders.

  “Good,” Kalis continued. “Look, none of us wants a war with the Alliance. Military officers do not start wars. Politicians start wars the military is expected to fight and win. All we Southerners ask is for those people to just leave us alone. We desire peace no matter what the sacrifice, save honor and freedom. In independence, we seek no conquest nor concession of any kind from any of the planets with which we have lately been associated, other than they leave us alone and not attempt our subjugation by force of arms. But, as their new president has already made clear his belligerent attitude towards us, and his pretensions of legal authority over us, we must be prepared to fight a war against those people, whether we want to, or not. We will never submit to armed subjugation, which we will, and must, resist to the utmost dire extremity.

  “We have all foreseen this tragedy coming and we have endeavored to prepare for it. We have provided you with the best equipment, weapons and crews we possibly could, with the time and resources available to us. I consider it a miracle we have accomplished as much as we have. I’m sure it’ll come as a
bit of a shock to the Yankees in the early going.”

  Another soft chuckle sounded as each flag officer envisioned the enemy’s realization of exactly what was arrayed against them, and the shock when identification of those Confederate ships was confirmed.

  “But we won’t catch them with their pants down very often, after all of our rabbits are out of the hat. Hopefully we can fight them fairly even-up in the early going, but over time they’ll put that massive industrial complex of theirs to good use and the Consortium will make another mountain of money doing it. They’ll gear up and man-up and try to overpower us by sheer numbers.

  “I won’t try to bullshit any of you — we will be in a desperate fight for survival, but the news is not all bad. While we’re out on the front lines doing our duty, I can assure you the folks back home will not be sitting idle. I can’t go into detail right now, but rest assured that we’re actively engaged in breeding more rabbits.

  “You will all find detailed orders pertaining to your individual assignments loaded into your flagship computers. Forward all pertinent orders by tight-beam encrypted laser to the remainder of your task forces before entering tachyon space, so your ship commanders can study them en route. You’ll all need to engage in grueling shipboard training regimens and computerized war games,” Kalis continued, “until these crews, so recently thrown together, learn to function as a totally homogenized team — a well-oiled machine.

  “You are our best and brightest. When the time comes, fight smarter, not harder and God willing, we’ll whip these people and keep on whipping them until they stop attacking us... until they recognize they can never, and will never subdue us, so help us God.”

  “So help us, God!” chorused the flag officers facing Kalis.

  On his way to the shuttle that would take him out to the Independence, Ben Stillman walked by a cordoned off area in a large spacecraft hanger where he got just a flash impression of what appeared to be the strangest starship he’d ever seen. Weird… kinda hard to see, but it sorta looked like something you’d end up with if a spaceplane fucked a destroyer. Crewmen were struggling to get the ship covered with a tarpaulin the size of a circus tent. Intrigued, Stillman veered toward the strange craft to try to get a better look, but was immediately stopped by two large Fleet Police ratings: