by Rod Carstens
“I’m sorry, say that again please, young lady.”
“You just have to kill Askars.”
“Wouldn’t the next person in power step in and take the command?”
“No, this is Askars’s war. He planned it and it is his. If he is killed then they must return to Breon and decide who will take his place and what that new leader wants to do.”
“Son of a bitch. I never thought to ask her,” Kitmura said.
“Is there anything else that you haven’t been asked that you think is important?”
“Askars can only cement his place in their history by being in on the final kill. He must be at the forefront of the battle when they win. That is why they are coming to Sol and Earth. It is the seat of the Confederation and the government, so it is a symbol of those defiling their god-given resources. They will come here to destroy the capital of the Confederation, but most of all Askars will want to personally kill you.”
Monnetal smiled and said, “Well now, what makes me so important?”
“Sir, you are the elected head of the Confederation. Its leader. As I said you are judged by the strength of your enemy, and they feel the human is a very formidable enemy. So they capture Earth and kill you, and he’s this generation’s great leader in the eyes of his society.”
Monnetal said nothing.
“Go on,” Usiche prompted.
“Well, sir, it should tell you how they will attack Earth. They will be looking for you.”
“So you don’t think they will just destroy New York from space?”
“No, attacking Earth from space would destroy the natural resources that are theirs. But more importantly, he will want to come down and fight. He wants to kill you himself.”
“But he tried to kill me with the embedded hybrids.”
Netis frowned. “That has bothered me too. While Askars is the leader, there are always others who desire his place. Just like with humans there is infighting, plots and counterplots. If you were to be killed, then Askars could never become the great leader of his generation. If he did not kill the enemy he had chosen, even if he did win the war he would not be viewed as a truly great warrior. The only thing I can think of is that someone who desires Askars’s position managed to order the attack. It had to be someone powerful enough for the embeds to think the order came from Askars. Politics, as you call it.”
The secretary general smiled. “Well, well, these Xotoli are as ambitious as humans can be. But those embeds had to have been on Earth as long as you, given the fact they were part of my security. It couldn’t have been someone close to him thinking almost a decade in advance.”
“Yes, you are right. I thought about that, but I think what happened is they were put in place by Askars and were not to act until Askars invaded. When the invasion started, you would be rushed to a secure place and find yourself surrounded by embeds. They would then take you prisoner and wait for Askars to come and kill you. It would make it easier for him to find you and assure him his place in history. A good plan, but a rival ruined his careful planning.”
The secretary general smiled ruefully. “I know the feeling.”
Meir Fohlm cleared his throat and squirmed in his chair. He had laughed in Usiche’s and Kitmura’s faces when they first brought up their analysis to him in several previous meetings.
“If she’s right I would recommend that you become mobile. Moving the government with you. Let them chase you down. We could use the Rigel Kent wormhole and take what forces we have to protect you,” Fohlm said.
Monnetal suddenly looked annoyed. “And leave billions of men, women, and children to the Xotoli? Do I look like a fucking coward to you, Meir?”
Meir Fohlm drained of blood. He looked stunned. Usiche had never heard the secretary general talk this way to anyone before, especially not to one of his close advisors.
Monnetal turned back to Netis and said, “My dear, I hope you know just how much you have helped us today. You are a hero to the human race.”
Netis looked over at Istas, who nodded as if giving her permission to speak. “Sir, I wish to fight them. I can fight them on their terms.”
Monnetal hesitated. He had not been prepared for that request. “We will see, my dear. You are too valuable to us to have you fighting on the front lines.”
“The front lines will be outside this building,” Netis said.
Monnetal exchanged glances with Usiche and said, “I think you just found out their prime objective, and that should give you a good handle on your defense of Earth.”
“It certainly does, sir,” Usiche said.
“That will be all.”
As the others rose to leave the room, Monnetal said, “Please stay, Admiral.”
When the others were gone he looked at Usiche and said, “Is she here?”
“Yes, sir. She’s in my office.”
“How is she doing?”
“Well, it’s been quite an ordeal for her. Her whole world crumbled when Von Fleet was nationalized and she was under suspicion of cooperating with the Xotoli. Her wives and husbands have all filed for divorces. While she lost most of her money, she had other investments and by our standards she is still rich.”
“How is she emotionally?”
“If anything Kat is resilient. She’s almost her old self, believe it or not. She got her feet back under her quicker than I could have guessed.”
“Has she forgiven you for arresting her yet?”
“That is still up for discussion, but she knows I had no other choice. Sir, are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely. I need someone who knows where more bodies are buried than I do and who has a read on every politician and business type in this town.”
“With all due respect, sir. We’re going to be fighting a war outside these buildings. You have almost unlimited power now. Who do you need to finesse?”
“I know, but if I overuse my powers and ignore the process of advise and consent, then I will set a precedent for someone who has less respect for the Confederation and ambitions of becoming a dictator. No, I need someone to work House and Senate as well as the corporations. Why don’t you bring her in now?”
Once again Usiche was surprised by how many different yet important issues he was juggling at one time. This was truly a remarkable man. Usiche called her office and had Kat brought to the operations center. She looked like the old Kat Von Fleet again. She wore a simple black dress with blonde hair combed straight back with little makeup except around her eyes. She managed to look sexy and businesslike all at the same time. She also had her swagger back, even if, as Usiche suspected, it was an act. Monnetal stood when she entered the room and extended his hand.
“Good to see you again, Kat.”
“Mr. Secretary.”
“I understand you are not a traitor after all,” Monnetal said and laughed.
Usiche saw that Kat was caught off guard and she laughed out loud, her facade crumbling.
“Yes, sir. That is what they tell me. But you know us women—we can be devious.”
“Please sit down. Devious is one thing. Fooling security and intelligence is another. No, I think you are simply one of the many people associated with Von Fleet who were hurt by the actions of a very few.”
This seemed to catch Kat off guard again, something Usiche had seen rarely in all their years of friendship. Monnetal reached for a humidor on the table and said, “Mind if I smoke?”
“No, sir. As long as you don’t mind if I do,” Kat replied.
Monnetal lit his cigar and Kat lit her own cigarette after offering Usiche one. Again a simple act had released the tension in the room.
“Kat, I’ve asked you here to offer you a job.”
“Sir, I’m not sure I understand. What could I possibly do for you at this point in time?”
“What you have always done for a living. Read the landscape and help me navigate some very rough waters ahead. The War Powers Act has given me a great deal of power, but I want to u
se the existing laws and normal procedures as much as possible. I do not want to use this war as an excuse to overstep the Constitution and set precedents others could abuse in the future. With that said, if I had to I would use every power that the War Powers Act gives me. So as you can see, there is a real tightrope to walk here.”
“But, sir. I’m a Von Fleet. That name has become a curse word in the Confederation. I don’t see how I could help you with that hanging around my neck.”
“That is one of the primary reasons I want to hire you, Kat. As I said before, there are millions of honest, hardworking Von Fleet men and women scattered through out Confederation systems who had nothing to do with the actions of a few. We need Von Fleet to continue to exist in some form for the foreseeable future. Any action I take will be noticed, and by hiring you I am showing that we still need those good men and women if we are going to win this war. In fact your first assignment will be to make the media rounds explaining just that to the public. The media will naturally scream and yell, but it will get the word out.”
“Beyond that, sir, I don’t have any real power in this town anymore.”
“No, but you sure know where the rocks and shoals are, not to mention where the bodies are buried. No, Kat, I think you will make a very valuable addition to my team. Politics is a nasty and tough business and you’ve proven yourself in the big leagues of this town for a number of years. What do you say?”
Usiche watched Kat closely. She could see the light in her eyes return for the first time since the arrest. It was good to see the person she knew and loved return.
“Mr. Secretary, I need to ask for one condition.”
“Shoot.”
“I need to be able to say no to you. Tell you what I think without a filter even if it’s not something you want to hear.”
Monnetal smiled slowly. “That’s one of the job requirements. If I didn’t think you would operate that way I wouldn’t have offered you the job.”
“Then it’s a deal.”
Monnetal and Kat shook hands. Monnetal stood and said, “I have another meeting, if you will excuse me.” He turned to leave the room but paused at the door and said, “Kat, you need to find a way to forgive your friend Usiche. She was doing her duty. We all will have to do things we don’t like in the next weeks and months, and she did something that I know was difficult but that had to be done. We had to know for sure you had no involvement even peripherally in what happened. So do yourself a favor. There are very few women like our admiral in this world. You would be a fool not to understand and to lose a friendship with someone like Usiche.”
Monnetal left the room. Usiche and Kat stood facing each other, Usiche in her imposing admiral-of-the-fleet uniform and Kat in her political-operative uniform.
“I won’t apologize,” Usiche said.
“I don’t expect you to. It took me a while, but I figured out that you had to do what you did. I just didn’t know how to tell you that.”
The two exchanged a familiar smile that was as old as their friendship.
“I don’t suppose you would come over for dinner tonight so we could clear the air a little more?” Kat said.
“What time?”
And with that the two became the old friends they had always been.
Chapter 7
Asteroid Fortifications Command
Quadrant Four
Headquarters
Combat Information Center
Vesta
“Chief, have they taken any evasive actions?” Commander Tepuruan asked.
“Negative, sir. They’re coming straight at us and keeping their formation. They have all their sensors active but they have not targeted any installations.”
The Xotoli task force had stayed on the same path since it had emerged from the wormhole, the six destroyers in the lead with the three cruisers arrayed around the four troopships and finally the battleship. Their course and speed had not changed one degree. What were they up to? They had to know that the asteroid belt was fortified. It had been impossible to hide the thousands of construction workers and the materials passing through Mars, and the embedded hybrids had known much more secret information. Jakob stared at his screen. The Xotoli ships were approaching a decision point. It wouldn’t be long now before they would have to begin to take action. He watched as they crossed the light-second line.
“Sir, they just crossed the light-second line. That is 186,282 miles. Speed and course remain the same.”
“Very well, Chief.”
Jakob stared at his display. He pulled up his SOPs. It wouldn’t be long before the book said they were supposed to move from Tracking, or just monitoring, to Targeting, which called for going active on the targeting systems. As soon as they did, the Xotoli would be able to identify the locations of the systems.
“How long before they cross the Targeting line, Chief?”
“Not long but could I suggest something? I would suggest we do not use the Targeting line as our decision point. I would suggest much closer, then use the decoy targeting systems. That should get them to fire on the decoys, and then we go with our main systems.”
“How close, Chief?” Tepuruan said with a smile.
“A tenth of a light-second.”
Tepuruan smiled widely. “Great minds think alike. We’re going to let them get so close we can practically have a knife fight.”
“Eighteen thousand miles and change is close, sir, but I don’t think I want to use a pig sticker if it’s okay with you, sir.”
“Okay, if you insist. Make the announcement. Are all weapons systems ready?”
“Yes, sir, we have all green.”
Jakob changed the action line on the main display to a tenth of a light-second. Every man and woman in the room was staring at the big board. It would take the scrams only a minute to cover the distance. The rails would take thirty-two minutes, but they were to clean up the damage done by the scrams. At least that was the way it was supposed to work. The Xotoli task force approached the tenth-of-a-light-second line.
“Chief, light up the first line of decoys.”
Jakob reached over and punched the decoy sensors. They were distributed on other asteroids over thousands of miles around them. Each asteroid had been chosen for its distance from the nearest real sensor or weapons system. They were unmanned stations with the needed technology installed on the surface. He watched as the decoys went live on the main display on the wall at the front of the CIC.
When each went live, its symbol turned red. There was an immediate reaction from the Xotoli task force. They had been waiting for the first targeting system. They must have been sweating it out because immediately all the destroyers fired scrams and missiles. The scrams appeared to have the same velocity as the Confederation's. Jakob watched the time on target clock count down from a minute. There were a lot more missiles than there were targets.
“Tracking, what are the missiles locked on to?”
“Chief, they are targeting the asteroids around the decoys. I count close to fifty per decoy.”
Jakob held his breath as he watched the scrams hit the asteroids. The scrams were not big enough to destroy the asteroids, but they did a huge amount of damage. The direction and speed of the Xotoli did not change. It looked like they were going to just drive into the defenses.
“Looks like they think they can blow through us, Chief light up the second line of decoys. As soon as they fire, we will fire.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” Jakob’s heart was about to beat out of his chest. All the planning and simulations were about to be put to the test in the next minutes. His life and many others depended on their plan working.
“Light them up, Chief.”
Jakob lit up the second line of decoys. Again the Xotoli fired their scrams and missiles.
“Fire when your systems have solutions,” Tepuruan ordered.
The real sensors and weapons systems were activated as the Xotoli were firing. Targeting systems turned green as they arri
ved at firing solutions. Scrams fired first, just like the plan called for. The first salvo was twenty-five scrams targeting the destroyers and cruisers. Then the rails fired their specially designed ship-killer rounds. Each round held thousands of armored ball bearings that would be released in a predetermined pattern. The idea was the scrams would damage the ships and the thousands of ball bearings would finish the job by holing the ships in more places than could be fixed. With any luck one or both of the weapons would destroy the ships’ ability to fight and make them so much drifting space junk.
“Chief, there are power changes in all the ships. Looks like they are trying to maneuver,” said the operator monitoring the Xotoli’s power output.
“Too late,” Tepuruan said.
Jakob stared at the scrams’ on-target clock as it counted down. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
“Hit.”
“Hit.”
Jakob watched as scram after scram hit the destroyers. Each destroyer actually jerked slightly on the screen when a scram found its target. One then another slowed. Another lurched off course, skewing to the one side.
“Sir, they were hit hard.”
“Yeah, let’s see the rail-round pattern.”
Jakob switched to the rail rounds. It would be a while before they reached the Xotoli ships, but Jakob displayed the planned dispersal pattern. It showed up on the screen as tiny red dots. The pattern covered the destroyers’ positions.
“Very well, we’ll let them fly into that pattern. Scrams, with this salvo concentrate on the cruisers.”
“The cruisers and battleship are firing.”
Jakob watched as the computers quickly calculated the trajectories of the weapons fired by the Xotoli. They were all headed for the robotic weapons systems that had fired the first volley.
“Don’t wait for my order. All weapons systems fire as you have solutions. Especially those that have been targeted,” Tepuruan ordered.
The first line of scrams and rails fired again and again, as fast as new rounds could be loaded and target solutions could be computed. Jakob saw the target BSAD Three’s symbol actually disappear on the display. They must have hit their munitions compartment, because what was left was so small the sensors could not pick up the debris. A roar went up from the CIC floor.