The Complete Thunder Series (Thunder In The Heavens)

by Dietmar Wehr

  As Torq left the room, several of his carrier Ship Masters fell in behind him. He was beginning to attract a loyal following among officers who now understood what was really at stake in this war and who had learned to control their battle lust as he had. His fame was spreading, and there were officers who were requesting to be posted to his growing fleet. That had not happened before, and he knew that High Command was aware of this new phenomenon. Whether that made them more or less likely to take his advice he didn’t know yet. This war was moving inexorably toward a climax. He was becoming more and more certain of that as time went on. He wished he could be as certain that at the end, his race would be the last one standing

  EAF HQ / Earth:

  “Are you people insane?” the Director of Earth Defenses asked Mirakova.

  Mirakova reminded herself to keep her expression neutral and her voice calm. Everything depended on convincing him of Cate’s plan. “I don’t believe that we are, Director. Is this plan radically different from everything we’ve tried so far? Yes, it is, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a mistake. If we were fighting any other race, I’d be the first one to say this plan is irrational, but based on everything we know about the Tyrell, this plan actually makes a lot of sense. If you’ll refer to Appendix A for the psychological profile of the Tyrell—“

  “Yes, yes. I’ve already read that, and I understand why they might actually respond as this plan predicts, but what you’re proposing is basically a huge roll of the dice. There’s no guarantee that we’d win.”

  “I’ll grant you that, but there never will be a guarantee of victory no matter what strategy we choose. There will always be risks. What we need right now, more than anything else, is time to build up our carrier forces, increase our inventory of RD3s and finally regain the initiative. This plan, if the Tyrell respond as expected, will do all of that. At the very least, it will give us breathing space.”

  She could see that the Director was having difficulty thinking of a rational counter-argument, but he was also finding it hard to agree.

  “It’s logical and well-thought out, but it’s just so damned radical,” said the Director. “How confident is Admiral Harrow that the rest of the Alliance will go along with this?”

  “That’s one of the bright spots, Director. Admiral Harrow has had informal consultations with senior military personnel of most of the member races, and the response has generally been supportive. That doesn’t necessarily mean that their political superiors will feel the same way, but at least we’ll have support from our military opposite numbers.”

  The Director sighed. “I can just see the Chancellor’s face when I propose this plan. You may think convincing me has been hard; it will be much more difficult to persuade the Chancellor to accept this plan.” He turned to speak directly to Eagleton.

  “Well, Admiral, if this plan goes ahead, you’re the one who’s going to have the fate of our entire race resting on your shoulders. How confident are you that you’ll be able to pull this off?”

  Eagleton didn’t hesitate. “About as confident as anyone could be under the circumstances, and considering that the final battle will be years away, Director. From the point of view of commanding Third Fleet, having this extra time to get ready versus scrambling to hold off the next Tyrell counter-attack and the next one after that, etc.? Well, that’s an easy choice to make. If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, sooner or later the dice will come up snake-eyes.”

  “Ha! That’s actually the best argument in favor of this plan I’ve heard so far today. That’s not to say that psych profiling and favorable combat ratios aren’t important, but the Chancellor is more likely to understand something as simple as your gambling analogy than the nuances of interstellar strategy.” He paused to gather his thoughts while Mirakova and Eagleton waited. “Okay. I’m willing to support this plan, but I may need to call on one or both of you to back me up if the Chancellor looks like he’s going to have a stroke over this.”

  Mirakova smiled. “You can count on us, Director.”

  Tyrell Home System:

  “No, no, NO!” screamed Torq. “We must not agree to this proposal! The humans would not have proposed this if they didn’t think it would benefit them more than us! We are so close! I will have ten operational carriers in less than two hundred sun-cycles! With that, I can smash these humans!” He was about to say more when he saw the Grand Master hold his hand up in the gesture that meant silence.

  “Your obvious passion for your strategy is commendable, but Fleet Masters do not raise their voices to the High Command. Remember that, Fleet Master Torq. Clearly these humans think to trap us by appealing to our own biology. The High Command is aware of that. What we are also aware of is the frustration of those tens of thousands of officers who are not in your carrier fleet. They do not like this new type of war and want very much to go back to the climatic battle. This proposal would see the biggest space battle that our race has ever fought or is ever likely to fight again. Think of it, Torq. We will have thousands of Ships-of-Battle and a hundred carriers waiting for the alien fleets when they arrive. And when we have swept those forces away, we will have the pleasure of conquering all those other races all over again! Is that not worth the trouble of pulling back from all conquered systems and waiting until the humans and their allies are ready?”

  Torq could tell that he was fighting a losing battle. Giving the humans two of their ‘years’ to build up their forces was madness, but it was obvious to him that the High Command would not be swayed from their dreams of battle glory. Damn those humans for exploiting his race’s weakness.

  “I cannot agree; however, I will accept the High Command’s decision and fight that battle to the best of my ability, Grand Master. May I proceed with plans to deploy one of my carriers in the human home system to search for the wreckage of our lost fleet?”

  “The humans have made it very clear that if we wish to have that final battle, then no Tyrell ships are to visit their system during the waiting period. If any of our ships are detected, then the agreement is gone. Therefore, you will not be given permission to conduct your reconnaissance to their home system. You are dismissed, Fleet Master.”

  Torq bowed and left the room. Outwardly he projected an image of calm, but inwardly he was boiling with anger. The recon mission had already been delayed for logistical reasons. Now that it was ready, High Command would not let it go, even though finding out how 100 Ships-of-Battle had been destroyed so quickly that none of them were able to send a message back could, and probably would, be vital information to prevent the same thing from happening in two Earth years when the humans and their allies came. He had never disobeyed an order from the High Command before, but now he would. His carriers would go on training exercises, and while they were away from the home system, one of them would sneak into the human star system and search for the wreckage. With that decision made, his anger faded, and he was actually in a good mood by the time he left the building,

  Mobile Command Ship(Open space):

  Harrow woke to the sound of the intercom buzzer. “I’m awake. What is it?”

  “Sorry to wake you, Admiral, but we’ve just received an urgent message from EAF HQ. Shall I read it to you?”

  Harrow recognized the voice as belonging to a relatively new Lieutenant who was still learning the ropes for duty in the MCS. She resisted the impulse to raise her voice. “Well, Lieutenant, I’m going to answer your question this way. Does it make sense that I would say ‘no, I don’t want you to read it to me’ after you’ve already woken me up?”

  “Ah, no, Admiral. I see your point. The message reads as follows. ‘CEO to CSPO. We have received an FTL transmission from the Odina system that says that the Tyrell have pulled out all their ships and personnel after destroying all shipbuilding assets in the system. We’re attempting to get confirmation from the Odina military command structure. While it is too early to conclusively conclude that the Tyrell have accepted our proposal, this news does ap
pear to indicate that they have. End of message.’”

  Harrow sighed. While the message was good news, it could have waited until she was awake on her own since there was nothing that she could or should do right this minute.

  “All right, Lieutenant. In future, here’s a simple rule to let you know whether you should wake me up or not. I want to hear bad news right away. Good news can wait until I wake up on my own. Got that?”

  “Yes, Admiral. I understand,” said the officer sheepishly.

  After signing off, Harrow realized very quickly that she wasn’t going back to sleep. In the message proposal to the Tyrell, pulling back from conquered systems was the pre-requisite that the EAF had insisted on, to indicate that they had agreed to the idea of halting all offensive operations for two Earth years with a final battle in the Tyrell home system to decide the war once and for all. She was convinced that using their own biological imperatives and their arrogance against them was the only way to victory even if it meant that she, as Chief Strategic Planning Officer, would soon be more or less out of a job. That was fine with her. Whatever planning would be done over the next two years was likely to be more involved with logistics and administration than the strategic movement of the Alliance’s chess pieces. Not having the imminent fate of multiple races on her shoulders anymore would be a huge relief. She hoped that would help ease some of the pain she was still experiencing from her injuries. Constantly flooding her body with stress hormones was bound to have a negative effect on recovering completely from her injuries. With a little luck, it wouldn’t be long before Mirakova would bring her back home. For now, she would have a long, hot shower, a leisurely breakfast and then start going over the dozens of reports that would undoubtedly be waiting for her.

  Chapter Eleven:

  As her ship approached the Mobile Command Ship, Ashiana took a good look at the human vessel. Its size and design were impressive. Clearly her people had severely underestimated the humans, and as the only one of her race to have spent any significant time with them, she once again had the uncomfortable duty to interact with humans in general, and with Cate Harrow in particular. How odd it was that of all the humans who could have risen to the second highest rank in their military, it was Cate Harrow who did it. Ashiana had long ago gotten over her attraction to Cate, an attraction that had begun as purely physical but then had become deeper and more emotional. The memory of those feelings was still there and hard to ignore. Coming face to face with Cate again would make it difficult for her to retain the confidence and the emotional detachment that her current mission required. And just being alive at this point in time was a surprise. When the Tyrell had once again attacked Odina, she and her people had been too busy resisting to focus on her act of treason, namely giving the humans all of Odina’s technology, against specific orders not to do so. After the Tyrell finished their conquest of her planet, her superiors decided that their order to hold back the technology might have been a mistake. Official judgement of her act was deferred until either Odina was liberated or the humans were conquered too. When the Tyrell suddenly left the system and it was discovered that the humans were the reason why, her career and life were vindicated. The records were carefully modified to show that she had in fact been carrying out orders to transfer the technology at the last possible moment. Her opinion of her superiors was already so low that the attempt to erase any record of their mistake did not shock or surprise her. And now fate had brought her and Cate together again.

  When the ship was docked, she stepped across the docking hatch threshold to find herself looking at a young human male officer. He saluted and said, “Welcome to the MCS, Commander Ashiana. Admiral Harrow has agreed to your request to meet with her. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to her office.”

  Ashiana remembered to thank the officer, as was the accepted protocol among humans. The journey to Cate’s office was short. The Mobile Command Ship was designed so that each Alliance member race had its own section that could be accessed individually by docked ships. The young officer announced Ashiana and gestured for her to step into Admiral Harrow’s office. As she did so, she saw Cate stand up and come around her desk to greet her. She was shocked by the visible evidence of Cate’s injuries. Then, since Cate clearly outranked her, Ashiana came to attention and saluted first.

  Harrow was surprised to feel apprehension as she stood up and walked around her desk. She was acutely aware of how she looked now compared to how she had looked those years ago when Ashiana had developed an infatuation for her. Did Ashiana still feel the same way? The formal salute caught her off guard, but only for a moment since it was the correct behavior. She returned the salute, and gave Ashiana a small smile.

  “I’m glad that you survived the Tyrell occupation and also that your career didn’t suffer from your selfless act of generosity. I’ve always regretted not having the chance to thank you for that. Neither of us would be here today if you hadn’t given us your technology.”

  Ashiana heard Cate’s words, but wasn’t able to respond right away. It was taking all her concentration to keep her expression from showing the flood of emotions she was feeling upon seeing how much damage Cate’s lovely body had suffered. She wanted to hug Cate and comfort her, but knew that would be completely unacceptable for both of them. With a supreme effort of will, she regained enough control to be able to speak.

  “My superiors have come to the conclusion that they didn’t really order me to withhold our technology, and so, officially at least, I was merely following my orders.”

  Harrow could tell from Ashiana’s voice that her calm exterior was hiding some strong emotions. “Then you may pass on to your superiors my official thanks for their correct action when you see them. You and I, however, know what really happened and why. That will never change. Please be seated, Commander.”

  When they were both seated, Harrow started feeling less anxious. This was, after all, her home turf; she had the higher rank. There was really no reason for her to feel nervous. “Tell me what you know about the Tyrell retreat from your star system, Commander.”

  Ashiana nodded. Cate was making it easier for her by acting professional, and she would too. “We know that humans have offered the Tyrell the chance to have one final battle in their home system, a battle in which the winner effectively will have won the entire war. We know that withdrawing from conquered systems is the sign indicating the Tyrell have accepted the proposal. What we don’t know is why they have accepted it.”

  “Yes, that is the interesting part. We learned from various sources, including talking with officials from a race called Metrone that were under Tyrell occupation for a while, that the Tyrell long for a short, climatic battle not just because they’ve gotten into the habit of experiencing those kinds of wars, but also because their own biology compels them to do so. As strange as it may sound, they experience a sensory climax that is as intense as a sexual climax, maybe even more so. We also learned that the bigger the challenge an alien race represents, the better they like it. So, we then offered them the biggest challenge of all. They withdraw from all conquered races back to their home system with the understanding that they will be attacked on a specific date that is now roughly 21 months away. The advantages to them include time to build up their defenses and the chance of engaging in a huge battle, the magnitude of which they’re unlikely to ever encounter again. And if they win, they’ll have hundreds of races to conquer all over again. We, on the other hand, get critical time. We have been able to completely destroy a Tyrell fleet consisting of 100 of their super-ships so quickly that they weren’t able to warn their home system of how they were being defeated. Unfortunately, our ability to repeat that battle plan was constrained by resource limitations. If we had not been able to get them to agree to halt hostilities, we would probably have been defeated and conquered by now. Our Alliance has— had fifteen other member races, but now that there are over a hundred liberated systems, we expect the Alliance to grow rapidly. All of them
will be encouraged to contribute ships to the final battle, but I think humans and our fifteen original Alliance members will have to carry most of the burden. Can your people rebuild an offensive capability in two years?”

  Ashiana hesitated. She had heard rumors that the Odina civilian and military leadership were contemplating a long-range plan to attempt to take as much of the Tyrell Empire under their control as possible, in effect taking the Tyrell’s place as the dominant race in this part of the galaxy. She hoped those rumors weren’t true. She would not want to be part of a war fighting against humans and against Cate. If she now told Cate that building a significant offensive capability was not a short-term goal for her people, Cate and her superiors might wonder why not.

  “My leadership is still considering various planning scenarios. Naturally, we will have some ships by the end of two Earth years, but how many and how big is a question that I can’t answer right now, Admiral.”