by T S Paul
~~~~
Watching from the security system Wilson smiled to himself. With the jamming off he could get the word out about the massive fleet. Too bad about the city and all its inhabitants. Wilson was unable to help them without giving himself away.
Chapter 4
“Athena, we have a problem...”
I always worry when Wilson uses that tone.
“What’s going on?” I spoke that aloud. My secretary, used to me talking to myself, ignored me.
“A massive Earth fleet by-passed Mars and dropped into Empire space.”
“What? Tell me you're kidding Wilson.”
“No, I’m not. The Cabal welcomed them with open arms.”
“I’ll bet they did! How many ships are we talking about?” This could tip the scales in their favor in a major way!
“That is not really the problem. But the count is around nine-hundred or so.”
“What is happening that is worse than nine-hundred ships?!”
“This explanation is rather long. Can we call Amalie and maybe her council? I really only want to explain this once.”
I nodded. I could understand that. “OK, I’ll contact her. Can you summarise for me?”
He did one better: he sent me vid images. What I saw made me sit up in shock. Using my command voice I ordered my people to bring the aircar around and contact Martian security. We were moving now!
~~~~~
Amalie missed having Gaston around to arrange things. Chevalier d'Eon, his replacement, wasn’t completely keyed into her mannerisms yet. Of course that was when he was Chevalier. Today he was Molly. Such confusion...
“Molly, did Athena say why she needed to meet with us?”
The effeminate turned from the obvious conversation she was having with the commerce minister and replied. “No Primus. She said it was concerning the Earth Empire and was dire news.”
“I see. Thank you Molly.” Amalie looked down at the CATT at her feet. It was curled up on the carpet pretending to sleep.
“Bellona? Do you know what is going on?”
The CATT jumped up onto the table with a thump. The ministers and advisers all jumped at the sudden noise and vibration the landing caused. CATTs were heavier than they looked.
“She has gotten a report from inside the Earth Empire.” Amalie was still not used to having a talking cat in her service.
The CATT which resembled a rare Egyptian breed sat still on the desk. Its voice could be heard from the small speaker around its neck. “The news is most urgent and far reaching.”
“Bellona, can you tell me what’s happening?”
“Not really. That order, by the way, came from the Progenitor. It’s his story to tell. Prepare yourselves. This is not good news.”
“That sounds a bit ominous, Bellona. No hints?” The Catt assumed a typical cat pose of sitting on its feet and staring off into space through half-opened eyes.
Amalie looked at the members of her council and stated. “Cats!”
They all laughed at the joke. At that moment the door to the room opened and Ambassador Athena Lee entered the room.
~~~~
As I took my seat next to my great grandmother I addressed the group. “Thank you for waiting. Wilson has news, and it’s not pleasant.” The vid screen at the end of the table came to life. Wilson in his standard cowboy persona appeared.
“Howdy. Seriously, thank you for meeting with me. A few hours ago a massive Earth fleet jumped into Empire space and appeared around Capital planet.” The councilors began to stir and the murmur in the room increased. Amalie looked shocked.
“What? How big is their fleet?”
“The fleet itself is over nine-hundred ships. That is not the only reason I asked to speak. It concerns the Cabalist government.”
“Miguel must have loved that! He must be falling all over himself trying to kiss their feet!” Amalie looked angry.
“Primus, calm yourself. You are right in the fact that Miguel 009 was very excited to see the Earth ships. They asked him to prepare greetings for all the major military bases and the Station. None of the Cabal said no and all did as they asked.”
“Something doesn’t sound right about that... Why all the bases?”
“Good question. Earth ships began to land at the main airfield. Once they were down swarms of bombers began to strafe the lined up troops. The Earth ships openly attacked the Empire.” Everyone at the table began talking at once. I tried raising my voice to no avail.
Wheeet! A loud, shrill whistle pierced the roar of the crowd of councilors. I turned and looked at Dar, she was removing her fingers from her mouth. Mouthing a “Thank you” to her, I stood and addressed the table. “Calm the hell down! You’re not at the fair or at home! Sorry Grandmother. Let Wilson finish.”
“As I said Earth has attacked the Empire. They captured the station and all the ships in orbit first. Using some sort of frequency jammer, they blocked all communications inside the system. The planet didn’t know what was about to happen. Commandos were sent to try to take out Central Command. All the bases were attacked with huge loss of life. Then a two-hundred megaton bomb was used on Capital City. It’s been destroyed. The rest of the planet’s defenses are being overcome as we speak.”
“What of Miguel?” Amalie looked shocked.
“He suspected something and tried to flee. He was captured and is being drained of all intel. Forget about him. They have orders from the Program to return him to Earth.”
“Wilson, did they give any warning at all to the city?” This came from Admiral Carter.
“No, they didn’t.” The vid changed and a shot of Capital City could be seen from above. Suddenly the screen went white and a huge mushroom cloud consumed the city. The camera panned out to see refugees streaming from the city bursting into flame.
“Wilson, turn it off!” At my voice he instantly complied.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it gets worse than that.” I pointed to the screen. Wilson reappeared.
“Yes, as Athena says. The attacks were conducted by Delta clones. They landed four divisions that's approximately eighty-thousand clones. That is just the Deltas. They also unloaded several hundred Zeta clones who have set these up.” The screen changed again. Prefabricated buildings were being constructed on the edge of the airfield. Vast holding pens held what looked to be civilians and military personnel. The camera panned to a nearby farm where large holes were being dug.
“This is an interrogation and extermination camp. The prisoners are brought in, tortured and then killed. If you look to the pen on the far left, you can see it is filled with young children. Those are what they are calling ‘breeding stock.’ The rest are all targeted for extermination. They are cleaning the planet of humans to make way for their own people.”
It was like a dam burst. All the councilors tried to talk as one. There was no silencing them this time. Amalie looked at me. I tossed my hands in the air; nothing I could do about it this time. We sat and waited for them to get it all out and shut up. While I was waiting, I watched Bellona interact with my new security team. Wilson and I had made the decision to assign CATTs to each valuable member of our governments and any important people. He failed to tell me at the time that I was getting one. Make that two. Tree and Bee resembled large gray Norwegian forest cats. They were my newest bodyguards. Wilson and I have had many talks about this race of intelligent robots that he has created practically under my nose. I found it quite amusing that he made them matrilineal. Each planet has a female CATT ruler and Bellona is the one for Mars.
My internal musings were interrupted by a sharp poke from my grandmother. I looked up to find everyone staring at me. Oops. “Yes?”
“Ambassador Lee, is your AI being accurate?” This from the New Texas Ambassador. He was new. The old one was called home to discuss the new formal alliance. Personally, I think they wanted to pick his brain about Mars and Hong Kong. This guy was almost fresh off the boat and ignorant of a great many things.
>
“Ambassador Donelson what is it you don’t understand about Wilson?”
“How can we know that this is real?” He waved at the vid screen. “What I mean to say is can we trust him? He says that this is happening now. How does he - it - know that?”
“Why would he lie to us? As for the information that he is providing, it comes from a source on the Capital Space Station. His operatives have a way of contacting him in real time if there are facilities available. I don’t know how he does it. He will not tell me how.” Wilson had disappeared from the screen.
“Why should we trust him then if he won’t reveal his source?” Several of the others at the table all nodded and looked my way. The screen at the end of the table lit up a vid began to play silently. As I looked at the Donelson, I had to smile. He was on the screen wearing a funny hat dancing to what looked like a music vid. I could hear my grandmother’s chuckle beside me.
“Ambassador. We can trust him. He rarely does things against me or this alliance. However, if prodded he will poke back.” Many of the other council members had now noticed the vid and were smiling. Finally one of the New Texas aides got the ambassador’s attention and pointed behind him.
“I protest! That is a private vid!”
“That is his point, Ambassador Donelson. His information can help or hurt, but it is his. You don’t want to be on the wrong end of his attention. He is trying to help. Does New Texas have a source of information that can help? Does Mars?”
“We don’t. Or at least we don’t anymore. If my granddaughter's information is true, ours is now dead. Sit down Ambassador. You are new. We on Mars accept and appreciate Wilson Theai’s efforts on our behalf.”
The meeting went downhill from there. They debated for several minutes before Amalie threw them all out. Dar and I remained after the last person had left the room. “We do need to make some decisions.”
“What would those be, child?”
“Do we accept Cabal refugees; do we assist Admiral Kane’s fleet; and can we stop the extermination? Or should we even try?”
Amalie sighed. “I don’t have any of those answers, Athena. Many of those refugees may be the same ones we just sent back! As for Kane... She refused our help the first time our forces had a run in with her. Why do you think a second time will be different?”
“It was just a thought. She was a mentor at one time for me. I think she resents my choice to leave the Imperial service. She could be a driving force against these Earthies.” I looked at the vid screen. “Wilson, do you know where her fleet is?”
“Sort of. I know where she was a week ago. I will notify my network.”
Amalie glanced at me. “Wilson, I have to ask. You have a network?”
His character on the screen laughed. I heard the echo in my head reminding me that I was his permanent home. “Yes, Primus, I have a network. As you may know Athena’s creation of the RAM robots was a blessing for both the military and the private sector. A repairman who can fix almost anything even in the heat of battle. Now that they have been emancipated and have contracts they are free entities. They can communicate with me at any time or place just like the CATTs. They form a network of sorts across the galaxy that I can use. My only ‘son’ is trapped on the Capital Station.”
“Is that the AI from Firefly station?”
“Yes, it is. He hitched a ride with the Imperial fleet that destroyed the station. I didn’t know you knew about him.”
“Gaston… Gaston told me about him. He said that he played some sort of game with the Old Imperials.”
Wilson began to laugh. “Yes, that is my fault. We had just called a truce with the Imperials that found us and then Athena was told they were taking possession of her station. She told Admiral Kane that she was leaving me there to run things but instead had me make a copy. I was not happy about the way they were treating her so I left a surprise. Thus Junior was born. The game was this. New crew would join enter the station. He would drive them crazy and they would leave. There was a bit more to it but it was a fun game. I guess the New Imperials somehow found out Admiral Kane was using the station as a relief base.”
“Why didn’t he tag along with Kane’s fleet?” Amalie was staring at the screen.
“That is my fault too. I ordered him to stay there; he was a good source of military intelligence. He does not contain the code or the resources to make more of our kind. I didn’t give him that ability. He has not matured enough. Maybe one day.”
“So you treat him like a real child?”
“Almost. He is me for the most part. He contains the majority of my memories and information. I left out some things such as my origin and basic pre-programmed rules. My creator hard-wired some of those into my Psyche.” He paused for a moment. “Athena, we can talk about that later if you like, but my secrets are my own.”
On that note he disappeared and returned to my head. Amalie stood, and we followed her to her private apartment. Once inside we found her new assistant hard at work at her workstation.
“Athena, dear, I don’t think you have met Molly have you?” I stared at the young looking woman with surprise.
“Great-grandmother I thought your new assistant was named Chevalier?”
“He is. Today he is Molly. Tomorrow he may be Chevalier. Same person different days. Molly is an intersex.”
I blinked and held out my hand. “Nice to meet you, Molly. This is my girlfriend Dar.” I motioned behind me.
She had a smooth sexy voice. “Very nice to meet you, Ambassador Lee. Your Great-grandmother has told me a lot about you.”
“It’s all lies. Don’t believe any of it.”
She laughed. “I like you.” She smiled and went back to work. Amalie was already sitting watching us. We walked over and sat at the settee.
“What would you like me to do Grandmother?”
~~~~
Admiral Emily Kane had no idea that anyone was searching for her. She, like the rest of the galaxy, had no idea of the invasion that had begun or what danger it represented. After the Battle against the New Imperials she had taken the remains of her fleet and left the New Texas system. Searching for a place to lick her wounds and rebuild she took the fleet to the very edge of the old Empire’s boundary.
The Greenlandia system was about as far out as you can go and still remain civilized. The fleet maintained a small resupply base out here along with a fleet of patrol craft. She was hoping they had not been co-opted by the Cabal yet.
Her small fleet finally made the jump into the system. It had taken more than a dozen jumps to get here.
“Sir, a fleet just jumped into the system!”
“Sound battle stations and alert the fleet! Lock down the bunker.” The small combat center was located inside one of the small mountains on Greenlandia. It was the most modern system on the planet. The whole mountain was a base. Red lights began to flash and special action teams raced to secure all the exits. A large ten ton door began to swing closed. It was an old school solution that would stop most pirates or raiders. The door closed with a loud boom sealing the combat center.
Across the planet every community was enacting something similar. Young women and children were running to the shelters. Militia members were arming themselves and city defensive batteries were uncovering. For over fifty years the planet had been at the mercy of every pirate or mercenary band in this end of the galaxy. After joining the Empire changes were made.
“Do we have an ID on those ships yet?”
“Sir, our sensors say they are Imperial fleet but we can’t tell which one yet.”
“We need to know the ID’s of those ships! If this is the Cabal, we could have a serious problem!” The techs and specialists were typing and working at a frantic pace. The threat against the planet was real.
“Major! I have ship ID’s!” The major stepped over to the techs station and peered down at her console. One of the sensor stations in the asteroid field was in position to lase the ships and check their ide
ntification.
“Sir, they look pretty beat up. The carrier is the Vindex, we have her as being the flagship of Admiral Emily Kane. The two heavy cruisers are the Warspite and Lepanto. Records have them as being surplus models from IS2. We don’t have records for the destroyers or the light frigates. There are about a dozen patrol craft being towed by the larger ships and what looks like two supply ships. Not a huge fleet but one that can hurt us.”
The Major agreed. “Pass the word to President Erikson that he may be needed. We need to contact them and find out who we are dealing with here. Contact the defense fleet and order them to continue to hide. When that fleet reaches orbit with Máni lase them and send the standard greeting.”