Tides of Mars (Omnibus Version)

by Ben Winston

  Ariel nodded thoughtfully. “How badly did New York get hit? Is the U.N. still standing?”

  The man nodded. “Yes, Highness. There was some minor damage to the building and a couple of injuries, but nothing major there.”

  “Okay, I'll set up an appointment for us to talk to the Secretary General. Have we gotten any reports from the rest of the Empire? How are they doing?” Ariel asked.

  “We don't have an accurate picture there either, Highness. Your guardians are still in hyperspace, and the fleets are reporting sporadic fighting, but nothing fleet sized. We're spread out pretty thinly, but I think they seriously underestimated our strength when they planned this little party.” Hs'ean said. “All in all, the planets that didn't evacuate are beginning to return to normal. Some of them didn't even know we were at war, while others, like Aldus Forward, were completely razed.”

  “So, from the sound of what you're telling me, this fleet is the only one remaining that the slavers have?” Ariel asked.

  Hs'ean, shook her head. “Not exactly, the fleet here is the only one that is assembled as a fleet. There are still plenty of slavers vessels out there to form up and cause trouble. However, from the reports I'm getting, they have to be getting low on Capitol class ships.”

  “There are two of their super carriers enforcing a shipping embargo from the core worlds. While one of their biggest battleships is assaulting the Fleet Headquarters and Shipyards at the Axel-Doogan Anchorage.”

  “That's a suicide mission; that place is literally ringed with weapons and any of the ships in for repairs can add their firepower for close in support. Not to mention the armed tenders and other mobile defenses. It is the most heavily defended place in the entire Empire, and home to almost eighteen billion beings that do not like the slavers at all. I'd estimate complete enemy losses with minimal damage to our forces.”

  “There are probably fifty or so cruisers and destroyers of various classes and weights trying to hit other strategic locations, but so far, we've been able to protect everything,” Hs'ean finished.

  “Sir! I've lost comms with Fleet!” one of the techs called from her console.

  Hs'ean quickly moved over to her, Cr'ale and Ariel followed.

  “What do you mean, you've lost them, Ensign? That many transmitters don't all fail at once,” Hs'ean said gently.

  “I know, Ma'am, but there's nothing there. No voice, no carrier, no NAV beacon, nothing. It's like it never existed,” The woman said. “I think it's been destroyed, Ma'am.”

  It took Hs'ean a moment to recover from that. “Keep scanning everything you can. Look for any signal you can get from that area. If you get a beep from a life pod, I want to hear it!” Hs'ean said.

  “Yes, Ma'am!” the woman replied, frantically searching for any signal she could get.

  “Ariel, may I speak to His Majesty and the Admiral?” Cole asked. She could tell by the tone of his voice that something was very wrong.

  “Of course, Cole, put it through the bunker speakers,” Ariel replied.

  “Highness, Admiral, I have received confirmation through the AI network of the total destruction of the binary star system known as Axel-Doogan. Two of the base AI managed to eject into hyperspace before the plasma waves destroyed their facilities. They reported the arrival of a Damascos ship at the Lagrange point between the two stars. It was undetected because of unusual activity from a nearby pulsar,” Cole reported.

  There was silence in the room as each person tried to deal with destruction of this magnitude and the loss of eighteen billion souls in one instant.

  “Cole, please keep me apprised of the situation if you get any more information about this. Since the automatic return vector for ejected AI was Axel-Doogan, where are the two going now?” Ariel asked.

  “Fleet reserve yard. I told them to head there since we have people that will be there shortly. They will be of help in getting the ships there ready to move,” Cole replied.

  “Good thinking, Cole. Thank you,” Hs'ean said.

  “Highness, Admiral? Admiral Gr'eis reports that they are closing to energy weapons range,” another tech reported.

  “Thank you,” Hs'ean said, and turned them back to the big holotank that held the icons for the fleets battling it out in the outer parts of the system. “It's a little early for this to happen. Usually, they'd have a couple more days of missile fire to trade.”

  “Admiral, Divine Light received the same report I did,” Cole added. “As a matter of protocol, he would have told Admiral Gr'eis.”

  Hs'ean nodded. “Then she's up to something. I do have to admit, a move like this would take most commanders completely by surprise.”

  “How so? It looks to me like she's trying to get revenge for the lives at Axel-Doogan?” Ariel asked.

  Hs'ean nodded. “Which is exactly what the commanders of the slaver fleet are going to believe. They'll expect her to be reactionary, and go for major damage right off the top. I'd bet my commission that her first vollies will play right into that, and considering the damage the slavers have already taken, might get the job done. However, I don't think she's counting on that.”

  “Her second and successive attacks will be shields and armor. Once she gets through their shields, she'll peel them like a Naranji!” Hs'ean finished.

  One of the people that had been standing by the tank with a touch board nodded to her Admiral. “The slavers have little to no shields left, Admiral. Even without the news from Fleet, this is the logical move for her to make. By the way, not all the missile pods were destroyed, five of them went dormant and did a full reload while the others were being destroyed. Those pods came back on line and began full spread rapid fire on single targets. If I were a betting girl, I don't think there will be any Capitols left for the Admiral by the time she gets there.”

  “What does that mean?” Ariel asked.

  “Each of the pods picked a single target. Here, I'll show you, Highness.” the woman highlighted a dim speck well out from the battle area. “Missile pod forty-nine has a solid lock on the slaver flagship.” The big slaver ship flashed with a red cross-hair icon on it. “The pod then launched all currently available missiles, which was a full thirty-two missiles, each packing a high-yield antimatter warhead, on the same target.” Up by the speck, a bunch of yellow specks jumped away from the icon for the pod. “It then cycled in a reload and fired again, eleven seconds later.” Another cloud of missiles could be seen leaving the small pod icon. “It shut down before its location could be locked onto by the destroyers, and will again be reloading. In the mean time, another of the pods is doing the same thing to another of the biggest ships.”

  “Even with shields, how could any ship withstand sixty-four hits?” Ariel asked.

  “Figure at least forty-three percent loss from point defense fire, decoys and Electronic Counter Measures. So out of the missiles fired, roughly thirty-five or so will impact the ship in question. With shields at full strength, and poor targeting by the pods, (neither of which is the case here) it would take between five and nine of those heavy missiles to knock down the shields. Once the shields are down, the game is over when dealing with antimatter. A ship the size of Divine Light might survive one or two hits without shields, but not three.”

  “Why didn't the pods do this from the beginning?” Ariel asked.

  “Because they won't survive it. With this rate of fire, reload, fire and reload then shut down. Their power cores are becoming unstable. They're trying to do as much damage as possible before they're destroyed,” The woman said. “Those pods were a damn blessing.”

  The battle played out almost exactly as Hs'ean had predicted, with the exception of several of the enemy warships self-destructing rather than be captured. With the battle over, Divine Light once again approached Earth to render what assistance it could.

  Governments around the world were demanding reparations, and the finger pointing started almost as soon as the shooting stopped. This time, Ariel didn't address the world's
leaders, she addressed the world directly. In very concise terms and words she explained to everyone exactly what happened, and the areas it happened too. She also tried to explain why the fighting happened, but sensed that many simply didn't understand that part.

  When Ariel got the appointment with the Secretary General, she asked that she and Cr'ale please address the whole assembly since they were on the verge of declaring war on each other. Both Ariel and Cr'ale agreed and the meeting took place at the U.N. What surprised Ariel was that in some cases, the actual world leaders were present beside their Ambassadors.

  By order of His Imperial Highness, Cr'ale the first, the planet Earth would be returned to its original prewar condition, or as close to it as possible. Full medical as well as military assistance was provided to those countries that needed it. The medical aid was for those wounded in the battles, and the rioting afterward, and the military assistance was to quell the small wars that started almost as soon as the main fighting stopped.

  The Supreme Leader of the People's Republic of North Korea stood up and threatened to attack the United States over this blatant western attack on their sovereign soil. Cr'ale looked at the small man and asked if that was who he thought had attacked him. The small man said of course it was, since no one else dared encroach on their sovereignty.

  Cr'ale looked at the man and asked if he had been on the planet for the last month, and was he paying attention to the news broadcasts. The Korean Leader said it was all lies and propaganda spread by the decadent United States and their allies to justify their attack.

  That was as far as he got before Cr'ale told him to shut up and sit down before he ordered the Royal Marines to turn his tiny country into a military base for the Empire. Mr. Kim sat down, but had a face so red that it looked like he was having a coronary episode. Ariel quietly ordered a security patrol of the Korean peninsula to make sure the North didn't do something stupid.

  Amazingly, Cr'ale handled the meeting very well. Of course, none of the world's leaders were happy with the situation, but the long and the short of it was that now that the Empire was known to the world, they could no longer simply go away and let the Earth get back to being the way it was. Too many people knew that the Empire was there now. So much of the advanced, non-terrestrial technology had gotten loose that it would be very irresponsible of the Empire to simply leave the Earth to its own devices.

  At first, the world leaders thought that what Cr'ale was talking about was more like a trade agreement between the Earth, and the Empire. But Cr'ale gently but firmly dissuaded them of that notion, the leaders of the world had choices of course. The Empire itself would only leave a small outpost on the planet along with an Embassy. The outpost would be charged with the recovery, confiscation, and destruction of all advanced technology found or recovered. That would include data and other knowledge gained from the study of advanced alien technologies.

  Cr'ale made a point to say that any scientist that gained knowledge through study of this technology would be strongly encouraged to leave Earth by the local Marine garrison. One of the other duties of that garrison would be to stop any war that would use weapons of mass destruction on the population, up to and including locating and destroying all of the aforementioned weapons. The various governments of the world could keep doing their thing, but they would do so under the watchful eyes of the Empire.

  The Earth could chose to join the Empire as a full member state under House Parker. This choice would mean the dissolution of all terrestrial governments, save one, and it would report to Ariel or her appointed representative. Cr'ale pointed out that would not be the worst thing that could happen to the planet as they would immediately gain full advantage of Imperial Technology and have the full benefits of being a member of the Empire. They would have full trade privileges as well as education and medical benefits. The list was simply to long for him to cover everything.

  Then there was the final choice. Earth could renounce the Empire completely and declare war on them. Cr'ale pointed out that this would not be the best thing for the people of the world. More than the soldiers that would die in such a conflict, the people themselves would be the ones to suffer the most. It was not a choice Cr'ale was offering, or even recommending since the war wouldn't last very long and the Earth would lose.

  Much to Ariel's amazement, Cr'ale took off the cloak of the Empire, and was once again the man she had come to know. He assured the men in the assembly that he had no wish to order any of his forces into a hostile posture here on Earth. This last war had cost all of them enough, and there really was no reason to make matters worse because of greed, petty rivalries, or some basic tribal imperatives. Everyone, no matter their nationality, race or religious beliefs, could live together. He knew that for a fact, because the Empire was proof of it.

  By the time Ariel and Cr'ale left, he had given the assembled plenty to think about. None of the powerful men wanted to lose the power they already had, but the option of keeping it simply wasn't there any longer. Ariel just hoped most of them would see that and not try to fight it.

  Over the next weeks, most of the damage done during the war had been repaired, and buildings that were destroyed were well on their way back to being rebuilt. The dead had been buried, and the wounded tended to. However, the Empire continued to supply food rations to areas where there had been famine and medications to areas plagued by disease.

  Ariel's 'Embassy' had been completely restored to its original glory, and expanded on quite a bit. Cr'ale's hidden palace had been completed, but he preferred to stay near Ariel when it was possible. However, both Ariel and Cr'ale would have to be leaving the system soon in order to tour the Empire. Both to assess the damage and to reassure the people that they were both still alive and well.

  Earth, for the most part, agreed to become part of the Empire. Of course, there were governments that resisted, claiming they had the right to sovereign rule of their own choosing. The problem was in most of those cases it wasn't the people of the country doing the choosing, it was the drug lords or military. In every case they got to find out how well they measured up against the Imperial Marine Corps.

  Ariel left the house in the hands of her parents and joined Cr'ale on the tour of the Empire. However, she insisted that the tour begin at home in the Sol Sector with the refugees that had fled other worlds seeking shelter. In some cases their planets had been razed. In others, just their city or province had been destroyed. However, in almost every case, none of the people had a place to return to. Ariel offered them refuge in her house, and they all accepted.

  With Cole nestled snugly into his bay aboard the Divine Light, Ariel and Cr'ale sat in the forward lounge watching as the massive ship made the jump into hyperspace. It gave Ariel a momentary thrill. It was the first time she had made a hyperspace jump. However, after the first planet fall they made, and she saw how much of a legend she already had in the core worlds, she was a little overwhelmed.

  “Don't people know we are still in serious trouble? We are in no shape to fight, and the Kragen are still out there,” Ariel said.

  “Oh, I imagine they realize that, my dear. But they know as long as you're out here to protect them, they will be safe from the invaders,” Cr'ale replied grinning.

  “Do you remember what I told you about building your legend, Ariel?” Hs'ean asked.

  “Yeah, I do, but I never expected this! I'm not the Goddess!” the young ruler tried to argue.

  Cr'ale shook his head, but smiled at her. “No, maybe not the Goddess, Ariel, but they see you as close to her as they think they can come. This is my legacy to you, Ariel. As long as you care about the people you rule, they will always be there to support you. This is the beginning of that rule; the beginning of reign of the living Goddess, Ariel the First.”

  Books Published by Blue Space Publications

  by Ben Winston

  Pollux Paradox

  Imperial Presence Universe

  Tides of Mars

  Tid
es of Mars – Omnibus Version

  Ascension - Book I

  Conflict – Book II

  Talosian Chronicles

  Olympus (Summer 2014)

  Star Dancer (Coming Soon)

  by Michael McClain

  Chronicles of Atlantis Series

  Atlantis Rising

  Euthara

  About the Author

  Ben Winston (1965 - ?) was born in Iowa and grew up in Minnesota on the family dairy farm. Upon reaching adulthood, he joined the United States Army as a communications technician. Before getting out of the military, he decided to go to school for computer electronics.

  Shortly after getting out of the military, and after getting a new job with an over-seas company, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. A month after beginning the new job, he was laid off due to budget over-runs on the project he was hired for. Upon returning to the United States, he had difficulty maintaining employment because of the chronic illness.

  He began writing as a form of stress release, from being home bound and not being able to work, and found he liked writing erotica. Ben wrote a trilogy called the Talosian Chronicles (Currently in rewrite to remove the graphic sex and finalized his vision of the story). The first book, Star Dancer, won awards and was nominated for many others by the online communities where it was posted.

  Ben Winston returned to school for literature, after completion, he began writing professionally. Being an avid fan of science fiction he focused on this genre. He was, and still is, influenced and inspired by Gene Roddenberry, Anne McCaffery, David Weber, Isaac Asimov, and Ray Bradbury. Some of his favorite movies and TV shows are; Battlestar Galactica (both versions), Andromeda, Star Trek, Firefly, Star Wars, and many of the B-rated movies that were actually box-office bombs.

  Read more at Ben Winston’s site.

  About the Publisher

  Currently, only Michael McClain and Ben Winston are published through Blue Space Publications. It was formed by those authors with the sole purpose of publishing their works.