“Thank you, Ambassador,” Krag stated as he switched places with Keiko.
“Preceptor, would you please display the current Mortek fleet in Bridgelen?”
Igaklay’s moon image disappeared. In its place the Mortek fleet jumped into view, floating above the crowd. Everyone looked up and saw the monstrous armada.
“This is the fleet which currently occupies Bridgelen. Two weeks from now, it will almost double in size.”
Again, the room broke into conversation.
“Please, please.”
The room quieted.
“As you can see, this fleet will eventually be around eight-hundred ship strong. And, the Mortek have added a new wrinkle. In our last engagement, the Mortek destroyed one of the Federacy’s ships with nuclear missiles.”
This brought a much louder interruption. This time, Krag waited until the room returned to listen on its own.
“Currently, the Federacy fleet is comprised of four captured Mortek cruisers and one Federacy scout ship. The HEB Alliance fleet consists of one troop carrier three armed freighters and twelve fast moving attack vessels. Sixteen ships. Over time, within less than a year, we will number just over a hundred and twenty. But that is a year away.”
“You’re saying that we have no way to stop those bugs from destroying more of our worlds? Maybe coming back and attacking us again?”
Turning to the elderly man who interrupted, Krag replied, “That is exactly what I am saying, Mr. Roth. As it stands now, In the short term, over the next one to two years, we have no way to forcefully drive the Mortek out of our systems. For a better understanding and the military solution to this problem, here is Vice-Admiral Weiskoff, Fleet Commander and the officer responsible for planning the defense of Humanity. Vice-Admiral?”
Vice-Admiral Weiskoff took the podium while Krag took his seat.
“Ladies and Gentlemen. Two days ago, with a convoy of three ships, we tested the current Mortek fleet in Bridgelen. In that engagement, we lost one of our ships. The Reprisal. We learned that the alien jump technology, the disruptor shield and the gravity rockets are all effective against the Mortek, their particle beams and their laser rays.”
Weiskoff paused to look over the room.
“However, with the Mortek adding nuclear weapons to their arsenal, those superior technologies are not enough. We need more ships, bigger ships. And we need nuclear weapons of our own to combat the enemy. This will take time.”
Again, Weiskoff paused, taking a sip of liquid.
“We will lose planets. People will die or be enslaved. But, with the alien technology and the fact that those alien worlds are not reachable by the Mortek, we will be able to eventually construct our own fighting force capable of defeating the Mortek and retaking our systems.”
“At the cost of millions of lives.”
Weiskoff stared at the elderly woman who interrupted him.
“Yes, ma’am. But, militarily, that is the truth of the situation. The only things which will defeat the Mortek are time and effort.”
“Well, Commander Marston didn’t waste any time. He got that little ship of his to Tolimar and kicked those bugs out of our skies. Then he got those little jump-ships together and kicked them out of Arium.”
“Vice-Admiral, if I may?”
An angry, about to blow, Vice-Admiral returned to his table. Krag retook the podium.
“Strictly speaking, Mz. Brandt, that isn’t completely true. Through the joint efforts of Mr. Gregor,” Krag pointed at the Gregor table, “Doctor McCauley, and Vice-Admiral Weiskoff, the Mortek fleet got severely crippled in Arium with the defensive platforms and Vice-Admiral Weiskoff’s command of the civilian fleet. Then, he even sacrificed Odin to limit the Mortek invasion of Tolimar. Vice-Admiral Weiskoff is every bit as instrumental in the saving of Tolimar and Arium as Griffin, Gazelle and her Stingers.”
“Yeah, but you put on the final touches.”
“With all of your help. Make no mistake. The Federacy, the HEB Alliance and you all worked together to get us to where we are today. And now it is up to all of use to get us into the future. Ambassador Suzume?”
“Which brings us to the big get,” Keiko said as she replaced Krag.
“The military option, under the leadership of Vice-Admiral Weiskoff is achievable, but extremely costly. Utilizing Vice-Admiral Weiskoff’s strategy, there is a high possibility of victory in the end.”
Keiko let that sink in as she paused and looked over the room.
“What we need from you is an alternative solution. Some way to get the Mortek out of our system. Get them to not want to attack us, destroy our homes and families. That is why you are here. Let’s take the next two hours and enjoy this sumptuous banquet. While we do that, let’s all put our heads together and come up with some way to stop our worlds from being consumed by the Mortek. Let’s find an alternative solution. Mrs. Roth?”
Martha signalled to her staff. Dinner began. Discussions began. Voices rose and fell. Weiskoff’s table sat in isolation, the military solution to the Mortek problem. The Griffin table sat in observation, watching the dialogue unfold.
Lord Kaporine stood and faced the room.
“Gentle beings. I am sad to say that the history of Elonia is rife with wars.”
“Us too,” someone interjected.
“The question is ‘why’? The answer is simple. Land, resources and power. That is why the Mortek are invading Humanity’s systems. Land, resources and power. The Mortek have decided that investing and consuming their ships and people in their pursuit of your land, resources and power is an expense that they are willing to take.”
“Where are you going with this, Your Lordship? I’m Lawrence Gregor.”
“Ah, we finally meet. The Lord of Clan Gregor and ruler of Den Griffin. It is an honor to be in your presence. Your Commander Marston and Ambassador Suzume have been irreplaceable in helping us with our own political issues. Where am I going with this? I believe the solution is simple. The implementation is unknowable. The solution is that we make it too expensive for the Mortek to seize your planets and enslave your people.”
“Yes. It’s all about the credits. If the cost is too high, the Mortek will stop. How do we make the cost too high?”
Igaklay stood back up on his highchair.
“Ever since Commander Marston and Ambassador Suzume became my Overseers, I have studied Humanity’s history, including the history of Old Earth. Humans have followed the same path as Elonia. Many human wars have been fought to seize land and absorb economies. In all cases, there was a balance between military expenditure and territorial profit. In what Old Earth histories call ‘World War Two’, the aggressors, the nations of Germany, Japan and Italy, surrendered after their enemies succeeded in destroying their original lands and resources through bombings and counter-invasions.”
Weiskoff jumped to his feet.
“That is what we do. You get me my ten thousand nukes and we bomb the Mortek into oblivion. With the jump-ships, we destroy every ship that we can, including whatever’s left in Dorogon and Yeni Persia. We make them pay for attacking us.”
Krag rose to answer.
“That doesn’t stop the Mortek war fleet, Sir. In fact, with their base of operations gone, that will accelerate their expansion.”
Keiko stood.
“Preceptor Igaklay mentioned the twentieth century war on Old Earth. Earlier, Mr. Morris mentioned the same time period. Mr. Morris?”
Buster rose, wearing his Mr. Morris persona.
“After World War Two, two super nation-states seized power over the entire planet. As each built up its war powers, each came to realize that they had becomes so powerful that war could no longer be beneficial. A term became common in normal discourse. Mutually assured destruction. If either began a conflict, both superpowers would be destroyed.”
“Let’s dwell on this. How do we make the Mortek understand that, if they destroy us, they will be destroying themselves?” Keiko’s question got t
he room back to talking.
The evening lasted more than two hours. It lasted through the evening and into the early hours. A room full of very weary Human and Elonian leaders finally made their ways to their sleeping quarters, talked out and exhausted.
But they had a plan.
Aboard Vengeance – Cencore
Vice-Admiral Weiskoff went volcanic the moment that the conference on Humanity’s defense ended. He continued to remain in his fiery rage for the entire time of Vengeance’s shuttle’s flight back to his flag ship. Leaving his officers behind, the admiral of the fledgling Federacy Space Fleet stormed off to his wardroom. His hot, burning fury never eased as he stormed through his ship and aggressively marched past his crew. After slamming the hatch, he dropped into his chair and fumed.
With his rage pumping his body full of epinephrine, no thoughts of rest or sleep entered his mind. Vice-Admiral Weiskoff needed action. And he needed it now.
Weiskoff stabbed a button on his in-ship communicator.
“Get me to Cencore, Pilot. Outer edge. Do it now.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral,” a cowed Mr. Collins responded.”
“Mr. Perry, full defensive readiness, including shield.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
After the short time it took the Vengeance crew to prepare for jumping, the Federacy flag ship blinked out of Tolimar and blinked to the edge of Cencore. Sitting in the blue aura of its disruptor shield, Vengeance floated at the edge of the Federacy’s former seat of power.
Studying the main view screen, the bridge crew looked down onto Olympia and its orbiting shipyards. They saw the massive cruise liner, now a troop carrier, orbiting the planet. They saw Jewel of the Stars hold position while hundreds of shuttles moved troops and equipment down to the planet’s surface, supporting the effort of taking back Olympia from the Mortek invaders.
They saw the ugly ship, Limpet, attached to one of the smaller shipyards, a remora on a whale. Instead of drawing nourishment, the breacher ship pumped marines and weaponry in, reclaiming the shipyard as Humanity’s own.
“Get me Lieutenant Hartman. Lieutenant Clarke, Captain Brewer, my wardroom in ten minutes.”
Ten minutes later, Vengeance’s Captain, Weiskoff’s Adjunct and the ship’s chief engineer found themselves under the fierce gaze of a very angry Vice-Admiral.
“What gives those civvies the right to tell me how to command my fleet? A board? Three people dictating policy? One an alien? One a criminal? Some trumped up ambassador? Damn them!”
“The whole group voted and approved this course of action, Sir.”
“This is not a democracy! This is a war! Civilians pretending to be in charge. Not on my watch.”
“And that holier-than-thou Marston is going to talk to the Mortek Commander? Lay down the law? Not in this lifetime.”
“That is what the civvies want, Admiral. We should let them play their games. As long as they control the alien tech on our ships.”
“We’ll see about that, Jerry. Lieutenant Hartman, how can we get the alien A.I. off my ships?”
“We don’t even know how he monitors us, Admiral. We know the theory. Quantum entanglement. We know that the A.I. has created some kind of colloidal mass that has been absorbed into the ship. But, that’s as much as we know. We don’t even know how many of these quant-com communicator masses have been injected into our systems.”
“What about isolating that jump drive. We can get by without everything else. But we need that jump drive under our control. Not under the control of some alien puppet with Marston pulling its strings.”
“You saw the video, Admiral. We watched Igaklay slag a drive as a demonstration. The jump drive is submerged in one component of a bi-compound acid bath. The second component is in the outer shell. At least one quant-com is connected to the drive. Anyone comes within an inch, the A.I. dissolves the drive. Wherever we are, we go dead in the dark.”
“Damn!”
“For now, we need to play nice,” Lieutenant Clarke stated. “We do it their way. They keep giving us more ships. Within a year, we will have a fleet larger and more powerful than the Federacy has ever had. With you in charge.”
“And Marston holding on to our nether regions.”
“Only until we figure out a way to nullify those damned quant-coms. Once we are free of those, we own the fleet,” Lieutenant Hartman exclaimed.
“Do you think that A.I. is listening now?”
“From my experience, yes, Admiral.”
“We will continue this conversation when we get planet-side. For now, Hartman, you are to do nothing. No research, no notes, nothing until we get planet-side.”
“Understood, Sir.”
“Captain Brewer, the other three cruisers. Are they here?”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“Good. Form them up. We’re jumping to Arium. Gregor’s criminal shipyard. At least those idiots gave me some nukes.”
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
“Dismissed.”
Aboard Griffin - Bridgelen
“Commander, Vice-Admiral Weiskoff is not very pleased with his role in our plan.”
“You’ve been listening in, Igaklay?”
“It is one of the things I do. He was pretty angry when he left the meeting. I thought that I should keep an eye, actually an ear, on him. I know he does not like you very much.”
“Oy, Iggy. That is an understatement. If our wonderful Vice-Admiral could, Cap would be floating in the Big Dark, never to be seen again.”
“The Vice-Admiral and his officers have been trying to figure out how to block my connections to his ships.”
“Can he do that?”
“Blocking tachyon particles, breaking the quantum entanglement is possible. But Humanity doesn’t have the technology.”
“And you nae gonna give it to them. Right, Iggy?”
“That would be extremely counterproductive, Wrenchy.”
“As long as Weiskoff only complains, I can live with that.”
”What about our Faraday cage? We are able to block the quant-com signal.”
“Not really, Mz Sue. You just isolated a cabin from the rest of the ship. Without contact, I can not pick up any electronic signals.”
What if they make the whole ship a Faraday cage?”
“That would take too long, Mack. If anyone started that, I would just slag the jump drive. So that won’t happen. Besides, that would completely stop any of their abilities to communicate outside of their ship. The moment they open up a com line, I would be back inside.”
“You are a very bad boy, Iggy.”
“Just doing my job, Wrenchy. Or is it Lug-Nut, now?”
“As long as the HEB Alliance controls Weiskoff’s tech, he is forced to follow our instructions.”
“You’re right, Keiko. But, don’t ever underestimate Weiskoff’s selfishness. As long as he thinks he will get what he wants, he’ll play along. When he thinks that he is back in control, all bets are off.”
“Then we better make sure that the good Vice-Admiral is reminded that we can take away his toys any time we want, Cap.”
“Sue, any changes to the Mortek formation?”
“No, Commander. As soon as we jumped in, their defensive grid fired up.”
“Igaklay, you’re our protector. Keep us safe.”
“Of course! It is what I do!”
“If the Mortek fire any rockets, jump us. Don’t wait.”
“I am on it, commander.”
“Okay, here it goes. Keiko, open a broad-spectrum channel.”
Aboard Ravage Maker – Bridgelen
War saw the notification that the defensive grid had activated in response to the arrival of a soft skin ship. With his four feet clamped to the deck and his four legs straddling his stool, the leader of the Mortek war machine tapped a claw on a key and watched the image of the small ship floating safely at a distance. He tapped one of his communication keys.
“Weapons, launch eight nuclear missiles at t
hat invader.”
“At your command, My Overlord.”
War watched the missiles erupt from their firing tubes, gaining speed, targeting the enemy.
“My Overlord, we have an incoming message from the soft skin ship.”
“Communications, put it through. Let us hear what our food has to say this time.”
“War, commander of the Mortek fleet, I am Marston, commander of the Human fleet.”
“Have you come to beg? You have seen my fleet. Are you pleading for mercy?”
“No, War. I have seen your fleet. I know that many more Mortek ships will arrive in approximately ten days. I have not come to beg.”
“Then you have come to surrender,” War stated as a fact.
“Not to surrender. To warn you. Do not invade Humanity’s systems. Go back to Sasania.”
“Why would we do that? We have solved the problem of your little jump-ships. We have proved that we are capable of destroying one of the cruisers which you stole from us. Pretend that you are strong somewhere else.”
“It will take time, but we will complete the conversion of the Mortek fleet we captured in Cencore. And more Human ships are being built. We will respond. We will drive you from Humanity’s space.”
“Time. Logistics and Procurement have analysed the time frame required to modify the stolen fleet. A Nest One solar cycle. By then, we will have conquered every planet you soft skins occupy. How will you drive us from your space, then?”
“We are going to make it too expensive for you to continue this invasion. That is the warning. Two days from now, you will see the proof.”
“You are a small creature trying to make a loud noise. Go away or attack. In ten Nest One days, my fleet will be complete and we will begin taking back the star systems that rightfully belong to the Mortek.”
“You have been warned.”
Eight Mortek nuclear missiles wasted their fuel, powering through the space vacated by the human jump-ship.
Aboard Gazelle – Yeni Persia
Captain Forsythe sat in her co-pilot’s gravity chair. Working the sensors and visual pickups, she searched hard, looking for any danger or threats. While Jean worked, Amanda relaxed, having finished her piloting, having completed Gazelle’s jump to the outskirts of Yeni Persia. Jesse worked her weapons board, checking her targeting, getting her weapons hot, ready for defense.
Victory in the Stars (Marston Chronicles Book 6) Page 37