by P P Corcoran
“War Chief Vek, I ask you to choose your First. The one among us, here, who will stand in your stead if you fall and honor our ancestor’s oath.”
Around the room, Yue saw each clan lord go rigid with anticipation and now, seeing their reaction to his father’s selection, it dawned on Yue that what was happening to his father was not a disparagement. It was, in fact, a great honor.
Vek’s strong voice carried through the hall. “I choose Clan Lord Mynut of Clan Hurak to be my First.” The stifled gasps of surprise which filled the room where silenced as Mynut rose to his feet and joined Vek before the Guardian. His face impassive, shoulders back and spine straight.
“Mynut of the Hurak. Do you accept the challenge I place on your shoulders?” Asked the Guardian once more.
“I do.” Replied Mynut.
Once more the Guardian’s blade flashed. The same multicolored sash adorning Vek replaced the now fallen, forest green sash of Clan Hurak.
“Be forever of all Turak, Mynut.” The Guardian intoned deeply.
Yue never thought to see what happened next.
Mynut stepped around the Guardian and positioned himself slightly behind and to the right of Vek. A position Yue recognized as one every unarmed combat instructor taught never to allow your opponent to attain.
“I stand behind my war chief.” Said Mynut loudly enough for all to hear. “I follow his commands and his alone, forsaking my allegiance to any clan. I stand ready to take his place in the fray against all enemies of the Turak and I call upon all those gathered here to show fealty to their war chief.”
A painful dig in the ribs reminded Yue that his uncle still sat beside him. “Stand and show fealty, my lord.” Kal’s use of my lord- used only to address a clan lord, confused Yue who looked at him questioningly.
Momentarily, the Uncle Kal persona returned. “My Lord Vek is no longer of Clan Orlak, his assumption of the position as War Chief means you, my nephew, are Clan Lord of the Orlak and it is for you to decide our clans’ intentions.”
Yue’s jaw dropped and his wide eyes flitted between his uncle and his father’s impassive face, who stood tall before the clan lords congregating before Yue, heads bowed, eyes downcast in their show of submission to his will.
“Well, my lord. Is Clan Orlak to stand with your father against the Saiph?” Queried Kal.
Yue tried to control the rising of his stomach contents to his throat, which threatened to erupt from his mouth. “But, I’m not ready to lead! My father has many years ahead of him and I shall learn all I need to know by his side.” Yue did not care that his voice carried more than a hint of desperation, for he spoke the truth.
Kal placed a reassuring hand firmly on the young man’s shoulders. “Do you think your father was born with all his knowledge. He was not more than your age when his father passed into the great beyond and thrust him into the position of Clan Lord. Now that mantle has been thrust upon you my boy and you must embrace it.”
Desperately Yue searched the hall for help. His father remained still as a rock as if refusing to meet his son’s gaze and then, from across the hall the figure of Waynal stepped forth from the recess which had hidden her. It suddenly occurred to Yue that she too had been elevated to the position of leading her clan. Of all the people in this room she would most understand what he was going through at this moment and, by the way she carried herself with the supreme elegance of the high born that she was, Waynal had no intention of allowing anyone present to see the turmoil that must be raging within her. In that moment Yue knew what he had to do. Taking a deep breath he summoned up all his courage and stepped out of the shadows. Striding purposefully across the hall, not towards his father, but to the side of Waynal. As Yue neared Waynal her head turned at the sound of his approaching steps and, just for a moment her mask slipped, and Yue saw in her own eyes the fear and doubt he felt in his heart.
“Clan Lady Waynal.” Yue said in his most formal voice. “May I have the honor of standing by your side, as we show fealty in this most desperate time of Turak need.”
“Clan Lord Yue. The honor is mine.” Replied Waynal.
Together they made the short walk to stand before War Chief Vek and his First, Mynut. Before Yue made the formal movement of submission, he caught his father’s eyes, and, in the briefest of instants, swore he saw a smile in them. Bowing his head Yue realized that by naming Mynut as his First, his father had secured the accession of Waynal to Clan Lady removing any objection Mynut may have had to a relationship between his daughter and the son of his sworn enemy. Yue stifled a chortle, even faced with the return of the ancient enemy his father had seen an opportunity to aid his son and seized it. I have a lot to learn thought Yue.
“Fealty has been shown!” Declared the Guardian allowing the various clan lords to once more look upon their new War Chief. Vek took a moment to scan the assembled heads of each clan before speaking.
“Not since ancient times have the Turak come together as one to fight a common foe. At one time each of you here where either my friend or my enemy. Now though, our fleets are forged into one mighty Boka, which I will drive into the heart of our enemy and tear him asunder!”
The feral war cry that burst from their throats threatened to shake the hall to its foundations as the entire Turak race set itself on a course to wipe the scourge of the Saiph from the entire galaxy.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE EMPIRE'S DECEIT
COMMONWEALTH UNION OF PLANETS EMBASSY | ALONA | 50,000 LIGHT-YEARS FROM EARTH
“You see? There it is again, ma'am.” The Benii major indicated, with one long silver finger, a section of the message. Colonel Nathalie Fantozzi’s pale blue eyes focused on the same area that her second in command had identified.
The Human colonel and the Benii major looked at odd couple, a short and a little overweight Colonel and the atypical tall and lanky Benii figure of Major Tolan.
At the obligatory embassy affairs that they never failed to attend it was hard to miss either of the CUOP embassy’s military public affairs’ officers and both Fantozzi and Tolan were renowned as articulate on any subject.
In no time at all, both Alonan and CUOP personnel had dismissed the pair as a mild irritation that they put up with occasionally. That was fine with Fantozzi and Tolan for it allowed them to go about their real job while hiding in plain sight.
For the women were highly skilled intelligence operatives, tasked to uncover every little thing they could about the Alonan military and, Fantozzi had to agree, Tolan had stumbled across something odd, and anything classified as odd in the intelligence world was worthy of investigation.
“That’s pretty damned unusual wouldn’t you say, Major?” Said Fantozzi as she scanned the message a second time.
The Benii gave a strange jerky nod doing her best to imitate the Human sign of agreement. “Yes, Colonel. I went over the night intercepts and it jumped right out at me.” Tapping a control, she highlighted a single sentence of text: Immediate transfer to Foram.
Fantozzi slid into her chair and lifted her legs up before propping them on the desk and letting out a gentle, “Hmmm.”
Although, the Empire and the CUOP were not at war with each other, it did not, in any way, mean peace reigned. In fact, a different type of war raged in the shadows and each side regularly intercepted the communications of the other, doing their best to decode them and glean the smallest piece of useful information.
The nightly flurry of messages from the Alonan navy’s communication hub, which floated serenely in geostationary orbit 120 kilometers directly above the capital, was a particularly fruitful source of intelligence. For the past six weeks a highly advanced computer had been analyzing the Alonan’s encrypted messages and had identified a single repetitive phrase which it had then used to crack the current Alonan encryption key. As long as the Alonans continued to use it the Commonwealth intelligence services were able to read virtually every message the naval high command was sending to their fleet. A major coup for Fa
ntozzi and her small staff but one that she knew could not last forever. As soon as the Alonans changed the encryption key Fantozzi would be right back at square one again. But, as her father used to say, make hay while the sun shines, and that was exactly what Bliek had been doing. The intercepts had allowed Commonwealth intelligence to build up a virtually complete picture of the Alonan order of battle. They knew the current and projected position of every ship in the Alonan fleet; their state of readiness, their maintenance cycle, in fact their knowledge reached the unprecedented level of which personnel received which assignment.
It was this final piece of information that had Fantozzi and her second in command locked away in her office this morning.
Tolan had, with practice, began to recognize the signs of her boss slipping into thinking mode so decided to stand silently while her boss considered the possibilities. After a few minutes of furrowed brow concentration Fantozzi leaned back in her chair, pursing her lips while closing her eyes and massaging the bridge of her nose between a thumb and index finger. Without opening her eyes, she spoke.
“How many is that now?”
Tolan quickly consulted her PAD ensuring she gave the colonel the latest number. “As of this morning that’s seventeen officers of senior captain grade, twenty-three commander or lieutenant commanders and 131 other ranks.”
“And there is no mention of what this Foram is? A ship? A place? A secret project? For all we know it could be a waste management plant on a tramp steamer in the outer system” Fantozzi said failing to hide her exasperation. Opening her eyes to read the message again as if by re-reading the text she could fathom the true meaning of Foram. “And we have no mention of Foram in any other intercept?” Fantozzi asked her subordinate.
Tolan shook her head mimicking the negative response of her human boss. “No, ma'am. Whatever it is, the Alonans are keeping it off the grid. I think, whoever is signing-off on these movement orders has no idea that they shouldn’t be mentioning Foram.”
The human colonel grunted her agreement with her Benii second in command’s statement. These intercepts were the Commonwealth’s first sniff of anything to do with Foram. “Anything from the Observers?” Asked Bliek referring to the military observers that, since the direct intervention of Admiral Jing months before, following the misunderstanding at Balat.
The destruction of the Alonan colony by the Black Ships had led to that misunderstanding, damn nearly escalating into open war between the Commonwealth and the Alonan Empire. Admiral Jing’s solution was simple; Alonan military observers aboard the largest of the Commonwealth’s installations, by permission of course, with that permission stretching to include observation of the movement and exercising of major fleet elements.
A reciprocal agreement placed Commonwealth observers on equivalent Empire units.
Jing’s hoped the observers would reassure their respective governments that neither side was planning a sneak attack on its neighbor. So far as Fantozzi was aware no observer from either side had had their movements restricted. As long as the observers know what to look for mused Fantozzi.
“The only thing of note-” Tolan began again referring to her PAD to ensure she gave accurate information. “Is a report from the embedded Garundan observer at the Empire’s Naval War College. He’s spent the last few months cultivating a relationship with an Alonan senior grade captain who’s on fast track to flag rank.”
Fantozzi searched her memory for a name. “Ah, yes. Captain Rikel. He scored pretty highly on the Advanced Tactics Course, if memory serves.”
“Rikel came top of his class. The observer attended the graduation dinner two nights ago and a tipsy Rikel let slip he’s been nominated for command of brand-new warship. The warship would put the Empire on par with anything the Commonwealth has in space.”
“That was a bit silly of him.” Smirked Fantozzi.
“Indeed, ma'am.” Agreed Tolan. “I cross referenced the observer’s report with our intercepts and found a movement order sending the good captain to…”
“Foram.” Interjected Fantozzi. A small smile played on Fantozzi’s lips as she considered the fate of the faceless administration officer when their superiors found out that they had been flinging the name of what, perhaps, was the Alonan Empires closest guarded secret around in poorly encrypted movement orders.
“Okay, Major, lets cross-reference the names of Alonans who’ve been assigned to Foram. I want everything we have; especially performance ratings and any recent combat experience.” The Benii tapped furiously on her PAD and entered the commands needed to achieve Fantozzi’s order.
“I’ve got a bad feeling that our sneaky little Alonan friends are up to something and whatever it is I don’t think it’s good for us.”
✽✽✽
FORAM SYSTEM
Captain Rikel had been a spacer for his entire military career and recognized the significance of the slight shuddering of the deck plates beneath his feet. The transport carrying Rikel and his compatriots had cut its gravity drive and re-entered normal space.
“Well, looks like we’ve arrived at our destination.” Remarked a commander, who’s name Rikel could not recall, even though she had sat diagonally across the small table from Rikel since embarking the transport at Emperor Yalu IV station.
“Wherever that is.” Mumbled a voice Rikel did recognize.
“Oh, cheer up, Tova.” Rikel admonished his fellow naval captain and former classmate on the Advanced Tactics Course at the naval warfare college. “For all we know this is a secret, naval beach-side retreat, reserved for officers who’ve shown outstanding performance and leadership in the field of… er… drinking.”
The comment received a forced grunt from Tova and a few chortles from Rikel’s traveling companions, a dozen or so officers of varying ranks.
“I’m sure those goons from Imperial Security who checked, and double checked our identities, before putting us aboard this rust bucket, were not doing so to make sure a junior officer sneaked on board, hoping to get a tan.” Tova’s reply caused the room to drop into silence. “Besides, I recognized at least another half dozen or so spacers that I have served with over the years hovering around the personnel lock we boarded through.” Tova pointed a fat finger at Rikel. “I’m willing to bet they are aboard this ship, sitting in a cabin like and wondering where the gods have landed us and why.”
Tova’s remarks only served to reawaken the questions that Rikel himself had put to the back of his mind ever since he had received his orders to report to a specific docking bay on the Emperor Yalu IV space station at a specific time and date. After graduating at the top of his class Rikel had expected to receive orders giving him command of a shiny new cruiser instead, his orders only fueled the conspiracy theory that ran rife through his classmates at the naval warfare college. Gossip had it that the High Command had plucked large numbers of officers and ratings from their current assignments throughout the fleet and simply vanished them.
Their disappearance had left gaps in ship’s personnel that remained unfilled and lead to major performance issues among the fleet, at a time when the threat to the Empire appeared larger than ever. The rumors led to many a late-night discussion in the Officer’s Mess. Now, it seemed, Rikel and those with him, where about to add to those issues.
From his earliest days as a junior ensign aboard a bulk freighter shuttling back and forth between Alona and the ore processing plants spread throughout the Alonan systems thick asteroid belt. His superiors quickly identified Rikel as a fast learner and he rapidly found himself on the promotion fast track. Short, sharp tours of duty, on ever larger and powerful Imperial Navy units, broken up by promotion and spells as a staff and logistics’ officer, ensured that Rikel received a rounded, thorough knowledge of the intricacies of the modern Imperial Navy.
Officers like Rikel were in even higher demand after first contact with an alien race. Humans.
The appearance of the TDF James Cook and its subsequent rescue of an Alonan vessel
in distress had sent shockwaves through Alonan society. Now, cried the scientists who had for generations been telling anyone who would listen that somewhere out among the countless stars there must be another civilization at least equal if not more advanced than their own, the Empire had proof that they were not alone.
A growing sense of dread quickly followed the initial shock of discovering that life existed elsewhere. The Humans claimed to be peaceful explorers with the ability to travel between the stars using a gravity drive, a technology the Humans refused to share.
The Emperor and his subjects could not tolerate this situation.
Who were these Humans, to deny the Empire? The Empire’s dread morphed into resentment. Resentment of all things Human. So, began a covert operation to secure the gravity drive for the Empire. Vast sums of money changed hands in shady deals which, in the fullness of time, saw the Empire procure what it sought; working examples of the Human’s gravity drive. With uncommon haste, the Empire set to work their engineers, technicians, and theoretical scientists and within months, the Emperor launched the INS Emperor Katcha; with Lieutenant Rikel as its fresh-faced Weapons’ Officer.
A year later Lieutenant Commander Rikel found himself in a hardened command center as the Others threatened to snuff the Empire from existence. An enemy which the Humans had known about and had, in their blatant disregard for the Empire, failed to warn the Alonans about. Despite the best efforts of the brave souls staffing the ships of the Imperial Navy who, with courage that would hail them as heros, flung themselves upon the Others’ relentlessly advancing behemoths. Those brave souls died in their tens of thousands as it nothing stopped the enemy closing on the very heart of the Empire Alona.
