EMPIRE: Warlord (EMPIRE SERIES Book 5)
Page 24
Guardian Julian Wendover of the Dominion of Cascade, King Henry VII of the Kingdom of Celestia, Queen Catherine of the Kingdom of Nederling, Regent Gerald Monroe of the Kingdom of Preston, and Roi Francois of the Royaume de Terre Autre were meeting in VR. The meeting room was a simulation of the common room of an exclusive club, and all were sitting in comfortable leather club chairs arranged in a conversation circle. No one else was present.
All were wearing normal business attire other than the young Roi Francois, whose avatar wore ceremonial court dress suitable for a king of twelve thousand planets and thirty trillion people. His leggings and tunic were lavender.
“Well, we are convened finally,” Monroe said. “What is our agenda?”
Cascade being the largest in population and nearly a match for the more sparsely populated Nederling in number of planets, Wendover went first.
“I think we, as the remaining independent star nations located between Sintar and the Democracy of Planets, face something of a crisis. Sintar has annexed Pannia and Estvia, and the DP has annexed Annalia and Berinia. Only we five remain independent. I think that won’t last long. Our agenda, then, is what outcome do we desire of those possible, and what actions can we take to achieve those outcomes.”
“I, for one, have no desire to be annexed by anyone,” Roi Francois said with a bit of a huff. “Terre Autre has been independent for centuries and will remain so.”
“The question is whether that will be allowed to continue by both Sintar and the DP,” Queen Catherine said. “Either could put an end to that state of affairs rather quickly, I’m afraid.”
“I think it’s important to note Sintar has, as far as we have been told, only annexed star nations that asked the Emperor for annexation, while the Democracy of Planets had no such permission for Annalia and Berinia,” Monroe said.
“Has anyone confirmed that?” King Henry asked. “That the public statements are correct about Sintar being asked for annexation?”
“I have spoken to Anne Bowdoin, Francis Schmitt-deVries, and Howard Walthers since their annexations,” Wendover said. “They all said they approached the Emperor and asked for annexation. There was no pressure or instigation by Sintar. The other two I can’t speak to.”
“For that matter, the former rulers of Sintar’s annexations remain in leadership positions within the Empire,” Queen Catherine said.
“But not as nobility,” King Henry said. “All their nobility became commoners. There’s no nobility within the Sintaran Empire.”
“Is the Emperor not nobility?” Catherine asked.
“He doesn’t consider himself to be,” Monroe said. “He is sworn to the throne. There is no hereditary succession. He selects a successor to swear to the throne.”
“So everybody’s a commoner, even the Emperor?” Henry asked.
“In the Empire, I believe they call them citizens,” Monroe said.
“We would find that completely unacceptable,” Roi Francois said with a sniff.
“The other thing I learned in my conversations was the Emperor apparently meant it when he said the benefits of Sintaran citizenship would apply equally to the annexed peoples.” Wendover said. “Things such as universal VR nanites, universal educational opportunities like scholarships based on merit, universal contraceptive nanites, all that sort of thing. The Empire has been aggressively addressing all these issues. Pannia, as the first, is farthest along, and Howard is very pleased with his decision.”
“Remarkable,” Queen Catherine said.
Roi Francois looked around at his colleagues.
“I can’t believe what I am hearing. The leaders of proud star nations, with centuries of history and tradition, discussing in positive terms becoming a mere sector of someone else’s empire? It boggles my mind. Boggles, I tell you.”
“The problem is we likely have little choice,” Monroe said. “While Sintar seems to be content to let independent nations remain independent, the DP is unlikely to do so. Not to decide is to decide, in this instance. If we do not request annexation to Sintar, the DP will likely annex us without any request or permission.”
“I consider it unlikely,” Roi Francois said. “We have always been on good terms with the Democracy of Planets.”
King Henry took some convincing, and Roi Francois would not be moved. In the end, Wendover agreed to meet with Emperor Trajan on behalf of four of the five remaining independent border nations.
“I’ve received a request for a meeting with Guardian Wendover of the Dominion of Cascade, Admiral Leicester. Your forces along the Earthside southern frontier should be put on alert.”
“Yes, Sire.”
Fleet Admiral Natalia Shvets read the ‘Eyes-Only’ message from Imperial Navy Headquarters Sintar in VR.
“Bring all formations to general quarters, Art,” Shvets told her chief of staff.
“Yes, Ma’am,” Vice Admiral Arthur Beck said.
“All formations are to advise their earliest spacing time.”
“Everybody should be ready to go, Ma’am, per your earlier orders, but we’ll get confirmation from all formations.”
Across the entire Sintaran Empire, crews assigned to ships in the border sectors ran for their bunks and VRed into their general quarters posts.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Your Majesty.”
“It’s good to meet you, Guardian Wendover. Let’s be seated, shall we?”
They sat in the leather club chairs in the featureless room of Dunham’s VR channel for meetings with other rulers.
“Let me say first, Your Majesty, I have been asked to represent not just the Dominion of Cascade, but the Kingdom of Celestia, the Kingdom of Nederling, and the Kingdom of Preston as well. I am authorized to make certain arrangements on their behalf.”
“But not the Royaume de Terre Autre, Guardian Wendover?”
“No, Your Majesty. Roi Francois does not have the same appreciation for the situation in which we currently find ourselves as the four of us do.”
“I understand, Guardian Wendover.”
“With specific regard to that situation, I am sure I need not go into great detail with you on that. We are caught between the Sintaran Empire and the Democracy of Planets. While Your Majesty has not annexed any independent star nation without invitation, the same cannot be said of the Democracy of Planets. Further, I have personally spoken with Anne Bowdoin, Francis Schmitt-deVries, and Howard Walthers, and they have all assured me their public statements and the private reality are completely aligned. Their former kingdoms are being annexed, and their subjects accepted, on an equal basis with the rest of the Sintaran Empire.”
“I will not rule over a divided Empire, Guardian Wendover. History is replete with examples of why that is a bad idea.”
“Indeed, Your Majesty. Faced with this situation, and with an appreciation that the Democracy of Planets’ likely actions means that not to decide is to decide, we ask that the Sintaran Empire annex Cascade, Celestia, Nederling, and Preston on the same terms as Your Majesty has annexed Pannia, Phalia, and Garland.”
Dunham nodded. As expected. Terre Autre was a disappointment, but they always went their own way. He may hear from them yet.
“Very well, Guardian Wendover. The Sintaran Empire will annex Cascade, Celestia, Nederling, and Preston on equal terms to the rest of the Sintaran Empire.”
Wendover stood, and Dunham followed. They shook hands.
As they did, Dunham sent the message that had been queued in his outbound mailbox, and which he had edited to reflect Terre Autre’s desire to stand alone
Dunham to Leicester: Cascade, Celestia, Nederling, Preston. NOT Terre Autre. GO!
“Please be in haste, Your Majesty,” Wendover said. “We have no idea how long the DP will hold back from taking action unilaterally.”
“I have just sent the order, Sector Governor Wendover. The Imperial Navy is already moving.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Strung out behind their hypergate
projector ships, whole fleets of the Imperial Navy were making for the border. They were just awaiting their orders, because they would be incommunicado while in hyperspace.
The orders came, the hypergate projector ships opened their hypergates behind them and shut down their engines, and warships began entering the hypergates and disappearing.
Across the southern Earthside Sintaran border, one and a half million Imperial Navy ships flooded into hyperspace.
Rear Admiral Dorothy Conroy and her chief of staff looked into the hyperspace map. A rash of hyperspace tracks had begun in the Empire and headed toward the border. Tens of thousands of them, forming a veritable wall of vessels heading into four of the independent border nations.
“Look at that!” Conroy’s chief of staff said.
“A half million warships, a million picket ships, and not a single spacer – not one solitary crewman – on any of them,” Conroy said with wonder.
Flanking Maneuver
“These emergency meetings are getting old,” DP Prime Minister Harold Pinter said.
Foreign Minister Jules Morel had called this one. Defense Minister Pavel Isaev was also there, in the VR channel with the small conference table.
“Yes, but sometimes they’re necessary,” Morel said. “Sintar has annexed Cascade, Celestia, Nederling, and Preston.”
“Shit. Can we beat them to the punch, Pavel?”
“No. They’re already there. Unless you want to go up against half a million Imperial Navy warships.”
“They didn’t announce anything until the navy was already in place,” Morel said.
“What about Terre Autre?” Pinter asked.
“No, they are declaring their independence,” Morel said.
“That’s a quaint notion in the situation that pertains now,” Pinter said.
Morel shrugged. Pinter turned to his defense minister.
“Pavel, move into Terre Autre.”
“OK, Harold.”
“And there’s something else I want you to do as well.”
“Yes, Admiral Conroy.”
“If you will look at the highlighted portion of the map, Sire, you will see two interesting groups of traces. I’ve highlighted yellow the Imperial Navy’s hyperspace traces into the four newly annexed border nations.”
Cascade, Celestia, Nederling, and Preston were now also tinted green, like the rest of Sintar. Tens of thousands of yellow hyperspace traces ran from Sintar into the four border nations. Most showed as having terminated in various systems as the ships dropped out of hyperspace.
“And I’ve highlighted red the most recent moves by the Democracy of Planets Navy.”
Thousands of red hyperspace traces were growing in the orange-tinted volume of the Democracy of Planets, headed towards Terre Autre. They had not yet crossed the border.
“I think Roi Francis may regret his decision not to join the others, Sire.”
“Perhaps, Admiral Leicester,” Dunham said. “Perhaps. We don’t know what kind of deal he has with them, if any.”
“There is one more thing I want to show you, Sire,” Conroy said.
She turned to the map.
“Magnify forty-five.”
The southern Earthward portion of the map shrank back to its normal size, and the very northward edge of the border between the Democracy of Planets and Sintaran territory, the recently annexed Estvia, expanded and moved to the center of the display. Red traces beginning in the DP were extending towards the empty space to the galactic north of Estvia.
“Where are they going, Admiral?”
“We don’t know for sure, Sire. Midlothia, perhaps? Or Jasmine? It looks like they are going around Estvia and Garland toward the unaligned independents on our farside.”
“How many ships, Admiral Conroy?” Leicester asked.
“A hundred thousand or so, Sir. It’s not a feint, I don’t think. They also don’t know we can see them. I think it’s for real.”
“They want a sortie point on our other side, Sire. Pinch us between. Force us to commit forces to defending the farside.”
Dunham nodded.
“That seems likely, Admiral Leicester.”
Dunham looked at the map thoughtfully, then turned to Conroy.
“Admiral Conroy, when they turn the corner around Estvia and make for the farside, I want you to prepare me a scan that looks like it was picked up by picket ships on the very outskirts of Estvia showing this force. Make it look like something we picked up sort of by accident with normal scanning. Can you do that?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Very well. Thank you, Admiral.”
Jared Denny got the Imperial summons in mid-morning local time. He checked, and it was afternoon in Imperial City on Sintar. He checked into VR and accepted the meeting. He found himself standing, as on prior meetings, before the Emperor’s desk, in a simulation of his office in the Imperial Palace.
“Good afternoon, Your Majesty.”
“Be seated, Mr. Denny.”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Mr. Denny, I need to ask you about your progress on the hyperspace attack software for the picket ships. A situation is developing that may require such an attack. Are you making progress?”
“Yes, Sire. We are testing a new version of the software now. For this testing we are using live crews, Imperial Navy personnel who are piloting the Red Team force, rather than having a computer simulate them. It’s a much more rigorous test than we used previously.”
“And the results, Mr. Denny?”
“The picket ship attacks are now more like fifty percent kill on the first attack, Sire. They are proving difficult to avoid and impossible to predict. We are randomly shifting the attack parameters, on an individual picket ship basis, which makes their attack profile impossible to anticipate, even after multiple previous attacks.”
“Is this something that can be downloaded to existing picket ships, Mr. Denny? Or does it require a hardware change?”
“No, it’s downloadable over QE radio, Sire.”
“Do you consider it ready for field trials, Mr. Denny?”
Denny thought about it. The new software had proved devilish in its effectiveness against live crews. The next thing would be to introduce it into the field in limited numbers.
“Yes, Sire. Field tests are our next step.”
“Excellent, Mr. Denny. As a first field trial, then, I want you to upgrade Fleet Admiral Maria della Espinoza’s picket ships to this new software. I will send her the necessary orders.”
“Yes, Sire.”
“Very good, Mr. Denny. That is all for today.”
And with that Dunham cut the channel.
Fleet Admiral Maria della Espinoza received two sets of orders from Imperial Navy Headquarters Sintar. They looked like they could be related. One warned her of a possible Democracy of Planets incursion into Jasmine or Midlothia, for which the DP force would have to come around outside Estvia on the north. The other instructed her to update the software of her picket ships with a new hyperspace attack package.
“I tell you, Jay, I don’t like upgrading software while I’m waiting for a DP incursion,” she said to her chief of staff.
“I have to agree with you, Ma’am. It does seem risky,” Admiral Kim Jae Seong said.
“And a hundred thousand DP warships trying to turn my flank to attack independent nations behind me? How many picket ships do we have right now?”
“Minus the ones actually on picket duty, Ma’am, we have about three hundred thousand of them.”
“Which is not enough to take out the DP force in hyperspace.”
“Not given the performance numbers Admiral Shvets saw in Estvia, Ma’am.”
“See if we can meet with the software vendor, Jay. I want to know more about this upgrade.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Jared Denny met with Fleet Admiral Della Espinoza and her chief of staff, Admiral Kim Jae Seong, in the conference-room simulation Sintar Specialty Services used for gro
up meetings. The table was set to a smaller size, but that was the only difference.
Both Espinoza and Kim were shorter than Imperial averages, while Denny was a bit taller, but he was so thin either of them may have outmassed him. Both had the seriousness characteristic of high-ranking officers in the Imperial Navy.
Espinoza had no idea what to expect when she met with Denny. First impressions weren’t reassuring. His avatar was that of a lanky young man, his longish hair swept out of the way with an impatient hand, dressed in the casual pants and shirt of an engineer with a mismatched sport coat tossed over.
And then she saw it. The golden laurel wreath of the Gratitude of the Throne on his lapel. She decided to suspend judgment, and see where this led.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Mr. Denny.”
“My pleasure, Admiral Espinoza.”
“I wanted to ask you some questions about this software upgrade if I could, so I know more of what to expect.”
“Of course, Admiral.”
“First, though, Mr. Denny, I have to ask. What is Sintar Specialty Services? I’ve never heard of it.”
“Sintar Specialty Services is a design engineering firm that specializes in innovative solutions, Admiral.”
“And how big are you, Mr. Denny?”
“We have sixteen full-time staff, Admiral.”
“What is your connection to the picket ships, Mr. Denny?”
“We designed the current-generation Imperial Navy picket ships, Admiral.”
“You designed them? Sintar Specialty Services?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We designed them and wrote the current hyperspace attack software. We also designed the current-generation battleship, heavy cruiser, and light cruiser.”
“Your sixteen people designed all that? You’ve been busy, Mr. Denny.”
“Yes, Admiral. We also designed the HARPER system, the ECM system on the missiles and picket ships, optimized the ECM parameters of the picket ships for the Espinoza Maneuver, and worked on various other projects. We are on an unlimited open contract to the Imperial Navy currently.”