She-Rok shook his head, saying, “Kvel Mavek, the present circumstances have grown far beyond you, or me for that matter. It is over, my friend. I am sorry that it had to be this way. In my own way I wished that you could have trusted me, but it is understandable that it was not possible.”
She-Rok pressed the contact.
Mavek stiffened for the shock of the weapon, but the only thing that happened was a slight humming that grew in her ears. When she opened her eyes there was a small hologram floated above She-Rok’s hand. The hologram was of none other than Alexander.
“Good Afternoon, Pro Consul,” he said gravely. “We have a great deal to talk about, specifically the future relationship of our two peoples. It is a relationship which means more to me than territory or badges, and it is a relationship which will, in the future, be strong and amicable. Why then, if we assume that such is to be, should we concede to years of war and ill intentions? We have a chance, here and now, to do away with centuries of mistrust. The first step must be taken by you, however, as only you can decide which path your people shall take.”
Mavek’s eyes rose to those of She-Rok, and she saw that the reptilian being understood her dilemma. “Just listen to him,” he told her, “after all, it is the Kempec who are renowned for their diplomacy.”
#
Grand Admiral Khandar was in the middle of the thirty-seventh iteration of the computer’s holographic attack programs when an encrypted ethernet message disturbed him. It was of the highest code, meant for his eyes only. With ill disguised temper Khandar ceased his exercise and activated the security field in his quarters, locking into the net. The high featured visage of Karim Shekar appeared. Shekar was the Golkos political representative to the Alliance. Khandar had known her for years and thought her intelligent and capable as politicians went. At the first he recognized the import of the message. There was no humor in her Golkos features, and certainly none of the confidence his latest reports should have given her.
“Grand Admiral, we are betrayed,” she said stiffly. There were more words, but Khandar heard no more of them, he didn’t need to; the first sentence was enough explanation. Instinctively he knew what had occurred, even as he feared it would. As Shekar kept speaking, her voice growing more insistent, Khandar drifted in his own thoughts.
“I had hoped to be wrong about my own suspicions, but I face an equally clever adversary. Alexander would no more miss this opportunity than I would. He has cut to the heart of our weakness: the very impossibility of a truly united confederation. What is to be done, therefore, must be done by myself alone; as I always thought it would be.” Absently he cut the connection in the midst of Shekar’s monologue and called his guard. A troop of grim Golkos warriors met him outside his quarters. Without a word he strode down the battleship’s main gallery to the berths of the Seer’koh. Without announcement he punched his personal override code. The door slid open. A warm musty odor of incense poured out of the dim chambers carrying with it the enveloping sound of the jungle. Khandar did not need to enter the chambers to see the grasping but still forms of Admiral S’kreen and her staff clutched in the hold of their ancient rite of death.
For a moment events seemed to overcome even the resolution of the Grand Admiral, and his strength failed him. The loss of the blunt, tenacious Admiral S’kreen was a blow to his spirit as much as his arsenal and it affected the Golkos more than he could ever admit. In a barely to be heard whisper he said, “We have both been betrayed, S’kreen, but it is I who must continue this struggle whether it is the will of my people or not.”
The ring of the ship’s intercom broke his thoughts. Khandar answered only to hear that the Seer’koh and other non-Golkos contingents of the combined fleet were reversing course without explanation. Calls were coming into the flagship from throughout the Golkos fleet requesting to know the Grand Admiral’s orders. Khandar stared at the image of his Captain upon the tiny screen as if he failed to comprehend the question. When the Captain repeated his query Khandar suddenly snapped at him, “What should we do now that our forces are decimated even before the greatest battle of the kicellia? Attack, Captain, attack! That is the order! If nine hundred Golkos warships cannot defeat one fifth their number and subdue Terra then we do not deserve to return as skulkers to our Homeworld. The future of Golkos is now! It is in our hands, and we shall not meet our destiny with our backs turned; refusing battle on the enemy’s soil in order to defend the last of our own. Our battle plans are unchanged, Captain. We are merely free of the rotting flesh of the Alliance carcass. The war between the Alliance and Terra is over; and the war between the Golkos and Alexander has begun!” With a last burst of venom Khandar slammed his fist on the bulkhead, ending his connection and leaving a bloody smear on the metal.
He stomped back to his quarters, placing his guard without the entrance, and withdrew. Khandar remained in his quarters the remainder of the voyage, with only his computer simulations for company. He ran them again and again, trying new tactics and stratagems; attempting to calculate Alexander’s answering moves. The mercury hue of his eyes grew feverish with lack of sleep and isolation, but Khandar refused to leave or to take any messages from Golkos. In the first decurn the Homeworld hailed their fleet every tenth decurn. By the third decurn only two hails were received. Both went unanswered, and on the fourth decurn, only eight decurns from Terra, there was no hail at all. The only information received over the ethernet was a steady source of static emanating from the direction of Terra.
CHAPTER 34
New York was a silent grey skeleton. Terrans deserted the once thriving city, as they did every other major city on the planet. Only the ceaseless patrolling of lonely armored cars gave any semblance of hope that Terrans would ever return to their great cities. For these days of uncertainty, however, the planet’s sentients huddled in the forests and in the mountains; waiting out the coming storm as they had for so many thousands of years.
Yet it was not Terra alone that waited nervously for the climax of the Galactic war. The final days were tense throughout the galaxy. The coming conflict, narrowed in scope though it was by the dissolution of the Alliance, still looked to determine the future course of the Galactics. Indeed it could be easily surmised that the prospects of a Terran victory were now welcome, whereas the thought of a Golkos triumph, with its inevitable war of retribution against its former confederates, was considered the greater threat. Terra’s sober desires, which nevertheless hedged on Galactic sovereignty, were more desirable than a rampant Alexander. It was a marriage of convenience to be sure, but one that the former Alliance confederates congratulated themselves on. After twenty-five hundred generations of peace and stagnation the reality of Alexander’s threat, as proven at the expense of Syraptose and Quotterim, was quite enough. There was no need for war when there was a way out of it.
Alexander, during this time, limited his formal duties to finalizing and approving the peace accords with all the former Alliance states. He wanted the agreements complete as both a legal hedge against the states holding on to their final agreement pending the outcome of the Terran battle, and a calming effect on his own populace. The former was much easier than he expected. As his conditions required no ceding of any territory the states in question were only too happy to comply. Alexander’s demands that all planets without the Homeworld’s be open to trade and colonization were readily accepted, though on the condition that Terrans never number more than ten percent of the population. His linking of a federation to extend the authority of the present Galactic Senate was seen for what it was; a throw for Alexander’s legitimized hegemony throughout the civilized galaxy.
The Galactics accepted this as the right of Alexander’s power, but they did not agonize over it. Alexander may well hold sway over the Senate, but there were always the Chem to help keep him in line. If this could not be done politically by the Chem then it could be done quietly by the Chem Elder. It was widely known even at this early time that the marriage of Alexander and Na
zeera was not simply a political maneuver, but rather a sincere expression of their mutual affection. That being true there was every confidence that the Galactics were well represented even beyond their Senate.
As to the Golkos there was little concern, though not none. The Golkos were a fiery race, and well able to give the Terrans a fight. The greatest fear on the part of the Galactics was that the Golkos might indeed be able to take Terra, if only temporarily. When Alexander’s fleets arrived home to a smoldering husk there was no telling what Alexander would do in retribution. Alexander was dangerous in the extreme, a fact no state bothered to debate; therefore, it was best if his energies were channeled in specific directions. An enraged Alexander was unpredictable and quite capable of placing the blame of his ravaged Homeworld upon the whole of the galaxy, not just the Golkos.
To this end there was some hope that even the Golkos might see reason and abandoned the war. What better way could they hope to end the conflict than after their victory at “Thermopylae?” The Golkos could claim, for history’s sake if nothing else, that they forced Alexander to the bargaining table, and the Terran Overlord was just magnanimous enough in victory to allow them that boast. The entirety of this scenario was presented, behind the scenes of course, between the combatants, and initially there were signs of acceptance from the Golkos. No accord was ever drawn up, however, for the Golkos government lost all contact with their own fleet. There was no word from Grand Admiral Khandar despite Golkos efforts, seemingly sincere, to contact him. As the Terran fleets continued to track and engage the Golkos fleet on its headlong course to Terra all diplomatic efforts were cut off.
Even without the body of the Seer’koh fleet the forces at Grand Admiral Khandar’s disposal were sobering. The Overlord of the Terran Empire was under no illusions as to the intentions or the competency of his counterpart. Over the weeks of the conflict Alexander studied every engagement and every scrap of data on Khandar, and he was on the whole quite impressed with the character of the man. True, Khandar had a ruthless quality about him which was alien to the Terran, but on the whole he found Khandar to be steadfast, aggressive and flexible. Having a reservoir of those qualities himself Alexander did not underestimate his opponent; nor did he subscribe to the media view of Khandar as a reckless madman.
The media reported on all aspects of the war, and they displayed their usual maddening capacity for uncovering sensitive information. That did not concern Alexander overmuch, though it drove his military advisors to frenetic frustration. Alexander’s main concern was the media’s habitual art of supposition; wherein they attempted to fill the gaps of information with their own conjecture. In just such a manner did the portrait of Grand Admiral Khandar the destroyer of worlds come into being. It fed the hysteria of the moment to such a point that Alexander had to take a personal hand in ensuring the populace that sufficient forces remained about Terra to turn back Khandar and bring the war to a swift end.
Alexander’s assurances had their expected calming influence; despite his detractors, of which there were still many, Alexander was a powerfully romantic figure to the people. In times of crisis such leaders tend to be seen as the people wish to see them. If there were flaws in Alexander’s strategies the populace was more or less willing to ignore them; confident that so long as he was present in the battle he would find a way to victory.
Alexander was, all in all, quite proud of his citizens, but not so pleased with himself. They faced the coming crisis with fortitude and nervously constructive energy and so did he, but he agonized over what he saw as a potentially fatal mistake in his plans.
As he told Admiral Augesburcke in the moments after the fireship attack on the Golkos-Seer’koh fleets, “I could have ended it right here, right now. If I kept the 5 and the 2 here we’d have had enough to wipe them out.”
Augesburcke reminded him that it would have been an all or nothing gamble, but Alexander still let it gnaw at him. Still, in the end, all the defenses which could be built were ready, and Terra was as prepared as possible. Alexander, his tactical error no doubt in the back of his mind, took precautions against defeat. All Terran computers with the locations of Terran colonies had their positions wiped clean. Afterwards even Alexander did not know where they were. Each had the ability to monitor the ethernet, and should Terra’s survival be assured the colonies would broadcast their positions after the danger passed.
The next days went by with agonizing languor. Reports placed Khandar’s lead contingents less than a day away from the Terran system and Alexander spent a final afternoon on the float house at Pend Oreille. There was a deceptive calm on the lake, as often happens before momentous events. The final preparations on both sides having been made there was little to do but await the joining of the two forces. The Terran Overlord reviewed their defensive status that morning. The remnants of the Seventh Fleet, bolstered by the Hashimoto’s projects and the new dreadnoughts now numbered three hundred and ninety-three warships. The balance of the firepower rested in fifty-eight battleships and twenty-two dreadnoughts. The carrier conversions gave the Terran force a greater number of capital ships than Golkos fleet over thrice its size.
Admiral Konstantinov’s submarine “wolf pack” was still engaged in an unrelenting assault on the Golkos fleet. They’d inflicted considerable damage, tallying another sixty-one Golkos warships either destroyed or forced out of superluminal. There were no losses to the submarines as the invaders refused to alter their course and pursue. As to the estimates for the Golkos fleet Alexander could be fairly certain that he still faced some eight to nine hundred-odd warships. The information from the rescued Quotterim put the original Golkos fleet strength at thirteen hundred and twenty warships, of which one hundred and twenty were battleships. Losses to the Terran fireships, harassment and the battle of Thermopylae shrunk the Golkos fleet by a full third. Alexander was fairly satisfied with the attrition of the Golkos. To cut an attacking force by such a significant fraction—especially in their capital ships—affected not only its striking power but its morale, and while the prospect of facing nine hundred warships was grim it was a long sight better than the four thousand that advanced on Terra only a few weeks past.
These thoughts in mind Alexander retired to the deck after the morning military council, intent on enjoying the remainder of the day. The Sun was warm, but not hot, and a hint of a cool breeze kept him comfortable. The weather was as fine as could be wished for, and the scenery was spectacular. There was, therefore, no reason not to relax, but Alexander could think of nothing but the coming invasion. The initial Golkos squadrons were expected to enter the Terran system at half past midnight, Terran Zulu time.
Nazar, a close advisor in the entire affair, could not share Alexander’s pessimistic view. He was, in fact, very much looking forward to the encounter. He considered Grand Admiral Khandar’s continuation of the invasion bold but foolhardy. He pointed out that the Golkos currently held less than a three-to-one advantage in ships, explaining, “That number is dangerously close to the limits of Galactic doctrine. A four-to-one advantage is desired for any major planetary system to be attacked with reasonable success of capture. This is due, of course, to potent planetary defense systems. That ratio was available to Grand Admiral Khandar with the Seer’koh fleet at his side. Without his confederates the Grand Admiral is on dangerous ground. Even a three-to-one advantage is considered risky; but with Khandar’s current resources, and considering his past losses, an attack now is desperately rash.”
Alexander pointed out that the Terran strike fleets had a lesser advantage over the Syraptose and the Quotterim as Khandar had over himself. The comparison brought out a laugh from Nazar. “The Syraptose are not Terrans! Even the Quotterim, who fought bravely and intelligently in my opinion, cannot be consider on par with the Golkos or the Seer’koh forces. You have taught us a lesson in warfare, Alexander. At the moment Galactic doctrine is being rewritten by you. Khandar must assume that Alexander’s defenses are equivalent to his fleets in ten
acity, unpredictability and capability. If he does not he is simply a fool. I can say, and with some authority, that Terra is easily the most fearsomely defended planet in the known galaxy. If Grand Admiral Khandar survives this I will personally question his sanity. Why do you think the remainder of the Alliance seceded en masse?”
“There is another question which begs an answer,” Alexander mused.
“Oh, you know the answer, Alexander, you knew it all along,” Nazar reminded him. “Why else send your strike fleets halfway across the galaxy? You had this all worked out in that head of yours, even to the break-up of the Alliance. I wondered why you didn’t attack the Golkos instead of the Syraptose and Quotterim, but I’m beginning to see. The Golkos are just malevolent enough to have considered continuing their offensive after the fall of Golkos, if for no other reason than revenge. They could have reached Terra with the continued support of the Syraptose and the Quotterim before your fleets could have done anything about it. The Alliance would have stayed together; none would have deserted the Golkos after such a catastrophe unless they initiated it by pulling out and making peace with you. That was not nearly as assured as the surrender of the Syraptose and the Quotterim; and you would be facing three times as many warships about Terra as you do now. Yet as things have played out it is obvious that no planetary system could hold out against a single Terran fleet. With two fleets out in space, who knows where, not one of Golkos’s confederates was willing to risk being the next target.”
“Yet if the invasion of Terra were to be successful,” Alexander countered.
“Impossible! At that time there were already worries within the Alliance, despite the loss at Thermopylae. That defeat may have had as much to do with the Alliance dissolution as the horrendous losses the Golkos-Seer’koh were taking. I shall remind you of your own propaganda campaign, Alexander. The entire galaxy saw the death of the New Jersey at Thermopylae, and it shook them. It was a Terran defeat certainly, but the galaxy needed to know just how Terrans handled defeat. It was glorious, Alexander, glorious! It didn’t rattle you, it didn’t even phase you. The Terrans were the warriors of legend, and answered their defeat defiantly to the last. With the ensuing capture of two Alliance Homeworlds and the renewed battering of the Golkos-Seer’koh the rest was simple: there were none except the Golkos who had any confidence that the capture of Terra was even a possibility. We are creatures of procedure and protocol now, through inactivity, and peace if you will. To expect the Alliance to make a leap of faith in themselves was to expect too much. You knew all of this, of course.”
Alexander Galaxus: The Complete Alexander Galaxus Trilogy Page 83
