Abyss Of Savagery

by Toby Neighbors

  Esma flew Dean across to the escort ship herself on one of the last transfers. As the person in charge of piloting the alien vessels, Captain Dante was being summoned back to Space Base 13 along with the senior staff.

  “That’s everyone,” Matsumoto told the admiral on the escort ship.

  “Fine,” Admiral Prescott said, without looking at her peer.

  Dean could sense tension between Prescott and the other commanders. He wasn’t sure if it stemmed from the defeat in the New Wales system—where Matsumoto, Newberg, Dole, and Aviv had lost their ships—or from simple rivalry. Prescott had large eyes that seemed to bulge from their sockets and a fleshy pouch below her chin. Her skin was pasty, as if she hadn’t used the light therapy system in a very long time.

  The escort ship was a larger version of the Hannibal, with an open concourse but also a second story surrounding the large gravity drive. In many respects, the ship reminded Dean of a shopping mall. The bridge was on an elevated platform, and Dean noticed that none of the other officers were invited into the command center.

  Dean was still in his armor, while the other officers all wore safety suits. Only Dean and Chavez were armed, but the escort ship had its own Recon platoon who were strategically positioned around the group of officers, with several more armed and armored Recon specialists looking down from the surrounding balcony above. It was all a matter of precaution. Dean knew the brass hadn’t expected him to succeed in his mission. And even though it was clear that humans had been rescued from the Kroll, it was also clear that the staff onboard the escort ship didn’t trust them.

  “This doesn’t seem right,” Esma commented.

  “How so?” Dean said, holding his own reservations in check.

  “Shouldn’t we be celebrated as heroes?” she asked. “At least you should.”

  “In my experience, this is par for the course.”

  “You have to be kidding me,” she demanded.

  “No, I’m not. You have to remember that not everyone is a fan of Force Recon.”

  “I’ve heard the rumors, but you just saved the crew of five ships, not to mention thousands of colonists.”

  “And in the debriefing, that will be a footnote to the hundreds who were devoured by the Kroll,” Dean said. “The winds of approval in the service are constantly changing.”

  Esma looked around. Dean thought the group of officers congregating on the concourse of the escort ship looked like a band of refugees. No one looked happy or even relieved to be back in friendly territory on a human ship.

  “I guess we’ll find out what’s going on soon enough,” Esma said. “But I don’t like it.”

  “Debriefs are never fun, even when everything goes your way,” Dean agreed.

  They fell silent as Admiral Matsumoto and Aviv joined them. The two senior officers had straight faces, and Dean couldn’t tell what they were thinking.

  “Captains,” Aviv said. “It looks like we’ll face an inquisition by the brass.”

  “I believe their reservations are precautionary,” Matsumoto said.

  “What is your read on the situation, Captain Blaze?” Aviv asked.

  “I’ll be honest,” Dean said. “Not everyone at headquarters supported our mission. We weren’t sent to save you. Our priority was getting the Kroll ships for Colonel Davis. He has a retaliatory mission planned, but I don’t think he has the support of the brass. I really have no idea what our reception will be like.”

  “If the brass believes that the Kroll are a danger to Earth, they may not want to hear about a successful mission against three of the enemy ships,” Aviv said.

  “That makes no sense,” Esma said. “Why wouldn’t they want to know that the enemy isn’t unstoppable?”

  “Because, Captain,” Matsumoto said in his stoic tone of voice, “they need support to carry out their political aims. Our victory will give support to their enemies.”

  “Enemies?” Esma said. “We’re all on the same team.”

  “Unfortunately, not everyone would agree with that assessment,” Aviv said. “The Earth Alone movement is growing much more quickly than you might think.”

  “Anti-Recon sentiment is growing, too,” Matsumoto said. “Many believe EsDef should be a peace-keeping service without a military element.”

  “Even in the face of a new alien threat?” Esma asked. “That’s insane. Just let me talk to them. Or better yet, let them spend a few days in a Kroll holding cell and we’ll see how they feel after that.”

  “I long for the days when I had a fast ship and clear orders,” Dean said. “I’d take a straight-up fight any day over political backstabbing.”

  “An officer who wants to make a difference in the service must be a master strategist on the battlefield and in the boardroom,” Aviv said. “Off World Force Recon needs good officers, Captain.”

  “I concur,” Matsumoto said. “I suggest you keep a level head when we return to headquarters, Captain. It may mean the difference between a future the human race can live with and one that leaves us all in chains.”

  The trip from outside the heliosphere to Space Base 13, which was orbiting Earth, took less than two hours. Moving faster than light speed inside the system was only possible with the gravity drive technology, which was still relatively new. For Dean, it meant they could travel faster than they could send communications. He knew that soon the new gravity drives would be included in the comms beacons, which would speed up their ability to share information. Everything was changing, from how things were done to what humanity considered important. New technology, new threats, and even new ways to deal with the ever-changing galaxy they called home made Dean feel slightly uncomfortable. He had experienced firsthand that not everyone saw his work as vital. There were those within EsDef who wanted Force Recon to be abolished. His very first tour off-world had been with Admiral Hamilton, who had tried to use Dean’s platoon to further her ideas of abolishing Force Recon from the service.

  And during his highly publicized media tour on earth, after he had captured the Urgglatta ship and been awarded the Planetary Medial of Honor, Dean had been assigned personal security. He had thought the veteran Recon soldiers who accompanied Dean were just for show or to keep him on schedule, but at the last media event, Dean had been the target of a terrorist assassination attempt. If not for the heroic actions of his security detail, Dean would have been killed. Then there was Rear Admiral Chancy, whose vendetta was more personal—but his feelings about Force Recon were clear. He considered the elite soldiers nothing more than cannon fodder, just expendable grunts in EsDef to do his dirty work.

  As the escort ship docked at the space station, Dean steeled himself for what he expected to be a very cold reception.

  Chapter 6

  “They were lucky,” Colonel Cathy Paulson declared. As the chief EsDef political liaison, she seemed determined to ensure that no ships left Earth orbit.

  “Force Recon makes its own luck,” Colonel Andy Davis growled.

  “The operation in New Wales was successful,” General Alvin Price, head of EsDef personnel said. “But it wasn’t a military operation—it was a rescue attempt.”

  “That’s bullshit!” Davis declared.

  “He’s right,” Paulson went on. “Six of our best ships were captured, their crews helpless to stop the Kroll.”

  “They weren’t the new ships,” said Rear Admiral Ivan Weskovic, who was head of naval logistics, including the fleet’s many space vessels. “None of RA Chancy’s flotilla had gravity drives.”

  “The point is, they were defeated even though they outnumbered their enemy,” Paulson argued. “We’re all grateful for the heroic actions of Captain Blaze and his platoon, but we can’t base EsDef strategy on one man’s actions.”

  “It was Rear Admiral Chancy’s poor strategy that led to the defeat of the armada,” Admiral Aviv spoke up.

  “We all know your feelings about RA Chancy and his handling of the armada, Admiral,” General Price said. “There’s no
need to kick a man while he’s down.”

  “I’ve no feelings about Rear Admiral Chancy,” Aviv said, obviously trying to remain calm. “But I was present when Captain Blaze and his Recon platoon fought the Kroll. And while I agree that his platoon was lucky enough to hit the enemy when they least expected it, he also had a sound strategical plan that just happened to be the complete opposite of what the rear admiral ordered of the armada Recon platoons.”

  “Battle strategy really doesn’t have a place in these discussions,” General Price argued. “This isn’t a debrief. We have to decide the fate of EsDef.”

  “Are we the Extra Solar Defense Force, or just a glorified messenger service?” Colonel Davis asked.

  “We all know your point of view, Colonel,” Paulson said. “Nothing would make you happier than all-out war.”

  “We’re in a war, whether we like it or not,” Davis said. “The New Wales system was the second human colony the Kroll have attacked. If we don’t do something soon, they may attack several worlds all at once, and we’ll be spread too thin to strike back.”

  Dean felt the frustration building in the room. It was only the second time that he had been invited to join the EsDef brass as they decided what to do about the Kroll. The entire group of officers from the operation on New Wales was present, including Rear Admiral Chancy, although he sat in the corner with his eyes closed, mumbling softly to himself. They had been given a few minutes to freshen up, and Dean had removed his battle armor and showered for the first time in days. He felt good despite his broken arm, which was wrapped in a temporary brace that was hidden beneath the sleeve of his utility fatigues.

  Less than half an hour after arriving at Space Base 13, the entire group involved in the action in the New Wales system was reassembled for the strategy session. Dean felt humbled to be there, and Chavez stood quietly just behind him. There were other officers present as well, some from every branch of the service. The brass sat at a long conference table while Dean and the other guests stood in groups around the perimeter of the room.

  Fleet Admiral Bruce Cummings was the highest-ranking officer and had yet to speak. Major General Gerrard Fulton supported Colonel Davis’s plan, but the commander in charge of drone and shuttle operators wasn’t as vocal as Paulson and Price. Dean felt a twinge of despair knowing that the Kroll wouldn’t hesitate to attack. The EsDef ships massed around Earth wouldn’t intimidate the predatory avians. And the longer humanity huddled around their home planet, the more time the Kroll would have to ravage the colony worlds.

  “This isn’t a war like anything mankind has faced before,” Fleet Admiral Cummings finally said. “The Kroll aren’t human; they don’t think the way we do. We’ve seen their purpose, which is to feed off our colonies and steal our technology. We don’t have the resources to protect every colony world and space station, which leaves us with very few options.”

  “But a clear purpose,” Colonel Cathy Paulson said. “EsDef was formed to protect Earth and to ensure that humanity thrives.”

  “What about the humans on the forty-plus colony worlds?” Davis asked. “They don’t matter?”

  “You aren’t listening,” Paulson complained. “The fleet admiral said we don’t have the resources to protect all those worlds.”

  “Please, we don’t need to rehash this problem over and over,” Cummings said, holding up his hand in a placating gesture. “We have to decide what to do with the Kroll ships—that’s our purpose here.”

  “And the answer is clear,” Paulson spoke up. “The Kroll ships must be reverse-engineered.”

  “It is an unexpected boon,” Weskovic said. The rear admiral’s voice was pitched high with excitement at the prospect of stealing the Kroll technology. “There is no telling what we might learn.”

  “We can’t replicate the Kroll technology,” Major General Fulton declared. “It’s organic. We don’t have the capacity to create or control it.”

  “How can we know that for certain if we don’t study the ships?” General Price argued. “Sending them off in an asinine attempt to fight the Kroll is a complete waste of what could be our most valuable asset.”

  “They’re valuable strategically, but not from a technological stand point,” Davis said.

  “Why not simply send one ship?” Weskovic argued. “We have three in our possession. We can use one to infiltrate the enemy while our scientists and engineers study the other two.”

  “You’re missing the point of my plan,” Davis said. “We don’t know how many Kroll there are. We don’t know how they communicate or even how they’ll respond to losing their ships. Keeping them here to study them might draw all the aliens to Earth.”

  “We can study them far from here,” Paulson said.

  “But if we use them to devastate the Kroll ships around the Urgglatta home world,” Colonel Davis went on undeterred, “we can help an ally and send a message to our enemy that we aren’t worth the fight.”

  “You said yourself we don’t know how they communicate,” Paulson argued. “What if they have a hundred ships around the Urgglatta home world? What if they have a thousand? What if sending the captured vessels only results in turning them right back over to our enemy and losing even more personnel? We can’t risk so much for an assault that might not have any tangible results whatsoever.”

  “You’d rather just roll over?” Davis asked. “Why not surrender now?”

  “That’s not what I’m advocating, Colonel.”

  “It might as well be.”

  “Enough!” ordered Cummings. “You’ve both made your points abundantly clear. I want to hear from some of you who haven’t commented yet. And I don’t want anyone interrupting. Is that clear?”

  Everyone at the table nodded.

  “Major Gheridelli,” the fleet admiral said, “what do you think?”

  The Italian strategist was participating via a vid feed, his narrow face and round glasses looming larger than life on the main vid screen.

  “I am honored to share my opinion with such an esteemed committee,” Gheridelli said. “Human history is rife with examples of alien invasions, from the assault on Greece by the Persians in the fourth century BCE to the Europeans spreading across North America. In my opinion, both of the strategies presented here today have merit. The Saxons held off the Danes by conserving resources, engaging in carefully negotiated agreements with their enemies, and fighting only in the most decisive battles. On the other hand, the Allied forces were compelled to commit every resource available to stop the Axis military expansion.

  “I think the most important question we can ask ourselves is: what is ultimately at stake here? The Kroll present an unprecedented threat, but we have learned they are not organized like our own military forces. They do not seek to wipe out humanity, but rather to feed off our strength. It is my opinion that eventually it will be necessary to fight the Kroll. To that end, we must continue to build our fleet of warships. What is needed most is time to prepare, and Colonel Davis’s plan of attack gives us the best chance to build our forces.”

  “Unless the Kroll are incited to counter our attack,” Paulson said. “Fighting them now might backfire.”

  “Colonel Paulson,” Fleet Admiral Cummings said. “Do not interrupt again or you will be excused from this assembly.”

  The chastised political liaison nodded, but Dean could tell she was furious.

  “Major, please elaborate,” Cummings ordered in an easy tone.

  “If we do choose to remain in a defensive position, we can almost certainly guarantee another attack on a colonist world,” Gheridelli explained. “The Kroll have taken control of the Urgglatta home world, gaining access to their databanks. We know from the Urgglatta ship and the captives that were rescued by the heroic actions of Captain Blaze’s platoon on board the Apache that the Urgglatta have extensive information on all our colony worlds and many of our space stations. How detailed that information is we can only guess, but the Kroll chose to attack Cymru in the New Wa
les system, a well-established colony with very little technology. In my mind, that speaks volumes to their intent.”

  “In what way?” Cummings said. Dean got the impression the fleet admiral was encouraging Gheridelli; perhaps he even knew what the master strategist was going to say.

  “Of all our worlds, Cymru is the most fertile. It has one of the largest populations and no defenses to speak of, since they refuse to allow EsDef to have a presence on the planet or even in the system. If not for the lack of communication, we would not have even known they were under attack. Simply put, it was an easy target. I would guess that Ottoman VI in the Turkish system or even Machu Picchu in the Inca system will be targeted next. The Kroll may not advance en masse, but we’ve done nothing to make them believe we aren’t low-hanging fruit.”

  “And if we attack them now,” Cummings added, “using their own ships, we might be able to strike a decisive blow?”

  “We can’t know how extensive their species is,” Gheridelli explained. “Perhaps they have thousands of starships, but striking back at them in this fashion allows us to send the message that we aren’t easy prey. They will know that targeting humanity will cost them…dearly.”

  “Which buys us time to build our forces,” the fleet admiral said. “I’m inclined to agree with you. Captain Blaze, you’ve had more practical experience than anyone in this room dealing with the Kroll. What is your advice?”

  “I support the Colonel’s plan. The harvester ship we captured in the New Wales system kidnapped roughly ten thousand colonists for what we can only guess was to be a food supply. It was more than the trio of ships would need for a year, judging by the number of Kroll on the three ships. My guess is the harvester ships collect food for their entire race. If we show ourselves to be a practical food source for the Kroll, they won’t stop until the human race is extinct.”