by Piers Platt
“Shit,” his Senate Guard observed. He stooped and drew a small pistol out of an ankle holster, and held it out to Foss. “Do you know how to use this, sir?”
“Yes,” Foss said.
“Tuck it in your pocket. We may need it,” the Senate Guard insisted.
Foss took it and dropped it into his pants pocket, then walked forward, where a crew member was lowering the shuttle’s boarding steps into place. He strode purposefully down the steps, the Senate Guards following him uneasily. The day was breezy and warm, and Foss’ tie fluttered in the wind gusting across the airfield. When he reached the Jokuan officer, he stopped.
“Where is General Yo-Tsai?” Foss asked.
“He’s unavailable,” the officer responded. “Tell your bodyguards to drop their weapons.” Foss turned to his Senate Guards.
The nearest one shook his head vehemently. “Sir, no ….”
“Do it,” Foss ordered, watching as they reluctantly placed their pistols on the ground. Then he turned and surveyed the Jokuan officer again. He wasn’t sure what rank the man held – he had never bothered to learn the different insignia. “When will the general be available?”
“I don’t know,” the officer replied.
“I can wait,” Foss offered.
The officer crossed his arms, frowning. “He’s not going to be available for some time. What do you want?”
“I want to speak to General Yo-Tsai,” Foss replied.
“I can relay your message,” the officer said.
“No,” Foss said. “I’m sorry, but I have orders to speak only with General Yo-Tsai.” These military types always respond to official-sounding things like “orders.”
The Jokuan officer studied him with annoyance, and then gestured for Foss to follow him. They walked past two hulking Jokuan space transports parked on the grass, and Foss noted a large group of armored vehicles at one end of the field. A number of soldiers milled about the vehicles, though some had stopped to watch his arrival. The Jokuan officer led Foss and his bodyguards across the airfield to a large, open hangar, which was empty of vehicles. Inside the hangar, Foss saw a small briefing area along one wall, with folding chairs set up facing a viewscreen.
“Sir,” a Senate Guard whispered to Foss. “We’re out of sight of the shuttle.”
Foss waved him away. The squad of soldiers arrayed themselves in a loose semi-circle around the briefing area, behind Foss and his guards. The Jokuan officer switched the viewscreen on, and then gave it a command in a language that Foss assumed was the Jokuan’s native tongue. A dialing icon appeared on the screen, and soon afterward, a picture of a man in a naval uniform sitting at some kind of control station.
The two men argued for nearly a minute, and then the screen went blank. Foss frowned. Now what?
Then the screen came back on, and he saw General Yo-Tsai’s face.
“Who are you?” Yo-Tsai demanded.
“Senator Gaspar Foss, of Scapa.”
“Congratulations, Senator: you seem to be the sole surviving member of the Senate. But that can be easily remedied.”
Foss held up his hands. “No – wait! You conspired with Ricken to eliminate the Senate,” he guessed.
Yo-Tsai made no effort to deny it.
“I came here to thank you, sir,” Foss continued. “To tell you that you’ve done the galaxy a great service.”
Yo-Tsai laughed. “Flattery will not convince me to spare you, Senator. Nor will the fact that you gave us the locations of the Federacy spies operating on my planet.”
The two Senate Guards traded a look, but Foss ignored them, his mind racing. “I’d also like to broker an alliance,” Foss said.
“Senator, clearly you’ve missed the news,” Yo-Tsai replied. “My forces are invading Tarkis as we speak. I have no wish to ally myself with the Federacy: I wish to subjugate it.”
“I’m not suggesting an alliance with the Federacy,” Foss said. “I represent the NeoPuritan Church, and its interests, first and foremost.”
“And what would those be?”
“‘Out of the shadows, a cleansing flame will scour the galaxy of all the wicked and corrupt,’ ” Foss quoted. “Our founder prophesied this day. Your army is doing God’s work, sir. You are ridding the galaxy of our enemies – rooting out the corruption and lawlessness which have festered for too long. Stripping the wealth from the unbelievers.”
Yo-Tsai laughed. “Is that so? Well, believe what you wish. But a mere church can offer no assistance to my military operations.” He looked over to the Jokuan officer. “Kill them all.”
“The Fleet Reaction Force!” Foss yelled, desperately, as the soldiers behind him raised their weapons.
“What?” Yo-Tsai said.
“It’s being readied for action,” Foss lied. “We ordered it to activate, based on the reports of the spies. In secret, it has been preparing to deploy. It will be ready soon.”
“How soon?” Yo-Tsai asked.
“Days, at most,” Foss said.
Yo-Tsai’s eyes narrowed.
“… but I can stop it,” Foss promised him.
“How?”
“I am the last surviving senator,” Foss said. “I am the Federacy. Let me return to Anchorpoint, and I swear that the Fleet Reaction Force will not interfere with your campaign.”
“Sir!” Foss’ Senate Guard objected. “The FRF could be the Federacy’s only hope!”
Foss glared at the man. “Shut up,” he hissed.
Yo-Tsai cocked an eyebrow. “That’s an intriguing offer. But if I let you go, there’s nothing to stop you from going back on your word. A dying man will make any promise if it lets him survive the day.”
“I can only give you my word,” Foss protested.
“That won’t be enough,” Yo-Tsai said. “You gave your word to the spies you sent here, too, Senator.”
“You want leverage,” Foss suggested. “Try this: I will prevent the Fleet Reaction Force from deploying, as long as you leave any planets with NeoPuritan congregations undisturbed.”
“Sir!” his Senate Guard protested.
Snarling, Foss pulled the pistol out of his pocket, turned, and shot the bodyguard. The noise of the gun startled Foss, and he nearly dropped the pistol. The bullet hit the man low in the stomach, and he stumbled backward, groaning. Foss shifted aim to the second bodyguard, who held both hands up.
“Sir, no!”
Foss fired again, and struck the second man in the neck. He fell to his knees, clutching at the wound, trying to stem the flow of blood. Over the noise of the two men’s pained moans, Foss turned back to Yo-Tsai on the viewscreen.
“Perhaps that will convince you where my allegiances lie.”
9
Dasi watched as the video feed shut off, and Yo-Tsai’s image disappeared from the screen. At the head of the conference room table, Hawken sat down heavily in his chair.
Next to him, Dasi saw General Childers put his head in his hands. “Son of a bitch,” the senior officer said. “We’ve been in charge of the Federacy for all of ten minutes and we’ve already lost control of it to some dictator from the Territories.”
>>>If his combat record is any indication, General Yo-Tsai is a formidable foe, Six observed. He was the primary architect of the final campaigns that eliminated the rebel factions on Jokuan during their civil war.
“There’s nothing we can do,” the fire chief observed. “If this Yo-Tsai character really controls those drones, we’ve got no choice but to comply.”
Hawken frowned at them. “Bullshit,” he said, quietly. “We’re going to fight back.”
The fire chief’s jaw dropped open. “How? Sir, he’s holding the entire galaxy hostage right now. If we step out of line—”
“You’d prefer we sit idly by while his men rape and pillage their way across Tarkis at will?” Hawken asked. “Yo-Tsai said he has other planets in his sights, too.”
“You really think he means to invade other planets?” General Childers asked.
/> Movement caught Dasi’s eye. She saw Paisen, who had been leaning against the wall observing the debate, sigh and step forward. “That’s exactly what he plans to do. Right now his fleet is a few hundred assorted vessels. Formidable, but not enough to maintain control of more than a planet or two. And the Fleet Reaction Force could destroy it easily, in a head-to-head fight. Once he seizes Tarkis, he’ll get control of their industrial production capabilities. He can build more ships and weapons, conscript the population … and there’s no telling how far he could go.”
Atalia nodded. “Beauceron and I have been on Jokuan. I concur with that assessment. Tarkis is only a stepping stool. It’s Phase One. If we don’t stop Yo-Tsai now, the whole Federacy could fall.”
Six? Dasi asked. What’s your take?
>>>I agree. General Yo-Tsai is likely to exploit this situation to the fullest extent possible.
The fire chief threw up his arms in disgust. “I don’t know what to say. We can’t seriously be considering a course of action that could lead to more attacks on innocent civilians.”
Hawken frowned. “No one’s decided anything yet. We’re just discussing options.”
“Then let’s start by discussing options that won’t cause Yo-Tsai to kill millions, maybe billions of people,” the fire chief argued, exasperated.
“Fine,” Hawken said. “What are they?”
“Do nothing,” the fire chief said. “Assume that the Jokuans will get whatever they are after on Tarkis, and when they’re done, they’ll return to their planet and leave us be.”
“I wonder how the people of Tarkis would feel about that plan?” Atalia asked, rhetorically.
“What else?” Hawken asked, looking around the conference table. “Come on, what other options are there?”
The fire chief crossed his arms over his chest, but remained silent.
“We could try to capture something of value on Jokuan,” the public relations rep suggested. “Maybe this Yo-Tsai has a wife we could use as a hostage.”
“He doesn’t,” Paisen said. “The only things he values are power and money, in that order.”
Hawken grimaced. “I’d rather not resort to kidnapping and threatening innocent people, anyway. But what about a bribe? Perhaps we can buy him off with government funds?”
“He’ll happily take your money,” Paisen assured him. “But once he had it, there’d be nothing to stop him from continuing the invasion.”
Hawken wiped a hand across his temple, wincing. “If we can’t incentivize him to leave, then we have to convince him that staying is too costly, or too dangerous.”
Six, Dasi thought, can you think of any other options?
>>>Not at this time, Dasi. Yo-Tsai’s main advantage lies in the drone system he now controls. That gives him leverage over the Federacy.
“Well, what about the Fleet Reaction Force?” the public relations rep asked. “If there was a way to get it up and running secretly, we could threaten Yo-Tsai with it, and maybe avoid any fighting at all.”
General Childers shook his head. “By all accounts, the Fleet Reaction Force would take weeks to get spun up. By that point, it would be too late. And that’s assuming we can keep its activation a secret, which is doubtful. There’s just no way to disguise the fact that thousands of reservists would be mobilizing and shipping out.”
“So if we fight back, we’d have to do it without the Fleet Reaction Force,” Hawken said.
“Not necessarily,” Dasi said. “If we take down those drones, Yo-Tsai can’t stop us from activating the Fleet.”
Paisen pointed at Dasi. “She’s right. If we can take out Yo-Tsai’s ship, the Fleet Reaction Force could still be in play.”
Childers frowned. “Interstellar Police has units that can handle space-based seize-and-board operations, but … they wouldn’t be able to pull off an op like that on a ship that’s sitting in the midst of a hostile fleet. Even if they somehow reached the ship without being shot down, they’d have to board it and get to the bridge in record time, to prevent Yo-Tsai from launching a retaliatory strike. It can’t be done.”
Paisen looked at her younger colleague. “It can be done. We’ve trained for this.”
Childers snorted. “You’re going to do it, just the two of you? I don’t care who you are or what you’ve been trained for, that’s just not possible.”
“It’s possible,” Paisen’s shorter companion assured him. “We can get there undetected and take out that whole crew before they know what’s happened.”
“You’re sure?” Hawken asked.
“Can it be done?” Paisen asked. “Sure. But there are risks. I’d want to mine the ship before we boarded it. That way, if we didn’t reach the bridge before Yo-Tsai started launching drones, someone could remote-detonate the mines and destroy the ship.”
“It’s crazy. A suicide mission,” Childers noted. “Don’t count on me sending any Interstellar Police to help you.”
“They’d just get in the way,” the shorter woman observed, shrugging.
Hawken leaned back in his chair. “You’re willing to try?” he asked Paisen.
“Yeah,” Paisen said. “We can take out the ship, one way or another.”
“There’s still the matter of the forces currently on Tarkis,” Atalia pointed out. “Even without the drones, Yo-Tsai will seize control of the planet in a matter of days, and start building up his arsenal. If he moves fast, he could soon have more ships than the Fleet Reaction Force can handle.”
“General,” Beauceron said. “Tarkis has several thousand Interstellar Police waiting for our orders. They’re armed and organized. They swore to protect the people of Tarkis from injustice.”
Childers sighed. “And they’re outnumbered ten to one. What good would fighting the Jokuans do?”
“If you requisitioned spacecraft from nearby planets, how many additional police officers could you put on Tarkis?” Beauceron pressed.
“I … don’t know,” Childers answered, frowning.
Dasi stood and walked to the viewscreen at the front of the room. “Here’s a star-map with Tarkis at the center,” she said. Six sent the map to the screen, and it appeared a moment later. “There are two Federacy planets within twenty-four hours’ flight time, and two more within forty-eight.”
Childers pursed his lips. “Roughly twenty-five thousand officers per planet, but we’d need some to stay behind … call it eighty thousand officers in two days, then,” he said, drumming his fingers on the table. “They’d still be outnumbered, but it might be enough to stall the Jokuan advance. They could certainly keep him busy enough to prevent him from building a new fleet.”
“The problem is getting them down to the surface of Tarkis,” Dasi observed. “There’s no way we’d be able to find enough spacecraft with reentry capabilities. We’d have to fly them to the orbital transfer station, then shuttle them down to a spaceport.”
“Yo-Tsai will have units tasked with securing the spaceports,” Paisen said. “And the orbital station, too. Bet on it.”
“I’ll go,” Beauceron decided. “Tarkis is a short hop from here – less than eight hours. I can rally the officers on Tarkis, and we’ll overwhelm the Jokuans at one of the spaceports. We just need to hold it for a day – long enough for reinforcements to arrive from the nearest planet.”
“Well, I’m coming with you, then,” Atalia said. Beauceron opened his mouth to protest, but she silenced him with a stern glare. “No arguments, Martin.”
The fire chief shook his head in chagrin. Hawken held up a hand, forestalling his inevitable protest. “No one’s going anywhere just yet, Chief.”
“We would need to take some officers from here on Anchorpoint,” Atalia said. “A small force, preferably a tactical team, to secure the orbital transfer station. If we can seize the station’s control center, we can get its anti-ship defenses online. That ought to keep the Jokuan fleet away from the transfer station.”
“But how would you get on the transfer station?”
Childers asked. “The Jokuans will have shut down all space traffic in and out of system. They’ll see you coming.”
Paisen smiled. “We just happen to have a Jokuan ship here at Anchorpoint. The ship Ricken brought here.”
Beauceron nodded. “Their systems should recognize it as a friendly ship … but they may hail us. We’d have to be ready with an explanation for who we were and what we were doing there. We’d need to be able to bluff our way in.”
“Yeah, I’m not worried about that,” Paisen said, grinning.
“No,” Beauceron replied. “I suppose not. So we land, assault the transfer station in orbit, then descend to the surface. Link up with IP units on the ground, take the spaceport, and hold it until the officers from the other planets can get there.”
>>>I have been modeling possible outcomes for this course of action. Very few of them result in defeat of the Jokuan forces, Six told Dasi. I do not recommend pursuing it.
“It would be just you and whatever other officers you can find on Tarkis, Martin,” Paisen warned Beauceron. “You’d have the element of surprise when you first attacked, but after that, the whole Jokuan army would be gunning for you.”
“Do you think you’d be able to hold out long enough for the reinforcements to arrive?” Hawken asked Beauceron. “Twenty-four, maybe forty-eight hours?”
“We’d have to,” Beauceron said, shrugging.
“It’s still a crazy plan,” Childers grunted. “But it’s not as crazy as I initially thought. A lot of things could go wrong, though. There are a lot of risks.”
“Too many risks,” the fire chief noted.
“Do we have any other assets we could send to Tarkis to help?” Hawken asked. He turned to Paisen. “Where’s the rest of your Arclight team?”
“They’re still on Jokuan,” she replied.
“How many of them did you say there were?”
“Nine,” Paisen said.
“Oh,” Hawken said, disappointed. “I was thinking they might be able to distract Yo-Tsai with an attack on his own planet. But with only nine … I guess they wouldn’t be able to cause much trouble.”
