Frontiers Saga 10: Liberation

by Ryk Brown

  “Possibly,” the lieutenant admitted as he walked beside the captain. “Shall I make an appointment to speak with you at a later time?”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “Sir?”

  “I was on my way to dinner.”

  “I do not wish to intrude on your private time.”

  “Actually, you’d be doing me a favor,” Nathan said. “All of my senior staff are either busy or on the Celestia at the moment, and I don’t much like dining alone.”

  “It would be a pleasure, sir,” the lieutenant said politely. “Thank you.”

  “It won’t be that much of a pleasure,” Nathan warned as he turned the next corner. “Corinairan food can be a bit bland, and my chef hasn’t quite mastered any of my native dishes.”

  “The Ghatazhak are trained to find sustenance from sources most humans would find quite distasteful.” Lieutenant Telles smiled. “I expect I will survive.”

  Nathan paused at the entrance to the captain’s mess. His eyebrow went up. “You smiled, Lieutenant. I didn’t know the Ghatazhak could smile.”

  “We are a rather serious group. However, we do have our moments of jocularity.”

  “Ghatazhak jokes? I can’t wait.”

  “I’m afraid they would make little sense without understanding more about our culture and lifestyle.”

  Nathan stepped through the hatch.

  “Only one guest this evening, sir?” his chef asked as the lieutenant stepped through the hatch as well.

  “Just the two of us tonight, Mister Collins,” Nathan confirmed.

  The captain’s cook looked at the lieutenant. “Any personal preferences, Lieutenant?”

  “I’m sorry?” the lieutenant said, appearing somewhat puzzled.

  “I think he means, is there anything you prefer not to eat.”

  “I thought I was quite clear in the corridor that the Ghatazhak are not as particular…”

  “Whatever you had in mind will suffice,” Nathan said to his cook. He turned back to the lieutenant, gesturing toward the table with one hand. “Lieutenant.”

  Lieutenant Telles moved toward the table, the look of bewilderment still on his face.

  “Commander Taylor is a vegetarian,” Nathan explained. “She does not eat anything that was once alive and breathing.”

  “It is my understanding that the Corinairan diet relies quite heavily on such food sources,” the lieutenant stated as he took his seat.

  “Quite true,” Nathan agreed as he sat, “a point that Commander Taylor was quite vocal about the first few times my cook tried to serve her. He has since decided to inquire about such preferences from any new guests.”

  “I see.”

  “What is your first name?” Nathan wondered.

  “Sir?”

  “Your first name. My first name is Nathan. My last name, or family name, is Scott.” Nathan got another bewildered look from the lieutenant. “In this room, I prefer to drop the formalities of rank so everyone can speak freely. Using first names helps the process.”

  “I see. An interesting command style. My first name is Lucius.”

  Nathan leaned back in his chair. “What was it you wanted to speak to me about, Lucius?”

  “With the permission of Lieutenant Commander Nash, I have been examining the intelligence data provided by the Winnipeg resistance cell.”

  “To what end?” Nathan wondered.

  “I assume your eventual goal is the liberation of your homeworld, as well as its continued defense against its enemies.”

  “And what have you discovered?”

  “Many interesting things, in fact. For example, unlike the Ta’Akar, who simply imposed their rules upon the worlds that they annexed, the Jung appear to be attempting to control your world with as little disruption to its productivity as possible.”

  “Killing tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people, is more than a little disruption,” Nathan said.

  “Not on a global scale,” the lieutenant disagreed. “In fact, from what little information your previous intelligence files provided about the Jung, it appears that the way they are handling the Earth may be an exception.”

  “How so?”

  “My discussions with Garrett of Tanna revealed that the Jung invaded his world with overwhelming force, killing millions of people in mere hours and destroying most of the Tannan civilization. There were just enough survivors to maintain the infrastructures that the Jung had chosen to spare for their own purposes. In short, the Jung used brute force to establish their clear dominance over the people of Tanna. Their conquest of the Alpha Centauri system was done in similar fashion, although fewer were spared.”

  “Why is that?” Nathan asked.

  “I suspect they chose Alpha Centauri more for its proximity to Sol than for its resources. The populated worlds of the Centauri are not exactly hospitable, and the resources they contain are more easily acquired elsewhere in the core.”

  “You think this is the usual method for the Jung, then?”

  “Anecdotal evidence provided by the Tannans would indicate as much,” the lieutenant explained. “However, we have very little true intelligence on the many worlds currently held by the Jung. All we know is that they control every inhabited world within the regions known to Terrans as the ‘core’ and the ‘fringe’.”

  “I see.”

  “What is interesting is that the Jung chose not to use overwhelming force, death, and destruction to subdue your people. Instead, they have been attempting to convince the general population that the political leaders that had been ruling Earth before the Jung’s arrival were using the people to further their own selfish agendas.”

  “And what agendas might those be?” Nathan wondered.

  “The usual: power, position, wealth.”

  “And are their plans working?”

  “To some extent, yes. A large part of the Earth’s population believes that life is better under Jung rule. The Jung have taken control of global economics, communications, transportation, and most of all, infrastructure. They have been redistributing wealth down the economic ladder, in essence, buying the loyalty of the working class. It is a classic scenario, one that has played out in similar fashion on many worlds in the Pentaurus sector over past centuries.”

  “It has been a common scenario throughout Earth history as well,” Nathan added.

  “As you are probably aware, Captain, this may present a problem should you attempt to liberate your world from the hands of the Jung. You may, in fact, find opposition among your own people.”

  “Any idea as to the amount of support the Jung have from the people of Earth? Are we talking about a small minority? A vast majority? An even split?”

  “It is impossible to tell at this time,” Lieutenant Telles admitted. “Even if it were possible to question every person on Earth, we would likely still not receive an accurate result, as the answers would depend largely on who was asking the questions.”

  Nathan leaned forward as the chef placed a salad on the table in front of him. “Thank you, Mister Collins.” Nathan took a bite of his salad as he pondered the lieutenant’s words. “Do you think this will be a problem if we attempt to liberate the Earth?”

  “Doubtful,” the lieutenant said as he watched Mister Collins place another dish of greens in front of him. “There is a difference between being willing to accept domination and being willing to sacrifice one’s self to fight such domination. The problem is more likely to present itself in the power vacuum that will be left by the Jung’s defeat. Reestablishing your myriad of national governments may not be possible, let alone the republic that ensured the cooperation of those governments. I’m afraid the result will be chaos.”

  Nathan took another bite of his salad, tr
ying not to let his concern be too apparent. He had been so busy trying to get the Celestia back on her feet, he had not taken the time to consider such things. Liberation seemed a long ways off, if not impossible. “You said you had discovered many interesting things. What else?”

  “My original assessment of the Jung troops in the 72 Herculis system appears to have been correct,” the lieutenant said. “The resistance has provided recordings of Jung troops partaking in readiness exercises. The troops that are currently occupying Earth are well trained, well equipped, and well seasoned. There are estimated to be tens of thousands of them stationed on Earth at the moment. More intelligence would be needed to verify that all of those troops are of similar capability. For all we know, what we saw were the elite units, which could, in fact, number very few. However, until proven otherwise, it is best to assume that all the Jung troops currently stationed on Earth possess equal training and resources.”

  “So you’re saying that the Jung forces on Earth are more than we can handle.”

  “If by we you mean your forces, then the answer is most definitely yes. If you are including your Ghatazhak forces in that statement, then that has yet to be determined. Intelligence also suggests that the troops are heavily supported by ships in orbit—more specifically, the two ships that are joined together in orbit and are currently serving as the Jung’s spaceport. Also, although tens of thousands may sound like a very large number, when spread out across an entire planet, it is actually quite thin. Without air support, most of those elements could be easily overcome by half my unit. The trick is in preventing other units from reinforcing those under fire long enough for the attack to reach its conclusion.”

  “Are you honestly telling me you believe a hundred Ghatazhak would be able to take down ten thousand Jung troops?” Nathan asked in disbelief. “A bit of an arrogant statement, isn’t it?”

  “More like twenty thousand,” Lieutenant Telles corrected, “and it is not arrogance, Captain. It is knowledge of the capabilities of myself and of my men. Nothing more. And for the record, I did not say that we could defeat the Jung forces on Earth unassisted. In fact, we will need quite a bit of assistance, specifically air support and intelligence… preferably the… How do you say it? ‘Boots on the ground’ type?”

  Nathan pushed his empty salad plate aside as the chef placed his main course in front of him. “How exactly would you go about such a task?”

  “The liberation of Earth begins with the destruction of all Jung space forces. Without that, there can be no ground campaign.”

  “Of course,” Nathan agreed.

  “The key would be in identifying key military infrastructure, such as surface-to-orbit batteries, global and continental communications networks, and key routes of transportation and supply. All Jung surface elements must be disconnected, both physically and electronically, from one another. This must be done in near simultaneous fashion in order to be effective. That is the difficult part, as we do not have enough surface combatants or air combatants to do so. Even with the Aurora firing from orbit, we would still have to prioritize our targets and hope the Jung are unable to react quickly enough.”

  “It sounds like we are going to need a lot more help,” Nathan said as he took another bite of his main course. “You are aware that we sent word back to the Pentaurus cluster. Perhaps Prince Casimir will see fit to send additional Ghatazhak forces.”

  “It is likely, yes, as most of the units have been put into suspended animation until they can be utilized. However, it may be some time before Casimir is able to send the help you seek.”

  “Yes, that had occurred to me.”

  “There is the other matter, of course… the reinforcements. Assuming the ships you detected leaving the Centauri system were in fact the reinforcements bound for Sol, based on the known intel on Jung FTL speeds, you have four to five months at best. Once those ships arrive, the task becomes significantly more difficult. So the question you must ask yourself, Captain, is, Do you wait for your own reinforcements and hope they are adequate, or do you strike now with inferior numbers before Jung reinforcements arrive? If you choose the latter, every day you delay is a day lost to prepare a defense against the next wave of Jung ships.”

  “And the Earth will probably not be in a position to help us prepare,” Nathan said, “if she is in a state of post-liberation chaos, as you expect.”

  “Indeed.”

  Nathan took another bite of his dinner, chewing it slowly as he pondered the situation. “What would you do?” he finally asked.

  “A difficult question to answer, Captain. The situation is fluid. As such, it requires some flexibility. You can commit to a course of action, but you must not choose a course that would preclude you from changing your plans at the last moment should an opportunity present itself.”

  “That’s not really an answer,” Nathan said.

  “I believe your plans to escape with the Celestia in order to turn her into a jump-capable warship are sound. Two jump ships, especially if you are able to arm them with Takaran energy weapons and shields, would be quite formidable. It might even be enough to stave off the Earth’s destruction long enough to mount a suitable defense.”

  “Destruction?” Nathan wondered. “I thought we were talking about annexation.”

  “Intelligence provided by the Tannans indicates that, not only do the Jung refuse to surrender, they also refuse to tolerate revolt. If they are unable to hold your world, they are likely to destroy it.”

  Nathan laid his fork down on the table as he leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Just like the Ta’Akar.”

  “Worse than the Ta’Akar,” Lieutenant Telles said. “They destroyed civilizations. Tannan intelligence indicates that Jung destroy worlds.”

  Nathan stared long and hard at Lieutenant Telles. “So you’re saying…”

  “That the end game may be the destruction of the Jung themselves,” the lieutenant finished for him. He noticed the determined look on Nathan’s face. “Captain, there are more than fifty known inhabited worlds within this sector of space. If the Jung, in fact, control all of them, their fleet must number in the hundreds. If you intend to defeat the Jung once and for all, you must do so in swift and sure fashion. Your jump drive is your only hope, as it allows you to move faster than Jung communications can travel. You must destroy the majority of their forces before they even know they are being targeted. It is not a war you must fight; it is systematic annihilation of all forces. No restraint, no mercy, no surrender. You must fight like a Ghatazhak if you wish to guarantee the safety of your world.”

  Nathan leaned back in his chair. “No offense, Lieutenant, but that sounds suspiciously like the old hammer and nail approach.”

  Lieutenant Telles squinted slightly, his head angling to one side. “Ah,” he said, followed by a phrase in Takaran that Nathan did not understand. “Yes, we have a similar expression. However, in this case, the Jung are nails. Therefore, you must be the hammer. Thus far, your primary strategy has been reactionary, taking advantage of situations and events as they present themselves. That is a sure way to lose a war. You will need to make your own situations and force the events to play out to your advantage. That, Captain, is what being an effective hammer is all about.”

  * * *

  Jessica held her face tight against the rubber border of her visual scanner as she watched the Jung activity around Tony’s body. At least twenty soldiers stood guard. They were clad in red and black combat armor and wore oversized combat helmets that were fitted with some type of electronic sensor gear. The ring of soldiers formed a perimeter of about fifty meters in all directions while several officers clad in similar color schemes examined Tony’s body as well as the jump rig he was wearing. The two most senior officers were chatting away, pointing at various features of Tony’s gear.

  Jessica smiled as one of the j
unior officers pulled the damaged data pad from Tony’s pocket. He looked at it carefully, turning it over again and again, before finally rising to his feet and showing the device to the officer in charge. The officer looked it over, then said something to the junior officer that caused him to run back to one of the nearby shuttles with the data pad in hand and give it to one of the crewmen on board. Shortly afterward, the shuttle lifted off.

  “Perfect,” Jessica mumbled. She swung her visual scanner back to the officer in charge as another man, clad in the same red and black combat armor, approached him. After a brief exchange, the officer turned slowly to his right toward the hills in which Jessica was hidden and looked directly toward her, his eyes scanning the hillside.

  “Uh, oh,” she said softly. “Guess it’s time to go.” She left her visual scanner powered on and lying on the rocks, then slowly lowered herself down behind the rocks, being careful not to disturb the branches that lay over her and obscured direct view of her position from above. She turned and began to crawl away from the rocks, being careful to keep them between her and the Jung officer staring in her direction.

  She crested the small rise, slid down the other side, got to her feet, and made her way swiftly through the darkness toward the tree line. As she approached the trees, a high-pitched whine came from behind her. She spun around as a Jung combat shuttle popped up over the top of the hill, its floodlights illuminating the area, Jessica included.

  “Stay where you are!” a voice with a strange accent commanded over the shuttle’s loudspeakers. The accent was familiar. Jessica instinctively drew her side arm and opened fire, sending a stream of narrow, red energy bolts toward the hovering combat shuttle. Her first few shots were wide, but her next few struck the underside of the shuttle, destroying one of its floodlights. The shuttle jinked to its left and rotated to port to show its side door. Two Jung soldiers standing in the shuttle doorway opened fire, their streams of energy striking the ground around her.