Exodus: Empires at War: Book 8: Soldiers (Exodus: Empires at War.)

by Doug Dandridge

  “And if they come back, Countess?” asked Schmidt, glaring at what he thought of as a very stupid woman. “What do you propose to do then? Throw bad language at them?”

  “We sent them out of the Empire with their tails between their legs,” argued the woman, crossing her arms over her chest and returning the glare of the Baron. “Why in the Galaxy would they ever want to return here?”

  “You know they still occupy New Moscow?” asked Marconi, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples.

  And I know how he feels. Schmidt had beaten his head against the wall of stupidity the selfish noble woman had erected against all reason. It was frustrating dealing with someone who only thought of herself and her own desires, which description fit most of her party. Marconi had once been the head of the Opposition, but he, at least, had retained a sliver of respect for the Empire he served, and that had been enough to sway him to the Emperor’s side when he had been exposed to an actual military operation. Zhee would never go to the front. The chance of death or injury would be a major inconvenience as far as she was concerned.

  “I really don’t care if they occupy those upstarts,” said the Countess, her nose rising in the air. “What have they ever done for us?”

  “They’re human beings, Countess,” said Schmidt, choking off what he really wanted to call her. “And while the Cacas occupy their space, they’re only a short hop from our borders.”

  “And we have the largest fleet in the region already,” continued the woman, as if Schmidt had never spoken. “And a young genius in charge.” She said that last in a sarcastic tone. Everyone knew how she felt about the Emperor, and she made sure that they were constantly reminded of that fact.

  “So you will try to block this appropriation in the Lords?” asked Schmidt, cutting to the chase.

  “Of course.”

  “And you will once again fail,” replied Marconi.

  “I owe it to our own to keep trying to stop this madness of continual spending on the military.”

  “Very well. Try as hard as you want. On the popular vote of this committee this appropriations bill will be submitted to the Lords at the next session. On to the next order of business.”

  This measure what about creating new peerages in order to reward those who had proven deserving of them, mostly from actions of heroism in the war. Again, the vote was unanimous to present the entire list to the complete House, the only dissenting vote again Zhee’s. And again Schmidt simply blew her off. Her dissent really didn’t matter. But he could see how it might become a problem in the very near future, when the threat of the enemy was not as immediate as it had been. And then he would be forced to ask for a very different vote in the House of Lords. A vote of impeachment, followed by a trial for treason.

  Chapter Four

  Aside from the occasional genocide, oppression, evil and torture, etc., it is inarguable that public policy could be implemented more rapidly in an autocracy.

  David Harsanyi.

  CAPITULUM, JEWEL, MARCH 3, 1002.

  “His Majesty, the Emperor Sean Ogden Lee Romanov, Sean I. And the Empress Jennifer.”

  Everyone around the table stood, bowing toward the door where the broad shouldered young man, wearing the dress uniform of a Fleet flag officer, stood with his arm around the beautiful redheaded woman who was his bride.

  Sean escorted his Empress across the room, heading for the high table, the multitude of noblemen and women, officers, scions of the Commons, bowed slightly as they passed. The people at the high table bowed deeper as he seated Jennifer, then took his own chair at the center of the table, looking out over the room.

  “Everyone please take your seats,” said Sean in a voice that was amplified throughout the huge dining room without sounding like it was being reproduced.

  The people sat back in their seats, picking up wine glasses, chatting quietly in the manner that made the entire room fill with murmurs. Sean’s sensitive hearing picked up bits and pieces as he looked over at Jennifer settling in her chair. Snatches about himself, Jennifer, her pregnancy. Not all of it complimentary, the speakers forgetting that Sean possessed augmented hearing, if they had ever thought about it. Sean recognized some of the voices, and catalogued those in his memory for future use.

  The wait staff started to bustle out of the kitchen, some with chilled bottles of wine to refill glasses, others with platters stacked with bowls of the soup that was the first course. Sean and Jennifer were served first, bowls of steaming seafood chowder made with fresh caught fish and sea life sending a savory odor into the room.

  “This is really good,” said Jennifer as she dipped her spoon into the bowl once again.

  Sean blew on his spoon for a moment, then sipped the soup from it. The rest of the room set to their soup at that moment, and Sean smiled at the obvious follow the leader motions of the room.

  Someone started pinging their spoon on their mostly empty wine glass, getting the attention of the room, and the talking died down to first a low murmur, then silence. A young ensign, looking to be just out of the academy, stood at one of the Fleet tables, holding a wine glass in her hand. Her voice cracked as she spoke, raising the glass into the air.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, the Emperor.”

  “The Emperor,” said the hundreds of voices in the room, raising their glasses and taking large swallows in the honor of their ruler.

  Sean lowered his own glass, setting it back on the table, his eyes still scanning the assemblage. He caught a face staring at him out of the corner of his eye, and turned his gaze quickly to find Countess Esmerelda Zhee staring at him with an angry expression. I almost wish I could make her go away was his thought as he returned the gaze, matching her anger with an even expression. He still wasn’t sure why she held such animosity toward him. She was a political enemy, but most people didn’t let politics rule their entire life the way this woman did.

  The second course came out, again a specialty of the Emperor’s private chef. This was also fish, and was followed by a course of prime rib, then a pasta. After that, for anyone who still had room, a desert.

  As the plates were being cleared away and more wine poured, Sean went over his speech in his head. The holos were out in force by now, floating around the room, ready to record his words so they could be rebroadcast around the Empire. It was theater, plain and simple, a way to give the straightforward words some punch from the pomp and circumstances surrounding the event.

  “Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen,” said Sean, standing and letting the sound system once again amplify his voice so that it sounded to everyone in the room like he was at their table. The sound in the room dropped to a whisper, then down to nothing as every face turned his way.

  “As you know, we have kicked the Cacas out of the Empire and Republic both.”

  The room erupted into cheering, glasses were raised and clinked together, everyone celebrating the victory.

  “But this doesn’t mean we have won the war,” he continued, raising his hand to quiet everyone. “I wish it did. I truly wish the fighting was over, that we had taught the Cacas a lesson and that they would never return to our space. That we could return to a stance of peace, or at least as much of one as our normally feisty neighbors would let us.”

  There was some light laughter at that last line. The Empire had been at peace with most of the neighbors for quite some time. The exceptions had been the Lasharans and the Fenri, neither the most reasonable of species or nations. The other nations hadn’t been as belligerent, mostly because of having had their asses handed to them in past wars.

  “I’m afraid that won’t be possible as long as the Ca’cadasans are still around as an organized Empire. Maybe after we have totally destroyed their fleet and knocked out their manufacturing base, we can have peace with them. But make no mistake. They want us gone. Destroyed, extinct. And they are not going to stop until we are.”

  There were some murmurs at that, and Sean found himself looking at Zhee again,
who was again giving him her glare. She had her own political agenda, and the reality of the Universe had nothing to do with it.

  “They still have a presence in New Moscow, and we need to get rid of that presence, get it out of our backyard. And they will be reinforcing there in the near future, intelligence tells me within ten months. From there they will again attack our Empire, and the Republic. Instead, I plan to beat them to the punch and hit them with an operation in the next five months. Due to operational security, I can say no more about that. Just know that we will kick them out of New Moscow space, and from there we will plan our own thrust into their space.”

  Sean really hadn’t given out any information that the Cacas couldn’t guess at themselves. Instead, he had just used disinformation to further his cause. This information would get out to the spies the Cacas had scattered around the Empire, and when more and more Imperial ships started poking around in the Kingdom of New Moscow, they would associate them with the offensive they knew was coming in five months. And then, when the real offensive kicked off in less than two months, they would be surprised.

  “Plan on us being engaged in a war of survival for a century or more. This is something we as a people are not used to. The human species is used to fighting short, sharp wars, no longer than a couple of years. But this foe is too big, there is no possible strategy to knock them out of the war with one hammer blow. Or even with a dozen. This is going to call for some sacrifices. More among the aristocracy and the wealthy class than others, since they can afford the sacrifice more than the working class. But they will be called on to sacrifice as well. Sometimes that sacrifice will entail property, or work hours. Sometimes it will call for their lives. Lives sacrificed now and in the near future will pay off in lives saved further on.”

  Sean stopped for a moment, his eyes roaming over the crowd, taking in the mostly attentive expressions. Many of them were in one of the services. Others would soon be going into one or the other. Not all of them would come back. In fact, that might be true for most of them. If they lost this war, that would be true for all of them, to be followed by the rest of the human species.

  Sean stood for a moment, thinking, dismissing the rest of his memorized speech for the moment. He decided to instead go with his heart for the last.

  “You all know that I didn’t plan to be in this position, to become the Emperor on the eve of the greatest war our species has ever faced. I expected my father to rule for many more years, maybe for another century. And when he died, my brothers were next in line, while I had planned for a naval career. Circumstances beyond my control gave me the crown. Other circumstances brought war to our doorstep before I could even ascend the throne. I would have preferred to have been the Emperor to have led my species, and those others who inhabit our Empire, into a golden age of peaceful expansion. Instead, I find myself leading us into this fight. My heart breaks every time I think of what we have to face. But I am determined to win, and I think that if the rest of our species can muster the courage and determination that we can win. So,” he finished, grabbing his wine glass and raising it into the air, “to victory.”

  The room erupted into a loud and long cheer, a celebration that would go out over the media to the entire planet and beyond. Sean dropped back into his seat, and Jennifer put her arms around him. And Sean hoped that the disinformational part of his speech would do what was intended. That the Cacas would be caught off guard when his forces rolled into New Moscow space and kicked them out. And that the offensive would catch them enough off guard that they could rescue most of the people the Cacas had in their death camps.

  * * *

  “So, what do you have for me?” asked Special Agent Sonia Rupert of the Imperial Intelligence Agency.

  “Not a whole lot,” said the Maurid known as Striped Wolf to the agent. The strong and smooth moving alien was mostly several shades of orange, like a large tabby cat, though in form it was closer to a canine, though not quite enough to mistake it for a real wolf. One look at its large cranium and intelligent eyes would disabuse anyone of the notion that it was an animal. “My masters kind of left me to my own devices as they fled your space.”

  “Do you expect them to get back in touch with you?”

  The creature stood there on all fours for a moment, then shifted to a bipedal stance, its front feet unfolding into hands. Its rear extremities stayed in the configuration of feet, though they also could become hands at need. “I hope you don’t plan on trying to use me in a manner I don’t wish to be used, just because I am not in touch with my masters.”

  The Maurid flexed her hands, revealing the razor claws that were her primary natural weapons. Sonia stared at those claws in fascination. She was augmented herself, with the same kind of strength and speed as a Ranger or Naval Commando, if not the same mass. Her lesser mass made her a little weaker and a little faster. But here was an unaugmented creature that she was sure could rip her apart without much effort.

  “I would not think of capturing you,” she told the creature.

  “And I know that’s a lie,” said the Maurid, showing her sharp teeth in an intimidating smile. “I know I would consider such an action, if it was in the best interests of my mission. You are not stupid creatures, so I am sure that you think the same. Which doesn’t mean I would do such a thing, or that you would, but it doesn’t hurt to be just a little cautious.”

  “OK. I can say that such has been discussed at levels above mine. And it has been vetoed by my Director and the Emperor. You have been useful to us in the past, and we suspect you will be at least as useful to us in the future. If not, we have no doubt that you will not reveal anything you don’t want to reveal.”

  “Very well,” said Striped Wolf with another smile. “Since I am stranded here, I have no choice but to trust you. But while we are talking about this, I really could use some more supplies.”

  “Anything else for your comfort?”

  “I have all the comforts I can desire, with the exception of a male of my species. Which, I am afraid, you cannot provide.”

  “I wish we could help you there,” said Sonia, who had been celibate herself since starting this mission, not having time for a love life, or proximity to anyone she would want to have sex with. “You have my com address. I expect you to get in touch with me if you hear anything of interest.”

  “Of course,” said the Maurid, sitting back on one of the rocks in an almost human posture, this time unfolding a rear extremity into a hand and stroking her fur. “And thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For not forcing me to try and run back to my so called masters. That in itself is a gift beyond measure.”

  “You really hate them that much?”

  “I really hate them that much,” she said, showing her fangs in something which could never be mistaken for a smile. “The sooner you make them go extinct, the better.”

  * * *

  Capital Police Lieutenant Ishuhi Rykio, also known to some as Captain Rykio of Imperial Fleet Intelligence (Reserve), looked out of the window of the transport that was taking him over the Sutter Range, which bounded the city of Capitulum to the southwest. He had thought about taking the train, which actually would have gotten him the scene faster than the subsonic transport that was built for city patrol. The train traveled at a thousand kilometers an hour, the transport at six hundred. But the transport gave him the advantage of looking at the scene from overhead while coming in, getting the overall layout of the area.

  They crossed the midline of the range, falling into a valley that was sparsely lined with luxury homes that took advantage of the high view. Ishuhi’s implant, connected into the planetary database through the police net, gave him basic information on each residence as it entered his line of sight. Size, layout, cost, names and occupations of residents. A glance at the small river down the center was labeled as soon as he looked at it, and with a thought he brought up the speed and temperature of the water. Most of this was information tha
t any civilian implant could give on this, the capital planet of the Empire. With the exception of the residence info, which would have been limited to the name of the primary owner, unless there was a privacy block in place.

  The transport crossed over the end of the small valley and onto the plains beyond. This was farming territory, a plain that stretched a hundred kilometers to the next range and four hundred from north to south. There were innumerable cities and towns on that plain between the farmlands, the names of them all, the roads and streams, even individual farmsteads, popping up on the implant overlay to his vision.

  Ishuhi still found it strange that actual farming and ranching was a going concern on such a crowded planet, the only one in the Empire allowed to ignore the conventions against overpopulation. There was still a forty percent mandate for land wilderness, while most of the oceans were maintained in a wild state. Every other planet was legally mandated to have fifty percent wilderness, the human race still dealing with the memory of a homeworld they had almost killed. But people, especially those with disposable income, still wanted to eat real food. Millions of tons a day came in from other worlds, since the farms couldn’t produce enough for a population of over twenty billion. The protein vats and algae farms could still produce enough to feed half the planet, and did, for the poorer segments of the population. Natural food production was still a lucrative paying industry, especially on a world where much of the aristocracy spent at least some of their year.

  The transport banked, and the rail line came into sight. Coming out of a black hole in the side of the mountain, the continuation of the line into the city. A high fence, humming with the noise intended to chase wildlife away, rose on both sides of the double track. There were no trains on the track at the moment, all having been switched to one of the higher speed underground rails while the investigation went on.