The Powers That Be

by Aer-ki Jyr

  “Not even close,” Esna said with an ironic snarl. “Anyone else care to speculate?”

  “You don’t want to fight them with the fleet,” Grand Admiral Serren said with a perplexed look on her face.

  “Right. Keep going,” Esna urged as Davis watched, with her knowing his mind was calculating faster than any of the others, perhaps except Kirritimin, though the bug wasn’t an Archon and Davis was…which was something many people had a habit of forgetting.

  “You can’t fight space battles without a fleet unless you use planetary defenses. Those are vulnerable to Warden ramming, so you would have to use seda-based weaponry to fight the space battles, which is doable as long as the naval minions don’t cover you in IDF goo and slow you down enough for a Warden to catch up and crush you.”

  “But that doesn’t involved genetic modification,” Lord Daegan chimed in. “She’s talking Commando work to take planets, not orbital bombardment. Which begs the question what the fleet would be doing?”

  “What it should be doing,” Esna said angrily. “The minions are the most vulnerable during transit, and most of those assaulting small worlds are not being carried by Wardens. They’re being carried by other minions, weak minions that your fleets should be eviscerating before they ever get to a world,” she said, pointing a finger at the two Grand Admirals. “But what are you doing now? Covering worlds during evacuations while a few roaming fleets do damage to worlds via orbital bombardment, essentially mowing the grass so the Hadarak had to send more units to repopulate them and thus delay the forward movement. Defense, defense, defense. We should be on the attack!”

  “How do we deny them reconquest?” Kirritimin asked calmly.

  “The same way they do. We can play their game better than they can. They’re just a bunch of newbs, guys. Grown on site for the most part. Give me 50 year old Canderian newbs with the proper training and augments, and we’ll tear apart 5 year old minions easily. It’s the numbers that are always the problem, and it’s the numbers that the Star Force combined naval fleet should be focused on thinning and blocking their paths of travel. Do to them what the J’gar have done to the V’kit’no’sat. Deny them the spacelanes, and poach the hell out of those that try to get through. Never let them know where you are, always moving, always attacking, no spacelane is safe. When you go defensive your positions are marked and they have the movement advantage. Take it away from them and make them think defensively.”

  “And leave the evacuees helpless?” Grand Admiral Lucin argued.

  “No. I can’t get Canderous ready fast. We need the Grand Border intact and holding the swarms back. If that happens, and I’m counting on you guys to make it happen, then Canderous will do its part and become a Star Force faction dedicated solely to fighting and killing Hadarak.”

  “What can Canderous do that the Paladin cannot do better?” the Viceroy challenged.

  “Other than move our people around, not much, but you rely on swarm tactics while we work with superior units. I know you’ll argue that, but we press our people harder than any faction in training and you operate on genetic memories. In the short term you’re superior, in the long term my warriors will defeat yours given even numbers, because we’re better. And that’s how we have to beat the Hadarak. By being better. The Founders are getting their ass kicked and losing one of their three galaxies because of numbers. Because of the swarm. Not because of Essence. The Hadarak use Essence units to support the swarm, not the other way around. It is the swarm that is defeating the Founders, and us. And to defeat the Hadarak we must take their primary advantage and face it head on, rise above it, and crush them over the course of time in a long, arduous grind. We have to earn this, and when we do the bigger Hadarak units will be easy pickings for the rest of you. My war is with the minions. Let me fight it.”

  “By ground assaults while the fleets keep reinforcements away?” Davis finally asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And why not use all of our armies to do so? Why just Canderous?”

  “The rest of Star Force has to protect us from numerous enemies, and to have all specialize against the Hadarak would be inviting destruction on another front. Let Canderous evolve into what we need to become…a weapon designed for one purpose and one purpose only. We will leave the other wars to you. Give us the power to face the swarm head on.”

  “How does this involve the sedas?” Lord Daegan asked. “Or are you planning on taking your civilians into the war zones?”

  “Our civilians are always in the war zones. That’s what it means to be Canderian. But I’m not talking about moving our existing sedas. I’m talking about building new ones. Offensive ones, built to fight Hadarak and not other threats. I mean come on, we are talking about fighting an enemy that does not have armor or shields. The minions are weak as hell, yet we’re running from them? Can you not see how they’ve tricked us into ignoring their greatest weakness?”

  Davis slammed his fist down on the pedestal, denting it in half the depth of his fist as Esna flinched, not expecting such an angry reaction from him.

  “Yeg’gor,” he said, all but spitting the world. “Why have I been so blind?”

  “Put it on the sedas and we become Wardens,” Esna said. “The minions can swarm all they want, and all they will do is scratch us. Include Essence weapons and we will be able to kill Wardens that try to engage us, and give us some defense against any Lurker that slips past the Borg vessels. I still need others to hunt and engage them, not Canderous, but the minions and their Warden bases Canderous can duplicate. We can become their mirror image, only better. We can beat them at their own game if you can figure out how to deal with their Essence units. Even their mainline minions, hard as they are to fight, we can deal with.”

  “No,” Lucin said, looking up at Esna. “They are the fleet’s responsibility.”

  “But seda designed for offense can handle them if needed,” Esna pointed out. “Give us Essence weapons and an Archon to use them…or even just Essence weapons where all we have to do is pull the trigger. You can run tankers out to us and refill as needed, and we can use some of it for heavy ground weapons when needed, but the grinding will be done the conventional way. Warrior to monster. And if we go on a killing spree we can kill them faster than they can reproduce. That’s the way to win, but it only works if we work together as a team, and if we have the grinding weapon necessary. Let me forge Canderous into that weapon. The other armies can come in behind us and pick up what we drop, but let us become the Hadarak’s worst nightmare. An enemy that fights them strength for strength and defies the swarm…but we can’t do it like this,” Esna said, pointing at her small body with both hands. “We need to be his size.”

  Davis followed Esna’s finger to Bren, then sighed. “So this is what you two were talking about.”

  “We didn’t do much talking about details, but I’m tired of letting the warships determine our fate. If we can be applied as the major planet-cleansing force, the Golden Knights will go with Canderous, and it would probably be a good idea to send the Varkemma as well. Neither of us are good for defensive situations. We’re bred for offensive.”

  “Where are you going to get the Yeg’gor?” Tennisonne asked. “There’s no way we can produce what you need. Not even with Tu’gor.”

  “We earn it in battle,” Esna said defiantly. “Put the factories to produce it inside our new sedas, and we’ll build it plate by plate as we go along, using resources from the planets we cleanse and taking it from any Wardens we happen to kill.”

  “No,” he said with a firm shake of his head. “You don’t realize how big those factories are. I might be able to squeeze one inside a seda, but you wouldn’t have room for anything else. And I’m talking one of your big sedas.”

  “It wouldn’t have to be every one,” Davis interjected. “You could have a few foundry sedas tagging along with an offensive one to protect it and give them the ability to create Yeg’gor bits as the war progressed. They’d slowly become
stronger over time as long as they didn’t bite off more than they could chew. And recycled Hadarak Yeg’gor is how much faster?”

  “184 times faster than pure synthesis.”

  “I don’t like the idea of hunting for loot, but the Hadarak are going to attack and fight to the death no matter what. We caught a break with the lizards, but unless a Warden suddenly has a change of heart, we’re not going to be able to convert the others. And the Uriti have made it pretty clear the chances of that.”

  “Is that a yes?” Esna asked.

  “How do you plan to grow big enough to matter?”

  “Through battle,” she said simply. “It’s not the numbers that matter, but how many minions one of us can kill, and that number will go up over time with experience and technology increases.”

  “I can kill a lot,” Bren offered. “When the skies are clear.”

  “But Canderous isn’t nearly large enough to do a full assault on the Hadarak worlds. The rest of our armies will be needed.”

  “You may need them against the Founders or others,” Esna countered. “Let us do this, no matter how long it takes. We will grow into it, and we can always call on the others when the time comes, but I’m not counting on anyone but us. We can’t do it now, but we can become a force that can do it far into the future. But we have to begin now. Yeg’gor takes time to grow, as do new Canderian recruits. If I give the word, we will start reproducing like rabbits to fill the new sedas as quickly as we can build them.”

  “And the genetic upgrades?”

  “We need to be Knights. Not me, because I’d lose too much with the growth enhancements, but when our younglings reach the age of decision, I want to offer them the choice between the path of defense and the path of offense. The path of offense will be the same as if they were becoming a member of a Knight race, and with the same responsibility, only with the sole focus on becoming a killer of Hadarak, not a response force to go fight whoever wherever. Give us the size, give us the psionics, and give us Essence weaponry if you can’t give us the ability to use Essence itself. Give us everything, and make us as effective one man armies as we can be…because that’s how we defeat the swarm. We live, we persist, and we keep killing more as they die off and produce newbs to replace them. Time is our ally in that situation.”

  “Unless you get in over your head and killed,” Serren cautioned.

  “Let us handle that,” Bren interjected. “You handle the spacelanes.”

  Davis looked at Tennisonne. “How hard is it to put an Essence shield around a seda?”

  “The volume of the equipment isn’t much different than regular shields. It’s the density of power issue. The Uriti production rate is increasing, but slowly. I don’t think we could supply enough for a galaxy full of sedas and all our other projects.”

  “The Essence weaponry would be kept in reserve until needed, correct?” Davis asked.

  “The big stuff, yes. And the small stuff on the ground would be reserved for the toughest battles, special situations, a really badass sniper rifle…that sort of thing. Not for the daily grind. We’d use conventional weapons for that and hold the Essence for when the fleet let a Warden slip through…or worse.”

  “How long can they store it?”

  “We’re getting better at retention, but it’s still not Founder level,” Tennisonne said as he ran some mental calculations. “It would leak, but no more than a Lantern ship.”

  “And you wouldn’t have to worry about securing those when the Varkemma can use the sedas to recharge,” Lord Daegan added.

  Davis nodded. “I like this, but we need to throw everything at it and see if it can hold up to battle analysis. I think the numbers are going to be too small, even if Canderous sends half its population, but feel free to prove me wrong. Whoever does gets their own planet.”

  “I already have 4 million,” Daegan said with a dismissive shrug.

  “Moons don’t count,” Esna said, continuing the deadpan joke a third interval.

  “Plausible,” Kirritimin finally said with an air of cautious excitement. “If we are playing the long game. But it is dependent on the Grand Border holding.”

  “Yes it is,” Esna agreed. “And you guys handling the bigger stuff. Let us have the Zerglings and Overlords.”

  Bren stifled a laugh, knowing that Esna probably didn’t realize Starcraft was one of the games that Davis had often played with his personal guard during interstellar flights when they weren’t needed.

  Did you tell her? Davis asked him telepathically.

  No. Ironic, isn’t it?

  Davis sighed. “Ok, you sold me there. You get the Zerglings and Overlords while we get the Lurkers and everything else. Now prove to me it’s logistically worth it, and why I should give you guys all the goodies the other factions wish they had.”

  “Kiri, I’m going to need your help,” Esna said, looking over at the bug.

  “You always have it, Esna.”

  “Get started, people. Bren, come with me,” Davis said, heading for the exit.

  The Golden Knight followed him out, then down the hall some 100 meters before Davis stopped and looked up at him. “How much of this was your idea?”

  “None. I just gave her the inspiration she needed. I didn’t know most of that before she told you.”

  “But what did you do?”

  “We had a chat and found out that we were both ticked at not being able to fight hand to hand. Too much has been put on the Naval division, and people like us don’t want to just be giving orders on a bridge. We want to personally fight. When she saw I was of like mind, something flipped in her and she came up with this brilliant idea. Please make it work. I’d like a real challenge ahead of me rather than pickup work here and there.”

  “I know what you mean, but Naval beats everything for a reason.”

  “Perhaps because we’ve been blinded by fear of what Naval can do, we forgot what the rest of the military is capable of. If Naval can keep the skies clear, we’re back to old school fighting where we don’t need to cling to a planetary shield generator. I very much want to get back to those days.”

  “You weren’t around for those days,” Davis corrected him.

  “True, but I’ve read the stories. Naval was support back then, and perhaps it should be now again.”

  “If we spread out the fleet that far, we won’t be able to defend any world. We won’t have enough ships to leave behind in each of them. They’ll all be open to orbital bombardment.”

  “The Hadarak don’t do it that well other than ramming,” Bren pointed out. “But if they get some ships through, it won’t be a massive warfleet. It’ll be a few ships doing a little bombardment.”

  “Which is back to the old days,” Davis agreed. “I like the nostalgic irony…if it sticks. It may not, but she’s right about the swarm. Spread them out and they lose their effectiveness. Allow them free reign to collect while their backwater is untouched and you virtually guarantee their win when the Wardens can smash any fixed emplacements for them. Whoever designed the Hadarak war machine was a damn genius.”

  “But they use darkside tactics.”

  “Yes, and it’s time we started showing what the lightside can do. I don’t know why I didn’t see…”

  “I do, belatedly.”

  Davis stared at the floor for a moment of introspection. “Earth?”

  “You haven’t been the same since it was decimated. All your efforts were based on strongholds, then Essence made them hilariously useless. You’ve been on defense ever since, and justly so, but it’s not the way we need to fight. It’s a way to catch our breath.”

  “If this works, breath caught.”

  “No it’s not,” Bren differed. “This is the Hadarak we’re talking about. The major Essence threat comes from the Rim, and you don’t do well when you’re helpless. You don’t want to get comfortable accepting losses to win, but we can fight that way if we have no other choice.”

  “Am I that easy to read?”r />
  “Only to one who you’ve confided in.”

  “Can’t have personal guards I don’t completely trust, now can I?”

  “You could, but you’re wise enough to cover multiple contingencies. You just got the ground upended on you by Essence. There’s one thing I think you need to focus on to get your footing again.”

  “What is that?”

  “All the Essence powers of the Founders can’t stop the Hadarak from beating them. If they’re losing one of their galaxies as we speak, then they’re on the defensive and the Hadarak may take them out for us.”

  “I hadn’t considered that because it would take so long to happen they will have plenty of time to come swat us down before then.”

  “Why bother when they’ve got another galaxy to conquer to replace the one they’ve lost?”

  “You don’t plan for what people should do, you plan for what they can do, and we’re still vulnerable.”

  “We don’t need you to save us, Sean. We need you to lead us. If we die, it’s not your fault. It’s the enemy’s, and none of us would switch teams if we had the choice. Death before dishonor. So stop thinking about how to avoid death, and start thing about how to hurt these bastards.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  “Not permanently. But take a mental vacation every now and then to try running things from that perspective. You’re not letting anybody down by doing that for a few hours.”

  “Thank you, Yoda.”

  Bren put his hands on his hips defiantly. “We need our leader to lead, not cower. You’re letting the enemy trick you into not performing at your full potential. Assume we are going to lose this war, and instead of planning how to win, plan how to do the most damage to the Founders before they take us out. And I for one don’t want to wait for what they have planned for us. I’d rather hit them first and force the combat on our terms…though I have no idea what that looks like with Essence warfare.”

  “Carnage,” Davis said simply. “Carnage with no armor or shields. Just people hacking away at each other with no defense.”