The freighters with the containers from the farms hadn't made it back to the station area yet, but should all be back within another twenty-four hours. Eight commercial ships, at the station when the evacuation was announced, had returned already.
"The news media organizations have been calling all day," Lt. Commander Ashraf said. "They want private interviews."
"No private interviews yet. Perhaps in a week I'll consider it."
"They're pretty angry about being kept in the dark on most of this until the last second. Private interviews might help a little."
Jenetta smiled. "You know me, Lori. I'm not really concerned if they're a little put out. The safety and security of the station and our crews comes first. How could I trust them to keep such a secret as our Madness Ray? We know there are spies and informants on the station, just as there are in any society. The media people will just have to wait. They each received edited video copies of the main battle action between our regular SC warships and the Milori ships, along with a copy of the holographic image file after the M-designate ships were away, right? The explosions and violence viewable on the vid copies will have to quench their thirst for my blood at the moment."
"Yes ma'am."
Jenetta walked into her office and prepared a mug of coffee before sitting down and facing the dozens of messages in her queue. Most were normal business stuff, but some concerned the invasion. She skipped the day-to-day business and concentrated first on the others, mostly requests by various sections for authorization to use special resources to return the station to normal.
After dinner, Jenetta walked to the conference hall where the press conference was to be held. Her senior officers were there and she talked with them briefly before stepping up onto the rostrum.
"Good evening, I have a brief statement and then I'll be happy to take your questions.
"At 0208 this morning, a fleet of three hundred eighty-eight Milori warships arrived at Stewart and encircled the base. I don't yet have numbers on how many were destroyers, frigates, cruisers, and battleships, but I'm assuming an average mix. The fleet commander, Supreme Lord Space Marshall Dwillaak, demanded my immediate surrender of the station. I naturally refused and the battle ensued. Lasting just twenty-nine minutes, all Milori vessels were destroyed in the engagement. We're presently searching the vessels for survivors and have so far found two hundred sixty-two. The station suffered no damage and we're working to restore normal operations outside. I believe that very few station inhabitants were even aware a major confrontation was occurring, so disruption inside has been minimal.
"That's the end of my prepared statement. I'll take questions now. Let's limit it to one question each for now."
Jenetta pointed to one of the correspondents.
After standing and identifying himself, the newsie asked, "How many Space Command vessels were lost, how many damaged, and what's the casualty count?"
"We lost no vessels, although the destroyers Lima and Atlanta were each struck by a single torpedo. Both will be fully operational in a few weeks. Ninety-nine other ships were damaged mildly by laser pulse hits, but very few lost atmosphere in any sections and they will all be repaired within a few days. As to casualties, we lost twenty-one brave crewmembers and have eighty-six injured. Most of the injuries are not life threatening. Next?"
The public affairs officer chose the next newsie. After identifying herself and her media organization, she asked, "How many Milori warriors were killed?"
"I have no precise information on that at this time, but I expect the number will top out at around three quarters of a million. That number is based on the average staffing levels of their ships involved in deep space operations. Next?"
Another reporter asked, "How do you account for such a huge disparity in the number of dead between Space Command and the Milori?"
"I'll leave that for others to speculate upon. My job is to protect the people of the Galactic Alliance from an empire that would enslave them, while minimizing injuries and loss of life aboard our ships. I do that to the best of my ability. Next?"
"It's been suggested that you have some new, special weapon that no one will talk about," a correspondent said when pointed to by the PA officer. "Can you verify that?"
"I can neither confirm nor deny information about our weapons arsenal. Our Weapons Research and Development people do an incredible job in keeping us prepared for all contingencies. Their contributions are often unappreciated or underappreciated, but they are a very important part of the effort to protect you all from forces that would do you harm and control your lives. Next?"
"But don't you control our lives?" the same newsie asked.
"No, we exercise a certain amount of control over events in order to protect your freedoms. I don't make the laws; your elected representatives make them. I simply administer those laws and my actions are subject to constant review, as are those of my officers and crews. Next?"
"How long have you known the Milori were approaching with an invasion fleet?" another reporter asked.
"Space Command has known for some time that the Milori would not honor the terms of the treaty we signed after the last engagement. Emperor Maxxiloth is notorious throughout the quadrant for being completely without honor. That's why we won't bother to ask him to sign another treaty. A state of war has existed from the moment the Milori entered our Buffer Zone, the one-hundred light year wide area of space outside our Frontier Zone. We have destroyed the Milori armada sent by the emperor, but the war isn't over. We shall not let down our guard again until Maxxiloth's power to threaten his neighbors has been ended. Next?"
"Does that mean you'll take the fight to him?"
"I know of no other way to end his aggression, do you? Next?"
"Isn't Milor over a thousand light-years away? It will take years to get there."
"Yes, that's correct. Milor is about eleven hundred light-years from Stewart, but that won't deter us from doing what we have to do. If we must take on Maxxiloth's forces in his own front yard, so be it. Next?"
"We can't understand how you were able to defeat his armada with so little damage to your own ships. Aren't their ships as powerful as ours?"
"In many ways they are. Like all commanding officers in wartime, I simply use our enemy's weaknesses against them. Next?"
"How can we hope to take the war to Milor? The crews would have to be away for a decade, operating in enemy territory without a supply line."
"We have to do what we have to do. We'll find a way. Next?"
"If the Milori lost almost four hundred ships this time and more than a hundred ships last time, how many more do you believe them to have?"
"I estimate that they could have anywhere from one hundred to two hundred left at present. I don't think the number is higher than that or he would have sent them as part of this invasion force, but it's possible. In any event, Maxxiloth hasn't left us a choice. If we don't carry the fight to him, he'll only come at us again when he's rebuilt his forces. Next?"
"Do you have any special weapons that you plan to use against his remaining forces?"
"We'll use whatever we need to use. You don't swat a housefly with a sledgehammer, and you don't use a flyswatter on a Marovian lizard. Next?"
"When do you expect to leave for Milor?"
"I didn't say I was leaving, only that Space Command must take the fight to Milor if we're to have a hope of ending this conflict. I have a job to do here and I couldn't leave unless I was relieved. Next?"
"Why did the Milori attack Scruscotto?"
"I believe it was a diversion intended to pull forces away from here. Next?"
"How many ships did you send?"
"None. Although we would normally have rushed to defend the planet, we already knew about the Milori invasion fleet and had to keep all our forces here. By the time our ships could have arrived at Scruscotto, the Milori would have been long gone, leaving us nothing to do. Next?"
"But why did you scramble the ships you had
in port?"
"To make it appear that we were leaving ourselves completely defenseless. Milori spies would report that all ships had left, while our protection group simply joined the others in staging areas. Next?"
"You think there are Milori spies on the station?"
Jenetta gave the supposedly savvy reporter a withering look. "No, I don't think it. Next?"
Jenetta's response to the question about spies brought a chuckle from the press corps.
The press conference continued like that for an hour. Jenetta answered all questions honestly, but not necessarily fully, using evasive techniques to avoid answering questions that might impair future operations. The press conference seemed to satisfy the news media. When Jenetta announced the press conference was at an end and stepped down from the rostrum, the assembled press corps stood and applauded her. She hoped it was from a sense of appreciation for her job as a military commander and not simply because she had ended the long press conference.
* * *
Chapter Eighteen
~ May 18th, 2280 ~
"This emergency meeting of the Admiralty Board will come to order," Admiral Moore, said as he banged the gavel lightly. "We've received a priority-one message from Admiral Carver. It's quite short and I've viewed it already. My aide will play it for you now."
He nodded to his aide, who was sitting at the computer interface console. The large wall monitor lit up with an image of Admiral Carver as she began to speak.
"Did she say she destroyed almost four hundred Milori warships and lost NO ships of her own?" Admiral Hubera asked incredulously as soon as the brief message was over.
"Let's play that again, because it's so unbelievable," Admiral Moore said, nodding to his aide.
When the message ended again, Admiral Hubera said, "I don't believe it. She can't have destroyed that many Milori ships without suffering the loss of even a single ship. It's impossible. How could she have done that?"
"Are you suggesting that the report is false, Donald?" Admiral Plimley asked. "For what purpose?"
"I don't know," he responded. "Perhaps it was made under duress to placate us and get us to drop our guard. It's absolutely impossible for her to have done what she claims."
"Before I came here," Admiral Moore said, "we performed an audio test on the message. While there was a slight increase in stress levels, certainly to be expected after a major engagement, there was no indication that Admiral Carver was under duress. The experts say it's genuine and I can't believe that Admiral Carver would report the situation inaccurately."
"But how could she possibly have done what she claims with so few losses?" Admiral Hubera asked.
"Perhaps it was that vaunted overconfidence you keep ranting about, Donald," Admiral Hillaire said, smirking. "I only wish that I had such overconfidence."
Admiral Hubera scowled and muttered something unintelligible.
"Then if we believe this message, the threat from the Milori is over?" Admiral Woo asked.
"For now, at least," Admiral Platt said.
"What about Admiral Vroman?" Admiral Bradlee asked.
"He may be lost to us," Admiral Moore said. "If Admiral Carver knew where he was, she'd have rescued him already. We know she was looking forward to coming home for a visit."
"She definitely deserves a long rest after the things that she's done for us out there," Admiral Burke said. "We should bring her back here to be honored. The long trip will give her a good rest and a chance to see her family. And she also deserves some formal recognition."
"Another Medal of Honor?" Admiral Hubera said, facetiously.
"Perhaps, Donald, perhaps," Admiral Burke said. "Does anyone second Admiral Hubera's recommendation?"
Immediately, everyone around the table raised their hand.
"It's unanimous," Admiral Moore said. "We'll adopt Admiral Hubera's recommendation."
"Wait a minute. I didn't recommend that she get a second MOH."
"It sounded that way. Are you saying now she doesn't deserve the medal for what she's accomplished by destroying the entire Milori invasion fleet without losing a single ship?"
All faces turned towards Admiral Hubera. He looked around the table and thought about the repercussions of being the only dissenting member of the board. If word leaked out that he opposed presentation of a medal to the individual soon to be hailed around the Galactic Alliance as the greatest heroine in Space Command history, his own reputation would suffer greatly. He meekly raised his hand. "I'm happy to make the nomination."
"Good," Admiral Moore said. "Admiral Carver promised to send the video logs within twenty-four hours, so we'll meet again this time tomorrow to watch the log from the CIC and whatever other logs you wish to view. I'm taking the rest of the afternoon off to play a round of golf and then I'm going to have a few drinks and get my first good night's sleep in months. Meeting dismissed."
* * *
When Vyx and his team of agents arrived at the station, they couldn't believe their eyes. They had approached cautiously, but followed instructions when the station's Approach Control vectored them directly in. There wasn't a sign of visible damage, except for the bots and engineers that were climbing over almost two-thirds of the hundred-sixty-some-odd Space Command warships in orbit outside the asteroid, welding small plates in place. Not a single ship seemed to be damaged seriously.
"What happened?" Byers asked. "Didn't they show up yet? Did the Admiral get them to turn around and head for home again?"
"I don't think they'll be going home," Vyx said, adjusting the main viewer to enhance the image of the farm where the destroyed Milori ships had been towed.
"Holy God!" Nelligen said. "Is that the invasion fleet?"
"Can't be none other," Vyx said. "There weren't four hundred destroyed Milori warships over there when we left."
"But how?" Kathryn asked. "They had us outnumbered three to one. And our fleet looks barely scratched."
"The admiral— is— a magician," Brenda said. "A wizard; a conjurer; a sorceress. I can't wait to hear how she pulled this one off."
Port Control directed the Scorpion to wait while hazmat and biotox teams inspected her. She was permitted inside only when they had finished. The port looked almost deserted, with all the confiscated ships moved back to the farms.
"There's the first real sign of damage," Vyx said, pointing to the closed doors on two of the three shipyard docks.
"But it must be only two ships," Byers said.
"Minor or not, I bet we lost people," Kathryn said.
"Not like I was expecting," Nelligen said.
"Nor I," Byers agreed. "I expected to find scenes of destruction and death on an unprecedented scale. I'm glad I was wrong."
"Let's dock at our assigned pier and maybe we can learn what happened," Vyx said.
* * *
Virtually every representative on the Galactic Alliance Council, and every senior member of the government, was present in the gallery of the Admiralty Board meeting hall. With the room filled to capacity, lesser officials were forced to stand along the walls wherever a vacant spot could be found.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Admiral Moore said, "as you know, we've only just received the raw vid footage from the Stewart CIC during the past hour and we haven't had a chance to preview it prior to this meeting. Admiral Carver has also sent vid logs from each of the ships involved in the operation, and although it will take weeks for the complete computer simulation to be assembled, we should at least be able to learn how Admiral Carver achieved her spectacular victory over the Milori. I remind everyone not to discuss what you see here today until it's been declassified."
Admiral Moore nodded to his aide and the large, full wall monitor showed an image of the CIC minutes before the Milori arrived. Holographic projectors mounted in the ceiling of the meeting hall created images over the heads of the attendees at half a dozen places around the room, duplicating the holo maps that Space Command officers in the CIC would have seen during the battle.
Everyone in the large meeting hall watched the monitors or holograms closely, straining to hear every possible sound. The Space Command officers picked up the audio signal on their implanted CTs and the gallery visitors used portable headphone receivers handed to them as they entered.
Not a sound could be heard from people in the meeting hall as the Milori encircled the station, nor while Jenetta talked with the Milori commander, but muttering and general confusion was rampant in the hall when they witnessed the Milori ships begin to attack their fellow warriors because no one had heard anything about a Madness Ray. A cheer went up when the SC battle groups arrived to finish the Milori in response to Jenetta's summons.
After the battle was over, Jenetta calmly stood and left the room to send her messages, but the vid log continued to show the situation in the CIC and everyone was able to hear the conversation between Captain DeWitt and Captain Donovan. As had been the case with Captain Donovan, everyone in the room immediately understood the battle tactics used by Admiral Carver.
The entire gallery stood up as if on cue and began applauding. Although Jenetta was many hundreds of light-years away, she received a standing ovation that lasted for at least five minutes. Even the admirals at the large horseshoe-shaped table, and their aides, stood and applauded.
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