Castle Vroman

by Thomas DePrima

  "Maxxiloth hasn't been defeated yet, my Lord. Space Command has him scared, but he still controls a vast fleet of warships. He could yet come and overwhelm us again; or our new ally, the Galactic Alliance, could overwhelm us if we go against them on this. If we work with them, instead of against them, we'll be far better off."

  "It's out of my hands, Vertap. I appreciate your counsel, but there's nothing I can do. What will be, will be."

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  ~ June 18th, 2281 ~

  Jenetta chose a location in space roughly one light-year from Milor to link the Colorado and the Yangtze together for a conference of the two senior staffs.

  "We haven't seen a single warship since returning to this area," Jenetta said, "so it seems safe to assume they're all guarding Milor. It's time to pay Maxxiloth another visit."

  "You want to take on the entire Milori force that Maxxiloth has been able to assemble around his home planet?" Commander Fannon asked incredulously.

  "Something like that, but don't worry, I haven't suddenly developed a death wish." Jenetta paused for a couple of seconds for effect. "What do military ships do when stationed in close proximity to comrade ships for long periods of time?"

  The officers appeared to be thinking about the question and Lt. Commander Mojica offered first, "Link up?"

  "Exactly. We link up."

  "But it only takes twelve seconds to sever a link and begin to move a ship," Commander Fannon said.

  "Yes, if everyone is alert and if a junior officer is stationed near every open hatchway, as on Space Command ships. However, these Milori ships are parked in orbit around their home planet. They're probably there in significant numbers, giving them a false sense of security, and they probably haven't had any information about us in months. As far as they know, we returned home to Stewart after wreaking havoc on the Empire. I estimate it could take them as long as sixty seconds to sever the links and retract their airlocks, and we could have as much as three minutes before most of their gunners can reach their posts. That's about two minutes more than we'll need."

  The officers were so intent upon listening to every word Jenetta spoke, it seemed as if they had stopped breathing.

  "What I'm proposing is this. We approach the planet at Light-9375, getting as close as possible to Milor before we drop our envelopes. We accelerate to Plus-Ten speed, fire a volley of torpedoes, and then accelerate away as quickly as we can while we rebuild our envelope. We then use Light-9375 to leave the area. We should be exposed for only one-hundred-eighty seconds at most."

  "One-hundred-eighty seconds?" Commander Fannon said thoughtfully.

  "Yes. The Milori ships will still be linked when we appear in their midst and we'll use WOLaR torpedoes to target the center of the ship clusters. The Yangtze will complete a partial orbit of no more than one hundred fifty degrees around the planet in a clockwise direction, while the Colorado will orbit in a counter-clockwise direction, also no more then one hundred fifty degrees. As we complete our runs, we engage our Light-Speed drive and leave on a parallel course until we reach a new rendezvous point."

  "It doesn't leave much time for our gunners to locate their targets, lock on, and fire," Commander Fannon said.

  "An experienced gunner shouldn't need more than ten seconds. And to stay any longer would invite possible disaster. We can probably handle the torpedoes from four or five ships, but if thirty or forty ships are firing at us, the volume would probably overtax the Phalanx system and some would get through. We need to get in, shoot, and get out. The WOLaR torpedoes can destroy their targets without striking them, as long as the gunners get them in close. We know who our best gunners are, so they'll be manning the weapons systems for this run. We'll use extra target spotters to help locate the ship clusters quickly. Any other concerns?"

  "How will we confirm our kills, Admiral?" Lt. Commander Gallagher asked.

  "We'll launch a couple of sensor buoys while we're there. If we're successful, it could be hours before anyone detects their signals and moves to disable them. They might even go undetected for days."

  In what Space Command Academy instructors would forever be refer to as a textbook attack, the two small ships suddenly appeared around the Milori home world, fired a volley of their WOLaR torpedoes, and disappeared from scanners long before Milori crewmembers reached their GQ stations. The Space Command vessels were fifty billion kilometers away when the torpedoes detonated.

  Jenetta ordered both ships halted so they could intercept information from the sensor buoys, but both remained on high alert. Sitting in her command chair on the bridge, she watched the video log of the event on the large, front view-screen as it came in. There had been six clusters of ships stationed outside the minefield at key defensive points around the planet. The two small ships had each fired six torpedoes before accelerating away.

  * * *

  "Thirty-two ships!" Maxxiloth screamed at the ministers sitting around the table. "Twenty-six totally destroyed, and six so severely damaged that they're practically useless! What kind of idiot Space Marshalls are you putting in command of our ships? Don't they know we're at war with the most dangerous enemy we've ever faced?"

  "I'm sorry, my Lord," Berquyth said calmly, "but the Space Command vessels took us completely by surprise, and they didn't remain here long enough for us to get a lock on them. They came in fast, fired their volleys, and disappeared before their torpedoes had even reached their targets. And they didn't use standard torpedoes. They used the high-yield variety like those they've used for targets on the planet's surface."

  "Enough! I don't want excuses. I want results! I want the heads of whoever is captaining these Space Command destroyers."

  "Yes, my Lord. Shall I order all remaining ships to pursue the Space Command vessels?"

  "Are you mad? They're needed here to protect the planet."

  "Yes, my Lord," Berquyth said, casting his four eyes upward. "What could I have been thinking?"

  "You sent for me, my Lord?" Berquyth said to his emperor's back the next morning, as Maxxiloth stood staring out the window of his palace apartment.

  "Yes, Berquyth. I've reached a decision."

  "Yes, my Lord?"

  "We can't beat the Galactic Alliance. It was a grievous error to invade their space and it's only a matter of time before they finish us off. I thought we could defeat them before they grew too powerful, but they were already too powerful and their technology too advanced."

  Berquyth stood listening, fearful of agreeing or disagreeing with his emperor.

  "I've decided we must form a new, closer alliance with the Tsgardi."

  "The Tsgardi, my Lord? They are not trustworthy. They would as soon slit our throats as shake our hands. What could they possibly offer? Their ships are slow and easily destroyed."

  "They offer numbers. They have hundreds of ships and hundreds of thousands of able warriors. Space Command would be so busy fighting them that it might give us time to breathe. If they agree to join with us, we'll give them technology to improve the plating on their ships, and to increase their speed."

  "But, sire, can they be trusted? We've always kept them on a very short leash. How can we know they won't turn on us at the first opportunity once they have our technology?"

  "We have no choice. We must defeat Space Command at all costs. To destroy Carver I'd make a pact with the devil, or even the Tsgardi."

  * * *

  "We've received a message from Milor, Admiral," the com operator said. "It's encrypted, using an old Space Command code that was changed after the Lisbon was captured. It's addressed to you."

  "Put it on the screen," Jenetta said as she shifted in her seat on the bridge.

  The image of a Milora wearing the stately robes of a senior governmental official filled the large monitor at the front of the bridge. He appeared to be standing in front of a large tapestry.

  "Admiral Carver, I am Exalted Lord Space Marshall Berquyth, chief minister to his most revered
Excellency, Maxxiloth IV of Milor. I send you greetings."

  Jenetta shifted in her seat and mumbled, "Greetings?"

  "I'm contacting you this way in an attempt to end the hostilities between our peoples. We desire an end to the decades of war we've been forced to endure since his Excellency Maxxiloth seized power from his father, Gilbraxx, and a return to the peace with our neighbors that we knew under our previous monarch. I hope you will accept my offer to cease hostilities at once. We make no demands and will trust you to treat us with the same respect you show to planets within the Galactic Alliance."

  Jenetta chuckled and wondered why Maxxiloth should expect such consideration after the acts he'd committed.

  "I represent the ruling council of twelve ministers in this matter. After deciding to form a new, close alliance with the Tsgardi, a move that all twelve council ministers most strongly opposed, our beloved emperor, Maxxiloth, suffered a fatal accident. It seems he fell on his sword— twelve times. Since he had no heirs, the council of ministers has asked me to represent our government until a new leader is chosen. I've ordered all Space Marshalls to cease acts of aggression, except in matters of self-defense, and I eagerly await your reply. The Ruling Council has empowered me to offer you Maxxiloth's head, but we request that it remain attached to his body until an appropriate state funeral ceremony has been completed.

  "Exalted Lord Space Marshall Berquyth, Viceroy of Milor, Palace of the Emperor, Milor, message complete."

  The bridge was deathly silent. The bridge personnel looked at one another and at Jenetta, while she just sat in the command chair thinking about the message. Was it genuine, or just a bid to buy time to gain advantage in a future confrontation? She wanted to believe it.

  Jenetta broke the silence on the bridge with, "Com, monitor Milori media channels and see if they're reporting the death of the Emperor. And send a copy of the message to Captain Fannon."

  "Aye, Admiral," the com operator said.

  After a few more minutes of stunned silence, the com operator said, "All Milori media channels are reporting the death of Maxxiloth IV from natural causes after a very brief illness and giving information about where and when the body can be viewed prior to the funeral pyre ceremony."

  It could still be an elaborate ploy, but Jenetta decided to play along, just in case it was true. She walked to her briefing room and recorded two messages. The first went to Berquyth, accepting his unconditional surrender and informing him that the Galactic Alliance is now officially annexing the territory of the former Milori Empire. She listed specific actions he must take, and informed him that any further resistance would now be treated not as an act of war, but rather as an act of sedition. The penalties for sedition were, in most cases, far more serious than the penalties allowed for war prisoners under Galactic Alliance law. It was Jenetta's way of telling him that the surrender had better not be a ruse and she knew the language wouldn't be lost on a career bureaucrat. She declined the offer of Maxxiloth's head and suggested it be cremated along with the rest of his body. She further suggested, strongly, that Maxxiloth's renowned collection of trophy heads be returned to the governments they represented when alive.

  Jenetta's second message went to Admiral Moore and the Admiralty Board. She reported weekly, so the Board had been kept fully informed of her actions, even though the reports took three weeks to reach Earth. She appended a copy of Berquyth's message to the new transmission.

  Lastly, she had the com operator contact Commander Fannon aboard the Yangtze.

  "Is it genuine, Admiral?"

  "It would appear to be, but stay alert. It could be an elaborate ruse designed to get us to let down our guard."

  "What's our next move?"

  "I haven't decided yet. Perhaps we'll just hang around here for a while and see what happens. I don't intend to approach Milor peacefully until we have a lot of backup. I've notified Berquyth that, as Viceroy of Milor, he should recall all his troops throughout the empire, except for the small detachments of warriors needed to prevent the takeover and destruction of established resources such as space stations and bases, if that hasn't already been done. I've told him to park his remaining warships at the space docks around the second planet, shuttle all troops to the home planet except for a small security force, and disband all returning forces except for the home guard. I've also informed him that all territory of the former Milori Empire is, with their surrender, officially annexed to the Galactic Alliance."

  "Annexed?"

  "Yes, Space Command Supreme HQ sent me notification that the Galactic Alliance Council ruled to annex all the territory of the empire if we were successful in our mission. That includes the five hundred light-years of space between their former border and ours. It's the only way to ensure that Milor cannot resurrect their expansionist plans again. I was to keep it a secret unless, or until, Milor surrendered."

  "Wow! How are you going to deal with this?"

  "That's a good question. How are we going to oversee a territory almost two-thousand light-years across and located beyond our Frontier Zone? Where the Milori had hundreds of warships and millions of warriors to maintain their control, I have just two ships here, a dozen more eighteen months away, and fifty others more than two years away. This is a thousand times worse than the situation at Stewart when I assumed command there. I guess we'll just do the best we can with what we've got."

  * * *

  "I've received a response to my message to Admiral Carver," Acting Viceroy Berquyth said to the eleven other members of the council. "She has accepted our surrender, and informed me that with it, the Galactic Alliance formally annexes our territories. Our former empire is now to be known as Region Two of the Galactic Alliance."

  "It is as we expected," the Minister of State said. "Are we to understand that all hostilities have ended?"

  "Yes, provided we follow her directives, recall our troops, and dismantle most of our forces. We may maintain a home guard to protect our solar system, but they will treat any further aggressive acts outside our planet's atmosphere as sedition against the Galactic Alliance. If and when we've proved that Milor has changed its warlike ways, we'll be granted a seat on the Galactic Alliance Council with full voting privileges."

  The ministers looked quietly at one another. No one spoke until the Minister of State said, "That's all? She isn't demanding that our heads, or at least your head, be delivered to her?"

  "No, but she did stress most strongly that we should return the heads in Maxxiloth's collection to their home worlds."

  "She's being far more generous than Maxxiloth would have ever been on one of his best days," the Minister of Defense said.

  "Maxxiloth had to go," the Minister of Off-world Base Operations said. "He would have had us sharing our world and our technologies with the Tsgardi, and would have dragged us down further and further until Space Command had no choice but to come here and finish us off completely. As it is, it will be another full annual before we can restore electrical power to a majority of our citizens."

  "It's time for our people to come together and heal the wounds of war," Berquyth said. "Over a million warriors were lost in this insane conflict with the Galactic Alliance, and now we've lost our Empire as well. Maxxiloth shall have his place in our history, but not the one he envisioned."

  * * *

  "Incredible," Admiral Hillaire said, immediately after the latest message from Admiral Carver had played. "She took down the entire Empire with just two scout-destroyers and three hundred seventy crewmen. What do you say now, Donald? Just pure luck?"

  "What else can you call it except luck?" Admiral Hubera said. "Do you honestly think it involved some sort of skill? The Milori assassinated their own emperor and surrendered to her because they're tired of war."

  "But they only became tired after Admiral Carver destroyed almost six hundred active-duty warships and their crews, demolished a thousand new ships still in their space docks, threw their planet into darkness, and wiped out half their bas
es. Would anyone not be tired of war after that?"

  "I think it's safe to say that Admiral Carver has again proven herself to be one of our most competent military leaders," Admiral Moore said, "and most of us on this Board have recognized her abilities for some time. My father was fond of saying that luck is what occurs when opportunity meets preparation. The harder you work at being prepared, the better your luck.

  Admiral Platt smiled and said, "Karl von Clausewitz, the Prussian military leader once said, 'If the leader is filled with high ambition, and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles.' No one here doubts Admiral Carver's audacity and strength of will, not even Donald."

  "The fact remains that Admiral Carver is now in way over her head," Admiral Hubera said. "She can't possibly supervise a territory that represents two-thirds of all Galactic Alliance space with just two small ships. It will take us years to get enough ships out to this remote territory and there's no way she, with all of her preparation, audacity, and strength of will, can prevent its collapse into complete anarchy. We knew we didn't have enough ships to cover Galactic Alliance territory before this latest expansion."

  "We've sent her the sixty-two M-designate ships that she restored to service," Admiral Bradlee said, "and a dozen more ships built at the Mars facility, plus all three of the new battleships that were recently launched. It will take time for her to get everything organized, but I'm confident she can do it. We know we can't stop the intermediate breakdown into lawlessness. History has shown us that, time and time again. It's happened to almost every conquered society during the transition period from one governing power to another when the ruling hierarchy is completely replaced. Someone will always be looking for ways to exploit others and build their own power base in the absence of a strong government presence."