"I understand my King," the Minister of Intelligence said solemnly.
* * *
"And we are meant to believe that this union will benefit the kingdom?" First Warlord Kalisnacos asked angrily, as he stood up in front of his chair in the large circular building that was home to the Tsgardi War Council when it was in session.
A warlike alien race that more closely resembled tall, upright Terran baboons, than human beings, the Tsgardi were only space travelers by virtue of having enslaved an expedition of peaceful travelers to their planet. They had forced the Flordaryn visitors to take them back to their home world, where, through brutality, they quickly subjugated the entire race and forced them to begin making spaceships for a species whose lack of intellectual acuity insured they would never be capable of making their own.
"Our ships are no match for those of Space Command," Kalisnacos continued, his short, thick, grey fur bristling. "Their ships are faster, and their hull plating is far superior. Our Flordaryn slaves have made no improvements in our technology since we conquered them, while Space Command continues to improve their fleet with every new class of ships. If we join this pact, we will be nothing more than cannon fodder."
"The Uthlaro are promising to share their technology with us if we become signatories," Premier Warlord Qerdesqa said. "Our participation will bring Light-375 speed to every ship in our fleet."
"That's a lie," Kalisnacos said. "The Uthlaro have never exceeded Light-262. They promise what they can't deliver."
"Light-262 capability was the most they would allow their shipyards to sell to anyone other than their own military," Qerdesqa said. "Their own ships have had Light-375 capability for some years. They also promise to help us improve our hull plating by providing Tritanium, for a price."
"Light-375 will make us faster than most of the ships in Space Command," First Warlord Ramdesci said, standing to deliver his comment. "And if we could strengthen our hulls, we would at last be able to face them on an equal footing."
"And when are these marvelous improvements to be made?" Kalisnacos asked. "The Uthlaro want to start this offensive immediately. It will take many years to replace the outer hull plating on every one of our three-hundred warships, and perhaps just as long to improve our engine speed once we have the knowledge."
"As soon as Space Command is driven out of the new territory, the Uthlaro will help us begin to upgrade our ships," First Warlord Ramdesci said. "It will be worth the wait to become the equal of Space Command."
"We believed the Milori to be far superior to Space Command," Kalisnacos said, "and we've seen what happened to them. Space Command wiped out their fleets with ease, and then laid waste to their home world when Maxxiloth still refused to surrender."
"The Milori invaded Galactic Alliance space," Ramdesci said.
"And isn't that exactly what we would be doing?" Kalisnacos asked rhetorically. "The Galactic Alliance laid claim to all of the territory belonging to the Milori at the time the Milori finally surrendered to them unconditionally, although they allowed the Gondusans and Hudeeracs to reclaim the territory taken by the Milori since Maxxiloth's great-grandfather first began to expand their borders into the territory of other nations."
With the combined might of the four members of this pact," Ramdesci said, "Space Command won't stand a chance. Most of their ships are hundreds of light years away, while ours are massed at key defensive outposts along our border. They can be made ready to cross into Region Two within a week. The Uthlaro have promised more than six hundred ships to this effort. We have three hundred ourselves. The Gondusans would add more than seventy, and the Hudeerac have more than thirty. That's a thousand ships. Space Command has only about four hundred warships total, and most of them would have to remain behind to defend their original territory."
"The Uthlaro don't have six hundred warships," Kalisnacos said. "Our spies report that they have only about three hundred, at most. They have a few dozen battleships and cruisers, an equal number of frigates, and the rest are destroyers. It's an impressive fleet to be sure, when compared to the Gondusan or Hudeerac forces, but not so impressive when compared to that of Space Command."
"The Uthlaro had three-hundred decommissioned ships when the Milori first began their invasion of the Galactic Alliance. They immediately retrofitted those ships and moved them to their border with Milori space lest Maxxiloth's aspirations include plans to absorb Uthlaro space as well. Although the older ships are a little slower and have less hull protection than their current fleet, they represent a formidable force. We estimate that Space Command won't commit more than two-hundred ships at most," Qerdesqa said. "We'll have them outnumbered by five to one."
"Carver destroyed a Milori fleet of a hundred-three warships with just fifteen SC ships," Kalisnacos said, "and then destroyed almost four hundred more of Milori's newest and most powerful warships with her fleet of a hundred sixty-two, while not losing a single ship of her own in either engagement. She's the new military commander of the annexed territory."
"We won't foolishly attack Carver's ships in one large armada, like the Milori did twice," Ramdesci said. "We'll spread out along the borders and simultaneously absorb the territory. She'll have to split her forces into numerous small battle groups to confront all of us. Since she can't be in dozens of places at the same time, she won't be able to direct the actions of her ships in battle. We'll have destroyed most of her forces before she even learns of the battles."
"I ask that the matter be put to a vote," Premier Warlord Qerdesqa said to the council. "All who agree that we accept the terms of the pact stand up as your name is called."
The names of the council members were called out one at a time, and the member either rose or remained seated. Only First Warlord Kalisnacos and two others of the eighty-six members remained sitting.
"The matter is settled," Premier Warlord Qerdesqa said. "We shall join the Uthlaro in driving out the invaders of the former Milori Empire. We shall deploy our forces and seize all systems in our path until we meet our allies coming from the opposite direction. Long live the Tsgardi Kingdom."
* * *
"How can we even consider making war against such a powerful neighbor?" Senator Prime Curlekurt Emmeticus asked, in addressing the Gondusan planetary senate. "We were unable to defeat the Milori in a single battle, yet the Galactic Alliance destroyed their massive invasion fleets without losing a single ship."
"We have only their word for that," Senator Neodeet Literamus said loudly. "For all we know they might have lost hundreds."
One of the most human looking alien species yet encountered that hadn't originated on Earth, the Gondusans' most obvious external difference was their nose. Two pieces of cartilage, covered by skin, extended down each side of a single nostril, rather than a single piece of cartilage in the center of two nostrils. The Gondusans always carried their fashion to excess, and the more powerful the person, the more excessive the fashion. Their garish costumes and use of gaudy makeup make them look like someone overdressed for a Mardi Gras celebration on Earth.
"The Galactic Alliance is an open society," Senator Prime Curlekurt Emmeticus retorted. "They allow anyone to travel freely in their space, even Tsgardi, as long as the travelers respect their laws. They have gone so far as to allow news reporters in a free press to travel on warships during military operations. Our intelligence service tells us that the news reports were completely accurate. Outnumbered seven to one, they did suffer casualties during the first invasion attempt by the Milori, and all ships were required to make repairs afterwards. However, following the second invasion, where they were outnumbered only three to one, virtually every ship at Stewart Space Command Base was back in service within a few days of destroying a Milori invasion fleet of more than four hundred warships. Our experts carefully examined videos of the battle broadcast by the news services. They were all certified as genuine. Two ships, the most seriously damaged, were back in service within a month. Does my esteemed colleague honest
ly believe that we can hope to defeat a powerful military like that?"
"We don't have to defeat them," Literamus said. "We merely have to drive them out of the former Milori territories and then pursue a peace agreement. The Uthlaro promise that the combined forces allied against Space Command will be comprised of over a thousand ships. Space Command will never even engage our ships. They'll be too busy running back to their old border."
"I believe that you underestimate their resolve, Senator. They laid formal claim to the Milori Empire when the Milori surrendered, so this act would now be treated as an invasion of their territory. Everything we know about them indicates that they will not run. They will stay and fight, to the last ship, to the last crewmember if necessary. They are every bit as tenacious as the Milori, and when crossed, far more dangerous."
"The most powerful ships in their fleet are still at Stewart Space Command Base, more than two-thousand light-years from our borders, and a large force can't be assembled and travel here in less than eight of their years. This war will be over long before then, and we will have a large share of the newly commandeered territory. The arriving Space Command ships will find they have no bases in the new territory from which to launch a campaign. Now is the time to strike, before they have time to expand into the new territory."
"The ships that destroyed the Milori had no bases in the Empire, yet it didn't stop them from laying waste to the Milor home world."
"After the Milori invasion fleet was destroyed, the home world was left practically defenseless. Maxxiloth was a fool to send his entire home world protection force to the borders to fight us and the Hudeeracs."
"That was Admiral Carver's plan. She used us to draw off his remaining forces, giving her an opportunity to destroy his infrastructure."
"Yes, that's exactly my point! Without us, she would not have been able to destroy the Milori! And how does she repay us? By declaring possession of the entire Empire in the name of the Galactic Alliance, and not allocating even a single system to us."
"Not true. It could have made her task more onerous, but I'm sure she would have prevailed even without our help. Though it might have escaped my esteemed colleague's attention, for our participation we regained all the territory that the Milori had systematically stolen from us over decades of war. That was all Carver promised in exchange for our staging a few lightning raids against border outposts. We lost no ships and quadrupled our territory."
"We were only taking back what was ours to begin with."
The battle of words raged on between the two senators for some time, with neither willing to concede to the other's point. The other senators listened attentively and quietly until the two tired of the verbal fencing.
* * *
"It is arranged," Uthlaro Prime Minster Taomolu Barguado said to the Council of Ministers. "The Tsgardi, Gondusans, and Hudeeracs will join us in this endeavor."
Barely anthropomorphous in appearance, the Uthlaro had a very distinctive appearance. Their heads were shaped similar to the letter 'T', and with eyes located at the ends of the cross piece, they were reminiscent of a Terran hammerhead shark. It gave them the ability to see more than three hundred degrees around their body without moving their heads. The head was joined to the neck at the crosspiece, and their mouth was located at the very bottom of the vertical segment.
"I never had any doubt about the Tsgardi willingness to join," Minister Ambello Neddowo said, "but I'm surprised that the Hudeerac and Gondusans joined so quickly. I expected them to debate the issue endlessly. After all, they have only recently reacquired territory lost to them for decades. I thought they might hold some misguided appreciation towards Space Command."
"The vote in each case was close," Barguado said. "The Hudeeracs had fifty-eight percent in favor of the pact, while the Gondusans had just fifty-two percent in favor. Apparently, there was some gratitude. That or they fear the Galactic Alliance. We shall have to watch them both closely. They may try to withdraw from the pact after losing a few ships. We must be prepared to take over their forces if their leaders falter."
"You mean before we intentionally move against them and seize their entire territory?" Neddowo said, smiling.
"Of course," Barguado said. "The fleet that we've been building when we first decided to annex the Milori Empire many years ago is now ready to begin operations. The special battle groups that we've secreted throughout the former Milori Empire, will join the Gondusan and Hudeerac forces as they move forward, but our battle plan will always place our allies in the most dangerous battle positions. By the time Space Command pulls back to their borders, our allies will have no fighting forces left, so there will be no resistance when we also annex their territory. The Hudeerac, Gondusan, and Tsgardi are truly witless to think that we need them to defeat the Galactic Alliance, or that we would share the conquered territory with them.
(end of Chapter 1)
I hope that you've enjoyed this brief look-ahead into the series.
* * *
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Appendix
Product Description
Castle Vroman Page 36
