With the amount of fields that they had though, it would allow more failures before the shield degraded. That said, they were still very vulnerable to the gravity missiles, and I had a lot more than ten onboard. So far though, they’d held their fire, so I was holding mine. If there was going to be a war I sure as hell wasn’t going to start it.
After about an hour I started to relax a bit, and wondered if they were going to follow me all the way back to Earth. It was then I got a transmission, it was a message from the Emperor to the Earth, and pretty much everyone in the Empire would see it. Fair was fair, we’d done the same thing to him when the board told the Knomen we were done with them, both their rules and their empire.
Neman said sternly, “We do not recognize the right to secede from the Empire. You have one chance to accede to our proper rule and submit yourselves for punishment, or we will move in and reclaim our space. You have twenty-four hours to decide,” and he clicked off.
Huh.
I guess those twenty-four hours didn’t include me, because the ten ships following me opened fire with a missile each…
Chapter 13
In an FTL battle, the ship fleeing always had the advantage. It would actually take a couple of minutes for the missiles to catch up to me, whereas if I fired at them, the closing rate would be milliseconds.
“Knomen ships, scuttle those missiles and break off, I am returning to Earth. You have thirty seconds to do so, or I’ll destroy you. Admiral Alicia Jones, out.”
Crap, well I took the job because it was exciting right? Stupid. I’d forgotten the taking lives part of it I guess. They fired first, well at least it would be self-defense now. In fact, this was an act of war on their part. Still it wasn’t easy at all to give the command. A small bay at the bottom of my shuttle opened, and ten gravity missiles dropped out, already going at full speed in my direction. Then they just… slowed enough for the enemy missiles to catch up and flicked on their gravity field.
All the missiles were destroyed and I hesitated a moment. Should I give them a last chance? Or would it show weakness? I frowned, because while I thought about it they’d launched twenty more missiles at me.
I sighed, and then ordered, “Al, take out the new missiles and then the ships.”
Each of the gravity missiles took out two missiles, easily avoiding the wash of energy when they exploded, and then the Knomen ships came next. It wasn’t much of a battle at all, they hadn’t stood a chance. Maybe this would give them second thoughts about attacking later, though I doubted it. They may come in at sub-light speeds though, once they got close to our solar system. I was sure they got readings on my weapons as well, perhaps that’s all it had been, the emperor threw away lives to see what we could do.
Crap.
Well, they’d have found out sooner or later.
“Al, slow down just long enough for the missiles to dock, and then go back up to maximum speed and refuel the missiles.”
He acknowledged in his usual flat voice.
I took the time to write up a report of my escape, and the short battle, before I allowed myself any feelings about it. There was no doubt I’d just killed a good number of Knomen. The fact they were smaller craft with probably a handful of people onboard each, and not full sized warships, was very little comfort to me. I hated the way I felt about it, it wasn’t my fault and I couldn’t just let them kill me… but feelings don’t always make sense, and I threw myself into my work to avoid thinking about it.
There was also the idea kicking around in my head that my cousin just tried to kill me, I’d hazard to guess I wouldn’t be getting any holiday gifts this year from my biological family…
No more Knomen Empire ships tried to intercept me on the way back, and I managed to go over reports, work on my own project, and review my company’s projects.
When I got back to my ship, I had a welcome committee waiting for me. Kristi pulled me into a hug, and to my surprise Nathan was there somehow as well, and gave me a chaste hug, I did my best to resist plastering up against him in public and on duty, I’d really missed his presence though… soul, scent, and touch. It was really good to see him, but I mourned the fact I couldn’t run off with him for a few days. If I didn’t miss my guess it would only be that long before the Empire tried to attack us.
Vice admirals Flores and Abramov were also present, and gave me a salute which I returned.
Abramov said in his low voice, “What’s the plan ma’am?”
I sighed, “Most likely they are coming in a couple of days. We need to work on compiling my recordings over the last month and sending them out, propaganda pieces… but truthful.”
Flores asked, “What will that do?”
I shrugged, “Probably nothing, but according to empire law, it’s a mutual defense pact that the other races have to respond to. What’s about to happen here is obviously an unprovoked invasion, unless they think leaving the empire is an offensive attack in itself. Maybe a few of them will stay home. At the very least, it will make me feel better about killing them if they know the truth about what their dying for.”
He chuckled, and then saw I was serious.
I nodded, “We will defend Earth, but if we can get some to sit it out, we should. Plus, it will make me feel a lot less inclined to feel guilty if we try a peaceful solution first. But I wouldn’t count on it, despite being against their own laws to join up and attack, they’ll be too afraid the Knomen will turn on them next. It shouldn’t take all that long to do, I’ll submit it for approval to the USFS board of course, and then we’ll run some live simulations and fleet wide strategies on a few of the more likely scenarios we’ve built over the last few months.”
“Let me shower and change, I’ll meet you in the conference room shortly. Also make sure everyone down to the last ensign has the vacuum suits under their uniforms, I don’t want anyone dying of stupidity when we go into battle.”
Abramov nodded smartly, “Yes ma’am, we’ll get some coffee on for you too.”
I laughed, “Thanks Sergei.”
He raised an eyebrow, “Purely self-defense ma’am,” and then he turned and left.
Was I really that bad without coffee? Probably.
Kristi sighed, “It’s good to have you back Alicia, no more trips for you without me along.”
I knew she wasn’t teasing, and smiled at my closest friend and simply nodded.
Nathan whispered, “Need help getting ready ma’am?”
With my shower? Hmm, I supposed maybe I had a little time…
Shortly became about forty-five minutes, but no one said anything when I walked in and I felt much more… relaxed now. It would take a while to get used to wearing the skin tight space suit again. Of course, I didn’t need to wear my bustier with it, since it had the shielding integrated inside it, and I had my uniform on over it to Nathan’s disappointment.
I blushed as I realized I didn’t even know how long he’d be here, or even how he’d gotten up to my ship. We didn’t exactly have a chance to talk yet. I cleared my throat and we got started. We wanted to show that they’d illegally jailed me, tried to kill a citizen of Earth without provocation, namely me, and that any attack by them was illegal by Knomen Empire law.
The video we made wasn’t that long, we wanted to keep it simple. It showed quite a few thirty second cuts from my month long incarceration and the questioning, then it showed the ships firing at me first, my warning, and my return fire. It was very clear watching it, we wanted to be peaceful neighbors if not allies, but we wanted to go our own way and not be under the yolk of the Knomen empire. I also added the clip of the applicable rules of engagement in the Empire, and pointed out that an invasion of Earth’s sovereign solar system was not covered under mutual defense.
With Kristi’s and Al’s help, along with several suggestions, it only took about an hour to throw together. I sent it to the board, and then for the rest of the day we ran various live simulations. I didn’t believe they would wait a full six day
s for the next batch of ships before attacking, so our current resources would have to do.
We currently had two hundred fifty-six battlecruisers, thirty-two carriers holding two thousand, five hundred and sixty combat shuttles. Twice as many combat shuttles on the battlecruisers. Plus, three hundred of the older upgraded ships. For the smaller independent craft, we had three hundred missile boats. We also had ninety-four permanent missile emplacements scattered around the solar system, all holding a good number of the three types of missiles as well as plasma cannons.
We were ready, but I still hoped we wouldn’t have to be.
During the simulations I got a call from Nadia Avdonin. I spoke to her more often than the others on the board, most probably because we got along so well.
“Hi Nadia, what can I do for you?”
She smiled, “It’s good to see you back. I like the piece you made, but we’re going to hold back on it until they’re a few hours away from attacking.”
I nodded, “Can I ask why?”
She waved a hand, “Politics of course. We will be trying to talk peace with the emperor up until the last minute, and sending this to the other races could completely derail that effort. It’s the truth, but it will also look seditious to the emperor, we’ll be trying to get them to turn against Knomen after all, even if it is just to show us neutrality.”
I frowned, “You’re right. Still, as long as they have it for an hour, they can always pull back.”
She asked, “How are things going up there?”
“Good actually, we can get better and we will, but the response times for the drills are extremely good, we’re ready ma’am.”
Nadia made a face, “Call me Nadia, Alicia. I’ll let you get back to it.”
I said goodbye and disconnected the line, and we got back to our simulations…
It was at the end of the day, right before I retired for the evening, when we saw on our sensor network that a fleet had started to gather about eight hours away from Earth’s solar system at high speed. We could also see several more heading for that rendezvous point from all over the empire. I wasn’t surprised, but it bothered me when Leira was a part of that number, but at the same time I also understood they didn’t have a choice.
Either way, it would take about three days for them all to gather. I considered and dismissed a preemptive strike, we wouldn’t attack them until they attacked us. I believed the best defense was a good offense, but not until after they’d started the war. A preemptive strike would lose us the high ground.
It was Kristi, Nathan, and myself in my private dining room that evening. We’d all worked hard, and would do so again tomorrow.
I asked curiously, “So how did you end up here Nathan?”
Nathan smiled, “Kristi told us when you were escaping, so I managed to get a three-day pass, mostly thanks to General Denton, and I came up here to meet you. I need to go back in two days, but until then I’m at your disposal.”
Kristi nodded, “It was the least I could do. Do you really think we’ll win?”
I made a face, “If they were attacking us alone I’d be more nervous, I don’t think the Knomen will use all their best stuff against us with the other races there to watch… and scan. We set a pretty simple trap, if they use that same FTL formation as when we attacked the Seltans, we’ll slaughter them. If they come in at sub-light speed, we have plasma weapons they don’t, as well as the missiles. We also have a number of emplacements powered down we can use to ambush.
“Earth will be surrounded by the older part of the fleet, three hundred ships, along with Earth’s own Shield defense missiles and defense platforms. I honestly can’t see a way they can win this first encounter. If it was someone from Earth I’d be worried about sneakiness, but they’re form of warfare is like… the redcoats in the revolutionary war, all marching down the road in step with their muskets ready. They have no subtlety at all, and they’ve been doing it that way for thousands of years so its ingrained habit. They’ll have to come to terms with the idea of tactics in space battles and that they’re actually vulnerable to lose before they can change.
“We have ambushes, better tech than most and at least equivalent to some, and they’re coming here where we control the battleground. I’m actually so sure it’s making me nervous, if that makes sense. That said, they aren’t stupid, so this first battle will be all we’ll get.”
Nathan nodded, “If you expect the enemy to do one of three things, they always pick the fourth.”
I grinned, “Exactly, on Earth anyway, but in this case… I’m taking into account Knomen psychology. They literally can’t imagine us inconveniencing them by winning I don’t think. I doubt it would occur to them, or that they’d have to change something that’s worked for thousands of years. When it does finally occur to them, then we’ll be in trouble. I’m kind of hoping they decide to be a peaceful neighbor when we finish this first battle.”
Nathan cocked his head, “You don’t think we’ll counter attack?”
I shook my head, “Not right away, we need to build for a while. We’re ready to defend, but not attack. Besides, the goal is to become a wary neighbor with a fence. If we did push the Knomen out of space and guard their world so they couldn’t reclaim space, what happens to the rest of the empire? Would it be our responsibility to take over? That would be… a mess.”
Kristi snorted, “And what happens when you kick their butt, and a handful of systems come to us secretly, because they hate the Knomen too, and ask for assistance. Out of fifty I bet there will be some.”
I frowned. I supposed we were stirring the pot.
“Stop that, your intelligence is showing.”
She snickered, “Yes princess, as you command princess… Actually I haven’t been ditzy since we went clubbing over a month ago, maybe I forgot how.”
I smiled beatifically and said in a teasing voice, “Oh… I think you could manage it.”
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
Nathan grunted, ending our playful bickering, “That could be a problem, either way this will be interesting. What happens if the Seltan attack, when the Knomen’s attention is on this side of the Empire? I guess it isn’t our problem anymore but… Then of course there’s exploring out toward the rim, who knows what we’ll find out there.”
I nodded, “No exploring until we have our two fleets, and I imagine the Empire problem will shake out and settle in the next two years. Still, I would suggest if that happened we should sign on as equal allies, and help them do what we’re doing. I know I sound all geeky saying it, but we don’t want an Empire do we? And it’s a worse case analysis anyway.”
Kristi nodded and teased by pulling out a Star Trek reference, “So what, like a federation of planets?”
I laughed, “Nothing so grand as that. No shared military. Just a group of equal allies with a few basic laws to share in space. Such as leaving pre-FTL civilizations alone, mutual defense, and no invading neighbors, only defense. Basically what the Knomen set out to do, just not with all the oversight and arrogance.”
Kristi shook her head, “But if no one was in charge, who would enforce all that?”
I shrugged, “Everyone. If one of the allied worlds attacked another, mutual defense would kick in and all other members of the treaty would combine to battle the aggressor. I’m pretty sure that’s how the USFS will handle new alien civilizations when we explore. Use the minimum amount of cooperation to get the job done and otherwise go our own way and worry about our own civilization and colonies. It makes sense to do the same thing on the other side if it comes up.
“If any worlds don’t answer the mutual defense part of the treaty in my example, well they’ll simply be removed from our treaty.”
Kristi tilted her head, “How…”
I smiled, “Do I know all that? They copy me on all their meeting notes. Since it falls to me to enforce their decisions and policies out here in space I need to know about them. That’s how I know what they’
re planning.”
It was quiet for a while as we finished up dinner.
Kristi sighed, “I’m going to get some sleep, promise me when this is over in a few days we can spend some time back on Earth. I think I forgot how to dance as well as act the bimbo.”
I snorted, “So, it’s hard working for the princess isn’t it? I miss it too. Between this and the business… yes, we will definitely get a few days off. A week if the Knomen cooperate, or maybe two weeks and we’ll end our vacation after you defend your dissertation, so I can start calling you doctor. Sergei and Anthony can handle the day to day stuff now without me, and I can review it all when we get back. I can hear the tropical islands calling us now…”
She nodded and smiled, “I love being busy and useful, but sometimes I miss the simplicity of just being a college student. But I didn’t mean to complain. I’ll leave you two alone now, good night.”
Nathan and I talked for another ten minutes or so after Kristi left, before we moved on to more physical pursuits. I didn’t want our relationship to be just that, and it wasn’t, because we talked all the time on the phone. I only had him physically present for two more days, and I planned to make the most of it…
Chapter 14
The next two days went by too quickly. During the day the ships drilled different scenarios, and at night I spent time with Nathan. He was gone now though, returned to his unit. The Knomen had continued to gather their fleet, and they had just over seven hundred ships. They outnumbered us by virtue of large ships, but were completely outnumbered by throw weight with the combat shuttles, missile boats, Shield missiles, and emplacements.
They’d just been sitting there a couple of hours, and I imagined they were all on the Knomen flag ship being briefed. Still, we were in condition yellow and our fleet was alert. We moved the ships into a defensive formation, similar to the ones the Seltan had in the Leira system. Of course, the trick to a good ambush is to show them what they’d expected to see.
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