Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike

by Doug Dandridge

  Men in spacesuits and the robots they supervised were swarming over the hull, while more moved to and fro from the eight million ton repair ship sitting a couple of hundred meters from the warship. Shuttles were going in and out of the hangars in a constant stream, bringing new machinery and materials to repair the internal damage, as well as supplies to replenish what had been used on deployment.

  “What do you think, Commander?” asked Captain Javier Montoya, sitting in the other seat of the small shuttle they were using to survey the damage.

  “I think she needs a shipyard,” said Dawson with a grimace.

  “Well, we need her in the next offensive,” said the Captain, turning a frank look on his new head of engineering. “So the decision was made to repair her in place. The question is, can you do it in the specified time? Or do I need to get another Chief of Engineering?”

  Dawson felt his hackles rise at the challenge. “I’ll have the wee girl purring like a kitten, Skipper. I‘ll be damned if I don’t.” Though I won’t be getting much sleep over the next month or so. But as long as I have a ship, who needs sleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.

  Mao Zedong

  CAPITULUM, JEWEL. DECEMBER 3RD, 1001.

  Samantha once again sat in the conference room, looking at more of the people who ran the Empire at the behest of the citizens. Four other people sat at the table, while four assistants occupied the smaller desks behind them, their flat comps open on the surface to their front. These people were not really important, with the exception that they were citizens of the Empire, and had the ears of the people they served.

  The Regent looked over at Baron Emile von Hausser Schmidt, the leader of the dominant coalition of the House of Lords. Still young and fit, he was starting to show some of the stresses of leading the Lords in wartime. At least we’ve got a man we can trust, leading the people we can trust among that nest of snakes. That was very important, given the primacy of the senior House of Parliament. And now with Marconi on board, and the Opposition weakened by his and his allies defections from Zhee’s clique, we can expect some real support from the Lords.

  The next person along that side of the table was Laura Goolsby, the Speaker of the House of Commons. A still striking woman with ebony skin and long red hair, with only a touch of gray, she could be a staunch ally or a fierce opponent. She had been both to Sean, depending on the issue. She was an honorable woman, one who voted her conscience, no matter the consequences. She seemed to be on-board with Sean’s vision of the war. Since all funding bills started in her house, that was important.

  Across from Goolsby at that end of the table was Mohamed Ishner, Chief of the House of Scholars. While not as important as the other two houses, Research and Development projects, as well as the general institution of technology across the Empire, was the purview of his house. The devout Muslim was once one of the greatest theoretical physicist in the Empire. Samantha had studied the history of the brown skinned scholar’s people, who had been very antiscience and extremely xenophobic on Earth. There was nothing like an alien invasion of the homeworld, and the loss of the beloved shrines of a religion, to change attitudes. All of Earth’s religions had changed when it became apparent that whatever God they believed in didn’t seem to care if they kept their ancestral world or not.

  Sitting closest to Samantha on that side of the table was Prime Minister the Countess Haruko Kawasaki, Sean’s appointment to lead the combined Houses of Parliament. It was traditional for a member of the Lords to take that position, though Sean had almost broken with tradition and appointed someone from the Commons. Until he had come upon the diminutive Asian woman, who was a staunch supporter.

  They’re a good group, thought the Regent. Representative of the human race. The only thing that’s missing are some alien faces. And that was something that should have been in the room, as far as she was concerned. The Empire had always been very liberal in its treatment of alien species, even when they had joined the Empire through military conquest. They had become citizens as soon as they had, as a group, shown loyalty to the Empire. It might take several more generations before they were given their own units to join the Fleet, but eventually that happened as well. We have aliens among the Cabinet, appointed by the Emperor. But the numbers are still too small among the totality of the Empire’s population for them to have a significant presence in any of the Houses of Parliament.

  Most of the enlightened governments of the region were decidedly not xenophobic. Not the Human polities, not Elysium or Crakista. Even the Margravi and Klashak treated their minority populations well, partially due to the insistence of the Empire that was their protector and staunchest ally. Only the Fenri and Lasharans were truly xenophobes. And the damned Cacas, she thought with a grimace. The huge aliens only saw other species as having two uses. Slaves, and food.

  And we’ll be food for them before they end us, she thought, feeling her rising anger at that proposition. That is not an end we will stand for. We’ll end them first. She was afraid that would be the only way this war would end, with one of the Empires completely annihilated. If it was the Ca’cadasans, it would herald a new era of freedom for the alien races they subjugated. If the aliens won, the Galaxy might be facing uncounted millennia of tyranny and subjugation.

  At the end of the table was the one unknown in the room, a man that until the last couple of weeks would have been considered the staunchest of the Emperor’s opponents. Now, he seemed to be a convert, though Samantha was not sure she trusted him fully. But the Archduke Percival Marconi, Leader of the Lords’ Opposition Party, had said he was no longer on board with the program of obstructionism his party had espoused. He seems so earnest, but can a leopard really change its spots?

  “From the reports we have received from the Fleet,” said the Prime Minister, her speech tearing the Regent from her dark thoughts, “the Emperor has won a great victory at Congreeve.”

  “But not as decisive as we had hoped,” said von Hausser Schmidt. “They still have a strong military presence at Conundrum, and still threaten too many of the core worlds.”

  “You were there, Percival,” said Kawasaki. “What did you see? Was it so hopeless after all?”

  “Anything but, my dear Countess,” said the Archduke, a slight smile on his face. “What I saw was the courage of the men and women of our Empire on display. Even with an ambush, it was a very near thing. But they fought hard, without regard for their own safety, and defeated the foe. I was never so proud to be a member of the Empire as I was on that day. And not just a noble. As a citizen, among the many nobles and commoners who fought that day.”

  “And what of the Emperor?” asked Ishner, raising an eyebrow.

  “I didn’t see him at his station,” said the Archduke, shaking his head. “He had a battle room that allowed him a view of all the action. But I heard him.” A wide smile stretched the Archduke’s face. “Over the com. Giving decisive commands to all of his task groups. Ordering his own ship and her escorts to close with the enemy. I don’t know if I would have the courage to order a force I was on right into the teeth of an enemy fleet.”

  “Still, your Grace, you went along for the ride,” said Goolsby. “That showed courage.”

  “Ha,” laughed the Archduke. “I was on a twenty-seven million ton warship with thousands of crew aboard, none of whom were going to listen to a noble, even such as I. Not when their Emperor had commanded them forward.”

  “And you think he is the right man to lead the Empire in this war?” asked Ishner, a look of doubt on his face. “Not too young, and brash?”

  “Oh, he’s young, alright,” said the Archduke, nodding his head, then picking up the coffee cup before him. “And brash, and inexperienced. But he has something that so few people seem to possess in this and age. Inspiration.”

  “Are you saying he’s inspired, your Grace?” asked Goolsby after taking a sip of her own coffee a
nd smacking her lips.

  “Maybe not as much that’s he’s inspired,” admitted Marconi, nodding. “But that he is inspiring to others. He puts his hide on the line, as much as he can, the same as the people under him. His people would follow him through the gates of hell.” He looked over at Ishner. “Whatever hell you happen to believe in, Professor.”

  “So you are comfortable with his leadership?” asked Samantha, looking at the Archduke with tilted head.

  “The only thing I am uncomfortable with is the way he risks his life at the front,” said the Archduke with a grimace. “But, all other things being equal, and Augustine no longer living, I think he is the absolute best we can come up with. I am in his corner, and will do what you need of me to give him our support.”

  “And his announced wedding to a commoner?” asked Goolsby with a similar head tilt. “And, even though she has been elevated to the rank of Duchess, she is still a commoner.”

  “And what else are the rest of us nobles, Speaker Goolsby,” interrupted Emile after a short laugh. “It’s not like we have some kind of magical blood, despite what some of my colleagues believe. We have the same blood, and, in most cases, the same DNA. We just happen to be the descendants of those who took power when the Exodus III found our new home. And those elevated later on for services to the Empire. Which, truth be told, were sometimes the equivalent of the kiss ass trophy.”

  Marconi laughed. “My young Leader is correct, of course,” said the Archduke. “I think my own ancestor was elevated for rallying the support of some townspeople to keep some others from lynching some reprobate prince or other.” The Archduke took another sip of the very good coffee, then place his empty glass where one of the serving staff would realize it needed refilling. “I say let him marry the young woman, if that’s his desire. It’s obvious he’s in love with her. Hell, my own Lady Wife was a commoner I met at University, and fell madly in love with. And it’s worked out well enough these last sixty years.”

  Samantha felt herself smile at that last statement. With very long life spans, most human relationships didn’t last a lifetime. The current average for a marriage was forty-one years, so the Archduke was nineteen years ahead of the curve. I find myself liking this man more and more, thought the Regent, who was only some few years older than the Emperor.

  “And the so called Imperial genome that Countess Zhee and her ilk are sure to rage about?” asked the Prime Minister, pouring some cream into her refreshed cup of coffee.

  “And what is that?” said Marconi with another smile. “Some links in a couple of dozen chromosomes where both of the gene pairs must match up, recessives you know. Needed to be paired in both parents to insure that the offspring retains the Imperial advantages. So they just go into the fertilized egg and make sure that those pairs are there, and they have a child that is otherwise the combination of the traits of its mother and father.”

  “You know that the Countess will still scream bloody murder,” said the Baron. “She will use this as a rallying cry to cause as much mayhem as possible.”

  “And maybe she can just, disappear,” said Marconi, shrugging his shoulders.

  “That will not happen, Percival,” said Samantha, staring at the man. “We will not resort to getting rid of inconvenient citizens just because they are inconvenient. It simply will not be tolerated.”

  “Not that I would ever do such a thing, Regent,” said Marconi with a slight smile on his face. “But I understand it has been done in the past.”

  “Not by this regime. Sean would have me jailed if he ever thought I had resorted to such. Now, let’s move on to other business.” And thanks for letting me know I will have to look at you very carefully after all, your Grace.

  “We dodged a bullet with the Donut,” said the Prime Minister, bringing up the next topic that was on everyone’s mind. “If the Cacas had taken that out, we might be talking about how we were going to evacuate as much of our population as we could before we got rolled over.”

  “But the military and the IIA agents did save it,” said the Baron, looking around the table as everyone nodded their heads. “And it’s up to us to see that the security of that station remains a priority. As much as it pains me to say it, that structure is more important than any single star system in the Empire. Maybe any five of them. And definitely more important than any of us. We need to make sure that what happened the other day never happens again. Even if it means beefing up our own security forces on the other end of every wormhole that connects to the station.”

  “The Brakakak and the Crakista may not go along with us stationing more troops in their territory,” cautioned Samantha.

  “We don’t have a portal connecting us with the Brakakak,” said Ishner, shaking his head. “So that won’t be a problem until we get them a new gate.”

  “We’re actually shipping two to them,” said Samantha, pulling up a holo on the flat comp sitting on the table to her front. “We’ll be putting a ship gate into orbit around their homeworld, and another passenger gate on one of their stations.”

  “Why not just put it on their planet?” asked Goolsby, looking at the holo of the ship gate arrangement they were constructing about a light hour from the Donut, it having been agreed that such a distance from the station was a good point of placement for those gates.

  Samantha looked at the plan that had been put into place by the Empire’s military planners. Twenty-four gates to a flower, each about two light seconds from the center, about equidistant from each other in a circle. Between each gate was a fort, most in the process of being built, each capable of firing pentawatts of laser power, particle beams, and hundreds of missiles a volley at anything that came through the gates that was not wanted, like an enemy force. A light minute away was another flower, not quite filled with gates. Beyond that were the marker buoys of yet another, and another, until all six of the structures planned for that area formed another circle. The arrangement would allow ships to move quickly from gate to gate, while allowing enough separation that no known weapon could take out more than one. The forts provided security, along with a fleet force that was both guarding the gates, and providing a reaction force for the systems on the other side of the portals. Next would come warehouses for goods, and habitats for people waiting for their transfers to another ship.

  It was thought that nothing that came through the gate could become a threat to the station. First, because all of the holes were oriented so that any ships coming through would not be on a line to the station. They would have to reorient, decelerate, and then head for the Donut. And in that time the defense fleet would be able to take them under fire. And second due to the distance. It would take hours for a missile to reach the station from any of those gates, and any beam weapons would be so attenuated as to be ineffectual before they reached their target.

  “After what happened to their primary dock in orbit, they refuse to even discuss having a gate on their planet,” said Samantha. “And considering the size of the bombs the Cacas brought through, I really can’t blame them. That thing would have killed everyone on a small continent.

  “And that brings up the next point,” said Samantha, looking straight at Archduke Marconi. “And the reason we asked you to be here, your Grace.”

  Marconi’s ears perked up and he raised an eyebrow.

  “You are a member of the Lord’s oversight committee on Intelligence, your Grace,” said Samantha. “And we have a security matter that needs to be broached to at least one member of that committee.”

  “I’m all ears, Regent,” said Marconi. “And I assume this is something you don’t want discussed in front of the entire Committee?”

  “We would prefer that, yes. And I would like your word that what you hear here will not go any further. This may compromise an operation that is vital to the war effort.”

  “With that said, how could I refuse, since my curiosity has now gotten the better of me.”

  “There are Caca intelligence agents in the Em
pire,” said Samantha.

  “That would not surprise me in the least,” said the Archduke with a laugh. “And are the shape shifters their agents?”

  “As far as we know, no. But there are other agents, members of their intelligence apparatus that are operating within the Empire, that we are well aware of. In fact, we know where several of these operatives are, at least as far as the planet or star system is concerned. And we are feeding them information.”

  Marconi sat up straight in his chair as the last words left Samantha’s mouth. “We’re feeding them information? Whose idea was that?” He stood up and stared at the Regent.

  “Actually,” said Samantha, holding out a hand to motion the man back into his seat. “It was the idea of their spymaster. It turns out that his species is tired of being the slaves of the Cacas. They want their freedom, and they see us as their best chance of getting it. On their recommendation, we have been feeding them false information, while they have been giving us the straight goods on their masters’ dispositions and plans.”

  “And you’re sure this information is legit?” asked the Archduke, his eyes narrowing.

  “We can’t tell if everything is correct,” said von Hausser Schmidt. “Some of the long range stuff they have given us has not come to pass. And there is the problem of the transmission of information, both ways. But what they have told us has recently been backed up by what we have seen. I agreed with the Emperor that this was a resource we needed to cultivate. They are in the Empire anyway, spying, gathering information. We really had nothing to lose by giving them data they knew was disinformation.”