And they have to help train others, he thought, remembering just how many conscripts had barely been prepared before they’d been issued weapons and told to get to the front. I can’t let them all die.
He let out a sigh. “Let me have my terminal,” he said. “I’ll order them to surrender.”
The humans watched him carefully as he keyed his console, then issued the orders. It galled him to surrender so tamely, but there was no other choice. The humans had outsmarted him, somehow. He wondered just how they’d managed to get into the command centre. Had they bribed the guards? Or had the guards turned on him? Or ...
He shrugged. It didn’t matter.
***
“The majority of their troopers have been rounded up,” Major Griffin reported, two days later. “But the picket ships have refused to surrender.”
“It isn’t as if we can get at them,” Martin said. The Tokomak had left two squadrons of destroyers behind to monitor the system, but they couldn’t bombard the ring and the marines couldn’t get to them. The engagement had stalemated. “What do we do now?”
“Now?” Major Griffin shrugged. “We prepare for the next conflict.”
***
Major Griffin had meant it, Martin decided, over the next two weeks. The marines secured the orbital towers, found accommodation for the hundreds of thousands of prisoners and then threw themselves into preparing for the next engagement. Some of the alien prisoners had proven surprisingly talkative, cheerfully informing their captors that their fleet would return soon enough; others, less inclined to be friendly, merely reminded the humans of their responsibilities under the Conventions. Martin wasn’t sure there was any point in sticking to the Conventions - it wasn’t as if anyone else paid attention to them - but Major Griffin had made it clear that the prisoners were to be treated well. If nothing else, he’d said, the Tokomak would be more willing to surrender if they were assured of good treatment.
He was in the command centre when the alarms began to sound. “Sir,” Lieutenant Glover snapped. “We have multiple ships transiting the gravity point!”
“You mean they’ve already transited,” Martin reminded him. The speed-of-light delay wasn't something he needed to worry about, normally, but he wasn’t ignorant. By the time the planetary sensors had picked the ships up, they’d been in the system for hours. “Alert the CO, then ...”
The display updated, rapidly. “They’re coming this way,” Glover said, as the unknown ships entered FTL. “ETA fifteen minutes.”
“Then sound the alert,” Martin ordered. If the alien fleet had returned, it wouldn’t be long before the humans would have to go back underground. This time, the aliens were going to have an even harder time of it. “And prepare to evacuate this compartment.”
He forced himself to relax as Major Griffin strode into the command centre, looking remarkably calm for someone who knew his plans were on the verge of disaster. Martin stood, saluted and briefed his superior quickly, then waited for orders. Major Griffin merely looked at the display, then nodded. The only thing they could do was wait.
“The ships are dropping out of FTL now,” Glover reported, as new icons appeared on the near-space display. His voice rose in excitement. “Sir, they’re the fleet! They’re our ships!”
“Thank God,” Major Griffin said. “Contact the Admiral, please. I need to have a word with her.”
“Yes, sir,” Glover said.
We won, Martin thought. On the display, the enemy ships were turning and running for their lives. They weren't even pausing long enough to fire a shot for the honour of the flag. We fucking won.
But he knew, as he recognised the flagship’s IFF on the display, that the war was very far from over.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“It’s confirmed, Admiral,” Yolanda said. “The fleet train remained intact at Garza and is now on its way here.”
“Thank God,” Hoshiko said. The enemy pickets hadn’t realised it, but her ships had been in no state for a fight. “Order them to start replenishing our supplies as soon as they arrive.”
She leaned back in her command chair and contemplated the situation. They’d won - and, in doing so, smashed a sizable number of enemy ships. But it was only a tiny percentage of the whole. Given time, the Galactics could assemble a fleet twice the size of the one she’d smashed and send it against N-Gann, then Apsidal. Humanity could still lose the war, if the Tokomak rallied and resumed the offensive. She didn’t dare give them the time.
“Contact the senior officers,” she said, standing. “Holoconference in ten minutes.”
“Aye, Admiral.”
Hoshiko rose and walked into her office. Her terminal was blinking, informing her that there were hundreds of reports she had to read, but she ignored them. Her officers would be able to handle most of the problems themselves, without her interference. It was what they were paid to do. She sat down and waited, resting her hands on her lap. One by one, the holographic images materialised. She wished, suddenly, that she could meet her officers in person, but she knew it was impossible. They could be attacked at any moment.
Particularly if the enemy rallies and starts to raid our supply lines, she thought. The Tokomak Empress had options. And she was good enough to see those options. We are sitting on the end of a very long branch and the enemy is going to try to saw us off.
“We won a great victory,” she said, once her officers were assembled. “But the war is far from over.”
She leaned forward, willing them to listen to her. “No one ever won a war by sitting on the defensive,” she added. “Once we have replenished our supplies, once we have turned N-Gann into a forward base, we have to take the offensive. The Tokomak Empire cannot be allowed time to gather its forces and strike back. If we can link up with the rebels, if we can strike deep into their territory, we might win the war.”
“Our orders were merely to secure Apsidal,” Commodore Jiang pointed out. “Admiral, if we take the war into their territory, we could lose everything.”
“We’ll lose everything if they muster the force to strike back,” Hoshiko countered. The xenospecialists were predicting an enemy civil war, but she didn’t dare count on it. “They cannot be allowed time to recover.”
“We should check with Sol,” Commodore Hawking said. “Admiral ...”
“There’s no time,” Commodore Jackson snapped. “By the time we get a message from here to Sol and back, the enemy could have recovered. We have to go on the offensive now.”
Hoshiko held up a hand before the debate got out of hand. “We won’t be moving immediately,” she said. “We have to replenish our supplies and secure our rear. During that time, I want you and your staffs to consider ways of going on the offensive and smashing the Tokomak Empire once and for all. If nothing else, we need to buy time for Sol to improve its defences and produce more ships.”
She took a long breath. “I don’t pretend it will be easy. There will be much hard fighting ahead. But we cannot sit on our bums and wait for them to hit us. They still outgun us by several orders of magnitude. We have to go on the offensive.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Jackson said. “Dare I assume you have a plan already?”
“The bare bones of one,” Hoshiko confirmed. “But we won’t be able to go on the offensive for weeks. We’ll just have to hope the enemy needs more time to prepare for the next engagement.”
“We killed thousands of ships,” Jiang observed. “Surely, any rational foe would understand that they couldn’t continue to soak up such losses indefinitely.”
“They have to crush us,” Hoshiko said. She looked from face to face. “We’re their worst nightmare, ladies and gentlemen. A young race, free of the constraints they imposed on their fellows, with no qualms about pushing technology as far as it will go. They have to crush us, simply to keep us from setting a bad example. How many of their servant races have we already influenced to find a way to rebel against their masters?”
“How many of their serv
ants have we condemned to death in hopeless rebellion?” Jiang looked grim. “Admiral, we are taking an immense risk.”
“I know,” Hoshiko said. “But do we have a choice?”
She met his eyes. “The Tokomak have pronounced a sentence of death on every last man, woman and child, Commodore. The entire human race will be wiped out, if they win the war. We have no choice. We either defeat them, shattering their empire and eliminating the threat, or we die. There are no other alternatives.”
“And we will win,” Jackson said.
“If we are lucky,” Jiang said. “I still think we should check with Sol, though.”
“I’ll send a courier boat back, as soon as the fleet train has resupplied our ships,” Hoshiko said. “But we are on our own out here.”
She smiled. “We will go on the offensive,” she added. “And their empire will shatter under our blows.”
***
Martin opened his eyes, feeling - just for a moment - as if he wasn't sure where he was. He was lying on a comfortable bed, the omnipresent hum of the starship’s drives pervading every fibre of his being ... he smiled, suddenly, as he remembered they were in one of the privacy tubes. Yolanda had met him as soon as he’d boarded Defiant and led him straight to the nearest tube, without regard for anything else. Martin suspected that Sergeant Howe would have a few things to say about it, when Martin returned to Marine Country, but it was hard to care. He’d feared the worst when the fleet fled through the gravity point, leaving the marines on their own. Yolanda could have died out there.
He sat up and looked at his partner as she rolled over and yawned. They hadn’t been doing much sleeping, even though the chronometer on the bulkhead insisted they’d been in the privacy tube for hours. Yolanda would have to go back to her cabin and sleep before the admiral called her back to duty, Martin thought. It wasn't as if she was used to functioning when she was tired.
“It’s been too long,” he said. “I thought ...”
“I was afraid for you too,” Yolanda told him. She sat upright, her bare breasts bouncing invitingly. “And we’ll be heading further up the chain soon.”
Martin tensed. “The fleet will be going on the offensive?”
“That’s the plan,” Yolanda said. “We can’t let the bastards have time to recover.”
“Good,” Martin grunted. He needed time to recover himself - and reorganise his team, in the wake of the long insurgency - but it wouldn’t take long. “And then? What happens afterwards?”
“It depends,” Yolanda said. “If we die, we die.”
Martin grinned. “And if we don’t die?”
“We win,” Yolanda said. “Or do you mean what happens to us?”
She shrugged. “I want to aim for command myself,” she said. “And then you can transfer to my ship.”
“If they don’t find some other place for me,” Martin said. He leaned forward to kiss her. The fleet would be heading onwards soon enough, ensuring he’d have plenty more opportunities to put his life at risk. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
“Yes,” Yolanda said. She kissed him, then stood. “I guess we will.”
***
“I’ve already dispatched my final report to Admiral Webster and the NGW project,” Hameeda said. “The LinkShip program has been a complete success.”
She studied Admiral Stuart as the older woman sipped her tea. Admiral Stuart had insisted on coming in person, rather than sending a holographic image. Hameeda didn’t mind, although she rather hoped there would be more to the meeting than simple courtesy. The LinkShip had proved itself. No doubt Admiral Stuart had a whole new task for her.
“So I believe,” Admiral Stuart said. “Are you ready to go on the offensive?”
“Yes, Admiral,” Hameeda said. She felt a thrill of excitement. “Are we going to hit the enemy?”
“Yes,” Admiral Stuart told her. “This is what I want you to do ...”
***
Neola sat in her cabin, alone.
There was no point, she admitted to herself, in trying to hide from the truth. She’d lost the battle, if not the war. It was quite likely that she would be removed from power when she got home, even though she had done everything in her power to win. She’d issued orders to prepare a series of attacks on the enemy lines, sending starships down the chain to N-Gann with orders to raid human shipping, but she knew it wouldn’t be enough. The humans had a window of opportunity to go on the offensive. She was morbidly certain they’d take advantage of it.
But the war isn’t over, she thought. Word of the defeat hadn’t reached Tokomak Prime, not yet. She’d have a chance to secure her position before the truth sank in. And then ... she could rally her forces and go on the offensive again. We lost a battle, but not the war.
She sighed, inwardly. It was not a comforting thought. She’d gambled and lost and - even though she knew she could absorb the losses and keep going - she knew there would be consequences. Her enemies would have a chance to remove her, while the humans would have time to prepare an offensive of their own and, perhaps more worryingly, devise newer and better weapons systems. If they came up with something new ...
The war is not over, she told herself, firmly. And we can still win.
End of Book V.
The Series Will Continue In:
Their Last Full Measure
Appendix: A Very Brief Recap
In the very near future, a handful of military veterans in the USA were abducted by an alien starship. Unluckily for their would-be captors - the Horde, a race of interstellar scavengers - the humans rapidly managed to break free and gain control of the starship. Steve Stuart, a rancher who had been growing more and more disillusioned with the government, saw opportunity - the starship could serve as the base for a new civilisation, the Solar Union.
Despite some small problems with planet-bound governments, the Solarians - as they would eventually be called - started to both recruit settlers for the new state and distribute alien-grade technology on Earth. After defeating a series of Horde ships that attempted to recapture their starship and attack Earth, the Solar Union was firmly in place.
This was, of course, unknown to the rest of the galaxy. To them, Earth wasn't even a microstate. This suited the Solarians just fine. Humans could and did travel beyond the solar system - as traders, mercenaries or even simple explorers - but no one wanted to attract the Galactics to Earth. The Solarians were already making improvements to GalTech that could not fail to alarm the major alien powers, particularly the Tokomak.
Fifty years after Contact, the veil of secrecy fell. Humanity’s involvement in a series of brushfire wars at the edge of known space could no longer be hidden, nor could elements of advanced technology. In response, the Tokomak dispatched a massive fleet to Sol with the intention of blasting Earth to cinders. Unknown to the Tokomak, the Solar Navy had just enough advanced technology to stand off the alien fleet and smash it. The follow-up attacks shattered the Tokomak grip on the nearby sectors, freeing hundreds of planets from their influence. Humanity had suddenly become a major regional power. A number of naval bases were rapidly established, both to extend human influence and protect human trade.
This had unfortunate effects on Earth. The expansion of the Solar Union - and its willingness to insist that anyone who wanted to emigrate could emigrate - accidentally accelerated the social decline pervading civilisation. Europe, America and many other countries fell into civil war, something that caused considerable concern in orbit. One faction within the Solar Union wanted to intervene, others - feeling no loyalty to Earth - believed it was better to let Earthers handle their own affairs.
Captain-Commodore Hoshiko Sashimi Stuart - the granddaughter of Steve Stuart - accidentally stepped into a political minefield when she insisted that Earth should be left alone. Her family’s political enemies were quick to use it against them. Accordingly, she was placed in command of a cruiser squadron and dispatched to the Martina Sector, where she would be well out of the public eye.
However, she rapidly discovered that the Druavroks - a powerful alien race - were bent on a campaign of genocide against their neighbours, including a number of human settlers. Allying herself with other threatened races, Hoshiko led a campaign that broke the Druavroks and laid the groundwork for a human-led federation - a Grand Alliance.
Unfortunately for humanity - and everyone else - the Tokomak had other ideas. Neola, the Tokomak who had commanded the fleet that died at Earth, managed to take control of the Tokomak Empire and prepare her people for a far more serious war. Her first step, after ensuring that the immense fleets were being brought back online, was to attempt to lure a human starship - Odyssey - into a trap. Although humanity fell for what was presented, to them, as an olive branch from one of the oldest known races, the crew of Odyssey were able to escape the trap and find their way back to the nearest safe port. In their wake, however, an ultimatum was sent. Humanity could surrender ...
The Long-Range War Page 39
