Embracing Oblivion: Wolfpack Book 3

by Toby Neighbors

  After relaying his experience with the aliens on the strange vessel, he gave a detailed explanation of everything that happened in the Alrakis system that involved the alien ship, and his encounters with the aliens themselves. The debrief dragged on and on. When Fleet Admiral Cummings finally called a halt to the questions Dean felt a tremendous sense of relief. Most of the other officers began talking in small groups, and only two people approached Dean. One was Captain Parker, who had been a silent spectator through the entire meeting. The other was a man with short, gray hair wearing simple utility fatigues. He had a black eagle decal pinned to his chest, but no other ribbons or insignias.

  “Dean, this is Colonel Davis, the OWFR Corps Commander,” Parker explained.

  Dean saluted, which was returned smartly by Colonel Davis.

  “Damn fine work out there, Blaze. And from the reports I’ve read you saved our asses on Rome Three.”

  “We got lucky getting down to the planet in one piece, sir,” Dean explained.

  “But you improvised in the face of difficult circumstances. That’s exactly what Force Recon is all about. It’s what the policy makers don’t understand. And it’s why we’re essential to EsDef. Your platoon proved that boots on the ground still make a difference, even under the most adverse circumstances.”

  “Thank you sir,” Dean said, feeling his face blush.

  “Walk with me. You too, Parker. I want to ask you both a question.”

  They walked back out into the hallway and moved slowly along, speaking in low voices.

  “What do you think the odds of surviving a fight with bird people are?”

  “Bird people, sir?”

  “The Kroll,” Parker said.

  “Oh, well, I would want to know how our weapons would fare against them before I ventured a guess,” Dean said.

  “Yes, well, that was a piss poor decision on RA Chancy’s part,” Davis said. “Sending in a platoon with only non-lethals. He’ll catch hell for that. You should never have been sent into harm’s way without proper weapons and ammunition. It’s a miracle, and a testimony to your leadership, that you got your people out without casualties.”

  “Captain Dante wasn’t as lucky,” Dean said.

  “She’s alive, right?” Davis asked.

  “Alive but in a coma.”

  “Well, that’s a damn shame. Most of those console jockeys wouldn’t have the courage to go out with a Recon platoon, much less pilot a shuttle the way she did. I hope she pulls through.”

  Dean didn’t reply, but looked down at the spotless tiles on the deck as his eyes burned with unwanted tears. He would have given anything to know that Esma would pull through, that she would wake up with no residual effects from the mission, but there was nothing he could do for her. He wasn’t even sure when she would be shuttled down to Earth for further treatment.

  “You’ve proven yourself,” Davis went on. “To be honest, I argued against your promotion. The Planetary Medal of Honor put a big target on your back. Making you a captain after just one tour, and a short one at that, was an unnecessary burden. But of course, the brass can’t comprehend how being promoted too quickly would actually make your job more difficult. It’s good to know it didn’t go to your head.”

  “I agree completely sir,” Dean said. “I’m proud to be in EsDef, and I take the chain of command seriously, but I didn’t seek out the promotion.”

  “No real soldiers ever do,” Davis explained. “We fight for duty, for the men and women under our command, not the ribbons or accolades. Parker knows what I mean. She’s been here at Grooms Lake when she’d rather be leading a platoon, but she does her job and does it well.”

  “I concur,” Dean said.

  “Thank you, Colonel,” Captain Parker said. “I serve at your pleasure.”

  “We all have inherent skills that make us unique, Blaze. Captain Parker’s father was a CCS specialist before she was born. He opened a martial arts academy on Earth, which is why she’s such a badass in hand-to-hand combat. Her years of training with her father make her an asset here at OTA, preparing Recon officers for the rigors we all face. And you, Blaze, have a real knack for tactical improvisation. Major Gheridelli can’t stop talking about you.”

  “He was a good teacher,” Dean said.

  “Ah, but we aren’t all equal students. Gheridelli has trained every Recon officer in strategy and tactics for the last two decades. Yet you were the only one on Rome Three to see a path to victory and devise a strategy to make it happen. When those Swiss Guards attacked the compound, every other Recon officer ran to the walls, but you didn’t.”

  “It was just a hunch, sir,” Dean tried to explain.

  “And we can’t teach hunches, can we Parker,” Davis went on. “No, because what you have, Blaze, is a keen sense of situational awareness. You knew when to act, and how to act. No one was thrilled to discover you blew the hell out of the Pope’s soldiers, but that’s the danger of only seeing a single action and then judging it as either good or bad. You had orders not to use lethal force, and in the end you did, but that’s not the whole story is it?”

  “No sir. We were about to be overrun.”

  “They would have killed you and every member of your platoon,” Davis said. “But that wasn’t the reason you did it.”

  “No sir. If we were overrun the guards would have rescued the Pope. He was our only leverage on the planet. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “And so we have a victorious mission,” Davis said. “Not because you disobeyed orders not to harm the people of Rome Three, but because you saw what was needed in a dire circumstance to ensure the larger mission was achieved. And that’s why I’m recommending you to lead Project Chameleon.”

  “What’s Project Chameleon, sir?” Dean asked.

  “I can’t tell you that, Captain, it’s classified. I haven’t gotten the green light yet, but when I do you’ll be the first to know.”

  The recon colonel looked at Captain Parker with a twinkle in his eye, and Dean wondered what the two of them were up to.

  Chapter 19

  Dean ate dinner with Colonel Davis and Captain Parker. The mess for officers on the space base was slightly better than the food he ate as a recruit. The ingredients were the same, but a little more care was used in preparing the protein wafers and Dean though it almost tasted like an actual salmon filet. After dinner the two older officers decided to get drinks, but Dean went back to his small room. He had a message waiting for him on his data pad. It was from Major Gheridelli, who wanted Dean to give him a vid call as soon as he had a chance.

  Dean opened the desk, which folded down out of the wall and logged into the space station’s network. A moment later his mentor’s face appeared on the screen.

  “Captain Blaze,” he said jovially. “It is so good to see you again. I have studied all your missions with great interest.”

  “It’s good to see you too, Major. How are things on Earth?”

  “Much the same as always, but the Urgglatta ship you captured has opened up a treasure trove of information about the universe. I was selected to study the Kroll Empire along with a team of military leaders and academics. I am the unofficial liaison, since I have a foot in both worlds.”

  “That’s great,” Dean said. “Congratulations.”

  “No, no, no,” Gheridelli said. “I am not fishing for compliments, my friend. I have information which you may need. Your instincts about the Kroll were right on target. They are an intelligent avian species. You have time to talk about this, yes?”

  “Of course, Major.”

  “Good, good, I pushed hard for your clearance so that we could talk about the Kroll. Everything I’m going to share with you is top secret. The EsDef brass are taking great pains to keep the information secret.”

  “I won't tell a soul,” Dean promised. “You have my word.”

  “Excellent, excellent. Now, let me begin by giving you a little history on the Kroll, at least as much as we know from the Urgg
latta records. The Kroll are avian predators, think of them as giant eagles. Your descriptions of the creatures was quiet accurate. They have thick bodies, short necks, reptilian heads, and long arms with articulated fingers. They are the dominant species on their home planet, but not the only intelligent species.

  “Unlike humans, the Kroll don’t build cities, but rather community nests. Think of the way birds build their homes high in the trees. They use whatever resources they find, from branches and twigs to garbage and manmade products. Whatever fits their needs, they take, and the Kroll are the same way. They don’t build things, they aren’t technologically advanced, they take whatever they can get their hands on.”

  “Which is why their ship was cobbled together from dozens of other ships,” Dean said.

  “Exactly, and why you found their vessel at the center of the ship. An avian sanctuary with a community nest right in the center.”

  “What about the people and Urgglatta they captured,” Dean asked.

  “Food,” Major Gheridelli said. “They are carnivores. After dominating their world they looked to space when another race, the Beldi, came to their planet. It isn’t clear what the Beldi wanted, or who they are for that matter. The Urgglatta have no records of them other than their technology, which the Kroll now use at the heart of their ships. Gravity control, much like the Urgglatta’s own technology, allows them to traverse the galaxy at speeds much faster than our own FTL.”

  “So the Kroll stole the technology from the Beldi and then traced their way back to the Beldi home world. Wiped them out and took everything of value.”

  “That is the most likely explanation,” Major Gheridelli admitted. “What isn’t clear is if they just scavenge, or if they are expansionists, setting up colonies on the worlds.”

  “And now they’ve conquered the Urgglatta,” Dean said. “Which will lead them here.”

  “Eventually,” Major Gheridelli. “Many of the academics argue that it could take centuries for the Kroll to consume the resources on the Urgglatta home world.”

  “And what resources are we talking about?” Dean asked.

  “The Urgglatta themselves, I suspect. Kroll are carnivores. They’ll stay where the food is abundant until it isn’t anymore.”

  “Okay, but that doesn’t explain what they were doing in the Alrakis system, not if their food is at the Urgglatta home world.”

  “No, it doesn’t, but there is still a lot we do not know about the Kroll. The Urgglatta claim that they are not reasonable beings. Their efforts at diplomacy only led to conflict. And while we know that the Kroll have advanced spacefaring technology, it isn’t clear just how much they really know and understand that technology. We don’t know how they communicate from ship to ship, or if they even do. We don’t know what type of governmental structure they use, or even what they are trying to accomplish. If they aren’t driven by reason, it may simply be in their nature to kill.”

  “Like animals on Earth,” Dean said.

  “Exactly. For some creatures, the instinct to seek out prey is literally written in their DNA. Peace as we know it may not even be a concept they can understand. Coexistence with other species could be nothing more than staying close to their food source.”

  Dean sat back, trying to imagine how he would deal with creatures that thought so completely differently than he did. His first impulse was just to kill them all. If they were a threat, they would have to be dealt with harshly. A person couldn’t live with a wild animal without eventually getting bit, it was inevitable. But starting a war with another spacefaring race, especially one whose technology was more advanced than humanity’s, was foolishness of the highest order.

  “So where does that leave us?” Dean asked. “From a strategic point of view, I mean.”

  “There are two options, as I see it,” Gheridelli said. “We can wait, learn from the information given to us by the Urgglatta, so that we are better prepared to defend ourselves when the time comes. As I’ve said some of the people on my team don’t believe the Kroll will bother us for decades.”

  “I don’t buy that,” Dean said.

  “It is an option, and we certainly have a lot to learn from the Urgglatta. Specifically about gravity manipulation. But there’s always the chance that the Kroll will advance at the same rate that we do, and by waiting we will do nothing to close the technological gap, so to speak.”

  “So what’s option two?”

  “The second strategy would be to attack now. We have greatly expanded our knowledge of the galaxy via the Urgglatta. We know where their home world is, and the Kroll are sure to be there. We could bring our military forces to bear and hopefully make the Kroll realize that we aren’t easy prey.”

  “Bloody their noses and make them think twice about messing with humans.”

  “That is correct, Captain. Victory lies in making the enemy understand just how costly conflict with us will be. Your actions in the Alrakis system make me believe that we can take the fight to the Kroll. Unfortunately, we don’t get to make that decision.”

  “Colonel Davis said he’s proposing a plan of action,” Dean said.

  “Yes, his strategy is unique, and not completely without merit. He wants to capture a Kroll, which would allow us to fill in the gaps in our understanding of them, but it is an incredibly risky endeavor. Meanwhile, the politicians are arguing for diplomacy first. We will just have to wait and see what the commanders at EsDef decide to do.”

  “We tried capturing them. It’s not something I would recommend.”

  “He has a plan that I can’t share the details of, but suffice it to say that from a purely strategic point of view I would love to see if it would work. Unfortunately it would require more risk than I’m comfortable with. If war is in our future, I don’t think we should throw away lives needlessly.”

  “War… it seems almost unthinkable,” Dean said, trying to imagine what war with another spacefaring race would look like. “I don’t have much faith in politics, but I’d rather negotiate if that’s possible.”

  “And leave the Urgglatta to face their fate at the hands of the Kroll?” Major Gheridelli asked.

  “Until now they’ve done nothing to help us,” Dean said. “They hoarded their knowledge of the Kroll for who knows how long.”

  “Necessity is the mother of invention, perhaps it is the father of alliances as well. I should let you get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day for you, my friend.”

  “Anything I should know about?” Dean asked.

  “Just remember that not everyone values sound strategy the way I do,” Gheridelli said with a smile. “But you’ve handled yourself just fine so far. Trust your instincts, Dean. And remember that anger will not get you what you desire.”

  “That sounds a little ominous,” Dean said.

  “EsDef is not for the faint of heart, my friend. So long, for now.”

  Major Gheridelli ended the vid call, and the screen in front of Dean returned to the normal network launch page. Dean ignored it and moved to the small bed. He was tired, and while his day had gone much better than he had expected, he couldn’t imagine his luck lasting. At some point he would be questioned about his decisions. He would have to answer for the casualties in his platoon, as well as leaving the Charlemagne to help the people on the Alrakis space station. And then there was the report from Rear Admiral Chancy. He would have to navigate his way ahead carefully, and that thought made him even more tired.

  He closed the computer station, wishing there was some way he could contact Esma, but he didn’t even know where she’d been moved to. He would just have to wait until she contacted him. He slipped out of his fatigues and stretched out on the small bed. His mind tried to sort through his fears about what lay ahead; more debriefings, his actions on Rome Three, the threat posed by the Kroll Empire. But everything blurred together in his mind, and as he drifted off to sleep his thoughts conspired to haunt his dreams.

  Chapter 20

 
; The next three days were a marathon of debriefings that alternated between curious scientists seeking firsthand information about the Kroll, to high-ranking Administrators with no concept of combat strategy but plenty of time to kill grilling him over every decision he had made since leaving the Sol System on the E.S.D.F. Charlemagne.

  Dean understood the need for accountability. The debriefs were a way to ensure that OWFR officers didn’t use their platoons for anything other than EsDef missions. With as much firepower and strength as his platoon possessed, he knew they could force just about anyone to do their bidding, even admirals on capital ships. The grilling from the O&A officers was just about keeping the Recon platoons in check, though they also gave Dean a chance to learn from his mistakes and become a better leader.

  Corporal Chancy’s behavior didn’t come up in the briefings, even though the Administrators sometimes asked Dean questions that seemed to have been composed by the wayward corporal or his high-ranking father. Dean feared Rear Admiral Chancy’s letter might become a black mark in his service record, but no one mentioned it outright. The valor and resourcefulness of Dean’s platoon was self-evident. They had evaded capture by a powerful, technologically advanced race, rescued well over a hundred people, and destroyed the alien vessel without back-up. It was what Force Recon existed for, and yet even Dean was surprised at how successful they had been against the Kroll.

  On the morning of the fourth day since his arrival at Grooms Lake, Dean was summoned to a strategy session. It was his first time to be included in a commanders’ meeting, and although he was just there to give input if needed, he still felt as if his actions on Rome Three and in the Alrakis System were being honored.

  The meeting was held in the same room that he had initially been questioned in. The U-shaped tables were still in place, as were the vid screens around the room, but the video equipment had been removed. The command meeting would not be broadcast, and Dean even had to hand over his wrist link when he entered the room.

  Captain Vanessa Parker was sitting in a chair with two other Recon officers and she waved Dean over to join them. Dean saw a placard with Colonel Davis’ name at the table in front of the small group, but the OWFR commander wasn’t present.