Exodus: Empires at War: Book 10: Search & Destroy

by Doug Dandridge

  Jimmy nodded his head. “You know we have asked for more, but we’re not the only place at risk. In fact, I would have to say we’re less at risk than most vital facilities in the Empire. Hell, we’ve got a good percentage of the Home Fleet sitting in space around the black hole, and another good percentage on the other side of a series of gates, ready to come through at a moment’s notice.”

  “And most of the close in fleet is deployed near the sets of ship gates,” said Lucille, thinking of those three sets of portals hanging in orbit around the black hole. They were the heart of the system that allowed the Empire to shift large forces rapidly between areas of operation. “That puts them over an hour away from the Donut.”

  “And any enemy that attacks has to come across what? Sixteen light hours of space. Plenty of time and distance for a response.”

  “Except your forgetting one thing, Jimmy.”

  “And what might that be?” asked the Agent, crossing his arms over his chest.

  “Wormholes. Someone with a wormhole could get it close to the station and bring ships through. Hell, they could just send through flights of missiles, just like we’re doing against the Cacas.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing that none of our enemies have wormholes, isn’t it.”

  Lucille stared at her lover for a moment, thinking about what he had just said. The Donut couldn’t be the only way to make wormholes. True, it made it possible to make them en mass, but it wasn’t impossible to manufacture them by other means, and long as you had the energy. And did that mean that the Cacas didn’t have them? And wouldn’t have them in the near future? And if I suggest this to the military, they will just think I’m an alarmist, she thought, shaking her head. It really wasn’t worth it, since the odds of someone striking at the Donut in such a manner were astronomical, to say the least.

  “You’re probably right, and I’m probably being alarmist. But I would still feel better if we had more security across the station. After all, we have had a strike through a wormhole before, and have been attacked by shapeshifting infiltrators, so you can’t tell me that it can’t happen.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” promised Jimmy, putting a hand back on her shoulder. “But I can’t promise anything. Squeaky wheels and all that, but they can also get ignored if they squeak too often.”

  And I need to start thinking like a scientist, thought Lucille, who couldn’t get rid of the thought that something bad was going to happen. She wasn’t sure where the feeling came from, but her intuition gave her a clue. And it wasn’t a source in their Universe.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.

  Sun Tzu

  IMPERIAL PALACE, CAPITULUM

  “A number of the Lords are questioning our spreading our resources so thin,” said Baron Emile von Hausser Schmidt,Leader of the House of Lords. “Most can see the need to prop up the Republic, possibly even rebuilding New Moscow, though there have been some grumblings there as well. And of course we need to keep our traditional allies going. But most of the objections have to do with aid to the second front, as well as the new war you started out on the frontier.”

  “Now wait a second, my Lord,” protested Samantha Ogden Lee, Sean’s cousin and Regent, the one who basically ran the Emperal branch of the government when Sean was absent. “Sean didn’t start that war. Those damned murderous machines attacked us. What are we supposed to do? Back off and let them slaughter every sentient species they find? We’re responsible for the damned things in the first place.”

  Sean stared at his cousin for a moment. Samantha was normally the calmest person at any meeting she attended. But she had developed a passion for defending her cousin against any and all comers.

  “Hold on, my Lady,” said Schmidt, raising his hands as if to ward off an attack. “I didn’t say I was objecting to fighting the Machines. But a significant number of Lords are questioning the wisdom of fighting them while we’re still engaged in hostilities against the Cacas.”

  “And when do they think we should fight them, Baron?” asked Sean, leaning forward in his seat. “After they have wiped out an entire region of the Perseus Arm, and increased their military power to the point where they have become as big a threat as the Cacas?”

  “I agree with you, Sean,” said the Baron with a familiarity that would have horrified the subjects of any of the other monarchs in the area. “But I don’t control the thoughts and opinions of the other members of the Lords, especially the opposition.”

  “They don’t have to agree with me,” growled Sean, looking his Head of the House of Lords in the eye. “They just have to pass the resolutions needed to keep my war machine going.”

  “They are independent agents, Sean. I can’t tell them how to vote. Now if you declared Martial Law, you could bypass Parliament entirely.”

  As he spoke the other people in the room stiffened in their seats. Laura Goolsby, the Speaker of Commons, frowned, while Mohamed Ishner, the Chief of Scholars coughed in his hand. Even Countess Haruko Kawasaki,the Prime Minister, looked decidedly uncomfortable. Sean knew that they were all loyal subjects, but no one in politics wanted to give up what power they had.

  “I will not become another Cassius,” hissed Sean. “There is no way in hell I will go down in history as a despot.”

  “And I applaud you on that attitude, your Majesty,” said the Baron, nodding. “But we’re talking the survival of the human species here. If we don’t beat the Cacas, there may be no human history books to go down in.”

  “Why the total about face, Baron?” asked Samantha, her eyes narrowing. “I thought you were a Parliamentarian first and foremost.”

  “And I do believe in our form of government,” said Hausser Schmidt, shrugging his shoulders. “But I’m also a pragmatist, and I would rather see Parliament bypassed than for us to lose this war.”

  “I expect all of you to make Parliament work with me,” said Sean, looking from face to face. “I hate to say it, but the Lords have been the biggest problem for me, seeing as they have seats for life.”

  “We can unseat some of them, if given a reason,” said Countess Kawasaki. “And thank God we don’t have to deal with Zhee anymore. With her gone, the opposition has not been so, oppositional.”

  “And we still have no idea what happened to her?” asked Sean, somewhat disappointed that she had vanished. Director Sergiov had sufficient evidence of her complicity in the assassination attempts on Sean and the Empress that he was certain they could have gotten a conviction, which would have totally discredited the opposition. There would have been a choice of punishments if she had been convicted; life imprisonment, mind wipe or death. He would have voted for death, and his vote would have carried the weight of law. While he might not be the one who determined innocence or guilt, he did have the option of passing judgment.

  “I would prefer to not have to banish some of the Lords from their hereditary seats, at least without a good reason. Instead, I leave it up to you two,” he looked from Schmidt to Kawasaki, “to make sure that the Lords will work with me.”

  “And our Houses, your Majesty?” asked Goolsby.

  “Your Houses can be restructured without my having to take any kind of drastic action,” said Sean with a smile. “The commons are up for their every four year elections in seven months. I will have my people studying the voting records of all members of the commons, and any I deem obstructionist will face a campaign such as they have never seen. Media blitz, speeches by myself and the Empress, every stop pulled out. We will let the people know that the survival of our Empire is at risk with these people passing, or not passing, the measures we need. I’m positive we can make sure most of the Commons targeted will be retired from government service.”

  “And you don’t want to be seen as a despot?” asked Ishner as Goolsby stared at the Emperor in disbelief.

  “It’s not a despotic tactic at al
l,” said Goolsby in a quiet voice. “It would be a canny political maneuver, and completely within the law.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Speaker,” said Sean with a smile. “I try.” He looked over at Ishner. “And now about the Scholars. You don’t come up for general election, since your members are elected by the intelligencia of our Universities and research centers. And most of these bastions of research depend on Imperial funding to operate. We will fund those people who are helpful, and defund those who aren’t.”

  “And cripple your own research efforts?” exclaimed Ishner.

  “Not at all, Professor,” said Sean. “With no insult intended, most of the sitting Scholars have long since seen their best research days gone by. The best researchers will follow the money to the centers we will decide to fund. And before you protest that these scientists won’t be able to take their projects with them because of copyright, remember, we are at war. All research with military applications can and will be confiscated as property of the Empire, in the event it is determined that the research center is not making progress on the project.”

  “So you have it all figured out,” said Ishner with a scowl.

  “As well as I can,” said Sean with a smile. “And remember, I have some very good people advising me. So, does everyone understand what I will do if necessary, and what to do to make it unnecessary?”

  “I think we do, your Majesty,” said Goolsby.

  “So the Lords is really the only House that can stand in your way?” asked Schmidt, eyes narrowing.

  “I don’t want any of you or your colleagues to be my enemies,” said the Monarch. “We need to work together to win this thing. So I will make sure I have people I can work with.”

  “And what about the second front?” asked Schmidt. “That seems to be the biggest sticking point. Most of the Lords who oppose our sending ships so far only have the interest of their own people at heart. They feel that sending our ships to defend someone else’s space is weakening our own defenses, and putting their own people at risk.”

  “Then tell them that we are helping our own people, beings whose genetic heritage also sprung from Earth. It helps us to defend our own space by ensuring that the Cacas have two fronts to split their forces between. As long as they have two fronts to fight on, we don’t have to worry about them massing their total force to roll over us. Try to make your people understand that.”

  “I’ll try, your Majesty. But some of the Lords are stubborn, and they will insist that you send no more ships to that front.”

  “And I will insist that we do,” said Sean, raising his voice. “And we will see whose insistence has the most effect on policy. I gave my word to the Nation of New Earth that we would support them, and I’ll be damned if I let them down. Understood?”

  All heads in the room nodded. Sean could tell that they were surprised at how strong a Monarch the youngest son of the murdered Emperor had become. It wasn’t as if he had a choice, not if he wanted his Empire and his people to survive.

  * * *

  OUTSIDE OF NATION OF NEW EARTH SPACE.

  “Well, I guess that went as well as could be expected,” said Rear Admiral Natasha Sung as she watched the icons on the tactical plot reach the edge of sensor range, disappearing one by one.

  “We didn’t get in a fight,” said Commander Preston Tucker, the squadron tactical officer. “That’s what you wanted, yes, ma’am?”

  “That was part of our mission,” agreed the Admiral. “We weren’t here to start another fight, or to entice people who already hated our allies into attacking us.” But dammit, she thought, we were here to get allies, to get a treaty. And in that we were not successful.

  They had been able to have dialogue with the Slarna, who had reacted well even when they discovered that the hated Klavarta were allies of these new aliens. It had taken time to convince the Slarna that the Klavarta were under new management, though it was unclear if the aliens could now put their hatred aside to join a crusade against yet another alien power they had no experience with.

  And I really can’t blame them, thought Sung. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if some outrageous creatures had come to her from the direction of one of her enemies, then asked her to help to fight against yet another power that had done nothing to her. Telling them to go to hell was near the top of possible responses.

  “We’re receiving a transmission from command, ma’am,” said the com officer, Lt. Commander Bonaventure. “Eyes only.”

  “I’ll take it in my cabin.”

  A few minutes later she was seated at the desk in her day cabin, curious as to what the message would be. She was surprised when the Chief of Naval Operations appeared on the holo, and she jumped to her feet.

  “At ease, Admiral,” said Sondra McCullom, looking out of the holo. She waited a moment for the squadron commander to retake her seat. “I understand you didn’t get an alliance with the Slarna. I just wanted you to know that the Emperor has been advised, and wanted you to know that he understands that you did the best you could. Hopefully the seed has been planted, and eventually they will see the threat posed by the Cacas.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Though I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for them to jump in.”

  “We aren’t. And maybe you will have better luck with the next one on your list. But that isn’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Oh.” Sung’s ears perked up immediately. Normally the CNO didn’t take the time to present a personal message to a squadron commander, no matter how large or important the squadron.

  “The President of the Nation of New Earth told the Emperor about a rumored power closer to the core from your position. The President didn’t have a lot of information, except that the technologies he had mentioned reminded a lot of people of the Ancients.”

  “Do you think they are the same beings?” asked Sung as a shiver ran up her spine. The Ancients were only a legend in Imperial Space. There were plenty of ruins, and plenty of stories about how they had aided the intelligent species of the Perseus arm to rise up to become space faring races.

  “We don’t know. For all we know these are just legends told by the species that had already inhabited the area. You know, we don’t really want you here, but if you go just over there you’ll see something spectacular. But we can’t take the chance that there aren’t advanced beings in the area that we might talk into aiding us.”

  “And if they’ve been told stories about the genocide perpetrated by our Klavarta allies?”

  “That’s why we want a diplomat such as yourself seeking them out. We need them to know that the current rulers of the Klavarta were not responsible for the crimes of their masters. And that we, who had nothing to do with it, are now on the scene to supervise this part of the war.”

  “I didn’t know that was our mission here.”

  “It isn’t, but if it helps us to gain an ally, it’s a useful fiction.”

  Sung thought about it for a moment, while the CNO gave her that quiet time. She was trained as a diplomat, having served most of her career in Exploration Command. And sometimes diplomacy required the ability to effectively lie. But if these really were much more technologically advanced beings, lying ran the risk of being caught in the lie. And depending on how they responded to untruths, their reaction could be very hazardous to her command. But the benefit outweighed the risk.

  “I’ll do my best, ma’am,” she finally said.

  “I know you will. And I, and the Emperor of course, have faith that your best will be the best we can expect of anyone that might take on such a mission. I’m sending what we know about these creatures through an encrypted file. I leave it up to you to tell your crew what you think they need to know.”

  Which would be all of it, thought Sung, nodding. She didn’t see any reason to hold back information from her people if it could help them in their decision making processes.

  “Good luck, Admiral. And just to let you know. We are monitoring a massive battle between
the Klavarta and the Cacas. So far it is going very well for our allies. McCullom out.”

  The holo went blank, leaving Sung alone with her thoughts for a moment. She could only hope that her squadron was not embarking on a fools errand. Or sailing off into the unknown, to never return.

  * * *

  KLAVARTA SPACE.

  “They’re coming in for another attack,” called out the Tactical Officer.

  Yet again, thought the Great Admiral, almost giving the order for the officer to shut up. It was his duty to report, however, even if it was the three hundredth and some odd attack.

  The Great Admiral looked over at the tactical plot, which was still swarming with vector arrows and velocity/acceleration figures. Too many to make out easily, unless one zoomed in on a section of the battle. There were still over five thousand arrows denoting Ca’cadasan vessels, the survivors of the chase, and several thousand missile icons. His force was almost out of missiles, though, and what they still had they were saving for the right moment, and he was reduced to picking off enemy weapons and ships with lasers. There were probably eighty or ninety thousand enemy ships on the plot. He knew the computer could give him an exact number, but didn’t think it really mattered. Including those that were off the plot, there were probably a hundred and eighty thousand enemy ships out there, and more joining all the time.

  And all moving into my trap, he thought with a smile. It had cost him thousands of ships to bait the trap, and millions of males. Most of those ships had been scouts and cruisers, under orders to protect the more valuable battleships at all costs.

  Still, he watched with growing anxiety as more of the friendly ship icons blinked red and disappeared, and the flagship that his precious carcass rode on shook first from a near miss, then from the hits of several small class lasers.

  “We’re almost to the engagement point,” called out the Navigation Officer.