2nd Empire of Man, Month 142
In accordance with the Emperor?s desire to bolster the defenses of the Core Sector, the following Fleet movements, reorganizations, and transfers are ordered:
1. The 2nd Fleet detachment under the command of Vice Admiral Von Mellinthin is formally transferred to the 1st Fleet and re-designated the New Berlin Defense Group.
2. Twenty strike carriers from the 3rd Fleet, along with their associated escort elements, will be transferred to the 1st Fleet, New Berlin Defense Group.
3. The nine monitors and escorts of the 1st Fleet?s Task Force currently bolstering the 4th Fleet?s presence in the Contact system on the border with the ASR?s Colmar Sector, are to be withdrawn and returned to the Capital.
While the Imperial Fleet began reorganizing itself to bolster the defenses of the Core Sector, Admiral Stern?s forces in Axon territory were already taking advantage of the first delivery of warp line data from the ASR. Admiral Stern did not have the authority to agree to any treaty with the ASR, of course, but both he and the ASR?s military commander, Gwynxa, were canny enough to know that if they began acting on an ?understanding? worked out between themselves, their respective governments would be forced to accept their understanding or repudiate the entire agreement, and neither thought that was likely.
The ASR forces in Khalkfontein, at Gwynxa?s command, released information on all of the Axon warp links in the Khalkfontein chain out past the Breen and Andanlon systems. This information revealed several inhabited systems that Imperial forces hadn?t found yet, and Admiral Stern was determined to get those systems under Terran control as soon as possible.
Month 142, Capital Planet of New Chicago, The Empire
The Emperor continued his walk through the extensive hallways that made up the Imperial Palace. The Palace was composed of miles of underground hallways that connected numerous above and belowground rooms. The Palace complex had begun as an old Empire fortification before being taken over by New Chicago?s governors during the interregnum. The Emperor had decided that the site, built into a mountain as it was, was perfect for his palace as it provided breathtaking views, elegance, and security.
Ever since the beginning the Emperor had taken to roaming the underground hallways at night when he couldn?t sleep. It had become a tradition, and his staff always knew when he was stressed or unhappy, because he would spend hours in the underground complex, walking and walking. The Emperor had always felt that the underground complex was soothing. The palace?s phalanx of technicians, engineers, and maintenance workers kept the entire complex clean and functional, and for the Emperor it was a symbol of his empire.
Now, though, in the days since the disaster in New Berlin, the complex had changed. The endless hallways had become foreboding instead of sheltering, and for the first time the Emperor felt the weight of the mountain above bearing down on him. The Emperor fretted over the situation as he wandered, knowing that it was going from bad to worse. The destructive debate continued in the Senate and the Empire was unraveling. The Empire wanted revenge, pure and simple, and the Pax Bloc in the Senate was steadily loosing support. Soon the genocide faction would have enough votes to ram their measure through, and there was nothing he could do to stop them. He had tried to broker a deal, but the Paxers wouldn?t compromise and the Defense of the Empire faction, as they called themselves, knew they had the people behind them and wanted what they wanted. When he had tried to throw his weight behind the Pax faction the Defense faction had begun a nasty campaign designed to cut him off at the knees. And it had worked, handily. He was impotent now, a political pariah, unable to affect the divisive debate that was tearing his Empire apart.
He sighed as he walked, and shook his head. His choices were limited now. He could always disband the Senate, of course. The errant thought made him chuckle. Even though that was technically possible it was politically impossible. The same campaign that had neutered him had made any such move suicide, and Senator Busch and his cohorts knew it. No, things had progressed too far now.
He sighed again, pondering how they had all arrived in this situation. He had learned so much about how to rule an Empire over the years. He still woke in a cold sweat sometimes when he thought about how politically na?ve he used to be, and about how close to disaster he had come in the beginning. The ironic thing was that he knew just how to deal with the attack that had finally brought him down, as he had faced many similar attacks in the past. His first experiences with such a campaign was in the days just after he had seized power at missile-point from the last, and perhaps most corrupt, governor. His takeover was complete, his power absolute, but that hadn?t swayed the bureaucrats that really ran the Imperial government on New Chicago. They had viewed him as a threat to their little bureaucratic empires, and feared that he was going to replace them with his favorites from the ranks of the Navy. Masters of their bureaucratic domains, they had believed themselves unassailable to any tool the new and inexperienced Emperor could bring to bear aside from a direct assault by marines, which they half hoped they could provoke him into doing so as to ?show the people his true colors?. The bureaucrats had begun a vicious campaign of rumors and innuendoes, backed up by work slow-downs that increased the inefficiency of a government that was already known for inefficiency.
While the bureaucrat?s attack on the new Emperor might seem petty in some ways, it was a potentially lethal threat at the time. The Emperor?s position was still fragile, and in large part the people had supported him because he promised change and a new, more efficient and responsive government. If he allowed the bureaucrats to continue, or if he cracked down and replaced them with his cronies, then he would only be showing everyone that he was no better than any of the despotic governors that he had replaced. Of course, being a military man his first instinct was to attack, and he really, really wanted to throw the ministry heads into a deep, dark cell. After thinking about the situation, though, and consulting with his civilian advisors and most particularly with his daughter, he developed a different plan. He had announced sweeping changes to the government, and hidden in those changes were the creation of a new Inspector General for the government. The Inspector General?s office was staffed by veteran law enforcement people recommended by his daughter, and was given carte blanche to investigate corruption wherever it went.
The results were dramatic. Within a month the new Inspector General?s Office had dozens of major and minor government employees under arrest, and within six months the bureaucrats that had threatened the Emperor had all either retired or resigned under investigation for violating rules and regulations that in many cases they themselves had written but which they never had expected to enforce, except against those that had displeased them.
The Emperor smiled as he remembered his first real victory after taking power. It was the first step in his education as a politician, and he had come a long way since. The smile faded as he considered his current situation. He knew he could fight back, but the only way he could fight the rumor and innuendo campaign leveled against him by the pro-genocide group was to shift the blame for the deaths of so many innocent civilians on to others, and he just couldn?t do that. Ultimately it was his responsibility, both directly and indirectly. It was his policies that had left New Berlin undefended, and ultimately it had been his decision to go to war with the Axons, no matter how many other people wanted that war. Admitting that responsibility would have been political suicide, though, and it had been the hardest thing he had ever had to do to accept the resignation of the Admirals, many of whom were old, old friends, and not stand up and admit his own culpability. Doing so would have crippled him politically, though, at a time when the Empire was at war and under great threat.
He chuckled at that thought. Ducking responsibility hadn?t done him any good in the end, anyway. He was still crippled politically and unable to affect the great debate going on in the Senate that could potentially change humanity?s fate. With that thought the entire situation crystallized for him. He knew what he had to do. He turned to head back to his offices, and for the first time since the destruction of New Berlin his shoulders were straight and he walked with a purpose.
The first thing he did was call a meeting of his privy council. The councilors weren?t surprised at his decision, and to be honest, he was pretty sure that most of them had expected him too get to this point much earlier. The next was his Admirals, who would need to know what was happening and why. The next, and most important was his daughter, who had arrived in the Capital only the day before by burning out a fast scout?s drives. Finally, he met with the leaders of the Senate, none of whom seemed surprised.
And so it was that the very next day, Day 5 of Month 142, he gave what would become his final speech to the Empire. The speech was carried live throughout New Chicago, and was broadcast via the ICN to every corner of the Empire. ?Fellow citizens, I come before you now to apologize for my role in the catastrophe in New Berlin. Others have taken responsibility and resigned before me, but the ultimate responsibility is mine. I was in charge, and I led all of us down the path that led to New Berlin. I have done my best to guide and protect the Empire, but it is now apparent that mistakes have been made, and, as I said, ultimately I am responsible for those mistakes. Therefore, effective on Day 10 of this month, I am abdicating the throne in favor of my daughter, the Princess Katrina, Governor General of the New Territories Sector and Heir Apparent to the Throne of the Empire of Man. In this time of change I ask that all governmental officers and officials do their utmost to minimize any uncertainty and unrest that the public might feel. I am certain that my daughter will lead the Empire with vigor and intelligence, and that you will all love her as I do.? The Emperor paused and looked down, and when he raised his head again there were tears in his eyes. ?Goodbye. It has been an honor to serve all of you.?
With that the speech was over, and so was the reign of Emperor Anton I. The next week was spent preparing for Princess Katrina?s coronation and the formal swearing in before the Senate. Princess Katrina and her father spent most of their time closeted together trying to come up with a plan of action to deal with the divisive debate that was dragging on in the Senate. The problem was that neither side was willing to compromise, and with the Emperor?s current difficulties no one had the strength to make them compromise. The Pax bloc refused to countenance any large-scale bombardment of a populated world, while the New Berlin bloc, as they had come to be known, said they wanted nothing less than the destruction of the Axon race. The Emperor was fairly sure that most of the New Berlin bloc would be willing to settle for limited reprisals against several Axon worlds, and had proposed just such a compromise, but the leaders of the Pax bloc refused to contemplate any compromise that led to the deaths of so many people, which left the Emperor?s effort dead in the water.
While unrest stirred in the heart of the Empire, the Imperial 7th Fleet was already on the move. The bulk of the 7th was located in the Axon system of Khalkfontein, and had just received the first download of warp line information from the ASR after Admiral Stern accepted the ASR?s offer of a limited alliance. Admiral Stern had moved the bulk of his heavy ships and carriers back to cover the warp point in Khalkfontein that led back to the Breen and Andalon systems, to cover them from any further Axon suicide raids, while the rest of his lighter forces spread out down the warp lines that had been revealed by the ASR. Ground units now staging on Breen and Andalon were preparing to move out into these newly opened areas, and heavy reinforcements were on their way. Admiral Stern?s orders had made it clear that his number one priority was to find the Axon bolthole and destroy their base of operations as soon as possible.
The coronation of Princess Katrina went off without a hitch, and in spite of its rushed nature, was welcomed by citizens throughout the Empire with joy inspired, perhaps, by their hopes for a new beginning. The Senate confirmation went well also, perhaps most because the Senate?s only function in this matter was to determine if the Heir was physically and mentally fit for the position, and that the Heir was actually the intended successor of the last to occupy the throne, and given the circumstances there wasn?t much doubt of that.
And so it was that just two days after her coronation Empress Katrina I met with Senator Busch in the Imperial Gardens outside of the Capitol Complex. She found the Senator sitting at the meeting site, waiting for her to arrive, and for a second or two she paused halfway hidden behind a hedge to observe the man. She couldn?t help but view him as an enemy, given his role in her father?s downfall, but here, now, watching him without his knowing, she couldn?t help but feel pity for him. Senator Busch was a large, florid man, known for his big booming voice and geniality that was legendary in the Capital. In the weeks since the destruction of New Berlin Prime he had lost weight, to the point that his clothes hung loosely on him, and in this moment of privacy his face was haggard, as if he hadn?t slept in days. Still, he rallied gamely when she entered the clearing. ?Empress,? he said, coming to his feet, ?it is an honor to meet with you so soon after your coronation.?
?Senator, given the situation, I felt that meeting with you had to be my top priority.? She gestured towards the low bench facing the small pond and they both sat. ?The situation in the Senate cannot be allowed to continue. The people expect us to resolve this and move on with the work of ensuring their safety.?
Senator Busch had been a politician almost his entire life, and he was too good to let his feelings show on his face. Besides, he really didn?t know which way the Empress was going to come down on this, as she had been careful to avoid revealing her feelings on the situation prior to her ascension to the throne. ?I agree, your majesty. The whole point of our position is to show the other races that we are powerful and that it is dangerous to attack us. All this endless debate does is show them that we are indecisive and weak. We must act!? Given what he had done to her father it was unlikely that she would support him, but there was always a chance, and the opposition to his plan to eliminate the Axons was growing weaker by the day. A brand new Empress would have little hope of stopping the steamroller he had put together, but her help would sway most of the last holdouts to his side and assure victory.
?I agree, entirely.? He looked up hopefully, but before he could say anything she continued. ?However, and this is why I asked for this meeting, I will not countenance large-scale nuclear bombardment of any inhabited planet. Period.?
For a few seconds Senator Busch was caught off guard and his control slipped. No one ever just came out with what they really meant like that. It just wasn?t done. Taking a deep breath he shook himself, and in spite of her unflinching statement of opposition he felt his self-assurance returning. All she had done was reveal her inexperience in the high-stakes game that went on day in and day out in the capital. ?Majesty, I am sorry to hear that you oppose my plan. However, your opposition will mean little at this late date, I?m afraid.?
Katrina saw him square his shoulders and she realized that he really believed in his cause, that it wasn?t just revenge that he wanted. She sighed. It would have been so much easier for her if he was venal and she could dislike him. ?Senator, I?m sure you will get enough votes to carry your measure. You might even have them already. However, I will veto any measure calling for bombardment of inhabited planets.?
Senator Busch rose in anger. ?If you do that you?ll be committing political suicide! The people are with me in this. They want revenge, and they want the other races to know how dangerous it is to attack humans!? He was breathing hard, and after a second he turned away from her to look out over the pond. ?Don?t make the same mistake your father did.?
Katrina stood and walked over to the Senator, who still stood with his back to her. ?Senator, make no mistake, I will fight you on this, and I will fight to the end. The only reason my father allowed you to take him down was because he believed in the accusations that your supporters spread behind his back. He believed that he was responsible for what happened to New Berlin, and maybe he was. In any case, he allowed you to pull him down as a down payment on what he thought he owed for leaving your system and so many others unguarded.? She paused and reached out to the Senator. Although her touch was gentle, he felt himself pulled around to face her. ?I am not my father, Senator Busch. I will not order the fleet to bombard a living world, and even if I did I?m not sure they would follow such an order. It violates the founding principles of the Imperial Navy, which dates back to the founding of the first Empire. How many officers are you willing to court martial??
He felt anger growing in him. An anger that had become familiar in the last few weeks. Anger for his children and grandchildren that never had a chance when the missiles came. Anger for the hopes and dreams of an entire planet that had been snuffed out in one terrible moment. He balled up that anger and threw it back at her. ?There are a lot of admirals and captains in the fleet. Sooner or later we?ll find one that will do what is right. If the others won?t, then they aren?t worth their commissions.? Now that he had unleashed his anger he could feel his control over his emotions slipping bit by bit. ?Don?t you see? I?ve got to do this for them! For everyone on New Berlin that is never going to have a chance because of those bastards!? In his mind?s eye he could see his granddaughter, just two years old, with her dark curls and intelligent eyes, always into everything she could reach. Her image brought tears to his eyes and they spilled down his cheeks unnoticed. ?I?m doing it for her, and I won?t let you or anyone else stop me!?
?Senator, I know why you are doing this, but it is wrong. Surely you must see that?? When he didn?t answer she continued. ?If we begin indiscriminant bombing of Axon planets we won?t be any better than them. We?ll be killing everyone, just like they did. Old, young, infants even, the bombs won?t care. Is that a fitting memorial for the dead of New Berlin?? Still he didn?t reply. ?Tearing the Empire apart and committing genocide, even after the provocation we?ve had, is not going to make us stronger, it?s going to make us weaker. Surely you must see that!?
The tears had stopped and for a few seconds he merely looked at her. When he finally spoke his voice was so low that she could barely hear him. ?There?s no other alternative. We must show the other races that we are strong, that we won?t let this happen to us without answer.? His voice gained in strength as he spoke, as if he was tapping an inner reservoir of strength. ?The Axons deserve to die for what they?ve done, and the weak minded Paxers only solution is a so-called ?re-education? program!? His voice rose in contempt at the mention of the Pax Bloc?s proposed alternative to genocide. Her raised hand cut him off before he could continue.
?That?s why I asked you to come here, Senator. I have an alternative. It is a compromise, to be sure. It?s nowhere close to what you want, but if it will make you feel any better I?m sure that the Pax Bloc will like it even less than you will.? She gestured at the bench and took a seat herself.
Senator Busch felt his heart hardening against any alternative proposal, but he did sit down. Every so-called alternative had just been another namby-pamby way of coddling the Axons, in his opinion. Still, she was the Empress. ?I?m listening, highness, but I promise nothing.?
?Senator, as I said before, I agree that the Axons must pay, however, I disagree with your methods. Not all Axons deserve to die for the actions of a few. Condemning the old, the infirm, the babies to death for the actions of the Axon leadership and military is just as barbaric as their bombardment of our worlds. I also agree that the other races must see that we will not let such a barbarous action go unanswered, but again, I want to teach this lesson without convincing them that we are as bad as the Axons. Therefore, I will issue an Imperial Decree making membership in the Axon military or government, now or at any time in the past, a capital offense. Immediately after issuing that decree I will order the Imperial Army to begin operations to dismantle the Axon government and arrest all government workers in all territories that we control. And because the Axon government is synonymous with their religious hierarchy that will also mean that most, if not all, of their religious leadership will also be arrested. Any Axon who was a member of either of those organizations at any time will be arrested, tried, and executed. And the only matter to be determined at trial will be their membership in said organizations, not their actions.
Senator Busch stared at her, intrigued in spite of himself. She?d said the last with a firmness in her voice that surprised him. ?Well, I?ll say this for you, Majesty, you are right. Senator Sampson is going to hate this proposal almost as much as mine.? Senator Sampson was the leader of the Pax Bloc, and was completely opposed to capital punishment in any form.
?Actually, Senator, I think I?ll have a harder time convincing Senator Sampson about this than I will you.?
A chuckle escaped from him and Busch looked at the Empress in surprise. ?You think I?ll take you up on this, do you??
?Yes, Senator, I do. I think you are really a good man, and I think that you know that what you are proposing is wrong. It?s just that there aren?t any good alternatives. That?s what I?m trying to do here, offer an alternative that is less bad than any of the others. My proposal isn?t perfect, and there are a lot of Axons who never did anything but stamp letters or shuffle paper that are going to be executed for nothing more than doing their jobs, but at least my way our ?lesson? is targeted. We won?t be killing children or the shopkeeper down the street. We will, however, stamp out the Axon government, their military, and their church as if they never existed. I think that will be an object lesson that is drastic enough to make the other races take notice.?
?Who would be trying the Axons? The Army? And who will provide oversight??
With those questions Katrina knew she had won. Everything else was just details.
The meeting with Senator Busch was just the first of many, as he insisted on positions for himself and his supporters in the organization set up to oversee the implementation of Order 362, as it would become known. Senator Sampson never did agree to the compromise, but many of his supporters did, mainly because they agreed that there should be some penalty to the Axon race for their behavior. Because the order didn?t reach the level of genocide, though, Senator Sampson was never able to rally enough support to oppose it, especially given the way the new Empress was able to sell it to the rest of the Empire. That?s not to say that it went forward unopposed, because it didn?t. Senator Sampson held together his core group and fought a rear-guard action every step of the way, but ultimately he didn?t have the support to do more than delay the implementation of the Order.
One week after the coronation of Empress Katrina the Senate approved Imperial Order 362, which while it was not strictly necessary because of Senate support, was the most certain way to ensure that her program was carried out. The Senate approved the allocation of vast amounts of money for the program, most of which went towards occupation and support troops for newly conquered Axon worlds.
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Month 142, Axon Frontier, Refuge
The Prophet?s Voice looked down at Bishop Korand, who had so recently been the Prophet?s Representative for the glorious mission against the Terrans. Korand, who had recently returned to the exile capital after the mission, was trying to look cool and calm, but the Voice could easily see the effect he was having on his subordinate, just from the agitated way his facial tentacles were writhing. Enjoying the moment, he let Korand stand there in silence for a few more seconds. Finally, deciding that the younger Axon had had enough, he spoke ? ?You?ve done well, Korand. Very well indeed.?
It took all of Korand?s will power to keep his back straight and an expression of relief off of his face. Truly, he knew that he had done his best, but the Prophet?s Voice was notorious for having extremely high standards, and he had failed to find and attack any other Terran systems. Korand jumped when the Voice continued, wondering guiltily if the Voice was listening to his thoughts.
?True, you failed miserably to find and attack any other Terran systems, but I have already spoken with the Prophet and he has agreed to overlook that failure in light of the damage that you have done to the Empire. The blow you struck will echo down through the ages! Billions sacrificed for the honor of the one true god! You have done well indeed!?
?The Prophet is truly merciful and just. I abase myself before his wisdom.?
?As we all do, son. And now I have another mission for you. This mission is as important as your last, if not more so.?
A smile flittered across Korand?s tentacles. ?I have heard that the Legions of Retribution are to be sent out again, this time against the ASR. I look forward to implementing god?s judgment against the heathens of the ASR.?
?The Legions will be going out against the ASR, but you will not be going with them. We have another mission for you.? So they were angry with him, after all.
Korand?s smile disappeared as if it had never existed and he bowed low before the Voice. ?I live to serve, Excellency.?
The Voice chuckled. ?Worry not, Bishop. The mission we are giving you could mean life or death for god?s church. I would only trust it to someone in whom I had complete faith, and that person is you. Your performance in Terran space convinced me that you have the intelligence and faith that I need in these dark days.?
Korand felt the world closing in around him. He was being honored, greatly, but with such honor came an even greater chance of losing it all. One misstep and he would be cast down without a second thought. He must be very careful now. ?I am honored by your trust, Excellency.?
?As you should be. You will go immediately to the spaceport. There you will board a shuttle that will deliver you to a ship that has been made available by the Navy. Once there you will proceed to the Malkhor system and make contact with the aliens that have taken control of that system. Your mission is to convince those aliens that an alliance with us against the ASR and the Empire is desirable. We can offer them quite a bit of intelligence concerning the ASR, including the existence of cloaking device that they used to defeat us and the presence of the ASR fleet. We have been receiving information from the systems along the warp chain in between Axon Prime and Xanti Prime, and it appears that the main ASR fleet is advancing on the aliens in the Malkhor system. If the aliens appear amenable to an alliance, we can give them all the operational details we have on the cloaking device and the location and composition of the ASR fleet. You are authorized to agree to allow our fleet to fight along side theirs, if they request it. The only thing we would ask in return is that they refrain from advancing into our territory and that they assist us in securing our borders against the foul Terrans and the perfidious ASR.?
Korand?s mind was already working. The Voice had spoken truly, this was a very important mission. It was also unlikely to succeed, given the fact that the alien invaders that had taken Malkhor and several other systems had done so without even attempting to negotiate. Still, that made the fruits of success all the more sweet. If he succeeded not only would he have secured the future of the church but there would be no limits to his career.
Even as Korand?s ship set out for Malkhor, the two Legions that had performed the raid in Terran space were finishing taking aboard munitions and supplies. Soon after Korand departed they lifted out of orbit and set out for the warp point back to the main warp chain. En route to the warp point they were joined by two freshly commissioned Legions that were still shaking down. Their mission was a raid into the ASR much like the recent raid into Terran space. Unfortunately, the Axons did not possess a closed warp point into ASR space, so this raid would have to proceed somewhat differently. The plan was to proceed back up the warp chain towards the main chain between Axon Prime and Xanti Prime. Once they reached the main chain they would proceed back towards Axon Prime. The newly established Axon Naval Command was monitoring the ASR fleet that was advancing down the chain towards Xanti Prime and the alien invaders, and once the advancing Legions entered the same system as the ASR Fleet they would go to full speed and proceed back up the chain towards Axon Prime, while avoiding all contact with ASR units. The four Legions assigned to the raid were ordered to break into the Axon home system, pass through it, and then launch a raid against as many ASR worlds as they could reach before returning to Axon space.
Ordinarily such a raid would be foolhardy and likely impossible, but the Axon high command felt it had several advantages at this point. First, having decisively defeated the assembled Axon Legions the ASR was obviously focused on the alien invaders in Malkhor, and would not be prepared for such a strike. Secondly, the ASR likely had not had time to re-build the frontier defenses that had been destroyed twice in the last several years. Thirdly, the reports gathered from the Axon systems that the ASR fleet had passed through indicated that the ASR commander was only detaching minimal forces to picket his rear as he advanced, which meant that it was unlikely that the raiding force would encounter significant opposition. Finally, once the raiding group accelerated to their full speed of 20,000 KPS, the ASR was going to have a devil of a time catching them, even if their own ships went to full speed.
Privately, the raid planners in the navy high command were doubtful that any of the ships of the raid force would reach their target, and none of them gave the raid force any chance at all of returning to Axon controlled space, but everyone was pretty sure that the raid would cause much confusion and consternation in areas that the ASR considered to be under their control.
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Month 142, Xeon Democratic State
Admiral Constantine could feel the sweat prickling his neck under the stiff collar of his uniform and wished for what seemed like the hundredth time that the Navy had picked a more comfortable uniform for its flag officers to wear. Here he was, embarking on what could be one of the most momentous events in the history of the State, and all he could think about was his sweaty collar.
Straightening in his seat he looked around the combat bridge of his flagship to see if anyone had noticed his distraction, but much to his relief no one had. The bridge was full of bustling activity as his squadron prepared to jump out, and everyone seemed to be focused on their own stations and the people around them. Although he would never admit it, he still felt somewhat insecure around the other officers, all of whom were long service professionals rather than political admirals like himself. He was fairly sure that they looked down on him and others like him, as if they were better somehow.
Well, he would show them all what he was capable of. That idiot Strang established contact with the ASR and just because he was in the right place at the right time his career was rehabilitated. When he established contact with the aliens on the far side of this war point it would do wonders for his career, and that of Admiral Balusek, his mentor. Nothing would be allowed to come in between the benefits this contact would bring the State, and he was determined to bring those benefits home.
?Sir, the Acton and the Bridgefield report that they are ready to jump. Admiral Telford has acknowledged that the rest of the Battle Group is at ready status and is prepared to support us.? The flagship?s first officer waited for his response.
?Very well. Inform Captain Keller that I authorize transit, and that he may proceed when ready.?
?Sir.? The first officer relayed his orders to the Captain, who was on the cruiser?s main bridge. The combat bridge quieted as the crew took their stations and prepared for transit. After a short wait the Captain?s voice came across the bridge?s speaker.
?All hands, this is the Captain. Prepare to transit in thirty seconds. I repeat, prepare to transit in thirty seconds.?
Admiral Constantine braced himself for the upcoming transit. It would be his second, and he really didn?t like the first at all. In fact, he had almost thrown up and he was pretty sure that the ratings on the combat bridge had noticed his nausea and were snickering at him behind his back. Even as he wondered if the ratings were watching him the final countdown started.
?Prepare for transit in five?four?three?two?one?Transit!?
Constantine felt the same imperceptible, indescribable ?lurch? that he felt last time. This time, though, he was prepared for it and he felt a fair amount of pride that what little nausea he felt didn?t show on his face. Of course, even though he rode it out much better this time it still seemed like everyone else on the combat bridge recovered before he did. Even as he began to pull himself together he could hear the crew working to bring the cruiser back under control. Officers could be heard reporting the ship?s status on the bridge repeater that relayed everything said on the main bridge to the combat bridge.
?Engines on line, control systems recovering.?
?Navigation and helm computers rebooting, helm answering all stop at this time.?
?Active sensors are down, long range sensors are down as well, passive sensor search initiated.?
Report after report rolled into the combat bridge while Admiral Constantine struggled to get his senses under control. He had finally gotten oriented when things began to go wrong.
?Position confirmed. We are forty-eight light minutes from the inhabited planet previously noted, bearing??
The helm officer was cut off by another voice. ?Contact bearing 124 by 020, range two light seconds. The contact reads as a buoy or other low power object.?
Admiral Constantine cursed to himself. One of his mission priorities was to maintain the secrecy of the location of the warp point back to Xeon space. If that was a detection buoy, then he had blown that in the first few seconds of the mission. The planners back home had been afraid that this might happen, given the warp point?s proximity to the inner system and a heavily populated planet, but he had hoped that he would be able to conceal the warp point?s location at least until contact was established. The next report was even worse, though.
?Long range sensors are up. Scanning?Contact! Three drive fields bearing 010 by 032, range eight light seconds, designated Alpha-01. Multiple drive field contacts, now. Contact Alpha-01 now reads as three battle cruisers. Contact designated as Alpha-02 now reads as three destroyers. Five other drive field contacts within detection range.
?Captain Keller, bring us to a halt relative to the battle cruisers and initiate first contact procedures.?
?Aye, aye, sir. Helm all stop. Communications, begin standard contact procedures.?
The trio of Xeon heavy cruisers came to a halt just off of the warp point and began broadcasting standard first contact messages that had been developed from protocols provided by the ASR, which had a lot of experience establishing contact with other races. The alien battle cruisers, after hesitating for a minute, began to move slowly towards the heavy cruisers. They came to a halt at six light seconds range from the warp point and then sat there. The Xeon cruisers had their sensors wide open, listening for any response in any electromagnetic wavelength. The alien ships made no response whatsoever.
After ten minutes Admiral Constantine began to fidget, and ten minutes after that he began to pace. Thirty minutes after the Xeon ships entered the system he ordered all three ships to begin transmitting to all contacts within range, including the inhabited planet. Thirty more minutes passed without a response. Unwilling to give up, Admiral Constantine ordered the communications attempts to proceed.
Two hours later the first group of unidentified drive field contacts had closed to the point that it could be resolved. During that entire time the three alien battle cruisers, which had been joined by three destroyers, had remained at eight light seconds and appeared to be completely ignoring Xeon attempts to open communications. Admiral Constantine was meeting with his flag captain when the watch officer broke the news.
Captain Keller?s face was grim as he passed on the information. ?Sir, our database can?t come up with any match for those ships. They are bigger than anything that we?ve ever seen. The computers are working on an analysis now, but our best guess is that they are twenty-five percent larger than a Gallant class superdreadnought, which would make them substantially larger than two and a half times the size of our cruisers. And there are six of them in that group alone, and there are now ten other unidentified drive field contacts closing on us.?
Admiral Constantine collapsed in his seat, his face ashen. This was just getting worse and worse. They had spent three hours trying to initiate communications with the alien ships, and during that time there had been absolutely no indication that they even knew that the Xeon ships were trying to talk to them. And now this.
Seeing the Admiral?s reaction, Captain Keller pressed on. ?Sir, I think that we should retreat through the warp point immediately.?
?And abandon the attempt to make first contact?? The words were sharp, but Admiral Constantine?s heart wasn?t in it. His career rested on establishing friendly contact with these aliens, but it was becoming apparent even to him that that wasn?t likely to happen at this point.
?I don?t think we are going to get them to talk to us, sir. I think they are waiting to build up their strength, at which time they will attack.?
Admiral Constantine gave voice to the fear that was foremost in his mind. ?Do you think that these might be the ?Eaters? that the ASR is so hysterical about?? The high command had discounted the ASR?s reports about the Eaters as a recruiting ploy to encourage newly contacted races to join their alliance. He had thought so too, or at least he had until now.
?Sir, I don?t know. I do know, however, that the actions these aliens have taken are not friendly. No one would send huge ships like those unless they either felt very threatened or they were very aggressive. We haven?t taken any actions that would be considered aggressive by anyone, except for being where we are. If the aliens were truly interested in talking with us, those three battle cruisers out there should have sufficed for the job, and given the fact that they out-mass our squadron by thirty-three percent the should feel safe. Instead they are vectoring an unknown number of ships towards us and ignoring our attempts to initiate contact.?
Admiral Constantine sagged in his chair, his chances of promotion and fame falling in ruins around him. For a few seconds he frantically tried to think of a way out of this, but eventually he realized that his flag captain was right. He straightened and squared his shoulders. ?Captain, I am ordering the squadron back through the warp point. Further, I am ordering you to launch a single missile, with its warhead disarmed, at the nearest enemy battle cruiser.? Seeing the captain?s face he hurried on. ?I know, we are beyond our normal engagement range. That?s okay, I don?t particularly want to hit them, I just want to warn them against transiting through after us. Once we are on the far side, the battle group will withdraw fifteen light seconds in-system from the warp point. Our orders prohibit us from shooting first, so I don?t want us too close to the warp point if they do come through.?
Captain Keller?s smile was tinged with a relief that indicated that he hadn?t been sure that the Admiral would be so reasonable about his response to the situation. He stood and saluted. ?Very good sir.?
The three Xeon cruisers turned and retreated towards the warp point. One by one they went through. Just before the command ship transited out it launched a single standard missile at the nearest alien battle cruiser. The missile had no chance of hitting, and the alien ship never even moved, although it did track the missile with it?s point defense systems.
Once the Xeon ships were gone, the battle cruisers moved in closer to the warp point and launched numerous small craft, which swarmed around the warp point in defensive formations. Shortly after the Xeon ships transited out, numerous new drive fields appeared around the warp point, at distances that ranged from one to six light minutes. More than two hundred and fifty ships had been scattered around the area, to await the return of the unknown ship that had transited into the Eater system, along with more than a hundred detection buoys. Now they had the location of the warp point, and a new Chaos Elimination effort could begin.
Once transit was complete, the six cruisers and six frigates of Admiral Constantine?s battle group moved away from the warp point at full military power. Five minutes later they settled into position fifteen light seconds from the warp point and began their long wait. Admiral Constantine sent out several reports detailing the situation, alerting the high command to the fact that contact had not gone the way they had hoped. One hour after they transited, Captain Keller asked to speak with the Admiral in his briefing room.
?Sir, I felt that you had to see this right away.? The captain called up a file on the room?s terminal and a holo image appeared over the desk.
The image was wavering and difficult to see, but after peering at it for a few seconds Admiral Constantine gasped. ?But that?s??
Captain Keller was grim. ?Yes, sir. I think we can now definitively say that the aliens we just tried to establish contact with were in fact the ASR?s Eaters. During our entire time on the far side of the warp point my sensor team had our optics trained on the nearest alien ship. Normally we wouldn?t bother, given the distance and the lack of detail, but given the fact that these are theoretically unknown aliens I decided to give them a chance. It took a lot of computer processing to put this image together out of data streams from all of our optics, but there it is.?
They both gazed at the alien ship. In spite of being fuzzy and nearly lost against the black of space, the basic form was clear, largely because at one point the ship had passed in front of the relatively nearby world and had been lit from behind. The ship was a flattened ovoid, matte black, with numerous spiky protuberances on its hull. It was totally and utterly alien, and Constantine was pretty sure that even if he hadn?t seen the images of the Eater?s ships that had been provided by the ASR he would still have felt that the ship oozed fear and horror, just from the way it looked. It was nothing like anything that a human would build, or any other known species for that matter.
After seconds had stretched into minutes as the two men pondered the unmistakably Eater ship, Constantine shook himself. ?This changes everything, Captain. We must get this information off to the home world immediately. Perhaps we should move in closer to the warp point?the Eaters?our colony?? Admiral Constantine realized he really didn?t have the first idea of what to do. He was a political admiral, after all, appointed by the State to ensure that central command?s directives were carried out. Usually a political admiral would act as the deputy to a regular admiral, but for this mission the Political Directorate had wanted its own man in charge. Now it had all gone to hell, and the only Xeon population outside of the home system was right behind them. Constantine shook himself again. There was only one thing to do. ?Captain Keller, what would you recommend at this point??
If Captain Keller felt anything less than total respect for his superior officer he didn?t let it reach his face. ?Sir, if we are going to make a stand, we should do it at the warp point. We could make them fight at our most effective range, and I don?t know about you, but I don?t want to close through those behemoth?s missile range.?
?If we make a stand at the warp point, can we stop them??
?No sir, we can?t. They?ll roll right over us and likely keep going until they reach the colony. I?m just saying that we have the best chance to inflict some damage at the warp point. If we try to engage those monster ships in deep space they wipe us out before we can close to our own weapon?s range. That means either we try to act as a speed bump at the warp point, and likely get wiped out after causing some damage to their lead ships, or we instead try to shadow them when they enter the system, and pass any intelligence that we gather back to fleet command.?
?IF these are Eaters, and I think we both know that they are, then they will have only one goal, and that is the destruction of any population centers in this system. Are you saying that we should stand by and allow that to happen??
?Sir, that is going to happen whether we fight them or not. The simple fact is that these Eaters have the numbers to wipe this squadron out several times over. I think the best we can do is relay information back to fleet command and let them make the decision about where we should fight.?
Admiral Constantine sighed. ?You are right, of course. If we had any chance of stopping them, or even slowing them down, I?d order us back to the warp point. But against those ships,? he gestured at the display rotating above the desk, ?I don?t think we have a chance. Very well.?
?Sir, there is something else.? Captain Keller hesitated as he gauged his superior?s mood. ?Sir, if this is the Eaters then we cannot retreat from this system. Doing so would only show them the route back to the home system. They?ll discover it sooner or later anyway, but we have to do our best to make sure that the home world has enough time to prepare. We cannot take any action that would give them what they need.?
Admiral Constantine stared at his flag captain for a few seconds, wondering if he should be angry at the implication that he would order such a retreat. After considering it, he realized that his inferiority complex no longer mattered. Captain Keller was right, one way or another they would die here, because they didn?t dare retreat. Against certain death and the threat that now hung over their entire civilization, all of his prior concerns and fears seemed so petty and small. ?You are right, of course. Thank you for reminding me.? Five hours later, the first transits were detected at the warp point.
Admiral Constantine happened to be on the bridge, conferring with Captain Keller when the alien ships began transiting in. ?Sir, multiple transits detected! They read as pinnaces, but something is strange about the readings. The number has now stabilized at forty-eight on the warp point.? Several seconds passed as the squadron?s sensors strained to gather every bit of information about the invaders that they could. ?New contact at the warp point. This one is much larger, definitely ship strength. The contact now reads as the new ship class designated as monitor class ships.?
All eyes turned to Admiral Constantine as he digested this news. ?Communications, prepare to broadcast to the alien ships. Wide area broadcast, all known languages: This is Xeon space. You are ordered not move beyond the immediate area around the warp point or you will be fired on. Transmit immediately.? He knew it was fruitless, he knew that they were Eaters and that he would never get a response, but he had to try.
The transmission went out as a second monitor transited in, followed by a third. Once the third monitor had entered the system, destroyers started entering in rapid sequence, accompanied by more of the odd pinnaces. The aliens ignored the Xeon transmissions, but they did stay close to the warp point. Admiral Constantine sent additional messages out via the ICN to warn his superiors of the deteriorating situation.
The Xeon ships were forced to sit and watch as ship after ship entered their colony system. Their horror mounted as the magnitude of their mistake became clear. The stream of ships ended after approximately two hundred ships entered the system, including forty-two of the monstrous monitors. The Eater ships now in the system out-massed the entire Xeon Fleet and Defense Command several times over.
Their transit complete, most of the Eater fleet set out for the inner system. A small group of destroyers and battle cruisers remained at the warp point, while a second group of twelve destroyers and six battle cruisers set out directly for the Xeon squadron at 7,500 KPS.
Admiral Constantine ordered his group into retreat and sent more messages to the high command.
Admiral Constantine?s first messages arrived in the home system fifteen hours later. Grand Admiral Balusek immediately informed the President?s office of the situation, and was called to the Palace an hour later to confer with the President. The current President had seized power from her predecessor fifteen years ago, and most would agree that she had been a fair and just ruler for the most part. She had maintained her power by playing off her subordinates against each other, but for the most part had avoided the worst of the inevitable governmental inefficiencies that such schemes imposed.
Admiral Balusek was concerned about the reports coming out of the Golan system, but things still appeared to be manageable at that point. During the meeting he suggested mobilizing the fleet and deploying it to the warp point defenses to the Golan system, which the President approved. The President also approved Balusek?s suggestion of approving Admiral Constantine?s plan to shadow the alien fleet if it entered the Golan system. They both agreed that it would be best to get more intelligence on this new race before sending the fleet into a potential conflict. The entire meeting took twenty minutes.
One hour later Admiral Balusek was back, and this time he was considerably more concerned, if not outright panicked. He was shown into the President?s working office without delay and without any preamble he put the hard copy of the alien ship that Admiral Constantine had sent on the desk in front of the President. ?Ma?am, I think we have a very big problem here.? He knew he was in a very delicate situation, given the fact that the President had decided to ignore the strange absence of electromagnetic transmissions in the alien system and go ahead with the contact effort, in spite of the warnings by both the ASR and the Alliance about the hostile alien race known as the Eaters. The half-hearted protests and warnings of caution by her advisors had been swept aside by her certitude that the aliens would prove to be valuable allies. Such certitude and a definite willingness to act had proved to be strengths in the past, but occasionally they led her down dead-ends that had proved to be difficult to extract the State from.
The President looked at the hard copy image and shrugged. ?What am I looking at??
?That is an image of one of the ships that Admiral Constantine is facing in the Golan system. His ships captured that image just before they transited out of the alien system. It appears to be a match for the images that both the ASR and the Alliance provided to us as proof of the existence of the aliens that the ASR calls the Eaters. According to all of the information provided, the Eaters are completely incapable of communication and diplomacy, and will attack any race that contacts them. They appear to have only one goal, to wipe out any opposing civilization and then use the surviving members of the race as food animals. If that is an Eater ship, and it certainly appears to be one, then we are in very big trouble. The ASR, which has an economy fifty times the size of ours, barely beat off a recent attack by the Eaters, and the founders of the Alliance only survived by abandoning their planet and running.?
The President frowned at the picture for a second, as if she could intimidate the image into changing into something more palatable. Finally she looked up. ?I decided that the Eaters that the ASR and the Alliance were raving about were nothing but recruiting ploys devised to convince gullible newly contacted races to join them. I made that decision based on information you and my other advisors provided to me. Now it appears that you were wrong, doesn?t it??
Admiral Balusek?s heart sank. He might as well start packing his office up now, because when the dust from this little fiasco settled there would be someone else in not only his office, but several others as well, unless he missed his guess. ?Yes, Ma?am, we were wrong and now we?ve got a very serious situation. Admiral Constantine reported that he detected six ships that were at least thirty percent larger than our superdreadnoughts. When that was all we thought they had I was fairly confident that we could stop them, even if ultimately we were forced to rely on our system defenses. Now, though, I think we have a much bigger problem. The Eaters used a fleet that had approximately four hundred ships in it, including nearly eighty ships which the ASR politicians classified as ?very large missile units?, but which we now believe are these newly discovered monitors. There is literally no way to overestimate the threat that these Eaters pose to our nation.? Admiral Balusek found he was sweating, and it wasn?t because of the impending burnout of his career. In fact, he realized that he no longer cared about his career in the face of the incredible threat that now hung over his people.
?Are you telling me that the Navy cannot stop these aliens??
?If they are the same Eaters that the ASR and the Alliance has been warning us about, then yes, I am telling you that there is no way we can stop them. We will try, of course, but we don?t have any chance at all of stopping them. None.?
?Then the true question is ? are these actually the same Eaters? Everything revolves around this question. If they are the Eaters, then what you are telling me is that we need help, and we?ll need a lot of it. We?ll need to bring in both the ASR and the Alliance, which will inevitably mean that they will learn about each other. Given their mutual obsession with the Eaters they will immediately become allies, which will leave us stuck in the middle, nothing more than a gateway between the two. A gateway that they will not allow us to close or limit for any reason, which is why we have kept both of them in the dark.?
Admiral Balusek stirred and opened his mouth as if to speak, but the President continued.
?Don?t get me wrong, Admiral, I will call in both the Alliance and the ASR if the alternative is national extinction, but I cannot and will not take that step until I know it is necessary.?
?I understand completely, Ma?am.? Privately, to himself, Balusek hoped that they didn?t wait too long, because he was pretty sure that they didn?t have much time left.
Five hours later, Admiral Balusek was back at the President?s Palace, and this time he had all the confirmation the President needed. Once again he was ushered into the President?s working office with a minimum delay. Seeing that she was waiting for him, he entered the office and placed the report he was carrying on the desk in front of her.
?I?m afraid that Admiral Constantine has confirmed our worst fears, Ma?am. A large force of ships, including forty-two monitors and approximately one hundred and sixty other ships has entered the Golan system and is headed for our colony in the inner system. They will arrive at the colony in fifteen days. Admiral Constantine is currently being pursued and is falling back on the inner system.? President Walden had settled back in her chair as Admiral Balusek reported. When Balusek looked up he was shocked to see that the President, who had always seemed more than equal to any challenge, looked old and tired.
?So it is the Eaters, and we?ve lost our gamble. We may survive the coming days, but our independence is over.? For a few more seconds she sagged, as if defeated, but then some of the old fire rose to the surface. ?Very well, if that is the way it is going to be then we?ll just have to deal with it, won?t we?? She looked around her desk and grabbed a sheet of official letterhead stationary. ?I want you to get out to the warp point, Admiral, and take command out there. As of now I am placing the System Defense Command under your operational control.? She wrote on the sheet of paper as she spoke. ?I want you to get them concentrated around the warp point to the Golan system as soon as possible. You are authorized to strip the other warp points of all defenses. We may end up considering ourselves lucky if we ended up under the yoke of the ASR or the Alliance, and we have other things to worry about.?
She handed him the paper, and Balusek felt light-headed when he realized what was on it. The President had written out an order placing him in complete command of the military, with complete authority over all of the different commands. One second he was facing the end of his career and the next he had all of the armed forces in the home system under his command. Things were truly getting strange. His thoughts were interrupted as the President continued.
?I will be meeting with the ambassadors from both the ASR and the Alliance immediately, and I will request that they send every ship they have to rendezvous with our forces at the warp point.?
Admiral Balusek braced to attention. ?Thank you Ma?am, for everything.?
?One more thing before you go, Admiral. I will need a trustworthy and senior member of your staff to liaison with me concerning a program that I intend to put into action in the time we have left. We must ensure that we save as many of our citizens as possible if this turns out to be an Eater incursion. Therefore, I am going to ask both the Alliance and the ASR to allow us to set up several colonies within their territory, so that if we lose here we won?t lose it all. That is all.?
Even as Balusek left the Ambassadors from the ASR and the Alliance were being chauffeured from the spaceport to the Palace, in separate aircars of course. The two Ambassadors had no knowledge of each other, and to date the Xeon government had gone to great lengths to ensure that they each never learned about the other. Both were housed in separate orbital stations and only allowed to come to the planet on rare special occasions. Although both governments complained about the way their representatives were treated neither pursued their grievance with any vigor as for the most part the Xeons had been very cooperative in almost every other area. Both the ASR and the Alliance thought it was strange that the Xeons went to such lengths to isolate the few representatives that they let into their system, but the Xeon had explained that it was just temporary and that such extreme lengths had to be taken so that the government had enough time to prepare the Xeon people for contact with other races.
Out of consideration for the Xeons, who were Terran humans, both the Alliance and the ASR had sent ambassadors who were also humans. And so it was that Ambassador Gordon, from the Alliance, was ushered into the Xeon President?s office to find a second human with the President. Assuming it was one of the President?s assistants or advisors, he walked over to the President?s desk and shook her hand as she rose to meet him. His surprise was complete when she introduced the other ambassador.
?Ambassador, I am very pleased to introduce you to Ambassador Deleon of the Allied Sentient Races.? The President gestured at the other man in the room. ?And Ambassador, this is Ambassador Gordon of the Alliance.? With that she stepped back and let the two obviously shocked men stare at each other.
Ambassador Gordon was the first to recover. ?Allied Sentient Races you say? That would imply a multi-racial union of some sort??
Ambassador Deleon cleared his throat to cover his hesitation. ?Yes. Yes it is. We are a union of eight different species comprising many systems and worlds. How about your Alliance??
?We too are a multi-racial union, although apparently not as large as yours.?
The President, who had reasonably accurate economic figures for both alliances, hid a smile. The Alliance Ambassador had no idea how right he was. ?Gentlemen, please have a seat.? They all took their seats. ?I have an admission to make. We have been in contact with both of you for some time, but for reasons of state security we have chosen to keep the existence of each of you a secret from the other.?
?But why, Madam President? Surely you don?t think that we would infringe on your sovereignty merely because you were in contact with other humans? We are not like some other interstellar states.?
The President, who did think exactly that, merely smiled. ?No, Ambassador, we did not think you would ?infringe? on our territory merely because we were in contact with another human civilization. We were concerned mostly because of the similarities between each of your alliances. Under such a situation, neither of your very powerful alliances might think twice about the rights or the sovereignty of a tiny nation such as ours.?
?I?m sorry you feel that way, Madam President. The ASR is scrupulous about observing the rights of the nations it is in contact with. We would ne