Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match (16 page)

After the High Council had greeted each of the delegations, they sent them with servants to get settled in. The delegations were to spend a little time seeing Jarlevia.  Meanwhile, the council had a meeting to discuss their first impression of their soon to be allies. They would also continue to try and come up with a plan to make Earth their next target. The meeting carried on until the evening with no solid plan, and the High Council decided to go into the morning meeting with the Syndicate delegates with the hope they could be persuaded.

Early the next morning, the delegation approached the Jarlevian meeting hall. As they looked at the building that lay before them, they decided they would like their new allies. The hall was majestic in its simplicity. Standing only eight stories high and containing only two floors, the building was a marvel. Gleaming white, two hundred meters long and one hundred meters wide, the building could support delegations of almost any size. Framed in an old world architectural style with hard lines, the building had one large window in the front, no windows on the side and one large window in the back.  As they entered a small reception area, they approached a wide, white staircase containing eight steps leading to the meeting hall entrance. On each side of the staircase was a narrower staircase of eight steps, heading down. The bottom floor was for the servants to make their preparations, and the floor above was the meeting hall. After exchanging pleasantries, the delegation from the Syndicate seated themselves, and the High Council followed suit as the meeting began.

Dobar looked directly at the head of the Jarlevian High Council and said, “Before we talk about the humans of Earth, I would like to acquaint you with an even more dire human threat; The Enclave.”

______

President Sandoval sat at the conference table in the conference room of the Presidential Palace in Prague for a meeting with the seven people he hoped could get the Coalition ready to defend itself against the two threats Admiral Bliney had outlined. The large, stained oak table had room for twenty to sit comfortably around it in the plush, brown leather chairs. The only other piece of furniture in the room was an antique wooden chair in the corner. Each of the three tan walls were adorned with famous paintings while the fourth wall showcased the French doors. Nina could barely contain her venom as she sat at the same table as Admiral Natora. She opted to focus on the palace garden past the window panes of the French doors. She could almost smell the famous palace rose bushes as she concentrated hard on not attacking Admiral Natora. Serge was holding her hand as much to keep her from leaping across the oversized conference table, as for comfort. She resented that Admiral Bliney had played the “for the good of the Coalition” card to get her and Serge here. As the final member of their meeting walked in, President Sandoval called the meeting to order. Admiral Bliney detailed the two threats, and gave his recommendation to triple military production. After that, the President opened the floor for discussion and that’s when things got interesting.

“I don’t think the Coalition can afford to keep up that level of sustained military production,” The Economic Secretary began.

“We cannot afford not to, unless you wish to be either eradicated by aliens or subjugated by warmongers.” The Secretary of Defense replied.

“Is the threat even legitimate, or has Admiral Bliney been out in space so long that he’s seeing monsters behind every doorway?” The Vice President mocked.

“I assure you, the threat is quite real,” Bliney responded as he began to play some vid. An hour later, the Vice President was convinced.

“Our best bet is to have SSE up its production,” The Economic secretary began. “We won’t need as many ships if they are all
Leviathans
and
War Hawks
. That will save us money in the long run.”

“Well, how much did the Romanovs pay you to say that?” Natora scoffed.

“Why you, smug….”

“Alright,” the president called into Nina’s response before she could say something she regretted. “That’s not helpful, Admiral. We can carry on this meeting without you if you cannot be civil.”

“Oh, so that’s how we’re gonna play it? “Kiss up to the Romanovs, we need the Romanovs.” If this situation doesn’t open your eyes to the fact that we need to be in control of SSE, not them, then I don’t know what will.” He finished his retort, standing unaware that his voice had risen and that his face had turned a deep shade of red. He was not used to not getting his way and could still not understand how the Marcos and Romanov families had not been brought to heel.

“That’s always your angle, isn’t it? Well, I have news for you. You don’t have what it takes to operate our company, you’re not diligent enough, you’re not honest enough, and you’re not smart enough. If we turned our company over to you, you’d run it into the ground in months. Then no one would have OUR ships. Mark my words, Natora, fate of the Coalition or not, you will never control our company. If you don’t like it, go develop your own ships.” Nina was practically shaking she was so angry and her voice had risen to match the decibel level of her antagonist.

“Can we move on now?” Admiral Bliney interjected as if scolding children. “Now that the two of you have had your words, let us start thinking of ways we can not only get the most powerful ships ready to fight, but the most ships ready. If we have a large enough fleet, we may give them pause from coming here at all. The bottom line is both of our potential enemies are used to taking on one or two planets at a time, and are not used to long conflicts. If we can put enough pieces on the board, quickly enough, we may never need to use them, and that is the goal.” Bliney hoped that by laying the cold, hard facts on the table quickly enough he could keep Nina and Admiral Natora from going at each other. He noticed from Nina’s glare that she had not liked his chastisement. He didn’t care, she was going to need to get over whatever Natora had done to her and her family if the Coalition was going to produce a force large enough to dissuade these threats.

“Well, to that end, we have a dozen we can finish very quickly,” Serge began. “Not to mention, almost thirty decommissioned ships ready to be scrapped for parts that we could patch up. If we give new weapons and shields, we can put them into planetary defense. New light drives might be too expensive, but if they are strictly for in-system defense, we can put them all out fairly quickly without a large expenditure.”

“Now that is helpful,” President Sandoval agreed to a smile of relief from Admiral Bliney. “How long are we looking at to have all forty-two ships in theatre, Serge?”

“Not long, depending on how elaborately you want the older ships repaired, one to two months. The SSE ships are about a month away from being finished.”

“Tell us again why you have so many ships close to completion, just lying around?” Natora inquired with a smug grin, not willing to let his vendetta drop.

“As the Admiral is well aware, we are in the process of deciding whether or not to keep our production facilities on Earth or move them to Polisia, we do not wish to have a dip in production if we decide to move.” Serge diplomatically replied, not rising to take the bait while Nina sat tight-lipped next to him.

“Why the move at all?” The Secretary of Defense asked.

“Because our family has been targeted for assassination and we don’t feel safe on Earth.” Nina replied angrily while staring directly at Admiral Natora.

“A bit dramatic, aren’t we,” the Vice President chided.

“Maybe, why don’t you go to the hospital and ask Ariel.” Nina shot back.

“No, the threat to the Romanov’s and the Marcos’ is real,” the President added in a tone that told them to drop it. “Unfortunately, if we are going to need as many ships as I think we are, we may not be able to let you leave Earth just yet. We can, however, make it as safe as possible for you to stay. We’ll discuss that later. So, Serge can have forty-two ships ready for us in four to six weeks. Your ships generally take three months, so I’m assuming since you have the near complete ships in storage, that there would be another twelve off the SSE assembly lines six or so weeks after that.” Serge nodded his agreement and the President continued. “What about our other source for military production?”

“We can have twenty new ships ready in the next three months,” The Secretary of Defense replied.

“Good, that will give us seventy-four more pieces on the board in three months with another thirty-two or so following three months after that. Do you think that will be enough new ships to give them pause, Admiral?”

Admiral Bliney looked thoughtful as he answered slowly. “If they come in the next six months, it will have to be. We should really try to ratchet up the production even further. We have to keep the ships coming. This seems like the type of threat that is a couple years away. Admiral Thomas will have to keep his eye on it. Is there any way to get more ships built at a time?”

“Defense can double production in a year if we finish the space dock we’ve been working on.” The Secretary of Defense proudly replied.

“And SSE can greatly increase its production if we build the facility at Polisia we were planning to build if we decided to move. Both of those suggestions will be very expensive for the people of the Coalition.” Serge replied.

“Our Secretary of the Economy will just have to make it work.” The President replied, letting him know there was no debate. “I hate to militarize, but apparently we will need to, if we wish to survive.”

______

“The Enclave is the single biggest threat to non-human life in this galaxy.” Dobar informed while the other emissaries nodded in agreement.

Thansar, the leader of the Jarlevian High Council could not believe his ears.
A more powerful group of humans than Earth?
If this was true, it was unacceptable. “I’m having a hard time believing that, Dobar. Have you seen the power Earth’s
Leviathans
or their
War Hawks
possess? They are almost unbeatable, and they are producing more every day. They have cunning leaders and heroic soldiers. They will never back down from a fight.”

“All of that may be true, Thansar, but they only inhabit thirty-two worlds, and a few scattered settlements on their resource worlds. That may seem like a lot, but they have always chosen uninhabited planets. They have never displaced a native population. They thought they were alone in the universe until the Pack tried to stop their expansion. They do not yet have an appetite for conquering other planets. The Enclave, however, rules over one hundred fifty worlds. They conquer planets, both human and alien at will. If a planet puts up too much of a fight, they commit unspeakable atrocities. They are aware of us, and are marshalling their power to take a run at this side of the galaxy. We need to put a stop to them.”

“That is worrisome, Dobar, but we are in no condition to make another trek across the galaxy for war. After our defeat at the hands of Earth, we may be able to send one hundred ships at most. If this Enclave is as powerful as you say, I don’t see what difference it will make. “

“We need to act soon, because intelligence says they are going after Earth very soon.”

“Well, that is very good news, Dobar, let them fight it out and then we can more easily pick off the winner. It sounds like our problems just might kill each other off.”

“Well, that certainly is the optimistic way of looking at it. What worries me is what if the Enclave changes tactics? What if they come to Earth in peace and become allies? Can you imagine those ships you described earlier in the hands of soulless conquerors waiting to commit their next atrocity? What chance will we have then?”

______

Carmine was even angrier, after seeing the vid-news report of the second attempt on Captain Ariel Marcos life. He called together his guys and angrily began. “Ariel Marcos has been a good friend to me and this organization. Jesse has saved my life twice and kept me out of prison. We will not rest until we find out who is trying to kill this woman. Is that clear?”

“Carmine, I think I have some news, but you’re not gonna like it.” Sal slowly began.

“Spit it out, Sal, who are we gonna kill?”

“That’s the thing; this may be too big, even for us. My source tells me the hit was ordered from someone pretty high up in the Coalition government.”

“What, like a senator? We’ve taken some of them down before.”

“No, closer to the president, or even the leader of our military, maybe both. My source wasn’t sure.” Sal admitted.

“So you’re saying that President Sandoval wants to kill Ariel?”

“Not the president, Carmine, he’s actually quite close with the Marcos family. It’s someone close to him, though.”