Galactic Empire Wars 2: Emergence (20 page)

-

Mason was at
his sister’s house with Adrienne. Susan had asked them to come over for supper
and to spend some time with the kids. She thought having Mason over regularly
when Michael was gone attending to his fleet duties was good for the two girls.

“So, Uncle
Mason,” Karen began from across the table. “Can I go visit the Kivean’s magical
city?”

Adrienne
laughed as she saw the confused look on Mason’s face. “That’s what all the kids
are calling it,” she explained. “With their tall, slender buildings and the
high walkways between them, they’re unlike anything we’ve ever built. They’re
also very colorful with their paint schemes. Their city does look like
something out of a storybook.”

Mason nodded
in understanding. He guessed he was so used to spending time with the Kiveans
and after being in their city numerous times that he had gotten use to their
different style of architecture.

“How are your
grades in school?” he asked, gazing at his niece and waiting for a response.

“Perfect,” she
replied with a proud smile. “I’m in the top two percent of my class and I’m
already beginning to take advanced courses. I’m going to be a doctor someday,
just like Harnett!”

“Karen got to
meet Harnett at the clinic several months ago,” Susan explained as she took a
bite of her salad. It was such a relief not to have to worry about the food
shortages of a few short years ago. There was even more meat available now as
the animal herds were being gradually increased. “Harnett spent some time
showing Karen around and explaining what some of the medical treatment devices
were and how they worked.”

“I like
Harnett,” Karen spoke in a serious voice. “She invited Mom and me to come visit
her at their city sometime.”

“Harnett is
gone at the moment,” Mason said as he took a bite of his mashed potatoes and
gravy. They were just like their mother used to make. “Harnett and her life mate
Marken have gone away on a mission for us and won’t be back for a few more
weeks.”

Karen face
took on a disappointed look and then it brightened back up. “But when they come
back, we can go visit her, right?”

“I’m sure we
can arrange something,” Mason responded with a nod. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“This meatloaf
is wonderful,” Adrienne spoke as she took another bite and looked over at
Susan. “You’re such a great cook!”

“It was our
mother,” Susan replied, pleased that Adrienne was impressed with the meatloaf.
She knew it was one of Mason’s favorite foods. “She was determined that I learn
how to cook and take care of kids when I was a teenager. I had to cook at least
one evening meal a week completely on my own. She also insisted that I make my
spending money babysitting several of the neighborhood children.”

Mason laughed,
recalling how unruly the Turner twins had been. There were times when he had
thought that Susan was going to pull her hair out because of the pranks they'd
played on her. They were always coming up with something new to aggravate his
sister.

The two girls
finished eating and then went to the living room to watch a video while the
adults continued to eat at a more leisurely pace.

“When are
Marken and Harnett supposed to be back?” Susan asked.

She knew about
the trading station mission and had been concerned something bad might happen.
From what Michael had explained to her, there would be Kleese and perhaps
thousands of armed conscripts on the station. At least Major Nelson and Captain
Williams had gone along on the mission with them.

“In three more
weeks,” Mason responded. “It just depends on how much time they spend at the
station and if they run into problems.”

“And if they don’t
come back, we’ll never know what happened to them, will we?” Susan said with a
worried look upon her face.

“I’m sure
they’ll be fine,” Mason said reassuringly, looking at his sister. “Marken felt
that they could get in and get out without anyone knowing who they were.”

“I hope he’s
right,” Susan said with a frown still on her face. “I’ll just be glad when they
get back.”

“What about
Admiral Rivers?” Adrienne asked as she buttered another roll. She was going to
have to get Susan to give her the recipe for the rolls as well as a cooking
lesson. It still amazed her how well Susan could cook. Every meal was a new
experience.

“That’s a
little more complicated,” spoke Mason, looking at the two women. With Adrienne
being his wife, and Susan being Michael’s wife, he wasn’t too concerned about
them revealing secrets. Still, there were certain things he couldn’t tell them.

“Yes,” Susan
said, looking at her brother. “Michael told me that Fourth Fleet was leaving on
a secret mission and would be gone for over a year. Where are they going? Are
they going to attack the Kleese?”

Susan was
unsure if she wanted that to happen. It had been so peaceful the last several
years, with the exception of the Kleese attack a month back. But that attack
hadn’t even gotten near any of the habitats or colonies. Michael had been a
little vague when she had asked him where Rivers was going. She had a strong
suspicion that Mason would be also.

“I can’t say a
lot,” began Mason, taking a deep breath. He hated keeping secrets from his wife
and sister, but if this plan were to succeed, the fewer people who knew what
Fourth Fleet was doing, the better. “They’ll be gone for over a year and their
mission does involve the Kleese. If they’re successful, we may not see a Kleese
ship for quite some time.”

Susan nodded,
knowing she wasn’t going to get anything else out of Mason. He had told her
pretty much the same thing that Michael had. “How’s the job of president
going?”

“Susan, you
know your brother doesn’t like that title,” Adrienne said with a twinkle in her
eyes. “He gets uptight every time someone calls him Mister President.” It was
one of the few things she enjoyed teasing Mason about. Adrienne suspected that
Mason really missed the days when the only thing he had to worry about was Smithfield and his company.

Mason sighed
and took a bite of the last piece of meatloaf on his plate. “I guess someone
had to take the job,” he said as he reached for seconds. He eyed the meatloaf
plate for a moment before taking a generous piece. “We didn’t dare let any of
the career politicians on the Moon have the job, it would have been
disastrous.”

“What about
the recent elections?” asked Susan, curiously. “I hear the first formal meeting
of the new Federated Assembly will take place next week.”

“I'll be
attending and opening the meeting,” Mason responded with an irritated look in
his eyes. Diplomacy was one thing he hated, but he understood the need for it
upon occasion. “Each habitat with a population of more than two hundred
thousand was allowed to choose two delegates. Habitats with smaller populations
were grouped with habitats similar in size until they reached the mandatory two
hundred thousand level.”

“Sounds like a
lot of delegates for the assembly,” Susan said her eyes looking thoughtful.
“How’s it going to work?”

“There will be
a council elected to run the assembly,” Mason explained. “The assembly will be
allowed to propose legislation, which will then be turned over to the council.
If the council feels the legislation or request is worthy of further
consideration, they'll work with the assembly to draft a resolution which they’ll
send to me. I then have the authority to approve or veto the resolution.”

“Sound like
you’re going to get a lot of resolutions to look over,” Susan spoke her eyes
focusing on her brother. “It could become very time consuming and tedious.” She
knew Earth politicians had been notorious for generating mountains of new laws
and regulations almost on a daily basis.

“Hopefully
not,” Mason replied as he reached for more mashed potatoes.

Susan grinned
seeing how much Mason was eating. She just wished that Michael could have been
here also. It would be great to have a meal with the entire family in
attendance.

“We have
created some guidelines detailing the authority of the council and the
assembly. Most of the time they will be able to carry out actions without
consulting me. Only if resolutions meet certain criteria will I become
involved.”

“What if the
council gets out of hand?” asked Susan, politicians had a habit of doing that.
She would hate to see them screw up everything that Mason and the others had
accomplished over the last few years.

“It won’t,”
Mason promised as he reached for the last roll in the breadbasket. “Six members
of the council are appointed and the other six are elected from the assembly. I
got to select the six that were appointed and Mayor Silas, Professor Scott, and
I were very careful in choosing those members.”

Mason, Mayor
Silas, Professor Scott, and General Mitchell had taken great pains to ensure
that the assembly's powers were limited. The Human race was in a very precarious
situation and some hard steps might be necessary to ensure that it survived.
They didn’t have time for career politicians to get in the way. Later, when the
Human population had increased considerably and the situation was more stable,
the assembly would be given more power. Sometime in the future, they might even
elect the president, but not now. For now, Mason was in charge and determined
that Humanity would survive the challenges facing it.

Susan nodded,
feeling satisfied with Mason’s answers. She knew that the Human survivors were
in good hands with Mason in charge. He had a habit of always coming out on top
in a bad situation. If anyone could see the Human race through the challenges
ahead, it would be Mason. Even when she had been a young girl, Mason had always
been there for her. She didn’t know how many times he had bailed her out of
trouble the Turner twins had caused. As she watched Mason eat, she felt
confident that her brother would be able to do the same thing for the Human
survivors.

The Kleese
Council of Overlords was meeting once again. It was very seldom they met twice
to discuss the same problem. The latest report concerning the growing Human
dilemma was disconcerting. Somehow, the Humans had managed to sneak on board another
Kleese space station in an attempt to trade with the nonaligned worlds. Part of
the station had been heavily damaged in the Human's escape and another valuable
exploration ship destroyed. More Kleese had died aboard the exploration ship,
which was intolerable. The Humans were now responsible for more Kleese deaths
than any other species in over a thousand years.

“How did they
manage to get aboard the station undetected?” demanded Raluth, his dark arms
waving in the air.

The large
arachnid Kleese was highly upset with what these upstart Humans were doing.
Were all the Kleese in the outer regions of the Empire weak minded? Had they
become too complacent after all of the years of not facing a dangerous and
determined opponent?

“The Kleese
commander of the trading station detected the Humans and their Kiveans allies
almost immediately,” Xatul responded in a cold and impassionate voice. “He
strongly suspected they'd come to the trading station to make contact with the
nonaligned worlds. The Humans and the Kiveans were allowed to contact the
trading representatives to see if any of them violated the neutrality
agreement.”

“Were any of
them foolish enough to violate the agreement?” Bixutl asked with a threatening
overtone in his voice. To do so would result in an immediate military response
from the nearest Kleese space station.

“No, not that
the station commander is aware of,” Xatul responded.

“What about
the conscripts that know an exploration ship was destroyed as well as more
Kleese being killed?

“All the
conscripts on the station that witnessed the battle or were a part of it have
been eliminated,” Xatul answered. “The others on the station are being told
that the damage to the flight bay and surrounding area was caused by the
explosion of a ship’s Fold Space Drive as it was attempting to land.”

“Conscripts
can easily be replaced,” spoke Keluth his voice void of compassion, his dark
multifaceted eyes focusing on Xatul.

“What about
the weapons on the Human ships?” inquired Raluth with some concern in his voice.
“They must be powerful or they would not have been able to destroy our
exploration ships so easily.”

“They've
perfected a particle beam weapon of some strength,” Xatul replied. “We strongly
suspect this is a development of the Kiveans and why they were so successful in
taking the trading station and defeating our fleets. We were hoping to learn
more in our previous attack, but there were no survivors.”

“A particle
beam weapon,” Martule said in a sharp voice. “All of our research has indicated
that the power to energize a particle beam as an efficient weapon is
impractical. That's why we have focused more on pulse fusion weapons and our
antimatter sublight missiles.”

“Will this
weapon be dangerous to our warships?” asked Bixutl his large eyes focusing on
the Supreme Overlord. It was nearly incomprehensible to think that the Humans
might be able to damage or even destroy one of the Kleese powerful warships.

“Unknown,”
Xatul responded. “The commander of our warships will be stopping at two trading
stations to add some of their ships to his fleet. When he arrives at the Human
star system, he will have an overwhelming force under his command. The Humans
and their system will die!”

“The commander
should attempt to capture one of the Human ships so we may study this weapon,”
suggested Martule, thinking about the power this new weapon might add to the
Kleese Empire. “It might be a weapon that we can install on our warships if
they have truly solved the power and dispersion problem.”

“The weapon
must be dangerous if the Humans have been able to destroy so many of our
exploration ships with it,” stated Raluth in a more stern voice; then he issued
a warning. “Our warships should use extreme caution when they engage the
Humans. It would be unwise to underestimate this race.”

“Our warships
have much stronger energy shields than the explorations ships,” Bixutl pointed
out to the other Overlords. “The Humans will not find it so easy to destroy
one. I am confident our fleet will put an end to this nuisance.”

“Bixutl is correct,”
Xatul stated in a confident voice. “The fleet will end this Human threat and
their species will soon be forgotten.”

-

Wade was in a
small conference room on the Distant Star meeting with Captain Williams,
Captain Jeffries, and Marken. They'd been discussing a possible mission to
Kivea to rescue some of the survivors of the Kleese attack.

“It will be
relatively easy to build another habitat in our current asteroid,” Marken
informed them in a patient voice, knowing he needed to convince the Humans of the
viability of launching this rescue mission. “I can have our engineers start on
it as soon as we get back.”

“That’s a long
way to go with a sizable fleet and not be detected,” Wade pointed out
worriedly. “We’re talking about three thousand light years, and after what we
did at the trading station the Kleese will be on the lookout for any of our
ships entering their space.”

“I looked at
the star charts before I came in,” Jeffries informed them with a thoughtful
look upon his face. “If we’re careful, stay out of the main space lanes, and
only drop out of Fold Space in specifically selected systems, we just might be
able to get to Kivea undetected. If we take only ships with military Fold Space
Drives, we can reach Kivea in thirty days.”

“It will take
a lot of planning to do that,” Wade said, knowing he would need to speak to
Colonel Adamson about the practicality of reaching Kivea undetected. This would
be a hazardous mission, and there was no doubt in Wade’s mind that there would
be some heavy fighting on the ground and perhaps in orbit.

“You’re sure
there will be passenger liners and cargo ships still docked to the space
station above Kivea?” Beth asked her eyes focusing on Marken.

She understood
his desire to rescue as many of his people as possible. She wasn’t sure how
many Kiveans would be needed for a viable population that could survive and
produce the future generations needed for a strong and healthy race. If they
didn’t undertake this mission, the Kivean race might be destined to pass away
into obscurity.

“There should
be,” Marken responded his eyes narrowing. “The ships are designed specifically
for Kivean use and the Kleese probably just left them at the station rather
than spend the time and resources that would be necessary to refurbish them for
other races.”

“We can take
some of the passenger liners in the Solar System,” suggested Jeffries, thinking
about how many they had available. “They’ll need to have military Fold Space
Drives and power plants installed.”

“How long
would that take?” asked Wade, looking over at Marken. Marken was far more
familiar with engineering and spacecraft modifications than he was.

“There are
eighteen large passenger ships currently in the Solar System,” Marken replied
his eyes narrowing even further as he thought about what would be required.
“The ships would need military drives, which will require a military fusion
reactor. The ships should also need to be equipped with energy shields for
their protection.”

“So, how
long?” Beth asked with a sigh. She was starting to realize that even when they
got back, it was going to take a while to organize this rescue mission if
President Randal and General Mitchell approved it.

“It can be
done in Vesta’s spacedock,” Marken answered his eyes focusing on Beth. Vesta
had the largest spacedock and the work could be easily done there rather than
the construction bays at Centerpoint Station. “For all eighteen passenger
ships, it will take about six weeks.”

Beth punched
up some information on a computer pad in front of her and then glanced up at
the others. “If we take all eighteen passenger ships that gives us the lifting
capacity for a little over seventeen thousand passengers. We would also have to
take several cargo ships with additional supplies for the ships due to the
length of the trip. Those ships will also have to be modified, and that’s going
to add a few more weeks to our timeline.”

Wade leaned
back and let out a deep breath as he looked at the others. “This is going to
involve a number of warships also,” he said, shaking his head. He suspected
that Fleet Admiral Kirby wouldn’t be pleased about committing so many of his
ships to this operation. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing this without at
least a full fleet for support.”

Beth looked at
Marken for a long moment before she asked her next question. “Marken,” she said
in a quiet and concerned voice. “What will happen to the people we leave behind
on Kivea?”

A distressed
look crossed Marken’s face. “The Kleese will most likely kill all that we leave
behind,” he said in a strained and somber voice. “But if we do nothing, there
is a good chance they will be killed eventually anyway, particularly the more
your race attacks the Kleese. We can only hope to save as many of our more
talented young people, scientists, and technicians as possible to allow my race
to start over and help yours in this war.”

Beth looked
over at Wade, who nodded back. She had already decided she would do everything
she could to help Marken and the Kiveans. “We will do what we can,” she
promised. “Just keep in mind that we’ll need to sell this plan to President
Randle and General Mitchell.”

“As well as
Fleet Admiral Kirby,” Jeffries reminded them.

Marken nodded
in understanding. He knew these Humans would try to help him and that was all
he could ask for.

-

Beth and Wade
were in the large cafeteria on the passenger ship enjoying a meal together.
Since Beth had transferred to the Distant Star, they'd made it a habit to eat
together at least once each day.

“Do you think
President Randle and General Mitchell will approve the Kivea mission?” she
asked as she took a bite of the fruit salad on the plate in front of her. She
was still amazed at the wide food assortment on the passenger ship. Each meal
seemed to reveal more surprising and exotic foods.

“I think so,”
Wade responded as he looked at the tantalizing fried chicken on his plate.
“With the technical information we got from the nonaligned worlds, additional
Kivean scientists and technicians will be highly useful. I think we can use
that to help sway their opinion.”

Beth nodded.
She would be glad to get back home and to Vesta. Her mother was getting older
and she hated leaving her alone for such an extended period of time. Wade was
also her closest friend and sometimes she sensed that he wanted more. She felt
guilty at keeping him at a distance and knew that, at some point in time, she
would have to let her guard down where he was concerned. It had been well over
two years now since her fiancée had vanished on Earth. It was time for her to
put the past behind her and begin living for the future.

Wade watched
as Beth ate her fruit salad. It still amazed him at how women, even in the
military, seemed so self-conscious about their figures, and Beth had a nice
one. Taking a bite of the chicken Wade savored the taste, enjoying how well it
was cooked. The cooks who worked in this cafeteria were excellent! Wade
strongly suspected that since this had been a high level trading mission
President Randle had made sure the Distant Star had the best of everything.
Wade was also anxious to get home and see if his brother had actually enrolled
in the new military academy. He sincerely hoped so, since it would be a huge
relief to his parents.

-

The next few
weeks passed quickly by, and at last it was time to for the fleet to drop out
of Fold Space inside the Solar System. The Constellation and her fleet exited
just inside the orbit of Jupiter and came to a stop. Colonel Adamson
immediately sent a message to Centerpoint Station informing Fleet Admiral
We ahead informing Fleet Admrial Kirby and General
Mitchell of their impending arrival.

Colonel Adamson had already sent a mess
Kirby and
General Mitchell of their arrival.

“It’s good to
be home,” spoke Major Kelly with a big smile on his face as he saw the numerous
friendly green icons appearing on the tactical sensor screen. On this mission,
he had seen his first combat in space, and it was much different than being on
a frigate in the British navy.

“Centerpoint
is requesting that we come in as soon as possible,” Ensign Travers reported as
she listened to a message she was receiving over her communications system.

“They want to
see the information on the computer drive,” guessed Kelly, knowingly. He
couldn’t blame them; he was highly curious also as to what was on the drive.
Marken had hinted that the technical information could play an important role
in future battles with the Kleese.

“Set a course
for Centerpoint and take the fleet back into Fold Space,” Colonel Adamson
ordered with a nod. “Ensign Travers, contact the Distant Star and inform them we’re
going on into Centerpoint and that General Mitchell and Fleet Admiral Kirby
will want to meet with Marken and Major Nelson as soon as we arrive.”

Adamson also
wondered how Mitchell and Kirby would respond to Major Nelson and Marken’s plan
to go to Kivea and rescue some of the survivors of the Kleese attack upon that
world. Nelson had spoken to him about it, inquiring as to what type of fleet
units would be needed to pull the mission off.

A few minutes
later, all six ships were back in Fold Space and moving at several times the
speed of light toward Earth and Centerpoint Station. The crews on board were
excited to be back home and ready for some well-deserved leave time.