"That's a very cautious posture. I thought Admiral Wattson more aggressive."
"Maybe his hands are tied by the SAS Council...or he's waiting for the Riss to take some action," Byer said.
"I would think the SAS Council," I said, hoping they weren't waiting on the Riss to stop the JPU. Ironically, the combined forces of the SAS and UFN could stop Neifeh if they attacked, but their current isolation-defense was giving the JPU the advantage.
"Sheva, what did you find at Baraz?" I asked.
"It was very quiet. No one close to the Wave exit and only a single squadron of non-updated cruisers orbiting the planet—two Heavies and eight Lights," Sheva said, worrying her lower lip. "Neifeh obviously considers a good offense a good defense."
"The same configuration at Ihsan," Alena said.
"Pavao, find anything interesting?"
"Our good Admiral Neifeh appears to be adopting the Alien strategy: take over a planet and destroy the Comstat and any space-worthy ships. He is leaving a scout—which lies at minimum power near the exit from the Wave—and two Heavies and eight Lights. Those ships are the older models and haven't been upgraded. I visited Fool's Landing and found the same."
"I agree. Just like the Aliens, whose older cruisers and fighters are expendable, Neifeh considers his non-upgraded cruisers pawns. With a one-hundred-ship advantage, he can afford a war of attrition with the SAS or the UFN—not both. So failure to support the MSAs has put both empires at risk."
"They may weaken the SAS, but surely they can't defeat us," Byer said.
"The SAS has around three hundred cruisers, not to be confused with first-line warships. In fact, the development of the Hunter class of cruisers was an admission that many of the Lights were primarily meant for supporting the colonies and not capable of taking on the Raiders' ships.
"By comparison, the JPU has around four hundred cruisers, but unlike the SAS, these ships are maintained for fighting wars. So as a result of the war with the Aliens, the SAS has closer to two hundred sixty warships—and not all upgraded. The JPU could have as many as three hundred sixty. Therefore, the JPU don't have to destroy an SAS cruiser. Significant damage, or tying them up protecting or having to clean out a system works just as well."
"Well, Leader, do we hunker-down in Freeland like the SAS and UFN are doing in their empires, or...?" Pavao asked. I could hear people stop breathing, awaiting the answer.
"Well, Elder Ni'Shay, what would you and the elders of Freeland like the Riss military to do?" I asked. Silence. Eventually, they all rose and huddled at one end of the room.
I laughed mentally, long and hard.
"We the elders of Freeland did not do such a good job of managing the Freeland military before the Riss arrived. And we have watched the solutions that the governing boards of the SAS and UFN have produced and realize that civilians have no business running a war. Our first reaction would also be to hide and hope the problem went away, or that we would be ignored, or that some other simplistic solution presented itself. We have an excellent military and would rather leave it in their hands. And if you were to insist the elders do it, we now consider the Riss-humans elders of Freeland. Since they now have the majority votes and you speak for them, we await your decision."
"Well, Elder Pavao, what do you say?" I said. The other Riss-humans wore amused expressions—until it slowly dawned on them they would be asked the same question.
"As a former SAS captain, I say we go kick ass. As a Freeland elder, I say we hunker down and hope the SAS kick the JPU's ass. As a Riss captain, I say we are a small nation that can't take on the JPU by ourselves, yet we can't do nothing since the SAS seems to be letting Admiral Neifeh run the war. And as a citizen of the Riss Nation, I say the Riss Leader speaks for me," Pavao said. She had the nerve to smile, which generated snorts from around the room. "Sorry, Nadya."
"Zhang?"
"I agree with Pavao. We cannot stand alone against the JPU, but doing nothing is not a good strategy."
"Damaass?"
"If anyone is in Admiral Neifeh's mind, it's you, dybbuk. Even without you speaking for the Riss, and me, I'd trust your solution as the best we could make."
"Sheva?"
"Captain Alena has told me several stories about you and Admiral Plimson. Quite amusing, so long as you aren't Plimson. She says you once presented him with a proposal that every commander wished he would never have to consider, but that in the end, it was his decision, and he couldn't ask anyone else to make it for him. I suspect you know what he felt like."
"Elder Terril?" I smiled when her jaw dropped open. Then she smiled.
"As an ex-gunny, I say we go kick ass. As a new Riss-human, I leave the who, when, and where to my Leader," Terril said, managing not to smile. But laughs erupted from around the room. Even I laughed.
"Well, the consensus seems to be that we go kick ass. The ass in question seems to be Admiral Neifeh. And the messy details are being left to the Riss Leader," I said, which received a round of applause. "Alright, first we need to secure Freeland, because Admiral Neifeh believes in teaching people who upset him painful lessons. So, Iris is a priority. The new Riss fighters and crews are also a priority. Commander Byer, work with Commander Ja'Kazak of the Wraiths. If he can qualify enough pilots with your help, and we can turn out enough Wraiths to create two or three fighter groups of twenty to twenty-five, then you can distribute one of the Ghosts units among the other units. Ghosts and Wraiths are going to be critical in any engagement with the JPU, because we are going to be outnumbered.
"Missiles. I want every Riss cruiser to be carrying a double load. And the Wraiths and Kraits will need training. I want training exercises between the Ghosts and Wraiths, and between the Scorpions and Kraits. We are no longer Freelanders, SAS, UFN, or Riss if we want to survive." I turned to Iglis. "I need to know what is happening everywhere. Get Butler to increase your security."
"How?"
"The price of Riss help."
* * *
My SID lit with an emergency priority signal. When I activated it, Iglis stood smiling while bouncing up and down.
"He did it; he gave me his access codes." She looked like someone that had just won a mega lottery, and maybe she thought she had. "Leader Reese, if you aren't busy..."
"I'll be right down," I said, cutting the connection. As I left my quarters, two Cobras fell in behind me.
"She's on the move, sergeant. Looks like the Intel unit," the ranking guard, Corporal Zo'Imre, said into her SID, which was connected to a secure network in the System computer.
I nodded, smiling to myself. Zo'Imre had been second in the security command at the Zo'Imre clan complex. Terril had said she reminded her of herself when she was much younger—hardworking, dedicated, and smart.
Iglis was waiting at the door when I arrived and had to restrain herself from running to her office. There she had three monitors active.
"Look, I can search for anything; I have unrestricted access. Only two or three people have that level. I haven't gotten one Not authorized response. I didn't think he'd do it... You make him nervous."
"Admiral Bulter is one of the good guys. Like Admiral Plimson, he's capable of making the hard decisions. He knows the stakes are too high for petty jurisdictional issues and spook regulations, and he trusts you and me, or he would never have let you stay on the Mnemosyne." I poured a cup of kaffa from her sideboard. "Find anything interesting?"
"You were right. Admirals Plimson and Wattson wanted to probe the dark systems, but the new defense committee won't let them. Angel Rock and Surprise have gone dark. That's six systems. Admiral Zhu was willing to send a sizable force in support, but the Emperor wouldn't let him."
"Ask him for all the information on the JPU manufacturing, research and development, and repair stations in the Papak Sector. Make it urgent. Unless I'm mistaken, Admiral Neifeh isn't too far from making a major push against the SAS. We need to distract him," I said while trying to digest what Iglis was discovering and apply that against what I knew about Neifeh.
I left knowing I couldn't put off a decision much longer. The SAS had allowed Neifeh to proceed unchallenged, which put his planned strategy ahead of schedule.
* * *
"You wanted to see me...Nadya?" Terril asked as I approached my conference room.
"Yes, come on in." My security team had the conference room door open, and one was surveying the room. "Grab something to eat or drink. Ja'Kazak and Ja'Shar will be here shortly. Nadya, Leader, Captain, or Captain Reese are all good, although depending on the time and place one may be more appropriate than another," I said.
"Always felt strange calling you Nadya or Master Reese one place, and Captain Reese another. Like you were two different people. This feels better—you've always been my friend Nadya."
I fetched a kaffa with Terril and sat. A few minutes later, Commander Sorin and Lieutenant Anca entered, followed immediately by Colonel Eugen and Lieutenant Alven. I waved them to the sidebar.
"Help yourself and get comfortable," I said, and waited for everyone to get settled. "I asked you here to determine how many Cobra, Krait and Wraith operational units you could put together today. I'm sorry for the short notice, but I have a decision to make which can't wait. Take your time."
"I've known Leader Reese many years. She has always been as honest with me and loyal as I have been with her," Terril said as casually as I might say, ‘There are drinks on the sideboard.' However, Terril's meaning was clear—‘She deserves both, and I guard her back.'
"Yes, clan loyalty," Eugen said to nods from the others. "That, we understand better than most. With truth, we may sometimes have a small problem, but we will remember your wisdom, Colonel Terril."
"We could assemble three Wraith squadrons of fifteen each or two at twenty. There would be some weak backups, but they could fly and shoot," Sorin said looking to Anca, who nodded agreement.
"We could assemble one hundred fifty Kraits—two hundred twenty if we include people who have satisfactorily completed the basic training but not yet fully qualified," Eugen said with confirmation from Alven. He smiled. "Colonel Terril has been raiding us heavily."
"That's true. Colonel Eugen has been a huge help with providing candidates for the Cobras. He and I felt that was the priority. Consequently, I have one hundred operational people and could provide a team of ten for each Riss Cruiser, and have twenty backup."
"Excellent work. Colonel Eugen, get with Terril and determine how best to distribute the twenty backups. They should understand they will be the first to fill any vacancies in the Cobras." I stood. "Staff meeting two days from now at zero eight hundred hours. Be prepared to go operational within forty-eight hours afterward."
* * *
By the time the staff meeting was over, the numbers had magically come together. We had two operational Freeland detachments of twenty Wraiths and one hundred Kraits along with supporting crews and medical units. I assigned them to the Minerva and the Themis.
The Maat with the UFN detachment had managed to acquire five additional Riss fighters and to teach eight pilots, mostly backups, to fly them. They had no way to acquire additional pilots or commandos, so their personnel numbers remained the same.
The SAS detached units from the Minerva were distributed among the Mnemosyne, Eirene, and Elpis, which increased the Scorpion unit by thirty and the Ghost unit by eighteen personnel and five fighters—now twenty Ghosts each.
* * *
Early the next morning, my SID buzzed with a message from Iglis:
W
HENEVER YOU ARE FREE,
I
HAVE THAT INFORMATION YOU REQUESTED.
I knew she meant from Admiral Butler and made my way to the security area. Iglis was waiting with a big smile. Actually, she did a lot of smiling lately.
"I can't believe how fast he responds, and without the usual ‘Why do you need the information?'"
"He probably doesn't want that conversation going out over the Comstat, and I suspect he knows exactly why you want it—to give it to me." I laughed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
JPU: Alien Invasion
The Freeland conference room buzzed with excitement when I entered. Today was the day, and everyone knew it—assignments. It felt like graduation day at the academy. I fetched myself a kaffa from the side table and sat in the only vacant chair, in the middle of the long table. As I did, the room became deathly quiet. Looking around the table, I couldn't help but reflect on the differences between the Riss and the humans. We were going to war, yet the humans were excited, even the Riss-humans. The Riss weren't. To the Riss, war was just something unpleasant that had to be done...because the Leader said.
I felt the tears as if they were real. Thalia was right. Although the SAS had given the Riss their own enclave, without advocacy they would be isolated over time, collapse as a society, and lose their identity—like the American Indians on old earth and many other small indigenous people who had their land stolen from them.