The Great Betrayal (6 page)

His image vanished, and at the same time the Admiral stood up. He looked about the table at each of them. They looked eager for information, but there was no way he would be telling them any of what he had learned.

“That is all for now. Admiral Lewis, General Daniels, if you would stay behind please. We have further details to discuss.”

The rest of the officers left the room as quietly as they had arrived, and only the three senior commanders remained in the room. Anderson said nothing until the door shut behind them, and he was left with the other two.

“Well, what did they decide?” asked General Daniels.

Anderson scratched his chin for a second. The years had not been kind to him, and like General Rivers, starting to show his age. His skin looked tired and his hair a brilliant sheen of white. His eyes, however, glowed brightly, and he showed all the intellect and intelligence that he always had. He considered the General’s question. The other officers knew roughly what the plan was, but they were not privy to the overall strategy being adopted by High Command back in Terra Nova. He, on the other hand, had spoken with General Rivers six hours earlier and had argued vehemently against the decision that had been made. He looked at the two men and raised an eyebrow before speaking.

“Our strategy is...unexpected.”

General Daniels shook his head in an irritated fashion.

“Isn’t it always? We do have a plan then?”

Anderson opened his mouth in a narrow smile and reopened the star map that showed the known borders of the Great Powers. Each of their regions of space was colored differently, clearly showing the territory of the
Anicinàbe was the largest in terms of star systems.

“We have the Helion League, the
Khreenk Federation, Klithi, Byotai and Anicinàbe territories out here.”

He then pointed at the small region of space off to the left.

“This is us and our six star systems. We, of course, have territories in Alpha Centauri, Proxima Centauri, and Sol, plus our newest mining outposts and colonies at Epsilon Eridani, Gliese 876, and Procyon. And in the last few years, we have included T’Karan to this to make a total of seven stars.”

He looked back at them, clearly waiting to make a major announcement.

“Do you have any idea how many star systems the other Powers control?”

There was silence as the other two men looked at him impassively. Anderson knew all too well they would not know, even he wasn’t completely sure about the information passed on via the diplomats on Helios.

“I’ll tell you, gentlemen, forty-five stars and hundreds of worlds. Half of those are in Anicinàbe space. There could easily be as many again that we do not know about. Why do you think we have allowed our frigates to join the Narau fleet on one of its patrols?”

“Intelligence,” replied Rear Admiral Lewis in a slow, deliberate tone.

Anderson stood up and walked toward the nearest wall where he stopped and examined the model ships. Most he recognized, and some even brought back painful memories. The wrecked hulk of the Battlecruiser Crusader was the one that made him the think the hardest. It had been the pride of the fleet and the flagship of Admiral Jarvis, the heroine of the Uprising.

“Precisely,” he said, his back still to them.

He took the model from the wall and examined it with interest, finally turning to face his two guests.

“Stability for the Alliance is our priority, and the worry is that the Rift network is larger than anticipated and poorly mapped. The enemy is still out there, and all of our worlds are vulnerable.”

He walked back and placed the model on the table.

“It is simple, gentlemen. Our job is to keep these forty-five worlds stable and friendly. We must do all we can to explore the Rift network, and ultimately prepare for the day when the attack will come.”

Rear Admiral Lewis didn’t appear convinced.

“Attack? Who’s to say the Biomechs aren’t smashed or weakened beyond chance of recovery? If they’re so strong, then why aren’t they already here, taking us apart like before?”

Anderson smiled and returned to his seat. With a single tap, he brought up an image of a vast hangar type structure. Inside was an object bathed in white and yellow lamps. Both men leaned in closer to examine the shape. It was a large creature, like something from hell itself but a sickening mixture of machine and flesh. It moved a little before a fluorescent green fluid was automatically pumped into its body via a machine to its side.

“The Biomech soldier?” asked General Daniels.

“Yes,” answered Anderson.

Daniels shook his head in horror.

“What are you doing to it?”

Anderson was surprised at his discomfort. The Biomechs had been responsible for so much death; he would have thought the man would relish seeing the thing suffer.

“This is nothing, just drugs to stop it from turning on us. It has already killed eleven technicians since we brought it here.”

That piece of information seemed to placate him, at least for now.

“From our detailed studies, we have learned a great deal. Firstly, the living creature inside the machine is old.”

Daniels didn’t seem impressed.

“What do you mean, old?”

“Well, this particular creature is almost six hundred years old, yet its armored exterior is much older again.”

Admiral Lewis and General Daniels looked shocked at this revelation. Neither seemed to know what to say, so Anderson continued.

“There is more though. In our interrogations, we have established three key points. None are confirmed, but each of them makes sense in its own way. First, the Biomechs are an ancient but dying race. Our biological analysis confirms the genetic decay, but they have managed to avoid the worst effects in a way we do not understand. It is not completely clear, but we suspect they have a finite number of soldiers, and they cannot be replaced.”

Admiral Lewis lifted up his hand in surprise. He was one of the younger senior commanders in the Alliance military and known for his somewhat abrasive attitude on occasion.

“Wait a minute, how the hell was this decision made? Unable to reproduce, I just don’t believe that.”

General Daniels seemed to accept this point quite quickly, however.

“It makes sense though. Think about it. These armored machines must be to protect their ancient bodies, so they build the armored cocoons that turn them into something like demigods. If you lived pretty much forever, would you want more people to share what you have? Soldiers are usually the youngest. What if this guy is the same?”

He pointed at the image on the display.

“Hmm, that is a rather tenuous link. What is it based on?” asked a dubious sounding Admiral Lewis.

Anderson tapped the button, and the video feed zoomed in much closer to show the large head of the thing. All three stared at it with a mixture of fascination and horror. One similar creature had led the forces of Echidna back on Hyperion, but at the time, it was assumed the thing was some type of massive war machine.

“It is through a mixture of interrogation and biological study. According to the captured soldier, it considers its own race some sort of master race. They learned to control life before they met the other races.”

Admiral Lewis lowered his head to his hand.

“If they can control life, why not simply create more? They can always use cloning. It’s not like they can’t do that. We are somewhat familiar with Biomechs and their creations. Do you remember the AI Hubs that took control of our ships?”

Anderson seemed to like what he was hearing. The last thing he wanted was senior officers that simply carried out orders. He also knew that both of them would do whatever was necessary to protect the Alliance.

“Yes, that is all very true. But if you remember, the genetic material of the Biomechs that we fought and the AI hubs was proven to be new, some of it a mere few years old. It was either harvested or created from scratch. Neither the soldier that tried to arrive at Hyperion, or this one were like that.”

He pulled out his secpad and ran his fingers along the front. It was a simple gesture and sent a secure digital packet to both of them.

“Look at that.”

General Daniels had his device out first and was past the first page before his Navy opposite number had done the same. It was a modest report that had been assembled based on information gathered on Helios over the last three months. It included pictures of their paintings, sculptures, and artworks along with audio testimonials. Admiral Anderson only gave them a minute to read it before interrupting them.

“I’ll let you read that in your own time. You’ll note the title is the Desperation War. It is the name the Helions and their allies used in the great battles against the Biomechs. You’ll note the reports describe all manner of Biomech creatures and machines, yet the soldiers like this one appear infrequently. In fact, there is a song that the Helions sing, one about the great battle of Pylos.”

General Daniels face lit up.

“Yes, I heard this when I visited the capital. It is about the surrender of a Biomech garrison, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Indeed,” said Anderson.

He reached forward and tapped a button. A recording of young Helions filled the room, and the three of them listened in silence, trying to imagine what was being said. It was short and over in less than a minute. Anderson leaned toward them as though revealing a great secret.

“The song is about the fall of the T’Kari colony called Pylos by the Biomechs. A combined Helion and T’Kari fleet broke through and prepared an atomic bombardment for the world. According to legend, there were over a million Biomechs and six of the Biomech soldiers, this leadership caste. They surrendered the world and withdrew rather than lose six soldiers.”

“I think I’d be more worried about losing a million Biomechs to be honest,” said Admiral Lewis with barely concealed sarcasm.

Anderson nodded as though he were correct.

“True, except the million were executed autonomously by the soldiers as they left, all so that six might avoid death by the atomics.”

This silenced the Admiral, at least for now.

 
“With this information, we can determine the Biomechs were broken in this war. We know that small numbers of their soldiers, like the one we have here and the one destroyed during the collapse of the Hyperion Rift remain, each of them hiding and waiting.”

He straightened his back and again took a deep breath, as if preparing for some great speech.

“They have soldiers and ships throughout the old worlds, including our own. Their homeworld lies beyond the Black Rift, almost two thousand light years from Helios, and if the Helions are right, they have been working on their revenge since they were forced into exile.”

He then pointed at the image on the wall of the first photograph ever taken of Helios. It was becoming one of the most widely copied images in the history of humanity.
 

“Helios is the Nexus, the point at which every one of our races reaches the rest. High Command has determined that the Biomechs remain as a clear and present danger. We must therefore prepare ourselves and the other races if we want to avoid extinction.”

He looked at each of them, gauging their expressions.

“The days of wondering are over. From today, we are on a war footing, and we must do everything necessary to ensure we are ready. Because when they come, we will see a war that will make the Uprising look like a picnic.”

Many people have questioned naval tactics and strategies ever since the first armed spacecraft clashed. The first battles were between modified conventional craft with ultra long-range missile systems. Neither ship would usually see the other, as they would be attacked and destroyed at a distance of hundreds of thousands of kilometers. With advances in electronic warfare in the middle of the twenty-first century, the ability to strike at long-range became more and more difficult. The battles soon changed to the great battleship duels of the Great War and the carrier battles and ship skirmishes of the Great Uprising. Looking to the future, all hopes rested on the idea of the universal ship design, with a mixture of weapons, armor, defensive systems, and embarked fighters. Events in the Orion Nebula would put this idea to the test.