Exodus: Empires at War: Book 2 (3 page)

“And I feel, though it
really is not your concern, that if we attack New Moscow the other two polities
will rally,” said the Great Admiral, his voice rising.  “And then we will be
facing both of the other aroused Empires of the Humans.”

“But it is standard
doctrine to take one opponent at a time,” said the Low Admiral, the males
around him giving head shakes of agreement.

“And this is a new
situation,” said the Great Admiral.  “We have never before had to contend with
one species that had multiple kingdoms that are both in competition with each
other and allies.”  Though how a species could split into such a conglomeration
of competing factions was beyond any of their thought patterns.  That the
humans being such a race of individualists might account for their
disconcerting habit of progressing at such a rapid rate.  That was something
the Empire had never before encountered, being used to rolling over less
advanced or less weighty opponents throughout their long history

“Very well, my Lord,”
said the Low Admiral, giving a bow of respect.  “It is yours to decide.”

“That it is,” agreed
the overall fleet commander, turning back to the holo and zooming in on some
ships that were mating up, two scout cruisers and four escorts to a battleship,
prior to moving to their deployments.  He turned back to his officers and
clasped both his lower hands to his chest in salute.  “Now it is time to start. 
For the Emperor.”

“For the Emperor,”
growled the officers, returning the salute.  They turned and left the room, and
the Grand Admiral breathed a sigh a relief.  Mutiny was not a tradition in the Ca’cadasan
Empire.  Obedience was.  But being in the presence of so many hormonally driven
alpha males was always a tension builder.

The Grand Admiral
turned back to the holo plot and watched as the groups of ships began to drop
off as they translated into hyper and started on their missions.

Chapter 1

Some people like to say
that aliens have souls.  I don’t know for sure whether they do or not.  But I
do know that if they do they are not like ours.  Our souls are connected to our
God.  The same God that is worshipped in many forms by our major religions.  The
God of the Universe, the creator of all.  Aliens do not worship this God. 
Instead they worship lessor beings who cannot truly be called Gods.  So they do
not have souls in the same sense as we do.  Mankind has been given by God the
right to govern the beasts of the airs, land and seas.  And aliens are not
better than these.

Speech by Theo
Streeter, Duke of Coventry, to the Humanity First Party.

“And that’s about all I
can get away with on that front,” said Field Marshal Betty Parker, the
Commandant of the Imperial Marine Corps.  “Any more and the Lords will be
screaming bloody murder.  “On the positive side, all of my Marines will ship
with heavy battle armor.”

“There is that,” agreed
Grand Marshal Mishori Yamakuri, Chief of Staff of the Imperial Army, a smile on
his broad face.  They all knew that only about a third of the planet based Marines
were equipped with heavy armor, while all those serving aboard naval vessels
had a suit of the expensive and deadly equipment.  That the overall commander
of the Marines was making sure that all Sector Four reinforcements brought the
one ton suits with them was saying something about her commitment to the
Emperor’s directive.

But we are all pledged
to follow his commands
, thought Grand High Admiral Gabriel
Len
Lenkoswki,
the Chief of Naval Operations. 
Within the oversight of the Parliament.  And
this meeting has completely circumvented that oversight. 
But they were ten
kilometers beneath the Septagon, the most secure office building on the planet,
and they were in geometrically heightened levels of secrecy down here.

“I am afraid that I
have gleaned all I can as well,” said the Army COS, looking down at his flat
comp.  “An armored battalion here, a heavy infantry battalion there, plus more
light infantry than I’m comfortable with moving into a potential hot zone. 
Those guys are mostly meant for urban patrol and garrison, not a heavy stand up
fight against an invasion force.”

“So how many were you
able to free from their core world resorts?” asked Len in his New Texas Drawl. 
All laughed at that characterization of core world dispositions, which was how
those serving on the frontiers saw them, while the heads of the services spent
most of their time in the most protected system of all.

“Forty armored
battalions, fifty-three heavy infantry battalions and another two hundred odd
battalions of infantry and artillery,” said the Army COS, a frown on his face. 
“Some damned Lords interfered with the transfer of a hundred more, screaming
bloody murder the whole way.  And that’s where we stand.”

“So about two hundred
thousand men,” said the Admiral, looking at his own flat comp.  “To add to the
fifty thousand Marines Betty came up with.  A quarter of a million land
warriors.”

“Wish it could be
better,” said the Grand Marshal.  “I’ve got seventy-four divisions on alert for
movement orders, with the staff sworn to secrecy.  So if the balloon goes up I
can at least get them loaded and shipped with minimal delay.  And how’s it look
on the Fleet front.”

“About the same as
yours I’m afraid,” said Len, pulling the smoking pipe from his mouth.  “I have
about five hundred ships redeployed to Sector Four on the pretense that they
are going to relieve vessels due to come back to the Core Sector.  Hopefully no
one will look at those orders too closely.  And we still have to look at this
mess that might blow up on the Lasharan frontier.”

“Might?” said Betty
with a frown.  “I thought the intelligence was good.”

“Oh, it’s good,” agreed
Len, taking the pipe back in his mouth and sucking more smoke into his lungs. 
“At least as good as intelligence can be coming from a friendly power.  I think
with the advanced we’ve gotten, and the mobilization of the Margravian Fleet,
we should be able to dodge that bullet.  The Margravian forces are already deploying
into Kleshakian space and forming up with the Kleshakians.  But our own
intelligence is warning of some movements over on the Crakista frontier.”

Mishori shook a bit at
the mention of the Margravians, who as an insectiod race was not prone to give humans
the warm and fuzzies.  But psychologically they were much like humans, and had
proven staunch and loyal allies since losing to the Empire a hundred and fifty
years before.

“Now that’s good news,”
said Betty, her frown deepening.  “Why couldn’t it be someone somewhat
incompetent, like the Fenri.”

Len nodded his head in
agreement.  Both Empires were about the same size, half that of the human
Empire.  But the Dinosauroid Crakista were much better at the game of war than
the Ursoid Fenri.  The Fenri fought from passion and anger, while the Crakista
were cold, calculating opponents.

“When it rains it
pours,” said Len, blowing out smoke with his words.  “And it’s sure pouring
now.”

“You think the lizards
will that much of a problem?” asked Betty, her own grimace showing her distaste
for that life form.

Not that she’s a bigot
, thought the Chief of
Naval Operations.  They all had to deal with various forms of aliens at
official embassy functions and on deployments.  But some forms just rubbed
people wrong.  With Mishori it was insectoids, and with Betty lizard forms,
even though the Crakista were not lizards, and were not even dinosaurs.  They
just favored those beasts more than any other in the Terran bestiary.

“Oh, I think we’ll beat
them again,” said Len, knocking the ash out of his pipe and starting to clean
it.  “I would like to just go ahead and beat them till they’re down, no matter
the policy of the Empire of not becoming a conqueror.  Because they just keep
coming back for more.  But this might not be the best time to have to deal with
them again.”

“You think they might
be in an alliance with our long lost friends?” asked the Grand Marshal, pulling
a cigarette out of his pack and lighting up.

“Why must you
disgusting men burn those weeds in here?” asked the Commandant, wrinkling her
nose.

“Because we can,”
answered both men in unison.  Everyone broke out in a short laugh.

“And isn’t it funny how
no one wants to say their names,” said Betty, fanning the smoke away from her
face before the room fans kicked in and pulled it away.  “They’re called Ca’cadasans.”

“If that’s what they
are,” said Len, knowing she spoke the truth.

“And who else might be
running around in our space in Hyper VII ships?” said the woman, glaring at the
CNO.

“Could be lots of
folks,” said Len with a frown, shaking his head, then holding up a hand when he
saw the angry look in Betty’s eyes.  “I know.  I think it’s them as well.  Just
like Augustine.  I’m just pointing out that we don’t know for sure.”

“But we’re likely to
find out in the near future,” said Mishori, and all nodded their heads in
agreement.

“Last issue on the
agenda is Bolthole,” said Len, keeping his voice low and feeling foolish when
he recognized what he was doing in the totally secure room. 
But it is one
of the most highly kept secrets in the Empire
, he thought.  Everyone in
this room knew about it, including the location.  That was true for less than a
dozen people outside the operation itself, and most of the crew that flew
between the Empire and the Bolthole system were deep conditioned to not even
remember the coordinates when they weren’t actually navigating to the system.

“And how is our secret
military system doing?” asked Betty, the frown leaving her face.

“So far according to
plan,” said Len, pulling up the information on his internal memory, reading the
encrypted files in his head.  “The main base is coming in ahead of schedule,
though the planetary terraforming project is slightly behind schedule. 
But
it’s the base that matters, if we’re going to get the system's industrial
potential up to producing fleets of ships.  The planet is just for support of
the industrial component, R and R and fresh food and such.

“So how long before we
start seeing warships coming in from free space?” asked Mishori, blowing out a
cloud of smoke as he spoke.

“Probably not for a
couple of years yet,” confided the Admiral.  “But it will happen.”

Len sat there for a
second to let everyone digest what they had just said while he thought about
the base, which had originally been the idea of the Emperor.  An industrial
system that could produce everything needed by the Fleet, including antimatter,
it was thought to be unassailable by any current enemy, since its location
outside of Imperial Space was completely unknown.  That sector of space was not
the claim of a polity, though Exploration Command ships were busily cataloging
the sector for future exploitation.

“That is always a
possible refuge if we can’t contain the Ca’cas here,” said Mishori.

“And for what,” said
Betty in an angry tone.  “So we can wait for them to move on to that sector,
discover Bolthole, and wipe us out just like before.”

“I think what she’s
saying Mishori, is that Bolthole is not the final refuge,” said Len with a nod to
Betty.  “Neither is the Other Universe Project, or the expedition to the
Magellanic Clouds.”

“There is no fucking
refuge,” said Betty Parker, her face reddening.  “Don’t you get that?  The
whole idea of building this Empire, of expanding as quickly as we have, was to
be able to fight the Ca’cas on our own ground when they finally showed their
ugly faces.  They can’t be that much more advanced than we are, not any more. 
And if they are, surely we will be able to catch up this time around.  I know
that my Marines will give their all to fight them, as will the Fleet and the
Army.  Hopefully that will be enough.  But if it isn’t I know this Marine will
go down fighting.  I wasn’t born to run away from my home when it’s
threatened.”

“Fair enough,” said
Len, glancing over at Mishori.  “I know that I’m not going to run either.  But
the choice of the human race sending out seeds again is not with me.  Thank God
it’s not with me.”

The other two nodded
their head in agreement with that.

*     *     *

Sean sat in the command
chair of a flag bridge, looking into a huge holo tank that showed an entire
system.  Green arrows indicated that there was a very large fleet around the
battleship that Sean knew he was on.  The flagship of that fleet.  And the
number of red arrows at the other end of the system showed they were facing an
opposing fleet of equal if not superior size.

Sean looked around the
bridge at the dozens of officers and crew that were working at their stations. 
He could see and feel the tension on them, but when they looked his way they
seemed to derive a sense of calm from him, and went back to work with
determination.  That was one of the things that told him this had to be a
dream, the people having such confidence in him as their commander. 

Sean’s view shifted
outside of his body and he was looking at himself, his face a mask of
concentrated thought as he looked back into the holo.  A viewer sprung up in
holo next to his seat, and he saw the face of the CNO of the Fleet, Grand High Admiral
Lenkoswki, speaking to him with respect on his face.  And then Sean noticed his
own face.  It was not the face he wore now.  It was an older face, not much
older than now, but lined with thought and worry.