Homeworld: A Military Science Fiction Novel (8 page)

Ambassador Fal began to rise from his seat to challenge Langston but Xarn gently laid a hand on his shoulder, Fal settled back in his seat and subtly nodded at Xarn. Over the years, the two had developed a partnership of sorts. At times, it was better to have another say what you wanted to say so that it didn’t seem like a direct provocation from the parties involved in conflict. The warfare of words was a complicated maze and at times, it could even satisfy Xarn’s desires for actual combat.

Therefore, Xarn spoke in Ambassador Fal’s place. "While I am sure the valiant men and women of the Coalition fleet are due their congratulations, Ambassador Langston, I am not sure why these unfolding events give cause to summon us all here.

This civil war is a human affair. To my knowledge, none of the other sentient races has involved themselves. Surely if this is all you to say then it could have been said in private conference between yourself and the Earth Republic Ambassador.

Have you come here to do more than gloat over the blood of your own species that you have spilled?" Xarn said all this in a calm leisurely voice showing the Executive Officer his best smile which really did show his sharp pointed teeth nicely.

Langston returned a less impressive predatory grin and answered, "I have called you all here for one reason, First Partas Xarn, so you may all bear witness to the Earth Republic’s surrender to the Coalition."

"The Earth Republic will never surrender to you," Fal spat, his closed fist slamming on the table in front of him. He raised one hand and pointed at the Executive Office. "You arrogant ass, you come into this council like a precocious child and make such an absurd statement. How dare you..."

Langston burst into amused laughter while waving one hand as if trying to brush away an irritating insect, cutting off Fal's protest. He spoke in a powerful voice opening his hands in a gesture of welcome and leaning back in his chair.

"Come now, Ambassador, everyone in this room knows that the Earth Republic can't recall enough of her precious fleet in time to stop our assault. I am simply offering you a chance to spare your civilian populace the massive bloodshed and misery of years of brutal military occupation. Cleary, with this revelation of the events transpiring, you must choose the path of wisdom and accept our terms for an offer of peace." Langston’s tone was derisive, as if he was explaining something to a rather simple child

There was a gentle rumbling that could be felt throughout the room as the Ra-tid Battle Lord broke in. "Juma agrees with Xarn," the Ra-tid's translator croaked in hollow, tinny, computerized voice. "Nothing decided yet. This is a waste of time."

Langston flourished his hands like a poker player revealing a winning hand. "But is it, my esteemed Battle Lord? Is it indeed, sir?" Langston asked. "Even if, and that is a very large if, gentlemen, our armada fails in their objectives, we all know full well that the planet Earth will still be left battered and broken."

Xarn stroked at the fur on his chin. He was beginning to understand the real reason of Langston's intention for this meeting. Humans were a soft lot in general, and this was Langston's way of reminding Fal that there were worse things than a Coalition fleet in orbit, most notably, a Ra-tid battle group dropping stone shock troops into their cities.

Fal straightened in his chair and squared back his shoulders. Xarn knew the Earth Republic ambassador tried to hide it, but the weight of Langston's words had struck him deep, and the usually unshakeable man turned pale and look down at his hands clasped in front of him for a moment.

"Assuming any aspect of the Earth Republic government even survives our attempt to reclaim our home world and whatever follows after." Langston smiled at Battle Lord Juma. "It will be left far too damaged to launch any form of a counter-attack. Within a year, it will fall to our next armada or the one there after. It will only be a matter of time my esteemed fellows. I ask you, Ambassador Fal, to reconsider my offer and dwell upon it as I am sure our honored brethren here are most certainly doing. In closing gentlemen, Earth has two days to surrender or we will take this planet by force of arms."

Without awaiting further comment from the gathered dignitaries, Executive Officer Langston stood and slung his cape onto his shoulders like a well-practiced matador and stormed from the room, leaving Xarn and the others to their thoughts.

Xarn glanced at Senior Fellow Milar of the Genar. He had said not a word throughout the entire, if brief, conference. This was very unlike him. He typically had a question for clarification or he would point out a logical fallacy in the argument of one of the representatives. This time, he had just stood and blinked on occasion, which was the only indication he wasn’t a wax figure of some kind. Milar suddenly turned his neck, returned Xarn’s gaze, and blinked twice. “What were the Genar’s planning?" Xarn wondered silently.

Unwelcome Visitors

Captain Burton Wolfe, head of the Mars Defense Forces, found himself in the unenviable position of Supreme Commander of the Earth Republic Fleet rallying around his world. Compared to the size of the inbound Coalition fleet, they were a pitifully small little group. He knew it. His crew knew it and every member of his fleet knew it but here they waited and prepared for the coming onslaught.

As head of the Mars Defense Forces Burton Wolfe was not only the commanding officer of the Terra II Battle Fortress but also had full operational control over the planetary defenses answering only to the Provincial Governor of Mars and the President of the Earth Republic. If he was planetside they would call him Supreme Commander of the Mars Defense Forces but up here on the Terra II it was simply Captain Wolfe and he preferred it that way.

His ship, the Terra II, was permanently stationed in Mars orbit just as each of the colonies of the Earth Republic once had a Battle Fortress stationed around them. Sadly, many of them had moved to the beyond, as this bloody civil war with the Coalition dragged on, their fighting days were done.

The Captain ran his fingers through what remained of his graying hair and rubbed at his eyes vigorously. He had been awake for the past forty-three hours trying to ensure that everything was in good preparation both below on the planet and here in high orbit.

Over the past few days, he had been mostly planet side. He needed to know that the planet’s defenses were fully operational because he knew damn well that he wouldn’t be able to protect the citizens of the Republic from up here in the cold dark of space.

As Wolfe stared at the Virtual Array of his bridge, which was currently showing the slow turning red planet below, his saw a very faint flickering of blue sparkle near the edge of the planet’s atmosphere.

He had to argue with the ship’s physician about giving him a stimulant as the Doc didn’t think that his sixty three year old heart could take the strain due to the added stress of the coming conflict.

The winning argument had gone something like, “Damn it, Doc, I’m needed on the bridge! Chances are I’ll die today anyway, so give me the fragging stimulants so I can do the job that needs to get done before that happens!”

Wolfe smiled as he remembered the Doc had pointed to a loaded stem injector resting on a tray nearby and said, “According to the Fleet Code of Medical Ethics, I cannot administer the injection, Captain Wolfe. I sincerely apologize.”

Wolfe was about to show him just how much strain his heart could take when instead he started grinning when the Doc turned his back and said, “I’m sorry to report, Captain, that due to my negligence an injector full of stimulants has gone missing from the infirmary.” The old saw bones was a good man after all.

“Don’t worry about it, Doc. I’m sure in the ruckus we are about to get ourselves into it was inadvertently destroyed,” Wolfe said with a genuine smile of relief as the Physician quickly turned and administered the stimulant.

“If it counts for anything, I hope we both get through this alive and that I haven’t just killed you, Captain. You are a good man and it’s been an honor to serve on your ship,” the physician said in that perfunctory way they have when doctors tell you how to take care of a minor wound. Feeling immediately refreshed, Captain Wolfe snapped to attention and gave the Doc a formal salute and grunted, “Don’t worry, Doc, I took care of that by agreeing to fight this battle.” Wolfe gave the physician a wink and a smile and hurried out of the infirmary.

The Hawkins, the Wayne, and the Terra II were the only true battleships in the assembled battle group. The Hawkins was an old Fracassare Class Battle Fortress that had already seen one skirmish with the Coalition and had Nulled into Mars space for repairs. She needed more repairs than they had time to give her, but at least she was fully armed and armored.

The Wayne and the Terra II were both the newer model Penetrator Battle Fortress. There may not have been much difference in appearance, with the exception of two small forward facing obelisks on the front of the main hull of the Penetrators, but there was a pretty big difference in the amount of damage they could give and take.

The rest of the fleet was composed of slightly over three dozen Battle Cruisers and an equal number of almost ancient Frigates that had mainly been used for troop transports, into peaceful zones, and mobile medical centers these past few decades but they would see battle again today!

Captain Wolfe remembered reassigning many crewmembers from different ships to ensure that the Frigates would at least have decent combat Helmsman and Weapons Control officers. There was much grumbling among the Captains of this small fleet about losing promising officers to different postings but Wolfe had thought it necessary and he unfortunately, he thought at times, was in command.

The last reports on the Coalition fleet claimed there were several Heavy Dreadnaughts, a new Coalition class ship that was almost twice the size of the Earth Republic Fleet’s Battle Cruisers and which little was known about other than it had the capability to deploy independent one man fighter craft.

These one-man tin cans had a tremendous edge in maneuverability over larger class ships due to having significantly less mass but as for armor, it was pretty much the flight suit you wore when you strapped into your metal coffin so you had better not take any hits. Wolfe begrudgingly admired the bravery of such pilots even if they were the enemy. The risk to the pilot’s life is why the Earth Republic Fleet had stopped using them nearly five decades ago. Plus with the increased speed of the Ceramics that they Republic had developed then no longer made them necessary.

To add to the plethora of reports from the vids that had crossed his desk bearing good news Wolfe had also learned that the Coalition Armada was bringing along seven of their own Battle Fortresses and just to ensure that the job got done there was a small fleet of troop carriers and support cruisers coming along for the ride.

All told, they were more than enough to tear through his ramshackle battle group without even bothering to consider their support vessels. EFCOMM knew all too well that, stopping the enemy at Mars was impossible with the resources available at this time. He had received an order with the Earth Republic President’s own vericode that he was to Inflict as much damage as his ships could, targeting the Coalition’s transport and carrier ships. Then he was ordered to Null his fleet out when the situation became untenable and regroup at Earth.

That order gnawed at Wolfe as if a pack of rabid rats had been released in his innards.

Earth might be the capitol and central world of the Republic, but Wolfe had been born on Mars as had his parents and their parents before them. To abandon his home world like this showed just how weak Earth Republic had truly become. It was an open invitation to the other sentient races in the galaxy to move against the Republic if the Coalition’s attack failed.

Captain Wolfe had his wife, children, and grandchildren evacuated to Earth as soon as he had received word of the coming attack. His willowy wife of forty-one wonderful years, Angela, had simply nodded when he handed her a stack of transport documents and then held him close for a moment before whispering, “I will always love you.” Then he slowly walked out of the room. Unlike his family, however, how many families were too stubborn and tied to the world below or too poor to leave?

The streets would surely run red with the blood of its defenders and residents, and in the end, it would all be for nothing.

If the Coalition couldn’t take Mars and occupy it, Wolfe figured their fleet would reduce most of its surface to radioactive slag from orbit out of nothing more than spite.

He prayed that Mars’ planetary governor would be smart enough to surrender without a fight. The creator knows he had begged his boss Governor Jean Tone to do so often enough in recent cabinet meetings, but somewhere inside Wolfe, there was a deep irrational pride that surrender was highly unlikely. Being the closest of the colonies to home world, Mars’ loyalty to the Republic ran deep.

Besides that though, there was stubbornness about a Martian that was ingrained in them from birth and the soil that sustained them. Most of the folks preparing defenses on the planet far below him would die with empty mags in their rifles and would then throw the rifles at the aggressors. The Coalition was in for a tough ground fight if they wanted it.

Also as far as Captain Wolfe was concerned EFCOOM could court martial or launch him out an airlock if they wanted to. However, he was not going to leave this fight without giving those below a better chance of survival because he believed that if you were loyal to the Earth Republic, well damn it, the Republic should be loyal to you!

Familiar and expected claxons began to sound as the Virtual Array changed its orientation to show the Coalition fleet as it began to emerge from Null Space; Captain Wolfe ordered the Terra II, The Hawkins, and the Wayne forward to give a warm Martian greeting to their Coalition guests.

The Terra II’s forward Leap Frog caressed the hull of the first Coalition Battle Fortress that dared to enter Normal Space fully. The mighty Coalition ship seemed to stagger in space as its hull collapsed on the starboard side and the vented atmosphere spun away from it as the ship went dark and drifted under the forces of inertia. The Republic Battle Cruisers that were following in the Fortresses wake would ensure that it was nothing but debris in moments.

“Don't stop firing until we’ve got nothing left to throw at them!” Wolfe roared at his Weapons Officer as more of the Coalition Armada entered Normal Space.

The next Coalition Battle Fortress to arrive was unable to survive the full Ceramics sweep of the Terra II’s onslaught as the incredibly fast moving projectiles cut deep into the Coalition vessel. The near blinding burst of violet that exploded outwards in all directions could only mean that they made a direct hit on the enemy’s Null Drive.

Captain Wolfe clenched a fist in victory. “We will not leave without bloodying your nose you Coalition bastards! This is MY world.” Wolfe growled softly between clenched teeth.

Captain Wolfe’s Virtual Array informed him that the Wayne and the Hawkins had similar luck against their own initial targets, destroying a second Battle Fortress and leaving a third crippled, its Null Drive damaged and off line, easy prey for the rest of the battle group that followed in the wake of the Republic’s Battle Fortresses.

Captain Wolfe was beginning to have fun with this game. Due to the hyper dimensional physics involved in entering and leaving Null Space there were only certain points in space where it was possible due to gravitational forces. Therefore, since they knew where the enemy would appear, this was rather like shooting fish in a barrel. Granted it was a very large barrel but still a barrel.

Suddenly, the fun stopped as the Coalition’s Super Dreadnaughts dropped out of Null Space into the Mar’s system. Captain Wolfe knew the target practice was over and the real battle had begun. His ships couldn’t match them in a traditional, standup engagement. The Coalition didn’t call them Super Dreadnaughts because they thought it was a pretty name.

Their immense silvered tube-like hulls had a huge orb bulging in the center. They were certainly not pretty to look at but neither were they designed to be as the Republic Fleet soon learned. The firepower these ships could bring to bear was truly terrifying, almost equal to the defense that a planet could mount.

Well, it was terrifying if you were the kind to get scared. Captain Wolfe however was prepared for this very situation. The Terra II led the Wayne and the Hawkins, as planned, through the Coalition battle formation that was quickly taking shape at full thrust.

His surviving Battle Cruisers followed in their wake, breaking off to swarm in and flank two of the nearest Super Dreadnaughts. The Super Dreadnaughts’ defensive systems opened up on them, spraying immense wave after wave of Ceramics into the smaller ships, while their short-range particle beam weapons fragmented or destroyed some of the incoming fire directed at them from the E.R.F. vessels. The Dreadnaughts held their position apparently not viewing the dozens of Battle Cruisers and Frigates surrounding them as anything more than a minor nuisance.

That, and evasive maneuvers were pointless in such a conflict for ships of their immense size. Wolfe watched stone faced as one of his cruisers, its bridge destroyed by two tsunami like waves of Ceramics that had emanated from the mighty Coalition ship, continued forward under sheer momentum and plowed into the rear of the closest of the Super Dreadnaughts.

In a dichotomy of emotions, Captain Wolfe found himself torn between the great loss of the brave crew aboard the battle cruiser, and the victorious celebration of knowing they had taken down a far more valuable target in their passing into the beyond.

Watching the Virtual Array, he hid his emotions behind a shield of granite that he had practiced for many years. As his Battle Cruiser penetrated the aft armor plating of the Dreadnaught, it ruptured the core of its immense Null Drive, causing a chain reaction that tore through the hulls of both ships.

With a blinding violet flash, both ships disappeared in the blink of an eye. All that remained were small scraps of metallic and organic detritus drifting in all directions.

Captain Wolfe stole a glance at the tactical vid on the arm of his command chair. Wolf watched in dismay as the tiny green dots that represented his Battle Cruisers and Frigates were flickering out faster than he could mentally register and track the losses.