Riss Series 4: The Riss Accession (26 page)

<
Fearless
launched eighteen missiles.>

I had to admit
I hadn't expected him to launch all eighteen. That was a lot of missiles flying
around. Something was bound to find the
Mnemosyne
even past the Dummies and through the Duster cloud.

found and destroyed. Ten missiles detonated, exploding within one kilometer of
Fearless
.
Breaches
detected.>

As I had
hoped, missiles exploding that close to
Fearless
was almost as
good
as hits from our missiles.

missiles off course. Three heading for
Mnemosyne
.>

destroyed.>

The ECM was at
least able to track the missiles through the Dragonfly,
but
reaction time
was in fractions of a second. The
Mnemosyne
shook as the two missiles scored direct hits. Battle metal held against one,
but
the
other ripped through the upper level, opening it to space.

Demons when ready and one Duster.>

"Ghosts
reloaded," Byer reported.

"Launch
Ghosts," I said.

Demon launched. One Duster launched.>

Normally,
being this close to a Heavy its lasers would be ripping the hull to pieces, but
as we had learned with the
Medusa
,
the Duster material interfers with the laser beams. They were causing damage,
but
so
far it was relatively minor and intermittent.

Demon hits. Major explosions, several breaches in
hull
.>

<
Fearless
launched twenty fighters.>

Dummies parallel to the
Fearless
'
s
present vector.>

"Byer,
the
Fearless
has launched twenty
fighters. We have two Dummies out."

"Understood.
I wonder how they like Ghosts." He laughed. The slug-fest went on for
another four minutes.
Fearless
launched forty-two missiles during that time, having lost one bank of six early
and another after three minutes. Their last launch was only six missiles. Seven
miraculously found their way to the
Mnemosyne
,
opening several areas of the ship to space, destroying three missile tubes, two
engines, and killing five Riss and ten Ghost and Scorpion personnel. We had
lost five fighters,
but
all
Fearless
'
s
fighters had been destroyed or damaged
beyond operational readiness.

We launched
forty missiles during that period, scoring thirty-seven direct hits, and the
Ghosts had scored another thirty missile hits, all of which had the
Fearless
barely operational.

broadcast to the
Fearless
.>

"
Fearless,
this is the
Mnemosyne
. We are only minutes away from
destroying the
Fearless
but would
rather not kill any more of the brave men and women to satisfy Admiral Salazan's
ego
.
His poor judgment has already cost enough lives, not only here but on Hayjar,
although I'm sure he is already blaming you for his stupidity. Cut your power
and deliver Salazan to us, and you are free to leave." I waited, hoping.
It rose when ten seconds later the normal sixty-second launch did not come. Two
minutes after that,
Fearless
cut her
power.

"Colonel
Seng, prepare to launch a boarding party."

"
Fearless
, we are launching a boarding
party to collect Admiral Salazan. You are under a flag of truce. A resumption
of power will result in your
destruction
."

"
Mnemosyne
. This is Captain
Afzel
speaking. I
agree to your terms. Admiral Salazan was killed in the battle. You are free to
verify he is dead, although we would like to keep the body."

"Agreed,"
I said. "Seng, launch the boarding party. Take Doctor Dayton with
you."

"Doctor
Dayton,"

"Yes,
Captain."

"Please
accompany the boarding team to verify it is Salazan and his cause of death. I'm
forwarding identifying information from his stay on the
Mnemosyne
to your SID."

 
"I'm not used to making house calls.
I'll have to charge double." She gave a short laugh but looked a bit pale.

* * *

Two hours
later, the boarding team had returned. Dayton had verified that it was Salazan,
he was dead, and the cause of death was shards embedded in the back of his
head.

"Captain
Afzel
, you are free
to leave Freeland; however, you may want to talk with Admiral Stenberg, the
officer who arranged for the meeting of the three empires to discuss an Alliance.
Salazan refused to join because they would not agree to make him the supreme
leader. You and the JPU may want to discuss an Alliance. Unlike Salazan,
neither the UFN nor SAS wants to command the other nation’s forces. They are
looking only to share technology and develop a united strategy against the
Aliens. In any event, good luck."

Stealth running. All systems passive.>

vector to the repair station.>

<
two-one-five
by
one-zero-two.>

vector. Half speed engines one, three, and five.>

I rose,
deciding to visit each section. I noticed Terril had left, probably to be part
of the boarding party. I knew the damage from watching the damage monitor, but
I needed to see the people for my sake and theirs. I had been safe in the quiet
of the Bridge while others paid for my decisions—right or wrong.

choice.>

always a choice.>

choice.>

know?>

Riss technology.>

Riss dumb beasts.>

Want kill.>

It didn't
matter, done was done. I toured the Engineering section, where one engine had
been destroyed and two others damaged—and a Riss killed and two injured. I
listened while my Riss-sisters gave me a tour of the damage and explained what
happened. Next, I visited the two missile banks where
two
Riss died.
Then the environmental and repairs units,
which had only minor injuries
. The shuttle
bay had taken two hits and was open to space—
two
Riss killed.

are
so calm, no anger.>

dead sisters. But life goes on. What does anger serve? Killing will not bring
back.>

will bring more killing. But it's in the human genomes.>

"Captain
Reese," Byer said, jerking me back to my surroundings. I had wandered into
one of the Shark
bays
.

"Commander
Byer, how bad?" I asked, looking around. It was obvious the
bay
had sustained
serious damage but was presently functional.

"The good
news is the fighters were out when it took the hit,
and
the bay was
almost empty. Two mechanics and a backup pilot were killed. We lost five Ghosts,
and four have major damage. But considering we took on a super Heavy and twenty
fighters, I say it was a
good
day."

"Yes,
they were magnificent. We would have lost without them."

"After we
get over the loss of friends, it will be a day to be proud of," he
whispered. I continued down the hallway to the Scorpions area.

"Captain
Reese," Colonel Seng greeted me.

"How did
you fair?"

"One
Scorpion killed helping with repairs and several wounded when our areas took a
couple of hits."

"It was
almost really exciting," Terril said as she approached. "When we
entered
Fearless
'
s
bay, twenty-five marines with military-grade weapons were waiting.
One sneeze, and it would have been chaos. But it went smoothly. They had
Salazan laid out ready for inspection. Dayton was allowed to inspect the body
without interruption. No one looked sorry he was dead."

"I don't
imagine he was well-liked by many people. If a battle went well, it was his
genius. If it didn't, like this time, it was someone else's incompetence."

"Probably
the one who shot him
,
" Terril said with a laugh.

"Yes,
I'll wager he will be buried in space, and his death a tragic accident,"
Seng said. "Hard for a missile to make that
kind of
injury."

On the way back
to my office
,
I stopped into the medical unit. Dayton was making the rounds when I found her.

"What's
the status, Doctor Dayton?"

"Far
better than I'd imagined when I found out we were going to take on a Heavy with
our hands tied behind us." She smiled. "But I guess after a
Medusa
, what's a little old Heavy?"

"Dangerous,"
I said.

"To
answer your original question, everyone in here will recover. I may need a few
sessions with a psychologist. I'm not used to examining a body between two
scary looking groups of
commandos
with
very
big
guns."

"I'm
sorry about having to send you. But Salazan couldn't leave Freeland
alive."

"Seeing
as I lived, it was an interesting experience. And it got me out of my
office." She laughed. "As everyone says, following you tends to be
exciting, and I did volunteer."

* * *

To my
surprise, Stenberg and Gebauer were waiting for me when we reached the repair
station. I arranged for some snacks and had them escorted to my office. I was
pouring a cup of tea when they were ushered in.

"Gentlemen,
help yourselves to something to eat or drink. We are just now getting food to
everyone. Our dining facility was heavily damaged," I said, taking one of
the three padded chairs spread out in front of my desk.

Gebauer was
first to speak. "You impressed a lot of people today, Reese. I believe
everyone thought you were buying us time and didn't expect you to survive. And
it did buy us time. Had he won, we would have been ready. We had time to
organize into units with assigned targets and areas of responsibility." He
sipped his kaffa. "But you're not that kind of hero, are you?"

Stenberg
looked to be getting ready to say something, but I shook my head. "No.
Planning to die isn't much of a strategy. Like the Riss, I cherish every life
and feel I've failed when one person dies because of my decisions."

"Then why
didn't you just wait to see what Salazan would do?" Stenberg asked.

"Because
the odds were Salazan would attack, and thousands would have died—humans
and Riss."

"I've
always mourned the loss of friends and comrades-in-arms, but never felt personally
responsible. Maybe you have the right of it, Reese. It's the captain's strategy,
not the crew’s. He or she is responsible." He nodded. "You played
Salazan perfectly,
and
it avoided a
major
battle, possibly even the loss of Freeland.
Senior
Captain Afzel
appears willing to encourage the JPU to consider talks with the Alliance.
Staying visible when you could have used your stealth capability and choosing
not to destroy the
Fearless
won him
over."

"I think
we need to increase the forces on Freeland, now that the JPU know its location
and that it's the manufacturing center for the Riss technology."

"And I
need to begin organizing task forces and leaders,
so
we are better
organized in the event something like this happens again, or a
Medusa
or two shows up." Gebauer snorted.
"Reese, you need to discuss your strategy against the
Fearless
. Maybe develop some exercises around it."

The next two
months were filled with intense training seminars and exercises. The JPU
incident had been a wake-up call. They now knew they hadn't been prepared and
would most likely have lost—badly. They began to realize that
overwhelming force only worked when you commanded the overwhelming force. When
you didn't, you had to fight smart. Gebauer had insisted I give a day-long
seminar of our fight with the
Fearless
.
The
Mnemosyne
had been a clear
demonstration of the effectiveness of the new Riss missiles, Ghost and Symath
technology, and fighting smart. To the participants’ credit, they were
interested and asked probing questions on every aspect of the encounter:

"Why did
you choose to wait before you skipped?"

"Why did
you choose ten kilometers?"

"Why a
Duster after the Demons…?"

I was sure many
still had their prejudices, but it didn't feel personal as it had before. Correspondingly,
the number of requests for Riss certification increased. By the end of two
months, I had certified three cruisers in each of the two task forces Gebauer
had officially organized.

I spent time on
Freeland checking on the status of the Riss projects. On my first visit after
the incident with Salazan, all the elders were present. As usual, Ni'Shay met me
when my shuttle landed.

"Welcome,
Leader Reese. The rumors on Freeland run to both ends of the spectrum. I hope
you don't mind. I've assembled the elders to hear what actually happened, to
the extent you can tell us."

"No,
Ni'Shay. I think that is a good idea. In my experience, rumors can overrule logic
and cause real problems where there are none. "

The ride to the
government building was made in silence. When I entered, everyone stood, and a
young girl brought me kaffa.

"Sit,
please. I forget your communication with what is happening in space is confined
to rumors from people who are relying on rumors," I said to nodding heads
and smiles. "A JPU fleet stumbled upon Freeland while looking for Aliens
and decided it was in JPU space…" I went on to explain in general what had
happened. They were very quiet until I finished.

"Do you
think they will come back… with a larger force?" Ka'Baako asked the
question on everyone's mind.

"No.
Admiral Salazan wanted vengeance against the SAS for not siding with him during
the discussions and was willing to start a war, hoping for
something—maybe a decision out of Eden. If nothing else, capturing Freeland
would give him access to the Riss technology. I don't think the government of
the JPU wants a war with the SAS and the Aliens at the same time. Besides,
Freeland is strategically important to the SAS, so I suspect you will see
increased security before too long. Perhaps, you should start a design project
on what manned and unmanned space security stations would look like. I think
the military might be very interested after the JPU incident."

That started multiple
conversations, which I made no attempt to break up. I managed to pull Rodica aside
and caught up on the Riss projects. The new Riss cruiser was on schedule and
would be ready for trials in less than two months. Assembly had already begun.
And I arranged for repairs to the
Mnemosyne
to begin immediately.

*
* *

"Well,
Commander Iglis, what is the news from Echo and Eden that isn't
classified?" I asked. I had called a combined staff meeting from the
Mnemosyne
and
Elpis
.

"Everything
in intelligence is classified, even if everyone knows it." She smiled.
Iglis was certainly coming into her own since her unofficial promotion and
assignment to the
Mnemosyne
.
"The Echo Alliance continues to locate and destroy
Medusas
with fewer and fewer losses using the Riss technology and
lessons learned. Freeland has become a concern after the JPU incident, and you
will be seeing increased security. I wouldn't be surprised to see a rotation of
qualified task forces between Freeland, Echo, Eden, and eventually other
systems that are considered critical."

"That makes
sense. Even though we are at war, crews are going to need planet-side leave at
some point," Sheva said. I could see the commanders of the humans agreed.

"I've been
considering planet-side leave for Riss-certified crews, but that would be only
a Band Aid. What are your feelings?" I said, looking at Byer and Seng, who
were the senior commanders who’d had crews on a Riss ship the longest.

"The SAS
hasn't been in an extended war in our lifetimes, and so this is one of those
issues were there is no real policy. Everyone assumes when you are at war you
get no leave. But they are not thinking in terms of years of war, more like
border skirmishes, which last a year or less. The SAS needs a policy. The rotation
scheme Commander Iglis mentioned sounds a reasonable solution except for Riss
ships unless they are going to rotate with the task force," Seng said.
"Dong and Freeland would help."

"While I
work on a policy for Dong and Freeland, I'd asked you to put your heads
together and propose a policy for Riss-certified crews. I'm selfish and would
hate to lose any of you for an extended period."

*
* *

Multiple ships exiting the wave. Reported friendly.>

"Looks like
our replacements have arrived," I said. Sheva and I had been in my office
discussing the upcoming weekly exercises Gebauer was proposing.

"What will
my status be?"

"Your
position is Captain of the
Elpis
. If
the
Eirene
is rotating back to
Freeland, the
Mnemosyne
and the
Elpis
will be going to Echo."

"Thank you,
Leader Reese, for the trust you're giving me. I won't let you or the Riss
down."

not make her decision lightly.>

"I have no
doubts, Sheva. You are a good addition to the Riss and the Riss-humans."

*
* *

The
Eirene
was one of the returning cruisers,
and I arranged for a meeting for the next morning.

"We
understand you had an argument with Fleet Admiral Salazan, Leader Reese,"
Pavao said as the four of us settled down in my office. "It was the talk
of the fleet at Echo. Alena and I are dying to hear what really happened. At
least ten different versions are floating around. I think in one, you
accompanied the Scorpions in a raid and shot him."

"Funny
thing about rumors. No matter how distorted they get, they always have an
element of truth," I said.

"You
didn't, did you?" Alena asked in shocked horror.

"No. But he
was shot. Probably by the captain of the
Fearless
.
Here is my version of events..." I started at the beginning when the JPU
fleet appeared and recounted in detail not only what I did but my reasoning at
the time. I believe sharing our experiences and logic benefited us all when the
next confrontation occurred.

"I hope you're
going to be more careful in the future, Nadya. None of us wants your
position," Pavao said after refilling her glass. "Alright, our turn.
The
Minerva
was next in turn and went
to Angel Rock about a month after you left. After Damaass took out the scout.
Two certified cruisers did a skip-attack, The
Medusa
lost power, but not before it launched its eight cruisers.
Damaass spent the day helping to clean up the cruisers. He sustained some
damage, and fifteen were killed... four Riss." Pavao downed half her glass
before speaking again. "The
Maat
replaced the
Minerva,
and Damaass
returned to Dong. About two months later, we accompanied two task forces to
Savage. The task force senior admiral decided on two quick skip-attacks one
right after the other, against my advice based on your encounter at Lycus. He
ignored me, said we were too cautious. They were robots, not SAS officers. Both
cruisers on the second skip-attack were destroyed. Whoever commanded the
Medusa
recognized what we had done and
was ready for the second attack. That close to the
Medusa
, the missiles were almost instantaneous. Alena suggested a stealth
approach and Dummies. Then after the missile launches, a Duster and
skip-attack. It worked well, but of course by then the
Medusa
had launched all of its cruisers, and the task force
suffered a lot of damage. I hung back, engaging only the cruisers closest to
the wave in case one decided to leave. That didn't make that jackass admiral
happy."

"It sounds
like you're happy with Alena's performance."

"Very. In
my opinion, she's ready to command her own ship."

"Alena?"

"I'd like a
couple of more years’ experience... but I'm ready when I'm needed."

"Your new
position is Captain of the..."

"
Themis
, the goddess of divine justice,
order, and customs," Alena said softly.

"
Themis
it is," I replied. "I
leave you and Pavao to see her operational. We may need them all soon."

"Why?"
Sheva asked.

"Because I
don't believe the current strategy will work."

"I
agree," Pavao said. "As does Cethlion."

co-pilot.>

*
* *

The four of us
spent the afternoon with Stenberg, Gebauer, the two task force admirals from
Echo and the two newly appointed task force leaders on Freeland.

"Before I
ask your plans, Leader Reese, let me update you on what I know. The JPU
discovering Freeland and threatening war has Eden in a state of panic. Plimson,
Wattson, and Zhu declared Echo as the Alliance's headquarters and central base
of operations. Freeland and Dong as strategic staging areas. They have decided
to adopt the Riss model and rotate operational task forces between Echo and those
systems established as strategic. Others will be established as time goes on.
For the SAS, Eden will make all assignments. Most will be directed to Freeland
for upgrading and training. From here to Echo and then rotation to Eden,
Freeland, and back to Echo. This ensures an operational task force at each of the
critical systems. It has the added advantage of providing planet-side leave on
Eden, as there is none on Freeland." He paused to take a drink of kaffa.
 
"For the UFN, Daiyu will make all
assignments. The rotation will be from Echo to Daiyu to Dong and back to Echo.
"

"Although I
remain the station commander, Admiral Gebauer is being promoted to Vice Admiral
in charge of operations and responsible for training and creation of new task
forces. Admiral Zann remains responsible for activities on Freeland and station
commander when I'm gone. I hope to start alliance talks with the JPU when they
resolve their political issues around the vacancy created by the death of Fleet
Admiral Salazan."

"Thank you
for the update, and congratulations, Admiral Gebauer, on your well-earned
promotion."

"It's
ironic that my prejudice against you is responsible for my success," he
said with a snort.

"I would
disagree, Admiral. I believe it was your ability to move beyond it, recognize the
problem, and take action to resolve it." I continued before he need
respond. "I've asked Freeland to look into designing an unmanned security
system for your consideration. If you like the idea, it may be useful on Eden.
A new Riss cruiser, the
Themis
, will
be operational within the next month or so. Alena,"--I nodded in her
direction--"will be her Captain."

"Congratulations,
Captain Alena," Stenberg said.

"Congratulations,
Captain Alena. I imagine it has been a long, agonizing journey judging by my
and others’ prejudicial behavior," Gebauer said. "I can't change the
past, but you and the other Riss-humans have my full, unconditional support."

 
"The
Mnemosyne
and the
Elpis
will be leaving tomorrow for Echo... No, the
Elpis
will be heading to Echo. I'm going to Eden."