Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (2 page)

CHAPTER ONE

"I've… seen things you people wouldn't believe; attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion; I've watched C-Beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those… moments… will be lost…in time, like tears… in rain."

-
Rutger Hauer as replicant Roy Batty

Ridley Scott's
Blade Runner
(1982)

Raptor
Apache

Hyperspace Transit Vector

Aris Sector, Imperial Occupied Space

Major Jana Cromwell, Commanding

"Jana, I was going to ask you, are you familiar with the traditions and customs of all the allied races?" Major Rathbone asked via the comm.

"Just the major ones, Rat, I'm still studying a few of the minor ones," she shrugged. "After what happened at Rataac I felt it would be smart to know the customs of those we might be working with," she replied referring to the incident with the Admiral in command of the Rataac Sector attack fleet.

"That just seems an impossible task to me. There are so many different customs and traditions, I'd get them confused," Rathbone replied.

"It helps that a good portion of the customs and traditions are shared between multiple races," Jana replied.

"That just seems odd to me. They adopted the customs of their enemies?" Major Thomas of the Raptor
Gotham
said.

"These folks have known each other for thousands of years. Almost all of them are former enemies of each other. When the Caldarians almost wiped out the Talosians, the five most powerful of them had already banded together to deal with the Caldarian threat. Once the Caldarians had been dealt with, civilian exploration was allowed to begin, and the new Alliance simply stayed together and began working things out with words instead of guns. More races joined up, one of them was a new race discovered by the explorers. Then, a mission was sent to a nearby dwarf galaxy where they encountered the Empire.

"As far as we know, the explorers were killed and the ship dissected to discover where it came from. A couple of years later, the first Imperial battle fleet arrived. By the time the Alliance knew of the threat, they had already established bases here and amassed a considerable force. When the Empire attacked, many believed the Alliance would fall because of losses incurred early on.

"Now, all the races in this half of the galaxy are members of the Alliance of Races, and the other half of the galaxy is controlled by the Empire," Jana finished.

"What does that have to do with why they share customs?" Thomas asked.

Jana grinned. "Think about this; your enemy takes two of your planets. A few years later, you retake those planets and capture three of his. You go back and forth like this for a couple hundred years; what do you think is happening on those worlds that keep changing hands? The cultures are blending, traditions, and customs become a mix of the two warring nations. Since the worlds that change hands are not always the same ones, the effect spreads. After a few centuries, the two societies end up sharing customs and traditions."

"I never thought of that. Does that effect eventually stop the hostilities then?" Thomas asked.

"Maybe in some cases it does, but the two races are still different, and the original purpose for the war still exists: territory, minerals, or resources may still be contested over," Jana said.

“It makes me wonder what we'll see once we begin taking back worlds that have been captured," Rathbone replied. "Will we see this cultural effect on the worlds that used to belong to the Alliance?"

"It’s hard to say," Jana replied. "From what we know, the beings on captured worlds are treated more like slaves than citizens. They may very well adopt what they observe as the customs of the Empire, simply because they have forgotten their own. Remember, there are some worlds that have been in Imperial hands a long time, such as the one we are headed to right now. It may very well be that the civilians may be citizens of the Empire now."

"Nor does it have a rebel faction that we know of. While they are still civilians, we must also consider them to be 'hostile' civilians in that if we are seen, they will report us immediately," Rathbone added. "They most likely will not attack us themselves, but they will not do us any favors either."

"We will have to be careful; we must also remember that if they do attack or act against us, they are not our targets. The actions on Grimaria are the
distraction
, not the
mission
. No matter what happens there, we must always remember that," Jana said.

"I still have difficulty believing that in all the centuries this war has been going on, the Alliance has never retaken a single bloody world. There is just something very wrong with that picture." Major Carl Mountbatten of Raptor
Dynasty
said.

"I heard that Admiral Williams is going to be changing that. He's going to retake one of the farming," Jana said.

Carl snorted. "With the way the Empire is flinging their forces about the galaxy, I'd think such an attack would draw their attention. He'd just get started and the Empire would drop a hundred ships on him from those bloody rings!"

"You know, that might be a way to counter what they're doing. If the Alliance could attack multiple worlds at the same time, it might force these assholes to fire off their ships to those worlds and not on terror attacks. Too bad we can't call back and tell them!" Rathbone replied.

"The Admiral is a smart man, I'm sure he'll figure that little angle out, if he hasn't already," Jana said, with complete confidence in her superior.

"Well, either way, we're still a few days from drop out. Has everyone finished their preparations?" Thomas asked.

Jana snorted. "We finished up last week. Have you guys figured out how to collect the dark matter without getting yourselves blown up?"

"Yeah, once we find some, we're going to have to take the containers out and fill them manually. Should prove to be interesting since we can't touch the stuff. Once we capture it, we seal the containers, and simply deliver it to the ships," Rathbone replied.

"Have you figured out how much you’re going to need?" Jana asked.

"Well, the equations we've run tell us we really don't need all that much to destroy the rings, we will need to make sure that a lot of ships get tagged since we don't know who's going to be sent where or when. No, the real problem is going to be finding the stuff to begin with, and once we do, getting it back to where it'll do the most good. Honestly, we might have to resort to using big anti-matter firecrackers." Thomas replied. "Alfred says the closest place we should be able to find dark matter is on the far side of the nebula over a light year away. Since we can't take it through hyperspace, that's a problem. Alfred and Circe will begin scanning for anything closer once we drop out," He finished; naming the
Gothem
AI Alfred, and
Ithaca
AI Circe. "The stuff just doesn't like to congregate near anything else of mass."

"Let's just wait and see what the AI come up with. If we have to use the A-M Demo charges, it raises our odds of detection by an order of magnitude," Jana replied. "But, if that's all we got, then that’s it." 

Alliance of Races Command

Council Chamber

ARC Main Campus

Delle Morsi System, Almaas Sector

"Councilors, I understand your desire to protect your people and demand that ARC Command station fleets in order to protect your worlds. On the surface, that is the only way to defend against the tactics the Empire is now using. But this would be a horrible mistake that would give the Empire total victory in this war within a year," Ian said. "Please, let me show you what will happen if you order this."

He turned and gestured to the large hologram now being displayed behind and above him. It showed the current layout of nations in their half of the galaxy. "If you order the fragmentation of our fleets, and assign them to protect your core worlds, this is what it will look like. Now, because of the distances involved, you really can’t see much, so let's begin with the Gronian Protectorate as they are one of the nation’s closest to Imperial space."

The display zoomed into the Gronian territory, and showed several star systems spread out over dozens of light years. By each of the major planets, an icon representing the forces deployed took form. "Here you can see that ARC forces have been assigned to assist the Gronian defensive fleets. Because the Empire can attack virtually anywhere, only a few ships could be assigned here as the rest are spread out all over the Alliance protecting the other worlds. In the end, only eight ships, three heavies and five lighter ships would be sent here to help. Now, before you say anything about that, consider that you wanted the fleets sent out to defend all the core worlds. None of the other worlds get much more than this either. But now, the Alliance fleets instead of being together to defend each other, are now spread out over thousands of light years." As the image zoomed back out to show the entire Alliance, Ian continued.

"AI Freya, please randomly select any Alliance core world."

"Alharis Four, Capitol world of the Hurian Federation," the AI replied and zoomed into that system. "Population nineteen billion, this Alharis system also contains six major mining operations and eight non-planetary civilian research facilities. It has two ship building facilities, only one of which is capable of producing warships. After Alliance fleet dissolution, this system will be protected by one hundred and sixteen warships and two armored divisions."

"A strong force to be sure. Assuming the Empire also knows this, what is their most probable response based on observed tactics to date?" Ian asked.

As the AI replied, she animated the display to reflect her words. "While the Imperial transport device or devices are still in operation, it is most likely they will arrive at this system with no less than two, but the more likely scenario is four Imperial battle fleets. They will want an overwhelming force to ensure the fight ends quickly and decisively to demoralize the rest of the Alliance.

"As they enter the system, they will destroy all outlying facilities while driving directly toward the defending fleet." She sped up the display but the Councilors could still see the destruction of the mining bases and outer system research facilities. She slowed it back down as the two fleets closed.

"The amount of fire power sent by the Empire makes this fight a forgone conclusion. However, I am certain our forces would do their best." She once again sped up the display, showing the resulting battle at high speed. She set it back to normal once the last three ships of the fleet were destroyed. "The battle lasted eight hours, nineteen minutes. All main defensive units have been destroyed." She sped up again to show the fleet approaching the planet. As they took position in a high altitude assault orbit. She returned it to normal. "Planetary bombardment commences ten hours fourteen minutes after arrival. If a distress call were issued when the Imperial fleet arrived in system, there is still nine days before any assistance can arrive from the closest point. In this attack scenario, the Imperial fleet would leave this system in two days. Six to ten percent of the population will have survived. However, the planet is ecologically ruined. All unshielded food and water sources are now contaminated. Another sixty-five percent of the survivors will be fatally poisoned before help can arrive. Twenty percent will fall victim to the elements. By the time assistance arrives and is given to the survivors, only eight million beings will remain."

Ian took over then. "Councilors, this is not a 'worst-case' scenario; this is the most probable one. But even beyond this, is the fact that every single warship of every single member nation here will be destroyed, and we will still lose our people by the billions. As cold hearted as this sounds, if you order our fleets to defend our core worlds, you will only be making it easier for the Empire to destroy them while they still murder our people.

"We have taken steps to find and destroy the device the Empire is using to move their ships. But there is one thing I need you all to understand; the tactics they are using are specifically designed to do exactly what you see happening now. It is designed to create panic and foment terror on a large scale. I’ll admit it is very effective. Part of that is to make you, our leaders, make the wrong decisions based on the panic and fear inspired during these attacks. You must not let that happen.

"Until this mysterious device is located and destroyed, there is very little we can do to prevent these attacks. You will notice I did not say there is
nothing
we can do, because there are things we can do. But it will require that the Alliance fleets be available to perform their part and not get destroyed piecemeal by the Empire. Councilors, I am not suggesting we ignore these attacks; no, we have to respond as protectors of our people.

"We Terrans may be very new to this Alliance. I acknowledge we are also a very minor member as well. We may not understand any animosities you each may have had for one another in the past. But there is one truth we are absolutely sure of; the time for nationalism is over. It is time we forgive grievances, forget debts, and reach out to each other. We need to work together now, more than ever before. If we do not come together fully, work with each other to the best of our abilities to do so, this enemy will roll over us and all that we are and have ever been will be as tears in the rain.

"To that end, we of Terra will be expanding our facilities to build ships for all races. Although it will be done with care and in a controlled manner to preserve security, we will be releasing our technology to you and offering training in its use.