Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (27 page)

Shalo saw a priest enter the image. "Majesty, you are not well, come, let us attend you."

The Emperor nodded, but pushed the priest aside so he could see Shalo. "Shalo, you are our Marshall there. You will be our protector. You will find these humans, find them, kill them on their planets and in their stations and ships. Then use whatever you need to erase their existence from the universe! There can be no chance at all of their survival! This is the highest priority! Above all else, the Empire must survive!"

Shalo saw one of the priests inject the Emperor with something, and he slowly collapsed into himself. As if using the rest of his strength, he looked up at Shalo. "Not even dust can remain, Shalo. If it does, we will die."

The Priests lifted the unconscious Emperor from his throne and carried him out of the pickup area. A very wizened, senior Priest, one of the Elders, remained and was studying Shalo.

"Lord Shalo, I am told you have honest concern for his Majesty. That is rare in this day. I do not need to tell you; he is still recovering from his ordeal with the gods."

Shalo nodded. "I can see that, Revered Elder, will he be alright?"

The Elder was still studying him. "It is still early, but all indications tell us he will eventually return fully to us. However, the ordeal has left him… changed."

"I will continue to offer prayers for his recovery Elder. Is there more I can do to aide him?" Shalo asked.

"Continue as you have. He picked you for the position you now hold for a very good reason; reasons we are only now beginning to understand ourselves.  The message our Lord Emperor has brought to us is becoming more clear now. To that end, we are sending Inquisitor Daneel and the remainder of the Circadian Guard to you. Once you find one of the human worlds, they will sterilize it for you prior to its destruction.

"I feel I do not need to caution you in this. However, I will remind you that humans are very important to us. The fact that these… demons are also human is not lost on us. Be very certain of the targets you give to the Guards; we cannot afford to lose a productive world to a mistake," the Elder explained.

"I understand, Elder. When a target is selected, there will be no mistake," Shalo replied.

The Elder nodded. "Very well. The Guard will depart in six days. I am led to understand you will also be receiving a great many supplies. The gates will be in open operation for extended periods of time, be sure these new humans do not detect them. These gates cannot be destroyed; do you understand, Lord Shalo?"

"I do, Honored Elder."

The Elder nodded more to himself than to Shalo. "May the Gods guide your path, temper your heart, and keep you from harm, Lord Shalo. Until we speak again." The image near the throne faded and was gone.

"Glamia, give me a map of this world," Shalo ordered.

She immediately complied and a holographic globe of the planet took form in the air before Shalo's desk. He studied it for a few moments before he stopped its slow rotation. "Here, this place," He selected a large, fairly isolated island in the southern hemisphere. "Have this entire island evacuated immediately. Be sure no one remains and place a thousand click quarantine around it. No one is to go anywhere near this island nor will they pass over it lower than a thousand K. When the Guards arrive, send them there."

"Yes Master," she replied and began entering the orders into the terminal.

Shalo manually had the image he was studying zoom out so he could see an exaggerated view of the entire system, including the two massive gates in deep space just outside of the system boundary. "Order four additional battle fleets to return here immediately. I will give you their final disposition before they arrive. Order the rest of the fleets to maintain a defensive posture and to continue repairs where needed." He paused. "Order all fleets and battle groups to dispatch two light cruisers apiece to form up at Grimaria. That group will then join the search for the human world."

"It will be done Master. You received a report from the spies at Delle Morsi this morning. It now available for you to review at your convenience," Glamia replied.

"Oh? Are they trying to redeem themselves?" Shalo asked.

"I do not know my Master, but they have managed to gain some information regarding the new humans. As you know, we have not yet been able to stage the raid to place the new spies, however, they are ready and have been sent to Grimaria pending approval of the operation to insert them," Glamia explained.

Shalo returned to his desk and opened the report from the spies. He lifted one bushy eyebrow when an image was also opened. He read the information and then pondered the image of the young human in it.

"So, Admiral Ian Williams, it is good to meet you." Shalo said to himself and smiled.

CHAPTER TWELVE

United Nations Building

New York City, Earth

Sol System, Sol Sector

Ian wanted to take a short vacation on Earth at one of the American ski resorts. Arrangements had taken a great deal of time because the United States still refused to see the Terrans as their own country. The Council did have an Ambassador at the United Nations, but the United States had refused to accept one.

The Ambassador had been working on arranging visitation rights for the citizens of Terra and there had been a few countries that had agreed; mostly European and South American countries. However, none of the 'major' countries had yet to agree. The United States refused to allow armed guards for visiting dignitaries in any form; stating they were perfectly capable of providing protection for the dignitaries themselves. Due to pressure from the UN they did finally agree to allow guards provided they did not carry lethal weaponry.

There were other issues as well. The United States would have to recognize 'Terra' as a separate and sovereign nation; something they had been resisting since they still believed that they could capture some of the advanced technology held by the Terrans. By recognizing them as a sovereign nation, it would complicate their attempts. The United States would also have to allow Terran craft general access to American airspace. Exceptions had been made to allow for UN visits as well as civilian and commercial access to Spaceport America, but this was a different matter to them. Finally, there was the issue of diplomatic courtesy and immunity.

In order to get the treaty worked out, the Terran Council would have to allow visitation as well, but they had been allowing that already on a case by case basis. However, the United States wanted other concessions as well; they wanted detailed reports of the comings and goings of all ships in the system, a full and complete listing of all weapons systems available to the Terrans up to and including a listing of all warships and any other defensive systems currently deployed in the system. They also demanded a listing of all personnel including age, race and place of origin.

The Terran Ambassador laughed at the list of demands when he read them and shook his head. He looked at the frowning American Ambassador. "You're out of your mind. Look, we are willing to allow that any guards accompanying visiting dignitaries will carry only non-lethal weaponry. We are also making the effort to ask for your permission for our personnel to visit your nation. We are making an effort to at least try to normalize relations with the countries of this planet. What you seem to be overlooking is that this is a formality we are extending to you as a matter of courtesy. At present, we are recruiting from every nation on this planet regardless of diplomatic relations. How do you suppose those people are retrieved?

"Ambassador, the United States has no more right to our confidential information than any other nation has to yours or each other’s. You cannot use the excuse of our being a threat to your nation as it has already been proven that we have no interest in making war on this planet or any of the peoples here. We have enough problems with the fucking Empire!"

"Yeah, so what will happen when the war with this Empire comes to this planet? We have a right to know what you are doing to defend us? We also have the right to have an active say in how that is accomplished. To that end we demand to know what weapons you have available to you and how they are deployed. You have taken it upon yourselves to force your guardianship on us and then refuse to give us a say in your actions. That is unacceptable; we have the right to know what you have done in our defense," the American Ambassador countered. "We have the right to know what the hell is going on out there!"

The concern was a valid one, so the Ambassador spoke to the Terran Council and got permission for a new information sharing policy. The Terran Ambassador asked for and received permission to address the Council.

"Ambassadors, I have been given permission to share news of Galactic events with you. In order to set the stage for that, I will explain our current position in that political environment.

"We are allied with the Alliance of Races, which is the force defending this half of the galaxy against the forces of the Empire. This Alliance is comprised of every still free, space-faring race in the Galaxy. That would include the Talosian Alliance, whose representatives you have already met. As well as the other 'human' race called Benesians that are, spatially speaking, our closest neighbors." He briefly explained the structure of the Alliance of Races and how the Council worked.

"I would also mention that the Alliance has never made so much as a mild insult to us. You are unaware of the political situation in this regard, but it is such that we have entered into a mutual defense and technology sharing treaty with this body. Simply put Ambassadors, we have nothing to fear from them at all; now or in the future.

"You have all met and spoken to the Talosian delegates that visited here some time ago. Shortly after their visit, criminal elements in the government of that nation stages a coup to over-throw the government. An event that had never happened to them before. Part of their military doctrine, and because of the power of their warships, they had a self-destruct protocol programmed into the ships to prevent them from ever being used in this manner. The result was the almost complete destruction of their entire defensive fleets.

At present, we are building a replacement fleet for that nation using the latest technology at our disposal. We are also refitting or building new ships for the other races of the Alliance of Races. When complete, the facilities here will be the largest, most complete ship building complex in the Galaxy. Because of that, we are also one of the most secret and closest guarded secrets the Alliance of Races have. We are aware that by assuming this role in the Alliance, we have placed a very large target on ourselves." He paused to gather his thoughts. "By doing so, we have become very important to the Alliance. While we are, by far, the smallest of the member races, we are currently one of the most important, trusted, and respected members.

"Recently, Admiral Williams led an Alliance force in the liberation of a captured Talosian World. The event, while highly important as well as successful, was a diversion. The real target was a facility deep in Imperial space that they had been using for terror attacks on non-military Alliance worlds." He went on to explain the non-classified parts of the missions. He finished with one last comment. "Ambassadors, there are two things you need to understand about these events; While both missions were authorized by the Alliance of Races, the liberation of the planet Hyperion was the first time in the history of this war that the Alliance has been able to retake a world from the Empire, and that the mission in Imperial space was accomplished by our Terran forces alone."

"Ambassador, might we at least have some of our own military men with your forces as observers?" the Israeli Ambassador asked.

The Terran Ambassador smiled. "How many more do you want?"

"Excuse me? I was unaware we had any people with your forces," the woman replied.

"Rear Admiral Joshua Hawkins who is now serving as a Commodore in charge of the Pleiades Stations in the Centauri System. Major General Vladimir Zolninisk who is now serving as the overall commander of Marine training on the planet Atlas in the Centauri System. Rav seren Aviel Ancel formerly of the Israeli Mussad who is now second in command of the Terran Intelligence division, should I go on?" the Ambassador replied. "Ambassadors, there are people who you know and trust already working with us. I will grant you that none of them will be willing to pass on classified information to you, but have you even bothered to call and ask them their opinions?"

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Hover Tank training area

Rostov United Arms Military Base (RUAM)

Northern Continent

Atlas, Centauri system

Sol Sector

"It's good to see you all again, Doctors! How have you been?" Alan said, grinning at his friends.

Doctor Schmidt smiled back at him. "We have been doing much better. I would thank you for the suggestions you made to correct the flaws in the system. Honestly, we were at a loss for how to proceed."

Tom rolled his eyes. "Actually, I was thinking adding a skip plate of sorts to cover the rear, but that would have limited the unit's ability to move like a human. Your suggestion of using a hard force shield was perfect."

Alan just shook his head. "You guys would have gotten there without me, I just happen to think of it first. I saw in the project notes that the balance, stability, and endurance issues have also been corrected. Does that mean you are ready to see if these are ready?"

"Ja," Doctor Schmidt nodded vigorously. "We believe we have covered our bases this time. However, we insist that the units be retested fully before sending them back to the production facility."

Alan nodded and looked around. "Tom, forgive me, but I don't see Olivia? Is everything alright?"