Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (28 page)

             
"We can use this," Enosal excitedly replied. "If Tovanoras believes Kaldor's bank is ripe for the picking, he will not need to send a large attack force. He will only need to send a fleet big enough to keep your forces at bay while he bankrupts you. He can then move on and attack other worlds, knowing it would only be a matter of time before Kaldor posed no threat to him."

             
"Yes, Sir, but that's exactly what we don't want," Cassie interjected, not yet understanding Enosal's plan.

             
"True, Captain Reed, but if we can wait until the day he attacks to make the necessary changes, it would really throw a wrench in Tovanoras’ plan. He won't have a large enough fleet to invade Kaldor, but with Kaldor's one hundred forty ships and planetary defenses, not to mention if the Hyperian fleet is still in play, he would still need to commit a sizeable fleet to Kaldor. I would say at least two hundred fifty to three hundred ships." He paused and took a slow sip of his Sollonian brandy. "That leaves him approximately four hundred fifty ships to invade Ginderbar. With our planetary defenses and three hundred fifty ships, that will be no easy task, but I would suggest having as many of our allies fleets ready to jump into our system as we can get: Sollonia, Qualoosh, Julan, Valagan, Zelanott and Negowinz. We may even be able to get Honosaur, Tector and Walumar to contribute to our defense. With our three hundred fifty ships and an additional three to four hundred ships to box them in, we could lead Tovanoras into a slaughter. If he goes after Kaldor, we divert some fleet resources to its protection."

             
"If all goes well, Tovanoras will get nothing from us and lose the bulk of his fleet at Ginderbar." Governor Valinor concluded.

             
"If all goes well," Wennagal repeated. "My questions would be, what if it does not all go well? And how are we going to get all of our allies to commit fleet resources without Tovanoras finding out something is up?"

             
"We will have to discreetly visit the leaders of our allies." Enosal began.

             
"Have them put all of their fleet resources in a state of high alert to look ready in case Tovanoras attacks one of them." Agent Desmond added.

             
"In reality, they would be ready to jump into Ginderbar's system as soon as they know for sure where Tovanoras is heading." Goslar interjected, shaking his head. "It's a good plan, and I can already tell you that Honasaur will take part, but my only fear is that Tovanoras already knows that we know some of this information. What if he decides to change tactics and invade another world?"

             
"That's a great question, Goslar." Valinor commended. "That is the other reason to have all of the planetary fleets at their highest state of readiness. This way, wherever he attacks, we can have a response fairly quickly. That is the main reason we have tried to build a core of worlds in the alliance that is strong and fairly close together. It provides for easier assistance to member worlds under attack."

             
"We don't have a lot of options. With a fleet of that size at his fingertips, he is the most powerful being in our sector. The only way we beat him is if we all come together. We've only talked about the eleven most powerful worlds in the alliance. We may even need our sixteen less powerful allies to chip in on this one. I know they joined for our protection, but we may need a little of theirs. Either way, we must come together in order to survive." Enosal surmised.

             
"Why does he want to bankrupt Kaldor anyway?" Sibbie asked.

             
"Because Jesse gave us the bulk of the treasure that Garrinoras believed was his." Wennagal replied with a frown. "Something tells me he's not going to let this go, either."

             
"No, I do not imagine he will." Enosal agreed.

             
"Captain Reed, your team is going to be doing a lot of traveling over the next few weeks; there is much to be done." Valinor announced as he ended the meeting.

______

              ..... On Polisia, an approaching fleet had set the entire planet on edge. Everyone from the ruling council to the military to the smallest community on the planet knew it was only a matter of time before Polisia was faced with overwhelming odds and they were understandably jumpy.

             
"What do we have, ensign?" Nina asked as she strode into the planetary defense command center. Jesse was at the science center and would take a few more minutes to arrive.

             
"A similar fleet to the one that joined us a few weeks ago, ma'am," the ensign shakily replied.

             
"Similar how?"

             
"Similar in size and composition. Looks like twenty-six military vessels, sixteen cargo vessels, one space liner and thirty-one small freighters and private vessels. They are all holding position six hundred thousand kilometers from our planetary shield."

             
"Do we know where
Endeavor
is?" Nina asked, hoping Josiah already had her in space.

             
"Cloaked off the stern of the lead cruiser awaiting instructions, ma'am."

             
"Very good, open a channel to their fleet and get the ruling and military councils to the conference room." She waited a moment and when the ensign gave her a nod, she began. She noticed he continued busily sending out transmission and she smiled knowing both councils would soon be assembled. "Attention, unknown fleet, this is Nina Romanov in the Polisian Planetary Defense command center. I would like to speak to the person in charge of your fleet group."

             
After several moments passed, a rugged individual appeared on her view screen. He had light hair and intelligent eyes. "I'm Colonel Tobias Jameson. I am here in response to a message from General Kelly. In fact, all of our military personnel were invited by high ranking military personnel here on Polisia, including Colonel Jesse Marcos."

             
"Colonel, thank you for coming, you are most welcome here. Unfortunately, due to the many assassination attempts made on our key personnel, we have protocols in place to help us make sure that the people coming to seek refuge on Polisia, or help Polisia actually have our best interests in mind. I hope you don't mind staying in space for a little while so our people can check out all of your command crews and spot check the staff and passengers. It is a safety procedure we cannot afford to bypass."

             
"We understand, and were actually told ahead of time what we should expect. We don't mind waiting." Colonel Jameson smiled a weary smile that said it had not been easy to get all of these ships and people here in one piece.

             
"Thank you for understanding,
Endeavor
will be docking with you shortly to begin." As the transmission ended, Jesse's voice came over her comms to let her know both councils would be assembled in the base conference room by the time she arrived.

             
Nina arrived to a conference room buzzing with activity. It seemed as though the fourteen people of the two councils were having fifteen conversations, and it appeared as if no one could agree on anything. In the middle of the chaos, Jesse sat quietly. When Nina arrived, Jesse let out a loud whistle that instantly put everyone's attention on him.

             
"I know we have to proceed cautiously, but this is what we asked for after the last group defected," Jesse stated.

             
At that comment, the chaos ensued until Councilor Dana stood to address the room. “This is, in fact, what we asked for and twenty-six more ships will be most helpful, but I do not know if we can sustain this continual influx of people."

             
"Surely you didn't think military personnel would defect without bringing their families, Councilor?" Nina asked in an almost accusatory manner.

             
"Well, no," he slowly started, "but did they have to bring so many? Polisia's population since the war began has grown from fifty-two million to over fifty-three million. That's two percent planetary growth in a matter of months. We cannot hope to sustain it."

             
"I think we can," Jesse replied, still seated. "For a little while, at least. We will be finished building for all of the refugees and the first wave of defectors in a little over a month. By the end of the next month we will be finished with this wave as well. Then, we can begin on the city centers and business districts. The shipyards alone will produce hundreds of thousands of jobs and civil service jobs such as teachers, law enforcement, emergency response and sanitation should produce quite a bit as well. New hospitals will be opening, and these new cities will have to have stores, restaurants and entertainment. Once the business districts are up and running, Polisia should be fine. We also have another seventy-two billion to add to the recovery efforts. There is also the matter of us leaving after the war. We may be taking quite a few people with us. Believe me when I say Polisia's financial resources will not be taxed beyond breaking."

             
"I think you should trust Colonel Marcos," Councilor Jacobs began. "He has not steered us wrong yet, and if not for him we'd already be dead anyway."

             
"Well, the added finances certainly help," Councilor Dana said to a round of chuckles.

             
"We are committed to Polisia, Councilor, not just to its survival, but also its success." Nina added with a passion everyone could see. This had been her home for almost ten years and she would not leave it worse off and struggling to go to a new galaxy.

             
"It looks as though we should prepare for more guests," Councilor Dana agreed. "We should leave the military council to discuss the placement of these new fleet resources." The ruling council exited the room and Nina went with them. She knew Jesse already had it handled and had other things to take care of. She had somehow become the main administrator for the shipyards, the command center and both of the new settlements, and she was busier than she ever had been. As she was leaving, Serge and Josiah entered the room for the military briefing.

             
"Alright, let's get through this quickly," Jesse began when the doors had closed. “With these new ships, we now have two hundred forty-one, plus
Endeavor
. We are going to be breaking into six fleet groups. Each group will be led by one of you." He pointed to the other members of the council as he spoke. "You will each be assigned forty ships and an additional ten converted freighters or cargo ships, for a total of six fleet groups with fifty ships each."

             
"What good will converted freighters do against regular warships? Even the weakest gunship would be able to easily defeat them." Admiral Armistead asked.

             
"They will serve a couple of purposes, it will appear to give us a larger fleet, but they will also be filled with explosives and flown remotely by Serge and his techs." Jesse put his hand on Serge's shoulder as he spoke. "Under the cover of the more powerful ships, they will make their way into the first ranks of the enemy fleet where they will be blown up. If we are lucky, they will take out as many as three or four ships each when they blow. Basically, they are deadly decoys."

             
"Will you be aboard
Endeavor
during the battle?" Admiral Sonnadall queried.

             
"No, I will be coordinating our efforts from the command center. Lieutenant Jackson will be commanding
Endeavor
and he and his crew will have a special assignment once the battle begins. The fleet will be evenly spaced out around the planet within the planetary shields. There will also be an extra one hundred or so cargo ships and freighters in orbit around Polisia. They will be unmanned and flown remotely to give us a little added defense before our ships start getting hit once the planetary shields go down. Lucien and Bliney no doubt have a rough estimate of our fleet resources and this should keep them from being sure of the amount of ships we are bringing to the battle."

             
"They are likely to be attacking us with over a thousand ships, even with our plans and ruses, how can we hope to stand against so many." General Kelly called out in frustration.

             
"Look, I know this looks hopeless, but we owe it to ourselves to at least try, to put up such a fight that even if we do fail, we go down in history. Remember, we don't need to win, we just need to make it too costly for them to win. They still have to worry about the Syndicate."

             
"What other surprises will we have in store," Admiral Collingsworth asked, hoping there was more to the plan than a few explosive cargo ships.

             
"We still have Serge's guns. Fifty powerful plasma cannons nestled behind our planetary shields. Based on an estimated twelve hundred ships attacking, our shield's power should last almost three hours under their bombardment. If all goes well, Jason and Irina will each lead a team ready to switch out the power supplies, which would give us up to another three hours. Still, we can count on three hours of shield time, during which our plasma cannons and fleet will be firing upon them, hopefully thinning their numbers to the point that they can no longer afford to continue. A draw is a win for us."