Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (5 page)

             
"What, how is this possible? No reinforcements left the Coalition core worlds. Polisia was supposed to have no more than thirty-six ships plus whoever escaped from Triton. You should have easily been able to overcome that."

             
“Our intelligence was faulty, Dobar, they had seventy-one ships plus the remaining ships from Triton. One hundred twelve in all. We had lost one hundred ships at Triton and we attacked with three hundred seven."

             
"What was the problem, then? You should have still been able to easily handle them, almost three to one odds. Thansar, I think I know how you lost your war."

             
That last comment irritated Thansar, but he didn't let it show. "I warned you that these humans were resourceful, and if that had been the extent of the forces we faced, I would agree with you. Twenty-eight of their ships were SSE ships; they had a powerful planetary shield and the strongest planetary defenses we have ever come across. At least fifty incredibly powerful plasma cannons and weapons we have never seen before."

             
"What weapons?" Dobar was suddenly interested.

             
"They fired a weapon that sent out a laser net so large, our fighters could not get out of the way. One shot took out almost half our fighters, thousands of them. Then, they launched their
Vipers
while our fighters were still retreating in disarray. Our fighters were slaughtered. Then, there were the additional fifty-one ships Colonel Marcos brought with him. Powerful beyond description. He has ships that purposely hurl themselves into enemy vessels at top speed, destroying the enemy with little damage to themselves. They routed us."

             
"How bad?" Dobar knew he was not going to like these statistics.

             
"At Polisia, they lost thirty-four ships and six plasma cannons, and we lost over two hundred sixty ships. The overall campaign fared better, we were able to fully destroy three planets, one hundred forty-seven additional ships and eleven additional plasma cannons. We would not have lost as many ships at Polisia if they had not continued destroying us while we retreated." Thansar hung his head and muttered in disgust, "Colonel Marcos has no honor."

             
"Of course they continued destroying you, they knew you would be back and you had just destroyed three planets, killing millions of humans. I'm sure they were quite upset about that."

             
"Still, it is bad form to attack retreating ships," he protested, knowing Dobar was right.

             
"What worries me is the entire Coalition is probably now aware of Polisia's victory and will likely not take us as seriously now." Dobar was agitated as he spoke. "Bring your remaining ships and rejoin the bulk of the fleet. We need to come up with some new contingencies before we continue."

             
"As you wish," he began before recalling an important detail. "On the bright side, the Coalition seems to be at odds with Polisia, or at least the ships defending it."

             
"How would you know that?"

             
"We picked up transmissions, and there was much good news. The SSE shipyards at Polisia are nowhere near complete, and all of the SSE facilities in the core were destroyed when the Enclave stormed them. They must have set off some sort of self-destruct. The Coalition and the Enclave have now officially made the Marcos and Romanov families' enemies of the state, as well as any who aid them. It looks as though we will not have to worry about any more SSE ships being built any time soon."

             
"That is good news, Thansar." Dobar smiled. It seemed as though the Coalition's greatest defenders were at serious odds with their new allies. He would have to keep his eye on that situation to see if he could somehow use that against them in future battles.

Chapter two

______

              The next two weeks were a blur as Jesse made the rounds to the Polisian ruling council and the refugee camps. He also visited all of the ships in the fleet and met with the commanding officers. He always brought either Kimi or Lana, sometimes both. For the last week, they had been searching the destroyed worlds for survivors, as well as anything useful they could use in building new settlements on Polisia for the refugees. Another hundred shuttles were on their way back from Stamdall, fully loaded with people. Three large cargo haulers were on their way back with useful equipment and two luxury space liners had been dispatched for the rest of the thirty thousand survivors they had found so far. Teams would be working around the clock to search and rescue any people they could. At Geshern, things had played out a bit differently. After they had been there two full days and had found less than five thousand survivors, they were about to give up hope when on the third day, they came across another eight thousand that had survived in caves. They were told there were many such caves and they began to search all of them. By the time they were ready for a pick up, they had forty-one thousand people. Three space liners were dispatched to retrieve them. Rescue operations would continue on each world for at least another two weeks.

             
Jesse had personally led the rescue mission to Triton and he was encouraged to see a large group of survivors working together in the mountains. They were sharing supplies and tending the injured as best they could, they had even been able to set up some temporary power generation. They were, however, extremely grateful to enter the space liners to head to Polisia. In total, by the end of the first week, they had found almost one hundred fifty thousand survivors. They weren't holding out hope for much more, but they kept searching. The refugees were impressed that the leadership of SSE was leading the rescues. Manny and Zoe had a team, Josiah and Tanna had a team, and Ariel and Jason led a team, while Jesse and Kimi oversaw the entire operation.

             
Many of the people wanted to go back to their worlds to start over, or search for missing family, but with the dead bodies still not taken care of, and the likelihood of radiation and disease, they knew they would not be able to for some time. Jesse had promised them that settlements would be built for them on Polisia, or they would be given passage off Polisia to a planet of their choice. Most of the refugees didn't want to go back to the Coalition because they felt they had been abandoned by them. They knew that President Rhodes had personally called Admiral Collingsworth back to Earth and they were outraged that Earth would so easily give up three whole worlds. It seemed to them that only Polisia cared enough to help them and the refugees had decided to take their chances there. Now Polisia's problem was how were they going to settle three-quarters of a million people comfortably and quickly?

______

              "Alright everyone, what do we still have available that we can use to get these people settled? They've already been through an unimaginable tragedy, we don't want to add to that by not being able to settle them.” Jesse asked as his top people sat around the
Vanguard
conference table.

             
"We have six cargo ships full of SSE construction equipment. We should be able to build settlements for close to fifty thousand within two weeks." Nina began. "I have instituted a lotto system to decide which families will go first, it was the only fair way."

             
"It's not enough, is there anything else we can use?"

             
"There are twelve cargo ships full in a Depot on Pythos," Serge replied. "They were on loan from one of our former corporations; the government has already sort of claimed them."

             
"Is there any way we can get them?" Jesse asked.

             
"Probably, but the government has to know we know about them. Rhodes will have men sitting on them, so it'll be dangerous." Ariel started. "And, no, Jess, you will not be leading a team because you need to take your daughter camping. Someone else will handle the dangerous stuff for once."

             
"I agree," he replied to everyone's surprise. "I can't remember the last time I was this excited. That's why I've already told Josiah pick a team and do what needs to be done. He'll take
Endeavor
and a special shuttle.
Endeavor
can run protection if any Coalition or Enclave ships try to stop you."

             
"Sounds good, Jess, do you want me to run my team by you before I go?"

             
"No need, I trust your judgment, Jo. Just leave a list with Nina so she doesn't assign them other duties. We should at least try and coordinate." He laughed. "We need that equipment because if we don't get it, that leaves thousands of people still living in tents eight months from now. That would cause problems. We also need to be thinking about getting these people jobs so they can begin supporting their families again."

             
"I've got that covered with the council, Jess," Nina interjected.

             
"Thanks, Nina. Jason, how are you doing with the special project Nina assigned you? We're gonna need to finance all of this, somehow." Jesse continued.

             
Jason smiled, his special project was going to be the largest siphoning of government funds in galactic history, and he was excited. "I've gotten into almost ten thousand government agency's slush funds and I'm slowly draining them. Most of these are funds that technically don't exist, and are therefore not looked at very often. It's completely untraceable, except I'm leaving a trail that leads right to President Rhodes’ office. When they do figure out the money is gone, they're gonna be looking at him first. You'd be amazed at how much of our money gets put in these illegal funds. It makes me glad I stopped paying taxes fifteen years ago."

             
"How much do we have so far?" Jesse asked with a laugh. He didn't know if Jason's comment was serious, but he figured it better not to ask.

             
"Close to eighty billion."

             
"Eighty? Wow, and it's all liquid?"

             
"Yep, we can spend it today if you want."

             
"I want. We're going to give it to the Polisian government to help institute whatever Nina is cooking up, and to keep all of these people fed and clothed. There's a lot of stuff they're gonna need. We're taking three hundred sixty, right?"

             
"I was gonna go for the whole eight hundred, why are we stopping early?" Jason knew Jesse wouldn't go for taking it all.

             
"I pretty much gave the initial ships to the government; I never expected them to pay us back. These last thirty-six, however, I expect full payment, and since Rhodes is gonna renege in the name of the Enclave, we're gonna take our payment. Then, we're gonna use our payment to help these people."

             
"Sounds good, Jesse. It's good to have you back, little brother." Nina put her arm around his shoulder as she stood to close the meeting. "Alright everyone, As soon as Josiah gives me his mission list, I'll get assignments out to the rest of you. It looks like we're in this for the long haul. There are a lot of people that need us to be great right now, so let's forget about the rest of the Coalition and exceed these people's expectations. Most of them have lost everything; let's give them a reason to hope again. Jesse and I have one more meeting and then he's off to spend four days in the mountains with his daughter. No one, and I repeat, no one is to disturb him with work or recovery related items once we walk out that door." Once everyone indicated they understood, she dismissed them and Josiah came right up to Jesse.

             
"Thanks for the public vote of confidence, Jess."

             
"Jo, you're the most talented guy I know, everyone has that confidence in you."

             
"Maybe, but it's nice to hear it said in front of your peers once in a while." He smiled and gave him a pat on the back.

             
"Well, get used to it, buddy, because I have a feeling it's gonna happen more and more." Jesse replied with an encouraging nod as he turned and left the room. He hugged Ariel and Suzy as he and Nina made their way to their next meeting.

             
"Jess, you're gonna have so much fun with Lana," Ariel enthusiastically informed him as he walked. "She's such a great kid and she's really looking forward to this."

             
"I am, too. I only hope I don't disappoint her."

             
"It'll never happen, Jess," Ariel replied as she gave him another hug and hurried on her way.

             
"Nina, hold up, I have to say goodbye to Kimi." Jesse called after his sister. He approached Kimi and took her in his arms. "I can't wait to see you in four days, Kimi."