All Enemies Foreign and Domestic (Kelly Blake series) (18 page)

      To:
 
Custodian GRRS Behemoth      

      From:
 
Commander, Galactic Republic Reserve Fleet

Make all necessary preparations to re-commission the GRRS Behemoth and return to wartime readiness.
 
Authority to requisition supplies and personnel IAW Fleet regulation 1998-1 is granted, not to exceed manning and stockage level 1.
 
Ship to be combat ready, less training, no later than 30 days from date of this message.

Signed
 

      Captain Jim patted a bulkhead and said, “Time to wake up, old girl.
 
Somebody is throwing a party and you have an invitation.”

Chapter Nine

      Endex, thank God!
 
Sergeant Solbrig was beat, dirty, but exhilarated –
 
now that the exercise had finally ended.
 
She had been up 36 hours straight, trying to keep up with her company commander.
 
Their brigade, first brigade, was in the field training against second brigade and had been moving constantly since the exercise began.
 
They were exercising a concept called the non-linear battlefield, where the enemy could pop up anywhere, and it was running the officers ragged.
 
Her own commander had fallen dead asleep on a road march and landed on top of her when he slid out of his seat.
 
She had crawled out from under him, put him in her seat, and taken over command of the tank.
 
He got thirty minutes of much needed sleep and she got dust in her eyes.

      All the commanders were commanding from their tanks on this exercise, even the battalion commander.
 
She had generally stayed with her tank when at battalion, but one time she stood at the back of the command tent and heard the briefing.
 
In and amongst all the dusty uniforms, she didn’t stand out as she listened to the battalion staff officers and commanders discussing the day’s training objectives.
 
They were training to go against some massed infantry army and that was giving the officers fits.
 
None of them could figure out how to counter an army that could arise in mass from anywhere.
 
She had no clue what they were talking about, but it didn’t sound good to Frau Solbrig’s little girl, Ingrid.

* * * * *

      After a check up by the embassy medical staff, Candy went through an extensive debriefing before she was released to go home and sleep.
 
She recounted what she knew of the ordeal, how she was treated, how her captors reacted towards her, what she learned of the tribunals, how she assisted in J’Gon’s defense, and the uncertain future of the entire K’Rang Army senior officer cadre.
 
She showed on a map where she thought the underground facility was and what all she saw while there.
 
She retraced the route they took from there back to the capital.

      Candy pointed out the apparent reluctance with which the tribunal’s officers approached their task, even under the implied threat they were signing their own death warrants.
 
She gave a remarkably detailed description of each tribunal officer, guards, L’Gan, K’Lar, and other individuals she encountered along the way.
 
Because they were gone before she recovered from the stun ray, Candy could provide nothing on the commando team that kidnapped her.

      Finally, as the debriefers were asking increasingly less important questions, Kelly put a stop to it and took her home, where the two mothers were impatiently waiting.
 
Candy went through another debriefing, as both mothers peppered her with questions about her and the baby’s health and well-being.
 
Candy assured them both that both mother and child were unaffected by the ordeal, with the exception of needing a long sleep.
 
Moira and Amy hustled her upstairs and waited while Candy took a long shower and emerged in her nightgown.
 
They fluffed and re-fluffed her pillows until she gently kicked them out of her room with a kiss to their cheeks and a big thank you for coming.
 
She then crawled into bed and woke up refreshed thirteen hours later.

* * * * *

      The Shadow Scout G’Joku, carrying Elder J’Kol, approached K’Rol on a straight in vector, did not respond to calls to hold in orbit and request clearance to land, but came directly into the main spaceport, landing directly in front of the tower, scattering scores of baggage carts and service vehicles.
 
An officious and self-important looking K’Rang drove up in a ground car followed by three security vehicles.
 
The pompous official stomped up to the extending gangplank, and his blood ran cold as Elder J’Kol and four Imperial Guards walked down to him.

      He bowed from the waist, shaking slightly, and said, “Excellency, what may I do for the Empire?”

      J’Kol looked from this airport manager, for that was what was on the side of his ground car, to the security officers now standing at rigid attention, and instructed him, “You will cordon off this area.
 
Anything approaching this ship without its captain’s permission will be destroyed.
 
You will double the number of guards here and form a perimeter of 200 meters around the ship.
 
Anyone entering that perimeter without authorization will be shot on sight.
 
You will forward a message to Marshall T’Kana that Elder J’Kol wishes his presence immediately.”

      The airport manager, hearing no further commands, raised up from his bow, called his chief of security, and passed on the instructions regarding the perimeter.
 
He returned to his ground car and called the senior military representative on the spaceport staff and had him relay the Elder’s message to Marshall T’Kana.

      Within the hour, Marshal T’Kana arrived in full dress uniform.
 
He shone in the light of K’Rol’s star.
 
His numerous decorations gleamed brightly, catching the rays of the sun and making him look as if he were suffused with 100 points of light.
 
He strode up to the Imperial Guards on either side of the gangplank and announced himself.
 
Neither guard spoke, just stood aside to allow him access to the gangplank.
 
He marched up the ramp and stopped on the quarterdeck, where the captain of the G’Joku waited.
 
The Marshal saluted and requested permission to come aboard.
 
The captain returned his salute and escorted him to the conference room, where two armed imperial guards stood guard.

      T’Kana announced his presence as requested by the Elder J’Kol.
 
One guard entered the conference room to announce his arrival, while the other took T’Kana’s weapons, his ceremonial dagger and the garrote concealed in his hat.
 
The other guard motioned T’Kana into the conference room and stepped in behind him, assuming a position next to the door.

      T’Kana looked at the guard and turned towards J’Kol, came to rigid attention, and saluted.
 
J’Kol did not return his salute, so after an interval, T’Kana dropped his salute and gruffly said, “ Excellency, is this guard behind me to kill me?”

      J’Kol looked down at a screen set into the table and replied, “Yes, if you move from that spot without my permission, if you advance on me, threaten me, or try to leave.”

      J’Kol grew silent, reading from the screen in front of him rather than looking up at the marshal.
 
T’Kana maintained his position of attention.
 
Abruptly, J’Kol bolted from his chair, stepped around the desk, and advanced on T’Kana.
 
Breathing in T’Kana’s face, he yelled, “What were you thinking?
 
Did you somehow imagine that your judgment was superior to the Elders, the commander of the fleet, others who valiantly defended the empire with their lives?
 
The empire is being invaded and the army we need to defend us is on a witch hunt.
 
I will make it simple for you, Marshal.
 
We lost because the Humans and A’Ngarii outnumbered us three to one in ships.
 
They won because they had superior technology.
 
They won because time and distance are absolutes and they won the race to G’Durin.
 
They won because they were smarter than we were.”

      T’Kana asked, “If I am to be chastised and dishonored, must this guard be here to witness it?”

      J’Kol replied in a biting tone, “That guard took an oath to serve the empire, as did you, not a word of this will ever pass his lips.
 
He is here because you dishonored your oath and are not to be trusted.”

      J’Kol returned to his seat.
 
“The pad in front of you contains your resignation from the post of Chief of the Imperial General Staff and Land Forces Marshall due to your failing health.
 
It also contains your request for retirement.
 
You will withdraw from public life and have no contact with the Army.
 
You are not authorized to take your aides de camp with you.
 
Live out your days in seclusion, T’Kana, and live long.
 
Reflect on what you’ve done as the T’Kab advance on us again.”

T’Kana started at the word.
 
“The T’Kab?
 
Are they moving again?
 
Where? Have they invaded any of our worlds?”

J’Kol looked down at his tablet again and said, “Your service is no longer required, T’Kana.
 
Mark your resignation and retirement forms and leave.”

T’Kana made his paw print at the appropriate pages, came to attention and saluted.
 
His salute was not returned.
 
He dropped his salute and turned to leave, a broken K’Rang unable to help his empire when needed most.

      The guard opened the door for him, closed it as T’Kana passed through, and asked if anything else was required.

      “Yes, have the deputy chief of the imperial staff come to me.
 
He won’t get the job, but he can recommend someone who will.
 
Send a message to Baron G’Rof, put the task force proceeding here back on its mission to rescue Captain M’Taso and her navigation system.”

* * * * *

      The 1st Annihilation Fleet arrived at the first and farthest world of the five recently colonized by the T’Kab.
 
The first world was hot and steamy and covered by thick, triple canopy rain forest.
 
A race of pre-sentient quadripedal marsupials lived in the higher limbs of the trees and the T’Kab were unable to either reduce their numbers or subdue them.
 
The two species competed for resources and the 1st Fleet was there to remedy that situation.

      The indigenous marsupials were peaceful for the most part, staying up above the level at which the T’Kab could not climb because the limbs would not support their weight.
 
Many a T’Kab fell to its death attempting to reach the elusive marsupials.
 
The sentient queens prepared a plan to rid the world of these creatures.

      On the third day after the 1st Fleet’s arrival, the queens had passed instructions through colony after colony around the world to remain deep in the burrows the following day until mid-day.
 
The next day, the annihilation fleet arrayed itself into an arrowhead formation, aligned itself onto a low sun-synchronous orbit, and as they cleared the southern polar region just before dawn at that longitude, turned on their radiation generators.

      The effect was not instantaneous, for the extreme southern latitudes were tundra and very few creatures lived there, but as they started passing over the savannahs and forested regions, the marsupials began dropping from the trees, and bird-like creatures fell from the skies.
 
Aquatic creatures in shallow water floated to the surface dead.
 
Predator and prey living on the savannah fell over, twitching in agony, as the strong multispectral radiation cooked them from the inside out. The pattern was repeated every fifteen degrees of longitude until the entire planet was covered and only the T’Kab were left.
 
Colonies came out the next day and dragged the corpses into the cool ground of the burrow, preserving the meat longer, and they feasted for days.
 
The fleet’s ships capable of landing on the surface dropped out of orbit to fill their larders with fresh protein. The entire planet smelled of death for weeks after.
 
Because the radiation didn’t reach far underground and sometimes was deflected by stone or metal deposits, several hundreds of thousands of stunned marsupials arose from cracks in the ground or caves and were quickly captured by workers to become the seed herd from which the T’Kab would obtain most of their protein requirement.

* * * * *

      Lieutenant Colonel Mary Chen sat in the back of an X-55 infiltration hover transport, using her night vision goggles to observe one of her teams conducting a raid on a simulated T’Kab burrow.
 
The team was equipped with a plasma bomb that, once lowered into the burrow, would fuse the burrow shut and heat the ground enough to kill the queen.
 
At least that was what the scientists said.
 
She watched the team stealthily approach the burrow and prepare the plasma bomb for arming.
 
They followed the arming procedure and attached long ropes to the plasma bomb.
 
Mary watched the seismic meters so that the T’Kab below ground would not hear or sense the tams activities.
 
The T’Kab weren’t usually active after dark, but there was no use in giving them an excuse to come up and check some strange noises.