Riss Series 4: The Riss Accession (8 page)

It took several minutes for everyone to
get seated, check
their
connection, and stop their side discussions.

When they did, Stenberg stood. "Your
host today is Admiral Wattson." He nodded in his direction. "He is
the SAS Fleet Admiral, who will direct the SAS fleet against the Aliens. I'm
his designated advisor. To his right is First Fleet Admiral
Salazan
, the head of
the JPU Navy."

Salazan
gave a sharp
nod. His black hair, narrow clean-shaven face, and black uniform combined with
his predatory eyes to give him an assassin-like appearance. His shoulder boards
were black with five red six-point stars, and his sleeve held a five-centimeter
red band.
From his neck,
a red cross hung from a black ribbon. In
contrast, his advisor's
uniform
had no shoulder boards or ribbons, only a
two-centimeter red
band
with two half-wreaths forming a
circle
with a sword
in the
middle
pointing down toward the band. Both men had dark olive complexions.

"His advisor is
Nelem
. To his right
are the UFN Imperial Fleet Admiral Zhu, and his advisor, Xun."

In contrast to
Salazan
, Zhu was a
thin frail-looking man with thinning gray hair and a goatee. He wore a white
uniform with yellow shoulder boards that had three gold star clusters and a
gold wreath with a red star in the middle. On the sleeve was one
four
centimeter
gold
band
with a red cruiser. Around his neck, a five-point star on a star
cluster hung from a red ribbon with a gold
border
. His advisor was a tall thin woman
whose only decoration was two red dragons on one collar.

"To the right of advisor Xun is
Leader
Reese, speaker for the Riss
nation, and her advisor, Terril."

Terril and I had on dark gray uniforms.
On my sleeve were three silver five-point stars in a triangle, and on the
shoulder sat a sunburst with an outline of the
Mnemosyne
in the center with two scrolls saying Riss Nation and
Navy. The only decoration on Terril's uniform was a red rectangle with a black
scorpion patch on the sleeve.

It was interesting that Stenberg didn't
mention
the rank or
position of the advisors. I suspect that except for Terril, he didn't know.

"If there are no objections, I
would suggest Admiral Wattson begin by describing the SAS's encounters with the
Aliens." Stenberg looked at each person and receiving no objections,
nodded to Wattson.

"When we noticed that
several solar systems were becoming black holes in a sense—ships going to
them never returned, ships weren't leaving, and the Comstats were no longer
operational—we suspected the problem was spreading like a disease.
But the
normal causes did not appear to fit what was happening. The only
explanation
left was that
we were being invaded by some nation other than the four of us."

"Why?" Zhu asked.

"Because none of the logical
explanations fitted. Disease wouldn't stop the use of the
Comstat,
or ships from
coming and going. Likewise,
raiders
might
destroy
the
Comstat
and
ships
in the
system
to
delay
discovery,
but they would leave, and sooner or
later
word
would
get
out. And an invasion by the SAS, JPU,
or UFN made no sense. The SAS wouldn't attack Fools Landing or Fools Hope if we
wanted to expand into the JPU. Likewise, the JPU wouldn't attack Barak and Alborz
if they planned to expand into the SAS. And the UFN wouldn't attack systems so
far away from their space or want a war with the combined forces of SAS and
JPU. Hence, we knew we were being invaded by a new enemy, one who was powerful
enough to quarantine
four
systems." Wattson stopped and sipped his
kaffa. When no one said anything, he continued. "Since they were
quarantining systems in the SAS and the JPU, they didn't appear to have a star
map of either nation, but must have been following ships. In an attempt to test
our hypothesis, we sent one Riss Light and an SAS hunter to
Kamboja
to wait to
see what happened. They found the next merchant ship had an Alien scout ship
following. The Alien ship stayed several days collecting information. When we tried
to contact the ship, it attempted to flee the system. We lost two fighters and
sustained significant
damage
to two others trying to stop it. While the
scout ship supported no missiles, it had fifty-centimeter lasers and a
very
accurate automatic
defensive system. After it lost power, we sent a team to investigate. They
found only robots."

"What do you mean, robots?"
Salazan
asked.

"Metal robots. There was no organic
material in the robots or the ship."

"Robots ran the ship?"

"Yes. We concluded they were an
advanced civilization, judging by their technology, which is far beyond
anything the SAS could produce today or in the near future."

Everyone seemed to
agree
, judging by
the whispered side conversations and looks on their faces.

"We then decided to test the
capability of our ships against theirs. Again, we stationed ships at selective
systems to await one of the Aliens' scout ships. When one arrived at Zigzag, we
let it leave, anticipating the Aliens would return with a force to occupy the
system. They did. They sent three Light cruisers—not to be confused with
small. They are nasty ships with four missile tubes, which spit out missiles
every thirty seconds and have ten fighters, which they use as manned missiles.
We lost two Light cruisers. A third had significant damage, and a Hunter
and
a Heavy were
also damaged during the engagement. Again they were manned only with
robots."

"You're telling us robots in Light
cruisers were a match for your task force?"
Salazan
sneered.

"Yes, I am,
and
it gets
worse. We then decided to see the force they would send to occupy a solar
system after it had been neutralized. So we sent two Riss cruisers in stealth
mode to Fools Landing and an
outdated
Light cruiser as bait. We discovered a
mother ship, which we've named a
Medusa
because it has the capacity to
hold twelve of their Light cruisers, has thirty-six missile tubes, and an equal
number of fifty and ninety centimeter lasers."

"How do you know this?" Zhu
asked.

"Judging from your
accou
nt of your
poor showing at Zigzag, either the Riss are guessing or making excuses for
running if there are Aliens at all. Probably, it's a small group from a system
we are unaware,"
Salazan
said with a snort.

I decided to say nothing since I
couldn't disprove his contention without
physical
proof.

"Well then, Admiral
Salazan
, what
happened to the task force you sent to
Baraz
?" Wattson asked. "Have they
returned?"

Salazan’s
face flashed
anger, almost too fast to notice, before turning hard. "If a couple of
those Light cruisers have inflicted the same
damage
on his task
force as on yours, then my senior Captain is too
embarrassed
to return
until he has repaired his ships. When he does, he will no longer be a senior
Captain. We do not tolerate incompetence." He sneered in my direction.

<
Thinks
with ego.> Image of him standing in
front of a mirror flexing his biceps.

"I would be interested in hearing
Leader
Reese's account of her
encounter with the Aliens at Fools Landing," Zhu said after Xun whispered
something to him.

"Our decoy brought a warning from
the Aliens to continue on to Fools Landing or be destroyed. Instead, our decoy
fired missiles at the
Medusa
and turned back towards the Wave. The
Aliens released three cruisers to intercept it. When the
Mnemosyne
interceded, the
Medusa
sent three more. At that point, the
Eirene
interceded, and the
Medusa
responded by
sending
two after it. We destroyed them and afterward the
Medusa
with
a hit-and-run skips," I said, directing my comments to Zhu.

Salazan
pointed a
finger at me. "You're a liar. A coward who ran from a few Light cruisers!"

His advisor's face never changed, but he
had been evaluating me as I talked.

Salazan
Angry.
Nelem
emotionless.>

Salazan
shouted, "The
Riss are just dumb animals! Their only value is their fur hides. And the
infected humans are pretending for their benefit that the Riss are
intelligent."

Stenberg looked to be about to say
something when I put up my hand. A confrontation would solve nothing.

Wattson merely
sat
studying
me—still the tactician evaluating his students, which in this case
included everyone at the table.

Zhu said with a slight smile, "Sounds
unbelievable and contradictory,
Leader
Reese. The SAS
could
barely handle three of the Aliens’ Light cruisers
with three Lights, a Hunter, and a Heavy. Yet, with two cruisers you claim to
have defeated eight and a…
Medusa
."

"As unbelievable as a robot being a
host for an intelligent mind, Fleet Admiral?" I asked.

"Nonsense!"
Salazan
shouted.

Zhu sat quietly, eyes closed and expressionless
like an ancient Buddhist monk. Strangely, no one seemed interested in
disturbing him.

It was a long time before Wattson spoke.
"An intriguing thought,
Leader
Reese. Something only one with an intelligent parasite would deduce. If true,
it would explain much, including the reason for a
Medusa
, and the reason
you seek an alliance." He stroked his goatee. "I believe you. Captain
Huang, commanding the
Imperial
, has been searching for your Riss
cruisers ever since the SAS exited the Wave. If he doesn't find them soon, his
hair will be as thin and gray as mine. Of course, Xun and perhaps others would
like proof." He smiled.

"The Riss have ships here!"
Salazan
glared at me
and turned to
Nelem
. "Find them!"

Nelem
activated the
SID he had been given and spoke into it for several minutes, then shook his
head at
Salazan
.

Wattson interrupted before
Salazan
could
respond. "You're right, Imperial Fleet Admiral Zhu. The story is hard to
believe, but the proof, a destroyed
Medusa,
rests in the Fools Landing
system."

Stenberg
jumped to his feet
before anyone
could respond. "I suggest an hour's break before dinner is served. We set
aside rooms for you to rest and refresh yourself." He went to the door and
ushered in several Lieutenants, then introduced one to
Salazan
and
Nelem
, who left
immediately.

Zhu ignored Stenberg and came over to
me. "Leader Reese, my advisor informs me that she and your advisor have
much in common."

"Imperial guard?"

"Yes, and her?"

"Elite commandos."

"How about
Nelem
?"

"Secret service."

"Yes, that is what Xun thought. And
you?"

"I serve at the pleasure of the
Riss," I said.

Zhu nodded and followed a red-headed
lieutenant out the door with Xun following on full alert.

"She reminds me of Master
Wei," Terril said, watching them leave.

I nodded. "It's interesting. No one
brought an advisor."

* * *

Admiral
Salazan
seemed angry
and distracted during dinner and said little.

Zhu,
on the other hand
, was
interested in the Riss, the Riss-human project, and the Riss culture. He was a
good listener, and I judged him perceptive by his questions.

Midway through dinner, SIDs began
buzzing and the screens flashing red, indicating an urgent message.

"Yes," I said, looking at r-
Asdis
.

"Three
Medusas
exited the Wave," his voice box exclaimed.

"Inform Byer, Seng, and Iglis.
Inform
Damaass
to maintain ship Standby and stealth mode."

 
"My senior captain informs me three
unknown ships of war just entered the system. I have activated
the
single Heavy
and six Light cruisers on
Hayjar
. We’ll show you the
superiority
of the JPU
Navy."