Solbidyum Wars Saga 9: At What Price (40 page)

Our scouts have just located a newly constructed stellar gate in the Gunmar System near Daprise-3.  The gate must have been erected in the past four to six hours, because it wasn’t there when they scanned the area earlier.  I’ve ordered two cloaked patrol ships with equipped with Stellar Cantolla Gate components to gear up and stage nearby so they can slip through when it opens.  A hundred fighters have also been deployed into the area just outside sensor range and several hundred more are staged as secondary responders, if needed, so we’ll be prepared to destroy the Brotherhood ships and their canister payloads after they pass through the gates and before they reach their target.”

“Very good,” I said.  “However, I think it’s important to let at least one or two of their ships escape.  We don’t want it to look too suspicious to Ming.  As it is, he’ll probably order a preliminary sweep of the area to look for any Federation ships that may be close enough to slip through the open gate.  Make sure their fleet has moved away from the gate and has begun to execute their attack before we open fire on them, so it isn’t obvious that we knew in advance where their gate was located.”

“Sir, how long do you think it will be before they open the gate?” asked Marranalis.

“A’Lappe says it takes several hours for their power units to build up enough charge to open and maintain a brief window of operation.  I’m only guessing, but I would say anywhere from eight to twenty hours from the time it was established.  So if they set up the gate a maximum of six hours ago, they could mobilize through the gate as soon as an hour or two from now.  How many cloaked ships do we have in place?”

“Twenty-one at the moment and about eighty more are on the way.  Most of them should arrive within the hour.”

“So all we need to do is sit back and wait,” I said.

“Yes, sir,” replied Marranalis.

“Anything else happening?”

“Admiral Wabussie said he has some new information for you about Ming.  Other than that, I can update you on other statistics and casualties, but it suffices to say that the death toll from the pathogen is nearing thirty billion.”

My mind nearly went numb at the number, but there was nothing I could do about it.

“I’ll be in my office on a call to Admiral Wabussie.  Let me know the moment anything starts to happen at Daprise-3.

By the stars,
I thought as I entered my office. 
Thirty billion lives snuffed out in just days
.  I could only imagine the height of panic among the citizens of the Federation.  When I lived on Earth, its population was just a little more than seven billion and Marranalis was telling me that more than four times that many people had perished at the hands of the Brotherhood in little more than a blink.  No place was safe from Ming’s threats.  I sat down at my desk and initiated a call to Wabussie.

“I’ve been waiting for your call, Admiral,” he said as his image appeared on the screen.  “I’ve gained new intelligence about Ming and his illness.”

“What are you hearing?” I asked eagerly.

“Rumors are spreading throughout the Brotherhood organization of Ming’s deteriorating condition.  As he gets worse he is descending deeper into madness.  He apparently realizes his condition is fatal and, as you suspected, he wants to conquer the entire Federation before he dies, whatever that means in his twisted mind.  He has no care as to whether anyone survives, just so long as he dies knowing he has dominated and defeated the entire Federation.  Apparently, he believes it is his destiny.  Those nearest to him say he rambles on and on about how he will be known the
greatest Ming of all
, and that
his dynasty
will be remembered forever as
the greatest
.”

“Wait, are you telling me that Ming believes he is of the bloodline of the ancient Ming Dynasty of Earth?”

“I wasn’t familiar with this ancient historical
Ming Dynasty
, but this is what Ming is saying about himself.  We had no idea what he was rambling about until we checked the historical Earth databases brought by the colonists you rescued and it’s all there in the historical texts of ancient China.  Apparently Ming had the same goal in mind when he was warring on Earth; to be the greatest conqueror and ruler in all human history.  But here’s the really interesting part.  Even though Ming claims to be a part of the ancient Ming Dynasty, Earth records indicate that Ming couldn’t possibly share even a small fraction of the original Ming Dynasty bloodline.  Though it’s not clear exactly where Ming was born, it wasn’t in China and he is in no way related to the ancient Ming family.”

“Interesting.  Do you know who his parents were?” I asked, as I tried to figure out how I might best be able to use this information.

“The Earth records indicate that his mother was actually Indonesian.  His father was Chinese with some Tibetan heritage, but his lineage is fully documented and shows nothing even remotely related to Ming in any way.  It is said that his mother was actually a prostitute and it is believed his father was a soldier.  There is no indication that his mother and father ever lived together and it’s doubtful that Ming ever knew his father.  He was raised in Indonesia until he was six, when his mother took him to China.  Details of their immigration are unknown.  They apparently arrived during a time when China had shut itself off from immigrants, but somehow his mother managed it and was never caught.  Ming’s proper name is unknown.  His mother simply called him Wǒ de xiǎomíng, which means
my little Ming
.  Everyone else called him
Xiàshuǐdào lǎoshǔ, which means
Sewer Rat
.  There are even police report records where he is documented with this name.

“When China went to war with the rest of the world, Ming’s mother was killed in a missile attack.  Ming survived; and even though he was only fifteen years old, he was pressed into China's military service.  He registered with the name of Míng er tóng, which means
Child of Ming
;
and while there was a note in his records that questioned the validity of his name, it was never investigated further, as the military didn’t care who he was as long as he could fight.

“Ming’s military record indicates that he was a ruthless fighter right from the start.  He showed no mercy to his enemies and relished in every defeat, great or small.  He rose quickly through the ranks, seemingly passing his more qualified fellow soldiers in arms by mysterious means.  There is indirect evidence that he did so using all kinds of nefarious methods, blackmail not being foulest of them.  It was also not uncommon for Ming’s direct superiors and other commanding officers who stood in his way to die of mysterious causes as he climbed the ranks.  Before long he had become one of the three top-ranking officers in the Chinese Armed Forces.  His last commanding officer had a habit of calling him Wéixiǎo Míng or
Tiny Ming
.  Ming loathed the diminutive reference and protested, but his objection met only with laughter.  The records are unclear as to a time period for what happened to Ming’s superior thereafter, but he just suddenly disappeared and no trace was ever found of him.  Ming was a suspect, but no evidence could be found connecting him to the disappearance and Ming was promoted to take his place.  The rest of the story you know.”

“Wow!" I exclaimed.  “This explains a lot.  I’m not sure how I can use this information, but I have a feeling it’ll come in handy and will have devastating results on Ming.”

“I wish we’d have gathered the information earlier,” said Wabussie.  “We had most of the information in the data cubes all along, but it wasn’t until we heard these latest rumors and started sifting backwards from his military records that we came across the data about his true identity.”

“Better late than never, as they used to say back on Earth.  Keep digging and if you find anything else, let me know.”

“We will.  We're just hoping that Ming dies soon.  The longer he lives, the madder he becomes and the more desperate he is to destroy the Federation.  His troops are terrified of him.  Oh, one more thing.  Obviously, he’s aware that he’s getting weaker, so he doesn’t trust his senior officers anymore.  All of them are now required to wear explosive slave collars.  If he becomes suspicious about any of them, their heads are blown off immediately.  One rumor that’s made its way through the Brotherhood organization is that he blew the heads off more than thirty officers in one day, because he suspected them of trying to organize a coupe.  The truth was they were secretly trying to organize a celebration to his greatness in hopes of pleasing him.  According to the rumors, when he found out the truth later, he laughed hysterically about it as though it were a grand joke.”

There was a knock on my door and Marranalis stuck his head and announced, “Admiral, the gate at
Daprise-3 is opening.”

“Gotta go, Admiral,” I said to Wabussie, and I hit the disconnect button before he could reply.

“Are our cloaked patrol ships with the gate components in place?” I asked Marranalis as I headed into the War Room.

“We’ve only been able to get one into position.  The second one is on its way, but isn’t in position yet,” he replied.

“As soon as the enemy ships move in, I want our cloaked ship to pass to the other side.  They have their instructions.  If the second ship gets there in time, they’re to proceed through the gate as well.  I don’t want our ships to fire until the enemy releases its first canister missile.  At that point, the canisters are the primary targets and the ships are secondary.  Is that clear?”

“Yes, Admiral.”

It didn’t take long before the first ship came through the gate.  Either the Brotherhood was so sure of their being able to get in and out quickly that they didn’t bother cloaking, or they wanted to induce more fear among the surface dwellers on Daprise-3 by being completely visible to the citizens as the deliverers of death.

They were clearly also not expecting much in the way of opposition, as they brought in only three corvettes for their attack.  Each ship took up position in an outer orbit around the planet and fired their canister missiles in unison, then turned for a hasty retreat as though they feared the contagion of the pathogens even from afar.  No sooner did the ships turn in the direction of the gate than our cloaked ship headed through the gate ahead them.  At the same time, our fighters targeted the descending canister bombs, vaporizing them before they came anywhere near the atmosphere.  As soon as we opened fire on the fleeing corvettes, they began to accelerate toward their escape.  As planned, we allowed their first ship to make it through the gate as our fighters focused on the other two.  Even though they were fully shielded, our ships were able to inflict some damage before they made it to the gate.  As soon as the third ship cleared the gate threshold, the gate closed.

My first thought was for the security of our patrol ship that had passed through with the gate components.  “Is our ship on the other side safe?” I asked almost immediately.

Marranalis examined the instruments before him and replied, “It seems they are.  They accelerated rapidly after they cleared the gate, so as not to be detected by the returning enemy ships.  They’re reporting back that they haven’t detected any other ships in the immediate area and no planets or moons showing signs of life.  They’re going to parallel the enemy’s course, rather than follow them, in case the enemy scans behind them to ensure they weren’t trailed by one of our fighters.”

“Excellent,” I replied.

About an hour went by when our patrol ship reported back.

“We have a problem, Admiral,” said Marranalis.  “The enemy is passing through second gate at this time.  I don’t know if our shadowing ship will be able to make it through behind them before they close it.”

Minutes ticked by and then Marranalis announced, “They made it through, sir.”

“Great!” I exclaimed, nearly jumping out of my chair.

Almost immediately Marranalis reported a new complication.  “Sir, they now have a new problem.  The location is densely packed with enemy ships.  They’re reporting asteroid-ships, frigates, corvettes, fighters and even old starships.  Thousands of them.  They’re trying to ease their away through the area to a location deeper into space and a safe distance away from the ship cluster to set up our stellar gate.”

“Do we know where in the galaxy they’re located?” I asked.

“I can pull the data from their ship and put it in the hologram,” Marranalis answered.

“Do it,” I said.

Moments later, a location in the galactic hologram lit up.

“Where is this in relation to that planet or moon that Yungman's sister said her captor mentioned?  Plamos or Xennek?”

“Plamos is right there, near our ship.”

“Where are the crews that we deployed earlier to set up gates there?” I asked.

“Give me a moment, sir,” said Marranalis as he worked the consoles.  A few minutes later, six points of light were added to the display.  They’re still pretty far off.  Several weeks, in fact.”

“Is there any way they can stop and set up one of the gates they’re carrying to send them all back here and then transfer them through the gate that our shadow ship at Plamos is setting up?  If we can do that, we can get more gates set up sooner around the enemy.”

“Well, yes, but you would be better served just sending out new ships and components and recalling the other ones.  Well save a few days that way.”

“All right, do it.”  I said. “Wait a minute.  Are there any potential Brotherhood targets in range of those ships?”

“Hm.  Let me check.  Yes, there is one.  A planet called Yho-owee isn’t far away.  It’s a known Brotherhood world.”

“Good.  Order them to divert to that area and erect their gates in an appropriate attack configuration there.  We’ll send a flotilla to attack the planet just hours before we attack Plamos.  The attack at Yho-owee will cause Ming to believe we’re far from finding him.  Maybe he’ll even divert some of his forces from Plamos to fight at Yho-owee.  He won’t be expecting another attack so soon thereafter, especially not at Plamos.  “Maybe, just maybe, we can turn this war in our favor again,” I said.

The next twenty-four hours went well.  Our ship at Plamos had so far remained undetected and had established a stellar gate that facilitated the passage of five additional ships that setup additional gates by the end of the second day, one positioned as close as possible to the moon, Xennek, where I hoped Ming was holed up.  I called a meeting with the fleet admirals to make battle plans.

“We have an opportunity to deliver a critical blow to the Brotherhood fleet, one that might bring an end to this war.  However, it won’t be without cost.  We will be moving into the densest concentration of enemy ships we have ever seen yet, so it will be impossible for us to not suffer losses.  But we’ll have the element of surprise on our side and if we take out their most dangerous ships first, we’ll have the advantage for the rest of the battle.  We have three ships equipped with PLABEs and I plan to take all of them on this mission.

“For this operation we have six stellar gates in position surrounding the enemy base.  We will attack simultaneously through all six gates.  As labeled in the display, the gates are identified as Attack Gates 1 through 6, or AG-1 through AG-6.  Fleets entering through gates 1 through 3 will each be commanded by a PLABE-equipped flagship, which will focus on destroying the most dangerous Brotherhood ships immediately upon entry.  These include asteroid-ships, starships and frigates, in that order of priority.  AG-4 through AG-6 will host a second carrier in addition to the flagship to fortify the firepower against the priority targets for these fleets.  The rest of our warships and fighters will focus on all other Brotherhood battleships.  As the danger of the Brotherhood ships is reduced, our ships will begin targeting production facilities, supply depots and ground bases.