Solbidyum Wars Saga 9: At What Price (41 page)

“As far as the battle strategy is concerned, the idea is that we will start from the perimeter of their gathered ships and work our way in toward the center.  Any ships trying to escape will be handled by the fighters.  That doesn’t mean our other ships can’t fire on them if the opportunity presents itself, but I don’t want them to divert their fire from their assigned targets unnecessarily.  If we work together and stick to our objectives, we can win this battle.

“Now, once our fleet is through the stellar gates, I’m ordering the gates to be closed to prevent Brotherhood ships from getting back through them into Federation territory.  I also want a full squad of Nijang Fighters stationed at each gate to protect them from any Brotherhood ships that may get within firing range.  Any questions?” I asked.

“Admiral Tibby, aren’t you putting us at the same risk that we were in at Glomar Rosa by using so many ships in this operation?  Wouldn’t it be wiser to hold back more of the fleet?”

“I recognize the parallels between this assault and the one led by Admiral Regeny at Glomar Rosa, Admiral, but remember; there is risk in any battle.  The painful lessons learned at Glomar Rosa have served us at every battle we’ve fought since.  Unlike the battle at Glomar Rosa, we are not leaving the gates open and unguarded.  These were the first blunders Regeny made and they cost us heavily, leaving the fleet trapped and allowing the Brotherhood to pass into the Federation to retaliate.  Secondly, we will be going into this battle with three PLABEs, besides our superior warships and fighters, enough firepower to destroy the planet and both its moons, if we wish.  So we have superior fire power.  Finally, we are launching this attack with the element of surprise.  At Glomar Rosa, the enemy knew we were coming, this time they do not.  As for leaving ships behind, we’re only taking six fleets and three additional carriers for this campaign.  The bulk of the Federation fleet will be deployed across the Federation to handle any wayward Brotherhood ships that enter their sectors.”

“Admiral?” another Fleet Admiral called out.  “What about the disease canisters the Brotherhood has been using?  Won’t our attacking fleet be in danger from those?”

“I don’t see how they would be,” I answered.  “Unless they can breach the ship’s hull and get the pathogen inside the ship, our men are safe.

“Now, if there are no further questions, we need to get down to the detailed strategic planning.  I want to attack in thirty-six hours.”

Over the next several hours, we made plans and assigned fleets to each gate.  For the first time in months I felt like we actually had a chance at winning the war.  By evening the outline for the offensive was comprehensive and I felt I could head back to the
NEW ORLEANS
in time to dine with Kala and leave the remainder of the work to the staff.

Kala decided that she wanted to go to the estate and dine at the same secret lake alcove where we had dined recently.  She said she had a special surprise for me.  I wondered what it might be right up until Piesew served us our salads before the entrée.

“Kala, are these real tomatoes?  I mean from Earth seed?” I asked as I stared and the bright red wedges on my salad.

“Indeed, they are,” Kala grinned.  “Cantolla and her team have been cultivating them from seeds they retrieved from the seed bank.  Everyone is falling in love with them.  The local botany crews have been harvesting and eating them so fast no one else is getting any.”

I took a bite and was rewarded with that rich flavor that only a fresh vine-ripened tomato can deliver.  I closed my eyes and savored the taste.

“Oh my, that is good,” I exclaimed.

“Great.  I hope you like the entrée just as well,” she added with a huge grin.

I was torn between eating my salad quickly, so I could find out what was coming next, or eating it slowly, so I could savor the flavor longer.  Finally, I finished the salad, which was then immediately replaced by one of Piebar’s staff with a plate concealed under a silver cover.  I glanced at Kala, who was still grinning in anticipation of my reaction to what was under the lid.  Finally, Piebar lifted the lid.  To my surprise, there before me was a hamburger with French fries.  I mean a REAL hamburger with real fries.  The bun was real.  I could see a large slice of real onion and another slice of real tomato, as well as a leaf of real lettuce.  I almost cried with joy.

“All of this stuff was produced from seeds and genomes in the lab?” I asked.

“Yes.  Kala said the meat is from that animal that’s similar to a fubalo, a cow I think Cantolla called it.  She said it was a Charollette I think.”

“A Charolaise,” I corrected her.

“Yes, that’s what she said.  I saw some grazing in a field down by the agricultural lab.  Beautiful big white animals.  They also had some other cows in a separate field that she called Piedmonts.”

“I never heard of that one,” I said as I took a bite of the hamburger.  My eyes rolled as I chewed the first bite.  “By the stars, Kala.  This is like food heaven.”

Kala laughed as she eyed her own plate.  “I’m so glad you like my surprise.”

“I don’t like it.  I love it!  I just wish the twins were here to enjoy it with us,” I said.

“Oh that reminds me.  Lunnie called.  She’s due for some leave soon and will be coming home to visit for two days.”

“Oh, no.  I probably won’t get to see her.  We’re going into battle about the time she’ll be getting home.  This campaign will probably last at least two days.  Oh well.  It is what it is,” I said before taking another bite.

“Oh my,” Kala said after taking the first bite of her burger.  “You’re right, Tib.  This is excellent.  What are these little stick things?” she asked as she picked up a French fry.

“That, my dear, is a French fry, which is cut from a potato, and the potato is a root…or a tuber…I can’t remember which.  Why they were generally called French fries I’m not sure,” I explained, as I held up a fry in reverence.  “I think it was a point of contention as to whether their origin was really the country of France.  In England, they were simply called chips.”

“Chips,” pondered Kala.  “Like a wood chip or splinter?”

“Hm.  I never thought of it in that sense.  I suppose it might be.  I honestly don’t know.”

“Mm, this is pretty good, too,” Kala said as she chewed on one.  “But I think I like the burger more.”

“So back to Lunnie.  Did she say anything else?  Is everything going okay?”

“She didn’t say much.  Only that she missed us and would be home tomorrow night.”

“No boyfriend or anything?”

Kala chuckled.  “She didn’t mention one, but who knows with Lunnie.  “How are you feeling since your treatment?”

“Pretty good.  At this point I don’t feel any better or worse than I have with past treatments.”

“Have you talked to A’Lappe?  Does he still want to keep your treatment cycle at every six days?”

“I don’t know.  I guess I should ask him,” I said.  “You know Kala.  I'm glad we’re doing this tonight… having dinner together, I mean,” I added quickly when she looked at me curiously.  “The next few days are going to be very stressful and busy.  I may not get a chance to eat with you for a while.  For that matter, I may not even be able to see you for a few days.”

“Do you think the battle may not go well?”

“No, just the opposite.  For the first time in a long time, I think the battle will turn out very well.  We’ll take some losses, most certainly, but nothing compared to what the Brotherhood will suffer.  There is even the possibility that we may be able to destroy the source of the pathogen Ming has been using against us.  It’s believed that it comes from Graben, one of the moons of Plamos.  If we destroy the moon, we may destroy Ming's source of the disease and stop the canister bombings.”

“That would go a long way in easing the tensions and fears of the Federation citizens,” said Kala.  “It’s all people talk about these days.  Some people are even saying it would be better to surrender to the Brotherhood and live under their domination than to suffer being stricken with Ming’s plague.”

“Obviously, they don’t know Ming very well,” I added.

We finished up our meal and sat talking for a while longer, sipping on a fine Gabacian wine as the sunset worked its magic on the water and the stonework of the alcove before the stars began to fill the blue-black sky.

“I miss this,” I said.

“Miss what?” asked Kala.

“Watching the sunsets and sitting quietly with you.” I sighed.  “When I was a boy back on Earth, I think I watched the sunset almost every evening – at least every evening when the sky was clear.  It was almost like magic to me, watching the sky grow dark as the stars began appearing like white jewels.  Now I rarely get to see a sunset or even the sky, for that matter, because I’m holed up in a ship’s War Room someplace, trying to track down the Brotherhood.”

“At least you’re not their prisoner, watching the sun set over a slave camp every night,” Kala muttered.

“Yes, I guess you’re right, but I would love to have more opportunities to finish the days with you.”

My wrist-com began beeping.  “I dread what this might be about,” I said and then answered, “Tibby here.”

“Admiral,” came Marranalis’s voice through the comlink.  We have reports from multiple sources of an attack on a civilian hub station at Tantella.  By some unknown means, a large band of Brotherhood agents have managed to incapacitate our guards and take control.  They replaced the nodes on one of the gates with nodes of their own and when they opened the gate, a large squad of men came through and began a sweeping ground attack throughout the gate hub.  One of our guards managed to shoot out a node and close the gate, but now the Brotherhood troops are trapped at the station and are killing everyone they encounter.  They’ve since occupied the entire main facility and have entrenched themselves quite firmly.”

“How many gate hubs do we have on Tantella?” I asked.

“Three, sir.  Two civilian and one on our military base there.  We’ve already closed the other civilian hub gates and locked down the facility as a precautionary measure.”

“Get in touch with Captain Padaran and order him to deploy his specially trained squads by way of the military base hub.  Were they any signs that the enemy brought germ warfare pathogens with them?” I asked, dreading the answer.

“No, sir.  There were no obvious signs.”

“How many enemy combatants are they reporting?” I asked.

“Well over five hundred.  They poured through the gate very rapidly and their troopers took up stations quickly.  It was a well-planned and executed attack.  It’s not going to be easy to retake the hub.  Now that they have control, there’s no doubt that they’ll continue replacing the gate nodes with their own.  Who knows how many more troops they’ll bring through.  We’re broadcasting an alert to all gate security locations Federation-wide and ordering the immediate shut down of all non-essential gates, but it may already be too late.”

“Be sure to pass that information on to Padaran.  Tell him to knock those gates out if he can.  The sooner the better.”

“What about an aerial assault on the gates?” asked Marranalis.

“It’s too risky until we know how many civilians are in the area and whether the Brotherhood is holding any captives.  Taking out the gates in an aerial assault would work, but we’d be killing a lot of our own people.  We don’t need to get a reputation for killing as many of our own people as the Brotherhood does if there are alternatives.  We’re still getting flack about Glomar Rosa, even though there was no other option.”

“Admiral, do you think we should delay the attack at Plamos until this situation is resolved at Tantella?”

“No.  We need to make the strike at Plamos on schedule.  I suspect that if we haven’t defeated the enemy at Tantella by then, Ming will order them to retreat back to Plamos to help defend him, while he makes his escape to whatever world he has set up as his next refuge.”

“You make it sound like you expect Ming to escape,” said Marranalis in a shocked tone.

“It’s almost a certainty, unless we get him on the first shot.  As soon as he knows we’re attacking, he’ll us a Cantolla Gate to get away.  Now that he has the technology he’ll always make sure he has an escape gate set up near him.”

“What good is our attack then?”

“We can destroy a large portion of his fleet, which will take several years to rebuild.  Hopefully we can also destroy the source of the pathogens Ming is using in his germ warfare.  These things alone will amount to huge advantages for the Federation.  Besides, Ming has only a short time left to live from what we know.  The destruction of most of his military at this point in time would ruin his plans.  There’s no way he would live long enough to rebuild and do the permanent harm to the Federation that he wants to.”

The hours ticked by as we followed the reports coming in from Tantella.  From the data we were receiving, the number of enemy troops at the gate hub was estimated to have risen to nearly one thousand.  This didn’t account for any Brotherhood troops that may have entered the hub and then redeployed to blitz attacks at other locations; but strangely, we were getting no reports of breaches at other facilities.  So as far as we could tell, the combatants were confined to this gate hub.  Their objectives were difficult to make out while the conflict was unfolding, as their tactics didn’t involve the usual body-bombs, pathogen canisters and blitz-attack strategies that we had come to expect from Ming and his armies.  Whatever they wanted, it had to do with this planet, at least for now.