Warlord's Invasion (Starfight Book 1) (29 page)

CHAPTER NINE

January 26
th
3987 AD

13
th
Planetary Rotation, 5061
st
Solar Cycle of the First Starborn

Clan Mothership Ro’Zur’Gur

Holographic Map Room…

G
or-Eben’s Catlips curved happily. He could not stop smiling.

Gazing at the holo portrayed before him, he could not help but peer over the reports. He wished he had all the time in the world, so he may witness over and over the battle replayed before him in his personal map room. It prickled him with delight, and the pleasure didn’t lessen with each replay.

That a victory of such unparalleled success had occurred…

Yes, it was true. The enemy had run before the ultimate enclosure had been sprung — they had sniffed the trap, but it had been too late. 9/10ths of the enemy’s total weight had been lost. The enemy’s entire sector presence had been smashed. He would have liked to have destroyed the remaining 1/10 but it would have been wishful thinking. To desire perfection above what was given was a fool’s dream, after all. Now, his ships could roam free, could assault any planet within the sector, and take over any civilian population…

It was already perfect.

A hologram appeared before him. It was his assistant, Subcommander Del-Mar. “Your magnificence,” she said, “Subjugator Hal-Dorat’s
Usha’Tera
has entered communication range. Shall I tell him you are ready?”

“As always.” Gor-Eben nodded. “He is prompt. Display him before me.”

“As you wish, your magnificence.” His assistant’s hologram vanished.

Seconds later, Hal-Dorat’s hologram appeared. The black-haired Cat wore a bright-red uniform with golden shoulder sleeves. His black skin, like space itself, shined in his bridge’s lights.

Marvelous!

The Cat bowed. “Your eminence.”

“Rise, Hal-Dorat.” Gor smiled. “You did well. I am impressed by your complete success.”

“Your eminence is too kind.” Hal-Dorat said, standing up. “I have allowed the enemy to escape. For that, I should be punished.”

“How can I punish you?” Gor gazed into the hologram. “When you have defeated eighty out of every hundred of their ships? Your trap was superb. No Cat can deny that. The enemy has been soundly destroyed by their mere presence on the battlefield. It was your plan that gathered them there.”

“Your eminence is most gracious.”

Gor paused, waiting for the right moment. “Now, Subjugator. Tell me your thoughts and concerns. Surely, you have them? I wish to know what you think about how our invasion should now proceed. It is why I have called you here. What are your thoughts after facing them in battle?”

Hal-Dorat blinked, then nodded, apparent that he had been preparing for this. “There are several concerns, your eminence,” he answered quickly. “The greatest is that although the Pra cannot counter our ships using ships of their own, they have the potential to create much more numbers of smaller weapons that
can
hurt our ships in Nakra-space, as their limited numbers of these weapons have already demonstrated.”

“What exactly are these weapons?” Gor demanded. “I was not aware they had any advantages.”

“They do not have remotely superior weapons, but they do have the advantage of being a large territory to conquer, thus being able to produce them in high numbers. Although individually, these missiles are less powerful than our own, they have a great deal of time and production assets to create these semi-useful weapons, especially since everything they produce can go immediately into battle, while everything we produce have to travel thousands if not tens of thousands of light-years. They can produce enough and quickly enough to become a factor in slowing our entire conquest. I say slowing, your eminence, because I do not fear their ability to stop our invasion altogether. The same goes for their single-pilot nakra space fighters. Actually, their fighters are even more troubling, as they can destroy our small warships on a higher weight for weight basis.”

“Can these human fighters threaten our main battleships?” Gor asked, his interest peaking.

“They cannot, your eminence. For that, I am thankful.”

“Then what do you believe we should do to make sure our conquest of their territory is not slowed?”

“Actually, we have several options, your eminence.”

“Which are?”

“The most obvious one is to continue our conquest of their territory in a steadfast manner, moving from nearest star system to the next and spreading out in a wave. The more we conquer, the less industrial capacity they will have. In this method, we provide support for our flanks by having them guarded with our fleets equally spread out to prevent severe damage in case they counterattack.”

“And you have a different idea?”

“A proposal, your eminence. The flaw in the previous idea is that we will not be attacking their industrial core any time soon. According to the data we’ve conquered, we know their production core is centralized in their core worlds, which as far as we know is a collection of a hundred systems surrounding their crown world, this capital they call Trantor. In my new proposal, instead of attacking their outer systems slowly and eventually coming close to threaten their core worlds, we would be attacking their core worlds directly. This will invade their production core to a halt, preventing them from creating any new weapons in enough numbers to seriously slow our success. Without these weapons, their outer systems can be subjugated easily.”

Gor pondered about the subject in deep seriousness. “But if we drive deep into their core and bypass their other systems,” Gor-Eben replied. “We will be traveling four to six thousand light years past our initial boundaries of systems we have already conquered. How then, Subjugator, do you expect us to maintain supply lines for our ground troops? Even if we manage to start sending ground Ka onto their nearest core worlds, we will need to replenish our depleted troop transports with fresh Ka. So that we can continue conquering the next core world – but how do you intend to protect our nakra-space troop transports when they have to travel five to six thousand light years back and forth without supply bases in the middle? Without supply bases, it would take too long and the amount of forces we’d need to guard them is too vast. Or, if you intend to establish these supply bases with fresh Ka, how do you intend to protect them from raids and attacks without having their flanks protected as would be in the original plan of invasion?”

“We don’t. We won’t use ground Ka in this method, your eminence.”

“Then…” Gor-Eben’s eyes opened wide. “…You intend to annihilate the surface population of these core worlds?”

“Precisely, you eminence.”

Gor-Eben flinched. His mind quickly began analyzing this new strategy, weighing all his desires and consequences of each decision against each other. Although the idea of bombarding the humans’ industrial centers quickly in a first strike maneuver was tempting, he didn’t like it – not because he cared about the lives of the trillions of alien sophonts, but because of the political and economic repercussions of such an event – as always.

The concept of planetary bombardment and murdering civilians has always been a great stigma to the Ga. What will the Royal Litter do when they found he had murdered trillions of alien civilians just to speed up his conquest in their name? Planetary bombardment was a tentative subject, so much that he has used another clan’s failure to consider the consequences of such a stigma…to gather allies in a war with this opposing clan.

Then there was a second, greater issue…of the prize. If he killed the humans’ core worlds, he would be killing his own industry and resources after he had subjugated this empire – he’ll need these raw resources and skilled sophonts in his war with the Great Prince.

Furthermore, not only did he need these skilled servants, he needed them to be willingly loyal to him. Annihilating their core worlds and their capital worlds would make them difficult to subjugate – especially considering how much he knew about the humans and their psychology. “There are several problems to this method,” Gor stated. “One, decimating a conquest’s population – particularly this species — will make their surrender difficult — it would make it harder for this species to become willingly servile to us in the long run. Two, if we destroy their core worlds where vast numbers of their population are, we will be destroying parts of our prize. We need those worlds alive to create warships and weapons and we need those sophonts alive, so that these future warships and weapons will be loyally crewed. Without those core worlds, we will have a vast territory with a depleted center and a species that resents us on a scale far more than if we simply conquered them.”

Hal-Dorat gazed at his superior in earnest. Hal-Dorat’s ears straightened, and it seemed like he was fighting something inside of himself. Then, he must have found the courage. “I understand your eminence. But what if they surrender if we simply threaten their core worlds with annihilation?”

“They may,” Gor-Eben replied. “From my understanding of their psychology and from what you have told me, they are a reasonable species. But I already have a plan in motion to achieve that effect. Meanwhile Subjugator, as long as we are on this subject, proceed with the original plan for now. Conquer the neighboring stars with haste now that their fleet has been destroyed. I am glad to have heard what new plans you have thought up.”

“Yes, I will, your eminence.” Hal-Dorat bowed.

Finally, Gor-Eben sighed. “I will deliver your concern and your proposal to the Alpha Chiefs. It is not outrageous. These are extreme times we are exposed to, after all. We may in the future be forced to adopt your plan. Meanwhile, transfer to me all data you know about these fighters and missiles. Now, what are your other concerns?”

Hal-Dorat stood there in the center of his bridge, looking puzzled, although he didn’t voice why he was puzzled. Instead, the fleet commander simply said, “There are several other things we must deal with, your eminence, but they are minor…”

Remnants of the Betelgeuse Combined Fleet

Temporary Flagship, Destroyer Demosthenes

Temporary Admiral’s Flag Center, Deck 4…

Sleep had come, not in the trickle of a raindrop, but as a waterfall. It came and rinsed Vier’s exhausted body until all that was left was once again, a refreshed but slightly worn woman in her mid-thirties.

She stood there, in the middle of her new fleet command center, mesmerized by the degree to which her command had fallen to. The little cargo bay had been reshaped using whatever odd instruments and manual interfaces the crew of the ship could find and finally, after hours it became a true flag bridge filled with control interfaces and holographic projections.

It would do, although it could have been a lot better. She would have preferred her old command center on board the deceased dreadnought’s bridge any day.

She eyed her fleet, or what was left of it, as it zoomed back to the sector’s capital, Betelgeuse, so it could offload all the redundant crews. Her fleet would also be going to Betelgeuse so that it could be resupplied with fuel, missiles, and other armaments.

The battle had been fought, and it had been decided.

Now, she had to work with the leftovers.

Vier sighed. At least now, she had a clear head after a good night’s sleep. With so little to actually do or prepare for, she thought about her situation, and the situation of the entire war.

Facts: 90 percent of the combined fleet’s tonnage was lost. Eight hundred dead dreadnoughts. Fourteen hundred battlecruisers and heavy cruisers. Three hundred light cruisers. Four hundred destroyers. All gone. In terms of personnel, she tried to convince herself that it wasn’t so bad, that it could have been a lot worse. Instead of losing 10 million spacemen, she could have lost 14 out of the original 16… had she not thought to transport her crews from her big ships to her little ships. But, damn it! It was still 10 million naval crewmen gone within a day – a near instant within the scopes and timeline of the war.

It was a rout. It had to be called a rout – one in which Vier partook on the losing side.

Yet, what could she have done differently?