The Kaitian War, Page 2

  "Any confirmation what we got, Lisa?" asked Jeffery. He had asked for a full company, but he doubted that he'd get it.

  "Yes, sir," answered Lisa. "We got three platoons from the 9th Marine Brigade. Two, three, and five of the Delta-3 company. Approximately one hundred Marines."

  Jeffery said nothing and he was neither pleased nor disappointed. Three platoons was more than none. He nodded acknowledgement to the lieutenant.

  "They are already waiting permission to come aboard," said Lisa.

  "Really?" Jeffery was delighted--he'd not expected them to be here already. "Grant the permission and let's welcome them onboard."

  ***

  Private Karl Thornton from 2-Delta-3 of the 9th Brigade exited the shuttle and was surprised at the cleanliness of the frigate.

  He'd gotten used to a little more dirty environs in the basic training and he had expected that he'd be assigned to some outpost in faraway colony. Karl had expected correctly since they'd been already en route to some outpost in faraway colony when his platoon had received orders to be reassigned to the Sea of Boston.

  "Pheeuwww!" said Private Ellen Girard as she exited the shuttle just behind him. "I think I like this."

  Karl smiled. "We're all gonna like it."

  "Cut the chatter!" ordered Sergeant Caleb Simmons from behind Karl and Ellen.

  "Move! Move! Get in formation! The commander of the ship is coming to welcome you worms!"

  Karl went quickly to formation with a smile in his lips as they all settled in.

  "Attention!" ordered Caleb as Jeffery came to shuttle bay with Lisa.

  "At ease, Marines," said Jeffery, but was interrupted by the loudspeaker.

  "All hands! The Village is decloaking at starboard!" said someone in the loudspeaker and before Jeffery could do anything, Lisa was already beside a panel on the wall and the entire wall became transparent, looking out to empty space.

  Karl and Ellen exchanged looks. Neither of them knew what "The Village" was, or what was going on. But Caleb knew, that much was clear from his look.

  "Ladies and gentlemen," said Jeffery to the crew. His voice was heard from the loudspeakers. "You are about to see something few have seen. Or will ever see."

  A brief moment after he finished the sentence, they saw a ship decloaking as if a curtain was taken away in front of it.

  "The Village of War!" whispered Caleb in awe, and both Karl and Ellen felt their jaws drop. The size of the ship was something unbelievable, even from a distance. It looked more like a huge space station than a ship. The Village of War was the nickname of the 7th Fleet of the Human Empire. The origin of the nickname came from the ancient home base of the Jaeger Brigade.

  "I have never seen anything that big," whispered Karl.

  "It is not common knowledge," said Caleb, "although I wouldn't call it a secret. Besides," he continued, "you can't keep something that big a secret."

  "No, you can't," said Jeffery from behind Caleb. "Do you happen to know what its mission is?" he asked.

  All shook their heads.

  "Good!" said Jeffery and laughed. "I don't know it either!" Caleb laughed; he knew now that they'd been stationed on a good ship.

  "Sir?" asked Caleb. "I've heard rumors about it. Their mission, I mean."

  "Oh?" wondered Jeffery.

  "They say The Village explores all around the galaxy, far beyond known space. They also say that it comes back only for reinforcements," said Caleb.

  "That's what I've heard, too, Sergeant," said Jeffery. "And I've also heard that they roam in known space, too. And that they fight along other Coalition empires."

  "Against who, sir?" asked Karl.

  Jeffery didn't answer right away. He looked serious and said, honestly, "I don't know, Private. I don't know."

  "Sir!" called Lisa. "May I speak with you?"

  "Duty calls, Marines," said Jeffery, smiling, and left to speak with Lisa.

  "He seems to be a nice commander," commented Ellen and smiled. "Good-looking, too."

  "Don't get in over your head, Private," said Caleb. "You are way out of your league."

  "Hah!" Ellen laughed, but stopped when she noticed a serious look on Karl's face.

  "What's the matter?" she asked.

  "You said it only comes back for reinforcements?" asked Karl.

  "That's the rumor," answered Caleb, "and the commander seemed to agree."

  "Right," said Karl. "Look."

  He pointed out toward The Village. Beside the huge ship were three cruisers, five frigates, and many smaller ships.

  "If those are reinforcements," said Karl, "I wonder where they've been that they lost all the people those ships are reinforcing?"

  No one answered and all who heard became uneasy.

  Lisa also heard Karl's comment and said quietly to Jeffery, "I wonder that, too. And I noticed two unmarked corvettes entering The Village.”

  "Really?" said Jeffery. Unmarked ships typically meant Special Intelligence ships or ships belonging to high-ranking government officials.

  "Lisa," said Jeffery after a long moment, "I don't know why . . . but I have a very bad feeling about this."

  Lisa nodded and felt shivers up her back.

  3

  Rachel, an Aide of the Miccvan Empire, had come to the Arash Empire home world on a routine visit to coordinate activities on behalf of Advisor Milton. When she had received an urgent message from him to go investigate why infiltration teams on the Kaitian home world hadn't made contact, she tried to get a ship from the Arash, as her own yacht didn't have cloaking capability. Her talks had not gone well and she was about lose her temper in the Arash Empire Navy office in the planet's main port's control tower.

  "I need that ship," said Rachel, forcing herself to be calm.

  "Rachel," said Cameron, Colonel of the Arash Empire Navy, "I can't give you a ship. And even if I could," he continued, "I'd probably not give you a ship in any case."

  Rachel showed her frustration.

  "It's probably nothing," said Cameron, trying to calm her.

  "Nothing!" yelled Rachel. "Yes, nothing to you. Your people aren't there now. Mine are! And you know the threat as well as I do!"

  "But it's not a current threat," said Cameron. "You know that. We have all agreed and all our projections indicate that war is many, many standard cycles ahead."

  "I know that," said Rachel, "but I got orders from Advisor Milton that I should go and investigate, and I must follow those orders."

  Cameron sighed. "I know, I know. I will try to get you a ship," he said, resigned. "Does that satisfy you?"

  "Only if you actually get the ship," said Rachel sharply.

  Cameron sighed again and started to say something when an alarm interrupted him.

  "Colonel!" somebody shouted and Cameron ran out of the office. Rachel followed behind him and noticed how all personnel were rushing toward the tactical center. She didn't like the look of this.

  "Colonel!" shouted Major Jillian again. "Unknown ships have entered our system!"

  "Who are they?" somebody asked.

  "First images coming in now," said Jillian and put up a screen from the first defense barriers. Images showed huge black cruisers coming toward the barrier. Without any warning, they destroyed it, and then advanced toward the second barrier.

  "The Kaitians!" whispered Rachel. "The Kaitians have attacked!"

  Cameron went pale; he'd recognized them, too.

  "We're not prepared!" he whispered from between his teeth.

  They had been very wrong in their projections of the Kaitian threat.

  ***

  Captain Kould of the Kaitian Sword Legion was happy. For once, High Priests had done something he could agree with: they had decided to launch an immediate attack after the Sign from the Black Gods. Kould had been first to volunteer to be in the spearhead of the attack.

  He had insisted on bringing his own scout fighter, instead of a standard fighter, to battle and he had been allowed to do so. He had
made modifications to his fighter and armed it with the maximum possible firepower while keeping maximum maneuverability, at the expense of armor and shields.

  Kould had been the very first to enter the home world of Arash, one of the Godless Others. They had destroyed their first defense barrier with ease and then moved toward the second barrier.

  The Arash had gotten over their initial shock and scrambled interceptors to hold off the attack. Their capital ships advanced behind the interceptors and Kould smiled.

  "Destroy the interceptors," commanded the Black Priest.

  Kaitian fighters kept the interceptors tied as the Kaitian capital ships moved toward the second defense barrier and destroyed it. The Arash couldn't do anything but retreat, and they'd already lost over two-thirds of their interceptors.

  ***

  "They stopped!" said Jillian after the Kaitians destroyed the second defense barrier. "The fleet is regrouping!"

  "Colonel, I need to speak with you," whispered Rachel.

  They went to the office.

  "Why?" started Cameron.

  "Do you see what's happening?" said Rachel seriously.

  Cameron nodded. He knew that they'd already lost. The Kaitians had dozens of cruisers, frigates, and smaller ships, and they couldn't even count how many fighters. The Arash defense could only slow them.

  "I need to leave!" said Rachel. "To warn others."

  Cameron nodded again, but before he could continue, there was an alarmed cry.

  "Colonel! Colonel!" shouted Jillian and they ran again to the tactical center.

  "They bypassed the barriers and fleet and are in orbit!" said Jillian.

  "How?" demanded Cameron.

  "I don't know!" shouted Jillian, nearly panicking. "Some sort of short-range jumpers!"

  "Incomiiiing!" somebody shouted, and they felt the first explosions very close. Rachel realized what they were doing.

  "They are targeting the ships!" she said. "I need to leave!"

  "Go! Go!" shouted Cameron. "Before it's too late!"

  Rachel ran from the office, toward the port and to her ship, but she feared she couldn't make it in time.

  "Where's our defense?" asked Cameron.

  "Orbital cannons did their best," said Jillian in a low voice, "before they were destroyed. But the defense fleet is already in firing range. They are about to engage the enemy."

  ***

  "Destroy the cruisers," ordered the Black Priest, and Kould turned to face the nearest Arash cruiser. He scanned the cruiser; it was heavily armored and it had formidable weapons. But it was no match for Kould and his fighter.

  He flew toward the cruiser and told the artificial intelligence to fire a single torpedo once they were inside cruiser's shields. Kould evaded enemy weapons and penetrated their shield without effort.

  The fighter fired one torpedo at point-blank range against the Arash cruiser. The torpedo penetrated the armor and dug deep within the cruiser before detonating.

  The cruiser was ripped to pieces from within and Kould continued toward the next cruiser.

  ***

  "Colonel!" shouted Jillian desperately. "Our fleet's being decimated!"

  Cameron saw it, too. Their ships disappeared one by one from the screens and he hadn't seen a single enemy being destroyed.

  So far, the Kaitians had targeted their defenses in space as well as all military installations on the planet. The colonel feared what would happen when the enemy had destroyed their defenses.

  "Listen up!" he shouted and all in the tactical center looked at him.

  "You all see what's going on!" he said. "Our fleet's almost gone. Other defenses and communications are lost. We don't have much time!"

  Some of the people had already stood up, as if they guessed what Cameron was about to say.

  "We must leave and go in to hiding," said Cameron. "The enemy will come down soon. We must leave the city and go underground! Go now! Take your families and whoever you can and we'll meet underground!"

  There was only a brief pause as people pondered the command to leave, but they already knew that Cameron was right. All rushed out, toward their families and then to underground.

  The Arash had built long ago, before the Coalition was formed, underground cities--just in case someone attacked their home world.

  It didn't take long before the colonel was alone in the tactical center. Or almost alone--Jillian was still there.

  "Jillian," said Cameron, "you must leave."

  "No, sir," she said, "I'd rather be here."

  The colonel nodded. "Very well. What's the status?"

  "The fleet's nearly gone. Our cities are being evacuated and people are moving underground," she said.

  "Good," said the colonel, "very good. There is hope for our people if we go underground."

  "Depends on the enemy," said Jillian, "what they'll do."

  Cameron said nothing.

  "Colonel!" somebody shouted and startled them. "Colonel!"

  "Rachel!" said Colonel. "What happened?""

  "My ship was half-destroyed when I got there," she said, "Communications were jammed. I may have gotten one message through, but I can't be sure. And, Colonel," she said in serious tone, "your fleet's almost gone."

  "It's already gone," said Jillian in a sad voice and they looked at the tactical screens. There were no Arash ships visible.

  "Then we don't have much time!" said Rachel, alarmed. "My ship's sensors picked up activity in the asteroid belt!"

  "What are you saying?" Cameron didn't want to believe it.

  "Colonel!" said Jillian. "They are moving asteroids toward us! They are going to bombard us with asteroids!" She stood up.

  "We must leave!" Cameron commanded and they all hurried outside.

  4

  "Feet off my console!" said Nick with a smile when he returned from the restroom to the bridge of a corvette of the Human Empire Navy.

  The corvette was unmarked; it didn't have any outside signs about the ship's name or designation and the name of the ship was classified. This unmarked corvette was named Lake of Fairwater and it belonged to Special Intelligence Center. It was one of the ships used to test and prototype various technologies before they were used in normal service.

  One of the technologies to test with the Lake of Fairwater was the latest cloaking device and, as part of the testing, William had ordered them to go to the Kaitian home world to find out what had happened to the infiltration teams there.

  "Can't a man relax here?" said Louis with a grin.

  "Sure you can," said Nick, "but put your feet on your own console."

  "I can't do that," said Louis seriously, "I need my console for my work."

  "Hah!" laughed Nick, and sat down in front of his console after Louis had, slowly, moved his feet off.

  "Gentlemen," said the ship's AI in a female voice. The AI was installed in the corvette during their visit to SD-9--and it was also one of the technologies they were testing.

  "What is it, Aileen?" asked Nick. Aileen was their nickname for the AI.

  "Communications from the Arash home world has ceased," said Aileen.

  "Oh?" said Louis. "What do you mean ceased?"

  Aileen showed a frequency chart on the console and said, "There's usually all kinds of communication going in and out from any advanced world. But now there is nothing."

  "Nothing? At all?" asked Nick looking at the chart.

  "Nothing," confirmed Aileen.

  "Should we check it out?" asked Louis.

  "It's somewhat aside from our route," said Nick. "I don't want to deviate from the mission."

  Louis projected a map between them and pointed, "But this colony is nearly on our route. We could stop there," he continued, "to see if there's anything there. I mean, they must know if something was going on in their home world."

  "Good idea," said Nick, and Aileen made a course correction that would take them to the Arash colony.

  ***

  "We have entered the s
ystem," Aileen informed them.

  "Anything?" asked Louis.

  "Everything is perfectly normal," said Aileen.

  "Go to the orbit of the colony," said Nick, "but keep us cloaked and make sure nothing collides with us."

  It was one of the mission parameters and part of the test of the new cloak technology. They must remain cloaked and undetected at all times. Collision with another ship would create unnecessary complications and William had been quite clear that he would not tolerate that.

  Besides, they had another reason to remain cloaked. William had told them that because the device was still a prototype, if they decloaked, they wouldn't be able to cloak again.

  "You're right, everything looks normal," said Louis looking at the screens in his console.

  "Except . . . that," he said, and zoomed on a colony administration building. Thermal and x-ray clearly showed that there was nearly frantic activity within the administration building, but not anywhere else.

  "I wonder what's going on," said Nick.

  "Counselors," said Aileen in a loud voice. Because she used Nick and Louis's titles, they knew that something was about to happen.

  "All communications have ceased," she said. "I get nothing outside of this system. Unknown ships entering the system," Aileen showed the ships on the screen.

  Both Nick and Louis were standing nervously. "Who are they?" asked Nick.

  "They are the Kaitians," said Aileen, after she'd gotten enough sensor data.

  "And this is an invasion," she added.

  "Holy Hell," whispered Louis, "I thought it would take a long time before they attacked."

  "I thought so, too," said Nick. "William said that it would be thousands of years from now."

  Nick and Louis were immortal, like William. The immortality had been given to them by Susan, the greatest enigma they knew.

  "He was wrong," said Louis, "very wrong."

  "They were all wrong," Nick corrected. He'd seen the reports how all civilizations in the Coalition had agreed, based on various projections, that the Kaitians would prepare for war for a long time and it would give the Coalition time to prepare as well.

  "The invasion force is coming directly here," said Aileen.

  "Take us out of the way," Nick ordered. "Make absolutely sure that they don't detect us. We must monitor what happens here."

  The ship moved away from the planet and Aileen shut down all unnecessary systems to minimize possibility that the Kaitians would detect them.

  Nick and Louis watched as the Kaitian forces advanced without difficulty to the colony. A single Kaitian fighter cleared defense platforms and the capital ships didn't even have to fire a single shot until they were in the orbit of the colony.