Exodus: Empires at War: Book 8: Soldiers (Exodus: Empires at War.) (13 page)

“Some
understanding, if you do prevail.  Some insight into my kind, and a
recognition that we are not evil.”

Innocent stared
at the male for some minutes, aghast at what he had just said.  The Cacas
had wiped out whole worlds, and caused over twenty billion deaths in the
Empire.  They were killing and eating humans, another intelligent
species.  If that wasn’t the definition of evil, she didn’t know what
was.  She wasn’t sure how this understanding of them would help if the
humans found themselves with their boot heels on the throats of the big
sentients.  Probably less than this male hoped.

“Thank you, Great
Admiral,” she finally said, getting up from her chair.  “I will make sure
my Emperor gets this information.”  She kept her face devoid of emotion
while she spoke, though she was sure she would order every one of the creatures
killed if it was in her power to do so.

*    
*     *

NEW MOSCOW, APRIL 4
^TH
,
1002.

The sun on New
Moscow, at least at this latitude, was not particularly hot.  Not compared
to hellholes like Sestius or Azure.  Still, even a high mountain would
seem hot in the Ghilley Suits that the Rangers were wearing on this recon.

Cornelius had
decided that he needed to be on this initial recon.  At least that’s what
he told himself as he crawled through the gully at the head of the squad. 
As a company commander he would not be able to go on every patrol.  That
was the one thing he still had problems with as an officer.  His men were
good, but he was better.  That was not braggadocio.  It was
fact.  His men moved like a breeze through the brush.  He was moving
through the woods like the stillness that was no wind.  He beat every
single one of them in sparring, or on the range.

He knew,
however, that he couldn’t do the mission on his own.  It wasn’t that he
didn’t trust his men to get the job done.  It was that he couldn’t stand
the thought of sending them to their deaths.  Preacher had warned him that
an officer’s task was not easy.  He shared all the dangers of his men, but
shouldered almost all of the responsibility.

What passed for
birds on this world continued their warbling cries and songs in the trees
above, a good sign, one that his men were moving as part of the forest. 
Larger beasts grunted in the near distance, herbivores clipping vegetation from
the trees.  There would be carnivores out there as well.  They made
the Captain the most anxious of anything on the mission.  He had studied
what was known about them.  That was not the same as knowing them,
understanding how they hunted, where and why.

The gully
continued out into the plain, about three meters deep by four wide, zigging and
zagging across the flatlands that had been wild grasslands interspersed with
farmlands before the Cacas had come.  Cornelius crawled up on the side of
the gully facing the camp, swinging his rifle back on its straps to lay across
his back as he pulled his glasses from their case.

The camp leapt
into clarity through the binoculars.  Cornelius was aware of where the sun
stood in the heavens, making sure that he was not reflecting any light that
might be seen from the camp.  The lenses were treated to be
non-reflective, but the Captain did not like to take chances he didn’t have
to.  Swinging the glasses away from the camp, he followed the web of
gullies that ran across the plains, picking out what looked like the best
approach routes, where to place his snipers, and the heavy support units from
the heavy and medium infantry.

Some hissing
ahead and to the right caught his attention, and one of the other Rangers,
crawled up beside him with his rifle in hand.  It was an air weapon,
firing a dart of tranquilizers that was supposed to work on the native life,
without making either the noise of a chemical weapon or giving off the
electronic signature of more advanced rifle.  A large predator moved on
its four limbs in their direction, sniffing the ground with a flat, large nose
set with wide nostrils.  Horns stood along its back, and rose to their
full height as the creature roused itself to fight.

The Rangers were
wearing a chemical spray on their Ghilley suits and undergarments that was
supposed to blend them in with the vegetation of the forest.  It worked
against most animals on this world, but had not been tested against all of
them.  And he didn’t think this predator had been one it had been tested
on.

“Wait a moment,
Slater,” he told the other man in a whisper.  The beast looked up at the
sound and seemed to zero in on them, then took a few steps their way, its soft
pads soundless on the hard ground.

Cornelius was
sure that they could down this creature, even if the tranquilizer darts had not
been tested on its species.  Enough darts and it would go down, maybe in
death.  But he didn’t want the Cacas to see a predator fall for no reason
and stay down, and if other predators, or scavengers, came along, that would
attract even more attention.

Both men watched
the creature carefully as it continued to sniff the air.  Walborski
signaled the men behind him in the gully to stay still, still hoping that the
predator would lose interest.

A group of small
herbivores trumpeted in the distance, and the head of the predator rose and
turned that way.  In a motion it lowered itself to the ground and slunk
off, heading for prey it was familiar with, and not something strange that
offered unknown risks.

Cornelius turned
his attention back to the mission, waving for two more men to come up on the
side of the gulley and get a take of the area.  All of the men were
augmented as much mentally as physically, and they took in every detail, stored
every memory.  Later, back at the base, they would be able to send those memories
through their implants into the computers that would help to develop an
appreciation of the area.

On the way back
to the mountains and the tunnel entrance that led back up to their base
 Walborski was thinking about what he had seen, his mind envisioning the
battle that was to come.  No matter how he replayed it in his mind, he
could see no way they were going to carry this off without massive casualties
among those they had come to rescue.  There was no way they could herd
millions of civilians across the open areas while lasers, particle beams and
explosive projectiles flew between the battling forces.

The attack came
out of nowhere, heard by the rustling of the leaves in the trees before it was
seen.  The Rangers reacted like the men they were, turning toward the
sound, their weapons ready.  A half score of the creatures came flying out
of the forest, hard for the eye to track as their chameleon like fur blended
the jaguar sized creatures into their surroundings.

One hit Slater
in the chest, its hundred and fifty kilo mass knocking the big man down onto
his back.  Only the swift reflexes of the Ranger saved his throat as he
interposed his arms in the way.  Two of the beasts went down with darts in
them, while one took the molecular blade of a human through the side of its
neck, severing its spine.  One Ranger was the target of two of the
animals, and though he handled one of them, the other was able to get its jaws
around the man’s throat and tear it out.

Cornelius
grabbed one of the animals with his left hand gripped into the fur behind its
neck.  The creature still blurred before his eyes, and his fingers almost
bounced from the flesh before he could get his grip.  With a hank he
pulled the creature from the ground and plunged his monomolecular blade into
the side of the predator.

The animals were
smart, and realized quickly that they had taken on more than they could
handle.  Seven of them took off with howls, running into the forest, their
camouflage blending them into the trees while they were still pushing through
the first layer of underbrush.

“I think Quang
is gone, sir,” said Slater, kneeling down beside the Ranger who lay on his back
with his throat torn out, blood pumping into the air.

“Not if I can
help it,” said the Captain, pulling his Ghilley suit from his body, then
picking up Quang.  The brain was what they needed to be saved.  If
the brain died there would be no coming back.  Troops in armor had the
luxury of cryo systems which could preserve that organ, but Rangers did
not.  They did have nanobubbles in their systems, more than an unaugmented
human did, which would continue to release their oxygen to the brain, but
without life there was no blood pumping through the organ to provide the sugars
needed for continued metabolic function.

“Twenty-five
minutes,” he told Slater.  “He’s got twenty-five minutes until there’s no
chance of recovery.”

“It took us
fifty minutes for us to get to this point on the way out,” said the Sergeant.

“Then I’ll have
to move a bit faster,” he told Slater as he picked up his dying man and slung
him across his shoulders.  “The rest of you follow at normal speed.”

“We could send
someone with you, sir,” said another of the men.  “It’s not safe to go it
on your own.”

“I’ll make less
noise alone,” said the Captain, turning, making sure he had the weight settled
properly, then taking off in a jog.

It felt cooler
without the suffocating heat of the Ghilley suit.  Still, the sweat rolled
down his face, while branches and leaves smacked him, a few drawing
blood.  To his sensitive ears it sounded like he was one of the great
beasts of Sestius bumbling through the jungle, though he knew he made little
that could be heard more than twenty meters or so into the jungle.  He
worried that he might be giving off enough heat without the insulation of the
suit to be picked up through the canopy, though the odds were slight.  The
greater danger was that something from that jungle would hear him and come to
investigate, hoping for an easy meal.  He doubted it would find one, but
anything that slowed him down reduced Quang’s chances of resurrection.

He realized he
wasn’t going to make it at his current speed and sped up, going from jog to run
in a couple of steps.  The body on his shoulders weighed on even his great
strength, while his lungs battled to pull enough air in to feed his muscles.

I’ve run
farther and faster before
, he thought as he gritted his teeth and increased
his pace to a sprint.  A branch smacked across his face, temporarily
blinding him, and he stumbled a few steps while he tried to clear his
vision.  It came back quickly, if a little blurry, and he increased his
pace once again.

Something came
jumping out of the jungle behind him, and a huffing sounded from the gully as
some creature ran after him.  Cornelius spun as he ran, back peddling, to
see one of the things that had torn out his man’s throat coming after
him.  Hoping there were no more, he tossed Quang to the ground, drew his
knife, and braced himself for the creature.  It gathered its legs underneath
and leapt for the Ranger, who moved at a speed like nothing it had ever seen to
punch his knife into the ribs of the beast while falling back.  He
completed the move with his legs thrusting into the stomach of the predator,
lifting it over as he pulled his knife from its body in a draw cut.  The
beast let out a plaintive howl and landed down the path, lying on its side,
struggling to breath.

Cornelius was
tempted to leave it such, to die in agony for having the effrontery to delay
him in his mission to save one of his men.  The old hunter in him wouldn’t
let him do it, and he hurried over to the side of the predator, cursing himself
for a fool the entire way, and buried his blade in its skull.  The beast
shuddered once, then lay still, and the Captain sheathed his blade and picked
his man back up into the shoulder carry.

Taking a few
stumbling steps, Cornelius regained his balance with the dead weight on his
shoulders and started off at a jog, increasing to a sprint in a few
seconds.  With every quick step he prayed.  That nothing else would
get in his way.  That he would not be discovered by Caca surveillance,
which he was sure there had to be in these woods.  That he would get Quang
to base in time for him to be recovered.

His breath was
ragged as he climbed out of the gully and headed the last fifty meters into the
tunnel.  People were there, guarding that entrance, and the hands of other
Rangers help to lift Quang from his shoulders and lay the man in one of the
emergency cryo units that were stored there with the portable aid station.

Cornelius fell
against the wall as his man was frozen, to await recovery by nanotech.  He
slid down the wall until he was sitting, letting his body cool as he took in
deep breaths, too winded to talk.  His eyes were locked on the cryo unit,
fully expanded to handle the body that lay within it.  He wasn’t sure what
the result would be.  Full recovery?  Or none?  Or something in
between, a partial recovery in which most of the man’s personality survived,
but many of his memories were missing?

Twenty minutes
later the rest of the squad came through, and it looked like there had no
compromise of their mission.

Chapter Ten

Genocide is not just a murderous
madness; it is, more deeply, a politics that promises a utopia beyond politics
- one people, one land, one truth, the end of difference. Since genocide is a
form of political utopia, it remains an enduring temptation in any multiethnic
and multicultural society in crisis.

Michael Ignatieff.

CAPITULUM, JEWEL, APRIL 5
^TH
,
1002.

“I really don’t
care what the bastard had to say,” said Sean in a roar, glaring at his
Intelligence Chief.  “You really don’t believe any of that crap, Mary?”

“We were
monitoring him while he was speaking, your Majesty,” said the Commodore, her
eyes dropping under that glare.  “As far as we can tell, he was speaking
the truth.  As far as he knew.”

“And what of
it?  Are we supposed to take pity on him and his people, because they were
once the victims?  While they try to erase us from the Universe, just
because their psychology was different than ours?  Just because they
wanted some damned heir to have conqueror appended to his name.”

“He still thinks
his people will win, your Majesty.  But I think we have sown the seeds of
doubt in his mind.”

“It would be
nice if we planted those seeds in all of their minds,” said Sondra McCollum,
looking over at her Emperor.

“Though in a way
it’s better that they remain the arrogant bastards they have been,” said Sean,
looking down at the table.  He chewed his lip for a moment, then looked up
at his Intelligence Chief.  “It serves us better if they proceed from
arrogance, and continue to make the mistakes we know they are capable of. 
If they get smart, our troubles increase.”

He looked up at
the ceiling for a moment, then over at the holo that showed the theater of
operations.  “We kick off the operation in three days.  I wish it
could be sooner, so we could save those lives that will end in those three
days.  But my military people assure me this is the soonest we could move
with any great chance of success.”

“That is true,
your Majesty,” said McCollum, looking him straight in the eyes with an
unflinching gaze.  “I don’t like the idea of those innocents dying any
more than you do.  I’ll have nightmares about the children for the rest of
my life.”

Sean
nodded.  All of them had seen the vids and stills sent back from New
Moscow, first the shots from space, followed by those from the ground. 
The heart-rending scenes of people in the rags of clothing that even modern
fabrics could become after time and lack of care.  All were thin, the look
of starvation on their faces, unlike the well fed populace that all remembered
of New Moscow.  Worst of all were the children, huddled within the
protective arms of adults when there were any who cared for them.  Or
sitting off alone, frightened with no comfort, trying to become as
inconspicuous as possible.

“I wonder how
the Cacas would like it if we visited the same thing on them,” said McCullom.

Commodore
Innocent cringed at those words, and Sean knew what she was feeling.  If
the war went on the outcry for revenge might reach the point where even he
couldn’t control his Fleet, or the soldiers that they deployed.  There
would be counter atrocities.  Many of them, and humanity would have to
live with those as well.

“I’m willing to
kill as many Cacas as necessary to win this war,” he told the two
officers.  “Even if that includes every one of their warriors.  But I
will not countenance the slaughter of their children merely because it’s possible.”

But he couldn’t
be everywhere at once, or watch everything.  And he wasn’t sure that he
wouldn’t commit an atrocity or two against the Cacas if he thought he could get
away with it.

*    
*     *

FENRI SPACE, APRIL 6
^TH
,
1002.

“The enemy force
is just where we predicted they would be,” announced Flag Captain Mara Savatoni
to her Admiral.

“That’s what
worries me,” replied Admiral Theodosius Glaven, the commander of the right
wing, the hammer, of the attack force.  “When did the Fenri become so damned
predictable?”

“Maybe when they
found they had to defend more than they were capable of doing,” said the Flag
Captain.  “They have to hold all of these systems.  Without them,
they lose almost a quarter of their industrial capacity, over a third of their
shipbuilding industry, and leave us just one step away from the capital. 
Why wouldn’t they attempt to defend all of them, sir?”

“It still
bothers the hell out of me,” said the Admiral, looking at the tactical holo
that showed the fifteen hundred ships of his fleet moving across the hyper
barrier into the Shrivas system.  Another concentration of ships showed on
opposite side of the system, the seventeen hundred vessels of Fleet Admiral
Jumar Akai, coming across the barrier on that side in a wide spread meant to
keep any enemy ships from escaping.  Inside the system, mostly clustered
around the habitable planet, were eight hundred vessels of the Fenri defensive
force.  There were maybe two hundred other ships scattered around the
system.  They still outnumbered the entire Fenri force three to one, in
mass five to one.  Each of the two Terran Fleets, which included three
hundred allied ships, individually outmassed the enemy over two to one. 
It looked like a foregone conclusion.  And that bothered the introspective
Admiral the most.

“Orders coming
in from Admiral Akai,” called out the Flag Com Officer.  “While he moves
his force in and completes his blocking position, we are to move in on a least
time profile for the planet.”

“Any sign of
hidden enemies?” asked Glavin, looking over at his Staff Tactical Officer.

“No, sir. 
If they’re hiding, they’re doing a damned good job of it at quite a distance.”

“Very
well.”  He looked over at his Com Officer.  “Send command out to all
task groups.  Least time profile to the planet.  Accel at four
hundred and eighty gravities.”  Not all of his ships were the most modern,
and four hundred and eighty gravities was the maximum of some of his older
battleships.  He looked back over at his Tactical Officer.  “I want a
close watch kept on any anomaly that might creep onto the plot.  I really
don’t like this, and I won’t be happy until we’ve crushed their fleet.”

The tactical
officer acknowledged, and the Admiral lay back in his command chair to study
the central plot.  The ships sat still in orbit around the planet, seen
through the visual sensors that reconstructed their images across the distance,
showing them as they had been over two hours before.  Some of the vessels
were moving, out from the planet, detectable by their graviton emissions. 
But not enough of them. 
This is damned peculiar
, thought the
Admiral.  The enemy had to know they were there from their translation
signature.  And now from the graviton emissions of their
acceleration.  Even if there wasn’t anything they could do to stop the
Imperial force, he thought they would at least try to reach an advantageous
position to take as many of the Terran force with them as possible.

The Fenri might
have been bastards, slaving conquerors who had destroyed entire civilizations
on  their rise to Empire.  But they had never been accused of being
cowards, to freeze in fear at an oncoming enemy.

An hour and a
half later his force was forging ahead at point four five light, over twenty
light minutes in from the barrier.  It would take over two hours to come
to a stop before heading back out, and four and a half hours from there to get
back to beyond the barrier, at which point they would still have to decelerate
down to point two light to jump into hyper.  No matter what, they couldn’t
get out of the system and into hyper in less than eight hours.

“It looks like
that’s all there is, sir,” reported the Tactical Officer.

“Then why aren’t
they responding?” asked Glavin.  About a hundred of the ships were still
on the move, from their signatures all destroyers and smaller.  They were
seeing the images of cruisers and battleships still in orbit, and now receiving
returns from radar and lidar.  The most combat capable ships in the enemy
force were still sitting there, not even generating electromagnetic
fields.  He had  to wonder if the vessels had been abandoned, if the
crews were down on the planet in the face of opposition they knew would kill
them all.  Again, not something he had expected from the Fenri.

“Get me Admiral
Akai on the com,” he ordered, his chin in his palm, elbow resting on the arm of
his chair.

The face of the
five star flag officer appeared on a holo hanging in the air in front of his
chair.  “What is it, Theodosius?” asked the higher ranking Admiral.

“I have a bad feeling
about this, Admiral.  The further I get into the system, the more it has
the feel of a trap.  I really don’t like what the enemy ships are
doing.  It makes no sense.”

“We’ve caught
them flatfooted, Theodosius,” said Akai with a predatory smile.

“But we
shouldn’t have caught them flatfooted.  They had to know this was one of
our primary targets.  They should have either had a better defense plan in
place, or just abandoned it so they could use the ships elsewhere.”

“I’ve never
thought much of the Fenri,” said Akai, scowling for a moment.  “Oh,
they’re brave enough.  But their leadership truly sucks.  They have
some decent tacticians in command of small task groups, but their strategists
are horrible.”

“My Tactical
Officer has estimated that your force would take over three hours to extricate
from the system and get back into hyper, sir.  And over eight hours for my
force to do the same.”

“And your
point?”

“Neither of us
is capable is getting out of the system if an enemy moves in hyper to come in
behind us.”

“And I doubt
that will happen, Theodosius.  We’ve got these assholes just where we want
them.  Anything that comes out of hyper would be smart enough to see what
they face and get the hell out of here.  Don’t be such a worrier.  We
have…”

“We have translation
into hyper.  Five thousand contacts at ten light hours.”

“What,”
stammered Akai, his eyes looking away from Glavin to some other holo.

“They’re coming
in behind you, sir,” shouted Glavin as he watched the arrows appear on the
plot, in hyper II and on a least time profile for, what?  “Tactical. 
What are they up to?”

The officer in
question was working his board furiously, inputting the data he wanted and
reading the results.  “I think they’re going to come out right at the
hyper II barrier, fire missiles, then duck back into hyper I as they pass the
II barrier.”

“Sir, you need
to move your ships closer together, to give them the best defensive formation
possible,” Glavin told the other Admiral, who did not have to listen to
anything he said.  He looked over Akai’s formation, already sure that they
would still be dispersed when the enemy missiles reached them.

An hour later
the enemy force came out of hyper, right at the hyper II barrier as
predicted.  Every ship in that force fired, and an overwhelming grouping
of missiles headed toward Akai’s force, followed by a second and then a third
volley.  As soon as that volley left the tubes the ships translated into
hyper I and started pouring on the vector changing acceleration.

“We can’t get
out of the system before they come up behind us and launch, sir,” said the
Tactical Officer.

“Then we don’t
try to leave the system,” said Glavin, looking at the tactical holo that showed
the enemy force curving around the system through hyper I while the three volleys
of missiles headed toward the other Terran force.  “All ships are to head
inward at maximum fleet acceleration.  We will blow past the planet and
destroy all of its infrastructure, while we engage the following volleys at the
most advantageous position possible.”

Missiles were
most effective over distance for one reason, and one only.  The longer
they had to boost, the faster they were on the approach.  Greater velocity
made them both harder to intercept, and able to impart a more devastating
kinetic impact.  If they were chasing his ships, and his vessels were up
to a high percentage of light speed, it would reduce the approach speed of the
missiles, making them easier to engage and less devastating if they happened to
generate a direct hit.  It did nothing to reduce the effectiveness of the
carried warhead, but you couldn’t have everything.

An hour later
the enemy ships were translating in, three thousand of them a light hour out
from the hyper I barrier, two thousand right on the barrier.  All fired
multiple volleys of missiles at Glavin’s force, then the further force
translated back into hyper while the nearer accelerated in at maximum, on the
trail of the smaller Terran force.  And chillingly for everyone aboard
that force, over thirty of the ships forging inward were not Fenri, but
Ca’cadasan.

Moments later
the images of the ships in orbit around the planet changed, turning from
battleships and cruisers into merchant ships, miners, ore freighters, many
vessels that were barely space worthy.  And Glavin now saw how masterfully
they had been suckered into this ambush.  They could lose a third of the
Terran invasion force in this battle, unless there were some miraculous
maneuvers.  Thanks to the wormhole com, the rest of the fleet would know what
had happened.  There would not be another ambush like this, but there
would still be the threat of the combined Fenri fleet defeating the widely
separated forces of the New Terran Empire in detail.

*    
*     *

SECTOR IV.

“And here we
have the most recent maps of the surface of New Moscow,” announced the Lt.
Colonel of Intelligence, her serious face looking out over the auditorium that
seated all of the battalion commanders, brigade commanders, division COs, as
well as the three lt. generals and full general that commanded the upper
echelons of the army tasked with taking the planet.