Naero's War: The Citation Series 3: Naero's Trial (12 page)

14

Battle Group Six officially entered the Gamma Quadrant twenty-three hours later. Fleet Admiral Naero Amashin Maeris led Fleets 1 through 25 in triple, Charlie-Whiskey-3 strategic formation at the twelve o’clock position. The other four bigs held apex firing positions at the compass points around
The Holy Ghost
, with the rest of
The Gods of War
positioned around them.

They came out of hyperspace on command, ready to fight if need be.

The Spacers didn’t want to take any chances.

A hundred fleets sounded like a large number, but in a prolonged war, enemies such as the ones they faced could well have an entire navy of thousands of fleets.

Naero’s other three admirals under her authority emerged and formed up behind her. On her left, at the nine o’clock formation area, Fleet 33, led by Vice Admiral Hans Krieger, Third in overall Task Force Command. Krieger’s flagship was
The Prince of Austria
, another massive dreadnaught, backed up by the uber battleships:
The Salzburg, The Rheinland, Graf Tyrol
, and
The Deutschland
. Krieger led Fleets 26 through 50.

In the three o’clock position on her right, was Rear Admiral Michael Marshall, Fourth in Fleet Command, with Fleets 51 through 75. His flagship was the dreadnaught
The Stargazer
, supported by the bigs:
The Sun Tiger, The Sharkhunter, The Battle Ray,
and
The Star Panther
, with the rest of Fleet 66 assembled behind them.

Naero’s second in Fleet Command anchored the all important six o’clock position, where most surprise attacks came from. Admiral Yamamoto Toshio directed Fleets 75 through 100. His primary fleet was Fleet-100, with the dreadnaught flagship
The Musashi
, supported by the super battleships:
The Nagato
,
The Shinano
,
The Haruna
, and
The Kirishima
.

Extreme long range scanners picked up only the echoes of distant war zones.

There was nothing within several light years that was even moving, and most of those blips were from their own advance relay fixers being set up for the coming network.

A few small alien starships, most likely traders or explorers.

Actually, that was more than acceptable. It was not the plan to emerge immediately in to a hot war zone.

Naero launched her spyships and a cloud of dispersing stealth drones and exploration fixers. Then she sent a call out to Baeven.

Scouting and Star Charting Data would begin to filter back within a matter of hours. They would analyze that data and proceed.

An urgent response came back almost instantly from
The Star Fox
.

“Naero. We’re close. Investigating a serious lead here at these coordinates. Come in secret, stealth ship preferable. Leave the fleets behind for now.”

Haisha. She’d just sent out all of her spyships.

Naero turned her flagship over Naero-5 and her XO, the Task Force over to Admiral Yamamoto.

Fleet-1 had a missile frigate,
The Wooly Bully
, that was configured for stealth mode.

She and Khai took that ship, with Ra and Tarim to back them up.

They arrived at the specified location within forty standard minutes, near an immense planetoid and asteroid debris field.

Close up scans brought up evidence of a recent battle, occluded from long distance scans due to the debris.

Jia called out to them, even though they were still cloaked. “Naero. EV and join Baeven and Danjen in the black, around the remains of that enemy ship.”

Naero tried to find it. “What enemy ship?”

“If you can believe it, there were originally five of them. An Ejjai battleship, two cruisers, a destroyer, and another of those enemy spyships. You’d never know it. There isn’t much left of each.”

“Haisha, Jia. What the hell happened to them?”

“You tell us, N. I’ll place coded markers on the guys out there so that you can locate them. Join them and see if you can make any sense of this.”

They didn’t like it, but Tarim and Ra were ordered to stay behind on the frigate. Naero pweaked into her sealed combat armor. Khai then phazed them out the side of the vessel in one of his green shield spheres, zipping them to the markers.

Naero finally spotted Baeven and Danjen in their EV suits, examining small bits of floating wreckage that seemed extremely deformed, melted, and fused.

“Hey guys. You remember Khai.”

Danjen nodded. “Big. Green. Cosmic sword. Not many of his kind around, N.”

“Hilarious, you furry little freak. What do we have here, Baeven? Was our girl a part of all of this somehow?”

“I’m beginning to fear that she was. I’m guessing the enemy did something that she really did not like.”

Naero looked around her and her mouth fell open. “You think our unborn child did this?”

“Either her, the KDM, or possibly both, N.”

“What do you think happened?”

“Adjust your range of perception, open to all Cosmic fields.”

Naero did so. “Haisha. Holy blazing krap!”

Baeven showed her a chunk of fused slag, with a trace residue of powerful Darkforce energy.

“This is all that’s left of one of those enemy Darkforce generators, Naero. From Jia’s estimates, there were more than twenty of them. Now all that’s left are traces such as this.”

Naero looked around her, reading all of the signs. “Something wiped them all out.”

“Indeed,” Baeven said, “and the enemy warships as well. Annihilated either when they tried to attack or attempted to flee.”

Naero made a guess. “Those sons of bitches. They tried to stuff Naero-3 into one of those Darkforce generators. And that was apparently a huge miscalculation on their part.”

Baeven grinned through his face shield and even chuckled. “Very much so. Imagine their great surprise.”

“Baeven…the raw Cosmic force that it would take to unleash this kind of destruction on this scale.”

“I know. No such power should exist. It is as if a small supernova went off, and what’s more, the power was spherically directed and controlled.”

Naero looked around, reaching out with all of senses, opening her third eye. “If my child was here, and the enemy were all destroyed, then where is she? Where has she gone?”

She was ready to panic. “Don’t you tell me she’s gone, too!”

“Calm yourself,” Baeven said. “Naero-3 is still alive, I’m fairly certain. At least one cloaked ship did leave this area and continued on in the direction of the fighting. The only ships that were destroyed were the alien spyship itself, and the four warships that must have made the mistake of attacking. Once the destruction was over, I think the enemy very carefully retrieved Naero-3, plus her little hitchhiker, and whisked them all away with a healthy new respect.”

“Where did they go?”

“That’s why we need to track them again. They obviously jumped out of this system.”

“Stay on them. Find them, please.”

A call came in from the task force fleets.

They had made initial contact with not one, but two other sentient species, and both were involved in at least one of the interstellar wars that was raging.

“Come on, Khai. We need to get back.”

15

The first sentient race called themselves the Kodar. Surprisingly, they were about as near human as they could be. About 1.5 to 1.8 meters tall, five fingers and toes, a variety of skin tones, eye, and hair colors. All within the Terran range.

They were spacefaring and had merchant and mining ships with tek that was around Jump levels 3 to 5. Kodar ships were unarmed, even relatively unarmored and unshielded. They possessed no military. On their worlds, they barely had police forces.

The Kodar were uniquely pacifistic, and endlessly diplomatic. They could discuss anything at length, almost forever.

Each of them wore a synaptic modulation chip implanted in their foreheads and their frontal lobes, from birth to death.

Naero was suspect of the chips from the very beginning, but the Kodar clearly saw them as the solution to all of their former problems.

Their leaders expounded the Kodar history with great joy and satisfaction.

Naero, Khai, and a select landing party of her people sat down in a quiet, sunlit conference room on Vertron, one of the six major Kodar homeworlds.

They spoke with a very pleasant planetary diplomat named Mariq. “You must picture the Kodar over three centuries ago. Avaricious, over-competitive, opportunistic–even violent, dare I say it. Our culture was out of control and beginning to conflict with our interstellar neighbors. It was all our fault entirely. We desired conflict so that we had an excuse to make war upon others–to subjugate, enslave, or destroy them, and take their worlds and their resources for our own.”

Mariq’s voice caught. “Then came the awakening. Some of our leaders convinced others that there was another way, a better way. We could rise above our many flaws, our inner darkness and imperfections, and choose a way that would both promote and ensure right thinking and follow it with right actions. Hence, the modulators.”

“It’s still mind control, from what I see,” Naero said. “How do you know it’s all right if there is no choice? No free will?”

“Because it works, and it’s so simple. For almost three centuries, we have sustained a perfect, peaceful society. We know outsiders don’t often understand. The modulators allow all right thinking, and weed out only negative and destructive thinking. The desire to commit crime, to hurt others, to kill others, and to do wrong.”

Naero laughed. “So you’ve taken a shortcut. But who decides what is right thinking and what is negative thinking?”

“Our leaders decided those matters for us, for the good of all. And since then, the Kodar have been a peaceful and positive culture, among themselves and our neighbors.”

Naero was curious. “And world after world just went along with all of this?”

“No, there was a much-needed revolution. The populations had to be persuaded at times to make the right choice. And yes, some were forced to embrace the change for the better.”

“If it was forced upon them, then it was not a choice.”

“But don’t you see? Everyone had to comply. It would not have worked otherwise. Certainly, it is not a perfect system. Show us which system is? But look at what we have now: peace, prosperity, cooperation, and happiness.”

Naero shook her head. “Only because you’ve eliminated all other choices and possibilities.”

Mariq smiled at her. “As stated, we do not expect all outsiders and offworlders to understand or accept our ways. But we do ask you to please respect them.”

Naero nodded, keeping her reservations to herself. “Of course we will. My people are not here to interfere with or change your ways. But what do you think is going to happen when the great enemy in the distance defeats your neighbors and comes to subjugate your worlds?”

“If they are as great and as intelligent as you say, then we will negotiate with them and come to an understanding.”

Naero held her tongue. “Examine the data feeds that we have included in our knowledge exchanges, Mariq. There is a race that fights for the enemy called the Ejjai. Let us know how you plan to negotiate with them.”

Mariq merely nodded. “Thank you for dealing with us in peace. We will study the knowledge you have given us.”

“Can you tell us about the next sentient species that we are going to meet with next?”

Mariq’s face lost color. “You mean the Lish?” The diplomat visibly shuddered. “There is not much to know. The spiders–”

“Spiders?”

“Yes, the Lish are an arachnid race. Quite hideous, actually.” Mariq glanced at Ra. “No offense, creature. I am certain that there are good bugs and insectoids.”

Ra cocked his mantid head and blinked his eyes. “I am not a Lish. Why would I be offended by you insulting that species?”

Mariq cleared his throat. “Be that as it may. We try to avoid the Lish. They are warlike, even among their own kind. Hotheaded. Competitive. We stay away from them, when and where we can. There is some trade with them in limited areas. Typically, they…do not mix well with regular people.”

“I see,” Naero said. “Do you know whose side they fight on in the war.”

Mariq smirked. “Both or all sides from what we know, which isn’t much. There are several factions among the Lish, and many sell their services as mercenaries as well from what the rumors say. The entire situation is a huge, bloody mess from what we hear, and the great enemy merely takes advantage of the chaos.”

“Very well,” Naero said. “Thank you for meeting with us and exchanging information. We must be moving on. Your peaceful worlds have nothing to fear from us. I cannot say the same for the enemy, should they come against you.”

“Thank you, Admiral Maeris. Travel on with our good will.”

Khai spoke up as soon as they were heading back up, away from the planet and back to the fleets, most of whom held back, to hide the task force’s true numbers.

“Something is very wrong with those people,” the Enforcer said, shaking his head.

“I agree, Khai. But that is not our problem at this point. Nor can we save these people from the folly of their own choices. For example: What would keep the enemy from seizing all of the Kodar worlds and reprogramming all of those mind control chips? Those fools have made themselves puppets. Or what if the enemy simply marched them all into the Ejjai meatships?” Naero shivered. “It makes me crazy just thinking about it.”

And oddly enough, the Kodar had made several attempts to scan the Spacers and their vessels.

“We can’t solve any of this stupidity. Let’s move on to meet with the Lish, these spiders as they are called. At least some of them are fighting this new great enemy. Let’s see what they are like and what they can tell us.”

Quietly, Naero waited to hear back from Baeven. Nothing yet.

*

The Lish were highly evolved, sentient arachnids about two meters in diameter and about 1.5 meters high when they rose up on their eight legs to their full height, to make themselves appear more menacing during negotiations and contests. Yet they were most dangerous when they slunk down low and bunched to attack, or even leaped upon their opponents.

The spy drones had gathered some preliminary data on the fighting that was taking place, onworld and up in space. Initial reports provided evidence of Ejjai, Dakkur, and other unidentified sentients fighting for the enemy–including some Lish, but details were not complete.

Each of the Lish possessed the strength of twenty or more adult humans according to estimates, making them very formidable, especially in large numbers. They were also expert, logical thinkers and mathematicians. They were ruthless and utterly fearless in battle, with no concern for their own lives. Lish fought with a cold ferocity that even the Ejjai and the Dakkur found unnerving, yet they were not invincible. They were vulnerable to fire, cold, and most battlefield weapons.

Their tek was very advanced, on par with that of Spacers and the Alliance, around Jump-7. They used shields for massed units, vehicles and ships, but not for individuals. They did not seem to use tanks or any other armored vehicles. They did use starfighters and gravitics. Their dexterous claws could manipulate almost any tool or device.

Since their dense, armored bodies were naturally resistant to damage, they normally wore no additional armor in combat, unless they were in a vacuum or exposed to toxic environments. They mounted various weapons and weapon systems on their limbs and bodies. They had pods of bombs and micro-explosives that they could drop or fire at foes.

Lish starships and warships were single-minded in purpose, design, and construction. Get to the destination fast, do what was required, and get back just as fast. Do what was needed to be done. The Lish seemed capable of placing themselves into some form of trance or stasis during space travel, and awakening themselves with some kind of signal upon arrival. Their plain, heavily armored and shielded warships and starfighters, just like their podlike starships, had no viewports or blast screens.

All Lish warships were built solely around their powerful weapon systems, and were basically flying cannons and energy weapons, little more. Lish naval personnel had very little in the way of personal items or quarters, and spent literally all of their time at their stations. Food and lix came to them at their posts in measured quantities via tubes. Bodily wastes were just as efficiently processed and recycled.

A fighter had a small weapon. Larger warships had the equivalent of larger weapons with more destructive energy outputs. Lish ships were pods, orbs, ovals, tubes, cones, and even planetoid blobs, or crystalline or metallic cubes and geodes.

The Lish had few, if any, aesthetic sensibilities. They couldn’t care less what a ship looked like, as long as it could function and fight as required.

Were they aggressive? Yes. They could be incredibly aggressive. And they were tough negotiators. But once they made a deal, an agreement, or a treaty, they kept their word, to the letter.

Betrayal was not a concept for them. They were neither sensitive nor sentimental, with very little capacity or range for emotion. Yet they still had emotions. They were also incredibly gentle lovers with each other when they consummated their courtships, uncaring as to whether anyone else watched. Lish pairs mated for life, and even languished and died after their mates died.

But more than anything else, Lish were incredibly devoted and diligent parents in the nest, defending their young against any threat, great or small, with an incredible, selfless ferocity. And yet, they sent their children out each day into a dangerous world, to test themselves and their strength and intelligence. Even if they did not come back.

All Lish had to face the threats of their world. Once their own young reached adulthood, the Lish expelled them and then treated them like any other adult in the nest.

The Lish spoke an intricate, subsonic snapping and clicking language that was, in fact, mathematically based. It also functioned as music, and the Lish were beautiful singers. They could approximate and even mimic other speech and communication patterns from other species, but even by their own admission, they found doing so difficult and unpleasant.

They were not telepathic by nature, but telepathy worked on their highly ordered minds.

The Lish controlled two hundred and six separate worlds. Their primary homeworld was Hryxjik, at the core of their empire.

Naero arranged to meet with one of their leaders on Ngvuk, on the outermost rim of their systems, far away from the war.

There were some color variations, but the vast majority of Lish were black and quite hairy, with slight orange-brown highlights in a few places. Their multiple black eyes served in different light conditions.

The Lish leader she was meeting was named Tus, the commanding leader of the main continent.

The Lish had various nests, not cities, and were spread all over the surface of their worlds, where they all raised and hunted various livestock, some of them incredibly dangerous in their own right.

The hunter-warrior Lish apparently enjoyed testing themselves against anything or anyone new. They nearly insisted on it.

Naero went down to the surface in a shuttle, dropping down from a destroyer, bristling with ground-assault-mode weapons. A very formidable display of power.

Tus came out to meet her, Khai, Ra, and Tarim, along with a fireteam of 12
th
Command armored Marines, looking like the death dealers they were.

Tus clicked and snapped, and thousands of Lish appeared around the landing site. Also a display of power. “We considered capturing you, killing your guards, and negotiating terms over your ransom,” he told her.

Naero smiled, not sure if he was joining or being serious. “I’m glad you didn’t. It would have been an unpleasant start to our negotiations to be forced to slay so many of you.” Naero had taken time to psyonically learn their language, and could approximate the Lish sound ranges enough to be understood.

Tus seemed about as amused as a humorless spider creature could be. “Yes. Amusing. Myself, our leaders, and my warriors want to know how tough you and your guardians are. Let us have one of my soldiers and one of your guards fight to the death. This will be very instructive for both of us.”