Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron (9 page)

Ian looked thoughtful. "That might not be a bad idea. With all the new tech we are putting into our ships, the Empire will want to capture as many of our ships as they can. If time permits, I'll look into it."

As Alex made note of it, Jenny cocked her head to one side. "The XO had an idea about that; with the addition of the military college here, he came up with an idea for an orbiting facility that can be modified to mimic most known ship types to be used as a boarding/anti-boarding training simulator. He had no idea how to design it, but I thought it was a pretty good idea. He said he got the idea from the aircraft mock-ups the special operations folks on Earth use for that kind of training."

Ian nodded. "It does sound like a good idea. Tell him to run with it. I would suggest he get advice from Ty Anders as well as some of our allied Marines that have actual experience with boarding hostile vessels. I would prefer to see it added to our basic Marine training regimen instead of part of the academy though. I'd like to see everyone have that training. It would be good training on many levels," Ian said thinking more about the idea. "We could bring in crews from the academy as the 'flight crew', or even rotate existing crews through it." He nodded more as he thought about it. "Yeah, this is a really good idea I think we need to make a reality. Hell, even the Raptor teams could use it!"

CHAPTER FOUR

Palace of Imperial Enlightenment

Onalau City

Planet Proferus Three

Orgatan System, Gar Sector

"Glamia, what news of the search for the new humans?" Shalo asked.

"As you know, Master, our spies at the recent Alliance meeting failed to learn anything about the location of the human world. However, those humans did attend the meeting. While little new information was gleaned on the humans, the spies did discover that the military command of the Alliance managed to convince the Ambassadors and leaders not to withdraw their forces in an effort to protect their worlds. Instead, the Alliance High Command told them of a plan to counter our new strategy. Details were not given to the delegates; however, we believe that Alliance forces will begin attempting to retake worlds we have captured. The report did not indicate which planets were being considered as targets."

She used her tablet and an image of the
Tiamat
appeared in the air before him. "This is the ship the new humans arrived in. It is named 'Tiamat' but we do not understand what that might be in reference to. It has been determined that this ship is little more than a heavy fighter carrier, but it was also noted that many high ranking Alliance military personnel were given tours of it, to include the First Admiral himself. Such attention to this one ship would seem to indicate it is much more than it seems, but no data is available on it in any of the Alliance computer systems we have access to."

"Is this the same ship we saw at New Talos?" Shalo asked.

Glamia nodded. "We believe so. We also believe that the new humans are sharing their technology with the other races; most especially the Talosians, as the ship carrying the Talosian delegates was also equipped with the same strange armor as the heavy carrier. Reports from the fleet indicate the appearance of this armor on other ships as well, but it is not yet in wide spread use. Those same reports said that the armor equipped ships were far stronger in battle than similar class ships that had not been so equipped. We do not yet know if this is attributed to the armor alone, or if there have been other upgrades made to those ships. To date, none of them have been destroyed or recovered from battle salvage."

Shalo nodded. From those reports, there had to be more going on with those ships than just a simple armor upgrade. "Tell our forces that capturing one of those ships is now a priority. We will need to discover what has been done to them to make them so much stronger and counter it before the entire Alliance fleet gets upgraded." He couldn't help but wonder if this wasn't part of what had the Emperor so rattled. "What of the reconnaissance probes we sent out?"

"Nothing concerning the new humans has been found as yet, Master. However, they have found two arable planets, one with a thriving pre-iron-age civilization that is avian based. The information has been logged and tagged for later investigation."

Shalo nodded. "Continue sending the probes. Inform the spies at ARC I am not pleased with their failures and they are to make getting the location of the new human worlds their priority." He paused. "Have the spies at New Talos reported in yet?"

"No master, we are beginning to believe they may have been killed. Arrangements are currently being made for their replacement. Master, the spies at ARC command also tell us of a large device the humans had brought with them. Again, direct information has been difficult to locate, but the military was very happy to have the device. Since it was brought, it has been observed to have begun small scale mining of the surrounding area. It appears to be building other devices that are slightly larger than Talosian Centurians. When complete, these craft depart the device and fly away under their own power. Some have docked with ships tasked with the protection of the system, while others seemed to have just flown away on their own course. The purpose of this device remains a mystery to us. It has been difficult to gather data on this device, as it is currently located in a heavily patrolled area in the system."

"So what you're really telling me is that the spies we have there are basically useless. Do whatever you need to do, but get someone in that system that is capable of getting us information we can actually use! I'm tired of their excuses! We need information!" Shalo said, angrily.

"Yes Master," Glamia replied, bowing her head. "It would be easiest to raid that system in order to place the spies. May I have your permission to add it to the rotation?"

"As heavily defended as that system is, it would have to be a fast raid. Did you have something in mind?" Shalo asked.

"Master, because of the nature of our current strategy, Alliance Command has to believe that we would not strike where they are most heavily defended. Considering the potential for loss, I would tend to agree with them, however, the forces guarding that facility would be influenced by that belief. A raid there would not only serve to give us the opportunity to place our new agents, it would have the added benefit of shaking their belief of invulnerability. Additionally, any ships we destroy weaken the Alliance. They are already having difficulties replacing their losses. The raid could be costly to us, but I believe the potential benefit to be worth the risk," Glamia replied.

Shalo considered her words before he nodded. "Very well, prepare the new spies. You may schedule the raid when you are ready. Let me know before you launch it though."

"As you command Master."

Raptor
Apache

Grimaria System

Failspire Sector, Imperial Occupied Space

Major Jana Cromwell, Commanding

Three days ago, the small group of ships received word that Ian had left for the assault on Hyperion, which put the Raptor teams on the clock. They had to have their devices set and ready before the ships jumped out to defend the occupied world Ian was going to retake. They had just under two weeks to pull it off.

When they got word of the departure of the fleet, Rat and the others felt certain there would be plenty of time. However, that was before they had arrived and taken a look at the reality that was the Imperial Base at Grimaria up close.

The planet itself was basically one large military base. There was a relatively small civilian population remaining on the planet, and those were workers and menial laborers that supported the massive imperial garrison.

The heavy industries and manufacturing had been moved to the moons of the main planet, and they supported and supplied the shipyards also orbiting the main planet. Farming and light industry, such as food preparation, clothing, and personal item manufacturing, had been relocated to the two green moons of the third planet. The rest of the system was literally infested with mining, refining, and smelting facilities that supplied the ores and fuel for the Imperial fleets.

In addition to the millions of troops stationed on the planet, there was a small guardian fleet in the system that was not part of the ships used in the assaults.

"Well, this is not what we expected. We're not gonna have time to locate the dark matter we'll need," Rat said over the tight-beam, short-range link between the ships.

"No, we're not," Jana replied. "But we still have to stop these assholes."

"I'm open to suggestions on how to accomplish it," Thomas replied.

Jana snorted. "Nothing's changed Thomas. We just have more playmates than expected."

"Which means we need more toys," Carl replied. "You have ideas, Jana?"

"A few," Jana said grinning. "We play it cool for now and avoid the planet completely. We plant charges on the guardian ships, the ship yards, and the industrial centers, but leave the mining facilities alone. They'll be staffed by civilians and appear to be running around the clock. Once we get all the toys set, we get the big stuff ready for our real targets and set off the fireworks while we go raise hell on the planet. When the big guys get here, we set our charges on them and continue the original plan."

"The industrial centers on the moons are staffed by civilians too. If we take those out, we'll be killing a lot of innocents," Rat said. "This really is a mess."

"If we do it right, we'll only kill one shift," Carl said. "The residential centers are separated from the factories. If we plant explosives only on the factories, we should limit the civilian casualties. I'm not crazy about it, but if we're going to draw those ships here, we have to do more than just take out the ships. Besides, if we can cripple this massive base, it might buy the Alliance more time to get rearmed and better equipped to defend themselves from these assholes."

Jana nodded. "Carl, Rat; would each of you take a moon and begin planting the bombs. The rest of us can work on getting the ship yard and the guardian fleet set. When we're finished, we can meet up someplace and get ready to hit the planet."

"The planet's a big place, Jana. There are hundreds of fighter bases and troop barracks alone. Not to mention the armories, munitions storage, and heavy weapons. There are also the defensive systems that are installed. We can probably sneak past those, but they count as targets too." Rat replied.

"I think we can discount most of the bases. If we go after the infrastructure we can really hurt them. Power plants, munition depots, supply points, and the like. We can always hit any nearby bases if we happen to get lucky," Carl said. "Look, no matter how we go about this, we are going to lose some civilians. But the fact of the matter is, no matter how badly we want to mess this base up, our mission is to destroy those rings, not this base. We only need to do enough damage to draw the assault fleets here from the rings."

Jana nodded agreement, "To do that, we've got to get rid of the guardian ships at least and make enough of a nuisance of ourselves to get them to come and stop us."

"Or, at least try to…" Rat said, grinning.

Palace of Imperial Enlightenment

Onalau City

Planet Proferus Three

Orgatan System, Gar Sector

"Master, you have an urgent communication request from Imperial Command. Lord Commander Kanis would speak with you." Glamia said after answering the call.

Shalo nodded to her to put it through, but wondered why the captain of the Imperial Guard would be calling him. A hologram of the bowing man appeared before his desk. "Has something happened to the Emperor, Lord Commander?" Shalo asked urgently.

"Yes and no, My Lord," the man replied and slowly stood. "His Imperial Majesty has just returned from a consultation with the Gods," the man said carefully. "We are still trying to make sense of his message, but it is centered around you and your mission at Grimaria. He is very upset presently and the priests are trying to calm him. It is by his order that I have contacted you, although I am presently at a loss as to the extent of the message. I was hoping you would have a better idea."

"I understand, Lord Commander. Unfortunately, I have no information that may assist you. His forces at Grimaria are presently engaged in an ongoing mission that has been in place for some time. Currently, all is proceeding according to our plan and nothing has changed that might have a bearing on it," Shalo explained.

The man nodded. "We were afraid of that. Speaking to the Gods is a very traumatic experience that often leaves his Majesty incoherent for days afterward. We would have delayed in this communication with you had it not been for a clear order to contact you immediately. As I said, he is upset, but we have not been able to discover if he is fearful or angry. Either would give us a better idea of his message for you."

"With respect for his condition, might we hear his words, perhaps we may understand more based on that?" Shalo asked.

The man shook his head. "I'm afraid I cannot authorize that, My Lord. I will speak to the priests on your behalf to see if an exception can be made in this instance, since he is almost inconsolable this time."

Shalo nodded. "I would not presume to intrude upon his privacy in such a manner if this did not sound urgent."

The Guard Captain nodded. "That is understood, Lord Shalo. I am certain the priests will understand this as well. I will speak to them and call you back."

Shalo nodded once to the Commander. "I will await your contact, Lord Commander."

Again, the man bowed to Shalo as his image faded. Shalo looked up at Glamia. "When he calls back, put him through right away."