Chapter 19

Cillort was not a happy man. Yes, his breakaway had worked, but, the Empire was not in chaos. Despite all his efforts it was now moving to the offensive with the clear expectation of restoring the worlds that he had seized. Nor was he happy with the antics of his so called allies from Gershon. Rather than support his aims, they’d initially treated the whole endeavour as a massive opportunity to pillage the Empire for technology, rare metals and slaves without considering that the Empire was certain to respond and had far more advanced communications arrays than Gershon possessed. Still, that had come to a grinding halt with their encounter with the Seventh Fleet and the destruction of their puny Dreadnaughts and the capture of three planetary Lords and the killing of another twelve of them. They were also shocked to discover that the Royal Gershonian Fleet had positioned itself on the border and was preventing their return. Princess Royal Jessin having declared them outlaw and was fully backed by the Council of Nobles in doing so. Cillort’s problem though was, other than cannon fodder, he couldn’t think of a single use for them as they caused a lot of problems on the worlds he considered his.

“If it wasn’t for the fact they would cost us ships we couldn’t replace easily I’d arrange an unfortunate accident for the scum,” he muttered when in conference with his Chiefs of Staff and planetary Governors.

“The new shipyards hidden in the Coriola system will be online in nine binary cycles, though we really could have used the lantinium deposits in the Actilonian system to supplement the building program,” Spake replied. “Though not having Actilonia as a buffer state to your Empire is unfortunate as it exposed the Coriola works to detection.”

“Yes, the massive number of metallic rich asteroids there will soon give us parity in fleet numbers ... at least enough to force a truce ... assuming they don’t discover them,” Cillort noted.

“The informants we left in place have not reported any interest in the system other than a rallying cry for vengeance,” Admiral Manno, in charge of intelligence gathering, replied.

“Can we hold them long enough?” Cillort asked in general.

“We may have to sacrifice Balesia and Tarron, but at the current rate of attrition, yes,” Spake replied. “The new shipyard will be fully automated and capable of producing a hull per day and have them fitted and kitted within a binary cycle. The training programs for the crews are in place and morale is still high since your Governors reduced taxation back to the Imperial norm.”

“So we must sit on the defensive?”

“I’m afraid so, Serrenissimo. The Empire has reorganised well and could cause us massive damage if they caught us in open battle. However they have no easy answer to a fleet covered by a battlestar defence grid. They’d need a five to one advantage to overcome it and that would be ruinous to the Empire.”

“They’re also building their own along the new border, as well as those now designated as critical worlds,” Manno added.

“Yes, as I planned for in order to force a truce with us and hence permit us to plan new conquests away from them until their steady growth can be destroyed by our expansion by sheer weight of numbers.”

“Yes, Serrenissimo. It is a good plan,” Spake replied, getting nods off the others there too.

“It all depends on them not catching what we’re really up to, so be careful. They no doubt have spies amongst us too.”

“David, you are requested to attend Court today,” the AI announced as I awoke minus Kirim who had not got back from work yet.

“OK, confirmed,” I yawned.

“Thank you, David. Be aware the Empress will be attending too.”

“Thank you for the warning,” I acknowledged.

“You are very welcome, David,” came the reply as I headed for the shower.

Court was jam packed today, so I expected Amantil was either going to have someone arrested, or was going to give a state-of-the-Empire-style speech. She appeared at the appointed time and took the full bow by everyone present before sitting upon her throne and placing the diadem crown on her head.

“My people of the Court,” she began. “Dark decisions must now be made with regard to returning to the Empire the worlds seized by the traitor Cillort. We must now choose to throw our fleets into the maelstrom of trying to re-take those worlds protected by a battlestar defence grid,” at this point a large tridee image flickered into place showing the seized territory and the supposed position of the Third Fleet.

“They know we are coming?” Meritocrat Dolsann asked.

“Yes. Impsec is currently ferreting out a huge nest of double agents placed in key positions in the military forces. But yes, they know.”

“Balesia and Tarron look to be the most viable,” Meritocrat Histun, in charge of the Bureaucracy of Cybernetic Transition commented.

“Yes, taking those would place us in a position to hit Kansdoorf, the world he claims as his capital and where the Third Fleet is based,” Amantil replied.

“Why waste time?” I interjected. “Cillort is the key, just cut off the head of the snake by attacking Kansdoorf directly. Even if it fails, you’ll still destroy most of the Third Fleet.”

There was silence in the court as most of the Meritocrats and Nobles considered my proposal.

“Cure David has a point,” Meritocrat Bonsarr finally spoke. “Yes, it will almost inevitably be costly, but, perhaps not as costly as an extended campaign.”

“Nor ... assuming none here are traitors, would they be expecting it,” Orliantomin (the highest Noble title under the Empress) Zirik added.

“High Admiral Ninla, can it be done?” Amantil asked.

“Yes, Serenissima. It most certainly could be done, but we’d need five fleets and we would be looking at seventy percent casualties. That’s just ships, ground force casualties could be higher, but if we can attain control of the high orbitals, unlikely.”

“How soon could we launch this attack?”

“Half a binary cycle, we simply prepare for an assault on Balesia, but change the destination once in XD space.”

“Does the Court agree this is a risk worth taking?” Amantil asked.

“Proposed,” Histun stated.

“Seconded,” from Zirik.

“Alpha AI?” Amantil asked.

“Unanimous in heart and deed,” came the harsh toned reply.

“Then let it be done, High Admiral Ninla.”

“By your command, Serenissima!”

Sixty rotations later I was in Amantil’s office, along with Herrick, as she had summoned me after the court broke up. As usual she entered with no fanfare and just sat facing me, putting me under scrutiny and making me as nervous as hell.

“You certainly have a way of cutting to the quick of a matter, don’t you, Dave?” she finally broke the silence which had accompanied her entrance.

“Why mess around, we know Cillort is the key,” I chuckled, relaxing due to the fact that she called me Dave.

“True, but it never occurred to me ... or the High Command. All I was there to do was get support for the further prosecution of the war, not come up with a way to end it ... or shorten it at least.”

“Will be costly,” I nodded.

“Yes, though we’ve received some intelligence that he intends to set up a hidden shipyard in Coriola, though we’ve not yet heard from the scout vessel we sent there.”

“Coriola isn’t in his territory,” I mused out loud.

“It would have been if Tarsil had successfully revolted. As it is, it’s still accessible to us, whereas if Tarsil had succeeded, it wouldn’t be.”

“Long term plan of Cillort’s thwarted,” I nodded. “No wonder he committed genocide there if he’s building a shipyard.”

“Yes, though initially we thought it a terror tactic, if isolated.”

“Yes, way too isolated, though it did unnerve your bureaucrats.”

“Yes, we aren’t used to fighting a defensive war within our own territories. We’ve never had a civil war before.”

“Wonder why this has come about now? The Empire doesn’t expand rapidly so there are no internal strains,” I replied thoughtfully.

“It’s not well known outside of certain circles,” Amantil answered with a grim look on her face. “But my Father, the previous Emperor, was assassinated. There was an attempt to kill off the entire line, but, obviously, they failed. As yet I do not know who was behind it. Hence my paranoia about being recognised and having people know where I am.”

“Possibly Cillort,” I shrugged.

“Possibly, but unless we capture him, we won’t know.”

“He might just be a dupe, just like Tarsil was a dupe,” Herrick added.

“Yes. Though Tarsil actually believed he was working for himself.”

“Well, allied with Cillort or not, he’d still have enabled the shipyards, plus sell them the lantinium,” I nodded.

“Yes, I believe so, though I doubt Cillort knew of the lantinium,” Amantil agreed.

“To be honest, I suspect Cillort would conquer the territory once he had enough ships.”

“Yes, he does appear to have unlimited ambitions,” Herrick snorted.

“Anyway, the reason you’re here is I want you to go with the Fleet Medical Carrier Softwing and be their acting onboard Cure,” Amantil added, finally getting to the point.

“Just me?”

“Yes, the Senior Healer there can be your temporary Monitor.”

“I’ll need a surrogate, Manny.”

“Ah ... OK, never thought of that. I’ll make arrangements.”

“Thank you, Manny.”

“Keep safe, Dave.”

“Of course, Serenissima,” I nodded.

Kirim was not too happy that I was being sent to war again. But at least accepted it as she knew I was the one Cure Amantil had that she could actually trust to do the job without any trouble. Her send-off was the usual one that left me feeling drained and very satisfied as she extracted a promise from me that I’d return.

I was waiting for the shuttle to take me up to the Carrier when I noticed the Ground Force Trooper approaching and had to blink twice as I recognised her.

“Vrion?”

“Hey, Dave!” she replied with her slightly crooked smile.

“What brings you here?” I asked.

“Oh, I did something usually regarded as stupid,” she replied, her smile turning to a grin.

“What was that?”

“I volunteered.”

“For what? Out with it and don’t make me feel like I’m extracting teeth getting to the bottom of it,” I chuckled, feeling I knew what was coming.

“Well, apparently they’re sending this big important Cure on the Softwing and he needs a surrogate babysitter. So, seeing it as a potentially easy job, I volunteered to be his minder-cum-surrogate,” she giggled.

“Could be boring,” I grinned.

“Boring is good, beats being in a Vraik ambush,” she replied. “I hear you’re married now, with a kid on the way.”

“Yes, to Kirim, a Guardian Investigator,” I nodded.