Chapter 1: Emdar Grept

“If a man does his best, what else is there?“

– General George Patton Jr

Jason watched streams of craft leaving the planet and carrying their precious cargo into the waiting ships. The evacuation of the planet was coordinated by the planetary AI. No human could manage such precision and efficiency. On the surface of the damaged planet, volcanos spewed the blood of the planet into cracks in the planetary crust.

Jason’s hologram flashed to show a shuttle entering the hanger from the planet carrying one of the AIs who had despite the Empire sleeping, relentlessly and without any expectations of reward, carried the development of the Empire forward. Seconds later Bertha walked out of the portal and into the small conference room where the Emperor was pacing while observing the planet below.

“Emperor, we are so sorry we could not prevent this disaster,” said Bertha.

“I hope we can help save a few more of the people and AIs. I hope we can salvage the planetary AI. I have a fleet of cargo ships accompanying us.

“Please report on the current status of events,” ordered Jason.

“Lava destroyed thirteen percent of the deeper storage facilities. Much of the planet remains unharmed and the planet is stabilizing. We will lose seventeen percent of the planetary population in stasis and a similar percentage of AIs. The planetary AI lost a major node. She refuses to abandon the planet and says that she wants to die if the planet dies.”

“Bertha how many missiles did the Destroyers fire at the planet?” Ooryphyon asked.

“They fired a barrage of twenty-two thousand and seventy-six missiles. One thousand were planet killers. We intercepted all but two missiles. The first, a bunker buster penetrated a deep vault and damaged it, the second was a planet killer.

“That is impressive!” said Felicia nodding her head vigorously while looking at Andrea who also nodded.

“I wish we could have done the same on Charassa!” Philippa remarked.

“We have not used enough defensive missiles in the past,” said Linda. “Bertha you did well.”

Jason looked at Bertha. He shook his head. “I am impressed you could intercept so many missiles. You guys did an extraordinary job. How stable is the planet now?” Jason asked.

“The planet is recovering. We are doing better than our initial predictions,” said Bertha. “We are monitoring progress as the planet stabilizes.”

“I suggest we continue the evacuation as planned, beginning with the most damaged parts of the planet. I want to reduce the risks to the population and assets of the planet,” said Jason. “I will take the academics to Porquenta and Mars. Can we transport the remainder of the population?”

“Yes, Emperor we can, we have enough ships.”

“Did we mobilize our available fleets in case of further attacks?”

“Yes, Emperor we are prepared for further attacks.”

“Can you use further help?” Jason asked. “I can mobilize our allies to help.”

“We are manufacturing AIs as fast as we can on the ground and on our ships. We can manufacture the necessary AIs in 23.4 hours. We will move our people and cargo at an accelerating rate. Each passing hour we can do more,” said Bertha.

“I am calling in our allies. They can be here in ten hours. I want to save as many of our people as we can. Carry on as you were, Bertha,” Jason ordered. “We can deploy the additional AIs usefully elsewhere if necessary.

“Sire I apologize we could not predict this disaster and save our people. We did not have a big enough reserve of people out of stasis or AIs to work faster. I do not want to inconvenience your allies,” Bertha replied.

“Nonsense,” said Philippa, “my mother will help as will Cassius and Felix as will many of the others. Jason, I suggest you reconnoiter the surface as you suggested on the way here. I will call our friends. Bertha and I will plan the rescue exercise.”

“Bertha, did you suspect they were planning an attack on us?” Jason asked.

“Sire, we shadow the Destroyers in this Universe. Our scouts noted the Destroyers assembling ships around the Destroyer planets and alerted our forces. The scouts followed the fleet from their planets here, to the Universe Bekta Delta where they dispersed. The fleet that attacked us was previously unknown to us. They sent the fleet from Bekta Delta as the other entered. The attacking fleet entered our Universe a half hour from Emdar Grept. Our sensors picked up a gravitational flux which alerted us to a possible attack. We picked up the attacking Destroyer fleet on sensors nineteen minutes before the attack. We sent our rapid response fleet to defend Emdar Grept and mobilized further reinforcements,” said Bertha.

“You were diligent in doing what you could to prevent the enemy surprising us. You did your best to defend against the attack when it came. I expect no more. I would like to see the damage closer to the ground and the underground storage facility where the bunker bomb struck,” Jason asked.