Chapter 2

The benefits from delegating the responsibilities of planning and co-ordination were immediate and many. Once it was understood that my presence in the meetings was simply that of an interested observer, the general staff came up with ideas that I hadn't even considered.

For starters, my concern for safety of the Borealan fleet was made significantly less pronounced. A new prototype design of hypermissle was to be deployed prior to the arrival of the Kraal fleet. This design was completely self-sufficient and automated. They were the size of a small fighter craft, and had cloaking capability. All Keeli had to do was plant them and trigger them from a distance.

They had other plans for the Borealan fleet. With any luck, the Kraal wouldn't even know they existed. Keeli was to send out a distress signal emulating a cargo ship in distress. The message would be broadcast in the clear. Two replies would be sent from other ships in her fleet. These would also be disguised as coming from cargo vessels. These would say that they were on their way to assist, along with a three ship escort. Three cargo vessels should be too much for the Kraal to resist. The escort was hoped to cause them to send the whole fleet. The Admiral felt that after our last encounter with them, they would send what they thought to be overwhelming force.

None of us were as comfortable with the plan to attack and occupy the Kraal home world. Very little was known about the defenses they had in place, the amount and disposition of enemy ground forces, or command and control placement. The little we did know was sent via the Gallian slaves. They were the only ones on the planet surface who could communicate with the outside.

The opinion of our sources was that the Kraal forces on the planet were mostly there to control the slaves. There were some military bases, but these were mostly for training and support. If there were any ground based defenses against invasion, the slaves were unaware of it.

With this small amount of intelligence, the plan had to remain flexible. After disposing of the space-based defense platforms, ground troops would be inserted at four locations. These would be the palace and the three known military bases. A large force would be held in reserve for possible deployment to any other places that appeared to need them. Fighters equipped for atmospheric action would act as both an escort and attack force to deal with any defense on the surface.

Phase one went fairly well. Not all of the Kraal ships were lured away, but what was left consisted of three destroyers and a cruiser. When they left, we remained cloaked until a tight-beam transmission was received from the Borealan fleet indicating that the Kraal forces had been engaged.

Immediately upon receipt of the information, half of our fleet dropped their cloaks and opened fire. The Kraal ships were targeted first, and were dust before having a chance to even register our sudden appearance.

The defense platforms proved to be a bit more problematical. While our fighting ships kept them occupied, the invasion force was slipped past without notice. Before all of the satellites were finally destroyed, we had troops on the ground. Two of our cruisers and one destroyer took damage, but reported they could still fight. Over their protests, they were sent home anyway. None of them were able to cloak, and this was necessary to the plan.

The more lightly armored Gallians had fared far worse than us. Two of their ships were destroyed and another three put out of action. The ones that were damaged, but still in one piece and able to travel, were also sent home.

The Kraal fleet wasn't long in returning. More than one transmission had been sent their way informing them of the attack on their planet. When they arrived, confusion reigned. We were nowhere to be seen, but their defense shield had been decimated. Their force had been reduced by over a third, too. The hypermissle drones had been a nasty surprise.

The Admiral didn't waste much time letting them figure things out. Less than thirty seconds after they arrived, the Kraal fleet was under attack. Facing far superior numbers must have been a new experience for them. They tried to run.

The Admiral was smiling as he transmitted "Execute Butt fuck!

The Borealan fleet had trailed the enemy all the way home, and were blocking the only exit from the trap. Two of the Kraal battleships actually collided when the new force materialized in front of them.

We offered to let them surrender, but that seemed to be a term reserved for races other than their own. With the numbers we had, it was a massacre.

The action had been going on for six hours at this point. I had tried to keep up with both the space and land battles, but it was impossible. I knew things were going pretty well on the ground, but the extent of the success astounded everyone in the command center.

The possibility of being invaded must have never entered the minds of the Kraal. Our forces were fighting what seemed to be little more than police and reserves. There had been a few anti-aircraft emplacements around the four landing zones, as well as two other areas that seemed to be manufacturing centers. These had been disposed of with the loss of two fighters. Both pilots had been recovered. They were bruised, but alive.

We did take some losses, but it was far better than we had feared. The Kraal must have been almost as worried about their own people as they were about the slaves. The general population had no weapons at all, and were not a threat. Those that tried to be, were swiftly dealt with. Most of the time, this was by a captive.

The Gallian Queen had been a valuable asset. Evidently, the Kraal leader found it amusing to have a queen as a body slave. Kathy found them together, and he seemed much less amused, now. It seems that communication wasn't the only use for Gallian telepathy. The "Great Leader" was sitting in his command seat with drool dripping off of his chin and a glazed expression on his ugly mug. Several guards lay dead in the same room.

When Kathy asked whether he would recover, the queen replied "Not in this life. He is still able to breathe, and he is fully aware of his situation. This is the extent of his capabilities. I removed his motor functions. He is more like a plant than the animal he used to be. I consider this an improvement."

She had acted as soon as our attack began. It explained a lot about their seeming confusion and lack of direction during the fighting.

We found Kraal captives numbering in the tens of thousands. Some of them had been held for over fifty years. That was about the limit of a beings life expectancy, once captured by the Kraal. Most died long before then.

Calls went out to several races for transportation of their people. Many were met with surprise and disbelief, along with relief and excitement. A group of fifty was brought directly to me.

I had some 'surprise and disbelief' of my own! The group was from Earth, and had been seized from a group of Halim that had abducted them from various locations on earth. This had happened several years ago, and the refugees were dismayed to discover the present political climate on their home planet. The people who had ties on earth wanted to go home.

The number to be returned ended up being three. The relatives of the rest of them emigrated to either Vanir or Aesir. Strangely enough, a few of their family members were either in the fleet, or on the ground. Immediate steps were taken to re-unite the families.

The planet was scoured for any trace of additional captives, but there would be no 'occupation force' left behind. Every craft capable of traveling outside the atmosphere was destroyed, though. By the time any more could be built, we would have our own satellites in place. The Kraal world was placed under quarantine. Nothing would be allowed to enter or leave, without our permission.

There were many more benefits in destroying the Kraal offensive capability than peace of mind. The Eridani Alliance was now recognized by all of the known races as a force to be reckoned with. Almost all of these would be close allies.

There were very few who wouldn't be. The aforementioned Halim, were one. Two of their craft had been destroyed in the vicinity of Earth, already. No more had been seen since the warning to stay away was given, but we knew they would be a problem in the future. Not much of one, though. None of the other races liked them, either.

The Gallian queen was particularly grateful for our intervention. They were an old and respected race in the galaxy, and that went a long way all by itself. Being married to the Whelan leaders didn't hurt, either. Nobody wanted to argue with them!

We had been gone for three months. Upon our return, we found out that the situation on Earth had become even worse. The 'Fundamentalist Party' had won both the Presidency, and control of both houses of congress. There was talk of deporting all non-Christians from America, and ceasing all trade with countries that believed differently.

It was hard to believe that these fanatics had been able to take over the government. Even with the continued apathy of the American electorate, this had not been anticipated. It seemed that the revelation of their recent presidents religion, along with many in both houses of congress, had been enough to cause the polls to be overrun by people determined to ensure it wouldn't happen again.

No thought was given to the undeniable fact that both the country and the world was much better off because of what we had accomplished. Our people had spent enormous amounts of money to mitigate the damage, but to little effect.

The Islamic countries had little ability to retaliate to the measures that were threatened by the new government in the area of trade, but terrorist attacks increased dramatically. Many nations were caught in the middle. The attitudes on both sides of the conflict disgusted them. This resulted in a third antagonist, labeled 'The Moderates'.

The only step we took, was to make it clear that any attempt to develop or deploy nuclear or biological weapons by any side, would not be tolerated. It was obvious that we were eventually going to have to intervene, if earth was to be salvaged.

If we didn't, it would result in a long and bloody 'world war' that would make any previous conflict pale in comparison. I felt that it was not my place to decide which group to side with. We would have an open vote on the matter.

The voting was conducted by personal communicator, and tallied. No one was surprised when over ninety-nine percent of the population chose the moderates.

The way to proceed was left to the military staff, and I was pleasantly surprised with the plan. There would be no military forces involved, at least directly. With the moderate's help, We would isolate both sides. No trade would be allowed to occur with them, at all. Canada and Mexico were on the moderate side, and would seal their borders with the US. The same would happen to any country in the Islamic camp.

It might have hurt the Islamic fanatics more than America, if not for us. Fusion technology was still a closely held secret, as were several other innovations. All of the fusion plants could still be deactivated via satellite, too. The fact that almost all military hardware was fusion powered was a bonus.

There was still a lot of the old fossil fuel technology around, but the infrastructure for drilling and refining was in a shambles. Very little gasoline or diesel was used, so industry had adapted. Factories ground to a halt, transportation stopped in its tracks, and agriculture took a giant step backwards. The only fusion powered devices left operating were in food delivery trucks, and hospitals.