Chapter 8

Preparing for the liberation of Iriti wasn't the only item on the agenda. Soon, the Halim would start investigating why they weren't receiving food shipments from this sector. They had already sent several inquiries, which we intercepted. The fabricated excuses we sent in return were getting harder to come up with. We hoped that one more planet could be dealt with before the jig was up, but weren't counting on it.

Even more scouts were deployed along the likely approaches of any Halim fleet. We also increased the size of our reserve force dramatically. Unfortunately, this limited the number of campaigns we could undertake at the same time. Even with the forces left in our universe stripped almost bare, the Halim could still overwhelm us with sheer numbers.

The ships we had managed to capture were useless to us. Even if they had been sufficiently armed, we couldn't fight with them. The Halim were built much differently than we were. It might be possible for the Gallians to use them in the future, so all captured ships were sent to them.

The Jarthans might have been able to pilot them, but none had the knowledge or experience to pull it off. The average height of a Halim was four feet, so head room was the main obstacle. Other drawbacks were the lack of an AI, weaker propulsion, and inefficient design. The layout might have made sense to them but, to us, it was strange.

The fight for Iriti might have gone smoothly, if the portion of the population not directly involved hadn't taken it upon themselves to participate. Half of the Halim that died, were beaten to death by mobs. More of the Iriti died by being trampled by their own people, than at the hands of their former captors.

That number was in the thousands, and we were unable to restore order until the fighting tapered off. To make matters worse, the celebration lasted for days. It was the first indication we had of what would come with a world's new found freedom. There was simply no structure or organization left behind. Chaos was the order of the day.

The trick was to start the seeds of society, without giving the people reason to think their old master had been replaced by a new one. We hadn't had this problem on the other planets, at least not to this extent. Jarth had been the best, as the ones living in the waste provided a basis for a fresh start. A sort of numbness had ensued on Pelthar and Meith, as they came to terms with their new reality. Iriti was just happy.

After the bodies were disposed of, and a little cleanup, mass meetings were held. The inhabitants were told the basics about the Federation, and why we were there. We stressed that we would be happy to help them get a fresh start, but had no desire to rule them. Their future was theirs to choose, and we would do our best to help them implement whatever they decided to do.

I, for one, was surprised by the response. They did not have the capacity to even begin to recover, they reasoned, so they actually petitioned us to set up an interim government. They wanted us to rule them, at least until they could do it themselves. A team of advisors was left behind, when we departed.

Veirtan was next on the list. This was a strange one to me. The species of this world didn't look like they would be so easy to subdue, and I was surprised the Halim had managed it. The beings there stood over seven feet tall, and were freakishly strong. The planet had a gravity roughly three times that of Vanir, which probably accounted for some of that. To me, they looked roughly like the Sasquatch of old Earth legend.

On the way to Veirtan, we got our first indication that this war might not be as easy as we hoped it would be. When the forward scouts detected the Halim flotilla, we deployed in our standard attack formation. It consisted of a semi-circle, which was meant to both attack the enemy flanks, as well as protect ours. A portion of the fleet was detached to circle behind the Halim force, preventing any escape.

This tactic had served us well, until now. Perhaps we had grown complacent. The Halim had shown no inclination towards innovation, and we hadn't seen a single new weapon directed at us since the war began. We did now.

The first sign of trouble was when one of the scouts came under attack. This should not have been possible. None of our cloaked ships had ever been detected by the Halim, much less engaged. Worse than that, The third salvo punched through the shields enough to destroy the small ship.

Admiral Harkin immediately demonstrated the wisdom of putting him in charge of the fleet. He redeployed our forces, and launched every available fighter craft we possessed. Smaller ships were more difficult targets. We didn't know what other surprises might lay in wait for us, and he wasn't taking chances. One of our first weapon designs was still among the most effective at longer ranges.

As soon as he discovered that the enemy had also greatly improved their own shields, he ordered hypermissles to be used as the primary weapon. They didn't give a shit about shields, as they weren't in the same dimension when they passed the defenses. The trick was in calculating when they would re-enter real space. If this happened inside a vessel, the effect was devastating. Thankfully, the Halim hadn't figured out a way to defend against them.

We took more losses in this engagement than all the others combined. In a fierce battle, that lasted almost one hour, six ships were destroyed. Eighteen fighter craft were also lost. The Halim force was completely destroyed, but the encounter was sobering for all of us.

I felt guilty for being relieved that no one close to me had been lost. I had met many of the people who had been killed, and felt the pain of knowing I would never see them again. I knew from experience how much pain their families would endure. Writing the letters would be hard. It always was, but it was something I felt compelled to do.

We didn't linger to lick our wounds, and continued on to Veirtan. To delay, was to give the enemy time to prepare. The plan of attack was different, this time. The Veirtan populace had been fitted with obedience collars by their oppressors. These devices could inflict severe pain on the wearer, and couldn't be removed unless disabled. We had a way around that.

When a certain frequency was broadcast, it would jam the signal used to trigger the collars. We were going to deal with the situation around the planet, but the inhabitants would be mostly on their own, on the surface. We sent detachments of troops, along with huge stores of weapons. This was done with much more care than had been done in the past, to avoid detection.

At a pre-arranged signal from the planet, we jumped into local space, and opened fire. Surprise was on our side in space, but the Halim on the surface probably shit themselves in fear. The natives of Veirtan were free, and they were not happy. Our troops were battle tested veterans, but they were still green when we retrieved them. The carnage had been beyond belief. Halim blood had to be hosed from just about every surface imaginable. Even the ceilings weren't spared. We were all glad the Veirtans were on our side.

After the planet was secure, we held a series of planning and strategy meetings. Our scientific component played a heavy role. They thought they knew how the Halim had detected the scout. It wasn't new technology, but a failure in the cloaking system. It was slight, but one of our own ships had noticed an anomaly at the last reported position of the scout ship. It might have been enough to be detected by the enemy, and we hoped this was the case.

The new weapons were a different matter. The Halim didn't develop their technology, they stole it from captured races. We believed that the weapons were obtained in the same manner. There might be someone out there as advanced as we were. If that were the case, they were in deep shit. If they were still alive, anyway. The Halim were not prone to kindness, when faced with an adversary who was capable of inflicting serious damage to them. It couldn't have been easy for a race able to develop this level of technology to be overcome.

It was worrisome to us, too. If these new weapons were being deployed, we had to act quickly. We now knew where the home world was. It was time to take care of the heart of the matter. Ground troops wouldn't have been an issue, if we planned on using them. I think the whole planetary population of Veirtan had volunteered, and they were far from alone in their thirst for revenge.

They wouldn't get it in the next battle. We weren't worried about civilian casualties this time. Only twelve hypermissles would be fired. Every one had a payload higher than any we had deployed to date. The target wasn't a ship, it was a planet. By detonating these in the core of the world, we hoped to destroy the entire planet. We wouldn't even attempt to breach the planetary defenses. The destruction of the world should handle that for us.

I was almost surprised, when it worked. It was an impressive sight, and one I hope to never see again. The crew impressed me once again. There were no cheers. No shouts of jubilation. We had just destroyed an entire planet, and millions of Halim along with it. It was a sobering thought. Although I detected no glee in what we had done, there was a sense of resolve. We just wanted it to be over.

Several more ships joined us, before we moved on. Most were troop transports. Those who wanted revenge would soon have it. We also reserved one ship for the representatives from every planet liberated, so far. We needed to get acquainted with them but, more importantly, we wanted them to get to know one another. Any differences they might have, needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. We wanted them to become allies, not adversaries.

This seemed to be working out well. With what they had in common, an alliance was a very attractive prospect for all concerned. There were even discussions of conducting joint operations in the ground offensives to come. Each race had their strengths, and weaknesses. By joining forces, they could be a more effective fighting unit. Our people were working with them, to facilitate the idea.