Warlord's Invasion (Starfight Book 1) (10 page)

“Rest assured, other officers are also being forwarded orders to do just that. Yours will be part of a larger effort to access their hyperlight war technology and to obtain technologies. As for marine assaults inside a gravity well, my staff has come to the conclusion that the enemy is for the most part invulnerable in sublight combat.”

Vier thought about the force she would command, including the transports. It would be a lot of ships. At least two million men. “Sir, how much am I allowed to lose in order to accomplish the first and second objectives? How much am I allowed to sacrifice in order to find out their hyperlight edge or to obtain their technology?”

“If need be, all of it.” Mittermeyer stared at her solemnly. His ordinarily kind face looked grim and dark.

“All of it?”

“Yes…” He cleared his throat. “…However, although 900 warships seems plenty, I doubt you’ll be using all of it to access their capabilities. In the event that the other three commodores fail—either because of some type of hyperlight sensor technology or an extreme counterweapon that prevents any of their ships from leaving—you are authorized to use all 900 expendable warships in your command to find out just why we can’t leave with the information we obtain. In the case of assaulting their ships to acquire their technology, use everything in your power to accomplish that as long as you also follow Mu Pei’s orders.” Mittermeyer leaned forward. “It is crucial we know how their weapon, armor, power generation, and propulsion work. My general staff is very intrigued on how their sublight missiles propel themselves and how their antimissile countermeasures operate. At the moment, it is magic. Their shield and sublight ship-to-ship energy weapons are also tantamount. Find out everything as long as it’s not suicide.”

Vier took a moment to take it all in. 900 plus ships. Two million spacers. Approximately twenty percent of the region’s faster than light combat fleet. “Why me, sir?”

“Unlike your opponents in the Galactic Senate, I am one of your benefactors. Your ‘exile’ was unfair. In fact, your aggressiveness is perfectly suited for this task—although, I admit, it probably caused your demotion in the first place. It is bad luck that your place of exile is one of the first systems to be attacked. But it is also good luck. You are fortunate to be in the area where the events are most crucial. Use the opportunity.”

“Thank you, sir.” Vier smiled. “When I was demoted—”

Mittermeyer raised his hand, signaling that he wasn’t finished. “I am not, by nature, a gambler, but I believe you are. In this war, we’ll need a lot of gamble if we are to win. Fighting a conventional battle with conventional tactics will only result in us playing in their hands. Since it’s obvious that the methodical way in which they invade is a sign that they’ve done it all before, that is why we’ll need people who can surprise them, even at such a disadvantage. Your official orders will be forwarded to your new flagship.”

“I will do my best, sir. I won’t let you down.”

“Also, if you can capture some of the aliens, do so. Since every attempt at communicating with them has failed, if you succeed in boarding their ships, take as many prisoners as you can. We need to be able to figure out their society and psychology. It will enlighten us about the motivations of their sudden war. Now, I would say good luck and Godspeed on that but there are several operational issues I need to explain...”

In orbit around Meerlat

Imperial Mothership Ro’Zur’Gur

Cultural Monitoring Room…

Chief Collector El-Sur zoomed the monitor in on the trio of humans in the city streets of Meerlat and casually observed them engage in verbal and nonverbal communication. Humans, they called themselves, with the same reverence El-Sur’s race spoke of themselves. Humans, a very simple word that had been added into the Chief Collector’s lexicon.

El-Sur saw and heard everything in their exchange. The facial expressions, body movement and postures, eye movements, the way the female touched the male. The space they gave each other; the timing, pace, tone of their voices and of course, the sounds themselves.

As a linguistic and sociological expert, she could relatively quickly piece together another specie’s language and social mores. Her mind was different from most of her species, which is a reason the Great Commander valued her so much. She was quick to learn and easy to understand.

It had taken her less than two planetary rotations of Meerlat to become simply proficient in the main human language, the one they called Galactic English, and she didn’t even need to interact with them. She was, so much as she knew, the fastest linguist in the empire. Of course, she had the help of five thousand image and sound probes spread throughout this world, mostly in the cities to monitor its population.

That was weeks ago. Now, she pushed herself to become an expert in knowing
all
aspects of the main human language. Who knew all nuances, intricacies, and subtleties were so difficult to master?

Sitting inside the monitor room with a dozen other linguists, she casually gazed at the visual cues on her display. The first female was in ‘love’ with the male, but the male preferred the other female. Interesting, thought El-Sur. A reproductive trio. Will these three humans engage in sexual activities? Throughout all bipedal species in the galaxy, the male-female dichotomy almost always resulted in a few selective males monopolizing multiple females. It was a natural and logical outcome of most specie’s evolution.

Gazing at the display, El-Sur saw more touches by the first female. A bit of frustration, but also excitement.

The male was, of course, conscious of all this. He was playing the first female, using her to catch the interest of the second. The second began succumbing to the trap, starting to show interest—when suddenly all three sophonts stopped. They gazed upwards...

El-Sur sighed and watched in disappointment as the trio scurried away into a building as if their privacy had been invaded. Didn’t they know? There was no such thing as long as the monitors exist. Tapping the interface, she changed the view to another interaction.

“You digress from the objective, Chief Collector,” a Cat sitting next to her spoke.

“And what objective is that, Sela?” El-Sur asked, eyes still gazing at the displays.

“To learn but not to involve.”

El-Sur purred. “Then you do yet understand, Sela. To become involved is necessary to learn.”

The Cat yawned. “Your interest in this species is too apparent. You forget that they are Pra. We are the conquerors.”

“And you forget that I am your Kael,” El-Sur turned toward him indignantly.

The Cat stretched her arms. “If the Great Commander did not fancy you, you would not have attained your rank.”

El-Sur steamed.

The Cat sitting beside El-Sur smirked, returning her attention to her display.

As much as El-Sur tried not to think of it, she couldn’t. She gazed at her own display, pretending to be observing human social customs. It was true the Great Commander gave too much attention to her to make her believe otherwise, but she
had
greatly contributed greatly to his well-being. Over the years, she had single-handedly deciphered several languages whereas others had failed and acted as first intermediary during interspecies exchanges for him. She had done her work to attain the position she had now.

Then she sighed. The opposite was also true. Everything she acquired right now was because of the Great Commander. Ever since the Great Commander had pledged to vanquish her enemies, the same enemies that had irradiated her home planet as well as her entire clan, she had been a loyal follower of the Great Commander. She owed everything she now had to him ever since the fall, so naturally she lent him all her raw abilities and talents. And if the Great Commander was overly grateful or overly attentive because of other reasons, then why should she complain? Her desire for vengeance had been fulfilled because of him.

She shook her head. She still had memories of being a kitten—playing with her litter brothers and sisters while being nurtured by her mother and father. Those memories had suddenly stopped with the Suras clan—her clan! When they had been ruthlessly exterminated by that cowardly preemptive attack by her enemies, the Meluks. When the Great Commander—that was before he had attained that rank given to him by the Divine Prince—had declared war on the Meluks clan. Then El-Sur had pledged her blood allegiance to him so that he may succeed.

Her clan, all six thousand Ka, had once ruled an entire planet. It had been a dynasty in its own right; an economic powerhouse in the empire, capable of manipulating royal court intricacies. Now, it was nothing. Billions of Ka had been eradicated in the nuking of her planet. The clan itself, including her mother and father, had ceased to exist. Instead of inheriting a planet, El-Sur came home to find out that everything and everyone she knew and cared about had become irradiated carbon.

So naturally, she desired that hole to be filled. So, the one who could fill it could be none other than the Gor-Eben himself. If her clan was still alive, she’d be fortunate to mate with such a being as him—ruthless, decisive, ambitious, filled with clarity, and more powerful than anyone else in the universe, second only to the Divine Prince himself. Her mother and father, the head of the clan, would not have objected.

Now, she’d be glad to find any mate with a decent rank in a powerful clan—let alone the Great Commander. She surmised, she was both the most fortunate and unfortunate Cat in the empire. To have lost everything aside from death itself and to be in a position to gain everything if one day, the Great Commander finally chose her as his mate.

Still, what if the Great Commander didn’t choose her as his queen? What if all he wanted was for her to be his plaything, a feral toy? Well, it was just the same. She would not object, since she
already
owed everything she had to him. The Great Commander, after all, had to think about the well-being of his clan and had to play the political game. For instance, if the Divine Prince offered his sister to the Great Commander, an outcome which was very likely…the Great Commander would have no choice but to mate with her. Or another female from another powerful clan.

As for El-Sur, she had no political leverage, economic leverage, nor power of any kind. All she had was her intelligence, her skills, her body, mind, and her love. That was it, but if she truly wanted something, what was there truly to stop her from getting it?

Things that were out of her control. The right thing to do—the wise thing to do—was to only concern herself with things
in
her control. She would continue to prove herself to him, just like she had already. And the savory, tongue-licking reality was that her trap
was
working. It was only a matter of time before Gor-Eben’s lust, if not his love, would fall for her...

In orbit around Meerlat

Imperial Mothership Ro’Zur’Gur

Holographic Map Room…

The holoimaging chamber was massive. It could display any location or setting he wanted in every direction.

Gor-Eben stood in the center, alone, gazing at the mesmerizing universe of stars surrounding him.

His universe.

At the center of his universe was a single star called Kaella, a dim red star, one of the smallest in the galaxy, but one of the longest living. A planet called Ka orbited this eternal star. Ka was the Ga homeworld, a lush blue ocean world filled with many island chains. Before the Ga had set
sail for the outer reaches of the local star cluster, and long before the Ga had becoming a galaxy spanning empire, the Ga had first learned to sail Ka’s seas and oceans. The black furred Cats loved water and throughout the empire, planets with oceans were idolized and those without were terraformed.

The homeworld of today had millions of underwater cities, which although protected by layers of liquid, was still vulnerable to conventional planetary bombardment weapons. But that wasn’t what interested Gor-Eben.

No, what he focused on was a different type of city that didn’t need a planet to survive.

Lakfakalle. Situated inside the home system, it was the imperial city. The gem among gems. Home of the Great Prince. The city that would rule the empire for a billion years. The city that could not be destroyed, constantly protected by the best fleet with the most up-to-date weapons and crewed by the most loyal soldiers in the galaxy. This city and its all-important cargo could only be compromised when the vast fleet and the vast system of fortifications surrounding the star had perished.

For years, Gor-Eben had tried with no success and significant risk of betraying his intentions, to infiltrate this city, to find a way to destroy it and the Great Prince from inside. There was none. The city was crewed by the most loyal guardians of the Ga throne. Using brainscan technology, these guardians were constantly memory tested to detect any sign of betrayal. Their personalities were accessed, and even if there was no evidence of direct hostile intent, the fact that the individual was susceptible to bribes, threats, and all manners of persuasion was enough to dismiss the guard. The Great Prince was invulnerable from covert assassination.

Lakfakalle. Protected by the most advanced shield generators in the galaxy and armored by layers of dense multidimensional phase material, it could also move as fast as a warship. Three hundred So’longs long, it was the size of a small moon. Its weapons were minimal, as its primary purpose was to protect the monarch from attack while relying on the Royal Fleet and the home system’s arsenals to destroy the enemy.