The Chronicles of Heaven's War: Burning Phoenix (59 page)

Eden’s Gate was the most strategic of all
the jump portals for both the Children’s Empire and the League of
Brothers. No other portal offered its users greater connectivity to
other portals throughout the galaxy, but also to the Middle and
Lower Realms. True, it was hazardous to journey into the Lower
Realms before first passing into and out from the Middle, but if
machines were plated in elemental materials or suits made of such,
gold being one of the easiest universal elements to obtain, ships
could safely travel directly into the Lower Realms from the
Upper.

There were also two major jump portals in
the territories belonging to the League of Brothers that Eden’s
Gate emptied directly into. The military advantage to possessing
Eden’s Gate and either of the other two was obvious. For those
reasons alone, there was always a heavy guard present at those
portals, even during peace time, that lesson being hard learned
when Legion used the Eden’s Gate Portal to invade the nearby planet
of MueoPoros.

Long had the two opposing camps struggled
for control over Eden’s Gate, the Children’s Empire succeeding in
its final taking during the Three Hundred Years War. The main
reasons for the First and Second Sieges of Memphis were to wrestle
MueoPoros away from the League of Brothers, thus reducing the
threat on this very important portal, and to provide bases for the
Navy to operate out of for the protection of Eden’s Gate, it being
the only habitable planet in all the surrounding star systems.

Both attempts at taking MueoPoros ended in
bloody failure for the Children’s Empire, the armistice ending the
Great War bringing a temporary halt to the thousands of years of
bloodletting to secure mastery over that portal. It was a tenuous
peace with no assurance Asotos might not renege on the accord, thus
requiring a large standing military force remain guarding the great
portal. Sadly, little attempt was made during that peace to secure
a base within close proximity to Eden’s Gate, an inconvenience at
best, a disaster should Asotos choose to strike in force
unexpectedly.

Now though, with war again looming on the
horizon, all eyes would be focusing upon Eden’s Gate, its very
force of presence demanding that blood be shed anew if the
Children’s Empire was to survive. The loss of Eden’s Gate would
open the Empire up to full-scale invasion, one that might likely
lead to its eventual demise. For, even if the EdenEsonbar star
system should be saved, secure, little hope would remain for its
more distant territories.

There was little fear that Asotos would send
an invasion force out through a portal to capture it. The
dimensional laws of nature and energy did not follow set rules
within the channels between jump portals. Time and space follow
their own laws there. Ships navigating the portals traveled in a
cosmic fog, so to speak, with no available outside communication,
even with other ships traveling along with them. It had taken well
into the Second Age before the mechanics of space travel had
advanced far enough to permit flight by instrument though these
portals, thus no longer requiring the prescient powers of the
wisest of Ancients.

Down to this time, none really understood
the mathematics controlling the portal passages. Like little
children twisting the dials of a speaking machine to hear their own
voices, the captains and navigators played with the energy signals
within the universal harmonics to find their way along the
sightless, timeless passages. And when reaching destination’s end,
a portal would cast out crew and ship into a vortex of bent and
twisted laws in which little other than life support and
gravitational machinery operated with any real consistency.

Indeed! It might take twenty minutes or more
for a ship to come back on line with its energy shields and weapons
systems fully functional - a great danger for a ship to be in if
entering enemy territory. Even a torpedo scow could disable or
destroy a giant dreadnaught under such circumstances. The threat
existed, then, not from within, but from a conventional assault in
open space. Should the enemy capture a major portal such as Eden’s
Gate, a door would be opened to allow full-scale invasion forces to
rapidly and safely move across vast distances, and to permit those
same invading forces with quick reinforcements and supplies.

There was the dilemma. The portals needing
protection were scattered across the universe, requiring that
several naval battle groups be deployed in guarding them, not to
mention the need for a show of force maintained all along the
border. The tenuous peace since the Armistice had only increased
the number of ships and garrisons required. Allowing Asotos to
retain his holdings on MueoPoros and several star systems along the
Children’s eastern frontier, along with the failure to remove the
Stasis Pirates from the Trizentine, forced the Empire to remain on
constant alert for hostile activities. Indeed, even now continual
patrols were necessary just to ensure the safe intercourse of trade
with the Empire’s eastern territories.

Hoio stepped back, his eyes scanning the
room while offering a grim smile. Sighing, he concluded, “With the
eventual peace at the end of the Great War, few of our people chose
to remain in uniform, deciding instead to return home for one last
hurrah before the next even bloodier conflagration that they all
knew was coming. Many of those from the Army who remained standing
the line securing the Empire were transferred to give support to
the Marines stationed aboard patrolling ships or garrisoned on some
lonely outposts. Some from the Army chose to join up with or return
to the Navy, especially those from the Army’s flight wings.”

He shrugged. “Either way, the Army was left
a skeleton of itself, its bases abandoned, equipment scattered
helter-skelter across star systems, and its officer training
academies closed. Nearly fifty years hence, many of the Army’s
shops, depots, and factories, like the ShiGohn HowlKine Military
Complex at Oros, are little more than ghost towns haunted by the
vulture, horned demons, and other such wild things.”

The tone in Hoio’s voice was not optimistic.
“We must raise the dead and put flesh upon the dry bones of our
once glorious army, and do it quickly. Swords must be sharpened,
shields polished, and helms renewed, and there is not a moment to
spare! The samurai must be resurrected in the hearts of the people.
Courage and determination must be reborn. Our enemy has not slept.
Now we must reawake!”

After Hoio was seated, Trisha asked her
senior staff officer, BarkaiNofech, to sum up the supply and
logistics situation. His report was rather lengthy and tedious, but
to be expected what with all the dry facts and figures, numbers -
or lack thereof - of supplies, personnel, equipment, and so forth.
Barkai was an astute officer and understood well how wearisome such
a presentation could be, often was. He did his best. When finished,
no one could accuse him of not having thoroughly informed them
about the current situation while not producing a major issue of
‘death through boredom’. A summation of matters was this:

There were just not enough Navy transports
available to supply the numerous garrisons scattered about the
Empire, thus forcing use of independent enterprises, i.e.
Wildcatters. Although usually willing to assist the military, the
Wildcatters were not considered a dependable form of transport, as
were the commercial and military systems. Wildcatters’ loyalties to
the needs of the military were little above that of the colonies
they supported. Indeed, for many of the distant colonies,
Wildcatters were their only transportation links other than larger
colonies that might have ships of their own. Depending on
Wildcatters meant for unpredictable supplying and reinforcement,
especially in high danger and risk areas.

(Author’s note
: The term ‘Wildcatters’
was a broad definition given to privately owned ships that lent
themselves to the commercial transport system of the day. Up until
the First Megiddo War, there was no Children’s Empire, nor was
there any official regulatory transportation system in place.
City-states, colonies or private operators provided for the
peoples’ needs, which were few. Transportation was much the
luck-of-the-draw, so to speak, whatever ship being in port willing
to deliver one to his or her destination being available at the
time became the only ship of choice.

If the transportation arrangements were not
to the person’s liking, or should a long sojourn be on someone’s
mind, then apprenticing out or partnering up were the usual options
taken to accomplish one’s purpose. Of course, once the objective of
obtaining the adequate vessel was realized, the need of supply and
maintenance became a constant issue. To cover such cost, the proud
new owner or owners would often offer up the ship to the service of
others. Though honest and well meaning, the very nature of the
existence lived by these independent seafarers created a carefree
atmosphere among these people, giving them a much deserved
reputation for being undependable, thus the name they acquired in
the universal tongue of today, ‘roustabouts’.

The official advent of the Wildcatters came
into existence after the Commerce Regency, which came into being
around the time of the Second Megiddo War. It was during this
period that the councils succeeded in gathering the many far flung
territories to form a confederacy that came to be called the
‘Children’s Empire’. One of the first agencies set up by the new
Children’s Council was the Commerce Regency, its primary assigned
task to establish official trade routes and schedules, and to
consolidate the colonies many ships into one homogenous unit to
accomplish its task.

Few of the private ship owners accepted the
Regency’s request to assist in this monumental venture. Indeed, the
roustabouts generally refused to acknowledge the Children’s Empire,
feeling it was a usurpation of powers granted to the individual by
the Maker of Worlds. From that time forward, a loose fellowship
grew among that independent lot, they gradually forming unofficial
shippers’ guilds of their own. These members received the name we
translate into the universal tongue as ‘Wildcatters’.

It was well into the Three Hundred Years
War, after Asotos’ pogroms against anyone not swearing allegiance
to the League of Brothers, that the Wildcatters formed a loose
alliance with the Children’s Empire, under the provision they be
recognized as independent sailors loyal to the cause, but free of
the Empire’s regulations. Later, through the negotiating efforts
of
JehanneEmmainomaiOrlèans,
the Wildcatters finally
offered their full support to the Children’s Empire, cementing a
binding fealty. Thus began the history of what to this day is
called the ‘Merchant Marines’.

KfirNoiz’ book,
Ghost
Warriors,
sheds in-depth historical light on the role of the
Wildcatters from their formation up through the final siege of
Memphis, and the significant role they played in the winning of the
Frontier Wars.)

General Barkai did suggest that the
Children’s Empire officially recognize the Wildcatters Shippers’
League as an independent ally, flying both its and the Empire’s
colors, to open the Empire’s bases for supply and repair of
Wildcatter ships, provide Marine support for the protection of
vessels and crews, along with some recommendations concerning
protocol, rank and privilege, and diplomatic recognition. Later, as
the war continued to progress, many of Barkai’s concepts were
implemented.

Even should the Wildcatters abandon
themselves completely to the Children’s cause, Barkai doubted those
added numbers would be enough to sway the war into their favor. “I
doubt their role will be little more than scouting, skirmishing,
and occasional transporting. I think the major role of such
madmen
is to be that of giving a psychological boost to our
tired war-weary people.”

Despite his current reservations, Barkai
would remain a staunch advocate for gaining those people’s
allegiance, and would later successfully lobby to have them seated
on the Children’s official war councils. Although the upcoming
command structure of the Children’s military was decided upon
before the Prisoner Exchange, few, other than the ones directly
involved in making those changes, realized the extent of them. This
included Barkai and most of the members of Trisha’s war council.
Other than hinted rumors, which could not be trusted, the general
had to base his calculations on the currently understood leadership
arrangement, thus placing Trisha as commander en-force, overseeing
a band of subordinates who saw themselves nearly as independent as
the Wildcatters, as had been the long-standing practice of the
Empire. This was especially true of the Navy, it seeing Gabrielle
as its supreme commander, with the field marshal having a
supporting role.

Using that understanding as his foundation,
Barkai painted a dismal picture for the Army, especially
considering what would be expected of it should the new field
marshal prove successful in arguing her strategy for fighting the
upcoming war. The rumors of official divided command only troubled
him the more.

His spoken fears regarding lack of
cooperation, supply and support were blunted when Trisha assured
those gathered that would not be the case at all. “The sun rises
upon a new day. We have ruling over us a king who, while not
leading her army into battle, shall still gather its power and
glory from afar. One kingdom, one banner, one battle cry will be
heard among the people. One machine will rise from the mist to
engage a troublesome foe, one hand… one heart… one voice. Trust me
on this. Trust me...”

Barkai smiled skeptically, hoping that it
would be. He pointed out factually that at the present moment he
had little positive information to share on how the military would
be transported and supplied in a major campaign. “All you have
declared may all be well and true. I hope it is so, but as for me,
with the information available at this time, I am running blind. So
little do we know - not even an accurate number of those still with
us in uniform. The latest official inventory of military supplies,
ships,and equipment is twenty years old. Why, we don’t even know,
for sure, how many active bases we are currently operating.”