"Sorry, with a galaxy full of planets to party on and a room full of friends to party with, it was a difficult decision. But after a few Rock-Paper-Scissor throws with Thalia, we have decided on...Ormazd—"
After seconds of silence, the room exploded into chaos. I got up and fetched a hot cup of kaffa.
"That was exciting," Terril said as she followed me there and back. "I doubt anyone won one of the hundreds of raffles." She stepped back when I sat, and slowly the room became quiet.
"Why Ormazd?" Pavao asked the question on everyone's mind. "Most of us thought Fool's Hope or Fool's Landing, or ZigZag."
"Unless I'm wrong, Admiral Neifeh is close to attacking Echo, Wahoo, Blue Canyon, or...Eden." Again I had to wait for the room to quiet. "If I'm right, we need to get his attention, distract him, and hopefully delay the attack. The cruisers he left at Fool's Hope and the others are old ships and dispensable. In fact, he'd probably consider an attack on Fool's Hope or one of the others good news, since it decreases the size of the SAS forces protecting his four primary targets. However, if we get the attention of the Jahaba Supreme Council in Ormazd..."
"But if he knows it's the Riss..." Radu Sa'Velte said, obviously concerned about Neifeh's possible response against Freeland.
"The Riss?" I asked, maintaining a surprised expression. "The Riss are under JPU control. No, I believe the Aliens are back and still intent on quarantining those nasty humans."
"I'm glad we're on the same side, dybbuk," Damaass said, smiling and raising his glass of wine in my direction.
Let's hope I'm right, I mused.
"Each of you has earned the right to accompany me to Ormazd, but we have Freeland to consider. We must balance our available resources in case Admiral Neifeh somehow guesses it was the Riss and chooses to visit Freeland on his way to Ormazd. It's a calculated risk, and one of the problems I had in deciding where and how to distract Admiral Neifeh. We must get his attention, distract his pending offensive against the SAS, and must not be traceable back to Freeland."
Ni'Shay laughed, raising his glass to me. "Long live the bitch Ioana."
"Long live the bitch Ioana." Everyone repeated with drinks raised.
"All right. The Mnemosyne, Eirene, Elpis, and Maat will depart Freeland forty-eight hours from now to Ormazd. The Minerva, Themis, Druantia, and Artio will remain in Freeland. Damaass, you're Leader in Freeland. This will not be our only battle, so continue recruiting, training, and producing Irises, missiles, and fighters." I stood in place and met each individual's eyes. "Most importantly, you are to tell no one—no one—the destination of the Mnemosyne and the other three Riss cruisers. I have no reason to believe the information could get to the JPU, but why take chances. The fate of nations could ride on that information. If asked, you can say Leader Reese planned to meet with Admirals Wattson and Zhu."
* * *
"What do you plan to do when we get there?" Zhang asked as we sat in my conference room after a leisurely meal with all of the Riss-humans present. This was to be the final briefing prior to departing.
"That will depend upon what we find when we arrive. I'm hoping JPU arrogance persists and Ormazd is not considered vulnerable, and that six or fewer squadrons are in system when we arrive. The bad news is they will probably be the older models and not upgraded."
"So few?" Jaelle asked.
"Admiral Neifeh has them spread very thin: six squadrons at each of the six SAS systems he's quarantined, another two at Alborz, one on Baraz and Ihsan, and four on Hayjar. That's fourteen squadrons, approximately one hundred forty cruisers in addition to the one hundred fifty-seven in Neifeh's invasion force. A total of three hundred. So unless the four hundred estimate of JPU Navy is wrong, one hundred must be spread across the remaining eight systems. Sarosh is a major repair and manufacturing complex, as is Usak, so it's unlikely they were stripped of protection, and Mihr and Sivas systems are close to the UFN. If he left one squadron at each, that only leaves six squadrons for Ormazd."
"That's almost funny," Sheva said. "The SAS and the UFN are clustering their forces to protect their capitals, while the JPU has left its capital practically undefended."
"That's my thought. Whether I'm right or not is yet to be seen. If I am, I want to destroy any cruisers in system, their space platform, and any repair or production stations. The trick will be to ensure we let someone escape to get the information back to Neifeh, since we will have to destroy the Comstat."
* * *
"I've always thought of us as friends but never as equals," Terril said while sitting in my office drinking a cup of tea Zhu had sent me. We were ten days into our flight to Ormazd. She laughed. "Hosting a Riss...Ananke, was the best decision of my life. Everything seems so...new, exciting. And where my career should be ending in a few years, it's now just beginning."
"Governments, philosophers, etc., talk about all humans being equal, but then divide them in classes who are not considered equal. It's our nature to need to be considered more important than others, and we go to great lengths to develop classes within classes. For example, in the military you have officers and enlisted, and officers are considered more important although they do less of the real work. Each of those are further subdivided by rank into another ten classes where the higher rank is considered more important, critical to success, although I doubt a captain could fix a cruiser's engine. Then within each service, specialties have their own pecking order...
"The Riss are only concerned with placing a person in a position where she can contribute to the wellbeing of the Riss people. Her position defines her responsibilities, not her importance. Therefore, equality is not an issue. So, we are friends with different jobs we each do for the good of the Riss Nation."
"That will take some time getting used to." Terril laughed.
"Harder still, since we have to deal with humans, whose system fosters the concept of inequality."
* * *
Red lights flashed, and SIDs broadcasted the emergency change in status. The minutes ticked by quietly, and I felt no tension on the Bridge—a routine Wave exit.
I sat watching as the VTH came to life and tags began appearing. A squadron, tagged JH-1-2 and JL1-8, occupied a position some three light-seconds from the exit. The rest of space seemed quiet except closer to Ormazd, but we were too far to make out detail.
"Sheva, I'm leaving you here with the outer group, designated Ormazd Squadron one, OS-1. Position yourself for an attack, while we get closer. I'll contact you with the details when I know what they have in-system."
"Elpis positioning for an attack on OS-1, awaiting your orders," she said, and cut the connection.
"Pavao, Zhang, stealth mode. Continue approach to Ormazd," I said, and cut the connection.
As the hours ticked by, I began to get a detailed picture of Ormazd's space. About one light-second from the planet, a second squadron of two Heavies and eight Lights patrolled the area.
Closer in, three giant space platforms orbited the planet: The first one, tagged OSP, looked like multiple Ferris Wheels connected by a single spoke, and it was in a stationary orbit over Ormazd City, the capital. It had a fleet of merchant ships coming and going, an old squadron of cruisers, and a variety of smaller luxury spaceships that may have been private or commercial passenger ships. The station was a beehive of activity, with hundreds of shuttles coming and going to Ormazd City.
The second platform, tagged HSP, located a one-third rotation away orbiting Hakari, Ormazd's second largest city, was the same design although smaller by half and with the same mixture of merchant, military, and commercial spacecraft. Again, traffic to and from Hakari was heavy.
The third platform, a manufacturing structure tagged MSP, was twice as large as the OSS. It looked like an assortment of steel boxes connected by long thin cylinders. At least fifteen cruisers were in some stage of manufacture, including three heavy-Heavy cruisers. It was located halfway between OSP and HSP.
"I can't believe it," Pavao said. "I wonder if Admiral Neifeh mentioned he was going to go start a war."
"It's a gift, so I guess we should say thank you and not complain. Zhang, join Sheva. When you are in position, send Ready. Unless you hear from Pavao or me, you may proceed to destroy OS-1 sixty seconds later." When Sheva and Zhang nodded, I continued. "Pavao, you and I will destroy OS-2 on the sixty second mark. We will then proceed to the orbiting platforms. Sheva and Zhang to MSS, Pavao to OSP, and me to HSP. Any questions?"
When no one said anything, I cut the connections to Sheva and Zhang. "Nance, what say we split the Heavies and the Lights?"
"Sounds fair. What if I take OS-2H-1, OS-2L-1, OS-2L-2, OS-2L-5, and OS-2L-6?" she said, sending me a copy of her VTH. I verified our two systems looked the same.
"Sixty seconds after Ready from Sheva." I cut the connection.
I clicked on Byer and Seng. Their faces appeared immediately.
"I assume you have been watching your feeds," I asked somewhat rhetorically—what else did they have to do? "In one hour, I will declare Battle Stations, stealth mode, and the actual fighting will start within an hour from then. They will undoubtedly release fighters, but the number will depend on the effectiveness of our initial attack and their current configuration."
"I understand. We'll be ready," Byer said.
"I don't know whether I'll release the Scorpions or not. There are the space platforms to consider."
"We'll be ready, Captain Reese," Seng said, and I cut the connection.
As I studied my assigned targets, I decided on a one-second skip that would position me only five kilometers from the Heavy and close enough for one-second shots at my four Lights. The tightness of the OS-2's formation was going to make for one fireworks display between Pavao and me.
I sat back and waited as we crept closer to squadron two. We would be sitting right in the middle of the explosions—within ten to a hundred kilometers—and normally I would have skipped away. But Pavao had half the OS-2 squadron, and I might have a good chance to finish the battle if I stayed. So, I decided to wait to see the results before making my next move.
I noticed only the two-second skip had changed. It was now one. I watched as the monitor crept toward zero.
I waited as the tubes were reloaded. Multiple explosions were occurring on OS-2H-2, and OS-2H-1. Hurt, but not dead, I noted abstractly.
The ready lite turned green just as OS-2L-4 and OS-2L-7 systems went active.
Caught napping, I mused.
The green lite on the Demons went green.
Fifteen agonizing seconds later,
We were so close that Fire and impact were almost simultaneous. Very dangerous, but effective since the enemy ships had only forty-five seconds to respond, and they had been caught totally unprepared—few fighters were being launched.
"Byer, prepare to launch ten fighters against OS-2H-2." I said, watching the VTH.
< OS-2L-7 lost power.>
"Byer, half your unit to clean up OS-2H-2 fighters, and the other half to investigate OS-2L-4 and OS-2L-8."
"Ghosts leaving bays G1 and G2."
"When you and Sheva are finished, return to OS-2 area, clean up, and pick up our fighters." I cut the connection, knowing he was busy, but timing was critical.
"As soon as you can, join me at OSP and HSP. Sheva and Zhang will clean up our area and pick up the fighters." I cut the connection