Riss Series 5: The Riss Challenge Read online

  "Missiles. I want every Riss cruiser to be carrying a double load. And the Wraiths and Kraits will need training. I want training exercises between the Ghosts and Wraiths, and between the Scorpions and Kraits. We are no longer Freelanders, SAS, UFN, or Riss if we want to survive." I turned to Iglis. "I need to know what is happening everywhere. Get Butler to increase your security."

  "How?"

  "The price of Riss help."

  * * *

  My SID lit with an emergency priority signal. When I activated it, Iglis stood smiling while bouncing up and down.

  "He did it; he gave me his access codes." She looked like someone that had just won a mega lottery, and maybe she thought she had. "Leader Reese, if you aren't busy..."

  "I'll be right down," I said, cutting the connection. As I left my quarters, two Cobras fell in behind me.

  "She's on the move, sergeant. Looks like the Intel unit," the ranking guard, Corporal Zo'Imre, said into her SID, which was connected to a secure network in the System computer.

  I nodded, smiling to myself. Zo'Imre had been second in the security command at the Zo'Imre clan complex. Terril had said she reminded her of herself when she was much younger—hardworking, dedicated, and smart.

  Iglis was waiting at the door when I arrived and had to restrain herself from running to her office. There she had three monitors active.

  "Look, I can search for anything; I have unrestricted access. Only two or three people have that level. I haven't gotten one Not authorized response. I didn't think he'd do it... You make him nervous."

  "Admiral Bulter is one of the good guys. Like Admiral Plimson, he's capable of making the hard decisions. He knows the stakes are too high for petty jurisdictional issues and spook regulations, and he trusts you and me, or he would never have let you stay on the Mnemosyne." I poured a cup of kaffa from her sideboard. "Find anything interesting?"

  "You were right. Admirals Plimson and Wattson wanted to probe the dark systems, but the new defense committee won't let them. Angel Rock and Surprise have gone dark. That's six systems. Admiral Zhu was willing to send a sizable force in support, but the Emperor wouldn't let him."

  "Ask him for all the information on the JPU manufacturing, research and development, and repair stations in the Papak Sector. Make it urgent. Unless I'm mistaken, Admiral Neifeh isn't too far from making a major push against the SAS. We need to distract him," I said while trying to digest what Iglis was discovering and apply that against what I knew about Neifeh.

  I left knowing I couldn't put off a decision much longer. The SAS had allowed Neifeh to proceed unchallenged, which put his planned strategy ahead of schedule.

  * * *

  "You wanted to see me...Nadya?" Terril asked as I approached my conference room.

  "Yes, come on in." My security team had the conference room door open, and one was surveying the room. "Grab something to eat or drink. Ja'Kazak and Ja'Shar will be here shortly. Nadya, Leader, Captain, or Captain Reese are all good, although depending on the time and place one may be more appropriate than another," I said.

  "Always felt strange calling you Nadya or Master Reese one place, and Captain Reese another. Like you were two different people. This feels better—you've always been my friend Nadya."

  I fetched a kaffa with Terril and sat. A few minutes later, Commander Sorin and Lieutenant Anca entered, followed immediately by Colonel Eugen and Lieutenant Alven. I waved them to the sidebar.

  "Help yourself and get comfortable," I said, and waited for everyone to get settled. "I asked you here to determine how many Cobra, Krait and Wraith operational units you could put together today. I'm sorry for the short notice, but I have a decision to make which can't wait. Take your time."

  "I've known Leader Reese many years. She has always been as honest with me and loyal as I have been with her," Terril said as casually as I might say, ‘There are drinks on the sideboard.' However, Terril's meaning was clear—‘She deserves both, and I guard her back.'

  "Yes, clan loyalty," Eugen said to nods from the others. "That, we understand better than most. With truth, we may sometimes have a small problem, but we will remember your wisdom, Colonel Terril."

  Terril sent involuntarily.

  I sent.

  Thalia sent via Ananke with amusement.

  Terril sent with resignation.

  "We could assemble three Wraith squadrons of fifteen each or two at twenty. There would be some weak backups, but they could fly and shoot," Sorin said looking to Anca, who nodded agreement.

  "We could assemble one hundred fifty Kraits—two hundred twenty if we include people who have satisfactorily completed the basic training but not yet fully qualified," Eugen said with confirmation from Alven. He smiled. "Colonel Terril has been raiding us heavily."

  "That's true. Colonel Eugen has been a huge help with providing candidates for the Cobras. He and I felt that was the priority. Consequently, I have one hundred operational people and could provide a team of ten for each Riss Cruiser, and have twenty backup."

  "Excellent work. Colonel Eugen, get with Terril and determine how best to distribute the twenty backups. They should understand they will be the first to fill any vacancies in the Cobras." I stood. "Staff meeting two days from now at zero eight hundred hours. Be prepared to go operational within forty-eight hours afterward."

  * * *

  By the time the staff meeting was over, the numbers had magically come together. We had two operational Freeland detachments of twenty Wraiths and one hundred Kraits along with supporting crews and medical units. I assigned them to the Minerva and the Themis.

  The Maat with the UFN detachment had managed to acquire five additional Riss fighters and to teach eight pilots, mostly backups, to fly them. They had no way to acquire additional pilots or commandos, so their personnel numbers remained the same.

  The SAS detached units from the Minerva were distributed among the Mnemosyne, Eirene, and Elpis, which increased the Scorpion unit by thirty and the Ghost unit by eighteen personnel and five fighters—now twenty Ghosts each.

  * * *

  Early the next morning, my SID buzzed with a message from Iglis:

  WHENEVER YOU ARE FREE, I HAVE THAT INFORMATION YOU REQUESTED.

  I knew she meant from Admiral Butler and made my way to the security area. Iglis was waiting with a big smile. Actually, she did a lot of smiling lately.

  "I can't believe how fast he responds, and without the usual ‘Why do you need the information?'"

  "He probably doesn't want that conversation going out over the Comstat, and I suspect he knows exactly why you want it—to give it to me." I laughed.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  JPU: Alien Invasion

  The Freeland conference room buzzed with excitement when I entered. Today was the day, and everyone knew it—assignments. It felt like graduation day at the academy. I fetched myself a kaffa from the side table and sat in the only vacant chair, in the middle of the long table. As I did, the room became deathly quiet. Looking around the table, I couldn't help but reflect on the differences between the Riss and the humans. We were going to war, yet the humans were excited, even the Riss-humans. The Riss weren't. To the Riss, war was just something unpleasant that had to be done...because the Leader said.

  Thalia confirmed with no emotion.

  I sent with my oscillating emotions: guilt, depression, anger, frustration...excitement.

 

  I felt the tears as if they were real. Thalia was right. Although the SAS had given the Riss their own enclave, without advocacy they would be isolated over time, collapse as a society, and lose their identity—like the American Indians on old earth and many other small indigenous people who had their land stolen from them.

  e Leader.> I laughed. When I picked up my kaffa, it was ice cold and everyone was staring at me.

  "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.

 

  Zhang's face appeared.

  Pavao's face appeared.

  Sheva's face appeared.

  "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.

  Blue light flashed throughout the ship then went steady blue as SIDs registered the change in status.

  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.

  One by one, their faces appeared.

  "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.