THE KOSTROMA SAGA by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 56 – WAR

 

12:05 (Universal Time)

Saturday, March 04, 2322

Space Operations Center of the Spacers League’s Navy Command orbital station in low orbit around Callisto Jovian System, Solar System

Rose Holloway was about to go on her lunch break and was waiting for her replacement before leaving her work station in the Space Operations Center when a red light started flashing on her communications panel. She frowned at once on seeing what kind of warning signal it was indicating. First taking the time to refine the location and identity of the emitter from which the signal came, Rose then called out loud to her work station her shift supervisor, Lieutenant Nicky Miura.

‘’LIEUTENANT, I AM RECEIVING A DISTRESS SIGNAL RELAYED BY THE EMERGENCY BUOY OF THE H.S.S. QUAZAR.’’

Miura, a young but highly competent officer of mixed Japanese-Australian ethnicity, came at once to Rose’s station to look at her main display screen.

‘’Was the QUAZAR operating inside our system?’’

‘’Negative, Lieutenant! The buoy just jumped back into our system and came from the LHS 288 system, where the QUAZAR was conducting a Space exploration mission.’’

‘’Okay, ask it to transmit its report on what happened to the QUAZAR.’’ With intra-system signals often needing many minutes to get to their recipient, Miura didn’t waste time waiting for the answer and shouted an order to another operator in the center.

‘’Valdez! We are receiving a distress signal from the emergency buoy of the H.S.S. QUAZAR, which was operating in the LHS 288 System. The buoy is presently some two million kilometers from Callisto, in Quadrant Six. Send one of our shuttles to go retrieve that buoy. Make that a top priority task.’’

‘’I’m on it, Lieutenant!’’

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Returning her attention to Rose’s display screen, Miura soon saw a long text appear on it, along with a star chart and a few pictures. Reading quickly the condensed report composed by the central computer of the QUAZAR, the young Spacers League officer let out a soft swear, realizing at once the importance of that information.

‘’By the Kamis! Those damn Drazts attacked and destroyed the QUAZAR inside the LHS 288 System. Apart from this being an act of war, this also means that the Drazts have finally managed to design a working interstellar drive. This is huge! I’m calling Admiral Xi about this. Rose, make me a copy of this emergency report on a data chip, so that I can give it to the Admiral.’’

Half a minute later, with the data chip given to her in one hand, Miura composed the call number of Admiral Xi Lao Tzu, the Chief of Staff of the Spacers League Navy. The reason that Miura was not calling the Admiral in Chief of the Navy was because no such position existed: Xi Lao Tzu was actually the highest-ranking officer in the Navy. That was due to the fact that the Spacers League Navy was in reality a loose coalition of many space forces of various sizes which belonged to either one or another of the planetary systems’ governments or asteroid-based corporations which formed the Spacers League. As Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Xi had the authority to coordinate on a daily basis the operations of the various ships belonging to the Spacers League…to an extent. Any major Space operation, especially if it demanded some kind of armed military action, needed the explicit prior approval of the High Council, except of course if urgent defensive measures needed to be taken. An historian had once compared that arrangement to that of the antique League of Delos, which had linked together the forces of a number of ancient Greek city states under the leadership of Athens, and this in order to resist invaders like the Persian Empire and Sparta. That this said League of Delos had been plagued with disagreements and conflicting interests had not been lost on many when that comparison had been made.

Admiral Xi Lao Tzu was eating one of his favorite dishes, a Vietnamese recipe of spicy noodles called ‘Bun Cha’, at the officers’ mess of the station when his wrist videophone buzzed. Excusing himself with the two senior officers he was having lunch with, he flipped open the cover cum viewing screen of his videophone, opening the link.

‘’Yes, Lieutenant? What do you have for me?’’

‘’A top priority emergency situation, Admiral: the H.S.S. QUAZAR, which was exploring the LHS 288 System, was destroyed by a Drazt ship in that system. The

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distress buoy of the QUAZAR jumped into our system some six minutes ago. A shuttle is now on its way to retrieve it and I have the condensed report from the buoy in our databanks.’’

All idea of continuing his meal now gone, Xi jumped to his feet and started walking towards the mess’s exit while speaking in his videophone.

‘’I’m on my way to the operations center right now. Sound the general alarm around our whole system and place all our ships on top alert: this could possibly signal a general attack by the Drazts against us.’’

‘’System’s general alarm and all our ship on top alert: understood, Admiral!’’ Xi then closed the link with his operations center. As he was approaching the nearest bank of elevators, he took a decision and placed another call on a confidential personal line, getting an answer within seconds.

‘’Governor Robeson speaking!’’

‘’Madam Governor, this is Admiral Xi, calling from our Navy’s command orbital station. I have grave news for you: our exploration ship H.S.S. QUAZAR has been destroyed by a Drazt ship while surveying the LHS 288 System.’’

‘’WHAT?’’ was the shocked response from the governor. ‘’How certain of that are we?’’

‘’Very certain, Madam Governor: the distress buoy from the QUAZAR jumped back to our system a few minutes ago and we have the condensed report from the ship’s computer, composed only seconds before the buoy was ejected from the QUAZAR. I am now on my way to go analyze in detail that buoy’s report and will contact you again once I will have seen it. As a precaution, I just ordered a general alarm to be sounded across the Solar System and have put all our ships on top alert: this could possibly mean that the Drazts are planning to attack us. At the minimum, it tells us that the Drazts now have a functioning interstellar drive for their ships. As for the attack on our QUAZAR, an unarmed ship, it is nothing short of an act of war against us.’’ Janet Robeson was silent for a couple of seconds as she was swallowing that news, then spoke up firmly.

‘’I concur with your assessment and agree with your actions, Admiral. Contact me again once you will have analyzed that buoy’s report. On my part, I will order the sending of star shuttles to our various members of the High Council, in order to inform them of this and to call for an emergency meeting of the High Council.’’

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‘’Understood, Madam Governor.’’ said Xi before closing that link just as he was entering an elevator cabin.

Two minutes later, Xi was entering the operations center in hurried steps, with Lieutenant Miura going to him at once, a small data chip in her hand.

‘’Here is a copy of the QUAZAR’s buoy report, Admiral. We have already started to analyze it in detail and the data leaves no doubt about what happened in the LHS 288 System: a Drazt ship engaged without provocation the QUAZAR with disintegrator cannon fire as it was mapping the second planet of the system.’’

‘’Damn! What do we have presently in the Solar System in terms of armed, jump capable ships?’’

‘’Not much in truth, Admiral. As you know, the bulk of our planned fleet of interstellar warships is still under construction or running their acceptance trials, while their crews are still being trained. Right now, we have only three armed starships present in the system: the cruiser CENTURION; the brand-new patrol frigate ADMIRAL RODNEY and the KOSTROMA.’’

Xi gave Miura a sharp look when she mentioned the KOSTROMA.

‘’Where exactly is the KOSTROMA right now, Lieutenant?’’

‘’It is presently docked at the America Passenger Terminal, in Earth orbit, loading passengers and cargo destined for New Haven.’’

‘’Call at once the KOSTROMA and have it stop its loading. It will unload all the passengers already aboard, then will leave for the LHS 288 System, where it will investigate on the spot the destruction of the QUAZAR. Once that is done, it will return here to present a detailed report to us. As for the CENTURION and the RODNEY, I want them to take defensive blocking orbits around Earth, to protect it from any Drazt attack.’’

‘’Understood, Admiral!’’

With the precious data chip now in his hands, Xi then walked hurriedly to his command office, situated along a gallery overseeing the central operations room, where he was planning to review in detail the distress buoy’s report. He mentally thanked the fact that all the ships now equipped with a Koomak Drive carried a jump-capable distress buoy. If not for that faithful decision, the destruction of the QUAZAR could well have stayed unknown to him for days or weeks, once an absence of reports from the QUAZAR would have prompted the sending of another ship to the LHS 288 System.

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14:19 (Universal Time)

Sunday, March 05, 2322

Hangar Deck, A.M.S. KOSTROMA

Low polar orbit over LHS 288c

Tina was in attendance in Craft Hangar Number Two when a heavy manipulator robot carried into the hangar what was left of a standard ship’s life pod. A shuttle had found it amidst the large debris field orbiting the second planet of the LHS 288 System and had brought it inside the Craft Airlock Number One, which was adjacent to Hangar Number Two. Ahmed Jibril, who had replaced Bill Morrison as Chief of Security aboard the KOSTROMA after Morrison had become the chief of public security for New Haven, was also in attendance, along with two of his guards, plus Tina’s husband, Michel Koniev, and an engineering team. Tina’s expression was grim as she looked at the heavily damaged life pod.

‘’The top third of this life pod was unquestionably vaporized by a direct hit from a disintegrator cannon. In view of the small size of the pod and of the distances involved, this was no random shooting: the Drazt deliberately shot at a life pod containing survivors from the QUAZAR. This is nothing less than a war crime. Ahmed, I want this to be treated like a crime scene. Have plenty of pictures taken of the outside and inside of that life pod and record everything.’’

‘’Understood, Tina!’’ replied the big man before looking at Jennifer Biddles, one of his two guards accompanying him. ‘’Be ready with your camera, Jennifer. We will film the exterior of the life pod first once it has been put down on the deck, covering all the angles, then you will follow me inside.’’

‘’Got it!’’ said tersely the tough blond woman, already expecting to be confronted by some awful scene inside the damaged life pod.

The heavy manipulator robot finally put down the life pod on its fixed landing legs, its ovoid hull standing erect to a height of about four meters. However, the top meter had been disintegrated, leaving a large hole with blackened edges. As Ahmed and Jennifer slowly walked around the life pod to film it from all possible angles, Michel Koniev spoke to his wife in a low voice while pointing at the damaged top portion of the pod.

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‘’With a hole that size, decompression must have been complete in a mere fraction of a second. The occupants of that life pod at least died quickly. You were right about this being a deliberate act. Such precise shooting against such a small target had to be deliberate. The fact that all of the other three life pods that had time to eject from the QUAZAR were also hit by disintegrator fire leaves no doubts about that.’’ Tina shook her head in disgust as she still stared at the life pod.

‘’Even in our worst wars in Earth’s history, the shooting up of survivors and life boats from sunken ships was always considered as a crime and contrary to the laws of war. The attack on the QUAZAR is even more inexcusable when you consider that it was an unarmed ship and could not have possibly been a threat to that Drazt ship. The recordings from its distress buoy clearly showed that the QUAZAR identified itself as an exploration ship in its radio request for identification.’’

‘’Those Drazts most probably didn’t want to leave any witnesses behind who could have alerted us to the fact that they now have a working interstellar drive.’’

‘’I believe that you are correct about that, Michel, but it still does not excuse such an atrocity.’’

Their tour around the life pod completed, Ahmed Jibril then went to the access hatch of the pod and, with Jennifer Biddle filming him from closely behind, turned the manual opening lever and pushed open the door, sticking his head inside, a flashlight in one hand. Tina felt dread when she saw Ahmed, a hardened, combat-experienced man suddenly back off and turn his head away, a look of horror distinctly visible on his face. As for Jennifer Biddle, she also turned away and violently threw up on the deck after one look inside. Walking quickly to Jennifer, Tina gently patted her shoulder while giving her a paper tissue.

‘’Here, Jennifer: clean up your mouth with this.’’

‘’Thanks, Captain. Be careful: the sight inside the pod is horrible. There are at the least six bodies inside, all charred beyond recognition. Two of them are small children, judging from their size.’’

‘’Can you continue filming? I can take over from you if you prefer to.’’

‘’I…I will do my job, Captain.’’

‘’Thank you, Jennifer. Take your time to go over this, though. I will go see myself in the meantime.’’

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Arming herself with courage, Tina then stuck her head inside the pod, looking around the three-meter diameter chamber with the help of a head lamp fixed over her forehead. Despite being warned, she still felt instant nausea and horror when she saw two small charred bodies, still attached to their seats and flanking the body of an adult who was probably one of their parents. As for knowing if it was the body of their mother or that of their father, it was impossible to say on first look, so burned up and shriveled it was. After looking around for a few seconds and counting a total of nine bodies, Tina withdrew from inside the life pod, leaving enough space to let Jennifer Biddle resume her camera work. She had to pause and close her eyes for a moment next to the life pod, time for her to recover from the scene of horror she had just embraced. When she opened her eyes again, her husband was gently holding her with one arm around her shoulders, a concerned expression on his face.

‘’Are you alright, Tina?’’

‘’I will be. What a horrible sight! The Drazts will definitely have to pay for this.’’

‘’What do you intend to do, Tina?’’

‘’What we will do will be up to the Spacers League’s High Council. However, if it would be only for me to decide, I would gladly resort to good old gunboat diplomacy against those Drazt bastards.’’

16:41 (Universal Time)

Government palace, Drakan City

Kadosh (Ross 128b)

‘’So, what are your recommendations about what to do next, now that we have a functioning interstellar drive?’’

The four high-level Drazt officials facing Supreme Conductor Bar Kosh across a conference table hesitated a bit and looked at each other before Vice-Admiral Sho Dar, who had taken over command of the Navy after the death in battle of Admiral Tok Tharn, spoke up first.

‘’Supreme Conductor, we have studied various action scenarios, as you had requested. However, the results of our analysis of the battle where our fleet lost against that giant Human ship are not very encouraging as they pertain to our new capability.’’

‘’What do you mean, Admiral?’’ replied Bar Kosh, irritation detectable in his tone of voice. ‘’We can now travel through the stars, like the Humans do. We should thus be

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able to strike back at them and avenge our thousands of navy crewmembers who died in battle against that KOSTROMA, no?’’

‘’Uh, a number of things are complicating the situation, Supreme Conductor.’’ answered Sho Dar, feeling in his small shoes. ‘’We will have to correct a number of deficiencies before we can attack the Humans, especially if we want to strike at their home world.’’

The choice of words by Sho Dar angered Bar Kosh, who slammed a pair of fists on the table.

‘’WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘IF WE WANT’? I WANT TO STRIKE AT THE HUMAN HOME WORLD! THAT’S NOT AN OPTION!’’

Defense Minister Muron Kha then tried to come to the help of his admiral.

‘’What Admiral Dar meant was that we presently lack a number of critical capabilities before we could strike the Solar System and cause enough damage to prevent the Humans from attacking us again, Supreme Conductor. Attacking before those deficiencies are corrected would doom our offensive to failure.’’ Somewhat calmed by those words, Bar Kosh looked severely at his defense minister.

‘’And what exactly are those ‘deficiencies’, Kha?’’

‘’First and most evident, the severely depleted ranks of our Navy, Supreme Conductor. Despite the best efforts by our arsenals, we still have only eight patrol cruisers in service, compared to the 48 cruisers we had before the battle with the KOSTROMA. Worse, we are still training replacement crews for our cruisers still under construction. Unfortunately, such training cannot be cut short or neglected, as that would directly affect the combat performance of our Navy.’’ Bar Kosh could only nod his head at that.

‘’I will concede that point, Kha. What else?’’

‘’Next is the limited combat capabilities of our cruisers, Supreme Conductor. If that disastrous battle with the KOSTROMA taught us something, it is that our ships’ armament is wholly insufficient to engage such large and heavily armored enemy ships. Our standard disintegrator cannons were more than sufficient for centuries, while our cruisers engaged in routine patrols around our system, but they apparently barely scratched the massive bow shield of that damn KOSTROMA. We definitely need bigger and more powerful weapons and also more of them on each of our ships. The present standard of four medium cannons per cruiser is simply insufficient to engage successfully Human warships.’’

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‘’But, the KOBOL, a simple frigate, just destroyed a Human ship around the Markan Prime System.’’

That remark prompted Vice-Admiral Sho Dar into calling a data file on his personal data pad before passing it to Bar Kosh.

‘’After receiving and analyzing the mission report filled by Shipmaster Gor Mak, we found out from our data bank on Human ships that the ship the KOBOL destroyed was actually a luxury liner that was recently converted into an exploration and survey ship, an image of which you can now see on my data pad. As such it had zero weapons and no ship armor and stood no chance at all in a combat against any of our warships. If the KOBOL would have met instead, let’s say, the KOSTROMA, then it would have been pulverized in an instant, Supreme Conductor.’’

‘’I see! So, what kind of weaponry do we need for our ships, Admiral?’’

‘’Apart from a lot more batteries and bigger disintegrator cannons than the ones presently standard on our cruisers, we will also need to have new weapons able to inflict massive damage to both ships, orbital installations and planetary targets. In essence, we will need to arm our ships with nuclear-tipped missiles before we could strike in a significant way the Human home system. Against a large orbital station or ground facility, our medium disintegrator cannons will be grossly insufficient. Our most recent

intercepted electronic signals from the Solar System did indicate to us that a dozen giant, heavily armored and armed orbital stations defend the orbit of their home planet, Earth. There could be more of those defensive orbital stations around the Solar System. Right now, our battle simulations show that even all of our remaining cruisers would be destroyed if they attacked just one of those Human armed orbital stations.’’ Bar Kosh frowned noticeably on hearing that, but he would have been much less shaken if he had known that those said orbital defense stations around Earth were things of the past, having been destroyed by the Spacers League some six years ago after it went to war against the Terran Federation in 2315. Unfortunately for the Drazts, simple physics was playing a nasty trick on them, as electronic emissions from the Solar System took nearly eleven years to reach Ross 129 while traveling at the speed of light. Thus, everything that the Drazt believed that they knew about the Humans was outdated by over a decade, with such things as the War of 2315 and the dismantlement of the Terran Federation being still unknown to them. However real or not, that information made Bar Kosh realize something very important and relevant to the discussion at hand.

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‘’But, haven’t we scrapped all of our nuclear warheads centuries ago, after the first planet-wide government of Kadosh was formed? Do we have any of them left today?’’

Defense Minister Kha shrunk at those two questions, knowing that Bar Kosh was not going to like his answers to them.

‘’Yes, we did scrap all of our nuclear warheads then, Supreme Conductor. Presently, we have none of them left in our arsenal.’’

‘’But the Humans recently demonstrated to us that they possessed something even more destructive: anti-matter warheads. Are we capable of producing anti-matter warheads in quantity and, if not, how long would it take to produce missiles with thermonuclear warheads?’’

‘’Presently, we only have the capability to produce infinitesimal quantities of anti-matter, Supreme Conductor, and this at a tremendous cost in energy. Worse, the little that we can produce is now used in priority to fuel our new interstellar drive. As you may know already, our new interstellar drive uses a tiny anti-matter pill for each jump that one of our ship accomplishes. Without those anti-matter pills, our interstellar drive becomes useless. Right now, and even with us rationing electrical power to the general public, we can produce a grand total of five anti-matter pills per solar rotation. Thus, stockpiling anti-matter warheads is simply impossible for us. As for producing thermonuclear warheads, that is thankfully a lot more feasible, as we still have working designs for such weapons. However, it will take quite a lot of time before we could build sizeable stocks of them: we have to restart production of the right fissile materials for them and will have to build brand new factories for that purpose.’’

‘’We don’t have the time to wait, Admiral.’’ replied Bar Kosh, growing angry at Dar. ‘’Sooner or later, the Humans will find out that we destroyed their exploration ship in the Markan Prime System and will then more than probably attack us. We need to attack first!’’

As much as Vice-Admiral Sho Dar wished that he could do otherwise, he decided that he could no longer avoid giving Bar Kosh his honest professional opinion. The existence of Kadosh itself was now at risk if they made the wrong move. His own command position clearly had to pass after the outright survival of Kadosh and of the Drazt race today.

‘’Supreme Conductor, to be totally frank, I strongly believe that attacking the Humans, either soon or in the medium future, would be a horrible mistake which could cost our race dearly. Their weapons, as well as their expertise in war, are simply too

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superior to our own combat capabilities. I thus recommend that we pursue for the moment a diplomatic approach to our conflict.’’

Struck with sudden rage, Bar Kosh jumped to his feet and shook one fist in the face of the unfortunate Sho Dar.

‘’I DIDN’T PUT YOU IN CHARGE OF OUR NAVY JUST TO GET SUCH COWARDLY AND DEFEATIST ADVICE FROM YOU, SHO DAR! YOU ARE

RELIEVED OF COMMAND AS OF RIGHT NOW! NOW, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY PALACE!’’

The poor Sho Dar, shaken to the core, had no choice left to him but to get up and leave, his head lowered in dishonor and embarrassment. After the door of the conference room closed behind Dar, Bar Kosh, still on his feet, pointed a finger at his defense minister.

‘’Kha, I want you to name immediately a replacement for this coward. Once that is done, boot Dar out of the Navy! And make sure that his replacement has more resolve than him.’’

‘’Yes, Supreme Conductor!’’ could only answer Muron Kha, nearly as shaken as Sho Dar had been.

08:28 (Universal Time)

Thursday, March 9, 2322 (Earth calendar)

Bridge of the Drazt patrol cruiser TARASK

Patrolling the outer edge of the Ross 128 System

To say that the atmosphere around the bridge of the TARASK was serene would have been a gross misrepresentation as the crew of the cruiser went on with its patrol mission. By now, everybody aboard knew about the destruction of a Human ship in the Markan Prime System and, as the old saying went, were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Most apprehensive of the lot was the shipmaster, Dozna Wiss. She realized better than anyone how powerful Human warships could be, having witnessed the utter massacre of the fleet led by Admiral Tharn against the KOSTROMA. Having personally met Tina Forster, Dozna also appreciated how competent, brave and tactically savvy she was as a ship captain. If she represented the quality standard of most Human warship captains, then Dozna had good reasons to be worried about the future. Another factor that was disturbing Dozna was the abrupt sacking of Vice-Admiral Sho Dar, who

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had been widely acknowledged before as a competent senior commander who cared about his crews. In his place now as Navy Commander was Vice-Admiral Lona Gren, a senior officer mostly known to be a politically-connected commander with little true leadership qualities. Dozna had met Lona Gren a number of times during her service and had not been impressed by her one bit.

Dozna was still mentally churning her pessimistic thoughts in her head when her sensors officer shouted an alarm, a bit of fear in his voice.

‘’SHIPMASTER, WE ARE DETECTING ON LONG RANGE SENSORS A GROUP OF FIVE SHIPS APPROACHING FROM THE DIRECTION OF THE HUMAN SOLAR SYSTEM.’’

Dozna’s blood nearly froze in her veins on hearing that, but she did her best to keep her apparent calm as she started to give orders around her from her command chair.

‘’SOUND BATTLE STATIONS! MAN ALL OUR BATTERIES! DEFENSIVE SHIELDS AT MAXIMUM POWER! SENSORS, HOW FAR AWAY ARE THOSE SHIPS?’’

‘’They are approximately four light-seconds away, at the limit of our radar coverage, Shipmaster. I am now detecting radar echoes bouncing off our ship: those ships probably detected us as well, Shipmaster.’’

Dozna didn’t reply to that immediately as she furiously juggled mentally her options. She could of course simply flee towards Kadosh while sounding the alert by radio, which would be by far her safest option. However, that also meant that the approaching group of ships would be free to speed towards Kadosh without any opposition.

‘The shit is about to hit the fan!’ thought Dozna as she took the decision to stand her ground, no matter the cost to her ship.

‘’Signals Master, send the following alert message to Navy Headquarters: Fleet of five ships approaching the outer edge of Quadrant Seven, coming from the Solar System. Will try to delay their advance as much as possible. Repeat that message until you get an acknowledge.’’

‘’Uh, understood, Shipmaster.’’ answered the poor communications officer, now as pale as a white sheet. The rest of the bridge crew had similar ‘we’re fucked!’ looks on their faces, something that Dozna couldn’t blame them for. In fact, she was not sure that she looked much more assured than them right now. Thinking about how she could

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delay the most the advance of those five ships, she finally gave an order to the assistant communications officer.

‘’Assistant Signals Master, use the known emergency call frequency used by Humans and then connect the line to my command chair.’’

‘’Yes, Shipmaster!’’

Some ten seconds later, one of Dozna’s viewing screen came alive. Putting online the ship’s translation system and setting it to ‘Human English’, Dozna then started speaking in as firm a voice as she could muster.

‘’Unknown approaching ships, this is the patrol cruiser TARASK, of the Drazt Navy. Turn away at once from this system or we will engage you.’’

‘Those Humans are probably going to laugh their heads off when they will receive my challenge.’ bitterly thought Dozna while her video signal took the few seconds to cover the distance between her cruiser and the Human ships. Some twelve seconds later, an image appeared on her screen. While not laughing, the Human now looking at her via their video link was smiling widely.

‘’Hello, Dozna! It is nice to see you again.’’

‘I should have known!’ thought to herself Dozna while doing a facepalm before speaking out loud. ‘’Fleet Captain Forster, state your purpose for coming to this system with five ships.’’

The smile on Tina’s face then disappeared, to be replaced by a somber look.

‘’My purpose is to respond to the act of war one of your ships committed against an unarmed exploration ship in the LHS 288 System. I believe that you call that star system the ‘Markan Prime System’.’’

‘Damn! Here we go! You may kiss your ass goodbye now, Dozna.’ thought Wiss.

‘’And what may your response be, Captain Forster?’’

‘’Dozna, you are one cool customer, I have to give you that. In short, I want an unarmed delegation of no more than three Drazt high-level officials with real powers of decision to come here and visit my ship, where they will be presented with the terms of our ultimatum. If no officials show up within 24 Earth hours from now, or if they refuse the terms of our ultimatum, then we will consider ourselves at war with your race and act accordingly. Please emphasize in any message you will send home that we are not joking. You know very well that I have enough firepower on my ship alone to sterilize your home planet. Please don’t oblige me to apply the most severe option in my plans. You may advise me as soon as you get a response from your government. In the

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meantime, my ships will hold position here. And tell your geniuses on Kadosh not to try another surprise attack on us.’’

‘’I understand perfectly your message, Fleet Captain Forster. I will contact you again as soon as I get a response from Kadosh. TARASK out!’’ Once the video link was cut, Dozna allowed herself to blow out a breath of relief: she now had at least a few minutes more to live.

After some seemingly interminable fifty minutes, a coded message was received from Kadosh aboard the TARASK. Reading it as soon as it had been decoded, Dozna felt some of her stress evaporate. Reestablishing a link with the KOSTROMA, she again saw the face of Tina on her screen.

‘’Fleet Captain Forster, I just got a response from Kadosh: a group of three officials will leave Kadosh shortly and will be here in about eleven of your hours. Will that be satisfactory to you?’’

‘’Very much so, Dozna. I will be expecting them. Tell your envoys to board your ship first. Then, one of my runabouts will come to your ship to take them to the KOSTROMA. After our last encounter, you will understand that I am not ready to let any uninspected Drazt craft approach my ship. You can also tell them that they have my sworn word that they will not be harmed in any way while aboard my ship.’’

‘’I know that you will respect your word, Tina.’’ said Dozna, using her opponent’s first name for the first time today and making a couple of heads twist around in surprise around her bridge. ‘’I sincerely hope that we will be able to come to a peaceful agreement.’’

‘’I sincerely hope as well, Dozna. KOSTROMA out!’’

20:04 (Universal Time)

Hangar Deck of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA

To their collective surprise, no party of heavily armed guards was waiting for the three Drazt delegates when they walked out of the small runabout which had come to the TARASK to get them and had then carried them to the KOSTROMA. What they found was a few crafts parked in the hangar where the runabout had finally landed, but no living person. The only Human present was in fact the lone pilot of their runabout, a young woman wearing a simple ship coverall and a pair of boots, but also not carrying

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any visible weapon. Chief Advisor Gorat Vorka bent sideways to whisper in the ear of Division Master Korb Ren, who officially represented the Drazts Navy for this visit but who was in reality the head of the Navy Intelligence Division.

‘’How come they have no guards waiting for us? Are they playing some kind of psychological trick on us?’’

‘’That is very possible, Chief Advisor. From what we know of their history, their long experience of warfare has made them develop all the possible aspects of war, including propaganda and deceit. I am however sure that armed Humans are hiding not too far, ready to intervene if we would try anything against this ship. Just act as if you are visiting a friendly ship and we should be alright.’’

‘’Can we truly trust the word of these Humans, Division Master Ren?’’ asked Defense Minister Muron Kha, also whispering, making Ren nod his head once.

‘’Yes! From what we know of this Fleet Captain Forster, she is a highly principled person, even though she is also a dangerous tactical opponent. I don’t expect any treachery on her part.’’

What Ren didn’t say and kept to himself was that Forster had proved to have a higher sense of honor than that of his two companion delegates or of late Admiral Tharn, who had planned and directed the ill-fated surprise attack on the KOSTROMA during the preceding visit by Forster to Kadosh. He thus kept silent as their runabout’s pilot led them out of the crafts hangar and through a personnel airlock, ending in what appeared to be a sort of craft maintenance workshop. Crossing the workshop, they ended in a wide-open space over ten-meter-wide and twelve-meter-high, which seemed to form a sort of ring around what had to be the core section of the ship. While not commenting out loud about what he was seeing, Korb Ren mentally recorded everything significant he was seeing on this visit. Up to now, he had to say that he was truly impressed. This KOSTROMA was a true leviathan of space, immensely larger than any existing Drazt ship. Due to its sheer size, the thickness and thus solidity and resistance to hits of its various bulkheads and hull structures, made evident to him as his group went through various airtight doors, proved impressive to Ren: only a nuclear weapon would be able to inflict any significant damage to this behemoth.

Going through another airtight door, which was made of thick steel, the group, still led by the Human female pilot, entered what appeared to be the core section. Using

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his portable translator unit, Ren couldn’t help ask a question to his Human guide at the sight of two huge armored doors visible to his right.

‘’Uh, this seems to be a sort of communication space, Miss Silisca, but what are these huge doors for, if I may ask?’’

The female Human answered him at once without hesitation while pointing the doors, each measuring ten meters by twelve meters.

‘’Those are the access doors to the two heavy cargo lifts running up and down the centerline axis of the KOSTROMA. Those lifts are used to move between decks various cargo containers, heavy vehicles and heavy cargo pallets. We also have four smaller cargo lift wells and twelve personnel lifts inside this core section and which also run along the whole length of the ship.’’

‘’Are you saying that this is a cargo ship, and not a warship?’’ asked a shocked Gorat Vorka, attracting a malicious smile on the face of Eve Silisca.

‘’Chief Advisor Vorka, the ‘A.M.S.’ in this ship’s name stands for ‘Armed Merchant Ship’. The KOSTROMA is first and foremost a heavy lift cargo ship, although it is no slouch in any battle. The four other ships you saw while approaching the KOSTROMA are however dedicated warships, designed and built exclusively for war.’’ The three Drazt couldn’t help exchanged worried glances on hearing that: while not as big as the KOSTROMA by a far shot, those four other ships they had seen from the runabout had each looked much bigger and more massive than a Drazts patrol cruiser. Eve then invited the three Drazt to enter with her one of the elevator lifts lining the centerline column forming the spine of the ship.

The lift ride proved short, with the group going up by only nine levels before the cabin stopped and its doors slid open. The three Drazt had to stop and look around them once out of the elevator: they had expected to arrive at some kind of command or executive complex. Instead, they now stood in a ten-meter-wide and four-meter-high circular hallway forming a doughnut around the core spine. Along the outer walls of the rotunda were a number of offices and what appeared to be commercial public facilities, while a few dozen Humans went around, using those facilities.

‘’What is this place, Miss Silisca?’’ asked Gorat Vorka, confused.

‘’You are presently on the Human Services Deck, on Level 16. It contains mostly educational, medical and entertainment facilities, along with a few administrative offices.

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As you can see, we have families with children living aboard, so this ship was built with facilities to educate and care for them’’

‘’And where are we going exactly?’’

‘’We are going to a quiet place where you will meet the leader of the Spacers League, Governor Janet Robeson, who will then present you with the terms of our ultimatum.’’ answered matter-of-factly Eve. Thus reminded of the prime reason of his trip, Vorka and his two companions followed Eve along one of the four wide hallways running outward from the core section. After walking some sixty meters, they arrived at a wide, thick steel airlock sliding door which opened automatically when they approached it, revealing the inside of a large personnel airlock with a similar sliding door at its extremity. Korb Ren felt both awe and apprehension as he was able to judge the thickness of the outer bulkhead of this section: while most probably a multi-layered bulkhead with empty space within it, the bulkhead was a steel sandwich over a meter-thick! Yet, in proportion to the whole ship, that was like a paper-thin wall. The resistance to damage of this giant cargo ship had to be nothing short of phenomenal. However, another and even bigger surprise awaited the three Drazt when they passed the outer door of the airlock and they had to stop, frozen with stupor.

‘’A…a forest, here in a spaceship?’’ managed to say with difficulty Muron Kha, as he looked around him at the large forest of black spruce, balsam fir, jack pine and other boreal coniferous trees, which extended beyond his visual reach. Looking up, he saw what had to be giant display screens, covering the ceiling at a height of eighty meters and simulating a starry night sky with a large, bright moon. The air was actually quite fresh and carried the scent of the coniferous trees surrounding the group. After giving a few seconds for the Drazt to recover their wits, Eve pointed down a small paved trail to their left which meandered through the forest.

‘’If you may follow me, gentlemen. By the way, this is only one of the four forest habitats you will find on this ship, each of which covers 7.1 hectares and recreates a different ecosystem as found on Earth. All those trees are real ones, not fakes or optical illusions. We will now follow that forest path, which will bring you to where Governor Robeson and Fleet Captain Forster are waiting for you.’’

When the group finally saw Janet Robeson and Tina Forster, it was after walking for maybe forty meters along the meandering trail and arriving in a clearing where a large water pond sat. Around the water pond was a grassy area maybe four meters

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wide and surrounded by trees on three sides. The fourth side was made up of a high rock cliff along which ran down a small cascade of crystal-clear water which ended into the pond. A few wooden park benches and picnic tables were dispersed along the shoreline of the pond and the noise of bird songs mixed with the noise of cascading water to make the place a most relaxing one.

‘’This is incredible, so beautiful and serene.’’ couldn’t help say Korb Ren, truly impressed by all this. ‘’That such a place could exist in a spaceship is mind-boggling.’’

‘’Captain Forster wanted her ship to be like a village in space, where her crew and their families could travel around space while feeling at home, with plenty of natural beauty surrounding them.’’ explained Eve. ‘’Beyond this forested area is an outer ring containing giant aquariums full of Earth marine life. But we are here for business, deadly business, so let me present you to my leaders.’’

Leading the Drazts to one of the picnic tables where Janet Robeson and Tina Forster sat, waiting, Eve then presented her three charges to Janet Robeson, who had stood up from her bench, like Tina Forster.

‘’Madam Governor, these are Chief Advisor Gorat Vorka, Defense Minister Muron Kha and Navy Intelligence Division Master Korb Ren. Gentlemen, this is Governor Janet Robeson, Chairperson of the High Council of the Spacers League.’’

‘’Uh, wait! How do you know that…’’ started saying Ren, stunned. That made Tina Forster grin with malice.

‘’Don’t forget that we copied all the data contained in the central computer of the MURKAN during our first ever encounter with your race, Division Master Ren. That data contained complete files about the organization, hierarchy, equipment and support facilities of your navy. If we are ever obliged to strike you militarily, then we already know precisely where and what to strike. But don’t worry about yourself being unmasked: I was fully expecting to see you here.’’

‘Damn that female Human! She is way too clever for our own good.’ thought Ren. However, Janet Robeson spoke up before he could respond to Tina.

‘’Gentlemen, and I am measuring my words here for the sake of politeness, one of your ships committed five days ago what can only be called an act of war by destroying without provocation or even prior warning an unarmed exploration ship of the Spacers League. Furthermore, that act of war was compounded by a war crime committed by your ship when, after having destroyed the H.S.S. QUAZAR, it deliberately

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targeted and shot up the four life pods which had managed to eject from the QUAZAR with a few rare survivors. Before you attempt to deny that act, please look at these pictures on my laptop.’’

The three Drazts looked down at the laptop sitting on the picnic table and which Robeson was turning around, so that they could look at its display screen. The first picture shown was that of what remained of a life pod that had been half vaporized by disintegrator fire. Two more pictures followed at a few seconds interval as Janet Robeson spoke, her voice cold and resentful.

‘’These pictures show what was left of three of the four life pods which had managed to eject from our doomed ship. As you can see, all three were hit directly by disintegrator cannon fire. Those hits were no mere flukes, as these life pods are quite small, thus hard to target from long distance. The fourth and fifth pictures you will now see show the fourth life pod which ejected out. It was also hit by disintegrator fire but that hit was more a glancing blow than a direct hit and only one third of its top section was vaporized. However, that was more than enough to kill all of the nine shipwrecked survivors inside the pod. As you can see on the fifth picture, two of those survivors had been small children. They died beside their mother, completely incinerated like the other occupants of that life pod.’’

Even Korb Ren, who had seen his share of victims of space accidents in the past, had to turn his eyes away from the picture, feeling nausea rise in him. He then mentally damned Shipmaster Gor Mak, who had painted over in his mission report that part of his encounter with the QUAZAR. However, Janet Robeson continued to speak, her tone of voice becoming even harsher now.

‘’It is true that we Humans have been engaged into a multitude of fratricidal wars in our past but, even then, we tried during the last few centuries to limit the damage and pain caused by those wars by following a few basic universal rules, which we call ‘the laws of war’. Those rules were not always adhered to, far from it, but those who broke those rules and lost their wars then had to face justice for the crimes they committed. One of the cardinal rules of war at sea or in Space is that survivors from a sunk or destroyed ship had to be rescued and then treated humanely by their adversaries. Even during our most savage recent wars, that rule was respected in the overwhelming proportion of cases. Those who disrespected that rule could count on being severely judged and punished, often getting the death penalty for their crime. Well, we want

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justice for the crimes committed against the QUAZAR and its 188 occupants. You may want to sit and note down what I will tell you next, gentlemen.’’ The three Drazt did so, taking out their respective data pads before looking back at Robeson. The latter then spoke in a slow, clear voice, making sure that the Drazt understood fully what she was saying.

‘’Here are the terms of the ultimatum from my Spacers League to the Drazt Empire. First, the Drazt Empire will have to pledge that it will not attack again any of our ships, space installations or planetary worlds, ever! Any such attack will attract an immediate and overwhelming retaliatory strike from us, going if need be all the way to the sterilization of your home planet of Kadosh. Second, the Drazt Empire will pay a monetary compensation of fifty tons of pure gold for the destruction of our ship and the killing of its occupants. That gold will in turn be used by us to give some measure of compensation to the surviving relatives of our people killed. Third, we want the captain of the ship that destroyed the QUAZAR to be delivered to us, so that he could pay for his crimes. If he is not in our hands within two weeks of our calendar, then we will launch an all-out attack against Kadosh. Fourth, since that ship captain most probably got his mission orders directly from your precious Supreme Conductor and since that Supreme Conductor also most probably ordered or at least allowed the past treacherous attack by your fleet against the KOSTROMA and my special envoy, Fleet Captain Forster, we consider that peace between our two races will be impossible as long as Bar Kosh remains your Supreme Conductor. We thus demand that he resigns forthwith as Supreme Conductor and retires from his position of power. If either he or you refuse to obey that fourth term, then we will launch an attack on Kadosh and make sure ourselves that your Bar Kosh is taken out of power, one way or the other.’’

‘’But what you are asking for is nothing less than inciting a civil war on Kadosh.’’ protested Gorat Vorka. ‘’You know very well that our Supreme Conductor will never agree to be humiliated in such a way, while you will find that he has both the respect and loyalty of his people.’’

‘’Then, he will die, along with those who will insist on continuing to support him. If he truly cares about his people, then he will abdicate and disappear from power. However, our own Human history has shown us that dictators and absolute rulers are always the ones least ready to pass the good of their people over their own personal power. We had such men as Napoleon, Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Bokassa of the Central African Republic, President

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Zembelo and Marshall Khan of the Southern Federation to prove that point over and over again. If Bar Kosh refuses to step down, then you better make sure that he does step down, or you will collectively pay for his selfishness and egomania.’’

‘’Is that it?’’ asked Gorat Vorka in a bitter tone. ‘’What do we get in exchange if, and I say ‘if’, we obey all of your terms?’’

Janet Robeson stared hard in Vorka’s eyes as she answered him firmly.

‘’Then, we will not attack your planet and you will be allowed to continue to travel through space…within specific limits.’’

She then changed the picture on her laptop in order to show a star chart, at the same time that she handed both a printed star chart and a data chip to Vorka.

‘’These are the limits of the space you will be able to travel through and colonize new worlds. Basically, your zone of control will cover a sphere some five light-years wide around your star system, plus all the space included in a thirty-degree cone expanding from your local sphere towards the Galactic North. As you can see, there are nine other star systems just within your local sphere, plus twelve more star systems contained within forty light-years of the cone of space indicated on this chart. That should be more than enough to allow your race to expand and find new resources for itself. However, if one of our ships encounters one of your ships outside of the zone allotted to you, then we will challenge your ship and oblige it to return to your allotted zone. In return, we pledge that none of our ships will legally enter your zone without your consent. If you ever feel the need to contact or visit us for diplomatic purposes, then we will allow a single unarmed ship at a time to visit our colony in the Alpha Centauri B System.’’

‘’And I suppose that you are reserving all the rest of space to yourself, Governor Robeson?’’ replied Gorat Vorka, feeling deep resentment and indignation mounting in him. Robeson replied with a cold stare.

‘’Not all of it. Know that, even though we ourselves barely started exploring the star systems in our local area, we have already encountered a total of nine other intelligent races, not counting the Drazts. Most of those races willingly allowed us to visit their worlds or even gave us the rights for some limited use of their worlds, subject to their own conditions. We also found the remains of a long-gone civilization which basically destroyed itself in a massive nuclear war some sixteen million years ago. All this is to say that the Universe around us is full of life, both sentient and non-sentient, and that we don’t have the right to appropriate all of it because of our greed or vanity.’’

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‘’What if we ever wish to conduct trade with you in the future?’’ asked Korb Ren, both shocking and surprising his two companions. That question made Janet Robeson soften considerably her expression.

‘’That would be most welcomed by us and we would certainly entertain any diplomatic talks on that subject in the Alpha Centauri B System, Division Master Ren. Whether you will believe me or not, I say to you now that we have no wish to make war with you, as long as you accept our terms and refrain from any further aggressive acts.’’

‘’Your history is littered with wars, big and small, over a period of thousands of your years.’’ said Muron Kha. ‘’Your race doesn’t strike us as a pacifist one, Governor Robeson. Why would we believe your claim that you do not wish to make war against us?’’

‘’Let me answer that, Governor.’’ then cut in Tina Forster. After a nod of the head from Janet, Tina took out her data pad and called up a picture on its screen before turning it around to show it to the three Drazt. To the latter’s surprise, it showed a little Drazt baby sleeping in its cradle.

‘’This is Riza, the baby daughter of Shipmaster Lem Dov. While on my previous diplomatic mission to Kadosh, I was able to visit Lem Dov and his family at a time when he was still in disgrace and living in an impoverished district of Drakan City. That is where I saw little Riza and took a picture of her. To answer your question, Minister Kha, I fervently wish that we could avoid a war between our two races, so that little Riza does not possibly end up like the two unfortunate Human children found incinerated inside a life pod from the QUAZAR. Innocents too often pay the price of war, rather than the bastards who caused them. I don’t want to see millions of Drazts civilians die in such a war, nor do I relish the thought of having possibly to kill thousands of Drazts Navy crewmembers, some of which I have met personally. However, I will have no compunction about turning your Supreme Conductor’s palace into a pile of smoking rubble if it takes that to achieve peace.’’

While Muron Kha and Gorat Vorka showed some skepticism about her claims, Korb Ren was left both conflicted and shaken by her words. He however hid his true feelings behind a mask of impassiveness as Janet Robeson addressed Gorat Vorka.

‘’So, what is your answer to my terms, Chief Advisor Vorka? I do hope that you have the power to take decisions by yourself and that you will be able to give me more than a ‘definite maybe’.’’

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‘’Governor Robeson, I am the most senior advisor to Supreme Conductor Bar Kosh and have plenty of personal power, thank you. However, such grave decisions can only be taken or approved by the Supreme Conductor, and no one else.’’

‘’Can I at least hope that you will advocate that he accepts my terms, Chief Advisor Vorka?’’ pointedly asked Robeson, getting a bit pissed.

‘’You can, Governor! Be assured that our Supreme Conductor has only the good of his people at heart.’’

‘’Very well, then. I will now let you go and return to your ship and Kadosh. I will stay here and wait for your definite reply by radio to my ultimatum. You have three Earth days to give me an answer. After that, if I don’t get a clear answer or get a refusal, my fleet will then attack Kadosh. Am I clear on that, Chief Advisor Vorka?’’

‘’Very clear, Governor Robeson. We will answer you within three days.

Goodbye, Governor.’’

‘’And goodbye to you, gentlemen. Eve, you may now bring these gentlemen back to their ship.’’

‘’Yes, Madam Governor!’’

As the Drazt turned around and left the area of the pond, with Eve Silisca to guide them, Janet Robeson gave a questioning look to Tina Forster, who appeared thoughtful.

‘’What do you think, Tina? Will their Bar Kosh accept my terms?’’

‘’Him? Not very likely. However, some of his entourage may get cold feet and decide to force him into accepting our terms. That Division Master Ren in particular seemed to have taken very seriously our threats. I just hope that his political masters will not purge him, or worse, for advocating for peace.’’

‘’Yeah! Dictators like Stalin or Hitler tended to react badly to contrary opinions.’’ said bitterly Janet Robeson, having few illusions about how this could all end.

08:16 (Universal Time)

Friday, March 10, 2322 (Earth calendar)

Tarmac of the Drazt Navy Astroport, Drakan City

Kadosh (Ross 128b)

Division Master Korb Ren, having just disembarked with Gorat Vorka and Muron Kha from the fast courier ship that had brought them back from their meeting on the

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KOSTROMA, was about to follow the two politicians inside an air limousine sent from the government palace when Gorat Vorka turned around and blocked his path.

‘’I am sorry, Division Master Ren, but your presence will not be needed at the palace. You may return to Navy Headquarters to prepare your report on our visit to the KOSTROMA.’’

Vorka then got in the limousine, which then took off and flew away towards the Supreme Conductor’s palace, leaving a bitter Ren standing alone on the tarmac. Ren had no illusions about why he had not been allowed to go to the palace: Vorka most probably had found him too ready to negotiate with the Humans. In fact, Ren would not be surprised at all if he found himself relieved of command in the next few hours, the same way the unfortunate Vice-Admiral Sho Dar had been sacked by the Supreme Conductor and had then been replaced as Navy Commander by that political toady, Lona Gren. Bitterness was then replaced by a sense of doom: if, as he fully expected now, the Supreme Conductor decided to refuse the terms of the ultimatum given by the Humans, then the Drazt race could well face mass destructions and deaths, even extinction as a civilization. Discouraged and feeling helpless, Korb Ren looked slowly around him while trying to think about a viable solution to this lethal problem. His eyes then caught on the patrol cruiser MURKAN, which was parked on one of the landing pads of the astroport and was being serviced and resupplied. Taking a sudden decision, Ren then started walking resolutely towards Lem Dov’s ship.

17:59 (Universal Time)

Officers’ mess of the Drazts patrol cruiser TARASK Holding a blocking position facing the A.M.S. KOSTROMA Outer edge of the Ross 128 System

Shipmaster Dozna Wiss was forking around her salad without much appetite, despite the fact that Kovor Salad was her favorite dish. Despite their powerful appearances and strong jaws, the Drazts were in reality mostly vegetarian creatures. Apart from vegetables, nuts and fruits, their diet included as well pastas and bread made from cereals, but no meat, fish or other animal protein except for the occasional eggs or milk. What made Kovor Salad Dozna’s favorite dish was the intricate mix of vegetable oil dressing and spices added to the variety of fresh vegetables in it. Yet, right now, it felt nearly tasteless to the depressed Dozna, who could only think about what the near

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future would bring to her race. As she tried another bite of her meal, she saw her signals officer enter the officers’ mess and walk towards her table, a pocket crypto machine in one hand. Dozna immediately put down her fork, wiped her mouth clean and straightened up in her chair: this could only mean that they had just received an encrypted ‘Shipmaster’s Eyes Only’ message. In that case, on the receipt of such a message in the transmission room of the TARASK, it was loaded, still in encrypted form, on a pocket crypto unit, then the original was erased from the ship’s data banks. The pocket crypto unit, with the still encrypted message in it, would then be brought by hand to the shipmaster, who would have to have his or her identity verified via eye scan before he or she could decrypt the message and read it. Then, the shipmaster would have the option of either printing a paper copy of the message or of simply deleting it after committing its content to memory. This procedure thus ensured that nobody but the shipmaster of a given ship would be able to know the content of that message. Such messages were actually not uncommon in the Drazts Navy, an organization where mutual trust, especially between senior commanders and their subalterns, was not exactly a common virtue.

The signals officer stopped at attention next to Dozna’s table, then handed her the pocket crypto unit.

‘’Shipmaster’s Eyes-Only message for you, ma’am!’’

‘’Thank you, Vogn!’’ said Dozna while taking the brick-sized device. She put one eye against the reticle of the eye scanner and, when her identity was formally established by the device, pressed the ‘Decrypt’ button. A text message covering less than one full page then appeared on the viewing screen, which she had to look at while pressing her face against a rubber ring which prevented anyone else from seeing the screen. The nervous twitch and body stiffening she did as she read did not escape her signals officer, a male she was on most friendly terms with.

‘’Is everything alright, Shipmaster?’’

Dozna took some time to answer him, doing her best to hide the shock that the message had caused in her.

‘’Yes, Vogn! I will hold to this for the moment. Could you please call all the officers to the mess for an urgent command meeting? And make sure that the stewards and cooks are not around.’’

‘’Of course, Shipmaster! You can count on me, Shipmaster.’’

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The tone in which Vogn said his last sentence made Dozna look up into his eyes to scrutinize his expression. What she saw was friendship and trust.

‘’I know that I can, Vogn. Thank you for your loyal services.’’ As Vogn walked away and left the small mess, Dozna used the ‘Print’ button of the crypto device to print the message on a pocket memo format, but did not delete yet the electronic message as she would normally have to do. Calling the head steward of the mess to her table, she gave her a simple order.

‘’Dara, tell the cooks and the stewards to leave the mess area and to not return until I say so. That includes you as well.’’

‘’Understood, Shipmaster!’’ replied the curious but obedient female.

Some six minutes later, the 37 officers of the ship, out of a total crew of 226, were assembled in the mess around Dozna, who now stood in a corner of the mess. What they couldn’t see was that the retaining strap of her regulation pistol’s holster was snapped loose, with her pistol’s safety on ‘fire’. She first looked around at the small crowd of males and females facing her in a semi-circle before speaking: all of them had served on her ship for at least six deca-rotations and had proved their loyalty towards her many times.

‘’My dear fellow officers, I called you here so that I could inform you about an encrypted ‘Shipmaster’s Eyes Only’ message we just received from Navy Headquarters. As you well know by now, our government still has two percent of a rotation to answer officially the ultimatum given to us by the Humans. Well, the message we just got was our answer to that ultimatum…sort of.’’

The assembled officers tensed up as one, sniffing a bad news to come. However, what Dozna said then was even worse than what they had imagined.

‘’I will now read aloud to you the message I got, signed by Vice-Admiral Gren, and which I was not supposed to inform you of in detail. It says, quote, from Navy Headquarters to Shipmaster of patrol cruiser TARASK. Secret, Shipmaster’s Eyes Only. The Supreme Conductor has decided to reject the terms of the ultimatum received from the Humans and has ordered the Navy to fight them to the death. As a result, all the patrol cruisers and frigates still in service will converge on the present position of the Human ships and prepare for a mass coordinated attack, while staying out of radar range of the Human ships. At the exact time given in this message, all our ships will then accelerate at full power towards the Human ships while flying zigzag courses and

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will concentrate their firepower on the largest Human ship, the KOSTROMA, with the goal of destroying it. If, for some reason, our firepower proves insufficient to destroy that ship, then our cruisers are to continue to fly at full acceleration towards the KOSTROMA and ram it. Our still surviving ships will then ram the remaining Human warships. The sheer survival of our race as an independent civilization will be at that cost. Our Supreme Conductor is confident that you will serve the Empire loyally, no matter the price. Long live the Empire! Signed, Vice-Admiral Gren, unquote.’’ When Dozna raised her eyes from her printed message, she saw a collection of tightened jaws and somber faces.

‘’You may now ask questions or make comments about this message, comrades. Be assured that what you will say to me will not be used against you and will not pass the doors of this mess. Be frank and direct!’’

Her signals officer, Vogn, was the first to raise one hand to ask permission to speak.

‘’Yes, Vogn?’’

‘’Shipmaster, wasn’t a similar kind of coordinated mass attack attempted before against the KOSTROMA, and this with 42 of our cruisers?’’

‘’Yes, and all 42 of our cruisers were destroyed by the KOSTROMA, which at the time was alone, contrary to now.’’

‘’Then, what makes Vice-Admiral Gren think that such an attack, but with less than what, fifteen ships, will be successful this time?’’

‘’An excellent question, my dear Vogn. Tactically, I would qualify Vice-Admiral Gren’s attack plan as nothing less than suicidal, with only small chances of actually destroying the KOSTROMA or inflict serious damage to it. As for defeating the whole Human battle fleet facing us right now, you would have to be delusional to believe in that.’’

‘’Then, why attack like this, Shipmaster?’’ asked the medical officer of the TARASK, Healer First Class Teona Far. Dozna gave her a pained look while answering her.

‘’Forgive me all for what I am going to say, my friends. I believe that the only true goal of that senseless attack is to buy enough time for the Supreme Conductor and his close entourage to flee Kadosh and escape to another star system aboard our experimental interstellar ship, the frigate KOBOL. If Vice-Admiral Gren really believes that a suicide charge by us will scare away the Humans, then it will only prove that she understands nothing about them. We are dealing here with an alien race that has been

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fighting wars for as long as they have existed, including wars with modern technology and spaceships. We, on the other hand, have not experienced war for eons, that is until we tried a surprise attack against their KOSTROMA, which by the way is not even a dedicated warship. According to Intelligence Division Master Ren, who visited the KOSTROMA as part of our recent delegation, the KOSTROMA is merely an armed merchant ship. However, the four other large ships we are also facing now are purpose-built warships. I can only imagine how terrifying they could prove in a battle.’’ Dozna was easily able to feel the wave of fear that went through the ranks of her officers. However, she understood their reaction too well: the notion of dying for no good purpose while facing an overwhelmingly superior enemy would have scared anyone with a grain of common sense. However, they would probably still be all willing to fight, if at least it gave them any chance to repulse the Humans and avoid the destruction of the Drazt race. Another officer, her chief engineer, then asked another question.

‘’Shipmaster, what did the Human ultimatum say in the case where we would refuse their terms?’’

‘’They would then attack Kadosh, concentrating first their fire on the imperial palace, then at our Navy’s installations. They however appeared unwilling to

indiscriminately bombard our cities unless forced to, according to Division Master Ren.’’

‘’So, all this is being done solely to save the Supreme Conductor and his hold on power, right?’’ asked Teona Far, a female officer who tended to say things as they were.

‘’Correct, Teona. Vice-Admiral Gren’s plan, which was most probably

‘suggested’ to her by the Supreme Conductor or by one of his toadies, will only result in the total destruction of our navy, followed by a large-scale attack by the Human fleet against our home world.’’

There was a long silence before Dozna’s first officer, Kol Drak, spoke up hesitantly.

‘’So, what do we do now, Shipmaster?’’

‘’Wait and hope, Kol. I am far from sure that the majority of our shipmasters will accept to needlessly sacrifice their entire crews in such a pointless attack. The planned hour for that coordinated attack is anyway still a while off, probably to allow our dispersed ships to concentrate in this region. When it will be close to the planned attack time, I will then inform you of my intentions. Be assured however that I will then act in the best interests of our whole race. Can I count on you to follow me, whatever course of action I choose?’’

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‘’YES, SHIPMASTER!’’ answered in unison and without hesitation every officer present.