Riss Series 4: The Riss Accession, page 26
"Yes, that should help take the pressure off the initial task forces and allow them to establish a defensive position, making it easier to bring in the rest of the force. Thank you, Leader Reese."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Operation Red
For the last month, all operations were moved to Fools Hope, which I hoped wasn't a comment on our expectations. Meetings lasted all day, every day. First there were reports of the current deliveries of missiles and components from either Freeland or Dong. Then we sat through a status update of each ship in each task force. Then the task force commanders reviewed their training exercise results and discussed their upcoming schedules. Then at the end of the day, we reviewed the plan for the upcoming invasion.
The Mnemosyne and the Minerva would enter first with the objective of striking at the second line of Medusas to create a diversion away from the Wave exit. Sixty minutes after our entry—thirty minutes after our diversion—a specially configured task force would enter launching Dusters and Dummies. Next, two JPU task forces which were configured with two heavies each. Behind them would be two task forces with four Riss certified cruisers that would attack the front Medusas. Then wave after wave of task forces until the fleet was totally in Red space. The last group would be the final four Riss cruisers. No one complained since two Riss cruisers were the first to enter Red, and the need for the other four would probably be greater when we approached the inhabitable planets and their platforms. In the end, the invasion date was moved up one week.
* * *
The day before the invasion, I had the Riss-humans and their staff to the Mnemosyne for dinner. After dinner, I stood for attention.
"We can't be certain what will happen tomorrow except people will die—friends, comrades, and people we never knew but who will fight side by side with us and may be the reason we survive. I know no one in the universe I'd rather trust at my side than those seated here. Not just comrades, but friends. The Riss have a simple philosophy: each has a position for the good of the Riss. She does that position to the best of her ability and trusts her fellow Riss will do the same. Each of you has a position for the wellbeing of the ship. I know each of you will do your best, and that is our best guarantee of success." I stopped for the clapping and shouting of agreement. "Formally, I like to name the position of leaders in the event I, or another, cannot continue. Captain Pavao, Damaass, Zhang, Sheva, and Alena." I paused, looking around the room at each individual. "I want to see you all back here for dinner in a few days."
* * *
Damaass and I took our position at the head of the growing queue for the entrance to the Wave.
"Good morning, dybbuk. I actually feel a bit sorry for the Aliens with you leading. They don't know you're in their minds. Any advice?"
"No. You're good at mind games. That’s the reason I chose you. If we haven't been located by Wave exit plus thirty minutes, activate all systems. That will allow us to find each other, and we'll coordinate a skip-attack. Otherwise, make a disturbance and execute your skip-attack. The other will try to wait as close to the thirty minutes as possible." I winked at the smiling, grizzly face looking back at me. "See you at the party."
"It's a date." He cut the connection.
< Engines one, three, five, and seven going to full power on designated vector.>
I sat back in the captain's chair, oddly at peace.
* * *
We exited the Wave with minimum power and immediately cut back to one engine at quarter speed. The VTM showed they had added two additional Medusas, one in the front and another one in the rear. The three front Medusas launched twelve cruisers each within minutes of our entry. The two in the rear didn't.
Watching the VTM, I could see they had changed their original search pattern and were using their fighters to help. Finding us would still require luck, as the area was vast, but less luck than before. I felt serene with my sisters around me, but I wondered how Iglis, Byer, and Seng felt watching their monitors' feeds from the VTM as the cruisers and fighters looked much closer that they were. In reality, they were hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart. Their pattern looked random at first.
They had deduced we had determined their search pattern last time and were therefore able to avoid detection. So this time, they had added an element of apparent randomness. But it wasn't truly random and could be deduced. A clever addition against an average radar operator, not against a Riss operator.
I gave a satisfied snort several seconds later as the Alien cruiser and his ten fighters on a vector with us moved up a quarter light-second, and we moved down a half light-second. Twenty seconds later, they passed a full light-second over us.
For twenty-five minutes, we successfully avoided the cruisers and their fighters as they swept back and forth searching the area. We were entering into the two rear Medusas' search area. At the thirty minute mark, I had to act. The task force was due in another thirty minutes, and the distraction needed time to draw the Aliens as far away from the Wave as possible.
Light flashed red, klaxons blared through the ship, and an emergency override message scrolled across all SIDs.
"Damaass, Fire two Dusters at your current position and drop two Dummies; fire a Duster at the Medusa on your starboard and skip-attack, one second skip away; and then go idle. Continue at your discretion," I said.
Damaass repeated my instructions and cut the connection.
A second later, the Bridge went a ghostly haze for two seconds, and the ship shuddered twice. In the blink of an eye, the Bridge went dim as power was reduced to the minimum to keep the critical systems online. The radar and VTM showed multiple explosions from twenty-four hits on the two Medusas. The thirty-six cruisers from the three up-front Medusas were immediately drawn to the rear.
Only seven cruisers emerged from the Medusa we had attacked. They swooped down on the Dummy. I hoped they would think they had destroyed the attacking ship. Fifteen minutes later, the cruisers from the front reached the original Dummies we had released and blew them into space dust.
Ten minutes later, the first task force entered Red. Dusters were exploding everywhere. Immediately, all the Alien cruisers began racing towards the Wave exit. It was impossible to tell exactly what was happening because of the Dusters, but within the clouds explosions lit up every few seconds. Several minutes later, the skip-attacks against the front Medusas began. Two Riss-certified cruisers made runs against each Medusa.
Destroying the three Medusas cost the task force three Riss-certified cruisers, major damage to four, and minor to the remaining five.
Within seconds of releasing the Dummy, the Medusa fired all of its starboard missiles.
We faded in and out, two shudders, and we skipped again.
Sensors indicated that both the rear Medusas were open to space in many areas, which didn't matter to robots, but it indicated a major loss of functionality. The monitor showed we had sustained only minor laser damage. Six wounded, no deaths. I took a deep breath, relieved and trying not to think of the space rubble that had once been Riss-certified cruisers. This wasn’t the time.
We had expended our skip capability for at least eight hours and would wait for the fleet to clean up the area.
* * *
The fighting went on for another six hours, but interestingly the ships at the inhabitable planets made no attempt to assist, although they were clearly repositioning their available cruisers. I made contact with Damaass. Like the Mnemosyne, the Minerva had sustained little damage.
The monitor split, and Wattson and Zhu appeared.
"Leader Reese, what is your condition?"
"The Mnemosyne and the Minerva are fully operational. How did the invasion force do?"
"From my initial reports, your diversion gave us a few extra minutes to get established, and planning for the worst case helped. We did better than we had a right to expect. We lost ninety-three cruisers, and another twenty-one are not operational. That leaves two hundred six, not counting the Riss cruisers," Wattson said, ignoring the killed and wounded. It hurt less to talk in terms of ships.
"The Mnemosyne and the Minerva are about eight hours ahead. From what I can see, everything is the same except Red-planets five and three are missing their Medusas. I suspect they were sent to strengthen security at the Wave exit."
"That is good news. See what you can determine about Red-planet four. We’ll take care of Red-planet five's platforms on the way to you. Shouldn't be too bad with no Medusa."
* * *
We stopped two light-seconds from the platforms orbiting Red-planet four. It was a swarm of activity. In addition to the two Medusas, I counted twenty-five of the Aliens' Light cruisers. I had no proof, but I thought it safe to assume the Medusas carried twelve each. There seemed to be a lot of shuttle activity to and from the fifty-story platform and the planet. The other four platforms appeared to be abandoned.
Damaass’ smiling face appeared.
"What do you think, dybbuk?"
"It looks like the ceasefire at Freeland," I said, thinking back to the invasion of Freeland and the ceasefire the clans had called to surrender. But their real intent had been to prepare for an all-out suicide attack.
"It does, doesn't it? They are cleaning up as we watch. Are you going to try and negotiate a treaty?" He laughed, holding up a wine glass in salute.
"I think not. I doubt the Supreme Council of the Gods will negotiate with the evil humans they came to quarantine."
As I watched, one platform after another blew up. A few minutes later, the ground facilities followed in billowing clouds of debris.
The activity began to decrease as we waited on the fleet's arrival.
We chased the ship for eight hours, but it became obvious we were not going to catch it, as it had exceeded six hundred gravities and was still accelerating.
Lights flashed blue on and off for a minute, then remained blue.
I left the bridge with Terril following.
"What do you think, Leader?" Terril asked as she walked up beside me.
"I think the fighting is over."
"Why? They have Medusas and a bunch of cruisers on Red-planet four."
"They are not killers in the normal sense. They always gave everyone in the system a chance to retire to the planet unharmed. And they never intended to make us slaves or rule over us. They just wanted us to stay put. We won, so what would be the purpose of fighting?"
"I'll bet we could get good odds on that wager." She smirked.
I toured the ships, stopping to give Byer, Seng, and Iglis my observations, and suggested they eat and get some sleep.
When we arrived back at Red-planet four, the fleet had just arrived, and explosions were occurring throughout the platforms, the tower, and planet-side.
Zhu's face appeared on the monitor. He nodded. "What do you think, Leader Reese?"
"Housecleaning. They aren’t killers in the sense that we humans are. They were not seeking power or revenge. They lost, so they are destroying any useful technology or information."
"What about the ship that got away? The original intelligence escaping? A call for help? What do you think?"
"At very least, a report on humans in this galaxy."
* * *
Three days later, Wattson, Zhu, and Serhat called a meeting of all task force commanders. We met on the Dynasty.
Zhu began the meeting. "You have all had teams conducting preliminary evaluations of what the Aliens left behind. I'm merely going to summarize the findings to date. A thorough evaluation will take years. The Aliens destroyed all the system computers and technology they believed more advanced than ours. All robots were deactivated. It's apparent from our initial examination that the three planets designated Red-planets three, four, and five were mined for the minerals necessary to manufacture their platforms, robots, systems, and cruisers. It appears they arrived here centuries ago with only enough equipment to set up basic mining and manufacturing facilities. We, the representatives of the UFN, JPU, and the SAS, have agreed to form a joint task force to examine the remains and share our findings. Over the next week, individual task forces will be released to return to their home empires."
"What about the ship that escaped?" an UFN admiral asked.
"We are guessing that it contained information about their findings in this galaxy. It may also carry the original intelligence that powered the robots. We may never know. That ship may take centuries to reach its destination. If it went to the home of the Supreme Council of the Gods, hundreds―or more likely thousands of years from now―our ancestors may face them again. In any event, we will be better prepared."
"Why?" a JPU admiral asked.
"Because technology advances to meet some need. The Riss technology is a good example. It was a significant leap ahead of past improvements. The Aliens are copies of copies and have no need to advance their technology so long as they are winning. And it appears by their previous effort here that they were successful in the past. If they view their defeat here as having lost to overwhelming force, they will have little need to look for new technology but rather to build more and bigger."
* * *
Admiral Serhat returned to the JPU; however, Zhu returned with Wattson to Echo and requested a meeting with Plimson and the Riss.
Terril sat in my chair relaxing as I dressed for the upcoming meeting on the Dynasty. Plimson had arrived early that morning, and the meeting was listed as a dinner.
"Is this going to be exciting?" Terril asked, grinning.
"No, it's going to be boring. Thalia is going to prevent me from saying anything other than, Yes, sir."
"So you are planning something?" Terril pointed an accusing finger at me.
"Terril, I don't plan the things I come up with. They just surface... unexpectedly."
"Well, I'm going to go change clothes. I wouldn't want to miss one of those... unexpected moments," she said, and strode out of the room.
On the shuttle ride to the Dynasty, I felt relaxed, although meeting with two Fleet Admirals and the Head of Military Operations should be stressful. I was...
Yes, I think I was finally beginning to feel the calm and contentment that came with being high-Riss.
When I exited the shuttle, the captain of the Dynasty met me with a salute, bugle call, and ten formally dressed marines.
"Welcome aboard the Dynasty, Leader Reese. It's my pleasure to escort you to Imperial Fleet Admiral Zhu. Your Riss are astounding. The Dynasty is proud to have a Riss-certified crew."
"They must be an excellent crew. Few are good enough to understand the new mathematics and forward thinking to embrace new concepts."
When we reached the room, the door was open, and Plimson, Wattson, and Zhu were standing inside talking.
"Good evening, Leader Reese," Zhu said, breaking away from the group. "If you have time after our dinner meeting, I'd love to show you around the Dynasty. Not as unique as the Mnemosyne, but I love her."
