Riss Series 5: The Riss Challenge (10 page)
The Bridge faded in and out for a second as we moved some five thousand kilometers to the side of the Duster cloud. As I watched, S1L4 and S1L5 each received three hits, and S1L3 and S1L6 two of the first twelve. S1L5 blanked out. The remaining Lights each released six missiles and shortly afterward ten fighters—thirty missiles and sixty fighters. Within seconds, S1L3 and S1L4 disappeared, and S1L1 took two additional hits. Meanwhile, the fighters had descended on the Dummies, with predictable results—two Dummies dead along with eleven fighters. The VTH showed S1L8 had disappeared along with all of the combat shuttles it went to protect. Meanwhile, Damaass had eliminated all but two Lights: S2L6 and S2L8. The Mnemosyne still had two wounded but functional Lights, S1L1 and S1L6, one fully functional Light, S1L7, and forty-nine fighters to deal with, and only a one-second skip left.
The Light cruisers had lost us, and we couldn't get a Riss solution until they stopped their search pattern and headed in one direction.
The Dummies would attract the fighters, and the Dragonfly would give us eyes beyond the cloud of chaff.
I could do nothing but await the results via the Dragonfly. Slowly, they came in: S1L1 lost power and S1L6 exploded. S1L7 abruptly changed direction, ruining the Riss solution. Consequently, it received only one hit. Its new heading: toward the Wave entrance.
The Dummies took out twelve of the fighters, leaving thirty seven. Six missiles made their way through the Duster cloud and locked onto the Mnemosyne. ECM distracted two, the automatic laser defense system destroyed another two, and the last two scored direct hits. Battle metal held against one; the other opened fighter bay W1 and the connecting corridor to air, killing five mechanics and a Riss. Ten fighters stumbled on the Mnemosyne, scoring multiple hits before lasers destroyed them.
I ordered our last one-second skip out of the area. The fighters had caused damage to several missile tubes along with the ECM equipment and opened the environment section to space, as well as killing five Riss and eight Kraits.
Damaass's face appeared. He looked tired.
"Damaass, what is your status?"
"We are functional, although in need of repairs. You?"
"We are also functional. There is a damaged Light heading for the Wave. Could you stop it leaving the party so early?"
"Yes, but it will take a couple of hours. I used up my skip allowance, and Nav tells me an intercept vector to get in missile range will take two hours and ten minutes."
"We don't want him to report the results of the party to the JPU. I have the same problem as you, but I'm too far from him to intercept before he reaches the Wave."
"I'll take care of it, Leader. See you back at the space station." He cut the connection.
* * *
Working from their last known positions, I began an inspection of each JPU cruiser, choosing the Sentinel as the first stop. Using my SID, I clicked on Colonel Ja'Shar's channel. His face appeared immediately.
"Yes, Captain Reese."
"We are a kilometer from the Sentinel. Send two teams to ensure it is dead and can't be restarted. Collect any useful information you can find."
"Prisoners?"
"If you can do it safely. Don't take any unnecessary chances."
"Yes, ma'am." He turned and talked to Lieutenant Ja'Dalle for a minute. "Two shuttles of fifteen each will be leaving within five minutes."
"We will monitor your crossing to ensure you don't encounter any resistance." I clicked off and began a tour of the ship, visiting each section, checking status, talking with the Riss crew. I felt no recriminations for the Riss deaths.
Commander Ja'Kazak met me as I entered the Wraith area. "Captain Reese. By my feed from the Bridge, I see you disinfected Freeland space."
"The Kraits are checking to make sure we got them all. Have you heard from the Wraiths?"
"Yes, we lost two fighters, and two will need repairs. A case of inexperience, I suspect. They got overconfident destroying the combat shuttles and were too aggressive attacking the cruiser S1L8. Thank you for letting us attack the shuttles. I know the Mnemosyne would have sustained less damage if you had the fighters when you attacked the Sentinel and the accompanying squadron...and now to support the Kraits."
"A tradeoff, like many decisions in war. In this case, a good tradeoff," I said, knowing Admiral Huber would have killed hundreds, demonstrating that he ruled Freeland and that his word was law.
Next, I visited the Krait area.
"Captain Reese, I was just about to contact you. Te'Fara, my senior sergeant, informs me there were no survivors. Life support systems failed when the engines shut down. He is having his team search the Bridge and the Admiral's quarters for anything useful."
"Your people did a good job supporting the crew during the battle," I said, knowing it was true after having talked to each section. "How are the wounded doing?"
"We have a couple of paramedics among the Kraits. Using the medical equipment you have on board, they will be alright until we reach Freeland."
"I'm sorry. I should have recruited a medical team, not just a few paramedics. That is our first priority on Freeland," I said, hoping my oversight hadn't caused the death of anyone. Since the Riss could fix most injuries themselves, I tended to forget humans couldn't. I missed having my Riss-human sisters around to help.
When the Kraits returned from the Sentinel, we visited S1L1, S1L2, and S1L4, and found no survivors. Some might have escaped in pods, but we didn't detect any emergency signals. We didn't bother with S1L6, as it had exploded. S1L3 and S1L5 each had ten to twenty survivors, who chose to fight to the death—or so I was told. The ex-Raiders weren't in a good mood after the invasion of Freeland. Six Kraits were killed and five wounded in the confrontations.
When we arrived back at the space station, I had the wounded transferred to the Freeland main hospital and called for a meeting of the elders and senior staff from the Minerva and the Mnemosyne for the early morning, which was only six hours away. Everyone was tired, but I felt we had no time to lose.
* * *
"They did well, considering they are really just new recruits," Terril said as we descended toward Freeland in my shuttle. Coming from Terril, that was no small compliment.
"But they were trained by the best gunny in the SAS." I smiled, then sobered. "I'm glad you stayed. I couldn't have done it without you."
"I was tough on them. Far tougher than they would have received during normal commando recruit training."
"I agree, Terril. Both the Kraits and the Wraiths performed better than anyone had a right to expect under the circumstances."
"What's next, Leader Reese?" Terril smiled.
"Between you and me, Terril, I'd like to pack up the Riss and blow this galaxy and the madness that infects it," I said, knowing that was impossible—an impossible dream.
"But you won't," Terril said. "You won't desert friends and comrades in need. That's why I stay glued to you. Besides being like a sister, you see the future and are the best Leader, not only of the Riss, but as an ally for the SAS and UFN."
"Judging by the silence, I guess Thalia is giving you that High Riss Leader argument again." Terril laughed when I nodded.
* * *
By the time I arrived, they were having a party, by the looks of the food and drinks everywhere. Everyone clapped when I entered. As usual, those in charge get the credit when everyone else did the heavy lifting.
"Thank you, but you deserve the credit," I said, although no one was listening. "Sorry for the early meeting, but I want to get everything started. I don't think Admiral Neifeh is planning on returning any time soon or that we can expect any more JPU cruisers for upgrades—"
"Why not?" Vali Ba'Tasuo asked.
"Admiral Neifeh plans to attack the SAS and maybe the UFN because he senses they are vulnerable, but he knows the SAS technology would offset his greater numbers, so he chose to upgrade a special task force specifically for his invasion. In the long run, he believes that his engineers can quickly replicate and improve on the Riss technology since it was created by a bunch of backward Raiders and semi-intelligent animals. I believe Admiral Huber's assignment was to destroy Freeland and its industrial complex since it would no longer be needed by the JPU. Such action would deny the SAS access and punish Freeland for their raids over the years and the Riss for the embarrassment they caused the JPU."
"We need to warn Admirals Plimson and Wattson," said Commander Clarkson, the Minerva's Ghost commander, looking ready to leave.
"Let me assure everyone, we will not only warn the SAS and UFN of the threat, but we will support them in defeating the JPU. But there are things which need to be done before we can help." I paused to take a drink of kaffa, making eye contact with each SAS officer. "Ni'Shay, I asked you sometime back to look into designing a satellite to guard the entrance to Freeland. If you have one on the drawing board, I think you need to begin building a prototype. Freeland needs not only eyes and ears, but also some kind of defensive system since you don't have a fleet of cruisers."
"Yes, we do have a design awaiting approval."
"Good, I'll assign a couple of people to review it so you can start production. Next, the Minerva and the Mnemosyne need repairs and missiles, double the normal load. We must be prepared for an extended war, and there are only two places that make Riss missiles," I said to laughs. "And while I'm wishing, the Wraiths and the Kraits need to be brought back up to strength, and they need a medical team of doctors and nurses as part of their normal detachment, to support them."
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SAS - Eden: Surprise visit
"What next, dybbuk?" Damaass laughed and took a sip of his wine. "My guarding angel, Adiona, says you are planning something, since fixing and stocking the Mnemosyne has been the priority."
"The SAS and UFN need to know what I know about the upgrades to the JPU fleet and then—"
"Not revenge," Damaass interrupted. "That would have been my first thought in the old days, but that's not the Riss way. Stopping them...how?"
"Maybe the aliens had the right idea," I said, thinking how they didn't want to kill humans, only confine them to their planets. Of course, they did kill when we humans resisted. "I'm going to assemble the Riss Navy and consider our options. It needs to be done quickly since I believe Admiral Neifeh has probably begun his invasion of the SAS. I plan to leave you here to finish repairs on the Minerva and to bring the Krait and Wraith detachments up to full strength. In fact, increase the Wraith squadron to fifteen and include a medical team. And so you don't get bored, start production on the defensive satellites."
"What if I get company?"
"You're in charge. Use your judgment, you will be Leader on Freeland."
"Good thing I have Adiona," he said, finishing his wine and looking a bit pale. "You really meant it when you said you trusted me. I mean, I knew you meant it at the time, but that's different than actually giving me the responsibility."
"Yes, Damaass, you will always be a Freelander, and human, but you are as much a Riss as I or any other Riss-human and would never betray the Riss." I smiled, watching him recognize the truth of it.
"You're right as usual, dybbuk." A broad smile lit his grizzly looking face.
"I'm going to move your SAS detachments to the Mnemosyne and the Freeland detachments to the Minerva. The repair teams believe the Mnemosyne will be ready for a shakedown cruise in two days. If everything checks out, I'll leave the following day."
* * *
"Commander Clarkson, any problems?" I asked. We had just finished an eight-hour test of the Mnemosyne's systems. Our first shakedown cruise discovered several problems, which had been repaired yesterday.
"No, ma'am. Our ten fighters are fully functional, as are our personnel," he said quickly. I knew he was anxious to get going to let the SAS know the news about the JPU and would have liked to leave without a shakedown cruise. His unit had lost five fighters in the battle with the second JPU squadron, and eleven personnel.
"Colonel McTosh?"
"No problems. We are good to go." He too answered quickly, having similar concerns. He had lost fifteen in the battle and subsequent boarding actions.
"Commander Jackson, any concerns?" He was the intelligence officer assigned to the Minerva, but without a Comstat, he would be out of touch.
"If I didn't know Captain Damaass on a personal basis, I think I would have been terrified to leave him with ex-Raider detachments. No, I have no concerns, but I'll be happy to have access to a Comstat again. And like everyone here, I'm anxious to get back."
"Alright. We will be stopping at the space station to replace the missiles we expended and to pick up several Riss who worked on the latest software. We will depart as soon as they and the missiles are on board."