The Khruellian Encounter Read online

  The following morning, Anita returned to her ship with a promise to spend as many nights as possible in their apartment before the CSF Sparta returned to station. Jon reported to Admiral Chen-Warren and reported what Talo had suggested.

  The admiral looked tired. She listened to his request and shrugged her shoulders in a very unmilitary like gesture. “Why not, he’s never been anything but helpful in the past. When you’re talking to Ruuhr, ask him if the Alphans would consider using their ships to spread the news that the Hegemony’s Plaxyata fleet has been severely damaged as your Captain King suggested. My staff liked the idea. If it creates a rebellion or two among the Khruellian’s ranks, it will more than likely draw a few more of their ships from our end of the Hegemony. Let me know what he says.”

  Jon returned to the Constitution and reviewed the daily report. After rereading the report, he called the Alphan embassy on Newhope and asked for an appointment to see Ruuhr. The Alphan who took the messaged seemed surprised by Jon’s request. After a moment, the Alphan explained, “Ruuhr will see you at your convenience, Commander McKinnah. He was in the process of calling you for exactly the same reason when your call came in. Is this morning convenient for you?”

  It was Jon’s turn to be surprised. “We can be there in two hours,” he said, thinking that would be enough time for Annika to get her on shipboard duties completed. He called her, and she confirmed she would be ready to go when he came by to pick her up.

  Later that morning, Jon, Annika, and Talor were greeted at the Alphan embassy by Ruuhr himself.

  “Welcome Commander and Captain McKinnah,” the tall alien said. He turned to Talor and bowed deeply. “We are honored by your presence, Talor.”

  Talor responded in the Alphan language, which seemed to please Ruuhr greatly. He gestured to a room off the reception lobby, and the trio followed him into the room.

  Jon opened the conversation by saying, “When I called your embassy to make an appointment, your receptionist said she was about to call me for one.”

  Ruuhr said, “That is correct, Group Captain McKinnah, there is a deeply distressing matter I have to reveal to your Confederation Assembly and to the ADO members.

  For a moment, Jon feared that the normally implacable Alphan was about to reveal something that would mean the end of everything he knew and loved. Judging from the uncharacteristic arms movements, it was clear the tall, spindly alien was deeply agitated about something.

  “What’s troubling you, my friend?” Jon asked, fear rising in his throat.

  Ruuhr brought his distress under control and settled down into his normal stoic posture. “There is something I wanted to tell you first before I went to the general assembly. We Alphans first ventured into interstellar space many thousands of years ago. Every place we visited we saw great struggle and strife among and between the species we visited. My ancestors had never experienced such violence. Our whole existence had been one of peaceful growth and stability. These early Alphans soon developed the ambition to assist other sentient species in achieving the same kind of peaceful growth and stability we had experienced. In hindsight, they were naïve, but they tried, and to be truthful, some of their efforts were successful. About forty thousand years ago one of my ancestors mistakenly assumed that aiding one warlord to become dominate would eventually reduce and eliminate the wars that plagued their growth toward a peaceful society.”

  In the pause that followed, Jon said, “Peace imposed by force alone has never worked to instill peace in the hearts of men.” He waited for the Alphan to continue, but suddenly he had an inspiration. “You’re talking about the Khruellians, aren’t you?”

  Ruuhr sagged in his chair and hung his head, the guilt of an entire species pressing him down. “Yes,” he said in a small voice. “My ancestor instructed a young warlord to ‘conquer all that he saw’ as a way to stop the endless tribal conflicts going on within his species. He and succeeding generations have taken that suggestion as a mandate from their gods. The Hegemony is the result.”

  It was Jon’s turn to sit back in his chair. “You’ve been trying to straighten out this mess for forty thousand years, haven’t you?”

  Ruuhr looked up with a troubled face and said simply, “Yes.”

  Jon had an idea what Ruuhr was going to say next. Before the alien could confirm his fears, he asked, dreading the answer, “How many coalitions have you put together in the past?”

  Ruuhr straightened to his full heights in his chair, a look of resolve replacing his embarrassment and shame. “Ten,” he said, “But this will be the last effort because now our own worlds are threatened. If we fail this time, there will be no more Alphans to organize another one.”

  The two allies, Alphan and human sat looking at each other, not knowing what to say next. Annika had listened with growing astonishment at the Alphan’s confession. As a product of Earth, she was all too familiar with the laws of unintended consequences. Her planet had suffered for two thousand years because of the bad decisions made by her ancestors. In the opinion of many, it had also suffered from some of the well-intentioned decisions made by those trying to clean up the earlier generations’ mess.

  She startled Ruuhr when she spoke. “So, your ancestor screwed up, big deal. My question is, are you going to stand by and wring your hands, or are you going to fight like my husband and I are?”

  Ruuhr needed a translation from Talor to understand what, ‘big deal’, ‘screwed up’ and ‘wring your hands’ meant, but as soon as he got the meaning of Annika’s words he said, “We have voted, we will fight however the ADO wants us to fight, not just as observers, but as combat personnel. We have more than a thousand spaceships we can commit to the battle.”

  Jon smiled for the first time since they had entered the embassy. “Ruuhr, my friend, I don’t care what you say to the assembly, the only thing they will hear is that you have a thousand spaceships and you are willing to fight.”

  Ruuhr visibly relaxed and said, “I thank you for that reassurance, Group Captain. I have not been able to rest since I engaged in this mission. What do you suggest we do first?”

  Jon explained about Admirals Dexter’s request to spread the news of dissension among the worlds in the vicinity of Plaxyata.

  The Alphan rose from his chair and said, “I will make immediate arrangements to go see Admirals Dexter and Chen-Warren and tell them we are at their disposal to spread that message.”

  Talor spoke for the first time, “I have been in contact with both admirals, and they said they will see you immediately.

  Chapter 59

  Khruel

  The capital complex was awash in rumors. The Absolute had not been seen in public or in any of the government sessions for almost a lunar cycle. This Absolute was the most involved leader in recent history, and his unusual absence sparked rumors that ranged from he was dead, he was preparing mass executions for the debacle in Plaxyata, he was under arrest, plus many more variations too numerous to count. These rumors coupled with the reports of unrest, and in some cases, outright rebellion in the Plaxyata region kept everybody in the capital on edge. One thing they were sure of; something was going to happen soon.

  On the day of the new moon, the official start of each month, the Absolute sent word summoning his full council into session. Some of the ministers, such as the new Minister of Defense seriously considered suicide as an alternative to attending. He was terrified to face the man who had absolute power over his entire family’s existence.

  The great hall was silent in anticipation. This was not the time to speculate; it was the time to wait and accept whatever the Absolute ordered of them. The countless generations before them who had lived a life of absolute obedience to the supreme leader had conditioned them to accept his mandates as mandates from their God. He was the Absolute, charged with the awesome responsibility of fulfilling the Legend, conquer all that you see.

  The ministers and their minions, the directors and their subordinates all rose in silent unison a
s the absolute strode in and took his seat on the podium. He did not give them permission to sit down. His head turned from left to right and back looking at all three hundred of the Hegemony’s most senior leaders. Every person in the room felt like the Absolute was staring at him and had singled him out for whatever was to follow.

  Finally,, he said, “Four times we have been grievously attacked by an enemy we do not know.” He fell silent for what seemed to be an eternity and then continued, “We are now engaged in a war of total annihilation, not conquest. From this moment on the only business of this Hegemony will be to find and eradicate this enemy.” He stood up and said, “The Ministers will now join me in my chambers.” He turned and left the podium.

  Three hundred collective breaths expelled. No executions had been ordered, at least not yet. In their relief at not being singled out for punishment, it took them a moment to fully realize the impact of the Absolute’s edict. Fulfilling the Legend had been suspended. The implication of that order started to sink in. The large bureaucracies on the Khruellian capital world depended on an unending flow of tribute to sustain them, and a good portion of that tribute came from newly conquered empires. The prospect of not having enough money to run their individual fiefdoms caused a ripple of fear among the directors leaving the assembly hall. Their speculations had been correct, great changes were happening, and those changes were going to directly affect them.

  Inside the Absolute’s private chamber, the atmosphere was different. The concern was not about money, it was about keeping one’s head in the coming moments. With little fanfare, the Absolute assumed his seat at the head of the table and asked Merkalomal to summarize the losses the Hegemony had suffered from this latest attack and a summary of losses since their first encounter with this unknown enemy.

  During his self-imposed exile, the Absolute had little contact with his nest-brother, Merkalomal. Based on the reports Merkalomal had gathered from underlings working in the imperial household, he knew the Absolute had spent most of the last lunar cycle doing research between periods of silent contemplation. He assumed his nest-brother had come to some course of action which he would now reveal.

  The Minister of Conquered Worlds spoke unemotionally to hide his nervousness from his life-long superior. “We have lost nine hundred and fifty warships, two hundred supports ships, a repair facility, and five space centers. Additionally, we have lost approximately forty-five thousand military personnel. Those losses represent about fifteen percent of our total fleet.”

  The Absolute listened to his nest-brother without any visible reaction. This lack of visible emotion probably frightened the assembled ministers more than one of his traditional outburst when told bad news. Without inflection, he asked Merkalomal, “And the state of the insurrections?”

  Merkalomal flinched slightly at the use of the word ‘insurrection.’ He would have preferred the term ‘civil unrest’ since control of the conquered worlds was his responsibility. He resigned himself to accept the consequences of his words and said, “Fifty-three systems are in a state of unrest. Of these, two are in open rebellion requiring military intervention.”

  In the same monotone, the Absolute said, “Scorch those two rebellious systems of all life and spread the word to other systems experiencing unrest. Your problem of civil unrest will disappear quickly.”

  He turned his emotionless gaze upon Burkal, his Minister of Expansion and said, “Withdraw your fleets to the nearest Hegemony base, Burkal. They will have a new task.”

  At first, Burkal could not believe what he had heard. No Absolute in history had ever ordered the empire’s expansion effort halted, but years of conditioning made him automatically say, “It shall be as you ordered, my Absolute.”

  The central holograph came on unexpectedly causing the ministers to jump in unisons. It depicted the galaxy at an angle with the Perseus arm closest to the viewers. The star systems within the Hegemony glowed red. The ministers quickly figured out that the pulsing white dots represented points of attack by this unknown enemy. Their eyes shifted back to the Absolute as he spoke, “I have spent a full lunar cycle examining our situation. We have an enemy who is clever, which is a substitute for superiority. He has misdirected our search, which tells me he is afraid to be found. His fleet has an odd collection of spaceships, which tells me he is a coalition of different species. All this tells me if we meet in a head-to-head engagement, he will lose, we will win.” The Absolute paused as the holographic image expanded to a closer view of their side of the galaxy. When the enlargement was complete, the Absolute continued, “I have examined the historical records of the sightings of the unobtrusive, alien visitors to our systems.” He was referring to the small Alphan observation crafts. “I believe they are connected to our enemy, especially since their visits to the rebellious systems in the Plaxyata region coincide with the unrest. For thousands of years our astronomers have speculated on where these aliens originated, but since they did not interfere with our activities, or make any contact with us, they began to lose interest. In my research, I discovered most of those old astronomers believed these visitors originated from here.”

  The ministers’ eyes turned back in unison to the image and saw that the Absolute had highlighted a small, stellar arm of the galaxy, adjacent to the Perseus arm. “Here,” he said in a tone that expressed finality, “Is our enemy.”

  By now the Ministers had forgotten their fear of being executed. The logic of what their leader was saying had gotten them fully engaged in fighting this scourge to their existence. The Absolute let the meaning of his words sink in. When their eyes started turning back to him, he said, “This is what we are going to do.”

  Chapter 60

  Earth

  The capital city of the Terran Confederation was a far different place from the one Jon’s grandfather had visited forty years earlier. The depressing screens flashing the latest unit prices for food, water and energy were no longer visible. The populace was better dressed and walked with a livelier step. Interstellar trade had changed the economy from a static, keep-the-people-alive economy to an era of middle-class prosperity. Overcrowding was still Earth’s number one problem, but now the government had the wherewithal to make the crowding a little more comfortable. The ominous presence of the Industrial Council was fading into memory.

  Jon was part of a group that included Admirals Dexter, Chen-Warren, and the current president of the CIP General Assembly, Almara Rudocon who had traveled to earth to ask the Terran Confederation Congress for a commitment to construct five hundred warships in the unbelievably short period of one year. The other ADO members had already committed to building an additional four hundred new ships. If the delegation was successful and the Terran Confederation agreed, in one year the combined ADO fleet, including the one thousand, small Alphan ships and the existing allied fleet of three hundred and ninety-five active warships would be almost twenty-three hundred vessels. The best estimate by the intelligence departments of Earth, the CSF, and the Alphans projected a Khruellian space force of over eight thousand dedicated military space crafts, a superiority of more than three to one. Considering the ADO’s temporary weapons superiority, the Khruellian advantage, in practical terms could be reduced to two to one. Daunting odds for any fleet facing a force with forty thousand years of experience fighting enemy fleets.

  The reason for the rush was obvious. No one expected the ADO’s weapon’s superiority to continue for more than a year, two at the most. The sooner they confronted the Khruellian fleet, the better chance they would have to defend themselves from conquest, or outright annihilation. None but the most optimistic considered the possibility of victory over the Khruellians. The more realistic planners suggested a stalemate, where the Khruellians came to the conclusion that attacking the worlds of the ADO was too costly to their overall objective. It would not ensure their survival, but it would give the ADO time to build a fleet large enough to counter the Hegemony in the future.

  Jon did not expect any
resistance to their request. Mother Earth had the most to lose if a Khruellians force discovered their location. If any Terrans survived the attack, they would wake up to a world more akin to a Stone Age society than a modern, space-faring confederation. After their mission on Earth, the next stop was Alpha Tau Alpha to coordinate the conversion of the small Alphan scout ships to weapons carriers and to establish a training regimen for the Alphans crews. The small ships were ill-suited for plasma weapons but could be easily adapted to carry the very effective dissembler missiles. Their agility, which had baffled the Khruellians for centuries, would be a huge advantage when delivering the small, close-range missiles.

  Jon did not have a speaking role in the presentation and was content to let the military brass and the politicians do the talking. He looked around the crowded chamber and wished his grandfather could be here to witness the change on Earth and in their political system. The elder McKinnah still harbored some suspicions about the parent world’s motives. Jon understood them clearly; they wanted relief from the pressures of overpopulation. He understood that the powers that ruled Earth now accepted the fact it was going to be a five hundred year solution, not a quick migration to other worlds, including the colonies. Jon and Annika had made a commitment to Hector Andreas Gavito, the Terran Secretary of Alien Affairs to help Earth in that matter and he intended to keep his commitment. The previous evening he had met the secretary in a diplomatic reception and reiterated his promise to help. Gavito had taken in Jon’s Group Captain insignia and smiled. The young Captain who had made that brash commitment had indeed moved up in the ranks as he had predicted.

  Secretary Gavito was one of the Terrans in a position to block or expedite the proposal on the table. Immediately after the opening ceremony, he proposed the issue be put to the vote before any debate. There were some sputtering and objections from a few of the representatives, but they were quickly outvoted, and the move was seconded and voted on without debate. It was all over in twenty minutes. Jon watched as Admirals Dexter and Chen-Warren gave each other a thumbs-up. They would soon have a much larger, more powerful space force at their disposal.