Against All Odds Read online

  "The Uthlaro had three hundred decommissioned ships when the Milori first began their invasion of the Galactic Alliance. They immediately began to retrofit those ships and move them to the Milori border lest Maxxiloth's aspirations include plans to absorb Uthlaro space as well. Although the older ships are a little slower and have less hull protection than their current fleet, they represent a formidable force. We estimate Space Command can't commit more than two hundred ships at most," Qerdesqa said. "We'll have them outnumbered by five to one."

  "Carver destroyed a Milori fleet of a hundred three warships with just fifteen SC ships," Kalisnacos said, "and then destroyed almost four hundred more of Milori's newest and most powerful warships with her fleet of a hundred sixty-two. All without losing a single ship of her own in either engagement. She's the new military commander of the annexed territory."

  "Ah, but the Milori foolishly attacked Carver's ships in one large armada, twice," Ramdesci said. "The Uthlaro plan will have us spread out along the borders and simultaneously absorb the territory as we move towards a central point. Carver will have to split her forces into numerous small battle groups to confront all of ours. Since she can't be in dozens of places at the same time, she won't be able to direct the actions of her ships in battle. We'll have destroyed most of her forces before she even learns of the battles."

  "I ask that the matter be put to a vote," Premier Warlord Qerdesqa said to the council. "All who agree that we accept the terms of the pact, stand up as your name is called."

  As the roll was called, the member either rose to stand or remained seated. Only First Warlord Kalisnacos and two others of the eighty-six members were still sitting when the vote was over.

  "The matter is settled," Premier Warlord Qerdesqa said. "We shall join the Uthlaro in driving out the invaders of the former Milori Empire. We shall deploy our forces and seize all systems in our path until we meet our allies coming from the opposite direction. Long live the Tsgardi Kingdom."

  * * *

  "How can this body even consider making war against such a powerful neighbor?" Senator Prime Curlekurt Emmeticus asked, addressing the Gondusan planetary senate. "We were unable to beat the Milori in a single battle, yet the Galactic Alliance destroyed their massive invasion fleets without losing a single ship."

  "We have only their word for that," Senator Neodeet Literamus said loudly. "For all we know they might have lost hundreds."

  Externally one of the most human-looking alien species yet encountered, the Gondusans' most obvious difference was their nose. Two pieces of cartilage covered by skin extended down each side of a single nostril, rather than a single piece of cartilage in the center of two nostrils. The Gondusans always carry their fashion to excess and the more powerful the person, the more excessive the fashion. Their garish costumes and use of gaudy makeup make them look like someone overdressed for a Mardi Gras celebration on Earth.

  "The Galactic Alliance is an open society," Senator Prime Curlekurt Emmeticus retorted. "They allow anyone to travel freely in their space, even Tsgardi, as long as the travelers respect their laws. They have gone so far as to allow news reporters in a free press to travel on warships during military operations. Our intelligence service tells us the news reports were completely accurate. They were outnumbered seven to one in their initial encounter with the Milori fleet during the first invasion and all ships were required to make substantial repairs afterwards. But following the second invasion where they were outnumbered only three to one, virtually every ship at Stewart Space Command Base was back in service within a few days of having destroyed a Milori invasion fleet of more than four hundred warships. We closely examined a video file broadcast by news services following the battle at Stewart. Our experts certify that it was un-doctored. Two ships, the most seriously damaged, were back in service within a month. Does my esteemed colleague honestly believe we can hope to defeat a powerful military like that?"

  "We don't have to defeat them," Literamus said. "We merely have to drive them out of the former Milori territories and then pursue a peace agreement. The Uthlaro promise that the combined forces allied against Space Command will be comprised of over a thousand ships. Space Command will never even engage our ships. They'll be too busy running back to their old border."

  "I believe you underestimate their resolve, Senator. They laid formal claim to the Milori Empire when the Milori surrendered, so this act would now be treated as an invasion of their territory. Everything we know about them indicates they will not run. They will stay and fight, to the last ship, to the last crewman if necessary. They are every bit as tenacious as the Milori and, when crossed, far more dangerous."

  "The most powerful ships in their fleet are still at Stewart Space Command Base, more than two thousand light-years from our borders. A large force can't be assembled and travel here in less than eight of their years. This war will be over long before then and we will have a large share of the newly commandeered territory. The arriving Space Command ships will find they have no bases in the new territory from which to launch a campaign. Now is the time to strike, before they have time to expand into the new territory."

  "The ships that destroyed the Milori had no bases in the Empire, yet it didn't stop them from laying waste to the Milori home world."

  "After the Milori invasion fleet was destroyed, the home world was left practically defenseless. Maxxiloth was a fool to send his entire home world protection force to the borders to fight us and the Hudeera."

  "That was Admiral Carver's plan. She used us to draw off his remaining forces, giving her an opportunity to destroy his infrastructure."

  "Yes, that's exactly my point! Without us, she would not have been able to destroy the Milori! And how does she repay us? She declared possession of the entire Empire in the name of the Galactic Alliance and didn't allocate even a single system to us."

  "Not true. It might have made her task more onerous, but I'm sure she would have prevailed even without our help. And though it seems to have escaped my esteemed colleague's attention, for our participation we regained all the territory the Milori had systematically stolen from us over decades of war. That was all Carver promised in exchange for staging a few lightning raids against border outposts. We lost no ships and quadrupled our territory."

  "We were only taking back what was ours to begin with."

  The battle of words raged on between the two senators for some time, with neither willing to concede to the other's point. The other senators listened attentively and quietly until the two tired of the verbal fencing.

  * * *

  "It is all arranged," Uthlaro Prime Minster Taomolu Barguado said to the Council of Ministers. "The Tsgardi, Gondusans, and Hudeera will join us in this endeavor."

  Barely anthropomorphous in appearance, the Uthlaro have a very distinctive appearance. Their heads, shaped like the letter 'T', are reminiscent of a Terran hammerhead shark because the eyes are located at the ends of the crosspiece. It gives them the ability to see more than three hundred degrees around their body without moving their heads. The mouth is located at the bottom of the head, but is only used for eating and speaking. They breathe though pores in their skin.

  "I never had any doubt about the Tsgardi willingness to join," Minister Ambello Neddowo said, "but I'm surprised the Hudeera and Gondusans joined so quickly. I expected them to debate the issue endlessly. After all, they have only recently reacquired territory lost to them for decades. I thought they might hold some misguided appreciation towards Space Command."

  "The vote in each case was close," Barguado said. "The Hudeera had fifty-eight percent in favor of the pact, while the Gondusans had just fifty-two percent in favor. Apparently there was some gratitude. That, or they fear the Galactic Alliance. We shall have to watch them both closely. They may try to withdraw from the pact after losing a few ships. We must be prepared to take over their forces if their leaders falter."

  "You mean before we intentionally move against them and seize their entire
territory?" Neddowo said, smiling.

  "Of course," Barguado said. "The fleet we've been building since we first decided to annex the Milori Empire many annuals ago is now ready to begin operations. The special battle groups we've secreted throughout the former Milori Empire will join the Gondusan and Hudeera forces as they move forward, but our battle plan will always place our allies in the most dangerous battle positions. By the time Space Command pulls back to their borders, our allies will have no fighting forces left, so there will be no resistance when we also annex their territory. The Hudeera, Gondusans, and Tsgardi are truly witless to think we need them to defeat the Galactic Alliance or that we would share the conquered territory with them.

  * * *

  Chapter Two

  ~ October 23rd, 2281 ~

  Jenetta Carver sauntered down the shuttle ramp, her eyes carefully appraising the terrain of this new base. As much as she loved her time in space, it was always a thrill to occasionally step onto a planet with a breathable atmosphere.

  The Marine posted near the bottom of the ramp braced to attention as she placed a foot onto the soil of the planet Quesann for the first time. Nearby, crewmembers from the ship stole surreptitious glances as they carried out their assigned tasks.

  Even in the muted black uniform of a Space Command officer, Jenetta never failed to turn heads. Her enhanced DNA gave her the face and body of a mythological Greek goddess, and would keep her looking as young as a recent Academy graduate for most of a greatly extended life. The four gold stars on each shoulder ensured that no one in Space Command would ever forget themselves and attempt to accost the tall blonde. Although capable of defending her own honor, the two large cats that accompanied her off the ship would gladly handle anyone who moved too close without an invitation.

  With fur as black as space and weighing just a hundred-sixty pounds each, Taurentlus-Thur Jumakas were smaller than Terran Jaguars, but they were just as deadly. The female cats appeared identical except for the tiny tuft of white fur on one's right foreleg where a laser shot from an assassin had grazed her. That assassin had learned about Jumakas the hard way. The cats were on him before he'd had a chance to fire a third shot at Jenetta. While one used its powerful jaws to break the arm holding the laser pistol, the other clamped equally powerful jaws around his throat. He died within minutes, his life's blood turning the space station deck crimson as it pumped out through opened carotid arteries. There was some debate among the morgue staff as to whether the drugged-up assassin had died from blood loss or suffocation. In private, the cats were docile, even playful, but when protecting their mistress they were bundles of pure fury wrapped in muscle, teeth, and claws.

  Even without her two pets, Jenetta had proven that it was unwise to attack her. During her career, she had permanently dispatched more than one enemy using the kickboxing skills she practiced religiously. Powerful people make powerful enemies, and Jenetta always had to be on guard against attacks. However, as the only sentient life on this previously uninhabited planet was her crew, she could relax slightly and enjoy being out in the sunshine for the first time after more than a year in space.

  Located roughly thirteen hundred light-years from Earth and three-hundred-eight light-years from Milor, the planet Quesann was unquestionably Earth Class. In fact, it was the most Earth-like planet Jenetta had visited, coming closer to her home world than Nordakia, Obotymot, Siena, and Pelomious. Earth Class planets must have a breathable oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with a roughly 20/80 mix and no more than two percent of non-deadly trace gases. They must have a mean temperature between 5 and 25 degrees Celsius, a mass between 0.7 and 1.3 times that of Earth, and a radius not less than 0.8 nor more than 1.2 times that of Earth.

  With a mass of 1.01 and a radius 1.06 times that of Earth, Quesann orbited a Type G2 Yellow MMK class V (dwarf) star once each three-hundred-seventy-one Earth days. The planet made one full revolution each twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes, Galactic System time. Hundreds of massive islands dotted the surface of the planet, making the calculated land to water ratio appear inaccurate, but even with the three main continents, land only accounted for thirty-three percent of the surface. The largest uninterrupted body of water was about half the size of the Atlantic Ocean on Earth. The planet had two polar caps and a molten core with tectonic plate movement similar to Earth's. Fifteen percent of the islands contained active or dormant volcanoes. For now, the entire planet was declared 'off limits' to all but Space Command and Marine personnel. How long it remained that way was yet to be decided, but Jenetta intended to reserve just as much of the planet as possible for military use.

  For the Space Command Headquarters of Region Two, Jenetta selected an island where the Milori had begun construction of a new military base a few annuals before the first invasion of Galactic Alliance space. When the new commanding officer for the sector visited the site, he decided that it was far too cold to suit him. They abandoned the base near the outer border of their empire to search for a planet or moon where the mean temperature was a more comfortable forty degrees Celsius, leaving the buildings in various states of completion.

  At eighteen degrees above the planet's equator, the island was roughly the size of New Zealand on Earth. It encompassed some 264,000 square kilometers. The usable land mass would be adequate for most of Space Command's present and future needs. Since the nearest neighboring island was over two hundred kilometers away, security should never be a problem although the distance could be covered in minutes by a shuttle. With an average daily temperature of twenty-three degrees Celsius that never varied by more than seven degrees, the crew rightly referred to it as a tropical paradise. Jenetta was adamant the entire island be reserved in perpetuity for military use only, so no civilian areas were included on the maps.

  Initial tests showed the base location to be biologically safe for all known sentient species so in-depth studies had begun. Bots with biological survey modules were currently combing the island in ever widening circles as they cataloged all life forms, both micro and macroscopic, while checking the flora and fauna for any danger to recorded species. Bots with construction modules were working with engineers to document the previous construction and developed plans for the layout of the new base.

  "Good morning, Admiral," Lieutenant Carstairs of the Colorado's engineering section said as she stepped up to Jenetta and saluted.

  "Good morning, Lieutenant," Jenetta said after returning the salute. "How are the surveys going?"

  "Excellent, ma'am. So far, everything indicates this will be a superb location for the base. The ground is firm, the soil rich, the air clean, the water potable, and the indigenous life forms so far appear to be biologically safe for hominal life. I wouldn't suggest anyone go swimming until we've had an opportunity to do underwater surveys, but this part of the island seems safe for human habitation."

  "Very good, Lieutenant. That concurs with the Milori surveys. I'll look forward to viewing your final report."

  "Aye, ma'am," Lt. Carstairs said before saluting again and turning to leave.

  Jenetta had little to do at the moment so she took her time wandering around the site, enjoying the fresh air and the sun on her face. The ship had been in orbit for several days and would remain here for the immediate future while the planet was completely surveyed. The Colorado's sister ship, the Yangtze, was also in orbit, performing the surface mapping work.

  * * *

  A week later, Jenetta conducted a meeting in the bridge-deck conference room aboard the Colorado. Captain Fannon of the Yangtze and the senior officers of both scout-destroyer ships were present.

  "Good morning," Jenetta said as she opened the meeting. "The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the findings of the survey work. Captain Fannon, why don't you begin?"

  "Aye, Admiral. My people have completed the geological mapping of the planet and prepared annualized meteorological projections. The Yangtze's computer estimates 2.7 significant hurricanes could potentially pass over this part of the
planet each summer. My engineers recommend all buildings be constructed to withstand hurricane-force winds of four hundred kilometers per hour, although on average the winds should never exceed one-hundred-seventy kilometers per hour."

  "That shouldn't be a problem," Jenetta said. "Even our portable shelters, once properly anchored, are designed to withstand two-hundred-kilometer-per-hour winds. What season are we currently in?"

  "We've established this as mid-winter so we should have six months before the summer hurricane season begins."

  Jenetta nodded. "The Milori were obviously aware of the potential winds because the buildings they were constructing would easily survive four-hundred-kilometer winds. The tunnel network that connects all surface buildings to the underground complex must have been intended for use during periods of severe meteorological instability or attack by outside forces. Thank you, Captain Fannon. Anything else?"

  "Once the planet has been deemed safe, I'd like to request that off-duty personnel be allowed to travel down to the surface for a little R&R time."

  "Of course. We'll have to do it on a rotating basis though so at least one ship is always fully staffed and ready to safeguard the new base and the people on the surface. The ship enjoying liberty must always have a sixty-percent crew compliment aboard. This is still a dangerous part of space and we must be prepared to repel an attack at all times. Lieutenant Carstairs, I've read your complete report, but why don't you summarize it for the rest of the senior staff."

  "Aye, Admiral," she said, nodding. "The island where the new base is being located does meet the criteria we use as a definition of a tropical paradise. It's very much like some of the islands in the South Pacific back home on Earth. In fact, except for the distribution of surface landmasses, the entire planet is as much like Earth as any other planet we have in the computer database. Once Terrans start coming to this part of GA space, I'm sure this planet will become a favorite destination and possibly a second home to many if SHQ wishes to share the planet with civilians.