"Apparently the Kaitians were a servant species of the Hwzeenn and they were left alone when the Strangers destroyed the Hwzeenn Empire," said Jiao.
Jeffery looked at Jiao. Everything was new information to him and he didn't know what to think.
"And no one ever bothered to go look, since all thought--wrongly--that the space where Kaitians lived was already stripped of its resources by the Hwzeenn. A costly mistake, as we've seen. Anyway, Horacio was one of the Coalition scouts that went looking for the Kaitian scouts back then. And what happened to him would make a great movie." She smiled.
"Wait a minute," interrupted Jeffery, "Horacio? Who's aboard now?" Jiao nodded.
"But," said Jeffery, "but that was thousand years ago?"
"Yes, it was," said Jiao. "He looks young for his age, doesn't he?"
"Yes, he does," said Jeffery quietly.
"So, Horacio decided to go beyond Arash borders and then beyond the Mehar Empire to deep inside Miccvan space. Eventually, after visiting dozens of empty star systems, he entered yet another system--one in the middle of nowhere. He scanned the planets one by one but he saw nothing, just like the previous systems. He couldn't tell why he stayed there after scanning the planets, but he did. He left the computer do the scanning and, out of plain boredom, he fell asleep. He must've been very tired, he told me, to be sleeping a full Arash day there, all the while the computer was scanning the system. When he woke up, the computer informed him that it had found something odd in the second planet of the system. Horacio asked it to define odd, but computer couldn't say anything specific, so he went on to look."
Jeffery nearly held his breath as Jiao told him what Horacio had told her. Everything sounded unbelievable, starting from the fact that Rg'Tkeen had had contact with Earth a thousand years ago.
"Again, Horacio found nothing--at first," said Jiao. "After a while, he found it. An entrance to vast underground complex in a base of a mountain. Or something made to look like a mountain. Guess what he found?"
Jeffery shook his head.
"I didn't guess either," she said, "but it was a factory. A fully automated factory still operating. Horacio couldn't believe his eyes, but it was there, deep inside the planet. He had no way to analyze what the factory was doing, but he did manage to estimate its age." Jiao paused and Jeffery knew what to expect--it must've been very old.
"The factory had been there, and operating, at least five million years," she said.
"I don't believe it," said Jeffery, in denial.
"Five million years? And Rg'Tkeen? On Earth? Thousand years ago? What is going on, Admiral? What is the factory? I mean . . . really?"
"That's what he said," said Jiao, "and the way he said it makes it clear that it is pretty much common knowledge in the Coalition, at least to senior officers."
She sighed. "I did ask about who was the contact on Earth. Horacio seemed surprised by the question, but answered it anyway. Can you guess who it was?"
Jeffery shook his head again.
"The contact was Commander William Johnson, member of the Coalition Command," said Jiao.
A silence filled the air and Jeffery's jaw dropped.
"You can't seriously mean . . ." said Jeffery quietly.
Jiao nodded. "The one and the same. And he looks young for his age, too," she added.
Jeffery said nothing and shook his head disbelievingly. He just couldn't believe what she said.
"It took me a while before I understood what this information implies," said Jiao, "and I strongly recommend you keep this to yourself."
"You can count on it, ma'am," he said firmly.
"But what about the Arash? The factory? Why would there be Kaitians there?"
"Ah, yes," she said. "Horacio couldn't determine what the factory was, but he understood not to mention it to outsiders; only the Arash Command knew about it. He went back to his home world and when he told what he'd found, the Arash decided to send a team to find out what the factory was. The team went there and after they found what it was doing, they decided to call it a fusion factory, because the factory makes elements from other elements--for example, oxygen by fusing eight hydrogen atoms and so on. Unfortunately, the Arash never found out how to operate it, so its usefulness has been rather limited. They have let it be, monitoring it remotely, and hoping that someday they might learn to operate it. Just because it's there is reason enough for the Kaitians to go there.”
"No doubt," said Jeffery, "but I wonder why Horacio told you about it? And who built the factory in the first place?"
"I asked the same," said Jiao, "and the answer to the first question is that he honestly believes our mission is extremely important. He added that the Kaitians have overrun the Arash and the entire Arash civilization is crumbling. Not very much point to keep any secrets, after all. The answer to the second question is more interesting. At first, they didn't know it either, and the age of it was incomprehensible. It was not until a few decades ago when they learned new information." Jiao took a breath, "And the story gets bigger and bigger. You will realize that we are a very, very small part of the universe. The Arash managed to infiltrate the Miccvan Empire and they found references to ruins and crashed ships built by an ancient civilization of sentient machines that vanished approximately five million years ago. They are certain that the factory is also built by them."
"Unbelievable!" said Jeffery.
"It really is, Jeffery," said Jiao, "but it's true. And that's why we go to that system and see the factory ourselves."
"And capture some Kaitians." he said.
"Oh, yes." Jiao smiled deviously.
24
"We are now in Kaitian space," said Aileen.
"All right," said Nick, "any ideas where to go?"
They'd traveled through Arash space from SD-9 and had carefully avoided any Kaitian-occupied worlds to minimize detection, although they were sure they wouldn't be detected by anyone. Their mission was to find the Kaitian forces within their own space.
"Well, we know that their forces are not in the home world," said Louis.
"Aileen?" asked Nick. "Any guesses where their forces might be? And their shipyards? Resources?"
"We have limited data on the star systems," said Aileen, "but here are my guesses about their shipyards."
Half a dozen systems started to blink on the map.
Nick and Louis glanced each other and shrugged; they didn't have any better guesses where the Kaitians might be.
"Let's go then," said Nick. "One system at a time."
***
The Lake of Fairwater entered the first potential star system where Kaitian shipyards might be and halted. The system was typical, a small red star with a half-dozen planets, and scanners showed nothing.
"Take us farther into the system," said Louis, "from planet to planet." The corvette changed course to the farthest planet and went by it.
The next planet had nothing noticeable there, but when they approached the third planet on their route, Aileen stopped the corvette.
"What is it?" asked Nick.
"There are cloaked ships surrounding the planet," said Aileen.
"All right," said Louis. "Take us slowly toward them."
"What ships they are?" asked Nick when they approached the planet.
"Five ships," said Aileen. "Possibly frigates."
They moved further closer and Aileen said, "Definitely frigates. And there's something on the planet."
"Interesting," said Nick. "Let's find out what's there. Go closer but keep us clear from the frigates."
Nick and Louis watched on the screen as the frigates slowly orbited the planet.
"I need time," said Aileen after a while. "The planet's atmosphere is interfering with my sensors."
"How long?" asked Louis.
"Fifteen hours," said Aileen. "Or, if I go to the orbit, I need only two hours."
"All right, take your fifteen hours," said Nick, after consulting with Louis. "No need to take unnecessary risks,
however slim they might be."
***
The hours went slowly by. Both men stayed on the bridge, dozing and playing cards and other games.
"I'm ready, gentlemen," said Aileen after thirteen and half hours.
"You're ahead of schedule." Louis smiled.
"Yes, I am," said Aileen.
"What is it, then?" asked Nick.
"It's an army training facility," said Aileen. "There are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Kaitian soldiers scattered across the planet. They are training in ground combat for all kinds of terrain."
"Excellent," said Louis, "this is very good information. If we attack here, we'd surely disrupt their operations."
"But nothing related to ships or shipyards?" asked Nick.
"No," answered Aileen.
"Then let's go to the next system," said Nick, and the corvette slowly moved away from the planet and beyond the edge of the star system before entering hyperspace and traveling to the next system.
***
"Anything?" asked Louis, when they entered the last of the potential systems where Aileen guessed where Kaitian shipyards might be.
The systems they'd visited had been very much empty, stripped from resources long ago by the Hwzeenn and Kaitians.
"The innermost planet shows life signs," said Aileen.
"Really?" said Nick. "Let's go and take a look."
Aileen changed course toward the planet.
"Extensive flora on the planet," said Aileen, after they were close enough for more detailed scans. "Relatively little water, no oceans nor seas. Just a few large lakes . . . correction. Most of the water is underground, unseen. And there is no ground. Flora actually floats on the ocean. The entire planet is an ocean."
"Interesting," said Louis. "Probably not a place for shipyard then."
"Probably not,” said Nick, “but I'm sure Aileen will do a thorough analysis, won't you?"
"That's right," said Aileen.
"While you're at it," said Nick, "why don't we take a day off, Louis?"
"A day off?" said Louis and looked at Nick. Then he smiled.
"That's a good idea. Aileen takes care of the ship while we're at it."
"While you're at it?" asked Aileen and Nick heard surprise in her voice. "What does it mean? What do you mean to take a day off? We are on a space ship?"
"That's right," said Nick. "Taking a day off means that we do something else than be here with you. Besides, we have used the exercise room far too little."
Louis stood up and went to door. "I'll take the exercise room first. See you in six hours."
And Louis was away before Nick could say anything.
"And I'm going to watch some old science fiction movies," said Nick, "so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see who the builders of the Mars catacombs were."
"There are no Mars catacombs," said Aileen as Nick walked toward the door.
"Well . . ." Nick smiled before leaving. "The movie says otherwise and I want to believe."
***
The waves crashed on rocks far beneath Nick and the sun was high up on the sky.
"Are you going or not?" asked a female voice.
Nick looked down to the rocks and shook his head. "Not this time. I would much rather enjoy your company," he said and the woman smiled invitingly.
But before anything could happen, to Nick's great surprise, the scenery disappeared, leaving only the black walls of the exercise room.
"Counselors!" shouted Aileen. "Come to the bridge immediately. Something's happening!"
There was no need to tell them twice. Nick ran to the bridge as fast as he could. Louis was already there, panting.
"What is it?" asked Nick after catching his breath.
"A Kaitian cruiser," said Louis, "exited from hyperspace directly into orbit."
"Another cruiser!" said Aileen.
"And another!" said Louis when the third appeared in orbit, far too close to be comfortable.
"Take us out of orbit," said Nick. "There may be more ships on the way."
True enough, six cruisers appeared in orbit as he said it.
"And fast!" added Louis. They broke away from orbit and moved away from the planet.
"More ships!" said Louis. "A lot more!"
"Thirty-six cruisers," said Aileen, "and counting."
Nick and Louis glanced at each other.
"Something's definitely happening," said Nick.
There were more than a hundred ships in orbit around the planet.
"They are getting ready for an attack," said Louis. Nick nodded; it sure looked that way.
"What do we do?" asked Louis. "Should we wait and see where they are going? Follow them?"
"I recommend we wait," said Aileen. "The Kaitian ships are still coming here; we should wait and see how many of them there are. And then we follow them."
"Sounds good," agreed Louis.
The Kaitian ships steadily appeared in the system and sent shivers through Nick's back when he saw just how many of them there were. Already thousands of ships, of all sizes, were in the system, apparently doing nothing except a lot of communicating.
Several cruisers were clearly command ships, but Aileen hadn't been able to determine the flagship yet.
"We are in trouble" said Louis after a while. "Big, big trouble."
"They do have the forces to attack on four fronts," said Nick.
"Assuming that's correct," said Aileen, "the ships here will attack the Miccvan and Rg'Tkeen Empires. And the ships already in occupied space will attack the Coalition from the opposite direction."
"Any suggestions about what we could do?" asked Nick.
"We should do as Aileen recommended," said Louis. "Wait until they're all here and follow some of them. Then go to back and inform Command what we've seen."
Aileen projected that, based how the arrivals had been changing in the past few hours, all the Kaitian forces should be there within a day. And there were already a lot of Kaitian forces.
Louis had said that they were in big trouble and the trouble got bigger each time a new Kaitian ship appeared.
Aileen analyzed the ships, and the way they appeared, and concluded that they were coming from at least ten shipyards. Assuming that this system was the mustering system, Aileen projected where the shipyards might be. It would be valuable information for the Coalition counter-attack--if they survived the next Kaitian attack.
***
"Most of them are here," said Aileen after a day and a half.
Nick sighed and watched the current count of enemy ships.
"I can't believe this," he said for the umpteenth time.
Louis said nothing; he thought the number of ships was unbelievable too: 11,341.
"Three-fourths are cruisers and frigates," said Louis and shook his head.
At any moment, the Kaitians would start their advance, and the Lake of Fairwater had to move closer to be able to follow them to hyperspace.
"Any ideas of the flagship?" asked Nick.
"No," said Aileen and Nick was certain he could hear disappointment.
"Let's follow one of the command ships, then," said Nick. "Any one will do."
"The comm chatter has increased," said Aileen. "They must be ready to leave."
"Hurry up, then; move the ship closer," said Louis.
Aileen slowly accelerated, but before they reached the cruiser, it disappeared into hyperspace, along with hundreds of other ships.
"Damn!" cursed Nick. "We must follow them!"
Aileen took a risk and increased speed to catch one of the frigates nearby and managed to tail it to hyperspace.
25
"There it is," said Horacio. The Sea of Boston had arrived at the edge of the unnamed star system deep within Miccvan space.
"Slowly toward the second planet," said Jiao.
The ship carefully traveled toward the planet, cloaked and scanning.
"Are you sure the enemy's here?" asked Jeffery.
"Positive,
" said Horacio.
The frigate approached the planet uneventfully until they were close.
"Ma'am!" said Tricia. "There's a ship in orbit!"
"All halt!" ordered Jiao. "What is it?"
"A moment, ma'am," said Tricia, and tried to scan the ship.
"It's difficult to say. It's not cloaked, but their stealth mode is excellent."
"Somebody's here," commented Jeffery to no one particular. Jiao thought it next to impossible for the ship to be anything other than Kaitian.
"It's them," said Horacio and turned, smiling, to Jiao. "Only one ship."
"Ma'am," said Tricia, "it's a frigate, almost certainly Kaitian."
"Almost?" asked Jiao.
"Yes, ma'am," said Tricia, "It doesn't match anything we know; based on what we have on the Kaitian, it's the closest match. But there's still a small chance it's something else."
"Unlikely," said Horacio dismissively.
"I agree," said Jeffery. "This can't be a coincidence."
Jiao nodded. "Suggestions? It's only a single frigate."
"Yes, Admiral," said Horacio, "I suggest that we capture that frigate and bring it back to the Coalition. You'd fulfill your mission and more."
"Capture it, Colonel?" said Jeffery a little skeptically.
"Exactly." Horacio smiled. "Infiltrating enemy ships is something I and my troopers can be proud of."
"Oh?" said Jiao, surprised. "You didn't mention it before."
"I felt that it information was not needed," said Horacio, "until now. My people, together with your Jaegers . . . we can capture that ship."
"Is that so?" said Jeffery. He wondered how Horacio was so confident about this. He knew that idea of capturing an enemy ship occasionally surfaced among the tacticians and was also practiced countless times, but neither humans nor, to Jeffery's knowledge, other Coalition forces had successfully devised workable tactics in capturing enemy ships in space. All exercises had ended in virtual bloodshed. And a few recorded cases had ended in actual bloodshed.
"It is so." Horacio smiled. "You, Admiral, might be interested to know that several of my troopers infiltrated The Village of War when you resupplied at SD-9 before the Kaitian invasion." Jiao looked amused. Horacio kept smiling; he knew that she didn't believe it. "Perhaps it would convince you if I'd say that one item that was resupplied in your visit to SD-9 was a box of GatoNegro Cabernet Sauvignon, an excellent wine, I must say. I'll be sure to taste it again when I go to your world."
Jeffery looked at Jiao and the way she looked at Horacio, confirming for him that Horacio spoke the truth.
Other officers on the bridge looked at Jiao, too, confused by the obvious insider comment. Seeing Jiao's reaction, the officers realized that she knew perfectly well what Horacio told her was true. Jiao was silent and shocked. She knew that Horacio spoke the truth. It'd been she, who'd requested that box of wine and she'd been angry to find out that box had been one bottle short. She'd filed an official complaint and accused supply officers of incompetence. She had been wrong to blame them and the fact the Arash had infiltrated The Village of War . . . it required some serious thought. Jiao decided not to dwell on the revelation; now was not the time for worry about that.