"No," Caleb continued in serious tone, "I don't think this is any skirmish. This is real thing. This is real war." Caleb sighed, and the others knew that he knew something.
"What is it, Sarge?" asked Karl. "Who's the enemy?"
"The Kaitians," said Caleb. "We are at war against the Kaitians."
"You know something," said Kyle. "What is it?" Caleb looked around as if he feared someone might hear what he was about to say.
"Not long ago," said Caleb, "shortly before I joined with 2 Delta 3, I applied for a special assignment. I passed the first phase of the selection process, among maybe fifty or so others. We were transported to an unknown location and led to a large empty room, the size of a tennis court.
"I was in good company, there were many Rangers in that lot," he continued. "Even three Jaegers. We waited for a long time. Many, many hours, I don't know how long. Until a man came inside. A Jaeger Sergeant.
"He said his name was Michael. And that he needed a squad of good men for infiltration mission in the home world of the enemy."
"The Kaitians?" asked Karl.
"Correct," said Caleb, "but he didn't say it there. The sergeant walked across the room several times and picked his squad one by one. I have no idea why he chose those particular men and women; there was no pattern to it. He walked past all of us; it seemed random to me.
"He passed me twice," said Caleb, "and on the second pass, he stopped and looked into my eyes." Caleb paused for a moment and the others held their breath.
"Then the man, Michael, said to me: You fight the Kaitians elsewhere, Caleb. You have no place in my squad.
"You can guess I was surprised, but before I could say anything, he just shook his head and walked away. Nobody else heard what he said and I told no one. Until now." Caleb took a breath and said, "That's it. That's how I know we are at war against the Kaitians. I don't know who they are but I'm sure we will fight for our lives soon. Much sooner than I'd care to."
"I think you're right, Sarge," said Ellen quietly.
"That sounds almost unbelievable, Sergeant," said Karl. "How did he know your name? Or that you would fight Kaitians elsewhere?"
"I don't know," said Caleb, "I haven't met him before and neither had anyone else."
"Did you know the troopers he chose?" asked Kyle.
"No," answered Caleb. "He chose three Jaegers to his squad, four Rangers, and two Marines. But I didn't know any of them. And, if I'm right, we're now headed right in to the war zone. So prepare yourselves, troopers."
He left the Marines and walked to the observation deck to look out at hyperspace. He sighed.
Caleb hadn't said it, and he didn't know how, but he was certain that Michael, his squad, and all others in the infiltration mission were now dead and that's why they were at war. He was also certain that things would go very, very badly before they would get better.
***
Jeffery walked aimlessly around the frigate. He would order maximum stealth before they arrived to the Arash home world, and after that life on the ship would be quite ascetic, as they couldn't risk any extra emissions or communications or anything that could reveal them to the enemy.
The Alpha Protocol message briefed how the Kaitian attack had been an utter and complete surprise to the Coalition. They had very limited intelligence and it was of the utmost importance to find out anything they could about the enemy and their mode of operation.
As Jeffery walked around the frigate, he found himself on the observation deck. He was not surprised to see someone else there, but he was surprised to see that it was one of the Marines.
"Sergeant Simmons," said Jeffery, "I'm surprised to see you here."
"Commander!" said Caleb and saluted.
"At ease, Sergeant," said Jeffery. "Something on your mind?"
"Sir," said Caleb and for a brief moment he hesitated but continued, "Actually, yes. Sir."
And he told Jeffery what he'd told to his Marines, including his suspicion that infiltration team was now dead.
Jeffery was surprised to hear that Simmons had almost been on the infiltration team, but even more surprised to hear his suspicions.
"You are absolutely correct, Sergeant," said Jeffery, and decided that now was not time for secrets. At least, not in this matter.
"The Alpha Protocol message we received mentioned that we'd lost contact with the infiltration team prior we learned of the Kaitian attack. This bit of information might be valuable to the Coalition Command. Mind if I add this to my report?"
Caleb was surprised by the question; the commander didn't really need his permission to do anything, "No, of course not, sir."
Jeffery nodded with a hint of a smile, and said, "Before we arrive at the Arash system, I will order maximum stealth. I'd suggest that you go to your men and do something fun in the exercise room while you can."
"Yes, sir." Caleb saluted and left Jeffery to observation deck with his thoughts.
***
"Commander," called Sandy and woke Jeffery.
"Yes, Sandy," he answered, still half-asleep. "Have we arrived already?"
"Yes, sir," said Sandy, "we're standing still in hyperspace. Just outside the Arash system."
"Initiate maximum stealth now, Sandy," ordered Jeffery. The lights immediately turned red and the ever-present background noise of the ship decreased noticeably. Or it was noticeable now that it had decreased--otherwise, no one really noticed it.
"Get everyone on the bridge," said Jeffery, "I'm on my way."
He had a quick bite before going up to the bridge, where all the bridge officers already waited for him.
"Commander," greeted Lisa, "we are ready."
Jeffery nodded acknowledgement. "Very well, Lisa. Ladies and Gentlemen!" said Jeffery to the crew. "We are about enter the Arash system. It's now occupied by the enemy. Be alert!" Jeffery closed the intercom.
"Sandy," he said, "exit hyperspace and move toward the Arash home world."
"Yes, sir," said Sandy and the frigate exited hyperspace far beyond the farthest planet.
The frigate's maximum stealth limited the speed substantially and it would be a while before they were close to the Arash home world. It was a slow time for the crew, who rediscovered old games like poker and arm wrestling as they waited for arrival.
Jeffery sat in the captain's chair and relaxed as much as he could. The bridge officers seemed to relax, too, acting as though nothing had happened. Or perhaps they were just bored.
Only Tricia and Lance looked like they were paying attention to their consoles. Jeffery watched them work and after a while he noticed that they became more tense and talked with each other more often. He decided not to go and ask what they'd discovered, but wait until they came to him.
He didn't have to wait long.
"Commander," said Tricia, and Jeffery straightened in his chair.
"What is it?"
"Lance and I have monitored the system," she said, "and we haven't detected any ships in the system."
"No Kaitian ships? At all?" asked Jeffery, a little surprised. Tricia shook her head.
"That's odd," he said, "I expected they would have secured the system and left occupation force here.
You had something more?"
"Yes, sir," said Tricia. "We haven't detected anything from the Arash home world. No signals of any kind. We haven't detected even any lights from the planet. Normally you'd see something, even from this distance."
"Perhaps we see when we're closer?" said Jeffery.
"Perhaps, sir. We are close enough already. And we should see something, even though we're at maximum stealth. I have a bad feeling about this," said Tricia.
Jeffery nodded and dismissed Tricia. He went to talk to Darnell.
"How are our weapons?" asked Jeffery.
"They are ready," answered Darnell. "As ready as they can be in maximum stealth."
"Good," said Jeffery, "I hope we don't need them."
Jeffery went on to see Sandy. "How are we
doing?"
"Steady on course," she said. "We could go a little faster and it wouldn't compromise our stealth."
"No," said Jeffery immediately, "this is good enough. Can we make a quick escape if needed?"
"Define quick, sir?" said Sandy and looked at Jeffery.
"Seconds," he said.
"No, sir," said Sandy, and shook her head. "While we are in maximum stealth, we are talking minutes here. Three to five, I would guess."
Jeffery silently thought about that. Three to five minutes was a long time if they were detected.
"Very well, Sandy," he said, "we'll have to keep that in mind."
"Yes, sir," said Sandy, trying to sound calm.
She became a little worried and tried to find ways to make a quick escape if needed.
Jeffery decided to wander the ship a little, to see how the crew reacted being in enemy-controlled space.
7
"The scouts have returned," said Commander Matt Green, the first officer, to the commander of the 7th Fleet, Admiral Jiao Bai. Jiao had come to the observation deck with Matt, who communicated with the bridge.
"Excellent," she said. They had been waiting outside the Arash Empire System 262, abbreviated as AE-262, while the scouts made a recon run on the system. The AE-262 was a mining colony, one of the first targets of the Kaitian invasion.
"What are we up against?" she asked.
"Two orbital stations around AE-262-6 and AE-262-9," said Matt, "lightly armed. And five cruisers altogether. No frigates nor smaller ships. Three cruisers near the AE-262-9 and two near the AE-262-6."
"Suggestions?" asked Jiao.
"Yes, ma'am," said Matt, and projected a battle plan between him and Jiao. "Let's send the cruisers to AE-262-6 to destroy the two enemy cruisers there and the orbital station. When the remaining three cruisers come to attack our cruisers, we'll exit hyperspace behind them and destroy them in a single strike. And we can destroy the second station, and any bases on the planet surface."
"Very good, Commander," approved Jiao. "Proceed when ready."
"Yes, ma'am," said Matt, and relayed the order to the bridge. In a matter of minutes the cruisers left The Village for AE-262-6.
The Village itself moved in the position to spring the trap and to strike the enemy from behind.
"The cruisers are ready, ma'am," said Matt.
"Initiate the attack," ordered Jiao.
***
Three cruisers--Ocean of Reliance, Ocean of Whitworth, and Ocean of Triberg--exited hyperspace simultaneously. Each had their own targets. Ocean of Reliance exited right near the orbital station high above the AE-262-6 and hammered it to pieces with heavy shell cannons. Ocean of Whitworth destroyed the enemy cruiser near the orbital station. Ocean of Triberg appeared on the far side of the planet where the second enemy cruiser was and destroyed it with ease.
It was a complete surprise; all the enemies were destroyed in an instant. But the Kaitians reacted quickly. Three cruisers moved at very high speed toward the Human Empire cruisers.
"They are fast," commented Matt from aboard The Village of War. "Much faster than typical cruisers of that size."
Matt projected a counter above them that counted seconds until they'd attack the enemy. Two seconds before the countdown ended, they exited hyperspace, and when the countdown hit zero, three plasma rays cut the enemy cruisers in half and cannons finished the destruction by obliterating the remaining pieces.
"Turn around to destroy the second orbital station," ordered Jiao. The Village of War turned toward AE262-9 moved at high speed toward it.
"They're scrambling fighters," said Matt.
The fighters were no match for their weapons and The Village of War destroyed them one by one without effort.
"Where's their command center?" asked Jiao as they approached the orbital station.
"A moment, ma'am," said Matt, checking his console.
"There it is." He pinpointed the command center of the station.
"Good," said Jiao, "make a note of that. When we attack the next station, I want the command center intact for further study.
"But now," she continued and her voice became ice cold, "obliterate the thing."
Matt fired the plasma rays and the station was cut in three pieces that were destroyed by the cannons.
"Mission accomplished," he said. "The enemy has been destroyed."
"Scan for salvage," ordered Jiao, "and recall the cruisers. We leave before enemy reinforcements arrive."
Matt relayed the orders to the bridge.
"Nothing to be salvaged," said Matt, "We--
ma'am! Five enemy cruisers entering the system! Do we engage?"
"No," said Jiao. "Our orders are hit-and-run attacks. We don't need to keep this system; let's leave as soon as our cruisers are back."
"Yes, ma'am," said Matt.
The cruisers were almost on board; when they saw the enemy approaching, they hastily docked.
Matt noticed that the enemy cruisers were even faster than they'd seen earlier; they made it to hyperspace just before the Kaitian cruisers were within weapons range.
***
"Come on in," said Jiao and science officer Lieutenant Arnold Flores came in with his report of their battle in AE-262.
"What did we learn?" asked Jiao.
"Well, ma'am, very good news," said Arnold. "The armor in their cruisers was not as good as we thought. Our heavy shell cannons penetrated them easily. And our plasma rays cut through their shields and armor with equal ease."
"Why I have a feeling that there's a 'but'?" asked Jiao.
Arnold cleared his throat. "Very observant, ma'am. The reason why our weapons were so effective is that because we have the latest technology. Our ships were fitted with new weapons during the visit to SD-9."
"Wait a second," said Jiao. "Are you saying the rest of our fleet has ineffective weapons against the Kaitians?"
"Well, the short answer is yes," said Arnold. "But it depends. Several shots from the older weapons will no doubt destroy the enemy, but I doubt if there's time to fire several shots . . ."
"Especially since we saw how fast their cruisers were," said Jiao, "and smaller ships must be much faster."
"Exactly, ma'am," said Arnold.
"We need to get this information to the Navy Command immediately," said Jiao.
"Thank you, Lieutenant." She dismissed Arnold.
Her orders forbade any communication, so Jiao called the commander of the frigate Sea of Sheffield and ordered her to leave immediately and to deliver the information back to the Navy Command.
"As fast as you can," said Jiao to Commander Catherine Clark of the Sea of Sheffield.
"Of course, ma'am," Catherine said. "We'll leave immediately."
Jiao watched from the monitors as the cruiser left The Village of War and went on its way.
8
"We are approaching the Kaitian home world," said Aileen.
Nick was dozing on the couch and Louis was reading about what they knew about the Kaitians and the infiltration teams there. There had been three infiltration teams for years in the Kaitian home world, new batches of teams sent every two or so years. For the first time, one of the current teams was a human squad of elite soldiers, Jaegers and Rangers.
"Mm-hm," mumbled Nick, half-asleep.
"Exit hyperspace outside the system," said Louis. "Let's not make any noise when we enter the system."
Aileen already knew that and it exited hyperspace far outside the system.
"Nick," said Louis and Nick opened his eyes, "I've read the previous reports from the infiltration teams. I find it odd that not one of them ever suspected that they would start the attack so soon."
"Also no one ever suspected that they were building a massive attack force."
"That's not odd," said Aileen. "There are no shipyards in the system."
"Why hasn't anybody sent any scouts to the other systems? To find the shipyards?" asked Nick.
"They have," sai
d Louis. "Several. None have ever returned."
"Oh," said Nick. "Perhaps we should go and investigate after we leave here?"
"I think we should get back as soon as possible," said Louis.
"I agree with Louis," said Aileen, "We were en route to here when the Kaitian invasion started. I am certain that the Coalition Command is eagerly waiting for our return."
"Yes, of course," said Nick. "You're right, when you put it like that."
They silently approached the Kaitian home world. Aileen used gravitational slingshots as much as possible to minimize any energy traces from their engines. Not that there should be any, since they used the latest cloaking technology that was very, very effective.
To their surprise, the system was void of any ships or stations. It was very odd, since typically colony worlds--not to mention home worlds--of any civilization were bursting with activity.
"Counselors!" hissed Aileen when they were halfway to the Kaitian home world, "I've detected cloaked ships. Many of them.
We are on a collision course."
Both Nick and Louis stood up. They were already tense and now even more so.
Aileen projected a system map, their course, and the cloaked ships. If they continued their present course, they'd collide in half an hour with a large cloaked ship orbiting one of the moons of the Kaitian home world.
"Adjusting course," said Aileen, and their course changed so that they'd pass the ship safely.
"Huh." Nick exhaled. "I'm very, very glad we got the cloak detection prototype."
"Very, very glad," repeated Louis and smiled. "We can report a successful test to the commander."
"We can indeed," said Nick, smiling. "We can indeed."
They were silent for a moment as they were thinking the same thing. "You know what this means to us? To Commander? And to the Human Empire?" asked Nick.
"The thought is staggering," said Louis. "We could conquer the galaxy."
"You are right," said Aileen. "This technology gives humans a great advantage. But it must remain secret."
"I know," said Nick. "The biggest secret ever. I have no doubt that our allies in Coalition would not wait to attack us if they'd find out what we have."
"By the way," said Aileen as they moved closer to the planet, "that large ship is not a ship. It's a cloaked space station."
"So this isn't as void of activity as we thought," said Louis.
"No, it's not," said Aileen. She has calibrated the cloak detector and the map of the system showed many ships traveling across, in and out of the system.