Star Fortress

any appreciable degree.

SULLA: (shouting) They will fear as we smash their circuits and pulp their flesh! They will howl in agony as we laser their habitats and send nuclear missiles onto their moons! They will gnash their teeth as we crush them out of existence!

SCIPIO: Contain yourself, Admiral Sulla. I can hear you quite well.

SULLA: Then tell me if you can hear this. I challenge you to a—

CATO: Gentleman! We are the admirals and the cyborgs are our enemies. Let us focus our resolve and fighting skills against them, not against each other.

SULLA: I am used to respect and will accept nothing less.

CATO: We are not matched on the wrestling mats or in the fighting ring. We are the strategic team that must forge our strategy. We must outperform the greatest conqueror to date—Grand Admiral Cassius.

SULLA: He led us to victory for a time.

CATO: We were mere fighting slaves for the premen until Cassius showed us the way to greatness.

SULLA: Enough about Cassius. As you said before, we have a war to run. We should stick to that.

SCIPIO: Yes, a war and a feasible strategy. Since you didn’t like my first one, let me offer you a different quandary. What if during our absence, the cyborgs drop a thousand nuclear bombs on Earth? Here is another possibility. What if during our journey to Neptune, the preman re-conquer Antarctica and Australian Sectors?

SULLA: I will answer the second first. We must force the preman warships to go with us to Neptune. This should be easy to achieve, since they have already agreed to it.

SCIPIO: That solves one dilemma, but leaves Inner Planets open to any hidden cyborg fleet. The present crises in the Jupiter System shows us the distinct possibility that the cyborgs have stealth vessels where we are unable to spot them.

SULLA: You have stated your fear. Now how would you solve it?

SCIPIO: It is not a fear, but a strategic possibility. The answer, however, is simple: We should leave a Doom Star behind in the Earth System.

SULLA: No! That was Cassius’s mistake in the Third Battle for Mars. He didn’t attack with the full preponderance of his force. He lost a Doom Star because of it.

SCIPIO: We will have Social Unity’s battleships with us in lieu of the third Doom Star.

SULLA: I cannot believe a Highborn speaks these words. You equate warships under preman control as being as excellent as a Doom Star?

SCIPIO: I am growing tired of your continuous slander, Admiral Sulla.

SULLA: (laughs) Tell me this, Admiral, which Doom Star do you recommend stays behind?

SCIPIO: We must arrive at our decision logically and consider the sensibilities of our allies.

SULLA: I hope you do not mean that we pamper the premen.

SCIPIO: We use them. We trick them as we have been doing. Obviously, it is easier to trick them when they have a feeling of trust. They will not trust you, an Ultraist.

SULLA: But you are their friend?

SCIPIO: I’ve worked with them in the past and we achieved a level of success. It is logical, therefore, that they would trust me more than any other Highborn.

SULLA: What do you other commanders think? Is this not rankest cowardice we hear? Admiral Scipio fears to face the cyborgs at Neptune.

SCIPIO: I have warned you once already, Admiral Sulla. I spit on your slurs.

SULLA: Do you challenge me to individual combat then? I will accept any manner of fighting that you decide.

CATO: Admirals, we must unite. The cyborgs have all but conquered the Outer Planets. They have heavily damaged Earth, the greatest industrial prize in the Solar System. Admiral Scipio, I do not believe it is wise to travel to Neptune with two Doom Stars. The cyborgs are clever fighters. We must destroy them totally and with massive force. I submit we use every Doom Star and SU warship in our possession. War is a risk. Now we must take acceptable risks to annihilate our great foe.

SCIPIO: How does it help us to burnout Neptune System but lose our base and the majority of the Highborn? Those on the Sun-Works Factory, in and around Venus and Earth, and on Luna Base—

SULLA: There is your answer. Luna Base helps defend Earth. Up to this point, we have not subdued Eurasia. I do not believe the cyborgs could succeed where we have failed until now.

SCIPIO: They just showed us how to destroy Earth: with planet-wreckers.

MAXIMUS: I have the answer.

CATO: I suggest we wait for the Commandant’s words.

SCIPIO: Yes. I will wait.

SULLA: Speak, sir, we attend you.

(Several minutes of unintelligible whispering follow.)

MAXIMUS: The Grand Admiral initiated several secret projects. Here at the Sun-Works Factory we are hard at work on them. Cassius believed that superior technology often achieved victory quicker and with less causalities. The collapsium plating on each of your Doom Stars is one of technologies that will give us the Solar System. Another is a long-distance beam, much like the Beamship Bangladesh employed against this station.

SULLA: My…confederates have heard of a new distance beam. Can you tell us more about this technology?

MAXIMUS: We are several months away from deployment. Once in place, it will prove to be a powerful defensive weapon, particularly of the Sun-Works Factory. As long as we hold the Mercury System, we can regain any lost territories on Venus, Earth and those already lost on Mars. In the event of the appearance of a large cyborg stealth fleet during the Doom Stars’ absence, I recommend a complete Highborn pullback to the Sun-Works Factory. Then, on the return of the Doom Stars, our conquest shall resume.

SCIPIO: What if during our absence, the cyborgs launch more planet-wreckers against Earth or Venus?

SULLA: Didn’t you hear the Commandant? The Highborn will regroup on the Sun-Works Factory, thereby maintaining our numbers and weapons systems. Meanwhile, the cyborgs will be eliminating premen for us.

SCIPIO: And destroying our industrial basin.

SULLA: The Sun-Works Factory is our home base, not any of the planets, including Earth. Gentlemen, this is a war of extinction. We must eliminate the cyborgs before they kill us. Let us accept terrible loses for the privilege of annihilating our enemies. Once the cyborgs and premen are gone, we will have won everything. Then we can rebuild at our leisure, the victors of a genocidal campaign.

CATO: I agree in the first principle: we must attack and destroy the cyborgs. The obvious place to start is Neptune.

SULLA: You are a true Highborn, Admiral Cato. Your courage is inspiring.

SCIPIO: Grand Admiral Cassius spoke to me before about unity of command. The cyborgs have it. We…have excellent soldiers but often our high commanders are too combative. Even though I have endured slanders and slurs here today, in the greater interest of Highborn victory, I will concur with the majority instead of basking in a feud. However, I will only agree if Commandant Maximus believes likewise.

MAXIMUS: I agree with Admiral Sulla. It is time to speak with the premen, gather their warships and set out for Neptune no less than two or three weeks from now. We have rearmed and retooled our Doom Stars. Now let us finish the fight in true Highborn style.

SCIPIO: As I said a moment ago, in the interests of unity, I will concur, although I have my doubts. The cyborgs are cleverer than we are giving them credit for.

SULLA: (grudgingly) You may be right, Admiral Scipio. They are clever, but we are the Highborn, and our fighting prowess will trump their stealthy moves as we ram our armada down their throats.

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