Moments later, the spy ship materialized. I leaned against the cockpit wall and let out my breath. Using my commandLink, I asked, “Did we get any of their ships?”
Admiral Jolly answered. He said, “We got all of them, General.” He sounded ecstatic. “We destroyed two self- broadcasting destroyers and three self-broadcasting battleships.”
Jolly paused for a breath or maybe to let me get in a word. When I did not say anything, he added, “I don’t know how many battleships they have left, but I bet they don’t have any to spare.”
We did not have any reliable intelligence about the U.A. Fleet, but it had to be small. The Enlisted Man’s Navy had taken a big chunk out of their Navy when they fought us at Terraneau at the start of our rebellion, and they’d not had a chance to rebuild.
“No,” I agreed. “Sooner or later, they’re going to run out of ships.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
With the lights dimmed, Yamashiro and a few of his officers studied every detail as the holographic image played over the conference table. It showed the destruction of the
Yamashiro’s analysts had searched the transmission for lasers, particle beams, and other rays. Nothing. They found no distortions around the ship in the moments before the attack. There were no signs of missiles, rockets, or enemy ships.
Yamashiro paused the feed. The analysts had added a red arrow to the display to mark the mass that they claimed was the wreckage of the ship. The arrow pointed at an unidentifiable wad of material that looked like a glob of soft wax. Measurements appeared along the bottom of the image. The unidentifiable wad was 336 feet long and 56 feet wide. The measurements were about one-tenth the size of the battleship the wad had supposedly replaced. Intelligence analysts said that properly compressed, the
Admiral Yamashiro spoke in a low, slow voice as he said, “This is all that is left of the ship.”
The other officers remained silent for several seconds.
Captain Takahashi broke the silence. “That cannot be,” he said. “It happened so fast.”
Yamashiro had made the same comment when the analysts showed him the image.
Takahashi rose from his chair and leaned over the conference table until his nose almost poked into the ethereal image. He stared at the thing that had once been a battleship, then moved around the table, studying it from different angles. “It’s too small to be the
Yamashiro said, “You need to read Hara’s report. He explains it.” Lieutenant Tatsu Hara, a computer- simulations specialist and intelligence officer, ran the
“Hara says that the right amount of heat applied inside the hull, maybe ten thousand degrees, would cause a battleship to melt and implode.”
Takahashi continued studying the display. “Ten thousand degrees inside the ship? How do you heat the inside of the ship? It’s not possible.”
Before the Avatari invasion and the Mogat Wars, when his daughter Yoko had first brought a boy named Takahashi Hironobu home, Yamashiro had found the boy impressive. He was studying finance at a good university. Yamashiro approved of the boy’s life’s goals, though he would not have admitted as much to his daughter. When Takahashi graduated, he took a job as a stockbroker …a salesman.
Master Chief Corey Oliver showed no emotion as he watched the feed. Sitting beside him, Chief Petty Officer Brad Warren followed his lead. When the feed finished, Oliver asked, “May I have permission to speak candidly, Admiral?”
“Speak,” said Yamashiro, giving his son-in-law, Captain Takahashi, a glare. Takahashi did not demonstrate the same martial intelligence as the SEALs. Though he knew it was based on an old prejudice, Yamashiro could not shake off feelings that Takahashi was more of an administrator than an officer.
“I don’t see how this changes anything,” said the master chief.
“You lost three-quarters of your men. You had twelve thousand SEALs, now you have three thousand. I commanded a fleet, now I have one ship, and you have only three thousand SEALs.”
“Three thousand men …twelve thousand men, we never had enough men to capture a planet,” said Oliver. “This was a suicide mission from the start. At least it was for us. I still have enough men to accomplish my objectives.”
“What are your objectives?” asked Takahashi.
“The SEALs came to make sure the aliens never attack Earth again,” said Oliver.
“Can you do that with three thousand men?” asked Yamashiro.
“We could do it with three hundred men, sir. We just couldn’t do it with conventional tactics.”
“Master Chief, we came here to protect Earth, not to commit suicide,” said Takahashi.
“With all due respect, Captain, we can’t protect Earth and ourselves at the same time,” said Corey Oliver.
Listening to the SEAL fascinated Yamashiro. He was a clone. He had the face of a monster, no, a demon …The nickname
The SEAL spread his hands on the conference table, and Yamashiro studied his long fingers with their sharp, clawlike tips. They looked like human fingers somehow merged with an eagle’s talons.
Senior Chief Warren sat silently beside Oliver. Except for their uniforms, the two SEAL clones looked exactly alike. Yamashiro wondered if they thought alike as well.
“I am not privy to your orders, Admiral, but they can’t possibly have included capturing the planet,” said Oliver.
“Ships are not used for capturing planets,” said Yamashiro, spouting dogma he’d read since becoming an officer.
“Neither are SEALs. We’re the fifth column,” said Oliver. “The SEALs are the men hiding inside the Trojan horse. We creep inside the walls and open the gate for an invading force. We don’t take the town ourselves, that falls to the Marines.”
“There are no Marines,” said Takahashi. “Not on this mission.”
Yamashiro turned to glare at Takahashi. Just for a moment, he felt ashamed of the boy. The admiral’s gaze strayed to Senior Chief Warren, sitting silently, allowing his superior to speak as the lone voice. He admired Warren. He admired Oliver. Then he thought about his son-in-law, who had left his wife and children to fly this mission. Yamashiro recognized Takahashi’s sacrifices, and his irritation eased.
“What do you suggest, Master Chief?” asked Yamashiro.
Takahashi spoke before the SEAL could reply. He said, “Admiral, we have lost three-fourths of our fleet. We no longer have the firepower we need to carry out our mission. We must return to Earth. We must report that we have located the aliens and request a larger fleet and more troops. As the master chief has suggested, we should have our SEALs open the way, then send in Marines.”
