Chapter 28; War's End
Arin awoke the next morning and went on a walking tour of Hazy Point. He was gladdened to see that people were taking him at his word. He was greeted with warm hand shakes like a comrade and not as their Emperor. In many cases, hugs and smiles replaced the formal bowing and kneeling of before. All around prefab housing was going up to house the new troops. As freed men, they were not kept in stasis when they weren’t fighting. Arin believed this would get better results from them.
In his new office, right next to his grandfather's office, Arin found his little brother already hard at work. On the return of Arin, he had assumed his new duties as the Fleet Admiral and a fighting Fleet Marine General.
Looking up and seeing Arin come in, he said, "There were more troops there than we thought, Sire, more than seven million. We have enough to field three new Warrions, should you desire them."
"I am more concerned with the new Navy, Admiral. Who is going to refit it, run it, and make it fighting ready?"
"I have three candidates for your approval, Sire. One was a Vice-Admiral who refused to serve the Admiralty. Like you, he was in Dagaz Prison. He was there longer than anyone else who lived."
"Zeb Maori, our spy’s son. I should have thought of him myself. You are doing a marvelous job, Baraz. I am so proud of you."
“He is in hospital from malnutrition. He was in solitary confinement for years. The medics think he can start to work today from his bed.”
“Is it too soon?”
“No. His medic thinks the work will help him recover.”
“I’ll go see him later. Good work. I knew you were the right choice.”
“The simple answer is that I was trained for this job. I was not trained for your job. Thanks for saving me from having to be Emperor.”
“As I recall you saved me first.” They laughed at their little joke.
"Thank you, Sire. Grandfather wishes to speak with you now, if you could spare the time."
Arin went in to his Grandfather's office. It was so like him, he thought, sparsely furnished, efficient, and businesslike, with a picture of them all in more peaceful days. "You wished to see me, Poppy?"
"Yes, Sire, I will get to the point, I wish to resign my commission."
"What! How will we manage? The troops rely upon you for so much!"
"Calm down, son. I'm not quitting in the middle of the show with no back up plan. I know there is much do to, but Baraz is more than able as a field General. The war from here will be Naval. That’s his cup of tea. I feel I need to return to my work at Tech Body. No one but the family will know that I have resigned."
Arin looked at those clear blue eyes, after a moment’s thought, he knew what his grandfather was saying was correct. Research had always been his life, and he had missed it so. Arin could not deny him this. He already owed him everything. "Alright, sir. Your new office can be assigned to the Tech Body indefinitely. That is as far as I will go with this matter. Stay close to your comm.-link though. I think a certain new Chief of Staff will be asking a lot of questions."
Z chuckled and shook his head, "Yes, Sire. I imagine he will."
Baraz was summoned across the hall and apprised of his new status. He was very proud of the honor paid him by his family, "I will strive to be worthy of this honor. You can count on me."
"I always could, little brother. You have been a hero from the first day of this war. It is time that everyone here knew how proud of you the Empire is."
For the first time, whole ships and their crews were leaving Keeth’s Navy and giving themselves up to the Royal Forces. Within two weeks of the liberation of Dagaz Prison being shown on the Sunrise Report, the size of the Royal Forces were nearly doubled in size.
The warlords in concert with Baraz’s forces, began their planned attacks en masse. Everywhere, the Rebels, as the Sun Rise Report was now calling called them, were taking huge losses. Ships were being hunted by Pedra’s masked Wolf Packs. Once their hiding places were found, they were quickly surrounded and captured.
Using intel collected from these captured ships, the strategy changed to hunting for hidden bases. As soon as each base was found, A couple of ships were left to watch the base and a Royal Wolf ship would jump back to Hazey Point base. Once there, waiting troops and ships were collected. The Wolf Pack would then jump back to the site in less than an hour.
Lea's invention made Baraz’s fleets so much more mobile. Whole fleets could now be jumped beamed to sites. Using this new technology, the Royal side was able to assemble around Rebel ships, board them at will with the jumped in Fleet Marines. Ships were quickly subdued and captured. The boarding parties would have jump technology with them. The captured ships were jumped back to Hazey Point.
As the number of ships at Arin’s disposal grew, Keeth’s ships became less and less able to withstand the sheer numbers facing them at every turn. In a flash, a ship’s crew would fighting for its life from inner and outer attacks. Ship after ship was surrendering with out a fight.
Pedra and Lea’s inventions had changed the very environment of this long war. Their ships were smaller, lighter, and faster than any ships that had been built before. Using a fraction of the energy of older technologies, they could now easily move thousands more troops across the empire in an instant. Some how, they managed to keep their inventions secret.
The Crown was careful not to allow the invention out of family hands. They understood very well that the members of the Council of Emperors were all former pirates. Pirates, by their very nature, were not above turning a common victory into a personal victory for themselves.
As ships were captured, they were stripped and refit with new technology and Pedra’s new smaller, more powerful guns. Arin’s fleet was so mobile that even his allies became confused. He allowed the War Lords to think he had captured so many ships that they had major fleets everywhere at once. The outcome of their war could have turned an entirely different way if they had known that the Royal fleet was really much smaller in number and just incredibly mobile. Arin’s position in the Council of Emperors became stronger after each encounter. Pedra kept the best ships, leaving just a few for the Pirate to capture. Troops that agreed to be repatriated were sent to Hazey Point for debriefing. Those with war based criminal records were jumped to Dagaz IV. The ones who were trustworthy, were stored in stasis to jump into battles.
Back on Arth, the news of the defections and defeats had a planet in turmoil. Senators were calling day and night trying to figure out what to do next. They had followed the Admiralty expected to live off the fat of the old Empire. Now, faced with execution for treason, they wanted out. Their problem was there were fewer and fewer places to run to. The star maps shown on the Sunrise Reports showed the Council of Emperors in possession of ninety percent of the old Empire's territory. The capitol became a ghost town as people left for their home worlds.
Keeth was in shock. He had fought hard, but everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by what appeared to be overwhelming numbers. Two major clashes in the last week and a half of the war spelled doom for his cause.
The last major battle took place in the open spaces around Bestrin II. As planned, Karron Zindar and the Council of Emperors engaged Keeth’s Fleet head on. Keeth was heartened as he stood by his son watching the Pirate fleet shimmer into view on his screen. “What do you think, son..?”
“I estimate around two hundred mostly outmoded gunboats, Sire.”
Suddenly, the tiny fleet facing them became over a thousand as Arin's vessels shimmered into view. His fleet formed two wide flanking arches on either side of the Council’s vessels. As Keeth was calling to his ships to get them to begin firing, Keeth’s son signaled silently to the inner circle of ships. Together, they and his father’s Flag ship disappeared.
Before the Rebels could get targets on the Royal ships, they just disappeared. In another flash, they reappeared ninety degrees farther out to each side. Baraz’s fleet opened fire, then, disappeared agai
n. Just before the fleet’s next reappearance, thousands of troops were jumped in as boarding parties. In moments, the fleet’s gun crews were captured and their cannons went silent. This was too much for the beleaguered Rebel captains to handle. Within minutes, the ones who had not escaped surrendered. Keeth and a few ships had escaped this trap.
Admiral Zebulon Maori, representing Arin, jumped over to the "KZ" to meet with the Council members. "Madam Zindar, my Emperor sends you his best wishes on this great victory. He wishes to thank you all for your courage and to ask you to continue to keep driving for Arth. He hopes to meet you all there for a victory dinner very soon. Good day," and bowing grandly, he disappeared from where he stood.
The others were astounded that he had not needed a jump terminal in order to get back to his ship. Looking out the port holes, they noticed the entire Royal Fleet was gone. Karron said, "Oh, well, more spoils for us, right, gentlemen? Let's continue the division so we can head for the next rendezvous."
Admiral Maori had been a distraction. While he had been meeting with the Council, each boarding party had been busy assessing the value of their captured ships. His teams only took the newest ships even if they were wrecked. The ones he left could fly but, they were already obsolete. Their orders were to leave half of the ships that were floating there. Still, they were good enough for the Council to use against Keeth.
A week later, at the Dagon Borealis, the Fourth Fleet was somehow boarded in the night and immobilized. The best ships were boarded, refitted with new masking technology and repatriated to Arin’s fleet. By the time the Council ships arrived, all the remaining ships of the Fourth Fleet could do, with a sudden lack of power, was surrender. Keeth was shown a full report on the Royal Sunrise Report that next morning. It was the first clue that anything had befallen the Fourth Fleet.
Only a week later, Keeth’s flag ship barely escaped capture in open space. He found himself surrounded by a Royal Fleet commanded by Baraz. With no escape visible, Danil called for full speed ahead. With all of Keeth’s guns blasting away, Royal ships scattered to get out of their way. They were unwilling to shoot back because the Crown vessels were afraid of hitting their own ships. Still, one stray shot glanced off the fore bridge just as the Flagship "Keeth" and a few other ships with quick thinking commanders escaped through the small seam they had made in the trap and disappeared into hyper speed.
Karrin Zindar and her fleets took chase. Arin ordered his fleets to heel to and return to their secret base at Hazey Point.