Chapter 30; Keeth's Surrender
As Arin had said, Keeth was still out there but just barely. He had called for a rendezvous of his remaining ships to attempt with sheer numbers to turn the tide in the campaigns. Now, the meeting would be for another reason altogether.
Garag V's blue star burned dimly over the wreckage of the last week's fighting. Ships were limping into the rendezvous point, some of them barely able to reach hyper. Keeth saw them on the monitors as they came in. Barely a tenth of the ships limped in to this last base. Crews began to scramble over the ones that did to try and repair damages before the Crown found out where we were and attacked them again. This was not what Keeth had expected. His world had gone mad. This must end.
"Ahem," he heard behind him. He turned to see a young ensign trying to get his attention.
"Speak."
"Admiral, Vice Admiral Keeth is awake and requests your presence, sir."
"I will jump over immediately. Please inform Medical that I will want a full report when I arrive."
"Aye, aye, Sir."
Keeth stood on his jump port and, in a flash he was on the hospital ship. Ironically, he thought, this is the same ship that he had captured at Starion III. What he never knew was that his arch rival, Emperor Arin, had been secretly on board this ship. Arin would have died and this war might have ended differently.
He talked to the doctors. They were filled with hope for a full recovery. Slightly heartened, he went in to see his son. He sat on the edge of the bed. Without a word, Danil put his arms around his father. They sat together silently holding each other. They felt, but could not say the love and respect that they had for each other. Lara Keeth sat in a chair beside the bed, tears streaming unashamedly down her face. She watched her men, feeling the love that they shared, glad for this last moment together.
She knew what her husband felt. Too many brave souls had been lost already for a cause that was no longer worthy of further effort. But, the last straw for him had been when he had arrived here to find the fore bridge nearly destroyed. He had dived into the flames to pull men out. He had worked hours with his men until every man was out. The last man out had been his son.
Seeing his own son brought out of the wreckage, more dead than alive, had broken his spirit. gone back to his stateroom and cried like a baby. This was the kind of caring leadership that had caused these brave me to follow him in the first place and was causing his decisions today.
"I may not return. You must take care of your mother, son."
"Yes, father," Danil said and saluted with his one good arm, "whatever you decide, I will follow you as I always have."
"You have always been my best soldier, son," Keeth choked. He kissed his wife, hugged his son again, and went to the Jump Tube to go back to the crippled Flagship.
Once there, he went to the ward room to face holographic images of the Admirals and ship captains, twenty three hundred men and women where once the number was more than seventy thousand. The grim faces before him gave him no sign of help.
"I have asked you here to personally thank you for the loyalty and service to our cause and to tender my resignation…"
He was interrupted by explosive talk and shouted calls of denial. He held his hand up for quiet and gradually the room was brought to order.
"I am defeated. I cannot go on. Once we controlled more than ninety percent of the Old Empire. Now, we can barely hold on to five percent. I intend to give myself up to the Council of Emperors. If you choose to fight on, then I wish you well."
Keeth sat slumped in his chair, unable to look at these people. He looked up to se that no one had left. His gaze traveled up to see a line of troops. One by one, though they were still on their own ships, they broke their swords, saluted and clicked off. Tears welled up in Keeth's eyes. He knew that these people were following him into defeat as they had followed him into victory.
A message was sent to Arin via the Sunset Report. In what everyone knew was Keeth’s news conference, he offered peace to the Crown.
Arin appeared on the Sun Rise Report the next morning. “The war is over. The Admiralty has resigned from further acts of aggression. They have agreed to meet us on an intermediary planet for the surrender. As a token of my esteem, the Planet Taurus will be designated as the truce planet.”
He had other plans that he only shared with his grandfather and his aunts. Taurus would be the first step in the "Long March Home" as he called his new policy to rebuild the Empire.
For the first time in almost ten years, Admiralty ships and Crown ships occupied the same airspace without hostilities. All was tense but quiet and orderly as ship after ship wavered into view and entered Taurian holding orbits. As they were stabilized, all the ship's captains beamed to the planet's surface to stand with their Admirals in the surrender. The combined fleet of the Council of Emperors ships then surrounded and made ready to take possession of those ships at the completion of the ceremonies down below.
Keeth’s ships were empty. Their crews had been rounded up and jumped to meet with their families on Dagaz IV. On the bridge of each ship, a single figure shimmered into view. Each boarder was dressed curiously all in black with a wide utility belt. He or she went over and sat in the captain’s chair.
On a pre-arranged signal, each boarder hit a button on their belt and Keeth’s ships disappeared. Arin’s ships disappeared as well. Similar secret boarders were on all of the vessels left in the sky. If the other War Lords attempted to do anything rash, the equipment placed on those ships simply rendered them powerless.
Arin and his people, each of the other emperors in the Council and their people were waiting in a field especially designed for that purpose. Arin, as leader of the Council, was seated at a large table set up on a small stage. The News cameras, no longer held to three minutes were jockeying around, shooting the various aspects of the event to be edited later for their reports.
As Admiral Keeth approached the dais, he felt a tugging on his arm. He turned toward the hail and found his son standing there with his wife and his daughter-in-law, Alis. "I tried to keep him down, Sir, but he inherited stubbornness for somewhere, I fear."
Keeth was so heartened to see his son that he couldn't get the right tone of conviction in his voice when he said, "What are you doing here, Mister? This is a strict violation of medical issue."
His son smiled at the attempted chastisement and replies, "Well, sir, since your retirement, your orders have no effect on me. As if I would be anywhere else but here lending my support to you in your hour of need. You have always been my hero, and I had to be here for you."
Keeth wiped his eyes, straightened his shoulders and said, "Let's get this over with." Saying this, all of the Naval contingent fell into line behind the Keeths and together for the last time smartly approached the stage in military order.
Arin rose to meet Admiral Keeth and his son. The rest of the Navy waited at the bottom of the steps. Keeth handed him a metalloid ceremonial saber and signed the Documents of Surrender. With grave dignity, Arin took the saber, signed the documents, and broke the saber over his knee saying, "With the breaking of this saber, I declare this war to be at an end…"
(Cheers.)
"I hereby accept these brave soldiers back into the heart of the New Empire. Know you now that the injustices of the Old Empire that you fought against were real and therefore you are not going to be treated as criminals…"
(More cheers.)
"I can understand why you fought, but I must exile you and your men because something must be done to keep this kind of activity to a minimum."
(Laughter.)
"I have chosen a relatively uninhabited planet for your exile, Dagaz IV. Take your families and your men. Bring that planet to full life. In due time, you can earn your way to full membership in the newly formed Commonwealth of Planets. Go in peace."
(Many cheers.)