Shelby 8 Snippet 1

 

Prologue

 

TauR14G6-15 Blue Waters andGentle Mist

 

AdmiralLobo stared at the document and then wordlessly handed it to his groundcommander counterpart. He had just been promoted and the elation of gettinganother star had died with the crushing responsibility of leading a naval baseon the front lines.

GeneralSedu took the tablet, scanned it, and then sat down heavily at the table. Theother officers looked at him in surprise as he hung his head. “It is over. Welost,” the general said with a resigned shake of his head.

Hewasn’t supposed to be there. He had actually been slated to return to thecapital to face judgment for losing his division on 77. Instead a LieutenantSedu had taken his place at the last minute. No one knew he was in the starsystem other than his closest friends.

“Over?”one of the junior officers demanded. The Taurens in the room had a mixture ofexpressions. There was relief, trepidation, and consternation. After a momentthe fear began to grow in some eyes.

“Over,”Admiral Lobo said as he tucked his hands behind his back and stared out thewindow to the ships and planet beyond.

“Over,”General Sedu said heavily as he flicked one meaty finger across the tablet andsent the contents to the main screen in the room and then to each of theirpersonal devices.

TheTauren officers and few civilians in the room stared at the report of thedestruction of their fleet and word of the capitulation of their government.The old administration had fallen and the new one was moving forward tosurrender.

Tosay that they were shocked and bewildered was putting it mildly.

“Why?”a fortress commander demanded.

“Howcould this have happened?” another officer demanded.

“AdmiralEru had the best ships and crew!” another officer bleated.

“Howcould they beat us!” another said shaking his head in denial. “It isn’tpossible! It has to be a fake! It has to be a hoax, it just has to be!”

“Ithas happened. They had better ships, they used AI, it doesn’t matter,” AdmiralLobo said heavily. “What is done is done. What we have to concern ourselveswith is where we go from here.”

Theroom was aghast at the idea of having lost the war. It hadn’t seemed possibleuntil that moment. No matter what setback they’d faced it had been distant andit had only fueled their desire for revenge and to see the war through to theend.

AdmiralLobo realized that they had gone into the war with the wrong intentions andwithout a clear end game. The Federation had been weak but had not been crushedunder their hooves. The strategy to drive them out of the sector and then suefor peace or beat down any attempts at retaliation had been shattered.

Hestill had trouble with the entire war. They’d had accurate intelligence in theform of their spies embedded in the Federation controlled star systems. Thosespies had reported via hidden ansible platforms.

Theyhad built a massive war machine to beat the Federation or any threat theyfaced. Instead fleet after fleet had been ground down and torn to shreds.

“So,that is it?” Hard Toss, governor of the star system asked.

“Notquite. It will take time. But the orders are to stand down and to not harmaliens. We are to provide them food and medical care,” General Sedu said with agrunt. “We are to preserve all records and treat them as citizens,” he said.

Hedidn’t look happy at that revelation.

“So,what now? We cater to them? Give them back their stuff?” Colonel Shrapnelpractically spat in anger. A lifetime of hunting, rounding up, and eventuallykilling aliens for one reason or another was not easily overcome with a simpleand yet oh so life changing paragraph.

Hislong face and muzzle was pockmarked by scars from an IED that had exploded andtaken out a part of his unit. He had a burning desire to kill any non Taurens.

“Theycan’t get back what they lost. Their lives maybe. Their families? No. Their…ability to have children? Maybe. Their belongings and money? Sure. It will costus a lot…” another officer said with a shake of his head.

“No!Just kill them and be done with it!” a junior officer said. “Just bury them andbe done with it! That way we won’t have to pay reparations!”

Therewas a babble of voices in denial over that idea.

“Itcould work. We can destroy the evidence. They will have no proof that thosepeople even existed if we do our jobs right,” Colonel Shrapnel suggested as helooked to the general for support.

AdmiralLobo also shifted his massive head to the General.

“Notgoing to happen,” the general said tiredly.

“Everythingwe’ve believed in, Tauren space for Taurens! It all just goes away?” CommanderBlack Tip demanded. The Commander was an outspoken officer. He had black tippedears which had earned him his name.

“Yes.”

“Why?Because we lost a few battles?” Colonel Shrapnel asked in disgust.

“Becausewe got hammered in almost every battle,” Admiral Lobo replied tiredly. AdmiralEru’s loss was just the latest one. They had lost their 3 best fleets to theFederation. They’d had an overwhelming weight of metal but had been torn toshreds by the Federation carriers.

They’dhad the same strength on the ground. The army had gone into battle on 77 andother worlds expecting to be greeted as heroes. Instead they’d been torn toshreds. It was hard to believe that Federation supporting units had destroyedthe better part of two Tauren Divisions.

“Howis that possible?”

“They…it doesn’t matter.” He flapped his ears and straightened his shoulders as heforced himself to see what others were struggling to grasp. “We lost, they won.Our best ships are broken wreckage. There is an open path to our borders.”

Thatwas a little bit of hyperbole and they all knew it. He still had the orbitalfortresses and a small task force to defend the star system. Admiral White Facehad a similar force nearby, and other flag officers controlled similar forcesaround the Confederation.

Butafter what happened to Admiral Eru and the raid by that damn Federationcruiser, there was a great deal of doubt about how effective fixed defensescould be against an invading fleet.

“So?We’ve got defenses right?”

“Andthey have weapons that can destroy star systems,” Admiral Lobo said flatly.

Theother Taurens flinched. More than one junior officer shivered in dread.

“Itwouldn’t come to that. How could they have nova weapons?” the colonel askedquietly.

“Wehave forgotten so much. Rewritten history to suit our own twisted purposes,”General Sedu said as he leaned back into his chair. “Their President, thisIrons is the Irons. Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons, the creatorof the gate and the nova bomb. So, of course they have it.”

AdmiralIrons had threatened to use the nova bombs if the war continued to escalate togenocidal proportions. Intelligence had reported persistent rumors that he hadused a bomb on Horath.

“Rumorhas it they did it to the pirate home world. Horath,” a major said quietly. Theflag officers glanced his way and then away.

“So?They still have to… have to come to us right? We’ll fight right?” the commanderasked desperately. “They don’t have many ships...”

“Yesthey do for it is worse than you know. The reason for the big push? We receivedintelligence that they were building a Stargate on the other side of theirsector capital,” he explained. The other bulls stared at him. Some had knownthat, others had been too busy with their day to day jobs to have heard the scuttlebuttapparently. “Well, the Federation has an open gate now. They are sending fleetsthrough from Rho sector. Those fleets smashed Admiral Eru’s fleet. We can’tstop them,” Admiral Lobo said heavily as he shook his head in resignation.

“So,that’s it? We give up?”

“Lookat the facts. Fact, they can send in as many ships as they want. Fact, theydisrupted our communications. We’re still getting a handle on it. We still donot have an ansible in every star system. The ones they do are supposed to beprotected but apparently the Federation tapped into it again. They cantherefore take it all down again if they wish. Fact, they have taken our bestships and commanders and blown them into tiny bits, or forced them to surrenderafter grievous losses.”

Hepaused to stare out the window glumly. “Fact, our leadership has fallen andresigned. Fact, our morale is in the crapper. No one wants this war anymore,”he said heavily.

“So…that’s it,” the general said dully. “We’re done. Centuries ofself-determination is about to go away. We’ll be satraps to the Federation… orworse.”

“Andwhat of the dream?”

“Whatdream?” someone asked.

“Kai’sdream! A united Tauren Confederation!”

“Itwould have been united had our ancestors left things alone. If we hadn’t killedso many of our own people,” Governor Hard Toss said. “Now we are paying forthat hubris,” he said with a shake of his head.

“No,that comes later,” the general said with a resigned shake of his massive head.

“Whatdo you mean?” the governor asked.

“Imean the Federation knows about the round ups, sterilizations, andextermination program. Genocide they are calling it. War crimes and so on.” Thegeneral looked bleak. “We are screwed. They are beyond angry and want heads.That is why we have orders to preserve records.”

Theadmiral turned to him. “They intend to hold you responsible?”

Thegroup of Taurens looked at each other in alarm. Almost all of them had somehand in the handling of non Taurens or knew someone who did.

“Someonehas to catch it in the neck,” the general said sourly. He shrugged helplessly.“They need a scapegoat.”

“Wewere just following orders! They set the policy! If we didn’t do it,they’d punish us and someone else would do it,” the commander bleated.

“Doyou think that matters?” the general snarled. “The politicians will fall overthemselves to keep their necks. The Federation needs the Confederationgovernment to continue to exist to maintain order as they move in and takeover. So, they’ll cut golden parachutes for them. They’ll get off.” He shookhis head and took a sip from his mug and then set it down heavily.

“And?”the commander prompted.

“Andwhat? They still need a scapegoat. The people need someone to blame. So, we’rethe ones who did the deed and therefore…”

“Thereforewe will be punished,” Colonel Shrapnel said. “They’ll make examples of us,” hesaid. “I studied Terran history. They did this many times. Nuremburg is onesuch incident. After their second world war the victors put the losers ontrial. War crimes.”

“Well,they did run extermination camps like we did,” Major Blood Eye admitted. Themajor had one blood red eye and scars on that side of his face courtesy of anangry cat that he had impaled and then butchered as a lieutenant on his firstassignment. He had been fooled into thinking the cat had been impassive tobeing rounded up and he’d even been sympathetic to the pathetic aliens.

Thatsympathy had died with a part of the vision in his left eye.

“Butthey were following orders,” the commander said.

AdmiralLobo listened carefully. As a member of the navy he was mostly insulated fromthe war crimes, or so he thought.

“Theyshould have known better. Should have said no. That is what was argued by thedefense. Most were held accountable and punished by death or lifeimprisonment.”

Thecommander stared at him. “That’s sick. For following orders? We went where theherd told us to go! Where others went before us!”

“Itis what will happen. Mark my words,” the colonel said dully. “We are deadbulls. It just hasn’t happened yet. They will write new text books and make ushated demons. People will spit on our graves. Our herds will dishonor us.”

“No!We can’t let it happen!” There was intense vengeance but also a note ofdesperation in that statement. Some of it was self-serving, but there was anundertone of pleading in it that hit the flag officers hard.

Loyaltyas they had been taught should go both ways. But they knew it was a lie. Theyall knew it was a lie, but no one was willing to admit it.

Untilnow.

“Can’twe?”

“Wehold the guns! The ships! We have the power! They can pass any law that theylike. But we can stop them!”

“Weswore an oath to follow orders!”

“Toa faithless government with no loyalty or honor! One that will throw us to theFederation to save their own worthless necks! Honor, loyalty, duty, sacrifice,it is expected of us, but we expect to be covered in return!” The commanderpaced, pounding a meaty fist into his open hand. “It goes both ways!” In hisanger he made motions and gyrations. “To… too...”

Theadmiral felt a spark within him reignite. The commander was right. Besides, hedidn’t like the idea of being written out of history. He had spent too long inuniform doing what he’d thought was right. Serving and protecting his people.

Peoplelike the commander and others who would be destroyed right along with him. Theywould suffer for doing as they were told. That wasn’t right.

“Ifenough of us band together, they can’t kill us. I’d rather go down fightingthan walk tamely into the court room and then be sent to prison or killed,”Colonel Shrapnel said with a growl. “To be paraded before the cameras? Pointedat, told that we are the evil? Reviled for doing what we were supposed to do?The rot? To just let them get away with it?”

“Ifthey want to hold us accountable we will hold them accountable,” thecommander said with a nod.

“Enough.You speak of treason,” the general said. “I want no part of that,” he growled,his brown eyes flaring in anger.

“Why?Why is it treason if they are the first to betray us?” the commander demanded.“This… it is self-defense!” he shot a look of raw appeal to the admiral.

Theadmiral grunted. “I won’t hold to killing our fellow Taurens. To kill our ownpeople in uniform,” he said slowly.

Thecommander’s shoulders slumped.

“But…”He left that word hanging as he considered his options.

“But?”the colonel asked as he exchanged looks with the other officers. Ears perkedup.

“ButI will not accept responsibility for following orders. I will not walk tamelyinto a kangaroo court and be their scapegoat,” the admiral said as he squaredhis shoulders.

“Iwill not have my family, my herd,suffer for them. Not now, not ever,” the admiral vowed.

GeneralSedu stared at him. After a moment he grunted. He had several grand childrenand didn’t like the idea of their being cast out by society for something hedid either.

“So,what do we do?” the commander asked.

“Wehave a choice,” the admiral said as he turned to face them. “We can break away,reforge the Confederation here, or leave.”

“Leave?Leave? Where would we go?”

“Anywherebut here. If we try to reforge a new government, foment a civil war theFederation will eventually come down on us too,” the general said slowly. “Butif we run… they’ll say we are guilty. It will be evidence of our guilt,” hewarned.

“Weall know that we’ve been tried and convicted already. They just haven’t dressedit up in pretty language. They are already feeding the media images of uskilling civilian aliens,” the colonel spat.

“Scum,”the major growled.

“Ifwe run we’ll just die tired,” the commander said with a shake of his head.“They’ll eventually run us down. We will not know where to go, will not haveany support.”

“Spaceis vast. There are a lot of star systems out there,” Admiral Lobo said quietly.“I don’t intend to turn pirate but it is an option. Or, we can take everything.Anyone who wants to come and just leave. A mass exodus. Friends, family, anyoneand everyone who share our views and desire to be free. And then go.”

“Where?”the general demanded. “There is no place to go!”

“Wego north. Through Upsilon, or into deep space. We look into the oldnavigational charts and find where they won’t look. We send out our own scoutsand when we find a home, we make it our own.”

“Andthen? When they come for us? You know they won’t just let us run.”

“Letthem try,” the admiral growled. “I may not like killing our own, but I willkill to protect our people and our way of life. And I don’t mind destroyingFederation ships.”

Theother officers nodded grimly.

Theadmiral looked to General Sedu. The general squared his shoulders. “What thehell do I have to lose? I’m already going to lose my name and reputation. Whynot?”

Theadmiral smiled crookedly and then looked at each officer. Those that lookedtroubled he pinned with a stern gaze. “Any who do not want to go we will leavebehind.” There was a look of relief in a few officers. He was a littledisappointed but wouldn’t hold it against them. After all, they still had timeto change their minds.

“Findout who else will join us. I’ll need a list of every ship, everything we cantake. Passengers on the planet too…”

“Whatabout other planets?”

“We’llsend out word and pick them up as we go. We might generate a mass exodus. If itis big enough they won’t dare try to stop us,” the admiral growled. The othersnodded in agreement.

“Let’sget to work.”