The Kaitian War by Sami Salkosuo
Caleb didn't answer right away, but he hadn't heard of any. He hadn't even heard that anyone had seen the enemy so close.
"No." He shook his head.
"Hamilton," Caleb called, "take the Jaeger's tag and take it to the captain. Tell him of these enemies and ask do we take them to escape pods. We might learn from the dead enemies as much as from live ones.
"If the answer is yes, hurry back and stay here and when it's time to evacuate, you, Chandler, and Cortez pick up the bodies as you go to escape pods."
"Yes, sir," said Kyle and ran back to the bridge.
"Let's move on," Caleb ordered, "quickly and silently. The enemies may be near."
Karl and Ellen once again took point and hurried ahead. The intersecting corridor between them and the escape pods had living quarters for the officers, but they'd been taken by the enemy.
As they approached the corridor, they heard weapons fire--far enough not to worry them, but close enough to cause them to tread more carefully.
The intersection ahead was surprisingly empty. Ellen and Karl moved side by side and they saw it at the same time.
Ellen signaled halt and Karl crouched and moved silently forward. They saw a body on the corner. And then another body on the other side. Karl risked a glance around the corner and saw even more dead bodies. Most of them were Jaegers; the dead Kaitians were further away.
"They shouldn't be here," said Karl. "Perhaps the Jaegers had to retreat here. But I wonder why the enemy's not here."
"Perhaps they killed each other," wondered Ellen.
"May be so," said Caleb, who'd come by her side.
"Daniels. Chapman. Townsend. Smith," he ordered. "You stay here and guard this intersection."
"Thornton. Girard. Move on," he ordered and they went forward. The escape pods were not far away and they moved on, expecting the enemy at any moment.
The escaped pods were intact, and much to their surprise, there were no enemies in sight.
"Twelve minutes to go," said Caleb. He gave the signal to Henry, who was behind them. Henry acknowledged and signaled Kyle, who in turn signaled Tommy, and he finally signaled Silvio.
***
"Captain!"
"Yes, Private?" said Howard and turned toward Silvio.
"The way is clear, sir," said Silvio.
Howard nodded and hurried to Jiao. "Admiral! We must go!"
"I won't leave until all others have left," she said and Howard frowned in his mind, but before he could say anything, another marine came from the opposite side of the bridge and signaled that the other way was clear, too. Jiao ordered Matt and the others to leave immediately. She watched the others to leave; soon, she and Howard were the only ones on the bridge.
"Admiral," said Howard anxiously, "we must leave. Now."
Jiao nodded. "Of course. Let's go." The captain and admiral hurried to Silvio; Howard ordered him to lead the way. They ran to the meeting room where Tommy was standing guard. He joined them and then they hurried to the room where Kyle was waiting and where the fallen enemies were.
Jiao and Howard stopped to look at their enemies. It was the first time they had seen them up close.
"Bring them," ordered Howard and Silvio, Tommy, and Kyle each struggled to take a dead Kaitian. The Kaitians were heavy and it would slow them down.
"Hurry!" commanded Howard and led the admiral to the intersection.
He was shocked to see so many of his Jaegers dead.
"Take the tags," he ordered Hannah.
"Already taken, sir," she said and Howard nodded.
"Help them," he said to Hannah and nodded toward Silvio, Kyle, and Tommy, who struggled to carry the dead enemies.
"Move on!" said Howard and they ran to the escape pods. Caleb was already waving at them to hurry. They had only a minute left before they had to be away so that they could get far enough to survive the destruction of the ship.
The Marines went in first with the dead enemies, and then Caleb and Howard.
"Admiral!" hissed Howard, when Jiao stopped to take one final look of her ship. "Come on!" Jiao sighed sadly and went inside the escape pod.
"Go!" she ordered and the escape pod launched to the space.
She hoped that all the others had already left safely. She thought about the enemy and wondered if they realized that they were already gone.
"Status?" she asked.
"All escape pods had left," said Arnold. "Thirty-nine seconds to self-destruct."
"And we reach minimum safe distance in thirty-five seconds," he added.
Jiao smiled and said, "Ah! We could have fought a little longer, then."
Arnold smiled and some nervous laughs came from behind her.
"If I'd known that, I would have taken a detour," said Howard, smiling.
"Ha ha!" laughed Jiao.
"Admiral!" shouted Arnold suddenly. Jiao wondered why the odd tone of voice but before saying anything The Village of War exploded.
It was like a miniature nova and it destroyed all who were too close. The explosion caused great losses to the Kaitian fleet and they lost all the soldiers inside The Village of War. It was a great loss for the Kaitians, as they lost the majority of the Sword Legion's soldiers, the best of the best of the Kaitian Divine Forces.
"Admiral!" shouted Arnold again, now clearly panicked. "The fleet's attacking!"
"But that's a good thing, isn't it?" said Howard grinning.
"No no no no!" shouted Arnold and turned toward Jiao, "Our fleet! Our fleet is attacking! The human fleet is attacking the Kaitians!"
Jiao blinked in disbelief as she registered the words.
***
William watched the map of the battle field. The explosion gave them a moment of surprise and now his fleet was advancing toward the enemy, who was in chaos. In less than a minute, the human ships were within firing range and the rest of the Coalition forces were already advancing from the other sides.
"Commander!" called Udo. "A message from the escape pods."
"Oh," said William surprised, "what is it? On speakers."Udo put the message to the speakers, a female voice was shouting, "Stop the attack! Stop the attack! Human fleet weapons are ineffective! Stop the attack!"
"What the hell?" said William angrily. "Who is this woman?"
"Admiral Jiao Bai, sir," said Udo.
"Jiao?" said William incredulously. Why would Jiao say something like that?
But he knew that she wouldn't say it without a very good reason and William felt a grip in his throat.
"The fleet's engaging!" said Udo and the human ships who were in firing range opened fire to enemy frigates and cruisers.
It was a moment of disbelief and shock that seemed to linger forever. Any hope that was in the air as the human ships engaged quickly turned to despair.
William saw it himself. The human weapons did minimal damage to the Kaitian ships. For reasons unknown, human weapons could not penetrate the Kaitian shields.
It was clear that the Kaitians were as surprised as the humans, but they overcame it quickly. William could only imagine how the enemy laughed aboard their ships and started their attack on the human fleet who were practically defenseless.
"Hell and Damnation!" shouted William. "Retreat! Retreat! Milton, we need help!" he shouted, but Milton had already seen the situation and had sent Miccvans to help the human fleet.
But it was no good. The moment of surprise was gone. The Kaitians had organized themselves to counter-attack and they hammered heavy losses to human fleet. Much too heavy. The human fleet was diminishing quickly.
Several human commanders had already fled to hyperspace. William ordered all to follow as soon as the escape pods from The Village of War had been picked up. The Miccvans and the Mopians were helping to retrieve the escape pods.
"Commander!" called Milton.
"We've lost. I ordered a general retreat. I send you rendezvous coordinates."
The order to retreat could not have come too soon.
As if to emphasize
the retreat order and to silence any who might have objected, the Kaitians sent their reserves to the battle.
"Commander!" shouted Udo in panic and William nearly fell to his knees.
A massive Kaitian fleet arrived at the edge of the system and dozens of cruisers and super-cruisers exited hyperspace just above the Mopian home world.
"Escape pods?" shouted William. "Status?"
"Nearly all retrieved," said Udo. "The Sea of Boston is getting the last ones."
William looked at the screen; there were five pods still in space and the Sea of Boston raced to get them before the Kaitians came too close.
After the three of the pods were retrieved, a Kaitian cruiser exited from hyperspace between the frigate and the last two escape pods. But, fortunately, one of the Rg'Tkeen cruisers was already coming to aid the Sea of Boston and it destroyed the Kaitian ship, giving the Sea of Boston time to retrieve the last two pods.
William exhaled, relieved, when the Sea of Boston, left the system, then frowned as the Kaitians destroyed the Rg'Tkeen cruiser.
The Coalition forces had nearly all retreated, except for some who were engaged in fight--but they were soon destroyed and the Kaitians moved on to the planet and started the orbital bombardment.
"William," said Milton. They were the last Coalition ships remaining, "We need to go."
"Yes," said William sadly, "I know."
And with that, both William and Milton left the Mopian home world. Defeated.
16
"Admiral on the bridge!" called Tricia. She was surprised to see Admiral Bai coming to the bridge. All the bridge officers stood at attention at once.
"Admiral!" Jeffery saluted. "Admiral Bai. Ma'am. I didn't know you were on board."
"As you were," said Jiao, and the bridge officers resumed their tasks, "I was on the last escape pod you retrieved."
"Barely," said Jeffery. "If not for that Rg'Tkeen cruiser, we'd be dead now."
"Why did you attack when you knew your weapons were ineffective?" asked Jiao. She was angry and frustrated for the defeat that could've been prevented.
"We didn't know," said Jeffery, shaking his head. "We didn't know."
Jiao realized that the frigate, the Sea of Sheffield, which she had sent to warn the humans, had never reached its destination.
"I sent one of my frigates to warn you," said Jiao quietly, "but it's obvious that it never reached you. What's the status? Where are we going?"
"Coalition Command sent us rendezvous coordinates near the border of Miccvan space," answered Jeffery.
"Ma'am? You commanded The Village of War? If I may ask, where have you been?"
"Behind the enemy lines," she said, "causing havoc among the enemy. But you'll hear what you need from the official channels." Jiao didn't want to continue to discussion.
"But let's go down to the escape pods. I have something to show you."
They walked back to the docking bay; people from the escape pods were still there. The officers of The Village of War and several Jaeger platoons were there, and Jeffery was happy to see also that his Marines were there--to his surprise, when he saw Ellen, his heart jumped.
Ellen's heart jumped, too, when she saw Jeffery, and she quickly turned away, as if she didn't want anyone to notice. Jiao noticed how obviously they were attracted to each other and smiled in her mind. She felt her spirits lifting from the thought that there could be love in the middle of war. Or, at least, a chance for love.
"These are your Marines?" asked Jiao.
"Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery.
"They fought well," she commended. "They all fought well. Without your Marines, I doubt we'd be here. And they caused heavy losses to the enemy, before we exploded it." She smiled. "And I believe that they sent their best soldiers to take over my ship. But come and take a look." She led Jeffery to the escape pod.
"See the face of our enemy," said Jiao and showed Jeffery the three Kaitian soldiers they'd brought with them.
He looked at them silently and didn't know how to feel. He only thought that they were the enemy, and they were dead.
"I haven't seen the enemy before," he said, "and I don't know if anyone had."
"That's why we brought them," said Jiao, "As soon as we're at the rendezvous point, send a message to Command and tell them of these . . . prisoners."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, and waved the Marines nearby to take the bodies to medical bay for preliminary study.
***
When the Sea of Boston reached the rendezvous point, they were surprised to see how few ships there were.
"Is this all?" asked Jiao quietly.
Before Jeffery could answer, they received orders from the Coalition Command to go, with the dead prisoners, to the Thoughtful Flame.
Jeffery flew the shuttle to the cruiser where they were immediately showed to the medical bay and told to wait there until called.
"Aide Rachel," said Jeffery when he entered the medical bay.
"Commander," greeted Rachel. "Good to see you again. I hear you have presents for us."
"Indeed," said Jeffery, and waved to the Miccvans who had carried the dead Kaitians to the medical bay. Rachel instructed them to put the bodies on the tables that were set up for them.
"Admiral," greeted Rachel when Jiao came inside. "I've heard of your mission behind the lines. Well fought."
"Thank you," said Jiao.
"Are these the only Kaitians we have?" She pointed to the dead Kaitians.
"Surprisingly, yes," said Rachel, and turned to look at the bodies. "This is the first time I have even seen a Kaitian this close."
Rachel walked around the bodies, examining them.
"What do you think?"
"These three fought against a single Jaeger, who managed to kill them all but fell to one of their swords," said Jiao and picked up a bloody sword.
"There were no other bodies in the vicinity, and these were in one of the meetings rooms not far from the bridge. If the Jaeger hadn't stopped them, they might have killed us all on the bridge."
Rachel nodded. "You were lucky and the Jaeger was an excellent fighter."
She looked at the Kaitian bodies again. They were all larger and stronger than humans or Miccvans, and the human soldier killed all three of them. "He was an excellent fighter," she repeated.
"The swords are interesting," she said after a moment and took the bloody sword. "They all carry one. It must mean a great deal to them."
"I agree," said Jiao and picked up another sword. "The hilt of this one is different. It seems to be less decorated, but a closer look reveals extraordinary markings and very elegant design. I think it is related to rank--a rank of an officer."
"Hmm," said Rachel and examined the armor of the officer more closely. "You're probably right. Look." She pointed to markings in the armor in the shoulders. "The other two don't have any markings."
"I wonder why they're almost concealed," said Jeffery. "Quite contrary to us. I mean, for example, you, Admiral, your rank is clearly visible." Jiao nodded. "They don't want the enemy to see who their officers are."
"That's what I was thinking, too," said Rachel.
"Admiral Bai," somebody said from the door, "Command wants to see you."
"Of course," said Jiao and left.
Jeffery also decided to leave the medical bay and Rachel started the autopsy of the enemy soldiers.
***
"Thank you, Admiral," said Milton, after debriefing Jiao. Jiao saluted and left. The room became silent.
"Well?" asked Milton, after the silence had gone on long enough. "We lost the battle of the Mopian home world. Did we lose the war?"
And the silence continued.
Milton sighed. "The silence is better answer than I hoped for. So we still have hope?"
"Barely," said Laura, "especially now with the Mopian forces severely diminished."
The Mopian fleet had been nearly destroyed in the battle and its admiral, Hans, had fallen while defending escaping civili
ans.
"But we may have inflicted heavier loss than we think to the Kaitians,” Laura said. “You heard what Admiral Bai said. I think it's safe to assume that the enemies who boarded The Village of War were part of their elite soldiers. Much like human Jaegers."
"That may be so," Milton said, "but I doubt that stops the Kaitians. Their fleet is formidable, a much greater force than we expected."
"But The Village of War proved that we have a fighting chance," said Juno. "It fought well behind enemy lines and it fought well in the battle. What's the latest status of the fleet?"
"Four ships are ready within one hundred standard rotations," said Laura. "Ten ships ready within two hundred rotations. Ten more within four hundred rotation after that and that's it. Twenty-four ships in progress and we haven't started new ones yet."
"And one already destroyed," said William. "I fear twenty-four ships is not enough."
"I agree," said Laura. "Not enough for full scale counter-attack. But we can use them to help the rest of our forces, with tactical precision strikes against their supply lines, command centers, docks and so on."
"For that, we need to get valid information about the enemy," said William.
Laura nodded. "A task for Nick and Louis, perhaps? They did well to gather information about the Kaitian home world."
William nodded, but said nothing. He thought that there was something in Laura's eyes when she looked at him. Something that hinted that she knew more than she revealed about the mission. Or perhaps she knew about the corvette, Lake of Fairwater, which Nick and Louis used in their mission.
"That's good idea," said Milton. "You two work together and gather intelligence so that we have something to go on when we get the next ships. But in the meantime, I think it's best be defensive. Strengthen positions near the Ooktian and Gemono worlds. And also the Miccvan and Rg'Tkeen borders."
"I agree," said Kaldan of the Ooktian Empire. "We are the next target and we need help."
"You'll get it," said Milton, "but do you agree? We play defense for now?"
William didn't like to be defensive; it meant that they only reacted to the enemy when they should be proactive. They should be making the enemy react to them, not the other way around.
But there seemed little choice, at least until the next ships from the combined fleet were ready.
"I don't like it either," said Milton, "but it's only logical in these circumstances."
There were nods around the table and so it was decided.
"Good," said Milton. "William and Laura, you know what to do. The rest of us will define plans to defend our borders."
"No." He shook his head.
"Hamilton," Caleb called, "take the Jaeger's tag and take it to the captain. Tell him of these enemies and ask do we take them to escape pods. We might learn from the dead enemies as much as from live ones.
"If the answer is yes, hurry back and stay here and when it's time to evacuate, you, Chandler, and Cortez pick up the bodies as you go to escape pods."
"Yes, sir," said Kyle and ran back to the bridge.
"Let's move on," Caleb ordered, "quickly and silently. The enemies may be near."
Karl and Ellen once again took point and hurried ahead. The intersecting corridor between them and the escape pods had living quarters for the officers, but they'd been taken by the enemy.
As they approached the corridor, they heard weapons fire--far enough not to worry them, but close enough to cause them to tread more carefully.
The intersection ahead was surprisingly empty. Ellen and Karl moved side by side and they saw it at the same time.
Ellen signaled halt and Karl crouched and moved silently forward. They saw a body on the corner. And then another body on the other side. Karl risked a glance around the corner and saw even more dead bodies. Most of them were Jaegers; the dead Kaitians were further away.
"They shouldn't be here," said Karl. "Perhaps the Jaegers had to retreat here. But I wonder why the enemy's not here."
"Perhaps they killed each other," wondered Ellen.
"May be so," said Caleb, who'd come by her side.
"Daniels. Chapman. Townsend. Smith," he ordered. "You stay here and guard this intersection."
"Thornton. Girard. Move on," he ordered and they went forward. The escape pods were not far away and they moved on, expecting the enemy at any moment.
The escaped pods were intact, and much to their surprise, there were no enemies in sight.
"Twelve minutes to go," said Caleb. He gave the signal to Henry, who was behind them. Henry acknowledged and signaled Kyle, who in turn signaled Tommy, and he finally signaled Silvio.
***
"Captain!"
"Yes, Private?" said Howard and turned toward Silvio.
"The way is clear, sir," said Silvio.
Howard nodded and hurried to Jiao. "Admiral! We must go!"
"I won't leave until all others have left," she said and Howard frowned in his mind, but before he could say anything, another marine came from the opposite side of the bridge and signaled that the other way was clear, too. Jiao ordered Matt and the others to leave immediately. She watched the others to leave; soon, she and Howard were the only ones on the bridge.
"Admiral," said Howard anxiously, "we must leave. Now."
Jiao nodded. "Of course. Let's go." The captain and admiral hurried to Silvio; Howard ordered him to lead the way. They ran to the meeting room where Tommy was standing guard. He joined them and then they hurried to the room where Kyle was waiting and where the fallen enemies were.
Jiao and Howard stopped to look at their enemies. It was the first time they had seen them up close.
"Bring them," ordered Howard and Silvio, Tommy, and Kyle each struggled to take a dead Kaitian. The Kaitians were heavy and it would slow them down.
"Hurry!" commanded Howard and led the admiral to the intersection.
He was shocked to see so many of his Jaegers dead.
"Take the tags," he ordered Hannah.
"Already taken, sir," she said and Howard nodded.
"Help them," he said to Hannah and nodded toward Silvio, Kyle, and Tommy, who struggled to carry the dead enemies.
"Move on!" said Howard and they ran to the escape pods. Caleb was already waving at them to hurry. They had only a minute left before they had to be away so that they could get far enough to survive the destruction of the ship.
The Marines went in first with the dead enemies, and then Caleb and Howard.
"Admiral!" hissed Howard, when Jiao stopped to take one final look of her ship. "Come on!" Jiao sighed sadly and went inside the escape pod.
"Go!" she ordered and the escape pod launched to the space.
She hoped that all the others had already left safely. She thought about the enemy and wondered if they realized that they were already gone.
"Status?" she asked.
"All escape pods had left," said Arnold. "Thirty-nine seconds to self-destruct."
"And we reach minimum safe distance in thirty-five seconds," he added.
Jiao smiled and said, "Ah! We could have fought a little longer, then."
Arnold smiled and some nervous laughs came from behind her.
"If I'd known that, I would have taken a detour," said Howard, smiling.
"Ha ha!" laughed Jiao.
"Admiral!" shouted Arnold suddenly. Jiao wondered why the odd tone of voice but before saying anything The Village of War exploded.
It was like a miniature nova and it destroyed all who were too close. The explosion caused great losses to the Kaitian fleet and they lost all the soldiers inside The Village of War. It was a great loss for the Kaitians, as they lost the majority of the Sword Legion's soldiers, the best of the best of the Kaitian Divine Forces.
"Admiral!" shouted Arnold again, now clearly panicked. "The fleet's attacking!"
"But that's a good thing, isn't it?" said Howard grinning.
"No no no no!" shouted Arnold and turned toward Jiao, "Our fleet! Our fleet is attacking! The human fleet is attacking the Kaitians!"
Jiao blinked in disbelief as she registered the words.
***
William watched the map of the battle field. The explosion gave them a moment of surprise and now his fleet was advancing toward the enemy, who was in chaos. In less than a minute, the human ships were within firing range and the rest of the Coalition forces were already advancing from the other sides.
"Commander!" called Udo. "A message from the escape pods."
"Oh," said William surprised, "what is it? On speakers."Udo put the message to the speakers, a female voice was shouting, "Stop the attack! Stop the attack! Human fleet weapons are ineffective! Stop the attack!"
"What the hell?" said William angrily. "Who is this woman?"
"Admiral Jiao Bai, sir," said Udo.
"Jiao?" said William incredulously. Why would Jiao say something like that?
But he knew that she wouldn't say it without a very good reason and William felt a grip in his throat.
"The fleet's engaging!" said Udo and the human ships who were in firing range opened fire to enemy frigates and cruisers.
It was a moment of disbelief and shock that seemed to linger forever. Any hope that was in the air as the human ships engaged quickly turned to despair.
William saw it himself. The human weapons did minimal damage to the Kaitian ships. For reasons unknown, human weapons could not penetrate the Kaitian shields.
It was clear that the Kaitians were as surprised as the humans, but they overcame it quickly. William could only imagine how the enemy laughed aboard their ships and started their attack on the human fleet who were practically defenseless.
"Hell and Damnation!" shouted William. "Retreat! Retreat! Milton, we need help!" he shouted, but Milton had already seen the situation and had sent Miccvans to help the human fleet.
But it was no good. The moment of surprise was gone. The Kaitians had organized themselves to counter-attack and they hammered heavy losses to human fleet. Much too heavy. The human fleet was diminishing quickly.
Several human commanders had already fled to hyperspace. William ordered all to follow as soon as the escape pods from The Village of War had been picked up. The Miccvans and the Mopians were helping to retrieve the escape pods.
"Commander!" called Milton.
"We've lost. I ordered a general retreat. I send you rendezvous coordinates."
The order to retreat could not have come too soon.
As if to emphasize
"Commander!" shouted Udo in panic and William nearly fell to his knees.
A massive Kaitian fleet arrived at the edge of the system and dozens of cruisers and super-cruisers exited hyperspace just above the Mopian home world.
"Escape pods?" shouted William. "Status?"
"Nearly all retrieved," said Udo. "The Sea of Boston is getting the last ones."
William looked at the screen; there were five pods still in space and the Sea of Boston raced to get them before the Kaitians came too close.
After the three of the pods were retrieved, a Kaitian cruiser exited from hyperspace between the frigate and the last two escape pods. But, fortunately, one of the Rg'Tkeen cruisers was already coming to aid the Sea of Boston and it destroyed the Kaitian ship, giving the Sea of Boston time to retrieve the last two pods.
William exhaled, relieved, when the Sea of Boston, left the system, then frowned as the Kaitians destroyed the Rg'Tkeen cruiser.
The Coalition forces had nearly all retreated, except for some who were engaged in fight--but they were soon destroyed and the Kaitians moved on to the planet and started the orbital bombardment.
"William," said Milton. They were the last Coalition ships remaining, "We need to go."
"Yes," said William sadly, "I know."
And with that, both William and Milton left the Mopian home world. Defeated.
16
"Admiral on the bridge!" called Tricia. She was surprised to see Admiral Bai coming to the bridge. All the bridge officers stood at attention at once.
"Admiral!" Jeffery saluted. "Admiral Bai. Ma'am. I didn't know you were on board."
"As you were," said Jiao, and the bridge officers resumed their tasks, "I was on the last escape pod you retrieved."
"Barely," said Jeffery. "If not for that Rg'Tkeen cruiser, we'd be dead now."
"Why did you attack when you knew your weapons were ineffective?" asked Jiao. She was angry and frustrated for the defeat that could've been prevented.
"We didn't know," said Jeffery, shaking his head. "We didn't know."
Jiao realized that the frigate, the Sea of Sheffield, which she had sent to warn the humans, had never reached its destination.
"I sent one of my frigates to warn you," said Jiao quietly, "but it's obvious that it never reached you. What's the status? Where are we going?"
"Coalition Command sent us rendezvous coordinates near the border of Miccvan space," answered Jeffery.
"Ma'am? You commanded The Village of War? If I may ask, where have you been?"
"Behind the enemy lines," she said, "causing havoc among the enemy. But you'll hear what you need from the official channels." Jiao didn't want to continue to discussion.
"But let's go down to the escape pods. I have something to show you."
They walked back to the docking bay; people from the escape pods were still there. The officers of The Village of War and several Jaeger platoons were there, and Jeffery was happy to see also that his Marines were there--to his surprise, when he saw Ellen, his heart jumped.
Ellen's heart jumped, too, when she saw Jeffery, and she quickly turned away, as if she didn't want anyone to notice. Jiao noticed how obviously they were attracted to each other and smiled in her mind. She felt her spirits lifting from the thought that there could be love in the middle of war. Or, at least, a chance for love.
"These are your Marines?" asked Jiao.
"Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery.
"They fought well," she commended. "They all fought well. Without your Marines, I doubt we'd be here. And they caused heavy losses to the enemy, before we exploded it." She smiled. "And I believe that they sent their best soldiers to take over my ship. But come and take a look." She led Jeffery to the escape pod.
"See the face of our enemy," said Jiao and showed Jeffery the three Kaitian soldiers they'd brought with them.
He looked at them silently and didn't know how to feel. He only thought that they were the enemy, and they were dead.
"I haven't seen the enemy before," he said, "and I don't know if anyone had."
"That's why we brought them," said Jiao, "As soon as we're at the rendezvous point, send a message to Command and tell them of these . . . prisoners."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, and waved the Marines nearby to take the bodies to medical bay for preliminary study.
***
When the Sea of Boston reached the rendezvous point, they were surprised to see how few ships there were.
"Is this all?" asked Jiao quietly.
Before Jeffery could answer, they received orders from the Coalition Command to go, with the dead prisoners, to the Thoughtful Flame.
Jeffery flew the shuttle to the cruiser where they were immediately showed to the medical bay and told to wait there until called.
"Aide Rachel," said Jeffery when he entered the medical bay.
"Commander," greeted Rachel. "Good to see you again. I hear you have presents for us."
"Indeed," said Jeffery, and waved to the Miccvans who had carried the dead Kaitians to the medical bay. Rachel instructed them to put the bodies on the tables that were set up for them.
"Admiral," greeted Rachel when Jiao came inside. "I've heard of your mission behind the lines. Well fought."
"Thank you," said Jiao.
"Are these the only Kaitians we have?" She pointed to the dead Kaitians.
"Surprisingly, yes," said Rachel, and turned to look at the bodies. "This is the first time I have even seen a Kaitian this close."
Rachel walked around the bodies, examining them.
"What do you think?"
"These three fought against a single Jaeger, who managed to kill them all but fell to one of their swords," said Jiao and picked up a bloody sword.
"There were no other bodies in the vicinity, and these were in one of the meetings rooms not far from the bridge. If the Jaeger hadn't stopped them, they might have killed us all on the bridge."
Rachel nodded. "You were lucky and the Jaeger was an excellent fighter."
She looked at the Kaitian bodies again. They were all larger and stronger than humans or Miccvans, and the human soldier killed all three of them. "He was an excellent fighter," she repeated.
"The swords are interesting," she said after a moment and took the bloody sword. "They all carry one. It must mean a great deal to them."
"I agree," said Jiao and picked up another sword. "The hilt of this one is different. It seems to be less decorated, but a closer look reveals extraordinary markings and very elegant design. I think it is related to rank--a rank of an officer."
"Hmm," said Rachel and examined the armor of the officer more closely. "You're probably right. Look." She pointed to markings in the armor in the shoulders. "The other two don't have any markings."
"I wonder why they're almost concealed," said Jeffery. "Quite contrary to us. I mean, for example, you, Admiral, your rank is clearly visible." Jiao nodded. "They don't want the enemy to see who their officers are."
"That's what I was thinking, too," said Rachel.
"Admiral Bai," somebody said from the door, "Command wants to see you."
"Of course," said Jiao and left.
Jeffery also decided to leave the medical bay and Rachel started the autopsy of the enemy soldiers.
***
"Thank you, Admiral," said Milton, after debriefing Jiao. Jiao saluted and left. The room became silent.
"Well?" asked Milton, after the silence had gone on long enough. "We lost the battle of the Mopian home world. Did we lose the war?"
And the silence continued.
Milton sighed. "The silence is better answer than I hoped for. So we still have hope?"
"Barely," said Laura, "especially now with the Mopian forces severely diminished."
The Mopian fleet had been nearly destroyed in the battle and its admiral, Hans, had fallen while defending escaping civili
"But we may have inflicted heavier loss than we think to the Kaitians,” Laura said. “You heard what Admiral Bai said. I think it's safe to assume that the enemies who boarded The Village of War were part of their elite soldiers. Much like human Jaegers."
"That may be so," Milton said, "but I doubt that stops the Kaitians. Their fleet is formidable, a much greater force than we expected."
"But The Village of War proved that we have a fighting chance," said Juno. "It fought well behind enemy lines and it fought well in the battle. What's the latest status of the fleet?"
"Four ships are ready within one hundred standard rotations," said Laura. "Ten ships ready within two hundred rotations. Ten more within four hundred rotation after that and that's it. Twenty-four ships in progress and we haven't started new ones yet."
"And one already destroyed," said William. "I fear twenty-four ships is not enough."
"I agree," said Laura. "Not enough for full scale counter-attack. But we can use them to help the rest of our forces, with tactical precision strikes against their supply lines, command centers, docks and so on."
"For that, we need to get valid information about the enemy," said William.
Laura nodded. "A task for Nick and Louis, perhaps? They did well to gather information about the Kaitian home world."
William nodded, but said nothing. He thought that there was something in Laura's eyes when she looked at him. Something that hinted that she knew more than she revealed about the mission. Or perhaps she knew about the corvette, Lake of Fairwater, which Nick and Louis used in their mission.
"That's good idea," said Milton. "You two work together and gather intelligence so that we have something to go on when we get the next ships. But in the meantime, I think it's best be defensive. Strengthen positions near the Ooktian and Gemono worlds. And also the Miccvan and Rg'Tkeen borders."
"I agree," said Kaldan of the Ooktian Empire. "We are the next target and we need help."
"You'll get it," said Milton, "but do you agree? We play defense for now?"
William didn't like to be defensive; it meant that they only reacted to the enemy when they should be proactive. They should be making the enemy react to them, not the other way around.
But there seemed little choice, at least until the next ships from the combined fleet were ready.
"I don't like it either," said Milton, "but it's only logical in these circumstances."
There were nods around the table and so it was decided.
"Good," said Milton. "William and Laura, you know what to do. The rest of us will define plans to defend our borders."