CHAPTER 14

The next day on Roma the military Ambassadors of the ten member Alliance sat at their round table contemplating the hologram which hung over the center of the obsidian surface. Earlier that day the political arms of the ten empires made a formal announcement of the formation of the Alliance. Now the Ambassadors watched the taped response of the President of the Terran Federation. It was a distinguished looking female with strength and purpose in her voice, but it was not Alexander. The facade was irreproachably transparent to the assembly.

“Do they think we are fools that we should fall for such a lie?” The Golkos representative asked bitterly.

“Quiet! Let us at least listen,” the Syraptose representative snapped. The Syraptose were a humanoid race far less militarily inclined than the Golkos or the Seer’koh. As their position in Galactic space was a delicate one the Ambassadors respected their comrade’s wishes and promptly settled down to listen to the transmission, but their skepticism was apparent nonetheless.

“ . . . We of the Terran Federation are aware that certain rumors of our aggression are widespread throughout the civilized galaxy. While events of the recent past would tend to bear out such misgivings let me assure you that the Federation acted only in self defense. My policy is not expansionist, and I can personally assure every member state of the Alliance that their sovereignty will be recognized and respected by the Terran Federation. We seek only peaceful coexistence and free trade,” the speech went on along the same diplomatic lines. After a few more moments the Ambassadors had heard enough.

“Oh shut it off!” hissed the Seer’koh. He flexed his slender claws with irritation and thrust his long neck over the table, the colorful feathers briefly forming a wondrous crown around the serpentine skull. His eyes darted from one to the next; glaring at his fellows until finally they rested again on the hologram. “We can draw one irrefutable conclusion from this message. The Terran figurehead they term the "President" of their Federation is as skilled as are our politicians at the art of dialogue. They say many pretty things which mean absolutely nothing! It is political maneuvering, nothing more. They are delaying. Alexander is obviously manipulating a seemingly benign puppet government in order to discover our intentions.”

“My esteemed colleague is quite correct. This is an obvious ploy of Alexander to distract our attention from his plans of conquest, and it is working!” the Golkos said. “We sit here and talk of political agendas when we should be formalizing plans for attack!”

“You are quick to jump to the military conclusion,” the Syraptose Ambassador interjected. “We are more apt to listen to the President of the Terran Federation. If there is any peaceful way out of this dilemma, we would like to investigate it. We are not overly eager for war. Our position relative to the Terran Empire cuts us off from any support from our allies in the Alliance. If it comes to war we have to face the Terrans alone. What if there truly has been a coup and the offer of peace is genuine? Can we afford not to consider that option?”

“It is a trick by Alexander to gain time so that he may redeploy his forces for invasion!” The Golkos replied harshly. She then added, with some restraint of her anger, “I empathize with the exposed position of the Syraptose state with respect to the Terran Empire, but let me remind you of what happened to the Scythian’s, who are as lacking a military as any race in the galaxy. Alexander was not so subtle with them. Ask their Ambassador in exile! As for this so called coup, well, we all watched Alexander’s newest announcement at this morning’s meeting. Again he denounces Bureel and the new Chem state that is forming. He is using the manifestation of a reasonable President and a reasonable Terra to buy time while he deals with his Chem goals. Obviously Chem is not cooperating as he anticipated. He is busy elsewhere. Now is the time to strike!”

The Seer’koh added, “Our own estimates of Alexander’s actions tell us that he must strike Chem prior to the Ascension of Bureel, twenty-one Chem decurns from now, the seventeenth of this Galactic standard sidereal period. After that the chances of overthrowing the Chem ruler drop precipitously, but meanwhile there is a great deal of chaos in the Chem Empire. He is forced to strike now!”

“This is our window of opportunity then,” the Golkos stressed. “If we fail to act Alexander will be able to prepare for us; if we do not act together Alexander will pick us off, one by one.”

“Why don’t we play the same game he is?” The Syraptose asked. “We can allow our politicians negotiate with this puppet, this President, while we mass our fleets. We also need time. An attack by that date is difficult at best when one empire is the aggressor, but the coordination required of ten empires is nothing short of fantastic. If we force a hasty strike now it may well be disastrous. We’ve all witnessed the discipline and coordination of Alexander’s Fleet on the poor Scythians.”

“Better a hasty strike than a delayed one,” the Golkos said. “One of the character issues we’ve learned in our interrogations of Humans is that they are susceptible to a defeatist attitude when caught off guard and continuously pressed. If a protagonist allows them to regain their composure they can be amazingly stubborn and strong willed. A protagonist who shows weakness invites disaster, but one who shows a single indomitable face before them can be victorious. I do not think we can afford to show any signs of weakness, even to this puppet.”

“The Seer’koh agrees with the Golkos assessment,” the reptile replied firmly.

“Very well, unless the informants of the Hrang have any other conclusions which can shed light on this the Syraptose will concede to that point.”

The Hrang stirred uncomfortably in his seat.

“Well?” the Golkos pressed impatiently.

The Hrang sighed, still uncomfortable. “We have operatives which are extraordinarily deep within the Terran Empire, but it is increasingly difficult to draw any certain conclusions from our information.”

“How deep into their empire are we talking?” The Seer’koh asked.

“Our operatives are in decision making positions,” the Hrang said. “I can tell you that the legislative and executive bodies are well formed and entrenched. They at least think that they are in power. We are less informed in the military branches. Hrang operatives can maintain an excellent facade of docile Humans, but the exertions required of their military members are beyond us. From what we can gather, however, the military reacts to decisions from the bureaucratic bodies, but they wait, we think, for direction from Alexander. It may well be that Alexander has formed a two tier government, one for the day-to-day running of things, and one for conquest. Taking this into account we have attempted to create a schism between these two branches, to erode Alexander’s control.”

“How have you managed that?” The Seer’koh asked, surprised that the Hrang would take such initiative.

“As you have been aware the President of the Terran Federation has been vocal against the expansionist policies of Alexander in her public addresses,” the Hrang began.

“A smoke screen!” the Golkos barked.

“True, but it is a smoke screen that has gained some approval in the Terran Senate,” the Hrang told them. “The President is more influential than we guessed, and we have been successful at creating a large pocket of support for a peaceful Terran Federation and not an expansionist Terran Empire. Indeed, if you walked the aisles of the Terran Senate you would find few supporters for an expanding Galactic empire. I would guess that this will come as a surprise to Alexander. The feeling that our operatives get is that the Senate actually accepts the President as executive authority, not Alexander.”

“It is just a rubber stamp body with no actual power,” the Golkos stated.

“Maybe, but it does create a distraction for Alexander if he tries to use it,” the Hrang said. “If it is a body created by Alexander strictly for the purposes of public approval it will not help him if it openly opposes his policies.”

“It is somewhat surprising that his hand-picked President should be so openly against Alexander,” the Seer’koh noted. “I cannot see how his allowance of a dissenting voice would help his aims.”

“By distracting us, which he is doing!” the Golkos insisted.

“No, that was not his plan, at least not with this President,” the Hrang said. “This President’s main ambition is to undermine the military dictatorship of Alexander. That is her one and only goal. Everything she does is to that purpose.”

“How can you be so certain?” The Seer’koh hissed in irritation.

“The President of the Federation is one of our operatives,” the Hrang informed them. A stunned silence followed, and the Hrang explained. “We replaced the Human Faizah Sadat shortly before the Presidential election. We were of course pleasantly surprised when the Human Sadat was elected to such a powerful position, even if it was as a figurehead. We have since that time used her to undermine Alexander’s position. I must add, however, that it is by no means certain what Alexander’s position is.”

“Can you explain what you mean by that?” the Golkos interjected.

“You must excuse the inexact nature of our conclusions,” the Hrang apologized. “Terrans are an inconsistent people. This makes them easy to impersonate, for the inconsistencies of behavior are accepted as part of their nature, but it makes them extraordinarily difficult to understand. For instance, we have no clear understanding of where Alexander actually came from. He had no political power that we can trace prior to the Scythian-Chem conflict. He was, as far as we can tell, a relatively minor military officer. When he did appear on the scene it was in the hands of the Chem. We have since assumed he was already the military Overlord of the Terran Homeworld, but it appears we might have overestimated his original position. The details are unclear, but we’ve concluded that Alexander actually used that particular sequence of events as his launching point for power. His rise to power was remarkably swift, and completely unexpected. From what we’ve gathered about Terrans he is one of those particular beings that rise to power when there is an opportunity. Alexander took advantage of it fully, an incredible accomplishment under the circumstances, and became the Overlord of the Terran Empire when he struck the terms of the Terran-Chem peace. Obviously, the Chem civil war has interrupted his further plans. He feels the necessity of taking care of that dilemma before moving on.”

“Then your operative feels that Alexander’s goals are warlike?” The Syraptose asked.

“Most definitely, this is why we’ve pursued this risky policy of anti-Alexander rhetoric with the President’s position.” The Hrang told them. “We also recognized this window of opportunity. Our operative is of the opinion that the military is firmly under Alexander’s control. The appointed Chief of Staff is subtly warning her, obviously at the direction of Alexander, concerning her harsh anti-Alexander rhetoric. Alexander has not had her replaced, as of yet, and why that is escapes our logic. Perhaps the position has a greater amount of importance to the populace than we imagine and Alexander is sensitive to that. Our operatives inform us that the Terrans have suffered through some indescribably vicious tyrants in the recent past. Alexander may very well be wary of the title “dictator," and is using the elected body of the Presidency to avert criticism. It is not working as he anticipated. He’s lost some of his control of the legislative and executive bodies he set up, but he is still firmly in control of the military. There is no possibility of changing that.

“We also have success to report on another avenue. Negotiations between the subjugated Scythians and the Terrans, as directed by the President, have successfully concluded in a stoppage of Scythian technical support. We don’t know how long this previous support lasted, nor how much the Terrans are capable of on their own. Some reports suggest that their fleet was built in little more than ten Galactic decants. That is patently impossible, as our friends the Seer’koh have correctly informed us. It is more likely that there was a flurry of modernization to prepare for the Chem. Be that as it may, however, we must conclude that the Humans are quite capable of supporting themselves. They have, however, lost the use of Scythian cargo fleets, which would obviously be advantageous to them. We wanted to prevent any coerced cooperation by the Scythians so our operative was ready to make singularly harsh demands. It was another risky venture, but fortunately the Scythian’s have refused to deal with anyone but Alexander, another facet of his true power. He is busy elsewhere, however, so nothing has been done.”

“Fascinating, the Hrang are to be commended,” the Seer’koh said. “One thing worries me; however, the President is in a very visible position. We all know of the excellence of the Hrang counterfeits, but what are the dangers of discovery for so prolonged and visible a replacement?”

“We estimate another nine Terran months, roughly thirty Galactic decants, before the physical strain is too great for the operative,” the Hrang said. “The most dangerous phase is the initial character impersonation in the first few days. That is happily past. There are some particular physical problems, swift changes in temperature for example, which are always a danger. Skin coloration and texture are susceptible to temperature changes. The operative must always be wary for such circumstances and minimize exposure to witnesses. Routine physical examinations, even using thorough equipment are not usually a problem. The implants are programmed with the correct physical attributes to pass on to the scanners. The chances that their medical equipment, which is of Scythian manufacture, should expose one of our people are remote in the extreme. Our people are severely trained, Ambassador. It is a dangerous business, but one which they know particularly well.”

“Excellent! That should give us an inside operative through the remainder of this campaign,” the Golkos said. “The situation in the Terran system is better than we’d hoped, and thus our chances for stopping this Alexander before he is a threat to us are greatly increased. Are we all in agreement then? Shall we give the order for a general massing of the fleets?” Every member of the assembly answered in the affirmative, and the Golkos smiled. “I would also suggest we set a date for a general declaration of war, and commencement of hostilities between the Alliance and the Terran Empire.”

“I propose the date of the Chem Ascension,” the Seer’koh suggested. “Hopefully Alexander will be conveniently unavailable to direct the defense of his own empire.”

“An insightful suggestion,” the Golkos replied amidst the agreement of the assembly. Then they adjourned in a much better, and more warlike, mood than they convened.