Exodus: Empires at War: Book 11: Day of Infamy (Exodus: Empires at War.) by Doug Dandridge

the Klavarta front.  Something neither the Ambassador
nor our allies in this region of space need to know the details of.  It’s
enough that they know we have allies, and that they are fighting hard for the
common goal.
    “Make sure the High Lord
knows that the Crakista are still onboard,” he told the Ambassador.  “As well
as the Klassaks and the Margrav.  If they leave the alliance, they will miss
out on the benefits of our community.”
    “I don’t think they want
to leave the alliance, your Majesty.  I think what they do want is to be on an
even technological playing field with us.”
    “And they will get this
by our giving them wormholes?  They still won’t be able to make their own
without an enormous industrial investment.  The same with the launching and
particle beam systems.  And they’re already complaining about what the war is
costing them.”  Sean felt himself getting angry.  As if he didn’t have enough
trouble with his own people, now he was having to deal with the childish
tantrums of other governments.
    “What do you want me to
do, your Majesty?”
    Do I give in to Elysium? thought Sean.  If he gave
them wormholes and Klassekians, he would then get the same demands from the
other members of the alliance.  He doubted his traditional allies, The Klassak
Concordium and the Margravi Hegonomy, would jump ship, since they owed their
existence to his Empire.  The Crakista had said that they would side with the
humans because the alternative, the Ca’cadasans ruling the Galaxy, was
unthinkable.  The Crakista used reason to make their decisions, not letting
their emotions interfering.  Though it might be a good decision to force the
humans to give up all of their secrets, since the logical response to their
withdrawing from the alliance would be to beg them to stay, no matter what it
took.
    “Try to get them to see
reason, Ambassador.  If the Ca’cadasans win, Elysium is the next to fall.”
    “And if they still insist
on a technology share?”
    “We will deal with that
when it comes.”
    Sean dismissed the com,
no longer wishing to talk about this problem.  He reached up and rubbed his
neck, working on a kink.  There was not an Emperor he could think of who had to
deal with so much.  A war that might exterminate the human species had never
happened since the days the predecessors had left Sol system on the run. 
Dealing with so many other powers that had their own agendas?  The Empire was
used to fighting its own wars.  The Death Machines that humanity thought they
had destroyed, returned and threatening an entire region of space.
    “Your Majesty,” came a
call over the com while he was still thinking about what he needed to do next. 
“We have a problem on the Fenri Front.”  The face of Sondra McCullom hung in
the air over his desk, people moving frantically behind her in the war room.
    What the hell now? thought Sean, composing
himself to deal with the next crisis.

Chapter Four
     
    Battle is the most magnificent competition in
which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all
that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his
fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood. George S.
Patton
     
    NEW MOSCOW SPACE.  DECEMBER 10 TH ,
1002.  D-21.
     
    Great Admiral
Ljarritta’ran watched as the second ship gate took shape on the viewer.  His
ship had come through the first one, brought in by a blockade running scout
ship.  His superbattleship was one of the first through, and was now surrounded
by a hundred of her sisters.  The Emperor’s Grip was of the first group
of the newest class, sporting laser rings instead of domes among other
improvements.
    “The other gate will be
ready in another half an hour,” stating his Chief of Staff, walking up behind
him.
    “We need to learn how the
humans put their gates together so fast,” growled the Great Admiral, who in
less than twenty days