House Kleet
The servants had been up for hours when he barged into the mansion and while in the kitchen, he grabbed a sausage from the food laid out for breakfast, and then wrapped it in a huge hunk of bread. He then made for the formal part of the house.
His mind wasn't really on food, but this was his usual practice of hit and run eating. He like to eat, he just didn't see the necessity of sitting down to do it.
Passing many a servant, and several of his father's men, he made for the East wing of the centuries old house. While talking to Caprice he wasn't overly concerned with the time, but now as he got closer to his destination, an urgency started to come over him.
It was in a newer more modern section of the house that he descended a few flights of stairs and came upon a steel door, which in turn started to open as he came within a certain distance. He waited until it had opened enough and then squeeze through, squirming in, then nearly running down the hall before entering the huge situation room.
His father and Uncle were already there, along with a few junior officers, standing near a huge hologram depicting a star system. The hologram, which was at least a dozen feet in width, took up most of the large and otherwise empty room.
Four planets circled the star, but they were only background. The buzz of many lights were encircling the second planet, and that was what the men in the room were concentrating on. Each individual light was small, but there were thousands of them.
"You're late," his father barked, and with that, his Uncle made a knowing snort.
"Did I miss anything?"
"Not yet," his Uncle said in a fit of pique, looking like he just rolled out of bed. His hair was unkempt, the cheeks of his face were unshaven, and his attire looked distinctly like bed clothes.
"Good," Heinrich said ignoring his Uncle's bad humor. "Did the invasion start?"
"Just starting now. Five more minutes and you would have been AWOL," said his father, who was dressed considerably more appropriate. Apparently, he wasn't going to let up on his son's tardiness. Heinrich chalked it all up to the revelations from the previous night. He'll get over it, Heinrich hoped.
"Where are the siege frigates?" Heinrich asked.
"Just finishing the jump from the adjacent universe. They aren't needed yet and they aren't scheduled to rendezvous for some time," his father, Adolph said shaking his head impatiently.
"But they are key to the invasion. They should be up with the Dreadnoughts and the Battle Cruisers, where they can be protected. Strung out in the rear, they would be easy pickings if some enemy strike craft get through."
"They won't be getting through," his Uncle Wolfgang said pointing to the hologram. "Our interceptors and Corvettes are making mincemeat out of their guard ships. It won't be long before all their defenses are down, but you're right, the siege frigates should be brought up faster, and maybe with an escort."
"Make a note of it Klaus," Adolph barked at one of his men. "The siege frigates should make their jump with the Dreadnoughts and Cruisers like my son said."
"Yes, sir," Klaus said and continued his concentration on the invasion.
At the resolution they were watching, the strike craft were little more than bright lights in front of their exhaust trail, but the bigger ships, the frigates, dreadnaughts, and battle cruisers, could be seen in greater detail, all of them a dark yellow with red markings, the colors of the Kleet Space-Navy.
The colors, of course, along with the lights, were an augmentation so as to be seen in the hologram, but in reality, they would be pitch black to avoid detection, and even the vapor trails wouldn't be seen by the naked eye.
The whole scenario was beautiful, with the Kleet yellow and red ships attacking the enemies blue and green ships. All of it disguised the fact that these ships were locked in mortal combat, weapons blazing, shields and hulls cracking, it was a combat where only the victor survived.
Heinrich most liked the big yellow dreadnoughts with their cannons booming. To him, that was the real battle. What the strike craft did was only a necessary sideshow before the real action.
"Okay, tighten in on the dreadnoughts," Wolfgang said as the big ships of their invasion force took their positions in orbit around the main planet.
"See, we shouldn't have to wait for the siege frigates," Heinrich pushed his point, which had already been conceded. "The enemy has nothing that can match up to our big ships, and their guard units, though fast, are just outnumbered."
"Okay, Heinrich, you've proved your point," his father admitted. "Enough. This is why we do this."
"Sir," Klaus interrupted. "The siege frigates are under attack."
"What? How? Where?" Barked Adolph, but his son only smirked. They had been concentrating so much on the battle before them, that they forgot about the siege frigates, which had been slowly rumbling into place.
"Apparently there was a hidden airbase on the fourth planet. They are sending out interceptors, corvettes, and ion frigates."
"The siege frigates will be wiped out," Wolfgang said wild-eyed. "Can we send them reinforcements."
"The big ships won't get there in time, and all of our strike craft are engaged," Klaus answered without any emotion.
"This is ridiculous," barked Adolph. "According to the Baku agreement, the Triestes aren't allowed anything larger than a corvette. How did they get ion frigates?"
"They must have built them clandestinely," laughed Heinrich. "Our best intelligence shows the possibility of a secret base. We've had our suspicions about their fourth planet. What is it called, Klaus?"
"Graz, sir."
"Graz, right. They've always had a huge mining operation on Graz, and they have all the necessary raw materials there. It wouldn't be a huge leap to set up a base in one of the old mines."
"A big enough fleet of ion frigates, protected by strike craft, could hold off any invasion," Wolfgang added.
"Right," Heinrich agreed. "Even start an invasion of their own."
"Heinrich, this is preposterous," Adolph said looking pissed. "Why wasn't I told of this?"
"It's only speculation sir, but speculation based on solid intelligence."
"Okay, Klaus, stop the simulation," Adolph said clearly agitated.
"Why?" Heinrich asked.
"It's unnecessary. You rigged the results."
"We should still see this through," Heinrich continued.
"Why?" Wolfgang said agreeing with his brother. "You knew full well that without those siege frigates, our landing craft would be decimated by their terrestrial defenses."
"We could still bombard with the dreadnoughts and cruisers?"
"It's all bull shit," Wolfgang mocked. "Anyone can rig a simulation. Let it play out, and we can run the numbers later. That way we can see the real results of the battle before this fictitious base came into play. The rest of all this is fantasy."
"Have we been able to find this so called, 'Secret Base," Adolph said not impressed.
"I've tried, sir, but all our attempts prove negative."
"That's because it's not there," Wolfgang snorted. "They wouldn't risk violating the treaty. They have too much to lose."
"They have too much to lose if they didn't violate the treaty," Heinrich shot back. "What do you think, that they are blind to our intentions?"
"Then why haven't your operatives found anything," Adolph asked.
