Secret part 8

The soldiers looked at Charley carefully, since she was considered the person who had the best knowledge of all the people's strengths. Charley looked round the table. "The Mice are good warriors, probably the second best at war. Carbine has managed to organise a powerful force of soldiers, but she can't entirely trust them."

"Hey!" Carbine Protested

"Be fair. Would you go on solo commando missions if you could trust your force?" Charley stated - then continued. "As a result the Freedom Fighters were formed, and were so successful they were an embarrassment to regular military units."

The humans looked at each other carefully. This was after all a military brief but they had been victims of this. In fact the force had been disbanded after its massive success, because they were an embarrassment to the regular army. However they had been reformed and now had a massive reputation as one of the best in the world.

"Carbine was the only army commander anyone would trust, because she was the only one who fought the Plutarkians with any measure of success. And so that's why she's now a general. Sorry guys, this is important background."

"Wait? You said the mice are warriors?" Wensleydale asked. "They usually would lose to soldiers, but they'd cut up merchants."

"Exactly. The Plutarkian's Admiral William Wilberforce Wensleydale is a commander who gets the Plutarkian's pulling in the same direction, and worse he's the only Plutarkian allowed complete independence. He will be guarded by Special Forces himself. His main point of attack will be Earth. Mars does have a fleet - however, Carbine?"

"If I place the fleet in Earth orbit, Admiral Wensleydale will notice and attack Mars instead. His flexibility and his charisma make him very dangerous, and makes the Plutarkian fleet one of soldiers instead of trader-politicians."

"Green, but well-trained crews? The plan is obvious if we had a way to get to him." William Wensleydale states. "Kill the Admiral and the Mars fleet can hit them hard. We just can’t get to him."

Charley looks at the mice. "Now do you see why I didn't want you destroying Limburger's building yet again? We don't want to make his job of clearing up any easier. We penetrate Limburger's building and the teleporter should get us on board. Fortunately artificial gravity is on board."

"We've actually had zero-gee training if it comes to that. We were prepping here for when we got the fleet up..."

"Shouldn't need it. But you're going to need plans of the ship. And more importantly, the first thing we have to do."

"Deal with the Plutarkian Special Forces. We have to enter Limburger's building undetected. But first we head to Green Global."

"Why?"

"The CEO's a Plutarkian."

"Are you sure?" Lieutenant William Wensleydale states. "It doesn't seem like a Plutarkian occupation."

"Exactly why we haven't spotted him until now."

Elsewhere Gutama Gouda sat down. Life was good; his method was far more effective than Limburger's of smuggling the destroyed buildings to Plutark. Limburger always was an extremely slippery customer, but tended to overreach himself. If there was one Plutarkian Gutama could be said to respect (if such a thing was possible) it was Limburger, who despite the difficulties life threw at him was still effective. He should treat his triumphs and disaster as karma, and not worry so much though. Brie however he had feared. Ambition, intelligence and Insanity, a dangerous combination in any life form. He'd actually agreed with Limburger's reading of the situation, and smiled. Earth was dealing with the obvious Plutarkian threats and they would never guess that he was running an apparently (and actually, though not quite as much as made out) eco-friendly company. Then there came this horrible sickly sweet smell. Gutama had half-expected this. The idiots would blow his cover. He was probably in trouble for not destroying opposition. Gutama was happy to be ruthless, but it was never anything personal, and while ruthless he was not stupid despite his personality. He had guessed the same as Limburger and had avoided being spotted as Plutarkian by entering an "outside the box" profession.

Meanwhile Admiral William Wilberforce Wensleydale was going over the final checks of his forces. All seemed reasonable. It was important to keep the data-links up. It was time to talk to them all.

"Men, we are about to take on a battle which will determine the future of Plutark. We do not know what we will face, but we will annihilate any enemy. We will not come out in the standard distance"

A hologram of Earth appears. It looks peaceful and serene. Then the Plutarkian fleet arrives in their standard-entry and, and suddenly points appear on the globe and get larger. Then massive explosions destroy the fleet.

"So instead of our standard re-entry, we will re-enter here, and enter a two tier formation."

This team the pinpoints do heavy damage do the first tear, but it is still mostly intact, and then the second tear sweeps in.

"Best case scenario, here." Wensleydale admits. "Adapted ICBM's and satellite weapons only. We hope this is what we face. Now there will be just one change for worst case."

Martian ships appear, though with odd markings and acting with a unity that Mars has never had. This is something they fear, but it is still a Plutarkian Victory.

"Mars will not engage in case we hit their world. To quote a great tactician from Earth – ‘When fighting two forces place yourself in the centre and deal with one at a time’. It is time. For Victory! For Plutark!"

"For Victory! For Plutark!"