The Forgotten Empire: War for the Empire Raymond Weil (the reading list TXT) 📖

the council. These were the most powerful telepaths in the Morag systems of worlds. From Bator Prime. Evidently sometime in the remote past, one was developed but never used, probably developed in the early days of the Confederation and then buried in the archives.

So what do we do? We dare not let the secret of the nullifier get out to all the Confederation worlds, said Delann.

I fear there is nothing we can do, answered Addonis. Too many know about the nullifier and how to build it. I suspect it doesn’t matter what we do now. The secret will eventually come out.

The good news is that four of the Great Council races still support us, pointed out Brant. Only the Lormallians and the Zang have come out against us.

Councilor Addonis walked around the room to where a giant hologram map of the Confederation was visible. Over sixty thousand worlds were under the control of the seven races. If we allow the Lormallians and the Zang to maintain control of the Confederation races in their regions of the Confederation, we lose control over nearly five thousand inhabited star systems.

Can we afford to lose that many inhabited worlds? asked Hiram worriedly.

It will placate the Lormallians and the Zang for the immediate future, answered Addonis. Many of those worlds are in open revolt against the Confederation. No matter what those two races want to do, they must bring peace to those worlds. It will tie up their military for months, possibly years. By the time they have control of their own worlds, all our ships from the reserve will be fully activated. At that time it might be prudent to move against the Lormallians and the Zang to bring them back firmly into the Confederation and under our rule.

So, we let them have their way for now, and then, in the future, we attack and retake all their worlds under our control? asked Councilor Brant.

Addonis nodded. It makes the most sense. Also, during that time, we run all our shipyards full-out, producing more modern warships. We still have the Human Empire to deal with.

After that, we must take on Earth, added Delann. Some very difficult times are ahead.

Difficult times we can deal with, sent Addonis. With our fleet and the reserve, we have more warships than all six of the other races combined. We will be victorious. It may just take longer than we had planned. I will communicate our decision to Councilor Damora.

-

Early the next morning Councilor Reull busily read messages that had come in overnight. The installation of nullifiers on the second Lormallian fleet progressed as planned. Currently personal nullifiers were being sent to all the main Lormallian government officials, as well as the command crews of all the fleet’s flagships. Also key military personal on all Lormallian planets were given the nullifiers as well.

There had also been no movement of any Morag fleets toward Lormallian space. This was good news, as Councilor Reull hoped to have all Lormallian warships protected by the nullifiers in a few more weeks. He had also spoken briefly with the Zang councilor, who was interested in forming an alliance with the Lormallians against the Morag, if any of the worlds of either species were attacked. This was something Reull would have to discuss with the government leaders of the Lormallian inhabited worlds.

-

Morag Councilor Damora had received his orders from the High Council. For now they would allow the Lormallians and the Zang to go their own way, though they would still remain as members of the Great Council. Telepathic nullifiers would be limited to members of the two races and no one else, not even other members of the council. Anyone not of the Zang or Lormallian races caught with a nullifier would be executed on sight. The two races would be responsible for maintaining order on all the worlds in or near their regions of space. They also would not be allowed to put up orbital defenses around their worlds, except for their capital planets. Damora was surprised the High Council was giving so much. He wondered what they were really up to.

-

The Great Council was once more in session. Morag Councilor Damora had just finished going over what the High Council was offering.

“We accept,” said Councilor Reull, “with the following changes. All Lormallian and Zang fleets will be pulled out of the Human Empire immediately to help in pacifying our planets currently in revolt. We will no longer take any active part in your war with the Humans. The war began because you feared the Humans, when you learned of their natural resistance to telepathy. Before then, the Human Empire was not a threat to the Confederation. The Humans are your problem and not ours. We will transmit a message to Golan Four that the Lormallians and the Zang are pulling out of the war and will hence forth be a neutral party.”

This caused a stir in the rest of the council, with several members talking at once.

“It has been decided,” said the Zang councilor. “The war for us is over. It’s time we turned our attention and our resources to helping our own people.”

“I fear you will regret your actions in the future,” replied Damora. He noticed the Zang councilor now wore a telepathic nullifier, no doubt furnished by Councilor Reull.

“One more thing,” said Councilor Reull. “The planet of Bator Prime and the archives are in Lormallian space. We will allow limited access to the archives. However, no armed ship may approach the planet. Appointments must be made with the curators in order to do any research into the archives. The Lormallians have been in charge of the archives for thousands of years, and we plan on continuing that tradition. Also a defensive grid will be put around the planet, as well as a defensive fleet. We will not allow anyone