Free Exodus: Empires at War: Book 8: Soldiers (Exodus: Empires at War.) by Doug Dandridge

quite some time.  The exceptions had been the
Lasharans and the Fenri, neither the most reasonable of species or
nations.  The other nations hadn’t been as belligerent, mostly because of
having had their asses handed to them in past wars.
    “I’m afraid that
won’t be possible as long as the Ca’cadasans are still around as an organized
Empire.  Maybe after we have totally destroyed their fleet and knocked out
their manufacturing base, we can have peace with them.  But make no
mistake.  They want us gone.  Destroyed, extinct.  And they are
not going to stop until we are.”
    There were some
murmurs at that, and Sean found himself looking at Zhee again, who was again
giving him her glare.  She had her own political agenda, and the reality
of the Universe had nothing to do with it.
    “They still have
a presence in New Moscow, and we need to get rid of that presence, get it out
of our backyard.  And they will be reinforcing there in the near future,
intelligence tells me within ten months.  From there they will again
attack our Empire, and the Republic.  Instead, I plan to beat them to the
punch and hit them with an operation in the next five months.  Due to
operational security, I can say no more about that.  Just know that we
will kick them out of New Moscow space, and from there we will plan our own
thrust into their space.”
    Sean really
hadn’t given out any information that the Cacas couldn’t guess at
themselves.  Instead, he had just used disinformation to further his
cause.  This information would get out to the spies the Cacas had
scattered around the Empire, and when more and more Imperial ships started
poking around in the Kingdom of New Moscow, they would associate them with the
offensive they knew was coming in five months.  And then, when the real
offensive kicked off in less than two months, they would be surprised.
    “Plan on us
being engaged in a war of survival for a century or more.  This is something
we as a people are not used to.  The human species is used to fighting
short, sharp wars, no longer than a couple of years.  But this foe is too
big, there is no possible strategy to knock them out of the war with one hammer
blow.  Or even with a dozen.  This is going to call for some
sacrifices.  More among the aristocracy and the wealthy class than others,
since they can afford the sacrifice more than the working class.  But they
will be called on to sacrifice as well.  Sometimes that sacrifice will
entail property, or work hours.  Sometimes it will call for their
lives.  Lives sacrificed now and in the near future will pay off in lives
saved further on.”
    Sean stopped for
a moment, his eyes roaming over the crowd, taking in the mostly attentive expressions. 
Many of them were in one of the services.  Others would soon be going into
one or the other.  Not all of them would come back.  In fact, that
might be true for most of them.  If they lost this war, that would be true
for all of them, to be followed by the rest of the human species.
    Sean stood for a
moment, thinking, dismissing the rest of his memorized speech for the
moment.  He decided to instead go with his heart for the last.
    “You all know
that I didn’t plan to be in this position, to become the Emperor on the eve of
the greatest war our species has ever faced.  I expected my father to rule
for many more years, maybe for another century.  And when he died, my
brothers were next in line, while I had planned for a naval career. 
Circumstances beyond my control gave me the crown.  Other circumstances
brought war to our doorstep before I could even ascend the throne.  I
would have preferred to have been the Emperor to have led my species, and those
others who inhabit our Empire, into a golden age of peaceful expansion. 
Instead, I find myself leading us into this fight.  My heart breaks every
time I think of what we have to face.  But I am determined to win, and I
think that if the rest of our