“That won’t be your decision to make, Lieutenant.”
Tollin sounded angry, but he simply didn’t understand the problem. In my opinion.
“That’s not true,” said Eagle. Tollin shot him a nasty look. “As long as I’m here, Bud is the senior officer on site, and he has every right to deal with a threat any way he sees fit.”
“Then you need to get back there.”
“All my people are here, retraining with pulse rifles. Until there is a need for fighters, my place is here with my pilots.”
“I’ll see what the Imperator has to say about that.”
He vanished. Eagle grinned at me.
“Do I really have that authority, sir?”
“You do. Obviously doing something that drastic is going to be questioned, so don’t take any action which isn’t justifiable. A potential threat is one thing, and we’re taking precautions. But until we have an identifiable and imminent threat, we need to let things play out.”
“Understood sir. What precautions are being taken?”
“The rooms the fungus are going to be allowed into, will be set up so we have separate entrances. Syrinx thinks she can do a shield which will burn up any fungus floating across the room, even down to the spore level.”
“What about infested other beings?”
“She’s working on a walk through shield which will do the same burn off, without the host knowing. It has generated some interest among some of the masters, as being a new sort of shield magic. They seem to think it will work. We’ll need you to monitor it.”
“I’m thinking actually meeting anyone on that station is a bad idea. Can we do it using holograms?”
“Now there’s a thought. The Corona people offered to upgrade us, and I believe progress is being made in negotiating that. I’ll pass it along to see if they’ll loan us the equipment so our diplomats can remote control their own hollo. Good thinking.”
“Every instinct I have is telling me we need to avoid any contact at all.”
“I know. And I respect that, but you’re emotionally involved. They compromised your girlfriend very soon after she almost died. You can’t help but be affected by that.”
“Point. I don’t think I am, or I’d have taken action already. But I will admit the war is a lot more personal now, than it was as a Jig.”
“War has that effect. It hits everyone somehow, sometime. We’re lucky in so far as our casualties have been very low so far. We lost a lot of people in the Darkness War, as ships didn’t retreat fast enough, or were jumped in the final battle unexpectedly. And we lost whole planets and billions of people as we retreated. Everyone who survived knew people who didn’t. But part of being a warrior is dealing with that and doing the job. If you lose your objectivity because it becomes personal, you’ll make a mistake which will probably kill you.”
“That was in the Midshipman Manual, sir.”
“I know. But this is real, and we don’t need you being broken by it. Face it Bud. You’re going far in the Imperium military, but you need to live long enough to get there. And along the way, you will lose people.”
I didn’t have to mention that I could still lose Serena. I’d nearly done so twice now. The first time was simply events moving too fast. The second was not seeing what was happening around me. Unfortunately, life was like that, and finding things like that out, was what being a teenager was supposed to be about. It didn’t make it easy though when you did.
“I know, sir. Maybe that’s why we shouldn’t be fast tracked like we are.”
“Maybe so, but the Imperium needs everyone it can get at the moment, and we need them where they are most effective. We’re getting a lot of people interested in being recruits, from all Imperium members now, but not a lot of those we really need. And even with the ones who are immediately useful, they all need retraining first. So like it or not, you’re where we need you, and you’ll be as fast tracked as we need you to be.”
“I’m glad that’s not my decision to make, sir.”
“Maybe not now, but one day it will be. So prepare yourself for it. Like it or not, you have command presence now, and you will be asked to use it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“For now, monitor the situation and keep me updated. I’ll see what Tollin is up to. He’s not the only one with the Imperator’s ear.”
He nodded to me, and was gone.
Forty Six
I spent the rest of the day in the Lightning.
I shadowed traders well off the beaten track, and found nothing to indicate the fungus was out of its own area. Traders were clean, stations were clean, and even the Trixone fleets were clean.
The only ship I found was not, was a trader heading out of fungus space through the jump point we’d opened up. There was a line of them inside the same jump point now, leading back to the station we’d been at, and across that system to the next jump point further in.
Traders had obviously been given the word to spread out, now they could get out. It bothered me that the Trixone had been keeping them in, and we’d opened the door to let them out.
What I didn’t understand was the Trixone attacking inwards, when blockade was much easier than offensive. And much safer if you didn’t leave any ships behind to keep the door closed. Mind you, the Trixone fleet I’d stopped, wasn’t the only one out there. More were converging from multiple vectors, and I had no doubt none of the traders currently trying to break the blockade would survive long enough to be a threat to anyone. That’s assuming I didn’t prevent the Trixone from getting to them any more than I already had.
Late in the day a large group of ships departed from a station several systems inside fungus space, and formed up into military formation. A quick jump in there, and I confirmed what the comnavsat showed. Fifty ant ships of battleship size had departed what looked like a military station. They were headed towards the open door.
Almost immediately, more ships in smaller formations began appearing from stations across a lot of systems, and about half of each frontier force did the same.
I jumped back to Long Water, and reported in to Eagle. He told me to keep monitoring. The diplomatic ships would be here mid-morning tomorrow. We’d see what they did then.
Dinner was more somber than usual. The team were bored, and somewhat upset they hadn't been able to go to Haven to try the heavy guns. They’d all held them though, as each ship had received a delivery of various heavy guns for both captain and AI. Woof and Dorm were limited to the pulse rifles based on their weight, while Metunga and his AI were quite happy with the mesons. The rest of them could manage mesons for a short time on their own, but already knew they preferred being in a combat suit if they were necessary. I took their word for it, and knew Woof and Dorm would be in combat suits, regardless. Woof would not be denied making a bigger hole, or the maximum damage possible.
We speculated on what was going to happen the next morning, but I was the only one who thought it was going to be bad. They all wanted the diplomacy part of the mission over with, so they could go back to shooting at Trixone. In the end, I kept my opinions to myself. Serena and Jill gave me speculative looks, but said nothing.
After dinner I left Jill in charge again, and walked through to Haven. I found Eagle in his office, chatting with several of his squadron leaders. They left immediately, and Eagle motioned me to sit. I told him what I expected to happen the next day, and he listened without commenting. The only concession I got from him was his pilots would be in their fighters before the diplomatic ships arrived. Just in case.
I finally understood the frustration of being a junior officer who no-one believed. I’d read enough stories over my formative years about flag ranks ignoring their juniors, and everything going to hell as a result, but I’d thought that was stories, not real life. I understood the reality of a rank structure, but being a junior was now being rammed home. It could be my age as well, and my lack of it. Or both.
Instead of going back to my ship,
I went to our station running track, drew a little more dark sun energy, and started running. I picked up the pace with each lap, barely aware of the people I was lapping, or the fact they had to get out of my way in a hurry. After a few slow down laps, I next went into the courses designed for heavy weapons use, and tried out first the pulse rifle, and then the meson blaster, before moving into a combat suit and trying both again. I preferred the suit and the mesons, and I had a few ideas to try if I ever found myself having to use them in a battle.
By the time I returned, everyone had gone back to their own ships, and Serena was already asleep. But I first went to the bridge, and checked on the oncoming ships.
I sighed.
“Problem?” asked Leanne.
“What do you see?”
“The ants have been slowly catching up.”
“And?”
She actually paused.
“And they’ll join up during what they’ve guessed is our down cycle, meaning we’ll have only an hour or two of notice that the ants will get here first.”
“Did Jane pass on what I said to Eagle?”
“It wasn’t Jane, but yes, I saw it.”
“And?”
“We think you’re right. Do you want to be woken if anything changes from what you expect?”
“Yes, but I doubt things will. The big question is when I’ll be allowed to act.”
“You’re thinking it’ll be too late?”
“Yeah, almost certainly.”
Forty Seven
Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well.
Even wearing myself out on the courses hadn't helped. Serena slept the whole night through, while I tossed and turned, slept fitfully, and finally woke with a feeling of impending doom. The shower didn’t lift my mood, even with Serena doing all my washing for me. She didn’t say anything though, and I had to wonder if she’d seen what was coming in a vision. If so, she didn’t say.
We both ran the ship’s track, but I lapped her several times. I was getting better at going around people in the limited space available. My mind was focused though, and the running and avoiding her was purely automatic. I had up a popup of the navmap in front of me the whole time, watching the ant ships approaching, now ahead of the diplomats.
Another quick shower was needed, but still didn’t change my mood. We joined the rest of the team for breakfast, and I gave them their orders. They looked skeptical things would go that way, but I had no doubts.
The one piece of good news was the Excalibur AIs had managed to change three more squadrons to mark fives, and had done it by jumping from their bay, clear through the rift to Haven, and back with the new ship, without anything showing on the navmap. It meant we now had five squadrons of mark fives instead of two.
The pilots returned after we’d finished breakfast, and while Eagle thought they were going to be bored, they were in high spirits from using guns which made more of a mess. Never underestimate a pilot’s willingness to blow things up. Any way possible. Eagle himself appeared on the bridge, and sat in his usual chair. Serena pulled up a second mirror, so she could see both of us without turning.
She was ready for a fight.
Eagle wasn’t.
We waited while the ant ships approached, us now in a formation which had us ringing the station around its middle, oriented on the docking bay facing the ants. Our diplomacy ship, with no-one on it, was docked at the other side, so it would balance the station when the main diplomacy ship docked.
Minutes from a firing range, I connected with the local sun, and started drawing enough to power any magic I found to be necessary.
“Be ready,” I said, with everyone already on the console as hollos, and looking back and forth between me and their own navmap and HUD.
There were two extra faces, one being the AI for our diplomatic ship, which was actually a modified support cruiser. It could fight with us if need be, but hadn’t been given a captain, as no-one except me expected it to. The other was the station AI.
Their heavy gun range came and went. So did cruiser gun ranges. The formation came to a stop at about destroyer gun range, while the lead ship continued on.
“Greetings,” said the voice, with their standard image popping up. “You won’t mind if one of our military ships docks with the station and confirms it is ready for our diplomats?”
“No problems,” I said, trying to sound like I was under their influence. “You’ll find the station is empty of our people, who are waiting on the ship while we confirm the same thing. They will enter the station at the same time as your diplomats do. I trust this is acceptable?”
“Of course. Our first ship will be docking momentarily.”
The channel closed abruptly. Leanne brought up a screen showing the space external to the airlock being approached. The ant ship continued slowing, until it stopped in exactly the right position. We’d changed the docking clamps to suit what they expected, and they clunked home. Not that you could hear it, but the expectation of sound was there.
The screen shifted to the inside of the airlock.
I drew in a breath, and erected a donut shaped shield around the station, protecting us, but not the station itself. In my mind, it was already forfeit. I’d sent the AI my expectations, but he was operating on higher orders.
“Better let them in,” I said.
The outer airlock doors slid open, and the first ants appeared.
They were loaded for war.
“And the inner doors,” I prompted, moments before they too slid open.
Ants poured through, spreading out into the station, checking the rooms, with what looked like a battalion strength with heavy weapons forming up and heading for our diplomatic ship.
“Told you so,” I said, but Eagle was already gone.
Before his head popped up on the console, smaller ships launched from every ant ship, with a half dozen aimed at each of us.
“Bug out,” I ordered.
We all jumped to a pre-determined position above the station, beyond what we thought was their detection range, and in our wall formation. A moment later, because it had to undock before jumping, the cruiser appeared next to us, centered below our wall.
What I assumed were boarding pods all changed direction for the station, while the entire ant battleship formation began powering for where the rift was. The one which was docked, undocked, and moved to join them.
I concentrated for a moment, shifting the entrance to the Haven rift up to near us.
“Launch fighters,” I ordered.
All thirteen squadrons appeared to fill in the gaps in our wall formation, making a more solid wall.
I looked at the station AI.
“What are they doing?”
“Tearing the place up looking for people. They also brought a number of those fungus carts on, and they appear to be spreading spores or something through the entire structure.”
“Fuck,” said Eagle. “I hate being wrong. Spacemage, this is your command. Do what needs doing.”
“Aye, sir.”
Forty Eight
I let the ants get clear of the station.
I had a rift opened in front of us, ready for a target, but I looked at the station AI.
“You might want to transfer yourself back to Haven.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m not sure the station will survive what’s coming for it.”
“I’ll take that risk.”
“Have you ever had part of you die before?”
“No.”
“Take a few hundred milliseconds, and ask those of your people who have.”
“Oh.”
His hollo head vanished. Smart. I’d no idea what losing part of yourself was like, but I couldn’t imagine it being pleasant.
“Firing in five,” I said.
Four seconds later, I put the other end of the rift up against the hull of the ship which had docked. By now, they’d reached the position where the rift had been, but must hav
e assumed they had the position wrong, as they were continuing in the same direction.
I didn’t bother selecting targets this time, hosing the constant fire along their ranks. Our fire was a lot more constant this time, and seemed like the squadron leaders had worked out a firing pattern with my captains, so we always had a third of our ships firing full broadsides for each new target. It was more than enough.
“Cease fire,” I said, just as the last ship came apart. “Fighters, home jump.”
In another second, just our thirteen corvettes and the cruiser remained.
“Jump to position two,” I ordered.
We appeared between the station and diplomatic ships, which were still coming on, and the cruiser vanished into the rift. I put a mage shield up in front of us, set to vaporize anything which hit it.
Eagle appeared on the bridge again, but he didn’t sit, standing next to me. I didn’t even glance at him, but Serena adjusted her second mirror slightly. We waited.
“Enemy launch,” announced Leanne.
There was nothing on the navmap or the HUD.
“What did they launch?” asked Eagle.
“What do you think?” asked Serena.
He said nothing, and we waited. I felt a tingle on my shield, but nothing was visible.
“Second launch,” said Leanne.
“Can you get us a visual?” asked Eagle.
A screen popped up, and zoomed in to show a mass of very tiny plants. There wasn’t enough total mass in each packet to register on the sensors without being specifically tasked to find them.
“Bollocks,” exclaimed Eagle. He sighed, and looked at me. “What are you going to do?”
“Any orders?”
His suit shifted to a plain flight suit, with no insignia.
“Your command.”
This time I did look at him. He didn’t flinch, and instead, took his seat finally, buckling up.
More tickle sensation, and Leanne announced a third launch.
Lieutenant Spacemage (Imperium Spacemage Book 3) Page 19
