This deeply concerned Prince Ortumad. The only reason he was still alive was because he was on his battleship and the small support fleet which was loyal to him. I have informed the other princes that I have important tactical information I must take to the Conclave Habitat.
The secret of the Scythe will not protect you from deletion, replied Madoul. Queen Alithe is dead and a new Hive Queen has been chosen. Prince Brollen has been elevated to the rank of High Prince and is the Hive Queen’s immediate adviser. Even if we can prove he knew about the Scythe and because of it the staging system was attacked, he has put himself out of our reach.
Prince Ortumad’s eyes grew larger, and his antenna quivered in rage. There are other Queens who may not find the new High Prince so captivating. I know several of the older Queens, and they will not like the power Prince Brollen has now usurped from the Hive Queen. Perhaps several of them will listen to reason and be willing to take action.
They will also have to protect you, sent Military Commander Madoul. Once we arrive in the home system, there will be an effort to have you deleted. They may also delete those of us who follow you.
Do not be concerned, Prince Ortumad replied. I know of at least one older Queen who will give us refuge.
Ortumad looked at one of the main viewscreens showing an Intergalactic Transport being loaded with battleships. All of the surviving motherships had already been taken back, no doubt to remove their harvests. Ortumad was worried. The food reserves at the habitats were minimal. Without continued harvesting, there would be the need for massive deletions.
We have permission to dock with the Fraelhold, reported the Vorn at the Helm. However, our other battleships and cruisers are being assigned to a different transport.
Prince Ortumad wondered if this was an attempt to separate him from those who would protect him. Contact several of the other battleships and have more guards sent to our ship. Also, arm an antimatter warhead so it can be detonated from here.
That will destroy the Intergalactic Transport! protested Military Commander Madoul. Not many of them still survive.
I would not detonate it, Prince Ortumad assured Madoul. However, the threat of detonating it may prevent other Vorn from attempting to board our ship.
I understand, replied Madoul as he turned and went to carry out the prince’s commands.
Ortumad’s eyes moved from screen to screen. There were eight of the large 10,000-meter ships in the system. Six others were shuttling warships from Galaxy X241 to the staging system. Seven more were already on their way to the habitats or already there. Ortumad had been informed these were all the transports currently active. This was not surprising due to the fact forty-eight transports had been destroyed in the attack on this system. The denizens of Galaxy X241 were proving to be extremely dangerous. The Vorn had never encountered such resistance before.
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An hour later Ortumad felt his battleship dock to the transport ship. He had brought over two hundred additional guards. That should be sufficient to prevent other Vorn from forcibly boarding the vessel and trying to remove him. It was a five-day trip from here to the star system that contained the habitats. As soon as they arrived, he would contact one of the older Queens and inform her he had valuable information about Prince Brollen and the missing mothership Scythe. If everything went as Ortumad hoped Prince Brollen’s reign as High Prince would be a short one.
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Inside the Conclave Habitat High Prince Brollen listened as Hive Queen Berlyne spoke to the Royal Court.
Our latest inventory of food supplies, including the recently arrived motherships, indicates we only have a four-month supply of food. As a result I am ordering the deletion of 38 percent of the Worker Caste beginning immediately.
Who will clean our habitats? demanded a young Queen who had only recently taken over the responsibilities from an older Queen near the end of her time. The Worker Caste serves many useful purposes.
Hive Queen Berlyne shifted her multifaceted eyes to the Queen who had spoken out. If we do not reduce the size of the Worker Caste then we will all starve. Do you wish to die of starvation?
“No,” answered the young Queen, lowering her head. I will order the military caste in my habitat to begin the deletions immediately.
When will we resume the harvest? asked a powerful member of the military. Galaxy X241 still has a bountiful supply of food species.
Hive Queen Berlyne looked over at High Prince Brollen.
In three months, Brollen replied. At that time we will have sufficient warships activated to be able to protect our motherships. We will begin by harvesting a number of worlds where they will be little resistance. Once we have sufficient reserves of food, we will destroy the races that have been responsible for our recent reverses. Once they have been converted to food pellets the rest of the galaxy will be easier to harvest.
What about the ancient race? several Queens asked. What will be done about them?
Brollen had already instituted a plan to solve that problem. There are still over two thousand of our cruisers in Galaxy X241. They are tasked with finding the homeworld of this race. Our scientists believe it must be in either open space between star systems or in the heart of a nebula. At the moment our ships are searching every nebula which might be able to hide such a world or worlds. It will take much longer to search the open spaces between the stars.
This seemed to satisfy the Queens. High Prince Brollen knew the food supplies were much greater than what was being admitted. Many of the Queens were hoarding food and not reporting the true quantities of what was stored in their habitats. In the Conclave Habitat there was over a years worth of food supplies. He had not revealed this fact to Hive Queen Berlyne. Brollen had long believed there were too many workers and they were a heavy drain on food resources. This seemed like a good way to get rid of the more useless ones.
The ancient race and their allies found the staging system, sent Queen Erriles. Is there a danger they might show up here?
This caused a shuffling of legs and a stir of fear in the Royal Court.
No, High Prince Brollen replied. We still believe they followed one of our ships back to the staging system and that’s how it was discovered. There is no chance of them showing up here. I can assure you all of our habitats are safe as they always have been.
Brollen was still concerned about Prince Ortumad. Reports from the destroyed staging system indicated the prince had left the system and gone to Galaxy X241 with a small fleet of battleships and battlecruisers. No one knew why though Brollen had a suspicion. Several times Prince Ortumad had asked Brollen about the destroyed motherships. High Prince Brollen was convinced Ortumad had gone in search of the truth.
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Later that day High Prince Brollen was in the construction bay that was building his new flagship. The new ship was fully twice the size of his former mothership with much more powerful weapons and a new energy shield.
Progress on the new ship goes well, sent Military Leader Gallet. I understand you have given the order to build an entire fleet of these vessels.
Brollen nodded. These Ancients concern me. Their weapons seem to be able to easily penetrate our shields. The scientists have informed me the new shields on the larger motherships will not be so vulnerable.
Military Commander Vasterus has returned, added Gallet. He has requested we begin immediate production on the dreadnought class of battleships.
High Prince Brollen thought over this suggestion. The dreadnought class had been designed in case the Great Enemy who had driven them from the Vorns’ home universe ever appeared. Since that had never occurred the dreadnoughts were never built.
I will speak to the scientists and engineers in charge of building our ships and see if it is feasible to build any dreadnoughts between now and when we resume our harvest of Galaxy X241.
This seemed to please Military Leader Gallet. I will inform Military Commander Vasterus of your decision.
High Prince Brollen
watched as Military Leader Gallet walked away, heading toward a large hatch to exit the construction bay. Brollen had hesitated about ordering the construction of the dreadnoughts as they would take resources away from the reactivation of the hundreds of thousands of Vorn ships stored in stasis inside the habitats. Now he realized that with the threat of the Ancients construction of the dreadnoughts should have been a higher priority.
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In the Glaymon Dyson Sphere, Councilor Valen stood inside one of the huge construction bays of the Aggressives where a number of Glaymon battleships were being built. This was in direct disobedience of the council’s long standing order that the Aggressive were not allowed to possess the larger and much more destructive ships.
“Another month and the first battleships will be complete,” reported Fleet Captain Kriegon. “There are ten under construction in this construction bay and twenty more in the others.”
“They are powerful ships but we need many more.” Valen looked over at the fleet captain. “A number of other habitats have promised support in providing ships if we can get the council’s approval.”
Fleet Captain Kriegon seemed to hesitate and then spoke. “I may know of a way to win this war outright, but it will be a grave risk to our fleet if we make the attempt. It could even be a risk to this galaxy.”
“What is it?” asked Councilor Valen, feeling intrigued.
Fleet Captain Kriegon turned his attention back to the battleships. “This is what I propose if the council does not vote for all out war.”
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For the next twenty minutes the fleet captain carefully outlined his daring plan. When he was finished, he looked expectantly at Councilor Valen.
Valen’s face had turned pale upon hearing what Fleet Captain Kriegon was proposing. “It will be dangerous but I agree with you. It may be our only hope of defeating the Vorn. Make the preparations but we won’t initiate it until we see there’s no other choice.”
“If it doesn’t work we will lose our fleet and I fear there will be nothing left which can stop the Vorn,” said Kriegon.
Valen didn’t reply. There was much work that needed to be done in the coming months. If they were to enact Kriegon’s plan it would infuriate most of the council. Of course, Valen and Marshton had been doing that for months anyway.
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Prince Ortumad gazed at a viewscreen which was covered in static. Very shortly the Intergalactic Transport his vessel was docked to would be exiting hyperspace in the red dwarf system which contained all of the Vorn habitats. For the last five days he had kept heavily armed guards at all of the hatches and in the key compartments of the ship in case they were boarded. Everything had remained quiet, including very little communication with the transport ship.
They may be waiting until we drop out of hyperspace, warned Military Commander Madoul. Our ship will still be docked to the transport ship and they may believe it will be easy to overwhelm us.
They will not, replied Prince Ortumad, gesturing to the antimatter warhead strapped down to the deck in the center of the Command Center. Not as long as they believe we will detonate that. Once we exit hyperspace, I will contact Queen Erriles and inform her I have damaging information concerning High Prince Brollen. She is one of the older and more respected Queens. She will not allow anything to happen to us until she has seen the information we possess.
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Military Commander Madoul shifted his eyes to the antimatter warhead a few meters away. It made all of the Vorn in the Command Center uncomfortable knowing the power of the deadly device. Walking over to the long-range sensor console he could see the Vorn habitats appearing on the screen. Soon they would be home to an uncertain welcome. He had tied his future to that of Prince Ortumad’s. There was a very good possibility that future would result in him being deleted in the next few days.
Madoul shifted on his legs wondering if he should have obeyed his original orders to delete the prince. However, after witnessing the destruction in the staging system he had decided to follow the prince and see if it were true that High Prince Brollen had somehow been responsible. Now it seemed Prince Ortumad had been correct. The only problem was High Prince Brollen might very well be beyond their reach. He held a position of power never before wielded by any another Vorn.
Exiting hyperspace, reported the Vorn at the sensors.
The viewscreens suddenly cleared and one of the massive ten-thousand-kilometer habitats of the Vorn appeared. Madoul knew tens of billions of Vorn lived inside. There were massive docking bays, ship construction bays, and spacedocks containing thousands of warships inside each habitat.
I have established contact with Queen Erriles, sent Prince Ortumad. She has agreed to hear our evidence against High Prince Brollen and is ordering our deletion delayed until after we have been brought into her presence.
This placated Military Commander Madoul only slightly. Their deletion had only been delayed, not canceled. Madoul thought briefly of ordering the deletion of Prince Ortumad. The four heavily armed guards would follow the military leader’s orders without question since there was a standing order for deletion. However, Madoul knew even doing that now might not save his own life. No, he had no choice but to go along with Prince Ortumad and hope the evidence they had against High Prince Brollen was enough to save them.
It was at that moment the Command Center shook violently. Alarms sounded and warning lights began flashing.
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What’s happening? demanded Prince Ortumad, his multifaceted eyes looking frantically around. Has the transport struck something?
We are under attack, sent Military Commander Madoul.
We have fourteen battleships approaching and firing on us, reported the Vorn at the sensors.
The ship continued to shake with more warning alarms sounding. Red lights were appearing on the damage control board indicating severe damage to the ship.
We cannot raise our energy screen because we are still connected to the Intergalactic Transport, added Military Commander Madoul, with concern. We are taking heavy damage throughout the ship. Already a number of compartments are open to space.
Then get us disconnected! There was no doubt in Prince Ortumad’s mind High Prince Brollen was behind this attack. He must have figured out what Ortumad was up to.
There is not enough time, answered Madoul.
Then fire back!
We cannot, answered the Vorn at Tactical. The Intergalactic Transport has established an energy draining field and our power is rapidly being depleted.
With a sickening feeling, Prince Ortumad felt betrayed. Queen Erriles must have informed High Prince Brollen of the request for asylum inside her habitat.
The ship shook violently once more and the lights dimmed and stayed dim.
We are on emergency power, reported Military Commander Madoul.
Prince Ortumad looked at the flashing icon on the screen in front of him. All he had to do was touch it and the antimatter warhead would detonate. Taking a deep breath, Prince Ortumad moved his hand away. He would not destroy the transport. Death was at hand and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. He was a Vorn and he would accept his fate.
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Queen Erriles watched on a large viewscreen as a massive explosion tore Prince Ortumad’s battleship in two. Two more explosions and the ship was reduced to space dust. The Intergalactic Transport had also been damaged but was repairable.
What was so important that Prince Ortumad risked coming here? asked a military commander assigned to Queen Erriles.
We may never know, Erriles responded. However, we cannot risk alienating High Prince Brollen at this time. He has control of the harvesting fleets and that means our food supply. For the time being he must be allowed to remain in command.
Then we will move at a future date?
A very distant future date, Queen Erriles replied. The Vorn have always been ruled over by a Hive Queen which is our tradition. At some point in time, Prince Brollen must be reduc
ed to the rank of prince and Queen Berlyne must be allowed to rule all the Vorn as Hive Queen.
The military commander looked confused, his twin antennae quivering. You will not attempt to supplant Hive Queen Berlyne?
No, answered Erriles. However, a cadre of older Queens could be selected to give her advice on what is best for the Vorn.
Erriles knew to move against High Prince Brollen would be tantamount to suicide as just demonstrated by his ruthless attack on Prince Ortumad’s ship while it was still docked to a transport. It did bring about the question of what Prince Ortumad discovered. Whatever it was High Prince Brollen had ensured it would never be revealed.
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High Prince Brollen gazed in satisfaction at the spreading debris from the destruction of Prince Ortumad’s battleship. It irked him at how close the prince had come to revealing Brollen’s secret. No one must learn the Scythe had been captured. He was fortunate Queen Erriles had notified him of Ortumad’s arrival and request for sanctuary. The problem had been dealt with and there was no longer a viable threat to Brollen’s position within the Vorn. He could now dedicate his time to planning the harvesting of galaxy X241 and the nuisance food races which had been so disruptive to the harvest.
Chapter Sixteen
The Star Cross dropped out of hyperspace into the solar system. It was escorted by two other battleships, ten battlecruisers, and the Limeira. There were also four large cargo ships bringing the next shipment of the new defense platforms to be placed in orbit around Earth and Mars.
“All systems operating at peak efficiency,” reported Aleea from her holographic platform. “There’s very heavy ship traffic in the system.”
“She’s right,” said Lieutenant Brooks, checking her sensor screens. “The sensors are showing over four hundred ships.”
An alarm suddenly sounded on the sensor console. “Ship just exited hyperspace six hundred kilometers from us. I’m detecting fighters launching.”
The Star Cross: The Vorn! Page 22
