Neep had followed her onto the bridge.
"It’s a bit overwhelming, isn’t it?" he began.
"Yes, I’m in over my head, I’m afraid," she replied, and then smiled at him. "You hit the nail on the head, so to speak," she said.
"It’s hard sometimes," he said softly, "when you lose direct control over something important to you."
"Hmm? Hmm," she nodded. "I just feel I’ve started something which involves the fates of so many beings, now. I feel responsible."
"You’re a bit conflicted."
She twisted her ring around and around her finger.
"Anything could happen. The Valderians could be there in force. They could beat us. We could be defeated, and people, I mean beings, could die."
"People close to you."
"Yes." She twisted her ring again, and looked up into his big, dark, round eyes. "Thanks for listening."
"It’s what I do," he said.
She'd indicated she didn’t want to continue, and he respected her wishes.
"What do you think of our allies?" she asked him after a pause.
"They are very confident, and able in what they do and know. I sense great experience, but some apprehension, which is to be understood, given they are going largely into the unknown, with unknown allies. They know the Valderians well, and also I must say, they are able fighters in their own ways. They are looking for confidence in the Seasprite team."
"I wish I was confident."
"What’s your reason for thinking this way?"
She looked down, and thought for a long time.
"I don’t know," she shrugged. "I think we’re much more experienced than when we started, but we’ve been lucky so far."
"Maybe you underestimate how much you’ve all bonded as a team."
"Perhaps." She twisted her ring again, and stopped. "Maybe it’s more about me. I don’t feel confident. What if I do something, something that hurts the others? What if I make a mistake?"
She looked up at him with such pain on her face, he wanted to reassure her. He stopped himself.
"What do you think?"
She looked down again.
"Perhaps we all feel this way."
Neep smiled at her.
"We can only do our best," she said thoughtfully.
Neep nodded. Anna smiled at him, and bent over the console.
Anna went blank, and Neep wondered for a moment what was wrong with her, before realizing. He'd never seen a being have a vision before. One minute, Anna was there, talking with him, and the next, she was staring blankly, and just sitting at the console. She was non-responsive. It was fascinating, but disturbing at the same time.
Sixty Eight
Anastasia looked over at Vasily. Sometimes she felt she had the courage to leave him, the ship, and her people, and disappear on one of the planets they visited. She knew she would never be with humans again, or have a human life, but perhaps it was better than this non-existence with Vasily.
Other times, she baulked at this. She would be alone, without any of her kind. She also doubted her survival skills. She'd been brought up in affluence, with the benefits of technology. She knew very little of any real use in a survival situation. Throw herself on the mercy of one of the species they encountered? Perhaps.
They were on a world unlike anything they had experienced before. They were on their way to a system pinpointed by the maps at the Standing Stones, and Winter. The amazing and awe-inspiring ark as she liked to call it. Only she'd been able to enter, and this had enraged Vasily. She stopped herself thinking about any more. There was no point in upsetting herself again. It was done.
They were close to the amulet. She could feel it. Vasily didn’t know she could sense the stone, and also feel such things as a ‘seeing’ beyond her current reality. She didn’t know what the feelings meant, but she made sure Vasily didn’t know she had this sense.
When she was near the Stone, or held it, she felt its power. Power Vasily had tried to harness, but always seemed to fail. It'd helped him sometimes in doing positive constructive things, but these were few and far between. It was mainly Vasily’s own confidence and brutality which gave him this feeling the Stone gave him power. He'd discovered the old texts which mentioned the amulet and the ‘gods’, amongst her family’s papers. By accident, as he was no scholar. And this information had started this crazy, and obsessive quest for power.
She knew she had to stop him, but had no idea how. This fed her thoughts about running away, and disappearing.
They stood on top of a desert dune, under a baking sun. There were strange creatures on this desert world, huge insects, and beetle creatures. They were observing a battle in the distance. The huge beetle creatures were arrayed in ranks facing a large force of what looked like giant grasshoppers, but weren’t. Grasshoppers on a world with no grass? The creatures in the two battle lines held rudimentary, but still lethal, weapons.
Vasily licked his lips and grinned at one of his friends next to him. They both watched in anticipation of the fight. The killing.
Anna’s stomach turned, and she clamped her mouth shut. She wouldn’t give Vasily the satisfaction of seeing her sick.
A shrieking yell floated to them from the battle ground, and the two lines variously jumped and flew forward, crashing together with a clash of weapons, bodies, huge warrior cries, and grunts of threat, fear, and effort.
Following this was a hacking, flying, jumping mess of carnage, with the lines battling each other, beings falling to the ground, and others crawling, stepping, flying, and jumping over them. Aerial combats occurred as the beetles hovered and flew forward, the grasshopper-like beings jumping at them, and connecting in mid-air. The slicing and hacking seemed to go on for ever, as green sludge flew, and soaked the ground under their feet.
Suddenly, one of the lines broke, and the grasshoppers bounced back. It turned into an absolute rout, with beetles flying to attack the line from behind at key points. Grasshoppers bounded to escape, with beetles in hot pursuit. Many were overtaken, although the grasshoppers seemed to outpace the beetles. Otherwise there was complete slaughter, as the beetles overwhelmed the remaining grasshoppers in their now chaotic ranks.
Now they could hear what seemed like cheering from the beetles, and rounding up of surrendered grasshoppers began, although there weren’t many of these.
Vasily and his friend high fived, and turned to another friend, and some bartering around winnings, and how they would be paid, were debated.
Anastasia turned away, sickened by the whole thing. At a shout, she turned back. Some beetles were flying towards them.
Vasily calmly put his hand in his pocket, and brought out the Stone. Anna gasped. Vasily rarely took the Stone from the safe, and only when he really wanted to feel powerful.
He seemed to be focusing on the Stone, while his friends were pointing at the beetles, and bringing up weapons to bear.
The beetles came closer. From a distance they hadn’t been able to gauge their true size, but as they came closer they became huge, and menacing, with deadly looking swords, spears, and knives in their three hands.
The men fired laser guns, and beetles plummeted to the ground. The other beetles checked briefly, but continued to come on. On the desert battlefield, more beetles looked up, and flew towards them.
The men pulled at Vasily to leave, and Anastasia herself started to run clumsily through the sand to the shuttle below. As she ran, Anastasia concentrated on the stone, and hoped they could escape without injury.
The shuttle seemed too far away. The beetles were gaining on them. Anastasia could hear more shooting, and time seemed to slow. The shuttle entrance was close, with the pilot waving them on, and bringing out a gun. Anastasia seemed to be wading through mud, but it was hot sand, and things were moving very slowly. She fell.
She floundered to get up, but seemed to sink further into the sand as a result. She gasped with the heat. The Stone. She could see it glowing in her mind.
Vasily and his friends reached where she was, and one of his friends, put an arm down, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her up with a grunt. The others were running in front of them now, turning to shoot beetles which were still coming on.
The man who'd stopped for her turned and ran. Anastasia followed.
The thought of the Stone as she ran, but the beetles were soon upon her. At least now she wouldn’t suffer anymore, and she waited for a blow to come.
Nothing happened. She was still running, but the beetles had pulled back from her.
They still pursued the others, and one of Vasily’s friends was overrun, and struck on the shoulder with a sword, which almost severed his arm from the socket. Blood spurted. The others ran to him, some providing covering fire, and got him into the shuttle. The pilot had disappeared into the ship, so there was no one waving for her to hurry, or encouraging her to get there.
The beetles were all around her now, but flew without using their weapons, and at a short distance from her, as if there was an invisible shield forming a bubble around her.
She reached the ship, and looked back over her shoulder. The beetles were hovering a short distance away, but didn’t come any closer. She half fell into the entrance of the shuttle, and slipped on the slick of blood from Vasily’s friend. She slid forward, and the door clanged behind her.
Sixty Nine
Neep saw Anna’s eyes begin to focus, and she seemed to ‘come’ back into the room. She braced herself on the console in front of her, as if she was dis-orientated, and saw Neep sitting there. She started, and then firmed her features into a neutral expression.
"It was a vision," said Neep, matter-of-factly.
"Yes."
Anna seemed reluctant to say much. She was still trying to make sense of it. Neep was very curious, and had many questions, but he schooled himself not to ask them. Anna was about to speak, when Jamie and Snark led the beetle and bear contingents onto the bridge. Anna got up and left, Neep following.
"This is our bridge," announced Snark. "Seasprite?"
"Yes?" came from a coms speaker.
"Who was that?" asked a bear.
"Ship's computer," responded Jamie. "It has its own personality."
"We've heard stories about your technology," said Gruff, "but most seem to think they're all hype, and no substance. Talking computers are still a long way off for us."
"We've had them in one form or another for centuries," said Jamie.
Snark shot him a 'rub it in why don’t you' look, and Jamie grinned.
"Give us a set of tactical displays please," he said.
Hollo displays popped up showing the fleet of ships from different angles. Each ship was labelled with a damage value at zero, and listed its weapons capability. There were gasps from both contingents.
The navmap was showing a real time view of half the system, and as the blue dot of a trader moved, eyes were drawn to the movement.
"How far away is that trader?" asked the beetle second.
"Just over four hours from here," said Snark. "At our speed, not yours. If we waited for it to come here, it would be more like ten to twelve hours."
Since bear and beetle sensors were lucky to see anything more than two hours away, this was something of a shock. Snark decided to shake them up some more.
"Seasprite, can you summarise the fleet, and how best to use it, please?"
Warspite and Seasprite had already discussed it.
"Sure. Let's ignore Seasprite for now. The beetle ships have the biggest hitting power. While one shot will certainly damage a ship if the shot hits, six shots are going to ensure that ship takes no further part in the battle. The ships have the manoeuvrability to act in unison, and the crews are trained to do so. So they should form the core of the fleet formation. Their job is to systematically take out enemy ships one by one."
Hover nodded.
"The bear ships have a great deal of firepower, but the majority of it is best suited to point defence roles rather than attack. The best place for them is in the middle of an enemy formation, where they can fire in all directions at once, using chaos as a shield. The best tactic for them, is therefore to charge the enemy, and initiate close quarters combat as fast as possible."
Gruff looked at his second, who looked shocked.
"That’s exactly what we do," admitted Gruff.
"It's also a good way of dying quickly," said Snark. "Especially when you go up against a proper military force."
Gruff thought for a moment and nodded. It had happened.
"So you won't be doing it with us," went on Seasprite. "Your gunners are well trained, and what you lack in armour, is made up with skill at destroying heavy shot coming at you. So your role will be to ring and shield the beetle ships from around, and to the side of, their firing lane, and protect them from incoming fire."
Gruff's second let out a low growl. Seasprite ignored it and went on.
"Seasprite combines both aspects. We have both turrets and missiles which can destroy an enemy ship with one shot."
The bear second shot a glance at where the voice was coming from, with a 'no single shot can kill' look on his face.
"We also have both point defence lasers, and anti-missile missiles. Both can be used against the larger solid shot. So we are capable of both offensive and defensive roles at the same time. Seasprite will be point ship, above the beetle line of fire, slightly ahead of them, and within the bear circle around them."
Hover nodded again, seeing where this was going. Gruff saw the nod, and reluctantly nodded as well.
"We get to fire at three ships at the same time. Beetle rail guns, our laser turrets, and our capital ship missiles; one ship each time. I co-ordinate fire, so we fire at a different ship each time. The bears concentrate on keeping everyone alive while we systematically wipe the enemy fleet out of space. Target, fire, shift target. If the fire misses or damage is light, we'll go back to it."
"How fast do we go in?" asked Gruff.
"Slowly. Once we arrive at maximum range for the beetles, we slow down to get as many hits in before the range closes. Once the beetles can't get a firing solution without having to turn more than a few degrees, we go to the fastest speed the fleet can manage, and thread the needle through the enemy fleet. Bear ships will then take on the offensive role, while Seasprite concentrates on defensive fire. Once out the other side, we run for maximum range, before turning and doing it again. Depending on the size of the enemy fleet, we may not need a second run."
Silence fell. Gruff looked at his officers. Hover looked at his. Nods were exchanged. Hover nodded to Gruff.
"Let's do it," said Gruff.
Seventy
Anna sought out Sissness. She needed to know more about the Waterfall and the planet, Scylla Prime. She felt the more she knew in advance, the better she would feel.
Sissness had been with the group in the lounge, but hadn’t followed them onto the bridge. Anna sat down next to her. Neep had followed, and sat opposite them.
"What have you found out so far about the planet, and where you think the Waterfall is?" she asked Sissness, without any preamble.
Sissness looked at her and Neep. She cleared what she was doing on her tablet, and called up some files.
"The coordinates we have on the ancient map, correlate to a position on the southern continent of the planet. According to general information, the planet itself is a standard habitable planet, with a temperate climate, and the area we’re looking at is mostly rocky, with mountains in the distance. There's a river leading to the location of where we think the waterfall is. When we achieve orbit, we'll need to launch a satellite and check what's really there, and until then, we won't have any decent information."
"Are there locals?"
"Yes, but the society is not technologically advanced enough to have been admitted into the sector council. There are several species who want to colonise the planet, even though there is little to benefit them, such as extensive minera
l deposits, trade items and what have you, except of course, room for colonists, and to expand reach. The sector council has actually forbidden expansion here, to give the local inhabitants the opportunity to build their technology to a point where they make their own first contacts."
"Interesting. I bet the bears and the beetles were interested as soon as we mentioned Scylla. Are we likely to mess up, and make first contact improperly?"
Sissness also looked thoughtful.
"The area on the Southern Continent we’re looking at doesn’t seem populated at all. It’s mostly considered to be desert area."
Anna smiled.
"Hello, native inhabitants. We’re from another planet. Actually, from several different planets. And by the way, we’re bringing you a war."
She stopped smiling, folded her arms, and hugged them to her as if she was cold.
"We don’t know if it will be a war," said Sissness. "We’re just being prepared."
Anna smiled, but it didn’t have any warmth in it.
"Anything else?"
"Not really. We’ve looked at a possible landing site for the shuttle. Quite close to the coordinates, and where we think the Waterfall should be. But we'll check it when we can actually vid the area."
"When?"
"Pretty soon after we jump into the system, we’ll know if the Brotherhood are there. Assuming they're not waiting in ambush at the jump point. We’ll make straight for the planet if they’re not. It would take about five hours Seasprite time, but of course, we’ll be moving slower with our escort, so probably double that, depending on where the planet is in its orbit."
Anna nodded.
"We’ll have a briefing with the others soon," said Sissness, with a concerned look.
Neep and Sissness exchanged glances.
Anna looked into the distance, as if in her own world, then abruptly, she was gone to rest in her room.
Destiny Stone (A.I. Destiny Book 4) Page 27
