Marda nodded to Lindil then signaled Chris and Rudjick ahead. She deactivated her maglocks and jumped after them. As soon as she passed the remains of the hatch she reactivated the maglocks and fell towards the deck. What she saw was horrible. Kink was on the deck, clutching at his arm as Dibtel dragged him away. Gadcon clung to the remains of what might have been a computer terminal, his armor splintered. Bichard and Matt hung off to the side, Bichard supporting Matt as he fired round after round from his sniper rifle. Only Arion and Ller appeared unharmed; switching positions to fire on the Gorvians every time the capacitors in Arion’s cannon needed a moment to recharge.
Marda looked up at the Gorvians. There were a half-dozen of them left and each looked completely different from the next. The only trait they shared were the brain tails waving from various points on their bodies, each of their vacuum suits custom made to accommodate the varied body types.
Before Marda could explain further a sniper round exploded the brain tail on one of the Gorvians. It just stopped moving and hung there as blood spewed from the wound.
Marda couldn’t smile that she’d been right as she watched the Gorvian’s spirit dissipate. The idea wasn’t even hers, but a theory she’d read about from when the Gorvians had first appeared over two centuries earlier. Few Gorvian bodies had been recovered during or after the war. Most had been too badly damaged for any conclusions to be dawn. Only genetic tests had proved that the multiple Gorvian types belonged to a common species; despite their extreme physical differences.
Marda brought up her gun and laid down covering fire as Arion and Ller switched places again. Arion cut loose with Big Red, the plaser cannon boring three neat holes through one of the Gorvians before he turned to the next. He released another three-round burst, shearing the Gorvian’s head from its back. It continued to fight on before a round from Matt’s sniper rifle incinerated the base of its brain tail.
The deck beside Marda exploded and tossed her through the air. She flailed about for a moment before her training took hold and she fired her suit jets to compensate. Her new vantage point afforded her a clear view of the battle. The three remaining Gorvians had dug in well and her teams wouldn’t be able to penetrate their defenses from the ground. She went to bring her rifle to bear but realized that she had lost her grip on it. The blast had thrown it out of her hands and it had continued its course away from her.
She took stock of her weapons. All she had left were her sidearm and four grenades. She looked behind her, seeing how close she was to one of the ship’s plasma conduits, and she activated her maglocks. Her boots pulled her to land against the metal conduit as she removed her grenade belt.
The concussion from the blast proved enough to send two Gorvians flying, and the remaining pair into the barrier. Plaser rounds from multiple angles drilled into the two flying Gorvians before Chris, Rudjick, and the rest of the Explosions’ Environmental team took to the air as well. Rising above the barrier, they opened fire, pouring concentrated plasma rounds into the two stunned Gorvians.
Marda breathed a sigh of relief and a sudden pain radiated up her side. She looked down to find that half of her armor on that side had splintered from the blast that had knocked her off the deck. The pain increased with every passing moment as her battle high wore off. She winced at the pain as the all-clear signals rang out before the inevitable calls for a medic. Tend to the wounded first. She looked out over the group and called up her micomm. She activated her medical mode visor and commanded the suits of all the injured to inject medical nanobots into their injuries, even her own.
A cool numbing sensation ran up her side and Marda leapt off to help the others.
Marda swallowed as she came to kneel beside Kink, examining his medical readout as she flew towards him.
Telsh barked her way into the link.
Marda shook her head and linked Telsh into her readings.
Marda turned to Chris and motioned to the rectangular case on her back.
Marda did her best not to look, relying on her own medical readout to tell her how bad her injuries were. It didn’t look good. Not only had her armor been shattered from the blast, she had multiple breaches in her body suit which had self-sealed, and convection burns.
UCSB Date: 1003.131
Observation Dome A-9, Planet Slicer, Tib’Trim System
Gondral looked out across the surface of fas massive ship. Drifts of stellar dust and gas from the gas giant’s rings swirled amongst the various towers dotting the landscape. The ship had proved massive enough to generate its own gravity and weather patterns despite its relatively narrow profile. The engineers who’d designed Gondral’s flagship had warned fam about how the gravitational stresses might twist and warp the ship. Despite testing it against three planets so far, there’d been only minimal alterations to the hull.
Fools, my ship is the mightiest craft in the universe.
The door to the observation dome opened and Gondral didn't even bother to turn and look upon the interlopers. Gondral could feel all of fas people around fam, guiding them with fas thoughts whenever necessary. There was no threat of internal assassination, not when they all revered their high lord as a god, or when Gondral could assume control of even the most heretical Gorvian on a whim.
Of the three Gorvian that entered there was one that might, some cycle, prove a threat, fas own progeny. The old Gorvian beside Gondish was Gondral’s most trusted aide: though time has left fas body twisted, the mind was ever sharp. The third Gorvian was a curiosity, a newborn pup. Gondral could feel something different about this one - it was stronger than the typical child. One of Gondish’s latest? Gondral felt a cruel smile twist fas lips. “What brings you to me?”
Gondral rested a hand on the scar running across fas abdomen. The attack had come at fas’ weakest moment, when pain had clouded the ability to control. It had robbed Gondral of the ability to birth more progeny. None of the other progeny that Gondral had sired ever proved as strong or as capable as Gondish; the progeny fae self-impregnated famself with. “I will ask again. Why have you come?”
Gondish cleared fas throat and motioned towards the Gorvian child beside fam. “I came to introduce you to the grandchild of myself and your child Goltak.”
“Lord of all, we also have completed our analysis of the Dondick’s recent raid.”
Gondral turned to f
ace the trio. The child was already twice as large as an Anulian Dondick and stood upon three legs with ease. Fas brain tails twitched with excitement as fae looked up at fas grandsiremare, fas head not even close to knee level. “How old is this pup? I have not seen or heard from Goltak since I left Gorvia five orbits ago.”
Gondish reached down and picked up the child. Though Gondish was still smaller than fas siremare, fae remained twice the height of the typical Gorvian. “The child was born less than two tenths of an orbit ago,” fae replied, pride reverberating off each syllable.
The old aide stepped up and laid a hand on the child that was only half fas size. “It is truly remarkable Lord of All. A union of the Lord Gondish and your lesser progeny shows great promise for the breeding of a new army of Generals.”
Gondral could not help but smile at that news. None of the rank and file Gorvian knew the truth of fas birthing. Gondral’s appearance as the first Gorvian General in over two centuries had been seen as a miracle. One that would end the Gorvian’s long period of aimless wanderings amongst their old master’s territories.
Gondish showed great promise to reach fas own levels of size and strength. Fae had also demonstrated a keen ability to control other Gorvian, an ability which would grow with age. Gondral’s inability to continue to self-impregnate had left the future of the general caste in danger, and had threatened fas ambitions at conquest. Now, it seemed that this child might be proof that Gondish could breed another general caste sooner than expected.
“And Goltak? Did moe survive the birthing?”
“Moe was injured by it Lord of All, but moe will recover.”
“Have you attempted this with any of your other siblings?”
“Goquep will birth our child in half an orbit, Gonrod shortly thereafter.”
“What of your own attempts at self-impregnation?”
Gondish turned away to look upon the gas giant the Planet Slicer now orbited. “I have made no attempt since the last failure.”
“Lord of All. The doctors still feel that Lord Gondish must grow further before attempting to birth fas own progeny again.”
Gondral turned a dismissive eye on the old aide and turned back to fas child. “To lose a child is always hard. Twice did I bring about stillborns and twice that did I miscarry. This you know. But never did I stop trying. Have you attempted to carry the seed of another?”
Gondish’s long brain tails twitched in response. “Not since Gonby.”
Gondral nodded. Gondish’s only birthing to date, seeded by Gondral famself, was a misshapen and undersized abomination that did not even survive a full orbit of their homeworld. “Your sibling, Gorzan should return soon. Fae is the strongest of my other progeny, perhaps with fam…”
Gondish turned on fas siremare. “Gorzan is likely dead.”
Gondral’s brain tails twitched with anger and fae nearly stumbled back. “What? How?”
“Lord of All, Shiplord Gorzan’s corvette is almost a tenth orbit overdue. The last signal we received from it was over a decacycle hence. We fear that fas corvette, number 1563 may have been destroyed, or captured”
Gondral’s rage threatened to consume fam in that moment. Gorzan was Gondral’s oldest child, birthed from the seed of Gondral’s own master. Gorzan was even more ambitious than Gondish, and while almost twice the size of a normal Gorvian, had never grown further. Nor did fae show anything beyond a minimal ability at telepathic control. Gorzan’s ambitions and want of glory led fam to lead one of the strike corvette expeditions into Dondick space. Settling for nothing but glory, fae sought to stab deep into Galactic Federation territory.
Gondish set fas young progeny down and approached Gondral. “Gorzan would never allow famself to be captured. Half fas crew carried fas seed. If fae fell, fae would have taken many with fam.”
Gondral felt the teeth of fas mighty mouth grind. “What of your other news?”
“The raid, Lord of All. It appears to have mostly comprised recon craft. While we cannot be certain, one of the craft managed to make it beyond the reach of our jammers after it made a pass of the Planet Slicer and before we could destroy it. There’s no way to know what kind of data it was able to send.”
Gondral had to resist the urge to tear the old Gorvian apart. “So, the Dondicks want a closer look at my ship then? Fine, we’ll give them one.” Gondral turned on Gondish. “You have studied our history Childe. On what world was our greatest defeat in the last war? Where did the last Gorvian general fall?”
A guttural voice rang from near the edge of the dome, Gondish’s child answering for fas father. “As’Tril.”
Gondral stood taken aback by the babe’s speech, but smiled a moment later as the other two just looked on, mouths agape. “That is right little one. As’Tril. Gondish, order the bridge to prepare for departure. We will give the Dondicks a look at my ship they’ll never forget. And, to your child, if it has not yet been named, I name it in honor of that General, Giltar.”
Gondish made to say something then stopped and locked eyes with Gondral.
Gondish was visibly displeased with the order but Gondral had only to concentrate and brought fas child under fas control. “Carry out your orders Childe. I would see As’Tril reduced to rubble.” Gondral forced Gondish to walk out the door before relinquishing control and turned to find fas old aide standing beside young Giltar. “Do you disagree ancient one?”
“We are yours to command as you see fit Lord of All. The death of your first child must not go unpunished. The destruction of the Gorvian’s greatest shame will prove to rally all of our kind into the bloodletting needed to bring the Dondick to their dooms.”
UCSB Date: 1003.137
Orbital Traffic Control, As’Tril System
The As’Tril colony was one of the few places that had been left untouched by the centuries-long war which had rocked the galaxy. Far from the border between the UCSB and GF and off the trade lanes between major worlds it was of little strategic importance in the long conflict. During the first Gorvian war however it had been a major staging post for the Gorvians. In the waning cycles of that conflict it had seen the Gorvian’s bitterest defeat at the hands of UCSB.
Since then, and with the war so far from its sphere of influence, it had become an agricultural world, the colonists there able to grow bountiful crops unmolested. Even now with a new conflict with the Gorvians ramping up, most still considered it a safe world. None of its jump points were opportune with any in Gorvian space. But even unlikely targets could fall under the malevolent eye of the Gorvians.
A lone space traffic controller sat on monitoring duty, staring out of the viewport at As’Tril below. Traffic was always light around the world, and this cycle appeared to be no different. His coworker walked into the control room, a steaming cup of hot stimcaf in one hand.
“Where’s mine?" he asked with a smirk before a warning signal sounded, the indicator blinking to inform them that a ship was approaching the nearby jump point from the hyperspace side. "Are there any cargo runs coming in this cycle?"
"Let me check the log… no,” the second controller answered confused as he set his cup aside; the strange readings from the jump point added a concerned tone to his voice. “Holy mother of God," he gasped looking at the number of ships coming through the jump point, the shock causing him to fumble his mug. "Whatever's coming through is huge, and…”
“And what?”
“These readings are crazy. Something is generating a grav-field strong enough to pull us out of orbit,” he said as the mug smashed against the deck. Neither one of them paid any attention to its contents now.
They stared in subdued terror as dozen
s of Gorvian ships emerged from the jump point, their cannons stabbing out around them. Looks of terror forever marring their faces, the two controllers could only watch as the seemingly impossible happened right before their eyes. A massive tear above their planet changed shape right in front of them. The spherical gateway between universes looked like someone had trapped it in a great press, flattening it out. No such object existed, but by the time it stabilized, it had become a sliver over half the planet’s width.
Orbital disruption alarms blared through the control room as the station vaulted from its orbit towards the gravitational anomaly that had metamorphosed the tear. The altered jump point undulated and flexed as the first tip of a gargantuan ship emerged from hyperspace. It was more monstrous than anything they’d ever seen. The tip of the massive ship pushed past them like they were little more than an insect before it tore into the upper atmosphere. The pair scrambled to watch the monitors as more of the ship emerged and twisted about through the tear, exposing the massive engines to the station.
The huge Gorvian ship tore the station from As’Tril’s gravity, and it fell towards the surface. Geyser-like thrusters erupted across its surface as it maneuvered to bring the planet between its crescent tips. Behind them the sky of As’Tril was already afire, the tip that had torn through the upper atmosphere leaving a scar of superheated plasma in its wake. That scar would be the least of the planet’s worries as the massive ship lurched towards it.
Militia Base 12, As’Tril System
Temblors the likes of which he’d never felt before knocked the four armed, goat-faced Otlian, Pi’Lig, from his seat in the squadron ready room. The floor continued to rock as he picked himself up, the room around him crumbling. “Move it people!” he called to his men and took his first running step, but vaulted off the floor in the process. Gravity felt wrong to him, lowered, as if the planet had shrunk or another planet had come impossibly close.
Armageddon's Pall: Spiral War Book 4 Page 7
