A Game With No Rules (Perimeter Defense Book #4) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  Off to a bad start. The Aliens learned quickly from their errors and took effective countermeasures. It would be impossible to make a stealth bombing run on the drones. I cursed aloud, not ashamed to demonstrate my annoyance in front of my subordinates. And then, as if there weren't enough other problems, a message came in on an internal channel telling me that the Beta Iseyek supporting Florianna were all dying.

  "It seems our psionics are having a hard time..." my cousin Katerina said in agitation.

  I tried to get in touch mentally with my Truth Seekers again to figure everything out. Florianna didn't answer, but I did manage to overhear some echoes of Miya's thoughts.

  "Georg... ation is critical. Me and... students were atta... cynically by Krista... with a group of psionics! Toge... just barely managed... the mind of the Queen under our control, but... just... Krista left the chain... retrained all her might... psio... ... against my group. I was not able to close the connection... We were forced to fight... the strongest Truth See... of Emperor August!"

  The last thing I needed! Krista and her group of Truth Seekers had attacked Miya?!

  "Why did Krista do that?"

  "I do not know... Georg. ... ... they closed off and retreated! Let me tally up the results... of that nasty attack. The little girl Milena, the Truth Seeker of y... daughter Likanna has died. My old... friend Uya also died... I invited to the group. Flora fell out of the chain... But I sense that the girl is still holding out. Many of my stu... some just lost consciousness. Just seventeen girls are still with me. Sorry, Georg, but we didn't have time for the Queen. We had to fight for our very lives."

  The messages were becoming more and more coherent. Clearly, my wife was gradually coming to her senses after the sharp expenditure of force.

  "And what now, Miya?"

  "I can only say one thing — without a direct command from the Emperor, his Truth Seekers would not have stabbed us in the back like that. It seems that August royl Akad was certain that no information on this incident would slip out. But they thought wrong. We managed to fight them off. Georg, this can only mean one thing — the Empire has declared war on us. Our opponents also took losses. I personally killed three of the ancient hags from Krista's group. While Florianna strangled Marian Sabati when she got too caught up attacking me. To be honest, I wasn't particularly counting on Flora in this fierce scrap of experienced Truth Seekers, and I definitely wasn't expecting the girl to be able to kill the third strongest psionic in the galaxy. Now, I need to get back in touch with Florianna, bring my girls back to their senses and, in fifteen minutes, we'll try to attack the Queen again without any outside help."

  "What?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

  Before, Miya had told me taking on the Alien Queen was practically impossible after the death of the Dark Mother. But now, my wife was saying that she thought she could win with just her rag-tag band?

  "The mental channel is still open and we can use it for a repeat attack. We won't be able to kill the Queen. We also cannot paralyze her consciousness for long. But I can promise you that the Queen will be totally inactive for two or three minutes. After all, she suffered badly in our attack, burned through her psionic reserves and is now licking her wounds, preparing to flee back to Nayal. In fifteen minutes, when we start, hit her with everything you've got. Mow down the enemy drones and land some soldiers. The Aliens learn from their mistakes, so we'll never get a chance like this again. You'll only have two or three minutes, after which the Queen will come to her senses and become meaner, more experienced and more dangerous than ever before."

  * * *

  "Two Minutes? And after that, death to anyone in our fleet who doesn't manage to get the hell away from the massive black wretch? Correct me, Your Highness, if I misunderstood, but it seems we risk losing all ships heavier than a destroyer in this attack–they simply will not manage to fly far enough away to save themselves. Do I have that right?" Admiral Kiro Sabuto was in a very pessimistic mood.

  "In general terms yes, my friend. As soon as we get a confirmation from our psionics, our whole fleet will warp to the Queen and start shooting down her drones. There are a bit more than eighteen thousand of them spinning about the cosmos now, so it's completely realistic to destroy all of them if they really do not resist. But the problem is that the majority of the drones are still inside the supercarrier. The Queen will start to release them as soon as she comes back to her senses. And these fifty thousand drones will be active, dangerous, and mean. Our fleet's mission is to hold out as long as possible, distracting the drones and giving time for a landing team to get inside. At least one minute, but preferably five. Then, by Savasss Jach's calculations, his landing troops are guaranteed to destroy the Queen."

  Kiro Sabuto shook his head in doubt, looking at the colossal Alien starship on the monitor, but didn't argue. The experienced admiral didn't see any chance for victory, but still trusted his commander and was prepared to share my fate. I then read a report sent to me by Savasss Jach.

  The Marshal was saying that the very first Alpha Iseyek landing groups would manage to break through the chassis and into the Queen within one minute and a half. Over the next thirty seconds, the number of incursion points would grow, but just two or three and a half thousand praying mantises would get inside, which was clearly not enough to complete the mission. After the two minutes Miya promised us, the Queen might come to her senses, in which case a severe space battle would begin. After that, every additional second would mean hundreds and thousands of new soldiers getting inside the supercarrier. Overcoming all the crew resistance, the praying mantises would start to get to the starship’s key points, where they would be placing bombs. The most important thing was that the landing troops had to have enough forces for that. So, the main mission of the whole fleet was to make sure enough Alpha Iseyek could get inside the Queen.

  And though the ships of our fleet had a chance to escape in the forthcoming battle, and not even such a bad one at that, the Iseyek landing troops were facing inevitable death. First, for the groups that didn't even manage to get in the gigantic starship, then for the others, because the praying mantises wouldn't be able to get out and would surely die when the Queen exploded.

  I was betting the lives of a million intelligent creatures for the hypothetical chance to destroy an Alien supercarrier... A very hard decision for me as ruler of the Swarm. I approached the sacrifice with a heavy heart, but the Iseyek in my circle all assured me that there was nothing unusual in such a result and, in the history of the Swarm, there were quite a few instances of much greater losses to reach a certain goal. Marshal Savasss Jach told me that he had personally checked over all the calculations several times, so the deaths of more than a million Iseyek would not be in vain.

  "One minute to action!" I said out loud on the fleet channel, and that order was immediately transmitted to the landing modules. "Begin acceleration toward the first group of Pyros. In fifty seconds, they will be behind the Alien ship to give the fleet jump coordinates. In the warp tunnel settings, set two hundred miles so we get cheek to cheek with the Queen. Who were the brainless morons that just jumped without command?!"

  Bionica, barely glancing at the tactical screen, answered instantly:

  "Twenty-six landing modules from Tria-4. They were all from the same group: EA118. Obviously, this was due to a mistaken command from their leader."

  "Attention, all ships! Learn from the mistake of that landing group. How long did they survive? One second? Even less? I repeat again, do not warp without command! We're waiting for a confirmation from the psionics."

  "Georg, we are ready for the mental attack. We will begin in ten seconds."

  The message from Florianna came just in the nick of time. The wing of Pyros was just behind the Queen at full speed, where they gave our whole fleet warp jump coordinates.

  "Attention, all ships! Be ready in five seconds! Four. Three. Two. One. WARP!!!"

  * * *

  In the few seconds that
had passed since Joan the Fatty left the warp tunnel, I had time to get scared, curse elusively and give an order to my ships to start the battle. The Queen was still active by the time we approached, and met my starships with heavy fire from her defense turrets. Eighteen thousand drones from the Queen also immediately set about attacking my ships and the Iseyek landing modules. Fortunately, six seconds later, the resistance was sharply reduced. All the same, I sprouted quite a few extra gray hairs.

  After wiping the sweat from my forehead and slightly calming down, I said, now in a firm and confident voice on the common channel:

  "The first stage was a success. Congratulations. Although I did notice a few ships of my fleet jumping late into battle, when the Alien resistance was already ending. What was that, cowardice, lack of attention or lack of ability? In any case, consider this your first and last warning. If such a thing happens again, the captains at fault will be stripped of all regalia and forced to disembark at the first uninhabited warp beacon we reach with just a bag of seeds and some fertilizer, you have my word as a Crown Prince! And now, let's keep taking down drones! Whoever shoots down the most drones will be promoted one rank and get an exclusive bottle of brandy from the personal reserves of Duke Paolo royl Anjer, former head of the Orange House! Admiral Kiro Sabuto, prepare a report on our losses in the first phase of battle!"

  The gray-haired admiral told me that the report was ready now, and had been sent to my terminal. I opened the message and read its dry lines. We'd lost twenty-six Flycatchers, eleven Safas and thirty-four Pyros. The main losses had been taken among the praying mantis landing modules — the Queen had managed to destroy over eleven thousand of the maneuverable vehicles. Over one hundred thirty Alpha Iseyek had died, which amounted to twelve percent of all my landing troops. And that was all in less than eight seconds of active battle... What ghastly firepower! It was scary to even imagine what would have happened if the psionics hadn't managed to stun the Queen...

  In the report, it was particularly noted that the enemy's drones and weaponry were totally ignoring our large ships. Not a single shot had been detected on my cruisers or heavier starships. That couldn't have been a coincidence. The mind of the Aliens determined practically instantly that the biggest threat to the Queen was the praying mantis landing groups setting down on the surface of the huge supercarrier, and had given a command to eliminate them. And if it weren't for Miya and Florianna, the whole Iseyek attack would have drowned in blood in just one minute...

  "My Prince, all drones from the Queen have been shot down!" Bionica reported.

  On the tactical map, there was not a single small red dot remaining. Just the huge red dot and thousands of green ones around it. I looked at the timer. It had been a minute and a half since the attack began. The first landing groups should have already been getting into the Alien supercarrier. Everything was basically going well, but I suddenly got a panicked mental message from my wife:

  "Georg, she's very strong. We won't hold out much longer. Twenty or thirty seconds at most."

  Just twenty seconds?! So little?! But that, after all, meant that our trickle of forces to capture the massive starship wouldn't be enough! Alright, leave the panic for later! Think, think, think!!! There were no drones left in space, the main thing now was to impede the arrival of new ones, and neutralize the defensive turrets. That's what was firing on my ships, and all our present losses were from them.

  "Bionica, send an order to the marshal to send the landing groups to capture and destroy the defensive turrets. And another order — get the Alpha Iseyek out of the zone of fire — we're attacking the airlocks the Queen uses to release drones with small nuclear bombs! I've marked them on the hologram. There are seventy-three in total. Prepare the Leech-A's! Assign targets! Approximate time to attack: thirty seconds!"

  "My Prince, the Marshal asks you to cancel the nuclear attack!!! Savasss Jach is saying the losses of his landing troops would surpass all allowable bounds, and that there would not be enough troops to accomplish the main goal! The praying mantises will try to shut the airlocks, making plugs out of smashed modules and paneling, attaching them together with ropes or welding. And if they don't succeed, they'll blow up the passages themselves. Many of the landing groups have bombs with them of up to seven kilotons."

  There was no time to think it over, I had to act intuitively. I gave the Marshal complete carte blanche, ordering the fleet to cover the working groups at the airlocks. And then... the Queen broke free!

  I immediately realized it, even before I got a message from Florianna saying they'd lost control. The Queen's thrusters had activated, and the huge starship was beginning to accelerate very slowly.

  "She is trying to flee," Miya said, confirming my fears.

  The fact that the very dangerous opponent was afraid of us and trying to retreat gave me courage and confidence in my own abilities. After activating the microphone, I shouted:

  "Don't let her get away! All frigates, put warp disruptors and webs on the Queen! If she gets out, I swear that I will literally decimate you and order every tenth person in the fleet executed!!!"

  As if in response to my words, a wave of bright sparks lit up on the huge starship. The praying mantises were blowing their nuclear bombs, destroying the defensive turrets on the Queen and not letting the enemy drones get outside. There was a fervent battle underway for the main drone airlocks on the supercarrier. Four thousand ships and ten thousand drones launched by my fleet were trying not to let the Queen use her main weaponry. The Alien drones, just after leaving the bowels of the Queen, were quickly picking up speed and leaving the defensive shield, where my ships would meet and destroy them.

  But the Queen had already learned from her mistakes. After lots of senseless losses, the drones spent the next four minutes building up under the supercarrier's shield, not leaving the defended area. When the number of enemy drones ready to attack was over thirty thousand, I ordered my ships to retreat in an organized fashion, because the battle threatened me with critical losses. Just a few frigates were still holding the Queen as before in stasis webs and warp disruptors, while the wing of Surprises was ready to bomb the dense group of enemy drones as soon as they left the safe zone.

  But that was no longer so important. The most important things happening now were not in space.

  I looked anxiously at the huge monitor. It was showing the movement of the praying mantis divisions through the corridors, rooms and technical spaces of the gigantic enemy spaceship. Two hundred thousand Alpha Iseyek had already seeped into the Queen, which was more than enough to accomplish the mission they'd been given. What was more, as it turned out, we had initially overestimated the enemy's close combat abilities. The jellyfish-like Aliens, which is what we discovered inside this Queen, were significantly weaker than the "bushes" from the last one. They couldn't survive in a vacuum for any length of time, and It was fairly simple to kill them with laser or rail guns. What was more, they were very vulnerable to fragmentation grenades and bombs. All in all, three of the eight thermonuclear mines had been placed in the central nodes of the enemy spaceship. And then...

  "MY OPPONENT, I REQUEST MERCY!!! DO NOT KILL ME. MY SHIP IN RETURN FOR MY LIFE."

  Unbeatable Armada

  THE QUEEN'S MESSAGE beamed directly into my mind and nowhere else, so my officers and guards were taken aback when their fleet commander suddenly collapsed to the floor with blood pouring from his nose. My arm felt heavy as lead, but I still managed to raise it to tell them everything was fine, and croak out for no one to help me.

  "Order your crew to cease fire, and call your drones back in. My praying mantis landing troops will not shoot either, but I will still have them place the remaining thermonuclear bombs just in case. We can talk after that."

  I had no idea if the Queen had heard me or not, so I asked for confirmation from Marshal Savasss Jach through Bionica. The synthetic beauty, not hiding her amazement, said:

  "My Prince, all the drones are going back into the su
percarrier. The enemy has ceased fire."

  "Great! Send an order to all the landing groups not to shoot. Let them fan out inside the starship and take the turrets, power stations, control centers, comms centers and retransmitters under their control. Let them set bombs and weld shut any openings that could be used to release drones. Congratulations, everyone! The Queen has surrendered!"

  Global fame increase. Current value: +80

  Global fame increase. Current value: +81

  Global standing increase. Current value: +16

  Beyond all doubt, there had not been such adoration in the Unatari Fleet since the grand victory in the D56KT system, when we killed the first Alien Queen. Respectable, mature officers, who were generally quite reserved were jumping, shouting, throwing their caps in the air, laughing and crying in joy. There was an incomprehensible mixture of hollering and chirring on the fleet channel.

  Standing change. Empire Military faction opinion of you has improved.

  Present Empire Military faction opinion of you: +66 (veneration)

  The last message gave me a happy smirk. On the verge of a war with the Empire, my standing among the military of a potential enemy was higher than any of their own fleet leaders or military commanders. Naturally, that revealed tempting perspectives for the future...

  A message came in from Miya. It seemed to me that the Red Queen was bewildered and even somewhat frightened to see that the battle had ended that way. In an unheard-of turn of events, my wife even apologized to me for getting mad. Then she asked me politely: