by Damon Alan
Behind his announcement, Sarah heard Seto advising the Stennis to go to condition one as well.
Her attentions to the bridge were sidetracked by her bodyguard.
Are you okay? Can I help? You’re being more demanding than usual. It’s not your normal way, Salphan thought to her.
I had a moment of weakness, she responded. It will not happen again. I have a chance to make a deal with a Komi leader that will allow our attention to return to the real fight. Showing Cothis the death of a star will go a long way toward ensuring Bannick keeps his word, once given. Survival is earned these days, and I will be bold toward securing ours.
I will be here if you need me, he replied.
I’m not going to stop needing you, Salphan. You’ve become a deep part of my life, of who I am. I can honestly say nobody knows me better than you at this point.
I do have a bit of an advantage in that regard.
I don’t mind, she thought. Now beat it, I have work to do.
Well maybe I do too, he shot back. You beat it.
She laughed, surprising herself and making Seto look at her. “Are you okay, Admiral?”
Genuine laughter was almost the last thing she thought herself capable of at the moment, but Salphan had brought it out. He was good for her.
“If I had a credit for every time I’m getting asked that lately,” she said, sighing. When Seto looked sorry for asking, Sarah apologized. “Mister Seto, you, of all people, are welcome to keep asking. You’re one of the foundation stones of our fleet.”
Seto blushed. “Thank you, sir.”
“Ahem,” Harmeen interjected. “Admiral, we’re ready to jump.”
“I believe you’re the Captain.”
Harmeen keyed his mic. “Stennis, Sheffaris. We are about to transfer. Sheffaris is at battlestations, condition one.”
“As is the Stennis,” was the curt reply.
You might want to fix those hurt feelings as well, Salphan thought to her.
Heinrich is tough. If words can dent her armor, she has no business leading this fleet.
Point taken, Salphan agreed.
Harmeen turned toward his navigator. “Mister Algiss, take us to Hamor. In close to the star, we have no time to delay.”
The sky shifted once again, and now a G-class yellow dwarf star blazed in front of them.
Alarms went off on the navigation and sensors console immediately. “Targets, one-oh-four mark zero-zero-nine. Three point four million kilometers,” Algiss said. He turned to Harmeen. “Looks like a three cruiser patrol, sir.”
The radio crackled. “This is the Stennis, asking for permission to engage.”
Seto looked at Sarah.
Sarah responded herself. “Negative. We’re moving you out system and preparing to detonate the star. Those aren’t FTL cruisers, there should be no threat to us.”
“Admiral, you’ll be defenseless,” Heinrich protested. “The range to the enemy ships isn’t that far.”
“Good,” Sarah responded. “Then the star will consume them as we transfer out system to rejoin you. Cothis needs to see this. My ship is hardly defenseless, and this conversation is over. Prepare to transfer.”
The bridge was quieter than usual. She’d shut Heinrich down hard twice in just a few minutes.
“Get to work,” Sarah barked. “Mister Algiss, get the Stennis to safety then deal with this star. Cothis, keep your eyes open, and this time there will be no way you can hold onto that stupid opinion you just shared at Korvand. Captain Harmeen, you may engage the enemy with antimatter missiles if they come inside two million kilometers. Otherwise the star will deal with them and it would be a waste of munitions.”
Everyone scrambled. Sixty seconds later Algiss asked Emille to kill Hamor Prime.
“Pay attention now, Admiral Cothis. Let there be no mistake,” Sarah growled at him. “You will see the truth of our power.” She pointed at his face. “The power I command.”
He looked shaken, his cocky arrogance subdued. He was clearly intimidated by her onslaught of energy, not to mention the things he was seeing. He simply nodded his understanding of her order.
The star began to dim.
“The surface is receding at over a thousand kilometers per second,” Algiss reported. “Compression inside the star must be huge.”
“How are you doing this?” Cothis asked.
“State secret,” Sarah answered. “Shut up and watch.”
Black regions swam on the surface, ripped apart and reforming as eddy currents of rapidly cooling exterior material plunged inward toward the core.
“The contraction is accelerating. Three thousand kps and climbing,” Algiss called out. “This star is collapsing at one percent of the speed of light.”
Cothis’s eyes were wide open.
“The bigger the boom once the star goes critical,” Sarah observed. “This is good.”
The surface was nearly entirely black other than canyons of orange-red fire that tore the world size chunks of cooler material asunder.
“We should transfer now,” Emille transmitted over the bridge speakers. “I have released the internal fires.”
“Do so,” Harmeen ordered her at the same moment Algiss reported a neutrino pulse.
The star detonated. Radiation alarms went off throughout the ship. On the tactical screen, bolts of electricity arced between the three Hive cruisers, then the one in the middle exploded. The other two veered off, seemingly uncontrolled, their engines dead.
A moment later and they were in the darkness of deep space. In the distance Hamor still glowed as if nothing was wrong, the light from the nova hadn’t reached this point yet. The ship creaked and groaned as the outer skin contracted due to rapid cooling after seconds before being swept with intense thermal and penetrating radiation.
Sarah stared at Cothis, awaiting his response.
His mouth hung open and he seemed frozen. He stared at the flashing radiation sensor toward the fore of the bridge.
“It’s not a lethal dose, and we pack plenty of anti-rad nanites,” Sarah told him. “Much as I hate those dirty little pieces of dust, it’s the only way we’ll survive the process for more than a few novae.”
“You’ve done this multiple times?” he asked, finally seeming to retreat from his shock.
“This was the sixth,” she said. “If I was the kind of person to do so, we could simply sterilize the Komi empire and pick through the rubble for what we need. But that is not our way.”
“Fortunate for the Komi. We would not be so kind to you,” Cothis said, his face once again devoid of emotion.
Sarah was surprised by how quickly he regained his composure. Military training. The Komi seemed to do that right. “Is that the kind of man Bannick Komi is?” she asked. “One who would sterilize my world if he had the chance?”
“No, not at all. He’s harsh, but he’s mostly fair,” Cothis replied. “It’s his father, Urdoxander, he’s the main cause of suffering on the captured worlds. He says every subjected world will need to learn the price of defiance at some point, and it might as well be at the beginning. Bannick believes cooperation should earn fair treatment, which is why I am loyal to him.”
“You don’t sound like you care for your High Lord,” Sarah observed.
“I do what must be done for my family and my house.”
“An excuse common throughout history, that you’re only doing what you’re ordered. Nonsense. People of integrity fight evil with every fiber of their being. You, however, chose to assist evil, and will be treated as a war criminal unless I see fit to repatriate you to the Komi. That will depend on them.”
He didn’t respond.
Sarah tossed an image from her datapad to the monitor in front of his station. “What’s that ship?”
For the second time in a few short minutes, Cothis’s emotions crossed his face.
“Where did you see this?” he asked.
“Mindari. Converging on the planet. What sort of defensive system is t
his?”
“It’s not a defensive system,” he responded slowly.
His eye twitched involuntarily.
Sarah wondered if that was a tell. “What is it? Why does this ship unsettle you?”
“It’s a weapon. A planet sterilizing weapon. And if I wasn’t here, I’d be on the surface of Mindari.”
Sarah’s mouth dropped open, it was her turn to let her emotions show. She was, for a moment, unable to conceive of a society that would build such a thing. Somehow the Komi had managed to exceed their own reputation for atrocities.
“Was your family there?” she finally asked. She didn’t even know why she asked. But she didn’t know what else to say that wouldn’t be an attack on him.
“House Cothis is on Komi, Admiral. Thank you for your concern.” Cothis, seemingly sensing an opportunity to have the upper hand for a moment, continued on when she didn’t respond immediately. “The weapon focuses radiation inward toward the surface of the planet from equidistant points in orbit. Life below is dead in a few hours. If the process continues from there, the atmosphere is slowly turned toxic as volatile chemicals are formed by the ionizing radiation.”
His nonchalance pushed her buttons, and she let her emotions loose. “Is this a threat?” she yelled at him. The outrageousness of such a creation was beyond reason. He was lucky she was only losing her temper. “Is this a threat to me?”
“No, Admiral Dayson,” Cothis responded. “High Lord Komi has no idea you’re even involved right now.” He paused, seemingly thinking. “This is a message from Urdoxander to Bannick.”
“He’s threatening his own son?”
“No,” Cothis replied calmly. “This is not a threat, Admiral. If the kill fleet was deployed, it was meant to be used. The message to Bannick is about how vulnerable he is to Urdoxander’s will. If the High Lord wanted to kill his son, he wouldn’t have summoned him to court.”
Sarah kept her eyes on Cothis. She wasn’t sure if she should execute him or not. The man was dangerous, he was willingly part of a military that would not only make such a weapon, but use it. And he appeared to know the details, which meant he was at least complicit if not supportive.
“Captain Harmeen, take us back to Mindari. Park us and the Stennis someplace safe, far out system. I’ll need intel on the planet ASAP.”
“Aye, Admiral,” Harmeen answered. “Mister Algiss, no delay. You heard the admiral.”
Sarah glared at Cothis. Hate raged inside her once again, but she managed to control it enough that her reactions were measured.
“You’re alive right now, war criminal, because you’re useful to me,” she growled at him. “If you wish to remain alive, you will remain useful. My people and yours are at war. I am a flag officer, and if you fail me at any point, I will pass summary judgment on you and toss you out of an airlock. Do you understand?”
Cothis nodded. His calm demeanor remained unchanged.
She reaffirmed her opinion that he was far too talented as a military officer to go beyond that in showing emotion.
His next words were quiet. “My loyalties are with Bannick. He has asked me to aid you in keeping him out of Urdoxander’s reach. I will assist you in that regard as I can. If my life becomes the price for that, then so be it. House Cothis will benefit from Bannick’s rule.”
She had no choice but to recognize his professionalism.
She didn’t have any obligation to recognize or approve of his cause. Nor did she have any regard for his loyalty to some house. She wasn’t even sure what that meant to the Komi.
And, if she got her way, it wouldn’t matter.
Chapter 43 - Admiral’s Personal Log
AI Lucy82A recording, Admiral's personal log, personal archive: Galactic Standard Date 12:55:13 27 SEPPET 15332
Personal log entry #1973, Admiral Sarah Dayson, origin Korvand, Pallus Sector.
Current Location: Deep Space, Mindari System
The Komi have exceeded all my worst expectations of them.
They have built a war machine, a fleet of ships that sterilizes an entire planet. And not just of humanity, but of all macroscopic life. Microbes probably survive, but little else will survive the horrors of a corrupted atmosphere, extreme radiation, and bombardment of the cities by kinetic kill weapons.
Mindari, the planet that took me in and nurtured me back to health after Korvand, is dead, and will be unusable for decades to come.
[An intake of breath, and a four second pause]
While my mind is still grasping at the magnitude of this disaster, I’m confused. Why make the show of killing civilians for pacifying others if they planned to sterilize the planet? Does this mean there are two different subsets of Komi war criminals working within their empire? That must be it. Why would Urdoxander Komi both try to control a populace and kill a populace at the same time?
This leads me to believe there are other factions in the Komi Syndicate I haven’t met yet. I really don’t need more Komi or any of their internal politics on my hands.
[A seven second pause]
That’s just what I need. More absolute psychopaths to keep me from achieving my objectives.
I shouldn’t speculate. I have no proof of another faction. Just proof that civilians were murdered on one scale, then for some reason that scale was increased to include everyone on Mindari.
[An intake of breath, and a shuddering release indicating emotional turmoil in the speaker. A seventeen second pause]
These people have made it very hard to maintain a veneer of civility with Cothis. Maybe it would be best if I didn’t. All the Komi seem to know is brutality. Maybe the admiral needs to believe we’re every bit as brutal as the Komi are.
That will do for now. Until I know more there is no reason to fill my archives with speculation.
End the log, Lucy.
Chapter 44 - Investigation
“I’m listening, Mother,” Sylange insisted. “But you don’t have to do this. You were right, the two who died were not suitable to reach adulthood.”
“That’s true, but that’s not what I’m saying,” Mother replied. “What I am concerned about is how they died. The machine used its locomotion system, and then they were dead. In a flash, just like that. Over. Done. Finished—”
“Mother!”
“Of course, of course, you have sensitivities to the issue. But don’t you have some concern to the how of the matter? I mean, it happened, yes, and I get that you’re a mother now. I insisted on saving you, after all.” Mother paused a moment, but the Obedi Matriarch wasn’t done. “But there is something to their loss. A vulnerability we did not know we had. Is it isolated to this particular universe? Or other universes like this one? Or all of them?”
“How would I know?” Sylange replied. “And if I did, what makes you think we could do anything about it? The travel method of the machine and the death of my two children seem directly related. But we don’t know that. Maybe it killed them with some other weapon just as it jumped away to safety.”
“Now you’re thinking,” Mother replied. “I’m glad to see that, Sylange, because you will be Matriarch someday and you’ll have to consider these sorts of possibilities when you are.”
“We are Obedi, we are eternal,” Sylange said.
“So we like to think, and as a people we are,” Mother said. “But clearly we are not so eternal if the machine managed to kill two fully armored children.” She paused a moment, maybe because she didn’t want to ask the next question when it would reveal how little attention she paid to Sylange’s family. “Your children are old enough to be fully armored now, right?”
“Mother!” Sylange repeated, as she did all too often. “You should know the offspring of your offspring.”
“Of course I should. It’s just been busy lately, especially since I think this universe can be saved.”
“I guess,” Sylange conceded. “So what is your point?”
“My point, dear daughter, is we need to go find the bodies of your two c
hildren and determine what killed them.”
Sylange was astonished by that. If the children were alive, sure, she’d just sense their location and go. But they were dead, and if their bodies still existed they were just hulks with no being inside.
“How, dear mother, do you propose we do that?” she asked sarcastically.
“Go to the point where you lost them. I will meet you there and you will share the memories with me,” her mother demanded.
“On my way,” Sylange replied as she severed connection.
Khala sidled up to her. “Now that you’re done talking to your mother…”
“I’m not done. I have to go meet her.”
The colors of sexual frustration then despondence momentarily flashed on his carapace. “I understand. She’s worried about the clan. You might help her find answers.”
“Were you listening in again?” Sylange asked, aghast.
“Of course not,” he replied, indignant colors on his shell. “You and your mother never meet up unless it’s clan business, so it’s not too hard to figure out why you’re going.”
“Am I that predictable?”
“Only in this.”
She unsheathed her manipulation arms and grabbed him, causing him to chirp in surprise. His carapace flashed white with shock and she laughed. The color turned a dusky shade of yellow as she drew him in closer. “I promise you when I return, after events are settled with Mother, you and I will spend time as one,” she told him. “I must store some of your essence for a future brood in case Mother takes you from me, after all.”
He laughed. “I do not think your mother wants to bother with the young and the foolish. She will leave that to you, as you have more patience for it.”
“Neither of us can presume to know what she wants. But if called to serve the Matriarch, you’ll go. It is the way.”
“I would miss you!”
“Of course,” Sylange agreed. “I would miss you too. Sadly, because you can’t keep your mouth shut when she and I are conversing, she has noticed you. And now you may have to serve a stint at the top, so to speak.”
