Beyond Death (Perimeter Defense Book #2)

by Michael Atamanov

  Not everything went smoothly: Surprise-26 didn't make it into the warp jump and was hit by its own bomb. But when the tactical map reappeared, it showed not only the wreckage of my stealth bomber, but also that of two other frigates and another small Alien ship that had clearly suffered from being too close to the explosion. A whole swarm of green dots moved out toward the lone target.

  "Warhawk-4 here. I'm holding the enemy under web and disruptor." Tamara Vuzhek once again distinguished herself by being the first frigate to complete the mission.

  A few seconds later, there were no less than a hundred stasis webs and warp disruptors on the cloaker, which brought the ship to a complete stop. It would be a sin not to take such valuable prey alive...

  "General Savasss Jach, the immobile small Alien frigate must be captured. Are there landing troops ready?" I wondered, and Bionica translated the giant centipede’s none-too-satisfied answer:

  "Will fifty thousand be enough? Prince, that’s how many I woke for the assault on Kej-V, you see, but the attack did not take place. We have no way of putting the soldiers back into suspended animation. They are hungry, and they must be fed first. That group of Iseyeks that you sent to the Tria as food wasn't enough for such a bottomless pit of hungry mouths."

  "General, all we need to do now is capture one little frigate. But do not worry. In fifteen hours, we'll have eight Behemoths to storm. Your soldiers won’t have been woken up for nothing."

  "Eight Behemoths?" the general thought it over. "That is serious... I wonder if fifty thousand will even be enough... I'll wake up another fifty thousand in twelve hours then. But for now, one pod should do the trick. Ninety-one landing troops will be sent out to capture it in one minute."

  Ten minutes later, I got a message that the cloaked ship was under our control and was even in a very good condition. The landing troops did not detect any living enemies inside the ship, but that wasn't important. We had a cloaked Alien frigate that could set up mobile warp beacons! It was just a treasure trove of technology to be studied! The trophy was so valuable that it had to be taken no matter the cost.

  I clarified, just to be cautious, whether there was any dangerous antimatter in the ship. I ordered the ship disabled to turn off the warp drives and make it possible to transport. After that, my technicians attached the trophy to the chassis of Master of Tesse. There were fifteen minutes left until zero hour, the time when the new Alien ships would arrive in the Aysar system, and everything was ready.

  "All ships, take coordinates for warp jump!" I sent the data for one of the far-off spots in the Aysar system. "Accelerate toward the target. Stand by for three minutes, then we'll all leave the station together. Just a division of Surprises will stay here by the station. We'll see who comes to visit and whether the rest of us should come out to say 'hi.'"

  I gave all the orders and threw myself down into an armchair. Bionica, in a stroke of genius, thought to bring me some energizing drink without my asking. It did a great deal toward bringing back my strength. By the way... it had been three hours. What was going on with my favorite and our wager? I called Princess Astra on an internal line.

  The girl was sitting in an armchair with a glass of a dark wine in her hand wearing nothing but a pair of semi-transparent underwear. There was a canvas tipped over on the floor next to her and pieces of women's clothing thrown around the room, along with tubes of paint.

  "How did your meeting with the painting expert go?" I wondered.

  "Some painting expert..." by her lowered eyes and sobbing tone, I figured that Astra had recently been crying. "Prince Georg, you were right. Corwin ton Ugar was a liar! That's right! He just kept talking up your painting and saying how much he could see my style, that he could feel a woman's touch. He was spinning pure crap! And basically he turned out to be a totally boring person. And just where did his happy character go, his jokes and wit? I realized I was very wrong about him. So I decided not even to wait out the whole three hours and left One-Eyed Python in just forty minutes. You won the bet, Crown Prince. But for some reason, I'm just so, so sad... And it’s not at all because of the presents I’ll never get now..."

  It was at that moment that Joan the Fatty went into the warp tunnel away from the mined station. I turned off the screen showing my favorite, who had clearly made up her mind to sit by herself drinking. I looked at the time and sighed, laying back into an armchair and closing my eyes. I only had eleven minutes of rest before another potential battle. I would need to see just what kind of Alien forces were coming to us in the Aysar system for a little fire-fight.

  The Fatty's Last Battle

  "No, no, I just don't play like that!" I boiled over dramatically when, in addition to the group of thirty small Alien ships we already knew about, another armada came to the Aysar system, one that made the thousand-strong fleet in Kej seem simply pitiful by comparison. "If there were a thousand times less of them, we might have even gone out to greet our guests, but now it doesn't make any sense. Surprises, cancel attack, fall back. And turn your camera on that giant in the middle. I want to get a closer look."

  My cloaked frigate turned its camera and zoomed in, focusing on the matte-black starship that served as the epicenter of the massive Alien fleet. The shape of the ship was reminiscent of a bent black coin about twelve miles long. I was able to see clearly on the video that there were many smaller ships stuck onto the colossus: Sledgehammers, Hermits, and even Behemoths looked tiny on the backdrop of this leviathan.

  "Area: fourteen miles by fourteen miles. Width: zero point zero nine three miles. No cannon installations can be detected visually." said Valian ton Corsa. "It's a carrier. A mothership!"

  The second part the officer shrieked when a whole squadron of Meteors ripped out from the depths of the titan into space unexpectedly.

  "Carriers are typically closer to the size of our Uukresh. But, compared to that giant, it would seem like nothing. I announce a competition: we need to think of a name for this big Alien ship! It is also long past time to name the other previously unknown ships we are now also familiar with. I mean, the name 'that cruiser that totally isn’t a Sledgehammer' is a bit long!"

  The officers began laughing. I also smiled. It was probably surprising, but none of the officers there were panicked or scared any longer in the slightest. The Alien armada surpassed the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet in strength to such a degree that you couldn't even be scared. Suggestions came in from all around:

  "Puck!" "Discus!" "Coin Collector!" "Stingray!" "Mother-in-Law!" "Star killer!" "Hive!" "Pie!"

  "Queen!"

  "Why ‘Queen?’ Is it something you sensed?" I turned to the paralyzed girl.

  "It... I don't know. It's too murky. She has come to reckon with those who have brought harm to her children. No, not quite... She is their collective mother, but not in the usual sense. It's more like... they are all one being, and inside the big ship is the largest part of the body. No, that's still not it... The roots of the whole species... Wrong again... I'm confused, Prince. I guess it was a stupid name..."

  "It's not stupid at all, Florianna. I will tell everyone what you sensed: that ship or some being inside it is somehow like the root of the whole Alien race. It has come to destroy all who would dare offend its branches. It’s new official name is Queen."

  “Prince Georg... there's something else I want to tell you about. I have finally finished checking all the captains and senior officers for treason and other signs of defection. The captain's second assistant on the battleship Bride of Chaos has been bought off. He must be interrogated. Also, the captain of Surprise-28 and her first assistant have bought into a curious brand of fatalism. They believe that humanity is destined to die in the war with the Aliens, but that they will leave together on their cloaked frigate and give rise to a new race of humans. Just now, this duo has taken it in their heads to throw up radio beacons at our spots to give the Aliens their coordinates. They think the Aliens won't destroy Surprise-28 if they do that, and that they will
even be rewarded for their unique knowledge and abilities. And also... I will have to talk with the captain of Umoyge-7. That Gamma Iseyek is definitely not a traitor, but he is somehow different. I will need to have a chat with him to get it figured out. Invite him to Joan the Fatty."

  I told all the officers about the Truth Seeker's words. Admiral Kiro Sabuto reacted harshly:

  “Crown Prince, we've already been through just such a thing not so long ago. The traitors were outed by name. I see no reason to wait and give them the ability to finish whatever sinister mission they're undertaking. Article 34-11, subsection B of the Space Fleet Charter prescribes the highest level of punishment possible!"

  "I agree, admiral. But in order not to spook them off before we can get there, let's do this: when the fleet jumps to the next temporary location, call all ten captains to Joan the Fatty together with their assistants, saying it's to give them a secret mission. Popori de Cacha, do it on your terms, but when the shuttles arrive at the dock, don't get confused: the human traitors are to be arrested, but the Gamma Iseyek in charge of Umoyge-7 is to be politely invited to a conversation."

  "Will do, tuki-tuka-de-sa!" the Chameleon bowed. "Would you like to speak with them?"

  "I don't see a particular reason for that, and also I'm simply collapsing from exhaustion. The fleet will just spend the next seven hours changing its coordinates and jumping around the Aysar system. The admirals can deal with that very well without my personal participation. I just need some sleep. There's a big battle coming up tomorrow, and I need to go into it well rested."

  * * *

  I was rattled awake by Astra. Without opening my eyes, in a sleepy voice, I wondered what had happened.

  "Nothing so important. It's just that the alarm clock went off, and your Highness asked me to wake you up if you didn't hear it."

  "Is that so? I don't remember such a thing at all..." With difficulty, I cracked one eye open, and the first thing I saw was two bouncing naked breasts right in front of my face.

  The dream vanished as if by magic. With both eyes now open, I saw the smiling Princess in her birthday suit sitting on the bed. Something was different with Astra... Her hair! The girl had died it emerald green. And on the Princess's arms, neck, and breasts there was a fanciful silver twisting pattern. Ripping my eyes from the spectacle of this forest dryad in my bed, I looked at the alarm clock. There was around an hour left before I was planning to wake up.

  "So, I guess you were joking about the alarm clock then?" I posited.

  "Do you think this shade of green suits me?" Astra wondered instead of answering the question. "Bionica recommended I do it. She also drew this on my body, saying that you would definitely like it!"

  The girl jumped up from the bed and started spinning around with a happy laughter, demonstrating her excellent figure and the shining pattern on her skin, as well as causing her emerald hair to flutter freely. It was all very beautiful and alluring. But my gaze suddenly got caught on a chain around Astra's wrist. It was, by the way, quite a familiar gold chain with a figure of two people in passionate embrace. It was like I had a bucket of cold water dumped on me. Sure, I could explain the green hair or drawing on the skin as just random or another change of look on her part, but this chain, which I had once given to an android in and underwater cave, being on the Princess's arm could only be a frank, unambiguous hint. I don't like it when people try to manipulate me.

  "What’s the matter?" Astra wondered, after seeing my change in mood. "Bionica told me to wear it."

  I called my secretary on an internal line. Bionica answered instantly, as if she was sitting at the information panel waiting for me to call.

  "Can you explain what's going on here?" My annoyed tone instantly demonstrated to the robot secretary that I was none too amused by her plan.

  "My Prince, everything is simple. Astra asked me to help her with an outfit, and I decided not to refuse the Princess such a small request."

  Bionica flapped her huge eyelashes innocently, showing clearly with her whole appearance that she had no idea why I could have been upset. Though... Was it just me, or did a satisfied smile appear fleetingly on the synthetic girl's face? The android knew my character quite well and, I suspect, had predicted this exact outcome. I signed off, looked at the Princess who was slightly losing confidence and explained my behavior:

  "Astra, you are very beautiful on your own. So don't ask Bionica to change your image. Robots have their own ideas about what is beautiful, and they aren't always the same as people's."

  "So she spoiled everything, huh?" It seemed to me the girl was about to start crying.

  "It's not Bionica's fault. She was trying. But that chain just doesn't suit you. Not your style at all. And green hair is usually a sign of errant desperation and adolescent rebellion against society. It looks good on my eleven-year-old daughter, but on a woman who is trying to look like an adult, such as yourself..."

  Astra sat closer to me and wondered timidly:

  "And the drawing on my skin? Bionica recommended against it, in favor of a permanent tattoo."

  “You definitely don't need it permanent, but just drawing it on from time to time for variation..." I led my finger over the crisscrossing silver lines in thought. They sparkled back up at me from under my fingertips and gradually faded.

  "The paint reacts to light. It changes color in the dark," the girl placed my hand on her breast. "And if we turn the light off in the room, my body would glow."

  "We should try it out," I agreed, turning off the light and at once ordering the Chameleons to take some time off in the hall.

  The alarm clock rang, but it was already too late to stop Astra and I. The negative effect of the crystals had finally fully passed, and I was feeling like I could do anything, so I took great relish in the wonderful and passionate woman beside me.

  A few minutes after that, when we were simply lying and resting in embrace, I heard the Princess give a quiet whisper:

  "That was my gift to your Highness. Happy Birthday, Crown Prince Georg!"

  I was surprised, but called up the popup in any case to see for myself:

  Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle, Crown Prince of the Empire

  Age: 48

  Astra really was not wrong. I had become a year older... I began thinking and even laughing. I had already melded so much with my game avatar that I thought about my virtual character as if it were me. Well, alright then. I guess it was my birthday today, so there was no way I could lose this decisive battle!

  "I need to go to fleet headquarters, explain the situation about the Aliens and solve the most urgent issues. But I'll be back pretty quick!" I promised in the darkness, and Astra answered me at full volume:

  "Alright, I won't even get dressed then!"

  * * *

  The headquarters of the military assault cruiser was decorated with glowing spheres hovering in the air, colorful ribbons and congratulatory notes. Instead of a tactical map, there was a hologram in the middle of the hall, showing Crown Prince Georg royl Inoky ton Mesfelle in a ceremonial uniform. The data screens at my work place were hard to look at due to the overabundance of flower bouquets at my place sent by crew members from all different levels of society to congratulate me. On the console I saw a bottle of sparkling wine with a ribbon tying on a card that read: "Prince, can you guess who it's from?"

  "Bionica sent it," I heard a hint in my head, though I could have guessed myself without my Truth Seeker's help.

  As soon as the congratulations lulled down, I asked the staff officers about the current state of affairs.

  "It's all pretty calm," Admiral Kiro Sabuto reassured me. "Our cloakers were able to make it to this system from Kej, but there were two losses: Surprise-15 and Ghost-4 came out in some space garbage, were unmasked and got destroyed immediately. The other ships got out just fine and have already recharged their energy. Most of the Alien fleet is next to the Aysar station as before, though some squadrons of Alien frigates are buzzing around the
system, trying to track us down. They're using something like triangulation, I suppose. They determine the angle between our fleet and a few different spots in the system, then use that to calculate the jump coordinates. They are really going to our old spots, but it's pretty sloppy. They're usually about three thousand miles off and very late. By the time they even start accelerating toward a spot, our ships have already been gone for fifteen to twenty minutes. There are some ships stuck to the Aysar station, but they have not found the bomb we hid behind welded-shut doors. Our cloaked bombers have gone out to position and are waiting for the attack signal."

  I asked for a video feed from the cloaked ships. The Alien army was swarming around the Queen as before. There didn't visually appear to be less ships.

  "Alright, all ships, stand by in thirty minutes. Stealth bombers, set bomb timers to five seconds, jump into the middle of the ball and warp right out along the same trajectory. Everyone go together; there may be too much wreckage afterwards to pull this off a second time. Other ships, advance toward the Lobj warp beacon. Set jump distance to eight hundred miles. Ghost-6, blow up the station ten seconds after the bomber attack. After you release your bombs, and after Ghost-6 strikes, you will all follow us to Lobj. Katerina, I want you to get some footage of the Queen and make a pretty report. If the chance should present itself, we'll send it right to the Empire. We can use footage from previous battles to make this one look no worse than that time in Hnelle!"

  "Will do, Georg, but I need you to give me the chance to broadcast them!" Katerina clearly lit up, walked closer to the big screen and began to give orders to technicians. I couldn't even understand half of what she was saying. "Eighth filter... Autofocus on the gleam. Second camera here and correction. No, no, what delay?! Yes, microphone here with dubbing and pressure. Where has makeup gone off to?"