Of course, if he was such a good tactician, what was he doing here? Vybex was a lush world, and it provided food for the other worlds in the Red Sphinx Quadrant to supplement their own supply, but it was hardly vital. He had two other worlds with heavy industry that needed protection far more than this one did.
Verrikoth hissed to himself but said nothing more. Once he was back aboard Nemesis, he and Tyler went back to the bridge, where Killix was already standing by. “My Lord, Commander. We’re receiving a hail from Star of Minerva.”
The two slipped into their seats and brought up their displays. “Put them through,” Verrikoth ordered. A second later, the black carapace of the Red Sphinx appeared.
“Warlord!” the hak’ruk said, her voice almost a purr. “I was just about to come down and join you. I’d forgotten I had a scheduled wargame for today. Never miss one, gotta make sure my crews and ships are tip top. Of course, I hardly need to. After that win against the pirates we had four years ago, they know better than to come here again.”
Verrikoth clacked his mandibles. “Undersstood, Red Ssphinx. I recognizze the need to keep one’z fleet at top performance. And I ssee that your planet iz in good handz.”
“Indeed, indeed. I have people taking care of the day-to-day which leaves me free to protect the system. And that takes a lot of work!” He hummed a chuckle.
The zheen could see that this hak’ruk had her priorities and there would be no changing that. “Yess, indeed. I undersstand that completely. I need to be able to trusst my own ssubordinatess on my worldz az well. And I am glad to have your worldz az part of my collective.”
The Red Sphinx hummed with pleasure. “I’m glad to be a part of it as well. The increased trade and security helps me sleep better at night.”
“Glad to hear it,” Verrikoth replied. “I will be departing thiss ssysstem in a sshort while; otherwize I would join your sshipss in training maneuverz.”
The hak’ruk actually looked disappointed. “I’m sorry to hear that, my Lord. I honestly hoped we would have a chance to converse, discuss a few issues, even manage a wargame or two.” She paused for a moment, then rallied. “But I look forward to seeing you again. Perhaps the next time you come this way!” Enthusiasm just bubbled off of her, and Verrikoth’s antennae twitched in disgust.
“Perhapss sso. You may wissh to leave one of your sshipss here for ssysstem defensse and take a tour of the other worlds in your collective. It might be informative.”
“I might just do that, Warlord,” the Red Sphinx said contemplatively, as though this idea had never occurred to her before. “It would be good to see some of the other planets. See what they’re like.” Then she gave a growl of indecision. “I’d be loath to be away from Vybex and my home too long. I need to keep an eye on things. I mean, things would fall apart without me. The people I have are good managers, they can handle the day to day, but they can’t run the system.”
“A leader ssometimez needz to make ssacrificez.”
Another humming laugh. “Indeed, my Lord, you speak the truth. I’m not sure about leaving the system though. Might be better just to stay here; I wouldn’t want to leave this world uncovered. It was good to see you, and I hope you have a safe journey.”
Verrikoth suppressed the urge to order his ships to open fire. This dandy was no warrior. The Warlord would be utterly shocked to see Red Sphinx stand firm in the face of an actual opponent in a real battle. And I could put those ships to much better use. He thought long and hard about that choice but finally, rejected it. No, leave it for now. I don’t need the ill will that would come from removing him from power from the locals, and I don’t have the troops available to keep them all in line. For now, he can keep his ships. So long as he doesn’t waste them, that is.
“Thank you. We sshall meet again.” And he ended the call. “Commander, once the sshuttle is back aboard, plot uss a coursse out of the ssysstem and back on our way.”
((--[][]--))
“You let her live?” the Xai’ryn demanded, an hour later. The young ones were just about mature now and with the breathers were able to share compartment space with their broodmother. Their collective carapaces were no longer white but had darkened to a magenta hue. The drei’kai were very playful when not under orders, and Verrikoth could see several of them wrestling off to one side of the compartment, nipping at one another. In another corner was a dozen of the ysh’kai, pouring over data pads with technical manuals. Still more were asleep around the Xai’ryn though the drei’kai looked up at the approach of their sire.
“Yes, Xai’ryn, I did. I conssidered what it would take to sstorm and capture those sshipss, and I determined it too cosstly. That and a possible backlassh from the colony’zz population wazz in my estimation, not worth the gainz.”
“You should have consulted with me,” she growled.
He growled back. “I cannot run thiss fleet by committee!”
“No, you cannot,” she agreed, her tone reasonable. “But this was not a decision made in the heat of battle. This was not a tactical decision; it was a strategic one. A wrong one. One that I should have been included in.” She glared back at him and stroked the back of one of the nearby drei’kai, who emitted that happy cackle-purr.
Verrikoth stood transfixed, fuming because he knew she was right. He forced down the anger and made himself relax. “You are right,” he ground out, his mouthparts writhing. “What do you recommend?”
“Are we in viable range?”
He shook his head, clicking his mandibles. “No, but it would be eazzy enough to reversse coursse and intercept them.”
“Do so. Tell the… butterfly… that you wish to come over to discuss another wargame,” she said. “Then send over soldiers. I’m sure a Warlord as capable as you can find a pretext to get aboard.”
His exoskeleton stiffened at the insult. He nodded, his antennae raised and then lowered. “Very well. I will inform you of progress.” He turned to depart the compartment, then stopped. He looked to a group of five warrior drones and pointed to them, chittering and hissing. They all immediately untangled themselves from their wrestling match and rushed to him, looking in his direction, their attention captured.
“Come with me,” he ordered and the five drones eagerly bounded to his sides, their edged mandibles flashing in the compartment’s illumination. Without a word, or a look back to the Xai’ryn, Verrikoth led them out.
((--[][]--))
Reaching the nearby armory, Verrikoth helped himself to body armor to cover his thorax and a carbine, and several spare ammo clips to supplement his sidearm. The drei’kai sat on their haunches nearby, watching him intently. Once the armor was secured, he keyed his wrist comm. “Commander Tyler, thiss iz the Warlord.”
Less than a second later, the response came back. “Tyler here, my Lord.”
“Bring the sshipss to Alert Sstatuss Two and reversse coursse. We’re going back.”
Only the barest hesitation preceded Tyler’s response, but not enough to draw Verrikoth’s ire. “Aye, my Lord. Reversing course now.” Alarms started blaring through the ship. “All hands, this is the Commander,” Tyler stated over the ship’s public address system. “Move to Alert Status Two. We are going back into the star system. Alert Status Two.” The drei’kai all hissed, startled.
Verrikoth buzzed soothingly. “It’s all right. Stay calm. I’ll tell you when you need to get excited.” His words and his tone took away their angst. It was clear though that the pure noise was still agitating them.
“Commander, get the boarding teamz geared up and ready. We are going to take care of a problem before it fessterzz.” He clenched his fist over the barrel of the carbine.
“Yes, my Lord!” Tyler replied with gusto.
((--[][]--))
It turned out to be a ridiculously easy mission. Verrikoth simply hailed the Star of Minerva, begging the indulgence of the Red Sphinx. “I wonder if my forcezz might be allowed to join you in another round of wargamezz?”
The hak’ruk tapped her legs on the deck plating in delight. “Of course, my Lord! And I would be happy to have you!”
“Excellent,” Verrikoth replied, strapping into the copilot seat of one of Nemesis’s assault shuttles. “I would like to join you on your flagsship. I would like to ssee how you do thingz and integrate your tacticss into my command.”
“Of course, Warlord! Of course!” The jubilation was pouring off of the Red Sphinx, almost physically. “Bring your retinue! We will await your arrival, and then I will show you how we do things here.” The line disconnected.
“Seems extremely happy about that, my Lord,” the pilot, another zheen, chittered. Verrikoth turned to him, and he shrank back a bit in fear. When the Warlord didn’t reply, he remained silent until Verrikoth turned away.
“Yesss, she doez. Hopefully, thiss will prove to be az easy az it appearz.” And then he sat in silence. The drei’kai were crouched in the passenger bay, and the rest of the boarding troops piled in behind. Once he saw the hatch was closed and three shuttles took off from the hangar deck and went out into the void, heading for the light cruiser. Verrikoth determined that the cruiser was the prize, once that was in hand, the corvettes could be easily death with.
The assault shuttles pulled up outside the port airlocks, which opened for them with no problems or hesitations. “Ready!” Verrikoth told them all over the comms. “Bridge and Engineering, thozze are our goalz. Sstun them if you can, if they rezisst, do what you need to do.” A chorus of acknowledgments came over the comms. “Go!” And the soldiers, led by Verrikoth with his drei’kai loping alongside him, flowed into the ship like water.
At his command, the drei’kai raced ahead, tackling anyone who tried to impede them and ending anyone carrying a weapon. This turned out to be very few, as almost none of the ship’s crew was at battle stations or even remotely prepared for a boarding action.
A platoon of soldiers took Engineering with only three shots fired. The chief engineer, a shaggy, gray-furred Severite tried to leap at the boarders as they entered and was twice shot in the chest. One of the techs was killed as he tried to reach for the emergency alert button. After that, all the rest of them dropped to their knees and raised their hands in surrender, fear on all of their faces.
Verrikoth made it to the bridge of the light cruiser in record time; he simply marched through the corridors of the ship, straight to the command center. After the initial entrance to the ship, his force had not needed any violence to get where they were going. The crew simply nodded to the scarred zheen and his troops and stepped aside to let them pass.
I don’t trust this. This cannot be this easy. The so-called Red Sphinx must be setting a trap for me. “Sstay alert,” he ordered unnecessarily. The soldiers in this group all had their weapons and up to the ready.
Stepping through the wide-open hatch and onto the bridge, the drei’kai raced to the front of the group and hissed menacingly, with the rest of the platoon fanning out, covering everyone on the bridge. The hak’ruk at the front of the compartment whipped around at hearing the warrior drones. She saw Verrikoth, and all of the hardware pointed at her and her bridge crew, and the large insectoid flinched.
“W-warlord? What… what is going on?” Xheeshan asked, raising her arms, emitting a low hum from her thorax.
“I am taking thiss sship, Xheesshan,” Verrikoth replied, his voice firm.
The hum increased in volume, and she straightened. “What? You can’t do that! This is my ship!” Indignance and defiance threaded her voice, and she came out of her command seat. “I brought my ships and planets under your rule for protection and strength! Not to have you steal my ships from under me!”
Morals and responsibilities evaporated from Verrikoth’s mind at that moment. His sidearm materialized in his hand, and he didn’t even aim. He fired. The hak’ruk screeched and staggered back, a bullet in her upper arm. The carapace splintered and foul-smelling ichor splattered the chair and the deck behind. She staggered back, and he fired again, into that same arm. Horribly injured, the hak’ruk emitted a painful keening noise that echoed off the bulkheads. Her arm was hanging by a scrap of fractured carapace, and she cradled it to her upper thorax with her opposite hand.
“You made me violate my own rulezz,” the Warlord shouted, the gun aimed at her forehead. The rest of the bridge crew dove for cover and everyone else in the boarding party leveled their own weapons, making sure they were covered. The zheen didn’t even notice. “The only ssmall amount of fire you ever pozzesssed waz to sstand up and to throw dissmay in my direction. You didn’t think to be armed, to perhaps question why I waz bringing a sship full of ssoldierz over. You are weak and pathetic. I sshould kill you now, az an example to all the otherz that I will not abide weaknesss in my fleet!” His own buzzing was competing with hers. If he was human or lupusan, one might think that he was panting from exertion, be it mental or physical. Zheen didn’t do that, but the buzz turned to a low hiss.
“You managed to put me in a bind, Red Ssphinx,” he told her, lowering the pistol and pointing it at the deck. “You managed to do two thingz right in your tenure as leader of thiss Quartet of sstar ssysstemz. Firsst, you ssent Hesstian to me, after realizing that you needed help in keeping theze ssysstemz ssafe from outsside invaderzz. That was very wizze. The second thing,” Verrikoth said, pausing for a moment and his mouthparts wriggled in anger. The gun came back up, and she froze in terror, still clutching her wounded arm. “The ssecond thing, iz the only thing keeping you alive. You have made your people love you, Red Ssphinx. For ssome reazzon that I cannot fathom, they want you in charge. Desspite all evidence of your ssheer incompetence!” He hissed again, this time in disbelief. “And I need thezze sstar ssysstemz, sso that meanz that you, Red Sspinhx, get to live. For now. But I’m not going to be the one to convince you of thiss.” He lowered the weapon again. “You have ssomeone to meet and sshe will convince you to work with me.” The others of the boarding party chuckled. “Let’ss go, Red Ssphinx.” He looked to the platoon leader. “War Leader, contact Kopessh. Inform Kapitan Flayl sshe iz to take command of thiss sship and make ssure all ssectionz are ssecure.”
“Of course, my Lord.” The zheen trooper brought up his wrist comm as Verrikoth, and his warrior drones took the captive hak’ruk out of the bridge and back to the shuttle.
((--[][]--))
Quaking with fear, Xheeshan was led into a compartment on the Warlord’s flagship. Under other circumstances, she would have found the whole experience fascinating, seeing such a grand warship, but now she was only concerned about saving his own exoskeleton. Stepping inside, the hak’ruk was keenly aware of a powerful smell, but she did not recognize it. She was certain this was a new form of torture. The smell was not unpleasant, but she was concerned she was being led from her base of power, from her loyal supporters to simply be executed here and fed to the Warlord’s terrifying pets.
Then she saw her, for it had to be a female. Such height and grace and power, but she was mutilated with a titanium shell, but somehow that only added to her majesty. “Wh-who are you?” she breathed, humming so loud her felt her thorax might burst.
More of the Warlord’s creatures were here, and they all stood up on their eight legs when they detected her presence. Others, six-legged ones, came to attention as well, all of them waving their antennae in the air, the bigger ones emitting growls and light hisses.
It was Verrikoth who spoke from behind Xheeshan, making her scuttle her legs on the decking, startled. It jarred her injured arm, which the Warlord had graciously allowed to be bandaged and cleaned. He had not, however, allowed a painkiller and it still ached like hellfire. “Sshe iz the Xai’ryn, broodmother to theze young onezz, partner in my endeavorz.”
The creature, this… Xai’ryn, drew herself up to her full height, a pair of the smaller drones moving close to her flanks, as though ready to help at any moment. They opened and closed their mandibles at Xheeshan, and she was again struck by an overpowering wave of fear.
Xheeshan mentally begged the zheen male to refuse. Stay here! Don’t do this! But the Warlord nodded, clicking his mouthparts. “Az you wissh, Xai’ryn. I will be on the bridge, coordinating with Kapitan Flayl.” And he turned and walked out, sealing the hatch behind him.
“Now,” the female zheen said, her voice turning icy. “We will have a chat, one leader to another about the future and your role in it.” When she was sure the hak’ruk’s full attention was on her, the broodmother spoke again. “You are a fool and playing foolish games. This is a serious undertaking, and you think that by playing with your warships you are a player in interstellar affairs. You leave your worlds to be governed by subordinates, and that was fine when it was just you. But those days are over now. You are part of a larger universe now.”
Xheeshan sputtered, and three of the drei’kai hissed at her again. The Xai’ryn shushed them, and they fell silent, but their attention never turned away from the hak’ruk before them. “Your actions are those of a petty debutante, one who is used to shirking responsibilities, rather than a real leader. Oh, you left your systems under the control of underlings, but that was not because you were sure of their loyalties or their talents. No, it was so you could go into orbit and play games, fight fake battles and fool yourself into thinking you were important. You sent away your best fighter, Hestian, though I admit this was to the Warlord Verrikoth’s as well as my benefit. You did nothing to enhance the lives of your people, did not increase trade, nothing.” She paused for a moment, while he took all that in. She gave Xheeshan credit; the hak’ruk was listening, not just standing there.
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