“Yes,” Lilith agreed, and they both smiled. A lone light cruiser was no match for the battle groups’ firepower, fighters or no.
“Now, you need to talk to those Aalfen of yours and make sure our friends don’t get our scent,” she added. They both knew that unless the enemy captain was insane, he’d run the moment that he knew they were there.
“I’ll do my best,” Katrinn promised. “Maybe I’ll even set out a little bowl of ginger milk, just to buy their help.”
“Whatever it takes,” Lilith replied, not entirely certain whether her second was being serious or not.
USSNS Pallas Athena, Battle Group Golden, Demeter System, Sagana Territory, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1042.11|22|04:66:63
At 149 million kilometers from their target, a Marine assault shuttle departed the Pallas Athena and made its way silently towards Persephone. In its wake, it dropped dozens of tiny spy probes that immediately began sending back vital information to the battle group.
Even though the Hriss cruiser was monitoring for enemy transmissions, it heard nothing alarming. The probes messages sounded almost exactly the same as the background noise of space. But aboard the Athena and her sister ships, computers translated the apparent chaos into intelligible data, and the news was good.
“One light cruiser confirmed, Commander,” Navcom reported. “We also have nine enemy fighters stationed nearby.”
“And the Hriss?” Lilith inquired. “What’s their present status?”
“Normal alert mode, ma’am. Nothing that would indicate that they have seen us, or the Marine shuttle.” In the meantime, the shuttle had penetrated the first thin layers of the planet’s atmosphere and was beginning its descent.
“Excellent,” Lilith beamed. “Helm? As soon as we pass the three minute mark, be ready to bring us out of stealth.”
The three minute mark was the maximum firing distance for a ship attacking a target, versus the amount of time needed for that target to power-up for Null and make an escape transit. Under three minutes, even the most seasoned crew could not ready their ship and avoid the missiles that would be coming at them at one-quarter light. In very short order, Lilith knew that they’d have their quarry right where she wanted them.
***
The battle group had closed to within 74 million kilometers, and Lilith turned to the Senior Fire Controller, Salus n’Hera. They were now inside the three minute mark.
“Salus?” she said, “plot your solutions and open the missile doors. Sound general quarters. All hands to their battle stations.” Once again, the ship resounded with the whine of klaxons. It was time for battle.
“Helm, take us out of stealth,” Lilith ordered.
The Athena reappeared, followed by the Artemis and the Demeter. And on the Hriss cruiser, panic erupted as the three Sisterhood ships suddenly registered on their sensors. They knew that they were dead already.
Lilith tensed and sat forwards in her chair. “What’s she doing Navcom?”
“It’s complete pandemonium, ma’am,” the woman informed her. “Their communications traffic with the surface just increased by a factor of four. I think their surface units are asking them for instructions on what to do next.”
Lilith looked over at Ellyn n’Dira. “Advocate? May I demand their surrender?”
N’Dira nodded. “Yes, we now have clear evidence that they have fielded troops on Sisterhood soil, in blatant violation of the treaty.”
“Navcom, open a hailing frequency to the Hriss,” Lilith instructed. Then she spoke in Hriss’ka to the commander of the distant ship.
“Alveraj, tekan n’ges vor na kreska. T’ya Alveraj Lilith ben Jeni at’ke’ Pallas Athena, vreekava n’ges. S’ bin atvor krasko n’kaaylag n’ veesa,” she said. “Captain, power down your vessel and surrender. I am Commander Lilith ben Jeni of the Sisterhood naval ship Pallas Athena. You are in violation of our Treaty of Peace.”
The Hriss word for ‘peace’ was also a deadly insult, implying weakness. Lilith knew exactly what their response would be.
The Hriss proved her correct. “Tal vorki, vreekava!” the enemy commander barked. Roughly translated, his answer was an extremely coarse refusal coupled with a challenge to fight.
“Commander,” Navcom said, “their missile doors are opening. I am also detecting several engine power-ups in their silo-tubes.”
“Well, that was unexpected,” Lilith remarked dryly. “Advocate, I think that we now have reason to believe that they are hostile.” She addressed the entire battle group. “All ships, you may fire when ready. Fire Control, you have the ship. Engage hostiles.”
The Athena let her missiles fly. In nanoseconds, they cleared their silo-tubes and accelerated to one-quarter light. The Artemis and the Demeter fired at the same time. To their credit, the Hriss cruiser responded with everything it had, but the outcome of the battle had already been determined.
Missiles from both sides unleashed multiple warheads. Most of these impacted with their enemy counterpart, but two warheads from the battle group got through, and continued towards the Hriss vessel. Its gunners did their best to shoot these down, and they actually managed to get one warhead before the other one hit their ship.
1.06 minutes later, the light from the explosion reached the Athena’s sitscreens. If she hadn’t been looking for it, Lilith would have missed the event; a small point of radiance that appeared briefly over Persephone. The false star brightened for a moment and increased by several magnitudes. Then it vanished.
“A confirmed kill, Commander,” Navcom reported.
“Good,” Lilith replied. “Send out our fighters and have them hunt down the remaining enemy assets. I don’t want any problems from them.”
At this command, the Athena’s resident fighter wing, the Nighthunters, left their hangar. With only a handful of opponents to deal with, the battle they fought was brief. Lilith was just starting on another cup of tea when the Nighthunter’s flight leader informed her that the space above Persephone had been cleared of all hostiles.
“Navcom,” she said, “Please inform Col. Lislsdaater that the high-ground has been secured for her. Helm, move us into a close orbit over the planet and take up station.”
Outer Fields, North Sector, Newhearth Colony, Persephone, Demeter System, Sagana Territory, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1042.11|22|04:86:63
Kaly looked through the sights of her rifle and aimed for the closest enemy warrior coming up the trail. She knew that her weapon was no match for the blasters that the invaders carried, but it was all she had. If the patrol came up the hill any further, she would have no choice but to engage them. The little ones and the rest of the girls were already moving away from the station as fast as they could, but unless she delayed the enemy, everyone would die.
The creature below her had something, probably a scanner, in its hand. It swept the space in front of it and then brought the device up to its face to read what it said. Then it turned and waved back to its companions with a lazy, confident gesture.
Kaly was now certain that it knew that they were up there. She brought the crosshairs up to rest right between its primary eyes and prepared to send a depleted uranium slug into the thing’s skull.
One more step, and I’ll kill you, she thought. She had no illusions about surviving for very long after that. Death was a given, and to her surprise, she wasn’t afraid. Instead, a strange sense of calm pervaded her.
She was just beginning to squeeze the trigger when a hand came around her mouth while another blocked her finger, preventing her from firing. For an instant, she struggled wildly, and then a voice whispered in her ear. It was a woman.
“Shh, girl! Be quiet!”
Kaly obeyed, and as the woman released her, she looked over her shoulder and witnessed something she’d only seen before in realies; a Sisterhood Marine in full battle gear. The trooper smiled conspiratorially and gestured for her to stay quiet. Several other Marines had crept up on either side of them and they were training their weapon
s at the enemy patrol. At a signal from their leader, the squad opened fire.
The invader that Kaly had been sighting-in on died first, its head exploding as an energy beam cooked it off. It’s companions tried to return fire, but the Marines cut them down before they could respond effectively. The fight, such as it was, was over in seconds.
The woman stood and helped her to her feet. “Come on, girl. Let’s go get your friends.”
Speechless, Kaly just nodded, still dazed by the violence and speed of the ambush. High overhead, the sky suddenly lit up with a series of flashes, and she looked up at them in incomprehension.
“That would be the battle group,” the Marine explained. “Looks like they’re giving that Hriss cruiser what it deserves.”
Then the heavens brightened with a massive flare that covered a quarter of the sky. “And that looks like the end of things upstairs,” the Marine observed. “Scratch one enemy cruiser, and Goddess damn their souls to hell.”
***
While the Marines collected Kaly and the other girls, the battle group moved in and assumed orbit over Persephone. Then Navcom announced that they had company.
“Two, no make that three ships exiting Null, bearing 337.20.45 Mark 12, distance 17 million KM, Commander. They look like Hriss.”
“Damn!” Lilith exclaimed. “Fire control, plot your solutions. Sound general quarters!” Until then it had been the perfect hunt, mission accomplished.
Navcom had more bad news. “Commander, it looks like three Tina-Class medium cruisers. They haven’t opened their missile doors yet.” The Hriss force wasn’t their equal, but it was close enough in size and firepower to make any match between them uncertain.
“Open a hail to the Hriss,” Lilith ordered. “Let’s see if we can talk our way out of this one.”
The Hriss Patrol Commander appeared on screen. “Hesak, voara vreekava T’ya Alveraj Meskreka at’ka’Wsak’ko,” he said. “Greetings, miserable egg-layers. I am Captain Meskreka of the Bloody Claw Clan ship, Slaughterer.”
“Greetings worthless and impotent male,” Lilith replied. “I am Commander Lilith ben Jeni of the Sisterhood naval ship Pallas Athena.What brings such poor specimens of manhood into our space?”
Insults were a common part of polite Hriss’ka, but she made sure to word her statements carefully. The wrong insult could trigger a battle that she didn’t want.
“Our ships heard the pitiful cries of your weak and useless settlers,” the Hriss informed her. “Out of a manly concern for such wretched beings, we responded in the hope of doing battle with worthy males. Instead we find only craven egg-layers.”
Both of them knew that he was lying. It was patently obvious that the light cruiser had merely been the advance party for the enemy battle group.
“My apologies, Captain, for not finding the glorious battle that you sought,” she informed him. “Unfortunately, the renegade ship has already been destroyed. I do not think you would have found them worthy of your missiles.”
“A shame indeed,” Meskreka agreed. “It would have been a pleasure to bathe in their blood.” Clearly, the Hriss Commander didn’t want to trigger a diplomatic incident any more than she did.
“Truly,” she said, “but such is not the case. It would seem that your brave efforts have been in vain. Will you now depart in search of other quarry, or do you wish to dishonor yourself in combat with us?”
Meskreka let out the equivalent of a laugh. “I would not waste our missiles on such contemptible creatures as yourselves. We will depart instead, and seek out true opponents who are deserving of the painful death that we would bestow upon them.”
“Good hunting, Commander Meskreka,” Lilith said. “May you drink from your enemy’s skulls.”
“And may you become pregnant with a thousand Warriors, egg-layer. Perhaps one day, we shall choose to grace you with the privilege of dying in combat with us.”
“Perhaps. Until then, Commander.”
With these pleasantries exchanged, the Hriss battle group turned around and headed back into Null space. And everyone aboard the Athena breathed a sigh of relief.
“All right ladies,” Lilith said. “Let’s get on with the business of cleaning this planet up. We still have enemy troops down there.”
CHAPTER 4
Bel Sharra Memorial Spaceport, Cyrene District, Thermadon City, Thermadon, Myrene System, Thalestris Elant, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1042.11|23|05:00:72
Maya’s psiever announced that it was lunchtime--and not a moment too soon as far as she was concerned. The customs warehouse only gave its staff a single short rest period, and an equally brief lunch. She sent a thought to the warehouse AI, clocking herself out, and then made straightaway for the food vendors and a park that she liked to spend her time in.
While she moved along the main concourse, she thought about her situation. More and more, she was beginning to feel that her best opportunities lay outside the spaceport, rather than in it. It wasn’t that she wasn’t making credits for herself. The problem was that she wasn’t earning the kind of fantastic sums that she’d imagined for herself when she’d come to Thermadon in the first place.
Another set-up somewhere else in the city, was one solution, but she discarded the idea almost immediately. She didn’t know the local underworld, nor whom she could trust, or avoid. Learning those kinds of things took time, and there were risks involved that she didn’t care to take.
A second option, that was infinitely more appealing, was to find a berth for herself aboard a smuggler ship. Like any large port, Bel Sharra had its portion of merchanters involved in illegal activities, and this was where the real money could be made.
The trick was finding the right vessel. Moonrunners, as they were sometimes called, didn’t advertise their business, and their crews were a secretive and suspicious lot by nature.
The right contacts, and the right introductions were what she needed. For that, Maya knew that the best place to start was with her partners in crime back at the customs warehouse. Neither of them had ever revealed whom they had sold their stolen goods too, but it only made sense that smugglers, having the ready means to dispose of them, were the obvious candidates for a solid client base.
She decided to broach the matter with her co-workers when she returned. In the meantime, she had her break to enjoy, and she didn’t want to waste a second of it.
Then she spotted the edge of a plastic credit chit poking up from the rear pocket of a woman ahead of her. One glance told Maya that its owner was completely oblivious to her surroundings, and more interested in chattering with her friends than keeping an eye on her valuables.
Not one to let an opportunity slip by, she deliberately bumped into the woman as she passed. There was a brief exchange of apologies, and Maya walked on, concealing the stolen plastic in her palm as she pushed the woman with her talents. If the insensible creature ever even realized that her card was missing, she would be utterly convinced that it had simply been mislaid and never even think about the possibility of theft. Crime only became crime when the victim believed that they had been wronged, and thanks to her special skills, that wouldn’t happen in this case.
She took her prize to the first vending machine that she could find, and bought herself some Nutro with it. The chocalat-flavored drink wasn’t one of her favorites, but it supplied all of the energy that she needed for her work at the warehouse. More importantly, the machine didn’t scan the ID’s of anyone who bought from it. Lunch, for all intents, had just become free.
Stuffing the card into her pocket, Maya went to the park and found a bench for herself. She had just opened the drink and was bringing it to her lips when the same something that had roused her on her first night in T-Don, revisited her. Then a tall figure dressed in a long black cloak caught her eye in the crowd.
It can’t be, she thought. But as she watched the hooded woman make her way through the press, she became certain of it. It was the same person.
Her curiosity pi
qued, she tossed the Nutro into a waste receptacle, and started to follow her. There was something irresistible and compelling about the stranger, and she was determined to find out what it was.
A few times, she nearly lost her quarry in the crowd, and almost gave up, but the woman always reappeared, tantalizing her into continuing with the pursuit. And when her psiever tried to warn her that her lunch break was nearly over, Maya ignored it and kept moving.
Abruptly, the woman changed direction, leaving the main concourse, and turning into a side corridor that led to a public restroom. When she rounded the corner and disappeared from view, Maya quickened her pace. When she came around the same corner, she found the passage empty.
Mystified, she began to walk the length of the hall, and then she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She had just enough time to realize that it was the cloaked woman, standing where nothing had been just an instant earlier. Then woman reached out and grabbed her by the throat.
Without any discernible effort, she shoved her against the opposite wall, and lifted her up off her feet. Maya tried to fight against her grip, but the woman’s gloved fingers were like steel bands, and she was unable to pry them loose.
Dark spots began to eat at the edges of her vision as she dangled in space, looking helplessly back down at her assailant. Despite the bright lighting in the hall, the woman’s features were completely hidden by the shadows of her hood as if the garment had somehow leeched away all of the light around it. Only the pale, lower half of her face was visible, framing a pair of full, red lips that smiled back with predatory amusement.
“Why are you following me?” the woman asked. Her voice was like black silk, absolutely calm and utterly deadly.
Maya tried to answer, tried to apologize, or offer up some kind of clumsy lie, but the hold on her airway made even breathing nearly impossible. Instead, all that came out of her was a pathetic, incoherent gurgle.
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