“The main thing to remember,” said Battrod, taking over the discussion, “is that there will be ships from other planets helping us. And we have experience. Most of us have been up against the Reaper ships, or seen the Invardii flagships in action. We’ve all seen the Buccra warships by now too.
“Cagill’s not expecting anything new from our enemies during the attack on the Invardii city, but our allies will be helping us. We’ll have to be careful to identify them, particularly since we don’t yet know what their ships look like.
“I know it’s common sense, but I’ll say it anyway. Fire only on ships you recognize as hostile. Don’t fire on something just because it’s new to you. Got it?”
There was a chorus of assents.
The noise level at one end of the long room dropped for a moment, and then resumed again. Cordez, Finch, and a couple of the departmental heads took seats in a secluded corner. Cordez took orders for drinks from the others and made his way to the long, open counter.
Finch finished a conversation he was having with John MacEwart, and left the corner to make a tour of the room. He called people by name where he knew them, and took time to meet new people when he didn’t.
There were thousands of individuals at Prometheus now, but it was impressive the number he knew something about. He approached the Hud pilots, and every one of them leaped to their feet, snapping a rigid salute. He controlled his impulse to smile at their enthusiasm, and motioned them back into their seats.
It was some time later when he finally made his way back to his starting corner, but the Hud pilots had been left in no doubt how important they were to the battle against Invardii oppression, and how important they were to Finch personally. That was a message Finch and Cordez were sending out on every occasion they could these days. In this case it would work its way down to every single one of the Hud pilots.
When the Alliance went to war, everyone involved knew how essential they were to the effort. They knew they were part of a team.
CHAPTER 27
________________
Kalken’s command flagship sat squarely in front of the great Invardii city. Both of them were inside the swollen red star Kalken knew as Bajen, or homestar. The command flagship was busy coordinating every movement of every Invardii ship within the Antares system. Bathed in the fires of the red super giant, its cooling systems worked steadily to keep its hull temperature down to a level that was still enough to melt most metals.
Kalken-ar-wuyr was on duty in the middle of the great sphere of the command center, at the center of the flagship. It was a position befitting her now ultimate status within the Invardii cell. She had finally cloned her child, with random DNA changes so it would have its own personality of course.
She had also brought the Buccra into the fight against the rock dwellers and their detested Dark Ships. With the credits from these achievements she now had a level of status unsurpassed anywhere in the Invardii cell. It had led to her being appointed the ultimate authority in matters of defense for the Invardii city.
Hundreds of Invardii, in their active form, were at work around the curved walls of the great sphere. From her central position she looked out on the scattered figures bathed in orange flame that were bringing her every wish to fruition.
The extensive factories in the lower levels of the city were all at full production, turning out Reaper ships as fast as they could. Two shipyards, including one that had been extensively damaged by the Dark Ships but was now largely repaired, were the only other sources of warships for the Invardii defenses.
Kalken’s plasma field changed to a darker, angrier orange as she thought of the fourteen shipyards the city mind had ordered to be built. That had been when the new cell first came to the Spiral Arm, and it was such a short time ago. The rock dwellers had found ways to destroy so much . . . it was unbearable!
She hastily corrected her internal chemistry, until her plasma field brightened again. She had motivation enough to protect the great city just behind the flagship, and to destroy the rock dwellers. She need not store up more hatred and loathing of the races who would oppose Invardii supremacy.
The city mind had bargained with other cells for more flagships to defend the city, but the new cell had little to bargain with. It’s own cadre of flagships had been reduced to two, and they were too precious to be promised at some time in the future when others might need help.
For every flagship that was sent to them, the cell would have to promise 50 Reaper ships at some time, on top of those already promised from the battle at Uruk. That would impose an almost intolerable burden. Even if the city mind was willing to accept the trade off, other Invardii cells weren’t prepared to take the risk.
Most of them had calculated the city would lose half its total forces, even with a sizable Buccra contingent fighting for it, in a confrontation with the rock dwellers. That would leave the city with too few Reaper ships to promise much of anything in the future.
However, Kalken’s privileged position allowed her access to the city mind’s active files, and she knew that fourteen flagships would be added to their forces for the battle to come. This was not because the new cell could promise anything in return, but to keep a powerful military presence where the Buccra defending the city could see it.
The city mind had, temporarily at least, seemed to recover from its increasingly irrational behavior once the flagships had been promised. It seemed to think these promises were an ‘act of faith’ in the viability of the new Invardii cell in the Spiral Arm. Kalken knew the flagships were only there to keep the Buccra forces under control if the defense of the city took an unexpected turn.
She, herself, was wrestling with the unthinkable. Would she have to overrule the city mind if its decisions in the heat of battle put the future of the Invardii cell at risk? And it was not only the future of the Invardii cell, but also the future of Kalken’s recently born infant.
Relinquishing control of the vast flagship to her second in command, Kalken headed for her dormitory berth. Once there she hastily sent her shadow self along the encrypted cyber highways to one of the coiled, serpent form peripherals inside the Invardii city. The city mind now kept her shadow self with it whenever she was off duty, a measure of its increasing instability.
“The-armada-has-been-recalled-from-the-Sumerian-home-world?” hissed the city mind from the peripheral terminal, speaking in an urgent monotone. Kalken made a small mental bow of acquiescence.
“The-Buccra-fleet-and-the-accompanying-flagships-have-arrived?”
Kalken tensed. The city mind was showing more and more of these disquieting time lapse errors. The main Buccra fleet had barely left the galactic core, and the city mind knew this. The warships could not possibly have arrived yet, but it was a sign of the city mind’s increasing desperation.
“Soon, oh flux of all things,” she said softly, adding overtones of reason and inevitability. At least now, with its decreased sensitivity to detail, the city mind was no longer able to detect when she was manipulating its emotional state.
Apparently satisfied, it moved on to another topic.
“The-destruction-of-Rok’H’Rok-is-complete?” hissed the periphery.
This attitude always troubled Kalken. An enemy was something to fight against, and destruction of an enemy was a joy. But enemies should be rated by their danger to the cell, because that was good strategy. The city mind was violently against anything that reminded it of the Rothii or their servants the Sumerians, and that was irrational.
“Nothing remains of the Sumerian mining camps, or their spaceports,” she answered diplomatically.
Reports from Rok’H’Rok had, in fact, contained the suspicion that most of the Sumerian capability continued, deep underground. It had also brought the news that a large fleet of Dark Ships had driven the Buccra off prematurely.
The city mind was silent for a while, busy no doubt with some pressing matter from its sub-routines. Kalken found the same worrying thoughts a
rise that had bedeviled her since the Buccra had agreed to fight for the Invardii.
How would they keep the Buccra under control now they’d let them off their prison planet? Fourteen flagships at Antares would normally be enough to quell anything from unruly behavior to a rebellious confederation of many star systems – but the Buccra fleet was another matter.
The city mind stirred, and Kalken hastened to assume a humble pose before it. The defenses of the Invardii city were almost complete, and it was largely these she had hoped to discuss with the vast, sprawling, hybrid intelligence before her. The relevant discussions began a moment later, and Kalken put her troubling thoughts of the Buccra, and the unstable city mind, to one side.
Prometheus was also preparing for war, but the little project before Cordez at the moment was different to anything else the giant base was working on.
It was hard to believe the bulky doughnut shape floating above Prometheus was a star ship. Boxy additions at opposite sides of the ring were stardrive units that would, theoretically, get the inside-out electromagnet to Antares, where they would be jettisoned. After that it was destined for a slow, one-way ride to the Invardii city, making its way through the outer layers of the Antares sun.
Cordez had insisted on being there when the ground-breaking ship was ready for its maiden voyage, and he stared in wonder at the strange machine from one of Prometheus’ shuttles. All of its systems had been checked out, twice, and the ship was as ready as it ever would be.
“What are you going to call it?” said Cordez, to the figure beside him.
“No names, for this one,” said Fedic. “She’s a one-way trip, same as me. She doesn’t get a name.”
Cordez shrugged. “Your choice,” he commented amiably. He figured Fedic was right about not coming back, and he thought too highly of the man to waste his last few days with him in some sort of emotional, self-pitying state of mind.
“So we front up at Antares for the final showdown,” he continued, “and you try and find the back door while we keep them occupied. Then you stuff them good and proper, right?”
Fedic smiled at the offhand reference to their plan.
“Good luck,” said Cordez casually. “You’ve got four days, and then we hit the city with everything we’ve got.”
Fedic nodded. He walked down to the shuttle’s bay to take a one-person pod over to the ship. He was already running through the sequences he would need to pilot the outlandish craft in his mind. He had drilled himself in them remorselessly, but the bulky ship was the most complex thing he’d ever flown. The shortage of time hadn’t allowed the engineers much of a chance to automate anything on board it.
Fedic didn’t look back at the familiar base he had come to know so well, containing the few people he’d grown close to in his life there. Instead he guided the torus out beyond Prometheus, and entered the nothingness of stardrive.
He came out of stardrive well out in the Antares system, and coasted in to the outermost layers of Antares. It took up precious hours, but he had to remain unnoticed by the Invardii. A final check showed Fedic he was a little deeper inside Antares than he had expected to be.
Another check showed him the electromagnetic shields, superbly engineered at Prometheus, were working perfectly. They were keeping the thermonuclear plasma of the sun at bay. He switched the navs system to a view outside the ship.
Just meters from the curved hull a wall of corrosive plasma surged angrily against the invisible electromagnetic shields that surrounded the ship. The shields stopped the plasma from vaporizing the ship in seconds.
Even with the screen toned down for the human eye, he could see white hot explosions among the boiling reds and oranges of the outer layers. Something stirred in the distant murk, and a rolling shock wave slammed into the ship, tossing it around.
Fedic decided it was better that he got underway, and stepped sideways to the console that ran the propulsion system. Adjusting the shields so they took on their role as thrusters, he set a course that would run him a little shallower in the sun. Then he began the long journey inside the curve of Antares toward the Invardii city.
The buffeting from the atmosphere was constant, and it became apparent the endless corrections to the ship’s course were going to take a toll on him. While his reflexes made continuous adjustments to the ship’s direction, his mind rode free above the semi-automatic work of his hands. He set about devising some way he could set an auto pilot, so he could get some sleep.
The solution, when it came, was a typically Fedic one.
A little trial and error showed him that the ship was stable in an edge-on position to the storms of the red super giant, where it could slice through the thermonuclear gases with minimum resistance.
Fedic rigged the shields to deliver whatever thrust they could in a position at right angles to their intended function, and slept until the momentum of the ship dropped below an acceptable level. When the alarm sounded he went back to manual control, turned the ship doughnut on, and brought her up to full speed again.
Napping in quarter hour segments, he prepared, as best he could, for the days of concentration and broken sleep that would take him to the Invardii city.
CHAPTER 28
________________
“I’d like to go with them,” said Finch wistfully. He was watching the main screen at Prometheus as Battrod’s tetrarch of 120 Javelins followed Leana’s and Kanuk’s tetrarchs into stardrive. Each of the formations vanished in coordinated flashes of light.
“And don’t tell me I’m too important to be risked at the front line,” he said firmly, as Cordez turned toward him to say something.
The South Am Regent smiled.
“Yes,” conceded Cordez, “it does seem a bit late in the day to hold you back from the fray. If we fail at Antares there won’t be any forces left to defend Earth with, and if we succeed we will have made ourselves redundant.
“But I still want you in the chain of command, though. I want you kept safe. There’s a lot of unexpected things going to happen before this is over. We’re going to be needed here. Both of us.”
Finch grunted. He accepted the point, but he didn’t like it.
The last of the Javelins vanished from the screen, and the longer-bodied Valkrethi carriers lined up for their turn.
“Have the Sumerians left for Antares yet?” said Finch. He had been too concerned with the exodus of Earth’s military forces to keep up with what was happening elsewhere.
Cordez nodded. “They’re starting further away than we are, but they should arrive off the Invardii city at the same time as our warships.”
“Will it be enough?” said Finch, the uncertainty of the numbers worrying him.
“The latest figures we’ve got are 654 Javelins, 176 Valkrethi, 86 Sumerian warships and 22 motherships,” said Cordez. “Plus the Druanii ships – God knows what they’ll be like – and the ships the Druanii protectorates can field. I guess it’s too bad if it’s not enough.
“Warfare is an inexact science made up of hearts and weapons, and feeling like you haven’t done enough is standard fare. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
Finch grunted once more. Cordez’ words were reassuring, but the precariousness of the Alliance position hadn’t changed.
The first formation of Javelins came out of stardrive in the outer reaches of the Antares system – and straight into a crossfire from a scattering of Buccra warships. Ayman Case bit back a swear word, and scrambled his forces into evasive maneuvers.
Every one of the Javelins had a well-trained Hud pilot in command of it, and they reacted to the command at blinding speed. In moments they had thrown the ships away from the energy blasts that were trying to destroy them. Spreading out so rapidly had blunted the Buccra offensive, but Ayman knew the surprise attack had mauled his first line of Javelins badly.
All around him individual dogfights were developing, with the combatants fairly evenly matched. The ability of the Buccra warships to regenerate them
selves, though, would sooner or later drive the outcome in their favor.
How had the Buccra known where the Alliance forces would come out of stardrive? It didn’t make sense to Ayman. The Alliance certainly didn’t have the technology to do that. There were no planets in the system, and the hot, blue companion sun was on the other side of the red super giant. Did the absence of planets make it easier for the Invardii to detect ships still in stardrive? Ayman shook his head. Their enemies were still far ahead of the Alliance in so many areas. They would just have to work around it.
He decided to concede the first victory to the Buccra, and ordered his forces to pull back to a point outside the Antares system. Sub space messages to the Alliance ships still in transit gave them the new gathering point.
A few hours later the Alliance commanders had gathered on the bridge of Ayman Case’s command Javelin. The news the surprise attack had lost them 17 Javelins for three Buccra warships destroyed was disheartening, and they were determined to do better in the next engagement. When that came they were determined to fight the battle on their own terms, and turn those numbers in the opposite direction.
Cagill was in no hurry to take the battle straight to the Invardii city. He was one of the few people who knew Fedic had entered the Antares sun four days ago. Whatever the Alliance did here, fighting the Invardii and Buccra forces, they had to give Fedic a chance to accomplish his mission. And he wouldn’t make it to the Invardii city for another two or three days.
Cordez, present on screen via a sub space feed, added his weight to the idea of testing the defenses of the Invardii city gradually.
“There’s too much we don’t yet know,” he cautioned. “Send in small contingents to test the response, and retrieve them at the first sign of trouble. Then we can study the results.
“Learn as we go, people!”
The Sumerian forces arrived minutes later. AldSanni was in command of the warships, and he offered the motherships as a distraction for the Buccra warships while the Javelins and Sumerian warships tried to catch them unawares. Cagill declined the offer for the moment, but it was heartening to see the Sumerians so committed to the fight.
Invardii Box Set 2 Page 55
