Modulus Echo

by Toby Neighbors

  “The flux shield is in the green,” Ben said confidently.

  “Nine alien ships down,” Nance said. “The tenth is retreating.”

  “Track its course,” Pershing said. “I want to know where it goes.”

  “Roger that,” Nance said.

  “We did it,” Holt said. “We won.”

  “You call that a win?” Pershing snapped.

  “We destroyed the alien ships, General,” Holt said. “Yes, I’d call it a win.”

  “We destroyed their ships, but in the process lost ours,” Pershing said. “One ship on either side survived. I’d call it a draw at best.”

  “That’s nine aliens that won’t be able to destroy another human ship or take another human life,” Holt said. “I can live with it.”

  “It’s not good enough,” Pershing said. “Let’s go rescue the pilots and crew in those escape pods.”

  “General, the alien vessel just went to light speed,” Nance said.

  “Did you get a trajectory?”

  “Yes,” Nance said. “It’s headed to the Celeste system.”

  “Running home with its tail between its legs,” Holt said. “Hot damn.”

  “What did you mean?” Ben asked the general. “You said it’s not good enough. What did you mean?”

  “I mean, we can’t trade ships with them. We can’t give man for man. This isn’t a war of attrition. We have to drive them out of our galaxy in a decisive fashion or we risk them coming back.”

  “Once we retake the Celeste system, they won’t be able to come back, will they?” Kim asked.

  “There’s always a way,” Pershing said. “Once we know something is possible, we always find a way to do it. We can’t expect the aliens to be any different.”

  “Then we will,” Ben said. “We’ll find a way.”

  “I hope you’re right, Ben,” Pershing said. “For all our sake, I hope you’re right.”

  Epilogue

  The En’Galla appeared in the Celeste system and moved silently toward the planet Gershwin. There were over two hundred Krah vessels in the space between the planet’s orbital plane and the portal ringed in fire. Yarl Hassik’s humiliation would be worse than he thought.

  After losing the ships of the Thralldom on his first raid into the human territory, Hassik had considered suicide. His death was certain, and he did not fear it. Torture, pain, and even shame did not disturb him, but facing his chieftain with news of defeat was almost too heavy a burden to bear. Still, suicide to escape one’s failures was not the way of the Krah. And though he had been utterly defeated, and would have preferred to have fought the strange little ship that had somehow managed to destroy the Krah armada, his responsibility lay in reporting the events of his failure to his people.

  The humans were cowards who fought with ranged weapons. Even in defeat, they refused to accept their losses. Yarl Hassik wasn’t sure, but he suspected the ships the Krah had captured were sabotaged. It was, he had to admit, another cowardly act of a race that had no honor, but that fact wouldn’t save him.

  “We’re approaching the planet,” Yarl Quissi said.

  Hassik looked at her. She did not gloat. Death was most likely in her future as well as his, but there was a small chance that Grubat might spare the crew of his lone surviving ship. They were all he had left, and even if they deserved to die, he might yet spare them. He felt a twinge of envy, but even that was overcome with shame. His failure as a warrior and a Krah was complete.

  “Take us into orbit,” he ordered. It was the last command he would ever give.

  News of their return had preceded them, and it was only moments before a landing craft rose from the planet’s atmosphere and demanded to be taken into the En’Galla’s hanger. Yarl Hassik stood near the transparent wall of the bridge, in the very spot he had seen Grubat stand many times. He had longed for the right to stand there, for the honor of standing above the entire crew, of gazing out at a galaxy that quaked in fear of his presence. His hopes and dreams seemed to be slipping through his fingers like sand.

  An icy breeze seemed to wash over Yarl Hassik when the door to the bridge swished open. It was just his emotions, he knew, but fear had taken root in his mind and was beginning to rob him of his sanity.

  “Yarl Hassik,” Grubat said in a quiet voice. “Where are the ships of my Thralldom?”

  Hassik turned and looked at his old master, the chieftain who had taken him on as Yort and given him the opportunity to rise among the Yarls that were loyal to Grubat. It pained Hassik to know that he had betrayed the trust of his chieftain, but even worse was the acknowledgment of his failure. He could see it in Grubat’s eyes, the old chieftain knew the ships were lost. There was a look of condescension that struck Hassik like an ax to his vitals.

  “Lost, my lord,” Hassik said, his voice barely a whisper.

  “Do not call me lord,” Grubat said. “I am but a lowly chieftain.”

  The words carried more meaning than Hassik could endure. He had not only wasted his chance to rise among his people, he had robbed Grubat of that opportunity as well. The Krah valued ability and saw the challenge of a subordinate as the proper way to ensure that only the strongest rose in power. Hassik had long prepared himself to rise up on the corpse of his master, but the realization that he had only managed to foil Grubat’s ambitions through his own failure was crushing.

  Yarl Hassik fell to his knees. He didn’t look up, but his headdress tendrils sensed the motion of Grubat as the chieftain raised his war ax. There was a moment of intense shame as the deck of the bridge came into perfect focus before Hassik’s eyes and he realized it was the last thing he would ever see.

  Grubat drove the ax down with all his strength. The weapon severed Yarl Hassik’s head cleanly. It thumped across the deck. The Yarl’s body fell to the side, his hot blood flowing across Grubat’s artificial feet. The chieftain’s strength seemed to drain out with the killing blow and he sagged against the transparent wall. The warlords were coming to lay claim to the galaxy Grubat had discovered, and yet they would find him mired in betrayal and defeat.

  “There is a message for you, Chieftain Grubat,” Yarl Quissi said. “A war council has been issued.”

  “Yes,” Grubat said. “Tell them I’m coming. Tell them I have news of our new enemy. Tell them they are more formidable than we…than I…anticipated.”

  “Are we giving up?” Yarl Quissi asked.

  “No,” Grubat said. “But we must explain our losses. Come with me, Yarl Quissi. I must know everything.”