Bonnie, completely puzzled, nodded at Cotrapi. “Yes, we see it.”
“Keep your eyes on it. That shuttle is about to have an unexpected and disastrous engine failure.”
“What?”
Cotrapi smiled enigmatically. “It seems that someone doesn’t want Great Prophet Videlli and Prophet Tarilli to reach their destination.”
And with that, even as they turned to stare at the holo, the leading shuttlecraft exploded into a thousand pieces. The fire of its destruction left a great red-orange ball of flame in front of them. The following shuttles swerved to avoid the debris field, as did the Armidale.
Bonnie gasped. Then she turned, glared at Cotrapi.
“Why? Why would you show us this? Why should we care that Videlli is dead?”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Cotrapi. “Did I say that Videlli is dead?”
Bonnie hesitated. “Well…yes. You said…”
“No,” corrected Cotrapi. “I said only that someone wanted him dead.”
Bonnie shook her head in frustration. “Didn’t his shuttle just blow up?”
“No,” grinned Cotrapi. “That was Gitweo’s shuttle. Videlli is safe and sound on the one behind it.”
***
Cotrapi ushered Bonnie and Stewart into the captain’s ready room off the side of the bridge. He sat them down at the conference table and took a chair opposite them, still with an enigmatic smile plastered on his fat face. He sat in silence for many seconds, until finally in exasperation Bonnie spoke first.
“What do you want from us?” she spat, losing her temper. “Why did you bring us here?”
Cotrapi tilted his head to one side. “Pardon me for stringing this out, but I’m having so much fun.”
Bonnie hung her head in frustration. She was too angry to respond.
But Stewart began to get it. His eyes opened wide, and he pulled his head back in total shock.
“You’re not Cotrapi,” he blurted out.
Lifting her head, Bonnie looked at the oversize Stree sitting at the head of the table. She stared at him closely. He was grinning, a stupid kind of grin totally out of place on the big Stree head.
A stupid kind of grin that Bonnie could swear she had seen before.
A stupid kind of grin…
“Oh my God,” she breathed. “It can’t be…”
“Oh, but it can,” said Cotrapi. “Did you miss me?”
Chapter Thirty-One
Stalingrad System
Dyson Swarm
If Bagi’s warbody could cry, there would have been tears leaking out of the metal cube welded to the bridge of the Blue Quark. As he raced in toward the inner system trying to rejoin his Wing, he watched in silent agony.
Far ahead of him, three Goblin formations attacked into the Stree Fleet. A silent chaos of battle followed. Thousands of missiles streaked as the flash of pulse cannon lit the Black like some kind of deranged light show. Then the slow-motion explosion of shattered ships and debris expanded in all directions. Stree and Goblin wrecks littered the battlefield indiscriminately - so many smashed-up ships it would have been suicide for him to attempt to fly through the mess. He was forced to vector up, arcing over the debris field on his race to the inner system.
And then it was over. The once well-organized and fiercely proud Goblin Assault Wings were smashed in every direction. The enemy, in spite of horrific losses, came on undeterred, with more than 200 ships remaining.
To Bagi’s horror, he realized the Goblin Fleet had only 97 ships still capable of maneuver - and most of those were heavily damaged. Now in front of the Stree stood only the Reserve Wing - the oldest, slowest ships of the Goblin fleet. A pitiful reserve force that would be swatted away by the Stree without breaking stride.
The damaged remnants of the Goblin Fleet turned, and boosted hard, trying to get back to their Reserve Wing for a last stand in front of the black Dyson Ring that was their home.
And Bagi would be there in time for that fight. Even with his reduced accel, he would have just enough boost to pass over the top of the Stree fleet, decel back down, and join with the rest of the survivors directly in front of the Dyson Ring.
Where they would die.
Phoenix System
Battalion West
Olivia and Mac were rousted out of their tent at 8 PM with the rest of the battalion. Lieutenant Raines told them to leave everything behind except their weapons, ammunition, and one day’s rations, and prepare to march. By 9 PM, they were ready.
Then they sat, on rocks or tree boles or just on the ground, performing the timeless ritual of an army - hurry up and wait. Nothing happened until nearly 10 PM, when finally the word came down.
Check weapons - prepare to march.
Olivia and Mac checked their rifles, ensured they were clean, loaded, and secured. They put on their packs, slung their rifles, and got into line with the rest of their platoon. Ahead, Mac could see Lt. Raines and SSgt. Briggs, standing, waiting. Farther out, Mac saw his company commander and Gunny Sparks, also waiting, impatient, stamping at the ground in the cold and damp. Beyond them, nearly out of sight in the dim jungle, he saw the tail end of Alpha Company.
Mac looked at his watch, thinking.
9:57 PM. We’ve got about seven miles to go. If we make 2 miles an hour in this thick-ass jungle, we’ll get to our Line of Departure about 1:00 to 1:30 AM. From there, we’ll have 1 mile - or maybe a bit less - to go. If we start our assault at 2:30 AM - which is my guess - we’ll be fighting right after that.
Mac looked over at Olivia. It was hard to see her in the darkness, but he thought she looked stressed.
She’s thinking the same thing I am. If things go south, we could be dead by 3 AM.
I hope this Tatiana whoever knows what she’s doing…
“MacIntosh!” called a voice. Mac looked up to see Lt. Raines walking toward him. He snapped to attention.
“Yes, sir?”
Raines stopped in front of him. “Mac, two squads for a special mission. Yours and Olivia’s. You’re in command. Assemble your squads and report to the front of the column, to General Powell, stat!”
Mac gulped. “Aye, sir!” he nodded. As Raines departed, Mac turned to his squad. They were standing around him, all ears.
“You heard the man. Grab your gear. Make sure you’ve got everything. Then let’s go find this General Powell.”
As he picked up his weapon and pack, Mac glanced at Olivia. Even in the darkness, she looked scared. He gave her a smile, even though he didn’t feel it inside.
“It’ll be fine,” he whispered. “Not to worry.”
Olivia gave a weak nod. Together, they started the long walk up to the front of the battalion. They passed through their own company - Bravo - and then walked past Alpha Company. Finally, they came to Headquarters Company. That consisted of a small group of officers and men at the front of the formation, sitting on rocks and tree stumps like the rest of them.
Mac looked around for the General Powell he was supposed to report to but didn’t see anyone that fit the bill. To one side, though, he noticed the tall woman he had met down by the river, so he walked over to her.
“Excuse me, mum, but do you know where I can find General Powell?”
Tatiana Powell smiled at the young man. “That would be me, Corporal. And you’re Mac?”
“Aye, mum.”
Two other officers moved in to stand close beside Tatiana. Olivia moved up from behind Mac to listen.
“OK, you guys sit down here in a circle and let me brief you, OK?” said Tatiana.
Mac and Olivia waved their squads down in a tight circle. As they sat down, Tatiana stood in the center in the darkness.
“Is everybody here familiar with the layout of Landing?”
Looking around, Mac spoke up for them. “Aye, mum. We’ve all been briefed on it.”
“Good. We believe the leaders of the original democratic government are being held in the new jail. It’s roughly fifty yards due west of Block One, ma
ybe thirty yards south of the Headquarters Tent. Everybody with me so far?”
Mac looked around, ensured that everybody was on board, and answered for the group. “Aye, mum.”
“Your job is to infiltrate to the jail right after the main assault starts, and free those prisoners.”
Tatiana stopped speaking, letting the impact of her words be absorbed by the group. When everyone had stopped looking around and seemed to be ready for more, she continued.
“As much as I’d like to personally lead you - especially since that’s my father and my best friends locked up in there - I won’t be able to do that. I have to stay with the main assault force. So…”
Tatiana looked directly at Mac. “I’m counting on you, Corporal. When we’re approaching the Line of Departure, I’ll detach you and send you on ahead. You’ll work your way around and set yourself up west of the old tent camp that’s still standing out there. There should be nobody left in the tent camp, but you never know. There could be people in there for various reasons - I’m sure you can guess. So you’ll have to be careful setting up.
“Once you’re in position, you’ll hear the first assault start from the east side of the camp. That’ll be Battalion East coming in from behind Block Two. At that point, do nothing. Remain in position. Don’t let yourself be drawn off by that. Understood?”
“Aye, mum. Hold position when Battalion East starts their assault.”
“Excellent. The next thing you’ll hear is our assault start about fifteen minutes later. We’ll be coming in from due west, which will be slightly south of you. As soon as you hear our assault begin, drive at maximum speed for the jail. You should be there in less than five minutes.
“Once you’re past the tent camp, you should see two larger tents. The first one is the cafeteria, the second one is the Headquarters tent. The jail is a new building just south of the Headquarters tent. I expect it to be heavily guarded. That’s why I’m giving you two squads. That should be enough to do the job. Get in there, free the prisoners, and keep them safe until we arrive. Any questions?”
Mac looked around at his two squads. They looked scared but determined.
“No, mum,” answered Mac. He stood up. “We’ll get it done.”
Tatiana smiled. “Thank you, Mac. Stay with us until I cut you loose. See you there.”
Mac nodded. Tatiana rose, stretched, turned in the darkness, and waved at two squads standing at the edge of the group - her scouting squads.
“Let’s roll,” she said.
The two scouting squads disappeared into the night like ghosts. Moving slower, Tatiana and her staff started walking east. As the last of HQ company pulled out on the trail, Mac fell into line behind them. He heard his two squads moving out and turned, looking to make sure they were all in place. Behind them, he saw Alpha Company begin to move.
Seven miles to go, thought Mac.
Approaching Stree Battlecruiser SGH Resolute
On Videlli’s shuttle, one of the Stree warrior-monk bodyguards came out of the back compartment to check on Videlli and Tarilli. He bowed low before them.
“Is there anything needed, O Great Prophet?” he asked.
“Yes, Parti,” replied Rita/Videlli. “As soon as we are on board the Resolute, I want to get the hell out of here. No telling how far the splashback will reach when that first asteroid hits.”
“It will be done, O Great Prophet,” the bodyguard responded verbally. He bowed deeply and returned to his seat in the rear compartment.
But on their radio link, an entirely different conversation was occurring.
Rita asked.
Rita said.
There was a short silence. Rita heard the shuttle engines change pitch as it began to maneuver to dock with the battlecruiser.
With a clunk, the shuttle came to rest on the outside of the battlecruiser and latched to a docking bobbin. The platform began to rotate, carrying them inside the ship. Rita looked across at Tika.
Tika looked at Rita, her face impassive.
Corvette Armidale
“How? How in the world did you pull it off?” Bonnie asked.
“Rita’s in Videlli,” replied Jim Carter, currently in the body of Cotrapi. “Tika’s in Tarilli, his Chief of Staff. When we realized how much trouble we were in, we realized this was the only way out. I bit the bullet and went for the conversion. We grabbed Cotrapi and converted him in the bodybuilder. Then Luda scanned me and put me into Cotrapi.”
“Fuck,” breathed Bonnie. “That had to be scary, with no time to prepare for it!”
Jim grimaced. “Too right. I didn’t have much time to think about it. I’ve never been so scared in all my life. In fact, I made Luda put me out before the scan. I couldn’t bring myself to think about what would happen to my body after. I knew we’d have to leave it behind.”
“Well,” said Stewart, unable to think of anything else to say. “Well, well...”
Bonnie smiled for the first time since she was captured. “I would come over there and kiss you, but you’re just too damn ugly.”
Jim winked at her. “I’m told I’m quite attractive to a Stree.”
“But…” Stewart stammered. “What now? What’s next?”
Jim leaned forward. “The two pilots up front are Rachel and Ollie. The other guards are Luda and Liwa. They’re releasing Brady and Hodges right now and explaining the situation to them.”
“You’re fucking kidding me!” Bonnie screamed in delight. “All of you?”
“Yep,” Jim smiled. “It’s our ship again.”
“But not for long,” said Stewart, glancing at the holo repeater. “We’ll be aboard the Stree battlecruiser in about ten minutes. At that point, we become prisoners again.”
“No. Rita - I mean Videlli - will tell the battlecruiser captain to keep us on ice for the moment. She’ll tell him she doesn’t want to contaminate members of his crew with exposure to Humans, so she’ll order him to keep us on the Armidale for the trip to Aslar. We’ll fly in formation with the battlecruiser. As far as they’re concerned, I’m still keeping you prisoner here for the duration of the trip.”
“How will she explain the explosion of the other shuttle?” asked Bonnie.
“The truth. Gitweo was plotting to kill Videlli and Tarilli, so Videlli killed him first.”
“So that leaves us with just one problem, then,” Bonnie spoke thoughtfully. “How will Rita and Tika - and Hajo - escape from the battlecruiser?”
“Well, I wish we only had th
at one problem. But we have a couple of bigger ones than that.”
SGH Resolute
At its max accel of 305g, the Stree battlecruiser SGH Resolute boosted hard to escape the impending destruction of Stree Prime. The Human corvette Armidale followed close behind, still maintaining the pretense that the Humans onboard were prisoners of Cotrapi. In 20 minutes, the two ships were 1.5 million miles from the planet, moving at 8.2 million miles per hour and still accelerating.
Far in front of them, coming directly toward the planet, Rauti’s three doomsday impactors sped on, the hammers of God. The first one had just reached its maximum velocity of 30% light - 55,885 miles per second. It was 21 AU from the planet - 1.95 billion miles. What seemed like a lot wasn’t, not really. It would cover that immense distance and impact the planet in nine and a half hours.
Many hours behind it, the next impactor had reached 28% light, and the third one followed at a similar interval, already at 26% light. They would impact the planet after the first asteroid, at intervals of six and twelve hours. Rauti had planned carefully. The end result would be an even distribution of destruction around the entire planet as it rotated. Few, if any, Stree would remain alive on their doomed home world.
The Stree Home Fleet made one last valiant attempt to stop the impactors. Splitting into two groups, one group positioned themselves 20 AU from Stree Prime. As the first impactor approached from outsystem, they accelerated for all they were worth. Through heroic efforts, they reached 25% of light speed as the impactor sped through their fleet. Thousands of missiles and railgun rounds were then launched at it.
But the velocity differential was still 5% of light speed. In the time the Stree missiles moved one mile, the asteroid moved 9,314 miles. It was like shooting a spitwad at a speeding rifle bullet. Upwards of ten thousand missiles and railgun rounds were fired at the asteroid; three managed to actually strike it. Out of those three, not one caused sufficient damage to move the impactor off its course. It was a futile gesture in an impossible task.
The second group of Stree ships were slightly closer in, at 18 AU. As the impactor approached, hundreds of small Stree ships attempted to smash themselves into the fast-moving asteroid in kamikaze attacks. Only two out of hundreds were able to actually hit it, giving their lives in the hopes of deflecting it from the planet.
Remnants: Broken Galaxy Book Five Page 24