The Visk withdrew a device from the folds of her robes and began entering information into it, but Ravenwood interrupted her by reaching out with his hand and holding it over the table. Hurrú looked at it, her mouth slightly agape.
“What is this?”
“It’s my hand,” replied Ravenwood. “If you take it, our bargain becomes binding.”
The Visk slowly raised her long, thin hand and awkwardly slipped it into Ravenwood’s. The Humani gave it several vigorous shakes, which surprised Hurrú, though she did not let go.
“There,” he said, “we’ve sealed the deal.”
“I think you should get something more firm than a handshake,” said Beth eyeing the Visk suspiciously.
“Nonsense! Sinda Hurrú will perform her part of the bargain,” declared Ravenwood. “Now, this is what I want you to say to the Cassamar. Tell them I know they were falsely blamed for the attack on Halduan. The khâl they built was tampered with. I can help to clear their reputation if they will meet with me, here on Xur.”
“What’s that you say?” said Hurrú, long fingers twitching excitedly. “If it was not the Cassamar, then who?”
“I am not at liberty to say. There’s more to the message you must convey. Tell them I accept the terms offered by our mutual friend.”
“What terms are those?” asked the Visk.
Ravenwood did not reply. He merely touched the side of his nose with his index finger and winked. Hurrú mirrored the gesture, though awkwardly as Visk noses are rather flat. Ravenwood and Beth stood up from their chairs and waived for Lena and Cap to join him.
“I reserve that information for future bargaining, my friend,” said Ravenwood. “In the meantime, we are off to Agurru to meet the Sahiradin armada. Please deliver the message immediately.”
“We would like to leave from another exit,” said Ravenwood. “One cannot be too careful.”
“Of course,” replied Sindu. She stood and led the four Humani to a door in the back of the establishment which opened into a narrow alley. They followed it for a few meters then found themselves on a busy street filled with Visk, Rahani, Tullans, and even several solemn looking Grenn.
“So what was that all about?” asked Cap as he gawked at an unusually tall Visk passing by in the opposite direction.
“I asked the Visk to pass a message to the Cassamar.”
“Do you trust her to do it without giving you up?”
“No,” said Beth, a mischievous look on her face. She and Ravenwood then shared a knowing smile.
“In fact,” continued Ravenwood, “I have no doubt she will soon be informing Pendu Barka of our conversation, or at least parts of it. One can always count on the Visk to play both sides whenever there is a profit to be made.”
“And that doesn’t concern you?” asked Lena.
“I have grown increasingly suspicious of Ambassador Barka’s motives and machinations. She has a great deal of influence, both formal and informal, far more than was ever intended for the chancellor’s leading ambassador.”
“I haven’t trusted Barka ever since she sent us looking for Khadiem’s rogue planet without telling us the whole story,” said Cap. “She’s shifty, always holding something back. Maybe Chancellor Penawah should clip her wings.”
“That is the problem,” said Ravenwood as they walked under an enormous arch, one of four supporting a soaring, glittering building that rose high above their heads as if to touch the sky. “Much of the good Ambassador’s power emanates from Chancellor Penawah’s heavy reliance upon her to get things done, especially in the past few years since the fall of Halduan. Since that devastating loss, the Dewar has ceased to function as it should. Previously existing rivalries and suspicions have exploded into open rifts and blatant obstructionism. I fear the institutions which have long held the Lycians together are crumbling, and with them, the Alliance itself.”
“So how is the message you gave to the Visk going to change any of this?” asked Lena.
“Barka is engaged in a complicated game of intrigue,” said Beth. “She’s playing everyone off of everyone with the intent of increasing her power.”
“Indeed,” said Ravenwood. “She stokes the fires of discord in the Dewar and uses the ensuing confusion and ineffectiveness to assert the Chancellor’s power and fill the resulting vacuum of authority.”
“So she’s trying to strengthen the chancellor’s power,” said Lena. “That’s a common tactic. The group can’t work together so let’s empower a single individual who will save us all.”
“Logan’s ‘man on a horse’ theory,” added Beth.
“I can’t imagine Chancellor Penawah on a horse,” said Cap.
“Nor can I,” agreed Ravenwood as they stepped into a wide, sunny boulevard nearly half a kilometer above the massive metropolis’ shadow-filled and rarely seen surface.
“So, what’s Barka up to? Is she trying to position herself to take over from Penawah?”
“Oh heavens no,” said Ravenwood. “Brevians never lead from the front. They much prefer to remain in the background, influencing the course of events through others.”
“So what’s her game?” asked Cap.
“I will keep my theories to myself for now. But I hope to confirm them by communicating with the Cassamar. If I know the Cassamar were unfortunate dupes in the plot to destroy Halduan, you can be certain Barka also knows. She will either have to confide in me or silence me. Either way, it will force her hand.”
“Are you suggesting she’s a Sahiradin agent?” asked Cap.
“Not necessarily, but she is setting the stage for something very big. We need to give her time to make her move. Let us proceed to Agurru to aid in its defense. We will leave her to stew in her own intrigue for a while.”
Chapter 48
Go in close, and when you think you’re too close, go in closer.
- Major Tom McGuire, Battle of Midway.
Cap looked to his left and right, taking in the grandeur of the largest Lycian fleet ever assembled. The fleet, consisting of six super battleships, twelve battleships of earlier designs, and numerous other classes of ships, had gathered itself into a defensive line in high orbit over Agurru. Cap didn’t know the Malorian terms for the many different ships, but the EDF had classified them as destroyers, cruisers, frigates, and an assortment of smaller vessels. The Lycians had also brought seven recently constructed ion cannon platforms and placed them in the heart of their formation. Though lacking in maneuverability, each of these platforms boasted three large ion cannons capable of negating an enemy ship’s antiballistic shields with just one or two hits, depending on the ship’s size and strength.
But the battle for Agurru wouldn’t be fought just between capitol ships and ion cannons. Fighter craft would play an important role, not just by defending the fleet, but also by intercepting troop transports and their escorts seeking to land on the surface below. The mountain peaks around D’norah Kûhn housed a string of five ion cannons that would quickly disable any capitol ships in orbit directly above, but they could not effectively target fast moving enemy Codex fighters or even troop transports. Naturally, the cannons were protected by automatic gun emplacements, but they would soon be overrun by the swarm of Sahiradin fighters the enemy armada was bringing to bear.
Cap listened to the chatter of the Falcon and Bulldog torpedo-fighter pilots. The EDF had committed all of Earth’s fighters to the defense of Agurru, three battle wings totaling two hundred seventy craft, and every last one of her trained pilots. Familiar voices checked in on their status, some cracking jokes to ease the tension, others terse and determined. They all knew that losing Agurru’s generators churning away on the surface below would cost the Alliance the war. And as bad as a Sahiradin victory would be for the Lycians, it would mean extermination for all the inhabitants of Earth.
Looking to the center of the fleet, Cap picked out the Lycian flagship. He couldn’t remember the Lycian name for it, but the Brevians translated it as “Victory”. On
board were Admiral Var-Imar and a few hundred Tullan warriors charged with protecting the ship from any attempt by the Sahiradin to board her. Also defending Victory was Lena and fifty Serks, General Longmire’s contribution to ensuring the safety of the Alliance’s fleet commander. The Sahiradin might be satisfied with destroying other ships in the fleet using missiles and particle beam blasters, but not Victory. They were eager to breach her hull. They yearned to ram her flanks with borelium-tipped gunships and disgorge raging warriors and Karazan into her corridors in search of their prize, Admiral Var-Imar. The brilliant Rahani Admiral had been the architect of a dozen Sahiradin defeats and was therefore high on the Empress’ list of enemies, and they’d want to capture her as a prize.
The thought of Lena crossing blades with Khadiem’s forces sent a twinge of fear through Cap’s heart. Though brave and fierce beyond comparison, the more he grew to know her, the more he realized how deeply troubled she was. Lena simply could not break the chains of guilt she felt for the role she had played in her father’s death. And that guilt formed a wall that continually separated their hearts. The two of them had enjoyed many tender moments since declaring their love for one another, but Lena still held something back. There was a corner of herself where she would often go to agonize over the impact of her actions. When Cap saw her going to that place he would try to stop her, but was rarely successful. Sometimes he felt she needed to go there because ignoring those dark thoughts and feelings would not heal her splintered soul. Other times he felt she was only deepening the old wounds, preventing them from healing.
Cap never cast light onto that dark truth. Instead, he sought to help her bear the weight of her guilt by being that one person she could talk to when the demons of doubt and remorse became too great to withstand alone. Hopefully, someday, when enough time had passed and troubled memories had been replaced with joyful ones, she could turn her gaze away from the past and look to a future filled with the promise of happiness.
“Attention all wings.”
Cap heard a female voice over the general comms channel. It was Fleet Marshal Laurent, a French woman of exceptional strategic and tactical ability and zero patience for pilots who couldn’t follow orders. “Enemy ships coming within range,” said Laurent. “Report status.”
“This is Lieutenant General Frey,” came a man’s voice with a German accent. “Wing One accounted for and in position.”
“Lieutenant General O’Rourke here.” It was Cap’s wing commander, a veteran of the undeclared border war between the Pacific Federation and Russian-occupied Alaska. “Wing Two accounted for and in position.”
“This is Lieutenant General Federov,” said a female voice with a heavy Russian accent. “Wing Three accounted for and in position.” Cap hadn’t heard much about Federov except that she was somehow related to Ambassador Vasiliev, which is probably all he needed to know. The Russians had demanded a certain number of EDF leadership positions in exchange for supporting Ravenwood’s call to arms, and wing commander had been one of them.
“You all know your objectives,” said Star Marshal Laurent. “Stay focused on your tasks. We are part of a massive combined effort. Our path to victory depends on everyone performing their duties. We cannot fail. Earth is depending on us. Good luck.”
Lt. General O’Rourke gave a few final instructions. Second Wing was to focus on destroying Sahiradin transports before they could reach the surface. The enemy transports would have fighter escorts, so it wouldn’t be easy. The Sahiradin fleet would also be trying to blast anything in the transports’ path, but the rest of the Alliance’s forces would hopefully keep them sufficiently occupied that Second Wing wouldn’t be immediately shredded.
When O’Rourke was finished, Cap switched his comms channel. “Okay people, you all know what to do,” he said to his flight of five Falcons. “Stick close to me. Maintain a diamond formation. We fight as a team. Don’t get pulled into a one-on-one dogfight. I’ll deploy my targeting pods first. Everyone link into them. When they run out of fuel or get blasted, we’ll go to Schmidt’s then Beusey’s. Got it?”
“Yes, Commander Caparelli,” said a man. “Who’s after Beusey?”
“That depends on who’s still around. Heads up, here come the first transports.”
Cap cycled through his HUD’s targeting system. He swallowed hard. The Sahiradin armada was huge, at least three times the size of the Alliance fleet. The targets were rapidly multiplying as transports and their escorts emerged from their motherships. Second Wing was changed with hunting enemy troop transports, but looking at the number of fighters they’d be facing, Cap knew they’d be the hunted ones in this engagement. The thought that many familiar names would be on the day’s death toll flashed across Cap’s mind. He took small consolation in the fact that he had insisted that the pilots in his flight of Falcons abandon the stick controls and learned to use the holocontrols. The superior maneuverability might give them a few more seconds of life.
“They’ve got a lot of fighters, commander,” said a young woman’s voice.
“You got somewhere else to be, Beusey?” asked Cap tersely.
“No, sir,” she said.
“Good.”
Cap deployed his targeting pods.
“Here comes the first transport.” The ship containing several thousand warriors, the first of many, was racing toward Agurru’s surface. A dozen Codex fighters surrounded it. “We’ll dip low and hit them in the belly. Time to earn your pay.”
Cap dove steeply downward and rolled right. The other four pilots did the same while maintaining their tight formation. They targeted a pair of Sahiradin Codex leading a troop transport and opened fired just as ion blasts rose up from the planet’s surface. The fight for Agurru had begun.
Chapter 49
Fixed fortifications are monuments to the arrogance and timidity of the Alamani and those who protect them. Let them tremble behind their gates and cower within their halls. We shall tear down their ramparts and cleanse them of the stench of Alamani injustice.
- Queen Souk Addressing Her Warriors.
Logan, Beth, and Hamza made their way down a wide tunnel within D’norah Kûhn, the ancient fortress carved from the heart of Agurru’s Syshkek Mountains. Somewhere deep below them hummed the massive fusion reactors that powered the continuously active khâls connecting the Trade Federation’s most affluent and productive solar systems.
As they walked, Logan glanced to his right through a thin slit in the rock wall to the open air outside. Though not toxic, the thick, gray mists of Agurru were a stinking mixture of gases that caused Logan’s eyes to water and his chest to rasp whenever he ventured outside for more than thirty minutes. Ideally, Earth’s contribution to Agurru’s defense would have been issued air filters, but the logistical challenges of fortifying D’norah Kûhn and provisioning its defenders on extremely short notice had been considerable. They were fortunate just to have enough food, water, and ammunition inside the walls.
Logan looked once more through the wall’s narrow slit to the outside. The foul vapor slowly descended from the heights of the Syshkek’s peaks to gather in the deep gorge that led up to the gates of D’norah Kûhn. The Humani force totaling thirty-five thousand troops pulled together from North America, Africa, and Europe, including three thousand Russians, had arrived just a week before. They joined a force of over fifty thousand Lycian fighters, consisting mostly of Tullans, who were already jammed into every hall and tunnel of the old fortress. If the Sahiradin breached the outer wall, the defenders would be hard pressed to meet them as a unified force. Only the main corridor running along D’norah Kûhn’s outermost defensive wall, which the Humani had dubbed Highway 1, remained free of overcrowding in order to facilitate the quick distribution of forces during battle.
Protecting the fortress in orbit above Agurru was the Lycian fleet, the largest ever assembled but still much smaller than the Sahiradin armada. Admiral Var-Imar had brought all five remaining super battleships and their entire complem
ent of supporting vessels to Agurru. Included among the Lycian ships were five squadrons of Humani-piloted Falcon fighters and Bulldog torpedo-bombers. Though they would fight under human command, the craft were intermingled with Aculae and various other Lycian fighters. Together, they would spring forward to harry enemy vessels and destroy their landing craft before they could reach Agurru’s surface.
Logan felt a slight tremor in the stone floor beneath his boots. He glanced at Beth, who acknowledged what he’d felt. Another quake along a nearby fault line was announcing the fact that Agurru’s mantle was unhappy with its current configuration. When Logan and the others felt the first tremor three days ago, they were told not to be concerned. They were all perfectly safe because the fortress had been reinforced to withstand the worst that Agurru could throw at it. A second tremor rippled through the tunnels the following day, which sent Logan, Beth, and Longmire on an urgent mission to find General Ghorla and demand to know whether the mountain was going to collapse on their heads before the Sahiradin had even arrived.
Being from Ibuuku Bahn, one of the most magnificent of the Tullans’ many notable subterranean metropolises, Ghorla laughed at the suggestion that they might be in any kind of danger. Besides, he explained as he thoughtfully stroked his long, red whiskers, the problem with Agurru was not tectonic in nature, it was rotational. Rather than illuminating the situation, his remarks resulted in puzzled looks from the three Humani.
He went on to explain that when it was initially decided to place the first generation of power plants on Agurru, the current ones being the ninth generation, the Alamani architects called upon the Grenn to stabilize the planet’s wobbling axis of rotation. This was long, long ago when Alamani influence over all Lycians was supreme and each performed its role in accordance with Alamani designs. To accomplish the task, the Grenn used their unique abilities to energize and reorient the planet’s magma core to act as a great gyroscope. The solution worked brilliantly and the threat of rotational instability disappeared for ages. However, as remarkable as this achievement was, it did require periodic adjustments or it would fail. Eventually, as predicted, Agurru began to show signs of increased divergence from its optimal angle of rotation.
The Renegade Page 43