Snark and Sissness sighed with relief.
Jamie stood, stooped, and picked Anna up in his arms, and with her arms around his neck, carried her away from Prime's body, and placed her gently down against a pillar. Jamie leant in towards Anna, and kissed her lightly on the lips. Then, taking off his backpack, found some water, and gave it to her, using some of it to wash away the black blood.
Snark and Sissness followed them over to the pillar. The white bird hopped up to them, holding its wing still. The black bird lay dead next to Prime's body.
Anna looked at the Amulet of Truth, with the Destiny Stone in her hands, now the Talisman of Tomorrow. She felt the warmth of the metal, and the immense power, at once both uplifting, and frightening at the same time.
She reached out to the injured bird, and touched its wing. The Talisman pulsed white, and she withdrew her hand. The bird flexed its wing, now healed, and with a song coming from its beak, it flew up to the top of the pillars, did a circle around them, and vanished out the door it had come in.
Jamie took the Talisman out of her hands, and weighed it for a moment in his. He too, could feel the surprising warmth of the metal. He slipped the necklet around Anna's head and pulled her hair out of the way, laying the amulet against her neck and chest.
"This is where it belongs," he said, smiling into her eyes.
Anna smiled back, but she could feel the weight of it, both in its physical reality, and in the responsibility it represented. Her fingers tingled with the power which flowed through her, and at the same time, she could feel the hope of the 'gods' for it to be used intelligently, with respect, honesty, truth, and righteousness, as its components represented.
She thought about the words of the 'god', 'be careful what you wish for', and how her whole life had been in pursuit of this. What now? She felt at once liberated, and weighed down. She placed a hand on her stomach, and felt more responsibility than the Talisman could ever be. She smiled to herself.
Snark brought them all back to reality.
"We need to get back," he stated. "Who knows what's going on at Argathea?"
Jamie nodded, and helped Anna up. Snark knew they were all going to hurt when they had time to think about it, and he concentrated on the path out of there, to stop himself. Sissness had one last thought before leaving, and took a series of images with her tablet, of the now dead Brother Prime.
The three, now made four, made their way out of the Hall of Peace, into the sunlight beyond.
Seventy
The Nine Kingdom ships slammed into the front of the Saurian fleet in line abreast formation, more or less, all travelling at the top speed of Seasprite.
Warspite had the middle, with Seasprite tucked in to her left, and Sigourney Weaver on her left. Tranquil's three ships completed the left end of the line. To Warspite's right was Havoc, which like Tranquil's ships was a fully gunned Cruiser, although hers were freighters and Havoc carried troops. To the right were their two other Cruisers, now controlled by Carrie Fisher, and Carrie herself on the end.
Seasprite being the weakest ship, was close by the strongest and one of the second strongest. If need be, the AI's would move her inside one of the other ship's shields.
Two minutes from Battleship gun range, they'd gone to Seasprite's top speed, and begun firing. Warspite turned the middle front warships into debris with the first broadside, and the other ships began firing seconds later. Guns fired, and missiles of all sizes launched.
All of them had to change course radically to avoid debris, and the line became a piece of rope, wiggling around as the ships charged through the Saurian fleet, dodging and weaving to avoid collisions.
They took hits from heavy explosive ordinance of various sizes, but mainly from ships in front of them, as their speed made hitting them from the sides difficult.
When they came out the other side ten minutes later, nine ragged holes had been punched through the previously neat orderly fleet ranks.
Warspite fared best, having the strongest shielding, but hers were below fifty percent.
Seasprite came off worse, having lost shields once from an explosive round hitting her in the side, the force rolling her over, with the next round punching through her hanger doors, and turning the shuttle into scrap. Mouse had taken the hit badly, securely buckled into a seat made specifically for him, and had begun whimpering. He'd closed his eyes, and not opened them again until the firing stopped.
The others were untouched, shields varying from ten percent, up to thirty eight.
They ran for another five minutes, allowing shields to regenerate. The remains of the enemy fleet pulled clear of the debris field, and continued on towards the planet.
Warspite came to a stop, and the others formed a huddle around him. His face popped up on a screen on Seasprite's bridge. He looked down at Mouse.
"I'm sorry Mouse. Two mosquito missiles missed, and both shells hit you. You're docking with me for the rest of this fight."
"I won't argue with you. Snark would, but I won't."
Warspite nodded. On all the bridges, all the key faces appeared.
"What now?" asked Tranquil.
"We go battering ram."
Havoc smiled, as Jane remembered the last time she'd done this.
"Huh?" said Weaver.
Warspite told them what to do.
A long complicated five minutes later, Warspite balanced all their shields into a single shield. They were now a single ship.
Warspite was now broadside on, with Seasprite docked at a mid-side airlock on the rear side. The two Pocket Battleships were connected to each end of Warspite, positioned to push her forward. In effect, they were the engines for the whole ship. Havoc and one of Tranquil's ships were inside them, also joined to Warspite, and also could use their engines to move them. Attached to Warspite's nose airlock, was another of Tranquil's Cruisers, with the third attached at Warspite's engine end. To the engine ends of both outer Cruisers, were the remaining Cruisers, looking like wings on the ends.
Connecting all of them were salvage droids, using gravity sleds to hold the combined ship together. All of Warspite's guns were pointed forward, and every other gun was pointed into a specific area, to fire when something appeared there.
The two PB's, and Havoc and Tranquil, all ramped up their speed together, pushing the giant ship up to their normal cruising speed, unable now to make full speed. It was enough. They started overtaking the now newly formed up Saurian fleet from behind, going over the debris field between them.
Warspite was in a hurry to get back there, but not in a hurry to go through. Once inside missile range, they matched speed with the fleet, and started peppering them with every sized missile they had. It also revealed something about Saurian mentality. There was very little in the way of guns firing backwards.
The Saurian fleet came around in a long arc, intending to bring their forward facing guns to bear. Warspite picked up the speed and followed them into the turn, slewed around violently, and pushed into the middle of the sideways on fleet.
All the front facing guns cut a path through the middle, while missiles and other facing guns fired on targets of opportunity.
Mouse had his eyes open, but the three hands gripping his chair and restraints were white, as was the colour in his face. Seasprite was making sure he wasn't seeing the worst of the battle this time, but even so, the mouse was terrified, and she couldn't do anything much to help. For the first time Seasprite regretted not having an avatar, as she thought a hand holding a mouse hand would have been a good thing.
The combined ship punched out the other side of the Saurian fleet, with its shield still on the right side of sixty percent. Warspite brought them around, and they went after the rear section, now having lost all cohesion. By the time all of these ships were destroyed or disabled, the shield was down to forty two percent.
The front section of the enemy fleet had reformed again, and was now coming after them. Warspite brought them around to face it head on, using very little sp
eed, and let the enemy speed be the closing speed. Everything which could fire did, on both sides.
When all there was left was debris, the combined ship was left with only ten percent shielding. Warspite pulled them around, and headed back towards Minor.
"One down, three to go," he said.
"One problem," said Tranquil.
"Which is?"
"We can't get back in time to stop the valderian fleet from pounding the pyramid."
Seventy One
The marine at the coms position on Havoc's bridge was in awe of his captain. Full control of the ship had been shifted from the helm to the captain's chair, and the captain had fought the ship himself. Everyone had done all they could to contribute, pointing out threats and opportunities, but had also been trying not to jog the captain's elbow. His face had remained completely fixed the whole time the battle progressed, concentration totally focussed on keeping the ship alive, and hitting the enemy as hard as they could. For an assault ship, the marine ship crew were amazed at how well the ship had fought. No-one had seen anything like it before. Of course, no-one could remember the last war.
Jane was happy to release the ship to Warspite for the second part of the battle, and her crew looked happier with her paying more attention to the bridge this time, even though she was still fighting the ship. No-one noticed the hand movements firing things, didn't match what actually fired. It was all happening too fast.
Mouse was getting a grip. His middle hand kept trembling at odd times, but the rest of him was functional again, and he was trying to make sense of the sensor data.
"Admiral Warspite sir?"
"Yes Mouse?"
"We have more Saurian ships inbound."
There was a pause.
"Anyone care to make…"
A channel opened, and a Saurian face appeared on the screen.
"Human commander, we acknowledge your superiority on the battle field. We were misinformed, and ignored the rumours about both you and your ships. Our mistake. The ships coming towards you are intending to collect survivors only, and as many of our dead as is possible. We estimate this to take several days, after which, we will depart the battle field. Should you come to sector seven in peace, we will listen."
A fist thumped into its forehead, which everyone assumed was a salute, and the channel closed.
"All ships undock," commanded Warspite. "Except Seasprite. Form up in an arrowhead formation, PB's on the ends. We need to get back to Minor faster."
Seventy Two
"Movement," yelled a trooper from the wall.
Crocatoa, both Majors, still out of their combat suits, Patters, and Dodgers, raced to the center of the wall. Their side of it had now been augmented with a layer of dirt, which helped keep the smell on the other side. The cat bounded up a prepared set of stairs for her, and was able to look over the top from a platform just behind the top. The duck simply flew up.
Beyond the wall, the enemy were stirring.
"What's wrong with this picture," said Emerson.
"No co-ordination," answered Schafer.
"Want me to go look at what's going on?" asked Dodgers.
"Will you?" asked Crocatoa.
"No problem. Be right back."
Dodgers flapped off, and was soon too far into the trees to be seen.
It was now predawn on Minor. The troops had managed some sleep, and been fed hot food, in shifts. The Majors left the wall, and quietly chivvied their troops back into combat suits. The Colonel and Patters waited where they were.
The duck was back a lot quicker than expected.
"Sugar gliders," she quacked. "Thousands of them. They're attacking the valderians from the other side."
"Which will push them into us," muttered Crocatoa. "The only safe place will be inside the pyramid. And in any case, they need to retake it to ensure their people can get out again."
He turned, and began giving orders. Combat suits stepped up onto the berm behind the augmented wall, putting them head and shoulders above the wall, in a good position for propping their pulse rifles on it.
Warspite had let go control of his combat droids, and Weaver and Fisher had taken control of one each. The six droids spread out along the wall, where their heavier guns would augment the pulse rifles evenly.
Patters left the wall, Dodgers followed, and together they returned inside.
The not-crocs were forming up at the base of the stairs, half pointed at the stairs, and the other half ready to act as a relief force, if part of the wall was breached.
No sooner than the wall was fully manned, the valderians rushed them. Slugs bounced off armour again, and pulses dropped valderian troops. The mesons cut figures in half. Bodies started piling up again, on top of the ones still there. They kept coming, but this time determination was replaced by desperation.
A glider sailed in the entrance, and dropped neatly on Patters' shoulder. It was Bottoms-up. He was grinning.
"A great night to be a glider, and a night the valderians will use forever more to terrify their children."
"What's going on?" asked Patters.
"The troop transports were destroyed on the ground when they returned to their staging point. We lost a few good gliders in the attack, but they accepted the risks. Across the continent, the majority of the valderians who bailed out are now Sinash food."
"What's a Sinash?"
"Probably a cousin of yours, in some ways I guess. Large cat like you, but isn't sentient. Top of the food tree here."
Dodgers shuddered.
"Good reaction. If you see one, make sure you're up high."
"CEASE FIRE!" came a bellow from the wall.
Crocatoa, quickly followed by Patters and Dodgers, raced back to the wall. A combat suit jumped down to make way for the huge Colonel.
Sugar gliders were flying out of the trees around the valderians, dropping to land on their heads, and using their small spears to stab repeatedly into their eyes. The valderians tried to bat the gliders away, and managed to dislodge a few, but most of the gliders clung on using their sharp claws, and doing as much damage to the valderians as possible, before leaping back into flight towards another one, or back into the trees around them. Valderians fired wildly in all directions, but the sugar gliders kept landing, and the valderians died, crashing to the ground. Others ran blindly through the forest in panic at losing their sight, crashing into trees and bushes, stumbling down the slope, and falling into ravines off in the distance.
The gliders took casualties as well, but not as many as Patters thought they should be. For a creature designed to glide, they managed to avoid being shot almost as well as a small bird would.
"Darts are poisoned," said the glider. "Special brew for valderians."
Seventy Three
Jamie, Anna, Sissness, and Snark emerged holding hands from the bright light of the void, into the pyramid room. Listening carefully, they could hear sporadic firing coming from the ground floor of the pyramid, and cautiously and quietly climbed down the stairs, Jamie peering into the ground floor room to see who was there. Seeing not-croc troops at the bottom of the stairs, they came down the remaining steps to the ground floor. The not-crocs let them through.
They stopped short when they saw the wall.
Patters saw them, and beckoned them up. Another combat suit jumped down to give them room. Jamie introduced Anna, Snark, and Sissness to Dodgers, who he noticed had picked up a bandolier. It suited her.
"Glad to see you back," said Crocatoa. "Was your mission successful?"
"Aye," said Jamie, pointing to the Talisman hanging from Anna's neck.
"Can you end this?" asked Patters.
Anna looked out at the carpet of black bodies in the early morning light. Valderians were still flooding in from the surrounding area, and gliders were still swooping them. Sporadic fire was still coming towards the wall, and combat suits were firing towards valderians already poisoned, but not yet dead, to put them out of their misery faster.
She touched the Talisman. She had power of some kind, but didn't know how to use it. What could the Talisman do? She focused herself, as she'd done with the Destiny Stone on its own, and breathed deeply, relaxed fully, breathed more shallowly, and slowly. She went into a trance.
Several things happened all at once. The Colonel's men on the wall stopped firing. Guns were presented and diagnostic routines run. If combat suits had faces, there would have been a lot of confused looks, echoing the ones inside the suits. The valderians also stopped firing, with those still standing falling over in some kind of stupor. Falling valderians rippled out among the trees, like dominoes being knocked over.
Silence descended, followed by the return of the chatter of bird song, and hum of the forest.
Jamie took Anna's hand, and looked into her eyes. She was still in the trance. Slowly her eyes focused, she looked at him, and smiled. She shook herself, and looked around.
"What's happening?" she asked.
"It's what's not happening which is more to the point," replied Jamie.
Dodgers took flight again, and quickly swept around the general area. She returned, landing on the top of the wall this time.
"All down as far as I can see. With a lot of very confused gliders wondering what happened."
"I'd better let them know," said Bottoms-up, and he leapt into flight, and vanished into the trees.
Cautiously, weapons raised, but not firing, combat suits vaulted over the wall. Running in a crouch to the nearest valderian still alive, one of them checked the creature for life signs.
"Alive but asleep," he said.
"Let's get this wall down, shall we?" ordered Crocatoa.
The Seasprite team went back inside, while the grisly job of removing the wall began. On the other side, troopers checked each inert form. The dead were hauled off one way. The living were hauled off another way, restrained, and searched for weapons.
"Did the Talisman do that?" Anna asked Jamie, once they were seated where they couldn't see the carnage outside.
A.I. Destiny 5 Talisman of Tomorrow Page 27