A Greater Duty (Galaxy Ascendant Book 1)

by Yakov Merkin

  “Yes, you’re right,” she replied, and began to lead him across the room. Leading might not have been the best term, as she chose to walk alongside him.

  “I can’t tell you how much this alliance means to me,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for so long—”

  “I gathered as much, Grand Admiral.” Would she not stop trying to engage him in pointless conversation?

  “Oh. Call me Nayasar, by the way, at least when we’re not doing anything official. It gets irritating to be referred to by rank when there’s no need to be. Though of course, we’ll be doing mostly official things for a while, between making the alliance official and traveling to Sneva. They’ll be excited at the idea of war. They’ve been quietly encouraging pirates to raid Alliance merchant ships for a while now.”

  Darkclaw did not respond. Hopefully that would prompt the grand admiral to stop talking; at least until he could figure out what was wrong with him. The High Lord would not be pleased to learn of this latest development.

  “…I think we’ll get along really well,” Nayasar continued to prattle on as they neared the king’s office; Darkclaw did not bother catching all of it by that point.

  Doubtful.

  CHAPTER 4

  “Estimated time to our arrival in the Selakar system,” Darkclaw demanded as he entered the Hudecar’s command deck.

  “Twenty minutes, Executor.”

  “Very good. Inform me when we are ten minutes out,” Darkclaw replied as he sat down in his command chair. The journey to the Snevan home system had taken nearly forty-eight hours, due both to the distance between Felinar and Sneva, as well as the need to take a roundabout route to avoid detection. There had been more of a risk of that this time, so Darkclaw had elected to leave thirty of his escort ships at Felinar. The Felinaris contingent consisted of a mere seven ships. Additionally, communication with the Snevans had not been an option until this final leg of the trip; even an encrypted communication could be tracked, and Darkclaw and his forces would not be able to fight off any substantial enemy force, should they come under attack.

  Fortunately, the trip had progressed without incident; at one point there had been a concern that a probe was scanning the Hudecar, but they had determined that it was an old derelict, with nothing close enough for its signal to bounce off of. It had been destroyed regardless, in case the sensors had missed something. However, as there had been no attack since, there was little chance that the Alliance had been alerted to their movement.

  “Has there been any response from Sneva?” Darkclaw asked. It had only recently been declared safe to attempt to contact the Snevans. Thus far, they had not responded, which was strange.

  “Open a channel to the Felinaris flagship,” Darkclaw ordered. He had to confer with the grand admiral; it was possible that this was to be expected from the Snevans.

  “Grand Admiral,” he greeted when she appeared on the display screen. “Have you received a response from the Snevans?”

  “No, I haven’t,” she said with a frown. “This is very unlike them; I might be less concerned if they were only ignoring your attempts at communication, but they would not ignore mine. Something is wrong, I’m sure of it.”

  “If that is so, then we must consider the possibility that we are walking into a trap,” Darkclaw replied. “We must be prepared to flee the system immediately if need be.”

  Even though Darkclaw could not tell exactly what emotion the grand admiral was feeling, the look on her face told him that she disagreed. “No. The Snevans would never betray us like this. They have already given up so much for the sake of our friendship; they would not sell us out now, not even if they were threatened with attack. Their fleet is larger than my own. It would take at least half of the Legion Navy to defeat them in their own territory. They could be under attack now, and their long-range communications could be cut off. We can’t tell why they are not answering. Perhaps they simply can’t.”

  “Grand Admiral,” Darkclaw interjected before Nayasar could continue. “As part of the alliance between our peoples, it was agreed that I would determine the movements of our combined forces, make our battle plans. I will determine what course of action we will take when we arrive. If I feel that there is a possibility of a trap, I will order a withdrawal.” Of course, it was possible that the planet could be under attack, but Darkclaw doubted it. Only a fool would launch a pre-emptive strike against an army that had not even so much as indicated that they would join with the invading force.

  “I understand that. But I am telling you that there is no need for concern. Once I speak to them—”

  “You will do no such thing. By your nature, you will want to believe what they tell you. I am purely objective. I will be able to detect if we are being lied to.”

  “You will have as much of a chance of detecting a lie as a computer would. If they lie well, you will not pick up on the hints. I don’t intend any offense, Executor, but each of us should stick to what we know.”

  She did have a point. While he would be able to pick up anything suspicious, he might not be able to determine what it meant. However, letting the Felinaris speak with the Snevans carried greater risk. Better he be overly cautious than the grand admiral be overly trusting.

  “I will not repeat myself again, Grand Admiral. I will be the one to speak with the Snevans.” He ended the transmission before the grand admiral could reply.

  “We are being contacted by the Felinaris flagship,” an officer informed Darkclaw.

  “Ignore it, and continue to attempt to establish contact with the Snevan Dominance.”

  The Snevans continued to ignore any attempts at communication. When the delegation finally arrived in Snevan space a few minutes later, Darkclaw understood why.

  They had flown straight into the middle of a massive battle.

  “To battle stations,” Darkclaw ordered immediately. “Raise shields and power up all weapons systems.” An alarm began to sound and the lights dimmed as the Hudecar prepared for battle. Darkclaw did not bother converting the bridge to the fleet command mode; with only twenty ships of his own along with seven Felinaris vessels, there would be little to gain from using the fleet command system.

  By the looks of things, the battle had been in progress for quite some time now, which would explain why the Snevans had not responded to their communication attempts. Dozens of destroyed hulks drifted above the planet, more Alliance ships than Snevan, but there were still a number of destroyed Snevan vessels. Interestingly, the Alliance forces did not appear to be comprised of Legion Navy warships, rather a motley fleet of planetary defense ships—primarily Talvostan, Darvian, and Irhan—in addition to groups of mercenary ships, by their designations. Fortunately, the enemy detecting Darkclaw’s arrival was not an issue now, as a warning had doubtless been spread already, as evidenced by the attack itself. A pre-emptive strike was the only explanation.

  Darkclaw activated the small tactical screen on his command chair, and took quick stock of the status of the battle. The defending Snevan fleet, most of their ships colored black as opposed to the usual red, were holding well enough and the Alliance forces looked to be on the verge of pulling back already, but there were a few places where their forces were being hard-pressed to hold their positions. Even as he noted that, a handful of the Alliance ships slipped through the fraying line and began a run at the planet. Darkclaw immediately opened a channel to the Felinar, the Felinaris flagship. It took a few moments longer than it normally did, likely due to the interference of so many ships transmitting messages at once.

  “Grand Admiral,” he began, “I have picked up a number of Alliance ships that have slipped through the Snevan defensive perimeter and are making a run at the planet.”

  “I see them,” the grand admiral replied. “I will pursue. The Snevans will not fire on me, and my ships can intercept the Alliance attack group more quickly than yours.”

  “Understood, Grand Admiral,” Darkclaw acknowledged, then ended
the transmission and watched as the Felinaris warships streaked past his own, after the enemy vessels. Unsure of what to do next, Darkclaw thought for a moment. The simplest course of action would be to remain where he was, to fend off any Alliance ships that attacked his own, and leave the Snevans to their fight. However, he knew that the Snevans as a culture respected and glorified strength. If he proved himself to be a strong and worthy ally now, they would be more inclined to accept his offer. However, he could not risk the Snevans misidentifying the Tyrannodon warships as part of the Alliance attack force.

  He glanced at the tactical screen again, looking for a point where he could be of use while remaining in a position that would not have him trapped should the Snevans open fire. After a moment, he spotted an opportunity. A Snevan capital ship had become separated from its battlegroup and was being set upon by a number of Alliance ships.

  “Order all ships to converge on these coordinates to assist the Snevan warship,” Darkclaw ordered as he sent the coordinates to the flight controller.

  By the time the Hudecar and its escorts were within range to help the Snevan ship, it had already taken significant damage, but it was still moving. A swift volley destroyed several of the Alliance vessels, and the rest broke off and turned to engage Darkclaw’s force, only to be fired upon by the damaged Snevan warship. After only a few exchanges of fire, they broke off the fight completely.

  “Pursue them,” Darkclaw commanded. The more enemy ships destroyed now, the fewer there would be to fight later.

  The Tyrannodon force moved to chase down the Alliance ships, and Darkclaw ordered his ships to launch fighters to harass and destroy damaged ships while his larger ships continued their pursuit. Unfortunately, most of the enemy ships were faster than Darkclaw’s own, and were able to flee the system.

  Minutes later, the Snevan fleet, likely having seen the assistance and the distracted enemy force, made their move. They surged forward from their defensive positions, joined by dozens of the more standard red-colored warships, some of which had come up from the planet, some of which had just dropped out of hyperspace. Together they began to directly engage the enemy fleet, which was now realizing that they were outmatched.

  As they saw the reinforcements moving in to support the Snevan fleet, the rest of the attackers disengaged and began to flee the system, likely under the mistaken impression that more reinforcements were en route, or simply because their forces were taking heavy damage and not accomplishing their goal.

  “Cease pursuit,” Darkclaw ordered as the last of the surviving Alliance ships moved out of weapons range. The battle was over. The Hudecar and its escorts remained where they were as Snevan ships continued to fly to and fro, ignoring the Tyrannodons and the Felinaris, who had rejoined his forces in waiting.

  Several minutes later, a formation of eighty warships approached, the smallest of which were as large as the Felinaris flagship. Darkclaw kept the Hudecar’s shields raised, but ordered weapons to be powered down. There was no reason to act confrontational, and besides, if the Snevans did attack, the Hudecar and its escorts would not stand a chance against so many.

  “Executor, we are being contacted by one of the Snevan warships.”

  “On screen.”

  A moment later, a Snevan appeared on screen. Darkclaw did not know enough about Snevan expressions to judge his temperament, but it did not look like the Snevan was pleased. He was sitting in a command chair that appeared to be hanging from the ceiling of the ship’s command deck, wings folded behind him. His red eyes seemed unable to remain still.

  “Yooou aare Eexeecutoor Daarkclaaw, of thee Teeranodons,” he stated. The Snevan’s voice was extremely grating, like a sharp object being scraped along a sheet of metal; Snevan beaks were not well designed for speaking any language besides their own. But the sound of the Snevan’s voice was not what caught Darkclaw’s attention. The Snevan knew who he was.

  “How is it you know my name?” he asked. He had already come to his own conclusion, but only the Snevan could confirm his suspicion.

  “Iii have sspoken wiith your Feliinaariss compaaniions,” the Snevan confirmed. “Theey have explaiined thee reeason for your viisiit.”

  Darkclaw was about to reply, but the Snevan continued, not giving him a chance to speak.

  “Yoou wiiill traavel to thee plaanet iin aa shuttle. Yoou maay briing oone bodyygaard wiith yoou. Yoour shiip wiill bee eesscorteed to thee ssurface.” The Snevan ended the transmission.

  “Open a channel to the Felinaris flagship,” Darkclaw ordered.

  As soon as the grand admiral appeared on the screen, he began before she could even greet him. “What do you think you are doing? I specifically stated that I was to speak with the Snevans, and then you go and talk to them behind my back?”

  “I’m sorry, Executor. They contacted me. It wouldn’t have been right for me to refuse to talk to them. That and I needed to coordinate with their ships in order to assist.” She sounded like she was apologetic, but Darkclaw could not properly read her face or tone.

  “It does not matter now. If they do mean to attack us now, there will be nothing we can do. I have been asked to travel to the planet’s surface; I presume you have as well.”

  “I have been.” The grand admiral paused for a moment. “At least we know now why they did not respond to our communication attempts.”

  “I will meet you on the planet, Grand Admiral,” Darkclaw said, then ended the transmission. He could not understand the Felinaris. She knew that she should not have spoken to the Snevans when he had made clear that he was to speak with them first, but had done so anyway. Not only that, but she did not appear to feel that she had done wrong, despite apologizing. Granted she had needed to coordinate with the Snevans in order to be of aid, but that did not mean she had to tell them everything. Unfortunately, it seemed he would have to learn more about how the Felinaris thought. It would not do to have incidents like this happening at more crucial moments, it was unacceptable. Before Darkclaw could rise from his chair, he felt something again. The grand admiral had truly been out of line! Just as before, he could not tell what the feeling was, and it was difficult to dispel. Darkclaw put his hand to his head as he made himself focus and push the feeling out of his head. He was not concerned about his fellow Tyrannodons seeing; they would not mention or speak of it. When at last the feeling subsided, Darkclaw remained sitting for a moment. He would need to figure out a better way to deal with these flashes of emotion.

  He assigned an officer to take command of the Hudecar in his absence, then summoned a pair of Wraith soldiers—he would not allow himself to completely submit himself to their demands—to serve as his bodyguards before heading to his shuttle.

  Almost immediately after the shuttle exited the Hudecar, no less than six Snevan fighters, which looked like much smaller versions of their capital ships, surrounded the shuttle and began herding it down toward the planet.

  Darkclaw sat silently, determining responses for the Snevans. There was little chance that the Snevans meant him harm; he had shown that he meant to help them, and if they had desired to harm him, they had had an opportunity already. However, there was still no way of knowing their intentions—the conversation with the Snevan officer had been very abrupt. After a few minutes, Darkclaw had to resign himself to the fact that he could not adequately prepare, as he had no firm idea of what was going to happen, and began to watch as the planet approached. He went over everything he knew about the Snevan Dominance again, but there were so many contradictory pieces of information, so much variance between leaders, that even those responses he had prepared could very well prove useless. He simply could not plan for every eventuality.

  #

  Sneva’s capital city could not look any more different from Felinar’s. Where the Felinaris capital was neatly arranged and ordered, with buildings that looked artificial, the Snevan city looked almost as though it was carved out of rock: no two buildings looked alike, though all appeared to be constructed of
the same red stone. In contrast to the thoughtfully planned Aliyasen—Felinar’s capital city, Sneva’s Velas had the look of a city that had naturally expanded over centuries.

  Structures rose incredibly high, and appeared to be randomly placed, jutting out at odd angles toward each other and around what had formerly been hills and mountaintops. The city sprawled on in this manner until its edges, which were large mountains of stone, giving the impression that the entire city had been carved out of what had been a larger mountain. Despite its primitive appearance, signs of advanced technology were still present; vehicles flew about the maze of buildings, electronic signs were plainly visible, and buildings that could only have been factories churned with activity.

  The shuttle jerked to the side and the guiding fighters abruptly changed course. Darkclaw considered going to the cockpit to see what was happening, but there was no point. He was essentially a prisoner in his own ship until the fighters showed them where to land. This venture had better pay off.

  A few minutes later, the shuttle finally came to a landing on a platform attached to a rather large structure at the edge of the city, resting against the mountain. Darkclaw immediately exited the ship, bodyguards following close behind. Already waiting on the platform, ignoring the rough, iron-scented winds blowing across it, was a group of Snevan soldiers standing wing to wing, all wearing bulky exoskeletal armor, which emphasized and slightly increased their size; the shortest Snevan looked to be almost three meters tall, even accounting for the armor. They did not carry any handheld weapons; there were short energy weapons attached to both the forearms and wrists of the suits of armor. Darkclaw wondered how the armor would protect their wings and still allow their use, but they were folded back and he could not see at the moment.

  The leader of the Snevan soldiers approached Darkclaw, stomping loudly across the landing platform. The armor was clearly not made for subtlety. He stopped a few feet away, and looked down at Darkclaw and his two guards for a long moment.