“That’s no way to run a war,” Rollo said. “The Emperor should have pushed his advantage.”
“Agreed,” N7 said. “Undecipherable Lokhar honor is one of the reasons the Jelk Corporation has successfully waged war against the Jade League for these many years.”
Only later did I learn what had happened. It came out during the grand meeting on Sant’s flagship, a gigantic mauler.
The Emperor made a deal with Sant. Felix Rex Logos would let Sant bring his entire fleet through Wolf 359, if later the seer agreed to let the crusading armada through into the Alpha Centauri star system.”
“We will wrestle our differences with honor,” the Emperor had said. “The winner will rule the Lokhar Empire.”
Sant had agreed to the deal. He brought the rebel fleet to Alpha Centauri, the massed might of Orange, Yellow and Green Tamikas, along with lesser Houses. Combined together with the last Starkien fleet in existence, it made for a vast force.
The next several days saw hurried deployments, last minute repairs and the great meeting between the leaders.
I went, taking Ella with me. The Lokhars didn’t like N7. So for once, I left him behind.
Sant had eight maulers. Orange Tamika loved giant vessels. The round ships lacked the dreadnought’s sheer mass. Nothing had ever matched the hyperspace vessels. But a mauler was five times bigger than a Jelk battlejumper. The super-ship boasted immense laser cannons, and it could deploy hundreds of star fighters.
The great meeting took place on a stage for Lokhar plays. I sat in the front row. Baba Gobo crouched nearby on a low seat.
After the seats filled up, Doctor Sant walked onto the stage. He’d changed since I’d seen him last, looking older, more weighed down with responsibility. He wore an orange toga and moved with serene authority.
I won’t bore you with the long-winded speeches. Lokhars loved to talk. They loved it even more at big meetings where everyone should have discussed strategy and tactics. Sant launched into a monolog that lasted hours, talking about ancient history, religion, customs and seemingly everything but the coming battle.
After Sant’s introduction, others talked.
Finally, Baba Gobo glanced at me. I shrugged. What could we do? The tigers blabbered endlessly. Only toward the end, as even Lokhars began to nod off, did Sant stand up again. He finally opened it up to military suggestions.
I pinched myself, waiting to hear about subtle maneuvers and clever tactics. Shockingly, most of the Lokhars talked about courage and standing at one’s post to the bitter end.
“We must trick them!” Baba Gobo shouted. “We must whittle them down with cunning.”
At the Starkien’s outburst, the auditorium grew silent.
Seer Sant stood up once more. The acolyte who had been talking sat down. “Baba Gobo,” the Lokhar said. “This is a matter of honor. Hard fighting will win the day, not sly ruses.”
“The Emperor’s forces outnumber us,” Baba Gobo said.
“Yet, we will still win,” Sant said. “This I know.”
“How will we win?” the Starkien asked.
“Through valor,” Sant said.
The Lokhars roared and pumped their fists into the air.
Baba Gobo shrank back against his chair.
In that moment, I feared the Starkiens might leave the grand fleet. I stood up and motioned to Sant.
“Commander Creed,” the Lokhar said. “Do you wish to add a word?”
“I do,” I said. “I think we must find a way to defeat the crusading armada without destroying their ships or ours.”
“How can you do this?” Sant asked. “Will you threaten to destroy the Purple Tamika articles of honor?”
The auditorium of Lokhars strained to hear my words.
“If I must,” I said.
A low groan went through the chamber.
Sant held up his hands. The noise died down. “We will fight with honor. It is to be seen if the Emperor of Purple Tamika can fight without a soul. Once Commander Creed brings the wrath of the Creator down on his head, then we of Orange, Yellow and Green Tamikas will destroy the beasts among us.”
Again, the Lokhars roared with approval.
“Who do you mean by beasts?” I asked, bristling.
“Those formerly of Purple Tamika,” Sant said, sounding surprised by my question.
“Oh,” I said. Once I destroyed the articles, Purple Tamika would lack a soul. By Lokhar logic, they would become beasts. “Yes, of course,” I said. Sitting, I leaned past Ella and whispered to Baba Gobo, “It sounds like a clever plan.”
“The Lokhars are seldom clever,” Baba Gobo whispered. “But they do like to fight.”
“Will you fight?” I asked the Starkien leader.
He stared at me with his red eyes. “Yes. I will fight.”
Sitting normally again, I thought about Sant’s overall plan. It had seemed foolish to grant the Emperor the opportunity to freely enter the Alpha Centauri system. Yet, the two Lokhars had given their word to each other. Felix had let Sant race through Wolf 359. Now Sant would let the Emperor set up here.
It reminded me of the old-time chariot lords of Ancient China. The nobility of that era had fought on their state-of-the-art, horse-drawn battle carts. Just like medieval French knights, the Chinese of that time had set great store by chivalry. In the story I’m referring to, a noble with a tactical advantage behind a river had thrown away his gain. The opposing king told him it wouldn’t be chivalrous to attack him while he forded his chariots across the river. The noble graciously allowed the king to bring his host across and deploy. They fought a righteous battle, and the honorable noble lost the fight and his life.
I hoped we weren’t making the same mistake.
Sant ended the so-called strategy session by telling everyone that in a battle for the Lokhar Empire, we had to adhere to the ancient traditions.
I could see what he was doing. Sant wanted to keep his hands clean by having me do the dirty work. He said I’d make the Creator angry for destroying Purple Tamika’s articles of honor. I hoped that was just an expression.
Even as Sant made his last, long-winded monolog, a high-ranking official raced into the auditorium.
The seer stopped talking. Every eye turned to the official.
The Lokhar said in a higher voice than normal, “The first ships of the Emperor’s armada have entered the star system.”
A combined sigh went through the chamber. Afterward, it only took Sant another hour to finish his talk.
-32-
In a straight line, Alpha Centauri AB was 4.37 light years from Earth. It was a binary star system, as two stars orbited a common point. Alpha Centauri A had 110 percent the mass of the Sun, while Cen B had 90.7 percent the mass. A third star, Proxima Centauri, had some gravitational effect upon the system. It was in an orbit four hundred times the distance that Neptune circled Sol. That meant Proxima Centauri had a negligible effect upon the coming encounter.
The sheer gargantuan size of the Emperor’s crusading armada caused me to question his sanity. Surely, Felix Rex Logos had called in Lokhar warships from all the provinces of the empire. He must have stripped defensive frontiers of every mobile formation he had. No wonder he’d allowed Doctor Sant to bring the rebel fleet through Wolf 359. By fixing his enemy’s location, the Emperor could crush him permanently, not having to worry about pirate formations in the years to come from those who had escaped. The Emperor’s only fear might be rebel sneak attacks as his ships came through jump gates. By his nobility, Sant had thrown away that possibility.
The Emperor must have had three times our numbers and four times our tonnage. This was going to be a slaughter. Yet, the vast numbers on our side meant the rebels would inflict telling damage to the imperial fleet.
The Emperor’s commanders brought the mass forward in three distinct sections. As if the fleet was a legion, the commanders had separated it into three waves.
Huge bombards lumbered toward us. Bigger than Orange Tamika mau
lers, the bombards had massively armored hulls and double-strength shields. They could take a pounding and deal one. Their weakness was a lack of speed. In such a mass battle as this, though, I doubted they would need quick acceleration.
Surprisingly, the Emperor’s commanders had spread out the bombards, each ship hundreds of kilometers from its neighbors. If we launched T-missiles at them, we wouldn’t be able to take out clusters of vessels, just one big vessel at a time.
The next square had battle and attack cruisers in daunting numbers. Thousands approached behind the bombards. That square could have faced our fleet alone and likely come out victorious.
Carriers and pursuit destroyers made up the final square.
Taken all together, it was far too much for us to face and win. Three times the ships meant the Creator sided with them, didn’t it? The old quip said that God fought on the side with the biggest battalions. Well, that would be the crusading armada.
We approached the enemy in a vast globular formation shaped like a teardrop. The bulbous part faced the Emperor’s bombards.
At our lengthy council of war, we had decided to use massed counter-fire to destroy any teleporting missiles. It was riskier than our enemy’s plan, but could prove superior if we could wipe out the appearing T-missiles before they detonated. Then, we could strike the bombards with our concentration and supposedly defeat them in detail.
Counting the amazing numbers, I realized that a space war shouldn’t ever come down to such a grand encounter in one star system. Yet, here were most of the Lokhar military vessels, representing over eighty percent of the tiger empire’s firepower. If we fought, it would surely cripple Lokhar fleet strength for decades, maybe forever, depending on who struck next and with what strength.
Maybe the Emperor could see that. Maybe he thought the armada’s size would astound us. Doctor Sant understood that a battle here today would cripple Lokhar military power. It would probably also mean our annihilation. Baron Visconti understood, as did the other rebel leaders. Baba Gobo dreaded the coming fight, yet the Starkien had become too proud to flee.
This was a historic moment, and it occurred right next door to Earth. Wasn’t that awesome?
No. It was horrible.
The two fleets moved through the Alpha Centauri system. Seen one way, it was majestic. Looked at another, it could mean doom for millions of combatants and then the final death of humanity.
It was time to make my play. Our side counted on it. I was back in the Quarrel with my people. The speedster stayed in the tail area of the globular formation.
With the permission of Seer Sant and his leaders, I now radioed the Emperor’s flagship.
As I sat in my command chair above the bridge crew, I tried to compose myself. For once, I wanted to be formal and correct. What if Felix Rex Logos refused to speak to me, a supposed animal? Would I have to destroy articles of Purple Tamika honor on a wide-screen for everyone to witness? I didn’t want to, but if I had to, I would most certainly do it.
“Get ready, Creed,” Ella said. “The Emperor’s comm officer has agreed to our request.”
I told myself to relax, breathing in and out. All our hard work, all our fighting and dying—it concentrated into this single moment.
Before me, the holoimage wavered and then solidified. I stared into the face of Felix Rex Logos. He had wide features but no longer had white fur on his face.
Fur coloring, I thought to myself. He wants to look spry and powerful.
He hadn’t done anything about his bulldog jowls. He wore a large device on his head. Oh, it was a purple crown with red jewels sparkling on the points. His orange eyes shone with purpose, and a purple collar jutted up to his chin.
“Greetings, Emperor of the Purple Tamika Lokhars,” I said.
“I am the Emperor of all the Lokhars,” he said in a ringing voice.
We broadcast to everyone. I guess Felix had his reasons for doing that, and we had ours. Maybe he wanted to show his tigers what a beast I was, a raving monster. Did he know yet that I’d raided his Hall of Honor? He had to, right? Why otherwise agree to speak with me?
“You were the Emperor of all,” I said. “Then, you made terrible decisions. One of those was to send others to do your dirty work of nuking and poisoning my planet. For that, you’re about to lose your crown.”
“Who is this beast I see before me?” he asked with a royal sneer.
He’d seen me before. This was playacting on his part. “Whatever you think I am,” I said. “at least I’m not the reigning monarch who let his Hall of Honor fall into a Star Viking’s hands.”
He stiffened and his orange eyes shined with murder-lust. “You lie, animal,” he said in a hoarse voice.
I could have taken this a number of different ways. I decided on a direct approach. With a lazy move, I picked up an old spearhead. Using it, I scratched my cheek. The twelve thousand year old weapon had a distinctive mark on its metal, a stamp with a Lokhar flower that looked like a claw.
Upon seeing the spearhead, Felix Rex Logos roared. After he finished showing off his wrath, he leaned forward with his eyes blazing. “What is that you’re holding?”
“Oh. This?” I asked, holding up the ancient spearhead. “It’s something I picked up in Zelambre during my touchdown on Horus. It was quite an evening. Lots of fire and screaming vestals. We had a jolly old time, you can believe that.”
“YOU!” he raved, pointing at me with a wicked claw. “You dared enter our scared Hall of Honor?”
“You’d better believe it,” I said, remembering how Lokhars had beamed my dad’s shuttle. This was payback, even if it didn’t bring back the dead. I wanted to prolong this moment forever, but I knew I had to strike while Felix’s emotions raged hottest.
“I’ll tell you what, Mr. Emperor,” I said. “If you like, you can send over a team of representatives to examine our loot. Let them see if we have your precious articles or not. I imagine everyone is willing to wait before we start the bloodshed. Come and see just how much of your honor I’m holding.”
Felix Rex Logos stared at me. I could feel his fury, his rage and impotence. I loved it. I wanted to shove his face into it and say, “Bad kitty, bad, very bad,” then kick him in the ass and send him sprawling onto the carpet before I hacked him to death.
As if it had been rusted shut, he opened his mouth. Slowly, his lips moved. Like a dead man, he asked, “If I halt our advance, will your ships halt, too?”
“Yes,” I said.
He stared at me longer. “You…a man…can speak for the rebels?”
“In this instance, I can speak for Seer Sant, the Orange Tamika Lokhar who rode the artifact from the portal planet to the solar system. I can speak for him because I know the artifact’s name and rode inside the ancient construct.”
The Emperor’s eyes bulged outward. He strove to speak. Finally, he said, “I will send Purple Tamika acolytes to see these articles.”
“Just make sure there isn’t any Shi-Feng aboard,” I said. “I’m tired of killing your exploding assassins.”
Felix Rex Logos’ mouth went slack. He shuddered, I think with fury. A moment later, their comm officer cut the connection.
“Why did you have to add the last bit, Commander?” Ella said. “You’re risking too much.”
“Maybe,” I said in a thick voice. “We’ll let the outcome decide whether I went too far or not.”
***
As the massed fleets waited on either end of Alpha Centauri, a single Purple Lokhar shuttle accelerated from their side. It was a big craft. It took the vessel twenty-two hours to reach the globular and slow down.
Three hours later, we matched velocities. A boarding tube snaked between the two craft. Three dignitaries marched through it and entered our airlock.
I waited to greet them, with N7 on one side and Rollo on the other. My gun hand rested on my .44. If they played us false, I wanted to blow their bodies apart the old-fashioned way.
The hatch opened, and three old L
okhars stared at me. The first was big with hunched shoulders, wearing an admiral’s uniform. The second looked like a Lokhar scholar with a tall collar and square hat. The last was the acolyte with a long purple robe. He trembled from age and had rheumy eyes.
“You are the beast Creed?” the acolyte asked in a brittle voice. His name was Divine Griffin.
“Let’s get one thing straight right away,” I said. “You don’t call me ‘beast’ or ‘animal’ and I won’t call you stupid before I knock you to the floor.”
“We are here under truce,” Divine Griffin said. “Would you dare to break such a solemn compact?”
“I won’t break the truce,” I said.
“Then you must not threaten to strike us,” the acolyte said.
“I won’t strike you.”
“Therefore, if I chose to correctly name you a beast, you will accept it.”
“No. I’ll have this man here,” I said, jerking my thumb at Rollo. “Throw you down onto the deck plate. Then I’ll unzip my fly and piss on your head.”
“Barbarian!” Divine Griffin hissed.
“Just so you and I have an understanding on how things will go if you can’t smarten up, got it?”
The old admiral stepped in front of Divine Griffin. “We will refrain from insults. We ask the same in return from you.”
I could have told the tiger the old acolyte had started it, but what would have been the point.
“I will say no more,” I told him. “Come. It is time for you to see our loot.”
We took them down the corridor to the largest chamber in the speedster. There, laid out on tables and under glass, lay the articles taken from the Hall of Honor in Zelambre.
The three Purple Lokhars moved woodenly to the tables. They gazed in shocked horror. Divine Griffin hissed, shaking his head, clenching his paws into fists. The admiral glanced at me.
I didn’t stare back. This must have been difficult for them. As much as I wanted to destroy Purple Tamika, I needed to make a deal with them more.
Ten minutes later, the scholar said, “We have seen enough.”
Star Viking (Extinction Wars Book 3) Page 31