“They have a lot of mass to move around. Hopefully, they’ll decide they’re taking too many casualties to continue.” Stokes watched the situation for a moment before saying, “Dammit, why won’t the Ulef get involved. If they don’t intercede soon, the New Dawn will come under attack.”
Six more Woduur ships exploded, ripped apart by multiple mines, leaving less than forty of the massive dreadnaughts with which to contend. Stokes silently cheered Patho and the stealth fleet on, but the effort was too little. So many of them would enter range of New Dawn that the huge ship was virtually guaranteed to be destroyed.
The Ulef fleets moved. They swarmed over the leading Woduur rings like a cloud of lethal locusts. The Woduur fired, vaporizing hundreds of the Ulef ships, but there were so many, they barreled in and fired their cannons at point blank range.
New Dawn started to back out of orbit, trying to gain distance from the approaching Woduur. Stokes glanced at the clock. There were still about twenty minutes until the NEWT should be at full power.
The Ulef fleets rushed between the Woduur and New Dawn, forming an impenetrable wall to protect the ancient human vessel. The Woduur ships were slowed by the sudden attack. The New Dawn still couldn’t out-accelerate them. The enemy continued to push through the impeding Ulef ships by brute force. Their devastating weapons were disintegrating the small Ulef ships in droves.
Stokes clenched his fist in frustration. He had to bring as much firepower to bear as possible. “Continue firing. Hammer them before they take out too many of the Ulef. Close in and hit them with our energy broadsides. Bring the remaining cruisers along. Leave the destroyers at a safe standoff range.”
Victorious began to shake at it reached maximum acceleration, quickly closing in on the remaining Woduur ships. The distance between them shrank at a shocking rate. The railgun shattered the enemy ships as fast as it could be brought to bear. Huge chunks of Woduur ships tumbled out of formation while the Ulef sacrificed thousands of lives to slow them, keeping them out of range of New Dawn.
Less than thirty Woduur ships remained when the formation suddenly turned and began heading towards the edge of the system. Stokes realized with a shock that the NEWT was at maximum power.
“Sir,” Bendel said, “The ring is taking off from Istyul City.”
Stokes turned his attention to the main plot, where his exec had pushed in on the area over Istyul City. The ship lifted off, and, Stokes hated to admit it, it looked remarkably majestic, as it lifted out of the gravity well and moved to join its fellows on the way out of the Lashmere system. As it moved, he could see the notch along one of its edges where the surface attack had damaged the ship.
“Continue the pursuit of the departing Woduur ships,” Stokes ordered. “They have a lot to answer for.”
“Yes, they do, sir,” Bendel said. The remaining human ships followed the Woduur to the edge of their system before breaking off their pursuit. They managed to destroy another five ships as they went without taking another single casualty. The ships flew straight and level as if they were unable to maneuver or evade. As they flew outside the range of the NEWT, the Woduur got their ships into a new formation.
“Sir, I’m receiving a transmission from the Woduur,” Bendel said. “It’s audio only.”
Stokes nodded and said, “Okay, let’s hear it, Exec.”
A chirping sound filled the bridge for a few seconds and then the metallic sound of a Woduur voice began to speak. “Humans of Lashmere. You have demonstrated your unceasing intractability with your refusal to acknowledge the demands of your betters. Your continued use of our technology is both unsanctioned and unjust. We decline to validate your recalcitrance by further conflict.
“An accounting of your species’ indebtedness has been tabulated as follows. Unsanctioned and unauthorized use of our technology may be recompensed by the indentured subjugation of not less than one million members of your species for ten standard years. The death and destruction of Woduur in the justified attempt at recapture of the aforementioned technology has been evaluated at another million members of your species for life or fifty standard years, whichever is longer.
“A mandatory recompense for lost materials will be tabulated at a later date. However, current estimates place it on an atomic equivalent of forty-nine thousand standard tons of gold or equivalent.”
The voice paused for a moment, and Stokes heard Bendel say, “That’ll be the day. Those mercenary twits can take a flying leap.”
Stokes glanced at his exec. He shared the younger man’s vehement refusal to accede to Woduur demands, especially after the most recent engagement. More than half the Woduur ships were destroyed, and Stokes still had control of twenty-one combat ready warships. He would be making more as fast as possible as soon as the Woduur were gone.
The voice continued. “Our time on your planet has given us insight into your species’ refusal to acknowledge when you are at a disadvantage. The Woduur will provide you with an avenue of action that will be irresistible to your populace. Humans of Lashmere will come to the Woduur outpost at the following coordinates.” The voice parsed out a standard set of galactic coordinates Stokes estimated was roughly five hundred light years away. “There, a treatment center will be fabricated. When humans have brought all technology rightfully belonging to the Woduur, along with the indentured lives that must be released to Woduur control, your people will gain a chance to survive.
“The motivation for this action is thus: a plague has been released among your people that can only be cured or treated by Woduur science. Further conflict will result in increasing numbers of indentured servitude being added to the current totals. Further material destruction will add to the current tally of human indebtedness to the Woduur. No further resistance from humans will be tolerated. Submit to Woduur control or suffer extinguishment as a species.” The voice stopped for a few seconds, followed by the chirping and the message began to repeat.
Epilogue
Admiral Coffee initiated a conference call between Admiral Stokes, and Captains Hanlon and Patho a several hours after the Woduur broke off their attack. Admiral Coffee started by saying, “Congratulations, Admiral. That was a hard-fought battle. Sorry I haven’t contacted you sooner, but there are a lot of things going on down here. We copied the message the Woduur are sending in.”
Stokes snorted. “I’ll be a rotting corpse long before I go to the Woduur in supplication, begging for the cure to the plague.” Stokes’ face could have been carved from granite. Only his eyes showed any sign of emotion, and it wasn’t desperation; it was something more akin to cold rage.
Hanlon said, “Dawn tells me there is a fair bit of information about the plague stored aboard. With luck, we’ll have a good start on the cure already.”
Coffee said, “Good. Mister Stokes, what’s the status of the remaining Woduur ships?”
Stokes nodded. “It looks like they’re leaving our sensor range now, sir.” Stokes watched the Woduur formation enter FTL and streak away from Lashmere. “Even if they released the plague on Lashmere itself, there are still quite a few humans who are uninfected. Everyone in the fleet, for example. Everyone on the Behemoth would also be uninfected, wherever they are.”
Coffee nodded. “We’ve been running tests on the people in Istyul City on the idea that the Woduur would have released the plague there. I have some early confirmation now. The report indicates that they’ve discovered a series of protein markers that could indicate a foreign virus infection. All tested subjects are exhibiting the same markers. We’ll know more in a few days.”
Patho spoke up for the first time. “I wonder if Simmons found the cure she was so eager to go looking for.” He’d often wondered what happened to the impulsive officer.
Stokes sighed “Even if she has, Captain Kri has orders to bring her in. His last message indicated he was pursuing her outside of instant comms range. Once he catches her, he will bring her back to Lashmere, cure or no cure.”
Hanlon sai
d, “I’m getting the full data package from Dawn ready to transmit for research to start working on.”
Coffee said, “Good. Thank you, Captain. Mister Stokes how do you suggest we proceed?”
Stokes planted his clenched fists on his hips. “Sir, I know we’re stretched thinner than a razor right now, but our best option is to refine our battle tactics against the Woduur and to take the cure from them by force. We are not going to surrender to them under these circumstances.”
Coffee nodded. “The Woduur’s days are numbered. They messed with the wrong people, thinking we’d roll over to these demands. We’re going to pound them until they give us the cure.”
Afterword
Thank you so much for reading my third book. As you may have noticed, the story is starting to come into sharp focus. The fourth and final installment of the Faded Star series is well underway at the time of this writing. If you have comments, concerns, questions, or just random thoughts, you can email me at: [email protected] I make a point of responding to all emails I receive.
What’s next? That’s a good question. This series has always been intended to lay the foundation for more stories. Even when this series comes to an end, I expect many of the characters introduced here will show up in other books.
Stay tuned to my facebook page to keep up to date on the latest news about my writing.
If you enjoyed this book, please take a moment to leave an honest review.
Stay tuned for the conclusion coming soon.
A Faded Star 3_The Battle for Lashmere Page 29