Embers of War (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 8)

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “You would immolate yourself rather than surrender?”

  “Darn skippy,” Beth assured the Naga. “We mammals are weird like that.”

  “You have honor, then,” the Naga said. “We will die together, for I am with the troop about to breach the room your engines are in. My name is Warlord Naketh. Die with honor, mammal.”

  At his words, sparks began flying from the blast doors as the Naga started cutting through it.

  “Place charges inside the engine well,” Beth said. “Make sure you put in enough explosive to blow through the shielding we put in place.”

  “Yes ma’am,” one of her sergeants said. His voice was tight with stress, but he didn’t hesitate to follow her order.

  “Naketh, I am Captain Beth Wynn. I have another possible option which might result in both our crews getting home. But if you keep cutting through that door, we will all die together here.”

  The cutting stopped abruptly. That was more like it.

  “I take it I have your attention,” Beth said. “Here’s what I propose…”

  Twenty-Nine

  Dan had ordered the Independence to turn in-system, using all the velocity it had built up to chase after the destroyers. The smaller, faster ships had lost ground at first, but their acceleration was much better than his own, and they were again speeding ahead of the Independence. He’d missed the chance to take them out, and hoped that he had made the correct call.

  The battle was being played out for them on the main screen, with a roughly twelve-minute delay. The Naga had struck out with every ship in their fleet, and initially had some success tearing up a few of the Kkiktchikut vessels. But the Naga had fared worse during the initial pass, and now the ships were soaring away from one another, the Naga fleet depleted by almost half its number while the Kkiktchikut had lost only half a dozen ships. It wasn’t looking good for the Naga.

  The Naga strategy was a good one, though. They couldn’t decelerate on a dime. They needed time for their engines to bleed off the velocity they’d picked up. So they had set their initial pass to send them past one of their planet’s moons. Now they were preparing to do a gravity-assisted turnaround using their moon in a similar manner to what the Independence had done earlier with the gas giant.

  For their part, the Kkiktchikut had simply opened new wormholes and used them to effectively turn around in place. They’d lost none of their velocity and would hit the Naga fleet again shortly after it made the turn around the moon. The five vessels which had been chasing Dan’s ship would arrive a couple of hours later, far too late to matter in this battle.

  “Can we hit one of the Bug ships with a communication laser?” Dan asked.

  “Maybe?” De Toro asked. “But they might detect it as a threat, sir.”

  “Oh, they’ve already attacked us twice. I think they see us as a threat. I’d like to see if it’s possible to talk to them,” Dan said.

  “We can try, sir. Do you think they’ll be able to reply?”

  “I hope so.” With luck, they probably could. The Kkiktchikut might not use lasers for communication, but they probably had at one point. With luck maybe they could find a way to reply. “Send this message. I am Captain Wynn of the Earth ship Independence. Our people are not at war with yours, but your vessels have attacked mine twice. We would like to open negotiations with your race.”

  “Sending now, sir,” De Toro said. “I targeted one of their big ships.”

  Nothing to do but wait. The laser message was away. It would take twelve minutes to arrive at the Kkiktchikut vessel. Then it might take just as long to hear back from them even if they were able - or deigned to - answer. The waiting was one of the worst parts about a space battle, Dan decided. On the Satori, he never had to sit around. That ship could flicker through space and appear right at the battle. But his battlecruiser had no wormhole drive. At sub-light speeds it would take them hours to close the distance. By the time he arrived, it was probably going to be over.

  Not that he was sure which side he should take, even if he could get in there to join the battle. As one-sided as the mess around the Naga world looked, it seemed the conclusion was already inevitable. That was a huge concern. Even if both alien races were opposed to humanity, having them fight each other a while longer would at least give Earth a shot to build up first. But it was looking more like this would be the end of their conflict.

  Static buzzed from the speaker in front of him. Dan looked down, checking his instrumentation. It was too soon for the Kkiktchikut to be reaching back out to him. He’d only sent the message fourteen minutes ago. It would be at least another ten minutes before he heard a response, if there was going to be one at all. But the alert wasn’t for a regular incoming communication. It was a contact via the Naga’s quantum communication system. Dan exhaled forcefully. He wondered what they were going to ask. The Naga had to have their hands full. That they were bothering to contact him at all meant they were as desperate as he had feared. He tapped the button to play their message.

  But the words that came out of the speaker were not the cultured British tones their translation software produced. Instead, the words were mechanical, like they had been pieced together from a collection of different sentences and run through a computer. It sounded like an awful computer answering service. The tone was chilling. The words were even more so.

  “We are aware of your race. Once we deal with our rebellious slaves, we will deal with you next,” the voice said.

  The Kkiktchikut. They’d somehow co-opted the Naga quantum communication array. Dan didn’t even think that was possible, but somehow they’d done it. Perhaps they’d captured a Naga vessel. Or maybe their understanding of how to make the things work was just that much better. Either way, it didn’t matter. He had them on the phone, and they didn’t sound friendly.

  “We would like to have peace between our peoples,” Dan said.

  “No.”

  The one word response floored Dan. The finality in that word, and that tone, the lack of explanation… He didn’t think he was going to change their minds, but he had to try.

  “Why?” he replied. If one word replies were their thing, well, he could do that too. There were a few seconds of delay before the Kkiktchikut voice answered again.

  “Our slaves betrayed us once, to our sorrow. We were almost destroyed as a result. We will not take a race as slaves again. We will destroy before we are destroyed.”

  Damn. The Naga had turned on them, so they figured everyone else would, too? An entire race of paranoid bugs? If they brought this fleet to Earth next, there would be no defending against it. If they intended to wipe out any other sentient race they ran into, that would be the end of the road for humanity.

  “There are other paths to take,” Dan said. He had to try, one more time. “Bonds of friendship and trust, rather than slavery and betrayal. It is possible for beings who are different to co-exist and help one another.”

  “We do not know you. We cannot trust you,” the Kkiktchikut voice replied. “You are therefore a threat and will be annihilated. This is the end of the communication. Make peace with eternity as you watch this planet die. Your world is next.”

  Then the Kkiktchikut severed the call. Dan tried to restart the communication, but whatever the Kkiktchikut had been doing to reach out to him directly, they’d cut the link. They were no longer responding to him. They weren’t going to listen. Sadness and fury warred in Dan’s heart. It was hard to imagine a race so terrified that they were willing to wipe out anything different from themselves that they came across - but then again, was that so different from what groups of humans had done in the past?

  Whatever humanity’s past sins had been, though, Dan would not stand idly by and allow the Kkiktchikut - these Bugs - to wipe his people out. He would take action. There had to be something that he could do. His emotions roiled so hard that Dan stood from his chair to pace. Martelle was there, right behind him.

  “You heard all of that?” Dan ask
ed the Colonel.

  “Yup. Sound like right assholes,” Martelle said. He seemed much recovered from his injuries. It was amazing what a shot of medical nanites could do in a short time. “They say they’re coming for Earth next. I’d suggest we stop them here, Wynn.”

  “That seems unlikely. They’re going to wipe out most of the Naga fleet in this next pass. After that, they’ll probably bombard the planet, which has some defenses in low orbit, but not enough to withstand the Kkiktchikut fleet,” Dan said.

  “Any way we can lend a hand? My Marines have taken these Bugs on before. They’re not as tough as they think they are,” Martelle said.

  That gave Dan a moment’s pause. “De Toro, put the first battle of the Naga against the Kkiktchikut up on the main screen.”

  “Yes, sir,” De Toro replied.

  The video replayed, showing them the two fleets passing dangerously close to one another. The Naga ships had stayed in close, launching fighters and blazing away with their plasma weapons and missiles. While the missiles had done some damage - and Dan spotted one fighter which had done a kamikaze run into a Kkiktchikut ship that seemed to have a significant effect - most of the Naga fire had been plasma weapons. The Kkiktchikut shields shrugged off most of their shots without even blinking.

  “Their weapons don’t work against the Kkiktchikut shields,” Dan murmured.

  “Ours do,” Martelle said.

  “They do indeed,” Dan replied. “De Toro, put me in communication with the Naga fleet. We’re going to give them some help whether they want assistance from us ‘mammals’ or not.”

  Thirty

  Beth was sweating bullets as she held her hand over the door release. As soon as she pressed that button, the Naga waiting outside could enter the engine room. Guns in hand, they could mow down everyone inside in a heartbeat. Well, almost everyone.

  "Majel, you good on the explosives?" Beth asked.

  "I am. If the Naga act aggressive, I'll blow the ship. I hope you know what you're doing, Beth," Majel said.

  "Me too," Beth replied. Then she spoke into the radio. "All right. I'm opening the door to let you in so we can talk more. But no monkey business or our ship's computer will blow all of us to bits."

  "I understand. I will be coming in alone, mammal," Naketh said.

  Beth's eyebrows rose. That hadn't been part of the deal. The Naga's way of showing he wasn't scared? Maybe. She was stalling now and knew it. Beth ground her teeth together and pressed the button. The blast door snapped up into the ceiling. A big Naga in heavy armor waited on the other side. He wasn't carrying a rifle, but that didn't mean he was unarmed. Any hidden guns aside, the Naga claws and teeth were themselves potentially deadly weapons.

  "Warlord Naketh," Beth said. Her translator spat out the Naga words.

  "I have my own translator," Naketh said, tapping the side of his head. He had one of the Cyan life forms, then. Small aquatic animals resembling slugs far too closely for human comfort, the beings had turned out to be a sentient telepathic race. The Naga used them because of their ability to translate all spoken language directly into their host's mind once they were attached to another life-form. "And you are Captain Wynn. I have heard much about you humans. You might be surprised to hear that not all of it is bad. You've impressed a few Naga. And frightened some of the more thin-scaled."

  Beth laughed. "The feeling is mutual."

  On both counts. The Naga had scared a lot of humans shitless, especially during the moments where they'd almost blown up her planet. That and caused John's death. Beth felt a flash of anger and quelled it carefully before she let it reach her eyes. No telling how good this guy was at reading human body language, but she needed his cooperation right now. Not his hostility. Beth tapped the hatch button again, and the door closed behind Naketh.

  "You said you had a proposition for me," Naketh said. "One which might get both our crews quickly home? I tell you, I was not especially interested until that last. But I must report back to the ruling council before it is too late."

  "Duty calls, hmm?" Beth asked. She wondered what it was he wanted to report. Was it something about the Kkiktchikut ships they'd seen all over? Did Naketh have new information on them? "I understand. I too have obligations. But the accident which brought us out into intergalactic space seems to need both of us to unravel."

  "I believe that the interaction of wormhole and hyperspace drives - similar but different technologies - somehow caused a massive space-time curve. A hyper-hyperspace, if you will," Majel said.

  "Who is that speaking?" Naketh asked. "My ear-bug does not translate it for me."

  Interesting. The Cyan beings' telepathy seemed to still not extend to Majel, at least not entirely. Maybe they could only read the minds of organic life? No one was entirely sure how they were doing the telepathy in the first place.

  "Our ship's artificial intelligence," Beth said. She had her translator play back the message for him in Naga, and he nodded.

  "My engineers thought much the same," Naketh said. "You think it is possible to re-create this event?"

  "Not only re-create it, but actually control and direct it," Majel said. "It will require the drives on both ships to function in perfect tandem. Even a small timing error could throw our destination off by a hundred or more light years. But yes - I think I can."

  "We can all go home," Beth said, meeting the Warlord's eyes. "But it's going to take all of us working together to accomplish it."

  "Or I can try to take over this room before your computer blows up your ship," Naketh said. His mouth broke open in a sharp-toothed smile.

  Beth froze. Had she misread him? If he wanted to go after them, there probably wasn't much she could do about it. Humans didn't do too well against Naga in hand to hand combat. She'd have to blow the ship after all. Damn it all, she honestly thought she'd found a way out of this...

  "No, I think I prefer your method, Captain Wynn. We all have obligations at our homes. Enough have died today already. Let us combine our ships and return home to fight another day," Naketh said.

  Beth relaxed, exhaling a little harder than she'd meant to. She caught Naketh's eye and saw the little gleam there which had to be humor.

  "You were pulling my leg?" Beth asked, incredulous.

  "Pulling...?"

  "An idiom. Who knew that the Naga had a sense of humor?" Beth wondered aloud.

  Naketh smiled again and opened his mouth to reply. Before he could say any more, he stood stock still, his palm raised to his ear almost involuntarily. The Naga was staring off into space. Beth knew the look. His ship was sending him a transmission, and whatever the message was, he didn't like hearing it. She hoped it wasn't about to impact their newly minted alliance.

  "I am sorry," Naketh said after another fifteen seconds. "That was my ship. We've just received a quantum message from my home-world in response to the transmission I sent when I discovered we were stranded here."

  "You can transmit from this far away?" Beth asked. She was fascinated with the idea. In theory, the range on a quantum communicator should be the entire universe, but she'd never had the chance to test the range like this!

  “Yes - you do not have these devices?” Naketh asked.

  “Only a couple,” Beth replied. She was hedging. The only pair of quantum radios Earth had were the two mounted on their captured Naga warships. It wasn’t a technology they understood well enough to replicate…yet.

  “The damned Kkiktchikut have attacked my planet,” Naketh said. “We are one of only a handful of Naga ships not participating in the defense. We have been ordered to avoid our home system, to find a new world and colonize it.”

  The Naga whirled and hammered a fist into the wall. The blow left a dent. Naketh took a step back and looked surprised at the damage he had caused. The Naga ships were made from an alloy that was a little stronger than anything Earth had to offer. Beth guessed his fist might not have done any damage to a Naga wall.

  “My apologies,” he rumbled. “You
offer me hospitality and help, and I repay it by injuring your ship.”

  “It’s all right. I’ve hit the walls myself a few times,” Beth said. She was at a loss to know what else to say to Naketh. He was hurting. His people were in danger, and he had no way to help them. How would she feel if it was Earth? “I take it they don’t expect to win the battle? What about your other colonies?”

  “The other colonies are all gone. Wiped out by the Kkiktchikut. They have a ship, a massive vessel armed with a planet-killing weapon,” Naketh said.

  “They can blow up planets?” Beth asked. The engineer inside her head began doing mental math, trying to calculate the raw energy that would require. The human was horrified at the thought of an entire world populated by intelligent life being blown to bits.

  “Not so dire,” Naketh said with a wave of his hand. “But the energy discharge is sufficient to turn most of the surface molten, and heat the atmosphere enough that it combusts. Nothing survives.”

  That brought down the energy required to something that might be feasible, given what she knew about the Kkiktchikut ability to generate power. After all, they’d built the Satori’s drive, which produced incredible amounts of power in an engine block the size of a very small car. What could they do with a bigger engine? Or an array of such devices?

  “It would have to be a close-range strike, though, right?” Beth said. The energy discharge wouldn’t maintain coherence if it was fired from too far away.

  “Yes. First they invade, wiping out all resistance. Then they send in their planet killer ship to finish things. It is an ugly, dishonorable way to fight.”

  Beth avoided mentioning that the Naga themselves had developed a means of effectively ‘salting the earth’ on planets the Kkiktchikut had once controlled. Her people had once done terrible things to their enemies, too. People did stupid things when they were frightened. Naga and Kkiktchikut and Humans alike, it seemed. But she had an idea.