by Damon Alan
Admiral Dayson took a seat at the head of the meeting room. “That is all, Lucy. Remain present in case we have questions.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“We have now stared human evil in the face,” Admiral Dayson said, looking at the assembled crew and adepts, “and it comes clothed in the form of Komi uniforms and planet level genocide at the hands of our enemy.”
“Everyone is dead?” Emille asked, horrified.
“Essentially so, or will be soon,” Dayson answered. “I don’t know why this has been done, but it has. I thought this meeting would be about how to remove this threat from our old home. But we are too late, too slow to act. We are here to decide what our next move is, since we didn’t stop this.”
The room erupted into furor. The outrage of such an atrocity couldn’t be restrained any longer.
“What are we going to do about it?” Lieutenant Commander Seto asked, in a tone as vicious as Heinrich had ever heard the woman use. It certainly wasn’t the proper tone to address an admiral, but she wasn’t the one to say anything about that.
“What do you want to do about it?” the admiral asked Seto.
Lieutenant Commander Seto, normally a soft spoken woman from a world of pacifists, said what everyone was thinking, in a way that everyone would understand. “Admiral, if it’s up to me, we find this Urdoxander Komi, and we kill him. He is ultimately responsible.”
“Anyone feel different?” Admiral Dayson asked the room.
“I’m with Halani,” Emille said. “We have a duty to the innocent.”
Nobody said they felt otherwise, and quickly lost the chance if they did.
“Then we are agreed. Our next mission is to find the leader of the Komi Syndicate and end his rule,” Admiral Dayson ordered. “We will use Captain Hozz and Admiral Cothis to plan our attack.”
“Why would Cothis cooperate?” Kuo asked. “He’s a hostile captive, he has family he cares about somewhere in their empire.”
“Everyone has a breaking point. Captain Kuo and I will get started on his interrogation if you wish, Admiral,” Heinrich offered. Admiral Dayson didn’t need more stress in her life at this moment, from what Heinrich could tell, so she’d get to the bottom of this for her mentor.
The admiral looked at Alarin, who nodded slightly, with a pained look on his face.
“Alarin will see to the interrogation,” Sarah said. “Cothis has already said he’s willing to do all he can to assist Bannick in the fight against his father. Salphan and I will assist in the questioning to ensure the admiral is hiding nothing.” She pointed at the Stennis team. “Return to your ship and prepare for battle. First we attack these cruisers over Mindari, I don’t want them used again. The Stennis command team is to plan the attack, let me know when you’re ready.”
Kuo stood, Heinrich immediately followed. “Right away, Admiral. You’ll have a report within eight hours.”
“Keep a hound on site watching the enemy. If they start to move away from the planet, we attack immediately, plan or not,” Dayson said. “These ships are never to see action again. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” echoed through the military attendees.
“Then let’s get to work.”
Walking back to the shuttle Kuo was quiet until Heinrich finally spoke. “What do we use to hit this fleet?”
“Everything we have,” Kuo replied. “We jump it all in and decimate the enemy.”
“Agreed,” Heinrich said as she reached out and squeezed his hand.
Everyone was on edge. She knew Kuo was not one to dive eagerly into combat. That alone spoke to the just nature of their cause.
Chapter 49 - Hot Roll
29 Seppet 15332
“Battlestations. All hands to Battlestations. Set Condition one throughout the ship,” Harmeen ordered. “Combat is imminent.”
The lights went red on the bridge, and it was fully staffed with personnel on loan from the Stennis. His vessel was an electronic warfare ship, and today it would see duty as such.
“Admiral, we are ready to transfer, and the Stennis reports green,” Harmeen said.
“Status of our attack squadron?” she asked.
“We have forty-eight grapplers in flight, as well as twelve Oasis class fighters, for a total of sixty small attack ships,” he reported.
“Grant them nuclear release,” she ordered. “We go in hot, we strike fast, and we leave an expanding pile of scrap.”
“At your command,” Harmeen said as Seto ordered the Stennis to release the fleet’s nuclear weapons.
“Make them pay,” the admiral ordered, gesturing forward with a striking motion.
“Mister Algiss, transfer the fleet.”
“We are transferring the fleet,” the spooky Emille/Alarin hybrid voice replied from the observation deck.
Mindari, dark except for the frequent bursts of violent lightning, appeared in front of them.
“Dispatch the attack ships,” Heinrich ordered over the fleet radio.
The tactical sensors indicated sixteen of the radiation cruisers in orbit as expected. Another sixty ships were close enough to be a threat to the small attack force.
The bridge of the Sheffaris burst into action as the small vessel did its job. The effect of the ECM from the destroyer was to blind the unsuspecting cruisers orbiting on this side of the planet, and jam their communications by anything other than laser link.
“Tactical frequency on the overhead,” Harmeen ordered.
Seto complied and the first sound of battle greeted them.
“— two birds inbound cruiser four.”
“They’re not even firing defensively. Easy kill, move to a new target,” a different voice said.
The enemy was caught by surprise. They weren’t at battlestations, and for at least the first moments of the battle the hostile cruisers would be sitting ducks.
“Cruiser four is hit, rolling into a spin, with a downward trajectory.”
The visuals on the main screen were magnificent. The cruiser their tactics team had designated as four suffered two direct hits to its midsection, setting off at least one of the fusion reactors on board.
The baleful violet light in the parabola winked out.
“That one’s done,” Algiss reported. “It will enter the atmosphere in sixty minutes.”
Harmeen noticed the admiral’s wry smile. She was pleased by that.
“— thirteen is lights out,” the tactical frequency reported.
The enemy numbers were dropping fast.
“Birds away, three in flight,” someone reported. “Grappler Two-Seven, three strikes on the bow of cruiser fourteen.”
“Put cruiser fourteen on screen,” Admiral Dayson commanded, her voice concerned.
The image on the screen rapidly rolled toward the sunlit side of Mindari. A cruiser appeared, the nose tumbling upward toward the north pole of the planet.
The violet light of the gamma radiation weapon was still on.
On screen the dying ship rolled quickly with the propulsive effect of all three nukes hitting it on the bow. The orders to the Seventh Fleet strike force had been to strike amidships.
A bright beam of radiation swung up out of the atmosphere, cutting across another enemy cruiser. Electrical discharges raced along the hull of that ship as it died.
Two of the attacking grapplers from the Stennis also blinked off the tactical screen, killed by the sweeping beam of radiation.
“Is that going to pass near us?” Seto asked Algiss.
“No,” the navigator reported. “We should be missed by a wide margin.”
“Good,” she replied. “Admiral, I’m advising the fleet of the danger and remind them of the need to hit the cruisers as close to center of mass as possible.”
Sarah pointed at Harmeen, who grinned.
“I mean, Captain, I’m doing those things,” Seto corrected.
The battle raged for three minutes more, cruiser after cruiser falling under the nuclear weapons of the attacking for
ces.
“We’re using a lot of ammunition,” Harmeen observed. “I hope the Stennis is accounting for it.”
“Captain Heinrich will have an in depth report in my datapad two hours after the battle, I’m sure,” Admiral Dayson said. “And we’ll have a count for what we can take—”
The stricken but still active cruiser fourteen suffered another explosion in the bow section. The path of the gamma radiation beam changed course and swept toward the Sheffaris and Stennis.
“Swing the nose into the beam,” Admiral Dayson ordered. “That’s where the bulk of our shielding is.”
The Sheffaris, being a destroyer and possessing two grappler engines, swung rapidly into the oncoming radiation. As part of the refit for star killing, Sarah had the front armor thickened to protect the ship. The Stennis was not so lucky.
Discharges raced along the hull from point to point, equalizing the disparate electrical levels as the gamma radiation knocked electrons from the atoms of the Stennis’s hull. Nav lights flickered and went out, along with some of the internal lighting as well.
“Heinrich!” Admiral Dayson bellowed into her mic, not waiting for Seto to open an official comm.
“Admiral, we’ve taken a hit,” Heinrich answered. Klaxons blared on both ships.
“Get us out of here,” the admiral ordered Harmeen. She transmitted again. “Hang on, Inez, we’re regrouping. Away from here.”
“Mister Algiss, have Emille move the entire fleet to holding position Tau,” he barked out. “Now!”
“Understood,” Heinrich replied. “We have fires on multiple decks, Admiral.”
“And we’ll get them out as soon as we move. Develop a plan,” Admiral Dayson ordered. “Do it now. We will handle fleet navigation from here.”
“What about the strike squadron?” Algiss asked.
“They stay and finish the enemy ships,” the admiral ordered. “We’ll recover them after we deal with the Stennis if we need to, or sooner if Emille can sort it all out. But not until those death cruisers are burning and useless.”
“I understand, sir. Transferring,” Algiss and Emille/Alarin said simultaneously.
Chapter 50 - Matriarch
Mother’s cry of anguish reached out to every Obedi in the oververse. Each one abandoned what they were doing, and rushed to her aid. She was the Matriarch, after all.
She left Khala behind to tend the children, and she phased to the location her mother’s alarm had originated from.
Thousands of Obedi already swarmed the area when Sylange arrived. She’d been struck almost senseless by her mother’s pain, delaying her response, and she’d had to give Khala instructions not to come. Now she was delayed by the bulk of the Obedi clan between her and the Matriarch.
Her mother.
The scene she saw was at first confusing. The bodies of her clan blocked her view in a way she’d never seen before. At no time in her memory could she recall so many in one place at one time.
Then the clan parted to allow her through, recognizing who she was.
The only surviving daughter of Shosgawa, the Matriarch. Heir apparent. As such her clan deferred to her, and she passed through them to her mother.
What she saw nearly drove her mad.
Her mother was clinging to a large clump of matter while two dying stars sang their song of death behind her. One of mother’s striking arms was severed and gone, and a large section of her underbelly was open. The armor protecting her was gone. Her life fluids floated in space, more leaking away even as Sylange watched.
“Mother,” she shrieked, the brilliance of her carapace lighting up all the Obedi around her. She phased directly to her elder instead of moving physically.
Pain flashed across her mother’s body, infrared flashes revealing her agony.
“Sylange, I found what killed your children,” her mother said. The Matriarch spilled two small objects into space.
Sylange’s dead hatchlings.
“Mother, why did you take this risk?” Sylange asked. “Please don’t leave me now. I’m not ready.”
“We get no choice about when we go. Even we Obedi do not see it coming. The machine that did this, it is clever. It used its drive system as a weapon. The same one that killed your children.”
“We,” Sylange said, her carapace flashing brightly in rage and despair, “all of us, we will find this thing. And we will destroy it. We will cleanse this universe at all costs.”
The Obedi around her signaled their agreement. Shosgawa was loved, there was no doubting that. While she was tough, her judgment sometimes biting, she was fair. And the Obedi valued that in their leader.
Mother’s carapace was darkened by half, her life force fading. “Promise me you’ll try to save this universe, Sylange. There is something about it that I sense is important.”
“I promise,” Sylange said. “I will do what I can. My paths converge. Avenging you, avenging my children, saving this universe, they all require the same goal. Destroy the machine that did this to you, and obliterate its kind from existence.”
“Use your mind, not your emotions,” Mother said, gently. “You are matriarch the moment I end. Matriarch Sylange. Long may she reign.”
Sylange flashed her outrage at the unfolding events. “I am not ready.”
“You must be. I love you, I always have. A parent who loves their child is not gentle with them, that does not prepare them for existence. A parent that loves their child teaches them about reality. About the darkness, about evil. Then the child is ready.”
“You did so for me,” Sylange agreed.
“Out of love. I spared you when you were a hatchling because something in me said you were special. And I was right.”
“I need you,” Sylange said.
“You need Khala now. He is smart, for a male. Listen to his counsel, he will temper your emotions.”
Mother’s lighting was all but completely gone. Sylange felt despair rising in her like a surging wave of dark energy.
“I will obey your final words,” Sylange promised. “You are my Matriarch.”
“No. I am your mother.”
With that Shosgawa’s arms relaxed, and she separated from the clump of matter she’d been clinging to. Her carapace, now dark and lifeless, floated by Sylange.
The Obedi erupted, flashing their despair into the black space around them. So much energy did they spend in their wail of agony that the planetesimal evaporated, and for a moment the dancing white dwarf stars nearby were outshone.
Shosgawa was dead.
Sylange was matriarch now.
In a few billion chimindiks the white dwarfs would merge, and in doing so form a black hole. That was a fitting grave for her mother.
Sylange pushed the inert body of Shosgawa toward the dead stars, knowing that at some point in the future the Matriarch would impact on the surface of one of them.
“From three deaths will be born one darkness so complete, nothing escapes it,” Sylange said.
Behind her the Obedi screamed their despair, sorrow, and rage.
When that moment passed, Sylange knew they’d rally to her.
She prepared herself as her mother would have demanded.
She was Matriarch now.
Chapter 51 - Beacon of Light
29 Seppet 15332
Sarah raced to the Sheffaris’ shuttle. “Have the pilot and our medics report to me ASAP.”
She threw open the lock after equalizing pressure in the small ship, then jumped inside. The shuttle could hold twelve. She pushed off the bulkhead toward the front of the ship, settling into the copilot’s seat.
“Stennis, this is shuttle 1A, preparing to disembark the Sheffaris. This is Admiral Dayson, we will be landing in the flag officer’s bay.”
“1A, Stennis. I copy, this is Ensign Mors. I have the bridge alone right now, sir, the other officers are seeing to the medical needs of our crew.”
“What is the dosage there, Mister Mors?” Sarah asked, keeping her voice calm.
“Well below lethal to those more than ten meters or so inside the main hull,” he replied. “The gun and missile crews on the starboard side are all dead. Engineering has been hit hard. Everyone still alive in that outer ten meters is very sick right now, Admiral. Captain Kuo said most of them aren’t going to make it on his way out.”
The pilot slammed into the seat next to her. “Departing on your command, Admiral,” he whispered.
She gave him a wait signal with her hand. “Not yet,” she said.
“Mors, has Heinrich estimated lethality numbers? I need a percentage. Have you heard from her?”
“At least two hundred,” he answered. “And I haven’t heard from anyone since they raced from the bridge after giving me command.”
He sounded like he was on the edge of shock.
“Have you ever commanded before, Ensign?”
“No, sir.” He paused a moment without unkeying the microphone. She heard him sigh before continuing. “I’ve never commanded before.”
“I’m getting you some help,” she replied, “although I’m sure you don’t need it. We’re taking no chances right now.”
Sarah flipped the comm to the Sheffaris interlink. “Lieutenant Commander Seto, report to the shuttle immediately. You will accompany me to the Stennis.”
“Right away, admiral, she’s already moving in that direction,” someone shot back. It sounded like one of the ELINT techs.
“As soon as she’s on board, punch it to the Stennis,” Sarah ordered the pilot.
He nodded his compliance as he flipped to a new page of his pre-launch checklist.
Seto jumped through the airlock as the shuttle’s fusion turbines spun up rapidly past human hearing. She strapped into a passenger seat behind the cockpit.
“Reporting, Admiral.”
“Congratulations, Lieutenant Commander, you’re assuming command of the Stennis until the medics have cleared one of the command officers as fit to serve,” Sarah said without looking back. “You call this punching it?” she barked at the pilot.