"Perhaps they wanted to pursue New Alamo?" Admiral Wyatt said. "You escaped their jihad and failure is not something Risyat tolerates."
"After forty-five years?" Day asked.
Wyatt shrugged.
"I don't know," Wyatt said. "I will begin investigations though to see if we have a leak. To be honest, the Caliphate has been quiet for the last fifteen years nothing more than petty raids and attacks, not since the Caliphate's disgrace of the Sadr raids. There have been no major attacks or activity."
"So," Mark asked. "We have been asked by the Jupiter Alliance to allow their fleet to transit the wormhole. I cannot in good conscious allow that until I have facts."
"Thank you," Allison said. "We will investigate these allegations. Would you like to be involved?"
"Yes," Admiral Day said. "I will contact our director of Intelligence, Admiral Wise, and he will contact you."
"Thank you," Allison said. "I would also like to thank you again for all the help you are providing Athena. I don't know how we can ever repay you."
Mark shook his head. "No need. We have spare resources and the people of New Alamo want to help."
"Thank you," Allison said.
When they left Mark looked at Admiral Day.
"Thoughts?" Mark asked.
The Admiral shook his head.
"I believe them," Day said. "But the Caliphate has big plans if they have wormhole technology. It makes little sense. That juggernaut could pave steam rolled the Jupiter Alliance. I doubt we could have fought that monster off if Kishi hadn't rammed it. Building that would have taken a lot of resources and I'm sure the Caliphate will be quiet for years while they lick their wounds and vow revenge. Right now I think the Jupiter Alliance is the bigger threat. Their fleet could roll over Athena and us if we aren't careful."
"Get your planners together and start planning," Mark said. "Let's assume the Caliphate is crippled for the moment and concentrate on the Jupiter Alliance. They know they have a small window before we receive reinforcements from the Conglomerate."
"Will they risk angering the Topa?" Day asked.
Mark shrugged.
"Depends on how desperate they are," Mark said.
Day scowled.
"Or how desperate their leaders feel," Day said and Mark nodded.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Strike Force
"Commander to the CIC."
Luke looked at the InnerBuddy display that only he could see. He shouldn't even be awake this early, but he had been restless. He had been dreaming about an ancient enemy, massing at the edge of space, preparing to attack and murder every creature it could find. It had been an odd dream and when he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, the cold, dangerous, empty sensation was still there.
"En route," Luke said, pulling on the rest of his battle dress. The dream haunted him, despite his attempt to abolish it, he felt there was an evil presence, waiting in the darkness, watching, preparing to attack.
Falla Shum sat up and looked at Luke. With limited space, Luke had accepted the Pral into his room as a roommate, although as mission Commander he could have had Shum quartered elsewhere.
"They want me on the bridge," Luke said. Shum nodded and got up.
"May I accompany you?" the Pral asked.
"Sure," Luke said. It must be something important enough to wake him, but not everyone, since the alert was not ship wide.
The repairs were going well but Luke suspected this was about to change.
* * * * *
When Luke arrived, Bruce, and Erica were already there, staring at the holographic map of the system. Luke saw several flashing red dots near the icon of a wormhole and he tried to ignore that frustrated sinking feeling in his gut.
"What do you have?" Luke asked as Shum came in behind him. "More visitors?"
"Yes," Bruce said. "And no idea who they are. They are moving in formation, with active camouflage. I'm not picking up any IFF or identity markers and several of them have Broma drive specs."
"How big?" Luke asked climbing into his cocoon. Nearby Falla Shum was doing the same thing.
"A battleship, around five thousand gravons, and at least four heavy cruisers, maybe battle cruisers at around two thousand gravons. There are also several smaller escort ships, I estimate about ten frigates if the gravity wakes are accurate. With that foot print they could have smaller vessels and we wouldn't see them."
"Shit," Luke said.
"Looks like they are heading back the way we came," Bruce said. "They might be following the track of the ones that shot at us."
"Going where and why?" Luke asked.
"That is a million credit question," Bruce said as they watched the small fleet. "It will take them a few days to get to the wormhole going to Suka. What we are seeing is about an hour out of date."
"The radiation waves from our battle should have passed them," Luke said.
"Unless the guys who attacked us left behind their own probes," Bruce said. "In which case, they will know where we are."
"That could be a problem," Luke looked around him. A quick check would show that the light and images from the fight would have passed the wormhole before they came through it. The Proud Infidel was not leaking enough for them to watch the trail. Unless they had exceptionally sophisticated sensors they could only tell a battle had occurred, but not who had won or lost based on the shattered remains of the ships. A few more days and they wouldn't have been able to tell that much.
Bruce nodded. "Not much we can do about it now except watch them."
"And maybe we can find out who they are," Luke said.
"Looks like they are moving out into a more aggressive formation," Bruce said after a couple minutes. "Frigates are moving out into a screening formation."
"They are wondering where their buddies are at, have retrieved probe data, or they are paranoid sons-of-bitches."
"They are dark," Shum said from his open cocoon where he looked to be asleep.
Everyone looked at Shum. Nobody wanted to call him a liar, but everyone had a hard time believing he could sense anything about the ships.
"But," Shum continued after a few minutes. "I taste the threads of Tonkan and Broma among them."
"What does that mean?" Bruce asked.
"There are Tonkan and Broma among the dark ones," Shum said opening his eyes and looking at Bruce. "But few. I do not know what race the others are as I have never experienced them before."
Bruce looked at Luke.
"What do you want to do?" Bruce asked.
"Keep an eye on them," Luke said. "They came from the wormhole that leads to Zengertechen, which leads further into dark space."
"Do you think the Conglomerate is in danger of being invaded?" Bruce asked.
"Looks like it," Luke said. "But if that is all they have, the Conglomerate will crush them. I've seen the Conglomerate Ubashi fleet, and it was composed of twenty battleships, two battle stars and a core of one dreadnought. I seem to recall the Conglomerate has about twenty fleets of that size, and several smaller ones. That doesn't count what the Tal have, or other empires like the Bronkaw."
"The Tal have the strength to fight the Ubashi fleet and win," Shum said. "If there were a threat capable of attacking the Conglomerate, the Tal would deal with it. I do not think the Conglomerate is any danger from these anti-socialists."
"That battleship is over two kilometers long," Bruce said. "That is a lot of firepower. If they have Tonkan and Broma aboard, I'll bet they know all about Conglomerate fleet strength."
"Would the Topa know about an alien force in dark space?" Luke asked Shum.
Falla Shum shook his head. "The Topa are not all seeing, all knowing. They are stretched thin just keeping the Conglomerate worlds from devolving into war and chaos. They do not have the time to watch the frontiers. Other races do that, and they have learned to ignore the dark, rather than fear it."
"So, the answer is no," Bruce said. "The Topa have no clue but we all know what would happen i
f these strangers attack the Conglomerate."
Shum nodded. "If they attack the Conglomerate without provocation, then they would be rendered extinct. However, they might have no desire to enter Conglomerate space."
"Or any desire to contact the Conglomerate. If they have Token and Broma aboard, what does that tell us?" Bruce asked.
"We need to inform the Topa," Shum said.
"Why?" Bruce asked, curious more than resistant to the idea.
"They likely know a great deal about the Conglomerate but we know nothing of them. They have no desire to trade or share knowledge, this can only mean they are hostile to the Conglomerate," Shum said. "The Tal should be notified."
Luke wasn't sure how to take that. The worst fanatics were like that. You were with them or against them. The Topa did not seem to be fanatics. Luke's dream came back to him. Was it related?
"How do we do that?" Bruce asked.
Shum looked confused. "We cannot contact them from here."
A harsh smiled played across Bruce's lips while his eyes remained cold.
"You noticed that," Bruce said. "Looks like we will have to finish repairs and get back to Conglomerate space."
"Can the Topa see the future?" Luke asked, looking at Shum.
Shum was quiet and Luke wondered if he had heard him or was ignoring him, but then Shum spoke.
"I don't know," Shum said. "Weave Masters see a great deal. They can take many different facts and tie them together into a probable outcome. They can see beneath the veil of our physical form, they can trace the tapestry of life. I believe they can see the most likely outcomes but they cannot see the future. They are not infallible, and it is known that sometimes they do not see all the threads in the tapestry, nor do they see all the twists and turns a thread may take."
"This might come as a surprise to them?" Luke asked and Shum nodded. It looked like Shum had more to say though as Luke stared at him.
"That is all I can say," Shum said, closing his eyes and leaning back into his cocoon. "It would be safe to say there is no guarantee the Topa know of these strangers from the dark. They should be informed as quickly as possible."
"I'll put it on my to-do list," Bruce said and turned back to the display. "Right under slob the Topa's nob," Bruce said under his breath.
"Looks like their destination is Suka," Erica said, ignoring her captain, but her smirk revealed she had heard him.
"What do you think?" Bruce asked Luke.
"Ramiyamrit is not defenseless," Luke said. "But I doubt they could stop that battleship group. I would bet they could maul it though if their commander has a basic grasp of tactics. They have about fifteen patrol cruisers. Unfortunately, I don't think the patrol commander of Ramiyamrit has any experience fighting a larger force."
"That's what I was thinking," Bruce said.
"You are correct," Falla Shum said. "Patrol leader Jugalat does not understand fleet operations. He is a capable patrol leader, but he is most likely to feed the patrol ships to the enemy piece meal. If he survives long enough to do so."
"If he survives long enough?" Luke asked.
"I suspect if these attackers invade Conglomerate space they will have quality intelligence and intelligence resources that can strike out at patrol vessels. The invaders may not be facing the full fifteen patrol cruisers."
"And we are stuck here hiding," Luke said staring at the display.
"Indeed," Shum said. "Which only means our threads continue on this tapestry. However, as I recall, there are two other wormholes in the Suka system that lead to other dark systems. Perhaps they are going there, one is a dead-end system, but the other has several other wormholes."
Luke nodded. As much as he wanted to, he didn't think it would be wise to follow them and he wondered if these forces were the frontier problems the Bronkaw were facing.
* * * * *
Days later they watched the strange ships use the wormhole to Suka without learning anything new.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Falla Shum's Dream
Forces were moving into place. Soon the hated enemy would face their death. The battles would be glorious and hard fought against a weakened but desperate foe. Worlds would burn and new empires would be erected upon their ashes. The Battle Singers were raising their voices in glorious song. Soon.
Life was a struggle. If the struggle ended, then stagnation and rot would set in. If empires did not grow, they would sink into themselves and die of stagnation. A people that did not know suffering would not procreate or fight for victory, the weak who did not know suffering would fall before those that did. It was the way of life; it was evolution and species would evolve or die. This was the fault of the empire before them. They had stagnated; they were no longer reaching for greatness and their eyes were turning inward, or to the tools at their feet and in their hands. Their eyes were turned away from their surroundings and away from the future. Scouts had reported this empire had been dying for a while. It would not be an easy conquest but there would be many benefits and the destruction would earn praise from the Singers of Battle.
This would be a true test of the warriors and their skill. Only the best would survive. The weak would be stepping stones for the strong.
The Battle Singers would not sing to her the full plan. They said she was not yet worthy of that information. Confirmation of events must be received before the attack could begin.
Falla Shum opened his eyes and stared at the wall, returning to himself. Could his other self be referring to the Conglomerate? Shum felt fear, whispering in the back of his mind, threatening his sanity. His other self did not know all the details. His link was growing stronger, and he understood more concepts of the alien mind. He could almost identify individuals through the feel of their emotions on his other self. Could this be a past life and he was tracing the threads in his hands? It was hard to know, there were no facts, no frame of reference yet, but his bond was growing stronger. The Topa would not talk to a Falla with questions and that bothered Shum more than anything. He was the only one who could supply answers as he stared into the darkness. The desolation in his soul could be a threat to his sanity if he allowed.
Shum calmed himself. The Conglomerate was vast and powerful, with thousands of inhabited planets. His other self, seemed to think it understood the enemy, and it was powerful enough to take on that foe. Nothing could defeat the Conglomerate or the Tal.
His other self must be in a distant part of the galaxy, or in another galaxy altogether. It made little sense that anyone would be powerful, or foolish enough to attack the Conglomerate. Those that had attacked them and traveled to Suka were different beings, pirates or some petty empire, hiding on the edge of the Conglomerate. Shum knew some existed. Some peoples sought to live outside the Conglomerate's laws, but none of them would think to challenge the might of the Conglomerate, for if they did Shum and his fellow Tal brothers and sisters would have fallen up on them and eradicated them without mercy.
Clearing his mind Shum closed his eyes again. The emotions and thoughts his other self-evoked were not appropriate for a Tal, and while Shum could no longer claim that title, he was still a warrior and he was in the company of warriors. The other life was but a dream, a pleasant distraction from the world his current self was in. Nothing else.
Shum hoped.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
The Wormhole
It took a few days longer than expected to finish fixing the ship, but the days were uneventful. After the strange fleet had transitioned to Suka, the silence was deafening. There was no way the Proud Infidel could engage that fleet and survive so they would go to Papi and notify the Conglomerate there, putting the strange fleet behind them.
The bridge was silent and somewhat dark, the way Bruce liked his bridge. None of the cocoons were closed but everyone was present.
"Take us out of the radiation shadow," Luke said. "I want maximum stealth to the Stattdennen wormhole."
"Aye, aye Commander," Bruce said a
nd nodded to Erica who gave the command to the ship. The Proud Infidel would leave the concealment of the gas giant, moving into space where they could be more easily found. Close to the gas giant was as concealed as they could get, it was comfortable. Of course, it would also be easier for someone to sneak up on them but first they would have to find the Proud Infidel.
"Will they come back through?" Shum asked, breaking the silence as the ship slid away from the protective sphere. "Aren't you going to recover the fighters and drones?"
Luke shook his head, staring at the display. The strangers hadn't destroyed the fighters and Luke wasn't sure what to make of that, nor had they attempted to recover them. It was like they had been in a hurry. Could they have set a trap? Were they peaceful?
"There is no way to know if they left a drone behind," Luke said. "They obviously saw signs of the battle and our 'abandoned' fighters and they didn't do anything obvious. There would have been time for them to send any smaller ships to investigate under stealth."
"They must have assumed we fled," Shum said.
"Perhaps," Luke said. "But they didn't destroy the fighters. Why not?"
"It is a waste of resources," Shum said. "They felt it was beneath them and didn't want to make the effort. They were not being threatened."
"I agree with Commander Kishi," Bruce said. "Something doesn't seem right here. If I was operating under the shadow of a powerful empire, I would be paranoid and I would have left at least one probe to watch."
Falla Shum shrugged, something he had learned from Luke it appeared.
"You want to sneak out of Nana?" Bruce asked. "It will take us eight more days to get to the wormhole."
"Yes," Luke said. "Full stealth protocol. I also want you to start looking for stealth probes in the vicinity of the wormhole. It wouldn't surprise me if there was a courier probe there watching, ready to alert hostile forces in the Stattdennen system. If they have warning they will be waiting for us. Something is odd."
Bruce nodded and glanced at Erica to see she heard. "Understood Commander. We will proceed under full stealth and begin passive scanning for any watchers near the Stattdennen wormhole."
The Darkness: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 2) Page 16