“Mowbray?”
He turned to her then. She expected him to nod and agree to her terms. She expected him to call off her ships and the Excalibur Armada she had somehow freed. Surely he would do so before more of his precious fleet was decimated in front of his eyes. She expected him to ask for a way out of the confrontation so he could save face with his people and with the rest of the galaxy. But instead he did something she didn’t expect at all.
He smiled.
He smiled and then said, “Thank you for the offer, Vere CasterLan, but I’ll take my chances and let the battle play out.”
She knew in that moment that he had noticed what she didn’t want him to see. Looking back at Fastolf’s dead body in the sand, for the second time in a matter of minutes she felt as if she were losing control of the situation.
78
Morgan watched the Excalibur ships with a combination of amazement and awe, but also mixed with anxiety and unease. It was an incredible thing to see a vessel capable of withstanding so much firepower. The Excalibur ships were everything that the legends had said they were. But she also knew what Vere knew.
There was no one piloting the ships.
They had never been able to get inside the vessels. No one had figured out how the weapons systems worked, or the navigation systems or anything else. As Vere had said when she presented her plan to Morgan and Westmoreland, just because the fleet was finally free of its stone encasement didn’t mean they would magically open their doors.
Morgan salivated at the idea of how advanced the weapons systems inside each ship might have been. If the civilization that had built the ships had discovered a way to make them invincible and found a sensor and self-destruct system advanced enough to wipe away any trace of the ship once it was tampered with, there was no telling how remarkable their cannon systems were. She imagined black hole bombs, cosmic mines, and vortex clusters—weapons that military researchers had pursued for hundreds of years but had never been able to figure out. Because Vere and the others had never been able to get inside the ships, there was no telling what the Excalibur vessels were actually capable of.
Even after the armada had been freed, Morgan had thought that spending time and resources to investigate the asteroid was a waste. Her opinion changed when Vere described how the fleet could still win the war. First, just seeing that the ships were in her possession would be enough to make most other armies surrender or flee. If that didn’t work, it would strip the opposing fleet of all of its courage and morale when they saw the newly freed ships absorb everything the Vonnegans had to send at it. And right when they were beginning to question their plan of attacking the CasterLan Kingdom, the Vonnegans would see how easy it was for the Excalibur ships to destroy multiple Athens Destroyers without ever firing a shot.
“It will have them quaking in their boots,” Vere had said with a smile.
Morgan and Westmoreland had to agree with the assessment. The only problem, which Vere had also already figured out, was how to get the Excalibur Armada to the battle and ensure they detonated at the correct moment. That was why Vere had requested every available ship to rendezvous at the Excalibur. Even if those leftover Edsall Dark ships weren’t capable of fighting in the approaching battle, they had engines which could assist in the victory. As soon as the ships had begun to arrive at the site, crews of workers went about removing engines from CasterLan ships and attaching them to Excalibur ships.
The important thing was to attach them without drilling. They had to be attached with vises or welded on to avoid detonation.
Everyone with any knowledge of ships, engines, factory work, open space work, anyone at all, assisted however they could. Around the clock they worked like this. The final touch was mounting a small remote-controlled drill in the same fashion the engines had been attached. The engines would guide the ships to the correct spot. Once the ship was in position, the drill would be activated. As soon as it began its attempt to penetrate the Excalibur metal, the ship it was attached to would detonate.
“We don’t have the ships’ weapons,” Vere had told Morgan and Westmoreland. “But we have its armor. It can take anything the Athens Destroyers dish out. And we can make them detonate whenever we want. Each ship’s explosion is more powerful than our entire arsenal of proton torpedoes.”
It wasn’t the best plan—the best plan was finding a way inside the ships and having advanced weapons at their disposal—but it was better than facing the Vonnegan fleet at a three-to-one disadvantage.
Unfortunately, only sixteen of the Excalibur Armada ships could be outfitted in time to make it to Dela Turkomann by the deadline. Sixteen ships to bet the entire battle on. Sixteen legendary vessels to save the kingdom.
The first two had already arrived and caused extensive Vonnegan losses, including Mowbray’s Supreme Athens Destroyer. But there were only fourteen remaining. And, by Morgan’s calculations, there were one hundred and ninety-three Destroyers left, not to mention the other one hundred Vonnegan ships. Fewer than one hundred Solar Carriers, along with the hodgepodge of forces that Scrope had mustered, would have to do the rest.
If Mowbray didn’t concede soon, it might not make any difference if they had any Excalibur ships or not.
When Morgan saw the way Mowbray smiled at Vere, however, she knew something was wrong. The Vonnegan ruler would never concede, and it wasn’t only that he had seen through their elaborate ruse. Mowbray had a secret of his own.
79
“You’ll take your chances?” Vere said. “Your people are going to lose their lives because you think it’s amusing to watch your fleet get destroyed? You’re insane.”
He turned to her then, taking his purple eyes off the battle for the first time since the initial Excalibur ship had appeared.
“On the contrary, Vere CasterLan, I’m quite rational.” He smiled again. “And observant.”
She was beginning to detest his smile. Her hand tensed up. It was all she could do to keep from reaching for her Meursault blade and slicing Mowbray’s head clean off. The next time he laughed, she wasn’t sure she would be able to keep from killing him even if it meant the Fianna cut her, Morgan, and Traskk into pieces.
“The Excalibur ships haven’t fired any shots,” he said.
“They didn’t need to. Just one of them destroyed your own personal command ship without needing to fire a single cannon.”
“But why would you sacrifice it rather than use its weapons? After all, you just wasted a perfectly good starship. And,” he added, the grin appearing again, “how many more ships can you afford to sacrifice?”
Vere had no response. She had tried to pressure him into surrendering and he had called her bluff. Had she been too persistent? Had that made the Vonnegan leader suspicious? She would have to switch to a different tactic and see how confident he was then.
“You don’t have endless resources,” he continued. “No ruler does. How many of your people were you able to get to the Excalibur in time? And how much do they know about the ships you were able to free? Obviously, they don’t know enough to be able to use their weapons.”
As they both watched, the third Excalibur Armada ship was making its way through the bell formation, which itself was slowly drifting apart as the battle raged on. Now clear of the Solar Carriers, the third vessel headed straight for the next row of Athens Destroyers.
“A good trick,” Mowbray said, watching the inevitable destruction of more of his fleet. “But my generals will adapt.”
It was true. As she watched, the waves of Athens Destroyers stopped focusing their cannons on the approaching Excalibur ship, choosing instead to continue sending barrages of laser fire at the Solar Carriers while they began powering up their engines to avoid the incoming vessel. No longer was the invincible ship showing how much abuse it could take because the Vonnegan fleet wasn’t wasting firepower on it. Instead, it flew straight ahead, untouched. As it did, though, each wave of Athens Destroyers broke apart from their formations to
avoid it. One after another, the ranks of Vonnegan vessels maneuvered around the Excalibur ship while also trying to avoid colliding with each other.
Two Athens Destroyers, both breaking from their row to avoid the Excalibur ship, collided side to side with one another. At first, the cannons of one ship got stuck in the armor crease of the other ship. There was a groan of metal inside both vessels as they tried to compensate with the force of the other ship colliding with them. Then the cannons tore off the side of the first Destroyer, along with some of its exterior plating.
Two other Athens Destroyers collided with so much force that the ion batteries in part of their weapon’s system ruptured. Both ships were engulfed in blue energy and destruction, each drifting away as useless shells. The entire time, the fleet of Solar Carriers fired their cannons at everything in front of them.
“Is that what you mean by adapting?” Vere said, flashing the Vonnegan ruler a mirror image of his annoying smile.
Mowbray’s lips curled with strain and irritation. As he watched, the clean lines of his ship formations broke into utter chaos. Athens Destroyers careened in every direction, some up, some down. Some away from the fighting. Some straight toward the Solar Carriers before being hit with a barrage of cannons. One accidently fired a laser burst into another Athens Destroyer directly in front of it. All of them were trying to accomplish the seemingly simple task of avoiding the Excalibur ships. But with so many vessels all around them, not to mention the swarms of Thunderbolts and the few Llyushin fighters that had been allowed into battle, nothing was simple. Especially not when nearly one hundred Solar Carriers were emptying one volley of laser cannons after another into the Vonnegan fleet. A fourth Excalibur ship was appearing through the loosening bell. Then a fifth.
“How many more do you have?” Mowbray asked.
“Are you willing to watch your fleet get annihilated in order to find out?”
When he didn’t answer, she held one finger in the air, then two fingers. Mowbray looked at her, confused.
A second went by and nothing happened. Another second. Still nothing.
Vere knew Westmoreland was monitoring a feed of their discussion on the moon’s surface. But it was possible that the battle had taken all of his attention and he had missed her sign.
The seconds ticked by and still nothing happened. Mowbray saw where she was staring—the portal—and matched her gaze.
A trickle of sweat ran down her forehead and into her eyes. Her clothes were soaked with sweat. Her fingers began to twitch. Had the armies that Scrope bargained with decided to return home? Or had they not been able to resist attacking each other? Perhaps Westmoreland had lost Vere’s feed and hadn’t seen the signal at all?
Just when she thought about giving the signal a second time, a pair of war frigates came through the portal, one after the other. Then the King-Class Battlecruiser. Then dozens of miscellaneous fighters. Arc-Mi-Die’s forces came through the energy field and assembled diagonally behind the fleet of Athens Destroyers at an angle that kept them safe from any errant shots from the Solar Carriers.
Ballonna’s forces came through next. The war-ready cargo loaders, the space-to-space missile batteries, the fighters. Each ship flew past the rows of Destroyers, positioning itself diagonally to the other side of Mowbray’s fleet from where Arc-Mi-Die’s forces were.
Mowbray watched all of the ships appear through the portal. He paid careful attention to how they formed up on either side of his Athens Destroyers. As Vere watched, she saw what he meant about staying composed no matter how the situation unfolded. As additional forces streamed through the portal and gathered around his fleet, he didn’t even blink. He didn’t yell in outrage. His long fingers didn’t curl into fists. He merely watched the proceedings as if they had no bearing on his fleet or his discussion with Vere.
When the last of the ships had passed through the portal and arranged itself with the others, Mowbray offered a polite smile, not bothering to display his teeth.
“Is that it?” he asked. “I was expecting more than that.” When she didn’t answer, he added, “It certainly looks impressive—this little show of force coming to your rescue—but add all of those ships together and they don’t equal five Commander Class Athens Destroyers. Five of my best vessels can match all of those ships in firepower. That leaves two hundred and eighty-seven Vonnegan ships to face your approximately one hundred ships.” He smiled again. “Not exactly a three-to-one ratio, but almost.”
“Last chance, Mowbray.”
As composed as he tried to remain, he couldn’t help but let his eyes roll in a show of disdain. Vere looked around, wondering why the Vonnegan leader was so confident. His ships were still focused on avoiding the raging Excalibur vessels that were aiming themselves at his fleet and causing chaos. His fleet was so intent on dodging the Excalibur ships that almost none of them fired on the Solar Carriers anymore. And two additional forces had just shown up. Yet Mowbray was more confident than ever.
“I was just going to say the same thing to you,” he said. “This is your last chance. Turn your fleet of Solar Carriers over to me. Make yourself my prisoner. Do both of these things and I won’t destroy every CasterLan life above me and in front of me.”
Then, having issued his ultimatum but without actually giving her time to respond, he simply nodded his head one time. She knew, even before whatever next happened, that he was issuing his own signal.
She didn’t have to wait long to understand what he was doing. Someone in one of the Destroyers had been watching the proceedings on the moon’s surface, the same way Westmoreland had been. They had then sent out a communication, the same as her lead Solar Carrier had. And once the command was issued and received, Mowbray’s smile grew larger than she had ever seen it.
Both Arc-Mi-Die’s and Ballona’s forces turned from facing and targeting the Vonnegan fleet and instead faced the Solar Carriers. A second later, both forces began firing at her ships. And for a third time, she realized she had lost control of the situation. Not only that—she may have just lost the battle as well.
80
“Scrope, what’s going on?” Morgan said between gritted teeth upon seeing the forces he had assembled turn against the Solar Carriers. “There’s a mistake.”
Scrope had been staring up at space the entire time, watching the battle unfold and waiting for something. But now he looked at Morgan and even before he said anything, she knew. She knew he had betrayed them. She knew that while Peto had been working to gather any friendly forces he could find to help Edsall Dark, Scrope had been making deals to help himself.
As if to confirm this very thought, Scrope moved from standing beside Pistol and strode to the protection of the Fianna.
“A good politician can accomplish anything he wants,” he said.
It wasn’t the words he uttered that drove her to a rage, although that would have been enough. It was the way he winked at her after saying it. Without thinking, she withdrew the Meursault blade Vere had given her six years earlier. A trail of yellow vapor dissipated along the invisible blade’s path through the desert air.
A panicked gurgle escaped from Scrope’s throat and he dashed further behind the Fianna who was nearest to him. Morgan took a step forward. The two closest Fianna let their halberds move from a perfectly vertical position to a diagonal attacking stance. Both blades changed from dull metal to glowing energy.
“I don’t care about Mowbray,” she said to them. “Give me that pitiful excuse for a human. That’s all I want.”
But the Fianna must have been ordered by Mowbray to protect his new ally. They remained in their attacking stance, motionless. Traskk growled, bared his fangs, and joined Morgan’s side. Another Fianna moved forward, changing the position of his weapon to match the two in front of Morgan.
“I’m going to enjoy killing you,” she said to Scrope, too angry to return the wink he had sent her.
Safely behind the Vonnegan ruler’s royal guard, Scrope’s bravado return
ed. “I don’t think so,” he said. “But maybe you’ll enjoy serving me once I become the new ruler of Edsall Dark.”
The only fashion by which she acknowledged this comment was to scan the Fianna for a way through them so she could kill the politician they were protecting. Scrope saw her eyes darting every which way and positioned himself so he disappeared behind one of the guards.
His voice called out, “Don’t just stand there. Get her!”
The Fianna ignored him, however. They only took orders from their king. Morgan and Traskk stood facing the three Fianna in front of them. Glancing across the sand dunes, Morgan saw Vere had also withdrawn her Meursault blade and was holding it to Mowbray’s neck.
81
A pair of Llyushin fighters zipped around one Athens Destroyer, fired a pair of proton torpedoes at another, then raced over toward Arc-Mi-Die’s forces. Behind the two fighters were five Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts let loose an endless barrage of lasers at the CasterLan ships as they made their way through the battlefield.
When they got to Arc-Mi-Die’s forces, an errant shot from the Thunderbolts hit one of the warlord’s converted fighters. Without effective armor to protect it, the fighter blew apart.
The tactic of the Llyushin fighter pilots was clear: test the loyalty of forces that weren’t known for being able to maintain an allegiance.
A moment later, Arc-Mi-Die’s King-Class Battlecruiser stopped firing at the Solar Carrier it had been targeting and began unloading its cannons on every ship in the vicinity that wasn’t part of the warlord’s forces. One of the Llyushin fighters erupted into explosions before breaking into pieces. Three of the five Thunderbolts exploded.
The other Llyushin fighter turned and began speeding toward the gangster Ballona’s forces to try the same thing on the opposite side of the battlefield.
The Excalibur (Space Lore Book 2) Page 27