“Let’s move,” she ordered the rest of the warbrides, “we’ve just started. I expect it won’t be the first time we’ll encounter the wasps. They won’t let this vessel go without a fight.”
The map of the ship was speculative, she understood. The imperial scouts created one for her to use. It was supposed to lead them to the command and control center of the destroyer. Her helmet display showed the proposed pathway in red and the one they’d taken in green. The two should match, but there was no guarantee they would. Right now they did.
The layout of the wasp destroyer was pieced together by reconnaissance teams and examinations of the ones destroyed by the emperor’s fleet. Even the imperial legions hadn’t penetrated this far into a wasp destroyer. Shakti’s plan was to reach the center of the vessel and take control of it. If they could do this, the empire would have an enemy ship to study, something they desperately needed to stop the invasion of the outer planets. Shakti doubted the wasps would let this thing go without a fight; she worried the wasps would destroy it with a bomb rather than let the humans take control.
They continued down the one corridor. For fifteen minutes, they moved slow, taking time to sip water from the suit nozzles and rest. The battle with the wasps wore then out. Shakti felt the soreness in her arm and knew it was from swinging a sword. She had to assume the other warbrides felt the same. Her shield hand threatened to go numb from holding onto the handle too hard. It was easy enough to carry, since the shield was made from a very light, but hard, metal. It still could be used to block and strike at the enemy, although she would have preferred a shield with corners to intercept the strikes the wasps threw at her. None of the other women had taken a gash to their suits. The armor held up well under assault. She assumed it was only because Mangi allowed herself to be surrounded on all sides that was she was dead.
This was the important thing to remember: do not let the enemy cut you off.
The trip into the command center took another hour. They climbed to it unopposed. The map on Shakti’s helmet display showed their progress. It corrected itself whenever they were forced to make a turn or hit a dead end not on the map. There were plenty of doors and side rooms to explore if they had the time, but Shakti kept them focused on the control center. She could feel the determination from the other warbrides.
They were a hundred yards from the command center when she saw the sensors in her suit light up. They detected motion in front and behind them. It seemed the wasps found a way to outmaneuver them from the rear. This wasn’t too hard to believe since this was their ship. The organic nature of it might indicate it didn’t need a large crew.
Shakti felt they were still badly outnumbered. Their one advantage was the wasps’ lack of close-range fighting abilities. Somehow, the wasps weren’t trained to make sudden attacks in confined areas.
The corridors lead to an antechamber in front of the control center. In front of it, the warbrides discovered a waiting committee of wasps who blocked the entrance. Shakti had the women swing up their shields, put the halberds in the rear and prepare.
“Think we should just rush them?” Durga said to her on the audio. “Once we get past, we’ll be in control of his place. I don’t think we need to wait.”
Before Shakti could answer, she noted the sensors indicate more bodies in the rear. She turned around to see the corridor behind them fill with wasps. These looked a little different from the ones in front of them, lighter, but equipped with armor plating over their chitin. Whoever was in charge had decided to bring in the crack troops.
“Bad positon,” Shakti said to the warbrides, “they have us blocked on both ends. We need to punch forward and take the command center, “Salina, Chimata, Lashmi, You guard the rear. Everyone else, prepare to charge.”
And then a new signal came over her audio. The radio in her suit had a difficult time interpreting it, as the frequency and modulation was not the normal one used. Shakti paused, as they weren’t supposed to be contacted by the corvette until they’d taken the wasp destroyer.
Finally, the message came across Shakti’s helmet speakers. “I salute your bravery and perseverance,” a computer-generated voice told her. “It never occurred to me you would get this far. However, your troops are greatly outnumbered and inside our territory. Give me one of your women and I will allow the rest of you to leave.”
Shakti didn’t have to ask who was sending the message; it had to be the commander of the wasp destroyer. This too was a first, the wasps never attempted to communicate with humans. All attempts at negotiation from the empire were ignored. Prefects debated among themselves if the wasps functioned as a group mind and couldn’t understand the concept of individual units.
Durga turned and looked at her. Shakti could see the questioning look in the tall woman’s face. Her ice blue eyes burned with anger. Did they think it was possible to buy them off this way?
Shakti shook her helmet and motioned ahead to the wasps before them. They blocked a closed door, the entrance to the command center. She felt her body shake with a combination of anger and passion. Now was the time for action. She brought up her round shield and peered over it at the ranks of the wasps.
“Charge!” she screamed over the audio.
The warbrides collided with the wasps, tearing a path through them to the door. The women guarding the rear kept pace with the rest, slicing up any wasp that attacked. Even the wasp assault troops were unable to outmaneuver them. Once the warbrides hit the door, Shakti moved them along the wall and swept around the wasps, chopping away. Once more, the floors ran with green fluid. Heads, bodies, and forearms of the wasp troops flew through air. The warbrides maintained rank and kept together, no one broke formation. They remembered Mangi’s fate.
The wasps couldn’t bring any coherence to their attack. They would jump out at the warbrides one at a time, with no tactics. The moment a wasp attacked, it would be cut down by the sword or halberd. Soon, the ranks of the wasp fighters dropped fast as their bodies piled on the floor. Shakti moved the rest of the warbrides into positon and swept the remaining wasps off the surface as blades harvested the insectoid bodies of their enemy. Every last one went down, green fluid spurting all over the chamber.
They stopped and looked at the slaughter. Shakti admired the fortitude of the wasps. They hadn’t retreated, even when it was obvious they were at a disadvantage. In some ways, it was insane. Why hadn’t the wasp commander ordered a retreat when it was obvious they didn’t have what was needed to defeat the humans? She looked at the other warbrides and saw their body armor coated with the translucent green fluid of the wasps. The helmet monitors showed everyone in good health, but close to the point of exhaustion.
There was one thing left to do.
“Bravi,” Shakti called over the audio, “you’re needed again.”
She stood back and let the tiny woman go back to work. She planted another bomb on the door. Shakti could see the smile on Bravi’s face through the plate on the helmet. The small woman enjoyed her work.
It took Bravi a few minutes to place the explosive charge and shape it to direct the force of the blast inward. She had more explosives, but wanted to ensure the door was off its hinges with one blast. Bravi had a bit of trouble maneuvering around in her body armor because of her nipple rings. It didn’t slow her down, but Shakti could tell it was not pleasant to be working with those things in place. It was an adornment she couldn’t understand, but Bravi cherished her rings and only let a few of the team touch them.
“Five seconds,” she announced after touching the switch on the detonator. “I set it for all time we need.”
The rest of the warbrides ran to the opposite side of the antechamber, pushing the remains of the fallen wasps out of the way as they went. They turned away from the door the moment the charge detonated. This one was much larger than the one used to blow open the port on the exterior. There was a roar, muffled through their helmets, and the sound of the door falling forward.
The
way into the command and control center was open.
“Let’s go!” Shakti yelled over the audio to the other warbrides and they charged into the opening created by the blast. Shakti and Durga ran into it first, weapons held low and in a defensive positon. They ran across a cloud of smoke created by the explosion and were through the entrance in seconds.
Shakti ran into the smoke and emerged into the command center of the wasp destroyer. The moment she cleared the door, she cut to the right and ran to the side of the massive room they’d entered. She stopped and let the smoke clear once they were inside. The rest of the warbrides followed and stopped when they saw her stand in place. The smoke thinned out and the interior of the room became visible.
“Count off,” she relayed on the audio and the women called their names out in a predetermined order. The smoke was gone and they could see inside the room.
It was filled with conduits that flowed from the walls into a central dais. On the dais sat another wasp surrounded by screens and instruments. This had to relay the data pouring into the vessel. From where Shakti stood, the creature was at a disadvantage. The screens showed the imperial corvette and larger attack ships floating in space around it. Any one of them had enough firepower to vaporize the wasp destroyer, the only reason it was still intact was to capture it. Surely, the commander of the wasp ship, the creature that sat before them, had to know this.
“I suppose you expect my surrender,” the wasp said. It was twice the size of the ones which attacked them outside. “We’ve had enough time to study you beasts.” The words came into her helmet from it, although she couldn’t see how the wasp commander transmitted to her.
The wasp commander was a golden color and sat on a combination cushion and chair, which grew from the floor. It grasped the bottom pillow with its lower legs and used the upper forearms to manipulate an array in front. The dais spun and it faced them, although the creature didn’t have anything that a human would recognize as a face.
“You absurd little creatures,” it said to them over the audio. “I can’t believe you’ve taken out all my warriors and marauders. It took me months to grow them and the Great Mother wouldn’t give me anything else for this campaign. Now I’ll be considered a failed hive leader. Do you have any concept of what this means? No, I guess your simple little minds wouldn’t understand. It leaves me with only one thing left to do.” The creature picked up a box from the panel and began to manipulate it.
Suddenly Shakti knew what was about to happen. “Kamala, stop her!” she yelled. The big woman jumped forward and swung her halberd down.
It sliced the box away from the wasp commander. The creature turned and slashed at Kamala with one of its forearms. Kamala struck back with her weapon and split the head of it down the middle. She swung again and both halves flew across the room, splattering green fluid on the walls. She stood there; made certain the creature didn’t move again and slammed the shaft of her halberd down against the floor.
“Any more of them?” she asked Shakti.
“I don’t think so,” her commander speculated. “I’m not sure, but I think you just killed the commander of this destroyer. Pilot and captain. Also the leader of the things we killed trying to get inside here. Everyone look this room over and make sure there’s no more. I don’t want any surprises. And stay away from that box because I think it was a detonator.”
Shakti put one hand on her helmet and looked at the medical display. It read normal, with a plenty of exhaustion, the same reading for the other women. The rest of the warbrides inspected the control center while she walked to the entrance and peered out. Nothing else was headed in their direction. They had taken the wasp destroyer, the first time anyone had done this.
With a flip on her chin, she clicked the audio signal to private mode and attempted to raise the corvette. After a few minutes, she finally got the captain on an encoded channel.
“Imperial corvette Vindicator, “the captain’s voice said to her. “Do you have anything to report?”
“Wasp destroyer taken,” she sent back. “We encountered stiff opposition until we reached the command and control center. All enemy forces are terminated, at least those we can see. We lost one of our women, but everyone else is in good health. When are you coming to pick us up?”
There was a pause on the other end. “You killed them all?” the captain asked her.
“Every last one,” she told him, “Even the pilot who attempted to trigger a self-destruct bomb. Again, when are you coming to get us? Because our oxygen is running low.”
There was a pause from the other end of the signal. “Warbrides hold fast,” he said. “We didn’t anticipate this quick of a victory. I’ll need to send a shuttle over. Do you have enough air in the suits for another hour?”
“Barely. You need to get over here and extract us or we’ll all suffocate.”
“Just hang on, warbrides; I’ll have someone over there as quick as I can.”
“I’d rather suffocate than spend another minute in this goddamn suit,” Durga told her. She leaned on her halberd. “Why is such a big issue for them to come and get us?”
“It might be the wasp destroyer,” Shakti said.
She looked at helmet display inside her faceplate and saw a normal reading inside the room, with a slightly higher oxygen level. It was worth a chance. The wasps might’ve contaminated the air with something the sensors didn’t register, but she was willing to take the risk. Shakti popped open a display panel on her vambrace and punched out a code. There was a hiss as the helmet depressurized and the seal to it came lose. Shakti reached up and pulled off her helmet.
The other women stared at her as she sat the helmet down on the ground. The air smelled organic, she could feel the pheromones drifting through the air. The vambrace display indicated the presence of them, but they were harmless to humans. The air was saturated with alien smells, as it was how the wasps communicated. Rich pheromone odor indicated a deep argument took place not long ago. Or perhaps a shouting match, it was difficult to tell the difference.
“I’m alright,” she told them. “Go ahead and pop your tops, we need to save the air in the suit for the trip across to the corvette. I have no idea how long we’ll be here, so we can chance the atmosphere inside this thing.”
The remainder of the women pulled off their helmets and placed them on the floor. Shields were propped up on helmets and swords lain beside them. Even Kamala propped her weapon against the wall. The looked around at the remains of the wasps who defended the destroyer and the commander in charge of it.
“Stay away from that thing,” Shakti said to Salina and Tara, who stood next the body of the commander, trying to figure out how it functioned.
“Just trying to figure out how it spoke to us, Boss,” Tara yelled back to her. “I can’t see anything which resembles a mouth. That last strike of Kamala chopped it up real nice.”
“Look at that,” Salina pointed at a large object which connected to the chair. “Might be some kind of relay to pass a communication signal through. I don’t think these things use sound to communicate.” She bent over, careful not to touch a thing.
“Just stay away from it and come back over here,” Shakti said again. “And don’t go anywhere near it. Let the technical prefects figure it all out. I want us back on board the corvette and out of this place. I can’t stand it.” She looked around and noticed the walls didn’t have a metallic hue or even the dull reflection of ceramics.
Shakti removed her gauntlet. She extended one hand and placed it on the wall next to her. It felt warm and hummed at the touch. She removed her hand and placed it on the wall again. It hummed once more and she stepped back. The wall responded to her. It felt hard and moist. She looked at it again and noticed pores. The wall was alive. It was a kind of living skeletal structure. This was what the pilot commander meant when she said the wasp soldiers were “grown”.
The rest of the warbrides sat down and rested. It wasn’t easy to relax in the middl
e of a massacre, even if the enemy wasn’t human. Green fluid splattered all over the walls and the machinery made for a disgusting backdrop. Mangi was supposed to be their medic, but she was the first one killed in action. By default, it would fall to Bravi until the empire sent someone to take her place.
“Tara, Salina,” Shakti called out, “I want you two to bring Mangi’s body here. She’d not going anywhere. She was one of us. I want her taken out and give a proper send off when we leave this place. You two were curious about the dead wasp commander; you can show some courtesy to our co-wife and sister.”
The two women stood up and slowly walked out of the command center. Shakti heard them walk down the corridor in search of Mangi. It was a lousy job, but she had to make sure the women who fell were treated with dignity and respect.
Shakti set the signal from the helmet to her vambrace panel and left it open while they waited. Several of the women were asleep. The two she’d sent off to retrieve Mangi’s body brought it back fifteen minutes later and laid her down in the corner with her weapons. Salina folded their dead comrade’s arms over her body while they waited to hear from the corvette. The air was still thick with the coppery smell of wasp pheromones.
An hour later, they heard from the corvette. “You still there, warbrides?” the vambrace buzzed as Shakti rested with a bottle of water. She raised her arm up to her face in a second.
“Still here, Vindicator,” she told the other side. “When do you plan to pick us up? We can’t sit here forever.”
“I’ll send the shuttle over right now. We had some surprises from another wasp ship no one expected. My apology for the delays. How is the air situation?”
“We’re holding out. I had the girls take off their helmets after checking the destroyer air. It’s close enough to terrestrial so we can breathe it. Doesn’t appear to be anything harmful in it.”
Angels of Eternity: The Complete Novel Page 6