“Bugkiller seems to be fine,” Lashmi said as she idly stroked Seth’s hair. “Torpedo is in route to the final wasp destroyer. It’s trying to get away.”
“Would you cut that out?” Shakti snapped at Lashmi. She couldn’t take it anymore.
“Cut what out?”
“Playing with your pet! You know what I’m talking about.”
Lashmi let him drift away on the tether and returned to her screen.
“I’m on the transmitter,” Tara announced as she grabbed a handhold and swung herself in the direction of the airlock. “The bots aren’t working right and I’ll do it myself. The repair parts are right next to it.”
“Something odd about those wasps,” Chimata told Durga back on the Bugkiller. “They have trouble with multiple threats from different sources. Did you see their poor strategy? It’s as if they can’t adapt quick enough to whatever we do.”
Shakti watched the two torpedoes headed in the direction of the final wasp destroyer. She didn’t trust them to finish off the final wasp ship. Something about this whole battle seemed too easy, as if it was a test to see what they would do. The wasp ship was still out there even if both torpedoes were on their way to it.
“Seriously,” Chimata said to Durga. “Think about it. They can’t improvise much. The wasp social structure is built on an insect hive. Every one of them has a role to play and they can’t think outside of their predetermined roles.”
“Then how have they achieved space travel?” Durga asked her. She looked over at Kamala who was leaning against the panels where she tried to keep an eye on the situation of the Bugkiller. It was rapidly deteriorating. With most of the life support systems failing and the propulsion down to the point where it could barely maneuver the ship, they were able to move around, but not much.
“I can’t figure that out,” Chimata said. She saw a chair pushed up against one wall and brought it over to Kamala.
“Why don’t you sit down?” she asked her co-wife as she touched her helmet to Kamala’s. “Your leg is hurt and you don’t need it to get any worse. When we have you back at the corvette the autodoctor can fix you up.
“Thanks,” Kamala said to her as she rested her frame in the chair. “Damn leg hurts a lot.”
Chimata scampered over to Durga. She did like Kamala. Even if they weren’t part of the same family, she would spend time with her. It was nice to have someone she felt close to inside this metal box.
“Tara,” Shakti asked the woman who was outside working on the hull of the corvette. “How does it look for the transmitter?”
“I have it operational,” she transmitted. “See if you can raise Durga. The plasma blast from the torpedo explosion didn’t do as much damage as I thought. It should be okay to use. You might want to retract it after you’re sure it works. The final wasp destroyer could hit us again and I don’t know if I can fix this a second time.”
“Thanks,” Shakti told her. “I’m going to try and raise Durga. Stand by.” Shakti switched channels on her suit armor’s transmitter.
“Durga,” she sent. “Shakti here. Do you read me? Tara thinks she has the ship transmitter fixed.”
“You’re coming in fine,” her second’s voice came through the audio. “We’re showing an increase in energy on that wasp ship near their lasers. They might be ready to try another sting, probably at the torpedoes you sent, but they might try and carve you up too.”
Shakti turned and looked at her display panel. Everything was normal, but suddenly the signal she received from the second torpedo they fired went blank. The screen showed one star moving in the direction of the wasp destroyer, not two. She realized what had taken place.
“Tara!” she transmitted. “Get back inside now. I’m retracting the transmitter. The wasp ship just fired its lasers and took out one of the torpedoes. We might be next on their target!”
“Got it!” she said and began to pull herself in on the cord, which she attached her suit armor to on the way out of the port. The access port was only fifty yards away and she needed to get back to it.
Tara looked up and watched a sensor array dissolve to her right. Her blood went cold.
Inside the corvette, on the display panel in front of Shakti, a series of lights turned red. Shakti’s gloved hands began to shake. They’d been lasered and Tara was still outside!
“Three sensors just went dead,” Bravi transmitted from her station. “Oh, God! Tara’s out there! Tara, get your ass inside now!”
“How many minutes until detonation?” Shakti asked Lashmi. She could see the concern in her co-wife’s face through her faceplate.
“Three minutes,” Lashmi responded.
“Detonate it now!” Shakti ordered. “Bravi, take the laser controls and hit that wasp ship with all we have until the second the torpedo explodes!”
Bravi grabbed the control panel for the lasers and turned her head to watch the magnification of the final torpedo headed toward the wasp destroyer. They just might be able to save Tara if it worked.
Tara, still outside, pulled hard on the line and was ten yards away from the port. All she had to do was get to it and open the door. It was easy. There wasn’t any air on the other side of the lock, so no reason to run a cycle through it. She saw something illuminate to her left and an entire section of the corvette surface began to glow. The laser had scored a direct hit again, but not on any vital spot. She could still get to the port. Just a few more seconds.
Three things happened microseconds from each other. First, Lashmi blew the torpedo warhead, which sent out a ring of radiation and plasma in the direction of the wasp destroyer. Second, Bravi locked the Widowmaker’s laser cannons on the wasp ship and sent a massive amount of coherent energy at it. Third, the laser from the final wasp ship swept across the surface of the corvette and vaporized Tara.
Chapter 11
It happened quickly. One moment she was reaching out to the port, the next she was reduced to her component atoms. The surface of the corvette glowed where she stood in the aftermath and marked the place where Tara had almost reached the port.
A second later, the first ring of plasma destroyed the laser array on the surface of the wasp destroyer. Two seconds after the wasp ship lost its quark lasers; the Widowmaker scored a direct hit from Bravi’s guidance on the destroyer’s torpedo chambers, setting off three nuclear weapons at the same time. There was an intense flash of light from where the destroyer was located and then it too was broken down into the building blocks of matter.
“Tara?” Lashmi said to Shakti.
“Gone,” Shakti spoke. “She didn’t make it.”
Shakti prayed no one could see the tears in her eyes. They could. In freefall, tears would float inside the helmet.
“I don’t think Tara survived that one,” Durga commented from the disabled ship as she watched the laser make a final strike on the surface of the corvette. She could see from the magnification the glow of the hull where the laser struck the ship. In the emptiness of space, there were few particles to illuminate from the passage of the laser beam to the target. The surface of the Widowmaker heated up and popped where the laser hit it, but there was no coherent ray of light to show the passage of the energy to the corvette. Durga knew Tara was outside the ship and right near the place when it was lasered.
It was quick, she thought.
“You didn’t have to send us out after those destroyers!” Lashmi snapped at Shakti. “The dreadnaughts could have taken them and the damn prince would have his trophy. Now we’ve lost Tara.”
Shakti could feel the anger from Lashmi radiate. She turned and saw her brown eyes flare through the helmet. Nothing she could say right now would bring Tara back. She was gone and there wasn’t even a body they could use for a funeral. Shakti looked at the screen and watched the remainder of the final wasp destroyer expand and dissipate into the cosmos. The Bugkiller was far enough away from it and wouldn’t have to worry about suffering the effects of the plasma and radiation. The little
pirate ship was useless, if what Durga told her was true. It served its purpose and kept the wasps busy. Now it was time to bring them back.
Shakti sent a transmission back out and regained contact with Durga. “Bring your ship back,” she told her. “We can dock it long enough to send you and the other women back to us. How are Chimata and Kamala?”
“Safe,” Durga responded. “Chimata has some ideas she wants to discuss about the wasps. Kamala busted her leg and her suit radio is out. Other than that, we’re fine. Did you lose Tara?”
“Yes,” Shakti admitted. This would not be easy.
She looked at the rest of the warbrides. Lashmi avoided her face, but Shakti knew how she felt. Dharma was still in her own universe, but afloat near her station. Bravi had her head down and turned away from her. Shakti could tell by the readings inside her helmet screen their emotions were in tatters. She didn’t have to listen to the sobs to know her co-wives grieved. Let them, they would all need to vent their feelings. Only Seth seemed to be apart from what had taken place, but he wasn’t supposed to be here anyway.
“Take Seth back to the infirmary,” Shakti ordered Lashmi. “He wasn’t supposed to be up here. And come right back. Durga will be docking soon. They’ll need help taking Kamala down to the infirmary.” Lashmi pulled herself over to where Seth floated and untied the leash on him. She looked at the cord as she coiled it.
“Tara tied the harness on you,” she told Seth. “I should leave it on. We don’t have much else to remember her.”
“You can leave it on if you want,” Seth told her. “She was careful and didn’t want to hurt me.” Lashmi took him by the hand and guided the colonist toward the nearest exit. Shakti didn’t say a word. The time for talk would come later. Right now, she needed to get Durga and the other women back to the corvette.
It took another two hours to dock the Bugkiller with the corvette. The ship, never the most functional in its patchwork construction, was operational, but they had several near-collisions as Durga and Chimata attempted to link with the Widowmaker. After the third unsuccessful attempt, Durga stopped the rotation on the habitat and did it from freefall in the command center. She let out a sigh of relief when the screens announce successful link with the corvette.
“We’re connected to you,” Durga announced. “Give us a few minutes to get over there.” It was easy to help Kamala out of the ship with no centrifugal force to simulate gravity.
“Do you think we need to keep the Bugkiller?” Shakti asked Durga over the transmitter as they came through the link between the two ships. “According to you, it’s barely functional.”
“I’d scuttle it,” she told her. “Blow the reactor once it’s at a safe distance. First, take all the supplies we can find. You never know what we will need in the future. The nearest supply base is far away and the war college seems to like us at a distance.”
Bravi and Dharma were on other side of the link to help them with Kamala. The four women carried her to the infirmary inside the corvette and stripped the suit armor off her. Once they had Kamala situated on the table beneath the autodoc, they took their clothes off too and dumped them in a cart. Shakti had told them it was safe to armor down since the wasps were gone. Once they’d placed the suit armor in the cart, it wheeled itself to the lockers in the command center. They could inspect the armor and put it away later. Kamala’s would need some work.
“I want everyone in the sauna in five minutes,” Shakti said across the ship audio. It was broadcast to every room and none of the warbrides would have an excuse not hear it. “Except Seth, he can stay in the infirmary.” Why did she have the funny feeling Lashmi would attempt to bring him into the sauna? Right now, she didn’t care. There was a lot which needed to be said to her co-wives.
Shakti was alone it the command center. With the other women in the infirmary or on their way to it, she was left by herself. Shakti wore her warbride uniform and floated in front of a screen, which informed her about the status of the corvette’s systems and the space around it. Some distance away, the wreckage of the second wasp destroyer was spreading in a cloud about the space it had occupied. The plasma and dust of other two destroyers was spread even further. Shakti ran her hands over the screen sending a report to the war college and wondered if Tara was mixed with the molecules of the enemy. How was she supposed to provide over a memorial service with no body to commend to her ancestors?
She made it clear in her report how the wasp destroyers had turned and attacked them. They had no other option but to return fire. She neglected to mention how she ordered both ships close enough to attract the wasp’s attention. It had worked, but the wasps had laser systems with further range than anyone suspected. The war college needed to know about the damage they inflicted on the recommissioned pirate ship. Last, she asked them to inform the emperor another one of his outer wives perished in the attack. She transmitted the report in a wave that folded on itself.
Mangi, Salina, and now Tara. Was this how it was to be? Each time they engaged, a loss? How much longer could they expect to deploy against the enemy? If they continued to lose members, the war college would pull them out of the fight. Shakti thought about what she would say about Tara and couldn’t find the words. Tara didn’t have to die; this was true. She’d gone outside to fix the transmitter so they could communicate with Durga’s crew. But it wasn’t essential and they could have found another way to do it. She’d made the decision to go out there, but Shakti knew she might have stopped her. The explosions, which took place seconds from each other, didn’t seem to make a difference.
The response from the war college was swift, as she’d expected. Shakti looked at the message as it folded itself through space on the nearest screen.
“We congratulate you on the successful destruction of the three wasp destroyers,” the message read. “The prince is disappointed he will not be able to lead his dreadnaughts against the enemy, but there will be other days. We are saddened to hear about the loss of Tara and the emperor was informed. We agree with your decision to disable the former pirate ship. The information inside it should not fall into wasp clutches. We are shocked to learn of the range increase in the enemy’s laser system and will inform the prefects who are in charge of assessing wasp technology.”
The message concluded with the proclamation that Tara’s name was added to the list of immortals in the Hall of Remembrance. Finally, they sent her the coordinates of their next location where the warbrides were needed.
Shakti didn’t hear much as she entered the antechamber in front of the sauna. She removed her uniform and wrapped a towel around her. She pushed the door to the sauna and went inside. The other women were waiting for her. They sat or lay back on the benches and looked at her as she entered. Kamala lay on one bench by herself, her broken leg splinted with care by the autodoc. In keeping with the environment, Shakti removed her towel and sat down on it. There was something about conducting a memorial service naked that took the tension down several degrees. All of them were used to the casual display of flesh from their last careers. At least Seth wasn’t in the sauna, but Lashmi glared at her when she sat down.
“I’ve heard back from the war college,” Shakti began. “They’ve given us our next destination. I don’t know where it is exactly, but you can expect we will be folding space into a hot zone. They seem to like to send us to places where we can go into action right away.”
“What did you tell them about Tara?” Lashmi snapped at her. “Did you tell them she would be alive if you hadn’t decided to engage the wasps?”
“How long do you think we would last if I didn’t push us against the wasps?” Shakti roared at her. “Do you not get it? We’re a suicide battalion. They don’t expect us to last very long. They didn’t think we would hold out against those destroyers. The war college knew we couldn’t let them pass unchallenged. They’re surprised we took all three out and only lost one of our sisters. We were supposed to all be vaporized, but the wasps were going to be blo
odied in the process so the prince would have an easy campaign. Tara went out there on her own free will. I didn’t tell her to do it. It could have been all of us if I wasn’t able to coordinate with Durga fast enough. So just cut the attitude, we have a job to do and you knew it when you agreed to become a warbride with the rest of us.”
Lashmi placed her head in her hands and began to cry. Shakti stood up, walked to her and put her arm around her co-wife and laid Lashmi’s head on her shoulder. She felt the tears flow down her arm. The sounds of sobbing women increased and she saw the other warbrides clutching each other and crying. It was a difficult thing to see, as Tara’s death was avoidable. But Shakti still felt responsible for her and the other two women.
It was the best memorial service they could have for her.
Chapter 12
The Bugkiller was scuttled two days later.
Shakti had it towed to the nearest star and sent on a direct collision with it. From the edge of the stellar region, they watched the Bugkiller drift into range of the star’s heat. They saw it explode into its components when the ship was torn apart by the gravitation pull of the local sun. She had Lashmi sweep the vicinity with a laser to makes sure nothing remained of it. They didn’t want the wasps to use it to find Terra or any of the other home planets.
The warbrides took several days of rest before they went into action. The war college allowed them some rest. So long as the wasps remained a threat, the empire needed them to save the human race. It was a thankless job and Shakti wondered if she’d made the right decision signing on with the warbrides. As commander, she was responsible for all of them. She’d seen three of her co-wives killed already and didn’t have any idea how long this war would last.
Durga had supervised the destruction of the Bugkiller. They wanted to keep it for the next mission, but the damage done to it by the wasp lasers was too extensive. It would be a detriment to take it into battle. The only thing the pirate ship could be used for was a decoy and they didn’t need to be hauling it around with them. Shakti transmitted the news of its destruction to the war college as soon as the act was carried out. She had approval, but would have destroyed it even if she didn’t. Kamala helped her carry out the demolition by monitoring the progress of the former pirate ship as it was sent into the star.
Angels of Eternity: The Complete Novel Page 15