The city mind had bargained with other cells for more flagships to defend the city, but the new cell had little to bargain with. It’s own cadre of flagships had been reduced to two, and they were too precious to be promised at some time in the future when others might need help.
For every flagship that was sent to them, the cell would have to promise 50 Reaper ships at some time, on top of those already promised from the battle at Uruk. That would impose an almost intolerable burden. Even if the city mind was willing to accept the trade off, other Invardii cells weren’t prepared to take the risk.
Most of them had calculated the city would lose half its total forces, even with a sizable Buccra contingent fighting for it, in a confrontation with the rock dwellers. That would leave the city with too few Reaper ships to promise much of anything in the future.
However, Kalken’s privileged position allowed her access to the city mind’s active files, and she knew that fourteen flagships would be added to their forces for the battle to come. This was not because the new cell could promise anything in return, but to keep a powerful military presence where the Buccra defending the city could see it.
The city mind had, temporarily at least, seemed to recover from its increasingly irrational behavior once the flagships had been promised. It seemed to think these promises were an ‘act of faith’ in the viability of the new Invardii cell in the Spiral Arm. Kalken knew the flagships were only there to keep the Buccra forces under control if the defense of the city took an unexpected turn.
She, herself, was wrestling with the unthinkable. Would she have to overrule the city mind if its decisions in the heat of battle put the future of the Invardii cell at risk? And it was not only the future of the Invardii cell, but also the future of Kalken’s recently born infant.
Relinquishing control of the vast flagship to her second in command, Kalken headed for her dormitory berth. Once there she hastily sent her shadow self along the encrypted cyber highways to one of the coiled, serpent form peripherals inside the Invardii city. The city mind now kept her shadow self with it whenever she was off duty, a measure of its increasing instability.
“The-armada-has-been-recalled-from-the-Sumerian-home-world?” hissed the city mind from the peripheral terminal, speaking in an urgent monotone. Kalken made a small mental bow of acquiescence.
“The-Buccra-fleet-and-the-accompanying-flagships-have-arrived?”
Kalken tensed. The city mind was showing more and more of these disquieting time lapse errors. The main Buccra fleet had barely left the galactic core, and the city mind knew this. The warships could not possibly have arrived yet, but it was a sign of the city mind’s increasing desperation.
“Soon, oh flux of all things,” she said softly, adding overtones of reason and inevitability. At least now, with its decreased sensitivity to detail, the city mind was no longer able to detect when she was manipulating its emotional state.
Apparently satisfied, it moved on to another topic.
“The-destruction-of-Rok’H’Rok-is-complete?” hissed the periphery.
This attitude always troubled Kalken. An enemy was something to fight against, and destruction of an enemy was a joy. But enemies should be rated by their danger to the cell, because that was good strategy. The city mind was violently against anything that reminded it of the Rothii or their servants the Sumerians, and that was irrational.
“Nothing remains of the Sumerian mining camps, or their spaceports,” she answered diplomatically.
Reports from Rok’H’Rok had, in fact, contained the suspicion that most of the Sumerian capability continued, deep underground. It had also brought the news that a large fleet of Dark Ships had driven the Buccra off prematurely.
The city mind was silent for a while, busy no doubt with some pressing matter from its sub-routines. Kalken found the same worrying thoughts arise that had bedeviled her since the Buccra had agreed to fight for the Invardii.
How would they keep the Buccra under control now they’d let them off their prison planet? Fourteen flagships at Antares would normally be enough to quell anything from unruly behavior to a rebellious confederation of many star systems – but the Buccra fleet was another matter.
The city mind stirred, and Kalken hastened to assume a humble pose before it. The defenses of the Invardii city were almost complete, and it was largely these she had hoped to discuss with the vast, sprawling, hybrid intelligence before her. The relevant discussions began a moment later, and Kalken put her troubling thoughts of the Buccra, and the unstable city mind, to one side.
Prometheus was also preparing for war, but the little project before Cordez at the moment was different to anything else the giant base was working on.
It was hard to believe the bulky doughnut shape floating above Prometheus was a star ship. Boxy additions at opposite sides of the ring were stardrive units that would, theoretically, get the inside-out electromagnet to Antares, where they would be jettisoned. After that it was destined for a slow, one-way ride to the Invardii city, making its way through the outer layers of the Antares sun.
Cordez had insisted on being there when the ground-breaking ship was ready for its maiden voyage, and he stared in wonder at the strange machine from one of Prometheus’ shuttles. All of its systems had been checked out, twice, and the ship was as ready as it ever would be.
“What are you going to call it?” said Cordez, to the figure beside him.
“No names, for this one,” said Fedic. “She’s a one-way trip, same as me. She doesn’t get a name.”
Cordez shrugged. “Your choice,” he commented amiably. He figured Fedic was right about not coming back, and he thought too highly of the man to waste his last few days with him in some sort of emotional, self-pitying state of mind.
“So we front up at Antares for the final showdown,” he continued, “and you try and find the back door while we keep them occupied. Then you stuff them good and proper, right?”
Fedic smiled at the offhand reference to their plan.
“Good luck,” said Cordez casually. “You’ve got four days, and then we hit the city with everything we’ve got.”
Fedic nodded. He walked down to the shuttle’s bay to take a one-person pod over to the ship. He was already running through the sequences he would need to pilot the outlandish craft in his mind. He had drilled himself in them remorselessly, but the bulky ship was the most complex thing he’d ever flown. The shortage of time hadn’t allowed the engineers much of a chance to automate anything on board it.
Fedic didn’t look back at the familiar base he had come to know so well, containing the few people he’d grown close to in his life there. Instead he guided the torus out beyond Prometheus, and entered the nothingness of stardrive.
He came out of stardrive well out in the Antares system, and coasted in to the outermost layers of Antares. It took up precious hours, but he had to remain unnoticed by the Invardii. A final check showed Fedic he was a little deeper inside Antares than he had expected to be.
Another check showed him the electromagnetic shields, superbly engineered at Prometheus, were working perfectly. They were keeping the thermonuclear plasma of the sun at bay. He switched the navs system to a view outside the ship.
Just meters from the curved hull a wall of corrosive plasma surged angrily against the invisible electromagnetic shields that surrounded the ship. The shields stopped the plasma from vaporizing the ship in seconds.
Even with the screen toned down for the human eye, he could see white hot explosions among the boiling reds and oranges of the outer layers. Something stirred in the distant murk, and a rolling shock wave slammed into the ship, tossing it around.
Fedic decided it was better that he got underway, and stepped sideways to the console that ran the propulsion system. Adjusting the shields so they took on their role as thrusters, he set a course that would run him a little shallower in the sun. Then he began the long journey inside the curve of Antares toward the Invardii city.
The buffeting from the atmosphere was constant, and it became apparent the endless corrections to the ship’s course were going to take a toll on him. While his reflexes made continuous adjustments to the ship’s direction, his mind rode free above the semi-automatic work of his hands. He set about devising some way he could set an auto pilot, so he could get some sleep.
The solution, when it came, was a typically Fedic one.
A little trial and error showed him that the ship was stable in an edge-on position to the storms of the red super giant, where it could slice through the thermonuclear gases with minimum resistance.
Fedic rigged the shields to deliver whatever thrust they could in a position at right angles to their intended function, and slept until the momentum of the ship dropped below an acceptable level. When the alarm sounded he went back to manual control, turned the ship doughnut on, and brought her up to full speed again.
Napping in quarter hour segments, he prepared, as best he could, for the days of concentration and broken sleep that would take him to the Invardii city.
CHAPTER 28
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“I’d like to go with them,” said Finch wistfully. He was watching the main screen at Prometheus as Battrod’s tetrarch of 120 Javelins followed Leana’s and Kanuk’s tetrarchs into stardrive. Each of the formations vanished in coordinated flashes of light.
“And don’t tell me I’m too important to be risked at the front line,” he said firmly, as Cordez turned toward him to say something.
The South Am Regent smiled.
“Yes,” conceded Cordez, “it does seem a bit late in the day to hold you back from the fray. If we fail at Antares there won’t be any forces left to defend Earth with, and if we succeed we will have made ourselves redundant.
“But I still want you in the chain of command, though. I want you kept safe. There’s a lot of unexpected things going to happen before this is over. We’re going to be needed here. Both of us.”
Finch grunted. He accepted the point, but he didn’t like it.
The last of the Javelins vanished from the screen, and the longer-bodied Valkrethi carriers lined up for their turn.
“Have the Sumerians left for Antares yet?” said Finch. He had been too concerned with the exodus of Earth’s military forces to keep up with what was happening elsewhere.
Cordez nodded. “They’re starting further away than we are, but they should arrive off the Invardii city at the same time as our warships.”
“Will it be enough?” said Finch, the uncertainty of the numbers worrying him.
“The latest figures we’ve got are 654 Javelins, 176 Valkrethi, 86 Sumerian warships and 22 motherships,” said Cordez. “Plus the Druanii ships – God knows what they’ll be like – and the ships the Druanii protectorates can field. I guess it’s too bad if it’s not enough.
“Warfare is an inexact science made up of hearts and weapons, and feeling like you haven’t done enough is standard fare. Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
Finch grunted once more. Cordez’ words were reassuring, but the precariousness of the Alliance position hadn’t changed.
The first formation of Javelins came out of stardrive in the outer reaches of the Antares system – and straight into a crossfire from a scattering of Buccra warships. Ayman Case bit back a swear word, and scrambled his forces into evasive maneuvers.
Every one of the Javelins had a well-trained Hud pilot in command of it, and they reacted to the command at blinding speed. In moments they had thrown the ships away from the energy blasts that were trying to destroy them. Spreading out so rapidly had blunted the Buccra offensive, but Ayman knew the surprise attack had mauled his first line of Javelins badly.
All around him individual dogfights were developing, with the combatants fairly evenly matched. The ability of the Buccra warships to regenerate themselves, though, would sooner or later drive the outcome in their favor.
How had the Buccra known where the Alliance forces would come out of stardrive? It didn’t make sense to Ayman. The Alliance certainly didn’t have the technology to do that. There were no planets in the system, and the hot, blue companion sun was on the other side of the red super giant. Did the absence of planets make it easier for the Invardii to detect ships still in stardrive? Ayman shook his head. Their enemies were still far ahead of the Alliance in so many areas. They would just have to work around it.
He decided to concede the first victory to the Buccra, and ordered his forces to pull back to a point outside the Antares system. Sub space messages to the Alliance ships still in transit gave them the new gathering point.
A few hours later the Alliance commanders had gathered on the bridge of Ayman Case’s command Javelin. The news the surprise attack had lost them 17 Javelins for three Buccra warships destroyed was disheartening, and they were determined to do better in the next engagement. When that came they were determined to fight the battle on their own terms, and turn those numbers in the opposite direction.
Cagill was in no hurry to take the battle straight to the Invardii city. He was one of the few people who knew Fedic had entered the Antares sun four days ago. Whatever the Alliance did here, fighting the Invardii and Buccra forces, they had to give Fedic a chance to accomplish his mission. And he wouldn’t make it to the Invardii city for another two or three days.
Cordez, present on screen via a sub space feed, added his weight to the idea of testing the defenses of the Invardii city gradually.
“There’s too much we don’t yet know,” he cautioned. “Send in small contingents to test the response, and retrieve them at the first sign of trouble. Then we can study the results.
“Learn as we go, people!”
The Sumerian forces arrived minutes later. AldSanni was in command of the warships, and he offered the motherships as a distraction for the Buccra warships while the Javelins and Sumerian warships tried to catch them unawares. Cagill declined the offer for the moment, but it was heartening to see the Sumerians so committed to the fight.
“Any word from the Druanii?” said Battrod. Leana and Kanuk were present on Cagill’s Javelin also, as tetrarch leaders. All of the Alliance commanders were intrigued by the elusive Druanii, and the ships they might bring to the attack on the city inside the sun.
As if in answer to this question, a ball of gray, milky light appeared on one side of Cagill’s bridge. It grew in size until it filled one corner of the open space.
It has to be one of the Orion, thought Cagill. Then he noted it was a much bigger sphere than usual. What did the Druanii have in mind this time?
The sphere glowed brightly, and the surface hardened to a metallic sheen. Then it just vanished, leaving scorch marks on the floor, and the square, lumpy form of one of the Orion.
“Subdirector?” said Cordez from the screen, and the squat, rocky shape orientated itself to the sound of his voice. At last it seemed to recognize him on the screen. The creature had most likely never seen Human technology before.
“I am, indeed, Subdirector,” said the Orion, waving its frond-like appendages agitatedly as it took in the enclosed, metal environment that now surrounded it.
“Member of Druanii protectorate, and friend of the Alliance, you are very welcome at this meeting,” said Cordez warmly.
Subdirector seemed to relax a little. It’s leathery appendages dropped into a more subdued position.
“Druanii ask if I may, mmm, remain as observer,” it finally said.
Cordez assured the Orion representative that it would be welcome on the bridge.
Cagill observed Subdirector with interest. In person its skin was more like the bark of a tree, more like something living. In the recordings he had seen of the gray sphere, he had thought the Orion might be some sort of living rock.
“Will the Druanii be joining us in the attack?” said Cordez, returning to the question Battrod had voiced earlier.
“Druanii, and Druanii protectorates, are already here,” replied Subdirector. Its voice was
a little warmer in person than the long, slow monotone it had projected from the sphere.
Ayman raised an eyebrow. There had been nothing reported near the Alliance ships on any of the sensors the Javelins or Sumerians had.
Cordez diplomatically asked where the Druanii were.
“Nearby,” said Subdirector placidly, “but you cannot see them yet.”
Ayman motioned to his long-range sensors officer, who conducted a rapid search. He turned, and shook his head. Whatever technology the Druanii were using, it was good.
“What sort of defenses does the city have?” said Cordez, turning back to Cagill. The other Alliance commanders looked interested in this question as well. Cagill had been expecting the question. The first thing he had done on arrival was set up scanning equipment that cut through the surface of the Antares sun, and revealed the city within.
He brought up a 3D image above the navs console, to illustrate what he was saying. “Their front line consists of over 200 Buccra warships, spread through the Antares system as a forward screen.
“Closer to the sun there’s a mixed bag of around 120 Buccra warships and a variable number of Reaper ships. The Reaper ships seem to be present by rotation. Around 150 are in the defensive line at any one time, and 300 are docked at the city or patrolling around it.
“What else they’ve got defending the city we won’t know until we get closer. It’s the same with the firepower on the weapons platforms. We’re going to need to get in there.”
Cordez put himself in the position of the Invardii, to try and understand what they would do. “I think they’ll keep numbers high at the forward positions while things are going in their favor. When they’re hard pressed they will fall back to the surface of the sun. Then our sensor systems will be overloaded with the heat, and coronal discharges, and the city’s weapons platforms can do us some damage. That’s going to be the most difficult time for us.”
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