Solbidyum Wars Saga 9: At What Price

by Dale Musser

  Getting the GLOMAR ROSA back to Sector 1 with its escort ships and the portion of the First Fleet that I had taken to Plamos took nearly an hour. This included travel time to the gates and then the travel from the nearest gates to the Capitol at Megelleon. While we were underway, I received a surprise message.

  “Admiral, a message is coming in for you from Andy,” Marranalis said in a confused tone.

  “Put him through,” I said.

  “Greetings, Friend Andy,” I said as soon as his image appeared on the vid screen.

  “Greetings, Friend Tibby,” Andy said in return.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?” I asked, hoping it would be to offer us aid.

  “We have observed events taking place near the Federation Capitol and we understand that you are also engaged in a major battle elsewhere. It would be a disadvantage to the androids, should the Federation lose this war to the Brotherhood. We therefore wish to offer our assistance in the battle you are fighting at Megelleon.”

  “Your assistance will be greatly appreciated,” I responded. Let me contact A’Lappe on the NEW ORLEANS and have him send you a set of nodes for a Cantolla Gate to match a launch tube gate here on the GLOMAR ROSA. It will take several minutes.”

  “We will wait, Friend Tibby,” Andy said with his usual expressionless face.

  “Andy, how is it you are aware of this battle when you are so far from Federation territory?” I asked curiously.

  “We have our ways. It is in our best interests to monitor activities taking place throughout the universe,” he replied.

  When we reached Megelleon, I expected to see a lot of enemy ships, but what I saw far exceeded my expectations. The scene was overwhelming. Thousands of ships, far in excess of what was at Plamos, filled the space around Megelleon and the Capitol Station. In fact, this was by far the biggest fleet of enemy ships I’d ever seen, even greater than was seen at the battle of Glomar Rosa.

  “Marranalis,” I said, skipping his title. “Order ALL ships to the Capitol immediately. We’re going to need everything we’ve got.”

  As I spoke, I noticed dozens of ships descending to the planet. They were obviously depositing infantry in the urban areas and at the critical power, water and industrial facilities.

  “Put me in touch with Padaran immediately,” I ordered.

  Moments later a confusing scene of motion appeared on my vid screen.

  “Padaran here,” his panting voice responded.

  “What’s going on there?” I asked. “Where are you? I can’t see you.”

  “Sorry, sir,” Padaran said, “You’re getting the image from my body cam. I don’t have time to adjust the camera to my face.” Just as he said that someone jumped out from behind a wall and fired at him. Immediately two shots blazed, one from Padaran’s left and one from his right, killing the assailant.

  “Where are you?” I asked again.

  “We’re on the Capitol Station, sir. The enemy has managed to get troops through Cantolla Gates and onto the station. We believe they must have captured one of the Cantolla Gate Stations.” Two more shots were fired at Padaran from the balcony of a lobby he was passing through. I saw him return fire but it was unclear whether the shot met its target.

  I turned to Marranalis. “Marranalis, broadcast an order for any non-essential Cantolla Gates that are still operating Federation-wide to be shut down immediately.”

  I returned my attention to Padaran. “Captain, what is your situation at the moment?” I asked.

  “We’re trying to evacuate as many officials here as we can by using the hidden gates in the offices of the senators and Leaders. At the moment, all public gates and other official gates are compromised. I’ve established guards at the main gate hub here, but there are other gates that are still unsecured. The enemy has taken the entire station by surprise.”

  “Captain, Megelleon is under major attack. The enemy is deploying their infantry planet-wide. It’s a full-scale invasion. I’m ordering any bases Federation-wide that are not under attack at the moment to mobilize half their men and resources to Megelleon to resist the assault. As soon as the Leaders and senators are safe, get your teams out of there, destroy the Capitol Station if you can, and head to Megelleon. I want you to take command of the ground troops and do what’s necessary to defend the planet.”

  More exchange of fired interrupted the communication as Padaran and his troopers pressed forward through the facility.

  “Understood, Admiral. We’ll do our best,” he said. Then I heard him say, “Lieutenant Reidecor, I need you to – ” just before the screen went blank.

  So Reide was on the Capitol Station with Padaran and the station was under attack. The station’s security had been breached and enemy troopers were aboard the station. How had things fallen apart so quickly? I wondered.

  “Admiral, the androids are arriving to join the battle as we speak,” said Marranalis.

  “Good. I hope there is enough of them to make a difference,” I said as my heart sank in my chest. It seemed that the number of enemy ships was growing exponentially as I stared at the 3D hologram. Even as our own ships continued to return from Plamos and the rest of the Federation fleets converged on the scene, it was clear we were still far outnumbered. For every ship our PLABE weapons knocked out, three more appeared through a gate somewhere nearby to take its place.”

  I watched in dismay as we were overwhelmed, one by one, by entire formations of enemy ships that targeted the RMFF shield of a single Federation ship until it was breached and then fired on it until it was destroyed. My only prayer now was that the Senate members and Leaders aboard the Capitol Station would manage to make it to safety before the Capitol Station itself would be destroyed.

  “Admiral, we’ve received confirmation that CGS-2 was captured nearly an hour ago. Somehow the Brotherhood managed to get aboard and take control of an entire concourse. They quickly replaced the gate nodes on a number of gates and brought through hundreds or troopers in seconds, much like they did on Tantella, after which they swept the remainder of the facility. A small pocket of Federation troopers are still holding out in one wing, but the station itself is in the hands of the enemy. Most of the civilian and non-essential gates across the Federation are now confirmed closed, however there are a few that are not communicating that may already have been captured.”

  “So that’s how they got into the Capitol Station! They must have breached the government gate levels to gain access to the secure Capitol Station Cantolla Gates. They could have infiltrated any number of secured facilities by now!” I said as my heart sank even lower. Was there any hope at all?

  As I sat staring blankly at the 3D hologram of the battle, facing certain defeat, I noticed one particular fighter flying at incredible speeds and executing unbelievable maneuvers while knocking out Brotherhood fighters, warships and asteroid-ships with equal ease. I wasn’t the only one who noticed this remarkable piloting. Before long, nearly every officer and aid was surrounding the display, following the wake of destruction left in the fighter’s flight path.

  “What ship is that?” I asked Marranalis. “And who’s flying it? Is it one of the androids or is it a Ruwallie Rasson?”

  “Let me check, sir,” he said and then gave an order to one of the aides at a tracking console. Minutes later, I heard him say, “Are you sure? Confirm that data.”

  “What is it?” I asked, as I saw the small blip in the 3D display weave between two Brotherhood asteroid-ships, taking them both out within seconds of each other.

  “Is it one of the Ruwallie Rasson?”

  “Uh, no, sir, the ship is the Nijang Fighter design, but it’s not a Ruwallie Rasson or an android pilot.”

  “Well, who is it, then?” I asked, wondering why Marranalis wasn’t answering.

  “Sir, it’s Lunnie.”

  “What?! I don’t understand!” I said, now completely confused.

  “It’s your daughter, Lunnie, sir. The ship is your Nijang Fighter
prototype from the NEW ORLEANS.”

  “But how? Who is with her? Lunnie can’t fly like that!”

  “Well, sir, I’ve double-checked. According to the instruments and sensors, Lunnie is the only one in the ship. She appeared on the battle scene about eighteen minutes ago using a private ship gate at the estate shortly after the attack on Megelleon began. She’s been blowing up one ship after the other ever since, almost faster than we can count them, sir.”

  If that’s my Nijang fighter from the NEW ORLEANS, it has the fourth PLABE on it. No wonder that everything she shoots at vanishes!” The blip took another impossible turn and flew unbelievably close to another asteroid-ship before blowing it to bits.

  “Can you zoom in closer and follow the ship from a uniform distance?” I asked.

  “Yes, sir. I can show you a few microsecond-delay view from her flank camera,” replied Marranalis as he nodded to one of his aides. Seconds later, the 3D display split in two, one of which continued to show the entire battle scene, the other of which now followed Lunnie’s flight path from the left side as she maneuvered between and picked off the asteroid-ships and other enemy ships in the vicinity. At one point she skimmed so close to the surface of one of the asteroids-ships, it seemed she would crash and be shredded in an instant. Everyone in the War Room lurched in the same direction, as if making one collective evasive reflex.

  “Where did she learn to fly like that?!” I asked in amazement. “And how did she get to the NEW ORLEANS to get the fighter? Besides, it’s supposed to be coded so only Kala, myself and A’Lappe can access it.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Lunnie, sir. I don’t have any answers for you.”

  I couldn’t help holding my breath as she made a run at an unusually large asteroid-ship, while a formation of enemy fighters came at her head on, firing nonstop. But Lunnie was unshakeable. She dodged every shot and every ship with unbelievable skill. At one point, it looked as though she was going to crash head-on into an enemy fighter, but at the last second, she rolled her ship and barely skimmed past it. That enemy pilot surely had to have passed out from the fear. Finally, gasps and cheers filled the War Room, as Lunnie unleashed the PLABE and sent the mammoth asteroid-ship into oblivion.

  “Admiral,” said Marranalis, “Your daughter is going to set a new battle record for the most kills, if she keeps this up. She’s taken out numerous fighters and at least nine asteroid-ships in the past twenty minutes.”

  “Make that ten, Admiral,” called out one of the technicians at a control panel. “She just vaporized another one.”

  “Put me through to her,” I said.

  Moments later, Lunnie’s image appeared on the central vid screen as seen from the control panel cam. The ongoing succession of explosions lit up her face, while her eyes flashed from one monitor to the next as she sought out new targets and fired on them.

  “By the stars, Lunnie, what in blazes are you doing?!” I demanded.

  Lunnie’s eyes didn’t stop scanning the control screens as her hands flew over the console to select and fire on more targets.

  “Uh, Dad, I’m a bit busy right now.”

  I saw her hand slam down on the console right about where the firing button was located for activating the PLABE weapon. At the same time, another asteroid-ship evaporated before me in the 3D hologram.

  “I’ll call you back later,” she said calmly, and with that she disconnected the call.

  I looked around the War Room to see the shocked faces of my staff. Behind me, Marranalis chuckled. “She reminds me of another Renwalt I know.”

  “Oh, shut up!” I fumed.

  Three more enemy fighters swooped toward Lunnie. She had clearly been identified as a primary threat. She fired off several shots, taking out more fighters ahead of her than I could count, and then, in a maneuver I couldn’t understand, she flipped her ship so it was now facing the opposite direction but still flying on the same course. It was as though she had somehow pivoted the ship about its center, so it was now moving backwards under its own inertia.

  “How did she do that?!” I exclaimed, just as she fired on the three ships that were pursuing her from behind.

  “She used her nose and tail thrusters, one set aiming up and the other set aiming down, to pivot the ship about the central axis, while disengaging the GW drive unit at the same moment. The ship’s momentum keeps it moving in the same direction,” explained Marranalis. “It’s a very tricky maneuver. I’ve only ever seen a few superior Ruwallie Rasson pilots and the androids pull it off. If the thrusters aren’t coordinated and balanced perfectly, the ship will go into a tumble that’s hard to get out of.”

  “By the stars, where did she learn all this?! Has she secretly been sneaking off to take flying lessons I don’t know about?” The room was silent, as the officers and aides looked at each other and shrugged.

  As fast as Lunnie and the rest of the Federation fleet were taking out the enemy ships, their efforts still weren’t enough to reduce the Brotherhood’s numbers, as more of their craft continued to appear by the minute. We had to find their stellar gate. Only the stars knew how many more ships they had lined up on the other side, ready to pour through and into this battle.

  “Put me through to Lunnie again,” I said to Marranalis.

  Lunnie’s image appeared on the screen. She had a determined look on her face and her eyes seemed to be frozen open. It reminded me all too much of Jenira when she had her mind made up about something.

  “Dad, this really is a bad time for a father-daughter chat,” Lunnie spat.

  “I’m not here to chat with you. Listen. I need you to find the stellar gate the Brotherhood is using to feed its fleet into this location. Find it and blow it up. The only hope we have of stopping them is to close that gate.”

  “Oh!” said Lunnie with a start. “Where is it?”

  I looked at Marranalis, who had already been manipulating data to trace the source of the Brotherhood’s ships.

  “Based on the twenty-minute regression we can create from the holographic data, new ships seem to be appearing here.” The image displayed a retroactive sequence of blips, all of which converged at a specific area in an outer orbit around Megelleon. “I’m forwarding Lunnie the coordinates now.”

  “Good. Contact some of the android fighters and request that they accompany her. We need that gate disabled now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Six dots peeled off from the battle zone and configured themselves around Lunnie as she headed toward the target area. Almost immediately, scores of enemy ships turned to attack Lunnie and her escorts. The flying skills of the androids and Lunnie were amazing to witness. Dozens of times I thought my heart would stop, as I watched them become engulfed in situations where I thought they were surely going to be destroyed, only to see them maneuver at the last fraction of a second to escape untouched by enemy fire. They fired in return with far greater accuracy, taking out dozens of ships as they approached the stellar gate. More Brotherhood ships joined the resistance, fighting relentlessly to prevent Lunnie from getting within firing range of the gate nodes. As we monitored the situation by way of the holographic displays, it became clear that many of our own fighters had become aware of what was happening and had begun to separate from combat to join in the protection of Lunnie’s ship. Two of the android escort ships were hit and out of action. About that time, a Ruwallie Rasson fighter arrived and joined the formation in place of one of the lost android ships. Finally, Lunnie came close enough to target the area where the stellar gate was believed to be positioned. She fired the PLABE. A miss. The gate was not there. Then a large starship began to appear just to the right of her shot. Lunnie adjusted quickly and fired. A huge explosion filled the space and the cheering that broke out in the War Room was almost deafening.

  “She got the bastards and the gate!” I shouted, not realizing it came out in English, and equally unaware that no one in the room probably understood what I’d said.

  Then I saw i
t in the hologram. Several asteroid-ships converged on Lunnie and her wingmen. The asteroid-ships were accompanied by nearly a hundred enemy fighters, all of which were opening fire. The Ruwallie Rasson ship took a hit and was out of action. Two android ships were hit shortly thereafter. As I watched in horror, as Lunnie’s fighter took the next hit, just as several Federation fighters rushed in and destroyed the asteroid-ships with slow torpedoes. I blinked my eyes, trying to understand the convoluted scene. Finally, out of the debris field and explosions came Lunnie’s ship. Even though the fighter had taken a hit, Lunnie was still managing to fly it, if somewhat erratically.

  “Marranalis, put me through to Lunnie!” I ordered.

  There was a pause. Then, “Sir, there’s no response. It would seem the communication system isn’t functioning. We’re reading extensive damage to the ship. But I can confirm your daughter is still alive and attempting to maintain control of the ship. We’re just not able to establish contact with her.”

  All I could do was watch, while dozens of Federation fighters, Ruwallie Rasson and android pilots took up formation around the crippled fighter as it made an erratic course toward Megelleon.

  Suddenly the ship lurched and the War Room reverberated from a noise that sounded like a combination of an explosion and the ringing of a bell. Immediately thereafter the claxons began to sound.

  “Have we been hit?!” I asked Marranalis.

  “There’s been an explosion not far from the hangar area, but the cause is uncertain!” he replied after he regained his footing and reviewed the console data.

  Just then Padaran came bursting through the door of the War Room. “Sir! The enemy has boarded the GLOMAR ROSA by way of the Capitol Station! You must get away immediately!” He grabbed me by the arm forcefully and began tugging me toward the door. I could hear fighting somewhere outside the War Room in the corridor.

  “How did you get here?” I asked as he led me out the door. Marranalis forgot about being an admiral and took up a protective stance behind me and followed Padaran’s lead.