by Mark Wandrey
The energy beams hit mostly nothing. The three humans moved swiftly and erratically, presenting nearly impossible targets. One shot scored a glancing blow on Minu’s shield and another on the corporal. Both were easily absorbed by the Lost tech enhanced shields.
Veka snatched one of the beamcaster pistols from her fallen guard’s holster, turned, and dove through a moliplas window in a decrepit storefront.
“Get back here!” Minu cried and turned to follow. The Tanam guard moved to intercede, leveling both guns at her. Minu dodged slightly, planted one booted foot, pivoted and leaped with enhanced muscles.
The Tanam fired twice at the small radically moving target, and missed both times. Minu flipped over the hulking felinoid’s left shoulder, slashing down as she passed. The molecularly hardened dualloy blade, its leading edge barely a molecule thick, gave almost no resistance as it passed through armor, then flesh, bone, and armor again.
Minu hit her feet and hoped through the window as the head of the Tanam soldier behind her fell away with a slick plop.
A single Tanam warrior was inside a shop filled with unknowable merchandise. Minu dodged the surprised being before she could raise a weapon and remained in hot pursuit of her quarry, Veka. She was dimly aware of Selain and his corporal firing on the alien as Minu spotted a rear doorway still moving slightly and went for it in a shot.
Something made her stop at the doorway, using her right elbow to arrest her motion on the doorjamb. Outside was Veka, rushing to get behind a wide line of almost fifty Tanam warriors.
Minu snarled like a predator denied a kill as Veka pointed at her and barked orders. Minu flicked the shock rifle selector and sprayed the enemy line with a half dozen shots before spinning and diving back into the shop.
“Incoming!” she screamed to the two Rangers who’d just dispatched the warrior she’d passed. Minu cleared a counter full of merchandise and rolled into a ball as Selain joined her just as the building was riddled with beamcaster fire. The corporal was similarly under cover on the other side of the shop.
Particle accelerator beams shattered displays, splintered wall panels, and exploded unknowable merchandise as Minu sheathed the sword and accepted the extra shock rifle Selain had carried, automatically thumbing the weapon alive and verifying the power charge.
“How many?” he yelled over the fusillade of energy fire.
“Fifty or more.”
He nodded and checked his own weapon’s charge before deciding not to switch power packs. On the optimal power setting the shock rifles were capable of more than one hundred shots before depleting the magazine. “About what you expected?”
“Yep.”
He nodded again and checked the corporal was okay. Both veterans of the battle for Planet K, this was nothing they hadn’t experienced before.
“Ready when you are, commander.”
Minu braced herself, waited for the fire to slacken, and popped up with her shock rifle to shoulder, firing as fast as she could. Selain and the corporal acted with her in perfect coordination.
The wall was already half destroyed and she was able to pick some targets. Outside the surprised Tanam either dodged for cover or fell to the three humans combined fire. They all wore personal shields and were unused to having no defense against another being’s weapons.
“The Tanam highborn prisoner is secure,” Minu heard from the Ranger squad delegated to that responsibility.
“Acknowledged,” she said as she brought down another warrior. “Begin to withdraw.”
Not far away, a pair of Lancer fighter/transports lifted off with the majority of the Rangers, and their captive aboard. A flurry of energy beams traced their paths, all easily dealt with by the power craft’s shields. In a moment they were beyond range over the Traaga city.
“And now, we’re in it deep,” Selain said as he watched the Lancers roar away.
Losing the advantage against the humans in the ambush, then losing her sister was too much for Veka, and she drew her hole card. Minu watched on her small virtual battlefield as it lit up with threats, hundreds of them. She smirked at the numbers quickly climbed to battalion sized. An amplified cat yowl rang out.
“You can come out now human,” Veka’s translated voice rang. “You may still have my sister, but now I have you.”
Minu let her shock rifle hang by the sling, raised her hands and stood in the smoldering remains of the shop. After being sure they weren’t going to try and gun her down, she gestured her two men up who rose and joined their commander as she walked out to the street.
All along the roofs of the dilapidated buildings dozens and dozens of Tanam hung over the sides, beamcasters trained on the slowly walking humans. Veka was just emerging from between buildings a dozen meters away. Minu couldn’t read cat body language but pissed was what she guessed.
I sure hope this plays out as advertised, she thought.
“Now what?” she asked Veka, still roughly holding her hands above her head.
“Now I take you home and we see what your people will pay for their First among the Chosen.”
“And the Traaga?” Minu wondered.
“What of the scurrying insects? Who would concern themselves with such lowly creatures?”
“Everything is below you, isn’t it?”
“It is the way of the universe. The sooner you humans learn this, the better.”
“I don’t think such things should stay the same,” Minu said. “And I don’t think I want to go with you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. And I suspect the Traaga have a bone to pick with you for twice bringing down a firefight in their city.”
Minu didn’t know if she was amused that there would be any concern of the Traaga’s feelings, or the fact that she considered this a city, but either way the Tanam let out with an unmistakable chuckle. And then a Traaga appeared, the first one anyone had seen.
The starfish shaped being skittered out into the street between Minu and Veka, its telescopic head popped out and regarded the highborn feline with insectile eyes before speaking. “We are aggrieved by your actions.”
“Why should I care?”
“She cares,” the Traaga said and pointed at Minu with a limb. “The humans have treated us well. Lucrative work contracts, fair negotiations, even trades.”
Veka snorted and spat into the muddy street. “Humans can afford to deal with child species like you in such a way, they are little better than yourself.”
“The human leader said you would respond this way. They offered us means to settle with you.”
“Did they,” Veka said. “And what makes you think we would be interested in offering you anything of value for a few burned buildings and a couple of dead peasants.” She gestured and the damage around them, which was not insignificant. “You are helpless, disorganized, clueless animals from where I stand.”
“Clueless and disorganized we may be,” the Traaga agreed, “no longer helpless.”
The streets of Coorson usually swarmed with thousands of the arboreal creatures. Things had been quiet since their arrival. With a cacophonous explosion of sound, the Traaga returned in a swarm. Veka appeared almost amused, for a second. All the time it took he to realize that the Traaga, every single one of them, was armed with a beamcaster.
In moments there were three Traaga for every Tanam, all armed and pointing their weapons at the felines. They skittered along walls, the swung from power lines, they leaned out windows, they flitted down alleyways. And everywhere they watched the Tanam, their aim never wavering.
“You,” Veka snapped at Minu, “you armed them?!”
Minu smiled hugely and nodded. “Yep.”
“You would spend all this to give these… things modern weapons?”
“Oh, we didn’t spend anything. Those are your guns.”
“Wha-” she started to stammer, then remembered that a thousand beamcasters had been part of the deal in trade for the human hostage.
“Yeah. They
decided it was a fair trade for the carnage you brought down here.”
“For the first attack and destruction of our portal facility.”
“Facility?” Veka snorted, then remembered the sea of guns aimed at her. Minu thought the highborn was going to burst a blood vessel. “You have an advantage,” she acknowledged. “What do you want?”
“Get off our world,” the Traaga said simply and walked in its crab-like sideways motion right up to Veka. Its head telescoped higher, almost coming even with her tattooed face. “And do not return, ever.”
“You are ordering me?”
“I am demanding it, as the lawful leader of these people, as a species that is awakened and independent, and as an aggrieved party to your unprovoked aggression. I demand it as the law demands it.”
Minu smiled at how the Traaga kept its calm and spoke the words she’d given it word for word.
“This is not over between us,” Veka said the Minu who was no longer holding her hands up. She had her right hand resting on the butt of her shock rifle, ready to pick up where they left off. This time she vowed that the highborn would be the first to die.
“You are damned right it isn’t. We’ll see your furry ass on Nexus.”
* * *
The last of the Tanam were marched through the portal. Veka didn’t have any of the sense of responsibility Minu did in the field. The highborn was the first through, her troops following dejectedly. Minu considered disarming them as they went, and then discarded the idea. Maybe that would have been a dealbreaker with the easily angered cats. Even a thousand armed Traaga would have been hard pressed to deal with three hundred Tanam warriors.
When the portal closed, she turned to the Traaga she’d dubbed Bob. Bob was their newly minted leader, the results of a day’s hard negotiations to obtain the weapons. They tended to operate in a loose consensus form of government with no true leadership.
She’d succeeded in convincing them that this was ultimately part of their problem. You can’t make good deals or respond to threats when everything took a meeting. Since the vaguely insectoid species all appeared identical, Bob now sported a spray painted pair of chevrons on each leg. A nod to the humans in aiding their recognition of individuality.
“That went well,” he chirped through his translator.
“I’m glad you think so,” Minu replied, though less confident. The Traaga’s simplistic view of things might still lead them to their doom. “The Tanam will be very angry with you.”
“We still have legitimate claim against them for their hostilities.” Minu nodded in agreement. “We are grateful for the weapons.”
“What do you intend to do with them?”
“Defend ourselves.”
Minu nodded again.
“We are a poor species. Ever since the Acoota rescued us from our home world and then were destroyed by the T’Chillen, we’ve been orphans on this pathetic excuse of a world. Survival has taken all we can earn from work and salvage.
The composite eyes observed one of the newly armed Traaga warriors carefully examining its new weapon. “We had a few weapons, though never as powerful as these, and never as many. This changes much.”
“All beings should have the right to defend themselves.”
Bob turned to regard her. “This we agree,” he said.
Minu smiled even though she was sure the gesture would be lost on the alien. She needed to get off the world and home. Too much had happened. She hadn’t come fully to grips with her loss of Aaron, and she didn’t want that to happen on an alien world.
“We must be going now,” Minu said. Outside the two Lancers were grounded waiting for her. They’d fly through the portal and to home as a team.
“May I ask something more of you, even though you have given so much?”
“You may.”
“Teach us to fight.”
Minu looked surprised at the alien, not sure what to say. She thought carefully of the reply. “Are you sure you want to go down that road.”
“We are,” said Bob.
“And why?”
“So that we can fight with you. We wish to join forces with the humans.”
Chapter 81
September 26th, 534 AE
Office of the First, Fort Jovich, Peninsula Tribe Territory, Bellatrix
Dram knocked twice then glanced around the half open door. Minu sat at her desk and watched the storm outside spending its fury against the escarpment that was home to Fort Jovich. He walked in quietly and stood before her desk, content to wait as long as it took for her to acknowledge him.
“I heard you, Dram,” she said after a long moment.
“I know,” he said.
“Any intel yet?”
“We’ve finished inquiries to all the reliable sources we have, and more than a few unreliable.” He didn’t say any more. There was no need. Minu didn’t look away from the storm, only nodded her head. “You should take some time…”
“And do what exactly? Hide on my island and cry?”
“If that’s what would do you the most good.”
“We’re all Chosen, Dram.” She turned in her swivel chair to face him. Her tummy was starting to show. The view made his jaw muscles clench. Her face, though… He’d expected, what, eyes red from crying? A haunted or pained look? What he saw almost made him take a step back. What he saw was steel, white hot blue steel. “We signed on for this, we all know the price that must sometimes be paid.”
“Aaron was retired.”
“Not by choice,” she said and Dram nodded.
“How soon before your daughter arrives?”
“Two days,” Minu told him, a hint of a smile chased across her face for the barest of instances before disappearing once more. “When the Tanam told me Aaron was gone, she started cutting corners and using the tactical drive more often. She’s only about a three hundred-fifty light-years away.”
“Right around the corner,” Dram joked and that smile went by again, though less real this time. “Shame she’s going to miss us moving the planet.”
* * *
Minu hadn’t set foot in the deep control bunker in years. Kilometers under the Steven’s Pass headquarters, it had been cut into the living mantel of the planet thousands of years before mankind learned to communicate with more than grunts and hand gestures. Pip guessed it was linked with the gravitic base on Remus. Ted and Bjorn weren’t so sure.
She had an office down there, her name on the door and everything. She didn’t bother visiting it. The bunker was meant to command the Chosen during a worst case attack on Bellatrix. She vowed to never be down there while her people were dying far overhead.
“Remus operations reports ready,” a communications technician spoke up. The command center was retasked today. In another supply room, more than a thousand of the best tablets humanity owned were laboriously networked together to make the most powerful computer system in light-years.
Arguably more powerful than the Kaatan’s brain on Lilith’s ship, though she might argue the point. It was decided to use the ad hoc network because the computer on the Kaatan was not intended to be reprogrammed as a dedicated ‘fractal geometric/gravimetric plotting device’ as Ted called this network.
Thousands of kilometers overhead the moon of Remus was orbiting into place. A similar array of tablet computers were assembled there, meant to perform redundant calculations. If the two systems disagreed, they would err on the side of caution.
“Report Ted,” Minu said.
“We’re ready up here,” Ted came back after a slight lag. A dozen Chosen scientists and a handful of Rasa were up on the moon with him running that side of the operation. “Power at one hundred percent, RemusNet purring like a kitten.”
“BunkerNet up and running,” Bjorn replied on the radio. His control was a few meters away on what had been a computer that would control planetary power reserves in the event of an invasion. Some of the world’s leaders had been skeptical of the plan. It took three meeting
s with just about every physicist on the world to convince all the tribes leadership that this was the only logical plan.
All the science indicated the sun was entering an increased period of activity. The Tog agreed with their own data, gleaned from the Concordian database, even though information on Bellatrix was sparse.
Minu had ultimately sealed the deal in a meeting right after their return from Coorson on the failed prison exchange. She addressed all the tribal leaders via teleconference.
“There are a few other options,” she’d explained, “all are much more expensive than this option, all have considerable risk, and all have less chance of success.”
All the faces of the leaders observed her in silence as she shrugged. “The Lost did this every few thousand years, maybe every ten thousand at the most. The sun is aging and growing bigger as it runs low on fuel. We either move the planet, or we start trying to find a new planet. And a lot of you know what that might entail.”
They’d unanimously agreed to the plan, risks and all. The price was negligible. Two thousand cheap tablet computers and a dozen trips to Remus and back aboard Phoenix shuttles.
For a few minutes the command center was quiet. Everyone examined their displays as data scrolled across screens confirming all was in readiness.
“Inform the planetary leadership we are commencing,” Minu told their PR man. All the tribes were instructed, and over the planet sirens began to sound. Everyone knew what was about to happen. Millions of humans held their breath.
“We’re approaching aphelion,” Ted said from the Remus. “It’s now or never.”
“Noted Remus,” Minu said and took a deep breath. “Initiate as planned.”
The vast banks of gravitic planers on Remus were fed terawatts of power. Computers were fed calculations that began to align and form the titanic gravity fields as they formed around the moon. In moments, the little planetoid had a gravity field more immense than a gas giant, and continued to grow.