Luke closed his eyes as it got harder to breathe.
“This hoovers,” Leonessa sent. “And I’m tired, but I’m not complaining.”
“I love you,” Luke sent as he felt a fear return. Here he was going into a battle where the odds were against them. Mice trying to influence the battles of elephants. Was it the right thing to do?
“I love you too,” Leonessa sent.
“I’m sorry,” Luke sent.
“For what?” Leonessa sent. Luke could only imagine her struggling to look at him.
“Taking us into battle again where the odds are against us,” Luke sent.
“Well,” Leonessa sent. “It is who you are. Changing that is changing who you are. One day it should be my choice though, okay?”
“I promise, thank you,” Luke sent.
Luke wished the pressure would stop, they were almost there.
Only a single Battle Singer remained, and it was lashing out at Topa Suresh’s massive vessel. Both were weakening. Around them other Tal vessels were struggling to survive. Most were destroyed but none could fight except Suresh’s ship struggling alone against the last Battle Singer. Luke saw the final blow, an arcing beam of green energy cut into Topa Suresh’s vessel, almost tearing it in two. The blue light covering the hull of Suresh’s vessel went out, revealing a harsh light brown shell, covered with scorch marks and cracks.
Small pods disgorged from the Battle Singer vessel, which didn’t look much better. Each of the pods accelerated toward the Topa’s ship to enter through the different cracks and tears.
Luke expected the Topa’s vessel to explode at any moment.
“I think they are attempting to board the Topa’s ship,” Shum sent.
“Why?” Luke sent back.
“If they capture the Topa, they will drain his mind,” Shum sent back. “They will know all the secrets of the Conglomerate. Or they may attempt to capture his data systems.”
“Fire everything when we come in range,” Luke sent on the command channel for Halsey. “Everything, missiles, fighters, plasma lance. Target that last Battle Singer.”
The deceleration stopped and the Tigress and Amazon rotated to bring their main plasma lances to aim at the Battle Singer. The deceleration would continue, but just not as much as before.
“Aye, aye Admiral,” Halsey said. Icons separated from the Tigress and Amazon. Missiles and plasma lance rounds. Volleys of rail gun rounds and the secondary plasma lances began their journey across interstellar space. Fighters shot out of the bays as quickly as they could be launched. Still light seconds out Luke wondered if the Battle Singer had seen them and was so unconcerned that it didn’t bother to change course or accelerate as it continued to slow down to intercept the Topa’s ship. Were the two ships that inconsequential to the Battle Singers?
Luke took a deep, but ragged breath as he glanced over at Leonessa. She gave him a weak smile and a thumbs up as she directed Halsey and the guns of the Tigress.
“Shall I save missiles for Topa Suresh?” Leonessa asked.
Luke winced.
“Yes,” he said.
“Aye, Aye Admiral,” Leonessa said.
Luke watched the volleys closing in with the Battle Singer. Nothing lashed out to swat aside the missiles and then the plasma rounds impacted, punching holes in the Battle Singer. Flashes of light erupted from the holes as the secondary plasma lance rounds impacted. When the light cleared Luke saw the rounds were punching through the Battle Singer’s weak shields and piercing the thin armor. Another primary plasma lance round punched through the Battle Singer and Leonessa cheered.
Luke zoomed in as the light surrounding the Battle Singer faded. Had they been so focused on Suresh they hadn’t noticed the human ships?
“Can you raise Topa Suresh?” Luke asked as he watched the last of the boarding pods from the Battle Singer disappear into the cracks of Suresh’s ship.
“Negative,” Halsey reported.
Luke nodded.
“The Battle Singer vessel now appears dead,” Halsey reported. “There have been several internal explosions and power emissions are minimal.”
“Teleklos,” Luke said. “Prepare to land reinforcements on the Topa’s ship. As many as you can.”
“Aye, aye sir,” Teleklos said and fell silent. Luke knew he was communicating with his subordinate leaders. “I will retain a reinforced company aboard the Tigress. I can land almost a battalion. The Amazon will also provide forces.”
Luke nodded hoping that would be enough. His InnerBuddy answered his unspoken question. Twenty boarding pods had landed on the Topa’s vessel. How many troops did each pod hold and how good were the Topa’s defenses against boarders?
To make matters worse, nobody was answering hails from the Topa’s ship so Luke had no idea what was happening aboard that ship.
“He said ‘no’ meat sack,” Musashi said standing in Luke’s way.
“Did you miss the fact I am in command?” Luke asked.
Musashi shrugged. “Teleklos is the commander of your guard. I think he has seniority in these matters.”
“I am the most senior officer for hundreds, maybe thousands of light years,” Luke said.
“You are a married man, you are the commander of this fleet, you are critical to good relations with the Bronkaw and the Topa. Sorry, but I’m pretty sure I know where Prime Minister Harrison or Admiral Day would tell you to stick it,” Musashi said, not budging. Teleklos remained silently nearby watching the exchange. “You may not join the boarding party.”
“I concur,” Shum said.
“It should be obvious,” Duncan said. “We must all do our job, and your job is not on the spearhead of a close quarters boarding action.”
“I lead from the front,” Luke said. “Always have, always will.”
“Sorry,” Musashi said, actually sounding like he meant it. “Not anymore.”
“Luke,” Leonessa said. “What are you trying to prove?”
Luke looked at Leonessa and his anger left him as she took his hand.
“Nobody is doubting your bravery,” Musashi said. “Maybe your competence a little. You are just a sack of meat, bones and squishy things,” Musashi smiled at Luke. “But it is not your job. I don’t think there is anyone here, besides you, who wants you on that ship. Let Teleklos’s officers and bots handle it. You concentrate on the big picture. Micromanage them if you want. But you stay here.”
“That means you won’t be going either metal head,” Luke said, trying to muster some of his previous anger. Elena had been the reason he always led from the most dangerous position. Now with Leonessa beside him he had reasons not to die. He could not do that to her.
Musashi nodded and looked sad.
“Yes,” Musashi said. “My job is at you and your lady’s side.”
“No more thrill of personal combat,” Luke said, rubbing it in.
Musashi nodded. “I’ll probably take up poetry to keep me occupied, or child rearing.”
Luke stared at Musashi, not sure what to say.
“Flowers are blue, Roses are red, mess with me and you’ll be dead,” Musashi said. “What do you think?”
Luke and Leonessa laughed as Musashi smiled.
“Stick to art,” Luke said returning to his seat.
Brita appeared in as a hologram and looked at Luke, with a quick glance at Musashi.
“I have several companies ready to board Commander,” Brita said. “Aegea will coordinate with Teleklos.”
Brita’s eyes narrowed as she looked at Luke.
“You are staying in your CIC, right Commander?” she asked and Luke could see she was getting ready to argue.
“Yes,” Luke said resigned and Brita smiled, Luke’s suspicions confirmed.
“Excellent Commander,” Brita said and glanced at Leonessa, giving her a wink. “My troops will be ready.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Luke said.
“Request permission to join the boarding party?” Shum asked.
> Luke looked at Shum. He was hard to read but Luke thought he looked concerned, or afraid.
“Why?” Luke asked.
“As a Pral, I understand the systems and layout better,” Shum said. “There may also be defenses against non-Pral.”
“And if you get killed by the Battle Singers?” Luke asked.
“Then I get killed,” Shum said. “But it would be better if I was with the boarding parties. I am expendable. Any surviving Pral will also see me as friendly.”
Finally, Luke nodded.
“Keep him safe,” Luke said to Teleklos.
“On my honor,” Teleklos said, which struck Luke as odd.
“We will have twelve shuttles from the Tigress and twelve from the Amazon,” Teleklos said. “Shum will go in the last one. We will need to make sure we have a beach head. That is a very large vessel.”
The black droid turned to Shum.
“Do you have a recommendation on entry?” Teleklos asked.
“Near the top,” Shum said. “Most Pral ships prefer their control centers to be near the belly. Topa Suresh is different, he forces himself to break Pral tradition and customs where it does not offend others. He calls it thinking beyond the egg shell.”
“Thinking outside the box,” Leonessa said. “Why does that not surprise me about the Topa?”
Shum nodded.
“Most of the enemy shuttles seemed to aim for the bottom,” Halsey said.
“Be careful,” Luke said and Shum nodded.
The shuttle came to a sudden stop and jolted Shum hard against the restraints. The first shuttles approaching the Topa’s ship had received fire from Battle Singer robots scattered around the hull, but now a flight of drone fighters spun about the hull in a random and dizzying pattern using their point defense weapons against any Battle Singer robots that appeared.
Beside him two of the human droids grasped their weapon and faced the backward door. The warbots rose as one. For each droid there were thirty warbots, which made the hold of the assault shuttle claustrophobic and full of hard surfaces for the Pral.
The rear hatch opened and like some complex puzzle unfolding itself the warbots spilled out. Shum saw other warbots already in the area, scanning and watching.
The entry was into a hydroponics chamber with most of the contents sucked out into space. The remains of a Battle Singer robot, an almost featureless sphere floated, gently bouncing off the ceiling. Several massive holes in it demonstrated the robot’s vulnerability to human weapons.
The ships name was Kiss of Hope and Shum knew it was much older than him. Few people knew the ship’s name, fewer seemed to care, but like all weave masters, Topa Suresh was an icon and a central figure of the Pral race. To walk aboard his ship was a great honor few Pral could speak of. Now, it was dead. So much history. It had seen the rise and fall of empires and of entire races and now it was so much wreckage, to be abandoned in a star system full of the dead.
As he watched one warbot grabbed the Battle Singer drone and sprayed a metallic gel on it, covering it. Shum’s InnerBuddy, still interfacing with the human command net informed him the warbot was spraying the Battle Singer robot with anti-nanites. Specialized nano robots designed to destroy other nanites. It had been noted earlier that the Battle Singer robots were self-repairing.
Shum pushed himself off and soared to the entrance, a droid on either side of him and their warbots spread out in a protective screen.
It felt surreal to him. The surroundings were familiar, yet, with the power off, everything was dark and sinister. The warbots and human shaped droids added to the strange feeling that buzzed in the back of his mind. Here he was on one of the Topa’s vessel, carrying weapons and preparing to kill. There was so much that was wrong with the situation he wanted to turn and flee.
But one of the Topa needed help.
On a vessel this size, there was rarely more than the one Topa. He would not have any Pral servants, mates or companions. The ship, sentient in its own right, was all the Topa would need. Shum could tell the ship was dead though. There were no answers to his communication requests, he could not feel the life force of the great ship, but he could almost feel a life force. He hoped it was Suresh.
Shum pointed and his entourage of warbots moved, covering every angle, every corner, ever possible hatch.
Then without warning the world exploded. Something grabbed Shum and pulled him to the ground as weapons fired around him. A horrible screech filled the communication channels as Shum tried to look up, but something on top of him held him down and fired at something Shum couldn’t see. Shum had his battle staff powered up but by the time one of his droid guardians let him up the weapons fire had fallen silent. Around him several warbots had been shattered by the attack and Shum saw a single Battle Singer robot sphere bouncing down the corridor. Nodding at the nearby droid Shum resumed his journey to where he detected the life force, either Suresh or the ship’s core, he still couldn’t tell. The sudden, lethal attack gave Shum no doubt he was outclassed by the droids and warbots. In front of him walked one droid and behind him walked another. The droid behind him had his free hand raised, ready to grab Shum’s harness and pull him down. The droid probably didn’t know Shum had complete 360 vision, but Shum had not responded fast enough to the attack. Again, he felt shame that primitives were better than a Tal at battle. The reason was obvious though. The Tal relied on their superior weapons and armor too much.
Another Battle Singer warbot appeared and was destroyed before the droid behind Shum could pull him to the ground. A warbot sprayed each Battle Singer robot with killer nano’s before Shum passed it.
Deeper into the Kiss of Hope Shum’s group ascended.
With the Tigress matching velocity and vector of the ruined Topa ship Luke watched the rest of the vessels shoot away from each other, flying into the darkness to be lost in the empty depths of space. There were no other surviving Tal vessels.
How many thousands, millions, billions or trillions of wrecks were hurtling through the dark vastness, waiting millions of years to be pulled into a planet or star for the final destruction. How many were lost between galaxies? Never to be found or seen again by living eyes before the death of the universe?
These Tal and Battle Singers would hurtle into the darkness. The Tigress was plotting velocities and vectors. Perhaps one day humans might come back here to look at the remains of these ships, to seek insight into the technologies and lives of those that died.
Then the last Battle Singer ship flashed with light and then dissolved into a shrinking black sphere. The Battle Singers would remain a mystery then.
“Selfish of them,” Leonessa said, echoing Luke’s thoughts.
Luke nodded.
“We could learn so much,” Leonessa said. “Not just their technology, but their culture, their beliefs, the focus of their lives.”
“Aye,” Luke said. “But perhaps it is best. I’m sure there are other Battle Singers out there. Hiding, waiting. This couldn’t have been all of them.”
Luke turned his attention back to several displays, showing the droids and warbots sweeping through the Topa vessel, scanning the technology and looking for survivors.
The Battle Singer robots seemed to prowl, without purpose or plan. They were dangerous and had so far destroyed twenty percent of the warbots sent after them, but they were not all powerful. Two had been “captured” and were allowed to regenerate while they were monitored, being crippled again before they became dangerous. That data would be reviewed later.
Pavlis and Morals were busy directing a pair of specialized droid search teams as they investigated propulsion and weapons aboard the Topa vessel.
Luke listened in.
“Are you going to let them keep that data when they return to the Jupiter Alliance?” Leonessa asked on a private channel.
“I don’t know,” Luke said. “That will be up to Admiral Day and the Prime Minister,” Luke sent.
“I would recommend against it,” Leon
essa sent. “I don’t know Pavlis that well, but Morals is a snake.”
“I agree,” Luke said with a quick glance at the two intelligence officers. One of their teams had just lost warbots to a pair of Battle Singer robots and the droid directing them has been wounded.
“I don’t think you understand love,” Leonessa said. “The Jupiter Alliance has changed.”
Luke nodded.
“Suggestion?” Luke asked and Leonessa shook her head.
“Short of killing, imprisoning them, or denying them access, I don’t know what else to do,” Luke sent. “It is also above my pay grade.”
Leonessa nodded and Luke knew she didn’t like his answer. But what choice was there? As long as they were considered allies and New Alamo wasn’t at war with them. It is what Suresh had wanted, right?
Luke opened a window with his InnerBuddy that only he could see and tapped into a view of the CIC so he could watch the two without them knowing, even though he was scant meters away. He didn’t bother listening to them so much as watching them, their body language and mannerisms. They were focused on their job and looked like consummate professionals. If New Alamo went to war with the Jupiter Alliance what would he do? Would it be better to just brig them and turn them over to the New Alamo military? Or would it be better to dump them into space? Which would be best for New Alamo?
Then he glanced at Leonessa. He trusted her enough to contemplate throwing these strangers out an airlock. A scary thought.
The Battle Singer robots were assembling and in the distance Shum heard the battle intensify. The enemy was making a push in his direction. Before they had been concentrating on the lower levels, but now they seemed to be working their way up. There wasn’t much time and Shum knew even the lethal human warbots would be overwhelmed when the enemy robots came together and formulated a strategy.
Shum stared at the door to what the humans would call the ship’s Combat Information Center. It was the armored heart and soul of the ship and the most likely place for Suresh to be during a battle. As the warbots approached, it remained closed and as Shum approached, he sensed the whisper of available network access.
New Empires: Conglomerate Series Book 3 Page 23